“Finish The Shot”
Nehemiah 6:1-19
Intro: As most of you know, I coached football and wrestling for many years in the local school. One of the major challenges that I faced in coaching wrestling was the concept of what I call “finishing the shot”. The shot is the most basic and primary move in wrestling but it is also the most important. We teach the mechanics of this move every day of wrestling practice. The shot allows you to take your opponent down to the mat from the standing position and allows you to control him. This puts you in a position of not only being awarded two points but almost all of your other moves are predicated on the fact that you have control of the other wrestler.
. What happens in a real match is that the wrestler will take his shot or try to take the other guy down and get halfway through the move and stop. Either his mechanics were not right or the other guy has great defense. Either way, he is stuck halfway in between what he wanted to accomplish which was to take control of his opponent. He can’t finish his shot and many times the inexperienced wrestler will just give up and never finish their shot and accomplish what they set out to do.
. We see this concept in all areas of life as well. I’m not talking about wrestling but I am talking about finishing what we start.
. My wife is in Children’s Church this morning so I can talk about her. I’m sure if you asked her she could give you some examples of things that have gotten started around our house but have never quite gotten finished.
. We all have had experiences where something got started but was never finished haven’t we?
. As a church, we are having some of the same experiences.
. We have started well and we have our mission which is “ to encourage and develop those we meet into committed followers of Jesus.”
. Our struggle is the same as all other churches; we need to stay the course and finish.
. The finish line by the way is either our going home to be with the Lord or Jesus’ return.
. We must stay the course and finish what God has laid out for us to do.
. Our scripture this morning in Nehemiah teaches us some valuable lessons about finishing the work that God has for us.
. The walls are built but the gates and doors had not been put into place and as has been the case since the beginning, there was still opposition to what God had called the people and especially Nehemiah to do
. Nehemiah 6:1-19
. 1Sanballat, 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
.2So Sanballat and Geshem sent a message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the plain of Ono.But I realized they were plotting to harm me,
3so 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?
4Four times they sent the same message, and each time I gave the same reply
.5The fifth time, Sanballat’s servant came with an open letter in his hand,
6and this is what it said:“There is a rumor among the surrounding nations, and Geshem tells me it is true, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel and that is why you are building the wall. According to his reports, you plan to be their king.
7He also reports that you have appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim about you, ‘Look! There is a king in Judah!’
“You can be very sure that this report will get back to the king, so I suggest that you come and talk it over with me.”
8I replied, “There is no truth in any part of your story. You are making up the whole thing.”
9They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So I continued the work with even greater determination.
10Later I went to visit Shemaiah son of Delaiah and grandson of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home. He said, “Let us meet together inside the Temple of God and bolt the doors shut. Your enemies are coming to kill you tonight.”
11But I replied, “Should someone in my position run from danger? Should someone in my position enter the Temple to save his life? No, I won’t do it!”
12I realized that God had not spoken to him, but that he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
13They were hoping to intimidate me and make me sin. Then they would be able to accuse and discredit me.
14Remember, O my God, all the evil things that Tobiah and Sanballat have done. And remember Noadiah the fprophet and all the fprophets like her who have tried to intimidate me.
15So on October 2 the wall was finished—just fifty-two days after we had begun.
16When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.
17During those fifty-two days, many letters went back and forth between Tobiah and the nobles of Judah.
18For many in Judah had sworn allegiance to him because his father-in-law was Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan was married to the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah.
19They kept telling me about Tobiah’s good deeds, and then they told him everything I said. And Tobiah kept sending threatening letters to intimidate me.
. There are many lessons to be learned here but I want us to focus on two this morning.
. The first one is: Don’t Allow Others To Distract You From Your Task.
. Old Sanballat and Geshem were trying everything they could to get Nehemiah distracted and not finish what he had started.
. Four times they sent him a message saying that they wanted to meet with him. Nehemiah realized what they were trying to do though.
. He knew they were trying to lure him into a trap and kill him.
. When that didn’t work they threatened to tell the King lies about him so the King would punish him.
. When that didn’t work, a so called prophet was hired by Nehemiah’s enemies to try and discredit him as a man of God.
. None of that worked. Look at verse 3 and see what Nehemiah has to say about all of this.
. 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?
. Through all these distractions, Nehemiah’s response was the same.
. “I am engaged in a great work.”
