The Word of God is living and powerful. The book of Hebrews says it's sharper than any two-edged sword. That means when you come in contact with the Word of God, it's going to make a difference in your life. Figuring out what difference that is coming up right now on the PB Read Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr.
Abaddon 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 studio, right here with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah.
Dr. Shah, it's good to see you. It's good to see you as well. We're going to continue our conversation on the Word of God, and I'm excited. That's right.
Nehemiah is such a great book. It's such a wonderful discussion that we've been having over the past several episodes, several weeks, about how to engage in leadership and how to lead God's way, not just focusing on the physical rebuilding project that Nehemiah underwent, but we began the conversation yesterday on the spiritual side of things as well and how transformative the word of God is. That's right. And if you missed any of those episodes, you can always go back on the iTunes or Spotify podcast app. And if today's your first time ever joining the Clearview Today show, first and foremost, we want to say welcome to the show.
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It's going to be a wonderful blessing for you, for your ministry, and for your growth and your understanding of the Word of God. That's right. But Dr. Shah, we're continuing this conversation through Nehemiah today. And Nehemiah is, it's quickly become one of our favorite books.
It's a wonderful story of a man's faithfulness and a nation's recovery. But yesterday, on yesterday's episode, or last week's episode, I'm sorry, we began the conversation about this isn't just a physical rebuilding project, which is what most people think of when they think of the book of Nehemiah. Right. The physical was just to prep them for the spiritual. As I mentioned, I'm not going to go back and reiterate the entire chronological sequence of how everything happened.
But I just want to pick up where Ezra is sent by God to the people in Judah and to the people in Jerusalem. And his job was to get them spiritually ready for the coming of Nehemiah. Mm-hmm.
So, Ezra the scribe, not Ezra the administrator, not Ezra the cupbearer, but Ezra the scribe. Means he is a man of the word. He comes first and he rallies the people to pray, to seek God, and to once again. fan the flames of the spiritual fire within them.
So he comes, he does his part. But that's not enough.
Now you need somebody who understands the ropes, somebody who understands how to get things done in their Washington. And their Washington was Susa or Persia. And so Nehemiah is also called by God. He gets word from his brethren that things were bad. Back in Jerusalem?
Maybe he had been to Jerusalem. Maybe this was the first time. We don't know. But he grew up in Persia, he grew up in Babylon, and he comes rallies the people, In spite of some incredible odds, in 52 days, 52 days, that's less than two months, the walls around Jerusalem are rebuilt.
Now, if you go to Jerusalem and some of you have gone with me, I've shown you those walls. You can see them in the middle of the old city of Jerusalem. And so, like, you're walking over this, almost looks like a bridge, like an overpass, and underneath you can see those walls. And Nehemiah came, he rallied the people, and they rebuilt the walls in 52 days, in spite of some incredible opposition. That's right.
Next step would be to say, okay, guys, now go back to your lives and learn how to fight. Make sure y'all are here for the pizza party. We finished the project. That's right. None of that.
What happens next is they gather for the reading of the word of God. That's right. Ezra is the one who leads them, not Nehemiah. He's a man of Oh w with a plan? He's a man who executes Some great endeavors, like building the walls around the city of Jerusalem.
He's the man who helps them defend themselves against the enemy. He is not the man for teaching the word. That's Ezra's job. And Ezra gets up and he begins to read. And they read from for a good five hours, as the Bible tells us.
The people bowed their heads. Worship the Lord. with their faces to the ground. And then it says here in verse 9. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, this is very important, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites.
The Levites who taught the people said to all the people, This day is holy to the LORD your God do not mourn nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.
So Th some teaching had to happen. I want to make a point about that before I go further. It's not enough just to read the Bible. The Bible also has to be understood. And this is where teaching comes in.
