The Power of God’s Call R1312

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton about the power of God's call. The Encouraging Word You may not feel it, you may not sense it, but God has a call on your life.

Today we'll open God's Word together and discover how you and I can get greater insight as to God's call by just studying the Word itself. This is the Encouraging Word featuring the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton, and in just a few moments as he opens the Word, we are opening the phone lines to you. We'd love to pray with you, love to speak with you, connect you with resources at 866-899-WORD.

That number is 866-899-9673, not just now during the broadcast, but 24 hours a day. We'd love to talk, to listen, and to pray, and connect you with resources. Or meet us online at theencouragingword.org. The Encouraging Word And now, Dr. Don Wilton. Have you evaluated the real value of your life? Have you come to the point at which you've really determined what it is that really matters in your life? For there is only one life to live, and that will soon be past. It is only what is done for the Lord Jesus Christ that will last. And I'm going to be speaking to you today about the power of God's call. When we hear His voice, let us rise and answer the call. Such was the life of Nehemiah and these people. This is what this time of prayer and fasting is all about, that we're about to embark on.

This is the power of one. And no doubt my brothers and I will have a lot to say about our dad on Tuesday. But out of the many things that I can say about my father is that he answered the call.

Did you know, by the way, and I'm not going to dwell on this a long time. My father came to know Jesus when he was 32 years of age. He was a very incredible athlete and business person and engaged in life and all those things. He had everything, but in his heart he had nothing.

He had an emptiness. At the age of 32, my father gave his heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ and his life changed on a dime. My dad went instantaneously from a man who spent Sundays, for example, playing tennis. He was a champion tennis player and fisherman and raced motorbikes and he changed just like that. The first Sunday after he was converted, he was back on that tennis court in this beautiful country club called Uvongo in KwaZulu-Natal where he was born, where I was born.

Most spectacular place you can possibly imagine. And he was chairman of it all. My father said on that first Sunday he realized that his heart, his heart was no longer on that tennis court. It was in that little Baptist church down the road where a group of people were meeting to worship the Lord. If you were to say to me today as a son, what would I rather have from my father, looking back, would I rather have that my father was able to say he attended every ball game that I ever played, that he gave me lots of money, that he was at every event that I did, that he pushed me to excel in everything, or would I rather have had a father that was totally sold out to Jesus Christ. Unequivocably today, I will tell you that the legacy of my father's life is his utter and complete devotion. Nothing got in the way of my father's relationship with Jesus Christ.

Nothing ever. Do you know that before my father was converted? You can hardly find in our family in Australia, in England, in Scotland, in South Africa. To my knowledge, I don't know. That'll tell you right there.

To my brother's knowledge, we don't know. You cannot find prior to my father coming to know Christ any of our family, and we came from a distinguished line of people. You cannot find any relative, any family member in our line and lineage that had any relationship with Jesus Christ. They died, the Wilton's did, one after the other as godless people, having accomplished great things in the medical field and in the Navy and in the military and in the zones of life, but none of them to our knowledge knew Jesus Christ. But after my dad gave his life to Christ, it's an altogether different story. He has sons and grandchildren serving the Lord across the world and countless thousands of people in places all around the world who today know the Lord Jesus Christ because of the power of one.

Would you do it with me? The power of one. One, two, three, four, five, impact. This story about Nehemiah is so powerful. It's unbelievable because God called. The call of God is so powerful.

It's so singularly significant. And when God calls, he has you and he has me in mind. And this sequence of events in the book of Nehemiah is remarkable because God called, God showed them what to do. They went and they did it and they gave themselves to prayer and to fasting.

And God accomplished his purpose through their lives. At the end when the war was built in 52 days, there was an interlude which I'm going to deal with today. Chapter 8 is like an interlude. It's what happened between the answer of God and the repairing of the wall and what God had in store for them next.

God called them to pray and to fast and to seek his face and to get about the business that God had given them to do and they did it. And then something remarkable happened that we're going to read about in chapter 8. And when you get through chapter 8, guess what God does?

