This is the Truth Network. Forever thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119, verse 89. I'm Stu Everson. Welcome to this special Wednesday in the Word Leader podcast, where we prepare and equip our leaders of this special Bible study outreach breakfast.
Every week to teach through the scriptures. Thirteen Dario locations. There's a men's group meeting and several of the Locations host the women on Thursday morning. Stay tuned. Be encouraged as we jump into this week's Wednesday in the Word.
How easy is it for your face? to betray your heart. You're so upset. You're so burdened. And people around you pick up that vibe.
This is exactly what happened, except. In the case of ancient monarchs, In the case of Nehemiah, the cupbearer to the king, You could be executed. If you showed emotion that was in any way, shape, or form offsetting or depressing or could bring down the countenance of the king you serve, you're supposed to be happy. You're supposed to be upbeat. You're supposed to set a mood.
This was the conundrum of a man who was heartbroken for his country. A man who we left in chapter one, Dr. Sam Horn, Nehemiah, was. He was mourning, weeping, fasting, and praying when he heard the news about the Holy Land, God's land, his land, his homeland. The walls had been broken down and the gates were burned with fire.
So we meet Nehemiah in chapter 2 after this period of prayer, weeping, and fasting, Dr. Horn. It's hard to hide a burden that's on your heart. I'm sure you've been there before, sir, haven't you? Yeah, I think all of us have, you know, our faces become the mirror of what's really going on in our soul.
And you can kind of see it when you're with people and you hear their words and they're saying all the right things and yet you look into their eyes and you just get a sense there's there's stuff going on here that needs to be drawn up. You know, the Proverbs talks about wisdom being drawn up from within a man's soul. And sometimes that's what happens. And certainly, here in chapter two, we're going to see that the king. Instinctively knows.
that something's going on with one of his most loyal. and most faithful servants. And there's an interesting detail. Um The text says that Nehemiah had not been sad in his presence.
So there was no outward sign of mourning. There was no moping or, you know. Just looking just devastated. He showed up every day for four months. doing his job in this very same way.
that he had been doing it All the way up through chapter one, but the king knew that something was going on, and he says in verse two. There's something going on that is producing sadness in your heart. And so, the question I'm going to ask at some point is: how did the king know that? If Nehemiah makes it really clear. I was not sad in the king's presence.
How would the king know this? And I think that's going to be a really important component. of what we're going to talk about today. Yeah. It's a really good review.
We try to go back each week in these Wednesday of the Word podcast. If you just joined us, we're so glad you're here.
So many of our leaders at Dario listen to this and it helps get you ready to teach and to take your team, your group through the Word of God. It also, we got pastors and other leaders that are just studying. And anyone that just wants to go deeper in scripture, I'm Stu Everson. With me is Dr. Sam Horn, pastor, author, leader, and educator.
He's got quite a quite a resume of just helping so many folks, including this guy right here, get closer to God and learn the word of God. Dr. Horne, by way of review, chapter one, I mean, I just love this chapter. I mean, there's just so much in here and such a rich prayer. In fact, there are people, including yourself, who would be able to probably do.
I don't know. Three or four sermons just on this prayer that has every aspect of those fine points. We went over Acts, you know, adoration. He comes to God as a great and awesome God, confession. He confesses not just the sin of his people.
It's easy to say, oh, America's gone to hell in a handbasket. These guys are awful. Look at all these perverts and all these politicians that are crooked.
Well, how about look in the mirror? And Nehemiah does that and he's and he confesses and repents of his sin and he takes it personal. And that's when revival starts with me. You know, what did Wesley do?
Someone said, hey, where does revival start? He drew a circle in the ground around himself. He says it starts in this circle.
So that's what Nehemiah is. Yeah, amen. You know, he's weeping, he's fasting, he's mourning. He prays this amazing prayer. We are going to see an answer to that prayer.
We're going to see the favor of God, Dr. Horne. And, you know, we review chapter one.
Now we look at a preview of chapter two. Doc, we're looking here at 20 verses. We're looking really. Uh kind of setting the table. Even more of what's going on.
At the very end, there's this little clue hint. I was the king's cupbearer, which is fascinating because the book that so many go to for revival, reformation, transformation, prayer, leadership, vision, passion, rebuilding something that's been completely destroyed, trusting God to do the impossible, of all the people God assigns to this task. It's not some great evangelist, some great, you know, well-known, famous leader. It's a guy who's a government worker.
