Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: I want you to notice how verse 13, begins, "Now on the second day ... " (Look back at verse 2).

Here we have these people gathering once again (in the previous chapter we looked at Worship).

Why did these people gather?

Why do we as Christians gather?

What would possess us to get up early on Sunday morning to be here in this building, with these people, to hear a man preach?

Well, I want to share with you Four Reasons Why We Gather Together.

I also believe that these were the four reasons why the people in our text gathered together.

By the way, it is these four reasons that bring us back week after week.

So then, why do we gather?

I. To Understand Scripture – 8:13

13 Now on the second day the heads of the fathers’ houses of all the people, with the priests and Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, in order to understand the words of the Law.

On the second day of the Feasts of Tabernacle we find that three groups of people meet with Ezra.

They are mentioned herein verse 13.

We see,

· The heads of the father's houses.

· The priests.

· The Levites.

We know who the priests are.

They are the ones that had the joy of representing the people before God - through prayers and sacrifices.

We also know who the Levites were.

They were the ones assigned to the priests to help serve in the Tabernacle and Temple.

But who are the heads of the father's houses?

These are the ones that I want us to focus in on.

Evidently what we see here in our text is the leadership of Jerusalem gathering with Ezra for the specific purpose of seeking to understand the God's Law (the Scripture).

I believe that the heads of the father's houses, are none other than the heads of each home - the men (husbands and fathers).

They gathered with the priests and the Levites so that they too would clearly understand what God required of them.

They wanted to know God's Law.

Husbands and fathers, you can do nothing greater in your role as the leader of your home, then to seek to understand God's Law (in our case, we have both the Old and New Testaments- the 66 books of the Bible).

Dr. Jerry Falwell once said, "The smartest man in all the world is not the man with the Ph.D. degree behind his name.

It is the man or woman who knows this book the best."

I couldn’t agree with him more.

As men and women we have a sacred duty to our families, and that sacred duty is to KNOW this book.

How do we get to know this book?

How do we get to know the Bible?

I ran across this statement this past week, "Those who diligently search the Scriptures, find things written there which they have forgotten."

We must like these three groups have a diligence about us.

We must have a stick-to-it-ness when it comes to getting into God's Word.

I have recently heard this statement, 'We must plan our work, and work our plan."

We must take that statement and relate it to our personal understanding of the Word of God.

What are we doing right now to better equip ourselves to understanding God's Word?

What can we do?

Allow me to share a few steps with you:

Getting A Grasp on The Bible

1. Hear - Romans 10:13

· Attend Church faithfully (Repetition is a key to learning).

· Preaching services -exposition of God's Word.

· Sunday School - Dialogue.

· You Version Bible App – Have it read to you.

· Podcasts – Download some Bible teaching and listen to it.

2. Read - Revelation 1:3

· We must make the effort (Growth doesn't happen by chance).

· Make sure you read daily.

· Reading is a lost art, but so necessary.

3. Study - II Timothy 2:15

· Be involved in a Bible study (Interaction is important).

· Systematic approach to Bible reading (0Id and New

· Testaments).

All of it is for our learning.

Discipleship.

· Bible education through extension.

We offer free Bible College courses and seminary courses on our web page.

4. Meditate - Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2; 119:15

· Think on these things – Philippians 4:8

· Let the Scripture revolve around in your mind.

· We are what we think on.

· God’s Word will keep you.

5. Memorize- Psalm 119:11

Some smart sage once said, “You will remember 100% what you commit to memory.”

Do you have any Bible verses memorized?

Please don't miss understand the purpose of understanding God's Word.

It is not that we gain more head knowledge.

I think we all have a lot of head knowledge when it comes to the Bible.

The purpose of understanding God's Word is clearly seen in the word, “understand” as it is used here in verse 13.

The Hebrew word is, sakal {saw-kal'}, and it means:

· to be prudent.

· Be circumspect – walk carefully.

· Wisely understand.

· Prosper.

· To have insight.

· Have comprehension.

This is the purpose of our gathering together.

That we might understand with insight and comprehension the wonderful words of God.

That we might act wisely and prosper in the way in which we live our lives.

A truly wise person will seek to understand the Word of God.

I love being around people who like to talk about the Bible.

I love to be around people who spend time in this sacred book.

I learn so much from them.

They are always wanting to share insights that they are learning from their Bible reading.

To me this is true fellowship.

II.

To Discover Commands – 8:14-15

14 And they found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, 15 and that they should announce and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the mountain, and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.”

Do you want to know a surprising thing?

When you get into God's Word, and I mean really dig into the Word (inner-acting), you will in fact discover His commands for daily living.

Take a look at verse 14.

We read,

And they found written in the Law,

Every time we open God's Word, and enter onto its sacred page, we will find (discover) words (commands) to apply to our daily life.

Here we see this in play in verse 14.

The three groups mentioned in verse 13, were reading the Law, when they found a command that God had given to Moses concerning the children of Israel.