DAY #59: Psalm 139:1-4

As I thought about all of the different passages of scripture that have impacted me, Psalm 139 is one of them to be sure. The request to ask God to search me and know me and show me any way in me that is displeasing to Him is powerful. The truth that I am not a mistake. God made me. He knit me together inside of my mother's womb. I pray that this week as you work through Psalm 139, that God will do a fresh work in your heart.

BACKGROUND:
God’s omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence are the subjects of David’s meditations in this beautiful psalm. In this psalm David asked God to examine him thoroughly to affirm his innocence. The psalm has four strophes of six verses each. The message progresses significantly from one subject to another. His first meditation is on God’s knowledge, that every aspect of his life was searched out and controlled by what the Lord knew. He then realized it was impossible to escape from such omniscient control, no matter how far or fast he might go, for God is everywhere. David then stated that God has such control over him because in His power He created Him secretly and planned his life with great care. On the basis of these meditations, David then affirmed his loyalty to God and prayed for God to prove him by examining him.

The theme of this psalm is announced in the opening verse: the Lord knew David penetratingly. David said God’s knowledge came as if He had scoured every detail of David’s life and thus knew him intimately.

Samples of how well God knew David are stated here. The Lord knew every move he made; the two opposites of sitting and rising represent all his actions. God knew not only David’s actions; He also knew his motivations. Afar evidently refers not to space but to time.

The daily activities of the psalmist were also thoroughly familiar to the Lord. The opposites of going out in the morning and lying down at night represent the whole day’s activities.

But the one sample that epitomizes God’s omniscience is in verse 4. Before the psalmist could frame a word on his tongue, the Lord was thoroughly familiar with what he was about to say.

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

Where can I go to run away from God? NOWHERE. Where can I escape His presence? NOWHERE. He is always beside me. He always knows my heart and my thoughts, my emotions and fears. He knows my insecurities and faults and failures. He knows what drives me and what motivates me. He knows everything about me. He loves me. This passage tells me so much about God's character. I want to speak to some of God's character this week.

When God chose to reveal Himself to the Hebrew nation, He used Hebrew terms to describe Himself. Did you know that God has a lot of different names? In the Bible, God calls Himself by many different Hebrew names. Each one of those names is a description of His character. Each one of those names is a promise to you.

For instance, one time God used the Hebrew name Jehovah Shalom. That means, “I am the God who gives you peace. And if you want real peace of mind you come to Me for it.” In another place He uses the Hebrew term, I am Jehovah Jirah. That means, “I am the God who provides for all your needs. You can count on Me. You can come to Me.”

At the end of the book of Ezekiel, God gives us another one of His names. He says “I am Jehovah Shammah.” In Hebrew that means, “I am the God who is always there.” There is no place that God is not. There is no place you will go that God isn’t. God has been in your past. He’s in your present. He’s going to be in your future. He’s in the good times and the bad times. He’s in the good places. He’s in the evil places. He is everywhere.

Folks, that means God can be counted on, he is reliable, he keeps his word! Romans 15:13, says “May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in Him.” In other words as you put your faith in God, He gives you peace, joy and hope. Because God is always there, let’s look at the implications for us…The first thing I know about God is….

#1. HIS PRESENCE IS WATCHING OVER ME. The older I get the more I realize how much of my life is out of my control. The truth is, not only can I not control much of what’s in the future, I don’t even know much of what’s in the future. Isaiah 41:10 says, “’Don’t worry because I am with you,’ says God. ‘Don’t be afraid, because I am your God. I will make you strong and I will help you. I will support you.’”

The good news is regardless of what happens, you and I don’t have to go through it alone. There is a God who will be with us. He will be there with you. That is one of the certainties of life that I can hold on to. When I hold onto that certainty, I have hope.

There are a lot of uncertainties in life. One of the sad uncertainties of life is that people will leave you. Friends and family might move away. There will be people that you love that will die. There will be people that you love that will become ill and won’t be themselves any more. There may even be those that you argue with and there’s a separation that’s painful. A sad truth of life is people leave us.

But the certainty of life is God will never leave you. That helps us to have hope because the fear of being abandoned is one of the greatest causes of hopelessness in all of our lives. This feeling that I’m going to be deserted, I’m going to be forsaken, I’m going to be left alone, I’m going to be overwhelmed and there’s going to be no one to help. The truth is, God will never leave you.

As a pastor, I’ve stood at a lot of gravesites with people. After that funeral, many, many times I’ve seen in their eyes and I’ve heard the words, “I don’t know how I’m going to make it. How am I going to make it to the next step?” I’ve heard oftentimes this sense of doubt and this, What if? In the voice of a spouse who has just been deserted or someone who has just lost their job or a parent who has just lost a child. This feeling of, “How am I going to go on?” Some of you are feeling that way today. You know what the answer is to all of the questions? The answer is this: God will be with you.

Not only is He with us but the Bible says He watches over us. Not just watches us but watches over us and cares for us. Psalm 32:8 says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and will watch over you.” Folks, you and I don’t know the future. We can’t control the future. But God can - God knows the future - God can control the future, and more that that, this verse promises that God is willing to guide and advise us, He’s willing to show us the way. There’s great hope in that.

Lamentations 3 says “I have hope when I think of this: the Lord’s love never ends. His mercies never stop. They are new every morning.” That one verse has enough hope to get me at least through to the next week. It’s all about hope. Nothing can ever make God stop loving me once I put my hand in His hand. Once I put my hand in His hand He will never let go.

Today, if you’re facing an impossible situation, the next verse is for you. In Jeremiah 29:11, God says, “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.” You may think that what God is doing in your life right now is painful and is to no avail but God says, “My plan is good. You just don’t see it. You need to trust Me. You need to have hope because it’s a plan to give you a hope and a future.”

If you have walked away from God. And you think, “I was close to God at one time but I can’t get back to Him,” then the next verse is for you. Philippians 1:6 says, “God began doing a good work in you and I am sure He will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.” God starts something in your life and what He starts He finishes. You may say you’re too far beyond hope. You’re not. You may quit on God, but He will never quit on you. There’s a second source of hope and it’s this...

#2. GOD’S PLACE IS WAITING FOR ME. When things get unbearable in your life you have got to remember that our ultimate hope is heaven. Notice what Jesus said. John 14 says, “Don’t be troubled. You trust in God, now trust in Me. I am going to prepare a place for you.” Jesus Christ says that heaven is a place, not a state of mind. It’s not some kind of nirvana, nothingness, where you just float around, bodiless, spiritless, whatever. It is a real place and God says “I am going to prepare a place for you.”

Listen to 1 Peter 1 - “God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you… And God, in His mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting Him… So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here.” The question is, are you on of his children?

I pray that this week, you will understand how much God loves you. Lord, draw people to COV this morning. As you teach us about the life of Christ, change our hearts. Renew our minds. Revive our courage. Remake our will.

I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.

DAY #58: Nehemiah 13:1-30

Well, this is it. Our last look at the book of Nehemiah, and the man who literally saved a nation because of his courage, his compassion and his steadfastness. Theologians will tell you that Nehemiah was a “CHRIST TYPE”. Meaning that he was a forerunner of the Messiah, He foreshadowed what Christ would do for us. So all the qualities you see in Nehemiah, you see that and more in Christ. As I prayed through how we would end the book, because truthfully it’s bit anti climatic after the wall is rebuilt, God showed me this verse in Nehemiah in chapter 13.

{Nehemiah prayed,} "Remember me for what I have done, my God, and don't wipe out the good things that I have done for your people and the temple and for the worship that is held there." “Nehemiah 13:14 (GW)

What is Nehemiah saying? He is really looking over the past twenty plus years of his life – maybe a bit discouraged, maybe a little bit wishing he had more time. But he recounts all God had done through him. This cupbearer to the king, changed the world. This man who had a pretty cush life, until the day he heard the news of the condition of his people, and life would never be the same again.

My prayer has been and will continue to be - “God, raise up Nehemiah’s for this generation?” Folks, if you’re going to be a Nehemiah for this generation, you need to remember what kinf of man Nehemiah was. If you want to be a leader, these are things you want to build into your life in order to be effective.

#1. COMPASSION

Nehemiah really cared about people. You don't get four verses into the book of Nehemiah and you're confronted with his compassion. Nehemiah 1:4 "When I heard these things [that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and the gates had been burned by fire] I sat down and I wept and for some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the Lord."

Nehemiah cared. He was a man of compassion and he saw that the people were having a tough time because their walls were torn down. Their city was in destruction.
Love is the foundation of Christian leadership. Examples:

Nehemiah 5. Nehemiah's reaction to injustice. The poor had given four complains: food shortages, our homes are over mortgaged, interest rates are high and taxes are high, we have to sell our children into slavery just to pay our bills. Nehemiah heard about how these fat cats were ripping off the poor while they were rebuilding the wall. His reaction 5:6 "When I heard their outcry to these charges I was very angry."

