ÿþ <html> <head> <title>Welcome to First United Methodist Church, El Dorado, AR, sermon series "A Time to Build" </title><!--- Jan 3, 2010 --> <meta name="description" content="First United Methodist church, El Dorado, AR, FUMC, F.U.M.C. First Church, First Methodist, Methodist John Wesley, Methodist, United Methodist Youth, United Methodist women" /> <meta name="keywords" content="First United Methodist church, El Dorado, AR, FUMC, F.U.M.C. 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Last December I invited you to pick one New Testament and one Old Testament book that you would like me to preach on. Do you remember that? It came as no surprise to me that the NT book you chose was Revelation which, as you know, we studied for five months. I have to admit, however, that I was surprised by your OT pick: Nehemiah. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> Nehemiah! My first thought was,  Couldn t you have picked something a little more exciting than Nehemiah? However, a promise is a promise and maybe, just maybe, God helped guide your pick. In the last few weeks as I have been reading through this book again and thinking more deeply about it I have come to realize that you could not have picked a more relevant book for us to study now than this one. This morning then, I m kicking off an 11-week study of Nehemiah that I m calling,  A Time to Build. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> As you will see soon enough, on one level the book of Nehemiah is simply a story about the rebuilding and strengthening of Jerusalem. On a deeper level, however, it has a lot to say to us about how to rebuild and strengthen our church. This book is going to help us think about where we want to go and what we want to do as a church, to understand the places where we are weak and how to strengthen them, and will not only help us identify some of the barriers that keep us from moving forward and growing stronger but also show us how to overcome them. Watch out, though, for during the next few weeks you might just learn something about your own life and how to make it stronger! I m excited about what God is going to teach us as we travel through this book. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> This morning all I really want to do is to set the stage for the study to come. After all, if you don t understand the history you will not possibly understand this book. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> Though the book of Nehemiah begins in the year 444 BC, the story itself begins almost 1500 years earlier with a man named Abraham. In Genesis 12 we hear how around 2000 BC God called out to Abraham and invited him to leave his country and to follow God to another land. In return, God would bless him and his descendants, and they would be his people. Eventually they were allowed to enter the land God had promised them, roughly equivalent to modern day Israel. Hundreds of years passed during which the nation experienced times of faithfulness and faithlessness, periods of strength and times of deep struggle. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> Perhaps the high point of Israel s history came when David, a godly king, ruled around 1050 BC. For forty years David helped the nation live in peace as they followed God. All too soon things began to fall apart again. After David s son Solomon died, the people of God once again began to turn away from God and to follow the ways of their foreign neighbors instead. Israel split into two kingdoms. Ten tribes formed the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and two tribes formed the Southern Kingdom of Judah. In 722 BC the Assyrians conquered Israel. The ten tribes were scattered, never to be restored. The southern tribes were spared for a time, but in 586 BC, they were conquered by the Babylonians. Beloved Jerusalem was destroyed, the walls surrounding the city were torn down, and the temple was burned. The best and the brightest of the people were deported and forced into slavery, while the city was left in ruins. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> As traumatic as this experience was for the Jews, it was part of God s plan to draw the people back to Him. The prophet Jeremiah prophesied in Jer.29:10-14, <b><i> This is what the LORD says:  When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD,  plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD,  and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you, declares the LORD,  and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.  </b></i> </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> God did not forsake His people. He never does. God would keep his promise. He always does. Finally it was time for God to restore his people and to return them to the land he had promised Abraham so long before. Eventually the Babylonian empire was conquered by the Persians, whose King Cyrus allowed some of the captured Jewish people to return to their homeland. In 538 BC, after the decree of Cyrus, 50,000 Israelites returned to Jerusalem to begin rebuilding the temple. They discovered that the city was demolished and desolate. Living there was dangerous and difficult, and the people soon became discouraged. 80 years later a second group of people arrived under the leadership of Ezra to help spur the people on, but they too began to struggle and lose their way. It looked as if Jerusalem would never be restored. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> Meanwhile, back in Susa, the capital of Persia, Nehemiah s story was about to begin. The year was 444 BC, 14 years after Ezra had gone to Jerusalem, 94 years after the first Jews had returned. As the book opens, Nehemiah was serving as cupbearer to the king. He knew that the temple had been rebuilt and that people were again living in Jerusalem. But Nehemiah also knew that the walls of Jerusalem had not been rebuilt and that God s people were vulnerable to those living round about them who were not pleased that the Jews had returned. And so the story of Nehemiah begins. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> Look with me at Nehemiah 1:1-4.<b><i> The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. They said to me,  Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.  </b></i> </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> When one of his brothers returned from Jerusalem for a visit, Nehemiah questioned him about what was going on in Jerusalem. He was concerned and wanted to hear their first-hand report. What he was told was not encouraging. Although some work had been done on Jerusalem, it was still without an outer protective wall, which in those days was at least as important as having an army. Without that wall the people were defenseless, unable to live and worship freely as God s people. The rebuilding of the wall was essential for the safety of Jerusalem, and yet it was in shambles. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> Nehemiah's response was striking. <b><i> When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven </b></i> (1:4). Nehemiah was broken-hearted over the complacency of the people of Jerusalem. They were living in the midst of ruins and accepting it. They knew there were problems but they weren t working together to fix them. Nehemiah wept and mourned and fasted for three to four months. Such was his level of concern for the problem. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> That wasn t all, however. Nehemiah also spent that time in prayer. <b><i> For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. </b></i> First he acknowledged God s nature: <b><i> O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel </b></i> (1:5-6). He then confessed his sin and the people s sin: <b><i> I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father s house, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses (1:6-7). Finally he asked for God s help:  O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of [the king] (1:11). </b></i> </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> Friends, there are needs around us that are obvious if we are willing to look. Our church has many areas in which we are strong, but some where we are clearly weak. Isn t that also true in our individual lives? We ve let some walls crumble; we ve become complacent about the way things are going. Perhaps we ve lived in the rubble for so long that it doesn t even bother us any more. Nehemiah reminds us in the very first chapter that nothing is likely to change in your life or in the life of this church until we become concerned about the problem, and committed to being part of the solution. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> Where are you in this process right now? Are you concerned about your problems? Do you have a conviction about God s holy character? Are you ready to confess your sins? Are you ready to make a commitment to get involved in God s kingdom work? Rest assured that when the people are ready, God will begin his restoring and rebuilding work. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> I can hardly wait!<br><Br> For next week: Read the entire book of Nehemiah to be prepared for this study. </font></p> <br><br> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> </table> <TABLE width=800 border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <TR bgcolor="#d8d2d8"> <TD width=800 valign="baseline" bgcolor="#d8d2d8" align=right> <!--- beige F2F2E6 ----> <font face="verdana" color="#000000" size="1"> This site designed and maintained by <a href="http://www.hipdogwebdesign.com">HipDog Web Design&reg;</a><br> Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved.</TD> <TD width="19%">&nbsp;</TD> </TR> </TABLE> </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>