Never Forget | Pastor Chris Kouba

Hey, it is good to see you.

Let me add my word of greeting to Rachel's earlier.

My name is Chris Cuba.

The privilege of being lead pastor here at United City.

And I want to encourage you, grab your journals.

If you got your journals, uh grab those and show them to me.

Appreciate you guys helping to bring these.

If you do not have a journal, have no idea what I'm talking about.

Uh we have like 50 left.

So if you want to raise your hands, we will get you the remaining few folks, uh, journals that we've got and let us know.

We'll be able to get you one.

We'd love for you to be able to take notes uh as we walk through this today.

So just kind of raise your hands and we will get those to you until we run out.

And you can just grab notes app or something else today.

I just want to make sure that you can take notes and write some things down.

Hey, real quickly before we get going, I just want to mention something.

Josh Thomas was just leading us there on that last hymn, and that was just amazing.

Let's just say that first of all.

Um, it's pretty cool.

This has nothing to do with anything uh other than Josh wrote a song.

The song is called Finding Home, and he's gonna be releasing it September 12th this coming up week.

Uh and I just want to encourage you, follow Josh and uh download the song, and it's really, really good.

I've heard it.

Uh he's a songwriter as well.

Josh is just insanely talented and insanely gifted.

We are so honored to be able to have him on staff here at United City, and he's releasing a song.

So I just wanted you to know that.

Finding home, make sure that you check that out, and uh it's gonna be pretty cool.

Uh, and you'll be able to enjoy that.

Grab your Bibles, open them up with me to Nehemiah chapter nine.

Nehemiah chapter nine.

If you are one of our kindergartners who joined us a few weeks ago and we gave you your new Bibles that you're bringing and you've been opening and getting used to working and walking the text with us, it is on page 678 in your copy of God's word that we gave you, but I don't know what it is in yours.

I just encourage you that uh you can jump over to Nehemiah chapter 9.

Nehemiah 9 · chapter mention

I do want to welcome all the men and the women at our correctional facilities, those joining us online.

Let's give them a hand and celebrate so many folks that are there.

You know, it's amazing.

I meet people every single week, first-time guests, who tell me that they watch multiple weeks online before they come.

And I just want to let you know, you're welcome to actually come here to the building too, because uh we've seen it time after time.

I always ask them, so is it is it is it the same?

They're like, it's actually better in person.

And I'm like, it is.

I promise you that is the case.

So if you are just checking us out online, we're really, really glad that you're here.

But I would encourage you as well, come to one of our services, and we would love to be able to meet you personally and make sure that you let us know uh who you are.

I'm really excited.

Hope maybe you are as well if you are anything wired like me.

But tomorrow uh is the Apple release day.

All right.

I don't know if you know this.

It happens every year around this time when Apple has their launch event where they let everyone know about the new Apple products that they're planning on releasing this fall.

I am an avid Apple user.

I am due for an upgrade this year, and so I am excited to see what my new phone is gonna look like.

All right.

I'm excited to be able to see uh the new camera.

I'm excited to be able to see the new AI features.

I don't even know what that means, but it sounds cool.

Uh I'm excited to be able to see the new storage and the new processor and all the things that go along with an Apple announcement and launch.

And I'm just kind of all in on all things Apple.

Now, we would definitely admit that not all things have been good since 2007, that very iconic moment in California when Steve Jobs broke the typical mold, which is normally you would just send a press release.

Like you have a new product, and you just kind of send that out to the press and let them know, and then they publish something.

Steve Jobs didn't do a press release, he did a presentation.

He did this incredible display talking about the uh the combination of a computer, a uh a camera, a photo uh device, and then also an iPod or a phone, rather, and then an iPod music device.

Remember back in 2007, like the iPod was the thing.

Like that was really what people cared about and really what they thought about.

And then he introduces this new device, which is a combination of all of these things in one singular thing.

Now, I've read Jonathan Heid's new book.

I encourage you, by the way, to read it, Anxious Generation.

