Faith Presbyterian Church - Birmingham
At Faith Presbyterian Church we are seeking to exalt Jesus Christ the King and to exhibit and extend his Kingdom through worship, community, and mission.
Faith Presbyterian Church - Birmingham
Nehemiah 2:1-20; A Foundation of Faith
Jason Sterling September 28, 2025 Faith Presbyterian Church Birmingham, AL Bulletin
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If you have a copy of God's Word, turn with me to the book of Nehemiah. It'll be also printed in your bulletin there. You'll also see it on the screen behind me in just a moment. We are in a study this fall in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. We at our church are in the middle of a generational building program. And we've been saying throughout this process that let's not forget, in the midst of physical construction outside of us, all around us, that the most important construction project is not out there. It's actually the one taking place in our hearts. More important than the physical foundations are the spiritual foundations that we need as a church as we move forward into this next season of ministry in the life of our church. So we've been going through Ezra and Nehemiah looking at these foundations. And last week in Nehemiah 1, he showed us the foundation of prayer. Remember, Nehemiah got news that the walls were in ruins around Jerusalem. His heart broke, and that led him to months of prayer. And now we get to Nehemiah chapter 2. He actually steps out in faith in Acts. This morning we're going to see through this passage what it looks like for us to build a foundation of faith. This is a long passage. I'm not going to read the entire passage. I'll read portions and I'll instruct you along the way. This is the word of God. We'll start by reading Nehemiah 2, 1 through 5, and then we'll skip down to the end of the passage. This is the word of the Lord. In the month of Nisan, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence, and the king said to me, Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? There is nothing but sadness. This is nothing but sadness of heart. Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, Let the king live forever. Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves, lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire? Then the king said to me, What are you requesting? And so I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said to the king, If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you sh you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's graves, that I may rebuild it. Now skip down to verse 17, and in verses six through sixteen, Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem. He gets everything that the king has provided, and instead of announcing his plans, he spends three nights surveying the broken walls and inspecting the ruins and getting a full assessment of the damage of the walls. Pick up verse 17. Then I said to them, You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision. And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me, and they said, Let us rise up and build, so that so they strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanbal the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king? Then I replied to them, the God of heaven will make us prosper, and we are his servants. We his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem. This is God's word. Let's pray together, ask for the Spirit to help us. Father, we bring lots in this room. There's lots of heartache and pain and joy and sorrow and anxiety and struggles and addictions and everything in between. And we need you. You've brought us here and you have a word for us. And so would you come give us that word? That's nothing I can make happen. We can't make that happen. Only you can come through your spirit, through the preaching of the word, can come and change us. And that's exactly what we're asking. Please come, Lord. Give us ears to hear and hearts to receive. In Jesus' name. Amen. On January the 15th, 2009, Captain Sullenberger, known as Captain Soley, had three and a half minutes, around approximately three and a half minutes, to save 155 lives. U.S. Airways Flight 1549 ran into a flock of geese, destroyed both engines, and the cockpit alarms were going crazy, screaming at him. Solely knew the manuals. He had had 40 years of flying experience. He knew all the emergency protocols. And in that moment, he is staring at the Hudson River below. And he faced a gap in that moment between what he knew in all of his training and what he had to do in that moment. And so he made the decision that at the time seemed impossible. He said, We're going into the Hudson. He trusted all of his training and he took action and did something that he had never done before. And it felt overwhelming and it felt risky and it felt terrifying. In that moment, he had to close the gap between what he knew was right and what he had to do, and actually doing it under immense pressure. Every one of us have faced things like that, or maybe you're facing it now. Maybe it's not life and death like Sully. But there have been times when we know what God wants us to do, and yet doing it seems overwhelming and seems risky and scary. Maybe it's God wanting you, and you know He wants you to have a difficult conversation with a loved one, but you're afraid because you know that it might lead to more conflict and might be very difficult. Or you know there's an unhealthy pattern and something going on in your life that's not healthy, and you never address it because change, if you're honest, feels very overwhelming. Or you know that you should step out and serve in an area or ministry of the church, but you feel unqualified and you feel like you will fail, and so you do nothing. We live in the gap between what we know what God is calling us to do and wants us to do, and our willingness to step out in faith and actually do it. That's where Nehemiah is. Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king. He had a great, comfortable life, and he could have, when he heard the news about the walls in Jerusalem, it would have been very easy for him to just say, someone else can figure that out. And he could have simply moved on. But Nehemiah doesn't do that. He steps out in faith and does what God calls him to do. This morning, we're going to look at what it looks like to build a foundation of faith that closes the gap between knowing God's will and actually moving forward by faith. A foundation of faith involves three things this morning. If you're a note taker, here's the outline. A foundation of faith involves prayer, planning, and perseverance. Prayer, planning, and perseverance. Let's look at those in turn this morning. Our first heading prayer. Look at verses one through three. Nehemiah is doing his thing as the cupbearer, and the king notices something's wrong with him. He looks sad. And so the king confronts him on the sadness of face, and it says, Nehemiah says, I got very afraid. Now we need to understand what's happening here in the background. Showing sadness in front of a king was not something that was normal or that was acceptable. Court etiquette required that those who were near the king, they were to be smiling. They were to be joyful. They were to have a cheerful demeanor. So he goes forward, Nehemiah, and tells the king about the walls. Look at verses four through five. We'll just walk through this passage like we always do. The king says, What are you asking? And let me get at it here. Here's what Nehemiah is essentially asking for a total reversal. This was took tremendous boldness and courage. A total reversal of his previous policies that sought to stifle the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Ezra chapter 4, verses 21 and following. This took courage, which is why Nehemiah doesn't speak first. What does Nehemiah do first before he speaks? And this is where I want to spend our time. Look at the end of verse 4. What does he do first? He prays. This didn't come out of the blue. Nehemiah had been praying for months, and it teaches us something really important that these uh we can call it instant prayer, uh spontaneous prayer, on the spot prayer that we see here doesn't come out of the blue. It actually flows from ongoing prayer in a person's life. So that when he was faced with this really hard conversation with the king, the knee-jerk reaction for Nehemiah was about to bow the knee in his heart and ask God for help. Don't miss the balance here, don't miss the order here between dependence and boldness. You see it. I prayed to God, dependence, and then I said to the king, boldness. Don't miss the order. He prayed, then he responded. The point, prayer does not make you passive. Prayer makes you very bold. When we rely on God in prayer, the more we rely on God in prayer, the more courage and courageous and bold you become. He calls it the chief exercise of faith. And so the number one way your faith expresses itself is what he's saying. The chief way is through praying. Faith creates a lifestyle, a moment-by-moment dependence upon God that shapes your identity around the fundamental truth that you are in desperate need of God for every single thing in your life, every conversation, every challenge, every decision. You need the grace of God and God's strength and wisdom in your life. It's the same thing the Apostle Paul says in the New Testament when he says to the Thessalonians to pray without ceasing or to pray continually. It doesn't mean that you are talking and moving your mouth for 24-7 out of the day. No, it means, though, that you never stop depending on God. It is a posture of the heart that recognizes God in all of life. It is your heart bowing the knee and saying in every moment, Lord, I need help. Under your breath, even, in the car, walking into the meeting, Lord, please help me. I can't do this on my own. And so at the heart of faith, and at the heart of prayer is humility. It is dependence. It is recognizing your need for God. And so here's what this means that the enemy of prayer, and let's say the enemy of faith is self-sufficiency. And that's hard in our culture in Over the Mountain Birmingham. Because our first instinct, me included, is we turn to power rather than prayer. Our first instinct is, hey, I've got some connections. I'll make a couple of calls and I'll make this happen and we'll get this thing done. You see, underneath self-sufficiency is pride. It is us thinking way too highly of ourselves. It is us forgetting that we are needy, dependent children who need our Father every moment of every day. We need his wisdom and his strength. And here's what this means for us. If you struggle to pray this morning, if you struggle with this idea of continual prayer moment by moment, this idea of dependence, where we often want to go is I need a book. Somebody give me a technique. Do you know any good techniques that will help me with this? Or I need to get up earlier and I've got to be more disciplined. All those things are helpful. The problem, though, is they don't go near deep enough. The problem's not those things. The problem's your heart. The problem is the self-sufficiency inside of our heart. The problem is we have a heart that says, God, I don't need you. I can do this on my own. That's what's got to be dealt with if you're ever going to move into this idea of a lifestyle of prayer. You must deal with the reality of your heart. Faith leads to a posture of dependence. And to get dependent, we must get in touch with our weakness. And when we get in touch with our weakness and knowing that we've got a heart of self-sufficiency that says, no, God, I got this, that leads to repentance of God, forgive me, help me. And we throw ourselves on the mercy of God in the person of Jesus Christ, and we see and savor Jesus. And that leads to a posture naturally where we overflow with prayer, trusting God's wisdom and strength every step we take. Secondly, planning. A foundation of faith involves prayer. It involves planning. Look at verses 6 through 11. Notice Nehemiah doesn't say, well, I've prayed about it, and so let's just see what happens. That's not what he does. Nehemiah gets very strategic and he gets very specific. He walks, he had been thinking about this for months, the text indicates. He walks into the presence of the