As a leader, your job is to lead people, right? But you can't do that without taking risks. But how much risk is too much risk? Let's find out together. Coming up right now in the Clear Read Today Show.
You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Welcome to the Clearview Today Show.
We're so glad you're joining us here in the studio with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah. And if you're listening for the very first time today, we want to say welcome. We're glad God has brought you here to our radio show. We're going to let you know exactly who's talking to you.
Dr. Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. Dr. Shah, welcome. It's good to be here.
Amen. We've been talking about leadership. We've been talking about what it takes to lead a ministry, lead a family, lead a home, lead all these things. And we've been fasting, we've been praying, we've been talking about waiting on God's timing. And now I think, I think, correct me if I'm wrong on this, I think it's finally time to start taking some bold action.
We can, but that involves risks. Yeah, it does. It involves risks. And we're going to talk about that today. But before we do that, I want to say thank you to our sponsors for making episodes like this possible that help enrich our understanding of what it means to be a leader and to step out to what God's called us to.
That's right. Today's episode is sponsored by Mighty Muscadine. Today's episode is sponsored by LaBlue, Ultra Pure Water, by WatchSafe. And there's lots of other people who. Partner with us every single month on platforms like Pray.com with their monthly subscriptions with Abadanshah.com.
You can give anytime all those links are in the description so you can support our sponsors as well. But we also just want to thank you guys for constantly listening and your support, your active support. And that's kind of what we're talking about today. You know, Dr. Shah, people can always consume.
We can always be passive. We can always just take the blessings that other people give us, that God gives us. But at a certain point, we have to step up and act on the things God's putting in our life.
Well, before I dive in, just want to thank you. One of our listeners is a good, good friend of mine. And he texted me. I don't know if he would want me to mention his name online, but he texted me and said he was driving down the road and heard our Nehemiah podcast. Yeah.
He said, man, it's important not to hang out at the palace, but go out there and help the people of God. That's right. And so thank you for sending that in. I can, maybe I can go for it. Oh, yeah, that's Pastor Cam McGill.
He's a great friend. He's a pastor. He's a county commissioner. He's a chair. That's right.
Chairman of the County Commissioners' Board, and just a man on fire for Jesus Christ. He's a man of action. That's right. He's a man of action. He's, I would say.
He's like a Nehemiah. Yes.
So, what we've learned about Nehemiah so far is he gets news from his ancestral homeland that things are in disrepair and the people are in great reproach. And he he is deeply concerned. And I think that's one of the first marks of a leader that you are deeply concerned. It should bother you that the people around you are in dire straits. They're having a difficult time.
They cannot get their basic necessities of life, so to speak.
So, if you don't care about people, then you're not a good leader. That's right. Leaders wouldn't just walk past the problem and just kind of shrug their shoulders, like, yeah, well, that doesn't really directly affect me.
So, that's right. That'll be fine. That's right. And Nehemiah cared, but then he fasted and prayed. And he fasted and prayed for many days, just like Jesus did, Moses did, many of God's people have done through the history of the world.
Anytime you need a revival, you need an awakening, you need to fast and pray. And he did. And at the end of that fasting and praying period, you would think he would immediately launch into packing his bag. heading out To save the world. He doesn't.
It's four months of waiting. Because Our timing is not God's timing. That's right. This was not a waiting of trepidation. This was not a waiting of hesitation.
This was a waiting. to let God guide his steps. But at the end of those four months, he didn't just keep on waiting. Ad infinatum forever and ever and ever. No, he took a bold risk.
Listen to verse one. This is Nehemiah chapter two verse. And verse 1. And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerces. When wine was before him, Dara took the wine and gave it to the king.
Now. And I believe Nehemiah wrote the book of Nehemiah.
Some people may disagree with me, and that's fine. I think the namesake is the writer of this book.
Now I had never been sad, in his presence before.
So I don't think this is somebody writing in the first person. I believe this is Nehemiah himself revealing to us.
something that Those who have worked in royal courts will readily understand You do not want to spoil The sovereign's mood. Yeah. You don't want to mess The royal The Royalties Day. You want to brighten up their day. You want to be optimistic.
You don't want to be like overly chatty and chipper because that'll be fake. That's annoying. But you have to be Uplifting. You have to be a person. Who may be a realist, but at the same time you are also a person full of hope.
