Moving Forward! | Dr. John Ewart

Hey everybody, this is Pastor John Ewart from Englewood

Baptist Church in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina.

Thank you so much for tuning in to our podcast.

You're going to hear from God today as we share from his word

about important issues facing your life that can guide you

according to the Bible. Well, good morning, Englewood.

I did not pay George Mamboyne for that video.

Somehow I have the feeling that I will before it's over.

George is actually has a master's degree from

Southeastern Seminary. He's part of a cohort from East

Africa that we helped train several years ago.

This team is going to get to experience as close to an old

fashioned Baptist mission station, an old mission life

that you ever could there. George is located on the corner

of Rwanda, Congo, and Uganda. They'll actually land in Rwanda

and crossover into Uganda and he's working, has a Bible school

there, seminary basically has children's schools, is refugee

ministries from people escaping the Congo, homeless settlements

there, humanitarian aid, tons of children, tons of children in

multiple schools. He runs a whole network of

churches. So they're going to have an

incredible experience and look forward to hearing back from my

dear friend George and the team. Listen, this weekend, I don't

know if you realize it or not, they're actually more chairs in

here then then there are now. But every single one of these

chairs was full of men this weekend at the East Coast Men's

Bible Conference. It was a powerful time.

Had men from 11 states, over 1200 of them and had AI had a

great time. I felt like this the the

conference went well. I just want to say thank you to

all of you. There were over 200 Inglewood

men involved and for the 252 weekend back-to-back with the

East Coast Men's Bible Conference weekend.

Just want to say thank you to all the volunteers who worked so

hard to make, to make that, that work.

And also just want to brag on our children and, and preschool

ministries, the way they're working with Laura and Beth, you

know, seeing our children being baptized and kids coming through

that ministry is, is really, really special.

And so, and then also I just want to say thank you.

Just thank you for your stewardship.

I'll say more about that in a week or two.

But our giving is up from last year and we appreciate that very

much. We appreciate your faithfulness

in in supporting that. So thank you.

On the front of your bulletin. If you notice this is really

important to me, we're having a senior adult event coming up.

And and if you haven't signed up for that, I need you to sign up

for that. Please, if you can, if you're a

senior adult, if you would consider yourself a prime timer.

And this is basically going to be a really in depth study of

the book of Jonah as well as we're going to have some fun

together. We're going to sing and we'll do

some other things that just be a lot of fun.

But it's primarily a Bible study and a time for you to invite

your friends who don't know Christ, who might be a little

bit older. And so we would love to see that

happen and hope you'll be a part of that.

Listen, this morning if you'll take your Bibles and turn to

Nehemiah chapter, start in Chapter 11.

I'll catch up to you in a few moments.

This is a very strategic message that I need to share with you,

and you'll see why in a minute. So I'm glad that you're here.

Others who are on spring break this week need to listen to this

one online and catch up on this because this may explain a whole

lot of things this morning to you.

I'll get to that. You know what?

Years ago, Teresa and our family and I were transitioning from

Arizona. We were in the mountains of

Northern Arizona. We were church plant planting up

in there and I was pastoring a church and we'd have multiple

church plants going in Northern Arizona and I'd still be there

at this time. If if God had just not called

me, God named Tom Rayner wouldn't be to come serve with

him and Al Mohler and Danny Aiken at Southern Seminary at

the time. And it was a major transition.

But anyway, that doesn't matter. But but we had to make the

physical move and I worked out a deal and it's Long story short,

I decided to do it with the old fashioned U-Haul truck.

And so I rented the largest U-Haul truck you can rent.

You know the kind with granny's attic over the cab.

You all know what I'm talking about.

It's that biggest truck. And then I had a trailer hooked

up to the back of the truck with my 1972 pickup truck on it

because for some reason I felt the need to take that with me.

And it had a camper shell on it. I think I was about 55 to 60

feet long or something like that, Charles, by the time I was

done. But anyway, the truck was

completely full, packed to the the gills inside the front cab

of the truck, stuff on the dashboard and the floor had a

dog in a cage sitting next to me in the seat.

And then the pickup truck, the camper shell was completely

full. The cab of the truck was

completely full with stuff up on the dashboard.

And then we tied stuff to the top of the camper shell.

Then Teresa was in a car behind that with two of our kids and it

was completely full. And so, you know, the Clampets

are leaving Arizona to go on a trip.

Thank you for those old enough to know who the Clampets are.

