Time To Work

Turn with me to Nehemiah chapter 3, if you would.

Next Sunday evening, our student choir will be back in here with us.! Last Sunday, as we kicked our choirs off, we had over 200 that were in our choirs.

So that's our kinder praise, kids praise, and our passion student choir. And so when we first kicked off, they're in here with us. They are now, during this time, meeting in their choirs, and over 200 of them.

So we rejoice in that. And next week, our youth choir will be back leading us in music and will be in the service. And so that's always a joy when they are back with us. You have a handout that I hope will help you.

If you're like me, you can take a screenshot of that and blow it up and see what's on there. Because the print is a little small. But hopefully it will help remind you of where we have been in the first two chapters.

People have been back in the area for 100 years. The city and the wall is still not rebuilt as we've talked about. It's not just simply a statement of a lack of safety and security.

It is also about shame and reproach upon them. So for 100 years, we've had people back in the land. They've not finished the task.

They started to rebuild and they were told to stop rebuilding. And in the book of Nehemiah, in 52 days, this task that has not been done in a century is going to be completed.

Chapter 3 is an interesting chapter. If you were just to sit down right now and let your eyes scan through it, it looks like just a bunch of names.

It's predominantly just a list of names of who was doing work. It's not genealogies, but it kind of reads like that because it's a group of individuals in the work that they did.

But when we break this chapter down, what we see, I think, is really interesting and really helpful. Just to give you an idea, what he's going to describe is the work that's going on as they rebuild the wall.

So we're going to put a slide up here for you. It's not going to be super helpful because it's really small too, but I think it will accomplish the task. So this is the wall that's being rebuilt.

The little dotted area there is showing us where Nehemiah went to look around.

The thing I want you to notice, though, if you start at the very top where it says verse 1, what he describes in chapter 3 just goes all the way around counterclockwise.

And you get to the very top right corner, which is verse 32. So we'll leave that slide up there. But if you want to make a note here, verses 1 to 5 is describing work going on in the north.

Verses 6 to 13 are describing work going on on that western side. Verses 13 to 15 describes work going on on the south.

Verses 16 to 31 describes work on the east. And then verse 32 at the end of the chapter describes the very northeast corner.

Okay? So chapter 3, while it's largely a group of…a listing of names and groups of people, this is what it's describing. It's going to start in verse 1.

It's going to counterclockwise go all the way to the bottom, up, and around that very top right-hand corner where you see verse 32. And you can get a picture of the work that's being described here in chapter 3 and the groups of people that are working.

What I want us to do for our time together tonight in chapter 3 is I want to try to bring to the forefront the qualities of the work that we see in chapter 3.

Okay? So number one, make note of unity. We see unity taking place here in the work. And look with me at verse 1. Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers and priests, and they built the sheep gate.

They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred and as far as the Tower of Hananel. This is a big project.

And what we see from the very beginning is this unity as the people are coming together to work. Now, what I want you to notice is that this unity to work is coming out of what we saw last week in Nehemiah 2.

Look at verse 17. Then I said to them, You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer suffer derision.

And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up and build.

So they strengthened their hands for the good work. That was the commitment they made in chapter 2. And now in chapter 3, we see that commitment being lived out as they begin to work in unity.

Throughout chapter 3, we see 41 groups. We see 28 names of people. All of it showing us the unified work of doing what they were called to do under the vision of Nehemiah.

As you scan through chapter 3, you see priests. You see rulers. You see people who worked in the temple. You see people who were called perfumers and goldsmiths.

You see merchants. You see commoners all working together in a unified way. So with each of these characteristics, I just want us to stop and ask ourselves a few questions that come out of the characteristics we see in chapter 3 as it relates to us in our church today.

Number one, ask yourself, am I working to protect the unity of the church? Am I working to protect the unity of the church?

One of the beautiful things in chapter 3 is to see the unified work that's going on. And today, as New Testament church of the Lord, we want to also live in unity.

Ask yourself also, do I strive to balance my opinions and my preferences in light of the totality of the ministries of the church?

One of the things that can happen in a church, particularly a church that's got a large facility like the Lord has given to us and lots of members and lots of ministries like He's given to us, are people can get very disconnected and they just care about their part.

One of the things that we must continue to work on for us to enjoy the unity that we do is that we've got to care about the totality of the church. You may not be a musician, but you ought to care deeply about the music ministry of our church.

