LEADING IN LIFE - Leader's Resolve Conflict

Everything rises or falls on leadership. Nehemiah has been sent by God to lead in rebuilding this wall and the day they begin, opposition begins too.

Review about opposition and how Satan tries to stop a work:

In chapter 2 they first started w/ ridicule and mockery. They tried to laugh them out of doing the work. They made fun of them, ridiculed them, put them down. Nehemiah's response to that was to simply ignore it. When people ridicule you and put you down for what you're doing for the Lord, just ignore it.
The second thing they tried was discouragement. They came and said, You're tired, you're never going to be able to finish, it's hopeless, there's too much rubble. They got them all discouraged. Nehemiah's response to discouragement was simply to reorganize. "Remember the Lord is with us and don't give in to discouragement."
The next tactic that came along was danger. They started threatening their lives. They threatened them and tried to scare them into quitting. Nehemiah's response to that was to resist it. He said we're going to reinforce it: half will build the wall, half will carry swords. Then they would alternate on shifts.
All of that got them nowhere.
Chapter 4 was the opposition from the outside. Chapter 5 is internal opposition. That's much, much worse, the sabotaging from the inside. Satan tries to divide them. He uses money. Isn't that typical? More conflicts are caused by finances than anything else. The majority of divorces are because of financial problems. Satan is going to try to divide them over financial issues.

Question: Does the devil still use division today? Of course he does. Internal problems destroy more churches, homes, business’ than external problems. Satan would rather cause division in w/in than anything else.

Mark 3:25 "If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand." You ever see a football team defeat itself? A bunch of people with massive egos and, rather than fight the opposing team, they fight each other. Division can happen wherever you have two or more people. We tend to want our own way.

If you don't deal with conflict then it's going to stop the work of the Lord in your life. For us to Lead in Life we've got to learn how to resolve conflict. This chapter is very important. It teaches us conflict management, the skill of dealing with conflict. V. 1-5 gives us the causes of conflict; 6-13 the cure for conflict.

I. THE CAUSE OF CONFLICT
The background of this chapter is the people have been spending all their time working on the wall. They didn't have any time to cultivate their gardens and raise food.
V. 1-2 "Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers. Some were saying, `We and our sons and daughters are numerous. In order for us to eat and stay alive we must get grain.'"
The first complaint was food shortages -- too many mouths to feed.
In the next verse, we find out there was a famine. Resources and goods were in short supply. There were more mouths to feed than they had food. Inflation and high prices. Food shortages.
It's interesting: they are doing the work of God, yet God allowed a famine. Why? Weren't they doing what He'd told them to do? I think that doing God's will does not exempt you from common problems of life. Just because you're doing the right thing doesn't mean your car isn't going to break down or have some major health problem or otherwise. So there was a food shortage in v. 2.

The second thing is that they were over mortgaged in their homes.
v. 3 "We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine." That's what you call financial bondage.
They were using their equity to feed their families. They were taking their equity out of their homes and mortgaging them deeper and deeper just to put food on the table.

v. 4 "Still others were saying, `We've had to borrow money to pay the king's taxes on our fields and vineyards.'"
High taxes are the third problem. They're having to borrow just to pay taxes. They're in deep debt here.

As a result of that, in v. 5, "Although we are the same flesh and blood as our countrymen, and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved but we are powerless because our fields and vineyards belong to others." Enslaved

They had to have food so first they mortgaged their homes then they started selling off their family to raise money. They are in that much debt! They are forced to place their kids into slave labor to pay debts. Circle "mortgaging" and "borrow" and "enslaved". I think those three words go together. The Bible is relevant! High taxes, high mortgage, high prices, forced to work overtime -- sounds like the business section of today's paper.
But these hard times were not the root problem.

v. 1 "Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers."
(by the way, this sounds like trouble doesn’t it?)
They are complaining about each other.
The rich Jews were exploiting the poor Jews in a time of crisis. They were taking advantage and capitalizing on the misfortunes of the poor people. (ever seen or heard of that happening before?) Those who had money and had food were saying, "If you'll sell me your house I'll give you food. I'll lend you money but it will be at high interest rates. And if you can't pay the loan I'll take your children as collateral." They were exploiting each other. Rather than helping and giving to the poor they're charging high interest and repossessing their homes, taking their children as slaves -- total disregard for the misfortunes of other people, only thinking of themselves "How can I take advantage of this problem?"

This was clearly against God's law. Exodus 2:25 said that Jews could not charge interest to each other. God allowed the Jews to charge interest to other people, but they were not allowed to charge interest to each other. They could loan to each other but they could not charge any interest on it. The Bible also said that the Jew was not to enslave another Jew. If somebody was poor he could come and work for you but you were not to make him your slave. They were clearly violating God's will. The rich were blatantly violating these laws: profiteering, exploiting, capitalizing on the famine. We have a conflict between the haves and the have nots right in the middle of this building program.

Leadership Law: The root cause of internal conflict and discord is always selfishness.
Whether you have conflict in your family, with your boyfriend, in church, in your office, at school -- the bottom line in conflict is always selfishness. Always! James 4:1 "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but you don't get it." What causes conflict? Selfishness. When my wants conflict with your wants, we've got a problem! We're going to have conflict, division.

The most fulfilling part of leadership is working with people. But the most frustrating part of leadership is working with people. People tend to be selfish, including me. We want our own way. We want to do our own thing. As a result we don't always want to do the thing that's best. They put themselves first and that can be very, very frustrating. We think of ourselves and that causes conflict. It's always selfishness.

II. THE CURE FOR CONFLICT

How does a leader resolve conflict? Nehemiah knew this whole thing could blow up in his face and the wall never get rebuilt. They were exploiting each other. They had Jews fighting against Jews, families fighting against families. v. 1, the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their own people. This is much worse than fighting an enemy out there. An external enemy often rallies the troop, it builds unity. When you're fighting each other, it's dividing you apart.

STEP 1 v. 6 -- "When I heard their outcry and these charges I was very angry." GET ANGRY (excuse me Joe what did say?)
Nehemiah did not ignore the problem, he took it seriously. If you're the leader of any kind of group and the harmony of your people is threatened, you better get angry. It's very, very important. You, as a leader, are to protect the harmony of your home, your group, your bussiness -- wherever.

Sometimes anger is very appropriate. Sometimes it's the right thing to do. This verse says Nehemiah was very angry. Anger is commanded by God. Ephesians 4:26 "Be ye angry and sin not." It is possible to be angry and not sin. If it wasn't possible then God sins. God got angry. Jesus got angry. You can get angry and not sin. One of the first things you need to do if there is disharmony caused by selfishness, you as a leader, better get angry. Take it seriously! There is the right kind of anger and the wrong kind of anger. Leadership is knowing the difference.

Nehemiah's anger is not a personal reaction. Nobody was hurting him. He is not getting angry and striking back because somebody bruised his ego. That's the wrong kind of anger. He's not striking back in revenge. That's the wrong kind of anger. But what he has is justifiable indignation. He was angry at the selfishness of these rich people. He's deeply disturbed by their exploitation. They could call a halt to the entire project just because of their own selfishness and greed. Nehemiah is thinking "What good is a wall if the people inside the wall are ripping each other off? What good is a wall if we're exploiting each other?"

A leader without some fire in his/her bones is not much of a leader. When you see something that is destroying the harmony in your family, your church, your nation, your business the first thing to do, as a leader, is to get upset. Nothing will upset a leader more than division.
The last thing they needed here was internal strife especially since there was plenty external strife anyway.

STEP 2- REFLECTION: THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK
If you only do step one and don't do step two you're going to get into a lot of trouble. V. 7 "I pondered them in my mind." Living Bible says, "So after thinking about it, I spoke out against these rich government officials." These were the people who were ripping everybody off. The Hebrew word is literally "I consulted with myself". Nehemiah's first reaction was to get angry. But before he did anything else he talked to himself about it. He got alone with God, prayed about it, thought about it to get the perspective right. He planned it out and said, "God, what do You want me to say?" He talked to himself. ‘Leaders make time for Think time’. You don't need to go talk to anybody else. You need to set down and say, "What's really going on here? I'm ticked off. I'm irritated. I'm upset. But what's really happening?" Set aside some time for reflection and to think. Because, when you get angry your first reaction is usually wrong. You ought to get angry. There are some things you ought to get upset about when you see selfishness preventing or harming the work of God. But before you do anything about it you do step two where you think before you speak. (sometime you may be part of problem)

James 1:19-20 "Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. For man's anger does not bring about the righteous life God desires." This is the antidote. It's not a contradiction. It's clarifying what Ephesians said, "Be angry and sin not." There is a difference between man's anger and God's anger. Man's anger is when we act in revenge. God's anger is when we act in righteousness. There is no personal vendetta involved: I'm going to get angry because you hurt me, you irritated me, you frustrated me, you disappointed me. That's the wrong kind of anger. You're angry out of your own selfishness. Somebody didn't live up to your expectations.

What he's saying, "Be quick to listen and slow to speak." If you do these first two the third one is automatic. If you're quick to listen and slow to speak you will be slow to anger. And the anger you have will be godly anger after you've thought it through, consulted with yourself. You haven't just spouted off whatever first came to mind. Impulsive anger always gets you in trouble.
Step two is reflection. It's a good antidote or qualifier of step one -- the reaction of getting angry.

STEP THREE -- REBUKE: YOU PRIVATELY CONFRONT THE OFFENDING PARTY
Go directly to the source. You don't deal with somebody else about it, talk with five or six different people to get everybody on your side. You don't say, "I've got a prayer request..." which is often sanctified gossip. You go directly to the person, directly to the source.

If somebody has offended you and you go to somebody else besides them first, you have already sinned. An example: Nehemiah 5:7 "I pondered them in my mind then I accused the nobles and officials. I told them...`He goes to them
directly. Directly to the problem -- the people who were sinning.
Matthew 18:15-17 this is what Jesus said about how to handle conflict, wherever you are: "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you've won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he still refuses to listen, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector." How did Jesus tell us to treat pagans and tax collectors? Love them. He just didn't treat them like brothers. That's the difference between acceptance and approval.

