Bunbury
Wed pm
5/01/11
“Creating dominion out of difficulty”
Intro: *** During WW I the Light Horsemen were a regiment that were formed to fight in the Middle East, 50% of enlisted men had fought in Gallipoli, all of the officers & NCO’s. When they came to Egypt they were an unstoppable force fighting their way from the Suez through to Damascus. The harshness of the conditions & the difficulty of battle in Gallipoli, rather than wearing them down & wearing them out had worked to forge them into the dominant fighting force of the Middle East.
The hardships of their circ were working for them rather than against them.
And what we want to see is our problems in life are in fact a gift given to us to develop us help us rather than hurt / injure us.
** O.M. made the observation that “What Satan would use to destroy us, God uses to give us dominion over him.”
Nehemiah is a book about problems & how we can gain dominion & turn our trials into triumphs.
But more imptly the book of Nehemiah is a challenge to every one of us to rise up & have dominion when things begin to go wrong.
I want to preach a sermon I’ve called ‘Creating dominion out of difficulty’.
Text: Neh 1:1 - 4 (NKJV) 1The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, 2that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” 4So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Neh 2:9 - 20 (NKJV) 11So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode. 13And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the Refuse Gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire. 14Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass. 15So I went up in the night by the valley, and viewed the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. 16And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the others who did the work. 17Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” 18And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, “Let us rise up and build.” Then they set their hands to this good work.
# 1. The inevitability of life.
A. One of the inevitable realities of life is difficulty & problems!
a. You may as well face the fact right now that you are going to have to deal w/ problems for the rest of your life.
i. While some problems may be the result of your lack of spirituality / maturity you need to realise that they are a fact of life.
ii. In other words it doesn’t matter how spiritual / mature / how close to God you come you are still going to have problems.
iii. Problems & difficulty come regardless of intellect / education / wealth / position in life.
iv. What we need to see here is that this is something that came w/ the fall of man into sin.
Genesis 3:19 (NKJV) 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread .....
v. If you are hoping for a trouble free life in Christianity you are going to be sadly disappointed!
B. The question is not whether we will have problems but what will happen when they come.
a. The choice that we are faced w/ in the midst of our difficulties is whether we are going to be overwhelmed by or overcome them.
i. It’s not a failure when we are initially overwhelmed by the weight of the obstacles of life.
ii. Nehemiah was a man who showed real strength of character but even he found h/s momentarily overwhelmed by his challenges.
Vs 4. 4So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
iii. Have you ever felt like doing that? Just sitting down & weeping in the midst of your struggles?
iv. If you are going to create dominion out of your difficulty then you are going to have to take charge of your emotions.
Prov 25:28 (NKJV) 28 Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls.
b. Our problems reveal something of who / what we really are.
** O.M.S. “Every problem introduces you to yourself.”
i. Think about that! Every problem introduces you to yourself! You get to find out who you really are through having problems!
ii. B/4 Nehemiah faced the problems of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem he was simply a servant in the king’s court.
iii. By facing the many troubles of rebuilding the walls & the city Nehemiah stepped into his destiny in God.
** Wm. Penn once said “No man is fit to command another who cannot command himself.”
iv. Long b/4 Nehemiah conquered the task of rebuilding the broken down walls of Jerusalem he conquered himself.
# 2. The negative & positive of problems.
A. The negative aspect of our troubles/ difficulties / problems is that they can crush us.
a. The negative is something we don’t need any assistance or help to see.
i. For most of us our natural inclination is to see the negative side of things.
ii. A negative focus will cause you to lose sight of the great opportunities that exist in the midst of your problems.
*** In the year 1269 A.D. Kublai Khan was the ruler of all China, Mongolia & Asia ……. A region that today makes up about ⅓ of the world’s population. Kublai Khan sent a request from Peking to Rome for "a hundred wise men of the Christian religion to be sent to him ...And so I shall be baptized, and when I shall be baptized all my baron and great men will be baptized, and their subjects baptized, and so there will be more Christians here than there are in your parts. "The Mongols were then wavering in the choice of a religion. It might have been, as Kublai Khan said, the greatest mass religious movement the world has ever seen. The history of all Asia would have been changed.
