Living on the Edge

Chip Ingram: Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Do you have a desire or a 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've 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.

Welcome to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. A God-directed strategic plan doesn't begin in a boardroom or a brainstorming session. It begins in private, in silence, in honest assessment, and in unhurried time with God. Today, Chip shows us the three principles Nehemiah followed before he ever held a public meeting or asked a single person to pick up a stone for the massive rebuild God had put on his heart.

Whether the dream in your own heart is for your marriage, your family, or a ministry God has been calling you toward, today's message gives you the framework to move forward well. Here's Chip Ingram.

Chip Ingram: A strategic plan. Don't let that word scare you. You don't have to be in graduate school or go to Stanford or get an MBA from Harvard. We're going to find that some of the best strategic planning and thinking in any literature anywhere is in Nehemiah chapter two. And you're going to find a man with leadership gift that has an impossible situation with a ragtag group, with zero resources when he starts out, is used by God through the strategic plan after his heart is dislocated, his broken spirit, and he takes this radical step of faith where God does through an ordinary person exceedingly, abundantly beyond what he could think or imagine.

And that's what we're going to learn. We're going to learn how to develop a strategic plan. So open your notes or as many of you are already there, I'll catch you up with you. There's four things that we're going to see in this chapter, chapter two, verses five through about 18. I've put the text in there for you.

And what we're going to see is there's four things very critical to developing a strategic plan. First, it must begin with a vision. It must begin with a vision. Now that word's thrown around in lots of different literature. So let me use it in sort of the way I'm describing it here. A vision is a God-given burden to see what could be and should be in a person, place, or situation if God's power and God's grace was unleashed in it.

The second thing is that it grows out of need but there's a process of the heart and there's a process of the head. Certain things have to happen in you. That was chapter one. And then certain things have to happen through you. I put a little chart. Let me show you how this gets born out in everyday practice. In chapter one, there's a problem, right? The walls, God's agenda. Chapter two, we're going to get a solution. In chapter one, it's in Susa, it's in the comfort zone. I mean, he's living the lap of luxury. Chapter two, he's in Jerusalem. He's out of his comfort zone.

But he's in the excitement in the center of God's will. Chapter one, it's about prayer, it's the process of discernment and formation. I'm only one person. God, what do you want me to do? Chapter two, there's an answer. God confirms, this is what I want you to do. Chapter one, there's a promise. He says, God, you know, I know you have an agenda just like today. We know God has agenda for the world. He has agenda for the poor. He has the agenda for Christians. He has an agenda for people that don't know him.

But then chapter two, it goes from those promises to actual provision. And God's going to resource that burden that he's put on his heart. Chapter one, there's a purpose. He clearly articulates. This is why I'm here. God wants me to rebuild that wall. Chapter two, there's a program. There's timelines, there's people, there's resources. Chapter one, it starts with an individual. One guy, just one guy, one business guy goes, I mean, what can I do? Well, after four months of praying, he goes, okay, I'm going to go before the king. I'll put my life on the line. I'm going to leave my comfort zone. Here am I, send me.

And the way it always happens then a movement starts. First, it's a small group. And then pretty soon you're going to see by the end of this chapter, all the people of that city say, let us arise and build. In chapter one, it's uh perceptual. It's just an idea. You know, someone ought to do something about that. But chapter two, it's practical. There's a game plan. Chapter one, it's a heart issue. But chapter two, it's the head. God did something in him. Now God's going to do something through him.

So, what's your vision? You have this dream for an ethnic group. You have this dream for women. You have this dream for kids. You have this dream for kids around the school. You have this dream for your family. You have this dream for other men that have addictions. You have this dream, and well, here's what I'm telling you. 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. 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 residence that I will occupy. He needs provision. Translation, King, I need your Mastercard. 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. It wasn't because I was a great leader. It 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 it 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. So what Nehemiah did. 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. 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. 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've 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.

Follow along with me in verse 11. He says, I went to Jerusalem and after staying there three days, so he's gone from Susa. He went to the uh 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 on 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 re-entered through the Valley Gate. So he literally counter-clockwise 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 in 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 who are going to do the work. There's some faith.

So imagine he's coming to Jerusalem. And and you got to picture this because we we we he's like not quite the vice president, but I mean this is, he's coming from the right-hand man of the most powerful person in the world to a broken down city. And for three days he goes dark. I mean, he's not like he came, press conference, want you to 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 said 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.

Dave Dravecky: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll have more in just a moment. Remember, the place to go for all of these daily messages is over on our website, livingontheedge.org. There you'll find Chip's full teaching library along with even more content like Chip's free daily discipleship tool to help you grow all week long. You can also download the Chip Ingram app absolutely free through any app store on your smart device. Now, let's continue with today's message from Chip Ingram.

Chip Ingram: 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 in 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 listen. Go squat 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. You have to do your homework. We 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 climate, 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 first hand 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 specific means to implement. More specifically, just so we get it down to the grassroots level. Um, 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 um, let 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 was making me nuts. Great, she loved God. I 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 was 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 kind of home, this is 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 believed 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 the 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 do you guys look at this? You see these, see these big rocks? You see this? I mean, see those gates? I mean, no one's worshipping, no one lives in the city. Do you do you Do you see the situation that Jerusalem is? Desolate, gates burned by fire. Come, challenge, let us together build the wall of Jerusalem. Why? That 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 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 know you 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 motivated 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. You gotta motivate from within. It's gotta be about what kind of believers do we want to be? How seriously do we take the name of Christ in 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.

Dave Dravecky: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and a message titled Create a Strategic Plan. Well, there's more to hear in a moment. Silence to listen, secrecy to assess, solitude to strategize. Chip showed us today that the three days Nehemiah spent riding through the rubble in the dark weren't wasted time. They were the whole foundation. He didn't come running into Jerusalem with a press conference and a PowerPoint. He came in quietly, looked at the real extent of the damage, and developed a plan before he said a word. The public launch was only as strong as the private preparation behind it.

If you want support for that kind of private preparation in your own life, we've created a free resource to help. The Real You is a short online assessment, designed to help you understand how God has specifically wired you, your personality, your strengths, your design. Take it free by going to therealyou.org. And we want to say a genuine thank you to everyone who supports this ministry. Every broadcast, every free resource, every message that reaches someone at just the right moment, it's made possible by people who believe this work matters. If you'd like to be one of them, give online at livingontheedge.org, or call us at 888-333-6003. You can also write to us at Living on the Edge, PO Box 3007, Atlanta, Georgia, 30024. And then we invite you to stay connected beyond the broadcast by subscribing to the Living on the Edge podcast and following us on Facebook and Instagram at Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Well, now here's Chip.

Chip Ingram: 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 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. We long to help you fulfill the dream that God's put on your heart.

Dave Dravecky: We all admire committed people. So why is commitment so hard to make and even harder to keep? Chip Ingram says there's an answer buried in one of the most unusual chapters in the Bible. I'm Dave Dravecky, inviting you back next time here on Living on the Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.