2024-08-11- Sunday School- Nehemiah's Great Commission

The speaker discusses the importance of finding God's love and presence in both good times and trials. They remind the audience about a letter-writing initiative and encourage including the Word of God in the letters. They then introduce the book of Nehemiah and its significance in the reformation of the people of God and the reconstruction of the walls of Jerusalem. The speaker emphasizes the importance of prayer and reading the Bible as spiritual sustenance. They also discuss the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian forces and the capture of King Zedekiah, highlighting the fulfillment of God's promises. Good morning, everybody. I like that part where it says in each earthly trial, how his love can trace. I've not thought a whole lot about that. A lot of times when things are going good, we can see God in it. But we need to be looking for God in the trials as well. That's where we grow. I'm thankful to be here this morning. Y'all pray for me. I hope that you have been. I've been praying for y'all. Just a reminder of those letters that we're trying to send out. Hopefully, maybe by now you have someone in mind and been praying about them, what you might say at least. I've got somebody in mind for myself. And remember that we're going to try to write them and have them by next Sunday. And hopefully, as a church, pray over those letters and get them sent out. I thought, as our closing verse last week said Hebrews 4 and 12, for the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. You know, if you're anything like me, you might be like, well, I don't know what I would say to somebody. I don't write letters. I don't know if anything I'd have to say helps. Well, if you put the Word of God in there somewhere, it's sharper than any two-edged sword. And like we said, most people do have a Bible, Brother Tim, but they're not opening them. It don't matter how sharp your sword is or how sharp your knife is. If it's in the sheath, it's not very sharp. So I would like for just somebody to open that letter and just accidentally get cut wide open. And that's my prayer. Turn with me to where we're going to be in Nehemiah in your Wholeness Heritage Lesson 11, Nehemiah's Great Commission. Switching over to Nehemiah this morning. In the next three lessons, Lord willing, we'll be in Nehemiah. And I like it set up that way. I tend to do it that way no matter what it says. It just helps me the way I like to teach. But Nehemiah's Great Commission, the theme this morning says, God has always sought for a man among them who would stand in the gap. And make up the hedge. Nehemiah was such a man. And we can be also. Golden text this morning says, and I sought for a man among them that should make the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land. That comes out of Ezekiel 22 and 30. We'll read the introduction this morning. It says, Nehemiah was a contemporary of Ezra and led the third and last return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. He served as the king's cupbearer, which was a very important position for poisoning, was a favorite method of assassins. Nehemiah would taste the drink before giving it to the king. And of course, if there was poison, he would suffer instead of the king. The book of Nehemiah compliments the book of Ezra and provides additional information about the reformation of the people of God, as well as giving the account of the reconstruction of the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down. Clearly, Nehemiah was a devout man of prayer. And I'd like to, Brother Ronnie, back up just a little bit and go over a few of the past Sunday school lessons and remind us about these walls and just to catch us back up. And I know I might be a teacher that does a little bit of repetition and it might seem silly to some of you, but I think for me, repetition helps me to just remember, you know, a year from now, if we go over it once, even myself, if I teach something once a year from now, I won't remember it. So it helps me even as a teacher. So in roughly 586 BC, the Babylonian forces led by King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and demolished the first temple. We often refer to it as Solomon's temple or the first temple. So let's turn to 2 Kings 25 and one and read again how Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonian forces. 2 Kings 25 and one. And then we'll get to Nehemiah shortly. 2 Kings 25 and one says, And the city was besieged until the 11th year of King Zedekiah. And on the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine prevailed in the city and there was no bread for the people of the land. While reading that this morning, I thought, once the battle got to this place, once the battle got to this place, we're going to have to go back to Babylon. We're going to have to go back to Babylon. We're going to have to go back to Babylon. We're going to have to go back to Babylon. We're going to have to go back to Babylon. When it got to this place where there was no bread, brother Ronnie, there was no food, the battle was almost won. It was a sure thing for King Nebuchadnezzar. They got desperate and hungry and had no strength to fight at this point. All the bread was gone, much like Satan desires to do to the child of God. He will tempt you. He will fight against you. And as long as you're being fed properly, you can withstand some of that. And, but it's when you stop eating, captivity is around the corner, just like a dying man that stops eating. Last couple of services we had, Foy Long was one of them. They just, Sister Linda said, I'm worried about him, he stopped eating. You hear that a lot. When somebody stops eating, they'll die, of course. I turn with me to John 6 and 28 in the New Testament. The gospel of John 6 and 28, to make this point here. It says, Then said they unto him, what shall we do, that we might work the works of God? The disciples talking to Jesus. Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that you believe on him who he hath sent. They said therefore unto him, what sign shewest thou then, that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. We read about that in Exodus. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not the bread from heaven, but my father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. That's why it's so vital that us children of God are praying and reading his word and partaking of this bread of life. Because if we're not, where there's no bread, we will die. We will not be able to withstand the enemy. And much like these Israelites here with Nebuchadnezzar, there was no bread in the land. It's back to 2 Kings 25 and four. I should have told you to hold your place, but hopefully you did. And it says, and the city was broken up and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls. Which is by the king's garden. Now the Chaldeans were against the city round about and the king went the way toward the plain. And the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. And all his army were scattered from him. It was not just prophesied that God would allow Jerusalem to be captured, but also that the king at the time of Judah Zedekiah would be captured as well. We can turn to Jeremiah 34 and 17. Hold your place. Turn over to Jeremiah 34 and 17. We can read about this prophecy that Zedekiah was gonna be captured also. It says there in Jeremiah 34 and 17, therefore, thus sayeth the Lord, you have not hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, sayeth the Lord to the sword, to the pestilence and to the famine. And I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant which have not performed the words of the covenant which they have made before me when they cut the calf in twain and pass between the parts thereof. The princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs and the priests and all the people of the land which pass between the parts of the calf. I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of them that seek their life and their dead bodies shall before me eat unto the fowls of the heaven and unto the beast of the earth. And Zedekiah, king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of them that seek their life and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army which are gone up from you. Behold, I will command, sayeth the Lord and cause them to return to this city and they shall fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant. So you can see therefore it was prophesied and promised by God that Zedekiah would also be caught. Zedekiah couldn't outrun this promise from God. Good or bad, you won't outrun God's promises. If he said it, it will come to pass. And it may not be today, it may not be tomorrow but if he said it, it will happen. Numbers 23 and 19 says, God is not a man that he should lie. Neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good? Turn back with me to 2 Kings 25 and six. God will keep his promises. So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon, Terribla and they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with fetters of brass and carried him to Babylon. And then the fifth month on the seventh day of the month which is the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuchadnezzar captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon unto Jerusalem. And he burnt the house of the Lord and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem and every great man's house burnt he with fire and all the army of the Chaldees that were with the captain of the guard break down the walls of Jerusalem roundabout. And that was the destruction of the walls of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Now in 538 BC, King Cyrus issues a decree to begin reconstruction of the temple and Zerubbabel returns to Jerusalem with roughly 50,000 Jews. We've talked about that in the last few Sundays. A couple of years later, they face opposition and letters are sent back to Persia to stop the rebuilding of Jerusalem. We talked about that last week. Ezra 4 and 12 says, be it known unto the king, this is the letters written back to Artaxerxes, be it known unto the king that the Jews which came up from thee to us are coming to Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city and have set up the walls thereof and joined the foundations. Be it known now unto the king that if this city be built and the walls set up again, then will they not pay toll, tribute and custom and so thou shalt and damage the revenues of the kings. That's a portion of the letters written back to Artaxerxes from these adversaries of them rebuilding that temple of Brother Ronnie and reconstruction of the walls at Jerusalem also. This letter got the king's attention. It's gonna hurt his pockets. So he demanded the rebuilding to be stopped. But again, God had already said that it would happen. Sister Hannah, it will happen. God put men in place to see it as he always does. Thank the Lord Haggai, Zechariah and finally Ezra encouraged the rebuilding of the temple. Ezra brings some more of God's people to Jerusalem and the temple is rebuilt. And we left last Sunday in a dark time where Ezra finds out that God's people have been marrying strange women and Israel repents as Ezra has this prayer where he's cashing himself down and he pulls his hair out of his beard and his head, his hair and starts confessing and praying out loud and gets a reaction and the Israelites repent and they agree to separate from their families. And it was a dark time, but they did the right thing. This is in 444 BC now where we're at this morning. 