25-0105p Transcript

Preacher: John Nousek

(1:12) This evening’s sermon, I entitled it, Nehemiah, a man on the point of a spear, (1:20) and not a friendly place to be visually, mentally, think of that. You know, (1:28) most of you know, I served in the U.S. Army, and fortunately, I did not have a job in the infantry (1:38) or any other specific job that would require me to be on the point of the spear. (1:47) I was an ammunition specialist, it was a 55 Bravo, that’s the, they call it an MOS, or your job.

(1:54) So we’d supply weapons, explosives, stuff like that. And in the military, there’s a formation (2:03) called a V, so that if the, as men would go out into an enemy area, it would be like an inverted (2:15) V, an upside down V formation. And the person who was in the middle would be closest to the (2:22) opposition.

And then on either side, they would kind of fade back at a designated distance from (2:30) the point. Point person was always in the most danger. That’s Nehemiah.

He’s on point. So, (2:43) but before I continue with Nehemiah’s story, I want to provide for you, (2:50) and you see it on the screen for those that are here, there’s a, (2:58) there’s information that sometimes we can gloss over when we read the Bible. (3:03) Well, it just read the very first verse, where it says it came to pass in the month of Kislev (3:09) in the 20th year.

So what’s that mean? That could be the heat of the summer. It could be (3:17) the middle of winter. A lot of times, if you understand some of those small details, (3:23) it’s helpful to understand what’s going on in this account.

And so what I’ve given you (3:30) is a reconciliation, if you will, a comparison between the Jewish calendar, which is the same (3:37) 12-month calendar, and the Gregorian calendar, which is what we use here in the United States. (3:45) Both have 12 months, at least according to the calendar I check. And so, but in the case of (3:53) the Hebrew calendar, it’s a little different.

See, we have 365 days in a year. That’s how long it (4:03) takes the earth to go around the sun. And no matter who you are, just what it is, it takes that long.

(4:14) So in our calendar, we just basically split it up into different months. Some have 30, some have 31, (4:24) February 28, you know, the routine every four years, leap year, you have 29 in February. (4:29) That kind of keeps us in line with the calendar and where the earth is relative to the sun.

(4:36) In the Hebrew calendar, it’s either 29 or 30 days. And that’s because in Exodus, (4:46) Exodus 12, first two verses, this is right as the Passover is being instituted. (4:53) God says, I read those two verses to you.

(4:57) Now, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, (5:02) this month shall be your beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. (5:09) Well, the word for month is Kodesh.

I pronounced that right. Kodesh, which is translated as New (5:16) Moon. See, the Jewish calendar is regulated by what’s called the New Moon.

And the New Moon is (5:28) after the moon goes, wanes or goes darker and darker each night as it goes along through the (5:34) month, it eventually disappears altogether for a short time. And then the very next night, (5:41) when you can first see the moon coming back, this little sliver in the sky, that’s the New Moon. (5:48) So each New Moon is the beginning, according to God’s word, of the Jewish calendar.

That’s (5:54) when the month starts. And so that happens, that happens actually about every 29 and a half days. (6:05) And many of you also know that I do mathematics for my job.

That’s what I do. I like it. It’s (6:12) good stuff.

Adding and subtracting and then they pay me. Kind of neat. So I did the mathematics (6:19) on this one.

Well, 29 and a half days, 12 months in a year, it’s only 354 days. What do you do (6:27) with the extra days? The earth hasn’t gone all the way around. So every so often the Hebrew calendar (6:33) adds an extra month.

Not every year, but almost every third year there’s an extra month. And you (6:41) can see up here on the screen that the final month, which is the 12th month, is called Adar. (6:48) And so they have, get this, Adar number two.

Not hard to remember. So that’s the 13th month (6:58) in those years. So when we read the very first verse and it says, it came to pass in the month (7:03) of Kislev, you can see that that’s actually in the winter.