You could probably argue that not everything has been good about the iPhone, but in general, we can all agree to this.

Since 2007, when this thing got delivered, the way that we communicate has radically changed.

And I would argue for the most part, you can say that it's been a positive thing.

I just want to kind of get a gauge just to my my audience here.

How many, how many uh blue message people do we have in the room?

Would you raise your hands?

Okay.

And raise your hands if you are the green ones that screw up all of our group texts.

Would you raise your hands?

Okay.

I just want you to know if you feel like we're judging you, it's because we are, all right?

All right?

And you just message, come on, like, like, like adapt, like come into the whole idea.

But think about this almost 20 years now, Apple has created a standard, a standard of creativity, a standard of innovation, a standard of hardware that they have been able, yes, they've had ups and downs along the way, but for the most part, you can see over the course of 20 years, if you were to buy stock in Apple 20 years ago, you would be very pleased with where it is today.

They've been able to keep a standard of success and they've done something which is so hard to do.

When you make it to the top, how do you stay at the top?

Like when you've crested the hill, when you've led the team and you you've gone and you've accomplished something great, what do you do now?

We've been in a leadership series in the book of Nehemiah, and we've been talking about how to build or how to rebuild something.

And the goal has been to give you leadership principles from Nehemiah that can help you begin to reach the top.

Now, some of you would say, Well, I'm not I'm not there.

I mean, I'm definitely not where I want to be or where I need to be.

I'm still a work in progress.

And I would say, that's good, but you need to hear me today because eventually you're gonna get there, and then you're gonna say, now what?

Like, what do I do?

Where do I turn?

How do I lead in success as opposed to leading in crisis?

There are two different muscles that you use, yet we find Nehemiah has reached the top, and he's gonna give us some guidance as to how to go about this process.

We're skipping ahead some in the story into Nehemiah chapter nine.

Let me just remind you, Nehemiah 6, last week, we saw at the very end of that chapter it says the wall was built in 52 days.

We then see that a lot of different assignments are being given out.

Chapter 7.

We go to chapter 8.

I almost decided to make chapter 8 the focus of the message today, but I just want to leave it for you in your own personal devotional time this week.

If you're looking to be able to experience some pretty awesome things, read Nehemiah chapter 8 this week.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

All right, it's just a gift I'm letting you do on your own.

All right, it's just so, so good because what I want you to see that takes place in Nehemiah chapter 8 is revival breaks out.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

The wall is back, and remember the goal is not just that the physical structure of the wall is being built.

The whole idea is that the glory of God in Jerusalem would be restored.

And the wall was just a physical representation of that.

And so what we see is in chapter 8, you begin to see that revival happens.

The people are back in the land, they are worshiping, they are making sacrifices, they are there enjoying each other and enjoying relationships with each other, and revival happens, and let me tell you here are the key ingredients to revival that you see happen over and over and over again, displayed in chapter 8.

There's a hunger for God's word, and there's a response of confession from the people.

You know, usually when you think about revival, it's all about emotion.

It's all about, man, I feel this, and I want to create an environment, and all those things are important.

We work a lot at talking about the environments and making sure that you can experience God.

But let me make no mistake about it.

What we do not want is for you to feel a certain way.

We instead want you to respond in a certain way, and that is the hearing of God's word, and you say, Oh, I am not like that.

And I need to confess and I need to repent before the Lord.

That you would come face to face with who God is, and it would cause you not to lift yourself up, but instead for you to go way down, for you to worship.

That's what's happening.

There's revival happening in chapter 8.

It is absolutely great in every way.

And so Nehemiah looks and sees all of the success, and here's what he's wondering: okay, now what do I do?

Like now, how do I lead the people?

And I want you to skip ahead to Nehemiah chapter 9.

Nehemiah 9 · chapter mention

Look at the very end of the chapter, the very last verse in verse 38.

It says, Because of all this, this is the prayer that he prays in Nehemiah 9.

We're gonna break it down.

