The Nudge
Notes
Transcript
A few weeks ago shortly after we brought Finn home from the hospital I began to notice there was an issue that needed my attention on the outside of our house.
basically what had happened is I realized there was a wasp nest somewhere by the front door so whenever you walked out the front door you would be dodging wasp
And not just that but I was trying to figure out where the nest was and I began to notice that a few of the wasp crawled into the hood of the car that we do not use very often.
And so logically I realized that there is probably a wasp nest in the hood of our car and I am thinking how do I even get that out without wasp attacking me as soon as I open the hood and disturb them.
And I began to think who else can I get to get these wasp out of the car
Finn Definitely can’t
Liam can’t
Arika would probably not be crazy about the idea
And I made the realization that I am the only one who can figure this out.
So I read some articles, I called my brother and we brainstormed some ideas
And what I ended up happening is I put on my best bee keeping outfit I could create,
I put an oven mitt on my hand, I put a sweatshirt on with my hood
and then it came to the moment of truth and I had one hand on the hood, and was ready to take off sprinting.
And I open the hood put the stick in that holds it up and run!
And something weird happened nothing happened
And so I cautiusly walk over and realize there was not a nest and I waisted half of my day.
But I was thinking about that this past week as I was preparing this message and I thought of this question of: has there ever been a time where you notice there is an issue in your life, your families life, maybe at your job or the area you live in
And then you make this realization that you are the only one who can fix that issue.
I mean has that ever happened?
Because this week we are beginning a sermon series where we are looking at a book in the Old Testament called Neheiamiah
Basically what happens is God shows Nehemiah that there is a big issue (which we are going to be talking about) and He lays on Nehemiah’s heart that he needs to be the one to fix it.
And really in our lives there are things that we will notice that are wrong,
I mean have you ever looked at the world we lived in and said there is something that has bothered you?
Of course! because we live in a world where things are not perfect.
And realistically if we looked around we would probably say yeah there are some issues in our community
There may even be some issues that we notice in the church?
There may be an issue in your life personally.
And God gives us a nudge to do something about it.
Has God ever done that in your life?
And what we are going to be looking at is what do we do when God gives us the nudge?
So turn to Nehemiah 1 and we are actually going to be starting in verse 1:2 and will be going all the way to 2:8
So we are just going to start in the first couple verses and look what it says:
2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
So let me give some context on what is going on because at this point the people who lived in Jerusalem have mostly be exiled or taken to other areas
And so you have this city that was in bad shape from nations attacking, but then also it has been almost abandon for years where only a small group of people lived there.
and think with me because if you walked into an abandon house in Buchanan, what would happen?
Most likely you wouldn’t walk in and say wow this is beautiful
But what would happen is things would be broken, there would be grafitti on the wall, it there was anything valuable left it would be taken and the house would probably be pretty destroyed.
And really this has what happened to Jerusalem.
And so Nehemiahs brother comes to visit and and for some reason that we do not know Nehemiah ask his brother how are the small group of people living in Jerusalem doing? and what about the city its self?
And his brother said the people who survived exile are not doing well. In fact they are in a lot of trouble because Jerusalem has been destroyed, the gates have been burned, and the people are an embarrassment.
I mean imagine if you were told your told your home town was destroyed but not only that the people living there are the laughing stock of America.
You would be pretty disturbed.
And thats what happens to Nehemiah. Look at verse 4
4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
So Nehemiah is really upset and its not just because the people are an embarrassment, but really this is really a hopeless situation.
I mean if the city is destroyed it means they do not have an area to grow food where the food will not be easily taken
If there is no food the people are not just starving, but they cannot build an army to defend themselves and really even if they found a way to defend themselves they would not have the strength to rebuild.
so really you get this hopeless picture of Jeruselum. It was a lost cause.
But what I love is while the situation seems helpless Nehemiah comes to God with it.
Look at verse 5
5 Then I said: “Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
Basically while the situation is hopeless Nehemiah serves a God who is greater then the hopelessness of the situation.
And can I just say if there is something that God has brought to your mind that is an issue, our God is bigger then that issue.
I mean we just got out of Revival and God may have said I want you to do this or stop this, and your thinking I can do that.
I can’t stop this addiction I have, I can’t do this thing I am called be to, Can I really walk with God faithfully? but the truth is God is bigger than these challenges you face.
And I love what happens next because look at this big chunk of scripture in verses 6-11 it says this:
6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. 8 “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’ 10 “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. 11 Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.” I was cupbearer to the king.
