NEHEMIAH 1-7 DOING GODS WORK2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Nehemiah 1-7 Doing Gods Work

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013.

We are in Nehemiah chapter 1. We'll be looking at chapters 1 through 7 this evening, covering the chapters that we read this week, looking at the Bible in three years. The book of Nehemiah was written by Nehemiah and covers the time period from about 444 B.C. to 432 B.C., which is the time that Nehemiah was there in Jerusalem, about

And he actually had a couple of visits, but it's covering that time period when he was there in Jerusalem. The theme, of course, is the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls. And so we're going to see that construction take place here in the book of Nehemiah as we study the chapters this evening.

Nehemiah is one of those classic books of the scriptures. Of course, you look at the books of the Bible. They're all wonderful. You ask Harvey, which one is your favorite one? And he'll say, you know, whichever one's right in front of me, that's the one I'm studying. And it's my favorite. And last week, you know, Deuteronomy is my favorite. This week, Exodus is my favorite. That's how it is. But Nehemiah is one of those books that kind of stands above. I mean, it's the inspired word of God. There's great...

passages throughout. But Nehemiah is one of those classic books that just has such great insights and

For leadership, we see great, great truths and example in Nehemiah as a leader. And so if you're wanting to learn some principles, biblical principles about leadership, Nehemiah is a really great book to study. But we also see some great insights here on just simply doing the work of God and doing what God has called you to do. And so we'll be seeing those throughout the evening, but I'll come back to that at the end and kind of, uh,

recap some of those things that we learn about doing the work of God from our chapters this evening in Nehemiah. But as we get started looking at this book, let's take a quick look at the timeline and remember where we're at as far as Israel's history is concerned. I could go back a long ways. I'm kind of, you know,

Assuming that you've been along with us, you know, in the Bible in three years. We went through the great, you know, kingdom years with David and Solomon. But then after that, they just went downhill as they continued to rebel against God. Now Israel became divided, but then also became so corrupt that God actually brought...

surrounding nations against his own people to deal with them because of their great rebellion against him. And so the northern kingdom, Israel, was conquered by Assyria. And then the southern kingdom, Judah, where Jerusalem was, was conquered by Babylon not too long after that.

They went into captivity at that point. Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, took the people of Judah captive to Babylon, and they've been there for 70 years until God allowed them to return under the reign of King Cyrus,

The Persian who conquered Babylon. That's what we studied last week in the book of Ezra. How Cyrus came on the throne, allowed the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and said, hey, you guys need to rebuild the temple. That's what God has instructed me to instruct you to do. And so they went back and they rebuilt the temple.

Well, now this is a little bit later on in their return to Jerusalem where Nehemiah comes to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And so he's a little bit later on the scene than Ezra. The temple has already been completed, but we're in that final time period of, you know, the Jews were conquered and led away captive, but now they're in this glorious time really of being allowed to go back

to the land of Israel, back to the city of Jerusalem. And now it's being established once again.

Well, as we look at this time period, there's really two distinct periods that we can understand and look at. In 536 through 516 BC, it's about 20 year period. It's what we studied last week in the book of Ezra. It's the time where the temple was rebuilt. This was done by Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the high priest of that time.

Now we're looking at the second period, which covers about 457 to 432 BC, where the wall of Jerusalem is rebuilt. And this is under the governorship of Nehemiah and then also Ezra the priest. And so last week we studied Ezra, which covers primarily the first period and a little bit of the second period.

Nehemiah we're looking at this evening and we'll look at next week as well. It covers that second part of this time period that we're looking at. And then in two weeks we'll look at the book of Esther. And that of course is an account that happens right in between those two periods. Really right in between Ezra and Nehemiah.

Well, how that looks on the timeline as far as the restoration of Jerusalem in 536 BC is when Cyrus says, all right, guys, you can go back to Jerusalem and almost 50,000 people return from Babylon and begin the work there on the temple in Jerusalem.

After seven months, the altar is rebuilt. And so they're beginning to worship God and offer sacrifices again. In 535 BC, the work on the temple begins. They start to lay the foundation. But it stops because of opposition from the surrounding areas. Then the work is renewed in 520 BC as the prophet Zechariah and Haggai come on the scene. And they encourage the people to get back into the work of rebuilding.

Well, the temple is completed in 516 BC. There was great celebration. And again, that's what we saw in the book of Ezra last week. In 478, we haven't got there yet as far as the books are concerned, but we've covered that time period in history. Esther becomes queen of Persia. So Persia is the world power of that day. Jerusalem's quite a big distance away. And so this is all happening in Jerusalem. But back in Persia, Esther becomes queen at that time.

And then 457, Ezra leads a group to Jerusalem. And so that brings us now to 444 BC, where we start the book of Nehemiah. And here Nehemiah heads to Jerusalem and begins the work of rebuilding Jerusalem's wall. One quick look at a map before we get started in our chapters. This is the geography of Nehemiah. So there's Jerusalem on the left there. That's where the nation of Israel is.

You have the city of Nineveh, which was the capital of Assyria. That was the world power of the day during the reign of King Hezekiah. You might remember him. But then Assyria was conquered by Babylon. The capital was there, just south of Nineveh. And so Babylon became the world power as it conquered Assyria. It reigned for some time. It conquered Jerusalem.

But it wasn't too much longer after that, that then the Medo-Persian Empire rose to power and conquered Babylon. And so that's the empire you see here, the Persian Empire, the capital of which is this city called Susa. And so that's where Nehemiah is as this book begins. And then he's going to go from there to Jerusalem. But this is the empire that we're talking about, the massive extent of the Persian Empire that was the ruling empire of the day.

