Nehemiah Session 1 | Perspective Big Ideas: • Overview of this series • Faith to Build • Nehemiah’s Vision Tuesday Night Class: May 23rd start (6 weeks) Faith to Build No matter how spiritually mature we are, we tend to play it safe with our journey in Christ. Christ didn’t die for us to live apathetic and faithless. Are we going to be the ones who obey God in faith and experience all that comes with that, or be a generation that walks in unbelief only to live at status quo and not see the goodness of God? (Israel) Numbers 14:36-37 Now the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land, 37 those very men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord. Joshua 5:6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord—to whom the Lord swore that He would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Nehemiah 1:1-11 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, 2 that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 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.” Heard the news of the people in distress and the city in shambles: 4 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; • Went to mourning (picked up the burden of God) I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 5 And I said: “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, 6 please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. • Sought the Lord through prayer and fasting. (Nothing else was as important) (Luke 14 Love less) • Moved him to repentance for the sin that caused the state they were in. 8 Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; 9 but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ 10 Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. • Reminded God of His promises of judgment but also His people and redemption. 11 O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” • Asked God to move on behalf of His people. (fear your name) Nehemiah 4:14 And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” • When God’s hand is upon a people to do His will, He will get it accomplished. Nehemiah 2:18 “The king has been good to me because the hand of God upon me.” Even when we walk in obedience to the promise and voice of God, there is no guarantee that we will see all that we think in our lifetime. We are a part of a larger story and God wants us to simply do our part in obedience to Him. The neat part about this is that we get to be a part of what God is doing on the earth. Even if we don't see all we think we would, we are still part of an amazing redemption story that God is telling. • Under the rule of a king (Nehemiah’s bold faith to approach the king) • Consider the cost of following God’s plans! • The Lord works providentially, especially through powerful rulers, to bring about his greater purposes (e.g., 2:8 ). • God’s people need to be on their guard against their own moral weakness (ch. 13 ). Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerrubbeul played their part in God’s plan and still there were a lot of things left undone. This did not stop God’s plan or redemption story. Nehemiah 2:1-10 And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. 2 Therefore the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.” So I became dreadfully afraid, 3 and said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” 6 Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), “How long will your journey be? And when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. 7 Furthermore I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.” And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me. 9 Then I went to the governors in the region beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel. Acharit (pronounced ah-kha-reet) -that which comes after; aftereffects; final consequences; end. (always remembering the final end, the final consequences) Philippians 3:12-16 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. Take Away: 1. If you believe God has called you to this church, do you think you are aligned with the vision and leadership of Catalyst Church? 2. Do you have a Kingdom vision of partnering with your local church to see God’s purposes fulfilled on the earth? 3. When you align with Kingdom vision, what practical steps are you moved to take to participate with what God is doing? 4. Are there areas of sin in your life that need acknowledged and repented of for you to align with what God wants you to do for His glory?