00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:13 International Listener's Question

01:11 Addressing Youth Apathy Towards the Bible

02:06 Practical Tips for Youth Ministry

03:08 Engaging Youth with Relevant Content

05:18 Spiritual Leadership and Prayer

07:51 Nehemiah's Leadership and Vision

14:30 Nehemiah's Prayer Life and Practicality

17:59 Conclusion and Farewell

Hey everybody.

2

Welcome back to another edition

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

3

Good morning.

4

It is Friday morning, September 26th.

5

So we are approaching October

fast, approaching October, and the

6

fall, the cooler weather is here.

7

But hey, we had 17,000 questions

written into the podcast@composix.org,

8

and that's a slight hyperbole, only

slight hyperbole, but my favorite one is

9

the one that we're gonna answer first.

10

And my favorite one is only

because of where it comes from.

11

It's a good question, but this is

actually from somebody out of the country.

12

This is from somebody who lives

not even in the continental United

13

States or continental North America.

14

This is somebody who lives

all the way over in South

15

Africa writing in a ian to us.

16

Wow.

17

Yeah.

18

So Ben wrote in a question and he said,

Hey, I love listening to the DBR readings.

19

So super cool.

20

We didn't know that, that

you were listening, Ben.

21

We're glad that you're listening.

22

We're glad that that this is a

reach and a help even outside

23

of the walls of our church.

24

Yes, we are.

25

I guess we're international now.

26

We can say internationally

acclaimed by one person.

27

No, but he said I love

listening to the DBR.

28

Your church's passion is inspiring.

29

I'm, thank you.

30

A chair of a group of reformed.

31

Church youth leaders.

32

Ah, he said, could you please

discuss if possible ways to inspire

33

youth to study the Bible more

and to be more interested in it?

34

It's a problem we have, and I've seen

it in a lot of other youth as well.

35

They don't have a care, a caring

attitude like they're not.

36

Interested in reading the Bible

and pursuing spiritual things.

37

They're chasing short term

pleasures in a lot of places.

38

He gives the example of social media.

39

So how can we, he says as elders or

pastors, leaders, help them in the right

40

direction without pushing them away

from the gospel but still be firm and

41

make sure that we're true to scripture.

42

Pastor Rod, this is, I

think, right up your alley.

43

You spent most of your ministry career

prior to coming here to serve as the

44

associate pastor and even a portion of

your time here ministering to students.

45

So what did you find was helpful?

46

And how might this help Ben in inspiring

our students, our young people, to care

47

about spiritual things and the word of

God being one of the main parts of that

48

man, Ben, and friends, please keep at it.

49

We need people like yourself

to stay the course to continue

50

praying and sowing seeds.

51

But I have several suggestions and I'll

start with two that are book suggestions.

52

These were helpful to me.

53

The first one is called atheism.

54

It's a great term, and I think that

best describes some of what we're

55

seeing in our youth today, atheism.

56

They're apathetic toward theistic things,

and that one's by Kyle Brashears, and

57

the other one is by a guy, I forget.

58

I don't even know how to say his name.

59

I'm just gonna tell you his book title.

60

It's called Overcoming Apathy by Uche.

61

Unor, it's gonna, that's,

I'm gonna go with that.

62

Good.

63

If I say it confidently, that's good.

64

I think people will

say, that sounds right.

65

Yes, that sounds right.

66

Overcoming Apathy and Apathy is in both

two books that deal with this subject

67

that you're exactly talking about here.

68

So a couple of things from my

experience in youth ministry,

69

and I'll just let you have.

70

A couple things off the top of

my head that were helpful for me.

71

First of all we don't stop

doing the right thing.

72

We don't stop feeding

them the word of God.

73

We don't stop utilizing our tools, which

is of course, the spirit empowered.

74

Word of God preached faithfully

and boldly to our students.

75

So that's the first thing.

76

Second thing though, and this is

gonna be a slightly different take.

77

I think one of the things that

we can do best for our students

78

who are apathetic is show them

why they should not be apathetic.

