Christian Urban Renewal

A leader is somebody who risks losing to stick with principle. They don't compromise principle for popularity. Dr. Tony Evans says biblical leadership isn't about talk or trends. It's about consistency and conviction. If it's based on principle, you know they're going to stick with it over the long haul.

You may not like it, but you know you can bank on it. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. The news is filled with stories of crime, corruption, and division. But beneath the headlines is a deeper spiritual problem that can't be solved with politics or policy alone. Today, Dr. Evans reveals God's blueprint for rebuilding broken cities and restoring hope where it's needed most.

Let's join him as he shares biblical principles that can reshape our cities and our lives from the inside out. He begins with an examination of an often skipped list of names found in Nehemiah chapter 11. First of all, I would like to look at the fact of the list. This is one of a number of lists in the book of Nehemiah and throughout the Old Testament as well as the New. So let me address why God puts in lists of names in the Bible to begin with. First of all, our God is a God of recognition. Our God doesn't mind recognizing people who deserve it and condemning people who deserve it by name. The list we find in Nehemiah 11 is a recognition of those leaders who had the guts to go forward for God. The Bible says, give honor to whom honor is due.

Give recognition. Over and over, the Bible spends time identifying people who've made a difference. Hebrews 11, the hall of faith.

It goes name after name of godly men and godly women who bleed God against all odds and who step out on faith and God says, recognize them. In fact, the Bible says in Malachi chapter 3 verse 16, God has a book of remembrance where God writes down who you are and what you did. Now, it's not recorded so that God will remember it. God can't forget things.

It's recorded so he can show you when you forget it. So God keeps records and he remembers and invites us to do the same. So one purpose of God's remembrance is his recognition that God calls out names of people who led and who were faithful and who took risk for the kingdom of God and who stood. Paul regularly calls out names, remember so and so and so and so because of their faithful labor in the Lord.

Recognition. There's a second reason that God will identify names and that is to tie you into roots. Look at chapter 12, for example, verse 1. Now these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel.

Now when you read that, you say, so what? Well, the Zerubbabel came up a hundred years earlier. This is a hundred years later. He said these are the names of the people who came up with Zerubbabel. Why does he say that?

Because these priests who were there then were descendants of those who had come up with Zerubbabel. So what he was saying is you have a legacy. You are tied into something that came a long time before you. Might I remind us all of something? Everybody here under the sound of my voice stands on somebody's shoulder. It may have been your mother, your father, a teacher, a Sunday school teacher or someone, but somebody has enabled you to be where you are.

No man is an island. And God constantly spends time in the Bible reminding us of our roots to let us know that we are part of a spiritual legacy, a spiritual heritage, and we are never to believe that we can do it all by ourselves. So God remembers by giving recognition in order to tie us into roots. This chapter, chapter as I should say, surround Nehemiah's strategy for getting a community redeveloped, rebuilt. Remember the walls were down, crime was on the increase, the rich were oppressing the poor, astronomical economic interest rates, all kind of calamity had engulfed the land, and Nehemiah decides to take it on. Well, the reality is Nehemiah understood that he had to do what Jesus said in the New Testament, occupy till I come. That is, God never calls us to stand gazing up into the heavens. He calls us to act on his biblical principles while we wait for his return. Nehemiah then wants to see redevelopment occur in a community that has become a spiritual, cultural, social, economic, and political disaster. Jerusalem. And as Christians today, we should be equally concerned about the world in which we live.

Because if Jesus does not come back, we still have to live here and raise our children here. In this list are represented some 344 men. If you add women and children, that adds to about 10,000. We know that this list represents 10% of the people, which means that 100,000 are living in the broader metropolitan Jerusalem area. He now unfolds how he's going to tackle his community.

Verse 1 of chapter 11. Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, but the rest of the people cast lights to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine tents remain in the other cities. The first thing we're introduced to are the leaders. The leaders are a key because this list basically represents leaders. It represents the fact that if Nehemiah was going to get the job done, he had to have some people who were willing to take the lead. Followers only do one thing.

Follow. Leaders lead. In other words, what leaders do is they take the initiative to get the job done. Please note that the leaders had taken up their positions in the city even though the followers to this point had done very little. Because leaders lead.

Let me put it another way. Let me tell you what leaders don't do. Leaders don't assess the political climate first to determine whether they will act on principle. Leaders lead. Leaders determine how things ought to be and move on it.

Leaders simply don't assess how everybody sees things are to evaluate whether they should move on it. Leaders set agendas before agendas are ever made. It does not wait for the followers to set the agendas to give them permission to lead.

Again, this is why I am so desperately hard on men. It is out of my passion and out of my love and out of my desire to see men take their mantle of leadership. Men don't wait for their wives to give them permission to lead before they lead. Or for their kids to give them permission to lead before they lead. Real men lead because they are leaders. That is they have a responsibility and that responsibility demands the initiative. And many times we want to give an excuse for not leading when in fact the nature of a leader is that he sets in motion the process that others are to follow.

