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Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually. #tonyevans #tonyevanssermon #KingdomImpact
a kingdom vision is when God lets you
see a need that he wants you to be part
of meeting even though you don’t know
how it’s going to get done yet when God
sees that he can use us for Kingdom
impact Kingdom Purpose then when we are
in his will he provides what we need
because your calling will always involve
something God has given you to do to
make a difference for
him
I want to call our attention today to
Nehemiah chapter
1 Nehemiah
1 because here is a man who had to
develop Kingdom
Vision because Kingdom vision is not
just about you your future your career
your salary your desire your education
it is about the imprint of God through
you in history
this glimpse of the future
now the words of
Nehemiah were introduced to in verse one
it happened in the month of
chislev in the 20th year when I was in
Souza the
capital and Han and I one of my brothers
and some men from Judah came and I asked
them
concerning the Jews who had escaped and
had survived the Captivity and about
Jerusalem and they said to me the
remnant there in the province who
survive the Captivity are in great
distress and
reproach and the wall of Jerusalem is
broken down and its
gates are burned with
fire so these are God’s people people in
distress and are
reproached not taken seriously not
believed not
followed not requested for their
perspective cuz we don’t we don’t take
them
seriously they’re as racially divided in
the church as we are in the
culture there’s class divided in the
church as we are in the culture there
they got as many divorces in the church
as we got in the culture we got as many
men abandoning their responsibility in
the church as they do in the culture so
how we going to listen to them and how
we going to listen to their God when
they don’t even listen to their
God they are
reproach he says the
walls are burned
down the Walls have crumbled well the
walls encase the city so that means
there’s no
security
everybody’s got to F for
themselves there is no police and
Community agreement cuz crime and gone
through through the wall they they burnt
up so so stuff can infiltrate the city
and Bring Havoc to the
community in other words it’s a mess up
there things have not gotten better
since they left
captivity since they
left Persia since they started with
Babylon captivity then they were with
Persia and now that they’ve been
released to go back
home nothing’s better in the old
neighborhood that’s how they
felt going back to the Magnificent city
of Jerusalem apple of God’s
eye and
all they could report was is bad I mean
it’s really
bad Nehemiah hears
this in verse four and when he heard it
he sat down and wept and mourned for
days so that’s the
problem the problem is regression in the
community of the
Saints which made them a reproach to the
environment in which they were
situated and it brought him a broken
heart well the first thing he does after
hearing about the problem is go to
prayer because it says at the end of
verse four and I was fasting and praying
before the god of
Heaven oh he’s got a what looks like an
unfixable problem that drives him to
fasting and
prayer I mean this is so deep for so
long and so bad only God can fix
this so I better talk to heaven cuz of
how messed up things are on on
earth now please notice we going we’re
going to conclude by
seeing what happens but he doesn’t go to
heaven last he goes to heaven
first he doesn’t pray after he prays
before God is on the front end not on
the back end because the nature of this
problem demands heaven Heavenly
intervention Kingdom prayer is
designed to call down Earthly
intervention because you need to access
Heavenly
Authority does prayer
work he has an unconditional will and a
conditional will what’s the difference
an unconditional will means things he’s
going to do regardless of what anybody
else does in other words it’s just based
on him deciding to do it regardless of
anybody else doing
anything his conditional will is tied to
things he decides only to do when you
meet the qualifications for him doing
it one of the primary conditions that
God says has to be met to meet his
conditional will and his desired will is
prayer that’s why he says you have not
because you ask not we don’t know
whether this is unconditional or
conditional is it his desired will or is
it his determined will and since we’re
not sure often which is which that’s why
the Bible says pray about all
things he goes to
God and he says you are great and
awesome why in verse five does he say
God is great and
awesome because you have to know how big
God is when you see how big your problem
is so he EST stols the character of God
in light of the
crisis far too many of us have a God
that’s too
small which is why we don’t go to him
because if we thought he was really that
big we would go to him more but since we
got this tiny God we go to him for tiny
things to the great and awesome
God does that mean he’s going to say yes
to every prayer absolutely not because
some things he has
determined that even if you pray he’s
not going to do
it so he’s he’s got a determined will
but don’t miss out on the things he’s
agreed to do if you meet the
qualifications because you did
pray he says who serves this Covenant is
loving kindness to all who love him and
keep his Commandments see the
qualifications now he comes to the
situation verse 6
let your ear be attentive and your eyes
open to the prayer of your servant which
I am praying before you
now I confess verse six my sins and the
sons of God so let me tell you now if
you’re not willing to deal with sin your
voice won’t be heard in
heaven now he says I need you to forgive
