James instructs us in these few short verses to pray for God's wisdom and to do so in confident faith. How do we get this wrong, and how do we get this right? - Pastor Kevin

This is first in our series of messages in the letter of James to the Jewish Christians dispersed throughout the world (and to us!). After giving a brief introduction to the book, the author, and the recipients, we look at the intimate relationship between trials, faith, and enduring patience. - Pastor Kevin

The conclusion happened to fall on Easter Sunday, so we just went with it! He is risen! - Pastor Kevin

Upon his arrival in Jerusalem, Nehemiah continues to call out God's people for their disobedience and does everything in his power to set them on the right path. And thus ends the book, in a tone of resignation. But this is not the end of God's story... - Pastor Kevin

In a kind of continuation of last week's message around the topic of purity, we continue in the text today in a discussion focussed around Eliashib, the priest, and Tobiah the Ammonite, and their relationship. But, look out! Nehemiah is coming back to check up on you to see how things are going; he's not the kind of guy you want to cross! - Pastor Kevin

After hearing the word of the Lord, the Jewish people obey the call for purity given to them by Moses. They respond in immediate obedience in separating themselves from the Ammonites and the Moabites as the Lord had commanded them through Moses in the book of Deuteronomy. And we as Christians in the 21st century have much to learn from these few powerful verses as well. - Pastor Kevin

We're running out of chapters for this series! In chapter 12, we once again encounter long lists of names, but that's not all. We also can share with the Jews of Nehemiah's day a wonderful day of worship and thanksgiving and praise to the God that delivers us. Hop in your time machine and join us! - Pastor Kevin

As we draw toward the end of the book of Nehemiah, we once again draw New Testament principles from this wonderful Old Testament text. Please remember to pray for Pastor James Coates and his wife, and his children. - Pastor Kevin

Nehemiah's wall is complete. The people have celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles. And they want to renew their commitment to the Lord God in a written covenant admitting to their failures and promising to do better. It is sealed by Nehemiah, the priests, the Levites, and the civic leaders in a public assembly representing all the Jews of the region of Judea.

So, what's a covenant? How did they operate in the ancient near east? What can they teach us today? We'll try to flesh that out a little bit. - Pastor Kevin

Nehemiah 9 is made up mostly of a prayer of blessing from the Jews to God. We'll pick up some principles for Christian living from this beautiful prayer which summarizes God's work from Creation to the Babylonian captivity. - Pastor Kevin