NEHEMIAH 4-6 HAVE VICTORY AGAINST THE ENEMYS TACTICS2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Nehemiah 4-6 Have Victory Against The Enemys Tactics

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016.

Well, this morning as we look at Nehemiah chapters 4 and 6, we are looking at a situation where there's this man named Nehemiah who is endeavoring to do a work for the Lord. God has called him to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the city walls. And so as he goes to

By the direction of the Lord and in agreement with what God is doing and saying to him, he goes to Jerusalem with the king's approval. He's got everything set, and he encourages the people of Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls that had been destroyed many years earlier. But as he begins to do this work in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, there comes against him great opposition.

These two characters, Sanballat and Tobiah, are kind of the primary guys leading this opposition. And they come against the work that is happening there in Jerusalem and against the work that Nehemiah is doing. Now, as I was considering these chapters this week and preparing for today, it was easy for me to relate that

to what Nehemiah was experiencing. And I think you can relate as well to the things that he went through in these chapters, because all of us know what it's like. As you walk with the Lord, you know what it's like to have opposition to

whenever you are attempting to do something for God. Whenever God puts something upon your heart to do for Him. Maybe there's a new discipline that God's put upon your heart. Maybe, you know, you did endeavor with us to go through the Bible in three years. And as you began that, you undoubtedly experienced some opposition in that.

If you've ever signed up for a mission trip, you've experienced opposition. You've experienced the attacks. And there's this opposition that comes whenever we try to do anything that God has set before us.

We, of course, are at the beginning of 2016 right now, and so perhaps you have made some New Year's resolutions. And I don't really do a New Year's resolution or that type of thing, but I usually do take the opportunity from transitioning out of the old year into the new year to do a New Year's resolution.

to seek the Lord and say, Lord, is there anything you want to change? Anything you want to do different? And there are things that the Lord has put upon my heart for me going forward. One of the things that he put upon my heart that I'm working through right now is listening to the Bible and kind of spending more time in my day just receiving from the word of God. And so I'm on a plan right now to listen to the Bible in 90 days.

And so as I'm doing work around the church and doing some things, taking care of chores and such, I'm just listening and allowing the word of God to minister to me. And so it's something God put on my heart. And you've probably experienced that. God's been speaking to you maybe about the way that you

are as a parent, and there's things that He wants you to do in ministering to your children and raising them in the ways of the Lord. Or maybe He's been speaking to you about how you are in the workplace and the way that He wants you to be a witness or to operate. Or maybe He's been challenging you to get involved in serving in different capacities or doing different things. We all are at different places, and God is dealing with us individually. And

But as the Lord puts those things on our hearts, and as we commit to doing them, and as we go forward in them, it is expected for us to experience opposition. And what I want to encourage you in this morning is how to handle that opposition by looking at the example of Nehemiah. And so I've titled the message this morning, Have Victory Against the Enemy's Tactics.

As we look at the example of Nehemiah and the attacks that he comes under, the tactics that Sanballat and Tobiah use against Nehemiah are parallel to, and really are a good picture for us, of the kind of tactics that Satan uses against us as we endeavor to do whatever God has put upon our hearts. We really do have an enemy.

Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5, verse 8, to be sober, to be vigilant, because your adversary, your enemy, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Satan wants to destroy you, and he wants to prevent you from doing the things that God wants you to do.

And so there is this opposition that you face, just like Nehemiah faced. And the way that he comes about, the way that he brings this opposition is not usually something, you know, that is never been done before.

But he has his tactics. He has his ways, his methods that he has been using from the very beginning and even today in your life and in my life. Consider what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2. In verse 10, he says, Verse 11 says,

lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. Now here Paul is dealing with the Corinthians who have a guy who was in sin but has now repented, and they're not sure how to handle that, and Paul is encouraging them, you need to now receive him back, accept him into the body of Christ because he has repented, and so he's forgiven. And

as he's dealing with that, he just gives a little side note here. He says, lest Satan should take advantage of us. So he says, you need to handle this appropriately because Satan is looking for an advantage. He's looking for something that he can use in your life, something he can use in the church, something he can use to bring destruction and to prevent the work that God wants to do.

But notice what Paul says. He says we're not ignorant of his devices. We're not ignorant of his strategies. We're not ignorant of his tactics.

And how is it that we're not ignorant? Well, again, because he's using the same tactics that he's always used. The technology might be different, but it's the same types of temptations and the same types of opposition that we experience. And so we can learn a lot from Nehemiah as we look at how he handled this opposition to help us understand how to handle the opposition that we experience as we seek to do what God has spoken to us.

And so there's five tactics I'd like to highlight for you here in Nehemiah chapter 4.