And we're, we're going to go to Oklahoma 1st to see family and

then I'm going to go on to Kentucky all by myself to

Louisville. And then the, the family was

going to join me later. Well, so we start off on this

trip and, you know, we're up in the middle of the, the basically

the Rocky Mountains. I mean, where we lived in

Arizona was a Mile High. And so we're chugging along and

this thing and this thing's pulling so much weight.

I mean, it's black smokes just belting out of this truck.

So I'm maxing out at about 43 1/2 mph on I-40 trying to get

through those mountains and Teresa's back behind me.

And, and we didn't have, we didn't have cell phones.

And you know, this was, this was in those days you had a big bag

phone, if you remember those things.

But so we had walkie talkies. And so we're chugging along and

this is supposed to be a 19 hour trip at the best in the best

scenario from Prescott, AZ to Tahlequah, OK, especially where

we had to go out in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma.

And so we're chugging along and chugging along and chugging

along with, we'll make a Long story short, this 19 hour trip

becomes a 32 hour trip. And we, we kept asking whether

you want to stop or you want to keep going.

Well, let's just keep going. The kids are asleep.

Let's just keep going. And we just kept going, and we

just keep going. And we're trugging, chugging

along. And suddenly, over the

walkie-talkie in the middle of the night, I hear Teresa

screaming in the walkie-talkie. Now I can barely see her back

there. She's behind me somewhere back

there, probably covered up in black smoke.

And she goes, It's loose, it's loose.

Somewhere along the way, the hamster had gotten out of the

cage and had crawled up her leg. So I'm hearing loose hamster,

loose hamster. And I, I, I, for the life of me,

I could not, my brain in the 30th hour of this trip or

whatever it was, could not, could not comprehend loose

hamster. Those words didn't make sense to

me. Well, so we're still chugging

and chugging and chugging, and finally we hit.

So we pull over the side of the road.

We have to find the hamster. We take care of that.

And finally we're back on the belching black smoke.

Belching black smoke. Well, what we didn't realize is

that there was also a leak inside the truck.

So that by the time I get to Kentucky with everything we had

smoked furniture. It was fantastic.

Yeah, nothing like a. Now I enjoy smoking ribs and

brisket, but not my couch and not my mouth, my mattress too

much. It was solid black.

It was hilarious. But the trips that we make for

Jesus, huh? Some of the journeys that we go

on, these folks going all the way to Uganda, you know, moving

into a new future can also be quite a journey.

It's often requires some cleaning up and even some

cleaning out sometimes when you make those moves, forcing

decisions on what to bring, what to leave behind, what do I pack,

What don't I pack? It's exciting, but it can also

be a little bit scary, frankly, with new things coming along.

And Nehemiah is that kind of story.

Nehemiah left a life of, of luxury and one of the most

opulent palaces in the known world at the time back in Persia

and he goes to a broken down Jerusalem.

And he only went because God called him to go.

It was a task of, of, of, of renewal.

And when he arrived, the debris was so high, if you remember in

this story that he couldn't even get around the city without

climbing over the top of it. And, and yet he, he, he knew he

was supposed to been there. It could have been overwhelming,

but he knew that God had a plan for that old pile of rubble.

And so sometimes in in our in our journey in life, we have to

believe in the potential that God knows for us and what he

wants to see happen to us. And they worked hard and they

faced enemies and they persevered.

And Jerusalem was transformed from a, from a defenseless joke,

frankly, and a testimonial shame to a, to a fortified stronghold

where a promise fulfilling God could actually be worshipped

properly again, with the temple working the way it was supposed

to. So the city was ready, but it

lacked one key ingredient. They needed more people to

reside in it now. So so they build it.

An empty city couldn't fulfill God's promise.

Well, my first year anniversary with you passed a week or two

ago and and it's been an amazing year for Teresa and I.

We appreciate you. Thank you for allowing us the

privilege to serve you and thank you for being patient with some

of the things that have happened, some of the changes

and, and it, and though it might not be clear to you, there

really is a method to my madness or as some have said, there

might be a madness to my method. And so I want you to remember

the context of the book of Nehemiah.

I want you to understand, just focus with me for the next two

or three minutes. I want you to fully understand

why Nehemiah. So remember the context.

The people returned from exile in groups.

The earliest groups were to lay a new temple foundation.

Later, Haggai, Zechariah and Ezra had to come to get to help

them face their enemies and actually finish the temple.

