Nehemiah 4 - Build and Defend

The themes of the Bible are actually few, and they just kind of repeat themselves often.

And this can be challenging sometimes because you feel like you're basically reading the same thing again and again and again.

Or you're hearing the same sermon about the same topic, just kind of from a different angle, again and again and again.

How many times do we need to hear about sin or that Jesus is a savior?

Or not that we're like bemoaning it, but like there's just it's the same thing on repeat.

We're broken.

God's holy.

We need a savior.

We need to be evangelizing.

We need to be making disciples.

We should be obeying the scriptures.

And so you hear this kind of on repeat, or you read it on repeat, and sometimes it kind of gets, we get weary.

But the reality is that the themes of life are also pretty few.

Although there are specific contexts for what's going on that are unique, the themes of our life are few and they repeat themselves often.

Issues with relationships in your life.

Issues with responsibilities, your job, your family, your mortgage, issues with pride and self-image.

Am I enough?

Do they think good things about me?

Did I make a good impression?

Does anyone care about me?

Issues with finances?

Am I making enough?

Do we have enough?

Can we stretch it?

Or what do we do with all we have?

Is this wasteful?

Are we being unthoughtful?

Issues with discipline, personal health, exercise, what we eat, are we taking care of our bodies?

Are we in our spiritual rhythms?

Issues with obedience to God's word.

So these just a sample of themes, but they're kind of few in nature, and they just seem to repeat themselves day after day and week after week and year after year.

Ecclesiastes, we know from going through that with Ron, says there's nothing new under the sun.

Often at the end of the day, my wife Candace and I'll be talking, and she'll say, Man, I feel like I'm living the same day on repeat.

It's like I think we I think we did this already.

I think we've been here.

Is there anything else?

Is there anything new?

Can we try to figure something else out, or is it just the same thing again and again and again?

And maybe you can relate to that.

For some, maybe you felt like you've been living the same day on repeat for 20 years or 30 years.

It's the same thing.

Well, when we started into the study of Ezra in the Umayyad, I shared how important it was to remember that when we read these stories, we have the whole story.

We're seeing what's happening from the beginning to the end.

We know how it ends.

We have all the contexts, we see the contours of the story, we have it all.

But they did not have it all.

They didn't know what was next when they were deciding to leave Babylon and head back to the city of Jerusalem, the city that mattered to them, that God had given them, that they were disciplined and taken out, and now they've been promised, and God said, Well, bring you back.

They didn't know what was next.

They get back to the city and they begin to kind of rebuild the altar.

They're excited, and then kind of people are opposing them and they stop the work.

And then they're rebuked by the prophets, and they get back to work and they build the temple and they celebrate.

And then they fall into sin.

They stop following the ways of God.

And then comes Nehemiah back, or Ezra back, and he rebukes him and corrects him.

Let's get back to God's word.

Let's study again.

And then there's apathy in their heart.

They just kind of lay off.

We're not going to obey all of it.

And then Nehemiah comes and he's got resources from the king of Babylon, and he's got all these armies and resources and material.

And I'm like, we're going to rebuild the wall.

Let's get after, let's get back to work.

So there's this theme.

And we know how it ends.

But for them, they just have a small glimpse.

God said to do this.

We're going to be obedient.

So in our lives, we only see part of what God is doing.

We don't know what tomorrow holds, who will be here, who will not be here, what next year looks like.

We are a people who walk by faith.

Trusting that God will provide, that He's good, that He is sovereign, He's in control of all things.

Just like the Jewish people returning to rebuild the promised land and the temple in Jerusalem.

They walked by faith.

And so we likewise walk by faith.

And so the themes of Nehemiah chapter 4 are going to sound similar to the other themes through Ezra and up to Nehemiah.

Nehemiah 4 · chapter mention

There's opposition.

There's the people who are trying to work hard to rebuild and be obedient to God's word.

But there's opposition ahead of them.

There's hard work to be done, and there's obedience that matters.

As we walk through this passage, be reminded, church, that God's Word will sustain us.

Be reminded that God's truth will prevail.

Be encouraged because God is faithful.

He is faithful to restore and renew his people.

