0058S Nehemiah 7+8 Rebuild The Wall, Rebuild The Heart

CWM Intro with Drums

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CWM Outro with drums

Chapters

• 1:06 Fall On The Farm And A Runaway Cow
• 4:23 Dispatching Humanely And Lessons From Livestock
• 5:48 Provision, Freezers, And Food Costs
• 7:06 Party Plans, Costumes, And Community Standards
• 9:18 Restoring The Cross Field For God
• 9:57 Building Our Online Mighty Networks Community
• 12:27 The Power Of Fellowship And Belonging
• 13:23 Moving Services To Wednesdays
• 15:49 Prayer Of Gratitude And Dependence
• 22:17 Nehemiah: Setting And Summary Review
• 24:57 Guard The Gates: Character And Order
• 28:01 Names, Numbers, And Funding The Mission
• 32:16 Bring The Book: Public Reading And Worship
• 35:19 Make The Word Plain: Understanding And Joy
• 38:46 The Joy Of The Lord Is Strength
• 43:05 Recovering Obedience: Feast Of Booths
• 47:15 Seven Battlefields Applications
• 51:36 Communion And Closing Blessing

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:27

Welcome, welcome, welcome. Happy Lord's Day to you. I hope you are enjoying this amazing fall weather like we are. Um, some crisp nights. I've actually had my first fire outside, had my first fire in the morning, which is nice. Girls love it because they've been getting s'mores um and roasted marshmallows, so that's always fun, right? So good, good, good, good stuff. I'm also happy to be here, and then I wasn't squoshed by a nearly 2,000-pound black Angus cow. Uh, you guys know Karen was supposed to go to freezer camp. That was the plan. So Lauren and I built a nice new chute for her and got everything all straight, backed, went, rented a trailer back to town, and had it all set, and she was gonna supposedly just go right in. Well, she followed that bucket of food all the way up to the trailer and then was like, nope, and turned around. And now she's panicked, and she's oh big girl. I can't wait to see what her hang weight's gonna be. She's gonna be close to 2,000 pounds. She's jacked, jacked. And um, and there was a corner that if I got in, I might have been able to scare her into the trailer. And a what and a younger, less wise Jason would have definitely done that. But as I sat there pondering and I'm watching this very strong cow stomp its feet and look around and it's panicked, and I'm like, if I go in that corner, there's an 85% chance or greater that I'm never leaving that corner. So I decided to let her go. And within a second after that, she bolted right under, well, right to our metal panel, which is one of those you know green things that you see at tractor supply, sometimes a red, sometimes a gray. And she folded that thing like it was paper, like it was a paper airplane, just crumpled it up and it was gone. So, so, so yeah. Um, I'm glad to be here. I'm glad Lauren, who had Gus in a backpack, wasn't trampled and all that stuff. So Karen is still going. She bought herself another week of fattening up, but we're gonna end up dispatching her here, bleeding her here, and then we got a friend with a tractor that's coming who's who's got a strong, like a big tractor, because not every tractor will pick up two grand and uh and put her in the back of the trailer for us. So that's what we're doing. And um, you know, we're okay with that. You know, we would prefer to dispatch here on site, anyways, just because it's so much easier on the animal. They put their, they're on their farm where they've been, they're under no stress, they put their head in the bucket, and then around faster than the speed of sound liquidates their brain, and it's over. Right. So that's what that's the end we want for them. So um a lifetime of happiness here and less than a hundredth of a second of bad time, right? So um, so that's that's the plan. We'll let you know if it goes as planned. Because what I've learned is in this livestock game, nothing goes to plan. It's the animals' plan on what they're going to do. So that, and then boy, pork chop is looking great. We're gonna get ready to do pork chop here, I think, shortly after that. We're picking up two new freezers this week. We are so blessed. So we got some answer prayers coming up, and I want to go through those before we start. Um, so we've been praying for some way for us to get into a tractor. Somebody donated us a tractor a couple years, uh I think a year ago or maybe a little more than a year ago, probably. And unfortunately, it lasted about a week or two weeks or something like that. And um, and then it was$12,000 to get it fixed. So um, so now we're getting into a year-old tractor. Um, it's a lot smaller than the one we had. It's only 26 horsepower, but there's only one thing worse than a small tractor, no tractor. So uh it'll run a bushhog and it'll pick up our bales of hay, which is we are so grateful to be able to get into that. And um, you know, so I won't be pestering Tyler over here to come bushhog my property all the time. So now I'll be able to just hop on there and do it, and um it'll be great. So that, and then uh we got two freezers coming, another 20, 25-foot cubic freezer, and then I think like a 21-foot cubic freezer. So big, big, big freezers like we got down there because Karen's gonna take up one of those by herself, and then pork chops gonna be three to four hundred pounds now. I mean, he's big boy, so that's gonna be a lot in there, too. And we still got