Courage | Part 1

I I just want to start off with, you know, we're starting this new series called Courage but I I want to start by just giving us a couple questions to ponder as we unpackage the the message today. And the first question is simply this, what what does it take to make a difference? What quality?

What does it take to be a difference maker? And then right along with that is what kind of a people does god look for to support and and and and then be there for to to to take care of. What kind of people does god look for to basically use and and and to guide them?

Those are are two good questions to think about as we unpackage that today. And as you think about that, let me tell you a story about when I was in high school. And so I had a friend growing up named Jimmy, and we went we went one day in high school. We went with some other friends to go the cliff diving.

We're like jumping off rocks into the water up at the lake and we we we knew we didn't go to a stupid place. We weren't dumb teenagers. We went to the place that everybody knew about that the water was nice and deep. There wasn't anything you're gonna hit and and and it was it was cool. It was pretty high, but it was it was safe. So we went there. And as we got there, somehow, I got out of the boat first and got to the land. I don't know what they were doing, but somehow, I got all the way up and they weren't even starting to climb. But it was interesting as I climbed up. I thought, wow, I'm gonna be the first one to to jump. This is gonna be great. But then if you ever noticed when you go to do something like like jump off something, especially even a high dive, it looks way more like less intimidating from down below than as you start to go up. So as I climbed, I kept looking around. I go, well, this would be a nice place to jump from. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Got all the way to the top. And so then I'm like, okay. I'm gonna do this, but I kinda wanna go look over the edge first.

The problem was this particular place to jump is rounded. And and even though it sticks way out over the water, it's plenty safe. You can't literally stand on the edge and look down. You basically get close, and then you just have to take a couple steps and leap.

And and so I was I I I went to look. I couldn't look. I realized, okay. Well, I guess I'm just gonna have to do this. And then I then I started that, like, process of going, here we go.

Like, that's gonna do anything. You're

I was like, I I started I looked like a a person trying to learn how to drive a stick shift car. I was like, I kept starting and stopping and starting and stopping and and then I had flashbacks too. I was that kid on the high dive the first time that gets out there that won't do it and then what is the the the were you ever that kid? You get out there and you freak out once you get up there? Or were you the kid behind that got mad and started shaking the board? If you were, you're a jerk.

I jumped down and bear hugged the board. This isn't helping. Well, I was having one of those moments. But I've I wanted to jump, but I just couldn't do it. And as I was sitting there starting and stopping, all of sudden, I felt this thing bump into me and run right past me and just jump. It was my friend Jimmy. He got there, ran right past me, jumps and goes, yoo hoo.

Sounded like goofy. And then he hits the ground. Not the ground, the water. That would've been a completely different story. I thought there was no water down there that day. No. He he lands in the water, hear the splash, and I hear this, jump, you coward. And I was like, okay. I'm gonna jump. And I started doing it again.

I just kept pausing and pausing, and I wanted to, I wanted then I stepped backwards and go, this time, I'm gonna do it. And right as I was thinking about it, something passed me again, hit me only this time it was wet, and it was Jimmy again.

He had already climbed all the way back up and ran right by me. Only this time when he jumped, he spun in the air looking at me. As he flew, he's like, coward. And he's yeah.

So then I figured, I have got to go before he gets a third time. I'm gonna do it and I did. I did. As he was getting to the top, I heard him. I look. I go, no. And I ran and jumped and then he jumped right behind me and almost hit me but that's a whole another story. But

as we are down at the bottom again, they're like, oh, how could you do that? I go, are you stupid? Were you not scared? He goes, I was terrified. He goes, I was more afraid of you. You didn't get scared till you got to the top, did you? I go, yeah, not really. He goes, I was terrified at the bottom

And I go, well, then why were you able to do it? He goes, because I what I told myself the whole time I'm climbing up, the second I get to the top, I'm not think I'm just going. I'm just gonna go. Because he goes, if I did what you did, I'd still be up there.

And and and he realized he just had to do it. He knew his savior. He's like, he he realized you he could not stand there long enough. To all of a sudden feel like he could do it. He just had to decide. You know what? I I I I realized that day is that is the definition

of the type of of of the quality it takes to make a difference. That is also the definition of the type of person god will support because what he just described is what courage is.

The definition of courage. You see, I was afraid and I let it stop me. He was terrified and he didn't. See, I kept waiting thinking that eventually, I'll I'll it won't be scary to jump and the longer I waited, it never got not scary

and as my dad taught me when I was a kid, when I'd be afraid of something and he would say to me and my sister, you know, you gotta do it. No, we're afraid because now you have to have courage but we're scared and he would laugh at us which I think wasn't that great of parenting but still, the intent was there. He would say, no, no, no. He would laugh and say,

if you're not scared, then it's not courage. Courage isn't the lack of fear. Courage is stepping out despite the fear or as the great theologian John Wayne put it, you can be scared to death but you saddle up anyways. That's what courage is. Courage is that ability and that's that's the quality

that allows us to make a difference, to be difference makers, to experience the life that god meant for us to have. That's the type of quality that god looks for to use and to support in people and but you know what kind of people he looks for? Since courage is despite fear, it's ordinary people.

