I want to read this morning from the book of Nehemiah and the fourth chapter. And I said that some of my thoughts this morning were inspired by the ordination service. There was a charge that Brother Moran gave to the church, and he did a very good job with that charge, but he encouraged the church to do the work. And one of the things that He said, that really spoke to me, and he said that, speaking about the preacher, he said, there's no one man that builds a church. That the work is not designed for one man or a certain group of people, but for all of us. I just thought about, as I looked around the congregation this morning, how much, how important everybody here is to the work of the Lord. And even though you may not think of yourself that way, God, if he saved you, has a work for you to do. I've been thinking a lot about how that we as individuals really don't have a lot to offer God. We're weak. But yet God chooses to use weak instruments to do supernatural things. If God's people will be open to listening to the spirit of God, and are willing to do what he leads us to do, mighty things can happen for God. Brother Binion gave the charge to the minister and he spoke about the prophets and about how that God used them to rebuild the temple after their captivity. What I'm gonna read this morning is about how that the people were rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. and about how that they went through discouragement and they pressed on and God used them to do a great work. I'm gonna read just a few verses this morning from the fourth chapter of the book of Nehemiah. And it says, but it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we built the wall, he was wroth or he was angry and he took great indignation and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren in 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. Hear 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. And so built we the wall and all the wall was joined together into the half thereof for the people had a mind to work. And that is the first six verses of the fourth chapter of Nehemiah. And of course, that's a familiar passage to a lot of people, but some of you don't know the story of Nehemiah. The people of Israel were brought into captivity because of their apathy. And it went even further than that. They had grown so indifferent to the things of God that they began even to tolerate idols. And because of their idol worship and their apathy toward the law of God, even though they had economic prosperity, yet they had moral failings to the point that God was displeased with them. And he actually used an enemy of his people as his own servant to go and teach his people a lesson. It's one of the most heart-rending parts of the history of the Jews is that they would have times of prosperity, times in which God was blessing them, and they would forget the blesser. They would be thankful that they had the blessings, but then even soon after that, they would be ungrateful for the blessings that they had. So they were ungrateful, and they were apathetic toward the ways of God, and they were apathetic toward His word, and they just got consumed by the culture, and eventually God was displeased with them, and He allowed them to be defeated and taken to captivity. What I read to you is when a generation came back and Nehemiah was sent to go and do what he could, funded by a Persian king to rebuild that which was there and that had been laid bare, and he began to do the work. And you can imagine the emotions as they thought about how that God had previously used them in years past, but now it looked like all hope was gone. And they began piece by piece and brick by brick, so to speak, to put back together the wall. And as they were doing that, they were wrought with discouragement. And the people, the enemies of God, were angry. That's what I read to you, that they looked at what they were doing, and they were angry, and they began to even make fun. And they said, what a pitiful wall that these people are putting together. So they were trying to discourage them. but yet they continue to do the work. And the Bible says that in that sixth verse, that they built the wall up to half its height because the people had a mind to work. And I just want to think about that statement for just a moment. And I pray that God would speak to us as we think about this passage. There's a hymn that we sing sometimes, and it comes to me often when I think about how that God has a work for us to do. It's called Jesus Use Me and the chorus of that hymn says, Jesus use me and oh Lord don't refuse me. For surely there's a work that I could do. And even though it's humble, help my will to crumble. Though the cost be great, I'll work for you. I think that's a good prayer for us this morning, that we could find our place in the work of God. And how important it is that each of us find our role. I think about, as God puts together His church, that it's the Lord that builds a church. Every one of us are here because God has led us here. One of the things, and I look, most of us are members of this congregation. There's a few that are not, that are visitors, but most of us are members, and the reason that we are is because God led us to join with this church. None of us just decided on our own. We didn't say that I think it'd be a good idea to be a member here. Most people resist that until the Lord really puts it on their heart to join the church. And when God does, He did so with a purpose. Everything God does, He does with a purpose. He doesn't do things accidentally or without any other implications, but God put us here amongst this family and in this work for a purpose. And God did so that