Holy Ambition - Create a Strategic Plan, Part 2

Do you have a desire or dream in your heart that you sense God wants to do something in your life? And maybe it's a job. Maybe it's an area in your marriage. Maybe it's a change that needs to happen with your kids. Maybe it's a whole new direction in your singleness. You got the desire, but you don't know how to get there. How do you develop a plan? How do you move from point A where you are to point B where you know God wants you to arrive?

That's today. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. I'm Dave Druey, and Chip's our Bible teacher for this international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. Well, we're grateful you've joined us as Chip picks up where he left off last time in his series Holy Ambition, turning God-shaped dreams into reality. Now in this program, Chip continues to describe what it looks like to create a specific strategic plan to accomplish God's extraordinary agenda for our lives. Now before we begin, if you've been encouraged by this series, would you take a minute after this message and share it with a friend?

Now you can do that through the Chip Ingram app or by sending them the free MP3s that you'll find at LivingOnTheEdge.org. Well, with that, here's Chip with the second half of his talk, Create a Strategic Plan from Nehemiah chapter 2. Where God's agenda is championed, God's resources flow.

Where God's agenda is championed, His resources flow. Don't start thinking about the how. Just get focused on the what and on the why. God will take care of the how. He'll bring people. Dream a dream.

Form a team. He will resource the vision, and He'll do something in you in the process. Nehemiah shows us how it works. Chapter 2 verse 5, and I said to the king, if it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me, radical step of faith, where? To the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so I can rebuild it. That's his vision.

That's his. Circle it. I can rebuild it.

Just very clean, very clear. He didn't say send me back to preach. Don't send me back to do a revival. Say what?

There's a physical issue. I'm a business person. I've got leadership gift. I've been praying about it.

Send me to rebuild it. Then the king with the queen sitting beside him asked me, how long will your journey take, and when will you get back? It pleased the king to send me, so I set a time. Circle the phrase, so I set a time. And he knew I can only set a time when I know here's the extent of the damage. Here's the resource I need. Here's how many people I'm going to need.

Here's about how long. I better put a little margin and buffer into it, so he had a strategic plan. Strategic plans don't have all the details. It has all the major building blocks and steps of how to get from where you are to where what you know God wants you to do. He goes on. So, I said to him, if it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of the trans-Euphrates so they will provide me safe conduct until I arrive in Judah? So he needs protection. And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, so he'll give me timber to make the beams of the gates of the citadel by the temple for the city wall and for the residents that I will occupy. He needs provision. Translation, king, I need your master card.

Okay? And he has a broken spirit. He understands it's not about him. Here's his reason why he is so bold. And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my request. Wasn't because I was a great leader. Wasn't because I'm persuasive. It's not because I had this great big vision that people ought to get behind. It's because the good hand of my God is upon him, and he knew his good hand was upon him, because for the last four months he's been fasting and praying and seeking God.

And I said, this isn't about Nehemiah. This is about your agenda, and he's championing God's agenda. So I went to the governor of the trans-Euphrates. I gave him the king's letters, and the king also—this is the exceedingly, abundantly beyond when God provides—the key to the vision becoming a reality is a strategic plan. The key to a strategic plan is first and foremost, what's your vision?

You must have a picture of a preferable future. What is the burden on your heart that could be and must be in a person, place, or situation if the grace of God and the power of God was unleashed in it? And where God's agenda is championed, his resources flow. And here's how you get his resources. You ask the king. That's what Nehemiah did. I mean, he went from an idea to a prayer meeting to a game plan to can I go? And he says yes, and then he says, and by the way, would you finance it?

Really? Will you finance it? King goes, yeah.

You have a king that's a lot bigger than the king of Persia. He'll finance it. You need staff? He'll give you staff.

You need ideas? He'll give you ideas. God will direct. God will fund it. God will resource it.

I wrote a very specific line in my notes I want to read to you. Great movements of God are not lacking because of lack of resources, but because of lack of vision and radical faith with a clear-cut, strategic plan to accomplish them. God's just looking for a man, for a woman, and he'll give you eyes to see. Later we're going to hear Nehemiah say that what he shared with the people, what God put in his heart. There are needs that prick your heart like no one else's, that make you tear up when you give yourself time to really think about it. There are needs that desperately need the grace of God and the love of God and the compassion of Christ to move into, and you are made differently than any single person. And often, God's provision is how He confirms that you're on the right track. The biggest mistake we make is we wait for God to, well, God, when you bring all the people and all the resources, then we'll go. Nothing happens there. All those Old Testament pictures is the water parts when what happened.

