Aron Ralston, 27, was pinned for five days in a canyon in Canyonlands National Park in eastern Utah. He cut off his own arm to free himself after he became trapped under a fallen 1,000-pound boulder. After severing his arm, Ralston found a way to set up his climbing ropes and hooks, and rappel to the canyon's floor.
Bethany Hamilton, A 13-year-old surf champion who lost her arm in a shark attack has climbed back onto her board just 10 weeks after the terrible incident.
Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry
How do we stay the course, to not give up, how do we maintain thru times that are really tough, how do we learn to endure when all hell has broken out against us, how do we overcome?
That's what were going to look at today through an overwhelming task put in front of Nehemiah. Nehemiah had a dream, a dream of rebuilding the walls around his home, Jerusalem. The walls and the city were destroyed by the Babylonians years before – and now Nehemiah had a dream, a vision of rebuilding the city – His major task ahead of him was to 1st rebuild the walls that surround the city.
Guess what, it was no picnic, it was no walk in the park – he faced insurmountable odds but he stayed the course, he persevered and overcame.
Nehemiah had to travel 1000 miles to go back to his ancestral home to begin this process. And when he got there he found a people who were discouraged, depressed, and defeated. (Have you ever been surounded in a seeminly hopeless situation for so long that you felt discouraged, depressed, or defeated?)
He began the task anyway of rebuilding the walls.
You too may have just started the overwhelming task, an amazing dream, a vision that God has placed in your heart. Or more like Nehemiah rebuilding something in your life that the world and the enemy have completely destroyed. Maybe a marriage, a business, a relationship of some value, maybe a dream that began and crumbled a whole lot faster than you ever thought. Whatever the case may be God wants to tell us all, He is right by our side and simply do not give up! He wants you to Persevere, to keep on keeping on... b/c God is going to give you the power to overcome.
What is it in your life that the enemy has completely destroyed and you have to rebuild?
When you dream a BIG dream, when you take on an overwhelming task of rebuilding, be ready b/c you will face all kinds of harassment, a # of different obstacles – WHY? B/c the enemy as well as others do not want to see you living out the dream God has placed in you.
Nehemiah and his group started off pretty good, but like so many of us, his group began to hit a lull about midway thru. Nehemiah had to give some inspiring instructions on how to deal, how to persevere and overcome.
We see 3 problems Nehemiah and his group faced and were gonna talk about those 3 problems and 2 solutions for each problem.
How do we stay the course, how do we maintain? God's Word encourages us to persevere and overcome.
The 1st problem is when we face ridicule/criticism
If you dare to dream BIG – if you want to rebuild, you have to have some tough skin don't you? Why? B/c you will receive some ridicule.
"Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews" vs.1
Right from the beginning Sanballat begins chiming in, he mocked from one end of the spectrum to the other. Look at how many times he slams them in vs.2 - He questioned their ability “What are those feeble Jews doing?” He questioned their character “Will they restore their wall?” He ridiculed their religion, “Will they offer sacrifices?” He challenged their commitment to finish what they started, “Will they finish in a day?” He questioned the feasibility of the project, “Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?" all this ridicule in 1 vs.
Have you ever had that happen to you, Bam like out of nowhere someone just tears into a tirade of making fun of you or your interests?
If that wasn't enough in vs.3 Sanballat has a little sidekick who slams their confidence to be able to do the job, “Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, "What they are building—if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!" have you ever noticed critics run w/ critics. (you are who you hang out with)
Whether you like Leno or Letterman or Conan, regardless – When Jay Leno took over the job as the host of the Tonight Show he faced all kinds of criticism, who said he would never be able to do this job, you wont even come close to Johnny Carson. You would think that all this criticism would have rattled Leno a bit, but it appeared he didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it. In fact he kept a stack of criticisms on his desk at all times for inspiration. One critic said, Too many soft answers – another one read, He's being too nice. These unkind words didn't seem to bother Leno at all, you know why, b/c these words were written in 1962 and were about Johnny Carson.
He persevered in spite of the criticism.
SOLUTIONS:
WE WILL PRAY
The critics never seem to factor in God – they think you are an idiot, a moron for trying to build that dream or vision, they say YOU can never do it – Aahhh quite true, but I've got God on my side.
Nehemiah wasted zero time, when this opposition came against him he took it straight to the One who gives peace. vs.4-5
“Hear us, O our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.”
When we pray God helps us to process all those feelings (import. To pray, talk to God, He responds - series: “Can You here me now?”)
When we take it God, He helps us to be able to sort thru it. Prayer doesn't always change the situation, but prayer will change us doesn't it, and even in that God is answering.
We need to pray
The 2nd solution to criticism WE WILL PERSIST
Whenever your dream or vision or rebuilding project is mocked, we begin to 2nd guess ourselves. We think, “Well maybe I cant do this, maybe I dont have what it takes, maybe this isnt the right task for me.” We begin to 2nd guess the call of God, “Maybe God didn't really want me to do this, maybe I'm just wasting my time.” and we begin to 2nd guess ourselves – the temptation is to quit – but not with Nehemiah. Notice what he said, v.6
“So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.”
Notice the prayer, but also notice the perspiration. They prayed and the worked w/ all their heart.
Are you out of job? Pray about it but also put a few applications in along the way – ask God for direction and go get after it.
By the way it's not hard for God to hit a moving target – in fact it's probably easier for Him to steer a person on the move than one that's immobile. Many of you know how much I believe in 'doing our part' – God is faithful He wants to direct your life and He will – if you partner w/ Him. We need to be persistent.
2nd problem is when we face threats
No matter how hard he tried Nehemiah wasn't able to fix everything.
Sometimes in your life when you begin a dream or start a rebuild – how many of you have found out it gets worse before it gets better.