So here's uses it. Oh, that's right. Yeah, and he takes us right into his life. I mean, he gives us the dates here, chapter two, right out of the gate. And you know, in the month of Nisan, at the 20th year, King Artaxerxes, Dr.
Horn, set these 20 verses up for us as how we should be looking at these and take them apart. I know we can't go into each one, but give us some good points as we go through here to direct our study. Yeah, very good. Stu.
Well, first thing I would say is you and I were talking a little bit before the broadcast about how do we go at a book like Nehemiah. Because we're both wrestling with the fact that this is not like a New Testament epistle. you know when paul wrote romans or philippians or uh or john wrote uh the gospel of john or uh or particularly the the the first and second And third John, you're actually going there sort of precept by precept, line by line. It's a logical presentation of an argument. Making a big point and everything in the letter is advancing, explaining, illustrating, defending, or applying that big idea as it develops throughout the book.
But an Old Testament book like Nehemiah is a big story. And stories are different than arguments. And so, the first thing I want us to make sure we understand as we come to a book like Nehemiah is it is a divine story. God is telling us. a historical Account, it is a historical narrative, a story.
I don't mean a fable or a made-up story. I'm just telling you, it's that God says, I'm just telling you what happened. And the reason I'm telling you the story. is there are big ideas I want to communicate to you. They're big ideas about myself, I want you to know.
They're big ideas about you, I want you to recognize. Their big ideas about my overall purpose and my fidelity to my promise. that are all tied up in these big stories. that I've inspired. uh for you to always have before you and so nehemiah is one of those Stories.
It's one of those narratives. I have a very good friend who I respect highly who hates the word story because he says we always tell our kids stories and they're really not true. And so when you say Nehemiah is a story, it can kind of give people the idea that it's not true. And actually, this story is true. This is a historical narrative, which means that every single thing that we read in this book actually happened.
Every single name, every single person, every single event that is described in this amazing story is a historical reality that took place many, many hundreds of years ago. And so I think that's the first thing. And then the second thing. As you come to a sort of a chapter like this, you got to ask yourself: what are the big ideas? In these 20 verses.
And I would, rather than trying to figure out what each verse is saying, although there's certainly benefit, we ought to read each verse. I want to ask the big question. major ideas God is wanting us to catch. in these 20 verses. And I think there are four.
I think the first one is: God wants us to understand that our work. And anything we attempt, whether it is being the cupbearer to the king or rebuilding the walls. Of Jerusalem are only going to happen because of his sovereign favor. And so I think the first part of the chapter, maybe all the way up to verse eight. is about that sovereign favor.
God is trying to get us to see. That whatever happens in our life that really carries out the mission he's called us to do didn't happen because we were smart or because we had somehow better abilities than anybody else, or we were better leaders, or we had tact when somebody else didn't. Really, at the end of the day, what we find out at the end of verse eight is that everything that has gone on in the book. In chapter two, happened because the good hand of God was on Nehemiah.
So that's the first thing. I think the next big idea. Uh is careful planning. And you see that in verse 9. And really, that goes.
All the way up to verse 16, right?
So he basically gets to Jerusalem. And he gets his act together. And he doesn't just barge in there. with this big plan without taking the time, or this big vision rather, without taking the time. to seek the Lord.
and determine What needed to happen for God's will to be done in the rebuilding of the wall?
So, this is careful planning. And then I think in verses 17. All the way down to verse 20, I think you have courageous leadership. In the face of opposition, in the face of overwhelming obstacles, in the face of all of this devastation. How in the world are we going to get this done when everybody else was sort of taking a step back?
Nehemiah was taking a step forward out of courageous leadership. And then I think you could wrap it all up. With an astonishing outcome that comes, that's the fourth thing, an astonishing outcome that can only be credited to God. And I think all of this. is is a direct Uh, response to something that Nehemiah was doing in chapter one, and that we find doing again in chapter two, and that's prayer.
So there is this dependent praying. that that sits under all of these four big ideas that Uh, that look at uh, that we find in chapter two, and the reason I think that's important. It's because that's where we are, right? I mean, we may not be living in an ancient world trying to rebuild an ancient wall around an ancient city, but we're all everyday people. doing everything everyday things for a very significant mission.
