♪ theme music ♪
(Jason) Welcome to Hope Sabbath School,
an in-depth, interactive study
of the Word of God.
We're glad you've joined us today,
as we continue another exciting lesson series here,
from the books of Ezra and Nehemiah
about Our Forgiving God.
Even when we've made mistakes,
even when we've gone our own way,
God is still there, loving us,
ready to forgive us.
And we're very happy we have the team here.
Hasn't this been a blessed series
that we've experienced?
(Team) Amen!
(Jason) These Old Testament books
are coming alive, and we're finding
practical lessons from them
that maybe we had never seen before.
We're also happy to hear from you, our [viewers].
If you haven't written to us,
feel free to write to us
at sshope@hopetv.org.
And right now we have some letters
that we want to share with you.
The first one comes from our friend Kanga in South Sudan,
one of the newest countries we have in the world.
Kanga writes and says, "Dear members
of the in-depth, interactive study
of the Word of God."
You can tell he's paying attention.
"Greetings to you from Kanga John Matthew
in Wau town, South Sudan.
I am a regular watcher
of Hope Sabbath School; I feel impressed
by your lively lesson discussions
of the book of Revelation."
So, he's been watching
something from Revelation.
"You are doing extraordinarily great jobs
for the Lord in the sight of the viewers.
You are building the families of God,
which are scattered all over the world,"
which, actually, makes me think
of the story of Nehemiah,
where the people had been scattered.
And yet, through Hope Sabbath School,
we can all come together,
no matter what parts
of the world we're in.
And he closes by saying this,
"As His children, let us focus
our eyes all on Him,
and we shall be victorious as He is."
Thank you, Kanga;
that is such a blessed and encouraging message for all of us.
We also have Joann who writes to us
from the state of Georgia
in the United States.
She says, "I am Joann Dustin,
and I live in Georgia, USA.
I'm an assistant instructor at my church.
I'm very grateful for Hope Sabbath School
for I learn more about God
and gain more knowledge to share
with my new friends
and strengthen my faith to patiently wait
for our wonderful Savior to return.
In the New Jerusalem,
I hope to get answers to all my questions
and finally see my God."
(Team) Amen.
(Jason) Amen, Joann.
We're looking forward to that, too.
While we're here on this earth,
we do have answers in the Bible;
our Hope Sabbath School team,
we do the best we can to answer questions,
but we ultimately know that, in the end,
we will get the full answers
when we are there, with our God.
And so, just as you're
waiting forward to see our God,
we are waiting for that moment as well.
We have Nadene who writes to us.
Now, the interesting thing here, Nadene,
she's from the United Kingdom, but she's living
in the United Arab Emirates.
We are a global family,
and as you see here,
we come from many different countries.
She says, "Hello, I tune into your show
every week online."
So, she's not necessarily watching us on a TV,
she's watching online,
which actually reminds me
that we have a Hope Channel app
that you can go ahead and download.
Go to the App Store, go to Google Play;
on that Hope Channel app,
you'll get Hope Sabbath School
and many other amazing Bible programs
that will bless you
and can help change your life.
And so, just as Nadene here
is watching online,
download the app, and you can watch
through online services as well.
So Nadene says that, "I really enjoy
all of the engaging topics
and probing questions."
The topics, the questions,
this isn't just surface-level material.
She says, "I recently got baptized
and moved from my home in England
to the United Arab Emirates.
There have been a few restrictions here on worship,
but God has been good
and has provided me
with many opportunities
to witness to others.
The church appreciates that I'm a teacher
and recently started to ask me
to do the lesson study
on Saturday morning.
At first, I found it daunting
because I had no idea what to do
or where to start.
But, thank the Lord, I have discovered
I can download your wonderful programs
from Hope Sabbath School.
I have received many blessings
since my move to the UAE,"
(United Arab Emirates),
"and have also been asked
to do Adventist youth program
after the main sermon
as well as a recent request
to preach a sermon to the whole church.
Thank you for your wonderful lessons, Nadene."
Wow, so, from Hope Sabbath School
to the youth program
to preaching the sermon,
once you start sharing the Word of God,
once you start understanding
the Word of God,
there's no limit to what God can use you [for]
and how He can use you.
Now we have a couple who write to us
from the state of New York; they are donors,
and because they're donors,
we don't want to give their names.
This is not about glorifying self.
We are a donor-supported ministry,
and we're thankful that this couple
has partnered with us,
but ultimately this is not about us,
this is about giving glory to God.
Now, this couple writes and says,
"When we think of all
the soul-winning services
that have been conducted,
and we also think
about the condition of the world,
at times we ponder how long-suffering our God is,
not willing that any should perish
but all should come to repentance.
Thank you for your courage and your vision.
Keep up the good work.
Your prayers will be appreciated
to make sure that we don't
miss out ourselves by preaching to others
and not being partakers of His Kingdom."
That's a pretty sober message,
and we're thankful that this donor couple
has shared with us.
We need to remember for ourselves
to be in the Word, to be studying,
spending time getting close to God.
And we have our last letter;
it comes to us from the country of Zambia.
