Nehemiah (Part 3)

SERMON #3 (Neh 2:1-20)

Last week I added some key points to journey on chapter 1

Lets do a quick review of last Sunday

IN ORDER FOR CHANGE TO COME, “WE MUST BELIEVE.” a few things

1. OUR POWERFUL GOD: ( IS BIGGER THAN OUR PROBLEMS )

RECOGNIZE GOD’S GREAT STRENGTH AND MIGHTY POWER

BE CAREFUL THAT YOUR GOD IS NOT TO SMALL FOR THE TASK AT HAND – QUOTE J B PHILLIPS

DOES YOUR GOD ONLY FIT BETWEEN THE PAGES OF THE Bible

BUT NOT NECESSARILY IN REAL LIFE?

2. OUR FAITHFUL GOD:

REMEMBER GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

PSALMS 25:10 The Lord always proves faithful and reliable to those who follow the demands of his covenant.

3. OUR PREVAILING GOD:

REQUEST GOD’S HELP AND FAVOR

God will help and can defeat an opposing force of any kind

Prayer Application

When you find yourself dealing with “all kinds of troubles” – guilt, fear, anxiety, loss, loneliness, depression, failure –you must cry out with desperation, with mourning and fasting (1.4). Then you must remember these things

Now lest look at this from a leadership perspective from chapter 2

In order to be a leader we must :

READ - NEHEMIAH 2.1-20

Nehemiah 2:1–20 (NASB95)

1 And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.

2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid.

3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?”

4 Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.

5 I said to the king, “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before 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 sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time.

7 And I said to the king, “If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah,

8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go.” And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.

9 Then I came to the governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.

10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.

11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days.

12 And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding.

13 So I went out at night by the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon’s Well and on to the Refuse Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were consumed by fire.

14 Then I passed on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was no place for my mount to pass.

15 So I went up at night by the ravine and inspected the wall. Then I entered the Valley Gate again and returned.

16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials or the rest who did the work.

17 Then I said to them, “You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach.”

18 I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king’s words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us arise and build.” So they put their hands to the good work.

19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

20 So I answered them and said to them, “The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.”

KEY THOUGHT

Leaders are risk takers, resourceful,gatherers, and researchers.

They lead with an understanding of the spiritual and community realities.

THE BETTER WE ARE AT DOING THESE, THE MORE WE CAN ACCOMPLISH.

Do you believe we have spiritual realities?

Do you believe we have community cultural realities?

As you will see Nehemiah was more than a prayer warrior

OVERVIEW

Nehemiah prayed for 120 days to rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days – a historic feat! He recognized his personal brokenness and held on to a vision for God’s people and God’s city. He also didn’t get ahead of God and he did his homework.

4 R’s

1. THE LEADER’S RISK:

a. EVEN THOUGH HE WAS FRIGHTENED,

NEHEMIAH MADE A BOLD REQUEST OF THE KING (2.1-8)

I broke this risk down into 2 questions

If not you, who ? - Maybe you are the answer to your own prayers, why pass the buck onto someone else?

If not now when? It should not be a matter of not now but a prayer of when do you want me to do this God. This brings an active situation onto a time table. I heard this said once, “ if it isn’t on your calendar it is never going to get done.

A dream is nothing more than wishful thinking unless you put action to it.

Here is a Pastors challenge, many people will come to me and say we need to do this, this is a great idea God gave me , My response is that is a good idea when are you going to do it, or write it out and give me a proposal. Do you know how many times that idea takes shape, not often.

2. THE LEADER’S RESOURCES

a. : NEHEMIAH CAREFULLY CALCULATED THE PHYSICAL, POLITICAL, AND TIME RESOURCES NEEDED TO COMPLETE HIS ASSIGNMENT

He knew exactly how much capital was needed (2.7-10)

i. Sometimes this is hard to find out but no matter what you will always not have enough without the help of other people

ii. Many people are always needed to do the big things and somethings in our life are big things. Remember God uses "the body”.

3. THE LEADER’S RESEARCH:

NEHEMIAH HAD AN EXACT UNDERSTANDING OF The CHALLENGE IN FRONT OF HIM (2.11-16)

Winging it doesn’t work very well in the ministry.

There was a book written awhile ago called dirt matters. You have to inspect the dirt to find out what its make up is and what it is missing. You have to do the research.

Why does it matter – Bad Dirt limited fruit ( no fruit)

Culture establishes the environment.

That is why you can have two churches on the same street basically doing the same things , same type of worship , word – One grows and one does not. It is what is in the soil that is making the difference.

If i wanted to run a marathon, would I just sign up and run or would i do some research to find out how I can survive it.

By the way it takes 6 months. It starts with running 4 days a week. 1st month - build up to 6 miles .2nd month add mileage every week until you are at 9 miles at 21 weeks you have a 5 mile, 4 mile, 5 mile and a 20 mile long run. It is the training my daughter uses

As i was speaking to her about training she said if you understand the challenge and train properly your chances of injuring yourself go way down.

You dont want to get half way done and call it quits.

When i walked into this door I new right away this was going to be a minimum of a 5 year project just to turn the church around. I could only do one thing at a time. Outreach was the last item on the list and we are in the beginning phases of that.

One of the first things i did was do a demographic study. Just to answer the question who actually lives here , what are there ages, cultures, finances etc. It was extremely helpful

4. THE LEADER’S REALITIES:

NEHEMIAH DEFINES THE PHYSICAL REALITY OF JERUSALEM’S WALLS AND THE SPIRITUAL REALITY OF AN EVER PRESENT GOD (2.17-20)

You combine the two realities and God gives you a solution.

Moses had to do the same thing when he came to the red sea. the reality is there is no way to cross over unless God intervenes. Don’t forget God directed there path from the moment they left Egypt, so God got them to the shore with cloud and fire. It had to be a God thing to get them across

The meaning is if God brought you to this point he can take you past the point.

Conclusion :

Nehemiah leaves us with the sense that God is great. AMEN We need to be in the center of what He wants to do. AMEN If we put ourselves in a posture of humility and servanthood, God will do some amazing things

ISA 40:28-31 Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary they will walk and not be faint.