A Time for Renewed Faithfulness

Come on, you can put your hands together. Come on. Hey, hey, hey, hey. We're here to praise the Lord. Let's stop raising the bow. Praise on the mountain. Come on. I'll praise when I'm sure. I'll praise when I'm doubting. I'll praise when I'm number. Praise and surround it. 'Cause praise is water, my enemy's drowning. As long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to pray. Oh my soul, everybody sing. Praise the Lord. Oh my soul. I praise when I'm feeling. Praise on the dawns. I'll praise 'cause I know you're still in control. It's you, our Lord. My praise is a weapon. It's more than a sound. Oh my praise is a shout. I'll preach every go down. As long as I'm breathing, as long as I'm breathing, I've got a reason to pray. Oh my soul, I won't be quiet. I won't be quiet. My God is alive. How could I keep it inside? Praise the Lord. Oh my soul. Come on, put those hands together again. We're gonna praise God, 'cause he's sovereign in your reigns. Whether we feel it or not, it's true. Amen. Paul is sing this. I praise 'cause you're sovereign. Praise 'cause you're reigns. Praise 'cause you're rose and defeated the grave. I praise 'cause you're faithful. I praise 'cause you're true. I praise 'cause there's nobody greater than you again. I praise 'cause you're sovereign. Praise 'cause you're reigns. Praise 'cause you're rose and defeated the grave. I praise 'cause you're faithful. I praise 'cause you're true. Praise 'cause there's nobody greater than you we sing. Praise the Lord. Oh my soul. Come on, come. Praise the Lord for my soul. Praise the Lord for my soul. Praise the Lord for my soul. I won't be quiet. I won't be quiet. My God is alive. Yes. Oh, I won't be quiet. I won't be quiet. My God is alive. How could I keep it? No, I won't be quiet. I won't be quiet. My God is alive. How could I keep it? It's a heavy praise. Praise the Lord for my soul. All right, let's sing this part together. Let everything that has friends. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let everything. That has friends. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. One more. Let everything. That has friends. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Amen. Do me good God, a hand of praise. Well, welcome everybody. It's good to see you guys. Would you mind taking a seat for a moment? We're going to watch a video on Life Day. Would you stand with us? We're gonna continue singing here in a moment. Most of y'all are not aware of this probably, but my wife and I are expecting our first kid soon, our first baby, thanks. And it was so funny.

The other day we were talking and somehow, we were talking about our baby and somehow it came out. I said like, oh, when it comes or something like that, when it finally comes or something like that, as you stop me in my tracks and she was like, you mean she, when she comes, right? And I was like, oh no. And so I don't know if you've been a parent before, you're a first-time parent or first-time dad specifically, and you've made that mistake, I'm with you there. It was really funny. And then I was talking to another dad about it, and I was like, I don't know why that keeps happening, but I'm trying. And he was like, well, you're good, you should apologize, keep trying, do better, you know? But he pointed out just something that I've just been thinking about, and he said that he's noticed that with first-time dads, that can kind of be a thing where it's like, it's so abstract, kind of like an abstract idea of the baby. Well, while to the mom, it's like so close, it's a part of her, you know, they're like one almost. So like, for me, it just kind of seemed a little bit more abstract. And it got me thinking more where I'm going with this is, God can sometimes, I feel like, to some people, and especially at first, be so abstract, or as a big idea, there's God.

It might be an eight God, you know? But God chose to personally relate with us and to connect with us by coming down as a baby, right? And dwelled among us and dwelled with us so that we can experience him. And then when he ascended later into heaven, before right after the Great Commission descending us out, being sent people, he ascended, but he promised that he'd be with us to the end of the age, and he's with us because of his spirit. So when we gather together and we're gonna continue to sing songs to him, the Lord is present, he's with us. And if we know that, he is here, and how will that change our posture? How will that change the way we worship him? You know, when we're in this room, we're not just singing about a God. We're singing two hour God who is here, who sees us, who knows every single one of you. So as we worship, I just challenge you to just let that reality sink in. Let's praise him with everything we have. Come on. (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ In the darkness we await ♪ ♪ Without hope, without light ♪ ♪ Till from hell and you came wrong ♪ ♪ There was mercy in your eyes ♪ ♪ To fulfill the law and prophets ♪