Only involve the people to the limit you have to involve others.
A Good saying is, “If they’re not a part of the problem or the solution they don’t need to be involved”
First go see the person. Try to resolve it with your boss or whoever. If that doesn't work, take another person along. If that doesn't work then you involve a larger group and bring the church in on it. But he doesn't say, first go tell the whole church and then the person.
Notice Nehemiah 5:7 "I pondered them in my mind and then accused..." [circle "accused"] Nehemiah is not making a polite social visit here. He's angry and he's not glossing over the fact that these guys were ripping off other people. He's not watering it down. He is confronting them.

How many of you like to confront people? If you like to confront people, you're weird! People who like to confront have a problem! How many of you like to be confronted?

I hate confronting people! It is not fun. I want everybody to like me! So do you! I don't want to be disliked and I don't want to cause hard feelings. But I've learned it is necessary to confront for the good of everybody. I have also learned that if I don't confront the problem it only gets worse. It does not get better. I've also learned that the longer I wait the more courage it takes to confront. I become more and more of a chicken the longer I wait.

Have you ever seen the morale in an office deteriorate because of one jerk who is making everybody miserable and yet is a trouble maker and his poisonous attitudes are being spread throughout the entire office because the manager is a wimp and would not deal with it. He kept putting it off. Maybe that person who is causing everyone's problem happened to be the top producer. So the manager was more interested in profits than he was in people. He didn't care that everybody else was sick of the person, because he was still bringing in all the sales.

Have you ever seen a family fall apart because the parents were afraid to discipline their kids? They were afraid that if they really disciplined them, they would loose them. That's tough love. Privately confront the offending party.

Leadership Law: Leaders must have the courage to confront.
If you're ever going to be a leader, this is a skill you have to develop. You must have the courage to confront. Speak the truth in love. Leadership requires courage. Leadership is not a popularity contest. For the greater good of the family, for the greater good of the business, for the greater good of the church -- I don't care if you don't like me, but the fact is this has to be dealt with." That's what Nehemiah's doing here. He said I'm going to deal with the issue.

Privately confront the offending party.

Do you imagine that Nehemiah was nervous here? This takes guts. He took on the city leaders. He is rebuking the wealthy owners of Jerusalem, the very people he must depend on to fund the rebuilding of the wall. Now who would pay for the wall, all the poor people? Who would pay for the doors, the people who didn't even have enough money for food? No. He goes to the moneybags, the very people who are funding the rebuilding of the wall and finally supporting the rebuilding. It's a real gamble.

The devil is probably saying, Nehemiah if you do this you loose their support, who's going to pay for the wall? You'll never finish the project.

But Nehemiah was committed to doing the right thing regardless. If it meant putting the wall on hold for a few days while they dealt with this sin, so be it! That shows the integrity of Nehemiah.

v. 9 "So I continued, `What you are doing is not right. Shouldn't you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?'" He's appealing to their conscious. He's saying what you're doing is a bad testimony. All the unbelievers are laughing. "Those people are supposed to be godly people and they're buying and selling each other into slavery and ripping each other off."

v. 10 "Give back to them immediately... continue to help out, but stop charging interest!” He's saying he's challenging them to make restitution. Do it immediately.

The result was they repented. v. 12 "And they said, `We will give it back,' they said. `And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say.'" Nehemiah must have breathed a sigh of relief at that point. That was quite a gamble to challenge the people -- those wealthy owners.
(confronting usually turns out real good)

STEP FOUR - REINFORCEMENT. Set an example of unselfishness.
We see this on down in v. 14. We're going to cover it in more detail next week from a different angle on the example of leadership. But the foundation of all of Nehemiah's leadership is he led by example. When he asked them to rebuild the wall, he was out on the wall rebuilding it. When he asked them to pray he had already been praying. When he asked them to stay up all night and work night and day to get it built, he stayed up night and day to get it built. When he asked them to help the poor, he'd already been doing it. That's what these next verses say.

v. 14 is a little biographical statement about himself and what happened when he was twelve years as governor. "When I was appointed governor in the land of Judah neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. But the earlier governors, those preceding me, placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I didn't act like that. I devoted myself to the work on the wall. All my men were assembled there for the work. We didn't acquire any land. Furthermore, 150 Jews and officials ate at my table as those who came to us from surrounding nations. Each day one ox, six sheep, and some poultry were prepared for me. And ten days an abundant supply of wine of all kinds. In spite of all this I never demanded the food allotment to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people."

As the appointed governor there was a certain amount of food he could receive from people and he never took it. He realized the people were hard up. He could have exploited the people. His servants could have exploited the people like the servants of the governors in the past but he didn't.
In fact he set the example. He was feeding the poor. He was helping them. He was doing all he could out of his own
personal wealth. He's setting the example.

Nehemiah says, as a leader I have modeled unselfishness. Why does he say that right at the end of all this stuff about conflict? Because the source of all conflict is selfishness. Nehemiah said I haven't exploited the people, taken advantage of their misfortune. He's contrasting his approach to the people with the wealthy rulers and owners' approach, which was to exploit the people. Nehemiah never asked anyone to do what he himself wasn't willing to do or wasn't already doing. He could say with a clear conscious, "Follow my example". That's a mark of leadership.

Paul was a leader like this. 1 Cor. 11:1 Paul said, "Follow my example as I have followed the example of Christ."
You say, "I'd never say that!" Why not? If not, you'd better change whatever you need to change in your life. People follow models. Paul wasn't being arrogant. He was saying, "At least I'm making the attempt. At least I'm making the effort." - What’s holding you back from saying that? You need to start working on the areas where you could say, Follow my example as I follow Christ.

Leadership Law: Leaders only ask others to do what they are already doing.
That was the secret of Nehemiah's boldness. I'm in awe how this guy stood up to these people and challenged them and confronted them. He was a person of integrity. He was already feeding the poor. He had every right to stand up and say, "How come you guys aren't helping the poor instead of hurting them?" If you cannot challenge someone to follow your example, whatever you say to them is going to loose its impact. In challenging our children, I can't say "Do as I say, not as I do". That's ineffective. If I can't say, "Do as I do, " then the impact of me saying "Do as I say" is worthless. Organizations, homes, families, office, wherever... will have fewer conflicts when we
live unselfishly and model that.

The fact is internal differences, wherever you've got a group of people, are inevitable. When two people agree on everything, one of them isn't necessary. There's going to be differences. There's no such thing as a perfect church. There's no perfect family. There's no perfect business, office... There's going to be conflict. But God wants us to minimize them for His glory and especially in the family.
God has called us in every arena of life to be people who are know by love.
That's the mark of a Christian.
Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that you're My disciples, that you love one another."

LEADING IN LIFE - Leader's Handle Opposition

A couple of weeks ago I said there is no such thing as opportunity without opposition. One of the great tests of leadership is how do you handle opposition? Do you panic under pressure? Do you get uptight, loose your temper, blow up, become discouraged, give up? What do you do? In order to ‘Lead in Life’ part of the job description includes putting up with attacks and when things aren’t going as you plan. We're going to look at how a leader handles opposition in Nehemiah 4.
Three things: the tactics of opposition, the effects of opposition, how a leader handles it or the right response.
I. THE TACTICS OF OPPOSITION
I'm going to mention three of them. There are many more but these three are mentioned in the text and people will use these to stop or stall a project. They're still used today.

1. 4:1-3 "When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall he became angry and was greatly incensed and he ridiculed the Jews in the presence of the associates and the army of Samaria and he said `What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring stones back to life from those heaps of rubble burned as they are?' Tobia the Ammonite who was by his side said, `What are they building? Even if a fox climbed upon it, he would break down their wall of stones.'"

The first tactic the opposition usually uses is ridicule.
We have a clear example of this here. Circle that. That's a powerful, effective tool. It's still used today. How many of you have ever been mocked or mad fun of w/ cruel intent?
It happens to us personally, in the work place. Why is it so effective? It's because it attacks our sense of self worth. A lot of times we can handle just about anything except ridcule.

The motive. "He became very angry and greatly incensed..” Ridicule is always the substitute for reason. Laughter is always the substitute for logic. If people can't reason you out of a position they'll just try to ridicule you.
People who ridicule you are usually just afraid. Afraid that you're going to succeed. He uses name calling, "...those feeble Jews". He implies that they have a selfish motive. He makes fun of their beliefs. He overstates the case. All of these are typical tools of ridicule. He says "Are they going to rebuild it in one day?" No where is there any place they say they're going to rebuild it in one day. That's typical ridicule. They overstate their case, (like charactiers)
v. 3. Ridicule is contagious. When Sanballat makes the initial ridicule Tobia, his side kick, chimes in and starts. There's always people who will ridicule you if somebody else will take the lead. They are cowards and won't do it on their own.

2. Resistance. Organized resistance.
v. 6-8"We rebuilt the wall until it reached half of its height and the people worked with all their heart. But Sanballat, Tobia, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to the wall of Jerusalem had gone ahead and the gaps were being closed they were very angry. They all plotted together [circle this] to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it." The opposition is getting organized. Instead of just a couple of critics we have a conspiracy. Sanballat has gathered all the disgruntled parties to resist the rebuilding of the wall. Sanballat and the Samaritans were in the North, the Arabs were in the south, Tobiah and the Ammonites were in the east, the men of Ashdod were in the west. The Jews were surrounded by these people who were conspiring against them. Have you noticed that negative people tend to gravitate together?

The purpose was to fight and stir up trouble. These folks are all around. Some people, their whole purpose in life, seems to be against stuff.

3. Rumor.
v. 11-12. "Also our enemies said, `Before they know it or see us we will be right there among them and we will work to kill them and put an end to their work.'" The quickest way to spread a rumor is to feed on people's fears. The gist of the rumor is, We're going to get you from allsides. We're going to attack you and you're not even going to know what hit you. The fact is, they didn't have enough power to do this. But the rumor of an attack was enough to incite panic. Rumor is often used by opposition.

