Built for Generations

Heat up here. Well, good morning, Cross Church Phoenix. How are you? >> Good, good. I am Pastor DJ. I'm the pastor here at Cross Church Phoenix. So, if I haven't met you yet, welcome. Uh, come find me afterwards. I'd love to meet and chat with you. I uh see new faces all the time and we have some this morning. So, welcome. If you would open your Bibles to Nehemiah 7. And if you don't have a Bible, there are some in the seat back or maybe the seat behind you. Um, and those are our gift to you. You can keep that Bible. You can highlight it. You can make notes or underline things. Make it your Bible. That is our gift to you and uh we will gladly replace it. Um, I apologize if I sound a little differently. am on the mend thankfully, but getting over a cold last Friday and Saturday was like the worst of it. And now I'm I'm better. Just my voice is a little off. But if you remember last week, um actually I want to back up and reiterate the uh invitation to our pizza with a pastor next week. That is next Sunday at noonish. It's after second service. Uh it is free. You just need to sign up online. And I want to encourage if you haven't been to one yet, we go over mission, vision, values of cross church, and then our statement of faith, right? What we believe and what we um, you know, our convictions, what we stand for, and uh that is a place also where you can learn more about the church, ask any questions you might have, and uh come learn what it might be like for you to be a member or a part of Cross Church this as we make Jesus known. But please do sign up for that. If you haven't been to one, you can sign up online. It just tells me how much pizza to get. Um, last week, Pastor Jackie was here preaching Nehemiah 6. Uh, from the beginning of that to into the first few verses of chapter 7. And one of the themes, key thoughts that he shared with us was when the project is done, the work has only just begun. And we've seen that to be true. How the first half of Nehemiah is basically uh a massive rebuilding project. And if you're open to Nehemiah 7 and this is your first time here, uh we we are jumping into an interesting passage to say the least. Um but we will work through it as we go. Um but for a little bit of context, um if you remember the Babylonian captivity uh has basically come and gone. Uh, Persia had conquered Babylon and released some Jewish people back to Israel and Nehemiah had it on his heart to head over there and lead a rebuilding project. The whole point of the Israelites going back to Jerusalem was to rebuild the city and establish worship of God again. And they've been back for a while. The problem is they haven't done it. So God sent prophets to them. One of them is Haggi. That little book in the Bible that you may never have read is a prophet proclaiming to returned Israelites, "Hey, are you guys going to live in nice panled houses while the house of God remains in ruin?" And so he addresses this whole idea where they've come back and they've taken care of themselves but not the house of God. And so Nehemiah has come. He is starting this rebuilding project rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem that were previously destroyed. And so as we come to chapter 7, the walls and gates are built. Yay. Like everything's good to go. We're all done. And as we heard last week, not so fast. As we come to chapter 7, we see build uh the doors are installed and leadership has been assigned. Those are the first few verses of chapter 7. And what I love, if you look at chapter 2, just by way of reminder, then I put my brother, this is Nehemiah talking, I put my brother Hannah in charge of Jerusalem along with Haniah, commander of the fortress. Because here's why. Why did you put Haniah in charge? Because he was a faithful man who feared God more than most. I love that. Can you say you fear God more than most? That's wonderful. Maybe not more than everyone on the planet, but I love how Nehemiah and Ezra ultimately are like, "Hey, who fears God more than most people we know? Let's put those people in charge." And so that's what they've done is they've established the walls and gates are up. Okay, we're a a respectable city again. We have some protection. Now we need leadership to be established. And so he begins doing that. And we have to remember the point of it all. What is the point? The primary purpose of rebuilding Jerusalem in this context is so the right worship of God would continue that the correct appropriate worship of Yahweh will continue on. So although the building project has come to an end, we have what? The spiritual revival that must take place. The point isn't just a building in walls, right? We have a building in walls. It this could be a shopping center, right? Or bulldozed and turned into apartments. It It's not about just having a building and walls. It's about what what we do here, which is to worship and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and make Jesus known in our community. That's the point of this place. And that was the point of worship in Israel as well. And so that's what we're going to look at today. Um, if you have a handout, um, you if you don't, you can feel free to grab them. They're on those black tables in the back. Uh, but if you have a handout, you'll see this heading, foundations for building enduring God-honoring