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Well, good morning.

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If you have your Bibles, we're going to go to Nehemiah, chapter one.

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We're going to go through this book this fall.

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If you don't have a Bible, there's one in front of you.

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If you turn to page 398, you'll find where we'll be here in just a few minutes.

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Now as we go through the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah is going to attack this idea of individualism

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and really show us what thriving looks like according to the Bible.

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And the truth is our idea of what it looks like to thrive goes against what the Scriptures

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say.

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Because of our nature, we have this sinful part of our heart that makes us believe that

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we are the center of our universe and everything and everyone around us should serve to make

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us happy and do what we want them to do.

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Then on top of that, we live in a culture that celebrates individualism and undermines

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God's picture of how we should live.

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It's all about our comfort, our preferences, our way of doing things.

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And we become offended by anyone who tries to take those things from us.

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Living our life that way is crippling and it will stunt our growth and keep us from

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being what God intended us to be.

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God's picture of human flourishing starts when our preferences become secondary to God's

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will and how God has revealed Himself to us in His Word.

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So it's not that our preference isn't important, it's just not primary.

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It becomes secondary to the will of God so that we in glad submission to the will of

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God over and beyond what our preference is, over and beyond our comfort, over and beyond

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the way that we want things to happen.

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Then the second thing, when all is said and done, we need to be people who pursue joy

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as primary and happiness as secondary.

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Now that is not the mantra of our age.

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And every commercial that you watch is going to exalt you.

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It's going to tell you what you're worth.

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It's going to tell you what you're worthy of.

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It's the air we breathe.

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But God's picture of human flourishing is your pursuit should not be happiness because happiness

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is cheap and it betrays you.

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Your pursuit should be joy because joy is unshakable.

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Joy transcends our circumstances.

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In fact, everyone in this room would have a testimony of something you thought was going

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to make you happy only to find out later that it betrayed you.

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It only made you happy for a second or two.

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Joy doesn't work that way.

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God's picture of human flourishing says, you're not up for most I am.

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Your preferences are secondary to my will.

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And your happiness is subservient to the pursuit of joy.

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Nehemiah is going to attack individualism in this book.

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Now let me catch you up on Nehemiah.

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God calls the nation, we're going to start in Exodus, not Genesis, so you're welcome.

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But God calls the nation of Israel out of slavery from Egypt.

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He leads them to the border of the promised land, the land that's flowing with milk and

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honey.

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And there the people of Israel doubted the goodness of God.

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They doubted the grace of God.

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They doubted the power of God.

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So God allowed them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years while he killed off that generation

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that refused to put their trust in him.

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Then under Joshua, God leads the people of Israel into the promised land.

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He drives out the Canaanites and they are established as a nation.

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They began to look around and they want a king.

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And so God gives them the desire of their heart which was a king and he gets a man's

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man.

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You get Saul.

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And according to the Bible, it was a foot taller than any other man in Israel.

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He was the best hunter.

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He had muscles coming out of his turtleneck.

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This was a man's man, just hair everywhere.

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Right?

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Men wanted to be him.

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The ladies loved him.

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Look at the picture, right?

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This is who Saul is.

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Saul, like our brothers and sisters in the wilderness, who doubted the goodness of God

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and doubted the provision of God, doubted God and he began to offer sacrifices that

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were unacceptable to God and he was removed as king.

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And he's replaced by David, who was a shepherd boy and played the harp.

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So we went from a foot taller to everybody else, a man's man to David.

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Now David is a boss.

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He killed a bear with his own hands.

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That's better than anything you've done.

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If you can kill it with your bare hands, I'll give you your man card.

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But if you're feeding it all year long and then cap it, I don't even know what to call

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that.

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Unfair?

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I don't know.

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So David is made king and under David's kingship, Israel thrives.

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In fact, all the threats against the nation of Israel are in many ways crushed under the

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reign of David.

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He goes to war with the Philistines.

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He goes to war with anyone who threatens the borders of Israel.

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I mean, he just wrecks shop in my head.

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I just can't get my mind around while the Philistines kept going, let's try that again.

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Let's recoup and try that again.

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And then David dies.

