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Putting First Things First · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Back in Nehemiah's day, when the people of Jerusalem prayed, listen,
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Speaker 1: they really meant business. They didn't offer just mere words.
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Speaker 1: They signed their names to a sealed document. In fact,
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Speaker 1: they made a covenant with God. The document contained an
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Speaker 1: agreement that was prepared and established before God. In that document,
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Speaker 1: they promised to pattern their lives according to His truth.
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Speaker 1: to put first things first. Today, we want to carefully
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Speaker 1: examine the promises those Israelites made, while recognizing the impact
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Speaker 1: of our priorities on our lives today. The whole story
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Speaker 1: of Nehemiah provides a powerful testimony to the importance of
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Speaker 1: preceding any decision with careful thought and with prayer. and
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Speaker 1: then following through with some decisive and definite actions. So,
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Speaker 1: if you have a Bible handy, please open the Word
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Speaker 1: of God with me to Nehemiah chapter 10. We'll begin
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Speaker 1: our reading at verse 28, and I want to read
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Speaker 1: down to the end of the chapter, verse 39. This
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Speaker 1: is Nehemiah 10, beginning at verse 28. Now the rest
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Speaker 1: of the people... the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers,
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Speaker 1: the temple servants, and all those who had separated themselves
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Speaker 1: from the peoples of the lands to the law of God,
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Speaker 1: their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all those who
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Speaker 1: had knowledge and understanding, are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles,
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Speaker 1: and are taking on themselves a curse and an oath
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Speaker 1: to walk in God's law. which was given through Moses,
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Speaker 1: God's servant, and to keep and to observe all the
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Speaker 1: commandments of God our Lord and his ordinances and his statutes,
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Speaker 1: and that we will not give our daughters to the
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Speaker 1: peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.
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Speaker 1: As for the peoples of the land who bring wares
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Speaker 1: or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell their
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Speaker 1: We will not buy from them on the Sabbath or
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Speaker 1: a holy day, and we will forego the crops the
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Speaker 1: seventh year and the exaction of every debt. We also
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Speaker 1: placed ourselves under obligation to contribute yearly one-third of a
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Speaker 1: shekel for the service of the house of our God,
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Speaker 1: for the showbread, for the continual grain offering, for the
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Speaker 1: continual burnt offerings, the Sabbaths, the new moon, for the
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Speaker 1: appointed times, for the holy things, and for the sin
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Speaker 1: offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work
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Speaker 1: of the house of our God. Likewise, we cast lots
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Speaker 1: for the supply of wood among the priests, the Levites,
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Speaker 1: and the people, in order that they might bring it
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Speaker 1: to the house of our God, according to our Father's households,
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Speaker 1: at fixed times annually, to burn on the altar of
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Speaker 1: the Lord our God as it is written in the law,
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Speaker 1: and in order that they might bring the firstfruits of
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Speaker 1: our ground, and the firstfruits of all the fruit of
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Speaker 1: every tree, to the house of the Lord annually, and
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Speaker 1: bring to the house of our God the firstborn of
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Speaker 1: our sons, and of our cattle, and the firstborn of
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Speaker 1: our herds, and our flocks, as it is written in
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Speaker 1: the law, for the priests who are ministering in the
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Speaker 1: house of our God. We will also bring the first
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Speaker 1: of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree,
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Speaker 1: the new wine, and the oil, to the priests at
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Speaker 1: the chambers of the house of our God, and the
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Speaker 1: tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites
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Speaker 1: are they who receive the tithes in all the rural towns.
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Speaker 1: The priests The son of Aaron shall be with the
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Speaker 1: Levites when the Levites receive tithes, and the Levites shall
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Speaker 1: bring up the tenth of the tithes to the house
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Speaker 1: of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse. For
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Speaker 1: the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall
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Speaker 1: bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine, and
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Speaker 1: the oil to the chambers. There are the utensils of
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Speaker 1: the sanctuary. the priests who were ministering, the gatekeepers, and
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Speaker 1: the singers. Thus, we will not neglect the house of
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Speaker 1: our God. At the beginning of every day, every one
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Speaker 1: of us has something in common with every other human
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Speaker 1: being on this planet. Obviously, it is not geography. It
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Speaker 1: is not economic status. It is certainly not heredity or
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Speaker 1: environment or or even opportunity but there is one thing
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Speaker 1: that is true of us that is true of kings
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Speaker 1: and queens presidents and princes as well as paupers and
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Speaker 1: unknowns all around the world when our day starts and
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Speaker 1: that one thing is time the president of our land
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Speaker 1: has no more time than we have when he awakens
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Speaker 1: in the morning. Nor do we have any less time
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Speaker 1: than the one for whom we work or with whom
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Speaker 1: we live. Time is an ingredient that is provided for
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Speaker 1: everyone in the very same amount. In fact, it is
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Speaker 1: one of the few things that we could claim equality
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Speaker 1: across this world. So the question does not come, as
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Speaker 1: the day begins, with all of its details and environments,
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Speaker 1: do I have enough time to do all that has
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Speaker 1: to be done? That's not the question. The real question is,
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Speaker 1: how can I best invest the time that I have?
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Speaker 1: It's a question of priorities, isn't it? It's a question
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Speaker 1: of really putting first things first. and those that come
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Speaker 1: out on top at the end of the day have
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Speaker 1: maintained that kind of priority. A very successful industrialist by
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Speaker 1: the name of Dodd was interviewed a number of years
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Speaker 1: ago and asked, in all your dealings with people, what
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Speaker 1: is the most difficult thing to get them to do?
