Sep 27, 2020
Renewal – Life Lessons From Nehemiah
Commitment – Neh. 2:11-16
By Louie Marsh, 9-27-2020
SHOW PICTURES ON CUE
My commitment shows when…
1) I make the BIG ASK.
4 Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” 6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. Nehemiah 2:4-6 (ESV)
2) I actually GO & SHOW UP!
So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days. Nehemiah 2:11 (ESV)
"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? Luke 6:46 (NIV)
3) I’m wise enough to TAKE CARE of myself.
...After I had been there three days, Nehemiah 2:11b (MSG)
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, John 17:1 (ESV)
4) I patiently wait for the CRITICAL MOMENT.
Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode. Nehemiah 2:12 (ESV)
The city officials did not know I had been out there or what
I was doing, for I had not yet said anything to anyone about my
plans. I had not yet spoken to the Jewish leaders—the priests, the
nobles, the officials, or anyone else in the
administration.
Nehemiah 2:16 (NLT)
Mary treasured all these things in her heart and always thought about them. Luke 2:19 (GW)
5) I do two critical things:
I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. Nehemiah 2:13-15 (ESV)
Marriage vows – contracts, etc all try and do the same things.
The difference between conviction and commitment is that commitment isn’t an emotional response, it’s a fully informed committal to give all I have to the service of God!
6) How Can I Measure My Commitment Level?
THE THREE T’S TEST
What am I doing with my…
T IME
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17 (ESV)
making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:16 (ESV)
T REASURE
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 (ESV)
T ALENT
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called
his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave
five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to
his ability. Then he went away… But he who had received the one
talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money…He
also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master,
I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and
gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went
and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is
yours.’
But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You
knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered
no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the
bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own
with interest. Matthew 25: 14-15, 18, 24-27 (ESV)