Kingdom Agents Part 4

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on March 10th 2024  by Colin. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here. 

Nehemiah

Nehemiah was a captive, who was taken to Persia. There he rose to become the cupbearer. It tells us that he was a man of integrity. Even though he was a thousand miles away from Jerusalem, he was concerned. He asks his brother for a report and he weeps. His heart went out to the people of God and the city of God. 3 months later at an opportune time, he requested the king to let him be released to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He got permission, papers and provisions from the king. He went out and surveyed the walls of the city and saw the destruction. He then envisioned the people to rebuild the walls. 

The people then put their hands to the task and did the work of rebuilding. It wasn’t a skilled job, but everyone except the nobles of Tekoa did the work. No matter what we are in the world, we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Then there was opposition from people who were trying to distract them from doing the work of God. 

”And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres. And the sons of the singers gathered together from the district surrounding Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites; also from Beth-gilgal and from the region of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem. And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall. Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the south on the wall to the Dung Gate. And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah, and Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above the Tower of the Ovens, to the Broad Wall,“ - Nehemiah‬ ‭12‬:‭27‬-‭33‬, ‭38‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The temple was dedicated with great joy! 

”And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.“ - Nehemiah‬ ‭8‬:‭1‬-‭3‬, ‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

There was worship, confession of sin and the preaching and teaching of the word, keeping of the law. But in chapter 13 we see things change. We see people backsliding. 

”On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.“ - Nehemiah‬ ‭13‬:‭1‬, ‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Some corruption started taking place. This happened when Nehemiah was not there. 

1. The people of God pledged to follow God's word but they backslid. They allowed the enemies of God to come up and set up a room in the house of God. 

2. To be set apart: 1 Corinthians 6:14 ”Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!“ god's standard is to be a people set apart. If you’re thinking of marriage, this is important to note. The word of God says we are not to be unequally yoked. 

3. To keep the sabbath 

4. Not supporting God's work 

Lessons to learn : 

1. Ordinary people can be used by God to do extraordinary things. With God all things are possible. Moses was 80 years old when he started the exodus. Jesus used ordinary fishermen to build his church. Mary was a young teen girl and God used her to be the mother of Jesus. The problems are so big that we feel overwhelmed. God places a burden in your heart for something. You don’t have to do everything, but each of us must do something! 

2. We need to be prayerful people: William Wilberforce worked to abolish slavery in England. These things happen through persistence and prayer. 

3. Each of us has a role in God's kingdom: there is no caste system in Christ, we are all one in Christ. Nehemiah 3:20 ”After him Baruch the son of Zabbai repaired another section from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest.” They worked zealously and with all their heart. We all are busy but we have to work for God. Befriending people out there so that we share the love of Jesus with them. Within the church let’s open our homes and hearts. 

4. Move out of your comfort zone: Nehemiah was living in luxury. But he moved out of his comfort zone, to a ruined city. We default to what is easy. But God wants us to stretch. How can we stretch? In a gym, unless you stretch, you don’t grow. It’s the same with our hearts. 

5. Never underestimate the consequences of sin: as the church we are called to live holy lives. We are living in a time of abundance of access to the word of God. But if we don’t use it, we will run out of steam. It’s like oxygen. It is abundant, but we need to inhale it.

Thank god for NDehemiah. One day we will meet him in heaven 

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.   

Kingdom Agents Part 3

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on March 3rd 2024  by Colin. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here. 

KINGDOM AGENTS PART 3 – NEHEMIAH

Colin D

Change is inevitable. Nations have changed in their power and influence. Portugal was a powerful nation in 16C AD. Two thousand years ago the Romans ruled and before them the Greeks, before them the Persians, and before them the Babylonians. Kingdoms will come and go but God’s purposes will prevail and continue to be fulfilled. Rom9:17

Let us look at Nehemiah – He lived 450 years before Jesus.

What can we learn about transforming cities and nations through this book?

1Cor 10:11 “These things were written as warnings and examples for us.

NEH 1:1: Our story begins in November in Susa – modern-day Iran (Persia). They conquered Nebuchadnezzar. How did Nehemiah land 900 miles away from Israel?

150 years before Nehemiah the Jews (Jer 25) continue their rebellion. Jeremiah prophecies that they would go into captivity for 70 years. They were taken captive to Babylon. Seventy years later the Persians rose and conquered Babylon.

Return of the exile Phase 1 – Ezra. He helped build the temple, but the walls were not yet built.

