Sunday, July 24th, 2011: Nehemiah 4:1-9....

I try hard to make sure this blog is as accurate to our Sunday morning class as possible for those of you who either are away or absent on Sunday morning. However, this past Sunday God went so far off my notes that I am not sure how well of a representation this blog will be for the class that was held. Yet, I am still sharing my notes with you for this is what I have promised to do. So here we go:

Read Nehemiah Chapter 4:1-9.

Notice that Sanballat's reaction has escalated. In Ch 2 v 10, he was described as disturbed. Then further in Ch 2, he is recruiting others to be against Nehemiah. He has the group mocking and ridiculing Nehemiah and the impending work. NOW in Ch 4 verse 1, Sanballat is described as indignant.

**The thing we need to realize and walk away with is the more God moves in us the more of a target we become for the enemy***

Then in verse 2 & 3, we see Sanballat is instigating & bringing even more again Nehemiah & the rebuilding of the wall.

Verse 4 & 5 shows Nehemiah doing what each of us knows is the best method....but so often do not do....He goes to the Father in prayer. Yet, his prayer has changed over the course of these chapters. Go back and read it again.

Our enemies & those against God's work can provoke God to anger, as seen at the end of verse 5.

As we read this, we can learn a few things about an effective worker in Chapter 4:

1. An effective worker has a mind to work.
2. An effective worker has a heart to pray.
3. An effective worker has an eye to watch.

We will cover more of the effective worker as we journey on.

Note: Effective worker portion comes from blog of "Jesus Plus Nothing".