Want to learn more about Ezra and Nehemiah? Use these Bible Studies for personal devotion, group Bible studies, or teaching a church class. Below are links to the lessons in this 13-part series.
Introduction: Imagine being a citizen of Jerusalem when Babylon captures your city and destroys the temple constructed by King David and King Solomon. Could there be anything worse? Yes, actually. What is worse is that in Jeremiah 25:11 God tells His people that...
Introduction: Are you facing a challenge? Is there something in your life that needs to be changed or fixed? Our study today recounts Nehemiah receiving bad news, turning to God for help, and then intelligently working with God every step of the way to fix the pr...
Introduction: Has God called you? Has He called you to a particular task? I think He has. How can we know if we are called? How can we know if we missed our call? Is there another call if we missed earlier calls? I believe that God calls each one of us to serve H...
Introduction: If you read books you know that some authors do not tell the story using one continuous time line. They like to jump around. Frankly, I prefer the simple over the complex, so I prefer one continuous time line. Our study this week covers Ezra 3-6, amo...
Introduction: What causes poverty? In my country some say it is because the poor made bad choices. If you finish high school, get a job, and don't have children until you are married, your chances of being poor are very slim. Others say poverty is the fault of soc...
Introduction: How do you feel when you have rented or purchased a new home and you are all moved in? Exhausted? Happy? That is the mind set for our study this week. God's people have finished building the wall and have moved into Jerusalem. They are back in their...
Introduction: What does it mean to "repent?" What does it mean to "confess sin?" I thought I knew. But in the last few years I've begun to rethink those terms based on my study of the Bible. Let's plunge into our study of Nehemiah and see what we can learn. Perha...
Introduction: One of the positive things about being an American lawyer and a student of the Bible is that many of our legal concepts reflect Biblical ideas. A covenant, which is our subject in this lesson, is like a contract. A contract is voluntary, is intended...
Introduction: A famous preacher mentioned in a sermon that God helps him find good parking spaces. As I listened my reaction was to agree. God does small kindnesses for me. I pray for small kindnesses for others - like finding their car keys. Some strongly critici...
Introduction: Worship styles! Want to start a fight? Just take a firm position on that issue. Some churches resolve the matter by using different worship styles at different services. Have a preference? Attend the service that reflects your views. In my old chur...
Introduction: There is some bad advice that seems rampant today. If your heart tells you to do something, then you should do it. Even for those desiring to follow God, the line we should follow in life is sometimes a little hard to see. After all, Jesus told us in...
Introduction: Our lesson this week is about a very specific issue - marrying those who do not share our faith. My wife told me that when she was young she prayed that God would lead her to the right man to marry. When I was dating I recall being very concerned ab...
Introduction: One of the most unrecognized powers you possess is that of influence. When we think about influential leaders, some may assume that only certain powerful people have the ability to influence others. My belief is that we all exert some sort of influe...
