Nehemaih

Nehemiah

Nehemiah

Prepare for the Vision

Intro: Picture of acorn, Tree, cotton field, empty pews.

Black Creek Baptist, family life center.

Proverbs 29:18 KJV 1900

18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: But he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Nehemiah 1:1–11 NKJV

1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, 2 that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” 4 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 5 And I said: “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, 6 please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. 8 Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; 9 but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ 10 Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. 11 O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” For I was the king’s cupbearer.

I. Prepare through prayer. 1:1-11

Nehemiah 1:1–2 (NKJV)

1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah.

It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, 2 that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

1. Nehemiah, (cup bearer) while he was captive had great concern for his home land. He gets word that things are pretty bad.

VS 3 have gave their answer.

VS 3

Nehemiah 1:3 NKJV

3 And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”

KJV Remnant: (91 times in the Bible, most in the O.T) (Hebrew) means what is leftover. God works with leftovers.

a. Great distress (affliction:) What they once had they had lost. Their city, their worship, many were captive, it had bought great sadness to them, and they were troubled.

b. Reproach: Disgrace

b. They had brought this on themselves because as a nation they had turned their back on God. Now they were in great affliction, and were a disgrace in the sight of God.

c. Does that sound filmier? As a nation today we are in great affliction, I believe we are disgrace in the sight of God.

d. Nehemiah is heartbroken over this. God will use him to restore that which had been broken down. God would give him a vision.

e. It may be that we need to be broken hearted to get to the place God wants us to be. (elab what we should be brokenhearted over)

f. Nehemiah doesn’t make a rash decision, if he would have, his plan may have failed. This was too important. He spends time in prayer.

g. Any work we do for the Lord it important.

h. It all needs to start with prayer, seeking God’s will, seeking God’s guidance.

i. Nehemiah gave a great example of this.

VS 4

Nehemiah 1:4 NKJV

4 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

1. This is not just some simple help us Lord Prayer. Nehemiah is seeking direction from the Lord.

a. “I sat down” Why did he sit down? You call someone on the phone with some bad news. “Are you sitting down?

b. sat down and wept: Sometimes we look at weeping as a sign of weakness; but with Nehemiah it was a sign of strength. He had a burden for the city of Jerusalem, and his people.

c. We should have a great burden for the lost (Elab on who the lost are) (We should have a great burden for the needy,Elab) Elab what we should pray.

d. He prayed and he fasted.

VS 5

Nehemiah 1:5 NKJV

5 And I said: “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments,

Awesome God: ( KJV terrible) To fear, to have reverence. To stand in awe. Elab

e. Nehemiah feared God. Elab And he knew that God kept His promises. READ LAST PART OF VS

g. God wants us to reach the lost. He wants us to share his love with those that are in need of his love.

h. But are churches today really doing that? Are we doing what God has called us to do?

i. Israel, God’s chosen people, but they had not done what God had called them to do. Worship, sacrifices

Their city, the city of Jerusalem was in ruins. So Nehemiah calls out to God.

j. As we prepare to reach our friends, our loves ones, our community we have to prepare through prayer.

VS 6-11

Nehemiah 1:6–11 NKJV

6 please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. 8 Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; 9 but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ 10 Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. 11 O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” For I was the king’s cupbearer.

II. Prepare by planning. 2:2-9

(Go over the list below before reading veres)

1. Plan your work, than work your plan. Easter, SR Adult VBS

a. Nehemiah had spent time in prayer. He knew what needed to be done; he had a vision from God. Now he would bring his request to the King.

1. He didn’t rush God’s plan, he waited for the right opportunity. “Weep and pray, pray and wait”

a. Rebuilding the wall would not be an easy task. It would be a cheep job. But God had a way, what an opportunity for Nehemiah.

b. All of his needs would be met with one question from the king.

VS 2 READ AND ELAB

Nehemiah 2:2 NKJV

2 Therefore the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.” So I became dreadfully afraid,

c. When God opens the door of opportunity, walk through it.

VS 3

Nehemiah 2:3 NKJV

3 and said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?”

1. Nehemiah doesn’t demand anything of the King. Instead he shows respect to the King, and shares his heart and his desires. READ LAST PART OF VS

a. Now we see that he had an answer for the King, he has a step by step plan.

VS 4-9 READ VERSE AND ELAB AS I READ.

Nehemiah 2:4–9 NKJV

4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” 6 Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), “How long will your journey be? And when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. 7 Furthermore I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.” And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me. 9 Then I went to the governors in the region beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.

b. We are going to have a plan to reach the lost. Easter, other events.

c. Do projects to get people on our campus. (Prayer day)

d. Step by step plans.

e. But, news flash; Satan ain’t going like it. Elab

f. That’s why we have to prepare for the attack.

III. Prepare for the attack 2:10

Nehemiah 2:10 NKJV

10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.

1. Sanballat and Tobiah.

a. Sanballat was the leading opponent of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. Why?

b. It could have been jealousy. He may have felt that his authority was being threatened.

c. When God gives a vision to further His kingdom Satan will do all he can to stop it. He will use people with diffident reasons.

d. For whatever the reason, his goal is to stop God’s work. He wants to get people discouraged, anger, hoping that they will get give up.

2. (I’m just going to give an overview of what he did to try and stop the work that God had planned, not going to read all these. You can write them down)

a. 2:19b He mock’s Nehemiah and his crew.

Nehemiah 2:19 NKJV

19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?”

b. Ch 4 Sanballea tries to slip through the broken walls with people from other enemy nations to kill the Jews.

c. 6:1-3

Nehemiah 6:1–3 NKJV

1 Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks left in it (though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates), 2 that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they thought to do me harm. 3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?”

He tried to get Nehemiah come outside the walls for a “friendly” discussion.

3. Like Nehemiah, God has work for us to do. As we move forward to reach and love our community, we need to know and beware because there will be Sanballets out there.

a. To defeat the Sanballets we have to always be of guard. We have to work together.

IV. Prepare the people. Ch 3

1. A big part of preparing people is training. (Training and developing disciples) (How to lead someone to Christ) Elab

a. Praying together, praying for each other, encouraging each other. (Sharing to blessings that the Lord has done for you)

b. But if we don’t work together, that means everyone doing their part, it will not work.

2. Chapter 3 gives a great example of people doing their part.

a. Nehemiah was a leader that planned his work, and worked his plan. The way that he did things is an example for us to follow.

(Look over verses marked in Bible)

b. There are 38 individual workers are named in this chapter, and 42 different groups are identified. There were many others that were not named that were assigned to this task.

c. When it comes to PGBC. We all can have a part in the work. When you do your part, no matter what it may be, and you do to the glory of God.

(When they were building the wall, each group had their par to do. They didn’t need to worry about what the other person was doing, or not doing)

f. I don’t want to pressure anybody into doings things that you don’t want to do.

g. But I do want you to do things that you feel like you can’t do. Why? Because than you are stepping out on faith, than you are doing something that you can’t do on your own, you are doing something that you have to depend on God to do through you.

h. Nehemiah had never been over a building project before. Most of these people were not builders. But they knew the walls of their city were in need of repair.

i. The word repaired is in this chapter 35 times.

j. Repaired: Herbrew word; Chazaq. You may think repaired is meaning to fix something.

Means in Herbrew;To strengthen, become strong, be courageous.

k. If we, when we work together, we will strengthen each other, we will become courageous, we will become strong.

l. When we work together and do the God’s that God has called us to do, the world, our enemies will see the work of the Lord.

6:15-16

Nehemiah 6:15–16 NKJV

15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.