You may not teach in Awana or have elementary-age children, but you ought to care deeply about the ministry of Awana. You may not teach Sunday school, but you ought to be extremely thankful and praying for those who are Sunday school teachers for you and for your children.

It's not just the ministries we ourselves individually are a part of. We want to make sure that we care about the totality of the church and that we are striving to work in unity. There's a second characteristic we see in chapter 3, and that is order.

Order. Look at verse 2. And next to Him, the men of Jericho built. And next to them, Zachar, the son of Emre, built.

And what we see introduced is what we'll see throughout the chapter, and next to Him, or next to them. It's this picture not only of unity, but of an orderly work.

They have this big task going all the way around the walls there, but they're going to do it in an orderly way. This isn't mass chaos. This isn't everybody doing their own thing.

There is unity, and that unity is strengthened by order that is brought to the project. It's reminiscent of, in the Gospels, when Jesus feeds the 5,000 men plus women and children.

What does He tell the disciples to do? To have the crowd seated in groups of 50 and 100. Why? To bring order to it. There's a unity of spirit, but they've got to have order.

You've got 12 disciples. You've got to feed thousands and thousands of people. And so He says, get them in groups of 50. Get them in groups of 100. Have them be seated. And that way, we can assign disciples to each group and to bring order so it's not just mass chaos.

It's a beautiful thing when the people of God work not only in unity, but in an orderly way. This is a biblical concept. 1 Corinthians 14.50 Let all things be done decently and orderly.

Some of you are gifted in the areas of administration and organization. That's not a throwaway thing.

There is great blessing to the people of God when things are done in an orderly way. Nehemiah has prayed. He has asked God for help.

His response to God's answer was an orderly plan. The people begin to work and they do what they've been asked to do. When you think about the order in our church, just for ways of implication here, just ask yourself, am I engaged in the orderly structure of our church?

Not that all ministry has to be identifiable. There's all kinds of ministry that happens outside the church walls. All kinds of ministry that you have as you lead a Bible study in your office or as you are witnessing with your neighbor or as you are doing ministry that nobody else sees or knows about.

But when you think about the orderly ministry of our church, are you engaged in that? So just a very simple, clear example would be Sunday school. As our church is larger, we've got to also continue to be smaller.

That's why we break into groups on Sunday mornings, smaller groups where people can study the Bible and talk and get to know each other and build relationships and serve each other. Sunday school is not chaos.

The hallways may be chaos, but the classes are not. You know where you're going. We don't just have children's Sunday school. We have it orderly.

Can you imagine if you just turned all the elementary kids loose and said, just go find a room? No, we've got order. We have a plan.

We have teachers. We have things in the room to help them learn that are age appropriate. We have a certain number of teachers for a certain number of children.

We watch that so that we can add classes as we need to. There's order there. Our adult Sunday school classes are orderly. You don't just walk upstairs and say, I don't know where to go.

We've got teachers assigned. We've got chairs that are there. It's orderly. It's a biblical way to do ministry. So, it's not that all ministry has to be programmed by the church, but just ask yourself, are you engaged in the orderly ministries of our church?

And then there's another way to think through application of this. Could your family, could your household benefit from a more orderly structure? Now, some of you are hyper-organized and some of you like to live a little bit more freely, and that's great.

You do however you prefer to do things, but in most cases, our families do well with order. I don't mean by that you have to plan out your meals for two weeks at a time, though you may prefer to do that.

I don't mean by that you have to know who is doing, you know, taking the trash out next week, but you may do it that way, and that's great too. But is there order in your home? Is there order in your home?

Third, we see the characteristic of responsibility. Look at verse 3. The sons of Hassaneah built the fish gate.

They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And next to them, Merimoth, the son of Uriah, son of Hachas, repaired. And next to them, Meshulam, the son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel, repaired.

And next to them, Zadok, the son of Baanah, repaired. Again, you see it, and next to them, and next to them. It implies not only the work is being done orderly, but that there's a sense of shared responsibility.

Everybody has a job. Everybody has a task. They're starting with that area that's just right closest to themselves. This would be on a Saturday if you say to your family, we've got to clean this place up.

Everybody start with your own room. Make your own bed. Throw your own trash away. Let's bring order to the house. And you do it by let's start in our own room.

You take responsibility that way. Start at home. That's true spiritually. Start at home. I'm grateful for every Sunday school teacher, every Awana teacher, every Parents' Day Out teacher, every Kids' Choir teacher.