To restore and renew his people.

Let's read the first six verses of chapter four.

Now when Sambalat heard that we were building the wall, this is Nehemiah speaking, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews.

And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, What are these feeble Jews doing?

Will they restore it for themselves?

Will they sacrifice?

Will they finish up in a day?

Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish and burned ones at that?

Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, Yes, what are they building?

If a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.

And Nehemiah cries out to the Lord, Hear, O our God, for we are despised.

Turn back their taunt on their own heads, and give them up to the plundering, the plundered, in a land where they are captives.

Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.

So he built the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half its height.

For the people had a mind to work.

The people had a mind to work.

So right at the gate, we we covered a couple weeks ago in chapter three how Nehemiah divided up the sections of the wall.

And you're gonna take you're responsible for this section, and you're in charge of this section, and this gate, and he divided up all these responsibilities.

And now it's time to get to work.

And some work had been going forward.

And then there's opposition, like always.

And I want us to see is that there are so there's some truth here, and then there's a lot of lies.

There's some truth and a lot of lies.

So who are these critics?

Well, we know from chapter two, the sandbalic guy when when and Tobiah, when uh Nehemiah came in, they were kind of mad about him being there anyway.

He's like, why is he coming to seek the welfare of this city?

They're a rebellious people.

They don't need to be rebuilt.

You should stay in their ruin.

If you remember when Nehemiah came, or when he first heard about Jerusalem, he heard that the walls were destroyed, and there was shame for the people.

And so there's this crit, these critics always come out.

And I don't know if you noticed this in your life, but it seems that critics are just, they're always around.

You ever notice that?

And to be fair, and if we're being honest, there's a critic in all of us.

I can critique myself better than anyone else can, just so you know.

I usually do.

But I also have some pretty good ideas about what you could be doing better and what you're doing wrong.

There's a critic, there's a critical spirit in us.

It's part of our fallen nature.

It's part of this desire to kind of, well, at least I'm not like that, or if I was doing it, I would do it like this.

We compare ourselves, we tear one another's down.

The other thing about people who kind of give themselves over to critiquing people, like real critics, like this guy, they just linger around.

You notice this?

People who are critiquing you, whether it's you're you're trying to work hard on your parenting and they're critiquing you, or you're trying to follow the Lord faithfully, and they're like, why are you even trying to do that?

Like, you think that matters?

They're critiquing you.

All these things, they're not really doing anything.

They're just complaining.

This is what critics do.

So you know, man, when there's a critic in your life and they're just kind of being critical about things or complaining about things, they're telling you what you're doing wrong, but you look around and they're not really doing anything.

They're telling you what's going on, what they think, but they're not doing anything.

They're the least involved.

But what's interesting about this is that there are some truth in these words, in this criticism.

Let's see.

What are these feeble Jews doing?

This is verse 2.

Well, are they feeble?

Are they feeble Jews?

Well, they came back out of exile.

They lived in exile for 75 years.

They're a captive people.

Their trek back to Jerusalem is financed by a pagan king.

They rebuild an altar, which isn't a whole lot.

You know, it's an altar, but it's not like they rebuilt the city or the temple.

They rebuild the altar and then they start to complain, and then they get opposition comes and they quit the work.

They start working on their own houses, they care about their own situation.

Then they're rebuked.

They build the temple, they're excited, then they stop obeying God's word.

They're intermarrying with pagan women.

The priests are just doing the same thing everyone else is doing, no one's leading them.

It would seem, as you step back and you look at these people, maybe they are feeble people.

Maybe they have been weak.

They just give up.

They don't stay the course.

They hear from the Lord that God provides for them, but then they falter after a little while.

Will they restore for it for themselves?

Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish and burned ones at that?

They were burned.

The stones were in a pile, a heap.

The city had been destroyed.

So even in this critique, there is some truth that this is the reality of the people.

That they cannot rely on themselves.

That it was themselves that got them into this situation.

It was them saying, Thank you, God.

We appreciate the resources and the direction, but I think we got it from here.

I appreciate the upbringing, I appreciate the morals, I appreciate the wisdom, but as far as salvation and how I'm supposed to treat people and how I'm going to love my wife and my kids, I think I got it from here.