So there was a foundation and a structure that couldn't be used

yet because the perimeter was not set up, the walls were not

there, the gates still needed repair, and they were not

protected. They were not safe, so the

parameters of the city still needed to be defined.

They were undefined at that point.

Well, believe it or not, we've been on a similar journey.

I've spent this first year learning a lot about your past

and trying to teach you redundantly.

I know about God's future. Remember something about me

Assessment never ends. Never ends.

And so first we needed to rebuild a proper foundation.

So our study in the book of Acts laid for us a bedrock of new

mission understanding. We needed to do that.

We exist here to bring God glory and to join Him in redeeming the

nation's. This is why we are here.

This is why Inglewood Baptist Church exists.

And so we recognized that was just the beginning.

So then we needed an understood strong walls of definition, the

parameters, the guidelines, the definitions of who we are.

So we had to study what is a biblical church?

What's a biblical church member? So Acts also taught us the

answers to that and LED us to our vision where we want to make

disciples who love God, love others, and join God's mission.

We needed to further define that though, because what's a

disciple? And so we began to teach that a

disciple means that there are at least seven essential areas of

discipleship in which to grow in order to be like Jesus.

But we also need to structure, to build on that foundation and

to to be protected by those walls.

Structures like 100% participation in our core

ministries here in worship, a special push and growth in

Connect group, small groups, an entirely different midweek

experience, more service opportunities and focused

stewardship. Now, now, now we know why we are

now we know who we are. Now we know what we need to be

doing and how we're going to do it.

But the gates, the entry points, they still had to be addressed.

They needed to be set. So we needed to revise or

discover Inglewood. We had a new membership covenant

that you saw a couple weeks ago with clear membership

expectations. We've had new in reach to every

single church member through reach in our small groups to

strengthen our entry points. Our midweek study has focused on

emphasizing doctrine and deeper discipleship.

As we grow and we grow. So the foundation solid, much of

the structures in place, the parameters are defined, the

gates are set. They're going to be constantly

guarded. I mean, it's almost like I can

see a set of train tracks stretching toward a new horizon

and and we can wave goodbye to most of the bumper cars.

Maybe not all just yet, but most.

Now we need to take the next step in Year 2.

Now it's time to take the next step, just like they had to take

the next step. It's time to fill the city.

It's time for new people. It's time to occupy and truly

live in restoration. And so first, we have to

continuously prioritize our discipleship.

We need to prioritize the depth of our discipleship, the

maturity of our discipleship. I want you to feed well on

Sundays. I want you to feed well at

midweek. And even this past week, I

recognized some of the theological questions, perhaps

even some immaturity that still exists.

And and so it challenged me to pray about even more what the

necessary next steps of teaching needed to be.

So qualitative growth, qualitative maturity must come

first. And that will lead us to the

quantitative fruit. We pray for the future.

And God's already blessing us with new members, with people

being baptized. Listen, we got at least I think

three more next week and so more and more coming.

We've got more and more we're talking to no telling what's

going to happen after these last two weekends with some of our

follow up. And so we must always praise him

for this. We must always praise him for

people who are being baptized, who are being saved and who are

joining. Amen.

Always, never, ever, ever take that for granted.

In fact, next week we're going to complete our study of

Nehemiah and he's actually going to give us a dire warning about

forgetting those things. We're going to see a turn in the

story at the very end. And then I'm praying for a

harvest to fill the city as we follow up on these weekends, as

we follow up through our our our connect group reach strategy

through our weekly ministries. And guess what's just around the

corner? Easter, Easter, listen, I need

you to join us in prayer and participation this Wednesday at

6:30. I want you to come and pray and

study with us. I'm going to break down some of

the Lord Jesus's most intimate prayers.

This is actually last week we talked about what's called the

Lord's Prayer, which is really the disciples prayer.

This week we're actually going to talk about the Lord's prayers

this this Wednesday night you want to be here and we're going

to talk about these intimate moments that Jesus prayed to the

Father in great detail because all of this belongs to him.

Then in two weeks, we're going to dive deeply into the

celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ for the Easter

season. And following Easter, I'm going

to be sharing with you my complete testimony.

It's a little PG13, but I'm going to share my whole

testimony because several of you asked me to do that.

And then we're going to engage in an intense study of the book

of Romans because we're going to go deep.

We're going to look at our discipleship depth.

