4 Months Or 4 Seconds | Nehemiah 1:1-2:6

Opening Remarks: Thankful for the invitation. Glad to see some familiar faces. Looking forward to meeting the ones I don’t know. I grew up in this part of the country in Evanston Wyo, just a couple of hours away.

Thankful to have been able to bring a man from our church, Jeremy Jacob, who will be planting a church in Luverne, Minnesota, in the coming months. We’re excited about reaching our Judea. There’s a need in Minnesota like there’s a need out here. Scores of lost people and very few Gospel preaching Baptist churches.

Our flight didn’t get in till late, but I was able to listen to part of last night’s service. I almost turned it off during Bro. Pyle little tantrum about In-N-Out. I’m not ashamed to say that Bro. Jeremy and I drove right past Freddy’s and went directly to In-N-Out. I don’t know how you don’t like a place that puts Bible verses on the bottom of their cups. Bro. Pyle saying he doesn’t like In-N-Out is essentially him saying he doesn’t like the Bible. That was my private interpretation, at least.

Before I get myself into trouble, turn to Nehemiah 2.

A little over five years ago the Lord moved our family from Stillwater, OK, to Sioux Falls, SD, where I became the pastor of Eastside Baptist Church. I served on staff over 18 years at Bible Baptist Church in Stillwater, four of those with Bro. Pyle, which was a special time of ministry. But I always had a desire to be a Pastor, and the Lord’s timing eventually became clear. I moved in 2019 with great aspirations, then 2020 dashed them all. But we survived and are looking forward to some great years ahead. Eastside was an established church, it’s over 60 years old, but I believe our best days are in front of us.

But as a balance, ministry is not all Big Picture, Big Vision stuff. It’s made up of countless little moments along the way. There’s a principle in Nehemiah’s life that has helped me with that.

Vs. 1-4 - Nehemiah hears about the condition of Jerusalem and it breaks his heart. He bears his heart in an incredible prayer of repentance and confession in chapter 1, but look at Nehemiah 2:1-6.

Nehemiah has a lofty vision for the work of God. He’s clearly a Big Picture guy. But it’s clear that he also recognizes that a Big Picture is made of thousands of tiny Brush Strokes. There’s a mindset from his example that I believe can be a benefit to all of us this morning.

Pray

Introduction: The first book I preached through when I became the pastor of Eastside Baptist Church was Nehemiah. I felt connected to his burden and his task.

• Nehemiah was relocating in order to accomplish something for God.

• He had to inspire people to get on board and sacrifice for the work of the Lord.

• He was going to face hardships and obstacles and have to work through them.

• But in the end, he was doing something great for God. Building walls. Protecting the Temple. Enabling worship. Getting God’s people on board. Big Picture stuff.

One man summed up Nehemiah 1 like this:

He recognized the need.

He personalized the need.

He brought the need to God first.

He was available to meet the need.

That sounds like the way it ought to be.

1. He clearly recognized the need.

The report from Jerusalem was not good. The people were miserable. The wall was broken down and the gates were burned. Nehemiah recognized the need.

There is no doubt a great need everywhere you look. Part of my reason for going to Sioux Falls was I wanted to invest in a place that had never been saturated with the Gospel. And Sioux Falls never has. I know there’s a great need everywhere, but our part of the country has never had a strong Gospel presence. Sioux Falls was recently named the fastest growing city in the Midwest. There are over 300,000 in the metro, and I believe three independent Baptist churches in our city limits. Sioux Falls is a place of need, but independent Baptists aren’t flocking to go. If you’ve been there in the winter, you know why.

2. He was personally concerned with the need.

Nehemiah said in vs. 4, “When I heard these words, I sat down and wept, and mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”

The need was personal to him. He had empathy for the people in Jerusalem. That’s a pastoral mindset. Their need becomes your need. You feel their pain. You carry the burden.

It was personal to Nehemiah. He’d probably never even seen Jerusalem, but he knew what it was supposed to look like. The Temple was supposed to be glorious. The walls should have been strong. Worship should have been special. But none of that is happening. And he’s bothered.

That’s part of the struggle of pastoring. You have a vision for what it could be. You see the gap between where people are and where they should be. The distance between where things are and where you want them to be can be frustrating. Big Picture vision, “This ministry could look like that. This family could be that. That man could become that.”

Ministering to people takes vision. Nehemiah had it.

3. He brought the need to God first.

He prayed to the God of heaven. He prayed this great prayer of repentance in vs. 5-11. Nehemiah could have just started making plans, but he recognized the necessity of God’s involvement in the process (like JP preached last night).

Sign over office door: “For without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Nehemiah knows walls are no substitute for the presence of God. He begs the Lord for mercy and forgiveness and confesses the sin of the people. He even reminds God of His promises to His people (vs. 9). He was dependent on the Lord to meet the need.

