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2:15
Welcome back to the forging table.
2:24
The mission of Undaunted Life is equipping men to push back darkness with content that
2:28
forges spiritual, mental and physical resilience.
2:31
At the forging table, you'll see a group of regular guys forging spiritual resilience
2:34
by digging into God's word and we're welcoming all of you to come along on that journey.
2:38
That's Caleb.
2:39
That's Robert.
2:40
That's the horn.
2:41
Ryan horn.
2:42
Going into the very, very last chapter of Nehemiah 13.
2:46
Again, guys, one of my favorite books in the entire Bible.
2:50
I just love the lessons here and as we talked about in previous weeks, there are leadership
2:54
lessons here.
2:55
There's lessons about how to be a good father, how to be a good citizen, how to be a good
2:59
steward of the talents that you've been given.
3:02
There's so many good things.
3:03
There's political lessons here, all kinds of stuff.
3:06
This is the end and what you would normally be expecting with such an epic story up to
3:10
this point is just some sort of grandiose ending to this entire thing about Nehemiah
3:16
because this is the last time chronologically we hear about Nehemiah in the scriptures in
3:21
terms of what was actually historically happening, but we definitely don't get that.
3:25
We do not get that big dramatic ending.
3:27
This isn't that awesome theatrical ending that we were hoping for, but there is still
3:32
a whole, whole lot of great stuff that we can look at in terms of Nehemiah 13, but Ryan,
3:38
even right from the beginning, you were talking about Off-Air, even in the first, a couple
3:42
of verses rather, there's some pretty important stuff and it attaches other parts of the Old
3:47
Testament as well.
3:48
Yeah, so it actually goes back to Numbers and they call it the Book of Moses and it was
3:53
found written, "No Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, so enter the
3:58
temple."
3:59
For they did not meet with the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against
4:03
them to curse them.
4:04
During this time, Balaam was a prophet and the Moabites basically brought him in to
4:10
curse the Israelites and as he got up to curse them, he could only speak praises.
4:15
God changed his tune and made him speak praises of the Israelites rather than curses, and
4:20
so Balaam I think is the king's name in Numbers was very upset with this, and so basically
4:26
Balaam basically told the king the only way to defeat the Israelites is to send your women.
4:33
Send your women in there and they basically sent their women in there, the men fornicated,
4:39
the Israelite men fornicated with those women.
4:42
Those women bore children, their children, and guess who's taking care of those children?
4:46
Moabite women.
4:47
I mean, it's basically what, Prima Nokta and from Braveheart, it's like, "Hey, if we can't
4:52
kill them all, let's breed them out."
4:55
And that's basically what they pulled here, but this kind of sets up to what's going on
5:00
now, like we were building up this crescendo at the end, like, is everything going to work
5:05
out great?
5:06
And it's like, it's not because Jesus hasn't returned yet.
5:08
I mean, this isn't where it ends, but it ends not very well for the Israelites here.
5:13
I mean, Nehemiah comes back and he comes back to them falling back into their old ways.
5:19
And so, Alisha Badd, the priest, basically is a member of the family.
5:25
You say Alisha Badd?
5:26
Do I say Alisha?
5:27
Alisha Badd.
5:28
Oh, sorry, Jobe is going to light you on fire.
5:31
I can't read from far away, I'd like you to bring it closer to Alisha Badd.
5:36
Alisha, Alisha Badd, Alisha Badd, Alisha Badd.
5:39
I like Alisha Badd.
5:40
I like Alisha Badd.
5:41
I like Alisha Badd too.
5:42
I'm sorry.
5:43
I couldn't let it go.
5:44
It's okay.
5:45
Come on.
5:46
Alisha Badd, who was appointed to the chambers of the house of God, so this guy is appointed
5:48
to the chambers of the house of God, was a relative of Tobiah.
5:51
We all remember Tobiah and that jerk.
5:54
Yeah.
5:55
So, who's a Moabite, you know, and they take, they prepare a room for him in one of their
6:01
largest chambers.
6:03
The chambers that are supposed to hold the taxes, the first fruits, the things to keep
6:08
the Levites going, what brought them into, what brought them into their, oh man, I went
6:16
brain dead.
6:17
Into the 70 years of captivity was how they didn't take care of the house of God and how
6:22
they broke their covenant.
6:23
They're doing it again, and this time, the guy that tried to kill Nehemiah, they build
6:28
a house for him in the house of God, and he was related to Tobiah and his name is Ili
6:33
Ashababadu.
6:34
Is that how it is?
6:35
I'm in it.
6:36
I'm in it.
6:37
I ruined it all.
6:38
All right.
6:39
So, at least I got Tobiah, right?
6:40
You nailed Tobiah.
6:41
You absolutely nailed Tobiah.
6:42
But Robert, since you have the, the Silkyas voice out of all of us, you know, the strong,
6:46
the jockoist type, if you talk into the mic, it'll work great for you.
6:50
But if you will into the mic, read verses 4 through 7, and then we'll discuss.
6:53
Oh no, I've got to mess up Ili Ashabab.
6:56
No, just Lasha Babadu.
6:57
Okay.
6:58
Just get it, just get it close.
6:59
Now, before this, Ili Ashab, the priest, having authority over the store rooms of the
7:05
house of our God was aligned with Tobiah, allied with Tobiah, and he had prepared for
7:12
him a large room where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense,
7:16
the articles, the tides of grain, the new wine and oil, which were commanded to be given
7:22
to the Levites and singers and gatekeepers and the offerings for the priests.
7:26
So go ahead and go ahead and read verse 6 and 7 as well.
7:29
But during all this, I was not in Jerusalem for in the 32nd year of king of Babylon.
7:35
I had returned to the king, I, what do I got here?
7:38
Art.
7:39
Art is Xerxes.
7:40
Art is Xerxes.
7:41
Fantastic.
7:42
King of Babylon.
7:43
I'd returned to the king.
7:44
And after certain days, I obtained leave from the king and I came to Jerusalem and
7:49
discovered the evil that Ili Ashab had done for Tobiah and preparing for him a room in
7:55
the courts of the house of our God.
7:57
So there's so much here, right from the beginning, because this is totally when the cats away,
8:03
the mice will play situation.
8:05
So in here, we have what, what you set up, Ryan, we have a, you know, a relative of Tobiah,
8:13
a guy that was literally trying to lure Nehemiah away to kill him is now like, integrally,
8:19
integrally involved in what's happening in the goings on inside the city.
8:24
And then we see that Nehemiah had fulfilled his promise to King Art is Xerxes that he
8:29
didn't violate the trust of the king because the king trusted that he meant it that, hey,
8:33
I'm your cup bear.
