Old Testament. We'll give you a minute to find that. Some of y'all got a hunting peck. There is an Old Testament in the Bible. It's for the New Testament if you get lost there. Kind of give you a little bit of an update as far as where Nehemiah as we have been going through it and it's been a while since we have been in Nehemiah. We stopped in chapter 9. But you remember that in Nehemiah he had a burden for Jerusalem and saw how it was so exposed that he wanted to build the walls. Well, the walls are built. It took 52 days to build those walls despite adversaries and people withstanding him. You remember Sanballat and Tobias and how they mocked him and made fun of him and threatened him and everything. And this was in a time period roughly around 444 BC, around 444 BC to 425 BC. And what you have after this is actually that 400 years of silence in between the Old Testament and the New Testament. So what had happened? Ezra was a contemporary and he read the law and there was a stirring up of the people and they were very excited because the wall had been built, there were security around Jerusalem, the law had been read and they were revived. Now as they were, we say they were revived, when somebody says they have been revived or Boy, the Lord got a hold of them and they've changed or they say they've repented of something and boy, they're ready to follow hard after the Lord. How do we know that is genuine? How do we know here as we're getting into God's Word, how do we know they were genuinely converted to follow wholeheartedly after the Lord? We pray for revival, but if revival happens, can we know it's genuine? We say we love the truth, and you're here because you love the truth. I'm sure that's your main purpose of being here. You love the truth. But when the truth of God's word calls for you to change, when God's word challenges you, and convicts you that you are in the wrong in certain areas in your life and you need to change your ways, let me tell you something, your actions and your speech give way to how much you really love the truth. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak. Do we live out the truth when it confronts us? Here's the situation in Nehemiah. but it's a reality that we live with also. When truth demands change, oftentimes it used to be the old saying, you've done gone to meddling. In other words, you're getting in areas you don't need to be in. Yet the truth should not be compromised. I want us to look tonight There's 39 verses in chapter 10. A lot of it is filled with names, and names that you would probably not be able to pronounce. Even if you were listening to them being pronounced, you probably could not even follow along. These are names like we have gone over in Chronicles, and the names are also found in the book of Ezra. So we run across these names more than once, but I want us to notice here the telltale signs of how change is genuine. How when God gets a hold of a person, there is a genuine change in their heart and life. In chapter 10, the first 27 verses, what we look at is how the people of God submitted to the Word of God. how they were surrendered to the Word of God. There are 84 names that are mentioned here in this short section of Scripture. And out of these 84 names, they actually put their seal on a covenant with the Lord. Now what does it mean to put their seal in a covenant with the Lord? It was something they were literally taking a vow to. And when you take a vow, let me tell you something very serious when it comes to vowing something unto the Lord. Notice what it says in verse 29, and we'll back up here in a minute. Verse 29 says, "...they claimed to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and into an oath to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses, a servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and His judgments and His statutes." Notice it says they entered into a curse and into an oath. They took an oath and that oath would be a curse unto them if they did not keep that oath. Now undoubtedly they had heard Ezra read the book of the law and possibly what they heard is something about taking oaths. Listen to what it says in Numbers chapter 30 and down in verse 2. The Word of God says, If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. In other words, it's a very serious thing to take a vow before the Lord. Listen to what it says also in the book of Ecclesiastes. Over in the book of Ecclesiastes, in chapter 5, the first seven verses. Keep your foot when you go to the house of God. Be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with your mouth. And let not your heart be hasty to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven and thou upon earth. Therefore, let thy words be few. For a dream comes through the multitude of business, and a fool's voice is known by a multitude of words. When you vow a vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you have vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin. Neither say thou, before the angel, that it was an error. Wherefore should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For in the multitude of dreams, many words, and many words, there are also divers vanities, but fear thou God. Hear the word of God. Don't be quick to vow a vow. We are to obey out of a heart of love. If you vow a vow, what