WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:04.320 We are in Nehemiah chapter 12 in the Old Testament. 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:08.880 The temple and the walls in Jerusalem have been rebuilt at this point. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:20.640 The first 26 verses of chapter 12 is a genealogy of priests and leaders, name after name after name. 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:21.760 And here's the point. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:22.960 Point number one. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:31.280 God has preserved generations of his people, and God will preserve you. 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:33.920 Imagine you have a jar of honey. 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:35.200 I love honey. 00:00:35.359 --> 00:00:37.600 I put honey like on my yogurt in the morning. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:38.880 I don't know what you put honey on. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:42.560 And because it's in the Bible so much, the calories don't count with honey, by the way. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:44.640 So you can just use as much as you want. 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:46.960 It's free, free calories. 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:51.119 Imagine you use some honey and you seal it up, right? 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:53.359 You put that top on, you put it in the pantry. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:56.560 That honey is gonna stay preserved in that. 00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:00.240 Now imagine you use some jam, like strawberry jam. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:01.119 I like strawberry jam. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:10.959 So say you use some strawberry jam and you put it on some toast, and then say you put it on the counter and you forget to put the top on it and you forget to put it back in the fridge. 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:24.319 Well, while the sealed up honey is preserved like new, the jam is gonna end up looking like this, not long, this picture here of spoiled jam. 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:28.079 Just mold creeps across the top. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:32.079 The sugars ferment, it is ruined. 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:34.799 That's what will happen to it over time. 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:41.680 Now, okay, now listen to what Jude says in the New Testament about you being preserved. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:43.920 Jude 1, 24. 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:54.879 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:56.239 Right? 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:00.719 So Jude's saying, Beloved, you are preserved. 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:03.120 Like you're you're the honey. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:05.359 You are preserved by Jesus. 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:08.159 And you may have difficulty, you may have struggle. 00:02:08.319 --> 00:02:12.319 It's Father's Day, maybe you weren't a good father, maybe you didn't have a good father. 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:16.400 But it's not about your performance, it's not about your circumstance. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:24.639 This preservation of you, who you are as God's beloved, is not by your work, it's by Jesus' work for you. 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:27.199 Now let's jump into Nehemiah 12. 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:30.159 We're gonna jump in at verse 27. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:35.120 So the walls are built, and now they're gonna dedicate these walls. 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:38.479 They're gonna have a service of gratitude and worship. 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:40.400 Look what the Lord has done, type of thing. 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:41.520 Verse 27. 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:54.800 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought the Levites in all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgiving, with singing, with symbols and harps and lyres. 00:02:55.280 --> 00:03:09.039 And the sons of the singers gathered together from the districts surrounding Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netaphathites, also from Beltgitgal, and from the region of Giba and Asmaveth. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:12.800 For the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem. 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:17.599 And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall. 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:27.039 Point number two is this as we rest more in God's love for us, we don't need to use things to define us, and we can be thankful for whatever we have. 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:29.360 That's what we see with the Nehemiah people. 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:32.000 They're not just moving on to more and more and more and more. 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:38.080 They're looking at the very thing that God has provided, and they're pausing to be thankful. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:41.199 In verse 27, the point of view changes. 00:03:41.360 --> 00:03:45.199 It's easy to pass over this little thing in the text. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:50.639 For the first time in five chapters, the point of view changes in the passage. 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:54.240 Nehemiah switches it back to first person. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:59.439 It's his way of saying, I am thankful for this wall. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:02.879 And I am thankful to God for this wall. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:11.120 Last week we went over to some friends' house and I noticed they had a four-car garage. 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:13.919 And say, I only have a two-car garage. 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:17.680 And I was like, man, that looked awesome. 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:20.480 I don't know if you got a four-car garage or one-carage. 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:30.560 Like, I like garages, and I thought a two-car garage was awesome until I saw the four-car garage, and I was like, no, that's that's awesome, is the four-car garage. 00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:34.160 And then I looked over in one of the garages and I saw this vehicle. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:35.439 I just pulled this from online. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:37.040 That's what that's what they had. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:40.959 And what's and I was like, Ian, like I need that. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:47.839 That's what I saw and I was like, yes, like a four-car garage, jacked up bronco. 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:54.319 I can just feel my 20-year-old self on a summer night with Dave Matthews man blurring. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:55.519 I can feel it. 00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:56.399 I can feel that. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:58.000 I can be a Bronco guy. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:04:59.199 I can feel this. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:03.279 I have it in me to be a Bronco guy with a four-car garage. 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:10.399 And because I know, I just know if I had it, I um I wouldn't stress about sermons anymore. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:15.600 And like whether you like my illustrations or not, and I wouldn't get anxious anymore. 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:18.000 I probably wouldn't have any health issues anymore. 