“Hand Me
Another Brick”
#6
Discouragement: cause and cure
Nehemiah 4: 9-23
Outline
1. A story.
2. Last Week Review
3. Today’s introduction
o Group activities
4. The 4 causes of discouragement
5. The 5 cures of discouragement
6. Conclusion and Action
A Story
Review
Evidence of Nehemiah’s Wall
Science on NBC News 11/29/2007 The Wall of Nehemiah Found
Photo shows pieces of pottery discovered in a Tower believed to
be built around Nehemiah’s time.
The simple project met Stiff Oppositions
Introduction
Half Time is Usually the Tough Time
• When the wall was half built, the
discouragement finally brought
their work to a standstill.
o What caused the problem of discouragement?
o How did Nehemiah cure it?
Group Activity (10 minutes)
1. Provide one or two events that caused you to feel
that things got out of control.
1.
2.
3.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. Was the discouragement more task-oriented or
people-oriented?
3. After the class, discuss how to cure these
discouragements.
Examples
1. Provide one or two events that caused you to feel that things got out of control.
My team has been leading a big change to secure the access in Qualcomm cell phone chips. Half way through this
high risk project, the repeated criticism began to discourage members of our team.
Some critics have recently accused us that we should have:
1. Followed better communication process.
2. Kept the old way of secure cell phone chips.
2. Was the discouragement more task-oriented or people-oriented?
1.
2.
Mostly people-oriented: some team members began to have cold feet. Some people are born nay-sayers.
Some are task oriented: I made some errors.
3. How to cure the above discouragements?
o Any suggestions?
Causes of Discouragement 1/2
1. Lose of energy.
(10a) The builders are too tired
to carry on.
2. Lose of vision
(10b) there is much rubbish.
3. Lose of faith
(10c) … And we ourselves are
unable to rebuild the wall.
Cause of Discouragement 2/2
4. Lose of Security
11 Our enemies said, “They will not
know or see until we come among
them, kill them and put a stop to the
work.” 12 When the Jews who lived
near them came and told us ten
times, “They will come up against
us from every place where you may
turn,”
Time of Crisis Calls for
Leadership
The Wall Project is in Crisis:
Events ran out of control. The entire team were discouraged to a standstill.
How would Nehemiah handle or overcome the
crisis?
1.
Cure of Discouragement 1/5
Unite the people with common and
worthy cause
13 then I stationed men in the
lowest parts of the space behind
the wall, the exposed places,
and I stationed the people in
families with their swords,
spears and bows.
Cure of Discouragement 2/5
2.
Direct attention to the Lord
Cure of Discouragement 3/5
3. Encourage them to maintain a Balance
16 From that day on, half of my servants
carried on the work while half of them held
the spears, the shields, the bows and the
breastplates; and the captains were behind
the whole house of Judah. 17 Those who
were rebuilding the wall and those who
carried burdens took their load with one
hand doing the work and the other holding a
weapon.
Cure of Discouragement 4/5
4. Provide a rally point as team
19 I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The
work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall far
from one another. 20 At whatever place you hear the sound of the
trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”
Nehemiah’s
leadership: Decisiveness. He set up a
system where half the men worked while
the other half stood guard. Furthermore,
he set up a communication system — “the
sound of the trumpet” would alert people
that there was trouble. Then they could
concentrate on their work, without
looking over their shoulders all the time.
Cure of Discouragement 5/5
5. Occupy them with mutual services
22 At that time I also said to the people, “Let each
man with his servant spend the night within
Jerusalem so that they may be a guard for us by
night and a laborer by day.”
1. Nehemiah created a protective buddy
system.
2. People begin to bond into strong trusting
relationships.
Conclusion and AI
During time of discouragement, try these ideas:
1. Focus your eyes upon God and upon our goal.
2. Maintain balance.
3. Return to a rallying point.
4. Reenergize through serving each other.
Action Item:
Apply one or more of the above ideas this week when you feel
discouraged.
Action Examples
1. Provide one or two events that caused you to feel that
things got out of control.
1.
My team has been leading a big change to secure Qualcomm cell
phone chips. Half way through this high risk project, the repeated
criticism began to chisel away at our confidence.
2. Some critics have recently accused us that we should have:
1. Followed better communication process.
2. Kept the old way of secure cell phone chips.
2. Was the discouragement more task-oriented or
people-oriented?
1.
2.
Mostly people-oriented: some team members began to have cold feet.
Some are task oriented: we made some technical and management errors.
3. How to cure the above discouragements?
1. Build a “trumpet system” as rallying points for better communication.
2. Invest in serving and bonding with partners so they trust us in our new
ways.