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Happiness Is a Walk on the Wall Msg 1516 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Back in November of 1989, while Americans prepared to celebrate Thanksgiving,
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Speaker 1: East Germans were celebrating their own unforgettable moment of Thanksgiving.
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Speaker 1: You know where I'm going with this, don't you? The
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Speaker 1: wall that had for so long kept them incarcerated in
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Speaker 1: a communist regime was finally coming down. The power of
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Speaker 1: the old party leaders had begun to crumble. Along with
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Speaker 1: that ruling power tumbled its symbol, the Berlin Wall, almost
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Speaker 1: as quickly and unexpectedly as it had been raised back
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Speaker 1: in August of 1961. Amid the rubble, people erupted with cheering, dancing, singing, crying,
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Speaker 1: and hugging one another in great celebration. It was an
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Speaker 1: unforgettable moment. A festive scene similar to this event occurred
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Speaker 1: thousands of years ago in Nehemiah's day. But on that occasion,
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Speaker 1: the celebration centered on a wall being raised up, not
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Speaker 1: torn down. The Israelites, too, rejoiced with exuberant singing and
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Speaker 1: dancing and great sounds of celebration, their physical expression echoing
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Speaker 1: the emotion in all their hearts. It was a great scene.
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Speaker 1: Chapter after chapter of Nehemiah has been filled with challenges
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Speaker 1: and diligence and setbacks and criticism and sweat and hard
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Speaker 1: work and sorrow as the returning Jews have rebuilt the
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Speaker 1: wall around Jerusalem. But when we get to chapter 12
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Speaker 1: of Nehemiah, there's a dramatic change. The wall was now
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Speaker 1: completed and the Jews are responding with intense happiness. and
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Speaker 1: great joy. The city overflowed with the sound of singing
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Speaker 1: and the playing of musical instruments such as cymbals and
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Speaker 1: harps and lyres and trumpets and even some of David's
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Speaker 1: musical instruments. This was one great day of celebration. So
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Speaker 1: let's read about it. Turn in your Bibles to this
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Speaker 1: joyful chapter 12, where I'll begin reading for you at
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Speaker 1: verse 27. Nehemiah 12, 27. Now at the dedication of
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Speaker 1: the wall of Jerusalem, they sought out the Levites from
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Speaker 1: all their places to bring them to Jerusalem so that
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Speaker 1: they might celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving,
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Speaker 1: and with songs to the accompaniment of cymbal harps and lyres.
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Speaker 1: So the sons of the singers were assembled from the
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Speaker 1: district around Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophethites.
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Speaker 1: from Beth Gilgal, and from their fields in Geba, and Asmaveth.
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Speaker 1: For the singers had built themselves villages around Jerusalem. The
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Speaker 1: priests and the Levites purified themselves. They also purified the people,
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Speaker 1: the gates, and the wall. Then I had the leaders
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Speaker 1: of Judah come up on top of the wall, and
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Speaker 1: I appointed two great choirs. the first proceeding to the
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Speaker 1: right on top of the wall toward the refuse gate.
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Speaker 1: Verse 38, The second choir proceeded to the left, while
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Speaker 1: I followed them with half of the people on the
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Speaker 1: wall above the tower of furnaces to the broad wall,
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Speaker 1: and above the gate of Ephraim, by the old gate,
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Speaker 1: by the fish gate, the tower of Hananel, and the
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Speaker 1: tower of the hundred as far as the sheep gate,
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Speaker 1: and they stopped at the gate of the guard. Then
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Speaker 1: the two choirs took their stand in the house of God.
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Speaker 1: So did I and half of the officials with me.
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Speaker 1: Verse 43, And on that day they offered great sacrifices
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Speaker 1: and rejoiced, because God had given them great joy. Even
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Speaker 1: the women and children rejoiced, so that the joy of
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Speaker 1: Jerusalem was was heard from afar. On that day men
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Speaker 1: were also appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions,
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Speaker 1: the first fruits, and the tithes, to gather into them
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Speaker 1: from the fields of the cities the portions required by
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Speaker 1: the law for the priests and Levites. For Judah rejoiced
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Speaker 1: over the priests and Levites who served. For they performed
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Speaker 1: the worship of their God in and the service of purification,
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Speaker 1: together with the singers and the gatekeepers, in accordance with
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Speaker 1: the command of David and of his son Solomon. For
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Speaker 1: in the days of David and Asaph, in ancient times,
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Speaker 1: there were leaders of the singers, songs of praise, and
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Speaker 1: hymns of thanksgiving to God. And so all Israel in
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Speaker 1: the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah gave the portions due
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Speaker 1: the singers and the gatekeepers, as each day required, and
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Speaker 1: set apart the consecrated portion for the Levites, and the
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Speaker 1: Levites set apart the consecrated portion for the sons of Aaron.
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Speaker 1: This message on happiness may seem terribly inappropriate and ill-timed,
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Speaker 1: There is everything at this hour to keep us from
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Speaker 1: feeling happy. The economic scene doesn't bring any happiness. Money
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Speaker 1: has not been tighter. The promise of tomorrow has never
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Speaker 1: been more bleak than at this present hour. There is
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Speaker 1: international famine which seems to be spreading soon to the
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Speaker 1: national scene if sociologists are telling us the truth. The
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Speaker 1: crime rate has come to an all-time high. The latest
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Speaker 1: report from the FBI is that every 22 seconds in
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Speaker 1: our nation a major crime is committed. That means that
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Speaker 1: by the end of the message, somewhere around 100 felonies
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Speaker 1: will have been committed in America. Someone has called our
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Speaker 1: times the aspirin age, and he has not missed it far.
