0:02 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, please help me as I share your word. Please strengthen me and give me the grace that I need to speak clearly uh the word that you have placed in my heart. And I pray that you would build the church, Lord, through 0:20 the word you're giving us. We commit all of us and this time into your hands and pray that you would be with us in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Okay. So, um my last message was on Nehemiah 0:37 and as I prayed for the message for today, um the leading of God is to speak on Nehemiah again to continue on the book of Nehemiah. And so that we could all learn from this man, a godly man who who was instrumental in rebuilding the walls of 0:57 Jerusalem. Um so first part of the message today I want to just do some quick review. Hopefully I'll uh I'll be able to complete uh I mean I have this is the first time I prepared a lot of slides for my message. So bear with me if I 1:13 mess up the order but uh the plan is to first review what we learned because some of us may not be here and we keep forgetting. I am I forget a lot of things quickly. So it would be good to go through uh the first few chapters 1:28 quickly and then I want to focus on the fifth and sixth chapters of Nehemiah today. Um so what we saw before um yeah there were three moments right if you don't understand the context in which uh 1:47 the book of Nehemiah was written or the events in Nehemiah happened uh we will be lost. That's one important part of studying the new covenant is to know the historical context of what happened uh why what is the timeline what is the 2:03 context here uh why Nehemiah is talking about walls and all of that. So when Jews were led as captive from Jerusalem to Babylon and um there were three movements from the Babylon Babylonian exile back to Jerusalem. So there's 2:21 three movements quickly I want to go through. Uh the first one was led by Jerubabel. It's in uh BC 538. And he brought 50,000 Jews from Babylonian exile. And the king Cyrus gave the decree and gave all the resources to 2:38 rebuild the temple. So Jerubabel was a descendant of King David. So he came and did a great work and they built the temple. uh they also had some delays. Uh there were 16 years of delay but at the same time during the time prophets Hagi 2:57 and Zechariah what are contemporaries they challenged the people uh who were neglecting building the temple. So finally they finished the temple with all the delays uh in BC 516 u that was the first moment so led by Gerbel. So the temple alone was not 3:15 sufficient. So then there was a second moment Ezra. Ezra in 458 BC after many years after Zerubbabel Ezra focused on the spiritual renewal focused on establishing the law bringing the people teaching the word of God again bringing 3:31 the people back to the law of Moses and uh reforming u reforming the people's covenant faithfulness remembering uh reminding them about the law and teaching them the law and that was his burden. So Ezra came in 458 BC that was 3:48 the second movement and Nehemiah is also a contemporary to uh uh Ezra and this is what Nehemiah's burden was to rebuild the wall. So first was the temple then was the law was established the word of 4:03 God and then 4 440 445 BC is when Jeremiah sorry Nehemiah came back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and restore the order. So first part was the rebuilding of the wall and then he does a lot more than that but so this is the 4:22 historical context. So three writtens Jerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah. So we are going to focus more on Nehemiah today and there's so much to learn from this man Nehemiah as I meditate on his uh life. So I just want to so this is 4:36 another just a slide to just to give a overview of that uh three returns as I was just talking about. Um so and then then this is the timeline. So the first there were 50,000 people first movement and the second movement there were 1,800 4:53 pe 1,800 men and their families uh led by Ezra and then the third one Nehemiah came with uh some people that the king allowed him to take but the actual wall is built by the people in Jerusalem. So the entire city was um involved and 5:08 rallied upon and then they all built the wall. Um so the temple the law and the wall and uh these are the timelines. Uh just a quick overview on that. So how would how did it all start? As you know when some people came from Jerusalem and 5:24 Nehemiah had a burden to ask them how are the things he had the burden. He had a man of burden and he asked them how the concerning Jews who had escaped the survival and who has who had escaped the captivity and they went back to 5:38 Jerusalem. How are the things and what they said kind of broke his heart. So this is the very first chapter we see uh this interaction with these people Hanani and then some of the brothers who came from there and so you see 5:54 Neahhemiah's heart is always concerned about the state of Jerusalem. One thing that we need to understand is Neahhemiah was not born in Jerusalem. He was born in exile to his parents. So I think the parents did a wonderful job of him to 6:10 teach him about his roots uh about the law of God and about Jerusalem about all of that. So he is concerned even though he's born somewhere uh 1500 miles away from Jerusalem and he had a secular job like many of us he was a cup bearer to 6:26 uh the king uh he had a lot of respon it's a very important responsibility and you can see no uh it's not like a random people are selected for such important responsibility it is man of integrity is a man of integrity is man of who who can 6:40 be trusted so he rose to that level and approximately he would have been aged between 35 to 50 based on his career, based on how he led this whole rebuilding of walls of Jerusalem. Uh he's not like too old. He's like in the 6:55 middle-aged person and he's a man of discernment. He's a man of burden and we see we also see later in these chapters uh he's a man of prayer. Everything he turns back into a prayer. So it all started with his burden and asking that 7:09 question and then the report was not good. What was the