Protecting the Great Work | Sunday, July 17, 2022

Hey, Cross Connection, it's great to be back with you again today. I'm Pastor Garrett. If you're new or tuning into the broadcast for the first time, whether you're at work right now, driving in the car, or sitting at home, welcome. I'm so glad that you could join us for the message this morning.

We're going to be in Nehemiah chapter 7. The book of Nehemiah is the Old Testament book detailing the life and events of Nehemiah as he left the palace of the king of Persia and traveled to Jerusalem to restore its strength, ultimately rebuilding the walls and restoring worship for the Jews in Jerusalem. It's pretty impressive what he was able to accomplish because of his discernment, his vision, and the great work that God had called him to do.

Where we ended up last week, finishing chapter 6, we are now officially halfway through the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah has accomplished his first project; the building project is now done. The walls are complete, and the gates and doors in the walls are now up and installed. You might wonder, shouldn't the book of Nehemiah just close now? Shouldn't we just say they all lived happily ever after? Well, this isn't a fairy tale. In reality, there need to be some protections in place to maintain the good work that God has done through Nehemiah.

The same can be said of us. In our own lives, the good work that God has called us to do needs protection. We need to safeguard it and put up walls and gates to protect what God has done in us and what He is doing in this world through the church.

So let's go ahead. If you have your Bibles open, turn to Nehemiah chapter 7, and let's read that together. It says, "Now, when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother Hananiah and Hananiah, the governor of the castle, charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. I said to them, 'Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. While they are still standing guard, let them shut the bar and the doors. Appoint guards from amongst the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at the guard post and some in front of...'"

Their own homes. The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been built. Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials, and the people to be enrolled by genealogy. I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at first, and I found written in it these were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity, whose exiles Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried into exile. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town. They came with Zerubbabel, Yeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Ramiah, Nehemiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mishpereth, Bigvi, Nehan, and Bahan.

I'm going to skip the genealogy record; it's a ton of names. So we'll skip down to verse 67. Verse 67 begins, "The whole assembly together was 42,360, beside their male and female servants, of whom there were 7,337." They had 245 singers, male and female. Their horses were 736, their mules 245, their camels 435, and their donkeys 6,720.

Now, some of the heads of the fathers' houses gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 derricks of gold, 50 basins, 30 priests' garments, 500 minas of silver, and some of the heads of the fathers' houses gave into the treasury of the work 20,000 derricks of gold and 2,200 minas of silver. What the rest of the people gave was 20,000 derricks of gold, 2,000 minas of silver, and 67 priests' garments.

So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all of Israel lived in their towns.

Let's pray. Father God, as we open up the book of Nehemiah, we kind of round the corner from the middle of Nehemiah. He had finished one of the greatest projects, restoring safety to Jerusalem by rebuilding the great walls and putting in the gates and the doors that could protect it. I pray that as we study this chapter, as we study what Nehemiah is doing here, that what we don't know, You would teach us.

Lord, what we don't have, that you would give us, and Lord, what we aren't, that you would make us. Lord, make us more and more like You, I pray. So, Father, would You show us Your ways, teach us Your path, lead us in Your truth, and would You teach us? We ask all of these things in Jesus' precious name. Amen.

Let's go ahead and begin by just saying that God had given Nehemiah a great work to accomplish. If you have been following us for the last couple of weeks, we've been talking a lot about what that great work looks like and the fact that God has called you to a great work as a believer. God had given Nehemiah a great work to accomplish, and he completed this important work in restoring Jerusalem by building the walls. However, completing these walls in the miraculous 52 days was just the beginning.

In most of our stories today, whether secular or fairy tales, a great project accomplished in 52 days would typically conclude with a happy ending, stating that they all lived happily ever after, safely in Jerusalem. But this building project was really just the beginning of what God had led Nehemiah to Jerusalem to accomplish. Now he had to put in place a way to protect what was already built.