Alvin writes to us; Alvin says,
"Hi, Hope Sabbath School team."
(Team) Hi!
(Jason) What do we say back?
We say, "Hi," back.
"I am one of the ardent followers
of the Hope Sabbath School lessons
as they always add
a new scope of understanding
and a new method of approach to the lesson.
I am a discussion leader
of our Sabbath School class
and am always blessed.
May God continue blessing
your ministry, Alvin."
Praise God, Alvin, that you are
leading the discussion,
that you are being blessed,
and we're happy that we
can be part of that blessing.
Another way we can be part of the blessing
is through singing,
and we have a Scripture song
we're going to sing.
Please feel free to join us and sing it.
It comes from Psalm 25,
a 3,000-year-old Scripture song,
"To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul."
♪ music ♪
(Jason) Amen. Isn't that such an exciting song,
praising God, giving Him thanks?
Well, one of the ways we can praise God
is we can praise Him through prayer,
and so I'd like to invite you
to bow your heads as we are
going to ask the Lord
to be with us in this study.
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, today,
as we look through an Old Testament story,
help us to see something from the lessons
of a couple thousand years ago
that we can apply to today.
Help us to see how Your forgiveness
and Your love is unchanging.
We pray all this
in the holy name of Jesus,
the One who has forgiven us
and given us the power
to live a new life. Amen.
(Team) Amen.
(Jason) Talking about the idea
of Our Forgiving God
makes me think about why I
very much appreciate His forgiveness.
And so I'd like to ask,
before we get directly into the lesson,
anyone on the team,
or even several of you,
when you think of the forgiveness of God,
what do you think of?
How does that impact you personally?
How do you experience
the forgiveness of God?
Nancy, I see you kind of nodding
your head there a little bit.
When you think of the forgiveness of God,
what comes to your mind?
(Nancy) Well, God will forgive...
He wants us to come to Him with anything,
and He is long-suffering;
He's forgiving, and He forgives me.
(Jason) He forgives you. Amen. Ranela.
(Ranela) I think just great relief
to know that I can come to God.
His mercies are new every morning,
and His faithfulness is great,
and His grace is His power
to live an overcoming life.
(Jason) Jonathan.
(Jonathan) I think knowing
that God's always going to be forgiving
and is not going to turn His back on us,
I think that gives you a freedom
to actually avoid some of the problems.
Like, if I know that God's not going
to give up on me,
then I'm more able
to choose the right way
because it's not like
I'm hovering under His judgment.
It's like He's going to pursue me no matter what,
and so I can just turn away
from that stuff and follow Him.
(Jason) So the forgiveness,
while it may give you an emotional peace,
it also allows something practical.
It allow you to make different decisions
and allows you, as you said, freedom,
you used the word, in your life. Travis.
(Travis) I think of the Bible text
where it says, "With lovingkindness
I have drawn you,"
so when we look at forgiveness,
that's what draws us to Jesus
as we know what condition we're in.
And yet, He loves us, and He's forgiving,
not willing that any should perish,
but all should come to repentance.
And that draws us; it's His grace
that teaches us to love Him.
(Jason) Amen. And now let's
get into the Word of God.
I'm going to ask Stephanie
if you could start out for us.
We're in the book of Nehemiah.
I'd like you to read chapter 9
and read verses 1 through 3.
And as she reads, I want us
to think about what's happening here,
what's going on, and how does
this relate to God's forgiveness.
(Stephanie) And I'll be reading
from the King James Version:
(Jason) Wow, so there's
a lot happening here,
and I'd like someone first
to unpack what's going on.
What is the context?
Is this a celebratory scene
with a lot of music and excitement?
Puia, you're nodding your head.
What do you see happening here?
(Puia) I see a group of people
coming together in repentance
and humbling themselves.
(Jason) Humbling themselves.
(Puia) It says they're wearing sackcloths;
they're putting dust on their heads.
When do people do that?
It's when they humble themselves before the Lord.
(Jason) They humble themselves, okay. Jonathan.
(Jonathan) I was thinking
that this is coming after they've
been spending some time
looking at the Law of God.
And now they're...It seems like
maybe they're really realizing,
just, their corporate guilt.
I mean, they're kind of saying,
"Wow, Lord, we have so sinned.
We have so gone all these ways.
All these warnings You gave,
we didn't pay attention to.
All these things You've told us to do;
we've done none of them."
So they're really repenting.
(Jason) They're really repenting. Yes, Pedro.
(Pedro) One thing I see here,
the forgiveness is something that is specific.
You know, they're reading the Word
for the first part of the day,
and then they are confessing
for the other part.
So they're recognizing why they fell
short of the glory of God,
but they're confessing.
And if I say, "God...," you know,
my prayers, I'm coming to God.
I say, "God, forgive my errors of the day,"
I'm not being specific,
and that might not help me
have a change of heart.
And they were looking
for a change of heart, as I look there.
They were wanting to be at one with God,
and they were seeking from God's Word,
what could have made them go wrong,
and they were asking for forgiveness.
It's specifically on their sins.
