Shabbat Shalom everyone. I thank the Lord for the privilege of studying the Word of God together. We are studying, of course, in the book of Nehemiah. And today we are in Nehemiah, or Nehemiah, chapter 11. We are just drawing closer and closer to the end of this amazing, beautiful book that was given by divine inspiration. And the purpose, of course, of this book that was written for our people Israel and for the benefits of believers today as well is the thought of building broken situations in the lives of God's people. Here we learn from this book of Nehemiah how God is so longing that his people's lives will be rebuilt just the same like the life of our people of all the people of Israel needed to be rebuilt when they had to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem set up again the gates of the city of Jerusalem and make things in order in the midst of the life of our people Israel and about 445 BC, the beginning when Nehemiah was returning to Yerushalayim.

Well, today we are finding ourselves in chapter 11, and really the theme of the 11th chapter of the book of Nehemiah is a willing people. A willing people of Israel historically, and a willing people of God presently, A people that are willing to live for the Lord and serve the God who brought them to himself. And so I'm reading, I'm going to read selective verses because when you read this chapter, this 11th chapter, you find out rather quickly that this 11th chapter has many names. So I will not read all the names. I will read some of the names that we have in Nehemiah chapter 11, but please follow with me as much as I am reading.

Well, we begin with verse 1, Nehemiah chapter 11, verse 1, And the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem. The rest of the people also cast lots to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem. the holy city, and nine parts to dwell in other cities. And the people blessed all the men that willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem. Now these are the chief of the province that dwelled in Jerusalem, but in the cities of Judah dwelled everyone in his possession, in their cities to wit Israel the priests and the Levites and the Netanim and the children of Solomon's servants and at Jerusalem dwelt certain of the children of Judah and of the children of Binyamin of the children of Judah we have a list here from verse 4b all the way down to verse 6 including notice what it says in verse 6 and the sons of perrots that dwelt at jerusalem were 468 men then verses 7 on he said these are the sons of binyamin and then you have a list up till verse 8 of 928 descendants of the tribes of binyamin benjamin then we have in verse 9 joel and the son of Zichri was the overseer.

And you can see that there is a list of names. Verse 10, of the priests. Verse 11, it says Saraiah and the son of Chilkiah and so on. At the end of verse 11, it says those that rule over the house of God. Verse 12, and their brethren that did the work of the house. Then we have the numbers of them. verse 13 242 as well verse 14 128 together 822 in verse 12 242 in verse 13 and 128 in verse 14 i'm continuing to read verse 15 and of the levites and then we have again a list of names and if you continue to go down it says in verse 18 and all the levites in the holy city were 284 individuals.

Verse 19, moreover, the porters, those are the ones who kept the doors of the entrance into the temple. I'm continuing with verse 20 now. And the residue of Israel and of the priests and the Levites were in all the cities of Judah, everyone in his inheritance. But the Netini, notice, verse 21, Those are the ones that were the netinin, the servants. And then it said they dwell in Ophel. And Zihah and Gizpah were over the netinin. We continue on. In verses 22 and 23, we have the singers. In verse 24, we have the king's helper. In verse 25 to verse 36, we have the people who lived outside of the city of Jerusalem.

I didn't read all the verses here because there are many, many Hebrew names that are mentioned here in this 11th chapter. Now, please pay your attention for a few moments for me. When you read such a chapter, it makes you wonder, why would God mention so many names there of these Jewish men there in this chapter? Plenty of names. Those from this tribe of Levi, those from this tribe of Judah, those from this tribe of Binyamin. And he's giving us a list of these names of these Jewish Hebrew-Israeli men. There is a reason, beloved brothers and sisters, and we believe from the bottom of our hearts that everything that God had given us in his word are given to us because of the fact that God want to mention the names of individuals that were very dear to the heart of God.

We just sang this song earlier that God want us to be a sanctuary for him. God want the people of God who belong to him that he will be able to dwell in their midst and that he will find joy in the midst of the people of God. It happened historically among our people Israel, the Jewish people. And it is as well today in this present day dispensation where God delighted to be in the midst of his people. Yeshua said in Matthew 18, 20, For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. But those people that he is in the midst of them are people who desire to follow him.

