Build Together

All right, all right, all right, all right, all right.

It's awesome to be with you guys.

My name is Russ.

If I hadn't had a chance to meet you, and if you're here maybe for the first Sunday, I want to say a special welcome uh to you.

I I know I met a couple people that that came in this morning that was their uh first time being with us.

We want to say a big time special welcome to all of you uh that are here, but especially those that are here um for the first time.

So so thankful uh that you were here.

And um I I'm gonna I'm gonna teach a message out of Nehemiah.

Um, and if you want to go ahead and turn to that book, it's it's it's it's in the Old Testament in my copy of God's Word, which I know is not gonna be the same, it's on page uh 399.

Um so, but we are but but we're we're talking about vi the the vision that God's given us for our church, we're talking about the unity in the church, and so uh the Holy Spirit just kind of um impressed upon me that we're we're talking about a collective movement, and I don't I don't want to neglect the reality that some of you came in, and this idea of us moving forward, building a building, a God moving in our church, it's just not really at the top of your list because you're dealing with something that is that is so personal and it may be so painful and it may be so difficult.

I want you to know the Holy Spirit and God, um, Jesus is with you.

He's with you.

And I don't want to neglect the fact that you are going through something in your life where you desperately need a touch of the Lord.

So as I talk about this big vision, I talk about what we're doing and what God's what God's called us to, I don't want to neglect.

Some of you are just hurting.

You're hurting, and I'm not indifferent to that.

God is certainly not indifferent to that.

God is with you.

God is with us, Emmanuel.

God is with us, God with us.

And so wherever you are, as you hear what we're talking about, I believe that God works simultaneously, collectively through a body, and then at the same time, He works individually in every one of your hearts and souls.

And so I don't want to, I don't want to just kind of gloss over the fact that you came in and your heart is hurting, something's going on, you've got emotional needs, you've got spiritual needs, you've got physical needs, um, you've got you've got you've got some things going on.

And I don't want to neglect that.

Uh, but but I want to I want to I want to I want to move forward and and and this applies to you, but it also it applies to us.

We're talking about vision today.

Vision and and and the vision as we as we teach through this section on Nehemiah.

What is the word vision?

People talk about vision.

It's a word that's probably overused.

It's a concept that that probably has lost some of its really significant meaning.

But let me tell you what I learned from a pastor, um, and I went I went back and pulled out some notes from like 1997-98, and and and I had written down, listening to a pastor that has had a lot of influence in my life, and he said, vision is the ability to see, the ability to see what should be, fueled by the conviction of what should be, the ability to see what could be.

Let me start over.

Vision is the ability to see what could be, fueled by the conviction of what should be.

And if I didn't get that right, I'm just gonna turn around and look at the screen.

Vision is seeing what could be, fueled by the conviction of what should be, right?

The ability to see what could be, fueled by the conviction of what should be.

You see that?

And so several years pass, and my pastor, Ike Rikert, he he said it a little bit more simple.

He said, Vision is the is the ability to see the preferable future.

It's the ability to envision what the preferable future should be, right?

And so we we we said last year at about this time as we launched um four generations, the first part of four generations, God's called us to move forward.

God's called us to build a facility.

And that's not necessarily something that I cherish.

It's not something that I necessarily uh, it's not a process I enjoy.

Um it's it's uh but but I don't want to miss out on what God wants for the future.

I don't want to miss out on what God has for this generation.

At 11 o'clock, all of these seats will be filled with students.

This whole section is filled with students, and they they come at 11 o'clock.

You know what they're doing right now?

They're watching this online, right?

No, they're sleeping.

They're sleeping.

And so here's what we said.

We said we want to we want to press in into the into the person and presence of Jesus.

This is what we said last year.

Really, the the vision is press in to the person and presence of Jesus.

It's really, we really wanted to grow as a church.

And I think we have.

Not numerically, we've grown numerically, we have.

But we I believe we've also grown spiritually.

We've pressed into the presence of Jesus.

We've seen God work in some amazing ways.

Number two, we said we wanted 100% engagement.

100% of people engaged in the process.

It's not just one person, it's not two people, it's not three that just carry the load, whether it's spiritual, financial.

It's everybody.

Because here's what you think.

You think what I think.

Man, I just don't I don't have what it takes.

I I'm what I have is a drop in the bucket.

Well, we need a lot of drops.

And your drop matters.

It matters.

Some of you could write a check for probably a good portion of what we of what we need to move forward.