So often we hear critique.

We don't listen.

Is there any truth in that?

Now, these brothers, Nehemiah, we don't know where his heart was, but we know he doesn't respond to them.

He didn't deny them, he didn't say anything.

We know if you flip back to chapter 2 when he first came into town and he heard the critiques for the first time, what he said.

He replied to them, The God of heaven will make us prosper.

And we, his servants, will arise and build.

But you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.

So he already dealt with their critique.

Because what he knew was they're kind of right.

The people were feeble, they were being disobedient, they were trying to do it on their own.

But what was Nehemiah's response to that?

Well, they're gonna do better this time.

They're really gonna buckle down and figure it out.

Or I just really have hope for this new generation.

They're gonna figure it out.

That's not what he says.

He says the God of heaven will make us prosper.

He doesn't look to the people, he doesn't look to the quantity or the skill set or who's there or what can they do or how much money can they give.

He says, God will make us prosper.

That is the hope.

That is the trajection of Nehemiah's response to critique.

He prayed.

He prayed to God.

Asking, sharing that they were despised.

Now, Nehemiah's not like ringing God up saying, I don't know if you are aware of this, but we have some problems down here.

I don't know if you're kind of clued in yet, but I want to inform you.

He's not praying to God to share information, he's bearing his heart before him.

Hear, O our God, for we are despised.

Turn back their taunts on their own heads, and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives.

Do not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out for your safe for your from your sight, for they have provoked your you to anger in the presence of the builders.

His response, Lord, these people are against us, your people who are seeking to be obedient to you, they are against you.

Again, he's not informing God of this reality, but he's reminding his heart and anyone who hears him of this reality.

Again, he's not informing God of information, but he's preaching to his heart about the dynamics at play.

God, we're despised.

God, you're good.

You will judge, you will make all things right.

They're against us, they're against you.

You know that we're trusting in you.

And then verse six, so we built the wall.

And so often we just kind of want to read the first chunk about the opposition, and these things happened, and then we just jump to six.

So we built the wall, so we got the thing done, so we overcame, and we just we got together, we we did it.

Nehemiah was crying out to the Lord for strength, this isn't a declaration of Nehemiah's ability or the people's ability just to just kind of rah-rah themselves and get the stuff done.

They joined together to have its height the wall.

Because the people had a mind to work.

Because the people had a mind to work, they had a mind to trust God, they had a mind to trust him and to be obedient to him because he said, I'm gonna take care of you, I will provide for you.

They had a desire to walk in obedience, so even in the midst of opposition again, there is truth and there are lies.

But God again sustains them and brings the people back into obedience, and they follow him, trusting him.

But then there's a similar scene, it kind of happens again.

Verse 7.

Chapter 4.

When Sambalat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward, and that the breaches were beginning to be closed.

They were very angry, and they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.

And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

In Judah it was said, the strength of those who bear the burden is failing.

There is too much rubble.

By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.

And our enemies said, They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.

At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us, Ten times, you must return to us.

So in the lowest part of the space, behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords and their spears and their bows, and I looked in arose and said to the nobles, and to the officers, to the officials, and to the rest of the people, Do not be afraid of them.

Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, for your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.

So again, we have more serious threats are now brought about.

There are threats, and there's perseverance.

There's threats from the outside, right?

Again, the critics are back, criticizing what's going on.

But this time we see in verse 11, there's some real threat here.

They will not, this is the enemy, they will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.

That's how serious this kind of tension was getting.

It wasn't like, okay, we just don't like you and we're critiquing you, but it's like, you better stop that or we're going to kill you.

That is our plan, and you're not going to know when.

And on top of the critiques, the threats from outside the community, there's also some threats from inside the community.

The people are wavering, they're weary.

They built the wall to half its height.

That was a major task.

But there's still a lot that needs to be done, and they're worn out.

The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing.

There is too much rubble.

By ourselves, we will not be able to rebuild the wall.

This is a complaint.

But they're speaking truth.

This is the people they're complaining about the situation.

And by ourselves, we just can't get it done.

Nehemiah was encouraging them that very thing.

