{"id":825,"date":"2024-02-20T21:06:29","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T21:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chuckhilltoday.com\/?page_id=825"},"modified":"2025-12-15T20:15:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T20:15:29","slug":"big-gains-great-risks","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chuckhilltoday.com\/index.php\/big-gains-great-risks\/","title":{"rendered":"BIG GAINS, GREAT RISKS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BIG GAINS, GREAT RISKS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nehemiah 2:1-9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

INTRODUCTION: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good morning! How\u2019s everyone doing today? Well I\u2019m so glad you\u2019ve joined us this morning to study God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sherlock<\/strong> Holmes<\/strong> and Watson<\/strong> were camping one night. In the middle of the night Sherlock Holmes awoke and looked up at the stars. He asked,\u00a0 “Watson, what do you see”. Awakened from his sleep Watson<\/strong> looked up and said “stars”.\u00a0Holmes replied,\u201cYes, but what do these stars tell you.” Watson said…\u201cCosmologically<\/strong> they tell me that we are part of a large universe \u2013 that we are one of billions and billions of planets. Theologically<\/strong> they tell me that we have a great God who made all of it.\u00a0Meteorologically<\/strong> they tell me that the sky is clear and we will have good weather tomorrow.\u00a0Temporally<\/strong> they tell me that it is the middle of the night and we should be sleeping! Sherlock, what do they tell you.” “Well Watson,” he replied, “they tell me that someone has stolen our tent”.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me ask you, as you think back over this past year — and the places you’ve travel, and the things you’ve done…“what do you see?”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book of Nehemiah<\/strong> was written by a man who lived to see things through the \u201ceyes of God\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He prayed for and sought after a perspective in life that would allow him to catch a glimpse of GOD\u2019S DREAM for himself and God’s people! The Book bearing his name contains his memoirs…and the experiences he had as he led God\u2019s people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem — and reestablish Israel as a nation to be respected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent days, we have come to discover the fact that God\u2019s dreams are always bigger than our dreams!<\/strong> And that’s one of the key lessons of the book of Nehemiah. As this prophet discovered…his best thoughts and greatest dreams were barely scratching the surface in comparison to what God was doing and the plans he had for His people.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nehemiah<\/strong> was a Hebrew<\/strong> man. But, he lived in Susa<\/strong> — a nation other distant from his own (more than 1000<\/strong> miles<\/strong> away from Jerusalem<\/strong>). His people (the people of Israel) had at one time been a great a powerful nation…but because of their sin, and arrogance, God<\/strong> allowed them to be defeated in battle and overtaken.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When that happened, the best and brightest young men were taken as prisoners and enslaved by Babylon<\/strong>. But the time Nehemiah<\/strong> comes on the scene, the Persians<\/strong> were now in control…and Nehemiah<\/strong> had been promoted through the ranks to Cup<\/strong> Bearer<\/strong> to the great and powerful King Artaxerxes<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nehemiah<\/strong> lived 500<\/strong> years before the time of Christ<\/strong>…and was ultimately used to accomplish one of the greatest comebacks any nation has ever seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MESSAGE:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Nehemiah<\/strong> gets word that his homeland is in ruins. The walls of the city of Jerusalem<\/strong> were in disrepair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His heart was broken for his people. He realized — with the nation of God suffering, it was a reflection on God Himself. And so, for the next four months be prayed…asking God what could be done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During those days — he knew God had a great DREAM for him that would require great FAITH and RISK…but Nehemiah<\/strong> was determined to take advantage of any opportunity God gave him to fulfill that DREAM!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me pause His story — and go to a more modern day story of opportunity. It\u2019s a story that Billy<\/strong> Graham tells <\/strong>in his autobiography, Just As I Am<\/em>. He writes about a conversation that he had with John F. Kennedy…<\/strong>shortly after he was elected president.\u00a0On the way back to the Kennedy house, Kennedy stopped the car and turned to Dr. Graham. He looked at him in the eye and said do you believe in the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ. Graham replied I most certainly do. Kennedy said well does my church believe it? Graham said it is written in your creeds. Kennedy said well they don\u2019t preach it. They don\u2019t tell us much about it. I\u2019d like to know what you think. Graham explained what the Bible says about Jesus coming the first time, how he lived his life, his death on the cross, his resurrection and how he then promised that He would come again. And he said then and only then will we have true world peace. Kennedy said that\u2019s very interesting…he began to look away and he said we\u2019ll have to talk about that someday. And he drove on.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several years later the two of them met again, this time at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1963. Dr. Graham said I remember I had the flu, so after I gave a short talk and the president gave his and then we walked out of the hotel to his car. At the curb, Kennedy turned to Dr. Graham and said Billy could you ride back to the white house with me? It was a cold, snowy day and he said I was freezing as i stood there without my coat. On top of that Dr. Graham was running a fever and feeling pretty weak. He said Mr. President I don\u2019t feel well and I don\u2019t want to pass this along to you… couldn\u2019t we wait and talk some other time? Kennedy graciously said of course…we\u2019ll talk another time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the two of them would never meet again. Later that same year Kennedy was assassinated. Billy Graham says this….his hesitation at the car door and his request to talk with me…those things still haunt me. What was on his mind? What was he thinking? Should I have gone with him? He said it was an irrevocable moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would you agree with me that all of us have moments like that? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They may not seem as dramatic, they certainly don\u2019t involve the president but nonetheless they are moments in our life when we find ourselves at a crossroads and the decision we make at that moments changes us forever. Every one of us experience moments like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s at that point that we pick up the story in chapter 2<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if you\u2019ve got your Bible, turn with me to the Old Testament <\/strong>book of Nehemiah<\/strong>. We will pick up right where we left off last week — in chapter 2<\/strong>. Nehemiah chapter 2<\/strong>. Beginning at verse 1<\/strong> we read…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, <\/em>2 <\/em><\/strong>so the king asked me, \u201cWhy does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was very much afraid, <\/em>3 <\/em><\/strong>but I said to the king, \u201cMay the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4 <\/em><\/strong>The king said to me, \u201cWhat is it you want?\u201d Then I prayed to the God of heaven, <\/em>5 <\/em><\/strong>and I answered the king, \u201cIf it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6 <\/em><\/strong>Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, \u201cHow long will your journey take, and when will you get back?\u201d It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

7 <\/em><\/strong>I also said to him, \u201cIf it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? <\/em>8 <\/em><\/strong>And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?\u201d And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests. <\/em>9 <\/em><\/strong>So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king\u2019s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love the fact that within this story we discover that Nehemiah\u2019s<\/strong> go to response again and again is to PRAY! <\/p>\n\n\n\n