You know, I'm watching a show right now, it's called The Crown, and it's based on the royal family, the Windsor family, and and and really, really built around Queen Elizabeth, who passed away, I believe, in 2022.
Something like that. And this show is about how everything began from her predecessors down to the present time. And one of the things is interesting, they've done a phenomenal job. Again, I don't agree with everything in the play. I don't agree with some of the values that are in there, but that's a different issue.
Uh But one of the things that I paid attention to is that the people who came into the king's presence. or the queen's presence.
Okay. How they acted, what was their demeanor? I don't believe they were being fake. But they took their responsibility very seriously. That I'm going into the king's presence.
He has the weight. of the British Empire upon him. What do I bring to him? I can either resent the guy. I mean, look, I've arrived.
I'm in Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, whatever. I can. Inside, just hate the dude, but outside, be like, oh, yes, Your Majesty, of course. But that's not going to be real. These people were real.
Yeah. Of course, they're actors, but they were real. Yeah. They acted real. And they were always concerned about how the king was going to receive this news or that news.
And they wanted to make sure that they would leave him in a better mood than they found him.
So also with the queen, once the transfer of power took place, the king died, the queen became the king, which was the princess, the king's daughter, became the next sovereign as a queen. The person who was going to relate with her and talk to her about what's going on. Whereas, yes, of course, sometimes they had to give. A difficult news. Mm-hmm.
Sometimes they had to lay it out like it is. Like, we are in trouble.
Something needs to happen. If something doesn't happen, it will not be good.
So they were not like lying. Right. They weren't like people pleasers, court gestures. They were not that. But at the same time, they.
The way they talked to her, the way they addressed her, the way they discussed things, it was always full of. The of confidence in the sovereign, in the queen. You know, and I think about that. That's how we should be with each other. Not Just a downer.
Yeah. Not just poor me. Blah, blah, blah. You know, no, we should be we don't need Just like you said, a code jest code gesture. We should be jovial, we should laugh, we should have a good time, we should tell jokes or whatever.
That's perfectly fine. In fact, that's good, and we should do more of that. But at the same time, You know, we should also be positive. Yeah. Yeah.
I think a lot of times we let the stress of life get to us. And especially in the West where we don't have a king, we don't have like people who are our obvious, other than like a boss or something, but you know, we don't have obvious superiors that we have to really think about. I think it's really easy to be like, look, here's, we got a situation. Here's what happens. I'm going to let you know what's going to happen.
And I don't really care how you take it or not. This is what needs to happen. We forget that we impact the people around us. Yeah. In our interactions, even in our nonverbal interactions and our posture and our facial expressions and what we, how we convey the information, we can communicate things a couple of different ways.
One is, here's the information, but I'm really, I'm really bummed about it. I'm really upset about the information. Or we can give you the facts, but still be confident in what's happening and what we need to do. And like, even when we bring bad news, because I mean, like, if you're in ministry, like, you're going to have to bring your pastor, you're going to have to bring somebody some bad news at some point. But I like the way that you put it: I have complete confidence.
Confidence in you. You know what I mean? Not just like, hey, here's some bad news. What do you want me to do? I'll do whatever.
Yeah, and that's dangerous too, because if we just say, what do you want me to do? Yeah. It's like, I am not worrying about that one. That is your problem. Your problem.
And I'll do it. And that to me says a lot about that person in that moment is that what you've said is like, hey, I'm not interested in this. You figure this one out. Yeah. Yeah.
I think like a lot of times we'll like, cause that's something that I think we as a staff have gotten very good at is how is how is the person that I'm bringing this to, how are they going to receive it? Because that's going to affect the way I present it. Yeah. You know, hey, you know, Dr. Shah, here's a situation.
I just kind of want to lay out what's happening. I'm not clear on the solution, but can you and I work together and try to figure this out? Or do you have any thoughts? Do you have a starting place? Do you want me to try to think of a solution and we work on it together?
There's conversation happening back and forth rather than.
Well, or what some people do is, I'm just going to quietly solve this on my own and not involve anybody else. Or, like you said, hey, tell me what to do and I'll get it done. Yeah. When you truly have a heart of compassion, no matter where you are on the totem pole of your workplace, your council, your church staff, no matter where you are, when you truly have a heart of compassion towards the one who is in the hot seat, who is in the leadership position, you will say, I do have to break this to him or to her. How do I do it?
