SPEAKER_00 0:00

We're going to look at that today. So we're going to be in Nehemiah chapter 6. Let us go to the Lord in prayer real quickly before we get into our message. Father, as we come to you today, I just ask, Lord, that you would give me the words that you would have me to speak, and that the words that you give me, Father, would be the words that would touch hearts and minister to each and every one that is in this congregation today. Father, I pray that your words would minister to me, that you would challenge me in my own personal life to grow deeper in my relationship with you. And Father, as we come to you, we give you praise, we give you glory, and allow your words to speak to the hearts of your people to bring glory and honor to your name. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. So when I was much younger, I stress the much part, I was in the construction industry. When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to work some construction with my grandfather and my uncle, and my my another on another job with my mom's uncle, my great uncle. And I was in the the industry, uh, different aspects of construction industry. Uh I I've poured, uh I could not tell you uh how many thousands of yards of concrete that I poured in my younger days. Thank the Lord, I do not have to do that for a living anymore. Uh that was that's a young man's job, okay? And uh I'm not there. But uh I used to build houses for a living. I used to do steel work in the construction industry, poured many yards of concrete, a lot of carpentry in various aspects, a lot of heavy equipment operations, moved a lot of dirt and things of that nature. And I say all that to say this, that in relation to the chapter six that we're going to look at today, as that we have the account of the wall being completed, we all know that whenever you start a project, it really doesn't matter whether it's a construction project or anything, when you start a project, there is a certain amount of satisfaction and relief when that project is finished. Amen? When when we get to a point that it's like, okay, we've had a task and we've applied ourselves to it, and now it is finished, there's a certain amount of satisfaction and relief that that work is done. It doesn't matter what kind of work it is, but in the construction industry, I always felt that very satisfying because you could actually see, physically see a project that you started come to fruition, come to completion. And that was always very satisfying to me. And sometimes I tell Robin that I wish I'd have stayed in the construction industry, not as a worker, but I wish I'd have had my own construction company, because that would have been uh that would have been cool. I would have liked that. And but obviously I didn't. But there's just a lot of satisfaction in that. In the book of Nehemiah in chapter six here, the wall comes to completion. It comes to a point where uh Nehemiah gives us the uh account of the wall being completed and finished. And that is very satisfying. In Ezra and Nehemiah both, we have seen the way God worked in the lives of individuals, those who were following after God. We saw in Ezra the account of Zerubbabel, who was the first one to take a group of Israelites back to Israel, back to Jerusalem to rebuild, under the direction of Cyrus. We saw God work in the lives of Cyrus. We saw God work in the life of Darius. And here in Nehemiah, we see him working in the life of Artaxerxes as the rulers of the Persian Empire. And so all through the books that we've studied, Ezra and Nehemiah both, we have seen God intervening in the hearts and the lives of people. Sometimes his own people, the Jews, and sometimes those that were not following God. Cyrus, Darius, uh, Artaxerxes, the Persian kings. They were not seeking after God, and yet the Bible clearly tells us that God placed on their hearts to do a work for him and allow the Jews to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple and rebuild the walls. So as we think about that, I want us to read chapter 6. We're going to read the text, all 19 verses of it. We're going to read through that, and then we're going to go into the meat of the sermon and look at three different things that we can pull from this text that directly apply to our own personal lives and our own personal calling from God to do his work. Okay? Let's start in verse 1. Nehemiah chapter 6 and verse 1. Now it came about when it was reported to Sanbalat, Tobiah, to Geshem the Arab, and to the rest of our enemies, that I had rebuilt the wall, and that no breach remained in it, although at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates. That Sanbalat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, Come, let us meet together at Cheraphim in the plain of Ono. But they were planning to harm me. So I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? And they sent messages to me four times in this manner, and I answered them in the same way. Then Sandbalat sent his servant to me in the same manner, a fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. In it was written, It is reported among the nations, and Gashmou says, that you and the Jews are planning to rebel, therefore you are rebuilding the wall, and you are to be their king according to these reports. And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning you. A king is in Judah, and now it will be reported