All’s Well That Begins Well
 Nehemiah 2:11-20

Series: “You Can Make A Difference.”
Message: “All’s Well That Begins Well,”

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Nehemiah’s memoir teaches important lessons about people.

Perhaps you saw this article in our local newspaper, “Pilot finds black snake during fight to Ohio. Quote:

“Monty Coles was 3,000 feet in the air when he discovered a stowaway
peeking out at him from the plane’s instrument panel— a 4 ½ black
snake.”

This really gets good…

“An attempt to swat the snake only resulted in it falling to Coles’ feet
under the rudder petals. It then darted to the other side of the cockpit.
While maintaining control of the single-engine plane with one hand,
Coles grabbed the reptile behind its head with his other. ‘There was no
way I was letting that go. It coiled all around my arm, and its tail grabbed
hold of a lever on the floor and started pulling,’ Cole said.

The next step was to radio for emergency landing clearance. ‘They
came back and asked what my problem was. I told them I had one hand
full of snake and the other full of plane. They cleared me in.’”

When Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem, he finds himself with one hand full of wall, and the other full of snakes. They are introduced in verse 10—a duo which becomes a trio in verse 19.—The Devil’s Three Musketeers— Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem.

Their interest in the venture was not spiritual, but political and economic. Archeologists have unearthed a document called “The Elephantine Papyri,” dating back to about 40 years after the rebuilding of the wall. It refers to Sanballat as the governor of Samaria.

A strong Jerusalem—like a strong Iraq—would weaken the political and economic interests of its hostile neighbors.

Sanballat means, “thorn.” The Principle: When you walk by faith, you invariably collide with “Sanballat’s,” whose first response is,

“It’s all about me.”
”What will your priorities or activities cost me?”

When leaders lead, they encounter those who walk by sight. In their myopia, they have a very narrow view, one lacking faith and foresight.

Tobiah means, “Yahweh is good.” He’s a Jew! Probably the governor of Ammon, another neighboring territory. The Principle: Opposition often comes from unexpected sources…people from whom you have every right to expect understanding, encouragement and support.

Around the church, he’s the guy who says, “Preacher, I want you to know I’m with you.” Then the first time you do something he doesn’t agree with, he goes south and becomes a critic. He claims he’s on the team, but the first time you make a decision he doesn’t like, he’s gone.

”Geshem,” means “rain.” He pictures those poor souls who live in the shadows of life….they have a ministry…a “wet blanket” ministry. They have the spiritual gift of squelching…

…vision
…enthusiasm
…passion … wherever they detect it.

Someone describes him or her like this:

“All their songs are in a minor key. They send the note of pessimism
everywhere…Their outlook is always gloomy, times are always bad, and
money is tight. Everything in them seems to be contracting; nothing in their
lives expands or grows.” (Developing the Leader, Maxwell, 137)

Brother and sister Rain are like the character is old cartoon strip, Little Abner, who had a rain cloud over his head everywhere he went. You’ll hear him say things like…

”Be realistic.”
”It’s been tried before. What makes you different?”
”It can’t be done.”

Instead of encouraging your spouse, your children, your friend in ministry, who are serving the Lord, you discourage, you are demanding, selfish.

Let me say a word to you couples. In marriage, ministry and involvement are always a team vision and burden. When I’m out six or eight nights in a row; get home late—wound up, sleep walk and have “visions” all night, if she wasn’t patient and encouraging, I’d have been an “ex” pastor!

You’ve never met Brother or Sister Rain have you?

Starting Well…Moving When God is leading means…

I. Clear Thinking About The Obstacles (Expect Opposition)—V10

II.Second, it means, Clear Thinking About The Obvious—V11

After two months on the road, Nehemiah arrives at Jerusalem. He must have wept at what he saw… His activist nature was to grab a shovel and start throwing dirt in every direction!

But we humans are physical, emotional and spiritual creatures. Each part is so intertwined with the other that out of balance, we can make a good thing, bad; fatigue has a way of skewing our perception and perspective.
Tiredness can make you depressed and discontent.

You can probably identify with a wife and mother who passed away in 1860. Her epitaph reads:

“Here lies a poor woman who was always tired,
for she lived in a place where help wasn’t hired.
Her last words on earth were, ‘Friends, I am going
where washing ain’t done, nor sweeping, nor sewing,
and everywhere there is exact to my wishes,
for there they don’t eat and there’s no washing of dishes.
Don’t mourn for me now.
Don’t mourn for me never,
for I’m going to do nothing
for ever and ever.”

Zig Ziglar notes:

“A lack of sleep results in poor decision making. There is evidence that the
Challenger, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island disasters were all caused in
part by decisions made by people in critical positions who were suffering
from sleep deprivation.”