How can I? help this person be the best leader possible.
So, how do you do it, Dr. Shock? Because I know that you have mentors and people in your life that sometimes you go to for wisdom or you go to for a little bit of guidance. How do you walk that line between, hey, I'm coming to you with a problem versus ultimately, this is my problem to solve in my ministry? You know what I mean?
Yeah, and I always remember that it's about ownership. Mm-hmm.
It's about ownership. If you come to me about a student ministry issue, I'm not going to be like, Well, I mean, this is what we pay you for. Or if something happens in the worship team, I'm not going to sit back here and let you hang. It would be very easy. Over the years, it would have been very easy to do and make myself look good.
And it's like, he's the problem. I'm not. It's very easy to say, oh, he's the problem. I'm not. Just deal with him.
But. When you take ownership, that this is our problem.
So then we come together. And and help one another. Whether I am A superior, or I am in a subordinate position, I need to realize that this is our problem. Again, going back to that show. The people who came in and out of the presence of the king or the queen didn't just see that this is the guy I have to bring the tea and the crumpets to.
They saw it as this is the person who is helping me. Have a job, but also helping this nation, also helping this entire empire keep going. This is a person who has incredible amount of burden upon her or or him. How do I How do I do my part? In helping alleviate His burden.
And I think if we start thinking like that, no matter where you are, you may be on a church staff as just an assistant youth pastor. Means you're not even the youth pastor, you're the assistant. Youth or student password. You may be a a a tech person. Means your job is simply I make reels or I run the camera on Sunday morning or I you know, put up the sign up sheet online so people can sign up for um the fellowship meal.
I'm not. No, you should care. Start caring. That's right. You may be working in a hospital staff position, or you may be working for the city.
So you may be in the in the armed forces. You're not a captain, you're not a general, you're way down on the totem pole. That's okay. Look at it, start looking at it as this is our problem. And here's what's going to happen.
Here's what's going to happen. The people around you will notice that and realize: man, that right there is a mature person. That's a person I can trust. That person may not understand the ins and outs of who is who in politics. or how this bill is going to work out.
Or, what are the ramifications of this particular issue? That person may not know all that, but that person has my. And our nation's best interest at heart.
So, for Nehemiah to go before the king, knowing all of this, because he's a great leader. Nehemiah is not like, he knows the consequences of going before the king with a low countenance. This was a real risk in his career. And he's a good leader. He didn't do that before.
Do we know from the text if Nehemiah just chose to let his emotions through at this moment, or if it just built up to the point that he was not able to mask it anymore? I think it was a genuine thing. It was not like, okay, I'm going to fake cry here. I think it was a genuine thing. It was the work of the Holy Spirit to bring him to that point where that sadness was no longer containable.
And God said, It's time, it's time to let. Others, especially the king, know what is eating you inside. And he does. And the king's reaction is, Therefore the king said to me, Why is your face sad? Since you're not sick.
That this is nothing but sorrow of heart.
Now was How sad did the king did Nehemiah look? Was he like walking around with tears, crocodile tears, coming down his face? I don't think so. Was he walking around just Good morning. Like Houghton.
Like Eeyore. Oh, boy. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think he did that.
But the king was very perceptive, and he picked up just like that. This is not Nehemiah. Nehemiah was also interacting with the king daily. I mean, it wasn't just somebody who kind of came in and out of the king's periphery once, a couple of times a week. Nehemiah was daily interacting with the king.
So he would have known, just like Nehemiah knew the king, the king would have known Nehemiah very well. Absolutely. And by the way, Persian kings were very finicky. They were not very tolerant of someone walking in their presence with a sad face. They did not, I mean, the Persian Empire was massive.
kingdom after kingdom, territories after territories were under the Persian rule.
So to see someone sad, what's your angle? Yeah. What are you not happy with? What is happening? Have you turned?
Who's got to you? Yeah. And if they got to you, what is your next move? Is it to poison me? Is it to stab me in the back?
What are you going to do?
