Posts by Alan Allegra (Page 2)

Nehemiah, Day 2 IN EVERYTHING BY PRAYER RESTORING SECULAR DEFENSES By Resourceful Entrepreneurs — Chapter 4 By Relentless Endeavors — Chapter 5  Chapter 4 As the Jews were working on rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, two Arabs (Sanballat and Tobiah) decided to oppose the rebuilding effort. Nehemiah prayed and asked God to turn their insults back on their own heads. Once the walls reached half of their height, Sanballat and Tobiah, along with the Arabs and Ammonites, became very angry…

Nehemiah, Day 1 IN EVERYTHING BY PRAYER RESTORING SECULAR DEFENSES By Reverent Entreaties — Chapter 1 By Rational Expeditions — Chapter 2 By Resourceful Entrepreneurs — Chapter 3  Background Nehemiah was a contemporary of Ezra. Ezra was a scribe and a priest. Nehemiah was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes from 464 – 424 B.C. Nehemiah received a report from his brothers in Jerusalem that the city was in bad shape and the rebuilding of Jerusalem had stopped. The people were…

Ezra, Day 5 Yoked With Unbelievers? Ezra 9:1 – 4, 10:1 – 4 There are some things in life you don’t mess with. You don’t mess with a mother bear and her cubs; not a good outcome if you do. You don’t mess with ice on the road when you are driving; not a good outcome if you do. You don’t mess with gasoline around a fire; not a good outcome if you do. Could you do one of these…

Ezra, Day 4 Chapter 7 THEME: Ezra the priest comes to Jerusalem to establish the Law of Moses “Now after this” (verse 1). Go back to Chapter 6, where Darius the king issued a decree to search the archives where a declaration was stored. A scroll was found, issued by Cyrus the king, to have the house of God rebuilt. Darius decreed to have it be done with all diligence. Who was Artaxerxes? He was king of Persia from c.…

Ezra, Day 1 GOD IS FAITHFUL TO HIS PEOPLE The Decree of Cyrus — Chapter 1 List of Returnees — Chapter 2  Background Here is a little history to set up the book of Ezra. The Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians in 722 BC. The Southern Kingdom (Judah and Benjamin) continued to exist. Babylonia invaded the Southern Kingdom at Jerusalem in 605 BC and destroys Jerusalem and burns down the Temple in 586 BC. Some Jews scatter…

Jude, Day 3 Jude 12 – 16 Shady Shepherds Fleecing the Flock “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15). There are many disturbing trends that have infiltrated the church in recent decades. One is subtle and the other is more blatant. As a Biblicist and web designer for ministries, when I see a church website, the first thing I look for is a doctrinal statement. If it is absent or vague, I…

Jude, Day 2 Jude 8 – 11 Evil People in the Church: In the Cold Light of Day “Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’ But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and…

Jude, Day 1 Defining Disobedience Jude 3 – 7 The candle was flickering as the first-century writer, Jude, was moving on from finishing his brief opening remarks in a letter. The main focus of the letter was going to be a treatise of the common faith. As he finished his opening greeting, he began to think through the structure of his next few sentences, and the Spirit inspired him to switch gears and focus on a warning to the church…

2 JOHN LOVE DISCRIMINATES BASED UPON TRUTH “The Salutation” Verses 1 – 3 “Proper Exercise of Truth and Love” Verses 4 –11 “Final Greetings” Verses 12 – 13  The Apostle John is the author of 2 John. This book is believed to have been written around A.D. 85. 2 John appears to have been written to a special woman in a church. John mentions her children, her sister, and her sister’s children. Verse 1 states that all who have known…

1 John, Day 6 1 John 4:7 – 5:5 Love Is a Verb “Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place” (Zora Neale Hurston). The epistle of 1 John is a spiritual PSAT exam: Prove Salvation Abides True. It is a series of tests, as it were, to “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Our passage focuses on the test of love. The Greek word translated “love” in this…