He recognized the need. He personalized the need. He was dependent.

4. He was available to meet the need.

Sometimes we pray and stop there, but Nehemiah prays and then says, “Here am I, send me.” This wasn’t just lip-service. He made himself available. Nehemiah’s mindset is “If I don’t meet this need, it’s not happening.” There’s not some long line of guys waiting to do it.

Chapter 1 gives us a great blueprint for ministry: Recognize the need, Personalize the need, Depend on God, Get to work.

But there’s an aspect to this that I don’t want to miss.

Look at 1:1a - The month Chisleu was around our November/December

Look at 2:1a - The month Nisan March/April

Based on the Hebrew calendar, from the time Nehemiah heard about the need in Jerusalem until the time he went before the King was a span of about Four Months.

Why did Nehemiah wait Four Months? We’re not exactly sure. You don’t just waltz into the throne room unannounced. Maybe he was waiting for the right moment.

What we do know is Nehemiah is planning for the Big Picture. Some things are so big that they take time. You might say Nehemiah has Four-Month Vision. Four months of prayer and seeking God and making plans. He’s in Four Month mode.

It’s okay to have Four Month Vision. We ought to.

We ought to have big dreams for what God can do in our ministry.

We ought to assume that the Lord wants to accomplish great things.

We ought to look forward to our best days being ahead.

But there’s balance in Nehemiah’s approach. Even though he has big plans, he knows something else has to happen before Four Month Vision can be accomplished.

Vs. 11 - Essentially says, “Grant me mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.”

You see, there was a major unknown standing in the way of Nehemiah’s Four Month Vision. The king had to be on board. Nehemiah could have all the plans he wanted, but if King Artaxerxes wasn’t on board, his vision wouldn’t make it past blueprint phase. So consider what Nehemiah does.

Neh. 2:1-2 - Nehemiah does something risky. He’s transparent emotionally before the king. And the king asks about it.

Neh. 2:3 - He tells the king what’s going on in Jerusalem. And then the moment he’s been waiting for Four Months happens.

Neh. 2:4a - “What do you want from me?”

This is pivotal for Nehemiah’s Four Month Plan. Notice what he doesn’t do:

He doesn’t pull out his blueprints.

He doesn’t fire up the projector and walk the King through his 3-D renderings.

What does he do? Vs. 4 says he prayed to the God of heaven. Imagine the scenario:

King says, “What are you asking of me?”

And the first thing Nehemiah does is pray to the God of heaven.

In the presence of the king, how long do you think that prayer was?

We know Nehemiah could pray a good prayer. But when the king asks you a question, you probably don’t wave him off and say, “Just a minute, I need to pray.”

We’ve all been in situations in which we prayed a quick, desperate prayer.

When someone asks you a question and you’re not sure how to answer it.

When someone confronts you and you need grace to stay calm.

When that couple that always corners you after church starts walking your direction.

Here’s what I normally pray in those situations. “Father, help me right now.”

Peter cried, “Lord, save me.”

So how long do you think this prayer was? I’m imagining seconds.

Let’s just say it was Four Seconds. Long enough to take a deep breath and pray, “Father, please help me right now.”

It’s a Four Second prayer.

For the sake of contrast there are two things going on:

Four Month Vision for Jerusalem and Four Seconds to garner God’s help for an interaction with the King.

Big Picture Jerusalem Plans = Four Month Category

Conversation With The King = Four Second Category

Which one was most important? Both. But one thing is sure - If his Four Second Interaction doesn’t go well, you can forget the Four Month Plans.

We can have all the Four Month Vision we wants, but if we fail at the Four Second Interactions, forget the Big Picture.

For a new pastor taking an established work, I needed to learn this. Four Month Vision is great. You ought to have big plans. You ought to see the end game. But what I learned early as a Pastor and am still learning is my ability to implement Four Month Vision is often dependent on Four Second Interactions.

Four Month Category

Vision for the future

Building plans and improvements

Ministry processes

Moving people from one ministry to another

Increasing accountability for leadership

Raising standards for those in leadership

Increasing activity and asking more of people

Spending a large amount of money for a valid reason

Hiring new staff

Those are all important and necessary things. But I learned quickly that people aren’t all that interested in Four Month Ideas without Four Second Interactions.

Four Second Category

I can have all the Vision for the future I want, but if I don’t establish relationships with men in the church, what are the chances they’ll follow my leadership in something big?

I can desire to change how ministry is done, but if I’m impatient with people that have served in those areas for years before I ever got there, why would I expect them to submit to my vision for that change?

If I desire to increase the demands on those in leadership positions, but my spirit is harsh or critical, can I honestly expect to be able to make Four Month Type changes?

I can get annoyed that people don’t attend every service, but that’s Four Month vision in a lot of churches. So a Four Second decision would be to approach Wednesday night sermons with the same passion and energy as I do Sunday mornings.