Alright, so let's get started in our chapters. Nehemiah chapter 1 verse 3 is the key verse and it says, 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.

Here in verses 1 through 3, we have this guy named Hanani who comes to Nehemiah and shares about the situation of Jerusalem. And the situation is not good. Nehemiah is there in Persia. He's in the capital city. He is in a position of great honor, really, and prestige. But he's concerned about Jerusalem. And so when Hanani comes, he says, tell me what's going on there?

And as he tells them the situation, it's clear it's not good. The walls of Jerusalem are broken down. Now, this was a really big deal for

for cities in those days because a city without walls was open for attack all the time. It was not secure. The way that they would have security as a city was they would have massive walls. They would have protective walls so that they could rest at night, so that they could have their valuables and protect those things that they had within the city. But if the city had no walls, then enemies were able to come from any side and

and invade, and it was, this is the situation that Jerusalem was in. They were in constant threat from the enemies around because their walls were unbuilt. And this really affects Nehemiah in verse 4. It says, And so we have that prayer recorded there in verses 4 through 11.

Nehemiah is a man of prayer. And you can see that clearly by the prayer that he prays here. But then also, as you study the rest of the book, we'll see at least 10 times that it specifically says that Nehemiah is offering up specific prayers to the Lord.

And so he's a man of prayer. He's constantly bringing things before God. And as he hears this news of Jerusalem, his heart is broken. He's devastated by it. He wants Jerusalem to be strong and to thrive. The city of the people of God needs to be established, Nehemiah says. And so he cries out to the Lord. And we get some insight into his heart there in verse 11 in his prayer. He says,

Please let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, 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. As Nehemiah is praying for Jerusalem, he's identifying himself with the people, he's asking for forgiveness, for mercy, he's confessing sin on behalf of his people. But here at the end of his prayer, he says...

God, I'm willing to go. I'm willing to do the work. There's a work that needs to be done. It's a big work. It's a big job, but I'm willing to go. This is pretty amazing because here Nehemiah is in really great luxury in his role. He was the cupbearer of the king, which means he was there in the palace with the king. He enjoyed the comforts of royalty. But here Nehemiah says, I'm

It's my desire to go. God, I'm praying that you would do this work in Jerusalem and I pray that you would help me to find favor that I would be able to go, that I would be able to go and do the work that needs to be done. This was a work that was upon his heart in such a way that he was willing to also go. Sometimes we pray for things and we're like, Lord, please send George, you know, send somebody else.

send somebody this work needs to be done but but nehemiah is praying lord here i am send me much like isaiah prayed right in isaiah chapter 6 i i'm here lord this is on my heart i don't want to just pray for this but i want to be the answer of prayer for this situation i want to be involved in the repair i want to be involved in the work

And so Nehemiah prays this to the Lord. And of course, we know from the rest of the chapters, God answers this prayer and he's about to be sent to Jerusalem. Now, Nehemiah mentions here that he is the cupbearer of the king.

This was a very important role because the cupbearer would be the one who would taste the food and make sure that it's not poisoned before the king eats of it. And so he would drink of the wine. He would taste and sample. He would be in charge of making sure that the things that are presented to the king are not poisoned or are not threatening to the king. So

In some capacity, the cupbearer was like a bodyguard to the king. And he would be tasting and sampling those things to make sure that nothing was going on. As a result though, because this position was so important, you know, the king had to have absolute confidence that the cupbearer wasn't out to get him. He had to be a man of integrity because the king was trusting him with his life.

And so as a result, the cupbearer often became a position of advising, you know, because here, I trust you. I know that you're looking out for what's best for me. So what do you think about this situation? And so the position of a cupbearer was something that was really a prestigious position where you would be close to the king and the king would seek your counsel. The

you would often be in the presence of the king because you were greatly trusted. And so this is Nehemiah's position. He is high up there in Persia as the king's cupbearer.

Now the king that Nehemiah is referring to, the king that he is the cupbearer for, is the king Artaxerxes. Now Xerxes I, his father is the one who is married to Queen Esther. So just to give you a little bit of context on the time, under the reign of Darius I,

That's when the temple was completed. And so we're kind of seeing the progression of history here. Now we're on King Artaxerxes who's ruling over all of Persia. And Nehemiah is his cupbearer. Quite an amazing position that he had. But his eyes are on Jerusalem. And he's saying, Lord, I'll go. You want me to go? I'll go, Lord. I want to be part of the solution for what's happening there in Jerusalem.

Well, that brings us now to chapter 2. Verse 15 is the key verse. It says, Here in verses 1 through 10, Nehemiah gets the opportunity and he asks Artaxerxes to send him to rebuild Jerusalem. It happens because King Artaxerxes notices that Nehemiah is sad.

It's amazing to me there in verse 1, the end of the verse, it says, Now I had never been sad in his presence before. I think that's a pretty amazing statement. Here's Nehemiah. He's the cupbearer to the king. He's often in the king's presence.

And he has never been sad in the king's presence before. Now to be sad in the king's presence was considered a crime by ancient empires because you were there in the king's presence. You weren't supposed to be gloomy or sad. He was supposed to brighten your day so you had to be chipper and happy whenever you were around the king. But here's Nehemiah. He's done good keeping his emotions in check while he's on the job but he's overwhelmed at this point

At the state of Jerusalem. And so he sat. And the king notices. And he says in verse 2, I became dreadfully afraid. Because it was something that could be punishable by death. Hey, you're not allowed to be sad in front of the king. Off with his head. He became dreadfully afraid. But he goes on to present his request to the king.

