Connect

Guest (Female): Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We're so glad you've tuned in today. At Connect with Skip, we're passionate about helping you grow in your relationship with Jesus. That's why we share verse-by-verse Bible teaching that's both clear and practical so you can live out God's truth wherever He's placed you.

You can stay connected beyond the broadcast when you sign up for Pastor Skip's free weekly devotional. You'll receive biblical encouragement, exclusive content, and helpful resources to guide you deeper into God's Word delivered straight to your inbox. Signing up is quick, easy, and completely free. Sign up today at connectwithskip.com. That's connectwithskip.com. Now, here's today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Skip Heitzig: I want to introduce you to a concept called Visiting Day. Visiting Day is a day typically in an institution where people are allowed to come in and visit. Prisons have visiting days. Schools, not that they're the same, sometimes they are, but parents are allowed to come in for an open house and see what the kids are up to. Our School of Ministry even has a visiting day where you can see what the curriculum is going to be like. Sometimes even churches can be like Visiting Day. I want to explain that.

This is from an unknown author called Visiting Day. He had been looking forward to this moment all day long. After six days of labor, it finally arrived. Visiting Day. The man with the keys arrived to swing open the large heavy doors. The cold gray hall sprang to life in the warm glow of light. He could hardly control his emotions. The families began to arrive. He peers from the corner of the room, longing for the first glimpse of his loved ones. He lives for the weekends. He lives for these visits.

As the cars arrive, he watches intently. Then, finally, they arrive, for whom he would do anything. They embrace and eat a light lunch and reminisce on how things used to be. At one point, they break into singing with interruptions of laughter and applause. But all too soon, it's over, and a tear comes to his eyes as they depart. Then, the men with the keys close the heavy doors. He hears the key turn in the lock, marking the end of a special day. There he stands alone again. He knows that most of his visitors will not contact him again until next week. As the last car pulls away from the parking lot, Jesus retreats into loneliness as he waits until next Sunday. Visiting Day.

To some churchgoers, Sunday is Visiting Day. Pack everybody up in the car and we'll go visit Jesus. We'll spend an hour thinking about him, singing about him, talking about him, reading about him, visiting him, as it were. Then it's over. When we began chapter 12 last week, we noticed, we discovered that worship is not an event. It's not a day. It's not just an activity. It is rather a lifestyle. Worship is the overflow of a life that has been changed by an encounter with the living God.

Think about that. Worship is the overflow of a life that has been changed by an encounter with the living God. If you bump into a cup or a glass or a bucket, what's going to come out? Whatever's inside. If people bump into you, what comes out? Whatever's inside. It could be praise, prayer, counsel, the gospel. It could be cursing, anger, anxiety. Whatever is in you will come out. Charles Spurgeon said when your heart is full of Christ, you will want to worship. That comes out.

I don't know if I've told you this before. I think I have in previous studies. But I really learned to worship in a mortuary. I have to explain that. I was a part of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa as a young, saved man. But my pastor's brother, Chuck Smith's brother Paul, in another town in the area would have the Christian communes that were in that area all come to a mortuary chapel. The reason we chose a mortuary is because they had a chapel and the chapel wasn't used on Sundays.

We would get into this chapel and they would make sure the caskets were around the corner so we wouldn't see them. But we had church in the mortuary chapel. We used to even joke and say, "Boy, this place really comes alive on Sundays, doesn't it?" Truth is, I came alive. I understood what real worship was, this overflow of a life that has been changed by an encounter with the living God. I couldn't get enough of it. I found myself singing those songs in the gas station where I worked or at home or at school. It wasn't something that was confined to Visiting Day, but it was something where I would have regular visits throughout the week.

Now Nehemiah chapter 12, you have it opened, I trust. We examine a worship experience, a dedication of the city of Jerusalem as people gathered together to dedicate their town to God and to worship Him. It's based on a revival that broke out, you may remember back in chapter eight. They listened to the word of God, it changed them, and there was a devotion to spiritual matters.

Last week in chapter 12, we looked at four elements, four characteristics that marked their worship. What we're doing is comparing their worship to ours. We noticed four of those elements. Their worship was biblical, it was vocal, it was musical, and it was joyful. It was biblical, that is, it's based on the Scriptures. They consulted the Bible to find out what to do. Second, it was vocal. They gave voice to what they felt. They sang. Third, it was accompanied by musical instrumentation. And finally, it was joyful because God put a joy in their heart, caused them to rejoice, we read.

Well, now we continue with this, and we have four more elements in chapter 12. The first is that their worship was thankful. I want to take you back down to verse 27 of chapter 12 where it says, "Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought out the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings and singing with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps."

