Skip to content Episode 5 | Nehemiah: How to Handle Your Critics Aug 24 · 43 min ...more
Episode 5 | Nehemiah: How to Handle Your Critics
August 24, 2026 · 43 min
Series Nehemiah August 24, 2026 · 43 min · Nehemiah
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Nehemiah's Background and Burden 0:00 Now I'm gonna take the bible and pick up today right where pastor Brent left off. He he's already gone through the life and the book of Nehemiah. We're up to chapter 3. He finished last week in the last verse in chapter0:11 3. So I'm gonna pick up today in the 1st verse of chapter 4 and just kinda seamlessly keep this going because it's a great study. So if you have your bible or or a phone or you wanna read it on the screen,0:22 you can do it as well. But, we'll look at that in just a moment. And as I'm turning there, let me let me just tell you a few things about it. Okay? Nehemiah is the 16th book of the Old0:34 Testament, and and when you read your Bible and you come to him, it's really a a story, a biography, a history of what took place at that time. Now Nehemiah is the cup bearer to the0:46 king of Persia. His job as a cup bearer required that he taste the food before the king ate it. In those days, you could kill a king by poisoning the food, So he had to have0:58 someone who would taste it 1st. So his job really was like this. The food's laid out. He wasn't the cook or the chef. He was the taster. So he tasted it and people watched. And if his eyes didn't pop out and he sweat and1:10 break out and fall dead, then they say, okay. The food must be good. So Nehemiah always got to go 1st and he got to try it. And if it was bad, they say, we saved the king's life. Gotta hire another cup bearer. That1:21 was his job. Now to do that job, he had to be highly trusted. The king had to totally trust that this man was his friend. This man was loyal and he was in it for the right reasons. And so he had a1:33 huge responsibility on him. Now 1 day he's he's with some people from back home. If you live outside of a city or live in a different place, think of it this way. You you ask and inquire about1:45 what's it like back at the homeland where I grew up, where I went to school, where I where I knew the people. And and he hears news that he doesn't want to hear. They tell him it's not good. They say, over here in1:56 Jerusalem, the walls are still down. The the enemies are coming back and forth all they like. We're unprotected. Our kids can't go in the streets. We don't have anything of stability because the2:08 walls are down. And it was very important that every nation in that time would have walls around it so that just like you do doors on your house and all that, not anybody and everybody ought to be able to come through2:18 without the right motives and so they would put the walls around those cities. It also is identification that our God is protecting us. Now, what's happening is those people are in in helpless hopeless situation. And so2:29 when Nehemiah hears it, God puts the burden in his heart and he can't get rid of it. For 4 months, he begins to pray. God, use me. And he prays a good prayer. He prays something like, God, give me favor with the king2:41 to ask him to go to leave my job and to go rebuild that wall or help him. And God used my life. And it always reminds me of a friend that I had many years ago that helped me. He he passed away probably 20 years ago,2:53 but but God had blessed him greatly. He talked like a country boy, and you wouldn't think he had or did anything, but he had had everything on top of the game. Had about 7 or 8 businesses that were all3:05 successful, had a great family, but more important than that, he would lead more people to faith in Jesus than anybody I'd probably ever met at that time. And I remember 1 day asking him, his name was Lester. I said,3:15 Lester, man, you just amazed me at the way God's blessed you. And he said, Bill, let me tell you the story. He said, when I was a young boy, about 18 years of age, 18 or 19, he said, I knew I wouldn't have much chance in3:26 life. I knew I wouldn't go anywhere. Nobody in my family ever did. And he said, 1 day I heard a preacher talk about God has a plan for your life. He said, I went out in my grandfather's pecan orchard. I knelt down beside3:37 a pecan tree and I said, God and this was his prayer. I don't have much, but I give you all I have. And then he said, please use my life. He said, that's all I prayed. He said, I didn't know what else to3:48 pray. And he said, but I gotta tell you, after that opportunities and doors and places and made the right partner and she took me further and everybody I met helped me. And he said, I look back at my life and said, it3:59 all began when I said, God, I don't have