The Village Church
Engaging Your Neighbor - Audio
We come this morning dealing with different issues. And though we're here, despite where we come from, despite all the healing, we're coming for your presence because we need to hear a word from you and my father, from the one who has loved us from all eternity. From all eternity, Father, we have chosen us in Christ to be His bride, your treasure, and possession. That is what we are. The sons and daughters, that is what we are. Your people, who bear your name because of Christ. And so, Lord, as we come to the preaching of your word, I call upon your spirit that He will come. He will come and do what I cannot do. And that is to apply your word to the hearts of your people. I am just a sinful man in need of a wonderful Savior as well. I need a word from my own life, from my own heart. And so, I pray that you will be glorified, you will be lifted up, you will be made high. I would decrease, you will increase greatly in the preaching of your word. So, come spirit and encourages, changes, motivates us and strengthens to continue to look forward in this creation journey. Christ in my faith, amen. Well, a few years ago, my kid and I went to a church planting conference in Orlando. And now, I've been a part of two church plants in the past. And I've never led one. So, now, that's a big difference between being a part of a church plant and leading a church plant. So, that's a big difference. So, I was green, I was new, I needed help, I needed some guidance. And so, I was really excited about this conference and all the things that we were going to learn. And so, when we got there, you know, they gave us a big notebook full of material. And I was like, yes, so I pulled up my pencil, I got my highlighter, like, this is going to be a great week. And they talked about philosophy of ministry, they talked about, you know, vision casting, prayer, they talked about finances and purposes of the church. And so, they had different workshops on all our different topics. And one of the ones that really stuck with me, that has really helped me, is the one on focus. And the question that the speaker asked us was, how well do we know our ministry group? How well do we know the people that we're going to do our ministry, too? How well do you know that? That is an important question for a new church plan. And for churches that have been around for a long time. See, it's important for established churches because as you know, communities change over time. People move away, new people move in. And so, for a church that's already in a community that is changing, they need to understand the new people that are there. Because if they don't, they're not going to really have an impact in that community. And for a new church plan, like ours, this is something I said in the very beginning, that whenever you plan a church, I'm going to kill where you are in Huntsville, where you're in North Huntsville, South Huntsville, Decade, Alabama, Mathons, Scottsboro, you are entering into a community that has a set of values, that has a set of beliefs, that has a system of doing things. You are entering into that. And just because you show up with the Christian flag, that ain't gonna change. Just because you show up, that's not gonna change. And so, if you don't make an effort to get to know what those values are, what those beliefs are, then you're gonna have a hard, hard time doing ministry in that community. It's already gonna be difficult. You're just gonna make it more difficult. You see, every church plan, every church, I don't care if you've been around 100 years, or if you've just been around two years, you need to have a vision for what you want the church to be, for what you want the church to look like. But you also have to have a mission for the church and the community in which it's in. You gotta have a mission for the community. What it is, you want to see God do through us in the community, we gotta have that. What's the mission of the village church? Those of you who have been with us since the very beginning, what is that mission? Do you remember that mission? Our mission is to be a visible expression of Christ by engaging our neighbors, our neighbors, and that could be anybody. The people you live next though to, the people you work with, and the people in this community, the person you see every week at Publix or Walmart, that's your neighbor. To engage our neighbor through word and deed by relating to our neighbors, spiritual, moral, social, economic conditions. Relate to those things. And thirdly, by restoring that spirit, dignity, and hope. All of that can be done through the gospel, if you believe the gospel changes things. You believe the Word of God changes things. I believe we are engaging. That's why many of you are here. We are relating, and we are all being a part of the restoring process. And another thing, like our vision, if we don't make that statement our own, it's just words. It's just words on the website. It looks good in presentations to have the three-point mission. You know, engaging, relating, restoring. Sounds good, but if you ain't living it, it's nothing. It's just words that looks good on the website. And so the challenge for me as pastor, challenge for you as members is, all we're gonna live it. All we're gonna make that a reality. How well do we know our community, our neighbors? I know I don't know my neighbors as well as I should. Particularly one that I live in my neighborhood. I speak to them, but I haven't really engaged them like that. Haven't invited them over for dinner. You know, they've done a lot of good things for us, but we speak to them, but we haven't really engaged them. And we need to do a better job with that. So if you like me, and if you're struggling with that, the good news is that God still uses messed