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Nehemiah's Godly Ambition · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Well, good morning, if I haven't already said so to you.
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For some scheduling reasons, I needed to fill a one week gap in our preaching schedule.
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! And so, I would like to speak with you about a topic that has been on my mind on repeat lately.
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Ambition.
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Is it okay to be ambitious, to desire to achieve?
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The Puritan Thomas Brooks once called ambition, quote, a gilded misery, a secret poison, end quote.
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Scripture often agrees, warning against selfish ambition that breeds conceit and disorder and vile practices.
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Philippians 2.3, James chapter 3.
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However, the Apostle Paul states that he was himself ambitious.
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In Romans chapter 15, verse 20, he declares,
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I make it my ambition to preach the gospel.
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So, where's the balance?
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If ungodly ambition is characterized by conceit, disorder, and vile practices, what characterizes godly ambition?
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I want to do my best to answer that question by considering Nehemiah's godly ambition.
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So, will you join me at the beginning of the book of Nehemiah?
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And turn there with me in your Bible, and I'll pray for our time together.
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Father, we ask this morning as we take up your word and think about this idea of ambition,
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that we would rightly think about what godly ambition is.
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That you'd help us to learn from your word without error.
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We would rightly apply what it says to us in our lives.
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That we would honor the Lord Christ in our time together.
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We pray this in his name.
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Amen.
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I find we, myself included, are often far too ignorant of the books of the Old Testament.
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I once heard a pastor tell the following story.
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Quote,
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A preacher made the mistake of showing two boys the text he would be preaching from that Sunday, the previous Saturday afternoon.
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When he turned his back, the boys glued some of the pages of his Bible together.
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So, on Sunday, when he stood to read, he read,
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And Noah, when he was 120 years old, took unto himself a wife, who was, then turning the page,
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300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high, built of gopher wood and pitch within and without.
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Puzzled, he paused, read it again, and then looked up at his congregation and said,
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I have read the Bible through many, many times, but this is the first time I have ever read this.
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Yet I believe the Bible to be true from cover to cover, so I accept it as truth that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
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Perhaps we ought to be a bit more familiar with the text than this.
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So, as we peel apart the pages of Nehemiah, let me give you some brief background that will be necessary for our study this morning.
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The book of Nehemiah takes place near the end of the Old Testament story.
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It's not ordered that way in our modern Bibles, but that's where it takes place chronologically.
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More than a century earlier, the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem, burned the temples, tore down the walls, and carried the people of Judah into exile.
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By Nehemiah's day, the Near East power had shifted to the Persians.
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There are some Israelites still in the land.
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Some have returned.
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The temple had been rebuilt.
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We read about that in the book of Ezra.
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But the city still lay exposed.
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Its walls still broken down.
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Its gates were burned.
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And God's people who were in the land lived in shame and reproach.
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Around 445 BC, Nehemiah was serving as cupbearer to Artaxerxes, the king of Persia.
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When he heard about Jerusalem's condition, he wept, fasted, prayed, and acted.
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Nehemiah ambitiously sought to remedy a problem.
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We will note in just a moment why this news was so troubling to him as we consider the first and most important characteristic of godly ambition.
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And I have five for you this morning from the story of Nehemiah.
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Now, first and most important foundational godly ambition seeks God's glory.
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Look at chapter 1, beginning in verse 1.
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The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakala, something like that.
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Now, it happened in the month of Chislev in the 20th year, as I was in Susa, the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah.
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And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem.
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And they said to me, the remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame.
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The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.
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As soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days.
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And I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
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And I said, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.
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Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel, your servants.
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Confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you.
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Even I and my father's house have sinned.
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We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.
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Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples.
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But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the earth,
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from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen to make my name dwell there.
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Now I'm going to pause for a second at the end of verse 9.
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He says at the beginning of verse 8, remember to God.
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Of course God remembers, but God is very pleased when we pray to him, his promises.
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So what he prays is an amalgamation, but a clear place you can find it is in Leviticus chapter 26.
