All right. Hey, good morning, Mercy Hill. My name is Pastor Bobby. If you are at one of our campuses, let me go ahead and welcome you today. We're going to be in Nehemiah chapter 8.
So if you have a Bible, you can go ahead and turn there. And as you're doing that, I just want to say one thing about. Multiply coming up at the end of the year, and this vision night. You know, we think about stuff like this. Where God is going to call us to take bigger Steps of faith.
To maybe give in a bigger way, to serve in a bigger way, to maybe pray in a bigger way.
Sometimes it's easy to think about stuff like that and to think that's going to be a burden. And The other way we could think about it, though, is to think about all of that and say, man, what a blessing! That we get to be in a place And we get to be at a church where God is working among us the way that He is. I mean, conceptually, when you just think about God calling you to give or to serve or to pray, it represents that God has already worked in your life in a really big way. And so it's not a burden to do those things.
It's a blessing that we get to go into this next year and be praying for really big things. And so I just want to go ahead and encourage you with that. All right, Nehemiah chapter eight. Let me catch us up where we've been in this sermon series and really where we're at in the book of Nehemiah.
So when you think about Nehemiah's mission, To get the exiles back, to go back, to build the wall, to build the gates. All of that has already happened by the time we get to Nehemiah chapter 8.
So, the safety of the physical environment, the walls, the gates, the city being rebuilt, all of that has already happened. But what we don't realize, I think, when we read the book of Nehemiah, Is that many of these people that were coming from being exiled, coming back that were not born. You know, there in Jerusalem, they did not know God, or they did not know the word of God very well at all. I mean, just think about that. Like They grew up in a different culture.
Most of them did not speak Hebrew at all.
So if they had God's word, They couldn't read it for themselves. And so Nehemiah 8. Is really all about the people rediscovering God's Word. for their life. And the way that it makes, we're gonna see in this chapter, it makes a tremendous impact.
When they begin to understand God's word clearly for their life.
So here's the big idea: here's what we're really gonna chase down today: the words that fill us form us. And I'm going to take a minute just to make sure we really just. Just grasp this concept. The words that fill us, that come into our life. Wherever they come from, they end up forming the type of people that we become.
What you set your mind on. is actually how you're gonna live. There's more than 100 verses in the Bible about this very concept. One of them is Romans 8:5. I'll share with you, just to make sure that we understand this concept on the front end.
It says, for those who live according to the flesh, They set their minds on the things of the flesh.
So When you set your mind on things of the flesh. You live according to the flesh. The second part of that verse is those who set their minds on things of the Spirit, they live according to the Spirit. How we think is how we live. What fills your mind over time is what forms you.
A simple illustration of this. I think we all remember maybe when we were in kindergarten, You know, you're in class, and they give you those little white styrofoam cups to drink out of. You know what I'm talking about? If I had one of those up here and I filled it with red Kool-Aid and then I dumped it out and then I showed you the inside of the cup, what color would it be? It'd be right because as you begin to fill the cup The Kool-Aid begins to form the cup.
You see, words, they form us. They form who we become. Why 2500 years later After Nehemiah 8 was written, why is this topic so important for us today? And I want to give you two reasons. The first one is this: there are more words trying to form you.
than ever before. That's not an overstatement. That is a factual, true statement. No matter where you live in the entire world. We live in the noisiest moment in human history in terms of information.
I mean, a hundred years ago, Maybe you got information from your neighbor, maybe a teacher. That was about it. People were probably taking in a thousand times less information on a day-to-day basis. You think 25 years ago, I mean, when I was graduating high school 25 years ago, I had a pager. I didn't even have a phone.
How many of you had pagers? My friends and I would send each other these like coded messages. The flow of information was probably 100 times less than today.
Now With the smartphone, with social media, with 24-hour news cycle. The average person, get this. The average person takes in 100%. Hundred thousand words a day. Just think about that.
100,000 words a day. You do the math on that, that's 36 million words in a year. For context, the Bible is only 750,000 words.
