Many of you who have listened to me or to Dr. Scott over the many, many years have heard the name Dr. Ralph Nichols. He pioneered the field of listening at the University of Minnesota. We know that as we are━as we used to be educated in this country, I put that in the past tense. I'm not sure how they do it anymore. But you know, you would, you would learn how to read, you used to learn how to write━see how antiquated I am already. And definitely, we are taught speech, how to speak, but we are never taught how to listen. And what it so radical about what Ralph Nichols did is he opened up a pathway, basically developed a department at a university, dedicated to helping people understand that there is this need to learn to listen. In fact, from his pioneering work a group was formed called the ILA that stands for the International, I believe, Listening Association, and interestingly enough, from that association there have still be many great studies done. One of them by a lady who really, she's the one that pinpointed the physiological effects; when someone is genuinely listening, the body temperate goes up, the blood circulates more, the heartbeat may raise a little bit. So this individual also did something else, she categorized listening into three areas: hearing, listening and auding. And if you're not sure where that word came from, audi-torium, same root; we don't use that in English, to aud, or auding, but it is a word from the Latin. So her three areas, her three components: hearing, which is hearing. You may be actually hearing, but that's, it could be tantamount to just hearing noise, you're not actually listening therefore you may not react; listening as in receiving and being able to react; and auding, which is processing, indexing, making mental notes, but not being distracted, fully focused on the speaker. In fact, perhaps there will be sensory, meaningful impressions made on the brain because of that auding. Now I'm saying “auding”" A U D, with my little scratchy voice, A U D I N G, auding, not Audi like the car; auding, N G. All right, so ultimately we know paying attention is not just being respectful and kind, but there are, there are levels of listeners. Now I just described something in the secular and in the carnal and in the flesh. It takes no divine intervention to have that understanding, if you will, of how to listen. Now you've all met people who have, you've, you've been talking to them and yet, you know, they shake their head, but you can tell they're not listening to a thing you've said. You've met people like that, haven't you? I have too. I've also met people who can repeat back everything that I say to them. In fact, I used to do that to Dr. Scott. He would say things and I would repeat them back to him and I'd actually drive him a little crazy sometimes, “Well, you know, you said that back then.” But what, what is going on when we listen, when we are processing, and we spend 40-50 percent of our time listening, not necessarily listening to, to someone speak, but listening to music, watching TV, whatever it is there's 40-50 percent of your time that's spent taking in, but not all of what is taken in is processed. It's like listening to the evening news, there, not everything you hear will stick in your brain━some of it you don't want to stick at all, you just want to, you hear it and it's gone. So you don't need divine help for that, just, frankly, if you're really interested in learning an application, a discipline, the average American speaker can speak 120-150 words per minute; your brain can receive about 500 and process 500, so there's a gap between what you actually hear in the ear, listen or auding, versus what's going on in your brain. Now I'm guilty of this, so if I'm guilty of this I know you are. You hear something that's so riveting or so fascinating and suddenly you do this: whish! And your mind grabs hold and suddenly you're really not listening to the speaker anymore. It's kind of like Charlie Brown, the background, the “Wah, wah, wah, wah,” because you're, you're busy either thinking about, “Wow, that's a cool word,” or, “Yeah, I wonder if that means that.” That's an over simulated listener. There's nothing wrong with that except that if you're trying to learn, you will miss probably the thing you need to hear because the mind has gone ahead to try and capture an idea. I tell people if you're going to take notes, write down bullet points of things. You know, I, sometimes I tune in to religious television━and by the way, I'm not religious, I don't want anybody to think I am religious, but religious television, that's the label, and you'll see people sitting and taking copious notes, and I have nothing against that. You take notes. And I see lots of people here take notes, but you take notes like bullet points, so that you don't miss the sum total. Now again, voice of experience, I would sit on the front row when Dr. Scott was talking. I could write faster than anybody. I could pretty much take down everything he was saying, because I have my own way of writing things. The problem was I couldn't read most of what I wrote down. So how good is that? But the point I'm trying to say is there are, there are methods to, to better listen, to better process and we are not taught that. Society now is slipping into what I call the 'sound-bite society,' we only need to hear a little bit because our attention and