1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,040 OK, well, I'm going to clap. That was loud. 2 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:10,840 Welcome to Be on Sunday, a podcast based on the preaching 3 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:16,440 ministry of Leamington EMC. I am Jonah Chitty, one of the 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:18,920 pastors here, Pastor of Discipleship and Family. 5 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:20,600 I don't know how my title is kind of confusing. 6 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:24,200 I'm here with Pastor Joe Penner. As always. 7 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:27,360 We are in episode 2, not episode 2. 8 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:31,640 Sorry, Season 2 episode 1, Is that just because we're in a 9 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:33,560 different year? No, Well, I thought about that, 10 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:36,880 but I think it's because we're starting a new book, so we'll do 11 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:38,920 our seasons based on whatever book of the Bible we're 12 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,680 preaching through. So this one could be like 17,000 13 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:46,960 episodes like Corinthians was or probably around 14 so. 14 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,840 Probably closer to that one. Yeah, so Season 2 Episode 1, 15 00:00:51,840 --> 00:00:54,320 Nehemiah is what we studied. Is that right? 16 00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:56,920 Joe, how are you doing today? I'm doing well, thank you. 17 00:00:57,640 --> 00:00:58,840 My throat. 'S feeling a little bit better. 18 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:00,080 Good. Sure, people who heard the 19 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:01,880 sermon on Sunday could could tell. 20 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:04,840 You know, that's why we waited so long to to record. 21 00:01:05,160 --> 00:01:07,880 It's because we wanted your voice to properly heal and get 22 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:10,240 every It wasn't because we were so busy doing other things. 23 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,920 It definitely wasn't that. So I'm glad you're feeling 24 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:15,280 better. You sound like you're feeling 25 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,320 better. And I hopefully, yeah, hopefully 26 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:21,000 we can get through another 30-40 minutes of talking about 27 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:23,320 Nehemiah chapter 1. So you preach the sermon on 28 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:27,720 Nehemiah chapter 1. I didn't. 29 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:30,320 Oh, when all hope is lost, turn to God. 30 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:31,360 Is that your time? When? 31 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:32,800 Hope seems lost. Turn to God. 32 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:33,400 Yeah. OK. 33 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:36,600 So yeah, you want to give us kind of a recap of what you what 34 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:38,040 your sermon was about. Yeah. 35 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:43,280 So just sort of I, I started out with an illustration of Twin 36 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:45,720 Towers and, you know, everybody sort of remembers, you know, if, 37 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,120 if you were older than maybe one or two or three, you probably 38 00:01:49,120 --> 00:01:50,960 remember where you were when you, when you heard that the 39 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:53,040 Trade Towers had been hit. Where were you? 40 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:57,040 I was at school in grade 8. Grade eight I was a I. 41 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:01,120 Was with public school. Sophomore in college, just a. 42 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:03,120 Shows a bit of our. Age, a little bit of the age 43 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:05,080 difference, yeah. So yeah, okay, Yeah, yeah, 44 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:07,160 everybody knows, right? Yeah, you were there. 45 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:10,600 In sort of this like pivotal moment in, you know, world 46 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:12,440 history, more more pointedly U.S. 47 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,240 History. But like, really, the whole 48 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:17,000 world sort of was shocked by that. 49 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,480 Yeah, I remember the comparison at the time for my family was 50 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:23,840 like, it was like, you're going to remember this day just like 51 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:25,640 we remember the day that Kennedy was shot. 52 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:28,560 So it's like my parents knew and like remembered the day they 53 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,920 remember where they were. And like that was the but you're 54 00:02:31,920 --> 00:02:33,680 going to remember this day just like those people. 55 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:36,480 So it's like a like a pivotal historical moment that people 56 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:38,120 that were there remember. Yeah, absolutely. 57 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:41,520 Yeah. And, you know, I, I was drawing 58 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,240 on, you know, like the, the hopelessness of the situation, 59 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:45,720 right? Like where, where people turned 60 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:47,880 in the midst of that situation. I mean, it was, there was so 61 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:50,560 much devastating loss. People lost family members and, 62 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:54,800 and, you know, just the horrific stories that came up, you know, 63 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:58,800 through the whole thing and and it's just a devastating thing. 64 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,760 And where do people turn when all hope seems lost? 65 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:05,200 And, you know, some people turn to church, some people turned to 66 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:08,920 the bottle, some people turn to, you know, getting together and 67 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:11,920 helping people in need. And, and sort of that's sort of 68 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:14,760 how to sort of, that's how I sort of drew into this story of 69 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:19,840 Nehemiah and to just sort of like get a bit of a feeling for 70 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:23,240 like this is probably the most pivotal moment of Nehemiah's 71 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:26,360 life, right? Israel, I, I gave some context 72 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:28,640 for where we were in the, the timeline of history. 73 00:03:28,640 --> 00:03:31,560 And, and Israel had been back in the land. 74 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,960 They had been sent in into exile by God because of their sin. 75 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:39,480 But now it's been about 100 years since that happened. 76 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:43,440 And so, or actually so 100 years since Israel had started going 77 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:48,240 back. OK, so about 170 years since God 78 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:50,320 sent them into exile. So now they've been back in the 79 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:52,840 land for about 100 years. And Nehemiah may have been 80 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:54,960 expecting that they were a little bit further along than 81 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:57,600 they were right after having been there for 100 years. 82 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:00,280 You know, especially given the fact that, you know, we know 83 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:02,640 from the book of Nehemiah that he's going to go and rebuild the 84 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:06,480 walls in like 52 days, right? So they've been back for 100 85 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,560 years and they're like, not really that far ahead. 86 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:13,800 Not only that, it's like it's a devastating situation. 87 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:15,880 You know, the people are in shame, they're in trouble. 88 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:18,000 They're experiencing lots of hardship. 89 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:20,720 The walls are destroyed, they're broken down. 90 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,360 The gates are destroyed by fire. Like there's no protection. 91 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:26,160 And it's like, this was devastating for Nehemiah. 92 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,840 And so he weeps for days. And and the bulk of the chapter 93 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:33,000 1 is Nehemiah's prayer. Right. 94 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:34,760 There's not a lot of there's not a lot of narrative. 95 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:39,240 No, no, it's his prayer. And I sort of get the feeling 96 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:43,360 that this is a prayer that that he's, he's sort of shaped and 97 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:45,920 molded over these few months that he's been praying. 98 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,760 And this is like maybe something that he's been praying regularly 99 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,400 and repetitiously. And he's sort of formulated this 100 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:56,200 prayer over the course of these few months. 101 00:04:56,840 --> 00:04:59,160 Like here's what I've been praying over the last like, 102 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:00,880 well, since I've been dealing with this. 103 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:02,680 Right. I mean, I can't know that that 104 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:06,360 is what it is, but it, it seems to me that way because it, it 105 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,400 pours right into chapter 2 as he's about to go to the, as he's 106 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:12,760 about to go to the King. And so it, it seems to make 107 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,320 sense that he's recording this prayer that he's now sort of 108 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:18,120 been praying over the last few months. 109 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:23,160 But in my sermon, I, I brought out, you know, three main points 110 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:27,560 from his prayer that we should turn to God who keeps his 111 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:29,040 covenant. So that was sort of my whole 112 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:31,280 point of the sermon. It's like man, when, when 113 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:34,560 Nehemiah felt like all hope was lost, he turned to God. 114 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:37,320 And so I drew up principles from that. 115 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,080 You know, Nehemiah draws out that God is a God who keeps his 116 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:42,240 covenant because he's the God of heaven. 