Have Faith in God When Facing Opposition (Jake Enns)

I've titled our sermon this morning Have faith in God when

Facing opposition. A lot of things in life have a

very good start, but sometimes a very hard journey.

For instance, a young couple gets married as a very good

start. They are happy, they're in love,

everything is good. But then as life moves on,

there's difficulties because there's opposition and it

becomes challenging. It can be a lot of things in

life, could be a job starts great, all is all, all is good.

But then as time goes on, there's all kinds of challenges

that come with it. In our sermon series this

morning, we're continuing in the story of Nehemiah.

We've seen in the in the previous sermons how he lived in

Babylon and he hears news about Jerusalem.

It's broken down, the walls are broken, the gates are burned,

and he's struggling with that whole thing.

It becomes a burden on his heart.

He agonizes, he prays, God lays on his heart to actually go and

do it, to make to condense the story.

He ends up going to Jerusalem. He takes on this huge task of

rebuilding the wall and to bring security and stability back to

the city of Jerusalem. And there's a lot of help.

The people are very united. They are very on board, but then

there's all kinds of challenges that come up.

They've had a great start, but a good start does not mean it's

always going to be good and last.

Nehemiah, last Sunday, we saw how Nehemiah did a great job at

organizing the building project and how it moved forward at a

rapid pace, How his leadership and his dedication and the unity

of the people brought forth good results from their labor.

They were committed. Most of them were helpful if you

weren't, but it was not all good.

Serious opposition rose up to threaten the work and the lives

of the workers. And in a few minutes we want to

turn again to Nehemiah and look at how he responded to the

opposition that was directed towards him.

But before we turn to Nehemiah and look at the opposition he

and his people faced and how they responded, I want to

briefly point out in another story of Scripture how this kind

of stuff unfolds and how it develops and how it happens.

This whole idea of opposition in the Bible is very common.

There's a lot of it. Opposition is a form of control

and we find opposition in all areas of life.

People do it right from childhood on.

Children oppose their parents and and husband and wife oppose

each other. There's all kinds of opposition

everywhere. And when 2 forces meet and they

can't come to an agreement, there's a victor and a loser and

on it goes. It can be long lasting, can be

deadly. In the Bible, there's a story of

two brothers, Cain and Abel, sons of Adam and Eve.

They grew up together into adulthood and each had their own

way of making a living. We find one was a farmer, he

raised crops. Cain, the older one, the younger

brother was Abel. And he, he had, he had flocks of

sheep, sheep and goats maybe. And one day they both decided

we're going to bring an offering to God from the flock, Abel from

the flock and came from his produce.

And it says that they both bought an offering, but God did

not look favorably at on Cain's offering, but he favored Abel's

offering. And here Cain had a problem and

he was angry towards God that God would not accept his

offering. God was not favorable toward his

offering. So Cain had a bad attitude.

God spoke to Cain and said, is it right for you and, and Cain,

he said to Cain, sin is at your heart store.

You must have mastery over it. Cain did not choose to change

his attitude. He did not choose to repent.

But in his mind his problem was his brother.

If he could get rid of his brother, his problem would be

gone. Actually, it was God who we had

a problem with, but He took it out on Abel because Abel was the

one who got favored. If could get rid of Cain, Abel,

then that would be gone. And so he figured he would get

rid of Abel. And he did.

And God held him accountable. Abel was gone, but God held Cain

responsible for what he did. You see, Cain's security, his

sense of well-being, his view of life revolved around himself at

the expense of others, in this case his brother Abel.

Abel had to be eliminated. So why am I telling this kind of

a story? As an introduction to the story

of Nehemiah and the opposition that Nehemiah faced?

Here's the reason. When a person's only way to

advance, to rise, to become strong, to be in control, when

all of that is based on how that person has to reduce others,

control others, reject others, disenfranche others, that person

or that society is headed for trouble.

They may succeed for a while, but in the end it always catches

up. Obviously Cain was self focused.

He could not accept that his brother Abel was accepted, but

he was not. Instead of saying what am I

doing wrong to get accepted, he said I got to get rid of him.

And so he took Abel's life. Some people only find their

security in what they can take away from the other person.

It comes in a lot of different forms.

When someone feels threatened by you, they may attack you in a

variety of ways. For instance, maybe your

credibility, character, defamation, slander, you have

it. It could be anything.