So let's just assume you read the whole Bible in a year. I'm not going to ask anyone to raise their hands. I'm guessing many people don't read the entire Bible in a year. But assuming you did read the whole Bible in a year, what that means, 36 million. Compared to 750,000, what it means is you're taking 50 times more information from outside the Bible than from the Bible itself.
The second thing that I want to highlight before we get into Nehemiah chapter 8. 100,000 words a day. The second thing is, God has created us. to be formed by words. That's how God has designed us.
as human beings. Our brains change and adapt based on the information that comes into our lives. Our brains are constantly rewiring themselves. Science calls this neuroplasticity. Here's an example of neuroplasticity.
When this campus, I know not everybody's at the Ridge campus, but when this campus moves here, From the regional road campus, neuroplasticity means there were multiple occasions where, for whatever reason, I went to drive to church and showed up at the other campus. when church was happening here. How many of you have done something like that in your life? It's because there's those pathways in your brain because you did it a thousand times. You just automatically wanted to do it again.
That's crazy when you think about it. All of the information. Coming into our lives, it's forming us, it's forming our minds. You think about something like social media.
Social media, and here's what I think we just don't realize.
Social media does not need to get us to agree. with everything that we see on social media for it to do its work. Because of this idea of neuroplasticity, because our brains form these new neural pathways. All social media needs is your attention. Not your assent.
So if you give it your attention, it will do its work in forming your brain.
However, it wants to form your brain. And some of you are like, yeah, but. My social media feed, it's nothing simple, right? I think about like, I got three sons, my oldest son, his social media feed. Because we monitor it, it's dirt bikes and fishing.
Some of you rednecks are like That's a good life. That's all fun and games. Until it begins to form those neural pathways where you think life is only about dirt bikes and fishing. You see, I share both of those things, the 100,000 words a day. And then the second one, God has created us to be formed by words to tell us we are going to have an uphill battle, even more so than somebody 100 years ago, or 500 years ago, or 2,500 years ago, because of the amount of words that are coming at us every single day.
So let's go ahead and jump into Nehemiah chapter 8. We'll start right in verse 1. It says this: All the people gathered as one man into the square before the watergate. And they told Ezra, because they really hadn't had much of the word of God, they told Ezra. To bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.
So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, all who could understand what they had heard. on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the water gate from early morning until midday.
Some of you think the. Messages at Mercy Hill are long, okay? from early morning until midday.
So you just imagine Ezra standing there reading the law to the people. for six or seven or eight hours. In the presence of the men and women, those who could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. Go down to verse 5. It says this.
And Ezra, he opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he stood above the people, and as he opened it, all the people stood. Ezra, he blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered: Amen, amen. Lifting up their hands, they bow their heads and they worship the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also, Jeshua, Banai, Sherebiah, and all these names we cannot pronounce. And the Levites.
They helped the people to understand the law while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the law of God, and then I want you to circle this word. Clearly. And they gave the sense So what?
So that the people understood the reading. We're going to see three things. That the Word of God does. Today, just like it did 2,500 years ago. Three things the Word of God will do in your life if you let it.
And the first one is this: the word of God brings clarity to our lives. The word of God brings clarity. You see, the people, you can imagine if you're 18 years old, you weren't born in Jerusalem, you don't speak Hebrew, you honestly didn't even grow up with any of this.
Now you're back. They didn't know God very well. The word of God brings clarity to them. If you look at verse 8, where it says they gave the sense. What this means is they were reading in Hebrew, but because many This sounded like speaking in tongues to them because they didn't understand Hebrew.
So, some of the people that were there, they were giving the sense: hey, this is what this means. This is what this means for you. And Let me just say. For some of you that are newer to church or newer to the Bible, this whole passage of scripture is really good news for you. Because I know you could come into church and you could look at the Bible, you know, 750,000 words.
It could all seem like, man, this is a lot. This is deep. There's a lot I don't understand. The good news of chapter 8 is These people, very quickly that did not know the Word of God, very quickly, through opening up and reading the Word of God, God made Himself known to them. And so that's good news for anybody that's here today.
That God's word is living and active and can begin to work in your life in a very short amount of time. If you let it.
So here's what the Word of God does. What sort of clarity? What sort of clarity does it bring to our lives? I think three things. It shows who God is.