But that's that's not the answer.

The answer is 100% engagement.

The answer is everybody contributes, everybody's a part, everybody sows, everybody at whatever level it is.

And then thirdly, we want to see God work.

Now listen to this.

We want to see God work in such a way that we will reach more people, disciple more followers, and advance the kingdom through adding to our facilities here at Walnut Grove.

And so you don't, you don't, if you haven't been here all of January, you may not be aware, but but some of you that have been here the first part of the year, almost every Sunday we're pulling out chairs.

This is a holiday weekend, right?

This is a holiday weekend, and I don't know about you, but I almost didn't come to church this morning.

Man, at 4 o'clock or 4 30, whatever it was, I was like, Jesus is coming.

Jesus is coming.

Is that a trumpet?

That's a trumpet.

My dog even knew.

And I was like, nobody's gonna be here.

I was like, so so, but but uh, and this is a holiday weekend, so I understand all that.

But we we've been packed, we've been packed, we've been overwhelmed, and and you know we don't talk, we don't brag, we don't, we don't care.

I don't like how many numbers we have, we track it, because when when you go forward with a plan that we're going forward with, banks and and other important entities, they want to know, they want to know numbers.

And so just a few weeks ago, we had the largest number of people on our campuses that we've ever had outside of an Easter or a Christmas.

We had 800 and yeah, praise God, that's great.

And I don't, those numbers mean nothing to me except that they represent souls that need Jesus and need the gospel.

And so over 800 people here, and that's that was not, and we've had baptisms, we've had a lot of guests.

I uh, you know, we'll have a we've got another baptism.

We I think we baptized 10 people already.

We got another one at 11 o'clock this morning.

Yeah, praise the Lord for that.

So God, God is working, but we want we want to prepare for the future.

We we've got the there's a vision, and I want you to share the vision with me.

It's the preferable future.

It's being the ability to see this city, this county, this area, this East Metro, Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, we want to impact other cultures and countries.

We want to see God.

We don't want to see any limits.

And so while it's not necessary, uh, necessarily uh, you know, something I enjoy, but I feel like the Lord has led us.

And our church has affirmed that.

Those of you that have been a part of that, you we our church affirmed that.

So vision is the ability to see the preferable future.

It's being able to visualize what could be fueled by the conviction of what should be.

Hopefully that that resonates with you.

Um one of the greatest movies of all time is called Remember the Titans.

And if you haven't seen it, I would encourage you to see it.

Great movie, sports movie, dramatic movie is so good.

Um it's it's it's loosely based on a true story, real story.

And if you haven't seen it, it takes place during the civil rights movement when schools were being integrated for the first time in our country.

And so this school, the school this movie highlights is in Virginia.

And so they they combine all the white football team from one school with all the football team from an all-black school, and they pull them together into one team.

And you can imagine during the civil rights era, uh the potential tension with that.

Two head coaches uh uh vying for control.

And so the the job is given to Coach Boone, who is who's played by Denzel Washington in the movie.

And so um and so there's a turning point in the movie while the team is as is at camp.

So he takes them to camp.

They're in Virginia, they travel uh to camp, and they're they're close to um where Gettysburg, the Gettysburg battle was fought.

And so the coach is trying, you know what he's doing?

He's got a vision.

He's got a vision for uh the uh uh white football players and black football players to come together in unity.

And of course, he wants to win games, but I love I love Coach Boone.

He's he's a good coach because he cares more about the players, and he knows that he is he is in the middle of a historical moment.

I think he understands that.

This is significant.

And so he he he sees the tension, he sees it, and he's trying to think, what can I do?

And so he wakes the team up in the middle of the night.

Anybody gone to a football camp and you were awakened in the middle of the night?

I was, and you had to run.

I I'll some of y'all need some exercise.

Y'all I'll meet you at three o'clock.

I could have I could have met you this morning at four.

Uh right at right as we were.

So I hey, just you know, the best thing to do, let's let's look at this clip.

Let's just watch it.

Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go.

Wake up, gentlemen.

It's late.

It's 3 a.m.

in the morning.

All right, listen up.

You will follow Doc, myself, and the other coaches.

We're gonna take a little run through the woods.

If you get lost along the way, don't bother coming back to camp.

Just hitchhike your hind parts on home.

Any questions?

Coach, it's a high school football team.

We're not the Marines here.

Let's go.

Let's go.

Anybody know what this place is?