we're so easily distracted is “I only need this; give me that.” But when it comes to understanding the word of God and understanding what's being said, my mindset is it is the pastor's responsibility to open up, with God-given gifts, to open the word of God, to make it clear in context, to also make an application so that you're not coming into the sanctuary and merely just hearing. Now we know that the Scripture says, “Faith comes by hearing,” but there's got to be a little bit on a deeper level, there's got to be a little bit more that goes on that when everything is what I've called the turning of the soil of the soul is ready, we are able to receive God's word. And I've told you there's a time for everything. Simply hearing may not be actually listening and processing and taking in. Now last week we studied a word out of Nehemiah from the Hebrew because I always go back to the original languages if there's some doubt, if there's something we need to clear up. And we found in Nehemiah a word that was used that is translated in the King James to “understand.” But as we studied this word on Festival through the week we found, clearly, that this is God's way of opening up the ears and the eyes of people to whom He will speak. This is why often you will hear or read in the New Testament where it says, “To him that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying.” Now we have funny listening devices. We, we interpret things the way we think they ought to be sometimes, but in reality, if you just lay it out there, sometimes it's in that moment where God does the opening up of the heart and the mind to be able to receive that a moment of clarity comes. Otherwise, standing here to preach for an hour is a waste if you're not going to walk away with something. Now last week I was challenged a little bit by a couple of people who were━they had the fidgets while they were sitting and listening, and I, I thought to myself later in the week, “How were they processing if they were fidgeting that much?” Because I know when I'm trying to listen, I've got to really concentrate. I'm not asking you━I'm asking you to have respect in the sanctuary, but I'm asking you if you're really listening, you're going to be focused and whatever is, whatever things are making you squeam or move around a little bit, you're going to, you're not even going to be thinking about that. That's what true auding is: you're really focused on what is being said. Sometimes you have to work through moments of your mind drifting. I do that all the time, somebody's talking and, “Oh,” whish! There it goes. So hold your brain. We're going to do some complicated stuff and then we're going to do some simple stuff and then we're going to bring it all together. As usual, I will give you something out of the Old Testament, something that is the equivalent in the New Testament and then we'll make some form of an application, so I'm taking you back to Nehemiah. We have been going through the book of Nehemiah. To give a little background very quickly; I don't want to re-preach my messages, but just to give a brief background, these people returned out of captivity and as they returned in waves, we have between Ezra and Nehemiah the rebuilding of the temple, the rebuilding of the altar, the rebuilding of the walls. And the rest of Nehemiah is the rebuilding of the people of God. It's not enough, forgive me, it's not enough for people to just come into a building. I don't do altar calls, I don't do all the antics other people do to try and “win people into the kingdom,” but it's a lot more than just coming together. There has to be a mindset and that mindset revolves around one thing: the word of God. And Nehemiah 8, that chapter, opens with Ezra the scribe who had prepared his heart to go and deliver the word to those people returning from captivity. And we read about how, in Nehemiah 8, “The people were gathered as one man into the street that was before the water gate: they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book.” And I've said to you before, it's a screaming rarity today if you go into a church and people are wanting the word; they want everything else, but. Here the people were gathered in one mind, they wanted the word of God. Ezra stands up and he begins to read the word to them and too, the word is repeated over and over again, so that they could hear with understanding, that they could understand, cause the people to understand, cause them to understand the reading. So we know this was beyond, we studied the word, it's beyond a simple just hearing or listening. There was something going on that God had basically primed the pump of the innards of these people to receive. And we know from studying this word this is what was happening. So it all revolves around the word. Now we know that there were other people with Ezra, including Nehemiah and the Levites that taught the people. I'm reading now into verse 9, and what is said here is, “This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.” Now I had to ask myself this question: were people weeping━that's the one thing you never want as a preacher is people to be━we're not talking about a couple of tears of sadness, we're talking about bawling and squalling. You know, you're going to leave the pulpit going, “Wow, did I just make a whole bunch of people miserable?” But that was the reaction to the word. And I began