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And he turns the kingdom over to his son Solomon.

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And Solomon builds the temple of the Lord and peace continues to happen.

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And Israel becomes a regional power.

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No real threats to its border and it's doing well.

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And you begin to see some concern in Solomon about what would come after him.

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And if you pay attention to the book of Ecclesiastes, he says, what good is wealth and power if your

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kids are idiots?

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You're just going to pass on that wealth and power to a bunch of morons.

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Now that's a paraphrase.

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It's not going to re-like that in Ecclesiastes, but that was his point.

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Sure enough, right after Solomon, you see the nation of Israel.

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That was a regional power fracture into two kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom and the Southern

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Kingdom.

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It's what would have happened to the United States had the Confederate States won.

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You would have had the Northern United States and then you would have had the Southern Confederate

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States of America.

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The Northern Kingdom was called Israel, the Southern Kingdom was called Judah.

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The Northern Kingdom did not fare well.

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They had wicked king after wicked king after wicked king.

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Finally in 722 BC, the Assyrians laid siege to the Northern Empire and they deported and

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really spread the Israelites out around the ancient empire.

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Judah fared a bit better.

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They were able to hold on for a bit longer.

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They had a godly king than a wicked king.

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Then a godly king than a wicked king.

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But 136 years after the Northern Kingdom is conquered, the people again are deported and

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exiled.

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The Southern Kingdom falls not by the Assyrians, but now by the Babylonians who are the reigning

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empire in the world at the time.

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So the Babylonians, they export and deport the Israelites in the Southern Kingdom and

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spread them around the ancient world as slaves and servants to the reigning Babylonian empire.

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Now just to catch you up on history, Persia shows up and decides they're going to run

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the world.

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So the Persians now conquered the Babylonians who had conquered the Assyrians.

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Now the Persian Empire has taken root in the ancient world.

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And in 2nd Chronicles, the Holy Spirit hard presses Cyrus, the king of Persia, that the

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Jews should be released to go back, or at least a portion of the Jews.

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They should be allowed to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.

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And that's where we get the book of Ezra.

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Now here's something interesting.

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The book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah are happening simultaneously in history.

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In fact, some ancient manuscripts, Ezra and Nehemiah are one book, not two.

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So that's where we are in history.

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So now we're going to read Nehemiah starting in verse one.

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I'm going to invite Yordi to come up and read our text this morning.

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I encourage you to stand as we honor the Lord's word.

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The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakeliah.

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Now it happened in the month of Kislev in the 20th year as I was in Suza, the citadel,

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that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah.

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And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile and concerning

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Jerusalem.

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And they said to me, the remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is

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in great trouble and shame.

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The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire.

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Nehemiah's prayer.

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As soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days.

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I continued fasting and praying before the Lord, before the God of heaven.

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And I said, oh Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast

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love with those who love him and keep his commandments.

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Let your ear be attentive and your eyes be open to hear the prayer of your servant that

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I now pray before you, day and night for the people of Israel, your servants confessing

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the sins of the people of Israel, which have sinned against you.

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Even I and my father's house have sinned.

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We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes

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and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.

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Amen.

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Let's pray.

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Father God, thank you for Nehemiah.

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Thank you for your d.

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Thank you for his willingness to read your word.

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I pray, Father, that as we look at this text, we will see Nehemiah's heart.

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We will see your heart.

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We will be convicted of just the sin that's in our life.

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And I pray, Father, that you move during this time.

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We ask all these things in your name.

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Amen.

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Thanks, bud.

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Now, we had to do a little work with this because we are not people who now depend on

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gates and walls for our protection.

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But in this period of human history, gates and walls are as important, if not more important

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than a city's army.

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See, without walls, a city could not control its own affairs.

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And they would really be dictated by outside forces and what occurred in their own city,

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in their own province.

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See, without walls and without gates, a city would be at the mercy of any group that was

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passing through.

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Any violent outside forces could just kind of come in and take what they wanted.

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And there would be no way to funnel the enemy or directionally challenge that enemy.

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This is why Proverbs 25 verse 28 says, a man who does not control his temper is like a

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city whose wall is broken down.

