Nehemaiah Schedule

Men of MOB,

The Spring session of the CC MOB will run from February 5th through May 14th. As announced we will be studying through the book of Nehemiah. The meetings will begin with some time in worship promptly at 7:00 PM, but please feel free to come early for fellowship and prayer.

Teachings will last 30-40 minutes with another 30-40 minutes for small groups to meet, discuss the teaching and built the intimate relationships we are called to have with the body. The meetings end at 8:30 PM.

While the meetings will take place each Tuesday, The Nehemiah studies will be on specific dates with guest speakers sprinkled among our session. For your benefit to be able to study or read ahead, we will be covering the following chapter on the dates listed below: 

February

12: Intro and Chapter 1

26: Chapter 2 

March 

5: Chapter 3

19: Chapter 4

26: Chapter 5 

April 

16: Chapter 6-7

23: Chapter 8-9 

May 

7: Chapters 10-11

14: Chapters 12-13

Nurturing from Nehemiah

I had a great night last night closing out Philippians and looking at Chapter four. Small group discussion was awesome (since I remembered to bring discussion questions - duh...), and I got to spend time with my friends from CCO. But finishing off one book, means we are headed for a new one.

As I read through the survey sheets that the guys were so gracious in completing before we closed out last session, there was really no consensus as to what the guys wanted to study next. That being said, mush prayer and consternation ensued, and the Lord gave me clear direction. We are headed into the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.

Overview:

In the 20th year of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, (445/444 BC), Nehemiah was cup-bearer to the king. Learning that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down he asked the king for permission to return and rebuild them, and Artaxerxes sent him to Judah as governor of the province with a mission to rebuild the walls. Once there he defied the opposition of Judah's enemies on all sides—Samaritans, Ammonites, Arabs and Philistines—and rebuilt the walls within 52 days, from the Sheep Gate in the North, the Hananel Tower at the North West corner, the Fish Gate in the West, the Furnaces Tower at the Temple Mount's South West corner, the Dung Gate in the South, the East Gate and the gate beneath the Golden Gate in the East.

Nehemiah then took measures to repopulate the city and purify the Jewish community, enforcing the cancellation of debt, assisting Ezra to promulgate the law of Moses, and enforcing the divorce of Jewish men from their non-Jewish wives.

After 12 years as governor, during which he ruled with justice and righteousness, he returned to the king in Susa. After some time in Susa he returned to Jerusalem, only to find that the people had fallen back into their evil ways. Non-Jews were permitted to conduct business inside Jerusalem on the Sabbath and to keep rooms in the Temple. Greatly angered, he purified the Temple and the priests and Levites and enforced the observance of the law of Moses.

Our Look:
Nehemiah woke up one day and said to himself (paraphrasing of course), "What happened to my homeland!" He had heard, then saw, that his homeland was desolate. It was desolate of people, and of God. He wanted to return his homeland to the glory it once was, and to the glory that God had intended it to be.

My goal is to inspire the men of CC Oly to do the same. We cannot deny that our homeland has been decimated by sin and evil. What God helped build, men have allowed to flounder and be returned to the enemy. Gay marriage, legalized on-demand abortion, tax payer money funding abortions and 'the morning after pills" now being dispensed in vending machines on college campuses. The theory of evolution being taught as the staple fact of existence of mankind in our schools, while Jesus cannot be taught and prayer is banned.

Men, we have lots of work to do - and it starts with each one of us. Are we ready for the call to be LEADERS? Are we ready to actually ACT, to put our time, spirit and reputations on the line to become men after God's own heart? Looking at the life of Nehemiah and his efforts to do just that will inspire us all to be like Nehemiah in taking real action to rebuild our homes, communities and nation, to be after the heart of God.

See you all next week. 

Recommended Commentaries: 
NONE of these books are required reading for the MOB Study of Nehemiah, but they are recommended reading that might help you gain a more in-depth view as we go through the book.
Check with the church book store to determine if they are in stock. If not, I'm certain they can order them for you. If you wish to buy on-line, links have been provided to CBD below.

Also, if you are a user of Logos® brand bible study software, these titles are available through Logos®, and may already be in your library depending on the

The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah: New International Commentary on the Old Testament

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Boice Commentary Series: Nehemiah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1&2 Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther: Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture [ACCS]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Volume 4: 1 Kings - Job

The Living Church

We often here the phrase that the Constitution of the United States is a living, breathing document. Bunk. It's the foundational paperwork that is not meant to live and breath, but stand firm in it's foundation upon which this nation rests. In the same manner, many people view the Bible as a living, breathing document in thew way that they treat its teachings, bending and twisting God's Word to suit their agendas, motivations, or to hide their sins. The Bible is not a living, breathing document - but the CHURCH is a living, breathing entity. An entity that was set up by Jesus Himself, ordained by God the Father, and 'indwelled' by the Holy Spirit.  This is a point I think we men would do as we go through this study.

