Pastor Jonathan Burgess
October 18, 2015 - W1542

In the movie Shrek, Donkey was annoying Shrek, and Shrek explained to him that Ogres are like onions. He said that onion have layers and ogres have layers. But eventually Donkey shows Shrek that underneath all those horrible ogre layers that there really is a very good heart. It’s like what God does to us. He peels back the layers to reveal in us the good heart within. Is it ever comfortable? No. Are we sometimes annoyed? Yea. Do we ever feel like there are parts of the Bible we don’t like and we want to tear those pages out? Yea. But we all know that the Bible is all God breathed, but, still as we read the Word, we find parts we just don’t like. Right? Well as we read here in the book James that all these things is a call to action:

“Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (Jas. 1:21-22 NIV)

Can we begin to feel the peeling back of the layers? But we may be in this mindset, “Yea I’m a sinner and I need to repent…” and then do nothing about it. If we leave it there, yes, we have been asked, but if there is no action taken then we are not going to change, nothing new will happen. As James has recited here, God doesn’t want us just to be hearers of the word, He wants us to be doers of the word also. This is the peeling back of the layers, which is not very comfortable, but, it is the transformation of our lives. God doesn’t only want to give us information, He wants us to have transformation. So we not only have to hear what God has asked of us but we also have to act upon it.

We are going to look at the call to action that Nehemiah went through. We will see how God pulled back the layers on Nehemiah to change him into the man God wanted him to be because in the past 70 years God has returned Israel to their home land after years of Babylonian captivity. But there are things preventing the Israelites from continuing the rebuilding of the temple. So God calls upon Nehemiah, but God needs to do some things to Nehemiah, to change Nehemiah in to that person that can do something to help in the rebuilding of Jerusalem even though he has never been there before. Nehemiah was born in Babylon and he served in Babylon all his life. And he was in a very important position to the ruler of Babylon. But he has never been to Jerusalem. You will see in Nehemiah the pulling back of the layers in Nehemiah so he can do what God wants him to in Jerusalem. So if you feel the layers of your life being pulled back by God, let Him do that because I promise that process is always worth it. And it is through the peeling back of these layers we will begin to see the person we were meant to be and through it all we will begin to see the actions we need to take.

1. THE ASK & THE ACTION: Direction through relationship.

These aren’t the shallow relationships that we have on Facebook but this is a real relationship. A lot of times we are asking God for direction but then He says to us to act on the relationships I have given you in your lives. It is in the vertical relationship we have with God that we will receive direction in the horizontal relationships with one another. A lot of the direction we get from God comes from the investments we make in the lives of people around us. Here is an easy to understand example, how many of you were asked by someone in your life to attend this Church or Bible study? Probably quite a few of you. That is a perfect example of how God used a relationship to help you meet God so He can transform your life. As we read now in Nehemiah:

“These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In late autumn of the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes' reign, I was at the fortress of Susa. Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had survived the captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem. They said to me, ‘Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been burned.’” (Neh. 1:1-3 NLT)

I want you to take note of the phrase, “… I asked them …” Here I want you to see that one question, leads to miraculous actions, because you see, if he did not ask in a sincere and meaningful way, we would not see all the great things that follow in the book of Nehemiah. This is the first real time that Nehemiah heard exactly what has been happening for the past 70 years in Jerusalem. If he did not ask he would not have known just how bad it was there, because he figured they had been doing ok in the rebuilding of the city and temple. He hears that the wall is not being built around the temple and that is not good because without the wall the temple is vulnerable to attacks from the enemy. It’s like if our homes had no windows or doors and our house and family are exposed to the harsh elements and dangerous circumstances. But when Nehemiah sincerely asked about the conditions of Jerusalem then the rest of the things that happen in Nehemiah causes action to take place through the direction of a relationship with his brother. Nehemiah cared enough about Jerusalem to ask, so now God will work on Nehemiah so he can take action to help.

How are our relationships? Our relationships with each other sometimes is just a passing moment, we ask but we don’t intend to listen, hear or act upon. We don’t have the time to hear how things are really going with each other’s lives. We ask but we don’t expect to get bogged down and we rush along our way.

