WEBVTT 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:05.919 Good morning to you all. My name's Tommy. I'm the rector here. If you're new, we're delighted 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:12.980 that you're joining us. We are in a series reading a memoir. It's an old memoir from a long time ago. 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:19.140 It's the memoir of a man named Nehemiah. And Nehemiah is a man whom God used to physically 00:00:19.140 --> 00:00:26.320 rebuild the city of God and to spiritually rebuild the people of God. And we've been applying this 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:32.439 story to our lives here in D.C. We've been finding a lot of parallels between where Nehemiah is and 00:00:32.439 --> 00:00:38.280 where we find ourselves in our life as a community, Church of the Advent. And so we're essentially 00:00:38.280 --> 00:00:43.859 sitting at the feet of Nehemiah and we are learning everything we can. We're mining everything we can 00:00:43.859 --> 00:00:49.280 about what God is calling us to do and to be here in D.C. as we look forward to our life together 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:55.380 in the coming chapter. Nehemiah is someone, if you're not familiar, who works as a civil servant 00:00:55.380 --> 00:01:03.000 in a pagan government. And he learns that Jerusalem lies in ruins and the people living there are 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:09.620 destitute. And after months of prayer and fasting, he asks the Persian king for permission and resources 00:01:09.620 --> 00:01:16.159 to go and do what he can to help. And miraculously, the king grants his request. That brings us to 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:21.240 Nehemiah chapter 2 verses 9 through 20 where Nehemiah actually makes the journey to Jerusalem 00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:27.399 and he sees it for the first time. And there are three parts to this story that we're going to look 00:01:27.399 --> 00:01:34.859 at. Each part of this story teaches us something, informs how we think about what it means to be a 00:01:34.859 --> 00:01:41.439 community of God's people here in D.C. Now this happened a long time ago. This is 2024. Seems like it 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:46.439 wouldn't be applicable at all and yet we keep discovering that in fact God's Word is timeless and 00:01:46.439 --> 00:01:53.140 therefore it is always timely. It can always speak into our present moment with the power of the Holy 00:01:53.140 --> 00:01:57.200 Spirit. So let's pray and ask God to help that happen and then we're going to open God's Word 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:04.640 together. Lord, we thank you that you are in fact already present and at work in us. That we have only 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:12.120 to attune ourselves to you. To allow ourselves to become aware of your presence with us now. 00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:21.140 Lord, may we relax into your presence. May we relax away from whatever distractions or sources of 00:02:21.140 --> 00:02:27.819 stress are tugging at us right now. May we relax into your presence and find rest there. I pray that 00:02:27.819 --> 00:02:32.920 you would open our hearts to receive your Word for us this morning. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:02:32.919 --> 00:02:39.259 So we're going to look at three things, three parts of this story. Nehemiah's arrival, 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:46.759 Nehemiah's assessment of the situation, and then Nehemiah's gratitude. So first of all, 00:02:46.799 --> 00:02:54.019 Nehemiah's arrival. As I said, the Persian king gives Nehemiah letters of safe passage along with 00:02:54.019 --> 00:03:01.439 material resources and a military escort. And Nehemiah sets off for Jerusalem and he crosses into the 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:07.699 trans-Euphrates, which is the sort of western region of the Persian empire, and he immediately 00:03:07.699 --> 00:03:13.500 encounters some local officials. These are local leaders. Now, they work for the Persian king, and so 00:03:13.500 --> 00:03:18.599 theoretically, they should align themselves with what the Persian king has decreed, and yet they're very 00:03:18.599 --> 00:03:25.759 clearly not happy about what they hear about Nehemiah's mission. They are not happy. We're going to talk more 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:30.799 about that next week. They immediately set to work opposing and thwarting Nehemiah's mission. 