to ask myself the question: what were they weeping and mourning about? Was it because they heard for the first time? Was it because they had been told about this word or maybe because some were linguistically challenged? We know as they went away into captivity and came back, the language had changed. So maybe some of all of that, but most importantly, as I was reading this it became clear to me that the reason why they were mourning and weeping when they heard the word, even though they were listening to the law, the thunderings of the law; I preach grace, but they were hearing the law and they were weeping. Why? Because, nestled into the words here, you'll find from the Hebrew and I had to go into the Aramaic to find this, to make it clear, that these people were so sorrowful. What we would translate into the New Testament as “godly sorrow that worketh repentance,” that is what was going on. They were hearing and whether they were listening to the blessings and the cursings out of Deuteronomy or whether they were listening to, as we'll see in the 9th chapter, to the great deliverance that God did when He delivered the people out of Egypt's bondage; whatever it was, it made these people weep. So I had to first look at the meaning, not just at a plain, you know, they heard the words and they were mourning; what was it exactly? What was the meaning of that word and I found this word "to mourn” because in Hebrew you've got several different words, I found this word in Genesis 6:6, where it says that it grieved the Lord that He had made man after He sees man's sinful condition, and then he says, the writer of Genesis 6:6 says, “And it grieved him in his heart.” So there is, there's a concept right there that is very clear. We're not just talking about mourning like as in someone died; we're talking about the mourning from sin. And here, this is what's encapsulated. Now what is said to these people, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared,” be, essentially, be charitable to those who do not have, “for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry,” same word for “mourn.” King James didn't like to repeat words, so they changed them every now and then, you know, just adds for good confusion. And here is the sentence I want to focus on today: “for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” Now let's, I told you we're going to do a little bit of something that's complicated and it'll get easier as we go. So the first thing I want us to do is to understand what this, what this verse actually means. And I'm writing from the Hebrew, because I want you to see something. So, “For,” it doesn't say “for” just yet, but it will in a minute, “for the joy of the LORD is”━so glad I don't have too many more words here, write good to, good to the end right there. Let's see, my Hebrew students are checking me out. That's the, that's the downfall of teaching Hebrew is I can't get away with putting a dot in the wrong place anymore. So what we have here in the Hebrew is something quite interesting. I left out the most important part here. And why am I going to do this? Because I want to show you how we can best understand the text. Your King James says “for the joy of the LORD,” so here we have the Hebrew word, and this is, this, you're going to have to indulge me for a minute. This was a challenge to me, because this word right here does not occur that often in the Hebrew. I had to go to some other source to find a truer sense of what this type of joy. Again, in Hebrew, you've got different words that represent “joy, praise, thanksgiving.” I had to go somewhere else to find the essence of what this word meant, but let's do that, ki, “for,” initially we have “joy” or “gladness.” I will come back to define some form of what this is. And this is what's called construct. If you don't know grammar, that's okay. All that's telling you is it helps us to know “of the” why “of the LORD”" because this is a proper noun, so we have “of the LORD” and this becomes definite, “the joy of the LORD,” this is kind of interesting. So in Hebrew, he is “she.” This, this is he; I know, “If he be da she, why can't she be da her?” Or whatever that is. But this is actually a feminine, personal pronoun, so we've got “she,” we'll put [it] in brackets, and chem, which is “your” and “strength.” And I'm going to put this brackets, just like that, so that we can come back to this word here. Let's first talk about this word for “joy,” because you might say, “Well, sure I know what joy is”" Well I know what joy is too; when I'm happy I'm happy and when I'm sad I'm not, right? But that's not this type of joy. In fact, this type of joy does not change with circumstance, and why is that? Because of the divine authorship or source; it is joy that comes from the Lord. It is not joy that is generated in human strength. It is joy that comes from the Lord. So let's talk about this nifty word right here. And as I said, I had a real dilemma. I had to go to some other source and what I found with this word, “joy,” is when I went to the Syriac and when I went to the Aramaic━in fact, I brought one dictionary here. The other one's in my office, The Hebrew-Aramaic, Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, but I had to go to other Semitic languages to translate and find that at the root of this, we might have to sometimes go in the lexicon to words that are before or words