How? (7:16) Ammi Amhai gets this bad news in the winter. And so what does he do? Well, it says here in (7:25) the following verses, so it was when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned (7:31) for many days. I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

And I said, I pray, Lord, (7:39) God of heaven, oh, great and awesome God, you who keep your covenant and mercy with those who love (7:44) you and observe your commandments, please let me, please let your ear be attentive and your eyes (7:51) open that you may hear the prayer of your servant, which I pray before you now day and night for the (7:58) children of Israel, your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have (8:04) sinned against you. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against (8:13) you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances, which you commanded (8:20) your servant Moses, but you commanded your servant Moses.

Remember, I pray, the word that you (8:28) commanded your servant Moses saying, if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations. (8:37) But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out (8:46) to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there and bring them to the place (8:55) which I have chosen as a dwelling for my name. So Nehemiah is very distraught.

(9:07) He’s heard this bad information. He was actually born in Iran, which is Persia, (9:19) after the Babylonians took them to Persia. He’s a young man, but it says in the very last verse, (9:32) in a very significant statement, it says, for I was the king’s cupbearer.

(9:39) So Nehemiah is the cupbearer to the king. That’s not a small job. He’s responsible for all of the (9:47) beverages that are brought into the court, specifically for the king.

And in the days when (9:56) we don’t like the king, he might be poisoned. Nehemiah’s job is to stop that from happening (10:04) amongst everything else. That’s probably a pretty big part of the job.

(10:09) And so he’s very trusted. He’s very distraught over the news that he received. (10:19) So chapter two continues.

And it came to pass in the month of Nisan. So where’s Nisan? (10:32) Spring. And the diagram you see on the screen, it’s in the (10:40) very first month of the Hebrew calendar, Nisan.

And so it’s in the spring, and it says in the (10:51) 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, and I took the wine and gave it to the king (11:00) because he gave it to the king because he’s the cupbearer. That’s his job, right? Okay. Then it (11:06) continues.

Now, I had never been sad in his presence before. Therefore, the king said to me, (11:13) why is your face sad? Since you are not sick, this is nothing but sorrow of heart. (11:24) So I became dreadfully afraid.

Why is he terrified? He’s standing before the king. (11:33) The king wants to question the Amayah. What do you say? Tell the truth? Explain what has happened? (11:44) Do you tell him what you really want to do is just hit the road and go take care of business? (11:53) You work for the king.

Don’t leave. So I became dreadfully afraid and said to the king, (11:59) may the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father’s (12:06) tombs lies waste and its gates are burned with fire? The king said to me, what do you request? (12:20) He wants to know.

What do you want, Nehemiah? This is serious. I get it. What do you want? (12:28) I’m the king.

I can give you anything. Everything’s at my fingertips. What do you want? (12:34) So now, Nehemiah is faced with an even bigger, wow, I could ask for something.

If I ask for too much, (12:47) I might have my head. I’ll be a lot worse off than just sad. So what’s the first thing Nehemiah does? (12:57) So I prayed to the God of heaven.

Deck in with your creator before making, even in the flash of (13:07) the moment. So I prayed to the God of heaven and I said to the king, if it pleases the king, (13:16) if your servant is found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my (13:21) father’s tombs, that I may rebuild it. Then the king said to me, the queen also sitting beside him, (13:31) how long will your journey be and when will you return? So it pleased the king to send me (13:41) and I set him a time.

Isn’t that interesting? So the king says, (13:48) oh, no problem. Except we learned that the time that he asked for is years. I mean, we’ve had (14:01) all, I think, at different jobs, needed some time off, got to go talk to the boss.

(14:09) Hey, I need tomorrow off. I have such and such and I need to, (14:14) yeah, short notice, but go ahead. Okay, fine.

Oh, this is real short notice. And how much time (14:19) has he asked for? About 12 years. Give me 12 years.

He’s a trusted advisor. (14:28) The king trusts him with his life, literally, as the cup bearer. So he says, go.

Oh, Nehemiah, (14:36) like he throws something else in there. Furthermore, I said to the king, by the way, (14:44) if it pleases the king, what letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the river, (14:52) capital R and river, that’s the trans Euphrates. He’s in Susa.

And Susa is about 900 miles from (15:02) where he’s going to go to Jerusalem. That’s a long way. And he’s going to cross the Euphrates River (15:09) on the way.

