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The gates have been put in place and the walls are finished, but there is no celebration taking place. Why? Join Pastor Wei'i as he shares the answer and exhorts us from scripture to be on guard.

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Church, this morning uh as we continue our study of the book of Nehemiah, we open our Bible to a really good news uh in the in in Nehemiah. Right now the walls have finally been rebuilt.

unknown 0:36

Right?

SPEAKER_01 0:37

It's been a long time coming, but we have finally arrived. And yet it feels more like a beginning of something else. Right? The building, uh the rebuilding project here was preparation for something more. There's more to be done after this rebuilding. And it's it's kind of like how I think many of the young Singaporeans these days are having a very similar experience when you have to wait several years for your BTO flats, right? Um and uh maybe you have to wait until you reach a certain age before you can get your own flat. Right? And we wait and we wait and we wait. And then once the time comes, you go to HDB Hub, you collect your case, you take your mandatory photo uh at the at the photo wall. Right? Is that all? Is that it? No, right? It marks the beginning of something. When you collect the house to your new house, you gonna collect the keys to your new house, your own house, right, there's more to be done. And this is where Nahimaya and the Jews are at right now. Right, the balls are finally rebuilt, but now they have more to do. And we when we think about what Nahimaya and the Jews went through to get to this point, we really begin to appreciate why this is such good news. So just to jog our memory a little bit, they have really gone through a long journey of trials and tribulations. Um from Nahimaya too, we read uh about the three uh the three people who were opposing them constantly Sembalat, Tobiah, and Gershem. And they their names keep popping up time and time again in the book of Nehemiah. They jeered and despised them, they accused them of rebelling against the king. Uh they will try always to mock them, to demoralize them, to make them lose their resolve in the project. We even read that they were trying to trick Nehemiah in order to assassinate him.

unknown 2:41

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SPEAKER_01 2:41

They were doing all ways to try to get them to trip up. They will lie about them, they will say they are rebellious, they will say that Nehemiah is trying to be king over Israel, trying to usurp the king of Persia. And they will cast expersions, they will cast doubts on the character of Nehemiah and his intentions. And all this was trying to make Nehemiah afraid. They were constantly demoralizing him or intimidating him to make him stop. And yet Nehemiah, trusting God, went on and on and on. And so they have gone through a lot, which makes our passage this morning all the more remarkable. Right? In Nehemiah chapter 6, verses 15 and 16, we just read the building of the wall took only 52 days. Right? All these months of trials, all these months of opposition, right? And it took less than two months to rebuild the wall. And we read that that made the enemies afraid. They fell greatly in their own esteem. Right? Every tactic that they threw at Nahimaya and the Israelites failed. These Jews were few in numbers and they were weak. They could surely be squashed easily. There's no way their pathetic attempts at rebuilding their walls will actually work. Shambalat, Tobayah, Gashem combined together with their the military might and everything, political might, right? They could have easily squashed Nehemiah and his project, and yet they failed time and time again. And that's the point, right? The opposition should have been able to put a stop, and yet they could not. And so the walls are rebuilt, and not only that, it was rebuilt in such an improbable amount of time, 52 days in total. And so they had to come to the conclusion that their God was helping them. So not that they became believers, not that they kind of converted and became Jews themselves, but at least they perceived that Israel's God was with Nehemiah and the Jews. And if I can just have the next slide, I think this is quite uh important. Uh sorry, we have oh yeah. So this is uh the ictus, this is the symbol of the fish, right? And in case you're wondering, this is the symbol of the Christian faith in the early church. And this is a symbol because in that time, when they want to gather together, they can't do it so openly like us today, right? We just take bus, take train, drive our car down, and we just kind of meet here publicly, right? They had to meet in secret and they will have to coordinate with one another and say, okay, we're gonna meet. But how do I know if you are a Christian, right? And how do you know if I'm a Christian? So one person will draw a curve on the sand on the ground, and the other person will complete the curve with another curve to form a symbol of a fish. Right? This was the symbol of the Christian faith in a time of persecution. We if we look at the early church, it kind of resembles what Nehemiah and the rest had to go through. The early church received God's help in a mighty way when first the Holy Spirit came and filled the disciples and emboldened them to preach the gospel. And we read in Acts, right, that 3,000 were saved on that day alone. But it's not like everything went smoothly thereafter. In fact, the fledgling church faced fierce oppositions from both the Roman Empire and the Jews. So, you know, ironically, the the early Christians were called atheists because they didn't believe in the Roman pantheon of God, right? So they were atheists, they were uh slandered, and and people were saying they were cannibals because they will meet up together in secret and they will eat the flesh of someone and you drink his blood. So they were uh cannibals and they were uh they were later on indulged in in sexual relations because they were brothers and sisters and they were uh indulging in this thing called the love feast, right? So there were a lot of um lies, slanders, and and and just untruths, right, uh spoken about them. And they were really scandalized. And more than that, they were persecuted, sometimes to the point of death. And the astounding thing is this the early church thrived and they grew. God was at work preserving and strengthening his church, and while of course the survival of the church itself is not proof of God per se, right? But nonetheless, it is a testimony of God's might to the world, right? That the world may not believe in God just because the church survived, but they can nonetheless see that there's something about the church, there's something different about the way the Christians continue to grow and continue to thrive. And so there's something about God that makes the improbable possible.