that are after to gain some sense of meaning. So we've got words like “one,” or “together”" this word also, if you keep looking in the Syriac, you will find “bride,” you will also find it is the cognate root or stem to the word “breast.” Now why is that so remarkable? Because the concept of this word in a pictorial sense represents “unity,” or “oneness,” and that is━it's not just joy now. We understand this joy that comes from the Lord; the Divine Author of this, there's something that represents unity. And this unity, “she is,” it is, “she is your,” this is that ending that tells you it's “your” and this is a word that I want us to look at. This word here, let's write this out, ma uze, ma uzechem. Whatever that means. It sounds like you just sneezed, right? So, your King James translates that word as “strength.” And indeed it is strength, but it's strength of an interesting kind. Come on over here. So you're going to have to look at my, my post-it. You're going to see that derivative of that word and the definition being “mountain stronghold or place of refuge.” Can you see that? Good, all right, and I also highlighted Nehemiah 8:10, in case you weren't sure that I'm leading you down the right path. I always tell you: go check me out. Some of you are not so inclined because you don't want to be annoyed with it or burdened with it, so you trust me, but I always tell you go check me out. So what we have here is we have "strength," yes, but I want you to get the pictorial sense, because Hebrew carries pictorial images. We have here “place of refuge.” We could call it fortress, we could call it defense, we could call it protection. So if we were to put all this together, and I'm going to come back to this, but I would like to show you where this word occurs in three or four psalms, so you can get an idea that this is not just a one-hit wonder, so we can put some color around the word. But the basic idea is that this joy, this sense unity that comes from the Lord is your strength. Essentially that with that unity comes a place of refuge or safety: in Him I am secure, in Him I have refuge, in Him━ now this requires the joy that comes, this unity does not just come when people say, “We're praying down a revival in our church.” It doesn't happen that way. It happens when people genuinely face themselves. These are concepts that are not commonly preached, but they're, they're in this book and they're age-old. When people come to know their state of being, as in fallen, what Romans 3:23 declares: “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” there is nobody in the sound of my voice, including me, who is without sin. So the concept is being able to understand the sinning condition and being able to turn from your way to God and in the process of turning from your way to God, some mechanism that God divinely opens up that produces a feeling of sorrow, true sorrow that does not make us want to excuse our behavior, our nature, our patterns, but recognizes that because I have turned from my way and I have been following Him. Now this grief and sorrow immediately is turned into this joy, if you will. It's a paradoxical happening. Why? Because I know in Him, if I know the word in Him, I have refuge. And now go back to the Scripture for a minute and think these people were hearing the thunderings of the law, the judgment of the law, so trembling and fear came as they heard the law being read to them. Of course they would be gripped with fear and mourning and weeping, because essentially the law rumbled out a sentence of death. We in the New Testament know that that law was nailed to a tree in Christ Jesus and has given us our liberty, has given us the grace of forgiveness, but let's take a look at this word that appears as “place of refuge” in several examples so that you can see what I'm talking about. The first one occurs in Psalm 27. I won't do all of them. I'll just give you a couple that are easy to see. So, the first thing, Psalm 27, verse 1, King James, the King James reads, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” So you have here “strength of my life,” again in a pictorial sense, and from the Hebrew Masoretic text, “the LORD is my stronghold.” We could also translate it “refuge, defender”" or “fortress.” So let's just say this. When fear surrounded the psalmist, this word was used. Just, if you have a Bible like mine, just a page or two away in Psalm 31, you'll find two examples there. In Psalm 31 and verse 2, “Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defense to save me.” Here you have “strong rock” and this is the translation of the same word we're looking at there, the end of my Hebrew sentence, as Hebrew reads opposite of English, so the tail end word right there that is being translated, “a strong rock.” I have here, from my translation, "a rock of refuge,” so when danger looms, when fear looms, you can understand in the context of Nehemiah why this would have been said to these people. It always bothered me, “Let the joy of the LORD be your strength.” Why? These people are, they're crying, they're weeping, they're mourning; what a strange thing to say. But when we understand it from the Hebrew we understand what it carries, what meaning, what weight it carries. One more in the same psalm, take a look at verse 4, “Pull me out of the net,” Psalm 31, verse 4, “Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.” So