3ABN Sabbath School Panel

Nehemiah

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants:

Home

Series Code: SSP

Program Code: SSP190041A


00:01 The Bible tells us, "In the beginning was the Word,
00:03 and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
00:07 It says, "To receive with meekness
00:09 the implanted Word,
00:11 which is able to save your souls.
00:13 And to be diligent
00:15 to present yourself approved to God,
00:17 rightly dividing the Word of truth."
00:20 Join us now for the 3ABN Sabbath School Panel.
00:25 Our study today is Ezra and Nehemiah.
00:32 Hello, and welcome 3ABN Sabbath School Panel.
00:35 You know what an awesome day this has been already.
00:37 I'm sure for each and every one of you
00:39 we'd pray God's blessing you.
00:40 But today we believe that it's gonna be a lesson
00:43 that you gonna make sure that you're gonna
00:45 spend this time with us, because...
00:47 I mean, as opening up
00:49 these lessons on Ezra and Nehemiah,
00:51 really just brings a lot of good thoughts to me
00:54 with the leadership and things that are going on
00:57 and how desperately
00:58 we need the Spirit of God to lead, guide and direct.
01:01 And so we're happy that you've decided to join us.
01:03 We're on lesson number two.
01:05 I'm Kenny Shelton.
01:07 And you know lesson number two is just Nehemiah.
01:09 Yes.
01:10 And, of course, our whole quarter
01:12 is Ezra and Nehemiah.
01:13 And so every time...
01:15 Even when I was young, when I heard Nehemiah,
01:18 there was something about Nehemiah
01:21 that I was always interested in.
01:23 Maybe because of the positions that he took,
01:25 the opposition that maybe came his way
01:27 and still he remained strong to God.
01:30 So, you know, that's a good example.
01:33 And those of you
01:34 who are studying and following along,
01:36 we want to make sure you do.
01:37 You know, it's nice to sit and watch
01:39 but I think it's much better, in my opinion.
01:41 We have our Bible, we have pencil and paper
01:44 and we have our study guides, so we can get that.
01:46 You say, "Well, I don't have those study guides."
01:47 You can get them, you can download them
01:50 at ABSG.Adventist.org.
01:54 That's ABSG.Adventist.org.
01:58 It's just there Adult Bible Study Guides.
02:01 You want these because there's something that
02:03 you'll be able to fill out and you'll be able to pass them
02:05 along to somebody else.
02:07 Too often I think we take things
02:08 and we mark it and we leave and then we keep it.
02:11 We need to pass the word along where we can.
02:13 And encourage others to be calling into
02:15 and to watch this program for sure.
02:16 More on that a little bit later on,
02:18 but introduction quick, introduction of our panel.
02:21 You know, praise God for a panel.
02:22 Praise God for people who are willing to take time
02:25 and it does take time to do these lessons.
02:27 People say, "Oh, just working then
02:28 into your schedule."
02:30 Yeah, to me it's above and beyond.
02:31 I don't know about you, but I praise God for it.
02:33 I think it's good.
02:34 Sister Mollie Steenson, it's always good to have you.
02:36 Thank you, Pastor Kenny Shelton,
02:37 who is Danny Shelton's older brother
02:39 and the one that kept Danny on the right track.
02:41 Okay?
02:43 That's why we're such a good friends.
02:44 Thank you, Sister Mollie.
02:45 Bless your heart.
02:47 Sister Shelley Quinn, always a pleasure,
02:50 always a treat to sit with you on any kind of panel or study.
02:53 I love to hear
02:54 what you all bring to the table,
02:56 it's so much fun.
02:57 Yeah, and you have a good friend next to you,
02:59 Pastor John Lomacang, always a pleasure.
03:01 No matter what we do, where we go,
03:03 what we seen, it's just...
03:05 it's always a pleasure.
03:06 So... May God be the glory.
03:07 Yeah. Amen. Give God the praise.
03:09 And you have somebody special besides you,
03:11 Sister Jill Morikone. Yeah.
03:13 What a pleasant surprise.
03:15 You know, not... It's not that...
03:16 She's got a smile always on her face,
03:18 you know, and, and to get that,
03:20 He has a joy of the Lord in your heart.
03:22 And so, praise God for that.
03:23 It's a privilege to open up God's Word
03:25 and study with each one of you.
03:26 Amen. All right.
03:28 Pastor John, how about you, quick word of prayer please,
03:29 as we start?
03:31 Loving Father, as we open Your Word,
03:32 open our hearts and our ears.
03:33 Yes.
03:35 May the spirit speak to us, may we not only receive,
03:37 but may we be empowered
03:39 to follow the path in which You lead.
03:41 Amen.
03:42 In Jesus' name I pray.
03:44 Amen. Amen.
03:45 Praise the Lord. Okay.
03:47 So you know, we're on lesson number two,
03:48 it's gonna be about Nehemiah.
03:50 And this is the one
03:51 that I know that you'll be interested in.
03:53 In our quarterly, you have...
03:54 You know, we always have our passage of scripture
03:57 that we have memory text.
03:59 And I though this was really a good text for us.
04:02 And maybe we should take time certainly to read it.
04:04 Nehemiah 1:4-5.
04:07 Sister Shelley, do you have that?
04:09 Would you read that for us please?
04:10 I do. Please.
04:11 "So it was, when I heard these words,
04:13 that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days,
04:17 I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
04:20 And I said, I pray, Lord God of heaven,
04:23 O great and awesome God,
04:26 You who keep Your covenant and mercy
04:29 with those who love You and observe Your commandments."
04:32 All right.
04:34 Such information in that one right there,
04:36 you take a lot of time and do a lot of stuff on that.
04:38 We're not going to do that today.
04:39 Just a quick overview because it's a Sabbath lesson,
04:41 we'll try to do it a little bit on the Sunday,
04:44 but just an overview.
04:45 We've had so far... We have two groups.
04:47 Just two groups of captives have returned to Judah.
04:51 Now notice what?
04:52 One more group is being prepared.
04:54 So it's like, it's gonna be three, two there,
04:57 one is in preparation.
04:58 And notice the word preparation.
05:00 It will probably be coming up a lot in these studies
05:02 that we have, the importance of that.
05:04 And so...
05:06 Well, you know, why did the other nations
05:08 try to stop it?
05:09 We realized that
05:10 there were some opposition is going on.
05:12 And why did the other groups want to stop?
05:14 Why did they want to interfere with what was taking place?
05:20 I mean, what we've been studying with already,
05:21 as they were afraid that the Israel
05:24 would return to the power that they once were.
05:27 Yes.
05:28 They were afraid of that.
05:29 And so they said,
05:31 we're gonna stop this at all cost.
05:32 I've seen that, you've probably been involved with us, so...
05:34 I'll let this be...
05:36 Well, this is something way past.
05:37 There are people nowadays,
05:38 even today's, even in the ministry,
05:40 they try to slow down or stop someone else
05:43 from doing what God has asked them to do.
05:45 And I just say that
05:46 we should be very cautious of that.
05:48 How do we know?
05:49 Because I'm not doing it the way you're doing
05:50 and vice versa through here.
05:52 It could be, God is calling us,
05:54 individual gifts to do something different.
05:56 We're not all doing the same thing.
05:57 Yeah, this is the gospel
05:59 but we need to be very respectful
06:00 I think of those who are called,
06:02 maybe do it in a little different way
06:03 than somebody else does it here.
06:05 But here's what, as we look at this,
06:07 they were afraid that the work would be completed,
06:09 the city would be rebuild, the walls would be rebuilt,
06:12 they would become strong again.
