Rise Up and Build (Part 3): Side By Side

Dr. Gregg Marutzky:

Turn your Bible over to Nehemiah chapter three.

We're going to talk about rising up and building the story of Nehemiah rebuilding

the wall around Jerusalem to protect God's people as we're rebuilding spiritually.

And one of the brothers after the sermon last week made a very astute observation.

He says, you know, preacher, you gotta remember we're building.

From the inside as well as the outside we're building inside is

more important than the outside.

And I said, you're exactly right.

And so, uh, uh, let's always make that transition.

This is just an illustration.

This is just a metaphor for how we, many centuries later, more than 20,

more than 21, are building God's church.

And, uh.

I need the clicker.

I thought we're on a row.

Everything's going right this morning.

Oh, thank you, Sam.

All right,

Sam, the man.

I have a brother named Sam, so, uh, I, it's easy for me to remember Sam's name.

I have a valid time this morning too.

I'm sorry if you don't.

I, I'm sure you did yesterday.

I'm sure you had a Valentine.

But, uh, one of the singers Kelly gave me, uh, this flower, uh, I

already broke it, I'm sorry, Kelly.

And, uh, and she also gave me a little bitty card.

I think it's a picture of her cat.

And, uh, she says, I'm perfect.

Amen.

So, that's a good way to start the sermon.

Perfect.

Thank you, Kelly.

I, uh, I'm sorry, I didn't know your name.

I had to ask Steve.

He knew though.

He knew.

Amen.

So rise up and build the story of Nehemiah.

You know, you gotta be careful that, uh, what you want to accomplish

doesn't conflict with what other people want to accomplish.

The, the, the, the story today will show us how we've gotta work together.

We gotta work side by side.

Reminds me of this story I read in Reader's Digest.

You know, some of us read the deeper stuff and, uh, I was reading Reader's Digest and

this fella went to a, a pet store and he said, you know, I really have this huge.

Uh, groundhog problem.

I've got all these groundhogs that are just tearing up my

yard, eating up everything.

I, I gotta deal with it.

And he says, here's, here's some, uh, uh, uh, traps here, I'll sell you these traps.

And, uh, you can trap the groundhogs.

And, uh, then he said, well, what do I do after I trap 'em?

Where do I take 'em?

He said, well, you take 'em to the edge of town, to the city limits

and just dump 'em off there.

And he goes, well, that's where I live.

So,

you know, at our LA staff meeting this week, we did something really great.

One of the brothers Paris Cunningham from the metro region.

Said that he's trying to help his church be formed spiritually.

So he's introducing these spiritual disciplines so that they regularly

practice some, uh, uh, things that help them to be formed spiritually.

And I thought, you know, one of the best things that I do for myself is

when I take of communion, I always remind myself of my confession of faith.

All right?

And our confession of faith is Jesus.

Is Lord.

All right.

And, uh, so I want us to say it together here.

We won't do it every week.

We don't want to get in a, in a habit.

We don't want things to become a ritual, but it's good to renew

your confession of faith, right?

And this is our confession of faith, that we believe Jesus Christ is the son of God.

We also make the confession that Jesus is Lord.

And so say this with me, this, this morning.

Jesus is the Son of God.

Say it again.

Jesus is the son of God and say it with me.

Jesus is Lord again.

Jesus is Lord.

That's the confession of faith that all Christians have made throughout

the ages, and it's good for us to renew our confession as we begin.

Studying God's word together.

I wanna remind you of the 10 gates that we're looking at.

We're gonna be referring to 'em as we go through different verses

this morning in chapter three.

But the sheep gate, the fish gate, the old gate.

All right, so everybody's included.

The valley gate, the dug, uh, you gotta laugh at the jokes.

D gate, the fountain gate, the Watergate, the horse gate.

We got some cowboys in Jerusalem, Eastgate.

And the in inspect inspection gate, and I wanna remind you of the theme of Nehemiah.

Let us rise up and build so they strengthen their hands for the good work.

You know, as we build God's kingdom, it takes a lot of workers.

Jesus said it.

The harvest is plentiful, but what the workers are what?

Few.

Few.

We want to become workers for God.

We want to unite together we're, we don't want to be one of those church where

20% of the people do 80% of the work.

We wanna be a church where everybody is involved, that we're

united in the cause of Christ.

