All right, take your Bibles and let's go to Nehemiah chapter two. And we are going to focus on verse one through verse number eight. And again, not trying to do all this chapter tonight, just trying to do these because there's a lot as we begin to get into the building, or it's just prior to the building that starts taking place there in Jerusalem. And so we're seeing now, coming in the timeframe of what leads up to Jeremiah going and being able to travel back to his homeland, be able to travel back and be there in Jerusalem. to see for himself what's going on and put together a plan of how to rebuild. And at this point, we've only gotten through the first chapter there, and he has not as of yet come before the king, but that's about to happen in the very early parts here of chapter two. And there's some pretty spectacular aspects of what God can do that is listed here for us in the early part of chapter two. So if you're there in Nehemiah chapter two, let's begin to look there in verse number one. And what you find, there's going to be two breakdowns between verse one and verse number eight. The first one, I would say, is verse one through verse number three. And with these three verses, you have what I would put in a if you're doing an outline, the visible sorrow. Okay, the visible sorrow. This is when it becomes a clarity before the king that there's a problem. But I wanna show you something very unique about this in these first three verses. So in this area of visible sorrow, we see in verse number one, the timeframe of when this takes place for Nehemiah. It says, and it came to pass in the month Nisan, that that month is closely related to our April, okay? April time frame. Now, you say, how does that correlate to anything of importance? Well, consider when you go back to chapter one, And it says in verse number one, and it came to pass in the month Chislew, or it's also said Kislev, all depending on how you want to say it there. But in that month, that month is closely corresponding to what would be our December. So all of this begins, if you look at it in our month settings, it would technically begin in the month that's equal to our December timeframe. And the timeframe of him about to go before the king, so he hears about the problem in the month of what would be our December. And then he doesn't, this opportunity to go before the king and all of this that takes place is nearly three months later. For us, it would be January, February, March, and then now you're coming into the April timeframe. For us, for him, it is the month Nissan. And so you look and say three months. Three, you realize the Bible says that he fasted and prayed with a broken heart over his homeland and over the situation that God's people were in. It broke his heart for his nation to be in such turmoil and his home to be so destroyed. And he spent three months suffering over this and fasting and praying and begging God, Lord, do something. Lord, bring your people back. Lord, help us. That's a long time. And so when we come into chapter two with verse one there, and we begin to see here in just a moment where he comes before the king, and there's a visible aspect about something being wrong. There's a visible sorrow. Well, no wonder. If you've been grieving over something for three months, and you've had no ability to go see it for yourself, you've had no ability to go see if there's anything you can do to help, You're just stuck and all you can do is fast and pray. All you can do is just bring it before God, but yet you would really love to put your hands to the plow, put your hands to the work and do something to help, but you have no power to do so. How would we feel if something so traumatic in our life with people we love, If we heard about it and we could not go anywhere, we could not get to any position of helping them, all we can do is pray and then even decide, this is serious enough. Lord, I'm gonna fast over it. And for three months, we fasted and prayed, but yet with that, we still have no ability to get reports of what's happening. We don't know what's going on. Is anything changing? And more than likely, if it didn't change in the timeframe I thought something was happening, It very likely hasn't had any change since I heard about how bad it's been. It might just be getting worse. And so Nehemiah is struggling. Nehemiah is having a hard time. And then he's been praying for the Lord to do something. Three months have passed. And now comes an opportunity, and I'm going to read and finish verse number one. It says it's in the month of Nisan in the 20th year of Artaxerxes the king. That wine was before him, so there was a particular scenario, a particular setup here that required the working aspect of Nehemiah's job. And so he was required to be before the king, required to handle as the cupbearer that which was going to be placed before the king. He's going to have to try it himself. He's going to have to approve it and give it to the king. And he comes and it says here, the latter part, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been before time sad in his presence. And now