unknown 8:03

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SPEAKER_01 8:03

Even church today and we and Christians everywhere need to stand firm in our convictions of the truth of God because we are constantly opposed on all fronts, and we as we hold on to our convictions and do the will of the Father, we become like Christ to the world. We begin to show the world the God who makes the improbable possible. And and and so when when they see the church and see our lives, then while they may not yet believe in God, they will at least see in us something out of the ordinary. They may catch a glimpse of the glory of Christ. And this is the God that was behind Nehemiah and the Jews, right? Who saw them through all the opposition and allowed them, strengthened them, enabled them to build the walls in a mere 52 days. All this because Nehemiah held on to his convictions about what God has called him to do. What a great joy, what a great story. Um, what a great and at least ending to this particular episode. And yet there's something missing in our text this morning, and I'm not sure if you caught it, but there is no celebration. No one celebrated in our text this morning. Not even Nehemiah.

unknown 9:24

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SPEAKER_01 9:24

Instead of taking some time just to breathe, just to chill, you know, just to celebrate a little bit, Nehemiah had to go on to the next plan, right? Because right after this, in verses 17 to 19, we read that uh in verse 17 that in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them. Right? It is Tobiah again, right? The pesky antagonist, the joker to Nehemiah's bad man, always at the turn waiting to trick Nehemiah up, always waiting to cause Nehemiah's downfall. And as we read along, there is yet another twist, yet another problem that Nehemiah has to face. And now it is about the insecurity of his position in Jerusalem. So if we just kind of quickly scan through verse 18, we we read that Tobiah is very well connected to the nobles in Jerusalem now. Right? He is married to someone important, his son is married to someone else that is also important, he has ties with them, right? And we read that they are bound by oath to Tobiah. Why is this important? In verse 19, these noble spoke of Tobiah's good deeds in Nehemiah's presence and reported Nehemiah's words to Tobiah. Everything Nehemiah says must be really, really careful, right? Because it will be reported to the enemy. And it ends off with this Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid. Right? His reach extends to inside the walls now. Right? Previously it was just external forces trying to stop the building of the walls, but now his reach is inside the wall even. And amongst the nobles, no less. It seems that Tobayah was trying to get the nobles to put in good words to Nahimaya on his behalf. Trying to tell Nahimaya, you know, overlook Tobaya, come on. I mean, he's a good man actually. Right? He meant well. Let's just forgive his past transgressions. Let's allow, you know, in the future, allow some kind of collaboration, you know, he can help us with this and that. Um let's let's let's just let be by uh let bygones be bygones. And and then there lies the problem, right? This man who is so associated with the Jewish aristocrats can still have a say in how Nehimayah and the Jews will build up their city. And so all this is in the end another scare tactic, right? That Tobiayah has his hand in the internal affairs of Jerusalem. It is to scare Nehimaya to make him afraid. It is as if to say, you know, you can never get rid of Tobiah. You can never win him.

