1 Chronicles 9: The Generation Chosen to Rebuild

Ever wondered how our ancestors' legacies shape us today? Join me, Pastor Brandon, as we traverse the rich history of God's enduring faithfulness, drawing inspiration from 1 Chronicles 9 in "Rebuilding the Generation." It's not just about names and dates; it's a journey into the heart of our spiritual lineage. My family's tradition with the name James unveils a small thread in the vast tapestry of our heritage, prompting you to ponder the imprints left by your own forebears. As we honor the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh, who played pivotal roles in rekindling worship and order post-exile, we're reminded that we, too, are part of God's grand design of restoration and renewal—a divine plan that continues to unfold.

Amid the clamor of negativity, from distressing news cycles to social media tirades, lies a beacon of hope in "Prayer for a Positive Mindset." In this chapter, we tackle the art of transforming challenges into opportunities for growth and positive influence. Embrace the power of a positive mindset, as we uncover biblical wisdom in 1 Chronicles 29:17 that extols the virtue of integrity and the steadfast love and support of Jesus. It's a clarion call for the chosen generation to rise, harness our inherent potential, and instigate a wave of transformation that ripples through the world. Let's reaffirm our commitment to making a tangible impact, reassured by God's omnipresence in our quest for a brighter, more hopeful future.

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The More You Dig. The More You Find.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:25

Hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. 1 Chronicles, chapter 9, and today's title is the Generation Chosen to Rebuild the Generation Chosen to Rebuild we're going to look at. We're getting close to the end of the genealogies. We've got a little bit more to go, but we're getting there and we're getting to. Now. These are the ones that have been called to do the great task, and so we're going to get into that in just a moment. But, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to our YouTube channel, make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast and, as always, we all gather together at the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. Make sure you're liking, sharing and doing all the things on there as well, because, man, the more we dig, the more we find, and I would love to know in the comments on our YouTube channel, the comments everywhere. I would like to know how many generations back can you name by first name from your family, like, for instance, in my family, my name, my first name, is James. Now, I've gone by Brandon almost my entire life, but my first name is James. Well, the name James is a family heirloom, and so my father's name is James, His father's name is James, his father's name is James, and I think it goes back a few more generations than that, but we kind of lose track after a while. But it's just, james was the first name for generations, and so I want to know from you how many generations can you go back and name the first name of your family? It's kind of an interesting thing to do and remember that's what Ezra is doing for the nation of Israel, and if you want to get your Bibles out with me, in 1 Chronicles 9, he's now getting to the ones who are coming back with him. This was a generation that he's writing to. He's saying hey, listen, you guys need to understand where we come from, so you realize God is actually more faithful than we realize, and if he did that before, he will do it again. So he's bringing them all the way back up to today. And then he's saying we're the ones who have now been tasked with the opportunity to rebuild, and so if you have your Bibles with me, you want to open up with me, like I said, to 1 Chronicles 9. I'm going to read this together. We're going to talk about the generation chosen to rebuild you ready, here we go. 1 Chronicles 9, verse 1 says this.

Speaker 1: 2:38

So all Israel was listed in the genealogical record in the book of the kings of Israel. The people of Judah were exiled to Babylon because they were unfaithful to the Lord. The first of the exiles to return to their property in the former towns were priests, levites, temple servants and other Israelites. Some of the people from the tribes of Judah, benjamin, ephraim and Manasseh came to settle in Jerusalem. One of the families that had returned was that of Uthiah, the son of Amahud, son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Benai and the descendants of Perez, the son of Judah. Others returned from Shalaneit clan, including Azahiah the oldest and his sons. From Zerahite clan, jeru returned with his relatives and all 690 families from the tribe of Judah returned. From the tribe of Benjamin came Selu, son of Meshulam, son of Heduviah, son of Hesaniah, ibniah, son of Jethum, elahah, son of Uzi, son of Michri, son of Meshulam, son of Shephtiah, son of Reu, son of Azahiah. These men were all leaders of their clans and they were all listed in the genealogical records. In all, 956 families from the tribe of Benjamin returned.

Speaker 1: 4:01

Among the priests who returned was Jedahiah, jerob, jechin, ezariah, son of Helkanah, son of Meshulam, son of Zadok, son of Mezahoth, son of Etub. Azariah was the chief officer of the house of God. The other returning priests were Adonai of Adahiah, son of Jehum, son of Peshur, son of Makash, son of Massah, son of Adel, son of Jezahi, son of Meshulam, son of Meshulayimth, son of Emer. In all, 1,760 priests returned. They were the heads of their clans and very able men. They were responsible for ministering at the house of God.

