looking at mostly the Old Testament. And as we have been looking at the Old Testament, we've been following that timeline and we have been reading through the Bible in a year. Hopefully you're still involved in that. I want to go back and pick it up for a very important reason. The reason that it's important for us to go back to Nehemiah and pick that up is, it's really on the timeline of the New Testament, or the Old Testament, it's really the last book. There are several books that follow all after Nehemiah. But on the timeline, it's the last book. Between Nehemiah and Malachi together, that's the last of the history. Everything that you find between Nehemiah and Malachi, it points back to something that's already happened. The Psalms he was writing, or the Proverbs Solomon was writing, Job was earlier, and Then you get to the prophets where a major prophet or a minor prophet, they're all pointing back towards something that previously happened. So on the timeline, think about this. Ezra and Nehemiah are going to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And then we don't see anything else out of the history of Israel until John the Baptist comes on the scene. And so we're really finishing up the timeline of the Old Testament. That's the reason we want to go back. A lot of times when people talk about the Book of Nehemiah, they always talk about the text because the people had a mind to work. The Book of Nehemiah has been used for many building programs and to finance many things because they'll talk about how the people It's an amazing feat that God's good hand was with them. But that's not all. The rebuilding of the walls is a significant part, but that's not all that happened. One of the things that we will see is the good hand of the Lord was with them. The good hand of the Lord was with His people. This is the Lord's will that the walls of Jerusalem are being rebuilt. And so, again, we sometimes focus on an individual book that we forget its place in the overall story of Scripture. So what's going on here in the book of Nehemiah? This is the children of Israel, because of their sin, were sent off into Assyrian Babylonian captivity. The city was destroyed. The temple was destroyed. The walls were torn down. Jeremiah in Jeremiah 25, 11 had told them that this time of captivity was going to last for a period of 70 years. That 70 years is over. And as we looked at last week, or a week before last, we talked in the book of Ezra about Zerubbabel being the first one to come back. to the city. And then after Zerubbabel, there was Ezra and now Nehemiah. And this time of people coming back lasted about 90 years. And so this is the city being rebuilt. This is God getting his people out of captivity back into the city of Jerusalem. And so we understand this, that everything that's happening in the nation of Israel is happening according to God's foreordained plan. We always want to remember that. God's plan is at work in the hearts and lives of His people. So we think about this and we think about them rebuilding the city. And here you send these people back, and we noticed last time we talked about the difficulties they faced, about the opposition that they faced, and how they struggled with that opposition. And you can think about maybe the lack of resources that they might have had to be able to reconstruct the city walls. And then when you think about the fact that some of these people that were rebuilding the city weren't actually builders. And yet they were going to do this work to rebuild the wall. So how were they able to do this great work and accomplish it in just 52 days? And it was because the good hand of the Lord was upon them. We might not think about this, about the significance of them refilling the temple walls. But the walls were for protection. And if they were rebuilding the city walls, it could be considered a threat to the ruler of that nation. And so as they're rebuilding these walls, again, they could consider it a threat. As a matter of fact, that's what some of the opposition said. They're just rebuilding these walls because they're going to rebel against the king. And we'll mention that a little bit later. But as always, as we think about the foreordained plan of God and what God is doing to accomplish his purpose, again, we want to think about significant factors that play a part in the rebuilding of the wall. Who is Nehemiah? What was his place? And how was he given the resources that were needed to be able to rebuild this wall? Again, remember, Nehemiah of the dispersal. Nehemiah is one of those that had been carried away in captivity, or at least his family had. Maybe he was born in captivity. Probably he was. How is it this one that was brought up in captivity, how is it that he had the resources and the influence to be able to go back to Jerusalem and do this great task? Well, as we read in Nehemiah 1, It says, the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakaliah, that came to pass in the month Chisloot in the twentieth year as I was in Shushan the palace, that, hey, nighty-night, one of my brethren came, he and certain men of Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. And I said, I beseech thee, O God." Now, and I'm just going to skip over to read. And it says, chapter number two. And it came to pass in the month of 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 before time sat in his presence. Wherefore, the king said unto me, why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick?" How is it that Nehemiah had such influence? What was his job? would do is they would bring a cup to