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Joshua Kehler: chapter 1, Nehemiah,
it's in the Old Testament.

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month of Chile in the 20th year as I was
in Shushan, the Citadel that he and I, one

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of my brethren, came with men from Judah.

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And I asked them concerning the Jews
who had escaped, who had survived the

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captivity and concerning Jerusalem, and
they said to me, the survivors who are

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left from the captivity in the province.

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Are there in great distress and reproach
in the wall of Jerusalem is also broken

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down and its gates burned with fire.

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So it was when I heard these
words that I sat down and wept

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and mourned for many days.

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I was fasting and praying before
the God of heaven, and I said,

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I pray Lord God of heaven.

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Oh, great and awesome God, you who keep
your covenant and mercy with those who

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love you and observe your commandments,
please let your ear be attentive and

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your eyes open that you may hear the
prayer of your servant, which I pray

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for before you now, day and night.

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For the children of Israel, your servants,
and confess the sins of the children of

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Israel, which we have sinned against you,
both my father's house and I have sinned.

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We have acted very corruptly against
you, and have not kept the commandments,

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the statutes, nor the ordinances.

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Which you commanded your servant, Moses.

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Remember, I pray, the word that
you commanded your servant, Moses,

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saying, If you are unfaithful, I
will scatter you among the nations.

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But, if you return to me and keep my
commandments and do them, though some of

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you were cast out to the farthest parts of
the heavens, yet I will gather them from

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there and bring them to the place which
I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.

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Now these are your servants and your
people whom you have redeemed by your

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great power and by your strong hand.

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O Lord, I pray, please let your ear
be attentive to the prayer of your

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servant and to the prayer of your
servants who desire to fear your name.

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And let your servant
prosper this day, I pray.

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And grant him mercy in
the sight of this man.

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For I was the king's cupbearer.

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Let's pray.

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God, I pray that you would take
your word and, holy Spirit, would

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you be mighty in this place today?

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God, I pray that.

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here we are and one of the things
we want to ask you for as a body is

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we examine our lives in the light of
scripture, is we examine our, lives, in

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your holiness Jesus, Lord, one of the
things we need is we need your heart.

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We need your heart for
the people around us.

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We need your heart for our families.

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We need your heart for this city.

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And God, I pray that your heart would
be revealed today, that it might be

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beautiful, as precious as a jewel.

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And, God, I pray that
we would desire that.

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God, I pray that you would
move us from comfort.

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I pray that you would
move us from complacency.

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I pray, Lord, that you would move
us into the very call that you've

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purposed and planned for each and
every single life in this room.

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God, I praise you.

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I thank you.

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I pray that you would be
revealed for who you are.

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Great and awesome, glorious,
magnificent, the loving God.

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We praise you this morning,
in Jesus name, Amen.

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There, was a story, it actually involves
pastor Mark and it's when he was down

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in Southern California, he used to
own a coffee shop and, in Ventura.

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And one day as he was leaving, I think
he was going to go to some job interview.

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he noticed that across the
way there was a park and there

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seemed to be some commotion.

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And so as he looked at what that commotion
was, it came to be, that he could make

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out hard in the daylight, but that there
was a homeless guy and he was on fire.

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He had been drinking and was drunk
and, and they were barbecuing something

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and he had caught in his coat on fire.

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And Pastor Mark looked around and
looked to see if there was anybody,

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who was going to do anything.

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The park being full of people,
surrounded by people, but

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people going on their business.

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And so he ran in a full sprint
over to this guy who's rolling

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on the ground in flames.

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His buddy's drunk off their nut
too, and so they're pouring beer

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on him trying to put it out.

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And so he takes off his coat
and he begins to hit this guy,

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trying to smother the flames.

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And finally he put this guy out,
this fire that was burning his body.

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The crazy thing was that there was that
response to that danger, to that person

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who is in that, That stupor who's in
that place in their mindset that they

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couldn't even figure out how to get
their selves, the fire out of themselves.

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That the people they surrounded,
themselves by had no idea how to help.

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And that there was a group of people
in that park more concerned about

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why they were there that day and what
they were doing that day than that

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someone was perishing in front of them.

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So we come to the book of Nehemiah,
Nehemiah is an amazing book.

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Nehemiah is a book about the
rebuilding of walls of taking rubble.

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And making out of the rubble something
that is safe, something that is

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permanent, something that is secure.

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It is taking that which was
destroyed by fire and by the enemy.

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That which the enemy had hoped that
they would never be able to use again.

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And to find redemption in the rubble.

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To take those stones and
to pile them on the ground.

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In their broken state, in their burn
condition, in their charged state, one

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on top of another, until as they were
bound together, there was something

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solid, there was something safe, there
was something built, there was something

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done, that now made that place a city.

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And we look and it's such a physical
work that is done in the book of

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Nehemiah, but even Nehemiah himself
knew that his purpose for the rebuilding

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of the walls was not simply to have
walls in a city, but to have a people

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rebuilt to bring people together and
to get them working on this project

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so that they could then worship.

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Years before, Zerubbabel had led Jews back
from the captivity to rebuild the temple.

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But as that temple had been rebuilt,
the walls had been left broken, and

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so every time the Israelites would
go to worship their god, the people

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of the land, the enemy, would come.

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They would rob, and they would
steal, and they would take.

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And so the worship of God waned
in light of the access that

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the enemy had to their city.

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In light of the access and the holes and
the gaps and the lack of defense in the

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broken state and condition that the people
had, the enemy had access at any time.

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And so there was fear.

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And Nehemiah, God will call him up.

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In this chapter, God will put his heart in
him in this chapter because God will use

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Nehemiah to put walls and to put a wall so
that when the people go to worship, they

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do it securely, they do it safely, and
they can do it with all of their hearts.

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What happens in the book of Nehemiah
is from rubble, revival comes.

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And as they begin to come together,
as they begin to be tested by the

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enemy and every one of his schemes,
as we will see in our series, what

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happens is the people churn their eyes.

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They raise their voices to almighty God,
and they see God work on their behalf.

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It then brings them to
a place of repentance.

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It brings them up to a
place of gratefulness.

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And what begins to happen is
God's people are grateful for

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the work that had been done.

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They begin to worship Him again.

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They begin to sing His praises again.

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They begin to see their sin again
in light of His glory, in light of

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His goodness, in light of His grace.

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And what begins to happen in the
people is the people together repent.

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And they cast off their sin and
they say, We are God's people.

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And we will follow Him.

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And God takes and He renews that city.

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And in this book, there's not much.

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Out of this book for a Lone Ranger
Christian and in America, we live

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in a very individualistic society.

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We live in a society where,
you know, we, it's about us.

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and the great community that we have is
if we have, people over for a special

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party and that's community to us.

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And you won't find much in
this book, if you are that

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kind of Lone Ranger Christian.

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You come in and you
think that Sunday is it.

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You think that Sunday is Christianity.

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Sunday just scratches the surface.

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But being a Christian does
not mean coming to church.

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But being a Christian means
being part of the people of God.

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Part of the people of God.

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And so there's not much for the heroic,
high noon kind of Christian where

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they're the one who will do everything.

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They do everything
independent of anyone else.

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We can remember Peter's words to Jesus
where he said, Man, though all these

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guys fail you, though they all leave
and abandon you, I will never leave you.

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I will never fail you.

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That mentality, I can do it.

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I've got the strength and we know
how that ended so poorly for him.

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Nehemiah is a guy who, it's, he's not
about this individualistic kind of thing,

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but that it's this story about a people
coming together from every walk of life.

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I love chapter three and chapter three is
going to be an interesting chapter because

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basically it's just a list of names.

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But it's interesting because this
list of names was so important to

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God that for all, of our time and
that he put it in the word of God.

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He sealed these names in the word of God.

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What's fascinating is
who these people were.

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They were perfumers.

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They were kids.

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They were parents.

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They were single people.

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They were blacksmiths.

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They were farmers.

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They were soldiers.

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They were people from every walk of life
who stood shoulder to shoulder at the

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great work that God laid before them.

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They found that as they worked on
the wall together, as they shoulder

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to shoulder put the work, one brick
on top of another, that together

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they accomplished God's work.

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And throughout the New Testament,
God uses the language that we,

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as God's people, are His body.

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That we are not His flesh.

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Not off on our own, doing our
own thing, but that we function

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together with the rest of the body.

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Over and over in the New
Testament, the word edify is used,

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which is a construction term.

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It means to build up.

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It means to lay one brick on top of
another until something is firm and

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secure and in place and established.

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So we are to do for one another
as we are to build one another

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up as the Holy Spirit builds us.

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So we won't find much for those of us.

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Who are individualistic, but
hopefully Nehemiah is a picture

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of a group that comes together.

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How foolish would it be for a
brick to tumble down the street

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and for the brick to cry out, I'm
a house, I'm a house, I'm a house.

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But only when that brick is laid next
To the other bricks, does it find the

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purpose and the meaning for which it was
called, for which it was made, and so too

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I hope that in our study of Nehemiah, as
we are put side by side in seeking the

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restoration of Stockton and seeing the
healing of Stockton, Turlock, and Modesto,

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that as we stand side by side, God fits
us into our place next to one another,

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that we begin to more and more see that
as we stand shoulder to shoulder in the

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work, it is not a work that we do on
our own or by ourselves, but that we do

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together, that we come alongside and that
we hold each other up, that we encourage

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each other on, that we stand to gather
in the work that God has done for us.

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One of the amazing scriptures is
when Jesus said, The world will know.

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The world will know that
you are my disciples.

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The world will know that
you are my followers.

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The world of people who don't believe.

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The testimony and the witness and
the power is not in your theology.

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The power and the testimony and
the witness is not in spoken word.

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It is not in the power of persuasion.

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It is not in the intellect of convincing,
but the power that is put on display is

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when the body of Christ loves one another.

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And the world will look and the
world will see when a perfumer

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can stand next to an ironsmith.

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When a youth can stand next to a seasoned
veteran who's been working for 80 years on

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the front lines of the battle of Christ.

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The world will go, there is
something different here.

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They are not bound together by
just something they have in common.