to the king according to these reports. So come now, let us take counsel together. Then I sent a message to him, saying, Such things as you are saying have not been done, but you are inventing them in your own mind. For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking they will become discouraged with the work, and it will not be done. But now, O God, strengthen my hands. Verse 10 And when I entered the house of Shemiah, the son of Deliah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined at home, he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you, and they are coming to kill you at night. But I said, Should a man like me flee, and could one such as I go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. Then I perceived that surely God had not sent him, but he uttered his prophecy against me, because Tobiah and Sanbalat had hired him. He was hired for this reason, that I might become frightened and act accordingly, and sin. So they so that they might have an evil report in order that they could reproach me. Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sandbalat, according to these works of theirs, and also Nodiah the prophetess, and the rest of the prophets who were trying to frighten me. So the wall was completed on the twenty fifth of the month of Elul in fifty-two days. And it came about when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence, for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. And in those days many letters went from the nobles of Judah to Tobiah. And Tobiah's letters came to them. For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shekun Shechaniah, the son of Erah, and his son, Jehoanan, had married the daughter of Meshulam, the son of Barekiah. Moreover, they were speaking about his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. Then Tobiah sent letters to frighten me. As we look into this and we realize and we think about how God intervened in the lives of people, whether they were his people or not his people, but he still used them for his purpose. Keep this in mind that when God intervenes, if you're taking notes, I encourage you to write this down. When God intervenes in the hearts of people to accomplish a work for his kingdom, be very assured that Satan will also intervene in the hearts of people to stop or destroy the very same work. Keep that in mind. When God is at work, Satan is at work too. And he is doing everything he can to stop or destroy or to put a halt to the work that God is doing. Which brings us to our main idea today. The main idea, and again, please write this down if you're taking notes. When we allow God to use us, we see his great work accomplished for his kingdom. When we allow God to use us, we see his great work accomplished. As believers, we have a great work to do. We would all agree with that. Amen? We have a great work to do for God. We have a great work to do for his kingdom. He has called us as his servants, as his tools, as his children to build his kingdom. That's part of our responsibility, is to be used by God to build the kingdom of God. We also have a great work to do as members of this local congregation to build the part of his kingdom that's in this community. We have a great work to do there. We talked about that in our prayer time this morning and thank all of you for being there for that. We had a great prayer time. And we have a great work to do in this community. So there's a great work to do for the overall kingdom of God. There's a great work to do for the kingdom of God in this community as we reach out to the community. But what I want us to look at is on a personal level. God has a great work to do for his kingdom in your heart and in my heart. And that's where it has to start. Work for his kingdom, the work for the kingdom of God. All of his kingdom, all of those who follow him, all believers from the uttermost parts of the world, from here to the other side of the world, all believers are part of his kingdom. And we have an impact in that. We can pray for those that are overseas as missionaries and those that are in other parts of this country. We can, you know, financially support them through the cooperative program with the Baptist organizations, through the various organizations that we have. We can support that. The kingdom of God is around the world. But there's a kingdom, a part of the kingdom of God that is right here local. And that's our focus. That's our immediate focus, is our community. But the initial, the first great work that God wants to accomplish for his kingdom is in your heart and in my heart. And when we get to the point that we are allowing God to use us for his kingdom, there's going to have to be a work in our hearts to be able to be used by God for his purpose. Growing in Christ is essential as an individual believer. Growing in Christ is the essential lifelong process of becoming more like Jesus in character, in thought, and in action. Growing in Christ strengthens our faith. It fosters our intimacy with God. It produces spiritual fruit in our lives for His kingdom. It provides victory over sin, transforming us from the inside out. The growth offers assurance of salvation, greater joy, and a resilient, purpose-driven life. When we grow in Christ, we are becoming what God wants and needs us to be, to be used for his purpose in his kingdom. Scripture gives us many verses that encourage us and challenge us to grow to greater heights and greater growth on a personal level. 