And so let's see how they were workers in chapter three and

who led the way the priest.

The priest worked side by side.

Beginning in verse one it says, Elisha ship, the high priest

and his fellow priest went to work and rebuilt the sheep gate.

They dedicated it and set its doors in place building as far as the tower of

the hundred, which they dedicated, and as far as the Tower of Hannah Nell.

So why is this important?

Because you know, the priests wanted to be able to offer sacrifices That

was their job, and it was their living.

They lived off those sacrifices, so they wanted that gate closest to the

temple repaired so the people would bring in the offerings to the temple

so they could be cleansed, they could be right with God, so they could be

a holy people, but also so that the temple would function as God wanted it.

To function.

It was the place where God promised that he would come and meet his people.

Now, he's promised to you and me where two or three are gathered

in his name, just with these three beautiful young men, college students.

God's here just because of you guys.

Sonny and his two buddies.

All right, just because of three of you.

God's here.

Let's go Greg.

So me and every couple.

All right.

Me and every couple, well, me and Kathy and one person.

Alright, God's here.

And guys, don't forget that.

Don't feel like you're going through life alone.

God is always, always with us.

I know we forget sometimes.

I know we get burdened.

I know we get distracted, but he is always with us.

And then who else works side by side?

This is so interesting.

Non-resident.

People that didn't live in Jerusalem, why did they want Jerusalem to be built?

Why were they even concerned?

Because it was a sacred place.

'cause it was a holy temple under God.

It was the place where they knew they could come to meet God.

Let's read it together.

Verse two.

The men of Jericho built the adjoining section and Zachar son of Emory.

Built next to them.

God mentions these names.

Why does he wanna mention these names?

Because I think some of these guys were skilled.

I think they were exceptional builders and they, so he wants to say, you know,

here's who you know, built this section.

And there were 38 different individuals mentioned in this chapter,

along with 42 different groups.

That's a lot of folks.

A lot of folks, we gotta cover a lot of territory today.

All right, and one commentary said Nehemiah, his positive solution to j

Jerusalem's situation did not get him involved with any of the political

debates that surrounded the problem.

We'll see some politics later in the chapter, but what did he start off doing?

Just building.

You gotta just get to work.

You gotta get your hands dirty, you gotta get involved.

You gotta get engaged.

Don't just keep talking about it and thinking about it and considering it.

You got to do something active for you.

Don't get paralysis of analysis.

It happens.

I've had a lot of clients with that problem.

He just wanted to help the king and his people secure Jerusalem.

Wow.

He had a singular go and focus in mind.

Verse three, the merchants, why were they so motivated?

Because there wasn't any business going on in the city.

People were afraid they were staying home.

They couldn't go out, they couldn't feel free.

They couldn't feel safe without the walls and without the gates.

And so the merchant's sway wanted to get back into business.

All right.

Merchants are usually driven that way.

That's usually what's motivating them.

And so they work side by side, which what?

Where do they work?

Well, of course the fish gate.

Most of these merchants were, were fishermen.

The fish gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassana.

They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in plates.

10 gates are listed, as we've mentioned.

It goes counterclockwise from the sheep gate around.

And here we're at the fish gate.

And these merchants, they fish the sea, the Mediterranean sea.

So next down verse four, master builders, and he spells this out.

Mammoth, son of Uriah and the son of Cocks repaired the next section next to him.

Chuli, son of Barakah, the son Amesh.

He bell made repairs and next to him was Zack.

Son of Nan also made repairs.

Three master builders are listed here, and in this chapter, repair is mentioned 35

times, and the locks and bars five times.

He shows us that, hey, you gotta get your hands dirty.

All right.

There's something about the hand connected to the head.

Connected to the heart.

There's something about the feet connected to the heart, connected to the head.

You gotta get, be active, right?

And even spiritually, these things just aren't true.

Spirit.

Physically, they're true, uh, spiritually as well.

Listen to this verse in Matthew 1352.

He said to them, therefore, every teacher of the law who has become a

disciple, the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings

out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old and every generation.

There's a tension between the young and the old.

There's always been that in the sixties when I grew up the seventies.

We thought old people were very uncool.

They were from the fifties.

They thought they were very cool.

We thought all that grease was gross, right?

Slicking back their hairs.

We just, we, we started the Afro thing.

Dr.

Greg, did you have an afro?

