May 27, 2025 • 21 mins
Nehemiah chapter 7 highlights the importance of careful organization and leadership. After rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah ensures the city's protection by appointing gatekeepers, singers, and Levites.
He also organizes a genealogical record of the people to ensure each family is recognized, emphasizing the value of identity and stewardship in God’s plan. It’s a chapter that reminds us how God cares not just for structures but for the hearts and lives within them.
#Nehemiah
#CTOC
#holiness
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Episode Transcript
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(00:06):
It is a new year and it's goodto be here this morning.
Thankful for the Lord to have anew year upon us here.
And hope you had a good NewYear's.
I am been, it's a quiet time ofthe year and I enjoy spend a
little quiet time, but certainlyenjoying being able to take up,
continue with NEMI here thismorning.
(00:28):
And I'd like to just do a littlerecap this morning and, and
Share a little bit about why Ienjoy Nehemiah as it relates to
today, right?
There's some things on my heart.
And so we've taken up the firstsix chapters or so.
And so I'd like to do a littlerecap here this morning.
As chapter seven, if you lookedat Nehemiah seven, it's got some
(00:50):
very instructive words in thefirst six verses or so, and then
it goes into a genealogy, whichis important as well.
Let's let's look at Nehemiah 7here.
But before we do that, let'slook at the recap that we have
here before us.
What's on my heart is we'reliving in a day where
specifically after we come afterCOVID, we live in a day here
(01:14):
where I think, I think the Lordis getting us ready to see him
directly.
Father's getting the bride readyto go.
And we went through the COVIDtimes and there's rumors of wars
and there's wars going on inother countries and such like
that right now.
And I, there's a lot ofmisinformation that's going on
too.
I happen to work in the, alittle bit in the technology
(01:37):
realm of things.
And it's interesting to seewhat's going on in the
technology side.
And the answer is what is truth?
What is truth?
I mean, that's the question.
What is truth?
Pilot asked that question.
What is truth?
And we are getting down to aperiod of time where the word of
God is going to be the onlysource of truth, because
(01:57):
frankly, the way this technologyis working today you cannot
believe I discriminant eyebecause I've played around with
the artificial intelligencemyself.
It's amazing stuff on manylevels.
But when it comes to the truthand the word of God and truths
that we should abide God'sprinciples, why we need to be
(02:20):
very, very discriminatory as towhat we're, we're looking at
here.
And so I say that here withrelates to Nehemiah, because
what broke Nehemiah's heart, asyou remember, in the first
chapter is the walls were brokendown and burned and the people
were discouraged.
And I believe today we also havea great discouragement amongst
(02:43):
people today, the children ofGod.
It's become very apparent to methat there are dear ones that
have true life in Christ, andyet have been discouraged with
regards to What their purpose isin life and also how to
fellowship and how to meet toworship him in a collective
(03:07):
sense.
And of course, many things arein the world that are getting a
hold of our attention as well.
And so Nehemiah is finding thesepeople exactly in the same
situation.
And so over the course of thefirst, whatever, six chapters
that we've taken up so far, hisnumber one goal was to get that
(03:27):
wall put up.
And then the wall, it's not thatthe fact, it's not that the fact
they didn't have worship goingon, right?
That's what Ezra, if you readthe first part of Ezra, that was
the premise of what Ezra wasdoing.
Was to get the worship put inplace, right?
The altar put up.
And the temple rebuilded.
But Nehemiah's objective here isto put up the wall and
(03:50):
consequently the gates thatwe're going to read about today.
And there's reasons for this.
And so, with that, I wanted toread a little snippet that I
just came across here with withWilliam Kelly.
And I think it's very, veryinstructive for us just to
consider this in light of today.
So it's, he says, this is, andhe's happened to be writing on
(04:14):
chapter 4, Nehemiah chapter 4here.
But, here we have the day ofweakness.
Yes, but here was a day ofweakness.
And what I would impress uponyour mind and my own is that we
are no longer in the day whenthe Spirit shakes the building.
(04:35):
We are no longer in the day ofpower and glory.
We are no longer in the day whensigns and wonders are wrought.
But are we therefore withoutGod?
What do we value most?
The powers and wonders work, Godworks, or God himself?
(04:55):
This is the great question.
Have we confidence in thepresence of God with us?
And do we value the presence ofGod above all the powers and
miracles that ever was wrought?
It is a very simple question.
So is now with Nehemiah.
There's no such thing as the RedSea open for the people, no such
thing as the Jordan crossed.
(05:16):
There was no manna that felldown from heaven, but there was
the evident Word of Godaccomplished, and the way was
open for them.
There was an open door, an opendoor to that place where the
Lord's eyes were continually theland of God for the people of
God.