♪ To a virgin came the one ♪ ♪ From a throne of endless glory ♪ ♪ To a cradle in the dirt ♪ ♪ Praise the Father ♪ ♪ Praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit ♪ ♪ Free in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty ♪ ♪ Praise forever to the King of being ♪ ♪ To reveal the kingdom of ♪ ♪ That you reconcile the lost ♪ ♪ To retain the whole creation ♪ ♪ You did not despise the cross ♪ ♪ For even in yourself ♪ ♪ You saw to the other side ♪ ♪ Knowing this worth our salvation ♪ ♪ Jesus for us if you die ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Praise the Father ♪ ♪ Praise the Son ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit ♪ ♪ Free in one ♪ ♪ God of glory, majesty ♪ And the angels stood in awe, For the soul of all of all, To your father is born, And the church of Christ was born. And in spirit lead the flame, Now this sorrow truth alone, Shout out near your nothing, By His blood in His name, In His freedom I am free, For the love of Jesus Christ, Who has resurrected me. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Praise the Father, Praise the Son, Praise us, Be the One, God of glory, God of the sea. Praise for ever to the King, Praise for ever to the King of kings, Praise for ever to the King of kings, Praise to Jesus, Praise for ever to the King of kings. Praise for ever to the King of kings, Praise for ever to the King of kings, Praise for ever to the King of kings, Praise for ever to the King of kings. Praise for ever to the King of kings, Praise for ever to the King of kings. And only in me I say to you, You are loving kindness as well.

Oh, I am worthy of majesty, You are worthy in loyalty. And only in my life I say to you, You are worthy, holy in my life, in my life I say to you, You are worthy, so worthy. Oh, worthy, worthy Lord. I say to you, You are all turned to seek Your face, broken and poured out without His faith. I say to you, You are worthy, so worthy, so worthy, so worthy Lord. I say to you, You are holy, holy in my life, in my life, I say to you, You are worthy, so worthy, so worthy Lord. And only in my life I say to you, You are worthy, so worthy Lord. And only in my life I say to you, You are worthy, so worthy Lord. ♪ It worthy, it worthy ♪ ♪ It worthy, it worthy ♪ ♪ There's nobody like you ♪ ♪ There's nobody like you ♪ ♪ You're the worthy one ♪ ♪ You're with the holy one ♪ ♪ It's only simply you ♪ ♪ And holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Is the Lamb of all you know ♪ ♪ We've joined with all of heaven ♪ ♪ In the everlasting sun ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Is the Lamb of all you know ♪ ♪ We've joined with all of heaven ♪ ♪ In the everlasting sun ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Is the Lamb of all you know ♪ ♪ We've joined with all of heaven ♪ ♪ In the everlasting sun ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Is the Lamb of all you know ♪ ♪ We've joined with all of heaven ♪

♪ In the everlasting sun ♪ ♪ So I will take your arms out ♪ ♪ And hide your feet ♪ ♪ You are holy, holy ♪ ♪ And I will give my life ♪ ♪ 'Cause you're holy ♪ ♪ You're worthy ♪ ♪ So worthy ♪ ♪ I will lay my ground down ♪ ♪ Hide your feet ♪ ♪ You are holy, holy ♪ ♪ And I will give my life ♪ ♪ 'Cause in all the glory ♪ ♪ You are worthy ♪ ♪ So worthy ♪ ♪ Oh, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Live upon the throne ♪ ♪ We've joined with all of heaven ♪ ♪ In the everlasting sun ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Live upon the throne ♪ ♪ We've joined with all of heaven ♪ ♪ In the everlasting sun ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ In all the praise ♪ ♪ And I will lay my ground down ♪ ♪ I will lay my ground down ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, me too, God ♪ ♪ You're holy, holy ♪ ♪ And I will live my life ♪

♪ As in all glory ♪ ♪ You are worthy ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, you are Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, you are Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, you are Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, you are holy ♪ ♪ We live for you, Lord ♪ ♪ God, we live for you, Lord ♪ ♪ Lord, oh ♪ ♪ We live for you, Jesus ♪ ♪ We hear the worship you, God ♪ ♪ Yes, me, Lord ♪ ♪ Yes, me, Lord ♪ ♪ You sing this with me ♪ ♪ And I won't bow to idols ♪ ♪ I'll stand strong and worship you ♪ ♪ And if it puts me in the fire ♪ ♪ I'll hold the risk 'cause you're there too, yes ♪ ♪ I won't be formed by feelings ♪ ♪ I hold fast to what is true ♪ ♪ If the cross brings transformation ♪ ♪ Then I'll be crucified with you ♪ ♪ 'Cause death is just the door with ♪ ♪ Into resurrection life ♪ ♪ If I join you and your sufferings ♪ ♪ Then I'll join you in your eyes ♪ My heart will still be singing in my heart Oh, so I won't bow to idols Cost it strong and worship you And if it puts me in the fire