I'm thankful for all of our many, many teachers. Adult teachers, youth teachers, but I would say to even those who teach, make sure you start at home. Don't neglect the wall of your own household.

Start there. We minister beyond the household. We minister beyond our family, but don't skip that. Start right at home.

A couple of questions to ask yourself. Am I doing my part to help our church accomplish what we're to do? Personal responsibility.

Are you doing your part? Am I enthusiastically doing what I am gifted to do? Don't have to do everything. You can't do everything.

You shouldn't try to do everything. But are you doing what you can do? Are you doing what you are gifted to do? As you look at chapter 3, as I went through, I was just writing the verses down this week to kind of follow how it describes and what you see are people just doing their part.

You can't do everything. If you're on the north side, you may not be able to get to the south side, but you can do your part. And as there is unity and as there is order, that comes because of a sense of responsibility.

responsibility. So, let me just ask you, are you faithfully doing your part? I'm not asking you to serve more.

I'm not asking you to give more. I'm not asking you to do more. I'm just asking, are you faithfully doing your part? And maybe sometimes you feel like your part's so small it's insignificant, or your skill set feels like something that doesn't matter that much, or you feel like you're giving, or your way that you would serve or minister is easily overlooked.

But just recognize that even in this amazing project we see in Nehemiah chapter 3, the work gets done because individuals take personal responsibility to do what they can do.

Don't agonize over what you can't do. Don't agonize over the gifts you don't have. Don't regret gifts or finances you can't give to the Lord.

Just be faithful in what you can. Serve how you can. Give how you can. Encourage how you can. Take personal responsibility for you and your household to contribute to the work through your prayers, through your service, through your ministry, through your spiritual gifts that the Lord has called our church to do.

So we have unity. We have order. We have responsibility. Then, fourthly, we have reality.

What's reality? Not everyone serves. It's nothing new. It's true even in Nehemiah.

Look at verse 15. And Shalom, the son of Kolhose, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the fountain gate.

He rebuilt it and covered it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And he built the wall of the pool of Shelah in the king's garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David.

Verse 16. After him, Nehemiah, the son of Asbuk, ruler of the half district of Bethsa, repaired to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool, and as far as the house of the mighty men.

After him, the Levites repaired. Rehom, the son of Bani, next to him, Hashabiah, ruler of the half district of Kelia, repaired for his district.

Verse 18. After him, their brothers repaired. Bavi, the son of Hennadad, ruler of half the district of Kelia. Next to him, Ezer, the son of Yeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the buttress.

After him, Baruch, the son of Zebiah, repaired another section from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib, the high priest. What do you see?

People working together. Unity. Order. Responsibility. But go back to verse 5. And next to them, the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve the Lord.

A dose of reality. Right in the midst of this beautiful chapter of work, of vision, of prayer, of continuity, of unity and order and responsibility, the nobles.

The nobles of the Tekoites. Tekoa was the hometown of the prophet Amos. The nobles would not stoop to serve the Lord.

Does this happen in churches today? Have you ever considered the reality that not everybody's going to serve? That's real life. Not everybody's going to give.

Not everybody's going to put their hands in the plow. Not everybody's going to show up. Not everybody's going to help. Not everybody's going to take responsibility for their own part of the wall.

That was true in Nehemiah's day too. The nobles thought they were too good for the work. Too elite to stoop to such a task.

And the result is they did not do as they should have done. Even in the midst of this great work and this beautiful description of what's going on, there still is the reality that not everybody is going to respond as they should.

Let me read you the language that comes from one commentator. He says this of verse 5, it's suggestive of the resentment against new leadership. The Tekoites were among those who had been in the land before the exiles had returned and the sudden influence and power given to the returnees, particularly Nehemiah, were bound to cause concern and even resentment.

Meaning, their grumble was basically this, who does Nehemiah think he is? New guy in town trying to rally the troops, trying to inspire change, trying to motivate us to work.

Doesn't he know who we are? How dare Nehemiah call us to work? You know how long we've been here? And we can modernize that objection in common church language ad infinitum, couldn't we?

Who's this new pastor think he is? Who's this music guy think he is? We've never done it that way before. You know how long I've been here?

We could go on and on and on. It's nothing new. It's the reality of ministry.

It's the reality of work. In ministry, sometimes people just don't show up. That was true of the nobles.