(Jason) Pedro's making a reference,
and Jonathan, too;
they've done some wrong things.
And I'd like to ask here on the team,
let's get a little explicit.
What has happened here?
Someone may be watching this
and may not be totally familiar
with all the story.
They may not have seen
all the previous lessons,
so, what have these people done?
What is the problem?
What has gone on? Jonathan.
(Jonathan) For years they
worshiped other gods.
I mean, they were warned
not to marry outside of... other peoples,
because they would
draw them away to other gods
and all these different things
that God had laid down
for them, boundaries,
these very strong boundaries, tough boundaries.
And they, one by one,
rejected all of them,
and you can see how all these things
that would have protected them
ended up leading to destruction,
and then God sent all these prophets.
And so it's very clear,
both their guilt but also how much
God has pursued them
and tried to win them back
and cried out to them,
and they didn't accept it for years.
(Jason) Pedro.
(Pedro) One thing we might not realize in some ways,
even though this is in the middle
of the Old Testament,
this is basically at the end
of the story of what's happening
because the prophets come afterward,
which are basically the prophets
that came before this time
telling them to stop doing the wrong things,
stop doing the wrong things.
And the prophets are speaking
through the time of the kings,
and we saw that the majority of the kings
were rebellious kings.
And at this time, God,
after the 70 years they were
in captivity in Babylon,
they came back; God blessed them
to rebuild the walls, rebuild the temple.
And they're saying, "We don't
want to fall into the same problem.
We want to get right with God."
And the best way to get right with God
is to know what you're doing wrong.
And the only way you can do it
is through going to the Law of God and to His Word.
(Jason) Amen. Now verse 2
has this interesting statement.
Stephanie's version said
something about separating themselves from strangers.
Other versions may even say "foreigners."
What is this all about?
What's going on here?
I mean, there had been a reference
that Jonathan made,
something about, you know,
marrying other people and worship.
What's going on here,
because wouldn't it be fair to say
that shouldn't everyone come to worship God?
Shouldn't they invite the foreigners,
the strangers, to worship God?
So, why are they separating themselves, the lineage? Puia.
(Puia) Of course, everyone
is welcome to worship God,
but in this context, it seems like
they have acknowledged the fact
that the reason why they were exiled
was because their nation turned against God.
And so, in this context, in this verse,
we are seeing that they have
accepted the fact that it was their sin,
not the foreigners' sin.
It was their nation's sin.
And what's interesting here
is that they could have complained
and said, "Well, you know,
the people who sinned were our parents,
our grandparents; it's not us,"
because the people who actually came back
probably were born into captivity.
But yet they were not saying
that it was a sin of someone else,
but they accepted that it was
a corporate sin as the nation.
(Jason) Jonathan, yes.
(Jonathan) I was thinking,
in the book of Deuteronomy;
it actually explains why God
kicked these people out,
I mean, like, some terrible things.
It's sad to look and see, that, okay,
God had to let some whole tribes and stuff go,
but He very clearly warned them
that, "It was because of these things
that I had to kick them out,
and if you do them,"
which the Israelites ended up doing
many of those same things,
and so that's part of the reason
that now they've been
sent off to Babylon.
(Jason) All right, so we have some context here,
and in the end of this section,
there was a statement
about a fourth of a day or something,
and a fourth of day.
Someone want to do some math for me
about what's going on
and what happened specifically here?
Pedro, you've got the math.
(Pedro) Well, we sometimes,
we look into the hours
that they looked at.
It was three and three hours,
so, every three hours
is a section of their day.
If you look in the New Testament,
you see a parable that Jesus talks about.
They come early at the sixth hour,
the third hour, you know, the eleventh hour,
and it's their labor [time],
the point that they start working,
at sunrise all the way to the time of the sunset.
(Jason) All right. Yes, Jonathan.
(Jonathan) Just thinking about, in verse 2,
and I think those strangers,
they represent more than just people.
We think about people, "Okay,
we have to separate in order to seek God."
And I think they represented
also certain spiritual elements
that prevented them from repenting.
So, that's the way I look at it.
It is not just about separating from actual people
because God loves everybody.
It is about separating ourselves
from those things that keep us from repenting.
(Jason) So, it's not so much
about discrimination against others
but rather, putting yourselves in a place
so that we can allow
the Holy Spirit to work with us.
And then, as you see, after this
they have, as now Pedro has informed us,
three hours of a praise service
and three hours of confession and worship.
What do you think about that?
Because I'll just say
that when I first read this,
I was like, "Wow."
In my day, I have a lot
of things I have to do; I need to eat.
If you're a family, you might need
to, you know, take care of your kids.
If you're a student, you might
need to do education.
So, what is this...Is this
a little radical, spending all this time?
Heide, I see you've got a thought on this.
(Heide) It doesn't sound like
this is something that they do every day.
It sounds like they selected a specific date,
and they were like, "For this day,
we're going to do this," you know?
And I just was so impressed by that,
because I was also like you.
I was, like, "Whoa! That is a long time!"
