Sermon Tone Analysis

Finishing the Job

It done what the devil and all his cohort wanted to stop failed ....

To see how amazing this statement in verse 15 is, let's review:

B. The actual time line of these events

1. Receives report about condition of Jerusalem from brother - Kislev (winter) 444 BC

2. Receives permission to go from Artaxerxes - Nisan (April) - 443 BC

3. Arrives in Jerusalem - August 1, 443 BC

- would have required time to get supplies, make trip

4. Wall completed - Sept. 21, 443 BC

- so when you put this all together, it was less than nine months from when Nehemiah heard this news to when the wall was completed!

- it was less than 2 months from the time he arrived in Jerusalem to when the wall was completed.

- This verse is a great testimony to the power of God, and to what can be accomplished when God's people set their minds to work.

Illustration - when we get the power of God and all Christians working together nothing is impossible.

Whenever the Lord does a mighty work in the life of the church or in our personal lives, we often experience a “spiritual high” of sorts.

If we are healthy, we’ll take a minute to enjoy what He has done and recount the journey; both with it’s joys and difficulties.

This is one of the most productive times we can have as a believer-the times when we stop and remember the journey.

Remember the journey - $800 offering and no children's SS curriculum .... no bulletin, no VBS and no children's program

This helps prepare us for the next part of our walk with the Lord and hopefully, teach us using both good and bad experiences.

The bad is where we struggle.

We tend to camp out in a few places with the bad.

We talk about the negative in a light that places little to no blame on ourselves.

We talk about the negative with a “could’a, should’a, would’a” attitude, without intending to think about a fix for next time.

We bury the negative as if it never happened.

Then, sometimes, hopefully not too often, there are circumstances like we see in today’s passage.

We see in verse 15 that the wall was built in a miraculous time period.

We see the focus upon the enemies outside the wall (16).

And a focus upon the enemies inside the wall (17).

Today we are going to look at the end result of the miraculous, but not in the way that we normally see it.

Today shows us that the end result isn’t always peachy.

Sometimes when we, as a church, or you and I as an individual, follow the Lord’s leading and guidance there are more conflicts with which to deal.

Finishing the Job requires:

I Miraculous Completion

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The importance of finishing.

- It has been said, "There are a lot more people that start well, then that end well."

- I want to ask you this morning, Are you committed to doing both?

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- A great verse from the NT that illustrates this point is .

- What is especially disturbing about this is that letters are going back and forth from Tobiah to some of the leaders in Judah.

- Verse 18 says that there was even some sort of oath that had been taken, and that the "alliance" even involved inter-marriage.

-  For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;  in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

- We're saying that we ought to be greatly encouraged as we see God help someone finish.

- Are you committed not only to starting well, but finishing well.

- So even though the wall is up, God allowed this situation to persist (cf. )

- One important lesson we always need to remember from this book is that, yes, Nehemiah finished the wall in am amazingly short period of time...but on the other hand, God had other things for him to accomplish.

- (if time -- on white board, go through different stages of life and show how the Lord often has unique challenges at each stage ---- point is -- we're never done)

- We're saying that we ought to be greatly encouraged as we see God help someone finish.

- Are you committed not only to starting well, but finishing well.

Raising you children

- Often parents start off with a "bang."

- Putting a great amount of emphasis on this area.

- But then as pressure to do other things grows, or challenges with children become stiffer...some parents don't finish the task.

- It's harder (and often takes more time) to sit down and answer a young person's questions from the Scripture.

- It's harder to stay in there and keep loving a child who may be rebelling.

- And even if you "finish the job" from your perspective, there's no guarantee that the child is respond to your teaching and be God's kind of person.

- But are you committed to doing all you can from your perspective and finish the job?

- Or are you going to take your cues from the world that wants us to believe children at age 9 or 10 are smarted than most grown-ups anyway, and they are nature enough for total freedom on all areas and don't really need mom and dad anymore.

Improving your marriage.

- Chinese -- Americans begin their marriages very "hot," end up very cold.

- Does that have to be true?

- Are you committed to not just starting well, but ending well.

- We're seeing in these verses this morning that God can help someone finish a project like a wall around a city, surely he can help us continue to build our marriages.

- INPUT - What kinds of things would you want to be able to say in your heart at the death of your spouse (if God has you precede them in death)?

Projects in ministry

- Its easy to be all excited about a ministry when you first start it.

- But what happens after several months, or several years?

- Are you committed not just to starting well, but to finishing well?

- These verses show us that God can help us do both.

- Another truth that flows out of these verses is:

- The way Nehemiah "words" verse 16 is very important.

- INPUT - What was it he said the enemy recognized?

- INPUT - How else could he have said this?

(They recognized the great job I did).

- James Montgomery Boice said - "If ever there was a time when Nehemiah could have been tempted to sit back and take credit for his success, it would have been when the wall was completed.

But he did not.

What he did do shows his greatness.

Toward the end of chapter 6, we learn that Nehemiah gave glory to God."

- INPUT - What does this statement show us about Nehemiah's heart?