We make a firm covenant in writing.

On the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

We don't know what it is that he put on this sealed document, but I firmly believe it was basically all the truths that we're gonna look at in chapter 9.

And he's like, all right, everybody in.

Everybody sign it.

The priests are gonna sign it, the Levites are gonna sign it, the spiritual leaders are gonna sign it.

This is what we're gonna be about.

Like, make no mistake about it.

Now that we're here, now that we've arrived, this is what we want to make sure that we remember and never forget.

I want you to grab your journals and I want you to open up with me to page 25, and I want you to write down this key principle today, which is this leaders remember the right things.

Leaders remember the right things.

In Nehemiah chapter 9, he launches into the longest prayer in all of the Old Testament.

Nehemiah 9 · chapter mention

You can learn a lot about somebody by what?

The content of their prayers.

He's coming off a revival in chapter 8.

It is so great.

People start reading the Bible and people start confessing their sins.

It's like a beautiful thing.

And then in chapter 9, he jumps into this prayer.

And what I love about this prayer is that it gives us some insights that we can hang on to, that we can remember.

They're like, they're like they're like signposts, they're like kind of moments and flags along the way where as you're walking on a journey, you're gonna put a flag down and be like, I'm never gonna forget this.

And then as you keep going and you keep leading, you're gonna put another flag down and be like, I'm never gonna forget this.

And you keep going and you keep going, you put another flag down, and you forget this, and then you get to the end and you get your sealed document and you say, guys, here's the seven things we're never gonna forget.

Like, here's the things we're gonna write on our hearts and write in our minds, and make sure that no matter what happens in the future, this is what we're gonna be about.

I'm gonna ask you to get your journals out, and I want you to write down these seven truths that you'll never forget.

You should never forget as a leader.

Let's begin reading the beginning of the prayer in verse six.

Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 6.

Nehemiah 9:6

You are the Lord, you alone.

You've made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their hosts, the earth and all that is in it is on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve all of them, and the host of heaven worships you.

First truth that you need to write down and never forget as a leader is this God is great.

God is great.

We gotta have more than that.

That's a true statement.

Do you believe that to be true?

God is great.

This prayer starts with worship.

It starts by giving God glory for all that he is and all that he has done.

You see, whenever you get here for worship, it's not just like the warm-up thing before we go and get to the real thing.

That's not at all what it is.

It's instead a way of singing truth so that you can remind God who you who he is.

But here's what I also think it's for: it's to remind you of who God is.

Because here's what happens: you begin to get successful.

As a leader, maybe along the way you've done something and you you you've worked really hard and you begin to experience some success.

Remember the journey that Nehemiah was on all the way back in week one.

We said Nehemiah leads from his knees.

He starts off from this place of saying, God, I've got a problem, I've got an anxiety, I've got a tension in my heart.

What do you want me to do?

Then we saw that God, we we wait on God's timing.

We we respond to how God wants to do it.

He had to wait four full months before he did anything, and all of a sudden God opened up the opportunity and he was ready to go because he had waited on God's time.

We saw that leaders have a convicting vision.

They have a moment when they they stand at the corner and they see what has not yet been seen.

God bursts something in them, and it's a convicting, compelling vision, and they know I gotta lead the people to go do this.

And then ultimately, inevitably, you're always gonna face conflict.

But leaders deal with conflict.

We don't avoid it, we don't minimize it, we deal with it.

That's what we do because we know it's coming.

In addition to that, last week we talked about how you have to stay focused.

Leaders stay focused in the midst of conflict because it's very easy to get drawn off sides and to begin doing side things instead of knowing what is it that God wants me to do.

But now we see a situation to where Nehemiah has led through all of those circumstances and all of those places, and now he has achieved success.

And here is why it's important that we start off from this place of remembering that God is great.

Because when you begin to start experiencing success, when you begin to crest the mountain, when you begin to all of a sudden have people praising you and talking about how great it is that you led them to this place, and everyone is cheering.

You know what you start to think?