Now this is happening four months after Nehemiah hears from Hanani. It's four months later. It's the month of Chislev, which is November, December in chapter one. Here in chapter two, now we're in the month of Nisan, which is March through April on our calendar. So it's about four months later that he's been praying. He's been seeking the Lord. He's even been

planning out how the work would need to be done and what it would take, how much time it would take because when the king says, what do you need? Nehemiah is able to outline for him. Alright, I'm going to need these resources. I'm going to need these other resources. I'm going to need this much time and then I'll be back at this point.

And so he's able, he's thought it through. Over this past four months, he hasn't just been doing nothing. He's been praying, he's been fasting, he's been seeking God, but he's also been planning. He's been getting ready so that when the opportunity arises, he will be able to articulate what the needs are.

And so Artaxerxes listens, he hears him and he says, okay, I agree. I will send you to rebuild Jerusalem. And so he sets a time when he will be back and he's now off headed towards Jerusalem. In verses 11 through 16 now, Nehemiah checks out the wall. He goes and he examines the situation now that he has arrived in Jerusalem. He views the wall.

The word view that's used here in chapter 2 is the idea of inspecting or examining. It's a word that was used by physicians as the idea of checking out a wound or probing a wound to see the extent of

you know, its damage, the extent of the problem that was going on. And so that's what he's doing. He's examining the wall. He's checking it out to find out, you know, what's really the situation? How bad is it? What do we need to do to get this fixed? And then verse 17 through 20, Nehemiah then calls the people to build the wall.

In verse 17 through 20, you see him gather together the people of Jerusalem. And he speaks to them in verse 18. He says, I told them the hand of my God which has been good upon me and also of the king's word that he has spoken to me. So they said, let us rise up and build. Then they set their hands to this good work.

And so Nehemiah calls them together and says, okay, here's our situation. You guys can see the walls are messed up. This is not a good position to be in, but God's granted us favor. Here's what the king has said. Here's the provision that he's given. And so the people agreed, wow, this is great. God's on our side. Let's rise up and let's begin to work. You know what's so amazing about this?

I know I went through the timelines and things and sometimes it's hard for us to connect all the dots together. As Nehemiah comes on the scene here, he talks to the people of Jerusalem. He says, God's granted us favor, let's build. And they say, yeah, let's rise up and build. This is one man that we're talking about. It's Nehemiah. Nehemiah doesn't bring a lot of workers. He has some soldiers with him for protection.

But he doesn't bring, you know, a construction force, a labor force. It's Nehemiah. He rides into town. And suddenly the people are saying, all right, let's get to work. It's one guy who comes into town. Now, this has been a long-standing problem. This isn't something that, you know, just happened a couple of months ago or even a couple of years ago. The walls of Jerusalem have been broken down for years.

Around 140 years at this point from when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem. The people have been back in the land for about 70 years. The temple has been built for about 50 years and still the walls are destroyed. So 50 years later, nobody's working on the walls. Nobody's motivated, inspired to do nothing. But here comes one guy, Nehemiah, and he says, God's on our side.

And he inspires the people. He encourages the people to begin to rise up and to build. Quite amazing what God does through Nehemiah. It's amazing. You know, we often discount what one person could do. Now, if you think about what one person could do, it's, you know, easy to be discouraged. But what God can do through one person, it's quite amazing.

Things that have been problems for hundreds of years, God can resolve through one person who's willing. Like Nehemiah to say, Lord, I'm willing to go. I'm willing to be part of the solution. Great, great encouragement for us.

So Nehemiah, he heads from Persia to Jerusalem. Real quick look at the map again. This is about a 900 mile journey. We looked at it last week as well because it's essentially the same journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. It's a little over 900 miles for Nehemiah. Again, if you want some perspective, you can just, you know, head out on foot to kind of get an idea for what that's like and hit the five freeway. Keep going north until you hit Persia.

I think it was Eugene, Oregon or Portland, Oregon. One of those. Then you'll get an idea of what that journey was like. So it's not an easy thing. It's not a quick trip down the road. But this is a serious commitment that Nehemiah has made to get to Jerusalem and to rebuild it. Quick history about Jerusalem. Jerusalem, of course, is a crucial city in the history of man and the plan of God. It really begins with David.

When David becomes king of Israel, Jerusalem is still inhabited by the Jebusites. It's not even owned by the Jews yet. They hadn't conquered it yet. And so the Jebusites are living there. And so under King David's reign, they conquer Jerusalem. Now, we find out through the scriptures that this is the place that God has been talking about.

In the book of Deuteronomy, you can see over and over again, God says, there's going to be a place which I choose to put my name. There is this place and that's where you're going to offer sacrifices. That's where I'm going to meet with you. That's where, you know, this is going to be the center of what I have for you. That place which I choose to put my name.

And we learn as we go on through the history of Israel that that place is Jerusalem. And so that begins when David conquers Jerusalem. Now when David conquered Jerusalem, it was a city on top of Mount Zion. And so it's that what's circled in red there. You had the Gihon Spring, which was the water source for it, which had also a little spring that went through to the Pool of Siloam down the south of Jerusalem.

And it was just that one city on top of Mount Zion. David inhabits it and makes it the capital of Israel as he reigns. Well, then he passes on the throne to his son Solomon. Solomon builds the temple on top of Mount Moriah.

And he extends Jerusalem. So he extends the walls. He extends the city to now also include Mount Moriah. So it's a lot longer than it used to be to include both Mount Zion and Mount Moriah. And so he extends the city. And then the city is extended yet further under the reign of Hezekiah quite a bit later on.