117 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:43,920 He's almighty, he's all powerful. 118 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,200 And because he loves us, he loves his people, he loves those 119 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:49,840 who love him. The second point was turned to 120 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:53,400 God in humble confession. You know, Nehemiah then shifts 121 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,080 to humility. And before God, recognizing that 122 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,600 they as a nation had sinned, that that he and his family had 123 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:02,280 sinned. And so I drew out that, you 124 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:04,800 know, we ought to be confessing other people's sins, but also 125 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:09,000 confessing our own sins. And the Third Point was turned 126 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,560 to God who is committed. And sort of towards the end of 127 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:15,520 the prayer, Nehemiah expresses that, that, that even though God 128 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:19,880 is committed to discipline, he's, he says, if you are 129 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:21,600 unfaithful, then I'll scatter you. 130 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:25,360 But if you return to me, if you keep my commands, if you obey 131 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:27,000 them, then I will bring you back. 132 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:28,800 And it doesn't matter how far you're scattered. 133 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:31,000 God is committed also to restoration. 134 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:35,720 He's committed to his people. And so I just and, and you know, 135 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:38,520 the a line at the very end of the, the prayer that really 136 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:42,640 struck out stood out to me was, you know, Lord, hear the prayer 137 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:46,000 of your servant and the prayer of your servants who delight to 138 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,120 fear your name. And you know, like what a 139 00:06:49,120 --> 00:06:53,800 statement that they delight to fear God because fearing God 140 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,000 keeps us in his word, keeps us in his truth. 141 00:06:57,320 --> 00:06:59,880 And to know God is to know the truth. 142 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:02,520 It's to know light, it's to know goodness, right. 143 00:07:02,840 --> 00:07:05,800 And so when we fear God, we're actually, it keeps us on the 144 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:08,280 path of righteousness, which is good for us. 145 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:10,760 And God's law is a blessing to us. 146 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:15,080 And you know, the other things that we fear are not things that 147 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:16,840 we a delight to fear. You know, those are things that 148 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:18,960 we're scared of. But when we fear God, it keeps 149 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:22,360 us in the path of righteousness. And so he he says that, you 150 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:25,960 know, we, we love you and we we delight to fear you and we want 151 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:29,600 to worship you. And so, hey, you said that if we 152 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:32,320 pursue you, if we turn back to you, if we want to keep your 153 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:34,480 word, then you're going to bring us back to the land. 154 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:36,840 And me hear the prayer of your servant. 155 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:39,080 But also maybe there was a growing number of people that 156 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:40,760 their hearts were beginning to go back to God. 157 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:44,520 And he says also the prayer of your servants hear us because we 158 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:48,440 love you and we fear your name, and so hear our prayer because 159 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:50,800 of that. And so then he's asking for 160 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:55,440 success as he goes, as he's about to go, who I think he's 161 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:57,400 talking about to the king. But yeah, that was sort of the 162 00:07:57,400 --> 00:07:59,560 bulk of it. Just in the midst of this 163 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:02,080 hopeless situation, Nehemiah turns to God. 164 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:06,040 You know, that we might expect a whole host of things or 165 00:08:06,040 --> 00:08:09,120 whatever, but like he turns to God that the first thing he 166 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:12,000 does. And I had a quote in there from, 167 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:16,120 from a commentary that we're using during this study from TJ 168 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:20,040 Betts and, and he talks about, you know, Nehemiah, it's not his 169 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:21,920 second option, right? A lot of times that's, that's 170 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:23,960 the way it is for us, right. Oh, I guess the. 171 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:28,080 That was so impactful. Yeah, like all we can do is pray 172 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,520 now, you know, we've done everything we can do and now we 173 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,159 just got to pray. And it's like it's prayer is not 174 00:08:33,159 --> 00:08:35,120 a last option. It's not a last resort. 175 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:38,720 It's Nehemiah's first option. That was so like that, that 176 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:40,520 quote. And then you know, when, 177 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:43,320 whenever you, you talked about it, because I think you brought 178 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,400 that out in your first point. It was early on because I 179 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:50,520 remember like the self examination question, where do I 180 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:54,360 go whenever like it hits the fan, right when when things go 181 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:56,440 go wrong or there's trouble, where do I go? 182 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:00,360 And I was like, and then you hit, they hit me with that line. 183 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:03,240 It's like, no, prayer should be our first option. 184 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,000 Like going to the Lord is the first option. 185 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:09,800 It's not like man and like doing everything I can do 1st and then 186 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,680 well, now let's pray about it. How often do we do that even in 187 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:16,520 ministry? It's like, Yep, tag on a prayer 188 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:17,840 at the end and now we've done it. 189 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:20,360 So it's like it's very convicting to think about. 190 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:25,240 Yeah, and I had, I'm just sort of, I at the very end of his 191 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:27,560 quote, it's, you know, when prayer becomes the first option 192 00:09:27,560 --> 00:09:31,120 for a person, it's an indication that he or she is truly walking 193 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:33,560 with and depending on God in all things. 194 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:36,600 And I just had sort of like my own little application from 195 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:39,960 that, that where you turn reveals what you trust. 196 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:45,600 And and I, I think that's that's it's really convicting. 197 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:48,120 It's really hard to think about because we have to be honest 198 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,720 about ourselves with ourselves, and that's hard, but it really 199 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:54,120 is true. It's like if my first reaction 200 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:57,680 is to go to a friend or Google or. 201 00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:00,240 ChatGPT chat. Whatever it is, right? 202 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:02,040 Like. How do I deal with this or that? 203 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:04,640 Because because we do that like like you said, even in a good 204 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:06,560 way as Christians. I'm, I'm not saying it's bad to 205 00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:08,920 pursue knowledge and wisdom and define the answers. 206 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:11,520 I just think prayer ought to be the first thing because at the 207 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:14,440 end of the day, sometimes I'm tempted to go, there's got to be 208 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:16,040 a book about that somewhere, right? 209 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:19,000 And I just like start searching And it's like, but maybe my, my, 210 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,680 my first reaction should be to pray, to ask God for wisdom, to 211 00:10:22,680 --> 00:10:26,200 ask God for insight. Yeah, that's, it was really, it 212 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:28,840 really is good, but it is exposing like when you, when 213 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,720 you, if you're honest with yourself, anything. 214 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:33,360 Well, yeah, of course I'm a Christian, of course I'll pray 215 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:35,040 about this. But no, like if it's not like 216 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:38,000 the first thing you think about, then the indication is that your 217 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:40,360 relationship with the Lord is not quite as close as he thought 218 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:42,840 it was. So yeah, it was just a really 219 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:45,720 convicting thing. Yeah, and I that that honestly 220 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:48,720 even applies to like praying for other people, right? 