00:03:31.459 --> 00:03:38.399 But what I want us to focus on is Nehemiah's arrival in Jerusalem. Nehemiah wanted to come in 00:03:38.399 --> 00:03:44.759 person to see it with his own eyes. That's the first thing that I want us to notice. It's easy to take 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:50.219 this for granted. It's just part of the story, but Nehemiah did not have to come in person. Like, 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:55.739 Nehemiah did not have to go himself. He could have sent someone else. He could have just sent money and 00:03:55.740 --> 00:04:00.939 resources. He could have sent his brother back with money and resources because he had already 00:04:00.939 --> 00:04:06.520 been there, but Nehemiah wants to go in person, which means he's willing to travel almost 900 miles. 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:12.700 He's willing to risk his life so that he can personally get to know both the conditions of the 00:04:12.700 --> 00:04:18.240 city and the people who live there. So that's the first thing. He wanted to come in person. Number two, 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:24.340 he not only gets to know them, but he actually identifies with them in their suffering. 00:04:24.339 --> 00:04:28.299 He identifies with them in their suffering. Verse 17, 00:04:29.119 --> 00:04:31.560 Then I said to them, he's talking to the people who are living there, 00:04:32.459 --> 00:04:38.620 You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:46.399 let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer suffer derision. Nehemiah has not suffered 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:51.159 any derision. I mean, to appreciate this, you have to remember, all of Nehemiah's life, 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:59.560 he has lived in a Persian world very far away from Jerusalem, as did his parents, as did their 00:04:59.560 --> 00:05:06.500 parents. And you may say, well, they're all Jewish, so they all sort of…yes and no. There was a major 00:05:06.500 --> 00:05:14.120 culture gap between Jews like Nehemiah who grew up in a Persian world and the Jews still living in the 00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:19.760 ruins in Jerusalem. There was a major culture gap. It had been long enough. It had been 140, 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:25.879 150 years by this point that really they had become culturally very distinct from one another. 00:05:26.759 --> 00:05:31.319 And yet, Nehemiah moves to the city, and then he takes time to listen and learn the needs, 00:05:31.819 --> 00:05:37.579 to invest in relationships, and then most importantly, to identify with the vulnerable 00:05:37.579 --> 00:05:42.000 and the suffering in the community. And so, Nehemiah, at this point, verse 17, 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:47.500 feels the needs of the city very acutely. It's as though he's been living there personally his entire 00:05:47.500 --> 00:05:55.519 life. The point is, we might put it this way, Nehemiah doesn't come to the city as a tourist 00:05:55.519 --> 00:06:03.860 to sort of see and experience and then to move on. He shows up as a stakeholder. He comes to the city 00:06:03.860 --> 00:06:09.439 with a mentality that says, I'm here to stay. I'm here to invest. I'm here to become a part of life 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:15.519 and all of what that means and to take that on myself. He's personally invested in the welfare 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:21.579 of the city where God sends him. And that's something worth dwelling on for us, for those of us 00:06:21.579 --> 00:06:28.220 who have not grown up in D.C., for those of us who moved here from somewhere else. It is so easy, 00:06:28.220 --> 00:06:33.839 even if we've lived here 10 years, 15 years, it's so easy to live here and to maintain a kind of 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:39.879 tourist mentality. You know, D.C. residents, when tourist season comes and the traffic gets bad, 00:06:39.919 --> 00:06:44.199 we like to complain about that. But how many of us live and relate to the city as tourists? 00:06:45.419 --> 00:06:50.239 And by that, I mean we just simply view the city only through the lens of what we can get out of it. 00:06:51.359 --> 00:06:56.579 You know, we come here, people come here to have fun, to get an education, to launch their career, 00:06:56.579 --> 00:07:04.979 to advance their career, to network. And then a lot of people move on. You know, I was once talking 00:07:04.979 --> 00:07:10.479 with a lifelong D.C. resident and I asked him how the city had changed. And without missing a beat, 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:15.699 he said, well, it's become a playground for young white professionals. That's how it's changed. 00:07:17.039 --> 00:07:21.699 And you know, we can live here for years and never take the time to listen and learn the needs. 00:07:21.699 --> 00:07:27.560 Never take the time to invest in relationships outside of our immediate friend group. I know 00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:31.759 people who have lived here for years and still their best friends live elsewhere. And they have 00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:38.699 a very small circle here in D.C. We can never take the time to identify with those who are vulnerable. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:44.639 We can sort of live above and apart from it if we have the privilege in our lives to be able to have 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:50.240 that as an option. So here are some questions simply for us to reflect on. Again, we're looking at this 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:57.180 memoir and we're drawing out of it things that can prompt our reflection here and now. So here's 00:07:57.180 --> 00:08:03.900 some questions for reflection before we move on. What kind of relationship is God calling us to have 00:08:03.900 --> 00:08:15.000 with the city? Are we tourists or are we stakeholders? And as you think about your own life, are you open 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:21.420 to the possibility that you're in D.C. because God has called you to be here for however long that might 00:08:21.420 --> 00:08:26.199 be? It could just be for a few years and then God calls you elsewhere. Or it could be that God is 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:32.679 calling you to stay here long term. You know, we call those sprinters and marathoners. And there's a huge 00:08:32.679 --> 00:08:38.679 value and a place for both. We need the continuity and stability of marathoners. We need the fresh energy 00:08:38.679 --> 00:08:44.959 and perspective of sprinters. We need both. But is God calling you here? And if so, for how long? 00:08:45.659 --> 00:08:50.479 And then this question that we're asking all through the fall, what is God wanting to do through you in 00:08:50.479 --> 00:08:55.859 the city while you're here? What are the things that God is wanting to accomplish? If and when you leave, 00:08:55.939 --> 00:09:01.139 will there be lives that have improved? Will there be people who are better off because you were here? 00:09:01.139 --> 00:09:07.840 So this is the first thing. When Nehemiah arrives, he shows up in person and he takes time to invest 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:12.600 and he becomes immediately a stakeholder in the welfare of the city. That's the first thing. 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:20.299 Now let's look at his assessment of the situation. Most of this passage actually describes Nehemiah 00:09:20.299 --> 00:09:27.840 inspecting the perimeter of Jerusalem. And he does this at night to avoid drawing unwanted attention from 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:32.800 his opponents, as we said. People are already conspiring against him. We'll talk about that more 00:09:32.800 --> 00:09:38.840 in weeks to come. But here's what he sees when he does the inspection, verses 13 and 14. He says, 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:44.800 I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:49.879 Then I went on to the fountain gate into the king's pool, but there was no room for the animal that was 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:57.460 under me to pass. Serious problems. A city needs walls and a city needs gates. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:04.300 Walls are essential to protect the people of the city. Walls are what allow the people who live 00:10:04.300 --> 00:10:11.840 inside the city to develop their own culture, to become a community. You need walls to protect them 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:20.240 and set them apart. And gates are also essential. You need gates so that people seeking refuge can come 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:25.500 into the city and so the people in the city can go out into the world. A lot of people sought refuge 00:10:25.500 --> 00:10:30.620 in the city because it was protected by a wall and they were trying to get away from a dangerous world. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:35.440 And so they would come into the city to look for the kind of stability and the kind of culture where 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:41.440 they could actually build a life for themselves. So you need walls and you need gates. In other words, 00:10:41.539 --> 00:10:50.740 a city cannot be a city without walls and without gates. Especially this city. Remember God's purpose for 00:10:50.740 --> 00:10:57.919 Jerusalem. God called his people to be a light to the world. Isaiah 2 is a prophecy that describes 00:10:57.919 --> 00:11:05.379 Jerusalem as a city on a hill where God's very presence resides. And this prophecy describes God 00:11:05.379 --> 00:11:11.820 drawing people from all of the nations who come streaming into the city because they're being called 00:11:11.820 --> 00:11:19.440 to come and follow and worship God. But despite all of the efforts of, spoiler alert, people like Nehemiah, 00:11:19.780 --> 00:11:25.080 people like Ezra, people like Zerubbabel, Jerusalem never became such a place. 00:11:26.760 --> 00:11:35.000 It never fulfilled that prophecy. That prophecy was looking beyond this city. Well, where was it looking? 