They want to have a relationship with him. They don't want him away from their life. They want him in their home. They want him in their life on the job. They want him where they go to school. Or they want him where they are visiting everywhere in this world, including in the midst of the gathered saints in such a meeting as you and I are together today. You notice what it says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 16. Timothy was told by the Apostle Paul. He says, notice that without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justifying the spirit, seeing of angels, preaching to the gentle, believe on in the world, and receive up into glory.

In other words, speaking about the Lord who came from heaven and went back to heaven in order that he may be there as a great high priest on behalf of his people, the people of Israel. But Paul not only said this in 1 Timothy chapter 3, notice what it says in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16. It says, All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. And it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Not only that the Messiah came from heaven and went back to heaven after he finished the work on the tree for us, but he has given us his word and all scripture is given by inspiration of God, including Nehemiah chapter 11 with the list of these men that are mentioned here in this chapter.

Perhaps if you and I would have been there in about 445 BC and so on, Perhaps our names were mentioned there if we were committed to follow the Lord and the Lord will remember. A book of remembrance was written before him for them that spoke of him and thought upon his name. As Malachi is saying this in chapter 3 and in the last chapter. Now, I would like to just highlight a few things that I think would be extremely beneficial for us. And first of all, you notice that in verses 1 and 2 there was a requirement for people to live in the city of Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem.

Notice it says here, and the rulers of the people dwelled at Jerusalem. The rest of the people also cast lots to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine parts to dwell in other cities. Well, apparently they needed to have people who would be willing to move from the outskirts of Jerusalem into the city of Jerusalem. And why is it? Well, the walls now were built, the gates had been set up, the temple was there, the sacrificial system was going on, but Israel still had many enemies around, and the city needed to be populated and the people needed to develop the city of Jerusalem so you notice that they made a decision that one out of every 10 individuals will now move out from the outskirts of Jerusalem into the city of Jerusalem to live there and to populate it but you notice what we read here that they cast lots.

And secondly, we read that the name of the city is Yerushalayim and it is called here Jerusalem, the holy city. In Hebrew, we call it Yerushalayim Ir HaKodesh. Now, of course, if the city was called a city that was holy or Kedoshah, what does it mean to be holy? It means to be holy, to be set apart for God. This is the city where God placed his name there and this is the city to which he wanted the nation of Israel to make it a place where he will dwell in the midst of the nation in the midst of the people of God it is the chosen city by the Lord himself and he wanted people voluntarily to come to dwell in that city and represent him there right in that city notice it says in verse 2 and the people blessed all the men that willingly offer themselves to dwell in jerusalem there's an amazing lesson here brothers and sisters listen all the people that lived now in the land of israel were part of the nation of Israel.

All of them, what we'd call Jewish people, belonged to the nation of Israel. But not everyone went into the city of Jerusalem sacrificially to live there, to dwell there, to fight for the city of Jerusalem, to maintain godly order in the midst of the city of Jerusalem and to do so God never wanted to force anyone you know I'll tell you something you and I are all believers I trust here today you know God will not force you or me to live a life of fellowship with him he's never going to force us of course sometimes as a father he will discipline in us. But he wants us, his own, out of the abundance of our hearts.

That we say to him, Lord, I love you so much because of what you have done for me. I'm a sinner by nature. I was far away from you. I was dead in trespasses and sins. But in love for me, you saved me. You sent the Mashiach, the Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus, and he died for my sin and sin, and he paid the price that I could have never paid. And Lord, because of this, I want to respond to you. You know, the Bible teaches us in 1 John, we love because he first loved us. The Lord Yeshua says, come unto me. We just sang that song.

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart. And ye shall find rest to your souls. Many times we think we find rest and peace and shalom in the world. And we find out that the world cannot provide this for us. The only person that can give us shalom and peace in our own hearts is none else but Yeshua. Our Mashiach. The one who died for us and paid for our own sins. And he is right in the midst of his own.

