Today we are in part 2 of 2 part series titled “Impossible Odds”.
Last week I told y’all about how this story of Nehemiah came to me, and compared it to starting Cross Pointe Church.
While obviously not nearly the scale as Nehemiah’s task, there were some similarities.
• We’ve been rebuilding since Covid
• God is putting people in place to make full use of the gifts He has given them
• Anytime there’s growth in God’s Kingdom, there will be attack
We took a brief look at who Nehemiah was:
• He was an Israelite, born while they were in captivity in Babylon
• He was in a very prestigious position as cup-bearer for King Artaxerses
To quickly recap his story:
• He got word that although the city had been restored, the city walls were still in shambles.
• Scripture tells us:
o He wept
o He mourned
o He fasted
o And he prayed
? As a side note, wouldn’t it be great if before we took any action of magnitude in our lives, that we would do those 4 things?
? Or before we get to grumbling about any situation in our lives we did those 4 things?
Would it make a difference?
? I know some of you are already taking exception to “mourning”. I’d challenge you to take a deeper look at the biblical meaning. You might be surprised!
Ok, back to Nehemiah.
After he wept, mourned, fasted and prayed,
he realized God wanted him to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall.
The king gave him permission and he went to Jerusalem.
Then basically, chapters 2-12 tells Nehemiah’s story.
Before we go any further, I’d like to read again Nehemiah’s prayer found in Chapter 1 verses 5- 14.
Please stand with me as we honor God while reading His word.
Nehemiah 1:5-14
Now turn with me to Nehemiah Chapter 13:
Chapter 13 begins like this:
“and then the Israelites lived happily ever after”.
Lisa loves Hallmark movies. She also loves shows like Forensic Files.
Although I don’t always watch Hallmark movies with her, I do almost always watch Forensic Files with her, simply because I don’t have a cup-bearer. (Some of y’all will get that a bit later)
We don’t see much happy ending in Chapter 13.
Here’s what happened:
Nehemiah went back to Babylon because naturally, he thought his work was done.
Then he finds out some really ungodly things are beginning to happen.
V1. Tells us that although God has commanded them not to have marriage with other religions, they are doing just that, so Nehemiah excluded them from the assembly.
V4. We see where things really begin to fall apart.
Read 4-9
V10-14 we are told things restored to order in the temple.
V15-17 Nehemiah found some more things that were wrong.
V18-22 Nehemiah puts into place, more corrective measures.
V23-28 yet more things are in disarray and at one point we are told Nehemiah gets violent even to the extent of grabbing someone by the hair and dragging them. Seems he just wasn’t having any of it!
A couple of times through these verses we see Nehemiah asking special favor of God.
Read second half of v14 and 22.
But then in verse 29 his attention shifts
Read v 29.
Then at the end of v30 Nehemiah again asks God “Remember me”
One of the fascinating aspects of Nehemiah’s story is how it parallels in a few ways with Jesus’ story. Last week we looked at how both Nehemiah and Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. If you read Nehemiah’s story, I believe you can see at least 3 others.
I’d like us to look at one of these.
Before we do that, let’s finish out chapter 13 as it closes in v30.
“So I purged out everything pagan and assigned tasks to the priests and Levites, making certain that each knew his work.”
Church, we not only need to “purge” corporately, as both Nehemiah and Jesus did in the temple, but we need to do so, individually as well.
Corporately, as Christians, what garbage are we allowing in our temple and making it unclean?
Individually, we will allow God to throw out the garbage, so we can live life abundantly is His favor?
There is so much teaching for us to grab a hold of in the story of Nehemiah, here are just a few:
Growing in Godliness- chapter 1:4-11 read Nehemiah’s prayer every day this week and see if you don’t grow in Godliness.
Cultivating dynamic devotion-Although chapter 13 seems like a “downer”, as we BOOMERS might say, we do see how important dynamic devotion is in Chapter 13:10-13
Lastly, in chapters 9 and 13 we see how we can pursue Holiness. This is found in 9:1-38 and 13:4-31
But the main thing I want us to walk away with today is that Jesus is a rebuilder, even much bigger than Nehemiah was.
When we look at Nehemiah, we see that when he left Jerusalem things began to unravel. There is a universal law in physics called Law of Thermodynamics, and it is very interesting, but the short of it this:
When anything is left to itself, it tends more and more toward disorder.
Isn’t that true with us? When we try to do it without Jesus, it gets messed up!
Nehemiah restored the walls, but soon afterward as the people were left to themselves, they started spiritually crumpling again.
---Call Dan up---
If you read all of chapter 13 you very well may see a Jezebel spirit that began to take control.
People weren’t focused on God, but rather on themselves, and things went south quickly.
Last week, I said “part 2 will be the icing on the cake”. Some of you are wondering where the icing is, aren’t you.
Well, it’s not the Hallmark movie kind of icing, but a much more meaningful and eternal icing.
When Jesus rebuilds us, as only He can do, the icing is the blood of atonement.
We are going to end our service today, a little differently, with a video with music and lyrics. I’m going to step over to the side, and if you feel led to come to the altar to worship, or need prayer please be bold and be moved by what is inside you.
