Engage

I'm going to teach the word of God and we'll read lots of scripture as I go along in these several weeks we are ministering the word of God strategically in themes of prayer and we are also praying together as a church family and I appreciate you teaching and preaching along with myself brother Joel Brother jury will be teaching in a couple Wednesday nights and staying with us on the 29th of March I taught on renew the renewal of our mind our spirit our strength and our vision last Wednesday night brother Joel taught on the theme of agree that we are to agree with God's will our mission to reach the Lost we are to agree with God's way his method of accomplishing his work through prayer and fasting he focused on the book of Nehemiah by the way agree with God's wishes or the way he goes about it to be unified as a church and agree with God's work to build up the kingdom of God at any cost tonight I want to speak on the theme of engage engage and I I trust that we'll get this there is there's an effect called the bystander effect it is a paralyzing phenomenon that causes people to do nothing in a crisis such as an assault I preached a message on August 28 last year called connect and I used just a a portion of this idea but psychologists say that there is a perceived diffusion of responsibility when there is a crowd no one thinks it's their responsibility bystanders believe that someone else should intervene the bystander effect or the Genovese syndrome is a social psychology logical phenomenon that refers to cases where individuals do not offer any means of help in an emergency or to the victim when other people are present it's not my job they think someone else will do it I I thought about this and as I was walking out the door to come into the sanctuary I jot it on an index card it reminds me of the priest and the levite when that man fell among Thieves they saw his dilemma but did nothing about it so this effect this syndrome I also preached about this in a sermon called the bystander syndrome on September 8 2011. that was a minute ago it was based on what Obadiah wrote about the people that did not help their blood kin Obadiah one in 10 because of the violence you did to your close relatives in Israel you will be filled with shame and be destroyed forever for when they were invaded you stood aloof this is the New Living Translation refusing to help them foreign Invaders carried off their wealth and cast lots to divide up Jerusalem and you eat them you acted like one of Israel's enemies you didn't fight against them you just stood by and watched them die this Genovese effect or syndrome is based on a true account of a woman named Kitty Genovese on March 13th in 1964. she was 28 years of age she was coming home from work it was very late three o'clock in the morning she was stabbed to death by a serial rapist and murderer on her way back to Queen's apartment that she lived in according to the newspaper accounts the attack lasted for about half an hour during which time Genevieve screamed and pleaded for hell the murderer attacked Genovese and stabbed her then fled the scene after attracting the attention of a neighbor the killer then returned minutes later to finish the assault newspaper reports after Genevieve's death claimed that 38 Witnesses watch the stabbings and failed to intervene or even contact the police until after the con the attacker fled and Genovese had died now we read about this all the time in the news these days where people stand by and do nothing the truth is the probability of help has in is inversely related to the number of bystanders the number the more people are watching the less likely anybody's going to do anything it reminds me of some big churches the near presence I know this was a Sunday sermon not a Wednesday sermon because everybody on Wednesday and watching online is typically engaged in our church but the mere presence of other bystanders has a greatly decreases intervention these bystanders just always think that someone else is going to do it they don't interpret it as a problem if no one else is doing anything maybe it's not so bad or there's this diffusion of responsibility I've often referred to the modern church as a spectator sport like a football game where 70 000 people desperately in need of exercise are watching 22 men desperately in need of rest up in the stands armchair quarterbacks they know everything that should be done but they couldn't run 20 yards if they had to so the modern Church you me Atlanta West needs to come out of The Spectator stands get on the field of ministry play and engage amen engage in what God is doing cannot rely on someone else to do what we can do and should do I'm gonna Sidetrack a moment I jokingly say that I am the trash man if I see trash on the floor I pick it up my first job the rule was pick it up don't pass it out when I left Sunday the bathroom lights were on I turned them out and the men's trash paper towels were stacked to the top it was Easter Sunday we typically have somebody cleaning all the time I'm sure that happened in the last five minutes but why on Earth did somebody not have a the Holy Ghost and just push those paper towels down because I lost mine not really the very last thing before I left on Easter Sunday I'm joking but the bystander syndrome we pay people to do that some volunteer is going to come take care of that so it's not my job I was taught that you never say it's not my job amen if you're a business owner you should be shouting running the aisles right now so engagement everybody please say engage to engage it's to promise or pledge oneself to enter into an obligation to become bound to an obligation or responsibility it means to Embark in a business to take part of not to be recruited but to enlist to sign up to help you employ yourself you sign up it's to enter into the conflict in the Bible this is used quite often to engage the battle to to sign up