unknown 12:11

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SPEAKER_01 12:12

He has ties with your nobles, he has strong opposition even outside still, right? And Nahimaya, apparently um essentially telling Nahimaya, right? That if you want to have a good standing amongst your people, you have to cowtow to Tobayah. Right? You will somehow have to make deals with him, you will always have to work with him in some sense, right? You're you're beholden to him because he holds the key to your nobles. And there will be times when you cannot say no to Tobayah. You will have to compromise, you will have to back down, you have to give in. Or you can just give up now. You build a walls, great. Now it's time for you to just pack up and go back to the Persian court. And so Tobayah was trying to intimidate Nehemiah, trying to chip away at his resolve, right? And so Nehemiah cannot celebrate yet. Right? And that's one thing that I think maybe is a bit um saddening in this part. Something so so uh glorious, so so triumphant, right? The building of the walls, and yet there's no celebration because now Nehimah has to take urgent steps to secure the city. And so we go now to chapter 7. Right? In chapter 7, Nehemiah begins his move. He begins to guard the city. And would like to read it out um in full for us. Uh chapter 7, verses 1 to 3. Now, when the wall had been built and I have set up the doors, the gatekeepers and the sick and the and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the levites had been appointed. I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah, the governor of the sk of the castle, charge over Jerusalem. For he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. And I said to them, let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while they are still standing guard, let them shut and bar the doors. A point guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at their guard posts and some in front of their own homes. Um two things at once, right? He is trying to guard the city in two ways, both physically and spiritually.