I'll never tell.

I'll quote the fifth.

All right.

The guys.

The only way the kingdom of God is built is young and old.

Every different social economic status is got to come together and be united.

All right?

And old people have great experience.

They were not old always.

In fact, it was just the other day we were young.

I mean, it's gone so fast.

And I think with the information age, it's going faster.

All right.

But I remember being young, being critical of the old folks.

You know, shame on me.

I've gone back and I've apologized to most of 'em, especially the

preachers and the elders I worked with.

God just worked it out at a funeral here at a funeral there.

You know, I'd bump into 'em.

I said, I said, Kenneth, I am so sorry.

Saturday morning, elders and evangelist meetings in Boulder.

I, I just should have been so much more respectful.

I should have listened to you more.

You tried to teach me Grace.

I didn't learn it.

I finally have learned it.

You, your book was outstanding.

I read it again when I read it in college.

I thought, oh, this guy's just a cheap er, you know?

I was so judgmental and prideful.

I'm so sorry, Kenneth.

And he said, oh, Greg, you guys weren't bad and bolder.

The next place I went and ministered was so much worse.

He just let me off the hook.

I felt so good, though.

I had carried that burden for years.

I was so ashamed of myself.

Let's not ever let that happen.

Why?

Because the Bible says workers in the kingdom of God.

Are all ages, all professions and all skill levels.

Amen.

Amen.

I love, uh, preachers that, that don't have doctor's degrees.

Preach and tell everybody, don't ever, you don't ever have to get a doctorate degree.

Love puffs up, but I mean, knowledge puffs up.

I better get that right, especially with a doctor degree.

Knowledge puffs up and love builds up.

That's right.

Mm-hmm.

I'll say that.

Okay.

'cause I have Dr.

Decrees.

I know it can puff up.

I know knowledge can make you prideful, but if you don't

have one, you shouldn't say it.

All right.

Relatives.

Worked side by side.

Listen to this.

Verse five.

The next section was repaired by the men of koa, but their nobles

would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.

KOA was where Amos was from.

It was 11 miles away from Jerusalem.

Amos was the shepherd of ko.

And these people came in.

Why?

Because if there was ever war, where did the people from the countryside come?

They came into the city for protection, and so they knew

they had to rebuild Jerusalem.

If they were gonna save their families and protect their families, they had

to come in and contribute to the work.

And so they came in, but some of their people were too good.

Too good for work.

You know, you never get too good for God's work, do you?

Do you Uhuh?

And some of 'em didn't want to do manual labor.

I bet you they didn't live long.

That's why we have such long, uh, longevity these days.

'cause we all work so hard, don't we?

No, because we have better diets, we have better medicine and hopefully

we have better exercise as well.

Going on verse six, that.

Je Henan Gate was repaired by, by, uh, Jehad son of PE and Chuli son of Beier.

They laid it to beams and put its doors with their bolts and bars in place.

Some more master craftsmen here, building the old gate.

All right.

Hardworking laborers, and so God wants their name.

Recorded for eternity in his sacred scripture.

Isn't that awesome?

You know, I know.

I, why I didn't preach the whole book for years.

About five years ago, I preached the whole book.

All right.

But I didn't preach the whole book.

Oh, I ahead of myself.

No.

Okay.

And uh, uh, because these are hard.

Hebrew names.

All right.

And I studied Hebrew, but I have a Western Colorado Hebrew accent.

So if it doesn't sound like you're a Hebrew, then you're

just not from where I am.

All right?

But it's very important for workers to work side by side, neighbors worked side

by side, relatives worked side by side.

As I was thinking about workers, I thought about a worker from

the Orange County Church.

Since I've been here, I've probably heard Kevin's name more than

I've heard anybody else's name.

He's beloved.

He served everybody.

He got with as many as possible.

He poured himself out, and he died doing what he wanted to do, what he loved doing.

See if we wrote the history of the Orange County Church.

We gotta remember Kevin Amen.

As we're reading the history of our brothers and sisters back in Jerusalem,

we're reading their names, I just thought I'd throw up a relative for us.

Amen.

One Corinthians 1558 is a great scripture, therefore.

My dear brothers and sisters, stand firm.

Let nothing move.

You.

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that

your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Whatever you do for God, he sees it.

He's always gonna reward you.

Others may never notice, but that's okay 'cause God's with us.