They had lost it as a matter ofoutward power, but not for
(05:38):
faith.
For they clung to God, even whenGod would not outlay own them
before all the world.
This made it a trial, no doubt,but faith would find the trial
profitable.
And so I just consider thepeople were under a trial and we
have been under a trial today.
And as we've, this has beenrecorded in 2024 and the premise
(06:02):
of, of a holy life before God isstill the same as it was then.
And it also, and I've said thisentire and I've enjoyed this
tremendously too, God wouldstill have a people come to him
and worship him.
We're going to find that out aswe move into this next half of
the book here.
We're going to find this out aswe go, that God would have a
(06:24):
purpose, a people for him toworship to him.
Now, what we're seeing today interms of worship is not
necessarily it's not necessarilywhat, what is, is If we could
say it biblical, and that's thechallenge for us is that we're
not seeing today in, in, andthis is what breaks my heart.
(06:47):
There are those that arebringing forth the premise of
how to, and I can put it in airquotes, worship, and what we see
today of worship is not reallyworship is found in the word of
God.
So this is why it's importantthat, that Nehemiah built the
wall.
And so I hope that helps alittle bit in terms of that.
(07:08):
So let's move on here into thefirst seven verses here.
of the chapter here.
So let's jump right over intothe Nehemiah 7.
Then it was when the wall wasbuilt and I had hung the doors
when the gatekeepers, thesingers, and the Levites had
been appointed that I gave thecharge of Jerusalem to my
(07:30):
brother Hanini and Hananiah theleader of the citadel for he was
a faithful man and feared Godmore than many.
And I said to them, do not letthe gates of Jerusalem be open
until the sun is hot.
And while they stand guard andlet them shut and bar the doors
(07:53):
and appoint guards from amongthe inhabitants of Jerusalem,
one at his watch station andanother in front of his own
house.
And Well, we have an interestingsituation here where we, where
Nehemiah has his two brothershere, Hanani and Hananiah.
But before we get to that, let'slook back at, at verse one,
(08:14):
talks about he had hung thedoors.
And, and the gatekeepers and thesingers have been appointed.
Now, I just want to dwell onthat for just a second here.
God's word is very specific.
So when you see a list likethis, you always look at this
and go, what is the first,what's the first thing in the
list?
And the first thing on the listhere is the doors.
It's important to have doors,you know, doors basically are as
(08:38):
listed here.
Doors allow to bring in andallows to keep out.
That's what doors are.
Walls do not do that.
Walls just keep out and keep in.
But doors are important to havecoming in and going out.
And we see here that as we moveon down through the chapter
(08:59):
here, we find out that there wasa particular time when the doors
were to be opened.
And then right after that, thedoors will be manned by
gatekeepers.
You see that there?
Gatekeepers and their porters.
And it's so important to haveporters.
It's so important to have thosethat are standing at the door
watching what's coming in andwhat's going out.
You know, we have today, we havetoday something that is going
(09:22):
on.
It's been going on for sometime.
Where there are things that arecoming at us, even from a quote
unquote spiritual side ofthings.
that have not been proven.
And they have just been thrownoff the press, hot off the
bookshelf, they're hitting thebookshelf, they're hitting the
screens or whatever, and theyhave not been proven against the
(09:43):
Word of God.
And that's a challenge.
And then you need gatekeepers.
That's why it's so important tobe able to look at Scripture And
when leading some helps alongthe way, getting helps from
those that have written 50years, 80 years, 100 years, 150,
200 years, 300 years, these onesthat have written, have written
(10:05):
along the way that have enjoyedthese thoughts, they have been
what would you say?
Scrutinized.
It's been scrutinized, what theysaid, and it's called a peer
review.
You know, I just want to go on alittle tangent, if you would
allow me to go on a tangent.
Peer review.
In the medical sciences, in the,in the, in the, in the science,
sciences, there's somethingcalled peer reviews.
(10:28):
And peer reviews is when someoneputs something forth, some
scientist puts something forth,or medical professional puts
something forth, and then it'sbeing peer reviewed by others to
find out, is that true?
Is that true?
They're poking holes, or they'revalidating what is being said.
That's a peer review.
Folks, brethren in Christ, weneed peer reviews.
(10:52):
We need, we need to check backto the Word of God to find out,
is this true?
And sometimes when things arecoming off the shelf and coming
off the press so fast, when weclutch onto these things, We're
not getting it peer reviewed.
We're not looking into thescriptures to find out is this
true or is this not true?
And that's why when you havethings out there that have been
(11:15):
out there for whatever, 80years, a hundred years, 150 200
years, 300, 400 years, that hasbeen peer reviewed along the way
to sign find.
What that person was sharing wasthat certainly does it match is
it congruent with God's Word?
