Counting for God

And amen.

I want you to turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Nehemiah chapter 7.

Nehemiah 7 · chapter mention

Nehemiah chapter 7.

Nehemiah 7 · chapter mention

We have been looking at the book of Nehemiah.

But now let me tell you what we're going to be doing.

The Lord has really laid strongly on my heart.

And by the way, we have these prayer, how to pray for our leaders.

And we need to be praying for all our leaders.

It's a trying time for all our leaders, for our president, for our congressmen, for our senators, for everyone.

But God laid on my heart a few mornings ago, well, actually about Wednesday morning, I was actually about to work on chapter 9 in the book of Nehemiah.

But next week is going to be the culmination.

Nehemiah chapter 8.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

It is one of the greatest revivals in the Old Testament, if not the greatest.

And I'm so excited, and all preachers have sugar stick sermons.

And I have to admit, if I have one sermon that I probably have preached more than any other sermons, it would be one of, it would probably be Nehemiah chapter 8.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

I was asked to preach that all over the country all the time.

You don't want to miss that.

And really, that's going to be the pivotal point in the book of Nehemiah.

Because as we look and you'll see today, the second part of Nehemiah basically deals with how Nehemiah comes in and organizes the people in the city of Jerusalem and how they are to function and run the city.

So what God laid on my heart starting after next week, that'll be the last Sunday in September.

Starting in October, the month of October, we are going to do a new series called the School of Prayer.

In fact, God's already given me some titles.

One, the School of Prayer, the whole month of October.

We're going to pray.

Hey, like we've never prayed before.

Can I get an amen?

We're going to pray for our nation.

We're going to pray for our leaders.

We're going to pray for our election.

We're going to pray for everything.

We're going to pray for God to stop this virus.

In fact, the school of prayer is going to encompass problem praying.

Anyone got any problems?

Only three of us, four of us?

Oh my goodness.

Are you alive this morning?

If you're alive, you got problems.

So we're going to be, we're going to look at problem praying.

Then we're going to look at pressure praying.

You ever been any under any pressure?

A lot of us right now.

Okay, that's better.

You're getting better.

Hey, pressure praying.

And then what about uh, and I like this, praiseful praying.

And then we're gonna end it, and we're gonna end it with, hey, and I love this right before the election, the prayer of the righteous.

The prayer of the righteous.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7.14.

So we're going to school in the month of October on understanding how to pray and what to pray for.

Can I get an amen?

So you don't want to miss a message on the school of prayer.

I promise you, it's gonna be.

Uh I got so excited because the Lord said, we're talking about it, but it's time.

We are in a, we are walking in our nation.

Hey, 220 years, we are facing obstacles right now that we've never faced in the history of our country.

And it's time now to go to the Lord in prayer and fasting and really just pray down heaven.

Can I get an amen?

And after next week's message, you'll see why God laid on my prayer because we want to pray for what took place in Nehemiah chapter 8 next week for America.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

Can I get an amen?

They literally saw revival break out for months after the wall had been rebuilt.

So, everybody got an outline?

Uh uh worship guide?

Okay, here we go.

Nehemiah chapter 8.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

Let me ask you something.

Have you ever struggled with feeling that your life is not worthwhile?

Good question, isn't it?

I think we've all been there.

I think we've all felt that sometime or another in our life.

I think we all feel that way at times.

Because, do you realize all these deaths this week that I've prayed for and talked to people losing loved ones?

I thought and I wrote this down, and I really do believe this.

I think we all, hey, don't understand that life goes by so quickly.

I meant folks, you it's unreal.

I I was thinking back the other day when I was in my 20s, and now I'm in my 60s, and I thought to myself, where did the time go?

And my kids, I I it's just unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

It really is.

So, and I often think about what am I accomplishing that really matters?

I want you to write that down.

I want you to write this question down.

I want you to put it somewhere where you can continuously ask you this yourself this question.

What am I accomplishing that really matters?

What am I accomplishing that really matters?

How can I spend my life so that it counts for something worthwhile?

That's the other question I want you to write down.

How can I spend my life, and I love that, how can I spend my life so that it counts for something that really matters?

Good questions.

And the correct answer to those questions is to spend our lives so that they count for the purpose, hey, for God and his purpose.