I'm pretty great.

I'm kind of a big deal.

Like I I have done a good job.

Like I have been the one that led the people to this place.

Like it is, you know, things have radically changed the day I arrived.

And here's what I want you to see.

You always gotta remember this because how many people do we know have been taken out because they started reading their own press?

Make no mistake about it.

God uses leaders to do great things, but make no mistake about it, he doesn't have to use you.

And in light of that, we've got to live with this recognition.

God, you are the one who is great.

Look, I recognize that you have chosen to use me along the way, and I am so thankful.

But God, I also know this.

Thank you for choosing me.

Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this journey, and I want to never forget you're the one who's the big deal.

I'm just an extra in your movie.

I am not the star character.

I instead, God want to worship you, and I want to live, I want to follow you, and I want to make sure that I in every way remind myself of who the good great one actually is.

Look at what it's keep going to verse 7.

The prayer continues: You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and gave him the name Abraham.

Skip down to verse 9.

And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land.

For you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers, and you made a name for yourself as it is to this day.

If you were to keep reading the prayer, what you'd see is Nehemiah starts recounting other examples from the Old Testament of how God showed up and how God met them along the way.

I believe that what he wants them to remember, the truth that he wants them to remember and never forget, is number two, God is faithful.

God is faithful.

Mark it down.

Don't ever forget it.

Don't ever let it go.

And leaders, we get as leaders, we gotta be reminded of this.

Sometimes you spend so much time trying to dig out of the rubble, that's all you ever see.

You're desperate, you're praying, you're pleading, you're begging God to do something, begging God to intervene, to create a spark, literally anything.

And in those moments, it feels overwhelming, it may feel like it's too much, you may even feel like you want to quit.

Or maybe you experience opposition, things aren't as easy as they once were.

You start questioning whether it's actually worth it, you start questioning whether one time that vision that you felt like God had given to you was nothing more than just wishful thinking.

But if you were to be honest and you were to look now, you've crested the mountain, you've gotten to the top, you've achieved success.

As you look back, you could see, man, God was faithful right over there.

God was faithful right over there.

God was faithful right over there.

God was faithful right over there.

Let me tell you why it's important for you to look back and remember that God is faithful.

Because every single time that you experience success, you know what people, next thing they want to know?

What are you gonna do next?

Whenever you achieve something great, people immediately start asking, well, yeah, what are you gonna do next week?

What are you gonna do next year?

And I don't know about you, but that's a lot.

That's a lot of pressure.

How many times have we seen a coach, or how many times have we seen an athlete who goes and he competes in the highest competition of whatever it is that a sport that they're playing?

And in the press conference, when they get interviewed and they're asked about the victory, they get asked this question do you think you can repeat?

And immediately, instead of being able to enjoy all of the successes, they suddenly have a pressure that they gotta do it all over again.

And success doesn't make it easier.

Many times, success makes it harder.

And you're gonna experience new challenges and you're gonna experience new opposition.

And what I have discovered in my own heart, I wish this wasn't the case, but what I have discovered is I immediately start feeling that same anxiety, I immediately start feeling that same tension, I immediately start feeling all of these wonderings in my mind, thinking, man, I don't know why this is so difficult, I don't know why this is so hard, I don't know why this is the case.

And what I need to do is I need to put my flag in the ground and remember when those new oppositions come up, God was faithful and God will be faithful.

This is what He's gonna do.

Because I would tell you, you start to question and you wonder, God, why am I dealing with this?

Why am I walking through this?

As though somehow the one who got you there in the first place can't get you to the new heights that you suddenly now want to go.

Put that flag in the ground.

Remember and never forget it.

God is faithful.

Keep going, verse 12.

By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go.

You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statues and commandments.

And you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by your Moses, your servant.

You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst.

And you told them to go and to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

Let me give you the next one, number three.

A reminder to remember and never forget is that God provides.

God provides.

Let me ask you, church, have you experienced that in your life?

Does God provide for you?