But what actually happened? The church responded by sending only two missionaries. They got as far as Armenia, where they found the hardships to be so great that they could endure no longer and so they returned home. At this crucial moment the church was facing the greatest missionary opportunity in it’s history but it was allowed to pass by.
iii. If all you can ever see is the negative side of things you’ll never have the dominion & victory that God has destined you for.
iv. But more imptly you’ll miss out on the great opportunities God intended you to have.
B. The positive side of all your troubles is that they can spur you on to victory & dominion.
a. God has placed you in a position to establish dominion no matter how big your problems are!
*** In a corporate board room a group of executives were sitting at the conference table when the CEO walked in late to the meeting. Discussions were already underway & the executives were sitting around the table. A young executive sitting at the head of the table, feeling uncomfortable about sitting in the CEO’s position said “Sir would you like to sit here at the head of the table?” To this the CEO responded “Son, wherever I sit is the head of the table!”
i. You might not recognise it right now but you are already seated in the place of dominion & command!
ii. Here’s what God says about you b/4 you even encounter your troubles & difficulties ....
Romans 8:37 (NKJV) 37Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
b. In your circ God places the power of creation in your hands!
i. The positive side of all your troubles is that God has equipped you to win b/4 you even begin!
ii. The thing that He has given you is the power to create dominion or defeat, a win or a loss.
iii. What you get out of your disaster depends largely on what you choose to create out of your problems!!!
# 3. Creating dominion out of difficulty.
A. God gives us the power to create in the midst of our circ.
a. Whatever you are facing right now the power to create has been placed by God into your hands.
i. The only question that remains to be answered is what you will create?
ii. You have the power to create dominion & victory ....... and you have the power to create despair & defeat.
iii. Thinking about the shattered city of Jerusalem Nehemiah had the power create ongoing defeat & ruin or powerful victory.
iv. So the question is what are you going to create?
b. Many men of God allow their problems to grow way out of proportion through fear.
i. And if you aren’t careful it won’t be long b/4 your problem is even bigger than God.
Job 42:2 (NKJV) 2 “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
ii. If God allows trouble to come to you life it’s b/c he wants to use it to strengthen you.
iii. Joseph was able to see this truth when he said to his brothers ......
Genesis 50:20 (NKJV) 20But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good,
B. Force your difficulties to give birth to dominion.
a. God is not interested in making life easy for you He’s interested in forging H/G dominion in your life.
i. We need to learn how to dictate the terms to the devil!
*** The blind man challenging Arnold Palmer to a $10,000 bet that he could beat him in a round of golf. Arnold Palmer didn’t take him seriously knowing that even if the man could see he couldn’t beat let alone a blind man. But the man insisted so finally Palmer agreed & asked him what time they were going to tee off. The blind man said – midnight!
ii. Either you are going to do something w/ your problems or your problems are going to do something w/ you!”
iii. Your troubles in life can either work against you or you can force them to work for you.
*** There is a story about an old farmer whose mule fell into a well. After many unsuccessful attempts to haul the mule out of the well, the farmer decided it was hopeless. With sadness, he instructed his boys to fill up several truckloads of dirt and just bury the old mule right in the well. Dutifully, the boys backed up the truck filled with dirt, and shovel by shovel, they began to fill the well and bury the mule. The mule didn’t take kindly to this action. The first shovel of dirt hit him square on the head, got in his eyes and mouth, and made him sneeze.
Every shovel full after that hit him somewhere, causing the old mule to stomp around in the bottom of the well. Several truckloads of dirt later, the mule was still stomping and packing dirt firmly underneath his feet. Little by little, that mule was lifting itself out of the hole. Sure enough, about mid-afternoon the well was filled w/ dirt & that mule simply stepped out of the well and snorted at the whole business.
iv. Instead of being buried by your problems get on top of them & force them to begin working for you!
v. Make up your mind that the difficulty of your problems are going to be the vehicle that create dominion in your life!