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By likes and dislikes.

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and dislikes, but their
bond is greater than that.

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It transcends that because the
bond is the blood of Jesus.

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And it makes us one because there
is neither Jew, nor Greek, nor male,

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or female, nor Scythian, or free.

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For all are one in Jesus.

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And so I hope that we find that
in this book, All are called

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and so many say, I'm not ready.

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I can't do it.

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I'm not, adequate enough to the task.

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All of that is a wash because all
of us in light of the love that God

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has shed abroad in our hearts and
what he's done can love each other.

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So that is the great apologetic of
the day is to take up and to make

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our hearts to stand shoulder to
shoulder and next to one another.

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The great call would be that we would give
and lay down our lives for one another.

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That we would be a body in a community
because in reality this city has been

230
00:14:38,020 --> 00:14:44,880
broken down These people have been
broken down Their lives are at complete

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00:14:44,950 --> 00:14:48,900
access to the work of The enemy can
come and go as he pleases in this city

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00:14:50,205 --> 00:14:57,045
He can do as he wants, and if there
are a few that stand and say, I think

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I want to seek the house of God, the
enemy can come and pick and plunder

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and take from them and the time for the
body of Christ to say enough is enough

235
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and to say we stand and we stand together.

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And we will be a shield.

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We will be a wall and we will be
at the work lifting and glorifying

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God in this city, worshiping
God and loving one another.

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But it will not happen.

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If we do it on our own, it must
happen as we work together.

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The history of Nehemiah, where
we find ourselves in this

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00:15:36,275 --> 00:15:38,695
story, we go back to the garden.

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God had created man and woman,
because God loved them, and God

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wanted to give to them all that he
had and all that his nature was.

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00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:54,680
So often, many think that God
created man because God wanted to

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take from man because God needed
worship because God needed somebody

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to say, wow, you're really awesome.

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You're really good.

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you keep doing, you keep going a thing,
this kind of at a boy that God needed

250
00:16:06,410 --> 00:16:10,630
that God would, show his, himself,
and his splendor and his glory.

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And people would go, yes.

252
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And God's Oh, thank you.

253
00:16:13,660 --> 00:16:17,460
for all of eternity, I've just been,
up here and now I've got this outlet.

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So needed.

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00:16:18,700 --> 00:16:24,210
But the Trinity teaches us that God lacked
nothing, that God lacked nothing, but

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that He existed in perfect community.

257
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If God needed from us, He would not
be God as the Bible declares God is.

258
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Because God is perfect and all
his attributes are perfect.

259
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And so if he's perfect, something
perfect cannot lack anything.

260
00:16:38,390 --> 00:16:43,530
And so God being a perfect community,
being in community, throughout the

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Bible, this constant giving in the
Trinity, the father glorifying the

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00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:53,310
son glorifying the father, the spirit
glorifying the son, this constant giving.

263
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And so why did God create man?

264
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God created man to give to man.

265
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To share with man, to bring him
into joy, to bring him into his

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00:17:03,510 --> 00:17:05,770
splendor and glory and majesty.

267
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And so when man was created in the
garden, when man looked and when

268
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man responded, and when man gave, he
simply shared in that triune nature.

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He shared in what he was created
to be, an image bearer of God.

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When there was that giving,
when there was that worship,

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00:17:22,510 --> 00:17:24,200
like Pastor Mark talked about.

272
00:17:24,500 --> 00:17:25,869
That's what we were made to do.

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00:17:26,109 --> 00:17:28,099
And so when Adam named the
animals, it was worshipful.

274
00:17:29,060 --> 00:17:30,990
I can't believe you made an anteater.

275
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I don't know, name, I,
it's a lazy name, anteater.

276
00:17:33,870 --> 00:17:35,990
Of course he didn't name that,
I know, but, what's he do?

277
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He eats ants.

278
00:17:36,950 --> 00:17:37,710
Anteater, a thing.

279
00:17:38,145 --> 00:17:41,525
The name cheetah is a little better,
I think, and, shark, that sounds, but

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00:17:41,525 --> 00:17:44,705
anyways, but there's this worship,
and there's this, just praise.

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00:17:44,705 --> 00:17:49,035
He's giving, but what happened and
why the fall and sin came into the

282
00:17:49,035 --> 00:17:52,065
world is because they decided to take.

283
00:17:53,345 --> 00:17:56,965
What happened was the serpent came and
they bought the lie, and the serpent

284
00:17:56,965 --> 00:17:59,495
said, Don't you want to be like God?

285
00:17:59,505 --> 00:18:01,065
Don't you want to receive glory?

286
00:18:01,065 --> 00:18:02,365
Don't you want to receive?

287
00:18:02,595 --> 00:18:03,925
Because that was Satan's fault.

288
00:18:03,935 --> 00:18:04,875
That's why he fell.

289
00:18:05,095 --> 00:18:07,455
Because he wanted to be
exalted like the Most High.

290
00:18:07,635 --> 00:18:09,095
He didn't want to give.

291
00:18:09,255 --> 00:18:12,995
And so they bought the lie,
finding the whole loss.

292
00:18:13,135 --> 00:18:16,175
Thinking they would gain by taking.

293
00:18:16,835 --> 00:18:19,845
But God set up the universe quite
different because He said, If you

294
00:18:19,845 --> 00:18:21,475
lose your life, you'll find it.

295
00:18:21,805 --> 00:18:24,425
If you give, that's when you receive.

296
00:18:25,035 --> 00:18:33,155
And so Adam and Eve learned too late
that in taking, they lost and sin entered

297
00:18:33,155 --> 00:18:35,115
the world and death entered the world.

298
00:18:36,115 --> 00:18:40,135
And we fell into sin, but God, from the
very first, as we learned about Wednesday,

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00:18:40,365 --> 00:18:42,955
the Proto Evangelion, the first gospel.

300
00:18:43,385 --> 00:18:47,225
Where God prophesied that from
the seed of the woman, there would

301
00:18:47,225 --> 00:18:49,410
come one who would, crush the man.

302
00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:50,660
the serpent's head.

303
00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:55,060
And so he said in motion, choosing
a nation through which the Messiah,

304
00:18:55,060 --> 00:18:58,300
this one who would crush, the
serpent's head would come through.

305
00:18:58,610 --> 00:18:59,510
And then what happened?

306
00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:03,790
Because even though he's the King of
Kings and Lord of Lords, he was going

307
00:19:03,820 --> 00:19:06,715
to be born in the lineage of a king.

308
00:19:06,715 --> 00:19:08,935
And so the kings got established.

309
00:19:08,945 --> 00:19:10,285
David was king on the throne.

310
00:19:10,295 --> 00:19:13,595
He was gonna, Messiah was gonna
come through King David's line.

311
00:19:13,855 --> 00:19:16,215
you have Rehoboam, Solomon's, son.

312
00:19:16,335 --> 00:19:19,175
taking over and the people came
to him and said, You know what?

313
00:19:19,205 --> 00:19:20,425
Can you give us a break?

314
00:19:20,565 --> 00:19:21,965
The taxes are gnarly.

315
00:19:22,145 --> 00:19:23,005
just give us a break.

316
00:19:23,005 --> 00:19:23,745
We'll follow you.

317
00:19:23,745 --> 00:19:24,865
We'll do anything for you.

318
00:19:24,865 --> 00:19:27,015
Your father Solomon was a
little heavy on the taxes.

319
00:19:27,150 --> 00:19:27,480
thing.

320
00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,810
And so the old guys, this counselor
said, yeah, that's a good idea.

321
00:19:30,810 --> 00:19:31,620
Give him a break.

322
00:19:31,810 --> 00:19:32,890
The people will follow you.

323
00:19:32,890 --> 00:19:33,850
They'll do whatever you say.

324
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:35,830
But as young guys, they're like, what?

325
00:19:36,270 --> 00:19:36,820
Come on.

326
00:19:36,830 --> 00:19:40,300
You just got, you've got power, tell
him, Oh, you think that's heavy?

327
00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:41,650
You think a brick is heavy?

328
00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:42,050
Yeah.

329
00:19:42,050 --> 00:19:44,590
It's going to be like a
whole car on you, a thing.

330
00:19:44,740 --> 00:19:45,610
And so he did, he made it.

331
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:47,360
Ten times as worse.

332
00:19:47,590 --> 00:19:48,990
And so the people split off.

333
00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:52,450
Jeroboam took the northern
ten nations of Israel.

334
00:19:52,650 --> 00:19:54,240
And then, Rehoboam stayed.

335
00:19:54,370 --> 00:19:59,310
and he had the southern, two nations,
or the southern two tribes of Israel.

336
00:19:59,510 --> 00:20:02,280
Judah, where Jerusalem was, and Benjamin.

337
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:05,170
And so what happened is through
these, two, though they were

338
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:07,220
Israel, wickedness happened.

339
00:20:07,340 --> 00:20:10,560
In fact, the northern kingdoms, every
king they had was a wicked king.

340
00:20:11,505 --> 00:20:13,995
But in the southern kingdom,
sometimes you'd get a good king,

341
00:20:14,185 --> 00:20:15,385
but then it would be a wicked king.

342
00:20:15,615 --> 00:20:19,395
And so God, Constantly giving
time for the nation to repent.

343
00:20:19,405 --> 00:20:23,855
Finally, the northern tribes, Assyria
came and took them into captivity.

344
00:20:23,985 --> 00:20:28,225
And then eventually Judah fell
to the Babylonians as well.

345
00:20:28,285 --> 00:20:31,775
And when, the Babylonians
came, they came in power.

346
00:20:32,425 --> 00:20:36,855
Zedekiah, the king, had, tried
to rebel against Babylon.

347
00:20:36,865 --> 00:20:38,985
Jeremiah, warning him not to.

348
00:20:39,195 --> 00:20:40,025
Don't do it!

349
00:20:40,145 --> 00:20:41,385
this is God's hand.

350
00:20:41,395 --> 00:20:42,485
You can't fight God.

351
00:20:42,725 --> 00:20:47,635
And finally, they took him captive,
and they put out his eyes, and,

352
00:20:47,645 --> 00:20:49,245
and they led him away in shackles.