And you notice that Nehemiah, Nehemiah, was very wise. He says, listen, brethren, one ten, one person out of every ten got to move into the city of Jerusalem. But you notice he never forced anyone, because in verse 2 it said, the people blessed all the men that willingly offer themselves to dwell in Jerusalem. It's got to come out of our hearts. You cannot follow the Lord with rules and regulation and by force. That is not love relationship. You remember when you first met your wife or your husband and we fell in love with that individual. And we wanted to be with that person wherever he or wherever she is.

We just wrote letters and we'd make phone calls. And it's amazing when you wanted so much to be with that person because he or she were the lover of your soul. You really wanted to be with them. Nobody had to force you. Nobody had to ask you to do so. It was a willing desire of the heart to be where this person is. Well, that's what Yeshua wants. Yeshua, the Messiah, wants exactly this thing from us. he wants from us willingly to be those that are following after him and living for him and spending time with him because of who he is and because of what he has done for us that's why when we read such a chapter he said what can i learn from this 11th chapter there's so many hebrew names i cannot even pronounce that some of them might say those of us who speak hebrew and it is our mother's tongue for us it's not a problem to read it from the hebrew text and every name has a meaning in the Hebrew text but nevertheless beloved brothers and sisters God is seeking a people that will be willing to follow after him turn to Isaiah for a moment chapter 52 Isaiah also was speaking about the future of our people Israel when they will desire to be returned unto the Lord and accept the Messiah Isaiah chapter 52 it says in verse 1 awake, awake put on thy strength O Zion put on thy beautiful garment O Yerushalayim the holy city from hand form shall no more come unto thee any of uncircumcised and any who are unclean Shake thyself from the dust, arise and sit down, O Jerusalem.

Lose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. God is awakening Israel to be returning unto him when he's speaking about Jerusalem, that holy city who will one day will be restored in a future day. Well, here we find out in Nehemiah's time that there were those whom God awakened and they willingly desired to be returning to the Lord. Now let me show you one more verse in the New Testament, in the Brit HaChadasha, in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. The Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, believers, in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, in the first few verses he says to them moreover verse 1 brethren we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abundant unto the riches of their liberality listen to verse 3 for to their power I bear record yea and beyond their power they were willing of themselves the Corinthians were told about the churches of Macedonia that they were willing of themselves to serve the Lord to support the work of the Lord to give hands to the services of God no one had to push them or to force them that's what God wants.

You see, a relationship with the Lord never had been done by force but is always on the basis of the grace of God that draws our hearts to follow after Yeshua the Messiah. And so we read that in verses 1 and 2 there was a requirement for people to live in the city of Jerusalem and here were those people who were willing to come to dwell in that city. That means self-sacrifice, that means that they had to protect the city and that they had to develop the city, they have to serve in the city and Yerushalayim can prosper and can develop and God is in the midst of his own people in the city of Yerushalayim.

The people blessed all the men that willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem. This is the first two verses. Now, verses 3 to verse 6, we see the leadership that set an example. They are the ones that took responsibility to dwell in that city and to thrive and to serve in the midst of the nation of Israel. So notice what we read about these leaders. I found this extremely interesting. First of all, we have those three tribes mentioned. Verse 3 and verse 4a. Now these are the chief of the province that dwell in Jerusalem, but in the cities of Judah dwelt everyone in his possession, in their cities in Israel.

Let me tell you who. Verse 3. The priests, the Levites, the Netinim, and the children of Solomon's servants. Verse 4, and at Jerusalem dwell certain of the children, number one of Judah, number two of Binyamin, and number three, of course, as we already read it in verse 3, the Levites, the Leviim. You notice the three tribes that are mentioned here in verses, The tribe of Levi, the tribe of Judah, and the tribe of Binyamin. Now, if you remember from the biblical history of our own people, the tribe of Levi was the chosen tribe to be a servant. From the tribe of Levi, we have Aaron, the high priest.

Then we have his children. From the tribe of Levi, the Levites or the Leviyim were the servants among the people of Israel. Then, of course, we have Judah. Judah was a very important tribe, the promise that the Messiah will come out of the tribe of Judah. Shiloh shall come. We read it in Genesis 49. The Messiah was going to come out of the tribe of Judah. And Benjamin, or Benjamin, the son of my right hand, Benjamin, if you remember, he was the youngest son of Yaakov, who was the one that Yaakov also loved so much and he didn't want to send him to Egypt when Joseph was in Egypt and the rest of the brethren went down to the land of Egypt.

