11.7 Diluting the Garbage

I did an object lesson once in a men’s group that illustrated this principle. We started with a small cup full of water and talked about how the clear water in the cup represented our minds as God created them.

Unfortunately, we allowed the vile and the vulgar to get beyond our gates. (I recognize [...]

8.1 Assigning Gatekeepers

My temptations are my masters of Divinity.
–Martin Luther

After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed. I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man [...]

5.19 Control the Source and You Control the Quality

King Hezekiah (715-687 BC) dug his well before he needed the water. He created a tunnel 1750 feet long to divert the waters of the Gihon Spring so that they flowed into the west side of Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 32:30). He then sealed the cave from where the waters originally sprung. By doing so, he [...]

1:2 Preface: A Different Approach

The book of Nehemiah is a great story that has much to teach us about courage, leadership, faithfulness to God’s call and more.  Without discounting any of these approaches to the book, I would like to approach it from a different perspective.  Consider the book of Nehemiah as a metaphor, as a vivid word picture [...]