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<div class="span index">1</div> <span><a class="" data-remote="true" data-type="html" href="/series/uncuffed">Uncuffed</a></span>

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Uncuffed

בטל רישום

לפני 6 ימיםלפני 6d ago

בטל רישום

חודשי

Uncuffed empowers people in California prisons to tell their own stories. The award-winning collaboration between incarcerated student producers and professional journalists shines light on the human experience of people before, during, and after their prison terms. The new Season 4 is hosted by formerly incarcerated producer Greg Eskridge. https://www.WeAreUncuffed.org

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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loving God, loving people

346 פרקים

#Religion #Baptist #Audio #Bible #Faith #Belief #Christianity #Sermons

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

updated לפני שנה

שתפו

בית הסדרות•Feed

loving God, loving people

346 פרקים

#Religion #Baptist #Audio #Bible #Faith #Belief #Christianity #Sermons

Minden epizód

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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Life through the Psalms – a new perspective

לפני 12 weeks

הפעל מאוחר יותר

רשימות

לייק

אהבתי

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Life through the psalms – “A new perspective”. Pastor Nicholas van Oudtshoorn

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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Hearing God’s voice

לפני 23 weeks

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Hearing God’s voice – are we listening?

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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Jesus, Tempted

לפני 1 year

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What sorts of things do you find tempting? Although there may be similarities, our temptations are uniquely ours. They are tailored to our personal wants and desires. Temptations are tempting because we think that they have something good to offer us. We give in to temptations when we think that doing so will make our lives easier and better. Of course, there is always a cost when we do that – a cost that is often far greater than we expected. And although we might look to our temptations to satisfy us, they ultimately fail to give us exactly what we need. This weekend, we’re looking with Luke at the time, immediately following Jesus’ baptism, when the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. Jesus spent 40 days there, fasting; at the start of His public ministry, Jesus spent time focusing on His Father. And it was while there that the devil came and tempted Jesus. What sorts of things tempted Jesus ? For starters, bread. Jesus was hungry, and the desire for a nice, fresh loaf of bread must have been intense. Then there was the temptation to reclaim the world there and then, instead of having to go through with the Father’s plan. And then there was the temptation to prove that the Father would actually look out for Jesus. If you think about it, the fact that we know what happens means that Jesus must have told His apprentices about it. He didn’t, as we might be tempted to do, pretend that He was immune to temptation. No, as Hebrews 4:15 points out, “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.” We can certainly learn from Jesus how we should respond to temptation. But is that the main reason why Luke tells us about it? And why, if it occurred immediately following Jesus’ baptism, does Luke interrupt the flow with a genealogy? Today’s text: Luke 4:1-13 To discuss: Why does Luke tell us about Jesus’ temptation after giving us His genealogy? Was Jesus actually tempted by this stuff? Why didn’t He give in to temptation?…

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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Not good enough?

לפני 3 years

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Solomon’s temple must have been an amazing sight to behold. It stood for hundreds of years, a symbol of God’s presence with His people. According to 1 Kings 6:15ff, the entire inside, from floor to ceiling, was panelled with wood: cedar for the walls and ceilings, and cypress for the floors. The Most Holy Place in the temple was panelled floor to ceiling with cedar. And everything was covered in gold! There was an opulence and grandeur about the whole thing. When the temple was dedicated, Gods glory filled it. The people knew that God was in their midst. By the time of Haggai, a lot of time had passed since Solomon had built the temple. About 70 years before Haggai started speaking, the king of Babylon had attacked Jerusalem and utterly destroyed the temple. People were led away into exile. None of which, let it be said, should have been unexpected. God had long warned His people about the consequences of their refusal to follow Him. The exile was a time of discipline, and God had always intended to bring a remnant back to the promised land. His plan to save and restore and bless the whole world was still on track. Upon their return, the exiled remnant started rebuilding the temple. But there was plenty of opposition, and for 20 years, the job languished. Then, as we saw last week, God raised up prophets, like Haggai, to call His people to start putting Him first, and to rebuild the temple. Which they did. Their enthusiasm was sparked, and work commenced. But, as we shall see in this weeks passage, it wasn’t long until a sense of disillusionment started to settle over the people like a fog. They were rebuilding the temple of God but it seemed so unimpressive. Perhaps there were one or two older people there who had seen the original before its destruction. They would all, at least, have heard the stories about its grandeur. How, they must have wondered, could they compete with that? They were starting to lose their courage. Why bother making something when it wasn’t good enough? But God’s people had forgotten two very important things: this wasn’t just a human endeavour, and they weren’t alone. God was with them, and God had big plans, and the capacity to see them fulfilled. But what does this passage have to say to us today? Can we also get disillusioned in regards to the things we are doing with God? Why do we get like that, and what is the solution? Today’s text: Haggai 2:1-9 To discuss: Have you ever felt like your work, or the church, just isn’t good enough for God? Why? What difference does looking forward with God make?…