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I'll begin reading in 38 and then following.
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There God says, and you shall perish among the nations and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
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And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemies lands because of their iniquity and also because of the iniquities of their fathers.
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They shall rot away like them.
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But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery and they that they committed against me and also in walking contrary to me,
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so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies, if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity,
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then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham.
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And I will remember the land.
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So Nehemiah is biblically informed, right here.
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He's praying back to God a promise that God had made.
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And then first 10 back in Nehemiah chapter one.
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They are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.
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Oh, Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name.
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And give success to your servant today and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.
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Referring to the king, Artaxerxes.
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Now I was cup bearer to the king.
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Why is Nehemiah distressed by this news that he hears?
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Because the people who are in the land and those who have returned to the land, God's people, the remnant there in the province.
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Are not doing well.
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They're in great trouble and shame.
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Jerusalem is in shambles and cannot provide protection for dwelling and commerce.
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And therefore, in Nehemiah's correct estimation, God's glory was being profaned.
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Now, before you think for a moment that the aim of our time is to convince you to build something, let me be clear.
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That is not what I'm hoping to accomplish this morning.
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I will not roll out blueprints at the end of our time together.
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Under the old covenant, the glory of God was directly tied to the well-being of his people.
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Come and see, cries the old covenant.
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Go and tell, cries the new.
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However, ambitious people build things.
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Families, businesses, communities, cultures, and yes, churches, which do meet in buildings.
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Godly ambition does so for the glory of God.
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This is the great concern of Nehemiah, the heartbreak.
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Not just that his fellow Israelites are not doing well, but that God's glory is being profaned.
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Godly ambition seeks to make little of self, to forget self, and to make much of God.
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Notice the foundation of Nehemiah's concern, right?
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He knows his Bible, and he knows the promises that God has made.
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Promises that he seems to not be keeping.
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Nehemiah prays with confidence because he knows that God is a promise-keeping God who is zealous for his glory.
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Even as he grieves the condition, he goes to God in prayer because he knows that God cares about his glory.
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This is the most foundational characteristic of godly ambition.
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Nothing else I will say this morning matters if we don't get this one right.
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If our ambitions don't aim at God's glory, they are misguided and they are trivial.
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Often, our ambitions mirror the world's aimed at success, security, significance.
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But scripture calls us to aim higher.
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2 Corinthians 5, verse 9.
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So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please God.
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As C.S. Lewis once said in your bulletin quote,
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Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in.
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Aim at earth and you will get neither.
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Ungodly ambition is not too big.
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It is too small.
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As concerns ambition, we can err in two ways.
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First, which has been mentioned, ambition can be self-serving and not seek God's glory.
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It can be about our glory.
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But also, secondly, it could just be altogether lacking.
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No ambition whatsoever.
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However, I think apathy is the opposite of ambition.
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No concern.
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May we not be apathetic on the one hand or have selfish ambition on the other,
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but be energized to see God magnified in everything that we do.
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Godly ambition, firstly and most importantly, seeks God's glory.
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Secondly, godly ambition thinks and asks big.
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Thinks and asks big.
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I am saying to you that we ought to be ambitious
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and that that ambition ought to be aimed at God's glory
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and therefore it ought to think and ask big.
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Now look with me at the beginning of chapter two of Nehemiah.
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Here we see recorded in the month of Nisan in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes.
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When wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king.
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Now I had not been sad in his presence.
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And the king said to me, why is your face sad?
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Seeing you are not sick.
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This is nothing but sadness of the heart.
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Then I was very much afraid.
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It's not supposed to appear sad for the king.
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He seems to have made every effort not to appear sad before the king.
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His own record is that he had not been sad in his presence
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and the king sees through it.
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And he was afraid for the way his countenance was before the king.
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Verse three, I said to the king, let the king live forever.
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Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves,
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lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?
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Then the king said to me, what are you requesting?
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So I prayed to the God of heaven.
