10000 Bricks: Open Doors Series

10000 BRICKS: OPEN DOORS

Nehemiah 2:1–8

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READ NEHEMIAH 2 FROM THE MSG

It was the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king. At the hour for serving wine I brought it in and gave it to the king. I had never been hangdog in his presence before, so he asked me, “Why the long face? You’re not sick are you? Or are you depressed?” 2-3 That made me all the more agitated. I said, “Long live the king! And why shouldn’t I be depressed when the city, the city where all my family is buried, is in ruins and the city gates have been reduced to cinders?” 4-5 The king then asked me, “So what do you want?” Praying under my breath to the God-of-Heaven, I said, “If it please the king, and if the king thinks well of me, send me to Judah, to the city where my family is buried, so that I can rebuild it.” 6 The king, with the queen sitting alongside him, said, “How long will your work take and when would you expect to return?” I gave him a time, and the king gave his approval to send me. 7-8 Then I said, “If it please the king, provide me with letters to the governors across the Euphrates that authorize my travel through to Judah; and also an order to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, to supply me with timber for the beams of The Temple fortress, the wall of the city, and the house where I’ll be living.” 8-9 The generous hand of my God was with me in this and the king gave them to me.

INTRODUCTION… The Farmer’s Daughter and the Three Bulls

Once upon a time, there was a young man who fell deeply in love with a farmer’s daughter. She was kind, strong, and wise She was the sort of woman you build a life with, not just dream about. One day, gathering all his courage, he went to her father and asked for her hand in marriage.

The farmer studied him for a long moment. Then he said, “I will give you a chance to marry my daughter, but only if you pass a test.” The farmer led him to a field with high fences and a heavy gate at one end. “Behind that gate,” he said, “are three bulls. I will release them one at a time. If you can catch the tail of any one of them, you may marry my daughter.”

The young man swallowed hard but agreed.

The farmer opened the gate, and out charged the first bull—huge, muscular, snorting, with horns like spears. The ground shook under its hooves. The young man took one look and thought, That thing will kill me. He jumped out of the way and let it thunder past.

The farmer nodded and went back to the gate.

Out came the second bull—bigger, meaner, faster. Its eyes were wild, its shoulders like boulders. The young man thought, That one’s even worse than the first. Again, he stepped aside and let it pass.

His heart was pounding now. But he told himself, Surely the third one will be different.

The gate opened a third time. Out walked a bull that looked… manageable. Smaller. Slower. Not nearly as frightening as the others. The young man felt relief flood his chest. This is the one. This is my chance. He ran toward it, reached out with confidence—and froze. The bull had no tail. No handle. No place to grab. No way to hold on. And just like that, it passed him by.

The farmer closed the gate, turned to the young man, and said, “You may go now.”

TRANSITION / BACKGROUND ON NEHEMIAH

Today, we are continuing a series of sermons from the Book of Nehemiah all about some building efforts. The Book of Nehemiah is the 16th book in the Old Testament and has 13 chapters with 406 verses. It is a historical memoir as it was written by Nehemiah. Nehemiah lives after the Babylonian armies smash Jerusalem to pieces (2 Kings 25) and devastated the countryside (Jeremiah 32). Nehemiah lives after the Babylonians killed many of the priests and leaders (2 Kings 25) and deported the young, the skilled, and others deemed of use. Nehemiah lived after some of the Jews had returned home from exile. Nehemiah was born in exile as he had never seen Jerusalem or even been there.

We started last week in Nehemiah chapter 1 where his brother and some others travel to him to tell him that Jerusalem is still broken down because the city has no walls or gates. If Jerusalem were a car, it’d be a Chevy Vega or a Ford Pinto. This wrecks Nehemiah emotionally, spiritually, and even digs into his identity as a Jewish person. He fasts and prays. Chapter 1 ends with the words: “Now I was cupbearer to the king” (1:11).