He says, well, I'm not through with you now that the wall is rebuilt. Now that your grief has turned to joy, I want you to give yourself to prayer and fasting yet again. Let me read to you chapter 8 of the book of Nehemiah.

I'm going to encourage you to follow along. So now the walls have been rebuilt and all the people gathered as one man. Did you notice that? One person, the power of one. All the people gathered as one man into the square before the Watergate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that the law had commanded Israel. And so Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly.

Both men and women and all who could understand what they heard on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Watergate from early morning until midday in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law, to the scriptures. And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for that purpose. And beside him stood a whole succession of people, verse 5. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was above all the people. And as he opened it, all the people stood and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.

And all the people answered, Amen and Amen. Lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and they worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also Jehuah, Bani, and Shehribiah, Jaman, Achaab, and Shabbathiah, Hodiah, Mosiah, Calita, Azariah, Joseph, Hanan, Peleah, and the Levites helped the people to understand the law while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the law of God, clearly.

And they gave the sense so that the people could understand the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest, and the scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep. For all the people wept as they hear the words of the law. Then he said to them, Go your way now, having fasted.

Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready. For this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved. For the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites calmed all the people saying, Be quiet for this day is holy.

Do not be grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them. On the second day, the heads of the father's houses of all the people with the priests and the Levites came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the law. And they found it written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month and that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem.

Go out now to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm and other leafy trees to make booths as it is written. So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God and in the square of the Watergate and in the square of the gate of Ephraim and all the assembly of those who had returned from captivity made booths and lived in the booths for from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so and there was very great rejoicing. And day by day from the first day to the last he read from the book of the law of God and they kept the feast seven days and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the rule.

Now on the 24th day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting in sackcloth and ashes with earth on their heads. May the Lord write this word upon our hearts. The power of God's call. Nehemiah, we've seen what happened when Nehemiah heard God speak, have we not?

When God spoke to Nehemiah we followed this rather somewhat remarkable journey of Nehemiah and these people. When God spoke he called them to listen. Are you listening? Are you listening to the Lord?

Or is your mind so cluttered that you cannot listen? Did you do any preparation to come to God's house this morning? Did you pray? Did it pass through your mind that maybe you needed to go to bed just a little earlier last night so that you could have a fresh mind when God speaks to you today? It's hard to do, isn't it?

It was hard for me. I'm not standing here pointing, I haven't slept not once. So I'm standing here today, I haven't slept, my wife will tell you. Not telling you something that's easy.

We all have things. I couldn't get my dad out of my mind all night. But when God spoke to Nehemiah he called on them to listen. He called on them to see. He said just open your eyes. They saw, they saw the broken walls, didn't they?

They saw the burned gates. Are you seeing? Are you looking, are you seeing your children?

What's really going on? Are you seeing what's happening in our communities? Are you seeing how our families are under attack? Are you seeing what's happening to America? Are you seeing what's happening in the world? Did you know, by the way, that fundamental to ISIS, ISIS is the apocalypse, fundamental. Have you ever wondered why it is that ISIS is without consideration attacking and killing people no matter where they come from, no matter who they are, Muslims, Arabs, Englishmen, Americans.

Have you ever asked yourself why? Because they believe that they are fundamentally tied into the apocalypse. When God speaks he calls us to see. Do you know that the Bible tells us that one of the products of fasting and praying is that God will allow you to see and understand revelation. He called them to prepare.

He did. He said, I want you to prepare, I want you to fast, I want you to pray, that's what we're doing. He called them to prepare, he called them to follow spiritual leaders.

When God spoke to Nehemiah and to these people he said, I'm going to set before you spiritual leaders, follow them. Forgive the interruption, we'll be back with more of Dr. Don Wilton's message on the power of God's call in just a moment. That challenge of listening, sometimes we're hearing but are we listening? Know that we'd love to pray for you if you're in a season of hearing but just not really understanding, not really listening. We're here at 866-899-WORD 24 hours a day. That's 866-899-9673 to talk with you, to pray with you, to listen and to maybe connect you with resources that will help you grow in your life, to help you understand the power of God's call on your life. You can also meet with us online at theencouragingword.org. That's theencouragingword.org.

