Sermon Tone Analysis

Promise — Abraham

Slavery — Egypt

Exodus/Wilderness — Moses

Conquest/Judges — Joshua, Judges, Ruth

United Kingdom — Saul, David, Solomon

Divided Kingdom — Israel(North) - Assyria / Judah(South) - Babylon

Exile — Esther/David

Return from Exile — Ezra(Priest) followed by Nehemiah(Governor)

Prophets are scattered out among timeline

Nehemiah loved God.

He was grieved over the nation’s sin and disobedience, and rejection of God, but He had hope for the future.

He had hope because he held to God’s promises.

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Nehemiah believed God’s promise that if they would return to Him and carefully observe His commands God would bring them back from the farthest horizon and restore their kingdom back to them.

So Nehemiah stepped out in faith

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Nehemiah risked his life and asked for a great and seemingly impossible responsibility to be placed on him, because he had a hope and a vision for the future, and he believed it was what God wanted as well, and if it is what God wants, then who would be able to stop him.

He realized it was what God wanted when king Artaxerxes granted him his request.

That was his confirmation.

So now let’s get to it.

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He took his vision, assessed the situation, created a plan, and then he cast that vision and his passion to the people.

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They put their lives on the line to accomplish this rebuilding of the city, knowing that if they didn’t their lives were at risk anyway.

They were willing to step up and put their own lives on the line in order to take care of the next generation, instead of putting off what they knew they should do to let the next generation deal with it.

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Here are the people of God, living in real danger of their lives in order to rebuild the kingdom of God that had been decimated because of their own abandoning of what God had called them to do in previous generations.

The previous generations had failed to “walk with God.” Enoch/Noah/Abraham

And the results were disastrous.

What about us?

What has the previous generations of God’s people left undone.

What are we going to leave undone for the next generation?

Are we going to be the ones to rebuild the walls that have been torn down for our countrymen?

For our sons and daughters?

for our wives and homes?

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Nehemiah never stopped praying from the very beginning to the very end.

He knew that if God’s kingdom was going to move forward, it was going to have to be by God’s strength.

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And so what happened?

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Now Nehemiah knew that he was doing an important work.

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So the question is what is the work that we are supposed to be doing?

What is the work that God wants us to do now?

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We are to make disciples.

We are to be disciples, that make disciples.

We have an important work to do, and we can not come down.

We can not get distracted.

We can not leave it to focus on less important work.

We need God to strengthen our hands.