I'll rejoice 'cause you'll let you I won't be fooled by feelings I hold fast to what is true The cross means transformation Then I'll be crucified with you 'Cause death is just the doorway The two reigns are in sheer light If I join you in your sufferings Then I'll join you when you rise Then when you return the glory Call the angels and saints My heart will still be singing in my soul be the same And I'll lay my crowns down At your feet, yes we do, God You are holy, holy, and I will Give my life as an offering You are worthy, you're worthy alone Oh, yes you are We surrender it all to you, Jesus We surrender it all to you, Jesus Let's sing this all over the room, all to Jesus In all to Jesus I surrender in all To Him I freely can I will ever hope and trust Him In His presence daily live Sing, I surrender all, sing it all In I surrender all I surrender all In all to the my blessed Savior I surrender all

Sing it again, I surrender And I surrender all Yes I do, oh I surrender all In all to the my blessed Savior I surrender all To Jesus I surrender in all To the honest feet I vow And worldly pleasures are all For sake and take me, Jesus Take me now And I surrender all Come on sing it to Him And I surrender all In all to the my blessed Savior I surrender all One more time I surrender And I surrender all And I surrender all In all to the my blessed Savior I surrender all to the In all to the my blessed Savior ♪ I surrender all ♪ - Yes, God, we surrender everything to you this morning, God. We just thank you, Lord, for being a personal God, for being a God that would love us so much who would care for us, Lord, that you would come down as a child again, that you're physically here with us, Lord. And, Lord, we thank you for the promise, God, that you never leave us or forsake us.

When you ascended to heaven, Lord, you didn't just leave us, Lord, you sent us your Spirit, God, who is always available to us, who is always there to give us strength, God, to bring us back to you, Father. God, I pray that this morning, Lord, would just be a morning of reverence to you, Lord, so as we open your word, God, I pray that the truths off the page, Lord, would just fall afresh on all of our hearts, God. Would you awaken us, Lord, awaken us to hear from you, to see you, Lord, to see you rightly? God, I just pray that from that posture of reverence, Lord, that we would just be open to your assignment for us, Lord, Lord. Our assignment to be loving to people around us, our assignment to be sent people, to spread your message forward, to spread your kingdom, Lord, your kingdom is healed, your kingdom is now. So God, just do as you please, and do as you wish. I pray that your will would be done this morning as we look to you. You're so good, you're so good. We love you, Jesus name, amen. May be seated. - I'm Hadi Young. I am the Outreach Manager for the Community Outreach Center on Mustang Drive.

We are in the heart of the Mustang Drive area. We started back in 2006 across the street at an apartment complex, and it started off as a place to be able to start bringing the community together with our police officers. And then it quickly grew where we are now, currently in our on-school district property. And so we get to work very closely with all of the kids that either come by, utilize our sports court, utilize our picnic area, or participate in our VAS program, which is our after-school program. - One way I think you guys can help us is with scholarships. There's a lot of the kids in this program that are brilliant minds, and they just can't afford to go to school. So they don't see anything passable. I graduated high school. That's the only thing I can do. - My job here at the Outreach Center is basically to assist our VAS coordinators with the valuable after-school program, the Mary's with her program, neighbors at the table, mother there, bench, just whatever they need me to do. And I guess I kind of bring kind of a law enforcement police present.

- One of the ways that 121 Church has helped us out is whenever we had a victim that was needing assistance and was at the 121 Church, I was able to be connected with them and provide her and baby a safety plan that she was able to flee out of her domestic violence situation. And other ways that you guys are able to help us in is through gas cards, food gift cards, and maybe car seat, it just depends. But I look forward to reaching out to you guys if there is anything specific that we are needing with our clients. - My girls and I have come a long way using the services that they have here. And years have passed and now I work here. I'm part of the city program and I am so thankful for being part of the Grapevine Police Department. It has done so much for this community, it's done so much in my life. And I know that I could do so much more for the community here at large. (upbeat music) - We've been trying this year to expose our church to as many of the partnerships that we have locally through the U.S. and globally. Our focus in this season of time

has been around our local area, our neighborhoods. And I hope as you see the different opportunities That's our hope and our heartbeat. Swayze, guys, let us as a church. And as a church, that would mean for all of us to jump in in some form or fashion. And it's grateful that outreach center is just a really cool deal in the community here and grateful to be able to partner with the police department. God has given us really healthy relationships with the school district and just so many others. And it's a real gift to be in a community where we can partner in and just shine the light of Christ as we serve the people around us. Well, yesterday, I had the privilege of going to the Texas A&M game. And it's a fair question. My sons went to A&M and we love the Aggies. As you know, over the years, I'll make disparaging remarks about other schools and what goes on with years. I've tried to back off of that. It's not the most godly thing that I do up here. And so I've tried my best to get away from that, although I slip at times. I'm human. And really, yesterday, if you saw the game on-- if you were there, you saw what really happened. If you watched on TV, I'm sure it looked bad. If you read what people said about it,

