This morning I want to begin a series and I want you to, with me, in the next three weeks study a book that is 2400 years old.  It’s the diary of someone.  Now maybe when you were younger, I know girls do this; I’m not sure guys, they probably keep a journal.  But I kept a diary.  My brothers always wanted to get in to it and find out what was written there.  Well, guess what!  Today you have an opportunity.  It’s a guy; and he has written a diary.  And it is 2400 years old.  Is that exciting!  Well, you know Barack Obama, he got pretty good publicity for his memoir, didn’t he?   

            Nehemiah wrote these words in the Old Testament approximately 2400 years ago.  He did his life and then he wrote about it.  I’m going to write a series that doesn’t cover all thirteen books.  We’re going to select versus out of there.  And up there on the screen you are going to see the first four versus of Chapter One.   And then we’ll move and pick a few other versus out just to give you a few highlights.  “These are the words of Nehemiah, son of Hachaliah in the month of Chisleu, in the twentieth year while I was in Shushan, the capital.  One of my brothers, Hanani, came with certain men from Judah; and I asked them about the Jews who had survived, those who had escaped the captivity, and about Jerusalem.  They replied, ‘The survivors there in that province who escaped captivity are in great trouble and shame.  The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been destroyed by fire.’  When I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days fasting and praying before the God of Heaven.”  And this is the last part of his prayer in Verse 11, “O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight and in revering your name.  Give success to your servant today and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, the king.  At the time I was cupbearer to the king.”  And then in Chapter 2, I would like to have Versus 3-5.  Nehemiah, this is when he is appearing in front of the king, says, “May the king live forever.  Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves lies in waste and its gates have been destroyed by fire. Then the king said to me, ‘What do you request?’  I prayed to the God of Heaven and then I said to the king, ‘If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ graves so that I may rebuild it.”  And then, you will learn of the rest of the story as you read the book. 

            A diary—it’s not of the king, it’s not of the president or even a presidential candidate, it’s not even of a pastor written in a parsonage but of a servant to a king.  And it’s written probably in a palace, a royal palace.  This guy is someone who has privileges.  It’s even been called the “second in command”.  Not a prince; but a cupbearer.  He protects the king’s life.  He carries the cup in that contains wine and he assures the king that it is safe to drink.  Not specified as one of his duties but also a part of it is that he guards the kings quarters while the king sleeps because kings were very much afraid of being assassinated.  And so Nehemiah is one who has earned trust of the king.   

            It is likely that he was raised, maybe even born in to captivity, Nehemiah.  And the one who comes to see him may be his true relation.  Or maybe like you, if you travel to a foreign country, you see someone who speaks English, you recognize someone that’s American and you have a kinship immediately.  When Nehemiah spoke with his wife who came to tell and greet him, and he says the same words that you might have said this summer.  Did you happen to have a family reunion, a gathering of folks or maybe a high school reunion or alumni banquet?  And you could speak those things that were only known to your family.  But perhaps you had someone there that you hadn’t seen for awhile and there was just a little bit of recognition and the only way that you knew to connect with them was by saying, “So how are things with the folks?”  And you are hoping that they will drop a few names so that you will be able to pick up on them.  And then you would know who they were related to.   

You might go, “Well, how are things back home?”         Nehemiah asked that question, in essence.  And the answer to that question changed his life.  It was a turning point in his life forever.  He asked and it reshaped history.  He asked about his connection with this person and those that didn’t get to be captive of the Persians.  He asked, “What’s going on back home?”  And a new heritage started; a new history started with the answer. 

Today I’m going to talk to you about connections.  With Nehemiah, he was connecting with his heritage.  Last week we had the youth and we talked about how you gave them a heritage of mission here at Grace and they have that now even more instilled in them by experience.  Nehemiah knew about connections.  We know about connection in the church as well, don’t we?  We talk about getting connected.  We talk about how the body is made of unique connections and it is built up and strengthened by our many different gifts, by diversity.  In fact, we might even say that connectivity is key, the sum greater than the parts.  Something mysterious even happens as we are here together that doesn’t happen with just one person.  Jesus Himself said, “Where two or more are gathered there I am in the midst of them.”  And as we come with one purpose and one focus, something happens in a congregation.  Yes, that can happen at a concert, that can happen at a conference; but something even more mysterious where God’s people are gathered in God’s name.  When large numbers of people come together it produces an effect that’s not otherwise possible. 