06:14 Ezra Chapter 4, we went through that
06:15 I think in our first lesson.
06:17 And they said, we're gonna stop this...
06:20 this process and progress.
06:21 We're just going to do it at all cost.
06:23 And I looked at that,
06:25 and I don't know if anybody feels challenged
06:27 if somebody says, I'm gonna put a stop to this.
06:29 You probably heard that maybe, maybe even ministry,
06:32 we'll put a stop to this.
06:34 And sometimes there needs to be a stop.
06:36 But in this case, right here, the people of God became afraid
06:41 because those on the outside said,
06:43 we're gonna put a stop to this.
06:45 It's not going to happen.
06:46 And they were people in high position,
06:48 people with authority, maybe people with money,
06:51 and it kind of shocked the laity
06:54 and some of the leaders to say, "Well, now I don't know."
06:56 Nehemiah received, you know, some bad news.
07:00 And certainly we'll just try to skip to that
07:01 in Sunday's lesson.
07:03 Every time I hear...
07:04 Have you ever heard this, there's two things happen
07:07 or some bad news and good news.
07:08 What do you want first?
07:10 What do we say, panel?
07:12 What do you say? Good news.
07:13 Give me the good news first.
07:14 I like to hear the bad first.
07:17 And I like the bad first, end with something good.
07:18 Me too.
07:20 I'd rather have the bad first. Okay.
07:21 It's is pretty much there.
07:23 Just go ahead and get the bad, just get it over with, right?
07:24 And then there'll be
07:25 something good that will help us
07:27 and encourage us to continue on.
07:28 Well, this one Nehemiah heard.
07:29 Here are some bad news here.
07:31 Many had returned to their homeland.
07:33 And we've been studying, we know that.
07:34 But things had...
07:36 I want to say blown up in their face.
07:38 It was very, very bad day.
07:40 Things weren't going very well at all.
07:43 We realized that it was like Moses,
07:45 we covered 13 years after Ezra returned to Jerusalem,
07:49 that all of a sudden reports
07:50 begin to coming in about the situation.
07:52 And listen, this is really bad.
07:55 They're looking for somebody to step up.
07:57 They're looking for somebody.
07:58 Where's God gonna...
08:00 Who's God gonna use
08:01 to get this bad situation squared away?
08:03 And so, Nehemiah heard about this.
08:05 I guess that's why I always liked about Nehemiah.
08:07 Nehemiah heard about this and he wasn't one of those
08:09 who's gonna back off and say,
08:11 "Hey, this is gonna be a tough thing."
08:13 But a lot of people is gonna like, maybe like it.
08:15 And there's a lot of people's not gonna like it.
08:17 He did...
08:18 Something bad is going on here with the cause of God
08:20 and I'm gonna step into this thing.
08:23 And so he realized that...
08:24 Again with the city, the walls being destroyed.
08:29 I think it was years in between
08:31 that he hadn't really heard nothing about how bad it was,
08:34 that be kind of...
08:35 Not like us today.
08:36 Some of you can go on a trip now,
08:38 you fly somewhere,
08:39 before you get back everybody knows what you did.
08:41 You ever had that?
08:43 You go on a trip, somebody kind of, oh,
08:44 we heard you preached on so and so,
08:45 oh, you did this or something happened,
08:47 the communication is different but back then it took years.
08:49 And finally when Nehemiah heard it,
08:50 he got really, really upset.
08:53 Not being able to build the wall,
08:55 not being able to brick...
08:57 You have protection against the enemies here.
09:00 Here's what he felt like.
09:01 He felt like God's people were defenseless.
09:04 He felt like God's people were desolate,
09:07 that God's people would not make it
09:08 if they did not get these walls build
09:10 and restore the house of God because that to me,
09:13 that's what it was all taking place here.
09:15 So God's people could get back to worship Him the way
09:18 that God wanted them to.
09:20 And so now okay...
09:21 Well, okay, now you've got the authority
09:23 to go do these things, but then it wasn't happening.
09:25 So that would be a little bit like,
09:27 you know, we're trying to expand here
09:28 and we've got money to build, but nobody wants to build,
09:30 nobody wants build nobody wants to become involved with it.
09:32 So now King Artaxerxes himself, he steps in,
09:36 as we've read before, he kind of steps in and stops,
09:39 stops the building because he had heard
09:41 a quite a controversy that was going on
09:44 and a lot of complaints.
09:45 Ezra Chapter 4.
09:46 Again, these are things
09:48 that we went over in our first lesson.
09:49 And this was a tough situation we realized.
09:51 Now with the temple being built,
09:54 but it was not functioning.
09:56 Now interesting, if you had a church or a temple,
09:59 would you wanted to function?
10:02 Absolutely you would.
10:03 But what was the problem?
10:05 The people.
10:06 They were afraid to come out,
10:08 they were afraid to get involved,
10:09 they couldn't live there in and among the temple.
10:11 And so they could...
10:12 You have to have people to,
10:14 you say run a church and to run a temple,
10:16 and that people were not showing up,
10:18 it just didn't take place.
10:20 Yes, Nehemiah received that word
10:22 and he said, "What's going on here?
10:24 Isn't this temple?
10:25 Isn't it to glorify God?"
10:27 So why aren't we coming together
10:29 to glorify God?
10:30 This is the whole purpose of this for our return.
10:33 And I think scripture
10:34 talks about a couple different words.
10:36 He became sad, then he became upset.
10:39 And I wonder how that works together,
10:41 you know, sad and then upset.
10:43 The House of God, the Holy City had been neglected.
10:46 They've been abandoned because the people
10:49 were afraid of those who were opposing them.
10:52 I wonder if that's ever happened
10:54 in ministry nowadays.
10:55 I wonder if that's ever happened
10:56 in church capacity.
10:58 Oh, yeah.
10:59 Or maybe they felt, people felt threatened
11:01 and they were afraid to do the right thing.
11:03 So here, here's what was going.
11:05 What did Nehemiah do?
11:07 What did he really do?
11:08 Well, there's several things that he could have done.
11:11 First of all, he could have just turned into people's voice
11:14 and all these things are wrong.
11:15 He could have turned around the people
11:17 and he could...
11:18 Look, the people said, you are a bunch of cowards.
11:21 You are yellow.
11:25 You...I'll be careful, you are sissies.
11:28 He could have done that,
11:29 because I figured he was a man of man.
11:33 He wasn't afraid, you see.
11:35 And so when the rest of people would not come together to do
11:38 what this was all about, he said, my land,
11:40 something is wrong.
11:41 But what did... They lacked faith.
11:43 He could have done that, he didn't do that.
11:46 He could have done it.
11:47 It will probably only make them feel worse.
11:49 He did not know those things at all.
11:52 He could have said, "Well, you know, this is...
11:54 this is the way it goes.
11:55 We'll just need to back down
11:57 for a while until the dust settles
11:58 and then we're gonna move forward on that."
12:00 No, Nehemiah begins to, always, most important,
12:03 brought out already, brought out this whole quarter,
12:06 he begins to pray, he begins to fast
12:08 and he begins to ask God for help.
12:10 Now this is where it always go.
12:12 I don't know that there could be another answer.
12:14 Maybe there is, in these kinds of situation.
12:16 What else would we do besides when it seemed
12:18 they were overwhelmed as it were,
12:19 the sea before us
12:21 and mountains and army behind, what do we do?
12:22 We need to pray.
12:24 And maybe before it gets to that point,
12:25 but they, he prayed and fast and ask God for help.
12:28 And certainly did we find those kinds of things,
12:30 maybe we're going on today.