the king. They would take a drink of it first to prove that it had not been poisoned. A very influential position with the king. So one of the places, one of the things that gave Nehemiah some credibility and ability to be able to do this work that he's doing is the fact that he was the king's cupbearer, a place of significance and influence. this story, we're going to see Nehemiah go back, we're going to see Ezra go back, and we're going to see the work that had already been accomplished. And we might look at Ezra and Nehemiah, and we might think that they are great men, that they are great leaders. But the fact of the matter is, this is what God is doing. He just happens to be using Nehemiah and Ezra to accomplish His work. that Nehemiah is in this position. Because God is going to use the position that he had as the King Cuthbert to aid in the children of Israel in going back to Jerusalem and rebuilding the city walls. Think about this also. The ruler, who is Artaxerxes, if you turn back a few books, we read the story of Esther. the king, well, or the queen. Well, Esther is Artaxerxes' stepmother. And so when the king hears of Nehemiah and knows of the people, of the Jews, and he goes to his stepmother and he asks her, Queen Esther, what do you think about Nehemiah going back and rebuilding the temple walls? the work that God had called them to do. Listen, this is another place where God had set someone up in the world. I mean, she was the queen of a nation of this world. This is not godly people. The Persian Empire, that was an ungodly ruler. And by ungodly, I mean it was not the people of God. It was not the nation of Israel. Artaxerxes, he was a, for lack of a better word, we'll call him a pagan king. and Esther has made his queen, that's no accident. There's no accident that Esther would have influence upon, Esther would have influence, there's no accident that Esther would have influence upon Artaxerxes whenever he was sending Nehemiah back. And so she would be able to influence him to look favorably upon the Jews. Also a significant factor that contributed to this is if you would take the time to go back and read the prophecy of Daniel's 70 weeks, you would see that the 70 weeks begin with the decree to rebuild the city by Artaxerxes in 445 BC. And so Daniel prophesied about the 70 weeks. And if you go back into the book of Daniel and look, it's not going to look there, but it will say, from the command to rebuild the city, that's when the 70 weeks begin. 70 weeks are determined upon my people. And so that's another significant factor of why this is happening at this point right now is because it's happening exactly according to the divine timeline, the divine purpose of God. And so as we think about these foundational thoughts and these factors in the book of Nehemiah, you can see how the hand of the Lord was with Ezra and Nehemiah as they rebuilt the city walls. Because the rebuilding of these city walls is according to God's plan. Now as we read through this story, as we read the account of what we're going to see a little bit later on, Strong opposition. Opposition which maybe normally would have had the ability to stop the rebuilding of the walls. But because this is God's plan, the opposition is not able to stop Nehemiah and Ezra. Which tells us this, it does not matter how men may try to thwart the plans of God, what God is doing, No matter how many might try to stop it, they cannot. The plan of God will be successful. It's sort of like if God before us, who can be against us? If we're doing what God called us to do, if we're serving the Lord the way he's called us to do, it doesn't matter the opposition that we face. The work God called us to do is going to be successful. That point right there at this moment is encouraging to your pastor. So as we go through the book, we also want to remember this significant place. Why are the walls broken down? The walls are broken down because of Israel's sin. And Nehemiah, as we go back to Nehemiah 1, Nehemiah was fully aware of that. And he goes on, and we'll look back here in just a minute, but Nehemiah recognizes, he confesses that it's because of the nation's sin, it's because of his sin, it's because of his father's sin. The nation of Israel is in a condition that they're in because of their sin, and God had promised judgment upon Israel if they continued in sin, so God brought the Assyrians and the Babylonians to deliver his chastisement upon them. The entire city of Jerusalem had been depopulated. Almost everyone was run out of town because the children of Israel were unfaithful to God's covenant. Listen, folks, this is a word of warning to us that if we are unfaithful to God and unfaithful to His Word, that there are circumstances that come because of that. And sometimes those circumstances are played out in our lives. The unfaithfulness of Israel brought the destruction of their city. They lost their homes. They lost their livelihood. They become captives to the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Listen, our unfaithfulness to God's Word can sometimes be seen in the circumstances of our lives. And we need to understand that. So they're there, they're in that place of judgment, and God promised that their captivity would last for 70 years, and at the appropriate time, at the end of the 70 years, God sends Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah back to rebuild the city. Another thing that I want us to keep in mind about Nehemiah being the cupbearer, a thing that, a tidbit of significance. Again, earlier, remember I said that To the Persian ruler, the rebuilding