They step into the water. It's moms going, I think my holy ambition needs to be, first and foremost, my family, and then I think I'll connect with children, or I think I'll connect with women. It's guys saying, first and foremost, my vision, I'm going to be a man of God, a man of integrity.

But I've got some baggage, and I'm going to help some other men get out of their addictions like I got out of mine. So, in the next couple pages, Nehemiah will give us, I think, as good as any leadership book, and I don't have any formal training in it, but I've just read everything under the sun to try and learn about strategic planning and leadership. And I will tell you what, points three and four, Nehemiah gives it as good as any book I've ever read.

He's going to say your strategic plan must be birthed in private, must be birthed in private. Follow along with me in verse 11. And he says, I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days, so he's gone from Susa. He went to the guy with all the timber and said, here's how many trees we're going to need.

King says so. Here's his credit card. And now he's arrived in Jerusalem. And after staying there three days, I set out during the night with a few men.

I had not told anyone what God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on, and by night I went out through the valley gate toward the jackal wall and the dung gate, and I was examining the walls of Jerusalem which had been broken down, and its gates which had been destroyed by fire. And then I moved on toward the fountain gate and the king's pool, but there wasn't enough room for my mount to get through. So I went up the valley by night examining the wall, and then finally I turned back and reentered through the valley gate. So he literally, counterclockwise, if you had a map of the city, he goes all the way around the entire wall. Some places there's so much rubble he can't get through, and he's examining the extent of the damage and what the situation is.

And then notice his last line. He said the officials did not know where I had gone, so he's doing it secrecy, or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or the nobles or the officials or others who would be doing the work. There's some confidence, isn't it?

I haven't talked to anyone yet, but these are all the people that are going to do the work. There's some faith. Imagine, he's coming to Jerusalem, and you've got to picture this, because he's like not quite the vice president, but I mean he's coming from the right-hand man, the most powerful person in the world, to a broken-down city. And for three days he goes dark. I mean it's not like he came. Press conference, once you know, guys, God spoke to me.

I got the king's credit card. We're going to make this thing happen. You just listen to me, guys, and we can do it. For three days he says nothing.

In fact, when he wants to find out the real lay of the land, he does it at night, so people don't even know what's happening. Three principles flow out of this of birthing your strategic plan. Number one is silence to listen. Verse 11, it was after three days. Verse 12, I told no one.

Verse 16, I said nothing. Once you get a God-given vision, a burden that He wants you to respond to, a need that you believe He wants you to meet, don't go blabbing about it. Don't get this idea and this heart and pray for a few days and say, we're going to reach inner-city kids. We're going to start this ministry.

We're going to do this. We're going to just, shh, shh, shh, shh. Listen. Go quiet. Don't assume you have all the answers. That's why he listened. Don't assume you know all the facts. Discover what other people think, what their views are, what's coming. You know what he did? He didn't come in with a bunch of answers. He came in and said, what's the lay of the land?

What's going on here? The second is secrecy to assess, but you have to do your homework. We want to jump in to make stuff happen. Evaluate the extent of the need. What are the available resources? What are the attitudes?

What's the climates? What are the issues? That examining the wall is like a surgeon looking at the extent of the damage before he operates. And so, you get secret not to hide something from people, but to really understand not what other people say is going on, but you find out firsthand what are the real issues, what are the real needs. And then third is solitude to strategize. You develop a team. You come up with a specific strategic plan. You have deadlines. You have specific goals. Here's where we want to be in five years. Here's where we want to be in three. You know it's all going to change.

It's big picture. For the next 12 months, this is what we've got to do, when, why, and how. Here's how much it's going to cost. Here's the steps we're going to take.

Here's the first steps. God blesses specific plans, not vague general ideas. And so, solitude is for strategizing, and you develop a specific means to implement.

More specifically, just so we get it down to the grassroots level, many I've shared sort of the journey of coming from homes where we really didn't know how to do marriage or family, and let me give you about a year, year and a half in my marriage, here's how I came up with a strategic plan for my marriage. Silence. I listened to Teresa, listened to her frustrations, and her telling me what she needed me to be.