They may see you have opportunities for success

instead of supporting you, the scheme and plan and connive how

they can take that away, crippling you to elevate

themselves. They may see you succeeding in a

certain way and can't take it. And so we've got to sabotage

this. It's a painful place to be when

a person is doing their best, living at their calling, and

someone comes along, wants to destroy that.

That's what Nehemiah faced. When Nehemiah started to build

the wall, rebuild the wall, there were strong oppositions.

There were people who were bent and destroying and eliminating

this whole project and him as well.

This morning we will see how Nehemiah was used by God to

rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Not because there was so much

support all around, No, the king supported him, the king

sponsored it. But in the area there was

communities around who had no use for Nehemiah and actually

wanted it stopped rebuilding the wall with the resource they had

and the limitations they faced. The project in itself was

daunting. It was huge.

But the physical part was not so much the real issue.

The bigger part was the opposition they would face from

some local communities in the area.

What's interesting about Nehemiah is that he never wants

so much as wavered. His was resolute.

He was determined and he was strong.

And he didn't wait to rebuild the wall until, OK, let's see if

we can get the community on board and let's see if they

agree with us. Maybe we can live side by side.

And no, this is what he'd been called to do.

The city of Jerusalem, King, the Arctic circus has has given the

go ahead. We're going to rebuild the wall.

But that did not exempt him from opposition.

So this morning let's read together Nehemiah chapter 4.

Nehemiah 4 · chapter mention

I'll read it out of the new King James.

Nehemiah chapter 4. But it so happened that when

Nehemiah 4 · chapter mention

Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was

furious and very indignant and mocked the Jews.

He spoke before his brethren in the army of Sumeria and said,

What are these feeble Jews doing?

Will they fortify themselves? Will this offer sacrifices?

Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from

the heaps of rubbish stones that are burnt?

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and said, Whatever

they build, even if a fox goes up on it, he will break down

their Stonewall. Here, O God, our God, he praised

Nehemiah, for we are despised. Turn their reproach on their own

heads and give them as plunder to a land of captivity.

Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted

out from before you, for they have provoked you to anger

before the builders. So we built the wall, and the

entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the

people had a mind to work. Now it happened when Sanballat

Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the ashrides heard

that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were

beginning to be closed. They became very angry and all

of them conspired to attack together, to come and attack

Jerusalem and create confusion. Nevertheless, we made our prayer

to God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and

night. Then Judah said the strength of

the laborers is failing, and there's so much rubbish that

we're not able to build a wall. And our adversary said they will

neither know nor see anything until we come into their midst

and kill them and cause the work to cease.

So it was when the Jews who dwelt near them came.

They told us 10 times, from whatever place you turn, they

will be upon us. Therefore, I position men behind

the lower parts of the wall. At the openings.

I set the people according to their families, with their

swords, their Spears and their bows.

And I looked in a rose and said to the nobles, to the leaders,

and to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them.

Remember the Lord great and awesome, and fight for your

brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your

houses. And it happened when our enemies

heard that it was known to that to us, and that God had brought

their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall,

everyone to His work. So it was from that time on that

half of my servants worked at the construction, while the

other half held the Spears, the shores, the bows, and wore

armour, and the leaders were behind all the House of Judah.

Those who built on the wall and those who carried burdens loaded

themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction and

with the other held a weapon. Every one of the builders had

his sword girded at his side as he built, and the one who

sounded the trumpet was beside me.

Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the

people. The work is great and extensive,

and we are separated far from one another on the wall.

Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet rally to us there

our God will fight for us. So we labored in the work, and

half of the men held the Spears from Daybreak until the stars

appeared. At the same time I also said to

the people that each man and his servant stay at night in

Jerusalem, that they may be our guard by day by night, and the

working party by day. So neither I, my brethren, my

servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, took off

their clothes, except that everyone took them off for

washing. What a story of courage,

strength, resolve, determination despite a fierce opposition.

So what are we seeing here? Have faith in God when facing

opposition. Nehemiah had his hands full with

the building project. He was like he didn't need that

on the side. The building project itself was

challenging enough, never mind the opposition from the

community. So he had actually do some,

quite some multitasking there, keep things moving on the

building project and then to fend off or make sure the enemy

wouldn't come and over take them.

The Sambalot and his his guys. Sambalot was the governor of

Samaria and he did not see that this is his best interest of the

city of Jerusalem. He was governing the district of

Samaria while someone else was governing the district of

Jerusalem. And he felt threatened by this

project that was happening not that far away from his

territory. Commentators say it was about a

50 kilometer difference between the two.