2 Peter 3, verse 18, the Bible says, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Hebrews chapter 6, verse 1, the writer of Hebrews encourages us to move on to maturity. Leave the elementary things of the faith, of the gospel. Understand those things, establish those, have a baseline, but grow on to maturity because that's our responsibility. John 15, verse 8 says that we should bear much fruit in Christ. You see, God doesn't force growth. When we look at the book in chapter 6 of Nehemiah, God didn't force the wall to be built. God didn't just say, okay, I'm going to do a miracle and the wall is raised. Boulder upon boulder, stone upon stone, gates hung on the hinges. God didn't just say it's going to be done and make it happen. He used his people to build Jerusalem back. He used his people to accomplish his purpose. And God doesn't force our growth. And don't we love God for that? Because he gives us a free will to grow. But the work to grow, the activity to grow, the things that are required to grow, is our responsibility. And we have to put our hands to the work. Just like as I mentioned before, when I was in the construction industry and I left the construction industry and I moved into the internal manufacturing industry, working with my hands, running machinery, and as a machinist. Nothing took place until my hands were applied to it. Nothing took place until my mind was applied to it. God's work is the same way. He develops us internally, but Christian growth comes when we apply ourselves and we go to work to allow God to make those changes and give us that growth in our hearts. It takes shape when we put our minds and our hands to work, and with the help of God, the work will be done. Verse 16 of the chapter. The writer of Nehemiah says, it came about when all of our enemies heard that the wall was completed. Those that were surrounding us, they lost their confidence because they realized that the work had been accomplished. Look at what he says, with the help of our God. And that is how our lives will grow with the help of our God. But we have to apply ourselves. We have to do the work, so to speak. And with that said, there's three principles that I want us to look at from the passage today. And these are certainly applicable to our growth in Christ and our work for his kingdom. The first thing I want us to look at is found in the first four verses, verses one through four. And that is that we have to focus on the work at hand. And the work at hand that we're talking about right now is your and my personal growth. That's the work at hand. That's where it has to start. Look at what he says. Let me read those verses again. Now it came about when it was reported to Sanbalat, Tobiah, to Geshem, the Arab, and the rest of our enemies, that I had rebuilt the wall and that no breach remained in it. Although at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates. That Sanbalat and Geshep sent a message to me saying, Come, let us meet together at Cherith, Shapirim in the plain of Ono. But they were planning to harm me. So I sent messengers to them saying, I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down. Why would the work stop while I leave it and come down to you? And they sent messages to me four times in this manner, and I answered them the same way, all four times. We have to stay focused on the work at hand. And the work at hand that we're talking about is our personal growth. We have to stay focused on that. We have to stay focused on what it is that God wants us to do. Nehemiah was simply saying, no, I'm not going to compromise my efforts to get this project completed to come down and meet with you. Because he knew that their purpose was to harm him. Stay focused. Don't compromise. But be assured of this. That, and I'm not telling you anything you don't already know as a believer in Christ, but if you set your mind that you're going to grow as a believer, you're going to have opposition. You're going to have opposition from the enemy. He's going to do everything he can to interfere in your activities to apply yourself to personal growth. And it will never cease as long as we're breathing. That's just the way life is in Christ. They sent letters to him five times. We can see in chapter in verse 5 that they sent a letter a fifth time. Now imagine Nehemiah and what was going on here. So Nehemiah is busy working. Nehemiah is the leader of the people. And he is helping the people to assemble and he's directing them. We can look back in chapter 3 and we see the various jobs that each had, the various parts of the wall. And Nehemiah was the administrator of that, if you will. And God had called him and given him the responsibility and the ability to lead the people and to give that leadership to them to assign different parts of the rebuilding of the wall to different families and different individuals. Bottom line is this: Nehemiah was saying, I'm not going to compromise my work on the wall to satisfy my enemy, to satisfy you. But that's what they wanted him to do. They wanted him to lose focus. Because if they could get him out of Jerusalem, without his leadership, things probably would have fallen apart. Because when we look at the history of Ezra, the book of Ezra, which was written as a in conjunction with Nehemiah, it used to be one work, okay? And when you look