“How are things?”

“Good.”

“Ok that’s good, see you on Sunday then!”

This is exactly what the enemy wants to happen between us. He doesn’t want us to go deeper into this relationship by peeling back one more layer so we can really ask deeper, “No, really how are things?” The enemy doesn’t want us to see the direction sent from God on how to act upon this real situation so we can begin to see the miraculous things that could happen. So even though Nehemiah only knew the Babylonian life, he took it one level deeper in asking with sincerity how things were in Jerusalem. That is when we begin to see the change in Nehemiah’s life and then the miracles that took place in Jerusalem.

I can’t help but wonder if for many of us, who are seeking direction in our lives, we are actually missing out because we don’t take the time to invest in the relationships that God gave us in our lives. Can we really sincerely ask someone in our lives, how is it really going? Then take the time to listen and maybe even step out of our comfort zone to pray with them.

An example of this is when I was asked to plant a church in rain drenched Seattle. I really pondered why I would want to leave blue and sunny skies of Hawaii to plant a church in rainy Seattle among grumpy people. God told me because He wanted me to bring the love and joy of knowing Him to Seattle. So when I obediently went there to search the place, I found the most wonderful people who were originally from Hawaii. I was greeted, even though I was a stranger, with such open arms and hugs. It was through this relationship that I found Seattle to be a place to settle for a while and build that church that God intended. It was direction through a relationship that caused this even to happen and I am saying to you today that if you are willing to invest in a relationship through which God shows you the direction in which to take -- take it because the outcome is well worth the risk. It may be in a relationship with someone you don’t know yet or it may be with someone you already know much about, but whoever it is, God will show you the miraculous things that will happen, if you make the time to take it just a little deeper and really act upon it.

Don’t let the enemy strip us of the miracles that can happen when we take the time to really, sincerely invest in the lives of others. The enemy doesn’t want us to peel back the layers so that we can experience all that God has for us. Let us meet God deeper in the relationships He has for us.

2. THE ASK & THE ACTION: Discernment through repentance.

Discernment is when we begin to see how God sees things. We begin to notice things we stopped noticing. Repentance is in knowing that we have sinned in our lives and to confess it.

I remember when my wife went on a trip leaving us for 5 days. It was 5 days with 5 sons 5 services to perform and at least 5 prayers of repentance because I began to see through the eyes of God just how much I took for granted in this relationship with my wife. The things that she did, took me 10 times longer to do because I didn’t really know how to do them. So it took this short time without her that I began to really appreciate all she means to me. I began to thank God and repent for all the places where I took this relationship for granted. This is exactly something that is happening in Nehemiah, which we will see, that although this asking could have taken a different direction of uncaring, Nehemiah dared to take it one level deeper and direction flowed through relationship and discernment came through repentance:

“When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven. I said, ‘Lord God of heaven, the great and awe inspiring God who keeps His gracious covenant with those who love Him and keep His commands, let Your eyes be open and Your ears be attentive to hear Your servant's prayer that I now pray to You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins we have committed against You. Both I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted corruptly toward You and have not kept the commands, statutes, and ordinances You gave Your servant Moses.’” (Neh. 1:4-7 CSB)

This is not just a prayer he threw up into air, no it was an intercessory prayer. He even says in this prayer, “…I confess the sins WE have made…” Now here is someone who has never set foot in Jerusalem before. He never lived among the Jews because he was born and raised in Babylon. It would have been easier just to say “Well, ok, God I prayed for them, it was all their fault anyway for not obeying you in the first place”. He could have stood in a critical spirit but instead he came in the spirit of confession. We all should not stand with the critical nature also, blaming them for the mess they are in, but instead, identify with their sin and recognize it as our own as well. Moving from critic to confessor will transform us as well as set that example for others.

