Had a great time getting an opportunity to speak in our main worship services yesterday here at Greeley Wesleyan Church. It’s always exciting and fun, and I am super blessed to have a Lead Pastor who has enough confidence in me to allow me to speak to the congregation he’s been entrusted with. The validation and motivation I get from an opportunity like that launches my confidence into the stratosphere (Did that sound cliche enough?).

Fortunately, thanks t0 the advances in technology I’m able to video my messages in HD (High Def… try to keep up) and do playback while I’m preaching downstairs in the the worship center. It essentially allows me to be in 2 places at one time which is a great asset to continuing in a series and keeping continuity going in the youth ministry.

Last week I said that I would touch on a high point from each of the 4 parts in our GOYD (get off your donkey) series we’ve been doing with the teens. Sunday marked the completion of that series, so this week I’ll take a moment to touch on each of the weeks and what we looked at in its simplest form.

Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the most powerful king in the most powerful kingdom of that time. The Hebrew people had been trapped in captivity in Babylon/Persia for approximately 140 years when Nehemiah felt God tug at his heart to return to Jerusalem and re-fortify the city’s walls. His life as we find it is the perfect example of someone living in comfort… he’s the cupbearer to the king, living in the palace, and as evidenced in the beginning of Chapter 2 he has gained the trust and respect of the king enough to speak to him directly. So much so that when Artaxerxes sees that he is distraught, he asks what is wrong. And here’s the kicker, the point many of us reach and never take action with. It says in Nehemiah 2:2-3:

“… I was very much afraid, BUT I said to the king…”

Did you catch that? “I was afraid, BUT…” Most of us don’t get past our fear do we? Nehemiah had a lot to be afraid of: the king himself (whom the Persians regarded as deity), fear of failure, fear of the danger he could encounter on his path. Bottom line, he had a lot to be afraid of and worry about.

BUT. But he went forward anyway. When it really came down to the NITTY GRITTY (think Nacho Libre), Nehemiah jumped off his donkey and he moved forward in faith. He did it with courage, he did it through prayer (Vs. 4-5), and he did it by going through with his commitment once he was off his donkey.

So I ask today, what is your “DONKEY?”

****Talk/Discussion Sheets we call “Sticky Notes” can be found for all of the Get Off Your Donkey Messages, HERE.