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Speaker 1: Hospitals have never been more expensive nor more overcrowded. It
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Speaker 1: has been proven that over half of those occupying hospital
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Speaker 1: beds are there because of mental or emotional illnesses. This
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Speaker 1: has reached such a critical state that people who are
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Speaker 1: in that field are fearing very much the growing statistic
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Speaker 1: of the suicide death rate. It is now one of
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Speaker 1: the major contributing factors to death. Add to this the
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Speaker 1: ingredients of discouragement, the loss of occupation, the disturbing divorce rate,
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Speaker 1: the breakdown of child training. Mix into that the problems
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Speaker 1: connected with our religious scene, the international affairs as they
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Speaker 1: relate to Israel and the Arab states. And you begin
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Speaker 1: to doubt Ella Wilcox's words,' Laugh and the world laughs
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Speaker 1: with you. Weep and you weep alone. It seems rather
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Speaker 1: the one who laughs, laughs alone.' And yet, in spite
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Speaker 1: of all of this, and my notes give me twice
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Speaker 1: as much information than I have shared with you regarding
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Speaker 1: our scene, God has brought us to Nehemiah chapter 12. Now,
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Speaker 1: if he has made a mistake, it is his very
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Speaker 1: first one in all of time. I think rather he
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Speaker 1: has not made a mistake, but we have. in being
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Speaker 1: so preoccupied with our state of affairs, have, in fact,
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Speaker 1: made the mistake. God is doing nothing more this morning
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Speaker 1: than setting our hearts right concerning our times. And I,
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Speaker 1: perhaps as much as anyone here, am very much aware
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Speaker 1: of our times. Nevertheless, in the 12th chapter of Nehemiah,
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Speaker 1: in this difficult time of laughing and rejoicing, we find
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Speaker 1: nothing but that. And I think it holds water because
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Speaker 1: in this day of Nehemiah chapter 12, they faced the
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Speaker 1: same kind of circumstances. They were, in fact, plagued with
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Speaker 1: the most difficult of all sorts of surroundings, aside from
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Speaker 1: war itself. There was nothing to lend their hearts toward rejoicing. Nevertheless,
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Speaker 1: in this 12th chapter, they are filled with joy and laughter.
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Speaker 1: And I hope you won't feel that we are becoming
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Speaker 1: the proverbial ostriches, like so many Christians who stick our
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Speaker 1: head in the sand, smile our way through hard times.
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Speaker 1: That's not my desire at all. But in preaching through
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Speaker 1: the book of Nehemiah, the sweep of the truth has
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Speaker 1: brought us to this passage. And so it is in
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Speaker 1: this passage we will land in camp for the next
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Speaker 1: few minutes, and I hope when you leave, your heart
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Speaker 1: will be lighter as you see things more from God's perspective.
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Speaker 1: I do not think that our Heavenly Father, the Lord
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Speaker 1: of this earth, has yet come to a place of frustration.
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Speaker 1: I personally believe that the things of this earth are
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Speaker 1: marching toward his divine perfect plan, regardless of the scars
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Speaker 1: that we now bear on this earth. All right, having
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Speaker 1: said that, will you occupy your thoughts with verses 27
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Speaker 1: through 47 of chapter 12? And to be very technical
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Speaker 1: about it, chapter 12 verse 27 really does not tie
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Speaker 1: in with verse 26, but ties in with verse 2
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Speaker 1: of chapter 11, if you can imagine such a thing.
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Speaker 1: Chapter 11 verse 3 through chapter 12 verse 26 is
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Speaker 1: a parenthesis. In the parenthesis, we have all the color
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Speaker 1: and details of the scene, but there is not any
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Speaker 1: further flow of truth until you get to chapter 12,
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Speaker 1: verse 27. So let me give it to you another way.
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Speaker 1: Chapter 11, verse 2 stops the movement of progress. Until
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Speaker 1: you get to chapter 12, verse 27, and then you
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Speaker 1: pick it up again. So let's tie them together by
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Speaker 1: reading them together. 11-2, And the people blessed all the
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Speaker 1: men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem. Remember last week?
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Speaker 1: The willing unknowns, we call this group. Those who willingly
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Speaker 1: said no. We would love to follow God's leading and
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Speaker 1: move into the city that has no lovely surroundings, but
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Speaker 1: we are willing to build ourselves homes, find new friends, jobs,
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Speaker 1: and get underway in a whole new lifestyle because that's
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Speaker 1: what God wants us to do. Look at chapter 12,
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Speaker 1: verse 27. Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem...
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Speaker 1: And so what I find in those two thoughts is this.
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Speaker 1: The people of Israel have begun to move back into
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Speaker 1: the city. Commerce is beginning again. There is a renewed vision,
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Speaker 1: though there is not a renewed scene physically. It's still
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Speaker 1: rather bleak. The wall is finished. Broad, stable, strong, well-constructed, well-engineered, well-designed.
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Speaker 1: So the only thing they've got in the city is
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Speaker 1: a protective wall with its gates in place. And having
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Speaker 1: moved into the city and having begun to build their
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Speaker 1: own homes, these volunteers, they are led to dedicate this
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Speaker 1: project to God. And that's what we find in this
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Speaker 1: passage of 1227 through 47. We find a dedication of
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Speaker 1: the wall, and we find much more than that. We
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Speaker 1: find a people whose hearts are really rejoicing. Now let's
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Speaker 1: look to begin with at some preliminary factors that had
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Speaker 1: to do with the dedication of this wall. Will you
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Speaker 1: notice them with me in 27 through 37? The passage
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Speaker 1: says in verse 27, at the dedication of the wall
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Speaker 1: of Jerusalem, they sought out the Levites. Who would be
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Speaker 1: the they of this verse? Well, verse 26 tells us
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Speaker 1: Nehemiah and Ezra. So the two major leaders of the
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Speaker 1: people of Israel in the city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah, the governor,
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Speaker 1: and Ezra, the priest and scribe. These two men say
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Speaker 1: to one another and to the people, in order to
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Speaker 1: dedicate the wall, we need to find the people that
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Speaker 1: are specialists in this field. And so it says in
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Speaker 1: the 27th verse that they sought out the Levites from
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Speaker 1: all their places. You can't appreciate the search unless you
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Speaker 1: go back to chapter... 11, the Genesis chapter 12, verse 18.
