Nehemiah 1-2

stay the 31st of August so I think that's two Thursdays from now - right good so I'm really looking forward to this for those of you who were here at our first all church prayer meeting which we had on a Thursday night back in I want to say it was June it was so well attended and talked about being blessed and the time flew by we had a time of praise of worship and then we just went to the throne and prayed it was such a rich time of Prayer together as a church and so this will be our next one and then Lord willing as we're able we do want to begin having them more consistently perhaps we'll start with once a month and then maybe go to one night a week and maybe that'll be a Tuesday night instead of a Thursday night so we won't have our Bible study that night but instead we'll have our prayer meeting so please make plans to attend you don't want to miss it it is such a time of blessing so before we get to the study I want to take a moment and pray for hélène on Tuesday night she had another stroke it was minor but she ended up in the ICU I was talking with Lawrence tonight before the Bible study and she's now out of ICU we praise the Lord for that they are going to do an MRI Lord willing tomorrow right and so but there's no meningitis so we're thankful for that but we do want to pray if you would join with me let's go to the throne for hélène loving Heavenly Father were so thankful to you at times like this that we can just bow our hearts and prayer and come to you and cry out to you on behalf of our precious sister Helene and Lord just as the great physician we can bring to you this request and just ask of you for a healing touch on her Lord a complete healing for her or would you give the physicians wisdom from above supernaturally so to be able to properly and correctly diagnose and treat her lord thank you that she's doing well still in therapy Lord we just are trusting you believing you for a complete and total 100% recovery as only you can Lord that's our appeal to you that's our prayer to you lord all so we're mindful on this day of those that were victimized by this terrorist attack in Barcelona at the hands of Muslims or we just want to pray for the people of Barcelona and this ask Lord that again as only you can that you would take something like this at such a time as this and use it as an opportunity to bring people to you that Lord the people of Spain would have an awakening and realize that you Jesus are the only answer or thank you again that we can come to you like this with things like this with anything as we're going to see tonight in Nehemiah praying about everything and so Lord we just ask your blessing on our time together in your word as well would you bless our time Lord we pray in Jesus name Amen all right let me go ahead and get started here I've been I know I said this you're probably tired of me saying this but I have really been looking forward to the book of Nehemiah I know I said that about Ezra I asserted about versus checking Chronicles and 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st and 2nd Samuel but no this this book in particular has really been used of God in my life over the years in in a powerful way and for a number of reasons chief of which is that it's been a great source of encouragement during those times when discouragement sets in I'll be even more specific during the building project when we were building this Fricker's there were many times where I just had my Bible open to Nehemiah and I was in the fetal position on the floor just crying out to God oh god what have we gotten ourselves into Lord you built this wall through nehemiah in 52 days I'm just saying two years can we just get this thing done and but there was just so much that God used in and through the book of Nehemiah in my life personally and Nehemiah to me is a great example of how that God enables us and really empowers us to keep our hands to the plow in spite of and even in light of the enemy's relentless spiritual attack as we're going to see here tonight as God's people set their foot to do God's work the enemy is right there proportionately so I love what Alan Redpath said he said there is no winning without warfare there is no opportunity without opposition there is no victory without vigilance for whenever the people of God say let us arise and build Satan says let me arise and oppose we've talked about this in the past how that we should never really worry when we're attacked by the enemy that means we're doing something right right the time that we should be concerned is when the enemy leaves us alone because if you really think about it that must mean that we pose no threat to the powers of darkness so you Satan is not all-knowing but what Satan does know is that and I think about the Proverbs that says the prostitute hunts and targets the precious life in other words the enemy will always seek and sort of single out and target the one whom God has a call on their life why because they pose a potential threat to the kingdom of darkness whenever we set our foot to do anything that God has called us do we can be rest assured that the enemy is going to be right there to oppose and to attack so by way of a brief introduction nehemiah can act there's 13 chapters in this book it can actually be divided into two sections the first division is chapters 1 through 6 which are about the reconstruction of the walls keep in mind the temples already been rebuilt but now Nehemiah is going to go and rebuild the wall then chapter 7 through 13 are about the reocnstruction of god's people so that's what