God's Word, Our Story: Learning from the Book of Nehemiah

by D.A. Carson, Kathleen B. Nielson (Editor), Paige B. Brown (Contributor)

With contributions from popular Bible teachers, including Tim Keller, John Piper, Nancy Guthrie, D. A. Carson, and more, this collection of nine biblical expositions walks readers through Nehemiah--a biblical book that powerfully illustrates God's faithfulness. Each chapter recounts part of Israel's return from exile chronicled in the book of Nehemiah, showing how this Old Testament narrative connects to the Bible's overarching story of redemption. What's more, this practical volume applies the message of Nehemiah to our lives today, emphasizing the many ways God uses imperfect people to accomplish his plans. Readers will feel encouraged to turn to God in prayer, repent of their sin, and trust in his grace--confident in his gracious plan for the world revealed in Scripture.

Genres: Christian, Theology, Faith, Christian Non Fiction, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2016

About the author

Donald A. Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He has been at Trinity since 1978. Carson came to Trinity from the faculty of Northwest Baptist Theological Seminary in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he also served for two years as academic dean. He has served as assistant pastor and pastor and has done itinerant ministry in Canada and the United Kingdom. Carson received the Bachelor of Science in chemistry from McGill University, the Master of Divinity from Central Baptist Seminary in Toronto, and the Doctor of Philosophy in New Testament from the University of Cambridge. Carson is an active guest lecturer in academic and church settings around the world. He has written or edited about sixty books. He is a founding member and currently president of The Gospel Coalition. Carson and his wife, Joy, reside in Libertyville, Illinois. They have two adult children.

Reviews

[David West · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a collection of expositions from the 2014 Gospel Coalition Women's Conference. Many of these chapters were helpful as I was studying Nehemiah to teach Sunday School.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

God's Word, Our Story is a collection of talks from The Gospel Coalition Women's Conference 2014. But. It isn't just the conference in book form. Each chapter concludes with a behind-the-scenes glimpse into bible exposition. How does that contributor read and study the Bible? What does the exposition process look like in real life? How does one go from the Bible text to a polished (somewhat polished) sermon or lesson?!

God's Word Our Story is an exposition of the entire book of Nehemiah. It includes contributions by Kathy Keller (Nehemiah 1, 2); Tim Keller (Nehemiah 3, 4); Paige Brown (Nehemiah 5, 6); Nancy Guthrie (Nehemiah 7, 8); John Piper (Nehemiah 9, 10); Carrie Sandom (Nehemiah 11, 12-1-26); Jenny Salt (Nehemiah 12:44-43); Kathleen Nielson (Nehemiah 12:44-47); and D.A. Carson (Nehemiah 13).

The book begins with an introduction by Kathleen Nielson titled, "On Exposition." In the introduction, she examines the what of exposition, the why of exposition, and the where of exposition. I'd like to share several of her reasons WHY biblical exposition is important.

Biblical exposition is so important because the Bible is God speaking. If we had to choose just one reason, this, of course, would be it. If it is true that these words are God-breathed (2 Tim. 3: 16), written by men who “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1: 21), then nothing is more important than hearing these words clearly. The One who spoke these words made us. He also made a way to save us from his wrath, which we in our sin deserve. He loves us and lights the way to him. That way is found in his Word. That way is Jesus, who is at the center of this Word. Hearing this Word clearly and truly is a life-and-death matter. Submitting to God’s Word as to the Lord himself is what we human beings were created to do, for his glory and for our good. When a person stands up to handle the Word of the God of the universe, eternal realities are at stake. These realities are personal, not abstract. God’s Word is alive and active because God is alive and active. Sometimes we actually forget he is there as we receive and discuss his words to us. ~ Kathleen Nielson

Biblical exposition is so important because it gives us confidence in our message. ~ Kathleen Nielson

Biblical exposition is so important because those who preach or teach should be guides, not gurus. ~ Kathleen Nielson

Biblical exposition is so important because regular expository teaching tells God’s story truly. ~ Kathleen Nielson

We take in the Word in whole books because that is the form in which God has delivered his Word to us. He’s made us a “people of the book.” Even though in this day we all tend to be people of topics and snippets of information digested through one quick link after another, we must respect the beautiful coherence of the book we call the Bible. ~ Kathleen Nielson