This will be completely different from anything that

we've done before so far. But this morning, we're not

quite done with the journey. This morning we're not quite

done with Nehemiah. And so we need key truths for

moving forward from Chapter 11 and 12.

So look at verse 1 of Chapter 11.

Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, and the rest

of the people cast lots to bring one out of 10 to live in

Jerusalem, the holy city, while 9 out of 10 remained in the

other towns. And the people blessed all the

men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem.

So the first thing we see, as I mentioned before, is new people

required. We need new people.

It's not going to be enough just to get the old church members to

come back. We're going to talk about those

in a minute, but we're going to go out into this community and

find new people that we've never met before, people that we don't

know yet. And so they had to revitalize

the population. They had to revitalize the

city's life. More people were needed to bring

God glory in the temple, to be an example to the nations and to

strengthen one another. So they cast lots and, and, and

110th of them would resettle in Jerusalem.

But you got to understand that wouldn't be easy.

It was a sacrifice to live inside the city.

Believe it or not. It wouldn't be easy to live in

there at that time with new walls, new gates, new

structures, new design. This was going to be the largest

fortress in the region and it posed a threat to the enemy.

Now keep connecting this to us as God blesses and God blesses

and God blesses. We will become a threat to the

enemy. And then the enemy always

attacks when new strength and new momentum are achieved.

He always will do this. So why would he need to waste

time? Why would he need to waste time

in a broken down old city or a broken down church or a weak

church? He already has them.

He wants. He wants to work and to, to stop

somebody like Inglewood. But when God begins to work in

your life, when God begins to work in your church, you need to

look out. We've got to be on guard.

We've got to expect him. And this would be a challenge

for the people who moved into the New Jerusalem.

If you lived in the city, you also didn't have land to work in

order to support yourself. So this, this was a even a

practical problem for them. Sacrifice might be required from

them to live in that city. Sacrifice might be required for

us to fill the future. But it was a necessary part of

God's plan. Some even volunteered and were

commended for it. I love it when people volunteer

to do the first hard, unglamorous, and even dangerous

work. Sometimes behind the scenes,

sometimes never commended, sometimes never mentioned,

Sometimes no one else knows. But God knows and God remembers,

and that's what Jesus did for us, wasn't it?

It was the hard work. He stepped up when only He could

do the hard thing. So they needed folks to step up.

They needed folks to step forward, to fill the future, to

step up and to serve. And in our next year together

and Year 2, they're going to be new places to be filled and old

ones to support. In fact, Pastor Jordan Rees and

his discipleship team are developing right now a new

Discover Your Design course and profile, where we're going to

help you to understand how God has shaped you, how God has made

you, how God has gifted you. And on the end of that, there's

actually going to be practical service placement where we're

going to talk to you about jobs that need to be filled in the

church. And we're going to start that

very, very soon. We're going to want everybody to

go through that before it's over.

And so we want you to step up and choose who God wants you to

be. Choose his future by living out

these 7 essentials of true discipleship.

Believe in the promise fulfilling Lord and His purpose

for Inglewood and for the Rocky Mount area.

I believe it. I've seen it, I can taste it.

So these priestly and Levitical families came so.

So temple worship could commence in full force, so God could be

magnified. In fact, one of them that's

mentioned is is Uzi, the chief officer of the Levites.

He was actually a descendant evasive, who was one of the guys

who wrote at least at least some of the Psalms that you read in

your Bible. In chapter 12, it continues,

look at chapter 12, verse one. These are the priests and the

Levites who came up with Zerubbabel, the son of Shaltil.

And so we see those who were were actually part that these

folks mentioned here. We're actually part of some of

those original older groups that have returned.

Some of them had been there for a long time, almost a century

earlier, some of them by this time.

And so they've been there for years.

And so they're they're old, older people who've been around

a long time, but they needed to be encouraged.

They need to be restored to come back and join in the new day and

future. You make a connection.

Anybody making a connection. This is all about us.

It's always been about Inglewood to some degree.

We forget nobody. We want to pursue everyone.

These were the people of God with the connection to what He

had done for them as a fulfillment of His promise.

Now, some of these were also singers who needed to lead the

day-to-day worship, gatekeepers who needed to come to watch the

gates and keep the people secure from outside enemies.

And then the remaining people were going to reside in these

surrounding villages to support them.

But they formed a new people, a new population, a a different

population than the past, focused and ready to serve in

various roles and to move forward in the future.

They all mattered. They were all important.

