When there is sin in your ministry, you can't compromise with it. You can't reason with it. The only thing you can do is purge it. Let's talk about taking that action step coming up right now on the Cleaved Today Show. You're listening to Clear View 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 here in the studio with our host, Dr.
Abadan Shah. Dr. Shah, lots of great things to talk about today. Absolutely. We're going to be wrapping up the book of Nehemiah.
Yeah, sad to see Nehemiah. Oh, yeah. We've been in it so long. We've had so many discussions around it. It's kind of like saying goodbye to a friend.
I know, I know. It kind of hurts. But before we jump in, lots of. We usually do not start the episode off with announcements, but these are big, big announcements.
So we want to let you guys know our phone number. Has changed. We've got a brand. Yes, we've got a brand new phone number. This one is much more reliable.
We've been testing it all morning.
So here's a new phone number. Go ahead and write it down, save it in your phone: 252-429-6069. I'm gonna say it one more time for you: 252-429-6069. What you're gonna do is text in today, T-O-D-A-Y. Does not matter if it's uppercase, lowercase, just text that word to 252-429-6069.
It's gonna get you in there, and then you can send us any text message that you want after you have opted in. Also, want to let you know if today's your first time ever listening to the show, welcome. We want you to head on over to Abadanshah.com forward slash join, and we're gonna send you a free gift for joining the mailing list. That's right, Dr. Shah, our conversation around Nehemiah, we the last we left Nehemiah, there's been a pretty spectacular failure on the part of Neo, on the part of the Jewish people, specifically Eliash.
That's right. And in allowing, let's, how do we, how do we say this?
Well, you know what? We don't have to say even be even beat around the bush, allowing the enemy to. To come in, allowing people who are directly, diametrically opposed to what God is doing and welcoming them into God's house. He's the priest, but he had goofed up. Dr.
Ja, have you ever seen a goof up of this proportion? Yeah, I mean, it happens all the time. You know, Nehemiah was there for a very long time. I mean, he was there 12 years as the governor. goes away for one year.
In just a matter of one year, things went downhill. And in our last episode, we talked about how Elieshib the priest allowed Tobiah, a sworn enemy of God's people, to move into the temple. I mean, think about that. It's not like he went and had lunch with him. Or they went and played golf, you know, and they would just somebody happen to see them talking.
No, no, no. You can move in and kicked out. The place, or you know, threw out all the food and everything, because this was the room, the storage room. Not just like a storage room where we just throw, you know, Junk in there. This is The sacrifice these are these are the offerings.
And he threw those out and allowed Tobiah to move in. Forget about the offerings, forget about this act of worship unto God. Why don't we set up a little penthouse for the bad guy?
Well, what you don't understand is this is a very powerful man, and he can really help this ministry. I understand. He's look, we all got a past, right? And who are we to judge? Isn't that what God says?
Judge not, lest ye be judged. Dr. Shah, compromising with the enemy for the sake of quote-unquote ministry. I don't have, I've got no clue what Elishab's motive was, but compromising with the enemy in order to. Bring something into God's house.
Does it ever work? It does not work. Typically, we would not compromise with a person, but we compromise with ideology.
So make sure that is not there. Make sure you don't fall for the ideology. That's right. And. The application for us would be May not be a person, it may be a principle, but make sure you don't compromise.
Just so we can get Oh fine. a wider reach or be more Aware in the community and be more present in the community. Don't compromise your core values. I don't know if people would be so bold as to say, Yeah, I have intentionally set aside this spot in my life, in my heart, for the enemy, for sin, for disobedience against God. But I think we, in fact, I know that we fall into this often.
What are some ways that we can maybe do a quick check to see if we've reserved a room for the enemy? Yeah, I mean, just. If your church does not have a statement of faith, which I'm sure it does. But just in case you you are not aware of it or you cannot easily access it, it should be readily available. If you have a website, it should be there.
You say, well, we don't have a website. If you have a Facebook page, it should be there. There should be some place where you say these are Our our Our beliefs, our doctrines, and laid them out. there's also a place where you can write out or or put up there. Yeah.
Your constitution and bylaws, you can put there. I mean, we do it. You say, well, if we do it, people will misuse it. Or it will tell people what you will not compromise on, right? Yeah, when you're young and like you're new to ministry, you think that that kind of stuff is not necessary because, I mean, we're Christians.
So we believe Christian things, and other people who believe Christian things can come in. And the longer you spend in ministry, Dr. Shah, you just know that's not the case. Not always the case. You got to let people know up front what they're buying into, what they're getting.