worship. And I know that that's kind of sounds like a mouthful, and it kind of is, and I didn't know how else to put it. Um, I was talking with my wife this week, and my original heading was foundations for enduring God-honoring worship. and he she was like, "It kind of sounds like we're suffering through it. Um like it's something to endure." I was like, "Yeah, that's true." Uh so for building enduring God-honoring worship, and what I mean by that, of course, is something that endures, something that will last, something that will outlast us and go on for generations. Because I believe that's exactly what Nehemiah is doing here. Him and Ezra ultimately are laying the foundation for God-honoring worship. To not just start again, not just have a few good Sundays, have the fire lit, and have it be hot, and then all of a sudden it fades out, but to do and build something that will endure. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this morning. Thank you for your word. I pray that you would help us uh to understand and to know, Lord, the power of your word, the gravity of your word, Lord. Um I pray that you would speak your word to the hearts and minds of your people this morning. Um Lord, may I get out of the way and let you speak, God. I pray that everything we we do would be honoring and glorifying to you and edifying to each other. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. We'll start at verse five. Then my God, this is Nehemiah talking. Then my God put it into my mind to assemble the nobles, the officials, and the people to be registered by genealogy. I found the genealogical record of those who came back first. And I found the following written in it. These are the people of the province who went up among the captive exiles, deported by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Each of them returned to Jerusalem in Judah to his own town. They came with Zerubbabible, Joshua, Nehemiah, a different Nehemiah, Azariah, Rameha, Ramayiah, uh, Nehammani, Mori, Bilshan, Miss Pereth, Big Vi, Neah, and Bayana. The number of the Israel, my men included, dot dot dot. I know you're like, "Is he going to The first question is like you're going to look at the rest of the chapter and wonder two things, right? First, are we going to read all that? And second, what on earth does a bunch of names and numbers have to do with us?" And I want to share my heart with you before we get into it. Okay? What I love about God is he is just so This is part of his holiness, right? He is so set apart from us. He's holy, holy, holy. Threats holy. And he's just so different. What you and I as mere human beings see as boring slash maybe something to gloss over or skip. You know, if we're started a through the Bible reading plan, um you know, it's a new year, maybe you started a plan, I don't know, and you come to Nehemiah 7, you're like, you know, next. Um, or I'll just click and check this box off to say that I like, but it's really not that important. Um, or if you sat down and told yourself, I'm going to read first and second Chronicles, you would have to like Acts, the first 10 or 11 chapters of Chronicles, if you considered names and and genealogies to not really be worth reading because that's what 1 Chronicles starts off with. um is just like 10 chapters, not just one, but 10 and 11 chapters of just people and and it can be a little bit daunting and a little bit like, h well, is this really important? And gloss over it, but what we that just shows the finite and the humanity of our humanity, if that makes sense. Um because what we deem as maybe unimportant or worth passing over, God decides to put on repeat because Nehemiah 7 is almost word for word an exact replica of Ezra chapter 2. So this matters to God. He saw fit to put it in twice. the passages we're quick to dismiss and bypass in our Bible, God doubles up on. You think you can get away from it in Nehemiah 7, hey, if you want to read Ezra, you're going to find it again. Um, so I appreciate that from the Lord, but it's extremely important. Big picture here, when you come to texts like this, and sometimes I can go into like Bible study mode rather than preaching mode, and I apologize, but it's fun anyway. But you have to remember that when you come to texts like this, the big picture matters because this is a huge deal to Israel. But then you say, what does it mean for living in 2026 as a New Testament believer postresurrection of Christ world remember the big picture so this will help you understand the weight of a text like this. You say the weight and gravity of a text like this. Yes, I believe that this text has weight and gravity to it. Remember the big picture on this. The Israelites were attacked and taken captive by Babylon not because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and oh darn or that the uh Babylonians just kind of stumbled upon the Israelites like their land and said I'm going to snag that up from you and attack you and take it. No, what you have to remember is this big picture Bible, right? The Babylonian captivity is a direct result of the judgment of God on Israel for their disobedience. You have to remember that God can declare and make decisions about his judgment, but always has what I like to describe as a judgment arm. What he what or who he uses to bring that. So if you remember there's an Assyrian captivity that