up people to fulfill His mission. He ain't gotta have it all together. So don't forget what I said last week. He uses his people to fulfill his mission and purposes in the world, a person like Nehemiah, for example. See, he was called by God. He used by God for a particular mission, was he not? And in that process of his mission, what did he do? He engaged his neighbor. He related to his neighbor, and he was used to bring restoration to his neighbors as well. And you see that throughout the whole book of Nehemiah. If you ever read that book and spend any time studying that book, you see that God used him to do those things. And he can use us as well. And most importantly, so you cannot forget all of that is always done through the power of God and not man. God is always at work in the background. Strengthen this people to do that. So this morning we're gonna look at Nehemiah chapter one, the first three verses, and we're gonna see how he engaged. The words of Nehemiah, the sons of Hacalea, not happening the month of Castile of the 20th year as I was ensues to the capitol, that Hennoniah, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked him concerning the Jews who escaped, who has survived the exile concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, the remnant there in the providence who has survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire, that is God's holy word. Who was Nehemiah, who was he? He was a man, he was a Jewish man living in a Persian empire, during the post-exile period of Israel. He's living in a foreign land, not the land of his forefathers, not the land of his ancestors. When there's a Jew living in this period of Israel history, it's toward the end of Old Testament history. Old Testament history is coming to a close here. So he's living at the tail end of it. And that also means that Nehemiah had no firsthand knowledge of Jerusalem, no firsthand knowledge of the prosperity of the kingdom, no firsthand knowledge of how the kingdom divided. And no firsthand knowledge of why they went into exile. He didn't know any of those things. And if you know anything about the history, is that the kingdom under David was a one kingdom, then when Solomon died, it divided into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom went into exile in 722 B.C. The southern kingdom, which is what we're going to focus on today, went into exile in 586 and to Babylon. Second chronicle says, "And they burned the house of the Lord, this temple, broke down the walls of Jerusalem, burned all of its palaces with fire, destroyed all of its precious vessels." He took into exile those who escaped the sword, and they became servants to him. This is King of Babylon and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia. To fulfill the word of the kingdom of Jerusalem, to fulfill the word of the Lord, spoken by Jeremiah, until the land had endured its Sabbaths. All the days that it laid desolate, it kept Sabbaths, to fulfill 70 years. And now 140 years later, after that, Nehemiah comes on the scene, 140 years later. This isn't, he didn't come on the scene a week from there. It was 145, 140 years later, he comes on the scene. This is a long time. He was born in exile. He never lived in the city of Jerusalem. And so that means any knowledge that he had of God, of Yahweh, any knowledge he had about his forefathers in Jerusalem was passed down to him through the word of mouth. He was told how Yahweh chose Israel as his chosen people, how he delivered them out of Egypt and brought them to Atlanta promise. He was told about the prosperity of the kingdom, the beauty of the temple. It was beautiful. He had to be told that stuff. He was told about how Yahweh was always faithful to Israel despite their unfaithfulness. He was told about how their unfaithfulness eventually led them to be in exile. You know what else he realized? He realized that it was the sins of his forefathers. It's the reason why he's not in Jerusalem right now because of what they did. And he's living in consequences of the sins of the fathers, their unfaithfulness. But most importantly, don't forget this. You've got to see this. You know, most importantly, the most important thing that he learned as he listened to the history of his people as a nation and all the things that they went through, the most important thing he will learn from that is that no matter what they went through, all the ups and downs, he also learned about the great faithfulness of his covenant, keeping God Yahweh. He learned that too with the history because he's connected to that history. There's an old Negro spiritual that says, "Jesus is with us. He has been with us. He will be with us to the end." What is that statement communicating? It's communicating sovereignty. And whatever I go through, Jesus is with me to the end. Do you know what Yahweh, do you know what Nehemiah's name means? Do you know what it means? Yahweh has comforted. Yahweh has consoled. That's what his name means. See, the exile for the Jewish people, it was a small season of grief, hardship, but Yahweh consoled it, then I'm going to miss that. The Lord was still faithful to his people even though they were in exile. They didn't stop being his people. Do you think they stopped being his people when they were in exile? Do you think he stopped working on their behalf while they were in exile? No, they did not. Think about it. How could a man 140 years after the exile come to know Yahweh as God? If God did not still have a remnant there. It's not possible if God was not at work. 145 years later, after the destruction of Jerusalem, you have Nehemiah who knows Yahweh, it's possible because God did not let his people forget him in the midst of the troubles. They did not forget him. And Nehemiah is an example of that. He's in Persia, but yet he has a