Finish Strong

June 16th 2024

Series: Father’s Day

Sermon Title: Finishing Strong

Topic: A journey through the story of Nehemiah and talking about our needs to expand our church.

Key Passages: Nehemiah 6

Sermon Blurb: No one is ever remembered on how he/she started his/her life/career. If someone does not finish strong, it can tarnish their entire life’s work. Today, we see how to finish strong even when everything in life is stacked against us.

Topics: Fathers, Calling,

***Green in sermons means illustration, something we are looking for a response from, and/or a picture that goes on the screens.

***Yellow means what is yellow will be on the screens and in the handout.

Sermon:

Campus Pastor

Hello Family Church!!!

Family Moment –

Start with something personal from your family life recently to help people get to know you.

Celebrate Salvations / Re-dedications

PAUSE

We are so glad you are here on this MOMENTOUS occasion…

It is FATHER’S DAY!

That ONE day every year when men get to do WHATEVER they want!

Eat ALL they want!!

Watch ENDLESS sports without being asked to help around the house!

And not feel the slightest guilt about it!

LOL!!!

PAUSE

But, seriously… to ALL the guys here today or watching online

All the

… men

… dad’s

… grandads / great-grandads

… future dad’s

… spiritual dad’s…

Happy Father’s Day.

PAUSE

Today, we are going to do something a little different, and I also hope something fun.

If you were here on Mother’s Day, we team taught that week and this week we are going to do that again!

So......let me welcome a few amazing men of God.

INTRO PEOPLE AT YOUR CAMPUS…

Person #2

Church, we are super-stoked about today.

I believe every person listening to this message will be encouraged and challenged…

Today we are going to encourage you to really think about your life and the things that are defining you.

Our hope is that we will all open our hearts and hear what God has to say today.

PAUSE

And I am really excited because today I heard that we are going to give away some pretty sweet gifts is that right?

And not only that we are going to give something to EVERY guy on the way out of church as well!

Talk about a GREAT day to come to church!

Person #3

That is correct….

But let’s start with what is more important…

Learning from God’s Word…Grab your Bible and open it back up to the

Book of Nehemiah

As you are getting there in your Bibles… let's bring everyone up to speed.

The guy we are going to talk about today is named Nehemiah.

He is just a regular guy with a regular job.

He was basically a professional wine drinker and butler for a king.

But the reason we are talking about Nehemiah thousands of years later is that this ORDINARY guy was DEEPLY bothered by something….

And he sought God and listened to God and did what God called him to do, and in JUST 52 days, he changed his world!!!

And that is what I want to encourage EVERYONE in here with today….

Write this down…

God changed Nehemiah’s world, his people’s world, his church’s in just 52 days.

Repeat

PAUSE

Campus Pastor

That is right…

And if God did it for Nehemiah….he can do it for you as well.

Today our message is title Finish Strong…

And as a father our goal is to NOT only finish our lives strong but to help our kids finish their lives strong as well.

So today we are going to look at Nehemiah and see how he did that and apply it to our lives….

PAUSE

Let me paraphrase what the story of Nehemiah up to this point..

Nehemiah was a Jew who was serving as the cup-bearer to King Artaxerxes in Persia.

Basically, he would taste the wine before the king would drink it, to make sure it wasn't poisoned.

One day, Nehemiah found out from his brother that the walls of Jerusalem, his homeland, were broken down, and the gates were burned with fire, and Nehemiah was devastated.

His heart was broken, and God moved him to say, “You know, somebody has got to do something about this, it might as well be me.”

So, he prayed to God and asked his boss, the King, for permission, and God moved on the King’s heart, so he sent him.

Nehemiah traveled a thousand miles to his homeland, Jerusalem.

He surveyed the damage, he assembled the people, and after 100 years of hopelessness…

Let me say that again AFTER 100 YEARS of Isreal being a NOTHING nation…

A Nation enslaved…

Nehemiah was given a vision from God…

He said to the people, “We can rebuild the walls.”

And sure enough, they started!!!

BUT….. Then he was challenged by people inside and outside his camp!

But instead of getting discouraged, he kept doing what God called him to do….and that is where we pick up today.

PAUSE

Person #1 You want to pick up reading at verse 1?

Nehemiah 6: 1 When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it

Pause here for a second….

We are going to see, Nehemiah had built the walls which EVERYONE said would be IMPOSSIBLE to do….but there was still one thing left to do.

The Bible says….

—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates—

He was almost finished, but not quite.

And we are going to learn this spiritual principle about this as well…

If you're taking notes today, write this down:

The closer you get to doing what God created you to do in life, the harder your enemy will fight to stop you.

Repeat

Church…there is a REAL enemy who wants to do nothing more than get you to NOT do what God created you to do!

So often in life….we are finally on the right track and then BOOM! Something comes out of nowhere!

How many of you would say, I've been there!

Add a SHORT example for your life…

PAUSE

Maybe for you it is different…

Maybe you decided you are going to start or join a Small Group…..So you decided we're going!!!! And then on the way there, your kid pukes in the car…. You're almost there and then you face some sort of opposition.