much, but I give you all I have. If you can, use my life. And that's what Nehemiah was saying. He said, God, use my life. And And can I tell you this? You got 1 life. I mean, your4:11 life is like a dollar bill. You can spend it any way you want, but you can't spend it but once. And and with your life, you've got to say, God, I want to spend my life on something that matters. And you really want to do4:22 the things that please God, and that is a part of God's purpose for you. So Nehemiah is there and and and he go goes to make a difference. And in the overall book, I do believe pastor Brent probably wrote4:34 it better than than I've seen. This is so succinct but yet perfectly accurate. About the book in him, he says, it wasn't just about building a wall. It was about God building a leader who would4:45 then build a group of people, who would rebuild a culture because they were not going in the direction of God, who would follow God in a world that didn't. And and that's really what the overall book is4:57 about. Now, I gotta tell you that I've said this statement before, but it's more true now than ever. And that's why I like the book of where he's been led to to lead. Current and5:10 relevant than tomorrow's newspaper. Get that? I believe that what God put in here, you're gonna find as you stay in and read this book. You're gonna say, that's the world we're living in. That's why you wanna5:22 get your direction from this book. My, my wife and I went to Israel last year and we, we came back and she set her goal. Every morning she has a quiet time for a few hours and she'll read through different books and take5:33 notes. But we got back, she said, I'm really burdened about just reading nothing but the New Testament for the rest of this year. And so I said, fine. I think you'll like it. She said, give me some commentaries5:45 along the line. So I'd give her commentaries. And for the past probably 3 months, she's been in the book of revelation. And, I mean, she'll just read like 2 verses and then dig through 5 commentaries and and then5:57 she preaches to me when I get home at night. And, and and I I preached revelation 1 time for a whole year. She's telling me things I wasn't aware of or had forgotten. But now, if I turn on the news, something comes6:09 on, she will look at me and with that, it just flowing out. She'll say, yeah. Revelation 11 so and so said that. That's Revelation 13 so and so. And and she's got me going to6:20 Revelation again. So you're right. You're right. What I'm telling you is this book is more current than tomorrow's newspaper. If you wanna know where the world's going, people say, what's the world coming to? It's It's6:29 coming to Jesus. That's what it's coming to. It's gonna be a rough ride to get there, but we're gonna that's where we're going. He's still king. He's still on the throne. He's gonna take care of his children. I promise6:39 you that. Now, because of that, as I look through Nehemiah, I see a lot of things that he's telling us that are also relevant for us. Okay? So today, what I wanna do is is just teach6:51 you along this line some things along along that line of how to follow God during this time. Okay? Now Nehemiah starts growing, the people start moving, they start, he goes over there and they organize, they createThe Rise of Critics and Nehemiah's Prayer 7:02 people in groups and they're building a wall. And as they're building a wall, all of a sudden a, a critic comes up. Now have you ever been at a time in your life when everything's going well and out of nowhere7:14 somebody comes hating on you, they've been drinking haterade, and they they just they don't like you and they're jealous of and they're and they cause you some resistance. And and you think, I thought everything was7:26 fine and this happens. That's where Nehemiah is gonna be. There's gonna be a guy who gets very jealous of him and he's gonna come after him. Now, let me tell you to begin with a couple of things before I even start7:35 there. It's been said when God opens the heavens to bless you that, hell often also opens up to blast you. And and that's kind of what's gonna take place. And the devil's gonna7:47 use a lot of tools in our life. He's got a lot of in his toolbox to try to come after you with. I'll give you something real quick. Schemes is 1. 