Gregg Marutzky: We're gonna dive right in.
The theme of Nehemiah Chapter Two is Rise up and build and, uh, we
want to welcome you to church.
And we have reset, right?
Nehemiah chapter two in verse, uh, 18 is our theme verse.
And it says, and they said, let us rise and build so they strengthen
their, their hands for the good work.
We're gonna talk about that, that's a part of this passage this morning.
But, uh.
There's some great characters in this chapter that I wanna share
about, and the Bible's written sort of in a narrative way.
It's a drama.
And you gotta sort of get into the story.
You gotta get into the plot, you gotta get into the characters.
And there's usually three types of characters, right?
You got an antagonist, a protagonist, a victim, a, a persecutor, a rescuer.
There's all usually at least three types of characters in any plot.
And in this drama this morning.
We have the Jews, we have Nehemiah, we have the pilgrims,
and they're sort of the victims.
But you can switch around.
Nehemiah switches around.
The persecutor are sand ballot, toba ham.
At first it seems like maybe our exes is gonna be a persecutor,
but he come becomes a, a rescuer.
Nehemiah is a rescuer.
Sort of see where you're at.
We even have just a touch of the queen being a rescuer this morning,
and so I hope you enjoy this story.
But let's, uh, let's get a little, uh, educational value from this too,
that there was a guy named Karpman that, uh, define the drama triangle.
Okay?
He said A good drama has a victim.
All right?
This person usually says that, uh.
They're blameless and they're being persecuted.
There's a, there's a issue that others are attacking them for.
Then there's a perpetrator or a persecutor, and they usually
feel like they're right.
They sometimes have more power, and then there's a rescuer, and sometimes
that's a, a, a minister can be a rescuer, A therapist can be a rescuer.
All right.
Sometimes that can be overdone and become an enabler.
Anytime there's an addiction, there's a victim, someone that plays the
victim, and then there's someone that plays the rescuer, the enabler.
And so, uh, let's see why people get into this kind of drama, this kind of
crisis, so to speak, in their life.
Part of it is because there's benefits to playing the victim,
to having a victim mentality.
Unfortunately, it's not very healthy, okay?
That when you play the victim, you get attention and validation.
Sometimes people want that.
They want to be noticed.
They, they don't.
They feel invisible, and so they want to get attention.
You don't have to take risks if you're victim.
It's not your fault.
You're somebody else is doing something to you.
You don't have to take responsibility.
It makes you feel better.
You can blame others for your failures.
Here's where it starts to go wrong.
You can excuse yourself even for your sin.
If you're a victim, I sin because this is somebody else's fault.
So how do you overcome victim?
We're gonna see this in this story.
We're gonna see Nehemiah overcome being a victim.
You realize you can take.
You can respond how you choose.
At first, Nehemiah feels helpless.
He feels like he's just this, this nobody.
He's a cup bearer for the king, but then he chooses how he's gonna respond.
He takes responsibility for his life.
He decides he is gonna be grateful.
We're gonna see some great lessons from Nehemiah this morning.
You choose to forgive others for their actions.
You turn your focus outward towards goals, and you create a new story for yourself.
This is key, and that's what Nehemiah did for the whole nation.
This one cup mirror in this, this far away place in Babylon.
He created a new story that God recorded in this chapter, and
then he began to help others.
So let's dive right into the story.
My, uh, preaching coach says you're, uh, the, the, the.
The purveyor of the word of God.
So dive right into the word as soon as you can, Greg.
So here we go, Nehemiah two verse one.
We're gonna see that part of Nehemiah's Destiny was he was
in a position of influence.
He didn't know it.
He was an influencer.
All right?
They didn't have social media in his day, but he was still an influencer.
Listen to this, in the month of Nissan, in the 20th year of King Art of Xerxes, when
wine was brought for him, I took the wine, this is Nehemiah, and gave it to the king.
And I had been, had not been sad in his presence before.
Why had he not been sad?
Because, uh, the rule was if you were sad in front of the
king, you were disposed of.