we have really in store for us one of the things that I'm hoping will become abundantly clear as we study this book is that God is able I know that might sound at first to be simplistic but God is able and God can do anything he's able to do anything with anyone anyone who's willing so let's jump in verse 1 the words of Nehemiah the son of Hokulea it came to pass in the month of Kislev in the 20th year as I was in Shushan de Citadel that Kanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped who had survived the captivity and concerning Jerusalem and they said to me the survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach the wall of Jerusalem is also broken down and its gates are burned with fire you can just imagine the smell there still in the midst the temples done but they're still in the midst of the charred remains of what used to be the great wall surrounding the temple so the chapter begins with Nehemiah learning just how bad the conditions are how much distress the Jews are in the ones that had returned to Jerusalem from captivity this after Kanani who some believe may have actually been nehemiah's brother or at least a relative of his but he asks for a report concerning his people and the condition of what is taking place there in Jerusalem and it seems though as though even though the temple had been rebuilt at Mount God's people that are there are living in great distress and one of the reasons that they're in such distress and are a reproach we're told is because the wall around the city along with the gates to the city lay in a heap of ruin I thought a stand that the wall was the security and for a city to be unwalled meant that it was vulnerable to attack from the enemy and this the distress that they're in and this is why now God is going to use Nehemiah to go and rebuild miraculously so this wall now notice in verse 4 nehemiah's responds so it was when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned for many days I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven is this sound a little bit like what for those of you who are part of our Esther study does this not sound like what Ezra did by the way Ezra was a contemporary of Nehemiah and when Ezra had received the report about the transgressions of God's people he did the same exact thing I believe that he sat because he just couldn't stand he was so impacted and even devastated by this report here's Nehemiah now hearing about the condition of God's people the condition of God's temple the city remain unwalled in the wall being in this state of ruin and upon hearing this he is so grieved by this report and like Ezra before him he just mourns he weeps I imagine he weeps bitterly and he prays any fasts and we're told that this is four days we don't know how many days but several days it would appear here's what's interesting [Music] Ezra was already in Jerusalem at the time that he received the report about the transgressions of God's people and had a very similar reaction but here's the thing Nehemiah has never been to Jerusalem ever in his life his eyes have never beheld the temple he has never seen the walls around the city you certainly never seen the gates around the city and I would imagine that he knew those who had for sure went with Ezra in the second wave and returned to Jerusalem some 1500 men plus the women and the children I would imagine that because Ezra and Nehemiah were contemporaries and they knew each other so too did he know those that went so he's inquiring about how are they doing how is so-and-so doing and her nanny tells him they're not doing good Nehemiah and the reason they're not doing good is because the wall is not built and they're vulnerable and they're distressed because they're vulnerable and you got to wonder how is it that Nehemiah could have such a concern in such a compassion for a place that he's never seen a temple that he's never been to a wall that he's never beheld and I believe that the answer is is that God has put this in his heart God has put this in his heart you know in the Psalms where it says that delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart as a new believer I always thought that wow how cool is that so you mean all I have to do is to light myself in the Lord and whatever I desire he'll give it to me well how cool is that I'll get my list ready right now as I prepare to delight in the Lord that's not what it means here's what it means the Lord will first put that desire on your heart and he'll make it a delight I'll take it a step further and he'll make it almost a consuming passion not only do you delight in it you are driven by it you are called to it so once you are delighted in it then God's is okay now that desire that I put in your heart you delight in now now I'm going to realize it now I'm going to fulfill it now I'm going to give it to you in other words the desire that he gives is the desire that he gave you in the first place where do you think this desire to be a part of in his concern for the people of God and the temple of God came from it had to come from the Lord couldn't be something that he just mustered up well this is Psalm 137 verses five and six says if I forget you O Jerusalem let my right hand forget its skill if I do not remember you let my tongue clean to the roof of my mouth if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief chief joy this is above my chief joy so the other day I'm on facebook I'm not on Facebook very much my wife's on my Facebook page more than I am that's probably okay but somebody posted pictures of their trip to Israel