2nd Corinthians talks about the schemes he has. We like7:59 to say God has a plan for your life, and he does. And the devil has a plan for your life. Okay? It's to kill, steal, destroy. He the devil uses deceit. The devil uses8:11 snares. I often wonder how many times in our life that we have avoided some snare or trap that we didn't even know was there. That some angel of God or God himself directed us beyond that8:23 and around it. And we're gonna look back 1 day and say, wow. I could have really fallen right there had it not been for the grace of God. I wanna tell you this. I believe as a pastor, all the years that I've served, I8:33 believe that there are many because I had a lot of people around me that would tag out and fall out all the time. And people would say, brother Bill, I'm just so amazed at how steadfast you were and how you stood through8:42 and finished well. And I gotta tell you the secret was prayer partners. I know that. I know I've had the temptations everybody's had, and I know the reason I'm where I am is because of you and your8:54 prayers. And I'm telling you, don't ever take prayers lightly. That is the most powerful thing that keeps you from falling into a lot of the traps. Now the devil has some others. He may come to you as a roaring lion. You9:05 remember that verse in 1st Peter? He says, he walks about like a roaring lion looking whom to devour. And what it means is this, he tries to terrorize you. He tries to paralyze you. He creates fear. He9:17 suddenly says, this is bigger than you. This is bigger than you can handle. Oh, this is it. You're gonna get it now. And he comes after you with with the the thought of fear and intimidation. Or he may come, the9:29 bible says, as an angel of light. Now when he comes to his angel light, that is he comes with the idea that I'm your friend. It's kind of like a virus, by the way. When a virus comes into your body, you know what it9:38 does? It it disguises itself and, your your cells open up and allow it in and then it changes. And so that's exactly what he's saying. He comes as an angel light. But most of the9:49 time, if the devil wants to discourage you, if he wants to get you off track, he'll use people. You know that? He'll and by the way, he'll use some type of people you love and trust. He'll use people close by.10:01 Now I want to read you this passage for a minute. Okay? Nehemiah chapter 4 beginning in verse 1. Here's what it says. Now it came about that when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he became10:13 furious and he was very angry and he mocked the Jews. Now, Sanballat here is, is the governor of the, city of of the city of, the area10:25 the whole region of Samaria. Sanballat is a is a politician. Okay? He sold out a long, long, long time ago. Sam Ballard cares about nobody but himself. He's the big fish in the little pond10:37 and suddenly Nehemiah comes along. He's not real happy about that because he's giving people hope and help. And so that's who Sam Ballard is. He's mad about this rebuilding of the wall. And then he spoke in the presence10:49 of his brothers and the wealthy men of Samaria. He said, what are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves, the wall itself? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they finish in a day? Will they10:59 revive the stones from the dusty rubble, even the burned ones? And now Tobiah begins to speak up. He gets a a others start joining. Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said even if what they're building, if a fox11:10 should jump on it, it would break down their stone wall. And he says, here, oh, our God. This is Nehemiah praying. Here, oh, our God, how we are despised. Return their approach on their own heads to give them up for11:21 plunder in a land of captivity. Do not forgive their iniquity nor let their sin be blotted out before thee, for they have demoralized the builders. So we built the wall. The whole wall was joined together, the half to11:31 its height for the people that are mind to work. That is he kept on. He prayed. He kept on. And, ultimately, they finished half the wall around the city. Verse 7 says, and that came about when Sanballat and, Tobiah, the11:43 ab and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashadites heard that the repair of the wall of Jerusalem went on and the breaches will begin to be closed. They were very angry. And all of them conspired together to come and11:54 fight against Jerusalem and to cause disturbance. They hated him so bad they're gonna create riots in the street, it says. And then in verse 9, but we prayed to our God and because of them we set a guard and against them12:06 day and night. And so when I look at the story, here's a lot of little things I see. Let me let me give it to you right off the bat. Okay? 1st thing I see is that wrong people create wrong environments.12:19 Wrong people create wrong environments. When Sand Valley comes on the scene, everything goes bad. You think about this. 1 person can poison and undermine a whole work environment. Have12:30 you had somebody that worked in a place you said we were doing good till they till they came on board? Gosh. This place is terrible. We don't I don't enjoy my job because of that. 1 person can disrupt the whole12:40 classroom. 