at the history of Ezra and Nehemiah, there were many times that the Jews faltered because they didn't have the right leadership. And they didn't stay focused on the work. And we see here in verses 1 through 4 that Nehemiah was trying to keep the people focused. And it all started with him staying focused on the work, not compromising. Stay focused on the task at hand, which is our personal growth. Romans chapter 12, verse 2. Do not be conform to the world, but be transformed by God. Do not conform to the world. Do not compromise with the world, but be transformed by God by the renewing of our minds. Does that sound like an activity that we are responsible for? Of course it does. We have to apply ourselves to allow God to transform our minds. And the way our mind is transformed is through the Word of God. We have to apply ourselves. We have to do the work that God calls us to do so that He can use us. 1 John chapter 2, verse 15 and 16, John says, Do not love the world nor the things that are in the world. Stay focused. Don't compromise. Now, in our lives, we've may have all had periods of compromise. And we've lost focus on a task. Maybe even lost focus on our Christian walk with the Lord. But it's good to come back. And the challenge, the encouragement is to stay focused. And I think so many times we forget this. And I want to say this with emphasis. I want each and every one of us to take this to heart and listen to this because we forget this sometimes. We, you are not without purpose. God has a purpose for each of our lives. And we may not understand the big picture, we might not might not understand the end result, but God has a purpose. He has a great purpose for our lives, and he has a great work to build in us for his kingdom, but it has to start in us. Before we can do anything for God, his work has to start in us. And obviously that starts by becoming a believer in Christ. But once we accept him, once we believe in him as our Savior, then from that moment on there's a sanctification process, there's a growth process. And that is where we have to work hard and apply ourselves and allow God to transform us into that that He needs us to be and wants us to be and desires us to be because He loves us and He wants to use us for His purpose. So focus on the work at hand. The second thing that I think we can see from this passage of Scripture, verses five through nine, is that we have to adhere to the truth of Scripture. Don't compromise, but adhere to the truth of Scripture too. Let me read again verses five through nine. Then Sanbalat sent his servant to me in the same manner, a fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. This one wasn't a closed, sealed letter, this was open. And more than likely, if it was an open letter, then Sanbalat's servants probably were posting the letter around town for the rest of the Jews to read, to try to slander the name of Nehemiah, to try to tell the people, look, this leader that you're following is not all that he's cracked up to be. They were trying to discredit his name. Verse 6 In it was written, It is reported among the nations, and Gashmou says that you and the Jews are planning to rebel. Therefore you are rebuilding the wall, and you are to be their king according to these reports. And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem concerning you. A king is in Judah. And now it will be reported to the king according to these reports. So come now, let us take counsel together. Then I sent a message to him, saying, Such things as you are saying have not been done, but you are inventing them in your own mind. For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking, They will become discouraged with the work, and it will not be done. But now, O God, strengthen my hands. We have to adhere to the truth of the Scripture. So when it says here in the Scripture that Sanbalat was accusing Nehemiah of forming a rebellion, that he was getting the Jews to follow him, and he was telling them, look, you follow me, we'll rebuild Jerusalem, and I'll be your king. And Nehemiah makes it very plain, you're inventing that in your own mind. None of that is true. And look at what he says in verse 7. Sanbalat's letter says, You've also appointed prophets to preach that you're going to be the king. Now there's a very good possibility that Sanbalat was referring to the prophet Malachi, because Malachi was prophesying in Jerusalem at this time. Now he may not have been the only one that was preaching the truth, but he's the one we have record of. His works we still have a copy of, but it's very likely that he was referring to the prophet Malachi. And when you look at the prophet Malachi and the message that we have a record of, and all of the other, you know, just from the book of Malachi, and you look at the truth that Malachi scribed for us, there were many other words that Malachi most likely preached. Okay? It was an ongoing thing. He was a street preacher, if you will, prophesying the prophecy of God, talking about the king. Who was he talking about? Christ. The prophecy of Christ. But Sandbalat twisted it, not understanding it, because he wasn't a child of, he wasn't a Jew. He didn't know Jewish history like they did. He didn't know Jewish law like they did. But he was twisting the truth to say what he wanted it to say. In this world today, if you're going to grow as a believer in Christ, you have to adhere to the