November 10, 2025 • 54 mins
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Christian Warrior Mission trains believers to stand firm in a collapsing world.
We are a discipleship ministry, home-based warrior church, and working farm that comes alongside local churches—not to replace them, but to strengthen them by equipping men and women to lead, protect, provide, and disciple according to God’s Word.
We train across the Seven Battlefields:
Faith • Family • Fitness • Fundamentals • Finances • Fellowship • Fidelity
This is not a place for spectators, excuses, or passive Christianity.
This is where believers learn to pick up the Sword of Scripture, fortify their households, and lock shields with other warriors in Christ.
We build households that stand. We strengthen churches. We prepare saints for real-world battle.
No retreat. No surrender. Christ is King.
Join our Live Warrior Church Service Tuesday Nights at 8 pm EST on X, YouTube, Facebook, Rumble, and LinkedIn.
Daily Bible Studies Monday- Friday on X, YouTube, Facebook, Rumble, and LinkedIn
About the Host:
Jason Perry — former Navy SEAL, SWAT officer, and paramedic; CEO of Trident Shield; Pastor of Christian Warrior Church. From a 44-acre homestead, Jason trains believers to meet spiritual and practical threats with courage, clarity, and a shepherd’s heart.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:27):
Welcome, welcome, welcome.
Happy Lord's Day to you.
I hope you are enjoying thisamazing fall weather like we
are.
Um, some crisp nights.
I've actually had my first fireoutside, had my first fire in
the morning, which is nice.
Girls love it because they'vebeen getting s'mores um and
roasted marshmallows, so that'salways fun, right?
(00:49):
So good, good, good, good stuff.
I'm also happy to be here, andthen I wasn't squoshed by a
nearly 2,000-pound black Anguscow.
Uh, you guys know Karen wassupposed to go to freezer camp.
That was the plan.
So Lauren and I built a nice newchute for her and got everything
(01:10):
all straight, backed, went,rented a trailer back to town,
and had it all set, and she wasgonna supposedly just go right
in.
Well, she followed that bucketof food all the way up to the
trailer and then was like, nope,and turned around.
And now she's panicked, andshe's oh big girl.
(01:32):
I can't wait to see what herhang weight's gonna be.
She's gonna be close to 2,000pounds.
She's jacked, jacked.
And um, and there was a cornerthat if I got in, I might have
been able to scare her into thetrailer.
And a what and a younger, lesswise Jason would have definitely
done that.
(01:52):
But as I sat there pondering andI'm watching this very strong
cow stomp its feet and lookaround and it's panicked, and
I'm like, if I go in thatcorner, there's an 85% chance or
greater that I'm never leavingthat corner.
So I decided to let her go.
And within a second after that,she bolted right under, well,
(02:16):
right to our metal panel, whichis one of those you know green
things that you see at tractorsupply, sometimes a red,
sometimes a gray.
And she folded that thing likeit was paper, like it was a
paper airplane, just crumpled itup and it was gone.
So, so, so yeah.
Um, I'm glad to be here.
I'm glad Lauren, who had Gus ina backpack, wasn't trampled and
(02:39):
all that stuff.
So Karen is still going.
She bought herself another weekof fattening up, but we're gonna
end up dispatching her here,bleeding her here, and then we
got a friend with a tractorthat's coming who's who's got a
strong, like a big tractor,because not every tractor will
pick up two grand and uh and puther in the back of the trailer
(03:01):
for us.
So that's what we're doing.
And um, you know, we're okaywith that.
You know, we would prefer todispatch here on site, anyways,
just because it's so much easieron the animal.
They put their, they're on theirfarm where they've been, they're
under no stress, they put theirhead in the bucket, and then
around faster than the speed ofsound liquidates their brain,
(03:24):
and it's over.
Right.
So that's what that's the end wewant for them.
So um a lifetime of happinesshere and less than a hundredth
of a second of bad time, right?
So um, so that's that's theplan.
We'll let you know if it goes asplanned.
Because what I've learned is inthis livestock game, nothing
(03:47):
goes to plan.
It's the animals' plan on whatthey're going to do.
So that, and then boy, pork chopis looking great.
We're gonna get ready to do porkchop here, I think, shortly
after that.
We're picking up two newfreezers this week.
We are so blessed.
So we got some answer prayerscoming up, and I want to go
through those before we start.
(04:08):
Um, so we've been praying forsome way for us to get into a
tractor.
Somebody donated us a tractor acouple years, uh I think a year
ago or maybe a little more thana year ago, probably.
And unfortunately, it lastedabout a week or two weeks or
something like that.
And um, and then it was$12,000to get it fixed.
So um, so now we're getting intoa year-old tractor.
(04:34):
Um, it's a lot smaller than theone we had.
It's only 26 horsepower, butthere's only one thing worse
than a small tractor, notractor.
So uh it'll run a bushhog andit'll pick up our bales of hay,
which is we are so grateful tobe able to get into that.
And um, you know, so I won't bepestering Tyler over here to
(04:56):
come bushhog my property all thetime.
So now I'll be able to just hopon there and do it, and um it'll
be great.
So that, and then uh we got twofreezers coming, another 20,
25-foot cubic freezer, and thenI think like a 21-foot cubic
freezer.
So big, big, big freezers likewe got down there because
(05:19):
Karen's gonna take up one ofthose by herself, and then pork
chops gonna be three to fourhundred pounds now.
I mean, he's big boy, so that'sgonna be a lot in there, too.
And we still got all thoseturkeys that we processed and a
lot of chickens still.
So we got meat coming on oureyeballs right now, which is a
great thing.
We don't have any steaks untilKaren gets back.
(05:40):
So Karen's going because we likesteak.
And I I went to Sam's and Ibought four steaks and it was
120 bucks.
And I'm like, oh no, no, no, no,no, that doesn't work anymore.
I don't know how anyone canafford to eat beef with how
expensive it is.
I remember 99 cent hamburgers ora buck 99 a pound for a
hamburger, and now I'm seeing$6.99,$7.99,$9.99 for burgers,
(06:06):
you know, which is uh I'mwishing this economy Trump said
that we had that was so greatwould catch up to where he
thinks it's at for us.
Because uh again, I know hecan't flow through a switch and
make it better, but I haven'tseen it yet.
Um, so I'm hoping it'll make itsway down to the common man here
(06:26):
pretty soon.
But welcome to Christian WarriorMission, home church, community
ministry, and farm.
Lord to Christian Warriors fortoday's challenges.
All right, advancing every frontevery day, no excuse, no
retreats.
So again, we are still onschedule.
We haven't got, we're hopingeveryone's gonna RSVP between
now and Wednesday.
You got until Wednesday to RSVPto let us know if you're coming
(06:48):
to the party on Friday.
And the Friday party's gonnastart at six and it's gonna go
late.
Um, but there'll be a fire, youknow, uh food, you know, treats
for the kids, um, wholesomecostumes welcome.
You know, you can show up.
Lauren's gonna be a milkmaid,not a sexy milkmaid, but a
(07:10):
milkmaid.
Um, you know, um, I'm gonna be acrusader.
Um Anya is Joan of Arc in armorwith a sword and shield, and uh
B is gonna be a princess.
So be either a good guy, a hero,you know, not one that cusses
like Deadpool or anything stupidlike that, please.
(07:32):
Just come as something noble.
You can come as a cop.
Gus is gonna be a cow.
Okay, just come as somethingcool or nothing at all.
You don't have to wear acostume.
I'm just telling you, don't showup as slutty nun or evil this or
skeleton that or serial killerso-and-so.
You will be sent away.
(07:53):
So don't RSVP if you want tocome as that stuff.
But if you want to come andcelebrate Jesus, we're gonna
have great music.
You're gonna hear some of thebest.
I got an epic playlist foreveryone to play that I've been
jamming out to nonstop.
It is awesome.
So we're gonna fill the nightfull of Christian music, joy,
happiness, good times, laughs.
(08:13):
I'm gonna have some adultbeverages, others are gonna
have, but you don't have to haveadult beverages.
You can have apple cider andwhatever you want, but we're
gonna have a good time.
Um, but you have until Wednesdayto RSVP.
Or by Wednesday, tell us ifyou're coming.
Because if we don't get enoughpeople, we're just gonna take
our happy buttons somewhereelse.
All right.
It's been impossible to try toget people to want to do stuff
(08:35):
here.
So um, but we're gonna we'regonna make one last go at it.
So the other thing is uh we'regonna do a cross-field day once
we get the tractor.
We're gonna get up there withsome chainsaws, we're gonna get
up there with the bush hog,we're gonna get up there with a
weed whacker, and we're gonnamake that good for God.
You know, a lot of people havebeen baptized up there, we've
had weddings up there and abunch of other things.
(08:57):
It's a shame that it's falleninto a state of disrepair, but
we're gonna go up there and takeit back for the Lord and get it
ready for an amazing, you know,amazing season of bonfires up
there that I can't wait to do.
So, the other great news is Iput in so much work into our
online community on MightyNetworks.
(09:18):
So, Mighty Networks is like asuper Facebook like group where
we have chats and everything'spassword protected, and I can
get groups and this and allkinds of stuff with all kinds of
tools.
It's a learning managementsystem, so we're building
courses in it to help peoplelearn how to do stuff uh that
are like college grade courses.
(09:39):
So join us there.
The link is in the descriptionin the um in the you know, on
Facebook or YouTube or whereverelse you're watching it, it's
right there.
You'll look, you'll see our onour online um group or whatever
it's called, and you'll see awebsite there.
(10:00):
Go to that, join, it's it'sawesome.
It's awesome.
So that's where we've beenrunning the Forge or the
Christian Warrior Way, whateveryou want to call it.
Again, we have relaxed thestandards on that immensely to
where post every day if you can,or just post when you can, but
just keep the tally of what dayyou're on, right?
So most guys are doing it everyday.
(10:21):
You know, you don't even have topost on the day.
You miss a day, you can post thenext day and get caught up,
right?
So it's less, less that and morein-depth stuff.
Guys getting, guys and galsgetting vulnerable, putting
their challenges on there, andthen you get a comment on two
other people's posts.
If you're just coming there totake, don't bother.
Come there because you want tohelp other people grow in the
(10:43):
Lord, just as they will you, andyou'll see how good it feels
when somebody actually caresabout what you wrote and they
tell you something about, youknow, and weigh in on it or pray
for you or do all that stuff.
I'm telling you right now,because this is you know, our
our congregation is isdecent-sized online, but it's
(11:05):
spread out all around thecountry, right?
All around the country.