And that's why you have porters.
All right, so that's theimportant thing there about
(11:35):
having porters and you havegates as well Then we have
singers and then we have LevitesAnd if you look back if you look
back into first Chronicles 6 wesee there when Solomon was
putting together the temple Whysingers, singers are, when the
order is all put in place, thesingers come in.
(11:57):
It's a beautiful thing.
And this is what's so beautifulis when you see the Queen of
Sheba come, right?
Queen of Sheba comes and she's,she is in awe of what Solomon
has going on because everythingis in order and the singers are
singing.
And there's another thing goingon too.
I'm not certain that what'sbeing quote, unquote, air quotes
sung today is actually trulyhymns.
(12:19):
I do not know if this isactually, it doesn't appear when
you look from scripture that istruly honoring to the Lord.
And so it's important that, andyou see that Solomon and then
David before him.
David before him gave the Psalmsand we sing rich worship unto
God.
And it's so important to seethat singers follow after having
(12:44):
the porters and the gatekeepersin place.
And then you have the Levitesbeing appointed lastly, the
servants.
Okay.
So it's a beautiful thing to seethe order of scripture as we see
here in the.
first verse of of Nehemiahchapter seven.
But moving on here to chapterverse two, we have these two
brethren here Hanini andHananiah.
And it's interesting here, too,that he says he was a faithful.
(13:10):
Oopsie.
Let's get it.
He was a faithful man thatfeared God more than many.
This is a very important thing.
Nehemiah is very careful as towho he's going to put in charge.
Two men, and they were faithful,particularly one of them.
One's his own natural DNAbrother.
(13:30):
And the other one was a faithfulman and feared God more than
many.
There's something interesting Ijust read to in in preparing for
this little thing here, and I'mjust going to quote it is is The
fear of God rides on thehumility of one and these guys
were humble And what's sobeautiful to think is that when
(13:52):
there's humility before God?
There's also comes along thefear of God when we lose the
fear of God.
We're not gonna be humble Ithink it's just a beautiful
thing that humbleness thehumility before God will
encompass the fear of God.
Knowing the fact that I am, I amnot a, I am not a 50 pence
debtor.
I'm a 500 pence debtor.
(14:12):
I've so enjoyed that hererecently and coming to my own
soul.
The fact is, is that, you know,I, even though I was saved at
five years old and have walkedwith the Lord these years and
enjoyed these truths, I stillhave come to realize that I am
the 500 pence debtor.
The Lord Jesus had to pay I hadto pay for my sins.
(14:33):
And you have to realize this,and you have to come before him
and recognize the fact that,that we are, we, we were
obnoxious with our sins.
And he's come to save us andsay, so let's move forward here
with what's going on here.
And we see here that heinstructions in verse three.
(14:54):
He says, do not let the gates ofJerusalem be open until the sun
is hot while they stand guard,let them shut and bar the doors
and appoint guards from amongthe inhabitants.
There we go.
There is the premise of saying,you know what?
Do not open the doors until thesun is hot.
And this goes back to what I wassaying a little earlier is too
much is being trafficked.
trafficked in Christendommerchandise.
(15:16):
Hey, I'll tell you something.
I love marketing.
I eat marketing up.
I went to school for marketing.
I love marketing.
The problem is, is thatmarketing is being used in the
things of God and beingtrafficked in the things of God.
And in doing so, it is not athings of God.
That's why the doors werecompletely shut until the noon.
What does it say here?
And, and let the, and let thegates of Jerusalem be open until
(15:39):
the sun is hot.
Right?
The sun had to be hot before thegates were opened up and while
they stand guard and so they hadto sit there and watch.
the porters were watching whatwas coming in and going out.
This is now order in Nehemiah'seyes.
This is order for the gods,earthly people that time to have
the wall put up and now have thegates functioning and to have
(16:00):
the porters putting up the doorwhile they stand guard, let them
shut and bar the doors.
So it's beautiful to see this isthis is order.
And this is, it plays outexactly how it should play out
in a local assembly in terms ofbeing humble before the Lord.
and having porters and havingthat carefulness as to what
would come before that.
(16:21):
And it's also, it should be inour own lives to our own
personal lives as well.
Okay.
Alrighty.
So that was the porters and thegates and the two men there that
are, are mentioned there.
And I just wanted to, before Ijump past this here too, about
these two men here, I just wantto mention too, is I don't have
a, I don't have a thing here,but you know, if you want to
(16:42):
look at faithful man, look at.
1st Timothy chapter 3.
Apostle Paul is laying out hisheart to Timothy.
And look at the list there thatyou see in 1st Timothy 3, both
with the elders as well as thedeacons.
And find out a list.