. I don’t have time for you. I have things to do. I have God given tasks to accomplish and I won’t let you distract me.
. Folks we are engaged in a great work here at the Creek.
. We are engaged in growing ourselves closer to our God and in bringing others into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
. We must stay the course; finish what God has planned for us to do.
. We have a lot of things going on right now but we cannot get distracted from the great work that God has for us.
. Jesus commissioned us right before He went back to Heaven to be with the Father.
. He told us that He had a great work for us to be involved in.
. We know that as the great commission found in Matthew 28:19-20.
. 19…, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.20Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you…
. That is the great work that we as a church are involved in and just like Nehemiah we cannot be distracted from the work God has for us.
.The 1908 National League season saw a fierce struggle between the Chicago Cubs and New York Giants. The last game for the championship was tied, and in the bottom of the ninth, the Giants were at bat. There were two outs, and two men on base. The winning run was on third, and a rookie named Fred Merkle is on first. The batter hits a single, and the runner on third lumbers home. The Giants had apparently won the game and the pennant. Jubilant Giant fans poured onto the field while Fred Merkle was still on his way to second. Alarmed by the crowd suddenly bearing down on him and convinced the game was over, he ran straight for the clubhouse. He didn’t go all the way to second base.
The Chicago 2nd baseman noticed the Merkle hadn’t bothered to touch 2nd. If he could get the ball and touch second himself, the winning run would be cancelled by the force-out. First he had to find the ball. One of the New York coaches saw what was happening, and he ran for the ball and threw it into the stands. A fan in a brown bowler caught it and started home with his trophy. Two Cubs players chased the man through the mob and took the ball away from him, ran back to the field, and threw it to their second baseman, who, holding the ball, jumped up and down on the bag to make sure the umpire saw what he had done. As a result, New York lost the game—and the Pennant.
. One man got distracted and didn’t complete what he was supposed to do.
. He had performed a monumental task but he got distracted and failed in what he was supposed to do.
. Folks Nehemiah had a task to do.
. He had been commissioned by God to rebuild the walls. He wasn’t going to let anything distract him.
. We have been commissioned by our Lord Jesus; we can’t let things distract us from our task.
. The next thing we see here is that Nehemiah didn’t expect to do this on his own.
. Nehemiah was relying on God’s strength and spirit to strengthen him to complete the task.
. We must rely on the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in order to complete the task that God has for us.
. Look at how the NKJV translates verse 9:
For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done.”
Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands..
. The people who were against them were trying to intimidate them saying that they weren’t strong enough to do the work.
. Nehemiah prays that God will give him the strength to do what He has called him to do.
. God strengthen me.
. Throughout the Bible we see people who are strengthened by God to do things that they thought they could not do.
. God does this through the power of the Holy Spirit.
. Nehemiah had been depending on God’s power from the beginning.
. He prayed that God would show him what to do, he asked for strength when talking to the king about returning and rebuilding the walls.
. Throughout his journey so far, he has depended upon God to lead him and strengthen him.
. As Christians we can depend upon the Holy Spirit to strengthen us.
. To strengthen our hands and hearts and minds in order to fulfill the commission that God has given us.
. The prophet Zechariah really drives this point home.
. The first thing the exiles did when they came back into the land of Israel was to rebuild the Temple.
. They had started to rebuild the Temple but there was so much opposition from the non Jews that they stopped building the Temple.
. Zechariah is telling them to start again under the governorship of Zerubbabel and that God will allow nothing to stand in their way if they will depend upon the strength of the Holy Spirit.
.Zech 4:6&7
. 6Then he said to me, “This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
. 7Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way; it will become a level plain before him! And when Zerubbabel sets the final stone of the Temple in place, the people will shout: ‘May God bless it! May God bless it!’ ”
. When we are in God’s will and allow our strength to come through the Holy Spirit, Nothing can stand in our way.
. God will bless our efforts when we allow the Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen us.
. When that happens, we can be like the people of Jerusalem and stand back and shout.
. May God bless it, May God bless.
. Nehemiah refused to be distracted from what God had commissioned him to do.
. Neither should we.
. Nehemiah relied on God to strengthen him through the Holy Spirit.
. So should we.
Invitation.
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources:
The Holy Bible, NLT
Finishing the Work, Don Jaques; sermon central
How to Handle Hindrances, T. Michael Crews; sermon central