you can see it does carry the concept of strength, but it is a place to run to, to seek refuge. And if you are in communion with God, unity with God brings the sense of safety and that is what is being said in my text. Now, some people may say, “Well, aren't we all on the same page?” Well the people in Nehemiah's day were. They were receiving this word. Remember, this is all going to come together nicely. They were receiving this word, it says, “as one man.” Now I told you this is not just some ordinary gathering. The people were ready to receive, they were attentive, they were able to respond, reverently react. We have a picture of repentance. Now I've heard people say, “Well, how come there are no great revivals in our day?” Do you want; do you want to get me started on that? Because if no one is talking about what it is to understand the concept of sin is not “I drink, I smoke, I cuss, I do bad things, I think bad thoughts,” the concept of sin is what Isaiah defines. You've heard me say this so many times I know you can recite it: “All we like sheep have gone astray,” we have gone each one to our own way. It's doing what's right in your eyes and trying to justify it in front of God and say, “Here, God, accept this.” This is our generation, I hate to say this, this is our generation and culture that wants God to accept everything and let's put a halo on it, therefore there can be no revival if people are not understanding what's wrong with them. And this is not some, I'm standing here and I'm, I'm busy thumping the Bible at you. I'm telling you that it's a condition of all humanity and failure to recognize that condition is failure to recognize that there's a Creator and that He had a perfect design, which became flawed in the garden; pretty simple message. So these people returning are hearing the thunderings of “you must perform,” blessings and cursings, and of course it caused them to weep and to mourn. And this is what is so great. We have a picture of the New Testament right there in the Old Testament. That's why I teach both Old and New Testaments, because when this is seen, when this is recognized, they are told, “Go your own way, eat, drink, send portions: this day is holy, neither be sorry; don't mourn, don't grieve; the joy of the LORD is your strength.” All the people were stilled. They went their way to send portions, to make a great mirth, a great celebration, “because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.” Now how terrible would it be if a person lacked understanding? And this is why I mentioned Ralph Nichols, because he pointed out the greatest need, in his mind, of society was the need to be understood and the need to understand. Now I want you to take that application from the secular and just the fleshly and apply it spiritually. Failure to understand God's purpose, failure to understand what it is to face oneself is failure, essentially, to connect with God's divine plan and manifestation in a person's life. Now we talk about repentance and of course, because our language, I've told you many times, our language betrays us. Because it is such a young language we have so many words that have been grafted into our tongue. One of them is the word “repent,” which comes out of the Latin, which connotes that we should be self-flagellating and we should be self-abasing, but really, from the Greek, from the original language, we know that to repent is "to turn.” The Greek word, I'll write it out just plain old English, metanoia, "to turn,” meta, “with the mind.” And that is to turn from your way to God's way. Now what a strange thing to say, “The joy of the LORD,” this Divine Author, the One is who is authoring this type of unity, if you will, because they had turned from their way; they're now listening and hearing, to seeking refuge. Why? We say in the New Testament, Romans 8:1, I've quoted it you, “There is therefore now no ultimate condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Now if you take this passage alone and you lift it out of where it is, you can see why; and forgive me, I'm just going to speak plainly. You can see why, when we call the concept of Christianity in America as failing hard, and other different religions or different interests are rising, it is because we have become part of the culture that says, “We don't have to teach people their true nature.” It's like referring to━it would be like me talking to you, Daniel, and never calling you Daniel. I'd call you Bob; I never address who you are, “Hi Bob. How are you doing?” But that's Daniel. And one has to come to the same place with God that is truly identifying who we are before God. This is why the passage we've often quoted out of Genesis regarding Jacob, when Jacob wrestled with the angel━actually the angel wrestled with him and said, “What is your name?” Until he said, “Jacob,” which is “heel-catcher, deceiver, conniver,” and then his name was changed to “Israel,” and you think about that; that is exactly what each and every individual needs to do to be able to have new concept of what this is, what this means. I'm pointing at the board, which is the joy of the Lord is not just a happiness, but something that connotes unity. And what stems from the unity with God is a place of safety, a place of defense. There's great celebration when we talk about people who are able to turn and face God. Now I'll tell you, this last week, God