God built the principle of rest into the Ten Commandments; Jesus took his disciples away from the crows for times of R & R.

Third, Getting Off To A Good Start On Any Faith Venture means…

III. Thinking Clearly About The Objective—Vv 12-16

After three days, Nehemiah and a few trusted friends take a quiet midnight ride around the ruins alone. (A visionary can see more at night than other people see during the day.)

Clear thinking begins with insulation (or solitude). You may get the impression as you watch up-front leaders that they are always active, making things happen— on the phone, emailing, attending meetings. But when you study the private life of difference-making leaders you find a deep inter-life that draws from the well of solitude.

Chuck Swindoll, a leader who is flourishing into his mid-70’s, writes…

“Most of us are pretty good at dressing up the outside of our lives:
perfectly decorated homes, immaculately landscaped yards, polished,
status-symbol cars, dress-for-success clothing, sparkling teeth. But
underneath many of our manicured lives are withering souls. The
polluting emphasis on empty externals and prayerless activity have
produced a smog in our inner world. In unguarded moments, silence,
and solitude, we can almost feel the grime that covers our real self.”

Successful planning requires first-hand Information.

Alone, at night, Nehemiah rides among the ruins, under a full moon. When an important decision is to be made, smart people don’t rely upon second-hand reports, filtered through other people.

But there is another dynamic at work. Nehemiah is deliberately exposing himself to the full extent of this tragedy—to the brokenness of Jerusalem—so that his commitment to what God has asked him to do goes all the way to the core of his being.

He mentions observing five gates:

The Valley Gate
The Serpent Gate (Literally, the Hebrew says, “The Spring of the Dragons”)
The Refuse (Garbage) Gate
The Fountain Gate
…to the King’s Pool

Nehemiah inspected only a very small section—The southern-most portion of the wall.

Why? He rides around and says to himself: “This is all I can stand.” And something happens deep in his soul— He comes to the place that night where…

…no difficulty
…no obstacle
…no opposition

will distract him from what God is calling him to do!

No Sanballats or Sand!
No Tobiahs or Temperatures!
No Geshems or Garbage!

could keep him from storming the gates and walls of the city.

There’s a natural tendency in our world, especially in our culture, to respond to anything that makes us feel unpleasant by trying not to think about it. To…

…change the channel,
…go shopping
…play games
…put up gates and walls,
…drive down another street.

Do something to insulate ourselves from the human tragedy around us.

But when you get close to a difference maker, you discover they march to a different drumbeat because somewhere along the way they expose themselves to the thing that fires them up! They…

…read about it
…immerse themselves in it
…and lay their hands on it first-hand— And they are never the same!

I don’t know in what area is working in your life, but God is calling you to see something or someone, and get at it!

Permit me to share again a occasion when I learned this lesson in a transforming way. I can say that out of this incident my life has never been the same.

Just after we were married, Mary and I learned about a local Center for the Mentally disabled who needed house parents for their residence on Vine Street (Chattanooga). Incidentally (no, Providentially) I had just been told that my job—and my paycheck— were being seriously downsized!

We talked and prayed about it…I confess I had enough fear and trepidation for a whole football team. I had never been around mentally retarded people much; and on those few occasions, I always felt awkward, vulnerable.

At the encouragement of friends, we interviewed and were offered the job. When we showed up that Friday afternoon, I was nervous, uncertain. (If I had known what we were really in for, I probably would have run!)

The boys were dropped off from school and the sheltered workshop, and the couple who had been holding the fort for a couple of months—vanished. No training, no instruction! There we were—Larry and Mary, and 12 retarded males—We weren’t even formally introduced!

As they watched TV in several rooms on the 1st floor of our 12 room house, waiting for dinner, the cook came out and reported that she needed some essential! I volunteered to run down to the local Red Food Store.

As I was going for the front door, I glanced over and there was this kid— Michael— 18 years old, sitting alone, with a doll under his arm. I later learned that his age matched his IQ—18!

I thought, “Well, if I’m going to be dad, I might as well get at it.” “Michael,’ I said, ‘Do you want to go to the store?” he looked at me like, “Who me?” (That should have qued me that the invitation was not a good idea.”

He got up very clumsily and headed for the door. “Wait a minute,” I said. “It’s either you or the doll, both of you can’t go.” He looked at his door and placed it very carefully on the chair. Off we went.

He jabbered excitedly all the way…I understood about half of it…But I tried to be Christian about it. We got to the Red Food Store, got out of the car, and he took me by the hand; you’d have thought we were at the entrance of Disney world. (That was long before guys holding hands was cool, but that’s what 3 year olds do, they hold hand with dad.)