we would find our place. And I think sometimes it's hard for us to know what our place is, and as I think about that, I don't think we have to know what our place is. God will reveal to us a little bit along the way, by and by, as we try to serve Him. What God wants for us is not to understand His plan, but to be ready to obey Him whenever He calls upon us, to be willing. One of the greatest blessings of life is just to be a vessel that God can use. And that's about all that we are, are just vessels. And we are unable to do the work of the Lord, but if we would be prayerful, if we would ask God to use us and say a prayer like that song says, and says, oh, Jesus, use me and don't refuse me, for surely there's a work that I can do. You know, even though it's humble, You know, help my will to crumble, though the work be great, I'll work for you. You know, you think about that prayer, and it's just saying, I'm willing. I think sometimes the thing that I get into myself, and I don't know if you struggle with this, but that I don't really make myself available for God. I don't make myself willing. I don't make myself... I'm not praying that God would use me. And because of that, I think I miss a lot of opportunities to be able to serve the Lord. But I think this morning about these individuals that came back with Nehemiah to build the wall, that they were there and even though the world looked upon the work that they did with disdain or with anger, yet God was using this and that they felt that there was a cause. They felt like there was a cause to work for, that they had been in captivity. And have you ever noticed, like, I think about even the weather and how it sometimes keeps us out of church, and maybe one day, you know, like we had a couple weeks ago where we're not able to be in the house of the Lord, I don't know if it does this for you, but it does for me, that even though I might be able to get my little family together, and we might be able to sing some songs, and we might be able to pray together, yet there's something about assembling with God's people and worshiping the Lord in the congregation that whenever it's not there, it makes us miss it. even for one Sunday. But could you imagine if we were brought to a land that was not our home and we were unable to worship together, even prohibited to do that, and we lost in some way our identity, we didn't get to assemble with God's people, we couldn't really see the church as it is. Don't you know that in our heart we would begin to long for the things of God and we begin to say, I believe that there's something greater in this life than just going through the motions of this land of Persia. You know, they've got so much, but yet I just feel like something's missing. Don't you know, if God's people are not serving the Lord, they feel like something's missing in their life? And I believe these people felt that. And sometimes it almost has to be taken away from us for us to remember what we have. And I hope that it doesn't have to get that far for us. But they began to see that there was a cause. They began to see that restoring the wall was equivalent to reclaiming the promises of God. You see, God has always had a people. And it's been God's purpose throughout the Bible and even today. You know, when you think about the kingdom of God and how much the Bible talks about the kingdom, the kingdom of God is God's people in God's place underneath God's blessing. And all throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, you see that God has always been about the business of assembling together a people. and putting them together in His place, and putting them underneath His blessing. Now, for us in the church, there's not one place for the church, and I praise God for that. In His infinite wisdom, He designed a plan for the New Covenant that His people would not be confined to one geographic place. But but yet his church is local so in a way we still have lots of different places But where God has his kingdom would be his people in his place underneath his blessings and you think about how that we've been so blessed to be able to be a part of that great plan and that great work and Well, the people of Nehemiah's day, they were displaced from God's people. They were scattered out among a foreign land. And they were removed from God's place. They were outside of the place that God had designed for them. And in many ways, they could not perceive His blessings. And so they began to feel and yearn for that need. And when Nehemiah brought them back to build the wall, and they began to build the wall, even though the people of the world either discouraged them or made fun of them, Yet they could see that with every block that they laid, that they were reclaiming the promise of God. And that God had designed for them to be a people that were peculiar. That were set apart. That were different than the rest of the world. That walked by a different rule. that lived in a place that was God's place and that they were God's people and that they were people that had been purchased and that God looked at with favor and they had forgotten all that because they had gotten mixed in with Persia but whenever they came back and they began to build the wall It wasn't about the physical structure of the wall. It was about reclaiming the promises of God and saying that God has a purpose for us as a people. And we do not live in this world to make this world our home, but we have a home that's a better place, a heavenly country. And so as they began to lay those blocks down and the people began to discourage them, they kept building, it said, because they had a mind to work. Now, if that was true in Nehemiah's day, it's all the more