You see, when God begins to do a work in us, we need to establish barriers, walls, and gates to protect what God has established in us and what He has been working in us, ultimately changing our character to match the calling that He has given us.

Let's begin in verse 1, and we'll go from there. It says, "Now when the walls had been built, and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites had been appointed." In this verse, Nehemiah draws special attention, especially in the original Hebrew, not necessarily to the massive, impressive wall that he had just finished building, but the main verb is actually, "I set up the gates."

It is as if Nehemiah wishes to tell us, the modern-day audience, to draw our attention to the gates. The most vulnerable place on the wall is the gate. Nehemiah is trying to emphasize this point. There are these massive walls that have been built—tall, impenetrable brick walls. When these gates were finished, if you remember last week, Miles talked about how all the surrounding nations feared because they understood that God had done that. God had overseen and allowed these gates and these walls to be built, and that made a significant impact.

Them afraid. Right? Now, Jerusalem was a place that could not be messed with. There was power in Jerusalem because there was protection there. However, Nehemiah draws our attention to the gates, the most vulnerable place on the walls, and really for Jerusalem, the most vulnerable place in the city. If there was going to be an attack, the only place they would be able to really get in was through those gates, either by breaking them down or sneaking in while the gates were open.

So, who needs to be put in charge of the most vulnerable place of the wall? It is incredibly important who we appoint as gatekeepers. Who do we appoint as singers and Levites, as Nehemiah says he appoints them? He appointed some very godly men who were trustworthy. In verse two, he states, "I gave my brother Hananiah and Hananiah, the governor of the castle, charge over Jerusalem." Hananiah was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many.

We would do well to recall, I think, in the previous chapter, before the gates and the doors were installed, Nehemiah went to a particular religious leader within the walls of Jerusalem who was maliciously trying to get Nehemiah to go into the temple and hide because there was a supposed assassination attempt on his life that was going to happen that night. Nehemiah looked at that man and said, "Who would I be to go into the temple and live? How could I enter the temple and live? It would be impossible for me, a mere man, not of the Levite tribe, to enter into the temple. I cannot go into the temple and live."

This man was trying to discredit Nehemiah and to build a wall between him and the priest, which would really ruffle some feathers and would not be good. On top of that, Nehemiah knew his Bible; he knew the Word of God. He understood that he could not enter into the temple and live, nor should he as the leader. Because these religious leaders, like Nehemiah, were trying to falsely prophesy to him to go do these things, he didn't trust everybody after this. You have to remember that just in chapter six, just this last chapter, Nehemiah is being...

Tricked by people within his own camp, within the priestly order, it is natural for Nehemiah to trust a few people with such an important task as guarding the most vulnerable place on the walls. Do you remember who his brother Hananiah is? Where did we see him before? We actually saw him in the first chapter of Nehemiah, chapter 1, verse 2. Nehemiah is serving the king as the cupbearer, and his brother Hananiah, along with a group of other men from Jerusalem, shows up. Nehemiah asks them, "What's going on in Jerusalem? How are the people doing? How's the city doing? How's the worship going there? How are things going?"

Hananiah came and specifically told Nehemiah about the devastation of Jerusalem. This news led Nehemiah to pray intensively for a long period of time before going to the king, getting provisions, and heading out to Jerusalem. He left his place of comfort, prestige, peace, and safety to undertake the incredibly hard task of restoring Jerusalem to her former glory, restoring worship in Jerusalem to God, and protecting the city by building these walls. It was Hananiah who came and informed Nehemiah, which essentially started this whole endeavor.

We can accurately assume from this account that Nehemiah's brother Hananiah was a man who loved the Lord and loved the Lord's people. He was willing to leave Jerusalem and travel a long distance to reach his brother Nehemiah, who, rightfully so, was enlisted by Hananiah to help restore Jerusalem. This is one of the reasons I believe Hananiah is listed here; Nehemiah trusts him. He was one of the men who initiated this entire project that brought Nehemiah to Jerusalem in the first place.

