Sermon Tone Analysis

I have some great memories of family vacations or trips growing up as a kid.

Our family did not take a lot of big vacations, but the ones we did take I remember.

This was before smart phones and accessibility of the internet.

My family did not plan ahead.

We knew we were leaving when mom was finished packing.

I recall leaving after my dad got home from work at 9 or 10 in the evening and mom was packed.

We didn’t really have a plan

The plan was we would get in the car and we would drive as far as my dad could make it.

When my dad would start to get tired then it was time to start watching the road signs for a motel.

When we saw a sufficient number of signs we would exit the highway and start looking for a decent place to stay.

This was the process...

Stop at the first motel

Dad would first check the rate with the first place

The rest of us would go to the bathroom

If the rate was good then dad would ask to see a room.

He would then go inspect the room and see if it was clean enough for us or didn’t have a strong smell.

If he didn’t like it, then we crossed it off the list and went to the next one.

If he did like then, we would go see what the other options were.

On to the next one

We would repeat the process

Sometimes we would pull in and rooms would be sold out.

We would have to keep driving to other towns

repeat the process in other towns

This was our trip adviser

My dad would sometimes offer them lower prices to stay

This was is priceline.com

Remember what time I said we would leave...

Like at 9 or 10 in evening so here it is 2am in the morning with 3 kids in the car and my dad is price shopping motel rooms.

This was our plan.

The last few weeks we have been walking through Nehemiah and the theme is DON’T QUIT

Nehemiah’s heart is crushed when he hears that the walls of Jerusalem are in ruins.

We see the empathy and compassion he has.

We recognize that this empathy is not just unique for Nehemiah but we as Christ followers are called to show empathy for others.

Nehemiah’s response to this was prayer.

We looked at two different types of prayers that are present here in Nehemiah.

We see the short arrow prayer and then we see the long prayer that Nehemiah has.

Spurgeon says

To remain in Him alone, this is true love; but to commune with the world, to find sufficient satisfaction in our earthly comforts, to even prefer the company of our fellow Christians to secret fellowship with Him, this grieves our jealous Lord.

He longs to have us abide in Him and enjoy constant fellowship with Himself; and many of the trials that He sends us are for the purpose of weaning our hearts from created things and fixing them more closely on Him who created everything.

Jesus longs that we fellowship and commune with him.

These are some indicators of spiritual growth that we can somewhat measure in our lives.

To look at our lives and see how are we growing in having empathy for others, is a spiritual growth indicator.

Another indicator is, how is our prayer life growing.

Our prayer life is a good indicator of our spiritual growth as well.

In Nehemiah 2 we know that Nehemiah is broken he is mourning and fasting and he is sad in the Kings presence.

I imagine that his lamenting sounded a lot like Psalm 102

The month of Nisan is roughly the equivalent of April.

If you recall in chapter 1, they came to Nehemiah received the word in November or December.

Nehemiah has been broken, fasting and praying for 4 months.

When we talk about not quitting some of you might not even be able to fathom taking that long to make a decision.

When you want to quit, you just want to quit and not wait 4 months to quit.

Think about it what if you just took the next 4 months to fast and pray about the decision you are trying to make and you just make this one commitment before you decide anything else.

At the heart of all of this with Nehemiah, he fast and prays for 4 months.

God has accomplished so much here at Bridge of Faith in 14 years.

One of the things that I believe has helped us is that we have strived to stay debt free and this causes us to not move too fast in decision making.

I believe not rushing in to decisions has been one of the blessings God has used for his Glory here.

How many years have some of you heard about the dream of a lay Biblical counseling center or a fitness center.

If you only knew how many different locations the basketball court went before it was finally done.

Have a Plan

He is fasting a praying for 4 months and every time he is entering the kings presence.

He is preparing a plan for the right moment and the right time.

In Nehemiah’s plan he shows great respect for those who are in authority.

He says may the king live forever.

He also does not mention the name Jerusalem for this might poke a political nerve of the King

Instead he pulls on the heart strings of the king.

He says the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire.

All of this sets up the next question.

What is your request?

We see the arrow prayer...

This arrow prayer comes from 4 months of fasting and praying

We see humility once again here.

If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, then send me to Judah so that I may rebuild it.

This appears to be a personal meeting because the queen is there with the King.

Nehemiah had a plan.

I gave the king a definite time and it pleased the king to send me.

Early on had someone speak into my life and they said every time someone ask how can I help that you are prepared with a response.

I have not always done this but it has been very fruitful at times.

Nehemiah risked his life.

He is doing what God called him to do.

In doing what God called him to do, he is still respecting authority.

God is moving in the hearts of the authority for his Kingdom.

Nehemiah has a plan.

He knew he would face opposition so he request letters from the king to allow him to pass through the various provinces in the Trans-Euphrates.

He also ask the King to write a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to rebuild the gates of the temple’s fortress

Now this is way before the internet.

Nehemiah couldn’t just do a google search on who the keeper of the king’s forest is.

He had to do some research to find this out.

He had a plan and he names the keeper of the king’s fortress by name.

Nehemiah had a plan.

I love this in verse 8.

He says the king granted my requests, for I was graciously strengthened by God.

Where did this all come from?

Yes the king granted the request

The reason the king granted my requests is because I was graciously strengthened by God

It would have taken 2 to 3 months for them to travel to Jerusalem and they face opposition

As God begins to move in your heart and you begin to take action steps in the direction God has called you.

Expect opposition.

The moment they here that someone is there to help the Israelites then they start a plan on how to stop this.

(Rockaway Beach clean up weekend meeting)

More to come on this later.