I had the pleasure of going to ayou know, a church Reformation
Day party thing um Friday night.
And I got around some otherbrothers and some other people,
(11:25):
Christians, and we got there andwe had a time, and they were
smoking cigars, and I was makingfun of them for smoking cigars
and you know, and and andeverything else, which I don't
have a problem with smokingguys, I'm just not into them.
Um but I haven't laughed thatlong and a hard time in it.
And I just realized to beseparate from the body of Christ
(11:46):
is to die slowly.
Every day that I'm away fromother Christians who are
investing in me, who care aboutme, they're not on a one-way
street.
They're there and they careabout you.
They're asking you questions,right?
About you.
And then you're asking themquestions, and you're making fun
of them, and they're making funof you, you know, like guys do,
(12:07):
guys jab, right?
It's it's it's it's likefencing, modern day fencing, you
know.
And it was just so filled, mycup.
And then to get there and havegodly children, not aliens,
godly children hanging out withgodly children, doing sweet, fun
things that kids do.
Okay, and it was just amazing.
(12:30):
And then for Lauren to havefellowship with the women, I'm
just telling you, it wastransformation, which is leading
me to a semi-sad but a veryhappy day for me today.
This is our last Sunday service.
I've already told everybody whouh likes fervently supports this
(12:51):
show, uh, not show, this thischurch, that we're still a
church.
We're just gonna do it onWednesdays.
I'm reclaiming my Sundays forthe family, and we're gonna go
to another church.
I don't know yet.
It might be the one that we justwere up at.
I disagree with some of themdoctrinally, which is always the
challenge, right?
But at least there's peoplethere that we can get along with
(13:14):
that see the world the same waythat we see the world and want
to help.
And I want to help them and theywant to help me, right?
And that's that's what it'sabout, right?
That's what it's about.
So this is the last Sunday nightwe're gonna do.
It's gonna be on Wednesday nightfrom now on, okay?
So again, it'll be WarriorWednesday and it'll just be
(13:37):
Wednesday night.
And we're gonna stay that way.
I'm not doing Sundays, I don'tcare how much of a catastrophe
every church we go to is.
We're gonna dig in and try tohelp someone else, and this will
be a Wednesday night church,right?
So if you want to watch it onWednesday night, great.
It'll be on Wednesday night.
If you want to watch it later,that's cool too.
(13:58):
But I'm just telling you,Wednesday night, we're gonna do
this so that my kids can hangout with other godly kids, and
my wife can hang out with allthe godly women, and I can get
around dudes and everything.
Because you know, when you'redoing it on Sunday night,
everyone just kind of wants togo home and go to bed.
There's not a lot of fellowshipthat happens after this.
Pretty much the people who arehere just come in.
It's great to see everyone, andthen everyone goes to bed
(14:21):
because it gets done late.
And I get that.
We gotta get up early in themorning.
So doing church in the morning,which is hard for a farm group
like us, you know, to prepareand all that stuff.
So now we're just gonna be ableto roll out of bed, get the kids
dressed, go to church likeeveryone else.
Instead of me spending all daytrying to make something that
makes sense to you guys.
(14:41):
I gotta do that now during theweek.
So Wednesday instead of a workday is about to be a church day.
So yeah, we'll figure that out.
But anyways, so again, thank youto everyone who's watched us on
Sundays.
Please don't go anywhere, checkus out on Wednesdays.
It's gonna be the same thing,except we're really gonna step
into the theme, you know, intoum the discipling theme that
(15:07):
we've been doing.
And again, you guys know that wejumped into Nehemiah just to get
us caught up to where we'regoing.
We jumped into Nehemiah afterCharlie Kirk.
Um and you know, we're nowcoming closer to the end.
You know, there's still aboutfour more chapters, but we're in
seven and eight today.
I'm gonna do two chapters todaybecause the first one's real.
(15:28):
Really short if you don't readthe names.
It's like 70 verses if you readall the names, but it's really
short.
I'm not gonna read all thenames.
It's not like I'm going overJesus' uh bloodline like we
would with, you know, whenyou're talking about in Matthew
and so on and so forth.
So that's the announcements.
That was very long.
You guys know when we do theseven battlefields, I'm not
(15:50):
gonna go over them tonight.
Um, we're not going overcatechism because I went too
long.
So, again, I'm gonna pray us inand then we'll go.
Dearly Father, Lord, we thankyou.
We thank you for giving usanother day to get it right, for
waking us up this morning, foryour protections of this week,
all through to last week, allthrough today, until now.
(16:14):
Lord, we thank you for thebreath in our lungs.
No one knows how grateful theyare to breathe until they can't.
And then it is the only thingyou care about.
Lord, make our want for you tobe like that.
Make it that we want you as muchas we want to breathe.
(16:36):
So, Lord, we thank you.
(17:59):
We thank you for the trillionsof cells in our bodies that work
near perfectly for us to even behere.
And then we thank you, Lord, forthe parts of us that don't work
perfectly.
For the parts of us that weardown as we age and break and as
we do foolish stuff and breakthem down.
SPEAKER_00 (18:17):
Um because they make us more dependent on you.
SPEAKER_01 (18:26):
Lord, your strength is found in weakness.
So help us with our bad backsand our bad knees and our bad
hips and our bad ankles and ourbad necks and everything else
that we have to lean into you.
Do not lean into the world.
Instead to find your perfectionin our brokenness.
(18:50):
Lord, we also thank you for yourcommon grace for this world.
Everything from the top of MountEverest all the way to the
deepest trench in the ocean.
We thank you for all of it.
We thank you for uh the birds,the fish, the mammals, the you
know, the plants, the bugs,everything in it, Lord, except
(19:11):
for mosquitoes and chickers.
We don't know why you madethose, but we understand that
you know more than we do.
But um, we thank you for it all,Lord.
It's it's all good and it's allamazing.
Lord, we thank you for thepeople.
We thank you for the people,most of all.
Lord, help us to love ourneighbor as ourselves and help
us to love each other as we loveyou, to be quick to forgive.
(19:33):
Lord, help us to be present.
Help us to get off our phonesand get away from the beeps and
the boops and all the thingsthat scream for our attention
that aren't of one of eachother, not of each other.
Help us instead to look intoeach other's eyes, to hold a
hand, and to be present, to seeif the words match what's really
(19:58):
going on behind the eyes.
And help us to forgive and love,Lord.
So we thank you for sunrises andsunsets, we thank you for bird
songs in the morning, wavesagainst the shore, and for the
sound of children's laughter,Lord.
(20:20):
We thank you for the smell offresh mountain air, coffee
brewing, the smell of a freshpot of chicken or turkey soup
simmering on the stove.
Or even a nice hot apple piecooking in the oven.
SPEAKER_00 (20:35):
Lord, we thank you.
The tender touch of a loved one.
A warm fire on a cold night, anda cool breeze on a hot day.
SPEAKER_01 (20:50):
Your divine grace.
For choosing us before thefoundations of the world,
writing our name into the bookof life, and loving us while we
were your enemy.
So we pray that we serve you andonly you, that this time would
glorify you and only you, and itwould please you.
(21:12):
And we pray all this in Jesus'name.
Amen.
Alright, so Nehemiah 7 and 8.
Rebuild the people, guard thegates, open the book.
All right, the setting.
Persian Empire under our tack,our taxes, Xerxes I.
Nehemiah arrives in the king's20th year, 445 BC.
(21:34):
The wall is completed, completedin Elul, rolling straight into
the seventh month of Tishri.
City conditions, the wall nowstands, but the city is
underpopulated, and many housesare not rebuilt.
Order and population must be setbefore growth.
(21:55):
Offices and teams, Nehemiah isnow the governor, and Ezra the
priestscribe, and they leadtogether.
Gatekeepers, singers, andLevites are appointed.
Security and worship braided.
Genealogy and identity.
Nehemiah uses the early returnerregister.
These are the people whoreturned after being captured by
(22:16):
Nebuchadnezzar.
And um, an enrolled by genealogyby families.
Membership is covenantal andconcrete, names and towns.
The assembly location that we'regoing to be about to read, the
reading happens at theWatergate, an open square
outside the temple courts,fitting for men, women, and all
who can understand together atonce.
(22:39):
The calendar frame is Tisseri,festivals, trumpets the first,
atonement the 10th, and thenimplied booths and tabernacles
the 15th through the 22nd.
With an eight-day assembly, amonth of renewal.
Opposition status, the externalenemies are checked.
First they tried kinetic, thenthey tried, you know,
(23:02):
threatening, and then they triedsabotage and infiltration, and
then they tried disinformation.
And Nehemiah thwarted them all.
It was a masterclass on thefirst case of fake news ever.
Or one of the most widely knownearly cases of fake news,
anyways.
Nehemiah at this point hasproven himself to be a genius in
leadership, and probably I can'twait to get to heaven to meet
(23:23):
him.
Can't wait.
He is somebody who every one ofus would want to work for.
So the enemies are checked, butinfiltration and loyalty still
require vigilance, hence the gayprotocols and membership roles.
Quick review, chapter one, ruinin prayer.
News of Jerusalem's desolationbreaks Nehemiah's heart.
He fasts and prays a covenantprayer and starts with
(23:45):
repentance and intercession.
In chapter two, he goes to hisking, who he is the cupbearer,
his like bodyguard.
God grants favor withArtaxerces, and Nehemiah secures
letters, surveys by night, andrallies the builders.
But God in heaven will make usprosper.
In chapter three, the familiesbuild.
(24:06):
Households repair the namedsections to a common standard
where they live.
Build your section to thisquality standard.
What you do, you do for God.
Do it to this standard.
Not what you want to do, butwhat the standard is.
Sword and trowel.
Okay, enemies escalate frommockery to plots.
(24:28):
Nehemiah answers with prayer andplanning, guards by families,
trumpet trumpet SOP, dawn tostar readiness.
One have one hand on a carry,one hand has a sword, the other
a trowel.
And a trowel is like a shovelthat you use to spread cement.
Okay.
Um that's of course where we getour church motto do not be
(24:54):
afraid of them, fight for yourbrothers, your sisters, your
sons, your homes, you know, ourGod and our God will fight for
us, which is 420.
Um, that's severely paraphrased.
Chapter five, war within.
After they have thwarted theexternal threat of like violence
and all that, we find thatfamine economics and a corrupt
(25:19):
nobility have oppressed thepoor.
They started the what we callour modern banking system, er
sorry, interests.
The Bible forbids that.
And Nehemiah goes off on thenobles and demands that they
return it.