Or maybe you decided to really train for a sport….and then you got hurt…and you faced some opposition..

Or you're losing weight, and you know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit…. and you're going to honor God! Then you get to the store and there's a sale on Ramen!

It's buy one case, get 22 boxes free!

And you're like who can pass up that deal!!!!

PAUSE

You know what it is like church…..you're almost there...

And something stops us…..

Something blocks us…

Something happens….

Something distracts us….

PAUSE

Today we're going to look at two of the enemy's strategies to take you off the wall and stop you from doing what God wants you to do.

Person #2

The first one if you're taking notes is this:

There are two main ways the enemy tries to stop God from working through us.

1. The enemy will try to distract you.

Repeat

As you're moving forward doing what God wants to be done, we're going to see that your enemy will try to distract you and take you off God’s project

Let me show you that in this story….

Verse Two, here's what we see:

2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were scheming to harm me;

Let me explain what is happening….

Those two guys want to STOP what God is doing through Nehemiah…

So they say…Hey Nehemiah… Stop doing the work, get off the wall….come take a break….and come meet us…..

And just saying…..they should have picked a less obvious place to meet him….

I mean who is going to be tricked into meeting at a place called OHHHH NOOOOO

I'm just saying!!!!

But here we see this truth…. the enemy comes in and says, “Hey, um, they are making really good progress…. we've got to stop Nehemiah!!!

Let's take him off the wall and distract him from the focus of doing what God called him to do.”

PAUSE

This happens to us all the time….

Let me give you a personal example…..

There is ALWAYS something that could take me away from doing what God wants me to do…

There is always something to keep me from preparing for the future….

I have to CHOOSE to do the Godly thing….

PAUSE

It's often the little things that take us off focus.

PAUSE

It could be that you're making a difference and then some notices and says, “Hey, would you be on this board?”

And you're like…. I really don't have time, but I don't want to say no. And so, something good distracts you from something great.

It could be, it's footballseason or whatever your sport is, and you get season tickets.

You love God and all, but during football season…. I mean I bought these tickets…..I can’t waste that money….

And a good thing can take you from a Godly thing….

The same thing could be said about your camper….your boat…your lake house….

All GOOD things….that can keep you away from something GREATER God has for you……

IF you let it….

PAUSE

If we are not careful…. we can let something GOOD distract us from the very best God has for us!!!!

When we are on our walls….doing what God called us to do and our enemy tries to distract us…..let me show you what we need to do!

Campus Pastor

Let’s keep unpacking this….

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?”

4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.

Did you hear Nehemiah s response?

“I’m doing good work! I'm not coming down!”

I'm not coming down!

Everybody nudge your neighbor and say, “I’m doing a good work!, I'm not coming down!”

Okay, that wasn't very convincing!

You've got to have an attitude when you say it!

Come on growl that at your neighbor!!!!

I’M DOING A GOOD WORK! I'm not coming down!

On the count of three, give me some attitude and say it like you mean it! One, two, three:

Look at this passage again…he says….

“I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down.”

I'm not coming down because I'm doing something important!!!!

Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?

I'm not coming down, I'm doing something GREAT!

We have to have the courage to say no to distractions, even if they're good!

PAUSE

Take our church as an example….

We're not good at everything, but we're very good at a few things.

What are we good at?

We're good at creating welcoming churches that people WANT to go to…

We have an amazing kids ministry!

We are great a worshiping God!

We're good at demonstrating Godly generosity!

We're good at taking the Bible and bringing it to a level that people who didn't grow up in church can understand and apply to their lives.

We're not good at everything…..

PAUSE

I mean I cannot tell you how many people ask me to start new ministries…

Like let's start a school, Redwood has space!!

We could do that, but there is a LOT that goes into starting a school, and who will lead it??? Who will fund it??

Or let’s start a baseball league at Ebenezer…they have a gym…

Or a monthly bus trip….

Or mid-week kids programming….

Or summer VBS…

Or any number of things….

ALL GOOD things….

But almost 100% of the time those with the idea NEVER want to be the one to start it or lead it…..they want someone else to….

And see sometimes, GOOD things can keep us from doing what God calls us to do….

PAUSE

And here's a principle:

Just because you can do something does not mean you should do something.

Repeat

Some of you, you need to internalize that.

I don't know what it is for you…

Maybe you're raising three kidsand somebody needs to tell you that raising three kids is great work!!!

Embrace it!!

During this season, you're pouring your life into your kids, and there are all of these other opportunities, but I'm doing great work, and I can't come down.

Maybe you’re building this business and leading a small group. And someone wants you to play on their softball team…. or go on the hunting trip… or go on whatever…. but this season you have to say, “I'm doing a great work and I can't!”

Maybe you’re at college…. investing in your future and serving in teen ministry…. and I know you'd like to go to the beach on Sunday nights with friends when we have teen ministry…. But you need to say, “ I'm doing what God called me to do. I'm doing a great work, and I what? I can't come down!”