Paul put it this way: whether I eat or drink or whatsoever I do, I do all to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10, 31.

If our lives count for God, then they count not just for time, but for eternity.

Ladies and gentlemen, you don't want your life just to count now.

You want it to count for eternity.

Can I get an amen?

In fact, I started thinking about that.

I really did.

How can I live so that my life counts for God and for eternity?

Well, first of all, I thought, making a mark for God.

God wants us to live a life that makes a mark for God.

And then I thought, God wants us to live a life or a, and I like this word.

I thought about this word, legacy.

And what does the word legacy mean?

A thing handed down by a predecessor.

Something that is handed down by someone else.

And then I went to Psalms 145, too, where he says that we are to pass our godly heritage down to the next generation.

And then I went to Revelation 14 and I thought about this.

And uh Revelation 14, verse 13, it says this blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.

Revelation 14:13

I was thinking about Brother Dick when I looked this verse up yesterday.

Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.

Yes, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors.

Now watch.

And their works do follow them.

In other words, are you living a life or hey, that's gonna make a mark for God?

Are you gonna leave a legacy that will mark all other lies for God?

So that's what we're gonna be talking about.

And believe it or not, Nehemiah chapter 7 has some answers to this important question.

Nehemiah 7 · chapter mention

The chapter serves as a pivot in the book of Nehemiah.

Chapters, remember, verses 1 through 6 that we looked at describe the restoration of the wall.

And now verses uh chapters 8, and we'll end there next week through 13 tells about the restoration of the people.

How Nehemiah organized the people to run the city in a way that would be honoring and glorifying to God.

But chapter 7 begins with three verses describing the precautions that Nehemiah took to guard the newly walled city from attacks, thus wrapping up the first half of the book in verses 4 through 73.

And this chapter looks forward to the reforms of the second half of the book.

But here's what I want you to notice.

Nehemiah uses the list of all these genealogies to instill in the people a reminder that their personal and national identity is God's people and to encourage them to fulfill their responsibilities in light of this identity.

And we see what he is saying here.

He was reminding the people of who they were in Christ, who they were as the nation Judah, who they were as God's chosen people.

Folks, listen to me.

As Christians, we are God's chosen people.

He says, What?

Your chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of Him who's called you out of darkness into his marvelous life, 1 Peter 2.9.

Say this with me.

We're a chosen generation.

Come on.

We're a chosen generation.

And your life, your life, and my life means something to God.

I mean, it's important to God.

And that's what we're going to be looking at in this unbelievable insight that God's going to give us on making our life count for God.

For example, here's the proposition.

Here's the main emphasis on your outline.

To count for God, here's what he says.

You've got to commit yourself to the things that matter to God.

To count for God, you've got to commit yourself to the things that matter to God.

That's it.

That makes sense, doesn't it?

If you're going to count for God, you've got to do the things that matter for God.

Well, I'm going to give you five things in these next few minutes.

Five things, five things that matter to God.

Number one, here we go.

Verse one in Nehemiah chapter seven.

Look at what he says.

Powerful statement.

Now it came to pass when the walls were built, I had set up the doors and the porters and the singers and the Levis were appointed.

Now this gets pretty good.

What he is saying here, now that everything's finished, I got to get my worship leaders, I got to get my singers, and I want them to get ready because the main thing we're going to do now that we've completed the task that God's called us to do to rebuild the walls and to rebuild the city, is we got to do the main thing, and that's to worship God.

And what he was excited about was that, hey, not only were these singers and worship leaders going to be leading, hey, and practicing with choirs and teaching the people how to worship God and worshiping God, but they're also going to be guarding the city because they wanted to make sure that the main purpose was to guard the temple so that people could come and worship God.

That's why church is so important.

Can I get an amen?

It's so important.

Number one, worship matters to God.

Nehemiah mentions that after the walls were rebuilt and the doors were installed, he appointed these folks to what?

Teach the people how to worship God.

I thought about Revelation chapter five.

Man.

Oh, from what we read in the book of Revelation in chapter five, a good part of the heaven, hey, good part of heaven when we're there will be spent praising God in cooperative worship.

Did you know that?

I mean, one of the main things we're going to be doing in heaven is worshiping God.