12:32 God is looking for men and women
12:34 who can endure a disappointment.
12:37 They can...
12:39 They can deal with adversity, because that's what's happening
12:42 for those who are leading out in the cause of Christ today.
12:45 They're challenged on every hand.
12:47 And you have to know what you believe.
12:48 You have to know that God has called you
12:50 and you have to go and move forward
12:51 what God wants us to do.
12:54 You know...
12:55 Again, Monday's lesson,
12:56 which we're getting ready to go into...
12:58 Sister Mollie, I like that lesson
12:59 because it's going into, in Nehemiah's prayer.
13:02 The prayer, yes.
13:04 The prayer of Nehemiah and how prayer changed things,
13:07 and how desperately we need the prayer of faith,
13:11 prayer of men and women
13:12 who believe that God has called, God has chosen,
13:16 He's not gonna call you and leave you out
13:18 there with nothing.
13:19 We said some years. God calls you to dig a ditch.
13:21 He's gonna give you a shovel.
13:22 Amen.
13:24 He's not gonna dig it for you, but He'll give you a shovel.
13:25 And if you break that, bless your heart,
13:27 He'll give you another one.
13:28 Sister Mollie, about this prayer thing,
13:30 I want to hear about it.
13:31 Well, when Nehemiah got the bad news,
13:34 we see that it saddened him.
13:37 Yes.
13:38 He was mourning, bad news.
13:40 And you know, you mentioned,
13:42 all of the ministries that someone would rise up
13:45 and say, we're gonna stop you.
13:47 I'm just wondering here at 3ABN
13:50 over the last 30 some odd years,
13:53 have we ever had anyone rise up and say, we're gonna stop you?
13:56 Oh, yes. Yeah.
13:57 And I just want you to know God has prevailed...
13:59 Amen.
14:00 At every point.
14:02 Thank you Holy God.
14:03 Okay.
14:04 Nehemiah mourned.
14:06 He was sad.
14:07 But he went further than that.
14:09 He started fasting and praying.
14:10 And I get to look at this amazing prayer
14:14 that Nehemiah prayed.
14:15 You know, he gives us a template for prayer.
14:18 Was his prayer effective? Yes.
14:20 Did it bring great results? Oh, mercy.
14:22 Well, we can learn from Nehemiah's prayer.
14:25 At first I was gonna read the whole prayer to you
14:27 but sometimes we get lost in a lot of verbiage.
14:31 So what I want to do
14:32 is break this prayer down into four parts.
14:35 First, we're going to look
14:37 at Nehemiah 1:5.
14:43 And this is where Nehemiah
14:47 acknowledges the greatness of God.
14:50 Now I don't know about you,
14:51 but sometimes when I come to God with prayer,
14:55 I start out with "Help God Help."
14:57 Yeah.
14:58 Nehemiah gives us a better way.
15:00 First of all, he acknowledged the greatness of God.
15:04 Let's look at this.
15:05 Nehemiah 1:5,
15:09 "And I said, I pray, Lord God of heaven,
15:12 O great and awesome God,
15:14 You who keep Your covenant and mercy
15:17 with those who love You and observe Your commandments,
15:20 please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open,
15:24 that You may hear the prayer of Your servant
15:27 which I pray before You now, day and night."
15:30 He acknowledges the greatness of God.
15:34 Next, Nehemiah acknowledges their own simpleness.
15:39 Yes. Yes.
15:40 So he comes, "Oh, God,
15:42 You are the great and mighty God.
15:44 Oh, God,
15:46 there is nothing righteous within me."
15:48 Let's look at this.
15:49 "For the children of Israel Your servants,"
15:51 and the second part,
15:54 "and confess the sins of the children of Israel,"
15:57 which we have done what?
15:59 "Which we have sinned against you both my Father's house,
16:03 and I have sinned."
16:04 So he's acknowledging his sin,
16:07 but he's acknowledging the sins in the past as well.
16:11 "We have acted very corruptly against you,
16:15 and have not kept the commandments,
16:17 the statutes, nor the ordinances,
16:20 which I commanded Your servant Moses."
16:22 First of all, how great God is.
16:25 Secondly, oh, without You, we have no hope,
16:28 the sinfulness of man.
16:30 And then you know what Nehemiah does?
16:33 Puts God in remembrance of His promises.
16:36 Now, let me ask you this.
16:38 Is anything wrong with God's memory?
16:40 No. No.
16:42 But let me read you Isaiah 43:26.
16:47 God I...
16:48 God says through Isaiah.
16:50 "Put Me in remembrance, Let us contend together,
16:55 state your case, that you may be acquitted."
16:59 God loves it.
17:01 Amen.
17:02 Can I use that terminology?
17:04 Sure, sure. Yeah.
17:05 When we come before Him with His Word...
17:07 Amen.
17:08 When we come before Him with His promises,
17:09 when we put Him in remembrance, that...
17:12 If we can put Him in remembrance,
17:14 you know what that shows Him?
17:16 We know what His Word says.
17:18 So let's look where He puts...
17:21 He puts God in remembrance.
17:23 Verse 8.
17:24 Remember, I pray the word
17:26 that you commanded Your servant Moses saying,
17:30 "If you are faithful...
17:32 If you are unfaithful,
17:34 I will scatter you among the nations."
17:35 So let me ask you this.
17:37 Were they unfaithful? Yes.
17:39 What happened to them? Scattered.
17:41 They were scattered among the nations.
17:44 But...
17:45 Oh, thank God for the buts.
17:46 You know, Pastor Lomacang remember a long time ago
17:49 in one of his teachings.
17:50 I said, God just can't help us save.
17:53 He loves us so much,
17:54 He's always gonna put a but in there for us.
17:58 Doesn't matter how bad we get, people, God loves us.
18:01 And let's look at what that but says.
18:04 Thank God for buts. Yes.
18:05 But verse 9.
18:08 "If you return to Me..."
18:09 There's a prerequisite.
18:11 "If you return to Me," and do what?
18:15 "Keep my commandments and do them,
18:19 though some of you were cast out
18:21 to the farthest part of heaven."
18:23 You know what that means?
18:24 Doesn't matter how bad you are,
18:27 doesn't matter how far out there you get,
18:29 if you will repent and return to God...
18:31 Look at this.
18:33 "Yet I will gather them from there and bring them
18:37 to the place which I have chosen
18:40 as a dwelling for My name."
18:42 So He puts him in remembrance of a promise,
18:46 the promise that he had made to Moses.
18:49 Okay, we're gonna look at Part B of that promise.
18:52 But what was part A?
18:54 Part A was, if you are unfaithful,
18:56 I'm gonna scatter you.
18:57 Was God faithful?
18:59 Was He honest?
19:01 Was He true to that portion?
19:03 Yes, He was.
19:04 Well, I'm gonna give you a just a little precursor.
19:07 If he's faithful to part A, what's he gonna be, Jill?
19:10 Faithful to part B. Faithful to part B.
19:12 Boy, part B is a good one.
19:13 Okay.
19:15 Now we look at the help, God help.
19:17 Here he says, verse 11.
19:20 "O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear
19:24 be attentive to the prayer of Your servant,
19:28 and to the prayer of Your servants
19:29 who desire to do something,
19:32 to fear Your name and let Your servant
19:35 prosper this day, I pray,
19:37 and grant him mercy in the sigh of this man."
19:42 So what Nehemiah was doing,
19:44 was, he was going before the king
19:47 and he was gonna make a request.
19:49 But before he went before the king...
19:52 I mean, he was the king's cupbearer.
19:56 He had position and he could have gone
19:59 on his own merit.
