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Shawn Brummund: Hello,
and welcome to another edition
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of the Sabbath
School Study Hour.
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We're so glad that you have
decided to join us here today as
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we come together to be
able to study God's word.
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Right here in the Granite
Bay Seventh Day Adventist Church
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in the greater Sacramento
area of California, USA.
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We're glad to have all the
viewers that are joining us
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from across the nation, of
course, we have many people
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that join us both live, as
well as online, and the various
00:00:56.15\00:00:59.62
television networks
across the world and we're
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always glad to
be able to have you.
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So please stay tuned with
us as we continue to study.
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We have a choir that you can see
that is with me here today that
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is going to be
blessing us in music as well.
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We are coming into our second
last lesson study for a very
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interesting and very uplifting
and informative study in two key
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books in the Old Testament
entitled Ezra and Nehemiah, Ezra
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and Nehemiah.
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And so if you have your
Quarterlies make sure you
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grab them.
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If you don't have them in hand
already we're gonna be looking
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at lesson number 12, that's
lesson number 12, which is
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entitled "Dealing
with Bad Decisions."
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Now if you don't
have the quarterly, you'd
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like to follow along
and be able to study either
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during the lesson study or
afterwards make sure you go
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to Amazingfacts.org and you
can find a digital copy there
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for you.
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Now before we invite our choir
to sing for us we always have
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a special offer that we
like to be able to give to each
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and every person that is
interested and this is one of my
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favorite studies.
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It's lesson study guide
number five which is entitled
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"Keys for a Happy Marriage."
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"Keys for a Happy Marriage."
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If you haven't studied this
and you are married or you're
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thinking about getting
married make sure you get a copy
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of this.
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You can dial into 1-866-788-3966
and you can receive a free copy
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at the end of that phone call.
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Number 164 is the offer number.
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So please ask for free offer
number 164 and again that's
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number 1-866-788-3966.
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Now that's for everybody
that's in North America or any
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of the US territories.
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We're happy to be able
to send that out to you.
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If you're not in those
particular areas of the world
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or you'd like a digital copy,
we also have that available
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for you.
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And that is through text
and you can see that pertinent
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information that's on the screen
and you simply text number
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SH046.
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So that's the code,
SH046, and you want to text that
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to the number 40544.
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So please take advantage
of that even here today.
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So we are going to invite our
choir to be able to us join us
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in song as they inspire
us and help us to be able
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to worship the
Lord here this morning.
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God bless you.
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¤¤¤
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¤ Your humble birth, ¤
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¤ Your matchless worth; ¤
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¤ Jesus, God with us. ¤
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¤ No earthly crown, ¤
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¤ no great renown; ¤
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¤ Jesus, God with us. ¤
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¤ Redeemer King, ¤
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¤ of whom angels sing; ¤
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¤ Jesus, God with us ¤
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¤ Splendor
displayed in manger laid ¤
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¤ Jesus, God with us ¤
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¤ Shepherds adore
and kneel before ¤
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¤ Jesus, God with us ¤
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¤ Seen of old
the wonder foretold ¤
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¤ Jesus, God with us ¤
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¤ Glorious one incarnate Son ¤
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¤ Jesus, God with us ¤
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¤ Humbly we bring our offering ¤
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¤ Jesus, God with us ¤
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¤ Redeeming light
in meekness and might ¤
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¤ Jesus, God with us  ¤
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¤¤¤
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¤ Jesus, God with us  ¤¤
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Shawn: Thank you so much
for blessing us with that
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wonderful song.
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And before we invite our
teaching pastor up today, want
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to invite you to
join me as we pray.
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Father in heaven, we
want to thank You for this
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opportunity to be able to come
together to be able to study.
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We thank You so much for Your
word in the way that You have
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revealed so much to us and Lord
we trust that You will reveal
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even more to us today as we look
at this very relevant topic that
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is brought to
light in this lesson.
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I want to pray God that You will
help us to have receptive minds
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and hearts and Lord that
You will help us to take Your
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guidance and wisdom to
heart and apply it to our lives.
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And so Father, we pray for
Your Holy Spirit to teach us, be
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with our teacher today and bless
him as well in Jesus' name,
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amen.
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Our teaching pastors today will
be Pastor Luccas Rodor, and we
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thank him for being here today.
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Luccas Rodor: In the
spirit of full disclosure I
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like to tell you all that
today's lesson is a very--it's
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a very profound lesson
and to a few people, to some
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people it might be
considered a bit controversial.
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So bear with me.
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I'm sure that if you study
the lesson you know what I'm
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talking about.
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You know that this week's lesson
can be a little bit, a little
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bit complicated if understood
the wrong way, but I'm sure that
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the Lord will guide
us in today's study.
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The title of today's lesson
is "Dealing with Bad Decisions."
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Now you know, we all, all of
us make decisions hundreds maybe
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thousands of times every day.
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All the way from the most menial
small decisions all the way
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up to the biggest
life changing decisions.
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I mean, some of these
decisions they're very tiny.
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They don't really matter
much in the scope of of reality.
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So you know as much as
we'd like to flatter ourselves,
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sometimes it doesn't matter that
much if the shirt that you come
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with to church is
blue or yellow or red.
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It doesn't really matter that
much if for breakfast you drink
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orange juice or apple juice.
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These are the small decisions
of life that they impact only
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you and only in the moment.
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But on the other hand, there
are some decisions that are much
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more complex and much more
intricate and these decisions
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they impact you and those that
you love in very consequential
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ways, serious ways.
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There are some decisions
that involve eternal matters,
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for example.
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Some decisions that will impact
you and your loved ones and your
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family, not only during your
life and throughout your life,
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but also eternally.
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And one of her personal letters,
the author Ellen White, she
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wrote that in the blink of
an eye we can make decisions
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that will scar us forever and
as a result, thorns will grow
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upon the path, making the
way back just that much harder.
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So to better understand
this week's lesson, we have
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to understand it in the
scope of this whole lesson.
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This is our second to
last lesson for this quarter.
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The second to last lesson
and we've seen something that I
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find truly interesting, truly
beautiful in the books of Ezra
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and Nehemiah is that you don't
see anyone sugar coating what's
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happening to the
children of Israel.
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You don't find that there.
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In these two letters you find
some of the darkest moments,
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some of the most dangerous
moments, some of the ugliest
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moments that these
people they go through.
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So for us to understand
this week's lesson and the bad
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decisions that God had to
help the children of Israel
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to correct, we have to
understand that in the scope
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of the entire context of who
these people were, all the way
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from their calling, the
calling of Abraham, the calling
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of Isaac, and of Jacob,
the calling of their children,
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their sons, and the
peregrinations that they
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had, all the way from
the context of the Exodus
00:10:07.64\00:10:11.94
from Egypt from which the Lord
with a mighty hand delivered
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them and redeemed
them from bondage.
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We have to remember the enormous
challenges of their journey
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through the desert, the Sinai
desert and the rebellions that
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they went through, the
establishment of the kingdom
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of the nation in
the Promised Land.
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We have to remember the ups
and downs that they faced almost
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constantly.
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These were people that were
on a, you know, a proverbial
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roller coaster almost always.
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There always either
totally up or totally down.
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We have to remember that Israel.
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They go through this cycle of A,
B, and C and this happens again
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and again
throughout the Old Testament.
00:10:50.28\00:10:51.85
They go through a
cycle of apostasy, A.
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Bumps on the road, B.
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And return to God,
confession, confession.
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And then only onto go to
apostasy again, and then more
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bumps on the road, and then more
confession and this seems to be
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their cycle.
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They live through
these A, B, and Cs of life.
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Comes to a point where
Israel then becomes continuously
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rebellious.
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Always rebellious.
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It seems as though there isn't
one moment of peace and truly
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you find few few moments
of peace throughout their
00:11:21.78\00:11:24.58
history of true peace.
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There are a few, but they're
kind of rare and spaced out.
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And then because of their
constant rebellions, that leads
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to a new captivity, and then
to a new calling, and that's
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what we've been studying
throughout this quarter, a new
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calling, where there their
exodus isn't from Egypt, it's
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from where?
00:11:41.90\00:11:43.20
Babylon.
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And here they're on an
exodus coming from Babylon.
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They recuperate their land,
the recuperation of their land,
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then they have the
reconstruction of the temple
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and the walls and then they
fall into a new cycle of A, Bs,
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and Cs.
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Of apostasies, of
bumps or beatings, and then
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confession.
00:12:02.95\00:12:04.52
And you know, friends, that
is the true tragedy of our human
00:12:04.55\00:12:06.96
race, of our fallen nature.
00:12:06.99\00:12:09.29
It seems as though our blindness
is an incapacity of, in most
00:12:09.32\00:12:13.96
occasions, not seeing correctly,
not thinking correctly, not
00:12:14.00\00:12:18.10
acting correctly, and
not deciding correctly.
00:12:18.13\00:12:21.74
And so in the context of this
whole story of this people that
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go through the cycle of bad
decisions, of beatings, and then
00:12:25.81\00:12:30.81
callings from God again
and again, and God forgiving
00:12:30.85\00:12:33.11
them again and again, in
the context of all of this,
00:12:33.15\00:12:35.38
we find a few occasions
and that's what we're going
00:12:35.42\00:12:37.79
to study throughout this lesson
that we have studied and now we
00:12:37.82\00:12:42.02
are we're talking about.
00:12:42.06\00:12:43.96
We find these two occasions
where these two great spiritual
00:12:43.99\00:12:46.90
leaders they have to deal
with the bad decisions that
00:12:46.93\00:12:50.47
the people made.
00:12:50.50\00:12:51.80
And so the first one that we
read about we find in Nehemiah
00:12:51.83\00:12:54.87
13: 23 through 25 and this is
the context of the first thing
00:12:54.90\00:12:59.24
that we're going
to talk about today.
00:12:59.27\00:13:01.28
Look at this Nehemiah 13, 23
through 25 says, "In those days,
00:13:01.31\00:13:06.78
I also saw Jews, who had
married women of Ashdod, Ammon,
00:13:06.82\00:13:11.39
And Moab.
00:13:11.42\00:13:12.75
Half of their children spoke
the language of Ashdod and could
00:13:12.79\00:13:16.16
not speak the language of
Judah, but spoke according
00:13:16.19\00:13:19.56
to the language of
one or the other people.