In fact, listen to what he says in verse 11 in Revelation 5.

The saints gather with the angels and the four living creatures and the 24 elders and sing.

Verse 12, what did they sing?

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.

Verse 13.

And hey, to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessings and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.

Wow.

We will be so caught up, oh, with the beauty of the glory of God that we will lose ourselves in the wonder and the love and the praise of an awesome mighty God.

I was trying to give a good illustration.

And I thought about a few years ago when Susan and I went to the Grand Canyon.

It was on our anniversary.

And we had, the Lord had overnight a cancellation on one of the best rooms in the hotel right there over the canyon had come available.

So we took it.

And so here we are in that hotel on the balcony overlooking the Grand Canyon.

A panoramic view.

And so that afternoon we had our coffee and she had her hot tea, and we were sitting there watching the sun go down over the Grand Canyon.

Unbelievable the brilliancy of the sunset over the Grand Canyon.

I thought to myself, oh my goodness.

How gorgeous, how beautiful, how majestic.

And then the next morning we were up at 4:30 in the morning with our coffee and tea again out on the balcony, watching the sun come up.

It was breathtaking.

It was unbelievable.

Well, folks, as beautiful and as majestic as that views were with the sun setting and the sun rising in the Grand Canyon.

It's nothing to compare with the glory and the majestic beauty and the love and the praise of an awesome God in heaven.

Amen.

Nothing can be compared with that.

Nothing.

So, and that fantastic, unbelievable.

We do that.

And you want to say something to people.

In fact, people were everywhere down under there, and they kept looking up.

How'd they get up there?

Well, we had the room.

But uh people were just saying, I can't believe it.

And they're sharing, and I started thinking about myself, oh, the beauty and the majestic love of God is so gorgeous and so unbelievable that we can't help but share it.

Everybody was saying, look at that.

Take it, oh, it's unreal.

Take pictures.

I mean, they were going crazy because it was so fantastic.

So fantastic.

What do we do when we have this kind of beauty?

That beauty creates a spontaneous praise in us, and a praise.

Hey, and praise is best when it is shared.

It really is.

I was the other day, I did a devotional, and they had a little example in my devotional.

I did this online on Wednesday mornings.

I do a word for the week about five-minute devotion.

And this pastor was walking to his church one morning, and all of a sudden, there was this homeless person that had just come out of the coffee shop, and he was standing there and he was sipping his coffee.

And he took a sip and he just did.

And then he looked up and saw the pastor, and he said, Pastor, would you like to have a sip of my coffee?

And it kind of took the pastor by surprise.

But then the Holy Spirit spoke to him and said, do it.

So he did.

He took a sip of the coffee.

And then, you know, he said, Well, thank you so much.

And you know what the homeless person said?

He says, anything that tastes that good, hey, and anything that God has blessed us with, something that tastes this good, ought to be shared.

Wow.

Wow.

Ladies and gentlemen, all that God has done for you and for me is we are so blessed.

And it is such a blessing that it ought to be shared.

It ought to be shared everywhere we go.

Worship matters.

In fact, in John 4, 23 and 24, he says, the hour is coming now is that when men and women shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

And then he goes on and he says in verse 24, God is spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

John 4, 23 and 24.

So, worship matters as God.

Notice the second thing.

Godly character matters to God.

Godly character matters to God.

Look at verses 2 and 3.

That I gave the charge of Jerusalem to my brother, Hanani, or Hanani, and Hananiah, the leader of the citadel, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many.

And then he goes on and he says, And I said to them, Do not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot.

And while they stand guard, let them shut and bar the doors and appointed guards for among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, one at his watch station, and another in front of his own house.

Wow.

Tremendous truth to write here.

Tremendous truth.

For one, Nehemiah was a godly leader and he understood the delegating of leadership.

And we see this.

He delegated responsibility to other competent men.

While certain administrative skills are necessary for effective leadership, the main requirement is godly character.

Proverbs 27 says, now listen to this.

Blessed is the man who walks in his integrity.

His children shall be blessed after him.

Wow.

There's that heritage again.

That's, hey, there's that legacy again.

Passing on godly character.

It's so important.

And we see that here.

Nehemiah picked two men.