Just know we would love to connect with you. Now back to today's message, the power of God's call with Dr. Don. When God spoke to Nehemiah and to these people he said, I'm going to set before you spiritual leaders, follow them. I wasn't talking about political leaders here.

I wasn't talking about the White House or the state capital. He said, I'm going to set before you spiritual leaders, just like I did with Moses, with Abraham and Paul, Timothy. I haven't changed my mind, follow them, listen to them. But when God spoke, he called them to anticipate opposition.

We've discussed that, haven't we? This remarkable journey, when you answer the call of God, God is telling us, be watchful, be alert, open your eyes, be ready, that old serpent, the devil, he doesn't like it when people get right with God. He doesn't want you to serve him. He doesn't want you to be prepared. Your child most likely will get sick on Sunday morning.

Of course, also on Monday and Tuesday, I'm not eliminating that either because it's just as good to be out of school for some of them. Number six, he called them to go to work. You know, that is a remarkable thing about this group. I know this is going to surprise some because some people still believe that manual labor is the president of Mexico.

We understand that. When God speaks, he calls us to roll up our sleeves and go to work. He appoints us as his ambassadors. And I love the statement that Paul used to the church at Corinth. He called us co-laborers. You know, Paul had another phrase that he used. He called us under rowers. He referred to us as those who are slaves of the master who row the boat.

Make it move. We're there at God's bidding. But there was something else. He called them to remain steadfast. And I love that about the call of God. I love when our choir and our praise team sang just a moment ago, and they said those words. They sang those words. When we hear his voice, let us rise and answer the call.

When he called for Nehemiah and these people, his call included as part of the substantive fabric of the call of God to remain steadfast. It's one thing that I can say about my beloved father. I know this is going to stretch a point with some people.

I do not know. I'm sure it happened. My sweet mama would tell me in a heartbeat, now son, let me just set the record straight here. To my knowledge, I have no recollection of my father ever wavering when it came to the call of God.

Down to the most ridiculous levels, when my wife and I as a newlywed couple realized God was calling us to America, which by the way is on the other side of the world, called my father who pastored a wonderful church, said to him, dad, God's called us to go to America. And all my dad could say, now get this, I wish my dad would have said, son, please, what is this? You've just got married. You're going to bring us grandchildren. Don't leave the house. Whatever you're doing, man, what money can I give you? Stay home. Don't leave us. Don't go there. My dad, it didn't even come up.

It didn't even get an honorable mention. If you'd been a fly on the wall, you would have thought my father couldn't have cared. All my dad said to me was son and daughter to his daughter-in-law.

He loved Karen so much. He said, my son, if God has spoken to you and he's called you, and you are to get up and to leave and to go to a faraway land, and if it means that your mother and I will never, ever see you again in our entire lifetime, but we were to know that you had answered God's call and were in the center of his will. Our joy will have been made complete.

That's legacy. That's all I can say to my sons and my daughter today. Little did I know what God was going to do. You really think it's easy? No, you don't. Have three precious grandsons living in an angry world on the other side of the world as I speak right now that I haven't seen for nearly a year? You don't think that doesn't hurt? But by the way, we do have FaceTime and Skype, but I'm telling you when one of those little chaps look in that thing and say, Chief, would you come and play with me?

Gets to you. I'm calling us to a time of prayer and fasting. So look what happened in the interlude. It's very simple. All the people assembled as one in verse one. All the people assembled as one. The Scriptures were read aloud. That's in verse three.

Isn't that amazing? They opened the Bible. They didn't go to the Supreme Court. They didn't ask the people for their opinion. They didn't say what's politically correct.

They didn't speak about their rights. They just said, let's open God's book. Let's find out what real truth is.

Let's hear what God has to say. Number three, all the people listened. That was rather profound in verse three, the latter part. That's what happened in this interlude.

