Before we start the 6 weeks journey through the book of Nehemiah to learn how we can rebuild our church after the pandemic, let us get an overview of the book:
If you haven’t read the rules for the challenge at rdpt.us/rules, today is a good day to read it and get clarifications. Today is just a trial run so that you can be familiar with how everything works. We will start reading the Bible tomorrow
Please text back to your group if you have watched the YouTube video of the overview and your thought on it.
Note: when you text to the group, only the group chat can read it. But if you comment on the website, it will be made public to the whole Internet.
This is what the daily Bible Reading conversation would look like in your text group chat:
This comment will be made public to the whole internet. We use it as tie-breaker level 2 if we have multiple teams won level 1 for having every team member consistently texting their group what they have been reading.
What would happen when you have multiple teams tie at level 2?
Then we would randomly be throwing dice to pick a winner for the KBBQ
By the way, we will also provide the daily devotion in the comment from the classic teaching of Dr. Ray Stedman (which you can find at http://raystedman.org ). You don’t have to read it if you just want to process the reading on your own.
Once or twice a week, we will also glean Leadership Insights from Nehemiah as well
I received this question through a group chat and thought that I would post it here also.
Excellent question! You can read https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dcc/nehemiah.html for more historical timeframe and background details of Nehemiah. But the short answer is that Nehemiah is a separate document from Ezra (due to its first-person narrative) and thus could be studied on its own. Ezra and Nehemiah were kept together because of their historic continuation rather than because they are from the same author.
Hello y’all. Hope everyone have a good day! I watched today’s video and read the rules. One thing I like from watching the video is how he said Nehemiah and Ezra clearly typify Christ. It’s an interesting point of view that I have never thought of before. And it shows how the message of Jesus is clearly portrayed even in the OT. Overall I’m excited to share this experiences with you guys ☺️. -Kevin
Thao Pham – I read the rules and finished watching the YouTube of Nehemiah!
I really like this YouTuber! Found his analogy so relevant and funny. He included pictures, hilarious side notations, and I a timeline for all those historian scholars. What really stood out to me was towards the end when he said that the 3 men–Ezra, Nehemiah, and Zerubbabel–are types of Christ. Ezra as Christ as priest, Nehemiah as Christ as prophet, and Zerubbabel as Christ as king.
I guess my question would be as I read through Nehemiah is how does Nehemiah portrays Christ as priest throughout this book?
“I have not yet heard of this story and the video has made me quite intrigued as it reflects to how our church can be rebuilt after this entire pandemic” -someone on our team 🙂
I just finished watching the overview of the book of Nehemiah and I really like the animation with narration. It is pretty straightforward and easy to follow-up.
I love the video. It’s very entertaining and insightful. Can’t wait to dive into the book with you all. I am eggcited cuz this reading will help me focus more on Sunday sermons ?
Hello all! I have read the rules and watched the video for today. I have never read the book of Ezra or Nehemiah so this was all new information for me. I really liked the 4 R’s in the video as it was great that in the end the people were able to return to God by firstly rebuilding, then restoring, and lastly repenting (then of course returning haha). I was shocked to see how obedient and trusting Nehemiah was as he went straight to prayer rather than worrying about the state of Jerusalem. I was inspired by him and hope that I can eventually become like Nehemiah where he is able to instantly pray rather than give into his fears.
Testing, testing..I’m so bad at any tech stuff..Bumble is the master. Upon deep reflection on the introductory video, I came to the conclusion that I chose the wrong profession. How does one become a royal cup-bearer?
Maybe the typology of Christ that Nehemiah represents isn’t just as a prophet but as a cup bearer, he points to the One who will eventually drink the cup of God’s wrath. Yeah, I know…deep!
Nehemiah was a very godly and patriotic man. Like Moses, Nehemiah volunteered to leave the happy kingship to be one with his countrymen in a state of depravity. Nehemiah did not seek self-interest, but “seeked for the prosperity of Israel” (2:10). Nehemiah was courageous and acted like a soldier in a battle crisis; but as wise as those who rule well; know how to deal with his enemies and the tyrannical king of Persia, grouping and organizing his fellow countrymen. Nehemiah ruled very justly and corrected abuses, setting himself an unselfish, generous example; What is most remarkable about him is that he still prays daily, raises his eyes to God, and summarizes all his hopes with a prayer like the last line of the book: “Remember me, o my God, for good!”
Hello! I never knew that Ezra and Nehemiah were brothers…what a duo! There was a lot happening in the video but what stood out to me most was how there was 400 years of silence until the birth of Christ. I also noted that the rebuilding is due to the people pulling away from God and not the other way around. This reminded me that I have control within my relationship with God and that He is a faithful father!
Nah, you were right. They were not actually brothers at all. (I think they are just using the term as “brothers in arms”). Ezra led a band of exiles back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple a few decades before Nehemiah.
From Don text to our team. Sorry we missed the deadline last night but we still wanted to share Don message since his link might be helpful for the study.
I watched the overview video, and am looking forward to getting into Nehemiah? I also found a great article that gives some more insight, and shows the way in which this book points to Christ.
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/nehemiah-points-way/