You were put to death.
You always had to be cheerful.
You always had to create this environment around, uh, the king that you were happy.
And the monarch expected that.
So he put himself in a position of peril.
Listen to this, Nehemiah two, two.
So the king asked him, why does your face looks so sad when you are not ill?
This can be nothing but sadness of heart.
Nehemiah says, I was very much afraid.
I mean, he was caught.
Can you imagine how he felt?
Talk about, uh, uh, fight, flight, or freeze?
I mean, he froze.
All of a sudden, uhoh, the king noticed and he wanted to fly.
Fly.
He wanted to get out of there 'cause he didn't want to be put to death.
But listen to what he does.
This is a true man of God.
It.
We all are in positions to fulfill our destiny.
Ordained for God.
You may not feel like you're in a very significant place in your life.
Oh, I'm just a student.
I'm just a, you know, in this position, there's millions of them around the world.
I'm not in a very significant position.
I can't do that much, you know?
We all are in positions.
I believe that God wants us to be, and at a certain time in our
life, he's gonna activate us.
We're gonna be needed to do something special for God to build his kingdom.
I really wanna convince you of that as we read this story, Nehemiah two three.
Nehemiah was in a position of insight, but I said to the
king, so he just told the truth.
Always just tell the truth.
All right.
Whenever you get caught, you're tempted to uh, uh, uh, well,
uh, make excuses rationalize.
You get defensive.
Just tell the truth.
It always works.
He said, but I said to the king, may the king will you live forever?
Always show respect to those who respect is due.
Show respect to your parents?
Well, I'm not sure that my parents deserve it.
It doesn't say if your parents deserve it.
It says, honor your parents, so it will go well with you, and
so you will have a long life.
Does that mean your parents decide whether you live or die?
No.
That's taken scripture Way too far.
All right.
I do believe God decides how long we live and where we live and how we live.
And he says, honor your parents.
The Bible says to honor the king, so Nehemiah does that
May the king live forever.
Why should my face not look sad?
Woo.
He's getting bold when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins.
Now, guess who made it a ruin?
The king's ancestors, the country that the king is leading, the Babylonians.
And so this is bold and its gates have been destroyed with fire.
So Nehemiah shares a truthful insight.
He was in a position of insight, but he was also in a position of privilege.
Listen to this, two four, the king said to me, what is it you
want now that is encouraging?
All a sudden his blood pressure went down, right?
All a sudden he's thinking, Hey, this might go in a good place.
He may have thought initially, Hey, if I'm gonna die, I might as well
just tell the truth and try to ask for something great, and I may get
it, and if not, I'm gonna die anyway.
I don't have anything to risk.
I'm caught.
I'm stuck.
I'm gonna die.
So he told the truth, but then when he heard this, he's like, Hey, hey.
Something's going on here.
The king says, what do you want?
When I prayed to the God, uh, then I prayed to the God of heaven.
That's what I call an emergency prayer.
Do you ever offer any emergency prayers?
I don't know about your emergency prayer, but mine's pretty simple.
Help,
help.
I need somebody help, not just anybody.
Help.
I need God.
Amen.
Right.
That's an emergency prayer.
And I, I mean, I've slid on the black ice help carry Underwood.
She starts singing, Lord, take the will.
That's her emergency prayer.
All right.
We all have these emergency prayers that we pray and Nehemiah prayed.
For God's help, emergency prayers or prayers for help to fulfill our destiny.
Don't ever forget, don't lose grasp of your dis destiny folks.
And I mean, it may seem like you're far off from some of your dreams
and some of your, your goals.
Some of us have had some of our dreams shattered.
Don't give up.
God's not done yet.
He loves a comeback story.
He loves an underdog story.
You know, I, I'm not betting on the game today, all right?
The Seahawks are big favorites, but I like an underdog story.
I don't really, I wanted the Rams playing, all right?
I wanted the Broncos playing.
I didn't want these guys playing, so I want 'em both to lose, all right.