So, in fact, historians tell us that those who came into the king's presence with a sad face had to place their king's presence had to place their right hand over their mouth so they wouldn't defile the king with their breath. Don't breathe on the king. Yeah. Breathe your sad breath on me. Yeah.
These Persian kings did not take themselves. They didn't play around. No. They did not take insults very lightly. And I mean, and if you were not liked, or you did something wrong.
Remember, Persians were the ones who invented the crucifixion.
So it's not like one friend checking up on another when the king says, Hey, why do you have a sad face? Like, Nehemiah probably started. I got scanned. I dropped my hot pocket. Yeah.
I mean, really, the Assyrians were the ones who came up with the crucifixion, but Persians perfected it. Yeah. So imagine you are right next to the king and he's asking you Why is a long face? Oh, no. You know, it's funny because we think about risk.
We started this episode talking about, you know, leadership requires risk. We think that it's, oh, it might be a bad investment or I might lose a little bit of money. But it could be that it could be something very different. It could be that the opposition that you thought you were going to face, you're facing right here at the beginning. If I don't play this carefully, that's right.
Yeah. And so, what was Nehemiah's response?
so I became dreadfully afraid. Literally it means a terrible fear came over me. I mean, sudden panic. He could have ran out, which pretty much meant sure death. Yeah.
The immortals would be on him before he even reached the end of the hallway. Gosh. I mean, they would have got him. Yeah, I don't blame him. And that's my response alone shows what the king's attitude was toward people who had a bad attitude around him, people who had a sad countenance around him.
The fact that Nehemiah, who had a very close relationship with the king, responds with dread and fear and panic shows you that. You didn't mess around when it comes to powder faces and things like that. We've seen this. Yeah, we've seen this in our ministry is like the higher you climb, the more impactful things you're doing, the more dire the consequences for a misstep. You know what I mean?
Like we're, we're doing a lot of things right now, especially like with the Greek New Testament, especially with the stuff that we're putting out. Like if we misstep, if we don't handle this correctly, I mean, that's millions of people who potentially watch our content who are not getting the accurate historically the things they need. Yes.
Accurate truth. Yeah. Yeah. The higher you climb, the graver the consequences. Absolutely.
Absolutely. And so now he is afraid. I mean, he admits that. He said, I became dreadfully afraid or terrible fear came over me. But the Bible reminds us, and I know we're going to the New Testament for this reference, but we could have talked about the Old Testament.
I could have read from Joshua chapter 1, be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid. But Paul told Timothy, Which I think we all need to hear in those moments of panic when we are tempted. Because of some fear, tempted. to just Drop the angle.
drop the the project and just Give up. for God has not given us a spirit of fear. But of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. I have come back to that passage many a times in ministry. When fear began to grip me that this is gonna be bad.
Or You're going to fall apart, or this ministry is going to fall apart, or all this great stuff that is happening is about to come to an end. This passage has helped me so much. God has not given us a spirit of fear.
So, if God has not given us a spirit of fear, guess who has? Satan has. Satan will try to get you afraid and say, oh, you know. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I think this is not going to work. I know it worked so far, but here I think it's different.
That's a great distinction because it's not that there's not a spirit of fear. It's not that that doesn't exist, that it's imaginary and made up. There is one, it's not from God. That's right. And He could have gone that way, and Paul told Timothy, but God has given us a spirit of power.
And of love. And of his sound mind power means the energy, the strength to keep pursuing that project. Love. What did Nehemiah love? Of course he loved his job, of course he loved the king.
But he also loved his people. And more than that he loved the plan of salvation that was going to come through his people. And Sound mind. In those moments of fear and panic, we stop thinking. Yes, that's true.
That's true. And we turn to our feelings. Feelings begin to rule. And every single time feelings have ruled in my life, I have made horrible mistakes. Same.
So it's not that feelings don't matter or emotions are bad. No, they have their place. But sound mind comes first. Yeah. Reason, thinking, facts.
And then we can go to feelings. And so instead of Running away, he stops and he speaks to the king. And what does he say? He said, May the king live forever. means I am not a turncoat.
I am not a spy. I didn't just get bought. I'm here to tell you. Truthfully That I want you to live forever. means my life Is dedicated for your rule and for your power as a king to continue forever.
