Nov 1, 2020
Renewal – Life Lessons From Nehemiah, #8
Continuing – Neh. 13
By Louie Marsh, 11-1-2020
“6While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king 7and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. 8And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. 9Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.” (Nehemiah 13:6–9, ESV)
NEHEMIAH DIDN’T QUIT!
Three Ways To Last In Ministry:
1) SELECT who I’m really serving.
“2looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2, ESV)
Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this
race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of
where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he
could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever.
And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside
God.
Hebrews 12:2 (MSG)
LIVE FOR AN AUDIENCE OF ONE - JESUS
Not Jesus AND…
2) SETTLE my past.
“12Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind….(Philippians 3:12–13a, ESV)
One Thing – Then he says two!!
"Forgetting" is stronger in the Greek, "completely forgetting." Paul uses an illustration here of a Greek runner completely forgetting his opponents whom he is leading in the race. Just as a runner's speed is slackened should he think of those behind him, and the thud, thud of their pounding feet, so the Christian's onward progress is hindered should he dwell on the past full of failures and sins, full of heartaches and discouragements, full of disappointments and thwarted hopes and plans. As long as a Christian has made things right with God and man, he should completely forget the past.. Wuest's Word Studies .
How Can I Forget?
“13And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:13–14, ESV)
“43To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”” (Acts 10:43, ESV)
3) SET my eyes on the right prize!
“13… and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13b–14, ESV)
“11being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;” (Colossians 1:11, ESV)
We pray that you'll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, Colossians 1:11 (MSG)