Destiny Leadership, Show #312, Part 3, Replay

Transcript from show #312, Part 3, Replay

(Please note that the transcripts are written pretty well as they were delivered on air).

Radio Show...

This program continues on various series of different topics on theology such as end times, prophecies, daily living, etc. as the subject matter comes up.

The e-book on end times and Revelation, answering the questions “where are we in the events of the end times?” and “Are we now in the tribulation?” is available on this web site, which you can find throughout the pages.

Opening Narrative

So in the last program, we ended with the great celebration that followed after the completion of the re-building of the wall, the restoration of the temple offices and appointments, the great reformation of the people of Judah that took place under Nehemiah and Ezra…

… which you can read on the replays on my web site given at the end of the program, if you missed it last week… you can also listen to the previous program before that which is about the most intriguing of the period covered in this book of Nehemiah -- the actual 52 days of the re-building of the wall where the people built with one hand and fought the enemies with the other…

The celebration we covered in the last program was the re-establishment of the Feast of Tabernacles after a long time as we saw, which is still celebrated today …

And so today I will pick up from that point and continue the details of what took place to the end of the book…
So first, let’s listen to this:

First, let's listen to this wonderful opening music...

(Opening Music interlude on the live radio show)

(Let us pray...
The Lord's Prayer...
Praise God Doxology...
Worship Music...)

Narrative #1

So as we saw in the last program the Feast of Tabernacles was restored and celebrated. , It lasted 7 days with the 8th day as a day of repentance – still is that way today…

And we read in chapter 8, verse 13 to 18, the details of this Feast:

13 “And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even (that is) to understand the words of the law."

So the heads of the families and the religious leaders came to further expound on the Word of God and the Law.

14 "And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:"

And we saw that in the last program… these “booths” …which were like outdoors tents or like tree houses they built in their balconies or roof tops…were a reminder of their journey through the wilderness when God had brought them out of the slavery in Egypt.

People are very forgetful… we need reminders to bring us back to where we came from, so that we can appreciate the good times, and humble ourselves of the bad times that we should not make the same mistakes again. That’s why memorials and holiday are built to do.

Verse 15:
"And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.

So the people are given instruction as to the exact way to prepare and set-up this feast according to the law given in the book of Leviticus. The mount referred to here is the Mount of Olives that our Lord would one day in the future (to their time here) have so much to do with.

16 So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.

17 And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.

18 Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he (the priest) read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.”

And then in chapter 9, verses 1 to 3, we read how the people in the last days of the feast, fasted and repented, putting on sack-clothes and earth upon them…

…this was a sign of great and deep mourning and sorrow….they separated themselves from the heather – today we would call this separating ourselves from the world as we read in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 6:17 –

“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”

And the people stood up and read the book of the law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day and another fourth part they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.

Wow talk about revival… that’s when we will know we have revival in the land today, when the people will get excited about receiving the law and doing it.

We should be reading the Word of God realizing that the law will lead us to recognize our own unworthiness and sin… then after confession, we can worship the Lord… right now, many worship the Lord even though they have not repented of certain sins in their life.

Then we read in verses 4 to 25 that with the leading of the priests the people of Israel confessed and cried out to the Lord and all were told to stand up and bless and praise the Lord…

And a reading of the past history was made listing all of what the people had gone through from the call of Abrahm right through to the affliction of their fathers in Egypt and how God heard and delivered them through the Red Sea and the wilderness… how God gave them the law and fed them through their journey… and we read that in chapter 9…

And how God saw them through all of that by His mercy …

(Music Interlude and Station ID)

Narrative 2

Picking up again from our story on the reformation of Nehemiah… the people remembered how God is good, merciful and patient ...

But they also remembered how even after all that, their fathers still disobeyed…

We read in verse 16 & 17:

“But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,

“And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.

And they remembered how they had provoked their God… and how in spite of all this God gave them possession of the lands of the enemies, and multiplied their children as the stars of heaven…

But even so, they still disobeyed God. And God gave them up to the enemies at times as punishment and awakening… over and over again…

But He did it for his name’s sake, because God had a covenant with His people…

Verses 31 to 35:

31 Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.

God’s dealings with His children are founded upon his mercy… becauseit was His mercy that prevented Him from totally consuming them…

v. 32 -- “Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.

Now in this present time, after reviewing the past, they implore God for His continued mercy upon them

v. 33 -- Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:

So here, they admit that they deserved the punishment that had come upon them.