truth of this message. Because it will be twisted. We see that all the time. All you've got to do is turn the news on. All you've got to do is follow a little bit of social media, and you will see that the word of God is twisted and the truth is confused and not understood. To grow in Christ, we have to adhere to the truth. We have to ignore the false accusations against God and against his word. So you had possibly Malachi preaching the truth, and then he makes it very clear that there are other prophets that were not preaching the truth. And they were negatively talking about Nehemiah. We read on down in verse 14, even the prophetess Noadiah and the other prophets, there were many that were preaching against Nehemiah. And it was a battle, if you will, within Jerusalem, truth and falsehood. We have the same battle today in the things that we face, truth and falsehood. We have to adhere to the truth of God's word. Truth is critical, and we cannot stress that enough. And if we are not careful today, in this world that we live in, we can be sucked in by falsehood. We can be consumed by false doctrine. We can be consumed by teachings that are not directly 100% accurate to the scripture. False doctrine. It's out there. And if we do not stay vigilant in our walk with Christ, if we compromise at all on the things that God has called us to do, we are in danger of falling into an idea of false doctrine or falsehood. So we have to adhere to the truth. Truth is critical. John 17, verse 17, Jesus. Beautiful, beautiful chapter in the scripture. Jesus is praying for me. Jesus is praying for you in John chapter 17. Love John chapter 17. And in verse 17 of that chapter, Jesus' prayer to the Father is, Lord, sanctify them in the truth. And he says, Your word is truth. This is truth. Adhere to it. Know what it says. Study it. Read it. Study it. Study it. Read it. Go deep into it. And know what it means. Know what it says. Know what it is that God is wanting to do in your heart. Because that is part of the growth process. The third thing that I want us to look at today is found in the in partly in verse 9, when he says, Oh God, strengthen my hands. But then in verses 10 through 19, and I'm not going to read all those for the sake of time, but the third thing that we have to understand that is part of our Christian growth in Christ is we need to have a discerning heart. A discerning heart. So we don't know for sure who Shemiah was. It was a name, Shemiah. But it seems to be that maybe Shemiah might have been a friend of Nehemiah's. Because Nehemiah went to his house. And so maybe he was a friend, maybe not, but there was some connection there. There was enough of a connection that Nehemiah felt comfortable going to the house of Shemiah. And then when Shemiah started giving his prophecy or his ideas and his teaching to Nehemiah, Nehemiah immediately perceived that this was not from God. Because he realized that Tobiah and Sanbalh had hired him against Nehemiah. You see, Nehemiah had a discerning heart. And that's what we have to have is a heart, a discerning heart that is guided by prayer. In verse 9, he says, Oh God, strengthen my hands. In verse 14, he says, Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanbalat, according to these works of theirs, and also Nodiah, the prophetess, and the rest of the prophets who were trying to frighten me. When we look at the previous chapters in Nehemiah, chapter 1 to begin with, we see that Nehemiah spent several months in prayer before he approached Artaxerxes and asked to give him letters to go back to Jerusalem. Nehemiah had a prayer life. And what we have recorded here is just his moments of prayer that he would pray. But he had a prayer life that it revealed to him, it showed him, it taught him, it guided him as to what God wanted him to do. And through that prayer life, he approached Artaxerxes, the king of Persia in chapter 1, and requested letters. This is why I'm sad, because the city of my fathers, where my fathers are buried, is in ruins. I want to rebuild it. And Artaxerxes, by the hand of God working in his heart, gave him letters to go back to Jerusalem. And Nehemiah was there for twelve years, appointed as the governor of Jerusalem, and rebuilt the wall. You see, Nehemiah had a discerning heart, and it was guided by prayer. He says, I realized, I perceived that the prophecy uttered by Shemiah was not from God, and God had not sent him, because Tobiah and Sanbala had hired him. And he was hired for this reason. Look in verse 13. He was hired for this reason, that I might become frightened and act accordingly and sin. And the sin would have been him going to the temple because he was not a priest. But Shemiah was saying, Listen, we can go into the temple and we can close ourselves in and protect, we can be protected, and they will not enter the temple to kill you. Nehemiah perceived that it was deception. Nehemiah perceived that he was not of God. The message was not of God. And so therefore he said, No, I will not do that. I will not sin. Who am I that I should run and flee when I have a God that will protect me? God has already proven his work in the things that we've accomplished. All the opposition that we faced, God has been faithful. And that's all that's what we've looked at in the book of Ezra and Nehemiah as we've traveled through this journey. The overall theme of the books is that God is faithful and God honors his