The law of leadership is that People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. As a leader the bottom line is love. Do you love people? Do you care about people? Leadership without love will just become manipulation.


#2. CONTEMPLATION

Great leaders instinctively know that they need to balance the time that they spend with people, leading them, with time alone with God. They need a time of contemplation. The effectiveness of your public leadership is determined by your private life. The two go together. Nehemiah was a man of prayer.

Nine times in this very short book, Nehemiah prays. He is a man of prayer. He is a man of contemplation. Every decision he had to make, every crisis he had to face, every criticism he received he prayed about it. In chapter one is one of the great prayers of the Bible. I encourage you to study it. 1:5 "Then I said, `O God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those that love him and obey his commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel.'" He prayed day and night.

#3. CHEERFULNESS

He's a positive guy, upbeat, optimistic. He has a positive attitude. Do you like to follow a grouch? No. Would you rather follow somebody with a positive attitude? Nehemiah was evidently a very cheerful, positive person.

Nehemiah 2:1 says, "In the month of Nisan, the twentieth year of Artaxeres, when the wine was brought forth, I took the wine and gave it to the king I had not been sad in his presence before." Nehemiah has been serving this guy all of his life and this is the first time he went in with a frown, a down attitude. He had always been cheerful, upbeat. He didn't go in and lay his problems on the king.


Leaders are to be encouragers, not discourages. The job of leadership is to give people a lift not to let them down. This is why cheerfulness is an important characteristic. If you want to be a leader, then you're going to have to work on this. Some of you by nature are not naturally cheerful. Some people get up in the morning and say, "Good morning, Lord!" Others getup and say, "Good Lord! It's morning!" Some of you are just not naturally cheerful. But you can work on it. You can develop it. I would encourage you, if you want to be a leader, practice smiling.

How do you be a cheerful leader when you work with the kind of people you work with? How do you be a cheerful leader when you're tired and worn out?

Nehemiah 8 is the secret of Nehemiah's strength. He says it in a simple phrase. "This day is sacred to the Lord. Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength." That's how Nehemiah was cheerful in spite of all the opposition he had. Joy is different from happiness. Happiness depends on happenings. Joy is internal. It is not based on circumstances. You can have joy in the midst of tragedy. You can have joy when you're absolutely fatigued. "The joy of the Lord is my strength."

Nehemiah is compassionate, he's contemplative, he's cheerful.
#4. CONCENTRATION

Nehemiah always focused on his goal. He has the ability to maintain his focus in the middle of a project. He doesn't worry about other things and distractions. There are examples in chapters 2 and 3. In chapter 2, Nehemiah anticipates the problems he's going to have. He knows he'll need timber so he asks for timber. He know he'll need protection on his trip to Jerusalem, so he asks in advance for a royal passport. He'll need a place to live so he asked for it in advance. He had obviously thought it out in advance. He was concentrating on what he needed to have.

One of the key differences between leading and following is that leaders are always thinking of the future, further out ahead of everybody else. They're trying to see the problems in advance, anticipate them, and have a solution there by the time you get there. That's a mark of leadership.

#5. CREATIVITY

The fifth characteristic of great leaders, as we look at Nehemiah's life is Creativity. Nehemiah was a very creative person. The way he approached his problems is fascinating to me. Creativity, people think, is something you're born with -- a predisposition. But Creativity is something that can be developed; it's a skill. It's simply a way of thinking. You are going to face new challenges and new challenges require new solutions; a lot of times the same old ways just don't work.

One example of Nehemiah being a creative problem solver. Chapter 4. The situation: Those who opposed the rebuilding of the wall from outside said, "We're going to come and attack you while you're trying to build the wall." v. 13 "Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall's exposed places posting them by families with their swords and their spears and bows." He divided them by families and put them by their own house to build their portion of the wall closest to their own house. v. 14-18 "The Lord is great and awesome. Fight for your brother and wives and sons and daughters... From that day on half of the men did the work while the other half were equipped with spears and shields and bows and armors." He has a creative work shift.

He's taking a creative response to the situation. They are all out working on the wall and the enemy says, We're going to come while you're working on the wall and not prepared for battle and kill you all. Nehemiah says: Step one, everybody works by their own house and with your own family. That motivates you to do your best job because if you're building the wall by your own house it will be stronger than if you're building the wall by somebody else's house. You're going to really reinforce the wall by your own house. That's the principle of ownership and delegation.

Also, working as a family unit they will support each other. It's also more efficient -- if you're right by your house you don't have to walk all the way across the city to eat lunch.

He was being creative. Half of the crowd built the wall while the other half stood guard with swords and spears. Then they'd shift. These are creative solutions to the difficult problem he faced. If life gives you a lemon, you make lemonade.

#6. COURAGE

When you think of all that Nehemiah went through he was a very courageous person. Would you do what he did? Leave a well paying, safe, secure job at the peak of your career and ministry in your own country to go to a country you've never been to and build something you've never been trained to build? Nehemiah was not a contractor. As far as we know he'd never lifted a hammer or put a brick in place in his life. He was a cupbearer -- the wine taster for the king -- a butler. So here's this butler saying I'm going to go to a foreign country and supervise a construction project of building a wall around a city. He had no preparation for that. That took courage. He said, I'm going to do what God called me to do.

What is courage? Courage is really another word for faith. Being willing to risk, being willing to step out on faith. That's what Nehemiah did. If you want to walk on water you've got to get out of the boat. You've got to take a risk. You've got to take a step out in faith. Courage is a characteristic of great leadership.

#7. CLEAR CONSCIOUS

Nehemiah was a man of integrity. He handled success very well. Most of us handle failure better than we handle success. Nehemiah knew how to handle success. He was a man of integrity.

One of my favorite passages is in chapter 5:14-19, "In the past the earlier governors, those preceding me, placed a heavy burden on the people, they took 40 shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine [heavy taxation of the people] and their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I didn't act like that. I devoted myself to the work of the wall..."

Nehemiah had been made the governor of this area by Artaxerses, the king of Persia and the most powerful man at this time. That made Nehemiah the most powerful man in all of Judea. For 12 years Nehemiah could do anything he wanted to do. If he had wanted to he could have been like modern day dictators and amassed a personal fortune. Nehemiah says for 12 years I was the most powerful man in the country. I reported to nobody. I was accountable to nobody. In all of that time, when I could have ripped off my own people, I refused to accept a salary, to tax the people, I personally worked on the wall myself, supervising it. I refused to buy land for profit. I paid my servants to do public work and I personally fed 150 people everyday from my own welfare.

He's saying, For 12 years I was ruler, the leader of this country, there was nobody I was accountable to. Yet in that time, I didn't take any money and I didn't make any money. Do you know many politicians who can say that? This is a man of integrity. This is one of my favorite passages. He says I did not benefit myself from the leadership position I was in. I did not take advantage of the people who were under me. I was a man with a clear conscious.

When you become a success three things go with that: power, prestige, and privilege. The temptation is to abuse all three of those. Nehemiah didn't do it. The key is in v. 15, the last part, "But out of reverence for God I didn't act like that." The other guys did in the past, but Nehemiah didn't act like that. He was a leader with a clear conscious.

#8. CONVICTION

Great leaders have strongly held beliefs. An opinion is something you'd argue about; a conviction is something you'd die for. Nehemiah was a man of conviction. He believed very strongly that God had called him to this job and nothing could stop him. Eight different times the opposition tried to keep the wall from being built:

1. Derision. They made fun of him. They laughed, "Those guys over there will never get the wall built." When you're a Christian, one of the first ways people will try to get you to deny your conviction is to make fun of you. If that doesn't work they'll try the second way...

2. Discouragement. The enemy came and tried to frustrate their plans. There was a lot of rubble and the people started getting discouraged. v. 4 "When the wall was half finished they began to get discouraged." Discouragement usually comes at the half way point -- half way done with the project, half way up the mountain.

3. Dread. They tried to make them afraid. We're coming to attack you. We're going to kill you all. That didn't work. Nehemiah had half of the people stand guard.

4. Discord. They started spreading gossip all among the people. They gossiped about the wall, the leadership, everything. They tried to spread rumors to split up the work of God.

5. Division. They got a few people to form a little clique, a committee: "We think it ought to be done this way..." Another group: "We think it ought to be done that way..." They tried to cause division to split up the project God was working on. Internal conflict. Up to that time it had all been external.

6. Distractions. The enemy tried to get the leadership into a peace conference. We may not get them stopped but at least we'll get them slowed down.

