Bible Verse Sunday #83

After missing two weeks of Bible Verse Sunday, I am happy to present the next installment of this blog's perennial feature. Today, in accordance with the lesson in today's Sunday school class, we will be discussing Nehemiah 4:14:

"'...And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.'"

In this verse, Nehemiah is exhorting his people to continue their work rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem in the face of threats from their enemies. His encouragement is applicable in other distressing moments, when all hope seems lost, and things seem to be going to Hades in a hand basket, as it were. It also is a reminder that we as Christians have a greater and more assured hope in hard times than the world does, and that even if God doesn't relieve our worldly sufferings, he still cares for us and will insure that everything goes according to his own grand plan.

I was glad to be finally back in church today after missing two straight weeks. In the main service, we were still continuing in our study of the book of Romans, but the series' subtitle had been changed from "The Message that Changed the World" to "The Church that Changed the World." In this week's sermon, the pastor talked about how as Christians, we should actively seek to "root out" sin in our lives, and that we "hunger" for Jesus' return. In addition, he said that next week's sermon would be on judgement, mean to answer the question, "Why are Christians so judgmental?" The pastor said to invite your friends to this one. If any of you readers out there saw the sermon, I invite you to invite other people, just as I hope to do.

I finally managed to return to helping in the second hour 2nd grade classroom, where we discussed the story of Nehemiah. This summer's theme is celebration, and we very much celebrated in the form of a melodrama. We assigned parts and props to each of the kids, and as the teacher read the story, they made various sounds and motions on cue at the mention of particular words. It was kind of fun. After the lesson, the kids each made a miniature wall out of marshmallows, pretzel sticks, and frosting, before eating it. Yum!

On another note, I went with my dad to the theatre later today... but that's another post.