Have you ever wondered what the real "secret sauce" to staying spiritually strong despite life's challenges is? Join us on the Bible Breakdown Podcast with Pastor Brandon as we uncover the surprising ingredient that Nehemiah discovered in chapter 8. We'll walk through Nehemiah's inspiring journey, spotlighting how responsibility, integrity, and perseverance, when mixed with an unexpected element, can elevate your spiritual resilience. Relive the powerful moment when the people gathered to listen to Ezra read and explain the law of Moses, resulting in a joyous unity that underscores the vital message: the joy of the Lord is our strength.
In this episode, we'll also delve into the Israelites' renewed commitment during the festival and how their adherence to God's word brought a profound joy not seen since Joshua's time. Through the lens of their experiences, we'll explore practical applications for modern struggles, showing how small acts of faith can lead to significant transformations in our lives. Concluding with a heartfelt prayer, we express gratitude for God’s unwavering support and prepare for the next chapter of Nehemiah. Listen in to discover how faith, integrity, and joy can help you navigate life's challenges and fulfill the work God has set before you.
Have you ever wondered what the real "secret sauce" to staying spiritually strong despite life's challenges is? Join us on the Bible Breakdown Podcast with Pastor Brandon as we uncover the surprising ingredient that Nehemiah discovered in chapter 8. We'll walk through Nehemiah's inspiring journey, spotlighting how responsibility, integrity, and perseverance, when mixed with an unexpected element, can elevate your spiritual resilience. Relive the powerful moment when the people gathered to listen to Ezra read and explain the law of Moses, resulting in a joyous unity that underscores the vital message: the joy of the Lord is our strength.
In this episode, we'll also delve into the Israelites' renewed commitment during the festival and how their adherence to God's word brought a profound joy not seen since Joshua's time. Through the lens of their experiences, we'll explore practical applications for modern struggles, showing how small acts of faith can lead to significant transformations in our lives. Concluding with a heartfelt prayer, we express gratitude for God’s unwavering support and prepare for the next chapter of Nehemiah. Listen in to discover how faith, integrity, and joy can help you navigate life's challenges and fulfill the work God has set before you.
Hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, nehemiah, chapter 8. Today's title is the Secret Sauce to Staying Power. The Secret Sauce to Staying Power, and we're going to talk about that in just a moment. But, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you're leaving us comments letting us know how you're connecting with God's Word and us know how you're connecting with God's word, and then we all gather together at the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. And the more we dig, the more we find. If you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to Nehemiah chapter eight, remember kind of this running theme that we're going with here, and the overall theme is that the joy of the Lord is our strength. We're going to see that today as things continue to develop in the life of Nehemiah. Remember that chapter one all the way back. We have this vision and we start off with I will take responsibility. We have the vision. We get to work, we experience opposition, but then we make sure that our integrity and our words match so that when we experience opposition again, man, we move forward with courage and then, as we continue to move forward with courage, then we finish the work and, as we talked about yesterday, we make sure that we finish all of the work. And then what do we do to stay in the freedom? What do we do? Because, you know, we talked about throughout Nehemiah. It's not like a movie where you know the curtain goes down, we go off into the sunset and it's all over with. Well, there's a next day that happens, right. And so then what is the secret sauce to staying power? And I love the idea of the secret sauce because it's that thing that not everybody would expect, but it's something that's amazing and it reminds me of I have a good friend of mine who he loves to cook and he's great at it, and we were at a place not too long ago and we were eating some of his cooking and it was so good and I was like, man, this is just so good and everybody around us was eating it and it was just great and it was wonderful and all this kind of stuff. And he looks over at me and he says, brandon, the secret ingredient was mustard. I was like what do you mean? I don't taste mustard. He's like I know. But when I? But all this was good, but when I put a little bit of mustard in it, it made it amazing. And so so many times, it's not what we expect, that's the secret sauce, but it's something that works. It's doing this thing, adding this thing that nobody would have expected. That just changes everything. And that's what I think about when I think of this chapter. So let's dive into God's word and let's see what the secret sauce to staying power is you ready?
Speaker 1:
Nehemiah, chapter 8, verse 1, says this all the people assembled and with a unified purpose, at the square just inside the water gate, they asked Ezra to bring out the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given for Israel to obey. So pause, so remember, the last Old Testament book we read was the book of Ezra that's the guy. And remember, he came there to know God and to make him known. And now they have built the temple Excuse me, not built the temple, but they've built the wall. Well, now Ezra has come and he's going to read to them the law of God. So here we go, verse. So here we go, verse 2.
Speaker 1:
So on October 8th, ezra the priest brought out the book of the law before the assembly, which included the men and women and all the children old enough to understand, and he faced the square just inside the water gate from early morning until noon and he read aloud to everyone, so all could understand and all the people listened closely to the book of the law. Ezra the scribe stood on a high wooden platform that had been made for just this occasion, and to his right stood Mattaniah, shema, ananiah, uriah, hilkiah and Masiah, and to his left stood Padaiah, mishael, mikaziel, hushum, heshabana, zechariah and Meshulam. Ezra stood on the platform in full view of all the people and they saw him open the book and they all rose to their feet and Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people chanted Amen, amen, and as they lifted their hands, then they bowed down and they worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground, and the Levites then instructed the people in the law. While everyone remained in their places, they read the book of the law of God clearly and explained the meaning of what they had read, helping the people understand each passage. So I love that. By the way, pause, they didn't just read it, they explained it, because you got to think they're hearing the law of God and then they're going. Okay, this is why this matters, which I love that as a pastor, it's like we don't just read God, but just like we're doing in this podcast is we will stop along the way and go. This is why this matters. I love that so much.