The Bible is God’s work of art. Each book’s form and content, and the unity of the whole Bible, represent an unparalleled literary masterpiece, with multiple genres combining to speak one unified story. It’s the universal story, the true story of the universe. It’s God’s telling of his redemption of a people for himself for his glory, through his Son… There’s no other way to get the story right than to listen to it the way God tells it. There’s no other way to delight fully in the story than to contemplate it in its fullness. We deepen our knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world, as we grasp his part in the story from the very beginning (in creation) to the very end (at his second coming and into eternity). The cross and resurrection that are the climax at the center of the story cannot be torn away from the beginning and the end— and all the other parts in between. Every passage of Scripture finds its fullness of revelation in the gospel of Jesus Christ. ~ Kathleen Nielson

Biblical exposition is so important because it grows us up into mature followers of Christ. “Little-snippet teaching” is one way to stay on a milk diet forever instead of moving on to meat (see 1 Cor. 3: 1– 2). ~ Kathleen Nielson

The remaining chapters focus in on the book of Nehemiah. I have always loved certain parts of Nehemiah, the story is a great one. But I now have a fuller appreciation for the whole book of Nehemiah, and, how it all comes together.

I love how Bible-centered, Christ-centered this book was. I love that we get to see the process of Bible study. I found it an encouraging read.

Perhaps my favorite chapter was by Paige Brown. It was called "Fearing God In A Fallen World." She wrote her chapter about Nehemiah 5 and 6. But she somehow connected it with John Newton's Amazing Grace, the second verse. And it fit together absolutely beautiful. This was a wow chapter for me!

Some favorite quotes:

We are studying Nehemiah not only to learn from the book itself but also to learn how to learn from the book. ~ Tim Keller

Studying a book like Nehemiah forces us to go back to what we understand the Bible to be. I’d like to show you two basic parts to the doctrine of Scripture. The Bible, on the one hand, is a human book, which means we don’t believe— as did Joseph Smith about The Book of Mormon— that it was written on golden plates by angels or by God himself. It was written by human beings who used Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew words. Therefore, we need to understand what those words meant and how those languages worked, because human beings used them to give us the message. On the other hand, the Bible is a divine book. It was written by God; every word on the page is there because God guided the human author to write that word. That means the Bible is ultimately one story. It is one large story comprised of many little stories. There’s one large narrative arc, and everything in the Bible is moving and pointing along that arc. ~ Tim Keller

Most people today would scoff at the idea that the central source in which to discover the reality of who you are, of who you were created to be, and of what you are meant to do could be the pages of an ancient book. Maybe we presume that idea would have been more believable in Nehemiah’s day. But consider that when the events we are reading about took place, the Book of the Law of Moses was already an ancient book. It was already a thousand years old. And consider that these were people who had never heard the voice of God speaking to them from a mountain that was on fire, as their ancestors did at Sinai (Exodus 19). They’d never seen a cloud of fire hovering over the temple to signify God’s presence among them, as their ancestors did in Solomon’s day (2 Chron. 7: 1– 3). But they did want to hear from God in their day. So how would that happen? And how can we expect to hear God speaking to us in our day when we’ve never heard an audible voice from heaven or had a supernatural experience? God speaks to us, revealing to us who he is and what he has done, helping us understand who we are in relationship to him, through his written Word. ~ Nancy Guthrie

One of the main lessons from Nehemiah 9 and 10— indeed, from all the Bible— is that God does not exist for the sake of our enjoying biblical stories; biblical stories exist for the sake of our enjoying God. The reason I make a point of this is not only because it stands out amazingly in Nehemiah 9, but also because in our time there is great fascination with tracing out the storyline of the Bible. I simply want to wave a flag over all this fascination with story and narrative to say: there is a point to the story; there is a point to the narrative— and the point is a person. Biblical stories are no more ends in themselves than history is an end in itself or the universe is an end in itself. The universe is telling the glory of God (Ps. 19: 1). And the history of the world is what it is to show that God is who he is. God writes the story of history to reveal who he is— what he is like, his character, his name. ~ John Piper

[Dana Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bible teachers won't want to miss this book. This series of plenary talks on the book of Nehemiah comes out of the Gospel Coalition's 2014 National Women's Conference. Each chapter covers 2 chapters in Nehemiah, authored by some well-known favorites including Kathy Keller, Tim Keller, Nancy Guthrie, John Piper and D.A. Carson.