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Speaker 1: His answer came after a very brief period of thought.
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Speaker 1: He said, I would name two things that are the
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Speaker 1: most difficult things to get people to do, and I
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Speaker 1: would name them in this sequence. First, to think. Second,
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Speaker 1: to do things in the order of their importance. To
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Speaker 1: think how hard it is to find a person who
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Speaker 1: really thinks and then acts. And second, the maintenance of
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Speaker 1: proper priorities. You can evaluate your life on the basis
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Speaker 1: of those two ingredients. Look back on these last six
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Speaker 1: or seven days. How much time has been spent in
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Speaker 1: sheer thought? And then how have your actions revealed proper priorities?
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Speaker 1: I suppose I appreciate the book of Nehemiah for this
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Speaker 1: reason as much as any other. All the way through
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Speaker 1: the book, I see these things emerge. Nehemiah didn't bring
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Speaker 1: a group of people into the city of Jerusalem and
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Speaker 1: start putting down stones on mortar to build a wall.
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Speaker 1: He spent four months, in case you have forgotten, in
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Speaker 1: uninterrupted time and thought. He lived with the vision before
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Speaker 1: he ever shared it with anyone else. He poured over
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Speaker 1: it in thought before God, and then he came into
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Speaker 1: that city and began to build a wall. When opposition came,
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Speaker 1: he didn't instantly retaliate, he thought. He planned out before
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Speaker 1: God what is the best way to handle the interruption
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Speaker 1: or the opposition. And then he acted wisely. And when
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Speaker 1: it came to the plan of developing a righteous lifestyle,
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Speaker 1: what we would call a good government, they didn't suddenly
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Speaker 1: plunge into it. They spent some time thinking. And as
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Speaker 1: a people, apparently rubbing it dry, from the life of
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Speaker 1: Nehemiah into the lives of all the others, they as
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Speaker 1: a group went to God in prayer. And all of
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Speaker 1: chapter 9 is a lengthy prayer. In fact, the longest
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Speaker 1: prayer found in all the Bible. And over a lengthy
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Speaker 1: period of planning and thinking and reflecting, they came to
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Speaker 1: a conclusion. It's recorded in the last... verse of that prayer,
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Speaker 1: verse 38. And in this verse, they reveal a new
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Speaker 1: direction for priorities. They determined, if you please, to put
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Speaker 1: first things first. And that's what all of chapter 10 says.
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Speaker 1: is all about. Will you notice verse 38? Now because
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Speaker 1: of all this, Nehemiah 9 38, that's thought, that's looking back.
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Speaker 1: Because of all of these things that we have brought
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Speaker 1: before you our Father, we want to establish some priorities.
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Speaker 1: We are making an agreement in writing. It is interesting
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Speaker 1: that the 38th verse is found in the English Bible,
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Speaker 1: but not in the Hebrew Bible. In fact, verse 1
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Speaker 1: of chapter 10 is actually in the Hebrew Bible, verse
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Speaker 1: 38 of chapter 9. The original text has only 37
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Speaker 1: verses in the 9th chapter, but 40 verses in the 10th.
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Speaker 1: adding this last one as the first one. In other words,
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Speaker 1: the writer and those that passed it on were in
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Speaker 1: agreement that the thought of it belongs in chapter 10.
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Speaker 1: So what it is is a transitional verse. It is
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Speaker 1: a verse that turns the corner. Chapter 9, they're on
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Speaker 1: their knees. Chapter 10, they're on their feet. Chapter 9,
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Speaker 1: they're thinking and they're probing and they're praying and they're praising.
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Speaker 1: In chapter 10, they're writing. They're putting down in a document,
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Speaker 1: in a constitution for life, their plan for living. Their
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Speaker 1: new set of priorities. They've lived under the old ones
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Speaker 1: long enough. Now, with that as an introduction, let's look
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Speaker 1: at the document, and then let's consider the promises in
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Speaker 1: the document. First, the document. What was it, after all? Well,
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Speaker 1: let's look at the words in verse 38. and drop
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Speaker 1: down to a verse in chapter 10 verse 38 says
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Speaker 1: we are making an agreement in writing so whatever it
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Speaker 1: was it was an agreement and I take this to
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Speaker 1: mean that everybody who signed it was willing to agree
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Speaker 1: with themselves and with the Lord that this was worth
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Speaker 1: top priority you see they have been praying through the
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Speaker 1: ninth chapter And at the end of it, they said,
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Speaker 1: we will take this document, this agreement, and we will
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Speaker 1: put our name at the bottom of it after we
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Speaker 1: have delineated the things that we consider, O Lord, to
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Speaker 1: be important. So it was an agreement. It was a
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Speaker 1: sealed document according to the 38th verse. Now let your
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Speaker 1: eyes drop down to verse 29 of chapter 10, still
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Speaker 1: referring to the same piece of paper that We are
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Speaker 1: joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are taking on
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Speaker 1: ourselves a curse and an oath. Interesting words. The word
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Speaker 1: curse is a translation of an original word that means
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Speaker 1: to make an oath before God. In fact, the ending
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Speaker 1: of the word in the original is the word eil. Elohim,
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Speaker 1: that's the Hebrew word for God. Inherent in the word
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Speaker 1: that is translated curse is God. It is a promise
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Speaker 1: to God. That's what is involved in the word curse.