Hananiah was probably his blood brother, if you recall in Nehemiah chapter 1, verses 1 through 3.

Nehemiah 1:1–3

He had come to him at Susa with the report of Jerusalem's sad condition, which pricked the heart of Nehemiah.

And he is appointed as a silver, the civil leader of Jerusalem.

Then, that was Hananiah, and then Hanania is appointed as the military leader.

Because look at verse 2.

He was faith, a faithful man, and feared God more than many.

Why?

Why?

Now, here's what I want you to see.

Godly character matters to God.

Godly character matters to God.

And I thought to myself, so what is godly character?

I meant, man, we could go to the book of Proverbs, preach all day, all week, all year.

But I want to give you three godly character traits here that I think relates to what godly character is.

Number one, faithfulness.

Notice what he said.

The Hebrew word here for faithful or faithfulness is emeth.

Is emeth.

And it means reliable, truthful, and firm.

Truthful.

Reliable and firm.

Hananiah was a man you could depend on.

He spoke the truth.

And if he promised to do something, he did it.

And if you want your life to count for God's work, hey, if you and I want our life to count for God, then we've got to be a man or woman of truth and honor and responsibility.

We got to do what we say we'll do.

Can I get an amen?

Boy, is that lacking in America today.

This is the main character trait that's lacking in everywhere in America today.

It's character, faithfulness.

It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Listen to what he says.

He says, if we walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

And then he goes on in that same chapter in Galatians 5 and said, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness.

Faithfulness.

It is a quality of the Spirit of God, us being faithful, folks.

It really is.

Paul put it this way: moreover, it's required in a steward that a man be found faithful.

1 Corinthians 4, 2.

We don't have a choice.

We've got to be faithful people.

And I know I'm preaching to the choir here.

I know that because you're here, you're faithful.

But that's, you don't realize how important that is to God.

He loves faithfulness.

It is one of those key characteristics of what a Christian ought to be, is faithful.

In fact, faithfulness is also an essential ingredient in relationships.

If you don't trust someone, how can you have a relationship with that person?

Do you understand that?

That's so important, folks.

If you, hey, I how can I lead you or be your pastor if you can't trust me?

And how can I depend on you if I can't trust you?

I mean, faithfulness is that ingredient that I don't even think we understand.

If one thing you can teach your children and your teenagers is faithfulness.

I had a rule in my house when my kids started something, they didn't quit it.

Now they didn't have to do it at like like I can remember Mary was playing volleyball, and the tea the coach had already had her six players.

And uh, so she wasn't gonna play anybody else because they had gone to the state and she wanted to win state.

And Mary was really good, and she was and she would put her in as the seventh player, but Mary got a little discouraged because she wasn't getting to play a whole lot, and she said, Dad, I'm gonna I'm just not gonna play anymore.

I said, No, no, no, no, you're not.

You're not quitting.

I said, now you you don't have to play next year.

But you made a commitment.

But Dad, she doesn't need me.

I said, Mary, you don't know that.

She will need you.

If one of those six gets hurt, you're up.

And sure enough, one of them did get hurt, and she helped go to the playoffs.

So, but if she had quit, if she had quit, she had let herself down, but she would have ended up letting the team down.

Amen.

You start something, you finish it.

Amen?

It's better not to, Ecclesiastes 5 says it's better not to make a commitment than to make a commitment and not fulfill it.

Faithfulness, folks, faithfulness is so important.

God, who always speaks truth and keeps his word as we grow in godliness, we will grow in faithfulness.

Listen to what 2 Timothy 2.15 says.

If we believe not, yet God abides faithful.

In other words, God's always faithful.

He's not gonna let us down.

Can I get an amen?

Never will he let us down.

And we need that characteristic.

Now, are you ready?

Let me briefly suggest four.

Now, this is not in your notes because God gave me this after I'd already done the outline.

But but get ready under this point, because this is awesome.

I'm gonna give it to you quick.

Four ways to develop faithfulness.

I asked my question that.

How have I developed my faithfulness over 40 plus years?

So this is worth you writing down somewhere.

How do you develop faithfulness?

Here we go.

Number one, recognize and define the responsibilities that God has given to you.

Recognize and define the responsibilities God has given to you.

I know what He's given to me.