And his path actually takes him a little north along the edge of the Euphrates, (15:18) up over that fertile crescent, and then back down the edge of the Mediterranean until he gets back (15:23) to Jerusalem. 900 miles. Long way.

That they may permit me to pass through till I come to Judah. (15:34) So he wants some documentation from the king. Yeah, you’re really the cup bearer to the king? (15:41) Do you really think? Yeah, I am.

Here, here’s my proof. He wants something in hand. (15:50) Make his journey safe.

Oh, and he doesn’t stop there. And a letter. A letter to Asaph, (16:00) the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make the beams for the gates (16:05) of the citadel, which pertains to the temple for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.

(16:14) And the king granted to me according to the good hand of my God upon me. He gives him 12 years off. (16:23) He pays his trip.

He buys all the stuff. He must like Nehemiah. Or as the scriptures say, (16:37) according to the good hand of my God upon me.

God is looking on this favorably. (16:47) I don’t go to the king as a servant, as a child of someone who is essentially abducted from a (16:58) foreign country and brought here. And I want, I want, I want.

Would you give me? He says yes. (17:10) So then I went to the governors in the region beyond the river and gave them the king’s letters. (17:15) Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me when Sanballat, the Horite, (17:22) and Tobiah, the Ammonite official, heard of it.

They were deeply disturbed that a man had come (17:29) to seek the well-being of the children of Israel. Some things never change. The Israelis are still (17:37) under attack today.

Every time throughout history, the Jewish people have been attacked over and (17:49) over. And to think it’s just because we don’t like them? No, because they’re hated, because (17:55) they’re God’s people. You know, this story of Nehemiah, I selected it because it reads like a (18:05) fast-paced murder mystery almost.

This is fascinating. It’s good stuff. And (18:12) you know, Nehemiah is a story of really Ezra and Nehemiah, where there’s three different (18:23) attempts, if you will, to bring the people of Israel back to Jerusalem, back to Judah, (18:29) and to rebuild the temple, to rebuild the wall, to have everything back the way it was.

(18:36) And Nehemiah is the third attempt, or the third trip back. This one is under the king Artaxerxes, (18:48) and it’s the third in the pair of books in Ezra and Nehemiah. And so I wanted to point that out (18:57) because it doesn’t stand alone.

It’s really part of a much bigger story. But I just picked this one (19:03) because of the characters involved and the lesson involved in this. So let me point something out (19:17) about that very first verse in chapter one one more time, when it said, (19:25) it came to pass in the month of Kislev in the 20th year, as I was in Sushan.

That’s (19:34) also the name given to the city of Sushan. So he is going his 900 miles, (19:44) a lengthy trip by any means. You know, even if he wasn’t walking, he’s being sent with, (19:52) and I didn’t read this yet, but he’s being sent with some of the king’s men.

(19:57) So presumably there are animals involved, and not everyone is just walking, right? (20:03) But even on animals, the most common animal to cross the desert like that would be the camel. (20:10) Okay, so the camel, how far does a camel go? Well, I looked it up. Camels go approximately (20:21) 18 to 25 miles in a day, and at long stretch.

You could get a hearty (20:30) male camel to go longer, said even as far as 75 miles in one day, that’s a long way. But you don’t (20:39) do that day after day after day, otherwise you’re not going to be able to camel, and you’ll be in (20:42) the middle of the desert, and you’ll be in a bad shape. They travel 18 to 25 miles a day.

(20:49) This is months from where he is to where he’s going, months. And I’m thinking about, (21:01) well, wait a minute. The king also said he could have the timbers to rebuild the gates.

(21:10) Where is he going to get that from? Well, you know, in 1 Kings, there’s a chapter 5, (21:18) and I won’t read this to you, but it’s basically, it’s the story of, (21:22) it’s the account of Solomon and Hiram, king of Tyre. Solomon becomes the king, (21:29) and he sends a letter to the king of Tyre and asks for timber, cedars of Lebanon, (21:37) forests up there, and Nehemiah is traveling through that area. It’s not unreasonable to think (21:45) that as he’s going through there, he has his ladder.