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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Slaves or Children

לפני 3 years

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Have you ever come across someone who was absolutely convinced that they were right, whilst being absolutely wrong? We all have the potential to be like that. Usually, pride is at work in the mix: a certainty that we already know what the picture is going to be, while everyone else is still trying to get the puzzle pieces out of the box. When this attitude is full-blown, convincing people to see the truth can be a huge, almost impossible challenge. A few years ago in America, we saw certain people convinced, despite the evidence, that Donald Trump had won the presidential election. As a result, they stormed the US Capitol building. Their actions were consistent with their beliefs and with who they are. They just weren’t consistent with reality! Over the last little while, we’ve been working our way through Jesus’ appearance at the feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. Jesus offered Himself as living water, and as light for those in darkness. He explained who He was, and some of those there decided to believe in Him. But, unfortunately, Jesus didn’t fit neatly into the way that they viewed the world. They thought they had everything figured out. They thought that they were God’s people by right of being Israelites. So when Jesus told them that through apprenticeship to Him they would know the truth, and that the truth would set them free, they got upset with Him. They didn’t like being told that they were slaves. They were, after all, God’s people, weren’t they? Jesus told them that anyone who sins is a slave to sin. He also claimed to be without sin, challenging the people there to truthfully convict Him of sin. Rather than being a slave, Jesus is the Father’s beloved Son. And when He sets slaves free, they are truly free; they are adopted into the family of God. The people Jesus spoke to thought they were part of the family of God. But their actions proved otherwise. They, like all people, were slaves to sin; children of the devil. Like us all, were in need of emancipation. But they couldn’t, or perhaps wouldn’t, see it. The offer of freedom from sin is still there, for apprentices who, as Jesus said, “remain faithful to my teachings.” Such people live like Jesus in this world; they discover the Truth, and are free to live for God. Who they are is seen in what they do; the Father’s love is seen through them. What about us? What do our actions say about who we are and who we follow? Today’s text: John 8:30-59 To discuss: Is doing the right stuff, including coming to church, proof that we belong to God? How is believing in Jesus linked to our actions?…

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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Women be silent?

לפני 4 years

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Next month, the acting head of the Baptist Union of Western Australia will be coming to preach for us. Speaking with them at the annual pastor’s conference a few months ago, however, they told me they thought that only about 25% of Baptist churches in Western Australia would be open to the idea of them coming to preach. Why? Simply because the acting head is a woman. Many Christians have been taught that the Bible rejects the idea of a woman having authority over a man. But is this actually what the Bible teaches? Jesus taught us to pray to our Father that His kingdom would come and that His will would be done here on earth as it is in heaven. But what is God’s will in this matter? Is it theological faithfulness to not allow women to teach men? Is allowing that a sign of the world’s ways of thinking creeping into our churches? Or is refusing women the right to teach or lead a sign that the world’s way of thinking has infected our churches? Is it theologically faithful to allow all Christians, regardless of their gender, to use their spiritual gifts to build and encourage the church? This weekend, we’re going to be spending some time looking at one of the most important passages on this subject – 1 Corinthians 14. As we do so, we’ll discover the importance of working hard to discover exactly what the Bible says and means. The Bible was written for our benefit, but it wasn’t written to us. It was written to people in a different culture, with a different language, and a different shared social history to ours. As such, we have to translate not just the literal words, but also the cultural assumptions and ideas that are relied upon. One of the benefits of looking at difficult passages such us this, is that we learn how to read the Bible better, so that we can discern God’s will and, with His help, seek to live according to it. Today’s text: 1 Corinthians 14:26-40…

