Category: Nehemiah

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

We have here a summary of the sermon that was preached at another rally later the same month. The preacher makes similar points to the Apostle Paul in Romans – all have sinned; we are saved by faith through God’s grace. Look to God’s grace and mercy.

SJA Notes

* Loving God, in Your righteousness there is life, and its pathway there is no death.

“You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.”

What a prayer this is!

It retells God’s grace and mercy, in His taking care of His people.

It proclaims His majesty and power.

It advocates for and rejoices in the work of the Holy Spirit in His people.

And it cries out for mercy, acknowledging our sins and rebellion, our stiff necks and hard hearts. Individually and corporately.

Tomorrow’s passage will go on to tell us more of the covenant the people, make, what they affirm they will do.

But today we have a clear reminder of the importance of prayer. Both on our own and in the various groups of God’s family that we have in our lives.

* Father God,

Thank You for this prayer – Please write it on our hearts!

Please grow our understanding of You, our understanding of ourselves.

Please forgive us Lord, for our sin.

Amen.

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

Nehemiah holds what could be described as a rally such as we are sometimes blessed with. Ezra is the preacher. There is a turning back to God amongst the people. This evangelistic crusade is greatly supported by family heads!

SJA Notes

* God Above, please help us bring forth wisdom, and may our tongues not be perverse.

“They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.”

Here are the basic ingredients for the preaching of God’s word.

We have the clear reading from God’s word. How good it is to hear God’s word publicly declared as we meet together!

We have the preacher giving the sense, exhorting and convicting, making clear. This is such an important job for the preacher.

Praise God for the wonderful heritage of God-fearing bible-expository preaching we have access to today!

We have us, God’s people, understanding God’s word. Preaching helps us to understand our Lord, to understand ourselves, to understand God’s plan for us through Jesus’ work at Calvary, and for us in the living out of our lives.

And finally we have the response of (us) the people,

“And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.”

Let us rejoice in the understanding God has given to us His people of His word!

* Father God,

Thank You for Your word, that it contains everything that we need for this life.

Thank You that through preaching You grow our understanding.

Please protect our preachers Lord God, may they preach with clarity and passion, preach Your truth all of their days.

May we all reflect Your glory, Your truth, each day of our lives.

Amen.

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

Once the walls had been built, Nehemiah turned to the problem of peopling Jerusalem. The Presbyterian Church of Australia faces a similar issue – once the walls of the Faith have been rebuilt, we have to people the church. There was no simple answer for Nehemiah, but he turned for help to the families of believers first.

SJA Notes

* God of steadfast love, may we seek Your wisdom, which begins with fearing You, to know You a little better today.

“Then God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy.”

This is a very similar passage to Ezra 2. A listing of those returns, around fifty thousand people all up.

Sometimes we can find these lists hard to process. We might not know most of the names, and so can seem like a bit of a chore.

But little by little, God will grow us as we read His word each day in faith.

How good it is to see the sons of Jericho and Ai, cities that Israel conquered way back as Joshua led the people into the promised land.

The mention of the men of Ramah can remind us of hundreds of years in the future, as Jeremiah (ch 31) prophesied Herod’s terrible murder of the little boys, a voice heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation.

The men of Anathoth, where Jeremiah (the prophet) was from, and where generations previous King Solomon had banished the faithless priest Abiathar.

And then in verse 5 we have something important.

God put the enrolment on Nehemiah’s heart. This list. God put it on Nehemiah’s heart.

This passage is important, even if just for the reason that God put it on the heart of Nehemiah to be done, that it is recorded here in God’s word.

God places importance in lists of people!

We should then too.

* Dear God,

Please teach us from Your word today, even when we are tired and lacking in comprehension.

Please in Your supernatural power write Your word upon our hearts, that we might know You a little better today.

Amen.