So Nehemiah confronts, securesrestitution, makes the nobles
(25:39):
pay back every cent that theytook from these people, and
models self-denying leadership.
He lives, he leadssacrificially.
He doesn't take any perks.
In fact, it costs him to do whathe's doing.
I got president right now whodoesn't take a salary and
donates it.
Nehemiah is very similar tothat.
Nehemiah is not a billionairelike Trump, but still.
(26:04):
Free your brother.
That was the motto.
Chapter 6 saw power to thought,destruction.
He gets invited and set up to beassassinated or kidnapped.
He gets slandered in an openletter, and through higher
deception, false counsel, theycorrupted some of the priests.
And Nehemiah replies with focus,brevity, prayer, and obedience.
(26:27):
The wall is finished in 52 days.
And even the enemies know thatGod did it because it was
impossible.
So bridge to chapter 7 and 8.
With the wall standing, Nehemiahsecures the gates, guards, and
genealogy.
The wall has been rebuilt.
God's about to rebuild thepeople now.
Ezra opens the book.
(26:48):
The word is read, explained,obeyed, and the people feast
with holy joy.
That's we're going to cover.
So we're going to start inchapter 7, verses 1 through 3.
Now, when the wall had beenbuilt, and I had set up the
doors and the gatekeepers, thesingers and the Levites have
been appointed.
(27:08):
I gave my brother Hanani andHananiah, the governor of the
castle, charge over Jerusalem,for he was more faithful and
God-fearing man than many.
And I said to them, Let not thegates of Jerusalem be opened
until the sun is hot.
And while they are stillstanding guard, let them shut
the bars, shut and bar thedoors, appointing guards from
(27:31):
among the inhabitants ofJerusalem, some at their
guardposts, and some in front oftheir own homes.
That seems very like tight anddiscipled and kind of the
opposite of getting ready towelcome people.
But if you think about it, it'sbrilliant leadership.
So the worship is thegatekeepers, the singers, and
the leavers.
That's liturgy and watch standtogether.
We'll talk a little bit aboutthat.
(27:52):
The leadership standard, Hananiis chosen for being faithful and
God-fearing.
Character over clout.
Open late and close early.
The guards posted, right?
They're there because and theywant it to be hot in the day by
the time it starts.
Why?
Because they don't want peoplebeing sleeping in.
(28:12):
Like they want the whole town tobe up and awake before they open
the gates.
So if anyone tries to invade ordo anything, or if they're
betrayed, everyone's going to bethere.
So it's brilliant.
It really is.
And then they close so a bunchof people can't sneak in at the
end.
Right?
With guards posted in home frontbenches, they're putting the
guards in front of their homebecause who's going to fight
harder than your own home foryour own home?
(28:34):
Like nothing.
No one.
All right.
So again, good stuff.
So the warrior application,security serves, worship, keep
order at the gates, accesstiming and accountability.
So the songs and sacrifices rununhindered.
Character first in leadershippicks.
Character, character, character.
You never hunt.
(28:55):
If you hire on qualificationsalone, you will hire nothing but
problems.
If you hire character, you canalmost teach them anything.
All right.
Seven, four through five.
Or four and five.
Few people, big city, God putsit in their heart.
The city was wide and large, butthe people within it were few,
(29:18):
and no houses have been rebuilt.
And then my God put into myheart to assemble the nobles and
the officials and the people tobe enrolled by genealogy.
And I found the book ofgenealogy of those who came up
at the first, up at the first,and I found written in it.
Um, and this is where we'reabout to get into like a zillion
(29:40):
names.
All right, and I'm gonna covernot the names, but the
highlights of them.
But the mission shifts fromrocks to registers, right?
From building a wall to gettingthe population identified and
ordered.
Okay, God put into my heartplanning as piety.
The membership by covenantlines, who belongs and who
(30:01):
serves where.
All right, membership matters.
Know who is in your ranks, knowwho is fighting next to you,
know their weaknesses so you canhelp them.
And they should know yours sothey can help you.
All right, it's pastoral careand home defense at once.
So be thankful.
(30:21):
I'm not gonna read 67 through 6or sorry, 76 through 773.
All right, but this is it.
66, the whole assembly togetherwas 42,360.
Okay, that was that's a verse66, they tell us that.
(30:43):
In verse 67, besides their maleand female servants, of whom
there were another 7,337.
And they had 245 singers, maleand female.
Okay, 68.
We hear their horses were 736and their mules 245.
Their camels were 435, and theirdonkeys were 6,720.
(31:10):
Verse 70, we see that now someof the heads of the father's
house gave to the work.
The governors gave to thetreasury 1,000 dairies of gold,
50 basins, 30 priest garments,500 minas of silver.
And in some versions of notes,the numbers are a little
different.
But on 71, um 72, and what therest of the people gave was
(31:34):
20,000 dairies of gold, 2,000miners of silver, and priest
garments.
So the priests, the Levites, thegatekeepers, the singers, some
of the people, the templeservants, and all Israel lived
in their.
Towns.
Okay.
So everyone's from outside hasbeen pulled in, the gates have
been closed.
All right.
SPEAKER_00 (31:55):
So what do we have here?
Names and numbers matter.
SPEAKER_01 (32:02):
Real families, real resources.
Leaders go first in giving tofollow people.
The people sorry, go first ingiving, and the people follow.
Roles are restored.
Israel resettles a stable basefor worship and work.
SPEAKER_00 (32:21):
Our application.
What do we do with this?
SPEAKER_01 (32:23):
Take role, count the cost, fund the mission.
Put people back in place soworship can run.
Okay, so know again who you'rewith.
Know when you're gonna dosomething, count the costs.
See if you can even fund themission that you're about to do.
All right.
And use people with theirstrengths.
Let them serve in theirstrengths.
(32:46):
All right, so here's some gemsand some notes from the list.
Men of place, and I'm not gonna,but Bethlehem and Atoth, I'm not
gonna read a bunch of names Ican't say.
God is remapping the land withcovenant households.
It's not abstract.
Towns are repopulated, and gatesget families again.
Jeshua means Yahweh saves.
(33:08):
Nehemiah means Yahweh comforts.
The return itself is a livedsermon of salvation and comfort.
Pahath and Moab, governor ofMoab, a family likely tied to
Diaspora administration, nowrepurposed for Jerusalem's
rebuild.
Zachiah, pure just Benai, Benui,built, builder, filling in
(33:32):
chapter and rebuilding.
These are the names.
Some of the other names meandevoted and devoted and banned
and wealthy, and names thatlikely reflect family history or
hopes.
Other names mean my lord hasarisen.
His list numbers differ frombetween Ezra and 2-3 in this,
but it's pretty close.
(33:53):
Remind us that rosters blendolder registers with fresh
counts.
The point is real people, notnumerology.
These were real people who arecounted that went all in.
And then the last is the givenone, the name of the family
called the Nethanim, the givenones, temple servants, likely
tracing back to the Gibboniteassignment, Joshua, Joshua 9.
(34:18):
Their inclusion shouts humbleservice is honored in God's
book.
And then we have in verses 57and 60, sons of Solomon
Sermants.
These are literally descendantsof royal estate staff from a
united monarchy.
Their staying power showsinstitutionary memory pressed
into present mission.
(34:38):
And then we'll see you see, wesee God's standard coming in in
verses 63 and 65.
Priests without proof, theycouldn't prove they were
priests.
Those who couldn't find theirregistration were barred from
the most holy food until apriest arose within Urim and
Thumin who could do it, whocould make them that.
Holiness was over hurry.
(34:58):
Wait for God's verdict ratherthan fudge the records.
Singers, 245 men and women, bothsexes are named in the music
ministry, seeding the joy thatexplodes in chapter 8.
Music equals joy.
I know that's true in thishouse.
I constantly am using music toset the tone.
unknown (35:22):
Right?
SPEAKER_01 (35:22):
And when I'm angry, I feed it sometimes with angry
music when I want to be in thegym or something like that.
Music is an accelerant to howyou feel.
Understand that.
And before you start listeningto stuff that's going to make
you sad and you want to leaninto being sad, why do you want
to be sad?
Right?
Use it as a tool, a godly toolto pull you out of the hole that
(35:46):
you sometimes dig for yourself.
So animals and logistics versus70, 68, 69, donkeys, 6,720, far
outnumber the horses at 736.
This is a pilgrim people, not acavalry.
It's a sub its strength issupply chain, which is not
military, you know, not militarymight.
(36:07):
Perfect for a chapter that endswith the gifts of work.
And then we see that Persianmoney, directs and minas.
God's people fund God's work inwhatever era they live.
Gold is gold, the mission isholy.
They don't care whose money itis, they're just given it.
Leaders model giving and thepeople match it.
Imagine that.
(36:28):
All right, eight is reallyshort, too.
One man, one book, one people.
And all the people gathered asone man into the square before
the water gate.
And they told Ezra the scribe tobring the book and the law of
Moses, and that the Lord hadcommanded Israel.
That the Lord had commandedIsrael.
So Ezra the priest brought thelaw before the assembly, both
(36:50):
men and women, and all who couldunderstand what they heard.
That's important.
Men and women, and all who couldunderstand what they heard.
So kids that could understand,not kids that couldn't.
On the first day of the seventhmonth, and he read from it,
facing the square before thewater gate, from early morning
to midday, hours and hours ofpreaching.
(37:11):
And the people ate it up.
And the presence of the men andwomen who could understand,
that's very key, who couldunderstand.
And all the ears of all thepeople were attentive to the
book of the law.
What do we see here?
We see a hunger for scripture.
We see people ask for the book.
Hours and hours long attention.
Can't even get people toconcentrate for five minutes
(37:33):
nowadays.
Right?
Inclusivity, we see men andwomen and all who can
understand, a covenant family.
Timing, seventh month, NewYear's fest, New Year festivals,
spirit, res spiritual reset.
As out warriors, we know we needto bring the book, read the
book, and build a Bibleattentive family.
(37:56):
Right?
We need to be building a Bibleattentive church.
Build attention spans for God'stown, for what, for God's word.
All right, verses four throughsix.
And Ezra the scribe stood on awooden platform they had made
for the purpose.
And beside him stood, I'm noteven gonna bother to say that a
(38:16):
bunch of names.
Okay.
And one was on his right hand,and then another bunch of names,
and Meshulam on his left hand.
And Ezra opened the book in thesight of all the people, for he
was above all the people.
And as he opened it, all thepeople stood.
So stood for hours and hours andhours.
(38:39):
And Ezra blessed the Lord, thegreat God.
And all the people answered,Amen, Amen, lifting up their
hands.
