Let's close this afternoon and turn to Nehemiah chapter 2, please. We'll read the whole chapter, Nehemiah chapter 2. Let's go to the Lord in prayer before we read. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this good day. Thank you for the day we've had in our church today and allowing us to freely worship you. We pray that our worship has been pleasing to you, Father. Most importantly, we pray for this service now, that you'd speak to all of our hearts. Pray that our church would be revived, Father, for your glory and honor. Speak to all of us, saved and lost this afternoon. Pray that we'd all make decisions in our hearts that would be pleasing to you, Father, and that you'd speak to our hearts in a very real way. Pray now that you bless the reading of the word, and then the preaching to follow. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Nehemiah chapter 2 and verse 1, the Bible says, and it came to pass, In the month Nisan, in the 20th year of Artaxerxes, the king, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been before time sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad? Seeing thou art not sick, this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, and said unto the king, let the king live forever. Why should not my countenance be sad when the city, the place my father's sepulchers lieth waste? and the gates thereof are consumed with fire. Then the king said unto me, for what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said unto the king, if it please the king, And if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my father's sepulchers, that I may build it. And the king said unto me, the queen also sitting by him, for how long shall thy journey be? And when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. Moreover, I said unto the king, if it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come unto Judah. and a letter unto Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace, which appertain to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me according to the good hand of my God upon me. Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me, neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem, neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire. Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool, but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned. And the rulers knew not whether I went, or what I did, neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God, which was good upon me. as also the king's word that he had spoken unto me. And they said, let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian heard it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said, what is this thing that you do? Will you rebel against the king? Then answered I them and said unto them, the God of heaven. He will prosper us, therefore we his servants will arise and build. But you have no portion, nor rite, nor memorial in Jerusalem. Thank you, you may be seated. Thank you, Brother Frank. And we find the year was 445 B.C. Over the last 90 years, from 539 B.C., the Jews were returning from captivity to Jerusalem. And the rebuild, such kings invited with these returns were Cyrus the Great, who had conquered Babylon, Darius the Great, Ahasuerus, who made Esther queen in Persia, and Artaxerxes, who allowed Ezra, the Nehemiah, to return. Ezra, whose book preceded Nehemiah, was a priest and a Bible preacher and the people. Now, why Nehemiah was a spiritual leader and a builder. Now, Ezra's main concern was the purification of God's people. And Nehemiah's main concern was the protection of the people in Jerusalem. And the theme of the book of Nehemiah is simply building God's or the Christian's service. So in Review of Chapter 1, we saw two important spiritual principles. In chapter 1, we see weeping before working. That's chapter 1, verse 4. And came to pass when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. And then second of all, the burden before building. In Nehemiah chapter 1, verse 1, the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hekeliah, and came to pass the month of Chisdol. in the 20th year as I was in Shushan, the palace. So then also notice chapter 2 verse 1, it came to pass in the month Nisan at the 20th year of Artaxerxes, the king, that wine was before him and he took him up the wine and gave it unto the king. I had not been before saddened in his presence. So we find here from Nehemiah chapter 1 to chapter 2, Nehemiah had prayed for four months, day and night. And that's really quite a statement, that he prayed day and night for four months. And he was focused on God answering his prayer, that God would lead him, that he wanted to have the timing. And we have to do that in our lives, praying. Now, we're going to a nine-day prayer meeting. New Year, and I'm asking God's people to come out and be part of this and to really pray and maybe some days fast. We saw in the palace the plight which Nehemiah hears about and then the prayers that this man prayed. Now notice, if you would, in verse 5 of chapter 2, "...and I said unto the king, If it please the king in thy sermons, hath thou a favor in thy sight, that thou would sentest me to Jerusalem unto the city of my father's sepulchre, that I may build it." Let me see here. I'm sorry, let, yeah, let's do this. We see here in chapter 1, verse 5, And the Cain of Pabst, I beseech thee, O Lord, God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments. So we see Nehemiah's adoration. He comes before God and he's praying, he's seeking the Lord. And he's seeking God because God is the only one that can answer his prayer. He's in captivity. He's in captivity to Babylon. And then we find his awareness in verse 6 and 7. The Bible says, let thine ear now be attentive and thy eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee day and night for the children of Israel and thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against