Answers Bible Curriculum: Lesson 9 - Rebuilding the Walls

All right. Well, it's 9:01, so we will Get started. for anyone who doesn't know, my name's Chris Kidder and, my wife and I, she's not here, but we've been coming to Cornerstone for about almost 11 years. And, lead a care group and just really enjoy being here and I get the opportunity to teach every once in a while and so I, I really enjoy that.

So, I appreciate you guys being here and we'll kinda get started today. It's good. OK. All right, so why don't we, why don't we pray.

And then we'll, we'll get started. Thanks, buddy. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you, For you alone are the Lord, the, the great, the mighty, and awesome God.

And you've you've created the world and. Give us the chance to be here to worship you and, just what an awesome thing, that we have, Lord, and, Lord, we just lift up, everyone that's here and for, for the word that we're gonna read and for the, the things that we're gonna study, Father, that You would bless that, that your spirit would be here and, and minister to us, as we, as we go through this. Lord, I pray for all the children that are in the, Sunday school classes, Lord, and for those teachers, Father, what a An opportunity there to influence their hearts for Christ, Lord, and we do pray for, for them and for their salvation ultimately, Father, and so we just, we lift up this time to you, Lord.

I just pray that you would, that you would come and you would bless this time and bless your word.

In Christ's name. Amen. All right, so. just something to think about, just a quick question.

you don't have to answer it. but what is your first reaction to difficult or troubling situations, right? So without a doubt, we all have difficult and troubling situations. so just as we kinda go through, there was, there was something that kinda stuck out to me and really convicted me this week as I was studying Nehemiah.

so just, just kinda think about that. What is your first reaction to difficult or troubling situations? so we're going through here, look at rebuilding the walls today. so lesson 9, going through the book of Nehemiah.

we can do a quick review. I have some questions, but I, I do think the lesson will go a little bit long, so I wanna make sure we have time. so if anybody had any thoughts, I think it's been 2 weeks since Mike talked about Ezra and the, the second return, from Persia under Artaxerxes. Does anyone have any thoughts about that?

Or are there any, anything, does anybody remember what time frame that we're talking about there? No. Somewhere around 458, I believe, BC, as Ezra returns, Arbabel came back under King Cyrus in like 5:39. there was an issue, a decree, from him.

And then, anybody remember the major issue that Mike touched on, that Ezra dealt with. Divorce, yeah, intermarriage and divorce and that whole, it's a sticky, messy situation with, with the, the Jews that came back and they gain some of their land back or whatever the case might be, they intermarried and they had children and the whole bit and so it became a very, a very messy, a very messy time to kinda straighten out. And Ezra, as Mike said, he was someone that raised up for such a time as this, right?

And so he was a, a scribe.

He was, he was very, in-depth, inept with the law, or, in deep with the law, and he knew it and he, he had studied it and could apply it. and so he was raised up for a time as that, that he could go through the law and kinda work that situation out. so we'll look at a couple of timelines, just, I don't know how that comes out there, but, you guys can see, the, the return of Ezra there about 4:58, does some reform, and then about 4:45, 446, BC, Nehemiah comes back. So you're talking about 13 years after, Ezra returns, Nehemiah comes back, and then he goes through, and does some reforms there, and then, ultimately comes back in a second term.

some 20, probably 20 years or so, later. OK? another way to break it down there, I think you guys have, have seen that slide maybe a couple of weeks ago with, with Pastor Mike. I left it in there.

So as we get going today, this is a, a breakdown here. So we know that Nehemiah and Ezra and these guys were under the, the Persian Empire. So, that had come to power and that's just a breakdown of what the Persian Empire looked like. so it's pretty vast.

a lot of the, the Near Eastern, Middle Eastern, area belonged to the Persian Empire. And, so, without a doubt, it was a very powerful, and vast empire. Right. so just a, a quick look at, Nehemiah, before we actually begin.

so Nehemiah means Jehovah Comforts. the book, the book begins late in the year, so if we read chapter one, you see it, begins in the month month of Chislev, which for us is like November, December time. So it's late in the year in 446 BC, during the 20th year of Artaxerxes. and this will be the third and final return of God's people back to their land.

as well as one of the final revelations of God in, in the Old Testament scriptures, right? So, Nehemiah returns in 4:45, he's there, he comes back for a second term late in the 400, time frame, and then there's about 400 years of silence before, John the Baptist comes and declares the coming of Christ, right? So, this will be one of the last words from God that we hear in the Old Testament. so we'll do, let's see, we'll take a A quick background there.

I kinda went through some of that, and then we'll kinda look at this. So, Nehemiah is a, it's a quick book. it's 13 chapters, but, it's, it's really, it's really fast-paced. It's this action-oriented book, right?

So, from chapter 1, verse 1 to the end of chapter 12 actually covers less than a year, a year time frame. So Nehemiah comes back in 4:45, he rebuilds the wall, And they, they, they, celebrate and consecrate the wall and everything, and it actually takes less than a year for all of that to transpire. And then chapter 13 is, like I said, about, we, we don't know exactly how long, but somewhere around 20 years or more later, after that. But, but the vast majority of the book takes place in under, in under a year.

All right. the book itself breaks down into about 4, I broke it down about 4 major sections. So from chapter 1 to chapter 7, you have the return and the reconstruction. chapter 8 through chapter 10, you have the revival and the renewal.

and then from chapter 11 through chapter 12 is the resettlement and the rejoicing, and from, and then in chapter 13 is this reversion and, rectification, as, as Nehemiah comes back for his, his second term. OK, does anybody have any questions on any of that, the intro, the breakdown of it? Good. All right.

So we'll get, we'll get into the book here. So I'll read, I'll read chapter one, and, we'll kinda talk about that a little bit. So the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliahh, it came to pass in the month of Chislev in the 20th year as I was in Shushan, the citadel, that Hannana, one of my brethren, came with men from Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity and concerning Jerusalem, and they said to me, the survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach.

The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down and its gates are burned with fire.

