Nehemiah 1 - God's Work Begins In Your Heart

shall we open our vilas this morning not to the book of Mark for the book of Nehemiah this morning we'd like to take you through nehemiah or at least begin to a book that is probably one of the best books in the Bible on serving the Lord in fact Nehemiah wears a lot of hats in this in this book even though it's a short one he has a government job it's an important one he'll end up being a builder eventually a politician God will raise him up to do many things he is certainly an example to us that if you're faithful in the little things then God will entrust much to your care but it's a very practical book Nehemiah will show you how to deal with a difficult boss maybe you have one of those or how to balance waiting upon the Lord by faith with just planning and what do you do while you wait how to know when it's time to act and when it's time to just pray how do you handle unanswered prayer when God doesn't come through and he doesn't answer as you see fit then what how do you deal with that or how do you face impossible situations or maybe suffer under undeserved criticism all because you're trying to serve the Lord and all of that is found in these few chapters it's a great book on God's power on gaining vision on hope I think that by the time you're done with this book you'll want to be like Nehemiah he has a lot to say and a lot to accomplish in the midst of the people that are very much disinterested for the most part and what God wants to do Nehemiah will teach you that that God more often the knock works in very uneventful ways I know you read a couple of times where the Lord does things in sews you know in such a radical way you go man that's what I mean if I had a sign like that but those are really few and far between between I should say most often God works in ways that not only doesn't bring much fanfare along with it but you'll only see it if you're watching for to the casual observer the is nowhere to be found Elijah run running for his life God for the middle of nowhere and began to look for what the Lord might say and he looked at all of the wrong places he he looked in the earthquake he looked in the wind he looked you know in the rain the Lord wasn't in any of those and then we read the Lord spoke to him and a still small voice to his heart and that's really the way God more often than not works we we see him because we are looking for him it isn't a spectacular but it's the quiet it's kind of like Elijah was with his servant gehazi when they got stuck surrounded by the Syrian army and his his young guy you know that was with him freaked out well I just kind of smiled at him and and said Lord would you show him what you've shown me and God opened his eyes eyes and his heart encamped around the Syrian army the angels of the Lord and then he felt better but he was able to see what what usually couldn't be seen me am I is a great book if you want to be a leader if you define leadership by those who follow you or by your example to the to the extent that you influence folks he's a good leader a fella that you really want to learn from and we need good leaders you know that we need them in the church we need a mentor at our jobs we need them in our government need them in our homes and our schools there's a lot of frustration that comes when we have poor leadership but nehemiah is a good leader before we begin and we're just going to look at chapter 1 today we're going to give you four things to think about hopefully that will help you to remember the chapter let me give you a quick background of where we are in the Bible history - this book when God sent the Babylonians into the southern kingdom and to begin to really put them under pressure the Lord had said to his people for years you know idolatry is going to lead to captivity and they hadn't listened and when Nebuchadnezzar came to world power when the Babylonians ruled the world they came after Jerusalem and in 606 BC the first onslaught against the city took place the Nebuchadnezzar came in and he took a bunch of kids young men from pretty much wealthy families and he dragged them 700 miles to babylon so that he might teach them the ways of the Babylonians in the plans that he had to drag all of the Jews there eventually and they would use these kids as kind of overseers in 597 10 years later a wicked King in Israel who wasn't paying the taxes as Nebuchadnezzar had demanded ran into his army and they came down and there were a lot of people that died a lot more just kind of dragged off into captivity and again for the next 11 years things seem to be quiet and then Nebuchadnezzar came back in 586 20 years after the initial assault the big army came the walls of Jerusalem were just leveled the the treasures of the temple were taken and everyone that could travel was taken to they left the poor and the main behind but for the most part Israel became a captive people and for 20 of those 70 years at the Lord's that they would suffer in captivity those 70 70 years had begun in oh six and for the next fifty years from the time of onslaught they would be a captive people they would weep they would be integrated into a society that was fully idolatrous but the Lord had promised after 70 years to bring them back in fact in Isaiah he had named the king that would by name one day let them go home when the in 538 BC the Babylonians were overthrown by the medo-persians it was a king whose name was Cyrus who two years later as he took full power said to the Jews go home go home to your homeland go build again your city and you would think everyone would have run home but they didn't in fact only 50,000 people of the millions that were living in Babylon went home for the most part they were all comfortable living in Babylon was a dollar true city but it was vanston it was you know refined if you will and Jerusalem was under great siege and boy it would have been a difficult place to return but fifty thousand people did go back in fact the book of Ezra which is right before this book in chapters one through six talk about those fifty thousand that went