A Man Determined

“A man determined”

By

District Elder M.L. Maughmer, Jr.

Nehemiah 6:15-16 “So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth [day] of [the month] Elul, in fifty and two days. And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard [thereof], and all the heathen that [were] about us saw [these things], they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God”.

A man determined. When I was given this topic to speak upon I tried to figure out which person in the Bible to talk about and there are many, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, David, John the Baptist, Paul and a multitude of others could be talked about for this message, but has I began going through the Word of God something about Nehemiah just stood out and captured my attention.

Now we all understand that the Bible is a mirror that shows us what we are, how we are to be living, where we should be going, and so forth. But when we look at a particular aspect of the Word of God and a certain situation that literally is exactly what you are going through at the current time, it does something special to you down on the inside. This particular part of history that Nehemiah is living is so similar to what I am going through right now and have been going through for over the past year that it seems like almost my life. I am not saying I am anything special, but when you read the word of God you truly realize that this thing that you are going through, you are not the first one to go through it and it gives you awesome encouragement in knowing that if God did it for them guess what He is going to do it for me also.

Determined/Determination:- According to the dictionary is resolute, staunch, settled, resolved.

Synonyms:- inflexible, unwavering, unmovable, steadfast.

When I think about those words the first thing that comes to mind is the scripture in 1st Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord”. I want to encourage you to be determined, unmovable, unwavering, and steadfast in the work that you are doing for the Lord because your labor is not in vain.

I want to start this message off by asking a few questions and these questions are one that will cause you to look within yourself and truly cause you to inspect yourself. The Bible says in 1st Corinthians 11:28 “Let every man examine himself…” So the question that I am going to ask you the answers lie with you and no-one else can answer the questions for you because only you know you like you do.

1. Am I willing to live my life for Christ regardless of the cost, regardless of what obstacles may come at me, and regardless of the opposition that I will face from friends, family, and enemies.

2. Are you willing to live the life God has in store for you by putting behind you the old ways, old habits, and comfort zones striving toward the destiny that God has for you.

3. Do you have the determination and stick-to-itiveness to go through to the end because you understand the price that was paid at Calvary’s cross and you realize where you were purchased from.

We are talking about being determined.

Let me give you a little background first. Now to understand Nehemiah you need an understanding of Ezra as well. Understand that the Children of Israel had transgressed against God by turning to idols and God allowed them to go into captivity under the Babylonians. Babylon was the foundation of idol worship and the Children of Israel got enough of idol worship while they were in captivity in Babylon. Well after they had repented God allowed them to return from captivity into the land of Jerusalem. Understand that there were 3 different deportations back to the land of Jerusalem, the first was under Zerubbabel he was a prince, then there was Ezra and he was a priest, and finally Nehemiah who was a servant. The prince and the priest failed to rebuild the wall and cleanse the Temple so God raised up a servant that had determination in order to complete what needed to be done. See you don’t have to be a star in order for God to use you.

Nehemiah basically had it going on. His life was a privileged one because of the position that he held although captive he had it going on. As cup bearer to the great king Artexerxes, he often found himself giving advice to the king, he participated in meetings of all kinds and he was even responsible for the safety of the king. He literally was living the good life, He ate the best meals, drank the best wine was in fact in a comfort zone. I can’t find where he was trained as a brick layer or carpenter, I don’t find any place that he was a perfect man. I don’t know of an instance where he had a degree in architecture, but he had a God given purpose and destiny place upon his life. However, he was going through life and no doubt was comfortable with how he was living, but God had a call on his life, God had a purpose for Nehemiah.