It was painful. I spent the first year and a half telling her what she needed to do and become to make our marriage work, because she's making me nuts. Great. She loved God.

But not working very well. After the silence, then it was secrecy to assess. I went away and got quiet and owned my part, realizing I could not change my wife, and that she had a lot of baggage, and so did I. So I went to a professor, a guy named Prof Hendricks, who's been a mentor, and to a guy who's teaching pastoral psychology at the seminary, and said, I think this is what I need to own. My best understanding from what I've learned is this is where she's coming from, what I'm coming from. This is the kind of home.

This is the kind of home. I know two things. We can't communicate, and we can't resolve anger, and I know that's not good. So will you help me, regardless if she ever changes in any way, will you help me secrecy assess?

How can I be the kind of husband to respond to that? And they did. And then the last one was solitude to develop a plan. And I got away, and she got away, and we went to some counseling. And then we came up with a strategic plan for our marriage, and it involved, because of us, this isn't necessarily for you, but for us, we needed at least 15 minutes every day, sometimes a lot more after supper, where we talk and share how are you really doing and connect. We needed one date a week. I made it Friday mornings for about three or four hours. We ate breakfast together, and we're going to spend time together every Friday. We needed to have what we called a conference about twice a week, where you ask these three questions that teach you about communication. They were on the calendar, and we went out and did them together, asking these three questions so we learned to communicate.

And we plugged in two times a year to get away for at least a couple nights, despite how poor we were. We would trade off kids with other people, because we realized if we didn't invest in the romantic side of our marriage and get away, it wouldn't work. I came up with my wife for a strategic plan for a marriage of where the burden of my heart and what I believe is biblical.

We did the same thing for our kids. When we talk about strategic plans, this isn't just about church and ministry and growth. This is about what you need to do, I need to do, we need to do. You need a strategic plan for your own spiritual life, but it has to be birthed in private. It takes times of silence, times of secrecy, and times of solitude. And so, strategic planning begins, you must have a vision. Two, you champion God's agenda, and He'll cause the resources to flow your way, people, wisdom, whatever you need.

It's birthed in private, and then finally, it needs to be launched in public. Notice in two verses, Nehemiah gives us an amazing way to launch things in public. It says, then I said to them, you see the bad situation we are in?

That Jerusalem is desolate, and its gates are burned by fire? Come, he says, he's speaking to the group of people. He's going public now.

There's a big group of people. This guy came. Where's he coming from? He's been hiding out for quite a while.

Now he's going public. Do you, God, look at this. You see these big rocks?

You see this? I mean, see those gates? I mean, no one's worshiping? No one lives in the city? You see the situation that Jerusalem is? Desolate, gates burned by fire? Come challenge, let us together build the wall of Jerusalem.

Why? Because we may no longer be a reproach. This is a disgrace to God's name.

This is a disgrace to us. And I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me, and also about the king's words which he spoke to me. Then they said, response, let us arise and build so they put their hands to the good work.

Get your pen out, because I'll go through these quickly. I want to give you, in those two verses, how to launch your strategic plan. You've prayed. You've recruited a team.

You've dreamed a dream. You're forming a team, or you're kind of working through some of those private areas. Number one, clearly define the problem. People get used to living in messes. They get used to marriages that are dysfunctional. They get used to kids that have bad attitudes and slam the door and live in front of video games. Well, I don't want the conflict.

People get used to the walls being burned down. You've got to define the problem, first and foremost. Do you see?

He says, the answer was they didn't see. Second, identify with the problem. Notice he says, it's our problem.

It's not yours. Do you see the bad situation we are in? Third, propose a we solution.

He didn't blame them. You need to sit down with your kids. What are we going to do about this? You sit down with your wife. What are we going to do about this?

You get with a group of men. What are we going to do about this? Number four, give a clear, strong challenge. He asked big things. So I want you to know, ask people for big things. If you feel me asking you for big things, you're hearing very clearly, way to go. Then motivate at the deepest level.

There's no soft sell. He didn't say, when we get the walls built, then your businesses will go better, or later on I'll get the king to give you a good retirement. He says, do that we may no longer be a reproach, but you've got to motivate from within. It's got to be about what kind of believers do we want to be?