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:41.559 Well, that's why it's so significant when Jesus, 500 years later, says to his disciples in Matthew 5, 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:50.519 you are the light of the world. You are the city on a hill. And he's communicating something very 00:11:50.519 --> 00:11:56.200 clearly here. The community of Jesus' disciples, the church, is called to be what Jerusalem failed 00:11:56.200 --> 00:12:02.700 to be. And that points forward to the new Jerusalem when Jesus comes again. But until then, 00:12:02.700 --> 00:12:08.800 the church is called to be what Jerusalem failed to be. Through the Holy Spirit, God's presence 00:12:08.800 --> 00:12:15.600 doesn't just reside in a city. It resides within each Christian, within the community of Christians 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:25.759 who follow Jesus. And so just like Jerusalem, just like any city, the church, this kind of city of God 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:30.860 that now exists all throughout the world, the city within a city, the city of God within the city of man, 00:12:30.860 --> 00:12:37.200 to use the words of St. Augustine, the church needs both walls and gates. 00:12:39.240 --> 00:12:45.519 Now, I'm not talking about physical walls, although they help. I primarily mean cultural walls, 00:12:46.700 --> 00:12:54.500 spiritual walls. The church is meant to be an alternative society, living an alternative lifestyle. 00:12:54.500 --> 00:13:05.080 Where we live our lives, we live our everyday lives in ways that are markedly different and distinct 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:11.740 from the surrounding community. That's what the church is called to be. We are called to offer 00:13:11.740 --> 00:13:18.379 and put on display and then invite people into a different way of being human together, 00:13:18.379 --> 00:13:27.620 a way that glorifies God rather than the idols of the city, such as success or money or power or 00:13:27.620 --> 00:13:34.700 pleasure or comfort. And you say, well, what does this look like in practice? Well, just imagining what 00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:41.159 this looks like for a moment, we are called to be the kind of community where we work hard at our jobs, 00:13:41.159 --> 00:13:48.480 and yet we regularly take time to rest, and we do not measure our worth by our accomplishments. 00:13:50.259 --> 00:13:57.459 We're a community where we're politically engaged, and we vote, and we know the issues, and yet we 00:13:57.459 --> 00:14:03.240 don't put all of our hope in politics to save the world, because we know that our true allegiance 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:10.659 is to our true king. We're the kind of community where we love to celebrate, and we love good food, 00:14:10.659 --> 00:14:19.139 and we love good drink, and yet we also know how to fast, and we know how to have self-control, 00:14:20.019 --> 00:14:26.899 and we know how to not be controlled by our pleasure and desire, but rather to have mastery over it. 00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:33.079 And we know that life is about much more than pleasure, that there is no greater joy than 00:14:33.079 --> 00:14:40.399 participating in the life of God. We're called to be a community that has a high view of sex, 00:14:40.659 --> 00:14:48.360 and chastity, and marriage, and family, and yet we want to be a family for anyone who needs a family. 00:14:50.139 --> 00:14:55.139 Right? We're called to be the kind of community where we do seek greater influence in our jobs. 00:14:55.379 --> 00:15:02.579 We do seek to advance, and we are ambitious, and yet we understand that the entire purpose of power 00:15:02.580 --> 00:15:10.320 is to lift up those around us who are vulnerable and oppressed. It's not about us. 00:15:11.780 --> 00:15:18.020 We care about having enough money to meet our needs in this community, and yet we care more about being 00:15:18.020 --> 00:15:23.020 generous and about meeting the needs of others, and we understand that that's the primary purpose 00:15:23.020 --> 00:15:26.480 of desiring to make more money, is so that we can give more away. 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:34.399 We're the kind of community where we are, in one sense, at home in this world. We are fully present 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:41.300 and participate in every sphere of culture, and yet we know for sure that this world is not our home. 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:50.000 We are called to live an alternative lifestyle, and in order to be that kind of community, 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:56.700 we need shared rhythms of worship and spiritual formation that we do in community. 00:15:57.480 --> 00:16:02.799 We need thick, overlapping networks of Christian relationships. 00:16:04.259 --> 00:16:09.980 Right? School and sports and recreation and our professional world, right? That there are thick, 00:16:09.980 --> 00:16:17.360 overlapping networks of Christian relationships. We need shared values around how we raise our children. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:24.899 that we agree on and reinforce in one another's homes so that if our children are at your house or your 00:16:24.899 --> 00:16:29.740 children are at their house, you know that those same values are going to be shared and practiced, 00:16:29.960 --> 00:16:35.860 because they're not going to be the values of the world. We need strong, clear theological boundaries. 00:16:37.740 --> 00:16:43.480 So we need walls. They're essential. But we also need gates. 00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:50.980 The entire purpose of the church is to bring the gospel to the world. You know, the German theologian 00:16:50.980 --> 00:16:56.320 and activist Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, the church is the church only when it exists for the 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:04.220 sake of others. We need gates because we're called to go out into the world, to share the good news of 00:17:04.220 --> 00:17:10.059 Jesus, to do the work of mercy and justice, to care for the poor and the vulnerable. And we are called to 00:17:10.059 --> 00:17:16.559 welcome in all those who come seeking refuge through ministries of hospitality and mercy. 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:24.240 We are called to build a great city for all people, not just the ones who attend our worship services. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:32.019 And for that, we need gates. Now, this is very important. A church needs walls and it needs gates. 00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:39.420 I believe that as I look into this room, some of us lean toward one or the other, right? You think 00:17:39.420 --> 00:17:45.279 about Nehemiah inspecting both the walls and the gates. I think some of us are more inclined to 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:55.420 inspect the walls. We're more inclined to be kind of theological watchdogs. You're on guard for any sign 00:17:55.420 --> 00:18:02.240 that the church might be slipping, that it might be compromising, that the church might be losing its way. 00:18:02.840 --> 00:18:07.960 And so you're regularly inspecting the walls just to make sure that they're intact. 00:18:09.420 --> 00:18:16.500 And some of us are more inclined to inspect the gates of the church. You want to remove as many barriers 00:18:16.500 --> 00:18:21.880 to entry as you possibly can for people to come into our church. You want this to be a place where you feel 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:27.660 comfortable bringing all of your friends. You have a heart for people outside the church and you're horrified 00:18:27.660 --> 00:18:33.120 at the idea that things that we might believe or say or do would be offensive to people. 00:18:34.580 --> 00:18:39.240 And there can be a lot of tension and a lot of anxiety between wall people and gate people. 00:18:40.740 --> 00:18:48.340 You know, wall people and gate people make each other extremely nervous. You know, gate people kind of, 00:18:48.339 --> 00:18:52.240 they bring their friends and they're like, ah, I don't want you to meet that wall person just yet. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:57.959 You know? And then the wall people look at the gate people and they're like, we're on the slippery slope 00:18:57.959 --> 00:19:04.099 straight to hell because they're in this church. Right? And so you have wall people and gate people 00:19:04.099 --> 00:19:07.859 who can very often be at odds with each other. You're in a small group and you're a wall person 00:19:07.859 --> 00:19:10.779 and a gate person starts speaking and you're like, what kind of church am I in? 00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:18.680 Here's the point. Wall people and gate people, we need each other because the church needs walls and 00:19:18.680 --> 00:19:25.319 gates. And so if you're wired in a particular way and you're called to inspect a certain aspect of 00:19:25.319 --> 00:19:32.059 the church, do that with all your vigor and might you have. But have grace and mercy and patience 00:19:32.059 --> 00:19:39.480 for the people who are inspecting another section, maybe the gate. Have grace for them and understanding 00:19:39.480 --> 00:19:43.279 and recognize actually you need them. And that's why the church is called to do mission together 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:48.759 as a community with lots of different kinds of people rather than as individuals. So the church 00:19:48.759 --> 00:19:56.279 needs walls and the church needs gates. See, a church without walls, just to put a, just drive this 00:19:56.279 --> 00:20:04.039 home a little bit more. A church without walls is a church of the city. It becomes in every way 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:08.220 indistinct from the surrounding culture. It loses its ability to offer anything of any value 00:20:08.220 --> 00:20:15.720 because you can find what they offer anywhere. A church without gates is a church against the city, 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:23.279 trying to keep the world and the impurity out and really only focusing on the members within the walls. 