Showing Respect to God and His Word

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Showing Respect to God and His Word

• Nehemiah 8

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Nehemiah 8

• The People Had Just Finished Building The
  Wall And Hanging The Gate
• The People Asked Ezra The Scribe To Bring The
  Book Of The Law Of Moses (V.1)
• We See In The People Of Israel A Beautiful
  Example Of Respect For God And His Word
• Lack Of Respect For Gods Word Is The Number
  1 Problem Facing Gods People

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Showing Respect to God and His Word
I. They Had A Desire to Learn The Word
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I. They Had A Desire to Learn The Word

• Nehemiah 81, 3
• They Told Ezra The Scribe To Bring The Book Of
  The Law
• Their Ears Were Attentive To The Book Of The
  Law

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I. They Had A Desire to Learn The Word

• Nehemiah 81
• Now all the people gathered
  together as one man in the open square that was
  in front of the Water Gate and they told Ezra
  the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses,
  which the LORD had commanded Israel.

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I. They Had A Desire to Learn The Word

• Nehemiah 83
• Then he read from it in the open
  square that was in front of the Water Gate from
  morning until midday, before the men and women
  and those who could understand and the ears of
  all the people were attentive to the Book of the
  Law.

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I. They Had A Desire to Learn The Word

• We Need To Have The Desire To Know Gods Word
• Desire The Word As Babes Desire Milk
• 1 Peter 22

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1 Peter 22

• As newborn babes, desire the pure
  milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.

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I. They Had A Desire to Learn The Word

• We Demonstrate That Desire By Studying Gods Word
• 2 Timothy 215
• 1 Timothy 413

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2 Timothy 215

• Be diligent to present yourself approved to God,
  a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly
  dividing the word of truth.

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1 Timothy 413

• Till I come, give attention to reading, to
  exhortation, to doctrine.

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Showing Respect to God and His Word
I. They Had A Desire to Learn The Word
II. They Stood Up (Actions Demonstrated Respect)
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Nehemiah 85

• And Ezra opened the book in the
  sight of all the people, for he was standing
  above all the people and when he opened it, all
  the people stood up.

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II. They Stood (Actions Demonstrated Respect)

• We Stand When A Judge Or When The President
  Enters The Room
• They Believed Gods Word Was Important

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II. They Stood (Actions Demonstrated Respect)

• Our Actions Show Whether We Respect Gods Word or
  Not
• Not Necessarily By Standing
• By turning OFF your phones!
• By Studying
• By Teaching It To Your Family
• Deuteronomy 66-8

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Deuteronomy 66-8

• And these words which I
  command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You
  shall teach them diligently to your children, and
  shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
  when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and
  when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign
  on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets
  between your eyes.

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II. They Stood (Actions Demonstrated Respect)

• Our Actions Show Whether We Respect Gods Word or
  Not
• Not Necessarily By Standing
• By Studying
• By Teaching It To Your Family (Deuteronomy 66-8)
• By Teaching It To Others
• (2 Timothy 22)

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2 Timothy 22

• And the things that you have heard from
  me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful
  men who will be able to teach others also.

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Showing Respect to God and His Word
I. They Had A Desire to Learn The Word
II. They Stood (Actions Demonstrated Respect)
III. It Produced An Emotional Response
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III. It Produced An Emotional Response

• Nehemiah 8
• They Wept (Vs. 9)
• And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra
  the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught
  the people said to all the people, This day is
  holy to the LORD your God do not mourn nor
  weep. For all the people wept, when they heard
  the words of the Law.

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III. It Produced An Emotional Response

• Nehemiah 8
• They Rejoiced (Vs. 11-12)
• So the Levites quieted all the people,
  saying, Be still, for the day is holy do not be
  grieved. 12 And all the people went their way to
  eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice
  greatly, because they understood the words that
  were declared to them.

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III. It Produced An Emotional Response

• If We Respect Gods Word
• It Will Produce An Emotional Response In Us At
  Times
• We Might Even Be Brought To Tears
• When We Know We Havent Been Doing What Is
  Right
• 2 Corinthians 78-10

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2 Corinthians 78-10

• For even if I made you sorry with
  my letter, I do not regret it though
  I did regret it. For I perceive
  that the same epistle made you sorry, though only
  for a while. 9 Now I rejoice, not that you were
  made sorry, but that your sorrow led to
  repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly
  manner, that you might suffer loss from us in
  nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance
  leading to salvation, not to be regretted but
  the sorrow of the world produces death.

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III. It Produced An Emotional Response

• If We Respect Gods Word It Will Produce An
  Emotional Response At Times
• We Will Be Brought To Tears At Times
• We Will Rejoice
• When An Erring One Returns To The Lord
• Luke 158-10

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Luke 158-10

• Or what woman, having ten silver
  coins, if she loses one coin,
  does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and
  search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when
  she has found it, she calls her friends and
  neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for
  I have found the piece which I lost! 10
  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the
  presence of the angels of God over one sinner who
  repents.

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Showing Respect to God and His Word
I. They Had A Desire to Learn The Word
II. They Stood (Actions Demonstrated Respect)
III. It Produced An Emotional Response
IV. They Obeyed
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Nehemiah 814-17

• And they found written in the Law,
  which the LORD had commanded by
  Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell
  in booths during the feast of the seventh month,
  15 and that they should announce and proclaim in
  all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, Go
  out to the mountain, and bring olive branches,
  branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm
  branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make
  booths, as it is written

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Nehemiah 814-17, cont.

• Then the people went out and
  brought them and made themselves
  booths, each one on the roof of his house, or in
  their courtyards or the courts of the house of
  God, and in the open square of the Water Gate and
  in the open square of the Gate of Ephraim. 17 So
  the whole assembly of those who had returned from
  the captivity made booths and sat under the
  booths for since the days of Joshua the son of
  Nun until that day the children of Israel had not
  done so. And there was very great gladness.

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IV. They Obeyed

• Nehemiah 814-17
• When We Respect Gods Word, We Will Obey God
• We Show Whether Or Not We Respect God By The
  Way We Dress, Talk, And Behave
• James 122-25
• Psalm 119167-168

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James 122-25

• But be doers of the word, and not hearers
  only, deceiving yourselves. 23
  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a
  doer, he is like a man observing his natural face
  in a mirror 24 for he observes himself, goes
  away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he
  was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of
  liberty and continues in it, and is not a
  forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one
  will be blessed in what he does.

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Psalm 119167-168

• My soul keeps Your testimonies, And I love them
  exceedingly. 168 I keep Your precepts and Your
  testimonies, For all my ways are before You.

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You are invited to show your respect for the Word
of God by becoming obedient to it today!

• Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by
  the things which He suffered. 9 And having been
  perfected, He became the author of eternal
  salvation to all who obey Him (Hebrews 58-9)