all those turkeys that we processed and a lot of chickens still. So we got meat coming on our eyeballs right now, which is a great thing. We don't have any steaks until Karen gets back. So Karen's going because we like steak. And I I went to Sam's and I bought four steaks and it was 120 bucks. And I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, no, that doesn't work anymore. I don't know how anyone can afford to eat beef with how expensive it is. I remember 99 cent hamburgers or a buck 99 a pound for a hamburger, and now I'm seeing$6.99,$7.99,$9.99 for burgers, you know, which is uh I'm wishing this economy Trump said that we had that was so great would catch up to where he thinks it's at for us. Because uh again, I know he can't flow through a switch and make it better, but I haven't seen it yet. Um, so I'm hoping it'll make its way down to the common man here pretty soon. But welcome to Christian Warrior Mission, home church, community ministry, and farm. Lord to Christian Warriors for today's challenges. All right, advancing every front every day, no excuse, no retreats. So again, we are still on schedule. We haven't got, we're hoping everyone's gonna RSVP between now and Wednesday. You got until Wednesday to RSVP to let us know if you're coming to the party on Friday. And the Friday party's gonna start at six and it's gonna go late. Um, but there'll be a fire, you know, uh food, you know, treats for the kids, um, wholesome costumes welcome. You know, you can show up. Lauren's gonna be a milkmaid, not a sexy milkmaid, but a milkmaid. Um, you know, um, I'm gonna be a crusader. Um Anya is Joan of Arc in armor with a sword and shield, and uh B is gonna be a princess. So be either a good guy, a hero, you know, not one that cusses like Deadpool or anything stupid like that, please. Just come as something noble. You can come as a cop. Gus is gonna be a cow. Okay, just come as something cool or nothing at all. You don't have to wear a costume. I'm just telling you, don't show up as slutty nun or evil this or skeleton that or serial killer so-and-so. You will be sent away. So don't RSVP if you want to come as that stuff. But if you want to come and celebrate Jesus, we're gonna have great music. You're gonna hear some of the best. I got an epic playlist for everyone to play that I've been jamming out to nonstop. It is awesome. So we're gonna fill the night full of Christian music, joy, happiness, good times, laughs. I'm gonna have some adult beverages, others are gonna have, but you don't have to have adult beverages. You can have apple cider and whatever you want, but we're gonna have a good time. Um, but you have until Wednesday to RSVP. Or by Wednesday, tell us if you're coming. Because if we don't get enough people, we're just gonna take our happy buttons somewhere else. All right. It's been impossible to try to get people to want to do stuff here. So um, but we're gonna we're gonna make one last go at it. So the other thing is uh we're gonna do a cross-field day once we get the tractor. We're gonna get up there with some chainsaws, we're gonna get up there with the bush hog, we're gonna get up there with a weed whacker, and we're gonna make that good for God. You know, a lot of people have been baptized up there, we've had weddings up there and a bunch of other things. It's a shame that it's fallen into a state of disrepair, but we're gonna go up there and take it back for the Lord and get it ready for an amazing, you know, amazing season of bonfires up there that I can't wait to do. So, the other great news is I put in so much work into our online community on Mighty Networks. So, Mighty Networks is like a super Facebook like group where we have chats and everything's password protected, and I can get groups and this and all kinds of stuff with all kinds of tools. It's a learning management system, so we're building courses in it to help people learn how to do stuff uh that are like college grade courses. So join us there. The link is in the description in the um in the you know, on Facebook or YouTube or wherever else you're watching it, it's right there. You'll look, you'll see our on our online um group or whatever it's called, and you'll see a website there. Go to that, join, it's it's awesome. It's awesome. So that's where we've been running the Forge or the Christian Warrior Way, whatever you want to call it. Again, we have relaxed the standards on that immensely to where post every day if you can, or just post when you can, but just keep the tally of what day you're on, right? So most guys are doing it every day. You know, you don't even have to post on the day. You miss a day, you can post the next day and get caught up, right? So it's less, less that and more in-depth stuff. Guys getting, guys and gals getting vulnerable, putting their challenges on there, and then you get a comment on two other people's posts. If you're just coming there to take, don't bother. Come there because you want to help other people grow in the Lord, just as they will you, and you'll see how good it feels when somebody actually cares about what you wrote and they tell you something about, you know, and weigh in on it or pray for you or do all that stuff. I'm telling you right now, because this is you know, our our congregation is is decent-sized online, but it's spread out all around the country, right? All around the country. I had the pleasure