8:34
I'm basically keeping you and the rest of the royal family alive right now, but I need
8:39
an undefined period of time to be away from you to do something that's only important
8:43
to me.
8:44
That's only like somewhat important to you.
8:46
And so he goes back and immediately, like again, there's a lot, there's like months
8:51
and months and years like in here, even in these two verses, but immediately the people
8:55
start falling away and they start putting, you know, bad corrupt people in places of power.
9:01
And they were, they were led by these, these people and what they essentially did, and this
9:05
is how we talked about it off air, they went back to their old ways, like just right from
9:10
the jump, like the boss wasn't there.
9:12
And so they went back to screwing around, playing horse with, you know, a, a waste paper basket
9:16
and, you know, balled a piece of paper like they, it's just cats away.
9:19
The mice will play.
9:20
And it's like, man, we're not different from people 2,500 years ago, we're, we're still
9:26
like this.
9:27
I could just imagine Nehemiah's anger.
9:30
It's like back when I had a house and I had roommates, like let's just say like my worst
9:34
enemy of my roommates, like not with my roommates, but somebody that we know mutually like I'm
9:39
gone for a business trip and I come back home and that guy sitting in my living room watching
9:44
a movie, drinking my good whiskey, like I would lose my mind.
9:49
Like I totally get his anger.
9:51
It's just like seriously guys, like one, you're my bros and you're deciding that you're gonna
9:56
let this guy into our house, you know, on top of that, he's drinking my good stuff.
10:01
Like, I mean, the best wine was in that storm.
10:04
I guarantee you, Tobias was drinking that wine.
10:07
Everything that was left for those, for the Levites and the priests, Tobias was putting
10:13
his fingers in.
10:14
Well, this was like 12 to 15 years later.
10:18
My understanding is 12 to 15 years later that he comes back, right, the 32nd year of Art
10:22
of the Xerxes.
10:23
So one thing that I thought of here was that, you know, when they're looking for a place
10:28
for Tobias to stay, it's like, Oh, we're not doing anything.
10:31
We're not doing anything with that room.
10:32
Right.
10:33
So go stay here.
10:34
Well, that's, that's because they, they began being disobedient a long time ago, right?
10:40
Because that was the room that was previously for offerings, right?
10:43
It was for them to, if they're keeping the Sabbath and keeping the Sabbath year, you know,
10:48
where they don't labor and they're taking care of, of all those offerings to put in there,
10:52
then they wouldn't look around and say that room's available, you know, so it was, it was
10:56
other, like the way I think of this is like, it's other disobedience that lead to more
11:02
disobedience.
11:03
Right.
11:04
Yeah.
11:05
It's that they're reaping what they're sowing.
11:06
So you know, I'm thinking of the application standpoint, it's like there are, there are
11:10
little things that you can either stop doing or start doing that are going to lead to far
11:15
worse things.
11:16
Yeah.
11:17
It's just funny how they break a covenant, like a covenant, like they were all repentant
11:21
of and they sign the seal and they did everything and then they come back.
11:26
It's so easy with in 10 to 12 years.
11:28
Yeah.
11:29
Again, like Caleb was saying, this is slow fade, you know, it was that they, they were
11:32
giving 10% of the first fruits and did that go to 8% one year and then slowly it went
11:38
down to five and then to three and then they just quit giving.
11:42
And then that room went empty and then it set empty for a couple of years and it's kind
11:46
of like you, you know, it's how we are in sin.
11:49
They didn't know how many areas of our life do we look at them?
11:52
If we were to fast forward, you know, or if we were to go back 10 years ago, sometimes
11:56
we would catch ourselves in a position that we would never be where we are today, 10 years
12:01
ago, we would have thinking that we would have put all of the safeguards in place that
12:04
would have protected us and guarded us and kept us in these railings where God wants us
12:08
to be.
12:09
The sad part, it wasn't even a lot.
12:10
It was a third.
12:11
They only had to do a third of a shackle.
12:12
So it was probably a third of grain, a third of wine.
12:15
So they didn't have to come out like a half like they, like what was usually taxed.
12:19
They were given the lease and still couldn't do it within 10 to 12 years.
12:24
It wasn't couldn't.
12:25
They decided it wouldn't.
12:27
That somehow doesn't apply to me because Nehemiah is not here anymore.
12:31
Caleb, what version do you read from?
12:33
N.A.S.B.
12:34
Okay, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't going to be like the message or something like
12:36
that.
12:37
So if you wouldn't mind reading verses seven through nine.
12:40
It's that far.
12:41
Yeah.
12:42
And I came to, and I came to Jerusalem and learned about the evil of Elia Shib had committed
12:47
for Tobiah by preparing a room for him in the courtyards of the house of God.
12:51
It was very displeasing to me.
12:53
So I threw all of Tobiah's household articles out of the room, then I gave an order and
12:57
they cleansed the rooms and I returned the utensils of the house of God there with the
13:02
grain offering and the frankincense.
13:04
So as I was reading through this, I'll admit I didn't catch this until after, which the
13:09
word cleansed should have been like a trigger for me because as you guys know, my favorite
13:15
description of Jesus in the gospels is whenever he showed us just a hint of the line of Judah
13:21
when he cleansed the temple.
13:22
There's some people believe that that happened once.
13:24
I agree with the scholarship that says that that actually happened twice.
13:28
So we see that in Matthew 21 12 starting in Matthew or it's in Matthew 21 and in John
13:33
two.
13:34
And so I see it as him clearing the temple right at the beginning of his ministry and
13:39
then clearing the temple after he had arrived back in Jerusalem the week of you know, passion
13:43
week, right, you know, whenever he would end up dying on the cross.
13:46
But regardless, if you believe that it happened once or twice, this is where we got to see
13:51
righteous indignation acted out in real time by the Savior.
13:55
He didn't lose his cool.
13:57
He didn't regret it later, which is how most of us would categorize our anger.
14:02
So when we get mad and you know, punch a wall or throw something or say a bad word or make
14:05
a comment towards somebody or get in a fight, like, of course, we, we, since we're not
14:09
a sociopath, we're going to come back later and be like, oh, yeah, that was pretty frickin'
14:14
stupid.
14:15
But this is a direct corollary.
14:16
And that's what a lot of the commentaries I read to what was done at this time to what
14:20
Jesus did in clearing the temple and Jesus's accusation was that you know, you've turned
14:25
this father's house into a den of, a den of robbers or thieves and you've, you've made
14:30
business of my father's house.
14:33
And what was happening in the temple at that time that's just occurred to me is business
14:37
was slowly encroaching into the everyday nature of what was happening in the temple.
