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Nehemiah 4:1-6
We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. You can also download our service at Baptist-Christian at iTunes. If we listed the reasons people get angry at us we would have quite a long list. God’s list isn’t so long! The only reason God gets angry is sin! God never gets mad at people, He gets angry at their sin! Anger causes all sorts of problems in all sorts of ways. Dealing with our own personal anger is hard enough, but dealing with someone else’s anger at us is even harder! Remember, no level of godliness on your part will prevent others from being angry with you at some point. The reason is – it’s easier to pull someone else down, than it is to pull yourself up! Opposition is always ready to ridicule/stop God’s people in doing His work! Let’s consider some reasons angry people tried to discourage Nehemiah.
- THE FEAR OF BEING DISPLACED! Notice DISplaced, not REplaced! Sanballat and his crony Tobias we the local big-shots. They used their titles to intimidate the people, keep them under their thumbs, and run the show! Read Ezra and finish reading Nehemiah and you will learn neither of these men understood true leadership principles. Tobiah should have known godly leadership principles because he was a Jew. The problem – he was a legalist! The intent of these two men was to discourage the people causing them to doubt their own abilities to change for the better. If they could keep the people “down” they could continue their reign of legalism. Notice also
- THE FAITH THAT BRINGS DETERMINATION. Under Zerubbabel the Jews rebuilt the Temple. In that 20 year period God not only led them to rebuild the Temple, He also rebuilt their faith that He had not abandoned them. It is interesting to note that when God led Israel from captivity, the first thing He rebuilt was their place of worship! All hope and determination begins with a life that is centered around worship and fellowship with God! Sanballat and Tobias saw this and knew if the people grew in their faith, their power was short lived. That brings us to
- THE FOCUS THAT BEATS DISDAIN! If you were attacked by an ungodly person that wanted to stop you from doing what you KNEW God was leading you to do, what action would you take? Notice (vs. 4) these people prayed! They asked God to bring judgment on their tormentors. They didn’t seek revenge themselves, they asked God to help them! Notice how powerful corporate prayer can be! When the people had prayed asking God to deal with Sanballat and Tobias, the people were then free to focus on the work to be done! Here is the powerful lesson – when God’s people believe corporately, in harmony that any work or activity should be done, then any attempt to stop that work is a direct attack on God! Dear Christian, if you are on a course that you believe God has set for you, and you have prayed fervently seeking His guidance, and every part of your course is in perfect harmony with Scripture, then rest assured that you will succeed. Jesus promised persecution is one sure way you know you are following Him, read Matt. 5:10-12.
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