As we walked down the aisle, he seemed fascinated by everything he saw. Finally, suddenly dropped my hand, and running ahead, he pointed at something and said, “Daddy, come here!” He had found a rack of toy cars. “Daddy, he said, “Can I have that? Pleese. Pleese.”

Now, I know that 22 year old guys aren’t supposed to cry in the aisle of a supermarket, but right there, all of my fear and trepidation evaporated! God broke my heart for this boy and 11 more like him at 947 Vine Street.

This young man whom I would…

…bath like an infant
…brush his teeth
…Comb his hair
…cut up his food
…shave him
…spank him

for the next four years!

Notice the word, “viewed” in the middle of verse 13. The Hebrew word means, “to probe,” as the probing of a wound.

I learned a principle that day that Nehemiah knew: Compassion is never caught from a distance! — You’ve got to see, close up and personal. What’s God been showing you lately?

With a burning heart, Nehemiah met with the Jewish leadership of the city.
And he says something that seems strange on the surface…

Difference makers operate by the principle of

…Fruitful Insulation
…First-Hand Information

And they know the importance of Forgetful Identification. He says, Verse 17, “You see the distress we are in.”

That’s what happen that Friday afternoon standing in the aisle at Red Food Store, God said, “Larry, open your eyes, look at him.”

When you identify with people in their lostness, in their plight, you will either close you eyes and slip away, or you will become identify with them! That will reorder you life…

…Your time is joyfully given from a heart of love for Jesus.
…As Jesus said, your food will be to accomplished the task for the glory of
God…be it a facility or a ministry, a difference maker to one person!

That’s what Jesus did for us, isn’t it? He identified for us in our plight!

“For He (God) made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

A sign scribbled on the wall of a University restroom read: “God has cancer.”
If He ever did, He got it from us…when He took your sin and mine upon Himself, that you might be free and forgiven!

Who are you identifying with for Jesus’ sake?

Difference Makers Begin Well, Because..

1. They think clearly about the Obstacles
2. The think clearly about the Obvious
3. They think clearly about the Objective

Fourth, Difference Makers Begin Well, Because

4. They Think Clearly About The Opportunity—Verse 17

”You see the distress we are in…”

Of course, they saw the rubbish—They lived with it…every day of every year!
But did they see it, really?

The tendency is when you live with something every day , to come to the place over time that you no longer see it. Nehemiah challenged the city’s leadership with a different way of seeing.

Difference makers touch their time because of Holy Discontent, discerning eye, burning hearts, and courageous action!

For years, this was a local theater. It was adequate.

…It was air conditioned and heated.
…The concession stand made great popcorn
…The sound was real good
…Everything in the bathroom worked.

But one day, a difference maker somewhere…in a corporate office in Atlanta, or on Ragland Road…somewhere, Somebody—like Nehemiah— began to see things in light of how they could be. They put their resources behind it because they believed in it.

Did that commitment make a difference?

The Beckley Plaza McDonalds was a landmark for 30 years. I was there a week before the dozers moved in… It was good enough, it was adequate…but somebody began to see; to have a vision for something better…and they put their resources into it because, it was important.

Let’s review…Getting Off To A Good Start (Getting Off Dead Center) means…

Clear thinking about the Obstacles
…the Obvious
…The Objective
…The Opportunity

Two leaders…Two Visions…

You don’t know the first one… A young pastor named Jerry Vines, one of America’s premier leaders and preachers, tells about accepting the call to pastor a church in Rome, Georgia.

All most immediately, people began getting saved… So many, in fact, that it was decided that they would have a baptismal service at the conclusion of every Sunday night service.

After several weeks of this, the pastor and deacons met for their regular, monthly meeting. One deacon spoke up:

“Pastor, you know we are baptizing a lot on Sunday nights, aren’t we?”

“We sure are,” the young pastor allowed.

“Well, pastor, you are baptizing so many people…Do you think we could
baptize just once a month? You’re running the water bill up.”

The second leader, most of you know… Dr. Lester E. Pipkin.

At Dr. Pipkin’s 80th birthday party in March of 1998, his daughter, Sarah Shook, told about the early days after the college had moved to the Bradley location. She talked about Dr. Pipkin’s vision for a camp on the back side of the property, and other buildings he envisioned.

One day, she said, Dr. Pipkin came home from a walk on the property, and remarked, “I spent a million dollar today.”

Difference makers see…they challenge others to see, and together they step out by faith, trusting God for the impossible!

An old adage says, “All’s well that ends well.”

All’s well that begins well.