I think it's about 100 or 150 years after Solomon. And so he extends the walls this way west and builds what's called the broad wall all the way around. And he's doing this in preparation as the king of Assyria is coming against Jerusalem. He's trying to fortify the city and make it easier to defend. And so this is the city that Nehemiah would have been dealing with. Now you can also see there's another wall outside of the circle.

added on later on in Israel's history. But for Nehemiah, it would have been something along these lines, this size of a city that he was dealing with. And these are the walls that he is seeking to rebuild.

Now as he's examining the walls, it's mentioning a couple gates. And so just a quick look at that. The valley gate would have been there on the west side, near the southern end of the city. And so he went out of the valley gate, went and checked out the refuse gate, the fountain gate, and checked out the walls and then went back in. And that was his examination. Then his pep talk. And then now as we head into chapter 3,

We see them begin the work. Verse 1 says, So chapter 3, the whole thing, verses 1 through 32, we have the record of the people who are repairing the wall.

And it's a lot of details about the city and the wall and the different people who are involved. I think this is very encouraging as we look at Nehemiah chapter 3. You and I read this and of course these names, they don't mean a whole lot to us. We don't know these people. We don't know anything about them. There's some things we can learn from this. Little bits here and there. Warren Wiersbe points out, hey, there's a place of ministry for everybody who wants to work.

And all kinds of people were involved in the work. There was the priests. There was rulers. There was craftsmen. There was ladies who were involved in the work as well. There was outsiders who were involved in the work. There was people who...

Would not work and they wouldn't be involved in the work. And we see that as well here in chapter 3. But there's all kinds of different people. And whoever wants to be involved in the work of God is able to be involved. But what I find really encouraging about Nehemiah chapter 3 is, you know, sometimes it feels like nobody notices what you do.

Sometimes it feels like nobody's paying attention. It doesn't really matter to anybody what you are doing as you are seeking to serve God and doing things for the Lord. And sometimes you're involved in some work that's really intense and difficult and hard and you're working very hard like building a wall perhaps.

And it just seems like nobody's really paying attention. You know, nobody really notices. It's maybe not that important. But what I see here is that God notices. And he keeps detailed records. Look at all these names. They mean nothing to us. But they mean a lot to the Lord. He's remembering that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Hector was one of those guys. He was willing to get involved in the work.

Yeah, and Olivia, man, she jumped in and she was involved. She was serving. She was involved in what I was doing and the work that I had called her to. God keeps track. Sometimes people aren't going to notice. And if you're trying to, you know, do things for, you know, the recognition from others, then you need to check your heart. But never, never think that what you're doing goes unnoticed from God.

He sees the work that you're doing for Him. He sees when it's difficult. And even when nobody else notices, He's keeping detailed records. And He knows exactly what's going on and how you are working for Him. Well, as it goes through the details here in chapter 3,

It starts in the northern part, the sheep gate, and then it works counterclockwise. I'm not going to go through all those details, but you can get a quick glimpse there. The wall, the different gates that are mentioned. These are different gates that were in the city that were used for different purposes. And so it's just a matter of identifying, you know, which gate.

section of the wall that they were working on. And so they're rebuilding the wall here in chapter 3. And a lot of work is getting done. A lot of work is being accomplished. So much so, well, the enemies of Judah begin to notice. And we see that in chapter 4 verse 1. It says, but it so happened when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall and

that he was furious and very indignant and mocked the Jews. So here we're dealing with a guy named Sanballat, who was the governor, the leader of Samaria, which was just north of Jerusalem. He's not happy about the work that's going on. Now he's

loosely or lightly related to the Jewish people. I'm not going to get into the history of that. But he's one of those guys, he should have been, you know, their brethren. He should have been for them and with them in the work. He should have been supporting them in the work. But he is against them. He doesn't want any part of it. He doesn't want them to be accomplishing it. And so he hears this work is going on, all the work of chapter 3. And he hears this work is going on.

It's great progress being made and he becomes furious. Now the way that he begins to attack the people of Jerusalem at this time is he begins to mock them. The enemy has lots of different tools that he will try to use. Sometimes intimidation, sometimes fear or threatening, sometimes actual violence and you get the idea. But here in this case what he starts out with is mocking people.

He starts out making fun, trying to make the people of Jerusalem think, yeah, you're right. This is stupid. Why are we doing this? This is ridiculous. What do we think we're doing? Do we really think we can do this? We might as well quit. We might as well give up. The enemy often works that way in our lives as well. This mocking, this ridiculing, like who do you think you are? Do you really think that you can do that thing? Do you really think that you can

Be a witness. Do you really think that you can do what God has called you to do? Don't you know who you are? Don't you know the materials you're working with? It's not going to work. You might as well quit. You might as well give up. That's how Sanballat is working. That's how the enemy often works. And so we need to respond the same way that Nehemiah did in verse 4 and 5 and spend some time in prayer. And just take it to the Lord. They're trusting God.

Lord, there's some truth in this. The materials that we're working with, they're not the best materials. And the workers that we have, yeah, we're probably not the best workers. But Lord, we're just doing what you've called us to do. So they're trusting God and continuing to work. And so verse 6 now, the wall is completed up to half its height. This is kind of a milestone for them. The wall's not all the way up, but it's connected together all the way around.

