Too many of us are using God's word like emergency equipment. I'm gonna pull it out when I'm desperate and in a pinch. But God's Word is our daily bread, and too many of us just aren't hungry. Understanding the importance of the hunger of God's Word coming up right now on the Cleaver 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 with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah.
We're here live in the studio. Dr. Shah, it's good to see you. It's good to see you. And Ryan, it's good to have you back.
Someone else is here today. Yes, it's good to be in the studio. That's right. That's right. How was Boston?
It was fantastic. Very cool. It was wonderful. We had a great time with our high schoolers up in Boston, serving the community there, growing, studying the book of Nehemia.
So that was the theme of our mission trips, both for middle and high school.
So it was right in line with what we're talking about on the Clearview Today Show. Amen. Amen. Summer is a time of travel, but I got to tell you, I'm glad that we're all of us together again here in the studio. John did a great job.
He was both John and Ryan. He would say the opening and then finding out. Coming up. Looking at it deeper. I've noticed that Ryan has a rhythm.
It's hard to hear, but once you start trying to do it, it's easy to see. Like, there's a rhythm. There's a pattern, a cadence. There's a cadence, there's a pattern, and then trying to do both of them is kind of tough. But I gotta say, I'm glad you're back.
Yes. Not just so you can do the show, but um. This is kind of weird to say almost. I like radio. I like missed you or whatever.
I missed you.
Well, I missed you guys, and I missed being here. And it was wonderful to go and serve, but it's always wonderful to come back home as well. Absolutely. That's right. So we're continuing the conversation about Nehemiah, which is wonderful to jump back into.
Christian leadership. You know, Dr. Shaw, God has called all of us to be Christians, but we just cannot be Christians apart from the leaders apart from the Word of God. Yep, absolutely. I mean, we can't be Christians apart from the Word of God either.
Yeah. It kind of works on two levels. Yeah, you can know about God by looking at. The universe. You can look at the sky and know that God is amazing, powerful.
You can look at the oceans and see the variety of creatures there and be amazed at how God is a God of variety. You can look at human beings and see how fearfully and wonderfully you were made, and the animal kingdom, then the grass, and the trees. Oh, yeah, you can learn a lot about God. But when it comes down to salvation, How to be saved What does it mean to be saved? Who saves us?
How does he save us? Jesus Christ, God's Son, became man. He became like us to give His life for us, to be our substitute. To take the penalty of God's wrath upon Himself. Where are you going to find that?
Yeah, that's right. You may say, Well, I see that, and you know, when you see violence in the world, no, no, you don't. You need the gospel and you need the Bible. To know the plan of salvation.
So, in that sense, To be saved, you need the Word of God. But then to grow as a believer. You also need the word of God. That's right. I think you said this a long time ago.
I don't know if we've ever mentioned it on the show, but. A lot of people in ministry today have this exhaustion, this like end of my rope, I'm burned, they can't let both ends exhaustion. They're just tired. And I think a lot of them attribute it to the work of ministry. And I remember one time you said to me, like, hard work is not the reason you're exhausted.
You're exhausted because you're pumping a dry well. Spiritually, you are very empty. And if you're honest with yourself as a Christian, you probably are not steeped in the Word of God like you should be. Because if you were, you would not have this spiritual exhaustion about you. That was something profound that I heard from you from the pulpit is that the word of God is both the guideline, the path for your life, and it's the power to live out your life.
It's not just this is how you ought to live. Here's the checklist. Follow these rules. It's this is the juice that you need. This is the gas behind the engine that's going to get you where you need to go.
And the deeper that well is, you know, kind of latching on to the analogy you brought up first, John, the deeper that well, and the deep we go to strike the spring, the fresh water. Spring, the more life there will be in your teaching, in your preaching, in your daily life decisions, there will be some real depth to who you are. That's right. So, also, with what you're saying, having the gas, if you just have a little bit in your tank that you get from whatever little bit you pick up on Sunday morning, that's not enough to run your spiritual vehicle throughout the week. You need more.
You need a full tank, that's right, or at least half a tank. Yeah, most Christians are just living off of just fumes, and it shows in their Christian life, it shows in the decisions they make.
So, the word of God is just you cannot have enough of it, yes, absolutely. We talked about that years ago and still talk about it sometimes. You know, that what you say, like for worship leaders, worship pastors, what you say between songs. We're so obsessed with getting this like 90-second moment so right, and we want to say something clever and impactful, and we want to resonate with people. I remember, Dr.