So it was when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned for many days and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. So Nehemiah receives word from his brother Hananiah, regarding the, the state of Jerusalem and it's, it's not good, right? Ezra had returned some years before and they were rebuilding the temple and they had received, tons, literally tons of things that they could bring. The king had given them to sacrifice in the temple and to, to get that going.

And, and again, it wasn't because our Xerxes was a monotheist or anything like that, as, as Pastor Mike shared, but it was, it was a way to appease their God, right? And so he wanted to make that happen and so he gave them all of that and they come back, and yet, Nehemiah, Nehemiah gets this disturbing word that there's just, the people are, are in distress and the walls are torn down and the gates are burned, and so it's, it's not good, and he starts to fast and he's mourning and, and then he, and he prays, and, and so we listened to his prayer.

it begins here in verse 5, and I said, I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, you who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love you and observe your commandments, please let your ear be attentive and your eyes open that you may hear the prayer of your servant which I pray before you now, day and night for the children of Israel, your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against you, both my Father's house and I have sinned.

We have acted very corruptly against you.

And have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which you commanded your servant Moses. Remember, I pray the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though some of you were cast cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.

Now these are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.

Oh Lord, I pray, please let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who desire to fear your name, and let your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cupbearer. So his prayer is, he's praying from Deuteronomy 30. and you can see in Deuteronomy 30, it's, and it says here in verse one, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God and your children and obey his voice and all that I command you today with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and He will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.

so he, he knows that truth, right?

He's saturated with scripture. He understands what Deuteronomy is saying, and he's, he's seen the people have returned. He's, he knows what happened with Zabel. He knows what happened with Ezra.

and so he sees that coming to fruition, and, and so now he's, he's in distress because of what he sees as, is happening in, in Jerusalem. And so he, he's praying, that prayer to the Lord of what Moses had said, right? And, and it says in verse 4 of Deuteronomy chapter 30, if you're outcasts in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there, the Lord will gather you and from there he will take you, and the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it, and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.

So he's sitting there like, thinking, what, what the heck, the walls are burned down, the walls are destroyed, these gates are burned down, the people are in distress, but, it's, it's We're going to be more prosperous, right?

And so, it, it has him to a point to where he's, he's weeping and fasting. It says in, in verse 4 that he, he wept and mourned for many days, he's, he's in great, great distress, over this, right? It's really affected him. And I think, one of the things that, that, you look at Deuteronomy 4:25 to 31, it's a similar type of word from Moses., and Nehemiah knows these things.

And I think what, what happens is that Nehemiah uses these and he prays to the Lord and it, it encourages his heart and he knows what the Lord has promised to do. and so it, it gives him the strength to approach the king, right? So he prays, have favor with me inside of this man, and this man is King Artaxerxes. so he knows that the Lord is going to use him, and, and so he prays for God's favor.

and I like the way James Hamilton is a commentator, and he, he says it like this, do you want the strength of character to look at a desperate situation full in the face and have the wherewithal to do something about it? So, that's Nehemiah, right? He's looking at a desperate situation. He's looking at it full in the face and he wants the strength to do something about it, then fill your mind with the Bible.

that's, that's it, right? The answers are there, the, the strength to do it is there, the, the, the ability is there. Nehemiah fills his mind with the Bible. He knows what, what is said.

Oh yeah, that's right. So, so fill your mind with the Bible, right? And so, so he asked for a favor, and then he's gonna, he's going to approach the king, but what I, what I find interesting is he, he doesn't approach the king right then. he mourns and he fasts for many days and he's a cupbearer.

And we know that, a lot of people might think it's a butler. I think there's even a couple of versions, depending on what you have that might say he was a butler. but that's probably not the idea of the cupbearer. they did definitely bring the wine and the food and they tasted it, right?

So if the king was gonna be poisoned, that was the, the fall guy. But, that wasn't, that wasn't it, right? So he wasn't just the, the guy who brought the food or the wine. there's actually some apocryphal writings that, that show that the cupbearer was the, chief, one of the chief ministers to the king.

So, he was very trusted, obviously, because he had to, the king had to trust that he was gonna taste his food and protect him from being poisoned, but, he was also with the king in some of the most intimate times, right? As he's sitting there drinking wine or eating food or whatever the case might be, as we, as we see with, in chapter two, the king's sitting there with the queen., and it, it could just very well be a few people in that room, right? And so, Nehemiah is there and he's very trusted, and so, we'll look at, at chapter 2, it says that, excuse me, he came in the month of Nissan.

Which for us is like March, April.

So in November, December, he gets the word that Jerusalem is, is pretty much destroyed, the walls destroyed, and he mourns and he fasts and he prays, but it isn't until March or April when the Lord uses that to affect the king and cause him to send Nehemiah back, right? So there's 4 months that pass and I find it interesting here. We'll look at this. I'll read from chapter 2, verse 1, and it came to pass in the month of Nissan in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him that I took the wine and gave it to the king.

Now, I had never been sad in his presence before. So he had never been sad in his presence before, but 4 months before, he's weeping and he's fasting, and so, it shows his character, right? He can, he controls himself. He goes, I doubt that he didn't work for 4 months, right?

So, he's going there and he's not sad in the, in the face in the presence of the king, and, and, and, and, and when he comes today, the Lord uses, the Lord uses this sadness that he has evidently on his face, right? Because it says in verse two, therefore, the king said to me, why is your face sad? since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.

So I became dreadfully afraid. Because that was illegal, right? you, the, the, there was an expectation in the king's court that you would act and, and respond in a certain way. And so if you weren't, it was, off with your head, right?

it's, it wasn't allowed, right? So, so Nehemiah's afraid and he says to the king, may the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father's tombs lies waste and its gates are burned with fire. And so he sets the stage for the king and Artaxerxes knows, he knows what, what he's talking about.