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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, it is 11, 18. The previous chapter, the
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Speaker 1: 18th verse, all the Levites in the holy city were 284.
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Speaker 1: So they went to these 284 people and they pulled
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Speaker 1: them out and they said there's a job to be
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Speaker 1: done before any more building of homes takes place. Another
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Speaker 1: part of chapter 12 tells us that the Levites were
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Speaker 1: all over the countryside, outside the wall. And so Ezra
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Speaker 1: and Nehemiah, I'm sure they delegated some of this responsibility,
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Speaker 1: sought out the Levites to come into the city to
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Speaker 1: make their plans for dedication. Question, why the Levites? Why
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Speaker 1: would they turn to a people and go through the
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Speaker 1: trouble of finding people like this and to dedicate a
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Speaker 1: wall for the glory of God. Well, as so many
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Speaker 1: of you already know, the Levites were the specialists in
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Speaker 1: temple and tabernacle activities. They were what we would call
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Speaker 1: the body of full-time Christian workers. Those who made their
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Speaker 1: living from the temple, from the tabernacle. They were obviously
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Speaker 1: sons of Levi, and since the tribes had been divided,
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Speaker 1: God had appointed the Levi tribe, the Levites, to carry
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Speaker 1: on that process. So it stands to reason that when
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Speaker 1: the wall had to be dedicated for the glory of God,
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Speaker 1: they would use the Levites. But there is more than that. Well,
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Speaker 1: you notice the process that is the preliminaries as they
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Speaker 1: were underway. It says that they found the Levites. They
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Speaker 1: brought them into Jerusalem that they might celebrate the dedication
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Speaker 1: with gladness. Here's the theme from now on. The Hebrew
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Speaker 1: word means gaiety, mirth, pleasure, delight. They brought in this
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Speaker 1: specialist group and they said, lead us in the celebration
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Speaker 1: of joy. And then they added to the particulars the
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Speaker 1: singing of hymns, the songs, and the instruments of song.
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Speaker 1: Mentioned in verse 27, the cymbals, the harps, and the lyres.
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Speaker 1: Now this was quite an ensemble. People from all around,
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Speaker 1: as we will notice in just a minute, specific choirs.
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Speaker 1: The instruments that were to accompany the singing of the
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Speaker 1: choirs led out in the celebration of joy and gaiety.
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Speaker 1: You will notice that there was a special group, verse 28,
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Speaker 1: called the Sons of the Singers. I chuckled as I
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Speaker 1: read that. I wonder if that was one of the
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Speaker 1: earlier singing groups, the Sons of the Singers. Maybe that
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Speaker 1: was their title. But they were a group of people
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Speaker 1: who had passed on to them the talents and the
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Speaker 1: songs of the nation. These people were born into singing families,
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Speaker 1: and they carried on their singing. From one generation to
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Speaker 1: the next. And that didn't get lost in the captivity
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Speaker 1: in Babylon. If you have been raised in a family
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Speaker 1: that sings, then you can smile on the inside as
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Speaker 1: I can and remember the times when you sang. And
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Speaker 1: it's interesting that it never breaks down. Your family is
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Speaker 1: also singing. And are you ready? Your grandchildren will also
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Speaker 1: more than likely be singing. Singers beget singers who do
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Speaker 1: the same right down the line. That was true in
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Speaker 1: the days of Israel. But there's more than singing. I
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Speaker 1: want you to notice something very important in verse 30.
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Speaker 1: All the, that is, and the priests and the Levites
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Speaker 1: purified themselves. And they also purified the people, the gates,
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Speaker 1: and the wall. It must not be overlooked that before
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Speaker 1: there was one moment invested in celebration of there was
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Speaker 1: time given to purification. I take it from the words
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Speaker 1: of the people that the singers were purified, that the wall,
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Speaker 1: the gates, those that ministered were purified. What does that mean? Well,
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Speaker 1: we're not told, but I'm sure that it had to
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Speaker 1: do with some kind of sin offering. In order to
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Speaker 1: carry on the celebration of the wall, their hearts had
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Speaker 1: to be pure. To minister to other people, one's heart
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Speaker 1: must be right before God. Clarence McCartney was for many,
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Speaker 1: many years the pastor of the famed First Presbyterian Church
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Speaker 1: of Pittsburgh. He left in his legacy a number of
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Speaker 1: books that I have not read one of his books
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Speaker 1: for a number of years, but it came to my
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Speaker 1: mind as I was preparing these thoughts for today that
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Speaker 1: he had a quotation in his book that talks about
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Speaker 1: the importance of a pure life before there can be
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Speaker 1: an effective ministry. Whether a person is a Christian teacher
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Speaker 1: or a Christian pastor or a Christian singer, his ministry
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Speaker 1: His activities are to be preceded with purification of pure life.
