Have you ever found yourself constantly pushing forward, never taking the time to appreciate your achievements and the blessings in your life? Join us in this heartfelt episode of the Bible Breakdown podcast as we reflect on the lessons from Nehemiah, chapter 12. We explore the significance of pausing to celebrate God's faithfulness, drawing inspiration from my personal struggle with always looking ahead instead of "smelling the roses." Through the example of Nehemiah and the people of God, who took the time to celebrate their progress, we underscore the importance of gratitude and recognizing the things that are working in our lives.
In our exploration, we dive deep into the roles of the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel, emphasizing the power of gratitude and faith. Inspired by Nehemiah 8:10, which reminds us that "the joy of the Lord is your strength," we express thanks for the small, often overlooked miracles in our everyday lives—like our heartbeat and the use of our senses. This episode aims to uplift and inspire you to take a moment to appreciate the little things and recognize God's presence. Stay tuned for a heartfelt prayer and an exciting anticipation of our grand finale in the upcoming session.
Have you ever found yourself constantly pushing forward, never taking the time to appreciate your achievements and the blessings in your life? Join us in this heartfelt episode of the Bible Breakdown podcast as we reflect on the lessons from Nehemiah, chapter 12. We explore the significance of pausing to celebrate God's faithfulness, drawing inspiration from my personal struggle with always looking ahead instead of "smelling the roses." Through the example of Nehemiah and the people of God, who took the time to celebrate their progress, we underscore the importance of gratitude and recognizing the things that are working in our lives.
In our exploration, we dive deep into the roles of the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel, emphasizing the power of gratitude and faith. Inspired by Nehemiah 8:10, which reminds us that "the joy of the Lord is your strength," we express thanks for the small, often overlooked miracles in our everyday lives—like our heartbeat and the use of our senses. This episode aims to uplift and inspire you to take a moment to appreciate the little things and recognize God's presence. Stay tuned for a heartfelt prayer and an exciting anticipation of our grand finale in the upcoming session.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Nehemiah, chapter 12, and today's title is the Joy of God's Faithfulness. The Joy of God's Faithfulness have you ever heard the phrase that it's important every once in a while to stop and smell the roses? Are you good at that? Are you good at stopping and just celebrating what's going on around you instead of just pushing on to the next thing? Well, I want to be a self-admitted horrible, be horrible at that. Whatever I'm trying, I'm trying to say it. I'm horrible at doing that, but I'm learning and I'm trying, and today is all about that. There's been such an amazing journey that Nehemiah and the people of God have been on, and today they take time to celebrate where God has brought us, and I wonder if maybe that could be our next step already. Is that we can do that? We'll 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 the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review. It really, really does help. And, as always, we gather together at the Bible Break breakdown discussion on Facebook because I'm telling you something the more we dig, the more we find, and that's definitely one today. And so, if you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to Nehemiah, chapter 12, I'll go and be honest with you and say that I'm one of these people that you know.
Speaker 1:
We talk about folks being self-starters or self-motivated and all that. Well, a good, healthy amount of that, I think, is very healthy. I think it's good to be that person who doesn't need somebody else to get them up in the morning, doesn't need somebody else to give them a to-do list. They got it right. They just they're self-motivated. I think it's a good thing. The problem is is when, for some reason, a good day's work is not enough Like there's always a little bit more you can do, there's always a little bit further you can go you always feel this need to do just a little bit more that particular day. That's an unhealthy thing, right? And I would admit I fall into that category. Without the Lord's help, I just I have something in me that I always need to do a little bit more to feel valued or to be valuable to other people. I want to. I want to be valuable to people, and so, therefore, I feel like that. If I'm not currently doing something that's adding value to someone, I am failing right and none of that's healthy, and so don't send me any emails. I know that's not healthy. I'm working through it. I'm just being honest with you and telling you that's something I struggle with. Maybe that's not you. Maybe what you struggle with is you're always focused on the next problem that needs to be solved. You're always looking at what's not working in your life rather than stopping and looking at what is working in your life, and so, therefore, you know where I'm always thinking about the next thing and needing to bring value where I have no value, maybe yours is. You know you struggle to see the bright side of anything. Well, today is going to be for both of us Now. If you see the bright side of everything, you just go ahead and polish that halo and you enjoy this chapter. But for the rest of us, what a challenge we're going to find today. You ready.