Right?
They weren't just they meant itand they showed it with their
body.
Like, how many times have webeen in?
Like I remember when I refusedto sing when I first came to the
Lord, right?
And then I thought, how manytimes I've been to a godless
(39:01):
concert where I'm sitting therewith a lighter or you know, a
phone or doing something stupidfor that, but I won't do it for
God who created all this.
Like, really?
Like if what's your priorities,right?
Lifting up their hands and theybowed their heads and worship
the Lord with their faces to theground.
(39:22):
So we see visibility and honor,a platform, right?
Standing where the book is.
Response, amen, with upliftedhands, bowed faces, word-driven
worship.
Let the word lead worship,public reading, out loud,
congregationals, amens, and bodyreverence.
(39:45):
Verses seven and eight.
Also, a bunch of names.
And then a bunch of names I'mnot going to say.
The Levites helped the people tounderstand the law.
They didn't do like theCatholics did and just get up
there and speak in a foreignlanguage before Martin Luther,
(40:07):
who we're celebrating next week.
And then they read it to themand explained it like I am
doing, which is where this camefrom.
SPEAKER_00 (40:18):
Reading and explaining and teaching
application.
SPEAKER_01 (40:25):
They gave the sense, that means explaining, so that
the people understood thereading.
Reading clearly and explainingthe pattern of expository
preaching and teaching.
The goal is understanding leadsto obedience and joy.
Aim for clarity, context, andcall every time you teach or
read or talk to somebody aboutthe word.
(40:48):
Explain the text.
Apply the text.
John Calvin said the task of apastor is to make the word
plain.
And I try and fail all the time.
9 through 12.
Do not mourn, the joy of theLord is your strength.
So, and Nehemiah, who was thegovernor, and Ezra the priest
(41:11):
and scribe, and the Levites whowere the priests, taught the
people.
Why are they crying, you think?
(41:32):
And then he said to them, Goyour way, eat the fat and drink
sweet wine, and send portions toanyone who has nothing ready,
the poor.
For this day is holy to ourLord, and do not be grieved, for
the joy of the Lord is yourstrength.
So the Levites calmed all thepeople, saying, Be quiet, for
this day is holy, do not begrieved.
(41:55):
And all the people went theirway to drink, to eat and drink,
and send portions and make greatrejoicing, because they
understood the words that weredeclared to them.
So again, sweet wine, right?
Which again, some of our Baptistfriends who I love very much,
there's the Bible commanding usto go drink wine.
Swear that one.
Okay, so what is this?
(42:18):
Why were they weeping?
Probably already know.
After the clear reading andexplanation of the word, the
people finally understood thelaw and how they had fallen
short.
The Sabbaths, the feasts, themarriages, the justice.
Their conscience awakened, andthe memory of the Horizon, uh
(42:39):
memory of the exiles cause whatcaused them to go into slavery
with um previously.
So they wept.
Why they were told not to weep.
This day is holy, the first dayof the seventh month and the
Feast of Trumpets, a holyconvocation marked by sacred
rest and rejoicing, notmourning.
(43:02):
Holy days train God's people topair confession with confidence.
Right?
SPEAKER_00 (43:08):
It's good you feel terrible, but now celebrate
because you're forgiven.
You are pardoned.
SPEAKER_01 (43:16):
You were at the guillotine in front of the
firing squad.
You are and then rescued in hismercy.
Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites,hush panic.
(43:38):
Tell them to be quiet, don'tpanic.
Do not despair, do not begrieved, and move the assembly
to a mercy meal, to acelebration, a feast, and send
more portions to the poor.
Vertical reconciliation, right?
You are becoming reconciled ontoGod, becomes horizontal
(44:02):
reconciliation to the people whocan't afford it with the poor.
And they share in the joy.
The joy of the Lord is yourstrength, not naive
cheerfulness, not covenant joyrooted in who the Lord is and
what he has done.
Restored people, rebuilt thewall, reopened the word.
That joy fortifies obedience,sustains work.
The joy of the Lord is yourstrength, rooted in who the Lord
(44:25):
is and what he has done.
God did this.
You were his instrument, but Goddid this.
He gets the glory.
The gospel order in thisteaching hearing, weeping,
assurance, feasting, sharing,great rejoicing, because they
had understood the words.
Joy flowed from understandingand obedience, not from ignoring
(44:46):
guilt.
Let grace move tears into intofeasts.
When the book exposes sin,confess, receive your pardon,
rejoice in the Lord, share yourportion, and work strong.
Last out.
Day two, rediscover booths, obeywith joy.
(45:07):
And on the second day, the headsand fathers of the houses of all
the people, with the priests ofthe Levites, came together to
Ezra the scribe in order tostudy the words of the law.
Now they heard it, now they'recoming to study.
And they found it written in thelaw that the Lord had commanded
by Moses that the people ofIsrael should dwell in booths,
tents, during the feast of theseventh month, and they should
(45:29):
proclaim it and publish it inall their towns and Jerusalem in
and in Jerusalem.
Go out to the hills and bringbranches of olives and wild
olives and myrtle and palm andother leafy trees to make
booths.
These are like tents made ofsticks.
Okay.
As it is written, So the peoplewent out and brought them and
(45:50):
made booths for themselves, eachon his roof, and in their
courts, and in the courts andthe houses of God, and the
square and the water gate, andthe square at the gate of
Ephraim.
All the assembly of those whohad returned from captivity made
booths and lived in the booths,for as from the days from Jeshua
the son of Nun to the day, tothe day the people of Israel had
(46:11):
not done so.
And there was very greatrejoicing.
They recovered their history,they recovered their ceremony,
they recovered their tradition,and they are honoring God in
real time.
They are sitting there, weforgot, we didn't know about
this.
Boom, wait, we're supposed to dothis.
They dropped everything and didit because it was that time of
the year.
(46:33):
Obedience, immediate obedience.
And day by day, from the firstday to the last, he read from
the book of the law of God.
They kept the feast seven days,and on the eighth day there was
a solemn assembly according tothe rule.
Text to practice, they find,proclaim, gather, build,
rejoice.
Obedience in action.
Historic renewal, a recovery ofneglected obedience.
(46:55):
Very great rejoicing.
Seven days of reading, sustainedexposure feels joy.
The more time you spend in this,the better you will do, and then
the more you won't want to be init because you're gonna start
doing good, and then you'regonna drift away and you're
gonna be miserable.
And then hopefully you'll humbleyourself and you'll get back in
it and you'll be doing greatagain.
That is you're not alone.
(47:23):
Ready?
That is the cycle repeated byIsrael and this much of this
book.
They have to relearn that lessonover and over and over and over
again.
So don't think that you're theonly knucklehead in the world or
the only one getting it wrongfrom time to time.
You're not.
(47:45):
All right.
So when the word shows aneglected duty, obey publicly
and gladly, build schedules,daily reading, weekly worship,
seasonal feasts, and train joy.
We have to get back to joy.
We have to get back to joy.
A Bible that's falling apart,this is Charles Spurgeon,
(48:08):
usually belongs to someone whoisn't.
How great is that?
A Bible that is well used and isfalling apart because it's well
used is almost always owned bysomebody who isn't falling apart
because they rely on the Bible.
That hits.
All right, so what do we do withthis in our seven battlefields?
(48:29):
Faith.
Bring and open the book.
Okay, read it.
Read it in your homes withexplanation.
Just reading this and notunderstanding it.
I mean, the Holy Spirit can workin wondrous ways and it can
reveal stuff to you.
But it's so much better to be apart of a Bible study or get a
study Bible that you trust thathelps you understand it.
(48:50):
Don't just run your eyes overthe words and say, I read the
Bible 16 times and you don'teven know what you read.
Okay.
Family, guard your front andshare your portions.
Post at the family gates timeswhen your kids can go out, you
know, curfews, tech, and tone.
(49:15):
Tone is my challenge.
Share portions with those inneed.
Fitness, joy is strength.
The more joy you have, theharder you will fight.
The more despair you have, theless you will fight.
Steward body and schedule so joyis not crowded out.
Did you hear that?
Don't crowd out joy.
SPEAKER_00 (49:37):
Save time for joy.
The key is aligning what givesyou joy.
SPEAKER_01 (49:44):
If it's things outside of God, I pray for you.
Finances, fund the work, leadersgive first, people follow.
Budget for worship, word andmercy.
Fellowship, one man, one people.
Gather as one.
Practice amens in shared feasts.
Fidelity, obey with joy.
(50:06):
When scripture reveals reveals,reveals neglected obedience, do
it.
All right.
Guard the gates, post the watch,gather as one, bring the book,
read clearly, give the sense,which means explain it and obey
with joy.
Send portions to those in needand let and let the city see it
(50:28):
and say, God has done this.
Let's go ahead and do pray thisout, and then we'll do our
communion.
Lord, you have set a watchman onour walls and put your word in
our midst.
Make us faithful and Godfearing.
Teach us to open the book, tounderstand and to obey, to feast
and to share.
Turn our tears into feasts andour hearing into holy strength,
(50:50):
for the joy of the Lord is ourstrength.
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (50:53):
All right, here you guys go.
SPEAKER_01 (51:00):
I think I'm hoping Lauren's gonna be able to bop in
here to join us for once.
SPEAKER_00 (51:31):
Go ahead and spend your time with God.
SPEAKER_01 (52:03):
Almighty God, Sovereign Lord of Hosts, we
approach your table today notbecause we are worthy, but
because Christ is worthy.
We come not trusting in our ownrighteousness, but in clinging
to the righteousness of JesusChrist alone.
We remember his body broken, hisblood poured out for the new
covenant.
We bow in humble gratitude.
We lift our hearts in reverentawe.
(52:23):
Sanctify this bread in this cup,and sanctify us, your people, as
we proclaim the death,resurrection, and the coming
kingdom of our Lord JesusChrist.
We pray this in his matchlessand mighty name.
Amen.
So in 1 Corinthians 11, 23 to24, the Lord Jesus in the night
in which he was being betrayedtook the bread, and when he had
(52:45):
given thanks, he broke it andsaid, This is my body, which is
for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
Remember, this symbolizes hisbody, pierced, beaten,
sacrificed for you.
Let us partake of the breadtogether.
Remember Christ's body brokenfor us.
Go ahead and eat.
(53:08):
And in the same way, he took thecup also after supper, saying,
This cup is the new covenant inmy blood.
Do this as often as you drink itin remembrance of me.
Remember, this symbolizes hisblood, the blood that purchased
our forgiveness, and sealed theeverlasting covenant.