353
00:20:49,245 --> 00:20:50,050
And so they led him away.

354
00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:54,110
the people away and as the people walked
away from their city, they looked back

355
00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:59,670
as they walked through the sand and
the hot day, they turned back and they

356
00:20:59,670 --> 00:21:06,670
looked at their city, Jerusalem and
every stone torn down their temple,

357
00:21:07,380 --> 00:21:12,870
totally destroyed their houses,
totally ruined, destroyed the city,

358
00:21:13,140 --> 00:21:17,940
leveled, done their place, their home.

359
00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:19,710
So as they.

360
00:21:20,430 --> 00:21:24,330
Walked, they were reminded as they
stood and as they walked through the

361
00:21:24,330 --> 00:21:27,870
desert next to their king, who had
been their leader, their ruler, who

362
00:21:27,870 --> 00:21:33,170
had been so arrogant about his own
power, so arrogant at listening to the

363
00:21:33,170 --> 00:21:35,650
wrong opinions of the wrong prophets.

364
00:21:35,850 --> 00:21:38,080
And now he stood there
shackled and blinded.

365
00:21:38,540 --> 00:21:41,630
It's interesting because Israel,
as they came back to Jerusalem,

366
00:21:41,630 --> 00:21:42,930
would not choose a king again.

367
00:21:43,710 --> 00:21:48,590
But they would return to that
theocracy of God being their king.

368
00:21:49,780 --> 00:21:51,640
Tell that Messiah we've come.

369
00:21:53,415 --> 00:21:54,945
As was prophesied in Daniel.

370
00:21:55,455 --> 00:22:00,565
And you have, the people being led away,
but God did not abandon them in Babylon.

371
00:22:00,565 --> 00:22:01,775
God was using it for good.

372
00:22:01,775 --> 00:22:05,355
God raised up the prophet
Ezekiel to speak encouragement.

373
00:22:05,355 --> 00:22:09,055
God used the stories of Daniel
in Babylon and, his friends

374
00:22:09,055 --> 00:22:11,125
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

375
00:22:11,125 --> 00:22:15,635
and you have then God as,
Babylon was overthrown by Persia.

376
00:22:15,635 --> 00:22:21,645
And that's where we come to in our
story today in Nehemiah and, in, 586 BC.

377
00:22:21,645 --> 00:22:25,375
For those of you guys who like that,
that's when the temple was destroyed.

378
00:22:25,585 --> 00:22:30,555
And so Persia now takes power and they
allow the children of Israel to go back.

379
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:35,520
One of the things was, is that Assyrians
would do is they would take a people

380
00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:40,900
captive in a way so that people wouldn't
stay there and rebuild and then revolt.

381
00:22:41,340 --> 00:22:46,180
And so often what happened is they would
destroy the entire city and, and so that

382
00:22:46,340 --> 00:22:50,120
you wouldn't have another rebellion, just
another rebellion and another rebellion.

383
00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:53,050
And so they'd take the people,
they'd integrate them into society

384
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:54,660
so that they'd do away with that.

385
00:22:55,310 --> 00:23:00,210
But the Persians saw it differently,
because what happened for Assyrians

386
00:23:00,210 --> 00:23:03,300
is now you take all these people
you lose your tax revenue.

387
00:23:03,860 --> 00:23:07,570
Because you've got all these people
who are now, they were once paying

388
00:23:07,570 --> 00:23:09,530
tribute to you, now they're poor.

389
00:23:09,670 --> 00:23:12,840
Now they're looking for work and
it took time to build that back up.

390
00:23:12,850 --> 00:23:17,230
But the Persians thought, it's
better if we could slowly integrate

391
00:23:17,230 --> 00:23:19,980
people back that way we don't lose.

392
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:21,850
That, that, that tax support.

393
00:23:21,850 --> 00:23:25,420
So they would take people trained
in Persia and they would send

394
00:23:25,420 --> 00:23:30,480
them to oversee and to represent
the king and, their heart.

395
00:23:30,500 --> 00:23:33,690
And so the Persians being a little
different, begin to let the children

396
00:23:33,690 --> 00:23:36,460
of Israel go back to Jerusalem.

397
00:23:36,460 --> 00:23:37,847
They put out the call, go back.

398
00:23:37,847 --> 00:23:42,460
Sadly, only 50, 000 people
responded out of the whole nation

399
00:23:42,460 --> 00:23:44,070
that had been taking captivity.

400
00:23:44,230 --> 00:23:47,870
Only 50, 000 wanted to go back.

401
00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:52,280
And so they go back, and they begin to
rebuild the temple, and then you have

402
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:57,900
the story of Esther taking place at this
time, and, and that's about God protecting

403
00:23:57,910 --> 00:24:03,385
his people, as Haman wanted to absolutely
obliterate the nation of Israel.

404
00:24:03,455 --> 00:24:05,215
of Israel from the face of the earth.

405
00:24:05,445 --> 00:24:09,465
Then God uses Ezra to proclaim
to the people God's word as

406
00:24:09,465 --> 00:24:11,045
they rediscover his word.

407
00:24:11,425 --> 00:24:14,605
And then he uses Nehemiah to
rebuild the walls, govern the

408
00:24:14,605 --> 00:24:17,865
people and lead them in revival.

409
00:24:18,205 --> 00:24:21,735
And, and God raised up during that
time also, you'll find them in your Old

410
00:24:21,735 --> 00:24:26,965
Testament, the prophets Haggai, Zechariah,
and Malachi to be an encouragement

411
00:24:26,995 --> 00:24:32,805
and a reminder to worship God and to
look forward to the one who would come

412
00:24:33,005 --> 00:24:35,415
as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

413
00:24:35,425 --> 00:24:37,395
So verse 1, we'll run through this.

414
00:24:37,845 --> 00:24:40,675
The word of Nehemiah, the son of Hykelia.

415
00:24:41,155 --> 00:24:43,355
And it came to pass in
the month of Chislev.

416
00:24:43,875 --> 00:24:47,655
Which is middle of November to the
middle of December and the 20th year.

417
00:24:47,655 --> 00:24:52,795
I was in Shushan the Citadel Shushan Was
the winter palace for the king of Persia?

418
00:24:52,795 --> 00:24:58,975
It's where the story of Esther happened
and in that winter palace so when It

419
00:24:58,975 --> 00:25:01,165
got too cold to rain at the other place.

420
00:25:01,165 --> 00:25:05,275
They would come to the winter palace where
the climate was more agreeable and warmer.

421
00:25:05,645 --> 00:25:10,615
it says, that Hananiah, one of my
brethren, came with me, with men from

422
00:25:10,615 --> 00:25:14,715
Judah, and I asked them concerning the
Jews who had escaped, who had survived

423
00:25:14,715 --> 00:25:17,125
the captivity, concerning Jerusalem.

424
00:25:17,125 --> 00:25:18,295
And he wants to know.

425
00:25:18,715 --> 00:25:21,805
as this one came back from
Jerusalem, how's it going there?

426
00:25:21,835 --> 00:25:22,945
Tell me about the work.

427
00:25:23,165 --> 00:25:26,015
Because he was still bound to his people.

428
00:25:26,455 --> 00:25:29,665
and so he wants to know
what was happening.

429
00:25:29,915 --> 00:25:33,635
And so what was happening is he says
in verse three, the survivors who

430
00:25:33,635 --> 00:25:37,975
are left from the captivity in the
province are there in great distress.

431
00:25:38,545 --> 00:25:41,200
they, we will learn that
they're constantly in distress.

432
00:25:41,490 --> 00:25:45,030
being beat on by the enemy that they're
constantly being taken advantage of

433
00:25:45,300 --> 00:25:49,260
that any time they begin to work as
there had been previous attempts to

434
00:25:49,260 --> 00:25:53,160
rebuild the walls and to rebuild the
city the enemy would swipe in because

435
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:57,210
the enemy wanted them in a place of
total control and a place of fear.

436
00:25:57,815 --> 00:26:01,075
They wanted to dictate how
they lived their lives.

437
00:26:01,195 --> 00:26:03,785
They wanted to keep them in bondage.

438
00:26:03,945 --> 00:26:09,015
And so the people are in a great
distress and in a great reproach.

439
00:26:09,715 --> 00:26:12,725
And, and then the wall of
Jerusalem is also broken down and

440
00:26:12,725 --> 00:26:13,785
the gates are burned with fire.

441
00:26:14,555 --> 00:26:17,685
So it was, verse 4, notice, that
when I heard these words, that I

442
00:26:17,695 --> 00:26:21,365
sat down and wept, and mourned for
many days, I was fasting and praying

443
00:26:21,365 --> 00:26:22,475
before the Lord God of heaven.

444
00:26:22,775 --> 00:26:24,685
Okay, here's something
you have to understand.

445
00:26:24,885 --> 00:26:26,785
This is not new information.

446
00:26:28,105 --> 00:26:34,810
It would be one thing if, This just
happened all of a sudden it's 586

447
00:26:35,420 --> 00:26:38,490
bc and all of a sudden nehemiah gets
this report that the babylonians right

448
00:26:38,490 --> 00:26:42,320
now are Sacking the city and they're
they're tearing apart the temple.

449
00:26:42,530 --> 00:26:45,300
they're taking the bricks of the wall
They're throwing them down, he'd be

450
00:26:45,300 --> 00:26:49,760
like, oh, I can't believe this is
happening In fact, you have that story

451
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:54,120
in the book of lamentations Where
jeremiah looks at jerusalem at the

452
00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:58,210
ruined city and he laments the whole
book is about looking and wailing

453
00:26:58,310 --> 00:27:02,540
and crying Oh over the fact that
Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed.

454
00:27:03,130 --> 00:27:08,650
But here you have 141 years had gone by.

455
00:27:09,730 --> 00:27:13,240
So all of a sudden, Nehemiah's brother,
we see him again, we know it's his

456
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,510
brother because in chapter 7 verse
2, he references him as his brother.

457
00:27:18,260 --> 00:27:22,440
And he says to him, he says,
basically, Nehemiah, same old.

