This is the Truth Network. Forever thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119, verse 89. I'm Stu Everson. Welcome to this special Wednesday in the Word Leader podcast, where we prepare and equip our leaders of this special Bible study outreach breakfast.
Every week to teach through the scriptures. Thirteen Dario locations. There's a men's group meeting and several of the Locations host the women on Thursday morning. Stay tuned. Be encouraged as we jump into this week's Wednesday in the Word.
It's been said that the Bible is God's gift to man. But the hymnal is man's gift. to God. And when Psalm 100 says, make a joyful noise, that happened. In Nehemiah chapter 12.
We're honing in on the last part of chapter 12, one of the richest. Most joy. empowered times of worship. arguably in the whole Bible. With me today, we have a special guest host, Dr.
Date the word Dwayne Carson. We'll tell you a little more about his ministry as we move along here, but Dr. Carson. You see a lot of things in this passage. And these people, they have come a long way.
In this great revival, as we were talking before coming on the air doc, the Book doesn't start off in such a happy place, and yet here we have this. Huge culmination. climactic worship point at the end of chapter twelve. Yes, you know, when the books start, we've got a couple people there seeing Nehemiah. He's in a foreign city serving the king and.
I don't know how it happened, but a question evidently got asked. What's happening with the people? What's happening with the place? And they give this horrible, oh, distressing report. The people are in reproach.
Well, now we get to chapter 12, and we've got people rejoicing. And I just love the book of Nehemiah. I love Nehemiah, how he was a vessel in God's hand to bring about a change in people's lives. And what an inspiration to us. And this passage, they're now dedicating the wall, but more than that, Stu, they are dedicating themselves, which is really what needs to take place in all of our lives.
Amen. Yeah, we see this theme, the first really Six, seven chapters of the book: God rebuilding the city, rebuilding the walls, and rebuilding the gates. which were so important. But then we see in the latter half of the book, God rebuilding his people to occupy and to be that city. of light set on a hill, And so, you know, Dr.
Carson, we saw this amazing revival process. It started with one man on his knees in chapter one, weeping, mourning, repenting. confessing sin, fasting, calling out to his God. God answered that prayer, gave him favor with King Artaxerxes, who gives him pretty much a blank check and says, Go rebuild and go do what God has put in your heart. He did it.
There was much opposition. Without, and then we see the opposition within with the different factions going on. God worked, God provided in 52 days miraculously, this wall and these gates are built and they're restored. And then there's this great Bringing out of the book of God. Everything changes when you open the book of God.
Chapter 8, every revival is hinged on those two things: the word of God and confession of sin. The confession of sin is in chapter 9, and then. We spent uh the last uh week in ten. Through 12, 26, talking about all these lists of people, God counts the people because every person counts, and they're all significant to the narrative. It's like a book of lives, like rolling the credits.
And the role they all had, and now here. And then, who lives in the land? You got to live in this place. This is a rough place that had been taken over by mob lords and a lot of. shady folks and now God's people were back living in the walls and Dr.
Carson, it brings us to this dedication. It brings us to this dedication, which is full of music. 27 through 47, about 20 verses. That talks about this, you know, starting in verse 27.
Now, at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought out the Levites. In all their places, you can't have a dedication without. The priests and Levites who are really Leading that whole thing, and they go through a. Dedication. Process.
They bring in all their singers. They bring in anyone connected with any kind of musical instrument. There's a bunch of musical instruments mentioned here. And Dr. Carson, you have your priests and your Levites, and there's a purification process, verse 30 talks about.
before they you know open this massive collective worship of dedication, prayer, and praise. But they got to purify themselves, right? Doc, there's got to be that little process that happens with the folks, the priests and the Levites. That's an important part. Holy things are to be handled with holy hands.
We need to have that cleansing. Before I preach, I need to, Lord, I need to be as clean before you as possible because I'm just your vessel. And your holy hand doesn't come upon unclean vessels. And so, as you were saying about the confession. The priests, the Levites, they purified, they sanctified, they consecrated themselves so many times before we call the worship service, meeting with the praise team, even when they're doing quote practice.
