Wouldn't it be great if rebuilding was done with only help from friends? But that rarely happens! You're going to face opposition and challenges. How did Nehemiah handle opposition and how can we learn from it?
CATCHING UP/LOOKING AHEAD
- Talk about your experiences of writing a thank-you note to someone each day (or even one day) this last week.
- When you face opposition, is your first reaction to want to engage or to want to escape?
KEY VERSE
Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.
Ephesians
6:13 NLT
DISCOVERY QUESTIONS
- What helps you redirect your thoughts in the face of negative talk or gossip?
- Is there a new strategy you need to consider in order to reposition your forces as you face some kind of attack on your faith, family, or business?
- Is there an area of discouragement you’re facing where the group could pray for you?
- When you face distraction, what helps you regain your focus?
LIVING ON PURPOSE
God’s five purposes for each of us are evangelism, discipleship, fellow- ship, ministry, and worship. In this section, we’ll look at how we can take practical steps to fulfill one of those purposes based on the truths we’ve looked at in this study.
DISCIPLESHIP
Scripture memory has proven to be one of the keys to victory in the lives of many believers. Memorize the key verse for this week, or one of these verses that address the four strategies for winning the battle.
When you are ridiculed
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1
When you are attacked
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; per- plexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
2 Corinthians 4:8–9
When you are discouraged
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6–7
When you are distracted
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14
PRAYING TOGETHER
Share and pray for one another’s needs as you close your group meeting.
Creators & Guests
Host
Tom Holladay
Tom Holladay is a teaching pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Tom’s passion in ministry is to help people discover a love for the Bible and an understanding of God’s truth that changes the way they live. In addition to his pastoral leadership and weekend teaching ministries at Saddleback, he assists Rick Warren in teaching Purpose-Driven Church conferences to Christian leaders all over the world. Books he has written include The Relationship Principles of Jesus, Love Powered Parenting with his wife Chaundel and (with Kay Warren) Foundations: Core Truths to Build Your Life On. He and Chaundel have three children and five granddaughters.
Producer
Saddleback Church
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What is Putting It Together Again When It's All Fallen Apart: Saddleback Small Group Series?
Life crises can throw you into a tailspin, a lost job, a failed relationship, a struggling business, a financial mess. Where do you start? How do you pull it together? How do you begin again? Tom Holladay experienced a catastrophe first-hand when a sudden flood in California destroyed his home, his church, and the homes of many church members. Tom and his congregation had to rebuild, and they used the principles in the book of Nehemiah to get back on their feet. Now a teaching pastor at Saddleback Church, Tom will help you discover seven principles for putting it together again that will give you the direction you need to get rolling on that fresh start. Holladay will walk you through seeing every problem as an opportunity, facing the obstacles head on and taking your first step, knowing how to expect and reject opposition, build on your success, and dedicating yourself to the One who rebuilds our souls. The task of starting again can seem impossible. And sometimes you just need to rebuild your confidence and regain a sense of purpose. If you're trying to find the emotional energy, but you just don't have it in you, let Tom Holladay encourage you. He understands how difficult and rewarding the business of rebuilding is.
Download the study guide with each episode. And of course, check out the book "Putting It Together Again When It's All Fallen Apart" by Tom Holladay on Amazon or your favorite bookstore.