As we look more and more closely at the deep-rooted language of this letter, and draw more and more detail from it we can lose the over-all focus. As we, as I have suggested, work hard to make sure we understand the circumstances of this letter from the mindset and eyes of Paul himself, it can be easy to lose the big-picture of the letter. The Philippian Church is hurting, confused, and concerned for Paul. Their concern for Paul is motivated by two things: 

1. Their true heart-felt desire to help Paul. They love Paul, he is their beloved founder and father in Christ.
2. Because the church is going through a 'rough spot', they are seeking advice and leadership from Paul.

In and of itself, this is not necessarily a bad thing.  As matter of fact, in scripture we are told to see wise council (Proverbs 1:5, 12;15, 19:20, 20:18, 24:6). But where do we go for it? Where should we look for such counsel first?

God has created so many means of support for us all, not the least of which IS the church. You see, the church IS a living, breathing thing, created by God, not just for His glory and for the evangelizing of the world, but as a support group for us, His children. It is not called His "Body" for nothing, which is, in every way we can think about it, an awesome analogy. Knit together, supporting one another, working in partnership - each performing a specific task for the completion of the over-all goal, and picking up slack in areas when one of its parts are wounded. Yes, the body of Christ can develop a limp now and then, but the other parts pick up the slack where it is needed, and the mission always moves forward. The Philippian church had developed such a limp.

Did the Philippian church miss this point in going past their spiritual chain-of-command in seeking Paul's advice? No, not at all, and i think for a couple of reasons. The church itself was VERY young. It was a baby still trying to learn how to crawl while the world was forcing it to run. secondly, also in part because of its infancy, their local leadership probably felt overwhelmed, and did not want to make the mistake of taking the church off track. It was the local church leadership after-all that made the decision to take thier letter to Paul. But i think they also understood something else: That as time progressed, they would reach a point where even Paul would expect themselves to be able to live on their own, supporting themselves spiritually without Paul - leaning an Christ and His word by means of sola scriptura.

I truly feel that as the world progresses down its self-(mis)guided pathway to hedonism and full rejection of God, the church will be more and more rejected by the world, and by default, it will be necessary to become for self reliant. While eschatology doesn't point out with clear results what the role of the United States might be in the end times scenario we read of in the Bible, there is a clear role for the church. Love, support, and leadership in the face of all things evil. 

As Paul would tell the Philippian church is not so many words, Take every advantage the church has to offer you. By that I do not mean, go to church with your hands-out, seeing to have all of your worldly problems fixed by the church and its resources like some sort of government bail-out, but rather, to plug yourself into the "BODY". Become a working part of it. Feel the connection to the other sinews (read: people) within the body. When you enter into a period of weakness or injury, allow the rest of the body to support you and pick up some slack until you heal. 

Paul had a deep love for the church in Philippi. Not the building in which these lovers of Jesus met, but n the people. We love our church building and where we gather to worship each week. But God gathers in our hearts, not in that sanctuary. Of this there can be no doubt. But he had a greater love for the Body of Christ as a whole, knowing that Jesus had build it with a purpose that would far out live his physical ability to support it. God's love heals. And His love is built into the church. 

Become the Living Body. 

Concerning Discerning...

As it is related to our study of Philippians, and the introductory section we covered last night, I'd like to take a moment to expound a little bit on the idea of discernment.

In the study last night we covered verses 9b and 10:

"knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ that you may approve the things that are excellent"

As Christians we desire, or at least should, to grow in the Lord. We want to be closer to Him, we want to know more about Him. We want to bring our lives more in-line with His will, and do all the more to please him. To do this we have to make decisions FOR Christ in everything that we do.

Those 'eternity colored" glasses that I mentioned Paul looks through - we need to see our spiritual optometrists and get a pair for ourselves. "So how do I get a hold of my 'spiritual optometrist" you might ask? Read your Bible. The way to get your pair of 'eternity glasses' is to familiarize yourself with scripture so that you know God's heart.

Discernment is everything. We must judge everything we do against God's standard, against what God has deemed excellent. Some of these daily choices are easy for us.  Should I be stealing these tools from work? Of course not. Should I be over-charging my clients for time I actually did not spend on this project? Pretty easy - no. BUT- should I have that beer with lunch? Should I watch that "R" rated movie tonight? Should I be reading this magazine,or surfing this site on the web? These are questions that are sometimes more difficult to see through our Eternity Glasses.  Or worse yet, they are seen as "society" or "culture" issues to be judged differently, by standards that seem to be 'morphing'.

Let me assure you, that God's standards are not morphing. The world's are, but not God's.

God, through His infinite Grace, has given us rotten sinners, free-will. Some might question whether a God that gives fallen sinners free-will is really omnipotent! I mean, think about it. Free will to people that you know will fail when it is given. Free-will gifted to men that will turn their backs on God, worshiping the creation rather than the Creator. But God IS omnipotent, he is all knowing, and He did it anyway. Why, because He is also all LOVING.

