Nehemiah Chapters 1 and 2

Hey everyone! Nice to see everybody this morning who made it out. This is the second week in our new digs with the Door and it is still a little tight for those of you who have been. But don't worry, our fearless leaders are working on a resolution that we should have really soon. We've actually had just enough room for the number of folks that have come the last two weeks, but if everyone showed up we would be busting the seams! But we have about three proposed fixes so I'm confident we will get it resolved in the near future.

I thought we had a good lesson this morning on Nehemiah, but I'm sorry we didn't have more time for discussion. I would imagine we might have more time for it in the next couple of lessons...but I'm not sure.

I just wnated to recap the main points of the lesson:

1. In Nehemiah, we see God as the main character using Nehemiah to further His plan of redeeming the world. Don't we want God to be the main character of our life stories, using us to bring about his redemption of the world?

2. There are three main things I picked out of Chapters 1 and 2 that I think we can apply to ourselves if we want to part of God's redeeeming plan like Nehemiah.

a. Nehemiah knew his PURPOSE. We was committed to the covenant between the Jews and God. He could have been content just to live the nice life of a royal employee in Persia, but he longed to see his people in their promised land, safe and protected in Jerusalem where they could rebuild their nation, and worshipping God in his temple. This work lead to the possibility of Jesus being born when, where and who he was.

b. Nehemiah PRAYED for his role in rebuilding Jerusalem. He prayed for days, night and day. Possibly for four months straight! His prayer in chapter 1 stands as an example for us.

c. Nehemiah had a PLAN to fulfill his purpose. When the opportunity came to ask the King of Persia permission to rebuild Jerusalem, Nehemiah already had a detailed plan in place of what he needed from the King to accomplish his goal.

Are we committed to and aware of our PURPOSE in the new covenant of Jesus Christ? Are we in PRAYER about how we go about bringing God's redemption through Christ in our world? Do we have a PLAN to go execute what we know we are supposed to do?

I hope that this lesson causes you to re-evaluate your life in terms of what you are doing and why, and how it relates to the great commission Christ gave us. I know it has caused me to do that. I look forward to the next few leesons in Nehemiah this month. God bless!!!!

casey