Protect your progress
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SETUP:
protect your progress.. LIKE A HAWK
Nehemiah setup..
— He heard about Jerusalem. His job was to bring the cup to the king… Nation has been in exile for over a century..
— A couple times it hasn’t been successful. 141 years it has been tried..
— There was opposition. Sandballet, Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem — Axis of EVIL
— Sanballat says those are the worst walls I’ve ever seen.. Tobiah was right beside him saying," if a fox goes up on it it will break down”..
— They stood to lose ground when they gained ground..
— they built with a shovel and sword.. They were ready to defend what they were building..
— 52 days to build the walls and gates up.
— then came 24 days of revival.. Of church services. The walls were built but the people were not..
— Idolatry They did not honor God with there finances, with there time, money, relationships.. Marrying people that pulled their hearts away from God.
— importance of walls in the ancient world,
— God wasn’t just building walls he was building a people
++Proverbs 25:28 A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
— They did 24 days of being in the word.. Then explained it to them.. What I am doing right now.. Then they went into a life group to discuss and break it down..
++Nehemiah 13:4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, 5 prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. 6 While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king 7 and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. 8 And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. 9 Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.
10 I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field. 11 So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. 12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. 13 And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers. 14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.
15 In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food. 16 Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself! 17 Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? 18 Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster[a] on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”
19 As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. 21 But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. 22 Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.
Prayer:
Story: Neck pain, taking a lot to get healed.. But I don't want to go back!
Transition: the moment we change we need to watch ourselves:
Galatians 6:1.. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
Timothy 4:16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.
Acts 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves..
— Yourself is tricksy… Yeah there’s a devil, yeah theres a world, but I need to watch myself..
++hawk.. like a “mom” Hawks have 360 degree vision… If you had eyes as good as a hawk you could see ants from a 10 story building..
— WE get changed, but we need to keep the change. How do we protect our progress?
— If you aren’t tracking, you’ll be backtracking.. Monitoring your progress.
— You will drift if you aren’t engaged. Active attention is the price for retention..
Watch yourself like a hawk/ Protect your progress by…
letting the right people in
— They were obviously letting the wrong people in. The enemy will come in gradually like Tobiah…
— We need to be open to “inspection” we need to welcome it
— The role of Nemehiah was a guard/ gate keeper in the sense he didn’t allow poison to get to the king. It was who he was, we need gate keepers in our lives:
— The first “Person” we let in is the Person of The Holy Spirit, come bring conviction
++Ephesians 3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
— The 2nd type of person we need is an actual person, who, like Nehemiah tells it like it is.
— Example of accountability partners etc.
— ++hawks “Kettle”— they do wheeling, kettling. Relationships help you migrate to where God wants you to go.
— if we pick the right people we will go to the right places (Life groups)
embracing the practical
— Nehemiah was very pragmatic and specific
— Leave no room for ambiguity in the change you are seeking
— the problem with ambiguous language is that it can be too easy to compromise.
— I want a better marriage, I need to be a better husband, I want to be a better parent.
— Be specific enough so you can track your progress: If you aren’t tracking you’re backtracking
— ++Chip and Dan Heath in the book “switch” — We’re all loophole exploiting lawyers when it comes to our own self-control. You’ll “honor” you’re one-glass rule- by filling your glass all the way to the brim. Or you’ll mentally trade an extra drink now for a zero-drink night in the (speculative) future.
— Nehemiah shaped the environment for success: If you don’t want to be selling and buying on Saturday.. Shut the gates.. Make it easy for yourself.
— What practical things can you do? You don’t like getting drunk? Don’t go to the bar, don’t have alcohol in the home. Limit social media/phone usage, some of us might need a flip phone, or take a break from social media- if we are so distracted our life is descending into chaos.
stoking your passion
— the place that was reserved for worship and dedication was allowed to slip away
— John 2:14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
— We are the temple of the Holy Ghost. Keep your heart as a place of worship.. Dedicate to being in the word, worship, prayer, fellowship
leaning into your purpose
— The Jews were (and still are) a special called out people, to keep the flame alive- to show the world what a separate holy people to God look like. To ultimately create and steward the environment in which the savior of the entire world would be born bringing salvation to the world. Sound familiar? That’s always been the role of the people of God, we are showing the world what a Holy set apart people look like, waiting for Christ to come to the world the 2nd time in glory..
— the problems started when the building stopped..
— They were so busy they didn’t have time to get attracted to the .. ites.
— Always serve, always see people get saved. Fill out the time that you would be doing the stuff you would be tempted to do..
when you understand your purpose, it puts failure into perspective
— I’m on my way to something.. I may fall 7 times, but I know I am gonna get back up because God has a plan for my life. God has a purpose in my life.
People who try to quit smoking:
2 out of 3 say they want to quit but don’t try.
9 out of 10 tries but fails quitting.
The ones that do, fail 6 times before succeeding
++1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Lastly, I want to close with this verse out of Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a prophet that spoke
++Ezekiel 36:6 Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I have spoken in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the reproach of the nations. 7 Therefore thus says the Lord God: I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer reproach.
8 “But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they will soon come home. 9 For behold, I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. 10 And I will multiply people on you, the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt. 11 And I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know that I am the Lord.