Let us partake of the cuptogether to remember Christ's
blood poured out for us.
(53:28):
Good drink.
For as often as you eat of thisbread and drink of the cup, you
proclaim the death of the Lorduntil he comes.
By eating and drinking, wepublicly proclaim Christ has
died, Christ has risen, hasrisen, Christ will come again.
For we are his soldiers and hiseverlasting kingdom.
(53:50):
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
Go under the king's blessing,stand firm, lock shields, keep
the watch, open the book, shareyour portion, rejoice in the
Lord, and venish your section ofthe wall.
God bless you.
Welcome, welcome, welcome.
Happy Lord's Day to you.
I hope you are enjoying thisamazing fall weather like we
are.
Um, some crisp nights.
I've actually had my first fireoutside, had my first fire in
the morning, which is nice.
Girls love it because they'vebeen getting s'mores um and
roasted marshmallows, so that'salways fun, right?
(00:49):
So good, good, good, good stuff.
I'm also happy to be here, andthen I wasn't squoshed by a
nearly 2,000-pound black Anguscow.
Uh, you guys know Karen wassupposed to go to freezer camp.
That was the plan.
So Lauren and I built a nice newchute for her and got everything
(01:10):
all straight, backed, went,rented a trailer back to town,
and had it all set, and she wasgonna supposedly just go right
in.
Well, she followed that bucketof food all the way up to the
trailer and then was like, nope,and turned around.
And now she's panicked, andshe's oh big girl.
(01:32):
I can't wait to see what herhang weight's gonna be.
She's gonna be close to 2,000pounds.
She's jacked, jacked.
And um, and there was a cornerthat if I got in, I might have
been able to scare her into thetrailer.
And a what and a younger, lesswise Jason would have definitely
done that.
(01:52):
But as I sat there pondering andI'm watching this very strong
cow stomp its feet and lookaround and it's panicked, and
I'm like, if I go in thatcorner, there's an 85% chance or
greater that I'm never leavingthat corner.
So I decided to let her go.
And within a second after that,she bolted right under, well,
(02:16):
right to our metal panel, whichis one of those you know green
things that you see at tractorsupply, sometimes a red,
sometimes a gray.
And she folded that thing likeit was paper, like it was a
paper airplane, just crumpled itup and it was gone.
So, so, so yeah.
Um, I'm glad to be here.
I'm glad Lauren, who had Gus ina backpack, wasn't trampled and
(02:39):
all that stuff.
So Karen is still going.
She bought herself another weekof fattening up, but we're gonna
end up dispatching her here,bleeding her here, and then we
got a friend with a tractorthat's coming who's who's got a
strong, like a big tractor,because not every tractor will
pick up two grand and uh and puther in the back of the trailer
(03:01):
for us.
So that's what we're doing.
And um, you know, we're okaywith that.
You know, we would prefer todispatch here on site, anyways,
just because it's so much easieron the animal.
They put their, they're on theirfarm where they've been, they're
under no stress, they put theirhead in the bucket, and then
around faster than the speed ofsound liquidates their brain,
(03:24):
and it's over.
Right.
So that's what that's the end wewant for them.
So um a lifetime of happinesshere and less than a hundredth
of a second of bad time, right?
So um, so that's that's theplan.
We'll let you know if it goes asplanned.
Because what I've learned is inthis livestock game, nothing
(03:47):
goes to plan.
It's the animals' plan on whatthey're going to do.
So that, and then boy, pork chopis looking great.
We're gonna get ready to do porkchop here, I think, shortly
after that.
We're picking up two newfreezers this week.
We are so blessed.
So we got some answer prayerscoming up, and I want to go
through those before we start.
(04:08):
Um, so we've been praying forsome way for us to get into a
tractor.
Somebody donated us a tractor acouple years, uh I think a year
ago or maybe a little more thana year ago, probably.
And unfortunately, it lastedabout a week or two weeks or
something like that.
And um, and then it was$12,000to get it fixed.
So um, so now we're getting intoa year-old tractor.
(04:34):
Um, it's a lot smaller than theone we had.
It's only 26 horsepower, butthere's only one thing worse
than a small tractor, notractor.
So uh it'll run a bushhog andit'll pick up our bales of hay,
which is we are so grateful tobe able to get into that.
And um, you know, so I won't bepestering Tyler over here to
(04:56):
come bushhog my property all thetime.
So now I'll be able to just hopon there and do it, and um it'll
be great.
So that, and then uh we got twofreezers coming, another 20,
25-foot cubic freezer, and thenI think like a 21-foot cubic
freezer.
So big, big, big freezers likewe got down there because
(05:19):
Karen's gonna take up one ofthose by herself, and then pork
chops gonna be three to fourhundred pounds now.
I mean, he's big boy, so that'sgonna be a lot in there, too.
And we still got all thoseturkeys that we processed and a
lot of chickens still.
So we got meat coming on oureyeballs right now, which is a
great thing.
We don't have any steaks untilKaren gets back.
(05:40):
So Karen's going because we likesteak.
And I I went to Sam's and Ibought four steaks and it was
120 bucks.
And I'm like, oh no, no, no, no,no, that doesn't work anymore.
I don't know how anyone canafford to eat beef with how
expensive it is.
I remember 99 cent hamburgers ora buck 99 a pound for a
hamburger, and now I'm seeing$6.99,$7.99,$9.99 for burgers,
(06:06):
you know, which is uh I'mwishing this economy Trump said
that we had that was so greatwould catch up to where he
thinks it's at for us.
Because uh again, I know hecan't flow through a switch and
make it better, but I haven'tseen it yet.
Um, so I'm hoping it'll make itsway down to the common man here
(06:26):
pretty soon.
But welcome to Christian WarriorMission, home church, community
ministry, and farm.
Lord to Christian Warriors fortoday's challenges.
All right, advancing every frontevery day, no excuse, no
retreats.
So again, we are still onschedule.
We haven't got, we're hopingeveryone's gonna RSVP between
now and Wednesday.
You got until Wednesday to RSVPto let us know if you're coming
(06:48):
to the party on Friday.
And the Friday party's gonnastart at six and it's gonna go
late.
Um, but there'll be a fire, youknow, uh food, you know, treats
for the kids, um, wholesomecostumes welcome.
You know, you can show up.
Lauren's gonna be a milkmaid,not a sexy milkmaid, but a
(07:10):
milkmaid.
Um, you know, um, I'm gonna be acrusader.
Um Anya is Joan of Arc in armorwith a sword and shield, and uh
B is gonna be a princess.
So be either a good guy, a hero,you know, not one that cusses
like Deadpool or anything stupidlike that, please.
(07:32):
Just come as something noble.
You can come as a cop.
Gus is gonna be a cow.
Okay, just come as somethingcool or nothing at all.
You don't have to wear acostume.
I'm just telling you, don't showup as slutty nun or evil this or
skeleton that or serial killerso-and-so.
You will be sent away.
(07:53):
So don't RSVP if you want tocome as that stuff.
But if you want to come andcelebrate Jesus, we're gonna
have great music.
You're gonna hear some of thebest.
I got an epic playlist foreveryone to play that I've been
jamming out to nonstop.
It is awesome.
So we're gonna fill the nightfull of Christian music, joy,
happiness, good times, laughs.
(08:13):
I'm gonna have some adultbeverages, others are gonna
have, but you don't have to haveadult beverages.
You can have apple cider andwhatever you want, but we're
gonna have a good time.
Um, but you have until Wednesdayto RSVP.
Or by Wednesday, tell us ifyou're coming.
Because if we don't get enoughpeople, we're just gonna take
our happy buttons somewhereelse.
All right.
It's been impossible to try toget people to want to do stuff
(08:35):
here.
So um, but we're gonna we'regonna make one last go at it.
So the other thing is uh we'regonna do a cross-field day once
we get the tractor.
We're gonna get up there withsome chainsaws, we're gonna get
up there with the bush hog,we're gonna get up there with a
weed whacker, and we're gonnamake that good for God.
You know, a lot of people havebeen baptized up there, we've
had weddings up there and abunch of other things.
(08:57):
It's a shame that it's falleninto a state of disrepair, but
we're gonna go up there and takeit back for the Lord and get it
ready for an amazing, you know,amazing season of bonfires up
there that I can't wait to do.
So, the other great news is Iput in so much work into our
online community on MightyNetworks.
(09:18):
So, Mighty Networks is like asuper Facebook like group where
we have chats and everything'spassword protected, and I can
get groups and this and allkinds of stuff with all kinds of
tools.
It's a learning managementsystem, so we're building
courses in it to help peoplelearn how to do stuff uh that
are like college grade courses.
(09:39):
So join us there.
The link is in the descriptionin the um in the you know, on
Facebook or YouTube or whereverelse you're watching it, it's
right there.
You'll look, you'll see our onour online um group or whatever
it's called, and you'll see awebsite there.
(10:00):
Go to that, join, it's it'sawesome.
It's awesome.
So that's where we've beenrunning the Forge or the
Christian Warrior Way, whateveryou want to call it.
Again, we have relaxed thestandards on that immensely to
where post every day if you can,or just post when you can, but
just keep the tally of what dayyou're on, right?
So most guys are doing it everyday.
(10:21):
You know, you don't even have topost on the day.
You miss a day, you can post thenext day and get caught up,
right?
So it's less, less that and morein-depth stuff.
Guys getting, guys and galsgetting vulnerable, putting
their challenges on there, andthen you get a comment on two
other people's posts.
If you're just coming there totake, don't bother.
Come there because you want tohelp other people grow in the
(10:43):
Lord, just as they will you, andyou'll see how good it feels
when somebody actually caresabout what you wrote and they
tell you something about, youknow, and weigh in on it or pray
for you or do all that stuff.
I'm telling you right now,because this is you know, our
our congregation is isdecent-sized online, but it's
(11:05):
spread out all around thecountry, right?
All around the country.
I had the pleasure of going to ayou know, a church Reformation
Day party thing um Friday night.
And I got around some otherbrothers and some other people,
(11:25):
Christians, and we got there andwe had a time, and they were
smoking cigars, and I was makingfun of them for smoking cigars
and you know, and and andeverything else, which I don't
have a problem with smokingguys, I'm just not into them.
Um but I haven't laughed thatlong and a hard time in it.
And I just realized to beseparate from the body of Christ
(11:46):
is to die slowly.
Every day that I'm away fromother Christians who are
investing in me, who care aboutme, they're not on a one-way
street.
They're there and they careabout you.
They're asking you questions,right?
About you.