Then it shows who we are. It's like a mirror. When you begin to understand who God is, you begin to see who you actually are. And it shows us what matters most in this life. You see, we live in a world where most people do not have any due north.
Most people growing up, they have no ultimate truth in their life. Yeah, you got the media, you got the news, you got the politics, you got this person's truth, or you got a truth over here. That is not the Bible. The Bible is true truth. The Bible is due north.
The Bible is real truth that stands outside of us. Right? It doesn't care what our whims are. It doesn't care what our opinions are. The Bible is true truth.
Jesus in John 17:17. Says this, sanctify them in the truth. He says, Your word. is truth. That's Jesus' view of the Bible.
Psalm 119 says, the sum of your word is truth. Most of what we get From those hundred thousand words a day coming at us, It's not truth, it's just confusion. Right? It's just haze, it's just smoke. None of it is Reality, none of it is this is true truth.
But there is something true that stands outside of us. And that's the first thing that happens when the people sit under the word of God. It brings real. Clarity into their lives. It brings reality into their lives.
The second thing that it does. And this is what will happen. If you truly understand the word of God, the second thing it does, it brings conviction. Look at verse 9. You got to remember, these are people that didn't even know God's word very well.
Nehemiah, who is the governor, and Ezra the priest and the scribe and the Levites. Who taught the people, they said to the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn. Or weep. Why'd they have to tell them this?
For all the people, they wept. As they heard the words of the law. I don't know how many times I've seen it where somebody comes into church, maybe they've not even been in church before. They get in here and we're singing worship, and all of a sudden they're crying. And because God's word is living and active, it's beginning to peel something open in their life and in their soul.
That's how the word of God actually works. Hebrews 4:12 says this, the word of God, it's living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow. And then look at this phrase. Discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
You see, when we read the Word of God. The Word of God begins to read us. And we begin to see ourselves for who we actually are. That's why, in this passage, you see them go so quickly from clarity. This is who God is, to conviction, this is who I am.
You know, some of those 17, 18-year-olds. For them, maybe all of this was just like tradition. Right? Maybe it was just their history. Maybe it was religion, and then all of a sudden...
As they're sitting under the word of God, it becomes reality. To them. I had a friend of mine. I think this is a good way to illustrate this. I had a friend of mine who's.
He mentored me and he's been in ministry for 30 years. And he told me this story about when he was becoming a believer. And he was in his 20s. He had this old life that he was trying to walk away from. And so it was a process, you know, of God bringing him out of that old life.
He was at an adult club, and I'm not going to say what it actually was for the sake of any kids in the room, but you can imagine. He's at this adult club at 2 a.m. in the morning. He's struggling because he shouldn't be there. You know, in some ways he didn't want to be there, but he still was there.
And you know a place like this It's smoke, it's haze, it's blacklights, it's not reality. You know, everything you're seeing is not really what it is. And he was struggling. And there was a small fire in the kitchen of this place. And when that happened, all the emergency lights, so you can imagine a place like this with black lights and smoke and it's dark, all the emergency lights turned on in this place.
And it's like he could see this reality for what it really was. And God used that to turn the lights on in his life. That that is what's happening here. And that's a definition of conviction. When God turns the lights on in your life.
Because when you're living in the darkness, You don't actually realize you're in the darkness. Right, when you're living in the fog and you're living in the haze, you don't realize how foggy it is, you don't realize how hazy it is. Until God turns the lights on. In your life. That's what conviction is.
The opposite of conviction. Is a heart that's numb. A heart that's dull. The Old Testament talks about a heart of flesh versus a heart of stone. A heart of stone.
It may hear truth, but it doesn't have any effect on it. And I just want to challenge all of us, no matter how long we've been in church or. How long we've been Christians, like if you're in here today, Is your heart convicted? By the truth of God's Word. when you hear it.
Or has it become numb to it, or has it become dull to it? Just kind of consider that question as I share this illustration. I read this book. A number of years ago. The book is written by Neil Postman, and he's not a Christian, and this is not a Christian book.