And then we'll also look at Nehemiah chapter 6. And the first tactic we'll see in chapter 4 verses 1 through 6 is that of discouragement. It's a popular tactic. It's an effective tactic that the enemy uses. In verse 1 of chapter 4, again, it says, "...but it so happened when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall that he was furious and very indignant and mocked the Jews."

Now, we don't know exactly what the root and the heart of Sanballat was and why he was so furious and so upset over this. But he doesn't want the walls to be built. He doesn't want that work to happen. And so the way he goes about attempting to stop the work, first of all, is he begins to mock. He begins to ridicule.

Because what he wants to do is cause the people of Jerusalem to be discouraged and give up. And so he presents some challenging questions there in verse 2. He says,

These guys are weak, man. They're not able to build a wall. What do they think they're doing? He's making fun. He's, you know, mocking them and causing them to be discouraged, to think little of themselves, to start thinking, yeah, you're right. We're not really builders. Why are we trying to do this? He's using this kind of attack to try to put a stop to the work.

He says those stones were burned. They're useless. How are they going to build again with those useless things? So the people are weak. The materials are useless. They're not going to be able to complete it in time. And so what's the point? Why don't you just give up?

is the message that he is bringing forth. Now, Sanballat has a sidekick. Every good enemy, every good villain needs a sidekick, right? Some comic relief. And so Tobiah jumps in and says, yeah, if a fox jumps on it, man, it'll just fall apart. And so this mocking, this ridicule is coming against the Jews.

attempting to bring discouragement and say, you know what? Yeah, you're right. Even if we get this built, it's not going to really last. We don't have the materials. It's not going to work, and it's just going to fall apart. So maybe we should just give up. That's what the intention is here of Sanballat and Tobiah. And it's the intention of your enemy, Satan, as well.

He will often bring discouragement against you as you endeavor to do the work of the Lord. It's about two years ago now I began to experience some serious discouragement and depression in my life. And I was just in a serious battle for months, about six or nine months, that there was just this battle going on where it wasn't, you know, Pastor David discouraging me and saying, Jerry, you're stupid. You should just give up.

But internally, I was having that battle, and the enemy was messing with my mind, and there was this struggle that was going on, and I was seriously wondering if maybe I'm not called to be a pastor anymore. Maybe God wants to do something different. Maybe I should be engaged in something that's, you know, more appropriate for my personality or, you know, the way that I am. And

And it was a really seriously challenging time where I was on the verge of giving up, you know, for just repeatedly. And I just had to fight back and fight back. And there was just this onslaught of discouragement in this way. And so again, I can relate to Nehemiah and understand what that's like. And I'm sure that you can as well as you seek to do things that God puts on your heart.

there will be attempts to discourage you. And it might be people in your life who are mocking you and ridiculing you. You know, you start bringing a Bible to work and then there's all the scorn and all the laughter, you know, and it can be effective at causing you to think, well, yeah, maybe I shouldn't, you know, try to do this thing that God has put on my heart. Or many times it's internal.

where the enemy throws those accusations into your own head and into your own heart, and you begin to wrestle and be discouraged as a result of it. And so what do we do when there is this opposition, when the enemy uses this tactic? Well, we can learn how to handle it by looking at the example of Nehemiah here in Nehemiah chapter 4. And he did two things. Number one, he prayed. And then number two, he kept working.

The first thing to do is to pray. Check out verse four. Nehemiah says, hear, O our God.

Now, I'm not going to get into the details of all of these verses that we're looking at today, but just looking at, you know, the general response here. And

Nehemiah, what he did in response to this opposition, in response to the mocking and the attempt to discourage, he went to God. And he says, God, we're despised. The enemy is despising us. And it's appropriate for us to take those things to the Lord, whether it be people in your life who are despising you or Satan who is despising you and bringing these attacks against you. Nehemiah says, don't forgive them of their sin.

Now, there are some who kind of fault Nehemiah, like, whoa, that's pretty harsh, you know. But the way I would look at this is that Nehemiah is essentially turning this situation and giving these people over to the Lord. Lord, you deal with them. I'm not going to try to fix this. I'm not going to try to pay them back for mocking me or ridiculing me or coming against the work. But Lord, we're doing your work and they're coming against that. And so, Lord, you do that.

He says at the end of verse five, they've provoked you to anger before the builders. They're mocking us, but really they're coming against you. So Lord, you handle them. You handle this situation. And that's the appropriate thing for us to do. As we feel discouraged, as that onslaught comes, to take it to God and say, here, our God, listen to what's going on. We're despised because you're precious in God's eyes.

