Archive for category: GAMEtime Sharing

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Nehemiah 3:1-32.  Let’s go!

In these verses we read of various people involved in repairing different sections of the wall. These people came from different parts of the land, with different backgrounds and skillsets, including priests (v1, 28), goldsmiths (v8), perfume-makers (v8), politicians (v12, 16, 17), Levites (v17, 18), temple servants (v26), and many others. 
 
What can we learn from this?

1. It takes a team to achieve a dream. Nehemiah obviously could not rebuild the wall all by himself. He needed help, and lots of it. Likewise, when God places a dream in a leader’s heart, He will also provide a team to help make that dream into a reality – people with different backgrounds and skillsets, but with a common vision. At Thrive Church we believe the dream God has given us is to build a church of 10,000 AEIOU Leaders.

Hi GAMErs,

Here is some background on the book of Nehemiah:

For several decades the people of Judah lived in exile in Babylon, having been ousted out of their own homeland because of persistent sin.  In 539 B.C. Cyrus King of Persia defeats the Babylonians and encourages the Jews to return to their homeland.  As we saw in the book of Ezra, the first group of Jews, about 50,000 of them, returned to Jerusalem in 538 B.C. (Ezra 1-2).  Under the leadership of governor Zerubabbel, the Jews rebuild the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem despite much opposition (Ezra 3-6).  In 458 B.C., Ezra leads a second group of about 1,500 Jews back to Jerusalem (Ezra 7-8).  When Ezra arrives in Jerusalem he discovers that the Jews have seriously compromised their faith by marrying unbelievers and following their idolatrous practices.  He leads them to repent and return to the Lord (Ezra 9-10).  In approximately 444 B.C., 14 years after Ezra arrives in Jerusalem, the events of Nehemiah 1 begin.  Written by Nehemiah himself in approximately 430 B.C., the book of Nehemiah chronicles Nehemiah’s long struggle to lead his people to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezra 9:1-15.  Let’s go!

Ezra 9:1-2 (NIV) 
1  After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. 
2  They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, and have mingled the holy race with the peoples around them. And the leaders and officials have led the way in this unfaithfulness.”

On verses 1-2:  Ezra learns that his fellow Israelite men, including priests, Levites, leaders and officials, have sinned by marrying foreign women who do not believe in the Lord.  In doing so, they disobeyed God’s command not to marry an unbeliever.    What is so bad, harmful and dangerous about marrying someone who does not believe in the Lord?

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezra 7:11-28.  Let’s go!

On verses 11-26:  One underrated reason for Ezra’s success in ministry is the help he got from King Artaxerxes.  In his letter to Ezra, King Artaxerxes sends Ezra on a royal assignment to see how Jerusalem and Judah are progressing in relation to following the law of the Lord (v14).  In sending Ezra on this mission, King Artaxerxes does so many things to set up Ezra for success on his venture:

–        Artaxerxes lets Ezra choose a team of Levites, priests and other Israelites to go with him to Jerusalem (v13).

–        Artaxerxes gives Ezra generous amounts of silver and gold from his own treasury as well as from his advisors (v15), “together with all the silver and gold you may obtain from the province of Babylon” (v16) as well as the freewill offerings given by people and priests for the temple in Jerusalem (v16).  Artaxerxes entrusts Ezra with these financial resources and tells him to use them to buy livestock to make sacrifices at the temple (v17).  He tells Ezra to do whatever Ezra thinks best with the rest of the money (v18).

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Ezra 6:1-22.  Let’s go!

Ezra 6:1 (NIV) 
1  King Darius then issued an order, and they searched in the archives stored in the treasury at Babylon.

On verses 1-12:  King Darius is in need of guidance on an issue: are the Jews authorized to rebuild the temple or not?  Further to the suggestion of Tattenai governor of Trans-Euphrates and another official Shethar-Bozenai in chapter 5, King Darius searches the archives stored in Babylon’s royal treasury.  There he discovers a memo from a king who came before him – King Cyrus – who clearly authorized the rebuilding of the temple as a place to present sacrifices (v3), decrees the size of the temple (v3b-4) and commands that the costs of the rebuilding be paid by the royal treasury (v3-4).  King Darius found the specific answer to his question by searching the royal archives.  Based on that, he decrees that no one interfere with the Jews’ rebuilding the temple, and further commands that whatever the Jews need is to be provided by the royal treasury (v7-12).