true in our day that we are a people that are set apart by the work and the initiation of God. When God saved us, He didn't just give us fire insurance, as it were, to say that no longer are you having to bear the judgment of hell, but He pulled us out of judgment and condemnation and out of our sins and He forgave us. And He put us on a new path and upon a solid rock. He established our goings and He called us out and He made us who were not a people now to be a people. And He placed us in the church of the living God. And He didn't just cause us to be spectators to watch what He was doing, but to be the very hands and feet that God would use to do His work on this earth. And I believe that's what the church is. The church is the extension of God in this world. And you're the church. The church is not some abstract concept. The church is the people. We are the building blocks that God is using to build up His kingdom. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3, I was reading that this week, 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 10. He says, for we are laborers, in verse 9, together with God. You are God's husbandry, in other words, His vineyard. We are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given to me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. Now there he's talking about how we present ourselves unto God as a laborer. He said, for another foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest. So he's talking about our works. He's talking about the things that we do. And he said every day you're building upon the foundation. The foundation is Jesus Christ. In other words, our salvation doesn't come by our works. And you know that. We have had that drilled into us. That salvation is by grace through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Here the Apostle Paul, speaking about the foundation, is speaking about that which is done not by our works, but by Christ's work. There was one work when it comes to salvation that God is pleased with, and it was the work that Jesus did upon the cross of Calvary. If you're lost this morning and don't know the Lord, you can't do anything to merit God's favor. For the only work that God is pleased with has already been done. When Jesus died upon the cross and God looked down upon that, He was well pleased with what Jesus did in dying for the sins of all of mankind. And Jesus' blood which flowed from His head and all the way down His body and from that cross was the means of atonement for a sinful and dying world. And so the means of salvation It's Jesus Christ. Nobody is saved by any work that they can do. When we're saved, we say, you need to repent of your sins and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Even those are graces that are not of ourselves that God enables us to turn from our sins and to to lay ourselves at the feet of the cross, and to finally get ourselves humble before God, and to claim that which was done for us. You see, we can't get there on our own. It's by the grace of God. If you ever get saved, and if you've been saved, then you know that the reason that you got saved, or the means by which you got saved, are not of yourselves. That it was a gift of God. Anybody that's ever received true salvation does not lay claim to the efforts or the merit of their own selves, but only gives glory to the merit of Jesus Christ. So that's the foundation. But Paul says we've got to be careful how we build on that foundation. And here he's speaking about the works that we do. And he said some of those things that we build will be gold and precious stones, and some of them will be wood, hay, and stubble. So he said, every man's work shall be made manifest for the day, that means the judgment, shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. He said, if any man's work abide, which he's built thereon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved as by fire. Why? Because the foundation is what saves us. But what we build upon it is a life that will either last and will go into eternity and will follow us, our rewards will follow us, or it'll be wasted. Now listen to me this morning, I'm getting to my point now. If you think about how we build upon this, we need to be very careful how we build upon this foundation. The foundation is salvation. The foundation is Jesus Christ. But we have the opportunity either to build something that will last with our life, or build something that when judgment comes, it will be burned away. And we make that choice. Those men that went back to rebuild the wall, they were God's people. But they had a decision to make. Were they going to pick up the stones and were they going to lay them down? And were they going to build the wall? Were they going to have a mind to work for God? Or were they just going to flitter the rest of their life away in Persia? And they had a choice. You see, salvation is by grace apart from works. But living for the Lord, sanctification is by grace combined with our works. And I think that is something that I failed to understand when I was younger. That even though salvation is not completely passive, but in a way it feels that way because there's nothing that we can do. When we go to get saved, we have to empty ourselves completely of ourselves. It's similar in sanctification, except for now that He's in us, He tells us to go and work for the Lord. To do what He wants us to do. And so it takes some effort. The people had a mind to work. What does it mean to work? It means to put forth an effort. If God didn't care if we put forth an effort, He wouldn't have said to put forth an effort to work. And I'm not trying to say that we should do this on our own, for I believe serving