The Bible Study Podcast, episode 76. Today, the Bible Study podcast continues to talk about

leadership and looks at Nehemiah.

Welcome to the Bible Study podcast. I'm your host, Chris Christensen. As we continue on looking at leadership, I want to look at a particular example. And this was an idea that I got from Richard Mock, who's a pastor at Cathedral of Faith, who I do ministry with at Juvenile Hall. And he said they were doing a study on the leadership of Nehemiah right around the time

that I was talking about the Bible study and leadership. And that seemed like a really good example.

And the reason why is Nehemiah had a very specific problem he was trying to solve. And the problem

he's trying to solve is not something he could solve alone. And that's exactly the kind of problem that causes

the need for or the rising up of leaders. And in this case, Nehemiah. And Nehemiah did a lot of things

very well, so let's look at what happened. Starting with Nehemiah 1, what we learn is that Nehemiah is not in Judah, the land of his birth,

but he is a remnant that has been removed to the Babylonian captivity, which was ended when the

Persians took over, and he is in service to the king. And word reaches him of what's going on in

Judah. The words of Nehemiah, son of

Hakalaya, in the month of Kislev in the 20th year, when I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani,

one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish

remnant that survived the exile and also about Jerusalem.

They said to me, those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace.

The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire.

When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.

For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

Just stopping there for a minute. So he hears that back in Judah, things are in bad shape.

And the number one thing he hears is that the wall has been broken down for Jerusalem.

So there's no protection for the people there.

And they are both in disgrace and they're in danger.

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