God looks for people like you and me, ordinary people. There's not the Bible superheroes where they just magically don't have any fear. Matter of fact, my dad taught me, if you could go do something that's terrifying and a little bit crazy and you have no fear, you are either stupid or you're naive

but you're not, that's not courage. Courage is I know where I need to go and it scares me but I'm going to go there anyways and that's what god's looking for. That that that's that's what what he wants and and and and the reality is that's what we're gonna be unpacking for the next six weeks.

Is is how do I have the heart of courage? Because you realize what I learned on that day and what is very true is courage is not about my circumstances. Courage is a condition of my heart. I could stand up on that that that rock until the cows came home. And I was never gonna not be afraid to jump. Until after I jumped.

Second time was easy. First time, not so much. And that's really, that's what courage is not about your circumstances. Many of us think, I'm gonna do that

when the timing's right. I'm going to do that when I when when when I feel not afraid and that's not courage and god has called us and he needs us to be people that are courageous

and that's who he will he will support us and god is we need to have the courage to jump where he is, to go where he wants us to go. Matter of fact, the the word courage comes from the Latin word core which which means heart by the way. In in the Greek, it's cardio and and and so courage is a condition in our hearts

and if we're ever going to experience life once, if we ever want to be difference makers and you go, what if I don't want to be a difference maker? That's not true. I know that everyone in this room, you really, really, really deep down in our hearts, we wanna know at the end of our lives that our lives meant something.

You can run after all the fun, all the pleasure, all the things you want, and and you might get everything you ever ran after but nothing you ever hoped for. You might get everything you ever put your your your task to but nothing you ever really long for and that's sad.

When you get everything you wanted but nothing you needed or really longed for and and the only way we're going to get what god really built us to have is to have courage.

And and and so we're going be unpackaging this for the next six weeks because I believe there's six heart conditions of courage and we'll be looking at em at em each week and and and I'll be honest, I talked about it last week and stuff. Part of the reason we want to talk about this topic is is we collectively as a church need to be courageous over the next few

and the next couple of years because god has called us to do something. We need to build another building to be quite honest and some of you are like, okay, well, now, I'm going hear six weeks. I'm to go somewhere else because I don't want to hear about that. This is not a six week attempt to just say give money.

I would challenge you even if you don't care about where we're going as a church to stick out all six weeks because if you learn about what it means to have a courageous heart, it will change you. It will change you and you'll be able to go where god wants you to go no matter what. But we need to build some walls. So,

we are going to look at courage by looking at the story of a man who was called to be courageous to build a wall. His name is Nehemiah and

he needed to get not only did he need to jump and go do this thing, he needed god's people to go with him to be able to do this this incredible accomplishment and so today, we're just gonna look at the first four verses of Nehemiah chapter one. And the big idea today, the first condition of a courageous heart is this.

The first condition is a dislocated heart. The first condition of courage is I need to have a dislocated heart. You're like, that doesn't sound pleasant. A dislocated heart? I've dislocated something before, and that was not good. You wanted to get it back located and not dislocated.

But but what we mean by this dislocated heart, I mean, the whole message is gonna unpackage it. But just a little bit, what I mean by dislocated heart is, I was, when I was on the top of the rock, it was safe, secure, and familiar.

But at one point, I wanted to jump and be down there. So, my body was at the top but my heart started to go there. Doesn't mean I jumped yet but if we, our heart does not dislocate, go to where god is, That's the first step to courage

is do I have a dislocated heart. So, we're going to look at this through the story of Nehemiah. It's in the Old Testament. Anybody heard of the story of Nehemiah? Let me let me see how much Bible knowledge we have in room. Yeah, about the same as the rest. Not much. No.

Just kidding. Lots of people. But the story of Nehemiah is is is in the Old Testament and I just want do little bit of setup this for those of you that maybe don't know the story. Is is god's people, the Israel,

he caught it. The whole testament is god formed these people through Abraham to the Jews to Israel and he said, I'm gonna bless the world through you. You're my chosen people. The problem is many times they took that to be more better than everyone else but they didn't understand. God never intended. Israel was no better than anyone else. Actually, the Israel is exactly like us. The story of Israel is the story of us. They're flawed people. They're broken people. The reason he says, I'm going to use you is I'm going to form you, your city, Jerusalem. I'm going to form this nation. It's going to be a beacon lord because I'm going use you because you are weak. There's not a lot of you. You don't seem like, I'm giving you the peace of land even to this day. The the part of the Middle East that where Israel is, there's no oil. Like, you don't even have the stuff and I'm going to take this little speck of land and this is where I'm going to declare a one true god and I'm to call you out and the real primary reason that he says you're my chosen people and I'm going to bless the world is the Messiah is going to come through there here, Jesus.