king. Think about this the boldness. And he says to the king, I need time off. I need some official letters from you so that every all the other surrounding nations will understand and get this is coming from you. I need a place to stay. And oh yeah, by the way, your forest, I need some timber so that we can rebuild these walls. The audacity and the boldness is astounding. But yet, you know what happens? The king grants it all. And Nehemiah shows up in Jerusalem with everything the king has provided. He doesn't make a big deal out of this. He doesn't call a meeting. He doesn't say, hey, let's get together. No, look at verses 12 through 16. He doesn't do that. Three times we see the stress on what he was doing was at night. Twice we see he insists on he did not tell and do not tell. The officials didn't know what was going on and what he was doing. And so why the secrecy? Why is he so under the radar? Well, scholars agree that it was at night so that Nehemiah didn't have interruptions. He didn't have lots of other voices coming in. It was at night so that he could get an accurate assessment of the situation and understand every single section of the broken walls and the burned gate. In other words, this is not deception. This is Nehemiah exercising spiritual wisdom. And then after careful assessment, look at what he does. Look at verses 17 and 18. He reveals his plan to the Jewish leaders. Please pay attention to this. I told them that the hand of God had been upon me for good, and that the words of that of the king had spoken, and the words the king had spoken to me, and they said, Let's rise up and build. And they strengthened their hands for the good work. Nehemiah says, We got the permission of the king. The king has granted our request. Why? Because God moved. Because God stirred. And I think this is so instructive for us. Think about this. Nehemiah's primary appeal is to the bigness of God. His appeal is look at what God has done. He's ordered all the circumstances. He moved in the heart of the king to change his entire policy. And he granted, good to me. Look at verse eight. The gracious hand was on me, and the king granted my request. And how did the people respond? You know how they responded? Let's do this. We're all in. Let's go and join the work that God is doing. And so I want to follow Nehemiah. Church. Do you see who God is? Do you see? Look around. Do you see what God is doing and what he has done in our midst? Do you see how good God's hand has been upon us? Do you see his hand upon us? Come. Let's go. Let's build together. Let's move the kingdom of God forward and join the work that God is doing at Faith Church. Nehemiah understood that he was a ministry partner with God, not a passive recipient of God's blessing. And we're going a little deeper right here because I think this is important. You see the balance of faith in this passage. Complete trust in the provision of God, and faithfully stewarding the resources and wisdom that God has given us. We plan and we act not to gain God's favor, but because we already have God's favor. Faith uses wisdom and resources and gifts that God has provided in response to what God has already given us. Let's go a level deeper. Then the question often comes up well, okay, well, if God is sovereign and he's in control of all things, why does planning matter? And why does prayer matter? Why do we need to do those things? Here's the paradox of faith. God's control and sovereignty over every detail of life doesn't eliminate human responsibility, it actually enables it. Nehemiah's meticulous preparation wasn't competing with God's sovereignty, it was cooperating with God's sovereignty. Because God ordains both the ends and the means. And because of that, we pray and we plan. And when we do that, it becomes the very instrument to which God's purposes unfold in the world. And you see what that does? It frees us from anxious striving of thinking everything depends on us. And it frees us from this passive fatalism that says, well, God's going to do it anyway. Faith is actively dependent, it is partnering with God while at the same time recognizing that success comes from his gracious hand. Think about our building program. It didn't start yesterday with a pulpit announcement. This has been going on for years. We've been praying. The leadership has been seeking God's direction. And for months, we've been planning. There's been drawings that have gone back and forth. We've been analyzing the budget. We've been in contractor meetings. We've been pulling permits. And our strategic planning, yes, it honors God, but how does the project get off the ground? The gracious hand of God. What makes this all a reality is God's gracious hand has been upon us. So it's both end. And as we complete this new building and we new move into this new season of ministry, this building and completing this property is not the end. I want us to continue to dream big, give big, plan big, love big, and move the kingdom of God forward in the world. That's the goal. It's that this entire world be filled with the glory of God. And we want the church to be a central part of that. And so let's keep, let's do not get comfortable. Let's keep planning and praying and stepping out boldly in faith, trusting that God's gracious hand that has guided this church for the last 50 years will guide us for the next 50 years as we advance his kingdom in this community and city in the world. Lastly, faith, a foundation of faith. It prays, plans, perseveres. Look at verse 19. Here it comes. Anytime God's kingdom's going forward, guess what else is coming? Opposition. You see it right here. Sambalat, Tobiah, and Geshem immediately took efforts and said, What do you think you're doing? Stop this. Are you rebelling against the king? These aren't just random critics. These are political leaders, if you were to do some research, in the surrounding territories from Jerusalem that had a vested interest in keeping Jerusalem weak. And you see it in verse 10. It displeased them greatly that someone was trying to seek the welfare of these people. The welfare of God's people, the Israelites, Ralph David, a commentator, and really the entire Bible says