it does, it kind of puts you in a legalistic sense under an obligation to fulfill. Now when you're obligated to fulfill something, let me tell you something, your heart is not in it as much as if you love to do something. If you know you have to do something, then it becomes kind of legalistic. But if you have the desire in the heart to do something, it comes out of a heart of love and there's more passion in doing it. Should we vow vows in our day and time? Let me give you an example. I'm gonna read three chapters of my Bible every day. I'm gonna, now this is just an example. I'm gonna vow that I'm gonna read three chapters a day. Now that puts you under obligation under God, where God says don't speak rashly. And it puts you under kind of a legalistic type thing that you have to do. Now, what happens if you get home, you're very tired, and you fall asleep? or you start falling asleep, and you remember, oops, I forgot to read my three chapters today. You get up and you read your three chapters, you kind of mumble fumble through it, but you know what, it don't profit you anything. It is much better. I remember many years ago, before I was married, I was trying to impress a young lady, and I read through my Bible, and I've given this illustration before, I read through it in about two or three months, And I was just a speed demon reader. I was just reading, reading, reading every chance I had. I got through, and I told this young girl, I'd read through my Bible, and she made the response, so how much did you study it? You know what, we don't need to read for the sake of reading. We need to read that we might grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ. There's a lot of times we read, just to say we've read, and you know what? You haven't benefited squat from it. Your heart's gotta be in it. So I tell you, be careful, and this doesn't just cover in reading the Word of God, but in every area of your life, be careful about making vows. Now that I've said that, Back in Nehemiah here, as they have taken a vow, I want you to notice these 84 names that have taken that vow. Nehemiah is at the top of the list. And notice there are 21 priests that follow that. In other words, it's the leadership that takes the lead. And when the leadership leads, the people follow. Notice what the Word of God says because in verses 2-8 it lists all the priests that are heads of their house. Now this does not count all the wives and the children as far as in the heads of these houses. It just talks about the heads of each house. Now these that sealed were Nehemiah the Tertiary, the son of Hekeliah and Zedkijah. Sariah, where Ezra would fall under his leadership, Azariah, Jeremiah, Pasher, Amariah, Melchijah, Hattush, Shebaniah, Maluk, Haram, Merimoth, Obadiah, Daniel, Ginnithon, Baruch, Meshulam, Abijah, Maizhemim, Meaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah, these were the priests. Now there are 21 priests. Then there are 44 heads of different leading families in verses 14 through 27. Here the Word of God goes on to say with the Levites, both Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Benuai of the sons of Hinnadad and Kadmiel, and their brethren Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kelita, Peliah, Hanan, Micah, Rehob, Hashabiah, Zechariah, How'd you like to have that name? Beninu. Hey, Beninu. Anyway, we move right along. These are foreign names. The chief of the people, Parosh, Peheth Moab, Elam, Zathu, Benai, Bunai, Asgad, Bebai, Adonijah, Bigvai, Aden, Eter, Heizkaijah, Azur, Hodaja, Hesham, Bizai, Harith, Anathoth, Nibai, Magpiash, Mishulam, Hezer, Mishizabel, Zadok, Jagua, Pelletiah, Hainan, Aniah, Hosea, Hananiah, Heshub, Halolahesh, 44 heads of the leading families We read there, and the leadership sets the example. And I want you to notice what it says in verse 29. They claimed to their brethren, all these people, their nobles, and entered into a curse and into an oath to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our God and his judgments and his statutes. So here what they have is that they've got a respect unto the Word of God and they submit to the Word of God. Here is how you can see a change in a person's life is if they submit unto the Word of God. They desire to fulfill the Word of God and do God's will. And the only way to know God's will is through God's Word, so they get into God's Word. Another telltale sign here as far as these people that God had changed their lives is that they are sanctified. Now that very simply means set apart. Now when you think about the word sanctified, that's something that happens and we've said this time and again, even said it this morning, When we trust in the Lord, we are sanctified unto God. We are set apart unto God. But sanctification has a process, and that process is progressive sanctification. We are set apart from the world. We are set apart to God when we are saved, born again, we belong unto Him. But as we go through life, God is working in us and weaning the world out of us. And that's how we grow in holiness. So there is progressive sanctification, you might say. I want you to notice what it says in verse 28. It says, "...the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethanims, and all that had separated themselves from the people of the lands, under the