it was worse than that if you were present. It was a tough afternoon. I appreciate what Coach Elko said. He said, I found no positives in this game today. And I don't think he was wrong. I think he was pretty spot on, except I did think Mario Craver had a good game at wide receiver. But I think the really overall was not much. But then he went on to say something that coaches do when they're trying to cover for their players. And he said, this one's on me. I didn't have our team ready to go. I think there's something to that. Coach, that is their job to have them ready to go. And there is the reality that a player needs to get after and get after it as well. And regardless of what the coach has done-- and I know Elko has him prepared. And so as I've thought about it yesterday, and I had a three-hour drive to think about it coming back. And I think it's actually a great parallel to what's going on in Nehemiah. Because yesterday was ugly on the football field. And the people of God, they knew what they were to do. And they didn't need God to say, this is on me, because I didn't have them prepared. God has us prepared. It's clear what we're to be about. And sometimes it looks really ugly the way we do life. And so when I think about what Elko said,

there weren't any positives yesterday. There was a season of time here for the people of God, where there weren't any positives. It was all off and bad. The good news is, God is working through a number of people to bring it back and on track. So if you turn your bibles to Nehemiah, we'll be in verse 38 of chapter 9. And then we'll be in the first 29 verses of chapter 10. 27 of those are a list of names. So bulk of our time will be in three verses. And then what I'd like to do next week to wrap up Nehemiah, we will look at four issues that he deals with. And one of the things I appreciate about Nehemiah is it wasn't just about getting the wall rebuilt around Jerusalem. That was one thing that needed to be done so that they wouldn't be defenseless against their enemies. And the temple had been rebuilt years before that. Things were structurally starting to get in place for the people of God. But sometimes effort can be made on building buildings and getting things structurally in place. And we forget to prepare for what's next and the purpose of why that is being done. And Nehemiah is drawing the people back to the really heart of their faith. So it's not just about the temple being rebuilt in the center of Jerusalem. It's not just about a wall being built.

So there's that physical protection for the city. Really what it's more about is the heart of the people and that the heart is in line with who God is and that they're walking in line and obedience to God out of a love for him and for the sake of his name and for his glory. And someone has said that Nehemiah chapters eight, nine, and 10 are the theological heartbeat of Nehemiah. We've watched the wall be rebuilt. We've watched community come together. Neighborhoods have come together. The city came together. Project is accomplished in the midst of. And now they're coming back to the heart of it. They've worked together. Now, what is the heart of their faith and the why to what they're doing? And we see that in eight, nine, and 10. In chapter eight, we saw a week ago that now they're reading the Word of God. For six hours, they were reading it over the day and that someone would, Ezra was reading it over them, six hours a pop. Daily, Word was being read. They were immersing in it. Three different times we see in chapter eight and into nine that God's Word is read. And then there's a particular response to it. So it wasn't they just gathered, listened to the Word, and then moved on.

Rather, they gathered, listened to it, and they responded. And in chapter nine, it's we find one of the largest chunks of confession to God in all of scripture. And the people, as they've listened to the Word of God for the third time, they come before God in fasting, sackcloth. They are repenting before God. And what's written is a descriptor of the faithfulness of God, amidst their unfaithfulness. They're described as being arrogant and rebellious and opposed to the things that God had. And yet we see, again and again, the compassion, the grace, the willingness to forgive of God to all those who are unfaithful, time and again to Him. It's a beautiful picture of the grace of God. That brings us to the end of chapter nine. And we'll start in verse 38 in just a moment. I think this would be a good question for us to think about in our moments together in this part of God's Word. Has there been any time in your life? And perhaps it's now that as a Christian that you've found yourself wandering away from the faith. It could be that you've continued to come to church, but you're not really actively living out, loving God, following God, serving God. You're kind of in there for God. If you wandered a little bit, gotten distracted. Busyness has kind of moved in in such a way that the things of God get pushed aside. Is that a possibility for anybody today?

