I'm not usually one for blogging my sermons. In fact, I've never done this - mostly because my sermons aren't in manuscript form. Nonetheless, since I had nothing else worthwhile to write this morning, I thought I'd give you the "Big Idea" of the sermon I preached last weekend titled Feeding Your Restlessness.
This is the second in the series that we at The Voyage Church are calling RESTLESS. The series itself is largely based on Bill Hybels and his recent book Holy Discontent. Our goal throughout the series has been to help people see that they were created for reason - that their life has meaning and purpose. Unfortunately, many people end up in places and positions where they are living so far from what they were created by God to do and be in this world that their lives are extremely painful to watch. Simply put, their miserable. Therefore, our hope is that through this series God would begin to speak to them and that people would take the time to listen to what He might be saying.
Having said all of this, last week I preached a sermon about what you do once you've found the passion and pursuit that God has for you in this life. If you know God wants you to be a writer in order to impact thousands of lives, what should you do next? If you know God is calling you to be a stay-at-home mom, how do you develop this passion in your life? The problem here is that many people figure out their God given passion and yet they don't feed it. They begin to back away and eventually the fire and the passion begins to dwindle and soon it's gone all-together and not easily rekindled.
As I worked my way through the book of Nehemiah in preparation for this sermon, I came across something that struck me and became the Big Idea in the sermon. Nehemiah faced a great deal of opposition as he and his fellow Jews began to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem. As they were facing the threat of swords, spears and bows, Nehemiah says these words:
"Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your
homes." (Neh. 4:14)
In the margin of my bible I wrote Nehemiah's statement in my own words: "Move forward despite your doubts." In essence, this is what I think Nehemiah was saying to his people. Keep at it! Keep going despite how scared you are and how threatening the situation may be!
And then, I found these words in Nehemiah 4:20 that jumped out at me. It says, "Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there [along the wall]. Our God will fight for us!"
Our God will fight for us.
The fact is, God wants us to win. He wants us to discover our God given passion and pursuit in this life. So, if your wrestling with doubts, anxiety, uncertainty, often the best thing you can do is to keep moving forward despite your doubts because your God will fight for you.
This in a nutshell is what I said on Sunday morning - of course I said it far more eloquently (insert laugh track here).
I hope you have found it helpful.