So I'm gonna watch and see where my heart goes.
And I bet it goes to the underdog though.
I bet it goes to whoever it seems like the refs are against, you know?
Ooh, I shouldn't have said that out loud.
Alright.
But I'm gonna watch the game and, and it's, it's one of those
non-stressful games for me.
'cause I don't really care, you know, I don't really care.
I'm not gonna say any emergency prayers for either team today.
Two five.
And I answered the king if it pleases the king.
So again, he's being humble.
He's taken the right posture.
He's not being arrogant or bold or demanding.
He said, if it pleases the king and if your servant has found
favor in his sight, and he's been.
Building favor with the king year after year after year.
He could have never become a cup bearer of the king if he wasn't
trusted and he wasn't a good and faithful and loyal person.
And it says, if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to
the city and Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.
His sincerity, his singularity of purpose, his love for his city, for his ancestors,
most of all, his love for his God, that the people of God are in disgrace.
It's broken his heart.
We read that last week.
So what happens?
He's in a position of limitation, though.
He's gotta ask the king verses verse six of chapter two.
Then the king with the queen sitting beside him.
This is the only time they mentioned the queen.
Here, ask me, how long will your journey take and when
will you get back it, please?
The king to send me.
So I set a time.
He's like feeling great.
Hey, if he's asking me how long I been gone, I guess that means he's sending me.
And so I don't know what Nehemiah says.
This story leaves a few blanks.
I know how long Nehemiah was gone.
I think the king would've probably said, okay, you can have a few months off.
You can take a sabbatical for a few, few months, maybe three months, four months.
Well, because it's a long trip.
Maybe it's gonna take you six months.
Guess how long Nehemiah was gone?
10 years.
I don't think Art Xes expected him to be gone 10 years.
I don't think he's saying, yes, you can be gone 10 years, but that's how long the,
the scholars tell us that he was gone.
If he was this concerned about how long he was gonna be gone, he
didn't want him to be gone long.
And I think part of that was because he trusted him and he needed to be
protected by his cup Bear verse seven.
He was in a position of pragmatism.
What does that mean?
You gotta always get practical folks.
You can be as faithful as you want, but you gotta be practical and
honest with yourself and self-aware.
He says, I said to him, if it pleases the king again, he
gives deference to the king.
May I have letters to the governors of trans so that they will provide me
safe conduct until I arrive in Judah.
He knows he's on in for a very dangerous journey.
And especially if he, if he's going, uh, to, uh, and, and he's just a
cup bearer, he knows that he's, he's going on a very dangerous
journey and he needs to protection.
So he's getting very practical for you and me.
We are in positions to fulfill our destinies, ordained by God,
but we definitely need help.
We need help to do that.
So.
He asked for what's called patronage in the ancient world, verse
eight, and may I have a letter to ASAP keeper of the rural park.
So he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel of the
temple, of the CI and the city wall, and for the residents I'll occupy.
And because of the gracious hand of God was on me, the king granted my request.
See, in the ancient world, a patron was somebody who was rich and they would give
their riches to what was called client.
So it was a patron client relationship, all right?
And, uh, what that was called in the ancient world.
Get this now.
Whenever a patron gave something to a client, it was called a gift or grace.
It was given, it was called Grace because the, the, the client, it was so much
the client could never pay it back.
So it was always a gift.
So it was a called Grace.
Guess what?
The, the client was expected to give back to the patron.
You're never gonna guess unless you've read this in De Silva.
Alright, faith peace does.
If they had to give back loyalty and honor to the patron.
Loyalty and honor.
They had to spread the reputation of the patron.
That this is an honorable man.
This is a great person.
This is a generous person because they're giving to people in need.
They're giving their riches away.
They're giving grace.
And so the response of faith is loyalty and to promote
the reputation of the patron.
That's why it's called when God gives us Salvation and Forgiveness.
It's called grace.
And what are you and I supposed to give back to God, but faith, loyalty,
and to promote the reputation of God.