The title of the book is called Amusing Ourselves to Death. And it was written in 1985. And he's talking about the rise of entertainment media. and then the ultimate rise of digital media today. And the way that it's changed the way that we think.
It's changed the way that we view truth. And in the introduction of the book, this is one of the best introductions to any book. He asked this question. How is truth lost? Like in a culture, how is truth lost?
And he gives these two different examples. The first example, he references the book 1984. How many of you have read George Orwell's book 1984?
So probably a third of you. In nineteen eighty four, Orwell Warned That Truth would be taken from us. You can imagine like a powerful government. controlling people through fear or censorship. silencing the truth and forcing conformity.
Some of you are like, okay.
Social media. Silencing the truth. It feels like that's our culture today.
Well then. He shares an opposing illustration. From the book Brave New World by Audlus Huxley. And some of you have read Brave New World. It was written in 1932.
You see, in Brave New World, Huxley warned that truth would not be drowned in distraction. But people would be controlled Not by force, but by pleasure. Comfort. Endless entertainment. until they stopped caring about the truth at all.
And he makes the argument that our culture is much more like the second one. We can think that it's censorship. We can think that the truth is being hidden.
Well, the thing is... It doesn't need to be hidden when nobody's looking for it. When everybody views life as pleasure and entertainment, The truth could be right out in the open and nobody's looking for it. We need a revival of truth in our life, of due north, of somebody turning. The light's on.
How can you know today, if you're sitting here? How can you know if you have a heart? that is actually convicted. By truth. You see, because emotion...
And truth are not the same thing. Emotion and conviction are not the same thing. I've learned over time a lot of people like to come to church to experience emotion. You feel something, you're happy, you're sad, you cry, and you leave, and you think, man, God did something.
Well, emotion and conviction are not the same thing. Here's how you know the difference between the two. Later on in verse 14, this same story. What happens? Remember, these people don't know God's word, so they're like rediscovering all this stuff from their history.
So in verse 14, they come back the next day, and this is what it says. It is written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths. during the feast of the seventh month.
So this is all a little bit confusing, but The time of this celebration in the seventh month, that was actually like. They were in the seventh month themselves. This feast of booths was something that the people stopped practicing around the time of Joshua. The basic sense of it, I'm no expert on this, but the basic sense of it was. God created this.
So that the people can remember when God brought them out of Egypt and they were in the desert and God took care of them.
So during this celebration, you go live in these tents for like seven days at a time. which you could imagine would be pretty uncomfortable compared to living in your house. Seeing that the people were convicted. And they were truly experiencing clarity in their lives. What do you think they did when they learned about this?
This was all new to them. When they learned about this, what do you think they did? They did it. Immediately.
So, if you want to know the difference between emotion and conviction, when God puts it on your heart to do something, do you do it? Not do you think about it, not do you pray about it, not do you delay, but do you actually do it? Because if the answer is no, then what you're experiencing is something other than conviction.
So if God Convicts you to serve or to give or to share the gospel. Or some of you are maybe wrestling with, should I get baptized? We got baptisms coming up at the end of the year. The difference between emotion and conviction When God is convicting you, When the word of God is piercing through joint and marrow, when God is convicting you, you do it. There's no delay.
There's no hesitation. Let's look at the third thing that happens when they experience the word of God. It brings celebration into their life. Look at verse 10. Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink sweet wine, and send portions.
To anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved. For the joy of the Lord is your strength.
So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, Be quiet, for this day is holy. Do not. Be grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and drink and send portions and to make great rejoicing. Because they had understood.
The words that were declared to them.
So, clarity comes to them first about God and themselves and the world. Then the natural response is conviction. Oh my goodness. We're in this whole predicament. getting exiled and coming back because of our sin.
Like this is our fault But God, because of his grace, Ultimately brings Celebration Because they realize Wait a minute. The word doesn't just confront them, it actually invites them back into a relationship with God. You can imagine if you were one of these 18-year-olds, you didn't quite realize how your parents and grandparents sinned, but now you're realizing: wait a minute, all of the trouble and turmoil and everything that we've been through was like our fault. Like, this wasn't an accident. Like, we caused all of this, all the destruction.