Neh1 Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the King. He had an important role. To be a cupbearer you also had to be cultured, conversant in law, have a good personality etc.

Neh2:1 The King is Artaxerxes. Nehemiah and Ezra were contemporaries. Ezra was older. Nehemiah came 20 years later. Artaxerxes was the stepson of Queen Esther.

Nehemiah is still in exile, but this was his heart posture.

1.  He was concerned about what was happening in Israel.

2.  He wept and mourned.

3.  He fasted and prayed for days.

4.  Nehemiah had a great relationship with the King and was the closest to the King next to his wife.

 

Prayer is mentioned fourteen times because Nehemiah was a man of prayer.

Neh. 9:5-37 is the longest prayer recorded in the bible.

Am I concerned about God’s people i.e. both the small c church and the big C church?

Ch2:4 Nissan – it is the month of April. A few months later. Nehemiah’s sadness shows on his face and the king notices it.

Nehemiah speaks to the Kings and asks to go to Israel.

This reminds us of Jesus. He was concerned for us who were lost and in exile to Satan’s kingdom. He left His comfort of heaven and came to save us.

 

Nehemiah asks on behalf of his people at 2:11. He comes to Jerusalem in v 13 inspects the ruins and sees the mess.

2:17 He saw a problem and did not grumble about it. So, they start building a wall.

Ch3:1 So the people got involved. The high priest, priest, goldsmiths, perfume maker, temple guard, Levites and merchants – all together built the wall. They got their hands dirty – they did not stand at the ceremony.

3:5 One group did not help i.e. the nobles of Tekoa.

4:6 They worked with all their heart. Whatever we do for God is a great honor.

When you are building for God, you will face opposition.

4:13 So this is what Nehemiah did. He put families in charge of guarding the walls where they lived. They built with a shovel in one hand and a sword in one.

6:15 The wall was built in 52 days.

They also helped the poor.

Ch8 – they heard the word.

Ch9, They repented and fasted and rejoiced.

 

What can we learn from this?

History keeps repeating itself. But Jesus is building His church and transforming cities.

Rulers will come and go but the church will last forever.

What can we do? – Be a people for prayer

They all served together.

We need to guard unity. God can do great things through unity. So, make an effort to be there.

As we play our part, we can build great things for God.

 Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.   

Kingdom Agents Part 2

 

This message was preached at Word Of Grace Church on February 11th 2024  by Lasya. For the audio & video please click here.  For the worship please click here. 

The Kingdom in Exile
Esther 

Introduction 

Where do you feel most at home? 

“and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” Heb 11:13 

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” - Philippians 3:20 

Heaven is our true home. When we understand that this world is not our home, we start living differently.  When you travel to different places we try to replicate the place that is home to us. If heaven is our home and we are exiles on the earth, how can we bring the kingdom of God- Heaven to earth? 

In the coming weeks, we will look at the stories of different people from the OT who stewarded and championed the kingdom of God in exile. Today, we are looking at the life of a young girl who was orphaned at a young age and was being brought up by her cousin. Any guesses? 

Esther is one of only 2 books of the bible where God's name is not mentioned, (the other is Songs of Solomon). As we move through this world, it can feel like that- God is not mentioned, and no one acknowledges him or honours him as God. Though God’s name is not mentioned, as we will see in the book of Esther, his hand is all over it. He manifests himself as providence - the coincidences, the favour, the sleepless nights, the reversal of fate. 

This is the story of a young girl who prevents genocide in the nation of Persia. I believe that the book of Esther can give us a prophetic strategy for our time as a nation. So when confronted with injustices in our schools, workplaces, neighbourhoods and cities, how can we respond? How can we be salt and light in a hostile environment? 

We start in Persia with an ego-maniacal king who has surrounded himself with wicked advisers. One day, partying with his friends and after getting drunk, he calls his wife to come so he can show her off. When she said no to this degrading request, he divorced her and threw her out of his house. When he starts missing her, his advisers tell him to have a beauty contest and pick his favourite. He likes the idea. 

Then enters Mordecai, who enrolls his cousin-daughter(Esther) into this beauty contest! Amongst all the other beauties Esther stands out and wins the favour of the chief Eunuch. Favour is a manifestation of God’s goodness. Though God's Name is not mentioned, his hand is manifest. When you ask yourself, why was I picked for this role, why am I asked to travel to this country or given this opportunity, remember that favour is one of the ways God manifests his goodness. But also, favour is how God sets us up. 