Then we get to Hananiah, a man whom Nehemiah lists as faithful and God-fearing. He is a man of integrity, a trustworthy individual. Nehemiah could not afford to place compromised leaders over the city and the city gates.

Point number one for us today is that to protect the great work that God has given us, godly leadership is critical. Every Christian ministry, I truly believe, is one generation away from destruction. What do I mean by that?

When we either allow compromised leaders to remain in leadership positions or hire men and women who have flawed character, or we trust in leaders who don't want to do God's work God's way but instead want to do God's work their way, we create a significant problem. There is a distinction here. There are a couple of different ways that we can compromise ourselves, and in one generation, a very short period of time, all it takes is one compromised leader in the church to ruin the entire ministry.

I do believe that the church, broadly speaking, will not die; it will not fail. God will uphold the church all the way until the end, whenever Jesus returns to meet His bride and take us to be with Him. However, local ministries, like Cross Connection Church or any other church in your area, can quickly go from thriving and doing great work for God to being extinct. This can happen because they trust compromised leaders, allow them to remain, or hire men and women who have no character, or they trust in leaders who want to do God's work their way.

There are several examples in the Bible that illustrate this point. Throughout the Bible, we see that God's way is often different from our way. A verse that comes to mind is that we make plans, but the Lord determines our steps. We may make plans, but then the Lord redirects us, saying, "No, you're actually going to go this way instead."

Consider Jonah. God told Jonah what to do, just as He told Nehemiah what to do. He impressed upon Nehemiah's heart to go to Jerusalem and start a great building project and restoration of worship there. Jonah, on the other hand, was instructed to go and prophesy to Nineveh, but he chose to do the exact opposite. He said, "That's not what I want to do. These people are wicked. I want to prophesy their destruction; I don't want to tell them they could be saved." Jonah did not follow God's instructions; he tried to do things his own way, which ended poorly for him when he was swallowed by a great fish.

To bring this a little closer to home, let's consider the story of David and Goliath. David shows up, and all of Israel is trembling in fear over this Philistine giant, Goliath, who is enormous.

Every morning, he would come up and just scream at the armies of Israel. They did nothing but cower in fear and would not face him. They would not send out someone to confront him. God wasn't looking for a man in shiny armor. When David came and said, "I'll fight him. I'll take him on," the king at the time agreed but insisted on putting all this armor on him. When David donned the armor, he realized it didn't fit him. This little five-foot-five guy thought, "I can't move in this stuff." He decided to go out with what he came with: his sling and a rock.

God wasn't looking for someone bigger than Goliath to accomplish His great work. He was looking for the person who would look to Him and say, "Who is this Philistine giant that is blaspheming the name of God? Who is he compared to our God?" David looked up at God and asked why this was happening, trusting that God would not be mocked.

Today, we need to look for leaders who first look to God in all circumstances instead of fearing the situation, which may seem impossible by human standards. We need leaders today who, like David, say, "I don't need all these resources, shields, or swords. I just need what I came with. I just need my God, and my God will never fail me."

I think the same principle applies to leadership nationally. We talked about leadership within the church and how we are one short generation away from extinction if we allow compromised leaders into leadership positions or permit them to remain in those positions. Alexander Hamilton, at the founding of our country, wrote in Federalist 57 that the aim of every political constitution is or ought to be first to obtain rulers who possess the most wisdom to discern. This sounds like Nehemiah, right? He continued, stating that rulers should also have the most virtue to pursue the common good of society. This too sounds kind of like Nehemiah.

Furthermore, Hamilton emphasized the importance of taking the most effective precautions to keep these leaders virtuous while they hold their public trust. That's quite profound when you think about it. You can't convince me that the Bible, especially the stories of Nehemiah, did not influence the founding documents.