Two characteristics of rumors:
1)They are always spread by those closest to the enemy. v. 12 "Those Jews who lived near them." The Jews outside the city of Jerusalem, who lived near the enemy, they were the ones most negative. What happens when you're around negative people all the time? You get negative. You become infected. (eagles-turkeys)
2) They are exaggerated when they are repeated.
v. 12"Then they told us ten times over." Circle that. What happens when a rumor is exaggerated ten times over? People start to believe it. (thank you tabloids) I think it was Hitler that discovered if you tell a lie long enough people are going to start believing it. The point is: the negative always gets exaggerated in a project. Law of Leadership: Leaders don't swallow rumors. They may listen to them, chew on them, but they never swallow them. Because they are always exaggerations.

II. THE EFFECT OF OPPOSITION
v. 10-11 "Meanwhile the people in Judah said, `The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall. Also our enemies will attack." When you're working hard and you're bombarded by ridicule, rumor and resistance you're going to get discouraged. That's the effect of opposition: discouragement. (texans
When is discouragement most likely to occur? v. 6 "So we rebuilt the wall until all of it reached half of its height."
Discouragement comes at the half way point. How many of you have half finished projects around your house? work?

Four causes of discouragement: v.10-11
1. Fatigue -- "the strength of the laborers is giving out"
2. Frustration -- "there was so much rubble" Frustration is usually a matter of perception. Actually the piles are getting smaller.
3. Failure -- "we cannot rebuild the wall" When you're tired, everything looks impossible. Vince Lombardi said, "Fatigue makes cowards of all of us."
4. Fear -- "the enemies will attack us"
The opposition always has two goals. One of them is to
hinder God's word and one is to stop God's work.

III. WHAT IS THE RIGHT RESPONSE TO OPPOSITION?
What do you do when you're under attack?

1. RELY ON GOD
v. 4-5 Nehemiah's prayer. "Here O God for we're despised. Turn their insults back over their heads and give them over as plunder in the land of captivity. Do not cover their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight? They have thrown insults in the face of the builders."
Nehemiah is hot here. He's letting off steam! When you're being ridiculed you don't suppress it, you confess it. Rely on God. Admit it all to God. He says, "God, we're trusting in You to defend us." He doesn't get caught up in a name calling game. Instead of calling names, he relies on God.
Proverbs 26:4 "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself." If you're getting ridiculed for your faith, or whatever, don't answer back. That's dumb! Then you're no better than the person who's ridiculing you. (Pres. at UN-Ven. comm.-pic) If you've got a project and people are taking pot shots at you, just rely on God. Pray.

The greater the opposition the more you need to pray, to depend on God. Leadership Law: When you're ridiculed don't take it out on people, talk it out with God. We want to crack back! That's not what Nehemiah does. He hears this initial ridicule but basically he ignores it and goes to God. The best response to ridicule is don't respond. Instead, you go and you pray and you keep on doing what you should be doing in the first place. The first verses says -- they ridiculed, they prayed, they rebuilt the wall. Ridicule can never stop you from doing what you're doing. Not unless you let it.

If you're a leader and you're under attack, the first thing you do is pray. You take it to God. Sometimes if you ignore the opposition the criticism dissipates, vanishes. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it intensifies. When they realized that ridicule wasn't working then in v. 8 it says they plotted together to fight against Jerusalem.

2. RESPECT THE OPPOSITION
How do we know that Nehemiah respected the opposition? v. 9 "But we prayed to our God and we posted a guard day and night to meet this threat." They did the prayerful thing and then the practical thing. Both. It's fine to lay in bed at night and pray, "Protect me from the burglars." But you also need to get up and lock your door! (God’s part - our part)
‘Petition without Precaution is Presumption.’ Rely on God when you're being opposed. But also respect the opposition. And the stronger the opposition, the stronger the response.

v. 9 "We prayed." Up to this time, Nehemiah has been doing the praying. Now all of the people are praying. Where did they get that idea? They've been watching their leader. Leaders lead by showing, not just telling. Nehemiah has been praying constantly for four chapters. The people are getting the idea that it must work. They start praying too. If you're a leader in your business and if you want other Christians to follow your lead, start praying. Nehemiah's constant prayer life had affected these people. Now the whole people of God are praying. They prayed and they posted a guard. Nehemiah sets up an alarm system. He sets up 24-hour guards. He posts a watch. He knows his opposition. Some leaders have lost because they've underestimated the opposition. Don't just pray. Be aware. Know your opposition and don't be ignorant about what's happening.
In the Bible the phrase that is used over and over again is "Watch and pray". Jesus said it. Paul said it. John said it. Peter said it. Watch is the human part -- post a guard. Pray is the divine part -- trust God. Watch is lock the door; pray is "God, I'm trusting You." You do both of these things.
Rely on God and respect the opposition.

3. REINFORCE YOUR WEAK POINTS
v. 13 Nehemiah had prayed and he had relied and respected the opposition. He had posted the guard. Then "Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families with their swords, spears and bows." He is reinforcing his weak points, the lower points. This is where the wall was maybe only a couple of feet high. Where it's ten feet high you don't have to worry so much. The weak points, the exposed places, he's making a strategic placement. He's reinforcing his weak points.

Do you know the weak points in your business? Do you know the weak points in your family? Do you know where you're most open to attack? That's the principle he's teaching us. Leadership Law: Good leaders know where they are vulnerable and they reinforce that area.
If you have to make a sales presentation. Know your weaknesses and anticipate the objections and be ready to counter those objections when you make the proposal.
(have to know in our lives)
v. 16-18 "From that day on, half of my men did the work while the other half were equipped with spears and bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did the work with one hand and held a weapon in the other. Each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. I said to the nobles and officials, `The work is extensive and spread out and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet join us there and our God will fight for us."
They are working all around the whole city. They couldn't fortify the whole city. They had no army. This is just a bunch of amateurs here building the wall. So Nehemiah said, Whenever you hear the trumpet blowing, everybody run to that side and we'll know the enemy is there and we'll fight them all together. I think the principle here is,
Keep your lines of communication open during times of attack, times of opposition. Nehemiah turned the entire city into an armed camp. Everybody did two things.
They worked and they carried a weapon.
Principle: Every time you start building for God, you're asking for a battle. If you start trying to build your marriage, you're asking for a battle. If you start trying to build up your own personal spiritual life you're asking for a battle. If you start trying to build a church, that's a battle. Everytime a church starts building there is a battle. Why? Because Satan doesn't want churches built. He gets people to oppose you.
Law: Leaders must build and battle at the same time. If you start doing anything of significance in this world, somebody is going to oppose you. What do you do?

Nehemiah had three alternatives. When every body started opposing him with rumors, resistance and ridicule he could
a. Give up
b. Leave the wall and go fight -- do a preemptive strike
c. Build the wall and arm himself defensively.

Leaders must build and battle at the same time. You never leave the wall to fight the enemy. You could spend all your time putting out fires and never get your job done. You could spend all your time greasing the squeaking wheel (the critic, the complainer, the kook) and never get your dream or whatever God's called you to do, done. You've got to learn to build and battle at the same time.

Notice Nehemiah's building plan and battle plan in v. 13 "I stationed some of the people at the lowest points of the wall posting them by families." Why by families? When you are under attack, more than any other time, you need support. That's one of the benefits of a small group. When you're in a small group, you're less vulnerable to an attack of Satan. God never meant us to be Rambo Christians.
There is support and encouragement in small groups.

Nehemiah posted by families.
Principle: Never fight a fight alone. When you're facing opposition, get some support. That is one of the purposes of the church. Every Sunday I preach to our folks and I know that on Monday morning they're going back to work and get beat up! To get beat up by the world. They come in bandaged and bloody at the end of the week to get patched up again. We need support. It's tough in the business world. It's tough being a Christian at school. It's tough having Christian attitudes in a society where everything says
"No, don't live for Christ; live for yourself!"
Which is why we must reinforce our weak points.

4. REASSURE THE PEOPLE
v. 14 "After I looked things over I stood up and I said to the nobles and the officials the rest of the people, `Don't be afraid! Remember the Lord is great and awesome. Fight for your brothers and your daughters and your homes." He's rallying the troops. He's relieving their fears. He's reinforcing their confidence. He's raising their morale. That's the task of leadership. When your business/family/church is under attack, the task of leadership is to reinforce the people, raise their morale. Don't be afraid! We can do this!
(kids scared at night)
What did he say that renewed their confidence? "Remember the Lord." That's where our confidence comes from.
Remember the Lord!
It's interesting that a lot of wars have been fought with slogans that started "Remember..." The Spanish-American War was "Remember the Maine." World War I was "Remember the Lusitania". In Texas it was "Remember the Alamo". World War II was "Remember Pearl Harbor".
All of those battle cries were based on defeats -- Remember that defeat back there, now let's go get them!

Nehemiah does the exact opposite. He doesn't say, Remember our defeat! Remember when we got exiled to Babylon! He says, "Remember the Lord!" He's saying, "Let's look at the future. Get our eyes off the opposition and get our eyes on the Lord." When you're under attack, if the devil can get you to focus on the opposition he's won a major victory. You either focus on the opposition or you focus on the Lord. You can focus on the financial statement or you can focus on the Lord. You can either focus on the rising
interest rates or you focus on the Lord. You either focus on the economy and it's jitters or you focus on the Lord. What are you going to focus on? "Remember the Lord!"

Remember what the Lord is like. "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome."
Circle "awesome".
Then Nehemiah challenges them. "Fight for your brothers and your sons and your daughters and your wives and your homes." He challenges them to fight for their lives.
Everything is on the line here.
V. 19 "I said to the nobles and officials, `The work is extensive and spread out and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet join us there and our God will fight for us." He's got a trumpet as a rallying point. That's a point of reassuring the people

5. REFUSE TO QUIT
v. 15 "When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work." We know there is opposition out there. There are critics. They are ridiculing, rumoring. But that doesn't matter. We're going to keep on keeping on. We refuse to be distracted. They all returned to the wall. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

v. 8 "They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it." That's the first goal of opposition: to stir up trouble.
The second goal is in v. 11 "We will kill them and put an end to the work."
When you're being opposed there are always two oppositions. They want to hinder your work and they want to stop your work. When you know that the opposition's goal is to get you to quit what do you do? Don't quit! You keep on working no matter what!

