Preface<br > * Can any good thing come out of Nehemiah?"<br > It seems appropriate to paraphrase the question raised<br > by one prospective disciple of Jesus when he heard that<br > J~us~was from Nazareth. Anyone front that God-forsakan<br > Caravan stop couldn t possibly rise to messianic possibili-<br > tlesl<br > ~ $ mtisr y， the book of Nehemiah--buried at the end of<br > the Old Testament historical books--seems an unlikely<br > prospect for contemporary tile-to-life relevance. If [ had<br > planned to teach n series on the ministry of the Holy Spirit<br > to the individual believer， it would never have occurred to<br > me to turn to Nehemiah.<br > One can almost hear the puzzled response. "Nebe-<br > what /" Granted， I don t think I would have expected much<br > from this short， crusty arrangement of historical events in<br > and around 445 s.c. except for n peculiar confluence of two<br > happoulngs.<br > First， Dan， one of ottr congregation s eiders， stopped<br > me after church one day. "Jack， I was thinking the other day<br > about the number of people who am reborn but have such a<br > great difficulty getting their fives together. I felt the Lord<br > impress me that I was to encomagc you to bring a series of<br > ， m~sages on that subject--something about the repairing of<br > : ~~ human personality? <br > Is ~rad k~gnk， rather blankly， then replied， "Well， rll<br >~; sum keep open to it--try to kc， ep sensitive， that is."<br > ~ hat ~ good enottgh for me， Pastor，" Dan replied， -rlI<br > pray for the Lord to give you something."<br >