He's given to me to be a pastor, to be a preacher, to give myself continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word of God, Acts 6.4, to shepherd you, to take care of you, and to know what's going on in your life so I can pray for you, to help you any way that the church can.

I know what my responsibilities and my priorities are.

So you've got to, hey, if you don't know what you're doing, how can you be effective?

Well, you say, Well, I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

Well, start doing something or ask the pastors, and you'll see.

You'll find.

Every one of you as a Christian has a gift.

You have talents.

We just need to find out what they are and then use them.

That's what we do.

It's so important.

In fact, let me help you.

Are you ready?

As a Christian, you're responsible, hey, to obey God's command and live a morally pure life that honors Him.

Amen.

If you love me, keep my commandments.

John 14, 15.

That's one.

You know what else you're to do?

Hey, as a husband and father, we are responsible to provide the basic needs for our family.

1 Peter 5.8 says that if you don't provide for the basic needs of your own household, you're worse than an unbeliever.

1 Peter 5.8.

That's what it says.

And then thirdly, hey, as parents, we're responsible to train our children in God's ways.

Can us have an amen.

Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of God.

That's not the church's place at your place.

It's the church's place to come alongside and help you.

That's why we have children's church.

That's why we have a wana.

We want to help you put the word of God in their little hearts and souls.

Amen.

We want them to have a burden and a love and an excitement and a passion, a pathos for the things of God.

Oh, I can remember my grandmother and granddaddy teaching me.

They loved it.

Train up a child in the way it should go, and they'll never depart from it.

They may waver, but they'll come back.

They'll come back.

So, number two, start with and don't neglect the small things.

Got to do the small things.

Can I get an amen?

Listen to what Jesus said.

If you're faithful in little things, you'll be faithful with much.

Luke 16, 10.

Little things, let me tell you what little things are.

You ready?

What little things are?

Little things are when you tell somebody you're going to be there, you're there.

Or if you tell somebody you're going to go do something for them, you do it.

Hello?

I'm very cautious of what I if you ask me to do something.

Hey, I I don't take that lightly because early in my ministry I used to tell everybody I'll do it.

And my my best friend, David, who helped start this church, or I helped him start it the church, he used to say, Pastor, if you did everything you told everybody you would do, you couldn't do it.

And he says, That's a bad, that's a bad character trait.

I'll never forget that as long as I live.

I changed my thinking about me, saying, Oh, yeah, Paul, I'll help you.

Let me think about this.

Hey, Paul, what does this consist of?

I mean, what what are you expecting out of me to help on this?

Then I give my answer.

But once I give it, I do it.

Can I get an amen?

Amen?

And that's good, folks.

And then let me tell you another little thing, little things.

Is the way you handle your money.

That's a little thing, but that's a big thing.

And let me tell you why.

1 Timothy 6 10 says the love of money is the root of all evil.

Didn't say money's evil, it said the love of money's evil.

Are you with me?

Are you with me?

So it's important.

It's important how you use your money.

It's important how you spend your money.

And you've heard my little jars.

You need at least, and then Susan added the third jar.

I don't like the third jar.

That's the government's jar.

But hey, God's jar.

10 cents out of every dollar goes in God's jar.

10 cent in savings jar out of every dollar goes in savings.

And then, I hate to say it, then you gotta pay your taxes, the government's jar.

Don't remind me.

I'm in, I'm having a good time.

But what I'm trying to tell you is, hey, so it matters.

And let me say something.

Don't go out and allow the the worst thing you can do is get a credit card and spend more than you're able to pay back.

I, the borrower servant to the lender.

That's right.

But let me say this.

I now are you against credit cards?

Absolutely not.

Whoa, whoa.

But wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

If you can control the card, that means you pay the interest off every month.

It's a great way to build credit, but no debt.

Amen.

But if you can't discipline yourself to pay that credit card off at the end of the month, then you don't need a credit card.

You need to cut it up.

Dave Ramsey would say cut it up anyway.

So, it matters.

The little thing.

Hey, it matters that you pay your bills on time.

Hello?

That's your testimony.

The proverb says, if you have money to give to the person that you owe, give it to them.

Don't wait.

Those are the little things that matter in character.

Can I get an amen or owe me?

Or both.