458
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:24,050
Same old.

459
00:27:25,340 --> 00:27:26,320
It's the same.

460
00:27:27,260 --> 00:27:30,050
It's the same it's been
from 141 years ago.

461
00:27:30,180 --> 00:27:31,440
Nothing has changed.

462
00:27:32,230 --> 00:27:34,650
It's the same since the
last time you asked me.

463
00:27:35,940 --> 00:27:38,950
It's the same since dad asked about it.

464
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:41,980
It's the same since
granddad asked about it.

465
00:27:43,890 --> 00:27:45,160
It's the same, Nehemiah.

466
00:27:46,470 --> 00:27:47,270
It's the same.

467
00:27:48,860 --> 00:27:50,030
What happened to Nehemiah?

468
00:27:51,030 --> 00:27:53,370
Why did he just have that,
was that time for him?

469
00:27:54,370 --> 00:27:55,200
What happened to him?

470
00:27:55,990 --> 00:27:58,760
All of a sudden he hears this news
and he goes and he shuts the room.

471
00:27:59,335 --> 00:28:01,435
And he begins to cry and
he begins to weep and fast.

472
00:28:01,435 --> 00:28:05,105
We know in chapter two that he prayed
and prayed on his knees for four months.

473
00:28:06,105 --> 00:28:06,905
What happened to him?

474
00:28:08,765 --> 00:28:11,775
It was not that Nehemiah
got new information.

475
00:28:12,725 --> 00:28:16,085
It was at this time that
Nehemiah got a new heart.

476
00:28:17,085 --> 00:28:21,115
It was not that Nehemiah got
new information, but that

477
00:28:21,115 --> 00:28:22,725
Nehemiah got a new heart.

478
00:28:23,725 --> 00:28:27,705
Old information became alive.

479
00:28:29,130 --> 00:28:38,100
became horrible, became terrible, became
disgraceful, became discouraging, became

480
00:28:38,110 --> 00:28:41,410
hard, became grievous, became painful.

481
00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:47,000
All of a sudden something was done
in his heart to the point where he,

482
00:28:48,030 --> 00:28:51,740
in essence, got the heart of God.

483
00:28:52,740 --> 00:28:53,720
He got the heart of God.

484
00:28:53,730 --> 00:28:53,860
And

485
00:28:54,860 --> 00:29:03,350
often I look at the city of Stockton, I
love hearing stories about it in the past.

486
00:29:04,350 --> 00:29:06,510
I've grown up here since
I was six and a half.

487
00:29:08,310 --> 00:29:15,885
A little time to run away to, to,
to Modesto and for a season, escape.

488
00:29:16,885 --> 00:29:20,255
But I love hearing the stories
of what God's done and the

489
00:29:20,255 --> 00:29:22,045
works that He begins to start.

490
00:29:23,045 --> 00:29:29,795
But so often, The story concludes
with the church got comfortable

491
00:29:31,625 --> 00:29:33,145
or this people got comfortable.

492
00:29:34,145 --> 00:29:38,445
They were a work of God began to
move and people begin to respond.

493
00:29:39,355 --> 00:29:41,735
That's something quenched it.

494
00:29:42,735 --> 00:29:47,175
And it's amazing how we can
live in the thick of something.

495
00:29:47,195 --> 00:29:52,555
350, 000 people here on
all kinds of top 10 lists.

496
00:29:52,575 --> 00:29:53,325
The city is.

497
00:29:54,350 --> 00:29:55,170
Sounded like Yoda.

498
00:29:56,220 --> 00:29:57,080
the crime rate.

499
00:29:57,100 --> 00:30:01,040
It's the number two in the nation for,
pull, searching porn on your computer.

500
00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:04,690
Number one in foreclosures
month after month.

501
00:30:05,690 --> 00:30:07,990
One of the amazing things is you
can look at the census report

502
00:30:08,020 --> 00:30:13,140
and 82 percent of the people who
live here will always live here.

503
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:15,210
They don't move.

504
00:30:16,210 --> 00:30:18,560
And you look at the city.

505
00:30:19,150 --> 00:30:20,310
You drive down the street.

506
00:30:20,910 --> 00:30:23,900
You go to Walmart at two in the morning,
which is one of my favorite things to do.

507
00:30:24,900 --> 00:30:26,130
It's a whole different world.

508
00:30:26,130 --> 00:30:26,920
It's awesome.

509
00:30:28,130 --> 00:30:29,570
that's the heart of the city.

510
00:30:30,570 --> 00:30:35,990
And you are at stoplights and you look
left, you look right, you pass through the

511
00:30:35,990 --> 00:30:41,170
crowds as you, push through, people after
people, you wait in line behind them.

512
00:30:41,170 --> 00:30:42,210
They're behind you.

513
00:30:42,430 --> 00:30:46,750
You're surrounded by people who were
made in the image of God, people

514
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:50,840
who God declares in his word that
he formed in his mother's womb.

515
00:30:51,820 --> 00:30:55,670
People that he declares are
fearfully and wonderfully made.

516
00:30:56,595 --> 00:30:59,595
People that he declares over, I'm
willing that none should perish, but

517
00:30:59,595 --> 00:31:00,895
that all should come to repentance.

518
00:31:01,225 --> 00:31:03,315
People who he made to know him.

519
00:31:05,265 --> 00:31:06,945
And we're in the thick of it.

520
00:31:08,325 --> 00:31:11,045
And here we are in this
city that's broken down.

521
00:31:11,455 --> 00:31:16,765
Here we are in this city where people
go about their lives unto death.

522
00:31:17,025 --> 00:31:20,395
And it's okay.

523
00:31:22,055 --> 00:31:27,215
We find ourselves just in the mix,
caught up, hearing the report after year.

524
00:31:27,215 --> 00:31:28,105
How's Stockton?

525
00:31:28,285 --> 00:31:29,355
Oh, she's bad.

526
00:31:29,665 --> 00:31:30,545
And we go on.

527
00:31:30,565 --> 00:31:31,325
How's Stockton?

528
00:31:31,335 --> 00:31:32,215
She's bad.

529
00:31:32,385 --> 00:31:33,165
How's Stockton?

530
00:31:33,175 --> 00:31:33,835
She's bad.

531
00:31:33,955 --> 00:31:35,205
after generation.

532
00:31:35,425 --> 00:31:38,835
And we go about and we
get our two cars, our 2.

533
00:31:38,835 --> 00:31:39,975
5 kids.

534
00:31:40,185 --> 00:31:45,065
We make sure everything's dialed and that
we're secure, that we're going to heaven.

535
00:31:45,245 --> 00:31:46,375
But we never have a thing.

536
00:31:46,510 --> 00:31:50,710
Thought, or if we did, it never
translates into action to the

537
00:31:50,710 --> 00:31:53,050
person who's 50 feet next to us.

538
00:31:54,570 --> 00:31:55,980
Who is on fire?

539
00:31:57,860 --> 00:31:59,080
Who is sitting there?

540
00:31:59,650 --> 00:32:01,360
Wondering, is there more?

541
00:32:01,360 --> 00:32:07,790
Who is in the stupor of sin, blinded
to the fact, is there anything more?

542
00:32:07,980 --> 00:32:13,980
And yet we have that coat, we have
that water, we have that which

543
00:32:13,980 --> 00:32:18,300
to extinguish the flame, and yet
we find that we drink from it

544
00:32:18,310 --> 00:32:20,560
ourselves and keep it to ourselves.

545
00:32:20,890 --> 00:32:21,750
It's so necessary.

546
00:32:21,750 --> 00:32:23,170
It's so necessary.

547
00:32:25,005 --> 00:32:31,815
And this young body is the prayer
of this body to be like Nehemiah's

548
00:32:31,835 --> 00:32:36,365
prayer, God, give me your heart.

549
00:32:37,365 --> 00:32:38,885
We know that Nehemiah is a man of prayer.

550
00:32:38,915 --> 00:32:41,255
This is one in nine prayers
recorded in the book.

551
00:32:42,615 --> 00:32:46,285
We know this wasn't, he heard this and
all of a sudden he begins his prayer life.

552
00:32:46,285 --> 00:32:48,555
This was something that he was consistent.

553
00:32:49,085 --> 00:32:54,415
He has a developed theology about God
as we'll see briefly in his prayer.

554
00:32:55,260 --> 00:32:56,770
He knows who God is.

555
00:32:56,820 --> 00:32:58,320
He knows the Bible.

556
00:32:58,330 --> 00:32:59,540
He knows the word.

557
00:32:59,620 --> 00:33:01,800
He knows and he loves the Lord.

558
00:33:03,350 --> 00:33:08,590
But one of the things that were
necessary was to get God's heart on this.

559
00:33:08,850 --> 00:33:14,150
That when God called him up to go,
to be the one, to rebuild the walls,

560
00:33:14,150 --> 00:33:19,320
to be the catalyst for revival in the
city, there needed to be the heart.

561
00:33:19,340 --> 00:33:19,900
Why?

562
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:23,890
Nehemiah was the cupbearer,
as he says in verse 11.

563
00:33:23,890 --> 00:33:23,910
Amen.

564
00:33:24,530 --> 00:33:27,500
It says in verse 11, I was
a cupbearer to the king.

565
00:33:27,890 --> 00:33:29,730
Now we might think that was just, Mr.

566
00:33:29,730 --> 00:33:31,490
Belvedere or some butler job.

567
00:33:32,225 --> 00:33:35,485
But the cup bearer was a
very incredible position.

568
00:33:35,995 --> 00:33:41,485
And often we see it in Assyrian
monuments, how important cup bearers

569
00:33:41,495 --> 00:33:43,585
were, how they would, carry themselves.

570
00:33:43,585 --> 00:33:48,745
They held the cup in their left hand,
the wine that the king would drink, and

571
00:33:48,745 --> 00:33:50,010
they held in their right hand a feather.

572
00:33:50,620 --> 00:33:55,230
to keep anything away from him,
they were constantly by his side.

573
00:33:55,420 --> 00:33:57,470
It was somebody who had to be trusted.