thee, both I and my Father's house have sinned." And the Bible goes on to say in verse 7, So, Nehemiah is an honest man. He comes before the king, which later on we find that he wasn't supposed to. He shouldn't have had a sad countenance. But he's praying before this, begging God, asking God for God's blessing, his leadership in his life. And you may say, well, you know, maybe there's some other people praying. Nehemiah didn't know it. And Nehemiah was the one interceding for the nation of Israel that didn't go back and rebuild the land. And I tell you, beloved, it's so important that we learn to pray and pray by ourselves, trusting God and believing God to answer our prayer. Again, the idea is do you pray for Bangladesh, do you pray for Pakistan, do you pray for our missionaries, and do you pray for other lands that God would send men to go and to reach the people with the gospel of Jesus Christ? So we see here his awareness, and this led to confession. We want our prayers answered, we must confess our sin in our lives. And there's no sense rebuilding the walls if we first do not admit and realize why they're down. So we have to confess to God that there's some walls that are down in our lives. And not only was they down in Jerusalem, but they were down personally in our lives. The first place is disobedience to the Word of God. And so, you know, we have to confess that to God. We've got to get back to the place of renewal, revival in our lives. You know, as the Bible says, Will thou not revive us again, O God? And then notice The awareness of Scripture, verse 8, and the Bible goes on and says, remember, I pray thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant, Moses, saying, if we transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. But if you turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heavens, will I gather them from thence and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen, set my name there." So God gives us the formula. In verse 10 He says, Now these are the servants of thy people whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. And so we find here there is adoration, There's an appeal before the God of heaven. There's an awareness, which was very important. And we find in verse 11, we find there was an asking. And the Bible says, O Lord, I beseech Thee, let now Thine ear be attentive to the prayer of Thy servant, to the prayers of Thy servants who desire to feel Thy name. And prosper, I pray Thee, Thy servant this day. and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. But I was the king's cupbearer." So he was in captivity, but God could answer our prayers, and that's what we need to do. And this man, Nehemiah, day and night prayed for the nation of Israel. Now, we have the power with men, but first, if we're gonna have power with men, we must first seek the power of God. and for men. And we can't go before men for God until we go before God for men. And all genuine works for God must begin with someone who on their knees praying confessing and interceding. And this is so important, beloved. So many times we get the thing backwards where you're busy inviting folks out and so on. But we've got to pray. We've got to ask God for His power. We've got to have the power of God. for our special days coming up, for next Sunday at 6 o'clock. We need to have God's power. There'll be a lot of unbelief here. But God is able, and if we intercede and pray, God's able to answer our prayers. Now, one of the things we see is the burden Nehemiah carried, and we see that in verse 1 through 4 of chapter 2, his countenance changed. Nehemiah was burdened and had been upon his heart for approximately four months praying day and night. And what is our heart? What is manifested in our conversation on our countenance? What we do is, as our countenance changed, Do we seek the king? Are we seeking an experience with God? This is important. Notice verse one, it came to pass in the month of Nisan in the 20th year of Artaxerxes, a king that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave unto the king. Now I had not been before time sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? And this is nothing else but sorrow of heart that I was very sore afraid. And why? Because, you have to understand, we don't have a president or a congress. This was a king. And the king said, take his head off. His head was coming off. There was no pleading. There was no recourse. So this was very important, beloved, to understand this condition that Nehemiah was in. And he was in the mix of it, the throes of it. And so we find here that this was all ordained by God to allow this to come to pass. Now as much as God had the heart of Artaxerxes, you know, to be careful with Nehemiah, you know, God was seeing that Nehemiah was going to be bold enough to tell the king that his heart was broken over Jerusalem. But see, this is the result of answered prayer. He prayed day and night for four months, four months, day and night. So are you going to pray day and night at a prayer meeting? Are you going to emphasize a revival? Are you going to seek for souls to be saved? Are you going to emphasize that? or you're gonna punch the clock and just come once in a while. Maybe just come one day and show your face and so on. See, this is, they were serious about what God was doing in their lives. Now the concept was the first essential to prepare us. The building for God is a burden. And if God's gonna hear our prayer, if we're gonna build this church, may I say that we have to have revival. And it's gotta come from a burdened heart. by the Word of God, the Spirit of God, about our sin, the sin of our area and the sin of our nation. But let me tell you this, you know, do I have to go through what our sins are? I mean, you think about all the wickedness in our world and just in our country, just in our state, of all the wickedness that goes on. It's so important that we