No one was left behind. I really do hope you're

connecting with this. Just the other day, I was given

a report stating that we have 254 church members over 18 years

of age and may have changed in the last two weeks because of

spring break. The other day I was given a

report stating that we have 254 church members over the age of

18 who have not attended a connect group in the past six

months. Oh yes, we're checking.

We're tracking. I want what percentage do I want

connect groups? That's right.

And, and, and folks who've who've been here in the past,

maybe folks sitting in here right now this morning, think

about this. Here's how I want you to think

about this. Don't think about the preacher

whining on you. Don't turn me off and, and don't

think I'm stepping on your foot. Listen, here's one of the

funniest things about this weekend.

I broke one of my toes Friday morning right before this whole

thing started. My, my left foot looks like raw

hamburger meat right now. It is swollen beyond

imagination. Every time I got up during the

conference, I was just praying that I wouldn't pass out.

So, so I'm not here to just step on your toes.

I don't even want to think about that idea right now.

But listen to me, think of it this way.

Don't think about me picking on anybody.

How would it strengthen all of us if we had over 250 more

adults in our small group ministry?

That's how I want us to think about it.

Not so we can brag about a number.

I don't care about that. That's not the issue here.

I don't care about a number. But so that we can bring God

great glory by seeing even more people studying His Word

together and encouraging and loving one another.

Listen, I'll find you a chair. We'll find you a spot and think

about the residual impact that that would have on our worship,

on our student ministry, on our children's ministry and our

preschool ministry. It overflows.

More praise, more prayers, more discipleship.

New and more people, some of them from the past, but some of

them from the future, needed to come to fill the city.

Listen, March 29th, Palm Sunday is what we call an H week in our

Connect Group Reach ministry, where every single Reach member,

every single Connect group member is going to work together

to reach these folks as well as prospects for Easter.

We're going to have a billion Easter invite cards out for

everybody to take. So you can invite your

neighbors, your family, your friends.

Let's use Easter as a real kick off to this new, this new phase,

this next phase. We want to keep people after

Easter. We don't just need people

visiting on Easter. So find them, bring them to

study about and worship. Let's fill the city.

Look at chapter 12, verse 27. It gets fun and one of the

hardest words in the Old Testament to pronounce coming

up. Here we go, verse 27 and that

the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem.

They sought the Levites in all their places to bring them to

Jerusalem, to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with

thanksgivings and with singing with cymbals, harps and liars.

And the sons of the singers gathered together from the

districts surrounding Jerusalem and from the the village of the

Neeta. Neetaphethites.

I can't do it. It's actually Neetophathites,

also from Beth Gilgal and from the region of Giba and Ozma.

Ozma Beth. For the for the singers.

Listen to this last part, though.

For the singers, they built for themselves villages around

Jerusalem. So secondly, not only need new

people, we need new purity. We're going to see a dedication

experience getting ready to take place.

New purity is required. So the new walls formally

dedicated. Finally, this is a big deal and

they're going to have this grand celebration.

Let's make Easter a grand celebration as we dedicate

everything to him. And so all the Levites and all

the singers living in villages around there were brought to

Jerusalem. I mean, Can you imagine an

entire village made-up of singers?

And that's where I want to live. You talk about a praise team in

choir practice. I mean, they were to play and

sing with gladness. I mean, seriously, aren't you

thankful? Aren't you glad for the many

people who play and sing up here with gladness, using their gifts

and talents to lead us in thankful worship?

Aren't you appreciative of them? Look at verse 30.

Look at verse 30 and the priests and the Levites purified

themselves and they purified the people and the gates and the

wall. Now that's an easy verse to

read, but let me tell you what that meant.

So the priests and the Levites needed to be right with God.

Leaders always do. That has never changed.

We must walk closely with God and abide in Him to know how to

shepherd and how to lead. Well, if we are not doing that,

you need to call us on that and, and stop us.

And so if we don't do that, we're going to fail.

And we should, we should fail. We should completely fail.

We should fall on our faces if we're not walking with God.

But it was not simply the leaders who were required to be

pure and holy. The people needed to walk with

God in discipleship. So the walls and gates, the the

defining parameters and entry points also need to be pure and

holy. If you notice, they dedicate not

just the people, they're dedicating gates and walls.

So those parameters, those definitions need to be holy,

They need to be biblical. The entry points need to be holy

and biblical. So they entered into a new state

of ritual purity. They hadn't.