And then you're asking themquestions, and you're making fun
of them, and they're making funof you, you know, like guys do,
(12:07):
guys jab, right?
It's it's it's it's likefencing, modern day fencing, you
know.
And it was just so filled, mycup.
And then to get there and havegodly children, not aliens,
godly children hanging out withgodly children, doing sweet, fun
things that kids do.
Okay, and it was just amazing.
(12:30):
And then for Lauren to havefellowship with the women, I'm
just telling you, it wastransformation, which is leading
me to a semi-sad but a veryhappy day for me today.
This is our last Sunday service.
I've already told everybody whouh likes fervently supports this
(12:51):
show, uh, not show, this thischurch, that we're still a
church.
We're just gonna do it onWednesdays.
I'm reclaiming my Sundays forthe family, and we're gonna go
to another church.
I don't know yet.
It might be the one that we justwere up at.
I disagree with some of themdoctrinally, which is always the
challenge, right?
But at least there's peoplethere that we can get along with
(13:14):
that see the world the same waythat we see the world and want
to help.
And I want to help them and theywant to help me, right?
And that's that's what it'sabout, right?
That's what it's about.
So this is the last Sunday nightwe're gonna do.
It's gonna be on Wednesday nightfrom now on, okay?
So again, it'll be WarriorWednesday and it'll just be
(13:37):
Wednesday night.
And we're gonna stay that way.
I'm not doing Sundays, I don'tcare how much of a catastrophe
every church we go to is.
We're gonna dig in and try tohelp someone else, and this will
be a Wednesday night church,right?
So if you want to watch it onWednesday night, great.
It'll be on Wednesday night.
If you want to watch it later,that's cool too.
(13:58):
But I'm just telling you,Wednesday night, we're gonna do
this so that my kids can hangout with other godly kids, and
my wife can hang out with allthe godly women, and I can get
around dudes and everything.
Because you know, when you'redoing it on Sunday night,
everyone just kind of wants togo home and go to bed.
There's not a lot of fellowshipthat happens after this.
Pretty much the people who arehere just come in.
It's great to see everyone, andthen everyone goes to bed
(14:21):
because it gets done late.
And I get that.
We gotta get up early in themorning.
So doing church in the morning,which is hard for a farm group
like us, you know, to prepareand all that stuff.
So now we're just gonna be ableto roll out of bed, get the kids
dressed, go to church likeeveryone else.
Instead of me spending all daytrying to make something that
makes sense to you guys.
(14:41):
I gotta do that now during theweek.
So Wednesday instead of a workday is about to be a church day.
So yeah, we'll figure that out.
But anyways, so again, thank youto everyone who's watched us on
Sundays.
Please don't go anywhere, checkus out on Wednesdays.
It's gonna be the same thing,except we're really gonna step
into the theme, you know, intoum the discipling theme that
(15:07):
we've been doing.
And again, you guys know that wejumped into Nehemiah just to get
us caught up to where we'regoing.
We jumped into Nehemiah afterCharlie Kirk.
Um and you know, we're nowcoming closer to the end.
You know, there's still aboutfour more chapters, but we're in
seven and eight today.
I'm gonna do two chapters todaybecause the first one's real.
(15:28):
Really short if you don't readthe names.
It's like 70 verses if you readall the names, but it's really
short.
I'm not gonna read all thenames.
It's not like I'm going overJesus' uh bloodline like we
would with, you know, whenyou're talking about in Matthew
and so on and so forth.
So that's the announcements.
That was very long.
You guys know when we do theseven battlefields, I'm not
(15:50):
gonna go over them tonight.
Um, we're not going overcatechism because I went too
long.
So, again, I'm gonna pray us inand then we'll go.
Dearly Father, Lord, we thankyou.
We thank you for giving usanother day to get it right, for
waking us up this morning, foryour protections of this week,
all through to last week, allthrough today, until now.
(16:14):
Lord, we thank you for thebreath in our lungs.
No one knows how grateful theyare to breathe until they can't.
And then it is the only thingyou care about.
Lord, make our want for you tobe like that.
Make it that we want you as muchas we want to breathe.
(16:36):
So, Lord, we thank you.
(17:59):
We thank you for the trillionsof cells in our bodies that work
near perfectly for us to even behere.
And then we thank you, Lord, forthe parts of us that don't work
perfectly.
For the parts of us that weardown as we age and break and as
we do foolish stuff and breakthem down.
SPEAKER_00 (18:17):
Um because they make us more dependent on you.
SPEAKER_01 (18:26):
Lord, your strength is found in weakness.
So help us with our bad backsand our bad knees and our bad
hips and our bad ankles and ourbad necks and everything else
that we have to lean into you.
Do not lean into the world.
Instead to find your perfectionin our brokenness.
(18:50):
Lord, we also thank you for yourcommon grace for this world.
Everything from the top of MountEverest all the way to the
deepest trench in the ocean.
We thank you for all of it.
We thank you for uh the birds,the fish, the mammals, the you
know, the plants, the bugs,everything in it, Lord, except
(19:11):
for mosquitoes and chickers.
We don't know why you madethose, but we understand that
you know more than we do.
But um, we thank you for it all,Lord.
It's it's all good and it's allamazing.
Lord, we thank you for thepeople.
We thank you for the people,most of all.
Lord, help us to love ourneighbor as ourselves and help
us to love each other as we loveyou, to be quick to forgive.
(19:33):
Lord, help us to be present.
Help us to get off our phonesand get away from the beeps and
the boops and all the thingsthat scream for our attention
that aren't of one of eachother, not of each other.
Help us instead to look intoeach other's eyes, to hold a
hand, and to be present, to seeif the words match what's really
(19:58):
going on behind the eyes.
And help us to forgive and love,Lord.
So we thank you for sunrises andsunsets, we thank you for bird
songs in the morning, wavesagainst the shore, and for the
sound of children's laughter,Lord.
(20:20):
We thank you for the smell offresh mountain air, coffee
brewing, the smell of a freshpot of chicken or turkey soup
simmering on the stove.
Or even a nice hot apple piecooking in the oven.
SPEAKER_00 (20:35):
Lord, we thank you.
The tender touch of a loved one.
A warm fire on a cold night, anda cool breeze on a hot day.
SPEAKER_01 (20:50):
Your divine grace.
For choosing us before thefoundations of the world,
writing our name into the bookof life, and loving us while we
were your enemy.
So we pray that we serve you andonly you, that this time would
glorify you and only you, and itwould please you.
(21:12):
And we pray all this in Jesus'name.
Amen.
Alright, so Nehemiah 7 and 8.
Rebuild the people, guard thegates, open the book.
All right, the setting.
Persian Empire under our tack,our taxes, Xerxes I.
Nehemiah arrives in the king's20th year, 445 BC.
(21:34):
The wall is completed, completedin Elul, rolling straight into
the seventh month of Tishri.
City conditions, the wall nowstands, but the city is
underpopulated, and many housesare not rebuilt.
Order and population must be setbefore growth.
(21:55):
Offices and teams, Nehemiah isnow the governor, and Ezra the
priestscribe, and they leadtogether.
Gatekeepers, singers, andLevites are appointed.
Security and worship braided.
Genealogy and identity.
Nehemiah uses the early returnerregister.
These are the people whoreturned after being captured by
(22:16):
Nebuchadnezzar.
And um, an enrolled by genealogyby families.
Membership is covenantal andconcrete, names and towns.
The assembly location that we'regoing to be about to read, the
reading happens at theWatergate, an open square
outside the temple courts,fitting for men, women, and all
who can understand together atonce.
(22:39):
The calendar frame is Tisseri,festivals, trumpets the first,
atonement the 10th, and thenimplied booths and tabernacles
the 15th through the 22nd.
With an eight-day assembly, amonth of renewal.
Opposition status, the externalenemies are checked.
First they tried kinetic, thenthey tried, you know,
(23:02):
threatening, and then they triedsabotage and infiltration, and
then they tried disinformation.
And Nehemiah thwarted them all.
It was a masterclass on thefirst case of fake news ever.
Or one of the most widely knownearly cases of fake news,
anyways.
Nehemiah at this point hasproven himself to be a genius in
leadership, and probably I can'twait to get to heaven to meet
(23:23):
him.
Can't wait.
He is somebody who every one ofus would want to work for.
So the enemies are checked, butinfiltration and loyalty still
require vigilance, hence the gayprotocols and membership roles.
Quick review, chapter one, ruinin prayer.
News of Jerusalem's desolationbreaks Nehemiah's heart.
He fasts and prays a covenantprayer and starts with
(23:45):
repentance and intercession.
In chapter two, he goes to hisking, who he is the cupbearer,
his like bodyguard.
God grants favor withArtaxerces, and Nehemiah secures
letters, surveys by night, andrallies the builders.
But God in heaven will make usprosper.
In chapter three, the familiesbuild.
(24:06):
Households repair the namedsections to a common standard
where they live.
Build your section to thisquality standard.
What you do, you do for God.
Do it to this standard.
Not what you want to do, butwhat the standard is.
Sword and trowel.
Okay, enemies escalate frommockery to plots.
(24:28):
Nehemiah answers with prayer andplanning, guards by families,
trumpet trumpet SOP, dawn tostar readiness.
One have one hand on a carry,one hand has a sword, the other
a trowel.
And a trowel is like a shovelthat you use to spread cement.
Okay.
Um that's of course where we getour church motto do not be
(24:54):
afraid of them, fight for yourbrothers, your sisters, your
sons, your homes, you know, ourGod and our God will fight for
us, which is 420.
Um, that's severely paraphrased.
Chapter five, war within.
After they have thwarted theexternal threat of like violence
and all that, we find thatfamine economics and a corrupt
(25:19):
nobility have oppressed thepoor.
They started the what we callour modern banking system, er
sorry, interests.
The Bible forbids that.
And Nehemiah goes off on thenobles and demands that they
return it.
So Nehemiah confronts, securesrestitution, makes the nobles
(25:39):
pay back every cent that theytook from these people, and
models self-denying leadership.
He lives, he leadssacrificially.
He doesn't take any perks.
In fact, it costs him to do whathe's doing.
I got president right now whodoesn't take a salary and
donates it.
Nehemiah is very similar tothat.
Nehemiah is not a billionairelike Trump, but still.
(26:04):
Free your brother.
That was the motto.
Chapter 6 saw power to thought,destruction.
He gets invited and set up to beassassinated or kidnapped.
He gets slandered in an openletter, and through higher
deception, false counsel, theycorrupted some of the priests.
And Nehemiah replies with focus,brevity, prayer, and obedience.