Of our country, godly leaders do God's work God's way. Godly leaders will ultimately be men of wisdom and discernment, and they will have a virtue that pursues the common good of society, like Nehemiah. We talked about Nehemiah and what it looks like to have discernment to do the great work when I taught last, two weeks ago.

Here's a point I want to make for us this morning. Point number two is that the character of a person in relationship to God will determine their trustworthiness in human affairs. I'll say that again: the character of a person in relationship to God will determine their trustworthiness in human affairs.

You see, I do think that we, as a country, no longer value virtue. We are a country now that celebrates pride for an entire month. Pride is a sin, if you are following. I want to bring this more to you right now. What do people know you by? Are you known as one who fears God more than most?

We are looking at Hanani and the men that Nehemiah trusted. There were very few people that Nehemiah trusted at this point for important leadership positions, such as guarding the gates and guarding what God had already established and built. What are you known by? Are you known as one who fears God more than most? Is your life marked by your faithfulness to God above all else?

It's important to appoint leaders who have the discernment of Nehemiah, the prayer life of Daniel, the heart of David, the wisdom of Solomon, and the integrity of Joseph. But we also must strive for those characteristics in our own lives.

We can look at our nation today and ask, how could we possibly have a president such as this? How could we possibly have governors such as the ones we have? I'm not just talking about California; I'm talking about all the states in general. We can look and shake our fist at these people, these people that we elected, and say, how did this happen?

Well, I would push back and say it happens because a compromised people can only elect compromised representatives. I'll say that again: a compromised people can only elect compromised representatives.

Because, quite honestly, I fear that we, nationally, secularly, and even in the church, do not value virtue and godliness in our leadership today. This is largely because we ourselves are so utterly compromised. I want you to think about that for a minute. We do not value virtue and godliness in our leadership today because we ourselves are so utterly compromised.

All you have to do is look at the situation where men witness a fight or see another man beating up a woman. What do they do? Instead of intervening, they pull out their cell phones and film it for the world to see. We have thrown virtue out the window. We've thrown godliness to the wayside, and our leadership today reflects that.

We need to be on our knees like Nehemiah. We need to be on our knees like Daniel, David, and Joseph. We need to be praying to God above that He would look down on us, change hearts, and re-instill in us a value for virtue and godliness. His Spirit must do a work in our lives first, because it has to start in your life. It has to start in my heart before it can go into the world.

I pose this question to you: Could you have served as Hananiah if you were called upon to do so? Have you been building walls of faithfulness and godliness around your life and shutting the gate to everything else?

Let's talk about the gates. In verse three, it says to Hananiah and Hananiah, "Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot." While they are still standing guard, they should shut and bar the doors and appoint guards among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at their guard posts and some in front of their own homes.

The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses were yet built. In verse three, there are three instructions given to Hananiah and Hananiah, these leaders. First, the gates should remain closed until the sun is up, which means until late morning. Second, they should shut the doors and bar them while the guards were on duty. This could potentially mean that the doors were only to remain open or only to open up...

Upon demand, someone would have to say, "I'd like the gates to be open," and they would open it for people as they came. There is some variation among biblical scholars on that, but I think the general idea is that we don't want to be opening our gates when it's dark, when we don't know who wants to be let in. We don't know what their intentions are because they are concealed in darkness.

Third, we need to enlist locals to help protect the doors near their homes. Nehemiah was really great at this. Remember, he enlisted locals to help build the wall around where they lived. In their localized area, they were responsible for building that portion of the wall, and he did the same thing with protecting the wall and the gates in those areas. Nehemiah was really great at delegating like that. Enlist local help to protect the doors near their homes.

I would like to offer a few suggestions now for guarding the gates around your own life. First, be careful who you let in. What do I mean by who you let in? It could be people, doctrine, values, or beliefs. Under the cover of darkness, it's hard to know what you're letting in until it's revealed by the light.

