When the attacks against your reputation start coming in, you may be tempted to jump in, clear your name, but you don't have to respond just yet. Let's get a clear view of the right kind of response coming up right now on the David Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill.
I'm John Galantis. Welcome to the Clearview Today show with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah. If you're new and listening for the very first time today, we just want to say welcome to the show. We're going to have a great conversation.
Dr. Shaw, it's so good to see you. You as well.
Now, listen, I got some bad news. We got some hate comments online. We got some people writing into the show. They're saying bad things. And I got to tell you, I'm ready to jump in.
I'm going to take up my Reddit internet troll days. Because I got a reputation. I need to protect that reputation, especially online. Over here at Clearview Church, we keep it real and we're going to fire back. Dr.
Shah. What do you think? Don't do that. Don't take the bait. Don't take the bait.
Just don't take the bait. That's right. It's so often, especially online, especially, especially online, so often we get tempted into the same thing that tempted Nehemiah, which is this bait, this rage bait. Isn't it funny? 25, what would you say?
250 years ago. There was rage baiting. They're rage baiting him. That's exactly what's happening to Peter King. And are we going to send an open letter?
Let everybody read the letter we conjured up. We've made up all this stuff. And it's not only going to cause them to doubt you. but also cause you to doubt them But that also caused you to doubt yourself. They're rage baiting, they're gaslighting, all the techniques we think we've invented.
They were doing Lehmia with some novice leader, right? Like just two or three years in the ministry. Here we go. Hold on, hold on, hold on. No, no, no, no, no.
Let me tell you what's not true. Hang on, let's meet it. Let's have a time and place. Y'all want to get Starbucks or something? We'll meet.
Because I'm not letting you. You can get this out in the open now. Yeah. Because one thing about me, I keep it real.
Sometimes I've heard people do that, and I'm thinking, no, don't, don't, don't, don't do it. Don't hit post. Don't. Or get this, we're going to lay everything out on the table. Churches do that.
We're going to lay everything out on the table. In the spirit of transparency. Yeah, like, don't do that. Don't do that. You're not going to survive this.
No, you're going to get out in the open, but you're falling into the very trap the enemy wants you to fall. That's right. That's right. Don't do it. Right.
What does Nehemiah do?
Well, Nehemiah recognizes this and he sends word back. Because four times they've tried, right? Sand Ballad sent letters. I'm sure he used coaxing. I'm sure he tried to butter him up.
I'm sure he sent some gifts. But the fifth letter that came, it was an open letter that tried to cause him psychological damage. And Nehemiah's response was this: This is verse 8, Nehemiah chapter 6. Then I sent to him saying, No such things as you say are being done. But you invent them in your own heart.
He didn't have microphones back then, right? Like, he can't drop a mic after that. No, but he ought to. After that one, you're not telling the truth. That's not true.
Yeah, that's it. That's it. Yeah. You see, Nehemiah was a man of prayer. And that's what made him a man of discernment, of wisdom, and forthrightness.
He just said, no, that's not true. Yeah. He knows that he knows his own heart. He knows who these people are. And he also knows, and this is something that I'm still learning the hard way, is the less you say, the better.
Right. He doesn't rush to his own defense, which so many people often do. Yeah. He does not sit there and say, let me tell you what you've been trying to do. Let me get a few people on my side.
And then we're going to prove who is the winner here. That's right. I got the email receipts. I got everything y'all said. I'm going to send some people on the side to come tell you: hey, you need to be calling me.
Have you ever had people do that? Hey, tell him to call me. That's right. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Or they may not say, tell him to call me, they'll send someone to tell you. You really ought to call him. Yeah. I can tell you right now, he's in a bad place, and it would be good if you called him. You all need to get this straight.
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And people have done that to me. Yeah, listen.
I just want to come and tell you, you know, I'm happy with everything that's going on. It's great. But so-and-so is leaving the church, and I feel like it'd be good if you give him a call. I'm like They already left the church? Yeah, but I think it'd be right if you did that.
I'm like, okay. You are free to think that. Yeah. I don't like tell them, no, I'm not. I just like, okay.
Okay. Thanks. And I don't call them. Yeah. Why?