Is it possible that you actually have never entered into a real relationship with God and that's why it's not that exciting 'cause you actually haven't really met Him yet. Or is it possible today that you're being faithful to exactly what God has called you into a year or just thriving right now in your walk with the Lord? So we can either be a firm today, there can be conviction today of any kind of rebellion against God, sin against God. And the beauty is we're in today. We can't go back. We can't have anything backwards, back. It's done. But God and His grace and mercy starts with us today and we can move forward well with Him. This is a time of renewed commitment for the people of God in Nehemiah's day. Is today perhaps a day that there is a time of renewal of faithfulness to Him today in an area of your life? I think that's worth considering as we unpack this part of God's word. In chapter nine verse 38, the prime idea here is definitively and publicly file God together. I chose those words on purpose as I do week to week. But I wanna make sure you understand why I chose that to define this part of the scripture. Definitively, our faith is a distinctive

and definitive faith. It's clear. It's not a murky faith. It is clear. It's definitive. And our faith in Christ is a public faith. It is not a private faith. Over the years I've heard so many people say, my faith is private. It's between me and God. That kind of faith is completely unknown in the scripture. Our faith is a public faith. It's definitive and it's public. And it's a faith that follows God. All of us follows something or someone. It might be ourselves, by the way. might be your thing. And you know what, science is great. It's a great compliment that comes under the authority of God. We don't have to be at odds with it. It's just a bad leader, a bad God. So something is what we are following. We believe as Christians that God is who we follow. So we're definitively and publicly following God and it's together. We're following Him together. This is community effort. It's not an isolated effort. It is community together. So let's look at verse 38 in thinking about that idea

under the idea of renewed faithfulness. Now because of all this, and when he says that, he's saying because of what we've read in God's Word, what we now understand that God intends for us as his people, we're making an agreement in writing. We're making an agreement that making an agreement are the Hebrew words for cutting a covenant. The Bible is a Bible of covenants. And a covenant is a binding promise that has weight and permanence. So when a covenant is made, it's binding. It's a promise and it's permanent. That's the idea of a covenant. It's not a contract that can be broken. It's a promise that's to be kept and it's permanent. So he made a covenant. God had made a covenant with his people. He said, "I will be your God and you will be my people." He's God will be his people. The particular covenant that God made with his people was the mosaic covenant. Moses is the one it was given to, and it was conditional. Sometimes covenants are unconditional, sometimes they're conditional. The conditioned covenant that God made with his people is I'll be your people, I'll be your God, you'll be my people, and here's the condition. I'm gonna give you what to obey, and if you obey it, blessing is coming your way. However, if you choose not to obey it,

then you'll be cursed. That's what had happened to the people of God. They were disobedient, and because they were disobedient, judgment, excuse me, judgment came on them. Now, because of all this, we're making this agreement and we're making it in writing. The covenant is already in play, but they had broken the covenant. This is a renewal. Sometimes in life we need to renew that which we've made, those promises we've made, and it's in writing. There is something about pen to paper that matters. There's something about a signature that matters. So we're making this agreement and it's in writing. There was a day, depending on how old you are, when our signature actually mattered anytime we put it on something. We used a pen and we wrote it on paper, and when we did that, we knew we were agreeing to something, and it mattered. Our name mattered on that thing that we signed. I remember very distinctly when I figured out my signature didn't matter all the time anymore. I was at Old West Cafe in Grapevine. We just finished breakfast. I can't recall who I was with. I'm paying for it. It was when the iPad thing first started of, you know, you're looking at it and they flip it at you, and then it starts at like 48% for a tip,

and then you're trying to figure out are you gonna do that? I'm looking at this teenage girl. I feel terrible that I don't. And so I figured out how I'm gonna tip, but I was told by that person, you can sign Mickey Mouse, and that'll be good enough. I said, what? I said, you can sign Mickey Mouse. It doesn't matter. Just put something in that signature line. I thought, oh. I guess our signature's not your matter anymore. I think we could still live in a way that we make sure that when we put our name on something, that it matters. Our name matters. Our promise matters when we put our name on it. And there were 84 leaders recommitment of the covenant that they were going to keep with God. And they put their name on it. This year we're celebrating 250 years as a nation. They were 56 men that were willing to put their name on the Declaration of Independence. They were willing to risk their lives for freedom and for a new nation to be formed. Their name mattered, their signature mattered, and here we are, 250 years later. In 1974, the Lausanne covenant was signed. You may not be familiar with this one. 150 countries were represented, numerous signatures, Billy Graham, John Stott, some of the heavy weights in the evangelical world. And they signed that covenant that the world would be evangelized and the message of Jesus

would go all across the globe. What have we been talking about for the last eight months? We've really been talking about it for as long as we're a church. The being sin, Matthew 28, going to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them, the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you and lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. That's never gotten old to me. It's never gotten wrote to me. That is the command God has given us to evangelize the world. And we get to be a part of that, of what God is doing all over the globe. But the signatures matter. They believe this mattered, it's important, important enough to put their name on it. 27 years ago, this week, 23 people were willing to put their name down on an orange sheet of paper. They wrote with a pen, and he said, "We're in to start 121." Not only were they signing their name to be a part, they were signing a name to the amount of money they were committing to give, so that it could happen. Our signatures mattered. I still have those orange sheets of paper. Let's dial it in a little closer. For many of you, you're members of 121. Now, it doesn't matter today if somebody goes to milestone, keystone, church at the cross, cross, creek, cross, city, countryside. If you go to any of those churches today, somewhere along the way, the leaders sat before God and said, "What do you want our church to be about?" And they created a membership, and this is what we will rally around as a people in this local body. And it doesn't mean that you have to love everything or why this thing or why that thing. But in that particular church, this is what God has laid out that we see this body of people doing.

