Nehemiah 1
Nehemiah • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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In Jamaica a slice of pie cost 3.50
In teh Bahamas a slice of pie costs 5.50
These are the pie rates of the Carribean
please be in prayer for the family of Tim graves he passed away yesterday morning
This morning we are starting a brand new series looking at the Book of Nehemiah, and as Paul wrote to Timothy in the book by his name:
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
So, its important for us to use all of scripture for our learning and all of the things Paul was teaching to Timothy here in this passage. While it is easy to think the Old Testament is antiquated and old fashioned and we can’t understand it or it can’t speak to our lives, but thats not true. The Book of Nehemiah has many lessons to teach us, lessons on leadership, prayer, and what happens when the people of God come together united around a single cause with one focus. But the overarching story of The Book of Nehemiah is a story of what happens when the people of God come together and allow God to work through them. One thing you may not know in your Bible history is for quite some time the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were together in the Bible, and were referred to as Ezra-Nehemiah, much in the same way Luke and Acts were together in the Bible for some time and called Luke - Acts before being split.
The fact that Ezra and Nehemiah are together makes a ton of sense they are a continuation of a story about the history of Israel. You see the people of Israel had turned their backs on God and were taken into Babylonian captivity around 600 BC. A few short years later Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed and left in ruins until about 536 BC after the Persians have taken over the area and have allowed the Israelites to start rebuilding their city. After about ten years we see the King does not lilke what is happening any longer and he orders the work to be stopped and in about 458 BC Ezra returns to Jerusalem and he brings spiritual reform with him and has rebuilt the temple. Then around ten years after the work has been ordered to be stopped we pick up the story in Nehemiah 1.
1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol,
2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.
It is important to break this down to give you a little background about what is going on here. Nehemiah is a cupbearer to the King of Persia, King Artaxerses and this fact alone tells you so much about Nehemeiah and who he is and how he is looked at by the king. See the cupbearer is the person that is closest to the King; has the most access, has the most opportunity to inflict pain and damage on the King. As the cupbearer it would have been part of his job to test every bit of food and beverage the King would drink, in the kings presence mind you, to make sure it wasn’t poisoned. Why in the presence of the king? To ensure you didn’t taste it, then spike it with poison. So, its is definitely not the most glamorous of positions. However, the fact that Artaxerses would offer this to an outsider shows you what kind of man of character Nehemiah is.
This is the situation where Nehemiah finds himself when a group of men who had been to Jerusalem and returned and it would have been his first chance to get information about what was going on in Jerusalem. So Hanani reports what is happening:
3 They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.”
This is not good, in fact, its pretty awful the current state of Israel, there is so much being said that you and I don’t really understand. He has basically told Nehmiah the people are open to attack, the walls are still down, there is no gate to keep out enemies, and all the work of Ezra to rebuild the temple is under constant fear of destruction. The state of Jerusalem isn’t only a statement on the people of Israel, but a statement on the God of the people of Israel in the eyes of their enemies, how would a good and powerful God allow his people to live in such disarray. So after all of this we see the response of Nehemiah
4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
There are some scholars I read who believe this time with Nehemiah may have lasted as long as 4 months - 4 months of mourning and fasting and praying because he was so destroyed by the news he had heard. I am sure there are some of you that can relate; you have gotten news that has absolutely destroyed you; the loss of a loved one unexpectedly, a diagnosis that changed the course of your life, a termination from a job you thought would last forever, and you can relate to the pain Nehemiah feels. However, one thing we have to take into account in this situation, this is not something that has happened directly to Nehemiah; he is far removed from the situation, but it has happened to his people and it has destroyed him. Think about this, Nehemiah could have went back to his cushy castle living life and removed himself completely from this situation. He didn’t have to feel the pain of it, but he chose to interject himself and allow himself to feel the pain of his people.
I would venture to bet all of us have gotten news like this in our lives, news that completely destroyed us at our core. For some of you it may be a diagnosis that has completely changed your life or the life of someone you love, it may have been that late night television program that makes you think about all the hungry children in the world and all you want to do is find a way to get them all fed, or maybe its like me and you hear the all the stories about all that Georgetown used to be, and for that matter all FCOC used to be and your heart is moved, and you want to make a difference and you know something must be done to restore it to all of its glory. Whatever it is, we have all had these Nehemiah moments where the world didn’t seem fair and the Lord placed a burden on our hearts.
One thing to take note of, is Nehemiah says he was praying and fasting before the God of Heaven, and we are about to look at a detailed plan of prayer, and not spend a lot of time this morning talking about the fasting side of Nehemiah’s story. But just a few weeks ago right before Christmas as we were walking through the Book of Acts with the youth group we got tot ap lace where we were talking about fasting, and I told them the time would come when we would fast as a church. I know, I know, when we start talking about fasting we all get a little nervous and we start to sweat the details a little bit, because really so much of what we do is centered around food. What are we going to eat when we leave here, what are we going to eat after that, what’s for dinner, and it becomes a little bit of a burden when we think about trying to let go of some of that for a while. Just so you know, Biblical fasting is always, always, always, food. Yes, it is good to give things up for the Lord, and yes you can give up social media, and television and those kinds of things, but when the the Bible speaks of fasting, it always means giving up food.
