INTRO: God has a unique plan for every single child of God. He passionately desires for us to know His good, pleasing, and perfect will. Though that is His intention, it is not automatic that every child of God is going to live in that will and be found faithful. The enemy will do all he can to make sure we lose heart and strength in God’s service. We must find renewed strength and courage to stay faithful to God in spite of opposition, discouragement, or even Satanic sidetracks. Nehemiah moved forward and so can we.
ILLUS: YOU PAY A PRICE FOR GETTING STRONGER. YOU PAY A PRICE FOR GETTING FASTER. YOU PAY A PRICE FOR JUMPING HIGHER. YOU PAY A PRICE FOR STAYING JUST THE SAME. —H. Jackson Brown, A Hero in Every Heart (Nelson, 1996)
PROP. SENT: The Bible teaches us that renewed strength is found by pursuing godly wisdom and judgment as we do God’s will and stand against the continual attacks of the enemy. The wise believer will not give in to the tricky tactics of the enemy, but will stay true to the course God has laid out for him to follow.
I. STRENGTH FOR SPECIAL ASSIGNGMENTS
A. Dedication to God’s Plan Nehemiah 6:1
1. Looking at Nehemiah’s life and service is rewarding and faith inspiring because he is the classic picture of the underdog who overcomes!
2. Nehemiah was an exiled Jew whose job in life was serving as cupbearer to the Persian King, Artaxerses.
3. The odds of Nehemiah accomplishing God’s will seem stacked heavily against him.
4. The job seemed impossible and his enemies were extremely zealous in their attempts to pull him off course.
5. Nehemiah had received news that the walls of Jerusalem had not been rebuilt after his fellow Jews were taken into exile.
6. He knew that without strong walls, Jerusalem would be easy prey to attacks of their enemies and would be constantly defeated…so he asked God for favor and direction in beginning a rebuilding process.
7. God invites each of us into a lifestyle of special heavenly assignments.
8. Each assignment is special not so much because of the job, but because of the God who calls you to it!
9. Finding renewed strength for God’s great work requires diligent study of His Word with a will to follow His guidance.
ILLUS: I once came across seven rules for spiritual growth: 1. Daily Food. Take in the “pure milk of the word” through study and meditation. 2. Fresh Air. Pray often or you will faint. Prayer is the oxygen of the soul. 3. Regular Exercise. Put into practice what you learn in God’s Word. 4. Adequate Rest. Rely on God at all times in simple faith. 5. Clean Surroundings. Avoid evil company and whatever will weaken you spiritually. 6. Loving Care. Be part of a church where you will benefit from a pastor’s teaching and Christian fellowship. 7. Periodic Checkups. Regularly examine your spiritual health. K. Trivette, “Growing Church Members”
B. Dedication to God in Prayer Nehemiah 6:9, 14
1. Throughout Nehemiah’s life, we find a consistent life of prayer and the Word of God continually calls us to pray and seek God’s face.
a. We are only kidding ourselves if we think we can move on farther without first going lower to our knees in prayer!
b. Nehemiah prayed for himself, God’s work, God’s people, even his personal enemies!
2. Perhaps our greatest weapon against the enemy is the Word of God and prayer.
3. Satan cannot stop God from answering our prayer, but he can do everything in his might to keep us from praying faithfully!
4. It takes humility to admit your need in prayer before the Lord and the humble will find themselves being lifted up by the Lord! 1 Peter 5:7
a. Prayer is for the beginning, middle, and the end…our first resort instead of last resort!
b. Praying is not a sign of weakness, but wisdom!
c. James 1:5 says, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given him.”
ILLUS: There come times in our lives when we in our desperation and pain run to God and dial our 911 prayers. Sometimes we’re hysterical. Sometimes we don’t know the words to speak. But God hears. He knows our number and he knows our name and he knows our circumstance. That help is already on the way; God has already begun to bring the remedy to us. —Leith Anderson, Men of Integrity, Vol. 2, no. 2.
5. What heavenly assignment has God placed upon your heart? How serious are you about putting your faith in God into practice?
II. STRENGTH FOR SPIRITUAL ATTACKS
A. Distractions in Process Nehemiah 6:1-3
1. Anybody who is willing to put the will of God first in their lives is going to encounter TROUBLE from the enemy!
2. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshmu had been up front in their attacks of Nehemiah in the earlier stages of building the wall…yet now they appear to have a change of heart.
3. A letter is sent by these men to Nehemiah stating, “Come, let us meet together among the villages of in the plain of ONO.”
4. They wanted to get Nehemiah all alone, miles away from home, away from God’s people, away from God’s work, then they would injure him to the point of no return or even TAKE HIS LIFE!
5. How many times has the enemy tried to take you away from doing God’s work? Are you spiritually prepared to resist him?
