THE TRENTON BULLETIN

THE TRENTON BULLETIN

Trenton Church of Christ, Trenton, Florida

Not everyone has a mind to work as diligently as the man Nehemiah, cupbearer of King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah was driven by his devotion to God and his earnest desire to help his people. While serving in the king’s court, Nehemiah was overwhelmed with the plight of his people in Jerusalem as he explained, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire” (Nehemiah 2:3)? The king allowed Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem and under the oversight of this man of faith the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt in fifty-two days (Nehemiah 6:15).

Throughout the book of Nehemiah the ridicule, fear, guile, corruption and vicious attacks did not hinder his goal of rebuilding the walls of the city. His work did not end with the building of the wall as he went on to help Ezra reestablish the Law and to exhort the people to confess their sins. The key to Nehemiah’s success was rooted in his deep love of prayer. Before approaching the king with the request to go to Jerusalem and before undertaking the enormous task that lay before him – Nehemiah went to God.

“O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man” (Nehemiah 1:11). There are four things that Nehemiah prayed for that will help you and I come to a fuller understanding of the nature of prayer.

First, he begins by asking God to hear his prayer. This is where faith opens the door of prayer. “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8). Faith had declared in Nehemiah’s prayer the “awesome” (Nehemiah 1:5) God and repentance representative of the nation of Israel and plea for forgiveness (Nehemiah 1:5-7). He pleads the promises of God (Nehemiah 1:8-10) and asked for mercy in his prayer. Our prayers should begin in faith and the recognition of the sovereignty of Him who is “awesome” and “Our Father which is in heaven (Matthew 6:9). There is none like Him (Isaiah 40:18).

Second, Nehemiah recognizes the importance of fear before the Lord. Those who do not fear the name of the Lord will not prosper (Proverbs 1:28-33). "If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, THE LORD YOUR GOD” (Deuteronomy 28:58). Prayer is coupled with the fear of the Lord. Nehemiah will need this courage later in the story (Nehemiah 4:14) and the people will proclaim it in Nehemiah 9:32.

The third part of his prayer is asking for the Lord to allow him to prosper and to do the work he wanted to do. The request was tempered by the fourth element of prayer – the mercy of God. Nehemiah only wanted to serve the Lord and his prayer was to seek prosperity not of himself but the cause of his God. How often do we pray that God’s will be done (Matthew 6:10) and not our own and to accept the answer given by God – even if is not the answer we desired. Prayer is the expression of our faith in the wisdom of God to carry out His will through us. Nehemiah guided the people to the incredible task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days. What can we accomplish with prayer?loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

As soon as you meet this man, Nehemiah, you discover what may be the most important thing about him: the rich activity of his trust in God illustrated by his prayer in Nehemiah chapter one (Nehemiah 1:4-11).

He lived in the capital city of Susa in Persia around 450 B.C. While serving as cupbearer of King Artaxerxes he heard the bad news that the people back in Judah were suffering in the ruins of Jerusalem. Nehemiah’s first reaction was not political action, organizing a protest, abandoning his job, or getting drunk.

“As soon as” he heard this, he “sat down and wept and mourned for days.” He fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

He prayed: “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, 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, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayers of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” (Nehemiah 1:5-11).

Nehemiah knew Who he was praying to. This was no obligatory remark, “our thoughts and prayers” are with the suffering people of Judah. He spoke to the God he had known all his life, and in addressing God, he shows his personal familiarity with Him. He was praying to the great and awesome God of heaven, with full confidence in His power to hear, to respond and to guide the work that was ahead.

Nehemiah knew the situation wasn’t God’s fault. He put the blame on the people (including himself) who “acted very corruptly,” in their disobedience to God’s commands given through Moses. Nehemiah knew the history of the covenant and was aware of what had gone wrong. Someone said one time, “…might as well tell God the truth when you pray. He knows it before you start praying.”

Nehemiah knew the people belonged to God. He said, “They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.” After this prayer was offered, Nehemiah would recruit, organize and mobilize a huge number of people to rebuild the walls. He went into that project knowing the people didn’t belong to him, they belonged to God.

Read Nehemiah chapter one, and learn how to react to bad news. Determine to read Nehemiah’s prayer and see the mature faith he brought to that conversation with God. And the dependence on God and devotion to God that governed him after his prayer. Here was a man who did not act without prayer, but did not pray without acting.

“Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!’" (Matthew 17:1-5).

It was called the transfiguration. It happened on a mountain, and there was a great truth pronounced, as well as it's repercussion. It was an overwhelming experience for the three apostles present. They were terrified of what they were seeing and hearing.

“When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, ‘Get up, and do not be afraid.’ And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone” (Matthew 17:6-8).

Following the pronouncement at the Transfiguration that Jesus was His beloved Son, God said, “Listen to Him!” Listening to Jesus is important because it is He through whom God speaks to the world today (Hebrews 1:1-3). In fact, our salvation and where we will spend eternity depends on us giving the appropriate attention and response to the word of Christ (John 12:47-48). We should listen carefully and diligently. To ignore His word, or pay only slight attention to it is a bad choice, let alone mocking or ridiculing it. Eternal salvation is to be found in no one else. There are no substitutes. (1 Timothy 6:20,21; Colossians 2:8).

“Listen to Him!” This is excellent advice that was given on the mountain by the voice of God.

In Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, God did what had to be done if we were to be saved from sin. This was also something that we could not have done for ourselves, and He did so without our deserving it. The problem was sin and death (Genesis 2:16,17; 3:15; Romans 6:23). God's answer was the giving of His sinless Son as an atonement for our sins (Romans 5:6-11).

God provided the apostles as witnesses of what He had done who would announce the deeds of the Son to the world (John 17:20; Acts 1:8,22; 2:32; 5:32). God also promised to confirm the preaching of the witnesses with miracles which would give additional credence to their words as being from God (2 Corinthians 12:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:5).

The apostles were guided into all truth (John 14:26; 15:26,27; 16:13). The preaching of the truth by the apostles was confirmed miraculously by God for the rest of their lives (Hebrews 2:1-4).

Today, we can hear, believe, and obey the message that was preached by the apostles (Acts 11:20,21). When we respond in this way, we are saved by what God did in Jesus Christ - (Colossians 2:12). For example, when the Ethiopian eunuch listened to Philip preaching Christ, he obeyed the gospel and was saved by what Jesus had done for him, and for us, on the cross (Acts 8:35-38). Likewise with Cornelius and his household (Acts 10:5,6,22,33; 11:13,14).

In both the above examples, and in every case of conversion we read about, men and women were saved by the listening to and responding to the gospel. We are saved as we respond in the same way to the same message as they!

It would not be correct to say that we do not need apostles and miracles today. We need their words and confirming miracles that their words are true. For that reason, both the words and the miracles have been recorded for us in the finished work of the apostles, the New Testament of Jesus Christ. That “perfect” revelation of God; the Covenant of Christ, is ours to listen to (1 Corinthians 13:8-10; Jude 3). The delivery of that message is now complete. When we build our lives on the teachings of Christ in the New Testament, we are building on the exact same foundation as the Eunuch and Cornelius and every other disciple in the New Testament! The “foundation” remains exactly where it has been since the first century (Ephesians 2:20).

The word of the gospel is God's power to save (Romans 1:16). Quite obviously, God's words are the most important words of all. They will save us, and save us forever (John 17:7,8; Ephesians 6:17).

It is the truth of Jesus' words, and the power of God in that truth, that gives us life (John 6:44,45,63,68). God's truth is the counterpoint to all of Satan's lies and deception. If it is Satan's lies that produce the problem of sin, it makes sense that it is God's truth that makes us free (John 8:30-32).

Many seem to be less than satisfied with the simple beauty, wisdom, and power of God's plan (1 Corinthians 1:18-25). Is it too simple? Is it too difficult? Perhaps it is thought too confining and restricting? Or maybe there are just too few others that accept it. But none of these things change it from what it really is; our only hope and the hope of all who are in the world. So, whether others might be discontented with it or not, we must “preach” only Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians. 2:1,2).

Even the powerful words of God do not save if they are not obeyed (Hebrews 5:9). Also, certainly once having obeyed, we still need to listen and be guided by His word throughout our lives. We have seen God's truth offering salvation as opposed to Satan's deceit offering condemnation. For the rest of our lives, God will continue to provide reasons to listen to the Word of Christ, and Satan will provide reasons to ignore it. We will end up listening to one of them.

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock” (Matthew 7:24-25).