Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / August 18, 2021 | Chronological Bible Study with Patty Diliberto - Session 21: The Return

Transcript

August 18, 2021 | Chronological Bible Study with Patty Diliberto - Session 21: The Return · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for joining this morning.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Return to Normal has taken on a whole new meaning in 2021, hasn't it?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't know how good we had it until it was taken away from us for a time.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now we appreciate our freedom and the ability to go and do the things that we did before 2020, at least for now.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows what's going to happen in the future, in the near future, as more lockdowns loom on the horizon.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: But one thing is certain.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: We can relate now more than ever before with the people of Israel in their desire to return to normal.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: So pray with me.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Father God, thank you so much for this time, for the things that we are going to see today, the ways that you are going to impress that upon us, and we're grateful that your spirit is with us in this time, in this moment, and that you, um, Lord God, our sovereign, we thank you for those truths, and we pray these things in Jesus' name.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I want to review just for a moment what has taken place in the exile so far.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen this before, but I just want to reiterate it probably one more time.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: The northern kingdom of Israel was taken captive and carried away by Assyria.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Assyria expanded their military control into Egypt and completely dominated the Middle East.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Then Babylonia came in, and that empire defeated the Assyrian Empire.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: They carried the southern kingdom of Judah into captivity, and then Persia takes over.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: In 540 BC, Cyrus the Great of Persia begins his rule of the whole region.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Captivity brings about three very significant and important things that will benefit the early church of the New Testament.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And further the gospel.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Those things are that synagogues are established, scribes learn and copy and teach the Torah, the law, and in the diaspora, the exile, the Jews who did not return to the land were scattered among the nations, bringing their knowledge of Yahweh God to the heathen nations.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: We saw last time that God used all of these things in order to help the early church, the first century church.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: When Paul and Barnabas and the other disciples, apostles, go on mission for God, they head to the synagogues to preach the good news of the gospel.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: God was working through the captivity behind the scenes to set the stage for greater things.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: That rhymes, I know.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't intend for it to rhyme, but it sure does.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we learned that we can never, ever, ever underestimate what God is doing behind the scenes.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Praise his holy name.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: We can never underestimate what he's doing.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to look at the return to the land.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And a key player in the return is Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Cyrus was a very good king and a good leader.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: He was absolutely more benevolent than the Babylonians had been.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the most significant thing that he did, where the Jews are concerned, was to reverse the Babylonian policy of deportation.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: And he permitted the captives, whoever wanted to, to return to the land of Israel.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: He hoped that by doing this the Jews would look at him as a more benevolent leader, and they did.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: It worked.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: All of that is from a human perspective.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: But now let's see from a biblical perspective what is really going on.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is so cool.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: I love this.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: You probably remember reading this portion of Isaiah 45.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: It was written 150 years before Cyrus was even born.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: It was written 150 years before Cyrus was born.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what it says.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is what the Lord says to his anointed to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him, and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him, so that gates will not be shut.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: I will go before you and will level the mountains.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: I will break down the gates of bronze and cut through the bars of iron.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: For the sake of Jacob, my servant, of Israel, my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: I am the Lord, and there is no other apart from me, there is no God.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its sitting setting, men may know that there is none besides me.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: I am the Lord, and there is no other.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: I form the light and create darkness.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: I bring prosperity and create disaster.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: I, the Lord, do all these things.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: What incredible pronouncements by God.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we get the point.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: These verses tell us that God is the sovereign of the universe, that he chooses who he will work through, that he uses non-believers.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Cyrus is not a believer in Yahweh at this point.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: And that he has it all under control, that we can trust him.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you think it's probable that when Cyrus came on the scene, someone told him about this prophecy from Isaiah that God had written about him?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Why wouldn't they, right?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: If he did, he would have made every effort to fulfill this prophecy written 150 years before his birth.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is what Cyrus, King of Persia, says The Lord, the God of Israel, of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: Any one of his people among you, may the Lord his God be with him and let him go up.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: So the Lord moves the heart of Cyrus, King of Persia.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen the sovereignty of God over and over and over throughout the Old Testament, haven't we?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's totally obvious that he has everything under control throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Why would he relinquish his control now at this day and this age and time?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: He wouldn't.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: He couldn't do it because our God is the sovereign of the universe.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: He is, and we can trust him.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: These truths of God's sovereign control need to be planted deep, deep, deep in our hearts and in our minds, so that we have them to draw from when we feel when things feel out of control or when distress comes over us.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's great comfort to be able to say when we are in distress, I know that you are sovereign and that you have everything under control.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: I may not like it, I may not understand it, but I am going to trust you because I have seen throughout Scripture the evidence of your sovereignty.