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And I said to the king, if it pleases the king
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and if your servant has found favor in your sight,
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that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's graves,
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that I may rebuild it.
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And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him,
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how long will you be gone and when will you return?
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So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time.
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And I said to the king, if it pleases the king,
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let letters be given to me,
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to the governors of the province beyond the river,
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that they let me pass through until I come to Judah.
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And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest,
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that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple
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and for the wall of the city and for the house that I shall occupy.
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And the king granted me what I asked,
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for the good hand of God was upon me.
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I believe that we are meant to note the date in verse 1,
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as we were also told the date in chapter 1 and verse 1.
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Chislev or Kislev to Nisan.
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About four months have passed from the time that Nehemiah received the news
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of Jerusalem's state until we see this encounter in chapter 2.
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Four months have gone by since in verse 4 of chapter 1.
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He says,
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As soon as I heard these words,
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I sat down and wept and mourned for days.
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Four months worth of days.
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And I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
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The conclusion I believe we ought to draw
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is that Nehemiah has been troubled all this time.
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He has been in mourning and fasting with prayer.
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The prayer of chapter 1 is an example prayer of the prayers that he prayed.
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It was the substance of what he was praying across this time.
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And I think that during this time,
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he has considered a remedy to the problem.
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He is troubled by this.
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How might this trouble be solved?
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The confidence of Nehemiah's prayers expresses confidence
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in a God who can accomplish whatever he desires.
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But Nehemiah's actions evidence that he knows
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that God doesn't despise the means used to accomplish his will.
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Nehemiah thinks big.
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I'm imagining here, but in this time frame,
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I think he's going,
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maybe I should go lead the rebuilding of the wall.
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The rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem was a massive task.
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The wall was 1.7 miles in circumference.
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It was 6 1⁄2 to 12 feet thick,
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depending on the place of it,
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and an estimated 20 to 25 feet high.
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This is a huge, huge project.
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There is no natural reason for Nehemiah to think
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that he would be the instrument of God's choosing
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to rebuild Jerusalem's walls.
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He's not a builder of walls.
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That's not what the chapter tells us at all.
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That's not what he was trained to do.
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He's a cupbearer.
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He's been living in captivity.
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He's the servant to King Artaxerxes.
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He selects wine,
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and he drinks from the king's cup before the king
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to ensure his wine hadn't been poisoned.
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This is the role that he played.
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He is trusted as the cupbearer.
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Often throughout history,
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cupbearers gave counsel to the king
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because they were always around,
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because they were giving their life,
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perhaps for the sake of his.
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Sometimes the question would be asked,
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what should I do in such and such circumstance?
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So he is there.
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He is trusted.
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He is in a position to speak to the king,
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but he is just a cupbearer, a servant.
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Why does it enter his mind
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that he could have this kind of ambition
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to go back,
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to ask that God would restore the wall,
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and I'm saying perhaps use him to accomplish it?
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It's because of his confidence in this God, right,
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who upholds his own glory,
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and we cannot know exactly what's going on
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in the mind of Nehemiah, right?
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Again, I think it's imagination here,
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but I do think it's reasonable to think
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that he, being troubled by the news,
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being persistent in prayer,
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is convinced in that process
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that given the opportunity
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that he should act.
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I believe that he asks big things of God,
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and then, when the time is right,
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big things of the king.
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He asks massive things of this king.
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The king says to him in verse two,
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why is your face sad,
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seeing you are not sick?
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This is nothing but sadness of the heart.
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Then I was very much afraid.
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I mentioned already,
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this was not okay to be in front of the king forlorn.
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So what does he do?
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He responds,
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the city is destroyed.
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Why should I not be sad?
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And the king asks him,
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what are you requesting?
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And notice what he does in verse four,
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so I prayed to the God of heaven.
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I just imagine as he goes,
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Lord, help me.
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I'm about to open my mouth,
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and I'm going to ask for something big of this king,
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a thing that the king could have lopped his head off for.
