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Weimar University

Don Mackintosh

Walking in the Fear of the Lord

So let's just bow our heads and ask God to be with us.

Father in heaven, thank you today that we can again study your Word.

We ask a blessing on our brief time together.

We've been studying the book of Nehemiah, and Nehemiah was a layperson who God used in a powerful way, and he actually is related to the captivity in Babylon that some of us have been studying about as we've gone through Daniel chapter 1 through 5 so far this week and we'll also be looking at Daniel chapter 6 as well.

But let's look here in Nehemiah chapter 5 today.

Now our scripture reading today was what some have called the Golden Rule.

How many of you have ever heard of the Golden Rule?

Okay, let me give you some scenarios because some people have different ideas about what the golden rule is.

Golden rule option number 1, he who has the gold rules.

You laugh, but people that have gold kind of think that.

Number 2, he who has the gold doesn't have to follow the rules.

Number 3, do unto others as you want to do.

Or number 4, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

But with that in mind, let's look at the book of Nehemiah because option number 1 and 2 and 3 were what were in play in the book of Nehemiah chapter 5.

There was a great outcry, verse 1, of the people and their wives against the Jewish brethren.

You know it's bad when there's an outcry, but when the wives join in the outcry that's serious because you got to go home and confront the wife.

It's gonna be bad at home and bad in the public.

So the husbands and wives were crying out against their Jewish brethren.

So this was a fight within the church you might say, wasn't quite outside, it was inside.

And there were those who said, we are sons, our daughters are many, therefore let us get grain that we may eat and live.

Somehow they were running out of food, why?

There were some who said, we have mortgaged our lands.

Whoa, how many of you think that sounds like a problem?

Mortgaged our lands, our vineyards, our houses, that we might buy grain because of the famine.

And there were those who said, we have borrowed money for the king's tax on our lands and vineyards.

And now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, and our children as their children.

Indeed we are forcing our sons and daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery and it's not in our power to redeem them for other men have our lands and vineyards and these other men were who?

They were all working to rebuild that wall.

They were all working to come out of depression into recovery as a people and to do that they were rebuilding the wall and yet some of the Jewish brethren who were better off financially, better positioned financially, were taking advantage of those who were not as well off.

And as a result, they couldn't feed themselves.

They had to borrow, they had to mortgage, they sold their lands, they sold their kids, and They were in slavery and even worse.

How many of you have ever been taken advantage of by rich people?

How many of you know how to raise your hands?

By the way, I would say everybody should be raising your hand because there's very wealthy people that control the television.

There's very wealthy people that control Netflix.

There's very wealthy people that control all the stuff that might be leading to your depression or is aiding in it.

There's all kinds of people that control controlled substances.

90 percent of the hydrocortisone is ingested in America People are addicted to all kinds of things And Maybe they're open to it because they're depressed, but what was happening in that city of old was he who had the gold was ruling.

No way out, my way or the highway, my way or starvation.

And by the way, he who has the gold was not following the rules.

Have you met people who use their wealth so they don't have to follow the rules?

And that was totally against the rules of God who said, don't charge interest to your brethren.

Don't try and make a buck because they're down.

Don't take advantage of your brethren this way.

Verse 6, I love Nehemiah, this guy is like telling yourself the truth dot com.

Then I became very angry when I heard their outcry and I heard these words and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and the rulers and said to them each of you is exacting usury another's interest from his brother so I called a great assembly against them he didn't just talk to me says okay I'm calling an assembly against them and I said to them according to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations, and now indeed will you sell your brethren?

I mean, we just got people out of Babylon and these other countries and now you're selling and buying your brethren?

Then they were silenced and found nothing to say.

Sometimes the truth is so obvious you just have to shut up.

Then he continues verse 9, what you're doing is not good should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations and our enemies I also and my brethren and my servants and lending the money and grain so I'm lending them to pay you please let us that's generous to say us please stop this usury restored out to them even this day their lands their vineyards their olive grows their houses and a and a hundredth of the money in the grain the new wine and the oil That you have charged them So what was it that Nehemiah did he became angry When he started to see through what was happening what was being done to manipulate He had a righteous indignation and it says he seriously thought about what he needed to say.

Have you ever met people that are just hasty in their speech?

They take the air completely out of the room and as you listen what they're saying has not been thought through.

Now that word serious is a serious word when you look it up.

It literally means he consulted and counseled with others before speaking or acting.

Which means he probably was consulting with his best friend who as we know from Nehemiah chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4 was who?

So in other ways, he prayed before he spoke.

And then he personally rebuked the nobles and the rulers.

And this, according to scripture, was actually a demonstration of love.

Not enough to rebuke, but also to teach a different way.

So what Nehemiah was doing actually on behalf of the people was demonstrating what?

How many of you are thankful for Nehemiah-like figures that will stand up against baloney?

Look, you come to Weimar to different programs.

Come to the New Star Program, you don't come there to hear, you know, everything in the supermarket's good.

There's no bad foods, they're all just turned into chemicals anyway, go ahead, Eat what you want.

No, you're gonna die like everybody else very soon.

But in the New Start program, the physicists say, the dairy industry is telling you some lies.

And they tell you The cheese you eat is the cheese you wear.

And they tell you the truth, and you go, wow, I got a new start, because somebody finally told me the truth.

And you can't even say anything, you're silenced.

What about the Depressive recovery program?

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Walking in the Fear of the Lord

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