He knows the city, he knows the place. Obviously, he sent Ezra there, 13 years before. And so, he is familiar with that and, so then the king, in verse 4, then the king said to me, what do you request? and so, Nehemiah, the first, his first thought, isn't to what he can get or the things he can have for the, for the city.

it says, so I prayed to the God of heaven, right? So he prays, right? And that's the first thing that he does is he, in the middle of this, the king's talking to him, he stops and he prays, and asks for, for God's favor on, on what's about to transpire. which I think is really good and you'll see that quite a bit throughout the book, with Nehemiah.

And so, in verse 5, and I said to the king, if it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your side, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs that I may rebuild it. Then the king, then the king said to me, the queen also sitting beside him, how long will your journey be and when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. Furthermore, I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the river, right?

We all know that's talking about the area where he's gonna go. That they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah. So he's going to get letters that provide him safe travel, right? To those governors that are in that area beyond the river.

And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel. which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy. And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me. So we see that God is moving in the heart of our Xerxes to give Nehemiah the things that he needs to rebuild the walls and, and not only that, but to give him safe passage.

And then he does, he does something a little different than what Ezra did. So we know that Ezra had a ton of stuff and they were, going through on this journey to, back to Jerusalem, and they, they, they had to split up the, the goods and they, they did, God gave them safe passage, but they didn't take a king, a guard with them, right? They didn't have any, any army or anything like that. But in verse 9, we see that the, the king Xerxes, he actually does give, Nehemiah, a guard.

So it says here, then I went to the governors in the region beyond the river. And gave them the king's letter. Now, the king had sent, had sent captains of the army and horsemen and horsemen with me. So, just a little different way there, not that one way is better than the other, but, it's what the Lord had caused our Xerxes to do and what he had caused Nehemiah to do, and they, he provided for him.

And, and so he's, he's gonna be back, to Jerusalem there with the things that he needs to, to make that, to rebuild the wall. and then just a quick note, verse 10, I think, it's an interesting spot in the narrative here. Nothing's been done yet. They haven't started rebuilding the wall.

They haven't, done anything. In fact, at this point, he's barely even arriving back to the city and, the antagonists are, are introduced to the story, right? So every Every book has, some opposition, right? you can't have a story without conflict, and, and so here we meet the antagonist of this, this narrative.

And so in verse 10, it says, when Sambala and the Hornite and Tobaa, the Ammonite official heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel. So we meet those two guys right there and set the stage for some of the opposition that we see, later throughout the book, right? so, when Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem, he doesn't, he doesn't spend a lot of time, so it's about, it's a 1000 mile journey. without a doubt, it took a while.

and, but he doesn't spend much time doing anything else. So he rests for 3 days, and then he, and then he goes out on his own to look at the wall. So, Nehemiah, as you see, he's, he's, he's a man of action. he always seems to have a plan.

He's, he's a great leader. you see that throughout. all through chapter 7, all the way through chapter 7 into chapter 13. he's, he, he's a great leader of the people.

He's a, he's a, he expects a lot out of them, but he always has a plan to make it happen. And so, when he arrives, he goes out at night and he takes a look at the wall because he needs to see it firsthand, right? So, I'm not sure if I can get there, but I'll show, that's, Computer rendering of what it might have looked like, during the time of Nehemiah. but then this, this one here breaks down the gates a little bit, here.

So we can kinda look at that as we, I'll read through what Nehemiah did that evening when he went out and inspected the walls. so I came to Jerusalem. This is verse 11 of chapter 2 and was there 3 days. Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me.

I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem, nor was there any animal with me except the one on which I rode. And I went out by night through the valley gate. So I don't know, if this works, it doesn't work. Anyway, you can see the valley gates southwest there, near the furnace tower there below Jerusalem.

So he went out, the valley gate to the serpent well and the refuse gator, the dung gate, which is all the way at the south point of the wall. and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire. So he's inspecting it, he's checking it out. He wants to see the status firsthand.

then I went on to the fountain gate into the king's pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass. So I went up in the night by the valley. So all along this eastern side here, there's the valley onto the, onto the east. I went up, by night by the valley and viewed the wall.

Then I turned back and entered by the valley gate and so returned. So then he doubles back, and goes back in the valley gate. So he's inspected, basically the southern half, portion of the wall there. and he's seen the, he's seen the damage firsthand, right?

And, it was so bad that at one point, he couldn't even, his donkey, his, his whatever animal was under him, couldn't even make it over the rubble, right? it's just, it's, it's in, it's in complete distress. he later, he calls it a disgrace., the walls of Jerusalem a disgrace, right? it's just, it's, it's in bad, bad shape.

And so he, he sees it firsthand and he comes back, but he's not overwhelmed. he's not, he's not throwing his hands up like there's just nothing we can do. he, he goes to work and so now his job is to, like any good leader, he's gonna motivate, he's gonna motivate the folks that are gonna be, performing the work and so he, he gathers them up and we can look at that, in verse 17. verse 16, and the officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done, for I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the others who did the work.

Verse 17, then I said to them, you see the distress that we're in and how Jerusalem lies waste, or it's a disgrace., that other parts of the Old Testament use that, the same word like scorn or abuse, and it's this wall is just this constant reminder, right? So when God's judgment came, And disobedient, because of the disobedience, he destroyed the city and they were taken into captivity. it's just this constant reminder of that as these, as they look at these walls, right? And so this, it's a disgrace.

And so he said, lies waste and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach. And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. So he's he's motivating them, right?

Look, I have all this wood. We're back. We can do this, we can do that. and the king has given us these letters.

He's, he's behind us. He's, he's with that. So, so all the people are, are motivated, but I, there may be more, right? That Nehemiah had said.

I was looking through at Psalm 42, The city of God, maybe, maybe this is some more of what he said to motivate him, but the city of God is called the joy of the whole Earth, the city of the great King, right? And so let's bring that back. Let's restore the city to what it, what it used to be, what it should be, what God has designed it to be, and, and, and so the people, the people are behind and they're motivated and so they said, let us rise up and build, and then they set their hands to this good work, right?

And so, so they're ready.

they're going to go to work and they're going to rebuild the wall and they're going to do it. At lightning speed. but they're not gonna do it without opposition. so we can, as you, as you look at the opposition, There we go.