This is Gettysburg.

This is where they fought the Battle of Gettysburg.

Fifty thousand men died right here on this field.

Fighting the same fight.

And we're still fighting amongst ourselves today.

This green field right here, painted red, bubbling with the blood of young boys, smoke, and hot lead pouring right through their bodies.

Listen to their souls, man.

Kill my brother with malice in my heart, hatred, destroy my family.

You listen.

Take a lesson from the dead.

If we don't come together right now on this hollow ground, we too will be destroyed.

Just like they don't care if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other.

And maybe, I don't know, maybe having to play this game like men.

It's powerful.

Let me read just a quote from Coach Boone.

He said, This is where they fought the Battle of Gettysburg.

50,000 men died right here on this field fighting the same fight that we're still fighting among ourselves today.

If we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed just like they were.

Coach Boone knew that if the team didn't overcome their obstacles, they were destined to fail.

And and and, you know, it's one thing to talk about football, but there's a way bigger story.

There's a so much of a larger cost.

There's so much at stake than just a football game.

As a matter of fact, let me tell you, what happens today, what happens as we move forward, listen, eternity is at stake for people.

Eternity is at stake for people.

He says, hey, we we if we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we'll we'll be destroyed just like they were.

He knew that he had to get his team unified.

He had to get them on the same page.

If they were going to have breakthrough, he had to pull them together.

And so listen, unity.

Unity is an imperative.

Unity is imperative if we're going to experience breakthrough that God wants us to experience.

Our culture paints a different narrative.

And we're seeing that lived out in our culture right now in a nation that is divided.

As a matter of fact, there's obstacles that we have.

One is the idol of individualism.

The idol of individualism.

It's this idea.

You don't need anybody else.

Just be independent.

Look out for yourself.

Hey, here's what people say.

Here's what I hear from people all the time.

I know God.

I love God.

I put my faith in Jesus.

I just don't do the church thing.

Or I've done the church thing.

And I and I, you know, I'm okay with God.

God and I are okay.

But but I don't I don't need anybody else.

It's this idea of the American value of just pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

It's what kept my dad from surrendering to Christ his whole life.

Finally, in the last stages of his life, he turned to Christ.

And he said, He would tell us on his deathbed, he said, first of all, he said, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry for for being harsh.

I'm sorry for being hard-hearted.

I'm sorry for for being unfaithful to my mother.

He said, but but I I want you to know I put my faith in Christ, and there's a whole great story there.

The second part of this is this idea of division.

It's the culture of us versus them.

You find your group, find your party, find your political position, you stick with your people.

If someone disagree with you, you're the enemy.

You're the enemy.

We can't disagree and still, you know, remain civil and have relationships.

And so we see that.

You see, listen, that's the worst part of social media.

I like keeping up with people and all the fun things going on in their life.

But man, you you start spouting just negative stuff, unfollow.

Unfollow.

I'm not, that's just not what I'm going to be a party to.

And so the third part, there's this consumer mentality.

What's in it for me?

What's in it for me?

We see that in church life.

You know, that's I like that church because they got a great worship leader.

I like that church, man, because they've got a great preacher.

I like this church because they've got a cool vibe.

They've got good coffee.

I mean, this is really what people say.

It's what it's what happened.

And so it's hard to have breakthrough in life when all of these thoughts and divisions divide us.

And so God wants us to have a breakthrough.

Jesus said it this way, Matthew 12, 25.

He said, every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.

Now I don't, I don't, now let me say this.

I don't feel like we're a divided church.

But if we don't have 100% engagement in what the vision, for the vision God has given us, we might as well be divided.

You come up with any excuse you want to, but if you don't participate and you're not on board and you don't have engagement, and I'm listening I'm not Talking about amounts of money.

I'm talking about the overall big picture.

Let's move together in unity.

And so we're talking about unity today.

Everybody on board.

And the big idea is this God accomplishes great things when his people unite for his purpose.

God accomplishes great things when his people unite for his purpose.

And so we want the Holy Spirit to work and move as we study Scripture.

Last week we began this series, 4 Generations 2.0, and we talked about the heartbeat and the passion we have as a church.

We're thankful for what God has done, and God is not done with us yet.

God wants to use our church to reach our community.

God wants to use our church to send out missionaries.

God wants to use our church in so many ways that is beyond what we can comprehend.

And so we're looking at the story of Nehemiah.