there's one of two possibilities there, just to keep in mind. Either there are those that believe that during a particular time of the year, it's possible that Artaxerxes would not have been in Shushan the palace, but maybe at one of the major cities of Babylon, because of weather scenarios or just at certain times of the year, he would rule from over here, certain times he would rule from over here. And the possibility is that when he's in Shushan, it's Nehemiah that does the job. When he's in other areas of Babylonian scenarios that they've conquered, that maybe there was somebody else or he just didn't require Nehemiah's assistance. Regardless, whether Nehemiah has not been around the king and therefore he hadn't had to do this job in a while, or Nehemiah has been possibly strong enough this whole time that every time he goes for the king, He remembers, got to do my job. I'm, you know, this is killing me, but I got to do my job and got to do it right. By the way, that'd be a good lesson for all of us to keep in mind is don't let your personal problems drift into the workplace. It always causes bigger problems. And so it's possible that Nehemiah has has been very strong-willed in trying to make sure he has a proper countenance before the king, but this point now, three months later, maybe it's just been too much. Maybe he, for this one time, it's been on his mind so much, he doesn't even, he can't get it off his mind, and he goes before the king, and he doesn't even think about where he's at. He's doing his job, but he's in the motion, but his mind is way off. Most of us live like that, but that's okay. We do things and our mind is not even on what we're doing. We call it daydreaming. But for Nehemiah, his heart is fixed on the sorrow of the people. His mind can't help but constantly think. And I believe, honestly, I believe Nehemiah spent every single day throughout the day constantly just in his mind and in his heart before the Lord saying, Lord, help. Lord, would you help us? Lord, you gotta do something. Maybe after three months, he's getting to the point and saying, Lord, I can't take it anymore. This is killing me. And he goes before the king, verse number two, we see an opportunity now presented. Oh, by the way, let me back up one thing. In that timeframe, there is one aspect of this that I would say is also we need to keep in mind. It has been three months of times that he found out, he didn't find out about this and then go right in the next day to the king and the king noticed and said something and all of a sudden this opportunity happened within the first week. It's been three months of time, but here's something to keep in mind. Timing is always a major key in God's plan. Doing the will of God is important, but sometimes our biggest struggle with doing the will of God is timing. Patience. I know we hate that word. And people say, oh, don't ask for it. But actually, you know, we've preached on it before. There's actually a good bit of Scripture that encourages us not to despise tribulation that bringeth and worketh patience, because we all need to learn it. It's for our benefit, for our good. And so here is Nehemiah, he's possibly learning a very key aspect to God's plan. It's not all about it being done when I think it needs to be done. It's about making sure that we do things in God's timing. Who knows if King Artaxerxes would have been open to hearing or open to seeing this sorrow without I don't know what your problem is, but get him out of here. I mean, that could have, any other time, that could have been the response. But in this timing, there's an opportunity given. God's timing is always perfect. Verse number two, we see the opportunity. We see, firstly, the king's concern, and then we'll also see Nehemiah's realization. He says, wherefore the king said unto me, and he said, I had not before time been sad in his presence. Well, that tells us he was sad. Wherefore the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. The king's tenderness is not to say, what's his problem? Oh, no, no, get him out of here. Now that could have been his reaction. But the king, instead of saying that, he looks at Nehemiah and says, Nehemiah, what's wrong? I perceive looking at you that this is not just a generic thing. This is a sincere, this is a very serious, not that you're sick and not feeling good, this is sorrow of heart. Nehemiah, I know what that looks like. I've been there, I've experienced some of that. I've seen it on other people's faces. I know what that look is all about. Nehemiah, what's wrong? There's a tenderness there, because he easily could have had nothing to do with the idea of what's wrong. He could have completely walked away from that and just said, get him out. But instead he said, what's wrong? The Lord placed a tenderness in his heart. And what we find is that, this concern from the king there now presents a realization for Nehemiah, and that is Nehemiah in that moment all of a sudden realizes he evidently didn't comprehend that his face was not reflecting the right look, which we get oftentimes, too. Y'all understand that? But all of a