So there's some work being done. Things are being accomplished. Milestones are being reached. Now the wall is connected and it's half its height. So they're about halfway done, but it's connected together. The work is coming together. And so now the attacks intensify. In verses 7 through 12, now there's a conspiracy to attack Jerusalem. So Sanballat now is not content just to mock. Now he's

Building up some alliances with the people around Jerusalem and saying, we got to get them. We got to attack this city while we have the opportunity. We got to take them down.

In verse 12, we find that the people who were living outside of Jerusalem, they kept hearing all these reports. The messengers are going through to and fro, you know, and they're hearing, they're going to attack from here, they're going to attack from there. These other groups are involved, they're going to attack. And so they keep bringing the news to Jerusalem and saying, they're going to attack. There's this threat, there's this conspiracy to attack. Now what's interesting about this is that they didn't actually attack.

They conspired, they plotted, they threatened, but they weren't actually willing to do it. But they thought, hey, if we make the alliances, if we make the conspiracy known, the threat of an attack would be enough. They weren't willing, as was demonstrated by the fact that they never actually tried to militarily attack Jerusalem.

Instead, they're just hoping maybe the threat will be enough to cause them to quit, to cause them to give up. Maybe that will be enough to finish the work. Well, Nehemiah responds in verses 13 through 23 by having half of the men work while the other half kept watch. And so there's this threat. Now we know looking on at the rest of the chapters, it wasn't real serious because they didn't actually do it.

But Nehemiah took it seriously and said, okay, well, let's take some precautions. We'll have half the guys stand guard while the other half are doing the work. We see over and over throughout Nehemiah this persistence. And it's so important that we continue on in persistence. That when the enemy mocks, when the enemy threatens, when there's this, you know, great level of threats...

That we continue on. That we keep on doing the work and trusting God. Don't give up because it seems hopeless. Don't give up because it seems pointless. Don't give up doing what God has asked you to do, called you to do. Keep on doing the work. Listen, even if you have to slow down to half speed, think about it. There's this great work going on. The wall is completed, you know, up to half its height. But now their workforce has been cut in half because half the people have to stand guard.

And so things happen pretty quickly, but now their speed has been cut in half, but they're persisting. They're continuing to trust the Lord. Hey, even if what you're doing and what God has set before you, you have to slow way down in it. That doesn't mean you should just give up. Don't just quit. Be faithful. Continue on in those things that God has called you to.

So half the people worked and half the people watched. Now, something that I thought was interesting here that I wanted to share briefly with you. From Nehemiah chapter 4 verse 20, Nehemiah is telling the people, he says, Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there, our God will fight for us. Nehemiah is making arrangements saying, hey, there's this threat of attack. So here, half of you watch, half of you work.

But if there is an attack, we're going to sound the trumpet. And if you hear the trumpet sound, drop whatever you're doing and get to there so that you can help defend the city. And so he's preparing them for attack. And you know, I thought it's something that needed to be brought up for us as believers. You know, as we face situations, we're a lot like

These guys who are working on the wall. Nehemiah points out in verse 19, hey, we're far from each other. And you and I, as we go about our normal lives, we are far from each other. And geographically oftentimes. We're not right next to each other. Here in church, we're in one building. We're not far from each other. It's very easy, you know, to be together. But

Outside of that, we're separated. We're far apart. And we have different lives. And we have all kinds of different situations that we're facing. It's unique and individual to us. And I want to encourage you from what Nehemiah was encouraging the people with. And that is, because of this, because we have all these different things going on, this separation between us, well, we need to be willing to sound the trumpet whenever there's attack. Okay?

I want to encourage you as a believer in Jesus. Listen, God didn't call you to be, you know, a Lone Ranger Christian that you could just handle everything on your own. Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto, right? You're not supposed to be just all by yourself. You need to learn to sound the trumpet and to call in reinforcements whenever there are attacks.

And so I just want to highlight a couple ways. Of course, you have your own connections within the body, your own friends, and so you need to involve them in what's going on. But we exist as a body to support and minister to one another just as all the workers and watchers of Jerusalem existed to support one another in the case of an attack. One of the ways that you can sound the trumpet is that we have people up front here in front of the stage available for prayer after every service.

That's because we want you to have the opportunity to sound the trumpet, to call in reinforcements and say, you know what? I'm under attack and I'm really discouraged and I've got these situations going on and here's this enemy that's attacking over here and there's this temptation that I've been wrestling with over here and I'm under attack. I need some help. And we as a body of Christ are here to help one another in that way, to be the reinforcements, be the spiritual support that

For one another. And so I want to encourage you to sound the trumpet. Are you under attack? Are you in the midst of something difficult? Is the enemy on the move? There's these threats. There's this mocking. Sound the trumpet. And come up after the service for prayer.

That's why we make it available. You know, another way that you can sound the trumpet is on Sunday evenings where we invite the people who are there to share their prayer requests. And then we all get a chance to pray for those prayer requests. It's a great way to involve the people around you to sound the trumpet and say, hey, I need some help. I'm struggling. There's attacks. Things are difficult. I need God to work.

Another way that you can sound the trumpet, the final one that we'll move on, and that is we have an email prayer list. And so this is also an easy way to kind of just include the body in whatever is going on in your life. Just send an email. You can send it to prayer at cclivingwater.com. It will go through and those who are on the list will begin to pray right away for whatever it is that you're sharing about, whatever it is that's going on in your life.

And so there's great opportunities for you, but sometimes we're so, I don't know, caught up in our own things or maybe too proud to ask for help or to sound the trumpet and let people know there's a struggle going on. I want to encourage you, don't be like that. You know, Nehemiah says, look, hey, if the enemy attacks, sound the trumpet, we'll all rush there and we'll take care of the situation.