I had a great question I was going to pitch to you. That was pretty much you answered it there. I was going to say, for all the people who spend time reading the Bible and all the millions of people, even some of them who aren't Christians, who are actually reading the Bible, why is there no heart change? And I think that's the perfect answer because you have to seek to understand it. Yeah, you have to understand the Bible.
You have to understand the core of what the Bible is really about. It's not just a history book or the sacred tradition of the people of Israel. Oh, no, it is God's gospel of Jesus Christ to all humanity. At whatever stage of completion that it was, whether all they had was the first five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, or maybe they just had the book of Job first. or they had Samuel King's Chronicles.
Or they had the Psalms by this point, or they had the prophets, or then the prophet like Malachi came in, or now they have, you know, for us, the New Testament, all that. All of it. For whatever stage it was, is about the coming of God's Son. To give his life for us. That's right.
That is what the Bible is about. And so. Here That has to be taught. In your preaching, it's not enough to do a message on man, how to be a better dad. Or how to be Hardworking.
to not let your past hold you back. How to think positive. No, no, no. All those things may be some of the lessons you'll get out of the Bible, but the primary lesson. Is about the person and work of Jesus Christ.
It's about the gospel. Every sermon. Should be evangelistic. You know, people often talk about expository preaching and teaching the word of God, and I believe in all of that, but I believe that if the gospel preaching does not happen. Then expository preaching is a waste.
Yeah. Where have you seen the trend away from evangelistic preaching? Was there a point in time, or was there some sort of developmental thing that happened in American preaching that sort of got us away from this evangelistic style of preaching? Yeah, I would say definitely. That's a good point.
Because. People began to read the Bible, or Bible became accessible. And so now the next Question was, what does it mean? I need someone to teach me what the Bible means. And so.
People began to look towards those who could teach it well. And listen to them and learn from them.
So, I would say this is more of a 19th-20th century phenomenon.
Now, please don't misunderstand me. Does that mean that prior to the 19th, 20th centuries, that nobody ever taught the Bible? No, that's not true. Go back and read the sermons of people like Charles Spurgeon. Mm-hmm.
Or Joseph Parker, or go further back to John Wesley or George Whitfield. I mean, they taught the Bible. But gospel was primary.
Now, of course, there always have been the preachers or the priests. who did not do any of that. That's a good point. They simply held their positions and comforted the people and did the traditions and the rituals and kept everybody happy and collected their pays or their stipends or whatever. And that's that.
But there have always been people who taught the Bible and explained the meaning. But it's 19th, I would say definitely 20th century phenomenon. Where People became more aware that the Bible has answers, that they looked for Bible teachers. What happens with, again, I'm a big proponent of expository preaching, but if that's all you do, And if every message does not come back to Evangelism. Then I would go as far as saying that you just wasted A lot of time.
Yeah. Yeah, I think there's a lot of pastors out there who are focusing on their craft to the point, and I know this is true of me, not with preaching, but you focus on the craft and you focus on getting better at this thing enough to the point where you sort of miss the point of why you're doing it. Absolutely. I agree with that. Yeah, I've definitely fallen into the trap of how can I make worship so seamless, so smooth, so perfectly executed that I forget that the whole point of it is to get the people to engage with God.
That's right. Yeah, last weekend, see, right now, our church is going to the book of James. And James is a phenomenal work. It's so practical, it's so accessible, it is so down-to-earth. People love the book of James.
Other than probably Martin Luther, the German reformer, everybody loves the book of James. Yeah. All right. There's always one outlier. Yeah, Luther was the one.
But there have been others as well. But my point is. People love that. But if I had preached last weekend and just talked about wisdom, because. In James chapter 3, I think believe, I believe it's 13, verse 13 onwards, it's all about.
The wisdom that is from above. is first pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without hypocrisy, without partiality and without hypocrisy. If I had only preached on these are the indicators of wisdom and left it at that, I just doused out The fire, the spiritual fire burning in people's hearts. I may have done an excellent job. In word study.
