you. Let's go over to the book of Nehemiah. Amen. I didn't realize the theme of the meeting. It may be on the flyer, the card you sent out. I didn't realize the theme of the meeting, but anyway. And so I'm thankful to be able to be here today. You pray that the Lord would help us. I'm nervous. You pray the Lord might help us. Amen. And so today we'll go to chapters number two. I'm gonna read several verses of Scripture Amen, so I hope that's all right with you. And so chapters number two, let's stand if you're able verse number nine and so And you'll have to forgive me, I'm not an English major when we get over in some of these names and so you'll just have to bear with me. And so verse number nine, the Bible says, Then I came to the governors beyond the river and gave them the king's letter. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. When Senballath, the Horat, and Tobiah the servant, the Amorite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. Verse 11, So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me, neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem, neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. And so you can go ahead and turn over to chapters number four, if you will. And so verses number 12, and so I believe could be some great advice in our life. I believe sometimes we become loose-lipped, amen, with the things of God. And so, amen. And so when God gives us those things, and we're not preaching on that this morning. And so, but chapters number four, verse number one, the Bible says, but it came to pass that when Samballat heard, that we build the wall. He was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews. And he said before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said, What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones? out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned. Now Tobiah the Amorite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. Notice verse number four, he said, Here, O our God, for we are despised, and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity. Chapters number six now, if you will. We'll begin reading in verses number one. The Bible says, Now it came to pass when Senballet, and Tobiah, and Jushun, the Arabian, and the rest of our enemy heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein, Although at the time I had not set up the doors upon the gates, that Senballant and Jishun sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Olno. But they thought to do me mischief, and I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work. so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease to which I leave it and go down to you? Yet they sent unto me four times after this sword, and I answered them after the same manner, and God's children said, Thank God. Then sent Senballad his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand wherein was written it is reported among the heathen and Gashem saith it that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king according to these words? And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah, and now shall be, excuse me, and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words, come now therefore and let us take counsel together. Then I sent unto him saying, there are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou faintest them out of thine own heart. Were they all For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah, the son of Deliah, the son of Mephibo, who was shut up, and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God wherein the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple, and they will come to slay thee. Yea, in the night will they come to slay thee. And I said, Should such a man as I flee, and who is there that being as I am would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. And lo, I perceived that God had not sent him, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me, for Tobiah and Senballet had hired him. Therefore, he was hired, that I should be afraid, and do so in sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me. My God, think upon Tobias and Ballad according to their works, And on the prophets, Notodiah and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear. Verse number 15. So the wall was finished in the twentieth and fifth day of the month of Elul in fifty and two days. Our Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to read your Word. Thank you for this opportunity that you've given us to be able to preach. Lord, I pray that you would help us today. Give us that what we stand in need of. God, please help us to preach. Lord, I pray you'd quiet our tongue, God, today if it would go to say something, God, that would not be pleasing to you. And we'll thank you, God, Lord, for the things that you may accomplish in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. Thank you so much for standing. I know we read several verses of scripture, but I felt like it was needed today as we are digging and as we get there. It'll take me just a little bit to taxi on the runway, so to speak, to get off. dear brother, amen, began preaching, and he mentioned something about walls, and he said that we must have some walls to have peace. I thought, man, that goes right along with where I'll be, and so I'm so