to not just stand by but to get involved it also carries the idea of to be in gear like gears that are working together or Cog wheels that are working together to make something happen everybody please say engage engaged by working engaged by giving engaged by encouraging engaged by spiritual warfare I mentioned that last Wednesday night brother Joel spoke primarily from the book of Ezra not the Book of Joel but the book of Ezra tonight I want to speak from the mostly the book of Ezra Ezra and Nehemiah are contemporaries their books are interrelated the setting the book of Ezra Ezra one and one is that the king of Cyrus or Cyrus excuse me King of Persia has a a God moment God speaks to him and he stirs up the spirit of this Pagan King Cyrus of Persia and he makes a proclamation throughout his kingdom and he puts it in writing thus saith Cyrus King of Persia the Lord God Of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has charged me God has engaged me to build him a house in Jerusalem which is in Judah this is astonishing but we know that God rules in the Affairs of men and we've read about the Book of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar how in his pride God abased him so now Pagan King Cyrus is working for God and he's going to implement the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem two months ago February 5th I preached a message entitled finish and I gave a pretty thorough overview of the book of Ezra so I'll refer to a few things about that that theme of Ezra but if you want to remind yourself of more details you'll have to go all the way back to February 5th and re-watch or listen to the message finish it was about finishing the work so anyway this is the idea I want to just give you some highlights to focus on these four ideas these four things the first is to engage by working everybody please say working Cyrus provided permit provision the money and he also gave permission it would be like Cyrus giving the building permits but someone has to go to the job site and do the job so Cyrus and Ezra one and three says this who is there among you of all his people his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel for he is the god which is in Jerusalem now Cyrus and his Pagan mind didn't really understand that he's the god of the whole Earth but God's speaking to him to go bill go to Jerusalem build the house of the Lord we're glad that God is working miraculously to make this happen but someone has to roll up their sleeves and start working start building has to engage amen thankfully in our imagined campaign we are not anticipating that our church men and women will have to be heavily involved in physically building the church we won't be involved so much in the construction process I'm sure there will be work to be done maybe there'll be some cleanup days some work around the church days and you'll get a text message it might come from Brother jury or the church generally to invite you to come and I hope that you will engage in those moments if at all possible and not say it's a big church someone else will go I think I'll just be a bystander amen you've got to engage in the work that's my point that's Ezra's point someone has to get up and go back to Judah and build the house of the Lord get out of the stands get down on the field we do not need people standing idly by in the marketplace While others are bearing the burden In the Heat of the day we need everyone to find their place in the body of Christ to do the work of the ministry to sign up and show up when there is work to be done amen and once again I know that this is probably a Sunday sermon for folks who may come and go on Sunday so this is what happened in verse 5. then rose up the chief of the fathers Ezra one and five on the screens then rose up the chief of the fathers Judah and Benjamin the priests and Levites with all them whose Spirit God had raised to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem they engaged in building they were called by Cyrus to go and they actually got up and went now in a practical way hopefully everything is practical most practical things in the world are good principles principles are not aloof from practice the greatest need in our church is for people to work in the Harvest fields of lost souls to connect on common ground with unsaved people to teach them a Bible study to build a relationship with them to help them find God in Salvation by obeying Acts 2 38 and then to walk with them through the discipleship process until they establish us in their faith so they can go to heaven and not go to hell amen and if we have physical work days that's really not the essence of this point but I trust that you will sign up and show up someone has to leave their home in Babylon and go to Judah to build the house of the Lord but not everybody could go and not everybody would go but if you're not physically able to go what if you're not able to leave Babylon well King Cyrus says there's a place for you King Cyrus in verse 4. Ezra one and four and whosoever remaineth in any place where he sowed Journey so you're in Babylon or one of the provinces let them in of his place help him with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts besides the Free Will offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem if you can't go then give amen in missionaries we say some give by going and some go by giving so those who were still in the Babylonian provinces dug down deep and they financed the trip and the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem verse 6. and all they that were about them strengthen their hand with vessels of gold now in verse 4 verse 5 rather for rather Cyrus tells him to do this in verse six they do it they strengthen their hands but vessels of silver with gold with Goods with beasts and with precious things beside all that was willingly offered Ezra 2 68 says and some of the chief of the fathers