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Speaker 1: Suggested in the thought of curse is the feeling, if
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Speaker 1: I break with this, may a curse come upon me.
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Speaker 1: That's the idea. The next word is even more vivid
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Speaker 1: than the first. An oath. The word oath comes from
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Speaker 1: a word that means to seven oneself. You understood correctly. Seven.
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Speaker 1: Here's what it meant. In the days of the Hebrews,
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Speaker 1: a person did not verify his promise with a handshake
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Speaker 1: or with simply his signature. He would do seven things
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Speaker 1: and would relate each one of the seven things to
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Speaker 1: the promise he has given. These seven things were often
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Speaker 1: living things. And as they lived in front of the
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Speaker 1: one that was promised these things, they were a reminder
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Speaker 1: of the oath. For example, Genesis 21 is the story
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Speaker 1: of Abraham who made a promise to a king by
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Speaker 1: the name of Abimelech. And after he has made this
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Speaker 1: promise or this oath, he gives the king seven eulams.
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Speaker 1: It was believed by the people of Israel that seven
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Speaker 1: was a sacred number, speaking of heavenly things and divine appointments.
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Speaker 1: And so the giving of seven ewe lambs was a
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Speaker 1: reminder to the king, Abraham will keep his word. And
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Speaker 1: as those little lambs lived their lives in front of
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Speaker 1: the king, the king was reminded, Abraham will keep his word.
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Speaker 1: Interesting and curious. Now you look in vain through chapter
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Speaker 1: 10 to find what seven things the people did. We
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Speaker 1: are not told. And so you would wonder, why have
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Speaker 1: we taken the time to develop these words if there
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Speaker 1: is not the fulfillment of them in the passage? I
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Speaker 1: have a very real reason for doing that. The reason
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Speaker 1: is this. When they made a promise to God, it
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Speaker 1: was terribly serious. And I think that's worth stopping and
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Speaker 1: thinking about for a minute. If I were asked to
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Speaker 1: name the single concern of mine, as I observe Christians,
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Speaker 1: at least not only in my own life, but in
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Speaker 1: my own situation, the number one flaw or weakness, it
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Speaker 1: is a failure to take God seriously. That would be
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Speaker 1: what I would name. There is a great weakness on
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Speaker 1: our part when it comes to taking God seriously. Let's
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Speaker 1: pause from Nehemiah and look over in Ecclesiastes for a minute,
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Speaker 1: chapter 5. You will find to your right Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes.
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Speaker 1: The fifth chapter. I want you to observe how serious
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Speaker 1: it is to make God a promise. And as you're
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Speaker 1: finding your way, I hope each one of you that
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Speaker 1: has made the Lord a promise will consider this a
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Speaker 1: personal word to you from God. Verse 1. Guard your
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Speaker 1: steps as you go to the house of God. And
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Speaker 1: draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice
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Speaker 1: of fools. For they do not know they are doing evil.
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Speaker 1: You notice what it says? Be very careful when you
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Speaker 1: walk into the place of worship. Go to listen. Don't
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Speaker 1: go to do a lot of talking. Do not be hasty,
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Speaker 1: says verse 2. In word... Or impulsive in thought. To
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Speaker 1: bring up a matter in the presence of God. For
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Speaker 1: God is in heaven. And you are on the earth.
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Speaker 1: Therefore let your words be few. Verse 4. When you
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Speaker 1: make a vow to God. When you promise him something.
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Speaker 1: Do not be late in paying it. For he takes
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Speaker 1: no delight in fools. Pay what you vow. It is
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Speaker 1: better that you should not vow than that you should
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Speaker 1: vow and not pay. You know what flashes through my
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Speaker 1: head when I read verses 4 and 5? Marriage ceremony.
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Speaker 1: Where many of us made a vow to God. Are
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Speaker 1: you keeping your vows? I also think of an individual
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Speaker 1: in the quiet place as he's growing up, becoming serious
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Speaker 1: about God. And suddenly before the Lord, though he is
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Speaker 1: only in his teen years, he says, Lord, this is
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Speaker 1: what I promise you. And then before long, an education comes.
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Speaker 1: And then higher degrees. And by and by, those quiet
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Speaker 1: moments with God are forgotten. Except by God. Have you
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Speaker 1: made God a promise? You better keep it. That's what
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Speaker 1: speaks to me in Nehemiah chapter 10. Lord, we don't
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Speaker 1: want it to be an empty series of words. We
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Speaker 1: want it to be a promise that's nailed down. We'll
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Speaker 1: keep it. Second, who signed it? Well, it isn't difficult
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Speaker 1: to spot the list. Each one is... A real person.
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Speaker 1: In fact, if you're serious enough to make a study
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Speaker 1: of it, you'll find 84 names. Beginning with Nehemiah. Following Nehemiah,
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Speaker 1: you'll find the names of 22 priests. In verses 1
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Speaker 1: through 8, these were the priests. Beginning at verse 9,
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Speaker 1: down through verse 13, you'll find 17 Levites. Then at
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Speaker 1: verse 10 to the end, verse 27, you'll find 44
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Speaker 1: of those who are called leaders, heads of the home.
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Speaker 1: Now more important to me than mere names is what
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Speaker 1: I find in verse 28 that was true of every
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Speaker 1: name that appeared on the document. Look at 28. Now
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Speaker 1: the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, The gatekeepers,
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Speaker 1: the singers, the temple servants, all of these people had
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Speaker 1: two things in common. The two things are introduced with
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Speaker 1: the words, all those. First, all those who had separated
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Speaker 1: themselves from the peoples of the land. Second, all those
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Speaker 1: who had knowledge and understanding. Right here in verse 28.
