Nehemiah Session 1

Intro

Introduction

My name is Chaz and I am the youth pastor at Crosspointe church.I want to take a super short and brief time to maybe give you some background on who I am. Because, if we’re all honest, you probably know nothing about me.

It’s almost like this entire weekend is a blind date between us.

So we have to build some trust here.

Fishing Story

Some of you may have stalked the Sugar Pine website and seen this picture...

Picture Slide - Fish Kiss

Funny story about this was I was literally fishing at Hume Lake. My wife, a youth student and I hiked around the lake until we found this cove where no one was around.

It was a good 8-10min walk off the beaten path. I thought it would be a great place to fish. Well, as you can see by the photo, it was. Of course, you have to get that sick instagram pic so I opted to have my wife take a picture of me giving the fish a kiss.

After I returned the little guy into the water, I kid you not, this random guy comes walking up. Starts undressing. Luckily he stopped when he got to his swim suit. He then proceeds to jump into the lake and start swimming.

Like bro, do you not see my line in the water? Weirdest thing ever. Not before long he is halfway across the lake. I am just baffled. All three of us were so extremely befuddled.

Eventually he made it across and then comes swimming back. Once he gets back to shore, he gets out of the water, get’s dressed and then leaves.

The most randomness thing ever. On top of that, he scared all of the fish away.

Rabbit Story

Here is another picture to shed some light on who I am.

Picture Slide - Rabbit

This is obviously me and my rabbit Briar. Fun fact, he showed up in our front yard. Gave him a carrot and bam, he became our rabbit.

It’s almost like this entire weekend is a blind date between us.

He loves running laps around our couch, randomly jumping straight up in the air and most importantly, everyday is a hay day for him.

So we have to build some trust here.

Another quick funny story, when we first got him, we thought he was a girl. I don’t know, he was so cute we assumed it was a girl rabbit. We named him Autumn for about 3 weeks until one of our students who happens to be in FFA told us it was a boy.

Now he is called Briar.

Wife

The last picture I want to show you is probably the significant thing in my my life...

Picture Slide - Wife

My Subaru. Completely kidding. It is actually my wife.

She is a huge blessing not only as my partner but in ministry as well. I knew that I married up so I proposed to her on my birthday while at the happiest place on earth, that’s right, Disneyland.

She had to say yes. It was probably one of the most brilliant plans I have ever had to this day.

Playing ding dong ditch however was not. That’s a story for another session.

All joking aside, over the course of this weekend, we will have 4 chapel times together. In those 4 times, we will be covering maybe some tender topics to some, new topics to others, all in the hope of either growing your relationship with christ or starting one with Christ this very weekend.

Now, back to why we are all here.

Scripture Slide

If you have your bibles, please open those to . This is where we will camp out tonight.

Why Nehemiah

I want to start with why we are going to do the book of Nehemiah. Simple, Sugar Pine asked me too.

The real reason is actually two reasons.

All About Us

The first is this,

Point Slide

From birth we are born with sin in our hearts. This sin would lead us to believe that we are the center of the universe. Everything should serve us and make us happy.

Some of you might be shaking your head in agreement like,

“Yes Chaz, what’s your point?”

That’s not ok. That’s my point. We almost all are born with that in our hearts. Parents try to discipline this out of their kids. But sadly even adults still operate this way by default.

It’s why we get frustrated.

It’s why we lose patience like we do. It’s just all about us and we wish that people would understand that.

That’s natural position of the human heart.

We Are King

Point 2 Slide

Second is we think we are king.

Not only do we think it is all about us but we also think we are king.

We are our own deity or god. The world does not help either. They are always telling us to strive for the best.

We are told to compare ourselves with everything around us.

God’s idea for us to flourish, as found in the scriptures, flies in the face of the lies of the world. Or what we are born into.

Nehemiah’s Idea

Here are the two ideas that Nehemiah is going to attack.

God’s Will Over Our Will

Point Slide 1

The first is God’s will over ours.

It’s not that pur preferences are not important, it is that they are not primary.

Meaning that our preference are secondary to God’s will over our life.

Pursue Joy Over Happiness

Point slide 2

We should purse as primary or first, Joy and then happiness.

Happiness comes and goes in a single second but Joy lasts forever.

Example, you in the front here, what’s your name?

You look like you’re having a good today. You look pretty happy.

How happy would you be if I punched you in the face?

Ok, well, good news is I won’t do that. So you can relax. But see how easy it would be to lose your happiness.

Joy lasts forever and can never be taken away so long as it is in Christ.

Your pursuit should be joy because joy is unshakable and transcends your circumstances.

That is God’s picture of human flourishing. It flies in the face of the world and this is what Nehemiah is going to address.

Israel’s History

As we dive into chapter 1, let me bring you up to speed on Israels history so we all know where in history we are and how Israel arrived to this point.

I believe it is important to hear the history because then that will eliminate any doubts you may have about whether or not the stories in the bible are true.