And if you're not familiar with the story of Nehemiah, I hope I gave an adequate introduction, but I'll go over just a couple of high points.

It's an Old Testament book.

It takes place while the nation of Israel has been exiled.

What does that mean?

It means that God had had He had Israel, God's people, the Hebrew nation, they were his chosen people.

They were chosen to be a light to the world.

He had chosen them to represent himself in this earth, in this world.

And so part of that was a promise to take them to a land that was flowing with milk and honey called the Promised Land, modern-day Israel, where Israel is right now, where their country resides.

However, they experienced attack from any enemy nations.

They disobeyed God, and part of God's promise was hey, you obey me, you get blessed.

You disobey, you face curses.

And so they're invaded by Babylon.

They're exiled.

Many are exiled.

The city is in ruins.

The walls are torn down.

Some people are left.

They take many and march them to Babylon.

And later on, the Babylonians are conquered by Persia.

And so Persia takes over, I guess, managing or utilizing God's people as slaves.

And this is where the story picks up.

Nehemiah is living in a foreign land.

He is in Persia, and he is serving in a serving in a political position.

He's not serving because he has money.

You know what he's doing?

He's the cupbearer.

A lowly cupbearer.

It would be a waiter, a server.

And his job is to taste the food for the king.

Make sure that nobody's going to poison the king.

His job is to taste the wine.

So nobody poisons the king.

So Nehemiah does not have a prominent position.

But God chooses to use it.

You think here, I know, I know this is the way I think.

I probably often think way too lowly of myself.

Not that I should think high of myself.

Humility is not thinking lowly of yourself.

Humility is just thinking of yourself less.

And realizing who you are in relationship to God and other people.

And so Nehemiah, he approaches the Persian king.

He hears about the situation in Jerusalem.

His heart breaks.

And you know what?

God gives him a vision.

God gives them a vision.

And so he asked, he asked the Persian king, he asked Artaxerxes, he says, Hey, will you let me go back?

Will you give me a letter so I can pass through these foreign lands?

Hey, will you also contact that leader that has the forest full of cedar trees?

So we can take some of that wood and use it to rebuild the walls, rebuild the gates, and to put things back into place.

And so he's moved to action.

He doesn't know.

The king might kill him right there on the spot.

But the king shows him grace.

The king shows him favor.

Nehemiah 2, 11 through 16.

Here we are.

He says, so I arrived in Jerusalem three days later.

I slipped out during the night, taking only a few others with me.

I had not told anyone about the plans God had put in my heart for Jerusalem.

We took no pack animals with us except the donkey that I was riding.

After dark, I went out through the valley gate, past the jackal's well, and over to the dung gate to inspect the broken walls and burn gates.

By the way, I've been.

I've walked through the Dungate.

There's the Dungate.

And it's probably not what you think.

But it's still there.

What's interesting is you the walls that are there now, not the same walls that Nehemiah rebuilt.

I mean, over generations, but you can look down low and you can see some of the remnants of the walls from that period on the very low end, on the bottom end.

And so here's what he said.

He says, Then I went to the fountain gate and to the king's pool, but my donkey couldn't get through the rubble.

So though it was still dark, I went up to the Kidron Valley instead, inspecting the wall before I turned back and entered again at the valley gate.

The city officials did not know that I had been out there or what I was doing, for I had not yet said anything to anyone about my plans.

I had not yet spoken to the Jewish leaders, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or anyone else in the administration.

So Nehemiah shows up, he arrives, he's got a vision.

He can see the preferable future, right?

He is visualizing what could be, fueled by the conviction of what should be.

And so he knows what needs to happen.

He knows there's a vision.

He knows there's something that has to be carried out.

So he goes out, out, he goes out of the city walls, he walks around, he sees complete devastation.

The devastation is great.

We know from history these walls were destroyed, had been destroyed for quite some time.

Approximately 140 years they've been in that state.

Now, that's a long time.

I mean, think about who how many people knew and saw what Nehemiah saw, but did nothing, sacrificed nothing, put their effort into nothing.

And I don't know if there's anything worse than to see a need and walk by it as if it doesn't exist.

Now when I say that, I'm guilty of that myself.

None of us.

None of us are perfect.

None of us respond perfectly all the time.

So 140 years, the remnant of Jewish people, there were still people that lived in that city and lived in those conditions.

They lived in a city that had failed to rebuild the walls.

No security.

I mean, lack of security, not to mention the lack of dignity and honor and glory that God deserves.