Because there's a problem there. Because if that person has already stepped out and walked away, for me to drag them back would be to cause double problems. That's right. That's right. Once you get them back, you say you convince them to get back in the now.
What?
Now what? Talk more about that because I think there are pastors out there that in a numbers game, they see people leaving and it's like, no, no, come back. No, please, please come back. Please don't leave. That's easy for you to say, Dr.
Shah, you got what, 800, 900,000 members. We got 20 people. I need every single person. If I can win this person back, isn't that good? Yeah, that's the reason why you have 20 people.
Tell them again. Get it. Tell them again. I mean, the thing is. Yes, there are people.
There are people who are your top supporters. And if they feel like their feelings are hurt or something is not right, here's what I would suggest. Here's what I would suggest. If something like that has happened, this is what you do. If they're your top people and their feelings are hurt or they're confused, You get in your car.
You go to their home. you talk to them, you sit down with them. You meet 'em. You you tell them, Hey, look, you are very special to me. I'm at to do that.
You're very special to me. You are a great person. Without having someone like you. I can't do what I'm doing. I need your help.
That's fine to do because you know the character of that person. is something that It's fixable because this person is not that kind of a person.
So maybe I can win that person back. That's different. We're not saying let everybody walk. I'm not saying just go hurt people and say, Okay, you're gone and you're fired and you're fired. I don't need anybody, but you'll be all alone.
Yeah, so there are times that you will do things to bring people back, but then there are times you have to say, No, that's it. Yeah, the caliber of this person who's leaving is not worth the time and energy it's going to take to go and bring them back. And also, the reward of having them back probably will end up doing me more harm. Yeah. And the thing here is, these weren't even Nehemiah's supporters.
Yeah, these weren't even like people who were valuable to him. They were outsiders in the first place, opponents. Exactly.
So, again, I want to caution you: there are people that you have to go and win them back. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about people who are bent on causing problems. And those are the kind of people you have to say, no, you gotta go. And then there are people who will come try to play the mediator.
They're the worst. Because they don't go to that person and say, hey, You know, you're doing this while this person here, whether it's a pastor or a team leader or a business owner, you know, they're they're really trying to do the best they can.
So, we need to work together. Let's come together. They don't do that. They go, okay. I want to sit down with both of y'all.
Okay. Okay. And I'm going to hear out both sides of the story. You know, I will be the one who susses this out. I have never considered that until this moment.
Like you saying that, you're 100% right. It's never to the person who is leaving. It's never to the person who's disgruntled. It's always to the pastor. It's always to let's sit down and figure this out together.
Why don't you go to that person and say, hey, this guy's trying to do the best he can. We've got a good thing here. Why don't you come back and work this out? Y'all two figuring it out. That's never the case.
Because the complaint was not from my end. Right. I'm sitting here. I'm glorifying God. I'm leading this church or leading this business or whatever.
They're the ones with the problem. What you want me? But they like that thing of. I want to hear both sides of the story. This happened to me one time years ago.
A person who worked very closely with me, and I helped him a lot. I mean, helped him tremendously. More than I can even list here money, help. guidance, mentorship, positions.
So much. And that this person just because of envy just turned against me and began to badmouth me and blah, blah, blah. Then there was this other person in the church. who was otherwise seemed like a good friend, And had Experience in life and leadership so I thought maybe He's a good person to have alongside me. And when this situation developed, This person Decided to come to me and say Hey listen, I want to hear both sides of the story.
And I was like, wow, with that one statement, you reduced me down to a disgruntled person who otherwise I have helped over the years and done everything I can to give him a better life. And because you don't have enough sense of discernment to see his eyes have just turned green, we're talking about the green-eyed monster, we're talking about envy. You can't discern that.
So I told the person as it. I don't need anyone. to sit and mediate between us. No, I mean what I look. I I want to hear both sides.
Mm-hmm. I'm not judging you and I'm not judging them. And I didn't say anything at that point. I was like, nothing I can say will help this person now since they made that statement. But in my mind, I was like, but you just judged me.
Yeah. That's right. You are seeking to judge me. You know, who hears both sides of a conversation or both sides of a story and discerns? It's a judge.
Right. That's what the judge does. Right. That's the job description. That's what they do.