law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, everyone having knowledge and having understanding." Then skip down to verse 30, it says, Now what is he saying here? He's saying that they are separated from all the nations that are around them. The Jews were God's people. They were holy. They were sanctified. They were set apart. In other words, they were not like the Gentile nations in many, many ways. There was a very marked difference because of that. But what happens if you start dabbling in the world, the world starts getting in your life. If you start playing around in the world, the more worldly you start becoming. And here's what happens in chapter 13. You can see that worldliness kind of creeping in into the Jews' life. Even though they have taken a vow, we need to be devoted unto God and not the world. Even like the Jews had committed themselves to be separating themselves, as it says in verse 28, not letting their children marry ungodly people. Now I want you to notice here the Word of God tells us and it goes hand-in-hand with the pattern that we find in the New Testament. The Word of God says, be not conformed to this world but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may be able to prove that acceptable and perfect will of God which is your reasonable service. We need to... don't let the world shape you into its mold. In our day and time, there are so many Christians that are so worldly, by the way they talk, by the way they dress, by the way they act, by the things they do, the places they go, that there's not a clear distinction between a child of God and a lost person. You know what? Our lives should be, just our presence ought to bring conviction to lost people. I've had people run from me before. I've had people slam doors before, hide from me. They ought to. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. Just kidding. But there is a difference between our lives and the way the world is. Notice what it says in chapter 9 in verse 2. the seed of Israel, separated themselves from all strangers and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers." They stood out from the people. They separated themselves from the people of the lands, as it says in chapter 10 and verse 28. And they would not allow their children to intermarry. Now there is a difference here. They didn't isolate themselves and just not associate with anybody. But what they did, they separated themselves unto God. If you separate yourself from God and even other believers as well as unbelievers, you're in isolation and you have nobody. They didn't just go by a bunch of do's and don'ts. You gotta do this, you can't do that. That's legalism. That's not what God has called us to. God's not called us to live out a bunch of rules and regulations and we're a bunch of robots. That's not what it's talking about here. I want you to notice there's two main things that separated the children of God that he talks about in this passage of scripture. One is marriage. It says it in verse 28, how they separated themselves from the people of the lands under the law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, everyone having knowledge and having understanding. They did not intermarry. Look what it says in verse 30. They would not give our daughters. We would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons. There was a line of demarcation. In other words, the principle you find in the New Testament, it's found right here in the Old Testament that believers did not intermarry with unbelievers. Here is a very important principle. Listen to what it says over in 2 Corinthians 6. In 2 Corinthians 6, and down in verse 14, the word of God says, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? Let me tell you something. If young people started getting together as far as believers with unbelievers, and let's say they're dating, What that will lead to eventually is there's going to be conflict. Eventually there will be compromise. And let me tell you, once you start compromising with the worldly ways, you're just on a slippery slope of a bunch of compromising on a downhill slide. It should not be practiced, as far as young people, missionary dating. In other words, I'm going to date this person so I can win them to the Lord. Let me tell you, that's going contrary to the Word of God. It says, be ye not unequally yoked. When you compromise with sin, no matter what kind of sin it is, when you start compromising with sin, you're going to always lose because it's going to lead to further compromise. Don't go that route. I've had, I remember it was years ago, I had a girl that was, I remember a girl that was living with a guy, they wanted me to marry him, and I told them they needed to come apart. And I said, you're living in sin. Here was the girl's response, God knows our hearts. Let me tell you something, God does know your heart, and he knows it's exceedingly wicked. God knows that, but let me ask you this question. Does God bless disobedience? This girl, she was a teenager, older teenager at that time, this girl professed to know Christ. Does God bless disobedience? Let me tell you He does not. Here they vowed a vow that they would do according to God's word as he states. There's one other principle brought out here. Besides marriage, there is the Sabbath. The Sabbath is something that only the Jews