And we believe that enough that we have an ongoing membership class that Eric Estes leads, where we lay out, "Here's our mission, here's our core values, here's our strategy that believe God has given us." We have stuck with that for 27 years. And we're asking if you want to be a part of it. And then we get with you, someone from our staff will get with you, ask if you have any questions about anything, hear your story, help you figure out how to get connected to a life group. Part of it is serving. And then we have a piece of paper with the things on it that we believe God has called us as a body to do, and we ask you to sign it. And we believe your signature means something. We ask you to sign it with a pen so that you are there. You're looking at it. Yes, I'm in on this. I wonder today if anybody needs to renew what they originally signed to be faithful to what God has invited us into at 121 to be about in His Kingdom. So our signatures matter. They signed it. They did it in writing on on the sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites, and our priests. So when we talk about being sent and we look at all the ways God has partnered us with people, we actually are asking that everybody in the church get involved somehow some way and at least one or be part of these things. The goal was not for us to build the courts next door in Jehuda by himself on Sunday nights to lead the charge on soccer and reaching 60 kids in the community every Sunday night. The goal is that more and more people in the church body would have the same heart for the community and would join Jehuda on Sunday nights at the soccer field. Can that be all of us? No.

Some of us are pretty banged up. Can it be some of us? Yes. Are there other things? Yes. It could be like the email that I was sent by a lady this week in her life group and she said, "You know, we've been praying about what sent looks like for us as a life group, which is a great way to think about this. What can we do in our groups?" It's just like our evangelism, it doesn't have to be one-on-one, it can be group-on-one, or it can be group-on-a-project, or group-in-some kind of way to serve. She said, "What we've done is we've started bringing food to our life group, non-perishable items, and there are three portable food pantries in grapevine, in strategic areas. And you just go and you put food in there, and it's there for someone to come and get." And she said, "So we bring it, it's a way everybody participates, it's not hard, you're just doing that thing, depending on what your time is, there's something for everybody." And they bring it, and then this person took it, took it to the pantry, and then she noticed she was put in, there was a lady nearby, she struck up a conversation, asked her if she needed anything, and she did. And then it turns out she goes to 121, and so God put them together that day to meet that need. She had another conversation with another lady and her two children, there was a language barrier, but she was able to serve her with the food. Now this life group leader said, "What if all of our life groups did something like this? What if we did it monthly, quarterly?" I don't know, it's just, it's good ideas, good ways to stir, what might it stir differently for years? Now, I'm going to share something that's true about our church, it's not my favorite part, and I think it's true of any church.

I've been standing up here for nine months now, talking about being sent, and so many are engaged in that, so many are not. But here's what I've learned in 27 years, I'm slow, I usually learn things a hard way, but after about 20, I started figuring this out. I can stand up here until I'm blue in the face. I could stand on my head, I could do flips, summer salts, I could run around crazy all through the room, trying to get people to come to us and say, "Man, just tell me what you want me to do, or I want to do this, this is what I want to get on, get in on." And some people do that, they come forth, they say, "That's what I want to be a part, I want to be a part of something, you tell me," or, "This is what I'm interested in." But that is not the majority. But what I have learned, if I ask you, you'll do it. It's like everybody's waiting for a personal invite to get involved, and it's not until we do the personal invite that it actually happens. So it's okay, we know our culture, I think that's most cultures, and so here we go. So we're coming to your life group in the next six weeks. Our staff is spreading out, we're going to every life group, and we're coming with that scent booklet, and we're really excited because we're just going to sit there and walk through what the possibilities are, what you could do as a group, what you could do as individuals. Our life group leaders, at least we're told, are excited about that, and you should be really excited because this is the first time we're doing this kind of effort and we're not coming and asking you for money. That's usually why we show up at your group. So we're breaking the trend, but we believe it matters to serve well in our community, what the possibilities are and how can we encourage you to be a part of it. So we're coming, not to make you feel guilty, maybe already doing stuff, not asking you to do more. But just are there things that we can be at help to get involved?