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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Examples of Faith: Abraham

לפני 4 years

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What does it mean to have faith in God? We could simply say that faith is the same as trust. But what does that actually look like in practice? In exploring that question, we are following in the footsteps of Hebrews 11, we are busy making our way through the stories of different people of faith. As we do so, we will discover how faithful God is, and what it means to live in relationship with Him. So far, we have looked at the story of Abel, and seen how trust treasures and glories in God rather than ourselves. This weekend, we jump forward to the story of Abram (later known as Abraham). Abraham is well known as a man of faith; Romans 4 even describes him as the father of those who believe. But what does that look like? Genesis 1-11 is the introduction to the story of God and His creation. It sets the scene for our problems: sin leading to death, and a failure to know God. With Genesis 12, we see the start of God’s plan to set things right. Firstly by making Himself known, and secondly by defeating sin and death in the person of the Son. And God chooses to use Abraham and his family to put this plan into effect. Abraham was nobody special; just another man from a pagan family chasing after false gods. But God reaches out to Abraham, commanding him to leave everything he had and to go to a new land that God would show him. God makes incredible promises to Abraham – enticing, and seemingly impossible. It has been said that every story is like no other story, like some other stories and like every other story. Our lives are totally unlike Abraham’s. Abraham lived in an era where people had all but forgotten what God is like. We, meanwhile, have thousands of years of God’s revealing His character to His people – and have the ultimate Revelation of God: Jesus. But on another level, Abraham’s story is our story. The same God who dealt with Abraham deals with us. God still calls us to put our trust in Him. And although details might differ, the way we respond to God in faith will in some ways be similar to the way Abraham did. So, as we explore some of Abraham’s story, let us think about how we might respond to God in our own lives. Today’s texts: Hebrews 11:8-10, Genesis 12:1-9…

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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If you only knew

