Michelangelo has "The Creation of Adam", Michael Jackson has "Thriller", Michael Jordan has Game Six of the '98 Finals. The term "magnum opus" comes is Latin for "great work." The magnum opus represents a person's greatest achievement, the seminal work, the crowning achievement. What will your greatest work be? What do you want to be remembered for? What's distracting you from that work? In Nehemiah chapter 6, Nehemiah's enemies are persistently trying to distract him from his magnum opus, rebuilding the city of God. He responds over and over: "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down."
Nehemiah: Week 8
Nehemiah 6
November 5, 2017 • Nehemiah 6
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Nehemiah: A City within a City
Nehemiah: Week 11
November 26, 2017 • Nehemiah 10—13
We've spent three months mining the majestic depths of the book of Nehemiah, but it concludes tragically. The people of God, who had all the best intentions of obeying God, return to their former ways of rebellion, and the book ends bleaker than it began. Where is the hope? The bleakness of this tragic ending paints a silhouette of the true hero we're longing for, not Nehemiah, but the greater Nehemiah, Jesus Christ.
Nehemiah: Week 10
November 19, 2017 • Nehemiah 9
In Nehemiah 9, the people of God devote significant time to recalling the sins of their forefathers. The people of God understood, that if they were to move forward, they need to come to terms with their past. They did not justify their personal sins with the sins of their parents. Instead, they acknowledged that their parents' sins were formative in their own lives, and they need to be refashioned and transformed by the Gospel of God's grace. When we are adopted as children of God into the family of God, we must put off the sinful patterns of our family or origin, and relearn how to live life God's way in Jesus' new family.
Nehemiah: Week 9
November 12, 2017 • Nehemiah 7—8
Most people have heard that the Bible is the best-selling book of all time. In the United States, the Bible is the best-selling book of the year, every year. What is it about the Bible that continues to make it the best-selling book of all time, even today? In Nehemiah chapters 7 & 8, we read about the prophet Nehemiah and the people applying themselves to knowing and understanding God’s word, leading to sorrow over their sin, joy over God's mercy, and active obedience. As Christians, our salvation is accomplished by Jesus, but to grow in our faith, we must actively seek to know and understand God’s word.