relationship with Yahweh. He's not in Jerusalem. And it's because God was still in the midst of his people. Still working on their behalf. Still sustaining them. Still doing it. Just the same for us as well. So Nehemiah who is he? He is a man connected to a people with an up and down history. And he is a man who knows a God unlike any other God. That's who he is. But he is also a man who is still distant from his people in homeland because of his present situation. The text says he was in suits of the capital. And that's the capital of the Persian Empire. And Susa was the winner resident to the Persian king. Every one of them, every Persian king would go there. And Nehemiah was there in the ninth month in the Jewish calendar. That would be mid November, he sent to December, according to our calendar. He was there in the ninth month. And at that point, he doesn't tell us why he's there. He doesn't tell us what he's doing there. But he's there because of his position, because of his job. That's why he's there. You see, Nehemiah was cut there to the Persian king, or to Erxes. That was his job. Basically, he had a good job with good benefits. And he was more than a butler. He was more than a butler. A cut there was an officer of high rank in royal courts. This person served drinks at the royal table. He was responsible for the king's cup, which means he had to protect it from poison. He had to taste the wine before he served it to the king. And not anybody can get this job. You can't just go submit a resume to get this job. A person had to be extremely trustworthy to be cut by her to the king. And then it speaks a lot of Nehemiah's character that he had this job. He was trustworthy himself. And so, he was there with the king. And while he was there, he came in contact with his brother. And some men from Judah. Now, again, there's no details of how and why they ran into each other. What were the circumstances of the meeting? But one author says, no doubt, it was just a routine day for Nehemiah when he met his brother. And it turned out to be a changing point of his life. Like large doors, great life-changing events can swing on very small hinges. You see, sometimes, you know, I like looking for the extra-ordinary moments. That's going to change my life. Those extra-ordinary moments that's going to lie to fire under me for the Lord. But God doesn't always work that way. And he sometimes uses the regular routines of your life. Those everyday things that you do to make you be turning points for you. And yes, that's what you do. The everyday things that you do to make you be turning points for you. And yes, even this meeting here with Nehemiah and his brother, the Lord was in this. It was not chance. It was not by accident. Oh, hey, brother, not to see you here. No, the Lord's providence is at work here. And you see that unfold that he worked our way through the book. And do you think it's by accident that Nehemiah was cut bare to the king? A Jewish man? Is that by accident? Is the Lord God put him there for a particular purpose? Again, that purpose will unfold as we go through the book. And so the Lord is sitting the stage to stir up Nehemiah, to call Nehemiah. And he's working through the ordinary routines of his life to do it. Do you pay attention to the ordinary routines of your life? The thing that you do every day to get tired of? I wish I could do something else. But God can work through that. When Waikia and I met with a couple who would eventually take our wedding photos. When we sat down with them, we told them we want more than just stage photos. We want our photo album to tell a story of that day, a story. And so we want them to take candid shots throughout the day. A bunch just hanging out and everything, just candid shots. And if you look at our photo album, you will see it. It actually does tell a story of our special day. And out the ridge of it, Nehemiah said, candid shots capture life in the making. The candid shots of life. They capture shot, they capture life in the making. And that's what the regular routines are. It's life in the making. It's your life in the making. The candid shots of your life. And pay attention to those things. Because God is working there. And all of us. This past Thursday, I met a guy from the airbred. I was feeling pressure because my sermon wasn't done. And I was working on it. And he wanted to talk. He kept asking me questions. I'm trying to focus. But you know what? I engaged him. I started talking to him. And we started talking about Chick-fil-A of all places. And one thing led to another. I learned that he was the only local business in Huntsville. And he was also a part of an organization that does a lot of charity work. You know, they help support organizations like Boys and Girls Club and things like that. And he invited me to come speak to them later on this year. And he said they were probably interested in supporting what we're doing in Lincoln. And I thought to myself, man, God, you're awesome. Because this summer we're going to be taking kids to camp this summer. And I'm hoping that this organization is going to sponsor some of those kids to go to this camp. And you know what, if I was just said, I'm working on my sermon. I'm not going to talk to you. I would have missed the opportunity to be able to share about the good work God is doing here. And so that was just a regular day for me, sermon prep. But God used that regular day to help me meet this man. And now I have an opportunity to share about what he's doing through our church and what he's doing in this community. And hopefully they're going to be regular supporters of us. And so that's what I'm talking about. You know, pay attention to the ordinary things of life. And also don't be a Nazi about your schedule. Allow God to interrupt your schedule. But sometime when he does