00:13:19.59\00:13:22.30
So I contended with them
and cursed them and struck some
00:13:22.33\00:13:25.77
of them and pulled out their
hair and made them swear by God,
00:13:25.80\00:13:29.50
saying you shall not give
your daughters as wives to their
00:13:29.54\00:13:32.54
sons, nor take their
daughters for your sons
00:13:32.57\00:13:35.01
or for yourselves."
00:13:35.04\00:13:36.64
So this was Nehemiah's reaction
to one specific decision that
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the people were
making regarding what?
00:13:41.22\00:13:43.72
Marriage.
00:13:43.75\00:13:45.22
Their decisions
regarding marriage.
00:13:45.25\00:13:47.32
Here the people
were intermarrying.
00:13:47.36\00:13:49.56
Last week, lesson 11, we dealt
with the apostasy of backslidden
00:13:49.59\00:13:54.30
people.
00:13:54.36\00:13:55.73
Now this time, we find that age
old problem that intermarrying
00:13:55.76\00:13:59.37
resurges here in the children
of Israel, and since we are
00:13:59.40\00:14:02.54
so far off from those people,
since this happened thousands
00:14:02.57\00:14:05.94
of years ago, it's a little bit
difficult for us to understand
00:14:05.97\00:14:09.08
exactly what's going on.
00:14:09.11\00:14:10.55
That's why it's so important
that we understand the details
00:14:10.58\00:14:13.85
of this story, for us understand
the impact, why was this
00:14:13.88\00:14:16.72
so serious for them.
00:14:16.75\00:14:18.15
You know, we live in a world
today where, well, our cultures
00:14:18.19\00:14:21.02
they're so mixed.
00:14:21.06\00:14:22.36
I mean, I come from Brazil.
00:14:22.39\00:14:23.73
In Brazil, you have
all kinds of people.
00:14:23.76\00:14:25.06
You know, my family for example,
I have my grandfather on my
00:14:25.09\00:14:29.03
father's side, he's Syrian.
00:14:29.06\00:14:31.53
And he ran away from World
War I and he ended up in Brazil,
00:14:31.57\00:14:34.10
and he married my
grandmother that was German.
00:14:34.14\00:14:36.84
And on my mother's side,
my grandfather, he was Italian
00:14:36.87\00:14:40.28
and he married a Brazilian
lady and Brazilians, they're all
00:14:40.31\00:14:43.45
mixed up, so she had everything
in her, you know, and my parents
00:14:43.48\00:14:46.35
are Brazilian.
00:14:46.38\00:14:47.68
I was born in the United States
and so my family's just a big
00:14:47.72\00:14:49.75
mixture.
00:14:49.78\00:14:51.12
And that can be
said for most of us.
00:14:51.15\00:14:53.56
So in that context, it's
difficult for us to sometimes
00:14:53.59\00:14:56.16
understand why this was
such a big issue for them.
00:14:56.19\00:14:59.36
And we're going
to get into that.
00:14:59.39\00:15:01.50
So, I'm in Nehemiah
13, again 23 through 25.
00:15:01.53\00:15:05.77
He says, "In those days, I also
saw Jews, who had married women
00:15:05.80\00:15:08.74
of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab."
00:15:08.77\00:15:11.27
The implication, the implication
that comes from their decision
00:15:11.31\00:15:15.54
of marriage are not simple as
those as the color of our shirts
00:15:15.58\00:15:19.71
coming to church or the juice
that we drink in the morning.
00:15:19.75\00:15:22.42
These are not small
decisions that they were making.
00:15:22.45\00:15:25.15
These were big decisions.
00:15:25.19\00:15:27.76
In the end of--at the
end of the day, the heritage
00:15:27.79\00:15:30.63
and the tradition of God's
chosen nation were under threat.
00:15:30.66\00:15:33.93
That's why this was ultimately
such a serious offense.
00:15:33.96\00:15:37.27
The heritage of God's chosen
people, their identity was
00:15:37.30\00:15:40.97
under threat.
00:15:41.00\00:15:42.24
The new generations that were
coming, that were growing up,
00:15:42.27\00:15:45.71
they had lost the
identity of the language.
00:15:45.74\00:15:48.88
Verse 25 says that.
00:15:48.91\00:15:50.25
Half of their children spoke
the language of Ashdod and could
00:15:50.28\00:15:53.25
not speak the language
of one or the other people.
00:15:53.28\00:15:58.85
The whole of God's
plan was under threat.
00:15:58.89\00:16:02.19
Now that might seem a
bit drastic to say that.
00:16:02.22\00:16:04.09
How how can you say that
God's plan was under threat just
00:16:04.13\00:16:06.56
because they
couldn't speak the language?
00:16:06.59\00:16:08.03
Well, the loss of their
language, the assimilation
00:16:08.06\00:16:11.17
of another language, imply
that the Canaanite culture had
00:16:11.20\00:16:14.60
invaded, had absorbed
new generations, the new
00:16:14.64\00:16:17.91
generations.
00:16:17.94\00:16:19.24
Their future was at risk.
00:16:19.27\00:16:21.38
And you know this was actually
something very common that
00:16:21.41\00:16:23.58
happened back then.
00:16:23.61\00:16:24.91
When a conqueror, he wanted
to truly conquer a people and be
00:16:24.95\00:16:28.92
sure that they would never
rise again, what would he do?
00:16:28.95\00:16:32.19
He would come, he
would conquer them.
00:16:32.22\00:16:33.79
He would take the people
from that land, exile them
00:16:33.82\00:16:36.46
or take them to a completely
different place, and then he
00:16:36.49\00:16:39.83
would supplant or he would he
would take people from somewhere
00:16:39.86\00:16:42.46
else and bring them to this
place he had just conquered.
00:16:42.50\00:16:46.27
And in that way, that
land lost its identity.
00:16:46.30\00:16:48.90
It was a form of genocide.
00:16:48.94\00:16:51.17
And that is
exactly what we find here.
00:16:51.21\00:16:53.81
These people, they are losing
their identity, their language,
00:16:53.84\00:16:57.05
their culture is changing
and that's why this was such
00:16:57.08\00:17:00.05
a serious offense.
00:17:00.08\00:17:01.78
Nehemiah, he now observed
that many of the Jews had again
00:17:01.82\00:17:05.22
falling into the same sin that
Ezra had to deal with as soon as
00:17:05.25\00:17:08.89
he arrived in
Jerusalem in 457 BC.
00:17:08.92\00:17:11.86
So Ezra chapter 9 and
chapter 10, they deal with that
00:17:11.89\00:17:14.56
and that's the
second part of our lesson.
00:17:14.56\00:17:16.10
We're gonna talk about
that after, after we talk
00:17:16.13\00:17:18.43
about Nehemiah,
after what happens to him.
00:17:18.47\00:17:21.54
So this all happens in
the context of the covenant.
00:17:21.57\00:17:26.78
God had made a covenant with his
people and when Ezra comes back,
00:17:26.81\00:17:30.41
he again, well, makes them
enter the covenant, a covenant
00:17:30.45\00:17:36.72
with God.
00:17:36.75\00:17:38.09
And this covenant included that
they would not intermarry, that
00:17:38.12\00:17:42.42
they would not marry or
get involved with the nations
00:17:42.46\00:17:45.26
around them.
00:17:45.29\00:17:46.59
And so here Nehemiah, he's
seeing that this covenant that
00:17:46.63\00:17:48.66
they had come into just shortly
a few years before was already
00:17:48.70\00:17:53.07
being broken.
00:17:53.10\00:17:54.94
You see this happens the
second time that Nehemiah is his
00:17:54.97\00:17:58.94
governing Judea.
00:17:58.97\00:18:00.34
Nehemiah, he goes through
two periods, through moments
00:18:00.38\00:18:02.74
of government and
so in the first moment
00:18:02.78\00:18:05.71
and the first period, while
he's there with them, it's very
00:18:05.75\00:18:08.68
likely that none
of this happened.
00:18:08.72\00:18:10.12
There wasn't much intermarrying.
00:18:10.15\00:18:11.82
They were keeping the covenant,
but as soon as Nehemiah leaves,
00:18:11.85\00:18:15.06
as soon as the
watchdog leaves, what happens?
00:18:15.09\00:18:17.63
In Portuguese we have a saying
that as soon as the shepherd
00:18:17.66\00:18:20.13
or as soon as the watchdog
leaves the chickens, they make
00:18:20.16\00:18:22.80
a party.
00:18:22.83\00:18:24.37
And that's what happens here.
00:18:24.40\00:18:25.73
As soon as the watchdog left,
they fell back into their ways
00:18:25.77\00:18:28.74
of intermarrying and they were
taking foreign wives once more
00:18:28.77\00:18:34.54
into their families.
00:18:34.58\00:18:35.91
Now I want it to be very clear
that we're not talking here
00:18:35.94\00:18:37.98
about sexism.
00:18:38.01\00:18:39.31
The Bible is not being
sexist when it talks about these
00:18:39.35\00:18:41.78
foreign wives that are coming
and unfortunately in those days
00:18:41.82\00:18:45.35
in the patriarchal society that
they lived in, what would happen
00:18:45.39\00:18:48.89
is that the husbands, they would
bring wives to live with them.
00:18:48.92\00:18:52.09
It was very rare that the
man would move to then live
00:18:52.13\00:18:54.83
with the wife.
00:18:54.83\00:18:56.13
What happened was that the men,
they would take the wife, they
00:18:56.16\00:18:58.43
would prepare a home for her,
and then they would take them
00:18:58.47\00:19:00.90
to live with, you know,
the wives to live with them.
00:19:00.94\00:19:03.57
So then when we see here
that these men they are taking
00:19:03.61\00:19:06.54
foreign wives, that
it's not being sexist.
00:19:06.57\00:19:09.48
It doesn't mean that there
weren't men also marrying Jewish
00:19:09.51\00:19:13.38
women, but what would happen is
that the Jewish women would then
00:19:13.42\00:19:16.35
move to the foreign nations.
00:19:16.38\00:19:17.92
Does that make sense?
00:19:17.95\00:19:19.29
The women were moved
to the foreign nations
00:19:19.32\00:19:21.12
and the foreign wives they
would then moved to Israel.
00:19:21.16\00:19:23.66
So we're not trying
to vilify the women here.
00:19:23.69\00:19:25.66
Far be it from that.