221 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:51,640 Because again, we're we're tempted to be like, oh, I know 222 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:55,560 this person's in a, a painful situation, what can I do? 223 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:58,560 Right. And we think prayer is, is the 224 00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:03,720 least we can do because it's, it seems like it doesn't do 225 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:04,640 anything. Yeah. 226 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:08,320 And you know, if, if we're being honest, that just looking at 227 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:12,600 what we do, we think that it's more fruitful to bring a meal or 228 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:14,400 to do something kind than it is to pray. 229 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:17,000 And that shows what we believe about prayer. 230 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:19,480 I'm guilty of that, too. I'm not, I'm not standing in 231 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:21,720 judge anybody. I think that's easy for us to 232 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:24,840 feel like the physical things that we can do are more 233 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:27,000 effective than prayer. So I don't know if I don't know 234 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,640 who I was talking to. Maybe it was you, maybe somebody 235 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:31,520 else. But it's like it's the hardest 236 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:34,160 thing for us to do is to pray because of those things. 237 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:37,120 It's like it seems like it should be the easiest thing for 238 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:40,000 us to do. It's like to like, OK, Lord, you 239 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,400 know, we don't know. We don't have any kind of 240 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:45,600 insight into this situation, but, you know, help us to have 241 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:47,000 wisdom. That seems like it should be the 242 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:48,960 easiest thing. But so often it's the hardest 243 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,920 thing for us to do because I think we have to admit to 244 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:53,280 ourselves and confess to ourselves. 245 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:56,920 You know what? I don't know what to do here and 246 00:11:56,920 --> 00:12:01,480 that's humbling or it really hurts your pride that you don't. 247 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:04,320 I don't have the answer. And so I think why is it the 248 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:06,040 hardest thing for Christians to pray? 249 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:09,680 Shouldn't be right. So yeah, no, it was really good. 250 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:21,160 I wrote down where was it? Oh, your your Lego illustration 251 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:23,880 was really fun. I came up at young adults as 252 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:25,920 like, I was like I asked the young adults on Sunday night as 253 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,720 like, does everybody in here like Lego and only one person. 254 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:32,160 But I think they were being like, you know, a young adult 255 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:36,600 and just how they they typically can be frustrating and annoying 256 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:40,160 on purpose. They said everybody said, yes, 257 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:43,080 they love Lego. But what your point with that 258 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:46,720 was like, it was pretty incredible to think about. 259 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:48,720 Yeah. And I think it came out of the 260 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:51,600 last verses we delight in like, you're fearing you, right? 261 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:55,720 You're thinking these people love the instructions of the 262 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:58,480 Lord right Later in Psalms we see we see some different 263 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:00,920 things. I delight in your law Psalm 1. 264 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:06,080 But yeah, I just thought, man, what a good illustration to 265 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:09,040 think about the the instructions are great because I'm dude, 266 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:13,280 you're not like alone. I'm pretty sure like 97% of all 267 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:17,120 Lego builders are no good at it without the instructions. 268 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,920 And so, yeah, I just thought it was really good illustration to 269 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:23,640 think about. Yeah, we need the instructions. 270 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:27,360 And not that the Bible is like a an instruction manual for life, 271 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:29,120 right? We can't just go to it and say, 272 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:32,000 OK, it's on step 73, do this, that or the other thing. 273 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:35,560 But it's just a good helpful illustration to think about. 274 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:37,960 Were you were you doing Legos over the holidays? 275 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:39,120 Is that what brought it to mind or? 276 00:13:39,120 --> 00:13:42,480 No, we did get, yeah, we did get the kids some Lego over the 277 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:44,360 Christmas. And so it was sort of fresh on 278 00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:47,680 my mind. I don't dabble as much in Lego 279 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:51,600 as I did as a kid, but but it is, it's incredible. 280 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:54,760 You know, like you would never think like these massive Lego 281 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:58,160 sets or even the smaller ones, honestly, like the to think that 282 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:01,320 you could get all the pieces right without instructions is, 283 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:04,240 is definitely not right. And so the instructions are a 284 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:05,960 blessing. But in that same way, it's like 285 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,640 delight, we delight to fear your name. 286 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:11,760 And so it's like, you know, we have this Holy Spirit conviction 287 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:15,080 in our hearts when we feel like we're sinning or we're doing 288 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:17,640 something wrong. And so we try to find out if 289 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:19,960 from God's word, well, what does God's word say? 290 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:21,360 What does his word say about this? 291 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:23,840 And how do I pursue righteousness? 292 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:28,680 And I think that desire to please God, it, it should result 293 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:31,320 in a fear, but a fear that we delight to fear. 294 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:35,720 And I think, you know, that's probably like, I don't know, you 295 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:37,840 just you don't want to go down the other Rd. where it's like, 296 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:40,360 I'm sure people understand what it is to fear God in the sense 297 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:42,920 that like, I'm terrified. I don't think that's what 298 00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:45,400 Scripture is talking about. But this, it sort of opened my 299 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:47,800 eyes to, to, to be thinking about that all week about 300 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:51,720 delighting to fear God. It's, it's a good fear because I 301 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:54,200 think we're also tempted to think that fear is a bad 302 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:55,800 emotion. And we have to understand that 303 00:14:55,800 --> 00:15:00,080 fear from God is a good emotion which protects us because it's 304 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:05,200 like if I'm, if I'm driving 180 miles an hour down the road and 305 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:07,560 there's a sharp turn coming or whatever is going on, right? 306 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:09,920 It's like, and now all of a sudden fear kicks in. 307 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:12,360 That fear is a good thing because it says, hey, you need 308 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:13,800 to slow down change. What you're doing, you're. 309 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:17,040 Going to kill yourself, you know, and it it stops you from 310 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:18,840 jumping off a building, whatever, right? 311 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:22,560 All these things is like fear is a good thing, right, that God 312 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:26,920 has given to us in and fearing the Lord is a good thing because 313 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:31,720 we recognize that he is God. He's created the world and he is 314 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:35,280 the judge and he is going to judge us. 315 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:41,040 And that fear leads us to toward Him, to be obeying Him so that 316 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:43,320 we can be walking in a way that's right, so that we're 317 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:45,760 saved. It's so good. 318 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:48,920 Yeah. Like fear of the Lord, I mean, I 319 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:51,360 don't know, is it is it that's sort of a whole different topic 320 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:52,920 you could talk about for a long time. 321 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:54,240 Like what does it mean to fear the Lord? 322 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:59,360 Like I is it just reference? I don't know, because it seems 323 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:00,640 to be what you're talking about. Like what? 324 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:01,840 Do you mean What do you mean reference? 325 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:03,480 Reverence, Oh, reverence. Am I? 326 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:06,240 Yeah, yeah. Is it just that or is it I 327 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:08,360 think, but I think like we don't want to discredit like this, 328 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:12,120 like this real the the reality that like there is like a like a 329 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:14,240 terrifying nature part of it. Right. 330 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:17,960 Because he's big and I'm not right? 