Where Nehemiah Failed

Wes McAdams: After a sermon is over, have you ever wanted to make a comment, ask a question, or listen to the preacher say more about a particular idea? If so, this podcast is for you. My name is Wes McAdams, and I'll be sitting down with one of my fellow McDermott Road ministers to discuss comments, questions, and thoughts that have come up after the sermon is over. Welcome to P.S., the Post-Sermon Podcast.

Matt Mead: Thank you so much for joining us on the PS Podcast. We're so glad to be with you today and to be continuing our reflections on our series about rebuilding the walls, about unfinished business. Wes, thank you for another great sermon yesterday. Do you mind kind of giving us a a recap or a synopsis of yesterday's lesson?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, thanks, brother. Yeah, we we got into Nehemiah this week. We've been working our way through Ezra and then into Nehemiah. And so we started by talking about brokenness. And I think that this is a book all about brokenness, not just broken walls, but broken people. And every time we kind of think, okay, they've got it figured out. They're gonna do the right thing. Everybody's gonna get on the same page and start moving in the right direction. Then there's another setback. There's another however. And I said yesterday there are lots of these however moments. In the book of Nehemiah. We would like to use this as some sort of general principles for good, successful leadership, but I don't know that that's what this book is all about. In fact, I think it's really the opposite, because Nehemiah's goal seems to be not only to rebuild the walls, but to remove the shame that they are experiencing as exiles and And to restore their glory. He wants to make Jerusalem glorious. And of course he does. That's what all the prophets said was eventually going to happen: that God was going to return the exiles and Jerusalem was going to be glorious and wonderful and everything was going to be great. And Nehemiah is asking: it's been 90 years since we started going back, since this story started in the beginning of Ezra. It's been 90 years. Why are the walls broken down again? Why are the gates burned by fire? Why why are the people still living in shame? And and ultimately, I I hope that we've concluded as we've gone throughout the story that Nehemiah was successful at rebuilding the walls, but he was not successful at removing the shame and restoring the glory. Because there's only one human who could do that, and it is the Son of God. It is the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus, and He's the one who ultimately succeeds where Nehemiah fails. And that's what we talked about yesterday.

Matt Mead: Yeah, so so much there, so much we can dive into today. You helped us at the beginning of yesterday by kind of situating this story. If if someone's not familiar with who Nehemiah is, do you mind giving us just little bit of information about him and his goals and his life?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, so Nehemiah served as cupbearer to the king and eventually became the governor of Jerusalem. But he lived after the time Zerubbabel was the the the one who rebuilt the temple. But that's been decades since then Ezra came along. And Ezra, you know, we talked about last week he he forced all of the the Israelite men who were married to Gentile women to divorce their wives and send their wives and their kids away. And then a little while later Nehemiah comes along and really he's still living in exile and he hears a report from Jerusalem about how things are going and they're not going well. People are living in trouble and shame and the walls are broken down. And so he asks the king of Persia if he can have a leave of absence and go to Jerusalem and take some supplies and rebuild the walls and he's allowed to do so.

Matt Mead: you know, one of the things that comes out and and we'll talk about this a little bit more are the tensions between his desire and what ultimately happens. You know, it seems, I mean, from your reading of it, it it sounds like when he hears the report, his his motives are are good. He he has a good desire at the beginning. Would you say that that i is where Nehemiah's coming from?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, all throughout this book. Everybody has not everybody, but but the the main characters all have the best of intentions. Zerubbul and then Ezra and Nehemiah. All of these men want to do what's right and they want they want God to bless their people, as God said that he would. God promised that. Even after you have suffered the curse, even after you've been scattered, even after you've been exiled, if you will turn your heart towards me, if you'll repent, then I will forgive you and I'll blot out your sins and I will restore your former glory. And that's what they want. They want God to keep his promises and they recognize that in order for God to do what he promised to do, that they have to reform, they have to. Get their act together. And so they're trying, they're trying their best to get their act together, not only personally, but collectively as the Jewish people, trying to get their act together. But that's the problem. That's the problem throughout this book that every time you think, they finally pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, they finally, you know, figured it out and are going to do the right thing. They seem incapable of doing the right thing. We'll talk more about that next week, but but yeah, that they they do have great motives. And I don't think we should impugn their motives at all. Even when they make questionable decisions and do things that that are like, wow, that that wasn't the right solution. That wasn't the right way to go about it. The reason they're doing what they're doing is because they want to be God's people and they want to receive the blessings that God said he wants to give to his people.