14:41
That's not how it was originally started.
14:43
They didn't build the temple and then say, all right, let's set up our shops, right?
14:46
But it was just that slow creep towards that.
14:50
And that's how it ended up happening.
14:52
How do you think it happened here as well?
14:53
Nehemiah leaves to go, go back and be with King Artaxerxes and kind of, you know, serve
14:57
out his duties as cup bear before he comes back for a second governorship.
15:01
And while he was gone, slow creep, slow creep, slow creep.
15:05
There's a lot of connections here.
15:07
That's greed.
15:08
Greed caught up with them.
15:09
I mean, that's why they opened the gates in the Sabbath and opened the holy temple for
15:13
basically business, you know, and it can't come came back on it, and it's going to come
15:20
back and haunt him again when Jesus comes back.
15:22
So when Jesus comes and it takes a, I don't know, I think you can relate this over to
15:28
to business in some ways and you can go if you don't have, you know, a chief of operations
15:35
that is making sure that everyone adheres to the systems and processes of the businesses,
15:41
how easily can things fall away and they can go into a state of disrepair to where there's
15:47
eating in your profits.
15:48
You can do it in a household where you don't have a father that's active and morally holding
15:54
everybody accountable to spending time, you know, as a family, you know, in prayer or
16:00
eating meals together, keeping the house in check or respecting mom or what it is and
16:05
how quickly things just lead to a state of disrepair.
16:07
I mean, there has to be someone of significance that's in charge that's willing to hold the
16:12
line to be able to keep everything on the, on the path that got intended to be to operate
16:17
well.
16:18
Yeah.
16:19
And it's just, I think he ends up doing that by appointing a treasure.
16:23
I mean, fire, he basically comes in, fires everybody.
16:26
It's like, it's like Nehemiah figures out, like maybe I have to live here for these people
16:30
just to get it right.
16:32
But I thought it was crazy to read about the Levites and how they were not given their
16:36
portions.
16:37
And then they had to flee to their fields.
16:40
So like the Levites weren't being honored the way they were supposed to be honored in,
16:44
in the covenant.
16:45
And so they had to go and work.
16:46
They had to eat, you know, they wanted to live in a dry place and eat, you know, and
16:50
they couldn't do that there because they weren't upholding their covenant.
16:54
And who knows what was in the storehouse?
16:57
Maybe the storehouses were empty because they sold it for money rather than giving up that
17:01
first fruits to the storehouse.
17:04
So it's just, I just don't, I guess it's hard to kind of like, we all do it and we all probably
17:10
subconsciously do it.
17:12
But like, we know what's right and wrong.
17:14
Why do we always revert back to this certain area?
17:18
You know, it's like, let's, let's talk about the phrase you used, Robert, which is hold
17:22
the line.
17:23
Okay.
17:24
So as we see in this chapter, we see small detours again, small detours away from God's
17:29
law, but they can end up being catastrophic.
17:33
So the good thing here is that Nehemiah had come back there to rebuke them, but tithing
17:39
was neglected.
17:40
Right?
17:41
It became less important to these people.
17:43
Sabbath was ignored, right?
17:45
But it wasn't ignored outright immediately.
17:47
It was a slow creep towards the Sabbath being ignored.
17:50
The marriages were being mixed again, which again is not a defense of not intermixing
17:55
races or anything like that is a completely different time, completely different context.
17:58
But at the time, they were not supposed to be mixing with other people groups outside
18:02
of Israel or outside of Jerusalem.
18:05
And there was no wood for the temple offerings.
18:08
Can you be so bold as to go into that of saying, we've got to train up our kids to be able
18:12
to marry other Christians?
18:13
I mean, it's kind of a bold topic for us to talk about right now.
18:17
But I mean, obviously we're not looking at it from a racism standpoint, right, not looking
18:21
at it from a ethnicity of any kind.
18:23
But I think we are looking at it from an alignment with God.
18:26
We are God's people and how are we guarding our children to be able to stay in alignment
18:32
with that covenant?
18:33
Right.
18:34
How many fathers are all too eager to ignore the fact that the dude that is now asking
18:43
for their daughter's hand in marriage has no connection to the Christian worldview, no
18:49
connection to Christ or the discipleship therein.
18:53
But you know, he's a good looking guy, he can protect her, he's got a good job.
18:58
He can provide for.
19:00
And so they ignore the parts that could send their daughter and their grandkids to help
19:05
potentially, right?
19:07
You know, living in a bad house as a sin, you'd hell don't misunderstand me.
19:10
But it's like, let's say your daughter is not even a Christian at that point.
19:14
Like I think you're your spot on like, bothers with daughters out there, but even fathers
19:19
with sons, it's like when you're talking about not being, you know, unequally yoked,
19:24
that's what they're talking about.
19:26
And that doesn't mean, oh, well, because this is where I grew up not going to church
19:30
and my wife grew up going to the church of Christ.
19:32
And I thought that meant unequally yoked.
19:34
It's like, oh, I started going to a Baptist church.
19:36
She'd go to the church of Christ and they're kind of weirdos.
19:38
And so I need to, you know, do something different.
19:40
But it's like they don't have any attachment, no discipleship.
19:44
They're not following Christ at all.
19:45
And you're just like, ah, yeah, but he makes six figures.
19:48
We know the, the ruin that can come from, from marrying a nonbeliever, right?
19:53
Either way, you know, and woman doesn't matter.
19:56
But the ruin that can come from that is far worse than the ruin that you could have of
20:01
let's say struggling through life because you can't hold a job, you know, or you don't
20:06
have the best accommodations or you don't have family or whatever it is, right?
20:10
Is that that, that ruin is so temporary and so much less than the eternal ruin that you
20:16
could have by not knowing the Lord.
20:18
And certainly for any, any kids that come out of that marriage.
20:21
So I mean, absolutely the, that's, this is, that's a call to us that rings true without
20:27
a doubt is that, you know, you, and you can kind of look back at like the, the time when
20:31
there were arranged marriages.
20:32
It's like, I kind of like that idea for something there, you know, yeah, it's not as crazy as
20:37
it sounds.
20:38
Yeah, exactly.
20:39
And a hundred percent, like this is not talking about where you're from, like what you look
20:45
like, what your skin color is, none of that.
20:47
It's that if you, if, if our God is your God, then, then we're on the same page, then we're
20:54
equally out.
20:55
But they're, they're also just trying to keep their society going, you know, they're trying
20:59
to stay as a, a people.
21:01
And you can't do that.
21:02
And it comes back to what was happening in numbers, they're trying to breed them out.