He is not happy when you are despised. He doesn't take joy in that. Even if you kind of deserve it a little bit, he doesn't take joy in that. God says to Ezekiel, you know, that he doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked. He doesn't take pleasure when there's this kind of opposition and despising, especially as we are endeavoring to do what God's put upon our hearts and there's the attack that comes against it. And so we take it to the Lord and say, Lord, it's your battle.

But that's not all we do, and that's not all Nehemiah did. Check out verse 6. He says, Not only do we pray as we experience the discouraging opposition, the other thing that's really important that we also do is to keep working.

Again, the enemy's goal here in Nehemiah's situation and in your life is to get you to give up. I heard a pastor share a while back, Satan can't take it from you. So he endeavors to get you to give it up on your own. And you can apply that across the board to a variety of situations. Satan can't take away from you the blessings that God wants to give you.

So what he does is he attempts to convince you to give up on your own and not accept and not receive the blessings. Satan can't take your marriage away, but he endeavors to get you to destroy it on your own, to take it away on your own. Satan can't take away your family. He can't take away your time in the word. He can't take away anything that God wants to do in your life. And so what he does is he brings discouragement.

external or internal, to try to get you to give up on your own. But what Nehemiah did is what we need to do. Verse 6 says, so we built the wall. Even when you're discouraged, even when you're depressed, even when the attack is heavy, even when the attack is great, keep working on the things that God has called you to do. The things that God has put upon your heart, don't let the enemy convince you to give up on them.

keep doing them. You know, in Finding Nemo, Dory said, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, right? In a similar way, we need to just keep working and just keep working. And even when it's hard and even when it's difficult and even when you're down, you need to keep on doing and don't give up on those things that God has called you to do.

And that's how we have victory against the tactic of discouragement. Well, moving on into verses 7 through 20 now, we see the second tactic, and that is intimidation. Discouragement didn't work. The mockery and the ridicule, that wasn't effective. Nehemiah kept working through that. And so now Sanballat and Tobiah ramp it up.

And now they bring some intimidation. In verse 7 it says, Notice their objective here. They're conspiring to attack Jerusalem.

And create confusion. It's not annihilation that they're after. It's confusion. They want to disrupt the work. They want to put a stop to what God wants.

And so the next tactic that they use, the way that they attempt to do that is through intimidation. Notice, Samballot and Tobiah, you know, they were mocking and making fun. That wasn't very effective. And so now they're gathering together a bigger group. Now the Arabs are involved. The Ammonites and the Ashdodites are all gathering together and conspiring together how they can come and attack Jerusalem and confuse the people and the work.

And the enemy will try to use intimidation in our lives as well. Similar to the ridicule, you know, there'll be the fear that is attempted to be forced upon you. And again, it might be external. It might be your boss, you know, attempting to apply this fear to you. If you keep doing this, or if you keep going that way, or if you keep doing that, you know, there's this threat that

Or it might be internal. You fear what might come if you, you know, continue to do the things that God has called you to do. There's the threat of financial ruin. There's the threat of, you know, whatever it might be. Loss of relationship or some other type of destruction. And the enemy uses this intimidation. You should be afraid and so therefore you should stop. You should quit. You should not continue the work. And so how do we handle that?

this tactic. When the enemy comes against us, trying to cause us to fear, to be intimidated, we look at the example of Nehemiah and we can see four things. Nehemiah prays, he takes some practical steps, he makes sure that they have support, and then he keeps on working. We see his prayer in verse 9. It says, "...nevertheless we made our prayer to our God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night."

Nehemiah prays again. He hears about this issue. He hears about this gathering, this intimidating army, this group that is gathered against them. And so he says, we made our prayer to our God. Notice it doesn't say, we had this long, elaborate, overnight, three-week fasting prayer meeting.

Just, we made our prayer to God. We brought it to God. We just gave it back to God and said, God, here's the situation. Look at what they're doing. And that is what we need to do. As we are afraid to do what God's called us to do, as there is pressure against us and intimidation is sought to be brought against us, we need to make our prayer to God, to look to God and ask God to deal with the situation. But notice,

Prayer is not the only thing that Nehemiah did. In verse 9 it says, So he prayed and then he set a watch. He set a guard to be on the lookout for this attack.

And here I see the second thing and how we respond to this tactic of intimidation and that is to take some practical steps. This is not a lack of faith on Nehemiah's part.

That Nehemiah, you know, he just didn't really trust the Lord. He prayed about it and he should have just prayed about it and not done anything else. No, no, that's not right. That's not actually appropriate. What he did was the right thing. He prayed and then he also took action. And many times in our lives, we turn things over to God in prayer, but we fail to do the actions that we also are responsible for.