Calvin Coolidge said, "Press on. Nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common that unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are the overwhelming power."

In spite of the opposition we've looked at, v. 21,22 "So we continued to work..." Underline that. They refused to quit. "...with half of the men holding spears from the first light of dawn till the stars came out at night. At that time I also said to the people, `Have every man and his helper stay in Jerusalem at night so they can serve us as guards by night and workmen by day.' Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes. Each had his weapon even when he went for water."

They worked through the night. He told all the people who lived outside of Jerusalem who were commuting in to work on the wall, "You stay here". When you're under opposition, when you're under attack, it's time to stick together. They even slept in their clothes, that's how committed they were. Nehemiah led the way. He sets the work pace. He's showing endurance, being the prototype. He's enduring the same hardships the people are enduring, facing the same dangers.

Leadership Law: Leaders model persistence.
They are the last to give up. They are the last to jump ship.
They refuse to quit.
(let me ask you)
What does the devil want you to give up? What has he been tempting you to give up on? Reading through the Bible in a year? A career? A dream? A marriage? An idea? A ministry at church? What does he want you to give up? Your small group? If you know that that is what he wants you to give up what should you do? Keep going!

There is an old legend that one day Satan had a garage sale. He was selling all of his tools that he had used over the centuries. Lying, hatred, malice, lust, greed, envy, jealousy, pride, all of these different things. Over in the corner there was one tool that was priced more than all the other tools put together. It was so priceless that nobody bought it. Why? Because it was "Discouragement" That's Satan's most important tool.

Satan may not get you to commit an immoral sin, but he can get you discouraged! A discouraged believer is an ineffective believer. That means that we've taken our eyes off the Lord and put them on the circumstance. Since Satan never sold it, he's still using it today.

Whenever we give up, the devil wins. One of the fundamental principles of the Christian life is Don't give up!

Persistence is the ultimate test of leadership. This is the acid test. How do you handle it when the going gets tough? When somebody laughs at you or criticizes you for being a Christian that may hurt but it cannot stop you. The secret of success is you simply outlast your critics. How do you get to be an oak tree? An oak tree is just a little nut that refused to give his ground. It doesn't take a lot of intelligence but if you just hang on you'll outlast the critics. There is nothing the devil would rather do than stall us and stop us and move us into neutral so resist discouragement and keep on.

LEADING IN LIFE - Leader's Organize

We've been in this series for five weeks. As we look at today's passage it looks just like a list of Hebrew names. A lot of times we want to just skip this passage altogether. I probably could have done that myself. The Bible says in 1 Cor. 14:40 "Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way." We're looking at principles of leadership - LEADING in LIFE - We said first a leader prays, then he plans, then he present the plan and motivates people. But motivation without organization leads to frustration. Today I want to give you a few principles of successful organizing.

1. PRINCIPLE OF SIMPLIFICATION(simplify)
Keep it simple. (KISS) For such an enormous project
Nehemiah had a simple plan of organizing it. He didn't assign any jobs by lottery and didn't create a whole new organization and didn't force any complex charts. His plan was very simple. He organized around natural groupings. The priests in verse 1, the men of Jericho in verse 2, sons of Hassenaah in verse 3, the men of Tekoa in verse 5. These are natural groups that are already associating together. He doesn’t complicate - He doesn't need to do that. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
What is the most natural grouping of organization? The
family - Nehemiah 4:13 -- He posted them by families -- for support. The strongest organizations are the simplest. It's like toys. Blocks are unbreakable. More complex toys break. (metro) The more complex something is the more it breaks. The simpler it is, the stronger it is. The simplest organizations are strong organizations.

2. THE PRINCIPLE OF PARTICIPATION(participate)
Work with those who want to work. A lot of leaders never learn this. They spend all their time trying to corral the lazy and the apathetic instead of working with those who want to work. in ch.3
Almost everybody got involved. All available help was put to work. the religious leaders led the way. Men and women, city and country people, white collar, blue collar. There were perfume makers, goldsmiths -- everybody got involved.
Government leaders, business leaders. Everybody was moving bricks. Everybody was making mortar.

Except one little group. V. 5. "The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors." These guys think they're too hot, too good. They thought the work was beneath them -- moving bricks. It doesn't say what excuse they gave, but in every church you have these kinds of people. In every community, every business you have these kinds of people. Hot shots that don't want to work.
Nehemiah's response to those not working was to ignore them. He did not focus on those who were not willing to work. He focused on those who were willing to work. He didn't lose sleep, get bitter, waste time trying to corral them. If you're a leader, you must not worry about people who don't want to get involved. Connect with those who do want to get involved.

There is a school of thought in the church leadership community that says you should always be asking those in your church family to be helping out in various things going on in the church. One reason for this is because having people involved increases their level of commitment which leads to a higher level of community. There is the feeling that ‘we are all in this together – we are a team!’ and if people are involved, they feel a part of the team. The beauty that flows out of this type of thinking is that the church becomes OUR church and not just an entity. Another reason for asking is that people don’t always see the great potential in themselves that others are able to see so clearly. Therefore, if you ask them for their help, it builds confidence and helps them to grow in their area of giftedness. I very much agree with this school of thought. Furthermore, I think it applies not just to the church community, but also the community in your office, home, etc. However, I’ve learned over the years that there is a difficult balance to walk when attempting to identify if some just needs a little encouragement to take their job or ministry (or whatever) to a higher level or if they aren’t stepping up because they really don’t want to. Cathleen used to be a front end manager at Randall’s, simply put, that means she managed the ‘front end’. Everything the checkers and sackers were doing was based in her decision of what she felt like needed to be done.  Her experience there had examples of the principle of participation, literally, on a daily basis. During a regular shift there were times that were busy and everyone was challenged to ‘keep up’ during the rush. But between the rushes was when you really saw the principle most displayed. Those who wanted to participate in running a quality business spent down times asking what needed to be done or identifying things on their own. One of the first things Cathleen learned is that if you wanted to be ready when the rush hit- you had to use your down time wisely. There was a huge difference in her employees that responded to her with a ‘what do you need’ attitude and those that responded with a ‘I am here because I have to be and I don’t want to do anything more than absolutely necessary’ attitude. Those that wanted to participate – and I think this is true in the business world period – received reward. They got the most and best hours, they got the needed time off, they got the raises and the promotions. Those that did not want to participate, and this is why it is so important to work with those that want to work, brought the whole shift down. Their attitude was destructive to the ‘team’, everyone else had to pitch in a little more to make up for their lack of effort, they caused frustration, anger, and resentment to set in. One person could alter the tone for the entire shift. In the principle of participation, you have to look at the good of the whole, and choose to work with those that want to work, in order to see positive, God honoring results.
 
Leaders love everybody, but they move with the movers. In every organization, family, church there are some people who say, "I want to go. I want to be involved." Focus on these. Don't focus on those people who make excuses.

3. PRINCIPLE OF DELEGATION(delegate)
When you're organizing you make specific assignments, divide up the project in specific tasks, assign specific people to those specific tasks. What if, after Nehemiah's pep rally when he got everybody excited and they jumped up ready to go build, what if he said, "Just go start working wherever you want to work." That wouldn't have worked. What if he said, "Let's go to one part of the wall and work on the same part at once." There would have been confusion, chaos, everybody bumping into each other.
The key word in this passage is the word "section". It's used 13 times. He walks around the entire wall and divides it all up almost counter clockwise

Obviously Nehemiah thought this out. He probably divided up the wall into sections when he was doing that midnight ride. In organization, keep it simple, work with those who want to work and then make specific assignments.
Delegate.
Tasks to do in delegation:

1. Break down major goals into smaller tasks. This is the capacity to cut problems down to size. Nehemiah attacks this huge problem of building the wall by breaking it down into bite size pieces.
2. Develop clear job descriptions. Every one deserves to know what's expected.
3. Match the right person with the right task. The wrong person in the wrong task causes chaos. It causes all kinds of motivational problems. In good delegating you've got to understand what the task is all about and you've got to understand what the person is good at and get them together.

4. PRINCIPLE OF MOTIVATION.(motivate)
In organizing any project allow for ownership. Help people feel it's their project. v. 10 says a guy made repairs opposite his house. v. 23 another fellow repaired in front of his house, v. 28 another beside his house. The priest repaired each in front of his own house. v. 29, repaired in front of his house. v. 30 a guy built his in front of his living quarters.
When you build a project you let people do the things they're interested in. Where would you most likely want to be building the wall? By your house.

What is the result when you allow ownership in a project? High motivation. If I'm building the part of the wall that's going to protect my house, I'll do a good job. It also saves time; there's no commuting. Walk out in the morning and start to work! Go back home for lunch!
Nehemiah is simply saying that in the project make it as convenient as possible. It's easier to protect their family at the same time.
When you assign a project – get out of the way! It is human nature to want to look over the other guys shoulder and make sure he is doing things exactly as you would or as you would want them done, but resist that urge. (supervise) Remember that people learn by experience. They learn from their mistakes and their successes. These mistakes and successes motivate us. (‘I have to remember not to do ___ next time’ or ‘That was the exact result I wanted, I need to right down what I did so I don’t forget and I do the same thing next time’) One of the number one places we can use this principle is with our kids. Assign a task, teach your expectations, and then take a deep breath and get out of the way. Remember……….your kids will not get it right the first time, or maybe even the 2nd or 3rd. But they will get it. The child who is just learning to wipe down the table after dinner may need you to explain (patiently) how you want that table wipe, preferably not smearing the mashed potatoes is always good. But explaining something does not mean you take over. You may take the rag out of his/her hand to do a tiny section so that they can see what your talking about but if you do the whole thing because they weren’t doing it RIGHT, you didn’t teach them anything and, even worse, you made them feel incapable of doing what you asked – therefore taking away motivation. They won’t want to try it again next time. What’s the point of trying when every time you try you get in trouble? Working with adults is the same.
How many times do we say to ourselves, ‘well when it comes to ________, I just do it myself because the other person in my office or my husband/wife just cannot seem to do it right.’ We will never motivate others if we don’t allow them some ownership - realizing with ownership will come failure and success and that BOTH our failures and successes will ultimately result in higher levels of motivation and long as we have a positive attitude and are encouraging those we’ve assigned a task to.