ILLUS: There is a story involving Yogi Berra, the well-known catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank Aaron, who at that time was the chief power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves. The teams were playng in the World Series, and as usual Yogi was keeping up his ceaseless chatter, attempting to distract the Milwaukee batters . As Aaron came to the plate, Yogi tried to distract him by saying, "Henry, you're holding the bat wrong. You're supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark." Aaron didn't say anything, but when the next pitch came he hit it into the left-field bleachers. After rounding the bases and tagging up at home plate, Aaron looked at Yogi Berra and said, "I didn't come up here to read." Nehemiah, Learning to Lead, J.M. Boice, Revell, 1990, p. 38.
6. Nehemiah was full of spiritual discernment and he also knew the work God had given him to do was of UTMOST IMPORTANCE!
B. Disappointment in People Nehemiah 6:4-9
1. Not only did the enemy try to use trickery to get Nehemiah sidetracked, he also spread lies about Nehemiah’s motives in rebuilding the temple.
2. If Satan can’t get the leader to quit working – he wants to get people lying about Nehemiah’s intentions and second guessing his godly character.
3. Eventually people will begin to lose faith in God’s leader…God’s work will slow down…people lose heart and faith…eventually quit and give up the good work. VICTORY would be won for his side.
4. The scary thing is that Satan can use us if we are not careful.
5. Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself WILL NOT STAND” (Matthew 12:25).
6. Nehemiah shows us how to respond to disappointing people who have allowed Satan to use them for his purposes: WE STAND ON THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD!
7. He refuted the lie, rebuked the lie, and then released the lie to the Lord in prayer.
8. Nehemiah knows renewal is on the way for God’s people!
9. Great progress has been made on the wall and he’s being compelled by God’s purposes.
10. He will not allow disappointing people being used by the enemy to bring him down! GO NEHEMIAH, GO!
ILLUS: “What can keep us off the side street? FOCUS. It is possible to do everything else right, then get on a side street before our task is completed. I have seen this happen in marriages, in relationships, in churches, and in businesses. Have you ever been on a side street? When you are in the process of rebuilding a marriage, some Sanballat or Tobiah can come along and get you on a side street. There are those who will try anything to get you off the main road of rebuilding. Some who are rebuilding relationships get off on side streets. Some who are seeking to rebuild their vocational life are prone to take side streets. Rebuilders finish strong. How? They stay off side streets and remain focused on what they are to do.” O.S. Hawkins, Rebuilding: It’s Never Too Late For A New Beginning
III. STRENGTH FOR STEADFAST ALLEGIANCE
A. Daily Presentation Nehemiah 6:9b, Romans 12:1-2
1. As Nehemiah progressed in God’s will and call upon his life, his steadfast allegiance to God over anyone or anything is impressive.
2. Strength in the life of each of our lives comes from continual absolute surrender of our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
3. When we truly begin to understand what the Lord Jesus Christ has done, the only proper response is to yield our lives at His feet in devoted worship and service.
4. Life becomes less about SELF and more about the SAVOR AND HIS SERVICE!!!
ILLUS: “People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paying back a small part of the great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind and a bright hope of glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege.” Missionary, David Livingston
5. Is it too much to offer yourself completely to the One who gave His whole life for you?
6. It’s sad that so many believers think the Christian life revolves around WHAT THEY CAN GET over WHAT THEY CAN GIVE!
B. Daily Preoccupation Neh. 6:10-16, Romans 12:3-8
1. Steadfast allegiance comes into our lives when we are consumed with a passion to know and obey God’s Word.
2. Shemiah tried to lure Nehemiah into disobeying the clearly revealed Word of God (Numbers 3:10, 38).
3. The Word of God stated that only the priest was to enter the temples holy areas…outsiders were to be put to death.
4. Dt. 18:20-22 states, “'But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' 21"You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' 22"When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
5. Defeat and disgrace symbolized Shemaiah’s life as he yielded to the enemies lies - Greed became his priority over God!
6. Victory and virtue symbolized Nehemiah’s life.
7. God has gifted and called you into a life of victorious service in Him. Are you preoccupied in fulfilling His will? Serving others to the glory of God?
8. Romans 12:3-8, “3For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5so we,who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness."
ILLUS: “It is urgently needful that the Christian people of our charge should come to understand that they are not a company of invalids, to be wheeled about, or fed by hand, nursed, and comforted, the minister being the Head Physician and Nurse; but a garrison in an enemy’s country, every soldier of which should have some post or duty, at which he should be prepared to make any sacrifice rather than quitting.” F.B. Meyer
9. Those who faithfully use what God has given them in loving service to others are going to find their strength renewed in God’s time.
10. Every member is a minister. Are you teaching that class? Are you greeting those visitors? Are you showing mercy? Are you singing in the choir?
CONCLUSION: The Bible teaches that finding our strength renewed for God’s great work is a process of staying on the course God has laid out for us as a church and as individuals. The distractions, disappointments, and discouraging situations will come. Great reward, victory, changed lives will come to those who stick with God’s plan and remain faithful!