So there's a, there's from chapter 4, a good portion of chapter 4, there's a lot of opposition. Most of chapter 6, there's a lot of oppos external opposition. and just to kinda, kinda look at that, right? So, as we look at verse 19 of chapter 2, but when Sambalot the Horonite, Tobia the Ammonite official, and Geshem, now there's another one, the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us and said, What is this thing that you're doing?

Will you rebel against the king, right? So they start mocking them, they start making jokes, just trying to discourage them from the work, right? because they, they don't want them to rebuild the wall. It was, they were greatly disturbed that someone was coming to look out for Israel, right?

And so they're, they're obviously very bothered and, and, they start out just by, by mocking them and, and, intimidating them, but Are they? So we'll, we'll get into that. So you're jumping ahead of me, Brian. You're, you're too quick, buddy.

But Sambala, he's a Samaritan. And then Tobaya is an Ammonite and Geshem is an Arab, so No, but Tobayak probably married into some of the Jerusalem family and he's in with some of the nobles. So we'll, we'll, we'll discuss that here just to In just a sec, but yeah, so, Nehemiah answered them and said to them, the God of heaven Himself will prosperous. Therefore, we as servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem.

so he answers them back and, in chapter 3, Nehemiah spends, spends time, he kinda lays out the families and the, and the, the areas of the wall and everybody's working on a different area of the wall. So the whole wall is being worked on at one time through all of chapter 3, the breakdown of that and where they're working. and then chapter 4, there's some opposition. so, the wall's progressing in chap in verse 6, you see, by chapter 4, verse 6, the wall's already at half its height.

so, Sambalot and, and the, and the gang, are obviously getting a little bit upset. and so look at verse, At verse 1, but it so happened of chapter 4 when Sambalot heard that we were rebuilding the wall. that he was furious and very indignant and mocked and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren in the army of Samaria.

So now he's standing out there, he's got his army and the other guys and they're all out there and they're just, they're making jokes and they're, I can, it's like schoolyard, right? They're like elbowing each other and they're, cracking these, right? it's, it's what it is though, and they're, they're just trying to intimidate them, right? there, there's this whole army standing there, number one.

So the, the Jews are working on the wall. They're trying to rebuild this wall. It's half its height, which, isn't gonna be enough. And, this, this army is standing before you and they're, they're making these jokes and, and it's, it's, it's a very intimidating thing and So then they start saying, here, well, well, in verse two, will they fortify themselves?

Will they offer sacrifices? The obvious answer is no, they're not gonna be able to do this. Will they complete it in a day? will they revive the stones from heaps of rubbish, stones that are burned?

And then Tobaa, the Ammonite was beside him and he said, whatever they build, if a, even a fox goes up on it, it'll break down, right? So, they're just totally bashing everything these guys are doing. I, they're not. the, the, the intimidation and the, and the discouragement and, and they're, they're trying to get these guys to just basically quit, right?

Like what we're doing there isn't, what we're doing isn't any good, right? This wall is not gonna work. If you can get inside their head, and then they don't have to do this, they won't do this work anymore because they're just so discouraged, from, from everything that's being said and, and, and they'll give up, right? but, Nehemiah doesn't, doesn't let that happen.

so, so, We see that in, in, later on in the chapter here as he, he goes and he, he talks to him, but, the wall gets to half its height in verse 6. So now, so now the guys, the gang is getting real desperate. so now they're gonna actually turn to, to attacking him, right? So it was just intimidation.

They were just standing there. obviously, the king of, Artaxerxes had given them the letters. They were safe, because he had told them that they could return. but at this point now, they don't care anymore.

So they ready their army for battle. so in verse 7, it says, now it happened when Sambalo, Tobaha, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashtadites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were being, were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. So, so here they are, they're gonna attack. So what's the first thing, what's the first thing that they do, right?

Do they, they, they gather the soldiers, they, whatever they, they get the weapons? What do they, what do they do? Verse 9. Nevertheless, We made our prayer to our God, right?

And so again, you see it, the first thing they do is they pray, they, they pray for God's favor, they pray for God's protection, and, and, and then, and then they, because of them, we set a watch against them day and night, right? So they set up a watch, they set up a guard. but unfortunately, the damage is being done, right? So these, these, the people working on the wall are doing it at lightning-fast speed.

They're, The wall's half its height there, but there's tons of rubble, right? We, we saw how much, when Nehemiah couldn't even take his animal over it. So, the work is, there's a lot of work, but now you throw in this, this threat of imminent attack. And in verse 10, you can see here, Judas said, the strength of the laborers is falling, it's failing, excuse me.

The strength of the laborers is failing and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall. So here they are, they're, they're on the verge of giving up, right? So it's working. the opposition has, has gotten to them.

there's so much work to be done that the, the threat of attack and, and, and, and Judah's telling Nehemiah that, that we're giving up, there's just, we can't, we can't do it. so, and our adversaries in verse 11 said they will neither know or see anything till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease. And so it was verse 12, when the Jews who dwelt near them came, they told us 10 times, so they're over and over and over, right? 10 times, from where, whatever place you turn, they will be upon us.

They're coming from everywhere. So there's, there's people everywhere, all over the wall, everywhere you turn, they're, they're coming, they're gonna be there, and they're, they're attacking, and, and we can't do it. We can't build the wall. And, so it seems like the end is there, and, and Nehemiah though, he's, he's a great leader.

And so here we see him, take charge and he comes up with a plan. And so he, he sets this up and I looked in verse 14 and arose and said, oh, here, sorry, I apologize. I skipped a verse in verse 13. Therefore, I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall at the openings and I set the people according to their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

So they They're not working at this point. They're set up as a guard, they have swords, they have spears, they have bows, right? All the families, right? These probably aren't soldiers.

they're, they're, but they're there, they're ready to fight. They're, they're on guard for the wall, they're gonna protect it. And in verse 14, and I looked and arose and said to the nobles, so, to the leaders and to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

So it's that frontline general speech, you've seen like Gladiator or what's another Braveheart or some of these movies, right, where these guys are the general's riding on his horse or whatever and he's, he's motivating these people, right? And that's what he's doing, right? They're, they're not building, they're not working, they're getting ready to fight and these guys are not likely, not soldiers, they're Their families, they're just heads of households, and yet they have swords, they have shields and spears, and they're gonna defend the wall.

