This is the word of God. The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hekeliah. Now, it happened in the month of Kislev, in the 20th year, as I was in Susa, the capital, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, the remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire. As soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days. And I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Amen. Let's ask the Lord for his blessing. Gracious God, you who inspired, you who breathed out this word, to your people, we ask that by your Holy Spirit, you would illumine our minds and our hearts, that we would understand this, your voice to us today. And that Father, you would enable by the power of your Spirit and by your gracious character, that strength in us that we need and that obedience of heart that we need to serve you. Father, we would see in our day the great ruin that lies all about us. Father, in the present day church, in our society, and more than this, that we would see not only the degradations around us, but that we would see Jesus Christ as our all-sufficient Savior who leads us in triumph and victory, not the sort of victory that this world is accustomed to, not with the kind of power of this world, but through that ordinary word and through that ordinary work of Christ. Father, turn us to him, and turn, Father, ultimately, finally, this world to yourself on the last day. Help us, Lord. We ask, we plead with you. In Jesus' name, amen. It ain't over until it's over. It ain't over until it's over. You may want the work of Reformation to be over. You may think it's over, but it ain't over till it's over. That's the lesson of the book of Nehemiah. There is in every generation of Christians a need for reformation, to be reformed according to the word of God. Our worship, our lives, our families, society, Always and ever returning again and again to the Word of God. And it won't ever be over until the last day. We see this in our own lifetime. As ruinous as our sin has been, God's mercies rebuild us. His grace restores us and saves us. And God brings you and me and our households back to Himself, to His favor, to commune with Him forevermore. But this doesn't bring us into a kind of static mode, right? Where we're kind of the frozen chosen. Now it's time in Christ to live for him, to do wholeheartedly his will and not to fall back on that sin that had once exiled us. Some of us come from backgrounds where Christ wasn't honored. Christ wasn't served. Christ was rejected by our parents and our grandparents and our forefathers. And Peter says, you have been ransomed from the futile ways of your ancestors. Why would you go back to that sin that exiled them and would no doubt exile you? And so, to do this work of being reformed and always being reformed according to the Word of God, what do we need as the Church? The Word of God in this book, as we introduce some of its themes, the book of Nehemiah, tells us that the church needs moral courage to work for God, to obey God, to rebuild the spiritual ruins that lie about us, the worship of God and the works that God has called us to. And God calls us to do this, not in some kind of pristine paradise. God calls us to do this in this fallen world, in the face of great opposition, in the face of hostile detractors, authorities, haters, and well-meaning partisans who would have us be detracted and go astray from our God, from our Savior, from his worship. No, beloved, we must work consistently, faithfully in Christ, hopefully. The book of Nehemiah is gonna teach us that the church must sacrifice oftentimes comforts, luxuries, reputation if need be. You must be willing to be accused of any number of things for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For the sake of the gospel, for the sake of our Lord, we can never pay attention to detractors around us, and we must continue on the work that God has laid before us to do with great joy and with great gusto, just like Nehemiah. He wasn't a, in some regards, he was an unlikely reformer. He was a hesitant reformer, but he was a joyful reformer who took up his task with joy. And so it is with us, we don't, as our elder prayed, we don't see God's, Law as a burden. We see it as our great joy to live for God. And we see this work of Reformation that God puts before us as our great duty, yes, but as our great delight. And we see this here at the very beginning of Nehemiah's story. In chapter 1, verse 1 and following. Nehemiah worked in the Persian capital of Susa. We don't know just yet what he does for a living, and what's he doing in the capital. We'll get to that in verse 11. But so far, we know that he's in the capital, one of the many capitals, as historians tell us, of the Persian Empire. It was a kind of summer dwelling for the king, at this time, Artaxerxes, the king of Persia. And he sees his brother Hanani return with others from Judah, from Jerusalem. And a thousand miles away, he's never been to Jerusalem probably. He's interested, he's excited. It's like if you were from a certain place, you've never been. and you hear that there are people, your compatriots, that are from that place. I don't know if you've ever had that where, you know, if you're abroad and you find an American, you wanna know, hey, how's it going? Where are you from, right? If you find a New Yorker in another state, you like are drawn to them, like white on rice. And