34 Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.

35 For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.

And then in verses 36 to 38, the people speak of themselves in their present situation as they find they are still in bondage to the Persian king and in great trouble.

and so they turn to God in humility give themselves over again to the God of their fathers and to their God:

verses 36-38

"Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it:

37 And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

38 And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it.

So on the basis of their repentance, they make a covenant with God which is sealed by the leaders and representatives of the people…

For the next 27 verses of chapter 10, the names of those who signed and sealed the document are listed. Nehemiah is the first person to sign as he is conscious of his responsibility as the leader of the community.

In these verses we can see three groups of people: the priests, the Levites and the leaders of the people.

And for the rest of this chapter, we read that all the people and their families made a pledge to walk in God’s law as it had been given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord their God…

Listing all the ordinances they were to keep, and the tithes they would give to the house of the Lord, and their harvest and fruit offerings…`

Added: Wow… what a reform, what a revival … you see, revival is not just about hoopla and jumping up and down and signing and dancing, it is making a covenant, re-dedicating our lives to obeying God – remember Jesus said “don’t be hearers of the word only but be doers”… that’s when we obey the law and we do what the law says… hummm… and that is for our own good…

(Music Interlude)

Narrative 3

Yes we are on the winning side when we follow Jesus and do His commandments…

So, continuing on with chapter 11, we read an interesting part of the organization of the residents of Jerusalem where the rulers were to dwell in the city, and the rest of the people were chosen by lots to bring 10% of them into the holy city and 90% to dwell in other cities.

And we read here also that certain individuals of the children of Judah and of Benjamin were to dwell at Jerusalem and the names of them are listed. (verses 4 to 8).

And then the names of the priests and levites and their families are mentioned, as well as those who are dedicated to the work of the religious services and worship – and those who were to report to the Persian king (v. 24)… and their numbers.
Various towns and villages are mentioned also that were inhabited by Jews throughout Judea. And we are told that of the Levites there were divisions within the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

This is interesting because Paul tells us in Romans 11:1

“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.”

And also Philippians 3:5 --

5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

And this book of Nehemiah takes place around 443 b.c. just before that 400 years of “prophetic silence” that took place between the books of Malachi to Matthew.

And then we come to chapter 12, where we read a list of the priests and levites who went up with Zerubbabel, from verses 1 to 26…

And from verses 27, we read about the dedication of the walls… in great details.

It sometimes appear throughout the 2nd part of chapter 12 and also in chapter 13, to be a re-statement of what we read of the great celebration in earlier chapters as we saw in the last program… and that could very well be... as we see mentioned again the temple offices restored, Nehemiah’s reforms, etc.

…however there are further interesting details that we can avail ourselves in these passages, such as how they organized the music according to the time of David and Solomon… and the processions to advance in different directions around the wall as they sang and gave thanks to God.

It was a very elaborate undertaking and event. This moment of great festivity was enjoyed by all the families as they had committed to get involved in the re-building of Jerusalem.

At the time of the dedication, certain people were appointed to oversee and supervise the treasuries to do with specific offerings, the first fruits and the tithes, required for the temple.

Although the people had to pay taxes to the Persian government and were committed to great sacrifice in the rebuilding of the community, they gladly gave to the Lord and performed whatever required duties they had to.

Wow that’s what I call team work in the Church! A great example for us today.

And in chapter 13, we read again about the reforms of Nehemiah, including specific reforms within the Temple concerning certain furnishings and the keeping of the Sabbath and the closing of the gates before the Sabbath in order to keep the business activities from taking the respect of the holy days…

And we read about that in verses-20-22:

20 “So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.

21 Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath.

And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.

So Nehemiah was a man of action and the strong leader that the people certainly needed at that time. And we see him pray every time he is taking on to bring reform upon the people.

And then Nehemiah deals with some of the people who had married outside people and had them make a commitment to not give their daughters to foreign individuals. And he points back to king Solomon who in spite of his greatness had been made to sin by outlandish women.

So he wanted to keep the people from idolatry from outside culture…

v. 27 – 29:

27 “Shall we then listen unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?

