The Power and Importance of God’s Word for our Neighborhoods/Cities

♪ Good morning 121 ♪ ♪ Will you stand and worship with us this morning ♪ (upbeat rock music) ♪ You say you need me ♪ ♪ So I don't rejoice any glad ♪ ♪ Rejoice any glad ♪ ♪ This is what I believe ♪ ♪ You are more than enough ♪ ♪ More than enough ♪ ♪ 'Cause you are faithful to your promise ♪ ♪ You are strong and high ♪ ♪ Not standing in your presence ♪ ♪ I have everything I need ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ Oh my soul, that is His name ♪ ♪ All that is within me say ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ Jesus, come one day ♪ ♪ You are worthy, worthy of my faith ♪ ♪ You are faithful to your promise ♪ ♪ You are strong and high ♪ ♪ Standing in your presence ♪ ♪ I have everything I need ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ Oh my soul, that is His name ♪ ♪ All that is within me say ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ That it brings me like a river ♪

♪ Overflowing all these feet ♪ ♪ Let it pour out with knowledge ♪ ♪ Overflowing all these feet ♪ ♪ Let it rise up, let the river ♪ ♪ Overflowing all these feet ♪ ♪ Let it pour out with knowledge ♪ ♪ Overflowing all these feet ♪ ♪ Overflowing all these feet ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ Oh my soul, oh my Lord ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ ♪ Oh my soul, that is His name ♪ ♪ All that is within me say ♪ ♪ Oh my soul, that is His name ♪ ♪ All that is within me say ♪ ♪ Oh my soul, that's His name ♪ ♪ All that is within me say ♪ ♪ Joy of the Lord, joy of the Lord is my strength ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Amen, amen ♪ ♪ It's okay to get the Lord of praise this morning ♪ ♪ It's okay to worship him this morning ♪ And what a beautiful thing it is to be in the house and Lord of worshiping together here in person, or if you're online, if you're watching from your prison cell, we just say it as the church, amen, to what God is doing. But besides just musical worship, another way we worship is by fellowship.

So I would just love to take a couple of seconds and greet a couple of people around you, meet somebody new and say good morning. As we worship this morning, not just in song and fellowship, but in a God's word and in Psalm 16 verses eight and nine, David says, "I have set the Lord continuously before me." Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices and my flesh so dwells securely. And that's our prayer. I wanna pray that scripture over us this morning. So Father, God, it is a joy this morning to know that we can continue to set you before us God, that you go before us God. And God, may we be a church that is not shaken because you're out our son. God, may we not be ashamed to raise our hands and worship God. And may we not be ashamed to just fully abandon ourselves. And may our hearts be glad, God. May the glory of your glory, God, be of rejoice in that Father. God, as we are here, God, that your word be our firm foundation, God. God, may we dwell securely in you in the words that you speak to us, Father. But God, an awful abandon, may we just rejoice, your worship, and you, God, just for who you are. God, for all the things that you do in God.

We ask this only the name of Christ, amen. (gentle music) ♪ Christ is my firm foundation ♪ ♪ The rock of which I stand ♪ ♪ Everything around me is shaken ♪ ♪ I've never been more glad ♪ ♪ But I put my faith in Jesus ♪ ♪ 'Cause He's never let me die ♪ ♪ We've been faithful through generation ♪ ♪ So I would eat for your love ♪ ♪ You won't ♪ ♪ Oh, you won't ♪ ♪ God's still got joy in chaos ♪ ♪ I've got peace that makes no sense ♪ ♪ So I won't be going out ♪ ♪ I'm not held by my own strength ♪ ♪ 'Cause I've built my love upon Jesus ♪ ♪ He's never let me die ♪ ♪ He's faithful to every season ♪ ♪ So I would eat for your love ♪ ♪ He won't ♪ ♪ Who you are ♪ ♪ He won't fade ♪ ♪ He won't fade ♪ ♪ He won't ♪ ♪ Who you are ♪ ♪ He won't fade ♪ ♪ He won't fade ♪ ♪ Christ is my third foundation ♪ ♪ 'Cause the Lord knows which I stand ♪

♪ Everything around me is shaking ♪ ♪ I've never been in your life ♪ ♪ I put my faith in Jesus ♪ ♪ He's never let me die ♪ ♪ He's faithful through generations ♪ Won't you? We won't fade We won't fade We won't fade We came You, my house was built up And I'd say You, would have gone away We came You, my house was built up And I'd say You, would have gone away We came You, my house was built up And I'd say You, would have gone away We came You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say