of the city walls could be considered as a threat that Israel was going to rebel against the Persian king. Yet because of Nehemiah's position as the king's cupbearer, the threat would not be expected. The ruler could anticipate that the walls were being rebuilt not for present rebellion, but simply for protection. And so we want to understand, again, there's another piece of information. Later on, we're going to see probably the opposition that Nehemiah faces. And when they come and try to stop the work, begin to make threats against Nehemiah and say that the king's going to think that you're in rebellion and he's going to come and destroy you. What they didn't know was the connection between the Persian king and Nehemiah. They didn't know that the king wouldn't listen to their threats because he knew who Nehemiah was. He knew the work that Nehemiah had done. As a matter of fact, he had appointed Nehemiah as governor. And so these threats that they tried to use to stop the work, it would not work because again of Nehemiah's place. Another significant point of the timeline, a part of that, is the fact that Nehemiah made a great sacrifice to go back to his homeland. Nehemiah, again, being the king's cupbearer, it says, he tells us that he was in Shushan the palace. That is a, I think, a winter home for the kings. It was a place of comfort and influence. Comfort was the environment. When the king went to Shushan, he went there. It was sort of like his vacation home. He focused on rest and relaxation. So Nehemiah was there. Nehemiah was in a place where the environment was comfort. And Nehemiah left a comfortable life to lead God's people So we see Nehemiah having the characteristics of a great leader. He took up for the vulnerable of the community. How were they vulnerable as he went back to Jerusalem? Well, as you read the story, one of the things that you find out is that the wealthy and influential citizens of the city were taking advantage of the common people. They were exacting interest from them. And they were exacting so much interest that they were taking their fellow Judahites' children as slaves as repayment for their debts. You know, the Bible tells us about exacting usury. That they should not exact usury. And usury is really interest but any significant interest above that which is fair. And they were going against the word of God. And so what Nehemiah did, risking his place of influence, he put the heat on them to stop. And we know that they had to stop exacting usury and they had to give back the wealthy and the influential. And so he forced the wealthy and the influential to give back to the people. Also, you read Nehemiah 5, one of the things you're going to find out is the people that were in the city, they were hungry. They didn't have enough to meet their needs. And so what did Nehemiah do? Nehemiah brought as many as a host of hundreds daily into his home to eat on his own dime. He took care of the people of the city. What had been the history of the leaders in the past. The leaders in the past and a lot of leaders, what do they do? They get everything they can out of the people. They will squeeze them for as much as they can squeeze them. And they will get out of them everything they can. But Nehemiah didn't do that. Nehemiah gave himself for the people. He gave his own Wealth for the betterment of the people he sacrificed of himself so the common people could eat Also if you read you'll see that He did not even take the governor's food allowance In other words that the money that he was owed to be the governor. He didn't take it So he was there in Jerusalem paying his own way and not only that but taking care of the people and I read this somewhere. The gospel shines brightest when those who proclaim it advocate for the vulnerable around them. The gospel shines the brightest when those who proclaim it advocate for the vulnerable among them. And we see that in Nehemiah. So really, as you read through the book of Nehemiah, there are six key themes. First of all, in Nehemiah 1, 4 through 6, we see the Lord hearing their prayer. It came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven and said, 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, Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now day and night, for the children of Israel 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. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgment, which thou commandest thy servant Moses. So we know that God hears the prayer of Nehemiah, but I want you to notice significant thought Am I is going to go on and say we're in this condition Because we didn't listen to the covenant that God made with Moses And the people didn't keep the law the people didn't God God we're in this condition because we have sinned and Notice what Nehemiah didn't say. Nehemiah didn't say, well God, now here we are, but we're here because those people in the past, they wouldn't do what you told them to do. And if they would have done what they were told them to do, then we wouldn't be here. No, notice, I and my Father's house have sinned. We have sinned against thee. One of the marks of our society today is the mark of singing the blame onto someone else. No one taking responsibility for their own actions. Everyone wanting to say that it's someone else's fault, that they're in the condition that they're in. No, my circumstances of life are because of what someone else has done. Isn't that a mark of our culture today, a mark of our didn't do that in his prayer. He said, we're here because both I and my Father's house have sinned. We have sinned. All