28 And one of the sons of Joiada (yo-ya-da), the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.

Nehemiah acts severely against one of the sons of Joiada (yo-ya-da) who had married into the family of Sanballat… Why?...

we saw what happened earlier as a result of these inter-marriages. Sanballat was opposed to everything the community stood for… he was an enemy within… especially the fact that he was part of the priestly line, that made it even more evil… it was a degradation of the family into which he married… it had to be dealt with severely… God had given clear directions as to the responsibilities of priests in the book of the Law… So Nehemiah chased him… the word chased in the original is “ba-rach” which means ‘to drive away’… so he drove him away.

Image today, a leader in the church doing this… wow… unheard of… it would be sin on the part of the leader… I mean people would leave the church, condemn the pastor… whatever… we just don’t do this today…

But leaders have to do some tough things sometimes for the good of the community. Now I’m not saying or advocating doing what Nehemiah did, but may be we should do a little more teaching on what is right and wrong in the eyes of God?

People are confused today as to what is sin and what is not… have we stopped sinning today – everything is ok because we are poor victims of sin? How does the saying go? – about tolerance becoming acceptance… telling the truth and supporting it is touch…

I remember a group of musicians we used to play with at different church events back in Ontario some years ago… used to sing a song that said “what’s the use to stand up for the right, if we can’t stand up against the wrong”… wow… “what’s the use to stand up for the right, if we can’t stand up against the wrong”

v. 29:

Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites.

So we see Nehemiah again in his habit of praying to God when he has to carry out the difficult task of chastising and reforming the people.

Then he says in v. 30:

30 Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business;

31 And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

So Nehemiah separated the people from the heathen and appointed the responsible positions of the priests and levites… and again, we see him pray as he performs the needed cleansing and reforming of the priests and the people…

He was a man who sought to please and obey God rather than man. He was in constant communion with God as he performed the responsibility of his calling… he was an effective leader of the children of Israel… A ordinary man called of God for “Destiny Leadership”

And thus ends the book of Nehemiah…

(Music Interlude

"An army of ordinary people....")

Narrative 4

Wow…

An army of ordinary people
A kingdom where love is the key
A city, a light to the nations
Heirs to the promise are we

A people whose life is in Jesus
A nation together we stand
Only through grace are we worthy
Inheritors of the land…

And our Destiny Leader is Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of lords
The Leader of leaders… meek but strong, gracious but just…

He is the One we are waiting for:

11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.

And the question is right know, do you know this Jesus whom many have mocked and called a mere man, a good teacher, a good prophet…

Well, the Word of God doesn’t call Him this way… He is the One we just described in revelation 19, he is the one whom Isaiah prophesied about in chapter 9:6 --

“…and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

And He is the one who closes the book of Revelation , saying in chapter 22, v. 12:

“… behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

And verse 16:

“I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.”

And in v.20:

“Surely I come quickly.”

And v. 14 says:

“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

This message is for both Israel and the Church…

You can have a personal relationship with Him in the person of Jesus Christ who came to earth and gave His life for our sins and rose again so that we might have life… and that, have it more abundantly.

All you have to do is come to Him… and as the people in the story did, repent of your sins – because we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God – all of us…

Just say this prayer,

Lord I come to you right now and ask that you would wash me of my sins, I make a covenant with you this day and agree to separate myself from the world and live by your guideline… as a child of the Living God… come into my life and into my heart I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Closing Narrative…

Before I dismiss the service today, I want to read to you the Blessing that was read to the people of God in Numbers 6:24-26 which is the benediction from God to you today:

“The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."

I hope and pray that you will come back next Sunday at SpiritFM.ca, 7 am and 7 pm pacific time. And if you want to hear the service again at any time, you can go to my website at TimingRevelation.com, and click on the Radio Shows navigational tab along the left side. The replays are available there for five weeks, then they are transcribed into articles as new radio shows are put up.

I encourage you to go to your Bible and read further on the scriptures that were given throughout the program today. And if you like these programs and you've been blessed, call or write the station and let them know... if you said the prayer and have accepted the Lord or you've been healed or touched in some way by the Holy Spirit, write to me on the contact form of this web site...

...and this web site is also where you will find the Free Offer of the “Christian Growth and Maturity Chart” that I talked to you about in the last weeks... you will see the graphic on any page called “Get your free CGM Chart”, click on it and it will take you to a page that will tell you about it and how you can subscribe to my newsletter to get your free copy of the Chart sent to you.

Until next week, Maranatha, the Lord is coming, very soon. Goodbye and Blessing.

/DMH

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/DMH

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Blessings,