of going to a you know, a church Reformation Day party thing um Friday night. And I got around some other brothers and some other people, Christians, and we got there and we had a time, and they were smoking cigars, and I was making fun of them for smoking cigars and you know, and and and everything else, which I don't have a problem with smoking guys, I'm just not into them. Um but I haven't laughed that long and a hard time in it. And I just realized to be separate from the body of Christ is to die slowly. Every day that I'm away from other Christians who are investing in me, who care about me, they're not on a one-way street. They're there and they care about you. They're asking you questions, right? About you. And then you're asking them questions, and you're making fun of them, and they're making fun of you, you know, like guys do, guys jab, right? It's it's it's it's like fencing, modern day fencing, you know. And it was just so filled, my cup. And then to get there and have godly children, not aliens, godly children hanging out with godly children, doing sweet, fun things that kids do. Okay, and it was just amazing. And then for Lauren to have fellowship with the women, I'm just telling you, it was transformation, which is leading me to a semi-sad but a very happy day for me today. This is our last Sunday service. I've already told everybody who uh likes fervently supports this show, uh, not show, this this church, that we're still a church. We're just gonna do it on Wednesdays. I'm reclaiming my Sundays for the family, and we're gonna go to another church. I don't know yet. It might be the one that we just were up at. I disagree with some of them doctrinally, which is always the challenge, right? But at least there's people there that we can get along with that see the world the same way that we see the world and want to help. And I want to help them and they want to help me, right? And that's that's what it's about, right? That's what it's about. So this is the last Sunday night we're gonna do. It's gonna be on Wednesday night from now on, okay? So again, it'll be Warrior Wednesday and it'll just be Wednesday night. And we're gonna stay that way. I'm not doing Sundays, I don't care how much of a catastrophe every church we go to is. We're gonna dig in and try to help someone else, and this will be a Wednesday night church, right? So if you want to watch it on Wednesday night, great. It'll be on Wednesday night. If you want to watch it later, that's cool too. But I'm just telling you, Wednesday night, we're gonna do this so that my kids can hang out with other godly kids, and my wife can hang out with all the godly women, and I can get around dudes and everything. Because you know, when you're doing it on Sunday night, everyone just kind of wants to go home and go to bed. There's not a lot of fellowship that happens after this. Pretty much the people who are here just come in. It's great to see everyone, and then everyone goes to bed because it gets done late. And I get that. We gotta get up early in the morning. So doing church in the morning, which is hard for a farm group like us, you know, to prepare and all that stuff. So now we're just gonna be able to roll out of bed, get the kids dressed, go to church like everyone else. Instead of me spending all day trying to make something that makes sense to you guys. I gotta do that now during the week. So Wednesday instead of a work day is about to be a church day. So yeah, we'll figure that out. But anyways, so again, thank you to everyone who's watched us on Sundays. Please don't go anywhere, check us out on Wednesdays. It's gonna be the same thing, except we're really gonna step into the theme, you know, into um the discipling theme that we've been doing. And again, you guys know that we jumped into Nehemiah just to get us caught up to where we're going. We jumped into Nehemiah after Charlie Kirk. Um and you know, we're now coming closer to the end. You know, there's still about four more chapters, but we're in seven and eight today. I'm gonna do two chapters today because the first one's real. Really short if you don't read the names. It's like 70 verses if you read all the names, but it's really short. I'm not gonna read all the names. It's not like I'm going over Jesus' uh bloodline like we would with, you know, when you're talking about in Matthew and so on and so forth. So that's the announcements. That was very long. You guys know when we do the seven battlefields, I'm not gonna go over them tonight. Um, we're not going over catechism because I went too long. So, again, I'm gonna pray us in and then we'll go. Dearly Father, Lord, we thank you. We thank you for giving us another day to get it right, for waking us up this morning, for your protections of this week, all through to last week, all through today, until now. Lord, we thank you for the breath in our lungs. No one knows how grateful they are to breathe until they can't. And then it is the only thing you care about. Lord, make our want for you to be like that. Make it that we want you as much as we want to breathe. So, Lord, we thank you. We thank you for the trillions of cells in our bodies that work near perfectly for us to even be here. And then we thank you, Lord, for the parts of us that don't work perfectly. For the parts of us that wear down as we age and break and as we do foolish stuff and break them down.