So you have those three tribes. Let me remind you that when Israel was sent to Babylon, the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Benjamin were linked together. And part of the tribe of Levi joined to them. So when Nebuchadnezzar came, 6 or 5, 597, 583, when he took the Jewish people to Babel, there were specifically those two-and-a-half tribes, Judah, Binyamin, and Levi. They went down to Babel. Now they returned, some of them. And now in the city of Yerushalayim, in the land of Israel, and we find out here that some of them, the leaders made a decision, We are going to live in the city of Jerusalem, the priests, the Netanim, the children of Solomon's servants in verse 3, and those that came, others from the tribe of Judah.

But in verse 4b to verse 6, we find one name that is mentioned twice. And here we learn also a very important lesson. You notice it says in verse 4b, after it gives us the name, it says, Athaya and Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, and Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, and Machaliel of the children, and it mentioned the name of Peretz. His name is mentioned once again in verse 6 after a list of names. It says, all the sons of Peretz that dwell in Jerusalem were 468 valiant men. Anshei chayil in Hebrew. Now I can tell you about the story of Peretz. One of the darkest times in the history of our nation, Israel, was found in Genesis chapter 38.

This man by the name of Peretz began in a very bad condition in his life you notice what happened judah which was actually the father of parrots went down from judaea in fact i would like you to turn to genesis 38 with me i want to read a few verses there this man by the name of judah was the head of the tribe of Judah what did he do he left Judea and he went down and he met a certain woman who was a Canaanitish woman and what did he do Judah according to verse 2 he said there was a daughter of a certain Canaanite person whose name was Shua he took her and he

went in unto her in other words what did he do Judah he married the Canaanitish woman remember again brothers and sisters that God said too are people of all that they are not to mingle with the canaanites why not because the jewish people were better than the canaanite but the people of israel believe in the living and true god and the people of canaan believe in all kind of idols and their lifestyle was totally different than the people of israel and therefore god for protecting the nation of israel did not want them to mingle with the nations of the world.

But lo and behold, Judah knew better. So what does he do? He goes and he married this individual. Then he has three sons from here. The one was Er, the other one was Onan, and the third one was Shelah. Those three boys that came out of this Canaanitish woman, what happened? That now he began to give wives to his children so he gave for the first one by the name of Er he found this woman by the name of Tamar some people don't know whether she was a Canaanitish woman or whether she was a Hebrew because of the name Tamar which means palm tree many believe that she may have been a Hebrew woman but nevertheless the point was this that he gave the first son to her and you notice what happened The first son, Eir, was a wicked man, and the Lord killed him.

The second one was Onan, and he was supposed to marry her, but he didn't want to raise children to his brother, and he didn't fulfill his responsibility. The Lord judged him as well. And there was only one person left by the name of Shelah, and she was told to wait until he will grow up, and then she will be married to him so she can have children. And he didn't give this son to Tamar. And what happened, you know, the story of Tamar. One day, Judah again went down and he saw this woman. He assumed that she was a prostitute. He went in unto her and lo and behold, she got pregnant.

She had two sons that were born. And you notice what it says. I'm not going to read the whole story. If you go to the end of chapter 38, the first son that was born, notice that, it says in verse 27 twins were in her womb verse 28 and it came to pass when she travailed that one put his hand and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread saying these came out first and it came to pass as he drew back his hand that behold his brother came out and she said how has thou broken forth the bridge be upon thee therefore his name shall be called Peretz in Hebrew it says what happened to her that you came by force out of the womb of your mother that's why his name was called Peretz now can you imagine the condition that Peretz had to grow under.

Two of his, you might say, half-brothers have already died by the judgment of God. His other half-brother did not want to marry his mother. His own father actually assumed that Tamar was a prostitute. What a condition have existed at that time in the life of Peretz. And you would think when Peretz had such a bad start in his life that he is doomed and that's it. And that's sometimes what happens with us, beloved brothers and sisters. Some of us come from a problematic background, mess in our lives. And you see, that is a beautiful lesson that we learn here from the book of Nehemiah. God is in the business of building, restoring, encouraging, continuing to lead on his people even when we have gone wrong.