so it is with Nehemiah. How are God's people doing in Jerusalem? Hanani, tell me, I wanna hear, what's the report? What's the latest? Now, it's been many years since Cyrus decreed the Jews return to the land to rebuild the temple. That was, if you wanna know some dates, 539, around 539 BC, before Christ, our Lord's arrival into this world. And around 458, about 80 years later, and you know how BC years work, The numbers decrease, time progresses, unlike A.D. About 80 years later, in 458, Ezra finishes his book and his reforms, Ezra chapter 10. And about 13, 14 years later, we hear in the 20th year of Artaxerxes reign that Nehemiah is visited by his companions, Hanani, and his brothers. So it's been some time since both the Jews returned to the land and rebuilt under Zerubbabel the temple, and since Ezra visited the land and taught the people the law of God. And so, no doubt, perhaps, Nehemiah has some positive expectations that things are well. That the Jews who survived the exile are doing well. There's probably no trouble. I just want to hear how everything's going, how everyone's doing. The city must be safe and secure and things are as they should be. Right, Hanani? And they said to me, verse 3, No, the remnant there, in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed. The walls and the gates lie in ruin. They haven't been rebuilt, nor have the people sought to rebuild them. And what does Nehemiah do? Verse four tells us that he lies in sorrow. He's devastated. He's heartstruck for days, praying to God. Why? Because God's people are in such great danger. They have received reproach and disgrace and trouble and shame. And they have a lax, casual approach to such a grave danger. And here's the question that is going to take up our time, not only today, but in future weeks as we go through Nehemiah. What's the big deal? What's the big deal with the city gates and wall being in ruins? This is the key question. Why is rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem such an important task, such a spiritual work? Now, we can understand the work under Zerubbabel many decades before the rebuilding of the altar and the temple are of such vital importance. Right? Because if you don't have an altar, you don't have sacrifices. And without sacrifices of animals and the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And there is no reconciliation with God. There can be no drawing near to God if you don't have an altar and a temple. You can't commune with God. And we can understand why the teaching of the law of God is important. People need to know how to obey God, how to express their love to God as Jesus commands, if you love me, keep my commandments. So we understand the importance of altar and temple and of the law of God. We understand why these are spiritual works. But here's the question, what is so important? What is so spiritual? What is so significant about rebuilding A wall. The wall of Jerusalem. There are three answers, three reasons, and they all complement each other here for why the wall must be rebuilt. First of all, there's a physical reason. Judah's physical well-being is threatened without walls. Without walls, Judah is exposed to much danger. This is not a reason unique to Jerusalem. It's actually the case with every ancient city. Without walls, without physical barriers, an ancient city would not exist. It's unthinkable. Without walls, a city will not exist for very long. It's like going outside on a cold, the coldest wintry day. And I don't recommend that. Tomorrow, we're gonna get a blast from the Arctic pole. And you go outside without covering, without a coat, without any protective barrier. What are you doing but exposing yourself to cold? Vulnerable to frostbite, hypothermia, death itself. It's unthinkable. It's like not having a front door to your house. Would you not have a front door to your house? Or windows in your walls just gaping holes? No, we would say rightly of such a house, that house is in ruins. It's unlivable. It's exposed to every rodent, every creature, every element of wind, snow. It's exposed to thieves, evildoers, squatters. We would say the same about a country without borders. Right? Without some kind of separation between itself and others, we would say that that country without borders is not a country that wants to exist for a long time. It would be open to every manner of invasion and thieves and evildoers and squatters. Without walls, Jerusalem is vulnerable to invasion and attacks from other nations. But there's a second reason, a more important reason. And it's not just that Judah's physical wellbeing is at stake and threatened. It's that Judah's spiritual wellbeing is in danger. Without walls, Jerusalem faces not only a physical threat, but a greater spiritual threat. They are in danger of being spiritually assimilated, of being absorbed into the nations around them, of becoming like the nations, because there is no separation between them and the nations of Canaan. And in fact, we see that this is precisely what began to happen in Ezra's time, 14 years before. They had begun to practice the abominations of the Canaanite nations. You see, Jerusalem's physical walls were a visible reminder, a kind of sign and seal of how different they were. It was a reminder of, if you know that term, of the antithesis, of that spiritual separation that God had created between the world and his people, between truth and