By the way, I also want to give some advice to people. If you're in any kind of leadership, I know we're giving a lot of examples from a. Church leadership perspective, but this can be applied anywhere. Be very careful in allowing someone to. to sit in that position in your life.
The position of judge. People love that. People love to sit over you.
So when something happens, They may not say, I want to be the mediator, I want to hear both sides. They may just be there. And you feel this compulsion to explain yourself to this person. And tell that person what this person has done wrong.
So let's say, John, you have done something wrong to me. And I go to Ryan and say, Let me tell you, this is what he did. And this is why I did what I did. I mean, don't you understand? I mean, this is why I had to do what I did.
And that person is sitting there doing exactly what Ryan's doing in his life. Guess what? I have just diminished myself. That's right. If you're gullible, if you're naive, you might think that doing that, what Dr.
Shah just described, makes you appear humble. It makes you appear weak. Yeah. And it also gives unnecessary power to somebody who does not deserve to have that power. Right.
No, please don't misunderstand. If you have hurt someone's feelings, if you have wronged someone, please go apologize to them. Please seek their forgiveness. Go make things right. We're not against that.
All this is in the context of leadership. That's right. When you are in leadership, we're talking about something different.
Now, as a leader, you can also hurt people's feelings. As a leader you can wrong people. Go make it right. but here you have a sinister person who is trying to sabotage God's work, Don't let some Mediator or some person there. Wield such power over you that you feel like I gotta explain myself to you.
So at least I can, don't you, don't you sympathize with me? Right. And that person does the same thing. It's like, hmm, I hear you. Yeah.
Yeah. I hear you. And then you walk over going, did he really hear me? Did I really explain myself?
So you said maybe I didn't talk. You call them up, you send a three-paragraph text. Hey, just to clarify a couple of things, yeah, or just you call them, or you send a text, or whatever.
Okay, can I? Can I? There's one thing I wanted to tell you: something else happened.
Now, this person also did this.
Okay. I mean, this right here, that that's bad, right? And that person does the same thing. Yeah. Hmm.
Hmm. You know, I mean I I see what you're saying. But Maybe they felt this way. Oh, man. And then you go, Oh, don't I feel dumb?
Just slap the sticker right on your forehead, right? I love Nehemiah's response so much because it's just, you can't, it can't be used against him. That's not true. That's not true. And I think that's one of the lessons that, again, I'm still learning because, I mean, like.
You just You just love to talk, you love to explain yourself, and you love to, you feel like the more I talk, the clearer it is. And it's always the exact opposite.
Well, it's, I feel like it's a gut reaction to want to defend yourself. Like, if you're if your name or your reputation is on the line, no, I'm going to defend myself. I'm going to tell you why you're wrong and why I'm right, or why I'm at least why you can at least understand what I'm saying or where I'm coming from. But Nehemiah just shuts it down so quickly. Yeah.
Or even if, like, in my case, it's like, I clearly didn't explain it. Let me try again. Let me just try again and I'll try to explain it to you so that you can understand it. And Nehemiah is just like, I don't care if you understand it or not. That's not matter of me.
That's not true. I got to get back to work. Yeah. And I mean, that's it. Yeah.
And so. Is the enemy done? I hope so. Judging from the story so far, probably not. No, guess what?
Nehemiah chapter 6, verse 10.
Somebody read it for us. You got it, right? Nehemiah chapter 6, verse 10.
Afterward, I came to the house of Shemiah, the son of Deliah, the son of Mehetabel, who was a secret informer. And he said, Let us meet together in the house of God within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. Indeed, at night, they will come to kill you. All right, so let's look, me and you, we're going to go over into the temple, we're going to shut the doors tight, so they're not going to get in because you cannot touch anybody in the temple, right? It's sacred, it's sacred, okay.
So I'm looking out for you. They're coming to get you. I got your best interest in mind.
Okay, they're going to hurt you. And I don't want you to get hurt because this project is important. We got to protect you. And so Nehemiah said, All right, show me the way to the temple. Don't let them anywhere near me.
No. No. Yeah, there was a person who came to me, this has been a few years ago. He said, Look, I know what it takes to be in leadership. like what you're doing.