that, he has a purpose for you. So don't be a Nazi by it. Don't be able to slave to your schedule like I am. So that God interrupted because he will all the time. This is exactly what happened to Nehemiah when he met his brother. He engaged them with a question. With a question, a simple question. What did he say? I asked him concerning the Jews who escaped. Who has survived the exile concerning Jerusalem. A question. One of the things I love about the book of Nehemiah is that it teaches us that you don't have to have a title to be used by God. You see, taking consideration. Again, 140 years later after the exile. So that means Nehemiah, he was not a priest. He was not a prophet. He wasn't a king. He was a layman. A regular layman. Getting ready to be used by God in a great way. He could have easily said, "What good could I do here? I'm just a layman. I mean, I don't have limited knowledge, limited experience. I have nothing to offer." You see, he didn't use his limitations as an excuse not to step up to the plate and engage. Because the foundation of his foundation again was the lowest faithfulness in his life. That was going to be his foundation. And so you don't have to be a pastor. You don't have to be a elder. You don't have to be a beacon to be used by God. You don't have to say, "I'm too young. I haven't been a Christian too long, so I got to wait until my Christian 20 years for God to use me." No. You don't have to be a Christian 20 years for God to use you. He can use you now if you open up your eyes and see. Anybody can be used by God. He uses his people, all of us. So when you look at your life, where you are in your life, the situation that you are, the places that you live, do you say to yourself, "What good could I do? I'm just a blank." What is your blank? What do you put there to say that God can't use me? I have nothing to offer. I have limited experience. I don't know how to work where all types of people, so God can't use me. You know, don't use your limitations as an excuse to do nothing. Don't use your limitations as an excuse not to step up and engage. Listen, knowledge and experience, positions and titles are not the primary thing the loyal looks at. He looks at the heart and attitude first. Where's your heart? Where's your attitude? Are your hearts and attitudes in the position to be used by God? See, Nehemiah cared about his people. He cared about them. He cared about the conditions that they lived in. He cared about his God. That's what you see from the book. He cared about them. Do we care? The second thing we see about his present situation is that he wrote the high-profile secular job with a lot of responsibility and a lot of danger because his life was always at risk every time he served the wine to the king. But God didn't hold those things against him. He didn't hold the fact that he wrote the secular job against him. God still used him. His job came with also great benefits. You've got to think if he's rubbing elbows with the king, he had a good life, well taken care of financially. And so we see that his job and the lifestyle that his job had got at him did not disconnect him from his God. His good job and his good life did not disconnect him from his covenant keeping God. Keep in mind. He could have easily worshipped a Persian God, a God of idol, couldn't he? Again, because he didn't grow up in Jerusalem. He didn't grow up going to the temple. He didn't grow up with the sacrifices. So he had all the opportunities to be a pagan, right? So it speaks volumes to what God did to sustain a remnant from himself in the midst of the exile. God kept him. His job and his life did not disconnect him from his God. What about us, our jobs and our lifestyles? Does it push his father from our God or does it draw us closer to our God? See, he knew he was a member of the covenant people of God. He walked with Yahweh in a foreign land while he wrote the secular job. He did not limit Yahweh's presence to a particular place. So I can't worship God if I'm not in Jerusalem. Why do you think there are Christians in countries that don't have religious freedom? Because God is at work. Why is the church and China growing in the midst of persecution? Because Yahweh is at work. Why? Why? Do you ever think about that? We have freedom to do what we do here. We have others and brothers and sisters whose life are on the line every time they do. Because Yahweh is in the business of calling people to himself. That's his mission. And nothing, no government, no dictator is ever going to hinder that plan. You got to know that. God's purposes will be fulfilled in this world despite what we see on the news and we will do that. His agenda is going to get done and he uses us and his people to do it. He does. That's our God. Say another thing. His good job and comfortable life did not diminish his concern for the welfare of his fellow Jewish brothers. It did not diminish his concern for them. He cared for them. And George Shaw's played a devil's disciple. Sir Reverend Alexander said the worst sin to what our fellow creatures is not to hate them but to be indifferent to them. That's the essence of him in humanity. To be indifferent to them. To say, I really don't care what they're going through. That's their problem. You know, kind of how I felt when I saw stuff about Egypt brothers, their problem. I'm indifferent to that. That doesn't concern me. It should. People are dying. What about you? Then my could have had an attitude of indifference. He could have said, because he's living 140 years later, he could have been like, you know what? I'm completely distant from that. That's part of my history but that has nothing to do with me. I never lived there. They messed up. I didn't. I got my good job and I ain't messing that up. I know it comes with high responsibility but this is my