You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say

You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say

You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built up And I'd say You, my house was built And I'd say You, my house was built up ♪ And wonder and show you who you are ♪ Thank you Lord, you're worthy, you're worthy of every song we give us. Worthy of all the praise, worthy of all the praise, we give love, like we. Worthy of every breath, we give love, we give love for you. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. And Jesus, the name of God, the free of me, the only one. ♪ Jesus the only one who can ever say ♪ ♪ To the every breath you can ever breathe ♪ ♪ We live for you ♪ ♪ Only live for you ♪ ♪ Sing only one ♪ ♪ And only there is someone like me ♪ ♪ Who there is a beside you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes and ♪ ♪ Oh, if you show me ♪

♪ Where you are ♪ ♪ And fill me with your heart ♪ ♪ And leave me in your love to those other ♪ ♪ Whose you holy, holy ♪ ♪ There is no one like me ♪ ♪ Where there is no one beside you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes and ♪ ♪ Go and show me ♪ ♪ Show me ♪ ♪ Where here you are ♪ ♪ And fill me with your heart ♪ ♪ And leave me in your love to those other ♪ ♪ And leave me in your love to those other ♪ ♪ Whose you holy, holy ♪ ♪ Oh, you're a friend foundation ♪ ♪ You're never changing ♪ ♪ Where else do we thank you ♪ ♪ Oh, you weigh us better, Lord ♪ ♪ So build our life upon your love ♪ ♪ This ♪ ♪ Thank you, Lord ♪ ♪ Most of this year I will build ♪ ♪ And I will build my life ♪ ♪ Upon your love ♪ ♪ It is a ♪ ♪ Open foundation ♪ ♪ I will put my trust in you ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord ♪ ♪ And I will ♪ ♪ Yeah, I can't see how good I will do ♪

♪ And I will build my life ♪ ♪ Upon your love ♪ ♪ It is ♪ ♪ I'm taking my life ♪ ♪ I will build my trust in you ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord ♪ ♪ And I will ♪ ♪ Now I keep dancing holy ♪ ♪ And I'll hold you ♪ ♪ There is no one like you ♪ ♪ There is no one beside you ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes ♪ ♪ I'm going to show me ♪ ♪ Show me who you are in the family ♪ ♪ With your heart and healing ♪ ♪ In your turn ♪ ♪ Once you hold me ♪ ♪ And hold me ♪ ♪ There is no one like you ♪ ♪ Okay ♪ ♪ No one else ♪ ♪ Open up my eyes ♪ ♪ I'm going to show you ♪ ♪ Who you are in the family ♪ ♪ With your heart and healing ♪ ♪ In your turn ♪ ♪ Once you hold me ♪ ♪ And I will build my life ♪ ♪ Upon your love ♪ ♪ It is ♪

♪ Open up my eyes ♪ ♪ Your heart and I will build my life ♪ ♪ Just in your love ♪ ♪ And I will not be shaken ♪ ♪ Come on, can we get the word praise this way ♪ ♪ Oh, you're faithful ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ My hope is built on nothing less ♪ ♪ And in Jesus' blood and righteousness ♪ ♪ I dare not trust the sweetest fear ♪ ♪ But holy trust in Jesus' name ♪ ♪ My hope is built on nothing less ♪ ♪ And in Jesus' blood and righteousness ♪ ♪ I dare not trust the sweetest fear ♪ ♪ But holy trust in Jesus' name ♪ ♪ I still have a home call every song ♪ ♪ That is greatly strong in his Savior's love ♪ ♪ Through the strong he is now his Lord ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Darkness seems to hide his face ♪ ♪ I rest on his unchanging place ♪ ♪ Of a deadly high and strong he gave ♪ ♪ I ain't got what's behind him ♪ ♪ I ain't got hope within the man ♪ ♪ It's a Christ of love ♪ ♪ Father's love ♪ ♪ He plays strong in the Savior's love ♪

♪ Through the strong he is now his Lord ♪ ♪ He's the Lord of all ♪ ♪ He is the Lord of all ♪ ♪ Christ of love ♪ ♪ Father's love ♪ ♪ He plays strong in the Savior's love ♪ ♪ Through the strong he is now his Lord ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ We shall come and trump this sound ♪ ♪ Oh may I let him be found ♪ ♪ Dressed in his righteousness alone ♪ ♪ Fall this year before throne ♪ (upbeat music) (singing in foreign language) ♪ He plays strong in the Savior's love ♪ ♪ Through the strong he is now his Lord ♪ ♪ He's the Lord of all ♪ ♪ Christ of love ♪ ♪ Father's love ♪ Please [Music] We thank you. We thank you this morning to your joy. God, I'm the joy that has set before you that you take the cross so that we can walk and live in joy. With the hope to be with you forever, God until we thank you. And we give you all the honor and the glory and the praise. God, we thank you that your way is better, that you are the firm foundation. The truth of your word is what we stand on, God. And so we love you this morning. We give you the praise and honor and Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for worshiping. You may be seated. So I'm Cindy, and this is my neighbor Julia. Julia lives directly across the street from me. We did a lot of intentional time years ago and then that kind of dwindled over the years. Back in February when Ross was preaching on being sent, I was at a life group leader meeting and we were talking about being sent and what that looked like.