God is something we have to be very humble about and asking God to lead us. But I believe the best effort we can put forth is a prayerful and a humble heart and to say, God, if I could just be a witness for you, if I could just be used for you in some way, I am available for you. I'm here, I'm ready. God puts a testimony upon your heart. Are you willing to stand up and share that testimony? If God puts somebody in your life that you can be a witness to that's out here wandering out in the world, and they are drifting far away, and they're in danger of even eternal damnation, and God puts them in your life, are you willing to shine light by giving testimony to the fact that God has saved you out of that very kind of life? You see, that's the kind of work. You see, if God's people would have a mind to work, and I believe many do, but I believe we need to be renewed in our fervor for this, is that God has a work for us to do. And when we're either in this place or whenever we're out in our places of education or of labor, that God has a work for us to do. God has put us there with a purpose and He has something for us to accomplish. And there is a cause. There is a cause. If you've been saved, one of the most sure evidences of genuine salvation is that you want to see other people saved. If you have no desire to see other people saved, I wonder about what you have. I look back about what I have received from God, about how that God has come into my heart and given me eternal life, and I look at this world, I want them to have what I have. Not that I can be proven right, because I already know that He's right. But I want people to know the assurance and the knowledge of salvation. I want people to be saved and working for the Lord and doing what God has created us to do because I love people. And you too if you've been saved. A few things and I'll be done here. Restoring God's promises. Just three things about Nehemiah 4 verse 6. First of all, it was the people who built the wall, not just Nehemiah. If Nehemiah would have gone about the work, and Nehemiah said, we're going to build the wall, and I'm going to do it all myself, it never would have got done. He just didn't have the ability to do it. And no one person has the ability to do God's work by themselves. Don't mistake me. I'm not talking about me doing all the work. I'm just saying one person. can't do all the work by themselves. It takes all of God's people coming together and doing their part. I talked about the service yesterday, and I was telling Brother Anthony about the ordination. I said the Lord showed up, but I said, you know, one of the reasons that He did is all the people that were there, you could tell they came for a purpose. They weren't there to pick. They were there to glorify God. And you could tell that they wanted to show forth a love for God's work and for that man that was called to do God's work. And you could just see it on their expressions and in their heart as they spoke that they desired for that to get done. And they desired for the welfare of that church and for God to use that man. And they all had the same idea about what they were there for. And just immediately you could just feel an overwhelming presence of the Lord among us. I was there, we went downstairs, they pulled the ordination presbytery aside and they put them in a room and we circled around a room where we were all looking at each other. And they don't vote separately, they vote in front of the people. But Brother Mullins, if you know him, he's pretty blunt, he just pulled them down to a room and he said, I want you to look around. And he said, we're not here to find out what you believe. We're not here. to put forth a statement. We're here to affirm what God is doing. And if any of you don't feel like that you could do that, you can go ahead and go. And we all looked around at that circle and I think the humility started to fill our hearts and we just felt humbled to be a part of that circle. And I felt the Lord all over me. I felt that presence. So these men are all here for the same purpose. You've been in services like that, too, where the people came to worship the Lord. Maybe they had a burden for the lost. And they all showed up, first of all, to do that. They made a commitment to be there, but not just to be there, but to say, I want to worship God. I don't want to just fill a pew. I want to do a work for God. And maybe that doesn't mean that I have to, quote, do something, but I'm here and I'm readily available for God to use me. I've been in services like that and you show up and you realize that the presence there is more than the collective part of the individuals. There's something more that's intangible there. The Spirit of God moves among the people. I think that just starts with each of us saying, I'm sold out. I'm all in. I'm willing. I'm here. I'm available. You may not call upon me today, but if there's a work for me to do, if there's a prayer for me to pray, if there's a testimony for me to give, if you just want me to sing the songs and do them from the bottom of my heart, I'm available. And when the people, the people collectively have a mind to work, more gets done than any one man can do. I don't know why God set up His plan the way that He did, but He chose to use the congregation. Not one man, not one person, not a smaller group of people. All throughout the Bible, He chose to use His people, and He desired to work through His people. And so the people had a mind to work. Secondly, they had a mind to work, meaning that motivation came from the inside. I want you to think about what that means. When we say mind, you think intellect. That word mind means the inner man. We do too much parsing