00:19:25.69\00:19:27.03
That's not what's going
on but when they say that
00:19:27.03\00:19:29.03
they're taking the foreign
wives, it's because if the men--
00:19:29.06\00:19:31.70
if the women, the Jewish women
were marrying foreign men, it
00:19:31.73\00:19:34.94
means that they would then
move to where these foreign men
00:19:34.97\00:19:37.44
lived.
00:19:37.47\00:19:38.81
Does that make sense?
00:19:38.84\00:19:40.14
All right.
00:19:40.18\00:19:41.51
So I need you to observe
where these wives came from.
00:19:41.54\00:19:43.31
They came from Ashdod, which
really was the area Philistia.
00:19:43.35\00:19:47.68
So these are Philistinian wives.
00:19:47.72\00:19:49.48
The race that had always
been an enemy of the children
00:19:49.52\00:19:53.19
of Israel.
00:19:53.22\00:19:54.56
Do you remember that?
00:19:54.59\00:19:55.89
The Philistines had always
been fighting with the children
00:19:55.92\00:19:58.53
of Israel.
00:19:58.56\00:20:00.00
Always, always hostile
and the natives of a city that
00:20:00.03\00:20:04.20
had recently
allied with their enemies.
00:20:04.23\00:20:06.20
So Ashdod, if you read
from chapter 4 through 7
00:20:06.23\00:20:09.50
of Nehemiah, you find that
Nehemiah is constantly being
00:20:09.54\00:20:12.77
harassed by many
people on every side.
00:20:12.81\00:20:16.01
They plot to kill him.
00:20:16.04\00:20:17.35
They want to get in the way
of them rebuilding the walls
00:20:17.38\00:20:19.38
and rebuilding the
temple and Ashdod had been one
00:20:19.41\00:20:22.05
of the cities, one of the allied
cities against Nehemiah's reign
00:20:22.08\00:20:26.05
and his his to
rebuild Jerusalem.
00:20:26.09\00:20:28.39
So here what we're talking
about is that there was a much
00:20:28.42\00:20:31.46
subtler and more dangerous enemy
now, because before the enemy
00:20:31.49\00:20:37.00
was on the outside, but
now the enemy--who's the enemy?
00:20:37.03\00:20:41.57
They're coming in.
00:20:41.60\00:20:42.94
They're invading.
00:20:42.97\00:20:44.27
The enemy is inside your home.
00:20:44.31\00:20:45.67
It was inside their home.
00:20:45.71\00:20:47.54
So it was a much subtler
and more dangerous enemy.
00:20:47.58\00:20:51.28
More than the sin of rebellion
to the divine orders, here we
00:20:51.31\00:20:54.95
have the sin of
high treason against God.
00:20:54.98\00:20:57.45
What does high treason?
00:20:57.49\00:20:59.12
Allying with the enemy.
00:20:59.15\00:21:02.36
Going over to the enemy side
and that's what these people
00:21:02.39\00:21:05.36
were doing, these
external enemies were now
00:21:05.39\00:21:07.50
within the gates of home.
00:21:07.56\00:21:09.90
In the past, do you remember
how Balaam had had counseled
00:21:09.93\00:21:14.37
the king to destroy
the children of Israel?
00:21:14.40\00:21:17.44
What was his
strategy, his warfare strategy?
00:21:17.47\00:21:19.57
It was exactly this.
00:21:19.61\00:21:21.94
Go in.
00:21:21.98\00:21:23.28
Offer them your daughters.
00:21:23.31\00:21:25.01
Let them marry them and
subtly the danger will come
00:21:25.05\00:21:29.38
from within.
00:21:29.42\00:21:31.05
Destruction will
come from within.
00:21:31.09\00:21:34.06
When we compare Ezra chapter 9
verse 1, to Nehemiah chapter 13,
00:21:34.09\00:21:37.86
verse 1, we find that
these people had indeed broken
00:21:37.89\00:21:41.10
covenant with God.
00:21:41.13\00:21:42.63
Ezra 9:1, says when these things
were done, the leaders came
00:21:42.66\00:21:46.27
to me saying, the people
of Israel and the priests
00:21:46.30\00:21:49.20
and the Levites have
not separated themselves
00:21:49.24\00:21:51.51
from the peoples of the lands,
with respect to the abominations
00:21:51.54\00:21:54.94
of the Canaanites, the Hittites,
the Parasites, the Jebusites,
00:21:54.98\00:21:58.08
the Ammonites, the Moabites,
the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
00:21:58.11\00:22:00.72
That's Ezra 9:1.
00:22:00.75\00:22:02.15
Now look at Nehemiah
13:1, on the day they read
00:22:02.18\00:22:05.39
from the book of Moses
in the hearing of the people
00:22:05.42\00:22:08.19
and in it was found that no
Ammonite or Moabite should ever
00:22:08.22\00:22:11.49
come into the assembly of God.
00:22:11.53\00:22:14.56
These marriages, they happened.
00:22:14.60\00:22:16.60
And these people had
come into the assembly of God.
00:22:16.63\00:22:21.57
These marriages had happened
after Nehemiah's departure as we
00:22:21.60\00:22:24.21
already mentioned.
00:22:24.24\00:22:25.54
And the children coming
from these marriages, from these
00:22:25.57\00:22:28.04
unions, they were incapable
of speaking the language
00:22:28.08\00:22:30.75
of Judea.
00:22:30.78\00:22:32.08
Now some scholars they say,
they have thought that these
00:22:32.11\00:22:34.38
children, they spoke a jargon
of half Hebrew and half another
00:22:34.42\00:22:38.75
language, have foreign language.
00:22:38.79\00:22:40.86
However, it's much more likely
that that these children, that
00:22:40.89\00:22:44.59
half of them, since they
came from these wives that were
00:22:44.63\00:22:48.30
foreign, they they didn't
speak the language at all.
00:22:48.33\00:22:51.50
They could not
speak the language at all.
00:22:51.53\00:22:54.74
The Seventh Day Adventist
Bible commentary describes that,
00:22:54.77\00:22:58.84
and this is regarding the book
of Micah and we don't have time
00:22:58.87\00:23:01.31
to go into this but just so you
understand many of these Jewish
00:23:01.34\00:23:04.85
men, they were divorcing
their Jewish wives, to marry
00:23:04.88\00:23:08.05
the foreign wives.
00:23:08.08\00:23:09.82
And so the children that
came from the union of the Jews
00:23:09.85\00:23:12.95
and the Jews, they would speak
Aramaic and Hebrew, but then
00:23:12.99\00:23:17.23
the children that came
from the union of the Jewish men
00:23:17.26\00:23:19.89
and the foreign wives,
they could not speak Hebrew
00:23:19.93\00:23:23.87
or Aramaic.
00:23:23.90\00:23:25.20
So you had half of these
children speaking the language
00:23:25.23\00:23:26.84
of the land and you had half
of the children not speaking
00:23:26.87\00:23:29.30
the language of the land
and that was the problem that
00:23:29.34\00:23:31.44
we're going through.
00:23:31.47\00:23:32.81
So what's the
importance of this?
00:23:32.84\00:23:34.14
What's the big issue here?
00:23:34.18\00:23:35.54
The loss of the language implied
in the loss of their identity.
00:23:35.58\00:23:40.88
That was the problem.
00:23:40.92\00:23:43.05
The loss of the language implied
the loss of their identity.
00:23:43.08\00:23:46.82
And Nehemiah became outraged
when he discovered that many
00:23:46.86\00:23:50.19
of the youth in Judea were
incapable of speaking Hebrew
00:23:50.23\00:23:53.90
and Aramaic.
00:23:53.93\00:23:55.20
The Moabite and the Ammonite
languages, they were dialects
00:23:55.23\00:23:58.03
that were very similar
to Hebrew and to Aramaic.
00:23:58.07\00:24:00.80
They were very similar,
but yet they were different
00:24:00.84\00:24:04.51
and a lot was
lost in translation.
00:24:04.54\00:24:07.64
So he was distressed to find
out that these foreign dialects
00:24:07.68\00:24:10.91
were gaining a
foothold in Judea.
00:24:10.95\00:24:13.75
And his strong reaction,
the severity of the situation,
00:24:13.78\00:24:17.22
and the dangerous tendency that
all of this represented heavily
00:24:17.25\00:24:20.66
weighed on his heart.
00:24:20.69\00:24:22.02
So what I'm trying to do
is stress to all of us the big
00:24:22.06\00:24:25.09
problem, because if we don't
understand how huge, how severe
00:24:25.13\00:24:28.60
this problem was, we don't
understand their reaction to it.
00:24:28.63\00:24:31.83
Does that make sense?
00:24:31.87\00:24:33.10
If you don't understand how bad
the situation was and if in your
00:24:33.13\00:24:36.20
mind, it's you
know it's not that bad.
00:24:36.24\00:24:38.24
They were--they exaggerated
in the reaction and their
00:24:38.27\00:24:40.74
solution.
00:24:40.78\00:24:42.31
We can't have that.
00:24:42.34\00:24:43.81
We have to understand
how severe this problem was.
00:24:43.85\00:24:46.65
So all of this weighed heavily
on Nehemiah's heart and so his
00:24:46.68\00:24:52.35
reaction to all of this is
described in verse 25 of chapter
00:24:52.39\00:24:55.32
13.
00:24:55.36\00:24:56.69
It says that he contended
with them and cursed them
00:24:56.73\00:24:58.89
and struck some of them
and pulled out their hair.
00:24:58.93\00:25:01.43
Now that might seem
kind of over the top, right?
00:25:01.46\00:25:04.60
He beat them, he cursed them,
he beat them, he cursed them, he
00:25:04.63\00:25:08.00
struck them and he
contended with them.
00:25:08.04\00:25:10.17
He pulled--can you imagine that?
00:25:10.21\00:25:11.54
He plucked out their hair.
00:25:11.57\00:25:13.31
Now that might seem
an over the top reaction,
00:25:13.34\00:25:16.08
but his intention
was to teach them.
00:25:16.11\00:25:18.15
According to the Bible, you
see this was what was expected
00:25:18.18\00:25:22.15
in a reproach.
00:25:22.18\00:25:23.89
This was expected.
00:25:23.92\00:25:25.22
This happened
according to the covenant.
00:25:25.25\00:25:27.49
These condemnations, when he
curses them, he's not cussing
00:25:27.52\00:25:30.46
them out.
00:25:30.49\00:25:31.79
That's not what's happening.