not didn't go with us but it was them there on the Mount of all of us with you know the Temple Mount in the background notice I didn't say the DOE Morocco I just said it but the Temple Mount and in the background there with the eastern gate and I got to tell you I just did something left within my heart is calling oh I wish I was there how will I look there's something about Jerusalem it's like a spiritual home of sorts and I've heard it said this way and this is what we always talk about when we take a group to Israel and that's the first time you go you see it with your eyes but the second time you go you see it with your heart and there's just something that takes place in your heart and Nehemiah is such a case where he just had a heart for this city as we're going to see here momentarily the city that got himself literally has put his name on and we know that to be true from prior studies time doesn't permit tonight to get into that verse five and I said now this is his prayer this is nehemiah's prayer I pray Lord God of heaven o Great and awesome God you who keep your covenant and mercy with those who love you and observe your Commandments please let your ear be attentive and your eyes open that you may hear the prayer of your servant which I pray before you now day and night for the children of Israel your servants and interesting confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against you both my father's house and I have sinned we have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments the statutes nor the ordinances which you have commanded your servant Moses remember I pray or say the word that you commanded your servant Moses saying if you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the nation's but if you return to me and keep my Commandments and do them though some of you are cast out to the farthest part of the heavens yet I will gather them from there and bring them to the place which I have chosen and here it is as a dwelling for my name now verse 10 these are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand O Lord I pray please let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who desire to fear your name and let your servant prosper this day I pray and grant him mercy in the sight of this man for I was the king's cup bearer that's an interesting little addendum to a really great prayer well couple thoughts on this prayer the first of which has to do with this reference to him being a cup bearer for the King now this was a granted a high position a very honor honorable position but basically that's his skill set he's a cup bearer for the King now what are you saying well not think about this God is going to call a cup bearer to go to Jerusalem and engage in a massive major construction project of rebuilding a wall around a city are you kidding me what is his qualification a cup bearer cupbearers aren't contractors cup bears don't build walls what does he know about building walls oh and oh by the way as we're going to see and as you probably already know he's going to do it in 52 days that's quite a cup bearer if you ask me well here's what I pointed out God is going to get all the glory for what's going to happen through this man nehemiah it is going to be a miraculous rebuilding of the walls in Jerusalem and the reason well the reason is God takes the cup bearers of this life and does the extraordinary and the supernatural so that in the end even if the cupbearers want to take your credit for it they can't only God gets the glory this is 1st Corinthians chapter 1 this is my resume by the way when I have somebody say hey did you go to Bible College or seminary or Cemetery to which I usually nothing wrong with that but my response is no I barely graduated high school I actually had somebody asked me this many years ago this lady asked me sis's so what are your qualifications to be a pastor and I just said well my qualifications are first Corinthians chapter 1 and I basically turned there and I'm going to read what I read beginning of verse 26 brothers and sisters think of what you were when you were called I know what I was when I was called I wasn't even a cup bearer not many of you were wise by human standards not many were influential not many were of noble birth but God I love those tours I love those two words I love those tours they change everything don't they but God but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things but both ends up on that one and the things that are not to nullify the things that are you want to know I am so glad you asked the answers in verse 29 so that no one may boast before him it is because of him that you heart in Christ Jesus who has become for us wisdom from God that is our righteousness holiness and redemption therefore as it is written verse 31 that the one who boasts boast in the Lord you know what I love when someone sesame man God really spoke to me through that teaching I just say praise the Lord because obviously you heard a different sermon than the one I preached well you're in the right church you were here in this church but the Holy Spirit took my words and tailor-fit them to that need in your heart that only God knows because God sees the heart and boy takes the pressure off of me I don't have to be clever good thing because I'm not I don't have to be you know savvy I don't have to be slick thank God I don't even have to look slick really thank God for that but all I have to do is just be faithful to the calling and preach the word and he does all the rest he does all of us I mean after all if God can speak through a