thankful, amen, that he went with that, amen, this morning. I'm not preaching on the walls here that are found in the book of Nehemiah, but I'm preaching on what it took to get those walls in place this morning along the things. These walls did not get erected. They did not get rebuilt. They did not see what took place here around, amen, in Jerusalem and around, amen, what took place here in the book of Nehemiah by just a coward going in and a coward doing what he did, amen, in these verses of Scripture. You'll find here in the book of Nehemiah, you'll see several different things. You'll see, amen, what leads up to the book of Nehemiah, amen, to beginning. You'll see that this is actually, amen, the third, amen, return, and the third, amen, time that these people have been, amen, brought back. First off, amen, Zerubbabel brought them in, and second, amen, Ezra, amen, come and brought portions of them in. And now Nehemiah has come and Nehemiah is coming to, amen, do something and to make something happen. God has burdened his heart and something's going to happen. Nehemiah chapters number 1 through chapters number 7. In the latter part of chapters number 7, you will see that the focus of the book is primarily on rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Amen. Rebuilding the walls here. You'll see, amen, in the latter part of the book, from the latter part of chapter 7, moving down through chapters number 13, you'll find that it's not about rebuilding the walls, but then it comes to rebuilding the people. Amen. I say that to say this this evening. Under Nehemiah, amen, the walls were rebuilt and the people were rebuilt. With that being said, that ought to be the desire of every man of God in this room. That ought to be the desire, amen, of every man in this room for their family. That ought to be the desire, amen, of every young man in here, amen, is to build some walls. Amen. And to rebuild, amen, some people. And to, amen, have a desire moving forward. That ought to be, amen, some desires in your heart. Men of God, I say today to you, amen. And we're focusing on the, amen, the battle. And that's not, amen, the right term. But I'm going to say today to you, amen, if you're not willing Amen. To focus on getting some walls up in your life, I promise you, amen, you won't make it in this battle. Amen. This battle, amen, ain't for, amen, cowards. This battle, amen, is not for, amen, those, amen, with a simple, amen, backbone. But it takes something, amen, in this battle and in this life, amen, to live for God. I promise you, amen, that. What you see in the book of Nehemiah, amen, this afternoon, amen, and you'll see several different things, amen, here along the way. But what you'll see, amen, here, amen, is Nehemiah, amen, gets along the way. I want you to notice where he's placed. Now, I'm not one that normally looks at, amen, the timeline when a book was, amen, penned and God penned it, amen, for us. But I found that this was very interesting in my study. Maybe it's not to you and it might not matter to you, amen, at all. But I find it, amen, very interesting to me. So the book of Nehemiah was penned around 445 to 432 BC. Amen. The book of Malachi was penned around 430 BC. Now what I see, amen, in that, when I begin to study and begin to look that up, and you can look in your Bible and you can research that out. But believe me, I already have. Because I didn't want to give you something today that wasn't true. And so what we see is the book of Nehemiah was penned just right before the book of Malachi. And what I believe that we can understand, amen, is God was getting ready to turn the page. God was getting ready, amen, to flip the page over, amen. You know, amen, that it wasn't long, amen, after Malachi that, amen, things were silent for a little season, amen. It wasn't long after Malachi, amen, until, amen, the Lord Jesus was, amen, born in Bethlehem. I believe, amen, what was happening here in the book of Malachi is that there was a man by the name of Nehemiah. Amen, that God amened some determination in his heart. And that God some determination in his soul. And they got determined to see God do something before God turned the page. And before God, amen, turned over, amen, into a different scene and wanted to see God do something, amen, in the world, amen. and wanted to see, amen, those walls come back up, amen, before God flipped the page. And so what I believe you'll see, amen, in that timeline today is that, amen, a man got determined, amen, in his heart to see God do something. Even I believe with all of my heart that God's just about to flip the page, amen. I believe, amen, that the page is getting ready to flip, amen, from Revelation chapter number 3 to Revelation chapter number 4, amen. I believe God's getting ready to flip the page. And I believe there's a man in here. I believe there's several men in here. I believe that some of us, amen, that'll forget some determination in our soul, amen, that God can do something, and we can see great things done for God, that walls can come up, and people can be rebuilt, amen. We don't have to give up. We don't have to give in, and we don't have to hide. We can see God do something for the glory of God, amen. Oh, yes, amen. I believe God's getting ready to flip the page, amen. But that don't mean God's done, amen. Keep on, keep it