It doesn't matter if you're the cupbearer to the king, or you're the CFO to a company, or you're a line worker at an auto plant, or you're an engineer. You're an everyday person doing everyday things. for a significant mission. God has put you there for a reason and you're going to need sovereign favor. You're going to need wise, careful planning.
You're going to need courageous leadership. But if that's all you got, you're never going to have an astonishing outcome. You're going to need the good hand of God. on your life. And so that's how I look at chapter two.
Well, you know, in this chapter, there is so much. This chapter really is ground zero. I mean, we see in chapter one the heart. of Nehemiah We see in chapter one this prayer. It's just so, it's just amazing that you build a house on a good foundation or else you're in real trouble.
And Jesus said it, he said it better than anyone could. Matthew 7, a wise man builds his house on the rock. Of course, that rock is God's word. And that's what this book is built upon. And it's built upon a seeking of God's face, a real fervency.
In prayer, I mean a real season of prayer where Nehemiah just puts everything else aside, including the best food anyone could eat. The cupbearer had access to the best culinary delights in the land. He put all that aside because his hunger for God. was greater. Than his hunger, his desire for anything else.
And Dr. Horn, you see that prayer. coupled with preparation.
So when he comes into the king's house, and I really believe these first few verses are so clutch. To the whole chapter into the whole book, and we can't go through. I mean, this is 20 verses, but just for our teachers. You just this interaction, please do not blow through this interaction. Don't just skip over it.
I mean, look at look at the time, look at when it happens. You know, look at that and establish that. When this is this is the month of Nisan, this is the first month in the Hebrew calendar year. This is a few months. Three or four months after the initial burden and prayer and season of prayer and fasting and mourning and weeping that Nehemiah went through when he heard the news.
And so he's had time to prepare. He's had time to answer a lot of the questions he's. trusting God. To do what God said he would do.
So he's anticipating the questions that the king comes at him with, which is fascinating.
So the king says, Why is your face sad? And here he, again, you're a cupbearer. You're supposed to have a sad face. There is a picture of ancient servants of a king. that one pastor pointed out.
And they literally had their hand over their face when they went into the king's presence. Because they didn't want in any way, shape, or form to change the vibe in the room. And they didn't also, they didn't want their bad breath to contaminate because so many folks treated kings as deity. And here Nehemiah comes in. He's just heartbroken.
He's just been in the season of being downcast for his people in a holy kind of way. He's not in there for a pity party. He's not in there trying to, you know, oftentimes our little kids or grandkids will act like they're sad so that we'll say, hey, what's wrong? Here's some candy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's not what's going on here for sure. There's a real, there's a real heart. And the king says, hey, man, what's going on? And then this is just a fascinating thing in verse four. The king said to me, this is the favor of God.
What do you request? I mean, here the most power here he's been in the presence of the most powerful king, the only king of the universe, God Almighty.
Now he's in the presence of the most powerful, most powerful monarch on the planet, King Artaxerxes. And he asked this question almost like a Blank check and I love this response before even going back to him. With his ready-to-go answer, Nehemiah says, So I prayed to the God of heaven. That's just a whole sermon could be preached on just over verse four. Dr.
Horn, because like we call these popcorn prayers, Pastor Skip Heitzk calls it an arrow prayer, you know, just a direct, but like, this is where. You have incessant prayer where we set aside a season of prayer, but then you have intermittent prayer. Where, you know, you you stop. And you drop and you pray. And he couldn't go into this.
Yeah, that was chapter one. What you just described was chapter one. And here is this, like you said a minute ago, an arrow prayer. And I think, you know, if we talk about. These four big ideas, you're laying out for us some pretty important ideas.
Fit under that first main big thing God wants us to pick up. And that's you don't do anything apart from God's sovereign favor. And so, for example, you talked about the timing. Yeah, yeah. um there there are four months i think you mentioned three or four months there are four months between chapter one and chapter two.
What has Nehemiah been doing for those four months?
Well, he's been doing really two things. And I think you mentioned one of them and I mentioned the other. He's been doing his job. You know, he's been faithful. He's been doing what God called him to do and what God put him to do there.