Matt Mead: So as those, you know, under the new covenant, as those who are, you know, ultimately trying to expand God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven today, how do we monitor our own intentions in that process and how do we, you know, throughout something that may have even started on the right track? How do we be mindful of of where we are and how does that even operate? Like what kind of mindset should we have as those who are seeking to be ambassadors or those who who work on behalf of God?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, there's so much that we can learn from this. On the one hand, on the one hand, we said yesterday as we were wrapping up that that just like they needed to wait for the salvation from God, we also at times need to wait and because there is going to be brokenness and things are not going to be on earth as they are in heaven until Jesus comes again. And there is brokenness still that only the Messiah can and will fix. And we need to recognize that that's true because sometimes in our well-intentioned efforts to fix the brokenness of the world, we actually make things worse. We make things worse by thinking: if I just do this, or if I just elect this person, or we just implement this policy, or we go about this project, then we will fix all of this brokenness. And there are sometimes unintended consequences to that. We think that we can bring the kingdom. Through our own human wisdom and our own human efforts. And this story ought to tell us that is not the case. We cannot save ourselves either in a spiritual, eternal sense, or even in a temporal sense. We cannot save ourselves through our own works. And there are times where we need to wait. But again, as we said yesterday, that doesn't mean do nothing. But the things that we do, we need to do. In imitation of the Messiah, in imitation of Jesus. We need to do them in Christ, meaning we need to walk in his footsteps, which is self-giving love. It's patience, it's mercy, it's it's love and joy and peace and patience. The Spirit of God, He empowers us to do this, to live this way. And we might look at these efforts of being patient and kind and loving and And self-sacrificing and think, well, that's never gonna work. That's never going to work to fix what is broken in the world. Yeah, it seems ridiculous to think that a crucified king could be victorious over sin and death, but that's what we believe. We believe that through self-giving love, the Lord has conquered evil. And we believe that we participate with him when we take up our cross and follow him. And that's actually. how we go about bringing the kingdom. That's how we go about doing God's will on earth as it is in heaven, is by following the Messiah and walking in the Spirit.

Matt Mead: So good when you when you speak about that imitation about following the Messiah and and living in the Spirit and we've been talking a lot about the Spirit in our adult Bible classes as well. Are there some practical tools that you would suggest for how we do introspection as individuals or as a community to make sure that we're being mindful of those things as we're being proactive?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, there's probably so so many things I that I if I sat and think thought about it, there'd be so much. But I I always come back to the things that the church has been doing for 2,000 years. Like we've been given these things, like spiritual warfare. We go about spiritual warfare with seemingly mundane, boring, everyday Christian disciplines, like taking the Lord's Supper every Sunday. Gathering together and breaking bread and sharing the cup together. This is an act of introspection to say, This is how God is saving me and saving his people and changing the world. This is how God is victorious, is through the death of the Messiah, through the blood that he shed, through the blood that he poured out. This is how God Has chosen to rescue the world and how I participate with him. So every time we gather together and we break the bread and we we share the cup, we are supposed to be thinking about his victory over sin and death and then also our participation in it. When we sing songs, we are not only praising God, but we are speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. We are teaching each other with these songs. So every song that we sing is supposed to be a way of reflecting. Am I walking in the gospel? Am I walking in alignment with the good news about Jesus? Am I participating in the Spirit? So if I want the Spirit of God to dwell in me, it's not some mysterious spiritual thing that only the elite Christians understand. It's this everyday Christianity that we practice. It's fellowship with our brothers and sisters. It's admonishing each other, teaching each other, saying when when somebody steps out of line, hey, brother. I don't know. This doesn't seem to be in alignment with the with the crucified Christ. This doesn't seem to be in alignment with the gospel. I I think that what you're doing here is dangerous. It's talking to each other. It's confessing our sins to each other. It's all of those things that Christians have been doing for 2,000 years to say, Am I really following Jesus? Not just did I get baptized and am I going to church? But am I being a disciple, a follower, a student, an apprentice of King Jesus? And we're helping each other. We can't do that alone. We somebody said one time, you can become a a Christian by yourself or alone, but you can't follow Jesus alone. Like you have to follow Jesus in community. That's the only way to be a follower and to not only check ourselves, but to check each other and to keep each other where we're supposed to be and encourage each other when we get discouraged. We we do this together in community.