Well, then their story is courageous moments of trusting god, filled with getting comfortable,

and then being so comfortable, they didn't wanna be courageous anymore. So, they ran from god and then god had to discipline them and spank them. That's the Old Testament. I just just summarized it all. It's up and down, up and down. Then, they get in a bind, they cry out to god, he rescues him, and second verse, the same as the first, a little bit longer, a little bit worse. There it goes over and over again. Well, one of the times they got so far away from god that he sent them into captivity

and the Babylonian Empire came and took them all away. Basically, wiped out Israel, destroyed the temple, knocked down the walls in Jerusalem, and wiped it out and and god's people as a country ceased to exist but as that happened, he said, but I am doing this to call you back to me.

It's like when you have to, you know, give a kid a timeout or something like that. You're getting this seventy year timeout, he said. But he goes, I will take care of you in captivity and I will bring Israel back because that's my agenda for the world. That's my plan. And he did. Seven years later,

the Persians took out the Babylonians

and the and the king said, you can go back and and they went started to go back two different migrations over the next seventy, eighty years happened. Two big chunks of of Israelites went back to the promised land. What's amazing is how many didn't go back. Most stayed because god had blessed them even in captivity

that they were successful

and they had all been what? Seventy years later, none of these these Jews going back had ever been in the promised land. So, their their whole life, all they knew was being in in in the Persian Empire, then Susa, the capital city. That's most of them didn't go. They were comfortable. They didn't want to go. They they they love god. They like his story but they chose to stay.

So, now, we pick up Nehemiah's story. This is about one hundred years after. They started to go back and Nehemiah is an ordinary guy. He's not a priest. He's not a king. He's not some special but he does have a pretty important job. He's risen through the ranks and he is cup bearer to the king.

You're like, cup bearer? That sounds like a lame job, doesn't it? Can you imagine having a cup bearer in your house? Cup bearer, beer me. You're like, oh wait, sorry, it's church. Cup bearer, juice box me. Give me some fishy too.

Now it's like it just sounds like somebody's like, that's not what the cup bearer did. The cup bearer was actually the number one adviser to the king and the head of a secret service, basically, protection detail.

His his his idea the idea was he would taste the food and drink. That's why he's called the cup bearer. Those drinkers back then if they didn't like you, you got

poisoned. Matter of fact, the current king's dad was poisoned and and so it was a little bit of a dangerous job but it was an important job but who would you put as cup bearer? It had to be someone you absolutely trusted And and and was very capable. And that's why they were your number one adviser.

And your number one protector. It came with a prestige and wealth and a good living. Matter of fact, he was probably driving down the streets of Susa in his nice, compact SUV chariot

and and you know, with room for the car seats for the kids and stuff but but he he he had all of it. He was comfortable. He was living a good life and and it's in this moment that that he starts to hear about what god is doing and god starts to speak to him and his heart dislocates.

His first step, we're only going to go through four verses today and we're going to watch Nehemiah march towards courage with condition number one, a dislocated heart.

So here we go. Verse one, these are the memoirs of Nehemiah, son of Hakaliah. In the late autumn, in the month of Kislev. Oh, man. Month of Kislev. Don't you love Kislev? How many Kislev is your favorite month? Well, actually, being from Arizona, it should be because Kislev is mid November to mid December.

So so don't you wish it was Kislev right now? Yeah. Kislev, nice month. It's in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes' reign. Now that a little bit, Artaxerxes, who's this guy? Artaxerxes might not heard of him. You might have known who his dad was, Xerxes. Does anybody know who Xerxes is?

He was the the the the the the Persian king that tried to invade Greece. You know, the story of the 300 Spartans that stood against. He he was the king Xerxes that did that but there's a not a more biblical thing that makes him well known. Does anybody know the biblical background of Xerxes? He married a woman named So so

Esther's husband was Artaxerxes' father. Now they're saying, why didn't you just say Esther was his mom? Because we don't know. Because because back then, multiple lives, as matter of fact, Esther came along. She was just one of them. And it a lot of scholars believe that Artaxerxes'

father was mother was most likely his number one wife at the time would have probably been a different wife but they don't know. They're not sure. There is some scholarly conjecture that I actually think is very interesting is that when we get into chapter two, when he, Nehemiah, just little bit of a spoiler

alert here we'll get to. He has to go to the king and ask him some question that he puts his life on the line. And it goes out of his way to say and the queen was sitting there. Which is weird because normally the situation there in the queen wouldn't be there dining.

And so who is this queen? And usually, when you had multiple eyes, the one who there's two ways you got the title of queen. One is you were the number one wife, so you were called queen. But there is a secondary way you could be called the queen if you're the queen mom.

If you're still alive and you're the mom of the queen, you're a queen too. Why does Nehemiah go out of its way just to say and the queen was sitting there? There's no reason if it's just some other so there is some

thought that in that story when he has to ask this question of this king that could put his life on the line. His mom is Esther.