the 10 northern tribes go to for their disobedience. God brought judgment on is nor the 10 northern tribes of Israel and used Assyria as his judgment arm. I'm going to use you to do this. He does the same thing to Judah with Babylon. I'm going to use Babylon as my judgment arm to bring judgment to disobedient Judah. So the Babylonian captivity is a result of Israelite the Israelites ignoring God, serving idols, becoming a complete mess. And God says, "Enough is enough. I'm bringing judgment by way of the Babylonians." And God predicted this in the prophets. Um in my personal devotions, I'm reading through Jeremiah. And over and over, God said through Jeremiah, "Judgment is coming. Warning, warning, warning." You know, danger, Will Robinson. This is coming. Um, and get this, Israel was so bad that God told Jeremiah, "Don't even bother praying for them." What? Yeah. Don't pray, Jeremiah, that this judgment would like not come to pass. Why? It's coming. Don't waste your time, Jeremiah. Now, I have to be careful what I say from the pulpit because my kids will sometimes repeat it, which is fine usually until it's taken out of context, right? Um, but Jeremiah chapter 10 is basically God telling Jeremiah, "Everyone in Israel is stupid. Everyone's stupid." He said, "This is no joke." He says, "Look it up." I looked it up in different translations to see if they use a different word. No, most major translations all you stupid. He says he says their idols are stupid. He says all every man is stupid and the shepherds are stupid. Everyone is stupid. That's God's that if you want a summary of Jeremiah 10, that's it, right? Just God is telling Jeremiah Israel is ridiculous. And so God promised because they turned their back on the Lord Yahweh, the living God, going after dead idols made of wood, God promised exile and brought it. But but what you have to remember and if you read the rest, Jeremiah, Isaiah, other prophets, they pro God promises exile and then what? Promises restoration and bringing his children back. So just as sure as the promise of exile was, so too was the promise that God will once again reather his people. So you have to know this about God. God is a promisekeeper. Both when it comes to bringing judgment and when it comes to bringing salvation and restoration. Both has a lot to do with us today, right? So don't think it doesn't have to do with you. God is a promisekeeper whether bringing judgment or bringing salvation. So I want to challenge you as we read through this passage to think this way. Every time every time a name and number is read, think to yourself, promise kept. Because that's true. Every Israelite who steps foot back in the promised land who came out of exile is a testimony a witness to the promisekeeping to our God who's the promisekeeper to our promisekeeping God that he is going to bring them back. Every single person here is a testimony and witness to that. For example, if we read Parash's descendants 2172, promise kept. Shephay's descendants 372. Promise kept. God said, "I will bring my people back." And he did it. So, let's read. Now, I'm going to read. I don't normally, if you're, if you've been here a while, I don't normally bring my phone up here. I don't like having it up, but my phone organizes the names and numbers better because in my Bible it has the name and number and then the num the name and then the numbers across the page. I would need like a ruler like all right, I'm going read this from my phone, but let's start in verse 10 here. I read a first couple. Let's do this. The sons of era 652, the sons of Path Moab, namely the sons of Yeshua and Joab 28:18. And it'll say the sons of because that's the more literal translation instead of descendants but means the same thing. Verse 12. The sons of Elim 1254. The sons of Zatu 8:45. The sons of Zakiah 760. The sons of Binui 648. The sons of Bibi 628. The sons of Asgat 23:22. The sons of Adonikim 667. The sons of Bigvi 2067. The sons of Aiden 655. The sons of Adar namely of Hezekiah 98. The sons of Hashim 328. The sons of Biziah 324. Sons of Heriff 112. The sons of Gabian 95. Sons of Bethlehem and Neto 188. The men of Anithoth 128. You can see how it shifts from people groups, right? Clans to also their location. So this is where they're from. The men of Beth, Amth 42. The men of Kirath, Girram, Chafy, and Beaoth 743. The men of Rama and Gea 621. There will be a quiz, so I hope that you're paying attention. Verse 31, the men of Mcmass, 122, the men of Bethl and Ai, important places. 123, the men of the other Nebo, not that Nebobo, the other Neibo, um 52, the sons of other the other Elim 1254, the sons of Herim, 320, the sons of Jericho, 3:45, sons of Lad, Hadid, and Ono 7:21. The sons of Sena 39:30. Now if you look at verse 39 we get into priests right this is all the people but now we got priests where these are people who are who are able to qualified to lead worship priests Levites and others. So verse 39, the priests, sons of Jadiah, namely the house of Yeshua, 973, the sons of Imimer, 1052, the sons of Passure, 1247, sons of Herim, 10:17, the Levites, the sons of Yeshua, namely of Cadmile, of the sons of Heda, 74, the singers, the sons of Asaf, who wrote a bunch of psalms, uh 148, the gatekeepers, the sons of Shalom, the sons of Adar, the sons of Talman, sons of Akub, the sons of Hatida, the sons of Shobi. 