{"id":6396,"date":"2019-11-25T20:00:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T03:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=6396"},"modified":"2019-11-24T17:29:15","modified_gmt":"2019-11-25T00:29:15","slug":"nehemiah5_1-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/nehemiah5_1-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Be That Kind of Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nehemiah 5:1-19\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Nehemiah 5:1-19.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Nehemiah 5:1-4 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-4, 7-10:\u00a0\u00a0The richer Jews in Jerusalem were taking advantage of the poorer Jews in Jerusalem, lending them money but charging interest (v7-10) and taking their real estate as security (v1-4). Nehemiah rebukes the nobles and officials harshly for this (v7-10).\u00a0\u00a0You might ask, \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with that? In a market economy that sounds reasonable.\u201d It\u2019s because\u00a0God expects us to deal with His children graciously rather than to squeeze them for everything that they can give to us. Since we are brothers and sisters in Christ, we are not use each other simply for business purposes, but we are to see each other as family and \u201clove each other as brothers and sisters\u201d (1 Peter 3:8).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is there a limit to this? What if someone claims to be a believer but is really bent on abusing the grace that I might give him? That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to ask for wisdom from God on how to love other believers well without putting yourself or your loved ones in jeopardy. May God give you wisdom to know how best to do that in the specific situations you face.<\/p>\n

Nehemiah 5:5-6 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Although we are of the same flesh and blood as our countrymen and though our sons are as good as theirs, yet we have to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we are powerless, because our fields and our vineyards belong to others.”
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very angry.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 5-6:\u00a0\u00a0Some Jews had gone into serious debt to other Jews and sold their children to pay back the debt.\u00a0\u00a0Now\u00a0the parents were powerless to buy, or redeem, their daughters out of slavery (v5). So Nehemiah stepped in and does something about it (v6 and on).\u00a0\u00a0This reminds me of how\u00a0when we were powerless to redeem ourselves or our loved ones from slavery to sin, Jesus came and set us free.<\/strong>\u00a0With His precious blood Jesus bought us out of slavery.<\/strong>\u00a0What we were unable to do, Jesus did.<\/p>\n

Nehemiah 5:12-13 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“We will give it back,” they said. “And we will not demand anything more from them. We will do as you say.” Then I summoned the priests and made the nobles and officials take an oath to do what they had promised.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I also shook out the folds of my robe and said, “In this way may God shake out of his house and possessions every man who does not keep this promise. So may such a man be shaken out and emptied!” At this the whole assembly said, “Amen,” and praised the\u00a0LORD. And the people did as they had promised.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 12-13:\u00a0\u00a0In response to Nehemiah\u2019s rebuke, the nobles and officials who had been taking advantage of the poor promise to give back the excess that they had taken from them (v12). Nehemiah holds them accountable to their decision by having them swear an oath (v12b-13).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this? One,\u00a0if you make a promise, keep it. Your word is your bond and your reputation is only as good as how well you keep your word.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two, once a mentor told me, \u201cpeople don\u2019t remember what you say. They remember what you test.\u201d In other words, it\u2019s one thing to tell people to do something, but\u00a0as leaders we want to give the people we lead accountability and tools to do what they are called to do<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s why at Thrive we have spiritual growth campaigns like the GAME challenge, the TDS 2 challenge, church wide fasts and God Loves Vancouver.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s why we have small groups.\u00a0\u00a0All of these are tools to keep us accountable to doing what God has called us to do.<\/p>\n

Nehemiah 5:14-16 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year–twelve years–neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But the earlier governors–those preceding me–placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work; we did not acquire any land.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 14-19: Here we see that Nehemiah practices what he preaches. Earlier in verses 6-13 Nehemiah was urging the richer Jews to be gracious toward the poorer Jews. Now we see that Nehemiah himself did not eat the food that he as governor was entitled to (v14).\u00a0\u00a0He did not tax the people heavily (v15).\u00a0\u00a0He did not try to acquire much property for himself (v16). Instead, Nehemiah devoted himself to the work of building the wall (v15) and graciously shared his food regularly with Jews and foreigners (v17). Even while doing so, Nehemiah still had plentiful amounts for himself (v18-19).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this? Nehemiah was both a man of God and a man of the people. He loved God and served Him. He also loved people and served them. That\u2019s what the greatest leaders do:\u00a0great leaders serve out of great love for God and people.\u00a0\u00a0They don\u2019t abuse their power but they use it to help others.\u00a0\u00a0May you be that kind of leader.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, thank You that when I was in a bind, You came to my rescue and showed me grace that I could never pay back.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You for being the greatest leader who showed us how to love God and love people.\u00a0\u00a0May I be a leader like You. In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,
\n\u00a0
\nToday\u2019s passage is Nehemiah 5:1-19.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!
\n\u00a0
\nNehemiah 5:1-4 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers.\u00a0
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”\u00a0
\n3\u00a0\u00a0Others were saying, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards and our homes to get grain during the famine.”\u00a0
\n4\u00a0\u00a0Still others were saying, “We have had to borrow money to pay the king’s tax on our fields and vineyards.
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 1-4, 7-10:\u00a0\u00a0The richer Jews in Jerusalem were taking advantage of the poorer Jews in Jerusalem, lending them money but charging interest (v7-10) and taking their real estate as security (v1-4). Nehemiah rebukes the nobles and officials harshly for this (v7-10).\u00a0\u00a0You might ask, \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with that? In a market economy that sounds reasonable.\u201d It\u2019s because\u00a0God expects us to deal with His children graciously rather than to squeeze them for everything that they can give to us. Since we are brothers and sisters in Christ, we are not use each other simply for business purposes, but we are to see each other as family and \u201clove each other as brothers and sisters\u201d (1 Peter 3:8).\u00a0
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6397,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6396"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6399,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6396\/revisions\/6399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}