Hey, let’s go see the guy who’s in charge. (21:52) Let’s take some of this lumber with us. How would he get all that lumber back to Jerusalem? (22:04) He has a letter.

He’s allowed to take it. Yeah, carry it. One log on one shoulder, (22:11) one on the other.

So he’s got some logistical issues to work out. (22:17) The point is, even at 18 to 25 miles a day on a camel, (22:22) okay, hold up, hold up. We got to slow down.

We’re carrying some lumber with us too. Big trees. (22:30) This is a big, major event.

So he finally arrives. I think we’re at slide six. Yeah.

(22:44) So he finally arrives. It’s Nehemiah chapter 2, verse 11. So I came to Jerusalem, (22:53) was there three days.

Then I arose in the night. I had a few men with me. I told no one what my God (23:03) had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem, nor was there any animal with me except the one in which (23:08) I rode.

And I went out by night through the valley gate to the serpent well and the refuse gate. (23:23) And you see on screen now an image of the old city and the old city wall. (23:32) It goes from the temple area and then south of there, there’s a little skinny part that (23:37) takes you down to the refuse gate, fountain gate, and king’s pool.

See, Nehemiah enters (23:48) on our screen on the left in the middle, says the valley gate, middle of the night. (23:56) And he travels just inside the gate, heads south a little bit, all the way to the tip. (24:03) It says, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned (24:08) by fire.

Then I went on to the fountain gate to the king’s pool and there was no room for the (24:14) animal underneath to pass. Yes, fallen down, broken down. It’s not like he’s walked through (24:23) there easily.

So I went up in the night by the valley and viewed the wall. Then I turned back (24:30) and entered by the valley gate and so returned. So he exits out where he came in, but he gets the (24:39) picture.

He’s a smart guy. He arrives in Jerusalem and he sits tight for three days. (24:46) See, we find out elsewhere that he’s actually the governor of Judah at this point.

(24:56) And as the governor, with the king’s men in tow, if you will, he probably (25:05) brought some attention to himself. Not every day the king’s men and the governor arrive outside (25:12) the city. So he sits tight for a few days out there.

He doesn’t want to tip his hand, so to speak, (25:20) about what he’s really up to. But, and this is where the trouble begins, when Sanballat the (25:27) Horite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshen the Arab heard of it. They laughed at us and (25:36) despised us and said, what is this thing you are doing? Will you rebel against the king? (25:43) Right away, they’re giving him trouble.

Not only are they giving him trouble, but they’re doing (25:48) something that seems so stupid to me. They’re asking the question, will you rebel against the (25:54) king? Hello, do you remember I brought these documents here? I brought this paperwork that (25:59) said I can do this. Get out of the way.

No, they won’t. They’re just a headache at best. (26:17) All right, so now Nehemiah wants to bring all of the local folks together to start building.

(26:32) And he does so in verse 17 of chapter 3. Let’s see. Oh, pardon me. Wrong chapter.

(26:51) That’s how it goes. Chapter 2. Then I said to them, you see the distress that we are in, (26:59) how Jerusalem lies in waste and its gates are burned with fire? Come and let us build the wall (27:05) of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach. And I told them of the hand of my God, which had (27:12) been good upon me and also the king’s words that he had spoken to me.

So they said, let us rise up (27:22) and build. And they set their hands to do this good work. So he has the support of those around (27:32) him, the locals, Jews who are living in that area.

Yet he also has the opposition of these three (27:42) gentlemen. And the book of Nehemiah continues where we have an account of (27:53) the wall being built section by section at the various gates. It mentions the sheep gate.

This (27:59) is chapter 3, the fish gate, the old gate, the broad wall, the tower of the ovens, all of these (28:05) points, all of these names I see on the map on the screen. They’re building everything as fast as they (28:16) can with as many people as they can. Even this, it says, and next to him was Shalom, the son of (28:25) Halahesh, leader of half of the district of Jerusalem.

He and his daughters made repairs. (28:33) They get the women involved. This is like, let’s get it done now.

(28:38) They’re sitting in rubble forever. Let’s get it done. Everyone’s involved.