400 years before Christ will come by the way of a virgin birth to save mankind and about a thousand years after the day of Moses. So that puts us in the timeframe here at Nehemiah. The walls and the gates to the city are still destroyed and they need a wall of protection. And Nehemiah comes on the scene and thank God for always putting a man in place to do his work, stand in the gap or make a hedge as our golden text puts it. Nehemiah was just the man for the job. So we should ask ourselves this morning, God, what would you have me to do in our time? There's still a work for us to do, a work that God wants a man for. You won't find Nehemiah as a great priest there won't be any big miracles in this book, just a hardworking, loyal, God-fearing, praying, fasting man that loved the country that he had never been to. I love a country this morning that I've never been to. Let's turn to Nehemiah one-on-one and begin studying about this man. Nehemiah one-on-one says, the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah, and it came to pass in the month of Chislew in the 20th year, as I was in Shushan the palace, the time here is being stamped by the 20th year of the Persian King, Artaxerxes. We're introduced to Nehemiah and find out that he's in the King's palace of Shushan or Susa, you might hear it in different ways, but this man Nehemiah is in the palace in Persia. Verse two says that Hananiah, one of my brethren came, he and a certain man of Judah, and I asked him concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity and concerning Jerusalem. So now we find out that he's a Jew. Some Israelites, his brethren have returned from Jerusalem and he's asking them, how's my brethren doing? How are they doing over there? Talking about the remnant. He's speaking of the 57,000 that returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple through Zerubbabel and then about 1,500 that returned with Ezra. And he's asking about their state and how things are going. That started about 90 years before this. And we can gather from that, that Nehemiah was born in captivity, which we've already stated. He was born in Babylon. He's never been to Jerusalem himself. And even though Nehemiah has never been to Jerusalem, he had a love for it. It's the same sentiment that David had when he wrote in Psalms, Psalm 122 and six, pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companion's sakes, I will now say, peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord, our God, I will seek thy good. And David never seen the temple himself. He wasn't allowed to build the temple. He lived there, but he wasn't allowed to, God didn't allow him to build the temple. That would have been a job for his son, Solomon. And we may not be Israelites this morning, but we should have the same love for the house of the Lord. Ask yourselves this morning, rhetorically, do you love this church? Do you pray for this church? Do you find yourself thinking about this church throughout your work week? Nehemiah was 800 miles away, but he longed for that place and his brethren while he was in a palace. If you're not already, pick a time this week. I'm sure most of us are praying. All of us are praying for one another. Pick a time this week. Let me encourage you to just pick a family or a person in your church and spend some extra time and say, God bless them this week. I don't know how they're doing. Just, and pray for somebody. Give some extra time. Pick somebody different every week or every day. It'll do you good. But Nehemiah was concerned about his brethren. Nehemiah 1 and 3 says, and they said unto me, the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire. This is the walls and the gates that we read about just a few moments ago in 2 Kings. They're still burnt down, broken down. It's almost been 150 years, the best that I could figure. And the temple is reconstructed. It's not quite the temple that Solomon had built, but it's been rebuilt. It's still a temple and God was blessing. But the walls are still down. And I love the meanings of names in the Bible. And Nehemiah means Jehovah or God comforts. And I love the thought of God's comfort coming from his protection, walls of protection. You think it might come from his blessings or his love or provisions, and it does, but nothing comforts like complete safety and security that comes from the Lord. That's where true comfort comes. When you know the enemy can't get to you, when you're protected. When God builds his wall of protection around you, there's comfort. Psalm 46 and one says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her. And that right early. The heathen rage, the kings were moved. He uttered his voice. The earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come behold the works of the Lord. What desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. For