Determined Part 1

Series: Determined

Text: Nemehiah Chapter 1

This summer our theme is "Determined" as we study the book of Nehemiah.

Quick History Lesson...

There are 12 big events that sum up the Old Testament:

• Abraham's Call
• The Birth of Isaac
• Joseph in Egypt
• The Exodus
• Moses Gives the Law
• Joshua Conquers the Land
• Three Kings of the United Kingdom (Saul, David, and Solomon)
• The Kingdom Splits (Israel in the North, Judah in the South)
• Assyrian Disperssion (Israel taken over)
• Babylonian Captivity (Judah taken over)
• The Return to the Land
• The Coming Messiah

The Assyrians took over Israel and then about 130 years later the Babylonians took over Judah. The Persians later conquered the Babylonians, and Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to return to their homeland.

This is where the books of Ezra and Nehemiah come into the picture. Ezra sets out to rebuild the Temple, and Nehemiah sets out to rebuild the walls that surround the city.

Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer. This meant that he got to test out the king's food and wine (the best in the land!) to make sure it wasn't poisoned. He lived in luxury, and most likely was good looking and well educated. He had everything going for him, but we'll see in Chapter 1 that he decides to leave it all behind to pursue God's mission above his own.

The chapter starts off with a question, "How are things going in Judah?" Ezra had led a return to the city, but things weren't going well. The walls and gates were torn down, and the city was left wide open for enemies to attack and purge, and on top of that, there was a famine in the land, so food was scarce.

This news broke Nehemiah's heart and led him into a time of prayer and fasting.

It is really easy for us to sing songs and voice prayers where we ask God to "break our hearts for what breaks Yours." But it is a completely different thing to truly experience it.

Israel's condition broke God's heart, and because God's heart broke, Nehemiah's heart broke too.

His prayer starts off adoration, "Great and awesome God..." and then turns to confession, "we have sinned against you." After that, we see a thankfulness and confidence in God for being faithful to His promises, "if you return to me and keep my commandments... I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen." And then the prayer ends with a supplication (or request for God's help), "... give success to your servant."

This is a great way for us to model our own prayers... if you're not sure how to prayer, remember ACTS.

As we read scripture it's important to ask is the text just describing something that happened, or is it also prescriping something for us to do. Some things are descriptive and others are prescriptive.

So we have to ask, is Nehemiah's life just a description of an awesome hero of the faith, or is there something about his life that we should be living out?

This text is very much prescriptive, and the first chapters gives us the building blocks of a maturing faith.

We all should want to grow in our faith, and Nehemiah shows us how!

First, God starts a work on his heart. God is always speaking to us through His Word... the problem is that we aren't always listening. When you remove yourself from certain distractions it allows you to hear Him more clearly. This is why so many students feel God tug on their hearts during camp or disciple now... it's not because God is finally speaking to them, it's that they have removed themselves from distractions and can finally listen.

If you are a Christian, God is working on your heart! You just have to decide what to do with it... will you ignore it or take action on it? A mature Christian takes action!

Second, the result of God working on Nehemiah's heart leads him to compassion.

Third, his compassion leads him to prayer. I love that his prayer is rooted in scripture from Deuteronomy. He's not praying for what he wishes God would do... he's praying for what God has promised to do. Because his prayer is rooted in scripture he has confidence that he is pursuing God's will and not his own.

Lastly, the confidence his prayer instills in him leads him to action. He prays that God would give him success because he knows that he is going to go and take part in rebuilding the city walls.

I think it's important for us to remind ourselves that when we pray, God very well might be asking us to take part in what we're praying for.

As you can see, these building blocks aren't supernatural things that we can't obtain... these are things that God prescribes of all Christians who are maturing in their faith.

Here's a quick recap of the Building Blocks:

• God Works on Your Heart
• You're Lead to Compassion
• You Pray for God's Will
• You Have Confidence
• You Take Action

When we observe all the things that need to be done in the world to make it more like heaven on earth, it can be pretty overwhelming. Is God calling you do take on all of the work? No! Is He calling you to do some of the work? Yes.

Take some time to remove things that distract you from listening to God. Maybe turn of the radio as you drive and spend time in prayer. DVR your favorite show and watch it later, and spend an hour in God's Word when you normally wouldn't. Open up a journal and write out a prayer. Take time to see where God is leading your heart. If God is burdening you with something then He's probably asking you to take part in helping bring His will into that situation.

As God works on your heart, the temptation will be to busy yourself and forget about it, or convince yourself that work is too great. These are both strategies of Satan to keep you from following God. Fight these temptations with prayer.

Have confidence in God more so than yourself, and remember that He has a track record of doing extraordinary things through ordinary people.

And take action where action needs to be taken!

In "Determined Part 2" we're going to look at how Nehemiah's faith helped him channel his maturity into action... so if you're not quite sure how to take part in what God's placed on your heart, then stay tuned!