I like what David Guzik says about this. He says, So we need to pray as we experience fear and intimidation and these attacks against us.

But we also need to act. We also need to take some practical steps. And many times there's real practical things that we can do in our lives to deal with some of the situations that we face. Check out verse 13. It says,

As Nehemiah sets the guard and is taking these practical steps, notice he's being very strategic. He's using a lot of wisdom. He positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, the parts that are more vulnerable. He's recognizing there's some vulnerabilities here. We need to add some protection there.

And in your life, you need to be able to have some discernment and to recognize and ask God to show you, are there low parts in the wall? And that's, you know, an area that needs to be addressed. And so I endeavor to, you know, spend time in the word in the way that God's speaking to me. Are there some areas where I'm weak, where I'm vulnerable to attack that I need to kind of shore up and protect? Or I'm seeking to be the parent that God's called me to be, or be the employee, or be

serve in some capacity or take a step of faith? And what are the areas where there's a weakness, where there's a low point in the wall, where there needs to be a guard? But then also notice here in verse 13, he says, I set the people according to their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. He's very strategic. He's paying attention. He says, okay, look, you guard the wall here and make sure your family is also there.

So that if the enemy comes, well, you're going to defend them because your family's right behind you. You're going to stand your ground. Now, if your family's on the other side of the city...

and the enemy attacks, you're going to be distracted. You're going to be wondering, is my family okay? You're maybe even going to abandon your post so that you can go to check on your family and make sure they're being defended. And so he sets them up strategically. He makes sure. Now, sometimes we can be really foolish as believers and we set ourselves up strategically.

for failure. And we're disconnected from our family when we need to be right next to our family. We're disconnected from, you know, our brothers and sisters in the Lord when we need to be right there engaged with them. Again, these are just some examples, but we need to think practically about the steps that we should take, about things that need to be done along with the prayer that we make regarding the attack that is there.

He also takes another practical step in verse 16 and 17 where he has half of the workers now become arm bearers, armor bearers. They're holding the spears and so they're not working anymore, but they're holding the weapons and prepared for the battle. And then the other half of the workers also are engaged in such a way that they are ready for the battle as well. And so it's practical steps here.

And many times in our lives, we have spiritual battles and we need to handle them spiritually, but there's also some practical aspects. And so we need to use wisdom. There needs to be some strategy and recognize your enemy, Satan, is seeking us.

Whom he may devour like a roaring lion. And so use some wisdom. And if you don't know how to use wisdom or you don't know what to do, you know, what practical steps you can take with the situation you face, then seek out some counsel and get some wisdom on maybe some practical steps that you can do in addition to the prayer that you are lifting up on that situation. Well, that goes right into the next thing that Nehemiah does, and that is he gets support from

Now, you'll notice as you look at these things, these attacks are kind of building, and that's often how it works in our lives. The enemy doesn't just use one tactic or another tactic, but discouragement, now on top of intimidation, both are happening with the people. And in verse 10, it talks about the people being discouraged because of the rubble, and now these attacks. But notice what Nehemiah does in verse 14.

It says,

He says, don't be afraid of them. They're trying to make you fear. Don't be afraid. And how? He says, remember the Lord. And I love it. He says, remember the Lord, great and awesome. However big the threat is, God's bigger. Remember the Lord. And you need those kinds of people in your life. As you face situations, as you freak out about problems, who will say, remember the Lord, great and awesome. You need to make sure you got that kind of support.

Nehemiah made sure he came alongside his guys and brought them to remembrance. Hey, remember the Lord. God's in this and we're doing God's work. He's great and awesome. He's able to handle this situation. And so he reminds the people about the involvement of God in all of this. But then he also arranges so that they are able to support one another in the event of an attack. In verse 19 says,

It says, 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. Verse 20, wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us. Here's another approach that we need to take in handling intimidation. When the enemy brings this oppression and causes us to fear intimidation,

We need to learn to sound the trumpet. Nehemiah said, okay, if you're attacked, whatever part of the city you're in, we're far apart. We can't see everything that's going on. And so when there's an attack, sound the trumpet. And guys, when you hear the trumpet, rally there, rally around the trumpet because you know that's where there is a need. And in a similar way as believers in the Lord, God has called us to rally around one another whenever the trumpet is sounded.

to support one another in prayer, to support one another in encouragement, to build one another up and lift one another up. And so we need to support one another in that way. But I want to encourage you also, you need to be willing to sound the trumpet for your own self. You need to be willing to sound the trumpet and say, hey, I'm under attack. I'm experiencing this intimidation.