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Speaker 1: He says this, and whether or not you are a
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Speaker 1: preacher is right now immaterial. As a minister of song
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Speaker 1: or of word or of the actual process of pastoring,
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Speaker 1: it all applies to the same. He says this, the
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Speaker 1: better the man, the better the preacher. when he kneels
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Speaker 1: by the bed of the dying or when he mounts
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Speaker 1: the pulpit stairs, then every self-denial he has made, every
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Speaker 1: Christian forbearance he has shown, every resistance to sin and
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Speaker 1: temptation will come back to him to strengthen his arm
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Speaker 1: and give conviction to his voice. Likewise, every evasion of duty,
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Speaker 1: every indulgence of self Every unworthy thought, every compromise with
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Speaker 1: evil will be there at the head of the stairs
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Speaker 1: to meet the minister on Sunday morning to take the
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Speaker 1: light from his eyes, the power from his blow, the
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Speaker 1: ring from his voice, and the joy from his heart.
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Speaker 1: If you sing in this assembly, You will not have
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Speaker 1: the impact on this congregation unless the heart is pure.
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Speaker 1: If you minister in any capacity before there can be
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Speaker 1: effective ministry, there must be time spent in the cleansing
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Speaker 1: of the heart, the correcting, the claiming of forgiveness, and
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Speaker 1: on and on we could go. And that's what they did.
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Speaker 1: God seems to prefer to use clean vessels. That is
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Speaker 1: as important for the minister of song or teaching in
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Speaker 1: a Sunday school class or a Christian school as it
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Speaker 1: is for the pastor on Sunday or on Wednesday night.
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Speaker 1: Do not forget that. Perhaps it would not be so
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Speaker 1: fascinating Too bold of me to say maybe that might
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Speaker 1: explain some ineffectiveness that we have experienced in days past.
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Speaker 1: I can often trace back to areas of wrong in
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Speaker 1: my life of a Sunday that was rather ineffective. And
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Speaker 1: at the same time, areas that have been blessed of
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Speaker 1: God on Sundays that have been preceded by times of
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Speaker 1: genuine purification, cleansing. Okay, now let's move ahead to the procedure.
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Speaker 1: Here's where it gets really happy. Verse 31 talks about
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Speaker 1: choir number one. Verse 38 talks about choir number two.
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Speaker 1: Now picture it in your mind. Verse 31. Verse 31.
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Speaker 1: Then I had the leaders of Judah, the I is Nehemiah.
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Speaker 1: It's an autobiography, the book of Nehemiah. I had the
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Speaker 1: leaders of Judah come up on top of the wall.
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Speaker 1: That had to be a unique experience. And I appointed
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Speaker 1: two great choirs. Now picture that. Maybe they had a
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Speaker 1: ladder that would lean on the wall and up they came.
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Speaker 1: Come on up. And up they came. By the dozens,
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Speaker 1: by the scores, they began to come up on this
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Speaker 1: great broad wall that went around Jerusalem. And Nehemiah has
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Speaker 1: come right on up. Let's have all of you come
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Speaker 1: up on top of the wall. That's the scene I
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Speaker 1: want you to picture. Now look at verse 31. It
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Speaker 1: says he appointed two great choirs. The first one proceeded
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Speaker 1: to the right on top of the wall. toward that
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Speaker 1: gate down at the bottom of the city, the refuse gate.
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Speaker 1: And then verse 38, the second choir proceeded to the
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Speaker 1: left while I followed them with half of the people
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Speaker 1: on the wall. Now, Ezra was in choir number one,
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Speaker 1: as we read in verse 32 or 33. He was
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Speaker 1: there with that group. Nehemiah linked himself with the second choir.
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Speaker 1: So we have Ezra on one side, Nehemiah on the
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Speaker 1: other side, and the beginning of the tuning up of
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Speaker 1: the instruments and the choirs on top of the wall.
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Speaker 1: Of course, if you've been with us before, we've often
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Speaker 1: pictured what it must have looked like from the outside,
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Speaker 1: and you've got to do that at this moment. Picture
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Speaker 1: what the people that lived outside the city must have
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Speaker 1: thought when they looked up on this broad wall came dozens,
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Speaker 1: maybe hundreds of people standing on top of the wall
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Speaker 1: with these instruments. Now, the symbols were much like our symbols,
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Speaker 1: held in the hand and crashed together. The harps were
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Speaker 1: perhaps more like a glorified mandolin. sort of a bell-shaped
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Speaker 1: end with several strings, but the lyre was kind of
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Speaker 1: a two-ended guitar effect. I suppose the sound has been
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Speaker 1: described as something like a zither type of sound, and
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Speaker 1: so you've got the cymbals, and you've got the mandolin,
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Speaker 1: and you've got this two-ended guitar, and these people are
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Speaker 1: tuning up ready to accompany the singers. It's got to
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Speaker 1: have sounded weird. I mean, if we had lived in
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Speaker 1: that day, probably it didn't. But for us, the sound
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Speaker 1: must have been extremely unusual. And so the people began
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Speaker 1: to get their voices in tune, and they began to
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Speaker 1: plan what they would be singing. And it says in
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Speaker 1: verse 38, they proceeded to the left. So as they sang,
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Speaker 1: they walked. Nehemiah says, I followed them with half the
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Speaker 1: people on the wall, and they went the other direction.
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Speaker 1: So the plan was to leave from the north end,
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Speaker 1: travel west or east, whichever choir you may be in,
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Speaker 1: and to wind up down in the south end at
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Speaker 1: the refuse gate. So they walked across the wall that
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Speaker 1: is on top of it, singing and with these instruments
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Speaker 1: in the background. And I would love to have seen
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Speaker 1: that experience, quite frankly. Verse 42 names the song leader.
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Speaker 1: It concludes with his name. The singers sang with Jezrehiah,
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Speaker 1: their leader. He was sort of the cliff barrows of
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Speaker 1: the old Jerusalem choir. That's what he would have been.
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Speaker 1: He led the choirs as they began to proceed across
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Speaker 1: this wall and down toward the south. And the praise
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Speaker 1: began to flow. Verse 43. On that day, what day?