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If it pleases the king,
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verse five,
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if your servant has found favor in your sight,
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let me go.
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Let me go rebuild the wall.
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And not only does he request to be freed
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from his duty to the king,
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but also for an armed guard
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and a blank check
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to gain the resources that he needs for the project.
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It is a huge ask.
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That's ambitious.
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Charles Spurgeon once said,
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this is the quote on the children's bulletin section
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of your bulletin.
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A little drawing that's there.
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He once said,
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prayer pulls the rope below
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and the great bell rings above in the ears of God.
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Some scarcely stir the bell
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for they pray so languidly.
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Others give but an occasional pluck at the rope.
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But he who wins heaven
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is the man who grasps the rope boldly
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and pulls continuously
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with all his might.
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Do we think and ask big?
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Are we ambitious for the glory of God
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in all the areas of our life?
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Let's not just ask that God would save our children.
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I hope we do.
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But that he would save them
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and that he would shape them
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into mighty citizens of the kingdom of heaven
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for his glory.
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Let's not just ask that God would bless
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the work of our hands,
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but that he would bless abundantly our labors
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that we should spend and be spent for his glory.
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Let's not just ask that God would give our church influence
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in our homes and in our neighborhoods,
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but that he would give us
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a little feeble group of people
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that he would use us
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to have a measurable influence
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for generations
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and to the very ends of the earth.
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Let's be ambitious for his glory.
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Think and ask big.
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Godly ambition seeks God's glory.
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Godly ambition thinks and asks big.
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And thirdly,
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godly ambition plans diligently.
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Notice verses 11 through 16 of chapter two.
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So I went up to Jerusalem
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and was there three days.
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Then I arose in the night
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and a few men with me
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and I told no one like God
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to put in my heart to do for Jerusalem.
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There was no animal with me
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but the one on which I rode.
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I went out by night
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by the valley gate
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to the dragon spring
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and to the dung gate
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and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem
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that were broken down
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and its gates
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that had been destroyed by fire.
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Then I went on to the fountain gate
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and to the king's pool
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but there was no room
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for the animal
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that was under me to pass.
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Then I went up in the night
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by the valley
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and inspected the wall
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and I turned back
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and entered by the valley gate
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and so returned.
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And the officials did not know
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where I had gone
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or what I was doing
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and I had not yet told the Jews,
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the priests,
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the nobles,
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the officials,
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and the rest
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who were to do the work.
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Notice the repetition
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in verses 12 and 13 and 15.
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Then I arose in the night.
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I went out by night.
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Then I went up in the night.
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I take this to mean
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that the three days
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mentioned in verse 11
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was the time it took
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for him to inspect the wall.
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It would not take three nights
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to travel 1.7 miles
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around the circumference
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of the dilapidated wall.
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So what is he doing?
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I believe he is making
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diligent plans.
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He's looking at each section.
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He's plotting out
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a course of action.
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Now let me say again,
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God who created the world
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ex nihilo from nothing
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does not despise means.
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He uses his people
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to accomplish his purposes.
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So once we have ascertained a path,
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godly ambition plans diligently.
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Sees a destination
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and makes a plan
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to reach that destination.
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I have found
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that I accomplished
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nothing meaningful
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without planning to do so.
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I never bumble my way
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through the right thing.
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We do well not to ask,
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what do I feel like doing?
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But rather,
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what am I supposed to do?
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We will not be able
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to answer that question
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without a plan.
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Whatever the ambition may be,
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how will you accomplish
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that godly ambition?
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What is the path
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to get there?
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Men,
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I know that right now
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you feel like you're surviving
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with littles in your home.
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Those days are coming
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to a completion
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sooner
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than you think.
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What is the plan
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to raise up your children
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in the fear
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and instruction
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of the Lord?
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I never do well
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when I'm bumbling
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my way through it.
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Plan,
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follow through.
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How do you intend
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to accomplish
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the goals at your job?
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Witnessing to your neighbors.
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Any of these things
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require diligent planning.