SPEAKER_00: 18:17

Um because they make us more dependent on you.

SPEAKER_01: 18:26

Lord, your strength is found in weakness. So help us with our bad backs and our bad knees and our bad hips and our bad ankles and our bad necks and everything else that we have to lean into you. Do not lean into the world. Instead to find your perfection in our brokenness. Lord, we also thank you for your common grace for this world. Everything from the top of Mount Everest all the way to the deepest trench in the ocean. We thank you for all of it. We thank you for uh the birds, the fish, the mammals, the you know, the plants, the bugs, everything in it, Lord, except for mosquitoes and chickers. We don't know why you made those, but we understand that you know more than we do. But um, we thank you for it all, Lord. It's it's all good and it's all amazing. Lord, we thank you for the people. We thank you for the people, most of all. Lord, help us to love our neighbor as ourselves and help us to love each other as we love you, to be quick to forgive. Lord, help us to be present. Help us to get off our phones and get away from the beeps and the boops and all the things that scream for our attention that aren't of one of each other, not of each other. Help us instead to look into each other's eyes, to hold a hand, and to be present, to see if the words match what's really going on behind the eyes. And help us to forgive and love, Lord. So we thank you for sunrises and sunsets, we thank you for bird songs in the morning, waves against the shore, and for the sound of children's laughter, Lord. We thank you for the smell of fresh mountain air, coffee brewing, the smell of a fresh pot of chicken or turkey soup simmering on the stove. Or even a nice hot apple pie cooking in the oven.

SPEAKER_00: 20:35

Lord, we thank you. The tender touch of a loved one. A warm fire on a cold night, and a cool breeze on a hot day.