138, the temple servants. Here we go. Now, we have some servants of the in the temple. The sons of Zeha, the sons of Hufa, the sons of Taboth, the sons of Keros, the sons of Sa, the sons of Pon. Hope you're taking notes. The sons of Lebana, the sons of Hagaba, the sons of Sha, the sons of Hanan, the sons of Gdel, sons of Gahar, the sons of Rhea, the sons of Resin, the sons of Nikod, the sons of Gazim, the sons of Aza, the sons of Pacia, the sons of Bessi, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nefesim, um the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakufa, the sons of Haror, the sons of Baslith, the sons of Maha, the sons of Harsha, sons of Barcos, the sons of Cicura, the sons of Teima, the sons of Nziah, the sons of Hatifah. We get into uh descendants who came from Solomon's servants. Verse 57. The sons of Solomon's servants, the sons of Sotai, the sons of Sophareth, the sons of Perita, the sons of Jala, the sons of Darcon, the sons of Gdel, the sons of Shephitayiah, the sons of Hatil, the sons of Pocareth, Hazabim, and the sons of Ammon. All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon's servants were 392. We'll stop there. In a partridge in a pear tree, right? And we're not even done with the chapter yet. There's more. But wait, there's more. Um, but I want to reiterate what what I said at the beginning that ultimately if you keep I know, right? Like it's easy for your mind to wander. This is boring. What is up? What is up with this? It's important to remember that Ezra in Ezra 2, Nehemiah, and Nehemiah 7 are laying the foundations for God-honoring worship to continue and thrive. In order to do that, they need to know who's who. They do. When Ezra puts this same list together, he positions it. This is great. It's cool to know these things for me. He positions it right before they start sacrificing and worshiping again. Before the second temple is even built. Ezra is trying to lead the way on starting sacrificial worship, giving offerings to the Lord sacrificially. Um and so he puts this here before he gets into that. What does Nehemiah do? Building project. Yes. But when we start talking about getting into revival of spiritual a spiritual revival of worship, what does he do? Insert this and then let's move on with it. Because in chapter Nehemiah 8, Ezra is about to get up and preach, right? And so we have to understand that the position of these are laying the foundation for worship. So the first thing I want us to see in your handout, all that's to say this, right? What is the point? Point number one, resolution. Right? the first foundation for God-honoring enduring God-honoring worship. Resolve to know and obey God in his word. Now, if you were to read this passage in Ezra, Ezra gives a little bit more detail, and there's a few things in there that are really important for you to know. It describes God as rousing the people to go back, and that's this list of people. So, remember, not every Israelite went back. Some stayed back due to comfort because you have to remember that by this time it's not like hardcore, you know, slavery and oppression of the people. Life in Babylon, remember Daniel, book of Daniel and all that, and then into the Persian Empire has gotten a little comfortable. So when King Cyrus says, "I'm going to sign a decree whoever," right? It says, "Whoever wants to go back and rebuild Jerusalem can." If you said, "I want to go." What you're signing yourself up to do is to go to desolation, to go to a place that has been destroyed and say, "I want to do the hard work of rebuilding it." And so Ezra describes like everyone that God roused up to go. They were resolved. We're going to go rebuild and do the work of the Lord. Now, the irony is this. They didn't. That's Haggi, right? God sends them Haggi because they go, they show up in Jerusalem and start rebuilding their own houses and leave the house of God in shambles. So, God sends him Haggi to try to correct that situation, right? Are you going to live in your own nice little house while the house of God lays in ruins? That's the message of Haggi. And so, they had disobeyed. They had an initial desire to return and worship the Lord, but they let their own desires and comfort deter them from doing the Lord's work. You say, "What all does that have to do with us?" Well, here as Crotch Church Phoenix, we must resolve to know and obey God and stick with it. Because the example here, these are all people who said, "I'm going back. I'm going to go do what God has called us to do. And the fire burnt out, though. And I've already given a spoiler alert, so I'll give it again. Right. Nehemiah is not going to end well. It's not. It all points to the Lord Jesus Christ who will finish it and who will do everything perfectly. But if we want this to be a place where our children can grow up in the Lord, carry the torch of the gospel long after we're gone, we have to resolve now to be men and women who are about loving, serving, and worshiping God. We want to build something that outlast us, right? It's not all about Pastor DJ's time here or our time here. What about our children, right? our youth in the in in the youth ministry, our high schoolers and junior highs. We want to build a culture of something that will last, that we can pass the baton to, but we have to make sure that we do it right. And that's what Ezra and Nehemiah are trying