Second, and this one is important too, enlist others in helping you stay accountable. As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17). When we try to guard the gates of our own hearts and lives by ourselves, we inevitably let things in that we shouldn't. Why? Because we all experience moments of weakness and seasons of spiritual drought. The devil is so quick to come in and tempt us. He throws some kind of false doctrine or wacky idea into our lives, and while we may not fully believe it, we start to tinker with it a little bit. We begin to think about it more and wonder, "Well, maybe that is possible. Maybe there is this power within. Maybe I am strong enough to handle all of this myself instead of relying on my God."

In a moment of weakness, we may let in something that destroys everything that God began in us. Partner with others in prayer, and have at least one person in your life that you trust who can speak truth into your life, even if it hurts. Have accountability in your life. God created us for that.

He created us for life in connection with God and one another. We need to be in that kind of relationship, even that kind of discipleship relationship where we're building each other up in love and good works. We must protect each other when we see someone playing around with beliefs and doctrines that are not biblical, and here's why: we can check each other like that. It's so important that we are praying for each other and protecting each other in this way.

In verse five, it says, "Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy." I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at first, and in it, I found what was written. I will stop right there. Nehemiah's next task in Jerusalem was to ensure that the city was repopulated with the people who belonged there. The people who belonged in Jerusalem needed to reestablish themselves within the walls of the city, but they had to belong. There had to be legal evidence supporting that these people within the walls actually belonged there.

It is also important that this part of reestablishing the population in Jerusalem was connected to reestablishing worship in the temple. We are talking about the historical priests and Levites, the different tribes, the priests, the Levites, the singers, and the servants of Solomon. All these different people had specific tasks; they were essentially worship leaders. Their role was to lead worship in the temple, and it was crucial that those people were actually meant to be there. Why? Because we know there were many false prophets mixed in at this point.

The genealogical list given, which I don't want to read in its entirety, does contain names that could serve as unique baby names, should you be looking for one that hasn't been used since Nehemiah's time. You might find a good one, but don't take it from me; I'm probably not going to use it. The same list is also found in Ezra chapter 2. Remember, Ezra and Nehemiah worked together. In fact, in chapter 8, Ezra is going to come back in and read the book. This genealogy, this record, is important because Nehemiah is setting the stage for the reestablishment of real worship and godliness. They are returning to the Scriptures as a people, going back to their God and the worship of their God. This is incredibly important because now they can do that in the relative safety of the walls that have just been built.

Nehemiah was led by God to do this when he said, "God put it on my heart to bring together all the nobles and the leaders and to do this genealogical record." Just as God puts certain people and places on our hearts today to share the gospel with, countless missionaries since the birth of the church have been divinely led by the Lord to reach new people and share with them the good news of Jesus Christ and the salvation He has to offer.

Point number three is this: we need divine guidance over our physical and material tasks. Nehemiah said, "The Lord impressed upon my heart; the Lord God put this in my heart." What has God put into your heart today? Even in our physical and material tasks, we need divine guidance, or you could even say a divine vision.

Proverbs 29:18 reminds us, "Where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law." In other translations, it might read, "Where there is no divine guidance, the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law." The truth is, without divine guidance—the prompting of God moving in our hearts, which gives us this renewed vision—we perish. We need that divine guidance and divine vision, even over our physical and material tasks. This includes the menial task of recording a genealogy and reading a book, as Nehemiah was doing.

Today, having a vision is important. I would even say that if you don't have a vision, you don't have a future. A man or a woman without a vision will always return to the past. If you don't have your sights set on something, you're not going to hit anything. Have something you're aiming at and go for it. When you have a vision, especially a divine vision—when God says go, when God says go to Jerusalem and reestablish the wall, rebuild the walls, and reestablish worship in Jerusalem and a return to the Word of God—you are on the right path.

