Bible Study

Nehemiah 3-4: Beware! When Being Attacked, Pray and Give it to God

Back in 1992, Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida. I witnessed something I’d never seen before — neighbor helping neighbor, strangers helping strangers. If a tree had fallen on a house, a guy with a chainsaw just came and started cutting it up. There were many scenes like that. We were all victims. We were all neighbors. Today’s chapters reminded me of that. We worked, we served, we prayed, we sweated, we helped — together — just like the Jews rebuilding the wall around the holy city. Seek the truth…

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Ezra 7-8: Love God? Love, Study and Learn His Word, Know it in Your Heart

The narrative in the Book of Ezra now changes to the first person as Ezra himself comes into the picture. Ezra, a scribe and teacher, from an impressive priestly lineage is called to help teach and train the Jews in the rebuilt Jerusalem temple. He is a role model we all should strive to imitate. Seek the truth.

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Ezra Bible Study

Ezra 1-3: God Sends the People to Reclaim, Restore, and Rebuild the Temple

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are the stories of the restoration of God’s temple in Jerusalem and the city itself. It’s c. 538 BC, the Babylonians who captured the Jews and brought them to Babylon were gone. The Medes and Persians ruled by King Cyrus are in power. It’s time for God’s promise to the Jews of renewal and reconstruction to be fulfilled. Seek the truth…

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Esther 3-4: God’s Providence Calls for Courage For Such a Time as This

or such a time as this. That’s a phrase that is often quoted when a person is in the right place at the right time, with proper authority, ability, skill, or wherewithal to do something positive. It could be to fix what is broken, to correct a wrong, or to bring an important issue to a leader. That’s the situation in which we find Queen Esther in these next 2 chapters. Seek the truth…

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Esther 1-2: A Courageous Story of Providence: A Jewish Girl Becomes Queen

Providence. Esther was a “fish out of water”. This historical account takes place in 438 BC. That’s over 100 years since the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem and took all the Jews away. Since then, some went back to start rebuilding — we’ll get to those stories in Ezra and Nehemiah next — however, many stayed. This is where our story starts. Seek the truth…

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