gives me the examples, so I thank Him for it. This week we had a man who really has been kind of a little bit of a thorn in my side and to this ministry for the better part of probably 30 years. And I told you, I believe in giving people chances. I'm, I really do, I'm not just saying this to, to trump myself, but, because it's huge, but, but I am saying to you that the people who do work around me know I have a very forgiving heart. They can do something on a Monday and by Friday, they're busy still walking around like this, and I'll say, “What's the matter with you?” That's, I have that childlike faith. So we have had some issues with this one gentleman and he's got a long, long history here. And I pray for him, I really do, I pray for him that he could be restored, but he was simply told to do one thing that I could really be sure in my spirit that he really got the understanding what's, what's wrong with him spiritually. And he, he would not come to that reality to face himself. Now I've told you this before, if I'm just standing here to waste an hour of my time and yours, I could find much better things to do with my time. But if you'll get on the same page with me and understand this concept of turning from self brings a unity with God that when God sees, let me go back to the joy word, there is great celebrating on God's part. Why? Because you've turned to seek refuge in Him; now you run to that shelter. We've seen action words in the Hebrew before: you run to that shelter. You ought to be runs towards it, not running away from it. God is not some judge waiting to throw the book at you, but He also wants you to be worshiping Him in truth and in sincerity. And I find sometimes people do not connect these concepts Old and New, so I'm going to show what it looks like in the New Testament, and then we'll bring it all together to make an application for us today. So if you will, please turn in your Bibles to the book of Luke. We'll see what this looks like from Luke's perspective. I think I will start; I'll start with the smallest of these, because there's two I'd like to refer to, maybe even three. I'll start with the shortest one, which is Luke 19. This is the conversion of Zacchaeus and I want you to notice what happens. “There was a man Zacchaeus, he was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus,” he could not because he was small in stature, so he ran and he climbed up a tree to see Jesus. “Jesus came to the place, looked up, saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus.” Now imagine that! He didn't say, “Hey, you, short man, come down.” He called him by name. “Zacchaeus, make haste, come down; for to day I must abide in thy house.” Now a lot of people have made a lot to do about this, but I've told you if you get to know certain Greek words, you find out that God's a very repetitive preacher. He doesn't barge His way in, but He knew that that man had gone up in the tree to see Him come by. There was, there was already something turning the soil of his soul. I, I think at some point you get the picture. Verse 6 says, “He made haste, came down, received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, This is━He's gone to be a guest with that man who's a sinner?” Don't you love that? “Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor; if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” This is a guy who's probably skimming the bucket daily or weekly or annually, right? He says, “If I've taken anything, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.” And He closes this with something that crystallizes this concept, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Now if that which was lost had not turned and looked to Jesus and listened to Jesus and received the words, Jesus is not going to force Himself on the heart of anyone, contrary to what people have interpreted out of the book of Revelation with Jesus standing and knocking at the door. He's not standing and knocking at your heart's door; He's standing outside the church shivering. I'm talking about the church has boxed Him out. That'll hit you a little bit later. Everything but Jesus is peddled in the church. So you get an example here and probably to crystallize this, let's turn to Luke 15, because there you've got multiple examples and this is a parable of Jesus. Luke 15, beginning at verse 4, “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lost one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” There's much joy. Now you'll connect the dots with this word when I said to you there's a unity, there's joy, but it also represents unity and together, communion; there is that concept there and you see it right here. I said we'll make the application in the New Testament, here it is, “And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and his neighbours, saying with them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over the ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” It goes on to talk about the lost coin and then we get to the lost son. We call this the prodigal son or the parable of the Father and as you read though this with me, you're going to see the same concept. I want you to hold that thought for a minute. In Nehemiah, these people had been carried away into captivity, some were born in captivity, so to hear that there was a God in heaven who actually cared for them, who was concerned for them, to