21:07
And so, um, you look back in, in Nehemiah, when we talked about this in 10, is they, you
21:13
know, who's going to read, who's going to be able to read the Hebrew?
21:16
If we decide to marry the Moabites and the Moabite women are teaching our children in
21:20
the Moabite ways and not teaching them our language, they're going to slowly die off
21:25
as a people.
21:27
If they become unequally yoked and it goes back to a sickness that when you brought this
21:33
up, Robert, so you're a dad, you're trying to be pragmatic.
21:38
Your girl's so excited about her bow and she, you know, this is, she's ready.
21:42
She's already thinking about what it's going to be like to walk down the aisle and the
21:45
pictures and the bridesmaid's dresses and whatever isn't in this net.
21:48
But fast forward five years, your beautiful young Christian daughter now has a kid or two
21:56
in tow to church by herself because the guy doesn't see any value in doing that.
22:04
That's, that's what your family does.
22:05
That's y'all's tradition.
22:06
I'm going to go hit some golf balls, I'm going to go to the shooting range.
22:09
I'm going to go roll.
22:10
I'm going to go do something else.
22:12
And so now you have a bride that is doing missionary dating while married.
22:17
And so by missionary dating, I'm not talking about a position of sexual intercourse.
22:22
I'm talking about people that will date the problem, like the girls that date the problem,
22:27
boy, like I can fix them.
22:29
Like I, he just needs, he just needs me and I, I can fix them.
22:32
I can bring him to Jesus.
22:33
It's like, no, the odds of you doing that and fixing him versus the odds of him dragging
22:40
you down into his degradation.
22:41
Oh my gosh, there's a major inequity there.
22:44
And but, but again, just like the people in Nehemiah's day, they were all too willing
22:49
to just, you know, I won't hold the line here.
22:53
So check this out.
22:54
A little story.
22:55
Oh, I'll try to go fast with it.
22:56
But it's definitely in my playbook, buddy of mine from Southeast Kansas, all state wrestler
23:02
every who's growing up, I mean, he really, really liked this girl.
23:07
And it was a real small community, Caney, Kansas, and he finally got up the courage
23:13
and asked this girl if he, you know, gone on a date.
23:16
And so he shows up at her house there.
23:18
She's, she is the church girl.
23:20
He is the opposite of that in every possible way and it gets over to the house and walks
23:24
in and she says, well, my dad's in there in the kitchen.
23:28
And so he walks in, going to introduce himself to his dad, dad backs his chair up, turns over
23:34
to him.
23:35
Come here, boy comes it down.
23:37
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
23:39
All state wrestler.
23:40
He's like, I really like this girl.
23:42
But what am I doing here?
23:43
You know, those of you know, he wasn't tapping the chair next to him.
23:46
He was tapping his own leg for those of you not watching this or own leg that just sit
23:51
there, tapped his leg like this, asking this big old, you know, wrestler to come over and
23:54
come to down.
23:55
And so he, he walked over and he's like, I really like this girl.
23:58
And so he kind of sat down and the dad put his arm up on his shoulder and he said, okay,
24:02
all right.
24:03
I'm like, you want to date my daughter, huh?
24:05
He's like, yes, sir.
24:06
He said, all right.
24:07
Well, you're going to date me too.
24:09
And he said, uh, he said, what is it?
24:11
You guys are going to go to, go to movie, maybe go to dinner.
24:14
Was that about three, four hours?
24:16
He said, I'll tell you what, you come back next week and you work for four hours on the
24:20
land with me and then you can take my daughter for four hours.
24:23
Heck yeah.
24:24
And he did that the whole way through.
24:25
Did he have to bring him some four skins after?
24:28
Yeah.
24:29
No.
24:30
It's slightly different.
24:31
But the, uh, the point is this kid that wasn't raised in church, wasn't a Christian.
24:36
He discipled that kid and led him to the Lord.
24:38
They ended up getting married for kids, love the Lord.
24:42
So he invested the time into that boy that would come and be the potential suitor for
24:49
his daughter.
24:50
So, you know, I think about that, I mean, that is in my playbook.
24:53
I don't know if it's going to be the sit-in on my lap boy, but I'm putting it in my playbook
24:57
to invest that amount of time.
25:00
I mean, I would rather give like every asset that I have, if I were to liquidate it in a
25:04
briefcase of cash, I would rather give that kid that cash than give him my daughter to
25:11
be able to take out.
25:12
And I think we lose the weight of what it is and the sacrifice that we need to go through
25:16
in order to be able to guard our children and make sure that they do, you know, marry somebody
25:21
of that same Christian caliber.
25:23
Well, Ann, guess who was watching as this was all going on when he's sitting on this
25:27
guy's lap?
25:28
The gal.
25:29
She's watching this all go on.
25:31
So let's say if the guy was like, I'm not sitting on your lap, get out of here.
25:35
You just watched a young suitor of yours disrespect your father, right?
25:40
Even even though your father asked for something kind of ridiculous, he showed disrespect.
25:45
And in the first time meeting the father of meeting your father, he gives that person
25:50
disrespect.
25:51
Like, does he do that to waiters and waitresses as well?
25:53
Is he going to treat the staff at a hotel poorly?
25:55
It's going to hurt that way.
25:57
Right.
25:58
But then, like, what if he does?
26:00
Let's say let's walk this out.
26:02
He walks over.
26:03
He sits down and dad's left.
26:04
Dad's got the arm around his shoulder.
26:05
Dad pitches him on the idea of three to four hours.
26:07
You're going to work for me.
26:08
He goes, I need to work for you.
26:09
I'm taking your daughter out and get out of here, old man.
26:13
He doesn't.
26:14
Again, if you're the girl, you need to feel valued.
26:17
You're the apple of your father's eye.
26:19
This guy is trying to get a bite at the apple and try to take, you know, take over the apple
26:23
at some point.
26:25
And he's not even willing to do three to four hours of work.
26:27
Just think about it.
26:28
We've all been, you know, our first love situation or any of those teeny-bop, you know, love
26:33
movies.
26:34
I would do anything for them.
26:35
But I won't do that.
26:36
It turns into a meatloaf song.
26:37
It's just like, you get to that point to where it's just like, hey, I would do anything
26:42
for you.
26:43
Okay.
26:44
You willing to work the lamp with her dad for three to four hours?
26:46
Once.
26:47
Right.
26:48
I mean, think about the stories from the Old Testament where you had to work.
26:51
Seven years ago.
26:52
You're in a digit server two for seven years.
26:53
And he don't even get the daughter.
26:54
He's like, JK, you're getting the ugly one.
26:57
And so it's like those are the situations like I think that that's a big deal as fathers.