Speaker 1: 4:44

The Levites who returned was Shemahiah, the son of Heshub, son of Azekim, son of Hashabiah, the descendants of Meriah, zeku let me try this one Bakakar Heres. Galal, mattiah, son of Micah, son of Zechri, son of Asaph and Obadiah, son of Shamri, son of Galal, son of Jehudath, son of Bekkah, son of Asaph, son of Elkanah, who lived in the area of Netahayath. The gatekeepers who returned were Shalom, ekub, talmon, ezeahem and their relatives. Shalom was the chief gatekeeper. Prior to this time, they were responsible for the king's gate on the east side. These men served as gatekeepers for the camps of the Levites. Shalom, the son of Kor, descendant of Abisheth from the clan of Korah, and he and his relatives, the Korahites, were responsible for guarding the entrance to the sanctuary, just as their ancestors had guarded the tabernacle in the camp of the Lord. Penahias, son of Eleazar, had been in charge of the gatekeepers in earlier times and the Lord had been with him and later Zechariah, son of Meshuliam, responsible for guarding the entrance to the tabernacle. In all, there were 212 gatekeepers in those days and they were listed according to the genealogies in their villages, david and Samuel, the seer, had appointed their ancestors because they were reliable men.

Speaker 1: 6:22

These gatekeepers, and their descendants, by their divisions, were responsible for guarding the entrance to the house of the Lord. When the house was a tent, the gatekeepers were stationed on all four sides east, west, north and south. Their relatives in the villages came regularly to share their duties for seven-day periods. For gatekeepers, all Levites were trusted officials and they were responsible for the rooms and the treasuries at the house of God. They would spend the night all around the house of God, since it was their duty to guard it and to open the gates every morning. Some of the gatekeepers were assigned to care for the various articles used in worship. They checked them in and out to avoid any loss. Others were responsible for the furnishings and items in the sanctuary and the supplies, such as the choice flour, wine, olive oil, frankincense and spices, but it was the priest who blended the spices. Metahiah the Levite was the oldest son of Shalom the Korhite and he was entrusted with baking the bread used in the offerings. Some of the members of the clan of Kohath were in charge of preparing the bread to be set on the table each Sabbath day. The musicians all prominent Levites lived at the temple. They were exempt from all other responsibilities since they were on duty at all hours. All these men lived in Jerusalem and they were the heads of the Levite families and were listed as prominent leaders in the genealogical record.

Speaker 1: 7:59

Jehel, the father of Gibeon, lived in the town of Gibeon. His wife's name was Machach and his oldest son was named Abdon. Jehel and other sons were Zer, kish, baal, ner, nadab, gidor, ehoi, zechariah and Mikloth. Mikloth was the father of Shemim. All of these families lived near each other in Jerusalem. Ner was the father of Kish. Kish was the father of Saul. Saul was the father of Jonathan, mechalashua, abinadab and Eshbal. Jonathan was the father of Meribbal. Meribbal was the father of Micah. The sons of Micah were Pithon, melech, teherah and Ahaz. Ahaz was the father of Jada. Jada was the father of Elameth, ezemeth and Zimri. Zimri was the father of Moza. Moza was the father of Benaiah. Benaiah's son was Ephariah. Ephariah's son was Elishaiah. Elishaiah was Ezel. Ezel had six sons, whose names was Ezekim, bekeru, ishmael, isheriah, obadiah and Hanan. They were the sons of Ezel. So, as we see, these were the ones who were brought back.

Speaker 1: 9:13

Now we need to get this idea, because nowadays, if you move from one city to the next, you call up a moving company and you get a truck. If you do that, or if you don't want to do that or you can't afford to do that, you get some friends and you get a bunch of trucks together and you just move things and you go down the interstate from one town to the next. But this isn't that. You would have to first of all gather for this trip Very perilous, very dangerous. You had to make sure you had all your proper paperwork, because if you didn't have your paperwork, you weren't going to get from one area to the next, because you had to have permission from the king to do this. Then you had to move your entire family Very dangerous, very treacherous.

Speaker 1: 9:52

Once you got there, you most likely weren't coming back, and so it was a big deal to do this, but these were the people that God had called to go back to the nation of Israel and to reestablish their place there and reestablish the nation of Israel. This generation had been chosen to be the ones to rebuild the kingdom of Israel, the nation of Israel. What a wonderful opportunity, but also what a massive challenge, and they don't know what's going to happen next. They know God's with them, but they don't know. They don't know if it's going to be success, if it's going to be failure. They know nothing. All they know is we've been given the opportunity to make things right because our ancestors at this point have been their parents and grandparents. They had not been faithful to the Lord. People before them hadn't. The nation of Israel had been destroyed. Now we have an opportunity to make things right, and so not all of them, but several of them, as we just read, said I'll volunteer, you can count on me. And they went and they did it. You know what that reminds me of. That reminds me so much of the generation we're living in right now.