לפני 5 years

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Today’s Passage: John 4:1-26 Zsolt and Geza Peladi had a difficult life. These brothers found themselves living in a cave outside Budapest. They were poor, surviving by selling junk that they scavenged off the streets. I’m not sure exactly how their lives ended up this way; I don’t know the whole backstory. But I can only imagine that there is a story that led them there. I do know that their mother came from a wealthy family… but she had severed ties with the family many years before. And her sons have told how she abandoned them too. They were living in their cave when some charity workers approached them with news. Their maternal grandmother had died, and had left them, in today’s Australian money, something like $12billion. There was an incredible gift waiting for them. This weekend, we’re looking at one of the gospel stories that John alone tells us about: the story of the woman at the well. This is a woman who, like the brothers above, had a difficult life. We meet her coming to fetch water in the heat of the middle of the day. As the conversation between her and Jesus progresses, we find out that she has been married, and divorced, five times. At the time she met Jesus, she was living with a man who wasn’t her husband. Possibly he was single; possibly he was someone else’s husband. Why was it that she had had so many husbands? Was she a difficult woman? Or had she been hurt to the point where staying in a healthy marriage was incredibly difficult for her? Was she living with this latest man just to survive – being known as “that woman” must have made her life a social misery back in those days. Even to have had that many husbands would have got the tongues wagging. Everyone in town probably knew of her. Maybe she was physically very attractive. Maybe the women of the town would talk about her behind her back; warning each other to keep their husbands away from her. We don’t know any of that. But you get the impression that she wasn’t living the life of Riley. She strikes me as someone who has had a difficult life – and who would love to set it all behind her, but knows that that is just impossible. And then she meets Jesus. Actually, maybe we’re meant to see that Jesus went to meet her! There was another, less Samaritan!, route between Judea and Galilee. But Jesus had to go through Samaria. And the very first thing Jesus did was to ask her for a drink of water. Even that was an act of kindness – treating her as a human, and not just the sum of her past. Jesus knew, even then, all about her. But He also knew that if only she asked, He would give her what she needed most in the world. He would give her living water, bubbling up to eternal life. She was a woman isolated and enslaved by her circumstances and past; if only she knew the gift of God, and who it was that was speaking with her! The conversation continued. Gentle truth from Jesus, blocking defensiveness from the woman. But just try parrying with Jesus! Eventually this woman all but scores an own-goal: “One day the Messiah will explain it all to us.” If only she knew… “I AM the Messiah.” I love the way Jesus interacts with this woman. It’s the way He interacts with us. Gentle. Leaving no doubt about His power. Walking us into the place where we have to face the fact that He is God. Offering us what we really need; an escape from our guilt and our shame and our hiding. Offering us living water; offering us life. If only we knew. If only our loved ones knew. But when we are confronted with that knowledge – what will we do then? When we encounter the living God in Jesus will we run away from Him, or towards Him?…

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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Jesus Centre-Stage

לפני 5 years

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Today’s Passage: John 3:22-36 Today’s passage is strange. It tells the story of John the Baptist’s disciples getting into an argument with some random guy about ceremonial washing – probably about baptism. And somehow, they leave the argument upset at Jesus! They arrive at John the Baptist complaining that the one that he had identified as the Messiah was taking all of their baptising business away from them! They were angry. I suspect that they felt threatened by Jesus. I don’t know what they expected from John. He was their leader. His was an important ministry – calling Israel to repentance. His ministry was their ministry. This was what they had invested their lives into. Something had to be done so that John didn’t just quietly fade into obscurity. Obscurity wasn’t something John the Baptist was good at. Verse 24 hints at a story that’s only told to us in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke). John the Baptist dared to challenge Herod for marrying his brother’s wife. And he was eventually thrown in jail – where he would have his head chopped off. John the Baptist wasn’t afraid to do what God had called him to do: to call people to repentance; and to prepare the way for the Messiah. But John’s disciples weren’t happy that Jesus was getting more attention than John. Yes, their master had identified Jesus as the Messiah. But did that give Him the right to baptise people? It’s interesting that this story is put in the immediate aftermath of Nicodemus’ story. There we heard of a man who seemed to have it all together before God, but who didn’t believe in Jesus. Here we hear of John’s disciples – people who were all about repentance and turning back to God – but people who also didn’t accept that Jesus was the Messiah. Both Nicodemus and John’s disciples were men who were seeking to be right with God – and both missed the bus. John the Baptist was glad that Jesus was increasing. Why weren’t his followers? And what about us? Is it possible for us to be so caught up in being “right” – like Nicodemus – that we miss the simplicity of God’s call for us to trust in Jesus. Or is it possible for us to be so caught up in doing God’s work that we actually miss God at work? John the Baptist’s work was important and God-given. But he knew something that his angry followers didn’t: God’s plan revolves around Jesus, and not us. God’s plan revolves around Jesus, and not the ways that we have always served Him. God’s plan revolves around Jesus, and not our traditions. God’s plan revolves around Jesus, and not our good works. How sad to be caught doing good things for God, and yet not knowing Him. So where do we fit into this story?…

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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Now that’s impressive!