actually bring them back and cause them to hear His word, there was a reaction to that. And that's what I'm trying to convey with this verse. Don't ever look at this verse the same way, because you'll find that in it, that is in Nehemiah 8:10, you find God saying, “If you'll turn to Me; if you'll really turn to Me, I'll take care of you.” No matter what the circumstances are, there will be an unwavering refuge, protection around you. That doesn't mean you're protected from things that may happen and circumstances of life. It means that in Him there is no condemnation, in Him there is safety. Now let's look at this. Luke 15 and this is a familiar passage, so don't, don't tune me out now, because I'm almost done. “And he said, A certain man had two sons: the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of the goods that falleth to me. He divided unto them his living. Not many days after the younger son gathered together all, and took his journey into a far country, there he wasted his substance with riotous living.” Now you don't have to waste your substance on riotous living to make this fit. You only need to see that God's sees all of our, what I would call insignificant squabblings of life, the time we waste, the things we, we spend, our thoughts are consumed with, which in the big picture, although He cares for us, are not as relevant, as important as turning to Him and recognizing our state of being, our actual state of being. Now I don't want you to leave here and think this is gloom and doom. This is cause for rejoicing when you really understand the message. And many of us have read this passage and said, “I identify.” God gave me many years before the lights were turned on, and I've said to you in great lament, youth, you want a paradox, youth is wasted on youth, and when you turn around and you're old enough to understand and know better, you say, “Well, I could have been doing that back there,” but it wasn't time yet. Thank God for God's timing, whatever time that is, because He doesn't wear a watch. Somebody said, “He's, He's always on time.” It's His time though. He's never on time with my time, but He's on time with His time. I just want to say that. “When he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land; and he began to be in want. He went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; he sent him into his fields to feed swine.” So take a look: child of God that is now reduced down to feeding pigs, “And when he came to himself,” Dr. Scott used to say this passage would be rightly translated, “When he came to his sanity,” when he came to himself, to his senses, “he said, How many hired servants of my father's house have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee.” Now he thought this in his mind. He thought, he planned this out, thoughts were already going in his mind to turn from where he was and head back the father with a right attitude, and this is how he sees himself in verse 19, “I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.” I'm not even worthy enough to be called your son, just anything to come back in, but I know I cannot be that. “He arose, came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, had compassion, ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him.” And that's how our heavenly Father receives us when we return from our way, going our way, towards Him. “And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and I am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, put it on him; put on a ring&shoes on his feet: bring hither the fatted calf, kill it; let us eat, and make merry.” And you'll find that if you were tracing the words for merry that are repeated now many times over, they would essentially tie into a form translated into the Septuagint, which is the Greek, the Greek text of the Hebrew Old Testament, translated a form of, same word. So there's much rejoicing here. He's taken back, he's accepted, he's part of the family, “Let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry,” there is again. “The elder son was in the field: when he came and he drew nigh, he hard musick and dancing, called one of the servants, asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; thy father hath killed the fatted calf because he hath received him safe and sound.” Again, think unity: rejoicing and unity, rejoicing/communion, rejoicing/togetherness, rejoicing/one. You'll find it right here. “He was angry,” the other brother was, “and he would not go in: therefore he came; his father came out, and he entreated him.” And listen to this. You know, he says, “You didn't do any of these things for me, but I've been here all the time.” Now we call that, there's a parable for this brother too, which we won't get into today. But he says, “You never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed the fatted calf for him. He said to him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brought was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.” Now what I'd say to you is the people in Nehemiah's day received a measure of grace without knowing it. We can look back and we can see how God was using this, we read in English and it doesn't carry the same essence or the same meaning, but with God this joy that comes from God that provides safety, protection, refuge, makes us not afraid anymore, makes us not worry, if you will. Oh, there are consequences, we