Shah, you saying that you know, you have to be a deep well to say something deep as a Christian, you have to be a deep Christian. That's like, but that's gonna take Years. It's like, yeah, it's going to take years. And it's going to take daily discipline of being in the Word. But you can't say like, you might hit it out of the park one Sunday, but week after week after week, if you're a shallow Christian, you're not going to be able to lead people.
And I think that has transformed the way that I think about things. Can you paint us this picture of Nehemiah chapter 8? All these people gathered together in the square? Yes, absolutely. I've been saying that in the past few episodes, that Nehemiah's ultimate goal was not just to come.
and build the walls around the city of Jerusalem. His ultimate goal was to rebuild the lives of the people. And so, how amazing it is that in the first seven chapters, man, he is, you know, begins by struggling whether or not he should go, by weeping, fasting, going before the king, getting permission. Prayers are answered. Then he comes and he sees the opposition.
He knows how to deal with the opposition. He rallies the people. He gets them to stand against the enemy and begin rebuilding the walls. Each family takes their section of the wall seriously and they begin to build. I mean, on and on and on we go.
And then we come to the giving part. They need to give, give sacrificially. And they do that as well. But then there is a shift. In chapter eight onwards The focus is on the Word of God.
and we hear about another man who was already there, a man by the name of Ezra, Ezra the scribe. Nehemiah was an administrator. Ezra Was a Bible man.
So God sent the Bible man first to help rally the people. Uh around the word of God. I mean, he got only so far with them. Because they saw the devastation, they saw their vulnerability without the walls around Jerusalem, and they were like, I mean, yeah, we're going to be spiritual, but I think we're going to die. We're going to love the Lord and follow him, but these enemies can descend upon us any moment.
Okay, so God, in his providential care, said Nehemiah next. And Nehemiah comes, And rebuilds the walls around Jerusalem in 52 days. That was a work of God. But it doesn't end there. It could have been easily happily ever after, like, okay, and then they went back to their lives and boy, in about twenty-five years, that was the most prosperous Jerusalem anybody had ever seen.
More prosperous than the times of Solomon. No, none of that.
Now it is Ezra and Nehemiah sort of joining. Hands or locking arms to help the people grow spiritually. That's the context in which we have to understand Nehemiah chapter eight. You know, context is key. If we just read bits and portions and just pick up something here and pick up something there, we miss the deeper principle.
So once you understand the depth, by the way, depth is important, analysis is important. God's deep ways are in the deep analysis, in the details. People sometimes don't like the details. Give me the big picture.
Okay, I give you the big picture, but it's in the details that you see God's ways. That's right. That's the shallow way to look at it: just give me the principle. Tell me the point so I can go on about my application. Yeah, give me three Baptist points.
The brilliant designer, I mean, his handiwork is going to be reflected in the details, both in creation and in the intricacies of the story of his faithfulness to his people and how Nehemiah's story played out and how it's not just about a physical rebuilding project. It's about spiritually restoring the people and bringing them back to being a nation who loves God and who serves them. I mean, you see that in all the best art. You see that in movies. Like you watch it the first time and it's like, wow, that was really cool.
And the more you watch it or the more you look at that painting or that architecture, you start noticing those details and you just start appreciating it more. You start seeing that there was a lot, so much thought and so much crafted into this. I think with the Bible, it's also cool because those details are life-giving. It's not just something that I appreciate. Like, wow, that's cool.
It changes how I live. It changes how I think. Absolutely. And it's powerful to think that the missing ingredient was the word of God. Yeah.
And when you step back, first you look in detail, but then you step back and get the overall picture, the overarching theme, and then you begin to understand it was not enough just to rebuild the walls.
Now you had to rebuild their lives, and that could only happen. with the word of God. That's right. The Bible coming back into their lives. Was the way it's going to happen.
And so they gather together. It says here in verse 3, this is Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 3. Then he, meaning Ezra, not Nehemiah, Ezra. By the way, every one of us has our own giftedness or gifts. You have certain gifts that I don't.
You have certain gifts that I don't. I have certain gifts that you don't. You know, John Maxwell often talks about. Uh stop trying to be balanced. You know, stop trying to be the person who is the one-man show who can do everything.
The jack of all trades. Yes, yeah. Yeah, you're not going to get far being that kind of person. Be a person who is really good at his strengths, but he has other people who are really good at his weaknesses. Yeah, yeah.