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Speaker 1: We have described for us the things that characterized people
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Speaker 1: whose names appeared on the document. Two things. They separated
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Speaker 1: themselves from all the heathen and that lifestyle. And they
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Speaker 1: together had an understanding of what they were doing. This
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Speaker 1: tells us something. It tells us that there were no
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Speaker 1: little children that signed it. They wouldn't understand. It tells
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Speaker 1: us that in order for a person to put his
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Speaker 1: name on the document, he understood that the appearance of
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Speaker 1: his name meant he would be a distinct person. Unlike
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Speaker 1: those in pagan worlds around him. I especially want to
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Speaker 1: call your attention to a portion of it that I
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Speaker 1: left out. Verse 28, all those that separated themselves from
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Speaker 1: the peoples of the land to the law of God,
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Speaker 1: their wives, their sons, and their daughters. What does this mean? Well,
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Speaker 1: it means those that I suppose we could call 20
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Speaker 1: and under. There were some sons and daughters whose names
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Speaker 1: appeared here. Not all the names are present. Verse 28 begins,
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Speaker 1: the rest of the people. So there were others besides these,
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Speaker 1: some of whom were young, old enough to know what
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Speaker 1: they were doing, but all of whom were willing to
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Speaker 1: say we're going to be distinct individuals, not concerned about
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Speaker 1: conformity in matters that really pertain to life. What am
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Speaker 1: I suggesting? I'm suggesting they were willing to put first
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Speaker 1: things first regardless. Why was it important for them to
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Speaker 1: do this? I suggest in answer to that question, it
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Speaker 1: was important because it was a literary stake they drove
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Speaker 1: in the ground that day. It was a rallying point.
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Speaker 1: It was a verbal monument they erected. It said, in effect...
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Speaker 1: This is our promise to you, O God. This is
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Speaker 1: our constitution. We do not care if anyone else in
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Speaker 1: the world lives by this. We will live by it.
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Speaker 1: It will be our guide. Our homes will be distinct.
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Speaker 1: Our philosophy of life will not be like those outside
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Speaker 1: the wall or even some of those within the wall
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Speaker 1: that wouldn't sign. This is something that we want to
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Speaker 1: carry out before you. If such a document were drawn
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Speaker 1: up today, would you sign it? Would those that you
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Speaker 1: work with be surprised to see your name on it
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Speaker 1: as it's published in the newspaper tomorrow morning? Would there
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Speaker 1: be the reaction, I didn't know that. I didn't know
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Speaker 1: he believed that. Or would there be the response, just
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Speaker 1: as I expected, look at that, look at that, and
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Speaker 1: look at this one. Wouldn't you know it? Wouldn't you
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Speaker 1: know he'd sign something dumb like that? That would be
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Speaker 1: the reaction of a person that wouldn't agree with this plan.
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Speaker 1: Wouldn't you know that family would be on there? Or
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Speaker 1: would you find it very difficult to say, man, I
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Speaker 1: guess I'll sign it. Well, let's talk about the document.
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Speaker 1: We've discussed it thus far as just a document. Let's
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Speaker 1: look at what the promises were. There were three specific ones,
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Speaker 1: but generally it's not hard to see. Generally, verse 29
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Speaker 1: explains it. These people were joining with their kinsmen, their nobles,
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Speaker 1: and they took upon themselves this curse, this oath to
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Speaker 1: walk in God's law which was given through Moses, the
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Speaker 1: written word of God, and to keep and observe all
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Speaker 1: of the commandments of God our Lord and his ordinances
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Speaker 1: and his statutes. How about that promise? In effect, it
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Speaker 1: was saying this. We promise to pattern our lives according
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Speaker 1: to the written word of God. That's what they were saying.
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Speaker 1: God has revealed it. We understand what he is saying.
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Speaker 1: We will live like that regardless. You know, we are
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Speaker 1: living in an age of conformity. If the thing today
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Speaker 1: is cutoffs and you show up in a tailored outfit,
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Speaker 1: watch out. Now, some things aren't worth our time to
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Speaker 1: worry about. Some of them are. Let me show you.
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Speaker 1: I've got a little test here that I want to
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Speaker 1: describe to you this morning. Now, everybody's awake again, so
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Speaker 1: we can go on. We'll go from here. You that
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Speaker 1: have been resting won't know what we're illustrating, but the
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Speaker 1: ones next to you will tell you in just a second.
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Speaker 1: This was literally a test given by a Dr. Ruth
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Speaker 1: Berenda and her associates to a group of adolescents and
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Speaker 1: college students who were willing to submit themselves to the test.
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Speaker 1: It was a test to determine the pressure of peers,
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Speaker 1: the pressure to make you conform to things that you
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Speaker 1: don't really believe in, but you do it for the
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Speaker 1: sake of pressure. On the left-hand side, you will notice
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Speaker 1: three lines with A, B, and C beside each. The
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Speaker 1: longest line, of course, is line B. Next is A,
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Speaker 1: and third is C. In the next set, you'll notice
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Speaker 1: the longest is A, and followed by B, and then C,
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Speaker 1: and you can see the other. Sets of thousands of teenagers...