Welcome back for our Bible study for week four, for looking through the Book of um, how you and I can put it together again when it's all falling apart in the Book of Nehemiah. You've been looking this week at strategies were defeating the opposition that you're inevitably going to face as you try to rebuild. It would seem like everybody before you, when you want to rebuild, everybody would be saying, oh, this is great, and they would be in your camp. It's just not that way. You're going to face opposition as you rebuild. It's a revealing study to compare the kind of opposition that Nehemiah faced in his book to the kind of opposition that's rubble faced that is revealed in the Book of Ezra as he talks about him rebuilding the temple. There are many parallels, of course, because the opposition that we face then, the opposition that we face now, is the same kind of opposition, and they face opposition. So we're going to look at Ezra this week and the opposition they faced. Ezra, chapter five, verse three, says Batatanai, governor of the province west of the Euphrates River, and Shaether, Bozen and I and their colleagues soon arrived in Jerusalem and asked, who gave you permission? Who gave you permission to rebuild this temple and restore this structure? So they're facing this opposition from the very beginning. But when you read in the Book of Ezra what Zerubbable faced, there's a marked difference between how Nehemiah faced the opposition as he rebuilt the wall and how Zerubbable encountered opposition in the rebuilding of the Temple. Nehemiah, as he rebuilt he was never stopped. The project just went on. It just kept going on and on. The rubble, opponents were able to get a letter from a king that brought the work to a halt. So it seemed like for a time that the opposition was successful. So the Bible says in Ezra, chapter four, verses 23 and 24, when this letter from King Arthur's circuses was read to Rehum Shim, Shai and their colleagues, they hurried to Jerusalem. Then, with a show of strength, they forced the Jews to stop building. So the work on the Temple of God in Jerusalem had stopped, and it remained at a standstill into the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia. This is how many of us feel when we're rebuilding. We feel like the work has come to a standstill. We feel like things have stopped. So in looking at this book, we're able to see, what do we do when the opposition seems to have been successful? Even when it seems like the opponents have stopped the work, it doesn't mean that God has stopped working. God is still working in the midst of uh, even those moments when it feels like everything has come to a halt because he's greater than any opponent. Just because some time has passed does not mean that God has forgotten you, that God does not still have a purpose. He often wants to get things started again. He often wants to keep things rebuilding. You get things started again, always based on a word from God. You get a word from God that says it's time. It's time now to get things started again. God might be giving you that kind of word right now. And so in Ezra, chapter five, verse two, a word comes to the people from God. The Bible says there in those verses at that time, the prophets Haggai and Zachariah, son of Edo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah in Jerusalem. They prophesied in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. The rubble, son of Shioteel, and Joshua, son of Jehovah's, responded by starting again to rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them and helped them. So Zerubbabel heard it from a prophet. You might hear it from a sermon or a Bible study, from a devotional time. God speaks to you in a personal way that says, it's time. It's time to start again. I know this came to a stop, but I haven't stopped. I know it seems like it was halted, but I haven't halted. I know some time has passed, but I still know what's going on. It's time to get started again. As you talk this week in your group about some discouragements that you might have faced in the rebuilding project that God has you a part of, as you talk about those discouragements, my prayer is that God will use the encouragement of your group to bring a word from God to some of you in this case. It had been 17 years since the work had been stopped. It didn't mean God didn't still have a plan. And even after 17 years, he wanted the work to get started again. You may have laid a foundation for something 510, 1520 years ago, and think it's over. It never worked. It didn't work. But God has given you a word to say. Just because it stopped back then, just because there was opposition back then, it doesn't mean that I don't still have a purpose today. So they began to rebuild again. And when they began to rebuild again, god opened the doors. God did things they could have never expected. By the time God granted them this favor, a new king, Darius, had come in, and he made a royal proclamation that opened up the way for God to rebuild the temple, for them to be a part of this rebuilding project that God was doing in the rebuilding of the temple. We read about it in exercise six, verses seven to eight. Do not disturb the construction of the Temple of God. This is a proclamation from the king that's being written. Let it be rebuilt on its original site, and do not hinder the governor of Judah and the elders of the Jews in their work. Moreover, I hereby decree that you are to help these elders of the Jews as they rebuild the Temple of God. You must pay the full construction cost without delay from my taxes collected in the province west of the Euphrates River, so that the work will not be interrupted. So, not only is he allowing the work to be done, he's going to pay for it with his taxes. That's what God can do when he begins to rebuild again. So my question is this what is it that was halted in your life, that maybe you've given up on in your life, that God wants to rebuild again? Where is it that God wants to once again shine his light on hope, on future of what he wants to do in your life? Just because it was halted in the past, does not mean that God doesn't still have a plan. Just because some time has passed, does not mean that God is not still working. What is it in your life that the opposition may seem to have had success in halting? That you realize God is greater than that and he still wants to be at work? Maybe, just maybe, it's time to knock on that door again, to see how God might have prepared you, prepared your circumstances in such a way that he wants to do something that glorifies Him. Let's pray together. Father, we look to you. It's hard for us to think about hoping again. It's hard for us, even after time, to think that you might have a future and that which we may have given up on. But God, you do have a future and a hope for us. So we look to you right now. We ask, we pray, that you would help us to see places where you have a word about new hope, new rebuilding in our lives. We need you to give us that word. And then we need you to give us the strength and power to follow you in that. Let things happen in our lives that glorify you, that surprise and show the world what you're like. We prayed in Jesus name. Amen. Alright, once again, enjoy talking in your group. And my prayers that God uses your conversation to bring encouragement.