Posts Tagged: ‘Nehemiah’

Against the Wall

[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during September 2026]

A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.
Luke 8 v5-8 [NIVUK]

Following the conquest of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586BC the walls of the city had been torn down, effectively leaving the city defenceless and in disgrace. In 444BC Nehemiah was called by God to go to Jerusalem and rebuild its walls.
So who was Nehemiah and what has he to do with the parable of the sower as recorded in Luke chapter 8?
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Contributor: Steve Humphreys
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Threats Thwarted

[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during March 2026]

It displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.
Nehemiah 2 v10 [ESVUK]

That observation comes from the account of the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem in 444BC but the same words could easily describe the opinion of many people throughout the centuries since the nation of Israel evolved from the families who sought refuge in Egypt around 1875BC.
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Contributor: Steve Humphreys
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Shouldn’t, Couldn’t, Wouldn’t

[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during July 2025]

I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
Acts 26 v9 [ESVUK]

Saul of Tarsus was convinced that he was working for God, that he was doing what God wanted him to do. Later in his life he came to realise that he should not be doing what he had been doing. Are there times when we too are surprised by the realisation that what we think we are doing for God is not actually what he wants us to do?
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Contributor: Steve Humphreys
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