back they immediately set to work building the temple that was the place for the Jews where they met with God they could they could sacrifice they laid the foundation and then they quit there was some political pressure some army pressure there was more though a pressure of ease they wanted to build their own houses we're not going to live out here in tents while the Lord's house we gonna build let's build our own houses and then we'll get too busy building the house of God and for the next sixteen years I just kind of light down everything and it wasn't until the 520 BC that the Lord sent them a couple of Prophet Haggai and Zechariah you have them in your Bibles and they came along to say what are you doing put in God's second the people were moved by what they heard they began to build the temple the place of worship and in 516 BC it was finished between chapter six and seven of Ezra is where the book of Esther should be placed but then beginning in Chapter seven eight nine and ten of essays rrah a second group of people now head for Jerusalem 2,000 of them Ezra leads them they are mostly folks that will help with worship with with as priests with the sacrifices they they come if you will to to provide kind of biblical reforms to the new community that is building and in five four fifty seven I should say seventy nine years after the fifty thousand had come ezra shows up with two thousand more people twelve more years passed before we get to this book because Nehemiah and 445 BC 91 years after the the big group had gone a hundred and sixty-one years since they were first you know overthrown in 606 by the Babylonians and the walls in Jerusalem are still down there are no gates there are no city streets really no one is living in town they are sitting ducks for for you know the the armies around there was lots of shame and desolation it isn't a place that you would be proud of and yet this was the city that God had put his name this was the place that would represent the Lord of the Jews and so Nehemiah picks up with that story in 446 actually one year earlier BC and there's a fella named Nehemiah and God wants to restore his Jerusalem but in order to get there he has to get the heart of one man and it is really the story of how God worked through your life if you're willing to be used so this morning four points for you on how you can know that God is calling you and where God is calling you but I think you will need and it will help you to determine what the Lord might be doing in your heart first one says this the words of Nehemiah the son of Hokulea it came to pass in the month of Kislev in the 20th year as I was sitting in Shushan the Cata Citadel that Hananiah one of my brethren came with men from Judah and I asked him concerning the Jews who had escaped those who had survived the captivity and if concerning Jerusalem and he said to me or they did the survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are in great distress and reproach the walls of the city of Jerusalem are broken down and its gates have been burned with fire now in verse 1 the name Nehemiah means God comforts you his dad's name Hokulea means he whom the Lord enlightens and we assume because of the names because they were important names always that this family was walking with God at a time when the nation itself was pretty much blase and and kind of blended in to the world around them first one also sets the scene and the time we get a lot of time stamps in this book so God wants us to take into consideration I think that the time gaps but it says that it was in the 20th year of art exact sees the second he was the ruler the months of chisel EV is the ninth month in the Hebrew calendar it would have put you in know member in December so it was wintertime nehemiah was living in Shushan the Hebrew word is Susa in the Royal Palace located on the Persian Gulf and modern-day Iran verse 2 tells us that Hananiah who was a some brethren to Nehemiah had returned from Jerusalem from Judah and Nehemiah was very interested to hear how things were going it says brethren we know that in the Bible it doesn't always mean actual brother relative but it does seem from chapter 7 as we'll get to that in a little while not today that he was made in overseer and he probably was a Nehemiah's actual brother but but I want you to look at me Amaya nehemiah was born in captivity he was raised with the idolatry of the of the Babylonians and now the medo-persians who certainly had the same amount of gods and yet he came from a family that was sold out to the Lord he had never seen Jerusalem and never been there who would have traveled those many miles and he'd never seen obviously the temple which is leveled before his birth he was hungry to to know what God was doing he had a great concern he asked about those who had escaped those that hadn't gone into captivity so had escaped the captivity he asked for about those who had survived the captivity and had returned to the city 50,000 536 a couple of thousand more and 12 years earlier in five of 457 and so he has great concern well here is point one that I want to I want you to think about and that is this God's calling to any ministry always begins in the heart of an individual in other words God begins every work in the heart of a person that is looking to him and that is certainly true of Nehemiah when Paul writes to Timothy in chapter 3 of first Timothy he says if a man desires the office of a bishop or of an overseer he is desirous of a good work Paulo write to the Corinthians in Chapter nine of the first letter about preaching he said well as me if I don't preach because necessity has been laid upon my heart you know everything that you want to learn almost can be taught even in the church however you can't teach calling there's no way for someone to teach you what you want to or should do no way for me to teach you how to be called God has to call it's a work that he does in the heart of an individual and desire is formed in the believer by the work of God's Spirit now if you believe that to be so there's a couple of things that happen to them