00:25:31.83\00:25:33.13
He's not calling them bad names.
00:25:33.16\00:25:34.46
That's not we find here.
00:25:34.50\00:25:35.80
When he curses them, he
is cursing them according
00:25:35.83\00:25:37.17
to the covenant.
00:25:37.20\00:25:38.50
And you find this in
Deuteronomy chapter 28.
00:25:38.53\00:25:41.20
You find what happens, or what
would happen when the children
00:25:41.24\00:25:44.64
of Israel, they did
not follow the covenant.
00:25:44.67\00:25:47.58
So when Nehemiah here, he's
cursing them and calling them
00:25:47.61\00:25:50.98
out and plucking their hair,
truly he's acting in the context
00:25:51.01\00:25:54.35
of a broken covenant.
00:25:54.38\00:25:56.12
In all of this we find a
very strong pedagogical process
00:25:56.15\00:26:00.29
of teaching, in which Nehemiah
he strives hardly to teach
00:26:00.32\00:26:04.43
and to educate these people.
00:26:04.46\00:26:06.86
Some of the leaders were beaten.
00:26:06.90\00:26:08.63
They were.
00:26:08.66\00:26:10.00
That happened.
00:26:10.03\00:26:11.33
He pulled out their hair.
00:26:11.37\00:26:12.70
Or apparently they didn't
like hair that much, which was
00:26:12.73\00:26:14.04
a problem.
00:26:14.07\00:26:15.40
Because later on we're going
to find that Ezra he plucked
00:26:15.44\00:26:16.74
out his own hair.
00:26:16.77\00:26:18.11
So they had something with
hair, where they plucked it out.
00:26:18.14\00:26:19.91
Guess these
people wanted to be bald.
00:26:19.94\00:26:21.88
Some of the leaders, they were
beaten and all of these things,
00:26:21.91\00:26:24.78
they were asked per the
requirements of national
00:26:24.81\00:26:27.98
humiliation and re-education.
00:26:28.02\00:26:31.12
So Nehemiah is reproof, we find
it in verse 26, and 27, where we
00:26:31.15\00:26:35.36
find did not Solomon
King of Israel sin by these
00:26:35.39\00:26:38.43
very things?
00:26:38.46\00:26:39.79
Yet among many nations there was
no king like him who was beloved
00:26:39.83\00:26:43.10
of his God and God made
him king over all of Israel.
00:26:43.13\00:26:46.40
Nevertheless, pagan
women caused even him to sin.
00:26:46.43\00:26:49.97
Should we then hear of
your doing, all this great evil
00:26:50.01\00:26:52.84
transgressing against our
God by marrying pagan women.
00:26:52.87\00:26:56.95
Again, God is
not vilifying women.
00:26:56.98\00:27:00.28
Please understand this.
00:27:00.32\00:27:02.52
God here, the is
not vilifying women.
00:27:02.55\00:27:05.09
If Solomon had been a queen, if
he had been Solomona, alright,
00:27:05.12\00:27:09.56
and had married many men, if
that had been the custom, then
00:27:09.59\00:27:13.29
the text would be saying
that the foreign, the pagan men,
00:27:13.33\00:27:15.90
the pagan husbands, but
that's not the case here because
00:27:15.93\00:27:18.40
the culture was different.
00:27:18.43\00:27:19.77
So we're not vilifying women.
00:27:19.80\00:27:21.10
This was just what happened.
00:27:21.14\00:27:22.47
So we're just
stating what had happened.
00:27:22.50\00:27:24.87
So when it comes to God's orders
always throughout the whole
00:27:24.91\00:27:27.81
Bible, when it got comes
to God's orders, to all of us,
00:27:27.84\00:27:31.58
we find that God's orders
have two basic characteristics.
00:27:31.61\00:27:35.08
First of all, they
are always very clear.
00:27:35.12\00:27:37.92
Always.
00:27:37.95\00:27:39.29
When it comes to God's most
important instructions to us,
00:27:39.32\00:27:42.69
they're never mysterious.
00:27:42.72\00:27:44.76
They're never
difficult to understand.
00:27:44.79\00:27:47.56
Unfortunately, there are many
people that make them harder
00:27:47.60\00:27:50.83
than they they should be,
but God's orders are always
00:27:50.87\00:27:54.14
crystal clear, always
simple to be understood.
00:27:54.17\00:27:57.07
No one needs a Phd, or no
one needs to be a philosopher,
00:27:57.11\00:27:59.81
an academic, a physicist,
to understand what God is
00:27:59.84\00:28:02.08
telling them.
00:28:02.11\00:28:03.45
I've heard many times people
come and ask, you know, they
00:28:03.48\00:28:05.91
say, "Pastor, I don't know where
to start with my Christian life.
00:28:05.95\00:28:08.72
I don't know where to start
you know coming back to God.
00:28:08.75\00:28:11.25
I didn't know how to fix
my relationship with God."
00:28:11.29\00:28:13.32
Have you ever
heard someone say that?
00:28:13.36\00:28:15.22
I don't know where to start.
00:28:15.26\00:28:17.59
You know what
the best answer is?
00:28:17.63\00:28:19.56
Start with what you
know. Start with what you know.
00:28:19.59\00:28:24.23
That's simple.
00:28:24.27\00:28:25.57
Love God.
00:28:25.60\00:28:26.94
Love your neighbor.
00:28:26.97\00:28:28.27
And from then on, you start
finding out that God decrees His
00:28:28.30\00:28:30.37
orders for our life.
00:28:30.41\00:28:31.74
They are crystal clear.
00:28:31.77\00:28:33.61
The second basic characteristic
of God's orders is that they are
00:28:33.64\00:28:38.15
always, always protective.
00:28:38.18\00:28:40.85
Always.
00:28:40.88\00:28:42.22
They are clear and
they are protective.
00:28:42.25\00:28:44.55
Their purpose is never to keep
us from happiness or from being
00:28:44.59\00:28:48.36
accomplished.
00:28:48.39\00:28:49.69
God doesn't want that.
00:28:49.72\00:28:51.06
God wants you to be happy.
00:28:51.09\00:28:52.39
God wants you
to be accomplished.
00:28:52.43\00:28:54.63
Their purpose is to protect us
from that which destroys, that
00:28:54.66\00:28:59.07
which annihilates our life.
00:28:59.10\00:29:01.50
God's decrees are
always protective.
00:29:01.54\00:29:04.01
A classic example of
disobedience in the Bible is
00:29:04.04\00:29:06.91
King Solomon and that's what
we found here that Nehemiah was
00:29:06.94\00:29:09.48
talking about.
00:29:09.51\00:29:10.81
One of the most famous
kings in all of history.
00:29:10.85\00:29:13.62
He was given great intellect,
great riches, and yet he was
00:29:13.65\00:29:16.82
incapable of understanding,
of perceiving the consequences
00:29:16.85\00:29:20.09
of his deviations.
00:29:20.12\00:29:21.42
He couldn't see it.
00:29:21.46\00:29:23.73
Not only did he deviate, but he
came a bad example, and because
00:29:23.76\00:29:27.36
of his bad example, you know
in the Bible, we find that if
00:29:27.40\00:29:30.10
the king was good,
how would the people be?
00:29:30.13\00:29:32.80
What would the
people be living like?
00:29:32.83\00:29:35.24
They'd living a good life and
if the king was bad, a bad king,
00:29:35.27\00:29:38.67
what would happen
because of his example?
00:29:38.71\00:29:40.48
The people would
also go down a bad path.
00:29:40.51\00:29:42.28
You don't find any different
from that in the Bible.
00:29:42.31\00:29:44.51
The king was good, the
people they would go in in the
00:29:44.55\00:29:46.72
right path.
00:29:46.75\00:29:48.08
If the king was bad, the
people are going the wrong path.
00:29:48.12\00:29:49.72
And because of Solomon's
example, we find that the nation
00:29:49.75\00:29:52.72
had started deviating also.
00:29:52.75\00:29:55.96
These foreign women whom
Solomon married, who brought
00:29:55.99\00:29:59.73
in the foreign gods, and
foreign religions, they ended
00:29:59.76\00:30:03.03
up breaking up
Solomon's relationship with God,
00:30:03.06\00:30:06.50
unfortunately.
00:30:06.53\00:30:08.04
So Nehemiah, he was right
in reproving the destructive
00:30:08.07\00:30:11.67
heirs of his compatriots.
00:30:11.71\00:30:13.84
The order not to take foreign
wives, the order not to take
00:30:13.88\00:30:17.78
foreign wives had nothing to do
with nationalism and had nothing
00:30:17.81\00:30:22.18
to do with sexism.
00:30:22.22\00:30:23.52
It had nothing
to do with racism.
00:30:23.55\00:30:25.22
It had everything to
do with you know what?
00:30:25.25\00:30:27.22
Idolatry.
00:30:27.26\00:30:28.99
The order not to take
foreign wives had nothing to do
00:30:29.02\00:30:31.53
with nationalism, nothing to do
with racism, and nothing to do
00:30:31.56\00:30:34.23
with sexism.
00:30:34.30\00:30:35.56
It had everything
to do with idolatry.
00:30:35.60\00:30:37.67
That's what we find here.
00:30:37.70\00:30:39.03
These pagan wives did
not renounce their idolatry.
00:30:39.07\00:30:41.84
They didn't renounce their
religion and since sin is always
00:30:41.87\00:30:45.74
in harmony with fallen
human nature, am I wrong there?
00:30:45.77\00:30:49.21
Sin is always in
harmony with our fallen nature.
00:30:49.24\00:30:52.68
It's very easy to be dragged
down by the wrong influence.
00:30:52.71\00:30:58.02
The effects of these mixed
marriages are seen on all sides
00:30:58.05\00:31:01.86
to justify it by referring
to one exception and we find
00:31:01.89\00:31:04.86
a few exceptions, where a
righteous Christian, a spouse
00:31:04.89\00:31:08.10
marries an unbelieving spouse
and that unbelieving spouse come
00:31:08.13\00:31:11.97
then to the Lord.
00:31:12.00\00:31:13.34
We might have examples of that
right here today, but to justify
00:31:13.37\00:31:17.34
this with this example
is to forget that there are
00:31:17.37\00:31:22.38
hundreds of thousands
of examples where marrying
00:31:22.41\00:31:26.28
unequally yoked,
leads to spiritual casualty.