331 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:21,360 Like, so like at some point I was just thinking about we were 332 00:16:21,360 --> 00:16:24,200 reading in through the flood narrative in the reading plan 333 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:30,200 and like the people who like eventually figured out that Noah 334 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:33,040 wasn't a liar, that God was really going to do. 335 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:35,880 There was some fear, right? That would have been like 336 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,040 terrifying. And think about Noah and his 337 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:39,680 family. That would be terrifying. 338 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:42,680 Like Noah says, hey, guys, you're going with me. 339 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,080 Whatever. You know, maybe they didn't. 340 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:46,760 Does it say they're righteous? I don't remember. 341 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:50,880 It says Noah is a righteous man. He would think that that it 342 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:53,600 would transfer down to his sons and his their families. 343 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:56,160 But you don't know. So like the the rain starts to 344 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,520 come and never rained before. That would be terrifying. 345 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:02,200 And so that's like another way of like being really terrified, 346 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:05,160 like physically afraid. So I think there's an aspect of 347 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:06,040 that too. I don't know what you think 348 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:07,119 about that. Yeah. 349 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:09,800 Oh, absolutely. I I think it's sort of it, it 350 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:13,280 entails all of it, right? Fear, reverence, respect, like 351 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:15,000 worship, like all of those things. 352 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:20,200 But I, I think the fear, the fear should drive us to God. 353 00:17:20,599 --> 00:17:23,160 And then what we find out is that God is a loving, gracious 354 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:24,319 God. Yeah, for sure. 355 00:17:24,319 --> 00:17:28,440 Who in the Old Testament, even though like, yeah, the the 356 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:31,840 judgment is harsh that did we deserve death because of our 357 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:33,520 sin. But even in the Old Testament, 358 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:35,520 like like you said, we're going through Genesis in our church 359 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:38,480 Bible reading plan and it's like even in Adam and Eve's sin, like 360 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:40,680 the very first sin, What does he what does God do? 361 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:44,160 God clothes them. He offers the first sacrifice 362 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:46,360 and gives them an enclosed them with an animal skin. 363 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:50,800 And so he's gracious and and you know, moving forward into like 364 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:54,360 Israelite history where he he put institute's this sacrificial 365 00:17:54,360 --> 00:17:56,720 system as a way for them to be made right. 366 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:59,280 Yeah, before him. It's like God is gracious. 367 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:01,120 That's interesting. And it makes me think about you 368 00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:04,000 said TJ Betts was the commentary that we're using for a guide 369 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:05,520 for, like, the breaking up the book. 370 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:07,800 Yeah. And his classes, he would always 371 00:18:07,800 --> 00:18:09,320 ask, I don't know, did he do this? 372 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:10,720 Did you have him for class? I did. 373 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:13,520 OK. He asked like he taught Old 374 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:17,040 Testament surveys and he taught intensives as well, but he would 375 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:21,480 ask when, When you think about the New Testament and God in the 376 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:22,520 New Testament, what do you think? 377 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:25,160 You think what? The New Testament. 378 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:28,160 Yeah. Oh, love, grace and mercy and 379 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:29,720 kindness. And then you think, Old 380 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:32,520 Testament God, what do you? Think wrath and fury and 381 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:37,200 judgement and anger. And he's like, guys, they're the 382 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:39,280 same God. It's the same God. 383 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:43,080 It's the same person. And and what you're describing 384 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:46,640 is like God is gracious. He could have struck down Adam 385 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:50,120 and Eve dead on the spot. He had every right to. 386 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:52,360 Instead, what did he do? He clothed them. 387 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,320 He gave them a life that they didn't really deserve. 388 00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,800 He just kicked him out of the garden and they eventually died. 389 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:05,040 So he made good on his promise, but still, like he's still he's, 390 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:07,520 he's the same God. And I think that's hard for us 391 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:08,880 to think about. So like when we're thinking 392 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:13,000 about like this book in any Old Testament book, we have to 393 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:16,680 remember that God is not like just like the overarching like 394 00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:19,680 person in the background that just wants to strike lightning 395 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:21,360 down on people because they do something wrong. 396 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:23,880 No, it's the same God that we see in the New Testament. 397 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:26,280 Yeah. Anyway, that's just maybe an 398 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:27,760 aside, but I was just thinking about that. 399 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,680 Like when we're talking about fear, Jesus came to judge. 400 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:33,800 He says I'm coming. You know, he came to judge to 401 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:35,400 pass judgment. He did. 402 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:39,320 He passed judgment. He sends though the Holy Spirit 403 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:43,240 judges those, right? It's like like it's the same God 404 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:45,880 is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, throughout all 405 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:47,680 Scripture. It doesn't change. 406 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:49,800 It's one of those big theological words. 407 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:51,720 He's immutable, right? He doesn't change. 408 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:53,440 So. Well, the interesting thing 409 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,960 about that is it it's, I don't know why it is this way, but 410 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:01,160 when we read the Old Testament, it's easy to to focus on, and 411 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:04,360 I'm saying this intentionally, it's easy to focus on the 412 00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:08,280 judgement and the wrath. And why I say focus is because. 413 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:10,480 The mercy and the grace are there. 414 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:12,120 Yep. Just for some reason we don't 415 00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:15,360 notice them because exactly what you said in, in Doctor Betz's 416 00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:20,200 class after he said that, then you know, as as we're being 417 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:22,920 required to read the Bible through the class. 418 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:25,920 It's like now you read the prophetic books, which I used to 419 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:28,680 always just, I used to always just focus on the judgement 420 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:30,360 aspect, right? And then you read those books 421 00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:33,640 and you're like, man, there is a ton of mercy and grace. 422 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:36,200 Long-suffering man. And hope in here. 423 00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:38,120 Exactly. And you're like, why have I 424 00:20:38,120 --> 00:20:41,240 never seen this before? That Why you know, and, and 425 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:43,320 it's, it's amazing when your eyes are open to it that you're 426 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:47,240 like, you know what God is. He's the same God exactly like 427 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,200 you said. It's he's gracious and merciful 428 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,960 and kind and slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love all 429 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:56,240 through the Old Testament. It's not something that just 430 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:58,640 starts in the New Testament. And, and we've gone through a 431 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:02,640 book here a number of years ago with a number of classes called 432 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:04,520 Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortland. 433 00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:09,640 And it emphasizes that truth that, you know, and sort of our 434 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,440 our church history as like a Mennonite background of a 435 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:14,080 church. A lot of people come from the 436 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:17,520 Old Colony traditional Mennonite background where it is very fear 437 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,680 driven and, and, you know, relearning that God is a God of 438 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,600 grace and mercy and compassion is something that we need to 439 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:26,720 understand. You know, we have to be careful 440 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:29,360 of the ditch on the other side, which the contemporary 441 00:21:29,360 --> 00:21:32,520 Christianity, it seems to be falling into at some points that 442 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:36,320 we emphasize the grace and mercy and love too much and, and don't 443 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,320 acknowledge the judgement and the wrath that is there. 