The king's mom and she's sitting there. That's kinda cool. Has nothing to do with my message but I just wanted you to know that I paid attention in seminary. So, yay.

So, it's in the twentieth year of the reign. He goes, I was at the Fortress Of Susa. Verse two, Hananiah, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. Now, but when they just arrived, his brother comes, this is not like, yeah, man. We had a raging fun weekend in Judah.

It's like eight fifty miles away. This was a months and months journey and and you know what it's like to go eight fifty miles over months if you have small children.

It takes you about two months to go eight fifty miles, right? With all the stops but but it was a long trip. They probably been there for a long time and he goes, I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity about how things were going in Jerusalem. So, he's at least interested in what god is doing.

We know that and then they answer him. Verse three, they said to me, things are not going well for those who return to the province of Judah. They're in great trouble and disgrace. So, not only are in danger, they're also disgraced somehow.

Well, what is that all about? Well, the next verse answers both of those questions. It says, the wall of Jerusalem has been torn down and the gates have been destroyed by fire. That both answers the question as to why they're in trouble, danger, and why they're in disgrace. They both have to do with the walls

and and no gates and no wall. First, the most obvious reason is danger is if you're gonna get attacked and stuff back then, you needed walls. You needed protection. You know, just like we lock our doors at night. The city needed protection.

Well, with no walls, it means they were open to marauding and trading. It means the people of god have been back for almost one hundred years and they still are unsafe.

There's still people that don't want them there. They're attacked. They can't even build a wall. They rebuilt the temple but the temple is not nearly like the Temple Of Solomon. So, they're just barely making it and then, not only are they in danger and trouble and discouraged,

they literally are disgraced because here they were going where god called them to go and yet they can't get a wall around the city and in this era, a wall was not just for protection. It declared that you were an important city. Meaning, if you didn't need a wall around your city, you were Podunk and nothing important

and so the fact of the matter is they're supposed to go back because god called them back, rebuild the city of David, start the worship at the temple, and to declare the world the one true god but there's such a joke of a city. How could this be the city of god, the city of David? They didn't have a wall. It's a disgraceful

thing. Does that make sense? So, he hears this

and he responds in verse four. Well, that really stinks to be them. Too bad. I hope somebody does something about that prayer hand emoji.

Figured out that's not what it says. It says verse four, when I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the god of heaven. We're gonna stop there. Next week's message, we're gonna look at his prayer. Right there, verse four, did you see verse four? Nehemiah had a dislocated heart.

Bothered him. What was going on? To the point that he he fasted and mourned. Most of us only mourn if we try to fast. But he actually chose to do both of them at the same time. And and and and and it it it bothered him enough. His heart dislocated. You get the sense that he's sitting in Susa. This only city he's ever known.

The city where he's safe, the city where he's comfortable, and his body was in Susa but where is his heart now? It's in Jerusalem. His heart is dislocating and and that is the first step towards courage. If I'm ever going to experience the difference making life that god wants me to have,

and I keep saying that to me like, what if I want to make a difference? You get it. You know we're wired to make a difference. Guys, especially you. It's so funny how we run after wealth and and looking important in our jobs when we know in our hearts that that's not what we really want.

That's why we like war movies and sports. We we have this draw towards this glory, this idea that said, I went and life was tough and it was a battle but there was victory in that sacrifice. We are drawn to that. You know why? Because the god who made you wants us to be a part of that but I will never experience it if

I don't have courage and I will never have courage if my heart doesn't dislocate, if my heart doesn't go to where god is calling,

if my heart doesn't go towards god's agenda, if my heart doesn't move towards it, if I spend my whole life, even as a Christian, if you think being a Christian is, I'm going to come try to be a good person so I can draw god's heart to my plans. You're never going to experience it

because then you're just going to be frustrated because god doesn't play that game. So, you're going to be really, really, really good and life's still going to be tough at times and you're going to go, man, I'm getting host. What's going on? Instead, our heart needs to go where god is. It needs to dislocate towards him

and that's what happens here with Nehemiah and and and what I just want to unpackage is, okay, well, how do you get there? How do, what do you do? What is a dislocated heart? How do I get to it? How does it happen? I think in this verse four,

there's three things we see here in this this one verse that that that shows us how a dislocation begins. How do I begin to have a dislocated heart? And the first thing we need to to if you wanna start a dislocation, dislocations always start first by stopping. Like, what? They start by stopping. What do I mean?

What did Nehemiah do when he heard the snooze? He stopped what he was doing. He's a pretty important guy. Some of us were like, I'm just too busy in life. I I I can't stop. I don't have time to stop my routine and the busiest of my life. I don't have time to stop and think about anything.

Can you imagine back then? You're the head of the secret service for a king? You're the cup bearer. You gotta be with him. You gotta be his adviser. That's a pretty busy life. Yet, he spent days. Morning, fasting, and praying and I don't think that's his regular schedule.

He started by stopping and why? What did he stop to do? Two things happen when you stop. He was able to see what was really going on around him. What was really happening in the world around him? What was really going on with god's story and what god was doing and not only did he get to see, he got to listen.