God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. And that's where comfort comes from. I thought about this morning as we was getting ready for church, Christy told me I didn't get a chance to make it over to Val's. I was too busy at work, but they had a get-together for Josiah. And I guess they all took turns. Val has a storm shelter in her front yard there. And it's a place that would shelter from a storm. And Christy was telling me how it's kind of difficult. They was taking turns seeing how they could get in there. And I guess the latch is heavy or what? The doors are heavy. So the doors is really heavy. She has a hard time getting in. I think maybe you got in it before and Tanner fell. I couldn't get out. Yeah, so... So I thought of... I got in bad with it. Yeah. I thought about that. And there would be some difficulty there to get in that storm shelter, to get into the safety when a storm's coming. And I thought, you know, the problem I would have, and I'm sure other people would have, they've got this provision, they've got this protection right outside their house, and it's right next to them, and it's available, but you'd have to decide, well, is it worth doing or not? Is it worth the trouble of getting in there? Do I really have to do that? And if she made the decision to do it, and a tornado come through and blew everything over, it would have been a really good choice. But you would be... I know myself, I'd be... I want to go out there and pull with it. And, you know, what a shame it would be if Sister Val had that protection right there, and that shelter, and then she chose not to get in there, and then a storm blew through and something happened. And all the while, there was protection and shelter right there that's being provided. And, you know, that may have happened to many people. And I don't want that to happen to me, spiritually speaking. God is right there to help, and I push Him away, and I don't lean on that, and I don't do what I need to do to get in God's wall of protection when it's right there, close to home. So Nehemiah finds out that these walls are still down, and his brethren are afflicted. And in verse 4, he says, And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Sister Gwyneth said he wept for days. And don't forget, he's in the lap of luxury, in the king's palace. We don't yet know why he's in the palace, but he's in a palace. But all he can do is weep for his brethren that is in trouble, that is afflicted. And that's where his heart is. Jesus says in Matthew 6 and 21, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And we've made this point before, but you're not always where you are physically. You may be sitting right here physically, but mentally, emotionally, spiritually, a thousand miles away. I've done it before. The prodigal son was at his father's house, but his heart was in a far country. Later on, we see that he's in a far country, but his heart is back at his father's house. And we can do that. Our treasure is where our heart is. And Nehemiah wept for his brethren, but he didn't just weep. He put his despair into action through prayer and fasting. A lot of times we're guilty of not liking our situation, but not doing anything about it, but just weep. And there's more to it. We've got to do more than that. Brother Ronnie likes to sing, Take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there. Weeping alone does nothing. Crying alone will do nothing for you. Sometimes prayer is all we need. And I love the power in prayer. Don't we all? I believe in it. But guess what? Sometimes it takes even more than prayer. And I want to be careful, but hold your place and turn with me to Matthew 17 and 14. I know it's a lot of turning this morning. Matthew 17 and 14. Here we're going to read about a desperate father. And keep in mind, sometimes it takes even more than prayer. Sometimes it does. Matthew 17 and 14 says, And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man kneeling down to him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and sore-vexed. For oft times he falls into the fire and oft into the water. And this may seem odd to us, but you have to keep in mind, fire was a big part of these people's lives back then. They needed it for light and food and heat. They always needed a fire nearby. And this boy had demonic episodes that brought upon seizures, Brother Austin, that would make this boy uncontrollably fall into a fire or fall into the water. And that's a desperate situation. And I've been desperate for my kids' healing before. I know what it is for my kid to be going through something. I can't do anything about it on my own. And if you have children, there will come a day, I'm sure, that you might be desperate for them in some form or fashion, whether it be for their salvation or for their healing. That's just the manner of life. And you'll need to know what to do, so pay attention here. And Jesus is going to tell us. Verse 16 says, And I brought to him thy disciples, and they could not cure him. The Father says, I brought them to your disciples, your men, and they couldn't do anything for him. We've tried. I've tried everything. And then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me. And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus' part and said, Why couldn't we cast him out? What's wrong with us? Why couldn't we do it? We prayed for him. We did everything we thought you told us to do. Verse 20 