to do. Let's read verses 61- 69. We have a group of of gentlemen here. Um the following verse 61 are those who came from Telma, Tel Harsh, Kerub, Adon, and Imr. but were unable to prove their ancestral families and their lineage were Israel. That's key. Verse 62, we have Delia's descendants, Tobaya's descendants, and Nakota's descendants. And from the priests, um, that's key from the priest. It's the descendants of Hobaya, the descendants of Hakaz, the descendants of Barzeli, who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzi, the Gileadite, and who bore their name. Now, we give Barzai a big thumbs up. Basically he's in 2 Samuel. He helped out David when there was a rebellion from his son Abs uh from his son. So Barzel is our friend. These search for their entries in the genealological records but they could not be found. So what they were disqualified from the priesthood. The governor ordered them not to eat the most holy things until there was a priest who could come consult the mumm and thum. So verse 66, the whole combined assembly numbered 42,360, not including their 7,337 male and female servants, as well as their 245 male and female singers. They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys, in case you were wondering, right? Even the animals are counted. So number two, not only do we need to resolve to know and obey God in his word, but we also need number two, discernment, pause and seek God's guidance on difficult matters. So basically in verses 61-69, we have groups of people who cannot prove that they're priests. Now, if you if you look very carefully, it says from the priests, this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy, and they can't prove that they're qualified for it. So, I am of the opinion and the belief that these people are already acting as priests before they get there. And now God puts it on Ezra and Nehemiah's heart, right, to figure this all out. and they're like, "Oh, well, I can't really prove that I'm supposed to be a priest, but like I've been doing this, right?" Um, verse 63, from the priest. The NIV from in verse 63 says, "From among the priests." So, these are people acting as priests already, but trying to prove their legitimacy, but they can't and they're disqualified. Why? Remember, big picture, big Bible picture, right? God had established how he is supposed to be worshiped, who can do what and where. God established certain rules and guidelines for someone to serve as a priest in the Old Testament. This isn't a free-for-all. You can't just show up and be like, I want to be a priest. And then God's like, all right, cool. I guess you can't, right? No, no, no. It's not. That's not how it happened. If you were a priest, you had to be from the lineage, a male from the lineage of Aaron, right? And they couldn't prove that and that's why they were removed. The bottom line is God established how he was to be worshiped. Israel can't just worship however they want. And Ezra and Nehemiah are being so careful to not uh even accidentally disobey God, right? We don't want to have some guy serving as a priest and the new temple is being built who's not supposed to be there. His heart might be there. Great. You want to serve as a priest? That's cool. Are you allowed to? Are you supposed to? And if the answer is no, you couldn't. Do you remember Naab and Abaiu? This is in Leviticus, that other book that we sometimes gloss over or skip over. Read Leviticus. It's great. Naab and Abaiu offer what's called strange fire to Yahweh, to the Lord, right? God establishes how things are going to be done. And they're like, "Well, that's cool, but I'm going to do it this way." Do you know how it worked out for them? God zapped them. Read it. They They weren't going to have a second chance because they died. That's how seriously God took how people are going to worship him, right? If you think that you're just going to show up and do whatever you want, God zapped Naab and Abaiu. And then Moses told Aaron like, "Don't weep for them." Wow. Right. Like things got ser things were serious. Um and so that is why if it kind of provides a little context to help you wrap your mind around the fact that this chap why do they take this so seriously? every name and number and figuring they these are people who are thumbming through records to see who can do what. Why? Because they care so much that God is worshiped correctly that that supersedes everything. Even if it means disqualifying people who have the heart to do it but shouldn't be doing it. Some of these guys want to serve. The heart may be there but if they don't meet God's qualifications, even if the heart's there, they cannot be allowed to continue. Ezra, Nehemiah, and others took the right worship of God so seriously that they aired on the side of disqualification. Right? They're not even sure. They have to pause and seek God with the thum, but they didn't even want to ignorantly disobey God. Accidentally disobey God. So, they didn't even air on the side of like, well, maybe we should take their word for it. No, it was if it doesn't match up, we're airing on the side of sorry, bro, but you cannot serve as a priest because they didn't want to accidentally disobey and dishonor God and have their worship be null and void. Worshiping God correctly mattered more than anything, even if it meant removing leaders who desired to