29:12
Speaker 1: The day of celebration. The day of dedication. They offered
29:17
Speaker 1: great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy.
29:27
Speaker 1: Even the women and children rejoiced. I suppose that was
29:32
Speaker 1: rather unusual for the women and children to rejoice. So
29:36
Speaker 1: he adds, even the women and the children rejoiced. Maybe
29:41
Speaker 1: they had been kept behind the scenes, but now they
29:44
Speaker 1: were out in the open. And so it was noteworthy
29:48
Speaker 1: to Nehemiah. It wasn't a group of men, it was
29:51
Speaker 1: a mixed choir. And they sang and they rejoiced together.
29:56
Speaker 1: In fact, it says so much so that the joy
29:59
Speaker 1: of Jerusalem was heard from afar. I pictured Jerusalem just
30:05
Speaker 1: filled to overflowing with sounds of rejoicing. All of us
30:14
Speaker 1: can remember walking out of a stadium or up to
30:17
Speaker 1: a stadium, either leaving early or coming late, and hearing
30:20
Speaker 1: the roar of the crowd. Inside the stadium. Remember that experience?
30:27
Speaker 1: Maybe you heard a band playing and maybe you heard
30:29
Speaker 1: the cheers of one side. You heard the singing or
30:32
Speaker 1: the chants of one of the groups. You heard the
30:38
Speaker 1: building up and the letting down of the roar as
30:41
Speaker 1: exciting things were happening on the playing field. Remember that?
30:45
Speaker 1: Maybe in some way that was the scene that took
30:48
Speaker 1: place there. Now there right now are three things by
30:53
Speaker 1: way of application I'd like to share with you from
30:55
Speaker 1: these verses so far. And I think they are so
30:59
Speaker 1: relevant and appropriate, we're not going to wait until the
31:02
Speaker 1: end to apply it. I want to apply three of
31:04
Speaker 1: those things now and then one more before we leave
31:08
Speaker 1: from the message this morning. First of all, I want
31:11
Speaker 1: to make this comment. An atmosphere of happiness should surround
31:17
Speaker 1: God's people daily. every time we are together. An atmosphere
31:26
Speaker 1: of happiness ought to surround our assembly. You realize that
31:33
Speaker 1: that is one of the magnetic forces of a local ministry.
31:39
Speaker 1: All of us can sing alone and all of us
31:41
Speaker 1: can be happy alone or in our own family, but
31:44
Speaker 1: there is something therapeutic about getting together with other people
31:50
Speaker 1: of like faith and singing with them. You've got to admit,
31:54
Speaker 1: you never sing as loudly, more than likely, as you
31:58
Speaker 1: do when you get with those that can help drown
32:00
Speaker 1: out your voice. Right? That's the time to let it
32:04
Speaker 1: all out and to really sing and to really rejoice.
32:14
Speaker 1: Let me ask you something. Are you a contributing force
32:17
Speaker 1: to the happiness of this assembly? Or a drawback? When
32:24
Speaker 1: a person looks over at you and he's come for
32:26
Speaker 1: the first time, does he sense from your face, hey,
32:31
Speaker 1: this fellow, this gal, really wants me here? Or is
32:37
Speaker 1: there that look, don't sit too close, I've got that
32:40
Speaker 1: seat saved for somebody else? Whether you do or not,
32:45
Speaker 1: Is there that feeling, oh, another new face. Man, we've
32:50
Speaker 1: got so many of them these days. Sort of the
32:54
Speaker 1: feeling of I'm bothered by another one that's come. There
32:59
Speaker 1: ought to be an atmosphere of surrendering of rights and
33:06
Speaker 1: the joy of mutual corporate fellowship every time we are together.
33:13
Speaker 1: And friends and neighbors, I want you to know that
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Speaker 1: we as a church have every reason to be delighted.
33:21
Speaker 1: Let's never forget that. You visit around on your vacation
33:26
Speaker 1: and you'll know what I mean. There are a number
33:29
Speaker 1: of excellent works. I'm not implying that there are not.
33:32
Speaker 1: A number of men doing a great job. But I'll
33:36
Speaker 1: tell you it is remarkable how difficult it is to
33:40
Speaker 1: find some. And we enjoy the blessings of God in
33:47
Speaker 1: abundance on the feast table of his grace, served with
33:52
Speaker 1: the delicacies of God's continued mercies. And we take it
33:57
Speaker 1: for granted. There is every reason for there to be rejoicing.
34:04
Speaker 1: You remember the words in Proverbs that a merry heart
34:09
Speaker 1: doeth good like a medicine? There's another verse that you
34:12
Speaker 1: may not have found in Proverbs. Look at Proverbs 15, 13.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to show you that happiness is not a
34:21
Speaker 1: thing of the face. It's not so much a big,
34:24
Speaker 1: broad grin, though I really believe a smile is a
34:27
Speaker 1: wonderful thing. It's a thing of the heart. Proverbs 15, 13.
34:32
Speaker 1: A joyful heart... makes a cheerful face. But when the
34:45
Speaker 1: heart is sad, the spirit is broken. And it not
34:49
Speaker 1: only means the human spirit, but I think it could
34:51
Speaker 1: be applied to the spirit's working. The working of the
34:56
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit is stopped when there is a grim, severe
35:04
Speaker 1: approach to life. Proverbs 15, 13 says when you have
35:08
Speaker 1: a happy heart, you have a happy face. Look at
35:12
Speaker 1: verse 15. All the days of the afflicted are bad.
35:18
Speaker 1: And that might describe the reason that fellow or gal
35:21
Speaker 1: at the office or at school no longer is laughing.
35:28
Speaker 1: But it says a cheerful heart has a continual feast.