(26:27):
The wall is finished in 52 days.
And even the enemies know thatGod did it because it was
impossible.
So bridge to chapter 7 and 8.
With the wall standing, Nehemiahsecures the gates, guards, and
genealogy.
The wall has been rebuilt.
God's about to rebuild thepeople now.
Ezra opens the book.
(26:48):
The word is read, explained,obeyed, and the people feast
with holy joy.
That's we're going to cover.
So we're going to start inchapter 7, verses 1 through 3.
Now, when the wall had beenbuilt, and I had set up the
doors and the gatekeepers, thesingers and the Levites have
been appointed.
(27:08):
I gave my brother Hanani andHananiah, the governor of the
castle, charge over Jerusalem,for he was more faithful and
God-fearing man than many.
And I said to them, Let not thegates of Jerusalem be opened
until the sun is hot.
And while they are stillstanding guard, let them shut
the bars, shut and bar thedoors, appointing guards from
(27:31):
among the inhabitants ofJerusalem, some at their
guardposts, and some in front oftheir own homes.
That seems very like tight anddiscipled and kind of the
opposite of getting ready towelcome people.
But if you think about it, it'sbrilliant leadership.
So the worship is thegatekeepers, the singers, and
the leavers.
That's liturgy and watch standtogether.
We'll talk a little bit aboutthat.
(27:52):
The leadership standard, Hananiis chosen for being faithful and
God-fearing.
Character over clout.
Open late and close early.
The guards posted, right?
They're there because and theywant it to be hot in the day by
the time it starts.
Why?
Because they don't want peoplebeing sleeping in.
(28:12):
Like they want the whole town tobe up and awake before they open
the gates.
So if anyone tries to invade ordo anything, or if they're
betrayed, everyone's going to bethere.
So it's brilliant.
It really is.
And then they close so a bunchof people can't sneak in at the
end.
Right?
With guards posted in home frontbenches, they're putting the
guards in front of their homebecause who's going to fight
harder than your own home foryour own home?
(28:34):
Like nothing.
No one.
All right.
So again, good stuff.
So the warrior application,security serves, worship, keep
order at the gates, accesstiming and accountability.
So the songs and sacrifices rununhindered.
Character first in leadershippicks.
Character, character, character.
You never hunt.
(28:55):
If you hire on qualificationsalone, you will hire nothing but
problems.
If you hire character, you canalmost teach them anything.
All right.
Seven, four through five.
Or four and five.
Few people, big city, God putsit in their heart.
The city was wide and large, butthe people within it were few,
(29:18):
and no houses have been rebuilt.
And then my God put into myheart to assemble the nobles and
the officials and the people tobe enrolled by genealogy.
And I found the book ofgenealogy of those who came up
at the first, up at the first,and I found written in it.
Um, and this is where we'reabout to get into like a zillion
(29:40):
names.
All right, and I'm gonna covernot the names, but the
highlights of them.
But the mission shifts fromrocks to registers, right?
From building a wall to gettingthe population identified and
ordered.
Okay, God put into my heartplanning as piety.
The membership by covenantlines, who belongs and who
(30:01):
serves where.
All right, membership matters.
Know who is in your ranks, knowwho is fighting next to you,
know their weaknesses so you canhelp them.
And they should know yours sothey can help you.
All right, it's pastoral careand home defense at once.
So be thankful.
(30:21):
I'm not gonna read 67 through 6or sorry, 76 through 773.
All right, but this is it.
66, the whole assembly togetherwas 42,360.
Okay, that was that's a verse66, they tell us that.
(30:43):
In verse 67, besides their maleand female servants, of whom
there were another 7,337.
And they had 245 singers, maleand female.
Okay, 68.
We hear their horses were 736and their mules 245.
Their camels were 435, and theirdonkeys were 6,720.
(31:10):
Verse 70, we see that now someof the heads of the father's
house gave to the work.
The governors gave to thetreasury 1,000 dairies of gold,
50 basins, 30 priest garments,500 minas of silver.
And in some versions of notes,the numbers are a little
different.
But on 71, um 72, and what therest of the people gave was
(31:34):
20,000 dairies of gold, 2,000miners of silver, and priest
garments.
So the priests, the Levites, thegatekeepers, the singers, some
of the people, the templeservants, and all Israel lived
in their.
Towns.
Okay.
So everyone's from outside hasbeen pulled in, the gates have
been closed.
All right.
SPEAKER_00 (31:55):
So what do we have here?
Names and numbers matter.
SPEAKER_01 (32:02):
Real families, real resources.
Leaders go first in giving tofollow people.
The people sorry, go first ingiving, and the people follow.
Roles are restored.
Israel resettles a stable basefor worship and work.
SPEAKER_00 (32:21):
Our application.
What do we do with this?
SPEAKER_01 (32:23):
Take role, count the cost, fund the mission.
Put people back in place soworship can run.
Okay, so know again who you'rewith.
Know when you're gonna dosomething, count the costs.
See if you can even fund themission that you're about to do.
All right.
And use people with theirstrengths.
Let them serve in theirstrengths.
(32:46):
All right, so here's some gemsand some notes from the list.
Men of place, and I'm not gonna,but Bethlehem and Atoth, I'm not
gonna read a bunch of names Ican't say.
God is remapping the land withcovenant households.
It's not abstract.
Towns are repopulated, and gatesget families again.
Jeshua means Yahweh saves.
(33:08):
Nehemiah means Yahweh comforts.
The return itself is a livedsermon of salvation and comfort.
Pahath and Moab, governor ofMoab, a family likely tied to
Diaspora administration, nowrepurposed for Jerusalem's
rebuild.
Zachiah, pure just Benai, Benui,built, builder, filling in
(33:32):
chapter and rebuilding.
These are the names.
Some of the other names meandevoted and devoted and banned
and wealthy, and names thatlikely reflect family history or
hopes.
Other names mean my lord hasarisen.
His list numbers differ frombetween Ezra and 2-3 in this,
but it's pretty close.
(33:53):
Remind us that rosters blendolder registers with fresh
counts.
The point is real people, notnumerology.
These were real people who arecounted that went all in.
And then the last is the givenone, the name of the family
called the Nethanim, the givenones, temple servants, likely
tracing back to the Gibboniteassignment, Joshua, Joshua 9.
(34:18):
Their inclusion shouts humbleservice is honored in God's
book.
And then we have in verses 57and 60, sons of Solomon
Sermants.
These are literally descendantsof royal estate staff from a
united monarchy.
Their staying power showsinstitutionary memory pressed
into present mission.
(34:38):
And then we'll see you see, wesee God's standard coming in in
verses 63 and 65.
Priests without proof, theycouldn't prove they were
priests.
Those who couldn't find theirregistration were barred from
the most holy food until apriest arose within Urim and
Thumin who could do it, whocould make them that.
Holiness was over hurry.
(34:58):
Wait for God's verdict ratherthan fudge the records.
Singers, 245 men and women, bothsexes are named in the music
ministry, seeding the joy thatexplodes in chapter 8.
Music equals joy.
I know that's true in thishouse.
I constantly am using music toset the tone.
unknown (35:22):
Right?
SPEAKER_01 (35:22):
And when I'm angry, I feed it sometimes with angry
music when I want to be in thegym or something like that.
Music is an accelerant to howyou feel.
Understand that.
And before you start listeningto stuff that's going to make
you sad and you want to leaninto being sad, why do you want
to be sad?
Right?
Use it as a tool, a godly toolto pull you out of the hole that
(35:46):
you sometimes dig for yourself.
So animals and logistics versus70, 68, 69, donkeys, 6,720, far
outnumber the horses at 736.
This is a pilgrim people, not acavalry.
It's a sub its strength issupply chain, which is not
military, you know, not militarymight.
(36:07):
Perfect for a chapter that endswith the gifts of work.
And then we see that Persianmoney, directs and minas.
God's people fund God's work inwhatever era they live.
Gold is gold, the mission isholy.
They don't care whose money itis, they're just given it.
Leaders model giving and thepeople match it.
Imagine that.
(36:28):
All right, eight is reallyshort, too.
One man, one book, one people.
And all the people gathered asone man into the square before
the water gate.
And they told Ezra the scribe tobring the book and the law of
Moses, and that the Lord hadcommanded Israel.
That the Lord had commandedIsrael.
So Ezra the priest brought thelaw before the assembly, both
(36:50):
men and women, and all who couldunderstand what they heard.
That's important.
Men and women, and all who couldunderstand what they heard.
So kids that could understand,not kids that couldn't.
On the first day of the seventhmonth, and he read from it,
facing the square before thewater gate, from early morning
to midday, hours and hours ofpreaching.
(37:11):
And the people ate it up.
And the presence of the men andwomen who could understand,
that's very key, who couldunderstand.
And all the ears of all thepeople were attentive to the
book of the law.
What do we see here?
We see a hunger for scripture.
We see people ask for the book.
Hours and hours long attention.
Can't even get people toconcentrate for five minutes
(37:33):
nowadays.
Right?
Inclusivity, we see men andwomen and all who can
understand, a covenant family.
Timing, seventh month, NewYear's fest, New Year festivals,
spirit, res spiritual reset.
As out warriors, we know we needto bring the book, read the
book, and build a Bibleattentive family.
(37:56):
Right?
We need to be building a Bibleattentive church.
Build attention spans for God'stown, for what, for God's word.
All right, verses four throughsix.
And Ezra the scribe stood on awooden platform they had made
for the purpose.
And beside him stood, I'm noteven gonna bother to say that a
(38:16):
bunch of names.
Okay.
And one was on his right hand,and then another bunch of names,
and Meshulam on his left hand.
And Ezra opened the book in thesight of all the people, for he
was above all the people.
And as he opened it, all thepeople stood.
So stood for hours and hours andhours.
(38:39):
And Ezra blessed the Lord, thegreat God.
And all the people answered,Amen, Amen, lifting up their
hands.
Right?
They weren't just they meant itand they showed it with their
body.
Like, how many times have webeen in?
Like I remember when I refusedto sing when I first came to the
Lord, right?
And then I thought, how manytimes I've been to a godless
(39:01):
concert where I'm sitting therewith a lighter or you know, a
phone or doing something stupidfor that, but I won't do it for
God who created all this.
Like, really?
Like if what's your priorities,right?
Lifting up their hands and theybowed their heads and worship
the Lord with their faces to theground.
(39:22):
So we see visibility and honor,a platform, right?
Standing where the book is.
Response, amen, with upliftedhands, bowed faces, word-driven
worship.