He's Jehovah Jirah.

He's the God who provides.

What I've found is that whenever you build something, being reminded of God's provision gives you the new fuel, gives you the new motivation, gives you the new dreams for new ideas.

The Bible isn't just a bunch of a book of old miracles that God has performed and incredible things that God has done along the way.

And our job is to kind of get here and to study about how those miracles were something that used to happen.

What it's meant to do is to inspire us to believe this.

You know what God also does?

God does new miracles.

God does new things.

And what you can do is you can move forward knowing this.

Just like God provided in the past, I know He's gonna provide in the future.

And I can believe and I can dream and I can know that Nehemiah doesn't have to get there with the wall built in 50 days and be like, well, I guess we're done.

No, instead, Nehemiah can begin to dream.

God, what do you want to do now?

What do you want to do next?

I don't see that as a burden, I see that as a blessing because I know I've got a God who wants to provide.

The north side, you're about to start seeing a lot of things that are gonna be even more visual as it begins to take place.

It's really, really exciting just what's happening there and what it's gonna achieve and do for us as a church.

Thank you in advance for both the parking as well as the Wednesday night adjustment.

That are gonna have to be made, and it's gonna continue to be the case.

You got this construction project going on in here.

Uh, in just a few weeks, we're gonna be able to actually uh take away the sides, and we're gonna be all now in the middle.

It's gonna be pretty exciting to think through all of this.

Can I tell you?

There's a lot of construction stuff going on, but can I tell you what I am most excited about?

Not just how God has provided for us and all of the construction stuff, but the fact that God has already provided for the person that's gonna sit right over there in that seat right there, who's gonna give their life to Jesus.

Like, do you realize?

Do you realize the type of vision and the type of excitement and the type of buy-in that God allows you to have when you know He didn't just provide to get there, He provided for what He's gonna do there.

Like that's what God does.

The fact that we can think about the fact we have so many youth that come on our property and our campus every single Wednesday night, and we're not gonna have a place that's gonna be out here.

We're gonna be able to do all kinds of stuff to be able to reach even more people with the gospel of Jesus Christ, or to think about the fact that we're gonna have adults who are gonna park in that parking lot and they're gonna walk up and they're gonna see food trucks out there and they're gonna see activity out there and they're gonna have this feeling.

This feels like home before they ever walk into the doors of the church.

That's the kind of God we serve.

He allows us to have a vision, and here's what's cool too: God not only has provided the resources for these construction projects, but I believe that God actually also wants to bless and provide for you financially, personally.

And in the midst of providing for you personally, financially, God's gonna show you a desire to begin to give and to begin to respond and to begin to lead, follow his lead as he leads you, and that God's gonna allow us as a church in the next five to ten years to do things maybe that we've already thought of and to do things that we've never thought of, all for the glory of God in Northeast Houston and beyond.

That's the kind of God I believe that we've got.

What I believe is if we believe that God provides, it fuels vision.

It causes us to say, God, we do not want to hold you in a box, but instead, we want to see you use us to reach as many people as possible with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let's keep going, verse 16.

But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments.

They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.

But you are a God ready to forgive.

Gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

Fourth thing I want you to see, you remember and never forget.

This is a truth that you need to always seal in your heart.

Number four, God forgives.

God forgives.

There's a high accountability for leaders.

James actually says that you should not be quick to becoming, to want to become a teacher because you're going to be judged with greater strictness.

When you're in a position of leadership, the book of Proverbs, I just I love it.

It begins to speak over and over again about how you don't lower the bar for leaders, you raise the bar for leaders.

Like you're supposed to be wise in your choices and wise in your decisions.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

As a leader, you gotta think differently.

That's what we've been trying to call you to.

And in many ways, the desire or expectation of people in leadership is that, man, you gotta have it all together.

Like I gotta look the part.

I gotta make sure that everybody thinks that I have everything all put in the right spot.

And you see leaders all the time who maybe crest the mountain, who reach the top, who achieve success, and they get there and because of their own personal lives, do something that blows it, that destroys it.

