Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
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Anger
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Fear
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Analytical
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Openness
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Conscientiousness
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Extraversion
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Introduction
God has allowed Nehemiah to return from a strange land to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
We have talked about how we can glorify the Lord through joining him in making “May your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” a reality while looking at the story of Nehemiah.
(We offer our lives and the Lord guides, strengthens and equips us to do the work).
Who is Sanballat?
Sanballat.
Leading political official of Samaria residing at Beth-horon in Ephraim.
In a letter from Elephantine of Egypt, Sanballat was named as the governor of Samaria in 407 BC.
Read
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It is here where we see the first form of opposition to the work of Nehemiah.
The opposition of ridicule ()
Playing basketball against my nephew when we were much younger.
He was and is much better than I am, but I often resorted to other measures.
Attempt to tap into our insecurities.
Neh 4.
Make us hesitate in the work in which we are currently involved.
Appropriate response is for our security and trust to be in the Lord and his judgement, not our own sense of justice.
(v.
4)
How many times have we, myself included, fallen to the trap of sitting on the throne of judge?
The majority of times in our lives, it is not up to us to decide what the “just” thing to do is.
It is our role to keep working faithfully while handing frustrations over to the Lord.
God is holy and he will not let evil go unpunished or injustice prevail.
Trusting the Lord allows us to redirect our energy from fighting the opposition and move it towards continuing the work the Lord has entrusted to us.
But as the work continues to progress the enemy will take a different tactic to oppose God’s work.
The opposition of confusion ()
The opposition of confusion ()
When ridicule isn’t enough, the enemy takes it a step further.
783 Satan’s Strategy
In a remarkable book published some years ago, Canon Roger Lloyd an archdemon instructs subordinates on an ancient and effective piece of satanic strategy.
“Insert yourself into the simple situations which call for plain and obvious duties,” urges this devil, “and complicate them, and complicate them again, until at last no one involved in them can make sense of the confusion.”
In team sports, there is no easier opponent than the team who cannot work together.
When there is confusion it is significantly harder to work as a cohesive unit.
Nehemiah’s response was to pray, but also to keep watch.
The opposition of destruction ()
Not some form of spiritualized attack, but an actual physical threat to life.
Nehemiah’s response is a key strategy as he focuses on two aspects
Neh 4.
By families
In the vulnerable areas
Conclusion
I hope you have been able to notice my broad term of “the enemy” as I have progressed throughout this sermon.
I hope we have been reminded by the Spirit
Jesus reminds us that
It is important for us to remember that Jesus went through all these forms of opposition and rose victoriously.
Through the resurrection of Christ and the now presence of the Holy Spirit in us we can have the same victory.
But it is important for us to remember that Jesus went through all these forms of opposition and rose victoriously.
Through the resurrection of Christ we have been given who and what is necessary for victory through the presence of the Holy Spirit in us.
By keeping our trust in the Lord regardless of our insecurities we can say like Paul
Read from “So to keep me from...”
God has given us ample advice through Paul’s writings on how to keep watch.
It is important for us to remember that Jesus went through all these forms of opposition and rose victoriously.
Through the resurrection of Christ and the now presence of the Holy Spirit in us we can have the same victory.
Keep watch by families
Keep watch in the most vulnerable areas of our lives.
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