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's power in that, there's strength in that.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let what we have learned about our sovereign God be that firm foundation for your faith and stay focused on that.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Out of a total populish population of possibly three million people, just under 97,000 people come back, choose to take advantage of Cyrus's decree and return to the promised land.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, we saw last week that the people had become assimilated into the cultures where they had settled.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: They had established homes, jobs, families, synagogues, communities, all of those things.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And their captive home had become home.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Bruce Wilkinson says, Only the truly committed were willing to leave a life of relative comfort in Babylonia, endure a trek of 900 miles, and face further hardships by rebuilding a destroyed temple and city.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: This was no cakewalk.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: They were satisfied to remain in the foreign lands where they were prosperous rather than return to this depopulated, torn down, destroyed country and city.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Can we blame them?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: This would be such a difficult thing that they were going to undertake.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it's easy to understand how after 70 years you put down some really substantial roots.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is what God says to the captives through Jeremiah.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and will bring you back from captivity.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now you have probably heard that, those verses many, many, many times.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: You've probably even used those verses.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: But when you read it in the contextual understanding of the captivity and the exile and the return, you see so much more.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: These verses are way more powerful in the context in which they were intended than in the context that we usually use them in, right?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, God was using this exile to set the stage for the first century church and the spread of the gospel.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: God's good plans were for Israel and for the church age believers, too.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's look at the return to Jerusalem and Judah and get a good idea of what they are returning to.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Archaeological surveys suggest that Judah lost 90% of its population during these years.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: The Judean social structure collapsed right along with the temple and the palace and all the important buildings and the wall.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: The depopulation had taken a toll on the entire environment.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: On the fields and the vineyards, and Jerusalem would have been a total mess.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Last summer we saw pictures of arson and destruction in our cities.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we have a pretty good idea of what that kind of destruction in Jerusalem would look like from those pictures.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's no evidence that those who remained in Jerusalem tried to rebuild or even clean up the city during those 70 years of exile.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: But how could they?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, with only 10% of the people left, there were so few of them, and how could they clean it all up?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Wild animals and weeds and dirt and mounds of debris.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: In some of the very locations where their ancestral homes had been, that's what have would have been meeting those returning from the exile.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the things that they would have seen.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: It would have taken an enormous amount of work and time to get the fields cleared and productive again and all the debris cleared without huge machinery.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Their very survival, when these when these 97, just under 97,000 people come back, their survival was going to depend on the crops that they were able to establish.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: So that took precedence over anything else to begin with.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: And how might these returning exiles be different after 40 years of living in Babylon?
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: There would have been huge differences.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Remember last time we saw that the poorest of the people are left, and that the nobility and those who had prestige were carried away into Babylon.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: So those returning face turmoil and conflict with those who have been left behind.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is really important.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: So listen.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: The returning Jews saw themselves as the ethnically and religiously pure remnant of their nation.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's how they viewed themselves.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: The ones who had stayed had been in control to whatever degree that looked like, but they had been in control for 70 years.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we can see how both of those things make the return difficult.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: They went in three groups.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: The first group went back under the leadership of Zerubbabel, and that was just under 50,000.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: The second group returned about 80 years later under the command of Ezra, and there were 5,000 exiles with him.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: The third group returned about 12 years after that, led by Nebn by Nehemiah, and there were 42,000 exiles with him.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Each group returned with a specific assignment.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: The first group was called back, called back, came back to rebuild the temple.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: The second group came back to re-establish worship at the temple.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: And the third group's mission was to rebuild the wall around the city for protection.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: So to rebuild the temple, to re-establish worship in the temple, and to rebuild the wall around the city.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we're going to look at the first group that came back was Zerubbabel.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: The reference here to Jeremiah is from Jeremiah 20, verse 10.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: It says, This is what the Lord says, when seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: This word of God spoken to Jeremiah came about 150 years before this event was fulfilled.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Cyrus ruled the Medo-Persian Empire, which was as wide as the continental United States.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: He was powerful, and he was wise to respond to God.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Ezra 1, 2 through 7 says, This is what Cyrus King of Persia says, The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Any one of his people among you, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestocks, and with free will offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites, everyone whose heart God had moved, prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to the free will offerings.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Moreover, Cyrus, King Cyrus, brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had and had placed in the temple of his gods.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: So those who are giving to the rebuilding project are Jews who remain in Jerusal in Babylon.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: And this shows us that the exiled Jews had silver and gold and valuable gifts that they were giving in response to how God had moved their heart for the reconstruction of the temple.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: It shows us that they had integrated into their culture and how prosperous they had become.