donkey he can speak through anyone and so I like having a donkey underneath my name in fact I'm sometimes tempted to have my cards changed and just have it's a senior donkey and I'm the senior donkey second thought is the content of Nehemiah's prayer did you notice something striking in that prayer as I read it and as you follow it along did it have a resemblance to what we call the Lord's Prayer which is really where Jesus taught the disciples how to pray our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done I mean you know it backwards and forwards right well I believe this is really how Nehemiah prayed one of the best acronyms I've ever heard for how to pray is acts like the book of Acts and the a is for acknowledge the c is for confess the t is for Thanksgiving and the S is for supplication and that's basically the template that Nehemiah uses he starts off just acknowledging God O God who is like unto you notice I'm not big on formalizing especially when it comes to prayer but anything I'm all for anything that helps when it comes to prayer and the reason is is that I think unfortunately and sadly really prayer which should be so simple has been so complicated I mean if you really think about it what is prayer prayer is just talking to God it's just communicating with God and by the way prayer is not necessarily a monologue it's a dialogue one of the things in fact just today in my time of prayer throughout the day I pray and then I'll be in the word and I'll just pause and allow for time for the Lord to speak back to me through his word and he did that today through one of my favorite Psalms Psalm 91 and it's been likened to a phone where you have the old-fashioned phone so this is the dial know the cell phones now or moving like this and the the microphone is that is the prayer us talking to God and the speaker is the Word of God him talking to us and he speaks to us through his word he responds to us and sometimes when you don't really know how to pray just pray through the word I love praying through the Proverbs oh my goodness just take a chapter there's a chapter for every day of the month in Proverbs so what's today what is the date today the 17th this is 2017 right not yeah okay so so seven go to proverbs 17:9 and you read the verse and then you just kind of turn the no prayer Lord I don't want to be numbered amongst the foolish who do this I want to be wise give me that wisdom from above that I may do this instead and as this verse one before you know it you have when you pray through that entire chapter oh my goodness there's that peace that comes that Paul talks about in Philippians chapter 4 when he says don't worry about anything and here's the way not to worry about nothing pray about everything and thank God for anything and then that peace that surpasses human understanding will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus now think about that it's that peace that's not predicated upon your understanding in other words there is a peace that comes with understanding I mean I'm calmed and I'm at peace when I do understand but what Paul is saying is that there can actually be a peace that comes through praying and thanking God and that peace is not connected to your understanding in other words I still don't understand but I can still have peace it's that peace that's not contingent upon my understanding is that peace that does not have to come from my understanding boy if I'm only at peace when I understand how often am i going to be at peace it's kind of like if I'm only joyful when I'm not going through a trial oh my goodness I'm going to be joyful like three days a year because that's about the goal meantime it seems that I'm not in the midst of a trial so it cannot be connected and Jesus said I give you a peace that the world does not give that's the kind of peace that I give to you my peace I give to you well this is the prayer that nehemiah prays and here's the thing God answers the prayer God always answers prayer whether you realize it or not you will get your answer you may not like the answer but you'll get the answer because God is either going to answer with an O or he's going to answer with a yes or he's going to answer with the weight which we hate to wait right I mean come on don't look at me like that you know exactly what I'm talking about listen I we love the yes sometimes we'll get through the no I mean down the road we'll thank God for the prayers that he gave us the no on because oh my goodness Lord if you would have said yes to that prayer request I came in a met which is why he didn't because God knows the end from the beginning and every good and perfect gift comes from the father above so wouldn't have been good if he would have answered that prayer that way but this is the one that is the hardest and it's the wait answer but you have to understand something God's timing is always perfect and such as the case here you know why because Nehemiah is going to have to wait for months listen in our day and age we get upset and become incessant when we have to wait for minutes we want a microwave prayer we just stick it in push the buttons and boom there it is thank you lord hallelujah right well he's going to wait for months and as we're going to soon see this would have profound prophetic implications I love what Isaiah says about those who wait wait and wait Isaiah 64 verse 4 for since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear nor has the eye seen any guy God besides you who listen acts for the one who waits for him simply waiting for the Lord to act is one of my