574
00:33:57,790 --> 00:34:02,870
So trusted that they wore an embroidered
napkin across their left shoulder, long

575
00:34:02,870 --> 00:34:07,540
it was tasseled, that they would take in
their hands and wipe the king's lips with.

576
00:34:08,465 --> 00:34:12,185
Then, to test to make sure there was no
poison, they would take the cup, they

577
00:34:12,185 --> 00:34:15,995
would pour some out of the container
into the cup, they would then pour it

578
00:34:15,995 --> 00:34:19,625
out into their left hand, and they would
drink from their left hand to make sure

579
00:34:19,625 --> 00:34:21,085
that there was no poison in the cup.

580
00:34:21,264 --> 00:34:22,585
They would then serve the king.

581
00:34:22,975 --> 00:34:26,735
And here was a job that only
the king and his most trusted

582
00:34:26,975 --> 00:34:28,670
person would he trust with this.

583
00:34:29,150 --> 00:34:31,300
And here was a place of influence.

584
00:34:31,420 --> 00:34:33,860
You had the ear of the king at all times.

585
00:34:34,070 --> 00:34:35,830
You heard the discussions.

586
00:34:35,830 --> 00:34:37,699
You heard how things were happening.

587
00:34:37,699 --> 00:34:40,139
You knew about this
situation and that situation.

588
00:34:40,429 --> 00:34:44,020
And here Nehemiah is
going knowingly to trade.

589
00:34:44,150 --> 00:34:50,100
What he was going to trade the palace life
for a life in the rubble and in the dust.

590
00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:55,449
He was going to trade a life that was
warm and comfortable for a life of

591
00:34:55,449 --> 00:35:00,960
sitting watch on the temple wall at night,
not being able to change his clothes.

592
00:35:01,310 --> 00:35:06,330
He was going to trade from the bounty
from the king's table, all the food

593
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:11,760
and all the provisions never wanting
to now taking care of 50 and a hundred

594
00:35:11,850 --> 00:35:13,880
people at his table from his own pocket.

595
00:35:14,425 --> 00:35:19,335
He was going to move from the place
of absolute care and comfort to the

596
00:35:19,335 --> 00:35:23,585
place where it would be hard, where
he would be threatened, where he would

597
00:35:23,595 --> 00:35:26,295
be attempted to be killed and slayed.

598
00:35:26,645 --> 00:35:30,375
Where he would be lied against and
slandered against, where once he

599
00:35:30,375 --> 00:35:35,875
held prestige before the courts of
the king, the world power at that

600
00:35:35,885 --> 00:35:40,535
time, he would become the focus
of all of the enemy's attacks.

601
00:35:40,895 --> 00:35:47,185
And so Nehemiah needed one thing so
badly, and that was the heart of God.

602
00:35:48,185 --> 00:35:53,655
Because when the lies came, when
the slander came, when the threats,

603
00:35:54,655 --> 00:36:02,205
when these things began to roll in,
Where one who is there by duty, who

604
00:36:02,205 --> 00:36:07,645
is there because they felt some duty
to the situation could look and could

605
00:36:07,645 --> 00:36:11,605
see the people and could keep going.

606
00:36:12,605 --> 00:36:13,805
He could see their poverty.

607
00:36:15,045 --> 00:36:16,695
He could see their disgrace.

608
00:36:17,075 --> 00:36:21,585
He could see their pain and where
the tendency would be to run

609
00:36:21,585 --> 00:36:25,395
back to that which we know best
to be comforted in that place.

610
00:36:25,405 --> 00:36:27,875
Once again, he fought.

611
00:36:29,305 --> 00:36:32,235
Because he had a heart for them.

612
00:36:33,235 --> 00:36:35,735
He's very similar, and he points
to the one who would come.

613
00:36:37,495 --> 00:36:44,585
Who it says in Hebrews chapter 12
endured the cross, despising the shame

614
00:36:45,645 --> 00:36:49,825
for the joy that was set before him.

615
00:36:50,655 --> 00:36:52,345
What was the joy that was set before him?

616
00:36:52,945 --> 00:36:56,385
It was you and me in right
relationship with him.

617
00:36:57,385 --> 00:37:00,385
Jesus just didn't roll up and
He didn't go, The cross, what?

618
00:37:00,415 --> 00:37:00,995
I'm God.

619
00:37:01,525 --> 00:37:02,575
Come on, bring it on.

620
00:37:02,825 --> 00:37:03,755
You need some help there?

621
00:37:04,755 --> 00:37:05,835
He despised it.

622
00:37:07,055 --> 00:37:08,095
The Lord of glory.

623
00:37:09,405 --> 00:37:16,645
You, Creator, in your own creation,
you breathed life into these bodies.

624
00:37:17,705 --> 00:37:20,025
You knew their name before
they were even born.

625
00:37:21,405 --> 00:37:23,075
You know how they function.

626
00:37:23,075 --> 00:37:25,315
You gave them their very personality.

627
00:37:26,945 --> 00:37:30,755
You gave them the tongues in which
they mock you and lie against you.

628
00:37:31,295 --> 00:37:35,635
You put the very saliva in their
mouths in which they hurl at you.

629
00:37:36,445 --> 00:37:37,585
And their spit.

630
00:37:38,585 --> 00:37:39,935
He despised the shame.

631
00:37:40,795 --> 00:37:42,575
He despised being accursed.

632
00:37:42,785 --> 00:37:45,725
He despised being, becoming sin.

633
00:37:47,625 --> 00:37:52,075
But he did it because he
looked ahead at you and me.

634
00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:55,590
redeemed and right relationship with him.

635
00:37:55,590 --> 00:37:57,420
And so Nehemiah got God's heart.

636
00:37:58,310 --> 00:38:00,160
And that is a prayer that God answers.

637
00:38:00,580 --> 00:38:03,710
I remember being young and
praying for that foolishly.

638
00:38:04,230 --> 00:38:05,320
God, give me your heart.

639
00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:07,320
Break my heart with
what breaks your heart.

640
00:38:07,630 --> 00:38:08,720
It's a prayer God answers.

641
00:38:08,720 --> 00:38:15,460
And it wasn't like flipping on a light
switch and all of a sudden you're dialed.

642
00:38:16,345 --> 00:38:17,735
But he let me taste it.

643
00:38:17,945 --> 00:38:22,765
And I remember being with a group
of friends and, we were talking and

644
00:38:22,765 --> 00:38:28,885
there used to be this one guy who
always wore the same jacket and,

645
00:38:28,885 --> 00:38:33,185
we gave him a hard time growing up
and feel really awful about that.

646
00:38:33,355 --> 00:38:37,095
We can be pretty brutal with people
and, we always made fun of him.

647
00:38:37,095 --> 00:38:39,975
And so I remember being with my group
of friends that he rolled up and he

648
00:38:39,975 --> 00:38:42,595
just wanted to be belong to something.

649
00:38:42,595 --> 00:38:43,875
He just wanted to be a part.

650
00:38:45,310 --> 00:38:50,280
And so people began to mock him with their
half smiles and, oh, I really like your

651
00:38:50,290 --> 00:38:52,940
jacket and is that new kind of a thing?

652
00:38:53,330 --> 00:38:54,690
Everybody trying not to laugh.

653
00:38:54,690 --> 00:38:58,820
And I remember as I used to participate
in the exact same thing, I couldn't

654
00:38:58,830 --> 00:39:02,360
that night and I had to run out.

655
00:39:02,940 --> 00:39:05,810
We're at a church, funny
enough, we had to run out.

656
00:39:06,250 --> 00:39:08,470
I had to, and I just started bawling.

657
00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:09,700
I'm like, what's happening?

658
00:39:09,700 --> 00:39:10,700
I'm having a breakdown.

659
00:39:10,750 --> 00:39:11,330
Oh no.

660
00:39:11,740 --> 00:39:12,410
am I a female?

661
00:39:12,660 --> 00:39:12,880
No.

662
00:39:12,970 --> 00:39:19,530
it's So I remember the Lord reminding me,
says, you want to know my heart, Kayla,

663
00:39:20,530 --> 00:39:26,760
that we would put down somebody maybe
grieves God that we would gossip

664
00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:28,240
about them and make fun of them.

665
00:39:28,250 --> 00:39:31,410
Maybe that grieves the heart
of God because God adores them.

666
00:39:31,810 --> 00:39:35,760
God took the blood from his
veins and ripped it and spread

667
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:37,380
it on him just as he did you.

668
00:39:37,510 --> 00:39:39,120
It was nothing better in you.

669
00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:40,340
Nothing.

670
00:39:41,340 --> 00:39:42,960
And we're hearing about
a girl on the radio.

671
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:45,110
I used to listen to
talk radio all the time.

672
00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:46,990
My wife hated it.

673
00:39:48,310 --> 00:39:49,590
I'd be like, I know what's
wrong with the world.

674
00:39:49,790 --> 00:39:52,510
We just need to, But I remember hearing
a story on the news that came on.

675
00:39:52,750 --> 00:39:55,710
The news would come on every hour and
it was a story like every other story.

676
00:39:55,710 --> 00:39:56,680
you hear it all the time.

677
00:39:57,030 --> 00:39:58,070
It's the world we live in.

678
00:39:58,580 --> 00:40:00,900
But a little girl in Las Vegas
had gone into the bathroom of one

679
00:40:00,900 --> 00:40:04,720
of the restaurants and she was
eight years old and a guy followed

680
00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:05,840
her and raped her and killed her.

681
00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:08,370
I had to pull over on
the side of the road.

682
00:40:09,170 --> 00:40:09,730
I hear that.

683
00:40:09,730 --> 00:40:11,640
That's, I wanted to be a cop.

684
00:40:11,820 --> 00:40:15,620
that just, you, and I just, oh,

685
00:40:16,620 --> 00:40:18,270
so it breaks God's
heart when he sees that.

686
00:40:19,270 --> 00:40:19,970
grieves his heart.

687
00:40:20,970 --> 00:40:26,840
So you mean it grieves his heart
when right now in that neighborhood

688
00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:35,960
there's parents who are too
high to get their kids breakfast

689
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:42,340
and they're looking through the
cupboards for something to eat.