Fear is gripping me. There's this oppression upon me and I need support. We have opportunities here at the fellowship. You know, we have the prayer email list and that's accessible to anybody. You can send an email to prayer at cclivingwater.com and it goes out to everybody signed up on the list and we will pray if you sound the alarm.

If you're going through something in the week, you're going through a situation, you're sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office and you're feeling the intimidation, sound the alarm and we will pray with you. We will rally to you there. On Sunday evenings, we take time in the service to share prayer requests and praise reports. Now, it's awesome to be able to pray for one another, but it takes a little bit of vulnerability for us to open up and say, I'm intimidated.

I'm attacked. I'm fearful. I am experiencing this kind of opposition. But we need to learn to sound the trumpet and to let the body of Christ do what God has designed us to do. And that is to rally to one another, to build up one another and help each other through these kinds of battles. So Nehemiah prays. He takes some practical steps and he makes sure that there's support and

for them there in the midst of Jerusalem. And then finally, we see that he keeps on working. Notice verse 15. And it happened when our enemies heard that it was known to us that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. So there was the meeting that they had. There's the situation. All right, let's set a guard. Let's set these things up.

And the enemy realizes, oh, it's not a surprise anymore. Our plan has come to nothing. And so Nehemiah says, okay, guys, get to work. Get back to the wall. Make sure that you continue the work that is set before you. Again, Satan cannot take away what God has for you. And so what he tries to do is to get you to give it up yourself.

He'll try discouragement, mockery, ridicule, make you feel stupid, make you feel like it's not even worth your trouble, make you feel like you couldn't do it even if you wanted to. He'll try intimidation, bully you, make you afraid of what the results might be, what the consequences might be. You need to make sure, even though you have to take some practical steps, and even if those practical steps take you away from the work that

for a few moments, then you get back to the wall, that you get back to the work, that you go back to doing what God's called you to do. And even if it's greatly reduced, now check it out, 25% of the hands that were working on this wall are working at this point. Only 25%.

again in verse 16, it tells us that he took half of the workers and they stopped working and they were holding the armor and the weapons. So half the workers are gone. But then in verse 17, notice what it says. 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 hand held a weapon. So they were

set themselves up in such a way that they were now working construction with one hand. Now, can you imagine? You know, they're carrying rocks and trying to put things together, but they've only got one hand to do it. They're severely limited. They're not near as efficient as they once were. But no matter what, they were not going to give up the work. No matter what, they were not going to give up the work. Even if it meant I can only do it with one hand.

Because I got to have my weapon ready. I got to be ready for this attack. Listen, the enemy wants to discourage you and say it's not worth it and be fearful. And you're thinking, ah, it's only 25% of what I was originally trying to do. This happens a lot. So I have a lot of experience with this and going through the Bible in one year, right? People would start going through the Bible in one year. And then it would become so difficult. Because when you get behind, you start condemning yourself.

So instead of continuing to read at a slower pace or continuing to just like skip what you missed and just pick up today, so many times it would be an effective tactic of the enemy to get someone to stop reading altogether because you fell so behind. Listen, don't you understand? That's a technique of the enemy and it's effective, but you shouldn't allow that to be effective so that you give up and stop because you fell behind. Hey, even if you're only doing 25% of the reading that you originally set out to do,

If God put that on your heart, if he's the one who directed you, hey, you need to be reading through the Bible, then keep on going, even if it's only at 25% speed. You understand? No matter what, do something. Continue to contribute to what God has called you to do. Don't give up on it. When you give up on it, that's when the enemy is victorious. And so I shared with you something the Lord's put on my heart is listening to the Bible in 90 days.

Well, you know what? I'm not going to be legalistic about it so that if I miss a day, I just quit. There might be some days where I don't get to listen to all the chapters that I was intending to listen to that day. That's okay. I'll just listen to what I can listen to. And then the next day, I'll listen to what I can listen to and listen to what I can listen to. You see, it's we set these parameters and we set these schedules that often I think God hasn't set for us. That we set these things and then it's an instrument to discourage us.

No, continue the work. Don't give up. Well, I can't be the parent that God's called me to be. You know, I only got this much time and I was hoping to have this much time. Hey, do the best you can with the time that you got. Do what you're able to do. But also, I would ask you to consider in verse 17. Notice it says, those who carried burdens loaded themselves so that with one hand they were to construction and with the other hand they held the weapon. I like this idea here. It says that they loaded themselves.

They loaded themselves. Listen, don't allow life to dictate what burdens you carry. You load yourself and you balance your life in such a way that you can do the work and carry the sword. That is that you can, well, let's say do the work of earning money that you need to earn, but also that you still invest yourself in spiritual things.

