An ordinary man with extraordinary faith

A Cupbearer to the king

Joke: Little Jonny came home from Sunday School and told his dad...

If I told you that I believe that God is going to answer my prayer:

That before I die 100% of the active members of Slayden Baptist Church will be as a lifestyle, reading through the entire Bible over and over until Jesus returns…would you believe me?

That by 2040, Slayden Baptist Church will have planted 10 new churches that are pursuing Bible Literacy, developing the cultures of Teaching, Reaching, and Worship…would you believe me?

That by 2040, Slayden Baptist Church will not be simply going on mission trips, but will be sending its members to train missionaries and church planters all over the world…would you believe me?

That by 2040, Prayer meeting will be the most attended service of the week…would you believe me?

That by 2020, Slayden Baptist church will have 100 children and youth participating in the ministries of our church every week…would you believe me?

That our next pastor will be raised and come from our own congregation…would you believe me?

That over the course of the next 5 years

How long has it been since you believed that God wants to demonstrate His power through ordinary people?

Nehemiah was an ordinary man.

His job was to await death.

Approaching the king was a fearful task.

He served at the mercy of the king. He could not return to Jerusalem, because the king had not let him.

God’s word is filled with ordinary people who act in faith and witness the power of God in extraordinary ways.

I want you to see three things:

God wants us to be broken over what He is broken over.

God wants us to pray according to what He has promised. He wants us to pray according to His will.

God wants to use ordinary people of faith to demonstrate His power among the nations.

A broken servant

God is pleased when His servants are broken over what He is broken over.

Nehemiah 1:1–4 CSB

1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: During the month of Chislev in the twentieth year, when I was in the fortress city of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah, and I questioned them about Jerusalem and the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile. 3 They said to me, “The remnant in the province, who survived the exile, are in great trouble and disgrace. Jerusalem’s wall has been broken down, and its gates have been burned.” 4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.

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His response to the news of Jerusalem was to weep, fast, mourn...to the point of sickness

It had been 100 years since the first wave of people returned to Jerusalem.

In that time:

The people had shown apathy toward rebuilding the temple. God had sent Zechariah and Haggai to urge the people to obey the Lord and finish the temple.

God had used the faith of Mordecai and Esther to save the Jews from destruction.

God had used the faith of Ezra to rebuild God’s word among the people.

Why had the walls of Jerusalem not been built?

There had been opposition. The people were scared. At the first sign of trouble, they shrunk back from obeying the Lord. They were not broken over the fact that God had not yet fulfilled His promise to restore Jerusalem.

Until Nehemiah got broken over the walls, the walls didn’t get rebuilt

God uses broken people. But He wants us to be broken over what He is broken over.

If we are not careful, we can be broken over the wrong things or even worse, we can rejoice over things that break the heart of God.

We should be broken:

over things like the growing apathy about spiritual matters in our culture

over the Bible illiteracy that exists in the churches. I was in a church recently and attended a Bible study…I couldn’t believe what passes for Bible study in the church today.

over the fact that churches are sending missionaries overseas who cannot

over the complacency in evangelism we are seeing in our day.

over any form of disunity in the church.

over the growing apathy toward prayer.

Should you be broken...over the state of your marriage.

Should you be broken ...over the state of your prayer life.

Should you be broken ...over the spiritual state of your family.

You might say: I don’t wont to be broken. I don’t want to focus on the bad things that are happening…because a lot of good is happening as well.

I have a tendency to think this way also. But Jesus talks about leaving the 99 (who are doing well) to seek the 1 who is not well.

Until we are broken over something that breaks the heart of God, it is not going to change.

Until we are broken over

Notice Nehemiah. This is what brokenness looks like. It was devastating to Him that God had not yet kept His promises.

For days, Nehemiah sought answers from the Lord…weeping and praying...

He was probably spending his time of fasting by reading large portions of God’s word. How do we know? He prays a Bible literate prayer.

A Bible literate prayer

God wants us to pray according to what He has already said. He wants us to pray according to His will.

Read this prayer…Nehemiah is asking for something unbelievable! He is asking the God who parted the Red Sea to Act in power again! But he is asking for God to simply do what He promised!

