Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / October 21 - Nehemiah 6

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October 21 - Nehemiah 6 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:11
  Hello friends, it's Sean. Here it is Monday, it's the 21st
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  of October. And you, you clever thing, you,
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  you have tapped on play and said, Sean, come, come, join me.
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  Let's read the next chapter of Nehemiah together to see what's
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  going to happen and to hear what God has to say to us as we live
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  our lives. Well, a long time from the time
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  of Nehemiah, but still same God, same earth, same human nature
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  that beats inside of all of our hearts.
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  So I wonder what today's reading will have for us to open up our
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  minds, open up our hearts to hear what it is, what God has to
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  say to us. Well, there's only one way to
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  find outlet. Us dive in together without any
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  further ado. Reading together Nehemiah
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  Chapter 6, Sun Ballot, Tobiah, Geshem, the Arab and the rest of
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  our enemies found out that I had finished rebuilding the wall and
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  that no gaps remained, though we had not set up the doors in the
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  gates. So Sun Ballot and Geshem sent a
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  message asking me to meet them at one of the villages in the
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  plain of Ono, but I realised they were plotting to harm me so
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  I replied by sending this message to them.
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  I am engaged in great work so I can't come.
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  Why should I stop working to come and meet you?
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  4 times they sent the same message and each time I gave the
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  same reply. The 5th time Son Balat's servant
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  came with an open letter in his hand, and this is what it said.
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  There is a rumour among the surrounding nations and Gesham
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  tells me it is true that you and the Jews are planning to rebel
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  and that is why you are building the wall.
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  According to his reports, you plan to be their king.
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  He also reports that you have appointed prophets in Jerusalem
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  to proclaim about you. Look, there is a king in Judah.
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  You can be very sure that this report will get back to the
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  king, so I suggest that you come and talk it over with me, I
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  replied. There is no truth in any part of
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  your story. You are making up the whole
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  thing. They were just trying to
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  intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and
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  stop the work. So I continued the work with
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  even greater determination. Later I went to visit Shamaya,
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  son of Delia and grandson of Maha Table, who was confined to
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  his home. He said let us meet together
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  inside the temple of God and bolt the doors shut.
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  Your enemies are coming to kill you tonight.
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  But, I replied, should someone in my position run from danger?
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  Should someone in my position enter the temple to save his
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  life? No, I won't do it.
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  I realised that God had not spoken to him, but that he had
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  uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sunbelt had
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  hired him. They were hoping to intimidate
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  me and make me sin. Then they would be able to
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  accuse and discredit me. Remember, O my God, all the evil
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  things that Tobiah and Sunbelt have done.
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  And remember Noadiah the prophet and all the prophets like her
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  who had tried to intimidate me. So on October 2nd, the wall was
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  finished just 52 days after we had begun.
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  When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about
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  it, they were frightened and humiliated.
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  They realised this work had been done with the help of our God.
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  During those 52 days, many letters were sent back and forth
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  between Tobiah and the nobles of Judah, for many in Judah had
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  sworn allegiance to him because his father in law was
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  Shecheniah, son of Ara, and his son Jehoanan was married to the
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  daughter of Meshalam, son of Berekaya.
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  They kept telling me about Tobiah's good deeds and then
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  they told him everything I said and Tobiah kept sending
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  threatening letters to intimidate me.
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  Our Lord, there is a lot of information out there that is
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  not true. Fake news, disinformation,
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  whatever you want to call it. Lord, so often the enemy uses
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  this tool to try and unravel us when we know the truth.
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  You have told us the truth. In fact, even better than that,
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  You have sent us the truth in the form of Jesus, and that
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  truth is that we are loved and that we are your children and
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  that nothing that can ever be thrown at us in this life is
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  enough to shake that reality for us.
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  So Lord, I pray that that reality becomes our bedrock and
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  that on the foundation of our identity in You as the child of
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  the living God, that everything else falls into place.
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  And that when the enemy would try to have us believe things
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  that would threaten us and would try to dissuade us from the
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  knowledge that You have already given us.
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  That our heart would rest secure in what we know to be true in
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  You and your promises to us. That we are loved and that
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  through Jesus we are forgiven. And that through Him You have
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  made a way for us to be with You forever, no matter how how many
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  times we fall short of the mark trying to live for you.
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  Ah, you are wonderful to us and we thank you and we claim this
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  truth in the name of Jesus. Amen.