79

And part of the way that I would try

to do that is I would do everything

80

I could to immerse myself in their

culture so I could speak their language

81

and then help them see, you see the

things that you're dealing with here.

82

Here's how the Bible talks to that

thing, that yearning, that idea that

83

that zeitgeist that you're going

through, the Bible talks to that thing.

84

A lot of people have mixed emotions

about Tim Keller and I do too.

85

Not everything that he said do I love,

but here's what he did really well.

86

He spoke to his culture with exceptional

clarity and he would point them

87

to the scriptures all the time and

he would point them to Christ as

88

being the solution to their deep

felt desires and their yearnings.

89

And I think that's what we're

trying to do with our particular

90

audience of young people.

91

There are a lot of people that say

that our young people today are

92

going through some kind of revival.

93

Young men in particular are becoming

more aware of what's happening in their

94

world and they're looking for answers,

particularly in and through the church.

95

And I think that's phenomenal.

96

I would try to capitalize on that.

97

I would, I might use videos to help draw

attention to some of the current issues.

98

I would do whatever I could, and I

did that when I was in youth ministry.

99

I would always find whatever's relevant.

100

I subscribed to newsletters that

help me stay on top of that.

101

What's the slang?

102

What are some of the videos

that they're watching?

103

What are some of the shows that

they're paying attention to?

104

What are some of the books

that are striking their fancy?

105

I wanna know what those are.

106

I'm gonna invest in them, and then I wanna

show them how scripture speaks better than

107

what their culture is speaking to them.

108

I didn't always succeed at this.

109

I was be honest with you on

that point, but I never gave up.

110

I always wanted to find ways

bridges to help them bridge the gap

111

between what they think the Bible

is and how the Bible speaks to

112

their everyday relevant situations.

113

That's a short thing.

114

I could say a lot more about that,

but that's some of what I would do.

115

I wanna sow seeds of doubt

that secular what, or whatever

116

authority they're appealing to.

117

That their authority isn't sufficient in

the same way that Jesus is sufficient in

118

the same way that his word sufficient.

119

I never gave up that fight

and that's what I would do.

120

Handful of things.

121

Pastor pj, your turn fill us in.

122

What would you do?

123

Yeah, I agree.

124

The bridge students our college

age guys I did and I think.

125

In fact as you're answering and we're

talking about this I was thinking

126

about what we are gonna be preaching

on this Sunday in one Peter chapter

127

two where Peter talks about in verses

two and three, he says newborn infants

128

long for the pure spiritual milk that

by you may grow up into salvation.

129

And then he provides this caveat.

130

If indeed you've tasted that the

Lord is good and that's really

131

such a key cog in all of this.

132

If you're dealing with students

who are regenerate, then there

133

should be a desire for the word.

134

And I think it's, even we've talked

about Pastor Rod, you and I were just

135

talking about it on on Thursday as we

were meeting together, this idea that.

136

If there's not a desire there's

something off, something's amiss.

137

I think there's an appropriate way

for you as their shepherd, as their

138

pastor to even impress that upon them

to say, look and if you're professing

139

faith in Christ and you don't desire

to grow, then there's a problem here.

140

And in one Peter two, two, and

three is a great passage to look

141

to, to say, look, this is what

should be evident in our lives.

142

The flip side of that is equally true, and

I think that's probably the case with the

143

majority of the young people that you're.

144

Pursuing is if they aren't in Christ,

you're calling a dead person to do

145

what only a live person can really do.

146

That's right.

147

And and so I say that on two sides.

148

Number one, don't grow too frustrated.

149

Don't think that it's about a

gimmick or it's about anything else.

150

I agree with you.

151

Yeah, be engaged, be relevant, appeal

to everything that you possibly can.

152

But at the end of the day, really

understand that what you're calling them

153

to desire is something that God has to

rot within them to begin with a rot.

154

And pray for.

155

Them.

156

Prayer is gonna be huge.

157

You, your elders your team.

158

It sounds like you're serving on a team

there, and I trust that you guys already

159

are doing this, but pray that God would

bring that revival to these students.