And so Nehemiah just, he rallies the troops and he's motivating them and getting them ready for, for what's gonna come and he says, don't forget, now remember the Lord, great and awesome, right?

And fight for, fight for what's yours. This is your family, your, this is the land that the God, that God has promised you, right? And so fight for that. And So then in verse 15, we see that, it doesn't even look like there's a battle.

I don't think anything even happens. There's nothing of it, right? So we look at verse 15, and it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us that God had brought their plot to nothing. That all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work.

So, like that, it's, it's done, and, and there's no, seems to be no threat. God had thwarted the plan before the battle ever took place. Everyone, goes back to work and, so what an awesome, what an awesome testimony., it wasn't over. obviously, through the rest of chapter 4, they start working with swords at their side, right?

you guys are probably familiar with some of that. passage, they worked with a sword in one hand or a spear in one hand and a shovel in the other, they're, they're still doing this work and what an amazing, testimony. In verse 6, it says, of chapter 4, it says that, the wall had been joined, was made to half its height for the people had a mind to work or a heart to work. They had set their heart to work.

and that didn't go away even after that, the imminent threat, right? They, they struggled. Nehemiah rallied the troops and then they're working with a, with a weapon in one hand and a, and a tool in the other. And, and it, it was hard work, but, but, they, they went back to it.

and so, that's not it, unfortunately for the gang. they, they still come back. so the threat of attack didn't work, intimidation didn't work. so instead, we're gonna try to just, let's just get Nehemiah out of the picture.

if we can get rid of Nehemiah, then, they don't have a leader, and, and that'll be the end of that. So, in chapter 6, we see, we see the, Sam Blot and, and the guys come back. and the wall is almost complete at this point. now it happened when Sam Blot, verse 1 of chapter 6, Tobaa Geshem, the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall.

And that there were no breaks left in it. Though it. Though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gate that Sambalo and Geshem sent to me saying, come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono. So that's the probably the westernmost part of where the land they had settled and so they, they say, hey, let's, let's just get together.

We're gonna meet and we're gonna have a, we're gonna have a dialogue and we're gonna work this thing out and seems friendly enough, right? It's a diplomatic means and, but, Nehemiah is, he's no fool, right? So he sniffs out the plot. and he sends a response, in verse two, you see that Sambalot, And Geshem sent me saying, come let us meet together, in verse, or at the end of verse two, but they thought to do me harm, right?

So he knows what's happening. he gets that and so he, yeah, he's not gonna have any part of that. In verse 3, he says, so I sent messengers to them saying, I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you, right?

So, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna stop what I'm doing to come down and meet with you guys. it's not gonna happen. So that actually happens 4 different times. These guys are persistent.

They send 4 of the same type of letter up there and, and 4 times, Nehemiah tells him, no, I'm not coming. It's not gonna happen. So then Samblatt go ahead, he, he goes ahead and he, he turns to like blackmail or to lies, right? He's gonna, he's gonna try to, try to get this out.

So he sends a different letter up. basically, it's a sealed letter that's not sealed. and, and so Nehemiah gets this, and this is what he's gonna, I'm gonna tell the king, right? It's basically what he's telling him.

So if you, if you think that the king is going to appreciate the lies I'm spreading, if he's, what I'm saying you're doing, then, then you should stop, right? So we look at what Sam Blott says here in verse 5. Then Sam Blot sent his servant to me as before, the 5th time. With an open letter in his hand, and in it was written.

So this is Samblot's letter. It is reported among the nations and Geshem says that you and the Jews plan to rebel. Therefore, according to the rumors, you are rebuilding the wall that you may be their king, and you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, there is a king in Judah. Now, these matters will be reported to the king.

So basically, I've told you, I'm gonna go tell the king that you're setting yourself up to be king of Judah and, and, and the king of Persia, right? Artaxerxes is the only king, that, that he's gonna have in that land. So if he hears that, that's obviously not gonna be any good. and, and, and, you've set up prophets to proclaim for yourself.

So if you don't want the king to hear about this, you better come down and, at the end of the letter, therefore, so come therefore and let us consult, together. And so this is the, one of the last straws for, for Sambalot, the last chance to get Nehemiah out. Nehemiah doesn't have it, he just tells him, none of this stuff's happening in verse 8, but you invent them in your own heart or in your own mind, right? You're making up fantasies.

and, and he has faith that God will protect him, that the king's not going to, believe the words that are being said or that even that Sambalot would even send them. to the king. So that's, that's the, the, the end of, of Sam Blot there. we don't hear, anything from him, the rest of the way, but Tobaa, what we do hear from him.

Is that he was sending letters, so he, he was a noble, an aristo married into like an aristocratic family and he was a fairly wealthy guy and, and, or it seems And so he was in with some of the nobles of the, of the Jewish people and you can see. him sending letters to them. So at the end of chapter 6, Tobias sends letters to those nobles. They send letters back to him.

They're playing both sides of the fence here. So, they're telling Nehemiah of all the good things that Tobias is doing, right? So it's this changing, changing the scene. They're not trying to get Nehemiah out or trying to harm him.

He's trying to make a good name for him now, right? Look at all the good things that he's doing and then they would send the letters back to Tobiah and, and, well, here's what Nehemiah's doing and so they'd have all this, he would have this inside information and so he was still trying to send letters to frighten him. I think the last verse 19, Tobias sent letters to frighten me, right? So he's still, he's still trying, he's trying to, to, to, to intimidate Nehemiah, but it just, it never works and that's the end of what we see and, as far as the external opposition, and if that was, if that was the only opposition he faced, that would be great.

however, like any, any leader, so if any of you guys are, are managers or leaders of other people, it's very, it's very clear that, You go to work every day and you deal with, and I, I can say this speaking from personal experience, there's always personnel issues, right? So if somebody has a problem. And, so it's not always necessarily external supplier issues that, that someone might deal with, right? You have people that report to you or people that work under you, and without a doubt, daily, you have problems that you have to deal with, right?