Amen, owe me.

So, those are totally important.

Then number three, keep your relational priorities straight.

Number one, your priority's got to be to Jesus.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

All these other things should be added unto you.

You need quiet time, you need prayer time.

I love what the Berean Christians were better than those at Thessalonica because they received the word of God with gladness and excitement and with joy.

And then notice what they said in Acts 17, 11.

And then they searched the scriptures daily.

Whether those things were so.

Wow, that's good.

Then your relationship with your family is next.

If I do not order my family relationships properly, I am not qualified to lead the local church as a pastor.

That's how important they are.

Relationships are so important that John says that if I do not love my brother whom I have seen, how can I love God whom I'm not seen?

And then thirdly, our relationships with our church family.

I love Hebrews 10.

Everybody quotes Hebrews 10, 25, not forsaking the assemblings ourselves together.

But the context is you need to look at verse 24 first and listen to what it says.

It says, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.

In other words, we come to church to stir one another, to love on one another, to comfort one another, to help one another, to build each other up, to bear one another's burdens.

That's why we come to church.

I look forward every Sunday to being here with you.

Because I'm going to get to love on you.

I know you're going to love back on me, and we're going to get to share.

I don't know how many people have been shared, already shared this morning things that I can pray for them about and their families.

That's why we come to church.

God wants you in church.

It pleases God for you to be in church.

He loves you.

Not forsaking.

And then verse 25, not forsaking the assemblings of ourselves together, as the manner of some are, but exhorting one another so much more as you see the day approaching.

In other words, you exhort each other.

Hey, I can't wait to see you in church Sunday or Wednesday night.

Man, let's go.

I can't wait to see what God's going to teach me.

And I can't wait to see what God's got for me.

I use this illustration every time about church attendance, and I always use it.

David Wilson, who's with the Lord now, who started all this, the surpros, and how I watched God use him 35 years to become one of the number one SERPO and how David brought that legacy.

In fact, that's why Benji's not here.

He's in Gush Shores with all the major storms that are down there.

It's just been horrific in Gush Shores.

So be praying for those folks too.

I forgot to say there, well, I got friends down there.

And so we're praying for them too.

But what I'm saying is, you listen to what David said.

This again is a profound statement.

He said, every decision of major consequences in my life that I made, God gave me the answer when I was in church.

In a church service.

Is that not awesome?

Don't tell me it doesn't matter that you're in church.

It matters.

It's God's.

David said, I was glad when they said, let us go into the house of the Lord.

Psalms 122.

All right.

And then keep your relational priorities straight.

Start with and don't neglect the small things.

Recognize and define the responsibility that God's given you to do.

And the last thing, learn to use your time more effectively.

Wow, that's good.

That is good.

Now that's under faithfulness.

That's how you be faithful.

That's what I've learned over my 42 years plus of ministry.

These are things that I was taught and that I've done consistently, redeeming the time because the days are evil.

Amen?

We all have the same amount of hours in a week, 168.

We all have the same amount of hours in a day, 24.

Now, how you use them is up to you.

And by the way, most people say I just don't have enough time to do what I need to do.

It's because they have not disciplined themselves and they don't understand the responsibility or organizes their priorities.

Can I say something right here?

Then I'm going on.

You ready?

You ready for this?

Every one of us do what we want to do.

So don't tell me that.

I just don't have enough time to do what I need to do.

No, you have enough time to do what you want to do.

Maybe not what you need to do, but what you want to do.

I have time to help Susan wash dishes, but I don't want to.

But I do.

Amen.

Number two.

The second godly character trait is the fear of God.

Fear God more.

He feared God.

Hannah and I fear God more than many.

The fear of God is a matter of degree.

Some fear God a little, others fear God more.

The fear of God grows out of the knowledge of God.

1 Peter 3.18.

Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

If you want your life to count for God, you gotta grow in the fear of God.

You gotta honor Him.

You gotta respect Him.

You gotta keep Him first in your life.

Can I get an Amen?

Let me give you a verse that might get your attention about the fear of God.

In Luke 12, 5, here's what he says: I will show you whom ye shall fear.

Fear him which after he hath killed has passed, hey, has power to cast into hell.

Yea, I say unto you, fear him.