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So godly ambition
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seeks God's glory,
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thinks and asks big,
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plans diligently.
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Fourthly,
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godly ambition
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works hard.
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Nehemiah chapter 2,
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verse 17 and 18.
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Then I said to them,
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following his inspection
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and his diligent planning,
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you see the trouble
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we are in,
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how Jerusalem lies
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in ruins
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with its gates burned?
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Come,
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let us build
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the wall of Jerusalem
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that we may no longer
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suffer derision.
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And I told them
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of the hand of my God
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that had been upon me
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for good
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and also of the words
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that the king
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had spoken to me.
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And they said,
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let us rise up
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and build.
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So they strengthened
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their hands
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for the good work.
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Now,
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I don't know exactly
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what that phrase means.
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There may be somebody
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who knows their Hebrew
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better than I do.
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It doesn't seem to me
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like they go to work up
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some calluses
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on their hands,
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but they're making a decision.
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They're strengthening
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their hands.
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They're getting ready.
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There's a big work
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ahead of us.
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We will be ready
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for that work
27:03
to be accomplished.
27:05
And then Nehemiah chapter 3,
27:07
which is a summary
27:07
of the builders
27:08
and their accomplishments.
27:10
You get this list
27:11
of all of these
27:12
different people,
27:13
a bunch of different names
27:14
that are very difficult
27:15
to pronounce.
27:16
I'm just going to read
27:17
a few of them for you.
27:19
Here's what they accomplished.
27:20
Here's the work
27:21
that they set themselves
27:22
to beginning
27:24
in verse 15
27:25
of chapter 3.
27:26
And Shalom,
27:27
the son of Kol Hosei,
27:29
ruler of the district
27:30
of Mizpah,
27:32
repaired the fountain gate.
27:33
He rebuilt it
27:34
and covered it
27:35
and set its doors,
27:36
its bolts,
27:37
and its bars.
27:38
And he built the wall
27:39
of the pool of Shalah,
27:40
of the king's garden,
27:42
as far as the stairs
27:43
that go down
27:44
from the city of David.
27:46
After him,
27:47
Nehemiah,
27:47
the son of Azbuk,
27:49
ruler of half the district
27:50
of Beth-zur,
27:52
repaired to a point
27:53
opposite the tombs of David,
27:54
as far as the artificial pool
27:56
and as far as the house
27:58
of the mighty men.
28:00
And it goes on
28:00
and it goes on
28:01
for the entirety
28:02
of the chapter.
28:04
This is many hands
28:07
at hard work,
28:09
resetting massive stones
28:12
and beams.
28:15
You have heard it said,
28:16
many hands make light work.
28:18
We like to adapt
28:19
that saying to say,
28:20
many hands make
28:22
ambitious work possible.
28:26
We would do well
28:27
not to underestimate
28:28
the difficulty
28:29
of this task
28:31
that they set themselves to.
28:33
These men, though,
28:34
had godly ambition.
28:38
They saw God's favor
28:39
on Nehemiah.
28:41
They said,
28:41
surely the Lord
28:42
is with us
28:44
in this work
28:45
and so we will
28:46
work hard.
28:49
We're going to wait around
28:50
for the stones
28:51
to levitate themselves
28:52
and the wall to appear.
28:54
They went to work.
28:57
They were seeking
28:58
God's glory,
29:00
thought of a task
29:01
worth accomplishing,
29:04
right?
29:04
So they strengthened
29:05
their hands
29:06
for the good work.
29:09
They had Nehemiah's plans
29:10
and his oversight
29:11
and they took up
29:13
their part
29:14
of the work.
29:16
Not one man
29:17
built the entire wall.
29:18
They shared
29:19
in this large task.
29:22
In total,
29:24
it only took them
29:25
52 days
29:27
to rebuild
29:28
the wall.
29:30
What a work
29:31
that was.
29:34
What might be accomplished
29:35
if you
29:36
strengthened
29:37
your hands
29:38
for a good
29:39
work?