While the book has some excellent 'Reflect and Pray' questions at the end of each chapter, I found the reflections on how the chapter demonstrated thinking as an expositor incredibly helpful. The Introduction "On Exposition" and the conclusion "On Old Testament Narrative" by Kathleen Nielson made me happy to have purchased the Kindle version 2 days ago at full price, BUT you can get this treasure today on Amazon for $2.99. Don't miss it!

[Dana Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bible teachers won't want to miss this book. This series of plenary talks on the book of Nehemiah comes out of the Gospel Coalition's 2014 National Women's Conference. Each chapter covers 2 chapters in Nehemiah, authored by some well-known favorites including Kathy Keller, Tim Keller, Nancy Guthrie, John Piper and D.A. Carson.

While the book has some excellent 'Reflect and Pray' questions at the end of each chapter, I found the reflections on how the chapter demonstrated thinking as an expositor incredibly helpful. The Introduction "On Exposition" and the conclusion "On Old Testament Narrative" by Kathleen Nielson made me happy to have purchased the Kindle version 2 days ago at full price, BUT you can get this treasure today on Amazon for $2.99. Don't miss it!

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Valuable resource to read for the study of Nehemiah. It combines wonderful insights from beloved and well-esteemed Bible teachers regarding the text. I greatly appreciated how each chapter closes with personable, helpful thoughts from the respective teachers regarding how they approached the text as learners and teachers of God’s Word. I highly recommend it to all other learners and teachers of God’s Word!

[Becky Pliego · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is hard to rate a book written by different authors. So all I can say is that the chapters by Piper, Nancy Guthrie, and Tim and Kathy Keller were really good.

P.S. I love the cover!

[Carly Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
I really appreciated the expositional aspect of this book. This is a good companion for anyone reading Nehemiah.

[Pam Ripellino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of good insights and teachings in this book. My favorite chapter was FEARING GOD IN A FALLEN WORD. I’ve read this book twice, writing tons of notes in the margins , and I’ll read it again.

[Taylor Rollo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful explanation of the book of Nehemiah. It is not going to replace commentaries, but it does help grasp the overall, Christ-centered picture.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful for digging into the scripture.

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid collection of teachings from the book of Nehemiah! Recommended

[Jared McLeod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nehemiah, and the Old Testament as a whole, is rich in narrative. And that narrative story is our narrative story, with God as the main character and the cross as the ultimate climax.

[Nitoy Gonzales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review: God’s Word, Our Story: Learning from the Book of Nehemiah by D. A. Carson and Kathleen B. Nelson (Editors)

I’ve just finished reading the Book of Nehemiah as a part of my devotional when I got this book. I have gone through it multiple times for weeks that I’m beginning to jump to Esther. I told myself “This will extend my knowledge on that book.” Little did I know that “God’s Word, Our Story” will give me a fresh, bold and exciting spiritual insight to Nehemiah. Aside from a leadership principles go-to book and all the skipping chapters because of the list of names, “God’s Word, Our Story” will inspire you to seek and worship God.

Kathy Keller opens the book with what should every Christian (and what Nehemiah did) should understand the Word of God and base his action plan to what has been reveled in the Bible.
In the next chapter, Tim Keller explains the need to understand the big picture that Nehemiah is projecting. For him it is shallow to look at God’s Word like reading stories and finding the moral lesson it brings. He points out that the ultimate story behind Nehemiah and basically every book in the Bible is the redemptive plan of God. Keller drew also from this book of the Bible on how God’s people should harness unity and to work for God who is the main goal of this building of the wall.

Paige Brown’s contribution to this book dwells on the premises of the fear of God. Using part of John Newton’s “Amazing Grace” she discuss the fear of God and how it gives us confidence in facing today’s challenges.

Nancy Guthrie examines the Nehemiah chapters 7 and 8 and shows how this gathering of the Jews represents a future event that will take place in the new heaven and new earth. She further discusses the joy of the people coming to God and God’s joy of having His chosen people come to Him.

Nehemiah 11-12 was discussed by Carrie Sadom, Jenny Salt and Kathleen Nelson. This 3 part talk was centered in different God centered joy.

Lastly, D. A. Carson contributes a rather dark ending to the conference or a book as he points out the failure of the reformed which Nehemiah had undertaken. We can see not only does it affects the people but to Nehemiah himself.