7. Defamation. ch. 6. Personal smear campaign against the leader, Nehemiah. Previously they tried to attack the people because they were the weak point. Now that the wall is almost built, the leader is tired. When you're tired, Satan starts trying to attack you. "This guy Nehemiah has just got a big ego. In fact he's building the wall for his own benefit. He's trying to set up his own empire and set himself up as king. We're going to tell the big king in Persia." Nothing could be further from the truth. Nehemiah says, I didn't make a penny off this. God told me to do this." They tried to defame him and they personally attacked him.

8. Danger. The last attempt was assassination attempts. "We're going to send a hit squad and knock this guy off."

In all eight of these ways the opposition tried to use to stop the project, Nehemiah kept on doing the will of God. He would not give up. He was persistent. He endured. He was diligent, determined. Why? Because he had conviction. He had the conviction "God called me to do this. God told me to do this and I'm going to do this regardless of derision, discouragement, dread, discord, division, distraction, defamation and danger." I've seen some churches go through these things. Satan will try anything. Nehemiah was a man of conviction and nothing could get him to quit.

I pray this week of reading through Nehemaih has been a blessing to you. I love you guys. Stay Faithful. Stay the course.

DAY #57: Nehemiah 6:1-19

BACKGROUND:

When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem and other enemies heard that the wall was completed and that the only thing remaining was to set the doors in the gates, those “wall opponents” again attempted to halt the work. This time they were more subtle; their sole object of attack was Nehemiah himself. By removing him from the scene or by at least destroying his credibility with the Jews, they reasoned that they might be able to defeat the work. Each of their three attacks on him was different, but each was designed to take his life or discredit his effectiveness as a leader.

This first attack was more subtle than the others. Sanballat and Geshem invited Nehemiah to meet with them in one of the villages on the plain of Ono. The plain of Ono was named after the town of that name. It was near Lod about 25 miles northwest of Jerusalem, about 6 miles southeast of Joppa. As seen on the map “Postexilic Samaria and Judah,” near Ezra 2, Ono was near the border of Samaria, Sanballat’s home province. On the surface it appeared that Sanballat and his cohorts wanted to have a peace conference, but their hidden motive was to harm Nehemiah.

Nehemiah suspected foul play. Why would they want him a day’s journey away from Jerusalem? Then he could not oversee the work, and by outnumbering him they might do him harm. Though he could not prove his enemies’ motives at the moment, he chose a method that would eventually demonstrate whether they were sincere. He simply sent messengers to tell them he was involved in a great (important) project and could not leave it unsupervised. By responding in this way Nehemiah was not openly questioning their motives. In fact he was giving them an opportunity to prove their motives were sincere, if they had really wanted to make peace.

Sanballat and Geshem’s response tipped their hand. Rather than countering with an offer to meet with Nehemiah in Jerusalem, four times they sent... the same message and Nehemiah responded four times with his same refusal.Nehemiah could have impatiently attacked their motives on their third or fourth request. But he patiently waited it out till they revealed their motives. And this they did with their fifth response, which involved their second scheme.

When Nehemiah’s enemies realized he would not leave Jerusalem and meet with them, they tried another tactic. They put pressure on him, trying to force him to meet with them in the plain of Ono. Sanballat sent his servant to Nehemiah with an unsealed letter. The letter reported an alleged rumor that Nehemiah was trying to set himself up as the king of the Jews, which in turn would be a threat to Artaxerxes (the king).

This letter was insidious in several ways. First, the letter made it seem as if they had Nehemiah’s welfare at heart. The letter implied that their reason for conferring with him was to protect him.

Second, and more basic to their motive, they were attempting to get Nehemiah to respond out of fear, Third, the letter may have contained an element of truth. Possibly some well-meaning religious leader in Judah had interpreted Nehemiah’s presence as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies regarding the coming Messiah-King.

Nehemiah’s bold response demonstrated his trust in God. He outrightly denied the accusation. He told his fellow workers that the letter was designed to frighten them into thinking their wall-building would bring Artaxerxes’ wrath down on them. Then, as Nehemiah regularly did, he prayed, this time asking God for strength.


SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

The quickest way to stop a movement is to knock off the leader. That’s what’s happening here in Nehemiah! His enemies are doing things here to stop his leadership. Jesus talks about when the shepherd is removed, the flock scatters. That's true today in our churches. When Satan wants to cripple a church, he takes on the leadership. Not just the pastor and those ministers, but the church leadership -- the lay leadership. You need to realize that if you want to be a leader, some people aren't going to like you. And they're going to attack you. Some people are going to try to make you fail. How you handle those attacks, those personal attacks, determines what kind of leader you're going to be.

One of the basic lessons of Nehemiah is that leadership is essential for any project. With the right leadership they were able to accomplish in 52 days what for 90+ years people had been saying, "It can't be done!" When you get the right catalyst, things go into action. What kind of person does it take to pull off a major project? What kind of person does it take to accomplish the impossible? Two things. What do you need, as a leader, to succeed in the face of overwhelming odds against you?

#1. A compelling life purpose.

This is the very first element of leadership. A cause. A vision. A dream. An objective. A goal. It's something that pulls you towards that goal. It doesn't drive you, it draws you. You have to have a compelling purpose.

That's why, when they came back in v. 3, and said "Nehemiah, we want you to leave the wall and come out and have a little party with us. You've been working on the wall too long. Come talk to us, Nehemiah." Nehemiah said, "I am carrying on a great project." Nehemiah was very single minded. That was one of the characteristics why they were able to accomplish the impossible in 52 days. He said I'm going to do this. I'm going to stick with it. I'm going to keep the main thing the main thing. I'm carrying on a great project.

Is there any great project -- an overall compelling purpose -- in your life? What motivates you to get out of bed everyday? Besides making money. What motivates you to live the rest of your life? What motivates you to keep on going?

Until you have a compelling purpose for your life, you're just existing. Nehemiah said, I have a great project! Another way to think about this sublject is to ask yourself the question - What are you exchanging your life for? Jesus said, "What will a man give in exchange for his soul?" When you give your time for something, you're giving your life. That's what life is made up of -- your time.

We tend to think that the most important thing we can give people is our money. But money can be replaced. But when you give people your time, that's irreplaceable. The mark of a great leader is first of all, to have a compelling purpose -- an over arching goal in life that motivates me to keep going. Paul says, "Love compels me to keep going."

Leadership Law: Great lives are produced by a commitment to a great cause. Great people are just ordinary people who have made a great commitment to a great cause. That cause draws them out of themselves and makes them more than they could be on their own. You need a compelling purpose for life.

I submit to you, that the most compelling purpose in life, the greatest cause that you can give your life for is the kingdom of God. There's nothing greater that you can invest your life in. That's going to last for eternity. Most of what we invest our life in won't last 20 years much less for a thousand years. I challenge you to say, whether you have 5 years left or 50 years left, you'll invest it in the kingdom of God.

If you want to be a great Christian, make your life count, have a compelling purpose invest your life in five things: loving God, loving people, going and making disciples, getting plugged into a local church, helping people come to know Christ and to grow in Christ. (Matthew 28:16-20) There is no greater cause than that.


CHARACTERISTIC #2. A consistent prayer life

Nehemiah was a prayer-addict. His first response to everything was pray. No matter what happened, he first prayed. That's the number one thing you do when you're slandered. #1 thing you do when you are afraid, when you are up against it, #1 thing you do when you start the day. A few years ago, Sharon read a book called “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire” In there, the author, who is also the pastor at Brooklyn Tabernackle church in New York – Jim Cybalia - says, that a church that prays is a church that can change the world.

Luke 18:1 says, "Jesus told his disciples that they should always pray and not give up." Circle "pray" and "not give up". In your life you're always doing one or the other. You'll either pray or you'll give up. When the heat is on, when the pressure is on, you'll either pray or you'll panic. You need a continual prayer life if you’re going to be difference maker. Evaluate your self this morning.

You need a compelling purpose that is so over arching in your life, that you're not distracted by the trivial. The game "Trivial Pursuit" describes a lot of people's lives. If you would go back and do an analysis of your life, in what area is Satan trying to sidetrack you from the best? Satan will often use good things to keep you from the best.

What is it that's taking up your time in life so that you don't have time for the things that are really important in life? What things are important? Loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. Worship and ministry. If you're too busy to worship, too busy to have a quiet time -- you're too busy. Evaluate yourself right now. What is the compelling lifer purpose for you? Is that what God wants?

Evaluate your prayer life. How consistent is it? How continual is it? Do you pray or panic? One of the great lessons of this entire book is everything rises and falls on leadership. Our church -- every church - needs leaders desperately. I challenge you to commit yourself to become a leader at COV. "I'm not going to set on the sidelines. I don't know what I can do, but I'll do what I can with what I have for Jesus Christ today. Lord, I'm willing to follow you anywhere, any time, any place and do any thing you ask. I may not have a lot. I may have only one talent, not fifty, or fifteen or even five, but I want to use that one talent for Jesus' sake." There is no greater purpose in life than God's kingdom. I challenge you to say, "Whether I have a day left, a week left, or a year left -- however much time You give me -- I want to make a great commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission." If you'll commit yourself to those two verses, doing what they say, you'll be a great Christian. Great people are just ordinary people who make a great commitment to a great cause.

