The Story of God: Ezra Nehemiah

Listen along as we see God's people fix the wall and tempe, frustrate themselves from sin and opposition, and how without Jesus, we're found wanting.

 

Notes//Quotes:

Nehemiah 12:43-47 - Denise Reading

“Such Isolation is sometimes necessary in order to maintain faithfulness in a hostile environment, but can also backfire and generate unnecessary tension with the surrounding culture.”  - Tim Mackie

“When what you ought to do and what you want to do are the same thing.” - Timothy Keller

“Our pleasure and our duty though opposite before since we have seen His beauty are joined to part no more.” - John Newton

“Just because you have high ideals and divinely inspired passion doesn’t mean God has to fulfill your dreams. Even the most capable leaders will tell you that the law of unintended consequences and inevitable human failure will compromise the best of our plans. But that doesn’t mean Ezra and Nehemiah shouldn’t have tried. Their stories give us hope and inspiration to keep pointing other people to God’s grace and to keep calling them (and ourselves!) to faithfulness and devotion. But after pondering Ezra-Nehemiah, our pointing and calling should be done with a sober awareness that our efforts will likely be compromised. This doesn’t mean God isn’t faithful or good. It means that we’re flawed humans whose fundamentally selfish nature can be transformed only by a generous gift of God’s grace. Leaders who know this will lead with a humility and self-awareness that is hard to come by these days. And it’s this kind of wisdom and “leadership lessons” that Ezra-Nehemiah offers to us. And we’re better off for hearing this message, if we have ears to hear.” - Tim Mackie