And many times we allow the burdens of life to dictate our schedule, to dictate what we do. And so, well, I have to make money. I have to provide for this. I have to handle this situation. And so we don't load ourselves. We don't build our life in such a way that we can handle both. But if you're only doing one, you're out of balance. You need to load yourself. Build your life in such a way. Set your own schedule in a way that you can

can do what God's called you to do and take care of practical things and make money. And you know what I mean? Do the building and hold the weapon. We need to be ready to defend ourselves and to be engaged in the spiritual battle. And so the enemy will seek to bring intimidation against us, but we can handle that with prayer, by taking some practical steps, by getting support, and by getting back to the work that God has called us to.

Well, now let's jump over to Nehemiah chapter six. And here we have the third tactic that the enemy uses, and that is distraction.

Verse 1, it says, Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that there were no breaks left in it, though at that time I had not hung the doors in the gates, that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me harm. And so Nehemiah said, Oh no, they're going to do me harm.

Sanballat tries to set up a meeting, but Nehemiah has discernment, and he recognizes this is not a good meeting. They're really trying to harm me. And so this meeting, however it may have been presented, you know, it could have been presented like, hey, we want to, you know, encourage you in what you're doing. We want to hear about the work that's happening in Jerusalem. Let's have a meeting. Of course, we know that's not the heart, but however it was presented, Nehemiah has discernment and says, okay,

That's just a distraction. He says in verse 3, Nehemiah recognizes that's just a distraction. The work will stop while I go to meet with you. And he's evaluating his priorities.

Now, the enemy will try to bring distraction into your life as well. It's been used as an illustration for decades because it's such a common thing. We all know what it's like. You sit down to read the Bible and the phone rings, right? It happens. There's distractions, alternatives. Hey, don't spend your time there. Don't put your attention there.

Do something else. Here's another opportunity. Here's an interruption. Here's a distraction. And how do we handle that? Well, very simply, we do what Nehemiah did and we keep working. Nehemiah says, if I go, then the work will cease. My job, what God has called me to do is this. And if I go, that will stop. He's saying it violates the priorities that God has given to me. I'm doing a great work.

This work that God has set before me. And so he has discernment in this meeting request. And he recognizes that's not going to help me do what God has called me to do. I like what Dave Guzik says about this. He says, anyone doing a work for God must contend with a hundred different noble causes and a hundred things that might look good and be good, but they are not what they are called to do at that time.

This is the reality that we all face. And your priorities are going to be challenged. And when you endeavor to do whatever God puts upon your heart,

be it time with him in prayer, in the word, be it your parenting style, be it your working style, be it serving in some capacity, a step of faith, a mission trip, whatever God puts upon your heart, there's going to be a competition now for your attention and for your time. And you're going to have to contend with a bunch of noble causes.

Maybe the Lord put upon your heart to support a specific missionary and to say, hey, we're going to contribute. But now there's all these other good causes that you can contribute to. There's going to be that kind of competition. And your commitment to God is going to be challenged with not just bad things. Sure, you could spend your money on useless, wasteful things. But there's also good things that you could spend your money on that are different than what God has spoken to your heart and called you to spend your money on.

And you're going to have to deal with that. You're going to have to deal with those distractions, those competitions that come. And they might be even good things, or they might be deceitful that look good and they're not actually good. But even the challenge many times is even the good things. There's a lot of good things you can invest your time in, but you need to be investing your time where God has called you to invest your time.

And so the distraction is an effective tactic of the enemy because many times there's good things that could be as a substitute to keep us from what God actually wants us to do. And Dave Guzik says later on, if the enemy can distract God's people, then he's won. He's won. He's had the victory if he can keep us from working at the thing that God has called us to. And so we need to watch out for the tactic of distraction.

Now, he goes on in verses 5 through 9 to give us point number 4, the fourth tactic, and that is accusation. This is another tactic that Sanballat uses. He sends another letter. In verse 5, it says, Sanballat sent his servant to me as before the fifth time with an open letter in his hand. In it was written, it is reported among the nations, and Geshem says that you and the Jews plan to rebel.

So Sanballat sends these letters. Now,

The distraction, we talked about just a moment ago, the distraction tactic is persistent. Four times he sends this, hey, let's meet, hey, let's meet, hey, let's meet, hey, let's meet. That's often how distractions will come in our life. They will be persistent. The enemy will bring distractions persistently, and we got to consistently say, no, I'm going to be faithful to what God's called me to. Now he sends a fifth letter, a fifth messenger, and this time,

His letter has an accusation. Here's the accusation. Hey, Nehemiah, here's what people are saying. I just want to let you know, he's kind of presenting it in a way like, hey, I've heard these things, and so let's get together so I can help you deal with the things that people are saying. Here's what people are saying. You plan to rebel.