observed. God gave the Sabbath unto the Jews, His people in the Old Testament. Every other nation did not observe the Sabbath. In other words, other nations they sold goods, they carried on business as usual, but not the Jewish people. They were not like that. God had made them to differ than other nations. It was a day of rest. It was a day that Notice what it says in verse 29, which was given by Moses the servant of God to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his judgments and his statutes. And if the people, in verse 31, of the land bring where any victuals on the Sabbath day to sell, we would not bide of them on the Sabbath or on the holy day, and that we would leave the seventh year and the exaction of every debt. Now, notice here, oh how times has changed, haven't they? We can go to buy anything we want to on a store on Sunday. We can do and we can trade. We do business on Sunday. God set aside a day for rest. The problem with people in our day and time is the problem of the heart. It's an attitude. Ultimately, it's an act of rebellion against God. Here what is mentioned about the Sabbath is talking about every seventh day. But there was also a sabbatical year. And I want you to notice what it's talking about here when it talks about a sabbatical year. That means every seventh year the children of Israel were to give the land rest, not plant anything. And God promised to provide for them that next coming year where they didn't plant anything. Now you know what? If you're in an agricultural society, you're dependent upon God to bless the land, to give you the fruit that you might have the abundance to eat and provide for the year. But when God tells you don't plant and He's going to provide for you all that coming next year, that's going to take a little bit of faith, ain't it? Now think about it here. They had not been practicing that for nearly 500 years. Long time. You think they're setting their ways? You think they would be? But the law had been read to them and they knew they were to give the land rest. In other words, they had to take God at His word that God would supply a two-year supply out of one. Listen to what it says over in Leviticus chapter 28. Leviticus, the 25th chapter, Leviticus 25, and down in verse 8. The word of God says in verse 8, and thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years. Now how many years is that? Mathematicians, where's your calculator? Seven times seven. 49, there's 49 years and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee, if you read the Word of God here you'd have the answer, 49. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month. In the day of atonement shall you make the trumpet sound throughout all your land." In other words, this was the year of Jubilee. After seven sabbatical years, which is 49 years, in the 50th year they were supposed to have a year of Jubilee. So they've got actually three years space now God would provide for. You talk about trusting the Lord. Go live on a farm, live off the farm, and then don't plant nothing for a year after seven years and trust God to provide the next year. That's faith. Here's where these people are. Notice what it says back in 2 Chronicles. In 2 Chronicles chapter 36 and down in verse 21. 2 Chronicles 36, 21 says this, Well, back in verse 20, "...and them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon, where there were servants to him and his sons, and to the reign of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths. For as long as she lay desolate, she kept sabbath to full threescore and ten years." God said, you're going into captivity for 70 years, and what he did He put them in the captivity for 70 years because they didn't observe the year of Jubilee as well as the seven years of Sabbaths. So they were representing 500 years that they had not let the land rest. God let the land rest for 70 years. You know what? It does not pay to disobey God, to go contrary to His Word. Here it takes great faith for these people to do as it says in verse 31, if the people of the land bring where? Anything to sell? Victuals? Food on the Sabbath day to sell? They said they would not buy it. on the Sabbath, or on the Holy Day, and that we would leave off the seventh year in the exaction of every debt." In other words, we're going to let the land rest that seventh year. Here is a radical change. I want you to notice the third point here in the latter part of this scripture. What is the evidence that revival is genuine. What is the evidence that the change is really genuine? First we look, they submit to the Word of God and as they submit to God's Word then they separated themselves from the world. But in verses 32 through 39 there is a phrase that occurs over and over and over. He says it nine times in these short verses. It's found in verse 32 starting now. Notice what it says. Also we made ordinances for us to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God. What he emphasizes throughout the remainder of this scripture is the house of God. That would have been the temple back in that day and time. that they were gonna support the house of God. Here, I want you to notice how we treat the place of worship implies of how we think of God. Hear me? Hear me closely? Especially those that ain't here, that were here this morning, that's who I'm