me for how we have abandon you and then
he comes to verse 9 and says here it is
remember the word word which you
commanded your servant Moses saying if
you are Unfaithful I will scatter you
among the people but if you return to me
and keep my Commandments and do them uh
though those of you who have uh been
scattered were in the midst of the
remote part of the heavens I will gather
them from there and will bring them to
the place where I have chosen to cause
my name to dwell now let me give you
another part of
prayer first of all you have to
recognize God’s person and how big he is
that’s why when I hear a
problem I try to don’t I’m not always
successful but I try to just to position
it up against the size of God awesome
God and then he goes to God’s Purity we
have sinned we have not met your
standard we’ve disobeyed you he comes
clean with
God and why not he knows it
anyway but then he
says remember what you
said he says remember your word that you
spoke through your servant
Moses
um did you know this may not sound right
but did you know you can hold God
Hostage to his
word he’s exalted his word above his
name you can hold him Hostage to God you
said
it and if you need some help read it to
him just open up your B and read it to
him just
say here right here you
said
okay so we are your people verse 10 who
you’ve
Redeemed by your great power and your
strong hand and we’ve seen what you can
do yesterday I’m asking you to do it for
us today we’re in a bad situation in our
country in our culture in our
church and so verse
11 oh
Lord I beseech you I I’m I’m begging
you may your ear be attentive to the
prayer of your servant and the prayer of
your servants who Delight to Revere your
name and make your servant successful
today and Grant him compassion before
this
man what man the last line of verse 11
now I was a cup Bearer to the
king the cup Bearer to the king is like
the chief of staff doesn’t mean he just
drank before the king drunk and and ate
before the king ate but it it was a it
was a a high level administrative
position called the cup Bearer the chief
of the staff the
executive so he was way up
there so when I go before this man
today I need I need you to go in that
room with
me cuz this is a bad
situation now why did I point that
out why did I even bring that
up because of chapter 2 verse
one it came about in the month of
nison why does that matter because of
chapter 1 verse one now it happened in
the month of chislev
those are two different
months there is a four and a half month
gap between chislev and nyson those are
four and a half months apart from each
other he got the news in
chislev when he got the news he
prayed in his prayer he said do
something
today but nothing happens for four and a
half
months because your time and his time is
not always the same
time I I know cuz when you’re in a
crisis you want God to do something
right
now so it’s 4 and a half months later
what
happens this is where you’ve got to see
you’ve got to see you got to have
Kingdom sight he goes in to serve the
king verse one so the king said to me
me why is your face sad though you are
not sick there is nothing but sadness in
your heart then I was very much
afraid okay I don’t want you to miss
that he’s sad for four and a half months
cuz he’s still sad and it’s four and a
half months later so that means it’s a
big problem when you sad for an extended
amount of
time but notice what God did he let the
king bring it up
he
said let the King live forever why
should my face not be sad when the city
in the place of my father’s tombs lies
desolate and its Gates have been
consumed by fire he says you ask me and
I’m
scared and look at what he did in verse
four then the king said to me what is
your request so I prayed to the god of
Heaven wait a minute now he prayed
chisl now he’s
praying because a specific opportunity
has arisen the king says what can I how
can I help
you he prays again Lord give me the
right words to say I don’t want to miss
mess this up you know you’re going in
for a job interview pray first you want
to mess this
up God God got something special here he
says and I prayed that God would do
something now
I want to show you something else that
is easy to miss unless you have
spiritual eyes unless you are looking
Heavenly
first and
that he
says that he is
now talking to the king verse 6 then the
king said to
me the queen sitting beside
him
he said to
me the queen sitting beside
him the queen had nothing to do with
nothing she doesn’t come up it it
doesn’t tell us anything about the queen
it doesn’t give us any information about
the queen all it tells us is when I was
talking to the king the queen was
sitting next to
him why would Nehemiah tell us that I
mean it doesn’t seem to fit you just
look like a throw in phrase that the
queen is sitting next to the king when
I’m just talking to the king about the
problem the king asked me why and now
let’s throw in but the queen was there
too he’s in
Persia you know who else was in
Persia a lady
named
Esther stay with me here you
remember Mori told
Esther I need you to go before the
king and plead my case and the case of
the Jewish people before the
king but Esther said I can’t go in
there because until you’re invited to
become before the king and he has not
invited you I will be putting my life in
my
hands
Mori says to her you’ve been called to
the kingdom for such a time as this and
if you don’t do it God will find
somebody else who will cuz God has a
kingdom vision and a Kingdom Purpose she
said if I Parish I perish she goes in
she saves all the Jews from hmon who
wants to destroy all the Jews this
influence of a woman on a man set the
stage see Nehemiah wants us to know that
this queen was critical to this decision
cuz it comes from the same
circumstance that was in play in
