Dover Assembly of God
We are going to continue our study into the life and events in Nehemiah’s life.
We see our country in sort of a state of disrepair, in need of someone to help. Our call to action may not involve rebuilding a city, but the principles listed in Nehemiah may help us in what God wants the church to do.
The past couple of weeks we have talked about Nehemiah’s God-given burden to repair his hometown. It started with a divine appointment with his brother.
Divine appointments are when situations happen that we think are by accident, but is really God setting events in motion that get our attention to prompt us or allow us to react as God has ordained us to.
Nehemiah’s brother coming to talk was no accident, but a divine appointment set up by God.
God still uses those to get each of us to fulfill God’s will through us.
Up to this point, Nehemiah was a faithful cup bearer, was respected and because of his faithfulness in daily life, God allowed the king to give him favor and materials he would need.
And not only the materials, but also letters from the king instructing the people Nehemiah would encounter to also help him.
Nehemiah 2:8 NLT
Nehemiah 2:9 NLT
Remember, Nehemiah had asked the king for letters, for his protection from those who were officials in that town.
Nehemiah 2:7 NLT
Again, planning beforehand assured his safe travels. He didn’t just jump into this and leave town on a whim.
It appears from the text that Nehemiah left right away. The trip was at least a 2-month journey, so it took some time to get there.
And he had the letters at the ready as soon as he arrived.
It wasn’t a lack of faith that he wanted these letters.
Stepping out in faith is not a blind leap. God gave us wisdom and understanding of what is happening around us.
Faith is not just throwing your hands up and hoping God works. Faith is doing all we can do on our end, and then leave what we cannot do to God.
Nehemiah did all he could do on his end. He got the letters, got the lumber, got the king’s OK. That’s what he could do. He trusted God with what he couldn’t do.
He had no guarantee how the officials would react. They could have just torn up the letters and did what they did to Ezra.
Nehemiah’s faith was in things he had no control over. Not things within his control.
We have things that are within our control that God gave us wisdom to handle. It’s the things that are out of our control that we trust God for.
Nehemiah 2:9 NLT
Again, this is not a lack of faith on Nehemiah’s part. He could have said, “God will protect me, I don’t need protection.”
3 reasons . . .
1) It was the king’s directive, not Nehemiah’s. He wouldn’t have countermanded the king’s orders.
2) He was the king’s emissary, therefore needed the king’s protection. Bad guys could have gotten to the king thru Nehemiah.
3) Both the king and Nehemiah knew of the trouble that he would encounter on the way and to go unprotected was foolish. Tantamount to testing God. (Jump off the temple, Jesus)
When we face decisions like this, we always need to assess the situation and plan for contingencies.
Luke 14:28 NLT
Jesus is talking about being a disciple, but uses examples that are just as valid.
Nehemiah 2:10 NLT
Whenever you attempt something in faith for God, the enemy will be very angry and try to stop you, as we’ll see later in the book.
Remember, it wasn’t just Nehemiah coming into town; it was an army of guys and horses, no doubt armed. So this was sure to attract attention.
So who were these guys? Sanballat, who seems to be the leader although not called a governor, was a leader of some kind in Samaria.
Nehemiah 4:1-2 NIV
He was the most vocal opponent of Nehemiah. He is always mentioned first when referring to Nehemiah’s opponents.
Nehemiah 2:19 NIV
Nehemiah 4:7 NIV
Nehemiah 6:1 NIV
Tobiah was an Ammonite, so he was always an enemy of the Jews. He was related by marriage to some of Nehemiah’s coworkers and had many friends in the town.
Nehemiah 6:17-18 NIV
Sanballat was in charge of the army and Tobiah was the information gatherer. He gathered all the inside info from the people in town, and those helping Nehemiah because he was their friend and reported it all back to Sanballat.
So their problems weren’t only from without the camp, but many of them came from within.
How often do we find that today? It’s one thing to know the world is against you. We expect that and Jesus even told us that.
John 15:18 NLT
So attempting great things for God, or even just trying to live Godly should evoke grief from outside.
What is really disheartening is hearing it from the inside--Christians doing their best to stop what God is doing in your life.
Look at our country. It’s one thing to be hated by other countries and want to be destroyed by others, but we now see more hatred and desire to be destroyed from within our own borders.
But Nehemiah didn’t let any of that stop him.
Nehemiah 2:11-12 NIV
First, after his 2-month journey he needed time to rest.
Everyone needs to take time to rest and let God re-energize their bodies.
God designed us to require rest.
We make mistakes and react wrongly when we are tired and exhausted.
We all need to take time to rest and get ready for what is next.
After his 3-day rest, he gathers just a few guys to get the lay of the land.
Nehemiah 2:12 NIV
He didn’t tell anyone what he was doing.
If we feel God leading us to step out, we need to keep it to ourselves as we take time to pray about it and plan out how we would do it, before we let anyone in on it.
Nehemiah knew about the “leaks of info” from his own people, so he only chose a few men he trusted and went out at night to inspect the situation.
A good leader takes time to analyze the situation by himself or with just a few counselors.
