And turn in your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 8. We'll be reading verses 9 through 12 this Thanksgiving Eve. We'll be reading from the English Standard Version, which is the translation found in your pew Bibles. Nehemiah chapter 8, verses 9 through 12. Let us hear these words as they are with thanksgiving. Let us hear the living word of the living God. Verse 9 of Nehemiah 8, And Nehemiah who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep. For all the people wept as they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready. For this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, be quiet, for this day is holy. Do not be grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them. The Word of the Lord. Let's pray. O Heavenly Father, how thankful we are to come this night as we do each and every time we come to the Lord, as we bow before Him as little children by Your great grace, Your sovereign hand upon us. Father, we thank you for your blessings upon all of our covenant children, and as you send them far and wide to develop their gifts to your glory, Lord, thank you indeed for the blessing of giving you praise for them as we hear the reports, as they return back into our midst. Father, thank you indeed for the blessings of the covenant throughout all generations. In this generation, on this day in redemptive history, as Nehemiah preached your holy word. And Father, we thank you indeed for the same gospel, the same power. We thank you that Christ has now come as we give praise in his holy name on this Thanksgiving Eve. In the name of our Lord, so we are so thankful for. In the name of King Jesus we pray. Amen. Well, on this day, in redemptive history, it is in the fall, the same season as now, a little bit earlier month-wise, but not much, of 445 BC. It is the sixth month of the year in the Hebrew calendar, the month of Elul. And this is a month that, in a calendar year rather, that begins with Passover as their first month begins in our spring. And it was actually at the start of this year, in the first month, the month of Nisan, that we read of a church in decline, and of the sadness that this decline brings to God's people, and Nehemiah as foremost among them. He's a leader in the church in a very sad time as he sees the church in a culture that is sadly in decline. And again, he's seen that same decline in the culture filter into the church. And as he receives the report of what that looks like, see how he responds. He opens actually in a prayer in chapter 1, but we will see as God answers his prayer, how he directs him in Nehemiah chapter 2. Hear these words as he speaks to the pagan king that he serves in God's holy decree. Verse 1 of Nehemiah chapter 2, relating very much to the start of our passage in verse 9 of Nehemiah 8. In the month of Nisan, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had not been sad in his presence. And the king said to me, why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart. And I was very much afraid. I said to the king, let the king live forever. Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves, lies in ruins? And its gates have been destroyed by fire. Then the king said to me, what are you requesting? So I prayed to the God of heaven and I said to the king, if it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's graves, that I may rebuild it. And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, how long will you be gone and when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province beyond the river that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah. And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy. And the king granted me what I asked for the good hand of my God. was upon me." Now, feel the weight of the words. The gates of the household of God, the gates of the city of Jerusalem, God's holy city, they are in ruin. And in answer to Nehemiah's prayers and under his leadership and boldness, blessed by God, the gates of Jerusalem that are ruined at the start of the year, 445 BC, in six months are repaired. Again, the walls, the gates, complete with guards. Only six months later, and so turn now to Nehemiah 6, and hear the testimony, and again, the hand of the Lord upon His church, and again, as that is a physical presence seen, the hand of God in the church building, in the walls around Jerusalem. Hear the testimony, indeed, before the world of the Almighty God and His blessing upon His people. Verse 15 of Nehemiah 6, So the wall was finished on the 25th day of the month of Elul in 52 days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and felt greatly in their own esteem. For they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. Now, first application for us in this Thanksgiving season of 2012. The fear of the church, of the living God, continues. It's no less today than it was then. The fear of the Lord, as again his hand upon his church is seen, it is felt. And again, the world, in spite of their protestations, in spite of their arrogance, again grows smaller in their own estimation, in their eyes, as the contrast is plain. And again, there is the law of the all-holy God written in their hearts. There is an organization in our land, and it sounds like it has such a lofty name in this age of reason. It is called the Freedom From Religion Foundation. And don't let the title fool you, it's not freedom from religion, it's freedom from Christianity. That is the name of or the purpose of the organization. And in these days it has, believe it or not, 20,000 members willing to part with $40 a year to stay as a member of this illustrious organization. Just to be sure that their goal is clear, it's not religion generally. They do not spend a lot of time taking issue with Islam, taking issue with Buddhism, Hinduism. There is one religion, as they would call it, that strikes fear into their hearts, and that is because it is the one that is true. On their billboards, they don't say, quit the mosques. They don't say, quit the Buddhist temples. They say, quit the church. Now again, if no one was coming to church, if the Lord was not blessing