Decisions on issues that seem culturally reliant, or that are clearly areas in life where God has given us freedoms, must  be made carefully. Considering not only the immediate repercussions (if there even are any), but the results on our eternity, our present walk, and our (either) stumbling a brother or causing confusion to the Christian faith in general in the eyes of those observing you - and they are observing you.

Weight every choice against God's excellence that He has declared to us through His word. Take your timer in making these decisions. Wait on the Spirit! If you do not have total peace with the decision, don't make it. Stop. Seek further counsel, take it to the Lord in prayer. Seek in every way to uphold His excellence as it is displayed in you.

Just a quick thought.

Introduction to Philipians

Wow! What a great night. I just wanted to thank all of you that attended, and challenge you to invite other brothers to attend. We had roughly 30-35 guys there last week. Let's first shoot for 50, and then 100! Help get the word out.

So, what did you all think of the introduction to Philippians? I hope that I shared my vision as to what I want us to get out of the study, and how I want us to view Paul's letter through his eyes, not ours. To explain that more clearly, and in part to review, look at each conversation and event not just through Paul's eyes, but also considering Paul's circumstances, his period in time, the environment around him both politically and socially, etc. Let's walk this mile in Paul's shoes.

I'll get my notes attached up here soon so you have them to review. There is actually quite a bit to them that I did not have time to share Tuesday night, so they might be more helpful than you might think. 

For next week, please take a look at Chapter 1, verses 1-26. We'll cover that section next week. We will look at the "prologue/introduction of the letter, and sort of cover the way letters were written at that time and the Greek syntax of it all. Also, we'll be considering verse 18 in some depth...

^"18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. "

...as well as verse 21:

 ^"21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. "

I doubt we will have much time to go further than that.

Check out the book and resources in the right hand column. Don't be afraid to buy used if you want to pick up one or two of these books. I purchased an additional copy of "A Distant Presence" for something like $4.00 plus shipping through Amazon...

Got questions? Please ask. Otherwise, see you next week!

Tom S.

Welcome; to CCO MOB!

On behalf of Calvary Chapel Olympia, Pastor Chuck, Pastor Jon, Chris Post (MOB Coordinator), and all those people that work to make the CCO 'Men of the Bible' a reality, I'd like to welcome you to the new 2012-2013 bible study season.

Mark your calendars for September 18th at 7:00 PM for our first meeting. Chris and I will be disseminating lots of helpful information at that meeting, so do your best to attend. There will be no sign up this year for the MOB, but we are planning and hoping for an excellent turnout next week.

This year's fall session will be spent doing an in-depth study of the book of Philippians. The MOB meetings will go in three week cycles. Two weeks we will be studying Philippians, and on the third, we will have guest speakers, testimonials and more. This will not be a boring session, that we can guaranty!

With six weeks of studies for the book of Philippians, we will be overviews of sections that will run a little more than half a chapter at a time, highlighting some of the greater nuggets along the way. I plan to use this blog to share some helpful study notes, and give you all topics to discuss and issues to look at, not just from the point of view of Paul (something I do plan to ficus on), but also with a strong personal application focus. Studying, and learning is great, but as Men of God (or Men of the bible as the case may be!), if we do not plant these truths into our Spirit and live them out in our lives, we are failing to fulfill the purpose for which our lives have been intended: to share the gospel of Christ!

St. Francis of Assisi once said, "Share the gospel at all times, and if necessary use words." The implication is that the gospel message of salvation through Christ needs to be seen in our every day lives, in the things that we do, the way that we act, the events and issues that occupy our time, and not just in words alone. The half-brother of Jesus himself implies the same thing when he says, "faith without works is dead". Either you live it, or you have to begin looking at your dedication to your faith.

This blog is created to give the group an interactive place where we can stay in touch throughout the week, ask questions, review notes (I'll be posting my notes after each session), and keep each other accountable to the MOB Study, and to each other. Other features of this blog:

• You can "subscribe" to the blog by email or RSS feed for your convenience, and to get all the latest posts delivered right to your email.
• A Calendar that will show the next 5 upcoming meetings so you can keep track of your events.
• Comments are active for all posts, allowing you to comment on a post, ask questions etc. 
• Recommended Books for helping you through this study, and giving you more resources to take your study even deeper at home. 
• Helpful links to on-line bible study resources.

I hope you find the blog, and all of its resources helpful to you. Bookmark it and return to it regularly for updates and more information.

Get ready to be challenged. I hope that this study through Philippians urges your Spirit to be more active in your bible study. I hope that is causes you to desire to dig deeper and allow yourself to grow all the more. Most of all, we all hope that MOB will create a new heart, rededicated to God in such a way that growth and accountability become forces that bring you closer to our Savior than ever before.

Sincerely,

Tom Spithaler
Primary Instructor: MOB