SPEAKER_01: 20:50

Your divine grace. For choosing us before the foundations of the world, writing our name into the book of life, and loving us while we were your enemy. So we pray that we serve you and only you, that this time would glorify you and only you, and it would please you. And we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so Nehemiah 7 and 8. Rebuild the people, guard the gates, open the book. All right, the setting. Persian Empire under our tack, our taxes, Xerxes I. Nehemiah arrives in the king's 20th year, 445 BC. The wall is completed, completed in Elul, rolling straight into the seventh month of Tishri. City conditions, the wall now stands, but the city is underpopulated, and many houses are not rebuilt. Order and population must be set before growth. Offices and teams, Nehemiah is now the governor, and Ezra the priestscribe, and they lead together. Gatekeepers, singers, and Levites are appointed. Security and worship braided. Genealogy and identity. Nehemiah uses the early returner register. These are the people who returned after being captured by Nebuchadnezzar. And um, an enrolled by genealogy by families. Membership is covenantal and concrete, names and towns. The assembly location that we're going to be about to read, the reading happens at the Watergate, an open square outside the temple courts, fitting for men, women, and all who can understand together at once. The calendar frame is Tisseri, festivals, trumpets the first, atonement the 10th, and then implied booths and tabernacles the 15th through the 22nd. With an eight-day assembly, a month of renewal. Opposition status, the external enemies are checked. First they tried kinetic, then they tried, you know, threatening, and then they tried sabotage and infiltration, and then they tried disinformation. And Nehemiah thwarted them all. It was a masterclass on the first case of fake news ever. Or one of the most widely known early cases of fake news, anyways. Nehemiah at this point has proven himself to be a genius in leadership, and probably I can't wait to get to heaven to meet him. Can't wait. He is somebody who every one of us would want to work for. So the enemies are checked, but infiltration and loyalty still require vigilance, hence the gay protocols and membership roles. Quick review, chapter one, ruin in prayer. News of Jerusalem's desolation breaks Nehemiah's heart. He fasts and prays a covenant prayer and starts with repentance and intercession. In chapter two, he goes to his king, who he is the cupbearer, his like bodyguard. God grants favor with Artaxerces, and Nehemiah secures letters, surveys by night, and rallies the builders. But God in heaven will make us prosper. In chapter three, the families build. Households repair the named sections to a common standard where they live. Build your section to this quality standard. What you do, you do for God. Do it to this standard. Not what you want to do, but what the standard is. Sword and trowel. Okay, enemies escalate from mockery to plots. Nehemiah answers with prayer and planning, guards by families, trumpet trumpet SOP, dawn to star readiness. One have one hand on a carry, one hand has a sword, the other a trowel. And a trowel is like a shovel that you use to spread cement. Okay. Um that's of course where we get our church motto do not be afraid of them, fight for your brothers, your sisters, your sons, your homes, you know, our God and our God will fight for us, which is 420. Um, that's severely paraphrased. Chapter five, war within. After they have thwarted the external threat of like violence and all that, we find that famine economics and a corrupt nobility have oppressed the poor. They started the what we call our modern banking system, er sorry, interests. The Bible forbids that. And Nehemiah goes off on the nobles and demands that they return it. So Nehemiah confronts, secures restitution, makes the nobles pay back every cent that they took from these people, and models self-denying leadership. He lives, he leads sacrificially. He doesn't take any perks. In fact, it costs him to do what he's doing. I got president right now who doesn't take a salary and donates it. Nehemiah is very similar to that. Nehemiah is not a billionaire like Trump, but still. Free your brother. That was the motto. Chapter 6 saw power to thought, destruction. He gets invited and set up to be assassinated or kidnapped. He gets slandered in an open letter, and through higher deception, false counsel, they corrupted some of the priests. And Nehemiah replies with focus, brevity, prayer, and obedience. The wall is finished in 52 days. And even the enemies know that God did it because it was impossible. So bridge to chapter 7 and 8. With the wall standing, Nehemiah secures the gates, guards, and genealogy. The wall has been rebuilt. God's about to rebuild the people now. Ezra opens the book. The word is read, explained, obeyed, and the people feast with holy joy. That's we're going to cover. So we're going to start in chapter 7, verses 1 through 3. Now, when the wall had been built, and I had set up the doors and the gatekeepers, the singers and the Levites have been appointed. I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah, the governor of the castle, charge over Jerusalem, for he was more faithful and God-fearing man than many. And I said to them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while they are still standing guard, let them shut the bars, shut and bar the doors, appointing guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at their guardposts, and some in front of their own homes. That seems very like tight and discipled and kind of the opposite of getting ready to welcome people. But if you think about it, it's brilliant leadership. So the worship is the gatekeepers, the singers, and the leavers. That's liturgy and watch stand together. We'll talk a little bit about that. The leadership standard, Hanani is chosen for being faithful and God-fearing. Character over clout. Open late and close early. The guards posted, right? They're there because and they want it to be hot in the day by the time it starts. Why? Because they don't want people being sleeping in. Like they want the whole town to be up and awake before they open the gates. So if anyone tries to invade or do anything, or if they're betrayed, everyone's going to be there. So it's brilliant. It really is. And then they close so a bunch of people can't sneak in at the end. Right? With guards posted in home front benches, they're putting the guards in front of their home because who's going to fight harder than your own home for your own home? Like nothing. No one. All right. So again, good stuff. So the warrior application, security serves, worship, keep order at the gates, access timing and accountability. So the songs and sacrifices run unhindered. Character first in leadership picks. Character, character, character. You never hunt. If you hire on qualifications alone, you will hire nothing but problems. If you hire character, you can almost teach them anything. All right. Seven, four through five. Or four and five. Few people, big city, God puts it in their heart. The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses have been rebuilt. And then my God put into my heart to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy. And I found the book of genealogy of those who came up at the first, up at the first, and I found written in it. Um, and this is where we're about to get into like a zillion names. All right, and I'm gonna cover not the names, but the highlights of them. But the mission shifts from rocks to registers, right? From building a wall to getting the population identified and ordered. Okay, God put into my heart planning as piety. The membership by covenant lines, who belongs and who serves where. All right, membership matters. Know who is in your ranks, know who is fighting next to you, know their weaknesses so you can help them. And they should know yours so they can help you. All right, it's pastoral care and home defense at once. So be thankful. I'm not gonna read 67 through 6 or sorry, 76 through 773. All right, but this is it. 66, the whole assembly together was 42,360. Okay, that was that's a verse 66, they tell us that. In verse 67, besides their male and female servants, of whom there were another 7,337. And they had 245 singers, male and female. Okay, 68. We hear their horses were 736 and their mules 245. Their camels were 435, and their donkeys were 6,720. Verse 70, we see that now some of the heads of the father's house gave to the work. The governors gave to the treasury 1,000 dairies of gold, 50 basins, 30 priest garments, 500 minas of silver. And in some versions of notes, the numbers are a little different. But on 71, um 72, and what the rest of the people gave was 20,000 dairies of gold, 2,000 miners of silver, and priest garments. So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel lived in their. Towns. Okay. So everyone's from outside has been pulled in, the gates have been closed. All right.