on. Keep on singing. Keep on preaching. And keep on going on for the glory of God, amen. Keep on, amen. You don't have to give in to Sembale. You don't have to give in to Tobiah, amen. You don't have to give in to the Sumerians, amen. You don't have to give in to the world. Keep on keeping on for the glory of God. Amen. Keep on, praise God. You got to determine, amen. Amen. God didn't give it to him easy. God didn't give it to him simply. God, amen, made him work. And he went after it, amen. But he wasn't willing to give it up. He wasn't willing to give it up. Amen. You see, Nehemiah got determined. You see, Nehemiah got some grit in his crawl. Amen. He got some grit in his crawl. Some of you might not know what that means. Amen. So, amen. For those of you that are proper, amen. He got some determination. Amen. and I'm gonna tell you where I'm from, amen, he got greatness crawl, amen. Amen, he dug down in and he said, bless God, amen, you ain't coming where I am. Amen, bless God, I ain't going with you, amen. Bless God, that ain't happening, amen. Until we as children of God stand up and say, you ain't going in there, you ain't doing that, amen. Come on now. Amen. Amen. I'm talking, amen, today about determination, by the way. Amen. I'm not talking about building the walls. I'm talking about being determined. You ain't never going to build no walls until you're determined to build some walls. Amen. Amen today. This is what determination means, by the way. Amen. It's the act of determining. It's the act of deciding. Amen. It's a decision when, amen, the question is in mind. Amen. The third definition is a judicial decision. But the fourth definition is really comes in play. The fourth definition says this, when you look it up, amen, by Webster's old dictionary. It says, determination is absolute. direction to certain remissions. Absolute direction that'll end with a certain end. Amen? You see today, amen, I believe the reason why a lot of people are leaving the walls half done I believe a lot of, amen, of the reason that a lot of people are giving up. Brother Suttle, I believe a lot of the reason, amen, a lot of people, amen, are going astray. is because they left the absolute reason and the absolute end. Amen. They lost sight of the absolute reason. They lost sight of Him. They lost sight of God. Amen. They lost sight of what God did for them at an old-fashioned altar. They lost sight, amen, of how God fixed their home. They lost sight, amen, of what God, amen, did for them. They lost sight, amen, of what God could do, amen. They lost sight of that, amen, and so their determination, amen, vanished out of their heart, and it didn't take long, amen, and they were gone, amen. If you ever lose your determination, I'll tell you something. you'll be miserable. If you ever lose your determination, amen, you might go out of rutting routine, but you'll do so miserable. Amen. If you ever lose your determination, amen, it'll be hard to press on. Now, amen, pastor said when he, amen, opened up, He was making his comments when he was opening up, amen. There's been some times, amen, that he got, amen, weak in the battle. I believe every one of us in here could testify of such. Amen, if you can, I'll be the first too. Boy, there's been some times, amen, I felt like crawling somewhere, amen, under the greatest rock there was and never coming out. Amen. There's been some times I've cried on some of your shoulders. Amen. Oh, there's been some times, amen, that I didn't know where I was going to go. Oh, there's been some times, amen, I didn't know where I was going to turn to. Oh, there's been some times, amen, I didn't have any idea. But oh, I'm telling you. Oh, I'm telling you. And then on the inside of me, amen, there was burning a fire, amen. On the inside of me, amen. Let me just, let me just, amen, be honest. Amen, back, amen, in the spring. Brother Dietz had preached for us, amen, back in February. And we'd had a two-week meeting, and God had, amen, I'm telling you, amen, it was awesome, or at least I thought it was. Maybe Brother Dietz didn't, amen, but I thought it was awesome. But with that being said, amen, God changed the preacher's heart. In a few weeks, amen, and you correct me now if I'm wrong, but a few days, amen, into the meeting, he went down the avenue of salvation. And he started preaching on salvation and he went to salvation every night. However, just a few weeks after that, three-fourths of our church walked away. Three-fourths. Three-fourths. Over a piece of baseboard molding. Over a piece of baseboard molding is what they said. And with that being said, that happened on Saturday. You talking about wanting to crawl under a rock? You talking about not wanting to crawl into the pulpit Sunday morning? Oh, my. You talking about, hey, man, not wanting to do anything? Well, I didn't want to do anything. But, oh. Oh, yeah. But oh God, amen. I'm in God, amen. Boy, I laid awake all night long. But oh God, amen. He said, hey boy, you get up and get back in that pulpit. You go on down the road. Amen. You do right. Amen. I was reminded, amen, of a statement, amen, that rings out in my mind, do right even if the stars fall. Do right. Amen. And I got back up, amen, and I preached again. Amen. And I got back up and I preached again. Amen. And I called some of the preachers, amen, and different