444 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:43,200 Because, you know, revelation, you know, the end of the age is 445 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:47,000 coming, Judgement day is coming and God is going to, you know, 446 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,480 he's going to deliver his wrath on sinful mankind. 447 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:52,680 That's right. And so, but we just need to have 448 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:54,400 a healthy view of both of those things. 449 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,200 I think I've, I think I've heard somebody say it helpfully that 450 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,160 it's not like God's like if we took all his attributes and go, 451 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:04,360 well, there's 50 attributes. So it's like 2% of God is each 452 00:22:04,360 --> 00:22:07,240 of these attributes. No, it's, it's God is 100% 453 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:09,280 wrath. God is 100% love. 454 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:12,440 He's 100% mercy. Like these characteristics 455 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:15,160 embody, like all of who God is perfectly. 456 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:18,560 Right, That's so, that's so interesting to think about. 457 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:22,720 Like the attributes of God and that you are right. 458 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:24,480 We do try to sometimes compartmentalize. 459 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:26,520 Oh, this is just his nature in this way. 460 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,360 No, he's always that all the time, right? 461 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:33,760 Like how can someone be 100% wrath and 100% love and grace at 462 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:37,600 the same time, Right. Or we can't be, which is why 463 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:40,120 it's important for us to remember like God is God and we 464 00:22:40,120 --> 00:22:40,800 are not. So. 465 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:43,040 Yeah. Oh, man, so good. 466 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:48,240 Oh, I had one question for you. So how often do you confess my 467 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:53,800 sins? That's a good question. 468 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:57,400 Man, That was an odd. I don't know about odd, but 469 00:22:57,640 --> 00:22:59,640 it's, it was unexpected in the sermon. 470 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:00,680 Right. So I'm like, oh, wait. 471 00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:03,280 Well, I sort of sat back a little bit and had to think. 472 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:04,760 So what? Yeah. 473 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:07,680 What was up with that? Well, yeah, it just, it just 474 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:10,520 struck me that, that he was praying for the sins of the 475 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:13,760 nation. And, and I just sort of made the 476 00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:15,560 application to confess other sins. 477 00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:19,440 I, I didn't, I didn't go into like the, you know, the biblical 478 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:21,960 warrant for that. But one that comes to mind is 479 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:23,440 Job. You know, in, in the book of 480 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:27,440 Job, we're told that his sons and daughters would get together 481 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,120 and have parties in each other's homes. 482 00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:30,960 Oh, yeah. And then the next day he would 483 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,320 offer sacrifices and he would pray for them. 484 00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:35,720 Yeah. That that God would forgive them 485 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:37,040 in case they sinned. Right. 486 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:39,520 And I think that that's a principle that, you know, we 487 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:41,320 ought to be doing. We ought to be forgiving sin, 488 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:45,400 but confessing other people's sin and you think of Jesus on 489 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:48,240 the cross, right, Father, forgive them for they don't know 490 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:50,600 what they're doing. Steven prays that same prayer 491 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:55,040 and and it is we, we need to be confessing each other's sin. 492 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,920 I confess that I died. I don't confess other people's 493 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:02,920 sins often enough. Honestly. 494 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:04,600 Because I'm selfish? Yeah. 495 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,280 Because I'm looking at myself going like if someone sinned 496 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:09,280 against me. What's my focus? 497 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,520 My focus is how I've been. Vindication. 498 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:13,520 Right. And it's like, you know what? 499 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:15,560 That's that's too narrow of a view. 500 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:18,360 I, I need to have AI, need to have a broader view of my 501 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:22,600 confession and forgiveness That, and I mean that changes my focus 502 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:24,640 too, right? That I begin to think about that 503 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:29,000 person more compassionately. Yeah, my, as I was considering 504 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:32,040 that and thinking about it as like my, my default setting is 505 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:36,160 just to like imprecatory prayers is like just pray down wrath of 506 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:37,840 God on whoever's again, like whoever. 507 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:39,360 'S the sons of Thunder like James and. 508 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:42,520 John like, you know, very, very like passionate and just like 509 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:44,880 just just wipe them out, Lord my enemies. 510 00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:48,840 But but I think that it's important like the Jesus didn't 511 00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:52,880 do that, right? He he prayed, like you said, 512 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,600 from the cross was praying for people because like they don't 513 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:59,120 really know what they're doing. Yeah, they're carrying out my 514 00:24:59,120 --> 00:25:01,480 will is what they're doing, which is another crazy thing to 515 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:04,680 think about. But yeah, so no, I was just 516 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:07,560 thought it was really good, a good point that you made about 517 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:09,440 praying. And I right there, he says it 518 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:11,840 right there. He's praying like, and maybe 519 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,160 you're right, maybe he was at the beginning of this. 520 00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:18,960 You said that maybe this is just Nehemiah's prayers over several 521 00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:22,400 weeks, maybe three months is what we've kind of come done 522 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:26,080 some math and figured out. And he's like saying, OK, I'm 523 00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:29,440 corporately praying for like for the for the whole nation and 524 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:33,400 confessing. Because right there in verse 6, 525 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:35,640 I think is where it comes out. You know, I now pray to you day 526 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:37,200 and night for your servants, the Israelites. 527 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,840 I confess the sins we have committed against you. 528 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,680 Yeah, so, and it's important because, because again, like I 529 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:46,240 mentioned in the sermon, like God's promises were not to an 530 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:50,000 individual and there they were to a nation, right? 531 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,480 And so he's, he's confessing the sins of his people. 532 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:55,400 And I think that's consistent with other Old Testament 533 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:57,840 narratives as well. But I've, I've heard this often 534 00:25:57,840 --> 00:25:59,920 times with the Lord's Prayer in the New Testament, right? 535 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:03,680 When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, that is not a personal 536 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,680 prayer. You know, it's not me praying to 537 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:11,120 God, it's our Father in heaven, right, You know, hallowed be 538 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:14,320 your name, your Kingdom come, your will be done in others in 539 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:16,680 heaven. Give us Our Daily Bread. 540 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,680 You know, forgive us our sins lead us not. 541 00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,760 It's all plural, right. It's like this is a corporate 542 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:27,880 prayer and so we we can't just look at like our western 543 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,680 Christianity has become very personalized, right. 544 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:33,680 It's like, you know, we go into worship, you turn the lights 545 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,400 down so that it's just you and God, you know, and it's that's, 546 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:37,600 that's not what it's meant to be. 547 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:39,920 We are a community. We are a body. 548 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:41,200 We change it with our language too. 549 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:43,480 Have you accepted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? 550 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:44,880 Right. We say that you know that's 551 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:46,400 that's the way I grew up hearing it, right? 552 00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:49,600 Have you made Jesus Lord of your life? 553 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,200 You know, those are the types of things, the over personalization 554 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:55,720 of of of the gospel. And there's an element of 555 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:59,080 personal, sure, the personal relationship of it, right? 556 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:03,120 You know, individuals do have to do it, but you're not saved to 557 00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:04,720 yourself. Not saved for yourself. 