Are you with me there?
Amen.
So there's a lot we can learn from Nehemiah here, and Nehemiah is bold.
I want a house.
I want all the supplies I need, and I want you to write me a check to the treasury.
All right, so I can pay for it all.
Now, this is being, I mean, he must have had, he must have said a little
more than just the emergency prayer.
All right?
I think he had a pretty detailed list in his mind and.
So he asked for it.
The client patron relationship were common in the ancient world.
Nehemiah asked the king for a favor or patronage.
The king granted his request to enhance his own reputation.
That's why the king did it, not because he loved Jews.
He did like Nehemiah.
But he loved himself even more.
Nehemiah was obligated to advertise the king's generosity.
The patronage from the king was a gift or grace because Nehemiah
obviously could not afford to repay the gift, and Nehemiah offered faith
or loyalty to the king in exchange.
And here's the key, to be disloyal, to not promote the King's reputation,
you became a dishonorable person.
If you ever had the label of being dishonorable, if you'd been given grace or
a gift and you were took it for granted, then you were the worst of society.
You were the worst of the worst.
You never, you never showed in gratitude for a gift.
And that's why.
So when we aren't grace, grateful to God for all the gifts he give us, sometimes
that, that's why he just wants us to show some percentage, some, uh, evidence
that we're grateful by giving each week.
I appreciate what Dallas said.
That was so good.
I mean, I've never gonna forget that he was bit by mosquitoes.
I'm, that's there.
I mean, I've got that every time I look at his face.
I'm gonna look close now.
All right.
It's so important.
God expects us to show him that we honor him.
Can I get Amen?
And then Nehemiah two in verse nine, he was in a position of serendipity.
What do I mean by that?
So I went to the governor's of Transies and gave them the king's letters.
Can you imagine?
Here's this cup bears strutting around with these letters that says.
I'm special.
I get to pass through your country.
You're gonna protect me.
Anything I want, I can ask you for, because it's just like
the king asking you for it.
All right?
Your emperor, the ones that conquered you.
So here, he's feeling very good about himself and the king had also
look at this, sent an army, sent army officers in Calvary with me.
Wow.
I think Nehemiah's feeling pretty good.
I think he's feeling like I'm gonna pray the emergency prayer more often.
Amen.
So trans, what's that?
It's the land beyond the river.
It's the area west of the river.
And that was the area of Syria and Fania and Israel.
Alright.
And the governors that he's talking about, if you want to know.
There on the screen, Tati Nay, and also hum and uh, and Mhe.
So those are who he's talking about, that he had to pass through their countries.
So he was also in verse 10, in a position to be persecuted.
Anytime you do something for God, you're gonna get opposition.
Anytime you take a stand, anytime you take a position of
leadership, you're gonna get a post.
There's always gonna be rebels.
Satan's always whispering in people's ears.
There's always palace intrigue, there's always division.
As we do greater and greater things in this church, Satan's gonna
try to divide us more and more.
We've gotta fight for the unity.
We've gotta fight for our righteousness and spirituality.
'cause there's always gonna be a sand ballot in Toba and Geshe.
When sand ballot, the Hor Horror Knight, see he's even got a terrible name.
And Toba, the Ammonite official heard about this.
They were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote
the welfare of the Israelites.
The status quo is changing.
These guys had been stealing from the Israelites and they, they thought, uhoh,
someone's coming and we're not gonna be able to have our comfy positions anymore.
There's someone that's gonna come and they're gonna rock our boat.
All right?
We don't get things the way that we've always gotten them
around here and sand ballot and.
Uh, Toba were very disturbed.
They were pagan leaders that had been taking care, taking
advantage of God's people.
They were persecutor, they were in the drama triangle as perpetrators.
All right.
He was, the sand ballot was the governor of Samaria.
Toba was the governor of Amon Ham was one of the leaders of the Arabs.
That, uh, had been taking care, uh, advantage of the Israelites.
What's going on in the Middle East now?