when they came to the house of the Lord which is that Jerusalem offered freely for the house of God to set it up in his place they gave after their ability unto The Treasure of the work three score and one drams of gold and 5 000 pounds of silver 100 priests garments in our modern vernacular 61 000 gold coins 6250 pounds of silver and a 100 nice suits for the priests to wear when they worked in the temple the leaders engaged and gave freely they gave according to their ability the Bible says in verse 69 they gave after their ability that really is the biblical pattern of giving you don't give beyond your ability you give according to your ability second Corinthians 8 12 tells us that there has to be a willing mind and then God understands that we give according to what we have and not according to what we do not have if you don't have to give you give the widows mites or whatever God lays on your heart that is good stewardship that is sacrificial that is a step of Faith so some engaged by working others engaged by giving some by both they went back to work and they gave the next point is to engage by encouraging encouraging now I've learned like the bystander syndrome it is really easy to stand on the sidelines and criticize someone who's actually doing the work and I've observed that the greatest critics are typically either lazy or they're looking for an excuse to not do anything so they criticize everybody else but they're not willing to risk getting involved it might fail it might not succeed it's not going to go like it was planned so I'm going to stand on the sideline I'm not going to cheer I'm going to jeer and I'm going to just kind of criticize what's going on but in this story in Ezra there were people who encouraged the work now throughout the book and I'm going to summarize a lot here right now they suffered a lot of setbacks outright attacks the work ceased for a long period of time but then there were the encouraging voices of the prophets Ezra 6 and 14. and the Elders of the Jews build it and they prospered through the prophesying of haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Ido and they build it and finished it according to the Commandment of the god of Israel and according to the Commandment of Cyrus and Darius and artaxerxes King of Persia the prophets haggai and Zechariah spoke words of Prophecy encouragement and comfort there were mixed in words of Correction and rebuke that were needed haggai prophesied for about five months Zechariah for two years in Zachariah 4 the Bible said the word of the Lord came to Zachariah saying the hands of rubabell have laid the foundation of this house his hands shall also finish it and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you Zachariah comes in with the word of Prophecy and encouragement to strengthen the work he is engaged in encouraging the work haggai hageei 1 and 13 the Lord speaks to him and says I'm with you says the Lord so the Lord sparked the enthusiasm of zerubbabel son of she'll tell governor of Judah and the enthusiasm of jeshua son of jehoshadak the high priest and the enthusiasm of the whole remnant of God's people they began to work on the house of their God the Lord of Heaven's armies so in spite of all that opposition when somebody stood by and said you can do this God is in it we're for you encouragement is very powerful I don't have it in my notes but God spoke to Moses about Joshua and said I want you to encourage him in the work it is literally to give courage when you speak words of encouragement you infuse courage in the heart of a person to do what God has called him to do encouragement is not flattering you cannot overdose on encouragement we all need a lot of it amen at a time when David was opposed and the people spoke of stoning him the Bible said that he encouraged himself in the Lord that's good and that's bad it's good that he encouraged himself it's bad that everybody else was trying to Stone him because of a perceived failure instead of saying if we really want this to succeed why don't we strengthen the hands of our leader instead of stoning him thank God for people who speak faith in the future and engage in encouraging amen so please say engage by encouragement amen the fourth point the final point is to engage by spiritual warfare amen praise God there's one verse that captures the essence of Ezra spiritual warfare and Ezra 8 and 23 there are numerous verses in Ezra and I'll relate some of them but Ezra 8 23 so we fasted and he sought Our God for this and was entreated and he was entreated of us prayer and seeking God was needed the adversaries of the Jews tried to permanently stop the work on the temple the Bible said in Ezra 4 that they weakened the hands of the people they hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose they tried to infiltrate so they could weaken the work then they tried intimidation tactics they tried to get the law against the people trying to build they tried to discourage them to harass them to make them afraid and because of this intimidation the work was stopped and it was discontinued it was suspended for about 15 years 15 years but Ezra encouraged the work by spiritual warfare there's some verses that speak of this Ezra 7 10 he prepared his heart to the Lord Ezra 8 21 he proclaimed the fast they Afflicted themselves before God to seek a right way for us Ezra 8 23 the verse I read they fasted and sought the Lord Ezra 10 and 1 Ezra prayed and confessed with weeping and casting himself down before the house of God Ezra and his people engaged in spiritual warfare they worked they gave they encouraged but they also knew that this was spiritual amen and here's what I know that everything we do is spiritual and I've taught through the years the superiority of the spiritual that spirituality is not just another dimension it's a higher Dimension it's a superior Dimension and it affects and changes the natural world a miracle