As he did that, he saw what was really going on and he could hear the lord speak. He can hear the lord speak of, okay, here's what I need you to do. Here's where you need to jump.

This is where I need you to jump, Nehemiah and the problem is if he didn't stop and get out of the busyness of the everyday routine, he would have never saw what was going on and can never hear god speak.

So, the first thing we need to do if we really want to have courage and really want to experience the impact of a meaningful life is we gotta stop sometimes and get outside of our regular routines, our busyness to see what's going on. Now, I get it. Some of us go, I know what's going on. I'm I'm hooked to the internet. I got the things. I see what's happening but like I've said before, a lot of the stuff we see that's going on in the world is the world way way out there and we get so overwhelmed with what's happening far away that we put emotional energy into it as I said before and we pontificate,

argue with our friends, talk, get into Facebook fights, and all these things about if I was king of the world, this is what would work and we spend all this time on that but we don't actually take time to go, what is god doing right here, right in my life, right in my community, right in my own church.

What is he doing here where I'm supposed to actually be an active part of? But I'm spending all my time worrying about all that. That's a routine busyness. The enemy loves to get us so worried and looking at everything that we don't see anything.

We need to stop. Get out of our busyness and here's the sad part. Here's the weird part. For many of us, coming to church is just one thing on your busyness routine. This isn't your stopping. This is your gotta go to church. Gotta sit there. I'll get there.

You guys are pretty chill. You're like, you know what? I'm not gonna get up before 10:30 here. I'm gonna go to the 11:30 service. Enjoy my day. But you probably have stuff after this. Some of you came to your need to stuff before this. But it's just this just becomes part of the routine.

So, even coming to church, you're not stopping and really listening to god. We're just doing church. You come in here and you know you're just doing that. We're like, okay, hope the music's good. Hope they sing the songs I like. You know, I I love the weird guy that gets up front is entertaining

and, you know, interesting and, you know, that weird locker room speech was okay last week. Let's see what he does this week, you know, and then, like, maybe he's waving his arms too much and walking back and forth. I don't like it when he does that. But, know and I like that one story. There's a good point. I love how he talks about who Xerxes was and art of Xerxes. That was useless information but it was cool because now I feel like I know the Bible more than someone else. You know, that could be what you're doing.

You just, it's weird what goes on in our heads when we sit at church and and and and so the reality is this might just be part of your routine. But can I stop and listen and look? Look and listen. That's what he did. That's where a dislocated heart will begin. The

next thing that that stop listening and looking leads to is a question that obviously we see Nehemiah answered in the affirmative but we have to answer this question. Once I see what god is doing and I listen to maybe the challenge to jump and get involved, I have to answer this question. Do I really care?

Everyone of us has to decide when we see where god is moving and and and calling us to go. You actually just have to be honest and say, do I really care?

So, I think a lot of us come to church and we're fans of what the church is doing but we never get past the the the what he asked, question he asked his brother. How's it going? It's not going so well. Oh, man. That stinks. I wish it was going well. Good luck.

We don't get past that question. We just come to church and we hope the church is doing something. It it it's it's we cheer when I do a locker room speech about all these things we did but we're not involved in any of that. I I'm a fan of the church but I'm not a part of the church. But we need to ask ourselves

where how I'm living my life especially if I am a follower of Jesus. Do I really care about the things that he cares about? Do I really care to have the courage to go towards him where he wants me to go. Here's the deal. We all need to honestly ask ourselves that question. And here's the thing, some of you probably don't care.

And and I don't want to be this typical message where the pastor gets up and says, I'm just throat punching people and saying, you should care. It's not a message like, okay. So, lot of you don't care. So, start caring. You know, that's not what I'm trying to say. I honestly care about you.

My job as the pastor is to guide us to where god wants us to go with his word.

I have not done my job if I don't challenge you to trust god.

So, I want you to ask the question and then analyze and take time to stop and go, hey, the way I'm living, do I really care about the things that god cares about? And maybe it's no. But if it's no, rather than just think that I'm yelling at you saying, you know, shape up or ship out. What I need you to do,

if you like, if you say you're a Christian, you come to church but you don't really care, please stop and ask yourself this question. Why don't I care? Why don't I care? That is critical to your life because you have to figure out if god loves you so much and you say you love him and you take time to even come to church,

you must believe in something and if you believe god loves you this much and he cares about this and wants us to go where he wants us to go but I don't really care. I refuse to do it. I don't wanna do it more than just saying, well, I guess I should do it. He's yelling at me that I should. That's not what I'm doing. I'm encouraging.

I would rather you take time to go. Why do I not care? Because that's gonna give god a chance and you a chance to unpackage your life and find out maybe there's some tragedy that's happened. Maybe there's some hurt. Maybe there's a habit. Maybe there's a hang up. Maybe there's some lies you've bought into

and you believe some lies. And you're you're just in the grip of some fears that if you could just at least determine why you don't care, that might be the key to unlocking your life.