27:02
You should look for that type of just commitment from from a kid because like, you know, Caleb
27:08
and I, we only have sons.
27:10
And so we're a little bit different right now in terms of what we're going to be focusing
27:13
on.
27:14
But if I heard that, you know, sweet baby James was went over to a guy's house to take
27:19
the girl out and instead went and worked the farm for a couple hours, I'd be like, let's
27:23
go.
27:24
Let's combine the families.
27:25
This is how we're going to get after.
27:26
That's amazing at the table.
27:28
I did hit the table, but it was with it wasn't like because I just like, you know, it was
27:32
I meant to do it.
27:33
Right.
27:34
So it was with fervor.
27:35
Right.
27:36
And it's what was meant to happen.
27:37
So as a as a dad with only sons in light of, you know, Balaam from verse two, right, saying
27:41
that this is how you get them away is through your women.
27:44
So I need some ideas for like, what's the, what's the inverse because my wife, like she'll
27:51
do that.
27:52
Whatever it is, like she's in, you know what I mean.
27:54
Your wife's kind of, I like it.
27:56
Yeah, I think there is the time with family, right?
27:58
I mean, I have three daughters.
28:00
And so my wife and three daughters, any girl that's going to come and potentially like,
28:07
like, like woo over brother, man, it's got to go through all those daughters.
28:11
I know you have four boys.
28:12
There's no girls that's there, but I think that there is an investment of time and seeing
28:16
how they interact that the other siblings really get a chance to get to know them, you
28:21
know, and, and before they go out on their own, there is a process of them together with
28:26
the family.
28:27
You know, maybe it is helping your wife out with a meal or, you know, a project that's
28:31
going on or something that she's doing, but yeah, well, I wonder if, if that is the corollary
28:36
to where it's like, maybe you as dad, you take a back seat, but then you see how they interact
28:42
with mama.
28:43
Right.
28:44
Because like in our cases, we happen to marry lionesses that can take care of themselves
28:48
and they have appropriate levels of scary aggressiveness that I've seen in both your
28:53
wife and mine.
28:54
But like it, that's such a cool thing because you're getting to see how they interact with
28:57
other people.
28:58
And the point is not because they're dating your family or they're marrying your family.
29:01
Some people say that you don't marry the girl.
29:03
You marry their family.
29:04
It's like, no, with, with a biblical worldview, it's like you don't become one flesh with
29:07
their entire family.
29:08
Thank goodness.
29:09
Like you're becoming one flesh just with them and the family is just a byproduct.
29:13
But that's what I tell people all the time that have, you know, familial issues.
29:16
It's like, well, you're not, you're not connected to them in the same way in the spiritual realm.
29:20
Like it sucks that your father-in-law is a, you know, rude piece of crap.
29:24
But you know, at the end of the day, it's about you and your relationship with your bride.
29:27
But I wonder if that's a good corollary.
29:28
And also just remember someday you don't have daughters now, but you will have four,
29:32
right?
29:33
You know, there's the day where each one of those and you want to get to know that girl
29:38
and be able to give counsel to your son of, man, I get it, buddy.
29:42
I say, she's beautiful, man.
29:44
She's incredible.
29:46
But son, do you really feel like she treats you, right?
29:49
Do you really feel like she honors you the way that you have seen me honor your mom?
29:56
You know, do you see the way that she treats this, but whatever that is, whether it's the
29:59
good that you're highlighting or it's the negative that you're highlighting?
30:01
I think just being there and being involved, I think, is the main process.
30:06
You got anything on that for what it's like from the other side, for dads with sons?
30:11
For dads with sons?
30:12
I mean, I just hope my son finds a godly woman, you know, both of them.
30:15
I hope they find somebody a lot like their mom.
30:17
Their mom did a lot of, you know, got did a lot, got did the changing in my life, but
30:23
Rachel sure did help, you know, in growing me as a, as a man, you know, like I said in
30:30
a couple of episodes back, like I was, I was real DB, you know, I was immature.
30:35
I was stupid and selfish and I think getting married and finally having to put somebody
30:40
else before yourself grows you.
30:43
But then, you know, adding kids to the mix is just an amazing thing because like you're
30:49
all in now, you're, it's not about you anymore, you know?
30:53
And so I want my sons to kind of realize that, you know, when they have wives that they have,
30:59
you know, they have a sidekick, they have somebody that's next to them that that's going
31:02
to go through life with them, but they need to treat her with a lot of respect and, and
31:07
love and, and dignity, I think the biggest thing that I want to instill in my sons is
31:10
just lead your family to church.
31:13
I mean, I feel like that's just something that lacks nowadays is like you, you said earlier
31:18
in the conversation about, you know, the, the mother leading the kids to church, my dad's
31:23
going to play golf.
31:24
And that's so far too often what we see in our church nowadays.
31:28
I mean, I see it in our church right now, you know, you see all these women at church,
31:31
but where are their husbands, you know, if their husbands are there, are they watching
31:35
the baseball game in the sanctuary when the pastor's preaching, you know, because they
31:39
don't want to miss an inning.
31:40
It's like our kids see that.
31:44
Our kids know that they know what we take seriously and what we don't take seriously.
31:48
And I think it's just a call for men that church is something important.
31:51
It's not just some legalistic thing.
31:53
It's something that leads your family into a community and be a part of that community,
31:58
not just be a byproduct of it.
32:00
And I just see it far too often right now.
32:03
And you see so many connections to, okay, what is your family paying attention to and
32:08
what things are they picking up because yes, kids pick up on those cues.
32:11
But isn't it interesting?
32:12
Cause even in the last chapter, Nehemiah here, we see in verse 18, man, old habits die hard.
32:17
And that doesn't mean just with individuals.
32:19
It means with the entire generations of people, cause verse 18 is did not your fathers act
32:23
in this way and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city.
32:28
Now you were bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.
32:32
So you might be thinking, Oh, what's the big deal with the Sabbath?
32:34
Well, it's a violation of God's law.
32:36
That's not an insignificant thing, especially at this time.
32:40
But I mean, what the reference being made here is back to the book of Jeremiah, the prophet
32:45
Jeremiah in 17 to he rebuked these same people's fathers for doing essentially this exact same
32:52
thing in the exact same way.
32:54
And now they're doing it and the way I see it is some people will say, if your father
33:00
was abusive, it's likely that he was abused and that he was abused.
33:06
And then that person was abused and you're probably an abuser as well, right?
33:11
It's not exactly the generational sin when people make that, that comment, but you've
33:15
heard or seen some statistics about people that are sexual assaulters, like they were
33:20
likely sexually assaulted and the people that assaulted them were likely sexually assaulted
33:24
and how it goes on.