favorites Isaiah 30 verses 18 and 19 yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you therefore he will rise up to show you compassion for the Lord is a God of justice blessed are all who wait for him the ones who wait will be blessed people of Zion who live in Jerusalem you will weep no more well that's a word for those that are in Jerusalem now awaiting nehemiah's arrival how gracious he will be when you cry for help and listen to this pay particular attention to this as soon as he hears he will answer you what yes soon as you pray oh he's already answered it's just he got you got the wait answer so Nehemiah I'm answering your prayer this way wait for months I'll answer I'm answering you now but you're going to have to wait and you'll see how blessed you're going to be because you waited for me Isaiah 40 verse 28 do you not know have you not heard the Lord is the everlasting God the creator of the ends of the earth he will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom he gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak even youths grow tired and weary and young men stumble and fall but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength they will soar on wings like eagles they will run and not grow weary they will walk and not be faint it all comes by way of waiting on the Lord chapter 2 and it came to pass in the month of Nisan in the 20th year of king artaxerxes when wine was before him that I took the wine and gave it to the king now I had never been sad in his presence before therefore the king said to me why is your face sad since you are not sick this is nothing but sorrow of heart so I became dreadfully afraid and said to the king may the King live forever why why should my face not be sad when the city the place of my father's tombs lies waste and its gates are burned with fire then the king said to me what do you request so I prayed to the God of heaven listen for those of you who are just now becoming acquainted with who this Nehemiah was you're going to fall in love with this guy I just I can't wait for you to get to know who this man was don't you just love this Oh what's his first response he prays he prays in the quietness of his heart in that very instant he prays you know why he prays first of all we know he's a man of prayer but he prays because he's in a very dangerous position as we'll see next verse 5 and I said to the king now he's prayed it had to be a very short prayer had me one of those Peter prayers you know those three word prayers Lord save me aren't you glad God answers three word prayers this is probably one of those three word prayers of nehemiah oh god help me had to be real short because now he's got to answer the king so what does the answer to the king verse five and I said to the king if it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight I ask that you send me to Judah to the city of my father's tombs that I may rebuild it dude you're just a cup bearer what are you talking about well this is interesting you have to understand why it is that nehemiah is in such a dangerous position actually he's in a life-and-death position here for a number of reasons one of which is this to have a sad countenance in the presence of the king especially as the king's cup bearer it could mean off with your head because it was a reflection of the king if you have and keep this in mind as the cup bearer he's got to make sure he oversaw everything because there could be a plot to poison and kill the king so here Nehemiah comes in and he is he's you know got a worried look on his face like we're going to poison the king why are you so sad Nehemiah right that's the dangerous position that he's in but here's another reason why he's in a dangerous position this is the same king of Persia that had stopped the work in the first place and now Nehemiah is asking the King to let him go and rebuild the walls wow that that takes some guts I mean certainly the king could perceive this as being disloyalty and even betrayal and all the King had to do is just say the word and it's off with his head he's done now here's a question why would Nehemiah take this risk what was it about Nehemiah that gave him this ability to take this risk and ask this of the king you know what I think it is I really believe that the answer is that praying had given him that confidence in the Lord I really say the same thing a different way because he had prayed now keep in mind prior when he heard the news prior to this particular day that we're told about where he brings the wine to the king as the cup bearer prior to that he's already been praying and fasting and weeping before the Lord for days you don't think he heard from the Lord you don't think the Lord answers prayer I've already said this way if God doesn't answer prayer rip up your Bibles what if God doesn't answer prayer what are we doing here what is this a joke if God doesn't answer prayer if God doesn't hearken of the voice of the cry of one of his own who's weeping before him morning praying fasting crying out to him you don't think God's going to respond you think God's going to give him an answer you think God's going to encourage him and strengthen him and answer him and respond hint to him I think he had a powerful and intimate encounter with the true and living God I would have loved to have been a fly on a camel close by when that was pretty bad wasn't it but can you imagine Nehemiah says before the Lord on his face you know think a lot minister to him Nehemiah you'll see what I'm going to do you'll see what I'm going to do and that's where the