His people, if the church was in as bad a shape as the media would have you believe in our nation within these days, there would not be organizations like this full of people scared to death of the growth and the blessing of the Lord upon His church. Indeed, they scream from the billboards, quit the church, because people like you continue to join the church, to praise God within the church, Lord's Day by Lord's Day, and continue to testify to the faithfulness of the Lord to His bride, to His ecclesia, to His church. And again, this is a powerful testimony because no different from our day today, again, the Church faced much temptation from those who tried to infiltrate and water down the power of God's Word, water down the reality of the Lord's blessing on His people. Let's see what that looks like here in verses 17 and 18. We're still in Nehemiah chapter 6. Again, they perceive that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. They were afraid, felt greatly in their own esteem. But then we read this in verse 17. Moreover, in those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them. For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah, the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanim, and had taken the daughter of Meshulam, the son of Berechiah, as his wife. Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence, and reported my words to him, and Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid. This is the purpose of the world, right? To strike fear into the hearts of the church. But you cannot overwhelm the fear of the Lord. That's the point. The goals of the enemy are plain. Indeed, they're trying. And again, Tobiah, who was an Ammonite, a civil magistrate, that he had married into a Jewish family to be able to try to bring the church down from within. But again, it is the fear of the Lord that rang true. And again, the attempts to water that down have failed. Now, Nehemiah, as we come back now to verse 9, he is bound to the law of God, to the word of God. There's going to be no watering down of Nehemiah's commitment to his Lord and his understanding of the power of the Lord by his word. Nehemiah, no less than Martin Luther, believed in sola scriptura, understanding God and understanding yourself in the light of God, purely, solely through the Scriptures alone. And it is with that conviction, with the hand of God upon him, and again, that hand of God is no less on you, that he is able to supervise the fixing of the gates and the walls around Jerusalem. Again, another very important application here. Nehemiah is focused where your focus is. His focus is on the Church. It's important to remember Jerusalem in the way that the first readers of Nehemiah understood it, and blessedly so. Jerusalem is where the Church came every year for the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, for the Feast of Weeks, otherwise known as Pentecost, and for the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths. Nehemiah is called by God to focus on the church, it's very important, not on the promised land or the government or to reflect or to be nostalgic about the civil magistrates, the Davidic kingship as of old. The key issue in verse 9 is as it is for us on this Thanksgiving Eve. The people are lamenting here because the rebellion against their godly heritage, they have seen it. And again, many of you know exactly what that is in our DNAs and our culture. They know that the rebellion of the nation as a whole against God's law, against God's word, against God's holiness, is very much connected to the challenges that they face as a nation and as a people. God is not blessed idolatry and selfishness on a national scale in Israel then. And again, the consequences of rebellion and selfishness as a nation and running away from God's law in our day and age is evident to us as well. And so indeed, you might, humanly speaking, say that we would have reason to be like these Israelites, to be weeping, or at least mourning for the decline of our culture or of our nation. But hear God's word to His people in 445 BC, as they are just as relevant for you this night. Do not mourn. or weep, again because of the decline of the culture, but indeed because for all the people wept as they heard the words of the law, then he said to them, verse 10, go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready. For this day is holy to our Lord and do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Again, that is good news. Again, any bad news within the broader culture pales in comparison. It is true on this day in 445 BC, which is true today as well, Israel will never again control the promised land with the prosperity it had under David and Solomon. In fact, it has taken much prayer, as we have read, effort, sacrifice, just to rebuild the temple and the walls around the holy city of Jerusalem. but in the blessing of God upon His church. Again, the promised land is in the hand of the pagans. Civil magistrate-wise, Jerusalem itself is. But nonetheless, in the rebuilding of the walls, in the rebuilding of the temple, there is need, there is cause, there is the Lord's command for much rejoicing. And so it is that we rejoice this night as the Lord's hand upon His church is the same. Now we need to get into the weeds more in verse 10. Again, thanksgiving for the Lord's saving power. Now, Nehemiah does not just tell the people not to mourn. Again, positively, he rightfully tells them to rejoice, and he does no less than encourage them to have a feast of thanksgiving to the Lord. We've just reviewed and read the language in terms of the wine, in terms of the feasting, providing for those indeed who are lacking, so that everybody together as a church family would be able to celebrate and rejoice and indeed have truly a feast of thanksgiving. And we are blessed to apply this text in the context of our having every spiritual blessing in Christ both tonight and on Thanksgiving Day tomorrow. In a very particular context, again, of the great points of the reading of the law, the reading of the redemptive history of God's people, his saving hand upon them, is