We do not have to speak about.

There's plenty of examples, politicians, pastors, leaders, community folks that that are in a position of leadership, maybe achieve some success, and then because of financial or moral or whatever it may be, have found themselves disqualified from that position because ultimately their character was not able to handle the level of leadership and influence that they had been given.

Which I think what this is trying to say to us is as a leader, you never outgrow your need for help.

Like when you arrive, it's not as though, like, oh, I'm good.

You've got an enemy who is patient and persistent and personal and wants nothing more than to take you out, and he'll be more than happy to let your influence grow and then take you out.

So, what does this mean?

The fact that we know that God is forgiving, He is slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love means this that I can be open that, hey, I don't have it all together.

I need help.

I've got to have some guys in my life who keep me accountable, who I talk to, who check me, who are allowed to ask questions of me in my life.

I've got things and an openness with my my wife to make sure that she has access to anything that she wants to at any time that she wants to, and I want to make sure that I'm not doing anything whatsoever that would cause her to have any type of question.

I instead want to live in such a way where I am quick to repent and quick to receive God's forgiveness, instead of quick to perform, and instead find myself being disqualified.

Folks, leadership means that we embrace the fact that we are all still a work in progress, and God could just as easily do this without you as He's choosing to do it with you.

I've said this many times, and I think it's so true for all of us in this room and those watching online, we are all 15 minutes away from screwing this whole thing up.

All of us.

And so, therefore, this doesn't mean that we need to live hiding, it means that we need to live open.

We need to live honest.

Because we know we've got a God who is slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, who forgives.

Keep reading, verse 22.

And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner.

So they took possession of the land of Sihon, king of Heshbon, and the land of Al, king of Basha.

You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess.

So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would.

And they captured fortified cities and a rich land and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards, and fruit trees in abundance.

So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

Fifth truth that you should remember and never forget as a leader.

God is good.

I mentioned Apple iPhones at the beginning, and uh I am uh again an adopter.

My my plan has it where I get to upgrade every two years.

I don't know how Apple does it, but they basically have it set up to where after about two years, your phone is the worst, right?

Like you just hate it.

I'm definitely at that spot.

I'm gonna have to get this thing fixed, like the entire back of it's all busted, and and I'm gonna have to get that changed out before I trade it in.

And you know, I just I feel like the last few weeks, like it's just slow, like it's just not quite responding as quickly as I kind of hoped to, and and apps aren't quite as fast as I thought.

And I mean the camera, it's just the worst, like it's just awful.

I don't understand, can't take good pictures and and all of that.

And and I I might have even said this last week that I hate this thing.

I I might have said that, okay?

Just a confession, I need to get that off my chest.

Here's what's crazy though.

Two years ago, this was the greatest thing I'd ever had.

Like it was amazing.

The processor was so fast, the pictures were so good.

I mean, it was just incredible.

The size and just the oh, it looks so good.

And and I mean, I even I might have talked down a little bit to other family members who had lesser quality phones, you know.

Like, we're taking a picture, and I'm like, oh no, we're not gonna use yours, use mine.

It's got the new camera, it's gonna be a way better picture than your little trash over there.

All right, so we're gonna go and operate this way, you know.

I might have said all of that, and and I'm guessing I'm not the only one who does that.

It's amazing how newness has a way of wearing off.

I think I'd also argue this.

Success has a way of dulling what we think is good.

Like you win something, you achieve something, you set out for a goal, and you accomplish the goal, and what I've discovered is this instead of appreciating it, I begin to expect it, which leads into me even demanding it.

And so now I'm no longer able to celebrate well because it's like, well, yeah, but we did that last year, and it's not as good as it was this year, and so therefore, even though it's incredible to see what took place, it's not better than it was before.

What I want you to see is that it's important that we get remind ourselves that God is good and not let his goodness become something that is demanded or something that is expected, but instead allow it to be something that is appreciated.