33:26
But there is a way that if you believe in generational sin and curses and all that, that's
33:31
not what we're talking about today, but it's like things can't stop with you.
33:35
So let's say, because I have alcoholism in my family, there have been members of my family
33:39
that have literally drank themselves to death when they were found by police, vodka is coming
33:44
coming out of the pores of their skin, rough situation, right?
33:48
There's also people that I know that have situations where there's been generational
33:53
sexual sin.
33:54
So whether it was abuse or looking at porn or prostitution or something like that.
33:59
And so if you look at that as your identity, like, oh, I'm such and such, so and so of
34:04
a family of drinkers or a family of adulterers or a family of divorce or a family of whatever,
34:12
like you're selling yourself short that you can't be the one that stops that.
34:16
And so like in my family, whenever I drink, I drink responsibly.
34:19
I've never been drunk.
34:20
I've never been out of control drunk.
34:21
My kids will see me consume alcohol, but they're never going to see dad just stumbling
34:25
around, tripping over beer bottles, getting in fights.
34:28
They're not going to see that.
34:30
And I certainly didn't see that growing up.
34:31
Like my dad drank responsibly my entire life that that I've been around him.
34:36
But we, I guess we sell ourselves short a little bit, but look at this 2,500 year old
34:41
rebuke.
34:42
It's like, look, you idiots, like don't you know the scriptures just like I do.
34:45
I've read Jeremiah, why are you still doing this?
34:48
And so I don't know if it, I don't know where y'all want to take conversation from here,
34:51
but does that speak to the human condition?
34:53
Is that sin nature?
34:54
Is that the, you know, long lasting impact of satanic and dark forces on all of us?
35:00
I mean, they can go a lot of different ways.
35:02
It's sin nature.
35:03
I mean, we are even as believers are going to have a sin nature.
35:06
I mean, that's why we need Christ.
35:09
And so it's just in those times, do we listen to the Holy Spirit?
35:12
Do I listen to the Holy Spirit when it's one of those mornings on Sunday?
35:15
I just rather not just go.
35:16
I just don't want to because I'm tired and the Holy Spirit's like, you need to go to
35:20
church.
35:21
You need to take your family to church.
35:22
You need to lead.
35:23
But you know what, I'm going to let my flesh take over and be like, no, I'm too tired.
35:26
I'm going to block out the Holy Spirit.
35:29
And that's what it comes down to.
35:30
I mean, these, there's so many things that could come in front of us that our flesh could
35:34
desire like money, sex, you name it, that will keep us from listening to the Holy Spirit.
35:41
And I think that's just basically what happened here is, I mean, they weren't listening to
35:45
the prophets.
35:46
You know, they weren't putting all, they weren't putting God in front like they should.
35:52
And they're breaking their covenant.
35:54
And so I think that's where we run into in our modern day is we break our covenant with
35:59
God as believers and when we stop doing what he wants us to do, you know, what he's called
36:04
us to do.
36:05
And he's, he's laid it out in his book on what we should do.
36:08
And we still don't follow it.
36:09
We try to find pragmatic approaches around what he calls us to do.
36:14
Why comfortability, like you talked about, we just want to be comfortable.
36:18
Absolutely.
36:19
Um, so one of the thing, I mean, you asked where we want to take it.
36:23
One of the thing I noticed was, uh, you know, I mean, obviously Nehemiah has grown some
36:28
balance since chapter one to what's happened, but he still has the same, what I think is
36:33
cool, the same steadfast conviction that he had at the beginning, right?
36:37
When he was asking Artaxerxes for permission to go do this, and that's why he comes back
36:42
on fire.
36:43
You know what I mean?
36:44
When he's clear in the temple, um, or markets.
36:48
So, um, one of the thing that that stood out was how he, he's talking about this becomes
36:53
a real like plea, um, personally for him.
36:56
I mean, it's very personal.
36:57
You can tell, but he's talking about our God, our God.
37:00
And then at the end of each kind of little section, he was talking about the Sabbath or
37:04
marriage.
37:05
He's talking about my God, you know, and he really is thinking about like, and it, it
37:10
ends with remember me, and I feel like it's kind of this personal like I did my best.
37:15
You know, I really was, was obedient to you.
37:20
And I think it's one of those, like we think about, um, you know, the, the way that he
37:24
is, you can just see it kind of deteriorating into this, like he's a little bit, not hopeless,
37:31
but he feels a little bit helpless, I think, um, and he's going from our God to my God
37:35
and all.
37:36
So it goes back to acts like when I brought up about Paul, when he said, I declared it
37:38
a day.
37:39
I've been faithful.
37:40
If anyone suffers, it turned all death.
37:41
It's not my fault.
37:42
I mean, that's basically what he's coming back and saying at the very last sentence of
37:46
this verse, remember me or this chapter.
37:48
Remember me.
37:49
Oh God.
37:50
For good.
37:51
Like remember that I try to get these guys to listen.
37:53
I try to get them to understand, but you know what?
37:56
It's not really on him.
37:57
It's, you know, God, God's going to open their eyes and you open their eyes in chapter nine.
38:02
Joby, I missed that last episode, but it was chapter nine.
38:05
There you go.
38:06
Um, and repentance of, you know, how they were breaking the covenant and it's, it's always
38:12
a thing.
38:13
We're always going to be reminded of how we're breaking our covenant and it's just human nature.
38:19
It's human nature.
38:20
Like that's why I talk about the building of this wall is also spiritual, it's a spiritual
38:25
internal wall that's going to break and crack sometimes, but it's like, where do we put
38:28
it?
38:29
Do we put it back into our culture?
38:30
Do we put it back into, you know, my God, you know, at this time they're putting it back
38:34
into other gods that we're going to do our modern God, who is us, I got to put it in
38:38
the team of me.
38:39
No, I'm going to put it in God's hands and try to, try to, um, patch up those cracks.
38:44
And yet we always find that balance between, did I do enough?
38:49
Yes, it's on them.
38:50
You know, it's on them to be able to make the change.
38:52
It's on them to be able to hear what I've said and to be able to correct.
38:55
But then, and I am always left with this sense, this place within myself of God, did
39:01
I do enough?
39:02
You know, and then I think that's where that, oh my God, oh my God, you know, remember me.
39:08
Did I do enough in this season for these people at this time to be able to get them where they
39:13
should be?
39:14
Did I do enough as a father to raise my children, to launch them in the world, to follow after
39:17
Christ?
39:18
Did I do enough for my wife to know that she was truly loved, you know, her whole life,
39:24
you know, by me and by me alone?