So we're thinking about being definitive and doing things together. First, one through 27, a number of names are listed and then 28 and 29, now the rest of the people get in on it. Now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding. Now everybody is getting in on it. The leader set the pace. Nehemiah was the very first signature on the line. He's sitting there saying, here's what we're to do and he puts his name down. So the leader, if a leader's not willing to get in on it, you probably ought not get in on it. They need to set the pace. So they're setting the pace. And now everybody else is joining in and they separated themselves from the peoples of the lands. And I wanna highlight that because the people of God are to be a separate people. God has called us to be a distinct people. We're not to look like everybody else. Christians ought to look different. The scripture says that God is holy. I know this makes it sound a little lofty, but God is holy, he's sinless, pure, perfect. We're unholy, we're not.

But God through Jesus Christ makes us holy and then we become more and more distinct. But not so distinct that we can't move back into the world and make a difference. But it's clear that we're separated and different. What separated them now? They separated from something to something. They separated from the peoples of the lands because they were worshiping false gods. And then they attached themselves now to God and God's word. One of their confessions in chapter nine is that they would not cast God's law behind their back. They had put the law behind their back, they couldn't see it. Sometimes we do that. We hide it in an app on our phone and we don't ever get to it. We just keep it away from us or it's on a shelf somewhere or it's in a closet somewhere. I don't know, but it ends up behind us. But instead we can have it in front of us and we can move forward in it so that we're not casting his law behind us. Instead, we're putting it in front of us. That's what starts to distinguish the people of God. We become as we've been described as a people of the book. God has made himself known in his word. The more we're in his word and captured by his word, then the more we start to look like God and the things he says in his word. So we're moving ahead in his word. That's a separate people.

There are four issues that Nehemiah deals with that we'll talk about next week and those issues are marriage and he's referring to mixed marriage. Mixed marriage not meaning ethnically, mixed meaning with someone of another faith. We'll talk about that. The second thing he talks about is the Sabbath. That makes the people a distinct and separate people. His Sabbath keeping, we'll talk about that. He talks about worship and the vigor and zeal and singing and worship. We'll talk about that. And then he talks about generosity, generosity so that the work of the house of God gets done. We'll talk about that generosity. Those are four issues. Those things actually separate us from other people. Again, not separate so that we're not in the mix and bringing faith to them, but separate that we're not like them. A buddy of mine sent me this thought for this week. He had took some cousins he'd been praying for that they would get involved in church since been years. And they're from the Washington area. And last week, the cousins went to church. They told my friend that they probably would not go back. Here's why. They ran into a guy that they do a hobby with outside of the church.

They had no idea that guy was in the church. That guy told him he was a founder of the church and that he's there all the time. [BLANK_AUDIO] a Christian was supposed to look like, so they're not interested. To God's people are to be distinct and separate in our character, the way we think, what we're about glorifying and honoring, and yet still deeply involved with those who are not of faith, that we can love them deeply, so that they might see the love of Christ in a way they wouldn't otherwise see it. They're recognizing this, they're not to be integrated into people of the lands in the sense of chasing their faith, and they're joining with their kids in verse 29, their nobles are taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God's law, which was given through Moses, God's servant, and to keep and to observe all the commandments of God our Lord, and His ordinance and His statutes. I mean they're all in, they've been all out, and now they're all in. They're putting their name to it, they're doing it together, it's definitive, it's public, they're renewing their commitment to the Lord to be about the things of the Lord, they're going for it, so much so that they're willing to call a curse down on themselves if they don't keep it, and they know they'll be blessing if they do. They are in the old covenant, which means that old promise that God will be their people, God will be their God, and the people will be His people if they keep His commandments, they will be blessed, cursed if they don't. Fast forward, there's a new covenant. Your Bible by the way is divided, it says Old Testament, New Testament, that actually is Old Covenant, New Covenant, the old, it's the story of the Old Covenant, now there's something new that's happened, there's a new covenant, a new promise that's binding, and this covenant is on Jesus. Jesus dies on the cross, cancels out our sin, forgives us, bears the full weight of our sin on the cross. God raises Him from the dead, conquers it, there's victory.

First John 3, 5 says, "You know that Jesus appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin at all." The reason Jesus could take away our sin is He was perfect, then He takes it all on Himself, and then He gives us back His perfection, His perfect holiness, if you will, and then the rest of our lives are spent becoming who He's made us to be when we believe. This is not about the old where I have to keep it, this is about believing what Jesus did, He perfectly kept it, because we're unable. That's the amazing grace of God. So in faith we believe by God's grace God enables the faith and opens our hearts, so by faith we can receive it, we receive it. Now we're in the new covenant and it's on Him, we're secured in Him. Out of a love for Him, 1 John 5, this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome. When we really understand the love of God and the new covenant we're in, then His commandments are not a burden, they're a desire. The greatest joy comes when we're in the middle of obedience to His commandments. Some might wonder why we've been pushing on great fist for the last few weeks as an opportunity to serve in our community. You might ask yourself, why are we at the wine festival again? What are we doing there as a church? How do we think about that with all the other things that we do? Well, we find throughout Scripture that God loves the city. So what we're about the city, we want to love the city well. By serving and volunteering at great fist, we have the opportunity to serve the city. And more than that, we have the opportunity to rub shoulders with lost people who don't know Jesus and the opportunity to talk about Now, would Jesus not be in places like those kinds of festivals? It looked to me like Jesus showed up at the places that were celebrating.

