Praying Through Opposition By Pastor Phillips Koh

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Praying Through Opposition By Pastor Phillips
Koh
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Introduction

• The story so far
• Nehemiah succeeded in uniting and motivating the
  people to rebuild the wall
• The enemies mounted increasing opposition at the
  final stage of the project

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The Personal Attack on Nehemiah
Introduction

• Enemy strategy if you cannot stop the work,
  attack the leader directly
• The following methods were used by the enemies of
  Nehemiah

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A. POLITICAL PLOY (61-4)

• Inviting Nehemiah to a peace conference on the
  plains of Ono
• Seeking to distract Nehemiah from finishing the
  job
• Nehemiah saw through the subterfuge clearly
• Nehemiah avoided any diversion from his great
  task

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Personal application
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B. FALSE ACCUSATIONS (65-9)

• Accusing Nehemiah of having grandiose ambitions
• Proclaiming this rumour openly and widely
• Nehemiah issued a flat denial to the false
  accusations
• Nehemiah refused to entertain baseless accusations

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Personal application
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C. SPIRITUAL DECEPTION (610-14)

• Hiring a false prophet to advise Nehemiah
• Enticing Nehemiah to break Gods law
• Nehemiah sought to be faithful even unto death
• Nehemiah possessed spiritual discernment

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Personal application
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CONCLUSION

• How was Nehemiah able to overcome one personal
  attack after another?
• A man of prayer
• Prayed for God to strengthen his hands (69)
• Jesus himself engaged in protracted prayer in the
  Garden of Gethsemane (Matt 2636-41)

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CONCLUSION

• A man of the Word
• Showed evidence of being deeply grounded in the
  Scriptures
• Nehemiahs prayer in Chapter 1 reflects King
  Solomons prayer
• Nehemiahs refusal to enter the Temple sanctuary
• Jesus used the Word of God to counter Satans
  temptation in the wilderness