Alright, so what we are going to see from Nehemiah is a masterclass on prayer in our times of Need. Look at what happens next
The first thing we see Nehemiah doing in his prayer is acknowledging Gods greatness.
Nehemiah’s Model of Prayer
Acknowledge God’s Greatness.
5 I said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God…
At the beginning of his prayer he acknowledges God’s greatness which is interesting, because this is exactly how we will see Jesus telling us we should pray in what we call The Lord’s prayer as he tells us we should pray, “Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name…” and for some of us the question we may ask is why start this way? Why would this be the way he started, and it is easy to see, Nehemiah is in a position where he knows there is nothing in his own power he can do, but you know who can? The Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, the one whose name is to be hallowed. He is acknowledging to himself and to God, that he is capable of everything, and there is nothing that is outside of his power, which shouldn’t surprise us with the second thing he does in this prayer.
Nehemiah’s Model of Prayer
Acknowledge God’s Greatness.
Reminds God of his Covenant.
5 …who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,
It doesn’t stop here for Nehemiah, he gets even deeper into specifics in reminding him of his covenant to Israel in verses 8-9
8 “Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples;
9 but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’
What’s this all about, why does Nehemiah need to remind God about his promises if he is omniscient, that is if he knows everything and never forgets, why does he need to tell him his promises? I think it shows us that God likes when his people remind him of his promises, not for his own good, but for our good, because if we know his promises it means we are active in his word and know who he is. Its all about knowing his heart, this aligns our heart with his by making sure we know who he is and declaring it.
What is the third thing he did in this masterclass of prayer?
Nehemiah’s Model of Prayer
Acknowledge God’s Greatness.
Reminds God of his Covenant.
He Confessed the Sins of Israel.
6 let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned.
7 “We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.
And now, Nehemiah sets himself up as an intercessor for his people. He stands in the middle and seeks God on behalf of the people of Israel and confesses their sins to the all powerful and mighty God. Intercessory prayer is often one of the most amazing things you could do in your Christian life, to take the time to stand in and pray on behalf of someone else, or a group of people asking God to move and make a difference.
One of the most amazing stories I have heard of such a thing is I read a story about a pastor whose brother had a child who was born and in the NICU, and he talked about how his brother couldn’t sleep and was worried night and day about calls that may come in in the middle of the night and what would happen if he got a call or missed something and he just needed to stay in prayer the entire night. The pastor told his brother that he would stay up all night for him, to allow him to get some rest and he would pray all night, and the pastor went to his brothers house and did just that, he spent the entire night in his brother’s living room praying and reading scripture and making claims on behalf of his brother and sister in law and their baby. He said it was the most amazing experience to take that burden from his brother for even a little while, because he was able to get closer to God and closer to his nephew and allow his brother and sister in law to get some rest they desperately needed.
The interesting thing here is by all accounts Nehemiah had not left the God of his people behind but he threw himself into the midst with all the other people because he knew he wasn’t clean and pure and without fault. And throughout the history of the people of Israel, no matter how bad it had gotten, there was always a remnant of people who had stayed true to the covenant of God. This is why we see Nehemiah pray the following.
10 “They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand.
11 “O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name,
So Nehemiah is like, God, I know everyone else has left you and turned their back on you, but some of us are still around, there are some of us still for you, there are some of us still living for you, don’t forget us.
And the last thing Nehemiah does in his prayer.
Nehemiah’s Model of Prayer
Acknowledge God’s Greatness.
Reminds God of his Covenant.
He Confessed the Sins of Israel.
Asked God for specific help
11and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.”
Who is it he wants to be successful before? King Artexerses, because he knew Artexerses had the power to be able to send him back to Jerusalem with the help he would need to rebuild the wall. So, he prays for specifically what he needed, for God to move in the life of Artexerses.
So you may think, what does this mean for me, what am I supposed to do with this masterclass from Nehemiah we have to learn to model our prayer life in this way.
We talked about it earlier, where is God moving your heart? What is it you need to start praying about is it that diagnosis? Is it that ministry that he wants you to start? Is it the job you need, or the job you have lost? Is it your kids who are lost you are hoping find salvation in Jesus? Whatever it is, you start praying the method with those things in mind. For me, for us, as I think of what God is calling us to, when I think about him not only restoring this church to the glory days you all speak of but to use this church to restore the glory days of Georgetown, I will tell you how we are going to pray.
We are going to Acknowledge his greatness.
We are going to pray, Lord, you are good and mighty, and you can do all things, and we have seen your hand at work in our past, we have seen this city when businesses were everywhere we have been in this church when we were larger and the ministries were deeper and we know you are capable of doing it again.
We are going to remind him of his covenant.
We will pray, Lord you have promised you would build your church and the gates of Hell would not prevail against it, and we know have great plans to continue to build your church here so we can impact this community.
We are going to confess our sins.
We will pray, Lord we have messed it up, we have taken our eyes off of you at times and looked at the things we wanted, we have forgotten the least of these and looked at ourselves at times. In our personal lives, we have sinned, we have messed up and not made you the priority of our lives, we have allowed you to fall into third of fourth place at best.
We are going to ask him for Specific help.
Jesus we need your help, show us how we can reach our community, show us what we need to start, show us what we need to get rid of, tell us how to get our focus on you, show us specific programs to start, stop, so we can best give the glory to you.
What will your prayer look like? How do you need to pray today?