unknown 14:26

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SPEAKER_01 14:26

At first blush, it seems like he's just doing all the necessary things, uh all the practical things, right, to make sure that the city is well guarded. And you know, it is important for him to actually put these things in place so that the city will not be intruded or invaded, right? Um, so while the wars are up, they still had to be vigilant to prevent enemies and outsiders from coming in. Gates were set up, the gatekeepers and guards were appointed, uh, people who were put in charge of the city, right? Instructions were given to make sure that the guards, the gates are properly guarded. Um, but I'm sure you have also spotted some interesting details. Right? Alongside the gatekeepers, we have the singers and the Levites. Right? People who were dedicated to the worship of God. Um, some some some commentaries put it as uh CZ as like there's the gatekeepers and then there's also of course the singers and the Levites. Some commentaries uh put uh read it as even the singers and the gatekeepers the Levites were gatekeepers, right? Even your your worship ministry members, your musicians, your singers, they were also guarding the gates. It is not entirely clear what what it what uh is meant here. Uh of course I read it more as like they were the gatekeepers, and then they were also the singers and the Levites appointed for the worship of God at the temple. But uh just to say this, it was not so far-fetched to think that the musicians, the Levites, were placed as gatekeepers, right? Because that was what David did in 1 Chronicles chapter 23. He reappropriated the roles of the Levites, and at least a portion of the Levites were destinated to become gatekeepers. The more important thing in all of this is to see clearly what Nehemiah is trying to do. He was guarding the city, right, uh physically, but also spiritually. The appointment of the singers and the Levites were just as important as appointing the gatekeepers. Right? Appointing the singers and the Levites, having worship in the city is just as important as the defense of the city. And it betrays the um the really the drive behind everything Nanhi Maya does. And in fact, it betrays what the Jerusalem and the building of the walls was all about in the first place. And this is the whole reason for their existence. Worship. Without that worship, the building of the walls is for nothing, right? It it is about who they are essentially, right? They were set apart from other nations to be the people of God, not to just come back and become trying to become a semblance of a nation again, right? Not to have some kind of political uh governance and freedom, but to be the people of God. It is it is when God, it is just like when God sent Moses to Pharaoh, right? And God said, Let my people go, and he didn't just stop there. It wasn't let my people go so that they can be free from you. Let my people go so that they may worship me. Right? Worship of God is central in all that is happening here. And Nehemiah uh makes sure of that. It's reflected in the way he thought about guarding his city. Uh, it is also reflected in the way that in the way uh Nehemiah puts certain people in charge. Right? We read about um him appointing Hanani, uh, who is the brother of Nehemiah, and in Nehemiah one, he's the one who went to Nehemiah and said, This is the state of Jerusalem. Everything is in shambles. Right? Um and we can presume that that he is a man who is who is godly, who is in alignment with Nehemiah, uh, and and um and even more so in alignment with the one who is jointly in charge with, which is the next person. The next person is Hananiah, who is described as a man who is uh more faithful and God-fearing than many. A more faithful and god-fearing man than many. Right? Faithful here means trustworthy, loyal, dependable. Right? And and to be God-fearing is to put God first above all else. Nehima needed people who were like this, who were dependable, who were trustworthy, and who would put God first above all else, so that they will also lead the people to do the same. Right? And that is a crucial quality here, right? Especially given the oppositions from from outside, given the political pressures from inside. There were just things happening all around, pressures all around, and he needed people who will not be daunted, who will not be discouraged or derailed by men with evil intentions and wrong motives. They needed someone, he needed someone strong, someone who would fear the Lord and stand firm in the Lord. And so John Witherspoon, um, he is a Presbyterian minister, and I think the only clergyman who signed on the Declaration of Independence, and was one of the founding fathers of America, right? John Witherspoon said this: it is only the fear of God that can deliver us from the fear of men. It is only the fear of God that can deliver us from the fear of men. There will always be men like Sembalat, Tobiah, and Gershem who will spread lies and strike fears in order to destroy the work of the people of God. And Nahimaya needed men who would fear God more than they would fear men. Who will fear God so that they will not be afraid of external oppositions and they will not be afraid even of the nobles in their own city. Nahimaya needed men who fear God to the extent that they will not compromise on their faith and conviction. And so this is really the crux of the issue here in the text this morning. Right? Nehimah wanted to protect the people as the people of God. Right? Nehemiah didn't want to just protect the people because they are his kinsmen or because they are people. We need to protect people. He wanted to protect the people as the people of God. Because that is their identity. That is their identity in God. So of course they are a city, of course, they are in need of walls and buildings and infrastructures, of course, they need local governance, they need a military force, they need trade to start happening, but they also have a theological identity. They are God's people who proclaim to fear the Lord, to trust in him, and to walk in his ways. And so we can kind of begin to see, like when he said gatekeepers, but also singers and levites, he's really doing what uh he he kind of gleaned from in Psalm 127. Right? It's a psalm written by King Solomon. And Psalm 127, verse 1 says this, and I'm sure you're familiar with this verse. Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. On the one hand, we live in a world where people have to build houses. And people have to keep watch over their city. These are just the practical things that all of us have to be involved in. On the other hand, for God's people, the Lord must be the one who builds it and watches over it. We must build and watch, but God must also be building and watching over. And in the eyes of Solomon and in any scripture, really, they don't draw a hard line between man's work and God's work here. It's not that, oh, there are portions that I do and then there are portions that God does. They don't draw such a hard line. And in fact, it is to say that for us to prosper and flourish as the people of God, our work must be God's work. Our endeavors must be God's endeavors. And that is why, in one breath, Nahimaya appoints the gatekeepers and the people in charge of worship and make sure competent and God-fearing, not just competent, but also God-fearing people to be put in charge of the city. Because they all serve the same purpose, to guide the people in totality, so that they may truly be the people or the worshipers of God. And so this morning, as we go through Nehemiah, there is really one lesson, I think one big point that I want to bring across to us, and which is that even today, maybe especially today, we need to be on guard. We need to be on our guard. And we need to learn this lesson well. Because we continue to face oppositions of all kinds and different kinds that threaten to discourage and derail us from the ways of God. The tactics may be different, but the intent is still and is always the same. To make us stop loving God with a heart, soul, mind, and strength. And so we must be on guard. But to begin with, we must know what we are really guarding. Because all of us are building our lives, all of us are building something, and all of us are guarding it in some sense. But what are we securing? What are we guarding? What is so paramount that we need to protect? We need to fend off the attacks of the evil one. And I want to um submit that together with Nahimaya and his and his uh group of people, right, the the one thing, the primary thing we we need to guard today is our theological identity. We are not just citizens of Singapore, we are not just um people on this earth living the best of our lives, right? We are God's chosen people. Uh and the way Peter puts it, drawing from the Old Testament, is this that you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. And so, as God's people, I think we need to have this ingrained in our hearts and in our lives that our endeavors are God's endeavors, and God's endeavors are our endeavors.