lies, between good and evil, all the way back in Genesis 3, 15. I will put enmity between you, he says to the serpent, and the woman, between your seed and her seed. They were a reminder that God required of his people to be different. Be holy as God is holy. Judah was to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a consecrated race set apart by God for God, departing from every unclean thing. As James 4 tells us, the same is true of the church today. Friendship with the world, trying to be cozy with the world, makes us enemies of God. And the church, like Israel, is constantly tempted in this regard. We're constantly tempted to mix in with the nations. That doesn't mean living among unbelievers. That's gonna happen, right? We don't wanna live in a cult, in a compound, away from everything. No, God calls us to live in this world. But he calls us to not live as if we were of this world, in. the world, but not of the worlds. This is, of course, the sin of syncretism. Come on. What are you talking about, pastor? What are you talking about, elders? What are you talking about, church? We gotta be like the world. We gotta do what they do. We gotta be respectable. We gotta hold opinions that are respectable opinions. We can't hold to certain parts of God's word that's a little primitive, right? To believe what God says? You actually believe this? That's a constant temptation for Israel then and there, but for us here and now as well. But the church must hold the line, be, live and do as God commanded us to do, to hold to His standard of right and wrong. to hold to what He says is good and evil, to hold to true joy, true hope, true life in Christ alone, the message of salvation that there is given under heaven no other name by which men can be saved except Jesus Christ. We hold to the nature of salvation in Him alone, received by faith alone, without our works, without our obedience and righteousness. We hold to true, full, and free forgiveness in Christ's blood. We hold to all the other aspects of God's word, what it means for a marriage to be a true marriage, the nature of marriage, the nature of good sexuality, what it means to be masculine, what it means to be feminine, honoring our parents, guarding the Lord's day, sanctifying the name of the Lord, and not taking it in vain. We stand as God's people for absolute truth, ultimate joy in Christ. And we do so for the sake of our own souls, but also for the sake of future generations after us. We must rebuild the antithesis where that antithesis lies in ruins. You cannot let the light of Christ go out. The lights are going out all over the world, but the church cannot let the light of Christ go out, cannot let its saltiness be lost, for if it's lost, what good are we? Let's pack up and go home. What are we doing here on Sundays? If we don't serve the one true living God throughout the week, and especially now here in this generation, what are we doing? if we're not distinct from the world around us. But then there is, thirdly, a more It's a greater reason, perhaps a more positive reason for why the walls need to be rebuilt. Not only for the people's physical well-being, not only for their spiritual well-being, but more than this, for the glory of God. And this third reason is tied to the prior two. And I wanna show you this from God's word, just a quick survey of Nehemiah and a number of passages. God tells his people that the wall must be rebuilt because God is expanding his temple. The rebuilding of the walls represents nothing short of God expanding his temple. The walls of Jerusalem are seen by Nehemiah in the book of Nehemiah as an extension of the temple. The city walls, in other words, are as holy as the temple. The city, no less than the temple, is God's dwelling place, his holy hill. Notice four passages, Nehemiah chapter three, verse one. Look at these with me in your copy of God's word. Nehemiah chapter three, verse one. Notice how God describes the walls. Then Eliashib, the high priest, rose up with his brothers, the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. Notice what it says. They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hanana. Usually you dedicate walls. and gates. But here, they're being consecrated, probably with holy oil, by the high priest himself. These are not just ordinary walls and gates. They're being set apart in language that's used of the temple, its furniture, its elements, and its priesthood. Look at chapter 11, verse 1. Once the wall and the gates are rebuilt, Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of 10 to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine out of 10 remained in the other towns. There was a kind of casting of lots, a kind of rotation that was set up so that all of God's people would live where? In just another city, just another society, in the holy city. The holiness of the temple now is not found only in the altar, only in the holy or holiest place and places. It's not just found within the borders of the temple, it's now found in the entire city. The temple itself, excuse me, the city itself is the temple of the Lord. Nehemiah 12, verse 30. And the priests, chapter 12, verse 30, and the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates of the wall. The Levites are purified, the priests are purified. Okay, we get that, but then who else is purified? Who else is set apart? Who else is consecrated as holy? All of the people, because Judah has become now consecrated by God, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, and by extension, the wall and the city gates. And then one last passage, chapter 13, verse 22. Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love." The priests are here called by God to do what? To guard the temple? To guard the holy place? To guard the most holy place? No! They're to guard the new, amplified, expanded temple. They are called by God to guard the city gates. The Hebrew word is shamar. And this is a word with great meaning. All the way back in Genesis 2, Adam and Eve were called to shamar, to guard and to keep, and to cultivate the Garden of Eden, which was constituted by God as his temple. And here the same word is used. The priests must guard the new expanded temple, the city of Jerusalem, to guard its gates and its wall. Why? Because the wall represents the new boundary of the temple. All right, it's a lot here. Let's put it all together. What does this mean for us? In other words, the worship of God cannot stay limited to the temple and to the altar. It must go out into the city. The holiness of God is not simply found in a small location. It encompasses now the city. In other words, what is holy unto the Lord is not only what is done by a few Jews, the priests, in a particular place, the altar and temple, at certain times, the feasts and the times of sacrifice, what is holy unto the Lord is everything that is done by God's people within the entire society of Jerusalem at all times. All of that is a holy work done in a holy place by a holy people, the kingdom of priests, that is Judah. What does this mean for us today? That what is holy, what worships the Lord, what is pleasing to God is not only what we do here on Sunday, gathered for a few hours, but also your work throughout the week as you are dispersed throughout all of North Jersey in your callings given you by God. that is a spiritual, holy work that in the words of Nehemiah, rebuilds the ruins that lie about us. Again, ask yourself the question, what is so holy? What is so spiritual about rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem? Nothing except that it's how God asserts His dominion in the world. It's how God reveals His glory and how God is extending His holiness and His goodness into the world. And in our day, we need to know that there are so many parts of the wall of Jerusalem that need to be rebuilt. And you are called by God to get to work. In Christ, all that you do in loving obedience to God does what? It asserts God's truth and his dominion in the world. It reveals his glory and it extends his holiness and his goodness into the world. Think with me of four callings, four parts of the wall that need to be rebuilt in our day, that are in constant need of being reformed and rebuilt according to the word of God. And these come from God's word itself. Think of marriage, for instance. What is so holy about the institution of marriage? We could say nothing except that God created it. that God consecrates as a picture of Christ and his church. And Christ, you see, when a husband loves his wife and a Christian wife submits to her husband, what is happening there? Nothing. No, what's happening there is that Christ is asserting his lordship over the world. He's revealing his glory and he's extending his holiness and goodness in this world through a holy matrimony. And so to tamper with marriage with this part of the wall is to rob God of His glory, to blaspheme against Him. It's to assault God. What is so spiritual about parenting, about changing diapers, secondly, second part of the wall? Having children, is that kind of like, if you want them, you could have them, not, you know, it's kind of preferential. Well, in a certain sense, there's nothing special, there's nothing spiritual, except that God blesses us with children, that God declares that children are a blessing from Him. And as we serve our children and teach them and instruct and discipline and are tender with them and provide for them and protect them and show them God's truth, we not only serve them, but we're serving God. We love Christ in parenting, in childbearing and childrearing, because we are modeling our heavenly Father's love for us to our children. It's not a thing that's neutral. It's vested with great calling and holiness. What's so holy? Think of another part of the wall. What's so holy about your nine to five work, right? What's oftentimes called your secular work. Well, it's just a paycheck. I'm just doing it, you know, got to provide, got to pay the bills. Well, in a certain sense, there is nothing holy about it. except that it's such a crucial way we serve God. We serve God by serving our neighbors with our abilities as we provide a necessary service and product to them with excellence and hardiness as unto the Lord, as Colossians says. In our congregation, we have teachers, exterminators, accountants, restaurateurs, analysts, mothers, Your work, you see, yeah, in a certain sense in itself is not holy, but because you are in Christ, it's consecrated onto the Lord. Work in Christ is not evil. It's not a curse. It's a gift to be received and enjoyed in Christ and in and through your work. What is God doing but asserting his sovereign lordship? revealing his glory, extending his goodness and holiness into the world. And we can think of one more aspect. There's so many parts of the wall that we