things, amen, throughout the coming days and the weeks and, amen, counseled and talked to them, amen, just to cry on their shoulders. With that being said, boy. Amen. God said, you get back in there and you go do it again and you go do it again. Amen. And I'm telling you, amen, that's what you have to do. You have to be determined. Amen. And it ain't my experience. Amen. There's other experiences, amen, that lay in here and it's going to help you. Amen. I'll show you some things. Amen. I've got to hurry. Amen. Listen to what, amen, today, amen, surrounds the story of Nehemiah. Listen, amen, very closely. Amen, here's some things that, amen, are all around Nehemiah. Here's four things, by way of introduction, I probably won't even get to the rest of it. Here's four things by the way of introduction that you'll find that the enemies tried to destroy his determination. Number one, they tried to destroy his determination by distraction. They tried to distract him. Amen. I read chapters number two, and as you read chapters number two, you'll see, amen, in verses number 10, amen, as we do that. The Bible says here that Zimbalad and Tobiah, amen, when they heard of it, that they were grieved. And the first thing that they did was they jumped on the bandwagon, amen, and they tried their best to distract the attention of Nehemiah. They tried their best to distract him because if they could distract him from the mission at hand, if they could distract him from the real purpose in chapters number two of what God had sent him to do, if they could distract him, amen, with the things of the world, if they could distract him and get him away from those walls, they knew one thing. that they could keep the people in bondage. They could keep the people, amen, under, amen, today their rule. They could keep the people, amen, under, amen, where they needed them. You see where they were grieved under is in chapters number two, verses number 10, is that a man actually cared for the welfare of the children of Israel. You see what the devil's really concerned with? He's not necessarily concerned, amen, that you get in a pulpit, amen, every Sunday. He's not necessarily concerned, amen, that you are getting on Facebook, amen, and posting comments. He's not really concerned, amen, that you get up here and sing. Amen. He's not concerned, amen, with everything that you do. Where he gets really troubled and concerned is that when you get up here to preach, you've been alone somewhere that nobody else even knows about. And you've met with God because you love a people that you're trying to rescue from hell. When you get up here to sing, amen, He don't care, amen, that you've not practiced. He don't care, amen, today that you don't even have a desire. He don't care that you get up here, amen, and you're just getting out of here, amen, up here out of rut and routine. Amen. He don't care, amen, if you just get up here singing without the touch of God. Amen. But when you get up here to sing, amen, with a touch of God on you, amen, that troubles Him. Amen. Amen. You young preachers, amen, you listen to me. Amen. He gets troubled. Amen. He gets troubled. Amen. When you really care about people. Amen. He gets, amen, troubled when you get determined you care about people. Amen. So when you, amen, are in that kind of position, he's going to do everything he can to distract you. Amen. He'll put your cell phone in front of you. Amen. He'll put some lady in front of you. Amen. He'll put somebody else, amen, in front of you. He'll put somebody in your church pew, amen, to distract you. Amen. He'll do his best, amen, to destroy, amen, your ministry, amen, by distracting you, amen. Oh, yes, amen. He was grieved. Not only was he grieved, he was angry. Amen. Chapters number four, verse number one, the Bible says that when Zimbabwe heard that he built the wall, he was wroth and he took great indignation and he mocked the Jews. So as he was trying to distract, he was very angry. Boy, he was upset. Not only did he care for him, Boy, he was actually doing something for God. It might not have been huge. It might not have been going, amen, wide open, amen. And it might not have been speedily taking place, amen. Amen. Your church might not be, amen, today, building a building and busting walls, amen, and going around wide open, amen. But I'm going to tell you right now, amen, today, if you care for people, Amen. If you're trying to reach the lost. Amen. If you're trying to follow the will of God. Amen. And do something for God. Amen. Today. Amen. You let me tell you something. Amen. You keep that determination on. You keep on. Amen. Being determined. You keep on building the walls. Amen. And you stay on task. Amen. Where God has called you. Amen. Amen. God might not have called you to pastor 10,000 people. God might have called you to pastor 5 or 10. Amen. Don't let the devil distract you and defeat your, amen, today determination. Not only did he try to distract him, but in chapters number six, amen, we see, and I'll not read the verses for the sake of time, we've already read them, but we see by way of introductions, Neil, that he was not only distracted, we see that the enemy Amen. Filled him full with deception. So we see the distraction of the enemy. Now we see the deception of the enemy. Amen. He tried to deceive him. Amen. Saint