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So the Bible is telling us like a man with no self-control is a city with no walls.

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They can't control their own affairs.

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They are left, unfortunately, to other devices.

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Now let me talk to you for a minute about Camden, New Jersey, because you're not going

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to vacation there.

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Several years ago, Camden, New Jersey had 79,000 residents, most of whom were below

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the poverty line.

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So impoverished is Camden, New Jersey, the entire police force.

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That's not just boots on the ground.

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Those are those that are working the desk jobs and answering the phones.

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The total police force in Camden, New Jersey was 40.

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Only police officers and support team for a city of 79,000 people.

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To give you a bit of compare and contrast, the city of Spring, Texas that has nearly

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50,000, nearly 25,000 people less than that, far less dangerous than Camden, New Jersey,

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has 125 members of its police force, with 86 of those being boots on the ground.

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Those that carry the guns and protect.

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Camden, New Jersey is a city without walls.

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When a city doesn't have walls, when there's no effective police force, when there's no

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one to call, right?

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Like really the officers are just outgunned and so outman that almost anarchy is occurring

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in Camden.

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There's one story where somebody had their house broken into.

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It was ransacked.

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They called the police and the police asked them to take pictures and email it into them.

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I mean I can't get my head around that.

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911, right?

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Somebody just broken into my house.

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They ransacked everything.

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Oh my goodness.

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Are they still there?

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No.

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Okay, good.

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You might just taking some pictures and emailing that into us.

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I mean that's a city with broken walls.

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I mean that's hard for us to comprehend.

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When you hear an eldritch, that's hard for us to comprehend.

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Mostly y'all don't even have fences.

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The police and eldritch will sometimes knock on your door to let you know your garage door

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is open.

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That's where we live.

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That's our community.

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So with that established, I want you to see Nehemiah's response to this.

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But by the way, when Hannah and I tells Nehemiah, the people are in great danger and they're

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in shame.

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Listen, if you've ever been in an environment with an unbelievable amount of poverty and

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violence, there's a type of fog that sets over that community.

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A type of fog where it feels like you can't get out of.

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A type of fog where you give into things that you probably hate just in order to survive.

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There's an air of shame that dictates the lives of people.

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Look at Nehemiah's response in verse four.

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He says, as soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days.

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And I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

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Now let me tell you why that's an odd verse.

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Nehemiah hears from Hannah and I that Jerusalem's walls are down and the gates have been burned.

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It knocks his knees out from under him.

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He sits down and weeps for days about the walls not being there and the gates being

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burned down.

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Now let me tell you why that's odd.

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Nehemiah at this time is the cupbearer to the king of Persia.

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He lives in a palace 800 miles from Jerusalem.

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What reason would he have to be empathetic?

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His role as a cupbearer is to sample the wine and the food of the king to make sure it's

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not poisoned among other roles.

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He's in a palace living in luxury, drinking the best wine on earth.

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Not that little box of blush you have in your fridge.

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He's eating food in luxury.

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He's safe.

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There's no real threat to the Persian Empire at this point in history.

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Now in a couple hundred years there's this little startup called Rome.

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Things are going to show up and things are going to change but at this point in history

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no threats, living a life of luxury 800 miles away with no television to update him, no

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Twitter feed for him to watch pictures of his people suffering.

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Yet at the news of the state of his people, most of whom he had never met, his knees are

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knocked out from under him.

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His guts turned and he weeps before the Lord and he begins to fast and ask God to act.

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When I began to prepare this six or seven months ago my first thought was is this prescriptive

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or is this descriptive?

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Is this historical?

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Is God just telling me this is what happened?

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Is this kind of like when Paul tells a dead guy he's not allowed to be dead?

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That's descriptive not prescriptive.

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God's not telling me to go to the morgue and try to wake everybody up.

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He's just kind of letting me know in history, hey here's what happened.

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So I look at this and I'm going okay is this compassion and is this empathy that's burning

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in the heart of Nehemiah?

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Is that prescriptive or is it descriptive?

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Is God just telling me this is what Nehemiah felt or is he setting before me what he wants

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my heart to look like?

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Now I'm here to tell you whether you're going to enjoy this or not, this is very much prescriptive

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and not descriptive.