Yonah have gone wrong. God restored him. David have gone wrong. God restored him. Even Abba, Father Abraham have gone wrong. God restored him. God is in a business of restoration. And it doesn't matter what kind of a life we had in the past and the challenges that we experienced in the past. God can use his people who desire to live for him and to be restored unto him. And you and I need to recognize this. We never should give up on crying to the Lord for mercy. The Bible teaches us if we confess our sins, 1 John 1.9, He's faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Who of us can say that we come from a perfect home and from a perfect situation in our own life? Every one of us, if we're going to look at the history of our forefathers And our families, we kind of said, oh Lord, I mean, look at the situation. How is it possible? How can I live for God in such a situation? But parrots began in a bed, you might say, foundation. And notice what it says about parrots. Again, notice this passage. It says in verse 6, all the sons of parrots that dwelt in Jerusalem were 468 notice what it called them valiant men look at the expression valiant men in Hebrew it says virtuous men remind me of Proverbs where it says who can find a virtuous woman eshet chayl in Hebrew here we have valiant men men that were devoting themselves to the Lord coming to the city of Jerusalem and when you're going to ask them you know, who is your great-great-grandparent?

Oh, my great-great-great-great-grandfather is parents. I have not much to say about my history but I know one thing, that God loved me and He wants me to be in the city of Jerusalem and He wants me to worship Him and He wants me to live for Him never mind my history. I want now to follow the Lord. I want now to be restored to the Lord and God honor them. His name in the list is mentioned here in this 11th chapter of the book of Nehemiah. Let me add something here. Notice that he is from the tribe of Judah. What about the tribe of Binyamin?

Notice in verses 7, 8, and 9. Look at the descendants of Binyamin. And you and I know very well the story of Binyamin. In verse 7, and I'm reading, it says there, these are the sons of Benjamin, of Binyamin. And you have a list of the name of the children of Benjamin. In fact, it says 928 descendants of Benjamin in verse 8. And their names continue in verse 9. Now, what about Binyamin? First of all, he was the youngest of all the tribes of Israel. Nobody can tell us, hey, listen, you are the youngest son, in your own home, you have no hope, no future, don't worry about it, let the elder brother be the new guest, don't do anything, you know, and God teaches us, doesn't matter what position you have in your family, you still have the opportunity to draw near to the Lord, and to serve Him, and to live for Him, here in this world.

Turn to 1st Samuel chapter 9, we read about the first king of Israel though he failed later on and God had to judge him but you notice what he says in 1st Samuel chapter 9 when Samuel came to him to ask him to become the king of Israel look at the answer that Saul gave in verse 21 of 1st Samuel chapter 9 Shaul answered and said he was talking to Shmuel am not I a Benjaminite of the smallest of the tribes of Israel and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Binyamin wherefore then speakest thou even to me see he was a humble man at the beginning of his life

look I'm the least of my family and I'm in a tribe that is the least of the people of Israel why do you even dare speak with me Samuel and yet God called him to become his servant the first king of Israel of course Shaul failed terribly by disobeying the Lord and the Lord actually took away the kingdom from the Benjaminite and he gave it unto the tribe of Judah that he gave one that was a man after God's own heart by the name of David from the tribe of Judah but the lesson is beloved brothers and sisters is that God wants us to desire to draw willingly, to be at his presence, to be

used by him in the midst of his people.

Let me remind you of another man by the name Shaul, who is not only in Old Testament time, in biblical time, before the Messiah came, also from our point of view, he was part of the church, of the assembly, another Jewish man from the tribe of Binyamin, and that was the Apostle Paul, Shaul. According to Romans 11, he was from the tribe of Binyamin and Israeli from the tribe of Binyamin. And how God used this man that you and I have books after books in the Brit HaChadasha in the New Testament that were given to us by divine inspiration.