But now, God, not because of anything that we've done. Because of His grace and mercy has brought us back The walls are getting rebuilt. The gates are being rebuilt. God is teaching us His word again. All of this is inviting them back into relationship.
The whole book of Nehemiah is a picture of the people were out, God is bringing the people back in. And he's doing the work himself. That's really the heart of the gospel when you think about it. The gospel first reveals to us how sinful we are. How much we miss the mark.
But you don't stop with conviction. You go to celebration because it also reveals. How loved you are, and God would do anything through His Son Jesus to bring you back into relationship with Him. Think about Romans 3:23. We see both of these.
We see conviction and we see celebration. For all have sinned. and fallen short of the glory of God. If that convicts you, your heart is soft to this.
Some people just look at that and be like, well, I'm better than the person next to me. But when you realize, like, man, because of my sin, I truly have fallen short of God. Conviction. But then it says and are justified by his grace as a gift. A gift is not something you work for.
If it was your works... You get the I've fallen short. But it's a gift. It's something that Jesus has done on your behalf. through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus.
This is why the people rejoice because they realize, yes. We eventually have This is because of our shortcoming, but this is because of God's bringing us back into relationship with Him. And I just want to encourage or challenge some of you that are here today. There have been so many new people. That God has been drawing to Himself through Mercy Hill.
And every single week, I talk to different people. In the lobby. That tell me stories of, man. God has brought me out of this situation, or man, I've been sober from drugs and alcohol for the last 90 days, or God is redeeming this thing in my life, God is bringing me out of this. And I just want to encourage some of you that are sitting here today, maybe God, just by the fact that you're here.
Is turning the lights back on in your life. Because you don't realize when you're in the darkness that you're walking through the darkness. And maybe just the fact you're here. you're realizing yes I have sinned. And I have fallen short of the glory of God, but that doesn't have to be the end of my story.
Because of the gospel, because of Jesus, if you would receive, repent, accept that. And commit to follow him, he can rebuild whatever you've screwed up in your life.
So how do we apply this today? I told you the whole concept is just Such a simple concept, right? Get more of the Word of God in our life, and it'll form us. Like that's a very very But that's really hard to do, isn't it? When I was driving here this morning, my son Jude was with me.
And I don't know, I just feel this, how hard this is. And I told him, I said, dude. I don't feel like I do this very good. You know? Like getting more of the word of God in my life.
He said, Dad, That's a problem because you're a pastor. I was like, buddy, I know. I know. I realize that. I'm just as convicted by this as I'm sure you guys are.
Here's the application. We have got to fill our minds with Scripture until it forms our life. We just got to get more scripture in our life. Because our minds are formed by what comes in, what we give our attention to. And I promise you, man, those hundred thousand words a day.
The headlines, the podcasts, the posts, the text, the media. The advertising, the fear, everything that's coming into our lives, it will form us. If we don't have something stronger, That's coming into our lives.
So I just want all of us. to ask this question today. Who do you really want to be forming your life? Like Just in your own heart. Whether you're 16 years old.
30 years old, 40 years old, 50. Like, who do you really want to be forming your life? I mean Do you really want it to be some YouTuber? Or some social media influencer? Or some news person that actually needs your Fear?
To get more ratings? Or do you want it to be some Media and marketing company? That needs more of your attention. to sell stuff for Black Friday and Christmas?
Well, here's the good news. If you said yes to any of those. The good news is, if you want any of those things to form your life, the good news is you don't have to do anything today. Because the current of that is strong enough. You just keep on doing what you're doing and you just be out there in the world, I promise you that stuff will form you.
If you've ever been in the ocean when the rip currents are strong, what do you need to do? to get pulled out into a rip current. Nothing. You just go out there and be? If the current is strong enough, It's going to take you wherever it wants to take you.
So, if you're okay with any of those things forming you today, just leave church today. Just be in those things, and I promise you, the current of that will take you wherever it wants to take you. But if today you're like, man, I want God to be forming my life. I want Jesus, who is the word who became flesh, to be forming my life today.