read in the Old Testament and I'm sure these people knew it, “for sin comes death.” But in the New Testament, One died who was worth enough to stand in my place and yours: the whole world, to pay the price to redeem us. So when you come back to this concept, we've looked at the Old, we've looked at the New; what do I want to say to you today? That you'll leave here with knowing something of God's word was given to make it a little bit more clear for those people who come in and they're burdened down with a sense of sin and a sense of guilt and some can barely move under that burden of a grief-stricken soul that says, “I cannot get rid of this nagging in my spirit that somehow whatever I've done, whatever I've been through, whatever I have in my mind or in my being experienced, lived, is still with me.” Then take comfort today that when we know in the New Testament how Jesus paid it all, He bought the whole field that truly the unity that we come to in the faith of Jesus Christ brings us to a safe place, a refuge. I don't have to wonder anymore. There are some people that say, “Well, how will I know when I have truly let it be with the Lord and He's truly forgiven me?” You don't need to frustrate God's grace. You need to understand, as I said, in the Old Testament, they were looking at these words in the thunderings of the law, hearing that for obedience: life and for disobedience: death and cursing and blessing respectively in both areas. We read the New Testament and we know we could never be worth enough, we could never be worthy, but God sent His only begotten Son to do what only He could do. Guilt-ridden, sin-stained souls that have no hope, look to this verse right here and understand as you turn from your way to His, we talk about repentance, and repentance as I quoted out of 2 Corinthians and chapter 7, which starts with changing from your mind and produces something. Again, another Greek word, metamelomai, which in that same 2 Corinthians 7 talks about which one should not have a regret about. This is the, we'll call it the feeling part, the emotive part. This is the mind part that says, “I know I need God, I've been running from God, I've been trying to ignore God”" There are people listening to me today that are as disinterested to know about what I'm saying, they cannot receive it; they have no interest in it. It's boring to them. But there does come a time for every person, I hate to tell you this, even atheists, and I have one person that I know who is an atheist. The question is nagging, the question is there. I don't try and proselytize people. I just point them to the word of God and I say, “If the word of God is true, if I find unity with Him when I've turned from my way to Him, looking to Him,” and I know the grief I carry. I can speak personally. My personal grief cannot be what you experience. Each person does for themselves experience some form of that where you know no matter how good you've been or how bad you've been, this, this feeling, this emotive part kicks up and then suddenly these words, Old Testament though they be, resonate in the soul that as long as I have, I'm having communion with God, unity of the faith with Him, communing with Him, conversing with Him, listening, hearing, auding, and with His divine help letting it as the parable of the sower tells me, letting it sink into my soul, He gives that gift to be able to receive; I'm changed. I'm being transformed and something inside me says I'm not fearful anymore. For the world may talk about and maybe the rest of the church world may talk about God as an unjust judge, but I know I serve a loving, kind and caring Savior who cared enough to rescue me and rescue some of you from absolute━they sung the song: “A Sinner Saved By Grace: when I stood condemned to death, He took my place,” a reality of what I deserved, a reality of what He did for me. Next time you read Nehemiah 8, “The joy of the LORD is your strength,” I want you to think of something. The joy, the Divine Author is God. He lets me partake in that which becomes the unity of the faith, which Ephesians 4 talks about and for that unity of the faith, I have a safe haven to run to when all of the storms are rumbling around me, I've got that solid Rock. I take refuge there; I know that in that Rock, safety is provided for me and for you. So next time you read that passage, remember it's not just a little quaint saying. It's a powerful punch to those people who understand where they were, who they are in the Lord and what they have. Precious Savior, hold my hand and keep me in the safe place, the place that is higher, the place that is above it all. Now I can't stay there all the time, I'm not going to be sheltered from what's going on, but I know in that moment, I am with Him in safety and He cares for me and He cares for you. Let the joy of the Lord today, for those people who came with a heavy burden, be the delight of your soul, be the joy of your soul, be the gladdening of your heart that lifts you up to the place that says, “I am safe with Him.” That's my message. You have been watching me, Pastor Melissa Scott, live from Glendale, California at Faith Center. If you would like to attend the service with us, Sunday morning at 11am, simply call 1-800-338-3030 to receive your pass. If you'd like more teaching and you would like to go straight to our website, the address is www.PastorMelissaScott.com