00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:24.720 Um, my family and my finances would be totally fine, there'd be no stress there because I'm a Bronco guy, because I have a Bronco and a four-car garage. 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:25.120 Right? 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:30.079 We're all being pursued with a promise of a new life. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:36.160 All sorts of things are pursuing our hearts with this promise, I can give you a new life. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:36.560 Right? 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:40.639 Every time I see a cool bronco, so it's telling me, I'll give you a new life. 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:42.399 Just get just if you could give me. 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:43.360 Right? 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:46.720 If only I could be like that, then my problems would go away. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:49.040 Then I would be thankful. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:52.319 And it's sort of the opposite of what these people are doing in this passage. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:56.000 These people in this passage are pausing and not just saying, I want more and more and more and more. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:05:59.360 Like there's this pause of thankfulness. 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:04.480 But maybe you're like me and maybe you get duped very easily. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:07.279 And I really need Jesus' words, right? 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:13.199 Matthew 6, like, don't treasure stuff, like shiny stuff that will rust. 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:14.800 Don't just don't treasure it. 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:20.319 Not because it's not useful, not because you can't have fun in it, but because it's just gonna rust. 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:22.240 Like that's why. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:28.160 Paul expounds on this idea, this idea of joy and thankfulness and peace. 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:31.120 And Philippians 4, 4 through 6. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:34.560 Rejoice in the Lord always. 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:36.240 Again I will say, rejoice. 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:38.639 So it's for our joy. 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:42.240 But real joy is going to be in the Lord, verse 5. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:44.879 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:46.000 The Lord is at hand. 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:55.759 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:59.759 So Paul's saying, pray for the desire under all that new shiny stuff. 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:02.800 Like pray for love and joy and peace. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:09.920 And then verse 7, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:17.439 And what we see in Nehemiah 12 is we see a people just not moving on to the next thing, but pausing. 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:19.199 Like, do we pause? 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:30.879 Do we live slow enough to be grateful for the walls, the gifts, the things in our lives that are good and they're gifts, and we should be thankful. 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:32.399 Verse 31. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:39.839 Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:43.360 One went to the south on the wall to the dungate. 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:51.680 Now the text keeps going in the 32 through 36, and it gives the names of bunches of people that go this place and this place and this place, all the people that went to the dungate. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:54.480 Then verse 37 we read where some others went. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:04.959 Verse 37, at the fountain gate, they went up straight before them by the stairs of the city of David at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David to the water gate on the east. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:08.240 The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north. 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:13.680 And I followed them with half of the people on the wall, above the tower of the ovens to the broad wall. 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:15.839 So there's more details of who went where. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:20.160 What we learn is there's two processions, a procession of people. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:40.960 Point number three is this as we grow aware of God's faithfulness in our lives, pause, slow down. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:45.600 We will overflow with worship to Him. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:49.840 In verse 31, the phrase, two great choirs that gave thanks. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:53.919 Maybe your Bible says companies which gave thanks. 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:58.000 There's a similar phrase in verse 38 and verse 40. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:03.600 The key word in the Hebrew is to doat or thanksgiving or confession. 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:14.159 Now, what's interesting about this word is it conveys the people are not just singing thanksgiving, they are thanksgiving. 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:17.840 So it's more profound than a behavior. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:20.240 It's actually who they are. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:22.960 They are people of gratitude. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:25.200 It's more than words. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:31.279 The words is an overflow of a heart, a person who's grateful. 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:38.320 And they're grateful for the walls that were built, for the protection it gives them. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:42.480 But the focus is clear, and we see it in verse 40. 00:09:42.720 --> 00:09:48.399 So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God. 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:58.799 So the processions of worship and thanksgiving, we're going to give thanks to the walls, but the center, the focus, the end becomes the house of God. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:03.120 My college roommate's dad just passed away two weeks ago. 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:10.720 I became friends with my college roommate and one of my longtime, lifetime best friends, John, when we were in ninth grade. 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:12.159 And I met his dad. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:16.480 And his dad, Dick Waterworth, on the left, that's my buddy John on the right. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:20.480 And his dad was always outside every time I went over his house. 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:21.600 They lived on land. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:23.840 He was a successful businessman. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:24.799 He was a Christian. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:26.320 He loved his family. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:28.159 He loved the outdoors. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:30.000 And he loved theology. 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:36.559 He was the first person in my life that I knew that cared about theology. 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:46.080 He loved Jesus and he loved that people love Jesus, but he actually also knew that what you believe about Jesus matters. 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:48.159 And he wanted to talk about that. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:53.600 So he not only wanted to know if you love Jesus, he wanted to know about, like, hey, what do you believe about Jesus? 