And it could be why you keep saying I believe in Jesus but things keep just falling apart over and over again and you're either gonna say it must be me or it must be Jesus. When it's really, I just don't understand why I don't care. Now, if you ask that question and you come to the conclusion like, I just don't care.

Then, I gotta ask you a question. Why are you even here? Why show up?

Why come to church? Why come to worship a god that you don't want to trust? Why come to to believe in your teaching about god's word that challenges how to live a life that makes a difference when you don't really want to make a difference? Why waste your time? Is the question. Why would I even do that?

To me like, that is, that's logical. That makes sense. Why would I, now you might go back to the question, why I don't care again and ask yourself, why do I not care? Because something's not connecting. Something's not firing here. So, do you care about what god cares about?

And that's why the challenge for us to go forward is I'm talking about, well, unpackage more. Week three, we'll show you the building and stuff. This is the what we need to do next as a church is just an illustration of where we need courage. It's just one thing. We we encourage them all of our life

but sometimes god's puts these obstacles just like Nehemiah. You're going to see, he needed to go build a wall. His mission was a wall. Our mission is several walls.

In order to keep on mission with god and I'm going to be honest. I'm not going to build this up and wait till the end. If this is your church, I'm going to challenge everyone of us to jump in and give to it. And I'm going to need you to get uncomfortable and I need you to get scared and it's going to take courage

because god formed the church. It was god's plan for local churches. God called me to be a leader. He called me to do my job and now I'm challenging us to do our job together just like Nehemiah. You're going to see how to do in his story. And like I said, is this your church? Do you care?

Or is church to you a spiritual restaurant? You come and get the food you like. I like that food. That message is good. That one's too spicy.

Some of you like this one's too spicy. I don't like it. And alright, I didn't like that. I didn't like the music. I'll go there. I've heard that. I've heard the restaurant church down the street serve some pretty good messages and and and all that and you know what? If you have that mentality,

that says it's all about just me and my own little spiritual journey, not about what god's called us to be. Why do you think he calls us to be a church? It's not just to sit here. It's to worship him and declare him to the world.

And and and if you don't, if you think about it, it's just it's just my own little spiritual restaurant. I guarantee, if you've been a Christian for any length of time and you've lived in this area, this is not your first church. You've been bouncing around. You're a church shopper.

And you probably leave every time the messages start to get like this.

Because I think that leads to the third thing in this passage. You gotta ask, why do I, do I really care? And what I think is the reason, I think many many of us in your heart, you do care but you still can't get past, You can't connect it. You can't get there. And that's because dislocated hearts, a dislocation always

makes us uncomfortable.

I think that's what many of us struggle with. You want to be there. You're there. You're like, you're stuck like me at the top of that rock. I did have a disobedient. I wanted to be down at the bottom. I wanted to do it but man, I was just, it was so uncomfortable. The fear of the unknown, the fear of the falling, the fear of not being in control, the fear of being not feeling safe. All that fear kept stopping me. It really wasn't. I did care. I did want to and that's where I think a lot of us are. A lot of you live every day. You come here week after week and sometimes when I say, do you really care? All you do is you walk out there feeling horrible about yourself and that's not what I want. I want us not to feel horrible about ourselves. I want us to start under unpackaging that and go, how can I trust Jesus?

How can I trust? How can I get to the victory side of this? And many of us are stuck because we don't like to be uncomfortable. I don't know anybody who does to be honest. I don't either. But that's the thing. A dislocated heart means you have to be willing to get uncomfortable

and if anyone told you churches and knowing Jesus is anything else, if they said it's nothing but you know, a wonderful life all the time. You know, it's just perfect. That's not god. Jesus didn't die for us to be comfortable. You know that, right?

Jesus died to unite us back in relationship with him and then called us to a mission of being his hands and feet pointing people to Jesus by loving them like Jesus. You can't point someone to Jesus and love like Jesus unless you know Jesus and you can't do that unless you like Jesus

and Jesus got really uncomfortable for us. So, I think a lot of us are held back because we we love Jesus. We love the church. We want to go where he is but it's like, can I do that without being uncomfortable? And I'm just gonna let you know little secret. No. No, you can't. But once again, guys,

what are the greatest sports memories you have in your own life or watching on a on a Super Bowl? Is it that easy victory like, you know, is it that easy your team blew another team out or is it like the ice bowl?

In your own life, is it the hard fought? Is it it's like we know. If it's for the right cause, the uncomfortable is worth it. It's what we're drawn to. But we get so easy wanting to be comfortable that we never have the courage.

But a dislocated heart is gonna be an uncomfortable heart. The bottom line is this. Here's here's the technical definition of what I've been preaching towards. This is what the challenge, the first step to courage is I gotta have this.

I need to have a god given concern that propels me out of my comfort zone. It's a passionate concern for god's people and god's agenda. What I mean by god's people is the people god wants me to love and god loves everybody. He's called us to be the people of god. He's called us to go show them who Jesus is and god's plan A for how to change this world. You know what god's plan A is? To to to to to help change the world.