20:01 But you know what he did first?
20:03 First he cried out to God.
20:05 He was asking God to give him favor
20:08 in the eyes of the cupbearer.
20:09 Okay.
20:11 Again, we're looking at a template for prayer,
20:13 something we can learn from.
20:15 Yes.
20:16 And Nehemiah has his prayer in the right oft,
20:22 in the right order.
20:23 He focuses himself on the greatness of God.
20:27 He focuses himself on his own sinfulness.
20:31 And he looks to the grace and mercy of God for hope.
20:39 Now in verse 5 he addresses the covenant.
20:44 Now I want to ask what a covenant is.
20:46 Somebody tell me what a covenant is.
20:48 It's the oathbound promises.
20:51 An oathbound promise, okay.
20:54 Shelley, you're always so good with things.
20:56 An agreement...
20:57 And it's usually between how many people?
20:59 Two.
21:00 It's usually between two people or two groups of people.
21:03 And it's to be, it's upheld when how many parties keep it?
21:08 When...
21:09 In human reasoning, in our thinking,
21:12 you keep your part of the covenant,
21:13 I'll keep my part of the covenant.
21:17 Now the most amazing thing...
21:19 Who made the covenant here?
21:21 God made the covenant.
21:22 The most amazing thing
21:24 about God's covenant with us is,
21:27 whether we keep our end of the covenant or not,
21:29 God never breaks covenant with us.
21:31 Amen.
21:32 Doesn't matter how far out there we get,
21:34 there's always that but.
21:36 God always reaches out Himself
21:38 and says, "But, if you will return to me."
21:42 Then the B part of the covenant,
21:44 it will go into effect.
21:47 But if you return to Me
21:48 and keep My commandments to do them,
21:51 though some of you were cast out.
21:53 He says, here's the B part.
21:55 "I will gather them from there and bring them to the place
22:02 which I have chosen, has a dwelling for them."
22:06 If the part one of the covenant had been fulfilled,
22:11 they were unfaithful and they were scattered,
22:14 then we can have confidence
22:17 that part two would be fulfilled to,
22:20 if you return to Me
22:22 and keep My commandments to do them,
22:24 I will gather you unto Myself.
22:27 What a covenant keeping God.
22:29 How faithful He is to us.
22:31 How much confidence in faith
22:33 that should put into our hearts?
22:35 I think our plea as a panel to every one of you today
22:40 is that you look into your heart
22:42 and if you feel that separation from God,
22:45 we want to make it very clear to you
22:48 and encourage you that no matter
22:50 how far out there you got, there is always hope,
22:53 there is always, that, but if you will return to me,
22:57 all God is waiting for is for you
22:59 to say help God, help, and He is there to help you.
23:03 Okay, the four steps in this template for prayer
23:07 that is so successful.
23:09 Recognize who He is,
23:11 the Creator of all the universe.
23:14 Recognize our helplessness without Him.
23:18 Put Him in remembrance of His word.
23:21 And then finally,
23:23 it's time for us to say, help God help
23:26 and have confidence to know that He will help us.
23:29 Amen.
23:31 Yeah, that's a good one. Absolutely awesome.
23:33 It sets some real groundwork here.
23:35 You know, we're gonna take a short break.
23:37 Please don't go away,
23:38 and we'll see you in just a moment.
23:45 Ever wish you could watch
23:47 a 3ABN Sabbath School Panel again,
23:49 or share it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter?
23:52 Well, you can by visiting 3abnsabbathschoolpanel.com.
23:57 A clean design makes it easy to find the program
24:01 you're looking for.
24:02 There are also links to the Adult Bible Study Guide
24:05 so you can follow along.
24:07 Sharing is easy.
24:08 Just click share and choose your favorite social media.
24:11 Share a link, save a life for eternity.
24:18 Welcome back. We're glad you stayed with us.
24:20 We're going to go right now to Tuesday's lesson.
24:22 Sister Shelley Quinn,
24:24 we're looking at Nehemiah speaks out.
24:26 Amen.
24:28 And I just want to thank you both for setting this up.
24:31 Here we've got this troubled prayer warrior,
24:35 who has a high position in the king's court.
24:37 And he hears this news
24:39 that the walls have been broken down,
24:42 the gates have been burned around Jerusalem
24:44 and you couldn't have a city without the walls.
24:47 So I'm gonna read, begin with Nehemiah 1:11.
24:51 He's praying and he says, "O Lord, I pray,
24:54 please let Your ear be attentive
24:55 to the prayer of Your servant,
24:57 to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name
25:01 and let Your servant prosper this day,
25:04 I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."
25:09 Speaking of King Artaxerxes.
25:12 He says, "For I was the king's cupbearer."
25:16 So Nehemiah worked in Susa as the King's cupbearer.
25:21 That means he was like the wine steward.
25:24 He chose the wine.
25:26 But more importantly,
25:29 before he set it before the king,
25:30 can make sure it was not poisoned.
25:33 So what happened?
25:34 This is actually a very high official position.
25:38 And the king often regarded their cupbearers
25:44 as a close personal counselor.
25:48 So we see Herodotus,
25:52 who is an ancient Greek historian
25:55 pointed out how important the cupbearers were.
25:58 And he talks about a cupbearer of the Assyrian King,
26:02 Esarhaddon who was the chief minister of the kingdom.
26:07 So being a cupbearer was a high political position.
26:12 And it gave Nehemiah
26:15 unique access to the king.
26:18 Just remember with Joseph and Esther and Mordecai,
26:22 here we've got these Jews that had special access.
26:28 So he prays, he hears the news and this is the month of Kislev
26:33 when he hears the news,
26:35 he prays and fasts for four months,
26:39 because it's the month of Nisan
26:40 when he, finally he's before the king.
26:42 They were unclear, why?
26:44 Could be that the king wintered in Babylon instead of in Susa,
26:48 he could have been waiting for a particular Persian feast
26:53 where the king granted the request.
26:56 I just think it was God's perfect timing.
26:58 God's timing is always perfect.
26:59 Yes.
27:01 So he comes before the king
27:02 in Nehemiah 2:1-8.
27:05 We're gonna break this down.
27:07 "It came to pass in the month of Nisan,"
27:09 which was March or April,
27:11 "in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes,
27:14 when wine was before him,
27:17 that I took the win and gave it to the king.
27:19 Now I had never been sad in his presence.
27:22 It was dangerous to be sad in the presence of the king.
27:26 Kings like happy subjects,
27:28 because that was a reflection
27:30 on their administrative ability.
27:32 So he said, "I'm sad, and I've never been sad
27:36 in his presence before and the king said to me,
27:39 why is your face sad?
27:41 Since you are not sick?
27:43 This is nothing but sorrow of heart."
27:46 Remember, in Esther Chapter 4,
27:48 you couldn't even wear mourning clothes if you had,
27:52 if you were in mourning,
27:53 you were not allowed into the palace.
27:57 So then this is interesting.
27:59 Here's this brave
28:00 prayer warrior says, "I became dreadfully afraid."
28:05 Well, I think there's two reasons.
28:07 Number one, he said, it could upset the king.
28:10 Number two, he's about to ask the king
28:12 for a very bold request
28:14 to reverse his previous decision,
28:18 when Artaxerxes had caused the building
28:22 of Jerusalem to cease.
28:24 So if you displease the king,
28:27 the king could off with your head.
28:29 Right.
28:30 So what happens when he makes this request
28:36 or when the king asks this?
28:39 He says, in verse 3.
28:42 "I said to the king, May the king live forever!
