This is a DNA guide following the sermon on Nehemiah 8. If you missed it, listen here.
Discover
To provide some quick context, this story comes after all the generations of God’s presence with Abraham and Sarah’s family…through desert roaming, slavery, freedom, desert roaming, promise land, rebellion, and exile. After an entire generation of exile and occupation, the city of Jerusalem is being restored and the exiles are returning. The once proud and influential nation is now just 50,000 people and modestly rebuilt ruins. They gather in the city well where all the water comes from and ask Ezra to read them the Law of Moses (which is the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament)
Read Nehemiah 8
Q: After reading through this again, what do you notice about God’s role in this passage? What is he doing/saying even through other people?
Q: The passage concludes with verse 17 saying “And there was great joy.” Looking at the passage, what do you think created such joy? What do we learn about the origins of joy for these people?
Nurture
Q: In the passage, the people remember who they are, remember who God is through hearing God’s and their story told through reading of the Bible. How do you resonate with forgetting who you are? Who God is? Have you been in times like that? What about now?
Q: Would you like to have “great joy”? Why?
Act
Nehemiah says, “The joy of the Lord is our strength” meaning, even though we are weak, the delight, affection, happiness — ie joy of God is what gives us strength.
Q: How do you think about God? Is he joyful?
Q: Considering all these things, what would it look like for you to receive the Joy of the Lord as strength?