Here's a chart that gives a little bit of perspective there.

So the dotted line is where they came from Babylon up north and

then to the to the West and down South past Damascus and then

Samaria and Jerusalem. Samaria and Jerusalem are right

neighbors each other. And those routes were trade

routes. They're from Egypt up to Babylon

were trade routes. And so commentators suggest that

it was really a question of how's it going to affect my

economy if that city gets built up again?

And so Sambalot, he did not want that.

Of course, King Arctic Circus had mandated it.

He'd give him the go ahead, but he was going to try to do his

best to stop it. Sambadat looked at the success

of Jerusalem as a threat to Samaria.

He didn't like it, and he had to do something to disrupt it.

And we read in verse one and two how he mocked, he ridiculed the

Jews and his his sidekick there as well to buy the Ammonite.

If a fox goes up on it, he'll break down their wall.

No, no, no, no respect, nothing. Stop the work, one commentator

wrote these words. He wrote Sambalot was a man of

this kind that he was not content with doing his very best

to make Samaria both prosperous and powerful.

He must also do his very best to keep Jerusalem downtrodden and

destroyed. Some people are not happy if

they're OK. I'm only happy if they're not

OK. Somebody else cannot be OK.

I want to be OK. They can't be OK.

They should not be OK. That's what's going on here.

And yet the Jews had a right to exist that everybody else did.

But he wanted them to remain downtrodden in subjection and

under his control. What a person is angry at or

angry about, that's a good indicator of what's inside.

We could ask this question. Would Sand Balat have been mad

or angry if Nehemiah had come from Babylon straight to him and

said, OK, Mr. Sand Balat, I know you're governing Syria.

So what can we do together? How can we cooperate?

How can we make a treaty? How can we work together?

I'll serve under you. Maybe it would have been a

different story, but that was not the mandate.

He was jealous, angry and afraid that this Nehemiah was going to

be a competition to him. People who are jealous, angry,

and afraid are dangerous people, dangerous character qualities.

If you mix that together, it's very, very unstable, may blow up

one person. Put it this way, when anger and

jealousy are mixed with power, they create a storm that can

destroy everything in its path, including the one who wields it.

Sandblock clearly demonstrated his character, gathered his

army, updated them. What are these guys doing, these

people? Jews.

His friend, his friend and ally, Tobiah the Ammonite joined him,

and then the other guys as well. If you're doing something for

the betterment of your community and it's perceived as a threat

by your culture, you will have opposition.

Sambalot did not want to see Jerusalem become successful as

it had been many decades earlier.

He needed to see Jerusalem in the state it was now.

He needed Jerusalem broken down and dejected and discouraged,

and he wanted to keep it that way.

Some people, when they see someone else have success, it

bothers them. They don't have they don't have

peace if someone else has a good.

They can only have peace if you call it peace as long as someone

else does not have it. As soon as life becomes better

for the other, their peace is gone.

It has been said that some people think it this way.

It ain't right if it ain't wrong.

And his mind, Jerusalem had to be wrong for he for him to have

a good time. He could only accept the

Jerusalem that was broken down, not one that was built up and

repaired. People reveal their character

when they devalue what another is doing in order to evaluate,

elevate themselves. It's interesting how some people

can only make themselves look good by criticizing and knocking

down anybody every else around them.

We need to expect that the world will not be our friend in this

in our lives. We need to expect the world will

do what it can to throw us down. The story in the Bible of

Daniel, as many of you know, he made it to the top, the top

administrator under King Darius in Babylon.

A bunch of other administrators were alongside with him and King

elevated him. They got jealous and decided

Daniel has to go. Daniel stayed true in his walk

with God and he had to face the lions for his obedience to God.

But in the end, God spared him and it was the jealous

administrators who then had to experience what they had planned

for Daniel. Sambalot and his people would

fail and Nehemiah would succeed. Daniel succeeded and the

administrators failed. Nehemiah was in many ways

similar to Daniel. He had a strong character.

He wouldn't bow to threats. So what's the best way forward

in a case like this? When you're opposed your works

belittled and ridiculed, mocked and downplayed, What then?

How should you respond? Fight back.

Let's go and attack them. Let's kill them.

Let's let's eliminate them, right?

Does that what Nehemiah does? How did Nehemiah respond to the

opposition? What did he do?