And the topic came up in the conversation of being sent doesn't necessarily mean going around the world. It could be just going across the street. So that idea was in my mind that particular day when I came home. In life, we get settled into routines and my normal routine was to drive up to the mailbox, get my mail, drive into my garage and close the door. I had gotten into a kind of routine of that. But this particular day when I drove up, I really felt God saying to me, "Park your car in the garage and walk to the mailbox." And when I went to the mailbox, I looked across the street and Julia was out in her yard doing some yard work. And I felt God say again, "Go across the street and talk to her." When he came over to ask how it's going, I just tell everything what happened in the house. It's difficult time in my life. I said, "I feel lonely. I need help." I could have just said, "I'm sorry that this happened to you. I'll pray for you and I just turned around and went back to my house." But even just the question of saying, "What do you need? What can I do for you?" That's a question we all can ask, right? It's not a hard thing to step and go a little bit deeper. On that particular day when Cindy asked her, "What can I do for you?" I said, "I'm looking for a church." I think it's God's plan on that day to let me open my heart because on New York, normally, how is it going? I just said, "Oh, I'm okay. I didn't talk a bit further." But on that particular day I said, "Yeah, Cindy's time beat me to 121 to the whole big Christian family." We get an idea that we know what this person is like and we put them into a box and we say, "This is how they are. This is how I will relate to them." And the fact is we do not know the people as well as we think we do, but God does, and he knows their needs. And the wonderful thing is that we have the Holy Spirit who can prompt us to go to the mailbox or prompt us to walk across the street or prompt us to stop our neighbor when they're breaking the leaves or to prompt us to walk around our neighborhood praying for the houses and to engage in conversation. We don't have to take that on ourselves to know what to say or what to do, we just need to be willing to be obedient and listen to what God tells us. Awesome. Cindy is someone that many of you know her and she just has just such a love for God and a love for God's Word. And it's God's Word that leads us into the ways he wants us to live and the things he wants us to do. And I love her example of that. We're thinking about our neighborhoods and cities. And when we think about a neighborhood, we're thinking about where you live. We're thinking about where you work and we're thinking about where you play or any other kind of gatherings you're a part of. And all of us have been strategically placed by God in the particular places where we live and where we play and where we work. The question is, being placed in those spots, are we living out what it means to be sent by bringing the message of Jesus and the way that we serve people in the way we speak about Jesus. about Jesus with them, and Cindy does a beautiful job of that as does her husband. some of the most scripture-loaded days

that I can remember being a part of, apart from being like in a camp or a conference or something. And yesterday, we had a celebration of life here at noon. There were quite a few people here, and a lady in our church passed away this last Monday morning, and we celebrated her life yesterday. A few days before she passed, I was with the family, and I asked her, she knew she only had a few days remaining, and she asked her, I said, "What are you praying right now?" And she said, "She's just a godly lady in midlife." And when she answered the question, she said, "You know, I don't know how to pass." I've never done this before. I thought, "What a tender heart, "because she wanted to pass well." And that's her question before the Lord. And she did pass well on Monday morning. Her husband, Andrew, described it as like a gentle breeze, blowing through the room when she took her last breath, as she went to be with Jesus. I pondered that, I shared this yesterday, I pondered that all week long, 'cause I've never been with someone that has just said, I'm trying to figure out how to pass well. And Christians can pass well. And I believe the reason there was such a peace the other day for Andrew and his wife passed, 'cause Jesus said in John 524,

that when we believe him for salvation, we've already passed from judgment and death into life. It happens at that moment that we know Jesus. And then Jesus would go on to say that we actually never die. And he would say, "Do you believe that?" And the reality is that Jane Simmons never actually died. She passed into life a long time ago, and as one pastor said it, she was simply delivered over into the perfect joy and peace of Jesus in that moment. That's why there's a peace and a gentleness. But Andrew on Facebook, he wrote this after his wife passed, and here's a portion of it. He said, "I've been struggling without a best honor her "as she passes. "I can't imagine a better way than to see the people "she loved find comfort and joy "in spending time in God's word. "The promises of God gave her the strength and confidence "to find joy in each step of this journey. "Those promises of each found their yes "in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. "Jane lived a life, she came to Jesus early, "she lived a life of joy, "and she lived a life built on God's word "and on that firm foundation. "And it's why you can pass well. "It's why you can walk for three years "with cancer well before you pass "because of a strength in God and his word.