By yourself, you cannot get it done.

The relationships, the issues in your life, we were talking about how they repeat so often.

Broken relationships, heartbreak, unknown future, all those things, you can't handle that by yourself, on your own.

You must turn to the faithful God to sustain you, to give you wisdom and provide for you.

But even the people, they felt this.

They're weary.

Then we know that they're telling each other to quit in verse 10.

The Jews who lived in the area, the surrounding areas, there were people coming from those areas to help rebuild the wall.

So people were coming in from surrounding villages and helping to rebuild.

And then just talk about this threat, and everyone's weary.

And so the other villagers come in and say, listen, give up.

This is pointless.

You need to stop.

You need to come back home.

Don't worry about it.

It's not worth your life.

It's not worth our livelihood.

It's not worth it.

It's just a wall.

Ten times they came.

Ten times they pleaded.

Quit the work.

Come back with us.

Do not persevere.

And then Nehemiah does something pretty insightful.

He figures out where's the most kind of risky area or least defendable area in the wall.

There's still a lot of work that needs done.

It's a weak spot.

And he puts the people together by their clans and their groups.

And he looks at them and says, Listen, fight for one another.

Trust that the Lord will provide.

Trust these things.

He says, You must, in verse 12, you must return, or they say you must return with us.

And then his response to those critics, verse 14, do not be afraid of them, the enemy.

Remember the Lord who is great and awesome.

How many times in your life are you going through things?

And I know this isn't your Jerusalem, this isn't your wall, but you're in a situation, and you just need to remember that God is great and He is awesome.

He does not fail.

And so they have their groups, their clans together, and he reminds them remember the Lord is great and he's awesome.

And because of that, fight for one another.

Protect what we're doing here.

Contend.

Stand up to the enemy.

He doesn't say, stand up and I hope you make it, because God sometimes maybe will show up for you.

He doesn't say, I know that God has kind of a He's got a B rating with you.

I hope He comes through this time.

He said, He is great and He is awesome.

So He charges them in the midst of all these threats from outside, from inside, the frustration, they're weary, they're exhausted.

He says, remember.

Remember this.

And even though they don't know the rest of the story for these people in this time, they know in the past that God has never failed them.

What happened when they were carried up to captivity?

God said, I will not leave you.

I have a plan for you.

I'll make you my people.

I'll provide for you.

When he brought them back, he was faithful to do that.

In the midst of their disobedience, he called them back into repentance and to obedience and said, I will provide for you.

And so, although they don't have the full picture, they know that what Nehemiah is saying is true.

And so, likewise, you and I, we don't have the full picture.

We don't know who's going to be here next year.

We don't know what the next five years holds for us or tomorrow.

But one thing we do know is that for us, it is true that God is great and that he is awesome.

That does not change.

He has not failed you.

He has not failed you.

He never will.

He never will fail you.

So what happens?

He gives the people this charge, and then what?

Well, let's pick it up in verse 15.

When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had frustrated their plans, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work.

From that day on, half of my servants worked, excuse me, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail.

And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall.

Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other.

And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built.

The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me.

Excuse me.

The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me, and I said to the nobles and to the officials, and to the rest of the people, The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another.

In places where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there.

Our God will fight for us.

So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out.

I also said to the people at that time, let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night, and may labor for us by day.

So neither I nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothings.

Each kept his weapon at his right hand.

So this is a famous part of Nehemiah's story of Nehemiah.

The sword and the trowel.

They're strapped up with a sword and they're laying block, laying stone, rebuilding the wall.

And those who are carrying the stones, they're carrying with a sword or a shield, that is, or a spear, and they're carrying stones, and they're carrying them to those who are building the wall.

They're building and they're defending.

So we know, first of all, that they had to work really hard, right?

They worked extremely hard and they had to be ready to fight at the same time.

Now, I've never, um I think I've worked really hard.

I'd like to think I have, but I've never had to work really hard and be prepared to go into a fight for my life and for my kids, my family.

But this was their reality.

Again, they didn't have the full picture.

This is all they know.

Every day they wake up, I guess we're gonna build today and prepare for war.

We're gonna build today and prepare for war.