Take it down to verse 31. "So I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall and appointed two large thanksgiving choirs." Verse 38, "The other thanksgiving choir went the opposite way and I was behind them with half the people on the wall, going past the Tower of the Ovens as far as the Broad Wall." Down to verse 40, "So the two thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God, likewise I and half the rulers with me." You've got two Levitical choirs called thanksgiving choirs. It seems that their job, they had only one job, and that is to thank God on behalf of the people. Just to sing songs of thanksgiving to God.

In the book of Psalms, there are different genres. You've noticed this as you've gone through the book of Psalms. There are praise psalms, there are lamenting psalms, there are imprecatory psalms, and there are thanksgiving psalms. In fact, Psalm 18, 30, 32, 34, 40, 52, 66, 92, 100, 116, 118, and 138, all 12 of them are called thanksgiving psalms.

The most famous of those is Psalm 100. It's the most famous because it's the only psalm in the entire 150-psalm book of Psalms that has a superscription at the very beginning that says "A Psalm of Thanksgiving." It is specifically used to thank God and be grateful for what He has done. That's what the thanksgiving choirs were doing. Let me just read a verse from Psalm 100. "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His holy name." Those are thanksgiving psalms. Probably they sang those.

Did you also know that in the Old Testament there were offerings called thank offerings? A thank offering was actually a peace offering that you gave to the Lord or you offered just because you're thankful. You have gratitude in your heart. No particular reason, your heart is filled with gratitude and you give him a thank offering. You bring your family around the tabernacle and you enjoy it.

Guest (Male): This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Your support helps reach people every day with biblical truth that brings clarity, hope, and direction in difficult times. This month, we'd love to thank you with a timely resource centered on God's power to restore what's broken. When you give today, you'll receive City in Shambles, Pastor Skip's complete 18-message study through Nehemiah on CD plus digital download. These messages will help you understand how God works in times of confusion and instability, how revival begins in the hearts of His people, and how to move from passive concern to courageous faith in action. Your gift helps extend the reach of Connect with Skip Heitzig, connecting more people to God's Word. Request your resource when you give $50 or more at connectwithskip.com/offer or by calling 800-922-1888. Now, if you're looking for a way to go deeper in your Bible study, here's a great way to do just that.

Skip Heitzig: Learning your Bible matters. I'm committed to teaching God's Word and I want you to understand the depth of Scripture for yourself. That's why I want to invite you to join me in a 90-day through the entire Bible reading challenge using the YouVersion Bible app. We call it Jesus People Grow. So for 90 days, we're going to read together God's Word. We're going to learn it, receive it, and we're going to let it shape us so that we can also be faithful in sharing good teaching with others. So join me. Let's learn our Bibles and grow in the Word of God.

Now, what are these people so thankful for that Nehemiah says we need two choirs thanking God? Well, they're thankful that they're back in Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity. They're thankful that God keeps His promise to bring them back to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity. I'm sure they're thankful for the reading of the word of God that brought conviction to their hearts in chapter eight and gave them a spiritual refocus.

All of that to say this. Thanksgiving was not an emotion, it was a decision. To appoint two choirs to thank God is a decision. It's not an emotion. It's not like you have to wait for a certain feeling to arise in your heart, "Okay, now I feel so thankful, I'm going to thank Him." Thanksgiving was baked into their worship system. There were thanksgiving psalms and thanksgiving offerings and now there were thanksgiving choirs.

I want to apply this to us. Did you know that a consistent practice of gratitude is beneficial to you even physically? There are physical benefits. When you are grateful, scientists tell us that our brains release two important chemicals, dopamine and serotonin, and those are like happiness boosters. So the more you appreciate things, the more your brain rewards you with happiness. It just works that way.

What are the benefits? Improved sleep is one of them. One study noted that people who spend 15 minutes every evening writing what they call a gratitude journal, just writing things they're grateful for, sleep better, sleep longer, have reduced worries and anxious thoughts that keep them awake. Also, better heart health is traced back to gratitude. It'll lower your blood pressure, improve cardiac function by activating your parasympathetic nervous system, which helps you rest and digest.

Also, according to a 2024 Harvard-led study, you live longer. A study of 50,000 women who were under this survey, those with the highest gratitude scores had a 9% lower risk of dying over the next few years than all the rest. Gratitude. And yet, only a fraction of the human population really ever bothers to thank God personally.

Remember the story of Jesus in the New Testament? He healed 10 lepers. Now, if you had leprosy, that's a life-altering disease. You're going to die from it in those days. Leprosy, there was no hope for them. 10 lepers. He healed all 10 of them. How many came back to thank him? One. You got 10 lepers, you got one coming back. That's 10%. 10% of that case study came back to thank him. You'd think all of them would. Jesus said, "Where are the other nine?" But only one came back.