I would challenge them: let's make sure. You're not bringing sin onto the platform. Um, or are your eyes clean, ears clean? Is your mouth clean? Are you bringing a clean vessel for God to flow through?
And so, I love verse 30. I think that needs to be emphasized big time as we think about those who are going to be what we call leaders of worshipers. Leaders of worshipers, and it's interesting that they didn't just purify like the temple. and the sacrifices, but they purified themselves, they purified the people. The gates and the wall.
So every area for God is sacred. Everything's His. And, you know, maybe, you know, don't want to jump too far down the road, but, you know, maybe.
Some of those listening have done a prayer walk around their home when they first moved in. Or have done a prayer of dedication of their church where they prayed over every door. Oh, by the way, at Dario, you've been to these, Doc. We go through, we pray for every door, we pray for the drive-thru before they open the restaurant. We just ask God's blessing, anointing.
And we just basically say that everything is the Lord's. And so, and I'm not equating that with what happened here in the temple. You know, we have Old, we have New Testament, but there is a very real sense that He is Lord of all. and that uh we are to to Dedicate every aspect and these gates and these walls that we don't want them to think: hey, our hands built this. Our ingenuity, our processes, our discipline, getting up early, going to bed late, fighting.
We had a sword in one hand, a trowel in the other hand. We were digging, we were building, we're fighting, we're watching, we're praying. The last thing we would want these people to come away with, or us to come away with, when we look at what God's used us to build, is: hey, I did this. Look at the, I'm trusting in the, you know, don't trust in horses, don't trust in chariots. We trust in the name of the Lord our God.
It's not by might, it's not by power, it's by spirit.
So, a very keen reminder of that. Dr. Carson, another aspect here, too, a question. They could come out at verse 30. and this preparation part before they get in the worship service.
And that is How do you prepare yourself? For worship, you've preached, you've served, you've led student life. Major Christian University, you've led Christian schools, churches, Dr. Carson. There's a preparation that just doesn't happen like right when you walk in the door.
The church doors on Sunday morning. Can you talk about how important that is from that day and Nehemiah's day going into this big worship dedication to just preparing, having a heart ready to go into worship? Yeah. 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 21. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, not speaking about sin.
He will be a vessel of honor, sanctified, and here's a key word, Stu, useful for the master. prepared for every good work. I don't know how many times I have looked at 2 Timothy 2, 21 and just said, Lord, right now. Cleanse me. I want to be a vessel in your hand for your honor, for your glory to impact the world for you.
and to be that sanctified useful vessel. um and then it follows up with flee you useful lust but pursue Righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And if you take those two verses. 2 Timothy 2, 21 and 22. and and you just go from head to toe.
And said, Lord, I'm your vessel. I want to think clean thoughts. I want to speak words that are purified. And I just want to be that clean vessel for you. Uh It's unreal what God can do.
Amen. He can anoint the clean vessel. Yeah, amen. And sometimes it's as simple as thinking. I think I heard Dr.
Jeremiah say, hey, get ready for Sunday morning on Saturday night. You know, think about getting the children in bed and getting everyone ready. You know, having clothes set out for worship the next day. One thing we try to do on the way to church with my wife and whatever kids are home. or grandkids as we try to pray.
For the service, on our way to the service, pray for the pastor. Maybe he's wrapping up the first service. You know, pray for hearts to be tender to the gospel. And so, this is a preparation part they went through. By the way, what a parallel passage we have in 1 Kings 5.
You know, at Sen Chronicles, we're It was Solomon. That the great dedication of the temple, a lot of parallels, you know, with the order of the priest getting things ready. getting things right before the Lord. And you have this here. And then, you know, so really this first section.
Doc, I don't know how you would break these verses down, you know, these 20 verses, verses 27 through 47. You have This, you know, the gathering together of everyone, gathering all the singers, gathering all the instruments, then you have this kind of purification preparation. And then you have these two large Thanksgiving choirs. And then you have a whole bunch of names, which are hard to understand. But guess what?