between mind and heart, in my opinion. I know what we mean by that, the intellect versus the passion, but a lot of times the Bible uses the word mind to talk about the inner being. They had a heart to work. It was coming from the inside. Why is that so important? Well, if you've ever served the Lord for very long, you know that's important. That your motivation is coming from inside of you. That your heart and your mind is stirred toward the things of God. And the things that you do are not because of external influence, but because of internal motivation that comes from the Holy Spirit of God. Those men, they were able to build that wall, and Samballot was a powerful man, and he was angry. And the man that was there with them was an influential man, and he was making fun of the wall. He said, if a fox goes up on that wall, a little bitty fox goes on that wall, the whole thing's going to fall down. Who do these Jews think that they are? They're just out here wasting their time, and the men just kept on building. Because they weren't listening to a man, they were listening to God. They were doing God's work. So they knew that it was more important that they honored Him. And so they heard the discouragement, but it didn't stop them from working. There'll be six different reasons tomorrow why you shouldn't do what God wants you to do. But if you have internal motivation, you'll press through. And I think sometimes I forget to pray for that. But when I do, I say, oh God, soften my heart toward your work and toward your will. Soften my heart, give me a stirring. I think it's true that we should just serve the Lord and do what's right, even when we don't feel like it. So I do believe that, but there's, Eventually, that becomes very burdensome and cumbersome. Just doing the things that you know are right because you know they're right and not because you have a mind to do them. Now, I believe you should keep doing what's right even when you're not motivated. Whenever you don't feel it. If you know to do right, you should do it. But isn't it better whenever God stirs us and we have a mind to work? We have a purpose to work? There's something that's on our heart that we say that we're looking for, that we have a burden. We should pray for that. Not so that we could be obedient. We should be obedient either way. But that God would move upon us, that we would have a burden to do His will, that we would do the things that we do with purpose. I think a lot of people burn out from the work of God because they're externally doing things rather than internally motivated. And it's easy to get there. And you'll say, I'm here all the time, but I'm just cold. I've been there. I know how that feels. I know what that's like. It is not something we should sustain forever. We should pray that God would fan the flame of our heart, that He would burn upon us inside, that we would feel that and see what He's doing. One of the things that God has taught me to do over the years is to sometimes step back and say, God, I know that you're working. Help me to see what you're doing. And then I just start observing and seeing, do I witness or do I sense an evidence of God's work? And when I see it, I'm encouraged. And why do I do that? Because it's easy to get discouraged if you don't have numbers. It's easy to get discouraged if you're not seeing what you think you should see or if things are not going the way that you think they should go. And so you can start getting discouraged and you can even be critical of God's work and start talking down upon it like it's not what it should be, it's not what it ought to be, etc., etc. You know, we've lost all the power in all these things. Maybe we should just stop, step back and say, well God, what are you doing? What are you doing in my life? What are you doing in the lives of others? Are you working? And when you begin to see it and observe it, acknowledge it, and be a part of it, and say, I want to be, I'm here to do whatever I can, and that which you're leading to do. For I'll tell you, when they built that wall and they built the temple, All the people of the previous generation, they criticized it and they said, it's not as good as it was in the days of Solomon. But the young men were going, they just couldn't contain themselves for the joy and the shouting and the crying. And the older men, they were discouraged because it wasn't as good as it was in years past. And you think about that. And why were they? Because they had an idea of what it should be like and they were trying to fit it into their box. And the young men didn't know what to think. And so they were just seeing God finally move upon them. And so they were so encouraged that they were moved. And I think sometimes we've got to get a fresh perspective and say, God, what are you doing? I want to be there for it. I want to be used in it. For today is not the way it was yesterday. And tomorrow won't be like it is today. God is always the same, but He's moving in ways that are different. But we have to be ready to work in the midst of whatever it is that he's doing. And sometimes we just need to be encouraged by looking around and say, I sense that God is working. I just want to be a part of it. And if the wall, if this feeble wall is what God is doing, then give me a hammer. It might be the scorn of Sanballat and his friends, but if that's what God is doing, then count me in. I'm in. Last thing and I'll be done. There was a worthy work. So the people had a mind to work, people had a mind to work, and the people had a mind to work. There was something worth doing. The Bible says that we're saved to work, Ephesians 2, 8 and 10. For by grace are you saved through faith, that not yourselves, but