Speaker 1:
Nehemiah, chapter 12, verse 1, says this here is the list of the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and Yeshua, the high priest, and these were the leaders, the priests and their associates in the days of Yeshua, the Levites who returned with them was Yeshua Benuai, kadmil Sherabiah, judah Mataniah, who were the associates that were in charge of the songs of Thanksgiving. Their associates, bakbukiah and Unai, stood opposite of them during the service. Yeshua, the high priest was the father of Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim was the father of Elisha. Elisha was the father of Jehoiada. Jehoiada was the father of Jehonan. Jehonan was the father of Jaduah.
Speaker 1:
Now, when Jehoiakim was high priest, the family leaders of the priests were as follows Moriah was the leader of the family of Sariah. Hanaiah was Moriah was the leader of the family of Saraiah. Hananiah was the leader of the family of Jeremiah. Meshulam was the leader of the family of Ezra. Jehonan was the leader of the family of Amariah. Jonathan was the leader of the family of Maluch. Joseph was the leader of the family of Shekiniah. Edna was the leader of the family of Harim. Helki was the leader of the family of Merimoth. Zechariah was the leader of the family of Merimoth. Zechariah was the leader of the family of Edo. Meshulam was the leader of the family of Genoth. Zichri was the leader of the family of Abijah, and also there was also a leader of the family of Minamon. Pelti was the leader of the family of Medoai, and Shemua was the leader of the family of Bilga. Jehoanan was the leader of the family of Shemaiah, and Metaniah was the leader of the family of Jerohab. Uzziah was the leader of the family of Jediah and Kaliah was the leader of the family of Shalou. Eber was the leader of the family of Amok and Heshubiah was the leader of the family of Helkiah, and Nathanael was the leader of the family of Jedidiah. That's a lot of folks who were leading a lot of families. Okay, verse 22.
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The record of the Levite families was kept during the years of Elisha, jodiah, jehonan, jadu, and they served as high priests. Another record of the priests was kept during the reign of Darius the Persian. The record of the heads of the Levite families was kept in the book of the history down to the days of Jehonan, the grandson of Elisha. These were the families of the Levites Heshabiah, sherebiah, jeshua, benu Kedmil and the associates who stood opposed to Excuse me stood opposite of them. During the ceremonies of praise and thanksgiving, one section responded to the other, as commanded by David, the man of God. This included Mattaniah, beqabiah and Obadiah. Meshulam, talmon and Akub were the gatekeepers in charge of the storerooms at the gate. All these served in the days of Jechoam, son of Yeshua, son of Jezodek, and these were the days of Nehemiah the governor, and Ezra the priest.
Speaker 1:
And Now pause real quick. You notice how it said there'd be one group of people who would sing and the other group of people would respond. Well, this was actually continued in the New Testament, with people after the early church had gotten started and monasteries would begin. This is one of the ways they would memorize scripture, and so they would sing the words back and forth, and so they would sing the Psalms but also sing scripture. And as they would sing it back and forth, one would sing, the other would respond, and that's one of the ways they would praise God but also memorize scripture. And so I want to give you kind of something to think about, and that is, if you ever get in this thing where you want to try something very different, you're trying to memorize the scripture, sing it, and if you sing it, it's just something about the way it works in your brain. It will help you to memorize it. You want to remember it even more. Put it into a song and sing it back and forth with a friend, and then, when they sing a line, and then you repeat the line. They can look at it, but you don't Watch what happens and it really works and it's kind of amazing. All right, verse 27,.
Speaker 1:
For Verse 27, for the dedication of the new wall of Jerusalem. The Levites throughout the land were asked to come to Jerusalem and to assist in the ceremonies. They were to take part in this joyous occasion with their songs of thanksgiving and with their music of cymbals, harps and lyres. The singers were brought together from the region around Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophites. Also came Beth, gilgal and the rural areas near Geba and Azmabeth. The singers had built their own settlements around Jerusalem and the priests and Levites first purified themselves. When they purified the people, the gates and the wall.
Speaker 1:
I led the leaders of Judah to the top of the wall and organized two large choirs to give thanks. One of the choirs proceeded southward along the top of the wall to the dung gate. Hoshiah and half the leaders of Judah followed them, along with Azariah, ezra and Meshulam, judah, benjamin, shemaiah and Jeremiah. And then came some priests who played trumpets, including Zechariah, son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mathaniah, son of Micahiah and the son of Zaku and a descendant of Asaph, the Zechariah's and Zechariah's colleagues were Shemaiah, azrael, Meliah, geliah, ma'ai, nathanael, judah and Henai. They used the musical instruments prescribed by David.
