Nehemiah 4:14 LB

14 Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the leaders and the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Remember the Lord who is great and glorious; fight for your friends, your families, and your homes!”

1.  Keep Your Focus

Nehemiah 6:1-4 NLT

6 Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall and that no gaps remained—though we had not yet set up the doors in the gates. 2 So Sanballat and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages[a] in the plain of Ono.

But I realized they were plotting to harm me, 3 so I replied by sending this message to them: “I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?”

4 Four times they sent the same message, and each time I gave the same reply.

If your spiritual comes to you and says, “Hey let’s hang in a place called ONO”

DON’T GO!!!

First spiritual lesson of the day is whatever you do….never take a meeting in a place called Ono.

It's often the little distractions (that add up) over time and become the big distractions.

Nehemiah 6:3 NLT

3 so I replied by sending this message to them: “I am engaged in a great work, so I can’t come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you?”

What’s my “Ono” & what’s trying to pull me away from the work God has called me to?

2.  Don’t Get Caught Up In The Lies

Neh 6:5 ESV

5 In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand.

Neh 6:6-8 ESV

6 In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem[a] also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king. 7 And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.” 8 Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.”

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

Neh 6:8-9 ESV

8 Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.” 9 For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God,[a] strengthen my hands.

What is God saying to you and what are you going to do about it?

3.  Don’t Fall For Counterfeits

Neh 6:10 ESV

10 Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.”

Neh 6:11-13 ESV

11 But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live?[a] I will not go in.” 12 And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me.

Not every spiritual-sounding voice is from God.

Our culture is full of counterfeits.

•  All religions lead to heaven.

•  Live your truth

•  God just wants you happy.

Just as Counterfeit money looks real until you hold it up to the light. Counterfeit faith sounds real until you hold it up to God’s Word.

Ps 119:11 NIV

11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

•  What counterfeits have you been settling for instead of God’s best?

•  Where have you accepted something that sounded good but wasn’t really God?

•  Am I holding what I believe, what I hear, what I feel — up to the light of God’s Word?

4.  Celebrate The Finish

Neh 6:15 ESV

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

Neh 6:16 ESV

16 And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

The JOY comes when you FINISH.

Phil 1:6 NIV

6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

What is God Saying To You and What Are You Going To Do About It?