Nehemiah 1:5–11 CSB

5 I said, Lord, the God of the heavens, the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands, 6 let your eyes be open and your ears be attentive to hear your servant’s prayer that I now pray to you day and night for your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins we have committed against you. Both I and my father’s family have sinned. 7 We have acted corruptly toward you and have not kept the commands, statutes, and ordinances you gave your servant Moses. 8 Please remember what you commanded your servant Moses: “If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. 9 But if you return to me and carefully observe my commands, even though your exiles were banished to the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I chose to have my name dwell.” 10 They are your servants and your people. You redeemed them by your great power and strong hand. 11 Please, Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to that of your servants who delight to revere your name. Give your servant success today, and grant him compassion in the presence of this man. At the time, I was the king’s cupbearer.

Nehemiah knew the promises God had made in His word.

Sometimes when you don’t know what to do, look in God’s word for what God has said He would do.

Nehemiah reminds God of what Moses said:

Deuteronomy 4:25–31 CSB

25 “When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, angering him, 26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be reduced to a few survivors among the nations where the Lord your God will drive you. 28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell. 29 But from there, you will search for the Lord your God, and you will find him when you seek him with all your heart and all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, in the future you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. 31 He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them by oath, because the Lord your God is a compassionate God.

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When the first temple was built, Solomon also understood what God had promised:

2 Chronicles 6:36–39 CSB

36 When they sin against you— for there is no one who does not sin— and you are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, and their captors deport them to a distant or nearby country, 37 and when they come to their senses in the land where they were deported and repent and petition you in their captors’ land, saying: “We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked,” 38 and when they return to you with all their mind and all their heart in the land of their captivity where they were taken captive, and when they pray in the direction of their land that you gave their ancestors, and the city you have chosen, and toward the temple I have built for your name, 39 may you hear their prayer and petitions in heaven, your dwelling place, and uphold their cause. May you forgive your people who sinned against you.

2 chron 6 36

After fasting and praying for days...Nehemiah realized that He needed to go to Jerusalem. No one there had the faith to build the wall in the face of the opposition.

He wanted to join in kingdom work.

God is looking for people of faith who don’t just see the problem, but have faith to be a part of the solution.

Try the impossible...if God has promised it, it is not impossible.

Nehemiah had a problem, though…He knew that God would have to move on the heart of the king.

A witness of the power of God

God wants to demonstrate His power through ordinary people of faith.

Nehemiah 2:1–9 CSB

1 During the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence, 2 so the king said to me, “Why are you sad, when you aren’t sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” I was overwhelmed with fear 3 and replied to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should I not be sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” 4 Then the king asked me, “What is your request?” So I prayed to the God of the heavens 5 and answered the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah and to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I may rebuild it.” 6 The king, with the queen seated beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” So I gave him a definite time, and it pleased the king to send me. 7 I also said to the king: “If it pleases the king, let me have letters written to the governors of the region west of the Euphrates River, so that they will grant me safe passage until I reach Judah. 8 And let me have a letter written to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to rebuild the gates of the temple’s fortress, the city wall, and the home where I will live.” The king granted my requests, for the gracious hand of my God was on me. 9 I went to the governors of the region west of the Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent officers of the infantry and cavalry with me.

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He didn’t scheme. His sincere feelings, opened the door for conversation.

He prayed all the way through His conversation.

Some of you have situations right now...you need favor from your boss. Look at how Nehemiah handled his situation.

He was honest and told the king what he wanted.

The king let him go. He gave him letters for safe passage. He gave him timber from the kings forest to rebuild the wall and a home to live in.

Nehemiah experienced the power of God, because He got broken over something that was not right. He called out to God and pleaded with God to do what He has promised. He was passionate about personally obeying the Lord. Now, for all eternity, he has an amazing story to tell!

I can’t wait to sit down with Nehemiah and hear him tell this story!

INVITATION:

Next year is our 150th year as a church. One of my favorite stories is the one about Mrs. Faye’s Sunday School class. Paul and Nellie were a part of that class in the beginning. They got broken before the Lord and begged Him to do a work in our church…That class grew and multiplied and raised up leaders in our church. You can trace a lot of amazing things that God has done in our church back to that Sunday School class that became broken over the state of things.

Who among this generation is going to have a story like that?

In your bulletin....

I want to ask you to write down your prayer request of brokenness before the Lord. What is it that you want the Lord to do in the life of our church that would be a demonstration of His power in our lives?