Matt Mead: Speaking of community and you know we can talk about you know the glory and shame piece in a little bit about that aspect of of Nehemiah's goals and journey, but he is trying to accomplish a task within community and you know his we've talked about his motives initially, you know, probably good. And yet he deals with people and you know, they may even initially agree with the the goal at hand too, but sometimes there's this real tension between a project and life with people and you know, some of those restorative, you know, worship practices are so important to do in community. But but how do we manage sometimes the difficulty of of working together with folks to accomplish something? Does that make sense? I mean, it just kinda

Wes McAdams: Yeah, for sure. I I used the phrase yesterday that sorry, go ahead.

Matt Mead: just what can we learn from this story about that?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, yeah. I used the phrase yesterday, like, this is why we can't have nice things, people. This is this is this you keep messing things up. And I think at some point we do have to decide, are we going to prioritize the project or are we gonna prioritize the people? Are we gonna prioritize our relationships or what we're trying to accomplish? And And I think that Jesus would say we prioritize the relationship. And that doesn't mean that that we never discipline. That doesn't mean that we we just allow everything to go unchecked. That's not what we're saying. But but Jesus would say if you're offering your gift at the altar, and what could be more important than that? What could be more important than worshiping God? What could be more important than giving God what He requires, what He asked of you? And To the people Jesus was talking to, they might think, well, nothing, nothing is more important than offering a gift at the altar. But Jesus says if you're offering a gift at the altar and you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the altar and go and first be reconciled to them. So Jesus says you have to prioritize reconciliation over your ritual. Reconciliation over ritual. Wow. Why that that could revolutionize the way we think about what it means to be a religious person. What does it mean to be a religious person? Well, James would say pure and undefiled religion before God is to visit the widows and the orphans and to keep yourself unstained from the world. Like you have to prioritize people. And I think that's one of the the problems that that Nehemiah has, one of the mistakes that he makes. Is that he has this tendency to push people away. We'll talk about this next week, but Nehemiah, like Ezra pulled out his own hair out of his head and his beard. And Nehemiah, in the latter chapters, he pulls out other people's hair. Like they're beating people up and they're they're yelling at each other. And and it's like, I understand that frustration. Like I resonate with Nehemiah because we've all had those moments where the project seems to suffer and where people are getting in our way and people aren't doing what we want them to do, but Listening to Jesus and following the example of Jesus, we have to learn that that maintaining that relationship takes priority. And so that is going to mean that we have to be patient, we have to be merciful, we have to be kind, we have to be filled with self-giving love. That's what we find in Jesus. And I think sometimes that's where Ezra and Nehemiah go wrong, is that they are so determined, they're so zealous. To make the project work, to fix the broken walls, to rebuild temples, and to get people to tow the line and be who they're supposed to be, that they end up pushing people away and they end up actually exiling one another. We talked to this week about how Nehemiah scolds the people, and rightfully so, because they're enslaving one another. You're doing to each other what the nations did to us. You're enslaving each other right after we just Got liberated from from the the nations enslaving us, but they also exile one another just as the nations had exiled them. And so we have to be really careful that that's not our first reaction. There may be a time where we have to discipline and we have to distance ourselves from someone because of the their determination to walk in rebellion to God. That may happen, but we need to first be reconciled. We need to strive to be reconciled with people and to hold on to each other. I like the phrase. tenacious unity. We need to have a unity that's tenacious where we are determined, I'm gonna hold on to you. Even if it's hard, even if it's messy, even if it's difficult, we're gonna hold on to each other.

Matt Mead: I think that that's so helpful and, you know, honestly it I think when we begin to work on projects together, one of the things that should come out is the crucible of the project helps us see our own flaws and struggles as well. Like, you know, we we can learn a lot about ourselves when we attempt to lead others and you know, it's always you know you could read Nehemiah's story and And go, man, why would he behave that way? And then the more times you spend in those shoes, you go, Man, I've been tempted to behave that way too. Or hey, you know, it maybe it's there for us as a gift to remind ourselves that things don't go well when we do choose those options. In talking about shame, you know, w you talked about the motive of removing the shame and the steps that he took.

Wes McAdams: Percent.