life now. That stuff went down 140 years ago. Y'all didn't work that out. My life, my responsibilities, my career is here in Persia. And I have nothing to do with what's going on in Jerusalem right now. He could have had an attitude. I'm distant from that. It has nothing to do with me. I do not have the time to engage that. I'm going on about my life and what I'm doing here. But that was not his attitude. It was not. What about you? Is your vocation in life diminishing your concern and welfare for other people? Your family, your neighbors? Or do your pursuit of a certain lifestyle causing you to step over and on wherever you can to attain it? Are you indifferent? Are you indifferent to things that other people go through? Oh, since I've been here working in the church and with Lincoln Village Ministries, I've seen a lot of churches and groups come through here. You know, volunteering, coming to learn about the things that we're doing. And quite often, one of the comments I hear from folks is, especially those who live in Huntsville, is that I never knew people in a city live like this. I never knew people that live in these type of conditions. Here in Huntsville, in America. Do you know why they don't know? It's because they don't want to know. It's why they don't know. It's because people have arranged their lives in such a way that you don't have to see certain things, listen to certain things, smell to certain things, hear certain things, or touch certain things. You have arranged your life that way. You have self in prison in your life in such a way that you don't have to really see what other people go through. Because you don't want to see it. Because when you see it, when you hear it, you start to feel responsibility and you can't sleep at night. So you distance yourself from it to pretend like it doesn't exist. But it does exist. It's real. It goes on everywhere. Even the neighbors you hardly talk to, they probably got a bad marriage and you don't know it. It ain't just down here. It's all over Huntsville. All over America. So, don't think it's just in North Huntsville. It's down in the pretty part of Huntsville too, with the big million dollar houses. They got junk too. They just do a better job of hiding it. Because when you got status and resources, you can hide better. That's just what I say. The man with the nice suit, he can hide this stuff better. It's hard to get through that stuff. But he has issues too. It doesn't matter. You can get drunk on $5 liquor or $200 dollar liquor. You're both for drunk. It doesn't matter. So don't look down on the person on the street that you call a drunk or someone who is homeless. You have issues too. That's the whole point. Don't look down on someone else when you have issues in your life. Have compassion. Because that could be you. I'm just a paycheck away. I'm just a paycheck away from being the person that I look down on. A paycheck away. A bad accident away. A bad medical process away. We all are. One car wreck away. One car wreck away. Then you will be that person. So don't look down. Don't look down. So, I don't want to lost my place. This is what happened when you get off your notes. Okay. So he asked the question. He wanted to know about the living conditions of his people. How are they doing? How are they doing? And you know, near my, when he asked that question, he really wanted to know. So you know, some of us, when we asked the question, how are you doing, we're really hoping. We got our fingers and toes crossed. Please just say I'm fine to move on. Please say I'm fine to move on. Because you don't want to get something to a four to five minute conversation. Right? Please just say I'm fine to move on. For near my, he didn't want that. I'm just fine. He wanted the details. He really wanted to know how are they doing? Because when you engage your neighbors, truly engage them. You should want the details of what they're going through. Not just on fine. I'm fine. The sudden thing. Fine. Have a good day. You should really want to know what they're going through. Get to know them on a deeper level. Get to know the details. Hear their story. Everybody has a story. Or why they are where they are. What do you want to, can you listen to them? Can you engage them to listen to them? So the answer. This is what his brothers told him. He said, he said, "The remnant there in the problems we have survived the exiles in great trouble and shame. The walls of the Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire." Now that's a, a shocking reality to Nehemiah because about his people and his homeland. Those, his people who have survived the exile. Those who are still in great trouble, still in great shame. The wall is still broken down. The wall was destroyed 145 years ago and yet has never been rebuilt. It is still destroyed. That will be a shock. Because keep in mind, again, everything that Nehemiah knew about his people was passed down to him. The prophecy of Jeremiah will have also been passed down to him. The prophecy of Jeremiah says 70 years after the exile, you know, people begin to return to Jerusalem. That was part of the prophecy that Yahweh is going to start bringing his people back. 70 years after the exile. And that happened in 538 BC. There was a first return. He's came back to Jerusalem. And again in 458 BC you had another group come back to Jerusalem. And so that's the remnant that he's talking about here. They are the ones who has escaped and survived the exile. And so you would think that all those people back in Jerusalem things would be better. They've been there for almost half a century now. But they're not better. They're still in shame, still in great shame, still in great trouble. Again, there are no details to where exactly happened to make them be in great shame and in great trouble. But the point