Speaker 1: 11:01

Now, I'm not in any way saying that the generations before us, you know, mess things up and do whatever, because we all have our stories. We all have whatever, and I don't know what happened in our most recent generations. But what I do know is when I talk to people I talk to a lot of people who are a generation before me and they talk about how much they love the Lord, how much they love the church, how much they did the very best they could, but for some reason, the generation that's alive right now some people say it's in chaos. Some people say that we've never been further away from God than ever. I don't think I believe that, but a lot of people do. Here's the thing. If that's true, what a wonderful opportunity we live in today.

Speaker 1: 11:46

If you live in the United States and I know we have people who now listen to this podcast from all over the world, and so, if you don't mind, I'm going to speak to us as though we're in the United States, but apply this to what's going on in your country right now but for those of us who live in the United States, there's so much going on. There's chaos, there's things, there's people who are seemingly, because of people, falling in leadership and ministry and unmet expectations over here, and all this it seems as though the church, the big C church, is fracturing and crumbling and chaos is everywhere and all this kind of stuff. But you know what happens when that happens? Out of that can rise a generation that is chosen to rebuild.

Speaker 1: 12:26

Here's the thing that God's Word promises. It promises that the gates of hell will never prevail against God's church. Therefore, we're going to have difficult times. There's going to be times where God will prune His church. God will cut back on things. God will reveal who's truly his and who's not, but it will never. The church will never be defeated, because God said it would not be defeated. And so if you see around you a church that's prospering and everything is great and everything is wonderful and there are no problems, well then praise the Lord, you just enjoy that. But if you see, like a lot of people see, a church in crisis, a church that seems like it's lost its identity and once again I'm not talking about any particular church, I'm talking about the overall big C church, a church that really, in the United States situation is really divided and splintered Then what a wonderful opportunity we have to be part of the generation that helps it find its identity again.

Speaker 1: 13:22

And you know where you find God's identity, or the church's identity, it's in his word. You know, god could have spoke to us in any possible way, but he chose to tell us who he is and reveal who he is through his written word. His word has been preserved over the centuries and through various situations, and God has given us his word to reveal who he is so that we could find our way to him, so we could grow in him and then help others find their way to him as well. What a wonderful generation we live in, when we have an opportunity to rebuild. From anything you would consider chaos, anything you would consider to be unfortunate, wonderful, instead of just saying it's all over and it's all ashes. From anything you would consider chaos, anything you would consider to be unfortunate, wonderful, instead of just saying it's all over and it's all ashes, instead, use that as fertilizer.

Speaker 1: 14:08

I think we live in the greatest moment in history. Why? Because it's when we have an opportunity to point people back to the Lord. We all love good times, but sometimes it's our bad times that define who we are. I think we live in a perfect time to define ourselves as Christ followers. Can I tell you we're living in the best time in history because we get to live in the generation where we get to watch the church rise from ashes, to reclaim who we are and to say Jesus is still the only way. That's what we have been given the opportunity to be part of. We don't have to do it. God will do it, but he will use us as his willing partners and vehicles for his glory. I know you may be disappointed, but don't ever be discouraged. Jesus is still on his throne and we are the generation chosen to rebuild his glorious church. I can't wait to do it and I'm honored we get to do it together.

Speaker 1: 15:09

Let's pray God.

Speaker 1: 15:10

Thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you are with us and that you are for us. I pray God as we go out throughout this day today and we're going to encounter all kinds of stuff. Lord, we can't hardly turn on the news without seeing more bad news. We can't go on social media without hearing something negative and all this kind of stuff. But, lord, I pray that every time we see that, I pray, lord, that you will help us to turn our thought process to, instead of seeing a world crumbling, we see an opportunity to make a difference, to rebuild, to be the chosen generation that you have put on this earth at this time as your willing vessels. Thank you for choosing us. For this generation we're going to make a difference because we're going to sell ourselves out to you and watch what you can do.

Speaker 1: 15:53

In Jesus' name, we pray Amen. Don't forget. God's word says in 1 Chronicles 29, verse 17,. I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. Man Jesus loves you, he sees you and he is for you more than you can imagine. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For 1 Chronicles 10.