558 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,880 For yourself exactly. You're saved to a body, right? 559 00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:09,560 Yeah. And that's why it's like, that's 560 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:12,600 why the church is so important. You know, you don't get saved 561 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,280 and then you spend the rest of your life alone in your house 562 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:17,760 and doing stuff. It's like, no, you actually now 563 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,960 if, if you love the Lord, you now have to live out your love 564 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:24,600 for the Lord with a body. And guess what, it's hard 565 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:26,880 because you're going to, there are people are going to sin 566 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,080 against you and you're going to sin against other people. 567 00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:32,400 But now, you know, John says, if, if you say you love God, but 568 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,200 don't love your brother or sister, you're a liar. 569 00:27:36,120 --> 00:27:38,360 And it's like, that's that's where the rubber hits the road. 570 00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:40,480 It's like if you say you love God, then that means that you're 571 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:44,200 going to forgive someone for whom Christ died and, you know, 572 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,640 work through stuff. And it's hard to live in 573 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:50,680 community, man. But that's exactly that's what 574 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:54,080 God calls us to that we're about the body of Christ and, and we 575 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:59,160 have to live together and display our love for God in the 576 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:01,040 community of believers. And Jesus said that's how 577 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:03,120 they'll know. The world will know that you're 578 00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:07,360 my disciples. That's good thinking about that. 579 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:09,440 Think about the church being the new people of God, right? 580 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,000 All the Old Testament, we're talking about Israel being the 581 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:16,800 people of God, and then the church is the new people of God. 582 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:18,520 Yeah. It's really, it's really 583 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:20,280 incredible. It's made-up of all nations, 584 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:21,240 tribes and tongues. Yeah. 585 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:23,280 And I love the way you said it. You like you. 586 00:28:23,360 --> 00:28:25,200 You know, when you become a Christian, you're not Christian. 587 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,120 Safe to yourself. You're saved to a body. 588 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:31,040 So live in one, right? Like love, love each other. 589 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:32,720 And it is hard. Oh, man, it's hard. 590 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:34,360 Hard. Yeah. 591 00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:37,480 Joe, I thought this was one of your, your better sermons. 592 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:41,240 I don't know why, other than maybe it was the right word for 593 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,240 me at the time. You know, just thinking through, 594 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:48,080 I just thought it was just you're going to get out so much 595 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,600 more in the book of Nehemiah talking about all sorts of 596 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:54,040 different narrative and thing that happens and how God's hand 597 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:58,160 is through it all. Yeah, I'll just go ahead and say 598 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:00,680 I don't think Nehemiah is AI don't think it's a leadership 599 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:01,960 book. I think it's got leadership 600 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:04,760 principles that we can draw out. But I think more of more of it's 601 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:10,320 a story of how God is being faithful to his word, restoring 602 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:14,160 something that he told him he would do, and he's using someone 603 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:17,280 like Nehemiah as an instrument to carry out his work. 604 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:18,920 I think it's just really important for us to remember 605 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:21,720 that any book in the Bible is a book about God, right, 606 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:24,400 ultimately. Yeah, yeah, exactly. 607 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:27,960 You know, the Bible is is is is an overarching story. 608 00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:31,040 I really like teaching that class this this last fall. 609 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:34,360 God's big. Big picture, like it's called 610 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:37,920 biblical theology where we look at the all of Scripture as one 611 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:40,560 overarching story of God's plan of redemption. 612 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:44,880 You know, you have creation in the fall and then you have, you 613 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:49,080 know, God trying to redeem his, his relationship with humanity. 614 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:52,880 And at the end he does it, he's brings in new Jerusalem and a 615 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:57,120 new and a new city, new earth and this relationship that this 616 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:01,520 perfect Eden is restored. And so, you know, that's we have 617 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,120 to every time we pick up the Bible, every time we read a 618 00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:06,520 different book, we have to figure out, well, where am I in 619 00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:09,520 the story of God's plan of redemption, right. 620 00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:12,680 And here we're picking up in a part of the story where these 621 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:14,080 people are suffering and. They're not. 622 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,440 Where am I putting myself into the story? 623 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:17,920 Right, Right. Where? 624 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:19,400 Where are we when I'm reading this? 625 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:22,000 Where is this fall into overarching redemption history? 626 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:24,240 Yeah, I got. You right and then and then you 627 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,480 know what we're trying to do in preaching is well, if this is 628 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:29,840 where we are in the storyline of Scripture, well, what does that 629 00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:32,280 mean now to us as being in the new covenant right. 630 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:33,840 How does this point to Christ, right? 631 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:36,120 Because Jesus taught his disciples, you know, on the road 632 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:41,680 to Emmaus, Luke chapter 24, he says all of scripture points to 633 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:45,520 me, you know, and then he showed them how all the law, all the 634 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:48,280 prophets, everything pointed to him and found it's fulfillment 635 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:49,600 in him. And so anytime we're reading the 636 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:51,480 Scripture, we need to be thinking, how does this, how 637 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:52,960 does this point to Christ, right? 638 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:56,120 And what he's doing? And so that's what we need to do 639 00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:58,120 at every point. That's really good. 640 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:01,400 What? Like, if you had to like, boil 641 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,160 down one point of application for the sermon, what would it 642 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:05,920 be? Just turn to God, you know, 643 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:07,480 don't even don't even think about it. 644 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:12,600 You know, the, the moment. And and that's I and maybe that 645 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:16,800 is sort of training yourself in those moments to like when a 646 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,160 thought comes in your mind, whether it's temptation or to be 647 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:26,560 in despair or discouraged, when, when you hear bad news, when 648 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:29,640 you're frustrated, whatever the situation is in your life, at 649 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:32,040 every stage of your life breathing, it's maybe it's 650 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:34,160 rejoicing or excitement or whatever. 651 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,280 Pray, turn to God, give him praise, give him thanks, call 652 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:42,320 out to him, ask him for help, say, how long will Lord, how 653 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:43,640 long am I going to have to endure this? 654 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:46,960 Whatever it is, right? Pray biblical prayers and turn 655 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:50,680 to God because he's faithful. He hears those prayers and He 656 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:52,200 loves us and wants to answer them. 657 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:56,240 Yeah, I think of the when you're saying just immediately turn to 658 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:57,680 God, right? That's the that's the goal. 659 00:31:58,040 --> 00:31:59,160 Maybe you think of George Mueller. 660 00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:04,200 We talked about him before on this podcast, but the like, 661 00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:06,200 there was one story where they were out of bread for the 662 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:08,520 orphanage that he was running. Like they just came to him. 663 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:10,560 He he had no clue. Like he wasn't thinking about 664 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:12,680 anything like that. Like it was just caught up in 665 00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:14,600 administrative stuff for the orphanage or whatever. 