That process can change the world.  And the process that changed the world for Nehemiah was a construction project.  And that construction project can be traced back to simple connections.  Was someone coming because they had a connection to him?  That person did not come and say, “Nehemiah, I want you to put a good word in to the king.”  No, that person simply responded.  It was simply a messenger; and gave an honest response about a situation.  How unlike that is of us Christians, isn’t it?  We don’t often give honest responses to questions.  Do you find that disturbing that I would say that?  Well, how are you?  Oh, I’m fine.  Well, maybe you don’t need to go in to a litany.  But among fellow leaders, family, would you be not a little more open?  Would you say, “I really wish you could pray for me about something.”  But, oh, that would make us vulnerable.  We might have to admit we have weaknesses that our lives are not so beautifully plastic but it has a few glitches in it, a few places where things aren’t perfect that we’re human in.   

Nehemiah heard from his relative that things weren’t perfect at home.  And because the man was honest Nehemiah was moved in his Spirit.  And he connected in a way with the people that had been left behind in his homeland in such a way that he interceded for them with God.  He then used his heritage, which made them heavy upon his heart, and he took their burden on himself.  He prayed specifically.  And the prayer that we have in Nehemiah is not the same prayer probably that he prayed for forty days.  But he went on a line with his own sacrifice.  He didn’t quit work and go out and jump in a cave and say, “OK, I’m going to pray for forty days.”  We don’t even know that he set out to pray for forty days.  All we know is that he prayed from one month to the next to the next.  And because he recorded that, we have an idea of the timeframe that he prayed.  It was probably four months that he prayed and fasted and still went to work as a cupbearer to the king. 

And it’s only at the end of the four months, after he has prayed and he’s prayed and he’s prayed, and notice he does not come to God with a plan and ask God’s blessing on it.  He comes to God broken with the situation, admitting that he can’t conceive of anything to do other than confess brokenness and that his people, his heritage, they have broken covenant with God and been disobedient.  And as a national citizen, he feels that himself and he confesses that.  And he stands and asks for forgiveness.  And in that he recognizes God’s wrath and God’s judgment and God’s mercy.  And that he could be a co-partner in redemption. 

And as all of that is revealed to him, not instantaneously but over a lengthy time of prayer and discernment, he gets the “guts” we might say, to go to the king, to the person who is his boss, yes, and press this case.  He links with God and then he uses his influence with humanity.  He has political power, this king.  And Nehemiah goes in and says, “I want a leave of absence.”  Have you ever done that?  Don’t get paid for it; might not get insurance coverage.  Nehemiah said, “I don’t want to take a vacation.  I’m just going to be gone for a little while.  And, oh, I don’t know quite how long that will be.”   

Now this is a very important person, a very prestigious role he has in the king’s life.  When the king gives up Nehemiah he’s giving up some protection himself.  And Nehemiah is bold enough to ask, “What do you request?”  He already knows what he needs!  Not because he made the plan up, but because it has been revealed to him and he got more and more focused.  And Nehemiah may be like many of us.  “I’m just a lay person”.  I’ve heard that; I’ve said that!  “I can’t sing.”  I’ve said that too.  A few people also said that.  But I also said, “Lord, I can’t preach.  I’m just a lay person.  I’m just a woman.  I get embarrassed.  I’m shy.”  God said, “You are going to do this.”  And along the way, he did it!  It wasn’t me doing it; it was him.   

And Nehemiah along the way got clearer and clearer.  Nehemiah was not a contractor.  As far as we know, he didn’t even ever build a dog house.  And all at once he’s got this idea that he’s going to accomplish something that for ninety years people were saying it can’t be done.  For ninety years people said it couldn’t be done!  In fact, two other big groups of people had tried to rebuild Jerusalem.  They got one time the foundation of the Temple built.  It took fifteen more years before the Temple was built on top of that.  Can we identify?  He didn’t give up.  The people of Judah didn’t give up.  They thought they had given up.  They thought they had pretty much killed it.  In fact, this king, get this, the king that Nehemiah went to talk to, was the one who said, “No more building in Jerusalem.”  And how much fortitude would you have to go to the man that said, “It’s not going to happen.  No more building in Jerusalem.  They are getting to strong.  We’re not going to do it.” 