Amy have done an excellent job in interpreting the syntax, the grammar behind that passage. I may have done a great job. Exposing or expositing the theology In the book of James, especially regarding wisdom, wisdom in the Old Testament, wisdom that Jesus talked about, wisdom that is available. But if that's all I did. That is not life-giving.
Yes, I'm saying that. Yeah. It is not life giving. And that's where I think a lot of problems come in because people think, I'm preaching the Bible. What is missing in my church?
I remember seeing a long time ago online, like Looney Tunes, like the Ac Me, like the, not the, what was his name? Chuck Jones, the wily coyote guy. He had a list of rules. For every episode of The Roadrunner and The Wily Coyote. Like the coyote has to always be the one who engages his own downfall.
And Pixar has these too. They have the 22 rules of storytelling that behind the scenes, these are the rules that govern this process. And I remember talking to you years ago, Dr. Shah, where you said that you had really one or two rules, but one of the hard rules was every message has to come back to the cross. It has to end at the cross.
And I remember at the time thinking, yeah, that makes sense because that's really important.
Now I see it's not that it's important. It's that's the point. Yeah. It's like. This illustration just came to me and I hope it it really does what I think it will do.
It's like having A machine. Whether that machine is a camera that's operating here, or that machine is a saw. Like sawing wood, or that machine is a popcorn machine, or that machine is, you name it, some other, some other. I don't know what what else I can think of right now. But It's Sophisticated, it is the latest technology, it can really get things done.
It can really get things done. But you have to plug it in. You have to plug it into the source, electrical supply. Unless you do that, that machine is going to stay dead. As expensive as it is, as good as it is, as much as it can potentially do, it will stay dead.
Cold, lifeless, dead. Unless you plug That machine. that cable, that wire, into the electrical socket.
Now it comes on. Jesus, and not just any Jesus, not just Jesus who is the one who created the world, or Jesus the one who is coming to rule and reign, or Jesus and his wonderful words, No, Jesus. His death, burial, resurrection. And receiving him in your life. If that is not done, that That machine is still unplugged.
That's so good. Yeah, that's true. I feel like you've just hit the nail on the head for many people who are listening, especially pastors or ministry leaders who are like, Man, I feel like I am pouring in the time. I feel like I'm working on the technicalities. I feel like I'm doing my research, but my messages just seem to fall flat.
And I wonder if it's because we're not plugged into the source. I think not plugged into the power. I think what we're doing is we're taking a power strip, right? We're taking like these long power strips you get from Home Depot or Lowe's, and we're putting all these things in my sermons, my radio shows, my worship ministry, my children's ministry, my youth. And what we're doing is we're taking that power strip and plugging it into the last socket, plugging it into itself instead of plugging it into the wall.
Yeah. And we wonder why nothing is, nothing's happening. I plugged everything in. I don't understand why nothing's coming to life. And I think you're on it, Dr.
Sha. It's not plugged into the right source. Yeah. Yeah. And I think what happens here with these people.
It seems on the surface, because when you read Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse 9, they're teaching them the word. Nehemiah, Ezra. The Levites are teaching the people the word, and they're telling them, This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the Lord.
You know, why were they weeping? Because they were realizing for the first time how guilty they were before God. How undeserving they were. Of God's blessing in their life. They were mourning.
This was not some nostalgia, or, oh, it just hurts my heart for all those who did not get to do what we got to do today. No, this was deep mourning.
Now, there's another way to look at it and go, Ah, these people were just overwhelmed. by emotions, by a sense of accomplishment or nostalgia or some other some emotion that that you feel like was Instrumental here. I think it was An acknowledgement, God, we have really blown it. And we need your grace in our lives. Yeah, we need your forgiveness.
And I think in those moments, even though it's not expressly s written over here, It is written, but you have to kinda read between the lines. You hear the gospel. Yeah. Because in verse 10, it says: The people, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and the Levites told them, Don't weep, this day is holy unto the Lord. And then it says in verse 10.
Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Now, here's something interesting. In just a few days, they were going to celebrate. The day of atonement. You see, if you don't get to that, you just think, like, okay, man, they were so, you know, so pent-up emotions, they just. Bursted out, or they just overflowed with emotions because all this time they were under so much stress and anxiety and pressure.
No. There's another way to read this. that in a few days they were going to celebrate Yom Kippur. This was a day of national mourning. fasting and repentance.
And what is so special about the this day? Yeah. were the two goats. One was sacrificed, and the blood was applied to the mercy seat in the temple. the second was kept alive, and the sins of the nation were symbolically laid on its head, and then that goat was taken out of the city and driven away, never to return.
It became the scapegoat. That's where we get the term the term scapegoat. Since the day of atonement was on the people, Was on the way, the people had no need to mourn anymore. That's what is going on here. Jesus is our atonement.
If you have received him as your sacrifice for your sin, there is no need to mourn anymore. Jesus not only became our sacrificial Lamb, But he also became our scapegoat. Means he died in our place, but he also took our sins, past, present, future, upon himself. That is reason to mourn. That is reason.
To weep And no, wow My sins put him there But don't weep This day is holy to the Lord. Be excited, your sins have been forgiven. You have been given another chance at life. You were born, but now you're born again. You see, this is what brings life.
This is what... is plugged into the electrical source. And now that engine Or that camera or that saw begins to work and and Amazing things happen. Absolutely. Now, folks, I hope that you were listening and I hope that you were paying attention to that because Dr.
Shah just gave us a masterclass and how to make sure that you are operating with technical and exegetical excellence while still being plugged into the source and keeping things focused on the gospel, focused on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That was incredible. Yeah, I mean, we're talking in it. I mean, that was an example right in front of us of walking through with historical accuracy and being faithful to the text while also pointing people back to the truth of the gospel. You know, the whole point of this is to equip you not only with a clearer view of the gospel, but to help you equip your people with a clearer view of the gospel.
So when we say things like, you know, expository preaching is. Very important, but you have to have it evangelical. It's just, it's as, and I don't want to say it's as simple as that, but it's as straightforward as what you just heard. This is the way that we communicate as pastors and as ministry leaders. Dr.
Shah, there's people out there who are listening to this right now who are probably mourning when they really should be joyful. And there's probably people listening who are joyful when they ought to be mourning. They haven't confronted their sin yet. How do you address those people?
Well, right now we are on the cusps of July the 4th. This is going to be our 250th anniversary of our nation's founding. And I have some of you who may be watching or listening years from now, this is 2026.
So from 1776 to 2026, 250th year anniversary is what we're celebrating. In America, we're grateful, grateful for God's blessing upon us, grateful for the freedoms we have, grateful for the opportunities we have. All those things are true. Grateful that this nation was built upon Judeo-Christian values. Grateful that this nation believes that there is we are one nation under God.
In God we trust. All those things are amazing. Anu et coeptis, which is our favored undertakings. He has favored our undertaking. All those things are amazing truths.
Right. And they can definitely bring us a sense of You know, joy and feeling overwhelmed. Wow, God is so good to us. We should be grateful for the blessings He has given us in this nation. But if you stop there It's empty.
It is empty. You know, The World Cup is going on right now. I have a few minutes to share this. World Cup is going on right now. And on July.
Uh the the first. Which was A couple of days ago, Wednesday night. The United States played against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Now Many people may not have paid much attention to that game, but I did. I did for different reasons. Of course, I wanted America to win, and they did win. Even though one of the players got a red card with 10 players that scored two goals. They're two, zero, they're one.
That's how you do it. But I watched the the other team, Bosnia Herskovina. People don't know much about it, but this is a country in Southeast Europe. In the Balkans. This country, unlike other countries in Europe.