In other words, we bring, hey, we honor God because we know we honor him because, and we're blessed because of the grace of God.

But realizing that he loved us so much and his grace is so powerful that he saved us from allowing us to go to hell.

Folks, that's pretty good.

Fear him, honor him.

Number three, the third characteristic faithfulness, fear of God.

Oh, by the way, I put these verses, I didn't quote them to you.

Ecclesiastes 12, 13 and 14 says, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Did you hear that?

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Watch.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all men.

And then verse 14 literally says, we shall stand before him and give an account of everything we've done.

That's pretty powerful, folks.

And then watchfulness.

He trusted God, Nehemiah did, but he also set up watchmen.

Jesus warns us frequently to be an alert.

Hey, 1 Peter, be sober.

Hey, be on the alert.

Why?

Your adversary, the devil, prowls around, seeking whom he may devour.

Matthew 26, 41, Jesus said, hey, be watchful.

The flesh is, hey, weak.

Be watchful.

And then I started thinking.

Here it is.

As married couples, be alert.

Hey, we need to watch out for the spiritual dangers that Satan, hey, throws or really, hey, sets traps as we talked about it for our past to avoid falling into sins that would destroy us.

Married couples, be alert to the dangers that could destroy your marriage.

Satan loves to destroy homes.

And there's a reason for that.

As goes the home, goes the church.

And as goes the church, goes the government, by the way.

That's why you see the mess we're in right now.

Satan has done a tremendous, horrific job at destroying the homes.

We've got to set up guards.

We've got to set up walls.

As parents, we need to be alert to the dangers that could destroy our children.

Church leaders, we need to be aware of the dangers that could bring damage to our church flock.

False doctrine.

And you know what I've learned?

That Satan so masterfully does, you know when he attacks probably some of the most vehement times?

Right after you've had the greatest success.

Hello.

What about Elijah on Mount Carmel?

Huh?

What about right here?

After he had just finished rebuilding the wall and hanging the gates.

Tobias and Sambalat, they came with everything they had after the victory.

We need to be especially on guard in our homes.

Nehemiah instructed in verse 3 each one stand guard in front of his own house.

Hey, we need to guard what's coming into our home through our media.

I'm telling you, folks, it's pitiful.

I bet I've watched Andy Griffin so much I can tell you verbatim.

Really?

I mean, there's nothing to watch.

You can't even you go on a on The movie channel.

When's the last time you saw hey a G rated movie?

The best you can get is PG 13.

You know what that is?

If they're 13 years old, they shouldn't be watching it.

13 and under shouldn't be watching it.

That's garbage.

Garbage in, garbage out.

We need to be protective.

Number three, people matter to God.

People matter to God.

Oh, that's good.

Worship matters to God.

Godly character matters to God.

People matter to God.

Verses 4 through 73.

I'm not going to take time to look at the lineage and call those names, but let me tell you what I do know.

From a historical salvation perspective, these Jewish genealogical records are important because when the Messiah came to this earth, it was important to prove that he was a descendant from the tribe of Judah and the lineage of David.

But the list illustrates three important points that apply to us.

This is good.

In other words, if you're a Christian, you ought to exhibit, you ought to bear fruit that you're a Christian.

Can I get an amen?

Oh, I'm a Christian.

Oh, do you live it?

Do you think it?

Do you talk it?

We I have people all the time say, oh, yeah, I'm a Christian.

Well, here's the common answer.

I go to church.

You can go to church and still go to hell.

Hello?

I know that was pretty hard.

But that's true.

In fact, watch this.

People matter to God.

Number one, A, under that.

Individuals are important to God.

He cares about you.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are his works.

Woo! Hey, let me tell you, I saw I saw a verse the other day I'd never seen before, and I don't know how I've missed it.

But I want you to listen.

He said that I knew, I approved of you.

Watch this.

I approved of you before I formed you in the womb.

Woo! You're not an accident.

You're not an accident.

Yeah, but you know, no.

I don't care what the consequences are.

I don't care what the circumstances were.

You're not an accident.

Isn't that good?

He was pleased with you before he formed you.

And then you go to Psalms 139, verse 14.

Psalms 139:14

Fearfully and wonderfully made.

Now watch this.

Although these names do not mean anything to me and you.