In Jerusalem, you see that if you don't have any vision at all, the only thing you will ever do is return to your past. This is very true in the context of sin in your life. We talked about temptation two weeks ago, and you can always refer back to the message in Nehemiah 6, where Nehemiah was tempted in three different ways. However, Nehemiah knew the great work that God had called him to. He had a divinely inspired vision, and because of that, he had a future. When you lack that vision, you almost always return to the past—your past sin, your past behavior, your past actions.

Before we close, I want to look at the last part of the chapter. In verse 67, it mentions that the whole assembly gathered together numbered 42,360. It also talks about the male and female servants who were there, totaling 7,000. They had singers, both male and female, as well as horses, camels, and donkeys. Then, it discusses what each head of the house contributed to the work, starting in verse 70. The governor gave, the priests gave; in fact, everybody contributed to the work of the kingdom of God.

Point number four for you is that membership in the kingdom of God has its privileges and its responsibilities. Leadership in the kingdom of God also comes with privileges and responsibilities. The people in Nehemiah's time enjoyed the privilege of being within the walls, which provided them protection. They had leadership, and they could now worship freely. They could return to the Scriptures and worship their God. However, this privilege did come at a cost. Their responsibility was that they were now accountable; they had to fund the good work that God was doing. They had to be treasure transplanters, giving to the great work that God was accomplishing. They were heavily invested in it. By physically building the walls themselves, they demonstrated their investment. By materially contributing to the work that Nehemiah was doing, they were invested both physically and financially. In Nehemiah 10, we will further see what was given.

But this was all ultimately to accomplish the restoration of the heart of worship in Jerusalem, which we'll see in the next chapter. I am so excited for chapter 8, and I beg you to tune in next week because it's going to be an amazing chapter as they reopen the Word of God.

The responsibility for us is that we are treasure transplanters. What I mean by that is that you are taking something that is of earthly good and turning it into something that is eternal. The kingdom of God will last forever. The church, the people of God, will last forever. When you invest in that, you are investing in the only thing that you can possibly invest in that is eternal. You will see the rewards of that in eternity. You are transplanting what is temporary, what will rot away and burn away, and turning that into something that will last forever and reap eternal rewards.

The responsibility for the believer is to be obedient to what God has called us to do: to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, and all of our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We are called to be obedient to the divine vision that God puts in our hearts.

So, are you feeling led to serve somewhere? Are you feeling led to talk to someone? Are you feeling led to send a card of encouragement to somebody? Are you feeling led to possibly teach children's ministry? Behind me is the Mojave Desert. Pretty amazing, right? Cross Connection Church has teleported into the Mojave Desert for VBS this week. There are kids here right now, as I am recording this, who are going through our church, learning about Jesus and hearing about a God they never knew.

Maybe you are feeling led to minister to the next generation. Or perhaps you think, "I don't really feel comfortable around kids, but I would love to come help set up in the morning." If you are a morning person, you can take your cup of coffee and be there early to help set up whatever is needed around the church. Or maybe you would like to greet people in the morning before service. If you have a good smile on your face and enjoy welcoming others, you could greet or usher, helping to make sure people are comfortable during the services.

I encourage you, whatever the Lord is prompting you to do, do not hesitate. Do not disregard what the Lord is calling upon you to do.

It's our responsibility as the people of God to be obedient to Him. That doesn't just mean that, well, I'm not really called to be a pastor, so I don't need to serve; I'll just show up at church every week. No, every single person in the body of Christ has a responsibility. If you are a believer here today, you cannot just say, "Well, I feel like I might just be a finger or a hand, so I'm not super important." You can do without one hand, but you are important. There are different parts of the body, and you have to find out where God has called you and intended for you to serve.

See the privilege. I mentioned that it comes with responsibility and privilege. The privilege is this: as we close, Nehemiah had a book. In that book, it was written the names of the people who belonged in Jerusalem, who had the legal right to be there. Jesus also has a book; it's called the Lamb's Book of Life. In that book are written the names of every single person—man, woman, and child—who will inherit the kingdom of God, who will live forever with our Lord, and who will be welcomed into the gates of the new Jerusalem when God makes all things new, as Revelation chapter 20 talks about.

