John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."







Thursday, March 21, 2013

2nd lesson about Nehemiah

Nehemiah's reactiona and action in difficult times.

This book is a lesson about prayer, sacrifice, vision and also a lot of perseverance. In this book Nehemiah is the main character and we are told in the first chapter he was praying for Jerusalem. This book is a historical book that chronicles the events of the time when he was cupbearer to the king of Persia, in 445 a. C. According to the comments in the footnote of Shedd Bible we find that the name of Nehemiah has a meaning, "God is my delight" (Hebrew = nehemyã). Nehemiah is the historian of his own actions and the events of his life, but without writing a complete autobiography . I do not know if his name had some influence on his behavior, but we see that he indeed had a special delight in his God. He prayed, sought for his God and he literally wept for his people.
Let us say that God would use someone else to describe your life and personality, what would you be described as, a person who "God is his delight?" What phrase would follow your name if God would say: So and so is my ....... ?? Do you have any idea how God would describe you? In one of the subjects we will study that God gave testimony of David. Is it important to worry about it, which testimony God will give which of us? The arrival of Hanani.
When Nehemiah was taken to Jerusalem in 445. C. Ezra already had been there already for 14 years. But Ezra was a priest who taught religion to the people. Nehemiah, however, came as civil governor, with authority from the king of Persia to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and making it a fortified city, as it had been before. We read in vs. 2 of the first chapter of Nehemiah: "Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.."[1]
Let us examine a little this man's life.
 a) We have the historical factor of his people in the scenario and also his own life.
 b) Nehemiah asks his brother about the situation of the people
 a. The situation of the Jews who escaped
 b. and which were not taken into exile, and concerning Jerusalem
 c) He receives the answer in verses 3 and 4: Nehemiah 1:2-4
Vs. 3-4: “They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire." 4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”
-   Nehemiah had not forgotten his people.
-   Nehemiah seeks information about his people who escaped from captivity and who remained, and information about the city where he once his people lived.
-   He receives the answer that those left of the captivity there in the province are in misery and contempt.
-   The situation of the city was: split wall, and its gates are burned with fire.
-   On hearing this, Nehemiah's reaction was sitting down and mourned for a few days, and he began fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Application of the study to our lives.
 I would like to draw an assessment here applying the experience of this man of God. We live in the 21st century and if we analyze our life in conjunction, both the history of our country and our personal lives; we will see that is not much different from Neemiahs days. I do not know your experience, but my parents came from Russia in 1929 and came through Germany to Brazil. They settled in Brazil and started a life, even marvelous. I remember though how many times my parents told us, what life was like in Russia, the country they had left behind. How many times their heart was longing to go there to their homeland and try to make well all that history destroyed.
Nehemiah was in a country that was not his, but his heart was out there with his people who suffered. Nehemiah did all he could to bring about as we will study God's covenant to his people. I believe that the vast majority of nations surrounding the earth and peoples were in the same position that Jerusalem was at the time, even though if we do not want to admit it. How is your city, needing Jesus to come to restore the whole city as God did with Jerusalem through Ezra and Nehemiah?. If you were to analyze your city,_ your people, and your church what would you say to your God about these three things? Have you taken to God as Nehemiah did leading the seriousness of things around them and his people and his family? Or do you complain and are revolted because nothing changes and no one does anything?.

[1] http://beta.biblestudytools.com/nehemiah/1-2.html

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Rev. Billy Graham