Sometimes people show up, but they don't step up. Some people just won't be committed to the Lord. Some people just won't be faithful to the church.

Some people just will always say no when they're asked to serve. Some people will love the benefits of the church, but will never sacrifice and be a part of the work.

Some people will joyfully take the ministry the church offers, but will not do their part to give and help to provide for the work that we do. Some people will love to sit on the sidelines and critique what happens, but will refuse to get their hands dirty and do the work.

I'm not talking about our church specifically. I'm just saying this is true in churches because this is true of people. And this is nothing new.

This was true in Nehemiah's day. But one of the realities that you and I must be able to contend with is a commitment to be faithful no matter what the person beside you does.

And for some, they're able to do that, but for others, they look at someone else who's not serving, not giving, not helping, not showing up, not committed, and they can't take their eyes off the ones who are unfaithful, and they begin to let the lack of faithfulness from somebody else become their own standard.

Don't do that. Pray against that in your own heart. I mean, our church is, we're so blessed. We've got so many people who serve.

It's staggering how many people in our church serve. It really is. We've got so many households who give. We're so blessed with that.

But the reality is, if every family in our church just did their part with giving, not somebody else who just did their part, we would have so much more funds to do ministry and missions with.

That's not a complaint. The Lord's been good to us. Our people are faithful, and we try to be the best stewards of what God entrusts to us. That's no complaint. I'm just saying, even in the church as blessed as ours, as sweet as ours, as biblical as ours, even amongst our people, we have so many households who give, but there are plenty who don't.

We have so many people who serve. It's unbelievable how many people in our church serve in different ways. But we have some who will come and never serve.

Our attendance is, I'm so thankful, we've got so many people who are committed here, and people show up. They love the Lord. They love the church. And so many families in our church are so committed to be here.

But there are others who today would tell you they're a part of our church, but they don't show up. I don't say that as a way to complain.

I don't say that as a way to cast stones. I don't say that as a way to be angry or bitter. Just to acknowledge that though we are so blessed in so many ways, and God has been so good to us, and I love our church so dearly, but we have to acknowledge that we too are no exception.

There are people in our church who won't show up. There are people in our church who will show up but not step up. I don't say that in any kind of malice or anger just to say our work is never done.

The work is never done. Now that can discourage us and distract us, or that can remind us of why we have to keep our eyes on Jesus.

Because the person beside you needs to build their part of the wall, and they need you to build your part of the wall. And you may not be able to build as much, and you may not be able to build as fast, and you may not be able to build as well.

But those families beside you are counting on you to build your part of the wall. So build it. And if you look down the wall long enough, you'll find some families like the nobles.

I'm glad we don't have anyone with the last name of noble. That would sound really bad. We've got some people like the nobles who, I'm not doing that. I'm not stooping to do that.

Why would I do that? I've already done my time. I've already built my part of the wall. You know how long I've been here?

You know how many ways I used to serve? You know how our family used to give? You know how our family used to always show up? I'm not doing that anymore.

I'm just here to watch. Well, there's a reality in ministry that we have to understand. And we don't want to take that lightly because we want to love and care for each household and call them to a place of obedience and a place of trusting the Lord and honoring Him.

But whatever you do, you can never look at the ones who refuse to be faithful and let that become an excuse for you to check out. Don't do that. Don't do that.

You don't have to teach Sunday school forever if you teach Sunday school. There's seasons. It may be time to do something else. That's fine. You don't have to teach your same class forever and forever.

But we've got some people in our church been teaching for a long time. We've got some people that keep doing their part over and over.

And yes, there are some who won't serve. That's always true. There are some like the nobles who say, I'm not doing that. But the next time you get discouraged, make sure you've got people in our church that are role models for you that remind you there are plenty of people who never stop building the wall.

don't put your eyes on those who refuse to be obedient. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Be encouraged by the examples of the faithful.

And you keep doing your part. A couple of questions to ask yourself. Is my standard of faithfulness what other people do or what God has called me to do?

If everybody in our church followed my example, would our church be stronger or weaker? Ask yourself that.

If people served the way you serve, would we be stronger or weaker? If people gave the way you give, would we be stronger or weaker? If people had your commitment to the Lord, your commitment to the local church, would our church be stronger or weaker?

Ask yourself, have I become discouraged in my obedience? Discouragement can be real. It can be hard.