28:46 Why should my face not be sad, when the city,
28:49 the place of my fathers' tombs,
28:52 lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?"
28:57 He's undaunted by fear.
28:59 I love that about him.
29:01 This man of faith believed
29:02 that God was greater than this king.
29:05 And he proceeded though
29:06 with diplomacy in an emotional appeal.
29:09 Notice that he doesn't mention Jerusalem immediately.
29:14 He just says the cities where my ancestors were buried.
29:18 Well, this would strike
29:20 a sympathetic chord with the king
29:21 because the Persians invested a lot of money
29:26 to and went to great expense to build the tombs
29:30 for their dead ancestors.
29:33 And what was so important about the gates?
29:36 The gates were the place where the...
29:39 It was the basis of social life
29:41 and this is also where they had their judicial procedures.
29:45 So burn gates meant the death of a community.
29:48 And there was no permanence to the community without walls.
29:53 So he's got the king's attention.
29:54 And verse 4 says, "The king said to me,
29:57 what do you request?"
29:59 And he...
30:00 When the king says that, what does he do?
30:03 He sends up an emergency prayer.
30:07 I mean, just this is a silent prayer.
30:10 But he said, so I prayed to the God of heaven.
30:12 Yes.
30:14 See, the King recognized Nehemiah's
30:16 desire to take action.
30:18 And Nehemiah broke into a silence,
30:20 spontaneous prayer.
30:23 Even while he was talking with the king,
30:24 I love that.
30:26 You know, I believe with all of my heart,
30:29 if you have a habit of in depth prayer,
30:33 or you're not rushing into the presence of the Lord,
30:35 but where you pray often with the Lord
30:38 and spend time with Him,
30:39 I believe that those fast prayers
30:43 that you send up,
30:44 you know, you're gonna get answers, right?
30:46 All right.
30:47 So, and eight times in this book,
30:49 Nehemiah breaks into spontaneous prayer.
30:52 So verse 5.
30:53 "I said to the king,
30:56 if it pleases the king,
30:58 and if your servant has found favor in your sight,
31:01 I ask that you send me to Judah,
31:03 to the city of my fathers' tombs..."
31:05 This is the first time he's mentioned where it is.
31:08 "That I may rebuild it.
31:10 Then the king said to me..."
31:12 And here's an interesting parenthetical statement.
31:15 The queen also sitting beside him,
31:17 which means it was probably a private dinner, instead of...
31:21 I mean, because the queen wasn't always sitting.
31:23 It wasn't customary at formal banquets
31:25 for the queen to sit next to the king.
31:28 So, "The king said to me,
31:32 with the queen sitting beside him,
31:33 how long will your journey be, and when will you return?
31:36 So it pleased the king to send me,
31:39 and I set him a time."
31:41 You know, and he ended up staying there for 12 years.
31:44 I wonder if he told the king that.
31:46 But the interesting thing was,
31:48 he knew the appropriate time to approach the king,
31:53 when he's setting the wine before him
31:54 as a trusted servant.
31:55 So verse 7.
31:57 "Furthermore, I said to the king,
31:58 if it pleases the king..."
32:00 Now get this.
32:01 Here he just made this bold request.
32:04 But now he's gonna go a little further
32:06 because he wants to make sure
32:08 that God's mission is completely fulfilled,
32:11 that his prayer will be completely answered.
32:14 "If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me
32:17 for the governors of the region beyond the River,
32:20 that they must permit me
32:21 to pass through till I come to Judah..."
32:25 So the reason that was so important
32:28 is because he needed this kind of a royal document
32:32 to get through the land of his enemies,
32:34 basically, this dangerous
32:35 four month 900 mile journey from Susa to Jerusalem.
32:40 And then he asked for a letter to Asaph,
32:42 the keeper of the king's forest.
32:44 Hey, he, I know Nehemiah believed that
32:48 God is the giver of every good and perfect gift.
32:51 So he's now asking for the materials
32:53 what, to do what?
32:55 And by the way, lumber, timber,
32:58 was a precious commodity.
33:01 It was the forest work guarded very carefully.
33:06 So he asked for this letter,
33:08 so that he could build the citadel,
33:10 which was the fortress near the garden temple,
33:14 and the gates, the city wall,
33:16 and the house that I will occupy.
33:18 And the king granted them to me
33:20 according to the good hand of my God upon me.
33:25 He recognizes this is coming from his God.
33:30 So the king not only agreed to let him go,
33:36 but he supplies him with everything
33:41 that he needs for his mission.
33:44 And, you know,
33:45 it wasn't an everyday occurrence
33:46 that a king would let a cupbearer
33:48 go be a governor of another province.
33:51 So this was an amazing request.
33:54 It was a bold request.
33:56 But he knew that God would do it.
33:58 Amen.
33:59 And Nehemiah left as soon as possible,
34:02 traveling along the same route that Ezra had taken.
34:06 Amen. Wow.
34:07 Thank you, Shelley. Thank you, Mollie.
34:09 Thank you, Pastor Kenny.
34:11 Mine is Wednesday.
34:13 And it's just a very short title
34:15 "Nehemiah sent."
34:18 I've often said, if you don't believe
34:19 that the devil exists,
34:21 wait for the Lord who sends you.
34:23 Yeah, very good. We'll find out.
34:25 Whenever you doubt that evil exists,
34:28 get involved in the work of the Lord.
34:30 Amen.
34:31 Two short verses, Nehemiah 2:9-10
34:34 are covering this day.
34:37 And, Jill, I don't know what happened to me,
34:39 but somehow lists are becoming a part of my life.
34:42 And we're gonna...
34:43 we're gonna look
34:44 at some very interesting parallels here.
34:46 Because there's a huge question asked
34:48 on the heels of these two verses, verse 9 and 10.
34:51 And, Shelley, thank you for the segue.
34:54 "Then I went,"
34:55 that is the good hand of God was upon me.
34:58 And he says, "Then I went," verse 9,
35:00 "to the governors in the region beyond the river,
35:04 and gave them the king's letter.
35:06 Now the king had sent captains of the army,
35:09 he had a military escort."
35:12 He needed safety because the king
35:14 that sent him knew that there was opposition,
35:17 and his life could have been at risk.
35:20 And he sent captains of the army
35:22 and horsemen with me,
35:24 when Sanballat, the Horonite and Tobiah,
35:28 the Ammonite official heard of it,
35:30 they were deeply disturbed that a man had come
35:33 to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.
35:38 What a powerful...
35:39 That's a sermon right there all in itself.
35:41 You know mine who said it.
35:43 And I've spoken so many times on Nehemiah in portions.
35:46 That passage, there are those verses, Jill,
35:49 that stand out as a, this is a sermon verse,
35:53 that those who hear that anything is done
35:57 for the betterment of God's people
35:59 that are in opposition,
36:01 they will start by being deeply disturbed.
36:04 Yes.
36:06 And when you look at the story, as it continues to unfold,
36:09 they go from being deeply disturbed
36:11 to start taking severe actions against them.
36:14 Let's outline who these three were.
36:17 Because the question is asked,
36:19 what do these verses tell us about the opposition Nehemiah,
36:23 and the Jews in general we're going to face?
36:27 And I just made the point,
36:28 whenever we seek the wellbeing of God's people,
36:31 trouble always ensues.
36:33 Well, who is Sanballat, Tobiah and the Arab,
36:37 particularly Geshem?
36:39 Sanballat was the Governor of Syria to the north.
36:42 Tobiah was the Governor of Amman to the east.
36:46 Geshem or the Arab was to the south.
36:49 He controlled Edom and Moab.
36:51 So if you look at this, they were trying to lock him in
36:54 by controlling the territory around him.