So (28:49) even after that, there’s all sorts of distress. It mentions the water gate, the horse gate, (29:06) the east gate, the Mithka gate. All of these things are being built up very quickly.

(29:15) And then chapter 4 begins with, read this, chapter 4, verses 1 through 3. (29:25) But so it happened when Sanballat, that’s one of the three, heard that we were rebuilding the wall, (29:33) that he was furious and very indignant and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren and (29:42) the army of Samaria. You’ve got a whole army.

These guys are in a hurry to destroy the Jews, (29:52) and the Jews are in a hurry to build the wall. And he said, what are these feeble Jews doing? (29:59) Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? (30:05) Will they receive the stones from the heaps of rubbish, stones that are burned? (30:13) Now, Tobiah, the Ammonite, was beside him, and he said, whatever they build, (30:22) even if a fox goes up on it, he will break down the stone wall. The arrogance.

It’s just arrogance. (30:35) They’re trying to ridicule these people, and it is trying to build a wall to protect themselves. (30:44) I can’t help notice there’s a little correlation to today’s environment in the United States.

(30:53) So now in chapter 5, it goes on, more problems. Chapter 5, verse 1, (31:02) and there was a great outcry of the people and the wives against the Jewish brethren. (31:09) For there were those who said, we, our sons and our daughters are many, (31:14) therefore let us get grain that we may eat and live.

Okay, now this is where we get back to the, (31:21) if I could ask you to flip back to the calendar. So Nehemiah has arrived in the month of, (31:41) in the month of Av, the beginning. After many months on the road, traveling his 18 to 25 miles (31:50) on a camel, he finally arrived.

The work has begun, and what time of year is that? (31:59) This is the detail that’s so important. It’s the middle of summer. What do agricultural people do (32:08) in the middle of the summer? Do they stop what they’re doing to build a wall? (32:16) No, they harvest their crops.

They harvest their crops so that they can eat. (32:23) At this time of year, this is the second harvest, and at that time they would be harvesting figs, (32:29) grapes, apes, and pomegranates. The wheat is harvested in the earlier part of the year, (32:36) in the spring.

These are harvested later in the year, July and August. So what we have in chapter 5, (32:45) and this is where the detail comes in, it says, there were also some who said, (32:53) we have mortgaged our lands and vineyards and houses that we might buy grain because of the (32:58) famine. We’re told that there’s a famine, that there’s crops on their own fields, (33:10) and Nehemiah is asking them, leave all that, build the wall.

That’s an ask. (33:20) Sure you want to build the wall, but we’re going to go broke. We’re going to use everything we have (33:28) just to eat if we do this, and yet they’re doing it.

There were also those who said, (33:36) I have borrowed money for the king’s tax on our lands and vineyards, yet now our flesh is as the (33:42) flesh of our brethren, our children as their children, and indeed we are forcing our sons (33:48) and our daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. (33:55) That’s what’s happening. They’re going broke.

They’re selling some of their own children just (34:00) to eat. What would it take to sell your child? Where would you have to be in your mind to be (34:09) willing to do that? What would you be thinking about? Are you thinking about building the wall? (34:20) I think not, unless you really believe this was God’s Word. This was His instruction.

This (34:30) is what we are to do. These people had faith. You know, in Nehemiah 6, Nehemiah 6, 9 through 13, (34:47) it reads another challenging situation.

It reads, for all of them were trying to frighten us, (34:57) thinking they will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done, but now God (35:04) strengthened my hands. I entered the house of Shemaiah, a son of Eliah, son of Methabel, (35:18) who was confined at home. This is a Jewish man.

He’s presumably in some sort of ailment where he (35:26) can’t get out of the house, and he said, let’s meet together in the house of God within the temple, (35:35) and let’s close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you, and they are coming to (35:40) kill you at night. But I said, this is Nehemiah in reply, should a man like me flee, and who is (35:51) there like me who would go into the temple to save his own life, I will not go in. And I realized (35:58) that God certainly had not sent him, but he uttered his prophecy against me because Tobiah (36:06) and Sanballat had hired him.