Too often we treat prayer as only something we say before a meal or just before we go to bed. Oswald Chambers once said, “Too often we see prayer as the preparation for the work of the church. Do you not see that prayer is the work of the church?” True prayer is a prayer of repentance where our eyes are open to see what God already sees. And that we are not quick to criticize but quick to confess, that we would not point the finger but reach out with an encouraging hand, and that we will be quick to take to our knees to pray for the things and people in need. Then and only then as we ask and act upon discernment through repentance will we see lives changed or see the breakthrough of things we sought for. We just have to believe that it all starts here in our hearts. Jesus said it this way:

“Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.’" (Matt. 17:19-21 NKJV)

Are you facing a mountain that is not moving? It may not be someone else’s fault or someone else’s issues. It may be that it simply needs to start with our heart of repentance and prayers for and with them. We may need to go into fasting or deeper prayer. No one likes the “f” word of Fasting. But God calls us into fasting, and it may not always mean fasting from food. It could be fasting from things we’ve began to worship more that our time with God. It could mean fasting from our devices, apps and games, or fasting from texting and social media. It only means that God wants us to spend more time with Him and not more time with the things that easily distract us from Him. It will be a different kind of fasting for each of us, but when we do take the action God demanded of us it is then that we will begin to see His miracles happening and our lives transformed.

3. THE ASK & THE ACTION: Deliverance through risk.

Can you see the peeling away of the layers? All we need to do is respond like Nehemiah responded. Now at this point God is asking Nehemiah to receive deliverance by taking a risk:

“‘We are Your servants, the people You rescued by Your great power and might. O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring You. Please grant me success now as I go to ask the king for a great favor. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.’ In those days I was the king's cup-bearer.” (Neh. 1:10-11 NLT)

Here we see that Nehemiah is in a very high position with the ruler of Babylon and to take that risk to abandon his post usually means ultimate death. To be the cup bearer to the ruler means that you test all the food and drinks to make sure no one is trying to poison the ruler. To ask anything of this post means you will put to death, no questions or rebuttal allowed. But Nehemiah is willing to take this risk to help his people even though he was never really a part of them nor ever been to Jerusalem. Nonetheless his heart is driven to help his people. For this he must ask to leave his post for some time to go to Jerusalem. So he asks God to help him be freed long enough to go to Jerusalem. The miraculous happens when the Babylonian ruler lets him go. So you see deliverance came through this man of faith who had compassion enough to take the risk and was able through the miracle of God to do it.

So let’s ask ourselves, where do we need to see deliverance in our lives? Are we willing to invest in those relationships with which God blesses us? Are we willing to build discernment through repentance so we can see the things that God already sees and knows in our lives? Can we confess those things which hold us back and risk our comfort zones so that we will be pushed forward to act upon all that God is telling us to act upon? Are we willing to take that step Nehemiah took to see the kind of deliverance he saw? Jesus calls us to that just as we read in what Paul wrote:

“Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us.” (2 Cor. 4:11 MSG)

This is not haphazard risk, this is something God has called us to do and by God’s grace the people will see Jesus in us and we will see things happen like we have never seen before.

I recall something that just happened a few weeks ago on water baptism Sunday. I was worried about the forecast of rain on that day. Pastor Wayne told me it never rained on baptism day in all the years he’s done it, so I was worried. This was my first water baptism as campus pastor and it was pouring. As we got closer to the beach the rain wouldn’t stop, I began to think I wasn’t a worthy servant of God. But Pastor Wayne said, “Don’t worry, Jon, I’ve been praying and God has told me you’re a good person of God. It is just that your faith needs to be stronger.” Lo and behold by the time we reached the beach the rain subsided and when the baptism service began we had beautiful blue skies. But the rain wasn’t the big deal, it was a covenant between Pastor Wayne and God and it was a calling of a new kind of faith for me. That is the same kind of faith that God is calling all of us to have. Whatever the risk, the miracle will not happen until we take that first step, then we will see it. So we need to invest in those relationships that God puts before us. And we need to sincerely ask how we can help. Then we need to take that step of faith- that risk, and finally we need to take action. We will begin to see the miracles of God being done.

Study Suggestions

1) What has God put on your heart that will help to transform you?

2) Who are the people or what are the situations God wants you to invest your time and heart into?

3) What do you need to do to find discernment through repentance?

4) What risks will it take?

5) Where do you need to see deliverance in your life?