Builders Part 2

Nehemiah 4:7–8 CSB

7 When Sanballat, Tobiah, and the Arabs, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the repair to the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the gaps were being closed, they became furious. 8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw it into confusion.

Intro

Last week we learned how powerful it is to have a vision from God for your life. But with vision always comes opposition, especially when this comes straight from God. The enemy is always gonna fight to keep you from inheriting all that God has for you. He hates to see God, honored and glorified through your success.He wants your marriage destroyed, he wants your job destroyed, he wants you to lose hope, and he wants to just destroy every part of your life. And he comes at you with very strategic attacks. There are four ways. These are the four main ways that the enemy comes to stop you from building what God has laid on your heart to build. I call them the four D’s of defeat.

The D’s of Defeat

Discourage

Nehemiah 4:10 CSB

10 In Judah, it was said: The strength of the laborer fails, since there is so much rubble. We will never be able to rebuild the wall.

One of the ways the enemy will try to stop. Your progress is to discourage you. He tries to make it feel like the work you were doing means nothing and will amount to nothing. He wants you to feel like you were just wasting your time. He wants you to wear out he wants you to feel like the task is way too big for you to be able to accomplish.He will discourage you in so many different ways. He will send others to speak to you and so seeds of doubt into your mind. He will wear you out and make you feel tired in the progress. He tells you, you are not strong enough, and he tells you you will never be able to accomplish it. If he can discourage you, he can stop you.

Distract

The second way he comes against you as he tries to distract you.

Nehemiah 6:1–2 CSB

1 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that no gap was left in it—though at that time I had not installed the doors in the city gates—2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me a message: “Come, let’s meet together in the villages of the Ono Valley.” They were planning to harm me.

Satan will try to get you to turn your eyes to other things. Try to throw you off topic and off task. He will send things that will lure you away. These things are always to harm not just you but your progress. He’ll distract you from being in the word he’ll distract you from being in prayer. He will distract you from working at what God has called you to work at. He’ll send distractions for your marriage. He’ll send distractions for your family. Whatever he can do to get you to turn your focus he will do.

Divide

He then moves on to causing division.

Nehemiah 6:5–7 CSB

5 Sanballat sent me this same message a fifth time by his aide, who had an open letter in his hand. 6 In it was written: It is reported among the nations—and Geshem agrees—that you and the Jews plan to rebel. This is the reason you are building the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king 7 and have even set up the prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim on your behalf, “There is a king in Judah.” These rumors will be heard by the king. So come, let’s confer together.

Satan is not afraid of a big church. He’s afraid of a unified church. Because the Bible tells us in the book of psalms that Wherever there is unity, God commands a blessing. When we are unified in anything that we do, God blesses it. This is true with you and your spouse, your family, coworkers, employees, whatever group of people you have around you when you are unified, God blesses it.If he can divide it, he can stop the work. If he can pit you against your spouse, he can stop you guys from progressing together in your relationship. If he can put division in the family, he can keep you guys apart. You’ve heard the saying “Divide and conquer”, Well, it is a big part of the strategy that Satan launches against us to stop us from progressing in what we are building.

Discredit

The last Way that he works against us is he tries to discredit us.

Nehemiah 6:10–13 CSB

10 I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was restricted to his house. He said: Let’s meet at the house of God, inside the temple. Let’s shut the temple doors because they’re coming to kill you. They’re coming to kill you tonight! 11 But I said, “Should a man like me run away? How can someone like me enter the temple and live? I will not go.” 12 I realized that God had not sent him, because of the prophecy he spoke against me. Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He was hired, so that I would be intimidated, do as he suggested, sin, and get a bad reputation, in order that they could discredit me.

This last one is especially true if you are the leader over an organization or church. We see in the news every day. It seems a Pastor or leader is falling morally. And when this happens, it’s like their entire ministry loses its credibility. Nobody trust them anymore, which means nobody’s going to follow them anymore. Many people turn away from the faith when somebody in this role falls.We have gotten so used to following a leader in government in our jobs and other places, that we forget that, although the spiritual leaders may be put in a place of leadership, the head is always Christ. When we start looking at people more than we look at Jesus is when we find this attack to discredit it someone to be effective.

