This Sunday

Opposition and Opportunity

Opposition and Opportunity

Robby Pollard, Lead Pastor

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John 10:10

¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

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1 Peter 5:8

⁸Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

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Mark 4:4

⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

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Mark 4:14-15

¹⁴The sower sows the word. ¹⁵And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

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Restore.

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Nehemiah 1:3

³…The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”

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When you step out in obedience, the enemy steps up the opposition.

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Nehemiah 4:1-3

¹Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. ²And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” ³Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a fox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!”

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Nehemiah 4:1

¹Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews.

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Nehemiah 2:10

¹⁰But when Sanballat…and Tobiah…heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

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Nehemiah 4:1

¹Now when Sanballat heard…he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews.

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When you step out in obedience, the enemy steps up the opposition.

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The enemy’s goal with opposition: question God and quit.

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Nehemiah 4:4-6

⁴Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. ⁵Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders. ⁶So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

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Response #1: Pray

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Response #2: Keep working

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Nehemiah 4:6

⁶So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

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Nehemiah 4:7-8

⁷But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. ⁸And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.

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Nehemiah 4:9

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

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Response #3: Fight

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Nehemiah 4:10

¹⁰In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.”

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How discouragement sets in:

- You lose strength - “strength is failing”

- You lose sight - “there is too much rubble”

- You lose faith - “by ourselves”

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Nehemiah 4:11

¹¹And our enemies said, “They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.”

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Nehemiah 4:12-14

¹²At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, “You must return to us.” ¹³So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. ¹⁴And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

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Response #4: Remember the Lord

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Nehemiah 4:15

¹⁵When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work.

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Opposition to the work of God is an opportunity for God to work.

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Nehemiah 4:16-17

¹⁶From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, ¹⁷who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other.

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Opposition to the work of God is an opportunity for God to work.

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Nehemiah 4:18-20

¹⁸And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. ¹⁹And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. ²⁰In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

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Nehemiah 4:21-23

²¹So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. ²²I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” ²³So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand.

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Opposition to the work of God is an opportunity for God to work.

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When opposition comes:

- Pray

- Keep working

- Fight

- Remember the Lord

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