this. But he makes a comment about this opposition. And he says it goes back to the garden. It goes back to Genesis chapter 3, the serpent's seed hating the seed of the woman. The point, the opposition that we see out here, that we see here, it goes deeper than we think. It's not merely just human opposition, it is spiritual warfare. The Bible attests to this everywhere. It is spiritual warfare against God's kingdom work. I have had possibly the hardest year of my life. It's been a culmination and an accumulation of many things over the past ten years. But this year I have struggled with anxiety and depression in ways that I have not experienced before. Three weeks ago, my doctor tells me that I need this foot procedure. It's what I've been wheeling around on a scooter, if you've seen me the last few weeks, this foot procedure, and she looks at me and says, This could not be in a worse spot. Like anywhere else on your body would be better than where it is. And oh, by the way, complete healing will take 15 to 20 weeks. And I looked and said, that's almost half a year. I don't want to over-spiritualize this. But the timing and all of this, it's pretty interesting, isn't it? Opposition, friends, comes in multiple directions all at once. Yes, it comes from the outside, external credit, external critics, but sometimes it's internal battles with anxiety and physical setbacks and circumstances that feel overwhelming and make you doubt your calling. Why? Because you are trying to follow Jesus. And you're trying to live out what God has called you to do. I don't know how all of that works. I don't know. But I do know that the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6 that our battle is not against flesh and blood, it's against the principalities of darkness. Friends, when you step out in faith, when you try to walk with Jesus in your marriage, in your career, your ministry, personal growth, if you start trying to deal with something in your life, I can promise you, opposition will come. Jesus says, you will have trouble in this world, and not you might be, you will be persecuted. People will question your motives, doubt your abilities, and simply prefer the status quo. But look at verse 20. I want you to see how Nehemiah responds. Let me summarize. God will prosper us, he will give success. We belong to him. This is what he's saying. We belong to him. We are his servants. And we will serve him and do his will. And then you, he's talking to the opposition, you have no say in this. Notice a few things. He doesn't argue with them. He doesn't get in the knockdown drag out. He doesn't even defend the project and the feasibility of the project. And hey, let me show you all these letters from the king that we can do this. Doesn't do that. And he doesn't even try to win them over. What does he do first? God. That's what he does first. The God of heaven. His confidence is in the God of heaven, and Nehemiah just stays focused on mission and on what God has called him to do. And I think that is so helpful for us as we think about the world in which we live, which is violent and chaotic, and there is plenty of opposition today to biblical values. And I think it's really easy for us to get really fearful or really angry. What does it look like to go forward? Well, I think Nehemiah helps us. Anchor. We anchor in our confidence in God and His control, and we keep building. And we keep on mission. We get up tomorrow, whatever it is God's called you to do in this world. You do it to the best of your ability, to the glory of God, and you try to be faithful and move the gospel forward wherever He has called you to be. That sounds overwhelming. And so, how do we, how does that work? How do we do this? How do we live faithfully in this broken and fallen world? Well, the temptation here is to just end the sermon. Ready? Go be like Nehemiah. That would sink you. Because the passage is not go like be like be like Nehemiah. The passage points us to the greater Nehemiah, points us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Nehemiah couldn't fully see it. His rebuilding project points to a greater restoration that God would accomplish through the person of Jesus Christ. Nehemiah restores the physical walls in Jerusalem. Jesus comes to tear down the ultimate wall. The ultimate wall of sin. Why? So that our relationship with God could be rebuilt. Jesus faced ultimate opposition, betrayal, mockery, and crucifixion, and he responded. Think about how he responds, dependence and trust in God. Remember what Jesus says? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And then he says, Into your hands, God, I commit my spirit. He prayed and then he died. And before he dies, if you remember, he says, It is finished. And by saying, it is finished, it was a way of saying, God's plan will succeed against every opposition that comes its way. The gates of hell will not stand against the church. To live faithfully in this world, we've got to anchor in the finished work of Jesus Christ. We pray because Jesus is our mediator and he gives us access to God so that we can bring all of our anxieties to him. We persevere because we have the Spirit of God inside of us, the Holy Spirit that guides and leads us so that we can plan and we persevere because Jesus wins. Our hope is not in this world. Our hope is that Jesus is coming back, and he is going to defeat every evil in this world, and Jesus is going to renew all things. That is our hope. Prayer, planning, and perseverance are anchored in all flow from Jesus. And so let's rise up and let's build together on this foundation of faith. Stay focused on Jesus. Let us stay focused on mission and let us be a church that continues to step out boldly in faith, asking for God's good hand to continue to be on us as we build his kingdom in this world. Amen. Let's pray. Father, uh, thank you for allowing us to be part of your work in this world. That's a tremendous, amazing thing. Forgive us for being self-dependent and self sufficient. And lastly, Holy Spirit, would you help us to pray and to be good stewards of the gifts you've given us and also to persevere and to walk by faith and to trust in you. In Jesus' name, amen.