Pastor Alan is on the road and you're invited. Check out pastorallen.org for more information. But if you live in the Carolinas, you're invited to a men's event in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on February 27th. And if you're in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas, join us at the Epic Conference open to all in late February. Plus, catch Pastor Alan preaching at Sojourn Church in Carrollton, Texas on March 1st.
All the details at pastorallen.org. Here's Pastor Alan Wright with today's blessing: a biblical, faith-filled vision for your life. Is the future brighter? I hope so. I hope so.
In worldly conversation, it means I wish so, as in I don't know so, but I'd like to believe so. But in God's dictionary, hope isn't wishful thinking. Hope is the inner bliss that arises from the inner certainty of future blessedness. Hope isn't a child's wild-eyed wish for a pony for Christmas. Hope is a child's wide-eyed certainty that Christmas is coming and that all the boxes and bows and bags hide delightful things.
Hope is the delight, the joyous expectation of one day unwrapping new treasures from God. Real hope never disappoints Romans 5, 5. Hope doesn't discern all the details of God's plan. It just knows there is a plan and that is good. Is your life destined for better days?
I hope so. Pastor, author, and Bible teacher Alan Wright. When they celebrated the rebuilding of the temple, some of them wept because they remembered that the former temple was more glorious. And even when they had the reading of the book of the law, some of the people were weeping. In chapter 8, they had to say, No, don't weep.
This is the day of joy, so feast and celebrate. But this one, nobody had to tell them. This is just like. Boom, it's joy because we realize what's going on here. This would be like you don't have to tell a kid to be joyful on Christmas morning.
That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt. Excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Nehemiah, Dreamer, Builder, Warrior, as presented at Renolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now.
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Again, by phone, 877-544-4860. More on this later in the program, but now let's get started with today's teaching. Here. is Pastor Alan Wright. Um We're in the last message.
in a series on Nehemiah. who was called by God to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem. And today's text is when they had accomplished the great accomplishment of that reconstruction and they have a huge celebration and we're going to be looking at that. powerful corporate jubilation. And thinking together about that.
Father, we thank you for the power of your word. Open up our spiritual eyes. That they would be enlightened deep in our heart to know the hope of our calling. To know the glorious inheritance that is ours amongst the saints. and the incomparably great power.
That is at work in and through us, the same power. that raised Jesus from the dead. Let us see this and more. By your Spirit, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Let's start with just this, and then we're going to be looking at a number of texts in Nehemiah 12. But here's our key verse: 43. They offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced. For God had made them rejoice with great joy. The women and children also rejoiced.
And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far. Away. Church, are you ready for some good news? Joy can be shared. And it is meant to be shared.
And in fact, it grows as it is shared. And the amazing thing Is that we actually get to share in the joy of Jesus. His victory is your victory. We have so much to celebrate. We're talking about corporate jubilation.
And the synergy of shared joy. I've been loving the Olympics again. It's just fun in a different way than other sports. And I mean, it just stuff happens, you know. I'm thinking that maybe if I write Steph Curry's first year he's played in the Olympics, you know, like greatest.
I think one of the greatest other than Michael Jordan. But there was a Steph Curry moment against France in the finals yesterday. The game was real tight, three points. And he just went ahead and made four three-pointers in a row. I mean, you just can't, you know, you can't.
This stuff is just so. And I don't know what your favorite is, but Sidney McLaughlin. Lavroni, I think's her name, the 400-meter women's hurdler. is so much better. than everyone else.
that they determined During her semi-final heat, That If the other people in her race Didn't have to jump over hurdles, and she did, she'd still beat them. If other people in the Tokyo Olympics running the 400. meter flat, just no hurdles. If she had had to jump hurdles, she'd have still come in seventh place or the whole Olympics. She's so much better than everybody else.
I mean, that's just fun. That's just fun. And Simone Biles, how does a four foot eight woman get up to nearly 13 feet in the air just by tumbling around and jumping up. How can you do that? And the stories that are amazing, Suni Lee, who was the Tokyo all-around gymnast champion, and then she got multiple kidney diseases and thought her health might ever get it back, much less would she ever go back to the gym.
But she fought through it, she got back to the gym, and she made the Olympics and got third overall gymnast this year. It's amazing. I mean, the stories, they just go on like that. And if you saw Ann and me cheering in front of our TV, especially Ann, you would just like. We are nuts.
And we're nuts for two reasons. Number one, It's a TV. They can't hear us.
So, like, she's like, go, go, man, go, USA, come Pora. He can't hear you. But anyway, you might say, yeah, but in the spirit, they're receiving. No, because we're watching the recording. They're six hours ahead of us, and we had, we don't, we, we, we could, we.
Yeah, God's outside of time. All right, all right, that's right, that's right, okay. He had God sitting over there taking over my sermon, saying God's outside of time and he can still do it. And we were just like nothing. And so it's fun to cheer in front of the TV.
But this year, I had a little connection. Our 25-year-old daughter Abby and her roommate were there. And I know, so fun. She sat there watching the beach volleyball under the twinkle of the Eiffel Tower, sending me pictures like this is surreal. And so I'm texting her every five minutes, you know, and she saw track and field, and then she saw the U.S.