"And Andrew would go out in the post to write "that it was those promises of God that gave for strength. "And then he said, "Would you please put away your phone "and pull the Bible off that shelf "and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through his word. "For Jane, he was, and in his word, a firm foundation, "a lamp to her feet, a light to her path. "A mighty refuge for her, "and the love of Christ for her. "Strengthened in God's word. "It was the most scripture-loaded celebration of life "I've been a part of. "Andrew asked each of the ladies who spoke about her "to pick a scripture and to wrap that scripture "around their description of her. "And it was a scripture after scripture, "and it's so beautiful when you have the scripture "overlaid on a life and you know it's true." I wanna think about this morning in Nehemiah chapter eight, the power and importance of God's word for our neighborhoods and for our cities. We've been through a number of things in Nehemiah so far and the wall has been rebuilt now. Decades earlier, the temple had been rebuilt, and now there's a hunger and a desire for the word of God. And I want us in chapter eight of Nehemiah and how that might come to us today and how we might live the same way that was happening in this moment when God's word was becoming central again to them.

And so one thing about three ideas, I just wanna put this under some things, we can hang this on as we work our way through these verses. We'll spend the bulk of our time in one through eight, some part of our time in nine through 12, and then I'll move a little bit more quickly through 13 through 18. It's not that any or less important, it's about making decisions on a lot of scripture in the chapter and the time that we have. What I'd also like to do is make an attempt and it worked well in the 8 a.m. So I think we're going to be good, but I'd like to just do, show you one way that I study scripture and I circle verbs. And so what I'd like to do is just be able to try to show you how I do that and circle the verbs and the action that's going on in the MIA to move us to that same kind of action. Maybe be helpful for you as you study God's word. The first thing we wanna think about in verses one through eight is gather to understand the scriptures. And it's beautiful today because we've gathered here to understand the scriptures. In verse one of chapter eight, all the people gathered as one man at the square, which was in front of the Watergate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. All the people, they've been in this unified project

of building the wall, rebuilding what had been destroyed. And now all the people gathered, all the people gathered, the men and the women, everybody gathers up and they are asking Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses. They're asking for it. This isn't like somebody was forced to go here, God's word. It wasn't a preacher saying you need to do this or a teacher saying you need to do this about God's word. The people were asking for Ezra to bring the book of the law. Now we know at a minimum that would have been Deuteronomy. Maybe it was all five books of the law. So when we read our scriptures, the first five books of our Bible, you might hear it called the Torah, the Pentateuch, the books of the law. And those are the five books being referenced. We don't know exactly what they would have read, but Ezra brings it and they asked him to. There was a hunger and a craving. It had probably been decades since they had been centered on God's word. And there is a hunger and a craving for it in this moment. It's a beautiful thing that's happening. If you walk in the entrance of our building, you'll see four beams if you look up. And then if you look beyond the beams, you'll see the flags of different nations. And those are the nations that we're partnered with in doing global work. So they represent who we're partnering with the 121.

But the first beam is authority of scripture. And these four values have guided us these last 25 plus years as a church. And we believe that God is our authority. He's made himself known in the scriptures. The scriptures are inspired, breathed out by God. It was 40 different authors, 66 books, over a 1500 year period with a unified, beautiful story running all the way through of salvation in God's rescue. And all for God's glory and his honor. And we believe today that that is our authority. And so we're walking under the authority of God. It's why we spend so much time. It's why I'm so proud of our church when I'm at so many different things. And the scripture just flows out of people in the different kinds of events and gatherings where we have people. So we're coming under the authority of God. In verse two, then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. They came together and they listened, and they listened with understanding. They didn't just hear it, they wanted to hear it and understand it. So we listen and we understand. And this was the first day of the seventh month. Now, I think some things are just really cool. Actually, I think all the things that God does are really cool.

And there are moments like this that are just fun. The first day of the seventh month is the beginning of what is called Rosh Hashanah. It's the Jewish New Year. . So we are sitting at the beginning of the Jewish New Year. That's exactly when this was taking place. And they were gathered so they could hear the word on this particular day. The way this was ushered in is with the blowing of this chafar. Now, I don't know if you've been here around 158, 59, or two o'clock on a Sunday afternoon, but you should just sometime come by. Our Spanish service has a man that in the service has a chafar. It's a big old horn. And he blows that thing and it'll scare you half to death if you don't know it's coming. It resounds all through the building. That's the design of the chafar is to shock us into alert. Let us know that something's happening. It's time to get ready, something's beginning, something's happening. And I'll tell you what, it happens in that Spanish service and it begins with the blowing of this chafar. That's how they begin the Jewish New Year. One of the things I love about Ezra is described about him in chapter seven verse 10 of Ezra.