is that God's people are still not doing well, 140 years later. They're still not doing well. One commentator said Jerusalem was still a city without defense. No proper stand could be made against enemies without a wall. He says after 145 years Jerusalem and the Jewish people were still an easy game for any enemy who weren't to attack them. And that probably did happen. They had no wall to protect people from getting in. And so you will be in great trouble and in great shame. You can't defend yourself. The situation is bad, but it's not hopeless. You know why it's not hopeless? Big picture. God is at work. How does he at work, Alex? It don't look like he's at work to me. They're still in great shame. God was not silent those 140 years. He was not setting idle. And sometimes you can think he's setting idle when your life is not going well, but he's not. And guess what? Nehemiah, he's not getting ready to make a great name for himself here. He's not getting ready to be the man with the cake. He's not getting ready to ride in Jerusalem on a great white horse to save the day and fix all the problems. He's getting ready to enter into what Yahweh has already been doing. That's a difference. He's joining Yahweh's mission. It's not Nehemiah's mission that Yahweh is attached to. God is attaching Nehemiah to his mission. This is... And the mission is to bring restoration to his people. That's what he's getting ready to do. That's what he's been doing. Nehemiah is just to find a part of that. You see? Two other things have already happened. Two other parts of the restoration has already occurred. And it's spanned many, many years' restoration process. You see, when the first people returned in 438 BC, you know what they did? You know what they were commissioned to do? They had to rebuild the temple. Restoration won. They rebuild the temple of Yahweh. Then where Ezra came in 458 BC. Guess what he did? Re-instituted the law. Phase 2. Then 13 years after Ezra got there, Nehemiah comes. Phase 3. Re-build the wall. So who's at work? Who's been at work? Who's always going to be at work? Yahweh's at work. Calling us to enter into what he is doing. And for us, and what we're doing, God has already been not here working before we got here. You realize that, right? Before Lincoln Village Ministries, before the Village Church, Yahweh has already been working down here. He has just simply called us to enter into what he's already doing. That's big picture. And the other thing is that things ain't going to happen overnight. All this is going to outlive all of us. Because it's not our work. It's Yahweh's work. When we're going, he raises up more people to take our place. That's big picture. That means it's not about us. It's not about our programs. It's not about how big our church is. It's about Yahweh fulfilling his purposes through this church in this community for his glory. That's big picture. That protects you from burning yourself out. That protects you from getting in despair. We realize that God is at work here. And it's going to take generations to do what we pray that God would do here. It's a marathon, an endless marathon that Yahweh is working. And we should take comfort in that. Do you take comfort in that? Do you? Y'all not saying anything like you're down. He's doing it, man. And whatever ministry that you're involved with. Whether you're tutoring or working on the houses or whatever. God is doing it through you. And another thing is that you can't do everything. Either. We can't do everything. And he reminds us to mention that he can't do the wall. He didn't come to institute the law or build a temple. We can't do everything. We're not going to do everything. But we bring other people on to do things that we can't do. The body at large. Not just one particular denomination, but all of us together. And that's the beauty we all love about this ministry. That we have different denominations involved. To come to labor. To fellowship together. To fight together. To bleed together. To cry together. To rejoice together. And many of you, many of you are not Presbyterians. Y'all call from different church backgrounds. Which I love. That's a good thing. I like that. I do. I think it speaks to what God is doing here. But we can never lose fact that it's his work. It's his work. It's not ours. But I pray to you that it's your work. And wherever we are. Whatever we're doing. It's your work. It's your mission. You have just simply allowed us to enter into that. And you're going to use us. So I pray that Lord, we have that perspective. And to also know that you don't always move fast, but you always move. And you're timing. And it's always on time. Because it's your timing. So we trust in that. That it's not about us. It's not about our resources. Or what we can and can't do Lord. Give us hearts to trust that you are going to continue to do what you do. And that is to fulfill your mission. And to bring glory to your name. Now pray for us Lord that we will have hearts for you. Hearts that they love you. And when we're going to get into this later. Near my had a heart for you, he had a relationship with you. And that was the backbone that I like to do what he does. And so this week where I pray that we'll worship you, we spend time in your word. We'll spend time in prayer to you. Because our relationship with Christ has to be foundational to what we do. And everything in life flows out of that. I pray Lord that we'll never lose time of that. Our relationship with Jesus is most important. We live that. And so if we're not groaning you Lord we're doing things in our own strength. And I pray to you too spirit that you will teach us and show us and strengthen us and empower us. Help us to be more sensitive to your leading and your calling in our life. And I pray for all this in Christ's name. Amen.