And then he's been praying. I mean the prayer in chapter one was not a once and done prayer. This was something that Nehemiah prayed constantly to the Lord. What you have in chapter one is sort of a summary of a four-month prayer. that he's been praying to God.
So there is this fervent, persistent praying that James talks about, and Elijah modeled.
Well, here we have another example of that. For four months, he's been praying. To the Lord, right? And then all of a sudden, God answers. I don't think Nehemiah came in.
In chapter 2, verse 1, on that day, any different than he came in on all the other days leading up to that.
So the king saw something that he hadn't seen. for four months. Either he wasn't looking. or it didn't strike him. But something moved.
in the heart of the king. And what I believe happened is the Lord Brought it to the king's attention. It wasn't all of a sudden that on this day. Nehemiah came in with a sad face different from all the other days. I think he came in on this day just like he did.
And for the first time, the king perceived something in Nehemiah and he asked, why did you face that? And then he says, well, actually, it's not your face, Nehemiah, it's your heart.
Well, I think there is a divine revelation, a divine moving this on, even in the king. And then, and then he says, like you said, so what do you want? Like, what can I do? You know, because he gives this answer, right? That Nehemiah is extremely afraid.
Daniel, extremely afraid, right? He realized this is a moment where this is one of those moments where it's either going to go really, really good or really, really bad. Mm-hmm. And he just says to the king, you know, he addresses him very politely according to court protocol: oh king, live forever. Why should my face not be sad?
And then it gives the reason. And it isn't anything to do with him. It's to do with The place where God is chosen. To bless the world, right? Jerusalem was a place God chose to bless the world.
Um And the king said, so what are you asking? And that's when you see the second big thing, right? There is this. There's this divine favor that comes after an appointed time. But as you said, there is this arrow prayer.
And actually, I was surprised when you said that because that's exactly how the word prayer in verse 4. Is described. It's, you know, the word or sort of the grammar there indicates this was an off-the-cuff, at-the-moment prayer. I mean, he literally throws a prayer up to heaven. And then he answers.
uh if it pleases the king and if your servant be has found favor in your sight Send me to Judah, to the city of my father's graves, that I may rebuild it. That was no small ask. And later, he's going to say to the king, oh, and by the way, I want you to pay for it.
So, this was a major ask, right? This city. had been destroyed. by the Babylonians, the empire right before the Persians, for its rebellion against the Babylonians. In other words, From the king's perspective, if you were sitting on the throne of Persia, you would want to know why was this city destroyed to start with?
And the answer would be because it rebelled against its overlords. that's why it was destroyed in fact when you start reading ahead in the book That's exactly why the people around who are loyal to the king of Persia are saying, don't rebuild it. Don't rebuild this city. This city has a long history of not submitting. to the kings of the powerful kings of the world.
And there's a theological reason for that, by the way, in Psalm 2. Right, the nations are all raging against Zion, God's chosen mountain, God's chosen city, because he chose. that nation to rule the other nations. And so if you're a Hashuarius and you're sitting on the throne with your queen next to you, You're sitting there going, what in the world is going on here? How in the world do you want me to rebuild a city that has this kind of a history?
And and yet He does. You know, that's the sovereign favor of God. Favor of God.
So there is this. Uh, there is this providential answer, right? I mean, in verses five through eight, um, and the king said, How long will he be gone, and when are you coming back? And it pleased the king. to give him letters.
uh and to give him wood for the the gates and the temple and the walls And at the end of verse 8, the king granted me what I asked. And then he explains how that happened. The king granted all of this to me because of the good hand of my God on me. That's the favorite.
So that's amazing.
Now, there's a detail before we go to the next big idea that I think I don't want to miss, and that is. There's a little statement. In bricks. The king said to me, and then in parentheses, the queen sitting beside him. And I got thinking about that as I was getting ready for this.
And this is Persia. And we noted in our opening sort of setup for the book that the events that we're reading about here. happened about 50 years or 40 years after. A Jewish queen was elevated to the throne of Persia. And this would have been in the days of a guy named Mordecai.
And his niece. Esther. And she sat on the throne next to the king. And she rescued the Jewish people from a horrific plot that had been crafted by somebody to destroy them.
Now, I don't want you to get the idea that the queen in verse 6 of chapter 2. Is Esther, it's not, but I think that detail is there to kind of get you thinking about that. Here is going to be another great rescue of God's people. From people who want to tear them down and destroy them and keep them in captivity. And I think That little detail is there to remind us.