1 person can mess up a team's environment. I've seen sports teams go haywire because of that. There's a book written years ago by Pat Riley called The Winner Within, and he talked about how that 1 time, 1 team12:52 member who is very famous suddenly got out of sorts and that year they lost repeatedly because 1 player who had the capability wouldn't cooperate with the other players.Responding to Criticism God's Way 13:04 1 1 disgruntled person can disrupt the boardroom. 1 disgruntled person or 1 critic can hurt a classroom. It can hurt a family. You when you look at that, you gotta understand 1 person13:16 can poison the environment. Always watch what's coming out of your mouth and be careful about hanging around with the wrong people because wrong people create the wrong environments. And by the way, you will never see13:26 your full potential ever until you get around the right people. I I know in my own life, when I was not associated with the right people, I didn't go too far. But when I got around the right people, it helped. Now,13:38 tow buyers even gonna join in. If a fox got on that wall, well, it would fall down. Now what they're doing, they're mocking the people's work. They're, the people that are building that, they're not professional13:49 contractors. Okay? They've never built a wall before. They had made perfume. They had designed jewelry. They were painters. They were farmers, but they had never built a wall. And so part of the14:01 critics was, you're so unqualified. Now let me help you. The devil will say that to you a lot too. He'll say you're unqualified. God can only use the qualified. That's not true. I found14:12 out bottom line is is is the unqualified that God uses the most. If you're the person that feels like I don't have much, you may have got like a friend that said, you know, I don't have much, but I give you all I got.14:23 That's what God wants. 2 things. He wants your availability and your dependability. That's what he wants. Availability and dependability, and you can go a long way. And so that's the key. Don't14:35 listen there. Now, the 2nd thing I see out of the story is if you've never made a critic, you've never made a difference. Now many of you, you're gonna get criticized sometime. That's gonna happen. But if you've never14:47 made a critic, you've never made a difference. Meaning that the physical laws tell us that that anything moving creates friction. And and and so you're gonna get that. David, he's gonna14:59 go fight Goliath. Did you know he got criticism from everybody on his way? His father criticized him. His brothers criticized him. Then Saul criticized him. Then he goes out to fight Goliath. You know what15:10 Goliath does? Goliath criticized him. He said, you little squirt. He said, you come to me, I'm a cut your head off and give your body to the birds. Now that he was criticized at every step. The15:22 apostle Paul, When you read the writer of 13 books in the New Testament, 1 of the greatest Christians to ever live, the apostle Paul was most criticized of all, and he was criticized in many15:34 ways personally. You know what they called him? They said he was weak eyed, meaning he's blind and and, they they talked about his looks, his appearance. They basically said he was ugly. I mean, that's you know, they15:44 they hit way below the belt line. Here's Paul write these letters and try to go preach. They're saying he's ugly, he's blind, he's weak eyed, and he didn't look like the big he would write these big bold letters of15:55 rebuke. Then they meet him in person. He was a little bitty fella. And, and they'd kinda look at him. It's kinda like the years ago. I don't know if you have been the the tabernacle in Atlanta. There's a place now that's16:06 concerts. But years ago, it was 1 of the largest churches in America. And so when you ride by, they still keep this sign up there, Jesus saves. The pastor there was Lynn g Broughton. Lynn G.16:18 Broughton was a genius. He was very short. He was not even right at 5 foot tall, but he had a mind that was incredible. And 1 day, a professor from 1 of the colleges, they wanted to debate him. And16:30 so they had a big debate there. That was when they they started and and some way, named he brought and said something that that embarrassed the guy. And the guy was a great16:42 big guy. And he looked at him and he said, why you little run ought to chew you up and swallow you. And everybody's wondering because he tipped him. He got him so angry. And they said doctor Broughton looked at him and16:52 said, yeah. And if you did big boy, you'd have more brains in your stomach than you got in your head. Now he he