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Speaker 1: young people were asked to come and submit themselves to
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Speaker 1: this simple test. It doesn't involve morality, no ethics are involved,
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Speaker 1: just a simple ABC test. They were asked in sets
28:40
Speaker 1: of ten if they would raise their hand when the
28:43
Speaker 1: instructor pointed to the longest line in each of the
28:48
Speaker 1: three sets. What one in each group did not know
28:55
Speaker 1: is that the other nine had been told to vote
28:58
Speaker 1: for the next to longest line. Okay? Just a simple
29:10
Speaker 1: ABC test where you vote for the longest line, says
29:16
Speaker 1: the instructor, And all but one knew we'll vote for
29:21
Speaker 1: the next longest line. So off they went. Guess what happened?
29:30
Speaker 1: Seventy-five percent of those tested, when ready to lift their
29:37
Speaker 1: hands to vote for the longest line, noted, no one
29:40
Speaker 1: else did, and voted for the next to the longest line.
29:47
Speaker 1: Knowing that it wasn't the longest, but under the conformity
29:52
Speaker 1: pressure of ten people who were not necessarily known by
29:57
Speaker 1: those in that group. Isn't that incredible? Not really. When's
30:07
Speaker 1: the last time your boy wore a tux to school?
30:16
Speaker 1: When's the last time your gal told you she'd like
30:18
Speaker 1: to start wearing knee-length dresses? Rare indeed, huh? But you see,
30:28
Speaker 1: this has great Overriding effects. Far beyond fashion. Fashion is
30:36
Speaker 1: rather insignificant in comparison to this document. This document said,
30:44
Speaker 1: we can live on a block where every other home
30:48
Speaker 1: in the block believes so and so. We don't believe it.
30:54
Speaker 1: In fact, I'll show you what they were saying. Verse 32.
31:00
Speaker 1: The first specific area that was touched was the home,
31:03
Speaker 1: as you would expect it. The first realm where we
31:08
Speaker 1: will not conform to those people around us is in
31:11
Speaker 1: the realm of the home. Our home will be distinct. Well,
31:15
Speaker 1: what are you going to do? We will not give
31:17
Speaker 1: our daughters to the peoples of the land. We will
31:21
Speaker 1: not take their daughters for our sons. Oh, wait a minute.
31:28
Speaker 1: You mean this document has to do with the date life?
31:33
Speaker 1: You mean it has to do with who I marry?
31:38
Speaker 1: You're going to get that specific? Yes, we are. Our
31:44
Speaker 1: homes are going to be distinct. Every other home that
31:50
Speaker 1: we have been seeing around us, the homes that we
31:53
Speaker 1: were raised in, intermingled, intermixed, interworshipped, You say, that's a
32:00
Speaker 1: fanatic position. That's extremism. Hold your place and look at
32:05
Speaker 1: Judges chapter 3. I want to show you something. I
32:09
Speaker 1: want you to see exactly what happened that was promised
32:13
Speaker 1: to happen is the thing that happened. And it hit
32:17
Speaker 1: the home first. We're going way back in time, not
32:23
Speaker 1: only in our Bibles to the book of Judges chapter 3,
32:27
Speaker 1: but we're going back in time to that era where
32:33
Speaker 1: the children of God who had been raised in Egypt
32:39
Speaker 1: had been delivered from bondage under Moses and had been
32:44
Speaker 1: moved graciously into a new land under Joshua. Just before
32:51
Speaker 1: Moses left the earth, since he was, alas, not able
32:54
Speaker 1: to go into that land of promise, he warned the people.
32:56
Speaker 1: He said, now let me warn you. You're going to
32:59
Speaker 1: go into a land that has a home that you
33:01
Speaker 1: did not build, and you'll live in it. It'll have
33:04
Speaker 1: wells you didn't dig, and you'll drink from them. It'll
33:07
Speaker 1: have trees you didn't plant, but you'll eat from them.
33:11
Speaker 1: It'll have a lifestyle you didn't create, but at that point,
33:15
Speaker 1: watch out. Because the lifestyle is shot through with idolatry.
33:22
Speaker 1: And so Moses said, don't you marry into that kind
33:25
Speaker 1: of lifestyle. Drive them out of the land. If you don't,
33:29
Speaker 1: you'll succumb. Judges 3, 3. These nations are the five
33:37
Speaker 1: lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and Sidonians
33:43
Speaker 1: and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon. Verse 4.
33:49
Speaker 1: They were for testing Israel. To find out if they
33:53
Speaker 1: would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he had
33:56
Speaker 1: commanded their fathers through Moses. Verse 5. The sons of
34:02
Speaker 1: Israel lived among the Canaanites. They didn't drive them out.
34:05
Speaker 1: They lived among them. The Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites,
34:09
Speaker 1: the Hivites, the Jebusites. And what happened? They took their
34:15
Speaker 1: daughters for themselves. They gave their daughters to their sons.
34:22
Speaker 1: What's wrong with that? Well, they served their gods. That's
34:28
Speaker 1: what's wrong. In perfect agreement with Moses' prophecy, if you
34:36
Speaker 1: do it, you'll get burned. And they got burned. And
34:41
Speaker 1: the whole story of Judges is the story of one
34:45
Speaker 1: miserable cycle after another as they sought to find deliverance
34:50
Speaker 1: from the misery connected to To the sinful lifestyle of
34:54
Speaker 1: idolatrous people. It's just as simple as the nose on
34:58
Speaker 1: our faces. Now that's why Nehemiah 10 is significant. We
35:04
Speaker 1: will not give our daughters. We will not suggest to
35:09
Speaker 1: our sons. It really doesn't matter. The point I want
35:13
Speaker 1: to make is this. When the morals of a nation
35:19
Speaker 1: are under stress. The home is the first to suffer.