report? The re You can read here, their survivors are in great trouble and disgrace. The walls of Jerusalem are broken down. That broke his heart. The gates have been burned 7:25 with fire. Uh so this is a report that it is not at all good and that drove him to the to his knees. So we see one of the most I think if you sometimes we don't know how to pray. Nehemiah chapter one towards the later part of the 7:43 chapter we can learn how to pray. We see all the elements of adoration appealing and confession of sins as if he has committed the sin. He identifies with that. He says we have sinned and he also holds God to his promise like claiming 7:59 God's promise. And then finally a specific petition uh to God. Lord, I beseech you that you are hear me attentive to the prayer of your servant and the prayer of your servants who delight to rever your name. When we fear your name, Lord, please 8:15 listen to your our prayers and make your servants successful. Successful for what? He had a very specific burden. He wants to go and restore the walls of Jerusalem. Has been thinking about it and praying about it. He's not a man of 8:28 impulse. I think we heard about waiting from brother Robert today. Waiting on the Lord. Sometime it is painful. We want to act on it immediately as we see the need. But Nehemiah was not a man of impulse behavior. He waited on the Lord. 8:42 It could be days or months. We don't know. But he waited for the right opportunity. But he has a specific request. Lord, grant me success today and grant uh and grant him compassion before this man. He's talking about taking permission from the king. So he's 8:58 ready. He's waiting for the right time. And I was reflecting upon my own life. How do I do I do that? Or I am am I jumping immediately to make decisions? And the times when I did wait on the Lord, God did amazing things. Uh couple 9:12 of things I want to share in that context is even in my marriage, I would say um during my uh when I was looking to get married um I was trying to open doors that God did not open. I mean I tried to open God closed the door. I 9:29 made some decisions that were not right and I was so confused and finally I came to a point I surrendered everything the whole situation at God's feet that was I remember that prayer I I was so like relieved after praying because I 9:43 literally put everything at God's feet and I prayed and waited on the Lord Lord it's now up to you it's not my problem anymore and the way the Lord opened the doors for me I was in the US and uh in my the company that I was working on 9:57 they had asked me to go to Japan because there was an important project critical project going on and I told them I don't have visa to come back so oh why don't you go to India uh okay if I go to India okay I I can go and get the visa 10:11 stamping and then I had to go to Japan which stayed there my two weeks to became five weeks and then they said okay you have worked so hard you can take a break you can take vacation for a couple of weeks so I went to India I got 10:23 my visa stamping in my in this two weeks that's when I met Joti and and we got engaged and I when I look back and the way God opened the door it is nothing short of a miracle. God does wonderful things when we surrender everything to 10:37 him when we wait for his timing and uh he moves the kings the king's heart is in the hands of the lord he will turn it as it as like a rivers of the water wherever he is pleased with. So when we when we are in trouble sometimes we go 10:53 to our bosses are the kings our princes but when we go to the super boss who boss above every other boss to our father in heaven he will move the people that's what we see in Neahhemiah and also even personally as with the elders 11:07 responsibility here there are few things that I had to uh I was burdened with in our church and I waited on the lord I did not I I'm glad that I did not act in impulse and I waited for the right timing When God opened the door, when 11:21 God did the right thing at the right time, he did it perfectly the way God orchestrated everything and God did his work in his perfect timing, in his perfect way. If I had done anything before his timing, I would have messed 11:33 up his work and I'm glad uh I look back and I praise God. So, it's very important uh for us to learn from Nehemiah to learn to wait on the Lord and to submit our petitions. There is another man, the man we adore and worship as God. He also was praying. He 11:52 also prayed in garden of Gethsemane. We see a lot uh we see the cross. We see think that Jesus went through so much pain on the cross and the battle on the cross. But act in my opinion the battle was won on the knees for both Nehemiah 12:05 and for Jesus when he was praying in garden of Gethsemane the battle is over. when he got up from his knees, the battle is over. After that, he's only reaping of the success. And uh Jesus prayed earnestly with anguish. His 12:20 blood, his sweat was turned into blood. That's how he prayed before he went to the cross. Uh we have such a good example. Nehemiah is a you can see as a typology of Christ in many ways. Um he also had a great um responsibility as a 12:36 cup bearer. Jesus was in heaven. He did not have to come. He was secured and he was he did not have to come. uh Nehemiah did not have to come but because of his burden he uh he had he prayed and then he waited on the Lord and then when the 12:52 right opportunity came when the when he spoke to when king noticed king noticed that why is your face sad you though you're not sick you don't look sick but you're sad um and this is nothing but the sadness of heart physically you're looking okay 13:08 but if your heart is sad it shows up in your face And uh and Nemiah was like us. He was very much afraid because when king asked that question because cup bearsers are supposed to be cheerful, joyful people but he was sad because of 13:23 his burden for the for Jerusalem and the state of Jerusalem and he was afraid and we learned last in the last message he prayed a very quick prayer. We call it arrow prayer. And then he answered uh he asked uh he he told the situation to 13:40 king and we see that in chapter