Matt Mead: when you're explaining shame to others and you know, it's a concept that has kind of regained some popularity in terms of usage, you know, it's kind of become a pop psychology term, you know, largely in in our world today, but it has a lot of implications and meanings across history. When you're explaining the concept of shame to someone, what what do you try to emphasize?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, I think that in this context, th there are some really helpful definitions of shame that work in an individualistic society like ours, an individualistic culture like ours, but especially in a collectivist society like Eastern culture, shame really is about what other people say about you. So I like to say that guilt is I've done something wrong, and shame is I don't belong. And so if the if the community is shaming someone, they are saying, you have acted in such a way that you don't belong in the community anymore. You don't belong with us. You can't sit around the campfire with us because of what you've done. And shame really is this recognition that not just that I've done something wrong, but I've done something that has alienated me from the community. A lot of times we experience shame within our own community, but the way that Nehemiah is experiencing shame, or the way that the Jewish people are are experiencing shame is what the nations are saying about them, that they are the reproach of the nations, which is really the very opposite of what the Jewish people were supposed to be. The people of Israel were supposed to be a light for the world. They were supposed to be God's example to say, look, this is the this is the kind of God I am who loves a people like this and and look at the way that these people are blessed because they belong to me. But instead they rebelled against God. And so God had to use them as an example in the opposite way to say, okay, this is what a holy God like me does when his people do not obey him and do not listen to his voice. And it really was a double shame upon the Jewish people, upon the people of Israel to be suffering such trouble, suffering such such pain, to be in such a bad situation. Not only would it be a shame for anyone, but To be God's chosen people and to be suffering the way that they had suffered was a double shame. And so it it pained Nehemiah, it pained Ezra, it pained these people to know that the nations were laughing at them, were scoffing at them, we're were pointing at them and saying, This is these people are ridiculous, that they think the creator of the universe has chosen them. These people are the the worst of the worst. These people are are nothing to be proud of. And they really wanted that that derision, as it says in the ESV, that derision to be taken away so that the people didn't laugh at them anymore, so that they weren't being mocked every time they turned around. But that's what we see throughout the book of Nehemiah. And that's what they would suffer for hundreds of years going forward. They would continue to be the laughing stock of the world. And that's really what shame is all about. And in to make it more personal, we've all felt that way. Sometimes it's real, sometimes it's It's something we're actually experiencing, and sometimes it's just perceived. We we feel like people are laughing at us, we feel like people are making fun of us, we feel like we don't belong, and sometimes that's reality, and that's that's part of living in this broken world, is that we all experience this kind of shame where someone tells us explicitly or implicitly, you can't sit here, you can't be part of our group, you you don't belong. with us because of who you are or because of what you've done.

Matt Mead: So that brings us to the steps taken in the attempt to move out of that shame and and you you've already touched on this some, but when you think about our own, you know, contemporary situation, are there any things that you see happening in church life today that like, hey, these types of behaviors maybe could be a foil for you know the behaviors that that are happening here of of ways in which people may be trying to Bring themselves out of shame, absent of of Jesus. Are there any things that you think we should be mindful for and and watch out for?

Wes McAdams: I could spend hours talking about this subject because it's what the New Testament talks about so much. It it's what Paul talks about in First Corinthians that we have this tendency to think, okay, I don't want to be ashamed. I don't want to live in shame. And so the only way to not live in shame is to be strong and wise and great. And if I'm strong enough, I'm powerful enough, I'm smart enough, I'm religious enough, then people will respect me. We all want that. And the irony of the cross is that Jesus turns everything upside down. And so instead of being strong leading to a removal of the shame, it's actually being weak or perceived as weak. Instead of being wise in in the world's eyes, that's going to leave lead to the removal of shame, it's actually being foolish. This is what Paul says: that God chose the things that were foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak to shame the strong. And if we're going to actually follow Jesus, follow the Messiah into this removal of shame so that God says, you are glorified, you are collectively, not just to Jesus, but to those who follow Jesus, you are my kids, you are my son, you are my children, and I'm proud of you to receive that glory from God. We have to continue in shame, at least from the world's perspective. Like we have to be perceived as weak and foolish because. God chose the cross as the instrument of victory, which is paradoxical. It's it's ridiculous from the world standpoint. This is weak and this is foolish. Nobody ever thought that a cross was a symbol of victory and success and conquering, but that's exactly how God chose to conquer the world. And so every time we find ourselves sort of playing king of the hill and wanting to be on top. I'm the smartest, I'm the strongest, I'm the biggest. You can't talk that way to me. I will be respected. How dare you look down on me? How dare you speak that way of me? Every time we see that welling up in our hearts or in our mouth or in our actions, individually or collectively, we can be assured that the actions that follow that are not those of Christ. Christ chose to become a servant, to wash people's feet. And then to die a shameful death on the cross and following him and in that example of love and kindness and mercy and meekness, this is actually how we go about having shame removed and glory restored is through this cross, through this cruciform life, through this walking in the spirit. And it is going to mean that people in the world think that you're weak and think that you're foolish, but God says. Well done, good and faithful servant.