of Israel together. Listen, confession is made for sin. And when confession is made, that's when God is faithful and just to forgive sin. The best thing for us to do is not to say, well, it's that person's fault or it's that person's fault, but to say it's my fault that we're in this condition. that these circumstances are upon us. But we know that God hears the prayer of Nehemiah. Another key theme as we go through the book is over in chapter number two and verse number eight. And that key theme that we will see as you go through the book of Nehemiah, you will see that the Lord works providentially especially through powerful rulers to bring about his greater purposes. Let's start up in verse number seven. Moreover, I said unto the king, if it please the king, let letters be given to me to the governors beyond the river that they may convey me over till I come into Judah. If you remember, that was one of the things, one of the issues that Ezra had. Ezra didn't have those letters of protection. He didn't, when he went, they didn't recognize that he was there because that he had been called of God, or been called of the king. The king appointed him to be there. And so he's, Nehemiah's saying, give me these letters before I go. And a letter sent to 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 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. And so God worked providentially through Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, and through Artaxerxes so that Nehemiah would be protected and that Nehemiah would have the resources that he needed. And so God worked providentially. What do you mean God worked providentially? Well, he worked in the king's heart so the king would be willing to do what Nehemiah asked of him. What the king is doing for Nehemiah really is not normal for a pagan king to do. God works on the heart of our exercise. And it causes Artaxerxes to have passion on the Jews. And when Nehemiah comes and makes these requests because God had worked on the heart of Artaxerxes, Artaxerxes willingly gives the children of Israel resources to go back and rebuild this city. A city that could be used for a rebellion later. But he gives them the resources to rebuild the city. You see the providential hand of God throughout this entire story. You see the providential hand of God working in the hearts and lives of people, even kings, to accomplish His purpose. One of the things that you should, that's a key theme that you should understand throughout the entire Old Testament is the providential hand of God working in the nation of Israel, to put the nation of Israel exactly where God wants them. That was a good one. Mackenzie had a real burp. Wow, got me off guard there for just a second. But that's the story. And you know what? We should have the same expectations, shouldn't we? If God is calling us to do something and if God has a place for us to be, we should have the expectation and the anticipation that God is going to work in the hearts of even your boss, even the governor, whoever it is that needs to move in order for you to be and do what God wants you to do. We should anticipate that God's going to do it. If God's got the plan and if it is God's purpose, we ought to anticipate that God's going to work it so that it can be accomplished by us. You see that throughout the book of Nehemiah. Turn over to Nehemiah 4. Next, another key theme. is that the Lord protects his people, therefore they do not need to be afraid. Nehemiah 4.1, but it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we built the wall, he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, notice that, the army of Samaria, and said, what do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. And so think about that. Here you have this opposition of Stanballot, and he's got the Sumerian army at his disposal, and Tobias making fun of their work and said, listen, these people don't know how to build, they don't know how to work, they won't be able to accomplish this work, and even if a fox went up, the fox would be able to push over their walls because they can't do this work, this opposition that they face. Now listen to these words. Hear, O our God, for we are despised. and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity, and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together under the half thereof, for the people had a mind to work." What do we see there? We see the Lord protecting His people. And since they're doing the work that God had called them to do, they experience the protection of God. Notice this also. It was God's plan and it was God's purpose, but the people had to have a mind to work. Listen, the plan and the purpose of God doesn't just happen presto. God works in the hearts and lives of His people. If the work of Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church is going to go on, it's going to have to go on because the people have a mind to work. The people want to grow. The people want to expand. The people want to do the work of the Lord. The people had a mind to work. We need to have a mind to work also, but God protected His people so they There's a lot of the story that can be mentioned in Nehemiah 4 and on, but we're going to skip over because we're just looking at the major themes. We're going to skip over to Nehemiah 9 now. And see that the Lord is merciful and faithful to his promises despite his people's persistence in sin. Amazing to see the work but they are breaking the law. Verse 32, chapter number 9. Now therefore, O God, or our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant of mercy, let not all the troubles seem little before thee that hath come upon us, on our kings, and on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on all our fathers, and on all thy people since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us, for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly. Let's just stop and pause for just a minute. The Lord always does right. No matter what, no matter how we see it, no matter how we perceive it, the Lord always does right. Verse 34, neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments, and thy testimonies wherewith they did testify against them. For they have not served thee in their great kingdom, in thy great goodness, that thou hast gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest them before, neither turned they from their wicked works. Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers, to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it." And so, Nehemiah understood that the children of Israel had not been faithful to do what God had called them to do. But what did God do through all of their unfaithfulness? purpose. Think about the nation of Israel even today. Where is it at? What's it doing? How faithful are they? Yet what's God going to do? He's going to be faithful to the promise He made to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David. He's going to fulfill the purpose that He has for His people even in their unfaithfulness. That's the God we serve, a long-suffering and a merciful God. It's going to keep us. It doesn't mean that we should go out and just abuse our position as a child of God. It doesn't mean that we should just go out and live however we want to because we know that God is going to be faithful to His purposes. Because God can and will bring judgment. Remember, I mean, the nation of Israel is underneath severe judgment even today. Only God is going to be faithful to His people. Let's always remember that. Over to Nehemiah chapter number 10, reading verse 32 through 39, the next significant theme. These are things that you see, a theme is main thoughts as you go through the story. The next thing we see is that worship is at the center of the life of God's people, and it includes willful and joyful giving of their resources. Nehemiah 10, 32. Also we made ordinances for us to charge ourselves yearly with a third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God. And so the house of God needed to be taken care of financially. So what did they do? They set an ordinance to give a third of a shekel. for the showbread, and for the continual meat offering, and for the continual burnt offering, of the Sabbaths, of the new moon, for the set feast, for the holy things, for the sin offerings, to make an atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of God. And we cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and among the people for the wood offering, to bring it unto the house of our God, after the houses of our fathers at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the Lord our God as it is written in the law, and to bring the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all the fruit of all of our trees. So not only did they give the shekel, but they brought the first fruits under the house of the Lord. And also the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as is written in the law. The firstborn of their sons was dedicated unto the Lord. The first of their cattle was dedicated unto the Lord. verse 37, and that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough and of our offerings and the fruit of all manner of trees of wine unto the priests to the chambers of the house of our God and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites that the Levites might have a place in the village and the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites take tithes and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes under the house of our God to the chambers into a treasure house. So the Levites would bring of their tithes that they gave them, they would bring the tithe of that to the house of God to make sure the house had what it needed. What are we talking about? What is going on here? So that the worship of God could be accomplished. For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn and of the new wine and the oil are the vessels of the sanctuary and the priests that minister and the porters and the singers and we will not forsake the house of our God." So their worship became primary importance in so much that they were willing to give to see that the house of worship continued on. You know, I was thinking about this today. I was thinking just about our lives and I was thinking about all that God does for us, even our glorification. He sent his son to reconcile us and redeem us and he had us on his heart before the world began and he's going to work in us all the way to completion. And we give Him one hour a week? Two hours a week? Three hours a week? All that He does for us and we find it hard to give three hours a week? I thought about that in my thought. Is our worship really just one hour a week? for really just two hours a week? After all that He's given to us? And we'll say, here's your hour, Lord. Here's your two hours, Lord. Shouldn't our hearts be more in worship to Him when we recognize all that He's given to us? The last major theme their own moral weaknesses and that's found in Nehemiah 13. And listen, this is, we're just scratching the surface of the book of Nehemiah. There's a lot more in there and I got a whole lot more notes. I got two more pages of notes