They hadn't been experienced in years because of the exile.

This is a big deal. And so no matter what the past,

no matter, no matter what your past might contain, whatever

your past prevented, even maybe today's a new day.

This is a new day, this is a new opportunity.

You're not too dirty, you're not too sinful, You're not too far

away. Never think that that God

doesn't want you. None of us deserve his grace.

So you come and join us sinners and help us to build a church.

We all depend upon his cleansing.

And but you got to understand now here's the here's the real

part. Part of that purification

ceremony was the sprinkling of sacrificial blood.

And so blood always represented purification and salvation.

They literally would sprinkle blood on the people and on the

walls and on the gates, if you can imagine such a thing,

because that's what blood represents.

And so as you, your two begins here, we need to commit to a new

purity, a new obedience by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Those here who've trusted in Christ have been covered.

We've been purified, we've been saved, we've been called

righteous by the shedding of his blood to the point that we're

going to learn a whole lot more about this in our study of

Romans. But Romans 322 says the

righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all

who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have

sinned. That means me, that means you

and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His

grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ

Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be

received by faith. This was to show God's

righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed

over former sins. All have sinned, all have fallen

short, all can be justified by His grace.

So only through the blood of Christ are we redeemed, are we

purchased our sin, penalties paid for it.

Our sin is appease. That's what the idea of

propitiation means. It means that that that God's

wrath about sin has been satisfied.

Our former sins are passed over. I don't care how many they are.

I don't care what they are. They can be passed over just

like the Passover in in Exodus, you're not too far away.

I was talking to somebody the other day.

You didn't feel like they were worthy of God and and it doesn't

matter where you are. It matters where he is and what

he's ready to do. So he had to, he had to

perfectly pay for the sin. He's the only one who could your

sin, my sin, past sin, future sin, paid for by that blood

because we've been covered by it.

So the Father then sees this blood offering of the Son

covering and not our sin anymore, making it possible for

us to have that relationship and eternal life with Him.

In fact, Paul writes about it in Ephesians 2.

He says, but now in Christ Jesus, you who are once far off

have been brought near by the blood of Christ, and only Christ

can bring you near. No, no one else can do that.

Nothing else can do that. You were once far off, Jesus can

bring you near again. So the priests are going around

sprinkling. You got to think about it.

They're going around the whole city, sprinkling blood on that

city to symbolize the cleansing, to symbolize the covering of

God's holiness and forgiveness. So we need to be covered in a

new purity by trusting in Christ who sacrificed for us to give us

that opportunity. And with this new purity, a new

commitment, a new appreciation and understanding of the Word

and the will of God for us and this church and the city, and a

new obedience. With all that, the celebration

began. Look at verse 31.

Then I brought the leaders of Judah up into the wall, up onto

the wall, and I noticed they're going up on the wall now and

appointed 2 great choirs that gave thanks.

One went to the South on the wall to the Dung Gate.

Look at verse 36, the second part of it with the musical

instruments of David the man of God, and Ezra the scribe went

before them. So one of them goes heading

around one way and Ezra's helping them.

Verse 38, the other choir of those who gave thanks went to

the north, and I followed them with half of the people on the

wall above the tower of the ovens to the broad wall.

So not only do we need new people, we need new purity.

We also need new praise. Don't, don't take this for

granted. Don't forget what God is doing

and what he's done. It was time to celebrate what he

had done. And so Nehemiah creates these

two great choirs. One goes one way in a counter

clock direction. The other one with Nehemiah goes

in a clockwise direction, walking along the top of the

wall around the whole city. And they praise walked.

They praise walked the entire circumference of the city,

surrounding the city and worship.

Now remember back in chapter 4, one of the enemies named Tobiah

made fun of them when they were building the wall and he said to

them that a small fox could even break down that wall.

Well, now we've got parades going around both sides.

I mean, God, God will. God does not heed the taunts of

man. God supersedes that.

Fear him more than the people around you.

Fear him more than the enemy. Fear him enough to praise him

and to give him the glory and the honor.

And they circled the city with Thanksgiving, with recognition

of God and what God had done. We need to be careful.

We can't take it for granted. When we sing, we need to sing.

When we when we're supposed to worship, we better worship.

When we when we praise, we better praise because we can

take coming here and singing a song for granted.

They circled that they dedicated their city.

They dedicated their lives to him and we have to do the same

thing. We need to claim our city.