understand that. So the burden was to be weighed down, troubled, concerned, and consumed. Second of all, the blessing he coveted in verse 5 through 9, and the blessing and being sent then, notice chapter 2, verse 5, and the Bible says, and I said unto the king, if it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my father's sepulcher, there I may build it. So this was a man who prayed. and sought the Lord. And so he had God confidence. He knew God was with them. In fact, he says later on in the chapter, the God of heaven will prosper us. And then he said another place in verse 18, in the hand of my God, which was good upon me. He knew God was upon his life. He knew God was leading him. And he went against a king and against that culture. But it was God's will. And we need to be in tune with God to know that we can stretch our faith from just being burdened to being, may I say, radical, if I can say that way. Now, if Nehemiah was not going to go to Jerusalem, God would have moved the king's heart not to kill Nehemiah, but because of the sad countenance was forbidden of the king, and also the king Artaxerxes' great permission to return into Jerusalem. And this was a blessing, a great blessing. Note verse 7. of the same chapter. Moreover I said unto the king, if it pleased the king. And then verse 9, then I came unto the governors beyond the river and gave them the king's letters. So not only did he have the king's verbal permission, but he had letters for his return. And so God would move upon the king's heart after Nehemiah prayed day and night for four months and the blessing would be in supply. Notice verse 8, And a letter unto Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he might give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace, which appertain unto the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God, upon me." Again, God's blessing was upon him. Why? He spent four months seeking God day and night. Now when God guides, He provides. And where He leads, He feeds. And where He directs, He protects. And the third thing we see in our introduction is the battle He caused. Notice verse 10. And the Bible says, When Sam battled the Hornite, and Tobiah the Serpent and the Ammonite heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly. Why? Well, there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. They were taking advantage of him. They were causing problems in their lives. And so any time we tempt great things for God, you mark it down, the devil's gonna get stirred up. The devil is gonna be stirred up. He'll fight this concert this next Sunday night. He's gonna cause problems. but you just be faithful, you be steadfast, and God will bless you. Now, let's look at the message here, and we'll get through this as fast as we can. So the first thing we see is their search. In verse 11 and 12, the Bible says, So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days, and I rose in the night, and I and some few men with me neither told any man what my God had put in my heart. See, it's very important. There are some things that God's man is going to know that I don't share with anyone. I don't tell anyone. I don't tell my wife. I don't tell my secretary. Anyway, that was a joke. But you're sound asleep. That's all right. Neither was there any beast with me save the beast I rode upon. So there was a search that took place. He went throughout the city and seeing the things that needed to be done. He had reflection. There was a thoroughness. There was a seriousness. And we must search our hearts. You know, over in Acts chapter 2, there was something going on as God was preparing them for Pentecost. And one thing is they were filled with the Spirit. And what took place? Well, in chapter 1, they had to search their hearts. And for 10 days, they tarried. They waited on the Lord to see what God was going to do. And before that could happen, in Luke 24-49, God told them to tarry, to be seated, to sit, to dwell. to tarry in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. If we are going to have revival in our lives, we must tarry. We must search our hearts about genuine salvation The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, therefore if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. And how important that is. In God's Word, do you love it? Do you read it? Do you meditate upon God's Word? Do you have regular personal devotion? Humility. In Isaiah 57, verse 15, God says He dwells with them of a humble heart. The Bible tells us obedience, how important it is. And the question is, do I consistently obey what I know God wants me to do? Do I consistently obey human authority? Do I submit myself to church authority? This is important, beloved. This is not strange in the New Testament. And then the pure heart. 1 John 1.9, do I confess my sins specifically? Do I keep a short sin account with God? And there's a clear conscience. How important it is to have a clear conscience and priorities and values and sacrifice and be a living sacrifice, and being controlled by the Spirit, and having a first love, as we preached on this morning in Sunday School, having our motives right, that love for God and love for man, and then moral purity, and forgiveness, the importance of forgiveness, because people are gonna be abrasive. People are like sandpaper. They're gonna rub us the wrong way. And if we allow people to hurt us, we're going against the scripture. Because God told us offenses are going to come. Deal with it. Face it. Consider it. and then there's sensitivity, there's evangelism, there's prayer. So the importance of searching our hearts and taking these thoughts here and doing God's will. In Nehemiah 2, verse 12, the Bible tells us, And I arose in the night, and some few men with me, neither told I any man what my God had put on my heart to do at Jerusalem. So this was something, while everyone else was sleeping, Nehemiah got up and he went through the