If you want to say, am Ifaithful before the Lord?
Look at that list and sharpenthat up and go, man, you know
(17:05):
what?
I need, I want to be faithful tothe Lord, but there's a little
checklist for you.
And it's just a beautifulchecklist to go down because to
serve the Lord in this last day,we folks, we are on the last
cusp here of, of things goingdown the Lord, taking us out of
here.
And it's just so lovely to beable to.
To serve the Lord and faithbeing faithful.
(17:26):
That's what Nehemiah was lookingfor, right?
And he found that there withthose with those two men.
All right, lastly just wrappingthis up here We see here they
have the captives.
They have a whole Liturgy hereof people here now the city was
large and spacious But thepeople were few and the houses
were not built Then the God thenmy God put it in my heart to
(17:46):
gather the nobles rulers andpeople that they may register by
genealogy.
Okay.
If you're reading along with meand in Nehemiah seven here, why
you'll see that there follows ushere.
There was a large genealogybeing given.
It's a repetition of what'sbeing given in Ezra.
But I wanted to make note of thefact that as we go down through
(18:07):
here, and I'm not going to godown through here, you can read
it for yourself.
You'll find here that the there,the genealogy is listing.
The people, the count of people,et cetera, as they go down
through there.
And that is a beautiful thing.
And you ask why in the world isit given, why are men being
listed here?
(18:28):
Well, you know, somethinginteresting.
And by the way, this is thesecond time, as I just couldn't
say, this is the second time itwas done in Ezra as well.
And Nehemiah shakes it out inhis book and he's going down
through the list of men as well.
Well, it's, there is aninteresting principle here that
God has, and we need to take itfor ourselves.
And that is God makes lists.
(18:48):
Yeah, he's keeping a list rightnow and so interesting to know
as right now is we just camethrough this last holiday here
and many remember the Lord Jesusin his birth, if you will, and
if you read there, you findaccounts and two gospels of the
genealogy of the Lord Jesus socarefully taken one aspect from
from the father Matthews from inMatthews from the kingly
(19:11):
perspective of Joseph, the otherone from In Luke, from the
mother's perspective of Mary,the genealogy is very, very
carefully laid down.
But here's what I wanted toshare.
When it all comes down to it,there is a book written about
you.
There is, there are notes beingwritten about you, and there's
notes being written about me.
(19:31):
Let me give you an example.
This is what became before mehere in terms of this.
We do, it's a scripturalprinciple, and let's go jump on
over to Revelation chapter 20.
Okay.
This is some books that Goduses.
Why would God use books?
Well, he doesn't need to usebooks, but books is what we're
used to.
And so it says in revelation 20,and I saw the dead small and
(19:55):
great stand before God.
And the books were opened andanother book was open, which is
the book of life.
And the dead were judged out ofthose which were written in the
books.
According.
to their works.
Interesting, huh?
You can just meditate upon atthe very end of revelation there
that John, the apostle John sawthe dead small and great stand
(20:19):
before God.
And the books were open.
If you do not know the LordJesus as your savior and you die
and you stand before God, andthis is what this is right here,
the dead small and great.
And you do not have the blood ofthe Lord Jesus upon you, then
yes, that book will be openedand you're going to be judged
according to your works.
(20:39):
If you know the Lord Jesus isyour Savior, The blood has
washed away your sins.
Now there's another, there'sanother little time you'll have
with him, but it's not going tobe according to what we follow
after this fall being cast inthe lake of fire.
If you know the Lord Jesus, yoursavior, then things are going to
be accomplished in a differentway, obviously, but books are
(21:01):
being taken here and people livetheir lives right now, not
understanding the fact, notappreciating the fact that God
is taking account and we will bejudged at one day with it.
Whether you know the Lord Jesusas your savior, you'll be judged
with it.
If you don't know the Lord Jesusas your savior, haven't taken
his blood upon you, have notbeen purchased by that blood to
(21:22):
cover your sins, to wash yoursins away.
Then you'll be judged from thebooks as well.
All right?
So, interesting enough, that'show Nehemiah 7 wraps it up.
Is, is basically allowing,allowing for a list to be given
a second time.
God is a God of lists, and weare getting listed right now as
(21:43):
well.
And if you've lasted down tothis part of the program, why I
had a crazy idea, I take notesalong the way and I would like
to share out of Evernote.
I use Evernote as a note takingthing, so some of these notes
I'll be dropping in the linksbelow.
And that'll allow you to readfurther on some meditations that
(22:06):
we've just taken up today.
I hope that is of help to you.
So with that, tell others, hitthe like, share, subscribe
button because it does help thealgorithms to get going along
the things here.
And so with that, I look forwardto chatting with you as we take
up Nehemiah.
eight tomorrow.