Speaker 1:
The man of God, ezra, the scribe, led the procession and at the fountain gate they went straight up the steps on the ascent of the city wall toward the city of David. They passed the house of David and then proceeded to the water gate on the east. The second choir gave thanks and went northward around the other way to meet them. I followed them, together with the other half of the people, along the top of the wall, past the Tower of Ovens to the Broad Wall and past the Ephraim Gate to the Old City Gate, past the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hanel and on the Tower of the Hundred. Then we continued on to the Sheep Gate and stopped at the Guard Gate. The two choirs were giving them thanks and then proceeded to the temple of God and they took their places. So did I, together with the group of the leaders who were with me, and we went together with the trumpet playing priests Elkim, masiah, Menemiah, micaiah, eloheinai, zechariah and Hananiah, and the singers Masaiah, shimeiah, the choir director and I love this.
Speaker 1:
Many sacrifices were offered on that joyous day, for God had given the people cause for great joy, and the women and the children also participated in the celebration, and the joy of the people of Jerusalem could be heard far away. And on that day, men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for the offerings and the first part of the harvest and the tithes. They were responsible to collect from the fields outside the towns and the portions required by the law for the priests and Levites. All of the people of Judah took joy in the priests and Levites. All of the people of Judah took joy in the priests and Levites and their work. They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as commanded by David and his son Solomon, and so did the singers and the gatekeepers.
Speaker 1:
The custom of having choir directors to lead the choirs in hymns of praise and thanksgiving to God began long ago, in the days of David and as made two choirs, and the choirs went all around the gates and they all sang and worshiped God, because the walls had been built, and so what they were doing is they were walking around the walls that they had built and they were celebrating God, as opposed to the time of Joshua, when they marched around the wall so they'd fall down. You know they didn't do that this time. This time they're walking around, they're celebrating to say thank you, and it said that they could hear far away the celebration because they took time to stop and to look at the wall and go. God, look at what you gave us the opportunity to do, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to be part of this legacy, be part of this journey, to be part of this story that you're telling. And he said it was a time of great joy and that people heard it from far away. And you know what that convicts me and I hope it convicts you too.
Speaker 1:
When is the last time that people heard from far away your thankfulness? Can I tell you? That convicts my heart Like I don't know. I try my best to be grateful. I try every day. I try to find three things I'm grateful for. But when is the last time that people from far away you know whatever that needs to mean to you as far as in you know for them, it was literally. I heard people yelling. You know they heard them yelling from far away, but when is the last time you told as many people as you could just something that God has done in your life. Look where God has brought me from. Well, I'm not perfect, but I'm not where I used to be. I mean, think about it.
Speaker 1:
In this crowd, people have just moved, and we talked about this yesterday. They just moved from where they wanted to be. They're probably still grieving the loss of moving to this. They're willing to do it, but grieving it. There's people there that are in debt, you know, because they had to get. You know, remember Nehemiah had to get onto the other ones because they were gouging them. They're still grappling with that. They're still trying to figure out this over here. These are not perfect people, but they still took a moment to go.
Speaker 1:
Man, god, look at what you have done. We're not where we want to be, but, man, we're not where we used to be. Look at what you are doing. Isn't that awesome? I love that idea. What if that were our homework today?
Speaker 1:
What if we took time as soon as this is over, or some point today, and we said, god, man, I am not where I want to be, but I am not where I used to be. Thank you, god, for what you have done, and just take a moment and just celebrate. Stop, god, for what you have done, and just take a moment and just celebrate. Stop and smell the roses a little bit, look at what the Lord has done in your life and just go. You know what, god? I still got 99 problems, but you are not one of them, and just be thankful for that today. Let's pray together.
Speaker 1:
God, thank you so much for the million things that you do every day. That just lets us to maintain where we are. Lord, every heartbeat, every time the neurons fire in our brains, every time, you know, for those of us who have working, you know hands and feet, those who have working eyes and ears, lord, all the things that we take for granted so many days. Help us, lord, to remember the little things today and just to stop and look around and go. God, I'm so thankful for what you've done in my life. We celebrate you today In Jesus' name. We pray Amen. And what God's word says in Nehemiah 8, verse 10, don't be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for the grand finale. Nehemiah, chapter 13.