Ballad, Amen. Did his best to deceive Nehemiah. Amen. To get him to sit down. He wanted him to sit down with him. He said, come together. Amen. Sit down with us in a place. Amen. Amongst the plains. Amen. Let us take counsel together. Amen. You see what, amen, this individual over here in your church wants to do? The sowing of amen, that discord amongst the brethren that you don't even know. Well, they want you to sit down together with them and you don't even know it. Amen, they're trying to deceive you. Amen, you see what that individual's doing, amen, is they're trying to pull you in to deceive you, why? Because they want to stop the construction of the wall. They want to hinder what's going on from God. The devil will do anything in his power to hinder what God is doing. Amen, so you better stay determined, amen. We see, amen, next of all, not only the deception of the enemy, the distraction of the enemy, but then we see the dismay of the enemy. The dismay of the enemy. Amen, the enemy, amen here. A man did his best to dismay Nehemiah. to deprive him of his strength. In the latter part of chapters number 6, what happens is that he sent to him this one to come in and deceive him. He said, hey, come into the house of God, they're coming to kill you. Come in and take refuge. Nehemiah had to be on the top of his game. Because that determination to build those walls. Amen. Determination to be and do something for God. Amen. Amen. You want to do something for God, you want to stay in this battle, you're going to have to be determined. Amen tonight. My time's running out. Amen. So I want you to listen. Amen. Next of all, amen, not only is dismay, but it's dismantlement by the enemy. Amen. In chapters number 6, verses number 10 through verse number 14, I won't read them again, but the determination that amen Nehemiah had, he was determined. Amen. In six chapters of the book, 52 days he put up the walls. 52 days he put up the walls. Amen. With that being said, he was a determined man. He said, I'm going to do something from God. And with that being said, amen, his enemy stood up against him. With that being said, They did everything they could to dismantle Him. Amen? Whether you are aware of it or not, the enemy wants to dismantle you. He wants to dismantle your family. He wants to dismantle your church. He wants to dismantle your entire ministry. Amen? He wants to dismantle it. Amen? Can I tell you that are sitting in here and you're not a preacher? Maybe you're the preacher's family. He wants to use you to dismantle the preacher and his ministry. Amen. He wants to use you. The enemy wants to use you. The enemy wants to use you that are not a preacher to dismantle the ministry of the church. So therefore you've got to be determined. You've got to be on your toes. Amen. You've got to watch what you look at on your phone. You've got to watch where you are. You've got to be determined. You've got to get with the preacher. The preacher's not the only one that can be determined. Do you think Nehemiah laid every block? Do you think Nehemiah built every wall? Amen, if you think that, amen today, you're mistaken. No, he had some people that got determined with him, amen. Amen. And he had some people that got with him that did not allow the enemy to dismantle their determination. Amen. You cannot allow the enemy to dismantle you, amen. Amen. The enemy, amen, wanted to do everything possible to dismantle the work of God. Amen. But Nehemiah was determined. He would not be slowed. He would not be silenced. And he would not stop. Amen. Men of God, don't slow down. Don't shut up. And don't stop. We're too close to the page turning. We're getting ready to get out of here. The enemy, Aban, desired to dismantle his attention. The enemy desired to dismantle his affection. The enemy desired to dismantle his authority. Amen. And with that being said, the same attacks are in the Word of God today. Amen. You must do this. Amen. Nehemiah was determined to rebuild the walls because, amen, of his rebuilding of the walls. Amen. Today. Amen. Nehemiah, amen, was able to rebuild the people. Amen. Here's some things that we've got to remain determined about. And I'm finished. I'll just shoot them out there. Today I'm done. My time has been done. You've got to remain determined to reinforce the walls around salvation. Whether you know it or not, salvation is under attack. Amen. Boy, we have an amen. Come as you are. Amen. Leave as you are. Amen. No repentance. Amen. Do whatever and be saved however. Well, we're living in a day and age that repentance has been taken away from everything. Amen. We're living in a day and age, amen, that people are so confused about being saved. It's so sad. Well, men of God, you stay determined. Keep on preaching the old time way of salvation. Amen. We've got to stay determined to reinforce the walls around separation. Oh yes, amen. With that being said, amen. You got to stay determined and amen to be separated in every way. Stay determined to reinforce the walls around the sanctuary. Amen. And stay determined to reinforce the walls around the scripture. Thank God. Amen. Can I just remind you, amen, without Nehemiah's burden, Without Nehemiah's determination, the walls would have never went up and the people would have never been rebuilt themselves unless it was for Nehemiah's determination. Amen.