It's always a pleasure to dothis.
(22:26):
We're trying to get throughNehemiah here, and it's
certainly apropos here at thebeginning of the first part of
this year, The new year.
We look forward to seeing youtomorrow if the Lord will, and
we'll see you then.
It is a new year and it's goodto be here this morning.
Thankful for the Lord to have anew year upon us here.
And hope you had a good NewYear's.
I am been, it's a quiet time ofthe year and I enjoy spend a
little quiet time, but certainlyenjoying being able to take up,
continue with NEMI here thismorning.
(00:28):
And I'd like to just do a littlerecap this morning and, and
Share a little bit about why Ienjoy Nehemiah as it relates to
today, right?
There's some things on my heart.
And so we've taken up the firstsix chapters or so.
And so I'd like to do a littlerecap here this morning.
As chapter seven, if you lookedat Nehemiah seven, it's got some
(00:50):
very instructive words in thefirst six verses or so, and then
it goes into a genealogy, whichis important as well.
Let's let's look at Nehemiah 7here.
But before we do that, let'slook at the recap that we have
here before us.
What's on my heart is we'reliving in a day where
specifically after we come afterCOVID, we live in a day here
(01:14):
where I think, I think the Lordis getting us ready to see him
directly.
Father's getting the bride readyto go.
And we went through the COVIDtimes and there's rumors of wars
and there's wars going on inother countries and such like
that right now.
And I, there's a lot ofmisinformation that's going on
too.
I happen to work in the, alittle bit in the technology
(01:37):
realm of things.
And it's interesting to seewhat's going on in the
technology side.
And the answer is what is truth?
What is truth?
I mean, that's the question.
What is truth?
Pilot asked that question.
What is truth?
And we are getting down to aperiod of time where the word of
God is going to be the onlysource of truth, because
(01:57):
frankly, the way this technologyis working today you cannot
believe I discriminant eyebecause I've played around with
the artificial intelligencemyself.
It's amazing stuff on manylevels.
But when it comes to the truthand the word of God and truths
that we should abide God'sprinciples, why we need to be
(02:20):
very, very discriminatory as towhat we're, we're looking at
here.
And so I say that here withrelates to Nehemiah, because
what broke Nehemiah's heart, asyou remember, in the first
chapter is the walls were brokendown and burned and the people
were discouraged.
And I believe today we also havea great discouragement amongst
(02:43):
people today, the children ofGod.
It's become very apparent to methat there are dear ones that
have true life in Christ, andyet have been discouraged with
regards to What their purpose isin life and also how to
fellowship and how to meet toworship him in a collective
(03:07):
sense.
And of course, many things arein the world that are getting a
hold of our attention as well.
And so Nehemiah is finding thesepeople exactly in the same
situation.
And so over the course of thefirst, whatever, six chapters
that we've taken up so far, hisnumber one goal was to get that
(03:27):
wall put up.
And then the wall, it's not thatthe fact, it's not that the fact
they didn't have worship goingon, right?
That's what Ezra, if you readthe first part of Ezra, that was
the premise of what Ezra wasdoing.
Was to get the worship put inplace, right?
The altar put up.
And the temple rebuilded.
But Nehemiah's objective here isto put up the wall and
(03:50):
consequently the gates thatwe're going to read about today.
And there's reasons for this.
And so, with that, I wanted toread a little snippet that I
just came across here with withWilliam Kelly.
And I think it's very, veryinstructive for us just to
consider this in light of today.
So it's, he says, this is, andhe's happened to be writing on
(04:14):
chapter 4, Nehemiah chapter 4here.
But, here we have the day ofweakness.
Yes, but here was a day ofweakness.
And what I would impress uponyour mind and my own is that we
are no longer in the day whenthe Spirit shakes the building.
(04:35):
We are no longer in the day ofpower and glory.
We are no longer in the day whensigns and wonders are wrought.
But are we therefore withoutGod?
What do we value most?
The powers and wonders work, Godworks, or God himself?
(04:55):
This is the great question.
Have we confidence in thepresence of God with us?
And do we value the presence ofGod above all the powers and
miracles that ever was wrought?
It is a very simple question.
So is now with Nehemiah.
There's no such thing as the RedSea open for the people, no such
thing as the Jordan crossed.
(05:16):
There was no manna that felldown from heaven, but there was
the evident Word of Godaccomplished, and the way was
open for them.
There was an open door, an opendoor to that place where the
Lord's eyes were continually theland of God for the people of
God.
They had lost it as a matter ofoutward power, but not for
(05:38):
faith.
For they clung to God, even whenGod would not outlay own them
before all the world.
This made it a trial, no doubt,but faith would find the trial
profitable.