Our names would probably be hard to understand to these folks if they saw our names on a piece of paper. I heard one pastor say that. And then you have all the gates they go to. And then you have just the this Angelic singing going on. How would you break up, how would you set this passage up for our leaders as they look at 27 through 47 of Nehemiah chapter 12?
Well, I I do think you look at the The context you've got people who have been workers. who are now going to become worshipers. And there are people who it is their responsibility to be leaders of worshipers and um and so you you look at those first and what actions that they take in order to be god's vessel Um and then uh I broke it down where God is so interested in all the details, not just. Who was singing, but the instruments that they were using. There's a lot of order here.
Um And so it's really the passage only, I think, has two main points where you're going to see their giving. Praise to God. But then they're also giving of their Contribute, they're making their contribution. When you get to verse 44. There's a transition because God's work needs to be paid for by God's people.
And so there's really, it's going to break down to two main points. We've got a dedication where God's people are now giving praise to him. And then there's going to be God's people who are going to be. uh providing for God's work.
Well That's how I'd break it down. I love that breakdown. Yes, sir. And it's very good. And Wright parked in the middle of the passage.
Well, kind of toward the end. Before the giving part that you mentioned, is this verse 43? Before we go there, it's important to note there are these massive processions and The same walls that Tobiah uh said in his criticism in his attacks on Israel That a fox could walk on and break because they were so bad off. These are the same walls that the people are actually walking on. And there's two big choirs, one led by Ezra, one led by Nehemiah, each going, one's going counterclockwise, one's going clockwise.
They're circling. And this Uh Awesome. coral collaborative Cohesive praise, two Thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God. And this is in verse 40. But so it's really neat to see how that's organized.
It's really beautiful, isn't it, Doc? Yeah, if we go back to verse 31, so I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall. Leaders don't miss that. Yeah. Up on the wall.
on the wall. What you just said, Stu, I couldn't help but think that they did. They said, if a fox comes up and touches the wall, let it crumble. He's putting all these leaders on the wall. And what a testimony to the people about their own work.
That's right. What God had done. They're able to see it. I don't know about you, but I love to go to the top of buildings. Yes.
I want to see out, but it's also the reminder: what am I standing on?
Someone built something up. And they were up on the wall. I would highlight that word on the wall. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
Very good. And it's almost a look what God did moment, right? Hey, let's look and see what, look, come and see the works of God. Awesome. Awesome to the sons of men.
Now, Dr. Carson, this verse 43. And that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced. For God had made them rejoice with great joy. Yeah, just for that little phrase right there, folks.
In the study of scripture, I've never seen that before in all my life. And I even prayed last night, God, make me rejoice with great joy. What a great, what a great, you know, tune my heart to sing thy praise, as the hymnist says, and come that the hymn, the great hymn, come thou fount. God had made them to rejoice with great joy.
Now, listen to this. The women and the children also rejoiced.
Now, that little phrase there, Doc, is interesting because in every culture, As go the women and children. You know, we say, as go the men, of course. A man comes back to church, there's a high likelihood that his wife and kids will follow. You know, you see the statistical studies. And you reach the men, you reach the culture.
But the greatest victims. of sinful men. sinful culture. A group of people, or even a nation like Israel, that gets away from God, is the women and children suffer. There is crime, there is.
Objectification of women. There's awful trafficking and harm and abuse of children. And here you have in Jerusalem on this day. Inside these rebuilt walls and gates. You have women and children rejoicing.
Oh, that women and children would rejoice in our culture. You know, and that you did a whole show on VBS Vacation Bible School. which is a beautiful picture of that.
So many women who are giving children cause for joy and sharing the gospel this week. Dr. Carson, you said some you shared some horror stories and some testimonies, didn't you, on that whole thing. But I think about how rich that is. That a culture that esteems women and protects children And here they are rejoicing at this ceremony.
I don't know if you want to comment on that real quick before we hit this little last phrase.
Well, with you, when you read verse 43 and to our leaders who are going to be teaching this, you've got to highlight verse 43. The women and the children. How important is it? that we are teaching our children God's word. This is the training up of our children.