And so you're building the walls of Jerusalem so that you can be the king, Nehemiah. That's the rumors I've heard. That's what people are saying about you. And so you know the king is going to hear about this.

King back in Babylon, king back in Persia. He's going to hear about this. He's going to hear about your plans. This rumor, and I can't stop it, it's going to get back to him. And so let's talk about how to handle this. And so that we make sure that you don't get in trouble with the king because, you know, there's this rumor going around. People are saying that you're trying to become king in Judah. It's an accusation. It's a false accusation that is thrown at Nehemiah.

And the enemy will use this tactic in our lives as well. And again, as with everything else, sometimes it's external and there is actually people throwing out accusations and maybe even people saying, you know, oh, people are saying, you know, this is what you're doing or this is why you're doing it. This is the motivation that you have. I've heard this about you. Many times the enemy also attacks us internally and there's those accusations within, even accusing ourselves of

How do we handle this tactic? How do we handle the accusations? Well, we follow the example of Nehemiah. He did three things. Number one, he gave a simple refute. Number two, he prayed. Number three, he kept working. Now, in verse eight, he gives a simple refute. It says, Nehemiah sends back and says, that's a lie.

Now, he doesn't then chase down Sanballat and make sure that Sanballat agrees and understands that's a lie and that people aren't really saying that. And he doesn't go back down the chain. Where did you hear that from, Sanballat? Oh, you heard it from so-and-so. Okay, I'm going to go talk to so-and-so and make sure that they know, okay, that was a lie. I'm not really doing that. That's not my heart. Now, who did you hear that from? Oh, you heard it from another person. Okay, I'm going to go. Listen, we can get caught up and it's another story.

tactic of distraction, trying to chase down all the things that people say about us, all the false accusations. It's not good. It's not wise. And it just keeps you from what God wants you to do. Now, he just gives a simple refute. He says, that's a lie. And he doesn't pay it any more attention except to pray. In verse 9,

He says, for they were trying to make us afraid, saying their hands will be weakened in the work and it will not be done. Now, therefore, oh God, strengthen my hands. And so what does he do? He says, they're just trying to distract me. They're trying to make us afraid. Oh, what's the king going to say when he hears this rumor about us? And he says, you know what? I'm not going to worry about that. It's not true. So Lord, strengthen my hands.

He takes it to the Lord, and then he keeps working. He says, strengthen my hands. Why? So that he can continue to work on the wall, the thing that God has sent him there to do. Keep working, even if there's accusations flying, even if there's all kinds of false things being said. Don't worry about it. Don't get caught up and distracted in chasing all those things down, externally or internally. Listen, just pray.

And ask God to help you to continue the work that you know he's called you to do. Again, Satan can't take it away from you. So he tries to get you to give it up on your own. He tries to get you to just turn away. Get caught up in something else. Get caught up in defending yourself and making sure everybody understands your heart's right and you're doing what's right. Don't worry about that. Let God defend you.

You worry about doing what God has called you to do. There can be false accusations in the workplace, within the home. You know, you start trying to do something for the Lord at home, and your spouse says, oh, what are you doing? Why are you doing, you know, what are you thinking? Your heart's not right in that. You know, you're just, sometimes that can be real painful, can't it? And it can be real discouraging, and it can make you want to quit. But that's what the enemy wants. Don't let him win. He can't take it away.

You keep doing what God's called you to do. Don't get caught up in those false accusations. Well, the final tactic that we'll look at here in the example of Nehemiah is that of temptation.

In Nehemiah chapter 6, verses 10 through 14, we see there's a temptation that's brought before him. In verse 10, it says, So he meets with this guy, Shemaiah.

Now, this guy is supposedly a prophet. So he's like, Nehemiah, I have a message from the Lord, a word from the Lord, but we need to meet in secret. Let's go inside the temple and close the doors because I'm afraid for your life. I'm trying to protect you. So let's go inside there. Let's close the temple. Let's stay the night in there because they're coming to kill you. Now again,

stacking up these tactics, right? Fear, intimidation, all of that. But on top of that is this temptation. Because for Nehemiah to go inside the temple would be sin. Only the priests were allowed to enter inside the temple. And Nehemiah was not a priest.