And, it's, it's, it's never fun and it wasn't any different for Nehemiah. So just to look at that real quick, in chapter 5, verse 1, I'll read that. We can look at some of these internal issues. So this is all happening also just as a note, right?

So everyone understands this is all happening as the wall is being built. so the wall is built in 52 days and all of this stuff is being handled within that 52 days. So, it's just, it's like a nightmare of, of issues that are happening for Nehemiah and, and he, he handles them really well. I think it speaks to his leadership qualities, right?

so look at chapter 5, verse 1. And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren, for there were those who said, We, our sons and our daughters are many, therefore, let us get grain that we may eat and live. There were also some who said, we have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses that we might buy grain because of the famine. And there were also those who said we have borrowed money for the king's tax on our lands and vineyards, yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children, and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves and some of our daughters to have been brought into slavery.

It is not in our power to redeem them. For the other men have our lands and vineyards. So So they come and they're complaining to To Nehemiah about just The nobles, if you look at chapter 3, verse 5, it says that there's some nobles there, right? So the Tewites made repairs, but their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord, right?

So there were some guys there that, that weren't going to do the work, right? They just weren't going to participate. They weren't part of it. And so it's likely that some of these, some of these folks are the ones that were, Holding the, the, the people to this to, to the interest that they were gonna be charged for the loans that they were getting, whether on grain or money or whatever it was.

And so then they were having to either A, mortgage off their, their lands if they had any, right? So we already know that when, when Ezra returned, it was very difficult to get your land back, right? So there's already somebody occupying that area. So how do you get your land back?

You, you intermarry or whatever the case might be. And, or B, so they would have to, if they had any land, they would mortgage off that land to pay, the interest on the stuff that they were borrowing because everyone's working on the wall. Nobody can be farming, nobody, right? So people are hungry, people need to eat, and so the people that had wealth, that had land, were giving that to the, to the, the workers, but they were charging them interest for that, for that grain, for that food, for whatever it was they were getting, right?

So, so they mortgaged their land. If you didn't have land, what else do you have? Family, right? So you start, they start mortgaging off, they start selling their children into slavery.

They start selling themselves into slavery, and this, this is something that, that's not necessarily uncommon. The Bible talked about it, but the way that they were going about it was wrong, right? So they were charging this as an interest. so if you look at like Exodus 22, it says if you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a money lender to him and you shall not exact interest from him.

Or Leviticus 25, if your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. Deuteronomy 23 is another one.

What's that, Brian? Usury, yes, yes, exactly. Deuteronomy 23, you shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest, right? So the Bible condemned it anyway.

the situation just seems wrong to do that, right? They're all here together. They're all trying to rebuild the city and yet these guys are doing it. And so Nehemiah gathers and he, he's super angry, right?

So verse 5 and I, or verse 6, excuse me, and I became very angry when I heard their outcry and so this kinda, my, my oldest son is here and so he can kinda Attest to this, but there's times where you get very angry, and, I don't always go and gather my thoughts like I should. but Nehemiah gives us a good example in verse 7. He says, after serious thought, right? So he, he goes off, he gathers his thoughts, he stops, he thinks, he composes himself, and then he goes and he rebukes them.

They don't have anything to say, right? They, they can't answer back. they can't answer back to him in verse 8. It says they were silenced and found nothing to say.

and then they, they go through in verse, the rest of chapter 5, and they kinda, they kinda say that they're gonna give all this stuff back and they're going to, they're not gonna do it anymore and they repent, of their sin and it seems legit as we read into, into chapter 8, as they celebrate, this feast of booze and that stuff. These, there's people that don't have anything to celebrate with and, and it, it talks about people. everyone was giving to those who had need, right?

So it seems, it seems a legitimate repentance, as we see from examples later, later in the chapter or later in the book, excuse me.

so, in chapter, chapter 6, verse 15, we get the, the final, final building of the wall here. It says, so the wall was finished on the 25th day of Elu in 52 days, right? So Elu is like August to September. So it's August to September, and we remember, Nehemiah got the word that Jerusalem was destroyed, the wall was destroyed and the people were in distress.

When November, December. So it's less than a year. He comes back and the wall is completely finished. 52 days it took to finish the wall.

Travel time and everything, dealing with all the issues, less than a year. And so then, and so now, in chapter 7, it's a list of those who came back from captivity and, it goes through that and then in verse 8, we kinda get into the next section, it's the revival and, renewal, and so we'll kinda go through that, pretty quick. but in, in chapter 8, we know that, Pastor Mike a couple of weeks ago talked about Ezra and he said that some, he was someone who was raised up for such a time as this, right?

And so he was, he was talking about, bringing the law as far as dealing with the intermarriage and the divorce and that stuff, but he's also, he was also a man who was raised up for such a time as this is to, to bring the law to the people, right?

And so they, they call for him in chapter 8. now all the people gathered together, verse 1 is one man in the open square that was in front of the Watergate, and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. So verse 2, Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the 7th month. And so, he brings the law and you guys are, are probably familiar with the passage, right?

So he stands there for about 6+ hours and he, he reads the word to them, and they sit there and they listen attentively, which is pretty amazing in itself that, that we, we would sit, someone would sit there for, for 6 hours and they would listen attentively, right? And, while, while Ezra's teaching, the priests and Levites are going through the crowd, cause it's gonna be a very large crowd. And they're going through the crowd and in verse 8, it's, they were, they were explaining it as, as it's reading, they're explaining what's, what's being said and they're, they're making it so that people can understand and in verse 8, we see, it says that the people understood the reading, right?