They've got to know the word of God and they don't need to be pushed aside. and forgotten, no, they need to be part of being taught week in and week out. what God's word has to say. And I worked at First Baptist Dallas years ago. And I was part of the children's ministry, the beginner department.
And every week we were giving a child at least one verse, sometimes two verses, to memorize that they can do this. And then at the end of the year, they've memorized 52 to 70 Bible verses. Their lives would never be the same because of that. And so I love the fact that. Nehemiah, as this book is being written, included those phrases: women and children.
God loves all. And I'll say this real quickly, Stu. When Moses was looking to get the people of God out of Egypt. Pharaoh said, you take the men. And go and worship and Moses.
No, no, no, no, no, no. our women and our children will go with us. Wow, such a good word. And you know, this final little statement. That we talked about.
I'm going to let you, I'm going to hold my powder, no pun intended, and let you use your illustration. I'll say it, I'll say the words here at the end of 43, verse 43.
So that the joy of Jerusalem Was heard afar off? What was your comparison of that, Doc? I love it.
Well, you know, right now we're coming up on the 250th anniversary of our 250th birthday of the Declaration of Independence. But previous to that, what really got all this going was on April, I believe, the 9th, 1775, there was a shot heard round the world. I remember hearing that when I was a kid in school, there was a shot heard round the world.
Well, this is a shout that is heard round the world. I love it.
And does their worship does their worship go around the world? Yeah. Wow. It's not a showy thing. It's not a but but you know, it's interesting.
I heard Alastair Begg in a sermon talk about certain parts of of Scotland. And even really now in America, is outdoor sports, football, other, you know, soccer, everything gets big. He says you literally could, if people that were within a mile of a stadium. their windows would shake From the noise of the other, of a team scoring a goal in that stadium. It's absolutely crazy loud.
You can hear it. And this was, I mean, think about this. These people. God had redeemed them. God had rebuilt them.
God had used them to rebuild his city, the city of God. In Jerusalem, the city of peace. the gates, the walls. And here they come together, and this is a loud, they are all with one voice. singing praise to the one true God.
And in the sound, the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off. And it makes me think: how apparent. How loud is my joy. Do people see Oh my, something's happened to that guy. That's not the same guy.
That I think with your testimony, Dr. Carson, that's not the same guy that was getting a six-pack of beer at a little convenience store when Jerry Falwell walked right by you. There's something different about this guy today than that guy back then, Dr. Carson. There's something redeemed.
There's something that a joyful noise is coming out of those lungs and not profanity today, right? That's exactly right. I went from rebellion. To be reborn. That reborn just gave me a brand new, that redeemed life.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Real quickly, Stu, I'm a Virginia Tech Hokie fan when it comes to football. Wow. And I don't know if you've ever been to one of their games. Oh, they get the keychains out.
They came and played Wake Forest, and I was right sitting in the middle of a bunch of them. And I'd never seen more keychains and more bling bling and more noise. I mean, they were, I could hear, I could barely hear my wife talking.
Well, when the game starts, when they enter in, okay, they enter in with the song, Enter Sandman, and everybody's jumping and they're screaming. It's unreal. I think it's one of college football greatest entrances that you can go to.
Well, here's what I wanted to say. That in Virginia, they have this place that lets people know if an earthquake is taking place.
Well, they have to know when Virginia Tech is playing at home because they're jumping and shouting so much that it registers like an earthquake. The meter's going off, it's popping all over the place.
Well, has that happened with any of our churches? How about that? Have we worshiped at such a level that the people who are registering whether an earthquake is happening is going, well, oh my goodness, I think that church is meeting this morning. And yes, they are really engaged in worshiping God because he is far greater to receive praise than a football team. Yeah, I love it.
So. You said there's a shot heard around the world, but then there's a shout. Heard around the world. When God's people, I just absolutely love that. Wearsby says, So great was the people's praise that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar off.
This was now the third time in Israel's history that their shouting was heard afar off. The soldiers shouted when the Ark of the Covenant came into their camp, 1 Samuel 4:5. But that eventually led to shameful defeat. When the temple foundation was laid nearly a century before, the workers, you know, under Zerebbabel, and Ezra had a part summoned that a little later, the workers shouted for joy. But their joy was mingled with sorrow.