Well, let's keep going. Verse four and five, he says

here, O God, for we're despised, Turn the reproach in their own

heads. Give them as plunder to a land

of captivity. Nehemiah prays, that's the first

thing he engages in. Instead of lashing out towards

them and and even engaging them, he goes to God in prayer, a very

clear, decisive prayer. He calls out to God, tells God

what's going on. Not that God needs to know

what's going on. God knows what's going on.

But for Nehemiah, he's, he needed to say this to God for

his own sake. And the same holds true for you

and I today. When we pray, we do not pray to

inform God. He knows.

We pray to get ourselves aligned with God.

And when we're aligned with God, God can use us for the things he

wants for us. God never told Nehemiah go to

Jerusalem and then fight against the Samaritans or against the

against Sambalot and his his gang never said that.

And but Nehemiah prayed for protection from them and that

God would do work justice. And the question we could ask,

was it wrong for Nehemiah to pray for that kind of a justice?

Nehemiah lived under the Old Covenant of the Old Testament.

The Old Testament Exodus 21 is specifically is a clear outline

of how people in that time were supposed to deal with violence

and oppression and and warfare and so on and and whatever

criminal events and so on. But under the new covenant Jesus

model for us how to deal with those who hate us and oppose us.

We're not given liberty to deal with them in our own discretion

selfish ways. We're supposed to leave that to

God. And this is not to say law

enforcement is wrong. It's just that we as Christians

have a different mandate in the Gospels and Nepal in his

letters, he clearly specifies how do we respond to those who

press us and hate us. We love them, we don't persecute

them. And for Nehemiah, this is not

primarily about the wall even it was about God's name and he was

concerned about San Balat and his people were doing to the

name of God. The key reason for his prayer in

the end of the verse where it says they've provoked you,

meaning God to anger. We need always to check our

motives, the reasons why we're praying.

And so we were called to build a wall in God's name.

Does it bother us when God's name is mocked or when his work

is threatened? And Nehemiah's day, God's work

was threatened and he prayed about it.

Again. Nehemiah did not go on the

attack, try to kill them. He did weaponize his people, arm

his people for defence. They stood guard, but not with

the intent of wanting to cause pain and hurt.

So Nehemiah and his people continued to build.

They did not listen or pay attention to the threats of San

Balat and his men. They kept focusing on the work.

So where should our focus be? What should we focus on?

Well, when opposed, keep faith and faith keep moving forward.

We're sometimes told wait on the Lord.

That's a good advice. Wait on the Lord.

While that is true, we're not told to stop moving.

It's interesting how often one threat can just have a crippling

effect on a person. Nehemiah was not stopped by the

taunting, the mocking, the ridiculing.

He kept on working right through the threats as if they did not

exist. They did exist, he responded,

but he kept the working as if they didn't.

And of course they impeded it somewhat, but he kept going.

There's a story in the Bible that I want to quickly refer to,

the story of Elijah, a prophet in Israel.

And the nation of Israel was in such heavy idolatry.

God said to Elijah, go and tell the king it's not going to

reign, for till I say it will reign.

And Elijah prophesied and the famine came.

There was no rain. And finally, one day, Elijah has

this contest with the prophets of Baal and said, we're going to

have a sacrifice. You guys sacrifice, I'll

sacrifice. And the God, the God who answers

by fire is the real God. Can they have the sacrifice?

The prophets of Baal, they sacrifice, Nothing happens.

Elijah sacrifices and God answers by fire.

Then he kills all the prophets of Baal and now it's a great

victory. And he's so such a victorious

event. Well, Jezebel, the queen hears

about it and she said, I'm going to make you like one of those

dead prophets. And then Elijah hits a low spot.

He literally wanted to die. He was so weak, so tired, so

exhausted. It was a journey God had had

ordained for him, true, but he couldn't see his way through.

He said, God just let me die. I'm no better than my

forefathers. Nothing's working.

Just just Take Me Home already. He didn't get to die.

God didn't allow it, and his life continued.

He had a fruitful ministry afterward, but that was not

God's plan for Elijah. But so often people take that

route. I'm just going to give up, just

going to quit. I'm just going to lay it all

down. Nehemiah never had that.

Nehemiah kept right on going. That's what amazes me so much

with this guy. It says in verse 6, let's look

at it again. So we built the wall in spite of

everything that went on, and the entire wall was joined together

up to half its sight for the people who had a mind to work.