It's nothing new.
It was going on back then, and there's nothing new under the sun.
But Nehemiah had a destiny and he had a position of purpose.
Don't ever let go of your purpose.
You ever let go of why you do what you do.
Why you want to take a risk, why you want to be bold and ask a king for something?
Why you want to go out and ask for funds you know that are not your
money, but somebody else's money, but your It's for a good cause.
Why?
Because he had a purpose.
He says, I went to Jerusalem and after staying there three days,
he's gone on this long journey.
He's got this purpose to rebuild the wall.
Why did he delay to pray, to plan, and to prepare,
and unfortunately, he knew what people are like.
He knew people have their, he was going to, he was gonna face
opposition and per persecution.
He also knew that even among his own people, the Jews, there
was politics going on, you know.
And so he, he just decided I need to get a lay of the land here.
I need to do some investigation.
I need to check things out for a few days to see what's really going on.
I need to get a plan together because just because God was with me, with,
uh, the King of Babylon, with Art of Xerxes, he needs to be with me in,
unfortunately, with my own people because there's always stuff going on.
He spent three days praying and planning and checking things
out, and he had a strategy.
This is so cool.
This is a great story.
Verse 12, he says, I set out during the night why the night, so nobody'd see him.
He's sneaking around.
He's undercover.
All right.
He's an agent for.
I sat out during the night with a few others.
I had not told anyone what my God had put on my heart to do for
Jerusalem because he's not a priest.
He's not of the, the noble families.
He's a cup bear.
He's just a servant.
You know, they may have thought he's even a spy for the king, and so he
had to be wise, what God had put on my heart to do for Jerusalem there.
Were no mounts with me except the one that I rode, and so he's exercising some
very shrewd leadership here, verse 13, but he, but he really was a planner.
This is really important.
By night I went out through the valley gate.
Towards the jack of well and the D gate.
Now, why does he mention these gates?
Because historically everybody knew what he was talking about.
This is a true story.
He's wanting you and I thousands of years later to realize this is all true.
Guys, I'm not making this up.
This is, this is real.
We, we need to make a, a Netflix about this.
All right.
Because we seem to believe these Netflix things, right?
Examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down and its gates
which had been destroyed with fire.
10 gates, he examined, he went out, it says, uh, through the valley gate
and it's, it's gonna say he's gonna return through the valley gate.
He, he goes on a journey.
He checks out the wall.
At one point, he wants to go back inside to see what the condition
of the wall is on the inside, but his horse won't fit through there.
So it says he had to change his plans and eventually he went back in the gate.
He left because he knew he could get in that way and he might not
be able to get in the other ways.
This is a great story.
Verse 14.
He was flexible, says in verse 14.
Then I moved on towards the fountain gate and the king's pool, but there was not
enough room for my mount to get through.
Not because it was a fat horse, but because the gate had been collapsed.
All right, let's, let's be generous here.
All right.
Verse 15.
But he did understand the politics.
So I went up the valley by night examining the wall.
Finally, I turned back and reentered.
Through the valley gate, he had to figure out how much materials, how much manpower.
He had to figure out a plan.
Verse 16, and so he was also in a position of persuasion.
He figured it out.
The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing because as yet,
I had not said anything to the Jews or the priests or the nobles or the officials or
any others who would be doing the work.
He had made his plan.
Now, these people knew he was somebody because he had all
these Babylonian army officers.
He had this whole calvary.
He had an army with him and he had all these supplies, but nobody knew what he
was doing until he was ready to tell 'em.
And he's describing the opinion leaders here, the priests, the nobles,
the officials, the wealthy land owners, the influencers of his day.
Again, don't forget, he has a destiny.
He knows it's gonna work.
He's has the faith because God has a role for each of us.
What to do?
What?
To get rich To win the lottery?
Nope.
To build his kingdom.
I know for sure God's gonna help me do that.
I don't know if God's gonna let me win a scratcher.
I doubt he is 'cause I don't buy 'em.
All right.