Yeah, there was a time where I was a little bit hesitant to say certain things, thinking, oh, they will not come back. And then I realized that Was not very smart because some of those people came with some very wrong ideologies. False doctrines. And so, not telling them upfront, this is who we are. was was harmful to us as a church.
So, I'm not saying you need to be right down to every single conviction you have. You can't do that. But at least the major things. Put it out there. And if people aren't going to come back because you hold to those doctrines, perhaps they shouldn't be there in the first place.
That's right. You don't want them there because they will probably take away the people you do have. Right.
So we're seeing. We're saying goodbye for now to Nehemiah today, right? But he's got one more lesson in leadership to teach us. Yes. This problem, right?
There's a person, there's an enemy, a wicked person in the temple who should not be there. And Nehemiah goes in and he's got the wise leadership, right? He goes in and he calmly explains, Hey, Eliashab, I know that this, you know, maybe you didn't intend this, and I don't want to judge your motives, but this is something that we got to work together to resolve. No, he didn't do that. Oh, excuse me.
So if you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Nehemiah, chapter 13, because this is where we're going to see how Nehemiah was not just a, just, you know, live and let-live kind of a person. He was. A powerful leader. I mean, a powerful leader.
So starting in verse 10, it begins. He starts with The situation with the Levites. He said, I also realize that the portions For the Levites had not been given them. For each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field. Means you were not paying the staff.
Right.
You know, some people feel like church staff does not do anything, and we've addressed that before, and that is just not the case. That's right, that's right. You know, you have certain pastors who work a lot, some who work. Not as much does not mean they're not working. Right.
They're just different styles of working. Right.
I work constantly, but I would never look down on somebody who doesn't work the same way because they're gifted in a different way. That's right. And I'm. Not going to be judging them based on what God has designed me to do. Right.
So There are there are different gifts. You should never withhold pay like that from somebody. That's right. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, and it happens, and it's very sad.
I knew a pastor. They did that to him. I I remember growing up, I also remember my parents talking among themselves and I overheard that a so and so pastor had not been paid. Because they were purposely withholding. his salary because they were angry with him.
And so I'm like, what? Wow. Really? They were angry with him. Yikes.
Just imagine not being able to feed your family. not being able to take care of your Needs your bills because the church is angry with you. I didn't, I genuinely, I'm not saying that's just for the sake of the radio. I didn't know that was something that could legally happen. Yeah, I mean, it happened in America.
I mean, the first example that I gave was somebody right here. Wow. I mean, you know, in America. And the second one I gave was: I remember growing up, growing up happening. Wow.
It's just not a good thing to do. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. And so, of course, he.
He said, you know, they have gone back to the field to work so they can earn, so they can survive. And so we got to bring them back, worship. Is important. Worship matters. I mean, at Clearview.
One of our core values, we have four. We're a Bible-believing church. We are a loving church. We are a worship. Ping church or praise and worship is our value.
And then we care about lost people right there. Those are the four. legs of the stool. on which we we are sitting as a church. That's right.
Praise and worship. is very important. And if a church stops doing that, something is fundamentally wrong. Yeah. Well, we like your preaching.
That's not enough. Yeah. Yeah, if worship starts to go, that's a big red flag. Yeah. Oh, we like all the ministry we do.
We feed the homeless.
Okay, that's good. We have a great ministry to the students and the children. But that's great, because we want the young families, I hear you.
Well how about the worship? Oh, that's not that important. And That's means worship is the time when you are collectively Talking to God and telling him how great he is. How wonderful he is. Yeah, what happens, Dr.
Shar? What do I do if I agree with everything that you're saying, but I happen to be in a church that feels that way or is behaving that way? And maybe it's as simple as find another church, but maybe it's not that simple. Maybe my family's here. Maybe I've grown up here.
You know what I mean? Like, how can I influence change? Let's take a quick break. Hello from www.designerminidoodles.com Home of the best quality mini, micro mini, and toy size golden doodle puppies, as well as miniature burnadoodle puppies. and miniature cabapoo puppies.
in the United States. Here at Designer Mini Doodles, we have a nanny and we are able to Fly our puppies anywhere in the country, allowing you to get some of the best bloodlines from top quality breeding program in the United States.
Well, you begin with the people around you. Of course, go to your pastor. I would say, first and foremost, go to him and say, hey, you know, our worship, maybe we need to do something about it. We need to sing.
Songs that people understand. Maybe we need to invest in somebody who can come and help lead us.