Let the word lead worship,public reading, out loud,
congregationals, amens, and bodyreverence.
(39:45):
Verses seven and eight.
Also, a bunch of names.
And then a bunch of names I'mnot going to say.
The Levites helped the people tounderstand the law.
They didn't do like theCatholics did and just get up
there and speak in a foreignlanguage before Martin Luther,
(40:07):
who we're celebrating next week.
And then they read it to themand explained it like I am
doing, which is where this camefrom.
SPEAKER_00 (40:18):
Reading and explaining and teaching
application.
SPEAKER_01 (40:25):
They gave the sense, that means explaining, so that
the people understood thereading.
Reading clearly and explainingthe pattern of expository
preaching and teaching.
The goal is understanding leadsto obedience and joy.
Aim for clarity, context, andcall every time you teach or
read or talk to somebody aboutthe word.
(40:48):
Explain the text.
Apply the text.
John Calvin said the task of apastor is to make the word
plain.
And I try and fail all the time.
9 through 12.
Do not mourn, the joy of theLord is your strength.
So, and Nehemiah, who was thegovernor, and Ezra the priest
(41:11):
and scribe, and the Levites whowere the priests, taught the
people.
Why are they crying, you think?
(41:32):
And then he said to them, Goyour way, eat the fat and drink
sweet wine, and send portions toanyone who has nothing ready,
the poor.
For this day is holy to ourLord, and do not be grieved, for
the joy of the Lord is yourstrength.
So the Levites calmed all thepeople, saying, Be quiet, for
this day is holy, do not begrieved.
(41:55):
And all the people went theirway to drink, to eat and drink,
and send portions and make greatrejoicing, because they
understood the words that weredeclared to them.
So again, sweet wine, right?
Which again, some of our Baptistfriends who I love very much,
there's the Bible commanding usto go drink wine.
Swear that one.
Okay, so what is this?
(42:18):
Why were they weeping?
Probably already know.
After the clear reading andexplanation of the word, the
people finally understood thelaw and how they had fallen
short.
The Sabbaths, the feasts, themarriages, the justice.
Their conscience awakened, andthe memory of the Horizon, uh
(42:39):
memory of the exiles cause whatcaused them to go into slavery
with um previously.
So they wept.
Why they were told not to weep.
This day is holy, the first dayof the seventh month and the
Feast of Trumpets, a holyconvocation marked by sacred
rest and rejoicing, notmourning.
(43:02):
Holy days train God's people topair confession with confidence.
Right?
SPEAKER_00 (43:08):
It's good you feel terrible, but now celebrate
because you're forgiven.
You are pardoned.
SPEAKER_01 (43:16):
You were at the guillotine in front of the
firing squad.
You are and then rescued in hismercy.
Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites,hush panic.
(43:38):
Tell them to be quiet, don'tpanic.
Do not despair, do not begrieved, and move the assembly
to a mercy meal, to acelebration, a feast, and send
more portions to the poor.
Vertical reconciliation, right?
You are becoming reconciled ontoGod, becomes horizontal
(44:02):
reconciliation to the people whocan't afford it with the poor.
And they share in the joy.
The joy of the Lord is yourstrength, not naive
cheerfulness, not covenant joyrooted in who the Lord is and
what he has done.
Restored people, rebuilt thewall, reopened the word.
That joy fortifies obedience,sustains work.
The joy of the Lord is yourstrength, rooted in who the Lord
(44:25):
is and what he has done.
God did this.
You were his instrument, but Goddid this.
He gets the glory.
The gospel order in thisteaching hearing, weeping,
assurance, feasting, sharing,great rejoicing, because they
had understood the words.
Joy flowed from understandingand obedience, not from ignoring
(44:46):
guilt.
Let grace move tears into intofeasts.
When the book exposes sin,confess, receive your pardon,
rejoice in the Lord, share yourportion, and work strong.
Last out.
Day two, rediscover booths, obeywith joy.
(45:07):
And on the second day, the headsand fathers of the houses of all
the people, with the priests ofthe Levites, came together to
Ezra the scribe in order tostudy the words of the law.
Now they heard it, now they'recoming to study.
And they found it written in thelaw that the Lord had commanded
by Moses that the people ofIsrael should dwell in booths,
tents, during the feast of theseventh month, and they should
(45:29):
proclaim it and publish it inall their towns and Jerusalem in
and in Jerusalem.
Go out to the hills and bringbranches of olives and wild
olives and myrtle and palm andother leafy trees to make
booths.
These are like tents made ofsticks.
Okay.
As it is written, So the peoplewent out and brought them and
(45:50):
made booths for themselves, eachon his roof, and in their
courts, and in the courts andthe houses of God, and the
square and the water gate, andthe square at the gate of
Ephraim.
All the assembly of those whohad returned from captivity made
booths and lived in the booths,for as from the days from Jeshua
the son of Nun to the day, tothe day the people of Israel had
(46:11):
not done so.
And there was very greatrejoicing.
They recovered their history,they recovered their ceremony,
they recovered their tradition,and they are honoring God in
real time.
They are sitting there, weforgot, we didn't know about
this.
Boom, wait, we're supposed to dothis.
They dropped everything and didit because it was that time of
the year.
(46:33):
Obedience, immediate obedience.
And day by day, from the firstday to the last, he read from
the book of the law of God.
They kept the feast seven days,and on the eighth day there was
a solemn assembly according tothe rule.
Text to practice, they find,proclaim, gather, build,
rejoice.
Obedience in action.
Historic renewal, a recovery ofneglected obedience.
(46:55):
Very great rejoicing.
Seven days of reading, sustainedexposure feels joy.
The more time you spend in this,the better you will do, and then
the more you won't want to be init because you're gonna start
doing good, and then you'regonna drift away and you're
gonna be miserable.
And then hopefully you'll humbleyourself and you'll get back in
it and you'll be doing greatagain.
That is you're not alone.
(47:23):
Ready?
That is the cycle repeated byIsrael and this much of this
book.
They have to relearn that lessonover and over and over and over
again.
So don't think that you're theonly knucklehead in the world or
the only one getting it wrongfrom time to time.
You're not.
(47:45):
All right.
So when the word shows aneglected duty, obey publicly
and gladly, build schedules,daily reading, weekly worship,
seasonal feasts, and train joy.
We have to get back to joy.
We have to get back to joy.
A Bible that's falling apart,this is Charles Spurgeon,
(48:08):
usually belongs to someone whoisn't.
How great is that?
A Bible that is well used and isfalling apart because it's well
used is almost always owned bysomebody who isn't falling apart
because they rely on the Bible.
That hits.
All right, so what do we do withthis in our seven battlefields?
(48:29):
Faith.
Bring and open the book.
Okay, read it.
Read it in your homes withexplanation.
Just reading this and notunderstanding it.
I mean, the Holy Spirit can workin wondrous ways and it can
reveal stuff to you.
But it's so much better to be apart of a Bible study or get a
study Bible that you trust thathelps you understand it.
(48:50):
Don't just run your eyes overthe words and say, I read the
Bible 16 times and you don'teven know what you read.
Okay.
Family, guard your front andshare your portions.
Post at the family gates timeswhen your kids can go out, you
know, curfews, tech, and tone.
(49:15):
Tone is my challenge.
Share portions with those inneed.
Fitness, joy is strength.
The more joy you have, theharder you will fight.
The more despair you have, theless you will fight.
Steward body and schedule so joyis not crowded out.
Did you hear that?
Don't crowd out joy.
SPEAKER_00 (49:37):
Save time for joy.
The key is aligning what givesyou joy.
SPEAKER_01 (49:44):
If it's things outside of God, I pray for you.
Finances, fund the work, leadersgive first, people follow.
Budget for worship, word andmercy.
Fellowship, one man, one people.
Gather as one.
Practice amens in shared feasts.
Fidelity, obey with joy.
(50:06):
When scripture reveals reveals,reveals neglected obedience, do
it.
All right.
Guard the gates, post the watch,gather as one, bring the book,
read clearly, give the sense,which means explain it and obey
with joy.
Send portions to those in needand let and let the city see it
(50:28):
and say, God has done this.
Let's go ahead and do pray thisout, and then we'll do our
communion.
Lord, you have set a watchman onour walls and put your word in
our midst.
Make us faithful and Godfearing.
Teach us to open the book, tounderstand and to obey, to feast
and to share.
Turn our tears into feasts andour hearing into holy strength,
(50:50):
for the joy of the Lord is ourstrength.
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (50:53):
All right, here you guys go.
SPEAKER_01 (51:00):
I think I'm hoping Lauren's gonna be able to bop in
here to join us for once.
SPEAKER_00 (51:31):
Go ahead and spend your time with God.
SPEAKER_01 (52:03):
Almighty God, Sovereign Lord of Hosts, we
approach your table today notbecause we are worthy, but
because Christ is worthy.
We come not trusting in our ownrighteousness, but in clinging
to the righteousness of JesusChrist alone.
We remember his body broken, hisblood poured out for the new
covenant.
We bow in humble gratitude.
We lift our hearts in reverentawe.
(52:23):
Sanctify this bread in this cup,and sanctify us, your people, as
we proclaim the death,resurrection, and the coming
kingdom of our Lord JesusChrist.
We pray this in his matchlessand mighty name.
Amen.
So in 1 Corinthians 11, 23 to24, the Lord Jesus in the night
in which he was being betrayedtook the bread, and when he had
(52:45):
given thanks, he broke it andsaid, This is my body, which is
for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.
Remember, this symbolizes hisbody, pierced, beaten,
sacrificed for you.
Let us partake of the breadtogether.
Remember Christ's body brokenfor us.
Go ahead and eat.
(53:08):
And in the same way, he took thecup also after supper, saying,
This cup is the new covenant inmy blood.
Do this as often as you drink itin remembrance of me.
Remember, this symbolizes hisblood, the blood that purchased
our forgiveness, and sealed theeverlasting covenant.
Let us partake of the cuptogether to remember Christ's
blood poured out for us.
(53:28):
Good drink.
For as often as you eat of thisbread and drink of the cup, you
proclaim the death of the Lorduntil he comes.
By eating and drinking, wepublicly proclaim Christ has
died, Christ has risen, hasrisen, Christ will come again.
For we are his soldiers and hiseverlasting kingdom.
(53:50):
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face to shineupon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord lift up his countenanceupon you and give you peace.
Go under the king's blessing,stand firm, lock shields, keep
the watch, open the book, shareyour portion, rejoice in the
Lord, and venish your section ofthe wall.
God bless you.
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