was this little fell that's what Paul was like. Paul was basically saying, I I want you to know you may17:04 criticize my looks, my height, my appearance, my eyes, all the rest, but I'm gonna preach the gospel no matter what. And he didn't let the critics stop him. By the way, I mentioned David and Paul, but Jesus Christ had17:16 perfect motives and the purest heart and he had more enemies and critics than anybody. They criticized him for being a glutton. They called him a glutton. Okay? They called him a glutton because he liked food. In that17:27 case, many of us, I included, would be in that group. They called him a wine drinker because he did drink wine with them. They called they said he associated with sinners and he did. That was that was a group he was17:38 after. He forgave and accepted a Samaritan woman who was actually caught in in adultery at 1 time, forgave this Samaritan woman here at the well. He literally was a a guy who who hung out with everybody and did17:50 nothing but love and forgive and receive and yet Jesus was criticized right up through his death. So if they do that to our master, what do you think they're going to do to us? Let me give you a18:02 thought. What, when faced with criticism you got 3 options. Number 1, you can retaliate. You can retaliate. That your flesh loves that. Don't you love18:14 a good comeback? You you ever had somebody say something to you and and if you're if you're quick, you can say, man, what I I love that. And you and you can retaliate. They said this to me, now I say that to them. And18:24 and that feels good to the flesh. It feels real good. And that's 1 way you can respond with the flesh. You retaliate. Or what you can do is you can just give up and quit. Now a lot of people do18:36 that. A lot of people just say, I got a critical letter. Somebody dropped me on social media. My feelings are hurt. You know, I got offended. Maybe I went to church and and somebody didn't speak to me. I'm18:48 I quit. I give up. And I want to tell you, while the flesh may love to retaliate, the devil loves it when you quit. There's nothing the devil would want more is for you to quit. Because when you give up and you19:00 quit, you're basically now losing your passion, your vision, your purpose, and you can sit back in a quitter's box. I want to encourage you, don't give him that much power in your life. The 3rd19:11 response you can give is you can pray and ask God to defend you. Now, God loves that. You can now ask God to defend you. Now, here's what's gonna happen here.19:24 That, you're gonna get the criticism, so you gotta figure out your options. But the 3rd principle I see is this, your response to your critic can become either a barrier or a19:36 bridge to your future. How you respond when you go through and the heat's on, when you go through the criticism, how you respond is gonna be a big difference as to whether you go further or not. Nehemiah is gonna19:48 choose option 3. He's gonna say, I'm gonna pray. And that's what he does. In verse 4, he prays. Now I wanna show you this prayer for a minute because this is the it's a prayer that if you've never read a prayer like19:57 this, there are 15 of them in the book of Psalms. Here's what it when when he begins to pray, now he says in verse 4, hear, oh, our God, how we are despised.Practical Takeaways and Staying the Course 20:09 Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity. You say, wait a minute. That's not a sweet church prayer. That's not God bless my enemies.20:20 And then he says, do not forgive their iniquity or let not their sin be blotted out before them for they've demoralized the builders. You think, Nehemiah, what kind of prayers is that? That's called an imprecatory20:32 prayer. Okay? Now, they're they're the Psalms so there I mentioned this 15. All the Psalms generally were written for different purposes. Different Psalms, different purpose. They're Psalms20:44 of comfort. Psalms 23 is a Psalm of comfort. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not walk. We talk about that when we're in a low valley or a bad place, a death. The Lord20:56 is my shepherd. There's a Psalm of worship. It was when David was walking toward the temple. Psalms 121 is 1 of those. I will lift up mine eyes until the21:08 hills from whence cometh my help. You're just worshiping God. And that's really what we did this morning in worship. That's a Psalm of worship.21:24 Distraction or judgment on his enemies. Have you ever done that before? You've had somebody that just they got under your skin enough you said,21:36 okay, God, you're gonna have to deal with them. And Lord, when are you gonna deal with them? And Lord, if you hurry up and deal with them, I'd I'd be able to sleep better at night. And