So they, they made it so that they can understand.

they listened attentively, we make it so they can understand, and, and then what's the result? they start weeping, lamenting, and just they're, they're, they're just weeping over their sin and the resulting judgment that happened, right? And, I think there's more to that. it's an interesting, if you, you think about these, these folks that, that had come back, it's a, a very interesting dynamic, right?

And so, I was thinking about what, what might they have been reading through, and, and just some of the passages from the law. We looked at Deuteronomy 30 where it talks about what God would do and scatter you throughout the land and so they, they personally experienced that, right? So they were personally, on the side of God's justice, right? They were, they were disobedient.

Their, their, their, their parents and grandparents were disobedient and that, that resulted in judgment, right? And they, they experienced that because they were in captivity in the, in the land of, of Babylon. But then on the other hand, like Leviticus 26, I'll read that, but if they confess their iniquity, this is verse 40 to 42, but if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies, right?

So there it is, the disobedience, they go to exile, they experience that.

If then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, And they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and I will remember my covenant with Isaac. And my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them. Neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God, right?

So they also not only do they see the, the justice of God, but they're also being brought back to their land, right? So these are the exiles that are returning, and so they also see the some of the fulfillment of the promise of God, and it's, it's got to be a very interesting thing to experience, right? So, I think hindsight is always better to view it because you see that differently, especially in your own life, right? You can look back and see the way God worked through certain circumstances and you can, you can praise him for that, but just to be in that circumstance and to, to have it explained and, and, and to understand the reading of it and to say we were disobedient and, and, and, and we're, we're cast out and we were scattered throughout the land, but here we are, we're back and it's an overwhelming, an overwhelming thing and so it's a living, they're living proof of God's faithfulness as well, right?

And so it's, it's a pretty awesome, a pretty awesome thing. so they're, they're weeping, but this is supposed to be a time of rejoicing and so Nehemiah puts a stop to that in verse 10. go your way, he says, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portion to those for whom nothing is prepared, right? For this day is holy to our Lord, right?

He didn't completely, destroy them as a nation, and, and this is a time that's, supposed to be, rejoice, they're supposed to be rejoicing. They're back in their land, the wall is built, the temple there, they can sacrifice. They have, some freedom and so that's, this is a time of rejoicing and so they go back, they rejoice. It's, they, they give to those who, who had need and they're, it's all a time of rejoicing.

And then the next day, the heads of household come and they, they gather again together to, to study the word and There's an, an interesting point in here in verse, in verse 13, it says, now, on the 2nd day, the heads of the fathers, the houses of all the people with the priests and Levites were gathered, right? But in verse 14, and they found it written in the law. So this is, this whole section is, is almost identical to Ezra chapter 3. So Zerubbabel returns and they do this exact same thing.

They gather in the square, they, they open the Book of the Law, they find the feast of booze and they celebrate that. This may be 90 years ago, right? But in that time frame, All of that's forgotten, right? Because no one knows about it.

Verse 14 says, and they found it written in the law, like they just discovered this, right? And so just, man, I was just really struck by the fact that over that course of time, what's been forgotten, right? They're not in, in Deuteronomy 6, right? They're not teaching their children, they're not doing these things.

And so it's, it's an amazing thought that And, and, and we'll see in, in chapter 13, it's, it can, the window can be much shorter than 90 years, but it just was very interesting that, that the, the text says and they found it written in the law, right? So it wasn't something that anyone was aware of. It's something that they stumbled across. And so they celebrate the feast of Booze, which in Deuteronomy 16, Moses called it, it was to be a time that was altogether joyful.

So again, a celebration, Of that. And then, and then in chapter 9, they go into, the confession of sin. so they celebrate that and then they come back together on the 24th day and, and they confess their sin and, and from chapter or excuse me, from, from verse, from verse 5 all the way through the, basically through the end of the chapter, Ezra breaks into this psalm, that goes from creation, all the way up to their current situation and how, just the The confession of sin and, and the faithfulness of God and Myers is a commentator, and he, he said that the prayer psalm is a marvelous expression of God's continued faithfulness to his covenant despite the nation's equally continued apostasy, right?

So you see that, you see God's faithfulness all the way through that prayer that he prays, but then right alongside of it, you see the, the apostasy of the nation and it's just a, it's a beautiful confession of their sin, and then they go through that.

And then all of chapter 10 is an agreement, and a written covenant that they signed with the Lord. and, and they go through that and all of them sign it the things that we're not gonna do and what we're gonna do, and Nehemiah sets up, in chapter 12, they do the celebration of the temple, and, They go through that and they dedicate it, but he sets up times when the families will bring what's needed to the temple so that the Levites and the singers and everybody can serve in the temple.

And they don't have to go back to work. They don't, they don't need to go tend fields, they don't need to do any of that stuff, right?

They tithe, they bring what's needed, wood and grain and all of that stuff so that, that the temple can be what it's supposed to be. And then they, they consecrate the wall and the temple and they, they meet. I don't know if you guys, we could go look at it here, but they meet at the valley gate right there on the west side. Two choirs, Nehemiah leads one, Ezra leads the other.

They head in opposite directions, so one goes south, one goes north. They kinda trumpet around the wall and they're singing and they're, they're worshiping and, and it says, I'll have to find it, but, Basically, verse 43 of chapter 12, also that day, they offered great sacrifices and rejoice, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. The women and the children also rejoiced so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off. So, it's just a, a great party.

they, they circle around, they meet at the temple and, and everything is, is great. And that, that's what a great way to end the, the book. Everybody's, they're worshiping, they're, they're back at home, and everything seems great. But there is a chapter 13, and, so I'll just touch it real quick as we're, as we're getting low on time, but, Nehemiah, stays there for 12 years, it says, in verse 6, I believe.

you can read it, but during all this time, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, king of Babylon, I returned to the king. So he came in the 20th year, he returned in the 32nd year, so about 1212 years, he goes back to the king as promised. so he wasn't there for some of the start of this stuff, that was happening, but he does get leave from the king. He comes back and, He does, he is very distressed to find what, to see, to find what's happening, right?