Even if he winds up doing it alone. Because he's a leader. And if you're a lady and you're in an area of responsibility, it means you set the pace. We're in a crisis today because the biblical definition of leadership is absent.

It's absent in our homes. We don't see men setting the pace for our families and Satan has done a terrific job of subterfuging our male leaders and making them irresponsible rather than responsible. We see it in our communities where people sway with the crowd and determine majority view before they step forward with principle. Let me tell you what a leader is. A leader is somebody who risks losing to stick with principle.

That's how you know a leader. That they don't compromise principle for popularity. To put it another way, leaders don't take votes first. Leaders don't take polls first when it comes to principle. Preferences maybe, but not principles. I don't need a vote on that. I don't need a census on that because I have a principle on that. Leaders are those who take their positions first and call on everybody else to follow. Because if it's based on principle, you know they're going to stick with it over the long haul. You may not like it, but you know you can bank on it.

It's a principle. Dr. Evans will pick up the story of Nehemiah and God's people when he continues our message in just a moment. First though, I want to tell you about an empowering book from Tony that explores how we can bring positive spiritual influence and renewal to our culture.

It's called One Nation Under God. If you're concerned about the direction our country is headed, this book offers a clear, kingdom-focused strategy for making a difference, not politically, but spiritually. We'll send this book out to you as our way of saying thanks when you make a contribution in support of this ministry. And right now, along with the book, we're packaging all 15 full-length messages in Tony's two-volume teaching series on the book of Nehemiah. This in-depth study explores how God uses ordinary people to bring restoration and renewal, lessons that apply to our personal lives, our families, and, as Tony's been discussing today, even our communities. Get all the details and make your requests right away at tonyevans.org, or call our 24-hour resource request line at 1-800-800-3222.

We'll return to Dr. Evans right after this. It was my first time meeting Jesus in the Bible. That's what one student is saying after studying bibliology through the Tony Evans Training Center, taught by renowned theologian, Dr. Tony Evans. These online courses feature compelling and exclusive video and audio teaching, plus an interactive scripture-based curriculum you can access online or through the mobile app. Sign up now at tonyevanstraining.org. Take a course with Dr. Evans and explore the kingdom anytime, anywhere.

Go to tonyevanstraining.org. They did something very interesting in chapter 11, verse 1. It says, the rest of the people cast lots or put up to a vote to bring one out of every ten to live in Jerusalem.

This is the human tithe. One out of every ten persons was brought back into Jerusalem to repopulate the community. His idea was, let's get one out of every ten to move back. That's 10,000 out of 100,000. And if we get those 10,000 to do right, there'll be 100,000 later on because the 10,000 will reduplicate themselves. When the 100,000 see it, many of them will move back because many of the problems that kept them out will now be eradicated so they're comfortable to come back. Now, please notice that this wasn't communism, verse 2. It says, and the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem. So I can't blame a person who wants to move out of an area because it's going down or the schools are not educating their children or crime is up and safety is a question.

I can't blame them for that. That is a natural, emotional concern for family welfare. But the key, though, is that even though that that happens, you must be able to identify people who have been called of God to go back to make a difference for God. We cannot just leave our communities and our families in ruin because nobody wants to fix them. God calls people, just like He calls them to go to Africa and Asia and different parts of the world, He calls them back into community to make a difference in those areas where Satan seems to be in charge. Now, we have a problem because one could argue, and possibly legitimately so, they could say, I asked you, you know, this was Jerusalem, and this is the holy city, and these are the Jews. So I don't think that you can transfer what God was doing in Jerusalem and make that applicable to Dallas, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Houston, whatever city you're in. I don't know that you can reduplicate believing God can make this kind of difference. And so as I thought about that, I said, well, now I need something that shows me that God wants to make this kind of difference in a pagan city, in a city where the king doesn't know God, it's not a holy city, it's unrighteous people.

Does God have an agenda for those environments using the people of God to make the difference? And then I came across Jeremiah 29. Now here's what Jeremiah 29 says, beginning in verse 4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. So now they're in Babylon, a pagan, gentile nation. Listen to this, verse 5. Build houses and live in them.

Now they're in a pagan environment. He says, get a homestead in Babylon. Two, plant gardens and eat their produce.

Develop your own economic base that can sustain yourself in Babylon. Three, take wives and become fathers of sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands that they may bear sons and daughters and multiply and catch this. Do not decrease. Don't stop having babies. Always reproduce your numbers in Babylon.

Now this is a day in a pagan environment, God says, one, get a homestead. Two, develop an independent economic base. Three, develop families. Now why do you develop families? I'll tell you why you develop families. So that you can reproduce yourself.