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: So almost 50,000 people came back on this trip with Zerubbabel.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: Ezra led the second group.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Ezra was a direct descendant of Aaron, the first high priest of Israel, Moses' brother.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: This Ezra came up from Babylon.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: He was a teacher well versed in the law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Ezra and 50,000 of his closest friends left Babylon in the spring of 458 BC.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: The straight line distance from Babylon to Jerusalem is about 500 miles.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: But Ezra and his this second group would have to cover about 900 miles, which would take exactly four months.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Ezra was a respected man from a very respected lineage.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: But more than just relying on his family heritage, Ezra was a true, devoted man of God.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Ezra 710 tells us what kind of man he was.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the law of the Lord and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: So notice that order there.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: He devoted himself to study the Word of God.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: He applied what he learned to his own life, and he taught others the revealed will of God.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: So he devoted himself to the word, he applied the word, and he taught the word of God.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: This was the key to Ezra's impact, for absolute sure.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Ezra was a diligent student of the Torah, the law, the first five books of the Bible, and any other scrolls that he could have gotten his hands on.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Ezra is a good example to us.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: A very good example.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Jay Spafford Wright says the order is very significant, for you cannot effectively practice what you have not thoroughly learned, and you cannot convincingly teach.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: What you have not practically applied.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: I love that quote.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: You have spent this year being a disciplined student of the Word of God.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: After spending over half a year reading the Word, it should be a habit now, right?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm sure you've missed a few days here and there, but you're hanging in there.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you're watching this video, you're hanging in there.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know more now than you did before you started this journey?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: Please say yes.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Do you feel like you completely understand and know the Bible?
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Or do you still have some room to grow?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: We all have room to grow, no matter how much we know.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: But in these past seven months, you have figured out what works for you.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: And as far as your reading goes, and you've persevered.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: Keep reading, keep applying the word of God to your everyday life in meaningful ways.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you do that, then you will become a lover of God through his scriptures.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what he wants for you.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't want it to just be a checklist that you do every day or a discipline that you learn.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: He wants the outcome to be love for him.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Why should we do this?
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: So we can be like Ezra, having something to say to others about the God that we serve.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Ezra also led well, and I want you to listen to his strategy.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: I love this.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: There by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children with all our possessions.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, the gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: So, since I've already told him that, so we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you love the honesty you hear here in these verses?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: This was a real test of faith.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's easy to say God will provide until you have 50,000 people coming with you and involved in leading that many people.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now listen to verse 24.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then I set apart 12 of the leading priests.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: So Ezra and the people fasted and prayed, and then they took action.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: That is a really excellent strategy.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: We can fast and we can pray and we can cry out to the Lord for direction, and then we have to take some action.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: What a great example! And what a great representative Ezra is.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now we will look at the third group with Nehemiah and see how God used him in the return.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: In the fourth month of Kislev, in the twelfth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: They said to me, Those who survived the exile are back in the province, and are back in the province, are in great trouble and disgrace.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: What had Nehemiah heard that had broken his heart?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: That the walls had been torn down.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever experienced a time when the Lord broke your heart over something?
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: I have many times, but I want to tell you about one, the most significant one.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: About 24 years ago, maybe 25 years ago, during a book study here at the church, I was leading a small group of women, and all of these women were much older than myself.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: One evening we were talking about the importance of reading the word of God.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Every one of those women in that group of about 10 said that they didn't have time to read the word, and they were all retired.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: They asked me how I had time to read the Bible every day, was still having my four children at home and working full-time.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: I worked at the Capitol of Kansas at that time for the legislature.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: I told them that I made it the priority of my life.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: And this heavy weight just settled on my heart.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: I could not get out of that place soon enough.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: And when I got in my car and headed home, I started to cry.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then I started sobbing.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: I got home, threw myself on my knees by my bed, and I continued to cry because this literally broke my heart.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't understand why women would not make the word of God a priority.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: How could you live your entire Christian life and not experience the power of the Word of God?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: And because I had experienced it so powerfully to set me free from all the things I needed to be set free from, I knew the power of the word and this crushed me.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: They were going to go to heaven.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: They were his, but they were missing the most significant, important relationship that they could ever have here on this earth through the word of God with the God of the universe.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: As I'm pouring out my heart before the Lord, telling him these things, he spoke quietly and gently to me and said, Patty, do you love me?