And that is so encouraging to you and I, brothers and sisters, that we should never say if I fail and if I sin against the Lord I have no hope anymore no the Lord says no confess repent turn around and continue on to follow after me I want you to move in if it were to the city of Jerusalem to the center where I'm there in the midst and I would like you to enjoy my presence and to serve me in the midst of the people of God well let's continue on now from verse 10 to verse 14 we have the priests of Israel and here's also something for us very important notice verse 10

and the priests the son of Yor-Yariv and Yachin and you have a list of the people from the priesthood the Kohanim two things we find about them in verse 11 and 12 first of all they did the work of the house of God it says at the end of verse 11 it says was the ruler of the house of God at verse 12 and their brethren that did the work of the house this is the house of God Beit Ha'Elohim now who do you think is going to do the work in the house of God well there was a temple in Yerushalayim there were sacrificial systems to be functioning, there were animals to be killed,

blood had to be shed.

Who was going to do all this work? The lamp stand to be lit, the bread to be placed upon the table of showbread, the service to the people of God, continue on, continue on. Who was going to do that? Well, the priests did the work inside the house of God. And the lesson it is for us, beloved brothers and sisters, You and I are called to do service for the Lord. This is so real. Oftentimes it's said when people go to church meetings or to congregation meetings, sit in the pew. See, Saturday, Sunday is just sitting in the pew. Monday all the way to next week, I don't need to serve the Lord.

I do what I want as I please. I don't need to serve the Lord. Next Sunday come or next Shabbat come, sit in the pew. Until next week, shalom, shalom, I'll see you next time. Is that the relationship that one has with the Lord? Are we only to meet the Lord and to be with the Lord, only to come, to spend some time in so-called going to the city of Jerusalem, sitting there for a while and then living? Notice what it says here. Very clearly, they did the work of the house. They did service. And you know, brothers and sisters, I want to say this.

This is not to point the finger at anybody. We all have to learn from that. You know that God gave you a gift? He didn't give you a gift to keep it and to say, you know, later on, Lord, I might use it, but right now I just don't want to. He gave you a gift. He gave me a gift. And every one of us is so important, you know, We are as priests together to serve the Lord in the midst of the congregation, in the midst of the assembly. Some of us can set up chairs. Another one can light the menorah. Another one can prepare the kitchen.

Another one needs to do all the service that has to be done in order to continue on to function. Some clean, some organize, some prepare. Every one of us has a gift that we need to use the gifts that the Lord had given unto us. Otherwise, imagine if you have a body and you have members of the body, right hand, left hand, right leg, left leg, you have eyes, ears, nose. Imagine if you all of a sudden cannot use one of the members of the body. All of a sudden, if the right hand cannot move anymore, well, the left hand has to do twice the work.

If there's a problem with our eyes, if we don't see with the left eyes, the right eye, all of a sudden had to work overtime to make up for that which the other eye have lacked. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4, please. Verse 11, Shaul Paul wrote those words to the brothers and sisters at Ephesus saying, And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Why did he give those gifted men and the gift that he had given? He gave it the reason. The reason is, verse 12, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Mashiach, the body of Messiah.

Until when? Until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a mature man, unto the measure of the statutes of the fullness of Christ, the fullness of the Mashiach. That's the reason why God gave the gifts to the body of Mashiach, the body of Messiah. He wants us to be used. He wants us to be like those priests who are serving within the house of God, who is doing the work of the Lord. And you know, they say that those that pray together and work together stay together. It has to do with our families.

It has to do with our local fellowship. It has to do with any area of anything we do if we do working together and everyone give a shoulder to the labor there is a building there is a growth that can come out of it one person cannot do it alone Nechemiah could not do it alone Ezra before him could not do it alone Zubaveel before him could not do it it's not a one man show it is a company of believers working together there is a body of Mashiach of Messiah where every member is important, valuable, and is usable for the benefit of the people of God.

Go back to Nehemiah. Now we read in verses 15 to verse 18 the list of the Leviim who dwelt in the city of Jerusalem. Notice that it says in verse 15 also of the Levites, and then they give you the name, Shamaya, the son of Hashuv, the son of Azrikam, and so on. Give it a list of the names here. Notice what it says about them. According to verse 16, the Levites took the oversight on the outside and the business of the house of God. You see, not all of us have, you might say, an area that needs to be done in a spiritual area. Let's put it this way.