need to rebuild, that we need to work on, that God places us in. But another one that applies to us all. What's so holy and spiritual about being a citizen? If you're not a citizen, then someone who's engaged politically. In a certain sense, nothing. except that God says that it is how he establishes for us our way to work towards a more just society. Neither as revolutionaries nor as statists who worship government, but as citizens, as those who stand for God's truth in the public square. And so in sum, what are we saying here? What is God telling us? That in the rebuilding of the walls of His city, He's asserting His dominion in the world, revealing His glory, extending His goodness and holiness. If you are to think, for those who are having a hard time tracking, think of it this way. Jerusalem's altar and temple is what we do here on Sunday. then the wall is simply an extension of that temple, what God calls you to do Monday through Saturday. And just as Jerusalem's wall become an extension of the temple, our work during the week is not merely work, is not merely us doing things. It becomes, in Christ, part of our worship of God. Our Christian worship, our cultus, transforms and motivates our Christian work, our culture, so that our work is an extension of our worship of God. Brothers and sisters, I'm gonna resist the temptation to say a lot, lot more than this as we introduce Nehemiah. But I wanna leave you with two concluding thoughts, two concluding points, an encouragement and an exhortation. God builds his kingdom. It is God who built his kingdom, not you. Not me. Not any man. Because it's Christ's kingdom. His kingdom is forever. The kingdoms of this world come and go. They rise and they fall. in the will of God, but it's Christ's kingdom that abides forever. Hebrews 12 and 13 tell us that we have come near by the grace and the power and the mercies of God to a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Why? Because it has Christ the King at its center. Through his death and resurrection, through his ascension, Jesus establishes his kingdom, his people, his eternal city, their worship, their devotion, and a human culture that will forever exalt him. Christ is asserting his dominion. Christ is revealing his glory. Christ is extending his holiness in the world. And you see this in the New Testament at the very end, just before he goes up to heaven and is ascended on high. In Matthew 28, what does Jesus say? What does he declare? All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Jesus says. And on that basis, on the basis that he is the supreme sovereign in the universe, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I've commanded you, lo, I am with you until the end of the age. What Jesus says there is not merely a command. It's a blessing. Go! The harvest is ready. Bring in the fields. They're white for harvest. And pray for laborers. God tells us, gather in the nations. Instruct them in my word. Bring in the nations. And what do we see in the book of Acts? The church, blessed by God, blessed by the presence of God, through his outpoured Holy Spirit, goes into Judah and Samaria, and then all across to the ends of the Roman Empire, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, his absolute work on the cross and in his resurrection, proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sins, and the nations are being brought in to Christ, into Zion, into this city, that is doing what? That's expanding, growing. As Christ asserts his dominion in the world, as the church proclaims the truth, as Christ reveals his glory, he's extending the borders of his city. What do we find in the rest of the New Testament, in the epistles? The church now is teaching the nations how to live. Think of how Extraordinary, it is. We were just talking about the seventh commandment, you shall not commit adultery, that there's a book in the Bible called Corinth, 1 and 2 Corinthians. Because God is saying of Corinth, my church is there and that city is mine. There's a book in the Bible called Ephesians. That's like, like if there was a book in the Bible called 1 and 2 San Franciscans. We'd be like, oh no, God is too pure for that. God is too holy for that. He can't meddle in the things of this world, in the cities of this world. Doesn't God know how sinful and vile Ephesus and Rome and Corinth and Thessalonica are? But you see, all throughout the New Testament, what's happening is God is saying, mine, mine, mine, Corinth is mine, Ephesus is mine, Rome is mine. And what would we say of Christ and his dominion today? US is mine. China is mine. Canada is mine. New York is mine. The church in the New Testament, in the Epistles, is teaching the nations how to worship God. There's a right way to do it. There are many wrong ways, but there's a right way to do it. This is how you are to live as Christ's people, as sojourners, as pilgrims in this world, rebuilding the wall of the city, loving God and loving neighbor. And this is where we find ourselves today in history. We keep moving as the church the borders of God's temple farther and farther out with the proclamation of the word and the sharing of the gospel to our unbelieving neighbors and friends and family. And why are we moving the borders of the city out? Because God is moving the boundaries of his temple farther and farther out. Because through the ordinary work of Christ and the ordinary works of the