29:40
what might you
29:42
see
29:43
get done?
29:44
What might
29:45
we
29:46
be able
29:47
to build?
29:50
Godly ambition
29:51
seeks God's glory,
29:53
thinks and asks
29:54
big,
29:54
plans diligently,
29:56
works
29:57
hard,
29:59
and lastly,
30:01
expects
30:02
opposition.
30:04
Expects
30:05
opposition.
30:07
There's a common
30:08
sentiment
30:08
in today's church
30:09
that seems
30:10
averse
30:11
to opposition.
30:13
It seems
30:14
to be framed
30:14
up theologically
30:15
like God
30:16
couldn't possibly
30:17
ask us to do
30:18
anything hard.
30:20
If we encounter
30:21
some difficulty,
30:22
perhaps we have
30:22
strayed from God's
30:23
will,
30:24
goes the thinking.
30:27
Just because
30:28
something is difficult
30:28
doesn't make it right.
30:30
But I can attest
30:31
that everything
30:32
good that I've
30:33
ever seen
30:34
accomplished
30:34
was accomplished
30:35
with difficulty.
30:37
there were
30:39
oppositions.
30:39
There were
30:40
things that
30:40
could have
30:41
shut the
30:42
whole work
30:43
down if
30:44
people weren't
30:45
willing to
30:45
push through.
30:48
Beloved,
30:48
you sit in a
30:49
congregation this
30:50
morning that
30:50
would not
30:52
exist
30:53
if countless
30:54
people,
30:55
including you,
30:57
didn't work
30:58
hard in the
30:59
face of
31:00
opposition.
31:02
Nehemiah
31:03
faced opposition.
31:04
They expected
31:07
it and they
31:07
put themselves
31:08
to the work
31:09
all the
31:11
same.
31:12
This
31:12
opposition is
31:13
introduced to
31:13
us in chapter
31:14
two.
31:15
The weight
31:17
of this
31:18
opposition
31:19
verses nine
31:20
and ten.
31:22
He says,
31:22
then I came
31:23
to the
31:23
governors of
31:24
the province
31:24
beyond the
31:25
river and
31:25
gave them
31:26
the king's
31:26
letters.
31:27
Now the
31:27
king had
31:28
sent with
31:28
me officers
31:29
of the
31:29
army and
31:30
horsemen.
31:32
But when
31:33
Sambalot,
31:34
the Horonite,
31:35
and Tobiah,
31:36
the Ammonite
31:37
servant,
31:38
heard this.
31:38
And these
31:39
guys,
31:39
Sambalot and
31:40
Tobiah are
31:41
trouble and
31:41
trouble and
31:42
trouble.
31:43
It displeased
31:44
them greatly
31:45
that someone
31:45
had come to
31:46
seek the
31:47
welfare of
31:48
the people
31:48
of Israel.
31:50
A Horonite
31:52
and an Ammonite
31:53
that were
31:53
profiting off
31:54
the land
31:54
were troubled
31:55
that someone
31:56
came to
31:57
seek the
31:57
welfare of
31:58
the people
31:58
to whom
31:59
the land
31:59
belonged.
32:02
After the
32:02
plan is
32:03
made,
32:03
and the
32:04
decision to
32:05
rebuild has
32:05
been established.
32:07
They've
32:07
strengthened
32:07
their hands
32:08
for the
32:09
good work.
32:10
Verse 19
32:10
tells us,
32:12
but when
32:12
Sambalot,
32:13
the Horonite,
32:13
and Tobiah,
32:14
the Ammonite,
32:15
servant,
32:16
and Geshem,
32:17
the Arab,
32:17
heard of it,
32:18
they jeered
32:19
at us and
32:20
despised us
32:21
and said,
32:22
what is this
32:23
thing that you
32:23
were doing?
32:24
Are you
32:24
rebelling
32:25
against the
32:26
king?