Matt Mead: Yeah, so you know, it's so good and there's so much to think about. I'm just trying to think about how many times, you know, we we might agree with that intellectually, but then when the rubber hits the road we we maybe pull back out our our worldly logic or our you know, our our means of operating to accomplish something or to do something of I mean I remember Just an example from my own life. I remember we were on a on a trip one time, we had a van breakdown and I was getting nowhere with the rental car people and you know, I kinda had to turn over to the person in the passenger seat with me and be like, Hey you know, and don't pay attention for a minute, I'm gonna have to fix this rail car situation. You know, I'm like, hey, you know, that was a bad, you know, usage on on my part. But, you know, there's something in us that goes, Hey, when I'm really in a rut, maybe this whole Christianity thing or this whole way of operating isn't actually gonna get me out of the mess. Like how do we how do we guard against that and and and and how does that I mean how can we grow in knowing that, hey, even when the rubber meets the road We stick to the cruciform life.

Wes McAdams: Yeah. Yeah. I think that we we've convinced ourselves that it's it's okay to follow Jesus as long as it doesn't cost me anything, as long as it doesn't lead to actual suffering or pain or difficulty or challenge in our life. When the reality is the cross teaches us that you have to lose in order to win. And that's not just true, like, well, I I got baptized, I I I obeyed the gospel, so to speak. It means that every day of our life, that they We could have situations where potentially we have to lose in order to win. That might be a conversation that we're having with our spouse. And we have to lose the argument. We have to lose that that conflict, that tension, at least lose it from our own worldly perspective or fleshly perspective, in order to win. That what's better? That I I told them and I put them in their place and I I really, you know, I let them have it. Or I was loving and I was kind and I kind of got walked all over in that moment. But in the long term, this is going to bring glory to God. In the long term, this is what's best for me and for our relationship, for our marriage, for the for the glory of God, for the kingdom of God. That it's okay that I didn't win that conflict. I didn't win that situation because I won following Jesus, which is incredibly liberating when we think about it, because it means that we We can't lose. As long as we're following the example of Jesus, we can't lose. yeah, that guy on the other end of the phone, he might think I'm a wimp. He may think that I'm a pushover. He may not respect me. But I didn't lose because I did things God's way. Whereas sometimes in the short term, I feel like I won. I put that guy in his place. I really told that person off. I I won this conflict. I made them give me such and such. But Did I bring glory to God? Did I act like Jesus? Did I walk in the spirit? And I might have won from the world's perspective or from a fleshly perspective, but I lost in God's vision. But on the other hand, if I follow Jesus, even if I get walked all over, even if, worst case scenario, I literally get nailed to a cross, I've won. That's what it means to take up our cross and follow Jesus. It does doesn't mean do hard things. Yes, do hard things. It means even when you are put into a shameful, embarrassing, painful, losing situation, that if you are doing it for the glory of God and in the example of Jesus and walking in the spirit, you're actually winning. This is what winning looks like. It looks like losing from the world's perspective.