a gift of God, not of works, as any man boasts. But it says, we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. We were saved to do his work. Jesus one time, he told his disciples to look out at the fields. And he says, you see that they're white and ready for harvest. He said, the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers, are few. And he told those men, pray to the Lord of the harvest that he will send and bring forth laborers. For labor yields harvest. We all want to see harvest. Spiritually speaking, we all want to see souls saved. We all want to see lives changed. We all want to see the work of God flourish. He said, just look out at the fields. The fields are white and ready for the harvest. He said, there's just not very many laborers. He said, so you need to be praying that God will send forth laborers to the field. Now, that doesn't mean pray for preachers, though we need preachers. And we need men to be called to preach. But he didn't say send forth preachers to the field. That's one form of labor. It's not the only form. of labor. Send forth laborers to the field. It's a privilege to work for the Lord, thirdly. And lastly, we will be rewarded for our labor. Now, we may not get a reward for our labor immediately. In the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 3 where I read that, he talked about that every man's work will be tried, you know, whether it's wood, hay, or stubble, or gold and silver. He said, what will declare it? The day. So the day is the last day. It's the judgment. Our labors will be rewarded in the end. And I wanna close with this. Brother Jeremy Collins was ordained and I was with him this weekend and we were just visiting. And one of the things that his grandma was a good friend of mine. She's passed away, but she was a member at Victory Missionary Baptist Church, and they called me for a time to help with several revivals down in that church, and we were really blessed, and Evelyn Collins was just a wonderful, honoring old lady. But she would send me little notes about the Cardinals, and she was a Braves fan. And recently, she sent me a little note, well, recently, years ago, but the most recent note that I had was a, I found recently, I found in a drawer, a note from Evelyn Collins that said, well, it appears that the Braves and the Cardinals, they're all dead. They were out of the pennant race. I think you're going to be called upon to preach their funeral. Your wife is beautiful. Come see me, Evelyn. That was the note. So we ran across this when we were cleaning out our drawer the other day, and I took a picture of it, and I took it to the service, and I pulled up that note to Jeremy, and he saw that note, and he just got a big grin upon his face. He said, that was Grandma. I said, yeah, she was always thinking about me, and I think this meant she loved me. And he said, yeah, that meant that she loved you. He said, I feel like she's here today. He said, do you think that she can know that this is going on? I said, Jeremy, I don't know about that, but I do believe that she's here today. He said, yeah, I believe that too, because every time I tell my testimony, it has her in it. He told his testimony about a A man coming through the back of the door was telling he got saved in the middle of the night. His grandma started shouting and went to him and said, don't you need to be saved too? Don't you want to pray too, Jeremy? He got saved that day. I said, the works that we do in this life, if we do them for God, they follow us. Evelyn's gone to be in heaven. Her works are still going on. They last. If you live your life to make money, you can't take it with you. There's nothing inherently wrong with money, but money doesn't follow us the way it does with God's work. If we want God's Word to be in our life and be what we're marked by, we have to be willing to be used by Him. And if we're used by Him along the way, He'll use us in such a way that will affect somebody else for His cause. And when we do, our works follow us. I believe that she's still accumulating reward. As that young man stood on his call to preach and is trying to serve the Lord, A little piece of that was his grandma was praying for him and was there for him and it just carries on. And you've got people in your life like that too. They might still be here, they might be gone. But it was because they were willing to work for God that you were encouraged to work for God. And it was because of that you say they're kind of here with me still. And Paul said that they'll declare it. I think probably, even though we feel like we've done very little, if we're living our life willing and ready and trying to serve God, we'll find out that we did more good for Him than we ever knew. But if we're not working for the Lord, a lot of that will get burned up. We'll be saved, so as by fire. We'll make it through, but the things that we did won't last. Nobody wants to live like that. We want to live a life that lasts, a life of purpose. So we want to have a mind at work. That's what's on my heart this morning. That's the message for us today. And I pray God would use it for His glory and for our benefit. And I pray God richly blesses you. I hope that you didn't feel that I was swinging a stick. Because I don't feel like that in my heart. What I feel is I just want to encourage God's people to serve Him. It's the blessed way to serve the Lord. And all of us bring something different to the table, and God has a different work for all of us. We just can say, Lord, use me. Lord, use me. Amen. Why don't we have a song? Thank you for your patience this morning and for your time. And I just pray that we could worship the Lord as we stand together and sing.