courage came from you know sometimes when you spent time in prayer you just rise with this sanctified strength man God's got this listen I know how I am with my children as an earthly fallen father this is my heavenly father we're talking about here and I'm one of his and I come to him and I cry out to him and what I'm asking of him is the very desire he put on my heart in the first place oh well is there anything too hard for the Lord is there anything too hard for I really believe that Nehemiah knows that God has already gone before him and that's a good prayer too by the way it's that Lord just go before me and I know you were for me and if you're for me who or what what king what rule or what obstacle can possibly be against me if you're for me if you're for me no problem no prophet and he had that sanctified resolve in his hip pocket so to speak on that particular day it was already there and then that was before and then I would just have loved to have known what the Lord ministered to Nehemiah when he prayed in dat just that instant got very short prayer Lord this is it isn't it you're going to give me the words to speak right yeah just be I've gone before you I am for you you'll see you'll see and that's why he was able to say what he said with that sanctified confidence now verse six is going to get really interesting then the King said to me and we're told parenthetically the clean also sitting beside him how long will your journey be and when will you return stop right there did you catch that Nehemiah buddy I Love You Man I have no problem with you going but I'm not going to let you stay I can't replace you when you going to be back if it's not too long and then think about this it's not here how cool would it be if it was oh I'll be back in 53 days look right but - that the amount of time it takes me to get there because it's only going to take 52 days to do that which should normally take much much longer to do in other words the king is saying Nehemiah you can go but I want you back as soon as possible because I need you you're my guy Wow Wow so it pleased the king to send me and I set him a time I would have loved to know how much time he gave himself maybe that's why you did it so quick I told the King I'd be back within like six months or three months or whatever so verse seven furthermore I said to the king if it pleases the King look how respectful he is look how honourable he is let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the river is very prudent by the way that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah and a letter to ask if the keeper of the Kings forest that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the Citadel which pertains to the temple for the city wall and for the house that I will occupy and the King granted them to me according to and you remember this raise from Ezra the good hand of my god upon me Oh Oh aye well if the Lord's hand is upon me I would rather know this my jam' somebody's gears but whatever I would rather live one week with the hand of God upon me than ten years without it I would rather live only one week and have my life in knowing that the hand of the Lord was on me than to live 10 plus years and not have God's hand on me well this is where again it's going to get really interesting because this is one of those places in the Word of God where you need to know a little bit about Bible prophecy and we happen to know a little bit about Bible prophecy around here but this is a fulfillment of a prophecy in the Book of Daniel chapter 9 down to the gnats eyebrow and yes gnats have eyebrows let me read the prophecy first and I know you're familiar with this Daniel chapter 9 verses 25 and 26 know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build jerusalem until messiah the prince here's the timeline there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks the street shall be built again and the wall oh that's pretty specific even in trouble sometimes and verse 26 after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off speaking of Jesus but not for himself and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary now we know that who that is especially in the next verse verse 27 the end of it shall be with a flood and till the end of the war desolations are determined stay with me I don't know if you've heard of this this is a great resource to have in any library it's a book by Sir Robert Anderson who was a British astronomer and mathematician a genius really he wrote a book titled the coming prince and in it he makes a very compelling case that Jesus fulfilled Daniels prophecy exactly to the day when he entered Jerusalem in that triumphal entry when they were singing with the palm branches Hosanna Hosanna Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord April 6 32 ad you ready for this precisely 173,880 days from Nehemiah chapter 2 verse 1 here's the thing about Bible prophecy if it's from God it's going to come to pass with 100% precision accuracy not 99.999 Oh 100% accuracy and that is exactly the fulfillment of the prophecy from the command given by this came to this nehemiah to rebuild the wall this would be the Oh by the way remember how we were talking about how nehemiah had to wait four months for God to answer this prayer aren't you glad he did down to the day down to the day it's been said that God is never late but neither is God ever early and that's a good thing we don't want God to be early there's there's a reason that God delays God delays for a purpose and here it had a prophetic purpose well verse 9 then I went