And so I just consider thepeople were under a trial and we
have been under a trial today.
And as we've, this has beenrecorded in 2024 and the premise
(06:02):
of, of a holy life before God isstill the same as it was then.
And it also, and I've said thisentire and I've enjoyed this
tremendously too, God wouldstill have a people come to him
and worship him.
We're going to find that out aswe move into this next half of
the book here.
We're going to find this out aswe go, that God would have a
(06:24):
purpose, a people for him toworship to him.
Now, what we're seeing today interms of worship is not
necessarily it's not necessarilywhat, what is, is If we could
say it biblical, and that's thechallenge for us is that we're
not seeing today in, in, andthis is what breaks my heart.
(06:47):
There are those that arebringing forth the premise of
how to, and I can put it in airquotes, worship, and what we see
today of worship is not reallyworship is found in the word of
God.
So this is why it's importantthat, that Nehemiah built the
wall.
And so I hope that helps alittle bit in terms of that.
(07:08):
So let's move on here into thefirst seven verses here.
of the chapter here.
So let's jump right over intothe Nehemiah 7.
Then it was when the wall wasbuilt and I had hung the doors
when the gatekeepers, thesingers, and the Levites had
been appointed that I gave thecharge of Jerusalem to my
(07:30):
brother Hanini and Hananiah theleader of the citadel for he was
a faithful man and feared Godmore than many.
And I said to them, do not letthe gates of Jerusalem be open
until the sun is hot.
And while they stand guard andlet them shut and bar the doors
(07:53):
and appoint guards from amongthe inhabitants of Jerusalem,
one at his watch station andanother in front of his own
house.
And Well, we have an interestingsituation here where we, where
Nehemiah has his two brothershere, Hanani and Hananiah.
But before we get to that, let'slook back at, at verse one,
(08:14):
talks about he had hung thedoors.
And, and the gatekeepers and thesingers have been appointed.
Now, I just want to dwell onthat for just a second here.
God's word is very specific.
So when you see a list likethis, you always look at this
and go, what is the first,what's the first thing in the
list?
And the first thing on the listhere is the doors.
It's important to have doors,you know, doors basically are as
(08:38):
listed here.
Doors allow to bring in andallows to keep out.
That's what doors are.
Walls do not do that.
Walls just keep out and keep in.
But doors are important to havecoming in and going out.
And we see here that as we moveon down through the chapter
(08:59):
here, we find out that there wasa particular time when the doors
were to be opened.
And then right after that, thedoors will be manned by
gatekeepers.
You see that there?
Gatekeepers and their porters.
And it's so important to haveporters.
It's so important to have thosethat are standing at the door
watching what's coming in andwhat's going out.
You know, we have today, we havetoday something that is going
(09:22):
on.
It's been going on for sometime.
Where there are things that arecoming at us, even from a quote
unquote spiritual side ofthings.
that have not been proven.
And they have just been thrownoff the press, hot off the
bookshelf, they're hitting thebookshelf, they're hitting the
screens or whatever, and theyhave not been proven against the
(09:43):
Word of God.
And that's a challenge.
And then you need gatekeepers.
That's why it's so important tobe able to look at Scripture And
when leading some helps alongthe way, getting helps from
those that have written 50years, 80 years, 100 years, 150,
200 years, 300 years, these onesthat have written, have written
(10:05):
along the way that have enjoyedthese thoughts, they have been
what would you say?
Scrutinized.
It's been scrutinized, what theysaid, and it's called a peer
review.
You know, I just want to go on alittle tangent, if you would
allow me to go on a tangent.
Peer review.
In the medical sciences, in the,in the, in the, in the science,
sciences, there's somethingcalled peer reviews.
(10:28):
And peer reviews is when someoneputs something forth, some
scientist puts something forth,or medical professional puts
something forth, and then it'sbeing peer reviewed by others to
find out, is that true?
Is that true?
They're poking holes, or they'revalidating what is being said.
That's a peer review.
Folks, brethren in Christ, weneed peer reviews.
(10:52):
We need, we need to check backto the Word of God to find out,
is this true?
And sometimes when things arecoming off the shelf and coming
off the press so fast, when weclutch onto these things, We're
not getting it peer reviewed.
We're not looking into thescriptures to find out is this
true or is this not true?
And that's why when you havethings out there that have been
(11:15):
out there for whatever, 80years, a hundred years, 150 200
years, 300, 400 years, that hasbeen peer reviewed along the way
to sign find.
What that person was sharing wasthat certainly does it match is
it congruent with God's Word?
And that's why you have porters.
All right, so that's theimportant thing there about
(11:35):
having porters and you havegates as well Then we have
singers and then we have LevitesAnd if you look back if you look
back into first Chronicles 6 wesee there when Solomon was
putting together the temple Whysingers, singers are, when the
order is all put in place, thesingers come in.
