When the Haters Come – Discussion Notes
(Nehemiah 4:7-14; 9/2019; Dr. Baines, Jr. )
Click here to read Nehemiah 4:7-14
Read Nehemiah 4:7-14 — 7 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. 8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. 9 But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat. 10 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.” 11 Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.” 12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.” 13 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. 14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
Introduction: Have you ever tried to do God’s will and it seemed like so many haters tried to block your progress? Think about school, jobs, family, church, community, and self-care challenges. Our discussion centers around how, “We should counter negativity with prayerful work.”
Key Points:
1. We should be making progress. As they were making progress in our text (i.e., Neh. 4:7-14), we should be making progress in our lives. We should be making progress with our individual discipleship (see Lk. 9:23). This should include our mindset, health, and wealth.
We should be making progress with our relationships. This includes family and friends (see Eph. 5:22-6:4; Ecc. 4:12). We should be making progress with our church, which should include evangelism and disciple making (see Mt. 28:19-20). We should be making progress with helping our communities be better (see Mt. 5:13-16). Let’s work on making progress.
2. More progress often leads to more negativity. There was all kinds of negativity in our text. Passages like Ephesians 6:11-12 reminds us that saved people are in spiritual warfare with the devil.
The devil can use people to cause all kinds of stress in our lives. He can influence people to fight against us who don’t even know us. He can influence those who do know us to fight against us.
And he can influence us to start waddling in self-doubt, fear, discouragement, rebellion, apathy, and the like. Let’s be mindful that more progress can lead to more negativity.
3. Prayer should include praise. They prayed in our text. Our praying should include praising God. First, the bigger our God, the smaller our problems (see I Jn. 4:4). When our heads are right, we can face the lion’s den, fiery furnace, and even Calvary.
Second, the church ought to be a place of reminding one another that God is bigger than our problems (see Col. 3:16). Our singing, praying, preaching, interacting, and giving/spending should aim at praising the Lord. Let’s work on prayerfully praising the Lord.
4. Prayer and work go together. In our text they prayed and worked. Similar to faith and works (see Jm. 2:17), prayer and work go together. God is calling us to prayerfully work on our individual discipleship, churches, relationships, and contributions.
Prayer without work is negligent on our parts. And work with prayer is arrogant on our parts. Let’s work on prayerfully working to do God’s will.
5. God can see us through. God blessed those in our text to finish the wall in Nehemiah 6:15. God has a long track record of seeing His people through their trying times.
Think about how God saw Moses and the Israelites through at the Red Sea, Joshua and the Israelites through at the Jordan River, and David through with Goliath. Think about how God fed over 5,000 men, women, and children with a school boy’s lunch, gave sight to the blind, and raised Lazarus from the dead.
What God has done He is yet able to do. Let’s live like we trust God is still seeing His people through trying times. This kind of living should include obedience, joy, and confidence.
What is one thing you will take from this material and work on, in regard to your discipleship goals?
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