two. And king gave a blanket check. King gave what do you want me to do? What do you want me to do? And uh sometimes you know many of us we don't know what we need. Actually if God wants us if if someone 13:56 says what do you want? Do you know what you need? Uh this is very important. And Neahhemiah knows what he needs because he has been preparing himself in prayer and he wanted leave a permission to go to Jerusalem from Souza where he was and 14:13 it is about 1500 miles from Jerusalem. It's a long leave many months. So his trusted companion was a cupbearer is no longer going to be here with him for many months. So he needed permission to go and not only that he needed visa. He 14:28 needed letters of passage through many provinces uh to reach Jerusalem. He has to go through all of that. So he wanted that letter official letters from the king. Not only that, he also wanted timber uh because uh when he goes to the 14:43 forest, he wants to take the timber because he knows there will be because he's been thinking about what do I need to build the walls of Jerusalem. I need this. I need this. One of the important thing is timber. Not only for him, for 14:54 his house also he took. And these three things he asked and he three things he got. Ask and it shall be given to you. Many times we don't get because we don't know what to ask and we don't have faith. When we ask we get it with faith 15:07 and then Nehemiah with a preparation in prayer and king gave the blanket check what do you want and he had this list and he got all of that. So again as I see that um the picture of uh Neahhemiah like Jesus he came from this uh 15:25 comfortable place to Jerusalem and Jesus from heaven to earth to save us. Um he's man of prayer man of immense faith. Uh he had feelings like all of us. He was also afraid when king asked that question. He's not hiding any of that. 15:42 Um and he came to restore the broken walls just like Jesus came to restore the broken relationship we had with God. And also we see later part in the uh in the book of Neahhemiah how he had such a zeal for the purity of the house of God 15:57 like Jesus he had such a zeal uh is a concern for Jerusalem and he led by examples in many ways we'll see that in the later chapters just like Jesus he came to serve not to be served. So uh Nehemiah traveled 1500 miles. It was 16:13 about 3 to 4 months of journey and he got all the letters and he also got military escort that gave him some official stamp. The king gave him some um uh military escort to go through to go to Jerusalem and he also got timber 16:29 and this is a verse that I and the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me. I receive everything that I have because the hand of my good hand of my God was upon me. When we are blessed, my brothers and 16:44 sisters, to whom do we give glory to? You got job. Is it because of your wisdom? Uh or is it because of your talent? No, it is because the hand of my God was upon me. You got married to a right person because the God of my the 16:57 good hand of my God was upon me. We are in this church. We are being blessed. We are part of a good fellowship. We have brothers and sisters. God granted all of that to me because the good hand of my God was on me. Let's give glory to God. 17:10 It's not because we are something good and uh that's it's because God is good. So all let's attribute all the all the glory to God for all the blessings we receive. Every good gift, every perfect gift is coming from the father of lights 17:24 from father from who is above everything. And as soon as uh Neahhemiah reached Jerusalem, he did not waste any time. people like me if I travel long distance. I need some one week to get over the jet lag and all of that. He was 17:39 he was on the field again within three days. Um and he was he went out in the night time. Uh he inspected the gates. He he went through that rubble and all of that inspecting because he's thinking like he's being burdened with that 17:54 inspecting the walls and the broken down which are broken down the gates and all of that uh which are consumed by the fire. So he went through all that and uh he saw it live. Um so uh in the chapter 2 we see that and then comes after that 18:10 he gives his rallying call. Come let us rebuild the wall. You can read that in chapter 2 verse 17. Then I said to them, you see the bad situation we are in that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates 18:28 burned by fire. You see everything right? Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach. He sees that you know this broken down walls and door gates is like a sign of reproach. So he wants to rebuild the 18:44 wall and will no longer be a reproach. And I told them that how the hand of my god has been had been favorable to me and also about king's words and he had spoken to me is uh he's giving his testimony how king allowed him to come 18:58 and uh I love this response from the people let us they also say let us adise and build so that they put their hands to the good work. Uh he is a great motivator. He led by examples. He gave that um he some he he rallied the 19:16 people. That's important because people have their own priorities but uh he could convince them he could share his testimony how the Lord led him thus far and come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. This is a key pivotal words 19:30 in this chapter in this book. Come let us rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And towards the end if you see verse 20 in chapter the law God of heaven will give us success. Uh therefore we his servants will arise and build. Uh so he will uh 19:46 he's attributing he's even before anything happened he's saying by faith god will give me give us success. Um and immediately the opposition started right. So uh we see that in verse 19 uh San Balot uh the Hornite Tobaya and 20:06 Ammonite and Gisham the Herab heard it they mocked and despised us. What is this thing you are going to do? Are you rebelling against the king so it immediately disturbed because these people want don't want the walls to be 20:20 built? They want the Jerusalem to be vulnerable to be weak. Uh so not because now what is a wall? What does wall represent? I think after last uh time message some people asked what does wall represent? Wall represents the 20:35 stability, the strength and protection. Not having a wall is you're exposing the city. It's vulnerable. Um the walls are very important. God himself said in Zechariah chapter 2, I will be the wall of fire around the people. Because 20:50 Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the greater number of people and animals in it. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it, declares the Lord. You can find this verse in Zechariah chapter 2. This is one of my 21:05 favorite verse. God himself will put a wall of fire around the church. There is a wall. There's always a wall. And uh even uh we we know this verse uh many people talk about Jerusalem. They quote this verse pray for the peace of 21:17 Jerusalem. In Psalms 122 he says may those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels. So walls represent security, stability and strength and protection. Um so when the walls are not 21:35 that these people these enemies of Jerusalem were happy but once the walls are being built there is obviously opposition. And uh next uh we moving on to chapter 3. This is still a review. I think we did this last uh in the last message but 21:49 I'm going to go through quickly. And he had a he had a blueprint of how the walls should be built, who should be given responsibility. There are several gates. Uh Jerusalem is a reasonably big city. There are several gates and he had 22:03 to go and station the people at the right place. And it's amazing. It's a lot of work. This cupbearer had all these skills. Uh God has given him the grace and the wisdom to do that. He had a plan and he motivated the people. And 22:19 um and finally uh the wall work is begun in chapter 3. And uh we saw that last time also there are two things that we that we see in chapter 3. If you carefully read uh next to him, next to him. So everything is like you know 22:35 there is there are no gaps. All the families are involved. Different people are involved. Next to him, next to him. And the other thing we noticed is everyone built the portion of the wall opposite to opposite to their house. 22:48 That also we see opposite to their house, opposite to their house, they built. So they had a clear line of s. If my house is here, there's a portion of the wall. So my focus, my family's focus is to build the wall right directly 23:01 opposite to my house. It gives a direct involvement a ownership. Okay, this portion of the wall I need to build. So same thing uh we talk about first floor, second floor, third floor in our Christian life. We build second floor a 23:15 strong second floor is important for a strong church the third floor right. So we we need to focus on our first floor, second floor obviously indirectly we are building the church. So the people worked whatever portion of the wall 23:29 opposite to their house. It's kind of work from home but work near home concept that Nehemiah invented that time. You guys you don't have to go around just focus on working on the portion of the wall closer to your home. 23:42 And what kind of people it's not just people with construction background who build the wall. We see in chapter 3 we don't have time to go through but you can do we have rulers people who are in uh ruling position. We have priests, we 23:57 have different merchants, people who trade, Levites and people who are living in the nearby villages of Jerusalem, they also came. We have people goldsmiths, we have perfume makers and some women, sisters too. Uh it's not 24:12 just men's responsibility. Uh we see in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 all may prophecy. We build the church through the word of prophecy. And in our church, we give opportunities for the sisters. Sisters have a great role in in building 24:25 the church through prayer, through intercession and uh through the word of prophecy, by sharing a testimony, by leading other sisters, they have a part to play. Everyone involved, it's not just Neahhemiah's job alone. He was also 24:38 part of it. He's serving along with them. But he could motivate all of them, people from diverse backgrounds to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. And then that's chapter three. and then starts attacks uh the external attacks 24:55 he had to face. Um what are the things different things the people say uh what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it by themselves? Uh can they bring the stones back to life from the burned rubble? So all these questions 25:11 and doubts and all of that there these enemies are putting and then someone even mocking even a fox climbing on their wall would break it down. That's how I mean when we start a good work don't expect that everything would go 25:25 smoothly even if it is initiated by God. There is the enemy who will put doubts, who will discourage, who will put the thoughts of fear, mockery and all of that. That's what we see in the world. When we start walking for Jesus, walking 25:38 with Jesus, uh walking by faith, we'll get ridicule, mockery from our own family members, from our co-workers, friends, and all of that. And um so we do we don't have to get discouraged because we have a powerful weapon. 