35:24
Speaker 1: It's the first point of inroad that any enemy will
35:28
Speaker 1: attempt to take if his plan is a subtle one.
35:31
Speaker 1: If he plans to change from the normal approach of
35:34
Speaker 1: hitting the beaches to the hitting of communications and the media,
35:38
Speaker 1: then he will hit first the unit known as the
35:42
Speaker 1: structure of a nation. One statesman put it this way,
35:47
Speaker 1: The immutable law of sowing and reaping has held sway
35:51
Speaker 1: in our day. We are now the hapless possessors of
35:55
Speaker 1: moral depravity, and we seek in vain for a cure.
36:01
Speaker 1: The tears of indulgence have overgrown the wheat of moral restraint.
36:07
Speaker 1: Our homes have now suffered death. When the morals of
36:11
Speaker 1: society are upset, this man says the family is the
36:16
Speaker 1: first to suffer. The home is the basic unit of society,
36:22
Speaker 1: and a nation is only as strong as her home.
36:25
Speaker 1: We've heard it till it's a cliche, but I'm afraid
36:30
Speaker 1: it hasn't really made an impact. Is your home different?
36:38
Speaker 1: Kids that are here today, is your date life different
36:40
Speaker 1: than those that you'll be seeing at school come fall?
36:46
Speaker 1: Is your choice of those that you're going to spend
36:48
Speaker 1: your time with any different because you know the Lord Jesus?
36:55
Speaker 1: Is your leisure on Saturday night, Friday night, Thursday morning
37:00
Speaker 1: any different than the leisure of those that don't know Christ?
37:04
Speaker 1: You see, that's what we're talking about. The home. Where
37:11
Speaker 1: we make in-depth decisions that carry us from now like
37:15
Speaker 1: a rocket into tomorrow. There's another area. Society. Verse 31.
37:24
Speaker 1: Not only our homes, verse 30, but society. 31. And
37:30
Speaker 1: as for the peoples of the land. Remember them? The majority.
37:34
Speaker 1: The majority. That's who they are. Always. The peoples of
37:41
Speaker 1: the land will always be the majority. As for the
37:47
Speaker 1: majority who bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath
37:52
Speaker 1: day to sell, we will not buy from them on
37:57
Speaker 1: the Sabbath day or a holy day. We will forego
38:03
Speaker 1: the crops the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.
38:08
Speaker 1: Look at that 31st verse. These are people that got
38:12
Speaker 1: hungry and maybe didn't have another good day for buying
38:18
Speaker 1: and selling and probably would be tested by the peoples
38:22
Speaker 1: of the land. They said when the Saturday Sabbath begins
38:29
Speaker 1: and we see coming over the hills those that want
38:31
Speaker 1: to do business, we will say, not open. We'll talk
38:35
Speaker 1: with you tomorrow. And when the seventh year rolls around
38:40
Speaker 1: and we've saved up for what we want and we
38:42
Speaker 1: just about have it, we'll wait till the next year
38:45
Speaker 1: to begin where we left off. And when our brother
38:51
Speaker 1: owes us a debt, we will look upon it as
38:53
Speaker 1: God would have us look upon it. There will be release.
38:58
Speaker 1: There won't be exaction. Society. Now the implication of this
39:05
Speaker 1: is not don't work on Sunday. That's a foolish application. Unless,
39:12
Speaker 1: of course, God is directing you to make that decision.
39:15
Speaker 1: You can't base it upon interpretation. The Sabbath was Saturday.
39:20
Speaker 1: The whole applicatory principle of it is don't lose your distinction.
39:25
Speaker 1: That's the punch. The distinction of the man of God.
39:30
Speaker 1: God is when he does business, he does it with integrity.
39:34
Speaker 1: The distinction of the Christian is when he puts in
39:36
Speaker 1: a day's work, he puts in a day's work. When
39:40
Speaker 1: he's to check in at a certain time, he's punctual.
39:43
Speaker 1: When he's trusted not to take what doesn't belong, he
39:46
Speaker 1: leaves it. That's a distinction. Keith Miller put it this
39:52
Speaker 1: way in his book, Taste of New Wine. It seems
39:55
Speaker 1: a strange thing to me that so very many Christians
40:00
Speaker 1: can be genuinely sincere and faithful in worship on Sundays
40:07
Speaker 1: and in church matters, but almost totally pagan in the day-in,
40:14
Speaker 1: day-out guts of employment, office life, and business practice. End
40:22
Speaker 1: of quote. You ready to sign a document that says
40:29
Speaker 1: when it comes to society, they can look at the
40:32
Speaker 1: way I earn my living and say, man, he's distinct.
40:38
Speaker 1: She's distinct. There's an incredible standard that somehow he's happy
40:48
Speaker 1: to maintain. But let's really go to the heart of
40:52
Speaker 1: the issue, which may be a surprise blow for you.
40:56
Speaker 1: Verses 32 to 39 is the place of worship. The home,
41:02
Speaker 1: the society, now the place of worship. Nine times in
41:11
Speaker 1: 32 through 39, the house of the Lord or the
41:14
Speaker 1: house of God is mentioned. Nine times. It's not difficult
41:18
Speaker 1: to know the theme. It's the place of worship. Look
41:22
Speaker 1: at verse 32. We also placed ourselves under obligation to
41:28
Speaker 1: contribute yearly. For the showbread, verse 33. We cast lots,
41:34
Speaker 1: verse 34, for the supply of wood among the priests
41:37
Speaker 1: and the Levites. Verse 35. In order that they might
41:42
Speaker 1: bring the first fruits of our ground. We'll give them this.