automatically number one you never try to force upon other people what your concerns are because he may not have given them that same concern so when God stirs the heart that's a work that you can begin to look at it say well I'm interested in this God has done something in my heart if the concern is missing I suspect that the calling is missing as well but notice that Nehemiah he is called by the Lord as God begins to put a concern for the city and for the people in his heart you can share your concerns but God has to touch the heart we get people sometimes that call the church to tell us what we should do oh the Lord has put a burden on my heart brother that we just want to share with you and we we try to turn around with them on the phone or in person and say to them look God gave you that concern we don't have that concern that's your concern how about we pray with you about how the Lord is going to use you to meet that concern because he stirred your heart he's the one that spoke to you and I appreciate you sharing with us and we'll pray about how the Lord would have us to be involved with but look it starts with you and the most important thing in determining the will of God starts here what is God doing in your heart personally look it's a good thing that we're not all called to the same don't you think what if we all wanted to be Usher's who would you seat or if we all wanted to be on stage with a guitar sing and come on up you know empty crowded ridiculous that's not the way God works so God caused individuals and passion and calling our personal those are inside jobs it is the work of God's Spirit within the life of the individual and look here's one guy Nehemiah 446 BC he's the only one it seems they're in Susa on the Persian Gulf who cares it all about Jerusalem who cares it all about where they stand and the people but if God is going to deliver the nation he first wants to get the heart of one man notice in verse three that the report of Hananiah is very discouraging 161 years since they had been attacked there are still in great distress no protection those walls no gates no roads hem and I use the words great distress and reproach regular or the the literal words adversity in shame we're in a shameful place and we have a lots of enemy and and our grounds of the city are a place for rogues and for thieves and and for difficulty the first point you always want to know in terms of God calling you is that God speaks to your heart individually what is God saying to you second of all verse 4 and so it was when I heard these words that I sat down and I wept and I mourned for many days here's the second step that you can use to determine God's calling upon your life God's calling to a specific place of ministry is often discovered biblically by what breaks your heart not only does he speak to individuals but he then brings you to a point where it affects you here is a man who's never seen Jerusalem who can't stop crying about Jerusalem whose concern is real you see he sits and he weeps and he mourns for days that's heartfelt it's not the first guy to weep over Jerusalem won't be the last have a cook will do it Daniel will do it Jesus certainly will weep over the city and its lack of its willingness to hear from him but look that which means the most to you is often discovered by what means the most to God by how you are moved by one of the clearest signs of calling to God's work is just that Psalm 37 I think is verse 4 says if you delight yourself in the ways of the Lord the Lord will give you the desires of your heart so desire isn't is a clear directive from God provided that you're seeking Him every or not then you know none of that will work but if you're seeking the Lord first he speaks to you nobody else necessarily but then he brings you to that place where you are broken by the the needs that you experience that you see Nehemiah sat in the pilots Palace for days weeping alone over Jerusalem I think it was Chuck Swindoll years ago that said the best vessels to lighten the load are those who have first felt the weight themselves and that's certainly true in ministry and I'll tell you what it does if you'll follow these things is that when God begins to use you to serve you'll serve out of a heart that is zealous for the knee and you won't serve out of obligation you'll serve out of love there are a lot of people who get involved in ministry to do a great work for God but Nehemiah had none of that ambition his heart was broken and he was willing verse 11 will say he's willing to be the answer to his own prayers that was it God would use him to build the walls but he first had to weep over the ruins I thank the Lord for the ministry is that Morningstar has been involved with and we continue to be that were built upon the visions of those whose hearts were broken first not flicked advertising not big campaigns but just where God work in the heart of the individual I believe God has called me to teach the Bible I am more convinced than ever that we need to do it more I'm always frustrated that I meet people who have a concept of God that's not biblical at all I get the feeling that if they knew the God of the Bible they would love them like we did but they're running around with some weird ideas and concepts and and so I I I'm so thankful to be able to teach to be called to do that to present hopefully the God of the Bible I don't try to I try not to turn down any invitation that we get because we're all over the radio over the country we had a lot of invites that you know they're not impractical they're impractical to get to but try to go to as money as we can but but the bottom line is there's has to be something that breaks your heart that burns within you I don't know what it is maybe it's missions maybe it's convalescent ministry maybe it's going to the prison maybe it's taking care of the children or reaching out to the poor if it has to touch you first though before God can send you to be a vessel in this hand and look at Nehemiah I mean he got stirs his heart and then God breaks his heart but now what I mean what is me am I going