And how we live our life and how we pursue our future is indicative of our perspective of God's character.

You hear me?

An amen would be appropriate.

Yes.

Why had no one rebuilt the walls?

Why?

There were obstacles.

There was political opposition and resistance.

There was a local group of enemies that didn't want this to happen.

They wanted to keep the Jewish people down.

They wanted to keep them from experiencing what God wanted for them.

They didn't want them to have power.

They didn't want them to have any dignity.

They wanted to keep them oppressed.

There was a lack of leadership and vision.

A lack of leadership and vision.

There's no clear leader that has this vision.

Being able to see and vision and visualize what could be, fueled by what should be, the preferable future.

Nobody stepped up.

The enormity of the task.

I mean, this is a big job.

Who's gonna do it?

It's like recruiting for preschool.

That's meant to be a joke.

Because nobody wants to sign up to do children's ministry.

And I take that back.

We've got incredible children's ministry leadership.

We've got the best children's minister.

I'm telling you, anywhere.

Anywhere.

And she does an amazing job of recruiting and equipping.

But you know what?

It's hard.

It's hard because we like having a break from our kids.

We like being able to drop them off for a little while.

That's why when I walk the halls and I'm I I always peek in and I say, thank you, thank you, thank you for serving, thank you for being willing to teach, thank you for being willing.

And then there's this spiritual apathy.

Spiritual apathy, discouragement.

Ah, we don't care.

We'll just let the the walls and the city look the way it looks.

And so the people had settled into a survival mentality.

The Jews reestablished their homes and livelihoods, but they had not done anything to prioritize rebuilding the infrastructure of the city.

And that was a reflection of their spiritual life.

It was a reflection of where they were in their relationship with God.

They had forgotten their identity as God's people.

The nation of Israel was meant to be alike to the nations.

We serve a God who is able.

And so why don't we live that why?

Why don't we serve a God who responds to faith?

He gives us faith.

He gives it to us as a gift through Jesus.

But then he calls us to live a life of faith.

Means how we how we live, how we see people, how we handle our life, how we view people that are different from us, compassion, the fruit of the Spirit.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

We're transformed and we're changed.

And so they'd forgotten about that.

They'd forgotten about being alike to the nations.

They lost their sense of mission and responsibility to God in future generations.

And listen, the church, there's so many pockets where the church is working in the world.

God is working in countries.

And we see revival breaking out.

We see it here.

We see pockets of it in the United States.

But we also see a shallow, a shallow, um, uh, a shallow aspect of the Christian faith.

Where it's it's all about it's all about uh financing and and uh making money off worship music and and and and and and I'm not against mega churches.

I'm I think a church should be as big as it as it can be.

If you're reaching people and the hearts are right, but God sends Nehemiah to be the leader the people needed for that time in history.

And you know what God does?

God calls ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

God calls ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Matter of fact, my pastor Ike used to say this: he said, Listen, God's called us to lead people to exchange ordinary living for an extraordinary life through the power of Jesus Christ.

That's what God's called us to do.

That's what God's called us to do.

So, Nehemiah, he was not a priest, he wasn't a pastor, he wasn't a king, he was a cupbearer, he's a servant, a waiter.

But he saw a need and he responded.

He saw a need and he responded.

Let me say it one more time.

He saw a need and he responded.

Amen.

Thank you.

And so we see it all throughout Scripture.

God uses the most unlikely candidates to accomplish his extraordinary plans and vision.

I can't wait.

Unless we change, unless the Lord changes it, we're gonna study Moses over the summer, this coming summer.

We're gonna study the life of Moses.

It's gonna be so much fun to dig in because that is such a Moses, Moses doesn't, he he's got a speech impediment, which I identify with because I I I've got a speech impediment.

You don't know this.

I I don't want it to show through, right?

It's not something that I want you to notice.

But early when God called me into ministry, I'm like, I can't, I can't do ministry.

I can't preach.

I can't even complete three sentences without stuttering.

And if you listen closely, you'll see that occasionally it happens.

I can't even quote something that it's on the screen.

But we see this all through scripture.

God uses ordinary people, not just the smart, not just the educated, not just the wealthy, but he calls normal people to put his mission into action.

And we see this in the early church, Acts 4.13.

We see that Peter and John were what?

They were ordinary, unschooled men, but God used them in a powerful way.

It's the same thing today.

God's not looking just for people that are qualified, he's looking for people that are willing to step forward.

