Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week we dove back into the book of Nehemiah after our Christmas Advent break.

If you haven’t already, go ahead and turn in copies of God’s Word to Nehemiah chapter 4. We will read todays verses in a few moments.

We began last Sunday with a quick summary of what we had looked at so far in our study of the Book of Nehemiah.

One of the first things we highlighted was the characteristics in Nehemiah’s life that were so important to opening the door for God to do such a mighty work through him.

The great things about these characteristics is they are also obtainable to us.

These characteristics were:

1.

He had an unswerving love for God .

2. He had a deep love for God’s people .

3.

He was devoted to prayer .

4. He was a student of the Word of God .

After our quick summary we moved into the first 6 verses of chapter 4, where we looked at 5 keys we need to keep in mind as we move forward in our growing relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

These 5 keys are: there will be:

1.

A PRESENCE OF OPPOSITION.

And often times the opposition may come from:

2. ATTACKS FROM WITHIN.

also:

3. THE ENEMY DOES NOT WORK ALONE…a couple of side notes we want to be aware of when the enemy attacks is:

What is feeble in the eyes of man (which often times is us!) can be a great tool in the Hand of God.

&

The servant of God never works alone, the Hand of the Almighty God is ever present in the life of the faithful servant of God.

Additionally, When the enemy does attack:

4. OUR GREATEST WEAPON AGAINST THE ATTACK OF THE ENEMY IS PRAYER.

which often strengthens us body, soul and spirit to do the work of God.

and lastly:

5. GODLY UNITY IS AN EFFECTIVE WEAPON AGAINST THE ATTACKS OF THE ENEMY.

Vs. 6

This morning we will continue in chapter 4, starting in verse 7. Go ahead and stand with me and will read verses 7-14.

“7 But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry.

8 And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.

9 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

10 In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing.

There is too much rubble.

By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.”11

And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.”

12 At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” 13 So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them.

Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

We left off in verse 6 with great success.

God had worked through the Nation of Judah to the point that within a very short time half the wall around Jerusalem had been completed.

Then the inevitable took place, the enemy upped his attack.

We see in the verses we just read that Sanballat and Tobiah were no longer alone in the attack.

They now had the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites joining them.

Additionally the type of attacks from the enemy progressed.

In writing of the attacks of the enemy in Nehemiah, Chuck Swindoll writes;

“First there was sarcasm.

Then there was mockery, which led to open opposition, criticism, and finally conspiracy.

The conspiracy was so great that before long the inevitable took place—discouragement set in.

No matter how hard he tried, Nehemiah was unable to correct the problems.

They just got worse; they multiplied and magnified as time went on.”

(Swindoll, Charles R.. Hand Me Another Brick (p.

80).

Thomas Nelson.

Kindle Edition.)

Oftentimes when discouragement sets in, our eyes seem blinded to anything good that may be taking place in our lives.

Have you ever experienced that type of discouragement?

Discouragement so strong that all you saw was darkness?

My guess is that if I asked for a show of hands on these questions, quite a few hands would shoot up, actually let me re-phrase that, the hands wouldn’t shoot up, hands would slowly raise.

First one hand, then another and another.

More would raise as people began to realize they are not alone.

It was early in May, 2018.

Pam and I had just returned from Village Mission Candidate School.

We had literally spent the last 24 hours plus either on a plane or in an airport facing delay after delay.

Neither of us had had much if any sleep and discouragement had begun to set in for Pam.

By then Pam and I knew that we had been accepted by Village Missions, but we had no idea where we would be moving to to minister, and there was so much to do to get ready to move.

When we first knew we would be moving I hadn’t had my accident yet, so we figured I would have no problem getting things ready, which included replacing some siding on our home, and then painting the outside.

That all changed on March 3rd with my accident.

Even though much had changed, the one thing that had not changed was God’s plan and God’s Hand on our lives.

It seemed every day or two He did some new thing to confirm His call on our lives and His powerful Hand moving on our behalf.

Despite all that He was doing, because a deep discouragement had set in, all Pam saw at the time was darkness.

While my accident had taken a toll on me physically, it had taken a mental toll on Pam.

Counselors have said for many years that one of the things a wife wants most from her husband is to feel secure, both in her relationship with her husband, but also secure in that her husband is able to do whatever it takes to take care of her and the family.

At that point in time not only was I out of work, but on top of that I was physically unable to do much of anything.

So, in her eyes, everything to do with the move, with packing, with getting the house ready to sell, was all on her shoulders.

This all culminated with her laying in the dark on a foam pad in our unfinished basement literally unable to do anything.

She couldn’t prepare meals, pack, clean or much of anything else.

It was so bad that she had to quit her job on the spot, she couldn’t function.

I recall late one Saturday night praying with her, pleading with God that He would somehow confirm at church tomorrow what we already knew to be His will.

We walked into the Annex where we met for Sunday School the next morning and a close friend handed me a card.

In it was a gift card for a local grocery store for about $100.

Additionally that same morning a couple in my parents Sunday School class asked my parents if I was still out of work.

After my parents confirmed that was still the case, the husband handed Dad a sealed envelope.

Inside the envelope was a card letting us know they were praying for us, also inside was about $300.

My spirits were lifted, Pam still saw nothing but darkness.

When you are in the depths of despair, discouragement, depression, that is often how it is, and it does not mean you aren’t walking with God or at the center of His will.

Pam’s walk with God has always been solid and we were in the center of His will, but all she saw was darkness.

A few days later we went to the Walmart to pick up groceries.

Like our Walmart in Crawfordsville, you could order the groceries online and they would bring them right to your car.

This had been a particularly dark day and I recall Pam and I praying on the way to Walmart, which was less than a mile from our house, that God would somehow give us another sign that we were at the center of His will.

Perhaps some of you may be thinking, “Wasn’t that already pretty clear?”

And to be honest, yes it was, but the enemies attack on us was so severe since we had committed to join Village Missions that there was a lot of second guessing going on.

At this point in time we were both out of work, I was physically unable to do much of anything, we were moving, and not only did we not know where we were moving, we didn’t know when we were moving, so yes, there was a lot of second guessing going on.

We picked up the groceries and no sooner did they get loaded into our trunk than Pam got out of our car and said she needed to walk home.

I prayed and pleaded with God the whole ride home.

As I finished putting the groceries away my cell phone rang.

It was my good friend Mike.

Pam hadn’t quite made it home, so I walked out to our back yard and began to talk with Mike.

Mike had been a good friend for a long time, he and I had served on our church board for several years as well as several other leadership roles in the church.

He and his wife Dana were very excited for whatever and wherever God was leading us.

They had had an exceptional year in 2017 and had been sitting on a large chunk of cash.

They had set it aside for the Lord but were not sure where God wanted the money to go.

He and Dana had prayed and both felt God confirming in their hearts that He wanted them to give it to us.

Did I mention that it was $5,000?