Lord, I pray today that You would raise up a generation of Nehemiah's here at COV, people who are leaders, godly leaders, who have a compelling purpose -- the kingdom of God -- who have a clear perspective on what's really important in life, a continual prayer and courageous persistence. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
I love you guys. Stay FAithful. Stay the course.

DAY #56: Nehemiah 4:12-23

BACKGROUND:

Nehemiah established a new strategy to meet the threat of enemy infiltration. He positioned some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall with swords, spears, and bows.This must have been a difficult decision for Nehemiah. To place whole families together—including women and children—put tremendous pressure on fathers particularly. In case of outright attack, they would have no choice but to stay and fight for and with their family members. But Nehemiah knew it was the only decision he could make if they were to survive and succeed in rebuilding the walls.
Obviously fear gripped these people. So Nehemiah gathered them together and charged them to face the situation courageously (don’t be afraid) and to remember the great and awesome Lord who was on their side, and to fight to save their families. When their enemies heard that their plot had been discovered, they did not attack and the people resumed their construction work.

As the Jews continued their work they were more cautious. Nehemiah had half the men... work while the other half guarded them with spears, shields, bows, and armor. Perhaps they were divided around the wall: a few workers, next to them a few guards, a few more workers, more guards next to them, and so on. The officers in Jerusalem, who apparently had not yet been given responsibilities in the project, were enlisted to stand guard behind the workers. As some workers carried materials, presumably bricks and mortar, they each did so with one hand, while holding a weapon (probably a spear or sword) in the other. Each of the wall-workers (masons) worked with both hands but had his sword at his side. Though this arrangement meant fewer bricklayers were on the job, the work was well defended!

In addition Nehemiah stationed a trumpeter next to him—a man who would follow Nehemiah everywhere he went as he supervised the work. In case of an attack, the trumpet blast would rally the people to the place of attack. Again Nehemiah encouraged the people, this time stating that their God would fight for them.

The people worked diligently, from early morning till nighttime. Those living outside the city did not even return to their homes. Venturing outside Jerusalem at night would have been a dangerous risk. Through each night some workers stood guard, knowing the city was vulnerable to attack even then. They did not even take off their clothes to clean up after work; they kept a diligent watch at all times.

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

What is the right response to opposition? - OR - What do you do when you're under attack?

#1. RELY ON GOD

v. 4-5 Nehemiah's prayer. "Here O God for we're despised. Turn their insults back over their heads and give them over as plunder in the land of captivity. Do not cover their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight? They have thrown insults in the face of the builders."

Nehemiah is hot here. He's letting off steam! When you're being ridiculed you don't suppress it, you confess it. Rely on God. Admit it all to God. He says, "God, we're trusting in You to defend us." He doesn't get caught up in a name calling game. Instead of calling names, he relies on God.

Proverbs 26:4 says, "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself." If you're getting ridiculed for your faith, or whatever, don't answer back. That's dumb! Then you're no better than the person who's ridiculing you. If you've got a project and people are taking pot shots at you, just rely on God. Pray.

The greater the opposition the more you need to pray, to depend on God. Leadership Law: When you're ridiculed don't take it out on people, talk it out with God. That's what Nehemiah does. He hears this initial ridicule but basically he ignores it and goes to God. The best response to ridicule is don't respond. Instead, you go and you pray and you keep on doing what you should be doing in the first place. The first verses says -- they ridiculed, they prayed, they rebuilt the wall. Ridicule can never stop you from doing what you're doing. Not unless you let it.

If you're a leader and you're under attack, the first thing you do is pray. You take it to God. Sometimes if you ignore the opposition the criticism dissipates, vanishes. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it intensifies. When they realized that ridicule wasn't working then in v. 8 it says they plotted together to fight against Jerusalem.

#2. RESPECT THE OPPOSITION

How do we know that Nehemiah respected the opposition? v. 9 "But we prayed to our God and we posted a guard day and night to meet this threat." They did the prayerful thing and then the practical thing. Both. It's fine to lay in bed at night and pray, "Protect me from the burglars." But you also need to get up and lock your door! Oliver Cromwell said, "Trust God and keep your powder dry." Petition without Precaution is Presumption. Rely on God when you're being opposed. But also respect the opposition. And the stronger the opposition, the stronger the response.

v. 9 "We prayed." Up to this time, Nehemiah has been doing the praying. Now all of the people are praying. Where did they get that idea? They've been watching their leader. Leaders lead by showing, not by telling. Nehemiah has been praying constantly for four chapters. The people are getting the idea that it must work. They start praying too. If you're a leader in your business and if you want other Christians to follow your lead, start praying. Nehemiah's constant prayer life had affected these people. The point I want to make is that corporate opposition requires a corporate response. Now the whole people of God are praying. They prayed and they posted a guard. Nehemiah sets up an alarm system. He sets up 24-hour guards. He posts a watch. He knows his opposition. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. A lot of leaders have lost because they've underestimated the opposition. Don't just pray. Be aware. Know your opposition and don't be ignorant about what's happening.

In the Bible the phrase that is used over and over again is "Watch and pray". Jesus said it. Paul said it. John said it. Peter said it. Watch is the human part -- post a guard. Pray is the divine part -- trust God. Watch is lock the door; pray is "God, I'm trusting You." You do both of these things. Rely on God and respect the opposition.

#3. REINFORCE YOUR WEAK POINTS

v. 13 Nehemiah had prayed and he had relied and respected the opposition. He had posted the guard. Then "Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families with their swords, spears and bows." He is reinforcing his weak points, the lower points. This is where the wall was maybe only a couple of feet high. Where it's ten feet high you don't have to worry so much. The weak points, the exposed places, he's making a strategic placement. He's reinforcing his weak points.

Do you know the weak points in your business? Do you know the weak points in your family? Do you know where you're most open to attack? That's the principle he's teaching us. Leadership Law: Good leaders know where they are vulnerable and they reinforce that area.

If you have to make a sales presentation. Know your weaknesses and anticipate the objections and be ready to counter those objections when you make the proposal.

v. 16 "From that day on, half of my men did the work while the other half were equipped with spears and bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did the work with one hand and held a weapon in the other. Each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. I said to the nobles and officials, `The work is extensive and spread out and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet join us there and our God will fight for us."

They are working all around the whole city. They couldn't fortify the whole city. They had no army. This is just a bunch of amateurs here building the wall. So Nehemiah said, Whenever you hear the trumpet blowing, everybody run to that side and we'll know the enemy is there and we'll fight them all together. I think the principle here is, Keep your lines of communication open during times of attack, times of opposition. Nehemiah turned the entire city into an armed camp. Everybody did two things. They worked and they carried a weapon.

Principle: Every time you start building for God, you're asking for a battle. If you start trying to build your marriage, you're asking for a battle. If you start trying to build up your own personal spiritual life you're asking for a battle. If you start trying to build a church, that's a battle. Everytime a church starts building there is a battle. Why? Because Satan doesn't want churches built. He gets people to oppose you.

Leadership Law: Leaders must build and battle at the same time. If you start doing anything of significance in this world, somebody is going to oppose you. What do you do?

Nehemiah had three alternatives. When every body started opposing him with rumors, resistance and ridicule he could give up - Leave the wall and go fight -- do a preemptive strike - Build the wall and arm himself defensively.

Leaders must build and battle at the same time. You never leave the wall to fight the enemy. You could spend all your time putting out fires and never get your job done. You could spend all your time greasing the squeaking wheel (the critic, the complainer, the kook) and never get your dream or whatever God's called you to do, done. You've got to learn to build and battle at the same time.

Notice Nehemiah's building plan and battle plan in v. 13 "I stationed some of the people at the lowest points of the wall posting them by families." Why by families? When you are under attack, more than any other time, you need support. That's one of the benefits of a small group. When you're in a small group, you're less vulnerable to an attack of Satan. God never meant us to be Lone Rangers. There is support and encouragement in small groups.

Nehemiah posted by families. If a guy is working on the wall and his family is on the other side of town, he's in constant fear of "What if the enemy's attacking over there? They may be getting my family." So Nehemiah put all the families on the wall and they stayed together. If the enemy attacked at my point it's do or die! My family's there. If I don't defend them and turn and run, my family's going to get killed. There's value in support.

Principle: Never fight a fight alone. When you're facing opposition, get some support. That is one of the purposes of the church. Every Sunday I preach, I know that on Monday morning you’re going back to work and get you’re going to get beat up! We need support. It's tough in the business world. It's tough being a Christian at school. It's tough having Christian attitudes in a society where everything says "No, don't live for Christ; live for yourself!"