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If you look at the Bible's expectation on us as believers concerning in particular other

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believers in Christ, we are to feel and be bothered like Nehemiah is.

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Let me read you some of this.

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I said earlier that God's view of human flourishing, of thriving, goes against individualism.

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In Deuteronomy 16 verse 17, he writes, everyone must appear with a gift suited to his means.

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According to the blessing the Lord your God has given you.

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See that simple verse once again goes against individualism.

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What I mean by that is what the Bible just said in Deuteronomy is that when God blesses,

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our response to the blessing of God is not to hoard those blessings and as the Bible

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would later say build bigger barns and continue to upgrade and upgrade and upgrade as we are

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able but rather to receive and enjoy the blessings of God but understand in all things it's not

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10% that God owns, it's 100% that God owns.

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We are called to be stewards of the blessings of God.

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Those blessings are not to terminate on us but rather be used to bless.

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Listen, enjoy God's blessings in your life.

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It's not a bad thing to have nice things.

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What is a bad thing is a failure to understand and see all that you have been given.

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Has been given to you by God.

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Their blessings by God and they're not just to terminate on you but rather flow out of

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you towards the purposes of God.

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This is preferences becoming secondary to the will of God.

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This is our understanding that God has been unbelievably gracious to us and that that

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should free up your hands to be unbelievably gracious to others.

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So as God is painting this picture of human flourishing, he has us focused outward and

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not inward.

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He has us focused on loving one another, serving one another, not oppressing other people of

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caring deeply for the fatherless, having us cared deeply for the refugee, for the alien,

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for the stranger, for the impoverished, engaged outwardly, not inwardly.

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See I find so often for evangelicals, for those of us that go to church, really where

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our head is and where we are spiritually.

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We say things like, how are we with the Lord?

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How are we doing?

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Are we holy?

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Are we not holy?

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Are we struggling?

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Are we not struggling?

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You know I wish our church would do this differently.

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I wish that we would sing these types of songs.

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I wish we didn't have to stand so much, right?

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But really the attention of the saint in the Scriptures is not inward but rather outward.

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Let me give you one more, Matthew 7 verse 12.

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We've kind of distilled it down to the golden rule.

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But here's what it says, therefore whatever you want others to do for you, do also the

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same for them.

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This is the law and the prophets.

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So if there's a greater verse to prove we are individualized, it's verses like, do

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unto others as you would have them do unto you.

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And we kind of twist that, right?

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We kind of twist that and instead of pushing it outward we think about us.

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Instead of thinking about others we think about us.

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So this verse means that we should think, if I lived in Camden, New Jersey, if I was

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in Iran, if I was in situations like my brothers and sisters are in, what would I want someone

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to do for me?

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How would I want them to interact with me?

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How would I want them to love me?

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We think about that and then we do it.

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That's how we're supposed to act.

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So as a community of faith we model to the outside world what it looks like to be the

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people of God and we walk in the type of flourishing that God would have us walk in.

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It is being mindful of the hearts and hangups of others and entering into some very simple

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and some very complex ways of being the picture of God with love and compassion for His church

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in our presence and in our interaction with those around us.

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I think in some ways we do this really well as a church.

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But I also think we could do much better at this as a church.

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Now if you know anything about Texas A&M, one of the things that the Aggies boast of

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is as cultish as they are, what they boast of is they boast of the Aggie network.

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And here's what they boast of.

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If an Aggie loses his job, if an Aggie gets hurt, the network, the alumni base is like,

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hey, we share a border collie and a football team.

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We have that in common.

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And so we're going to come together and we're going to support our own.

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It's called the Aggie family.

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If you have the Aggie ring and they're very proud of that Aggie ring, you will get almost

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any job you walk into if an Aggie is your superior.

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How much more than should the body of Christ love our brothers and sisters than those who

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would rally around school colors and a location in which they were educated?

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Should we not, as people of God say, there's a network within Cornerstone that cares deeply

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enough for its own that will sacrifice, will give way to our personal preference, will

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find jobs for them and will care deeply for them, will walk in the long haul with men

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and women?

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Absolutely, that should be the case.