32:27
Then I
32:27
replied to
32:28
them,
32:28
the God
32:29
of heaven
32:29
will make
32:29
us prosper
32:30
and we,
32:31
his servants,
32:31
will arise
32:32
and build,
32:33
but you
32:34
have no
32:35
portion or
32:36
right or
32:36
claim in
32:38
Jerusalem.
32:39
Right?
32:40
Bold,
32:41
bold words.
32:43
Then chapter
32:43
three gives us
32:44
the record of
32:45
work going
32:45
on,
32:46
that this
32:46
large task
32:48
being accomplished,
32:49
but chapter
32:49
four tells us
32:51
more about
32:51
the opposition.
32:53
I'm going to
32:53
read it to
32:54
you in
32:55
large part.
32:57
Verse one,
32:58
now when
32:59
Sambalot heard
33:00
that we were
33:00
building the
33:01
wall,
33:01
he was angry
33:02
and greatly
33:03
enraged and
33:04
he jeered at
33:05
the Jews and
33:06
he said in the
33:06
presence of his
33:07
brothers and of
33:08
the army of
33:09
Samaria,
33:10
what are these
33:11
feeble Jews
33:11
doing?
33:12
Will they
33:13
restore it for
33:14
themselves?
33:14
Will they
33:15
sacrifice?
33:16
Will they
33:16
finish up in a
33:17
day?
33:18
Will they
33:18
revive the
33:19
stones out of
33:19
the heaps of
33:20
rubbish and
33:21
burned ones at
33:22
that?
33:23
Tobiah the
33:24
Ammonite was
33:24
beside him and
33:25
he said,
33:26
yes,
33:27
what they are
33:27
building?
33:28
If a fox
33:29
goes up on
33:29
out,
33:29
he will
33:30
break down
33:30
their stone
33:31
wall.
33:33
And then in
33:33
response here,
33:35
oh,
33:35
our God,
33:36
for we are
33:37
despised,
33:38
turn back
33:39
their taunt on
33:40
their own
33:40
heads and
33:41
give them up
33:42
to be plundered
33:42
in a land
33:43
where they
33:44
are captives.
33:46
Do not cover
33:47
their guilt and
33:47
let not their
33:48
sin be blotted
33:49
out from your
33:49
sight for they
33:50
have provoked
33:51
you to anger
33:51
in the presence
33:52
of the builders.
33:54
Verse six,
33:56
so we built
33:57
the wall and
33:59
all the wall
34:00
was joined
34:00
together to
34:01
half its height
34:02
for the people
34:02
had a mind
34:04
to work.
34:05
I love that
34:05
phrase.
34:06
But when
34:07
Sambalat and
34:07
Tobiah and
34:08
the Arabs and
34:09
the Ammonites
34:09
and the
34:10
Ashdodites heard
34:11
that the repairing
34:12
of the walls of
34:13
Jerusalem was going
34:14
forward and that
34:14
the breaches were
34:15
beginning to be
34:15
closed,
34:16
they were very
34:17
angry and they
34:18
all plotted
34:19
together to come
34:20
and fight against
34:20
Jerusalem and to
34:21
cause confusion
34:22
in it.
34:22
And we prayed
34:24
to our God
34:24
and set a guard
34:26
as a protection
34:26
against them
34:27
day and night.
34:28
In Judah,
34:29
it was said,
34:30
the strength of
34:30
those who bear
34:31
the burdens
34:31
is failing.
34:33
There is too
34:33
much rubble.
34:35
By ourselves,
34:35
we will not be
34:36
able to rebuild
34:37
the wall.
34:38
And our enemy
34:39
said,
34:39
they will not
34:40
know or see
34:41
till we come
34:41
among them
34:42
and kill them
34:43
and stop the
34:43
work.
34:45
At that time,
34:45
the Jews who
34:46
lived near them
34:47
came from all
34:48
directions and
34:48
said to us,
34:49
ten times,
34:50
you must return
34:51
to us.