And in Ezra seven, 10, it says that he has set his heart to study the law of the Lord. And he said his heart to study it and then to practice it and then to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel. Look at that pattern, study, practice, teach. We wanna study God's word and as we understand it, we wanna practice God's word and as we practice God's word then we teach God's word. That's what happens in all of our small groups. So we're study, practice, teach. So Ezra's being asked to do this. He's ready for the moment. And then in verse three, he read from it before the square which is in front of the Watergate from early morning until midday in the presence of men and women, those who could understand and all the people were attentive to the book of the law. Those who could understand and they were attentive, he read from it. Listen, they wanted to understand. He reads from it, there's understanding, there's attentiveness to it. One of the things I told you I was doing was borrowing from Arnoldo 'cause he has great slides for the Spanish service. But this is a good picture, perhaps, of what it might've looked like. Men and women, everybody gathered around a podium. We'll see that in verse four. The wall's completed, there's actually 13 men

standing up there with Ezra from the scripture but it gives us the idea of what is happening. And I wanted you to see that 'cause there's a craving for the word and they're gathered up there listening to it. That's what it was like then. When passion started, Louis Giglio leads was for 18 to 25 year olds to gather and worship. And when that started in the mid 90s, the original goal was to move towards an event that was a one day gathering of tens of thousands of students all over the country in one place to worship. So in the year 2000, this is what happened on Shelby Farms in Tennessee. Tens of thousands of students gathered. The word was read over us. We worshiped in that moment. It was powerful. There's something powerful when people gather together and they're under God's word and worshiping God. In verse four, Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which you saw, which they had made for this purpose. And I'm not gonna name all these guys. They're worth reading, just, I'm not gonna try. And so these guys are all up there with him. And then in verse five, Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above all the people and we opened it, all the people stood up. He opened the book and then the people stood. He just opened it and they stood.

Thank you. I officiated a wedding last night. Knows it the rehearsal dinner on Friday night and wedding and all the way through. And it was the desire of the bride and groom that God would be honored. In the rehearsal dinner, scripture was shared as the couple was described by their friends and family. The wedding scripture was central to it, speaking of Jesus. In the speeches that were made at the perception last night, scripture, it was scripture loaded all night long. But you know what happens at a wedding? Everybody is waiting for the bride to come. And one of the things I've started doing over the past few years, 'cause I've discovered that what happens as soon as the bride can be seen in the back, then somebody in the middle will stand up and then everybody stands up. And then the poor moms who spent all the time raising these kids can't even see the bride come down the aisle. So what I've started doing is announcing before we start saying, hey, if you're, this is how I'd like us to do it today. When the bride comes, when she passes you on the back row, if you'll stand, and then the next row, if you'll stand, and the next row, if you'll stand, it's like a small, quiet wave. And by the time you get to the front, everybody's standing,

but they're standing in honor of the bride with each step that she takes, and the moms have full view of the whole thing. Just the reverence for that moment. And that's the kind of reverence they had just with God's word being opened, and they stood. (congregation chuckles) God is worthy to be revered and honored. In the heart and in the appropriate postures. In verse six, and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. So the scripture's open, and then he's blessed is the Lord, a great God, multiple times. Nehemiah talks about God being a great and awesome God. Now, Ezra's blessing God, the great God, and all the people answered, and they said amen, amen, and the word amen simply means I agree. So everybody's in agreement. There's just this unified moment for the people, and while lifting up their hands, then they bow low and worship the Lord with their faces to the ground. There wasn't even anything said yet. And they just worship God, and lift their hands, and bow before him. This is a holy moment going on. God desires in John four worshipers who will worship him in spirit and truth, and they have suffered so long not being genuine worshipers of their God. And now something is happening, they've watched God work.

His words being opened, they're craving it. They're wanting it, and now they're worshiping God. Verse seven also, and there's another list of these men, their Levites, and part of the job of the Levites was to teach, they had many roles, that was one. And the Levites then explained the law to the people while the people remained in their place. So what seems to have happened is why Ezra's reading it, then the Levites are moving among the people in like small group world, and they're explaining it. One of the ways that we most effectively help each other, God's word, and understanding and having explained is in our life groups, and just like the Levites broke out, explaining it in smaller segments, that's how we break ourselves down as a church. We gather like this to understand the scriptures, and then we break it down into smaller groups. In those smaller groups, they have people that lead and teach, God's word is central to those groups. And then other people can be helpful, there's mutual kind of helping and explaining, understanding, this beautiful thing happens when we're in the word together in that smaller setting. We have one-on-one opportunities, we have for men, we've been several of us, probably this 90 days, spiritual challenge, spiritual challenge for men, that's underway, and we'll start again in the next semester. There's all kinds of way to break ourselves down smaller. We have classes, Vince Rice teaches one called How to Study the Bible.