Verse seven.

Some more outsiders next to them.

Repairs were made by men from Gibeon and Ms.

Path, uh, Laia of Gibeon and Jayden of Marinoff, uh, places under the authority

of the governor of Trans Euphrates.

So this is west of the east of the river, but uh.

Oh, I mean east of the river, but they're outsiders again.

Why?

Because Jerusalem was such an important place.

Skilled and ordinary workers build the kingdom of God then

and now, look, verse eight again.

Businessmen, merchants before now businessmen, al, son of Har Ina, uh.

One of the Goldsmiths, so we know he is a businessman.

He's a goldsmith.

Repaired the next section, and hania one of the perfume makers.

Another, uh, merchant made repairs.

Next to that, they restored Jerusalem.

As far as the broad wall.

Why does he mention what they did?

Because again, he wants everybody to know for all time.

Everybody did their part.

Everybody invested in building.

The great city of Jerusalem and then fathers and it's gonna say sons and

it's gonna say daughters as well.

Fathers worked side by side.

Adjoining this je son of Har Har made repairs opposite his house

and Hadish, son of Hasia ab.

Uh, made repairs next to him.

Nias.

Maya's plan included workers building the portion of the

wall adjacent to their homes.

Why?

Because the investment of inve in individual craftsmanship and personal

responsibility for protecting your own house and family raised

the level of skill and provision.

You know, folks sometimes feel like, man, Dr.

Greg's a hard guy.

You know, I've been leading churches for over 30 years, and

if you ask about my reputation, people will say he's a hard boss,

and I'm trying to be a nice, hard boss.

I'm hard in the sense of high expectations 'cause what we should

do for God should be our best.

The scriptures teach that.

Yeah, we should always give God our best.

We should excel for God.

All right?

But we can enjoy it.

We can have fun doing it, and we can do it as side by side and do it

as teammates, and we can do it for the higher goal and higher purpose.

So, so it can all be healthy and happy.

But hard work is hard work.

It's always hard.

I mean, in fact, life is hard because of the sin.

You've read the first couple chapters of the Bible, right?

It's gonna be hard until we get to heaven and then we can all have a talk

with Adam and Eve and say what we want.

I wanna show you the map again.

You can take a picture of that.

But this one is a little bit better than the other one because it shows you some

of these other features where the temple is at the different grades, where thi

the, the, the wall went up and where it turned and, and all these other,

uh, different things that are mentioned in this chapter because it's so very

interesting how specific and clear this chapter is in how they rebuilt God's city.

Sons work side by side.

Verse 11, milk Kaija, son of harem.

And hash son of Paha, Moab repaired another section of the

Tower of the Ovens, all right?

And not every one of these places is important, but the tower of the

ovens was the security watch tower.

It was very important for that section of wall to be able to

to to hold this high watchtower.

And so there had to be some really good engineering.

And as a former civil engineer, structural engineer, you gotta go deep to go high.

All right?

Right.

That's some of these things that, that begin to tilt and wobble and fall.

They didn't go deep enough.

They didn't get down to bedrock, you know, and a lot of LA is built on

basin when the big earthquake comes.

Guys, just be glad you're on your way to heaven.

All my friends make fun of me living in California.

You know, well, bad things happen everywhere, floods, hurricanes,

you know, all all kinds of things.

But guys, you gotta build on rock.

And so they built deeper in these places and sometimes we gotta slow down.

Yeah.

We like building fast.

We like.

Fast growth and fast success and good things happening quickly, but sometimes

you gotta go deep before you can go high and we gotta go deeper on the inside.

In some ways.

God blesses his church when he wants to.

I've seen it over and over.

Sons work side by side, daughters work side by side.

This good stuff.

Shalom, son of.

Hallow Hesh, ruler of the Half District of Jerusalem, repaired the next

section with the help of his what?

Daughters.

Daughters?

Yeah.

As a father of daughters.

Do my girls know how to work?

You bet.

They've got a great worth ethic.

All right.

And my granddaughters will have a great worth ethic, worth ethic.

I won't just brag about my granddaughters, you know how his grandpas are and you

don't have the stays, so she don't get a gr brag about yours, but, oh, I'm tempted.

Oh my.

Yeah.

I, I better, I better just move on.

Read the, read the notes.

A 4-year-old that can read it was amazing.

