Text: Nehemiah 2:1-8, Title: Carpe Diem, Date/Place: NRBC, 9/2/07, PM
A. Opening illustration: In 1944, Leander McCormick-Goodheart, a recruiter for the Ford Motor Company, toured fifty universities across the United States to recruit the outstanding graduating student of each institution. At Leigh University, he met a young man named Lee Iacocca and offered him a position at Ford. This was a dream come true for Iacocca. His greatest ambition was to one day word for Ford. Yet Iacocca asked if he could delay the starting date of his employment for one year. He had the opportunity to earn a master’s degree from Princeton University. Even though the ambitious and talented Iacocca had the opportunity to launch his meteoric auto making career immediately upon his graduation, he determined to be fully prepared for whatever opportunities might come his way in the future.
B. Background to passage: About four months has gone by since Nehemiah’s learning of the situation in Jerusalem. After having a burden for the city, and a leading to do something about it, and a prayer that identifies the man in whom he needs favor, Nehemiah is prepared to act. But as any wise leader knows, he must be selective about how he pursues his vision.
C. Main thought: Nehemiah shows us four principles of wisdom as we move on our God-inspired visions and burdens.
A. Choose the proper time (v. 1-2)
1. So after mourning, fasting, and praying for many days, why not just go up to the king and ask for what you know you want to do? Why wait for four months? He was waiting on God’s timing. He was letting the crock pot simmer and the burden grow. He was trusting God’s time, not Nehemiah’s time. There were certain feasts in which the kings would be especially favorable to his subjects. And certainly the cupbearer had served the king these four months, but had never shown sadness. And the king immediately sees it, so I think that Nehemiah chose this time.
2. Est 4:14,
3. Illustration: like when you have been waiting at to eat for two hours and a new bottle of ketchup at a restaurant and you have to wait for it to come dribbling out the end to eat. I remember hearing the director of the George Muller Foundation telling of God’s perfect timing in the provision of guidance and resources. The Foundation had been requested to commence a new child-care project which would require a great commitment in time and resources. The trustees decided that they couldn’t go ahead unless they received clear direction from the Lord, and so they committed the need to God in prayer. The day came for a decision to be made, but no definite leading had been received. Then on the day of their meeting a substantial sum was received from a donor earmarked for such a project - and what was more remarkable was that the gift had been designated over 20 years before but because of legal problems over the estate it had just become available. “Everything has its time, and the main thing is that we keep step with God, and do not keep pressing on a few steps ahead--nor keep dawdling a step behind. It’s presumptuous to want to have everything at once” –Bonhoeffer,
4. Most of us exhibit great difficulty when we are forced to wait for things. We whine and manipulate and beg and moan about waiting a few days, let alone months. But God tends to work in seasons, and provides windows of opportunity for us. God wants us to work when He works, not just start out on our own. We need to be about the business of seeing His opportunities. We must work to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leadings in our lives. You need to know what God is calling and leading you to do, so that when the opportunity arises, you are ready.
B. Choose the proper words (v. 3-5)
1. Notice that Nehemiah was very tactful in his wording of his answers. He addresses the king with proper respect, not with flattery, but with sincere best wishes. He leaves out the name of Jerusalem for the king had halted rebuilding efforts there several years earlier. He defers to the king’s judgment and favor. Surely he had had time to rehearse all that he might say, and the potential reactions.
2. Est 7:3-4, Pro 10:32, 16:13, 25:11, Eph 4:29,
3. Illustration: Stopping the flustered mother with an upraised hand, the white-haired, courtly, soft-spoken General leaned down and, motioning toward his chest, whispered something into the boy’s ear. Instantly, the boy calmed down, gently took his mother’s hand and quietly fastened his seat belt
4. Sometimes simply choosing the right words can really allow us access to things that we wouldn’t otherwise get to. Sometimes rephrasing things to a more palpable language is helpful. Certain words are inflammatory. We are especially good at finding those words when we are in the middle of an argument with our spouse or children. The biggest thing that we can do is adjust our attitude. Make sure that you do truly seek the good of others that may help you. Manipulation is not our goal either. If our motivation is simply to get what we want to use it in our own ways, we will probably not choose the best words. Finally, we you are placed in a situation where anger is aroused, wait a couple of days before responding.
C. Choose the proper plans (v. 6-8)
1. After telling the king he wanted to rebuild Jerusalem, the king asked about the project. Nehemiah didn’t act like a dreamer, but a visionary. He had already been talking to people, getting estimates and figures, recruiting a team, and making a list of necessary supplies and documents. For in the space of two verses he outlines for the king exactly what he would need and how long it would take. And this was no minor renovation project. This was rebuilding the city. More importantly this was also reversing the king’s policy from a few years previous. Without dreaming big, and planning well, Nehemiah would probably still be the cupbearer, the walls would still be broken down, and you and I would never know his name.
