Skip to main content

Nehemiah 6

 

[Nehemiah] SIX: Facing intimidation_

Nehemiah 6


Nehemiah had wrestled with God so thoroughly about what he was doing in building the wall that he wasn’t side-tracked by the attempts to call him away from the work…

 

[Discussion starter] How do you react when people try to intimidate you regarding work that you feel confident in doing?

How does your reaction change if you’re less confident about what you’re doing?

 

When someone reacts like Nehemiah, then the intimidator must become more and more threatening. It eventually boils down to who can intimidate the most, or who is the most confident in what God’s will is for the occasion…

 

[Read Nehemiah 6]

 

In this chapter, what are some of the different attempts at intimidation?

 

 

If you had been in Nehemiah’s situation, what would have been your reaction or how might you have reacted differently?

 

 

What kind of ‘divided loyalties’ do you find in the people of this chapter?

 

 

What guiding principles, do we find in this chapter of Nehemiah, with regards to how to cooperate with other religious groups?

 

 

How is the work that God has called you to do a “great work” and worthy of your full attention?
How could you make your vision for this “great work” clearer, so that you will not be easily side-tracked?

 

 

What kind of potential side-tracks do you face?

 

 

How do verses 17-19 show the importance, for Nehemiah, of keeping his objectives clear?

 

 

With this culture’s emphasis on relationships and the desire to not rock the boat, how well do you think we face these problems within our Christian communities?

 

 

How could we face these problems better in the future?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Disciple: Judas

  {Disciples} JUDAS ISCARIOT_   Turning away     The most notorious of al the disciples – and the one universally scorned – is Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus. His name appears in every list of the disciples (except in Acts 1), and it always appears last.   The other eleven are an encouragement to us because they show how common people can be used by God, even with all their faults and failures, to do remarkable things.   Judas, on the other hand, stands as a warning about the power of spiritual carelessness and pride, which can drag us away from loyalty to Christ.   Judas lived in close proximity to Jesus for three years.   He heard every teaching; he saw every miracle.   But in all that time his heart only grew harder.   The other disciples were being transformed, by Jesus, into passionate followers; Judas was being changed too...     [Group discussion starter] Have you ever had a friend or colleague that appeared to b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ephesians 5:21 - 6:9

  [Grace and Peace] EPHESIANS_   [Activity] Spend some time exploring the logical flow of Ephesians 5:21-6:9…   [Read Ephesians 5:21]   Paul addresses different relationship types (marriage, family, co-workers) when he writes to the Ephesians. Before he gets specific in his instructions, he gives a general one. What attitude are we supposed to have towards others?     What should submission look like in daily life?     [Read Ephesians 5:22-33]   In verses 22-24, why does Paul tell wives to submit to their husbands?     How does remembering that a wife is really submitting to the Lord affect submission to a husband?     In verses 25-33, how are husbands, in turn, to treat their wives?     How does comparing a husband’s love for his wife to how the Messiah loves the church remove any danger of the husband abusing the wife’s submission?       What ...
Post a Comment
Read more

{SEVEN CHURCHES} #3

  {SEVEN LETTERS}    The Attractiveness of Suffering_   Revelation 2:8-11     In the year AD 177 persecution broke out against the Christians living in what is today the French city of Lyon. Christianity had raised the suspicions and hatred of the Roman  bureaucrats who governed the city. The vicious persecution that raged, touched Christians at every level of society. After the persecuti on subsided, church father Irenaeus, arranged for a letter to be written to Christians in other parts of the Roman Empire describing the faithfulness of the  martyrs...   We  can’t  even begin to put into words, much less describe in detail, the  magnitude  of the persecution here: how the pagans raged so terribly against the saints, and how the ble ssed martyrs endured so patiently... To begin with, they nobly endured all the abuse the whole mob collectively piled on: screaming  at them, punching them, dragging them through the stre...
Post a Comment
Read more