Cleansing The Temple: Part 2
Revelation 2-3 contains seven letters to churches, five of which contained calls to repent. Most of them were compromised in faith and practice. Even a cursory reading of the epistles in the New Testament reveals that this is not uncommon. The last chapter of Nehemiah provides an example of just how quickly a community can slide into egregious error. Brown The concluding paragraphs of Nehemiah’s memoirs describe the reformation which took place under his vigorous leadership. Glaring sins had to be…
Cleansing The Temple- Part 1
One of the most frustrating things about watching movies today is wading through the plethora of options. The worst thing you can do is browse through the selection. The recommendations are all over the place. At least, they aren’t organized in a way that makes sense to me. I find movie selections based upon categories I have never shown an interest in. Obviously, they want me to watch something different. Usually, I base my movie selections off an expert and…
Restoring The Tithe
After building the wall in Jerusalem and overseeing a revival among the people, Nehemiah returned to King Artaxerxes (Neh. 13:6). While away, people quickly lost the ability to maintain the work. Some failed to separate from foreigners (Neh. 13:1-3), going against their own vows (Neh. 9:2, 38). Eliashib, the high priest, made room in a large temple chamber for Tobiah, one of Nehemiah’s foremost enemies (Neh. 13:4-9). This minimized the importance of the tithe. While the swift religious and moral…
A Dedication To Celebrate
US: 40M adults (18.1%) suffer from anxiety disorder. 18M major depressive disorder. The first year of Covid increased prevalence of depression 25% worldwide. Barna (2011): Almost 1/5 young adults leave church because their faith isn’t helping them cope with depression or other emotional problems. If church is a refuge, it won’t ignore genuine emotional tensions or paper over them with platitudes. Remember how book began? Neh. 1:1-3 God raised up Nehemiah, supplied resources + volunteers to rebuild the wall > Revived interest…
Are We Still Required To Tithe To The Church?
Are We Still Required to Tithe to the Church? (Nehemiah 10:37-39) Are we obligated to tithe in the new covenant? Let me set you all at ease. I have no intentions of sending the offering bags around a second time after this sermon. R.C. Sproul does not mince words when discussing the tithe. In his book, 5 Things Every Christian Needs to Grow, Sproul writes: A poll of people claiming to be evangelical Christians indicated that only 4 percent of them…
Why Giving Money To The Church Is Important
Why Giving Money to the Church is Important (Nehemiah 10:32-39) I recently watched a talk by Sinclair Ferguson on three lessons from 42 years of ministry. He referenced his appreciation for William Still, whose book The Work of the Pastor has been an encouragement to me. Ferguson mentioned that every pastor should read the book every year, at least. So, I picked it up for only the third time and came across this quote where Still discusses church revival: There will soon…
Why Church Membership Is Important- Part 1 (Nehemiah 10:1-31)
Although, on the surface, it might appear that the Western mindset is commitment-phobic, most people recognize the value of making an agreement to keep their most important goals. There are a few successful apps like GymPact and Beeminder that penalize you with a fine when you fail to keep your goals. In the case of Gympact they take the pool of money and distribute it among those who kept their commitment to go to the gym. It doesn’t know what…
How To Pray To A Covenant Keeping God (Nehemiah 9:22-38)
How to Pray to a Covenant Keeping God (Nehemiah 9:22-38) In his preface to the book Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Reformation, D.A. Carson writes, I doubt if there is any Christian who has not sometimes found it difficult to pray. In itself, this is neither surprising nor depressing: it is not surprising because we are still pilgrims with many lessons to learn; it is not depressing because struggling with such matters is part of the way we learn. What is…
How To Confess Sin To A Faithful God (Nehemiah 9:16-21)
Learning how to confess sin to a faithful God is as easy as following the example we have in Scripture. The human heart is made to reach out beyond itself and so, as G. K. Chesterton is alleged to have said, when people reject God they do not worship nothing, they worship anything. Murray Capill, The Heart Is the Target That is the history of humanity in a nutshell. God made us for worship, and if He is not the…