Speaker 1:
Verse nine. Then Nehemiah, the governor, ezra, the priest and the scribe, and the Levites, who are interpreting for all the people, said to them don't mourn and weep for such a day as this, for today is a sacred day before the Lord, your God, for the people have been weeping as they listened to the words of the law. And then Nehemiah continued go and celebrate with the feast of the rich, foods and sweet drinks and share the gifts of food with people who had nothing prepared. This is a sacred day of the Lord. Don't be dejected or sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. And the Levites, too, quieted the people, telling them hush, don't weep, but this is a sacred day. So the people went away to eat and drink at a festival meal and share gifts of food and to celebrate with great joy because they had heard God's words and understood them.
Speaker 1:
So pause. So why are they weeping. Well, one of the reasons why they were probably weeping is because they're hearing the words of God. What would it look like if we realized that God's word is God's word? This isn't just words that men put together because they thought it sounded good, but God himself, speaking through men, has given us his word. And so there was weeping and mourning because they're in awe of hearing God's word. But then also, god's word was challenging. It was telling them hey, you're getting this right, you're getting this wrong. And so there's weeping that they had dishonored God in their past, and what Ezra and Nehemiah all of them are having to say is wait a minute. Yes, there's things we're going to have to fix, but today is a day of joy. So verse 13 says On October 9, the family leaders of all the people, together with the priests and Levites, met with Ezra the scribe to go over the law in greater detail, and as they studied the law, they discovered that the Lord had commanded, through Moses, that the Israelites should live in shelters during the festival that had been held that month, and he had said that a proclamation should be made throughout all their towns in Jerusalem, telling the people to go to the hills to get branches from olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm and other leafy trees.
Speaker 1:
They were to use these branches to make shelters in which they would live during the festival, as prescribed in the law. So the people went out and cut branches and used them to build shelters on the roofs of their houses, in their courtyards, in the courtyards of God's temple or in the squares just inside the water gate and the Ephraim gate. So everyone who had returned from captivity lived in these shelters during the festival and they were filled with great joy. The Israelites had not celebrated like this since the days of Joshua, son of Nun. Wow.
Speaker 1:
So they've built the temple, they've built the walls and now they come together and they realize what the secret sauce is going to be, to staying in the land and to staying. And it is the joy of the Lord, the settled, confident assurance that God is with them. They're reading God's word to find out what God's word has to say. They're going to obey God's word and they realize that's how they're going to stay there. That's how their enemies are never going to defeat them is because they're going to have the wisdom of God's word and they realize that's how they're going to stay there. That's how their enemies are never going to defeat them is because they're going to have the wisdom of God's word.
Speaker 1:
And it may seem so very trivial, pastor, you don't understand. I've got so many giants in my life, I've got so many things. That's going on. How in the world is reading God's word and obeying God's word? How is it going to fix my family? How is it going to fix my job problems? How is it going to fix my addictions? How is it going to fix all this kind of stuff? Well, once again, like my friend who had the mustard, it may seem small, it may seem inconsequential, but it changes everything. God's word says of itself that your word, oh God, is a lamp into my feet and a light into my path. As we begin to read God's word, like Ezra reads to the people, and they begin to realize the value of God's word, it begins to change how they think, it begin to change what they do.
Speaker 1:
I heard someone say one time that anybody is just two decisions away from changing everything in your life. Well, what if understanding and seeing the decisions you need to make come from reading God's word? And then one day, as you're reading along the book of Nehemiah, chapter eight and all of a sudden you go, whoa, that applies to my life right now. And if I did that? But what if something happened? You know, and all of a sudden you make a decision and it changes everything.
Speaker 1:
Is it possible that God is greater than we can imagine, that he is bigger than we can imagine, that he is more in control than we can imagine? And that doesn't mean we understand everything there is to know about God. If you think you understand God, that's not God. God is bigger than we can imagine, but he has revealed himself to us in a way that we can understand in his word, and so the more we get to know him, the more the joy of the Lord becomes our strength.
Speaker 1:
And remember, joy is not happiness. Happiness is an emotion that changes based on what's going on around us. Joy is the settled, confident decision that I trust in the Lord, and when we do that, god will help us. Because this is what we're going to do. Remember, we're going to take responsibility for something going on in our life. We're going to paint a compelling vision. Then we're going to get to work and allow God to move in our life. Opposition is going to come, but we're going to make sure our integrity matches our words and then, when opposition comes, we're going to have courage in the face of fear. Then we're going to go all the way and we're going to finish what God's word says we're not going to end at 90%, we're going to go all the way to 100. And then, when we do that, the secret sauce to staying power is the joy of the Lord, and the joy of the Lord comes through hearing God's word.
Speaker 1:
Let's pray together today. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you that you are with us and you're for us in every way. I pray, god, that as we grow in you, you will transform our minds to see the world around us the way you do. And, lord, you see the world around us not as one problem after another, not as one obstacle after another, but one adventure after another. Not because it's easy, it's hard, but that's what an adventure is. It's insurmountable. Odds meets an overcoming victory, and that comes only through you. We celebrate in advance all you're going to do. In Jesus name, we pray Amen, amen. God's word says in Nehemiah 8, verse 10,. We just read it Don't be dejected or sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Nehemiah, chapter 9.