But I was just thinking how we spend,
not only every day in our lives,
we're in such a fast-paced world,
that everything is constant,
like time, we're always running against time,
but even on the Sabbath,
I was stopping and reflecting,
sometimes, even for good things,
we're involved in ministries,
and we're so busy -
"I have to go to this meeting,
and then I have to go
and help with this program,"
or help with this - that we don't
have the time to stop and do this.
And I saw how important it is
that God wants me to stop,
and [He] says, "Get into My Word,
removing the factor of time."
And then stop and meditate on that
and say, "God, what do You
want me to learn from this?"
like someone said in a previous lesson,
and how can I apply it?
You know, what things
are hindering me from doing this?
And I'm going to maybe try to do this.
But I just saw that, and I was
so impressed by it.
(Jason) Wow, that's convicting, right there.
Ranela, you have some thoughts.
(Ranela) I was just thinking of the fact
that they haven't...
This is really good for them to do
because they haven't had this reading
and this understanding
of the Word of God for many years.
And so, it's interesting
because they're kind of coming out of captivity,
coming out of all the other ideologies
that they've been, you know,
that have surrounded them.
And now God is kind of trying
to wipe the slate clean
and show them what the truth is, remind them again.
And it just kind of, to make it practical,
I think especially for those that are watching,
if this is kind of the first time
you're starting to understand the Bible,
it is so important to spend
a lot of time familiarizing yourself,
understanding the whole picture and everything.
It helps to understand the Bible
as you keep going.
But, yeah, it's interesting;
they didn't have a background at that point.
(Jason) Jonathan.
(Jonathan) Just thinking
about how many hours
they were spending over there in worship.
They didn't have AC;
they were not comfortable.
But we have to think
there are some moments in our lives
where we need those dramatic activities with God,
dramatic moments with God,
in order to make a dramatic change.
They were in a very pivotal moment.
They were coming back
from their captivity,
and they wanted to make changes.
So, we need to make a special...
to set apart special moments for God
when we want to make important changes.
(Jason) One of the most dramatic things
I saw in here was this idea
of the group coming together
and doing this confession.
There's a phrase, "corporate repentance."
Have you heard of that phrase before?
That seems like that's
what's going on here,
and I'm just curious,
what do you think of this idea
of corporate repentance
that you see here in Nehemiah?
Someone on the team, Pedro,
you have a thought.
(Pedro) Looking at this,
I think this cannot happen
if it doesn't happen personally.
If you're not able to do that
in a point of one-on-one,
you're not going to be able
to come into a group of people and expose yourself.
And I want to share
a little testimony here.
For many years...You know,
I have five siblings,
and for a season of time
I had a problem with my older brother
because, for the same reason
we see here in the text.
It's interesting that it fits well with me
because he was being a person
that was taking me away from God.
And my wife brought to me,
"You see, the things that you're doing,
it's like the same things your brother is doing.
He's not uplifting you for God,
but he's taking you away from God."
And I restrained myself from him
for a period of time,
and I did that in a harsh way.
And I said, "Well, I noticed that..."
I didn't want to confront him at that moment,
but later on I came to him,
and we had a conversation.
And I believe it was not something
I could say, "You know, brother,
we haven't talked for six months,
forgive me, and have a good day."
No, we had to take time to reconcile.
It was a moment of reflection
and a moment of talk.
And since the moment
that I had to explain to him
what was happening, why I had to do
the things that I did.
And he realized, and he thanked me for it.
And it was a good time of reconciliation.
And I believe we can do that
if we are experiencing
those reconciliations on a daily basis.
(Jason) Puia.
(Puia) We're looking
at a corporate repentance happening here,
and I think there is power
in coming together as a group.
See, when we see our friends repenting,
in some way, it influences our thoughts,
and it's like, "Oh, my friend
is repenting to God,"
and that in some way motivates us
or gives us more reason
to also do likewise.
You know, negativity can spread very quickly,
and in the same way,
positivity can also spread
when we come together as a group.
(Jason) Jonathan.
(Jonathan) I think there's a time
when decisions are made
at a level where it's the whole body
making the decision.
I mean, it wasn't just the fact
that one person worshiped other gods;
it's the fact that leader after leader
after leader rejected the prophets
and rejected the warnings
and outright called people to worship Baal.
So when it is a communal decision,
the community should probably also make
a communal saying, "Okay,
it looks like we did not do
what we should have."
(Jason) Now, this idea
of corporate repentance,
we've talked about it now here
in the context of Nehemiah's day,
but for...and I come
from the United States, from the West,
from a Western individualist mindset,
this is kind of foreign
because we have this idea,
"Well, you have your sin; I have my sin.
You go talk with God about your issue,
and I go talk with God about my issue."
But is there something we can learn
from this experience
that could apply for us today? Travis.
(Travis) As I'm listening
to everybody discussing this,
there's a precursor
to corporate repentance
and that's recognizing corporate need.
And so, when we, as a body,
recognize corporately our condition,
the Bible says, "Blessed are
the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven."
When we recognize our need,
and we come to Jesus beating our chests
and saying, "Lord, have mercy on me,"
corporately God will pour His blessings
out on the church.