Men's semifinal. Water polo.
Okay, well, I don't even know what that's like, but you know, anyways, all I mean, but the difference between Being in front of your TV, which is really fun, but I'd love to have been in that 77,000. Person's stadium, and they were sitting near the finish line. I mean, just the roars, right? And just a USA, USA, and all that. It's better.
Together. Yes. Celebration is always better. Together. And the scene in Nehemiah 12 is corporate Jubilation.
A scene that is epic. And I want to show you the scene. And a few things that we observe about this kind of celebration, and then let it. Please let it point you. to the much more grand celebration that is ours.
in the New Jerusalem. We've come to Mount Zion. and the walls have been rebuilt. Uh That's Alan Wright. And we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series.
Parents, are you ready for some good news? You can have a low-pressure, high-expectation home by God's grace. If you want your children to be their best without hounding, threatening, or pressuring them, there's good news. God's grace works in parenting. Shame and pressure offer only fleeting motivation while creating long-term, toxic anxiety in a child's heart.
But children thrive in the environment of grace.
Now, for the first time, Alan Wright has joined with his wife Anne to produce eight video sessions that blend humor, deep gospel insights, and loads of practical advice to equip parents and grandparents to raise their children in homes filled with grace and blessing. Use the videos for personal growth with your spouse or with your small group. The DVD album comes with a detailed study guide as well. When you make your gift this month, we'll send you the DVD album as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Make your gift today and start raising kids by the power.
Of the gospel. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer.
Now we are in our final days of offering this special product. Call us at eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. Or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Today's teaching now continues.
Here once again is Alan Wright. This is a story about an organized joy. And they first send for all the people and all the worship leaders. If we had time to read through all of Nehemiah 12, what you would see is just a long list of names and people that don't mean much to us, but it was all these people and all these priests that were called. Nehemiah 12, 27, at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought the Levites in all their places.
This is the priestly class, the Levites, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgiving, and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres. And the sons of the singers gathered together from the district surrounding Jerusalem and from the villages. They're bringing in all of the worship leaders. A lot of them that aren't living in the city.
Some of these are bivocational priests.
Some of them are the drummers and the percussionists, and some play the string instruments. And they're like going out to all of the people and say, we need all of y'all. because this is going to be a huge celebration.
So, they're all coming in, and the priests are there purifying themselves with these ceremonial washings. Verse 30: The priests and the Levites purified themselves, purified the people, the gates, the wall. We don't know exactly what they're doing. Probably some ceremonial washing, probably anointing.
So, this is this massive scene of people that are preparing for celebration, and they're setting themselves apart unto God. And the priests are anointing people, and people are experiencing this anticipation. I want you to see it in your mind. And then, there are these two huge choirs. Nehemiah 12:31, I brought Nehemiah said the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks, and one went to the south.
And verse 36: Ezra the scribe went before them and the fountain gate, and they went up straight. He's describing where they go to the stairs of the city of David, the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, to the water gate. And the other choir, those who gave thanks, went to the north. And Nehemiah says, he followed them with half the people on the wall above the tower, the ovens, and so forth.
So huge choirs. And did you notice where he stationed them? Look at this again. at up on the wall. It's mentioned at verse 31 and then again, verse 38, on the wall.
So it's just hard to even envision this because it's actually a massive, these are massive choirs and they go up onto the wall. The walls are so big and so sturdy that they can accommodate these huge crowds right up on top of it, which is ironic. And powerful and probably on purpose because one of the chief persecutors of Nehemiah and one of the great opposers of the project and opposers of the whole will of God in this was a man named Tobiah. And in Nehemiah 4:3, Tobiah the Ammonite said, Yes, if what they're building, if a fox goes up on it, he'll break down their stone wall. Because in the early stages, the wall didn't look like much.
And he's like, A little fox would cause it to fall down. And so now Nehemiah's like, We'll see about that. And we'll take up here hundreds and hundreds of people up on the wall to lead worship from atop the very wall. And so they have this great processional where they're going to go and process all around the wall. It's hard to envision.
I don't know if you can see this image, but Ezra's got this group that starts heading south and by those red lines, and they start moving along the wall. And then it's all described in chapter 12. Nehemiah goes with half of a big choir going north and that blue line. They come and they're going to go march around those. Walls, trumpeting and singing and worshiping, and then they're going to come down and descend from the walls and meet up there at the temple with all of the people.
I mean, it is just, can you? This is corporate jubilation. This powerful stuff. And It just reminds me like Getting on that wall, sort of like.
Some huge football stadium and a Big upset happens, and the students storm the field, and they want to jump up on the goalposts. Like, why are you getting on the goal post? Because it's our goal post. We just kicked the winning field goal right here. We're going to celebrate right on top of it.
And there's just all of this. Victory that's being celebrated, joy, rejoicing. It's mentioned over and over. Look again, verse 43. They offered sacrifices that day, rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy.
