SPEAKER_00: Good morning, First Baptist Wimberly.
SPEAKER_00: This is Mike Gibbons.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Friday.
SPEAKER_00: The wall is finished as we come to Nehemiah 7 and 8 this Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you will find some time to read those two chapters before we gather.
SPEAKER_00: But let me read to you verses 1 and 1 through 3 from chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the water gate.
SPEAKER_00: And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.
SPEAKER_00: So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could understand what they heard on the first day of the seventh month.
SPEAKER_00: And he read from it, facing the square before the water gate, from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand.
SPEAKER_00: And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.
SPEAKER_00: So the people told Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, as they wanted to hear the word.
SPEAKER_00: And not only did Ezra read it, but he read from it facing the square before the water gate from early morning until midday.
SPEAKER_00: How long is that?
SPEAKER_00: Four hours?
SPEAKER_00: Six hours?
SPEAKER_00: Whatever it was, it's longer than our Sunday morning worship service.
SPEAKER_00: These people wanted to hear the word and were hungry enough for it that they spent hours listening to it read.
SPEAKER_00: And did you catch verse 3?
SPEAKER_00: All the people were attentive to the book of the law.
SPEAKER_00: Later in verse 6, it says they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
SPEAKER_00: As I read this, I'm reminded of the importance of simply opening the Word of God and meditating on it, leading to worship of the God who gave it to us.
SPEAKER_00: That word convicts us, it gives us reason to worship.
SPEAKER_00: It breaks us and it heals us.
SPEAKER_00: It is God's word.
SPEAKER_00: I'm praying that the longing for the word that we see from the people in Nehemiah 8 begins in my heart today.
SPEAKER_00: Would you ask God to give you this same kind of passion for Him and His Word?
SPEAKER_00: This is Mike Gibbons, and I love being your pastor.