Over the past few weeks I have shared several messages from the book of Nehemiah. One week we looked at Nehemiah 1. In that message, “Rising Above The Rubble”, we saw how Jerusalem lay in shambles and Nehemiah lead an effort to rise above the rubble of defeat. In the next message, “From Sadness to Singing”, we saw how God transformed the people’s sadness into singing. However, along the way they faced challenges. We also face challenges from time to time. In those times we need strength to continue. That is the picture of life. We need the divine strength to continue when times get tough. This message will encourage you in your work for God. This message will encourage you in your emotional life. This message will encourage you in your marital life. This message will encourage you in your leisure life. From time to time we all need encouragement and strength to continue.
A mother watched her son begin to lose energy as the week went on. By the end of the week he’d lost his desire to get out of bed. She heard the alarm go off through his bedroom door. Apparently he just kept punching the little snooze button on the top. Finally, after 3 or 4 extra rings she walked in and said, ’Son, it’s time to get up.’ He peeked out from under the covers, ’Can you give me a good reason to get up?’ She said, ’Yes. First, it’s Sunday - time for church. Second, you’re 43 years old and you know better. Third, you’re the pastor and they expect you to be there.’ WE ALL NEED ENCOURAGEMENT!
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Daniel Harman)
We are going to concentrate our thoughts on Nehemiah 4. Before we go there I would like to draw your attention to chapter 3. Chapter 3 shows a beautiful picture of God’s people working together. It is a picture of cooperation, coordination, and unity among God’s people. It shows a picture of God’s people working together for the glory of God. Notice Eliashi’s effort in verse 1, the men of Jericho in verse 2, the sons of Hassenaah in verse 3, a man named Meremoth in verse 4, and this pattern continues through chapter 4. This chapter lists a chain of human workers working together for God’s glory. Chapter 3 portrays the good times. The people were having fun and everything was on a positive note. However, the events in chapter 4 arrive. The situation is different. The first phrase in chapter 4 is “it so happened.” In life things happen. That is when we need strength to continue.
Look at chapter 4 and the trials they faced.
• They faced ridicule (4:2-3). Notice especially verse 3. Tobiah said “if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.”
• They faced confusion (4:8). Their enemies sought to create confusion among them.
• They faced discouragement (4:10,12). Notice especially verse 10 “the strength of the laborers is failing.”
• They faced fear (4:14). In verse 14 Nehemiah encourages the people to not be afraid.
Ridicule, confusion, discouragement, and fear…did they not need strength to continue moving forward? Can we not learn something from them? Let me share some jewels I found in this chapter. I want to show you four sources of strength.
1. Find strength through prayer. Every turn of the page, in Nehemiah, prayer is mentioned. As you follow Nehemiah’s efforts you see him leading the people to continue in prayer. Notice 1:4 “I was fasting and praying before the God of Heaven.” Notice 2:4 “So I prayed to the God of heaven.” Notice 4:4 “Hear, O our God, for we are despised.” Notice 4:9 “We made our prayer to our God.” There are times when we might give up on prayer.
Early African converts to Christianity were earnest and regular in private devotions. Each one reportedly had a separate spot in the thicket where he would pour out his heart to God. Over time the paths to these places became well worn. As a result, if one of these believers began to neglect prayer, it was soon apparent to the others. They would kindly remind the negligent one, "Brother, the grass grows on your path." (Today in the Word, June 29, 1992……Contributed to Sermon Central by Scott Malone) Do not let the grass grow on your path to prayer.
Let me encourage you in your prayer life. None of us are perfect. All of us struggle with inferiority when it comes to prayer. All of us are on a learning curve when it comes to prayer. Allow me to encourage you by exalting our gracious, loving, and compassionate God. When you pray, God listens. Even when we do not have it all together, God listens. Even when we are downcast, God listens. Even when we have trouble holding our heads up, God listens. Even when we doubt God, God listens. I was sharing with someone, this week, one of my favorite passages about prayer. It is found in Acts 12. In this passage Peter was in prison. It tells us the church was praying for him (vs. 5). Peter was miraculously delivered from prison by an angel of God. Peter goes to the home of a lady named Mary, where prayer was being offered for him. A girl named Rhoda answers the door and Peter is at the door. She is so excited to hear Peter’s voice that she does not open the door for him. Rhoda runs into the house and tells the others (who were praying for Peter) that Peter was at the door. The group of praying saints told Rhoda she was beside herself. (A cotton patch translation: you are nuts.) In spite of their unbelief God answered their prayer.
My encouragement to you, no matter how short, weak, or feeble your prayer may be, keep on praying! God loves us and he honors prayer. Prayer gives strength we will never comprehend.
2. Find strength through cooperation. Notice two phrases in verse 6, “we built the wall….the people had a mind to work.” This was a group project. There was a strong sense of coordination, cooperation,and community. Everyone depended on everyone else.
Illustration: Judy and I went into a museum in Pensacola that contained old artifacts. One of the artifacts that caught my attention was an old two seat bicycle. This bicycle was built so that two people could sit side by side, ride, and pedal. It was built like a tricycle. It had one wheel in the front and two wheels in the back. The riders sat between the two rear wheels. There was something interesting about the bicycle. The individual pedals were mounted on the individual wheels. In other words one person powered one wheel and one person powered the other wheel. If one person stopped pedaling the bicycle would probably go around in circles. That bicycle required a cooperative effort. Our service to God is like that. It requires coordination, cooperation, and community.
We encourage all those who attend our church to get involved in a small group. A small group gives you a group of people with whom you can cooperate, receive encouragement, and a sense of community.
There is another exciting truth in this chapter. The Jewish people were under constant attack by their enemies. It got to the point where one group stood guard while another group worked. They rallied around each other and protected each other. That is a picture of what the church should be. We are here for each other. In cooperating we give strength.