So Nehemiah comes to God and I love what happens because he says okay God you are bigger then my problem, but then he comntinues to confess ways he has contributed to the problem
You know this is something we really need to understand because so often we will say okay God fix this but we do not understand we are part of the issue.
Imagine if you had an issue with your neighbor, and you say God I want you to build a bridge and fix the issue I am having.
But heres the thing you let your dog go to the bathroom in their yard all the time and not just that, but you treat them terribly when they ask you not to.
I mean when God has laid an issue on our heart we need to make sure that are not playing a role in the problem.
But whats so cool is even if we did play a role Nehemiah confesses that and says God we are going to change.
Because while they have been running away from God and they have become scattered God is willing to bring them back
And I love the last sentence of what we just read because Nememiah says “I was the cupbearer of the king”
And I want you to notice somthing Nehemiah now makes a really important transition from going to God and praying to action.
because basically Nehemiah’s job was he would drink the kings alcohol before the king to make sure that the kings drink was not poisoned.
And back in ancient times there was not a lot to do, so the king would drink a lot so Nehemiah was around the king a ton.
And I love this because it would have been so easy for him to pray to God and say God raise up someone else to help with this.
But I think Nehemiah realized that God has placed him in this role and is asking him to do somthing about the problem.
You know one time I was at a Matthew West Concert (he is a Christian artist)
And I remember he was telling the story behind one of his songs called “do something”
And basically in it he came to God and was angry about what was happening in other countries where kids didn’t have clean water and were hungry.
And he was mad at God and he said God why don’t you do somthing about this?
Don’t you understand what is happening.
And Matthew West said in that moment he heard God tell him “I did, I created you”
I mean to often we go to God, which is great but then God wants us to move from prayer to action
And look at this next part of the passage starting in verse chapter 2
1 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, 2 so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” I was very much afraid, 3 but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” 4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, 5 and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.” 6 Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.
So this is so cool because Nehemiah is at his job and the king can tell something is off with Nehemiah, because he looks terrible.
it says the king thought he actually looked sick.
And the king ask Nehemiah whats wrong why are you sad.
And what amazing is Nehemiah has this open window to tell the king exactly what is going on and what does it say happens?
He prays to God and he ask the question.
He ceases His the moment that God had given him.
Have any of you seen the movie Coco?
Its a kids movie, but the bad guy in this movie is named hector con Cornelius and he has a catch phrase where he says cease your moment.
Basically when you have a open window take it.
And he is talking about furthering his agenda which makes him a bad guy
But can I just say God has given us moments where he has given us the ability to build a bridge, change a life, have a break through
but we need to cease the momment.
We need to say yes God!
But here is the issue because while God is calling us to cease our momment.
Just like the Hector Con Cornelius satan is trying to cease his.
But when you are so busy paying attention to the moments God has given you its hard for satan to cease his moments.
And notice what happens because Nehemiah tells the king his request and this was a big deal, because when you spoke to the king you had a certain amount of time, and not just that but if the king did not like what you could get killed
And so Nehemiah states his case and he tells exactly what he what he wants to do
And I want you to notice what happens in these last few verses (7-8)
Nehemiah 2:7–8 (NIV)
7 I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? 8 And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests.
So you think Nehemiah would be excited that the king just granted him a lot of vacation time, but it actually says that Nehemiah ends up asking for more.
and keep in mind that everytime Nehemiah ask for something he potentially could die.
So I am not 100% sure this is how it happened but this is how I imagine it… . (say the questions hesitant and scared)
Can you send letters to goveners in the area telling them to not harm me also?
Would you also be able to provide the materials to build the wall with?
And what happens is the king grants his request which makes no sense.
I mean from what we know the king gets nothing out of helping
But here is what I want you to get because when God lays something on your heart it becomes contagious where other people get excited.
Insert illustration
But you know I want you to read the last part of this passage with me outloud again. because this is the reason the thing that God laid on Nehemiahs heart came to fruition. Lets read this:
“And Because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my request”
So why was Nehemiah able to make this thing God has laid on his heart happen?
Because of the gracious hand of God.
And this morning, I am sure some of us have somthing that God has laid on our heart and it is to big.
He called us to do somthing that is to big
He layed a burden on our heart where we say “how could that be fixed”
Some of us might be in a place where we are saying honestly I feel far away from God.
Can I just say these things will not be accomplished or fixed because of what you do, but they will happen because of what?
The Gracious hand of God
And this morning what would happen if we said God I want your hand to be on what I am doing?
How would our lives look to different.
Because the task may be huge, but we serve a bigger God.
Amen?