occurs when God suspends the laws of nature amen and God can intervene whether it is hunger or sickness or sin or the economy God rules in the Affairs of men in every aspect in every facet of life amen everything we do is spiritual now I don't mean to imply that everything we do is inherently spiritual everybody has to cut grass clean their campus do administrative tasks work in production I don't know that our are people working the sound just feel this anointing flowing through their fingers when they turn it up for you and turn it down for your neighbor that doesn't feel spiritual in itself right working in production you know but you could also say that just singing a song is not inherently spiritual nor is playing an instrument nor is holding a microphone and saying words people do that all the time and it's not necessarily spiritual but what we do is ultimately spiritual it affects the spiritual World it affects eternity it affects the building of the house of God in Jerusalem amen so Ezra knew it's you've got to go and do the work you need to give for the work we need to encourage the workers but we can't just do that somebody's got to pray and fast somebody's got to ReDiscover the book of the law in the house of the Lord somebody's got to dig down and got to hold this thing up by prayer and fasting we believe that everything we do contributes to spiritual results our Collective efforts that cutting the grass and running the sound and cleaning the building and pushing down the trash in the garbage cans everything we do affects the ultimate end of someone going to heaven so we pray about everything amen we don't believe in doing anything without prayer praise God whatever you do why would I not want the edge that comes from the Holy Ghost anointing me to do whatever I do the safety the protection of God a better way to do everything we do God has a better way it dawned on me today that whatever brings glory to God brings grief to Satan so he hates what we do he despises what we do he doesn't want the walls to be built by Nehemiah he doesn't want Ezra to inspire the building of the temple so of course he opposes everything we do and that's why Ezra and Nehemiah both invested a great deal of time and prayer engaging people in the work of God so prayer and fasting the word and worship our submission to God that brings great spiritual power amen I taught about this several years ago the secret weapon of spiritual warfare is submission because if you're not submitted to God you cannot have power spiritual power spiritual power comes by being submitted to the almighty hand of God Amen I know we know this verse but though we walk in the flesh cut to grass and do sound and you know say words and play music we don't war after the flesh Ezra knew and we know that the weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but they are Mighty through God to the pulling down of strong calls casting down imaginations and every High thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and it brings into captivity every thought to The Obedience of Christ our work is started by spiritual warfare it is sustained by spiritual warfare it is finished by spiritual warfare and the result of working and giving and encouraging and spiritual warfare was Ezra 6 14. so the Elders of the Jews built and they prospered to the prophesying of haggai and Zechariah and they built and finished it amen they built it and they finished what they started because they were fully engaged Ezra 6 15. now the temple was finished that was a sermon I preached on the third day of the month of Adar which is the sixth year of the reign of King Darius or Darius so after all those years of delay and all the attacks by being fully engaged God did this work and if you don't mind would you stand right now and you're going to see these four points and verses that support them from the book of Ezra as we pray tonight they're going to be placing prayer request cards on the table and in case you're new about this we want to engage in working giving encouraging engaged and encouraging and engaging spiritual warfare and I pray that and I pray that and I hope that you will not let this just be a Bible study that goes by but each of these Bible studies and prayer meetings are to bring us into alignment with what God is saying in our church we need renewal we need agreement we need engagement for what God is going to do so in case you haven't been here for a prayer meeting let me just let you know you'll see these prayer points on the screens there will be prayer record cars on the tables and pins that are there you're welcome to fill out a prayer request card please circulate then that means pick one up pray over it put it back down on any table at the end of the night please take some prayer request cards home with you you all did a great job last Wednesday night taking them home we're in a play some prayer music we're going to pray if you need to leave at a certain time you can be dismissed but I will formally bring us together at the end we'll close and worship and we'll go change the world by the grace of God and by engaging in this work amen let's lift our voices to the Lord right now and praise then we're going to engage in prayer Lord I give you praise right now I thank you Lord that you were able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we asked or think according to the power that works in us I pray in Jesus name that you will let there be a conviction in our church to fully engage in this campaign oh God not just to build a building but to reach lost souls and to affect the Next Generation I pray tonight in the name of Jesus that you would spark or hunger God that you would move in us I pray that you would activate God callings and burdens and things that have been latent in us that you would help us engage more effectively and zealously in your work than ever before and I pray that in Jesus name amen