And when do we stop?

When the sun goes down.

They had to work very, very hard.

So hard that they decided that it's not even worth taking their clothes off and getting in their pajamas.

They just stayed in their clothes.

They got ready to go.

They kept everyone together.

There's a unified effort.

We're gonna do this together.

No one's kind of leaving the city anymore.

We're staying in the city, we're gonna work extremely hard for a focused amount of time, and we're gonna see this thing through.

Because our God will fight for us.

If you've been tracking with this through the story of Ezra and Nehemiah, again, these themes repeat.

This is a theme throughout all of Scripture.

It all turns, all of chapter 4 turns, pivots on this phrase.

All of Ezra and Nehemiah likewise pivot or are anchored or hinged to this phrase.

Our God will fight for us.

Because as I mentioned earlier, this is what they had forgotten.

This is what they stopped believing, this is what they had rejected.

Our God will fight for us.

So they're building and they're defending, they're unifying, there's unity, and there's focus together.

Look at verse 15.

We all returned to the wall, each to his own work.

Nobody was kind of like, well, you know, I just don't feel like this thing.

I don't feel like being a part of it.

I know everyone's kind of excited about the wall or they're all worried about it, but like that's for them to do.

I don't need to do it.

No one's opting out, no one's exempt from the work.

Together they worked.

And there's times in our life where we're weary or tired, and we're like, man, I just don't want to keep doing this thing.

In Hebrews 10, we're committed as Christians to gather together as the body of Christ.

Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together.

Why?

Because we need one another.

We should be united together in our pursuit of holiness and our obedience to Christ.

I was at uh did a membership class yesterday, and one of the things I shared is when we gather together on Sunday morning, we are gathered together so that we can encourage one another.

And it's not about us, it's not about you.

You don't just come here so you can sit and hear the singing and hear the reading and hear the preaching and partake in some things and then kind of go on your way.

You're here to be a part of the body of Christ, to serve together, to lay down your life for one another.

Well, no one's dying, so what's that mean?

Sacrificing your time.

And we can't all do everything.

We can't all set up and we can't all tear down, we can't all be praying for one another and meeting each other's needs all the time.

But what we must be doing is encouraging one another.

Brother, sister, be faithful.

Be in the word.

Let me pray for you about that.

Let me encourage you with what the Lord has shared with me this week.

Let me tell you my experience, and hopefully this gives you some wisdom.

We gather together, we're unified, and we're focused.

I don't know about your schedule throughout the week, but I don't need to take a whole morning of one of my seven days to just kind of be around people and talk about how the weather is and just all those things.

Now, if you know me, I actually like talking about the weather, and I do that, but I don't do that.

That's not why I gather with the bride of Christ on the Lord's day.

I gather, and you and I gather to build one another up in our faith.

So they're gathered, they're working together.

And they realize that, again, no one person could do this.

Half of them had to carry the stones and the spears.

Half of them had to kind of lay the stones and do that with the sword strapped to their side.

It's amazing when people are unified and they're focused on a task, what they can get done.

I think this is what's so exciting when new things start.

Whether it's a new church plan or just a new business or something new.

It's like the focus is so clear and it's so simple.

And as the thing grows and as the organization or institution grows, it gets kind of more messy and more people are involved, and it gets kind of hazy.

Like, what are we even like what are we even doing?

I can't remember.

But we as the bride of Christ should be focused on what we're doing.

We're called to make disciples of Jesus Christ.

We talked a couple weeks ago.

What's a disciple?

What is discipleship?

Helping believers follow Jesus.

That's our mission.

That's why we're evangelizing people, sharing the good news, so they can trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

They can leave their life of sin and hopelessness.

And then we're helping them follow Jesus.

This is what it means to follow Jesus in your marriage and with your neighbors and your at work.

This is how the body functions together.

This is what scripture means, and this is what this passage means.

And let me help you understand this more.

Let me help you to be obedient in this more.

We're in discipling, we're in the business of making disciples.

Because God has called us to that, and he will sustain us in that.

And then they had, again, faith in God.

They wavered in their obedience, they waned, they were back and forth, and I don't know about you, but that's how I often feel in my faith.