Thanksgiving is a choice to replace complaining with gratitude. Now, before we move on to the next aspect of their worship, I'm going to give you a challenge. I want you to try this the next few days. Learn to turn every thought that comes into your mind, that is every major conscious thought. I know you have thousands upon thousands of thoughts every day, but when you have a definite thought that comes to your mind, a concern about something, learn to convert it into gratitude.

Every complaint, every prayer need that comes, learn to turn that into an utterance of thanks. When you try this at first, it's going to be a little awkward because you're not used to doing it, but eventually you'll get the hang of it and I believe you'll see the changes. For example, you're experiencing physical pain. I start with this because that's something I live with. I live with a chronic pain condition. But how about turning that into something like this? This is a prayer I prayed yesterday. "God, thank you that I can still walk." Thank you for that.

You drive by something in Albuquerque and go, "I can't believe this city always has to," there's always something bad about it. How about saying, "God, thank you for the opportunity to make things different in my city." Maybe you failed at something and you feel like such a failure. How about saying, "God, thank you that I can learn from my mistakes and not live there, but change that."

Even in your prayers, remember in Philippians chapter four, "In everything," he said, "by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God." Learn to turn your thoughts, your prayers, your concern, your condition into an utterance of thanksgiving. So think and then thank. Think about it and then thank God. Turn it into that.

Now, again, to worship leaders who may be listening. If you're writing a song list and you're leading worship in a church, make sure that your song list focuses more vertically than horizontally. Don't make the songs about us and we and my and me, but him and he and thou and thee and thanksgiving to God, pointing upward. That's what worship ought to be. Their worship was thankful.

Next, their worship was communal. Communal. That's the second or it is the sixth if you start counting from last week. Their worship was communal. What do I mean? I mean everybody did it. There were priests, there were Levites, there were leaders, there were singers, there were sons of the singers, we are told in this chapter. Now there are choirs giving thanks.

Let me take you down to verse 43 because there are more. "Also that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God made them rejoice with great joy; the women and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off." Although worship is a lifestyle more than an event, people who have the lifestyle of worship find it necessary to gather together with other people who share that lifestyle of worship. To gather regularly, to gather frequently, to worship not just privately, but communally.

You know that in the Old Testament Israel had three feasts they had to go to Jerusalem for every year. I just want you to think of what that would look like. You live in a village let's say 20 miles away from Jerusalem. You know that three times a year everybody goes up to worship. So this is what it would look like. You get out of your house with your little bundle, your backpack. You get the kids, you're walking down your path from your house. Soon you see another family out of their house and another family meeting you on the same path. You make it to the main road, there's another village of several people who have gathered. Now you're on the main road with a caravan of people reciting psalms and singing hymns and talking together. You're doing something together.

They all came, they were all involved, they were all participating, and they were all singing. There's something important about getting together in our worship. In Psalm 22, "I will declare your name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly," that's what this is today, an assembly, "I will praise you." Psalm 68, "Bless God in the congregations, the Lord from the fountain of Israel." Psalm 111, "I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation." Psalm 116, don't worry I won't keep this up, this is the last one for this point, "I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all his people."

You see, there's great value in corporate worship, in public worship. Yes, we need private worship. And yes, what we do privately is what spills out publicly. But what we get when we gather together like this is a little thing called inspiration. I get inspired by others' relationship with the Lord. I'll confess something to you. When we are singing at the beginning of our service for about 30 minutes, sometimes I close my eyes. Oftentimes I open my eyes and I look around. I see people with their hands raised or they're really into it and that inspires me. What is around me inspires me in a very different way.

By the way, that is what the Reformers, beginning with Martin Luther and the others, that's what the Reformers wanted. They wanted to take worship that was done only by the priests in the Catholic Church going through the weekly Mass, the drama of the sufferings of Christ that they alone did, and he wanted to take that worship and move it into the congregation so that all the congregation was experiencing and worshiping and singing.

Guest (Male): We're so glad you joined us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before you go, here's a reminder. When you give $50 or more this month, we'll send you City in Shambles, Pastor Skip's complete study through Nehemiah on CD and digital download, as our thanks. These messages offer practical biblical insight for anyone burdened by the brokenness they see in the world around them, helping you respond with faith, prayer, and hope instead of fear or despair. Your support helps keep this Bible teaching ministry on the air, connecting more people to God's Word. You can give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time.

Skip Heitzig: Ready to go deeper in your faith and discover your calling? The School of Ministry at Calvary Church in Albuquerque is designed to equip you with practical Bible teaching, hands-on ministry training, and real-world experience. Whether you're called to lead, serve, or grow, this is your next step. Classes are forming now. Visit calvarysom.org to learn more and apply today. That's calvarysom.org. The School of Ministry at Calvary Church. Your calling starts here.