Some churches prefer certain styles of music, some prefer. a different style, you know, traditional versus contemporary, the old battle Battleground. You know, I I get it. And somewhere in the middle, compromise and see if you can do something. And but but emphasize worship.
Yeah. Emphasize worship. And when you call that person, don't give them A piddly salary. I mean, a couple of years ago, a pastor called me up. He said, Can you recommend A person here.
to help lead our music. I said, oh, okay. I said, what are you looking for? As I'm looking for a young person Preferably married with children. I said, okay.
I said. That's that's great. What else are you looking for?
Well the church wants us to for uh you know us to be more traditional Maybe Semi-contemporary Shock to the Lord once. Yes, yes, yes. If you consider shout out to the Lord contemporary, man, I don't know. I don't know what to say. Yeah, I don't know what to say.
Maybe every now and then we'll do the My Chains Are Gone version. Yeah, we really like the traditional amusement. Right.
Yeah. Yeah. Someone's listening to this, like, That's not contemporary. Drums in the church, you can have a little box. A little bit.
You can have a little box every week. We can just, you know, slap our. We don't need drums. And then, and then he told me the amount they were going to pay. It was like, we're going to give him.
I think it was like if I'm not wrong, two hundred and fifty dollars um a week.
Something like that. That's yikes. That's a thousand dollars a month. Yeah. How do I put no?
That's not enough. No. Yeah, I mean but but they're in their mind they're thinking this person is is just leading music one hour and even in that hour it's only 10 minutes.
So for 10 minutes, you're getting $250. Yeah, but I mean. Talk to us because we know. I mean, we, the three of us on this couch sitting here, we know why that's a huge, huge logical fallacy. But for the people who are listening, when you put it that way, they're like, Well, I mean, actually, yeah, for 10 minutes of work, I mean, that's not that.
Why is that the wrong way to think as a church leader?
Okay, so let's. Talk about a medical doctor.
Okay, so if a medical doctor meets with you. about Some condition you're going through, or something is going on with your body, something is not right. How long does the doctor talk to you? Maybe 10 minutes, 5, 10 minutes. Let's say make it 20.
Make it 30 minutes. Sure, 30 minutes. Yeah. 30 minutes. Initial assessment.
Yeah, 30 minutes. And how much do they charge you? I mean, if you talk about insurance or Medicare, whatever, add all that in there. You're talking about thousands of dollars just for that one meeting. Right.
No, no, no, no. My copay, I hear your copay, but how about the rest of the pay? Right.
It's a lot of money. Yeah. What about if you're building a house and you're trying to get an architect. How much time is he spending on that design? Why are you paying him so much money?
Because you want to make sure that the house is going to pass all the codes and it's going to be, you know, buildable, I guess if I can say that. I mean, If not, it's gonna fall apart. It's like me trying to build a house. I mean I know geometry. I can saw wood and I can dig a hole and I can.
You know, put a hammer and nails together. Other than that, Can you build a house? Oh, goodness, no. No. I do good to build Legos.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so if you think about that. You're getting someone to lead music. were with a family means you want to make sure that this person is stable.
And then you want them to Work every week. And Do all this. Think about the The investment he has to make in making sure that he has the right education. Or Right, theology.
So, all that has to be taken into account.
So, it's not just that ten minutes. And I'm sure you want him to invest in the in the worship team. Yeah, I'm sure you want him to forge those relationships. I'm sure you want him to rehearse. Right.
do things, you go, I mean, just like the Jewish people here in the time of Nehemiah. They they they don't think like that. Yeah. And it's very sad. It's an old problem.
It's nothing new. It's nothing new. So that's happened.
Now, listen to verse 11.
So I contended with the rulers and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together and set them in their place. Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse. Means people have stopped giving their tithes.
So there was no money there. Yeah. Why would people give money if There's nothing happening. Right.
There's no worship. You're not paying those people anymore.
So you're literally trying to kill that church. Yeah. Or here they were trying to kill the temple. And even the room where they would store those tithes and offerings, that's occupied by public enemy number one. Yeah.
So imagine telling it sounds comical, but it's really a tragedy. Yeah, like the room where we would keep all the money that you're giving, the guy you hate is in there. The guy that hates you is in there. Right.
Why? Would people give anything, you know? How interesting. Again, I want to challenge our listeners, our viewers, to as a church, start doing things for the glory of God. For the preaching of the inerrant, infallible, authoritative, sufficient word of God.
For Building each other in love and encouragement and truth. Let's start. Leading one another to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit, right? To reach the lost? Let's become a soul-winning church, whether you go across the street or across the world.