He did say, oh our Oh dear, our enemies, they don't like us,

they'll want us to stop. What do we do?

What do we do? Chewing his nails, biting his

nails, nothing like that. He kept right on going in spite

of all the opposition. He says, so we built the wall,

the workers did not stop. Instead of in spite of being

mocked and ridiculed, someone has made the comments.

Sticks and stones, we break my bones, but words will never hurt

me. Words do hurt even though they

weren't physically attacked. Words have power.

And then Elijah was a was a victim of that and so can we be.

So how did Nehemiah stand against the danger of attack?

He didn't run. We know that.

He stayed true to his task. And so stand guard against

attacks on God's work. Stand guard in Modern Warfare,

sometimes said to a regiment or a platoon of soldiers and army.

No retreat. You have to hold your position

to the last man. What that means is the soldiers

not at liberty to retreat or abandoned his post if the

fighting gets hot and severe, even to the cost of his life.

And they do that. There's a similar parallel in

discipleship. It's an all out call for all out

commitment with no option for retreat.

Anyone who decides to follow Jesus is essentially saying that

for as long as I live, he's my number one, and in his honor I

will take everything that comes. We say that at baptism.

When we get baptized, we say we've said no to sin.

We've crucified our sinful lives, we've taken up our cross.

We're now dead to sin for the rest of our lives at the cost of

our earthly lives. We will serve Jesus.

It comes down to this. No matter what the cost, walking

with Jesus, living for Jesus, it's not negotiable.

The work must go on, and we find that when #7 now what happened

when San Balat, Tabayan, the Arabs, the Ammonites and

astronites heard the walls of Jerusalem were restored, the

gaps were being closed. They became very angry, and all

of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and

create confusion. Nevertheless, we made our prayer

to God, our God, because of them.

We set a watch against them. Day and night didn't stop

building. They kept on going.

Their mockery, ridiculing, wasn't having an effect on them.

Instead of stopping the work, the wall just kept growing and

they got very angry and they knew what was coming.

If Jerusalem becomes strong, then they're not the top dog

anymore. Let's look at verse 8.

It says all of them conspired together to come and attack

Jerusalem and create confusion. That was their motive.

That was their objective. It's no different today.

What is to be done in war? How should Nehemiah respond to

this effort from the Samaritan governor?

He didn't go out and fight. He armed his workers, but not to

stop building the wall. And sure, it was slowed down

somewhat, but they kept on going and said they made their prayers

to God. They were continuing and ongoing

challenges. And there was other issues.

The strength, the strength of the laborers was failing.

There's so much rubbish and so on.

The adversaries say they will. They won't see, they won't know

who will come and destroy them. It was a much greater task than

we can see from our vantage point.

It was humanly impossible, so to speak.

They didn't have a trained army necessarily.

They needed support. So what does Nehemiah do?

He equips them, he says. So it was when the Jews who

dwelt near them, they came and told us 10 times from whatever

place you turn there will be upon us.

He said, therefore I position men, we're thirteen, behind the

lower parts of the wall, and he positioned these men there,

armed them with swords and weapons, and reminded them,

don't be afraid, the Lord will fight for you.

They've been told 10 times you'll be attacked.

But Nehemiah takes charge. He's a good leader.

He's a true leader, and he invites the people to follow him

and encourages people to stand strong and fight for their

families. And you know what the enemies

lost. That happened.

When our enemies heard that, it was known to us that God had

brought their plot to nothing. Then all of us returned to the

wall, everyone to his work. All that scheming and planning

and talking that those enemies did, nothing worked.

It tells us they, these workers, they held a weapon in one hand,

work with the other. So it slowed them down but

didn't stop them. It says they had, every one of

the builders had a sword girded as a side as he built.

And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me, meaning

Nehemiah. So the odds against which these

leaders work were huge. These workers were doing 2 jobs,

actually guarding. That's a job.

And they were working. And the war alarm sound could,

could sound any time. So they, they, they were not,

you know, OK, we'll get ready when it happens.

They had to be ready if it happened.

So the labor in the work, half of the men held Spears from

Daybreak till the stars appeared.

And Nehemiah instructed them, stay in Jerusalem at night, be

on your guard and work during the day.

So they did night shift and day shift.

He says we didn't even take our clothes off except to wash them.

We're not immune from all of this.

Spiritually, the parallel is the same.

Our work may slow down because of attacks in our position that

comes our way, but that's something we can't control.