The most prolific writer among all the contributors, John Piper delivers that ultimate story of the Bible is that God make a name for Himself through the gospel and His mercy to His chosen.

From all of the contributors in this book, Tim Keller gets away with the cake. Although Piper, D. A. Carson and Nancy Guthrie gave awesome insights, for me Keller is the best.

Though all of the messages collected here the contributor’s points out 1.) Nehemiah is not just a leadership book and 2.) Nehemiah is part of the ultimate story in the Bible, that is God’s redemptive plan for mankind.

Aside from the usual reflection in the end of each chapter, the readers are taught think as an expositor as further explain in the “Introduction” which is a great help for us who wants a deeper understanding of the books of the Bible. And you may or may not know these a collection of talks in a women’s conference (turned into a book) which you might find odd considering the topic of each chapters are not just geared not just for women. I’m not here to stereotype what’s for men or women but knowing this is what TGC brings out; people attending the conferences will really get saturated with the Word of God.

“God’s Word, Our Story” is a highly recommended book for those who want to get more of Nehemiah. This book is also a call for Christians to be expositors. As Kathy Keller and D. A. Carson uses the movie to further illustrate some points in the book, “God’s Word, Our Story” is best describe as a blockbuster movie.

My verdict 5 out of 5.

Crossway has provided a complimentary copy of this book through the Blog Review Program.

Please check my blog for more book reviews: http://delightinggrace.wordpress.com

https://delightinggrace.wordpress.com...

[Spencer Cummins · Rating 5 out of 5]

God’s Word, Our Story: Learning from the Book of Nehemiah, Edited by D.A. Carson and Kathleen Nielson

What is needed in our world is not a slender vision of God and a massive vision of human flourishing. We desperately need to hear and interpret God’s Word in a way that first signals glory to Him and secondly calls us to a robust living where grace and holiness are met. In this new book on the book of Nehemiah, God’s Word, Our Story, various Gospel Coalition authors bring together much wisdom on Nehemiah, our place in God’s story, and the mighty God behind it all.

Kathy Keller begins our study with a look at the rebuilding of the Temple but primarily looking at the reign of King Cyrus. She writes with clarity, “But whatever Cyrus’s motives were, God had promised through Isaiah and Jeremiah that Cyrus would be his shepherd—Isaiah actually uses that word, shepherd—to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. So here we see the first of many examples of the Word of the Lord finding its fulfillment in the mixed motives of a pagan king (23).” The fragility of Israel and the waywardness of her inhabitants was quite unsure about Cyrus, but God repeatedly told them that their rule would not end even with Cyrus, for he would be part of God’s plan. We also get a strong sense of the power of God’s Word in the midst of Nehemiah’s prayers in the early chapters of his book. The strong connection of God working amidst a pagan king and a devoted follower of God in Nehemiah (not least his prayer life) brings out the wisdom and relevance of Nehemiah for today.

Kathleen Nielson reminds us that the returning exiles of Nehemiah’s day ordered their lives and their worship on the promises of God and on joy (121). The offerings of the Levites and the priests both offering sacrifices and reading the Law could’ve been a snooze affair, but the people rejoiced over the people and the priests who ministered to them. Why is this so important? Because this attitude brings glory to God and it enlivens our own spiritual path. It is easy to chafe at God and see his law as a burdensome weight on our shoulders, but the people here reveled in God’s promises with joy.

This book is a really good synthesis of careful study of Nehemiah and practical application. I hope many find encouragement in these words.

Thanks to Crossway Publishers for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of the talks from the 2014 Gospel Coalition Women's Conference on Nehemiah. Each chapter discusses one or two chapters from Nehemiah followed by reflection questions and a section entitled "think like an expositor." The authors in the book include Tim Keller, John Piper, D.A. Carson, Nancy Guthrie, and other well-known reformed preachers and teachers. I found this book to be very helpful in my study of Nehemiah. Some chapters were better than others. Tim Keller's exposition of Nehemiah 3-4 was excellent. If you are studying Nehemiah, this book is a good supplement to your study.

[Brian Macleod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent expositions of one of my favourite books of the Bible. Kathleen Nielsen and Tim Keller's were particularly good.

[Deon]

Companion Study: Rebuild: A Study in Nehemiah