36:57 So it was fitting that he had a military escort,
36:59 because the king who sent him knew that
37:02 there are adversarial positions,
37:05 that if he doesn't go in the right direction,
37:07 or if he doesn't have a security detail with him,
37:10 he could run not only into opposition,
37:12 but he could lose his life.
37:14 So it always starts by them being deeply disturbed,
37:17 they might start by saying,
37:20 "So what do you think we should do?
37:21 We just heard about this guy going back to help
37:24 a cause for which we are opposed.
37:26 What do you think we should do?
37:27 They're deeply disturbed."
37:28 So let's look at some of the ways.
37:30 And I like what the Sabbath School writer
37:32 put this term here.
37:34 It says, bullies don't rejoice
37:36 over the good fortune of those they intimidate.
37:40 It's good. Bullies don't rejoice.
37:42 And this is in the lesson.
37:44 Over the good fortune of those they intimidate.
37:46 So let's look at the four pronged attack of Satan,
37:49 whenever, and I found these,
37:51 and I'm gonna highlight the points
37:52 that are gonna follow
37:53 the four pronged attack of Satan.
37:55 First, whenever God's people are involved in a work,
37:58 first he pursues, then he overtakes,
38:03 then he divides, then he destroys.
38:05 It's good. Those are the four...
38:06 He pursues, overtakes, divides, and then destroys.
38:10 Look at some of the examples.
38:11 Let's go to 1 Corinthians 16:2.
38:14 And because I only had two verses,
38:15 I had to pull from other portions
38:17 of the Bible to give support
38:19 to these four very important points.
38:21 Satan always seeks a convenient season
38:24 to attack God's people.
38:26 Oh, yeah.
38:27 He waits.
38:29 Servant of the Lord Ellen White says,
38:30 that his footsteps are noiseless.
38:33 He is patient.
38:35 And that's what a roaring lion is.
38:37 They don't just roar,
38:39 but they wait for the opportune moments.
38:41 My wife and I like to watch National Geographic.
38:44 And it always amazes me when the lion just rises up
38:48 and moves slowly.
38:49 And I found out that when their cubs,
38:53 the cub has to practice
38:55 and the mother continues to teach them
38:56 how to practice because if he makes so much as...
38:59 if it twig so much as cracks,
39:02 the animal that he's hunting can hear it.
39:05 So he has to do it over and over
39:06 until he can get to the point
39:08 where he can step over twigs and they don't even crack.
39:11 So he starts by pursuing.
39:13 Let's look at one of the examples.
39:14 1 Corinthians 16:12.
39:17 "Now concerning our brother Apollos,
39:19 I strongly urged him to come to you with the brethren,
39:25 but he was quite unwilling to come at this time,
39:28 however, he will come when he has a convenient time."
39:33 When we are unwilling,
39:36 we are often looking for times of convenience.
39:39 It's not a good time.
39:41 There is never an inconvenient time
39:43 to do God's will.
39:44 The spirit that was expressed in these verses,
39:47 Satan also looks for convenient seasons.
39:50 And I say this...
39:51 There's a term my wife and I use.
39:53 What we say, "Never lower your guard."
39:56 Never lower your guard, always be suspect.
40:00 And not suspect
40:02 in the sense of thinking evil about individuals.
40:03 But when you're in an environment
40:05 where you're not accustom,
40:06 when you are in a new environment,
40:08 always keep your guard up.
40:10 That's right.
40:11 Have an official approach to things.
40:14 Be very reserved when it comes
40:16 to how you communicate with other people
40:17 physically and emotionally and verbally.
40:20 So that the...
40:22 When you establish a protocol ahead of time,
40:24 this protocol will be a safety whenever you go into places
40:26 that are not very accustomed.
40:28 And I look at professional leaders,
40:29 I look at presidents,
40:31 I look at the General Conference president,
40:32 I look at people
40:34 that are very much public in our church.
40:35 And we look at them for particular reasons.
40:37 We say notice how they stand when they take a picture.
40:41 Notice how they stand in positions
40:42 of, in important times.
40:45 When you practice the protocol of safety at home,
40:48 that protocol of safety will follow
40:50 you wherever you go.
40:52 The second one, Satan pursues us.
40:54 Exodus 15:9.
40:56 I'll go through these very quickly.
40:58 The enemy said...
40:59 And this is talking about the freedom of the Israelites.
41:03 "The enemy said, I will pursue,
41:07 I will overtake, I will divide the spoil.
41:11 My desire shall be satisfied on them,
41:15 I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them."
41:18 All four points are right in verse, chapter 15, verse 9.
41:23 How Satan pursues.
41:24 Exodus 15:9.
41:26 The enemy said, I will pursue,
41:28 overtake, divide, and destroy and he'll do it by the sword.
41:33 He said, I'll use the sword, and my hand shall destroy them.
41:37 Okay, the third one,
41:39 Satan creates division among us.
41:40 He seeks to divide.
41:42 1 Corinthians 1:10.
41:44 He says, "Now I plead with you, brethren,
41:46 by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
41:50 that you all speak the same thing,
41:52 and that there be no division among you,
41:54 but that you be perfectly joined together
41:56 in the same mind and in the same judgment."
41:59 So the same is true today.
42:01 If we are seeking the goodwill of the people,
42:04 we have to remain united.
42:05 Shelley has to be united with Mollie,
42:07 and Pastor Kenny and I cannot be speaking
42:09 in opposition to Jill.
42:10 We have to be in harmony with one another.
42:12 Yes.
42:14 And, so that unity is something that has to maintain it front
42:18 with each other around
42:19 or if the other person is not even there.
42:22 The other one, he seeks to create wrath
42:25 against the workers, Revelation 12:12.
42:27 We know that one.
42:28 He's come down having great wrath,
42:31 because he knows he has a short time.
42:32 That's right.
42:34 And the wrath is not just from opposition on the outside.
42:37 But if you notice that,
42:38 that wrath could be worker against worker.
42:40 If we as workers of God, if we as the people
42:43 that God has called
42:45 become wrathful against each other.
42:47 I spoke to one of my leaders
42:49 just recently that saw something
42:50 that was not very comfortable.
42:52 And that person said,
42:53 "Well, I want to just stand up and walk out."
42:55 I said, "As a leader you don't have that luxury.
42:57 Because your influence can create a coalition
43:00 of opposition, that will be hard to reverse."
43:03 If you have something that you don't agree with,
43:05 you come to me as the pastor,
43:07 we discuss it and we find methods
43:09 and key ways of addressing that
43:11 rather than creating visual opposition.
43:13 Yes. It's good.
43:15 The other one is Acts 18:6.
43:18 How does Paul respond to this opposition?
43:20 He says, but when they opposed him and blasphemed,
43:23 he shook his garments, and said unto them,
43:27 your blood be upon your own head, I am clean,
43:31 from now on I will go to the Gentiles."
43:33 Acts 18:6.
43:35 And the opposition is once again
43:37 in the story of Joshua.
43:40 Zachariah 3:1.
43:42 "Then he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing
43:45 before the angel of the Lord,
43:46 and Satan standing at his right hand to," what?
43:49 "Oppose him." That's right.
43:51 So very quickly, and then finally,
43:52 Paul's response to opposition, because Paul talked about this,
43:56 who opposes speaking about that power
43:58 that will come in the future
43:59 who opposes and exalts himself above all is called God.
44:02 So here's the assurance,
44:04 that "God is for us who can be against us,"
44:06 Romans 8:31. Amen.
44:07 "In all these things we are more than conquerors,"
44:09 Romans 8:37.