39:25
And, you know, just it's that fine balance between being content, I think maybe, but then
39:32
also, and I'm never satisfied, you know, I'm always wanting to drive and do more and push
39:37
harder and wherever that is.
39:38
Well, in the way I read the last, the last part of the entire book of Nehemiah, remember
39:43
me.
39:44
Oh my God, for good is in the Christian mind, we, we should be humble.
39:50
I think we understand that whether we do a good job of that or not, I certainly don't
39:53
go do a good job of that often.
39:55
But we should not be seeking recognition either.
39:59
When I grew up, I went to a fairly competitive school for academics, for sports, I had to
40:03
compete for scholarships and different things like that.
40:06
And when you do that, when you're steeped in that level of competition, you're constantly
40:10
beating your own chest, because the reality of someone not trumpeting your horn for you
40:16
is real.
40:17
And if it's like, it's of no value to be the smartest kid to not get a scholarship, you
40:23
know, and when you're looking at it specifically as dollars and cents.
40:27
And so then whenever I got to college, like, well, you don't just want to be at college,
40:31
you want to be big man on campus, you want to, you want to dominate, you want to do these
40:34
different things.
40:35
And so it's antithetical to the Christian worldview.
40:38
You want to get to a point where you don't seek recognition.
40:41
But here at the very end of Nehemiah, as he's signing off, he's seeking recognition from
40:47
the best source possible from God.
40:51
Because the whole way, when he could have, seemingly he could have enriched himself,
40:57
he could have surrounded himself with grandiosity and how, oh, how great he is and all these
41:02
different things.
41:03
But he was always prayerful, as you mentioned before on a previous episode of Robert, like
41:08
he was prayerful.
41:09
He would always pause.
41:10
You know, I think it was chapter five or something like that to where it's like they didn't
41:15
take the governor's rations or something like that.
41:18
They still spread stuff out and like, those are really, really important things.
41:23
It reminds you when you hear about people in the military where, you know, their, their
41:27
general will eat last or whoever's running that team or the battalion or squadron or
41:32
whatever, that they're going to make sure all their men are cared for before they're
41:36
cared for.
41:37
They're not going to stay in the officers barracks.
41:39
They're going to stay out in the crap, you know, with the grunts.
41:42
And like, I think that that's a very important thing because, man, I'll just be real honest.
41:48
If you're playing for an audience of one and that audience is supposed to be God, I lose
41:51
sight of that a lot because, you know, I'm in this competitive field of podcasting and
41:55
speaking and all this stuff.
41:56
And, you know, when someone's speaking on stage, there can't be a second person on stage because
42:01
they booked that person and not you.
42:02
And oh, well, you know, there's three million podcasts out there.
42:05
Well, what if you fall out of some bunch of people's rotations?
42:08
Well, that affects your bottom line.
42:09
And I'm just trying to remember that even whenever this podcast had tens of listeners,
42:14
I was working as unto the Lord.
42:15
I put the same level of preparation into my interviews and my podcast as I do now with
42:20
a much, much, much larger audience.
42:21
And I think it's because I was trying to remember the source of where I should get my value
42:26
and recognition.
42:27
And that's from God.
42:28
You think you think that Nehemiah, when he came back and saw that they've like slipped
42:32
back into what they were before, like he could have just like got it back onto his donkey
42:37
and just walked right back to heart.
42:39
Yeah.
42:40
I deal with him.
42:41
Yeah.
42:42
Like, you know, like he didn't give up on these people, you know, like how many times
42:44
we like try to build something up and we're building a business and then we have like
42:49
these workers and then are not doing the right thing rather than be like just walking away.
42:53
You know, like we're not going to walk away.
42:54
Like he, he built something God worked through him and he could have just went and walked
42:58
away and like forget him, leave him in their sin.
43:01
But no, he came back.
43:02
He came back with throwing out people's stuff, pulling out people's hair.
43:05
You know, like he came back with the vengeance.
43:07
And it just says, you know, verse 30, does I cleanse them from everything foreign?
43:13
So he went after the guys that married outside of the outside of their, not their race, but
43:19
they're believing, you know, believers, idolators.
43:24
So and I established the duties of the priests and Levites.
43:27
So fix that.
43:28
And in his work, I provided the wood offering at appointed times and for the first fruits.
43:34
So remember me, oh Lord, for good.
43:36
So he went back and he fixed it and hoping that he fixes it that they're going to stay
43:40
on track, which we find out, they don't 600 years later, you know, but he could have walked
43:46
away from it all.
43:47
And like, I think that's a good to ask God, remember me.
43:50
I just didn't give up.
43:52
You know, I kept fighting the good fight, you know, going back to Paul, holding the line
43:58
is Robert.
43:59
It was your saying, go ahead.
44:00
Yeah.
44:01
I think it's a great point too.
44:02
Like I think the way I read that.
44:03
So I purified them from everything for it is that basically everything, everything that's
44:06
not of you.
44:07
Lord is gone, you know, so I think when we're like evaluating our own life, the way we spend
44:12
our time, money, those things, like that's what just look at it like is this of God, right?
44:18
So you know, also the way that he ends here in my opinion with the just that plea is for
44:27
him.
44:28
It's like a cry of desperation.
44:29
And then I know we see it again.
44:31
Those words that remember me is I think of the thief on the cross, right?
44:35
And that's more, that's different in than it's a cry of hope from him.
44:40
So I mean, it's remember me, Lord.
44:43
This last little bit, I have the new King James version with this dake study Bible.
44:47
But for this Bible, I do, but it says, thus, I cleanse them of everything.
44:52
Both of your says foreign.
44:53
Mine says pagan and it just kind of resonates in a different way that I cleanse them from
44:59
everything pagan.
45:00
And I think that's right, because like when you look at foreign, you want to think of
45:03
like different ethnicities, it's no, they're pulling them away from pagan gods.
45:08
But if it's foreign, foreign to the Lord, like what is foreign to God is pagan.
45:12
What is what is the opposite?
45:14
Which is foreign.
45:15
So I think it's pretty cool to look at too, if we go all the way back to chapter one and
45:19
just seeing him start out in lamentation and he ends in lamentation.
45:24
Yeah.
45:25
Yeah.
45:26
It's kind of the same thing we talked about last week where it's like, okay, first thing
45:29
he does is he surveys the damage at night, walks around the city.
45:33
And the last thing he did is he surveyed, surveyed what they had built.
45:37
And yeah, like he was again, people miss this when they read Nehemiah one is he was risking
45:43
his life.
45:44
Nehemiah one and two, he was risking his life by looking sad in front of the king.
45:48
Because Artaxerxes saw himself as a god king, not just a king, but a god king.
45:53
And if you're in the presence of God, can you be sad?
