Sermon Tone Analysis

It was April 20th, a Tuesday afternoon, I was walking through the Pony Village Mall in North Bend Oregon.

Pam and I were living in Coos Bay Oregon at the time and I was a Youth Pastor at Hauser Community Church, was right by the Great Oregon Sand Dunes.

I had heard a news report earlier in the day about a school shooting in Denver Colorado, so as I was walking through the mall I thought I would stop by the Satellite TV shop in the mall.

They always had big screen tv’s on.

As I paused in front of the shop, I was in luck they had just started a news report on the shooting.

Within seconds I began to weep right there in the entryway to the satellite store, as I was watching the news report I realized that the school where the shooting took place was Columbine High School, the school I graduated from 21 years earlier.

Have you ever received a news report that was not only devastating in it’s sadness, but even more devastating because you had a personal connection to the report.

That is what I experienced that day, it was my personal connection more than anything else that brought me to weeping right there in the mall.

We see this type of experience taking place this morning as we begin our series in the Old Testament Book of Nehemiah.

If you haven’t already, go ahead and turn to the Book of Nehemiah in your copies of God’s Word.

If you are using one of the Pew Bibles, you will find it on page 503.

Now before we dive into the book and read the devastating and personal news report Nehemiah received, let me tell you some of the historical background leading up to the events in Nehemiah.

To begin with, the events at the beginning of Nehemiah take place about 13 years after the end of the Book of Ezra.

This is around 445 BC.

As was the case at the end of Ezra, Artaxerxes, now in his 20th year, is still the king of the Persian Empire.

As you look at King Artaxerxes through the lenses of Ezra and Nehemiah, you may get the impression that Artaxerxes was a good and even a believing king, after all he allowed both Ezra and Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem.

However, as you look at history, he was neither.

He was ruthless.

First off, in order to ascend to the throne, he killed his older brother who was the natural heir to the throne.

He also put down 2 significant rebellions, one in 460 BC. the other in 448 BC, which was about 3 years before Nehemiah’s return to Jerusalem.

Lastly, according to the Book of Ezra there was one point where he completely shut down the rebuilding efforts in Jerusalem because he trusted the words of the enemies of Jerusalem.

Non-the-less, even though he was a ruthless leader, the Hand of God was clearly on him as king.

As we have seen over and over in our journey through both Ezra and Esther, God is in complete control, even of pagan rulers, this is once again made very clear as we go through the Book Of Nehemiah.

An Unlikely Wall Builder-Unlikely Leaders

Chances are, Nehemiah would not have been the top of any of our lists to lead a massive rebuilding effort on the walls of Jerusalem.

His occupation at this time was in the palace of the king.

As far as we know, he had no experience whatsoever in wall building or construction.

You can see from the title of this first slide that he was an Unlikely Wall Builder.

Surely God could have selected a more suitable man to lead the efforts at rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, but for some reason He selected Nehemiah.

As we continue this morning, I think we will all understand why, but the bottom line is this:

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Isaiah 55:8-9

This is an important truth for all of us to consider this morning.

We often times look at ourselves and determine our worth and value to be used by God based on what we see as our personal strengths and weaknesses.

That is not the case with God.

What God really wants of us is willing and available servants.

To be honest, the best I can tell in Scripture, that is the only requirements.

The Bible is filled with unlikely leaders.

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Abraham: An Old Man

Abraham was 75 years old when God promised to make him the father of many nations, and God didn’t give him the son of promise for another 24 years!

But God didn’t just tell him he would be the father of many nations, God also promised to bless the entire world through his lineage.

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Moses: A Stutterer

Abraham: An Old Man

Moses was a fearful murderer with a serious speech impediment when God called him to be His spokesman.

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Abraham: An Old Man

Moses: A Stutterer

Rahab: A Prostitute

One of the most interesting and unlikely people ever to be used by God was Rahab.

She was a prostitute living in Jericho, who provided refuge for the Israelite spies when they went to scout out the town and its surrounding areas.

Even though the King of Jericho commanded that the men be brought out to him so that they could be punished, Rahab hid them, and as a result, God spared her and her family when God brought the Walls of Jericho down.

However, Rahab’s story doesn’t end here.

God used her to contribute to the coming of the Messiah.

You see, Rahab married Salmon, who had Boaz, who became the husband of Ruth.

The Gospel of Matthew outlines Jesus’ lineage, and it illustrates the bloodline of Christ.

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Abraham: An Old Man

Moses: A Stutterer

Rahab: A Prostitute

David: A Shepherd Boy

As you may recall, when the Nation of Israel insisted on having a king, as opposed to having God as their king, God decided to teach them a lesson on the difference between the eyes of God and the eyes of man.

He first gave them King Saul.

King Saul was the tallest man in the Nation, and on top of that he was very good looking.

He was a natural choice by our standards.

But he failed miserably as a king.

God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse for the next king.

They called a great feast for the selection process.

Now Jesse had 8 sons to choose from, but Jesse only invited 7 of his son’s to the feast, I mean why waste your time with the youngest, there was no way God would choose him, he was a ruddy looking teenage by who was caring for the sheep.

One by one Jesse marched his son’s by Samuel, and one by one God rejected all of them.

In the end Samuel said, “Are you sure you don’t have another son?”

Jesse replied; “Well there is the youngest, but he’s out tending the sheep?”

And of course you know the rest of the story, God made it clear to Samuel that: Next Slide

1 Samuel 16:7

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Abraham: An Old Man

Moses: A Stutterer

Rahab: A Prostitute

David: A Shepherd Boy

Jonah: A Man who ran from God

When God called Jonah to go to the Assyrian Empire of warn them of the pending judgement of God, Jonah boarded a boat and sailed the opposite direction.

Truth was, he wanted God to destroy them.

What Jonah didn’t understand was that:

God takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked, only in their repentance.

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Abraham: An Old Man

Moses: A Stutterer

Rahab: A Prostitute

David: A Shepherd Boy

Jonah: A Man who ran from God

Matthew: A Tax Collector

The Story of Matthew is one of the most beautiful stories of Scripture, because it is a story of redemption.

Matthew, also known as Levi, was a tax collector.

In those days, tax collectors were essentially considered the scum of the earth, because it was rumored that they often cheated other people out of money by overcharging on taxes and pocketing some of that money for themselves.

So when Jesus approached Matthew at his tax collector’s booth, people probably stared at him, wondering what a righteous rabbi like Jesus was doing associating with this tax collector.

Yet he chose to call this man to be one of his disciples, and to follow him and learn his ministry, essentially.

Matthew got up, left all of his tax-collecting work behind, and followed Jesus without ever looking back.

Really this is just the start, there are many, many others:

Gideon the fearful farmer.