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We should boast about the network that we have as brothers and sisters in Christ.

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Okay, so here, I kind of want to answer this question as we begin to close out.

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On top of us, caring for others like Nehemiah, what you see happening is that love for one

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another spills over the walls once they're repaired.

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It spills over the walls to the world around us.

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So how do we grow in compassion?

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How do we grow in love?

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Because the truth is, you can't just flip a switch and begin to feel things deeply.

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You can't just flip a switch and automatically start caring for those around us to be moved

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forward.

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You can't flip a switch to make our preferences secondary to the will of God.

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That's not an easy thing to do.

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So how do we do that?

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Let's look at verse 5.

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There's two things here.

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And these two things are going to be necessary for us to grow in empathy.

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Verse 5, Nehemiah says, and I said, Oh Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who

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keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments.

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Let your ear be attentive in your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I

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now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel, your servants confessing

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the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you.

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Even I and my father's house have sinned.

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We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes

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and the rules that you commanded to your servant Moses.

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Now if you want to thrive, if we want to thrive, if we want to grow in compassion and we want

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to grow in empathy for one another and for the world around us, there's two pieces here

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that are imperative for our growth.

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We have to have a right view of who God is.

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Do you see what's happening here in this text?

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There's no tangible evidence right now in this point that in this moment that God is

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faithful and God is keeping his promises.

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They are scattered like the wind all over the ancient world.

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They have been exiled out of the land flowing with milk and honey.

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But what's Nehemiah's prayer?

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You are faithful.

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You are good.

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You are a covenant keeping God.

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You have not abandoned us.

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You are here even in our hurt.

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You love us.

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You will keep your promise.

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Nehemiah has a right view of God in this moment.

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He's not blaming God.

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He's not angry with God.

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He understands that his desires are secondary to the will of God.

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He understands that what matters most is the will of God.

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And sometimes that's not going to make sense to us.

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Sometimes we're left with more questions than answers.

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Sometimes we just don't have the answers as to why things are happening.

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Nehemiah had a right view of God.

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That's also coupled not just by a right picture of God but a right picture of us.

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Nehemiah, he then begins to confess the sins of Israel.

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We have not been faithful.

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We have not kept your commandments.

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We have not lined ourselves up on how you designed the universe to work.

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Then he's like, look at me.

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Nehemiah knows himself.

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He says, even I and my father's house have sinned against you.

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The more elevated you view yourself, the more it will be impossible for you to show compassion.

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The easier it will be to find fault in everything else.

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If you spend more time complaining about something that you find wrong, more than you

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notice the good that is going on around you, you have a wrong view of yourself.

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So look right at me.

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If you have godly kids because you're awesome and not because God is gracious, then you're

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going to have a hard time showing compassion for anybody who has a wayward child.

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Because if they would have just done things the way you've done them.

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If they would have followed your protocol, if they would have lived their life like you

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did, then they would have a godly kid too.

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Why didn't they follow your steps?

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If you're financially set, and that's not because God has been gracious to you, but

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because you've worked and you've earned and you've set yourself apart from somebody else,

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instead of feeling indebted to God for His mercy and grace, how impossible is it going

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to be for you to show empathy towards someone who is impoverished?

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If you are quick to complain about work that is being done around you, but you are unwilling

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to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty, you will fail to celebrate someone

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using the gifts that God has given them.

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See, the more you are the author and perfecter of all things, the more all the blessing of

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your life is because of you and not because God has blessed you.

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The more it will be impossible for you to show empathy to others who are struggling.

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Why?

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Because you're awesome.

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They should have just done what you did.

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That will rot out the soul's ability to be compassionate and merciful.

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It will breathe in us indifference that is unacceptable before the Lord.

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It will rot out your ability to walk in unity, to walk in love and compassion with one another.

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It will create a judgmental harshness among us that God will have nothing to do with.

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So my prayer in this message and as we move forward into Nehemiah is that more and more

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and more we would feel small and see God as big.

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And in that we might find our compassion for others growing.

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I just want to ask a couple questions while we have a few minutes of quiet.