So, once you have a team like that, you will not be a balanced person, but you will be a balanced team. Right. Great point. And I think that's what we've tried to do at Clearview. Oh, yeah, 100%.
Be a balanced team. Yeah, absolutely. It's not that we all have the same skill set. I don't think that would make sense if we all are able to do the same things and are all trying to do the same things at the same time. No, we each have our own areas of expertise.
Now, we'll jump in and help with anything that any of us are working on. Every project is our project, but it's okay to be a specialist. In fact, it's good. It's good to be an expert in your field. Yes, it is.
And it also helps you, number one, it helps you trust your team more because you know that they're covering where you're weak. But it also, this is the great, one of the best things I can ever say about this church at Clearview is that the people in leadership do not want each other's positions. Right. Looking at Dr. Shah preaching, there's never once been a time in my life where I'm like, man, I don't know why he's preaching and not me.
I don't know why Ryan's in charge of the student. Why and I'm stuck here with the music. I don't want those things, not because they're not enjoyable or they're not rewarding. I'm not good at them. That's not what God has called me to do.
And I think a lot of, and this is sort of tangential to the topic, but it's something that I appreciate about both of you two men. You are extremely, extremely good at the things that I'm not good at, which is connecting with younger people, which is preaching the word of God. And I think it helps the team because everyone knows and values their place. Absolutely. And you are very gifted in not just worship, but leadership because you're leading people.
And yes, of course, you have your struggles and you'll have your moments where you trip, but that's all part of the growing process. That's all part of becoming better and better. I have a bad sermon. Maybe not like a horrible sermon, but I have sermons that I'm like, now that I read that passage. It is saying what I said, but it is saying this far more.
You know, so you always grow and mature. Like I'm doing the series on James. Years ago, I did James. when I first came to this church. Like going back to like two thousand three.
Wow. Yeah. And then I did it again in twenty thirteen. Yeah. So or twelve, twelve or thirteen, somewhere there.
So, this is the third time I'm doing it. But this is the time that is going on my blog.
So, it's. Amazing how much I've grown. And so it's not like I'm just pretty much preaching the sermon from 2003 and 2013. No, I'm. Changing things, adapting.
That's pretty cool to see, kind of side by side in three different decades, kind of the trajectory of your growth and your kind of development, your walk with that sort of gets us back on the topic because you said this in the very first message on James in 2026: is that the message has not changed. The word of God has changed the messenger. Right. You have grown up, and the word of God does that. That's so good.
100% agree with that.
So going back here, these people were very attentive. They stood there From morning until midday, which is about five to six hours, and just listen to the word, and they wept.
Now Let's back up here. and try to understand why they stood there and why did they weep? You know, in five eighty seven BC, Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem, destroy the temple, shut down the sacrifices, and he had taken the people of Judah into captivity already, but then he pretty much finished the job. This is 587.
Now they were in exile for for you know unforeseeable future They did not have the word of God. They had to rely on their memory. I mean, they didn't have the scrolls with them. They had to rely on their memory, and they had to rely on the songs of Zion. Wow.
You know, songs are the ways that people remember their homes, their lives, Those high, low moments.
Songs are the ways we also remember our core beliefs. Our theology.
So Songs is how they would remember Zion. But when they got to Babylon. It says in Psalm 137 verses 1 through 4. That by the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.
So every time they felt like, oh, we can sing, no, I don't feel like singing. Why don't you feel like singing? Because my last memory of beautiful Jerusalem was, it was in flames. That's a scary thought that this is all you have left is your memory, and I don't even want to remember it. I don't want to remember anymore because it's too traumatic to remember.
Yeah, that heartbreak was very real, very immediately accessible for them. And the people there, the Babylonians, the captors, you know, it's very interesting that they took them as exiles, but they didn't treat them as slaves. Because once they got there, the Babylonians kind of We're like, okay, guys. You're not going back. There's nothing to go back to.
This is such a better world. Why don't you build your lives here? And of course, the prophets had also told them that Jeremiah told them: you know, plant vineyards, you know, build homes, give your sons and daughters in marriage, and take sons and daughters in marriage. Build your lives. You're not going back right now.
Yeah. You know, God's judgment is on you. You cannot go back. And so the Babylonians also were treating them well. And they came to them and said, Sing us one of the Songs of Zion Yeah, you guys have such a powerful worship from what we've heard.
That your temple worship is dynamic. We don't know what we're doing. Look at our priest. I mean, that's camera pans over to the guy. He's got his finger in his nose.