and and we've done that at times.21:46 We've done that, and and and the problem is with that, when we pray that, the good is we don't want to get bitter in our heart. But, but what we're saying is, Lord, defend me. Take up for me. God,21:58 fight my enemies for me. Critic drive you closer to God in prayer, you will benefit and get better. Okay?22:10 If you let your enemies begin to, to to drive you when when they criticize, if you go to God, it's really helped you. You often wanna would I really be praying this hard if they had not said22:22 those things? Would I really be coming to God this urgent and desperate if I had not had this problem? So sometimes they are really your blessing. It reminds me of this. It reminds me of when Jesus22:34 understood it because his purpose was the cross. And when Jesus was sitting 1 night at a table with, with Judas, he said to him, you go do what you gotta do. He meant, you're gonna go betray me. Go ahead and do22:45 what you gotta do. And so he didn't stop him. He let him go. And then Jesus earlier had been talking to Simon Peter. And he'd mentioned to his disciples, I'm going to the cross. Son of man must suffer22:57 and die. And he he was saying, no. You're not going there. He said, not so lord. Now, that's really a, a sentence you can't say. I mean, it cancels the other out.23:10 When you say not so lord, if he's lord, you can't say no. Okay? If he's Lord, there's only 1 answer. Yes, Lord. Kind of like a friend of mine. We'd say we're gonna do so and so. He said include me out. Include me out.23:21 That don't make sense. And so, that that's what you can't say no, Lord, if he's really Lord. And so Peter says, no Lord, you're not going. And you know what Jesus said? Now he turns to his best friend. He's got23:33 James, John, and Peter, his best friends. He turns to him and says, get behind me Satan. And he calls his best friend the devil. Get behind me Satan. And then when Judas goes out and betrays him and he's in the23:45 garden, Judas walks up and he knows Judas is the devil and Judas comes up to him and in front of the people to point him out, he kisses him on the cheek. You know what Jesus said? He looks at the 1 betrayed him. He said,23:57 why have you come to me, friend? Now he calls he calls Judas friend, and he calls Peter, the devil. You know why? Because Jesus24:09 understood that he had a mission to get to the cross and anyone that got in the way, even his friend of him getting to the cross was his enemy. And anyone that helped him to get to the cross, even if they24:21 were his enemy, in that moment, they were doing something befriending him. And so he was saying, I'm going to the cross. Anybody that helps me, that I will accept it as a friend. Anybody that gets in my way, I I see24:33 it as an enemy. He's basically saying, I'm not stopping. I'm heading to the cross. Now, here's what I know. When you pray though, praying is how you rise above it. You're gonna find that there's a pattern every24:44 time that that, there's a need, Nehemiah prays. When he 1st hears Jerusalem is burned and and devastated and the people are hopeless, you know what he does? He prays and he prays for 4 months before he ever talks to24:56 the team. Now he hears these critics that don't like what they're doing and try to demoralize the builders. What does he do? Prays. He'll hear later that they even come back and he does again pray. Prayer is25:08 your greatest answer that I think is probably the most underused privilege that God's given to us. In fact, when a storm comes, other birds hibernate. But you know25:20 what the eagle does? When a storm comes, the eagle takes that like, man, I'm a kid going to 6 Flags. An eagle loves the currents. It loves the winds. And an eagle gets out and has a ball just playing25:32 in the storm. I believe that when we go through a storm, as we're praying and praising God, he gives us the ability to rise above it, to go beyond. Otherwise, it devastates our life. Now, let me give you25:44 a few takeaways for just a moment. Here's a couple takeaways I see when I see what Nehemiah is doing. It basically is just a matter of the governor and his group coming to criticize him. I mentioned all of us are going25:55 to have criticism at some time. Here's some takeaways. 