I know some of us have become weak. Or weaker. In reaching the world since the pandemic, and it's like nobody wants to go anywhere. It's like, oh, I'm scared. But I hope we will go back to Missions, whether it's across the street or across the state or across America or across the world.
Let's go back to.
Soul winning? If you do things God's way, it's an adage. I think it was Hudson Taylor who said that. I don't know. God's work done in God's Way will not lack God's supplies.
Those are great. I love that. Yeah. So you will have money coming in. Doesn't mean you will not have a tough time, doesn't mean that there won't be Struggles at times.
Of course, you will have that. But overall, don't worry about money. Be a good manager. But work hard, money will come. By the way, that principle applies anywhere you go in life, it's not just for the church.
You work hard, money will come. That's true. I tried. Money didn't come. I w Don't say that.
Yeah. You you Maybe you tried wrongly. Maybe I did. It tried. Yeah, sure, you did wrongly.
What does that mean? You know, sometimes people say things just to shut you up, and you feel like, well, I guess I was wrong. No, that's not true. They're not telling you the whole truth. How long did you try?
Yeah, that's what I was going to say. What did that try look like?
Well, I had this one job, and I man, I worked very hard. I was there. How long were you there? I mean, I was there a long time. How long were you there?
I mean Three weeks? Oh, man. Yeah, you got it, bro. Might not even be enough for payroll to hate yet. But three weeks?
I mean, that's not enough. No. You couldn't have made employee of the month if you did your best. Right.
You weren't there a month. You weren't even there a month. Yeah, exactly. You need a month. You had a cracker jack job, you couldn't have made it.
Right.
I mean, all that to say, you know, we need to. Work hard. And put God first, put the gospel first, money will come. That's right. Next thing here, look at what happens.
In verse twenty two And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves and they should go and guard the gates to sanctify the Sabbath day. Means Staff? Start Busting you behind. There you go. Because the Levites had also become lazy.
They were like, well, I mean, they don't want us. I mean, they're happy with that. I mean, I don't know. What else do you want from me? We don't we like to ignore this we like to ignore this reality That's a lot, I mean, a lot of church staff out there do a great, great job.
They work hard, but a lot of people in ministry, they're lazy. Yeah, it's an unfortunate reality that that stereotype exists for a reason because there have been examples of it in people's past. If you want to get paid for the work, Start working. That's right. And your work has to be effective, too.
Like a lot of times, man, I've found myself, whether it's in the gym, whether it's at work, whether it's in life, I'm working super hard, but I'm not working smart. Nothing I'm doing is effective. Nothing is working.
So I'm just like, well, I'm just going to double down, try even harder. It's like, you're doing the wrong thing. You're following the wrong program. That's right. Yeah.
So, I mean, my encouragement to. Our staff and staff, members, pastors, everywhere is make sure you're doing the right thing. Don't let the people dictate your attitude. That's right. It's very easy.
I mean, I'm s I am I am susceptible to that. When somebody is like, Oh, you don't do enough, I'm like, Okay, fine, I'm I'm just gonna do bare minimum and and whatever. You can't do that. That's right. Or something about quiet quitting.
Yeah. Or or if somebody is being critical to you or they're saying, Hey, did you do this and this and this, right? Man, uh my Maybe I'm not the one. Yeah. And all those things are just emotional.
You know, like a dog sits there and just, you know, licks a wound. It's emotional wound licking. You cannot do that. I mean, once in a while you can do a quick one. Just a little but then you're done.
Get back to work. Get back to work. Do the job. You're a sheepdog. Don't be over there licking your wounds and thinking, I'm I'm here.
No. Okay. Yeah, you can't apply that corporate mindset to ministry. You know what I mean? Like in ministry, at least from what I've seen, the harder and smarter you work, you directly benefit.
And so, do the people around you in your community and in your church. Whereas, like in corporate, like if you work, bust your behind, you might get a promotion, but you might not. The company will benefit. Church is almost the exact opposite. You know what I mean?
Like, the people around you become blessed by your work, and so do you. And lastly, here in verse 25, so I contended with them. This is very interesting, kind of humorous. And curse them. Huh?
Well, don't do that. If your people don't behave, I knew a pastor who cursed people. Really? Yeah, he did that. He was very angry.
I was going to say, was it like the cool young guy trying to be edgy, or was it just like a guy with anger? Because people had. not followed his leadership and did not Like him, and they demonstrated that whether he was preaching or out in public or in the vestibule. I mean, they would show it. And so he lost him.