Oh, sing us a song. And they said, We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. Means. We hung our musical instruments on the trees and said, We're done with this. Wow.
We don't want to sing anymore. I mean, so what does that say to us? It says that, spiritually speaking, they were living in a drought. A drought for the Word of God. What are some times in people's lives today that they might experience a spiritual doubt drought?
I mean, great, great. A doubt and drought kind of go together. Because when you go through uh physical pain in your life, sicknesses. A death. A loss of job, loss of relationships.
Divorce. Disappointment with the family. These are the times where we feel like my faith. has been shaken. I am no longer At that point or in that place of equilibrium.
So, I'm not ready to talk about God anymore. Or at least right now, I'm not ready to talk about God. And do you think that that's a trap? Do you think it's like a perpetual trap that people fall in? They don't even realize that some do.
Some unfortunately become agnostics. See, people ask me, it's like, well, were they saved? I'm like, I think they were saved. I think they are saved. Because I believe that once you have eternal security, nothing and no one can take it away from you.
Even you cannot deny it. Even your own doubt. That's right. No, it doesn't go away. But They are living as agnostics.
Means saved in the heart, but in their mind, they're no longer believing. And it's very sad to watch because that trauma has been so real.
So real that it has truly damaged their spiritual walk. And so, yeah. And so these people were in Babylon and refusing to Sing or say anything about the Word of God. How do they make their way? I know we've talked about it on the show, but just for people, maybe if someone's first time listening, how do they make their way back to Jerusalem?
So, what happens next is in 539 BC, so go from 587 to 539, that's just about 50 years, right? Mm-hmm. Babylonian Babylon fell to the Medo-Persian Empire. Cyrus the Great comes to the throne. Overnight he takes over and his first One of his first decrees was to free the captured people, the captives.
Now they were not like captives anymore. I mean, people like Daniel were living in the king's palace and and down the road you see people like Nehemiah, the cupbearer, and Esther, the queen of Persia.
So but but they were already Becoming part of the Babylonian society, now the Medo-Persian society, but Cyrus told them, Go home. You're free to go. Go back to your homes. Rebuild your lives. Rebuild your temples, your places of worship.
Do what you want to do. You're still under Persia. Oh, yeah, of course. That doesn't change. The money's coming in.
The taxes are going to come. They're still going to be in place. The IRS man is going to come looking for you. But feel free to build your lives back at home. Absolutely.
In fact, that actually works in. The interest of the government. If you're having them here, we got to pay for you. Send them home, rebuild your lives, do your business. Yeah, now that you're on your own dime, go ahead and keep that time.
You're free, aren't you free? Right. Now, who's going to attack you? Egyptians? Yeah, you'd hate them.
No, if Egypt comes against you, Persia will give them a whooping. That's right. And you'd hate if the taxes don't come in, you'd hate for Persian soldiers to be roaming your streets, right? Yeah, nobody wants that. This feels like a really polite mob shakedown.
Just very nice on paper, but like if you want to continue to have Persia's protection, you go ahead and pay that tax. You come in, man, this is a nice city. I sure would hate to see something happen to this. Wow, this is so nice. Yeah.
I love what you've done with it. And the Babylonians, man, Nebuchadnezzar. The guy had issues. The easy way to do it. The crap.
He just liked destroyed things.
So he grew up destroying things. Why would anybody take anyone away from their home? I don't understand. Do you understand? No, no.
Okay, well, let's go ahead and get the taxes. Oh, wait a minute.
So we're still doing that. Oh, yeah, we're still doing that. We're still doing that. That doesn't go away. Look at the beautiful.
This is your ancestral homeland, isn't it? Your grandparents were buried here. Don't you like being back home? You're welcome.
So Some of the people went back to Jerusalem and back to Judah, but many never did. But the ones who came back, it says about fifty thousand returned to Jerusalem. They tried to rebuild the temple. But then when the Samaritans came against them, they sort of gave up. God had to send some prophets to reenergize them, to rebuild the temple.
And after sixteen years, you know, there was no word of God again. And then at the end of the sixteen years, they tried again and another twenty years, and they finally finished the temple. And then for another 20 years, they were in a spiritual drought.
Now the temple was ready, but there was no one there to give proper leadership. No preacher. No preacher. No pastor.
So, I mean, you have the temple, and it was like a Zerubbabel's temple. It was not like Solomon's. And definitely not like Herod's, 'cause Herod's temple was even grander than Solomon's.