unknown 25:57

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SPEAKER_01 25:57

We must see our lives today, uh, we must see that our lives today are lived in the same way Solomon saw the city of that day. Unless the Lord builds this house, unless the Lord builds my life, I build it and labor in vain. And that means that we live in total reliance on God for everything and we act faithfully in Him.

unknown 26:23

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SPEAKER_01 26:24

We need God to work in our work, or else it will be all for nothing. Um and Paul Paul sees it in 2 Corinthians uh chapter 3, verses 4 and 5. He he talks about this complete reliance on God. In uh 2 Corinthians 4, uh 3, verse 4, such is the confidence we have through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God. Right? Our sufficiency is from God. And yet sometimes we can be so arrogant to say that there are some works that is done by us, some work that is done, some work that is done that belongs only to us, some credit that is only for us, and we don't need God. It is the pride of Adam and Eve who thought that they could be like God themselves, knowing good from evil, and therefore making God redundant.

unknown 27:20

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SPEAKER_01 27:20

It is the hubris of humanity when a city of people decided to build the Tower of Babel to make a name for themselves without God. It is the foolishness of the preacher in Ecclesiastes who sought everything under the sun for life's meaning, wealth, power, building projects, women, even chasing and gaining wisdom. He tried it all, he had it all. And yet he found it all to be wanting. And he declared vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? And today the same pride and foolishness plague us. Right? We think there are areas in our lives that don't or shouldn't concern God. God, uh, you it's nice that you save me, it's nice that you you give me life, it's nice that you bless me sometimes, no, but there are things in my life that uh it's just for me to decide. I don't need your input. Thank you very much. Right? There are areas in our life that we think we can just kind of put God aside. When it comes to education, when it comes to career, when it comes to spouse, when it comes to hobbies or anything else, we we think that we know what is best for us, right? And we don't need God to help us make decisions for any of this. And sometimes, it was maybe for some of us, we fear that what God has for us may not be to our liking. And the fear is more that maybe what God has in store for me is not what is best for me. What is it's not what I really want. You know, and I'm afraid that God will give me something that I will I will uh I will dislike, right? And surely we know better than God.

unknown 29:10

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SPEAKER_01 29:10

We think to ourselves, surely we know ourselves better than God does. And so some of us are like uh like the preacher in Ecclesiastes, right? Some of us are just content with making our own meanings for our lives here on earth, here under the sun. We're content with chasing after the wind. Or we crave validation from people, from the world. We crave their validation more than God's, and we become more and more like the world in the way we live our lives. And so there are all these many different ways that the world, our flesh, and the devil discourage and derail us from following God. Right? They pull us away so that our endeavors become misaligned with God's endeavors. Right? That we can no longer say our endeavors is God's endeavors and vice versa. And so we gradually identify ourselves as God's people less and less. We see ourselves as less and less like Christ. Um, if I can put it this way, less and less Christian. And so what is at stake there? What are we guarding, right? It is our identity in God. Right? That is the what the key thing that is really at stake here in our earthly lives, right? Our identity in God. And along with it, all of our work, all of our endeavors, all of our meaning in life. And the key question for us is how does God see me today? In my work, in my education, in my family, in all the things that I do, all the things that I'm involved in, in the way I live and act, in the way I make decisions. How does God see me? Who am I in to him and in him?