It's pretty hard for me to win if I don't buy 'em all.
Right?
But I can't, I, I don't know.
I, I hate wasting even a dollar, you know, if I don't, if I don't win, I
feel like I just burned that dollar.
I can't imagine that.
But anyway, that's a personal thing.
Let's keep moving.
Keep moving.
Verse 17, he was in a position of leadership.
Here's what he finally said.
He said to them, you see the trouble that we are in puts
himself in a position with them.
Jerusalem lies and ruins and its gates have been burned with fire.
This is really bothering Nehemiah.
Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and we will no longer be in disgrace.
That was his motive.
He wanted God's promises fulfilled.
He wanted God's people to not be in disgrace.
He wanted God honored.
So in verse 18, he says he was in a position of calling.
He says, I also told them about the gracious hand.
My God had been on me and what the king had said to me.
And that was enough for them.
And they said, let's start rebuilding.
Let's start rebuilding.
So they began this good work guys.
Thankfully in the Orange County Church, we don't have to rebuild from scratch, right?
We've got so much here already.
It is so on.
Awesome.
Most of the other regions of the LA church, think the Orange County Church.
Whoa.
If we could just be like the Orange County Church and so it's almost
hard for me to say, let's start rebuilding 'cause we've got so much
already, but I'm gonna say it anyway.
Let's start rebuilding.
Let's build more.
Let's build to the glory of God.
Amen.
That's what this story is about.
Thank you.
Keep it up.
Don't stop now.
All right.
No.
Do verse 19 and look what happens right after he gets everybody rallied to do it.
Persecution.
When sand ballot, the Ho, ho Knight, uh, abaya, the Ammonite official
and Geshe the Arab heard about it.
They mocked and ridiculed us.
What is this you're doing?
Are you rebelling against the king?
He's getting labeled.
He's getting labeled as a rebel.
As an insurrectionist.
There's labels, guys that can destroy a person's life, and this
was one of them in the ancient world.
They're trying to plant seeds, you know, among the people that ne that
Nehemiah isn't serving our de Xerxes.
He's a rebel and he's going to rebel against the king, and
they knew what they were doing.
But we'll catch the rest of this story next week.
Amen.
So what are the morals of the story that we learned today?
We, you and me, all of us.
Our impositions, God's destined for us, and we're not victims.
Amen.
We must use our positions like Nehemiah did to glorify God.
All right.
We will be in positions to step out.
In faith, it always is gonna come down to our willingness to
take a risk and to have faith.
We need courage to use positions that we have to build the church.
We must use our positions when opportunity arises.
We can change the world when we use our positions.
We are in positions that seem dormant for years, but then God activates us.
We will see our destiny eventually in every one of our positions.
And finally, rebuilding will be opposed by persecution and threats.
The better things start going, the more challenges, the more threats,
the more persecution, the more drama, rebuilding requires purpose,
worth, risk, and maybe death.
That's what Nehemiah is willing to risk even his death.
And I believe there's only one thing worth risking your death for, and
that is God and the kingdom of God.
Amen.
Rebuilding needs, resources.
From unlikely people, man, I'd love for the President to write us a check.
Amen.
I'd love for you know, our governor to write us a check.
Who knows?
Let's not, let's not limit God.
All right?
We just read this story.
Let's not shut that down.
All right?
We need resources from unlikely people.
Rebuilding takes leadership that works like Nehemiah day and night.
All right.
Rebuilding necessitates planning and flexibility.
If the horse won't fit through it, go around.
All right.
That's what we learn.
Rebuilding rallies the people to glorify and honor God, and rebuilding anticipates
hardship and challenges he planned ahead.
Rebuilding begins and ends.
I'm gonna tie in last week's sermon with prayer and faith.
Amen.
This is a great story in Nehemiah, applies to exactly where we are as a church.
God, thank you for listening.
Thank you for your patience.
Excuse us for our little technical problems, but uh,
we'll get 'em worked out.
God bless you.
Have a great week.