Nehemiah | Session 4 | A Call to Lead Big Ideas: Nehemiah 6:1-16 ● A Call to Lead ● A Call to Follow Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that there were no breaks le in it (though at that me I had not hung the doors in the gates), 2 that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they thought to do me harm. 3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?” 4 But they sent me this message four mes, and I answered them in the same manner. 5 Then Sanballat sent his servant to me as before, the fih me, with an open leer in his hand. 6 In it was wrien: It is reported among the naons, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king. 7 And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, “There is a king in Judah!” Now these maers will be reported to the king. So come, therefore, and let us consult together. 8 Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart.” 9 For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done.” Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. 10 Aerward I came to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was a secret informer; and he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you; indeed, at night they will come to kill you.” 11 And I said, “Should such a man as I flee? And who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in!” 12 Then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me. 14 My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid. 15 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fih day of Elul, in fiy-two days. 16 And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the naons around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God. Instead of watchmen on the wall I have seen the American church dig ditches. 2. Bury heads in the sand and hide away from darkness and calling that discernment. 3. Label everything we don’t fully align with as heresy and divide over. This group does not lead with Kingdom vision, faith, and sacrifice but self-preservaon and personal agenda. · Vison navigators and Direconal Leadership o Mission dri. As organizaons grow there is a tendency to get mission dri. You can wake up one day far away from where you intended to be in a bad way. o During the process as the people got red, scared, crical, and discouraged, the leaders called them back to focus on unifying behind the vision of God. o Nehemiah led the people of God in physical rebuilding but the larger narrave was calling them back to the law of God. o There will always be detractors from what God is doing. 1. Refusal to confront worldliness and sin in the name of tolerance, acceptance, and lack of sancficaon. 4. Become comfortable with status quo and apathec to the Great Commission to make Christ Known and neglect to live in faith as the bible exhorts us. · Administrave Compass- There was a systemac plan that God gave, and the leadership took charge and the people got in alignment and followed. The people work systemacally on the walls (3:1–32) (chapter 2 list of needs to the king) · Visionary Strategy and Managing · Truth guardians- As church organizaons grow there is a tendency to compromise truth for growth and health for ego and money. Leaders Shepherd Others in The Body and Care for Their Souls (Nehemiah chapter 5) Leaders don’t use and abuse people to accomplish God given vision. That defeats the purpose. Part of leading people is culvang their personal discipleship growth as you lead them to accomplish God vision bigger than any one of us. Nehemiah 5:1-13 And there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their Jewish brethren. 2 For there were those who said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many; therefore let us get grain, that we may eat and live.” 3 There were also some who said, “We have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.” 4 There were also those who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards. 5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children; and indeed we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards.” 6 And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. 7 Aer serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, “Each of you is exacng usury from his brother.” So I called a great assembly against them. 8 And I said to them, “According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the naons. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?” Then they were silenced and found nothing to say. 9 Then I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the naons, our enemies? 10 I also, with my brethren and my servants, am lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop this usury! 11 Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine and the oil, that you have charged them.” 12 So they said, “We will restore it, and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say.” Then I called the priests, and required an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. 13 Then I shook out the fold of my garment and said, “So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emped.” And all the assembly said, “Amen!” and praised the Lord. Then the people did according to this promise. Selfish and egoscal leaders will make the process about them and lose sight of the bigger picture. Nehemiah 5:14-16 Moreover, from the me that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the tweneth year unl the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the governor’s provisions. 15 But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people, and took from them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people, but I did not do so, because of the fear of God. 16 Indeed, I also connued the work on this wall, and we did not buy any land. All my servants were gathered there for the work. 1 Peter 5:1-4 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; 4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. A Call to Follow God is giving our leadership some huge vision to make Christ known in NWA and beyond. This vision is huge and will require us to look past our natural abilies and hindrances to faith in what God wants to accomplish. Many of our leaders don’t agree on all the details and we are prayerfully navigang many complex conversaons in this season. Hebrews 13:17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. Take Away: 1. When I look at my God given influence, what areas am I leading and where am I following? 2. Have I allowed God to prune and refine me into a Godly leader and follower? 3. What are some ways I need to grow as a leader and/or follower to align with Kingdom endeavors?