talking about. How we treat the house of worship, where we meet at, implies what we think about God, our attitude toward God. Do we neglect the house of God? Do we ignore? And let me tell you something, COVID cut some from the house of God. Did you notice that? Most churches, somebody was telling me, are down like one-third have dropped off of their membership because of COVID. Let me tell you something that shows more about the God they worship than about gathering with God's people. It shows more about their faith or lack thereof in God. Now I'll probably get some flack for that, but I don't care. hear how God's people in the Old Testament treated God's place of worship. Do we treat this building that God has gifted us with just as a commonplace? Is it somewhere where we can come in and we can snack and drink our coffee and kick back and enjoy life? Or is this a place that's holy and sanctified, set apart unto God? I'm asking a very serious question. Is this like home to where we can kick back and just enjoy the service? We're not like a lot of assemblies that will project and play loud music and have the band just strumming and we can applaud and clap and get excited with the lights and we can change the lights and make them different colors and make them swirl around and do all kind of things. This is not a performance. It's not a show. This is where we meet to worship the Lord our God. And the Word of God tells us that God inhabits the praises of His people. You know what? We're called to praise Him, to worship Him. We gather in His name. And you know what? The Lord's presence is right here. Sometimes I think we're absent-minded of that. If you knew the Lord was sitting right beside you right now, or this morning during their morning service, would you have acted a little bit different? You know what? He is here. How we treat our place where we worship the Lord our God speaks volumes of what we think of our God. In verses 32 and 33, the Word of God says they made ordinances and charged themselves yearly, a third of a shekel. for the showbread, for the continual meat offering, for the continual burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, for the set of feasts, for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of the Lord. This shekel was given to carry on the work of the Lord in the house of God. It used to be a half a shekel. But you remember these people are coming out of captivity. They're coming back to Jerusalem. Everything was laid bare. They were very poor and impoverished. So notice how they adjusted that half shekel to a third shekel. God does not condemn them for that. Later on, when Jesus was walking this earth in Jerusalem, it was back at a half shekel. I find that very interesting. Because here they are paying to support the ministry, but it's kind of monitored by what they're able to afford. They give support to the ministry. And even so, it would be like in our day and time, it's giving support to missions, to the gospel, to those who are on staff, it's to the building, the upkeep, the maintenance, That's what this verse 32 and 33 are likened to. But notice verse 34. We have an unusual need here. In verse 34 it says, And we cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people for the wood offering. Now there's nowhere in the law about a wood offering as far as how much you are to give, how many chunks of wood you gotta bring, or how many splinters of wood you gotta bring, how much trees you gotta cut down. It doesn't say anything about that. But it just simply says what they did, they had a need for wood to offer up the sacrifices, start fires, and do these types of things, which wood was a big need in that day and time. So what did they do? They made up a way to provide for wood to bring it into the house of our God. After the houses of our fathers had the times appointed year by year to burn upon the altar of the Lord our God as it is written in the law. So here they had a need, they worked around to meet that need. In verse 35 through 37, the first part of that, here it talks about the first fruits. and to bring the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit, of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the Lord. And the first morn of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the firstlings of our herds, and of our flocks, to bring to the house of God, and to the priests that minister in the house of our God, and that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner, of trees, wine, and of oil, unto the priest to the chambers of the house of our God." In other words, what they did, they brought the first fruits. They brought the very best and they gave it unto the Lord God. We're to give of our first fruit. Oftentimes the way we give, we give what we got left over. That's not the principle that God sees that we should give. It doesn't say how much they gave, it just says they gave the first fruits. Therefore, this is not talking about the tithe, it's talking about giving freely. The tithe is in the next verse, or the latter part of verse 37. Notice it says, and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our village, or tillage. And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites. When the Levites take the tithes, the Levites shall bring up the tithes