Changing Your World in 52 Days
Nehemiah 6:1-16
1. Your enemy will try to distract you.
“Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: "Come, let us meet together in
one of the villages on the plain of Ono..." Neh 6:2
“But they were scheming to harm me; 3 so I sent messengers to them with
this reply: "I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why
should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?" Neh. 6:2b-3
2. Your enemy will try to discredit you.
By spreading rumors.
“Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message,
and in his hand was an unsealed letter 6 in which was written: "It is reported
among the nations — and Geshem says it is true — that you and the Jews
are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover,
according to these reports you are about to become their king… Now this
report will get back to the king; so come, let us confer together." Neh 6:5-6,
7b
By tempting you to compromise.
“(Shemaiah) said, "Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and
let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you."… I
realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me
because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He had been hired to
intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they
would give me a bad name to discredit me. Neh. 6:10, 12-13
I’m not giving up.
“But I said, "Should a man like me run away? Or should one like me go into
the temple to save his life? I will not go!" Neh 6:11
“So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.
When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were
2
afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had
been done with the help of our God.” Neh 6:15-16
Those who are most successful are always those who are most focused.
Changing Your World in 52 Days
Nehemiah 6:1-16
July 8, 2018 • Pastor Allen Bonnell
What will you be remembered for?
September 2, 2018 • Pastor Allen Bonnell
What will you be remembered for? Nehemiah 13:23-31 1. You are remembered for the convictions you hold. 2. You are remembered for the decisions you make/risks you take. “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” Theodore Roosevelt 3. You are remembered for the people you influence. Be loving “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiples kisses.” Proverbs 27:6 Be an encourager Be generous "No man can become rich without himself enriching others. The man who dies rich dies disgraced" -- Andrew Carnegie
Rhythm of Work and Rest
August 26, 2018 • Pastor Brett Martin
Rhythm of Work and Rest Nehemiah 13:15-22 You’re responsible when people follow your example. The world says keep busy and stay nervous. God says work hard, then go to bed. Set rhythms and have others help you keep them. Resting provides fine tuning for hearing God’s voice in the midst of the static of life. Opportunities for rest: Time: Listen: Sleep: Life Together: The sabbath is not about resting perfectly but resting in the One who is perfect. Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Reform
August 19, 2018 • Pastor Allen Bonnell
REFORM Nehemiah 13:1-14 Knowledge is knowing what to do; wisdom is doing it. I need to _________________________________. Nehemiah 13:1 On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God, 2 because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.) 3 When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent. 1. Do what you know to do. Transformation doesn’t happen without reformation. 2. Stop doing what you know not to do. Nehemiah 13:4 Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, 5 and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and oil prescribed for the Levites, singers and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests. 6 But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission 7 and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. 8 I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah's household goods out of the room. 9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense. “It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it 'a den of robbers.'" Matthew 21:13 3. Surround yourself with the right people. Nehemiah 13:10I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and singers responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. 11So I rebuked the officials and asked them, "Why is the house of God neglected?" Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts. 12All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and oil into the storerooms. 13I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because these men were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their brothers. 14Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services. “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7