1 is don't be afraid of your critics. Don't be afraid of them. When somebody criticize you, that's alright. By the way, if somebody's gossiping about you you know,26:07 we hear some well, they're just gossiping about me. Think of it this way. You, they're giving somebody else a break. Okay? I know what's hard to be criticized. Some of our26:19 members, you've been here through the journey. When we 1st began, you know, we were the smallest church in town as we started growing. Not from the world. The heat,26:30 Cascade Hills Church, took because there was not a church in this city for many years that ever went as far as we did. And so we came from nothing. And we got criticism from churches and pastors. I26:42 remember the 1st year I ever the church began to grow a little bit. And I went to this little pastor's conference, and and, here in in Columbus, they'd always meet. And some guy came down from Atlanta, and he said, I26:52 wanna recognize 1 of the churches that's on the radar, on the map. He said, man, I gotta tell you. Y'all are blowing the doors off and everybody's starting to notice. And he said, and you baptized27:03 100 people that year. 1st church 1st time that we'd we'd done that, but but there was nobody that done it. And he said, I want to ask the pastor if he's here to come up here and we want to give you a plaque in the state27:13 of Georgia. And I had never I didn't know you I didn't know you got plaques for that. We just, you know, just tried to reach lost people. And I stepped out of my seat and I walked up there. Now, I'm in a room with about27:24 70 or 80 other pastors who I had always prayed for, loved, celebrated. They had the big churches and I had the smallest church in all town. But if they got up and told something good going on, I would27:35 it was like fireworks in my soul. I I never want to hurt anybody. So I'm celebrating. I'm a cheering. But as I started walking down to get that plaque that day as a new young pastor, I started hearing these27:47 hissing, ugly comments. Oh, they think there's something over there. Oh, superstar. And then I started hearing, it won't last. That church is gonna fold up. It ain't gonna grow. He's not he's not a pastor. And and, and27:59 then I got mocked for my looks too. I don't know if you know this. Hair, the pasturing long enough that I lost it, but but I had long thick hair,28:11 somebody may remember seeing a picture. And I mean, I was criticized from the time I walked down, time I went back. And I remember that day thinking, I thought you're supposed to celebrate when things are good. And I I28:22 started getting criticism. Then through the years as we grew, I got more and more. Literally, I got 1 secretary whose full time job was to handle my hate mail for about 2 years. Never28:34 read it. That was the funniest part. Can I this is what I want to tell you? Don't pay attention to your credit. She would read all these letters and then she'd trash them. And I didn't know who was it. I didn't know what28:44 to say it. So I would meet the very people at the mall. And I'd see them in the mall. I'd walk up and start talking to them. How you doing? Well, you look good. Well, these kids look good. Hope things are going well.28:52 I've been praying for that job you wanted. And they'd be looking at me like, you didn't get my letter? And I'm not gonna get you a letter. And I had more people saying, demeanor, ugly, I took when I spent hours writing29:04 him a letter, and he comes up talks to me like nothing ever happened. I never saw it. You see, if you don't let it poison you, get in your soul, you never know. And some of you, when somebody says something bad to you 129:15 time, you remember it 10 years later. Do you remember what they said? I've been thinking about that. And and the longer you hold on to that, the only 1 that hurts is you. And so, don't allow your critic. Don't be afraid29:27 of them. Don't give them too much space in your time, in your life, your thoughts. They don't deserve it. And then don't get off track. Stay on your course. Do your mission. If you gotta do it alone, you do29:38 it. You don't let anything stand in your way. I believe God's called you to a purpose. I believe, like I say, the devil's got a plan for your life. He'd love to get between that. He'd love to discourage you or if29:50 he knew that criticism could stop you, he'll give you that. He'll do everything he can and you gotta just get mad enough to say, that's not gonna stop me. Now how do you do it? Well, you change your state. When somebody30:01 says, well, you did so and so. You need to say, oh, that ain't the half. You ought to know what I'm gonna do next. It has a way of just stopping it. I had a had a lady who told me she she thanked me. She's a30:13 college professor, done fabulous in her life. I mean, this lady is beautiful. Got it all together. And 1 day we were talking, she said, Bill, the 1 the 1 weakness I have in my life,30:25 she said, it's the 1 sin the devil gets on me all the time. Insecure. And she said, I have to explain it. She said, I got married when I was 15 years of age. She said, I quit30:37 school. I got married at 15. Then later, I went back to school after we had children. And now she's got a PhD and she's