Nehemiah allowed people to work in their area of interest. That's a principle of organization.

5. PRINCIPLE OF COOPERATION(cooperate)
Encouraged teamwork. Whenever you've got a project of any size and you need to organize it, realize that we accomplish so much more together than we do as individuals.
The key phrase is "next to him" or "next to them". This is used twenty times in this passage. Nehemiah works clockwise around the entire wall. They helped each other. They encouraged each other.

Next week we're going to see that the whole time they were building the wall they were under attack. They needed help, support. They needed people to encourage them. B.C. Forbes, the guy who founded Forbes magazine said, "You spell success, T-E-A-M-W-O-R-K." Cooperation is a key principle that's built into good organization.

"Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, thinking together is unity, working together is success." Together we can do things we can't do as individuals. Geese can fly 71% farther when they're in formation than when they fly off by themselves. who taught them that? God did. When we cooperate together, when there is teamwork there is great growth. Eccl. 4:9-10 "Two can accomplish more than twice as much as one. The results can be much better. If one falls the other pulls him up. If a man falls when he's alone, he's in trouble." Who's going to pull him up.
When you're building an organization, a business, your home, you follow these principles: keep it simple, work with those who want to work, make specific assignments, allow for ownership, encourage teamwork.

In the Bible, when referring to Christians in the church, the phrase "one another" is used 58 times. It's as if God's saying, "Get the message! Help each other!" "Snow is a beautiful demonstration of what God can do with a bunch of flakes." Individually, I can't do much and you can't do much, snowflakes are pretty frail. But if enough of them stick together they can stop traffic. I can't do much. I can't make an impact on this city. You can't make an impact on the city. But together, we're making an impact. That's teamwork.

6. ADMINISTRATION(administrate)
This principle is implied all the way through the passage. You must supervise the work when you have any kind of a project. It's interesting in Nehemiah 3 that his name is never mentioned. Not once in the chapter. Where was he? He was out on the line administering. Supervising. He was doing -- Management By Walking Around. He was walking around checking up on people, finding out what's going on. How did he know which part each guy built? He was continually inspecting, supervising.

I wrote down three examples of supervision: He uses the phrase "under their supervisors." v. 17 says certain repairs were made "under Rehum", v. 18 certain repairs were made "under Bavvai". There were appointed supervisors who were helping control the work, manage it, administer it and make sure it was going. Something to note here:

People do what you inspect not what you expect. Those of you who are bosses, have you figured that out yet?
But supervise with RESPECT - “do all things in love”

7. PRINCIPLE OF APPRECIATION(appreciate)
In good organizations they give recognition. I believe that is the primary purpose of this chapter. We have a great honor role of faith. Nehemiah is giving credit where it is due. Two thousand years later on the opposite side of the world, you have a pastor here mispronouncing their names but we still remember them. If they hadn't done their part and Nehemiah hadn't appreciated what they'd done, we wouldn't have known who they were.

Notice several things about this principle of appreciation:

Obviously, Nehemiah knew their names. That's a mark of a good leader. In this passage, there are 38 individual names of guys he said did a good job on the wall.
Do you know who's doing a good job in your home or office? If you do, are you telling them they're doing a good job? That's a principle of good organization.
I think it's important that you develop ways to let people know they're doing a good job.
V. 20 has the name of one man in this list of entire names that gets honorable mention. It says everybody did a good job, "Next to him, Baruch, son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section from the Angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib, the high priest." Circle "zealously". That's the only descriptive term in the entire chapter. Everybody else did their work. Some people didn't do any work. But one guy enthusiastically did his work. Three thousand years later we know it, we know the name of that guy. We don't know what he did. Maybe he worked extra fast. Maybe he worked extra long hours, had an especially positive attitude. The point is if you want to be recognized in your work, just do what everybody else does but do it with enthusiasm. God notices enthusiasm. It's in the Bible. God notices whether I'm working and serving enthusiastically or not. Enthusiasm is the Greek word, that means "God possessed". That's what enthusiasm means. When you're possessed by God you're going to be enthusiastic.

Another interesting thing. Verse 12 "Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of the half district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters." I think that's special. In those days, women did not do men's work. They didn't carry bricks and mortar around. Women did certain things and men did certain things. Even if they did, women were never recognized in that culture. But Nehemiah recognized them. Credit to whom credit is due. He wasn't any chauvinist. He said, these girls were doing a good job. So he points them out for special recognition. Probably Shallum was a pretty smart man. He probably got all the help he wanted since his daughters were working on the wall... likely the young men on either side were more than happy to come help Shallum with his section of the wall.

Nehemiah is giving appreciation and recognition. I think this is the purpose of this chapter.

v. 5 "The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa. [Tekoa was a hick town, a wide spot in the road. Nothing there.] but their nobles would not put their shoulder to the work under their supervision." It's interesting to me that three thousand years later everybody else is honored for what they did, but these guys are remembered for what they didn't do. What an epitaph! When these executives started making their excuses why they couldn't move brick and mortar do you think they had any idea how many people were going to know about it? Billions of Christians and believers over 3000 years knew that these guys coped out and did not do their job. Those guys blew it.

Nehemiah did not get up tight about these people. He did not worry about them. He said I'm going to focus on those that are working not on those that aren't working. The Bible shows Nehemiah had a list, but the most important thing is are you on God's list? One day when you get to heaven God's going to look at your list and see whether you were involved in His work or not.

Romans 14:12 "So that each one of us will give an account of himself to God." This verse scares me to death! The Bible says one day I'm going to give an account of my life to God for the direction of this church, how I served Him. All of us are. In Luke 16:2 it says God's going to call you into account for what you did with what you had. He is making a list -- just like Nehemiah had his appreciation list. God is keeping a record of my service and my stewardship. It really doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. Or who knows or who doesn't know. What matters is God knows. What will God say about me and my service for Him? Will he say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Or "Why didn't you do more? What is your excuse?" What is God going to say about me or you?
1 Cor. 15:58 "Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." God has not asked any of us to go build a wall. But He has asked every one of us to be involved in ministry for
Him. To be a Christian means to be called into the mission field. That doesn't mean everybody goes into a foreign land, or is a pastor, quits their job and works full time. But every Christian is called to serve, to minister. Your mission field is those in your realm of influence. A non serving Christian is a contradiction. He expects us to be involved in service.
Rom 12:4-8 "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not have all the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We all have different gifts ... use them!"
What is my function in the body of Christ? Ask yourself that.

We all have different gifts that God has given us to function differently. Sometimes people use spiritual gifts as a cop out. "That's not my gift." So they won't do this or that. You ought to work in your area of interest. You ought to work where your spiritual gifts lie that is a fact. That ought to be your primary area of service. But God calls you to also work beyond your area of spiritual gifts. If you were to go back and read this list of guys -- men and women -- who built the wall, there is not one professional builder listed. None of these people were "gifted" to do it. There are pharmacists, jewelers, goldsmiths. These are people who work with their hands but they weren't afraid to go out there and get their hands calloused moving bricks and mortar. There were business men, merchants, white collar people who were not afraid to get out and help on the wall.

Every weekend here we have to set up and take down. Somebody has to do that. Chairs, tables, media, sound...
I commend you, I appreciate you

Notice there are three kinds of work in Nehemiah 3. There were those who did no work, there were those who did some work, and we know that there was one guy who did enthusiastic work. God notices all three kinds. He noticed those who weren't doing zip! He noticed those who were doing their share. He noticed those who were going above and beyond their call of duty and doing it enthusiastically.

Which three describes your involvement in God's work? Where is my part "on the wall" of God’s Kingdom?

Everybody needs encouragement. Everybody needs to feel appreciated and needed.
This is the primary purpose of this chapter - encourage and appreciate

LEADING IN LIFE - A Leader Motivates

We're going to look at another important leadership skill. We've said that at first a leader prays. Then he plans. Then the next thing you do is you have to make a presentation to get people to cooperate with you. Success is never a one-man show. Nehemiah knew that he could not rebuild the wall without the help of other people. When he goes to Jerusalem, the people are defeated, apathetic, living among ruins. Twice before in the last ninety years somebody has tried to rebuild the wall. They've failed twice. They have no confidence. They're negative. For ninety years they've been saying it can't be done. Nehemiah arrives on the scene and within a matter of days he has rallied the support of the entire city. He puts them together, mobilizes them, rebuilds the wall in 52 days. This was something that had not been done in 90 years. The question is how did Nehemiah pull it off when other people had failed? Was he a miracle worker? He was just a great leader. And he understood the principles of motivation.
I want this session to be very practical. There are many times these principles can be very helpful to you: When you are promoted to a new job; when you need to get the cooperation of other people; when you need to sell an idea; when you need to introduce change into an organization, a family, your school, your work; when you want to get a project off the ground. When you have any of these situations in your life what we're going to talk about will help out. Take these steps.

How does a leader motivate other people? Let's look at the things Nehemiah did.
1. EXPECT OPPOSITION
The fact is that the moment you say, "Let's do something," someone will jump up and say, "Let's don't." When God's people rise and say, "Let's build," Satan says, "Let's arise and oppose." People are naturally resistant to change. They don't like it. They want the status quo. People resist change for a variety of reasons. Leaders figure our what those reasons are and deal with them. Nehemiah 2:10 "When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this they were very much disturbed that some would come to promote the welfare of Israel." He names two leaders of the opposition. You'll find these people all through the book of Nehemiah. Sanballat was the governor of Samaria, Tobiah was the leader of the Ammonites. Nehemiah has not even arrived in Jerusalem yet and there's already opposition.

I Cor. 16:8-9 "I will stay here at Ephesus. There is a real opportunity here for a great while and a worthwhile work, even though there are many opponents." Circle "opportunity" and "opponents". First leadership law today: There is no opportunity without opposition. If you're going to help change people or change the situation, expect opposition.