I don’t know how well you know your Old Testament, so I’m going to catch you up.

Don’t worry. I’m not going to start in ’m going to start in Exodus.

Exodus

Slide

God calls the nation of Israel out from under the tyranny of Egypt, leads them up to the border of the Promised Land, the land flowing with milk and honey.

There the people of Israel doubted the goodness of God, doubted the grace of God, doubted the power of God. So God allowed them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years while he killed off that generation who refused to put their trust in him.

There the people of Israel doubted the goodness of God, doubted the grace of God, doubted the power of God.

So God allowed them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years while he killed off that generation who refused to put their trust in him.

Joshua

Slide

Then under Joshua (not under Moses), God leads the people of Israel into the Promised Land.

He drives out the Canaanites, and they are established as a nation.

They began to look around, and they want a king. God gives them the desire of their heart, which was a king.

Saul

Slide

He gets a man’s man.

Saul, according to the Bible, was a foot taller than any other man in Israel, the best hunter, had muscles coming out of his turtleneck, just hair everywhere.

Just a man’s man.

Men wanted to be him; ladies loved him.

Saul, like our brothers and sisters in the wilderness who doubted the goodness of God and doubted the provision of God, doubted God and offered sacrifices that were unacceptable to God and was removed as king and replaced by David, who was a shepherd boy who played the harp.

David

Slide

So we went from a foot taller than everyone else…

In fact, when the prophet came to anoint the new king, David’s dad Jesse had forgotten about him in the field.

He presented all his sons, and the prophet literally said, “Hey, God is telling me you have another kid.”

Jesse is going, “Oh yeah, David. I just didn’t think you would want David at all.”

Now David is a boss.

He killed a bear with his own hands.

That’s better than what you’ve done.

I know how we hunt now.

You kind of just feed it for like a year, and then one day perched above it, it comes back to get that corn you’ve been putting out, and you kill it.

Then that somehow makes you a man.

No. If you can kill it with your bare hands, I’ll grant you a man card.

If you’re feeding it all year then cap it, I don’t even know what that is.

Unfair?

So David is made king, and under David’s kingship, Israel flourishes.

In fact, all the threats against the nation of Israel are in many ways crushed under the reign of David.

He goes to war against the Philistines. He goes to war against anyone who threatens the borders of Israel.

Man, he wrecks shop. In my head, I can’t get my mind around why the Philistines kept going, “Let’s try that again!”

Solomon

Slide

Then when David dies, he turns the kingdom over to his son Solomon. Solomon builds the temple to the Lord, and peace and that reign of David continue to happen.

Israel becomes a regional power, no real threats to its border, and it is flourishing. You begin to see some concern on Solomon’s part about what would come after him if you pay attention while you’re reading the book of Ecclesiastes when he says,

“What good is wealth and power if your kids are idiots? You’re just going to pass that wealth and power on to morons.”

Now that’s a paraphrase. It’s not going to read exactly like that in Ecclesiastes, but that was his point.

Two Kingdoms

Slide

Sure enough, right after Solomon, you see the nation of Israel that was a regional power fracture into two kingdoms: the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom.

It’s what would have happened in the United States had the Confederate States won.

You would have had a Northern United States and the Confederate States of America in the South.

The northern kingdom was called Israel, and the southern kingdom was called Judah.

The northern kingdom did not fare well at all. They had wicked king after wicked king after wicked king after wicked king.

Finally in 722 BC, the Assyrians laid siege to the northern empire and deported and really spread across the ancient empire the Israelites in the northern kingdom of Israel.

Judah faired a bit better. They had a Southern king. They were able to hang in here a bit longer, and they had godly king and wicked king, godly king and wicked king, godly king and wicked king.

But 136 years after the northern kingdom is conquered and the people are deported and exiled, the southern kingdom of Judah falls, not by the Assyrians but now the Babylonians, who are the reigning, ruling country, empire, in the world at that time.

So then the Babylonians export and deport the Israelites in the southern kingdom and spread them across the ancient world as slaves and servants to the reigning Babylonian Empire.

Persia

Slide

Now just to catch you up on history, Persia shows up and decides they’re going to run the world.

So the Persians now conquer the Babylonians who had conquered the Assyrians.

Now the Persian Empire has taken root in the ancient world.

Then in 2 Chronicles… I feel like I don’t even need to mention 2 Chronicles so many of you probably have that book memorized.

At the end of 2 Chronicles, the Holy Spirit hard presses Cyrus, the king of Persia, that the Jews should be released to go back (or at least a portion of the Jews) to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.

Ezra

Slide

That’s where we get the book of Ezra. Now here’s something interesting. The book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah are happening simultaneously in history. In fact, in some ancient manuscripts, Ezra and Nehemiah are one book, not two. They’re one book, not two. So that’s where we are in history.

Nehemiah’s Response

Scripture Slide

Nehemiah 1:1–3 ESV

1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”

City without Walls

In this time, a city with no walls would be like a massive city with little to no police.