25:51 That's what Neahhemiah Nehemiah always responded in prayer. We saw that in chapter 4. uh when people uh despise and mocked you see chapter 4:4 here oh our god how we are despised so he turns back that to a prayer our response could be 26:09 prayer we don't have to resp we don't have to uh be discouraged when we get opposition like that and also they also formed a military coalition so different enemies when we have a common enemy all these people will be united right we see Sanbella, 26:27 Tobaya, Arabs and other people they all form a military coalition in if you see uh chapter 4 6-9 and again Neahhemiah's response is through prayer and he did not stop with prayer he also set up a guard against them day and night day and 26:45 night so we do pray we also lock our doors right you said praise the lord pass the ammunition I think I heard this phrase somewhere praise the lord pass examination. So prayer, we do the prayer and do the practical part and set up the 27:00 god because there are enemies working against us. And Nehem is a very practical man. He's a man of prayer. He also uh set up a god against the enemies. And then later in chapter 4, we see some internal problems. They were getting uh 27:16 one problem is they were physically getting exhausted. So they they were because it's a lot of rubble they have to deal with and the workers were getting exhausted. There's so much rubbish and we ourselves are unable to 27:28 rebuild the wall and not only that there is a fear there is rumors they're going to kill us anywhere you turn they they may kill us they may attack us from any side. You see that in verse 12 chapter 4 when the Jews who lived near them came 27:43 and told us 10 times this rumor mill is going on 10 times they will come against us from every place where you may turn. So there is a tired uh they are tired they're exhausted and also there is a fear discouragement fear all of us as Christians we do 28:01 experience that we are tempted to be discouraged self- condemnation comes I think on Friday one of brother was telling about this no entry roads we don't we should not enter into this road discouragement fear and self- condemnation we can trust our god and 28:16 this is what I love uh what how nahhemiah encourages them this encouragement encourage, courage. When we give encouragement to our brothers and sisters, we give them courage. Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord. Again, focus is not on the problem. 28:32 Focus is on the Lord who is great and awesome. And fight for your families. Do not be afraid of them. This enemy is powerless. Remember our God. Remember the Lord. It is Jesus who is building the church. Remember him. All authority 28:47 in heaven and earth are given to him. So remember so when we do get discouraged building the church sometimes we go through those trials and trying circumstances we need to reme remind each other point each other to the lord 29:00 it is not weing it is the lord who's building the church and nahmiah great had a great encouraging word for the people and he also did something interesting um where the people not while they're building the wall and this is travel and 29:16 the sort you need to travel to build for as a construction ction instrument and also a sword for to fight against enemies. Always being alert while we do our secular job, while we take care of our families and work, always alert on 29:29 the enemy. We have the sword, the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. These thoughts are coming the battle is happening in our mind. We have the sword, the word of God. So while we work, while we do take care of our 29:40 responsibilities, we also have the sword. Okay, that's uh so much I think uh we covered until here in the first message and now coming to the chapter five we see other issues that Nehemiah had to face. Look at this. I mean he started 29:57 the work and how many problems he had to face to get the work done. And then uh he coming to chapter 5 there are some internal issues he is going through. Um let's read slowly verse uh chapter 5 verse one. There was a great outcry of 30:14 the people and of their wives against the Jewish brothers. There was a great outcry. We thought everything is going fine but there was uh issues of exploitation. We see three kinds of people in verses 2 chap uh in verses 2 3 and 4. So in the 30:32 first verse there are some we sons and our daughters are many. Therefore let us grain let us get grain that we may eat and live. Some people are food insecure. That means they don't have food to eat. They have children, sons and daughters. 30:48 Uh they don't have food. And the second set of people have people who mortgage their fields and the vineyards and the houses so that they will get some grain because of the famine. Um so people have mortgaged their uh fields and everything 31:04 so that they can get some food. The third set of people are people who had to borrow money for king's tax on our fields and vineyards. So they had to borrow money because uh they had to they are forced to pay the king's tax. 31:22 So they are in desperate situation. People who don't have food, people who don't have fields because everything is mortgage. Now people who are enslaved uh because they have borrowed the money they have to even enslave their uh 31:36 children uh they're forcing our sons and daughters to be slaves. This is a very sad situation and they are doing it with their own brothers. um is a Jewish all of them came at the around the same time but there are some powerful rich Jews 31:53 are exploiting people who are poor and weak and this is happening not with Jews and non-Jews but within the Jewish community and there was a great outcry and Nehemiah had to deal with this situation while he's taking care of 32:08 rebuilding the wall he had to take care of these internal problems and um let's see how he handles God. Uh Neahhemiah had few arguments. Uh one he says um first he was very angry. You see that in verse six. I was very angry when I 32:28 heard their outcry and these words. Uh we see that anger is bad. That's right. Ang when we get angry for our own uh because of our selfish reasons. But he's angry because someone is being exploited. Jesus was angry when he 32:43 cleansed the temple because uh people are being exploited. Then verse 7 again we see that he consulted himself and then he contended with the nobles and the rulers. He waited. He did not act on impulse. Again he waited and he he 33:00 challenged the nobles and the rulers. You are exacting ex exacting usery which is the interest each from his own brother and they had a great assembly against them. He did not do it privately by the way. He did it publicly. And um 33:15 and his I said to them, he said by example, we according to our ability have redeemed our Jewish brothers who are sold to the nations. Now would you even sell your brothers so that they may be sold to us? They were silent and 33:30 could not find a word to say. When he challenged them, they could not find a word to say. Um and not only that