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There are basically three kinds of people in the world, those who make things happen, those who watch things happen & those who wonder what happened?  Over 100 years ago, Henry Spence-Jones made the observation that leaders “have no easy task. No sooner have they provided a remedy for one evil than another presents itself.”  So, we see in Nehemiah 5.  Nehemiah had the herculean task of rebuilding walls that lay in ruins while powerful enemies encircled employing enumerable dirty tricks to try disrupt God’s work.  Going back to the first return under Zerubbabel, we have grown accustomed to reading of the difficulties put in the way of the returned exiles by those opposed to the work of God, but now the threat comes from within.  In many ways this is a far more dangerous menace because it strikes at one of God’s people’s most important assets: our unity.  Morale low from exhaustion & spirits beat down from oppression by the relentless opposition had taken its toll on God’s people, yet nothing is as morale sapping as taking blows from one’s own. What we can stomach from our unsaved neighbor, is hard to accept coming from our brothers & sisters.  Which is why Satan insidiously & tenaciously tries to fracture our unity.  He does this by tempting us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought.  To look out primarily for our own interests instead of those of others.  In the midst of this sad story, there is a silver lining.  It is that the Bible records the truth, even the harsh truth of our sometimes hard hearts.  It soberly & truthfully reminds us that even as we can be working towards God’s goals we also can be working against one another.  In Nehemiah 5 we see deep problems among God’s people.  Problems of selfishness about to cause the work of God to cease.  What Satan could not accomplish by attacking from the outside in, he was about to achieve by attacking from the inside out. We are going to invest three sessions together in Nehemiah 5.  This week we will endeavor to uncover the depth of the problem, next week the depth of the solution & we will end on week three by discovering the depth of the leader.  Grab your Bible, a pen, & print out the free downloadable sermon outline & accompanying study guide at www.washedintheword.life & let's get Washed in the Word!

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In Matthew 25 Jesus tells a parable about kingdom responsibilities & kingdom rewards.  In this parable Jesus invites us to partner with him.  The Master entrusts kingdom assets into our hands as stewards & He rewards those who use them for the Master’s glory.Some are given much & to whom much is given much is required.  Some are given less, but they too, are to be found faithful.Sadly, some squander what was entrusted & when the Master returns that wicked servant receives righteous recompense for His dereliction of duty.Now the Bible is clear that we do not earn salvation.  Salvation is a gift.  It is secured by the work of Christ.  Our salvation can only be received.  Yet, Jesus is also clear that those who receive this gift, are rewarded based on our faithfulness arising from our faith.Thus, we are saved through faith in Jesus’ work, & we are rewarded for our works done in faithfulness to Jesus.One day our works will be assessed by the Master.  That will either be a time of great reward or great regret.  Jesus is clear in Revelation 22:12:“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.  What is true for us individually is also true for us collectively.  God has called us together as His local body of believers for such a time as this to build the kingdom of God in this generation in this location.In light of these realities it raises the question “What grade will we get on our kingdom building project?”  Today we shall explore six ways to get an "A."  Grab your Bible, a pen, & print out the free downloadable sermon outline & accompanying study guide at www.washedintheword.life & let's get Washed in the Word!

Free Sermon Outlines & Study Guides for Old Testament books are available at: https://washedintheword.life/ot-study-guides
 
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1 Corinthians 3:12-15 declares: "Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, & the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.  If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire."  Friends, The Refiner’s Fire will test us.  Those of us who have put our faith in Christ will make it to heaven, but if our life’s work was hay, wood & stubble it be consumed when we expire.  If we invest in the world, when this world is no more, our life’s work is no more as well.  But if we invest in God’s Kingdom, its appearing reveals the yields our kingdom investments have returned.What is true individually is true collectively.  As Christ’s church, either our church is working together to accomplish something eternally rewardable or we are simply collecting temporal rubble. To put it another way, we could say: “What grade will we get on our kingdom building project?” That is the subject of under study for our next two messages together.  Today, from Nehemiah four we see "five ways to receive a fail" & next week we shall see "six ways to get an A."  Grab your Bible, a pen, & print out the free downloadable sermon outline & accompanying study guide at www.washedintheword.life & let's get Washed in the Word!

Free Sermon Outlines & Study Guides for Old Testament books are available at: https://washedintheword.life/ot-study-guides
 
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Some people know how to get things done.  No matter the obstacle, they find a way.  Nehemiah was a man who could get things done.  Nehemiah achieved in 52 days what 50,000 Israelites could not do in 95 years.  It leads a reader to wonder?  How did he do that?   Over these past three sessions together we have been dissecting the how’s of Nehemiah’s amazing kingdom accomplishments.  Turn with me to Nehemiah 3 as we endeavor to discover the final three practical biblical principles for kingdom accomplishers.  Grab your Bible, a pen, & print out the free downloadable sermon outline & accompanying study guide at www.washedintheword.life & let's get Washed in the Word!

Free Sermon Outlines & Study Guides for Old Testament books are available at:  https://washedintheword.life/ot-study-guides
 
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How come some saints can motivate others to do what at first seemed utterly impossible?  Nehemiah is one of Scripture's great leaders.  Join in today as we uncover another three of the "Nine Practical Biblical Principles for Kingdom Accomplishers."   Grab your Bible, a pen, & print out the free downloadable sermon outline & accompanying study guide at www.washedintheword.life & let's get Washed in the Word!