לפני 5 years

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Today’s Passage: John 3:1-21 This weekend, we’re looking at a part of the Bible that includes possibly the most famous verse in the Bible: 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.” It’s an amazing verse that sums up in so few words so much of the good news of God. But there’s one word in there which we often don’t focus on: for. John 3:16 is explaining something, giving a commentary on what has come before. What comes before is an amazing discussion between Jesus and a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. Nicodemus was a big-shot. As a Pharisee, he was probably devoted to ensuring that he understood and obeyed all the regulations required of God’s people. He was probably, like Paul, a very devout, religious man. We meet this man, this religious man committed to being right before God, in the dark of night as he goes to meet with Jesus. He’d probably seen the amazing, miraculous, signs that Jesus had done in Jerusalem. And he was convinced that Jesus had been sent from God; he was convinced that Jesus had been sent as a teacher from God. But why would Israel’s teacher (see verse 10) want to meet with Jesus? Why would an expert in the law want to hear new teaching from Jesus? And what teaching. I get the impression that Nicodemus was confused by it all. Certainly, John records Jesus saying that Nicodemus hadn’t believed what Jesus had told him. What Jesus had said was just too much for Nicodemus. Talk of needing to be born again to see the Kingdom of God probably didn’t fit very well into his understanding of how God works. The thing is, what Jesus was saying wasn’t even all that new. As an expert in the Scriptures, Nicodemus should have got it. But he didn’t. Perhaps because getting it wasn’t about what he knew, but about how he lived. Jesus wasn’t calling Nicodemus to a deeper knowledge – he was calling him to throw himself on the mercy of God. And that’s where John 3:16 comes in: it’s about what God has done for those who will look to him for life. Nicodemus was impressive – but there were shadows in his life that Jesus’ light would illuminate. You might look impressive; like you’ve got everything sorted. But we all have shadows that we are ashamed of. Things we like to hide so that we can present a good face. We can often fool each other, at least for a while. But it is harder (aka impossible) to fool God. The good news, however, is that we don’t have to fool God. Because God loves us. Because being right with him isn’t about us: it’s about Him. That’s what Nicodemus had to learn. It’s what you and I need to learn! God offers more than new teaching: he offers us new life; a fresh start with Him, and the promise of our transformation into the likeness of the most impressive person ever: Jesus our Christ.…

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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Ephesians 1:1-14

לפני 5 years

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Today’s passage: Ephesians 1:1-14 Today’s message is brought to us by Chad Power.

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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The Sign at the Wedding

לפני 5 years

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Today’s passage: John 2:1-11 If you were setting out to point someone to the fact that Jesus is God our Rescuer, where would you start? I suspect many of us would want to tell some of the epic stories of what Jesus did. We might mention the calming of a storm. Or we might point to the feeding of the 5000 – and then of the 4000. Or we might talk about the different people that Jesus healed, the demons He cast out, or the dead people that He brought back to life. Stories like those are impressive; they amaze us, and speak to a power that is beyond us. But the first incident of Jesus’ public ministry life that John tells us about seems, at first glance, less interesting. John tells us about Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding that had run dry. Some people might think turning water into ~450-680litres of wine is pretty epic. And I guess it is. But this wasn’t a public spectacle. Apart from Mary, the servants, and Jesus’ disciples, nobody even knew what had happened. It’s a miracle happening in the background of the party. And yet John wants us to see this as a signpost to who Jesus is. Jesus revealed His glory, and it inspired His disciples to put their trust in Him. The first 12 chapters of John’s gospel are all about signposts like this one. The signs John has collected in these chapters are meant to inspire us to do what the disciples did: to put our trust in Jesus. We are meant to see that Jesus is God with us; that He is God’s King – the Sovereign over all that is. We are meant to be confronted with the glory of God in the person of Jesus. Chapters 13-21 then tell us about the confrontation of this world with Jesus the King – and of His ultimate victory. They highlight the final sign: Jesus’ death and resurrection. Already here in chapter 2, John hints at this future – and beyond it. But what is it in this incident that reveals Jesus’ glory? How does this story enable us to describe the glory of Jesus? That is, what sort of a person is He? How does this story back up John’s assertion that Jesus is God with us? Why, in short, does John think that this is the best place to start introducing us to the person of who Jesus is? And what difference will this story make to our relationship with Him?…

