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Word from Nairnshire
by Sandy Shaw
The organising ability of Nehemiah to lead people, as well as rebuild what had been destroyed, is astonishing.
Everyone became involved in the reconstruction of the walls of Jerusalem.
Nehemiah appoints some forty section leaders.
Eliashib, the High Priest, sets the example by starting at the Sheep Gate, where the sheep were brought in for sacrifice. The priests could easily have absolved themselves from the obligation to work on the wall.
One important principle of leadership is to be working alongside all the others.
Even the perfumer’s daughters lent a hand without a “What about my nails!”
One group did not become involved. The nobles from Tekoa refused to participate. Did they consider this work to beneath them? Were they too proud to be associated with Nehemiah’s project?
The ordinary men of Tekoa must have been a little embarrassed because they decided to do an extra shift.
This account of the work on the walls is not just a colourless memorandum of assignments, but a record of how God used all kinds of people.
Peter emerged as a powerful leader in the Church of Jesus Christ, and one of the most unlikely characters, Paul, knew how to appoint leaders who would give strong sound leadership and we have the essential qualifications for those men who were to become elders.
Elders, pastors, bishops, overseers, foremen, are simply different translations of the Greek words used for recognised spiritual leaders.
When Jerusalem’s walls were being rebuilt there were people next to all the others.
We need that too. When we stumble and fall we need someone next to us to help us up and if someone next to us comes a cropper they must know that we are an available crutch.
With Nehemiah, success could be spelled teamwork.
Sandy Shaw
Nairn Christian Fellowship
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Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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