You're working. You're laboring. You're building your part of the wall. And you see the nobles here and you see the nobles there and you're thinking to yourself, these guys don't ever help. If you find yourself discouraged, take that to the Lord.

Deal with that. You don't want discouragement to take root in your heart. Find people at the church who are so committed and so faithful that have been doing this for a long, long time.

Look up to them. Emulate them. Number five, diversity. diversity. We see unity.

We see order. We see responsibility. We see the reality. Not everybody helps. But then we see diversity. Look at verse 8. Next to Uzziel, the son of Harhaiah.

I was doing okay until that one. Goldsmiths repaired. Next to him, Hananiah, one of the perfumers, repaired. And they restored Jerusalem as far as the broad wall. Look at verse 12.

Next to him, Shalem, the son of Halahesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired. He and his daughters. That's a beautiful part, isn't it? Just a man and his girls.

Just everybody doing their part. Not everybody here are professionals. They're not skilled at it. But here's a man and his daughters doing their part.

Rebuild your section. Remember in Exodus 18, Jethro comes to Moses and says, you can't do this all by yourself. You've got to spread the leadership base.

You've got to entrust other people. It can't just be everybody coming to you. You've got to utilize the gifts and the strengths of many people. That's what the local church today needs too.

It's a beautiful thing when you see people working and serving together. Verse 31. Go down to verse 31 after him. Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants opposite the muster gate and the upper chamber of the corner and between the upper chamber of the corner and the sheep gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired.

Perfumers, goldsmiths, I'm guessing they weren't real used to working with a hammer or whatever it is you need to be able to build the wall in that day.

But you just do what you can. You use the people who were there. You call them to joyful obedience. Call them to serve. This part here is a man and his girls.

Let's get to work. Those girls may not be as skilled as somebody else that's been doing it. Go to work with what you've got. Joyfully say yes to what God has called you to do.

There is something energizing when you see a diversity of gifts joining together for the same goal. If we were doing a construction project here at the church, we're probably not going after the perfumers.

I don't know what the perfumers do, but it doesn't sound like they do a lot of construction. But if you're building a wall and you've got perfumers, put them to work.

You've got goldsmiths, probably not people who do a lot of construction, but you've got a job to be done. You've got goldsmiths, let's get to work.

You have a man and his daughters, let's do our best. Chapter 3 is not a rendering of a bunch of experts, is it?

It's just ordinary people serving where they can, taking care of their section, knowing that their work depends on the person beside them, and the person beside them is depending upon them.

God loves to use ordinary people. One of the things I don't want you to miss from Nehemiah 3 is that the Lord uses faithful, obedient, available people.

You don't have to have great skill. You don't have to have great resources. You just need a desire to be used by the Lord. Build your section.

Pray for your section. Give for your section. Work for your section of the wall. And when you're tempted to say, yeah, but you don't understand, I don't have a lot of gifts.

I don't have a lot of resources. I don't have a lot of money. I don't have a lot of time. I don't have a lot of energy. I don't have a lot of strength. Stop being focused on what you don't have and joyfully trust the Lord with what you do have.

Think about the boy with his lunch, the loaves and the fish. The whole reason you know that story is because a young lad with very little just simply knew that God could do more with my little than I could do if I hold on to it.

That's all he knew. If I were him, I've got to confess, I'd have probably felt a little silly offering that up. 5,000 men plus women and children, 15,000, 20,000 people there, and I say, here's my Happy Meal.

Kind of seems silly, doesn't it? 20,000 people, you've got a couple of nuggets and fries. What are we going to do with that? Well, that's all the boy had to offer.

You know about that offering because he just trusted that God could do something more if he offered it to him than if he kept it himself.

And you don't know his name because he's not the hero of the story. He's an example of childlike trust.

But Christ is the hero of the story. And ministry is never more beautiful or rewarding than when ordinary people just offer what they have to God.

Not to be the focus, not to be the hero, but as a joyful act of worship. You may say, all I do is pray through the prayer list every week.

All I do is teach third grade Sunday school. All I do is go to my door on Sunday morning to greet people that come in. All I do is go out to visit people who have come to our church.

All I do is lead my discipleship group of ladies, lead my discipleship group of guys. All I do is help with outreach and with ministry within my adult Sunday school class.

All I do is try to get to church early on Sunday so I can meet more people and greet them and help them feel at home. And you probably don't do anything that feels heroic. It just feels normal.

That's what God blesses. Common people doing normal things for the glory of God. That's how God has always accomplished His work.