One last thing before I move on. You know, this is also why we take time on Wednesday evenings to pray for our missionaries. Half the people were in the work. The other half were watching. In the same way, we've got people that God has sent out from here. They're in the midst of the battle. They're in the midst of the work. And I want to ask you to be a faithful watch person. Be a faithful watch man and watch woman. And be in prayer.

And be supporting them, be lifting them up, be engaged in the battle with them by praying for them. It's so important that we be involved in that and we see this combination of those who are working, those who are watching, and then the call to rush together when the enemy attacks. Sound the trumpet. Don't be ashamed. Be faithful to call for help, but also to be lifting up and supporting those who need help.

All right, chapter 5, now verse 7 is the key verse. It says, Here in verses 1 through 5, there's a great outcry of the people. In chapter 4, we have attacks coming from the outside. Here we have issues coming from within the city, from within the midst of the Jewish people.

And the situation is that, well, the rulers of the Jewish people are taking advantage of those who have less.

And so they've become enslaved now to the rulers of the Jewish people. Their sons and daughters have become enslaved in order to provide for themselves. And they've sold their lands. And there's been a famine as well. And so things were hard, you know, that way. And so this combination of situations has put them in a position where they are now enslaved to the Jewish leaders, rulers and nobles of the people.

Verse 6 through 11 now, Nehemiah rebukes the nobles. I like how it says in verse 7, he says, after serious thought, this wasn't just, you know, he just kind of flew off the handle and he yells at them. No, he's analyzing the situation just like he did with the wall. He's like, okay, all right, I understand it now. Okay, you guys, this is wrong what you're doing. And he rebukes the nobles. And he points out in verse 8, he says, look guys,

We've done everything we can to redeem our Jewish brethren. Now remember that the Jewish people were taken into captivity. And so there's Jewish people enslaved all throughout the Persian Empire. And Nehemiah is saying, look, we've spent our own money to try to buy back our Jewish brethren who are in slavery. But here you are enslaving your own brethren. You're exacting usury. You're taking what is not right.

It's not lawful from the law of Moses. That you weren't to make money on them because they are in this need of help. And so Nehemiah rebukes them. And it says that they were silenced and found nothing to say. They knew they were wrong.

And so they repent. In verses 12 through 13, they agree to restore the lands to the people. They agree not to exact usury any longer. Then in verses 14 through 19, Nehemiah records his own provisions, but also he's making sure to point out, look, I wasn't a burden to the people. I'm not taking from them. I'm not adding to this situation. But instead, I was doing the opposite. I was giving. I was generous. I was doing my best to provide for them and help as many as I could.

Well, that brings us now to chapter 6. Verse 15 is the key verse. It says, So the wall was finished on the 25th day of Elul in 52 days. In verses 1 through 4, Sanballat sends for Nehemiah four times. So follow the line of attack. First of all, it's from the outside. There's threats. There's mocking. Then it's from the inside. Within the midst, there's these issues and problems between the brethren.

Now it's a real personal attack against Nehemiah. And Sanabella is there saying, Nehemiah, come here. I want to talk to you. He's sending messengers. Hey, let's meet in this place. Let's meet. Let's write up a treaty. Let's get together. Let's resolve our differences. Come and meet with us over here. We want to talk with you. We want to work this out. Now Nehemiah responds in verse 3 saying, hey, I'm doing a great work.

I'm not going to come down there and the work's going to stop while I'm gone. I'm going to continue on in the work that I have been called to do. Verse 4 tells us though that Sanballat sends this message four times. Now it also tells us that Nehemiah had some discernment. He recognized they don't want to talk with me. They want to get me outside of the city so that they can harm me. And so he's saying, no, I'm not going to go there. I'm not going to put myself in that situation.

But the enemy tries this four times. It's amazing how our enemy does the same thing. We experience those attacks from the outside. We also experience the attacks from the inside. And when those don't work, there's these personal attacks. And it's this attempt to, hey, get away from the rest. Get away from everybody else. I want to talk with you. I want to spend some time with you. It's intending to harm you. And if it doesn't work the first time...

The enemy doesn't give up and say, well, okay, that didn't work. Let's try something else. No, the enemy says, send it again. That still didn't work. Okay, send it again. It's amazing how many times the enemy will come at you with the same temptation, the same trial, the same threat, over and over again. Sanballat four times tries the same thing over and over again. Hey, come away. Hoping that

Finally, you'll be broken down. Finally, Nehemiah will give up and say, okay, okay, fine, fine. You know, it's like the kid is like, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom. What are they waiting for? They're waiting for you to break down and say, what? And the same way the enemy tries to break you down. Just like Samballot tried to break down Nehemiah. Just give up already. I'm going to keep asking. Just give in. Just come meet with me. And he wants Nehemiah to say, okay, fine, fine, fine, fine. I'll go meet with you.

But Nehemiah was steadfast. Remember that perseverance. He just continues on. I got to stay here and do the work. Don't be distracted. I've got to do what God's called me to do. Well, Sanballat then steps it up in verses 5 through 9. And he threatens Nehemiah. And he says, look, I'm going to tell the king a lie. I'm going to tell the king that you're trying to set yourself up as king. And that you're trying to revolt against Persia. I'm going to tell them all these things. And Nehemiah says, look, you're inventing all this stuff in your own imagination.

It's not that truth. And so he's not worried about what's going to be sent to the king. He knows that's not true. I'm just going to continue the work that I've been called to do. Well, there's another tactic in verses 10 through 14 by a man named Shemaiah who tries to trap Nehemiah. He's seeking an accusation against Nehemiah. And so he says, hey, Nehemiah, there's these threats on your life. I've got this idea. Let's go have a meeting in the temple.