So you have Zerubabail's temple, they're like This doesn't look like what granddaddy is. Grandpaddy is. This isn't doing it for me. Couldn't they have just put like a little notice on the little seminary notice board for a pastor wanted? Yeah, pastor wanted in the temple, please.
So finally, after 60 more years, and again, this is all. a period of drought, not not not drought in the sense of agriculture, but drought in the sense of spiritual food, the word of God. God finally sent Ezra And Ezra helped them But the walls of Jerusalem were still down. And he helped them. get their spiritual lives in order.
So while God was working on Nehemiah in Persia. God was working on the Jewish people. Through Ezra. Wow. How amazing it is how God's plan works.
So, how long has it been altogether since Nebuchadnezzar came? How long has it been? Up until this moment in the Amazon.
So if you go from 587 to 445 BC, you're talking about 140 years. Wow. of no word.
So now, hard cut to this moment. They're all outside gathered outside the gate. They hear the word. Yeah. This is not even the same generation.
This is not even the generation after the generation after the generation. That's what I was going to ask. This is people who have never grown up with God. I mean, think about it. 150 years from today, this is 2026, the 250th anniversary of our nation's founding.
Go back 150 years. How much is 100 years? 1926. Mm-hmm. Take away more Take away 40 more years.
What would you put 1886? 1880 something. Yeah, yeah.
1880s. Yeah, he's in 86. That's short. Lee after the Civil War. That's right.
Wow. So 10 years or so after, imagine people haven't heard the Bible, whatever they had at the time. From the time right after the Civil War, I would say I would include the Civil War because Nebuchadnezzar came at different times.
So just pretend like Abe Lincoln was the last guy to hear the Bible up until today. That'd be a good one. That's crazy. Holy, that's crazy. That's a long time.
You don't think of a hundred like in the Bible you think 140 years. It's like, okay, that's just like a little. Yeah, but Abe Lincoln feels so far away from our history. I know. That's wild.
That is crazy. I think about Civil War, Gilded Age, turn of the century, World War One, Titanic, of course. The Great Depression, the World War II. Vietnam War, Korean War. The Cold War Desert Storm Right?
The internet age, World Wide Web. Dang. We done put a man on the moon. 9-11. We done put a man on the moon before.
This has happened. 9-11 goes on. Smartphones, pandemic years.
Now we come today. All this time has been a time where there is no. There have been profits here and there. But no consistent preaching, teaching of the Word of God. You know, this describes what I have just described to you is what Europe feels like right now.
Yeah, that's a great point. Yeah. America, and again, so happy to be living in America because in America at least In the midst of Great. I would say times of sinfulness and You know, rise of immorality, there's still the word of God. There's still revivals happening, there's still some awakenings taking place.
There are still pastors preaching. There are still Christians I mean uh people getting saved. people becoming Christians. But imagine Wow. We're almost out of time, Dr.
Shah, but for the person who's listening right now, they're sitting on their lunch break, they're driving to work, they're about to pick up another shift, and they're thinking, Today, I want to do something different because I listen to this show. Do I have to live my life in a spiritual drought? Just because America is in a spiritual drought, do I have to be on one? No, I mean, no, you can. Begin yourself.
Even if your family is not ready, your wife may not be ready, your husband may not be ready. You start reading the word of God. I'm often reminded of the air hostesses when the plane starts moving from the gate and it starts getting to the runway where it's going to, you know, take off. And the flight attendants usually stand up and they start telling you about the exit rows and the doing the little demonstrations. Demonstrations and this and then the seat belts.
And then they talk about the oxygen masks. And they will say things like, and you know, before you help anybody else, make sure you put them on for yourself. Because if you're trying to help. See a little you know, son or daughter. and you yourself Cannot breathe, you're gonna pass out.
That's right. So you're not gonna help yourself or them. Right. So put it on first and then help them.
So, my encouragement to people is put on the oxygen mask of the Word of God first. That's right. And then you can help other people. Amen. And I would imagine there's people who are listening and watching today that feel like they need that breath.
They feel like they need that inhale. Man, the word of God is available to you. There's so many different ways to access the word of God, the Bible app on phones. I mean, you access to the Clearview Today Show through your favorite podcasting platform. Find a place where you can access the Word of God and make it a part of your daily routine.
And you may feel like I'm not really hungry for the Word of God because I'm so full on the junk of this world.
Well, guess what? We're going to talk about that on tomorrow's episode because it's a real problem. And we're going to address it right here on the Clearview Today Show. Make sure you join us tomorrow. We're going to continue the conversation.
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