Those are two of the three mentioned earlier. He was hired for (36:14) this reason that I would become frightened and act accordingly and sin so that they might have (36:19) an evil report in order that they could taunt me. He’s got it from all sides.

He’s got his people (36:30) going broke. He’s got crops out here that are withering because they’re not being attended to. (36:37) He’s got the three men who are not Jews taunting him day and night.

(36:47) Now they’ve actually hired one of their own to betray him and try to trick him. He can’t seem to catch a break. (36:58) However, however, in chapter 6, verse 15, it says, so the wall was finished on the 25th day of Elul in 52 days.

(37:18) You ever seen a construction project start and finish in 52 days? They built the whole thing around the city in less than two months. (37:30) And it happened when all our enemies heard of it and the nations around us saw these things that (37:36) they were very disheartened in their own eyes for they perceived that this work had been done by our God. (37:46) Also in those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah and the letters of Tobiah came to them.

(37:55) So there’s this back and forth writing. They finished the stupid wall. For many in Judah were (38:05) pledged to him because he was the son-in-law of Shekiniah, the son of Arah.

And his son, (38:14) Jehohanan, had married the daughter of Meshulam, the son of Arachiah. (38:24) Also, they reported his good deeds before me and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters (38:30) to frighten me.

You know, regardless of all the adversity that Nehemiah faced, (38:42) it got done. God was with him. And, you know, it goes on in chapter 7. It explains that he (38:53) turns over the wall and he’s the governor.

He turns over the wall and the operation of when (39:01) it’s to be opened and closed and how things are to be done now that everything is intact. (39:09) But the rest of the story doesn’t finish so well because as the story of the Jews happens (39:17) over and over in scriptures, there’s a period of time in which the Hebrews are (39:26) adhering to God’s word and things go well. And then they falter and things don’t go well, (39:34) like when the wall was destroyed.

And so this is another case where even after the wall is done (39:43) and they adhere to God’s word, they sacrifice their fields and they’re mortgaging everything (39:48) to make this project happen fast. In the end, those that are in charge, left in charge, falter. (39:59) But that’s OK, because God’s word tells us even when we do things according to his will, (40:14) we won’t always see it in this lifetime.

We won’t. You know, the book of Job reads (40:23) in chapter 13, verse 14, this is one that comes back to me from time to time. (40:30) Though he slay me, I will hope in him.

Nevertheless, I will argue my ways before him. This (40:38) also will be my salvation for a godless person cannot come before his presence. (40:48) We have enough evidence that this book that we read from is God’s perfect word.

(40:55) And he tells us things to do and things not to do. You know, it’s up to us to determine (41:05) if we’re going to follow it. In a case of Nehemiah, he faced three very strong adversaries, (41:18) Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, the Arab.

He faced being ridiculed, discouragement, fear, (41:27) internal strife, people lying to him, all kinds of things. And yet, what do we learn from all of that? (41:39) Well, following God’s not always easy. Sometimes it actually can be very dangerous.

(41:46) Here in the United States, it’s not as dangerous as it is in other places of the world. (41:52) It can be very difficult, can challenge us in many different aspects of life. (41:57) And we may be met with opposition on all sides.

Some pressures we can anticipate and some (42:04) not necessarily. But if we’re doing the will of God, whether we see it in this lifetime or the (42:13) next, we will see the fruits of those efforts. Now, it says in Proverbs 29, 25, the fear of man (42:28) brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord will be safe.

Nehemiah trusted in the Lord. (42:39) We must trust in the Lord. That’s it.

We trust in ourselves, we’re sunk. (42:49) And Galatians 6, 9 reads, and let us not grow weary while we do good. For in due season we (42:57) shall reap, if, small word means a lot, if we do not lose heart.

If we want to be as people (43:07) set apart for good works and the hope of the glory to come, we need to make a decision to (43:16) conform to his word and his instructions. God gives us specific instructions. He tells us the (43:24) things we must avoid and the things that we must do if we desire to spend eternity with him.

(43:33) If we desire to spend eternity in the presence of God. I’m just grateful we have God’s word to give (43:41) us this instruction. Amen.

If there’s anything that needs to be done for anyone here, please say so.