You need a bulldog kind of person around you. And I was like, really? As soon as you said, I know what it takes to be in leadership, it silly made me think you didn't. Yeah. Any bulldog kind of person around you?
I was like, oh, okay. He said, yes. Look. Let me be the bulldog. I was like, let me like, people come on docking shot.
Thank you for the service. What are you going to do? You actually startled me. See, I'm gonna bulldog. I know we're goofing around, but you actually start with me.
And I was like. You're going to be my bulldog. What am I going to do? Like, like sick you on people? Did you really say that?
Let me be your bulldog. Yeah, you need a bulldog. Like, like, someone who gets out there in front of you and fights off all the bad people. What are you going to do? Bite them?
What?
Yeah, I was like. You need a big scary guy. You need a scary guy behind you. Yeah. Yeah.
Preferably two. Yeah. So that's where you can do what you're doing. And I will take care of all this. Do you ever think, like, are you crazy?
I mean, but I've seen pastors with like bodyguards. Do you think there's a this is just this is just conversation. We don't even have to keep this in the episode if you don't want, but do you think that the church will ever get big enough to where you walk around with bodyguards? Do you want do you even want that? No, no, there is a place where people are such high-profile where, because of the stance they take or the convictions they have, that you may need someone with you when you go in certain settings.
Okay, I get it, yeah, but most pastors are not in that position. Yeah, you say, Well, but they can get hurt.
Well, of course, they can get hurt, they can get hurt for anything, right? They can get hurt at the house, right? Yeah, they can get hurt for preaching a message against sin, and someone can do that. I mean, so yeah, that that. Possibility exists for every pastor.
I mean, think about what happened. In Texas, where gunmen came in and shot up people. I mean, how sad, how terrible.
So, yeah, that possibility is always there, but you cannot live in fear. Right. And The man, this man Shemiah. Pretended to be a friend and pretended to be a prophet of God who wanted to protect Nehemiah from the enemy. I'm just going to go out and say it.
That's not okay. Yeah. Bad move. Yeah, you pretend to be a prophet and lure a guy into the temple to kill him? Not okay.
Yeah, his plan to Nehemiah was to go hide in the temple.
Okay. And what's wrong with that? Only the priests were allowed to enter the sanctuary. Nehemiah is a priest. He's not a priest.
He's a cupbearer. But he is. Not even from Judah. He is living in Persia. He was born and raised in Persia.
He's a Persian. Except he's a Persian Jewish person. Oh, they were going to catch him on like a religious technicale, like he entered the sanctuary. Yeah, because in Numbers chapter 18, verse 7. the outsider who comes near shall be put to death.
Can't do that. In Chronicles chapter 26, we hear about King Uzziah, who tried to burn incense in the temple, and God struck him with leprosy. Shemiah's plan was twofold. Get Nehemiah in the temple and then have him killed according to the law, or let God strike him. What?
What?
They were going, what if he dog? Here, Nehemiah, I'm going to keep you safe. Ready? I gotcha. And if he don't do it, God will zap you.
God will kill you. I'm clearly the villain in the story, but I'm going to get God to kill him. This is like twirly mustache villain level antics. Think of how clever. I know we're getting a little wild, but think of how clever these guys felt.
If either there, or if we can't kill him there, God's going to do it for us. God's going to get him with leprosy. You have no idea. God sent this man from Persia because they're looking at him as a Persian and thinking, he doesn't get us. We know what we're doing.
We're going to get him. They have no idea that this man is anointed by God. to bring his people together to rebuild the walls, to set the stage maybe it's still four hundred years away, but to set the stage for the coming of the Son of God, the greatest plan, the only plan of salvation for the world. And you think you're gonna sabotage that by Taking him in the temple and then saying, Yeah, yeah, look, everybody, look, he's in the temple. Everybody, look, get him, God.
He's not supposed to be. How does big brain Nehemiah deal with it?
Well, Nehemiah, of course, he he did not do that. He refused the or uh the offer, and it says right here. It says right here in verse 11. And I said Should such a man as I flee? And who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life?
Thank you. I will not go in. This man knew his Bible. That's right. He knew what he was doing.
He knew what he was doing. Nehemiah knew the Bible. He was like. No. I I I'm not a priest.