That there is the sovereign favor of God.
So that's the first big idea in the first eight verses. Yeah, that Esther point, to your point, Dr. Horn. And I've studied and listened to some pretty, some smarter guys than me, and even like you, who have. who who have studied And they're Discovery has turned up that this could have been, that this king's stepmom.
Could have been Esther.
So she could have been stepmom to the reigning king. Correct. Regardless, she wielded a lot of influence, and God had given favor to his people. And it's just so fascinating. We were talking about the exile.
Of Daniel, you know, we went from First Peter, you're strangers, you're aliens, you're not of this world, you're exiles. We went from First Peter to Daniel, who is an exile, but here he is, a government worker, and God raises him up. And his influence on the Magi showed itself all the way to the Magi who came, traveled, you know, following yonder star to see Jesus, you know, and gave him those gifts and that the prophecy. You know, from the scriptures, that was, you know, such a beautiful picture of the influence of Daniel. And here we have the influence, regardless of whether she was his stepmom, whether she was that queen, or whether she had recently passed away, we see her influence.
And I think a couple questions I would ask, and we don't have to go as deep on these other points, you know, where he actually goes to the city, but I do want you to finish. But I think a couple of questions would be helpful here: when have you seen the favor of God in your life? What a question. When have you seen God go ahead of you and change hearts? And change Airplane tickets.
From the menial things of life, a parking space that you should never have gotten into a passed to a game. And then when you got there and you're sitting on the front row, you're sitting next to someone who you got to share the gospel with. You're like, this is why God gave me favor, so I could lift him up.
So there's all these occasions in our own life. Where God's given us favor, I think, of people who had medical reports that came back. And the Lord did like a medical miracle. You've had that happen in your life, Dr. Horn.
So, oh, yeah. You know, when has God answered, and then when has God answered prayer mightily? You know, we do these prayer request times, and it's like you're in a morgue. You know, sometimes you're in, you're in a Sunday school classroom in a group of people, and it's just one thing after another.
Well, my aunt's got this.
Well, let me tell you about my grandma. She's in her fifth hip replacement. Let me tell you about this. Let me tell you what I'm going through. Let me tell you what just happened.
Let me tell you about this car crash. And guess what? God wants to hear every request. And I'm not in any way, shape, or form denigrating that. But when's the last time we sat around?
It says, okay, no prayer request. What are the mighty things, the mighty answers to prayer? That God has done in your life today, this week, this month, this year. You know, and here, you know, so here you have one, we're looking back at one. There may not be a Jerusalem today.
There may not be a, you know, all of these things that have happened in redemptive history, from Jesus' grand entrance into the city to things that have happened in 1948 and whatever, had it not been for God miraculously giving this man favor and answering, faithfully answering his prayers. And then we see all the things implemented for that.
So, those are some questions. How has God answered prayer? Let's not rush past that. Let's take a moment. Let's take some inventory and say, thank you, Jesus, for how you answered my prayer.
Thank you, Lord, that you saved. That relative. I mean, I heard a testimony this week of someone getting saved who no one thought this guy would get saved. You know, everyone's like, This is, there's no way, Jose, but someone was faithfully praying, a mother was praying on her knees. For this young man to get saved.
And look what happened. Hallelujah.
So we've got to take inventory. And this whole book, these 13 chapters, 406 verses are a strong testament to a God who keeps his promises and answers his prayer. Answers prayers. Dr. Morton, take us real quick to the final verses into this.
So, because what happens next? I mean, he jumps astride. I mean, he gets a ticket to the king's forest to get all the timber he wants. You know, I mean, that's right. And then he goes to the city and his heart breaks again and he doesn't announce himself.
And then he has to rally the people. To get them to join the vision, which is, you know, here you have people that have been beaten up and exiled and persecuted and enslaved, and some shouldn't have even been there, and then he has the opposition.
So, take us. Kind of wind us through the rest of this real quick, sir. Yeah, so verses one through eight, big idea that we talked about was God's sovereign favor. In verses nine through 16, we're going to talk about careful planning. And really, careful planning always centers on a mission.
Right. There is a mission or a purpose. Around which we plan. And you might say, well, okay, the purpose is pretty clear. He's going back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls, but that's really.