You might remember if you've been reading through the Bible in three years with us in 2 Chronicles 26. We read it not too long ago. King Uzziah, a king, he was not a priest. He attempts to enter into the temple and God strikes him with leprosy because that was not to be done. That was only for the priests to be inside the temple. And so what this supposed prophet is offering is,

is safety, security, as long as he disregards what God says. You can be safe and secure. You don't have to fear for your life as long as you disobey God. It's temptation. That's what temptation is. The enemy presents and says, hey, you can be satisfied. You can be fulfilled. You can have what you want as long as you disobey God. That's what the enemy brings against us. And Nehemiah recognizes this. And so how he handles this temptation is he refuses to sin.

He prays and then he keeps working. Notice he says in verse 11, should such a man as I flee and who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. In verse 12, then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he had pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He recognized that

This guy is not actually a prophet because he's asking me, he's calling me to disregard God's word. And he recognizes this guy was hired by the enemy. Listen, sometimes the enemy is presented to us as a spokesman for God. Paul tells us in the New Testament that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. And so it's no surprise when his agents masquerade as ministers of light.

But we need to hold to the standard of God's word and recognize if it's disobedience to God, it's not going to do what is promised. If it's disobedience to God, it's not going to bring fulfillment. It's not going to bring satisfaction. It's not going to bring blessing. It's not going to bring happiness. It's not going to bring safety. Recognize, even if it's a friend, even if it's someone who you would think their messenger of the Lord is,

But if they're calling you, if they're encouraging you to disregard the word of God, that's not from the Lord. They're not a prophet of God. In verse 13, he says, for this reason, he was hired that I should be afraid and act that way and sin so that they might have a cause for an evil report that they might reproach me. This guy was sent here. He was set up here to make me afraid so that I would sin against God and I would give into this temptation and then sin.

They would have an accusation against me. Then they would have a cause to bring something against me. And so he refuses to sin. No, I'm not going to do that. Even if it means supposedly that I'll be safer in there, I'm not going to do what God has called me or forbidden that I must not do.

But then he also prays. So he refuses to sin. He prays. In verse 14, he says, my God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat according to their works and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who have made me afraid. So there was not just this one person, but all these other persons. And again, notice what Nehemiah does. He just presents them all to the Lord. Lord, you deal with them.

I can't deal with them and it's not my responsibility to fix them. Lord, you deal with them. He presents them to the Lord, but then he keeps working. In verse 15, so the wall was finished on the 25th day of Elul in 52 days. Notice that the wall was finished. All throughout this, with all these tactics, the enemy used to try to stop the work.

but the work was completed. He was victorious. He did what God sent him there to do in the midst of discouragement, intimidation, distraction, accusation, and temptation. And listen, you can be successful and victorious as well. And even when the enemy throws all these things at you, you can complete the work that God has set before you.

We looked at a lot of ways to handle this. There's two common denominators in all of these things. Prayer and keep working. No matter what happens, don't give up on what God's called you to do. Don't give up until the wall is finished. Don't give up even if there's great intimidation or opposition or depression or accusation or temptation. Don't give up. Satan can't take it away from you. He can scream and threaten. He can do all kinds of things to

but he can't actually take it away. All he can do is convince you to give it up yourself. And God wants to do a great work in you. He wants you to be a spiritual giant. Every one of you, he wants you to be a spiritual giant, a mature believer. He wants you to have a blessed family life. He wants you to be amazing in the workplace, in your witness, in your responsibility, in your ethics.

He wants you to be awesome and useful and needful for the church and be involved and integrated. Every one of us, we're called to be the body of Christ. We all have that potential. And God speaks to our hearts and he leads us in those directions. Don't let the enemy take those things from you. You keep working. You stay connected to God and don't give up on what God has called you to do. And if you failed in any of these areas,

Just get back to work. You've given in to the temptation. You've let the intimidation overrun you. It's okay. There's grace in the Lord. There's forgiveness in the Lord. Don't let that cause you to throw in the towel and give up. We're all going to fail. We're all going to mess up. Get back up and get back to work and do the things that God has called you to do. Let's pray. Lord, I lift up every one of us, God, and I pray that you would help us to grow into the

the lives that you've really called us to live, that you would help us to be spiritual giants, Lord, that you would help us to be victorious in our walk with you and in our relationships with one another, and Lord, in everything that you've set before us. Help us, Lord, not to give up, not to let the enemy, the external pressures, the internal pressures persuade us to give up on what you've called us to.

Lord, give us discernment against those distractions, against those things that compete for our attention. Lord, give us discernment and understanding that we could stay focused on the things that you've called us to. And I pray that you'd help us to keep working and keep working and keep working, even if it's only at 25% of the speed that we were hoping for. Lord, help us to keep working and investing in the work that you've set before us.

And I pray, Lord, that you would help us to bring our walls to completion, that we would be the men and women of God that you've called us to be. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.