It's people. It's us. We are plan A. It's not prayer. I hope Jesus goes and does something. You Jesus goes, no. That's what I empowered you to do. I'll go with you but you go do something about it. We are the plan. And and so we have to care about the plan and god's agenda. It's his agenda

and he goes, that needs to supersede our own personal comfort and prosperity. Too many of us Christians don't understand the definition of supersede. You know what it means? It means that comes first. Most of us go, once I'm comfortable,

then I'll go about god's agenda. I'll throw in my extra time, my extra money, my extra effort after I'm comfortable. You know what? You know where you do that? That's what you do in a restaurant. When you tip,

you go, I paid for my meal. I'm glad I have my meal. I got a little extra. Here you go. I'll give you a little reward for doing good service. That's how many of us view a church. Your time, your effort, your money is all about tipping. But do I have a dislocated heart for what god has a dislocated heart for?

Because that's what makes a difference and you know, we already have the greatest example ever of what this, how to do this, and what it means. You know who that example is? It's always the right answer in church. Jesus. Like I already said, Jesus left heaven because had a dislocated heart.

He saw us suffering and dying and having no future or no hope and he left the comfort of heaven, took on the form of a man, and died on the cross for you and me and he was so committed to the father's agenda that the night before he was crucified, he sweated blood. It was so stressful and

he even prayed because as god, he knew it was coming. As a man, he had experienced it. He was 100 man also and the and the human nature of him knew this was gonna be terrible and as he prayed, he even said, lord, if there was another way, I wish we'd do that but what is he in that prayer with? Not my will but thy will.

Jesus himself showed us how to put god's agenda, god's plan, to supersede our own comfort.

That's what we've been called to. And when I think about that, I say how, you know, god uses people in our lives to show us that.

Whenever I think of what Jesus did, whenever I want to be afraid, whenever I go, hey, what god's called me to do like even what we got coming up ahead, building a building, good. Guys, I never knew that the church would get here. I just wanted to go where god wanted me to go. I'm terrified every step of the way.

I just want to go where god is because you know what? I want my life. I want to hear him say, well done, good faithful servant when I'm done. That's what I want to hear. A life well lived

and when I think about what Jesus did, the greatest example I have in my own life that encourages me and helps me understand it happened when I was nine years old. I was nine. My sister was 11. I was 12

and we're out in our backyard playing on swings and we have our neighbor's dog there. We were dog sitting for them. And and we knew the dog since it was a puppy. It's fully grown now. It was this big German shepherd. I mean, big, like full size. The type of German shepherd you imagine them using as attack dogs. I mean, matter of fact, two of these could probably take a tank out is what it it felt like. His big dog was friendly, loved us, would protect us. His name was Marcus. I think they named him after Marcus Welby. Anybody remember that show?

Yeah. You're old. Welcome to the club. And and and and so he was always sitting out there with us. We're watching and as we were playing, all of a sudden, something happened. I don't know. I was nine. I don't remember. I never asked him. I said, I don't know what the technical thing happened but this dog snapped.

Didn't went crazy.

Eyes got bloodshot. It started snapping at us and growling and coming aggressively at us and my sister who my dad only knew how to raise two sons, my older sister and me and and so she was always courageous, always brave. So, I followed her lead but she's sitting there and she's like, hey, Marcus. It's okay and went to calm him down and when she reached, he attacked her

and literally bit bit a hole through her hand. I mean, bad, blood spurred like bat, bleeding, blood running down, freaked out. So, I see that. She freaks out, panics. The dog tries to get us. We're running around the the the swing set to stay away from it. We climb up on the swing set. It's not high enough. We jump into the tree right next to our swing set, and this tree got us just high enough that I know what nipping at your heels means. I was just high enough that this dog was actually getting his mouth a little bit on the bottom of my foot, my shoe. And my

sister's screaming, blood is pouring. It's actually dripping onto me because she's higher than me. So I'm getting her blood on me. She's freaking out. I'm freaking out. We're screaming and and and whatever. And then my dad walks by the back window and looks out. And he sees it.

And he goes, man, somebody should do something about that. I wonder who's responsible. I'm gonna call animal control. Someone needs to man, I'm praying. Prayer emoji.

Prayer I hope it happens. Do you think that's what he did? There is no way that's what he did because he had a dislocated heart. He was safe inside. It was nice inside. It was comfortable inside. He had his cut off jean shorts and a V neck T shirt that had hamburger juice and ketchup on it from the meal he just ate. Standing there with one eye, 50 years old in bad shape and and he looks out and do you think he thought about his comfort at that moment? No. Because his heart was where we were. His body was inside

but his heart was where we were. So he immediately ran outside and he ran and yelled, hey. He called the dog and ran right at it. Just ran.