church, God, God builds his kingdom. And by the end of history, what do we see? Revelation 21, 22, that God has built his people, his temple city, the New Jerusalem, in such a way that it covers the world. Isaiah 2 says, in the latter days, the kingdom of God shall be the highest of all the mountains, and it shall cover the world. There are still walls and gates in the New Jerusalem because those who have rejected Christ are excluded from the city of God. And yet, on that last day, what will we see except that God's city will have encrusted in it the most beautiful, precious stones? and jewels, not because she alone is beautiful, but because she reflects the infinite beauty, majesty, and glory of Christ himself. That's why we'll sing in a moment, Christ Shall Have Dominion. over land and sea. Earth's remotest region shall his empire be. The ends of all the earth shall hear and turn unto the Lord in fear. All kindreds of the earth shall own and worship him as God alone. From Psalm 22. Be encouraged. Christ builds his kingdom and his kingdom cannot fail. The second point, as we conclude, the real conclusion, is an exhortation to get to work. If this is all true, and it is, then we should work. We should work heartily onto the Lord. We can't do everything on the wall. And we'll see that in Nehemiah chapter three, there were different stations along the wall and wherever God has placed you, you need to work there in that station and rebuild that part of the wall. I can't do it. For you, and you can't do it for me. You can't outsource this work to someone or something else. You are placed where you are by God to rebuild that part of the wall. You live in the here and now. You can't say, well, I thought a previous generation took care of that. They may or may not have. But you're here. God has placed you where you are today. You may wish to have lived in another better part of history. Why do we have to do this work today? Why do we have, I just wanna live in a society where biblical marriage is assumed, where the claims of Christ are just a given in society. You're not. I don't know if you know that. You're in 2025. We're in ruins. And yet we go with the deepest, greatest, highest encouragement that we don't go at this alone, but Christ is with us. And so I ask you, what are you going to do? How are you going to rise up and serve the Lord and build the local church and advance His name and encourage others? God humbles us because this is a work that will outlive you and me. We may never see the return of Christ, but that's okay. We have all the examples of church history and redemptive history to encourage us and exhorting us onward. This work that Nehemiah started, you know, by the end of his book in Nehemiah 13, it wasn't over. This work outlasted Ezra and Nehemiah. It will outlast you. It outlasted the apostles. It's a slow, incremental, intergenerational work, and you only get to see part of it in your lifetime. And that's as it should be. But do not let that prevent you from working heartily unto the Lord, because God builds his kingdom through your ordinary work. As you worship Christ, as you fellowship with God's people here at Grace Reformed Church, as you serve God with your families, as you seek the lost, as you build each other up in the local body, as you rejoice daily in Christ's saving goodness, as you hope and teach others to hope in God, always, God is fulfilling His promise. And this, through the ordinary work and worship of Christ is how Christ changes the world. And you see this in the New Testament. You see this in the period of time after the apostles. This is how God asserts his dominion in the world, reveals his glory, and extends his holiness and goodness in the world. Let us get to work, beloved, and do so in the name of the Lord. Amen? Let's pray. Our Father and our God, help us, for the work is great and our troubles are many. Father, would you help us to see that our Savior is greater than all, that what we have in Christ is the life eternal that can never be extinguished by man, by the devil, by this world. Help us to love you and kindle in us, Father, such devotion to you, such a heart for Christ, such a love for his word, such a love for holiness and holy living, that, Father, we would be seen as a rebuilt city in this world that lies in ruins, that we would be seen, Father, as an instantiation, as a beachhead, as it were, of the kingdom of God, that we would be the distinct and attractive kingdom of Christ's holiness, that men desperate for life would come to Christ, Father, through the ordinary word and work and worship of your people. that men desperate to flee from death and the false promises of the devil's lies would find in Christ the embodiment of truth, the desire of the nations, pardon for sins, freedom from their imprisoned, miserable lives. Use our work, our worship, our words, our evangelism, Father, our opportunities as we take them and see them and, Father, take advantage of where you've placed us, Lord, to speak to others, to be good neighbors to others, that, Father, you would use every part and all of this for your glory, to assert your dominion, to reveal your majesty and to extend your goodness and holiness in this world that, Father, belongs to Christ. Bless us, Father, as we proceed in this series. Give us strength. Help us, Father, not only to talk the talk, but to walk the walk. We ask all these things now in Jesus' name. Amen.