NEHEMIAH THE PATRIOT

 

Nehemiah – The Patriot

 

-  He was a patriot.                                                                             Neh 1:1-4

-  A man of prayer.                                                                             1:5-11, 4:4, 5:9

-  Man of faith.                                                                                   2:20 & 4:14

-  Courage.                                                                                          4:20 & 6:10-11

-  Diligence.                                                                                        4:21-23 & 6”3

-  A leader.                                                                                          4:13-20

-  Firm in convictions.                                                                        13:11-17 & 23

-  Reformer.                                                                                        5:13-21

-  Cupbearer to the king.                                                                     1:11

-  Never showed emotion until heart was broken over Jerusalem.    2:4-10

-  Told king about Jerusalem, received favour and resources from king to rebuild the

    Walls.                                                                                             2:2-10

-  Inspected the walls & developed a plan to rebuild the walls.         2:1-10

-  Was mocked by just prayed.                                                           2:19-20

-  Even enemies could not stop building of wall.  Every plan failed.  God helped

    Nehemiah to build the walls in 52 days.                                        6:15

-  Nehemiah helped the poor.                                                             5:1-12

-  Was governor for 12 years.                                                             5:14

-  Five times Sanballat and Tobiah tried to stop the work.                 6:5

-  Help lead revival.                                                                            8:9

-  Signed covenant to the Lord.                                                          10:1

-  The dedication of  walls and temple was a great event.                 12:27-47

-  Did further reforms, cleansed temple, refused business on the Sabbath and dealt with

    Intermarriage.                                                                                 Ch 13

 

QUOTES FOR JUNE 23, 2026

 

LEADERSHIP

 

            This the third on my articles on leadership.  Now I am not a leadership guru

or even a managment expert but I have been a professional leader for over 26 years.

Sometimes I feel I do an adeqaute job and sometimes I fail miserably but I never

give up trying to motivate and encourage people to be and do better.  So I have a

few quotes for you to think about and apply.

 

-  It is better to train 10 people than to try to do the work of 10 people.  But

    it is harder.  (D.L. Moody)

-  A man who wants to lead an orchestra must turn his back on the people.

-  If you are not afraid to face the music you may some day lead the band.

-  Success is knowing the difference between cornering people and getting people

    in their corner.  (Bill Copeland)

-  The employer gets the employees he deserves.  (Sir Walter Bilbey)

-  It is one thing to have ability but the ability to discover ability in others is the true

    test.  (Elbert Hubbard)

-  We too often love things and use people, when we should be using things and

    loving people.

-  Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something that you want

    done because he wants to do it.  (Dwight D. Eisenhower)

-  A good leader inspires of men with confidence in him, a great leader inspires

    them with confidence in themselves.

-  The formula for success in simply putting the right people in the right jobs and

    then sitting on the sidelines and being a good cheer leader.  (A Marchall Jones)

-  There is no limit to what can be accomplished if it doesn't matter who gets the

    credit.  (Emerson)

 

            Here's a little prayer for all who are in leadership, oh by the way, Mom and

Dad you are a leader, mentor and role model so you can adapt this prayer for your-

self.  "Lord when I am wrong, make me willing to change.  Make me easy to live

with.  So strengthen me that the power of my example will far exceed the authority

of my rank."  (Pauline H. Peters)

 

 

FATHERHOOD

 

            As a father of four I know that most children will tell at least one lie in their

life.  Husbands will tell at least one in his life to save himself.  That lie will come

when his wife will ask him if she looks as good as when they got married or if she

is trying on a pair of pants and she asks him if she looks fat.  Self preservation is

a great motivator for lying.  Lies however are like stones they have no legs to stand

upon and need other lies to stand up.  Telling the truth is the best policy.  But here

is the question how do you teach children to not lie when it seems the most natural

things to do?  The next two articles will help deal with this issue.

            Most children tell a lie sometime or another but not always for the same

reasons.  Until a children reaches five it is very hard for them to distinquish between

fantasy and reality.  I remember one time our daughter just had her hair cut by a

friend and they had the gall to tell my wife that space crabs had done the deed. 

Picture this if you can.  My wife is sitting there in shock as these two so called

innocent five year olds are telling her that space alien crabs had come  and cut

our daughter's hair.  By the way my wife did not believe the story at all.  I wonder

why/  My daughter found out that day that reality has tougher consequences than

fantasy. 

            Children under the age of five do struggle with what is real and what is

imaginary or fantasy.  Children under five often say ehsy they wish or fantasize to

be true rather than what is really the case.  So pre-school children will often say

they didn't do something when they actually did.  This is because they have

convinced themselves that they didn't do it.

            Older children however are quite a different story.  They have a much

clearer understanding between truth and fantasy.  They also understand that lying

is wrong.  Thus older children have other motivations for not telling the truth.  The

following are the most common reasons older children do not tell the truth.

 

1.  To keep out of trouble.  This is probably the most common lie children tell.  Plain

     and simple the don't want to get punished.  No one likes punishment or discipline.

2.  To put down other children.  Mean lies about other children is usually an attempt

     to boost self eesteem by comparison.  It is also an attempt to sow division between

     friends to whom the child is jealous.  These kinds of lie usually indicates a need for

     friends and social acceptance.  Some children will go to any extreme to get

     acceptance.  This is a cry for help which we parents must answer.