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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What John Knew

לפני 5 years

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Today’s passage: John 1:19-50. Last week, we started a new series in John’s gospel, with the aim of getting to know Jesus better and better. John wrote his gospel so that we might continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah – the Son of God. He wanted to introduce – or perhaps re-introduce us to Jesus our Lord and Rescuer. The synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, have a lot of similarities. They build on each other, and probably share some of the same sources for their information about Jesus. They do, however, each bring their own flavour to their retelling of God’s story. Mark is short and full of action – he’s constantly moving us forward, “and then, and then, and then!” Matthew emphasises Jesus’ fulfilling the Old Testament. Luke deliberately sets out to give us an orderly account of everything that happened. But when you read John, you get the feeling that this is written by someone who has spent a lot of time thinking about it all, and how it all works together and makes sense. John’s gospel is deep. John is known as the disciple who loved Jesus – and it shows. John wants us to love Jesus. He wants us to think deeply, and to put our trust in Jesus our Lord. By the end of the gospel, John wants us to be saying, “Yes. Yes. Jesus is the Son of God. Yes, He is the One in whom I trust. Yes, I want Jesus. I believe He is the Son of God.” After John summarises the story of Jesus for us in John 1:1-18, he introduces us to John the Baptist. John the Baptist was famous for calling people to turn away from their sins, and back to God. He baptised people in water – as a symbol of their washing off their old way of life; of having a fresh start. People thought that John the Baptist might be someone important – perhaps even the Rescuer of Israel. But John would have none of that. His job was to get people ready for the coming of God’s Chosen One. Like John the Apostle, John the Baptist was all about getting people to say “Yes! Jesus is the Christ; Jesus is the Rescuer!” And so John’s gospel starts with someone saying exactly that. He tells us of John the Baptist testifying for all to hear that Jesus is God’s Chosen One! He tells us of John calling Jesus the Lamb of God, and of how John said that Jesus would baptise with the Spirit. Why did John say what he said? What was it that convinced him? And why does John the gospel writer tell us all of this? And what would both John the Baptist and John the Apostle have us do with it all?…

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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Knowing God

לפני 5 years

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Today’s passage: John 1:1-18 Why would you want to write a book, or even a booklet, of 3000 to 30000 words? What would compel you to do this? Well, John, a disciple and companion of Jesus, did want to write a book….in fact he wrote two books and three letters which now form part of the New Testament in the Holy Bible. And incredibly he did this when he was known as an “unschooled/uneducated” fisherman from the back blocks (Acts 4:13). And yet in his late life he took on the task of giving his own account of his three years with Jesus, and at the end of his gospel he tells us why. John 20:31. “But these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name” John did not set out to write a biography or a history (others did …Mark ,Matthew and Luke) but rather John wanted to put on record his amazing discovery, made while walking around Palestine with his Rabbi; and records his discovery in the words of Peter, with which he agrees: John 6:68 “…you have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” John grew up in a society steeped in history. He knew of Israel’s and Judah’s failure to follow the Lord God which resulted in defeat and exile, and then the return (as we have just seen in Ezra and Nehemiah) and of the official determination that as a nation this must not be allowed happen again. He was surrounded by all the mechanisms his leaders could devise, the various groups as they struggled to help their population to comply with these rules (the Pharisees, the Saducees, the priests, the politicians) so as to never give God any possible reason to exile or destroy them again. But by doing this they added more and more rules and regulations of increasing severity and complexity (a result Jesus condemns in Matthew 23) and in effect condemned their disciples and their nation to see God as a harsh disciplinarian who could never be satisfied. John discovers that God is not like he has been told but is a loving compassionate Father who loves His children and wants what is in their best interests; and then brings Himself into their world as a fellow member of the human race to show us this love. In this guise, the Incarnate God-man, we will explore John’s descriptors and discoveries in the coming weeks as we unravel what John saw and heard and touched in his three years of immersive experience with Jesus (1 John 1:1-3). It changed John; will you allow it to change you?…..so that you too can know God as your Lord, Saviour, Friends and Brother?…

