I have some notes on Nehemiah and Luke that I’ll be sharing today.

In Nehemiah 5, we discover that the poor people of the land were being charged interest on loans by the rich in the land. When Nehemiah heard about this, he confronted the nobles of the land.

So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?

Nehemiah 5:9 (NIV)

In Matthew 26, Jesus gives us this intelligence.

The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.

Matthew 26:11 (NIV)

There will always be unproductive people. Whether it’s by choice or circumstance. In Nehemiah, the famines in Judah after the exiles returned from Babylon hurt them for years. The Jews weren’t giving attention to rebuilding the Lord’s temple (Haggi 1).

What Jesus said is true today. There are poor among us. The inverse of what Jesus said is also true. There will always be wealthy among us. How should we treat the poor if we find ourselves amongst the rich? We should treat the poor with the love of Christ.

Nehemiah 6:16

When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.

Nehemiah 6:16 (NIV)

When the Jews were rebuilding the temple and the wall, they had enemies all around them who didn’t want them to succeed. Indeed, Nehemiah, as governor, was singled out in the effort to destroy what the Israelites were doing. We know that those who follow the Lord will have persecution and will face obstacles. While we might not be building temples or walls, we are working to see the Kingdom of God come upon the earth. A mighty endeavor that will come to pass. Just as those enemies of the Israelites lost their confidence when they saw that God was with the Jews, we, too, must maintain our faith in Christ so that the enemies of God will see that God is with us as well.

Luke 24:34

And saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”

Luke 24:34 (NIV)

Although the Gospels do not tell us what transpired between the Lord and Peter, we can presume that the Lord pardoned Peter for his denial of him. Considering this private meeting between the Lord and Peter, in context with John 21:15-19, we can see that Peter might have also been hurt (John 21:17) because he had already met with the Lord privately. However, the events in John 21:15-19 are what I see as the public reinstatement of Peter.

That’s all I have for today. Thanks for stopping by!

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