690
00:40:43,340 --> 00:40:47,690
You mean it breaks God's heart that
just down the street about four blocks

691
00:40:48,820 --> 00:40:55,000
Women sell themselves just to make
it, just to get bread on the table.

692
00:40:55,500 --> 00:40:59,180
God's daughters, who he called beautiful.

693
00:41:00,180 --> 00:41:03,520
So it breaks God's heart that there
are people right now sitting in

694
00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:08,960
church who think that God loves
them because they're good and moral,

695
00:41:09,960 --> 00:41:11,170
when they don't even know him.

696
00:41:12,620 --> 00:41:16,070
When he says, I've died for you
because you could never be good enough.

697
00:41:16,970 --> 00:41:21,750
And you think because you're just a good
person, don't you know your righteousness

698
00:41:21,750 --> 00:41:23,340
is like a filthy garment to me?

699
00:41:24,410 --> 00:41:26,430
Don't you know I died
to give you my garment?

700
00:41:27,430 --> 00:41:30,300
And they sit there cold and
sterile in their Christianity.

701
00:41:31,300 --> 00:41:32,150
Breaks God's heart.

702
00:41:33,150 --> 00:41:38,640
Breaks God's heart when two of his people
who he redeemed, who he made new, who

703
00:41:38,640 --> 00:41:44,280
were born again, so much joy in their
life, have begun to look at each other.

704
00:41:45,115 --> 00:41:47,405
They've become bitter and
unforgiving to one another.

705
00:41:49,135 --> 00:41:51,055
And he goes, don't you know
the forgiveness I offered

706
00:41:51,055 --> 00:41:52,595
you, is it so hard to offer?

707
00:41:53,285 --> 00:41:55,035
Do you not know how much
you've been forgiven?

708
00:41:55,035 --> 00:41:58,715
Is it so hard to offer
just a little forgiveness?

709
00:41:58,715 --> 00:42:01,975
Don't you know I've forgiven
you millions and millions if

710
00:42:01,975 --> 00:42:03,155
you want to take it like that.

711
00:42:03,535 --> 00:42:06,165
And he's, you've got to
forgive him ten bucks.

712
00:42:06,165 --> 00:42:07,535
Is it so difficult?

713
00:42:09,390 --> 00:42:11,020
Would you put your eyes on one another?

714
00:42:11,020 --> 00:42:15,540
Would you put your eyes on a church
when the world drowns around us?

715
00:42:16,730 --> 00:42:17,550
Does it break God's heart?

716
00:42:18,550 --> 00:42:22,530
Does it break God's heart when
we used to get up in the morning

717
00:42:22,530 --> 00:42:23,990
and it used to just be Jesus?

718
00:42:24,140 --> 00:42:25,030
He's amazing.

719
00:42:25,030 --> 00:42:25,630
He's glorious.

720
00:42:25,630 --> 00:42:27,170
He saved me and set me free.

721
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:28,270
He's beautiful.

722
00:42:28,270 --> 00:42:30,060
There's nothing else
in the world like Him.

723
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:33,510
I was shackled and I
was chained in my sin.

724
00:42:33,775 --> 00:42:35,535
I was chained in my religiosity.

725
00:42:35,765 --> 00:42:37,375
I was chained and in bondage.

726
00:42:37,375 --> 00:42:38,755
There was nothing I could do.

727
00:42:39,015 --> 00:42:39,935
I was smothered.

728
00:42:40,085 --> 00:42:42,985
It was like one long breath,
and it was like I was going,

729
00:42:42,985 --> 00:42:44,125
and I was going to be gone.

730
00:42:44,125 --> 00:42:47,325
And he reached his hand down into
the mire, and he took me and he

731
00:42:47,325 --> 00:42:48,835
brought me up out of that pit.

732
00:42:49,135 --> 00:42:51,955
Oh, how he became beautiful that day.

733
00:42:52,285 --> 00:42:55,725
And it is as it break God's heart
that I take those same chains I was

734
00:42:55,725 --> 00:42:59,745
delivered from, and I wrap them around
my neck, ready to jump off the side

735
00:42:59,745 --> 00:43:02,155
of a cliff to choke myself once again.

736
00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:04,990
With the things of this world,
does it break his heart?

737
00:43:05,990 --> 00:43:09,440
So one of the great prayers that
we could pray, beginning this

738
00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:11,430
series, is God give me your heart.

739
00:43:13,250 --> 00:43:14,980
God is my heart not right?

740
00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:17,510
Is it different?

741
00:43:18,300 --> 00:43:20,690
I have to tell you, we look at his prayer.

742
00:43:21,575 --> 00:43:25,165
And, look in verse eight, he says,
Remember, I pray the word that

743
00:43:25,175 --> 00:43:27,735
you commanded your servant Moses
saying, If you are unfaithful, I

744
00:43:27,735 --> 00:43:28,945
will scatter you among the nations.

745
00:43:29,235 --> 00:43:33,605
But if you return to me and keep my
commandments and do them, though some of

746
00:43:33,605 --> 00:43:37,545
you were cast out to the farthest parts of
the heavens, yet I will gather them from

747
00:43:37,545 --> 00:43:41,385
there chosen as a dwelling for my name.

748
00:43:41,385 --> 00:43:45,775
And so he's remembering that
covenant that was made to Moses, that

749
00:43:45,775 --> 00:43:48,235
covenant that was always intention.

750
00:43:48,660 --> 00:43:52,200
There's always this beautiful tension
in the Old Testament because God said if

751
00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:57,620
you sin, I'm just and I've got a judge
But I'm loving, and so I want to bring

752
00:43:57,620 --> 00:44:02,190
you back to myself, and theologians go
back and forth, and commentators back and

753
00:44:02,190 --> 00:44:06,200
forth, and they say, God's love overrules
His justice, time and time again, but

754
00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:08,430
that can't work, because God is perfect.

755
00:44:08,580 --> 00:44:11,480
He's fully just, and He's fully love.

756
00:44:11,770 --> 00:44:16,350
And so His justice is fully loving,
and His loving is fully just.

757
00:44:16,700 --> 00:44:17,770
And how does that happen?

758
00:44:17,770 --> 00:44:18,770
How does it go back and forth?

759
00:44:18,770 --> 00:44:20,820
Because the people are
constantly going into sin.

760
00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:23,930
God has said, you go away,
I'm gonna write you off.

761
00:44:24,100 --> 00:44:26,360
But then He's redeeming
them and bringing them back.

762
00:44:26,550 --> 00:44:30,330
It's because all those things were
reconciled because He brought the cross.

763
00:44:30,330 --> 00:44:34,250
They were reconciled at the cross
where He judged Jesus for our sin.

764
00:44:35,505 --> 00:44:42,415
That he might give us his love so that he
would be declared just and the forgiver of

765
00:44:42,415 --> 00:44:46,265
sins But the thing is that we think okay.

766
00:44:46,265 --> 00:44:47,175
that's old school.

767
00:44:47,175 --> 00:44:52,515
That's old OT or whatever But the
thing is that in the New Testament

768
00:44:52,515 --> 00:44:56,545
in Revelation 2 and 3 you've got The
churches and one of the things that God

769
00:44:56,565 --> 00:45:02,375
tells the church at Ephesus is he says
if you do not Return into that first

770
00:45:02,375 --> 00:45:07,465
love relationship with me If your heart
is not mad after me, if I'm not the

771
00:45:07,465 --> 00:45:11,695
center, then what will happen is I have to
remove your candlestick or your witness.

772
00:45:12,695 --> 00:45:14,435
So important is the heart of God.

773
00:45:15,205 --> 00:45:18,905
So important is individuals praying,
God, give me your heart for this person.

774
00:45:18,905 --> 00:45:22,265
God, let me see through your perspective
for the heart of God is simply

775
00:45:22,455 --> 00:45:24,155
the right perspective of the soul.

776
00:45:25,635 --> 00:45:29,275
It is seeing and counting
eternity into its equation.

777
00:45:29,805 --> 00:45:32,105
It is counting salvation.

778
00:45:32,655 --> 00:45:36,715
It is counting glorification, it is
counting justification and sanctification.

779
00:45:36,985 --> 00:45:41,765
It's taking where once we took and
we did, in our equation as we viewed

780
00:45:41,765 --> 00:45:46,535
somebody or something, we said, how does
this person impact me in my comfort?

781
00:45:46,805 --> 00:45:51,945
Now the heart of God is taking
and adding countless and infinite

782
00:45:51,945 --> 00:45:53,445
resources to the equation.

783
00:45:55,185 --> 00:45:56,625
And then it changes everything.

784
00:45:57,095 --> 00:46:01,825
And so, briefly, he says in verse four,
or verse five, So I pray to the Lord

785
00:46:01,825 --> 00:46:03,625
God of heaven, O great and awesome God.

786
00:46:04,015 --> 00:46:07,785
And the, Old King James, it
says great and terrible God.

787
00:46:08,115 --> 00:46:12,645
It doesn't mean terrible in the
sense of awful, but it means

788
00:46:12,645 --> 00:46:14,415
terrible in the sense of might.

789
00:46:15,025 --> 00:46:17,725
It means in the sense
of justice and holiness.

790
00:46:17,965 --> 00:46:21,775
And so what Nehemiah does is
he has a proper view of who

791
00:46:21,775 --> 00:46:23,865
God is, that God is loving.

792
00:46:24,115 --> 00:46:27,355
But God isn't just a God where he's
just, just, Oh, hey, you get away with

793
00:46:27,355 --> 00:46:33,035
anything you want, that's not love, but
that he holds us, accountable to that.

794
00:46:33,215 --> 00:46:37,845
And ultimately that we would see that
we could never, ever pay the price.

795
00:46:37,845 --> 00:46:40,245
And so that's why we would
call out for Messiah.

796
00:46:41,410 --> 00:46:44,580
That's why we would long for Messiah,
as the children of Israel did.

797
00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:47,790
Where they longed future,
we would long past.

798
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:50,180
And we would look and we'd
say, we need something greater

799
00:46:50,180 --> 00:46:52,060
than ourselves to redeem us.