So we must be watchful, we must be ready, we must be in guard

whether we're in bed at night, whether we're out about during

the day, We're at work every all the time.

In Ephesians, the apostle Paul told the the the readers, this

Church of Ephesus to be guard, to guard themselves with the

armor of God. He says in verse 10, Ephesians

Ephesians 6:10

6, verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong

in the Lord, in the power of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand

against the Wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against

flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,

against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against

spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be

able to withstand the evil day. And having done all to stand,

we'll be opposed. We are being opposed.

Opposition's going on. So how do we stand?

This is, how are we dressed? Are we ready when the alarm

sounds? That's not, that's not the time

to get ready. That's the time to be ready.

We must not allow evil to derail us from our call.

We must not allow evil to discourage us in our work for

God. When we're opposed, it's not

really us who's being opposed, it's God who's being opposed.

We're the vessels, and God wants to use us, use us for His

Kingdom. So what opposition do you and I

have to deal with today? We will and we do place

ourselves under someone or something.

Cain allowed himself to be controlled by his anger towards

God and toward his brother and brought him to ruin.

Daniel in the Bible stood strong in the face of opposition and

reaped a great reward. Nehemiah had a huge task before

him. To rebuild the temple, to

rebuild the wall, had a lot of different people working for him

under his leadership. It was a daunting task, but he

remains steadfast and achieved a very big milestone of victory in

his life. And so when Nehemiah and his

people in this project got mocked, ridiculed, they just

kept going. What does it take to discourage

you and I who are the sandbulots in our lives?

Nehemiah remained close to God in his faith, and he prayed in

confidence and trust. He made adjustments in the

program, armed. His work has kept on building.

One thing was clear with Nehemiah, he would not allow any

opposition to interfere with his calling or his work.

He was faithful to his call. He was not a man who quit.

No matter what opposition he faced, he overcame every

obstacle. Nehemiah believed.

Nehemiah lived what he believed. No mount could distract him or

derail him. We must think about this for

ourselves. If God would call you and I to a

task such as he gave Nehemiah, how well would we do?

How far would we get? Too often well meaning people

promised to just over pray about it.

We'll pray about it and that's it.

But then nothing happens. I want to read short in the

piece I read from Jay Vernon McGee.

Some of you know him from years back.

He wrote the following. He says when I was a pastor, I

asked a man to do something. He said, well, I'll pray about

it. He said, wait a minute, if

that's your way of saying no to me, say it right now to my face

and I'll find someone else to do it.

I don't think you need to pray about this matter.

Either you will or you won't. Which is it?

To tell the truth, he wouldn't do it.

He was just putting me off and our conversation enabled me to

find someone else for the job. There are many people today who

simply mouth pious platitudes, McGee continues.

He says Nehemiah could could have uttered a pious platitude.

You guys said we're trusting the Lord.

We won't do anything in other ways.

We'll just wait till it gets easier.

Less opposition. That's the easy way out.

That's what many people do today.

They said they're trusting the Lord.

No evidence. What are they doing?

If you really trust the Lord, you'll do something.

Nehemiah knew the enemy is plotting to come against him.

They were opposing him, so he said a watch.

That's what God expected him to do.

Of course we should pray, yes, and do a lot of it.

But our prayers need actions behind them, actions by us, you

and I. So what does this matter for you

and I today? Opposition will come, no

question. The reality is not will it come

this, what will we do when it comes?

So let's live as Nehemiah did. Let's not be like Cane or we got

to kill the opposition, really extend a lot less.

So we got to get rid of this these or even get discouraged

like Elijah did. Oh, I'm just going to quit.

I'm just going to quit. Rather be like Nehemiah, be like

Daniel, allow God's Spirit to work on our hearts and heat his

call. We want our lives to be holy,

dedicated, committed in spite of all opposition to this

faithfully, freely, and with integrity and devotion.

Follow our God. Let's pray.

Thank you Lord, for the book of Nehemiah and the work that you

did through him in this world. We can read of his experience

today and see how you were with him and how you guided him.

Lord, I pray that we would be sold out to You as Nehemiah was.

We be on fire with Your love, living out Your gospel in our

community so others may see you in our lives as Nehemiah did.

We ask, Lord, that Your Spirit will continue to draw us, equip

us to faithfully walk with You at all times.

We thank you, Lord Jesus, we pray in your name, Amen.