I heard a story were a city, Camden New Jersey, they were a huge city. Like a couple hundred thousand people. Their police force was literally 48. That’s all the staff. Cops, desk jobs, dispatch, you name it. 48 people in their police department.

They had a robbery where a guy called it in. He said his house had been robbed.

They asked, “Are the people still their? “

“No sir, they are not.”

“Ok, can you take a picture of what happened like where things would have been if they got stolen and then email them over to us.”

Like, the cops were not even going to make a house visit because they were so overrun.

Nehemiah’s Response

Scripture Slide

Nehemiah 1:4 ESV

4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

This wrecks Nehemiah. The news just pummels the poor guy.

Here is the interesting thing, Nehemiah is not focused on himself. It is not all about him. Know how we know this?

We know this because Nehemiah is 800miles away. He is nowhere near Jerusalem when this news comes. But he cares so deeply about God’s people, his people, that it just wrecks the poor guy with grief and sadness.

Let’s pick up in verse 5.

Scripture Slide

Nehemiah 1:5-2:

Nehemiah 1:5–2:5 ESV

5 And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. 8 Remember the word that 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 your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ 10 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. 11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king. 1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” 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, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.”

Nehemiah 1:5–10 ESV

5 And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. 8 Remember the word that 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 your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ 10 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.

Listen to this next part.

Nehemiah 1:11 ESV

11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.

-

Or favor.

And who is this man, well, we find out. Rest of Verse 11.

Nehemiah 1:11–2:2 ESV

11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king. 1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid.

How does the king know that Nehemiah is not sick?

If you are sampling the king’s wine, you don’t have the flu. right?

“Sniff, Yeah, it’s fine. Not poisoned.”

If you’re the cupbearer of the king, you’re in good health when you put your lips on his glass.

The king knows this must be sadness if the heart.

Look at Nehemiah’s response. Back part of Verse 2.

Nehemiah 2:2–5 ESV

2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” 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, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.”

Prayer

Ok, we see two things happening hear. Two types of prayer.

We saw a big block of prayer earlier in the chapter. Our bro Nehemiah prayed day and night, pretty much without ceasing.

Some of you may know this as a “quiet time”, that time you set apart from your day for the sole purpose of being with the Lord in prayer.

Now that’s not all that Nehemiah did.

Nehemiah did a lot of riffle-shot prayers. He’s at work and in the middle of something but realizes he needs to pray.

In fact, we see this, He prays that God may grant him favor in the sight of the king and allow him to leave.

The king asks him, “what are you requesting of me?”

Bam! Right then and there Nehemiah riffle’s off a prayer to God.

Why Prayer?

What I love abut Nehemiah is he is much like Jesus. Jesus, in his ministry, prayed a lot. Often times he would leave and have his quiet time. Other times he would pray out loud on the spot like a riffle shot.

Prayer is essential to the Christian life. In fact, the only way to come into the kingdom of God is by praying, by confessing through prayer that Jesus is Lord of all. That Jesus is your primary will and that everything else in this world is secondary to Jesus’ will over your life.

God answers prayers. In fact, we will see Nehemiah get his prayers answered plenty more times as we go throw this book this weekend.

Power of Prayer

I want to leave you with this challenge tonight.

If you are a believer, when was the last time yo spent time talking with the Lord? Like truly sat still and talked with him?

Our lives are so busy. It can be hard to remember to sit down and take a quiet time with the Lord.

If you have sat down and prayed with God recently, when was the last time you asked him what his will was for your life versus what you wanted?

Remember, we started tonight talking about how we at the center of our hearts think it is all about us. We think we are god and in control.

If we are to be followers of Christ, then we all must have confessed with our mouth and believed with our heart that Jesus is truly Lord of all. And if that is in fact true, then we should be yielding to his will and his ways, not ours.

So my challenge is to pray not to God but ask what his will is for you. It does not have to be a five year plan but just something that God is grooming you towards. Take time and ask him.

Unbelievers

For those of you who may not have a relationship with Christ I challenge you to pray tonight. Take sometime and just ask, father God, I pray that you reveal yourself to me this weekend.

Is it going to be weird and uncomfortable? Maybe. But I challenge you to do that.

Just find some quiet time and take 2-3mins just seeking after the Lord and asking him to reveal himself to you.

I will say this, in order to see him, yo’ll have to put your priorities aside. That might be feelings of doubt, fear, self reliance and even embarrassment. You have to put all of those aside and just lay it at his feet.

Closing

Your foundation must be set on prayer. There is no other way to communicate with the father except through prayer. And prayer can be many forms from speaking out loud, to talking with him in your head, to even worshiping. But prayer is the foundation to a two way relationship with Jesus.

I am excited with where we are headed this weekend. I think our first date night went well. You all were not as awkward as I thought you would be.

Felt some chemistry tonight.

Let’s pray.