00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:31.500 But a church that is for the city, which is what I believe we're called to be, needs walls and gates. 00:20:31.500 --> 00:20:36.460 So we've talked about Nehemiah's arrival in Jerusalem. We've talked about his assessment 00:20:36.460 --> 00:20:41.299 of the situation. The third thing that stands out in this story is Nehemiah's gratitude. 00:20:42.599 --> 00:20:47.359 It's easy to see why people have praised Nehemiah over the centuries for his exemplary leadership 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:52.700 and his strategic thinking. All true. But ultimately, this is not a story about Nehemiah's strength. 00:20:52.779 --> 00:20:59.579 It's a story about God's strength and how he uses it. And we see this when Nehemiah meets with 00:20:59.579 --> 00:21:03.659 people after inspecting the walls and gates. He comes and he gathers the people together. 00:21:04.379 --> 00:21:11.759 And look at what he doesn't say. He doesn't say, you can trust me. Here's my resume. Here's where 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:15.939 I graduated from. Here's the internship I did, the fellowship, the residency I did. And here's 00:21:15.939 --> 00:21:19.559 all my references. And here's my plan. And we can't go wrong with this plan. 00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:29.220 What does he say? It's so instructive. Verse 18. And I told them what? Of my credentials? No. And I 00:21:29.220 --> 00:21:37.019 told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good. I told them of the hand of my God that 00:21:37.019 --> 00:21:43.220 had been on me, upon me, for good. Now notice two things about that. Number one, Nehemiah is very 00:21:43.220 --> 00:21:49.480 clearly recognizes that God is the true source of every good thing in his life. And he's willing 00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:58.000 to give credit where credit is due. Yes, hard work matters. Nehemiah works hard. And some of us, 00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:03.140 many of us, I know that you have worked hard to get where you are, to achieve what you have achieved. 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:08.400 You should be proud of that. Hard work is a good thing. It should be one of our values. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:15.700 But it wasn't just hard work that got you there. You had no control over the family that you were 00:22:15.700 --> 00:22:20.920 born into. You have no control over your strengths and aptitudes. All the opportunities that we've 00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:26.540 been given, we had no control over much of that. Ultimately, every good thing comes from God. 00:22:27.740 --> 00:22:30.920 So that's the first thing. He's willing to give credit where credit is due. Number two, 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:37.700 he recognizes that there's a purpose behind God's provision. There's a reason why God has blessed and 00:22:37.700 --> 00:22:45.259 provided for him. He says, the hand of my God has been upon me for good. God has given him an amazing 00:22:45.259 --> 00:22:52.940 job with access to money and power. And he understands there's a purpose behind that. He's not just in this 00:22:52.940 --> 00:23:00.700 high position of influence and power and wealth for his own sake. The purpose of all that is to make it 00:23:00.700 --> 00:23:05.860 possible for him to help the city become a great city for all the people who live there. 00:23:08.059 --> 00:23:12.200 Whenever God blesses us, it's usually because he wants to bless others through us. 00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:19.100 Right? And we, friends, have been blessed beyond anything Nehemiah ever could have imagined. 00:23:19.860 --> 00:23:25.640 The Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians that God has blessed us in Christ with every 00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:31.540 spiritual blessing. He holds nothing back. For those who come to faith in Jesus, God holds nothing 00:23:31.540 --> 00:23:38.920 back. Everything he has is ours. We have a foretaste of it now in the Holy Spirit, but one day it will all 00:23:38.920 --> 00:23:46.280 be ours to experience. And the most amazing thing about that is that just like the blessings in Nehemiah's 00:23:46.280 --> 00:23:53.920 life, we didn't earn it. We don't deserve it. We can't ever repay that. But God doesn't bless us because 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:59.080 of our goodness. He blesses us because of his goodness. Because he's a God of mercy and love. 00:24:01.140 --> 00:24:04.360 So here are more questions for us to reflect on. 00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:11.279 Maybe I can put it this way. What are the stories that you tell about your life? 