#4. REASSURE THE PEOPLE

v. 14 "After I looked things over I stood up and I said to the nobles and the officials the rest of the people, `Don't be afraid! Remember the Lord is great and awesome. Fight for your brothers and your daughters and your homes." He's rallying the troops. He's relieving their fears. He's reinforcing their confidence. He's raising their morale. That's the task of leadership.

When your business/family/church is under attack, the task of leadership is to reinforce the people, raise their morale. Don't be afraid!

What did he say that renewed their confidence? "Remember the Lord." That's where our confidence comes from. Remember the Lord! It's interesting that a lot of wars have been fought with slogans that started "Remember..." The Spanish-American War was "Remember the Maine." World War I was "Remember the Lucetania". In Texas it was "Remember the Alamo". World War II was "Remember Pearl Harbor". All of those battle cries were based on defeats -- Remember that defeat back there, now let's go get them!

Nehemiah does the exact opposite. He doesn't say, Remember our defeat! Remember when we got exiled to Babylon! He says, "Remember the Lord!" He's saying, "Let's look at the future. Get our eyes off the opposition and get our eyes on the Lord." When you're under attack, if the devil can get you to focus on the opposition he's won a major victory. You either focus on the opposition or you focus on the Lord. You can focus on the financial statement or you can focus on the Lord. You can either focus on the rising interest rates or you focus on the Lord. You either focus on the economy and it's jitters or you focus on the Lord. What are you going to focus on? "Remember the Lord!"

Remember what the Lord is like. "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome." Underline "awesome". A couple of sentences earlier where he said "Don't be afraid" underline "afraid". In the Hebrew that is the same word in both places -- the word for afraid and the word for awesome. The point that he's saying here is that when you fear God then you're not going to fear other people. The fear of God replaces the fear of man. If I don't fear God then I'm afraid of men. If I'm afraid of men then I'm not afraid of God. If I'm afraid of God -- reverential fear -- then I don't fear anybody else. Because I know that what I'm doing is pleasing to Him.

Jesus said this in Luke 12. He said "Don't be afraid of people who can kill your body and then they can't do anything after that. Fear the person who can send you to hell after your body's dead." If you have a healthy respect for God and you reverence Him and you realize how powerful He is you're not going to have any problem fearing other people.

Then Nehemiah challenges them. "Fight for your brothers and your sons and your daughters and your wives and your homes." He challenges them to fight for their lives. Everything is on the line here.

V/. 19 "I said to the nobles and officials, `The work is extensive and spread out and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet join us there and our God will fight for us." He's got a trumpet as a rallying point. That's a point of reassuring the people


#5. REFUSE TO QUIT

v. 15 "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." We know there is opposition out there. There are critics. They are ridiculing, rumoring. But that doesn't matter. We're going to keep on keeping on. We refuse to be distracted. They all returned to the wall. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

v. 8 "They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it." That's the first goal of opposition: to stir up trouble.

The second goal is in v. 11 "We will kill them and put an end to the work."

When you're being opposed there are always two oppositions. They want to hinder your work and they want to stop your work. When you know that the opposition's goal is to get you to quit what do you do? Don't quit! You keep on working no matter what!

Calvin Coolidge said, "Press on. Nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common that unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are the overwhelming power."

In spite of the opposition we've looked at, v. 21 "So we continued to work..." They refused to quit. "...with half of the men holding spears from the first light of dawn till the stars came out at night. At that time I also said to the people, `Have every man and his helper stay in Jerusalem at night so they can serve us as guards by night and workmen by day.' Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes. Each had his weapon even when he went for water."

They worked through the night. He told all the people who lived outside of Jerusalem who were commuting in to work on the wall, "You stay here". When you're under opposition, when you're under attack, it's time to stick together. They even slept in their clothes, that's how committed they were. Nehemiah led the way. He sets the work pace. He's showing endurance, being the prototype. He's enduring the same hardships the people are enduring, facing the same dangers. Leadership Law: Leaders model persistence. They are the last to give up. They are the last to jump ship. They refuse to quit.

What does the devil want you to give up? What has he been tempting you to give up on? Reading through the Bible in a year? A career? A dream? A marriage? An idea? A ministry at church? What does he want you to give up? Your life group? If you know that that is what he wants you to give up what should you do? Keep going!

There is an old legend that one day Satan had a garage sale. He was selling all of his tools that he had used over the centuries. Lying, hatred, malice, lust, greed, envy, jealousy, pride, all of these different things. Over in the corner there was one tool that was priced more than all the other tools put together. It was so priceless that nobody bought it. Why? Because it was "Discouragement" That's Satan's most important, powerful tool. A Fundamental Principle of the Christian Life: God Can’t use discouraged Christians

Satan may not get you to commit an immoral sin, but he can get you discouraged! A discouraged Christian is an ineffective Christian. That means that we've taken our eyes off the Lord and put them on the circumstance. Since Satan never sold it, he's still using it today. Whenever we give up, the devil wins. One of the fundamental principles of the Christian life is Don't give up!


I want to let go, but I won't let go.
There are battles to fight,
by day and by night
for God and the right
so I'll never let go!

I want to let go, but I won't let go.
I'm sick, 'tis true, and worried and blue and worn out through and through, but I’ll never let go.

I want to let go, but I won't let go.
I will never yield.

What? Lie down in the field
And surrender my shield?

No, I'll never let go!

I want to let go, but I won't let go.
May this be my song, mid legions of wrong, O God keep me strong
So I'll never let go.

Galatians 6:9 (AMP) says, “And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.”

Persistence is the ultimate test of leadership. This is the acid test. How do you handle it when the going gets tough? When somebody laughs at you or criticizes you for being a Christian that may hurt but it cannot stop you.

The secret of success is you simply outlast your critics. How do you get to be an oak tree? An oak tree is just a little nut that refused to give his ground.
It doesn't take a lot of intelligence but if you just hang on you'll outlast the critics. There is nothing the devil would rather do than stall us and stop us and move us into neutral so resist discouragement and keep on.

By the grace of God, that is what I am attempting to do here at COV. I've got my share of critics who have lied about me, spread rumors about me, riddiculed me, mocked me, despised me. There are folks out there waiting for me to quit - praying that I'll quit. Waiting for me to give up and give in. By the grace of God, I will never quit. I will keep on until He makes it clear that my work here is done.

By the grace of God, I emplore you - stay at it. I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.

DAY #55: Nehemiah 4:1-11

BACKGROUND:
As I said earlier, Sanballat was displeased when he heard that Nehemiah had returned to Jerusalem to help the Jews. Sanballat, however, did not know of God’s interest in His people. Sanballat’s displeasure turned to intense anger. So with his associates, including Tobiah and Geshem, and in the presence of Samaritan soldiers, Sanballat ridiculed the Jews. He accused them of rebelling against King Artaxerxes and by a series of questions he suggested they were incapable of completing the project.

Ridiculing them, he said they were so inept in their work that a fox, weighing only a few pounds, would break it down by merely climbing up on it.

After praying, Nehemiah and the Jews continued with the work. Some Christians pray and then wait for things to happen, but not Nehemiah! As in all his efforts, he blended the divine perspective with the human. He faced Sanballat’s opposition with both prayer and hard work. Once he committed the problem to the Lord, he trusted God to help them achieve their goal.

And while praying and trusting, they rebuilt the wall to half its height. At this juncture their task was half completed. Sanballat and Tobiah’s efforts at demoralizing the Jews failed. The Jews rose above their enemies’ attempts at discouragement. Because the people worked so diligently and enthusiastically (with all their heart), they were able to complete half the job in a surprisingly short period of time.

The Jewish workers’ rapid progress naturally increased the threat to their enemies, who became very angry. So they decided to take more overt and corporate action. Joining Sanballat and the Samaritans from the north, Tobiah and the Ammonites from the east, Geshem and the Arabs from the south, were men from Ashdod, a Philistine city, from the west. They all plotted together to attack Jerusalem, apparently from all sides.

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

One of the great tests of leadership is how do you handle opposition? Do you panic under pressure? Do you get uptight, loose your temper, blow up, become discouraged, give up? What do you do? If you're going to be a leader part of the job description includes putting up with attacks. We're going to look at how a leader handles opposition in Nehemiah 4. Sometime in the future, I will need to remember these principles, and so will you.

#1. THE TACTICS OF OPPOSITION

I'm going to mention three of them. There are many more but these three are mentioned in the text and people will use these to stop or stall a project. They're still used today.

1.The first tactic the opposition usually uses is ridicule. 4:1 "When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the will he became angry and was greatly incensed and he ridiculed the Jews in the presence of the associates and the army of Samaria and he said `What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring stones back to life from those heaps of rubble burned as they are?' Tobia the Ammonite who was by his side said, `What are they building? Even if a fox climbed upon it, he would break down their wall of stones.'"