This is not a celebration like some of the others that has an asterisk next to it. When they celebrated the rebuilding of the temple, some of them wept because they remembered that the former temple was more glorious. And even when they had the reading of the book of the law, some of the people were weeping. In chapter 8, they had to say, No, don't weep. This is the day of joy, so feast and celebrate.
But this one, nobody had to tell them. This is just like. Boom, it's joy because we realize what's going on here. This would be like. You don't have to tell a kid to be joyful on Christmas morning.
You don't have to tell an Olympic athlete to be joyful when they cross the finish line first. And just win the gold medal.
Some's joy. Is just spontaneous.
Some joy is just self-evident, and that's what this was. They knew that it would have been impossible to build. These walls without God's miraculous intervention. and they knew it was against all odds and they had faced all kinds of persecution. And now the walls were gloriously built, and the city was secure, and worship was restored to their homeland.
And they were joyful. I love the last part of verse forty-three. This would be. If there's one thing to remember from Nehemiah 12, this is what I'd want you to remember: and the joy of Jerusalem. was heard far away.
I like it. It didn't say the shouts or the Drums or the singing, it said the joy of Jerusalem was heard. Joy has a sound. Joy has a tone. And it came across like some great thunderous roar that could be heard a long way away.
If you are not a golf fan and you've never gone to a professional golf tournament, I need to explain something that it's very, very different than virtually almost any other sporting event because you watch a basketball game and the two teams are on the court, you watch them, you know who's winning, you got a scoreboard and everything. In golf, though, The golf course is spread out over a course of miles. And so you might be on hole number 13, watching the leader to see if the leader can make a par. Pipe. But somebody is over on hole nine.
Who's one stroke behind that might be putting for Birdie, and you don't really know what's going on. You're looking at some scoreboards every now and then, leaderboards, but you don't really know, but you're kind of aware of it. And so, in the big tournaments, especially at Augusta National, at the famous Masters Tournament, the holes are really close to one another. And so, what the fans do and the players is they're learning as much. By just listening.
As they are any other way. And when Tiger Woods was at his heyday, He had such a huge crowd around him. That They, when he would do something special, The crowd's roar was unique. It was bigger than any other sort of roar, and they called it a tiger roar. And so, if you are a player and you're over on such and such hole, and then you hear a roar, you go, that was a tiger roar, he just eagled or something.
It's incredible. Have we got a roar? You can hear these things like a mile away on the golf course, like And you know Something spectacular has happened. This is happening. at the dedication of the wall in Jerusalem.
The sound of the joy of Jerusalem was heard like a roar far away. What if the whole world Instead of being duped by hell into thinking that church. is a place where they just are there to judge you. and make you more sad. and more restricted What if they heard the authentic sound of the kingdom of God?
which the Bible says consists of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. When we are the body of Christ, there is the sound of joy. May it be heard. far and wide. Pastor Alan Wright, in our good news teaching, Corporate Jubilation: the Synergy of Sheered Joy.
It's from our series on Nehemiah, and I encourage you to stay with us. Pastor Alan is back here in the studio with a parting good news thought for the day in just a moment. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.
It's free, and just to click away at pastoralen.org. I don't want to pressure my kids and I sure don't want to shame them, but I do want them to try hard and be all they can be. That's the desire of every well-meaning parent. For over a decade, Alan Wright has been teaching all over the nation about the toxic effects of shame and the amazing power of the gospel of grace to heal and set free.
Now, for the first time, Alan has been joined by his wife Anne to produce a video series about shame-free parenting. It's called Good News for Parents: Raising Grace-Filled Kids in a Pressure-Filled World. The eight DVD video sessions are chock full of humor, deep gospel insight, and loads of practical advice. Use them for personal growth or with your spouse. They're also perfect for use in your small group.
The DVD album comes with a detailed step-by-step study guide as well. When you make your gift this month, we'll send you the DVD album as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. Make your gift today and start raising kids by the power of the gospel. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer.
Now we are in our final days of offering this special product. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's eight seven seven five four four forty eight sixty. or come to our website, pastorallen.org. Back here now with Pastor Alan in the studio, and we're placing the bookmark here as we're coming in towards the end of our study on Nehemiah, but not before we get through this teaching, which is corporate jubilation.
Now, what do you mean by this? The synergy of sheer joy.
Well, I love the word jubilation to typify the celebrative. Yeah. Praise of God. And We are We are so prone towards individualism. especially in our Western culture, and to an extent even more so after COVID.
But what you see here is this Joint praise and worship these Massive choirs and and procession that's led by Nehemiah. and one by Ezra. This picture of them on top of the wall as they're dedicating the wall. And the theme of joy and rejoicing and music and... Just noticing so much about this.
There is something, Daniel, that happens when we Celebrate God's goodness together. Yeah. that is so much more than what could happen as individuals. And that's what the word synergy means. It means working together with soon ergos, in ergos.
It is like shared energy.
So this is where one plus one equals more than two. Yeah. And that's what happens when we get together in corporate worship and corporate jubilation. And there's a lot to learn from this magnificent scene. that we have in Nehemiah chapter 12.
Corporate jubilation is a powerful and beautiful thing, and there's much to learn here. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at pastorallen.org or call 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching delivered right to your email inbox free.
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