Week 1: Steps to Restart
Week 2: What’s your Plan
Week 3: Teamwork Im In
- There is no opportunity without opposition
- Opportunity + Opposition= Gods Will
1 Corinthians 16:9 TPT There’s an amazing door of opportunity standing wide open for me to minister here, even though there are many who oppose and stand against me.
One of the greatest tests of Character is going to be how you handle opposition.
- One of the reasons for the Nehemiah story of rebuilding a wall around Jerusalem is.
- Disapproval
- Criticism
- Opposition
- Harassment . for what you believe, faith
- To teach us how to handle inevitable opposition effectively
- God wants you to be prepared to handle
2 Peter 3:3 NIV Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
Phillippians 1:29 NLT For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him
2 Timothy 3:12 MSG Anyone who wants to live all out for Christ is in for a lot of trouble;
2 Corinthians 2:11 NIV in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
5 Ways the Opposition Tried to Stop Nehemiah’s Work
They used RAGE. Neh.4:1,7
They used RIDICULE. Neh. 4:1-5
They used RACISM AND RESENTMENT. Neh. 4:1-2,12
They used RESISTANCE.
Nehemiah. 4:7-8, NIV They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.
They used RUMORS. Neh. 4:12
HOW PEOPLE WILL TRY TO STOP YOU WITH RIDICULE
People will ATTACK YOUR CHARACTER AND IDENTITY
Nehemiah. 4:1-2a “When Sanballat heard we were rebuilding the wall, he became very angry. He flew into a rage and ridiculed the Jews. To his allies and the military of Samaria, he said, ‘What does this pathetic bunch of feeble Jews think they’re doing?‘”
A personal attack is an emotional response, not a logical
People will ACCUSE YOU OF EVIL MOTIVES
Nehemiah 2:19b (NCV)
Nehemiah 4:2b (NAS) “Are they going to restore it for themselves.. .”
People will EXPLOIT PREDJUDICES AGAINST YOU
Nehemiah 2:19a (NCV) the Arabs heard of our plan, they made fun of us and laughed at us.”
Nehemiah. 4:7-8 Three different ethic backgrounds Made fun of the Jewish people. When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdoditesheard the repairs had started, they were very angry and plotted together. . . to stir up trouble against us.“
People will MAKE UP LIES AND STORIES
Psalm 38:12, 20 (NCV) “Those who want to hurt me plan trouble for me; All day long, they think up lies. . . . They repay me with evil for the good I’ve done and lie about me because I try to do good.“
Nehemiah. 4:2c “Do they think they’ll finish the wall in a day and then offer sacrifices to their god?“
People will PREDICT YOUR FAILURE
Nehemiah. 4:3″Then Tobiah, standing close by, joined in: ‘Right! What they’re building is so weak, it will collapse if just a fox tries to walk on that wall!’“
HOW SHOULD I HANDLE HATERS?
TELL GOD HOW IT UPSETS ME
Little people belittle others.
Nehemiah. 4:4-5 “So I prayed: ‘God, you can hear how they are making fun of us. Let their insults just fall back on their own heads and may they themselves become captives in a foreign land! Don’t ignore their guilt, because they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.”
CONFIDENTLY STATE THAT MY TRUST IS IN GOD
Nehemiah. 2:20a (NIV) “I answered them, ‘The God of heaven WILL give us success. We are his servants and we will start rebuilding!'”
Psalm 119:51 (GW) “Arrogant people mock me cruelly, but I do not turn away from your teachings!“
BE BETTER THAN THOSE WHO INSULT ME
Outlast and out classIf you wrestle with a pig, both of you are going to get muddy, and only one of you will enjoy it -Billy Graham
Romans 12:19-21 (NLT/NIV) “Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written, ‘I’ll take vengeance and I’ll repay those who deserve it,’says the Lord. Instead, do what the Scriptures say: ‘If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they’re thirsty, give them something to drink, and they’ll be ashamed of what they’ve done to you.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.“
Proverbs 25 21 and 22
1 Peter 3:9 (NCV) “Don’t do something wrong to repay a wrong, and don’t insult back to repay an insult. Instead repay it with a blessing. You’re called to do this so that you’ll get a blessing!”
1 Peter 3:16 NIV keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
“You can allow the names you call yourself to define you. You can let the labels that others give you define you… But if you allow those to loom larger in your heart and mind than the promises of God, they can fool you into missing God’s truth about who you are, into not pursuing the purpose God had in mind for you from the beginning of time.” – Undaunted, Christine Cane
MAKE GOD MY DEFENDER
Psalm 62:5-7 (GNT) I depend on God alone; I put my hope in him. He alone protects and saves me; he is my defender, and I shall never be defeated. My salvation and honor depend on God; he is my strong protector; he is my shelter.
Exodus 23:19, 22 (NIV) God: “Bring the best of the firstfruit of your harvest to the House of the Lord. . . . If you do what I say, I’ll be an enemy to your enemies and I’ll oppose those who oppose you!”
Malachi 3:10 NIV Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
REMEMBER, I’LL BE REWARDED FOREVER
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (MSG) These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.
Matthew 5:11-12a (NIV) “Blessed are you when people insult you or persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Be glad because your reward will be great in heaven!”
1 Corinthians 15:58 “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work, for you know that NOTHING you do in service for the Lord is ever worthless!”
It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither knows victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt-Man in the Arena