00:31:26.31\00:31:31.85
Unfortunately, you see friends,
when we perform marriages here
00:31:31.89\00:31:35.99
at church, when we have
marriages here in the church,
00:31:36.02\00:31:38.36
it's not a fad, it's
not a social tradition.
00:31:38.39\00:31:42.33
Its significance is profound,
it's deep, it's important.
00:31:42.36\00:31:46.94
It's an emblem of that couple's
decision to invite God to be
00:31:46.97\00:31:51.94
the great guest of their
home, the inhabitant of honor in
00:31:51.97\00:31:56.44
their home.
00:31:56.48\00:31:57.71
In the case of mixed marriages
here of intermarrying, people
00:31:57.75\00:32:01.05
always end up having different
norms, different standards,
00:32:01.08\00:32:04.32
different ways
of solving problems.
00:32:04.35\00:32:06.22
They will be divided when
it comes to the big decisions
00:32:06.25\00:32:08.86
of life because their
standards are different.
00:32:08.89\00:32:11.43
Does that does that make sense?
00:32:11.46\00:32:12.93
I don't want to lose any
friends here, but when it comes
00:32:12.96\00:32:17.30
to the standards of our
life, when we have different
00:32:17.33\00:32:19.93
standards, that's going
to influence the way that
00:32:19.97\00:32:21.94
children are raised.
00:32:21.97\00:32:23.27
That's going to
influence financial decisions.
00:32:23.30\00:32:25.41
That's going to
influence life decisions.
00:32:25.44\00:32:28.41
And that's what we
find here in these people.
00:32:28.44\00:32:30.05
That's what was happening
to them and when then children
00:32:30.08\00:32:32.71
come, the chasm only
gets bigger, the chasm only
00:32:32.75\00:32:35.38
gets wider.
00:32:35.42\00:32:36.75
Think about those mixed
marriages between the Jews
00:32:36.79\00:32:38.85
and their neighboring nations.
00:32:38.89\00:32:40.22
Think about the influence
of their pagan parents.
00:32:40.26\00:32:43.59
Consider this text written
in the book called "Patriarchs
00:32:43.63\00:32:46.70
and Prophets," and
it's found in page 244.
00:32:46.73\00:32:49.23
It says there is no other work
that can equal this, to a very
00:32:49.26\00:32:54.30
great extent, the mother holds
in her own hands the destiny
00:32:54.34\00:32:57.84
of her children.
00:32:57.87\00:32:59.11
She's dealing with developing
minds and characters, working
00:32:59.14\00:33:02.34
not alone for
time, but for eternity.
00:33:02.38\00:33:05.95
She is sowing seeds that will
spring up and bear fruit, either
00:33:05.98\00:33:09.42
for good or for evil.
00:33:09.45\00:33:10.95
She has not to paint a
form of beauty upon a canvas
00:33:10.99\00:33:13.99
or to chisel it from marble,
but to impress upon a human soul
00:33:14.02\00:33:18.09
the image of divine, especially
during their early years, their
00:33:18.13\00:33:22.60
responsibility rests upon
her forming the character of her
00:33:22.63\00:33:26.37
children.
00:33:26.40\00:33:27.74
The impressions now made
upon their developing minds will
00:33:27.77\00:33:30.27
remain with them
all through their life.
00:33:30.31\00:33:32.54
Parents should direct the
instruction and train their
00:33:32.57\00:33:35.61
children, while they're young
to the end that they may be
00:33:35.64\00:33:39.48
Christians.
00:33:39.51\00:33:40.82
In this context, my
friends, a question arises.
00:33:40.85\00:33:43.65
How can this goal be
reached in divided homes?
00:33:43.69\00:33:47.56
You need the
effort of both parents.
00:33:47.59\00:33:49.96
That is God's ideal.
00:33:49.99\00:33:51.46
Now, we understand that in this
world we have what is not ideal.
00:33:51.49\00:33:56.93
And one of the beautiful parts
of the gospel is that God can
00:33:56.97\00:33:59.63
and He does transform the worst
tragedies, the worst situations
00:33:59.67\00:34:03.97
into the best of cases.
00:34:04.01\00:34:05.67
God is that powerful.
00:34:05.71\00:34:07.41
But God here, He is
working per what is ideal.
00:34:07.44\00:34:11.75
As we progress with the lesson
we find the reaction of another
00:34:11.78\00:34:14.22
great spiritual
leader in Israel.
00:34:14.25\00:34:17.82
The same lesson also emphasizes
the reaction that Ezra had
00:34:17.85\00:34:22.39
to this same problem and we find
that in Ezra chapter 9, verse 1
00:34:22.42\00:34:24.79
and 2.
00:34:24.83\00:34:26.13
Look at look at what
we're talking about here.
00:34:26.16\00:34:27.73
The leaders came to me,
saying the people of Israel
00:34:27.76\00:34:30.90
and the priests and the Levites
have not separated themselves
00:34:30.93\00:34:34.10
from the peoples of the lands,
with respect to the abominations
00:34:34.14\00:34:37.51
of the Canaanites, the Hittites,
the Parasites, the Jebusites,
00:34:37.54\00:34:40.61
the Ammonites, the Moabites,
the Egyptians, and the Amorites,
00:34:40.64\00:34:43.38
for they have taken some
of their daughters as wives
00:34:43.41\00:34:45.51
for themselves and their sons.
00:34:45.55\00:34:47.02
So that the holy seed is mixed
with the peoples of those lands.
00:34:47.05\00:34:49.95
Indeed, the hand of the leaders
and the rulers has been foremost
00:34:49.98\00:34:53.99
in this trespass.
00:34:54.02\00:34:55.36
So the story of Ezra
here, the story starts with Ezra
00:34:55.39\00:34:59.63
finding out that not
all in Jerusalem was daisies
00:34:59.66\00:35:03.20
and roses, not everything was
going well in Jerusalem when he
00:35:03.23\00:35:06.63
gets there.
00:35:06.67\00:35:08.10
Actually it's the contrary.
00:35:08.14\00:35:09.47
More than 100 civil
and spiritual leaders
00:35:09.50\00:35:12.81
of the people were guilty
of deliberately disobeying
00:35:12.84\00:35:15.78
the law that he
had come to teach.
00:35:15.81\00:35:19.01
A group of layman.
00:35:19.05\00:35:20.85
They came to Ezra.
00:35:20.88\00:35:23.25
And they were telling
them that some of the leaders,
00:35:23.28\00:35:25.32
the spiritual leaders, the civil
leaders, priests, Levites, had
00:35:25.35\00:35:30.56
married foreign women and had
allowed them to marry their sons
00:35:30.59\00:35:34.36
and that some of these
men and this is what we find
00:35:34.40\00:35:36.23
in Micah that I already
mentioned, some of these men
00:35:36.26\00:35:38.17
they divorce their Jewish wives
to then marry the foreign wives.
00:35:38.20\00:35:42.37
Can you imagine that?
00:35:42.40\00:35:44.77
The reason, the reason Ezra is
sought out, the reason they come
00:35:44.81\00:35:48.04
to him, is because they didn't
know what to do, because let me
00:35:48.08\00:35:50.95
ask you something.
00:35:50.98\00:35:52.28
If the leaders are doing
something wrong, well, who will
00:35:52.31\00:35:54.92
you turn to who?
00:35:54.95\00:35:56.72
Who could they turn to?
00:35:56.75\00:35:58.29
If the priests, the Levites,
the spiritual leaders, the civil
00:35:58.32\00:36:01.92
leaders, if they were breaking
covenant, well, who do I go
00:36:01.96\00:36:05.49
to then?
00:36:05.53\00:36:07.40
So that's why they sought
out Israel, and sorry, Ezra.
00:36:07.40\00:36:11.70
And that's why Ezra here he
observes that he recognized that
00:36:11.73\00:36:15.84
the exile to Babylon had happen
to a great extent due to these
00:36:15.87\00:36:20.44
very same sins.
00:36:20.48\00:36:21.98
So Ezra he
starts seeing the cycle.
00:36:22.01\00:36:23.98
This happened because we
went to Babylon because of all
00:36:24.01\00:36:28.32
of these things and now they're
starting to happen again.
00:36:28.35\00:36:31.75
Israel had to remain separate
from the pagans and their
00:36:31.79\00:36:34.99
practices.
00:36:35.02\00:36:36.26
Both entities needed to remain
separate, distinct, otherwise,
00:36:36.29\00:36:39.89
my friends there could be no
plan of salvation, there could
00:36:39.93\00:36:42.66
be no plan of reaching the lost,
if the messengers themselves
00:36:42.70\00:36:46.13
were no way different from those
who they were trying to reach.
00:36:46.17\00:36:50.54
Does that resonate with you?
00:36:50.57\00:36:53.07
The message cannot be preached,
we cannot reach them, if we
00:36:53.11\00:36:57.58
ourselves are in no
way different to them.
00:36:57.61\00:37:01.48
And that's what Ezra sees here.
00:37:01.52\00:37:03.18
How are we going to have this
mission that God gave us if we
00:37:03.22\00:37:06.82
are not different from
these four nations around us?
00:37:06.86\00:37:10.99
The distinction had to be
seen in all areas of life,
00:37:11.03\00:37:14.40
including marriage.
00:37:14.46\00:37:16.80
Ezra and the people who
sought him they understood that
00:37:16.83\00:37:19.20
the problem was severe.
00:37:19.23\00:37:22.40
It was a severe problem.
00:37:22.44\00:37:23.94
No one could marry a spouse
whose religious differences
00:37:23.97\00:37:27.14
would have been--would have had
an impact upon their marriage
00:37:27.18\00:37:30.18
or their way of
raising their children.
00:37:30.21\00:37:32.58
That's what they understood.
00:37:32.61\00:37:33.95
They couldn't marry people who
are going to change the dynamics
00:37:33.98\00:37:36.95
of the culture
of their household.
00:37:36.99\00:37:39.99
So understanding and perceiving
a problem is the beginning
00:37:40.02\00:37:43.22
of fixing it, right?
00:37:43.26\00:37:45.36
And that's what they were doing.
00:37:45.39\00:37:46.70
God gave Israel a law regarding
marriage to protect them
00:37:46.73\00:37:50.27
from spiritual contamination.
00:37:50.30\00:37:52.03
Because of intermarrying,
the Israelite lineage had become
00:37:52.07\00:37:56.10
contaminated by the
pagan nations surrounding them.