(Jason) Amen. Stephanie.
(Stephanie) I actually see these verses
as revival and reformation
of this group of individuals.
And I think that even our churches,
we need that revival and reformation.
And in order for that to happen, we need
that personal revival in our lives.
but then, when that happens,
we're a safe place to bring others in
and give them the blessings
that we've experienced from our time.
(Jason) Amen. We have to move on,
and we need to read
further on in the story,
and I'd like to ask Nancy
if you would read for us
Nehemiah, chapter 9, verses 5 and 6.
And with verse 5, just read the second part.
There's a list of all these names,
and there are some statements that are said,
so just read the part
beyond the names in verse 5,
and then also read verse 6.
(Nancy) Okay, and I'm reading
from the New King James Version:
(Jason) Wow. Amen.
So, now we continue a little more
into what the content is
of how this worship is going along.
And I'd like to ask someone
here on the team,
did you see any appeals here?
What was the appeal
that the worship leaders made
to the people gathered?
What was the request? Stephanie.
(Stephanie) "Stand up and bless the Lord."
(Jason) "Stand up and bless the Lord."
Now, we say that, but what does that mean?
Do you physically stand up
and just wave your hands,
or is there something more?
What is this idea of, "Stand up and bless the Lord"? Yes, Puia.
(Puia) I think it's more about the heart,
more than just the physical standing up.
I think it also has to do
with moving out of your comfort zone.
When you're talking about sitting down, it's comfortable.
"Stand up," like, "Come up," you know,
move out of your comfort zone
and be willing, open your heart.
(Jason) Move out of your comfort zone
and open your heart. Yes, Jonathan.
(Jonathan) I'm thinking about the context
from which this all emerges,
and they are coming out of a captivity.
And to bless the Lord for that,
I feel like, to bless,
we have to bless the Lord
even though those external things are not positive.
I recently lost one of my legs.
I have a prosthetic leg,
and whenever people met me,
they said, "How can you be so smiley
when you have lost a leg?"
Because while I was in the hospital,
one of those who care,
one of the nurses said, "I come here
and I see you smiling always."
And I said, "Because God is with me, and He's love."
And she said, "How can you
say that God is love?
He just allowed you to lose your leg."
And then I talked to her about God's love,
and I blessed the Lord.
Tears came out from her eyes,
and she said, "You know, I am
now working currently in this room,
but I came here accidentally
because I'm replacing somebody,
and now I found the reason why I came here.
I was about to give up on God
because I lost one
of my daughters recently in this room,
and I couldn't understand God's love.
I could not praise Him.
And thank you for sharing that."
So I think we have to share God
and bless God even when the circumstances
around are negative.
And these, well, we see, they are
coming out of a very negative experience,
and yet they are called to bless God.
(Jason) Thank you for sharing that, Jonathan.
So even if we're going
through negative or difficult experiences,
as we come out of them,
even as we're going through them,
as in your case, we can stand up,
we can bless the Lord,
get out of our comfort zone and praise God.
Now, one big element of praise
is this idea of recognizing God as the Creator.
So, why is the Creator idea
so important, so connected
to this idea of praise that we see here,
because if you look at this section,
there's a lot about the creator. Yes, Puia.
(Puia) I think when you know your Creator,
you know your origin.
And when you know your origin,
you know your destiny,
or, somewhat, you know your purpose.
See, nowadays in the public school system
and around the world,
students are being taught
that there's no God, there's no Creator.
So, with that worldview,
if there is no Creator,
my life is just an accident.
So, I think it's important
to understand here that people
are called back to understand
that God is their Creator, to remind them
that they have a purpose,
and they have a reason to live.
And they have a destiny,
and it's based on their Creator who created them.
(Jason) Amen. Stephanie.
(Stephanie) We also recognize
that the reason we exist
is because of Him,
both physically and spiritually,
because of His forgiveness.
(Jason) Jonathan.
(Jonathan) There is so much
that is beautiful about God's creation.
You go out in nature or someplace,
and there are waterfalls, et cetera,
and you're just overwhelmed.
And I think that is a right representation
of who God is and of His love for us.
(Jason) Now, when it comes to praise,
there is a difference, or, I should ask,
is there a difference
between praising the Lord
and this idea of in spirit, in truth,
and praising the Lord
with emotionalism and exhibitionism?
Because there are a lot of different ways
we can look like we're praising the Lord,
but how can we tell
if we're actually praising the Lord?
Is all apparent praise to the Lord,
is it all the same thing?
Or is there something different? Yes, Nancy.
(Nancy) It should be based
on an understanding of who He is.
And I think of Job, when He said,
you know, all that Job went through,
and he said, "Though he slay me,
yet will I trust Him."
So he knew whom he had believed in.
That's ultimate trust.
(Jason) Yes, Jonathan.
(Jonathan) I just say, I think it will
look different for different people.
(Jason) Okay, it will look different for different people.
(Jonathan) Sometimes it can be tempting to try to judge other people,
but, I mean, David was dancing around and all this stuff,
and his wife was like, "What are you doing?!"