city. And this is a picture of the average Christian and the lost world. They're asleep to the danger of sin. They were asleep to the danger of hellfire. And they're just slumbering along. The Bible says in Romans 13, awake to righteousness. So we see in verse 13 through verse 15 there's a couple of thoughts here. Verse 13 the Bible tells us, broken down, the gates thereof were consumed with fire. So this was something close to Nehemiah's heart, that he was concerned the walls were burnt down. And the reason was it represents worship. If you don't have walls up, you're not going to worship properly. And so this speaks of our need for separation in our lives, to separate from the world, to separate unto God, to be what God wants us to be, to be living sacrifices, holy, acceptable in God, which is your reasonable service. So we've got to be very careful. We've got to be very careful to be separated from the world. And I know it's easy, you know, Christmas is, you know, we're going to compromise a little bit. It's not acceptable before God. He doesn't want us to compromise. He wants to live right, be right, do right. Amen? And then we see in verse 15 where the Bible tells us, And then when I up in the night by the brook and view the wall and turn back and entered by the gate of the valley and so return. So it was a far off advantage. He was close up to the walls. He's seen things and he went a little bit outside the walls to get a view far off. We must have a complete and thorough survey of our hearts and tasks before us. So we're not to skim over. We're not to just brush over. We've got to do some investigation. We've got to search our hearts. We've got to ask God to search me, oh God. You know, to see if there'd be any wicked way in me. Now here are some of the tasks. Getting to a place of wanting to experience revival more than anything. humbling ourselves. That's the first step. When you think about what God told Israel, if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves. That's what God wants. You know, bring it down low. You know, we think so highly of ourselves. Why? Oh, I'm this, I'm that, I can do this. All right. And what if you lost your legs? What if you lost your arm? What if you went blind? Could you do what you said you're doing? In other words, the thing is this, we are what we are by the grace of God. And we should be humble about that. You know, the idea of humbling ourselves. The idea of number two is honestly evaluating ourselves. That's so important. Not excusing ourselves. The fourth thing is grieving over the weakness of our day, not only in our own life, but of our day. Having a spirit of prayer, confessing our sins, sacrificing to God's will, to do God's will. not allowing ourselves to be, you know, apathetic, indifferent, ho-hum. You know, as the Bible says to the church at Laodicea, lukewarm. God said, I'd rather have you be hot or cold, but to be a mugwump, you know, to be indifferent, is wrong. The second thing we see in verse 17 and 18 is their synergy. Verse 17, Then said I unto them, You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more reproached. Then I told them of the hand of my God, which was good upon me, as also the king's words, that he had spoken unto me, and they said, let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hand to do the good work. Now look, I appreciate the attendance here today. I really do. This is good attendance. But there's a lot of places we can put people. And, you know, we don't have to rise up and build this building. It's built already. What we need to do is fill the pew. Fill the seats. And we'll do that next Sunday night at 6 p.m. by God's grace. But we gotta do it the next Wednesday, the next week, and so on. What I'm saying is that that's not gonna come because you shake someone's hand or pat them on the back. That's part of it. But we've gotta pray people in. We've gotta intercede for people. We've gotta see people converted to Christ. And so we find here their synergy. And notice the term. Nehemiah identified himself with the people. He was not like the Pharisees, separated above the people, a self-proclaimed no-all hypocrite. We have a spirit among Baptists of pseudo-spirituality, of false spirituality, fake spirituality. You know, I'm above everyone else. I'm better than everyone else. This ought not to be, beloved. We are all sinners. I can't help where you are in life as far as, you know, where you live, what car you drive, the amount of money you have and so on. That's fine, you can do that. But as far as all of us together, we're all sinners, that's it. Saved by God's grace. Now notice if you would, in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, 1 Corinthians 13 please, And that's why we ought not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. Why? We're sinners. We have no right. I mean, it's wrong. So you say, well, you know, you've been saved all these years, and I'm only saved a couple of years. It doesn't matter. We're all sinners. That's it. I notice that love should be the cause for all things, though I speak with the tongues of men of angels, and have not charity or love, I've become a sounding brass with a tinkling cymbal. I'm just making noise. But I gotta be motivated by love. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not charity, what does God say? I'm nothing. So it doesn't matter what a preacher does or someone in the pew does, who are they personally? And do they invest their love in other people? Or do they find offense with everyone or everything? Well, that's not biblical, beloved. Above all else, put on love, charity. And then number three, and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and I give my body be burned and have not charity, it profit me nothing. There's no profit in it. So I'm commanded to do God's will and to love, to love even our enemies, to love all people, all cultures. I may not love what they do, but I'm to love all cultures. Amen, at Nehemiah. had a synergy with this situation. And notice chapter two, if you were back here, Nehemiah chapter two, and we pick it up in verse 16, and the Bible tells us, and the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did, neither had I yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. Then said I unto them, I see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste. Then I told them of the hand of my God, which was good upon me, as also the king's word, and he hath spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build So, may I say this today, that we need to have that Spirit come, let us, let's work together, let's witness together, let's reach out together, let's have an effect upon the lost and dying world. Why? Well, they could die at any time, but the Lord can come back at any time. And so how important that is that we reach the unsaved with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must work together for the cause of the New Testament church, preaching the gospel to every creature. We must shoulder the responsibility. We must be burdened together. That work must be done in unity. And we need every church member looking for victory, looking for souls, looking for a revival, looking to pray, looking to be obedient. you know, the Bible teaches that very plainly. And then the third thing we see is their steadfastness. Notice verse 19 to 20. This is good. And when Samballah the Hortonite and Tobiah the Servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian heard it and they laughed us to scorn, despised us and said, what is this thing that they do? Will you rebel against the king? Now see, that just shows you their ignorance. He was the king's cupbearer. He had gone before the king after four months of praying day and night. And then I answered them and said unto them, the God of heaven, he will prosper. So they weren't looking to the king. They were looking to God. Therefore, we as servants are to rise and build, but you have no portion. nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem. And so there was a separation there that he wanted them to know. You have no memorial. There's no right. You have no portion in this. You're not even saved. So we see their steadfastness. And what was it? There was a diabolical opposition. That's what was going on. It was of the devil. They laughed at them. They mocked them. They caused them to be scorned. And then we see the devil's disciples. And what were they doing? They criticized them. Finding fault. Saying this is not right, and that's not right, and so on. But let me ask you something. Maybe they're not right. It may be true what they're saying, but maybe they're not right. You know, you got one finger pointing out, and you got four fingers returning at you. So it's so important, beloved, that we learn to judge ourselves. Amen? It's learn, learn to, you know, you know, point out fault in my life. No, not you. I didn't say that right. But, anyway. The thought is this, is how important it is to, we personally have to find fault in our own lives, our own hearts. So, we see that the devil's disciples, and notice verse 20, the Bible says, Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us. Therefore we his servants will arise and build. But ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem. And the declaration that revealed the termination. And this was a great answer, verse 20. He didn't take any guff from them. They can laugh at us going all they want. They have no portion in this. They're not saved people, they're not heaven-bound. But we, as God's church, people have been redeemed by the grace of God. There's something that we have a part as a member of the New Testament church. And the thought is that this declaration the statement that was made by Nehemiah. You know, we're going to continue. We're going to be faithful. We're determined to do God's will for our lives. We're going to be separated. We're going to rebuild the wall here. We're going to trust God to provide the timber and the bricks and so on. But God says that spiritually about people who need to be saved. that when, you know, you get someone converted, you know, what are they going to do with their life? What are they going to serve? How are they going to serve? And so on. And that's what we want, beloved. We want people to be faithful to God and rise up and help us build. Now, let me tell you, in building a New Testament church, it's hard. It's really hard. Because you got people from all different walks of life, and you're bringing them in, you're teaching them unity, and the Bible, and doing God's will, and being a living sacrifice, and so on, and getting everyone on the same page, it's not easy. But see, the way we need to be is like a fine-tuned orchestra. Everyone's on the right key, everyone's on the right note, no one's playing out of tune, And that's the way the church ought to be. And that we're going to reach people, the gospel, we've got to pray. We've got to seek the Lord. We need personal revival in our lives. We've got to be unified. We've got to do God's will. We've got to, you know, the devil's disciples, You know, they're nothing. I mean that in all sincerity. I'm not saying they're nothing, but it's not important, the clatter and the words they're saying. It doesn't matter. What matters is God, and God's will, and the Word of God, and preaching it, and believing, and seeing people saved, and baptized, and teach them all things. I mean, that's so important in our lives. And that's what we want, beloved. But it's not gonna happen. just by a handshake and a pat on the back. It takes more than that. It takes trying to lead people to Christ, trying to reach people to the gospel. It's in the preaching, the teaching, so important. And I trust that's been a help and blessing to you. Let's stand on our feet, please. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed, and no one looking around.