00:37:56.14\00:37:59.94
Israel had not been chosen,
my friends, and this is very
00:38:00.04\00:38:02.24
important for us to understand.
00:38:02.28\00:38:03.61
Israel had not been chosen
as a special nation, or a holy
00:38:03.65\00:38:06.78
nation, because they
were better than anyone else.
00:38:06.82\00:38:11.25
That's not why they were chosen.
00:38:11.29\00:38:12.82
They were chosen because God
had a specific role in His grand
00:38:12.85\00:38:16.39
plan of salvation.
00:38:16.42\00:38:17.76
So through Israel, all the
other nations would be what?
00:38:17.79\00:38:21.53
Blessed. Blessed.
00:38:21.56\00:38:24.33
So Israel, what
blessing are we talking about?
00:38:24.37\00:38:26.87
Israel was responsible
for three main blessings.
00:38:26.90\00:38:30.34
They were responsible
for three main blessings.
00:38:30.37\00:38:33.34
The first is the
knowledge of the living God.
00:38:33.38\00:38:36.08
The second was the
written word, Scripture.
00:38:36.11\00:38:38.75
And the third was the
Messiah, Jesus Christ.
00:38:38.78\00:38:43.52
And this placed Israel in
debt with all the other nations.
00:38:43.55\00:38:48.59
What was their debt?
00:38:48.62\00:38:49.92
The knowledge of the Gospel.
00:38:49.96\00:38:51.33
You you remember when Paul
himself later on in Romans 1:14,
00:38:51.36\00:38:54.76
he says I am a debtor.
00:38:54.83\00:38:56.67
What did he owe?
00:38:56.70\00:38:58.03
What did Paul owe?
00:38:58.07\00:38:59.37
The knowledge of divine
grace, that's what Paul owed
00:38:59.40\00:39:03.57
and in the same sense,
my friends, we today are
00:39:03.61\00:39:05.87
debtors also.
00:39:05.91\00:39:07.14
We sometimes consider ourself
better, superior, privileged.
00:39:07.18\00:39:14.18
Privileged we are because we
have knowledge of some specific
00:39:14.22\00:39:18.82
things, but what
does that make us?
00:39:18.85\00:39:21.42
That makes us debtors.
00:39:21.46\00:39:23.43
We are in debt to
the world around us.
00:39:23.46\00:39:26.66
Endangering this debt was
Israel's greatest temptation.
00:39:26.70\00:39:30.50
The danger of what?
00:39:30.53\00:39:32.07
Of their mission,
endangering their mission.
00:39:32.10\00:39:35.14
Whatsoever came between them
and their great mission needed
00:39:35.17\00:39:39.14
to be seen as a threat.
00:39:39.17\00:39:40.51
In this case
what was the threat?
00:39:40.54\00:39:43.28
Intermarrying.
00:39:43.31\00:39:44.71
That was a threat in this
case and so if it was a sin
00:39:44.75\00:39:47.85
for a single Jew to marry
foreign pagan wives, it was even
00:39:47.88\00:39:52.19
worse for married Jews to
divorce their Jewish wives
00:39:52.22\00:39:55.32
to then marry the pagan wives.
00:39:55.36\00:39:57.53
If the leaders of Israel
continued to give this bad
00:39:57.56\00:40:00.23
example, and contaminate
families with these pagan
00:40:00.26\00:40:03.33
beliefs and religion,
they would end up contaminating
00:40:03.37\00:40:07.34
the mission, the nation, and
it wouldn't be long until Israel
00:40:07.37\00:40:12.14
once again lost
its path and purpose.
00:40:12.17\00:40:17.05
Just like King Solomon in
1 Kings chapter 1, they would
00:40:17.08\00:40:20.85
begin to adopt the false gods
of their wives and soon the true
00:40:20.88\00:40:24.79
faith of Israel would
be destroyed and God's plan
00:40:24.82\00:40:27.56
frustrated.
00:40:27.59\00:40:29.19
So when we find Ezra's reaction
again, it's kind of difficult
00:40:29.22\00:40:33.83
for us today, thousands of
years later to read this and be
00:40:33.86\00:40:36.60
like well, this was such
an over the top reaction.
00:40:36.63\00:40:39.23
So exaggerated.
00:40:39.27\00:40:40.57
These people
had--they were kind of dramatic.
00:40:40.60\00:40:42.57
That's what it kind of feels
like when we don't understand
00:40:42.60\00:40:45.47
the severity of the problem,
but Ezra's reaction, we find
00:40:45.51\00:40:49.41
this in chapter
9, verse 3 through 6.
00:40:49.44\00:40:53.95
It says, "So when I heard this
thing, I tore my garment and
00:40:53.98\00:40:57.69
my robe.
00:40:57.72\00:40:59.02
I plucked out--"
Here's the hair again.
00:40:59.05\00:41:00.46
"I plucked out some of the
hair on my head and my beard."
00:41:00.49\00:41:03.46
I really believe that
some of these prophets were
00:41:03.49\00:41:05.43
completely bald because so
many things, so many bad things
00:41:05.46\00:41:09.20
happen with the children
of Israel that if the prophets
00:41:09.23\00:41:11.27
always reacted like that,
plucking their hair, they would
00:41:11.30\00:41:13.37
have no hair left.
00:41:13.40\00:41:16.07
"Then everyone who
trembled at the words of the God
00:41:16.10\00:41:18.94
of Israel assembled to
me because of transgression
00:41:18.97\00:41:21.78
of those who had been
carried away captive and I sat
00:41:21.81\00:41:25.05
astonished until
the evening sacrifice."
00:41:25.08\00:41:27.98
So he stayed the whole day.
00:41:28.02\00:41:29.42
"At the evening sacrifice, I
arose from my fasting and having
00:41:29.45\00:41:32.25
torn my garment and my robe
I fell on my knees and spread
00:41:32.29\00:41:35.69
out my hands to the Lord, My God
and I said, Oh, my God, I am too
00:41:35.72\00:41:39.33
ashamed and humiliated."
00:41:39.36\00:41:42.03
In the Bible, my friends,
we learned that prayer is
00:41:42.06\00:41:44.53
the solution to every problem.
00:41:44.57\00:41:46.43
And chapter 10
begins with a prayer.
00:41:46.47\00:41:48.80
Look at what it says.
00:41:48.84\00:41:50.17
Now while Ezra was praying
and while he was confessing
00:41:50.21\00:41:53.31
and weeping and bowing
down before the before the house
00:41:53.34\00:41:56.88
of God, a very large assembly
of men, women, and children
00:41:56.91\00:41:59.88
gathered to him from Israel
for the people wept bitterly.
00:41:59.91\00:42:03.25
So the first thing, my
friends, please understand this.
00:42:03.28\00:42:05.82
The first thing that we observe
is that the decision that was
00:42:05.85\00:42:09.09
taken as a solution to
their problem--What was their
00:42:09.12\00:42:11.63
problem?
00:42:11.66\00:42:12.96
Intermarrying.
00:42:12.99\00:42:14.30
The solution that was taken,
that was given, the decision was
00:42:14.36\00:42:18.67
not based on racism again.
00:42:18.70\00:42:20.80
It was not based on sexism.
00:42:20.84\00:42:22.77
It was not based on nationalism.
00:42:22.80\00:42:25.44
This decision was
an answer to prayer.
00:42:25.47\00:42:29.64
This decision that they made was
made, it was given to them as
00:42:29.68\00:42:34.42
an answer to prayer.
00:42:34.45\00:42:37.72
Therefore, there is no
space here, my friends, for mere
00:42:37.75\00:42:41.69
superficial humanistic
sympathy based on human rights.
00:42:41.72\00:42:45.76
We're not talking
about that right now.
00:42:45.79\00:42:47.50
That's not the issue.
00:42:47.56\00:42:48.86
This decision came directly
from God and if he is God we
00:42:48.90\00:42:53.40
have to believe that he at least
knows what he's doing, don't we?
00:42:53.44\00:42:58.91
These foreign wives
had to be sent away.
00:42:58.94\00:43:01.88
Surprisingly, even
those who found themselves
00:43:01.91\00:43:03.91
in the situation, they
agreed with that decision.
00:43:03.95\00:43:07.15
Even the people that would have
to suffer this decision they
00:43:07.18\00:43:10.09
agreed with it.
00:43:10.12\00:43:12.02
In the end 113 Jewish
men sent their wives away.
00:43:12.05\00:43:16.39
Some of these even had children.
00:43:16.42\00:43:19.53
At first glance this might
seem irrational or drastic,
00:43:19.56\00:43:23.67
but please remember that nowhere
in the Bible do we find God
00:43:23.70\00:43:27.17
offering shortcuts
to amend human wrongs.
00:43:27.20\00:43:30.77
If God didn't find a shortcut
for Himself to save His own son
00:43:30.81\00:43:34.78
from having to die on the cross
the eternal death, He's not
00:43:34.81\00:43:37.88
going to find a shortcut
for us when we make the mistake.
00:43:37.91\00:43:42.45
We also have to go
through the hardships
00:43:42.48\00:43:44.29
of the resolution.
00:43:44.32\00:43:46.82
Ezra was right when he said,
"You have transgressed and have
00:43:46.86\00:43:50.33
taken pagan wives,
adding to the guilt of Israel."
00:43:50.36\00:43:53.36
You see, in this sense, the
laws of agriculture are also
00:43:53.40\00:43:57.07
applicable.
00:43:57.10\00:43:58.43
For we reap what we sow.
00:43:58.47\00:44:00.90
Sometimes we reap immediately.
00:44:00.94\00:44:04.34
Most of the times,
we reap after awhile.
00:44:04.37\00:44:07.28
And sometimes we
reap in greater quantity.
00:44:07.31\00:44:11.48
The same thing can
be applied here to this.
00:44:11.51\00:44:14.65
Secondly, Ezra was also spot
on when he observed in chapter
00:44:14.68\00:44:18.72
10 verse 11, he said,
"Now therefore make confession
00:44:18.75\00:44:21.29
to the Lord God of your
fathers and do his will.
00:44:21.32\00:44:23.93
Separate yourselves
from the peoples of the land
00:44:23.96\00:44:26.26
and from the pagan wives."
00:44:26.29\00:44:27.60
Do you see what
he's saying here?
00:44:27.60\00:44:29.20
Ezra is saying that
this was God's decision.