that I'm not going to share with you tonight. Listen to Nehemiah 13 1. And that day they read in the book of Moses and the audience of the people and therein was found written that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God forever because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water but hired Balaam against them that he should curse them how be it our God turned the curse into a blessing. Now it came past when they had heard the law that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. They had a moral weakness in that they went in and they married with the people of the land. They had married the Ammonites and the Moabites. They had gone against the commandment of God and entered into mixed marriages. What does that mean, they entered into a mixed marriage? That means the people of God were marrying people who were not the people of God. That's what that means. It doesn't mean different cultures or anything like that. It means the people of God are marrying the people who are not the people of God. Turn over to verse 23. In those days also I saw Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, and Ammon, and of Moab, and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God." Now, wait a minute. How would you all like for me to do this as your pastor? That if I know you have sin in your life, that I can come and confront you with it, and even pluck off the hair of your head. That's what Nehemiah did. They had sin and Nehemiah confronted it. And if the pastor goes to confront sin today, oh you shouldn't do that pastor, you'll make somebody mad. I was thinking about this today too. I was thinking about this. We're not going to make somebody mad, and we're going to let them drift off into a Christless eternity, or we're going to confront them with their sin. They may get mad, but at least we've confronted them that they need to be saved. What would be better? Anyway, let's go on. And I went with them and cursed them and smoked certain of them and plucked off their hair and made them swear by God saying, you shall not give your daughters under their sons nor take of their daughters under your sons or for yourselves. Listen, we'd be a whole lot better if we did not allow our children to marry people of the world. Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like them, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, even him did outlandish women cause to sin. Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God, and marrying strange wives? And of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib, the high priest, was son-in-law to Sambalot the Hornite. Therefore I chased him from me. Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites. Thus cleansed are them from all strangers and appointed the wards of the priest and of the Levites, everyone in his business, and for the word offering at the appointed time and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good." Children of Israel needed to confront their own moral weakness. because their moral weakness was hindering them in serving the Lord. Folks, we need to confront moral weakness in our own lives, in our own families, and maybe in the church. We need to follow the word of God if we expect the blessings of God. These are the major themes in the book of Nehemiah. Folks, let's guard against these things so we don't get taken into captivity. So God doesn't say, okay, I'm done with this church. I'm going to destroy it. I'm going to cause it to break up. I'm going to cause it to go out of the way. I'm going to cause it to dwindle down to nothing. So there's nothing left till it goes out of existence. Let's make sure we don't let that happen. Let's keep on the work. Let's keep in the word. Let's keep doing the things the Lord has called us to do. So in another 50 years, Emmanuel Baptist Church will still be going strong. Even though maybe society is not so strong, our church will be strong because we know the word. We follow the word. We've taught others how to follow the word. Listen, if we're not living according to and working according to the word, we will go out of existence. So Nehemiah the hand of God was good upon him and God led him back to the city They built the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days. Listen, they went to the They didn't take their clothes off. They stayed up all night and they built the wall with a sword in their hand. They built the wall with one hand and a sword in their hand in the other hand. And some stood on watch for 12 hours and the others built and then they kind of traded places. They didn't cease from the work. And they accomplished a great work for the Lord because they had a mind to work. God done great things through Nehemiah and the children of Israel because they were dedicated to do the work of the Lord. And the same thing can be said of us. If we have a mind to work, if we have a mind to do what God has called us to do, and we guard our hearts and guard our moral condition and serve God, and we depend upon God's good hand to be with us, it's amazing what God can and will do through Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church. But a people has to have a mind to work, and that includes your pastor. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the truth. We thank you for your word. I pray that you'll speak to the hearts of your people tonight as we serve you. Thank you for the example that you've given us of Ezra and Nehemiah and their dedication to do the work that you called them to do. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, I thank you. Amen.