Restoration of Courage

Courage Calls for Commitment

Intro:

Courage Calls for Character

Recap: Nehemiah is a leader who God called out to raise up and restore and rebuild the broken walls and lives of Jerusalem. We journeyed together last semester through half of the book and saw that God prepares us for restoration and that restoration takes work, dedication, commitment

Restoration of Courage

Courage Calls for Commitment vs. 1-3

Sanballat and Tobiah are at it again, these guys just won’t stop pestering Nehemiah and trying to cease work on the wall.

“I had not set up the doors in the gates”

Still susceptible to an attack

“Come and let us meet together…”

Ono...funny that it’s named “ono” cuz it’s kind of like a clue that this might not be a good idea...hey man wanna go hang out at “oh no..” no I’m good thanks tho! Ono was a location as far from jerusalem as you could get before leaving the nation of judah...so they wanted him to go to the edge of the pridelands into the elephant graveyard. Ok not that intense but Ono isn’t exactly a place you’d line up a friendly get together.

“come and let us meet together…” The words that they use have a lot more force...it could be translated like, “get over here…” in order to show the weight and gravity with which they are directing their “invitation.”

“They intended to do me harm.”

We aren’t told how he knew this but based on his previous interactions with these dudes, my guess is it wasn’t really a stretch for him to imagine them hurting him.

Nehemiah stuck to the task at hand regardless of the distractions and regardless of the threats that were surrounding him.

Where has God asked you to be faithful in this new year that will require you to tune out distractions in order to be continue the work God has asked you to do? Jesus asked us to make disciples right? Did he give an age restriction on how old you have to be before you make a disciple?

Illustration: you must be this tall before you can make a disciple?

Courage Calls for Character vs 4-9

They sent to me four times in this way

The enemy is not going to stop pestering you when you lock onto a calling and direction that you know the Lord has given you. And for Nehemiah his enemies not only keep pressing on but they begin to slander him saying things about him that are not true.

“For the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand…”

Letters at this time were to be closed and carried from messenger to recipient. They were to remain closed until opened by the recipient but they sent this one opened...for everyone to see...anyone could read the letter and it would openly attack the character of their leader.

What does Nehemiah do when lies against him arise? He denies them and moves forward to follow through with what God’s called him to do...build the wall, rebuild the gates, rebuild this community of dispersed, scattered, hurting people.

The only reason why Nehemiah can take courage and deny the character challenges is because he knows he has character.

Illustration: you ever have someone call you out about something that you know they’re right about? Wooo… that stings!

Courage Calls for Discernment vs. 10-14

A spiritual guide arrives on the scene to help direct Nehemiah’s path but Nehemiah hears this sages’ wisdom and discerns that this advice is not coming from God but directly from the enemies who were seeking to strike fear in his heart!

Courage Calls for Finish vs. 15-19

Courage to take action for the building of God’s Kingdom will be met by opposition from those who fear the God of the Bible and fear what He can accomplish through a meager offering through an imperfect people that is unified toward the mission of Kingdom building.