promises. And it had already been prophesied many times, a hundred years before it had been prophesied that they would return to Jerusalem from bondage and rebuild the city. And God was faithful to his promises and it was happening. And Nehemiah saw that. Nehemiah knew that. And through a discerning heart, guided by prayer, he realized that they were not out for his good. He realized that in verses 1 through 4, that Sanbalat and Tobiah and Gesheb were sending messages so they could kill him. You see, he had a discerning heart and it was guided by prayer. And through prayer, as a child of God, we can confirm whether we are doing God's work, God's way. We can confirm whether we are doing God's work, God's way. But it takes a prayer life. I'm preaching to myself here when I talk about prayer life. My prayer life sometimes doesn't stack up. I'm just going to be very honest with you. Sometimes I get busy and don't spend enough time in prayer. Sometimes I get too relaxed. Lord, I just need to rest. And I don't spend enough time in prayer. So this is a challenge to me. Because I ask myself, how discerning is my heart as your follower? Do I have a discerning heart that is guided by prayer? Verse 15. The wall was completed on the 25th of the month of Elul in 52 days. They had been working on the wall for a long time, okay? What Nehemiah is saying here is this. Then it set with no work being done for five years, back in the book of Ezra. Then they started on it again. They started, they failed. They started, they halted. They started, they failed. But when Nehemiah came on the scene, and God gave him the option, the ability, the calling, and Artaxerxes gave him, because of what God laid on his heart, letters to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall. From that time, 52 days, thousands of people working on the wall, moving boulders, placing mortar, hanging the gates, all of these things. In 52 days from the time Nehemiah came onto the scene, the wall was completed. Now, I don't know about you, but that speaks leadership to me. And that speaks a calling of God on Nehemiah's life to accomplish a great work. God has a great work to accomplish in us. So when he accomplishes a great work in us, he will accomplish a great work in this community. And when he accomplishes a great work in this community, he will accomplish a great work for his kingdom in the world. Because we as a congregation, this community as a community who follows the Lord, maybe with our church, maybe not with our church, but in another church. But when we reach out to the community, because God has worked, done a work in us, the world will be touched. The world will be ministered to. You see, it starts really small. Right here. And when it starts right here, God has a much bigger picture. I think these things that we can see in the book of Nehemiah give us a lot of encouragement, a lot of challenge to grow in Christ because He has a great work to do in us, through us, and with us for His kingdom. At this time, we're going to go into a time of invitation. And as a child of God, as a Christian, my challenge, my encouragement to you, the challenge is to look at our lives, reflect where you stand with God today. Where's your heart? What does God want to do in your heart today, beginning today and moving into tomorrow and the days ahead? What areas does he want you to grow in? What areas are we lacking in? What areas does God want to work on? We're not perfect. We're not there yet. The work's not completed. But we can be assured of this very thing that Paul tells us in Philippians that our God, who started the work in us, will accomplish the work in us. It's all a sanctification process. It's all a growth process. And God wants to do a great work in us. So as a Christian, as a believer, my challenge to you, God's challenge to us, is to turn over to our Heavenly Father areas of our lives that need attention. It's a time to reflect, a time to submit, confess sin. And if you're here today as a non-believer, if you've never accepted Christ as your personal Savior, the challenge is accept Christ. Follow me today, Jesus says. You can come down here and kneel in prayer. You can pray where you're at. You can go to someone else and pray and ask them to pray with you. Whatever it is that you need prayer for, pray by yourself. But the challenge is let God do a great work in you today so he can do a great work in you tomorrow. And so he can do a great work for his kingdom using you to do that. So when the time is right, after we've had a moment of reflection, and you've given God the opportunity to do the work in you today that he desires, then come down, receive the elements for communion, take those back to your seat and just hold on to them, and we'll have someone come and lead us in communion, lead us in that time of worship as we worship the Lord, the Lord with our communion. And all we ask is that for communion, that you are a believer in Christ, that you've been baptized into the Christ into Christ to partake of communion. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for this time of invitation, this time of reflection. We ask, Father, that you would just lay upon our hearts areas that you want to work in, areas that you want us to focus on, to grow in you and become more of what you want us to be for your purpose, your glory, and your kingdom. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.