Have you ever noticed in the beginning of a dream or in a rebuilding project the problems seem to intensify. It happens that way. v.7-8
“But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem's walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.”
Sanballat and Tobiah strengthened the opposition by adding the Arabs and the Ammonites. Sanballat now gathers more forces and since the physchological warfare didn't work on Nehemiah and the group he's now threatening military action against them.
Listen while you're dreaming or rebuilding and the enemy will try one thing and when that doesn't work he intensifies. He comes after you with another threat. He just wants you to give up. That's what he was trying to do here w/ Nehemiah – to give up on building the walls.
But notice when the battle intensified, Nehemiah's prayers intensified.
Before Nehemiah was praying by himself, now look at v. 9
“But we prayed to our God”
SOLUTIONS:
WE WILL PRAY TOGETHER
At first Nehemiah took on the opposition himself, but once it became a corporate threat, it was time for corporate prayer.
Circle the word 'we' – now we're gonna pray.
In your marriage, if opposition arises, pray together – in your family, if opposition arises, pray together as a family unit – if opposition arises against the church, we come together to pray.
(We have already had a couple of designated 'nights of prayer' where we, this church, has come together and spent a few hours in prayer)
There's power in prayer, that power multiplies when the # of people multiply in prayer together.
WE WILL PROTECT
the rest of v. 9 says, “...and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.” If you start building, you will soon start battling.
The enemy wants to discourage you, to scare you off, to quit, give up – and before long you'll be battling.
Here's a tough ?, What are some of the walls you've allowed to be torn down? Maybe the walls around you're marriage, such as allowing questionable thoughts or actions to enter in – Maybe the walls around the integrity of your Christianity, such as putting yourself in compromising positions, allowing thoughts and practices that would wound the heart of God and make you appear just as one who would not consider themselves a Christ-follower, saying, if he can do that, how's that different than my life. The integrity of your witness, your stance for God is weakened – PUT BACK those walls of protection, b/c the dream, the rebuild will never happen as long as those walls of protection are not up.
3rd problem is WHEN WE FACE DESPAIR
THREE THINGS THAT HAPPEN WHEN DESPAIR HITS:
Stamina is failing - “Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is giving out” vs. 10a
circle giving out – they have worked and worked and worked, now their strength has given out – they had been constantly day and night working all this wall – now their facing the threat of a military attack and their energy is gone.
Have you noticed half way thru a project you hit a wall – face some major discouragement – it seems harder to build the 2nd half than the 1st. B/c discouragement hits
Vision is blurring - “...and there is so much rubble…” vs.10b
Some many times we take our eyes off the dream, the vision and begin to focus on all the rubble that is laying around us.
We begin to see the daunting task ahead of us, the real mess that needs to be straightened out, and it appears to be endless. We take our eyes of the cause, the purpose we began with b/c of the rubble around
Hope is dwindling - “...that we cannot rebuild the wall." vs. 10c
They began to lose sight and said we can never do it.
When you lose vision, you begin to lose hope, and then you begin to lose confidence.
Have you ever been in the middle of something and had a great desire to run away? I have – why? B/c were overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by how big of a project, how much needs to be done and the tension is too great.
SOLUTIONS:
WE MUST REMIND
When we face a situation that creates fear in our hearts, what we have to do is to remind ourselves of where God has brought us from.
That's exactly what Nehemiah and his group did – v.14
“After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome” vs. 14a
circle remember the lord.
When you're in the middle of it, take a step back and remember.
Remember the # of obstacles you overcame to get where you are. Take a step back a see just how far you've really come. WOW!
Then remember that God has so much more – don't stop, move forward. When you stop to remember, you find the energy to keep going. That's what happened to Nehemiah – they had overcome so much junk – WOW! GOD is Awesome!
WE WILL REVISE
Sometimes when we're in the middle of the dream, or rebuild and we are feeling the lonely emotion of despair, sometimes we need to revise a little bit. You know what's hard about that, we have to put our pride aside, what and how we think and thought it should be done like, and say, OK God, what is it we need to revise?
What is it in the process of this rebuilding do we need to revise?
Where do You want us to rethink this?
Very seldom will you run across a successful business person, or a star athlete, or an inventor who at some point didn't have to revise and rethink their plans or goal.
“When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work. From that day on..." vs. 15-16a
Nehemiah had to make some changes, but held true to the dream, to the task at hand. In your outline -
VISIONS ARE REFINED – they don't change
PLANS ARE REVISED - they rarely stay the same.
That's good to know. Be stubborn about the vision. Be flexible w/ you're plan. Strategies and timelines are always up for grabs, and besides, in the process of revising your plans, God may chose to refine your vision. To bring some more clarity.
I am excited about where we are today in the dream that God has placed in us, but He has so much more – with God anything is possible – He is faithful, we must do our part, we team w/ Him, but it is only thru God that dreams become reality, even beyond what we had ever imagined.
Max Lucado is a great author, He is the first author to win the Gold Medallion Christian Book of the Year three times—1999 for Just Like Jesus, 1997 for In the Grip of Grace and 1995 for When God Whispers Your Name – Word publishers considers a book to be successful when a 1st time author sells over 50,000 copies and established sells over 100,000 – every max book has sold over 300,000 copies and counting.
He started as a missionary in Brazil and his 1st book he wrote was called, On the Anvil. A wonderful book about how our thoughts are being shaped into the image of God. It was rejected 15 times before it ever got published. 15 times, aren't you glad that Max didn't call it quits, that he didn't give up after that 15th rejection. “Ahh forget about it, I guess it wasn't meant to be.” Thank God he persevered, b/c we have all benefitted from his incredible creations.
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