On a human level, maybe, but I think there's a much bigger purpose here. And it is in verse 10. And it's the reason why you have Sanbalat and Tobiah so angry. Right. It displeased them that somebody had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.
That was the mission. Nehemiah wasn't trying to rebuild the walls so he could be known as the great wall builder of Israel. He wasn't trying to make a name for himself. He was trying to seek the welfare. of the people of God.
And God in his sovereign timing. had come to that place in the next Phase of his big mission to send Messiah to redeem his people from their sins, where this city needed to be rebuilt for the reestablishment of the welfare of his people. And so, as you put it, he gets a ticket to the forest. And then he's on his way. And as soon as he gets there, right, as soon as he crosses the Great River.
And it comes into the territory. The people that are there are ticked. San Ballot and Tobias.
So there's this opposition. That comes. It's the sort of the stirring of opposition. It's immediate, it's external, it's got ethnic and religious overtones to it. These are the Ammonites.
Who have been consistently enemies of God's people over the years. And so here they are again. And they don't deter. Nehemiah. He keeps rolling and he gets to Jerusalem.
And then there is this famous night ride. You remember, night rides in history are always famous.
Well, this is one of the more famous. biblical night rides And he keeps his counsel. He doesn't like blab everything to everybody. He takes a ride by night and he goes. Around the city's walls, and he examines.
What is there? He went up by night. And the officials in verse 16 did not know where I had gone or what I was doing. And I had not yet told the Jews or the priests or the nobles or the officials. and the rest who were to do the work.
So he got a really good picture. A realistic assessment. Of what was happening there. And so there is this sovereign favor married with human, careful, human, responsible, human planning. And that's really true in our ministries, right?
God's sovereign favor is what brings the ministry about, but there has to be thoughtful and intentional and God-dependent planning that has to take place for that mission to be done decently and in order. And so we have to make plans. For these broadcasts, or else it's just our own human ideas popping out of our mouth that aren't going to help anybody. A pastor has to make plans for how's this church that we're planning to start in two years, how's this church going to unfold?
So, there is this careful planning, and then there is a courageous leadership, and the courageous leadership really goes to the end of the chapter. And it's when he casts the vision to the people, right? He says to them, let's get real about where we're at. You see the trouble, verse 17, we're in. And let me define it for you.
Jerusalem is in ruins and its gates are burned. In other words, there's no protection and there's no worship going on here and there's no safety and there's no serving. And so because of that, come, let us. He actually is rallying people to the cause. he doesn't show up and say to people now step back and watch me and god do this He brings them in to the vision.
Come let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach, right?
so that we would no longer suffer derision. And then he motivates them. With this amazing statement in verse 18, I told them. of the hand of my God that had been on me for good. And also of the words that the king had spoken to me.
So it isn't just Nehemiah coming in with this great plan. And saying, let's rally together, grab your shovels and your hammers and the tools, and let's go at it. Before he gets movement one, he says, I want you to know something. The reason I'm standing here confidently. Calling us together to do this great work is not because I'm ignorant of what Sandballad and Tobias can do.
Those dudes have a lot of power. and they can do a lot of damage. And they can really hurt us. And I know that. And it's not that I'm ignorant of the incredible rubble and how bad it is.
I've actually gone all the way around the city and I've done a careful inspection. I know exactly what we're looking at. And here's what we're looking at. We're looking at a task that is humanly impossible. It isn't going to happen just because we decide to do it.
This ruin is too great for us. These enemies are too powerful and they're too politically well situated for us. We don't have the ability to do this, but I'm going to call us to do it anyway. I'm going to exercise courageous leadership. In the face of all of this opposition and human impossibility.
And the reason I can do that is because I've been watching God for the last half year do things in my life. I watched his good hand on me in chapter one. I watched his good hand on me at the beginning of chapter two, and I can stand here and tell you that the God of Israel will make us prosper. That's really the courageous leadership. The courageous leadership is not pointing to some great plan and careful, thoughtful, hey, this is how we're going to get it done, or the great fighting ability that was represented there.
We can take on San Ballad and Tobiah. We're not letting those dudes get in the way. That's not how Nehemiah goes at this. He recognizes the human impossibility and the overwhelming danger. These two dudes can hurt us.