Which is a very important statement. Yeah, and I think it's something that we need to hear, especially when we are in leadership. You know, you defer to your pastor, you defer to your mentors, you defer to the people who are in leadership over you. And sometimes it's as simple as just reminding them verbally: I am on your side. You know, a lot of times we think that goes without saying, but I have found, at least in my life and in my time working here, that every now and then it just always helps to come back and say, hey, just.
I'm on your side. I'm for you. Yeah. And it goes so much further than you think. It does.
And it's a good rule of thumb. It's a good practice to not think that anything goes without saying. Yeah. Never assume what you can verify. Never assume things that you, oh, well, they know that.
Go ahead and say it. Oh, yeah. There's been times where... It won't go wrong. Yeah.
I've been times sitting at the house and I'm just thinking on things that I've got to do, things I got to get done. But then I start thinking God just takes me down the path that we've gone and how much he's grown us. And there will be times where I'll just text Dr. Shah and I'll say, Hey, I just want to let you know I'm really grateful for you. And just no matter what happens, I'm always on your side.
Never once has he been like, what the heck are you talking about? Why would you assume that? I already thought that, but now, you know, what do you say? It's never. No.
And so, so also for you, the people in your life, especially your pastors, especially your spiritual leaders, man, you don't know the burden they've got on their shoulders. And hearing verbal support from you, even if it's once a month, once, you know, every couple of months, it makes all the difference in the world. Because we rarely hear, we rarely hear. Hear the support. You rarely hear the people who are for you.
You'll first. You'll always hear from them. You'll hear from them without question.
So let your pastor, let your ministry leader know: hey, I'm on your side. I'm in your corner. Especially if you're in Nehemiah's position and this is the person who ultimately is the decider, right? He's the one that's going to let you go. Anything that you ever bring to your ministry leaders, you always want to remind them, this is good for us.
This is good for what we're, or at least I think it is. What do you think? The person who's sitting at home, Dr. Shauer, who's driving, who's listening to this radio show or this podcast, and who is like, I have heard everything that you're saying. The idea of taking risk, the idea of going out there into the unknown, it.
Goes against everything, every fiber in my being. I hate the idea of risk. I want to know three steps forward. What encouragement would you give to that person? I would say nothing worth doing.
is without risks. Everything requires risk if it is worth doing.
So, what is it that is worth doing in your life? What is it that God is saying, I need you to do this? It may be to teach a class, it may be to go to college, it may be to apply for that position, it may be to talk to somebody about the gospel. It means to invite someone to church. It may be to start a new ministry at church.
I don't know what it is that God is calling you to do. Don't think for a single moment that if it's worth doing, that it's, oh, yeah, all the pieces just lined up perfectly. They will not. There will be a risk of failing in some situations, failing terribly. But in those moments you have to say, if God is with us.
Who can be against us? That's right. And that's exactly what Nehemiah did. He then spoke to the king and and he shared with the king what was happening with his people. And The rest is history.
Amen. Amen. Amen. That's so helpful for us in thinking about what is required for us to step out and do what God has called us to do.
Sometimes it takes risks, right? But know that God has gone before you and God will sustain you in that journey. And trust in those who are on your team, trust in your pastor, trust in your ministry leader, and trust in those who God has brought alongside you as you head in this journey that God has called you to. It's going to make you a much better leader and you're going to lead with confidence and boldness. That's right.
Guys, make sure you join us tomorrow, same time, same station. We're going to dig further into this concept of Nehemiah as he answers God's call to go rebuild the walls in Jerusalem. Thank you to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. And don't forget that you can support us by subscribing to the show anywhere podcasting content can be found. And you can always support us financially at Abadanshah.com forward slash gift.
That's right. We want to thank all you guys who do support us financially. And we also want to let you know that you can still pre-order your copy of the Robinson Pierpont Byzantine text form. This is the 2026 edition, the New Testament, and the original Greek. Link is in the description to pre-order, and it's going to be available on Amazon and pretty much any bookstore you can imagine, as well as Clearview B.
For regular ordering very, very soon. But you don't have to wait. You can pre-order right now. There's also lots and lots of shows on Dr. Abadan Shah's channel.
That's on YouTube channel. That's iTunes channel. I believe Spotify is getting some channels ready. We're getting all our stuff ported over to Spotify.
So stick around. You don't want to miss it. That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Cleary Today.