When she is presented before that king, he is bowled over! Esther is made queen! This is the best case scenario, they hacked the system, and they can both live comfortable lives. 

But then there is a twist in the story and enter Haman. He is as narcissistic as the king if not more. When Mordecai doesn’t bow down to him as the rest (because Mordecai is a good Jew) - he takes it upon himself to not only destroy Mordecai but his entire race. There is an edict to kill all the Jews, the king gives him the funds and his signet ring (his authority). Things seem hopeless. 

This is where our life as a Christian becomes real. When we stand up for God, refuse to do as instructed. Wait a second, I thought this was a secular country. What's happening?  

When this happens we can react in one of 2 ways- 

• Revolt: “When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry.” - Esther 4:1 ESV

• Recede: “When Esther's young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.” - Esther 4:4 ESV

All of us fall somewhere in this spectrum when we see injustices and atrocities in our nation. But there is another way. In Luke 1, Zechariah the priest prophecies that  Jesus came to guide our feet into the path of peace. 

4 P’s for Peace 

1. Partnership - across ages,  cultures, locations and denominations. 

Mordecai sends word to Esther educating her about all that is happening and with a challenge. “Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"” - Esther 4:13-14 ESV

Mordecai and Esther are from different generations, genders, and currently, social status. But what is happening here is not just friendship, it is partnership. 

Mordecai does 3 things: he educates Esther, he shares his burden, and he challenges her. Do we have partnerships like that in our life? In the church? 

This is what Mordecai would say to us today. “Don't think that in your cushy job and attending church on Sundays in a cosmopolitan city, you will escape any more than the pastors who are being beaten and arrested and chased in some of the cities. If you keep silent at this time/ if you shrink back, relief and deliverance will rise for the Christians in India from another place, but you and your family will have missed something. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this.”

2.                Prayer 

“"Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish."” - Esther 4:16 ESV

Prayer is partnership with God. Prayer and fasting are the most potent yet underused weapons in our arsenal. It is not a way to arm twist God, but is a way to display that you are serious about his business. It is setting ourselves apart for him. Illustration of praying for Ralphy. Fasting is a bow for the arrow 

Application: come for the monthly prayer every month. Fast and pray. 

3.                Posture 

“On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, in front of the king's quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.” - Esther 5:1-2 ESV

Irreverence and disrespect will not win peace. “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.” - 1 Peter 2:17-18 ESV

This is different from people-pleasing. People-pleasing is for our sake, it's about what you can get out of them - whether their approval or favour. That's what Haman was doing- it’s hypocrisy. But Esther showed true humility, she served the king and honoured his position. 

Our posture of honour exhibits our trust in God. There are times we need to be forceful but never disrespectful! 

4.                Participation 

“Then Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king." Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, "Who is he, and where is he, who has dared to do this?" And Esther said, "A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!" Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.” - Esther 7:3-6 ESV

We can discuss and pray and postulate, but at some point we just have to take action. It involves risk and vulnerability. Esther had to expose who she was in order to ask for the lives of her people to be saved. She could have lost her life. 

Phil 3:10: that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

We are called to participate in the sufferings of Christ. 

Application: What are some of the practical things that you can do in your sphere of influence? Start with yourself, your neighbourhood, your classrooms and workplaces. Because there is great reward for the risk. 

The result: 

“For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them. But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.” - Esther 9:24-25 ESV

There was another man who left the glory of heaven and was exiled to a lowly place on earth- with the target on his back from the moment he was born. But he lived a blameless life - partnering with fishermen and tax collectors, frequently getting away to pray to his father in heaven, in a posture of a humble servant, obedient, to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

But in a reversal of fate, rose from the grave on the third day, defeated sin and death forever. The very cross that was his death has become life for us. Today, we are called into a partnership with him.

How we handle our influence in this generation, will either perpetuate the atrocities and immorality that we see today or it will put an end to it. As we partner with those outside our comfort zones, as we pray and fast, as we humble ourselves in obedience and as we readily participate in the sufferings of Christ. Because the harvest is plenty and the reward is great! 

And one day when the king of kings and the lord of lords returns, the evil plan of the enemy will return on his own head and he and the sons of darkness will see eternal damnation. But for those who trust God and obey his commands, there is eternal life.  

Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again),  Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English-speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service.  Word of Grace is part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.