This work is humanly impossible, but let's go at it anyway. Why? Because the God of heaven will make us prosper. And before you can lead people into major, major spiritual journeys, you've got to know that. I mean, I guess this is the heartbeat of the chapter.
You will never lead people successfully because of your own confidence or your own abilities or your own track records. Hey, I've been doing this for all these years. Look at what I've done. You've got to consistently, as a leader, Point people away from you and your abilities and your strengths, however wonderful they may be, and your past successes. And at the end of the day, the only thing big enough.
To motivate people to take on unbelievably humanly impossible tasks is to know that the God of heaven will make us prosper. And for that to happen, the leader has to be completely confident of that fact. And there just have been times in your life, Stu, when God's called you to do those kinds of things, and you've had to look at people and say, look, I. You just need to know, I am confident that the God of heaven is going to prosper this. And whether you go with me or not, I'm going because I'm going to be where the God of heaven is going to do things.
I had to do that a couple of times when we were starting major projects in Monterey, Mexico. We started a university there 28 years ago, and we started another one 24 years ago in Zambia. When I started those universities with one person in Zambia, Africa, and another person in Monterey, Mexico, we had no money. We had no faculty. We had no property.
We had nothing. And, you know, all these years later, literally in both of those places, there are multiplied millions of dollars worth of property and buildings. Each of those universities is fully accredited in their respective countries. They are fully staffed. They have trained hundreds of people in accredited degrees.
And the only way it happened is the God of heaven made it prosper. And every time we sat in those couches in those two countries talking, we had to know that. We had to be able to look at people and say, I don't know how this is going to happen. But I do know the God of heaven will make it prosper. And that's what courageous leadership does.
And if we get nothing else out of the book of Nehemiah, courageous leadership is not these bold words and this business savvy and this management tact. It is a rock-solid commitment that the God of heaven is going to make it prosper. And the reason we know that is we have been praying to the God of heaven for months. And we have seen him, as you said before, go before us and open the way that was humanly impossible. There's no possible way the king should have ever given Nehemiah one of the things he asked for, much less all of them.
And he did. The God of heaven. was going before his good hand was on this project. And that's the lesson of chapter two. It's so rich.
You know, you think about Daniel's words to the king. He said, There is a God in heaven. You know, he acknowledged that, and God delivered him from the mouth of the lions. God delivered him, you know, those Hebrew lads through the fiery furnace. And, you know, Dr.
Horn. Just, I love what you just said. I'm going to go back and listen to this podcast maybe a few times. And I encourage everyone to be sure you track with us and listen to the first week we did in Nehemiah, which was just last week, and be sure you download and share this with others. Especially if you're in an impossible situation.
There is no way you're going to find that money. There is no way that person's ever going to forgive you. There's no way you're going to build this grand thing that God has called you to. If you're in an impossible situation, Then you're ready for Hebrews 11:6. You're ready to join Nehemiah.
You're ready to take the need, stop dropping, pray, because without faith, It is impossible. To please God, because he's the God. Of the impossible. What a mighty God we serve. And this, this is a takes you to a high view of God.
And you can't help but think, Dr. Horne. About how you see the gospel. Because here, Nehemiah. The first time he'd ever ridden.
On a beast. into the city of Jerusalem. His heart had to break. He saw a city in complete rubble, in shambles. The gates had been burned, as the report confirmed earlier.
The walls were crumbled. Think about the first time Jesus rode in on a beast. into Jerusalem. We call it Palm Sunday. We kind of glamorize it.
It looks so beautiful and all that. But think about what was going in his heart. It says in Luke that he wept over the city. At that very moment, he saw a city that was not in ruins. He saw a beautiful temple.
I mean, Herod had restored this thing even better than Ezra did. And the walls were up, and the gates were shining, and they were magnificent. But Jesus Christ saw a city in absolute spiritual destruction. In absolute spiritual. He went in and he turned over the tables.
He would turn over the tables. You know, his father's house had been defiled. It had been turned into a bunch of a house of brigands and thieves. And Jesus' heart broke like Nehemiah's. And you know, really, we don't want to tell people be like Nehemiah.
We don't want to tell people, hey, here's another character study. We want to tell people to go to Jesus because Jesus did everything. Nehemiah, Daniel, these great Old Testament patriarchs, and they were flawed as much as they were wonderful and saints. But they all pointed to the one Who endured the cross, despised the shame, and is now set at the right hand of the throne of God. And will ultimately rebuild the walls of our life, and will ultimately rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.