sudden, Nehemiah says, then I was very sore afraid. That is like the way of saying the ultimate fear just struck me. Oh my goodness. And could you imagine, because in that moment, the king had every right to have him killed without even, no questions. Get him out of my presence, take his life, No one is to be in, especially the cupbearer. No one's to be in my presence like that, especially the person I'm supposed to be trusting. What's he up to? All of a sudden, Nehemiah realizes, oh, I just messed up. And by the way, it is only by the grace and mercy of the king that Nehemiah was able to stay in his presence and plead for the sorrow of his heart. Verse number three, we see the honesty. We see his declaration, Nehemiah's declaration and his revelation. You ready? Verse number three. So he's sore afraid and said unto the king, by the way, mercy right there, the king let him speak. He didn't have to. Said unto the king, let the king live forever. That's his declaration. His declaration is, oh, king, it has nothing to do with you. I hope and pray you live forever. I hope and pray that you remain healthy and that you have blessings on your life. Trust me, it's nothing to do with you whatsoever. Then he gets honest with the revelation or the revealing of what's bothering him. And so here's what he says. He said, oh, where am I at there? Verse number three. Why should not my countenance be sad? When the city, the place of my father's sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire." King, if you had a broken heart over these things like I do, you'd fully understand. How can I not be affected in this way? And something in what he says, again, God had placed a tenderness in the heart of King Artaxerxes in that moment, in his timing. And that tenderness allowed the king to respond in a way that shows, again, more tenderness. And we see the second piece right here, verse four to verse number eight, is the bold request. Okay, the bold request. So the visible sorrow, now the bold request. Verse number four, we see an open door of opportunity placed before him. Here's the open door through the king's tenderness, and it leads to Nehemiah doing something very quickly, all right? Verse number four, then the king said unto me, for what dost thou make request? Wow, for you know, what is it? That is your request. Okay, so I get it. I see you're struggling. Your family heritage, everything you were taught to love is destroyed. You're hearing horrible news. I get that. I can understand. I can relate to what that would be like if I was in your shoes. So what do you want me to do? And so immediately Nehemiah prays. In that moment, now, I do not believe. you know, the evangelical prayer. Dear God, this king has now given me an opportunity. Oh God of our fathers, the creator of all things. He didn't do that, okay? This is one of those, all of a sudden he realizes what has just been placed before him. He has been praying for God to give opportunity to help deal with the problem in Jerusalem. But he's been unable to do anything himself because he is a captive serving the king, though it's not a bad job. We've already looked at that. It's not a bad situation. This is a pretty decent king to the Jews. However, Nehemiah doesn't have the right to just up and do whatever he wants. He doesn't have the right to say, I want to take my vacation days, please. There are none. So Nehemiah's been praying, Lord, I don't know what to do. Lord, I don't know what to do. Lord, I can't do anything. Lord, you've got to help. Lord, you've got to do something. All of a sudden, the king says, what would you have me to do? Now, at this moment, Nehemiah had an opportunity Relive an account that happens just prior, or just after, we hear of an account that actually takes place prior to the book of Nehemiah, but in our books here, it's laid afterwards. The book of Esther. Book of Esther, Esther had an opportunity that was placed before her, needing to go before the king, and she was told, if you don't, Don't think you're gonna be spared. And if you aren't willing to do what God has given you opportunity to do, God can raise somebody else who is willing by faith to follow him. Who knows if you are here for such a time as this. All of a sudden, Nehemiah now has his such a time as this moment. What he's been praying for, little did he know that God was gonna give him the opportunity to speak, not someone else. And so the king says, what would you have me to do? Nehemiah instantly, the Bible says there, that he instantly began to pray. He says in verse number four at the very end, so I prayed to the God of heaven. I think it went like this. Wow, Lord, help. I've been praying this whole time for this opportunity. I don't wanna mess it up. give me wisdom and give me boldness, and please, Lord, give me favor with the king. Because what he's about to say could go very bad. So in this moment, he has the chance to say, oh, nothing, king, nothing, it's gonna be okay, I'm gonna be okay, don't worry about it. He could have done that and chickened out. But in that moment, he prays to the God of heaven. And I believe he asked the Lord