SPEAKER_00: 31:55

So what do we have here? Names and numbers matter.

SPEAKER_01: 32:02

Real families, real resources. Leaders go first in giving to follow people. The people sorry, go first in giving, and the people follow. Roles are restored. Israel resettles a stable base for worship and work.

SPEAKER_00: 32:21

Our application. What do we do with this?

SPEAKER_01: 32:23

Take role, count the cost, fund the mission. Put people back in place so worship can run. Okay, so know again who you're with. Know when you're gonna do something, count the costs. See if you can even fund the mission that you're about to do. All right. And use people with their strengths. Let them serve in their strengths. All right, so here's some gems and some notes from the list. Men of place, and I'm not gonna, but Bethlehem and Atoth, I'm not gonna read a bunch of names I can't say. God is remapping the land with covenant households. It's not abstract. Towns are repopulated, and gates get families again. Jeshua means Yahweh saves. Nehemiah means Yahweh comforts. The return itself is a lived sermon of salvation and comfort. Pahath and Moab, governor of Moab, a family likely tied to Diaspora administration, now repurposed for Jerusalem's rebuild. Zachiah, pure just Benai, Benui, built, builder, filling in chapter and rebuilding. These are the names. Some of the other names mean devoted and devoted and banned and wealthy, and names that likely reflect family history or hopes. Other names mean my lord has arisen. His list numbers differ from between Ezra and 2-3 in this, but it's pretty close. Remind us that rosters blend older registers with fresh counts. The point is real people, not numerology. These were real people who are counted that went all in. And then the last is the given one, the name of the family called the Nethanim, the given ones, temple servants, likely tracing back to the Gibbonite assignment, Joshua, Joshua 9. Their inclusion shouts humble service is honored in God's book. And then we have in verses 57 and 60, sons of Solomon Sermants. These are literally descendants of royal estate staff from a united monarchy. Their staying power shows institutionary memory pressed into present mission. And then we'll see you see, we see God's standard coming in in verses 63 and 65. Priests without proof, they couldn't prove they were priests. Those who couldn't find their registration were barred from the most holy food until a priest arose within Urim and Thumin who could do it, who could make them that. Holiness was over hurry. Wait for God's verdict rather than fudge the records. Singers, 245 men and women, both sexes are named in the music ministry, seeding the joy that explodes in chapter 8. Music equals joy. I know that's true in this house. I constantly am using music to set the tone.

unknown: 35:22

Right?

SPEAKER_01: 35:22

And when I'm angry, I feed it sometimes with angry music when I want to be in the gym or something like that. Music is an accelerant to how you feel. Understand that. And before you start listening to stuff that's going to make you sad and you want to lean into being sad, why do you want to be sad? Right? Use it as a tool, a godly tool to pull you out of the hole that you sometimes dig for yourself. So animals and logistics versus 70, 68, 69, donkeys, 6,720, far outnumber the horses at 736. This is a pilgrim people, not a cavalry. It's a sub its strength is supply chain, which is not military, you know, not military might. Perfect for a chapter that ends with the gifts of work. And then we see that Persian money, directs and minas. God's people fund God's work in whatever era they live. Gold is gold, the mission is holy. They don't care whose money it is, they're just given it. Leaders model giving and the people match it. Imagine that. All right, eight is really short, too. One man, one book, one people. And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the water gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book and the law of Moses, and that the Lord had commanded Israel. That the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could understand what they heard. That's important. Men and women, and all who could understand what they heard. So kids that could understand, not kids that couldn't. On the first day of the seventh month, and he read from it, facing the square before the water gate, from early morning to midday, hours and hours of preaching. And the people ate it up. And the presence of the men and women who could understand, that's very key, who could understand. And all the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. What do we see here? We see a hunger for scripture. We see people ask for the book. Hours and hours long attention. Can't even get people to concentrate for five minutes nowadays. Right? Inclusivity, we see men and women and all who can understand, a covenant family. Timing, seventh month, New Year's fest, New Year festivals, spirit, res spiritual reset. As out warriors, we know we need to bring the book, read the book, and build a Bible attentive family. Right? We need to be building a Bible attentive church. Build attention spans for God's town, for what, for God's word. All right, verses four through six. And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood, I'm not even gonna bother to say that a bunch of names. Okay. And one was on his right hand, and then another bunch of names, and Meshulam on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people. And as he opened it, all the people stood. So stood for hours and hours and hours. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, lifting up their hands. Right? They weren't just they meant it and they showed it with their body. Like, how many times have we been in? Like I remember when I refused to sing when I first came to the Lord, right? And then I thought, how many times I've been to a godless concert where I'm sitting there with a lighter or you know, a phone or doing something stupid for that, but I won't do it for God who created all this. Like, really? Like if what's your priorities, right? Lifting up their hands and they bowed their heads and worship the Lord with their faces to the ground. So we see visibility and honor, a platform, right? Standing where the book is. Response, amen, with uplifted hands, bowed faces, word-driven worship. Let the word lead worship, public reading, out loud, congregationals, amens, and body reverence. Verses seven and eight. Also, a bunch of names. And then a bunch of names I'm not going to say. The Levites helped the people to understand the law. They didn't do like the Catholics did and just get up there and speak in a foreign language before Martin Luther, who we're celebrating next week. And then they read it to them and explained it like I am doing, which is where this came from.