to the governor's in the region beyond the river and gave them the Kings letters now the King had sent captains of the army and horsemen with remember how Israa said you know I already told the king that God's hand is upon us and we're going to make this 900-mile four month journey to Jerusalem safely with all the bandits that are on the way and all this treasure that we're carrying with us along the way and we will have safe passage so he did not take anything from the king no security no horsemen no military nothing but here Nehemiah DES does vary as we talk about that in Ezra verse 10 when sanballat the hata night and tobiah the ammonite official heard of it this is this they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel Oh would to God that we would deeply disturb the enemy would to God that those sand ballots and Tobias in our lives would be deeply disturbed by the call that God has on our lives you're going to have to get used to these guys are going to be around for a while and they are going to be trouble with a capital T they will continually oppose the work of God mean after all they're very disturbed by the the people of God someone actually seeking the well-being of God's people oh man I I want you to be disturbed in Jesus name listen I don't want to get into this but let me just say suffice it to say that in the two years that it took us and sigh of two years we had several Sam ballots and Tobias rear their ugly heads and their very ugly in opposition to this work because someone had sought the well-being of God's people in this area they were deeply disturbed my church has gone in there so complaints are filed and we're getting calls you can't do that oh really watch me now watch me now why because of us because we're we're so smart and clever are you kidding me for those of you who are part of this yeah you know better well you know why because the hand of God was upon us and he called us to do this and so it was done for that reason that's why that's why so can't clap by the way you can't praise the Lord man [Applause] well as I mentioned at the beginning Nehemiah is going to face relentless attack from the enemy and this is how it's going to come this is from whom amongst others that it's going to come are going to be introduced to an Arab here shortly and I'll watch out for those heroes but I just can't get over how we're told there at the end of verse 10 that they were deeply disturbed by this and to me this is textbook when it comes to those like a Nehemiah now here's the thing whenever you and I set our foot to do that which God has called us to you are going to disturb the powers of darkness we wrestle not against flesh and blood our bow is not against the people who called and complain and try to make our lives difficult and stop the work and delay the work and cause problems and ridicule us and laugh at us which we're going to see that here pretty cool by the way throughout this study we're going to see some very interesting and specific tactics of the enemy these are the tools the wiles of the devil Paul says and they're very strategic he uses discouragement he uses ridicule this is how the enemy operates this is his MO is modus operandi this is how he operates you see well verse 11 so I came to Jerusalem it was there three days then I arose in the night I and a few men with me I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do it Jerusalem nor was there any animal with me except the one on which I wrote and verse 13 I went out by night through the valley gate to the serpent well and the refuge gate and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire then I went on to the foul Gate into the Kings pool but there was no room for the animal under me to pass think about that so I went up in the night again by the valley and viewed the wall then I turned back and entered by the valley gate and so returned and the officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done I had not yet told the Jews the priests the nobles the officials or the others who did the work what wasn't he am i doing here is he trying to be sneaky under the radar covert unone anybody to know was he paranoid no is he prudent absolutely this is very prudent this is very wise to go out under the cover of night this is very wise for him at least at this juncture not to communicate his plans to anyone he goes out he gets the lay of the land and to me this is wisdom from above when it comes to keeping things that God shows you in your heart until such a time as God makes it clear that now is the time to unveil it to reveal at which Nehemiah is now going to do verse 17 then I said to them you see the distress that we're in how Jerusalem lies waste and its gates are burned with fire come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach and I told them of the hand of my god which had been good upon me by the way nothing wrong with that you know what brother sister Fran God's hand is on me God's hand is on this one of the things that became abundantly clear throughout this building project and by the way you better get used to me referring to the building project through this study in Nehemiah because there's so many life lessons that can be learned and not necessarily just for a building project but throughout life all across the board on every level but it just became abundantly clear that God's hand was on this project from day one and God's hand was on the people that were involved in this project we those of us that were involved in it we got to watch and we're so blessed by all of those little things is like wow