And there'll be a new heaven and there'll be a new earth. And he was the cupbearer. Pastor JD, one of the sermons I linked to our leaders, he talked about how Christ. Was the cupbearer who didn't just taste the cup. You know, to sample it, to save the king, he took the cup of God's wrath and drank fully from the poison of God's wrath to experience death for us in our place so we could live.
So good.
So that's good. All these pictures of Jesus.
So we don't want you to leave this podcast and say, okay, I'm pulling myself up by my bootstraps. I'm going to be more visionary. I'm going to be more of a prayer warrior. I'm going to be more of a man of the word, a woman of the word. I'm going to be more fervent in my courage and standing up against evil.
No, we want you to leave this. broken, humble. Recognizing that the more weak I am, the more powerful God can be. And that is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is the 2 Corinthians 12:9 grace, where Paul says, When I am weak, He is strong because his grace is sufficient.
And Nehemiah needed the grace of God in the presence of the great, powerful, earthly king. And God's grace and favor flowed over him, flowed into him, and flowed through him. And we're going to see that flowing all across these 13 chapters, Dr. Horne. Yeah.
God's amazing grace.
Well end with this because you really hit it really well. Um, Nehemiah would be. probably super embarrassed and pretty offended. Uh Most of the sermons that are preached from this book. Because most of the sermons and a lot of the books I've read on Nehemiah all point to Nehemiah as the hero.
Be like Nehemiah. You got to be a great leader, like Nehemiah was a great leader. You got to be this visionary, I think you said a moment ago. You got to be a visionary leader, you got to have tact. You know, you got to do this.
And Nehemiah would be holding his hands up, going, No, no, no, no, man, if that's what you got out of this book, you missed it. I didn't want this book to be about me. I wanted this book to be about God. And I said it like all the way at the front end of the book. The whole reason anything happens in the book is not because of Nehemiah, it's because of the good hand of God on me.
It's what I told the king. It's what I told the leaders of Jerusalem. This was never supposed to be about me. You guys took a book that was supposed to be about God and you made it about me.
So get the focus off me and put it on the great builder, the great burden bearer, the God of heaven who's going to send his son to do what you just said. And I think that's super important. I just think that's super important. Amen. Yes, sir.
And I just, I really hope that that will, because at the end of the day, we're all. God's servants pointing to him. We're all shining the light on him, his glory. His greatness, his great name. And that goes back to: does the weeping and the mourning of Nehemiah wasn't some patriotic fervor?
Yeah, he was patriotic. Yeah, he loved his homeland. Yeah, he loved the country. He was 800 miles away physically, but his heart was in Jerusalem. His heart was broken.
But the zeal of Nehemiah. Was a heart that broke over the things that broke the heart of God. And may that be said of us. And Dr. Horman, I hope as you close in prayer, will you pray that we'll have that same heartbeat?
that will point people To the one who came to give us heart replacements and heart transformation and made us new, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, thank you that we could talk about this amazing chapter. And Lord, the response of your people when they understood your good hand was behind this, your sovereign favor was upon this. Your hand was leading Nehemiah's careful planning and enabling his courageous leadership. They spoke back saying, let us rise up and build.
And you strengthen their hand for the good work. That they were about to do. Lord, that's our prayer. We pray that you would do that for each of the Bible study leaders at Dario. that they would say in their own heart, I want to rise up and do this good work with your word in the hearts of all of these people that come on Wednesday morning.
And that, Lord, it would be so evident that your good hand is on them and on Stu and on the ministry that you burden him to do through these Bible studies. And Lord, that your hand would bless it. that the opposition to it would vanish. And that Lord Satan would be bound and that hearts would be liberated and strengthened and restored to you as these humble men and women open up the book of Nehemiah and teach others these wonderful things that you put there for your glory and our good. In Jesus' name, amen.
Thank you, Dr. Horn, and thank you for joining us for this Wednesday in the Word podcast. Learn more at wedintheword.com. Follow us on YouTube. Facebook and all social media, including in Stu Graham.
and be encouraged, stay in the word, read it. Share it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on God's Word. Every word of God is pure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in him. Proverbs 30 verse 5.