We have a clear example of this here. That's a powerful, effective tool. It's still used today. There are books out today on psychological warfare in the office place. How to psych out your competition. The world continually ridicules the church. Puts it down, argues, makes fun of God's people, characterizes them as weak, ignorant, fanatical people, all pastors are wimps or crooks. It's a constant ridicule. Why is it so effective? It's because it attacks our sense of self worth. A lot of times we can handle everything except ridicule.

The motive. "He became very angry and greatly incensed...." Ridicule is always the substitute for reason. Laughter is always the substitute for logic. If people can't reason you out of a position they'll just try to ridicule you. People who ridicule you are usually just afraid. Afraid that you're going to succeed. He uses name calling, "...those feeble Jews". He implies that they have a selfish motive. He makes fun of their beliefs. He overstates the case. All of these are typical tools of ridicule. He says "Are they going to rebuild it in one day?" No where is there any place they say they're going to rebuild it in one day. That's typical ridicule. They overstate their case, set up a straw man and then try to knock it over.

And notice this - ridicule is contagious. When Sanballat makes the initial ridicule Tobia, his side kick, chimes in and starts. There's always people who will ridicule you if somebody else will take the lead. They are cowards and won't do it on their own.

2. Resistance. Organized resistance. v. 6 "We rebuilt the wall until it reached half of its height and the people worked with all their heart. But Sanballat, Tobia, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to the wall of Jerusalem had gone ahead and 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."

The opposition is getting organized. Instead of just a couple of critics we have a conspiracy. Sanballat has gathered all the disgruntled parties to resist the rebuilding of the wall. Sanballat and the Samaritans were in the North, the Arabs were in the south, Tobiah and the Ammonites were in the east, the men of Ashdod were in the west. The Jews were surrounded by these people who were conspiring against them. Have you noticed that negative people tend to gravitate together?

The purpose was to fight and stir up trouble. These folks are all around. Some people, their whole purpose in life, seems to be against stuff.

3. Rumor. v. 11-12. "Also our enemies said, `Before they know it or see us we will be right there among them and we will work to kill them and put an end to their work.'" The quickest way to spread a rumor is to feed on people's fears. The gist of the rumor is, We're going to get you from all sides. We're going to attack you and you're not even going to know what hit you. The fact is, they didn't have enough power to do this. But the rumor of an attack was enough to incite panic. Rumor is often used by opposition.

Two characteristics of rumors: 1) They are always spread by those closest to the enemy. v. 12 "Those Jews who lived near them." The Jews outside the city of Jerusalem, who lived near the enemy, they were the ones most negative. What happens when you're around negative people all the time? You get negative. You become infected. The point here is, if Satan can get somebody inside of the camp saying, "It can't be done." then he's got a major victory. He infiltrates the ranks.
2) They are exaggerated when they are repeated. "Then they told us ten times over." Circle that. What happens when a rumor is exaggerated ten times over? People start to believe it. I think it was Hitler that discovered if you tell a lie long enough people are going to start believing it. The point is: the negative always gets exaggerated in a project. Law of Leadership: Leaders don't swallow rumors. They may listen to them, chew on them, but they never swallow them. Because they are always exaggerations.

#2. THE EFFECT OF OPPOSITION

v. 10-11 "Meanwhile the people in Judah said, `The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall. Also our enemies will attack." When you're working hard and you're bombarded by ridicule, rumor and resistance you're going to get discouraged. That's the effect of opposition: discouragement.

When is discouragement most likely to occur? v. 6 "So we rebuilt the wall until all of it reached half of its height." Discouragement comes at the half way point. How many of you have half finished projects around your house? Four causes of discouragement:

1. Fatigue -- "the strength of the laborers is giving out" 2. Frustration -- "there was so much rubble" Frustration is usually a matter of perception. Actually the piles are getting smaller. 3. Failure -- "we cannot rebuild the wall" When you're tired, everything looks impossible. Vince Lombardi said, "Fatigue makes cowards of all of us." 4. Fear -- "the enemies will attack us" The opposition always has two goals. One of them is to hinder God's word and one is to stop God's work.

That's why one of my hero's in Winston Churchill. Against incredible odds, he led a nation to victory in World War 2. I love what he said to a group of young men at Harrow School,October 29, 1941:

"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

I love you guys. Stay Faithful. Stay the course.

DAY #54: Nehemiah 2:11-20

BACKGROUND:
Nehemiah knew there was no way he could share with the people in Jerusalem what God led him to accomplish without first doing some research and planning. After taking time (three days), presumably to think, pray, and get acquainted with some people there, he took a few men into his confidence, men he could trust.

Then he made a careful survey of the walls to analyze the problem he faced. He did so at night, apparently to avoid letting others know his plans before they were firmly fixed in his mind. During these night hours he gained perspective and developed an effective plan to accomplish the task he had come to Jerusalem to perform. In his nighttime inspection he rode his horse or mule from the Valley Gate in the southwest wall east to the Jackal Well, the site of which is unknown, and to the Dung Gate in the southeast part of the city.

Possibly this is the same as the Potsherd Gate. The Fountain Gate was north of the Dung Gate on the eastern wall. The King’s Pool may be the same as the Pool of Siloam which was near the King’s Garden, or the King’s Pool may have been south of the Pool of Siloam. Apparently the rubble there kept him from proceeding on his mount so he went up the valley (probably the Kidron Valley east of the city). Either he went all round the entire wall or, more likely, he retraced his steps from the eastern wall. He went back into the city at his starting place, the Valley Gate.

After Nehemiah had completed his secret survey and was satisfied that he had developed a workable plan, the time had come to reveal to the Jews why he was in Jerusalem. First he challenged them to notice their deplorable circumstances, which had brought them trouble and disgrace. Then he challenged them to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and followed his challenge with a personal testimony as to how God’s gracious hand had granted him favor before King Artaxerxes.

When Nehemiah gave his challenge, the people’s negative feelings became positive. Despair turned to hope. They responded and began the rebuilding process.
Apparently word spread quickly regarding the Jews’ response to Nehemiah’s challenge. As soon as their enemies heard the news they stepped up their efforts to hinder the process. They used every demoralizing technique they knew, beginning with ridicule and the suggestion that they were rebels. Joining Sanballat and Tobiah was Geshem the Arab.

But Nehemiah was ready for their insidious attack. He affirmed that the God of heaven would enable them to succeed. The Jews, God’s servants, would rebuild, but the three opponents had no share or claim (present) or historic right (past) to the city.Once again Nehemiah brought the task—both in the eyes of Judah and his enemies—into clear focus. Their dependence was not to be on their abilities, human resources, or personal genius. Their hope was in the God of heaven!

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

Success is never a one-man show. Nehemiah knew that he could not rebuild the wall without the help of other people. When he goes to Jerusalem, the people are defeated, apathetic, living among ruins. Twice before in the last ninety years somebody has tried to rebuild the wall. They've failed twice. They have no confidence. They're negative. For 90+ years they've been saying it can't be done. Nehemiah arrives on the scene and within a matter of days he has rallied the support of the entire city. He puts them together, mobilizes them, and rebuilds the wall in 52 days.

Let's look at how Nehemiah faced the challenge before him.

Whenever You Set Out To Do Something for God….
#1. EXPECT OPPOSITION

The fact is that the moment you say, "Let's do something," someone will jump up and say, "Let's don't." When God's people rise and say, "Let's build," Satan says, "Let's arise and oppose."

Some people are naturally resistant to change. They don't like it. They want the status quo, which is probably Latin for "the mess we're in".

Nehemiah 2:10 says, "When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this they were very much disturbed that some would come to promote the welfare of Israel." He names two leaders of the opposition. You'll find these people all through the book of Nehemiah. Sanballat was the governor of Samaria, Tobiah was the leader of the Ammonites. Nehemiah has not even arrived in Jerusalem yet and there's already opposition.

I Corinthians 16:8-9 says, "I will stay here at Ephesus. There is a real opportunity here for a great while and a worthwhile work, even though there are many opponents." Circle "opportunity" and "opponents".

First leadership law today: There is no opportunity without opposition. If you're going to help change people or change the situation, expect opposition.

v. 19 "But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked us and ridiculed us." Another guy is now mentioned. In v. 10, before Nehemiah arrived there was just Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite. Now we notice the opposition has expanded to include a third party. Opposition usually grows as the project continues. First there are only two opponents, then a third party.