44:11 Exodus 14:14,
44:13 "The Lord will fight for you, just hold your peace."
44:15 Yes.
44:16 In Joshua 1:9, "Have I not commanded you,
44:19 be strong and of good courage."
44:21 Amen. Amen.
44:22 Thank you, Pastor John, that was incredible.
44:25 I am so grateful for the blood of Jesus.
44:27 I'm so thankful for the promises in His Word,
44:31 and that He stands up and fights against the enemy.
44:34 That's right. What a blessing.
44:36 That was powerful.
44:38 I have Thursday, Nehemiah prepares for his task.
44:42 We're looking at Nehemiah 2:11-20.
44:47 And want to pick it up with verse 11.
44:49 Nehemiah writing, speaking, "So I came to Jerusalem,
44:53 and was there three days."
44:55 Now three days is very significant
44:57 in the Word of God.
44:59 Oh, yeah.
45:00 I think of Genesis 22:4.
45:02 Abraham was traveling with his son Isaac,
45:04 and he looked up...
45:06 What does the Bible say?
45:07 On the third day he lifted up his eyes.
45:08 That's right.
45:10 And there he saw the mountain, Mount Moriah.
45:12 Genesis 31:22,
45:14 "It was on the third day
45:15 that Laban was told that Jacob had fled."
45:18 Right.
45:20 Exodus 19:11,
45:21 there were three days of preparation
45:23 before the giving of the law of God,
45:25 there at Mount Sinai,
45:28 with the children of Israel encamped in the wilderness,
45:30 three days of preparation.
45:32 Yes.
45:33 Esther 5:1.
45:34 There were three days of fasting and prayer
45:38 before Esther approached the king unannounced.
45:42 And, of course, we know Matthew 16:21,
45:46 Jesus explaining to His disciples
45:47 that He must suffer
45:50 and be killed three days in the tomb,
45:53 and then He will rise again.
45:55 That's right.
45:56 And there's more examples
45:58 in the Word of God of three days.
45:59 So it's just fascinating to me
46:00 that Nehemiah was there three days
46:02 before he really stepped in and did anything.
46:05 Now, you know, we're...
46:07 Do enlist, Pastor John. Okay.
46:09 So I want to look at some principles of leadership
46:11 displayed in the life of Nehemiah,
46:14 as he prepared for his tasks, specifically here.
46:17 And the biggest overarching principle
46:19 I see in this whole passage is learn to work with people.
46:22 Oh, yeah.
46:23 Learn to work with people.
46:26 Have mercy.
46:27 You know, it would be fabulous
46:29 if you lead with no people, right?
46:30 You just said, okay, I am just but, that...
46:33 To be a leader, you have to have people around you,
46:36 you have to have a team.
46:38 Learn to work with people.
46:40 So I see three different aspects,
46:42 we're gonna to divide it
46:43 into the three different aspects.
46:44 First, Nehemiah worked with an unbelieving king.
46:48 Second, Nehemiah worked with a demoralized Jews.
46:52 That's where we spend the balance of our time
46:54 because that's my lesson, verses 11 through 20.
46:57 And third, Nehemiah worked with his enemies.
47:00 So we're gonna divide the lesson up
47:02 into three portions.
47:03 First, he worked with an unbelieving king.
47:07 As Shelley talked about, and Mollie talked about,
47:11 he moved the king through prayer.
47:13 I love that.
47:15 I think the prayer in Nehemiah Chapter 1,
47:17 Miss Mollie, set up the king's response
47:20 in Nehemiah Chapter 2.
47:21 And not only did that prayer in Nehemiah 1,
47:24 but the four months time between Nehemiah Chapter 1
47:28 and Nehemiah Chapter 2,
47:29 and he actually made his request.
47:32 I think Nehemiah everyday petitioned the throne of grace.
47:35 Every day he prayed about this.
47:39 He had a consistent prayer life.
47:41 Not only that,
47:43 he knew how to present a specific petition before God,
47:46 just when the time was right.
47:48 Not only had he been praying for four months,
47:49 and he fasted and prayed, it says in Nehemiah 1.
47:53 But when the king said, "What is your request?"
47:54 What does he say?
47:56 He sent up a quick prayer, a petition, as you said.
47:59 Help, God, a quick prayer right then.
48:02 He knew how to pray.
48:04 He moved the king through prayer.
48:06 He gained respect through consistency and loyalty.
48:09 I love what you talked about, Shelley.
48:11 He said, never had I been sad before in the king's presence.
48:14 He was consistent.
48:15 I don't know about you, Pastor John,
48:17 but there's some people
48:18 that every day you say good morning,
48:20 and you don't know how they're gonna be that day.
48:22 Some days they might say, "Oh, I'm doing really great."
48:24 And the next day, "Well, I'm just struggling
48:28 and I'm having such a hard day."
48:30 Right?
48:31 But Nehemiah was consistent
48:34 in his Christian witness before the king.
48:37 The third thing I see,
48:39 when he was working with the unbelieving king,
48:41 is that he spoke with tact and respect.
48:44 Nehemiah 2:3, it's interesting to me
48:47 that he did not mention Jerusalem by name.
48:50 We know that Artaxerxes had put this decree.
48:54 And he didn't even mention Jerusalem.
48:55 He didn't say, you know, what, I want to go to Jerusalem
48:57 and he didn't even mention that.
48:59 He appealed to the king's emotions,
49:01 and what you already referenced, Shelley,
49:03 as far as the Persian kings
49:04 and what they thought
49:06 of with the, the honoring of the dead.
49:08 So he said, "Why should my face be sad when the city,
49:11 the place of my fathers' tombs lies waste
49:13 and its gates are burned with fire?"
49:15 So he appealed to the king's emotions.
49:17 He spoke with tact and respect.
49:22 How did he work with the demoralized Jews
49:26 when he got there to Jerusalem?
49:29 The Jews in Jerusalem clearly believed in God.
49:32 But they were discouraged.
49:33 The walls were destroyed,
49:35 the gates had been burned with fire,
49:38 and they were discouraged.
49:40 How did he work with them?
49:41 I see five ways that he worked with them.
49:43 Number one, he took time
49:45 and considered the matter before acting.
49:49 You know, rash leaders act before they think.
49:52 And they speak before they think.
49:55 Wait before making a decision.
49:57 Sometimes you need to jump right in
49:59 and do something but other times
50:00 you need to wait before making a decision.
50:03 Nehemiah 2:11, we already read it.
50:06 I came to Jerusalem and it was there three days.
50:08 So he waited three days.
50:09 He took time and considered the matter before he acted.
50:13 Second thing he kept things confidential
50:16 until the time was right.
50:18 The next verse, verse 12.
50:20 "Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me.
50:23 I told no one what my God
50:25 had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem."
50:27 That's right.
50:28 "Nor was there any animal with me,
50:30 except the one on which I rode."
50:32 Now jump down to verse 16.
50:34 "And the officials did not know where I had gone,
50:37 or what I had done.
50:39 I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles,
50:42 the officials, or the others who did the work."
50:45 So it's interesting to me
50:46 that he didn't even tell the leadership
50:48 what he was wanting to do.
50:49 He didn't tell anybody.
50:51 You would think you would tell your cabinet, right?
50:53 Your closest confidants.
50:55 You would think you would tell them,
50:57 but yet, he didn't tell them.
50:59 You don't need to tell all you know.
51:01 Sometimes you don't need to tell anything you know.
51:03 All right.
51:05 There's a great need to know when to keep your mouth shut
51:07 when you're a leader.