SPEAKER_00: 40:18

Reading and explaining and teaching application.

SPEAKER_01: 40:25

They gave the sense, that means explaining, so that the people understood the reading. Reading clearly and explaining the pattern of expository preaching and teaching. The goal is understanding leads to obedience and joy. Aim for clarity, context, and call every time you teach or read or talk to somebody about the word. Explain the text. Apply the text. John Calvin said the task of a pastor is to make the word plain. And I try and fail all the time. 9 through 12. Do not mourn, the joy of the Lord is your strength. So, and Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were the priests, taught the people. Why are they crying, you think? And then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine, and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, the poor. For this day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, Be quiet, for this day is holy, do not be grieved. And all the people went their way to drink, to eat and drink, and send portions and make great rejoicing, because they understood the words that were declared to them. So again, sweet wine, right? Which again, some of our Baptist friends who I love very much, there's the Bible commanding us to go drink wine. Swear that one. Okay, so what is this? Why were they weeping? Probably already know. After the clear reading and explanation of the word, the people finally understood the law and how they had fallen short. The Sabbaths, the feasts, the marriages, the justice. Their conscience awakened, and the memory of the Horizon, uh memory of the exiles cause what caused them to go into slavery with um previously. So they wept. Why they were told not to weep. This day is holy, the first day of the seventh month and the Feast of Trumpets, a holy convocation marked by sacred rest and rejoicing, not mourning. Holy days train God's people to pair confession with confidence. Right?

SPEAKER_00: 43:08

It's good you feel terrible, but now celebrate because you're forgiven. You are pardoned.