How seriously do we take the name of Christ and His church? What kind of difference do we want to make for His glory? And then you help other people see God's hand. I mean, the reason I told you some of the stories were, I mean, God's hand has showed up this year.

And then finally, you explain specifically how everyone can be involved. God is prepared to give direction and resources and wisdom if He can find a man or a woman whose heart's fully His. Chip will be right back with his application for this message, Create a Strategic Plan, from his series, Holy Ambition, Turning God-Shaped Dreams into Reality. Now you may be asking yourself, what does it mean to have a holy ambition?

Those two words seem to be contradictory. As we'll understand through Chip's teaching, God's called us to be both holy and ambitious. Through the biblical story of Nehemiah, Chip unpacks how God develops unique passions and desires in us so that He can then work through us. Discover how you can be used by God to accomplish the extraordinary.

Now if you missed any part of our series, Holy Ambition, the Chip Ingram map is a great way to catch up any time. Our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram, is with me now. And Chip, in this message, you talked about creating a strategic plan, and part of that was challenging others to do big things. And I think you'd agree, we've really seen people step up and do incredible things through their support of this ministry. So what would you like to say to those who are standing with us financially right now?

I just want to say thanks to every single one of you who partner with us at Living on the Edge. You know, some of you pray, some of you give, and some of you do both. You may not know it, but we meet as a staff Monday through Friday, and we pray.

I mean, we have staff all across the country, and we time it where we come together. We pray over you. We pray over the teaching that goes out. We pray over the projects.

We have so many people that call in and say, this is a specific need. And we pray for specific needs. We pray over relationships. We pray that God will use the ministry here and around the world.

I have just one question. If the teaching on this program is making a difference in your life, would you get on board? Would you commit to pray for us? Would you commit to give?

In fact, regardless of the amount, if you could give monthly, it would make a world of difference. We have so much ahead of us. The needs are so great, and life is short. Would you go online or give us a call and become a partner with the ministry? I'm not discouraged, because I know God's in control, but I believe He's calling us to step up and really make a difference, and we need your help to do that.

Thanks, Chip. If joining the Living on the Edge team is an idea that makes sense to you, we'd love to have you. Your support multiplies our efforts and resources in ways that only God can do. So if you'd like to be a part of that, let me encourage you to become a monthly partner just go to livingontheedge.org and tap the donate button. With a few clicks, you can set up a recurring donation and help others benefit from this ministry. Or if it's easier, just give us a call at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003 to learn how you can become a monthly partner with Living on the Edge.

App listeners, tap donate. Well, with that, Chip, let's get to your application that we promised. As we close today's program, I am acutely aware that there are some people that when I speak about strategic plans, it is so natural for you to think this way, that it's like, oh, yeah.

And especially for those in business, for those who are in areas of leadership. For some of you, this is so, I mean, basic. For many of us, this is like, how do I get my arms around this? And so I want to remind you that silence, you have to listen, ponder, ask questions. It's getting alone.

Second, it's secrecy. You need to do an assessment and let those things bubble up where you see what needs to be done and why. And then solitude. You need to get alone to come up with that strategic plan.

But after you get alone, you may desperately need some help. Often God will put something on your heart, but you'll need a team of people and you'll need to share, you know, this one gal who had this dream to help disabled kids through horseback riding and it was a dream and she had all this emotion. Well, she got with her husband and another man who was a strategic planner and they found a plot of land and what they did is they went from an idea and a passion that was in her and she got a group of people and now, are you ready? There's a ranch, there's horses, there's all these disabled kids, they're getting loved and then they're hearing about Christ and their parents are there listening to Jesus because of her holy ambition, but she needed help for the strategic plan. So let me encourage you, maybe ask God, who do you know that might be good at helping you formulate this?

Don't do it by yourself. In fact, if you wonder how to get there, this series that I'm teaching right now is in a small group DVD format that you could just go through this with a group of people and I think your strategic plan will come to light. We long to help you fulfill the dream that God's put on your heart. Thanks Chip. Well, a great way to get plugged in with some of those resources Chip just mentioned is through the Chip Ingram app. There you can listen to past series, sign up for daily discipleship, download the message notes and much more. Let us help you experience God in a new personal way, starting today with the Chip Ingram app. Well, join us next time as Chip continues his series, Holy Ambition. Until then, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.