35:34
Speaker 1: You will constantly enjoy life if the heart is cheerful.
35:43
Speaker 1: Happiness is a heart matter. How great that is. Back
35:50
Speaker 1: to Nehemiah chapter 12. The atmosphere of happiness ought to
35:53
Speaker 1: surround our every gathering. And I might add, it usually does.
36:01
Speaker 1: One of the magnetic qualities of this assembly is the
36:05
Speaker 1: happy spirit that many of you have. Some of you
36:08
Speaker 1: are yet to smile for the first time, but you'll
36:10
Speaker 1: come along after a while. You're just so outnumbered, it'll
36:13
Speaker 1: take a while before it'll finally come in. There's another area.
36:18
Speaker 1: Music is one of the most expressive ways of communicating happiness.
36:27
Speaker 1: And I find when they looked for a way under
36:31
Speaker 1: the Levite's direction to lead out in this wonderful day
36:36
Speaker 1: of rejoicing, they landed on music. Music is one of
36:41
Speaker 1: the best ways or most expressive ways to communicate happiness.
36:50
Speaker 1: I never met a genuinely happy Christian. who didn't enjoy
36:54
Speaker 1: either listening to or participating in music. It's interesting how
37:00
Speaker 1: they run together. You cannot worry while you sing. If
37:08
Speaker 1: you're singing the Lord's songs, you just cannot worry. It
37:13
Speaker 1: just seems to flush out all of the hang-ups and
37:16
Speaker 1: all of the worries and seems to bring in the
37:19
Speaker 1: balm and the comfort of of the Lord. When you sing,
37:24
Speaker 1: let me ask you something, have you stopped singing? You say, oh,
37:31
Speaker 1: if you could hear me sing, you would say, thank
37:33
Speaker 1: God he stopped singing today. But that's not the issue.
37:38
Speaker 1: I'm not asking, singing on key, I'm not even asking,
37:42
Speaker 1: can you harmonize? I'm saying, in the heart, is there
37:46
Speaker 1: a melody? You maybe are very familiar with Ephesians 5, 18,
37:52
Speaker 1: which says, Be filled with the Spirit. But do you
37:55
Speaker 1: know what verse 19 says? The result of the filling
38:00
Speaker 1: of the Spirit is a heart that overflows with melody.
38:04
Speaker 1: He sings from the heart as a result of being
38:07
Speaker 1: filled with the Spirit. Let's think about areas where we
38:13
Speaker 1: can be singing. Sing when you first get up in
38:16
Speaker 1: the morning. Oh, that'll hang some of you up for
38:20
Speaker 1: the rest of the message. But early in the morning
38:23
Speaker 1: is when you set the pace for your day. Sing
38:28
Speaker 1: as a teacher when you think through your lesson plan.
38:32
Speaker 1: Sing as a salesman or saleswoman when you think through
38:35
Speaker 1: the possibility. And when God gives you the sale, sing
38:39
Speaker 1: to him and thank him for it. Sing in your car.
38:42
Speaker 1: Sing with your marriage partner. Sing with your roommate. Sing
38:47
Speaker 1: with your family. We used to, when I was back
38:51
Speaker 1: in school, the walls in our apartment were so paper
38:54
Speaker 1: thin that I used to sing in harmony with the
38:57
Speaker 1: guy in the shower next to me there. He and
39:00
Speaker 1: I would sing together. And he'd get off and I'd say,
39:03
Speaker 1: get back on again. And he'd say, it's my song.
39:06
Speaker 1: And I'd say, well, I'm joining in on it, you know,
39:09
Speaker 1: back and forth. Always made me wonder what else they
39:12
Speaker 1: might hear, you know, with those thin paper walls. Sing
39:18
Speaker 1: to your little baby. David Roper, one of the fine
39:24
Speaker 1: assistants up at Peninsula Bible Church, raised by a godly mother.
39:30
Speaker 1: Harlan Roper's dear wife. Dave says, as far back as
39:35
Speaker 1: I can remember, even when I was getting out of
39:37
Speaker 1: a crib, getting into my own bed, I remember having
39:40
Speaker 1: her lean over to me and sing Amazing Grace, How
39:45
Speaker 1: Sweet the Sound. She taught me a mighty fortress is
39:49
Speaker 1: our God. Majestic sweetness sits enthroned upon the Savior's brow.
39:55
Speaker 1: She says, I learned them on my back when my
39:58
Speaker 1: mother was singing me to sleep. Mothers, have you stopped singing?
40:04
Speaker 1: When you sing, your kids will sing at the most
40:07
Speaker 1: unbelievable times. I had little Chucky, our smallest four-year-old, sitting
40:13
Speaker 1: in one of these little grocery store, you know, weapons
40:21
Speaker 1: that you put them in at the time. And we
40:24
Speaker 1: came up to the check stand to check out and
40:26
Speaker 1: had a few things to check out. And for some
40:28
Speaker 1: strange reason, everything was very quiet. Usually it's noise in
40:32
Speaker 1: the den of activity, but it was kind of quiet.
40:35
Speaker 1: And he reached over and grabbed a handful of mints.
40:38
Speaker 1: And while he was trying to unwrap one and And
40:40
Speaker 1: all I said, he began to sing, Jesus loves me
40:46
Speaker 1: this much. Everybody kind of looked at him. And so
40:51
Speaker 1: he was, for the... And then one woman said, go ahead,
41:00
Speaker 1: tells me so. Then the girl said to me, Do
41:10
Speaker 1: you know Christ as your Savior? I said, yes, I do.
41:13
Speaker 1: She says, I've been a Christian about a year and
41:14
Speaker 1: a half. Isn't that interesting? Little child led us into
41:20
Speaker 1: a great opportunity to encourage her heart. She's quite disturbed
41:24
Speaker 1: right now with a broken marriage. And he just came
41:28
Speaker 1: out with a song. Just in that moment of time.