800
00:46:53,150 --> 00:46:56,770
So often, our theology informs our lives.

801
00:46:57,360 --> 00:47:02,140
Often I'll hear somebody say, I
just feel so condemned by God.

802
00:47:03,830 --> 00:47:05,670
So I'll ask them, are you a believer?

803
00:47:05,670 --> 00:47:07,150
And they'll say, are you a believer?

804
00:47:07,150 --> 00:47:07,710
Yes.

805
00:47:09,690 --> 00:47:11,190
I'll say, you have bad theology.

806
00:47:12,190 --> 00:47:12,970
It's bad theology.

807
00:47:12,970 --> 00:47:16,060
'cause the Bible declares, there's
therefore, now no condemnation

808
00:47:16,720 --> 00:47:18,400
to those who are in Christ Jesus.

809
00:47:19,400 --> 00:47:21,080
See, often

810
00:47:22,080 --> 00:47:24,090
we forget the gospel,
we forget its impact.

811
00:47:24,095 --> 00:47:30,330
We forget what it is and what it's done in
our lives, and we need to constantly fight

812
00:47:30,330 --> 00:47:35,460
for that and applying that to our hearts.

813
00:47:37,395 --> 00:47:43,265
Someone would say, I just can't see how
God would forgive me this many times.

814
00:47:43,325 --> 00:47:47,555
that's bad theology because the Bible
declares that he's taken our sin as far

815
00:47:47,555 --> 00:47:51,625
as the East is from the West to remember
it no more, that where our sins were

816
00:47:51,635 --> 00:47:54,265
scarlet, there'll be white as snow.

817
00:47:55,265 --> 00:47:59,345
So we need to work and make sure that
we're seeing things through the gospel,

818
00:48:00,345 --> 00:48:03,815
that he adores us, that he loves us, that
he's already done those things for us.

819
00:48:04,155 --> 00:48:04,815
He says.

820
00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:09,620
He says your covenant and mercy with
those who love you at the end of verse

821
00:48:09,620 --> 00:48:11,240
five and observe your commandments.

822
00:48:11,250 --> 00:48:15,340
Please let your ear be attentive and your
eyes open that you may hear the prayer

823
00:48:15,340 --> 00:48:18,930
of your servant, which I pray before
you now, day and night for the Children

824
00:48:18,930 --> 00:48:22,170
of Israel, your servants and confess
the sins of the Children of Israel,

825
00:48:22,170 --> 00:48:23,640
which they have sinned against you.

826
00:48:23,640 --> 00:48:25,540
Both my father's house and I have sinned.

827
00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:27,630
We've acted very corruptly against you.

828
00:48:27,915 --> 00:48:31,095
And have not kept the commandments,
the statutes, nor the ordinances which

829
00:48:31,095 --> 00:48:32,715
you commanded your servant Moses.

830
00:48:32,975 --> 00:48:37,735
And so he begins to identify
himself in their sins.

831
00:48:38,875 --> 00:48:41,605
Here he was in a place where
he's not a part of that.

832
00:48:41,765 --> 00:48:47,435
But he then begins to take responsibility
and he begins to say, God, I repent.

833
00:48:48,295 --> 00:48:52,345
I repent on behalf of this because
there was somebody standing in the gap.

834
00:48:52,345 --> 00:48:54,385
There was somebody taking responsibility.

835
00:48:54,385 --> 00:49:00,805
There was somebody saying, yes,
I repent on behalf of this.

836
00:49:01,365 --> 00:49:04,005
Remember, I pray the word that you
commanded your servant, Moses, saying,

837
00:49:04,005 --> 00:49:07,595
if you are unfaithful to you among the
nations, but if you return to me, keep

838
00:49:07,595 --> 00:49:10,805
my commandments and do them, though some
of you are cast off to the farthest parts

839
00:49:10,805 --> 00:49:13,915
of heavens, yet I will gather them from
there and bring them to the place which

840
00:49:13,915 --> 00:49:16,035
I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.

841
00:49:16,035 --> 00:49:20,415
Now these are your servants and your
people whom you have redeemed by your

842
00:49:20,415 --> 00:49:21,795
great power and by your strong hand.

843
00:49:21,795 --> 00:49:25,285
Again, praying for the entire
group, not just the Lone Ranger.

844
00:49:25,285 --> 00:49:29,375
God, if you can use me, a thing,
but praying for the whole people.

845
00:49:29,375 --> 00:49:32,565
He says, Oh Lord, I pray, please let
your ear be attentive to the prayer

846
00:49:32,565 --> 00:49:35,695
of your servant, and to the prayer
of your servants who desire to fear

847
00:49:35,695 --> 00:49:39,295
your name, and let your servant
prosper this day, I pray, and grant

848
00:49:39,295 --> 00:49:41,155
him mercy in the sight of this man.

849
00:49:41,365 --> 00:49:44,225
One of the beautiful things
is that he says, this man.

850
00:49:45,205 --> 00:49:49,035
Because in Proverbs it declares
that the heart of the king

851
00:49:49,035 --> 00:49:50,195
is in the hand of the Lord.

852
00:49:50,895 --> 00:49:55,285
And he doesn't reference this king, but
he's referencing this is a man to you.

853
00:49:55,305 --> 00:49:56,975
You can do what you would.

854
00:49:56,985 --> 00:49:58,115
You can move his heart.

855
00:49:58,495 --> 00:50:03,095
The interesting thing is that years
before this very king, has you where he,

856
00:50:03,275 --> 00:50:06,185
had told them not to rebuild the walls.

857
00:50:06,205 --> 00:50:11,095
He had signed a law and a decree saying
stop the work, and you find that in Ezra.

858
00:50:11,415 --> 00:50:14,605
And the walls, or Artaxerxes, excuse
me, the walls had been rebuilt.

859
00:50:15,025 --> 00:50:15,985
Stopped.

860
00:50:16,295 --> 00:50:19,895
And, and so he says, for I
was the King's cupbearer.

861
00:50:20,175 --> 00:50:24,095
And so what he's going to
do and is that he looks, he

862
00:50:24,095 --> 00:50:25,805
goes, God, it's in your hands.

863
00:50:25,845 --> 00:50:26,525
I trust you.

864
00:50:26,525 --> 00:50:31,775
He begins to pray over and over and over
and over for God to work and for God to

865
00:50:31,775 --> 00:50:36,835
move because he understands that God has
ordained prayers the means to get things

866
00:50:36,835 --> 00:50:40,205
done, to further the kingdom of his work.

867
00:50:41,205 --> 00:50:43,165
But one of the great things about prayer.

868
00:50:44,940 --> 00:50:50,490
Is that in prayer, what happens is
that's exactly where you get his heart.

869
00:50:52,020 --> 00:50:56,140
And so when you have his heart, instead
of just praying and saying, God, raise

870
00:50:56,140 --> 00:51:00,060
up missionaries, God, raise up people
for Stockton, God, raise up and do this.

871
00:51:00,070 --> 00:51:02,980
Pretty soon your prayers
change from that to God.

872
00:51:02,980 --> 00:51:04,530
How would you use me in Stockton?

873
00:51:05,530 --> 00:51:08,400
God, how would you use me in this city?

874
00:51:08,610 --> 00:51:10,130
God, how would you use me?

875
00:51:10,490 --> 00:51:11,710
God, I'm not adequate.

876
00:51:11,720 --> 00:51:15,530
What could you use one such as I
God, how would you use me at work?

877
00:51:16,440 --> 00:51:18,260
Pretty soon you're up in the
morning and you're praying and

878
00:51:18,260 --> 00:51:21,030
you're saying, God, thank you
for giving me this mission field.

879
00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:22,790
Thank you for the people I work with.

880
00:51:22,960 --> 00:51:24,920
Thank you for what you're
doing in Joe's heart.

881
00:51:25,060 --> 00:51:26,920
And how, he's asking questions.

882
00:51:26,950 --> 00:51:30,230
God, give me your wisdom that
I might represent you properly.

883
00:51:30,240 --> 00:51:33,180
Pretty soon it's not
God, do this for this.

884
00:51:33,350 --> 00:51:35,940
But pretty soon it's God, use me in this.

885
00:51:36,550 --> 00:51:39,220
Because when the heart of
God, it's always borne out.

886
00:51:39,240 --> 00:51:41,730
And that the feet of God are also given.

887
00:51:42,530 --> 00:51:46,460
That the mind of Him, and the
hands of Him, and the ears of

888
00:51:46,460 --> 00:51:49,890
Him, that it's not just a heart
that He gives, but an entire body.

889
00:51:50,190 --> 00:51:52,560
Because He puts His heart in
something that functions, that's

890
00:51:52,570 --> 00:51:55,830
something that breathes, that's
something that beats for His purposes.

891
00:51:56,140 --> 00:52:00,430
So that one doesn't just sit back and
say, someone else will do it, the pastors

892
00:52:00,460 --> 00:52:01,960
will do it, my friends will do it.

893
00:52:02,130 --> 00:52:05,970
But they raise up and they say,
God, allow me to do it, by Your

894
00:52:05,990 --> 00:52:07,410
grace and by Your strength.

895
00:52:07,610 --> 00:52:09,200
Let me step with boldness.

896
00:52:09,390 --> 00:52:10,150
Let me walk.

897
00:52:10,180 --> 00:52:10,810
Walk with power.

898
00:52:10,990 --> 00:52:13,280
Let me walk with wisdom and authority.

899
00:52:13,440 --> 00:52:15,000
Use me.

900
00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:19,260
There's no doubt that people
are on fire in this city.

901
00:52:20,260 --> 00:52:22,170
The end of that story goes that

902
00:52:23,170 --> 00:52:26,820
he went to his interview and
he sat there and the lady

903
00:52:27,050 --> 00:52:30,170
said, Oh, it smells like beer.

904
00:52:31,170 --> 00:52:38,270
And he explained the story and her
response was, you should have changed.

905
00:52:39,270 --> 00:52:40,020
Are we so different?

906
00:52:41,020 --> 00:52:42,460
We have to be careful as a church.

907
00:52:42,740 --> 00:52:43,750
Hear me out on this.