unknown 31:10

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SPEAKER_01 31:10

Because if our lives is not also built by God, but solely by our own efforts and whims, then we will have labored in vain. And Jesus warns us the same in his Sermon on the Mount. And this is the at the end of his sermon, Jesus did this compare and contrasting, right? Uh in I think I actually have it, yeah. In uh Matthew 7, verses 24 to 27. Everyone then who hears this word of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on the house, and it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell, and again, and then and great was the fall of it. I remember very clearly a point that uh Reverend Israel made on this passage, and it was this is many, many, many years ago. But um, Reverend Israel preached on this text and he made his point that um we shouldn't uh completely disparage the foolish man. Right? Uh we shouldn't look at this and say, Wow, so stupid, I will never be like this guy, right? Um, because he too sought to build his life meaningfully. He wasn't lazing around. This this man, foolish as he was, he was building his life and trying to do so meaningfully. Many of our endeavors may seem like meaningful endeavors. Right. And they have some kind of value in this world, some kind of value to us. And yet, if they are not God's endeavors in our lives, then unbeknownst to us, we will have been just been building on sand all this while instead of the rock, doomed to come crashing down one day. And so we are guarding our identity as God's people, and we long to have our endeavor be God's endeavor, and vice versa, right? And so, how do we guard ourselves? It's through one thing, the fear of the Lord. To be faithful and God-fearing women and men. Fear of the Lord does not mean we are frightened at the mere mention of God. Well, we hear God like uh, I don't know whether I've said this before. Uh as a young kid, I'm sure you can also relate. As a young kid, if I'm home playing or just kind of lazing around, and I hear this clanging of keys somewhere in the corridor, I immediately stiffen up. And then I start to become proper again. Because I know that's my father taking out his keys and coming around to open the door. Right? Fear of the Lord is not that kind of fear where you seize up and you become frightened of God at the mere mention of his name. Right? The fear of the Lord is a reverential fear that we revere him as holy, as worthy. And it leads us to a humble submission to him. So you remember how Nehemiah quickly appointed singers and Levites alongside gatekeepers. Worship was central because that was what they were made for, worship. And worship reminds us, or maybe I can put it this way, you only worship God if you can recognize that we are creatures and he is the creator. We are subjects and servants, and he is the king. That we are a people set apart by God. God will cause us to be holy, for he is holy. We can only worship God if we can recognize and accept these things. Right? And worship reminds us of this fact that we are creatures and we are servants of the Creator and the Holy King. And so we must present our bodies, as Paul says it, as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. And just like how a train is only really able to move on tracks, right? You put a train out of a track, it's not free to do anything or go anywhere, right? It's just as how a train is only able to move on tracks because it was designed for the tracks. So in God we live and move and have our being. Fear of the Lord means um having instilled in us this sense of reverential awe and fear for this creator, for this king, for this holy God. And again, another passage we we know, I think we know all these things uh almost by heart, right? Proverbs 9, verse 10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

unknown 36:06

Right?