In what the news called "The Miracle at Quecreek," nine miners trapped for three days 240 feet underground in a water-filled mine shaft "decided early on they were either going to live or die as a group." The 55 degree (Fahrenheit) water threatened to kill them slowly by hypothermia, so according to one news report "When one would get cold, the other eight would huddle around the person and warm that person, and when another person got cold, the favor was returned." "Everybody had strong moments," miner Harry B. Mayhugh told reporters after being released from Somerset Hospital in Somerset. "But any certain time maybe one guy got down, and then the rest pulled together. And then that guy would get back up, and maybe someone else would feel a little weaker, but it was a team effort. That’s the only way it could have been." They faced incredibly hostile conditions together—and they all came out alive together. What a picture of the body of Christ. (SOURCE: Bill White, Paramount, California; Citation: adapted from "Teamwork Helped Miners Survive Underground," CNN.com (7-28-02) from preachingtoday.com. Quoted in "Living The Call" by Joel Smith on www.sermoncentral.com......Contributed by: SermonCentral PRO)
3. Find strength through perseverance. Perseverance is an important but difficult lesson to learn. It shocks us when we realize that great men and women go through difficult and depressing times. For instance, Winston Churchill said, "Depression followed me around like a black dog all of my life." A young lawyer in the 1800’s suffered such a deep depression that his friends did everything they could to keep all razors and knives away from him. He wrote these words, "I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall be better, I cannot tell." This lawyer later became the 16th president of the United States. His name was Abraham Lincoln. Even Charles Spurgeon was given to periods of depression. History tells us that there were times when Spurgeon would be so depressed that he would refuse to leave his home to go to church.
(Contributed to Sermon Central by David Yarbrough)
Even when walking with God you will face trials. Throughout the Bible God’s children faced trials.
• Joseph was thrown into prison.
• Moses was raised under the dictatorship of King Pharaoh in Egypt.
• Job, who was described as blameless, lost virtually everything he possessed.
• Jeremiah was thrown into a water cistern and left for dead.
• Elijah got so depressed he wanted to die.
• Paul, who wrote the most of any author in the New Testament, was beaten time after time because of his faith.
• John, who wrote several books of our New Testament, was exiled on the Isle of Patmos. He was not protected from trials.
Never give up! Your ray of light may be just around the corner.
Some very well known people experienced major knock downs but got up to win. FRED ASTAIRE – a memo circulated after his first screen test for MGM in 1933 – “Can’t act !, slightly bald !, can dance a little” WALT DISNEY – was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. He also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. ALBERT EINSTEIN – didn’t speak until he was 4, didn’t write until he was 7. His teacher described him as “mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in foolish dreams”. He was expelled and was refused entry to Zurich Polytechnic. F.W.WOOLWORTH – his employers at the dry goods store said he had not enough sense to wait upon customers. WINSTON CHURCHILL – failed at junior school. Did not become PM until he was 62 after a lifetime of defeats and set backs. His greatest contributions came when he was a ‘senior citizen’.
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Stuart Blount)
4. Find strength by trusting the Lord. You will notice a rallying cry in verse 14, “Remember the Lord.” Every time we face a trial, a difficulty, a challenge, or an obstacle we need to be reminded of this, “Remember the Lord.”
We have a tendency to forget the Lord’s intervention in our lives.
Bill Hybels tells about an interesting experience after a baptism service in their church. He writes: “I bumped into a woman in the stairwell who was crying. I thought this was a little odd, since the service was so joyful. I asked her if she was all right. She said, ‘No, I’m struggling.’ She said, ‘My mom was baptized today. I prayed for her every day for almost 20 years. The reason I’m crying is because I came this close to giving up on her. At the 5-year mark I said, “Who needs this? God isn’t listening.” At the 10-year mark I said, “Why am I wasting my breath?” At the 15-year mark I said, “This is absurd.” At the 19-year mark I said, “I’m just a fool.” But I just kept trying, kept praying. Even with weak faith I kept praying. Then she gave here life to Christ, and she was baptized today. I will never doubt the power of prayer again.” Sometimes when we pray and pray we feel like we are experiencing the law of diminished returns — so we stop praying. We correspondingly diminish our desires and dreams. We stop believing that God cares and that he will act — that he is indeed a God who wants us to ask. I hope that you will trust God’s love and concern for you, and his ability as well. I hope that you will continue to be persistent in prayer, no matter how discouraging the circumstances seem.
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Rodney Buchanan)
As Nehemiah worked with these people he regularly reminded them to trust the Lord. The Bible regularly encourages us to trust the Lord.
“And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You. Ps. 9:10
“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised;” Ps. 18:2-3
“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.” Ps. 20:7
“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” Is. 26:3
The Old Testament character, Abraham, was a wonderful example of trust.
Let’s imagine a dialogue between Abraham and God. “Abraham, this is God speaking. I want you to leave everything and go to the land I will show you.” “Where’s that?” “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.” “Try me.” “It’s 1500 miles from here in a place called Canaan.” “Never heard of it.” “I know, and guess what else?” “What?” “I’m going to make you the father of a great nation.” “That’s impossible. I don’t have any children.” “Don’t worry.” “What do you mean, don’t worry?” “Just trust me.” “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. You want me to leave everything, travel across the desert to someplace I’ve never heard of, and become the father of a great nation.” “Right.” “Is this some kind of joke?” “No.” “What am I supposed to tell my wife?” “That’s your problem.” Hebrews 11:8 puts it this way: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”
(Contributed to Sermon Central by Ray Pritchard)
May we find grace and strength to carry us as we seek to follow Jesus Christ and to honor His name.