to be able to do about a concern that has been for four generations just sitting by that no one seems to care about and he's 700 miles away I mean he has he has a heart that that's been stirred by the Holy Spirit II his hardest led him to tears and into wailing into mourning but put yourself in issues 700 miles away from a concern that you haven't even been able to analyze working for an unbeliever who is a world leader in other words he's the king of the world you know these kings of the world like the medo-persians like the babylon they can put you to death and hey what are you doing no he was absolute ruler he would need years off of work to go do this work he would need what we would say millions of dollars of aid to be able to accomplish the work there were lots of enemies that would live around Jerusalem that would seek to stop the battle he would need work crews and protection and then if you add to that in 160 years of lethargic Jews who loved living in Babylon he probably had a hard time stirring up their excitement about it he might as well have wanted to go to Mars and yet he couldn't stop crying the situation seemed hopeless impossible out of reach and it didn't help him at all which leads to the third point because in discovering the will of God not only will he speak to your heart individually and that you can determine often time what bricks your heart but despair should lead you to praying and it certainly did to life of Nehemiah look we stopped in the middle of verse 4 but it continues and it says and I wept for many days and I fasted on I prayed to the God of heaven and I said Lord God of heaven o great and awesome God usually keep your covenant and mercy with those who love you and conserve your commandments please let your ear be attentive and your eyes open that you would hear the prayers of your servant which I pray before you now night and day for the children of Israel your servants confessing the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against you both my father's house and I have sinned we've acted very corruptly against you we've not kept your Commandments or your statutes nor the organizers which you have commanded through your servant Moses step3 is pretty good because concern led to morning and morning leads to fasting in prayer or if you will just despair it gives way to determination in prayer what can I do about the burden how can I take this which is churning in my heart Nehemiah was totally dependent upon the Lord there was nothing he could do but he couldn't get away from the calling the third step this idea of prayer and fasting and seeking God is unfortunately for most of us the thing that we skip over the quickest and the reason is you know we see a need it touches our heart we want to rectify the situation's we've got people we can call and money we can move and and plans what we can implement an influence that we can yield and maybe wisdom that we think we have as we run off to try to take care of that which God has done in our heart but that's not at all Mia Maya's approach in fact I would say to you that's not biblical in the least the report of the conditions of the city mixed with the desire and concern led him to this determination to find out what God wanted to do about it so it brought him to his knees he didn't run off with his own ideas I'm going to demand three months off for a year off from the king every time you you in fact I would suggest you mark this down you will find Miam is a small book eleven different times stopping to pray oh man I wonder what to do next I better start praying and instead of focusing on the challenge or the insurmountable 'ti I don't even know that's a word maybe it is of the situation nehemiah chooses to fix his gaze upon God because his God was very big and when your God is big your problems are small your God is small you might as well cash it in now I want you to notice a couple of things number one nehemiah begins by confession he early on says to the Lord who is great and he's a good guy we did this to ourselves we weren't in captivity because you disliked us we were in captivity because we we didn't listen to you and we are because of our sin we found ourselves you know through idolatry living amongst the high dollars of people we've been overthrown a lot of times when trouble comes people like to blame other people like just watch Adam blame and Eve but the city was still lying in ruins and the people who had returned earlier certainly didn't have any passion for the Lord to make it better so here's what nehemiah does he confesses his sin to the Lord he said I belong to a nation that it was in captivity because of what we did we responded to you with disobedience and here we are now I can't change the nation but I can certainly answer for myself any confess this is part of it I come from a father who sinned both me and my fathers have sinned we realize this is our own problem you know in marriage counseling so often it you know you can sit for two hours listening today he said she said and yeah that's true that's even bergoglio that's really better oh that's horrible but the bottom line becomes alright so what are you going to do about it now I can't speak for your spouse you can only speak for yourself what can you do as a as a godly woman or as a godly man how are you going to respond and same thing with ministry you can't put it off on others God wouldn't you want to do with me now understand that most of the nation was was descanse comfortably in Babel they'd found a new life they saw no reason to leave it all man this is the most advanced culture in the world and there is this harsh reality in Jerusalem it's got a lot of problems all Nehemiah could could think of though was the the need it consumed him so look he wants God to bless him but he comes with empty hands he doesn't feel like God owes him anything I know who you are Lord I Know Who I am I've come confessing our sin but then he does this he appeals to God's faithfulness verse 8 remember I pray he says that the words that you spoke through Moses saying if you are unfaithful I'll scatter you