He needed to plan out his strategy before he announced it to the group.
We need to do our homework for whatever we feel God is calling us to before we make it public.
We’re praying about things now that are still up in the air, that have kind of been sidelined because of Covid. But we have to make sure all our duck are in a row before we take the next step.
We need to know as much as possible about whatever that is so we can be prepared to make our plan known.
Proverbs 18:13 NLT
He also didn’t want the enemy to know what he was doing so he did it at night.
Sometimes we need to work “off hours” to accomplish what God wants to do.
Nehemiah 2:13-15 NIV
He didn’t want to just go by what his brother had told him. He had to see for himself. Sometimes we can’t just assume that what people tell us is correct.
We have to analyze it for ourselves. Nehemiah didn’t want to just think to himself that “It can’t be as bad as my brother said.”
He had to face the facts for himself.
When we are confronted with problems, we can’t just take the word of others, we need to examine it for ourselves. We hear a lot of info thru many different outlets. We can’t just assume that everything we hear is correct.
We need to get all the information we can and determine for ourselves.
Nehemiah actually went to the southern part of the city. The southern part was the least likely to be attacked. Most of Jerusalem’s fighting and attacks came from the north, so those were most likely to be ruined.
But the south didn’t face that much opposition, maybe it might be in better shape.
Nehemiah 2:16 NIV
He wanted to be able to give them an accurate assessment of the problem.
Not just guessing or assuming what shape it would be in. He wanted to tell them that he did his homework, actually saw these places and I know first-hand what they look like.
He wanted to be able to answer as many questions as he could.
After his midnight excursion, he came back and gave his report to the people.
Nehemiah 2:17 NIV
Remember, most of the people he was talking to lived in that city so they probably knew the condition of the walls. Nehemiah was now able to say that he saw it too and wasn’t just working of hearsay.
Notice how he includes himself in the solution?
WE are in trouble, Let US rebuild and WE won’t be in disgrace.
He was upbeat in his conversation. “We can do this”!
Almost all ministry, our personal life and church life are not spectator sports. We don’t get to sit on the sidelines and watch everyone else do the work.
He didn’t say YOU are in trouble, YOU need to rebuild and YOU won’t be in disgrace.
Since the walls had been ruined for so many years, and Ezra tried and failed to rebuild them, the people were kind of resigned to the fact that this is the way it will always be.
Nehemiah was the outsider that was able to put life back into the people and give them the vision that God had given him.
Nehemiah 2:18 NIV
He told them how God was already at work in the fact that he was even there, how God directed the king’s heart, gave his passage and lumber.
Whenever we want to step out in faith, we’ve done our homework, got all the facts we can, we need to look back over all of that process and see how God brought you to that point.
You wouldn’t be where you are if God hadn’t brought you to that point. God set up the divine appointment, God prepared the King, God put Nehemiah in the position of cupbearer, God gave him safe travels.
Now he is ready to start. And if God was in all of the preplanning, how could he not trust God to finish the work?
Think about where you are now. Can you look back in your life to see how God set everything up so you could be where you are today?
If that is true, then what is God calling you out today to do?
If you are where you are because God directed you here, what is it that you think God can’t accomplish with you right now?
If God is in it, you can accomplish it.
Nehemiah 2:18 NIV
Nehemiah, did his homework, came back and told the people the truth about the situation, but he also said that despite what had happened, God was with them and they could do it.
He was not a downer, or a glass half-full kind a guy. He didn’t murmur and complain about how they got to this place. That was in the past. Now is the time to move forward.
No matter what may have happened in your past or the church’s past, or our nation’s past, how we got to where we are, we can’t dwell on that. Now is the time to move forward.
We can’t let the past or even the current situation keep us stagnant.
Nehemiah got those people encouraged and they said, we can do it! But actually, it was God, through Nehemiah that encouraged the people.
God is encouraging us today.
Now is not the time to just sit around and wait. Now is the time to act.
What is God calling each of us and us as a church to do?
Nehemiah 2:19 NIV
The world will mock and ridicule and rail against us for doing what God calls us to do.
They’ll even say it’s against the law. (Rebelling against the king)
What should our response be? Should we respond?
Should we be quiet and go about our work? Or should we speak up?
The Bible gives us 2 seemingly conflicting answers to that.
Proverbs 26:4-5 NIV
Nehemiah was about to begin a new work. If he ignored him and just walked away, it would have made him appear weak in the eyes of those following him.
They needed for him to speak out and acknowledge that God was in control so he answered these fools according to their folly.
Nehemiah 2:20 NIV
Sometimes as believers, we are called to remain silent, like Jesus was before Pilate.
To argue would not win any points and lead people to Christ.
There are other times when we do have to speak out to let people know that you are God’s kids doing God’s work and they need to leave you alone.
Mark 6:18 NIV
John called out the King for his sin. It cost him, but he did it.
Doing God’s work will always be challenging. We will always face opposition, either from the enemy or from the world.
We have to be ready and willing to step out in faith and just do it! Let the results be up to God.