You'll be safe there. People want to kill you. We don't want you to die. So let's go in the temple and meet there and you'll be safe and you'll be secure. Now, the temple was only to be entered by the priests. And Nehemiah recognizes this is not of God. I'm not going to run and hide. But also that's for the priests. That's not for me.

He was seeking for an accusation, seeking for Nehemiah to allow this fear to kind of overrule what God has said. And Nehemiah would have nothing of it. And so he escaped the trap by being faithful to what God had called him to do. And so with his faithfulness and the perseverance of the people, in verse 15 and 16, we see that the wall is finished. And it happened in 52 days. Now again, remember, the wall's been destroyed for almost 150 years.

And there were people living there for decades. They never did anything on the wall. But one man comes in, Nehemiah. He inspires the people. And there's opposition. But the wall is completed in 52 days. Like a month and a half. It's finished. The work is done. The wall is completed. Amazing how God can do a work so quickly. Now what's also amazing about this and something to consider is

Nehemiah spent four months in prayer and fasting and seeking God and planning and figuring out what needed to be done in Persia. He spent twice as long in preparation for the actual work. And then the actual work only took 52 days. And it was a remarkable amount of time. In verse 16, it says that the enemies realized, oh no, God must be on their side. That's the only way that this could be done.

But we see that proportion of the preparation that was involved. The time of seeking the Lord and planning and preparing was twice as long as the actual work that took place. It's a good insight for us on the proportion of, you know, the things in the work of the Lord. As we engage in the work of God, as we are obeying those things that God puts upon our hearts. Don't skimp out on the preparation.

Sometimes people look at Bible college and it's like, well, I could go to Bible college or I could just go on the mission field. Now we have the blessing of you can go to Okinawa and do both at the same time. But that preparation is important. And it helps you to better accomplish the work of God. Don't minimize the time of prayer. Don't minimize the time of study. Don't minimize the time of preparation. Because it's through that that God enables the work to be accomplished.

quickly and efficiently so that he gets the glory. Well, in verses 17 through 19, it's pointed out that many are pledged to Tobiah. And so we're going to continue on with this tension between the people around Jerusalem and the people of Jerusalem. And so Tobiah has these connections, but he's also an enemy. And so there's going to be some tension and we'll see that develop even further in the next few chapters this coming week.

But let's finish off chapter 7. Verse 6 is the key verse. It says, And verses 1 through 3, Nehemiah puts Hanani in charge.

As well as Hananiah, the leader of the citadel. So these two guys, he hands over authority to them. The city's rebuilt, or the walls at least are rebuilt. And so, all right guys, now keep watch on the gates. Open them at this time. Close them at this time. Make sure that things are kept in order. It tells us that these guys are faithful and that they fear God. And throughout the scriptures we see these are essential qualities.

As is often said, God's not looking for your ability, but your availability. And one of the ways that you are available to God is when you are faithful and when you fear God. That's essential as we're talking about the subject of stewardship on Sunday mornings. What is required of stewards, Paul says, 1 Corinthians 4.2 says,

That they be found faithful. Faithfulness is so important. That we are faithful to the Lord. That we are faithful to what he has called us to. Faithful to our commitments. But also that we fear God. That we honor him. That we put him first. That pleasing God is the most important thing for us. Not pleasing man. Not even pleasing ourselves. But pleasing God. Well then verses 4 through 73 record for us the register of the first return.

So he's looking back to Zerubbabel who led the group of about 50,000 people back to Jerusalem and that's recounted for us. We looked at that through the book of Ezra and so I won't go through that again but we see it here repeated. These are the people that came back. Now once again you can see the importance. Sometimes it feels like nobody's paying attention. Not a big deal but God knows who's involved in that. He knows who has taken those steps of faith and it was important to him.

Well, I want to finish up this evening by doing a quick recap.

at the chapters and and observing some things that we can learn about doing God's work every one of us is called to do the work of the Lord we're all called to ministry there's this you know false distinction in our minds between you know those who are in ministry or those who are in full-time ministry but the reality is is that every one of us are in full-time ministry or at least we're called to full-time ministry and that we're called to do everything unto the Lord

And to be involved in the work of God at home, at work, at the grocery store, at the gas station, at the, you know, wherever we are. That we're to be about the Lord's business. We're to be doing God's work. And every one of us has unique giftings and a role to fulfill within the body of Christ. A way that God has called us to serve Him and His people.

And as we're involved in doing God's work, there's a pattern here that we can see in the book of Nehemiah that often is the pattern that we will see in our own lives as well in different seasons of the work that God has called us to. And so in Nehemiah chapter 1, there's this season of hearing and praying. Nehemiah hears about what's going on in Jerusalem. His heart's touched. He's moved. And so he begins to pray.

Now, as we look at these really quickly, I want to encourage you to kind of consider where you're at. Have you heard from the Lord? Have you heard about a situation that has moved you, that has caused you to say, Lord, I want to present this situation to you and I want to present myself in this situation and say, if you want to use me, if you can use me, if I can help be part of this, then I'm willing to go. I'm willing to work.