Just like I'm not where I want to be.

Why am I not just more mature?

Why am I not wiser?

Why can't I figure these things out more?

But yet they pressed on, knowing that as they were even stumbling in their obedience toward God, that he would sustain them.

But if they were to leave his teaching, they could not continue to have a strong faith.

They cannot, and you cannot, disregard God's teaching for your life and have a strong faith.

You can't be walking in rebellion to God and expect to just have faith.

Like it's just gonna show up one day.

It's just gonna kind of arrive.

But as you're walking in obedience to what God has called you to and commanded you to, so your faith grows.

And you're you're fed and you're encouraged and you're excited.

But if you're not doing that, if you're cold towards the things of God or His scripture, his word for you, you can't expect your faith to grow.

You can't expect yourself to hate sin, to fight sin.

You're loving sin.

You're finding that sin satisfying.

You know you shouldn't.

You know you should be hating it, but the reality is you're not seeking to be obedient to God.

The message of the gospel is so clear that God desires a relationship with his creation, with his people.

We aren't able to have that relationship with him because we're given into sin.

There's sin in our hearts, and we're rebelling against him.

But he's gracious to reveal to us our sin.

To reveal to us our need for a savior, and that savior is Jesus Christ.

And we cannot act like we can kind of get the salvation.

I'll take the ticket, thank you, Jesus, but I don't want to follow you.

God is so gracious to show us our sin, to show us our need for a savior, and then provide a savior for us.

We do not get to take one or the other.

You take Jesus as your Lord and as your master, or you don't take him at all.

You seek to follow after him.

Not perfectly, because you're not perfect, but you seek to follow after him, you seek to be obedient to him, you seek to submit to him, but you're not seeking him at all.

And what what Nehemiah is banking on in the midst of this opposition and the threats around him, the people grumbling, what he's banking on is that God will fight for them.

And I don't know where you're at in your life with God, with Jesus.

I don't know where you're at in your marriage or with your other relationships in your life or big questions that are going on in your in your heart and your soul.

But I want to tell you this that God will fight for you.

He will fight for you.

One, you can't do it on your own.

And I don't mean like you can't like win the battle, you can't even show up to the battle.

You can't make it, it won't happen.

Only God can do this.

But he will fight for you.

He will bring healing, he will bring deliverance, he will bring just the amazing ability for the gospel to begin to transform your life.

And you have a new heart.

He takes a heart of stone, puts in a heart of flesh, he takes away wicked desires and puts in good desires, things that you cannot do.

Only he can do these things.

But you must turn to him, you must cry out to him and have faith that he will fight for you, that he will deliver you.

So even as you just share the stories of the contours of the Old Testament, Nehemiah and Ezra, the people, it repeats itself, repeats itself, and so ours repeats itself.

We must submit to God.

Here's what we know about the story after Nehemiah.

Hundreds of years later, Jerusalem, they would finish the wall, the city would be invaded again.

Rome would come and conquer the city of Jerusalem.

There would be another king who would ride into the city.

He didn't ride in with fanfare, he didn't ride in with cavalry and all these things.

He rode in on a donkey.

A humble servant animal.

He didn't come looking to the world like a king or a savior.

But that is the very person who came.

The conquering King Jesus.

And it is to this King, King Jesus, that we belong and that we serve.

And it's to him that we, under him that we work and we labor.

And it's to him we call upon.

And it is to him that we look to for deliverance.

And if we look to him, he will deliver us.

Church, let's pray.

God, you are good and faithful.

Great is your faithfulness.

We pray this morning that as we have sing and as we read and we pray and we hear your word proclaimed, that you would stir in us a deeper desire for obedience.

That we would hunger and thirst for righteousness.

That we would be looking to you, Jesus, for salvation and to no one else.

I pray that you would give us wisdom.

Give us strength to obey.

Give us a desire and a longing to follow after you.

Pray for those who are here who do not know you as their Lord and their Savior, that they would repent.

Turn from these things and follow after you, Jesus.

I pray that the body would be built up and we would walk in faithfulness to you, Lord.

We pray this in your most holy and precious name, Jesus.

Amen.