41:46
Speaker 1: Give the Lord this. And we'll do this in his
41:49
Speaker 1: house annually. Verse 37, we will also bring the first
41:53
Speaker 1: of our dough. Doesn't mean money. The next word does.
41:58
Speaker 1: The first of our contributions. The fruit of every tree.
42:02
Speaker 1: In fact, putting it all together, verse 39 concludes it.
42:06
Speaker 1: Thus we will not neglect the house of our God.
42:13
Speaker 1: Now wait a minute. We have called this passage the
42:21
Speaker 1: priority known as the place of worship. Now, in those days,
42:25
Speaker 1: it was the temple. God lived there. The light of
42:31
Speaker 1: God's glory, called the Shekinah, permeated that infinitely holy section
42:41
Speaker 1: that was only entered in a certain way by a
42:44
Speaker 1: certain individual because God lived there, if you please. And
42:52
Speaker 1: so when they came to the house of God, they
42:54
Speaker 1: brought with them all these things because it was the
42:57
Speaker 1: place of God's dwelling. But the veil has been rent,
43:04
Speaker 1: torn in two. Where does he live now? Augustine said,
43:11
Speaker 1: thou fool, speaking to himself, dost not thou know that
43:16
Speaker 1: thou art carrying God around with thee? When he was
43:21
Speaker 1: tempted to plunge into the old life, he says, oh,
43:24
Speaker 1: you've carried God with you there. He's got it. You
43:31
Speaker 1: know where the house of God is? Right within you.
43:40
Speaker 1: You think that won't boggle your mind when you think
43:42
Speaker 1: about a sacred secular division in life? You don't start
43:47
Speaker 1: something secular tomorrow when you punch the clock at work.
43:52
Speaker 1: It's no more secular than today or no less sacred.
43:58
Speaker 1: I'm saying this to you today, that the place that
44:01
Speaker 1: is of high priority in these verses is the inner
44:06
Speaker 1: man where Jesus Christ says the Holy Spirit has built
44:11
Speaker 1: his temple. When you come into this place, you bring
44:16
Speaker 1: the sanctuary with you. You are the place of worship
44:24
Speaker 1: suggested in these verses. Now, are you neglecting it? Are
44:34
Speaker 1: you neglecting the temple? The temple wasn't a place where
44:40
Speaker 1: people just walked by and said, wow, God lives over there.
44:44
Speaker 1: Have you been there lately? It was the place that
44:48
Speaker 1: they dealt with with great care and a sensitive, delicate spirit.
44:58
Speaker 1: Do you? How are you treating God's house? What priorities
45:06
Speaker 1: are there? Last Sunday, at the end of the service,
45:11
Speaker 1: I gave you some homework. How did you do this week?
45:17
Speaker 1: Isn't it interesting how the exaction of about seven minutes
45:19
Speaker 1: a day will tell us something about our priorities? Remember
45:24
Speaker 1: you laid down at night and you thought, oh no,
45:26
Speaker 1: I haven't gotten on my knees yet. Get up and
45:29
Speaker 1: get on my knees. Maybe that was your experience. How
45:34
Speaker 1: about in the morning when you were up late? You
45:37
Speaker 1: got up late. You put your pinkies on the floor. Remember? Oh.
45:44
Speaker 1: I haven't got time. I'll do that later. And you
45:46
Speaker 1: never did do it. Only asked two minutes. Ate the apple,
45:54
Speaker 1: gave him the core. Is that what happened? You see,
46:00
Speaker 1: when we talk about the place of worship, we're talking
46:04
Speaker 1: about the worshiping one. What's it going to take? What
46:11
Speaker 1: will it take? For us to take God seriously. There
46:21
Speaker 1: are three very simple principles that I glean from these verses.
46:27
Speaker 1: Only three. The first is this. Serious thought precedes any
46:35
Speaker 1: significant change. You never change in areas of your life
46:41
Speaker 1: where you do not give serious thought. God beautifully arranges
46:47
Speaker 1: a Sunday afternoon so that there's a little time. You
46:52
Speaker 1: fill it up with stuff, shame on you. Quiet, time
47:02
Speaker 1: to think. Serious thought precedes any significant change in our lives.
47:14
Speaker 1: When you see a person that's changed from what he
47:17
Speaker 1: used to be a year ago, you ask him, hey,
47:19
Speaker 1: how did that come about? He will never say, oh,
47:23
Speaker 1: it just happened. It's amazing. It's incredible. I didn't want
47:27
Speaker 1: it to happen so much, but it just changed. Here
47:30
Speaker 1: I am really loving the things of God. Never. He
47:35
Speaker 1: will tell you, I'm glad you asked. Here's what God did. One, two, three, four. Second,
47:45
Speaker 1: Written plans confirm right priorities. We want so very much
47:54
Speaker 1: to have right priorities. Put them down. I'm suggesting again
47:59
Speaker 1: the keeping of a journal. You know, I feel at
48:03
Speaker 1: times maybe I'm part of the problem for some of us.