And God may cause children's ministry to really touch your heart. To just like, man, those kids, they need to know about the love of Christ and to learn the word of God and be prepared for what's ahead of them. Or maybe God could stir up in your heart this understanding of the need that's there for the junior high and high schoolers. Or maybe God's going to stir up in your heart

Your neighbor, the person next door and the situation that's going on there or your co-worker or the mission field or on and on and on it could go. For Nehemiah, it was Jerusalem and the Lord just allowed it to touch his heart. And there needs to be something that touches your heart that you're like, man, God, this is, I want to be involved in this. And so that we're presenting it to the Lord in prayer. And so doing God's work begins with that.

There's something that, man, it just touches your heart. It's something important to you. And so you're praying for that and offering yourself to the Lord to be involved. Well, then that continues on in Nehemiah chapter 2. You have Nehemiah waiting and then going and then assessing. And there's a season of ministry where you're just waiting. Four months he's waiting and praying. He's just continuing on and

This is on my heart. I really am touched by this. It really hurts me that it's outstanding. I really want to go. But I'm waiting God for your timing. I'm waiting for you to open the door. So you're waiting on the Lord. But then when there's that opportunity and the king says, alright, go. Then it's time to go. And it's time to get involved. And it's time to personally involve yourself. And there's going to be a cost. You might be leaving the palace to go live in the rubble. But we need to go. But we also need to assess.

Nehemiah checked out what's the extent of this issue? What's the extent of this problem? What's it going to take? He's making sure he knows what he's getting into and how he can direct the people and how he can accomplish the work. And so first we're hearing, we're praying, then we're waiting, then going and assessing. And then Nehemiah chapter 3, you see a lot of hard work with many people involved. And there's that season of doing God's work as well where

It's just roll up your sleeves. It's time to get to work. We got to dig some ditches. We got to move some rubble. We got to stack rocks on top of each other. Lay some bricks. We just got to work. But it's that working with many people that I think is essential here in this season. Where you're not on your own. It's not all you by yourself. But we all gather together to accomplish the work that God has set before us.

Well, as this is going on, you've heard from God. Now you've responded. You're going. The work is happening. Now enters the next season. You ready for the next season? That's external issues or oppression. It's when the enemy begins to mock and to threaten, to try to strike fear. And it's in that time that we need to follow the example of Nehemiah and trust God, but also prepare for the attacks. We're trusting God, continuing the work,

But preparing. Alright, half of you work, half of you watch. Be wise, be prudent. Trust God and prepare for those attacks. And there's going to be those attacks from the outside. There's going to be those external things that come against, that try to prevent or discourage you from continuing on in the work of God. But as you go on to do God's work, if you are trusting God and you're prepared for the attacks, the enemy realizes that's not going to work, you can count on it.

He'll start trying to do something from within. And so there'll be some kind of conflict between you and another believer. There'll be some kind of conflict between perhaps you and your spouse. There'll be some type of tension. There'll be this issue internally going on where there's these complaints. There's this oppression. Nehemiah used great wisdom in referring back to the Word of God to resolve these internal issues.

Well, if you survive that and you don't give up and you continue to persevere in doing God's work, then Nehemiah chapter 6, you'll experience personal attacks, personal traps, where the enemy is singling you out. Hey, you come here. Trying to get you to fall, trying to get you in trouble to do you harm. Well, then as you persist, as you continue on doing God's work, the work is completed. And that brings us to chapter 7. And in Nehemiah chapter 7, he passes the torch.

He says, alright, Hananiah, Hananiah, you guys are in charge. My work is done. I did what God called me to do. I was faithful to that. There was opposition. It was difficult. But I persevered. I continued on. Now you guys take the torch and run. Now you guys take authority here and manage what God has established here. This is a cycle that I would suggest we could see repeated in our own lives in the works that God has called us to.

God wants to touch your heart. There's some things he wants to be meaningful to you. He brings things to your attention. And we need to respond like Nehemiah as God puts those things on our hearts and pray and say, Lord, I'm willing to go. But not rush ahead of the Lord. Wait for that right time. And then as he opens the door to go, to personally involve ourselves. Do the work that he's called us to. Involving the people. Getting engaged in the hard work.

And persisting throughout the attacks. Whether they be from the outside, from the inside, or personal. That we see the work to completion. But one of the dangers is then we see it to completion and it's like, alright, I did all this. I'm not letting go of the reins. I'm not letting go of this. God at that point is saying, you did what I called you to do. Now I want to stir your heart for something else. So pass on the torch. Train up somebody else. Prepare somebody else.

And now you go get involved in this next thing that I've set aside for you. And we can see this cycle repeat. And I want to encourage you this evening to be involved in doing God's work. I think you need to be able to identify where you're at in this cycle. Which chapter of Nehemiah are you in? Where are you at? And if you're not sure, I think you need to go back to chapter 1. Say, God, what's on your heart? What's on your heart for me? What do you want to stir up within my heart that I could pray, that I could get involved in the work of God?

That you've called me to. Let's pray. God I pray as we look at the example of Nehemiah. Great example for us. Help us God to follow his example. To be touched. And to allow the things that we hear about. The things that we see. Those things that you stir up within our hearts. To cause us to pray. To fast. To seek you. And to be willing to go.

I pray, Lord, that you would help us to be involved and faithful. Not discouraged, not threatened, not intimidated by the enemy, not allowing those internal conflicts to distract us from what you've called us to do. Not falling prey to the traps, those personal things that the enemy sets up for us. But Lord, help us to be faithful as your servants, faithful as your stewards, that we would do the work that you've called us to and see it to completion.

But Lord, also help us to recognize when it's time to let go of that and to move on to the next thing that you want to do. And so Lord, may we be faithful in the work that you've called us to. Help us, God, by the power of your Holy Spirit. Empower us, enable us that we would be faithful to serve you with all of our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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