2. Luke 14:28-30, Pro 21:5,
3. Illustration: “At the spiritual level, planning means taking the initiative. It’s not about sitting around until you are absolutely certain God is calling you to a particular task, direction, country, or ministry. Nor is it waiting for the doors to open so you can go there easily. Planning is an act of faith. Jesus never told his disciples to wait for an invitation. He told them to go.” Tell about talking to the pulpit committee about what success looks like…Talk about inviting Voddie Baucham to preach, talk about the pastor who was really disappointed in the lack of preparation of another church planter,
4. Walking in the Spirit doesn’t exclude proper planning any more than wisdom in choosing words or times. And living out the God-ordained vision for your life requires that you put the proper thought and planning into it. This doesn’t preclude God from working in unplanned ways. What do you think God will have you doing in five years? Ten? Thirty? What will it take to get there? What about this church? Where is it going? What does your ministry here look like in five years? Dream big dreams. Envision things about your life that only God could pull off! Without God-inspired dreams and well-thought out plans, you will miss the ride of your life! But big givers want well-thought out plans.
D. Choose the proper provider (v. 8)
1. Nehemiah gives us a reminder as to who he is trusting in at the end of verse eight. He says it was all done according to God’s hand upon him. Remember, he just asked the king to reverse prior policy, let him go to Jerusalem, and then he expected the king to fund the project too. But he said that he knew that God was the one who will fund, convince, and superintend. Nehemiah and Artexerxes were only middle men. Not that middle men aren’t important, that is usually how God works. Nehemiah is one of the few books in scripture that contains no supernatural/miracle events. So what we see is a man of God who trusts completely in his Lord to provide all.
2. Pro 21:1, 16:1, 9, Ps 37:3-5
3. Illustration: telling mission teams to bring their credit cards, Paul Krause was recently inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. He played sixteen years and had eighty-one career interceptions as a safety with the Minnesota Vikings. However, his greatest challenge in life did not occur on a football field but in his response to the automobile accident his wife of thirty-five years suffered on October 5, 1995. Pam Krause was in a coma for five years after suffering a brain stem injury and several broken bones on the left side of her body, including facial bones, ribs, pelvis, and vertebrae. Former Vikings teammate Wally Hilgenburg recently said, "I have gained so much more respect and admiration for Paul over the past two years for what Paul has done as a husband, father, and provider for Pam. He has proven himself a true Hall of Famer based on how he has handled everything." Krause credits his strength to his faith in God: "When the doctors tell you that they do not know if she will live . . . that is not giving you any hope. But I never thought she would die. That is my belief in God, hoping that he would give me strength through all of it." “Our heavenly Father is a very experienced One. He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning… He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years. We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China; but if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all… Depend on it, God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.” –Hudson Taylor,
4. Our tendency in our individualistic and naturalistic society is to rely upon self. Who we can call, who we know, resources that we have, etc. Don’t believe the lie that God helps those who help themselves, and try to design their own deliverance without the help of the Creator of the Universe. But we must remember the great truth that Nehemiah knows, God’s hand must be in whatever we are doing for it to prosper. This is why prayer is so important to attaining the God-inspired vision that you have been given. This is why righteousness and living a Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered life is so important. You want to be completely trusting in Him, and living in a fashion where he can bless you. How can you tell if you are relying on self? If prayer is the last resort, and not the first. If you become worried when you run out of options. If you get in a hurry when God doesn’t work in your time. If you have a sense of entitlement. And these are things that we all experience from time to time, so we must fight against them.
A. Closing illustration: Charles Finney is considered America’s greatest past revivalist. Church roles swelled in the wake of Finney’s revivals. Though it is hard to gather accurate statistics, he is often directly, or indirectly credited with conversions of around 500,000.” The time frame was in the 1830’s. It is said that his revival meetings transformed entire towns. It is said that in some towns after the meetings the bars would close down because there was no business for them and churches would spring up in their place. He stated in his message that he was to show what revival is.
Charles Finney made a significant impression upon the religious life of 19th century America, and his influence is still evident today. Called the “father of modern revivalism” by some historians, he paved the way for later revivalists like Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham.
Charles Finney brought revival and the presence and the life transforming power of God to America in the early 1800’s and it forever changed the hearts of 100,000 of people.
B. Recap
C. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
• Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
