Thoughts on Christ and His Word

Reading Nehemiah 13 it is clear that one of the major roles of leadership is to maintain discipline of the vision (Vision discipline). When Nehemiah had left Jerusalem he had set everything in order. Tithes and offerings were coming in to feed the Levites and Priests. The Sabbath was being respected. And the Jews were speaking with one language.  He then had to return to the king and came back later, perhaps a few years later, and found disarray in Jerusalem. A Foreigner had his furniture in the house of the Lord, the men had married foreign women and the children of those women wear all speaking different languages. A priest had married a foreign woman of a man who hated Jerusalem.  So he did what good leaders do. He quickly and forcefully brought the Israelites back to order and discipline. He re-established the Sabbath, threw out the Foreigner's stuff from the temple, and made the Men start teaching their children to speak Hebrew. Clearly the role of a leader is to establis...

 When the Israelites returned from exile Nehemiah gather the people in the Square. Ezra was reading from the Bible to all the people. While he read portions of Scripture the Levites interpreted for the people. Nehemiah 8:8 says "They read from the book of The Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read." This is our job as preachers. To read through the Scriptures and make the message clear to the listeners.  when God's people who have good Hearts understand the word of God their lives are filled with joy, just like it happened to the people that day. Nehemiah 8:12 says that "all the people went away...with great joy because they now understood the words that had been made known to them."

Who makes the rules concerning salvation? Why did Jesus have to die? If God makes the rules then could He have changed the rules for forgiving our sins? Could He have decreed that walking up a mountain and saying "The Lord is my God" and pouring out a glass of water would have been enough to forgive sins? If God is Sovereign and Almighty, then He can create whatever rules he wishes consistent with his nature. Could He  have decreed that salvation is by faith if someone pours out a glass of water and declares the Lord is my God? Then why did Jesus have to die in a bloody mess? I think the best answer is found in Romans 5:8  "God demonstrates his love towards us in that while we were sinners Christ died for us." When God, who is love, decided to save us He chose the most gruesome form of Salvation that demonstrated the intensity and depth of his love. And that's why he sent his only begotten Son to be flogged, to be beaten, to wear a crown of thorns and to be nail...

The joy of the Lord leads to radical decision making. In 2nd Chronicles 30:26 it says there "was great joy in Jerusalem for since the days of Solomon son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem". The people celebrated the Passover for the first time in many years and were filled with joy. In 2nd Chronicles 31:1 it says "When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, smashed The Sacred Stones and cut down the asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh." So when people are filled with joy in the Lord they will do courageous and radical acts for their God. I need to lead the people into the joy of the Lord.