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:56.159 And he was always teaching us. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:59.200 One time, my friend Kevin and John, they were over there. 00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:04.240 I wasn't there this evening, but night came and the moon came up, real bright moon this night. 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:08.399 And Dick, John's dad, takes them out into the middle of the pasture. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:10.000 They're in high school at this point. 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:12.080 He says, Come on, boys, come on. 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:13.440 This is the kind of thing he would do. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:14.240 Come on. 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:16.559 Walks out into the middle of the pasture. 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:22.639 They lay down in the grass and look up at the stars and the moon. 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:28.639 And Dick Waterworth says, Isn't it amazing we have all of this? 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:36.480 And then he says, so that we can see how awesome God is. 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:49.759 Now, theologically, he was teaching them the purpose of natural revelation, which is amazing, how he would teach all different good theology, like at the right life stage. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:50.399 Right? 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:52.159 The good thing, here's what he's saying. 00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:56.159 The good thing we have is not the ultimate thing. 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:00.000 But a step to the best thing. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:02.799 Isn't it amazing we have all this? 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:06.960 But it's here so that we will see how awesome God is. 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:09.360 See, maybe you'll see something amazing this summer. 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:10.000 I hope you do. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:11.200 Maybe you see the ocean. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:12.720 Maybe you'll see a mountain. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:14.240 Maybe you'll see the moon. 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:18.480 But the point is not the ocean or the mountain or the moon. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:20.720 As amazing as those are. 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:26.559 See, the Jerusalem walls are wonderful, but they end up in the house of God. 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:34.080 And we know this side of Jesus, God's presence is not bound to a building, but the point is God's presence. 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:43.039 Beloved, we let the good thing, let the good things in your life that we will be grateful for, let them send us on. 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:45.279 Don't stop at the good thing. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:50.639 Let them send us on to awe and worship of God. 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:53.840 Nehemiah 12. 00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:57.200 Last part of chapter 12, verse 44. 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:11.600 On that day, men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the first fruits, and the tithes to gather into them the portions required by the law for the priest and for the Levites, according to the fields of the towns. 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:25.759 For Judah rejoiced over the priest and the Levites who ministered, and they performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers according to the command of David and his son Solomon. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:37.759 Point number four is this the future of the church, any church, the church, rests in God's faithfulness through the generosity of his people. 00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:48.159 After the dedication, Nehemiah ensures that the people continue the support and the work and the worship of the temple. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:50.159 It's that important to him. 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:52.799 Nehemiah cares so much about worship. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:56.639 He wants practical provision to be provided. 00:13:57.279 --> 00:14:02.320 To make sure this continues for these people and for the next person, the next generation. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:06.399 Now, the New Testament assumes that you and I are generous. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:08.080 It just assumes this. 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:17.600 To keep the church going, to keep your church, our church going, to keep another, to keep the church going for you and your family and the next person and the next generation. 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:21.759 All of that is built on God's faithfulness through your generosity. 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:26.960 There's no secret God endowment that funds all the churches of the world. 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:31.440 All these churches are funded by the generosity of the people. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:38.720 The next generation, the church exists for them because of our generosity today. 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:50.320 2 Corinthians 9, 7 says this each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:59.600 The future of our church, any church, rests, it rests in God's faithfulness through the generosity of his people. 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:06.240 And Nehemiah understood that sustaining work required ongoing support. 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:07.200 He takes the time. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:09.200 This guy was an incredible leader. 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:10.639 He takes the time. 00:15:12.159 --> 00:15:13.279 Let's have a worship service. 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:14.399 Let's have a movement. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:17.440 And then it's like not only movement, not only worship service. 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:23.679 Now I'm actually going to do the work of creating a method by which that can continue. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:37.360 He does the work, the leadership, to provide a system of giving and receiving and get the money out to where it needs to be paid to provide for these priests and the worship that it would continue to be provided for the people. 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:42.480 Now in verse 45, it speaks of purification. 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:47.759 The people had to purify themselves before they could worship. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:50.799 That's an Old Testament thing, a pre-Jesus thing. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:55.679 But it makes me think about those baptismal pools that were built around the temple. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:57.120 We've looked at these before. 00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:58.320 They're called mikvas. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:00.320 We got a picture of a mikveh. 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:01.360 We can put that picture up there. 00:16:01.440 --> 00:16:02.320 This is a mikvah. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:04.720 These were built around the temple. 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:08.639 And at the Jewish religion at the time, you cleansed yourself. 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:12.960 You cleansed yourself by you going down into the water. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:15.120 You went into the mikveh. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:16.559 I love saying mikveh, by the way. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:18.080 It's just a good word. 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:20.639 Like how many times can I say it in three lines? 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:27.360 And they did this ritual bathing before they worshiped as to purify themselves. 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:31.360 Their work, their tradition purified them. 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:35.759 Now in the New Testament, we we know we need to be purified. 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:41.120 But we also know we're never quite purified enough by what we do. 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:46.879 And so Paul says this in Romans 6, 3 and 4. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:54.559 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 00:16:54.799 --> 00:17:05.599 We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:08.960 Paul is saying, yeah, we need to be purified. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:11.680 It's just not by our work, it's by Jesus. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:18.480 Our secure relationship with God is based on Jesus' work for me, not my work for him. 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:28.240 So my ability to come before God to thank him for something, to worship him is not based on me getting everything together or obeying the right things. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:31.039 It's me trusting what God has provided for me. 00:17:31.359 --> 00:17:38.000 Point number five is this we live with gratitude and worship because God preserves us. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:44.240 We don't live with gratitude and worship so that God will preserve us. 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:52.000 In Jesus on the cross, our sin is put upon him, we're fully forgiven, his righteousness is given to us, we're fully righteous. 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:57.680 Because we're already this, we live lives of gratitude and worship. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:05.039 I just love this image of preserve because I usually feel like the moldy jam. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:12.559 I don't feel like the perfectly preserved honey that's just like it's just there for you. 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:16.640 I feel like something that's just like never quite got it put together. 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:21.680 Like I get one part together, and then I realize, oh my god, I can't believe I'm such a mess in this other area. 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:24.960 I'm not as thankful as I should be, right? 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:28.319 Like the whole first half of the sermon, I'm not as thankful as I should be. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:32.240 I don't slow down enough to pause and be thankful for everything I should be. 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:37.039 I I take, I overlook so much that I should be thankful for. 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:39.599 I need help. 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:41.920 Like I need help being preserved. 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:47.279 If I'm gonna be preserved, it's gonna have to be done by something more than my effort. 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:51.680 I grew up hiking in the Great Smoky National Park. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:56.000 Here's a picture of the Great Smokeys, it's just you know, north of us, a few hours. 00:18:56.480 --> 00:18:58.799 This land was once heavily logged. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:02.799 Companies were clear-cutting it without any plan to replant. 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:05.119 This is back in the early 1900s. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:08.720 This clear-cut, ripping through the land, just demolishing it. 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:13.200 And people were watching the land all around them just be destroyed. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:16.480 So an effort began to preserve the land. 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:20.240 Beginning in the 1920s, land began to be bought up. 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:28.079 By 1934, 522,000 acres of land was put into a national park. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:30.400 And it was preserved. 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:32.480 That's what's great about these national parks. 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:34.480 They're preserved for us. 00:19:35.359 --> 00:19:37.200 Preserved from destruction. 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:40.480 Meaning it is held safe. 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:49.359 You can go up to the Smokies all around it. 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:51.759 There's resorts. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:54.880 There's more like kind of junky motels. 00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:56.720 You've been to Pigeon Forge, right? 00:19:56.799 --> 00:19:58.240 We've all been to Pigeon Forge. 00:19:58.559 --> 00:19:59.839 It's an adventure. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:03.200 It's junky, it's fun. 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:09.759 You know, drive a go-kart, go pup hunting, and then you drive into the park, and it's it's beautiful. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:11.440 It's preserved. 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:24.880 Beloved, that's an image for you of your heart, even though we are not always the great procession of thankful worship choirs, being thankful for everything perfectly. 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:29.519 We're still preserved because we're not preserved based on how thankful we are, how worshipful we are. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:32.319 We're preserved based on Jesus' word for us. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:35.440 We are preserved people in Jesus. 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:37.519 You are held safe. 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:41.599 You are held safe because of Jesus. 00:20:42.160 --> 00:20:44.559 You have a question about this sermon or you'd like to be prayed for? 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:46.000 I'll be down front afterward. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:47.119 I'd love to pray with you. 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:48.400 Let's pray together. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:54.240 Heavenly Father, thank you that you preserve us while you call us to pause and slow down. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:55.680 Help us to do it more. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:12.559 Help us to pause longer, to linger longer, to slow down, to be grateful, to see the good gifts you've given us, to be thankful and to let them send us on to how good you are. 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:17.680 Let us see the beauty around us and be thankful for it. 00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:21.839 And let us be sent on to you as creator. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:30.640 Father, thank you that our worship, our gratitude is not the basis by which we are seen as righteous. 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:37.119 Thank you that we are preserved, a preserved people generation by generation. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:47.359 Us and Marietta this morning, because of Jesus' work, your covenant to your people through the death and life of Jesus. 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:52.559 Help us to trust all the more, rest all the more in Christ's sufficiency. 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:58.000 That all the purification we ever need is in Jesus alone. 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:02.960 And may our hearts overflow with worship and gratitude for Christ's health. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:04.799 Amen.