Esther and
so I pray to the god of
heaven and then what did I wind up with
here it is God gives him a plan I said
to the king if it pleas the king in
verse 5 your servant without favor let
me go to the cities that I might rebuild
it and I said to the king verse 7 if it
pleases the king let letters be given to
me from the governors of the provinces
beyond the river that they may allow me
to pass through until I come to
Judah he says our culture is
broken but I believe God wants to fix
it the king is not a
Believer but the Earth is the Lord’s the
fullness thereof the world and all they
that dwell in
it not only did the king if you read the
chapter give him the letters that would
give him safe travel he gave him the
resources to do the
rebuilding wait a minute wait a minute
you don’t understand
that God used the devil’s man and the
devil’s money
to rebuild the kingdom
program see he he God knows how to use
Sinners to help out Saints when Saints
see what God wants to do for his kingdom
program God God because all of it
belongs to God Satan just wants to use
it but when God sees that he can use us
for Kingdom impact Kingdom Purpose
Kingdom rebuilding because we see
Heaven’s purpose then when we are in his
will he provides what we need and that’s
how you know you have a kingdom Vision
because God always supplies what he
calls you to
complete and so what does he say as we
close he he makes some profound
statement verse 12 of chapter 2 I arose
that night I and a few with me I did not
tell anyone what God was putting in my
mind to do for for
Jerusalem then he comes down to verse 18
I told them how the hand of my God had
been favorable to me and about the
king’s word verse 20 so I answered them
and said to them the god of heaven will
give us
success you see how much God comes into
this okay so let let let’s let’s bring
this home now
look a kingdom
vision is when God lets you see a
need that he wants you to be part of
meeting even though you don’t know how
it’s going to get done
yet how do you see
that how do you see your Kingdom Purpose
he said I’m a cup Bearer for the king
that was his job that was not his
mission but his job opened the door for
his mission
his mission was to rebuild Jerusalem his
job was merely a conduit don’t confuse
your job with your calling now your job
may be your calling okay you can have a
job that’s also a calling my job is also
my calling but every job is not your
calling Paul was a Tent Maker that was
his job his calling was to reach the
Gentiles with the gospel so your job may
be your calling but don’t mix up your
job as your calling because your calling
will always involve something God has
given you to do to make a difference for
him not just make money for you number
one he had a
burden you will always see based on a
weight God puts on your heart that’s a
burden something you cannot shake cuz
for four and a half months he’s not been
able to shake his concern for this
situation so there is a
burden secondly he says God put it in my
mind to do something so it starts in his
heart with a burden but then it comes to
his mind with an idea because the holy
spirit renews the mind he brings God’s
thoughts into your thinking even though
you don’t know how to do it he says I
don’t know just help me with the King
today and it was four and a half months
you don’t have the particulars so from
the
burden came the prayer from the prayer
came an Open Door the king comes to him
from that God puts an idea in his mind
that leads to a plan to make a
difference for the glory of God for the
good of people using the skills that he
had learned because as the administrator
watch this for the king he knew how to
put projects together so God used his
secular employment to prepare him for
his kingom om Vision so yes you may be
employed as a teacher but God may be
wanting you to use teaching skills for
the kingdom how can I take the vision
God has shown me burdened me and given
me and transfer it for something he lets
me to see that creates a burden in me a
kingdom vision is a vision where you can
see the change that God can use you to
make in a world of desperation
because I see
Heaven wanting to make a difference
through me on Earth in a decaying
culture if Christ does not come back
soon if things keep going the way
they’re going you won’t want to live
here
anymore if things keep going the way
they’re going at the speed they’re going
without divine intervention this is not
going to be a happy place to live
now I don’t have time to get into all
the idiosyncrasies of all that could
happen as things unravel but that’s what
you’re looking at so we better get some
folk with some Kingdom
Vision who can look to heaven to
intervene on Earth but if we can get
some folk with some Kingdom
Vision who can see heaven on
Earth we can rename this bad boy and
give it something that God can be
glorified in and people can be proud to
live in cuz we’re not looking like
they’re
looking we’re looking up there and
asking up there to make a difference
down
[Applause]
[Music]
here what do you do
when Society has shredded
when the life that should breathe hope
and help in a
community has become a wasteland
emptiness surround you how do you
resurrect
it well God has not left us to guess
about that he has a specific order and
plan for the
rebuilding of the lives of people where
it’s been shredded by evil and sin
and breakdown and
disintegration we do not have to give up
hope even when the culture looks like
it’s
collapsed because after all God created
government God created civilization God
created Society but he also created
rules and when we follow that rules and
when we follow those guidelines we can
see what was broken
rebuilt let’s see how to rebuild a
culture that is broken
[Music]
down
[Music]
oh