SPEAKER_01 36:07

When we fear the Lord, we are inclined to follow God's ways. We fear men, we are inclined to follow their ways, right? We fear the nobles, we are inclined to just give in and buy in to whatever they think is important in life. When we fear the Lord, we are inclined to follow his ways, which leads to wisdom. A wisdom that not only hears the word of Jesus, but also does them. Right? A wisdom that breaks the cycle of us chasing our own tails in futility, so that we may begin walking and living in the way God has made us for and set us apart for. Conversely, it is the fool who does not fear God and thus inevitably fear and revere himself, the world, or the evil one. So only the fear of the Lord can set our path straight. Um it does not promise to make our lives easier, right? In fact, for some of us, it may become a challenge instead. It may be that being a God-fearing man or woman means that we are quote unquote worse off in our earthly lives. It may mean, for parents with kids, it may mean that our kids have to give up a few hours of studying and a few hours of tuition so that the kids can come to church to worship God. Whether or not their results uh regret, uh whether or not they do poor more poorly or they actually do better in exams, that's kind of beside the point, right? It might mean that our kids will miss that window of time for tuition, for extra curriculum, so that they can come into the house of God to worship God. It may mean that we refuse to compromise on our convictions in our job. And some of some people, some of us would have to deal with uh either clients or business partners or someone else, and sometimes the means by which they do things may be underhanded, you know, may not be God-pleasing, right? And so sometimes it may mean that we refuse to work with this dishonest partners, to not participate in negative office politics, right? To stay away from from this, even if it means that people will kind of just kind of um shun you, right? Uh ostracize you. Um we may even choose, if you are so convicted, we may even choose or have to choose to resign and go for a different job. Right? It may mean that we break out of certain habits that give us a hype, whether it's gambling, drinking, smoking, pornography, it may mean that we need to break out of these habits so that we we we can live a life that really pleases God. And I say quote unquote worse off, right? Because it may seem like huge, huge sacrifices. Fear God is fearing God, try to live in his way is so um so difficult, so so so um so restricting, right? But Jesus tells us, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world by forfeit his soul? And so all these good things, like Paul, who had many things going for him, right? Uh his background is is really, really, I mean, like well-to-do, highly educated, uh, Hebrew of Hebrews, and so on, Roman citizen. He counted all as rubbish for the sake of Christ. Right? And so these good things that we have in life, we can count it as loss for the sake of following and knowing Jesus. Because that is what makes us wise, and that is what allows us to reap rewards that the world cannot give. And more than that, I mean, I know sometimes it puts us in a position where we appear weak to the world, and I think maybe that's precisely the point. That it is in our weakness that God's glory is shown. Right? We we have this idea or this notion of like what a good life should be, how we need to secure ourselves, make ourselves look strong, look great, look powerful. And yet following God, which may put us in a lower position, would somehow paradoxically exalt us because God then is shining through us. And so then, just like the enemies perceive God in the completion of the wars, so the world may perceive God in the weaknesses of those who choose to fear and obey Him. And so allow me to conclude. Um, church, let us not forget who we are.

unknown 40:58

Right?

SPEAKER_01 40:58

What are we guarding in the first place? Let us not forget who we are. We are the people of God, set apart for him and his good words. That identity that we have in Christ is constantly challenged as uh the world, the flesh, and the devil tries again and again to chip it away bit by bit. Right? But they attack our resolve, they discourage us, they lure us away from what we are supposed to be by lies and slander, by temptations and so on, to so that we will give in. But today, as in the time of Nehemiah, we must learn to guard this part of our lives, our identity in Christ, and be fearful of the Lord in reverence and worship, so that we may truly be able to say that our endeavors in this life are God's endeavors, that his will is done in our lives and his purposes for us are being accomplished. Um and as I now begin to close and want to pray for us, I just want to say one short thing and one last thing. Which is that I felt you know today the songs that we sang, the prayers that we prayed, especially the collect, really have much uh relevance to the message that God has for us this morning. Right? And if I I don't know whether Ricky can um uh put up the collect for for this Sunday. And um, yeah, I if you if you will join me, let us pray this collect one more time. Right? Collects are prayers, they are not words that we recite, they are prayers that we pray to God. And so let's pray this collect one more time. Lord God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy. Increase and multiply upon us your mercy, that you, being our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal that we finally lose not the things eternal. Run this, Heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 43:06

We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about ancient Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.