How we Defend

I don’t want you to feel like this is a hopeless battle because the reality is is no matter how many attacks or launch we still have the ability to defend. First we have to:

Guard the vulnerable areas

Nehemiah 4:13 CSB

13 So I stationed people behind the lowest sections of the wall, at the vulnerable areas. I stationed them by families with their swords, spears, and bows.

Nehemiah realized what parts of this wall were extremely vulnerable for attack. So he realized that he needed a place people there who could guard those areas. But he also equipped the people who were on guard guard with weapons so that they could fight. You have to set up guards in areas you know are vulnerable. In a marriage, you have to set up boundaries and protections to make sure you don’t get divided or discredited or allow any other attack to come in. You need to know the areas of vulnerability. If you are both very busy, it means you need to set up a guard for time. It means saying no to other things so you can make time for each other. This is very challenging, especially when there are small children involved. When it comes to your family, it’s the same thing you have to set guards in place to protect your family. Maybe you don’t allow your children to be around certain people because they’re bad influences. Maybe you don’t allow certain TV shows to be on because you need to guard your credibility as believers. Because you are trying to build a holy family. You have to identify the weak areas, which is what Nehemiah did when he was rebuilding this wall and you have to station guards to protect it.

Encourage the discouraged

I believe the biggest tactic is the discouragement. And that’s why we have to encourage the discouraged.

Nehemiah 4:14–15 CSB

14 After I made an inspection, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the great and awe-inspiring Lord, and fight for your countrymen, your sons and daughters, your wives and homes.” 15 When our enemies heard that we knew their scheme and that God had frustrated it, every one of us returned to his own work on the wall.

This is just one of a few instances where Nehemiah encourages the people to continue working. Encouragement is actually a wonderful strategy for more than just discouragement. It also fights against distraction. Distraction hits the hardest when you are feeling discouraged. It’s easy to shift your attention somewhere else when what you are working on is not going the way you want it to. It’s easy to change gears and move onto something else. But you have to have encouragement to be able to stay focused.

Arm yourselves for work

Nehemiah 4:16–20 CSB

16 From that day on, half of my men did the work while the other half held spears, shields, bows, and armor. The officers supported all the people of Judah, 17 who were rebuilding the wall. The laborers who carried the loads worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other. 18 Each of the builders had his sword strapped around his waist while he was building, and the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me. 19 Then I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is enormous and spread out, and we are separated far from one another along the wall. 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us!”

You have to arm yourself for this work. You have to protect the unity and you have to protect your integrity. These are things that you have to fight for. They don’t just happen. Unity takes work to keep us all focused on the task hand. Unity takes work in a marriage. Unity takes work in a family. You have to work to keep everybody on the same page and working together. Unity means that we all function in our individual roles in a way that pushes us towards the same goal. You and your spouse have to function in your roles in such a way that you can both grow together and accomplish what you want to accomplish in your marriage. The family has to fulfill each of their own roles to be able to do the same in the family.When there is disunity, everybody just does their own thing and is seeking out their own gain. They work to satisfy themselves Instead of the greater good.

And you have to work to protect your integrity. You have to set up guards, and you have to carry a shield and weaponry to fight against things that would destroy your integrity And discredit you. Integrity is all about what you do when nobody is looking. There are things everywhere that are seeking to trap you. And they attack you with nobody is looking because it’s easier to lure you into a trap when you feel like you can get away with it. And just when you think you’ve gotten away with it, the light switch flips on and all is exposed. The Bible tells us that what is done in darkness will be brought into the light. So you have to walk in the light. Keep the light on at all times don’t allow yourself to live in any dark corner or alley of life. Because it’s when you think nobody is watching Is when that trap will get you. They tried to get Nehemiah to close the doors behind him in the temple. Just a strategy to get him to go somewhere he isn’t supposed to go and do it in secrecy.

Conclusion

Don’t allow the good thing that God is doing in your life to be destroyed by any of these things. We must choose to fight. The attack will come there’s no doubt about it. The question is will you be ready? Will you stand with a weapon in your hand while you work? Will you walk in the encouragement of what God is speaking and the truth of his word? Will you guard vulnerable areas of your life? God wants to do an amazing work and all of our lives, but not only does it take vision. It takes protection.