So don't let discouragement from things you don't possess rob you of the joy of what you have. And by all means, don't be known like the nobles.

Don't be known as the household that wouldn't stoop to serve God and His people. Don't be known as the people who were there but wouldn't give, wouldn't help, wouldn't pray, wouldn't serve, wouldn't show up.

Those families are going to be there. We want to love them. We want to pray for them. We want to call them to join the life of the ministry of the church.

But you don't put your eyes on the people on the sidelines. Keep your eyes on Christ. And when your ministry legs get tired, you have people engaged in the battle that you look up to and say, I want to be like them.

The nobles, they can be snooty all they want. The nobles, they can think they're too good to serve. The nobles, they can think that they're beyond what we're doing. Can't do much about that.

But as for you and your house, you build your part of the wall. And you pray for your people. And you start at home.

And you say, I'm going to make sure my house is unified for the gospel and orderly. And that we're taking responsibility for what we're doing.

And we're not worried about who has more gifts than us or less. We're not worried about who gives more or who gives less. We just want to say, God, here's our lunch.

We're offering it to you. It seems small. We're going to offer it to you. Lord, I don't feel like I've got a lot to offer.

I just truly believe you can do more with what I have than if I hold on to it myself. Let me give you a couple of final implications from chapter 3.

Number one, each gift has its significance. Each gift has its significance. Number two, a common goal with proper motivation brings biblical unity.

A common goal approach with the proper motivation brings biblical unity. Maybe you're the goldsmith. Maybe you're the perfumer.

Maybe you're the man with two daughters. Maybe you're one of the daughters. And you're saying to yourself, I don't know how we're going to do this. But you trust the Lord.

And you get energized by looking at people around you who are doing the work. Number three, biblical service is as much about the heart as it is the skill set.

Biblical service is as much about the heart as it is the skill set. And then finally, don't expect God's work to always have unanimous consent or unanimous participation.

Don't expect God's work to always have unanimous consent or unanimous participation. I'm not saying as a church we shouldn't strive to pull people in that are on the sidelines.

We should. But we're not taking our eyes off Jesus for that. I'm not saying we don't grieve over people who refuse to come and get engaged.

We grieve over that. But we're not taking our eyes off Jesus for that. I'm not saying that we don't look at parts of our church that need to be better. There's plenty of things that need to be better.

I'm not saying we don't look at those things and feel challenged and motivated and prayerful. Of course we do. But we're not taking our eyes off of Jesus to be consumed with weaknesses. We're going to be focused on His strength.

And there are people who will love to show up and in every single church in the world people who love to receive and love the benefit and love the blessing.

But they've got the heart of the nobles. I sure like that there's lights. I sure like that there's AC.

I sure like that occasionally the restrooms work. But I'm not going to be a part of helping make that happen. I sure like that we support missionaries.

That seems good. I'm glad that our church does that but I'm not going to give to support it. I hope somebody's praying for a missionary. Seems like we probably should but I'm not going to do that.

I love that our church has hundreds of children. That's wonderful but I'm not going to sacrifice my time. Look, there's always going to be nobles. And I'm just telling you for our church we're not quitting the work because a few people are on the sidelines.

And my honest evaluation is for a church our size I think we have way more people that actively serve than most churches our size. and I think we have way more households that give than average for a church our size.

And I think we have way more kind supportive encouraging people than most congregations. But our challenge isn't to beat other churches.

We understand that. Our goal is to keep our eyes on Jesus and do what he's called to do for his glory. So take a look around see who's missing see who's inactive see who stands on the sidelines pray for them try to draw them in try to encourage them love them care about them but don't you dare let the unfaithful become your standard of how you're going to follow Jesus.

You build your part of the wall and you do the best you can with what God has entrusted to you and you keep offering your lunch to Jesus believing he can do more through what you offer than if you keep it to yourself.

In Nehemiah 3 it's time to work. They've prayed they've planned it's time to work.

Let's be a church of workers. Prayerful joyful obedient workers. Lord I pray that we would take much home with us tonight from your word that it would be encouraging that it would be helpful I pray Lord that we would joyfully do what you called us to do in the name of your son we pray amen Hebrew 11 a.

Lord women come to la fathers who will come to our children so as what they would make look at them for them be together fathers may come to him will them but they would'll have them will say will when they would fathers new would need them fathers also fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathersahu род fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers fathers