verse 9 you see that should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the enemy nations our enemies he's not he's 33:47 challenging them do don't you have fear of God and don't you know that all this behavior is a reproach the enemies will say that you Jews are exploiting each other it's a reproach God's name is being dishonored and I likewise I my brothers and my 34:03 servants are lending he himself his own uh uh uh people are lending the money but they are not taking it back like the way the these people are doing. So he challenges them. He says please give back this very day their fields, their 34:19 vineyards, their olive groups and their houses and 100th part of the money of the grain and the new wine and all of that. In verse 11 you see that and good thing is these people who are convicted they immediately said we will give it 34:33 back and we will require nothing from them we will do exactly as you've seen and um he's he's a great um uh you know he he could use the moral argument he also said the testimony of the people will be bad if you do do this he used 34:52 all of that and he also used his own personal example I myself lent I'm not exacting like you. So he made the specific uh demands you need to return everything and they said thankfully they said yes and after that he did not take 35:07 them by their word and he made them uh write an agreement. He made them take an oath, a solemn oath. And he also said in verse 13, I also shook out the front of my garment and said, "Thus may God shake out every man from his house, from his 35:26 possessions, who does not fulfill this promise, even thus may be shaken out and emptied." And all the assembly said, "Amen." And they praise the Lord. And the people did according to the promise. What a great example Neahhemiah set 35:40 here. Um he settled this problem. The poor people got their fields and everything got back and they made he made them write an agreement and also take an oath before the priests. Everything happened publicly and the assembly uh responded well. And also 35:59 later part of the chapter 5 we see a great example in Neahhemiah. What did he say? Uh this is a summary of that for the sake of time. He was a governor. He was appointed as a governor. Every governor has a food allowance, a daily 36:17 entitlement of 40 shekels. It's like a pdeium. People who are on business trips know that pium. Um and he never acquired land for his personal gain. And he never burdened people with excessive demands. He even though he was a governor during 36:33 that time despite having the right legal right to do so he did not take the elements he did not lay burdens in fact what he did is he fed 150 people officials foreign visitors on his own personal table on his own expense every 36:52 single day he funded his own provision right you know to feed so many people he needed one oats and uh sheep sheep and poultry and all of that. There was meat all the time and he was paying from his own pocket and he devoted himself to the 37:09 work of the lord. He was uh he was not a lazy man. And I'm so thankful when I read this I'm so thankful I'm part of this CFC church where these principles are maintained um where no one is getting paid for any work we do. 37:24 Everything is voluntary. Um God's because of the love of God. All the elders here all the CFC churches I think brother Zach hundreds of elders no one gets paid and in fact the more I see as being an elder and I observe how things 37:38 are happening it is uh it's not they're not getting anything and in fact they're giving time and money and effort uh the personal time and I'm so thankful for that because when we take the money or uh anything um out of the picture a 37:53 salary uh there's so many things become very simple God God will take care of all the needs of the people who are serving him and he freely gave and I was so thankful when I saw Nehemiah's example his governance how the 38:08 principles he followed above reproach nobody can point out anything in him and um he did not burden he did not use his position he was not overbearing on people using his portion to make people manipulate people to do something but he 38:24 himself set an example he was feeding others uh not on on on the government governor's allowance. He did not even take that. He was taking care of that. What a wonderful example in Nehemiah. We see that. Okay, that's chapter five. We are coming 38:40 to chapter six. Now, what is the project status? Now, week after week, we need to send the weekly report. What is the status of the project? Nehemiah, uh what's what's going on? So, we see chapter 6 verse one. Um we see in the 38:56 later part uh that I had rebuilt the wall and no bridge remained in it although at that time I had not set up the door doors in the gates. He says the weekly highlights executive summary is the walls are built uh plans for next 39:11 week is I need to set up the doors uh in the gates but when it is reported to San Balad Tobaya and Gisham and to the rest of the enemies they fe feared. I mean, man, this Neahhemiah is finishing the work so quickly and now they had to come 39:29 up with something. You know what? What are the things he sent? They said in verse two, let's read slowly. Chapter 6:2, then San Billet and Gisham sent a message to me saying he got a WhatsApp message or a email at the time whatever 39:45 come let us meet together at Sheffraim in the plane of Ono. Uh but they were planning to harm me. So he got an invitation to come and meet at a place called Uno. Oh no. Oh no. Sorry. I have been playing Uno with my 40:01 Oh no. Um so they're setting up meeting but he's a man of discernment. They were planning to harm me. So and I love this response in chapter sorry verse three. So I send the messengers to them saying 40:20 I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? I am doing a great work of God. So what I learned is every invitation for a meeting may not be from God. It could be 40:34 a distraction. We need to have a we need to have the spirit of discernment to see should I accept this meeting. Some of the meetings we must decline. Um so he's a man of discernment. So he said no I'm doing a great