Amen.

Daughter's working side by side and then he goes on blue collar

side by side every different.

Per type of person.

The valley gate was repaired by Hannon and the residents of Zane,

no, this is out in the country.

They rebuilt it and put its doors with its bolts and doors, door bars in place.

They also repaired, these guys were troopers, a thousand cubits of wall as

far as the dung gate, but they quit there because you know what the dung gate was.

Don't tell anybody.

All right.

But they could smell it.

Amen.

That's your hint.

This is a long way.

500 yards they built.

That's why it's mentioned guys.

Some people can do more than others, but everybody did what they were supposed to.

Outsiders and insiders.

Guys, we gotta be very hospitable and welcoming.

You know, there's been times when we've had two, we've

had a wall around the church.

Mm-hmm.

You know?

We gotta have lots of gates.

There was a wall around Jerusalem.

But listen, look at all these gates.

Lot of places for people to be able to come in.

And then verse 14, rulers side by side.

This is very important.

That D gate, they gave it to the rulers.

I think this is a little payback.

What do you guys think?

The dug gate was repaired by.

Milk.

Ja son of Wreck Cab, ruler of the District of Beth Hacker.

He rebuilt it and put its doors with its bolts and bars in place.

The dal was built by this humble brother who was a ruler

of a certain part of the city.

The dung gate led out to the Valley of Gona of Hena, and uh, it's used

by Jesus as a picture of hell.

All right.

Ga Hena, the Valley of Henan.

Jesus mentioned, and so obviously this was the trash dump for the city, verse 15, and

then some more politicians side by side.

The fountain gate was repaired by Shalom's son of Kale, Jose.

Ruler of the District of Miss pa.

He rebuilt it, roofing it over and putting its doors and bolts and bars in place.

He also repaired the wall of the pool of slo, so it had to be watered tight.

By the King's Garden.

As far as the steps going down to the city of Jerusalem, mentioned by King

Hezekiah, second Kings 20 and verse 20.

This was the water system.

This was the lifeblood of the city.

This is very important part of the wall to be built.

It had to be built watertight.

And as an engineer, I know how difficult this is, you know?

And so I'm impressed.

You know, I love going through this because it's so impressive.

You know, sometimes we think ancient people weren't as sophisticated.

Guys.

Go over to the Middle East, go over to Athens, go over and

visit some of these places.

We think the Rose Bowl is cool.

You should see some of those places.

Amazing architecture and everything.

And then he mentions heroes.

Every group has some heroes.

All right behind him, Nehemiah's, son of Asbu, ruler of the Half District

of Beth Zu, made repairs up to a point opposite the tombs of David as far as the

artificial pool and the house of heroes.

And so the tombs of David were probably the House of heroes

were were David's mighty myths.

So they chose some very particular people to build that section.

The veteran section, the Tomb of the Heroes, the dead heroes for the country.

Very important sacred.

Ground, so to speak.

And then they chose just deacons next to him.

The repairs were made by the Levites under Ham, son of Banty.

Uh, beside him, hash sha, ruler of the Half District of Kilah, uh, carried

out repairs for his district since they were from the tribe of of of Levite.

That's the tribe that, uh, produced the priest.

So if you didn't become a priest, you became a temple servant.

And so you were a deacon and we're gonna be hopefully appointing deacons.

Uh, and not often to too far a future.

Here in our church, we already have so many people serving like deacons,

but home motivates us to build right.

Ooh.

You know, when we first started the LA church, we all went down to

the shrine from all over the city.

All right?

We came in and we gathered, we had our different sections to, uh, be in and,

uh, uh, since uh, I was in the south.

Uh, I think we were in, in the balcony.

I don't know why some of us got put in the balcony, but, uh, that,

that's, it's a long time ago.

Let it go.

Let it go.

Alright.

But there's something about building near home.

You know, Kathy and I, this touches me because we're building

for our daughter and son-in-law.

We're building for our granddaughters.

And you know, they'll have kids and they'll have kids, and this building

will get it paid off and that'll be a, a gift to the next generation guys,

you gotta build with great purpose.

A few more thoughts here, verse 18.

Friends side by side next to him.

The repairs were made by their fellow Levites, so they were

buddies under the new son of Heida, ruler of the Half District of.

Uh, kale, and I just wanna mention this, some people say

it was built in 50 days, 51, 52.