We need to claim our neighborhoods.

We need to claim our our schools.

We need to claim our businesses. We need to claim our families

and our friends for Jesus Christ.

Look at verse 40. So both choirs of those who gave

thanks stood in the House of God, and I and half of the

officials with me. Now go to verse 43.

And they offered great sacrifices that day and

rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy.

The women and children also rejoiced.

You think you're supposed to rejoice?

And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

So they ended their parade of praise.

They all gather back together in a coordinated end zone at the

temple. They all in this coordinated

ceremony and they're joined by the rest of the people.

Everybody came. They celebrated with great joy

and they worshipped God. There was no denying their

spirit of Thanksgiving. The entire family joined in.

Everyone joined in. What percentage is that?

And the noise from the celebration?

The noise from the celebration could be heard far outside the

city for some distance. That must have terrified their

enemies. I pray our enemy hears the

praises of Englewood and we strike terror into his, into his

evil heart as lives are restored.

I pray our city hears of the power and wondrous deeds of our

awesome God that He's doing here, not for any glory for us

at all, but for His glory, that they might fear Him, that they

might love him, that they might come to be covered by His Son's

blood. Rejoice, Inglewood, over the

promise fulfilling God that we serve.

He's chosen you and He's just getting started here.

We're just now at the beginning line.

We're just now getting ready to start what I believe He has for

us. So that means that we all need

to be in this together. Look at verse 44.

On that day men were appointed over the store rooms, the

contributions, the first fruits, and the ties to gather into them

the portions required by the law for the priests and for the

Levites, according to the fields of the towns.

For Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who

ministered, and they performed the service of their God and the

service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers,

according to the command of David and his son Solomon.

For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were

directors of the singers, and there were songs of praise and

Thanksgiving to God. And all Israel, in the days of

Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the daily

portions for the singers and the gatekeepers, and they set apart

that which was for the Levites, and the Levites set apart that

which was for the sons of Aaron. We need new people, got to have

new purity. We need new praise.

We also need new provision. Listen, new provisions required.

The celebration hits its climactic point with this, with

the official commissioning of those who are going to oversee

the temple worship. It's time to crank this up

again, time to get it going. They put into action the

previous commitments. You got to remember earlier in

the book, they made commitments to provide for this, to give

ties and offerings and they, they, they're now putting that

into action. It's time to, to call your

pledge. It's time to bring those

commitments forward. And so all Israel gave the

portions, they all provided for the work, They all, they all had

something they could contribute to the new future God had for

them. It was 100% participation in

stewardship. I pray all this sounds familiar.

What will you provide for the future?

This isn't just about money, it's about giftedness, it's

about time, it's about service, it's about your 100%

participation. It's also about your finances.

In a moment, we'll pass the offering place.

If you're a guest here, you put nothing in there other than that

Next steps card. We just love to pray for you and

get to know you. For us, it's time.

And perhaps this morning, perhaps this morning, you need

to receive His provision for you first.

Maybe that's what needs to happen.

That's the transaction that needs to happen before you're

providing provision for His service.

You need to provide hit or you need to receive His provision

for you in grace and salvation. Maybe that's what you need.

Maybe you need forgiveness. Maybe you need restoration.

Maybe you need grace. Maybe you need peace.

Maybe you need hope. Maybe you need purpose.

I love these baptismal testimonies because they talk

about those kinds of things. I pray that sounds great to you.

I pray that that's something you even want.

Listen. Listen for him in your heart

right now. Listen to what he might want

from you, but also what He wants for you.

Listen, I've been so blessed over the years to personally be

part of multiple church plants around the world.

And we actually acknowledged and recognized our church planters

in the men's conference here yesterday.

And to work with thousands of other church planters and

leaders who are planting churches globally.

And, and, and one of the most exciting moments of church

planting is when the church or when the church plant is

dedicated as a new church. It's a new church now.

It's a, a real church. I I remember stories.

Stories like booming mariachi bands and all you can eat

homemade tamales in Oklahoma with the dedication of a brand

new Spanish speaking congregation.

What a party. Huge portions of elk, mule deer

and javelina singing and praying in the Mormon and New Age

dominated mountain towns of Northern Arizona.

Mounds of beautiful, fragrant, fragrant flowers and our shoes

piled out by the door. You could always find mine

because they're four times bigger than anybody else's.