God you are so good only God could do that and little things every time I look at those two refrigerators in the kitchen we call it now fact I was talking to Eric Anderson on the phone this last week we still refer to them as the refrigerator story listen you haven't lived until you've heard the refrigerator story and you're looking at me like okay are you going to tell us a refrigerator story okay just real quick so don't look at your watches so they go in to McGee was Lowe's or was it Louis yeah and they see this refrigerator it's on sale and because it was the floor model it was even less I mean they got them both of them for I want to say almost like you know half the price of what they're what the price should have been and they ran into this opposition and the you know the people are saying hey we can't sell you the floor model and so you know I'm sorry so being as persistent and because the hand of God was on them the refrigerators are very important you know especially those those are refrigerators so in the end up going to the manager and the manager says who told you that so they got the one so what we need to well we only have one so they went to another Lowe's and they you know said well this is the sale price yes well you sell the floor model no so they do this this is the the Reader's Digest version so they basically go after being told no I don't know how many times no no no No so they go to the manager the manager says yeah that's fine so we got two refrigerators basically the price of what one should have bet and that's the refrigerator story and that's I love remembering that why because the hand of God was on those refrigerators so now next time you go there I want you to look at those refrigerators I want you to praise God for those refrigerators right the hand of God was on it's okay where was I we're almost done here so and also of the Kings words that he had spoken to me so they said let us rise up and build yay that's going to be a short level see they're going to get really discouraged once they start doing it but then they set their hands to this good work but here those guys are again when sanballat the hora night to buy the ammonite official and guess him the Arab I told you about him there is right there heard of it get this they laughed at us and despised us and said what is this thing that you are doing will you repel against the king so I answered them and said to them and this is a great answer by the way the God of heaven himself will prosperous remember Nehemiah has sanctified courage and confidence in the Lord because the Lord's hand is upon him and if the Lord is for him who is going to be against it no Sanballat note to buy a no Geshem no Arab no I don't care the God of heaven himself will prosperous therefore we are his servants and we will arise and build but you ho mmm that's not on the original but you have no heritage or right or more real in Jerusalem you let Nehemiah staying here you can - laughing you're laughing now you're laughing enough really hmm isn't that special he stands firm and in effect he tells these men he can laugh all you want but God's going to bless us God Himself will bless us God Himself will prosperous and you'll see and you're going to be ashamed there's going to be a sanctified shaming you're laughing now you don't leave your laughing at y'all laughing enough you think you're laughing at us oh you are sadly mistaken you are you're laughing at God and by the way spoiler alert you don't want to be laughing at God this is this is God's work this is God's work that which we're about to do we're going to rise and we're going to build and we're going to do this this is God you're laughing at God you'll see and oh by the way when it's done don't even think about it you won't even be welcome here you will play no part of this here you will have no inheritance of anything here you're laughing now but we'll see who gets the last laugh I love ending a Bible study this way oh let's just end on that note because just makes you want to go out build a wall okay in Jesus name so many life lessons so much we can take home with us tonight if anything I hope that along with me because again for me this is another renewed confidence and strength in the Lord I mean man is there anything that we can't do like Paul said I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me if the Lord has his hand upon me are you getting me there's nothing impossible God can do grand and glorious things and he does the extraordinary with ordinary Nehemiah's like this like you like me let's pray father in heaven thank you so much for your word and oh thank you so much for nehemiah thank you for what we've seen here just in the first two chapters of this book lord I pray that you'll now by the holy spirit enable us to take this home with us and begin that process of applying this to our lives Lord bless this to our hearts we want to be like Nehemiah we want to pray like Nehemiah prayed and we want to have answers like Nehemiah had and do things that Nehemiah did in your strength in Jesus name Amen

Channel: J.D. Farag

Views: 11,482

Rating: 4.9007092 out of 5

Keywords: Nehemiah, Prayer, Joy, Bible, Hope, Love, Help, Free, Depressed, Life, Strength, Peace, Truth, Happiness, Rest, Harmony, Light, Freedom, Happy, Old Testament, Salvation, Forgiveness, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Lord, Jesus, Pastor, Grace, Mercy, Ministry, Messiah, Heavenly Father, Hebrew, Preaching, Teaching

Id: Cfn3j8HB48U

Length: 66min 51sec (4011 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 18 2017