908
00:52:44,750 --> 00:52:47,680
When we're on the front
lines, it's like a hospital.

909
00:52:49,040 --> 00:52:49,950
Things get dirty.

910
00:52:51,580 --> 00:52:52,320
Things happen.

911
00:52:53,320 --> 00:53:01,000
And we can be so quick to stand back and
to go, Oh, I can't believe that happened.

912
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:04,490
I can't believe someone
would fall like that.

913
00:53:06,400 --> 00:53:09,866
I can't believe they're over
at their house when it's

914
00:53:09,866 --> 00:53:12,185
exactly where Jesus would be.

915
00:53:13,185 --> 00:53:16,715
Make no mistake, the city
blazes and it's in rubble,

916
00:53:17,715 --> 00:53:23,335
and the walls are broken down, and the
enemy has access, and God would raise up a

917
00:53:23,335 --> 00:53:30,675
group for such a time as this, to stand in
the gap, because the walls of God aren't

918
00:53:30,725 --> 00:53:38,065
actual physical bricks, but His people,
standing with arms lifted in praise.

919
00:53:38,625 --> 00:53:43,325
And worship to the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords to put on

920
00:53:43,325 --> 00:53:53,005
display the goodness of God in their
lives and effectual and fervent and

921
00:53:53,005 --> 00:53:55,515
passionate love for one another.

922
00:53:56,515 --> 00:54:01,555
And pretty soon people will
be able to worship God.

923
00:54:01,555 --> 00:54:03,805
They'll see him and God will redeem them.

924
00:54:04,795 --> 00:54:07,825
But the question is, will you pray that?

925
00:54:09,515 --> 00:54:10,705
If I could have the team come up.

926
00:54:11,705 --> 00:54:15,375
I would never want you
guys to hear a study.

927
00:54:16,875 --> 00:54:22,305
And for you to hear from the study,
alright, this is what's needed, now do it.

928
00:54:24,285 --> 00:54:29,905
We always have to look to the gospel to
be our strength and to be our motivation.

929
00:54:29,905 --> 00:54:33,405
Because if we just leave
here and we just go, okay.

930
00:54:34,470 --> 00:54:35,550
Got to get the heart of God.

931
00:54:36,160 --> 00:54:37,170
Come on, give it to me.

932
00:54:37,170 --> 00:54:38,140
Come on, let's do this thing.

933
00:54:38,140 --> 00:54:38,590
Come on.

934
00:54:38,590 --> 00:54:40,550
Yeah, I love people.

935
00:54:41,030 --> 00:54:43,120
Much too many say kind of thing.

936
00:54:44,120 --> 00:54:47,240
our spiritual Christianity becomes like
snapping into a Slim Jim or something.

937
00:54:47,240 --> 00:54:47,670
We're just

938
00:54:48,670 --> 00:54:52,030
in Romans chapter nine, verse one to
three, Paul, the apostle wrote and he

939
00:54:52,030 --> 00:54:53,590
said, I tell you the truth in Christ.

940
00:54:53,590 --> 00:54:56,440
And when the apostles writing inspired by
the Holy Spirit and he says, I tell you

941
00:54:56,440 --> 00:54:58,930
the truth, he wants you to know something.

942
00:54:58,930 --> 00:55:00,260
He says, I'm not lying.

943
00:55:00,650 --> 00:55:01,520
So double.

944
00:55:02,235 --> 00:55:04,175
Because what he's going to say,
he's going to make a statement

945
00:55:04,225 --> 00:55:05,455
that sounds far fetched.

946
00:55:05,705 --> 00:55:08,345
He says, my conscience
also bearing me witness.

947
00:55:08,345 --> 00:55:12,785
So three times, he says, what
I'm saying, I'm not exaggerating.

948
00:55:12,955 --> 00:55:16,435
I'm not like being just a preacher
right now and going for, effect.

949
00:55:16,765 --> 00:55:19,465
He is saying, you have to know my heart.

950
00:55:19,475 --> 00:55:22,905
He says that I have great sorrow
and continual grief in my heart.

951
00:55:23,285 --> 00:55:28,655
For I could wish that I myself were
cursed from Christ for my brethren.

952
00:55:28,655 --> 00:55:28,705
Amen.

953
00:55:29,215 --> 00:55:38,145
For my countrymen, according to the
flesh, he straight says, I'm in the place.

954
00:55:38,145 --> 00:55:44,265
I want you to know where my heart is,
and that is that I would be accursed.

955
00:55:44,505 --> 00:55:45,775
I would take their place.

956
00:55:46,075 --> 00:55:47,125
I would go to hell.

957
00:55:47,235 --> 00:55:52,015
If my brothers and my sisters could
come to know Jesus, his heart was

958
00:55:52,015 --> 00:55:56,975
so great for the people that he
ministered to, but it was only great

959
00:55:56,995 --> 00:55:59,625
because he looked to the one who.

960
00:56:00,765 --> 00:56:02,415
Had been accursed.

961
00:56:03,405 --> 00:56:08,585
with Jesus, it wasn't a matter of, I
could do this, or I have this heart,

962
00:56:08,745 --> 00:56:12,745
but God, as he looked down at humanity,
crying out to him for a deliverer,

963
00:56:12,925 --> 00:56:14,665
crying out for freedom, what did he do?

964
00:56:14,665 --> 00:56:17,855
He didn't just sit on his
throne and go, ah, that's tough,

965
00:56:17,895 --> 00:56:19,945
that's rough, that's crazy.

966
00:56:19,945 --> 00:56:20,925
But what did he do?

967
00:56:20,975 --> 00:56:23,535
He said, I will be accursed for you.

968
00:56:23,950 --> 00:56:27,330
I will be accursed, and he went to
the tree, the cross of Calvary for us,

969
00:56:27,590 --> 00:56:32,370
and he took on him our sin, and God
judged him for our sin, and he gave

970
00:56:32,370 --> 00:56:34,450
us his righteousness in his place.

971
00:56:35,110 --> 00:56:38,950
That we might be in right relationship
like the Garden of Eden that we might

972
00:56:38,950 --> 00:56:43,690
be brought into that giving Relationship
and so Christ has already done it And

973
00:56:43,690 --> 00:56:47,530
so when you draw near to Christ when
you see that he's been accursed for you

974
00:56:47,740 --> 00:56:51,985
It becomes a beautiful thing him in you
Even in your sinful condition knowing

975
00:56:52,065 --> 00:56:56,615
everything about you that he would say I
will go for you I will go for you because

976
00:56:56,625 --> 00:57:00,035
you were the joy that was set before
him and so that motivates your heart and

977
00:57:00,045 --> 00:57:04,275
worship and you go Lord, you're amazing
You're loving and you draw near to him

978
00:57:04,275 --> 00:57:07,595
because he's beautiful because he's
great and because he's glorious And so

979
00:57:07,595 --> 00:57:10,995
it's not a matter of working and trying
to do It's a matter of drawing close to

980
00:57:10,995 --> 00:57:16,305
God as Nehemiah did and getting on your
knees Not because we have to pray to get

981
00:57:16,305 --> 00:57:21,115
in our time, but because He is glorious,
and we can't wait to spend time with Him.

982
00:57:21,635 --> 00:57:25,055
And pretty soon as we draw near
to Him, as we begin to devote

983
00:57:25,215 --> 00:57:30,365
our lives to Him, it's like Mary,
we wash His feet with our tears.

984
00:57:30,785 --> 00:57:37,345
As we worship at His feet every morning,
He makes us and He fits us for His heart.

985
00:57:38,025 --> 00:57:38,915
That happens.

986
00:57:39,135 --> 00:57:40,515
It doesn't happen any other way.

987
00:57:41,545 --> 00:57:43,005
It does not happen any other way.

988
00:57:43,105 --> 00:57:46,515
if you don't know Jesus, you're on
fire and He came to put you out.

989
00:57:46,625 --> 00:57:47,215
That's it.

990
00:57:48,745 --> 00:57:49,705
It's just the truth of it.

991
00:57:50,635 --> 00:57:51,935
And He's the only one who can.

992
00:57:53,185 --> 00:57:54,665
And all you have to do is believe in Him.

993
00:57:55,665 --> 00:57:56,265
Talk to us.

994
00:57:56,265 --> 00:57:59,555
We've got people over here who love to
talk to you about that and pray with you.

995
00:58:00,075 --> 00:58:00,675
You need to know Him.

996
00:58:00,675 --> 00:58:01,665
He came to set you free.

997
00:58:02,105 --> 00:58:04,625
Sometimes I feel a banquet
could be prepared for you.

998
00:58:05,355 --> 00:58:08,435
And you'd smell it, and it
smells good into the hungry soul.

999
00:58:08,435 --> 00:58:09,815
What is like a food?

1000
00:58:10,505 --> 00:58:14,745
But you never take a bite, and so you've
smelled it, but you've left even more

1001
00:58:14,745 --> 00:58:16,395
hungry, because you've never taken a bite.

1002
00:58:16,395 --> 00:58:17,255
Take a bite today.

1003
00:58:18,275 --> 00:58:19,165
If Jesus,

1004
00:58:20,165 --> 00:58:21,195
would you pray for his heart?

1005
00:58:23,035 --> 00:58:27,535
But would you not just today go, Lord,
give me your heart, if you want to.

1006
00:58:28,255 --> 00:58:30,385
And then walk away and
go about life as usual.

1007
00:58:31,255 --> 00:58:33,785
Could you maybe Maybe
see Jesus is beautiful.

1008
00:58:34,305 --> 00:58:37,665
Maybe see him as your passion
and your heart's desire.

1009
00:58:38,535 --> 00:58:44,765
And maybe even, start to go to him every
day and desire just to be near him.

1010
00:58:46,215 --> 00:58:47,415
To say thank you.

1011
00:58:48,365 --> 00:58:50,545
To begin to worship
him and to give to him.

1012
00:58:51,265 --> 00:58:55,075
For the breath in your lungs, the
saliva on your tongue, the tongue.

1013
00:58:56,125 --> 00:58:56,995
whatever's the barrier.