Matt Mead: I think that's so true. I just I think it, you know, just underscores the fact that it takes thinking about things differently and so many times in so many ways and and raising our kids, you know, differently and, you know, teaching values differently and, you know, it's a whole different type of wisdom that that the kingdom operates from, for sure. When you think about, you know, if somebody is is sitting there and, you know, they're they're tracking with with what you're saying and you know they're beginning to look at some of those areas in which maybe they're trying to fix things instead of give them over to God and and and you know they're starting to go, Okay, I'm I'm here with you, Wes. what would you say to encourage them to keep on keeping on? 'Cause it may be hard, you know, initially, I mean w what would you say to to help them have the courage to take that push to to give things over to God?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, I think I think I just remind people that we're playing the long game here. Like sometimes I think we think, well, if I do this, if I do it God's way, then then in the short term it's gonna be fixed, it's gonna be better. And that's what Nehemiah thought. That's what Ezra thought. That's what all of these people thought was if we do things God's way, then within the next month or year, or ten years, or twenty years, everything is going to be better. And it wasn't the case. Sometimes It's the long game. Like we have to be patient and we have to wait for the Lord. And and the only way we can do that is by looking at the cross and keeping our eyes on the cross and remembering this not only is what Jesus did for us, but this is the life to which he called us. Like we are called to follow Jesus in this long suffering. There's a reason why the word patience means long suffering. It's not short suffering, it's long suffering. And we need to be prepared to do that. And I think sometimes when we become Jesus followers, when we become Christians, we don't necessarily know that's what we're signing up for. We're we're signing up for long suffering, to be long-suffering. But the good news is we don't have to do it on our own. We we have this community of people who are also spirit-filled, and we ourselves are filled by the Spirit. And one of the aspects of the Spirit's fruit is patience. He helps us to be patient, to be long-suffering. It means we're gonna spend a lot of time in worship, we're gonna spend a lot of time singing, we're gonna spend a lot of time praying, we're gonna spend a lot of time breaking the bread and sharing the cup, because all of those things help to invigorate us and to help us to persevere and to be in it for the long term. I think also being patient with ourselves, just like Ezra and Nehemiah needed to be patient with the people of their day, and that's true too, but we also need to be patient with ourselves and to recognize I'm not there yet. Paul said, I'm not there yet. I'm still pressing on towards the goal. Like none of us are there yet. Being a follower of Jesus, being faithful to him, doesn't mean that we're flawless. It just means that we're trying to be faithful. We're trying. And our trying, our effort is credited to us as righteousness. Our faithfulness, our loyalty, our allegiance to King Jesus is not perfect. But as long as we are we're trying to be followers of Jesus, the Lord counts us as being righteous. He our our faith is counted as righteousness. What a what a tremendous gift that is. And we have to be patient with ourselves because if we get frustrated and say, Well, I I lost my temper. I I lost my patience with that person. I didn't act like Jesus. So I guess I should just give up. That's the way I I do when I'm on a diet, you know, like I I ate the wrong thing, and what difference does it make now? Well, it makes a lot of difference. Just cause you messed up once. Doesn't mean you need to keep messing up. Just because you fell off the wagon today doesn't mean that tomorrow has to look like that. We are not defined by what we did five minutes ago or what we did yesterday. We are defined by who Jesus is and what Jesus says about us. And he says we're forgiven, we're made holy, we're made righteous because of what he's done for us. And so we we try again, we try again and we try again through the example of Jesus and through the power of the Spirit.

Matt Mead: That's a a really good word for us to to end on as we're we're looking forward to next week and wrapping up this series. What what is next week's lesson gonna be about?

Wes McAdams: Yeah, it it's more of the same. Unfortunately, Ezra and Nehemiah sort of team up and they they help the whole people of Israel to to hear the the message, hear the law, hear what God expects of them. And everybody signs up to say, Yeah, we're committed. And you you might want to stop there and just think, Okay, good. Yeah, they they all got on board, they're all gonna do what they're supposed to do. But the book ends with another moment of disappointment. But again, their disappointment is. Is actually helpful to us because it helps us to know, okay, the the ultimate fulfillment didn't come with Ezra, the ultimate fulfillment didn't come with Nehemiah, the ultimate fulfillment comes with Jesus. And they need to be patient and wait for Jesus. We need to be patient and wait for Jesus. And we need to recognize that we can't put our hope, our ultimate hope, in anyone. other than Jesus, because we still have a tendency to look for leaders like Nehemiah, look for leaders like Ezra, and to put all of our hope in some human leader rather than in the Christ. We know, we know where our hope should lie, we know in whom we should entrust our hope, but sometimes we we forget that.

Matt Mead: Thank you for that good word and looking forward to that message this week. If you are in the DFW area, we would love for you to join us at the Church of Christ on McDermott Road in Plano, or we'd love for you to find church family in your community as we commit together to be the people of Jesus. Thank you so much for joining us.

Wes McAdams: Thanks so much for listening to P.S., the Post Sermon Podcast. To find out more about this podcast or about the Church of Christ on McDermott Road, you can visit our website at ccmcdermott.org slash P.S. If this has been an encouragement to you, we also hope you will rate and review the show wherever you're listening, as well as share it with a friend. Because we believe sermons are not just for Sunday, but for our whole week and our whole life.