But he was praising God.
He wasn't worried about other people.
He was just living in the spirit
and praising God for all
that He had done and was doing.
(Jason) Travis, you have some thoughts.
(Travis) To worship in spirit and truth
is different than just on emotions.
Part of that is, when we worship,
we're praising and we're claiming
the promises of God.
When we come to worship God in spirit,
we're coming to worship Him
with an idea that we can trust Him
and that His words
will not return to us void.
When it's emotions,
sometimes it's just based on feelings,
"Well, I feel good today.
The music was loud;
the smoke was great in church today,
and I had a great time."
But when the great time is over with,
if we've not hid the Word of God in our hearts,
if we've not based it
on the promises of God and truth, then it's empty.
(Jason) Now, Jonathan made reference
to this idea, some people have a concept
that, if you're worshiping
in spirit and truth,
it means a certain format,
a certain style of song, a certain,
dare I even say, traditional method.
But is it possible that one can worship
in a very apparently reverent way,
very traditional, but yet could that
also be emotionalism or exhibitionism?
Is that also possible, too? Yes, Jonathan.
(Jonathan) Jesus was referring...
Okay, those words "in spirit and truth"
are words spoken by Jesus
when He was talking
to the Samaritan woman,
and she was worried because
she said, "Your people say that we
should worship God in the temple,
in the physical temple"; she was focused
on the physical activities, religious activities.
And I think Jesus was taking her attention
from the physical or external activity
into the inner experience, the inner worship.
And worship in spirit and truth,
I think, when we talk about truth,
we talk about the Word of God.
John 17:17 says the Word of God is truth,
and Jesus also claims, Himself, to be the Truth.
So, that inner experience, where we're
just worshiping God in the spirit
should be regulated by the truth,
by the Word of God and example of Jesus.
(Jason) Ranela.
(Ranela) I appreciate what he said,
and what everyone has said.
I think that, when it comes to emotionalism,
there's nothing wrong with being emotional
when we talk about God,
when we praise God,
when we think of God.
And I appreciate what Jonathan said.
We can't judge someone else, like, "Oh, are they being..."
like, "Are they being sincere?"
"Are they really doing that based on the Word of God?"
We don't know, but the difference,
where it gets into a dangerous place,
is when emotion is the reason
that you're doing it.
It should be the expression
and not the reason.
The reason needs to be based
on who God is and on the Word of God.
(Jason) Puia.
(Puia) I also want to make a point
that there is danger, also,
to go to the extreme of emotionalism.
I think the question is,
who is in control?
Is the Spirit of God in control?
Some people in some worship forms,
I know...this is not being judgmental at all,
but in some worship forms,
people are dragged out of their seats against their will,
and they are forced to dance.
I've seen them, you know.
There are plenty of places
where they believe that that's the Holy Spirit.
But I think the Holy Spirit,
it's very clear from the Bible
that the Holy Spirit never forces upon us.
So, if in the process
of our worshiping God,
if some form of force
is taking over our own will and decision,
that's something to be careful of,
and that's not something from God
because God never forces us.
God wants us to worship out of our hearts.
(Jason) Yes, Pedro.
(Pedro) It's hard to put
worship into a perspective
because it's something
that we experience ourselves
in relation to God.
But when I look into the boundaries,
I try to look into the history of marriage.
That's the only entity
that you probably can have
as a different relationship
of experiencing something with someone.
And if you're cut and dried,
you're not having a relationship with that person.
You can say, "I'm married,"
but you're just on that ceremonial level
where you just do what needs to be done and that's it.
But also you cannot be too emotional.
You have to have reason.
It's that mix, that balance
of reason and emotions
that brings together
a full experience of relationship.
And I think that's the most important.
Are you experiencing a relationship
with God as you worship?
And are you growing
from this marital church in Christ?
(Jason) So, worship involves both
the emotional and the rational components, as Pedro said.
We need to move on, and we need
to look further in the story.
Jonathan, I would like
if you could read for us
Nehemiah, chapter 9, verses 7 through 15.
And as we read this, let's see,
how do the children of Israel,
this group gathered together,
how do they worship?
What are the statements
that are made here?
(Jonathan) All right, I'll be reading
from the New International Version:
(Jason) Wow, so, what is the story here?
What is happening in this prayer?
Jonathan just read a lot of verses,
and what are those verses
all talking about? Stephanie.
(Stephanie) It's recounting
God's faithfulness, each step of the way.
(Jason) Each step, recounting
God's faithfulness. Yes, Travis.
(Travis) It's also talking
about His power, the power of God.
Only God can part the Red Sea.
Prior to this, we talked
about their worship,
worship Him who made the earth
and everything that was in it.
And that was basically leading them
back into Sabbath worship,
to honoring Him as the Creator.
(Jason) Yes, Nicole.
(Nicole) It also talks about His authority.
"You gave us ordinances.
You gave us structure and rules
that we need as humans."
And so, He's awesome in that way,
that He gives us what's good for us
because He knows what we need when we need it.
(Jason) All right, so, His authority,
structure, power, His love.