doing well. But she said, no matter where I am, I can feel wonderful. And then somebody said, you30:49 got married at 15. And she says, I've been married to the same person about 40 years. It's been a wonderful marriage, but it's always hanging over my head. And she said, my husband should ask you, how do you answer that?31:01 And her name was Elizabeth. And I said, Elizabeth, that's an easy answer. You love your husband, don't you? Yeah. You got great kids, aren't you? Yeah. I said, next time somebody says to you, but you know you got married31:11 at 15, you need to say, honey, if I had known how good it was, I'd have got married at 12. And she told me later, that worked. She said, I'm among my family, like a Thanksgiving. And somebody said, well,31:23 you know, she got married at 15. And she said, and I just said, yeah. Yeah. And if I don't know how good it was, I'd have got married at 12. She said, I've never heard a word since. It's been 2 years. What what you do is31:33 you take what they throw at you and you dance with it. You you don't you don't take it and get hurt. You don't fight back. You just dance with it. So, oh, that if I'd have been Paul when he said, you're ugly, I'd have31:44 said, oh, that ain't nothing. You ought to see this. They got Halloween mask after me. I mean, just just when you take it and use it, it takes the sting. And so the secret there is don't get off track. Now be aware of31:55 this. 1, you cannot please everyone. You cannot please everyone. It it won't work. Jesus didn't please everyone. So if he didn't, why try? 2 is32:07 you cannot please anyone all the time. If you've been married 1 week, you know that. Okay? You can't please anyone all the time, but you can please God.32:19 He's easier to please than people. So that's who you seek to please. If you please him, he will take care of your enemies. So now Nehemiah suddenly is gonna get the criticism and then it gets32:31 worse.32:51 And now here's what I want you to remember. God is with you through it all. See, when we read Nehemiah's story, we see just a little. But the truth is is at the end of the story, there's nothing more than celebration. I33:03 mean, he goes through a whole lot of accusations and rumors and hurt, but at the end of the story, Nehemiah is the 1 that we're talking about some 1500 years later. He's the 1 that won.33:15 What I'm telling you is this moment is just a season in your life. It's not the whole story. Don't stop in the middle of the chapter. Go through. Let God write your book so that when the end of it is there, people will33:25 say, you know what they went through, but you know where they are today. People when you do it as well. And you'll find yourself being more grateful to God for being faithful to you through your storm. And so the key is33:37 through your life. Do what Isaiah 26 3 says when you go through the storms. That will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, for he trusted in thee. When I was,33:49 when my grandmother passed away many years ago, I remember going through her things and she had an old family bible And I opened it up and there was a picture there. You may have seen it before like, where they draw34:00 these artist pictures of this story. There's a picture of Daniel in a lion's den. And never forget, I the moment I looked at this, I said, well, that tells the story of the den. He's he's in the lion's den and there's34:10 all these lines laying around him and then there's this light coming down. And you got this picture they've drawn of Daniel looking at the light. Now he's not looking at the den. He's not looking at the lines. He's not34:21 looking at the problems. He's looking up at the Lord. And that's a great picture for you and I. When you're criticized, you look to God. When you are not when you have adversity and when you go through34:33 a tough time, you look to God. When if you will let whatever the storm is drive you closer to God, the storm was pretty much your favor. It was your friend. It helped you and it made you34:45 better. I wrote a list a couple of years ago of a lot of people that have hurt me through the years. And I wrote the list and I said, now I'm gonna write everything they did that hurt me. And so I wrote their names and34:55 then I wrote what they did. And then I, of course, I'd forgiven all of them. But then I said, now how do they benefit me? And I wrote beside that how they benefit me. And I wrote each 1 of them a thank you letter. JustShow more In this video 0:00 Nehemiah's Background and Burden7:00 The Rise of Critics and Nehemiah's Prayer13:00 Responding to Criticism God's Way20:00 Practical Takeaways and Staying the Course35:00 Invitation and Blessing Prayer
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