Making Course Corrections (Dealing With Setbacks)

Seventh message in a series on Nehemiah by Pastor Craig Diestelkamp

Scripture: Nehemiah 5

To play the message press the arrow above or right click here to save it to your computer.

When we come to the end of Chapter 4, everything seems to be going well.  But all is not well.  Just halfway through the rebuilding of the wall, Nehemiah faces a new kind of opposition.  This time it’s not opposition from without, but from within.  One of the most challenging things a leader can face are complaints, disagreements, problems coming from his own ranks. Nehemiah is about to learn three powerful lessons as a leader.

1.  Care for the oppressed and neglected (Nehemiah 5:1-5)

How should leaders handle complaints? Should we dismiss them? To dismiss a complaint is the right response if it is coming from someone who believes complaining is a virtue, or they see it as their gift to keep the leader in check.  But dismissing a complaint is the wrong response if the complaint is legitimate. That person may have a concern which needs to be heard. Or it may be coming from someone who doesn’t understand the vision, or as in this case is being oppressed.

Caring leaders handle complaints patiently and wisely (Nehemiah 5:6-7) (James 1:19, 3:17)

2.  Learn to negotiate peace (Nehemiah 5:8-11)

There are important times in a churches journey when peace must be fought for and championed. Leaders must be willing to become peace makers and fight for true peace. Nehemiah avoided the traps of peace faking and peace breaking.  Peace making requires the courage to confront sin through confession, repentance and forgiveness so reconciliation can be achieved.  Nehemiah demonstrated his ability to negotiate peace.

• He confronted sin and injustice.
• He confessed his own sin.
• He called for restitution.

3.  Give yourself to the work, but stay close to the people

• He treated the people with honor and respect. (verse 15)
• He worked on the wall beside the people. (verse 16 )
• He shared his table with the other leaders and the people. (verse 17)
• He cared for the people. (verse 18)

Because Nehemiah was willing to stay close to the people he established a culture of peace and maintained a spirit of worship among the people. (verse 13)

Leading and Laboring In Times of Change

Fourth message in a series on Nehemiah by Pastor Craig Diestelkamp

Scripture: Nehemiah 3:1-23

To play the message press the arrow above or right click here to save it to your computer.

When we come to chapter three we see that Nehemiah is beginning to implement his vision of rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. “Implementation” can be one of the most difficult steps in the vision process, because at that point you are asking people to change. People love vision talk. They love to hear sermons, read blogs and articles about vision. But often when they realize implementing vision requires change, they begin to think and act differently.

Seven truths about change

1. Most of us don’t like being asked to change.
2. People can handle only so much change.
3. People feel awkward when asked to do something new.
4. When people are confronted with change, they often think first about what they must give up.
5. Change makes people feel like they are alone.
6. People tend to revert back to their old behavior the minute the reason to change is removed.
7. People are at different levels of readiness for change.

The need for a good “change theology”
Isaiah 43:18-19 – “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Leading in change requires strong and compassionate leaders
Nehemiah 3:1, 6, 13, 14, 15, 28

• Lead by example
• Lead by humility
• Lead by hard work

Judges 5:2 – “Israel’s leaders took charge, and the people gladly followed. Praise the LORD!

Laboring in change requires a people willing to work!
A great many people have got a false idea about the church. They have the idea that the church is a place to rest in… to get into a nicely cushioned to charities, listen to a minister, and do their share to keep the church out of bankruptcy, is all they want. The idea of actual work in the church never enters their mind. (D.L. Moody)

See God’s work as the best personal investment of our lives
Nehemiah 3:10 – Next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph made repairs in front of his house.

Nehemiah, A Great Leader!

Second message in a series on Nehemiah by Pastor Craig Diestelkamp

Scripture: Nehemiah 1:11-2:8

To play the message press the arrow above or right click here to save it to your computer.

After much prayer and planning, Nehemiah approaches King Artaxerxes with a request for the resources needed to build back the city of Jerusalem. In this second sermon in the Nehemiah series, we see how Nehemiah’s actions give us a great example of a prayerful, faithful, humble and bold leader who puts his trust completely in the Lord.

A man of prayer
Nehemiah 1:11 – Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring You. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.”

A faithful man
Nehemiah 1:11 – In those days  was the king’s cup-bearer.

A passionate man
Nehemiah 2:2-3 – And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that  took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before.

A humble man
Nehemiah 2:2-3 – Therefore the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick?  This is nothing but sorrow of heart.” So I became dreadfully afraid, I said to the king “Let the king live forever.”

A courageous man
Nehemiah 2:4-5 – Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So  prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”

A thoughtful man
Nehemiah 2:7-8 – Furthermore I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I  come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that will occupy.”

The Kind Of Leaders The Church Needs

Pastor Craig Diestelkamp

(or right click here to save to your computer)

Series: Christianity, Not the Way God Intended!

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 4:1-15

The issue of leadership is paramount in the church. The problem that Paul was experiencing in the Corinthian church was there were all kinds of people aspiring for leadership, but they had no idea know how to be godly Christian leaders. They were taking cues from non-Christian sources. Where do we get our example of Christian leadership? Do we opt for the business model? Or do we take our prompts from the entertainment world? The Corinthians were confused about Paul’s leadership and so the apostle gives them four powerful images of the Christian leader to help them understand the kind of leaders the Church needs.

1. The Obedient Servant
1 Corinthians 4:1 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ…
“servant” here means under-rower

2. The Faithful Steward
1 Corinthians 4:1b …and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover
it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

There are always three judgments in the life of a steward.

• There is man’s judgement (4:3).
• There is his own judgement (4:3b-4a)
• Most importantly there is God’s judgment (4:4b)

3. The Humble Spectacle

1 Corinthians 4:9 For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.
Paul said as ministers we became “spectacles.” In other words they were the “last act,” the leftovers after the main event.

4. The Loving Father
1 Corinthians 4:14 I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel

• A father loves by beginning the family.
• A father loves by setting an example for the family.
• A father loves by disciplining his children.