And you know what?

He promises to qualify you.

We should consider the mission the Lord has given us to make disciples of all nations.

That's what God's called us to do, to make disciples of all nations.

We might not consider ourselves qualified, we might not consider ourselves able.

We can't quote the right verses, we can't understand theology and all that.

Let me tell you something.

God will take someone who doesn't feel like they are qualified, but if they are willing, he is the one that will do the work in you and through you.

And so as we talk about expanding this campus, and it's coming soon.

I know Ruth mentioned that we needed another$250,000, and we need way more than that.

But but we we have had a couple gifts that have come in.

Um there's a chance that we might be able to start without every bit of that.

Every, you know, if it's$250,000 that we need, that's what we'd love to have to break ground.

But but we're working in a way with a lender that might help us move forward without actually reaching that exact amount.

Things are working pretty fast.

And I'm thankful for a city.

I'm thankful for the city of Walnut Grove that is working so well with us.

But let's not limit the Lord.

Let's let's be willing.

Listen, let's be willing to own up and let's 100% of us be engaged.

Now let me just let me just share a little bit personally how Jill and I operate.

Jill and I, Jill Jill started tithing, I think, the day after she was born.

She started giving.

That's all she knows is her family, because her parents did that.

Poor farmers from South Georgia.

It was non-negotiable.

It didn't matter if they could pay their bills or not.

Whatever came in, they were gonna give 10%.

Minimum.

Minimum.

And so that's how Jill and I've operated.

Our whole life.

It's just the circumstances financially in our life never dictates us changing that bottom line number.

We're gonna, it's non-negotiable.

We're gonna give a percentage of the income we get off the top, not after we've paid bills.

Now I'm not saying that to brag.

I'm just telling you, we that we we I we try to practice what we're preaching.

And then when we go through initiatives like this, we give on top of that.

And so it there uh we've got it set up automatically.

We're we're every week.

I get an email that reminds me.

Hey, hey, you're giving thanks, thanks for the gift.

Some of you get those, you get a thank you, right?

You get a thank you if you give electronically, you get an email or a text or something.

And and thank you for giving, by the way.

Thank you for your faithfulness.

But I'm telling you this, there's a small number of people that give in comparison to the number of people that attend.

I'm telling you, if everyone gave a percentage of their income, we wouldn't have to do a four generations initiative.

We'd have more than enough money.

And so God's mission requires us to be unified and committed.

God calls us to unity and commitment.

And so, Nehemiah, verse 7, chapter 2, verse 17.

But now I said to them, You know very well what trouble we are in.

Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire.

Let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and end this disgrace.

Then I told them about how gracious the gracious hand of God had been on me and about my conversation with the king.

And they replied at once, Yes! Yes, let's rebuild the wall.

And so they began the good work.

Now I'm not asking for you to grab a trowel.

I'm not asking for you to pour concrete.

I'm not asking for you to go go.

This is this is because this is what they did it with, this is what Nehemiah led the people to do.

He he told them, and if you read through the whole book, he said, hey, we've got opposition.

You need one hand to do the work, and then you need another hand to hold a weapon, because there's people coming after you.

And there's going to be people that come after us, maybe not physically, but spiritually.

Discouragement.

Telling you, no, you can't do this.

Why are you doing this?

I mean, you come up with all kinds of things.

And so after surveying the walls, Nehemiah brought the people together.

He acknowledged the problem.

Jerusalem is in ruins and disgrace.

He didn't condemn the people, he called them into the vision that God had given him.

He said, the trouble we are in, and he includes himself in the problem.

He said, and we're not going to start blaming one another.

We just simply need more leaders that will engage.

And so he doesn't.

Just stop describing the problem.

He calls the people to action.

While several people have probably described the problem over the past 140 years, no one has stepped up.

And so he says, hey, collectively as a whole group, let's step up and let's address the issue and let's rebuild the walls and bring God's glory back to this city.

You hear me?

Now I want to tell you, I want to I I want to I want to practice what I preach, and the Lord just put this on my heart last night.

And so I took I took some cash, and this is from Jill and I and I'm not gonna tell you what the amount is, because the Bible says, you know, keep you know, don't let your left hand know what the right hand's doing.

Whatever, whichever one.

I'm gonna tell you what it is.

I'm gonna tell you, when I put the cash in the envelope, it hurt.

It hurt me a little bit.

You know why?

Because it was a it's sacrificial.