2. WAIT FOR THE RIGHT TIMING
In motivating others and suggesting change, timing is everything! Have you ever had a good idea killed because of bad timing? Timing makes a huge difference. V. 11 says "I went to Jerusalem and after staying there three days I set out..." He stops for three days. Nehemiah does not make some grand entrance, flash the flags, bands playing, arrives in on a white horse. He doesn't proclaim, “Here I am to save the day. Now get to work!" When he arrives in Jerusalem, the first thing he doesn't do is get brick and mortar together. He didn't even announce why he was there. He did nothing for three days.
What was he doing for those three days? We don't know. Four probabilities:

1. He was probably resting, recovering from a long journey. He had been on a camel, crossing the desert. Another Leadership Law -- You never make a major decision when you're tired; it will probably be wrong. Fatigue clouds your perspective.
2. He may have been praying. We know he was a man of prayer.
3. He most likely was planning. He probably was reviewing his strategy.
4. He was building curiosity. He arrives with a king's escort, into a town that is defeated and discouraged. He goes to his home and says nothing for three days. Don't you think that caused a little curiosity? Maybe using the delay to his advantage. He's using it for psychological build up so that when he presents the proposal, they'll be ready to listen.

Eccl. 3:7 says "There is a time to be silent and a time to speak." Eccl. 8:6 says, "There is a right time and a right way to do everything." Circle "right time". If you're going to share in changing a life or a situation, you've got to wait for the right timing. Jesus had a profound sense of timing in the ministry. Many times in His life He would say, "It's not time yet. My time has not yet come."

3. GET THE FACTS FIRST
In v. 12-16 we have Nehemiah's research party of actually going out and inspecting the walls of Jerusalem. You've heard of Paul Revere's midnight ride. This is Nehemiah's midnight ride. In v. 12 he says, "I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding. By night I went out through the Valley Gate to the Jackel Well and the Dung Gate examining the walls of Jerusalem which had been broken down and its gates had been destroyed by fire." He goes on and explains how at midnight he's out traveling around the walls of the city, actually inspecting. He is personally inspecting the damage in the middle of the night. He only takes a small group with him. He obviously didn't want to attract attention.

Every good leader knows exactly what Nehemiah is doing here. He is doing his homework. His background checks. This is the lonely part of leadership, the un-glamorous part of leadership. It's the part nobody ever hears about. It's the guy doing his preparation, checking out the situation, getting the facts. v. 14 says there was so much rubble he even had to get off his horse and walk through it. At this point the size of the project probably starts to sink in and he thinks, "This is worse than I thought. Why did I volunteer for this?
V. 16 says "The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews, or the priests, or the nobles, or the officials or any other who would be doing the work." Why is he being so secretive about this survey? Because he didn't want the plan to be stalled before it got out of the starting gate. There had been 90 years of negativism and he didn't have all the facts yet. Is it easier to promote a good idea or kill a good idea? Have you noticed that negative people tend to be more vocal than positive people? Nehemiah doesn't have all the facts yet so he says before I even announce what I'm going to be doing, I'm going to get the facts.

Proverbs 23:23 "Get the facts at any price and hold on tightly to all the good sense you can get!" Proverbs 18:13 "What a shame -- yes, how stupid -- to decide before knowing the facts." Proverbs 14:15 (Living Bible) "Only a simpleton believes what he is told. A prudent man checks to see where he is going."
Leadership Law: Good leaders do their own research.
Before we started FOCUS* we had a demographic study done on this area started the church in. Before we began meeting here we were studying the area, the census statistics, talking to people, gathering information. We drove around the different neighborhoods.
We discovered through talking to other Church leaders that Bellaire/West. U/Medical Center/Montrose is the most unchurched part of Houston - made sense to Cathleen and I that this was the place God was sending us.

Nehemiah understood his opposition, he has created a curiosity, he has gathered all the facts, Now finally Nehemiah is ready to lay all the cards on the table. V. 17 "Then I said to them." Circle "then". Now he's ready for the fourth step in how to motivate people.

IV. IDENTIFY WITH those around you
All good leaders do this. They associate with their people. "I'm one of you." He says (v. 17) "Then I said to them, `You see the trouble we are in. Come let us rebuild [Circle "us"] and we will no longer be in disgrace." He didn't walk in as an outsider, having never been to Jerusalem and say, "You guys are a bunch of failures. You can't get this thing rebuilt. It's been 90 years and nothing's been done on it." When you blame other people you decrease the motivation. When you accept the blame you increase the motivation. He doesn't play the role of an outside expert here. He doesn't say, "I'm going to rebuild the wall... I'm going to be your savior." He says, "I'm one of you and it's our problem."

Good leaders identify with those around them. That's good for motivation. It's good for parenting too. You get a little bit better response from your kids when they feel like you
understand them, that you identify with their problem.
Law: The best ideas are not mine or yours they're ours.
You identify with those around you

5. DRAMATIZE THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE PROBLEM
He comes to the people: "I've got some stuff to tell you but first the bad news." Rather than minimizing the problem, he dramatizes it, he emphasizes it. V. 17 "Then I said to them, `You see the trouble we're in? Jerusalem lies in ruins and it's gates have been burned with fire. Come let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and we will no longer be in disgrace." These are emotional word pictures he uses here. "The place lies in ruin ... burned with fire ... we're in disgrace." He's dramatizing the seriousness of this. Why? Because these guys had been living with this for years. Isn't it a fact of life that when you live with a bad situation long enough, you start ignoring it? Paint marks on the walls - This fifth step he refocuses their attention to the problem "We have got a mess." He's getting them to face the facts.
Step three is the leader faces the facts; step five is the leader gets the people to face the facts. Leadership Law:
Change never occurs until we become discontent.
If you want to create change in your school, work, home, office -- one of the marks of a leader is he creates discontent. If you're content you don't want to change anything. That means you're going to have to put up with some criticism, because anyone who stirs the pot, rocks the boat, is in trouble. They're shaking up the status quo. That's the mark of the leader.
How did he do it? He used two motivators. He appealed to their self esteem. He said, "We've got to go out and build this; we're in disgrace. We could do better than this. We're God's people and we're living in rubble. The city is torn down. The walls are torn down. The place is in shambles and a mess. We're in disgrace." I think that was a breath of fresh air to these people. This leader is different because he's concerned about us. He doesn't just have his own agenda. He's concerned about us...

But even deeper than that, he appealed to an even higher motive which was concern for God's glory. Not only were the Jews being disgraced but God was being disgraced. Who were the Jews? God's people. The whole world was laughing: "Those poor Jews! They say they worship the true God. They can't even rebuild their own city. They say their God's the greatest God of the whole world, but they can't even get their walls rebuilt; they're living in rubble." It was an embarrassment to God and a poor testimony. When Nehemiah said, We're in disgrace! he was not only appealing to personal self esteem but he was appealing to the fact that God's name was being defamed. It was a bad testimony.

6. ASK FOR A RESPONSE
You don't just pump them up, you give them something to do. You don't just have a big rally -- then say, isn't that great! Let's all go home. In v. 17 he says, "Everything is in a mess; let us rebuild the wall." He calls for action. He
appeals for help. He asks for a specific response.

Notice that Nehemiah was both realistic and optimistic. That's a balance that a good leader has. Nehemiah was
realistic because the third thing he did was get the facts on his midnight ride. He saw really how bad the place was. He tells them: the walls have been destroyed, the gates have been burned. But he's also optimistic. After honestly laying out the problem, he doesn't say, "Everything is destroyed. This is impossible! Let's go home." He doesn't give up. What he does say is the opposite. "Let's rebuild."
Leadership law: Leaders see both the real and the ideal. They see what is but they also see what can be. A leader who just sees what can be and doesn't see what is, is not a leader; he's a visionary. There's a big difference. You've got to look at both -- what's actual and what's possible. Those two brought in harmony together produce leadership.

When you see these kinds of things, you ask for a specific response. Leaders see what's real and they see what's ideal and they know that to get from the real to the ideal they have to have help. Leaders are not afraid to ask for assistance. Not too many of us like to ask for help. Most of the time we're real insecure and say, "I'll just do it myself!"
The wall around Jerusalem was not going to be built until someone stood up and said, "It's going to take sacrifice. We're going to have to put time, money, effort, energy to do this." Leaders ask people for a specific response.

7. YOU ENCOURAGE WITH YOUR LIFE STORY
In v. 18 we have Nehemiah's story and there are two parts to it. "I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me." He tells them about how God had called him to lead the project. The second part he tells them how circumstances confirmed his calling. "I also told them what the king had said to me." He was saying, "I didn't want this job, but I was praying over there in Susa. As I prayed for four months, I got a burden. The more I prayed about it God said, Why don't you be the answer to it. The burden turned into a vision. I said, `OK, God, I'll do it.' It was really God's idea. He called me to come do this project. Not only did God call me but He confirmed the call when I went to the king and the
king said Yes.
He gave me a calvary guard and he's going to pay for it."

That is a legitimate thing to ask for if somebody comes to you and says, "God told me to do this." A legitimate response is "Is anybody confirming this in your life? Or is this just something you thought up? Are there any confirmation signs?"
Nehemiah shares his testimony of how God had called him and the circumstances confirmed his calling. V. 18b is the people's response, "I told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said then they replied, `Let's start rebuilding.'" They were excited! For ninety years nothing is going on, then Nehemiah comes saying, "God's put me here to do this. And we've got the king's
permission -- the guy who wouldn't allow it to be done before is paying for it."
The vision has been transferred. First he said this is my
vision. He guarded it very carefully at first -- he didn't tell anybody. He went out, did the survey. He was waiting for the right timing. Once he had all the facts, he dramatized the problem, he asked for a response and then encouraged them with his own story about how God called him to do this and how the circumstances confirmed God's call. Now the vision has been transferred. It's not Nehemiah's vision any more; it's the people's vision. What was a secret for a long time is now shared.

Why did Nehemiah use his personal testimony in motivation? Because he knew one of the classic laws of leadership. People follow people not programs. And the people that people follow are called leaders.