And that one's underway right now. I talked to a guy that took one of Vince's classes last year. He's taking this one this time. And it's amazing what's happening with him as he studies the word himself. So one of the incredible things that we can do is not just have the word explained to us, but we can learn from people how to study the Bible so we can study it for ourselves and be the ones who can explain it to others. There's something about when we immerse ourselves in it that our soul starts to come alive even more. And there's an excitement about what God does in and among us and what you can know today that if you know Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit of God in you and the Holy Spirit is our teacher. You can go to the word by yourself and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you. And anytime we understand something from God's word, it turns into a gratitude to God in his spirit that he would teach me and help me understand that. And all of us can do that. The power of the Holy Spirit within. Verse eight, they read from the book from the law of God translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading. Now they read from it. It's being translated so that it can be understood. Now one thought here is that the people spoke in the language that was Aramaic

and the scriptures would be being read in Hebrew. And the Levites were helping to explain that and to make it clear. We have so many different translations of the Bible to help us make it clear in our heart language of English. This is not the case with thousands of people groups all over the world. But there are people that God has raised up to do the hard work of Bible translation and to go be among peoples where they don't have God's word. Kimberly is one of our global workers in the Middle East. She's part of a team that is working with a people called the Sojo. That's not their real name, it's to protect what's happening. This is a people group of gypsies about four million cross spread across the Middle East and they have no scripture in their heart language and they are an oral language people. They don't even have anything in writing an alphabet or anything in their language, an oral language. Kimberly's team about four years ago, they have a translator on their team, a Bible translator and they started to work with the one known believer among the Sojo people. And in working with him, they have now developed an alphabet that's in the Sojo language. And they've begun to teach them how to read and then they started translating the scripture so that they have scripture in their heart language. The first book they translated,

the first chapter was Psalm 23 because the one man that's the known believer, the way he came to Christ was through a dream about a shepherd. So they translated Psalm 23 to honor the way God brought him to Christ. They've since translated Ruth narratives are easier to translate than other parts and now they're working on a creation to Christ, 12 different stories that tell that story of God weaving all through the scripture. So that in the Sojo language, they'll be able to hear what you and I are able to hear in our heart language. Grateful for people who explain, translate, who help make things clear so that we can understand God's word. I asked some people this week, what are ways they see at 121 that people are in God's word? And I wanted to share a few of those with you to want to just cheer you on, it may be something you want to try, if there's something next for you to be trying or just be encouraged by what you're doing. But again, I'm so encouraged in our church the Bible literacy rate in what we understand statistically today is about 10% in churches. It's a really low literacy rate of the Bible. And again, I'm so encouraged when I'm at gatherings where 121ers are and where other believers are. Let's hear the scripture, it just comes out of them.

of the different ways, but here's some examples. The Discovery Bible Study Method is one of those. That's a way that we can study the Bible with no other helps. And again, we've got all kinds of people that love to help you if you're not sure what to do or how to go about it. And we would love to be able to do that. Terri Lee Cobble's Bible Recap is one that a number of people use. The Bible Project, if you're a more visual, these guys do an amazing job of visual things to go with what you're reading or listening to in the word that helps with it. So that's helpful if you're more visual. We have a family table, weekly devotional, that goes out for our parents to be able to work through with their children. The better man devotional we've talked about multiple times, it's amazing. The depth and substance, these things are being written. So for men, I encourage this. A number of people will work through the Psalms and pray the Psalms. We have a 121 Navigators Discipleship Guide that's being used one-on-one in small groups. Bible Study Fellowship has been impactful for so many of you and your depth and understanding of God's Word. The U version app of the Bible,

there's a number of things that are great about that. One of them is, if you don't love reading, you can listen to it. And so that's a way to do that. One guy suggested to us a while back, it's a fantastic idea to read, pray and journal through the Bible in a year for another person. For example, for a friend or for a spouse or for a child. Do a Bible through the year plan. As you're reading it, you're praying every day that scripture for that person. So by the end of the year, you've prayed through the whole Bible for a person. And then make notes along the way of what God's showing you in that scripture, what he's showing you about them. And they'll have that as something they can see the ways God was working with and through you in reading the Bible for them. I find teaching children is a fantastic way. If you don't know much about the Bible, you only need to stay a week ahead. You get everything you need to be able to teach. You learn the Bible along with the children. So that can be a great way to learn as well. And then just reading over people, I've told you about Joe Sanchez on our staff. He's still in the hospital. He'll still pray for him, please. But the thing he has loved is when men are staying with him

