Hello Everyone,
The last element of this worship that we are going to look at this week is it was marked by their Heeding of the Word.

Nehemiah 8:9-12 9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 11 The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve.”
12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

The goal of preaching is life transformation. But it's not hearing the Word that transforms lives. And not just understanding it. It's obeying the Word that transforms lives. "Be ye doers of the Word, not hearers only." [James]

It's not about the wall, it's about the Word and the worship.

Their transformation began with:
· Weeping*
9b What were they weeping over? Their sin! Their separation from God!
· Joy*
10b Nehemiah and Ezra had wisdom and stepped in to encourage the weeping that there was hope and help in the Lord. The devil wants to turn conviction into guilt, and there is a difference between a broken spirit and a miserable spirit.

The devil wants to bring you down and keep you down. The Spirit of God wants to bring you down in order to lift you higher than ever!

Preaching May at first make you mad, but then it makes you sad, so the Lord can make you glad!

· Obedience*
Nehemaih8:12-17a 12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.
13 On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra the scribe to give attention to the words of the Law. 14 They found written in the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in booths during the feast of the seventh month 15 and that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem: “Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms and shade trees, to make booths”—as it is written.
16 So the people went out and brought back branches and built themselves booths on their own roofs, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God and in the square by the Water Gate and the one by the Gate of Ephraim. 17 The whole company that had returned from exile built booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great.

What in the world is going on here? It's a restoration of the feast of tabernacles or booths. In Bible days God's people were commanded to have a festival once a year and go out away from their home to a brush arbor and camp out in a festive atmosphere.

It was recognition of the fact that they once permanently were encamped in the days of Moses. It was a memorial.

So here they are restoring the feast of tabernacles. Why? Because God said to! That's revival!!

Mourning leads to joy which leads to obedience...which leads to revival!

It's not about the wall; it's about the Word and the worship.

Greater Things Are Still To Come!
Pastor Phil