Cussed at him. Not cussed at him like continuously. Right.
But there was this one. Service. He called names and he let him have it. It wasn't like that legendary Jim Stanbridge hissy, was it? Don't build your kingdom in the video room.
Don't do it. I mean, this was actual cuss words. Yes. And that's where you go, you know, you allowed. Your emotions to the best of you, that's not good.
He struck some of them. Oh man, he hit so.
So, do we need to disclaimer? Do we need to have a disclaimer between every one of these? Like, don't cuss at your people, don't hit them, don't pull their hair out. And he pulls out their hair. Yeah, is this like Tobias or is this like his people, like the leadership?
No, his people. This is them. This is not Tobias. Tobias had an army. No, he couldn't do that.
Yeah, no, he's doing that to his own people, home. Nehemiah said, I got two things for you: discipleship and discipline. If you're listening on the radio, he held up his fist. Struck some of them, pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God: you shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons for yourselves.
Now It seems like wow, that's a little Weird. Just know that when we talk about these kinds of examples in the Bible. You have to remember what 1 Corinthians chapter 10 tells us. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, I'm going to read that passage very quickly. Not all of it, maybe just sections of it.
Paul says Moreover, brethren. I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud. And in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them. And the rock was Christ. Paul is talking to the Corinthian church that was doing things that were not right.
And they were bad-mouthing Paul. They were divided into different groups. They were mistreating people. Especially at the Lord's Supper. As you know, we read that passage during the Lord's Supper.
it's more a corrective than anything else. Yeah. Now verse six tells us something very important. This is First Corinthians chapter 10, verse 6.
Now these things became our examples. To the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. and do not become idolaters as were some of them Verse eight, Let us not commit, nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty three thousand fell. Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents. On and on and on it goes.
Now why did I read that passage? to help us understand that what The Hebrews or the people of Israel, or the Jewish people, all that they went through in their History Was not only to bring the Messiah into the world, to bring the Son of God into the world. but it was also to set an example for us how to live The The life Of faith in Christ. That's right. That's right.
So there. Go ahead.
Sorry.
So, so, so this. Striking them, pulling their hair, and all that stuff is. is not Like we do the same thing now if somebody doesn't listen to God or does something that are contrary to the word of God. We don't become violent. But we are to Take it seriously.
That's right. That's right. This is serious. This is not something to play with. And that's can be tempting because in the moment when somebody is Is compromising Christian values.
We're like, I don't want to hurt feelings. I can assure you, Nehemiah was not concerned about hurting feelings. Oh, no, not he was putting a hurting on them. That's right. So.
Sometimes it's okay to be like, oh, I don't want to hurt their feelings. That's why I didn't say anything. But when it comes to sin, You better speak up. That's right. The person who's listening who is like, okay, I've recognized that maybe there are some areas in my life that I need to deal with.
There's some sin, there's some tobias that I've let set up shop and I need to kick them out. What are some things practically that they can do today to address that sin? I mean, you have to very intentionally, vigorously. Submit to God. And root out that sin from your life.
You cannot sit there and play with it and fall into that emotional. trap that, oh, it's just me, you know, uh, because of what I'm gone through, I'm gonna look at a little bit of pornography, I'm gonna do a little bit of addiction, I'm gonna do a little bit of overeating. Why? Because I just feel bad. And if I feel bad, I'm just gonna binge watch something No, you you don't You cannot do that.
You cannot do that. You have to take it seriously, just like Nehemiah took it seriously. I mean, he. He beat on those people, he pulled their hair, he made them swear. We don't do the same thing.
We don't do that to others or to our own selves. But we do take it very seriously. That's right. Guys, make sure you are following along with all the episodes of the Clear Vee Today Show. It's going to help you walk with God in every area of your life, from leadership to your own walk with God.
And it's going to help you engage with God's Word and take seriously the sin in your life. Take seriously, confront those areas that need to be dealt with so that you can live a life that glorifies God. That's right. We want you guys to stay connected with us. You can do that again by texting today, T-O-D-A-Y-252-429-6069.
We're going to leave that number in the description below so you guys can save it in your phone. And once you text today, you can text us anything you want. You can text a question, maybe a topic for Dr. Shah to talk about on future episodes of the show. And if you want to give, you can do that as well.
Right in the description of this podcast, there's a link that says support the show. We want to thank all of our monthly donors, even the ones on pray.com, Abadanshah.com. Thank you for giving. Thank you for your support. And you can also, if you're giving on the radio, you can visit us at Abadanshah forward slash give.
That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clear Vee Today.
