From the Blog

  • Gathering the Gifts

    In what ways has God called and gifted you? Do you know the sense of fulfillment and purpose that living for God brings? In Nehemiah chapter 7, God put it in Nehemiah’s heart to gather the people and their gifts together to call them to live as citizens in the city of Jerusalem. God is…

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  • Making the Commitment

    What are you committed to? You can tell a lot about a person by their commitments. Are you committed to your spouse? To your kids? Are you committed to your job? To your school work or degree? Maybe you’re committed to owning a house or a car? The truth is, our commitments reveal our investments and vice versa. We expend our effort and resources on the things we are committed to.

    Nehemiah was committed to the rebuilding of Jerusalem. In the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah made the commitment to persevere in God’s calling to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. We can make the commitment to persevere in the calling God has given us.

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  • Stopping the Strife

    Nehemiah called the people to rise up and focus their money and effort on God’s mission to rebuild the wall, yet the fact that some were not sacrificing for the work caused strife among the people of God.

    In the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah led the people to stop the financial strife that had arisen between them against God’s mission. We can stop the internal financial strife that arises against God’s mission for His people.

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  • Overcoming the Opposition

    If you’re trying to live for the Lord, you will face opposition. Sometimes it comes from the world’s culture which is contrary to the life of the Spirit. Yet, often it comes from friends and family who don’t know the Lord, or who aren’t as committed to following and serving Him as you are trying to be. And sometimes, opposition comes from other Christians who either don’t understand or aren’t walking in the Spirit. But as Jesus said, you will have trouble and opposition in this world, but He has overcome the world.

    In the book of Nehemiah, the people of God placed their faith in the Lord to overcome the opposition against rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. We can place our faith in the Lord to overcome the opposition against doing the Lord’s work.

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  • Joining the Work

    It’s one thing to see the brokenness in our city, but it’s another thing altogether to join the work of repairing it. Yet, it’s often the very act of joining the work of the Lord in our city that we see miracles happen to heal our city, we see miracle happen in our own lives as well. Who needs a miracle from God today to heal the brokenness in your life?

    In Nehemiah chapter 3, Nehemiah recorded the names and work assignments of the Israelites who answered God’s call to rise up and join the work of repairing the broken walls of Jerusalem. God still calls His people to rise up and join His work.

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  • Sharing the Vision

    How should we respond to the brokenness in our world? The people of Jerusalem responded by sharing the vision that God had given Nehemiah. In the book of Nehemiah, God put it in the heart of the cupbearer to the king of Persia to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. After inspecting the brokenness of the…

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  • Catching the Vision

    The people recognized that their city of Jerusalem was in trouble. Its gates were ruined and its walls were broken down. When they heard the vision God had given His servant Nehemiah to rebuild, they caught the vision and said, “Let us rise up and build.”

    Whenever God wants to get a work done, He lays hold of a people who are willing to rise up. The walls of Jerusalem had been ruined; a small remnant had returned; and there was much work that needed to be done. In 536 BC, Zerubbabel had taken about 50,000 Jews back and by 516 BC had rebuilt the temple. In 457 BC, there had been a small revival under Ezra, but now it was 445 BC, and God was looking for someone to go to the ruined city and restore safety and order. Nehemiah was that person. In the book of Nehemiah, God caused Nehemiah to rise up and catch a vision for his city, Jerusalem.

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  • Prayer.

    Prayer.

    Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. Instead of jumping onto self improvement plans and goals to hit the gym and lay off the sweets, we can look ahead to a new year and pray like Jesus taught.

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  • Unwrapping the Story

    Unwrapping the Story

    Have you unwrapped the story? Have you joined the shepherds by seeing and hearing it for yourselves, believing the good news about Jesus? A gift isn’t really yours until you unwrap it. In the gospel of Luke, he recorded the story of the good news of Jesus’ birth which an angel of the Lord announced,…

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  • Unwrapping the Son

    Unwrapping the Son

    Some of us like to give hints to see if the recipient of our gift can guess what’s inside. It builds the anticipation. That’s what God did. Centuries before offering us the gift of His Son, Jesus, He gave “hints” to the prophets of Israel concerning the coming of the Messiah. One of those prophets was Isaiah. God gave Isaiah many of the over 300 Messianic prophecies found in the Old Testament.

    In Isaiah 9, God gave him a Messianic prophecy of a promised Son that would be given. We can recognize that Jesus is the promised Son that would be given. He is the Son of God given unto us.

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