You know, in, in Nehemiah six, five it says 52.

Uh, Josephus, the historian of the Jews says it was two years and two months.

And so most of that is translation.

Uh, differences.

They're not exactly sure.

They, it didn't take that long, but Nehemiah was the governor of.

Jerusalem, uh, for 12 years.

So, uh, uh, who knows how long it took, but then some overachievers built.

All right.

And well before that, some engineers side by side verse 19 easier.

And, uh.

They, they, I know these were engineers 'cause they had to

build the angle of the wall.

And then the next group were some overachievers 'cause they built zealously.

Baruch, uh, built this next section to the house of the high priest.

And then the next section was built by some more volunteers.

Uh, verse 21, uh, uh, up next to his house he built, and I'm cruising through here.

To be on time.

Retired priests.

This is good.

All right, so you never get out of the ministry.

You just quit being supported by the church.

All right?

Amen.

So even the retired priests had to build a, a particular

section and they're mentioned.

And then verse 23, it says, the homeowners again, he reiterates

that they built side by side, okay.

Next to their house.

And then the old men, I like this next to him.

The, they were repair the, these places were repaired to the corner because

us old guys know how to do our math.

Alright.

And then, uh, verse 25.

The young men side by side, uh, worked opposite of them and, uh, near the

palace, which was a very important place.

And then all these temple, uh, servants, public servants, worked side by side

and made repairs up to the Watergate.

And we're almost all the way back around.

The temple, the whole city.

And uh, years ago we had a big leadership conference in Jerusalem

and Marty Fuquay and I, that was back when we were both runners.

Yeah.

I used to run, I know I don't look like it, but I used to.

And uh, we ran the old wall every day when we were in Jerusalem.

And then one day he talked me up into, uh, running up the

Mount of Alis Marty ran up at.

I did more of that, uh, electric slide, sort of the walk run.

You really couldn't call it a run, but I got to the top.

I didn't quit.

All right, so as I show you these pictures, I have this personal vivid

imagery of those walls running around it.

And again, in verse uh, 27, some folks from Tekoa built another

section they're mentioned.

And then, uh, some more Warriors.

Verse 28 built.

Uh, near where the citadel was, where the soldiers were housed, the horsegate,

because that's where the soldiers were brought in and all these people.

Alright, this list, excuse me.

Alright, on my slide, it's got both sides, but all the different groups,

side by side, side by side, side by side, side by side, side by side.

And then lastly, verse 29.

Soldiers because it's near the temple and, uh, the palace.

So it has to be protected.

And then it gets to verse 30, some teens.

Alright.

And they're not in, not in service today.

Bummer.

But, uh, tell 'em that they've got some work to do.

Alright, in verse 30.

And so.

The kingdom is built side by all of us side by side.

And lastly, verse 31 mentions some merchants in goldsmiths, some rich people.

Why?

Because somebody had to pay for it.

All right?

The King Cyrus, our desserts, these of Persia paid a lot of it,

but there's always overrun, right?

So these merchants had to kick in by the inspection gate where.

The different, uh, patrons live.

Verse 32, and we're back all the way around.

So what do we learn this morning that Dr.

Greg isn't a great Hebrew speaker?

Some morals to the story.

Great work requires a lot of people doing their part.

Amen.

Great work requires workers who will be remembered though.

Amen.

Great work requires a personal stake in the outcome.

All right.

Great work requires investment from near and far.

People that lived there and people that didn't.

Great work required a benefit for the work being done.

It protected them and their families or their businesses, et cetera.

Great work requires skilled workers.

For the steep parts and great work requires workers and warriors.

That's a preview for the future.

All right, little commercial for, uh, another chapter.

So what lessons do we learn?

Everyone has a place to work.

No one is exempt.

Our work is to build the inside and the outside.

Important work for forges s forges, excuse me, spiritual community.

Noble work is sacred and eternal for God's glory.

Great works are accomplished by a team side by side.

You get this side by side.

Somebody write me a song side by side.

Amen.

The sum of the work, the parts of work contribute to a great whole.

Not working hard is not an option for God's people.

And excelling at your work builds a reputation and legacy.

So please, a good response to this sermon would be volunteering

to work and to serve the church.

Bring it back to the 21st century.

God bless you, brothers and sisters.

Amen.

Happy Valentine's Day.