work. Um I was thinking 40:49 about it like sometimes we we spend a lot of time discussing discussing a lot of things. Let's meet discuss and Nehemiah is doing a great work of building the wall. Our equivalent let's say we are praying we are praying about 41:00 something. So sometimes we spend an hour discussing about some problem and issue and very little time in prayer. I heard sometime back one brother was telling they were discussing about a problem and they they were saying oh let us we need 41:12 to pray about it. We need to pray about it. And the brother said okay let's talk stop talking about let's pray about it let's pray now let's pray that's the great work so sometimes we get distracted with all the meetings and all 41:24 of that the great work is actually to do the real work which is to pray and move the needle so Neahhemiah was a man of discernment he said I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down but they they said they were not that easy to uh 41:41 you know to be satisfied they sent four times They were very persistent. Four times the meeting invite came. Four times it declined, declined, declined. No, I'm not coming. I'm not coming. Then they did not stop. Then they sent a open 41:54 letter. Open letter is like everyone can read it. And they they're coming up with lot of accusations. Uh what did they say? It is reported among the nations. Uh the and Gashmu says that you and the Jews are planning to rebel. Lie. 42:10 Therefore, you are rebuilding the wall. And you are to be the king according to these reports. Again, a lie. And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning you. Again, a lie. A king is in Judah. Now, it will be 42:26 reported to the king according to these reports. So, come now, let us take counsel together. So, you did not um respond to our private invitations. Now this public letter with all these accusations with all these accusations 42:40 but Neahhemiah was a man of God man of prayer he was not shaken with all these accusations then he says this is Nehemiah's response such things as you are saying have not been done but you are inventing them in your own mind so 42:59 lot of things we can speculate about things when we don't know we can invent we can do a lot of things. This is what the enemies were doing and Nehemiah saw through their plot. He said you are inventing them in your own mind. 43:13 Um because they are trying to frighten us thinking what is the goal so that they will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done. This is the plot of the enemy. The enemy's most used tool is the weapon of discouragement. My dear 43:30 brothers and sisters, we are all tempted because enemy wants to discourage us. They want to frighten us. They want to put all these thoughts and doubts and lies and all of that. Let us be rooted in the word of God. And that that's the 43:42 only way we can fight against the discouragement. We can strengthen ourselves in the Lord. And Neah says this is wonderful word. I want all of us to underline that if possible. Verse 9, but now God strengthen my hands. Strengthen my hands. He's turning every 44:00 problem into prayer. Prayer. God strengthen my hands. He saw through the plot the this uh this plot to frighten uh put the thoughts of fear and discouragement and but they did not stop there and then 44:17 verse uh 10 we see that there is a third attack so this is the second the third one is there's a man called Shemiah and u for some reason Nehemiah trusted him um he's a Jew and he was confined at home maybe he was sick or something And 44:34 um he said to Nehemiah, he enter when he entered his house, "Hey Neahmiah, let us meet together in the house of God within the temple and let us close the doors of the temple for they're coming to kill you and they are coming to kill you at 44:47 night." So there are two ways. One is to make him flee and also to make him do something wrong. Nehemiah knows very well. He's not supposed he's a lay man. He's not a priest. He cannot enter into the inner temple. But the plot is to 45:02 make Nehemiah do something wrong. When you are doing the work of God, when you're fully being used by God, the enemy is trying to make us trip over something something. We got to be very careful when we He's very smart and 45:17 deceptive. So Nehemiah, praise God, he's a man of discernment. Again, he saw through that and he refused. Should a man like me flee? Like that's his response. like should a man like me flee? Could one such as I go into the 45:33 temple to save his life? I will not go in. He refused. He's not like someone uh who's a pleaser of men or anything. He is a man of principle. He he knows the word of God. He was not coerced to do something wrong. He rejected he rejected 45:48 the invitations for personal meetings. He rejected the lies in the open letter and he rejected this suggestion to go inside the inner temple and take refuge. And as a result of all of that, praise 46:04 God, the wall is finished 52 days. You see that in verse 15. So the wall was completed on 25th of the month, Elul in 52 days. What an amazing feat my brothers and 46:22 sisters. He had to face so many obstacles. A man of burden, a man of prayer. And king he he he moved God through his prayer and God moved the king's heart. King gave all that he needed. He came he moved the people. He faced the opposition. He faced internal 46:39 problems. He went through so much and while taking care of himself he's being a a secular worker paying from his own pocket and after 140 years of ruins it just took 52 days because of one man um 46:57 so and then finally when all our enemies verse 16 when all our enemies heard of it and all the nations surrounding us saw it they lost their confidence. They lost their confidence when for they recognize that this work has been 47:12 accomplished with the help of our God. The enemies will see our own unbelieving family members, unbelieving friends. When God does accomplish something in our lives, they'll see this must be the work of God. What a great testimony. 