serve but were disqualified. And so, they had to hit the pause button. Now, I don't have time to go into the m and the thum, but the short of it is this. It was a way for Old Testament priests to discern the will of God. It went on their breastplate. Some think it might have been these gemstones that were in a pocket. But um in Hebrew means lights and thum in Hebrew means perfection, which is kind of cool, right? They sought lights and perfection to discern God's will. And some believe that the gemstones lit up providing like a yes or no or true or false answer. The best way if you're curious about the thum, the best example of its use is in Joshua and I forget where, but there's sin in the camp, right? There's sin in the camp. Who is it? And so they consult the thum. They're like, "Is it this tribe?" And yeah. Oh, is it this family? Yeah. Oh, is it this dude? Yeah. Oh, okay. You know, or maybe it didn't light if it was, no, it's this one. you know, but they used the urum and the thum to identify sin in the camp and deal with it. So that's the short story of that. We're not 100% sure how it worked, but what does it mean here? It means that they needed to stop, pause, and consult God before these guys do anything at more. The correct worship of God superseded everything. If you don't get anything from it, that's what I'm trying to say. We must worship God on his terms, not our own. It's not a free-for-all. Jesus said, "Those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." A classic violation of this is in Matthew 15. Jesus is dealing with Pharisees who accused him and his disciples of breaking the tradition of the elders. What was the tradition? You remember washing your hands before you eat? Stuff that you and I do, of course. But they had turned this tradition, you know, tradition. They turned a tradition into a commandment of God. They're violating the commandment of God. It was not a commandment of God. It was a commandment of men. And they come after Jesus and his and his disciples. And Jesus rebuke them and quotes Isaiah against them and says this. This people, this is Jesus speaking, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching his doctrines the commandments of men. You think because you wash your hands before you eat, you're closer to God when your heart is far from him. And we have dudes who are not washing their hands before they eat, but are walking right next to Jesus, right? Follow the doctrines of God. The commandments of men don't make that doctrines of God. And so I would challenge you. Reflect on your own life. Do you honor God? I had to do this, right? The preacher shouldn't do anything you shouldn't uh shouldn't uh not do anything he would tell people to do. Reflect on your own life. Do you honor God with your lips but have a heart that is far from him? It's worth reflecting on. Is your worship in vain? Because coming to church on Sunday is mere ritual or tradition void of a heart to honor and please God with your life. Sometimes, you know, we come on Sunday, praise the Lord, and then we go to work and use his name in vain. I was talking with a lady out here who had a little sign uh almost lady sleeping on the property. She has a sign that says like repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior. I was like, "Oh, that's cool." And I had told her, "We have some baptisms. We're going to be using this door, so we need space there. And please," I said, "Please don't leave any trash. We get a lot of trash. Clean it up." Okay. And what does she do? Starts yelling at me using the Lord's name in vain. Right? I'm like, "So, which one is it? Do you want me to like She didn't know I was the pastor, but I'm like, "Do you want me to like do what your sign says and love God, or do you want me or are you going to cuss at me in his name?" Um, that's weird. and and stormed off. But it's it can happen in church too. It can happen in church too. Showing up on Sunday is wonderful. We are commanded to gather. But is your heart near to him Monday through Saturday? Is it or just on Sunday? May Cross Church Phoenix. My prayer is that we would be filled with those who worship God with a true heart, filled with joy, pleasing to the Lord. I'm going to read 70 through 73 and close close us out. I know we're getting a little bit late, but here verse 70. Some of the family heads contributed to the project. The governor gave 1,000 gold coins, 50 bowls, and 530 priestly garments in the treasury. Some of the family heads gave 20,000 gold coins, and 2,200 silver miners to the treasury for the project. The rest of the people gave 20,000 gold coins, 2,000 silver miners, and 67 priestly garments. The priests, Levites, gatekeepers, temple singers, some of the people, temple servants, and all Israel settled in their towns. And we'll get into chapter 8 next time, the seventh month came and they settled in their towns. The last thing, the third thing we see here, laying the foundation for God-honoring, enduring worship is stewardship. Stewardship. sacrificially give for the sake of the ministry. In Ezra's account, which I would encourage you to read, he gives more insight or just more detail. He says, "The families came and gave free will offerings to the Lord based on what they could give." I love that. According to their ability, they gave. There's no set amount. Y'all owe this much. No. Some