160

Pray that God would create that

desire within them and pray

161

that salvation will come.

162

And for those that have professed faith

yeah, again, I would say put the finger in

163

the chest of them, especially those young

men and say, Hey, it's time to lead in

164

this God's calling you to desire his word.

165

This is not a, an option.

166

This is a command to

long for these things.

167

Are you doing that?

168

And what does it look like?

169

How can we help you in that pursuit?

170

Yeah, you've heard the saying you can

lead a horse to water, but you can't make

171

him drink, but you can salt his oats.

172

Boom.

173

Just salt the oats.

174

Salt the oats.

175

Make them thirsty.

176

I want salt the oats.

177

Exactly.

178

I'm sowing seeds of doubt.

179

Yeah.

180

In whatever framework it is

that they're appealing to.

181

Even if they're not aware of it, and maybe

that all by itself is a helpful point,

182

just to help them become aware of what it

is that they're putting their trust in.

183

I agree.

184

The spirit has to make them alive, to

make 'em hungry, to make 'em thirsty.

185

For sure.

186

And so that might be the very first step.

187

Pray for their salvation.

188

Continue to so seed for that sake.

189

But don't minimize.

190

Your role in helping to understand

their world and draw bridges from

191

the scriptures to their life to show

them where where scripture speaks

192

specifically to their situation.

193

'cause it's great, the Bible speaks

to our longings, it speaks to

194

everything that we deal with, and it

does so be so much better than any

195

other offers that are on the table.

196

Yeah.

197

Yeah.

198

We'll get to a few of the other

thousands of questions that we have.

199

We'll hit those tomorrow morning, so be

sure that you're back listening to us

200

again tomorrow 'cause we're gonna hit a

few more questions that we're submitted.

201

One one about demons.

202

Oh, that, what's the appetite?

203

Tune in again.

204

Tomorrow we're gonna provide

a definitive answer, but right

205

now let's jump into Nehemiah one

through five and our DBR for today.

206

We're in a new.

207

We are dealing with a book that, again,

was originally part of the book of Ezra.

208

And so there's overlapping themes here.

209

This is dealing with the return,

Nehemiah is gonna come back to deal

210

with the broken down walls of the city.

211

And so that's one reason you,

one way that you can remember.

212

What is Nehemiah about what

the walls were only Nehi.

213

So Nehi Maya, he's dealing with the walls.

214

Hey, that's a throwback to my days

in, in Sunday school growing up where

215

they would teach us the book themes.

216

But what I love about Nehemiah,

and I think what I realized more.

217

So again, this time, and I

do every single time, is his

218

leadership that he has as he as

he returns to a broken down city.

219

But even before that, when he receives

report that the walls are broken down,

220

he knows that he's gonna have to request

absence to go back and deal with this.

221

And so you'll note in chapter one that

even before he, he has this encounter

222

with the king, which he knows is coming.

223

He is praying, he's gonna pray in verse

11 at the end of chapter one, and

224

he's gonna say, Lord, let your ear be

attentive to the prayer of your servant.

225

Give success to me today and grant

me mercy in the sight of this man.

226

He's the king's cut bear.

227

And so in chapter two, you have this

situation where he is not looking.

228

Healthy like a cut bearer should

look because the cut bearer's

229

job in part was to taste the wine

and make sure it wasn't poisoned.

230

And so you didn't want a cut bearer

who looked ill or looked off.

231

And so the king recognizes that Nehemiah

doesn't look good and says you're healthy.

232

So what's wrong, Nehemiah?

233

And again, bold leadership.

234

He says, king, this is what's going on,

and I'd like to ask, leave to go back

235

and deal with this because the walls

of my, my, the people of the city, of

236

my people are broken down and I need

to give attention to building those.

237

And so the king, because of

God's hand of favor on his life.

238

A agrees and sends him back.

239

But Nehemiah is a great book

and it opens this way of good

240

leadership principles for us.

241

And what we're about to see is

some good vision casting leadership

242

that really is compelling to the

people to wanna follow his lead.

243

What I love most about Nehemiah, in

addition to the fact that he does

244

excellently in terms of his leadership.