That's about as fast as he could run, which I shouldn't make fun of him because I can't run much faster anymore. But he's running. He yells, hey. This dog turns, sees him, starts running towards him. My sister starts freaking out. No, dad. No. And I'm like, yeah. No, dad. No. He's like, the dog's gonna kill dad. What is he doing? He runs right at him, runs right at them, running at each other, and right right as he gets up where it's almost to the dog, he stops, plants his feet, this dog leaps at him, and my dad goes,

bam. And he punched this dog, caught it right in the head, just flipped it up in the air. It actually spun, about a 100 pound dog. He flipped it open, it landed on its back, and it's landed thud. It was still breathing. Its tongue was sticking out of its mouth and its eyes were open but it wasn't moving. He rocky Balboa,

that dog. He literally knocked it unconscious. Now for all of you dog lovers out there, which I am, the dog had to be put down. Whatever happened to it, it went insane. But in that moment, he almost put it down. Now if he was able to do what he wanted to do next, this would be a way more traumatic story.

He went to get a shovel, and he was gonna finish it off. My mom stopped him. So he just left the dog there, like, breathing, like, unconscious with his eyes open, which was kinda creepy.

And and and and after he did that, he stood over that dog and in those cut off shorts, the stains on his ankles, I think the food attracted the dog even more. And and and he stood there and I couldn't think of a man, looks like the weirdest, most epic Captain America scene I have ever seen in my entire

life. An ordinary one eyed old soldier, hair all messed up, dressed looking sillier than the day he was born wearing flip flops. And he knocked the dog out. He then walked over to the tree to get us and this is where the story gets weird. You would think when my dad goes, here, come on. Jump into my arms.

You would think that we would just bam, go right to him right away. Wouldn't you? But we didn't. I followed the lead of my sister. She hugged that tree. He goes, no. No. I'm scared. Anyway, yeah. No. I'm scared of it. I'm scared of it too. Holding on to this tree. He goes, why? Jump. No.

And he could see that our eyes that we are fixated on that dog. It wasn't moving but it was breathing And we and my sister's blood every she's remembers what just happened. She wouldn't stop looking at the dog. Wouldn't let go. So I wouldn't let go. So my dad looks over and goes, are you are you afraid of the dog?

Did you see what I just did? That dog's gonna be drinking out a straw the rest of its short life. And and and we're like, we would let go. And he goes, just just come on. Have courage. It's one of the first times I remember him hearing me say it. Aaron, gonna say say that to me. He goes, have courage.

He says, no. I'm scared. I said, no. I'm scared of it. And then he smiled.

If you're not scared, it's not courage. Trust me. And we let go and jumped into his arms. When I think of what Jesus did and what he called us to do, I think of that story because we were bitten by sin and death and we are chased up the tree, cornered in life by the hounds of hell, by death, sin, brokenness,

and there was nothing we could do. No way to save ourselves and Jesus saw that in his dislocated heart. He ran from heaven and he ran to the cross and he knocked death out for us.

That's what he did but yet sometimes he goes, now that I did that, I wanna take you somewhere else. You gotta trust me and most of us don't have courage because we're stuck in that tree still and we're looking at that dog. We're looking at the dog of death and brokenness because we live in a world that's still broken. There still seems like it's breathing but Jesus wants to say, it can't

hurt you. What are you afraid of? Just trust me. Just have courage and courage is not the lack of fear. If it's if there's not fear, then it's not. And that's what we've been called to do. Can we trust Jesus and can our hearts go to where his heart is and go to the places he wants to go and be a difference maker

and watch when we choose to make a difference, it's crazy. It's not just about what god does through us. You will be blown away by what he does in you. You will be blown away by what he does in you. If we're willing to trust him. Do you care? Do you wanna care?

Do you wanna have courage? Father god, I thank you lord. I thank you that you you do love us, you care for us, and you had the courage. The dislocated heart to come love us. So, I pray for each one of us in this room that we would we would develop that dislocated heart. May may we care about the things you care about.

May we courageously jump at the things you've asked us to jump towards. And lord, just pray right now before I close down that there might be some people in this room that the first step they need to take is they've never put their faith in you as their savior.

Lord, there's some people in this room that are still trying to make life work on their agenda, on their plan. They're running their own way and they run away from you and they've never put their faith in what you did for them. It's called sin. And and lord, I just pray that there's anyone in this room

that has never professed you as lord, that they would do so right now. If you're one of those people in this room that you've never just professed Jesus as your lord and ask him for forgiveness, you can pray with me. Just pray something like this. Just have courage. Just pray something like, lord Jesus, thank you.

Thank you for fronting from heaven and running to the cross for me. Thank you that you died on the cross but you came back to life knocking out death. I'm sorry for the times I've tried to beat death my own way, tried to go my own way but lord, thank you. Please forgive me. Thank you for dying and coming back for me.

In the best way I know how, I put my faith in you right now and help me to go from here each and every day learning what does it mean to jump into your arms with courage. What does it mean to trust you? What does it mean to go show others the same? Help me to develop a courageous heart.

I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.