With hours, hours of prayer, hours of worship as the first

church opened in a Hindu dominated village in rural

India. Broiled fish, roasted pig on a

beach as Pelee Baptist Church in a small fishing village on an

island with no missionary presence at all and the cheers

of of leaders and students. When we turned an army barracks

in Manila into a meeting place for the church at Fort Andras

Bonifacio in Manila. Songs and dances of joy as

people arrived after walking for miles, walking for miles,

walking for miles because they couldn't wait to get to worship

along with dirt, red, red dirt roads to attend the very first

church in their region in the Tea and Coffee Mountains of

Thika, Kenya. A soccer clinic and a friendly

match to gather people to share the gospel in Spanish in Roanoke

Rapids in just a couple of weeks.

And we need some of you to help. Or, or the renovation of an old

mall in a little town called Tarboro where a congregation is

meeting right now and preaching the gospel.

Where's next? Who's next?

What will happen next? The joy and understanding and

valuing just how precious, how special, how wonderful this

thing we call church can be to be part of God's people and the

privilege of that. To remember why you exist, who

you are, who you're supposed to become, and the and how and,

and, and what you need to do to do that and the impact that

you're to have on a city. I just pray this vision brings

you gladness and joy that you want to be a part of it.

I pray we can circle this city and this world around us so they

can hear. I pray we praise Him and that we

provide all we are to Him so that those around us can hear

and can know the testimony of a great God who's using his

people. He, he deserves it.

We owe it to him and we desperately need him.

I pray we'll be that people. Father, thank you, Lord, that

you, you want to use this. Thank you, Father, that your

hand is still upon us and you're still working and blessing.

And Father, sometimes, sometimes I fear, Lord, that if we don't,

if we don't fully turn to you, if we don't fully submit to you,

Lord, that you'll remove your hand.

The Father, thank you for still being with us and using US.

Father, I pray, Lord, right now for those here who need to

receive your provision, Father, they need your provision of

forgiveness. They need your provision of

clarity. They need your forgiveness,

Father, to recognize what's really going on in their lives

and that, Father, they need to be saved.

They need to be restored. For some, Father, maybe they

were saved years ago, but they recognize their discipleship

walk is not all that it ought to be.

And Father, I pray, Lord, that this will be a time of renewal,

just like for the people of Israel, a time of restoration, a

time to come back, Father, for others, this may be brand new

and they've never trusted in you.

Lord, I pray right now that if they've never trusted in Jesus

Christ as their Lord and Savior, they'll recognize that they too

are a Sinner just like we all are, just like we read.

And Father, I pray that you'll work through your Holy Spirit to

convict them. So they would be sorry for their

sin. They'd want to turn from their

sin. They'd want to trust in Jesus as

their Savior, trust in Jesus as their Lord, and serve him in the

church and give their life to him.

Others, Father recognized that they need to circle their

families, circle their businesses, circle their

friends. They, they know people who don't

know you. They know people who have

strayed or wondered, wandered away, or have never known your

Father. They need to pray for them.

I pray, Father, with the incredible celebration of the

resurrection coming our way in just a few weeks, that Father

will prepare ourselves to circle the city and that Lord, you'll

fill the city. You'll bring people here so that

they can learn about You and grow.

So, Father, as we sing in just a moment, I just pray that we'll

surrender, that we'll submit. Some need to come and pray at

these steps and just pray before you.

Others might want to talk to a pastor.

Many ought to go to the Next steps room and have a private

prayer time and counsel time with somebody who would love to

just share with them for a few minutes.

So whatever we need to do, Lord, to help us to surrender, you

provide for us, Lord, so that we can give back to you.

And Father, there's our offering plate surpassed that Lord, we

will recognize that this is often seen as a financial

moment. But I pray, Father, it's seen as

a whole lot more than that. I pray it's an act of worship

where we recognize that that Father, this isn't just about

whether I put money in a plate. It's about whether I give my

life in service and discipleship.

Follow ship to you. So, Father, I pray that this

will be a time that Lord you lead us to you now in Christ's

name, Amen. Will you stand with me?

Our worship team is going to help us.

Our pastors will be here. The next Steps room is open.

We'd love to have you go and share their people right in

there. You don't need to come up here

at all. You don't need to have to talk

to any of us. You can go straight over there

or you can come pray. Pray with us that you respond as

long as God leads you. Thank you so much for listening

today and I also hope that you'll go to our website at

englewoodbaptist com as well as our app and find many other

resources that will bless you and your families.

Thank you once again.