You telling me to go hide in the temple? No, I can't do that. And then he says in verse 12, then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and San Ballad had hired him. There it is. You knew they were in it somehow.
For this reason, he was hired that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me. He said no. Yet again, Nehemiah's divine spidey sense is singling.
Well, it goes back to him being a person of prayer, right? If he's a person of prayer, God has given him that wisdom. He knows good and well. A friend is not going to try to get me to disobey God. If you're truly a friend to me, you're not going to lead me to sin.
Right. That's right. And fear. You know, there's many, many times that God's people, whether in church context or world context, because of fear, They compromise the truth of God and it never works out. That's why Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 1:7, for God has not given us a spirit of fear.
But of power and of love and of a sound mind. That's right. Yeah. He you know, the I can see just from looking at this, the longer we talked about Nehemiah, the more I can see the enemies just branching out. He's using every single possible tactic, but it all does definitely ultimately come back to fear, right?
It's it's all like if you if you're afraid, and I've seen this in my life: if you're afraid, you will step out of line, right? You will scramble, you will look for a solution, you will ultimately turn to sin. Yeah, fear is a paralytic. Fear will lock a leader down and will remove their effectiveness in leading their organization, leading the mission. I mean, it just they're frozen, have literally frozen everything.
Have you ever made a wise decision when you were terrified? No, never have, yeah, and that's why. you there there is a place to be careful. There is a place to not take certain risks. But to be afraid.
Just like You know, a couple of episodes back, I talked about climbing that mountain, that rock. outcropping And fear came in, like, ooh, I can't go further. But then I saw people going up and down. I said, if they can do it, I can. That's right.
If I follow that path, I should be okay. And I have people standing up there and down here. What am I afraid of? But it was just a fear in my heart. And so.
There are times that fear comes in. Any time you attempt something that is beyond your natural abilities. There will be fear. Like at church, you're trying to attempt a big function or a big program. Or a big day, and you're afraid, oh, it's going to rain, or afraid that people won't come, or afraid there'll be too much money, or afraid that someone will criticize.
If you live in that kind of a fear, you will never make progress. Yeah. Now here's what I want to do in the next Two minutes. Yeah, let's do it. Read verse 15.
This is Nehemiah chapter 6, verse 15.
Okay. The wall was finished. on the twenty fifth day of El, in fifty two days. Dang, they put the whole wall up in two months. Less than two months.
Not even two months. Yes. Wow. And it happened when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was done by our God. Amen.
I mean, what a beautiful thing. It's not that people came together and people worked hard. Even earlier, Nehemiah had said, because the people had a mind to work. Yes, they did. But in the context we understand, when he says that, it's because God gave people the mind to work.
That's right. Listen, I want to challenge everyone, whether you are in a church context, or a secular context, Or a family context, always give God the glory. Amen. Don't steal the glory from God. I've been at this church for 13 years and I've heard so, so many people, hundreds, I would say maybe thousands probably over the years, compliment you that this, man, your church is doing so good.
And I can't think of a single time, not one, where I've ever heard you say, Yeah, man, the church is doing really great. I work 40, 50, 60 hours a week. My staff is here all the time. We just put in the work. We grind.
I've never heard it. It's always God is doing great things at this church. His hand is here. And there's a reason that God's hand has stayed here. That's right.
And continually point us, us, and others back to the work of God. I mean, what is it that you do that hasn't been given to you by God? Right. Your talents, your mind, your strength, your tenacity, your connections. I mean, everything is God.
That's right. I mean, my heart can stop beating right now. My brainwaves can flatline right now. I can be in a wreck. I can just this world can cease to exist.
What is the one thing that we can say, yeah, that's you know, that's me all the way? That's right. Nothing. Yeah. It's all by the grace of God.
And I hope we Never shy away from giving God the glory. That's right. And as Nehemiah says, for they perceived, they perceived that this work was done by our God. Amen. Let that be said of us and the work that we do, that people would look and say, that is God.
And when they don't say it, let us say it for them. That's right. And when people see in your church, in your ministry, in your work, that the work is being done by God, their reaction is going to say it all. They're going to cheer for you or they're going to be disheartened. That's right.
Guys, make sure you join us tomorrow. We're going to continue our conversation of Nehemiah. The wall's up, but the story is not done.
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