34:53
So in the
34:53
lowest parts of
34:54
the space behind
34:55
the wall,
34:56
in open places,
34:57
I stationed the
34:58
people by their
34:58
clans with their
34:59
swords, their
34:59
spears, and their
35:00
bows.
35:01
Remember the
35:02
Lord who is
35:02
great and awesome
35:03
and fight for
35:04
your brothers,
35:05
your sons,
35:06
your daughters,
35:06
your wives,
35:07
and your homes.
35:09
When our enemies
35:10
heard that it was
35:10
known to us and
35:12
that God had
35:12
frustrated their
35:13
plan, we all
35:14
returned to the
35:15
wall, each to
35:16
his work.
35:17
From that day
35:18
on, half of my
35:19
servants worked on
35:19
construction and
35:20
half held the
35:21
spears, shields,
35:22
bows, and
35:23
coats of mail.
35:24
And the leaders
35:25
stood behind the
35:26
whole house of
35:26
Judah who were
35:27
building on the
35:28
wall.
35:28
Those who carried
35:29
burdens were
35:30
loaded in such a
35:31
way that each
35:32
labored on work
35:33
with one hand and
35:34
held his weapon
35:35
with the other.
35:36
And each of the
35:37
builders had his
35:38
sword strapped at
35:39
his side while he
35:39
built.
35:40
The man who
35:41
sounded the trumpet
35:42
was beside me,
35:43
and I said to the
35:43
nobles, the
35:44
officials, and the
35:44
rest of the
35:45
people, the work
35:46
is great and
35:47
widely spread, and
35:48
we are separated
35:48
on the wall far
35:49
from one another.
35:50
In the place
35:51
where you hear
35:52
the sound of
35:52
the trumpet, rally
35:53
to us there, our
35:54
God will fight for
35:55
us.
35:56
So we labored at
35:57
the work, and
35:58
half of them held
35:59
spears from the
35:59
break of dawn till
36:00
the stars came out.
36:01
I also said to the
36:02
people at that
36:03
time, let every
36:04
man and his
36:05
servant pass the
36:06
night within
36:06
Jerusalem, that
36:07
they may be a
36:08
guard for us by
36:09
night and may
36:10
labor by day.
36:11
So neither I,
36:13
nor my brothers,
36:13
nor my servants,
36:14
nor the men of the
36:15
guard who followed
36:15
me, none of us
36:16
took off our
36:17
clothes, each kept
36:18
his weapon at his
36:19
right hand.
36:23
Godly ambition
36:24
expects opposition
36:26
and, we will do
36:28
well to see,
36:29
responds appropriately
36:31
and presses on.
36:34
They didn't stop the
36:36
work, but for a
36:37
moment.
36:38
They heard an
36:38
attack was coming,
36:40
they all got ready
36:40
for the attack, and
36:41
the text tells us,
36:42
and they returned
36:43
to work.
36:45
They expected it, and
36:46
they just pressed on.
36:51
So be ambitious.
36:54
Don't be apathetic, but
36:56
have godly ambitions.
37:00
Pray that God would
37:01
work in your godly
37:03
ambitions for your
37:04
home, your work, your
37:05
community, your
37:06
culture, and for our
37:08
church.
37:09
I hope that you will
37:10
find yourself reflecting
37:12
on lessons from
37:13
Nehemiah's godly
37:15
ambition.
37:16
Godly ambition
37:17
seeks God's glory,
37:19
thinks and asks big,
37:20
plans diligently,
37:22
works hard, and
37:23
expects
37:24
opposition.
37:26
I will close with the
37:29
doxology from this
37:31
morning's call to
37:32
worship.
37:33
This is from
37:33
Ephesians 3, verse
37:34
20 and 21.
37:37
Now to him who is
37:38
able to do far more
37:39
abundantly than all
37:41
that we ask or think,
37:43
according to the power
37:44
at work within us, to
37:47
him be glory in the
37:48
church and in Christ
37:49
Jesus throughout all
37:50
generations forever and
37:52
ever.
37:54
Amen.
37:54
Let's pray together.