At the heart of the question “Is God’s Word trustworthy” is another related question – is God trustworthy? Does He mean what he says? Will He intend to do what He promises? Can He deliver results?
What exactly does our world need?
This whole account in Judges 19 is told in plain language and that can be so jarring for us. It is a shocking tale of grotesque morality presented in plain prose.
It poses a question for us: How normal is evil? Do we know that we have normalised evil around us, such that we look at what is evil, wicked, cruel, shameful and bat not an eyelid?
Does your worldview have a category for evil? Or is everything a matter of choice, lifestyle, social structures and forces?
This is the first of six studies that will focus on some common questions that people might have. This study will focus on doubt, and it important that we start here because arguably, doubt undergirds the rest of the studies.
Not only is doubt pervasive, but doubt left unaddressed is a dangerous thing. It festers and spreads.
The goal of this study is simple — that we, like Thomas, may believe that Jesus is the Christ. John himself tells us plainly
This section of Romans 8 can be familiar to us as “cheerleading” verses, verses we turn to to psyche ourselves up. But as we end this study in Romans 8, how can we see how the Spirit works, and how is this an encouragement for us?
This section of Romans deals with something we will all go through in life — suffering. What kind of suffering is Paul talking about here? He will focus on creation and man. And both these sufferings have deep root in the beginning of the Bible.
If we do not understand today’s passage, we will not be able to journey through the sufferings of this life with a sense of purpose.
What does it mean that the Spirit works in us? This set of verses will flesh that out for us! We will see that adoption change our identity.
In Romans 8:9, Paul moves from the previous group that he is addressing to another group, “you”. Who are they and how are they different from the people he was speaking to before? How does Paul continue to unpack and flesh out the ideas that he had spoken off in previous verses?
Romans 8 deals with many important truths in the Christian life. And Paul is incredibly passionate about the gospel here. It is our prayer that we will love the gospel as Paul does, and know and live it out as he did.
So, hasn’t God’s plans and purposes already come true? Nehemiah left Jerusalem because his work was done (Neh 13:6). It has been 12 years since the work began (Neh 1:1).
But God’s work is not yet done.
What is the joy of the Lord? Can this joy be sustained? Nehemiah 12 will help us to see how we can have joy in God.
By this point in the book, the walls are up, they heard God’s word and they have also expressed themselves in covenant. Now, they are to see what comes next. It is the holy city where God gathers them for worship in service for His purposes.
In reading this covenant, the people of God renewed their covenant and laid out specific affirmations and denials. What can we learn about God’s character and from the people’s response?
Is there a prayer of confession in your church service? A prayer of confession in the corporate worship service is important. God’s people come together to also confess their sins.
By the end of this study, we hope that you are convinced that confession is important, and to make it a part of your own discipline. As we read this passage, we want to consider how we approach a holy God as a sinful people, and see this as a biblical model for confession of sin.
What else happened after the wall was rebuilt? In this section of the book of Nehemiah, we see how God’s people also gathered themselves to worship God as a nation.
In our passage tonight, we see the beginnings of a reformation, rather than a revival. Here, God’s people recover the things that they are supposed to do because they understand.
In the previous chapter, the wall has been rebuilt. But this is not the end of the story. In fact, it only marks half of the book of Nehemiah. What then, is the rest of the book going to be about?
How do you know what you fear?
Consider: What is it that controls you? We fear what holds some sort of power or sway over us. What we fear is what controls us.
The fear of God. It might not be popular to talk about this. We might prefer to talk about the love of God or even what it means to be a people of God. And little do we talk about the fear that is owe Him.
If you fear God, you will not exact usury (or interest) but instead love them (c.f. Neh 5:9). We should not deprive our Christian brother his due. In this section, we see how the fear of God also led to Nehemiah not take his due. We should not take what is due us.
The fear of God is incredibly practical for us. How does the fear of God rewire our thinking — who we are, how we relate to one another, who God is? It helps us to see God rightly and therefore ourselves rightly. The fear of God means that all of life —even our financial dealings — is under God’s purview.
How do we deal with division within the church, amongst God's people? It's an important question, considering the damage that division can do to the good name and image of God and his church. That is the key question we shall consider in this passage.
As we worked our way through the book of Nehemiah, we have seen how Nehemiah believed that he was doing God’s work. And he did not see the work of God as something optional that he will embark on after he has accomplished his own work and secured his own standing.
Nehemiah knew the promises of God and was concerned with how the promise of GOd becomes the blessing of God. The work of God has everything to do with the people of God, the presence of God as a fulfilment of the fulfilment of God so the blessing of God can come.
Because this work matters, there is opposition to it.