says, And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence the yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. So sometimes it takes prayer and it takes fasting. Don't forget the fasting part. If you've prayed and prayed for something and haven't got an answer, you may need to add some fasting to that prayer. It's not going to add power to God. God already has the power. Of course not. But it will increase your faith and your belief. It's a necessary tool. And sometimes we neglect those elementary things. We hear everybody say, You need to fast. You need prayer. Prayer and fasting becomes words. But it's tools. It's exactly what we need. And Jesus tells us here, this boy was a lunatic, was having these epileptic seizures and had a devil. And Jesus says, You know what I did? I prayed and fasted. That's Jesus speaking. So it works. He doesn't put it as a punishment. We don't withhold ourselves from food just because God likes to see us suffer or something like that. He tells us to do it because it actually works. And we need to put that into action. If you've got something that you've been going through, try that. Let's turn back to verse 5 as Nehemiah begins to pray. We're trying to learn from this man Nehemiah this morning. Nehemiah 1 and 5 says, And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments. Now, the use of terrible here might seem a little odd, but it just means to revere or to fear God. He's powerful. He's a powerful God. Verse 6 says, Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee. Both I and my Father's house have sinned. Notice he lumps himself in with his brethren here. He's never been to Jerusalem. We've made that point a couple of times. But he says, Both I and my Father's house have sinned. If one of our brothers or sisters in this church fails the Lord or falls, we should take it personal. Let's not look to just cast them out right away. Let's take it upon us. It's a personal thing. Ronnie, you're my brother. I shouldn't be looking. If I hear something on you, I shouldn't be trying to just cast you out. I should be trying to look to help you and say, God, we have sinned. We have failed. Please have mercy on us. Galatians 6 and 2 says, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. So we need to bear each other's burdens. Not be just judgmental and say, Oh, that's them. It's us. If one of us fails, it's us. We are one. We are one body here. Gospel Light Holiness Church. Verse 7, Nehemiah 1 and verse 7, if you have your place, it says, We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandest thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. We can take Nehemiah's prayer as an example because we will find that it worked. God wanted us to know this prayer. He put this prayer in his Bible, preserved it, so we can take it as an example of what to do. People claim a lot of times that they don't know how to pray. When we have many examples of prayers in the Bible that have worked, one of the greatest parts of prayer, Nehemiah, I thought, is practicing right here, reminding God of His very promises. And that's another reason to get God's Word in your heart, to be able to recite it, to know it, right off the top of the dome if you can. I can't always do that. And if you can't remember some of the promises of God, take the Bible into your prayer closet and use it, and read it back to God if it's what it takes. Nehemiah 1 and 10 says, Now these are thy servants and thy people whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant and to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name. Nehemiah is showing a complete dependence upon the Lord. God, my situation will only change if you hear me. If you turn your ear to me, my situation will change. I don't need to turn to anybody else. It's you and you alone. It's your ears that I need turned towards my situation. And prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. So he says, And prosper thy servant this day and grant him mercy. Nehemiah is essentially saying, Send me, Lord. What can I do? We often want God to change our situation or the situation of one of our loved ones as long as it don't involve us getting in the middle of it. We say our five-minute prayer and sit back and watch God do everything. We expect Him to just, Okay, God, I said their name out loud to you. Now you go change everything. But then it doesn't happen and we start blaming Him. Why, God? Why haven't you saved my lost loved one? Why haven't you done this? Why haven't you done that? But we have to remember that we are God's husbandry. We are called to do God's work. Let us not forget, He wants us to intervene on His behalf, to do His work, to be His hands, to talk to a sinner, to write a letter to a sinner, to try something, not just sit back and just say a name, list off names. And it's great. I mean, list off names to God. I do it every day. But sometimes God wants us to go out and talk on His behalf. And Nehemiah 1 ends by saying, For I was the king's cupbearer. So now we know that Nehemiah, what he's doing in the king's palace, he was the king's cupbearer. And this was a very prominent position. Not everybody was allowed that kind of access to the king. They would serve the king and try the king's food oftentimes, Sister Allie, before the king would try it because it might be poisonous. And that was a way to poison the king. If you could compromise the cupbearer, you could get to the king. Most commentaries would also agree that they had so much access to the king