among the nation's but if you return to me and kept my Commandments and do them though some of you are cast to the furthest part of the heavens I will gather you from there and bring you to the place where I have chosen as a dwelling place for my name well these are your servants and your people whom you've redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand he came confessing his sins but then he appeals to God's faithful he comes with empty hands but he doesn't come uninvited because the Lord had said hey if you continue in this kind of life you're going to end up as captives and they had but he also said if you love me and walk with me and obey me I'll deliver you from the four corners of Earth well Lord that's where I want to be I want to receive those promises from you but I love the fact that me and my shows up in prayer bringing his Bible with him I think it's a great rule of thumb if you really want to pray a lot bring your Bible with you take with you a Bible where you can say Lord you in fact look at the word in verse 8 the word remember do you really think the Lord would forgot no but but this is great when you're praying that you would remind yourself of the promises of God in fact Nehemiah though so far as to say to learn in verse and hey we belong to you were your people you're the one who's redeemed us you're the one who's always been with us remember he didn't need to remind God we do needed to remind himself the calling of God begins in individual lives it is often best determined by what breaks your heart it should drive you to a place where you ask God to to show you exactly how he's going to minister to the knee drive you to his promises but finally here's the fourth point for the point you should be available to be the answer to your prayer if God has stirred your heart you should not try to dump that on somebody else let the Lord use you notice what we read in verse 11 here in the last verse here Lord I prayed please be have your ear to be attended to the cry of your servant to the prayers of your servants who desire to fear your nurse and let your servant prosper this day I prayed and grant me mercy on the side of this man I was the king's cup there he had a untenable place of leaving was a responsible job he tasted food so that if somebody tried to poison the king he died a trusted relationship but he wanted to be available to to be the one that would meet the need show me grace you know there's a lot of people that gripe about what a short church doesn't have or what it needs to have without ever being available to be the solution to the problem that shouldn't be that way if God stood you're already be the solution and I want you to know the perspective or notice the perspective that DMI says here he says of the king of the world I work for this man he's kind of just returned to this man I serve Almighty God there's this man gives us grace Lord in the sight of this man he realizes who is who would God answer his prayers yeah eventually but not at all immediately in fact that'll be our lesson for next week but why do you think God delays answers to prayer the Bible is pretty filled with reasons yeah I'll give you a few of them to consider one of them is to clear your vision you know it takes a while to get God's perspective on things even when you notice something right away and it will take that time with Nehemiah sometimes God waits to answer because you're calling should be authenticating none have you ever been up at 2:00 in the morning watching a poor little child from Africa not eating and you go oh man I got to go to Africa you're just emotionally moved and for sure you should be but it may not be your calling and by the time you wake up in the morning okay I guess I shouldn't go I got to go to San Bernardino you know yeah you're just gonna feel it anymore but if time doesn't Drive that calling away then you got something if circumstances don't defeat your heart sometimes you know God just needs to quiet your heart it's hard to have your knees knocking when you're on them and it allows you to plan ahead so what does God called you to do I mean apply those four things to your life what is God speaking to you about you didn't personally what breaks your heart and are you seeking the Lord to find out how he wants to to resolve that not just walk away from it but be a be a reason that you find yourself involved and would you be willing to be the answer to your own prayer God send me open the door so that I might go look it looked impossible in the mi it's an impossible prayer that becomes very possible in the next chapter so God is able and there are plenty of opportunities the life that you leave for Jesus will be awesome if you can just discover what he wants to do with you and find yourself there with all that you have father this morning as we sit together it's so good to start a new book and to take a look at at Nehemiah's life I know that there's lots for us to learn to just to just understand Lord your calling and that's that work that you began in us you're going to complete and so as we seek to look to know you as we seek to walk with you we also understand that through the heart through the through the work of your spirit we can begin to see what it is that you'd want us to do we can learn it by what breaks our heart what matters to us most that drives us to our knees that that would have us not eating our lunch fasting and praying so that we could know for sure god what is it you want to do so this problem can be remedied this calling can be can be fulfilled and then finally to be available even if it's costly and dangerous self-denying it's worth it because you've spoken to us may the Lord show you this week where you belong may it become clear and may this chapter in Nehemiah just one chapter 11 verses bring you to the realization of what God's plans are for your life how good that will be when he can speak to you and you can begin to walk with you shall we stand

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Length: 34min 14sec (2054 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 22 2017