SPEAKER_01: 43:16

You were at the guillotine in front of the firing squad. You are and then rescued in his mercy. Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites, hush panic. Tell them to be quiet, don't panic. Do not despair, do not be grieved, and move the assembly to a mercy meal, to a celebration, a feast, and send more portions to the poor. Vertical reconciliation, right? You are becoming reconciled onto God, becomes horizontal reconciliation to the people who can't afford it with the poor. And they share in the joy. The joy of the Lord is your strength, not naive cheerfulness, not covenant joy rooted in who the Lord is and what he has done. Restored people, rebuilt the wall, reopened the word. That joy fortifies obedience, sustains work. The joy of the Lord is your strength, rooted in who the Lord is and what he has done. God did this. You were his instrument, but God did this. He gets the glory. The gospel order in this teaching hearing, weeping, assurance, feasting, sharing, great rejoicing, because they had understood the words. Joy flowed from understanding and obedience, not from ignoring guilt. Let grace move tears into into feasts. When the book exposes sin, confess, receive your pardon, rejoice in the Lord, share your portion, and work strong. Last out. Day two, rediscover booths, obey with joy. And on the second day, the heads and fathers of the houses of all the people, with the priests of the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the law. Now they heard it, now they're coming to study. And they found it written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths, tents, during the feast of the seventh month, and they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and Jerusalem in and in Jerusalem. Go out to the hills and bring branches of olives and wild olives and myrtle and palm and other leafy trees to make booths. These are like tents made of sticks. Okay. As it is written, So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts, and in the courts and the houses of God, and the square and the water gate, and the square at the gate of Ephraim. All the assembly of those who had returned from captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for as from the days from Jeshua the son of Nun to the day, to the day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. They recovered their history, they recovered their ceremony, they recovered their tradition, and they are honoring God in real time. They are sitting there, we forgot, we didn't know about this. Boom, wait, we're supposed to do this. They dropped everything and did it because it was that time of the year. Obedience, immediate obedience. And day by day, from the first day to the last, he read from the book of the law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the rule. Text to practice, they find, proclaim, gather, build, rejoice. Obedience in action. Historic renewal, a recovery of neglected obedience. Very great rejoicing. Seven days of reading, sustained exposure feels joy. The more time you spend in this, the better you will do, and then the more you won't want to be in it because you're gonna start doing good, and then you're gonna drift away and you're gonna be miserable. And then hopefully you'll humble yourself and you'll get back in it and you'll be doing great again. That is you're not alone. Ready? That is the cycle repeated by Israel and this much of this book. They have to relearn that lesson over and over and over and over again. So don't think that you're the only knucklehead in the world or the only one getting it wrong from time to time. You're not. All right. So when the word shows a neglected duty, obey publicly and gladly, build schedules, daily reading, weekly worship, seasonal feasts, and train joy. We have to get back to joy. We have to get back to joy. A Bible that's falling apart, this is Charles Spurgeon, usually belongs to someone who isn't. How great is that? A Bible that is well used and is falling apart because it's well used is almost always owned by somebody who isn't falling apart because they rely on the Bible. That hits. All right, so what do we do with this in our seven battlefields? Faith. Bring and open the book. Okay, read it. Read it in your homes with explanation. Just reading this and not understanding it. I mean, the Holy Spirit can work in wondrous ways and it can reveal stuff to you. But it's so much better to be a part of a Bible study or get a study Bible that you trust that helps you understand it. Don't just run your eyes over the words and say, I read the Bible 16 times and you don't even know what you read. Okay. Family, guard your front and share your portions. Post at the family gates times when your kids can go out, you know, curfews, tech, and tone. Tone is my challenge. Share portions with those in need. Fitness, joy is strength. The more joy you have, the harder you will fight. The more despair you have, the less you will fight. Steward body and schedule so joy is not crowded out. Did you hear that? Don't crowd out joy.

SPEAKER_00: 49:37

Save time for joy. The key is aligning what gives you joy.

SPEAKER_01: 49:44

If it's things outside of God, I pray for you. Finances, fund the work, leaders give first, people follow. Budget for worship, word and mercy. Fellowship, one man, one people. Gather as one. Practice amens in shared feasts. Fidelity, obey with joy. When scripture reveals reveals, reveals neglected obedience, do it. All right. Guard the gates, post the watch, gather as one, bring the book, read clearly, give the sense, which means explain it and obey with joy. Send portions to those in need and let and let the city see it and say, God has done this. Let's go ahead and do pray this out, and then we'll do our communion. Lord, you have set a watchman on our walls and put your word in our midst. Make us faithful and God fearing. Teach us to open the book, to understand and to obey, to feast and to share. Turn our tears into feasts and our hearing into holy strength, for the joy of the Lord is our strength. Amen.

SPEAKER_00: 50:53

All right, here you guys go.

SPEAKER_01: 51:00

I think I'm hoping Lauren's gonna be able to bop in here to join us for once.

SPEAKER_00: 51:31

Go ahead and spend your time with God.

SPEAKER_01: 52:03

Almighty God, Sovereign Lord of Hosts, we approach your table today not because we are worthy, but because Christ is worthy. We come not trusting in our own righteousness, but in clinging to the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. We remember his body broken, his blood poured out for the new covenant. We bow in humble gratitude. We lift our hearts in reverent awe. Sanctify this bread in this cup, and sanctify us, your people, as we proclaim the death, resurrection, and the coming kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray this in his matchless and mighty name. Amen. So in 1 Corinthians 11, 23 to 24, the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was being betrayed took the bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Remember, this symbolizes his body, pierced, beaten, sacrificed for you. Let us partake of the bread together. Remember Christ's body broken for us. Go ahead and eat. And in the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Remember, this symbolizes his blood, the blood that purchased our forgiveness, and sealed the everlasting covenant. Let us partake of the cup together to remember Christ's blood poured out for us. Good drink. For as often as you eat of this bread and drink of the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. By eating and drinking, we publicly proclaim Christ has died, Christ has risen, has risen, Christ will come again. For we are his soldiers and his everlasting kingdom. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Go under the king's blessing, stand firm, lock shields, keep the watch, open the book, share your portion, rejoice in the Lord, and venish your section of the wall. God bless you.