Rubble to Return – Week 4 (8-13-23)

Rubble to Return
The Story Is Really About You!
August 13, 2023

Pattern:

• Kings Decree
• God Raises Leader
• Face Opposition
• Anti-Climax

We are introduced to a new Leader

Nehemiah -> Nekhem-yah
God is Comfort

Isaiah 40:1-2
Nekhem, Nekhem my people,
says your God.

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2 Big Chunks
Chunk #1

Nehemiah 1:2-4
Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” 4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

News & Response

Nehemiah 1:5- 11a
Then I said:“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁶ let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. ⁷ We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
⁸ “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, ⁹ but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
¹⁰ “They are your servants and your people, whom YOU redeemed by YOUR great strength and YOUR mighty hand. ¹¹ Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”
I was cupbearer to the king.

How is Nehemiah’s heart?

Nehemiah 2:1-9
In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, ² so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.”
I was very much afraid, ³ but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
⁴ The king said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, ⁵ and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
⁶ Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.
⁷ I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? ⁸ And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests. ⁹ So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.

Divine Providence?
Was this Nehemiah’s plan?

It is amazing how God can use, orchestrate & align people, places & resources to bring nekhim to His people.

Nehemiah 2:10 (1st of 7 reports of opposition)
When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.
(0pposition)
Neh. 2:10; 2:19-20; 3:33-35; 4:7-8; 4:10-15; 6:1-9; 6:16

How do we discern the will of God?

• Prayer
• The Word
• Community

When you think about the will of God, think presence over place.

Whether you are in a foreign land or the promised land the will of God is the same. You called to live as the people of God.

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Chunk #2
Nehemiah 5:1-5
Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their fellow Jews. ² Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”
³ Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”
⁴ Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards. ⁵ Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our fellow Jews and though our children are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”

I told them, “You are charging your own people interest!”

So are they now living faithfully to the Torah?

• Is revival happening?
• Are the people turning back in obedience to God?
• What is keeping them from doing so?