Why is he saying keep reproducing yourself? So that you can have kids and your kids can have kids and you, as you introduce your kids to God, will have an influence in the nation where I have placed you. Where now because you are committed to me, my divine presence will be felt through you in the environment. He goes on and he says, not only was the issue relocation, the religious base of a community ultimately determines its welfare or well-being. All these issues that we're facing today have religion at the core of it. It's related to what you believe and when I talk about what you believe, that's what I mean by religious. As committed Christians, we're saying we have an authoritative belief system. That's why fathers ought to be leading and bringing your children to church so that they understand the importance of having a religious base.

Because you know what? Some of you are only here today because of what your mama did when you were five and six and seven years old. Now you left it in college but you couldn't leave it all together and when you got in a mess, the Holy Spirit said, remember where you were? Remember where you used to be?

You better hurry up back there. Our society must have a religious base. There must be a frame of reference for decision making. There's another thing that we want you to note in this list of names and that is there was a high degree of organization. Verse 3 says, now these are the heads of the provinces.

So there were heads of various local areas. Verse 12 says that there were leaders at the beginning of verse 12. There were people who were assigned to various tasks, performed the work of the temple. Verse 16 talks about those who were in charge of the outside work of the house of God. Verse 17 talks about the leader who led in the thanksgiving.

Over and over and over again. Verse 23 even had a liaison person from the king of Persia down to the Jews in Jerusalem. A high degree of organization. Even families.

Verse 22 of chapter 12, and as for the Levites, the head of the father's households. Now let me tell you something very fundamental that's for your house, your business, or your world. If it's unorganized, don't pray over it.

Let me say that again. If it's unorganized, don't bother to pray over it. God does not work in the midst of disorganization.

The end of the last verse of 1 Corinthians 14 says, let all things be done decently and in an orderly manner. You cannot give chaos to God and say bless it. If you've got a chaotic family, God's not going to bless it. If we have a chaotic church, God's not going to bless it.

No, no, you must have order. God demands order. Now, once you have order, I don't mean that there's no flexibility, but there must be an orderly arrangement of things in order for God to work.

Some of us spend time with God when we feel like it. That's not going to work. There's no order to that. There's no order to that. You just feel like it. So you feel like it once a year.

That's how often you and God get together. No, no, you need a plan. Some of us are in debt up to our ears because we have no financial order. Oh, we got some money. Let's spend it. Where can we spend it? No budget, no planning, no order. Just got some money.

Got some money back on our taxes. Let's go. You've got to have a plan. You've got to have order. God does not bless disorder. That's why everything that God does, He does by arranging things. The husband is head of the wife. The wife submits to the husband. Children, obey your parents. Congregation, follow your leaders. I mean, everything is tied to an order because if it's unorganized, it's going to be chaotic and God doesn't want to be identified.

Don't call His name with it. God's got a plan. Did you know Jesus Christ was slain before the foundation of the world?

You're talking about planning. The world's probably about 10,000 years old. Now, I know you're not going to hear that in your science class. You're going to hear about the ice age and the stone age and you're going to hear about all that madness. The only reason why they talk like that is because they don't believe in a noatic flood. Once you have a noatic flood, a worldwide flood, you don't need an ice age because you can now explain the ice. If you've got water that's as high as Mount Everest, you're going to have some ice.

So that's how you get the ice age and that's why they can't get all of their fossilizing to concur with each other where one area, one strata, one thing is on top and they say, well, this was earlier, but they go over here and they say another thing was on top and they say, well, that was earlier. Well, no, what happened was the topography of the whole world was totally turned upside down, inside out by the flood, so that's why there can be no consistent tracking because God had a flood. So once you believe in the flood, you don't need a billion years.

All you need is 10,000. Okay? Well, that's science 101 for the day, but the point is that God, before the foundation of the world, planned out the death of Christ so that it would happen. The Bible says in due time, Jesus Christ died at the proper time. God is a God of planning, of order, of organization, and we must be too. Dr. Tony Evans reminding us that believers make a difference when we reflect God's character in the way we live and serve. And to help support you in living that out, don't miss your chance to take advantage of the resource package I mentioned earlier, all 15 messages from both volumes of Tony's Current Sermon series on the book of Nehemiah, along with a copy of his inspiring book, One Nation Under God.

They're yours with our thanks when you make a donation to help keep this listener-supported program coming your way. Just visit tonyevans.org to make the arrangements or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222, where team members are standing by to assist with your request. That's 1-800-800-3222 or online at tonyevans.org.

Before we wrap up, don't forget a new Stories from the Storyteller episode is just a couple of days away. When a party guest shows up unprepared, it sparks a meaningful talk about the king's banquet and what it means to be ready for God's kingdom. Discover more about this fun and faith-building animated series for kids at tonyevanstv.com.

That's tonyevanstv.com. Coming up tomorrow, the wall was complete, the city was secure, the people were finally reunited. But the real celebration didn't begin until something deeper happened. Discover what it was as Dr. Evans continues our journey through the book of Nehemiah.