Some of us have other practical things that can be done. The Leviim had to work outside of the house of the Lord. Notice two names are mentioned here as well from the tribe of Levi. The one name is the name Asaph in verse 17 and the other name is the name Yedutun at the end of verse 17. Do you know, brothers and sisters, that these two men by the name of Asaph and Yedutun from the tribe of Levi, who were not from the family of the priesthood, Do you know what their responsibility was? It says here in the middle of verse 17 that they, notice, Asaf was the principal to begin the thanksgiving in prayer.

He led Asaf and Yedutun led the worship in the assembly, in the congregation of the people of Israel. If you will carefully notice, and I mark this down, How many Psalms that you and I read were attributed to this man by the name of Asaph? Psalm 50, Psalm 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83. All these Psalms were written by this man by the name of Asaph. David, in the book of Chronicles, 1 Chronicles 16, given him this responsibility. And now his descendants continue on to lead Israel in a song of worship to the Lord. His name is mentioned here. God never forgets. He knows his own people by name, and those that serve him, he knows them by name, he mentioned their names.

Again, notice in that verse 15 and 16, we have the Levites who oversee the house of the Lord. In verse 17 and 18, those Levites led the people of Israel with thanksgiving, with song and prayer. We are called to sing to the Lord.

I'll read Ephesians 5, 19, speaking to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melodies in your heart to the Lord giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah Jesus the Messiah you see they were leading the song of the Lord when the congregation of Israel would gather together they would be the leaders of the song and you know sometimes the Lord give us gifted brothers and sisters who have the ability to lead in song in helping us all to lift us up in singing and we can sing along with those gifted brothers and sisters they don't want to get their attention

to themselves they ought to give their attention to the person of Yeshua the Messiah they were song leaders and these people that I mentioned here Asaf and Yedutun are the song leaders psalms writers and song leaders sometimes there are so many challenges in our life that we maybe can't sing because we are discouraged and so on but the Lord always encourages singing unto the Lord a new song sing to him don't get discouraged and singing about Yeshua the Messiah is the most wonderful thing that one can do now let's quickly grow down towards the end here in verses 19, 20, and 21, we see the gate keepers.

Again, you and I might say, why God placed their names there? Notice verse 19, it says, moreover, the porters, Akuv and Talmon and their brethren that kept the gates were 172. Now, why do we need gate keepers? Now, of course, they were living in Jerusalem, they had to watch the gates because people go in and people come out. Well, why do we need the gatekeepers? Well, the gatekeepers represent protection. They are watching over the flock. They are the ones who care givers. You know, brothers and sisters, we need to be ourselves careful how we help our brothers and sisters because we are all like sheep going astray.

Every voice and every sound, everybody come with all kind of a wind of doctrine and we can be swayed to the right or to the left. That's how we are. And we need those porters, those gate keepers, those ones that we read of them in verse 19 of Nehemiah chapter 11. What do they do? They watch the gate. Who is coming in? What he or she teach. Who is going out? Where do they learn what they learn? Are they going to be learning the things of the Lord? Or are they going to bring the things of the Lord into our midst? The gatekeepers. They were so important in the midst of the people of Israel.

You know, Peter wrote in 1 Peter chapter 5 to the shepherds of the believers, of early believers. He says to them that they are to feed the flock of God. Taking oversight in a godly way, not by force, not for gain, but to do it out of love for the people of God, the gatekeepers, the leaders in our midst, those that care for the flock, are to feed and to oversee the care that people of God need. There are so many issues, so many needs, And we need those caregivers and those porters that protect the people of God. And we continue, verse 22 and 23, we see the singers in Jerusalem and others.

Verse 24, we see even the king Helper moved to live in the city of Jerusalem. This is the king of Persia's Helper, according to verse 24. Notice that it says, and Petahiah, the son of Meshazabel, of the children of Zerah, it says here in verse 24, and the sons of Judah, and at the king's hand, and in all matters concerning the people. Notice that he was at the king's hand in all matters concerning the people. In other words, he was representing the requirement from the king of Persia for whatever was going on in Jerusalem. In a sense, he was like a liaison between the king of Persia and what's going on among the people of Israel.