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Lord, you know I love you with all of my being.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Feed my sheep.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: I kid you not, he said that three times to me.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: I got the message.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: Help women and men to know and love my word in a powerful and significant way.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that has been my mission.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: That has been my desire and passion since that night.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Everything I do, everything I do, I do because of that mission that God set me on that night.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: He broke my heart to set me on mission for him.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: I understand Nehemiah's broken heart.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: A broken heart for the Lord, by the Lord, for his purposes, is a really powerful thing, is it not?
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: God put it on the heart of Zerubbabel, he put it on the heart of Ezra, and he put it on the heart of Nehemiah and the centuries since then.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: He has been putting on the heart of his people the things he wants them to do for his purposes, for his glory, for his fame.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: If God breaks your heart over something, it will most likely surprise you like it surprised me.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know that that's what God was intending when the weight settled on my heart.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: But respond to it.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: Respond if he breaks your heart, whatever it is, and let that be the motivation that for everything that you do from that point on.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let it be the motivation for you.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: God had broken his heart and it moved him to take action.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so he prays.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: This is what he prays.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: I was cupbearer to the king.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: I almost cry every time I read that and say, he was cupbearer to the king.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: God had set him and placed him in a strategic place for the exact moment that his heart would be broken.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Not only was Nehemiah the chief treasurer, but he was the king's cupbearer.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: He tasted the king's food and wine to make sure that nobody was trying to poison him.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, in other words, if someone poisoned the king, Nehemiah was dead.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: He was a very trusted, trustworthy servant, Jewish servant to this Gentile king.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: He had the ear and the attention of the king.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Nehemiah 2, 1 through 9.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: In the ninth month of Nisan, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: I had not been sad in his presence before.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: So the king asked me, Why does your face look so sad when you were not ill?
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: This can be nothing but sadness of heart.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: I was very much afraid.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: I love that part there.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, May the king live forever.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Why should my face not look sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire?
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: The king said to me, What is it you want?
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: Then I prayed to the God of heaven, I sent up a flare prayer.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's what he's saying.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: I sent up a flare prayer, and I answered the king.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, How long will your journey take?
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: And when will you get back?
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: It pleased the king to send me, so I set a time.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: I also said to him, If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Transeuphrates so that they will provide me safe conduct until I arrive in Judah?
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the royal park, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: And because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: So Nehemiah was doing more than just fasting and praying.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Nehemiah was planning, he was strategizing, he knew what he needed to do.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: He was making the plans all up here in his mind.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: What do I need to do when this happens?
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: When God opens the door.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: And God opened the door and he was ready to step through it.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: First, fast and pray, and then be ready to take action.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Be ready to say what you want when the doors swing open.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: What a great example these men are to us.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: We are going to learn more about Nehemiah the next time that we're together as we look at the rebuilding of Jerusalem because there's still so much more to see.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: But today we have once again seen that our God is in control, that he has the plan, and that he uses certain individuals to fulfill his purposes in the world and in history.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, often, God will break a person's heart to set them on mission for him in order to fulfill his agenda for the world.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: I pray that you will be ready for him to break your heart so that you can fulfill your purposes.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Father God, thank you so much for these incredible men that you set on mission and for their stories.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you that through the centuries you have broken the hearts of people so that they will do what you want them to do, the purpose that you have for them, because you have a purpose.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you know the plans that you have for each one of us.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Plans to prosper us, plans to work powerfully.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: And they are good plans, God.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: And you will continue to do this until you return.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: And after.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: We thank you for the eternal word of God.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I ask you to continue to bless my sisters and brothers as they read.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: God, thank you.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: That you are so great and more awesome than we can ever imagine.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: We give you praise today.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name we ask these things.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: I will see you next time as we look at the rebuilding.