Sermons – Golden Bay Baptist Church

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The Joy of the Lord

לפני 5 years

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Today’s Passage: Nehemiah 7:73 – 8:12 Last week, we saw how the exiles from Judah were allowed to return home to Jerusalem by King Cyrus to rebuild the temple. We saw them prioritising God in their lives, and celebrating His goodness to them as they laid the foundations for the temple. But there was a lot of opposition to rebuilding the temple – with it stopping and starting. But eventually, it was built. At some point after this, an influential Jew working for the then king, Artaxerxes, asked some travellers about the condition of Jerusalem. Hearing about it’s broken walls and burnt gates, Nehemiah spent a week in prayer and fasting. Nehemiah recognised how he and his people had sinned against Yahweh – and how the exile had been God’s disciplining of them. But He also remembered God’s promise to re-gather His people if they returned to Him and obeyed His commands. Nehemiah knew that God had promised to bring His people back to the place that He had chosen as a dwelling for His name: the city of Jerusalem. But a broken city was not honourable enough for the God of all creation. So Nehemiah risked his life and asked the king for permission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And God answered his prayers. Nehemiah was made governor, and set out on the long journey (something lie 1547.3km on today’s roads!) to Jerusalem. And soon, work on the walls kicked off. But, like when the temple was being rebuilt, there was a lot of opposition. Including from people one might have expected to be for God. Judah’s enemies had friends/agents among the returned exiles. At one point, it looked like things would come to battle. Nehemiah prayed – and armed the workers. But they kept on working! They worked until the wall and gates of Jerusalem were completed. Completing that wall was a God thing. God was with His people. God had provided for them all along. He’d made King Artaxerxes well-disposed to do all that Nehemiah asked of Him. God had provided for them. God had kept them safe from their enemies. This wall was only built because God was on their side. And Nehemiah: he was a man after God’s heart. He was constantly praying. He cared for the people of Judah. He says in chapter 5:14ff that: …from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. But the earlier governors—those preceding me—placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we did not acquire any land. Furthermore, a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those who came to us from the surrounding nations. Each day one ox, six choice sheep and some poultry were prepared for me, and every ten days an abundant supply of wine of all kinds. In spite of all this, I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people. As a leader, Nehemiah was an example to his people of someone who loved God, and whose love of God changed the way that he acted. Given all that, I’m not surprised that a few days after the wall was finished, on the first day of the new year (the 7th month of the year!), a massive crowd gathered together. They had come because they wanted to hear God’s Word. They told Ezra the priest to read from the Book of the Law of Moses, which Yahweh had commanded for Israel. As Ezra praised God, they shouted “Amen! Amen!” This was right. This was so right: God was their God. He had rescued them. He had saved them from their exile. The temple was built because of Him. Jerusalem had a wall and gates because of Him. God was good! They fell down and worshipped him. And then they listened. This was a church service that went for hours – probably about 6 hours! God’s Word was read and explained to all who could understand it. And as they listened, they wept. On this day of celebration, as they came together to get to know their God better for themselves… they wept. Why? Surely it had something to do with hearing about God’s goodness towards them as Ezra read. And also to do with, as they listened, coming face to face with their own sin and rebelliousness. They realised how unfaithful they had been to God, despite all of His continued faithfulness and love. They were convicted. They were ashamed. The walls were rebuilt, but the people realised how broken they were. But Nehemiah’s response that day might not be the one we would have expected. There was a need for confession. That would come in Nehemiah 9. But what this people needed to know first and foremost, was something of God’s joy. Why God’s joy? And what makes God joyful? And what about us? Where does our story link in with the story of these Jews from so long ago?…

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