for wisdom and boldness and favor to speak. Verse number five, here we see the direct approach. In this direct approach, you find two major aspects of how he approaches this respect for authority, and we see the power of testimony. He says in verse number five, and I said unto the king, if it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, those two things, if it please the king, that is respect to the authority, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, how is he gonna find favor unless he's actually had a good testimony? So he first says, Lord, king, if it pleases you, And if it's okay with you, I would love to speak. And if I have found favor in your sight because of being faithful and trustworthy and a man of character, then I pray you hear me out. Lord, please give me the words. And then he begins to speak. And he says here to the king a little further, he says that thou wouldest send me to Judah. under the city of my father's sepulchers that I may build it. King, I'd like you to send me home so I can rebuild what was destroyed." Artaxerxes didn't destroy it. His father didn't destroy it. It goes way back to the Babylonian Empire that they conquered. They didn't cause the mess. And, you know, most every other king would not worry about it. Not my problem. Not my expense to deal with. And yet, the request boldly is, will you let me go home? And will you let me rebuild my home for me and for my people? And then we see from that, that direct approach, again, a very important thing. It's one thing to speak boldly to people. It's another thing to have a precursor of that boldness be respect and testimony. It goes a long way. In verse number six, we see the answer given by two questions. And the king said unto me, the queen also sitting by him. I'm not gonna go into all of that, but evidently there was a bit of an audience there. whether the queen with Artaxerxes was one favorable possibly, maybe not one favorable, and that's the notice, even with the queen beside him. If she's not favorable, even with her sitting there, it didn't stop anything. Maybe she was favorable and she was one kind of nudging along and say, let's hear him out, let's hear him out. Whatever it is, for whatever reason, God chose to put in here that it's not just the king, but the queen is sitting there as well. They're both there hearing this out. And it says, the king speaks and says, for how long shall thy journey be? And when wilt thou return? Two questions. And in those two questions, he's given his answer. I'm gonna let you go. All I wanna know is, for how long is it gonna take? And how soon can you come back? and be back in the job that I really need you at. By the way, it just shows that Nehemiah was desired. His presence was desired. but the king was willing to give him his request. And so how long being that desire of ample time to give him, and then also when he would return for the desire to see him return to his position. And then you have here, Nehemiah is the very last part of that verse, Nehemiah's willingness for accountability. And there's a big thing that a lot of people could learn. His willingness for accountability. He could have said, well, I don't know. I mean, it's gonna take a while. That's not what he did. Nehemiah, he was asked how long, which also means you gotta know when you're gonna start, how long it's gonna take, and then when would you be back? And so we find the last part of verse number six there. It says, so it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. Accountability. I set him a time. Nehemiah wasn't asking for an open-ended thing. He knew that there needed to be some accountability about when he was going, how long he would be there, and when he would be back. So he set some goals, and he set some times, and he told the king so the king could keep him accountable to his promise. Accountability, by the way, is needed by everybody, even at the top. Then we see in verse number seven and verse number eight, we see the sweetening of the deal. Because not only is he now gonna be able to go, and the time is set for when he can go, how long he can be gone, and when he's expected to return. All of this is now set, there is a plan, and yet the Lord gives Nehemiah boldness to, I'm not done yet. Verse number seven, moreover, I said unto the king. He's starting to realize I got a little bit of favor. Let's see how far I can get this. He said unto the king, Nehemiah's not dumb. He understands he's a servant, he's a slave. And when he starts traveling, he might end up with some problems with people that don't believe how he is taking this trip when he's supposed to be somewhere else. So Nehemiah thinks ahead. And he also thinks ahead to the idea of, I have no money. My people have no money. We have no supplies. I'm gonna go look at this thing, and I don't know how in the world we're gonna provide to do what needs to be done. Because anything that we're gonna need is gonna have to come in from somewhere, and I can't, number one, I can't afford to buy it. Number two, I can't afford to ship it. If I can't do either one of those, how are we ever gonna get