October 24, 2021
LEGACY
Part 6: Keep Building
(Nehemiah 6:1-5) When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates—Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.
Keep Building
- Keep building in spite of ______________.
(Nehemiah 6:2 NIV) But they were scheming to harm me.
- Keep building in spite of ______________.
(Nehemiah 6:5-9 NIV) Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter in which was written: “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.” I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.” They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.” But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
- Keep building in spite of ______________.
(Nehemiah 6:10-13 NIV) One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you.” But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.
Five Characteristics of a Legacy Man/Woman
- A compelling ______________.
(Nehemiah 6:4 NIV) So I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?”
2. A clear ______________.
(James 1:5 NIV) If any man lacks wisdom, ask God.
3. A continual ____________.
(Nehemiah 6:9 NIV) But I prayed, `Now strengthen my hands.’
(Luke 18:1 ERV) Jesus taught the followers that they should always pray and never lose hope.
4. A courageous ________________.
(Nehemiah 6:4) 4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.
(Galatians 6:9NIV) Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
5. A commitment ______________ ______.
(Nehemiah 8:1,8) They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel…[He] read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.
(Nehemiah 9:2-3) They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God.