Intro.

1.  2 Tim. 4:7 - "The good fight" (1 Tim. 6:12). Every Christian a soldier!

2.  Every fight is fought somewhere -- BATTLEGROUND.

  a.  Battlegrounds are the places we must "fight" to build the kingdom of God - 2 Cor. 10:3-6 (battlegrounds the subject of this lesson).

3.  Conflict not contrary to life of Christian - It is a part of his life!

  a.  Life of Jesus was constant "warfare!" (Jno. 2:13-16; 8:59; 10:31)

  b.  Paul was militant, used much military terminology.

  c.  Nehemiah - Wanted to rebuild walls of Jerusalem. Under his leadership the Jews had to fight on some of the same battlegrounds which we must make our stand today!

I.  BATTLEGROUND # 1: RIDICULE & CRITICISM - Neh. 4:1-3, 6 (2:19-20).

  A.  Intended To Cause Us To Doubt Our Cause, Our God & Ourselves - 4:1-3; cf. Matt. 5:11-12; 1 Pet. 4:4, 14.

  B.  Jews’ Response - v. 4-6:

    1.  Prayer (v. 4-5).

    2.  A mind to work - So they did! (v. 6)

  C.  Common Battleground Today!

    1.  Acts 14:2 - Paul faced this problem.

    2.  Even those who should be helping in the work prefer to criticize / minimize the work others are doing!

    3.  We must pray - Phil. 4:6-7.

    4.  We must have a mind to work - 1 Pet. 3:13-17; Gal. 6:9.

  -If allow R/C to keep us from doing God’s will-Satan winning battle!

II.  BATTLEGROUND # 2: OPEN WARFARE - Neh. 4:7-23.

  A.  Physical Threats - 4:8, 11---Jews’ Attitude: We Are Ready!

    1.  v. 13-14 - Armed - Trusting in God.

    2.  v. 15-16 - Worked - Constantly prepared to meet any challenge.

  B.  As They Stood Prepared, So Must We!

    1.  Man are declaring open warfare on the church today:

-Challenge our name (church of Christ, Rom. 16:16); our worship (innovations, Jno. 4:24); baptism for r of s (Acts 2:38); our moral standards (modesty, honesty, purity, Tit. 2:11-12; 1 Jno. 2:15); the Bible as inspired/authoritative (2 Tim. 3:16-17); creation & God Himself (evolution, humanism).

    2.  By open warfare mean honest, sincere, gentlemanly defense of truth! (Phil. 1:16)

III.  BATTLEGROUND # 3: INTERNAL TROUBLE - Neh. 5:1-13.

  A.  Mistreatment Of Brethren Complained Against & Corrected.

    1.  Oppression to obtain food to live - 5:1-5.

    2.  Rebuke & resolution - 5:6-13.

    3.  Nehemiah dealt w/ problem in a direct, straightforward way - v. 6ff.

  B.  Factiousness / Strife Will Destroy A Good Work - Gal. 5:13-15, 20, 25-26.

    1.  Illus.: In any marriage "little problems" arise--Must be dealt with.  How they’re handled determines how successful the marriage is.

    2.  Same true w/ local church - How handled & settled could determine whether or not we win the battle! (Acts 6:1-6; 20:29- 30).

IV. BATTLEGROUND # 4: COMPROMISE - Neh. 6:1-3 (2 Tim. 4:3-4).

  A.  Compromise Occurs When We Doubt Our Work - cf. v. 3.

    1.  Nehemiah knew his work was great & right!

    2.  cf. 2 Tim. 1:12 - Paul was fully persuaded! Are we?!

    3.  Those who doubt the truth are vulnerable to compromise.

  B.  Compromise Occurs When We Are Afraid - 6:4-9.

    1.  Effort to blackmail Nehemiah with lies.

    2.  Mk. 8:38; Matt. 10:28; Heb. 13:6 - Men can do nothing to us that robs us of our salvation -- Only we can do that (by fearing man rather than God!).

  C.  Compromise Occurs When We Trust In Our Own Strength - Neh. 6:15-16; cf. Phil. 4:13; Rom. 8:31, 35-37 (God is our strength!)

Conclusion

Prov. 24:10: In the day of adversity will we be strong in the Lord & the strength of His might?! (Eph. 6:10)