and reading the scripture over him, just chapters over him. God's Word has a power and an importance for us. Those are some thoughts about understanding God's Word and how we gather up with it. Second thing we can think about here in nine through 12 is to freely release emotions. When we are in God's Word, it is okay to have a freedom of different kinds of emotions that will happen. When something is this powerful and impactful, there are emotions that will flow, verse nine. And then Nehemiah, who is the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, "This day is holy to the Lord your God. "Do not mourn or weep for all the people were weeping "when they heard the words of the law. "They were weeping because they realized "they were disobedient and sinful against God. "They had not been obeying the law of God "and it broke their hearts before God." That is an appropriate response to conviction of sin. In Hebrews 4, 12, it says that the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow. And it's able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. There is a power when we sit under God's Word

and when we realize we're disobedient to God, there's a brokenness that comes over us. A book I read several years ago thinking about how we measure our faith. So one of the ways we know we're growing in our faith is when we increasingly grieve over our sin. Because the closer we grow to God, we realize all the more how sinful we are and how holy and pure, gracious, loving he is. And it breaks our hearts more and more over time. So an appropriate way in response to God is a brokenness and a weeping over our sin before God. They heard it, verse 10, then he said to them, "Go, eat of the fat drink of the sweet "and sin portions to him that has nothing prepared. Do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength." So it's the response that they're told is to not don't grieve. And I don't know who said it, but I wrote it down. They said, "Remember grace in our grief." It's appropriate to grieve, and it's a gift to be able to grieve and confess and repent of our sin. That's a gift for us to move towards God. He's given us a way to free up. But then there's a point where the morning in the dark turns into a joy in the morning. And so don't stay there. And that's what they're being taught. Hey, look, this is a day that's holy to God. Don't be grieved. The joy of the Lord is your strength.

Now you might have that phrase on a towel or on a wall hanging or on a shirt, but the context of it, it's coming out of grieving over a brokenness of sin and disobedience to God. And I come out of that, and I realize, it's the joy of the Lord that's my strength. There's a gladness of heart that comes out of that brokenness and that forgiveness, verse 11. So the Levites calmed all the people saying, "Be still for the day is holy, do not be grieved." Be still. Calm your heart. Jesus said to Mary and Martha, the one necessary thing is to be still the feet of Jesus. Be still. All the people went away to eat, to drink, to sin portions, celebrate a great festival. Now they're going to celebrate because they understood the words which had been made known to them. Their desire was to listen here, be attentive. They were craving it, and now they understood it. They understood it to the point of brokenness before God. But they're encouraged to have a joy. If we fast forward from here, when we think about the gospel today, we are all a people with a sinful, vile, wicked, deceptive heart. There's no escape from that. That's us. That's humanity. And that grieves us because it's a violation

against the holiness of God, and it's a violation against people. Jesus Christ on the cross took all of that vile, wicked deception in us, and he nailed it to himself on the cross. He's nailed on the cross for us by the hands of godless men. But then God raised him up from the dead, so it's overcome. So we come before God broken over our sin, but we rise up in joy. In Hebrews 12 says that we're to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and now he sat the right hand of the throne of God. And so there was a joy in Jesus in the midst of suffering because he saw what would happen through the cross. Arnaldo sent me this picture of the cross, and it's really pretty, beautiful. And sometimes I'm afraid that's how we see the cross. It's a nice wall hanging. It can be a good-looking tattoo. We get really nice necklaces, but we are really distant from the reality of what the cross is. Shelby Farms one day, 2,000 students piled around the cross. And that's where we want to hang out, not distant from the cross. The cross isn't just where we get saved and we move on from it. We're saved by what Jesus did at the cross, and then we stay there. That is our motivation for how we live. It's a motivation for being sent. It's why we love God. It's why we love our neighbor.

That's the essence of the gospel. And do you believe that? Jane believed it, lived her whole life following Jesus close to the cross. It wasn't foolish to her. It was wisdom for her. Aiden, who was the groom last night, he was distant from the cross until about a year, year and a half ago. And now he's full on following Jesus. He's close in to the cross. Well, the boy was shed so that we could be covered and that we could be close in to our Savior and to our Lord. So freely express a grief over sin and then rise up 'cause there is a joy in the Lord. And a strength in him, it's not in us. We sing it, we're weak and strong. We are weak and fragile human beings, but we have a God who's strong and who brings us up and works through our weakness and brings a joy and a strength. And when we have a Savior like that, we can't help but do what 13 through 18 describes and that's to obey without delay, verse 13. Then on the second day, the heads of fathers, households of all the people, the priests and the Levites were gathered to enter the scribe that they might gain insight into the words of the law. They wanted to gain insight.