PAUSE

I'm not going to let the enemy distract me from doing what God wants me to do!

If anybody needs to say, That's good preaching! you can say it anytime you want to!!!!!

So anyway, sorry, I just need to help you out every now and then!!

PAUSE

Person #1

The first thing, your enemy will try, is to distract you. The second thing is:

Two main ways the enemy tries to stop God from working through us.

2. Your enemy will try to discredit you.

We will see this happen to Nehemiah…..Verse 5

5Then, 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:

Now, what is an unsealed letter?

This was a letter that was meant to be read publicly to discredit Nehemiah.

It was not sealed, it was like a Social Media post today….

It was a, “Hey, we want the world to see this, letter.”

And in the letter, it 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

7and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem:

‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”

Stop there….

Now people are spreading rumors!

Spreading lies!

Spreads gossip!

Does anyone want to raise their hand if that has ever happened to you?

Sometimes, like in this story, it is malicious…

Sometimes people just misinterpret your motives, misunderstand what you're doing; it's a part of leadership.

PAUSE

In fact, if you read Nehemiah 5 later today you will see the exact opposite of this letter was true.

Nehemiah was the most self-sacrificing leader around.

He could have had done things to bring him financial gain, but he didn't

He could have taken food that was available to him as the Governor, he didn't.

He actually took his own resources and he invested in people to help them get out of debt!!!!

He spoke on behalf of the poor!!!!

Life was clearly NOT about him….

He was falsely accused.

And here's the deal….The more you do for God, the more people are going to talk about you and spread rumors.

It's just part of it.

You don't face opposition for doing something wrong, you face it for doing something right.

PAUSE

Person #2

And I want you to see how he responds…. What Nehemiah did is very simple, here's what he did:

8I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”

9They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”

But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”

I LOVE that response!

Reminds me of Nacho Libre when he slaps the corn out of his friend’s hand…..

He says…. Stop making stuff up….

Explains what was true to his friends….

He prayed and got back to work.

PAUSE

The bottom line is, just get ready for it; people aren't going to understand you as a leader!

Just say, “That's not true. Tell everyone why it isn’t. Pray, and get back to work!”

Get on the wall and don't let what somebody else says take you away from doing what God called you to do!!!!

PAUSE

But it doesn’t stop there…..watch this…..the attacks DON’T stop!! We will pick up partway through verse 10

10 He 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—by night they are coming to kill you.”

What are they doing now?

They are trying to tempt him to compromise.

To compromise his integrity, to sin, to discredit himself.

In other words, SAVE YOURSELF….break God’s rules…but save your own skin!!!

PAUSE

Campus Pastor

So Nehemiah says…..

11But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!”

12I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

13He 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.

That's what your enemy wants to do…discredit you.

Nehemiah could have so easily given in to this, because when you’re a leader it's very easy to start to believe that you're entitled to more than you're entitled to.

Look at politicians and how they operate….they are supposed to work for us…but they sure act like they are above us!

Listen to me church……

As you rise in effectiveness, your spiritual enemy will try to convince you that you are more than what you really are.

We see it all of the time amongst leaders, inside and outside the church!.

We see it all of the time….. A great leader abuses power, becomes greedy, steps into sexual sin, becomes controlling, thinks they are all powerful…..

And your enemy, as you rise in your leadership will do ANYTHING to stop you.

The closer you get to doing what God wants done, the harder your enemy will fight, distract you…..

Hey, come on over here……

Here's something that you really deserve.

PAUSE

And whenever your enemy tries to stop you to throw you off, first, you're going to say back with attitude, “I'm not coming down!!!!”

And the second thing you're going to say is, I'm not giving up!!!!

I'm not! I'm not giving up!

Everybody say, “I'm not giving up!”

Okay, this time I want you to say it and I want you to mean it!

This is what Nehemiah said!

PAUSE

When your enemy tries to distract you, what do you do?

You say, “I'm doing a great work. I'm not coming down!”

And so, what is the end of this story? What is it? Verse 15:

15So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.

The impossible was not done in 52 years.

Not in 52 months!

In 52 days!!!!

There was no lightning from heaven that destroys the enemies.

There were no talking donkeys.

No magic in this whole story.

Just a miracle-working God, working through leadership and determination.

That's what you see.

In fifty-two days the wall is up. And look at what happens next. Verse 16:

16When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.

Look at the end of that…

Everyone realizes God is real!

Why?

Because the work had been...done….

Because they saw the impossible happen.

Because they saw a miracle because Nehemiah followed God and did NOT give up!

PAUSE

God is not calling you to take up space and make a name for yourself, He is calling you to change the world.

And when you surrender to Him…

By His power…

By His strength….

You can do what everyone else thinks cannot be done and God can use you to change your world.

Person #1

Here is your life application…..

Life Application:How could you help others finish strong? How could you help others keep focused on God’s plan for their life? Do not give up! Boldly follow what God is calling you to do! As a result of today's message, I will ______________________________.

Person #2

Let’s Pray…..

GIVE AWAY!!!