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:18.160 How do you account for your life? Do we tell stories about our accomplishments? 00:24:19.100 --> 00:24:23.640 Do we tell stories about our accolades? Now, we probably don't do that blatantly, but we all know how to do it 00:24:23.640 --> 00:24:28.500 indirectly. How to kind of humble brag, to let people know without seeming like we're wanting 00:24:28.500 --> 00:24:34.300 them to know. Do we do that or do we tell people about the hand of God that has been upon us? 00:24:35.540 --> 00:24:37.259 Do we give credit where credit is due? 00:24:39.280 --> 00:24:44.720 And if we do believe that all of our resources are the result of God's hand on us for good, 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.120 then we should be asking, what good does God have in mind? 00:24:48.119 --> 00:24:52.199 What is the good that God is wanting to do through us? 00:24:54.179 --> 00:24:57.659 Especially as we think about our lives here in D.C. 00:24:58.119 --> 00:25:03.019 And in this way, Nehemiah is really a beautiful example of gratitude in action. 00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.399 Because that's what gratitude does. The more you reflect on 00:25:06.399 --> 00:25:10.239 the blessings of God in your life, the more that compels you outward. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:15.000 Because you realize, I didn't deserve any of this. I gotta give it away. 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:18.319 That's why I have it, is so that I can pass it on. 00:25:20.099 --> 00:25:24.620 You know, this Sunday, we are focusing on the theme of gratitude. 00:25:25.160 --> 00:25:29.640 As you walked in, you may have noticed that last week, our kids, I love it, 00:25:29.740 --> 00:25:34.079 that a lot of our kids took time to write on cards things that they're thankful for, 00:25:34.539 --> 00:25:36.980 things that God is doing in their lives through this church. 00:25:36.980 --> 00:25:41.220 And I love reading through them. It's like, it's like goldfish, Legos. 00:25:42.259 --> 00:25:43.440 Goldfish, goldfish. 00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:45.960 Our Trinitarian theology. 00:25:48.259 --> 00:25:51.519 Goldfish. And so, lots of different things. 00:25:51.559 --> 00:25:52.940 You can tell who's been talking to their parents. 00:25:53.660 --> 00:25:57.519 And, but I love reading through it, because they're all, 00:25:57.680 --> 00:26:02.180 they're everything listed out there is something worth giving gratitude to God for. 00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:04.720 I love goldfish. I love Legos. 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:06.920 Praise God for goldfish and Legos. 00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:11.279 And praise God that that means kids are having fun and that they enjoy being here. 00:26:11.779 --> 00:26:14.440 Praise God for all the people who love and serve and take care of them 00:26:14.440 --> 00:26:18.559 and provide those goldfish and step on the Legos and then come back the following week. 00:26:19.140 --> 00:26:20.259 Praise God for all of that. 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:24.400 But it's an opportunity for us this Sunday to just sort of think about, 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:26.380 what are we thankful for? 00:26:26.500 --> 00:26:28.120 Where is the gratitude in our lives? 00:26:28.519 --> 00:26:33.539 As we think about kind of how God is at work in and through this community, in our lives, 00:26:33.539 --> 00:26:35.179 what are those things that we could name and say, 00:26:35.419 --> 00:26:38.239 I'm thankful to God that he did this in my life through this community? 00:26:38.419 --> 00:26:40.679 So, we're going to have an opportunity to do the same. 00:26:41.339 --> 00:26:42.939 We're going to have an opportunity for you all. 00:26:43.079 --> 00:26:47.619 There are cards and there are pens that are in the pews, along the pews. 00:26:48.059 --> 00:26:51.419 And we're going to have an opportunity to just invite you to just kind of take a moment 00:26:51.419 --> 00:26:53.699 to reflect on, what am I thankful for? 00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:57.079 What are the things that God is doing or has done in my life through this community? 00:26:57.459 --> 00:26:59.039 And write something like that down. 00:26:59.159 --> 00:27:02.379 And then just in a little while, Hillary's going to lead us in a time of prayer. 00:27:02.380 --> 00:27:07.160 And then we're going to have an opportunity during the offering to collect those and bring them up. 00:27:07.240 --> 00:27:10.220 So, if you need a pen, there's some pens along the sides of the pews. 00:27:10.960 --> 00:27:13.760 And so, let's just take time to reflect on that. 00:27:13.980 --> 00:27:15.700 And we're also going to take time to pray together. 00:27:15.860 --> 00:27:16.920 So, come on up, Hillary.