teaching notes from ltci, siliguri - based on j oswald sanders book, spiritual leadership

1. Section 10 - The Leader’s Pitfalls & Rewards
Group Activity: Create a one-page
visual summary of the leader’s pitfalls.
Study chapter 10-11 in Blackaby
Study chapters 20-22 in Sanders

2. The Leader Nehemiah
J. Oswald Sanders,
Spiritual Leadership,
Chapter 22

3. Nehemiah is one of the most
inspiring leaders in the Bible.
His vigorous reforms produced
rapid effective change - we can
trace this effectiveness back to
the quality of his character.

4. Nehemiah was a man of
Great Character

5. 1. He was a man of prayer
This was a normal part of life and living
- he heard about jerusalem and prayed -
1:4,6, 2:4, 4:4,9, 5:19, 6:14 etc.
2. He was a man of courage
6:11 But I said, “Should a man like me
run away? Or should someone like me
go into the temple to save his life? I will
not go!”
Fearlessness is often inspiring for the
people you lead.

6. 3. He was a man of concern
2:10 - shown in fasting, prayer and
tears 1:4-6
1:6 shows his identification with his
people,
let your ear be attentive and your eyes
open to hear the prayer your servant is
praying before you day and night for
your servants, the people of Israel. I
confess the sins we Israelites, including
myself and my father’s family, have
committed against you.

7. 4. He was a man of foresight
He carefully planned his strategy -
for example he realised opposition
would arise so he got letters before
he left for Jerusalem 2:8
5. He was a man of caution
He took 3 days upon his arrival to
assess the situation, even though he
felt the urgency of things - when he
started work he did not announce it
to everyone, and he set guards from
the early days.

8. 6. He was a man of
decisiveness
He did not put off making
decisions.
He had no favourites - rebuking
the workers and officials in the
same way 5:7
7. He was a man of empathy
He listened to people - and then
took action depending upon
their grievance - 4:10-12,
5:1-5

9. 8. He was a man of realism - 4:9
But we prayed to our God and
posted a guard day and night to
meet this threat.
He understood the need to know
the world and to rely on God
9. He was a man of
responsibility
He took responsibility - then
followed through on all aspects of
it whether easy or hard.

10. Realism in the arts was a 19th-century
8. He was a man of realism - 4:9
art movement that originated with a
But we prayed to our God and
group of Paris-based artists whose
posted a guard day and night to
independent exhibitions brought them
meet this threat.
to prominence during the 1870s and
He understood the need to know
1880s in spite of harsh opposition from
the world and to in France. The
the art community rely on God name
of the style is man offrom the title of a
9. He was a derived
Claude Monet work, Realism, soleil
responsibility
levant (Realism, Sunrise),-which
He took responsibility then
provoked the critic Louis Leroy to coin
followed through on all aspects of
the term in a satiric review published in
it whether easy or hard.
the Parisian newspaper Le Charivari.

11. 10. He was a man of administration
Calm in a crisis, fearless initiator, decision maker
and persevering leader, resolute against threats -
people had confidence in him.

12. Nehemiah led through
Effective Methods

13. 1. He raised morale
He moved peoples focus away
from the impossible and onto the
greatness of God
2:20 - The God of heaven will
give us success.”
8:10 - This day is holy to our
Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of
the LORD is your strength.

14. 2. He built a culture of
faith
Faith builds faith -
pessimism destroys faith.
As a leader you have to
build faith in people’s
hearts.

15. 3. He rekindled hope
The people were downcast when
Nehemiah arrived - he told of the
vision and provision of God in his
life - 2:18
I also told them about the gracious
hand of my God on me and what
the king had said to me. They
replied, “Let us start rebuilding.”
So they began this good work.

16. 4. He exercised personal
discipline
Nehemiah lived the life - he didn’t
stop and correct the people but
showed them that his conviction
was deeply held and to be acted
upon.
In this he showed that problems
could be overcome by decisive
action - e.g. The events of Neh
4:10-16 and his follow through.

17. 5. He corrected people
Neh 5:1-15
The poor brothers had
been taken advantage of
by their rich brothers -
Nehemiah addressed this -
he listened and
sympathised - and then
negotiated a successful
resolution to the problem

18. 6. He recovered the authority
of the WOG
The standard of God’s word was
vital - 8:1-8. In this he restored
worship and saw true
repentance come into peoples
hearts and minds - 9:3-5,
13:4-9 - tithing, sabbath rest
and forbidden marriage with
non-Israelites also returned.

19. 7. He organized well
Before starting he surveyed people
and resources - it might seem to be
paper pushing and time consuming
but it undoubtedly helped
Nehemiah to get the job done well.
He established objectives and gave
them to key men - in all of this he
opened up the potential of others
to be used.

20. 8. Nehemiah demonstrates an all
roundedness to being a man of God
“he faced up to opposition without forcing
violent confrontation, took insults,
innuendo, treachery, he walked through
with much prayer and head held high.
When possible he simply ignored his
adversaries - he took precautions but
never allowed people to deflect him from
his task. He always kept faith in God.”

21. Nehemiah 6:15
So the wall was completed on
the twenty-fifth of Elul, in
fifty-two days.

22. What do you most admire
about Nehemiah - how can
you use this to try to
emulate him?
What would you like to
leave behind by the time
your life is done?