I Cor. 11:1 "Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ." Why should anybody follow you as a leader? When are you ready to be a leader? The answer to that is "When people can see God's hand on my life." When people can sense God's Spirit in your life, can sense God's hand on your life, then you're ready to be a leader.
Can I see God's Spirit on that person's life? That's what really matters. Not education. Not talent. There are a lot of talented people you shouldn't follow. There are a lot of people with credentials that you shouldn't follow. But does God have His hand on their life?

8. ANSWER THE OPPOSITION QUICKLY AND CONFIDENTLY
v. 19 "But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked us and ridiculed us." Another guy is now mentioned. In v. 10, before Nehemiah arrived there was just Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite. Now we notice the opposition has expanded to include a third party. Opposition usually grows as the project continues. First there are only two opponents, then a third party.

As we get further into Nehemiah we find six different sources of opposition. He got it from every side! The opposition's first strategy: "They mocked and ridiculed us." They laughed! Those Jews are never going to get it built. We’ll look at the others later, But none of it worked. The reason it didn't work now is because Nehemiah is on the scene. And Nehemiah is no pushover.
V. 20 "And I answered them saying, `The God of heaven will give us success. We, His servants, will start rebuilding. But as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem, any claim or historic right to it." Nehemiah refused to argue. If you're wise you will not argue with the opposition.(Eric webpage)
Instead he points out that it's God's project and God's idea. V. 12 he said "I had not told anyone what God had put in my heart to do." God put the burden on him. It wasn't his idea to rebuild the wall, it was God's idea. Since it was God's idea they would trust Him for it's success. That's confidence. He answers the opposition quickly and confidently.

The other thing he does is expose the selfish motives of the opposition. "Who are you anyway?" They had a stake in not seeing Jerusalem rebuilt because that would reduce the size of their kingdom. He exposes the motives of the opposition. Then the opposition comes and says, "You're trying to rebel against the king of Persia." Nehemiah pulls out his letters. "I'm not rebelling against the king. I'm obeying the king of kings. Be quiet!" He deals with them confidently and quickly.

This stunned the opposition. But only temporarily. They will see him several more times in the rest of the book. It boosted the morale of the Jews in Jerusalem. They had been defeated for years and finally here's a guy who is not afraid to stand up against these folks and say, "You don't have any historic right to this city."

People will oppose you. Answer your opposition quickly and confidently!
If you get moved at work or promoted... new direction in life
and there are people there already
There's a right way to move into responsibility and a wrong way, if you handle that right it will work out good. If you handle it wrong, all of a sudden you've got everybody fighting against you -- "Who does he think he is?"

But Nehemiah shows us what to do when you move into a new job and there's a bunch of people there before you. Nehemiah moves into a situation where everybody has been saying, "It can't be done!" for ninety years. Now he's going to come in and do it! The eight things he did turned an apathetic, hostile community into, within three days, saying "Let's go for it!"

Review:

Number one. Expect opposition because it's going to happen. There's never opportunity without opposition. If you have a good idea, great. But realize somebody is going to try to shoot it down. Realize it up front.

Number two. Wait for the right timing. Don't just, the first time you get the idea, go in and blab it to the boss, wife, husband. Wait for the right timing. Make sure you're rested, prayed, planned. There is a time to do everything.

Number three. Face the facts. Don't go in to make a proposal to somebody and have them say, "What about this?" and you have to say, "I hadn't thought about that." You must have the facts and figures to back up what you want to talk about. "Only a simpleton believes what he's told. A prudent man checks to see where he's going." Good leaders do their own research.

Number four. Identify with the people. It's not "I'm here to tell you what to do." Nehemiah didn't check in and say, "I'm here to rebuild the wall. If you want to consult me I'll be in my office." He said, "We've got a problem. We're here. It's our problem. Let us rebuild."

Number five. He dramatized the problem. He used word pictures: "It lies in ruins and its gates burned with fire." He's very realistic. It would be a tough job. Leaders don't lie and say it's going to be a breeze! He's honest. But he appeals to their self esteem and to the motive of glorifying God, the greatest motive of all.

Number six. He asks for a specific response. He was realistic and optimistic. He said, "I need your help. I can't do it by myself. We've got to work together."

Number seven. He encourages with a personal testimony. As he tells the story how God has blessed him and circumstances confirmed it, you can see the faith welling up in the people. They rally around. Nehemiah realized that people loved to be led. When there is a leader who puts our interest first and cares about us, as the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, as Jesus said, then we follow. The vision is transferred. It's no longer just Nehemiah's idea; it's the whole city's idea. he was ready to be a leader because people could see that God's hand, God's Spirit, was on Nehemiah's life.

Number eight. He answered the opposition quickly and confidently. He wouldn't argue.


Those of you who are already in leadership positions one of the lessons we learn from this study is that there are going to be things God wants to do in your life and through your life that other people are not going to get excited about. Realize that. They are not always going to agree with the direction that God is leading you, but sometimes you have to take a stand.
We need to decide that we're going to live for Jesus Christ no matter what anybody else thinks. That's the beginning of leadership.

So I answered them and said to them,
"The God of heaven will give us success;
therefore we His servants will arise and build”
Nehemiah 2:20

LEADING IN LIFE - A Leader Plans

Nehemiah 2:1-9
Last week we looked at the first thing a leader does. He prays. He/She does other things besides pray but that's the first thing they do. The next step a leader does is plan. You pray and then you plan. This passage reveals Nehemiah as a master planner. We're going to look at the six things he did. But first, three reasons why you ought to plan.

I. WHY PLAN?
1. God does it.
Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you' says the Lord, `plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" 1 Cor. 14:33 "For God is not a God of disorder but of peace." He plans. If God plans, it's OK for us to plan.

2. God commands it.
1 Cor. 14:40 "Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way." Prov. 4:26 (GN) "Plan carefully what you do, and whatever you do will turn out right." Prov. 16:9 "We should make plans counting on God to direct us."

3. It's good stewardship.
Ephesians 5:15-17 (Phillips) "Live life, then with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning of life but as those who do. Make the best use of your time. Don't be vague but grasp firmly what you know to be the will of the Lord." Time management involves making the best use of opportunities. that requires planning. It's good stewardship to plan. It's not good stewardship to go through life without any planning at all.

II. HOW LEADERS PLAN

1. Think it through
v. 1, "In the month of Nisan" -- Nehemiah had gotten this burden four months earlier and for four months he's been waiting for something to happen. Now, something happens. What had been happening between when Nehemiah first got the idea of rebuilding the wall and when he actually got the opportunity to present his program to the king. What had he been doing? He'd been praying, but he also had been planning. We know that by the way he responded to the king when the king said, "What do you want." Nehemiah knew what to ask for because he had been planning.

Howard Hendricks said, "Nothing is more profitable than serious thinking, and nothing is more demanding."
Leaders need time to think, time to get away, to pray & to plan.

Leaders make time for think time. A law of leadership.

Proverbs 13:16 "A wise man thinks ahead; a fool doesn't and even brags about it!" Prov. 14:8 "The wise man looks ahead. The fool attempts to fool himself and won't face facts." It's wise to spend time thinking about your life. Ask yourself three questions: Where am I now? Where do I want to be? How will I get there? That's what Nehemiah did. He was thinking it through. He was praying for four months but he was also planning.

What happens when you pray and plan? God gives you a vision. That's the mark of all leadership. You've got to have vision to be a leader. A V. for home, family, marriage, bus., job

Leadership Law: Failing to plan is planning to fail!

You've got to think it through.

2. Prepare for opportunities
When opportunity knocks, you need to be ready to open the door. All of life is full of opportunities. There are overlooked opportunities all around us. A lot of times we're not ready for them. - check out 'Chasing Daylight' series

v. 1-3 "In the month of Nisan the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes the wine was brought to him. I took the wine and I gave it to the king and I had not been sad in his presence before. So the king asked me, `Why does your face look so sad and you're not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.' I was very much afraid." Ever felt this way?
(something to share, maybe difficult)
This is the moment Nehemiah has been waiting for. He's been praying for an opportunity to present his idea to the
king. He's got an opportunity now to state his case. Because he had planned he was ready with the answer.
Notice he had a sad face. He had a burden he couldn't hide. He was getting a little discouraged by now. "God, aren't you going to do anything about this wall. I've been praying for it." Finally the king says, "What's wrong, Nehemiah?" Notice it says "I was afraid." He was literally scared to death. In those days it was a capital crime to be sad before the king. The kings were very fickle in those days. They didn't want any downers. They didn't want anyone raining on their party. If you frowned in the presence of the king you'd get your head cut off. If you were depressed in the presence of the king, that was it! Notice it says, "This is the first time I ever appeared sad." That is a real gamble.

Not only that, but Nehemiah is going to ask permission for a leave of absence. In those days if a king did not like your request that meant he didn't like you. No wonder Nehemiah was frightened. On top of that he was going to ask permission to go rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the king himself had said the walls could not be rebuilt! He's standing before a king who has the power of life and death. He has reason to be afraid.

Principle: Leaders move ahead in spite of their fears.

There is a myth that leaders are never afraid. Courage is moving ahead in spite of your fear. Notice what Nehemiah did with his fear. The king said to him, "What do you want? You're upset obviously." It says Nehemiah prayed. He sends up a little quickie prayer. This isn't the four months of prayer; he's already done that. This is the quick one! A silent, quick, on the spot prayer. "God, give me wisdom. Help me know what to say."
Then he answered the king in v. 3 "Why should my face not look sad? The city where my fathers are buried, lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire." He chooses his words very carefully; he assures the king of his loyalty, "May the king live forever!" Remember, this guy is also a bodyguard. If he's sad maybe he also knows of some assassination plot. The king's asking why his number one man is upset. The king's response was, What do you want?
The next three things Nehemiah asks for are evidence of planning.