245

But he probably leads best in the

fact that he's a spiritual man.

246

Yes, he's a man of prayer and you're

gonna see this all throughout his book.

247

I love this about him.

248

Even at the end of his book, he's gonna

say, oh Lord, you gotta take care of this.

249

So I love this.

250

Pay attention to the fact that he

prays all the time, and his prayer

251

life is an expression of his love

for God and his love for his people

252

Pay special notes to his prayer life.

253

In chapter two, one of the first

things that he does when he gets to

254

Jerusalem is he doesn't rally the

troops and just say, let's charge,

255

willy-nilly at this task in front of us.

256

But instead, he goes out and he prepares

for the task at hand first himself.

257

And again, another good sign of

leadership is that he's prepared

258

before he tries to lead other people.

259

So he goes out by himself, he inspects

the walls, and he realizes what is

260

facing them and what needs to be done so

that then when he does rally everybody,

261

he casts the vision for the people

and says, this is what we have to do.

262

This is what we're up against.

263

Here's the game plan.

264

And this is.

265

What we're gonna end up doing.

266

And so we see that in chapter two.

267

He casts the vision there in verse 17.

268

Come let us build the wall of

Jerusalem, and we see the response.

269

The vision is understood, it's

embraced when the people say,

270

let's rise up and build verse 18.

271

So they strengthen their

hands for the good at work.

272

But then we also see another

thing that often attends good

273

leadership, and that is opposition.

274

Because sand ballot and Tobiah,

these two rascals that show up on the

275

scene, they are going to try to stop

what's happening because they don't

276

want Jerusalem to be strengthened.

277

And so they are going to end up

mocking and geering, and they're

278

gonna take even more drastic

measures as the book proceeds there.

279

Yeah.

280

I also really the fact that

Nehemiah examines the situation.

281

He doesn't just jump to it.

282

He's thinking, he's

praying, he's plotting.

283

He says, I told no one what God had

put into my heart to do for Jerusalem.

284

That's in verse 12.

285

He's doing his due diligence by

preparing himself and preparing the

286

people for what needs to happen.

287

I love this because it

showcases his thoughtfulness.

288

He's not just charging as

Pastor Pia just noted here.

289

He's thinking, and part of your job

as a leader for your family, as a

290

leader for your youth ministry, as a

leader for any part of your society,

291

is to do a lot of good thinking.

292

You have to do the thinking.

293

And if you're not gonna do the

thinking, you shouldn't be leading.

294

Part of your job is to think,

and that's what Nehemiah does.

295

So admirably here.

296

I love to see this, but

you again, to your point.

297

Toby and Sandy man.

298

Not good, but in fact, if you have

opposition, that's probably a good sign.

299

You're leading the right way.

300

Yeah.

301

Yeah.

302

As long as your opposition's not from

like godly people, that's touche.

303

Nehemiah chapter three.

304

Then what we find here is a list

of the people that rose up and

305

and were building the wall and

completing the project at hand.

306

And so the vision was being executed.

307

And so the people were following the lead.

308

They were doing the work.

309

They were working in laboring together.

310

They were working side by side.

311

This is a communal effort here.

312

This is not just one or two people

going forward and doing this.

313

They're all doing this together,

and that's important too, that we

314

see just the fact that this was.

315

Everybody involved in this.

316

And that's another sign of Nehemiah's

strong leadership here is you got,

317

he got buy-in from the people.

318

And the people were willing to do this.

319

Even with the opposition.

320

They were still saying, Hey we're

gonna follow your lead in this,

321

in chapter four, the opposition

is still there and continuing.

322

And yet what we find is the

people are gonna be successful.

323

Verse four we built the wall and the wall

was joined together to half of its height.

324

So it's not.

325

Fully done yet, but they're making

progress in spite of the opposition,

326

they are still making progress.

327

And Nehemiah, and this is another element

of good leadership, and it's something

328

that I'm reminded of the need to do for

us as we're planting and building this

329

church, is Nehemiah doesn't let up.

330

Once they, they get half the wall done.