48:08
Speaker 1: I feel at times we're getting so much truth in
48:10
Speaker 1: so many different directions we're sort of shotgunning it rather
48:13
Speaker 1: than rifling in. but you know it won't make a
48:16
Speaker 1: bit of difference if you don't begin to write down
48:20
Speaker 1: your priorities. They're somewhere up there, but you've never nailed
48:26
Speaker 1: them down. I learned years ago, thoughts disentangle themselves over
48:29
Speaker 1: the lips and through the fingertips. Your thoughts are good,
48:34
Speaker 1: but they're entangled because they haven't been put down. Third,
48:43
Speaker 1: A loss of distinction and conformity to the world go
48:49
Speaker 1: hand in hand. You want to know today whether you
48:54
Speaker 1: have really conformed to this world or not? Check your distinction.
49:01
Speaker 1: And I don't mean by that religious lifestyle. I mean
49:08
Speaker 1: by that genuine New Testament Christianity. Look at your life,
49:18
Speaker 1: your home. your work your relational situations and then ask
49:27
Speaker 1: yourself am I really distinct could a person read me
49:34
Speaker 1: and gather together something of the gospel My life's sort
49:42
Speaker 1: of like John the Baptist to the Lord Jesus, a
49:46
Speaker 1: herald that paved the way. It never will be until
49:53
Speaker 1: you think and do things in the order of their importance. Never.
50:00
Speaker 1: I invite you to bow with me now for some
50:03
Speaker 1: time of soul-searching and then prayer. If you have never
50:11
Speaker 1: taken God seriously, I think you'll agree that ought to
50:16
Speaker 1: be priority one. And in God's eyes, if you've never
50:21
Speaker 1: come to know Him in a personal way, He invites
50:26
Speaker 1: you to come. Out of love, He offers you eternal life.
50:32
Speaker 1: The Lord Jesus Christ has paid the complete penalty for
50:36
Speaker 1: your sins and for mine. And God knows that in
50:41
Speaker 1: order for us to have any sense of inner peace,
50:45
Speaker 1: we need to come to terms with this debt that
50:48
Speaker 1: has been paid for us by cultivating a relationship with
50:54
Speaker 1: Him through faith in Jesus Christ. So, if you've never
50:58
Speaker 1: met the Lord Jesus, now is the perfect time to
51:02
Speaker 1: do so. Just a simple prayer. Lord, I don't understand
51:06
Speaker 1: a lot of the things I've heard. I've been out
51:08
Speaker 1: of touch with spiritual things for a long time. Maybe
51:11
Speaker 1: your prayer. But Father, I come to you today and
51:15
Speaker 1: I humbly acknowledge that I'm a sinner and I'm separate
51:19
Speaker 1: from you because of that. Thank you for Christ who
51:22
Speaker 1: took my place on the cross. Thank you for coming
51:27
Speaker 1: into my life. I accept him now. And for you
51:32
Speaker 1: who have met him and you who've known him but
51:35
Speaker 1: you've not walked with him, I think you've heard enough
51:38
Speaker 1: today to know that it's time to put first things
51:41
Speaker 1: first in your life, to take care of the priorities
51:45
Speaker 1: of your spiritual walk, to begin again to meet with Him,
51:49
Speaker 1: to bring your sins before Him in full confession, and
51:55
Speaker 1: to take Him seriously. You may have listened carefully today,
52:00
Speaker 1: but you've not yet taken that step, and now's the
52:03
Speaker 1: time to do it. Do that as I pray. Lord,
52:08
Speaker 1: there's no way I can know those who are listening
52:10
Speaker 1: right now. I cannot enter their world. I don't know
52:13
Speaker 1: their names. I have no way of knowing their circumstances,
52:17
Speaker 1: but you know each one. You know each name. You
52:20
Speaker 1: know each need. And today, thank you for speaking to
52:24
Speaker 1: us so personally in the precision of your word, how
52:29
Speaker 1: you have dissected our lives by showing us through Nehemiah's
52:33
Speaker 1: day what it is to take you seriously. And today, Lord,
52:37
Speaker 1: we acknowledge we have handled things frivolously and in a
52:42
Speaker 1: haphazard manner as it related to you, and we want
52:46
Speaker 1: to stop doing that. I pray for those who take
52:50
Speaker 1: these words seriously today. For those who've never met your
52:53
Speaker 1: Son as Savior and Lord, I pray that you will
52:56
Speaker 1: bring them to Him and to give them a sense
52:59
Speaker 1: of peace and relief as a result of knowing that
53:02
Speaker 1: they are secure in Christ. And for those who have
53:08
Speaker 1: met you and known you, but have drifted and their
53:11
Speaker 1: lives have eroded, I pray for them as well. And
53:15
Speaker 1: I pray that you would enable them to see the truth,
53:19
Speaker 1: first in your word and then the truth about their
53:22
Speaker 1: own lives and to realize what a difference there is
53:26
Speaker 1: and to bring their lives in alignment with what you
53:30
Speaker 1: have written. Lord, begin now, this moment, in each one
53:36
Speaker 1: of our lives to enable us, as we put first
53:39
Speaker 1: things first, to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness,
53:45
Speaker 1: knowing that all the other things will be added to that.
53:49
Speaker 1: This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our
53:53
Speaker 1: Lord and Savior. Amen.
53:57
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Putting First Things First, was copyrighted in 1974, 1983, 1990,
54:06
Speaker 2: 2007 and 2016. And the sound recording was copyrighted in
54:12
Speaker 2: 2016 by Charles R.
54:14
Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
54:15
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
54:20
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.