Well, then, I think there's a couple things that we really need to think about as we close this message. I want to give you a framework for how that you could try to do this in your life. More of the word in your life, more of this other stuff not in your life. Psalm 119. Good homework, okay, for you guys to read this week.
It's the longest chapter in the Bible. And the entire chapter is about the word of God. And the effect That the Word of God can have in our life. And there's two verses that I think give us a really good framework for what we're talking about today. Verse 29 in Psalm 119 says this: Put false ways far from me.
So that's all the stuff that's coming in. Put false ways far from me. And graciously teach me your law.
So less of the false stuff. More of God's law coming into our life. Psalm 119:37 says. the same thing in a different way. It says Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things.
And give me life in your ways. That's what the Word of God is: it's God's ways. That's a good framework of Less of this stuff in my life, more of the word of God in my life. The song that many of you are under 21 probably know. If you're over 21, don't know if you know it or not.
Um Called Dusty Bibles. The first Sentence of the song. Says, dust on our Bibles, brand new iPhones. Wonder why we feel the way we do. It's like there's just some truth to that.
Right? What it's picturing is God's word not really coming in, all this other stuff coming in at a rapid pace that no human being in the history of the world has experienced. Until today, 100,000 words a day, every day.
So what do we need to do? Two words I want you to write down. The first ones decrease. The second one's increase.
So when you leave here today, And this week, and you're thinking about more of God's word in your life, think decrease, increase. We have to decrease the current of words that are coming into our lives from the world. How could you even have space? for anything else. I'm just like an average intelligence person.
If I got a hundred thousand words a day, many of them opposed. to the worldview and the Bible coming into my life, how could I even have space for anything else? I gotta figure out a way to decrease. And if we're just honest. God's word written for thousands of years, the only book in the world like it.
Do we really need more politics? Do we really need more social media? Do we really need 24-7 news cycle? Like, really? Is any of that actually helping us?
As a society, We only got more anxiety, more numbness, more addiction, more people not knowing a due north.
So anything that we can do. To reduce that stuff in our life, I think is probably a good thing. Because look. We don't have a famine. of words coming into our life.
We have a famine of God's word coming into our life. It reminds me of the prophecy in Amos 8:11. It says, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord. when I'll send a famine on the land. Not a famine of bread.
Nor a famine of water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. We need more of God's word in our life.
So I would just say in terms of that word decrease. Whatever you need to do. To decrease those 100,000 words. is probably fine for you to do it. Like If you need to get rid of a smartphone, And have a flip phone?
If you need to delete Facebook and Instagram and TikTok and whatever else, if you need to stop watching the news, whatever you need to do to decrease it, you probably should do it.
Someone told me in the lobby after the first service, they read a study that said, if you just literally. Don't get on the internet for two weeks. Uh Your Brain basically ages backwards by ten ten years. Isn't that crazy? Just by removing.
Just by decreasing. But we can't just decrease. Because we got to fill ourselves back with the word of God.
So we got to increase the current. Of God's word coming into our lives. The only thing that's probably gonna get you out of this strong current of 100,000 words a day is a stronger current. that's gonna pull you out of that.
So we got to figure out, God, how can we love your word more? How can we desire your word more? How can we read your word more? How can we sing your word more? How can we share your word?
Anything that we could do to get more of the word of God in our lives. Because just think about it. If we get up in the morning, Let's say we read 10 words. Out of the word of God. And we have a hundred thousand.
words a day. coming into our life. Do we I mean, you guys are smart people. Do you really think that's going to be enough? 10 words from the word of God versus 100,000 words a day.
From outside the Word of God. It's not going to be enough.
So We got to take all of this like way more seriously. You're in church, so I know that you know this. But even just making church a bigger priority. Because if you make church a bigger priority and you put your stake in the ground and say, okay, That's at least one time per week that I know for sure. I'm gonna get more of the Word of God in my life.
Like that. You guys know that that's all we're committed to at Mercy Hill. of getting challenging you with God's word and just getting more of it in your life.
So church would be like, okay, that's one stake in the ground out of seven days. Maybe a community group. Right? Maybe getting around some Christian friends. That would be like, okay, now I got two snakes in the ground.