But he was distinct in those places. So we have opportunity there. I was with Evan Sandman this weekend and he just talked about it. It's one of his favorite things out at Great Fest because it's just natural opportunities to talk with people. Plus the wine's flowing. They're a little looser. They'll talk a little bit easier. But you know what? What's in there starts getting out. Our young adults have gone every night to Great Fest and are just walking the street main street and seeing if God opens doors to share the gospel and God's given all kinds of opportunities for them. So why would we not get on opportunities like that for the gospel to go out the message of Jesus to go out? Then yesterday, in the third quarter, me it was seven, seven and a half. I mean, there's still hopeful. But there was a guy sitting in front of me and he was by himself. Again, I couldn't figure out if he was with the two couples on either side of them or, but they left and he was there by himself. I said, "Hey, do people leave you or are you on your own?" Or what? He goes, "No, I am my people, I'm by myself." I said, "Okay."

Well, come to find out, it's a real quick conversation. He said he'd been graduated from the West Virginia University, University of West Virginia. He was at A&M to get his master's degree in agricultural economics. He's lonely, he said, "I was in a frat, did all these things at WVU and while I was there." He said, "It was easy, everything was done for me. Everything's just kind of made for me." He said, "Here, I've got nothing." And that kind of ended the conversation for a minute and I was thinking, "Okay, what do I share with this guy?" And I was praying and the day before, as we were touring the campus, I took pictures of a sign that said salt company, worship, discipleship, community, forget the fourth thing. So I took a picture of it, I sent it to Kevin, our mission pastor and said, "Hey, is this salt company the same as the salt network that we partner with in church planting?" He said, "No, that's actually my buddy's church and that's what they do to reach college students." I said, "Great." So I had that picture on my phone and after some silence, I just leaned over and I showed him the picture. I said, "Hey, I don't know if you'd be interested but this could be a place you could meet some friends at the salt company." And he said, "Oh, they had one of those at West Virginia."

I said, "Really?" He goes, "Yeah." And he said, "You know what? I want to get back to my faith." He said, "I'm not saved, I want to get saved, I'm lost." (congregation applauding) I looked at my brother and my brother said, "Later, your eyes got that big." (congregation laughing) I mean, he didn't know I was a pastor, there was no cheating here. I mean, it was, we were just a couple of old guys at a game and here he is. We had two young guys with us as well. But I shared the gospel with it, it's a long story. There's confusion there on what that actually means but we had the opportunity to share it. I ended up connecting him to Kevin's friend. We'll see what happens. My son got in on it, ran my brother got in on it. Evan Sandmega, is really, is a group effort. It's a good group effort. But I was just showing him a picture of, I mean, look how God works. There's little things. (congregation laughing) But we want to be a separate people, a distinct people that are bringing a message, a message that gives hope to people. That's what's happening here with Nehemiah.

We'll pick up on those four issues next week. I close with this. Is there anything today, if you're a member at 121 today, is there anything you need to reflect on and renew? That today would just be a time of renewed faithfulness to what God has called this body of people to be about of which you're a part. Or is God convicting you of anything where you've been walking into disobedience and sin and you know it? You know that's not what his word says. And today's just a day to repent and get that right. We just, he takes us today and we move forward. And maybe you're just really affirmed today that you are walking faithfully in the grace of Jesus Christ and his commandments and his word is not a burden And that would be awesome today. So if I thank you for our time, we're grateful for the power of your word and the encouragement from it, the strength from it. Thank you, Father, for leaders like me and my and others that we're willing to put their name down and say we're in on this. This is a binding promise and we are all over it. And thank you that the whole group of people got in on it. And God, thank you for their desire. We know they fell short and we're grateful Jesus that you came, 'cause we're completely incapable of keeping all these things that we promised, but Jesus, you kept it.

And so thank you, God, for seeing us through Christ today and in that grace and mercy then we can move ahead and be an obedient to what you've given us out of a love for you. So Father, I pray that would be who we are and Father, that we would live as the sent people you've called us to be in our praying Jesus name. If we could, let's be quiet before the Lord and I don't know if he's speaking anything to you today or not, but let me just encourage you to take this moment if he is.