He reported to him. But notice who he was. He was a descendant of a man by the name of Zarach, in verse 24. And who was Zarah? You know that Zarah is Zerah, the one who was the brother of the one of whom we read earlier by the name of parents. He was his twin brother. And now the descendants of Zarah is now serving in Jerusalem as a liaison, as a connecting person between what's going on in Jerusalem and Israel and the king of Persia. reporting to him how things have been because after all, he sent Nehemiah from Persia allow him to come to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and the gates of Jerusalem.

Now again, I'm saying brothers and sisters if you and I read this chapter just like that when we say, Lord, why are you giving us all these names and list of names and what benefit is there? As we read in 2 Timothy chapter 3 all scripture was given by divine inspiration and they are profitable for the benefit of us all. And then finally, beloved brothers and sisters, is the final list of the people who lived outside of the city of Jerusalem. Not everyone could live there, so the rest of them lived outside. And so from verses 25 to the end of this chapter, we have this final list of the people of Israel who lived outside of the city of Jerusalem.

First of all, notice, some of them were from the tribe of Judah, verses 25 to 30. You notice it says, and for the villages with their field, some of the children of Judah dwelt, and it gives you certain names. The first name called Kiryat Arba, that is really what is known today as the city of Hebron. Then you have all sort of villages. You notice how many times the word villages, villages, villages is mentioned here between verses 25 to verse 30. These were people from the tribe of Judah. Then we have again from the tribe of Binyamin from verse 31 to verse 35, just towards the end of this chapter. You notice it says in verse 31, and the children also of Binyamin and so on from Geva, and then it gives you the list of the people from Binyamin who lived outside of the city of Jerusalem, in those villages around the city of Jerusalem.

And so, here we have the list of these people who dwelt outside. But the conclusion is found in verse 36, And here is some of the Levites who lived out with these two tribes and continued to serve the Lord in the midst of God's people. It says in verse 36, And all of the Levites were divisions in Judah and in Benjamin. That's why the tribe of Levi always served among Judah and among Benjamin, but they continue on to serve even if they were outside. Some were inside and some were outside. And what is the lesson for us in just by way of conclusion, beloved brothers and sisters?

The lesson for us is to recognize that if we are going to enjoy the Lord, if the Lord is going to be, as it were, to be the center in our lives, we have to do this to serve Him willingly, not to be forced by someone to do so, not to feel guilty about serving the Lord, but to do it because we love the Lord and we love the Lord's people and we desire to minister to Him here when there are so many needs because soon we are going to be taken to heaven. And the Lord is going to ask us this question. What have you done with the time that I've given you here upon the face of this world?

You had an opportunity to serve me. Did you serve me? Did you encourage the saints? Did you build up the people of God? Did you minister in one form or another among the people of God? And I can tell you, brothers and sisters, at that time we're going to look back and we're going to realize how many opportunities I had to serve the Lord and I didn't take them. I should have served Him better. When we're going to stand in His presence, we're going to realize how important we should have spent more time in serving the Lord because it is only here and now that we can do what we can do.

When we're going to get to heaven, we no longer have this old nature and the failing people and sins in our life. In heaven, that's it. We are going to be with Him and like Him forever. but it is here and now when we are exhorted to serve him and to live for him among the people of God. I want to conclude with one verse from 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and with this we have concluded the 11th chapter of the book of Nehemiah. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 58. We know this verse by heart, perhaps. But the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, Therefore, my beloved brethren, Achim Yekarim, he said, Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Why, Paul? Look what he said. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Always, not sometimes, but always. Do something for Yeshua, the Messiah. And why this? Because everything that we do for the Lord, your labor is never in vain. King Solomon said to our own people in Israel, he says, Vanity of vanity, all is vanity here in this world. everything under the sun is really in vain at the end when it's not done for the Lord but everything that is done for Yeshua the Messiah is not in vain the Lord will bless us the Lord will reward us and the Lord will be glorified people will be encouraged and that is what the Lord is calling us to do and the lesson from Nehemiah 11 is let's continue on willingly let us continue to serve our Lord Yeshua the Messiah