100,000 words a day, at least I got two places in my schedule that I know I'm going to be getting more of the word of God in my life. Parents Your mom, your dad. We know That if we don't get more of the word of God, In the lives of our kids, we know that they're going to be formed and filled by something else. The current is just too strong for that not to happen. And look.
I'm trying my best. Just like you are as a parent. It's a lot. You can't just lock them up in their room. Like the current of the words coming in from outside are so strong.
And so we got to trust God, and we got to do anything we can to get more of the Word of God in their lives. You know, one of the things I've always admired about the Hoppers, we've been really good friends with them for over 15 years now. And anytime they've moved to another house, we lived together. You know, we were in Raleigh together, we moved here to start Mercy Hill. Anytime we go to their house, and I've always just seen this, like, They write scripture and put it on the walls.
That's a simple idea. But remember Anything we can do. to get more of the word of God in our life. We've got to hunger it like that. Like, hey, no idea is too small.
Five-minute work break. Hey, I don't know where to start. I'm going to read the book of Proverbs. I'm going to read the book of, there's no idea that's too small to get more of the Word of God. in your life.
Let me share one last verse from this chapter and Then we'll pray.
So We're told that the first part of the story that I shared happens on the first day of the seventh month. And then right after that, we're told what happens on the second day of the seventh month. And that's what verse 13 is. It says on the second day, Get this. The heads of fathers' houses Of all the people with the priests and the Levites came together to Ezra the scribe.
in order to study. the words of the law. What a picture. On the first day, Many of them hear it for the very first time on the second day. The heads of the households, I don't know if that was both parents, I don't exactly know what that was, but they're like, hey, this stuff is so important.
We're going to come back the next day to study it. To go deeper in it because we need more of this. I think this verse is such a good verse for our theme for the upcoming year. You're thinking about fortify the family. How's the family get fortified?
You got the heads of the fathers' houses that are like, hey, this stuff's so important. We're going to come back the next day and go deeper. And so I just want to challenge you: like, hey, if you're not signed up to come to Vision Night this next Friday, like, you need to be there. Because I know that I can't. I can't do it in terms of my kids and my family without you guys, without the church in my life.
And so, if you know, hey, yes, the world is coming at us 100,000 words a day, trying to tear our families apart, whether you realize it or not. We gotta do everything we can to fortify ourselves and fortify our family against that. And the best way that we can do that is together say, hey, this is what we're going to be about. The church is in the business of redeeming and fortifying families. And so if you're like, man, I need more of that, then you need to be here.
at Vision Night next week. Hey, as I close I know all of us want to be formed. In God's image. We know that God created us. He's the one that recreated us, and we want to be formed in that.
Well, we have to pray today. We got to close out today and just pray, God, we need to be filled with more of your word. We're not going to do it on our own. We can't do it on our own. The current Coming at us is too strong.
In many ways, we don't know what to do. We need to be more filled with God's word.
So, I hope for some of you today is just like a stake in the ground. I don't know if you need to come down and repent. And pray and say, God, I've been way too lax. About being in your word? You know, I believed some of the right things in the past, and now I'm just kind of coasting through life.
And not actively every single day. Going after your word? And allow today, allow this message in Nehemiah 8 to be like, man, today's going to be different. Like, I'm going to leave here today and get more of God's word in my life. Let's pray together.
God, I thank you for your word, God. Without it, we would not see clearly. The lights would not be turned on in our life. And God, I know there's some people in here right now. That you're beginning to pull out of the darkness.
You're beginning to turn the lights on in their life. And God, I just, that's a hard feeling sometimes being convicted, but God, through the Spirit, I pray that they would lean into that. God, I pray today would be a marked moment. In our church, where we say, God, we are going to commit ourselves. To be in your word.
Your word, it's a lamp into our feet, it's a light into our path. Life to us, God, and so give us a stronger desire, Lord. For your word, help us to decrease. Help us to decrease all the noise. All the stuff that's coming into our lives and increase.
the Word of God in our life. God, we thank you for our grace. We thank you that we could be here together today and pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Mm-hmm.