In that new Jerusalem, there will be no weeping, no sorrow, no sickness, and no death. We will be with our Savior forever. That is the great privilege that we have. However, Revelation chapter 20 also says that if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

All of us, from birth, were destined to go to hell because we were born into sin. But Jesus came and gave us another way. He came to reconcile us back to God so that we can be born again into the family of God—adopted sons and daughters of the Most High God. We can inherit eternal life because we believe in Jesus Christ, who bore our sins on the cross, so that we might not have to pay the penalty for our sins.

How can you be sure that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life? Well, Titus chapter 2 says, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people." So that's everybody, not just some of you; it's everybody. If you are living and breathing, if your heart is beating and you can feel a heartbeat, you're included in that.

Christ came once to bear the sins of many. In Hebrews chapter 9, verse 28, it says, "So also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him." Who are those that are waiting for him? Those are the people who have confessed with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and who have believed in their heart that God raised him from the dead. They are the ones that are saved. They hear his voice when he calls and they answer. They are the ones who are obedient to everything that's written in his book. Not perfectly; we all sin. We've all fallen short of the glory of God, but we are the people who, to the best of our knowledge, ability, and power, are growing in God and allowing the Holy Spirit to transform our character to match our calling.

So my prayer for you, right now, wherever you're at, listening online, is that you would take these things into careful consideration and that you would ask yourself the question: Am I a friend of God? Does Jesus know me? When I get to heaven, is Jesus going to look at me and say, "Well done, good and faithful servant"? Will he welcome me into eternity, into the gates? Or will the gates be shut because I never believed in Jesus? Will I think, "Well, I've done enough good in my life; maybe I'll consider doing this later"? Today is a day of salvation. We don't have a guarantee of tomorrow.

Take these things into careful consideration. I believe that you are all very smart people.

And let's pray. Lord, I do pray that we would surround ourselves with godly leaders. But even more than that, I pray that we would, in this generation, see many godly leaders raised up. Father, we need godly leaders in Cross Connection Church and around the world. Our world is spiritually sick, Lord, and we need godly leaders to come in and restore.

The walls in our civilization and the walls in our lives need to be restored, Lord. We need to restore the worship of our God and return to the Scriptures. I know that some were challenged today, and they need Your divine guidance over their weekly, everyday tasks.

Some people today might feel like they're in a spiritual drought, where they don't have a real vision for their life right now. Holy Spirit, would You fill them and give them a vision and a future? Some, perhaps, need the joy of their salvation restored. These may be the people whose walls were up and gates were closed, but they never appointed the right protections around their lives or the right accountability. They have let ideas and things into their lives that have halted the work You started, and they need the joy of their salvation returned to them.

Father, that is a valid prayer, and I pray for them. Would You restore the joy of their salvation? Whatever we are going through right now, Lord, there are many hurting people. Restore the joy of our salvation. Search our hearts and find in us anything that should not be consuming space within us. Replace it with Your Spirit of Truth, so that we may accomplish, complete, and finish the good work that You have started. Help us keep the doors closed to our gates and not allow anything to enter in that would not be of You.

Father, would You use us for Your glory? May Your kingdom come, and may Your will be done in our lives as it is in heaven. We pray these things in Jesus' name. And we all said, Amen.

It was great to be with you today. I pray for you every week, and if you haven't visited Cross Connection Church in person in a while, I encourage you to stop by. We have our services at 8:30 and 10:30 on Sunday mornings, and we would love to see you here. If not, please reach out online and let us know how you've been interacting with our online broadcast. Just know that we also have our prayer tools available for you. If you have any prayer requests, we would love to know how we can specifically be praying with and for you this week.

God bless you guys. We'll see you next week.