3. Establish a goal
v. 5 "I answered the king, `If it pleases the king and your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so I can rebuild the wall.'"
Nehemiah gets specific here. He establishes a goal. He wants to rebuild the wall. He's very specific:
he wants to rebuild the wall.
Goal setting is the next step in planning. You have to have a target. If you aim at nothing, you're going to hit it
Ask yourself three questions: What do I want to be? What do I want to do? What do I want to have? Those are the questions you ask in establishing a goal.
There are two common errors we make in goal setting: We set them too low and we try to accomplish them too quickly. Inch by inch anything is a cinch. Set big goals, make big plans -- so big that God has to bail you out! God loves big planning. It honors God to be a big planner. This is what I'm expecting God to do. Not what I can do, this is what I want God to do!
Nehemiah said, I want to go rebuild a wall around a whole city. He'd never build a wall. He'd never built anything. He was a cupbearer. He had a big goal.

We set our goals too low and we try to accomplish them too quickly.

4. You set a deadline
First you pray. Then you think it trough. Then you prepare for the opportunities. People say, "That guy has all the luck. He gets all the breaks." I've found that the more I plan, the luckier I get. The opportunities are there you just have to be ready for them. Then you establish a goal. And then number four, you set a deadline.

Verse. 6 "Then the king with the queen setting beside him asked me, `How long will your journey take? and when will you get back' And I said, `It pleased the king to send me so I set a time.'"
He established a deadline.
A goal must have a deadline. If your goal doesn't have a deadline on it, it's not a goal. This is the scheduling part of planning. You know what you want to do and then you know when you want to do it. Ask the question: How long will it take?
Nehemiah established a deadline.
Considering points 3 & 4, Goals are dreams w/ a deadline.

5. You anticipate the problems.
He's already asked for permission to go, now he's asking for protection.
v. 7 "If it pleases the king may I have letters to the governors of Trans Euphrates so that they will provide me safe conduct until I arrive in Judah."
It's about 800-1000 mile journey between Iraq and Israel. He's got to go through a lot of provinces. You didn't travel freely in those days. You had to go through proper procedures. Nehemiah said, "I want you to give me letters of authority so I'll have clear sailing and when I get over there, there is no problem. I need traveling permits to travel unhindered."

This implies that Nehemiah had thought it out. Remember he's just asked here on the spot, "What do you want?" He had already thought it through. This is a clear example of planning. He was not just praying during those four months but he was also planning so that when the opportunity arose he could say what he needs.

Question to ask yourself in your own planning when you're anticipating problems: What could hold me back? In planning a project, ask yourself, Why don't I have it already? What could hold me back? What are the problems? What could go wrong? If anything could go wrong, it will.
Nehemiah is thinking ahead. He's already thought ahead where he wants to go. He's already thought ahead when he wants to go. Now he's anticipating the problems.

Leadership Principle: Managers focus on solving today's problems, leaders focus on solving tomorrow's problems.

Both of these are absolutely essential to any organization, family, business -- you need both managers and leaders. But they are not necessarily the same. Managers must focus on the day to day details -- today's problems. Leaders, the task of leadership, is to anticipate problems that nobody else is even thinking about. They figure out a way to overcome the problem before they even get there.

Management, on the other hand, which is just as essential a task, is dealing with the day to day problems.
Both are necessary.
Proverbs 22:3 (Living Bible) "A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences."
Ever known anybody like that? I've been a simpleton many times in my life when I did not foresee the problems. One of the laws of life is that it's always easier to get in than it is to get out. It's easier to get into debt than it is to get out of debt. It's easier to get into a relationship than out of a relationship. It's easier to fill up your schedule than to eliminate things from your schedule. It's a principle of life in every area. A wise man foresees difficulties ahead.

Proverbs 27:12 (Living Bible) "A sensible man watches for problems ahead and prepares to meet them."
Part of planning is to anticipate problems in advance and plan for them.

6. Calculate the cost
This is the budgeting part of planning. Principle number 4 is the scheduling part of planning, this is the budgeting part. In planning it takes both time and money. Have you learned that everything in life has a price tag? Here we have his third request.
v. 8 "And may I have a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?"

Nehemiah gives the king a shopping list. "First, I want you to let me go. Then, I want you to give me the protection to get there. And by the way, i want you to pay for it too." He asks for lumber to build three things: I want to build the beams for the city gates -- he had thought it out. Then he said, I'm going to need lumber for the city walls. Then, I want lumber for my own house. Remember, Nehemiah is not a contractor. He's never built anything in his life. He's a cupbearer. Yet, when the opportunity arose he rattled off exactly what he needed. Why? He had planned.

The first step of leadership is prayer. The second step of leadership is to plan.

How did Nehemiah know what to ask for? Evidently he calculated the cost. How in the world did he know there was a royal forest near Jerusalem? Advance planning. This whole chapter indicates that he already knew what he was doing when he got into the situation. He even knew the name of the foreman. He had already figured all of this out way in advance, so that when the opportunity arose he was prepared for the opportunities.

God has wonderful opportunities for you and I but we must be prepared to take advantage of them when they come. If Nehemiah had not had his planning done he wouldn't have been prepared. But because his planning had been so well thought out he knew exactly what to ask for.
He had calculated the cost.

Luke 14:28 "If one of you is planning to build a tower, he sits down first and figures out what it will cost to see if he has enough money to finish the job."
Who's speaking? Jesus. Jesus is advocating counting the cost.

Notice what we've just looked at is quite a risk. All Nehemiah's asking for he's asking a pagan king to do. He lays out all of his requests very clearly and he trusted the Lord. Notice: He asked for the king's permission. "Can I have permission to go build a wall." This is a life or death situation. If the king doesn't like your request, it's off with your head. He's scared to death. The king says, OK. If most of us had gotten that far, most of us would have breathed a sigh of relief and pack up and I’m Gone! We wouldn't have dared ask for anything else.

But Nehemiah hangs in there and tries further. He asks for the king's protection. "I want you to give me these letters of protection." The king doesn't flinch on that so Nehemiah continues.
Nehemiah asks for the king's provision. "Why don't you pay for it? Cut the timber from your forest?"
Nehemiah was taking tremendous risks asking this.
Laws of Leadership: Leaders are willing to ask others for assistance. You'll never be a leader until you learn how to ask people for help. No leader can do it on his own.
James 4:2 "You do not have because you do not ask."
How many people have you said, "No" for many times: "She really wouldn't want to do this".
You don't know what people will say no to. Let people say no for themselves.

It takes incredible boldness to do what Nehemiah does to ask a pagan king who has death and life in the power of his hands. It was very risky business. But because he had prayed for four months and because he had planned for four months his faith was strong enough that even though he was standing there with his knees shaking to death he kept pushing it.
The wisest risks are those taken after prayer and planning.
In Proverbs 21:1 "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord and He directs it like a water course wherever He pleases."
If God wants to move it any direction, He can. Here is a clear example of that proverb where God took a pagan king's heart and moved it all around. The point is that God is a specialist in changing hearts. God is in the business of changing hearts. It's up to Him. He's sovereign.
Nehemiah did not try to manipulate the king. When he was asked "What's wrong?" he was honest: "My home town is in shambles." He didn't make up some phoney story. He didn't make up a story about going back to Jerusalem under false pretenses. He didn't manipulate the king. He didn't trick him. He didn't play games with him. He didn't use any deceit. He talked to God about him. When you have a boss who is unsympathetic to a project, a goal you want to do don't manipulate him, don't play games with him. (sometimes when we really want something and it’s not coming together that’s the angle we try to take - manipulate, deceive, try and use brut force - pic) Just talk to God about it. Because the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord and He can turn it. Don't ever try to change anybody's heart. You can't. When you try, that's manipulation. Let God change the heart.

v. 8 After all of these things he's asked, Nehemiah's conclusion: "Because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my request." Underline "the gracious hand of my God was upon me." Notice Nehemiah gives all the credit to God. Remember this is an autobiography.
Nehemiah does not say "Look at what my planning did." He knew that God was behind it all. He knew it was not due to his cleverness. A mark of spiritual maturity is when you recognize God's hand behind those people who may be delaying you in a project that you know is going to change the world. Nehemiah says, "God was with me." But if Nehemiah hadn't prayed and planned and set this thing up, nothing would have happened.

Proverbs 16;1 (LB) "We can make our plans, but the final outcome is in God's hands."
The summary of this chapter is a beautiful example of the harmony that takes place between God's part and man's part in accomplishing things on earth. God's part is the sovereignty part. Our part is the prayer and planning part. We pray for God to set up circumstances that are out of our control. Then we plan for all the things that are under our control. It's not one or the other. It's not "Pray and let the spirit lead." The Bible says that's foolishness. It says the wise man plans. It's not just plan. It's not just up to you. It's both. God's part and my part. It's prayer, leaning on God, planning, doing the best I can. Prayer and planning go together. They're both important.
Because Nehemiah had done his homework, when the
opportunity arose he was ready.

Let's apply it to your life.
How many of you really want to grow spiritually?
The very fact that you came here today means that you want to grow spiritually.
What plans have you made for that? We plan everything else in our life, why don't we plan our spiritual growth? Do you have a plan to read through the Bible? or ... a plan to set aside a certain time everyday for prayer? ... a plan to talk to that person at work about the Lord? ...a plan to invite him over to dinner at your house, get to know him and then invite him to church? Have you planned it or are you letting it just spontaneously happen? Very few things happen spontaneously. We need a plan. A plan for witnessing. A plan for Bible reading. A plan for prayer. A plan for all of these different things in your life.

Are the plans you have ones that you just think up and then ask God to bless? Or are you getting your plans from the Lord? How do you know the difference? If you can pull it off yourself, you don’t need God, they’re probably manmade or at the very least too small.
Whatever your plans, make them big enough they show off God to the world -- that God is a great God!

Prayer:

We've seen the sensitivity of the leader -- he cared about the things God cared about; the prayer life of a leader; and the planning of the leader. Heavenly Father, may we take our lives seriously and realize as You've said in Ephesians 5 to live life with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning of life but as people who do. Lord, help us to make the best use of our time. And, as You said, to not be vague but to grasp firmly what we know to be the will of God. Lord, help us to think through where we're headed, to know the direction of our lives, to ponder the path of our going. Help us to be prepared for the opportunities You place before us. Help us to establish goals for our life and set deadlines and anticipate the problems and count the cost and apply these six principles of planning to our life this week. In Jesus' name. Amen.