Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Emotion Tone
Anger
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Disgust
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Fear
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Joy
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Sadness
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Language Tone
Analytical
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Confident
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Tentative
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Social Tone
Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Agreeableness
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Emotional Range
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Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
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Anger
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nehemiah had waited 4 months from the time of Nehemiah 1 to come before the king and ask.
He has brought the wine for the king.
Because he was so bothered about Jerusalem, Nehemiah was truly sad and could nothide it.
The king recognizes Nehemiahs’ sadness, and asks about it.
Nehemiah is afraid.
He should be.
Remember, this is the king that had halted the rebuilding of Jerusalem earlier.
Also, it was never proper to be sad in the king’s presence.
He was not to be bothered.
Note, he states his case…but he doesn’t mention Jerusalem.
The king valued Nehemiah.
He wanted to help.
Nehemiah, if he hesitated, may fall into question.
The king may think he is up to somehting.
But by praying, Nehemiah recognizes who ultimately holds his fate in his hand.
He prays a minute prayer.
But keep in mind that these “emergency prayers” were backed up by four months of fasting and praying.
If Nehemiah had not been diligent to pray in private, his “telegraph prayers” might have gone unanswered.
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Nehemiah will pray 5 other times in this beief book.
He was a man of prayer.
Those who are the boldest for God have the greatest need to be in prayer.
Nehemiah asks for permission to go.
He wants to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.
We are not told of the time he gave.
We do know that he stayed for 12 years, though the wall was rebuilt much quicker than that.... he became governor.
He gets letters to get passage.
He gets letters for provisions.
He recognizes the hand of God upon his life.
THE INVESTMENT OF WAITING...
So why the wait by Nehemiah before going to the king for permission to go?
As every believer should, Nehemiah patiently waited on the Lord for directions; because it is “through faith and patience” that we inherit the promises (Heb.
6:12).
“He that believeth shall not make haste” (Isa.
28:16).
True faith in God brings a calmness to the heart that keeps us from rushing about and trying to do in our own strength what only God can do
We must know not only how to weep and pray, but also how to wait and pray.
THE INSPIRATION OF THE PAST
Why rebuild the wall in the first place?
THE PLACE OF MY FATHERS’ GRAVES
THE PLACE OF MY FATHERS’ GRAVES
Listen to the respect that Nehemiah had for his ancestors.
Who is buried in Jerusalem?
Actually few.
He wasn’t referring to Abraham isaac and jacob.
They were buried long before Jerusalem was their life.
He wasn’t even referring to King David 500 years before.
David was buried in Israel- but in the city of david.
Bethlehem.
(There is a tomb in Jerusalem called David’s tomb- but the biblical account places it in Bethlehem and that’s where most of the digs take place.)
Hezekiah, Joash, Josiah, Jehoahaz, most of the kings of Judah....
And some were good and some were bad.
Many of the deaths say, “He was carried by the people to Jerusalem in a chariot.
And he was buried among the kings”… or he was buried with the kings.
One of the most tragic lines about the kings who died is found in 2 Chronicles 21:20, concerning King Jehoahaz.
He departed with no one’s regret.
they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.
So what was it about his fathers and Jerusalem that motivated his desire to rebuild the walls.?
As a whole, Nehemiah learned from the past to live for the future.
Nehemiah had dreams.
He actually had vision.
He wanted to see his city restored.
He wanted the captivity over.
He wanted to see his people back where they were supposed to be.
But he knew the real reason that they were in captivity in the first place: sin.
Years and years of God speaking to them about the way they were living, the sin they were committing, and their failure to repent.
How do I know this?
Remember Josiah’s prayer from last week., in the 1st chapter....
He is told about Jerusalem...
So Nehemiah is willing to honor his forefather’s memory without sugarcoating their reality.
“He was a good man..” may sound wonderful at the side of the casket, but to the child who he raised and was beaten every day and watched his mother suffer those words are hollow at best.
But when that child grows up committed to never doing those things… well, he’s learned something.
Nehemiah didn’t want to destroy their memory- he wanted to learn from it.
Far too many people allow their past to become an anchor instead of a rudder.
The past can guide you into your future- or it can hold you like an anchor to a past that is unhelpful at best and death at worst.
If your mantra is “as it was in the beginning, it is now and ever shall be.” you’ve already set yourself up for failure.
Unhealthy patterns of the past have to go.
Unhealthy people may have to be let go.
When the future is at stake- literally life or death- you learn from the past and use that wisdom to form your future.
Always remember Nehemiah’s prayer.
Nehemiah never tried to duplicate the past- he built on the past so Israel would have a future.
THE WISDOM OF PREPARING
Go back to Nehemiah 2.4 for a moment...
The prayer was short because the preparation was complete.
Remember, for 4 months Nehemiah waited and prepared before he asked the king.
Because he had spent that time in preparation he could pray with brevity in faith.
I’m not advocating for brief or long prayers- but when the works been done the faith begins.
Nehemiah was acting in faith not in fear.
So he asked for letters.
He got them.
He asked for materials.
He got them.
He asked for time.
He got time.
Later in Nehemiah he says this: the hand of god was upon me.
It was his willing heart that God used to begin the process of rebuilding Jerusalem.
When Jesus called his disciples:
He gave them the authority to do thei job and then he promised to meet their every need.
YOUR PAST SHOULD NOT BE AN ANCHOR- IT SHOULD BE A RUDDER
Jesus said, I have not come to destroy the law and the prophets.. I’ve come to fulfil them.
Hebrews says this…Hebrews 6.17-20
When Sodom was destroyed some stayed and died- but Lot left.
When Israel was in bondage in Egypt- God freed them for the promised land.
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