So he, him and Nehemiah did a lot of work to To, revive the people and, and rebuild the wall and, and set up the city to be, what it should be, where the people are obedient, or worshiping their, their, and they're, they're, they're rejoicing in their God. but when he comes back, it's not that way, right? And so the, the, the covenant that they made in chapter 10 was being broken all over the place. So if you look at, verse 10, I also realized that the portions for the Levites had not been given them, for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field, right?

So that was one of the things they said they would fix. But when he got back, they, they were all out in the field working because they couldn't survive. in verse 15, in those days, I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in sheaves and loading donkeys with wine grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So that was something they said they wouldn't do, right?

And then, I think the thing that got him, got him most was what was happening, at the end of chapter 13, from verse 23 on, I saw in those days, in those days, I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. So already the intermarriage has started again., you're talking 20+ years, right? Has, has, has transpired from the time he left to the time he came back. And already that, that they've started intermarrying and it's, it's not just that they started intermarrying, but, just the, the depth of it, right?

So in verse 24.5 of their children spoke the language of Ashdod and could not speak the language of Judah. just that quick, right? So we talked about 90 years and they, they found it written in the law, but this is, even if you called it 30 years, it's not 30 years, but even if you said it was 30 years, it's so bad that even their children don't, they, they don't even speak Hebrew, right? They don't even speak the language of Judah.

They, they're already so intermarried and so intertwined with the foreign nations that they, they now speak the foreign language only. it's, it's, it's amazing. and so, we, we know Ezra pulled his hair out and he, he did that, but I think, our new counseling is gonna be what Nehemiah did. so he doesn't quite do what Ezra does, so this is, this is what I think we're gonna go to.

verse 25, so I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair. And made them swear by God. So, he doesn't want to pull out his own hair. I guess Nehemiah, saw what Ezra went through and he didn't want the pain, so he decides to pull their hair out instead.

he gets it, he gets it back in order. He's, he's, he, he has them swear they're not gonna give their children, to foreign wives and foreign, women, anymore, or foreign men or whatever the case might be. he gets the temple back in order and he gets everything back in line, but, what a, what a disappointment, how quickly How quickly the grace of God had been forgotten, and just, and just, and just moved on from there, right? so that closes the book.

There was a couple of quick thoughts I had for application and then if there's any questions, we could do a couple. I know we, we've run over, but, so one thing that stood out to me about this book was just the, the work that was done, right? So, all of us have a job, right? So I go to work every day and, but my wife, she is, her work is to raise our children and to school our children, and so if you're, whether you're retired or whether you're a student or it doesn't matter, right?

Everyone has a, has a job. It doesn't matter if you punch a clock. And, and to, to look at the work that they did, is amazing, right? And in verse 6 of chapter 4, it says that they worked with all their heart, right?

They set their hearts to work, they set their mind to work. And the question is, do we do that or do we work half-heartedly, right? Paul tells us in Colossians that we should work heartily as unto the Lord. he tells us, whatever we do, do it to the glory of God, and, work stinks a lot of times and, and it wasn't any different for them, you saw it in verse 10 that they were getting overwhelmed.

They were the, the threat of attack, but, but they had a heart to work and it's what a great example, for us, and it, it was said in, in there that when, when all our enemies had heard about this, the wall being built, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence. Why? Because they realized this work had been done with the help of our God. And the same set of us, right?

So if we're working with all our heart and we're working to God's glory, the same is said of us, right? People will know. people see a difference, they see it, there's something about you that's different when you work to God's glory. and so I, I think that's a pretty awesome thing to take away.

and the second thing that really convicted me, because it's not something that I do, naturally to, myself, but the first thing, and I, it's something like 10 or 12 times that you see throughout the book, the first thing that Nehemiah does is he turns to prayer. it doesn't matter what's happening when he got the news from Jerusalem, when the enemies were going to attack, when they're trying to pull them out, whatever the case was, it's like consistently, the first thing that they did was they went to prayer.

And, and, there's nothing wrong with seeking counsel or anything like that, but we all have ways and, for me, it's, I just, I, I typically will stay quiet and it'll go away, right? It, it's just, I don't have to worry about that, and, and, but it's not, it's not I don't always go to prayer, and it was very convicting that the very first thing that he does throughout the book is he goes to prayer.

and so what a, what an awesome thing to do. what an awesome way to, to handle your, your problems or your tough situations or anything that, that you come across is to, to go to prayer, right? so those are the couple of things that I just stuck out to me. I don't know if anybody has any questions.

I know we don't have, I had some questions on the board here that I was gonna ask. We don't have a, a lot of time, so I'll skip that, but if anybody, if there were a couple of questions or if anybody had anything, now would be the time. If not, that's OK as well. OK.

one thing to ponder, right? So I don't know if you guys can see those, so, we talked on that, but, Where was it? I had one. I thought it was, here we go.

Yeah. So how does confession, sorrow and rejoicing over sin and God's grace fit together? so is it, so is there a time When one is wrong, right? So, Nehemiah 89, and 10, and, and, and James, look them up, and just see the difference between the two and what is that, I don't know, it's just something I thought about.

don't really have an answer or anything, just, just something to ponder, maybe this week. OK. Any other, any other, any questions or anything? All right, let's pray and, and we'll be, we'll be done.

Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you, for this time and what a What a great example we have of Nehemiah of his leadership and Lord, we just pray this week, Lord, I pray for myself, especially, but for everyone in this room, Lord, just that we would turn to, prayer and turn to you first in our, in our, in our situations that no doubt we'll face this week, that we would seek you, we would seek counsel with you first, Lord, and that, we would, we would want to know the scriptures and we want to know what the Bible has to say so that we can have the answers, that we need.

you've given us all things for life and godliness, and we believe that's true. Lord, I just pray this, for the service for Pastor Milne as he preaches, just bless him, bring the spirit, Lord, we pray for those that are coming, Lord, that don't know you. Father, even now prepare their hearts with good soil so that the seed will be planted and the fruit would be, would be evident, a hundredfold.

Lord, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.