666 00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:16,800 People from the kitchens come and say, hey, there's no bread 667 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:19,160 to feed the kids. And it wasn't like, hey, let's 668 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,240 make a call to this business guy or let's make a call down the 669 00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:23,440 road. It was like, OK, well, let's 670 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:26,000 pray. And then like as soon as they 671 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:29,160 finished praying, someone dropped off bread for the 672 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:31,640 orphanage. Same thing. 673 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:33,440 Like we need money to pay for whatever. 674 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:35,640 Like you never asked anybody for a dime. 675 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:37,400 It's just like, we're just going to pray. 676 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:40,520 Let's pray. And then the money would show up 677 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,360 in the mailbox. Just incredible stories of God's 678 00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:46,960 faithfulness. But his default setting wasn't, 679 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:49,120 oh, let me go try to figure this out on my own, right? 680 00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:52,520 It was pray whenever God would, when God would grant that, that 681 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:54,440 he would pray. It was like, I think it's such a 682 00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:57,720 good picture of that. It is, and God was always 683 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,560 faithful to provide, right And then so, so pray specifically so 684 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:03,000 that you can see, yeah, the Lord answering your prayers. 685 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,000 He may not always do what you're asking, but when He does, if 686 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:07,880 you're praying specifically, you will see it. 687 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:10,240 That was one thing I've learned over the last year too, is like 688 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:13,160 pray specific prayers. I think Doctor Cook said 689 00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:16,360 something like that in a sermon that I listened to last year. 690 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,600 Pray specific prayers. These general prayers, Lord, 691 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:24,440 help me today. OK, how you going to be able to 692 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:27,280 like understand if God actually did help you today is based on 693 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,240 your feelings. No Pray specific prayers, pray 694 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,560 like Lord, I pray for the salvation of my daughter 695 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:39,320 Adeline, pray for, pray for specific prayers and then watch, 696 00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:42,640 watch what happens because he's faithful, absolutely is 697 00:33:42,640 --> 00:33:43,480 faithful. So. 698 00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:45,840 Well, and I want to share. I want to share something that 699 00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:48,800 someone shared with me. It was a little podcast because 700 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:51,640 I think, you know, when, when hard things come, like this is a 701 00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:53,400 hard thing that Nehemiah is talking about. 702 00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:56,040 And you know, I was drawing on that in the sermon too, that 703 00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:58,320 there are things that happen in life that we have no control 704 00:33:58,320 --> 00:33:59,640 over. And they're hard and they're 705 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:01,960 heavy things. And we can feel like life is 706 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:05,600 hopeless and in despair and we don't know what to do. 707 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:08,159 And it's easy for us to feel like God is against us. 708 00:34:08,159 --> 00:34:12,280 It's easy to feel like maybe God doesn't really know what he's 709 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:14,960 doing or, you know, why is he allowing this thing into my 710 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:16,679 life? We can feel like it's unjust. 711 00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:19,120 And this was just a real encouragement to me. 712 00:34:21,159 --> 00:34:23,360 We maybe we can share this. I think sometimes you give notes 713 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:27,000 in the podcast, right? It's a, it was a podcast episode 714 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:31,199 about God's omniscience that that God knows everything. 715 00:34:31,679 --> 00:34:35,920 He knows everything perfectly. And it says, Speaking of prayer, 716 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:40,679 it is a glorious and comforting thought that when we pray, God 717 00:34:40,679 --> 00:34:45,360 answers that prayer not in line with the way that we see things, 718 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,960 but in line with the perfect way that he sees things. 719 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:54,239 For believers, that means that as our loving Father, God gives 720 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:58,840 us precisely what we would give to ourselves if we knew 721 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:03,800 everything that he knows. And he also withholds from us 722 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:08,160 what we would withhold from ourselves if we knew what he 723 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:10,640 knows. That kind of blew my mind. 724 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:14,200 Like I'd never really thought of that before, but that's, that 725 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:17,560 really was helpful to me because, and I, I hope that's 726 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:19,960 helpful to other people too, to be thinking that like when it 727 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:22,440 feels like injustice, when it feels like God's way doesn't 728 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:25,480 make sense. Just know that his perfect 729 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:27,920 knowledge means that it was the right thing. 730 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:30,880 And if you had known everything that he knew and you had the 731 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:34,360 power to decide, you would have done exactly what he did, which 732 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:37,840 is so hard to understand, right? Especially with you think about 733 00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:39,120 any number of things that happened. 734 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,680 Your parents die, right? You know your your child gets 735 00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:45,560 cancer. It's all these things that you 736 00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:51,640 would never choose right, but with all perfect knowledge and 737 00:35:51,640 --> 00:35:52,840 insight you would have done the same. 738 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,480 Oh, it's so hard to think about, but comforting. 739 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:59,640 It is it was super comforting to me to think that like that 740 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:03,560 helped me to to see God's omniscience, his all knowing 741 00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:08,560 power as a good thing as opposed to me like questioning it 742 00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:11,480 because we were started talking, you know, before the podcast 743 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:14,680 about God's omniscience and and everything that he knows and his 744 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:17,920 sovereignty over all creation. And it's like where we were 745 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:21,840 formed from the dust. And, you know, after Adam and 746 00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:24,840 Eve sinned, God said, you know, they were formed from dust, and 747 00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:27,720 to dust they will return. And I think we just have to 748 00:36:27,720 --> 00:36:29,920 remember that. That's like, who are we to say 749 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:30,960 anything? Yeah. 750 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,520 To God, you know He's God, and we're not. 751 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:36,080 Yeah, that's, that's been the theme for me this week too. 752 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:40,000 Yeah, well, good, good. Any other words on Nehemiah 753 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:41,400 chapter 1 today? Yeah. 754 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:42,760 Well, I guess I'll just address. I know. 755 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:45,560 Oh yeah, one question. One question, we, I touched on 756 00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:47,800 it already a little bit, but I'll maybe give a little bit 757 00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:50,360 more if someone asked the question at the very end of the 758 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:52,640 chapter. You know, Nehemiah is asking for 759 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:55,480 success. Give success to your servant 760 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:59,040 today and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. 761 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:00,920 So who is this man? Who? 762 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:05,080 Who is Nehemiah referring to that he's wanting mercy before 763 00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:06,040 is? He talking about himself. 764 00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:12,760 I, I, I think he's talking about king Arctic circuses because in 765 00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:16,280 chapter 2 he, he's about to now he's about to go in his, in his 766 00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:19,840 narrative to like, OK, and then I was before the king right now. 767 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:22,280 The reason I, I didn't really touch a lot on it because I 768 00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:25,120 didn't get enough time to, to study that this week. 769 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,160 So I didn't really touch on it. But the reason it was 770 00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:30,120 questionable to me is because at the beginning of chapter 1, 771 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:34,400 Nehemiah says well, in the month of Kiss Love, which the Jewish 772 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:36,480 calendar was about like November, December. 773 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:39,280 And then at the beginning of Chapter 2, as he's about to go 774 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:42,560 before the king, it says in the month of Nissan, which is like 775 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:44,880 March, April. Yeah. 776 00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:49,160 Yeah, March, April. So it's about, it's about four 777 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:51,680 months between those between those times. 