started? So all this stuff, I mean, pretty quick going through Nehemiah's mind, but the Lord is directing this. And so Nehemiah opens for this sweetening of the deal. Moreover, I said unto the king, if it please the king, once again, there's the respect. If it please, you're in charge, O king, but if it be pleasing to you, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river that they may convey me over till I come to Judah. In other words, can you give me something from you stating that I am sending this man, you help him. Get him from point A to point B. Make sure he gets there safely and convey him along. All the top leaders. Now, when you got a government sealed document from the head of the country saying, here's what you are to do, it's a pretty good possibility. You personally are gonna have a pretty nice trip. You know, it's like first class. The governors are gonna make sure that you get what you need and get on your way. But it doesn't stop there. That's just for his travel to the area of Judah. and trying to get to the city of Jerusalem. But then verse number eight, he says, and a letter, I love how he has lots of ands, and, and, and, and a letter unto Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace, which appertain to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the houses that I shall enter into. All of these things, listen, we need supplies. King, I mean, it's just common sense, you know, we ain't got nothing. I need help getting there and I need help getting supplies. Would you mind writing me a letter? And verse number eight, the very last, and the king granted me according to the good hand of my God upon me. Now what we see in the sweetening of the deal, you see the letters for swift and safe travel, the letters for needed supplies, and here's the finality, you see the clear power of God's hand at work. Only God could present him this opportunity and give him favor before the king. And only God could present an even greater possibility of not only giving permission to go, but now you're going to go with the king's seal and approval that drives you along in all safety, and you're going to go with a blank check to have all the wood and all the beams and all the supply you're gonna need to not only build in the city and the houses, but the entire wall and every gate all the way around. You're gonna have what you need. The king that is over you in a conquering sense is gonna supply so you can go back and build your fortified city to protect yourselves. What? and he's gonna send you like an emissary of the king. This is of the king's errand. It's not just of my errand. This has now become the king's errand. You find that to be a major factor later on with the opposition that takes place there in Judah. This is of the king's errand with his approval and his blank check to provide for the supplies. Now who else could do that but God? The beauty of watching what takes place with Nehemiah is being reminded that the impossibilities that we face in life are never impossibilities for God. The things that we can't figure out and it might take three months in comparison of waiting and being patient. It might take time with God seeing how serious are you about this need. Just how much will you pray? Is it worth fasting over? Is it worth spending all your waking time bringing before me? Is it worth the burden that you will bear in order to say, Lord, this matters, this matters, this matters. Is it big enough and is it important enough that you can't do anything and yet you'll turn to me constantly and you'll ask me constantly, Lord, we need you. Lord, we need you. Lord, we need you. And then when I open the door, will you be ready to actually do what you have opportunity to do for such a time? See, Nehemiah, all of this, I believe, was a preparation of the heart of Nehemiah, a preparation of the determination of Nehemiah. It was a preparation of the willingness of Nehemiah to be a vessel used in a moment that it could have gone very badly for him, but he trusted in God. And when he needed to speak up and needed to sweeten the deal, He was willing to speak up and say, Anne, could you do this? Anne, would you mind doing this? Anne, could you? And the king, in God's timing and in God's way, with God's good hand of favor upon Nehemiah, the king said, whatever you need, I'm your man. Now how many times in our life have we had a need that we could not suffice, we could not fix, we could not handle, we could not figure out. It was impossible and in every likelihood it's gonna go bad. And we struggled to think about what can we do when the whole time we didn't even think about, I haven't gone to God. The Lord is not slack. And one verse I didn't read, I'll read this to you. Proverbs 21, one. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. That's exactly what he did with Artaxerxes. And God can still do that very same thing in our lives, in whatever impossibilities we face, with whatever impossible people we deal with. God can do what we cannot. Are we willing to let Him is the question. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening. Thank you.