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If you have found yourself growing indifferent, if you have found in yourself a growing coldness,

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maybe you have come into this place and you see that that's what marks your life, a strong

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judgmental attitude toward other people, well aware of other people's weaknesses.

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Quick to justify your successes as belonging to you and other people's weaknesses belonging

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to them.

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If that's you, I want you to ask that the Holy Spirit would soften your heart today.

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That the Holy Spirit might in mercy grant you compassion and rescue you from the silliness

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that you are in right now.

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I want to challenge you once again just as we begin to conclude our service that you

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not just attend here.

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That's not rebuilding the walls.

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That is when all is said and done, creating an environment where you won't flourish.

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You have not been called to attend church.

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You have been called by God to belong to one.

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There is no way for us to show one another compassion when we are not known.

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In order to be known, preferences have to become secondary and happiness has to be subservient

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to joy.

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If you want your preferences and happiness, you will never be happy here.

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You will never let your weaknesses be known by others and you will try to act and look

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perfect.

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You will hide your weaknesses and in so doing, it will shrivel up your soul's capacity to

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walk in high levels of joy, to walk in high levels of compassion and empathy for others.

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So really, one of the litmus tests here can even be in our time together.

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Have you entered into a covenant community of faith or are you purposefully just staying

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on the outskirts for one reason or another that is more than likely just easier?

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It's easier to come in and leave because that's what your preference is.

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Or are you entering into the community of faith?

469
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:56,480
Are you willing to reject your idea of individualism and instead put in the hard work of walking

470
00:35:56,480 --> 00:36:01,920
with others, of loving them, of serving them, of encouraging them and then being able to

471
00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:06,400
receive that same truth?

472
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:11,840
Have you grown short-sighted in how you see the work of God in your life?

473
00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:16,080
Have you grown short-sighted in how you've seen the work of God in this church, in the

474
00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:18,160
world around us?

475
00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:21,920
Let's confess and repent of that.

476
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:25,640
We're going to end our service today by doing two things.

477
00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:33,440
Both are commanded by God in Scripture and both are when all is said and done desperately

478
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:41,160
needed by your soul and mine regardless of how we've come in here.

479
00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:49,160
The first thing is we're going to remember the motivating force for all this.

480
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:58,120
Our motivation for compassion and empathy can't be a drive-by, guilty sermon.

481
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:06,760
Our motivation for compassion and empathy, belonging, community, rebuilding walls, pouring

482
00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:14,800
ourselves out for others has to be the compassion we were shown in God rescuing us while we

483
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,280
were still sinners.

484
00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:24,320
The motivating force for our spiritual journey is while we were yet sinners, Christ died

485
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:26,320
for us.

486
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:34,880
While we were stuck in the muck and the mire, God reached down with His holy, clean hands

487
00:37:34,880 --> 00:37:39,600
and pulled us out and set our feet on the rock.

488
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:41,280
That's our motivation.

489
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:46,880
Our motivation must be the forgiving, saving work of Jesus Christ for those of us who are

490
00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:48,840
in Him.

491
00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:54,960
So we remember that and we confess where we have fallen short.

492
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:58,960
That's the first thing we're going to do today.

493
00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:05,200
And the second thing, we are going to sing to the Lord.

494
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:10,200
And I feel like we get confused about what singing is and why it matters.

495
00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:18,240
I want to plead with you not to feel like it's a secondary part to what we do here.

496
00:38:18,240 --> 00:38:22,720
In fact, the Lord commands us to sing to Him.

497
00:38:22,720 --> 00:38:26,520
It's not because He needs to be sung to.

498
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:34,760
The Bible tells us there are heavenly creatures on repeat in the throne room of God that never

499
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:42,240
stops saying, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and who is and who is

500
00:38:42,240 --> 00:38:43,240
to come.

501
00:38:43,240 --> 00:38:44,560
It's on repeat right now.

502
00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:47,240
He doesn't need us to sing to Him.

503
00:38:47,240 --> 00:38:54,760
No God has commanded us to sing to the Lord because we need to sing to Him.

504
00:38:54,760 --> 00:39:00,120
Because in singing to Him, God takes what's intellectual.