That's a jolly hard assignment as far as I'm concerned because at the best of times I am most distracted. It goes without saying that Ezra spoke from a platform in the fourth instance. That's what happened. I think most of all what God was saying is, listen, I'm going to elevate my truth because it was not about the man who stood in the platform. It was about what the man did under God's instructions. He spoke truth. He opened the word of God and the elders and the leaders who by name are in this book, the deacons and the life group leaders and the teachers, they were under instruction not to do whatever they wanted to do. Parents, go home and do your job.

Go home and do your job. Have you ever wondered why sometimes I say things more than once? Anybody ever wondered why?

Can I tell you why? Because you wouldn't understand it if we said it just once. That is a basic pedagogical virtue.

Speak to any teacher. Our great teachers in our school system, God knew that before the first school was ever bought or built. A feast was proclaimed. I love that in verse 10.

That's right up my alleyway. Bible says a feast was proclaimed. They all went out and they just had a jolly good time. I think what we need to do at the end of the 40 days is just go ahead. Let's just go ahead and book the beacon for a week. Could we take a vote? No, I'm not going to. And then I love the last one.

I love the last one. Grief was replaced with joy. Look at that in verse 10. The Bible tells us that very clear. Do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength. And then when you go to verse 11, be quiet for this day is holy.

So don't be grieved. And the Bible just keeps reiterating, keeps telling us all the people went on their way. There was great rejoicing the Bible says. You know, when you and I understand the power of God's call, here's the ultimate product. Great rejoicing.

And isn't that what we all seek? God's replacement of our grief with our joy, with our lack of understanding, with a clarity of understanding, with a perception of the call on our life. Our time is gone for today's edition of The Encouraging Word with Dr. Don Wilton, but you can discover more online at theencouragingword.org. That's theencouragingword.org.

Or you can give us a call at 866-899-WORD. You know, we've gained a lot of insight about the power of God's call, but perhaps the most important insight we all need to have is what Dr. Don's going to talk about next. God has spoken to you, hasn't he? And you ready to give your heart to Jesus?

I'd love to help you right now. Would you pray this prayer with me and accept Jesus into your heart and life? Dear God, I know that I'm a sinner.

I know that Jesus loves me and died for me on the cross. Right now, I repent of my sin and I confess my sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come into my heart and save me today and forgive me for my sin. In Jesus' name, I pray.

Amen. If you've prayed that prayer, we'd love to get alongside of you and celebrate with you and send you some literature and help you as you begin to grow. And I want you to know that I love you very, very much. And by the way, don't leave. Don't go away, whatever you do, because I'll be right back. If the Lord stirred your heart either during the message from the pulpit while ago or just from the studio with Dr. Don right now, my prayer for you is do not let it sit. Don't wait on whatever action God's spirit is calling you to do now. Let's pray with you about it. Let us put some resources in your hands. Dr. Don's created a wonderful packet for those of you that have just given your heart to Jesus Christ. My goodness, welcome to the family. Let us welcome you in a very special way by calling 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. We'd love to pray with you, to spend some time listening and talking and connecting with great resources on our website, theencouragingword.org. You can find those resources as well.

That's theencouragingword.org. It's also where you'll find out about this wonderful book from Dr. Don Wilton. You know, over my many years of ministry and from so many of you, I get so many questions about life after death. All of us, people like you and me, are fascinated with the subject of life after death. That's why God led me to write the novel, The Absolute Certainty of Life After Death.

This novel that I wrote was birthed out of my own personal, I think, near-death experience, and it just flowed from my heart. It's the story about two men in a real world. One died and the other man died.

One went to heaven, the other man did not. And it's based on what Jesus teaches us in His Word. This book will change your view of heaven, and it will help you to understand the significance of what it means to be with Christ or to live separated from Him forever. I want you to have a copy. Call the number on your screen and request your own personal copy of my novel, The Absolute Certainty of Life After Death. The Encouraging Word is a viewer and listener support of broadcast ministry, and your financial support helps us to reach just one more for Christ. And this book has been used to change lives all across America. Go ahead and get your copy now.