Rejoicing in God’s Word – Nehemiah 8

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hey everybody my name is Coley Waataja
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i’m the Director of Women’s Ministry
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here at Antioch Community Church in
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Northeast Minneapolis
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and for today’s devotional i want to
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tell you a story from the book of
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nehemiah
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nehemiah was a leader and a bit of a
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prophet in
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the city of jerusalem after the
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israelites had been
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enslaved and in exile in babylon for
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years and years and years
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a number of people were able to come
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back to the city of jerusalem and they
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were trying to rebuild it
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and it was going okay nehemiah and
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another leader ezra were kind of in
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charge of rebuilding the wall
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and rebuilding the temple and it was
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going all right
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but there were still some problems and
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eventually
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they realized that the people of israel
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although they were back where they
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belonged in terms of where they lived
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they didn’t yet know god they didn’t
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know god’s law
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and that is what identified the people
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of israel as god’s chosen people
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and so they decide that the people need
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to be reacquainted with the law
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and so in nehemiah chapter 8 nehemiah
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commissions ezra who is the priest at
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the time
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to read to gather all of the men and
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women it says
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so ezra the priest brought the law
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before the assembly both men and women
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and all who could understand what they
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heard and he read
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from from it facing the square
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from early morning until midday in the
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presence of the men and women
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and those who could understand
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and he reads the people this law
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that god had graciously given them that
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was their identifying marker as the
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people of god
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and the people praised and they wept
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it’s so interesting in verse nine in
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chapter eight he continues
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uh nehemiah who was the governor and
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ezra the priest and scribe
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and the levites who taught the people
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said to them this
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day is holy to the lord your god do not
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mourn or weep
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because the people were wept as they
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heard the words of the law
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and then he said to them go your way eat
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and drink
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and send portions to anyone who has
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nothing to eat
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for this day is holy to our lord and do
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not be grieved
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for the day for the joy of the lord if
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your is your strength
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so the levites calmed all the people
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saying be quiet
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for this day is holy do not be grieved
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and all the people went their way to eat
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and drink and send portions
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and to make great rejoicing because they
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had understood
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the words that were declared to them
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when i first read this a couple of days
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ago i was reflecting on it and i thought
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why are the people weeping
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well the law god’s word
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does several things for us and one of
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the big things it does is it reveals our
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sin
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and so for these people who had not
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heard the law yet in their lifetime
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who had not heard god’s word read aloud
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they hear it and they weep because they
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realize how
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far off they’ve gotten just how far from
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god they really
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are and so they were mourning that
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but ezra and nehemiah and the other
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leaders encourage them
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to not be grieved because
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god’s word doesn’t just show us our sin
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god’s word also shows us how we can be
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made right to him
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how we can be in a right relationship
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with him
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and that’s through the person of jesus
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christ we know that now and
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it’s it was true then but we know it now
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because he has come
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and he lived a life and he died on the
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cross and he rose from the dead
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defeating
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sin and death and the devil and
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because of god’s word we know this and
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because
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of history and and archaeology and
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things like in science we can actually
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prove it jesus was
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a real living person he really did die
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on a cross and he
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really did rise from the dead
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and god is not just an infinite god
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who’s out there somewhere
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and who’s angry but he is a god
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who recognizes that the only way that we
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can be made right with him
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is if he acts first and so he did
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he is not just an angry god he is a god
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of mercy
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and compassion second corinthians
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the author paul praises god he said
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blessed be the god and father of our
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lord jesus christ
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the father of mercies and the god of all
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comfort
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who comforts us in all our afflictions
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so that we may be able to comfort
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those who are in any affliction
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themselves with the comfort with which
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we ourselves are comforted by god
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so the god’s word does reveal our sin
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but it also reveals how we can be made
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right with him
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and that is why the leaders were able to
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say don’t just mourn don’t be sad
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it’s a good thing that you know the law
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it’s a good thing that you’ve heard
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god’s word today
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even though it’s revealed your sin this
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is a day of rejoicing
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because you are you are in relationship
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with him
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so i would encourage you to think about
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that today are you in relationship with
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the god of the universe
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he’s not a god who’s far off he loves
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you and he’s drawn near and he has made
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himself
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known and you can know him too through
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his word
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i would encourage you to spend some time
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in his word today if you’ve never picked
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up a bible before
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an easy place to start might be the book
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of john the gospel of john
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john walked with jesus and then he wrote
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down
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his experience with jesus and that’s the
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book of john
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and as you if you open it and you
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in all genuineness say lord if you are
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real would you show yourself to me
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he will show himself to you i pray that
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that happens for you today
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god bless