41:33
Speaker 1: Don't stop singing. Sing this afternoon. Sing tonight. One of
41:42
Speaker 1: the most exuberant expressions of a happy heart is a
41:46
Speaker 1: singing mouth. But there's one other thing I want you
41:50
Speaker 1: to notice. A joyful spirit will have far-reaching effects. What
41:56
Speaker 1: was it that reached afar? Verse 43. Was it the song? No.
42:03
Speaker 1: Look again. What was it that reached out beyond the
42:07
Speaker 1: wall to the people outside? It says, the joy of
42:11
Speaker 1: Jerusalem was heard from afar. That encourages me. People don't
42:18
Speaker 1: hear the lips and the words. They hear the joy
42:22
Speaker 1: of the heart. That's what they hear. They see you
42:26
Speaker 1: and they witness in you a joyful spirit. They don't say, oh,
42:32
Speaker 1: you sing tenor. Or, hey, I learned that song some
42:36
Speaker 1: time ago. That's not what speaks. What reaches afar is
42:40
Speaker 1: the joy of the heart. And when the people surrounding Jerusalem,
42:46
Speaker 1: and I think of those that weren't willing to move
42:48
Speaker 1: into the city, but said, we're going to stay in
42:50
Speaker 1: these nice, plush places and have our own way, I
42:55
Speaker 1: think they must have thought, man, oh man, we are
42:58
Speaker 1: missing some things that are going on in there. I
43:06
Speaker 1: have worked just a little bit at times in my
43:08
Speaker 1: schooling and earlier ministry with rescue missions. Time and time
43:14
Speaker 1: again I have heard men say, what touched me was
43:19
Speaker 1: what was going on in there and the emptiness in
43:23
Speaker 1: my life. It wasn't the signs. It wasn't necessarily the
43:29
Speaker 1: preacher or the singer or the meals. There was something
43:36
Speaker 1: about it that drew those losers and failures inside. And
43:47
Speaker 1: I'll say to you, you really struggle for opportunities for witness.
43:51
Speaker 1: Perhaps one of the reasons it is such a struggle
43:54
Speaker 1: is the lack of joy in your life. I have
43:59
Speaker 1: yet to see a joyful Christian who's not on the
44:03
Speaker 1: front lines witnessing about Jesus Christ. They go together. But
44:09
Speaker 1: I can point out a handful of cranky, ornery Christians
44:15
Speaker 1: who have yet to speak their first word for Christ
44:18
Speaker 1: to a stranger. It goes hand in hand. Well, in conclusion,
44:23
Speaker 1: they dedicated themselves, verse 44, And it reached two areas.
44:30
Speaker 1: First of all, the contributions of their money. And second,
44:34
Speaker 1: the consecration of their lives. Verse 44, on that day,
44:39
Speaker 1: just like verse 43 begins, on that day, this wasn't
44:43
Speaker 1: the next day, this was the same day, men were
44:46
Speaker 1: appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the
44:50
Speaker 1: first fruits, the tithes to gather into them from the
44:54
Speaker 1: fields of the cities, the portions required by the law.
44:58
Speaker 1: for the priests and Levites. Now wait a minute. In
45:03
Speaker 1: those days, they were required by the law to shell
45:09
Speaker 1: out their cash. These people were rejoicing. So what was
45:17
Speaker 1: their attitude toward obedience to the law? Well, look at
45:20
Speaker 1: the last sentence in verse 44. Judah rejoiced over the
45:26
Speaker 1: priests and the Levites. Who served. I've said several other
45:33
Speaker 1: things result from a joyful spirit. I'll say another thing.
45:37
Speaker 1: A generous pocketbook. You get a Christian rejoicing and there's
45:47
Speaker 1: nothing he wants to hang on to. You turn him
45:50
Speaker 1: into a negative, selfish, critical individual. And the last thing
45:59
Speaker 1: he wants to turn over to somebody else is his wealth.
46:03
Speaker 1: It is remarkable how a joyful spirit will result in
46:08
Speaker 1: the longing to give, to give, to give without resentment.
46:13
Speaker 1: They rejoiced because they had priests and Levites to whom
46:18
Speaker 1: they might contribute. Their obedience was a source of joy.
46:26
Speaker 1: They performed the worship of their God and the service
46:30
Speaker 1: of purification together with the singers and the gatekeepers. And
46:36
Speaker 1: it goes right on to say how they were singing
46:39
Speaker 1: praise and hymns of thanksgiving and there was consecration in
46:43
Speaker 1: the life. The last part of this chapter reads like
46:46
Speaker 1: a fairy tale. And they lived happily ever after. I
46:48
Speaker 1: want to write over these verses. They moved into a
46:53
Speaker 1: realm of joy and as a result from this background music.
46:56
Speaker 1: I sort of get that from verse 45. As they
46:59
Speaker 1: were giving, back behind the scenes were the singers. And
47:03
Speaker 1: they sang, the gatekeepers. And they gave themselves in song
47:07
Speaker 1: to the things of God. It all blended together in
47:11
Speaker 1: a perfect balance. There's a fourth area of application right
47:15
Speaker 1: now I want to share. Happiness. is not to be
47:20
Speaker 1: dependent on outward circumstances, but upon inward focus. When you
47:27
Speaker 1: have focused correctly, take or leave the outward circumstances, you
47:35
Speaker 1: can sing right through it all and rejoice in it all.