331

It's not like he's Hey, good job guys.

332

We've gotten half the wall up.

333

We're gonna just assume that

the rest is gonna happen.

334

In fact, he's still pursuing and

still recasting even the vision for

335

the people to understand the import.

336

Here, he says in verse 14, I looked

and arose and said to the nobles

337

and to the officials and to the.

338

Rest of the people.

339

Don't be afraid of the opposition.

340

Remember the Lord who's great

and awesome, and fight for your

341

brothers, your sons, your daughters,

your wives, and your homes.

342

So Nehemiah's reminding

them of what's at stake.

343

And again, that's part of casting a

vision and getting people to, to follow

344

you, is you have to let them know

this is what's at stake if we fail to

345

accomplish what we're trying to do here.

346

And so in our context as we're here

planting a church, we've got people

347

in our neighborhoods, people in our

communities, our workplaces, our our

348

local Starbucks and grocery stores.

349

They need Christ.

350

We're here to be a lampstand.

351

We're here to carry out the mission

of reaching teaching and training.

352

And that's part of what

we have to be doing.

353

And God's been growing our

church recently, which is great,

354

but we can't grow complacent.

355

We have to make sure that

we're always saying, okay,

356

we need to reach more people.

357

We need to go after more souls.

358

We need to stay on mission.

359

And I think in chapter four, we

see a good example of Nehemiah

360

doing that with the Israelites

saying, the wall's halfway done.

361

Great.

362

That's awesome.

363

But we're not done yet, so keep

going, lest we end up failing

364

with what God has called us to do.

365

Yeah.

366

Speaking of reaching teaching, training,

we got our new shirts in, we did.

367

If you come on Sunday, you might be able

to pick up our brand spanking new shirts.

368

And I do think they're quite attractive.

369

They are.

370

So you're gonna wanna be there.

371

They are.

372

I feel like somebody had

a hand in designing those.

373

I can't.

374

I did not.

375

Did you not?

376

Yes.

377

You commissioned it.

378

I commissioned it.

379

I cast a vision, but

the product is not mine.

380

I can tell you that much.

381

They do look good.

382

So well done to our designer.

383

You know who you are.

384

Yep.

385

If he's even listening.

386

If he's even listening, yeah.

387

Alright, verse nine.

388

Lemme just put this out.

389

Guys, I love Nehemiah's prayer life.

390

I just gotta say, I, I find of

all the things that are admirable

391

about him, respectable and

enjoyable to read, he encourages

392

me to be a man of greater prayer.

393

Verse nine says, and we pray to our God.

394

I love this.

395

He's, the people are coming to fights.

396

There's confusion, he says, and we prayed.

397

We prayed to the Lord.

398

It's almost as if every turn in his

leadership, he's finding a reason to pray.

399

He's finding it.

400

He's not just, he's not just doing

his thing and getting distracted.

401

He's saying, let me just

find a reason to pray here.

402

Oh, here's something.

403

Let's pray about that.

404

Here's another.

405

Let's pray about that.

406

But verse nine is super cool because

you see that there's not a false

407

dichotomy between praying and working.

408

In fact, he says Here,

we prayed to our God.

409

And we set a guard as protection

against them day and night.

410

There's no such thing as.

411

As a as a, I don't know.

412

There's no such thing as a prayer where it

eliminates your ability to be practical.

413

Yeah.

414

Prayer does not eliminate practicality.

415

Prayer empowers the practicality

and makes it useful.

416

And so here in verse nine, you see a

beautiful balance between him saying,

417

let's trust God and let's do the work.

418

Let's not pretend like trusting God

means we throw our hands in the air.

419

Trusting God doesn't mean

closing your eyes and taking your

420

hands off the steering wheel.

421

Trusting God means praying to the Lord.

422

Keeping your hands on the steering

wheel and continuing to drive forward.

423

I love that you see this

in EMI's leadership.

424

Take note once more.

425

Yeah, let go.

426

Let God not the principle.

427

Nope.

428

Yeah, not anywhere really.