3.  To exaggerate accomplishments.  Often children lie about grades in school,

     athlectic feats and friendships because they either want to impress their parents or

     friends.  This is also a common lie promoted by parents to impress perspective

     employers or business associates. If this lie occurs frequently it indicates low self

     esteem and a desire to gain approval.

4.  To keep parents off their backs.  Teenagers commonly have this motivation.  They

     lie because they believe they are entitled to more independence and freedom than

     have.  Children will lie because they believe it allows them a little respite from

     boundaries and guidelines.

5.  They see adults they respect doing it.  This last one hits home a little harder than

     many of us would like to believe.  When children know that their parents are lying.

     For example on tax forms or telling a child to lie about not being home or available

     for a phone call when they are.  This tells the child or teen ager that under certain

     conditions it is O.K. to lie or that dishonesty is acceptable. 

 

            Lying is a problem every one of else, everyday face.  We as parents set the

example.  We must deal with lying with diligence, integrity and honesty.  Our children

our watching our example.  If we lie they will.  If we deal with it ruthlessly by not

allowing it in our lives or our children, we will destroy it before it becomes a lifestyle.

Remember no one likes to be lied to so don't you do it.

NEVER TO LATE

 

            Today many people want to live their own lives without responsibility or

attachments.  Now this is not a new idea in fact when I was a teenager many of

my fellow young people were doing that.  We were called hippies.  Yes, it is hard

to imagine that straight shooting and even to a point straight thinking Robert

Dean Steel was a hippy.  I had the long hair, the beads, tie dye tee shirts and

bell bottoms.  I studied all kinds of philosophies and was into all kinds of weird

stuff as a young person.  It wasn't till I became a Christian that I feel I got some

common sense.   Now what I learned in those years that no matter how free and

independent you think or would like to be, you still effect others.  In the free and

so called liberated thinking of the hippy days I saw many hearts broken including

mine.  I saw lives ruined by drugs, alcohol, substance abuse and immorality.  I

saw several of my friends killed by alcohol and drug related activities.  I almost

became a victim myself on a few occasions.  It was when I had my own reality

check did I smarten up and decide to find a better and more fulfilling way.  That

is when I let God come into my life.  He has been my guiding light for a long time.

The common sense approach I take to family and life in general come from Him. 

So I thought I would share a little story to illustrate the point of letting Him

guide our lives instead of ourselves. 

            Years ago an old Scottish woman went to country homes to sell thread,

buttons and shoe strings.  When she came to unmarked crossroad, she would

toss a stick in the air and go which ever the way the stick pointed.  One day

she was seen tossing the stick into the air several times.  "Why do you toss the

stick several times," some asked.  She answered in a deep husky highland voice,

"It has pointed every time to the road on the right, and I want to go on the road

to the left.  It looks smoother."  She kept on throwing the stick into the air until

it pointed to the road she wanted to go.

            Proverbs 3:5-6 states, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not

unto your own understanding.  In all ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your

path."  To have a great life, family and future let God be your guiding light.  Let Him

direct your path.   He has been doing it for millions around the world.  It is never to

late to start.  Did you know that Colonel Saunders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame

came to Christ at the age of 74.     

 

QUOTES FOR JUNE 22, 2026

 

POWER OF INFLUENCE

 

             Today I am going to spend a little time talking about the power of influence

and to illustrate my point I am going to bring the family history of two families.

            There has been a careful search into the history of one criminal family known

as the Jukes.  It is a record of pauperism, insanity, violence, prostitution, substance

abuse, and drunkenness. 

             A total of 1200 descendents have been traced of this prolific family tree.  Some

400 of these physically self wrecked, 310 were professional beggars and con men,

130 were convicted criminals, 60 habitual thieves and pick pockets, 7 were convicted

of murder.  Out of the 1200 only 20 were ever able to learn a trade and of these half

owed it to prison discipline.

            The other is about a man named Jonathan Edwards.  He was the son of a godly

home.  His father was a preacher and before him his mother's father.  The history of this

man is as follows. 

            More than 400 of them have been traced and they include 14 college presidents,

and 100 professors, 100 of them have been ministers of the gospel, missionaries and

theological teachers.  More than 100 of them have been lawyers and judges.  Out of the

whole number 60 have been doctors.  Others have been numbered in the ranks of

authors, politicians, editors and captains of industry.

            In fact almost every major American industry has had as its promoters one or

more of the offspring of the Edward's stock since this man was married in the closing

half of the seventeenth century.

            Now my question is what kind of legacy do you want to leave.  The choice is

yours.  Joshua stated in Joshua 24:15, "As for me and my house we will serve the

Lord."  I think the choice is clear. 

I recently had a conversation with a man who was faced with a life threatening illness.  After years of focusing on himself and his world His life has changed.  He has realized that life is about touching others.  When I left his home I was encouraged even though my aim when visiting him was to encourage him. 

Legacy and influence is not just about just touching our current generation but those who will follow.  The best remedy for an ungodly society is to raise godly children.  Parents today have greater challenges than ever before.  The invention of the internet has made the world very small and our children have access to more harmful and damaging material than ever before.  To combat this, parents need to include the Lord in their family.  He is the glue that holds a family together,   His guidance will keep a family from being shipwrecked on the rocks when the storms of life come.  I have shown you what happens between a godly home and an ungodly home my question is which do you want?  I want a godly home.  How about you?