47:42
Speaker 1: You know why I say that? because at the end
47:45
Speaker 1: of this chapter their circumstance has not changed one bit
47:49
Speaker 1: still under Persian authority an unbeliever living in a city
47:54
Speaker 1: filled with rubble no houses no beautiful landscape only a
47:59
Speaker 1: wall opposition still very present right in the middle of
48:04
Speaker 1: chapter 13 opposition springs up again so they weren't away
48:08
Speaker 1: from opposition and criticism but in spite of those circumstances
48:14
Speaker 1: They were optimistic. Now, let me say something in conclusion,
48:20
Speaker 1: because I think perhaps this pulpit should speak a word
48:23
Speaker 1: regarding our national situation. Our country has experienced an unprecedented
48:37
Speaker 1: flow of events within the last several months. I am
48:41
Speaker 1: not going to take it upon myself to represent anybody's
48:44
Speaker 1: opinion or even to state my own. I simply want
48:49
Speaker 1: to deal in what I believe to be a scriptural
48:53
Speaker 1: way of viewing what has happened. There are before us
48:58
Speaker 1: the challenges of a people of God like never before.
49:03
Speaker 1: We can succumb to become lost in the failures or
49:10
Speaker 1: unfair dealings of the past, or we can become completely
49:18
Speaker 1: unconcerned about the present and the future. Neither way, am
49:26
Speaker 1: I convinced, would be the will of God. But we
49:29
Speaker 1: have our work cut out for us as Christians who
49:33
Speaker 1: are citizens of the United States of America. We have
49:38
Speaker 1: a deep and abiding responsibility to pray for the one
49:42
Speaker 1: that God places over us. Now the secret of the
49:47
Speaker 1: daily happiness of the Christian cannot be dependent upon the
49:51
Speaker 1: leader over us. It must be upon a daily contact
49:57
Speaker 1: with and love for the Lord Jesus Christ. And making
50:02
Speaker 1: him preeminent over all. When he is... We are terribly
50:07
Speaker 1: burdened to pray daily for good men. We are responsible
50:14
Speaker 1: as a flock of God. And let me say to you,
50:18
Speaker 1: if you are looking to them to give you happiness
50:22
Speaker 1: and delight, you will be looking in vain. Cursed is
50:29
Speaker 1: the man that trusts in man and makes flesh his arm.
50:36
Speaker 1: Blessed is the person who trusts in God. When you
50:42
Speaker 1: trust in the living God and you count on him
50:46
Speaker 1: for daily provision, constant guidance, and he is the source
50:52
Speaker 1: of your happiness, you will never trust in vain. You
50:56
Speaker 1: have never met his son, the Lord Jesus. You will
51:02
Speaker 1: never find happiness within. never be able to focus on
51:07
Speaker 1: Him in real joy until you've made that decision. This
51:14
Speaker 1: is a quiet moment for all of us to think
51:17
Speaker 1: back on what we have heard today. It's been a
51:20
Speaker 1: scene of great celebration, joy, and singing, and rejoicing over
51:25
Speaker 1: the things of God and the accomplishment of God's people.
51:30
Speaker 1: What a great place music plays. What a great part
51:34
Speaker 1: Praise plays in all our lives. But it occurs to
51:39
Speaker 1: me that some of you may not entertain much music
51:44
Speaker 1: within your hearts. The music has gone away because there
51:49
Speaker 1: is a vacuum and an emptiness that you can't seem
51:54
Speaker 1: to fill with the right things. You've tried them all. Well,
52:00
Speaker 1: it's time to turn to God. Let me just tell
52:03
Speaker 1: you straight out. You're never going to know what life's
52:06
Speaker 1: purposes are without Christ living within your hearts. And if
52:13
Speaker 1: nothing else, today has created within you a thirst for
52:16
Speaker 1: the joy and the pleasure that has been missing. But
52:21
Speaker 1: it can only be filled with the person of Jesus.
52:24
Speaker 1: And right now, right this moment, I invite you to
52:28
Speaker 1: take him into your life. Just receive him. Take him in.
52:34
Speaker 1: It may be that you've done that, but the joy
52:36
Speaker 1: is left because you have walked away from the Lord.
52:40
Speaker 1: It's time to come back. As you return to him,
52:43
Speaker 1: the song will return to your soul. If we confess
52:47
Speaker 1: our sins, God is faithful to forgive us and to
52:50
Speaker 1: cleanse us. And the best part of that is he
52:53
Speaker 1: will restore the relationship with him, the fellowship that was
52:58
Speaker 1: destroyed some time ago through your carnal, selfish acts. Just
53:03
Speaker 1: claim his forgiveness right now. He wants you back in. Father,
53:09
Speaker 1: thank you for the lessons learned today. Thank you for
53:13
Speaker 1: the pleasure of song and the magnificent role music plays,
53:20
Speaker 1: not only in your word, but in our world and
53:22
Speaker 1: in our souls. Thank you for giving us a reason
53:26
Speaker 1: to sing the joy of loving hearts for Jesus, our Savior,
53:33
Speaker 1: our Savior. magnificent Lord. Thank you for him. Thank you
53:38
Speaker 1: for a relationship with you through him that has brought
53:43
Speaker 1: back the song, without which the day seems never to end.
53:50
Speaker 1: We're grateful today that you have provided us your truth,
53:53
Speaker 1: and we pray that as a result of our absorbing it,
53:56
Speaker 1: it'll make a difference in the way we live, the
53:58
Speaker 1: way we think, even the way we sing. I ask
54:03
Speaker 1: this in the name of Christ, our Savior.
54:06
Speaker 2: Amen. The preceding message, Happiness is a Walk on the Wall,
54:13
Speaker 2: was copyrighted in 1974, 1983, 1990, 2007, and 2016, and
54:14
Speaker 2: the sound recording was copyrighted in 2016 by Charles R.
54:17
Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
54:17
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
54:32
Speaker 2: commercial use is strictly prohibited.