429

Unless, until the rapture, which by

the way, didn't happen this week.

430

I know a lot of people were saying

it was gonna happen this week.

431

Didn't happen this week.

432

I'm glad to see that.

433

Yeah.

434

I'm not glad on the one

hand and on the other hand.

435

I'm also glad that it, can you imagine how

smug they would be in heaven right now?

436

Yeah.

437

I'd be like, see, we told you guys,

no one knew that they were our but us.

438

We knew we were the exception.

439

We were the exception.

440

No.

441

Yeah.

442

Chapter four is just a cool chapter.

443

Even.

444

So Spurgeon would end up putting

out a weekly magazine or a

445

publication called The Sword and

the Travel And it's taken from here.

446

Yeah.

447

'cause that's what they were doing.

448

They were building the

wall with a weapon in hand.

449

And they were ready to fight if they

needed to, but they were doing the

450

work that the Lord needed them to do.

451

Alright.

452

Chapter five.

453

That'll preach the, the threats were

not just external, but also what

454

we find in chapter five internal.

455

And Nehemiah as a good and full

orbed leader understood that he

456

needed to not just look outside

at what might be damaging to their

457

efforts, but also internally.

458

And what he found internally

was the people were not.

459

Executing justice the way that God

had called them to execute justice.

460

The people who were doing things like

lending money and charging exorbitant

461

interest, and they were abusing

the poor and so forth and so on.

462

And so Nehemiah's gonna

confront them on that.

463

But the other thing Nehemiah's gonna do

in chapter five is he's gonna set the

464

example of what they should be doing.

465

So again, good leadership here.

466

He calls out the problem.

467

Lives the solution.

468

And that's what we see here in

the first half of chapter five.

469

He's indicting the problem in chapter,

the rest part of chapter five.

470

He's saying, look at what I've done.

471

I've been generous.

472

I've been doing what I'm

telling you need to be doing.

473

And that is, I've been giving,

I've been feeding, I've been

474

generous with my resources.

475

Let's not draw the wrath of God and put.

476

Our labors in jeopardy by disobeying what

he's called us to do, let's be faithful

477

to what he's called us to do instead.

478

Yeah.

479

I love his integrity.

480

I love the fact that he models

for them what it should look like.

481

But I wanna point to your

attention to verse 15.

482

He says, I didn't do I didn't

do what they did because.

483

Of the fear of God, his actions were

not motivated from simple nobility.

484

It's not just him trying to

set a good leadership example.

485

It's because he loves the Lord.

486

And I think that for you and for me,

ought to be the motivating factor for

487

all the things that we do in Christ.

488

It ought to be for love for the Lord.

489

It ought to be something that is

because of our piety and not because

490

of the practicality alone, although it.

491

Practicality here.

492

Nehemiah is not too far above doing what's

practical, but it's ultimately because

493

of his piety, his love for the Lord.

494

That drives it.

495

Yeah.

496

Let's pray and then we'll be done with

this episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

497

God make us men of integrity, women

of integrity, and Lord, may we pursue

498

you out of, as Pastor Rod was just

saying, out of a fear of God, out

499

of the rights and proper fear that

we should possess, that does impact

500

the way that we live our lives.

501

And so God, we ask that you

would be kind to us gracious.

502

It to us towards that end, and enable us

by your spirit to live in such a manner.

503

And so we ask that you do that

for us and for our church.

504

In Jesus' name, amen.

505

Amen.

506

Keep in your Bibles.

507

Tune in again tomorrow for another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

508

Bye everybody.

509

Bye.

510

Bernard: Well, thank you for

listening to another episode of

511

the Daily Bible Podcast, folks!

512

We're honored to have you join us.

513

This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

514

You can find out more information

about our Church at compassntx.org

515

and if you have 17,000 more questions,

write in to podcast at compassntx.org

516

We would love for you to leave a

review, to rate, or to share this

517

podcast on whatever platform you're

listening on, and we hope to see

518

you again tomorrow for another

episode of the Daily Bible Podcast.

519

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

520

PJ: Yeah.

521

I would agree with

everything that you said