51:09 There's a great need for confidentiality,
51:11 whether it is in the church, to keep your mouth shut,
51:14 or in a place of work or in a ministry.
51:17 Yes. Number three.
51:19 He investigated the issues thoroughly
51:22 before he made a decision.
51:24 Let's read verses 13 through 15.
51:27 Nehemiah 2:13-15.
51:29 "I went out by night
51:30 through the Valley Gate to the Serpent.
51:32 Well and the Refuse Gate,
51:33 and viewed the walls of Jerusalem
51:35 which were broken down
51:36 and its gates which were burned with fire.
51:38 Then I went on to the Fountain Gate
51:39 and to the King's Pool,
51:40 but there was no room
51:42 for the animal under me to pass.
51:43 So I went up in the night by the valley,
51:45 and viewed the wall,
51:46 then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate,
51:47 and so returned."
51:49 Don't make a decision before having all the facts.
51:52 And it's very interesting to me.
51:54 Sometimes, as a leader, you need to see the situation
51:57 for yourself and not just depend on your counselors
52:00 or people who are around you
52:02 to apprize you of the situation.
52:05 He could have said, I'm gonna go to the leaders,
52:07 the high priest.
52:08 I'm gonna go to the nobles,
52:10 and I'll have them tell me what's going on here.
52:13 But he went out himself and investigated thoroughly
52:16 before making a decision.
52:18 Number four, he involved others in the decision.
52:22 Verses 17 and 18.
52:24 "I said to them," this is to the leaders now.
52:26 "You see the distress that we are in,
52:28 how Jerusalem lies waste,
52:29 and its gates are burned with fire,
52:31 come, and let us build the wall of Jerusalem,
52:34 that we may no longer be of a reproach.
52:36 And I told them of the hand of my God
52:38 which had been good upon me,
52:40 and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me.
52:43 So they said, let us rise up and build."
52:47 He communicated to them a vision.
52:49 They caught the vision.
52:51 And then they felt like they could come alongside
52:53 and they wanted to do it themselves.
52:56 True leaders communicate a vision,
52:57 they invite other people
52:59 to participate with that vision.
53:01 They encourage others.
53:03 And true leaders always point to God,
53:06 never to self.
53:07 That's right.
53:08 Never to glorify themselves.
53:10 Finally, we looked at Nehemiah
53:11 working with an unbelieving king,
53:13 Nehemiah working with a demoralized Jews.
53:15 Finally, in my remaining time,
53:17 Nehemiah worked with his enemies.
53:21 Pastor John already laid out who those three enemies were.
53:24 Verse 20, Nehemiah 2:20.
53:26 "I answered them, and said unto them,
53:28 'The God of heaven himself will prosper us,
53:32 therefore we are his servants,
53:34 will arise and build,
53:36 but ye have no heritage or right,
53:39 or memorial, in Jerusalem.'''
53:42 Straight.
53:43 Have you ever been laughed at or despised or falsely accused?
53:46 I'm sure we all have been.
53:48 True leaders are not afraid to speak the truth.
53:52 They know when to speak and when to keep silent.
53:54 They know when to work with people
53:56 as Nehemiah worked with the unbelieving king.
53:58 Nehemiah worked with the demoralized Jews.
54:02 But Nehemiah stood up and confronted
54:05 and opposed the enemies.
54:07 Yes.
54:08 There's a time to not compromise.
54:11 There's a time to put your trust in God
54:13 and proclaim that to others.
54:15 Pastor Kenny? Amen.
54:17 Praise the Lord, that covered well.
54:19 Each one of you covered well.
54:20 Good information that sometime I don't think that we would get
54:23 if you just kind of thumbed over, you know.
54:26 This is like digging for hidden treasure.
54:28 And I know you folks have been doing that.
54:30 Then I pray this, rung a spiritual bail
54:33 for the people out there to encourage them
54:36 to get right in there and start studying
54:38 and show themselves approved unto God.
54:40 So with all this information, right...
54:42 Yeah, I know you got a lot of things dancing
54:44 through your head right now.
54:45 But we've got three minutes or so enough time
54:47 that we can go around and some of the things
54:50 that maybe at least one thing
54:51 that Holy Spirit just impressed you
54:52 with that would help us.
54:54 Let's just go around the table, what God has to say.
54:57 When God lays it on your heart to come before Him in prayer.
55:03 Let's follow Nehemiah's outline,
55:06 this template that he gave us.
55:07 Don't just go insane, help God, help.
55:10 Let's go in recognizing who He is,
55:13 recognizing that without Him, we are nothing.
55:16 That's right.
55:18 Put Him in remembrance of His word,
55:19 then it's time to say, "Oh, God, I need Your help."
55:22 And remember, God will always be there.
55:25 There's that but,
55:26 but Hewill always be there to bring us
55:30 into that right relationship with Him.
55:31 Amen. Amen.
55:32 I'm just thinking that, to build up yours.
55:35 When you recognize how great and awesome God is,
55:38 then you can pray without putting God in a box.
55:43 Sometimes we pray little bitty prayers.
55:47 And God wants...
55:48 You know, He gives, wants to get a big vision.
55:50 And when God does give you the vision,
55:53 even though you're prayed up,
55:54 you noticed that Nehemiah prayed
55:56 when he was in front of the...
55:57 I mean, silently, spontaneously before the king.
56:00 But he was emboldened to ask for everything that he needed.
56:05 Amen.
56:07 The call of God is always general.
56:10 The response is always personal.
56:12 Oh, that's good. It's good.
56:13 You know, when Isaiah 6:8, in this there was a call.
56:17 Nehemiah was sent because he responded.
56:19 Amen.
56:20 When Isaiah writes these words,
56:22 and I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
56:23 whom shall I send?
56:26 And who will go for us?
56:27 Then I said, the personal response,
56:29 here I am, send me.
56:31 That's good.
56:32 Amen. Amen.
56:34 This lesson challenged me personally,
56:35 because I believe God wants us to work with everyone.
56:38 And God wants us to reach out and to love other people
56:42 and to learn to work with them.
56:44 But there is a time
56:46 that we need to stand up for truth.
56:48 Amen. Amen.
56:50 Hallelujah. What a balance, right?
56:51 God's Word gives us that balance
56:53 if we just read it,
56:54 that the Holy Spirit work in our hearts, in our life.
56:56 I found little, this little quick article
56:58 was in the Review and Herald.
57:01 I think it was in 1904.
57:03 No Sabbath School Workers, 1904.
57:05 And it started out, we need Nehemiahs today.
57:08 See, we need Nehemiahs in the church,
57:10 we need Nehemiahs, not just because they can pray,
57:15 not because they can just teach.
57:17 But I thought it's very interesting here,
57:19 that man that would...
57:21 It's eager to jump into what God calls him to do.
57:25 You know, you can pray and you can...
57:26 All these are important things.
57:28 But when God calls you to do,
57:30 you know, just grab hold of that
57:31 and thank God for that.
57:33 Nehemiahs today in the world
57:35 who will arouse the people of God.
57:37 I don't know about you, but I feel like,
57:39 you know, we live in a time that we need to be aroused.
57:41 Yes. Amen.
57:43 And every time I thought about Nehemiah,
57:44 I thought about Ezra and Isaiah different ones, they...
57:48 When God called them to rouse the people out,
57:50 that means out of asleep, and I don't want to be asleep.
57:53 I believe we're near the time of the end Jesus come,
57:55 we need to be ready?
57:56 I just want to thank you for joining us here
57:58 at Sabbath School Panel.
57:59 We love you.
58:01 We look forward to seeing you next time.


Home

Revised 2024-01-03