(11:57):
It's a beautiful thing.
And this is what's so beautifulis when you see the Queen of
Sheba come, right?
Queen of Sheba comes and she's,she is in awe of what Solomon
has going on because everythingis in order and the singers are
singing.
And there's another thing goingon too.
I'm not certain that what'sbeing quote, unquote, air quotes
sung today is actually trulyhymns.
(12:19):
I do not know if this isactually, it doesn't appear when
you look from scripture that istruly honoring to the Lord.
And so it's important that, andyou see that Solomon and then
David before him.
David before him gave the Psalmsand we sing rich worship unto
God.
And it's so important to seethat singers follow after having
(12:44):
the porters and the gatekeepersin place.
And then you have the Levitesbeing appointed lastly, the
servants.
Okay.
So it's a beautiful thing to seethe order of scripture as we see
here in the.
first verse of of Nehemiahchapter seven.
But moving on here to chapterverse two, we have these two
brethren here Hanini andHananiah.
And it's interesting here, too,that he says he was a faithful.
(13:10):
Oopsie.
Let's get it.
He was a faithful man thatfeared God more than many.
This is a very important thing.
Nehemiah is very careful as towho he's going to put in charge.
Two men, and they were faithful,particularly one of them.
One's his own natural DNAbrother.
(13:30):
And the other one was a faithfulman and feared God more than
many.
There's something interesting Ijust read to in in preparing for
this little thing here, and I'mjust going to quote it is is The
fear of God rides on thehumility of one and these guys
were humble And what's sobeautiful to think is that when
(13:52):
there's humility before God?
There's also comes along thefear of God when we lose the
fear of God.
We're not gonna be humble Ithink it's just a beautiful
thing that humbleness thehumility before God will
encompass the fear of God.
Knowing the fact that I am, I amnot a, I am not a 50 pence
debtor.
I'm a 500 pence debtor.
(14:12):
I've so enjoyed that hererecently and coming to my own
soul.
The fact is, is that, you know,I, even though I was saved at
five years old and have walkedwith the Lord these years and
enjoyed these truths, I stillhave come to realize that I am
the 500 pence debtor.
The Lord Jesus had to pay I hadto pay for my sins.
(14:33):
And you have to realize this,and you have to come before him
and recognize the fact that,that we are, we, we were
obnoxious with our sins.
And he's come to save us andsay, so let's move forward here
with what's going on here.
And we see here that heinstructions in verse three.
(14:54):
He says, do not let the gates ofJerusalem be open until the sun
is hot while they stand guard,let them shut and bar the doors
and appoint guards from amongthe inhabitants.
There we go.
There is the premise of saying,you know what?
Do not open the doors until thesun is hot.
And this goes back to what I wassaying a little earlier is too
much is being trafficked.
trafficked in Christendommerchandise.
(15:16):
Hey, I'll tell you something.
I love marketing.
I eat marketing up.
I went to school for marketing.
I love marketing.
The problem is, is thatmarketing is being used in the
things of God and beingtrafficked in the things of God.
And in doing so, it is not athings of God.
That's why the doors werecompletely shut until the noon.
What does it say here?
And, and let the, and let thegates of Jerusalem be open until
(15:39):
the sun is hot.
Right?
The sun had to be hot before thegates were opened up and while
they stand guard and so they hadto sit there and watch.
the porters were watching whatwas coming in and going out.
This is now order in Nehemiah'seyes.
This is order for the gods,earthly people that time to have
the wall put up and now have thegates functioning and to have
(16:00):
the porters putting up the doorwhile they stand guard, let them
shut and bar the doors.
So it's beautiful to see this isthis is order.
And this is, it plays outexactly how it should play out
in a local assembly in terms ofbeing humble before the Lord.
and having porters and havingthat carefulness as to what
would come before that.
(16:21):
And it's also, it should be inour own lives to our own
personal lives as well.
Okay.
Alrighty.
So that was the porters and thegates and the two men there that
are, are mentioned there.
And I just wanted to, before Ijump past this here too, about
these two men here, I just wantto mention too, is I don't have
a, I don't have a thing here,but you know, if you want to
(16:42):
look at faithful man, look at.
1st Timothy chapter 3.
Apostle Paul is laying out hisheart to Timothy.
And look at the list there thatyou see in 1st Timothy 3, both
with the elders as well as thedeacons.
And find out a list.
If you want to say, am Ifaithful before the Lord?
Look at that list and sharpenthat up and go, man, you know
(17:05):
what?
I need, I want to be faithful tothe Lord, but there's a little
checklist for you.
