Today's Reading June 16

This morning we get into the book of Nehemiah, chapters 1, 2, and 3.
Ezra was focused on rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem and cleansing the leadership, especially the priests and Levites, of their compromises with the idolators who lived around them. The relationship of the people to the LORD has to come first.
Nehemiah follows on to that by rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, beginning with its walls and gates.
Walls and gates have become controversial in our time, part and parcel over the erroneous desire to avoid accusations of discrimination. That's nonsense. There is nothing inherently wrong with discrimination, it simply means the ability to draw a distinction, something the Lord does throughout the Bible. If you can't distinguish between cow manure and steak, I'm not eating barbecue at your house, but the distinction between the two is ''discrimination'', and A Good Thing, too. Likewise, walls, and gates, and fences make clear that there are lines and boundaries that should not be lightly crossed. There are locks on the doors to my house, and even latches on interior doors like those into the bathroom. There are doors and walls and such on the bank and bank vault. There are normally, and should be, walls and fences and gates on the borders between two countries. And distinctions between the sacred and the profane, the Hebrews and the Syrians, the good and the bad. The idolators who lived near Jerusalem didn't like the idea of the wall. But the Lord did, and so it was built. Nehemiah really didn't care about Political Correctness, he cared about doing what the Lord had set him to do. Good advice. From chapter 2,

20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

But before this could happen, back when he was a servant in the Captivity, he prayed to the Lord, which is also good advice. From chapter 1,

2 That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
5 And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:
6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.
7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.
8 Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:
9 But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.
10 Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.
11 O LORD, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

I am convinced that NOTHING worthwhile done for the Lord, no matter how strong the effort or how worthy the motive, can really prosper without prayer. It is perhaps the least practiced of all the spiritual disciplines.
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Acts, chapter 2, verses 1 through 13. This is the record of the event that we Christians call Pentecost. Pentecost was of course already a special day in the Jewish calendar, coming 50 days after Passover. But to Christians it has a special meaning - it is the date that the Holy Spirit came in power to indwell believers. It was an event that could not have been explained away by some trick of nature or of men. It could only be what it in fact was, God's presence in a very real and continuous way. As it is today. There are and have long been various ideas, even heated arguments, about the nature of the Holy Spirit, the Spiritual Gifts, the continuation of the various gifts, and so on. I don't know the answer, but I find some of the disputes to be at odds with Jesus command to ''Love one another''
At any rate, it creates quite a stir, and we'll be talking about it some.

1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.