Now, let's look through,
because there's a specific series
of statements that are made
in this retelling of God's goodness
and God's guidance.
And we're kind of going to see
how they play back and forth
between what the people are doing
and what God has done.
And so, I want to start this.
Puia, if you could read for us
Nehemiah, chapter 9, verses 16 and 17.
And you're going to see here,
I'm going to ask you,
what do the people do?
What is God's response?
So, 16 and 17, please, and you can read
all the full verses there.
(Puia) All right, I'll be reading
from the New King James Version:
(Jason) Wow. So, what did the people do?
What was their action? Yes, Stephanie.
(Stephanie) Proud, hard, disobedient, rebellious.
(Jason) Proud, hard, disobedient. Yes, Pedro.
(Pedro) I like the phrase, "hardened their necks."
If somebody is calling you,
you're just not turning;
you're just rejecting to go.
You know, somebody is calling on this side,
and I'm turning that way; I'm not listening.
It's a very offensive way, you know.
You're not recognizing God.
And now they are saying,
"We want to recognize You and Your praise."
(Jason) So, they're very offensive towards God,
and what is God's response?
Does He turn His neck back?
Does He say, "All right,
I'm done with you"? Nicole.
(Nicole) He loves them.
He always does.
He loves us no matter what.
And He calls them to come back to Him.
You know, He's gracious,
He's compassionate, He's slow to anger,
and He's abounding in faithful love.
He is faithful to the end.
(Jason) Travis.
(Travis) Well, I just noticed, it says,
"They appointed a leader
to return to their bondage.
But You are God," so, God was their leader,
but they chose a different leader
that led them into bondage.
(Jason) And yet God still returns,
and He's gracious to them.
All right, let's look at the next section.
I'd like to ask Evelyn
if you could read for us
Nehemiah, chapter 9, verses 18 through 25.
We have another story here,
and then how God responds.
So, please read for us 18 through 25
of Nehemiah, chapter 9.
(Evelyn) I'll be reading
from the New King James Version:
(Jason) So, if you heard most of those verses,
you almost might have missed
the one negative thing they did
because you see so much of God's blessing.
But what was the one problem?
What was the negative thing they did, Stephanie?
(Stephanie) They worshiped the calf.
(Jason) They worshiped the golden calf.
So they worshiped the golden calf,
and what is God's response here?
How does God...Does He cut them off again?
Yes, Pedro, how does God respond?
(Pedro) He responds with blessings.
He brings them to repentance
and says, "Here, what I have promised."
He kept His promise.
I think, even though they rebelled,
God is faithful in keeping
His promise that He had made.
(Jason) Travis.
(Travis) Since we're talking about prophets,
I'd just like to go back there
and kind of go dive into that story just a little bit
because, during that story,
God was very angry,
and Moses interceded and said,
"Lord, even if You have to take my life,
write their names in the Book of Life."
And so, there was another prophet,
like Ezra, like Nehemiah,
somebody else to intercede for them,
a powerful leader,
a godly servant, [God]-fearing leader,
who interceded for them at the time.
And it just goes to show you
that God uses people also,
godly people, to work
for the will of His people.
(Jason) We have to continue in the story.
Ranela, if you could read for us
Nehemiah, chapter 9, verses 26 and 27,
let's continue on in the story
and let's see how this relationship
goes on between God and His people.
(Ranela) Yes, I'll be reading
from the New King James Version:
(Jason) So had the children of Israel learned their lesson?
Nope. How did they act this time? Yes, Pedro.
(Pedro) I see here that they rebelled against.
And it's interesting that God
allowed things to take place.
Even though He brings the prophets
to take them back to the Word of God, they rebel.
But that's when I see here
there's a very important aspect here
on this lesson that I believe in
is that God allowed trials
to come into their lives
so they could know
that they need God to live.
And then when they recognized,
"I'm in trouble," they gave it to God.
(Jason) And now, Heide,
if you could read for us,
we're going to close off this story
with verse 28, Nehemiah,
chapter 9, verse 28.
How does the story kind of end?
Continue, if you will.
(Heide) I'll be reading
from the New King James Version, and it says:
(Jason) All right, so, what do you
feel about this, Jonathan,
when you read these things?
(Jonathan) The last one, I was thinking,
it kind of shows how much
God will go towards,
the lengths that God will go towards.
I mean, He doesn't want
to bring calamities.
No parent wants to do that for their kids,
but He knows that He's got
to do something to wake them up.
I mean, He has to take responsibility.
Like, when people look on,
they're going to say,
"God's doing what to me?"
But He knows that that's what they needed.
And so I think it's kind of a reminder we can have,
that God will go to great lengths to win us back.
(Jason) Nicole.
(Nicole) I was thinking, this is us today.
You know, we have all the knowledge of the entire Bible,
and yet we still do things
that are shameful and not in God's sight.
But if we cry out to Him,
He is faithful to forgive us.
He's faithful to be there for us and rescue us.
So I'm just very thankful
that in all of my fallings,
God is there to pick me up
if I just cry out to Him
and ask Him to pick me up.