The shout from Jerusalem during this dedication service was unalloyed joy. To the glory of the Lord, because of this record of the word of God, that shout. Has been heard around the world.
So, wow, is the world seeing it? Is that. There's something different. There's something that, like in chapter six, where it says the enemies of God were discouraged because the people of God were encouraged. Because of what God did in this great work in Nehemiah.
And then it closes with verse 44. At the same time, some were appointed over the rooms of the storehouse. for the offerings, the first fruits, the tithes, to gather into them from the fields and the cities. The portion specified by the law.
So they went, you know, they went back to the book. You know, they, in chapter eight, they opened the book. What does the book say? Celebrate the feast of booths. What did they do?
They set up booths on their rooftops. They set up booths throughout the city. to celebrate God's deliverance from Egypt, God's provision in the wilderness. The Bible called them to that feast. They had not practiced that feast.
They'd gotten away from this.
Now they had not practiced the giving. They'd not practice the abundant generosity God called them to.
So here they're doing that. And going back to like the days of David, verse 46 says, In Asaph of old, the chiefs of the singers, the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.
So this idea, when you have the joy of the Lord, you're going to have the generosity of the Lord. And in the days of Zerubbel, in the days of Nehemiah, all Israel gave the portions. For the singers, the gatekeepers, a portion for each day. And they consecrated holy things for the Levites, and the Levites consecrated them for the children of Aaron. That's the last verse.
Dr. Carson. Your giving is an outflow. The giving of thanks, giving of praise, and worship is an outflow of... or your the giving of your of your gifts are all an outflow of tr the true worship of God.
And so this is why the way this is how the the temple And the walls and the rest of the city, and even the Levites, and all of the worship of God had fallen in such bad. Standing because they had stopped giving. They had stopped keeping that Sabbath. And they had stopped keeping. You know, that seventh year to give their land back to God.
They weren't giving of their time, they weren't giving of their talent, they weren't giving their treasure. And so, this is one big return, one big celebration. And it shows you every part of it. I think a lot of things that will come out of this, Dr. Carson.
And I want to give you the last word before we close. How are we worshiping? Do we see? This is a provocative question that several pastors I've heard and I've studied and listened to, even commentators have said. Do we see the music?
and our church as well this is just a tune-up to get ready for hearing the word. Or Or is it not? part of the whole worship service. Every aspect of that service. is worship to God and important to God.
And it has a very important part, right? Dr. Carson, speak to that real quick and give us your final thoughts on this passage and your challenge to our leaders as they get ready to leave this week. You know, when we think about A worship service. I'm a pastor.
teacher of the word. Boy, am I so focused on that? I am just, you know, I can't wait to get up to teach. what God has taught me. But The worship service starts out even in the parking lot.
uh our fellowship the greeting As we come in, every aspect should have something that is pointing us. to examine our walk with the Lord. And then here's a person who gets up and leads us in singing. It's not something just to be added on to get ready for the preaching. It is part of, as I worked with worship leaders at Liberty.
I said, I want us to be singing songs. about God. But I also want us to be singing songs to God. And if we're singing songs about God, that should then lead us to singing songs to God. I sing about how God is love.
But then I sing, I love you, Lord. As that engagement is taking place. I'm forgetting the things of this world. And then when the word is open. I'm worshiping God in spirit.
And Ian. Truth. Spirit and truth. And now, hopefully, my desire is when I get up to preach, the heart is more receptive to receive what God has to say. And so it goes hand in hand.
And for those who are worship leaders, you are a leader. Of worshipers, not just a leader of worship, leader of worshipers, lead them to worship God. What a special moment. I mean, you think if you, before as you're going through this time of singing these songs. That it's like an Isaiah 6 moment.
You're seeing holy, holy, holy. What do the people do? I've given invitation to before I preached. Um That this again in closing dedicated people. They're giving everything to the Lord.