to be very thankful particularly on this day for what God has done. And again, we are called, we are blessed to do the exact same in our context here. If you remember, so much has happened in the past year, but only a year ago, the ink was still drying on the mortgage to this property. as the Lord, by His grace, was transitioning us from renting, as we had done the first seven years of our life as a church plant, and then in God's timing, as an organized congregation. And now, in this first year, in this first Thanksgiving, after a year under our belts, we are now blessed to continue to be the stewards of the Lord's property and facilities here, and how good it is to praise the Lord, very particularly in Thanksgiving, for what He has done. a sanctuary building and a caption with the name of Providence Orthodox Presbyterian Church on it in the local paper. Again, they don't intend it for the glory of God, but nonetheless, the Lord has done evident here, even in the secular paper, the day after the election. And again, the encouragement of having calls come in frequently, people calling from the neighborhood and saying things like, we're so encouraged that the parking lot is full and that we see people going and coming. We see different events happening at the church and we are thankful. Again, there's a whole range that is all in God's hand. But again, if there is thankfulness in the community for what the Lord is doing here, again, may we be leaders in thanksgiving for what the Lord has done. Last month, we were blessed to host our Presbytery family for the first time, to meet ruling elders, pastors from Louisiana to Key West, and many places in between. But most importantly, in this Thanksgiving season, how good it is to praise the Lord that we have sufficient space for all who God is bringing into our midst to worship with reverence and awe. It's easy to forget in the space that we have here, indeed, how challenged we would be if we had the same numbers on the Lord's Day morning this fall if we were in previous facilities. Now, again, it's true, this doesn't mitigate, this doesn't change the fact our culture is seeing better days in many respects. But the joy of the Lord's calling us to worship and to give thanks to Him in Jesus' name, this overwhelms our grief over our shortcomings, our sins, either as individuals or in the culture and even the church at large. How good it is to confess our sins as we have done, and then rejoice for what the Lord has done and continues to do, keeping His church pure. growing it week by week, forgiving sins again and again and again, and as a church to grow Lord's Day by Lord's Day and indeed year by year. For the Lord to save us out of this world and to grow us and grace together as a church family is reason for rejoicing indeed. And again, as we see what the Lord has done here, and as we praise the Lord for a diaconal ministry that continues to flourish and to grow and to expand, and as the community pays attention, it is good to see the continuity in the Lord's blessed hand upon us as it was to Israel on this day, when again, the church was not, by human standards, wealthy at all. It was impoverished. And this is true in the early days of the New Testament church as well. Turn with me, if your Bibles are open, to Acts chapter 2. We'll read verses 42 through 47. The Gospel writer of the Gospel of Luke inspired to write the Book of Acts as well, beginning in verse 42 of Acts 2, And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, and the fellowship, and the breaking of bread, and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together, and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions, and belongings, and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together, breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number, day by day, those who were being saved." Don't minimize the fact that these words ring true and the power of the Holy Spirit in God's Word, again, in your midst as the Lord continues to grow and to bless His church. This text in Acts 2 is often abused in terms of supporting a civil magistrate paradigm of communism, but catch what is truly going on there. It's the same thing that we are blessed to have again in a culture in decline. And that is in contrast to a culture and civil magistrates that are failing to see the church richly blessed in spite of it all and thankful as the Lord continued to provide for them. The brother culture in Jerusalem at the time of Acts 2, both spiritually and materially, was very impoverished. But the church again rejoiced, shared in the provision of God for them all as the saints were gathered, materially and spiritually. And he continues on this day to do the same. That brings us to verse 11. And sadly, this verse might seem strange to too many of us today in a way that it would not have in generations gone by. Does this seem strange to you? It's a gathering of people in worship. And we read that, so the Levites calmed all the people, saying, be quiet for this day is holy. Do not be grieved. Calming the people. Being quiet to not be grieved. We do something along these lines every Lord's Day. We've done it tonight. And again, this is because we try. And again, by God's blessings, He commands His sovereign hand. He subdues us to His Word and His will. We give the announcements before we worship, and then we take a moment of silence to prepare our hearts, and then we worship with much joy, but we worship with reverence. We worship, indeed, in a way that is orderly, and in a way in which we can hear and reflect upon the deep, eternal, blessed Word of our God. Again, think of what happens in the blessings of the worship of God's people. Again, it's this Holy Spirit that calls each and every one here. Each and every time these doors are opened, God's Word is opened. And again, the Lord blesses His people by His Word and by His Spirit. We quiet our hearts from the anxieties, the adversities, from the distractions of all the challenges we face on a particular Lord's Day or on a particular day like this one in a Thanksgiving worship service. And again, the Lord