that the king would often ask for their advice or they would be in on these intimate details and they would ask a cupbearer this or that. It's just a natural progression of a relationship, of being near somebody. But a cupbearer's demeanor, and his health, and his character, and his overall appearance would be the utmost importance to a king. And once again, we find an Israelite in a prominent position in the perfect place to fulfill God's will. That happens often in the Bible. Notice Nehemiah didn't start by reminding God in this prayer who he was. He ended with that, I'm the king's cupbearer. But he started by recognizing who God is. If you go up to the top of his prayer, it says, O Lord God of Heaven. Where's that at? I didn't write that down. It's right up there. Nehemiah 1 and 5 is where he starts. I beseech thee, O Lord God of Heaven, the great and terrible God, that keep His covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments. Don't go to God giving Him your resume. He's not impressed with your stature in life. Brother Austin, I'm impressed that you're a veterinarian, but God's not too impressed by that. I'm impressed with what Brother Tim does, but God's not so impressed with it. Nobody's very impressed with a funeral director and a bomber at Manicke Funeral Home. I don't know anybody that's impressed by that. God certainly isn't. Nor is He impressed that I'm a Sunday school teacher. That doesn't impress Him. I thought we're joining Prayer Daily, Brother Ronnie, with the Marines that God will bring Sam and Holly back. But Brother Ronnie can't go to God and say, Now God, I was a master woodworker. I'm a great gardener. And I preach at jails and nursing homes. And I do all this stuff for you. Now it's your turn to save my kids. That doesn't impress God one bit. And I know He doesn't do that. But, you know, I'm impressed with those things. But God's not. I believe it delights Him when we do a work for Him, but it doesn't impress Him. And we can't lean on that to get what we want. But we can, through prayer and fasting, make our petitions to the Lord, once we've established in our hearts who He is, and when we've recognized just who He is, and that He's able to do the work. We'll start in chapter 2, and I don't know how far we'll get. Verse 1 says, And it came to pass, this is after the prayer, And it came to pass in the mosque, Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him. And I took up the wine and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been aforetime sad in his presence. So Nehemiah, being the cupbearer of the king, is back at work. He's going through this. Being the cupbearer, he hands the king some wine and he says, he lets us know, I've never been sad in front of the king before. This is the first time I've ever been sad in front of him. And that tells me a couple of things. Nehemiah is uncontrollably sad. He can't hide it anymore. Not even when he's on the job, he can't hide this feeling he has for Jerusalem and how sad he is and that his brethren is afflicted and his heart is there and he can't disguise it anymore. Have you ever been going through something so bad that you can't even fake a smile at work or at church? I know I have. It also tells us that Nehemiah probably loved his position for the most part. He had a great job, a desirable job. He was in the king's palace. Even though he wasn't in Jerusalem, God had provided a good life for Nehemiah. But it wasn't home. It wasn't where his heart was. And no matter how far you get in life, no matter how much you have in your bank account, don't get adjusted to this world. God will bless his children with good positions. I believe that. But don't get adjusted to this world. We aren't home. Don't let the things of this world become a distraction to you. Be comfortable in your position. We should make an effort, though, to say this on this point. We should make an effort as a child of God to go into our workplaces with a good, consistent attitude and a godly character. Our coworkers depend on it, and God depends on us to be like that. We all go through things, and sometimes we can't hide it, and Nehemiah can't hide it here. But if we're up one day, down the next, we come in high on life, had a great service, the next day our world's falling apart, it just doesn't look good. We're not good representations of Christ in our faith. I thought I had a boss at Scotty's, and it's kind of funny, but really not. It was outfield with him when I was at Scotty's. He was our foreman. And we'd start our day like 6 o'clock before the sun would come up, and I was out on, I don't know, Joe Prather or something, and I was getting ready. I was firing up my shuttle buggy. But he'd holler for us, and we all knew what to do. We'd all gather around in a circle, and he would give us our day. And he'd always end with a prayer of protection and safety and that God would give us a good day. The remainder of the day he cursed every one of us like a dog, I mean, all day long. And I know where he's the deacon of a church at, and I'm sure the way people would talk about him, nobody's ever going to go to his church. We can't be like that. That's an extreme example, but let's act like children of God. We are a child of God, so let's act like it. We'll go ahead and end. I don't want to get into too much more here. But in our closing verse this morning, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. We'll go ahead and end there this morning. A couple minutes early. Thank you.