And it's just a beautifulchecklist to go down because to
serve the Lord in this last day,we folks, we are on the last
cusp here of, of things goingdown the Lord, taking us out of
here.
And it's just so lovely to beable to.
To serve the Lord and faithbeing faithful.
(17:26):
That's what Nehemiah was lookingfor, right?
And he found that there withthose with those two men.
All right, lastly just wrappingthis up here We see here they
have the captives.
They have a whole Liturgy hereof people here now the city was
large and spacious But thepeople were few and the houses
were not built Then the God thenmy God put it in my heart to
(17:46):
gather the nobles rulers andpeople that they may register by
genealogy.
Okay.
If you're reading along with meand in Nehemiah seven here, why
you'll see that there follows ushere.
There was a large genealogybeing given.
It's a repetition of what'sbeing given in Ezra.
But I wanted to make note of thefact that as we go down through
(18:07):
here, and I'm not going to godown through here, you can read
it for yourself.
You'll find here that the there,the genealogy is listing.
The people, the count of people,et cetera, as they go down
through there.
And that is a beautiful thing.
And you ask why in the world isit given, why are men being
listed here?
(18:28):
Well, you know, somethinginteresting.
And by the way, this is thesecond time, as I just couldn't
say, this is the second time itwas done in Ezra as well.
And Nehemiah shakes it out inhis book and he's going down
through the list of men as well.
Well, it's, there is aninteresting principle here that
God has, and we need to take itfor ourselves.
And that is God makes lists.
(18:48):
Yeah, he's keeping a list rightnow and so interesting to know
as right now is we just camethrough this last holiday here
and many remember the Lord Jesusin his birth, if you will, and
if you read there, you findaccounts and two gospels of the
genealogy of the Lord Jesus socarefully taken one aspect from
from the father Matthews from inMatthews from the kingly
(19:11):
perspective of Joseph, the otherone from In Luke, from the
mother's perspective of Mary,the genealogy is very, very
carefully laid down.
But here's what I wanted toshare.
When it all comes down to it,there is a book written about
you.
There is, there are notes beingwritten about you, and there's
notes being written about me.
(19:31):
Let me give you an example.
This is what became before mehere in terms of this.
We do, it's a scripturalprinciple, and let's go jump on
over to Revelation chapter 20.
Okay.
This is some books that Goduses.
Why would God use books?
Well, he doesn't need to usebooks, but books is what we're
used to.
And so it says in revelation 20,and I saw the dead small and
(19:55):
great stand before God.
And the books were opened andanother book was open, which is
the book of life.
And the dead were judged out ofthose which were written in the
books.
According.
to their works.
Interesting, huh?
You can just meditate upon atthe very end of revelation there
that John, the apostle John sawthe dead small and great stand
(20:19):
before God.
And the books were open.
If you do not know the LordJesus as your savior and you die
and you stand before God, andthis is what this is right here,
the dead small and great.
And you do not have the blood ofthe Lord Jesus upon you, then
yes, that book will be openedand you're going to be judged
according to your works.
(20:39):
If you know the Lord Jesus isyour Savior, The blood has
washed away your sins.
Now there's another, there'sanother little time you'll have
with him, but it's not going tobe according to what we follow
after this fall being cast inthe lake of fire.
If you know the Lord Jesus, yoursavior, then things are going to
be accomplished in a differentway, obviously, but books are
(21:01):
being taken here and people livetheir lives right now, not
understanding the fact, notappreciating the fact that God
is taking account and we will bejudged at one day with it.
Whether you know the Lord Jesusas your savior, you'll be judged
with it.
If you don't know the Lord Jesusas your savior, haven't taken
his blood upon you, have notbeen purchased by that blood to
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cover your sins, to wash yoursins away.
Then you'll be judged from thebooks as well.
All right?
So, interesting enough, that'show Nehemiah 7 wraps it up.
Is, is basically allowing,allowing for a list to be given
a second time.
God is a God of lists, and weare getting listed right now as
(21:43):
well.
And if you've lasted down tothis part of the program, why I
had a crazy idea, I take notesalong the way and I would like
to share out of Evernote.
I use Evernote as a note takingthing, so some of these notes
I'll be dropping in the linksbelow.
And that'll allow you to readfurther on some meditations that
(22:06):
we've just taken up today.
I hope that is of help to you.
So with that, tell others, hitthe like, share, subscribe
button because it does help thealgorithms to get going along
the things here.
And so with that, I look forwardto chatting with you as we take
up Nehemiah.
eight tomorrow.
It's always a pleasure to dothis.
(22:26):
We're trying to get throughNehemiah here, and it's
certainly apropos here at thebeginning of the first part of
this year, The new year.
We look forward to seeing youtomorrow if the Lord will, and
we'll see you then.
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