God owes us nothing.

We deserve nothing other than wrath and judgment from him.

Instead, what does he do?

He is so good.

God is good.

He always has been good, and he always will be good, and his goodness should not cause us to remember forget that he is good.

Instead, we should be reminded: look at all that God has done.

Look how good God has been.

And it leads us to expectation for even more while at the same time having an appreciation for all that he has done.

Look at verse 29.

And you warned them in order to turn back to their law, to your law, that they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments.

But sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey.

Many years you bore with them and warned them by your spirit through your prophets, yet they would not give ear.

Therefore, you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

Very clear reminder for the people to remember and never forget.

Number six, God is holy.

God is holy.

This is weird to me.

Like, usually you kind of like leave out the bad parts of your story and you only highlight the good parts of your story.

But in this case, what we see here is that he actually prays and reminds the people, oh, you remember that time when you guys didn't do what God wanted you to do, and he took you out and put you in exile?

Like you would, it's weird that you would bring that up.

1 Peter chapter 116 says, You shall be holy, for I am holy.

God is holy, he demands holiness, and in the same way, when it comes to my leadership, I must recognize his holiness should be a motivator and a recognizing for me that my personal holiness always has mattered greatly.

If I'm not operating in integrity, I may get away with it for a season, but make no mistake about it, I will not get away with it.

Galatians chapter 6, verse 7 and 8.

Galatians 6:7

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.

For whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

For the one who sows to his own flesh will reap from the flesh uh corruption.

But the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life.

What this means is if I want to stay in a position of leadership after I've, quote, made it to the top, after I've led successfully, after I've had a measure of success, then I've got to recognize that that success does not eliminate my need for personal holiness before God.

God can easily do this without you.

But he has graciously allowed you to take part in his mission if you choose to walk in holiness and purity.

So many leaders, quote, make it and then don't listen to the warnings along the way, and ultimately it leads to their downfall.

It's so sad to watch somebody work so hard to get to a place that he wanted to go, only to realize that he can't handle it because he somehow thought he was not subject to the rules.

Don't let this happen to you.

Walk in holiness.

Last thing I want you to remember and never forget God saves sinners.

God saves sinners.

This prayer throughout it, all around it.

It involves humble admission of sin and asking for mercy.

We know that God ultimately answered this prayer by the provision of his son, Jesus, who died on a cross and was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.

The Bible tells us that he bore upon his shoulders that all of our wrath, and he died on that cross, and he rose from the dead, overcoming the power of sin and the power of hell so that we could experience life.

The last thing that I would want you to do in the midst of a series like this, which has been meant to help you as a leader, is to apply many of these principles, which are gonna help you as a leader.

There's no question about it.

I hope that you will.

In God's common grace, what he wants you to do is to take the leadership principles in the book of Nehemiah and to apply them in your life.

But the last thing that I would want you to do is to become a better leader and miss out on heaven.

The last thing that I will want you to do is to be a better leader on earth and miss the place that God wants you in eternity, and that is to spend it with Him.

There's only one way you can get there.

John 14, 6 says, I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

They don't give out leadership awards in heaven saying, Man, you were such a great leader on earth, you get to go on and go on in here.

There's only one way.

The only way that you get in is through a relationship with Jesus.

And it doesn't matter how good or bad you have a leader you have been up to this point.

All that matters is that you come to the end of yourself.

Admit that Jesus died on a cross for you, rose from the dead, receive his gift of eternal life, and you can be saved.

I'm gonna invite our men to go ahead and take their positions and to get ready as we are gonna spend some time today remembering what Jesus did in order to accomplish that salvation.

He gave us the gift of baptism, which is a visible demonstration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He has also given us the Lord's Supper, which we're gonna take together today.

As you receive the elements of the Lord's Supper, I want you to know that they're gonna be stacked on top of each other.

You can just grab the whole thing, and I would just simply ask that you wait, hold it together until we are all served all across the entire room, and then we will take of the elements together.