A number of the people had left, but the leaders of the households, the fathers, they stayed and they wanted to gain more insight. And we talked earlier, the Levites, they were those small group leaders, they came in among the crowd and they started explaining things. But here we have the heads of fathers households of all the people and they wanna know more. They wanna gain insight and they wanna lead their homes well. It's in Deuteronomy six, I suspect that was read on that day. It's the responsibility of the dads to lead the charge in the home so that God's word from the time a child wakes up to the time that child goes to bed, that they are leading out in their home. One of the things that we talked about yesterday at the celebration of life with Jane, she was able to live a life following the Lord and what helped make that easy for her. She would have done it anyway, by the way, but her husband is following the Lord and he's leading his household to follow the Lord. And when a husband is leading and following, it makes it easier for everybody in the home to follow. So all the heads of the fight, they gathered up and they wanted to know more and gain new insight. And let me sum up 14 through 17. What they realized is not only had the Jewish New Year begun,

but now it was time for the feast of booths. And that was to commemorate the protection of God in the wilderness wanderings years before. And they would build and live in for seven days temporary kind of tents, if you will, made of leaves and branches. And what it says as it was described for them, they did it. They didn't think, oh my, it's already time to do it. We can do it next year. That'll give us plenty of time to plan and prepare, obey without delay. They just did it. It's a game on, they're ready for it and they did it and they celebrated that feast and they remembered what God had done. And it's a reminder for us, by the way, that while we live in temporary shelters today, there's a place being prepared for us. It's not temporary. It's permanent. We're protected and provided for it in the meantime, but there's something way more beautiful coming and way more permanent. That so-jo man that I told you about recently, he went to the team of translators. And he said, "What do y'all think about that? Because in that culture, if the wife can't get pregnant, you divorce her." And she hadn't been able to get pregnant. And the translator said, "You know what?

Rather than talk about this, we're just going to read it from God's word in the Sojo language. What God says about marriage and divorce." And so they did. They read the scripture over him. And he said, "Okay, I won't divorce her." That was it. This is what God said. I'll do it. Obey without delay. He wasn't asking for a way. He didn't ask for books. He didn't ask for other resources. You know, surely there's another way to interpret this. He heard it. She hadn't committed -- he'll bait it. Without delay. What did Cindy do? With her neighbor? She just gone on into the house. You can see the neighbor another day. No. Without delay, she'll bait it. It's why we take Matthew 28, 18 through 20. All authorities been given to me, Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples. "Of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, "the Son and the Holy Spirit, "teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you in law "and with you always even to the end of the age." We just do it. And then verse 18,

"He read from the book of the law of God daily, "from the first day to the last day, "and they celebrated the feast seven days, "and on the seventh day there was a solemn assembly "according to the ordinance." We read it daily. In the Better Man Devotion this week, one of the quotes was, "Brother, "yesterday's bread will not feed today's hunger." "Daily," they read it. "Daily," something is shaping us every hour of every day. May God cause His Word to be that which shapes our hearts and minds daily, 24/7, load it up, immerse it, and enjoy it. In 2007 of July, there were 23 missionaries taking hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The hostages were together for a brief time, and they assumed they would be separated, and they assumed they would all be killed. And they really wanted to make sure that they died for the glory of God. There was one--two ended up being killed, 21 released. This story was shared by one of the survivors. When they realized what was happening, they had one small Bible. They took the Bible, and they tore it into 23 pieces and divided it up.

Everybody got a piece so that they could be strengthened by the power of God's Word and what they believed would be their last days. There's power and importance in God's Word. May God cause it to pour in and through and over every one of us in Jesus' name. Fire, thank you. Thank you for giving us your word, and thank you for the way it has transformed so many of our hearts and minds and radically reoriented and shaped the way we live. Thank you for the joy that's in you and that you've given to us. And Father, thank you for the way you're doing that all over the world today. Just the power of your Word. And I pray, God, that we would be an obedient people without delay to whatever it is we know at this point about your Word. And Father, I pray we would crave and hunger it for it just like all the people did in chapter 8 of Nehemiah. And God, that we would have a reverence for it. And it would cause us to love you in our neighbor even more. I'm praying in Jesus' name. If we could, let's just be quiet for a moment and whatever God wants to sit on. Let's just be quiet a moment. moment.