families could do more, some could do less. If you remember previously, some the rich leaders are taking advantage of the poor leaders. So don't forget that. And they Nehemiah had to set them straight on that. But we uh regardless, right, it was a team effort to contribute to the work of God. And the same is true today in God's church. We often say here that giving is an act of worship and an act of obedience to God. And I believe that firmly with a whole heart. never will tell you how much. That's not my business. That's between you and the Lord. But to have a heart of generosity is basic Christianity. And I teach it that way as basic Christian disciplehip. Giving back what God has given to you. Generosity towards the mission of God ought to be characteristic of the people of God. Right? I get concerned when I hear a Christian have with no heart to give. Now, there's a difference if you have nothing. It's different. Right? And as Brian will say sometimes, you know, time, treasure, talents as well. And we get we get all that. But show me somebody who can give but refuses to give. And I'll tell you somebody who needs some disciplehip, right? Because I firmly believe that. Our closing thought is simply this. Generational impact begins with godly initiative. We want to build. All this said, right? I just read a bunch of names and numbers to kind of bring it down. We want to build a culture here that lasts. A culture of disciplehip, a culture of worship, a culture of evangelism where we train our people and equip our people to share the gospel. A culture of doing things God's way that outlasts us. What happens in 2030 year? Like we're gone. We want our children and our junior high and high schoolers to carry on the torch and to know and to love God and serve him and make Jesus known when we're gone. Right? We don't want the flame to die out with us. We want it to burn strong for those who come after us. And we have to build that up. That's what Ezra and Nehemiah are doing. And that's what we ought to be doing. A culture about doing things God's way that can be passed down to generations beyond us who make Jesus known long after we're gone. And we have a great example of that uh this morning. Um as we get to celebrate baptism, I want to invite uh Rachel and Rebecca down front. Um I know they're a little bit nervous, but um this is a wonderful thing. Um, I'm going to set this down and I'm going to invite the worship team to come up and be ready um to lead us in our last song, but uh everybody, this is um Rachel and Rebecca. Everyone say hi Rachel. Hi, Rebecca. >> Hi. >> All right, so Rachel is going to go first. So, do you want to you want to step in facing this way and sit? Feel it. It's ice cold. I'm just kidding. It's not. It's nice and warm, but I like to, you know. All right. So, you're going to sit you're going to sit closer to this side. Facing this way or turn around. There you go. Just like that. All right. Um, Rebecca and Rachel came up to me a couple weeks ago and wanted to talk about what it would mean for them to be baptized. Um, and so we met, I meet with everyone. And so, if you're interested in being baptized, let us know. You can fill out an X card. You can come talk to me. Um, we go over what it is and what it is not, right? Is baptism, does baptism save you? No. No. The thief on the cross is no less saved than those who've been baptized, right? And he ain't coming off the cross. Jesus said, "Today you'll be with me in paradise." That thief is going to die soon, but he will be with the Lord. But baptism is an act of obedience to the Lord's command. Right? Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations. Matthew 28, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them everything I've commanded you. And lo, I will be with you till the end of the age. My heart's desire is to simply to to baptize believers in Jesus Christ as we disciple them. And that's what Rachel and Rebecca have decided to do. Um, so they h they have been part of our youth ministry that started about a year ago and uh continue to grow and be part of our church, which is a wonderful thing. So Rachel, I got it right. Rachel, do you believe Jesus Christ is your personal Lord and Savior? Say yes. >> Yes. >> Do you believe that he died on the cross and rose again, showing his power over sin and death, and that he has authority over your life? >> Yes. >> All right. Well, upon your profession of faith, you can cross your arms. Upon your profession of faith, I baptize you, my sister, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. For we are buried with him by baptism unto death and raised to walk in newness of life. Need help out. And we have some here. Let me grab you some stuff. Sorry. All right. Come on in, Rebecca. It's nice and warm. It is nice and warm. Uh, all right, Rebecca, same questions. Do you believe Jesus Christ is your personal Lord and Savior? >> Yes, sir. >> Do you believe that he died on the cross and rose again on the third day, showing his power over sin and death, and that he has authority over your life? >> Yes. >> Well, upon your profession of faith, I baptize you, my sister, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. For we are buried with him by baptism unto death and raised to walk in newness of life. >> All right. Amen. All right. Let's stand as we worship the Lord together. I'm going