All these names, they mean something to God.

Here's what he knows he knows his people by name.

And then listen to this.

Jesus, the good shepherd, calls his own sheep by name, and they follow him because they know his voice.

John 10, 3 and 4.

Let me tell you something.

If you're a Christian, you love God, you're going to be obedient to God.

You're going to do what you're supposed to do.

Hello?

You with me?

Is that not good?

Now I try to learn all your names and I don't do a good job.

I call my girls the wrong name sometimes.

I'll call Stephanie Mary and Mary Stephanie.

It's amazing how I can memorize all the scripture and I can't even know my own name.

I never figured that one out.

But Jeremia 1.5, before I formed you, I approved to you.

Man, that has rang my bell.

Now, make sure that Jesus knows you by name.

You may be thinking, does Jesus know everyone by name?

Now watch this.

In the sense of his omniscience, yes, he knows everybody.

Now watch.

But in the sense of personal knowledge, no.

What do you mean?

On judgment day, he will say to some who cry, Lord, Lord, who did many things in his name, I never knew you.

Depart from me.

You who practice lawlessness.

Matthew 7, 23, they were not truly his sheep because they did not follow him.

He gives eternal life to his sheep, and they will never perish, and no one can pluck them out of his hand.

John 10, 28.

Make sure that you are one of his sheep.

Number two, families are important to God.

The list contains many family groups in verses 8 through 25.

The family is the basic unit of society.

It's the building blocks of the local church.

That's why he says, Except the Lord build the house that labor in vain that build it.

Psalms 127, 1.

That's why he says we ought to choose you to stay whom you're going to serve.

For me and my house, we're going to serve God.

You've got to protect your home in your house.

And then men are important to God.

Husbands are to grant their wives honor and so co-heirs of the grace of the lie, uh of the lie, 1 Peter 3, 7.

But let me say this: men are to be godly leaders in their homes.

God designed it that way.

Just like Jesus submits to God the Father, we ought to submit to the leadership of the husbands, of your pastors.

That's what we do.

It's beautiful.

In fact, God's word says 1 Corinthians 11 3, Ephesians 5.23.

Husbands are the head of the wives, just as God is the head of Christ, and Christ is the head of the church.

To count for God, we must commit ourselves to what matters to God.

Worship, godly character, and people.

And number four, your place in God's family history matters to God.

Woo! I love it.

I love it.

You matter.

You matter.

God's put you here at this point in history.

I wrote this down.

I want you to right here.

Stop for just a minute.

I want you to think what you're about to hear.

I wrote this to myself.

Every time I've read it, it really grips my heart.

Listen to this.

It is also important that we realize, to realize that God puts you and me here at this point in the history of his people to fulfill the role that he's ordained for you.

We're all right in the middle of a pandemic.

War.

Violence.

But do you realize God has put you and me here right now to fulfill what he's called us to do?

This is no accident.

And what are we to do?

Lift him up, John 12, 32.

And if he be lifted up, he'll draw all men unto himself.

Amen?

Hey.

We are to pass on everything that we are to the next generation.

And then the last thing, number five, your understanding of and commitment to God's purpose matters to him.

Verse 6.

Verse 6.

Look at what he says.

These are the people of the prophets who came back from the captivity of those who have been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his city.

Wow.

This was not easy for them to leave Babylon.

They had been there hundreds of years, very comfortable.

They had to leave their city, go back to, hey, Jerusalem, a place that was torn down in rubbles.

But they were committed to doing what God told them to do.

And they remembered that Abraham, God had told Abraham what he was going to do and how he's going to bless his people and how he's going to bring them back to Jerusalem and build the temple.

So they were fulfilling what God told them to do.

If you know Christ, he's given you a spiritual gift, he's given us material resources and opportunities to be used to glorify Him and further His purpose.

Now here it is, as I wrap it up.

To count for God, commit yourself to His purpose for your life.

There is no greater reason to live than to live for God's purpose.

So here's the invitation this morning.

One question.

Do you know God's purpose for your life?

Now, if you're not saved, if you're sitting here this morning watching online, and you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, it is his purpose for you to have a relationship personally with him.

And I'm gonna give you that opportunity right now, right where you are, every head bow, every eye close, watching online.