Be the church, Impact the city. Adversity is part of life. Sometimes opposition comes from external attacks and sometimes from internal attacks. Adversity is a necessary teacher for life and godliness. In this section of Nehemiah we see that the people are wounded by their own. They are oppressed becasue of the famine, high taxes, interest and slavery. Nehemiah confesses his own sin and calls the nobles and rulers to repentance and God changes their hearts.

Be the church, Impact the city. John Kane teaches on Nehemiah 4.1-9.

Be the church, impact the city. Nehemiah comes to the moment of sharing the vision God has given him. With opposition present he brings the community together and the building project begins.

Nehemiah: Be the church, impact the city. Nehemiah has prayed and planned. With the hand of his good God on him he comes to the big moment before the king. God provides passage, provision and protection for Nehemiah to go to Jerusalem. This is what God has provided in Jesus for each of us as well.

Be the church, Impact the city. This week we begin a series on the book of Nehemiah. As we look at this classic book we will see how we are to be the church and impact the city.

Closer: spiritual disciplines that help us draw near to God. This week we are looking at worship. Worship is gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth. It is obeying the command to delight in the Lord. God longs for us to practice the displine of rejoicing in Him.

One of the most important spiritual disciplines is the discipline of celebration, yet it is the most overlooked and misunderstood. It dwells on the greatness of God as shown in His goodness to us. Today we celebrate what the Lord has done for us. From the big move coming this next week, to the ministry this Summer across the world, to the life-change in our own midst, today we celebrate!

Closer: We continue to look at the life lived close to Jesus. Through this series we have looked at spiritual disciplines that are crucial to our pursuit of godliness. Today we will look at the spiritual disciplines of chastity, frugality and secrecy.

Today we are taking a detour from the current series. We will jump back into our series on spiritual disciplines next week. This Wednesday I felt the Lord laying on my heart Ephesians 1.18-23. Today as we look at this great prayer of Paul's for the church at Ephesus, I pray that we would grasp the great calling we have as the church, His body.

Closer: God has granted us so much, as His children. Scripture tells us in this journey in becoming more and more like Jesus that we must bring alongside what God has granted to us every effort we have to partake in His divine nature. Today we look at the first set of spiritual disciplines that we are to supply to our faith that has been given to us so graciously. The holy Scriptures are the key discipline of spiritual engagement that we must put all diligence to. Today we will look at this discipline.