00:44:29.23\00:44:33.17
This has to be
seen as God's decision.
00:44:33.20\00:44:35.10
The solution to this great
problem came from the living
00:44:35.14\00:44:37.84
God.
00:44:37.87\00:44:39.21
Very frequently we want to
act as though we know better
00:44:39.24\00:44:41.58
than God.
00:44:41.61\00:44:43.04
Have you ever done this?
00:44:43.08\00:44:44.58
You know God says, but I think.
00:44:44.61\00:44:47.72
God says, but I think.
00:44:47.75\00:44:49.55
In a theocracy, and that's
what these people were living
00:44:49.58\00:44:52.29
through right now.
00:44:52.32\00:44:53.62
They had a governor but
ultimately they were living
00:44:53.66\00:44:55.29
through a theocracy.
00:44:55.32\00:44:56.66
God clearly indicated the best
solution and accepting it meant
00:44:56.69\00:45:00.86
accepting his decisions.
00:45:00.90\00:45:02.60
You know, churches very
frequently become divided
00:45:02.63\00:45:05.70
and their witnesses then weaken,
because in some circumstances
00:45:05.73\00:45:10.47
people, and I don't want to lose
any friends here, but sometimes
00:45:10.51\00:45:13.71
people they side with family
members, relatives, friends,
00:45:13.74\00:45:20.88
disobedient to the matters
of church discipline or church
00:45:20.92\00:45:24.49
belief based on the Bible, many
want to place their own wisdom,
00:45:24.52\00:45:29.36
their ways, their discernment,
their opinions above the clear
00:45:29.39\00:45:33.19
thus says the Lord.
00:45:33.23\00:45:35.26
God says, but I think.
00:45:35.30\00:45:38.20
My friends, God is way
above and beyond our ideas.
00:45:38.23\00:45:43.47
We have to remember that
the experience here in this
00:45:43.51\00:45:46.74
situation with the
children of Israel was punctual.
00:45:46.78\00:45:50.08
It was a punctual decision.
00:45:50.11\00:45:51.95
It was a specific decision made
as a solution for a specific
00:45:51.98\00:45:55.85
problem in a
specific circumstance.
00:45:55.88\00:45:58.62
So that means that if one day
you just wake up not loving your
00:45:58.65\00:46:02.06
husband or your wife anymore,
and you can't justify it
00:46:02.09\00:46:04.53
by by using this, okay?
00:46:04.56\00:46:07.40
That doesn't work like that.
00:46:07.40\00:46:08.73
Here in this situation, it was
a specific situation, a decision
00:46:08.76\00:46:12.40
made directly by God.
00:46:12.43\00:46:15.57
Sometimes God doesn't make--God
makes unpopular decisions.
00:46:15.60\00:46:20.91
Sometimes God makes
unpopular decisions.
00:46:20.94\00:46:24.85
But, God is not in the business
of cheap popularity, that's not
00:46:24.88\00:46:29.65
our God.
00:46:29.68\00:46:31.02
His decisions are always wise,
merciful, full of sympathy.
00:46:31.05\00:46:35.42
We're not called to judge
God with our limited vision,
00:46:35.46\00:46:39.66
with our limited knowledge,
with our--So at the end of all
00:46:39.69\00:46:43.63
of this, at the end of
all of this, we don't know all
00:46:43.67\00:46:47.47
the details of these stories.
00:46:47.50\00:46:48.80
We don't.
00:46:48.84\00:46:50.17
We have--there are many
questions left unanswered.
00:46:50.21\00:46:51.64
For example, were these women
sent back to the houses of their
00:46:51.67\00:46:54.44
fathers or of their relatives?
00:46:54.48\00:46:55.91
Did they go somewhere else?
00:46:55.94\00:46:57.28
Was there a special land
given to them, or what happened
00:46:57.31\00:46:59.91
to them?
00:46:59.95\00:47:01.32
We also don't know what
happened to the children.
00:47:01.35\00:47:02.68
Did the Jewish fathers continue
supporting those children as
00:47:02.72\00:47:05.55
was custom?
00:47:05.59\00:47:06.92
In the cases of divorce, if
the men had children and they
00:47:06.96\00:47:10.03
divorced from the wives, it was
their custom to be financially
00:47:10.06\00:47:14.76
responsible for those children.
00:47:14.83\00:47:16.26
Did this happen?
00:47:16.30\00:47:17.60
We don't have all the details,
so where does that leave us?
00:47:17.63\00:47:20.84
That leaves us, my
friends, with a question.
00:47:20.87\00:47:23.47
What lesson can
I learn from this?
00:47:23.51\00:47:24.91
You know what lesson I learned
from this whole story is that
00:47:24.94\00:47:29.78
marriage is something
very, very serious to God.
00:47:29.81\00:47:36.02
Marriage is something important.
00:47:36.05\00:47:37.92
It's one of the two
blessings that we received still
00:47:37.95\00:47:40.42
in the garden of Eden,
including Sabbath and marriage.
00:47:40.46\00:47:45.96
Marriage is very
important to God.
00:47:45.99\00:47:49.43
Now we know that we
don't live in an ideal world.
00:47:49.46\00:47:52.60
And we know that accidents
happen, we know that sometimes
00:47:52.63\00:47:57.14
extreme measures have
to be taken in the context
00:47:57.17\00:47:59.77
of marriage.
00:47:59.81\00:48:01.21
You know when I was a kid
and when I was a child, I used
00:48:01.24\00:48:03.95
to turn on the radio with my
father in the car and there was
00:48:03.98\00:48:07.82
this one program, I was like six
or seven years old, but there
00:48:07.85\00:48:10.15
was this one you know how they
have these counseling speakers
00:48:10.19\00:48:14.19
on radio and on the TV and
sometimes and there was this
00:48:14.22\00:48:17.26
one that I used to like.
00:48:17.29\00:48:18.63
Her name was Dr.
00:48:18.66\00:48:19.89
Laura Schlessinger and you know
we don't agree with everything.
00:48:19.93\00:48:23.16
I believe she's Jewish and
we don't agree with everything,
00:48:23.20\00:48:26.17
that all her councils, but I
found it interesting that she
00:48:26.20\00:48:29.27
she said that there were
the three big A's when it comes
00:48:29.30\00:48:31.74
to separation, which were
adultery, abuse, and addiction.
00:48:31.77\00:48:35.81
Adultery, abuse, and addiction.
00:48:35.84\00:48:38.38
And I found it very interesting
that she said that and later
00:48:38.41\00:48:40.68
on in pastoring, in counseling,
pastoral counseling, I found
00:48:40.72\00:48:44.69
out that more likely
than not when you're talking
00:48:44.72\00:48:47.72
about separation or divorce
with a couple usually it has
00:48:47.76\00:48:50.33
to do with one of
these three things.
00:48:50.36\00:48:52.33
It has to do with one
of these three things.
00:48:52.36\00:48:54.00
Adultery, abuse, or addiction.
00:48:54.00\00:48:56.93
Now, what I want to leave
you with today is that while
00:48:56.97\00:49:00.40
marriage is a serious thing
to God and these things might
00:49:00.44\00:49:06.31
happen, while these things
might happen, adultery, abuse,
00:49:06.34\00:49:09.01
and addiction, I want to tell
you that our God is the God that
00:49:09.04\00:49:12.01
fixes problems.
00:49:12.05\00:49:13.62
He's the God that
cures and transforms people.
00:49:13.65\00:49:17.09
I have seen the
worst cases be transformed.
00:49:17.12\00:49:19.82
If this is the God that could
transform Manasseh, if this is
00:49:19.85\00:49:23.73
the God that could reach
out and heal the demon possessed
00:49:23.76\00:49:27.60
of Gadara, this is the God that
can transform you, that can heal
00:49:27.60\00:49:31.87
your marriage, that can
fix your marriage, that can fix
00:49:31.90\00:49:35.14
the problems with you.
00:49:35.17\00:49:37.34
And He can then bring a
blessing to your family.
00:49:37.37\00:49:41.58
In the Bible,
marriage is serious.
00:49:41.61\00:49:43.51
Marriage is serious for
us today, but God can fix it.
00:49:43.55\00:49:47.55
That's the time--that
we have time for today.
00:49:47.58\00:49:49.82
I'd like to remind you all that
if you want that special gift
00:49:49.85\00:49:53.09
don't forget to send
in the requests for it.
00:49:53.12\00:49:56.86
It's "Keys for
a Happy Marriage."
00:49:56.89\00:49:59.69
Alright, and all you have to do
is call in or than shoot a text
00:49:59.73\00:50:02.86
to to the given number that
Pastor Shawn already mentioned
00:50:02.90\00:50:05.73
for us in the beginning.
00:50:05.77\00:50:07.10
May God bless you, may he
keep you, and may he be with you
00:50:07.14\00:50:10.37
and your household always
present in your heart and your
00:50:10.41\00:50:13.27
home.
00:50:13.31\00:50:15.78
male announcer: Don't forget
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00:50:15.81\00:50:18.15
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00:50:18.18\00:50:19.41
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To get your digital copy
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text the keyword on your
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00:50:28.62\00:50:33.13
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00:50:33.16\00:50:36.10
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00:50:36.13\00:50:38.73
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¤¤¤
00:50:49.84\00:50:55.82
¤¤¤
00:50:55.85\00:50:57.62
Doug Batchelor: Hello friends.
00:50:57.65\00:50:58.95
We all know a marathon is one
of the longest and hardest races
00:50:58.99\00:51:01.79
a person can run.
00:51:01.82\00:51:03.12
But did you hear about the
ultra marathon they used to have
00:51:03.16\00:51:06.23
in Australia.
00:51:06.26\00:51:07.56
It was 544 miles
from Melbourne to Sydney.
00:51:07.60\00:51:11.30
It attracted as many as 150
world-class athletes, but then
00:51:11.33\00:51:15.44
something happened that
no one would ever forget.
00:51:15.47\00:51:17.67
In 1983, a 61 year old potato
farmer named Cliff Young decided
00:51:17.71\00:51:23.21
to enter the race.
00:51:23.24\00:51:24.61
People were very amused because
he had on rubber galoshes
00:51:24.65\00:51:27.52
over his boots and when the race
began and all the runners took
00:51:27.55\00:51:31.05
off, sure enough, old Cliff was
left behind shuffling along very
00:51:31.09\00:51:35.16
slowly, but he was
shuffling very persistently.