As we get further into Nehemiah we find six different sources of opposition. He got it from every side! The opposition's first strategy: "They mocked and ridiculed us." They laughed! Those Jews are never going to get it built. They haven't done it in ninety years; they won't do it now. The second thing they do is they accused them of rebelling against the king. This excuse had been used before. Ezra 4:13 -- that was the very accusation that got the wall stopped the last time. It had worked before when Ezra was trying to get it rebuilt. The opposition went to the king and said, "The Jews are rebuilding the wall. Once they get it rebuilt, forget any more taxes from those people." Then the king issued his decree: No more wall rebuilding. It had worked before, they tried again. Rebuilding the wall is rebelling against the king, King Artaxerxes. But now it didn't work. The reason it didn't work now is because Nehemiah is on the scene. And Nehemiah is no pushover.

V. 20 "And I answered them saying, `The God of heaven will give us success. We, His servants, will start rebuilding. But as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem, any claim or historic right to it." Nehemiah refused to argue. If you're wise you will not argue with the opposition. Instead he points out that it's God's project and God's idea. V. 12 he said "I had not told anyone what God had put in my heart to do." God put the burden on him. It wasn't his idea to rebuild the wall, it was God's idea. Since it was God's idea they would trust Him for its success. That's confidence. He answers the opposition quickly and confidently.

I John 3:13 says, "Don't be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you." If you start working for God, expect opposition. Anybody who does anything is going to be ridiculed. The moment you hang your sign out, somebody is going to start throwing rocks at it. The only way to not be criticized in life is to do nothing, be nothing, and say nothing. If you decide that you're going to live for Jesus Christ at work, school, or any other place, somebody is going to start laughing at you. Count on it! They're going to ridicule you. Let them laugh! They will question your motives.
People will question your motives just like they questioned Nehemiah's. "Are you an empire builder? Are you on some ego trip, trying to do what nobody else has done in ninety years?" That's part of the price of being a leader.


Leadership Law: Satan’s most common tool of attack is discouragement. This is why we are commanded over and over again in scripture to encourage people. Listen to Hebrews 3:13 – “day after day, as long as it is called today, encourage one another…”

People will oppose you. Kites rise against the wind not with it! Salmon swim upstream against the current, not with it! GO AGAINST THE FLOW!!!!

Whenever You Set Out To Do Something for God….
#2. WAIT FOR GOD’S TIMING

V. 11 says "I went to Jerusalem and after staying there three days I set out..." He stops for three days. Nehemiah does not make some grand entrance, flash the flags, bands playing, arrives in on a white horse. He doesn't proclaim, "I'm here to save the day. Now get to work!" When he arrives in Jerusalem, the first thing he doesn't do is get brick and mortar together. He didn't even announce why he was there. He did nothing for three days.

He arrives with a king's escort, into a town that is defeated and discouraged. He goes to his home and says nothing for three days. Don't you think that caused a little curiosity? Do you think the existing power structures in Jerusalem said, "What is this guy here for? What is he going to be doing?" For three days the speculation is rising. What is Nehemiah doing? By the third day everybody has heard of Nehemiah. He's actually using the delay to his advantage. He's using it for psychological build up so that when he presents the proposal, they'll be ready to listen.

Ecclesiastes 3:7 says "There is a time to be silent and a time to speak." Ecclesiastes 8:6 says, "There is a right time and a right way to do everything." Underline "right time". If you're going to share in changing a life or a situation, you've got to wait for the right timing. Jesus had a profound sense of timing in the ministry. Different times in His life He would say, "It's not time yet. My time has not yet come."

In v. 12-16 we have Nehemiah's research party of actually going out and inspecting the walls of Jerusalem. You've heard of Paul Revere's midnight ride. This is Nehemiah's midnight ride.
In v. 12 he says, "I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding. By night I went out through the Valley Gate to the Jackel Well and the Dung Gate examining the walls of Jerusalem which had been broken down and its gates had been destroyed by fire."

He goes on and explains how at midnight he's out traveling around the walls of the city, actually inspecting. He is personally inspecting the damage in the middle of the night. He only takes a small group with him. He obviously didn't want to attract attention.

Every good leader knows exactly what Nehemiah is doing here. He is doing his homework. His background checks. This is the lonely part of leadership, the un-glamorous part of leadership. It's the part nobody ever hears about. It's the guy doing his preparation, checking out the situation, getting the facts. v. 14 says there was so much rubble he even had to get off his horse and walk through it. At this point the size of the project probably starts to sink in and he thinks, "This is worse than I thought. Why did I volunteer for this? I've never built anything in my life."

V. 16 says "The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews, or the priests, or the nobles, or the officials or any other who would be doing the work."

Why is he being so secretive about this survey? Because he didn't want the plan to be stalled before it got out of the starting gate. There had been 90 years of negativism and he didn't have all the facts yet. Is it easier to promote a good idea or kill a good idea? Have you noticed that negative people tend to be more vocal than positive people? Nehemiah doesn't have all the facts yet so he says before I even announce what I'm going to be doing, I'm going to get the facts.

Finally,
#3. UNDERSTAND THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE PROBLEM

He comes to the people: "I've got some stuff to tell you but first the bad news." Rather than minimizing the problem, he emphasizes it.

V. 17 "Then I said to them, `You see the trouble we're in? Jerusalem lies in ruins and it's gates have been burned with fire. Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and we will no longer be in disgrace."

These are emotional word pictures he uses here. "The place lies in ruin ... burned with fire ... we're in disgrace." He's lays out the seriousness of the situation. Why? Because these guys had been living with this for years.

Isn't it a fact of life that when you live with a bad situation long enough, you start ignoring it? If something breaks in your house the first two or three weeks it really bugs you; six months later it's still broken. When you live with a situation long enough you can become apathetic about how it is. In this third step, Nehemiah refocuses their attention to the problem "We have got a mess." He's getting them to face the facts.

Leaders face the facts; and leaders help others to face the facts. Change never occurs until we become discontent. If you want to create change in your school, work, home, office -- one of the marks of a leader is he creates discontent.

If you're content you don't want to change anything. That means you're going to have to put up with some criticism, because anyone who stirs the pot, rocks the boat, is in trouble. They're shaking up the status quo. That's the mark of the leader.

When Nehemiah states the problem he does not use external motivators. We're going to rebuild this wall; whoever gets their section done first gets an all expense paid vacation to the Dead Sea! He doesn't use external things. The older you get, the less external motivations work. External motivators work great on kids. But the older you get those kinds of motivators don't work anymore.

Leadership Law: The greatest motivation in life is not external, nor internal, but eternal. Nehemiah says, "Let's rebuild the wall for the glory of God! So God's name is not in disgrace. Let's rebuild the wall for the kingdom of God and for the glory of His people." He challenges them with the right kind of motivations.

For all of us - Let's build COV into the church that shakes the world for Christ. Let's build COV into the church that will reach the San Ramon Valley for Christ. Are you willing?

I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.

DAY #53: Nehemiah 2:1-10

BACKGROUND:

Four months went by before Nehemiah’s opportunity came. As Nehemiah was going about his usual duties the king noticed something different about Nehemiah’s countenance. He was sad. The king was immediately curious about Nehemiah’s state of depression, since this was the first time he had seen his cupbearer dejected. The king asked a pointed question, Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill?

Nehemiah was careful in replying. In fact he was even afraid. A servant was never to let his negative emotions show before the king, for it might suggest dissatisfaction with the king. To do so might jeopardize his position or even his life. Also Nehemiah knew that his request was a bold one. As already stated, a few years earlier this king had stopped the rebuilding of Jerusalem and now Nehemiah was going to ask that the order be reversed. The cupbearer was risking his life! But his response was wise, no doubt reflecting the fact that he had been thinking about this opportunity, should it come, for a number of months.

In Nehemiah’s response he avoided naming Jerusalem, perhaps so that he would not touch a sensitive “political nerve” in the king. He appealed to the king’s sense of respect—his sense of “rightness” regarding proper respect for the dead. Nehemiah said the city where his ancestors were buried was in ruins and the gates had been burned (cf. 1:3). This was a sad state of affairs for the Jewish city. Seventy-one years before (in 515 b.c.), the temple had been rebuilt. The year was now 444; yet the city itself still needed much rebuilding.

Artaxerxes’ heart responded to Nehemiah’s statements. So he asked Nehemiah what the king might do about the situation. With Judea being a Persian province, the cupbearer may have reasoned that perhaps the king would now be sensitive to Jerusalem’s condition.

Obviously Nehemiah had prepared for this moment he had prayed for. Besides seeking God’s help in prayer, he utilized all the human resources available, including his intellectual capabilities, his past experiences, his accumulated wisdom, his role and position in life, and people with whom he came in contact (in this instance, the king of Persia).

Speaking with courtesy and humility (your servant), Nehemiah asked the king to send him to the city in Judah where his ancestors were buried so that he might rebuild the city. The fact that the queen was seated there suggests this was a private gathering, since it was not customary for queens to appear at formal banquets.
The king then asked Nehemiah when he would return. This question indicated that the king would give him permission. Nehemiah responded immediately with a specific time frame, again indicating forethought on his part.