45:55
Like, can you actually be sad if you're in the presence of God?
45:58
Could you possibly be thinking about any of the other problems in the world, apply to
46:03
your family?
46:04
No, you're in the presence of God, but he was so distraught at the just learning about
46:11
the state of a city he had never been to, like that, that the walls were broken down and
46:16
that the people were broken down.
46:17
And I mean, that's a big deal.
46:19
Yeah.
46:20
You know, Ryan, you said something, I can't remember his honor off Mike, but it's along
46:25
the lines of being upset that the children couldn't even speak the language anymore.
46:30
And how when they spoke the language, and if you cut back to 24, and of course, 25 being
46:34
one of my favorite parts of this verse, but is in 24 and half of their children spoke
46:40
another language, they couldn't even speak the language of Judah.
46:44
And if they can't speak the language, they can't interpret God's law.
46:49
And so by their inability, and he came back and off of that, the next verse in 25 is so
46:55
I contended with them.
46:56
I cussed at them, I hit them, I pulled out their hair, and I made them swear by God.
47:04
You know, I mean, they're just, I think that, that anger of knowing that half of the kids
47:09
couldn't even read the law, you know, is I think where his real frustration and therefore
47:15
ended up coming up with his, you know, being somber afterwards, but he was so much anger.
47:20
Of course, I mean, how are you going to keep the covenant going if nobody knows what the
47:23
covenant is?
47:24
Yeah.
47:25
It's going to be a people if you don't know what, you know, God's covenant is.
47:27
And I mean, it's just, I don't know, it's just sheer stupidity.
47:31
Well, it's so interesting to me as well, because if you, if you know much about Islam, you
47:35
know that Muslims think that any translation of the Quran into any languages outside of
47:41
Arabic are not actually the words of God.
47:44
Again, this is what the Muslims believe, but like when it's translated into English or
47:48
German or Dutch or whatever, like it, that's not the Quran anymore, it can only be read
47:53
in Arabic.
47:54
And you think about it in terms of us, and I'm not saying that Christian should do this,
47:58
but when you hear people that know Greek and Hebrew and they can read it in the original
48:02
language, I've heard people say before, reading the Bible and its original language is like
48:06
watching, you know, a movie in color, whereas reading in English is like watching it in
48:09
black and white.
48:10
I think that, you know, there are some certain problems with that, depending upon how far
48:14
you take that out, because it's like, Oh my gosh, do we actually have the words of God
48:17
in front of us?
48:18
Like, Oh, this is scary.
48:19
But I think that it's important that at this time, like Muslim culture today, you know,
48:24
for a thousand years since Muhammad walk the earth and, you know, jotted these words down,
48:29
like that they still look at that they take that seriously.
48:31
If you're a serious Muslim, like that's the direction that you're going, like you will
48:35
learn Arabic so that you can read the words of God in the way it was meant to be delivered
48:39
to you.
48:40
So that that's not an insignificant thing.
48:43
But as we see with Nehemiah as we wrap up here, again, as I mentioned last week and I
48:47
mentioned this week, you would think that this was going to end on a high note that there
48:50
is going to be some sort of hopeful ending and you know, because you know, we've been steeped
48:54
in Disney movies growing up, but that's that's basically not not what happened here.
48:58
If it had ended after chapter 12, it would have been okay.
49:01
But what the thing is, is it points out the fact that they did what they could do at the
49:07
time.
49:08
They deviated from the plan that God gave for them, but God has to take over at some point
49:13
and get done what he needs to get done.
49:15
And it wasn't until hundreds of years after this that he did what the prophets pointed
49:19
to, which is that there was going to be a sacrificial lamb, a Messiah that was going to
49:24
be delivered to these people.
49:27
And so that's the thing that, you know, when people look for Jesus in the Old Testament
49:31
and then they don't see him, like, where is Jesus in the story of Noah's Ark?
49:34
Like, where's Jesus and, you know, Jonah and the whale, like I don't get it, like Job
49:38
and his boils, like what, what is, what's the point here?
49:41
But it's like just the fact that Nehemiah ends without like, and they lived happily ever
49:46
after is pointing to the fact that God's work is not done on this planet.
49:52
And it may be hundreds of years from now, it may be hundreds of milliseconds from now,
49:56
but God is going to continue to work out his plan for humanity.
50:01
And it's pointed out that, I mean, they knew the law, they can't keep the law, right?
50:06
Just like we can't keep the law.
50:08
I mean, and that's, in my opinion, that's the most clear way that this points to Jesus
50:11
is that, no, God's grace is coming, the new covenant is coming, and His name is Jesus.
50:18
I think it just comes down to faith.
50:20
I mean, if you look at anything, we have faith now, we have faith in Christ and His resurrection
50:25
and His death.
50:26
When you look at people in the Old Testament, it just came down to their faith.
50:30
And I think, yeah, they weren't going to be able to fulfill the law.
50:33
I mean, because it's impossible, but the ones that are blessed are the ones that had faith
50:37
in God and faith and what He could do and tried to follow the law.
50:42
I mean, yes, Jesus wasn't here, but we're going to see Moses in heaven.
50:46
We're going to see David in heaven, you know, those guys are going to be there, the ones
50:50
that kept the faith.
50:52
Well, guys, as we wrap up Nehemiah, are there any last thoughts on the book of Nehemiah?
50:57
Again, I've said it.
50:58
And I'll say it again.
50:59
It's one of my favorite books, the Old Testament, perhaps my favorite book of the entire Old
51:02
Testament.
51:03
There's just so much here about anything.
51:04
We're going to find off before we put a bow on Nehemiah.
51:08
We got head shake, head shake, head shake.
51:10
I'm good.
51:11
Oh, you're always, you always have something else to add, right?
51:13
I mean, but we just covered it.
51:15
Enjoyed the study of Nehemiah.
51:17
It was really a good book to read and it opened me up a lot spiritually.
51:24
So I think it's, I think it's great.
51:26
Very good.
51:27
I think everybody should read it.
51:28
Everyone should read you guys.
51:29
You should have been reading it this entire time.
51:30
Come on now, but we're going to leave that there that puts a bow on Nehemiah, but come
51:34
back next Sunday where we're going to start a new study in second Timothy.
51:38
So we did first Timothy from the jump of the forging table, but next week we're going
51:42
to be digging into second Timothy one.
51:44
So make sure to read that so you guys are prepared.
51:46
But before that you go, we are going to do a quick resilience boost.
51:49
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52:52
I'm your host Kyle Thompson.
52:54
Remember, keep pushing back darkness, keep forging spiritual, mental and physical resilience.
53:00
Keep seeking the Lion of Judah.