Let's pray together.

Father, we come before you and we thank you.

Thank you for Jesus for the sacrifice.

Thank you for the blood that was shed for us.

Thank you for his resurrection.

As we remember today, may our hearts be full.

With gratitude and praise to you.

It's in Jesus' name that I pray.

Amen.

Where Jesus bled and died for me.

I see his wounds, his hands, his feet, my Savior that curses his body palm entrenched in tears.

They laid him down in Jesus the entrance and all.

It looked as though things were going bad, not going well.

Ultimately, it is Jesus who shamed the things of the world to be able to get glory for himself.

He broke the bread that night with his disciples.

He said, This is my body, which was broken for you as often as you eat of it.

Do it in remembrance of me.

He then took the cup, which is filled with the fruit of the vine.

And he said, This is the blood of my new covenant.

As often as you drink of it, do it in remembrance of me.

Let's stand together and worship.

Church family.

Do me a favor, bow your head and close your eyes with me.

Just give me a few quick seconds.

I promise I won't be long.

But for some of you, you need to experience what we just experienced.

You need to realize that Jesus saved sinners, and that's you.

You've fallen short of God's standard, and you get that hole in your heart, that aching of what you want for something that you're longing for more.

You've tried to fill it with all different things.

The only thing that can fill it is Jesus.

And so what I want to invite you to do today is I want you to come forward.

We are a church of next steps.

We believe in public declarations of next steps.

And so today I want to invite you to come forward.

And I want you to tell somebody that, hey, I want to know Jesus.

Maybe you have questions, you come with your questions.

We'd love nothing more than to take an open Bible and answer your questions.

But you come and give your life to Jesus today.

Our team is up front and on the side.

You come.

Others of you need to come and join United City.

Maybe you say, Hey, this is the church I want to be a part of.

This is the church that I feel like God is moving us to.

Maybe you would say, you know, I want to lead my family of being a part of United City.

You come and lead the way today.

Others of you need to be baptized.

What an unbelievable picture.

I will never get over seeing four kids being baptized, making public declarations of their faith.

I'm so proud of each and every one of them.

That's you today.

Would you come forward and let us schedule your baptism?

Maybe some of you feel God calling you to full-time ministry.

If God is leading you to respond to Him by saying, Hey, I want to, I got something different for you.

I want you to serve in my church.

Would you come forward and let us know that?

Others of you just need prayer.

Maybe you're struggling to see God's provision.

Maybe you're struggling to believe that God is faithful.

We want to come alongside and we want to declare these truths to you in your heart.

Father, I pray you'd move in these moments we have left.

Lead people to make decisions that they'll never regret.

In the name of Jesus that I pray.

Amen.

You come as God is leading you to respond.

Come on.

He deserves all of it.

Rachel, would you come and close our service today?

United City, what a great word this morning.

Let's celebrate.

We serve a good God, a faithful God, a God that provides, a great God.

I mean, I could just go on and on about the ways that He's provided in my life, and I'm sure that you could too.

This week, let's remember the right things in our life.

I pray this week that you can too.

If you haven't stopped into growth track and you need to complete it, next week is week three.

You don't have to go in order.

So if you've done week one and week four, next week is your opportunity to do week three.

And you can just go on in.

It's during the 10 o'clock, so you'll just come to the 8:30 or the 11 o'clock.

But I want you to take that opportunity and get that completed.

United City, we hope that you guys have a great week.

Goodbye.

Wow, what an amazing message we got to hear this morning.

I hope the Lord showed himself to you in a fresh, new way.

Hey, if you made a decision today to follow Jesus or a decision for Christ, we would love to process that with you.

And so text the word next to 55498, and someone from our team will be more than happy to reach out and process that with you.

If you missed the message or you missed a note or two and you want to go back, don't worry.

We've got the option for that as well.

It's going to be available on Spotify as well as Apple Music.

This has been an amazing morning.

We love you guys so much, and we hope to see you next week.

Bye-bye.