Nehemiah then asked for the biggest favor yet. Knowing he would face opposition from his enemies, he requested letters of permission from the king to allow him to pass through the various provinces in the Trans-Euphrates, the large area west of the Euphrates River. Nehemiah also asked that the king write a letter to Asaph, the man in charge of the king’s forest. Nehemiah knew he would need access to timber for rebuilding the gates and the wall and other parts of the city. The citadel was a fortification to protect the temple. The fact that Nehemiah knew the name of the man in charge of the king’s forest near Jerusalem may indicate that he had done some careful research.

Artaxerxes’ permission to rebuild the city of Jerusalem is the decree Daniel had prophesied 95 years earlier in 539 b.c. Though Nehemiah had worked diligently to prepare himself for the time when he would have opportunity to share his burden with the king, and though he demonstrated unusual wisdom in responding to the king’s questions, he knew that ultimately his success depended on God’s help. So he wrote that the king’s granting of his requests was because God’s gracious hand... was upon him.

SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)

At the end of chapter one, we see the first thing a leader does when he is aware of a need - He prays. He/She does other things besides pray but that's the first thing they do. If you look at Nehemiah’s prayer, you'll see it is designed as model for our own prayer life. I encourage you to develop a formal prayer list so you could see God start to work through your prayer life!

Right after prayer, the next step a leader takes is that they plan. You pray and then you plan. This passage reveals Nehemiah as a master planner. We're going to look at the six things he did.

#1. They Think it through
v. 1, "In the month of Nisan" (remember, he heard the report back in Kislev – November or December. Now it is Nisan – March or April) four months he's been waiting for something to happen. Now, something happens. What had been happening between when Nehemiah first got the idea of rebuilding the wall and when he actually got the opportunity to present his program to the king. What had he been doing? He'd been praying, but he also had been planning. We know that by the way he responded to the king when the king said, "What do you want." Nehemiah knew what to ask for because he had been planning.

Howard Hendricks said, "Nothing is more profitable than serious thinking, and nothing is more demanding." Leaders set aside time for think time; time to get away, time to plan, time to reflect and pray. Folks, we all need to build into our schedule regular time away, to hear from God, so he can renew our hearts and our minds!

Proverbs 13:16 says, "A wise man thinks ahead; a fool doesn't and even brags about it." It's wise to spend time thinking about your life. Ask yourself three questions: Where am I now? Where do I want to be? How will I get there? That's what Nehemiah did. He was thinking it through. He was praying for four months but he was also planning.

What happens when you pray and plan? God gives you a vision. That's the mark of all leadership. You've got to have vision to be a leader. Question: What’s God’s vision for your life? What does He want to do through you? Not some innocuous general idea but a specific plan and specific vision. Leadership Law: Failing to plan is planning to fail! You've got to think it through.

#2. They Prepare for opportunities
v. 1 "In the month of Nisan the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes the wine was brought to him. I took the wine and I gave it to the king and I had not been sad in his presence before. So the king asked me, `Why does your face look so sad and you're not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.' I was very much afraid."

This is the moment Nehemiah has been waiting for. He's been praying for an opportunity to present his idea to the king. He's got an opportunity now to state his case. Because he had planned he was ready with the answer. (David and Goliath) Have you heard people say, "That guy has all the luck. He gets all the breaks.” I've found that the more I plan, the luckier I get. The opportunities are there you just have to be ready for them.

Notice he had a sad face. He had a burden he couldn't hide. I can imagine him thinking "God, aren't you going to do anything about this wall. I've been praying for it." Finally the king says, "What's wrong, Nehemiah?" Notice it says "I was afraid." In those days it was a capital crime to be sad before the king. If you frowned in the presence of the king you'd get your head cut off. If you were depressed in the presence of the king, that was it! Notice it says, "This is the first time I ever appeared sad." Nehemiah took a huge risk to do what he did!

Leadership Law: Leaders move ahead in spite of their fears. There is a myth that leaders are never afraid. Courage is moving ahead in spite of your fear.

Maybe you have a vision from God, a heart do great things for Him. But fear has so far stopped you. Maybe you have a friend or a neighbor or a family member you need share the good news of Jesus Christ with, but fear has stopped you. Fear of rejection, fear of ridicule. Leaders, people who make their lives count, they move ahead in spit of their fears!

#3. They Establish a goal
v. 5 "I answered the king, `If it pleases the king and your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so I can rebuild the wall.'" Nehemiah gets specific here. He establishes a goal. He's very specific: He tells the King I want to rebuild the wall.

Goal setting is the next step in planning. You have to have a target. If you aim at nothing, you're going to hit it every time. Ask yourself two questions: What do I want to be? What do I want to do? Those are the questions you ask in establishing a goal.

Let me share something with you, most of us make two errors in goal setting: We set them too low and we try to accomplish them too quickly. Inch by inch anything is a cinch. Set big goals, make big plans -- so big that God has to bail you out! God loves big planning. It honors God to be a big planner. Folks, I have big plans for COV. Unbelievable huge crazy big dreams. I am not crazy myself, but I believe in a big God who can deliver on those dreams. Dreams of having 5 packed services here on weekends. Dreams of planting several other churches in the valley. Dreams of having several different multi-cultural worship services here. A dream of a beautifully landscaped campus. A dream of several portable buildings erected here to house all the children of all the families we will reach. A dream of a student ministries department that reaches hundreds of students for Christ! Should I go on?

What do you want God to use you to do? What’s your goal? Your dream? Your vision?

#4. They Set a deadline
When God put’s a burden on your heart, first, bathe it in prayer. Then think it trough. Prepare for the opportunities. Then you establish a goal. And then number four, you set a deadline.

Verse. 6 "Then the king with the queen setting beside him asked me, `How long will your journey take? and when will you get back' And I said, `It pleased the king to send me, so I set a time.'" He established a deadline.

A goal must have a deadline. If your goal doesn't have a deadline on it, it's not a goal. First, you know what you want to do and then you know when you want to do it. Ask the question: How long will it take? When will I finish? What’s the deadline? For those of you who manage people – oversee others, do you want your people to be more effective? More efficient? When you set goals, give them directions or tasks, always attach a deadline to it. Winston Churchill said “a task without a deadline is like a race with no finish line - – ultimately, it is a gigantic and monumental waste of time.”

#5. They Anticipate the problems.
Nehemiah’s already asked for permission to go, now he's asking for protection. v. 7 "If it pleases the king may I have letters to the governors of Trans Euphrates so that they will provide me safe conduct until I arrive in Judah." It's about 1000 mile journey between Iraq and Israel. He's got to go through a lot of provinces. You didn't travel freely in those days - Nehemiah said, "I want you to give me letters of authority so I'll have clear sailing , I need traveling permits to travel unhindered."

This is a clear example of planning. He was not just praying during those four months but he was also planning so that when the opportunity arose he could say what he needs.

Question to ask yourself in your own planning : What could hold me back? In planning a project, ask yourself, What could go wrong? If anything could go wrong, it will. (example of planning a trip with interns. I always required them to come up with a list of 30 things that could go wrong, and have a plan for each of them)

Proverbs 22:3 (Living Bible)says, "A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences." One of the laws of life is that it's always easier to get in than it is to get out. It's easier to get into debt than it is to get out of debt. It's easier to get into a relationship than out of a relationship. It's easier to fill up your schedule than to eliminate things from your schedule. It's a principle of life in every area. A wise man counts the cost.

Nehemiah is thinking ahead. He's already thought ahead where he wants to go. He's already thought ahead when he wants to go. Now he's anticipating the problems. What problems might we encounter here at COV?

#6. They Calculate the cost
v. 8 "And may I have a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?" Nehemiah gives the king a shopping list. Remember, Nehemiah is not a contractor. He's never built anything in his life. He's a cupbearer. Yet, when the opportunity arose he rattled off exactly what he needed. Why? He had planned.

How did Nehemiah know what to ask for? He calculated the cost. How in the world did he know there was a royal forest near Jerusalem? Advance planning. He even knew the name of the foreman, the keeper of the forest – Asaph!

If Nehemiah had not had his planning done he wouldn't have been prepared. But because his planning had been so well thought out he knew exactly what to ask for. He had calculated the cost. Leadership Law: Leaders are willing to ask other people for help.

Luke 14:28 says, "If one of you is planning to build a tower, he sits down first and figures out what it will cost to see if he has enough money to finish the job." Who's speaking? Jesus. Jesus is advocating counting the cost.

Leadership law: The wisest risks are those taken after prayer and wise counsel. We need to count the cost! And, at the end of the day, you need to determine are you ready to pay the price? Why don't you read Luke 14:25-34 sometime today, to see if you're ready to pay the price.

I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.