00:51:35.19\00:51:38.69
Normally, during this seven-day
race, the runners would go
00:51:38.73\00:51:41.96
about 18 hours running and
then they'd sleep for six hours.
00:51:42.00\00:51:45.50
But nobody ever told Cliff that.
00:51:45.53\00:51:47.84
When the other runners stopped
to rest during the night, Cliff
00:51:47.87\00:51:50.74
just kept on running.
00:51:50.77\00:51:52.54
Some people were afraid.
00:51:52.57\00:51:53.91
Oh Cliff is going to have
a heart attack and they were
00:51:53.94\00:51:55.81
asking the race organizers
to show mercy and stop the crazy
00:51:55.84\00:51:58.98
old man.
00:51:59.01\00:52:00.38
But he would have none of it.
00:52:00.42\00:52:01.75
Each day, he was gaining
on the pack because when they
00:52:01.78\00:52:04.32
were sleeping he
was plodding along.
00:52:04.35\00:52:07.52
During the last night of
the race, Cliff passed all
00:52:07.56\00:52:10.29
of these world class athletes.
00:52:10.33\00:52:12.76
Not only was Cliff able
to run that 544 mile race
00:52:12.79\00:52:16.30
without dying, he won, beating
all the other racers by 9 hours,
00:52:16.33\00:52:20.77
breaking the record and becoming
a national hero in the process.
00:52:20.80\00:52:24.77
What's really amazing is when
they told him that he had won
00:52:24.81\00:52:27.04
the $10,000 prize, he looked
confused and said he didn't know
00:52:27.08\00:52:30.51
there was a prize and he decided
to share it with the other
00:52:30.55\00:52:33.21
runners.
00:52:33.25\00:52:34.55
When asked how he was able
to run all night long, Cliff
00:52:34.58\00:52:37.45
responded that grew up on a
farm where they had about 2,000
00:52:37.49\00:52:40.49
cattle and because they couldn't
afford horses, he used to have
00:52:40.52\00:52:43.32
to round them up on foot,
sometimes running two and three
00:52:43.36\00:52:46.13
days nonstop.
00:52:46.16\00:52:47.50
So throughout the race he
just imagined he was chasing
00:52:47.50\00:52:50.17
after the cows and
trying to outrun a storm.
00:52:50.20\00:52:53.67
Old Cliff's secret was to keep
on running while others were
00:52:53.70\00:52:56.67
sleeping.
00:52:56.71\00:52:58.01
You know, the Bible tells us
that the race is not necessarily
00:52:58.04\00:53:01.08
to the swift.
00:53:01.11\00:53:02.34
Something like Aesop's parable
of the tortoise and the hare.
00:53:02.38\00:53:05.58
The tortoise just
kept on plodding along.
00:53:05.61\00:53:08.15
That's why Jesus tells
us in Matthew 24:13, he that
00:53:08.18\00:53:11.72
endures unto the end,
the same will be saved.
00:53:11.75\00:53:14.72
Now you might slip
and fall during the race.
00:53:14.76\00:53:17.19
You might even get off to a bad
start, but in the Christian race
00:53:17.23\00:53:20.43
that we run the main thing
is you want to finish well.
00:53:20.46\00:53:23.57
Keep on running, friends.
00:53:23.60\00:53:24.93
Don't give up.
00:53:24.97\00:53:26.57
male announcer:
Amazing Facts changed lives.
00:53:36.78\00:53:45.25
Diamond Garcia: Hi, my
name is Diamond Garcia and I am
00:53:45.29\00:53:47.12
from the
beautiful islands of Hawaii.
00:53:47.16\00:53:49.26
I was raised in a very
dysfunctional family, like most
00:53:49.29\00:53:53.36
families.
00:53:53.40\00:53:54.66
Being in that environment I
would lie, cheat, steal, rob
00:53:54.73\00:53:58.43
houses, cheat in school
and tests and lying to teachers
00:53:58.47\00:54:02.57
and getting into
fights and all kinds of stuff.
00:54:02.60\00:54:06.71
One day I was asked to take this
little box of something and walk
00:54:06.74\00:54:11.18
down the road and give it
to someone and they would give
00:54:11.21\00:54:13.42
me money and I'll walk back
home and I later realized I was
00:54:13.45\00:54:16.28
dealing drugs.
00:54:16.32\00:54:19.25
Growing up in that environment
I thought that you know being
00:54:19.29\00:54:22.26
an adult was a life of drinking
and smoking and partying
00:54:22.29\00:54:25.23
and that's just what adults did.
00:54:25.26\00:54:28.96
When I looked at my family
and saw the road that they were
00:54:29.00\00:54:31.60
going down, getting arrested,
getting beaten up, coming home
00:54:31.63\00:54:35.47
drunk and puking all
over the floor, I just didn't
00:54:35.50\00:54:38.37
want for myself.
00:54:38.41\00:54:41.28
Growing up I had a grandma
who was baptized as a Christian
00:54:41.31\00:54:44.65
in her 20s, but then she wasn't
a real practicing Christian.
00:54:44.68\00:54:48.52
And so one day I was at
her house and there was a box
00:54:48.55\00:54:50.99
of various books and I
went to the bottom of the box
00:54:51.02\00:54:53.66
and found a book called "The
Great Controversy" and I picked
00:54:53.69\00:54:57.16
it up and I said this
is interesting and I opened
00:54:57.19\00:55:00.10
to the first page of that
book and it said, "If thou hadst
00:55:00.13\00:55:03.47
known."
00:55:03.50\00:55:04.97
I had no clue what it meant.
00:55:05.00\00:55:06.50
And so I said, you know what?
00:55:06.53\00:55:07.84
Forget this.
00:55:07.87\00:55:09.17
But I put the book down.
00:55:09.20\00:55:10.54
I just walked away, did my
thing, but then something told
00:55:10.57\00:55:12.31
me, you know,
Diamond, go back to that book.
00:55:12.34\00:55:14.91
And so, I went back to the book,
picked it up, went to the last
00:55:14.94\00:55:18.28
two chapters and I read it.
00:55:18.31\00:55:21.25
And I said to my grandmother, I
said, "What church is this from?
00:55:21.28\00:55:24.62
I want to go to that church."
00:55:24.65\00:55:25.95
So she brought me down
to the local church and I
00:55:25.99\00:55:28.29
walk in through the back
door and the piano was off key,
00:55:28.32\00:55:31.66
people were off key.
00:55:31.69\00:55:33.03
It's like man, this is really
kind of I don't want to be here.
00:55:33.06\00:55:37.77
And I got to the front of
the church and I sat down, I
00:55:37.80\00:55:39.73
was listening to the
sermon and the whole service was
00:55:39.77\00:55:42.10
so boring to me, but then
something that gives me the set
00:55:42.14\00:55:45.87
of DVDs and it was it was
called "The Prophecy Code."
00:55:45.91\00:55:50.78
It was through watching Doug
Batchelor explain the truths
00:55:50.81\00:55:54.05
found in the Bible that really
brought me to Christ and brought
00:55:54.08\00:55:57.02
me to realize that you know what
there is a life better than my
00:55:57.05\00:56:01.06
family's life.
00:56:01.09\00:56:03.12
My second week at church on
Sabbath there was one person
00:56:03.16\00:56:06.36
there.
00:56:06.39\00:56:07.66
He basically told me, "Hey,
Diamond, do you want to make
00:56:07.73\00:56:09.33
some money?"
00:56:09.36\00:56:10.67
And I said sure.
00:56:10.70\00:56:12.00
I said, "What do you do?"
00:56:12.03\00:56:13.37
He says, "Well
I'm a call porter.
00:56:13.40\00:56:14.70
We go door to door and
we sell Christian books."
00:56:14.74\00:56:16.91
I said, Oh, okay, well
that sounds interesting.
00:56:16.94\00:56:19.84
I do want to
make some money too.
00:56:19.87\00:56:21.24
And so he said, "Okay, well
why don't you come with me?"
00:56:21.28\00:56:24.48
We drove out to the
neighborhood, parked
00:56:24.51\00:56:27.05
the car, and that night was
just raining, it was pouring
00:56:27.08\00:56:29.85
and pouring.
00:56:29.88\00:56:31.22
It could not stop raining.
00:56:31.25\00:56:32.55
He prayed.
00:56:32.59\00:56:33.92
He said, "God, this
is Diamond's first night.
00:56:33.96\00:56:35.19
If it's your will stop the rain
so we can go knocking on doors."
00:56:35.22\00:56:38.26
And as soon as he said
amen the rain just stopped.
00:56:38.29\00:56:41.16
I was just thinking in my head,
is this guy a prophet or what, I
00:56:41.20\00:56:44.80
mean, he just prayed and
asked God and it happened.
00:56:44.83\00:56:48.90
And so I was so happy, I
got the books, and I went
00:56:48.94\00:56:51.81
to the first door and the first
door I went to, the persona gave
00:56:51.84\00:56:54.21
me 50 bucks.
00:56:54.24\00:56:55.81
That night was actually a
big night for me because it was
00:56:55.84\00:56:58.51
where I first saw God's
power work in stopping the rain
00:56:58.55\00:57:01.98
and people were actually
giving me lots of money.
00:57:02.02\00:57:05.02
I then became a call porter
or canvasser and I saved money
00:57:05.05\00:57:07.69
to pay for my way
through Academy and when my
00:57:07.72\00:57:10.26
church began to see how God
was using me they immediately
00:57:10.29\00:57:14.73
recognized that it was God's
spirit moving and they put me,
00:57:14.76\00:57:17.67
you know, preaching, or
teaching and sharing my faith.
00:57:17.70\00:57:20.74
And I've been engaged in
ministry for the past six
00:57:20.77\00:57:22.67
to seven years now and God
is taking me all over the world
00:57:22.70\00:57:25.54
and multiple continents, sharing
my testimony, how God has
00:57:25.57\00:57:28.24
brought me out of darkness
into His marvelous light, which
00:57:28.28\00:57:32.31
is total contrast as to how it
was before, and now, you know,
00:57:32.35\00:57:35.12
it's a total contrast.
00:57:35.15\00:57:38.15
My name is Diamond and Amazing
Facts has helped change my life.
00:57:38.19\00:57:42.06
¤¤¤
00:57:45.19\00:57:51.30
¤¤¤
00:57:52.70\00:58:02.71