And in this concluding part, where they are giving now to the work of the Lord, God's work is paid for by God's people. Amen. When you find people who are dedicated, purified, clean, serving the Lord, the person who is a giver is going to give more easily because they know they're giving to God's work that is honoring God. And so it's important for us as leaders to have that standard. And I would want to say also Yeah Um Like in first, 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 8:5, it's one of my verses for date the word.
They gave. To the work, to the ministry that Paul had going on, but Paul said they first gave themselves to the Lord. Wow. And this passage has led us to where God's people have given themselves to the Lord. That's the most important thing that's happening in the book of Nehemiah.
I love that, Doc. I just love that little phrase. You're not just. The worship leader, but you're the lead worshiper. And so it's all full circle.
And it's real important that we grasp that this is an all-in thing. This is with every instrument. Psalm 150 is so rich, it's only six verses. But at the very end, after mentioning all these musical instruments and all the importance and the magnificent worship of God. He says Let he says let everything That asked breath.
Praise the Lord. This is worship with all my might, with all my heart. No. With all my soul, with all my mind, with every effort and every gift and every instrument. And so I hope you will consult Revelation 20, 21.
Where that's what we'll be doing forever around the throne. You know, there's a picture of that earlier on in Revelation 5. I mean, there's this rich. Worship a gathering of the elders and the people, and we're just worshiping God, worthy as the Lamb who is slain. And this is, yeah, this is an imperfect picture, by the way.
We're going to, this is a, this is the high note of the book, everyone. And now, that doesn't mean I don't want you to listen to this podcast next week. And don't, don't miss out on Wednesday the word in the final week. When we do chapter 13, but it gets rough in chapter 13. Nehemiah has to come back and he has to.
Straighten these folks out a little bit because they got, so they drifted from these worship things. They drifted from the giving, they drifted, they compromised a bit. And it's very sad. And ultimately, The greatest, as we talked about signing the deal in ink, well, Jesus Christ signed it in blood. And he's the covenant keeper.
He is, thank God that he's more dedicated to us than our dedications to him, right? Even when we're faithless, 2 Timothy reminds us, he is faithful. Faithful is he who's called, he will do it.
So we look to Christ, and this points to Christ, who would be the ultimate one who came because we couldn't keep our covenant, because we fall back in sin, because the law couldn't complete us. Jesus came and he did that for us. in the gospel And Did it so miraculously, and he's the covenant keeper. And he, thank God, he is. dedicated himself to us, he who began a good work in us.
We'll be faithful. To complete it in us. And that's such an important word. I want everyone to make sure they see that. And they see, this is a God who will see us through.
Dr. Carson, I'd really be honored if you'd pray and pray for Dr. Horn. Pastor Horn is at a Christian camp this week and he lost his voice.
So we're so grateful for you for filling in for him in this Wednesday in the Word podcast. And say a little prayer, and then I'll say a little closing word about how folks can share this and also subscribe and whatnot. Father, I want to thank you for your word. And your word is instructive. And we find here Nehemiah instructions.
that help us as worshipers. To be worship leaders, leaders of worshipers. We find some great instructions here about being involved and making sure the work of God is taken care of. I pray for our leaders as they convey these great principles. And Father, may you find from all of us.
purified, clean, holy vessels. that you can put your hand on and anoint and use not for our glory. But for your glory the hand gets the glory not the vessel We want you to be glorified in all things that we do Thank you for waiting the word Thank you for the people that will be teaching for those that will be hearing We love you, Lord. Amen. Amen.
The website is WED, W-E-D in the word. You can follow us on Facebook. You can follow us on on Instagram and some of the other channels. You can share this for anyone who's one of our leaders. Thank you for serving in this ministry.
Please feel free to share this. Also, a lot of pastors will listen just to encourage them as they dig through the word, preparing and to preach and to teach. If they're in Nehemiah, we have other podcasts. We did the book of Daniel, we've done 2 Peter. And we're jumping into 2 Thessalonians next here after we finish Nehemiah.
Wedintheword.com. Please feel free to share that, enjoy that, and be encouraged and stay in God's word. Let the word of God drive your sermons. Let it drive your life. Colossians chapter 3, let the word of Christ dwell in you.
Richley.