We we need this money.

We we got three kids.

Two of them have gone to college.

They're not costing us as much.

The other one has a job.

But but let me, those of you that are parents, does it stop?

No, it doesn't.

And so this this right here, but we're we're I'm gonna put this, I'm not gonna do it right now because I have another service that I need to hold this up.

But it's it's going in the box and it's going, it's going toward four generations, okay?

But the Lord convicted me.

Generosity does not begin and end with giving money to build a brick and mortar building.

Generosity is about looking for needs and being willing to step up and to love people and to and to meet those needs.

And so I put the same amount that I put in the other envelope, I put in this envelope.

And you know when I put this money in this envelope?

You know how I felt?

It hurt.

It hurt in a good way, though.

And I said, Lord, direct me to who I should give this to.

Because generosity is not just about a bill.

Generosity is just, you know, it's seeing a need and meeting a need.

Dana, would you come here?

Come up here.

And when the Lord put this on my heart, immediately, immediately your face came to mind.

And you don't know what's going on in Dana's life, but I do.

And this is a drop in the bucket.

But I know I know what you're about to have to go through, and I want you to take that.

And we love you.

You're a servant.

You're a servant.

And we're we and you you are so valuable to our church.

You and Emma back there are so valuable.

Bless you.

Bless you.

I have another envelope here for the next service.

For the people in the next service.

Y'all, y'all are, y'all, your sense of humor is really lacking today.

Can we stop?

Let's just stop.

Because we're gonna come to the Lord's table.

And there's something about being unified.

Can we throw the big idea back up?

Throw the big idea back up.

And I want us to read this together, okay?

Can we read it out loud together?

Read it, one, two, three.

God accomplishes great things when his people unite for his purpose.

And one of the things we do as a family of God is we come to the Lord's table and we receive, we receive the juice that represents his blood, and we partake of that.

We partake of the bread that represents his body.

And you know what?

There's something about unifying us when we come to the Lord's table and we remember who God is and what he's done for us.

And let me tell you, there's healing in participating, in communion.

There is a the presence of Jesus can overwhelm you as you take partake of the bread and and and the and the juice and the wine.

It changes you.

It moves you.

It's a place of ministry to one another.

Paul says, hey, be sensitive to one another.

Don't rush.

Hey, remember there's other people.

And so we come to the Lord's table this morning, and we've got two tables right here.

We've got a table out in the lobby just because of the crowds that we've had.

And so here, let me just give you a couple of instructions.

The back three rows on each side, if you don't mind, walk out these side doors.

You go to that table and partake of communion right out in the lobby.

We're going to open those two doors, and then those of you that go out there, come back through this center door to return to your seats.

The rest of you can make your way to one of these two tables here at the front.

We come to remember God's goodness.

And when we come to remember God's goodness, there's something unifying in that.

Man, I'm with you.

I've experienced the grace and the goodness of God.

He is so good.

There is healing and coming to the table.

This might be a time for you to love on each other.

This might be a time for you to pray for somebody.

I would love it if a few of our leaders might just kind of stand up here.

A few, maybe, maybe if there's a couple of elders or Monty, David, a couple of you men, a couple of you ladies that would be willing to pray with somebody.

If you have a need and you want somebody to pray with you, come and ask us to pray with you.

So can I pray and then I'm gonna pray and then I'm gonna invite people to come to the table, and our team will kind of play over us and then they'll close, they'll close us out.

So would you pray with me?

Father, thank you for your goodness and your grace.

Thank you for how you provide for us.

God, increase, increase our vision, expand our vision.

God, provide for what we need to continue to reach people.

Help us to provide more space so we can reach more people.

And so we ask God that you would you would work as we come and partake of your table, as we consider your spilled blood, as we consider your broken body, and what that means to us as a unified people.

God, break down barriers, change lives, change hearts, draw people to yourself through your son Jesus.

And God, may we be able to move forward, not so we can lift ourselves up or say, hey, look at what we're doing, but so we can say, God is great, and God is faithful, and God has provided for us to continue what he's started over 18 years ago.

We're simply looking at the next phase of what he's gonna do that hopefully, listen, that will take what he's already doing in this generation and prepare them to lead this church into the future.

Father, we ask, we beg, we plead.

Would you work?

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

And so I'm gonna ask you to um uh if you would stand and and and just start making your way to the table.

If you're in the back three rows on each side, go ahead and start making your way as our team leads us.