Building A Radiant City: Part Two
Building A Radiant City: Part Two
Speaker: Pastor Lee Cummings
Date: March 7, 2020
In week two of this series, Pastor Lee Cummings focuses on Nehemiah 2 and discusses comfort and the importance of being willing to let go in order to fulfill the calling that God has for our lives, and through our lives.
Focus Scripture
Nehemiah 2:1-8 (ESV)
"In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' graves, that I may rebuild it.” 6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me."
Sermon Highlights
Are you willing to let go of comfort?
Holding on to what you have is the riskiest thing you can do.
You become a magnet for the favor of God when you live for others.
God wants to use us as agents of change.
Believe that God hears you.
Believe that God has positioned you.
Believe that God will use you and desires to use you.
The cause was worth the cost.
Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving up.
“Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn't really matter.” D.L Moody