of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house. For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, the new wine, the oil into the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters and the singers, and we will not forsake the house of our God. The Levites gave a tithe. The tithe was given to the Levites. The Levites tithed on the tithe, and they gave it to the priest. Yeah, that's according to the law. In the New Testament, how we are to give, I know there are some with differing opinions. Billy was asking me just the other day, last time he was in church, what is a tithe? And so I had to explain to him what a tithe is. A tithe very simply means a tenth. Are we to tithe in our day and time? Listen to what it says. I don't believe you can find tithe in the New Testament, but it says in chapter 16 of 1 Corinthians, Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do you. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem." The Word of God tells us that God loves a cheerful giver. I am not telling you you've got to give X amount of dollars of what you make over the week. I don't think that's biblical principle. I do believe a tithe is a good gauge. But I believe we're under grace, and I believe we ought to give above and beyond. And you know what? New Life Baptist Church is a very giving church. A very giving church. We've helped many people over the years. But when the Word of God says that God loves a cheerful giver, that Greek word for cheerful is hilarium. And you know what that translates out? Hilarious. You give hilariously. In other words, you joy in giving. And you know what? It is better to give than to receive is what Jesus taught us. Where your treasure is, that's where your heart will be also. The Lord loves a cheerful giver. I want you to notice how the passage of Scripture closes in Nehemiah 10. It says, the very last phrase in verse 39, we will not forsake the house of our God. I was talking to a man this past week. He taught Sunday school for 40 years in a Baptist church. He's still teaching it. He asked me what we did in COVID. I told him I kept the doors open. He said, well, good for you. God commanded us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves. I told our people, I told y'all. Don't come if you don't feel safe, if you don't feel comfortable. But the doors are open and I'm gonna be here, Lord willing. Respect one another and we did that. There have been people I've talked to, their churches split over masks. Now that's ridiculous. Split because of social distancing. That is a shame. You can see Satan's hand in that type of attitude. I told him our attendance went way down to about, I think it was 7-1 service. Is that right, Brother Jeff? I think there were, one time we went all the way down to about seven, then it started climbing slowly back up. I told him, he asked if we had only Sunday morning services. I said, no, we have Sunday night service and we got Wednesday night service. I said, a lot of Southern Baptist shut down Sunday night. They shut off Wednesday night and they'll do all kinds of things. Tomorrow's July the 4th. His church was shutting down for Sunday night because tomorrow's July the 4th. And you know what I said? I'm going to be in church. Whether people show up or not, I'm going to preach and be here. I'll preach to myself if I have to. I thank God I don't have to because you love truth. But something this passage of scripture is teaching us is that we've got to apply the truth which we learn. We've got to put it into practice. Don't just be hearers of the word, but be doers also. If all you've done is hear, you're not accomplishing anything. May the Word of God find lodging in our heart to conform us more into the image of His dear Son. That as we go through this life, others can see Christ in us and they sense something different. Your life ought to be a light in this dark world we live in. When people talk to you, they ought to notice some pep in your talk. even if you don't feel peppy. You know why? Because the Spirit of God dwells in your heart. And you know what? If you're going to be downcast and discouraged, you're no better than the world when you talk to Him. Don't be like the old saying, misery loves company. You know what? Misery loves company, but those that ain't miserable don't like miserable company. You know what I'm saying? God has called us to show forth his son to a lost and dying world and speak truth, to speak life unto those who need to hear. May God make us into a channel of blessing with his gospel. Let's stand and go to the Lord in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we truly desire godly change in our lives. We desire to be conformed into the image of your Son. And we know this is your ultimate purpose and goal in our lives, as you chip away the chinks And as there's suffering and difficulties in life, we know that you're working as the master planner, the master designer, the creator. Lord, we ask that you work in our lives, that others can see Christ. As John the Baptist said, he must increase and I must decrease. May we strive to present Christ to a lost and dying world. We ask that you work effectually in our midst and mightily that glory might be brought to your name for Christ's sake. Amen. We're going to sing a hymn of invitation. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.