(Jason) Stephanie, and then we'll have to move on.
(Stephanie) What I see
throughout all of these verses
is that God allows us to make a choice,
and unfortunately our choices
lead to consequences.
But He is merciful, and those consequences
will still be there,
but the mercy of us being able
to come back to Him
is part of His faithfulness.
(Jason) Malaina, could you read for us
Nehemiah, chapter 9, verse 30?
There is a specific reference
about what God does,
how He tries to reach the people.
Please read for us Nehemiah 9:30.
(Malaina) I'll be reading
from the New King James Version,
Nehemiah, chapter 9, verse 30:
(Jason) All right, so, what did God do?
How did God try to win back His people? Yes, Pedro.
(Pedro) Through the Spirit of the prophets.
That's what basically we need to understand
is the role of the prophet
is to bring us back to the Word of God.
(Jason) And let's actually look
at some verses about what a prophet does,
and so, I'd like to ask Nancy
if you could read for us
in the book of Amos, chapter 3, verse 7.
We're going to look at what a prophet does,
and then after Nancy,
I'm going to ask Puia, right next door,
to read 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
Pedro introduced us
to this idea of prophets.
Let's look at what the prophets are,
what they do, and how that can be
helpful for us in life.
So, yes, Nancy, from Amos, please.
(Nancy) All right, this is Amos,
chapter 3, verse 7,
in the New King James Version:
(Jason) So the prophets are there
to reveal His secrets, to tell us
what God is doing,
to warn us about God's activities.
Now, Puia, what does
2 Timothy 3:16-17 tell us?
(Puia) I'll be reading
from the New King James Version:
(Jason) So, when you hear these verses,
how do these relate
to the idea of prophets
and what they can tell us,
and maybe what the people there with Nehemiah
should have listened to before?
Yes, Stephanie, I see you have some thoughts?
(Stephanie) Well, it says
that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and so, those prophets who wrote that
or gave us that information,
they were inspired by God.
(Jason) They were inspired by God. Yes, Travis.
(Travis) I was just thinking that,
no matter what age we live in,
as we go through the Scriptures,
the words of the prophets
are as valuable to us today
as they were to them back then.
(Jason) Now, we have
the ultimate revelation
that the Scriptures reveal,
and so, I'd like to ask Pedro,
if you could read for us
John, chapter 5, verses 39 and 40.
We have the greatest revelation
that the Scriptures give to us.
So, what is this greatest revelation,
and how can it help us
in this idea of forgiveness
and turning to God?
(Pedro) I'll be reading
from the New King James Version,
John, chapter 5, verses 39 to 40:
(Jason) So, what do you think about these verses?
How does this all connect together?
Nicole, I see you nodding your head.
(Nicole) Jesus, it comes back to Jesus.
It all comes back to Him.
No matter what we do,
what we say, or where we are,
we have to come back to Him,
and the Word points to Jesus, and that's all we have.
(Jason) The Word points to Jesus. Yes, Puia.
(Puia) As Jesus said,
the Scripture is about Him.
It's about Him, and when we
have Him in our lives,
that's eternal life.
(Jason) Eternal life. Yes, Heide.
(Heide) And putting that into perspective then,
the prophets were telling them,
"Come to Him; come to your Creator,"
and they were rejecting that.
And we sometimes are in church
or we've heard the same things that they have,
and yet we continue to live sinfully.
But His love is just, like, unfailing
is what I see here; it's so beautiful.
(Jason) Amen. Travis.
(Travis) So, as we make an application
to the verses that we've just read,
we see mistake, God's love,
mistake, God's love.
The Scriptures testify of God's
immeasurable, unfailing love.
(Jason) Yes, Pedro.
(Pedro) That's basically... the Bible is saying
God has given the Word
because He wants us to know
that He is willing to forgive us.
(Jason) God is willing to forgive us.
That's such great news,
but that news is not just for us;
it's for the whole world.
Maybe you've gone on your own journey,
like the children of Israel,
maybe you've made mistakes,
maybe you've even been rebellious
against God yourself.
I want to ask you, if maybe you have
done some of these things,
that you join me right now,
and as I pray, you go to God
and you ask Him for forgiveness.
As we see in these stories, in these lessons,
our God is a forgiving God, is a loving God,
and time after time He's willing
to take us back and to redeem us.
He redeemed us through His power
and through His blood,
and He wants to take us with Him.
So please bow your heads with me
as we pray and as we thank God
for His forgiveness.
Our dear Heavenly Father,
Lord, we have made mistakes.
Whether individually or corporately,
we have turned from You.
And, Lord, if this is the time right now,
then we ask forgiveness.
We ask for, where we have failed,
that You redeem us,
that You take us back.
Lord, You are so long-suffering.
You are so loving.
We see what You did
with the children of Israel,
and we want You to do the same for us.
Lord, by Your grace, help us
to learn these lessons
so that we can truly appreciate Your love.
We pray all this in the holy name of Jesus,
our Redeemer, our Savior. Amen.
(Team) Amen.
(Jason) Go out and be a blessing.
Share this with those around you.
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