Nehemiah, who had no expertise, goes to the king and says, “Not that I want to rebuild Jerusalem…”  He does not mention that he’s rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls. He says, “My ancestors’ walls, my home place.”  He says about everything except the word “Jerusalem”.  Do you think the king doesn’t know where he is going?  Sometimes it pays to be tactful, doesn’t it?  He approaches the king as a man who is humbled and yet knows that God has a purpose for him.  And he goes with power and yet humility. What a mix!--power, authority from God, and yet humility to this man, the king.  Respectfully saying, “If I have found favor with you, please grant me this request.”  Well, the king grants him the request after a consultation with the queen. 

Then Nehemiah pushes it even further.  I think that most of us as Christians give up too soon pushing our cause.  Nehemiah said, “Well, thank you for granting me leave of absence.  And, oh by the way, would you send some timber with me from your great forest?”  And I don’t get the impression that he’s groveling for this.  He’s saying, “Look king, I know you have resources, let’s not Mickey Mouse around here.  We need your resources.”  People, we have a youth center that is not finished.  I don’t know that someone here today won the Powerball.  I heard it was something like phenomenal and they bought the ticket here in Indiana.  Well, if you are here today, I’m not ashamed to ask you.  We need about $250,000 to finish that youth center.  And it’s not for any one person but for the glory of God because we can minister to kids in that youth center in ways that aren’t being done here and now.  We can offer new types of worship services where the kids really, like last week, “get down”.  Where the kids feel that it is there space and not only there space but then they open it up to other kids in the community that says, “Look what we have to offer you so that you might know the love of Christ.”   

We’ve had some anonymous gifts given to the Older Adult Resource Center so that older adults can come and have a place at Grace.  Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem because he wanted them to have a safe place.  See, a city without walls is unprotected.  It is a shame in the Old Testament.  It’s vulnerable to attack by enemies.  The people had lost their spirit, their identity.  It was the capitol city; it was in shambles.  It was an embarrassment.  And so when Nehemiah went to the king he pushed and said, “And other things you could help me with, I’m going to be traveling through some land where people aren’t so friendly, so give me some letters of passage and also send an army with me.”  And all the kings men, or at least a great part of them, and all the kings horses, or at least a great part of them, accompanied him on his journey because he asked. 

He had protection, he had purpose, he had provision, he had confidence.  And it wasn’t in the king, was it?  He had confidence because he had made connection with the Lord God, Almighty, ruler of heaven and of earth.  And he knew he wasn’t on his own time plan.  He knew that he wasn’t on his own construction plan.  But he knew that God was with him to overcome these formidable obstacles and the resources were there.  See, an attitude of trust that something will happen can remove us from the spirit of responsibility.  Yes, we trust!  The Christian journey begins with trust—faith!  For Christ has redeemed us.  But that’s the starting point just like in a marriage proposal, that connection is made with one word, “Yes”.  Friends, you are the connection.  You are the connection.  Christ says, “You are the like the city set up on the hill.”  You are the connection.  Trust in God doesn’t alleviate that responsibility.  It doesn’t alleviate the responsibility that if a stranger comes in that door and all the pastors say “hello” to that person or they’ll go to the Welcome Center and somebody there will connect with them.  “Oh, I just don’t have the gift to say hello”.  You are the connection! Christ in you, the hope of glory. Maybe that’s not your strength. Maybe even that Service Sheet does not show for you how you can become connected.  But guess what?  We’re willing to hear, to listen, to let you build the connection.   

Would you be willing to spend the next four months praying?  Nehemiah did.  Praying, other than the connection that I realize God, what am I suppose to do here?  Well, for many of us it is first of all realizing that we do have a connection.  Some of us think that we have chosen it.  Christ says, “Before the foundation of the earth, I’ve chosen you.  I don’t call you servants; I call you friends.  Now go and bear fruit.”  May it be so in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

E-mail Comments to: Pastor Nancy Blevins

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