Hard Questions #1

Welcome! Today we return to the second portion of our Hard Questions series. Today we are going to look at Bible interpretation, are also going to look at a very personal question for us as a church. This latter question we will explore a little at a time; and in fact, we will revisit it to some degree in every one of these 5 teachings on hard questions.

Our first hard question can be posed this way: How should one go about gaining a proper understanding of what a Bible passage means? This question has countless applications. One is a question someone put on their card back when I asked people to send in hard questions. Here is their question, slightly paraphrased: How do we know which New Testament commands and practices are for all time and which are specific to a particular culture?

The Christian and Failure

Good morning! Today we will have a shorter message followed by a time remembering the Lord with the bread and cup, and then we will have a sharing time. Our sharing time will focus on lessons the Lord has taught you in 2010 as well as things you desire to see the Lord do in your life in 2011. I realize we have just gone through Christmas, and it may be hard to even think about 2011 so soon, but this will be what we try to do.

First though, I want to talk a bit about failure. My message at Faithwalkers this year is entitled The Christian and Failure, and what I share now is a portion of what I will share in that message. So if you are going to Faithwalkers, when you are there, don’t listen to me, but go to one of the other sessions when I am speaking.

Have you ever struggled with feelings of failure? Most, if not all of us have. Some of us know what it is to be paralyzed by a fear of failure, to be “bitten once,” so to speak, and then to be afraid to act in such a way so as to be hurt in the same way again. This too is pretty common.

The World Needs A Savior

As I was preparing for this message, I kept coming back to the simplicity of the title. It pretty well covers the subject for today. I think most everyone would agree that the world needs a savior.

In the message today, I want to try and answer a few questions. Obviously, we'll talk about why the world needs a savior. Then, since it is pretty evident that the world needs a savior, what kind of savior is needed. Finally, we'll talk about how the savior will “save the world.” In conclusion, we'll go to the Bible and talk about the Savior of the world.

Let's begin with why the world needs a savior. Wherever we turn, we see conflict and the ravages of sin. By sin, I mean an offense carried out one person against another. For example, we see natural disasters turn into even worse tragedies because of the sinfulness of man.

Overcoming Stumbles

Nehemiah 13

Good morning! Today we finish our series on Ezra and Nehemiah. To remind you of the big picture: The book of Ezra begins with the Israelites in Babylon, a humbled and captured people, living under their captors far from the home God had promised them. But those promises God made were conditional on their continuing to serve and live for God, and the Israelites, over a period of centuries, had continually rebelled against God, not following His commandments, worshiping other Gods, and ultimately becoming just as wicked as the heathen nations around them. 

Although our God is a patient God, there is a limit to His patience, and at long last, the nation of Israel fell, its people killed or taken captive, and its capital city, Jerusalem, sacked and destroyed. The wall surrounding the city was destroyed, the residences and government and public buildings in Jerusalem were destroyed, and even the Temple itself was destroyed; God’s Spirit left the Temple, symbolic of how God had at last left the people to reap the consequences of their sin, and symbolic also of how the people had for generations left God.

Overcoming Silence

Nehemiah 11-12 Welcome! Today we have our next-to-last message in our sequence of messages on Ezra and Nehemiah. To understand the context of today’s passage, let’s first turn back to Nehemiah 7:4:

Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. – Neh. 7:4

It has been about 100 years since the first Israelites had come back to Jerusalem after enduring the seventy years of captivity in Babylon. Things that were destroyed close to 200 years ago are still destroyed. This is a really long time. If you wander around South Carolina, you won’t find very many signs of life from nearly 200 years ago. There are exceptions, of course, places that were never abandoned, like Charleston. But abandoned places can become really “ruined” after only a few years. Look at pictures of the parts of New Orleans that still have not been rebuilt. Or just look at what was the Holiday Inn on Highway 123 here in Clemson.

Overcoming Failure

Nehemiah 9-10

Today, we are going to cover Nehemiah chapters 9 and 10. If you remember from last week in Nehemiah chapter 7, the wall had been completed in 52 days, a miracle of the Lord in the face of great opposition. God's blessing on the Israelites was so clear that it even demoralized their enemies. Then in chapter 8, the people of Israel had gathered together and Ezra read the Book of the Law of God from daybreak until noon. And, the people were weeping as they listened, but Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites stopped them and encouraged them to celebrate. The next day, they read of the feast of tabernacles or the feast of booths. Hearing that this feast should occur during the seventh month, they went out and prepared booths. Nehemiah 8:17 said “From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great.”

And so, the Israelites celebrated the feast with great joy through 8 days. According to Numbers 29, the feast would begin on the 15th day of the seventh month and last 8 days ending on the 22nd day of the seventh month. Now, we pick up at the beginning of chapter 9, just a couple of days after the feast.

Overcoming Depression

Nehemiah 7-8

Welcome! Today we continue our series on Ezra and Nehemiah, focusing on Nehemiah 7 and 8. The walls of Jerusalem are rebuilt! This is what we saw at the end of last week’s message. Despite the persecution, despite the threats, despite the many devious plots against them, the walls and gates were finished. Jerusalem was once again a walled city. As we read last week,

So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God. – Neh. 6:15-16

Overcoming Oppression

Nehemiah 5-6

Welcome! Today we continue our series on Ezra and Nehemiah, focusing on Chapters 5 and 6. The year is 445 BC, and the location is Jerusalem.

In Nehemiah 1 and 2 we were introduced to Nehemiah as the cupbearer of the Persian King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah learned of the state of disrepair of the walls of Jerusalem as well as of the downcast “defeated” mindset of the people there, and he wept and prayed for them, praying specifically that God would use him to help the situation. After several months of prayer and fasting, through a miraculous series of events, the king decided to send Nehemiah himself to take charge of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

Christ the Overcomer

Before we talk about Christ the Overcomer, we ought to briefly talk about why Christ needs to overcome at all. And what must Christ overcome?

After seeing the horrors of the twentieth century, the Jewish Holocaust preeminent, but the many other wars and the devastation that man has brought against man, it is apparent that evil abounds. Not only that, but the decay of ethics and integrity continues. The housing bubble and the economic collapse of 2008 and 2009 in large part was due to the greed of everyone who thought that they could get something for nothing. Scandal after scandal seems to befall those in political office. The continual increase in sexual sin, and I'm not just talking about the rise of homosexuality. The rise of sex outside of marriage and the increase of promiscuity. More and more children born out of wedlock. More and more broken marriages and single parent homes.

There's road rage and murder-suicides and suicide bombers and child abuse and child pornography and modern-day slavery. Problems and problems and more problems. There is a whirlwind of bad news every day. It just keeps coming. There is something wrong with our society. There is something wrong with our world.

Overcoming Opposition

Nehemiah 3-4

Welcome! We are continuing our series on Ezra and Nehemiah, today looking at Nehemiah chapters 3 and 4. Last week we looked at the first two chapters of Nehemiah, and we saw Nehemiah, cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, learn of the state of disrepair and discouragement of the people in Jerusalem. After several months of prayer and fasting, the king asked Nehemiah why he seemed sad, and Nehemiah told him of the situation in Jerusalem among his people. In a miraculous answer to prayer, the king had profound sympathy for Nehemiah and sent him to take charge of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. 

Upon arriving in Jerusalem, Nehemiah looked over the walls one night, and then he spoke to the people and encouraged them to begin rebuilding the walls under his leadership. They agreed, and despite some initial opposition in the forms of taunting from several non-Israelite leaders of surrounding regions, they began to rebuild. This brings us to today’s passage.