778 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:56,000 And so I was like, well, is he asking for mercy in the sight of 779 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:57,760 this man four months ahead of time? 780 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:00,360 But that's where again, it sort of made sense to me to be 781 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:03,000 thinking about, well, this is a prayer maybe that Neobiim is has 782 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:07,800 been praying over the last few months and now he records it and 783 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:10,080 is about to go into the presence of the king. 784 00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:14,040 And so that's what I think he's saying because he does now say 785 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:17,080 immediately after that now I was cut bearer to the king. 786 00:38:17,720 --> 00:38:20,480 And so he's leading into like that next thing. 787 00:38:21,320 --> 00:38:23,920 And so that makes sense to me. I can't say authoritatively that 788 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:25,160 I know for sure that's what he's saying. 789 00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:27,520 No, I think what it draws on a principle right for for Bible 790 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:28,680 reading. We were talking about this too a 791 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:32,080 little bit before. Is like most often the plain 792 00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:35,680 reading is the correct reading. So you don't want to try to like 793 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:39,240 read too much into things and try to figure out too much who's 794 00:38:39,240 --> 00:38:41,800 he talking to. Just most often the plain 795 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:44,040 reading is the the correct interpretation. 796 00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:46,640 So right, And if there is a simple explanation, that would 797 00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:47,480 be it. Right. 798 00:38:47,720 --> 00:38:49,680 It is. It is the thing that makes the 799 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:52,240 most sense cause again, remembering that Scripture 800 00:38:52,240 --> 00:38:55,280 didn't have chapters and verses and all that stuff like it was 801 00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:57,840 just it was a straight shot. Just went straight into that 802 00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:00,200 talking about that so. And it makes the most sense 803 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:02,240 given the context and everything. 804 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:03,760 But again, we can't know that for sure. 805 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:07,920 I but yeah, I'm, I'm fairly confident of that. 806 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:09,440 Yeah. And a lot of times we're given 807 00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:12,200 dates to to be prove out that all this is true, right. 808 00:39:12,200 --> 00:39:14,600 So sometimes it's like we give date, we give dates like about 809 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:18,720 Nissan and Kislev, all that stuff is for us to understand 810 00:39:18,720 --> 00:39:20,920 that this really happened. And it can be. 811 00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:24,120 It can be like found in other documents and like this story 812 00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:26,360 actually is true. Yeah, I actually had listened to 813 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:29,800 a sermon from a preacher who who he said, you know, the beginning 814 00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:32,520 says the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakaliah. 815 00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:35,760 Now it happened in the month of Kislev, you know, in the 20th 816 00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:36,640 year. He all the details. 817 00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:38,960 He's like, he's like, yeah, this was a real story. 818 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:40,920 It wasn't like Once Upon a time. Exactly. 819 00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:41,720 It's not. It's not. 820 00:39:41,760 --> 00:39:44,320 Far, far away, you know this. Isn't a Disney story you? 821 00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:47,320 Know it's like it starts with like details and facts like like 822 00:39:47,720 --> 00:39:50,400 if anybody like when he's writing this, it's essentially 823 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:52,640 saying if anybody wants to challenge anything that I'm 824 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,200 writing, it's like here's all of the information that you can go 825 00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:57,800 back and check. Community notes, fact checkers, 826 00:39:57,880 --> 00:39:58,920 Right. Have your way. 827 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:00,920 Yeah, let's go. Yeah, that's good. 828 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:02,040 I think that's right, though. I think. 829 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:03,880 I think. To answer the question, I think 830 00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:06,560 I would agree, I think that it is talking about the king 831 00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:10,960 because he's going, he's about to go in whether or not, I mean, 832 00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:13,200 the king talks to him about like he says, hey, notices 833 00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:15,760 something's off, right. And but whether or not the king 834 00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:20,680 notices or Nehemiah is going to address it straight on, He's he 835 00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:22,280 knows he's about to have to do some action. 836 00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:25,440 So he's praying for favor. So yeah, that's, that's I think 837 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:26,800 that's the key there. Absolutely. 838 00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:29,040 No, it's really good. I'm excited about the rest of 839 00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:29,920 the book. Me too. 840 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:32,960 We got a lot, even genealogies to go through. 841 00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:34,000 I don't know. I don't know how we're going to 842 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:35,240 break that up yet. We'll see. 843 00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:40,680 Be fun figuring out. But again, I think genealogies 844 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:41,440 are helpful. Yeah. 845 00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:43,560 These are real people. This really happened. 846 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:44,880 Absolutely. Track it down. 847 00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:46,080 Right. Figure this stuff out. 848 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:50,640 So, yeah. Any other words, Nehemiah? 849 00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:55,440 OK, next week Pastor Jake takes takes us up into chapter 2. 850 00:40:55,640 --> 00:40:57,200 Does he do all of chapter 2? I don't remember. 851 00:40:57,480 --> 00:40:59,360 I think he goes to verse 11. OK. 852 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:02,240 SO21 to 11 or one to 10 probably. 853 00:41:02,240 --> 00:41:03,160 One to 10. That's right. 854 00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:06,280 And then, yeah, and then we'll go from there. 855 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:07,760 But yeah, we look forward to hearing that. 856 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:12,640 And yeah, LEMC, we're praying for you, Joe. 857 00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:16,240 Why don't you pray for us as we close out this episode? 858 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:21,800 Lord, we come before you, the great God, the God of covenant, 859 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:26,000 the God of love, and we come confidently to you to pray 860 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:29,080 because we know that you will be faithful to hear us. 861 00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:31,760 You will be faithful to your covenant and we thank you that 862 00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:35,480 we can come to you in Jesus name and all the promises that we 863 00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:39,320 have in Christ. And Lord, we come to you in 864 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:42,720 Jesus name recognizing that that we are sinners, that we have 865 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:46,320 fallen short of your standard, that that we have failed and, 866 00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:50,120 and disobeyed your word and disobeyed your perfect order and 867 00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:53,480 your perfect rule. But Christ faithfully fulfilled 868 00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:55,240 it. He perfectly lived according to 869 00:41:55,240 --> 00:41:58,040 your law and, and was the sacrifice for us. 870 00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:00,680 And so we come to you in his name, knowing that through faith 871 00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:04,400 in him we can be forgiven, be given the promise of new life, 872 00:42:05,240 --> 00:42:07,920 and that your Spirit is walking with us, guiding us and leading 873 00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:10,800 us. And so we pray, Lord, that that 874 00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:14,480 you would make your name great in us as a church, that you 875 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:17,360 would draw us together, that you would unite our hearts. 876 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:20,480 That you would help us to strive together as disciples and 877 00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:23,760 followers of Christ, to become more like him. 878 00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:27,760 To read your word, to pray your word, to grow together as 879 00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:29,600 disciples. That we are discipling one 880 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:33,440 another and faithfully fulfilling your Commission To go 881 00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:35,960 into all the world and make disciples of all nations, 882 00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:38,760 baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy 883 00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:43,120 Spirit, being confident that you are with us to the end of the 884 00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:44,960 age. Lord, we thank you for these 885 00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:49,120 wonderful promises and help us to to go in your power and to 886 00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:51,200 fulfill that Commission. In that mandate, would you 887 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:54,640 strengthen us as a church and as a body of believers, and would 888 00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:57,520 you provide all that we need to do that we ask this in Jesus 889 00:42:57,520 --> 00:42:59,080 name, Amen. Amen. 890 00:42:59,240 --> 00:43:01,160 Well, LAMC, we'll see you next time. 891 00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:02,240 Have a great day.