blesses us to do all of that for the same purpose that He is using the Levites to do the same on this day so long ago. Focus on the Lord, His personal word to us, His personal love to us in the midst, as both are true in the miracle of dialogical worship. The Lord speaking to His people corporately, but again, speaking to every individual soul as a personal Savior. Again, this is not an isolated example in the Old Testament or in the New, but turn to one example again with the same dynamic, the quieting of the heart, so that you can hear the voice of the Lord through all the adversities of a particular time and place. Turn to 1 Kings chapter 19 and hear the testimony of Elijah. as we read verses 9-18. Again, another time in the history of the church where you have a culture, you have a nation in decline, but again, the more powerful good news of the Gospel penetrating through it all. Verse 9 of 1 Kings 19, There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword, and even I only am left. And they seek my life to take it away. And he said, go out and stand on the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by in a great and strong wind, tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak, went out and stood at the entrance of the cave, and behold, there came a voice to him and said, What are you doing here, Elijah? He said, I've been very jealous for the Lord, the God of Hos, for the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And the Lord said to him, go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu, the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint to be king over Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Ebel Mechola, you shall anoint to be the prophet in your place. And the one who escapes from the sword of Haziel shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, every mouth that has not kissed him." Again, there's analogies for us, both in this day in Nehemiah, but as well in our day. Civil magistrates in Elijah and Elisha's day, they were no great shakes. They had problems. They were very ungodly, very secular men, indeed abusing the office that they had, inexcusable, again, in a land so blessed by God. In their case, with his temple in Jerusalem. Again, who as a result of their sin, those gates and those walls around God's holy city, broken down in his chastising love upon his people. But God's word to Elijah, speaking to him very personally, in the quiet sound of a low whisper. The church was still striving in spite of what was going on in the broader declining culture. And again, that is good news for us on this day, in this time and in this place. The message of the Levites in verse 11, quiet your hearts so that you can hear the blessings of the Lord to you and to His church. He is the God of redemption. He has redeemed you, so praise the Lord. That brings us to the last verse of our text, verse 12. Indeed, the power of the text, this small section of verses as a whole, is found right here. The people respond to the word of the Lord in obedience. The language is so important. All the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them. In the miracle of sinners, those after the fall, sons of Adam, people responding to the word of the Lord in obedience. It's striking, they do exactly what Nehemiah and Ezra command people to do. And what the Lord tells the people to do, rather, through Nehemiah and Ezra. And they rejoice as they obey the word of the Lord because They had understood the words that were declared to them. And again, it was a reading of God's law, a reading of God's word, recording His salvation of His people. Again, this application cuts deep. Never, in covenant children, you never underestimate the miracle of your understanding the word of the Lord. Remember the occasion. powerful officials in the land, there's the Sambalat, the Horonite, there's Tobiah, the Ammonite, and they had been a continual discouragement and distraction from the Lord's Word and from the house of the Lord. Everywhere God's people went, the news was bad. Indeed, Tobiah responded to the rebuilding of the walls and the gates around Jerusalem by trying to make Nehemiah and the church he served to be very afraid, the fear of man. But the problem for Tobiah for Sambhala, for the freedom from religion's foundation in our culture and land, is that the people of God understand the Word of God by God's immeasurable power and grace. Again, on this Thanksgiving Eve, remember the miracle of God sending you out of this place rejoicing because you too understand the Word of the Lord declared to you as His Spirit illumines you and indeed equips you for the work of no less than to proclaim the glory of Jesus Christ, Messiah who has come. Again, the evidence of that rejoicing. Again, we've already blessedly experienced it in the thank offering for this calendar year of 2012. To remember the blessing of the walls around Jerusalem being rebuilt with the power and help of God. As again, we're applying this text. Including the gates to let the pilgrims come. Did you hear in Nehemiah chapter 2, what was Nehemiah's, what stood out to him the most of the destruction of the walls around Jerusalem? It was the gates. That's very important language throughout the Old Testament, all the way in Revolution. That indeed, the walls around Old Jerusalem, the walls around New Jerusalem, they have gates to let God's people, to let the pilgrims come. Again, we'll finish with this. Again, the three times a year, the three feasts. As again, worldwide outreach has three facets. And indeed, in very tangible ways, these are connected to each of the three feasts. As again, we have continuity, Old Testament and New. First, the Feast of the Passover and Unleavened Bread. Again, you know full well what the New Testament blessing of this Old Testament meal is, and that is the Lord's Table, the Lord's Supper Communion. Christian education is vital, as again, Jesus is revealed by God's Word alone, fully God and fully man. To discern, to examine your hearts, to be able to discern the body and the blood, and again, the blessed role that Christian education in the Church of Jesus Christ takes, is through the Catechisms, indeed through other resources, the truth and the clarity of God's Word is brought to bear in the personal relationship of each sheep to the Good Shepherd. Second Feast, Feast of Weeks, otherwise known as the Pentecost. And again, here we need to go to the New Testament text that connects the Old Testament Feast to the New. Turn to Acts chapter 2. We'll read verses 1 through 4. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting and divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And you know that indeed the book of Acts is the foundation of foreign missions throughout the church. It's the same Holy Spirit, the same power of God comes upon Gentiles in, of course, here first in Jerusalem, Judea, Samarita, we remember Cornelius and his household, and then to the ends of the earth as we remember Ephesus. And the power of the Holy Spirit is the same. And so again, the blessed connection that we have in terms of giving and giving praise to God is the same proclamation and the power of the Holy Spirit goes out, Haiti, Uganda, across creation. We remember the Thompsons as they joined with missionaries who have been there for decades. And again, with the support and the expressions of thanksgiving of God's people is very much a part of the proclamation of the gospel there. Finally, the Feast of Tabernacles, otherwise known as the Feast of Booths, the third feast in which the pilgrims would come through these rebuilt gates to give thanksgiving to God. Again, this is connected very much with home missions. This one is tied directly to this text. We're going to read verses 13 through 18. Look at where the text goes after chapter 12 in Nehemiah chapter 8. On the second day, the heads of fathers' houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to Ezra the scribe in order to study the words of the law. And they found it written in the law that the Lord had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths, or tabernacles, during the feast of the seventh month. And that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns, and in Jerusalem, go out to the hills, bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees, to make booths as it is written. So the people went out and brought them, and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the west gate, and at the square at the gate of Ephraim. And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths from the days of Yeshua, the son of Nun, to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the book of the law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the rule. Again, the Feast of Booths had a very specific purpose. No matter how well things were going in the culture, in the nation, in the land, again, the church was to be reminded that you are always on this side of glory, a pilgrim people. And the point very much on this day, in the days of prosperity, in this feast of tabernacles every year, the reality that you are a pilgrim people in good times and in bad, but you're never alone as pilgrims. And tonight in the church age, it is in this context that we rejoice in the blessed as being a part in the recent days of home missions within our denominational family, because the Lord has blessed us as he has blessed his people throughout time. In Nehemiah's time, in the Apostles' time, in our time. We need to remember the Word of the Lord, John 1.14. The Word of God became flesh and tabernacled among us and we have seen His glory. Glory is of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. What we have seen and what we are united are in our thanksgiving on this Thanksgiving Eve in 2012. Some of you remember, indeed, as you have had the worldwide outreach inserts within the bulletins on this year, some of you remember what those were like way back in 2005. In the Home Missions particular insert, you have pictures of various church plants around the denomination. Back in 2005, the picture in there for Home Missions was of the Providence booth at the local farmer's market. Indeed, a whole denomination back in 2005 was thankful that the Lord was beginning to plant an OPC congregation in Bradenton, Florida. And the thanksgiving from those united to us, again, in both our denominational family and those of those broadly that again know of the unity of the church here with the church as she has been blessed in every time and every place, that thanksgiving has only grown over the past seven years. And again, our thanksgiving has grown too as the Lord's people continue to respond to the word of the Lord, to rejoice and be thankful because indeed today, no less than on this day in Nehemiah chapter 8, rejoice and be thankful because the joy of the Lord is your strength. Let's pray in the name of the Lord with thanksgiving. Heavenly Father, how thankful we are for the obedience of your people as, again, your sovereign hand indeed called them to do and enabled, empowered them to do what your word declared, to not mourn or weep in the midst of all the adversities faced by the church on this particular day in the Amaya 8, but to rejoice and indeed to be glad and to celebrate your sovereign hand, your provision for your people in every way, shape and form. Father, thank you for the blessings of the Church on this Thanksgiving Eve here in our time, in our place. May we be thankful, may we rejoice, and may we give you glory for all that we see in the blessed hand of you as our God upon the Church. Thank you that the gates of every household of God continue to be opened, and again, the pilgrims that you draw and save continue to come in. Father, thank you indeed that the number of those giving thanks to you as the living God in Jesus' name grows and grows and grows. Father, we thank you that that continues to be true in our land. Father, it continues to be true in every land. Father, thank you for the blessings of the Church. Indeed, we are so thankful for the Church of every tribe and every tongue. Thank you for the unity we have. May it always be, and thank you that it always will, be to the glory of Jesus' name. In His name we pray. Amen.