Free Sermon Outlines & Study Guides for Old Testament books are available at: https://washedintheword.life/ot-study-guides
 
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Nehemiah is a man who can “Git-R-Done.”  God used Nehemiah to accomplish in 52 days something that 50,000 Israelites could not accomplish in the previous 95 years.  Nehemiah "Got-R-Done" & rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.  So what separates kingdom accomplishers from mere dreamers?  Over the next three messages we will be surveying "9 Practical Biblical Principles for Kingdom Accomplishers" from Nehemiah 2 & 3.  Grab your Bible, a pen, & print out the free downloadable sermon outline & accompanying study guide at www.washedintheword.life & let's get Washed in the Word!

Free Sermon Outlines & Study Guides for Old Testament books are available at: https://washedintheword.life/ot-study-guides
 
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Gooooooood morning!  New York Yankees manager Casey Stengel used to quip that the key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.  Dave Barry opined: When trouble arises & things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution & is willing to take command.  Very often, that person is crazy. Many today admit we have a woeful deficit of good leaders.  Godly leaders are in even shorter supply.  Today we begin our tour of the book of Nehemiah & we meet one of the Bible’s great leaders.  So instead of integrating the next managerial fad from today’s gurus, who will be tomorrows has beens, let’s go to the fount of all wisdom & see what leadership lessons we can learn Nehemiah’s notebook.   Grab your Bible, a pen, & print out the free downloadable sermon outline & accompanying study guide at www.washedintheword.life & let's get Washed in the Word!

Free Sermon Outlines & Study Guides for Old Testament books are available at: https://washedintheword.life/ot-study-guides
 
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In 1966 the pinnacle of spaghetti Westerns was released when Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef & Eli Wallach were hired guns, loyal to none searching for a stolen cache of gold ending in an epic three-way duel.  The movie was The Good, the Bad & the Ugly.  Today we end our time in the book of Ezra & that is a fitting title to our text.  A book that begins with a list of the faithful ends with a list of the unfaithful. A book which begins with hope ends with tears.   This is not how we write books.  In our stories the good guys wear white hats & ride off into the sunset.  But the Bible is not fiction.  The Bible tells the truth because the truth sets us free.  The hard truth is sometimes our poor choices leave us with only ugly options. Grab your Bible, a pen, & print out the free downloadable sermon outline & accompanying study guide at www.washedintheword.life & let's get Washed in the Word!

Free Sermon Outlines & Study Guides for Old Testament books are available at: https://washedintheword.life/nt-study-guides
 
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In keeping with our Ezra series’ 60’s cinematic theme let’s go back to 1967 when Paul Newman introduced the world to an indomitable individual whom his fellow prisoners dubbed Cool Hand Luke.  Luke’s tenacity in the face of adversity earned the other prisoner’s respect & the guard’s attention.  The film’s iconic line comes when the prison’s captain strikes Luke & says “what we got here is failure to communicate.”  Now, what does Newman’s piercing blue eyes & The Man With No Eyes have to do with the Old Testament book of Ezra? Well, In Ezra 7 God introduces us to the titular figure of this eponymous book.  God will use Ezra to rectify a failure to communicate.   Let's turn in Scriptures pages and glean six powerful biblical principles from Ezra 7 & 8.  Grab your Bible, a pen, & print out the free downloadable sermon outline & accompanying study guide at www.washedintheword.life & let's get Washed in the Word!

Free Sermon Outlines & Study Guides for Old Testament books are available at: https://washedintheword.life/ot-study-guides
 
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Imagine for a moment the scene before us as we move from the close of Ezra chapter 4 to the start of chapter 5.  For 16 years all temple construction had ceased.  By force & with haste Israel’s adversaries compelled the returning remnant to cease & desist.  After 16 years of neglect, tall weeds have overtaken the derelict temple site.  A palpable sense of despondency overcomes the faithful. So God’s people returned to their outlying towns & villages.  But they were not idle.  They richly rebuilt their personal homesteads.  They got so engrossed in that exercise that God moved the prophet Haggai to prophesy: “Is it a time for you…to dwell in your paneled houses, while my house lies in ruins?God’s people had forgotten their pledges as the restoration of the temple was seemingly so resoundingly thwarted by the adversaries in their midst & Artaxerxes’ decree from afar.Yet it is the midst of this painful hiatus, when the government had shut them down; when local opposition had beat them up; when God’s people were with making their own nests cozy while God’s house lie in ruins.In the midst of all that negativity God was about to do something wonderful. Something powerful.  Something only God can do.  God restarted His work.  He reinvigorated His workers.  He re-instituted His worship & He revealed His marvelous ways.  Join us today as we hear how God brought back "The Sound of Music" to his Holy Temple.  Grab your Bible, a pen, & print out the free downloadable sermon outline & accompanying study guide at www.washedintheword.life & let's get Washed in the Word!

Free Sermon Outlines & Study Guides for Old Testament books are available at: https://washedintheword.life/ot-study-guides
 
Free Sermon Outlines & Study Guides for New Testament books are available at: https://washedintheword.life/nt-study-guides