505
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:06,560
He takes what we have in our mind and he drives it down into our heart and he connects the

506
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:12,240
heart with the head and worship as we sing to Him in song.

507
00:39:12,240 --> 00:39:19,880
As we sing what is true about the Lord, what is intellectual is connected to what is spiritual

508
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:21,560
and emotional.

509
00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:25,000
That's why God says, you sing to me.

510
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,280
You sing to me with joy.

511
00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:30,120
You sing to me loud.

512
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:33,960
So I want to plead with you.

513
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:41,320
Not to view it as something secondary and use it as a chance to hurry up and get out

514
00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:42,320
of here.

515
00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:51,080
Rather, take the limited time that God has given you this week to gather together as

516
00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:58,920
the saints and ring out all of it that He can as we're gathered together in corporate community

517
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:02,320
and as we worship God.

518
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:11,520
So let me pray for us and then we'll begin to celebrate the compassion of God made available

519
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:14,040
to us in Christ.

520
00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:28,920
We're going to give Him this time as we confess these things before Him.

521
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:35,600
As you think through, real quick, as you think through your week, your month, your attitude

522
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:45,000
over that time has been more about you and your comfort and your preferences and your

523
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:50,800
desires and you have nitpicked everyone else around you.

524
00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:54,600
They can't do anything right.

525
00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:58,200
And you've made your spiritual journey all about you.

526
00:40:58,200 --> 00:41:02,160
Let's confess that today.

527
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:08,200
If you have failed to see God work in this church, in your community, in the world around

528
00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:17,040
us, because you've been so consumed by what you want to see, let's confess that today.

529
00:41:17,040 --> 00:41:20,600
Our preferences become secondary.

530
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,680
Our happiness becomes secondary.

531
00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:27,400
And so as a church, can we pursue joy?

532
00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:37,640
As a church, can we pursue empathy and compassion just like Nehemiah?

533
00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:39,160
So let's confess those things to Him today.

534
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:40,160
You can do that in your seat.

535
00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:44,600
You can do that here at the altar.

536
00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:45,600
I'm going to challenge you though.

537
00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:47,600
I'm going to make you a little uncomfortable.

538
00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:54,840
Yeah, I'm going to do it.

539
00:41:54,840 --> 00:42:07,280
If you are quick to criticize publicly, but fail to confess publicly, you don't have a

540
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:12,400
right view of who God is.

541
00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:15,040
And I'm just as guilty of that.

542
00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:21,760
It's easy to criticize, isn't it?

543
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:26,360
It's hard to lay these things before the Lord and lead spiritually, isn't it?

544
00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:28,840
So I'm going to put that before you.

545
00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:34,320
And whatever the Lord does in this time right now, we just walk in obedience.

546
00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:35,520
Let's pray.

547
00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:43,720
Father, I pray right now that as we sing to you, as we sing to you boldly and loudly

548
00:42:43,720 --> 00:42:55,240
and joyfully that your presence, your Holy Spirit would fill this place that you would

549
00:42:55,240 --> 00:42:56,400
speak to our hearts.

550
00:42:56,400 --> 00:43:00,800
Father, help us be like Nehemiah.

551
00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:02,960
Help us walk in compassion.

552
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:05,000
Help us walk in empathy.

553
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:07,280
Help us see how you are still working.

554
00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:10,920
Help us see that you are a promise keeping God.

555
00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:19,000
That you provide, that you equip, that you care.

556
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:29,200
And so Father, we humbly come before you this morning.

557
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:36,560
And I confess to you that my household has sinned against you.

558
00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:41,240
And I ask you to forgive us.

559
00:43:41,240 --> 00:43:43,760
We have been slow to show empathy.

560
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:46,200
We have been slow to show compassion.

561
00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:47,760
And that is on me.

562
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:54,400
And I pray, Father, that you will forgive me.

563
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:57,040
So God, we hand over this time to you as we sing.

564
00:43:57,040 --> 00:43:59,120
We sing the truth of who you are.

565
00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:00,480
We sing the truth of what you've done.

566
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:05,840
And I pray, Father, that as we remember and confess that you will be honored in this place,

567
00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:07,160
we ask all these things in your name.

568
00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:36,160
Amen.