The success of Four Month Vision is dependent on my commitment to Four Second Decisions.

Pastoring is a series of Four Second Interactions and Investments.

Illustration: Dalia Johnson’s story

EBC Sioux falls came on my radar fall of 2016

I originally told Pastor Phil Spencer it wasn’t the right timing when he called, but I became aware of the church at that point

I was teaching at Heartland Baptist Bible College in OKC, so I became aware of students from Eastside and started paying attention to them.

Fall of 2017, a young lady from EBC came as a freshman to Heartland named Dalia Johnson

She was a bright light

As she was finishing her first year, Pastor Spencer and I were in communication again about the possibility of me coming to EBC

That summer I was scheduled to come through Sioux Falls and preach, but just a few weeks before that we got word that Dalia, who was home for the summer, had been diagnosed with stage 4 adrenal cancer and it didn’t look good. There’s not effective treatment and after a certain stage, surgery is no longer a viable option.

When I went to candidate for the pastorate in January 2019, Dalia had been in a battle for months

I got to visit with her and her family, but it was clear that God had to intervene if there was to be hope

In the meantime, the church called us so we began the process of getting ready to move

100% Vote

People seemed on board

I started dreaming. Plenty of Four Month Vision.

It came time to move, Pastor Spencer’s last Sunday was the third Sunday in March and our first Sunday was to be the next Sunday, so we didn’t have a transition just based on how things worked out.

They left early in the week, and we were driving in on a Friday, and two days later was our first Sunday.

On Friday on the way to Sioux Falls, got a call

Dalia had slipped into a coma late Thursday night or early Friday and she wasn’t responsive

So my mind started racing about what to do.

We arranged for a family to meet us at the hospital. We handed over all our stuff and all our kids and my wife and I went to Dalia’s room while our kids spent the first night in a new place with a family in the church.

Walked into room - Full of family and friends, Dalia on machines, in coma

First weekend - Getting to know the family, trying to minister to them, doing whatever we could to try to be a blessing

I imagined having all day Saturday in my new office just fine tuning my first sermons

I spent a large part of my first week as pastor trying to minister to a broken family.

They were so convinced that God would intervene that they weren’t prepared for the possibility that He might now.

I was there when it sank in that this was really happening.

Dalia died a week later on Friday night. Her funeral was the next Tuesday.

And those first two weeks were just a whirlwind.

You know what I never said while sitting in that room with Dalia’s family?

“Hey, take a look at my 3 year campus site plan.”

“Here’s my strategy for developing our discipleship process.”

I didn’t cast any vision or talk about the future. I just sat there.

If we’re not careful, we can assume ministry takes place in the Four Month Category. The events. The crowds. The campaigns. Facilities. Growth. But real ministry to real people often takes place in the Four Second Category.

Four Months is more fun. It’s the stuff that gets talked about on Facebook. Buildings and events and new church launches.

But ministry is really more a Four Second endeavor:

Late night calls.

Hospital visits.

Sitting with a grieving family.

Helping a wife whose husband just left.

Having a conversation where truth needs to be told.

Stopping someone in a hallway just to encourage them.

Texting when you sense something is off.

Not responding in anger when you’re being treated unfairly.

Taking time for their kids.

Four Second stuff. And it may not get the most likes on social media. And it may not help your resume, but it will help you be a shepherd.

My bond with Dalia’s parents was forged in a matter of days. You see, Four Second Interactions may go unnoticed by most, but not by the ones you’re investing in.

Closing Truths:

1. Be as dependent on God for the four second interactions as you are the four month vision.

Nehemiah was just as dependent on the Lord for a conversation with the King as he was formulating plans to build a wall.

We tend to give our passion and preparation to the big stuff, but we are just as needy in every day conversations.

Most of our failings take place in the Four Second Category.

2. Be willing to wait on the four month vision until you’ve built up enough Four Second interactions.

One of the best pieces of advice I got was not to move too quickly. That’s good counsel when you take an established church. You could probably force it, but change is hard enough.

Wait until you have built up some change in your pocket before you throw everything into a blender.

3. Allow the four second interactions to be what defines your ministry more than the four month vision.

We can get caught up in the end game. Buildings, events, numbers, programs. A good leader and businessman can implement a good plan. It takes a pastor to feed a flock.

Paul told Timothy to desire the office of a bishop is to desire a good work. And he didn’t define the office by his successful leadership and program launches. Paul defined a pastor with a list of Four Second Interactions like:

Be blameless, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, patient, not a brawler.

Those are Four Second traits. Because Paul knew ministry is not primarily about buildings and church launches and programs. It’s about people. And if we’ll focus on the Four Second Decisions, I believe that’s when the Lord starts to allow the Four Month Vision.