47:26 When the enemies say, "Yes, this is not your go. We saw God's hand. We saw God's hand." They recognize this has been accomplished with the help of our God. And Jesus lived only 33 and 1/2 years. He accomplished Neahhemiah within 50 52 47:43 days he accomplished. When we are in the will of God it's not the quantity of the life it is a quality of the life within 52 days he accomplished. Um so these are some some of the things I just wanted to share and um again 47:59 towards the end so we see Nehemiah's prayer many times but towards the end of the book or many times in this book he says remember me oh god remember me oh god so after he does everything he's just uh attributing everything to God 48:15 remember me oh god um so once again the walls he rebuilt the walls the walls of stability, strength, protection and security for church. What does it mean for a wall? We don't want the spirit of the world to come in. We want the walls 48:31 to be built. There is an attempt in the world to lower the standards of the church. But we must have the walls. Otherwise, the spirit of the world will come in. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, the 48:44 boastful spirit. And in the world, it's a rich who are uh exalted. In the world it is a talented and gifted who are exalted. In the church it is a one who fears God who must be exalted. In the church is a humble spirit people of 48:57 humble spirit who will be exalted. If you don't have the walls everything will come in like there's no distinction between the world and the church. The entire world the spirit of the world will come in. So uh in some ways Jericho 49:10 the walls have to be uh uh have to be destroyed in some cases. In this case, the walls have to be built and God could accomplish so much with one man. Praise God. And uh let's learn uh if there is anything God has spoken to you through 49:24 this uh man's life, uh let us take them to the heart. May the Lord help us. Thank you. Thank you, brother Surren, for uh it 49:53 felt like reading the action bible of of Neahhemiah. So felt like watching a movie. Um and now kids may ask, how is this relevant to us today? I don't know if you're looking at the news or watching the news, but there is a war 50:10 going on and uh in the Middle East, right? Involves Iran and Israel and Arab Arabic countries. So, it's very relevant to today because Nehemiah was living in Persia, which is much bigger than today's Iran, 50:28 but that's the basic same country today as it was back then. Um so their conflict goes back those are the good days where Israel and Jews and Iran were very friendly with each other. Now they were at the time they were 50:47 uh allowing worship within Persia after they came out of Babylon. Israelites had a Jews had a burden to go back. If they were allowed to worship where they live, why would they take the trouble to go back home to Jerusalem? 51:05 It's far away and it's Jerusalem is all in rubbles. So you saw that Saran would give a historical context of why there were three attempts or three successions of going back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, read the Torah and the the 51:21 wall. Um and what we see today uh from Nehemiah is the same principles, spiritual principle. Um one of the things that I took away personally, there's so many things you can take away is that wall why was so why were we so se obsessed with a wall, 51:41 right? What's so what's the big deal with the wall? Well, the spiritual lesson for me was that um yes, it's about the external not wanting to compromise being because back then because they were living back in Persia, they were 51:56 intermarages and you later you see in the rest of the book that they're marrying each other and for the Jews that was a no no, right? it was against the law because once they're married with each other, their culture collides 52:10 and um they'll start compromising with idolatry. So there had to be a separation. Um but what was interesting was what later happened with the wall was the focus was not on sambalat and there were mostly 52:27 ignored these external attacks about rebuilding the wall but focus was later with an internal so um the intermarriage and not reading the law publicly so I think for me it was to focus on the inner self don't worry about what 52:47 People think for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against authorities against powers of this dark world against the spiritual forces of evil and heavenly realms that's where my focus should be 52:59 not on the external things the internal me and building the inner life um one of the constant themes of Neahhemiah was that he did not he started had a burden he also had a burden like other Jews to 53:15 go back and rebuild the wall. But he didn't jump into right into action. He always prayed and wait. He waited. You know that he waited four months before he had the burden and he started praying for four months before he came went 53:30 back. So one of the biggest takeaway for me was to wait and pray and the Lord will fight his battle. Um so many things I highly encourage. I don't think this is the end, right? We stopped at chapter six. There's more that I think you'll probably share 53:47 later, I assume. Um, so let's continue to read Nehemiah and the takeaways. Jay down. It's not just a historical um context, but there are a lot of takeaways, spiritual takeaways that we can take today that applies to us and we 54:00 see it right now. History is happening as we speak as well. Let's pray the Lord as we close. Our father, we thank you, Lord, that that we worship a living God. And it's not just history and it's not 54:18 just um Jews versus Gentiles, Lord. We worship the same God, Lord. And you have given us this word so that we can focus on you, Lord. Give us a word. Give us a so that we can pray to you. So we can we all be connected to 54:37 your head directly Lord today. Um help us have a wall spiritual wall that separates us from our past life from our sins from so that we can focus on purifying our inner life. Help us do that. 54:55 I need it Lord. Please help me Lord. Fill us with your spirit Lord so that we can taste and see how good you are today Lord. Thank you and pray in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for joining us. Thanks for joining us on Zoom.