Turn Muslim. Not all of them, because there's a population that is Eastern Orthodox, there's a population that is Catholic, but Bosnians. majority of them are Muslims. How did that happen? How did in a European country Turn to Islam.
It happened because when Islam was on the march. This part of the world, not known as Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time, it had different names throughout the centuries. It was right the the front line of the Islamic invasion, the the Arab armies coming up. The state of Christianity in that part, in that region. And we're going back like, you know, 7,800 years ago.
It was so weak. Theologically they were so weak When it comes to the core doctrines of our faith, they were so weak. When it comes to the gospel, it was so weak. that they were the first ones to fall. And they lost.
The gospel. I would say the gospel wasn't even there. Yeah. So I was watching these players and thinking You are supposed your ancestors did a disservice to you because if they had clarified the gospel, if they had been strong on the doctrines of our faith, whether it's Trinity or the authority and sufficiency of Scripture or the penal substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ, that Jesus is the only way, truth, and life, and every man, woman, boy, and girl needs to know him. If they had emphasized that.
Biblically, and in the power of the Holy Spirit today. Things would have been different. That's right. Yeah, we'd be living in a different world. We'd be seeing a different ballgame.
Everything would be different. And today, As I watched that team, they lost. Yeah, of course, I was excited for America, but I was also looking at those players and thinking. You have bigger problems than just losing this game. That's right.
In many ways, you've already lost a ball game. You've already lost the competition for your nation. And the reason I'm bringing that up is. Pray that America would not become that. We need to learn from history and go, No, make sure in every message, pastors, teachers, you bring in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's right. Yeah. So vital, so important for us, not just in preaching, but in our day-to-day lives and our interactions with other people, to stay plugged in to the source, the truth of who God is and what Christ has done for us through his death, burial, and resurrection. That's what gives us the direction in life. That's what gives us the power in life.
And that's what will help our messages get the spark that they need to ignite the flame for the sake of the gospel. One of the disadvantages that we have being a radio show is that we don't, we're not, this is not a sermon where Dr. Shah can look out, engage the audience. We can't tell, unless you guys write into the show and text us 252-582-5028, we can't tell whether this is landing with you or not.
So, Dr. Shah, let's just say someone's on the hook right now and they're like, I believe. Everything you're saying, I agree with it. I believe. And I want to give my life to Christ right now.
Even if it's just one person out of the thousands, the hundreds of thousands that may be listening, if it's just that one person, could you talk to them right now? Could you lead them in that decision? If I were there six, seven hundred years ago in this Balkan world, I would have said the same thing that I'm about to tell you. Amidst all the voices that are coming against you. all the noise that is around you, Listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit that is calling you to the only way that you can come to God.
God made everything. There's no doubt. I mean, when people say, oh, I don't know if this world just happened randomly took place and all that is garbage. That's right. Even the smartest minds who don't believe in Christianity know that someone made this.
That's right. That God Want a relationship with you. You have broken his law. You were born in trespasses and sins. But he made a way.
by sending his own son into this world, To die in your place, and all you have to do is trust Him, and His name is Jesus. He died, he was buried, but he rose again, and he wants to know you, and he wants to walk with you. In this life and in the life to come, give your life to Him right now. A simple prayer that says, Jesus, I need you in my life. I don't understand all this other stuff about how you are God's son and how did that happen and what I don't know everything, but I know this much.
I need you in my life. Make that decision now. That's right. And begin that journey. Amen.
And if you made that decision today, we want to rejoice with you, want to pray alongside you. Write in and let us know. 252-582-5028. We consider our listeners and our viewers part of our Clueview Today show family. And family helps you when you make a decision to follow Christ.
We're going to help you take those next steps, recommend some resources to you as well.
So make sure you write in and let us know. 252-582-5028. That's right. We want to thank all of you guys, all of our sponsors who made today's episode possible. We want to thank all of you guys who are donating monthly on pray.com, Abadanshah.com.
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