Nehemiah's Final Reforms part 1

Thank you, Keith. I love that last song. You will hold me fast. Now think about how powerful those truths are. We learned that God holds his people fast. When we studied the seven churches of revelation, what did Christ do in those churches? He persevered in them. Would not let them stay where they were. If they were in sin, met them in their circumstances, and he held them. We're learning, and have been learning in Nehemiah that he is doing the very same thing in those Old Testament saints, those chosen people of God the Jews. So that song is relevant to Christians in revelation.

It's relevant to those Old Testament believers, and it's very relevant for us today. Thank you for that one, Keith. We'll take your Bible term with me to Nehemiah 13. I'm sure you have that place marked from our scripture reading earlier. I know I've mentioned several times that this is the last chapter in the book of Nehemiah, and I really enjoy how Nehemiah chapter 13 is unfolding. Nehemiah chapter 13 really, really fits the title of the series. From time to time, I do mention the title of the series. That is Rebuilding and Revival in God's People. That's what we see taking place through Nehemiah and his ministry.

He's been a part of the people coming back to Jerusalem and rebuilding their lives. They've been rebuilding their lives in many different ways, and there's been great revival among God's people. And we will continue to see reforms and rebuilding and spiritual renewal and revival even in the last chapter. Now, it has been obvious all along through our study that Nehemiah has been one of, if not the main character in the book, really the main character in this portion of the story. Now, what's the story? Ezra and Nehemiah are part of one story, God calling his people out of Babylonian captivity. They go together.

As a matter of fact, in the Hebrew Bible, Ezra and Nehemiah are really one book. But we see Nehemiah as the main character way back in chapter one, verse one. Let me read what the verse says. The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah. Also, we see Nehemiah, his great activity in the book. He didn't just write it or pen it, or this didn't just come from his words, but his activity is very obvious. He leaves his service there in Babylon to the Persian king. He was the cup bearer. He was very close to the king. He goes back to Jerusalem, and his main purpose was rebuilding the walls, therefore rebuilding the city.

He was the leader in rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem. He successfully kept the enemies of God out of the way, men like Sanballat and Tobiah. We learned a lot about those enemies back earlier in the study. He even shouldered much of the financial load. Remember, he supported many of the people from his own pocket. And listen to all that he did. This is a multitasker if we could use our language. He was the wall builder. He was the governor. He was an instigator in civil and social and spiritual reform.

Yes, there were men like Ezra involved in the work, but Nehemiah was the major instrument for God's work in that day and in these circumstances. Now I do encourage you, take some time. Go back and read through Ezra. It's a very easy read. Some of the genealogy can be difficult. And go back and read through Nehemiah. Get it all back in your mind. Maybe study your notes and listen to some of the messages because you will see just how instrumental Nehemiah has been. Now, as we step into the final chapter of the book, we need to see that Nehemiah has been absent from Jerusalem for quite some time.

If you go back to chapter two, verse six, we see that Nehemiah gave the king of Persia a definite time that he would be away from his responsibilities in Persia. Let me pause there for a minute. We might fail to realize that he was still under the authority of the king and he was still subject to serve the king. And he was true to his word. Chapter five, verse 14 mentions that definite timeframe, which he was governor. And chapter 13, verse six mentions his eventual return back to Jerusalem. Now, a couple of questions. Why did Nehemiah return to Jerusalem?

Now, remember back in chapter one, his first trip to Jerusalem, he had received a negative report. God broke his heart and God called him through that brokenness to be a part of that work. Why did Nehemiah return the second time? Did he hear a negative report? Did he hear a report similar to what he got the first time? We really don't know. Was he called of God to return to like a second phase of God's work? We really don't know. We don't know what type of spiritual work went on in his life. Now, in chapter one, when he went the first time, we get a good glimpse of the spiritual work that God did.

Now, what did he find when he got to Jerusalem? We will see as we continue what he found. We need to see that all through the book, there are things that are progressing. Now, think back for a minute. It really progresses in a very positive manner, socially and spiritually. There were some ups and downs, yes. But then we see that things seem to drop off in a major way, socially and spiritually. Things seem to have gotten pretty bad. And so the answer to the question, what did he find in Jerusalem, has just been answered. He comes back and things do not look very, very well. Now, some more details before we get into verses.

At the end of chapter six, we see that the walls were finished. And at the beginning of chapter seven, we see that Nehemiah appoints his brother and Hananiah in charge of things. Then in chapter eight, we see a great revival of God's word that leads to great repentance and revival among the people that went over into chapter nine. In chapter 10, we see the people commit to the covenant. They commit to a covenant to keep God's covenant. Then in chapter 11 and chapter 12, we see maybe some mundane teaching because it's about repopulating the city. And then we see there is a dedication of the wall.

Now with that dedication, it was a great celebration. It was a great time of worship. But we will see that after a period of time, we really don't know how much time had elapsed. The people had slipped back into great sin. And here we see Nehemiah's return to Jerusalem again, and he returns to be used in these negative circumstances in a great way. Now let's look at these verses. Many times I'll read more portions of scripture. Sometimes for time, I touch on some. So we're gonna cover verses one through nine. Let me read the scriptures. I'll give you the title and how we will break this down.

On that day, they read aloud from the book of Moses. This would have been the Old Testament scriptures that they had in the hearing of the people. And they found written in that no Amorite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned that curse into a blessing. So it came about that when they heard the law, that would have been the word, they excluded all foreigners from Israel.

Now prior to this, Eleshiv, the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being related to Tobiah, he prepared a large room for him where formerly they put the grain offerings and the frankincense, the utensils and the tithes of grain, wine and oil prescribed for the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. But verse six, during all this time, I was not in Jerusalem. See, he's not there until verse six. For in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I had gone to the king.

After some time, however, I asked to leave from the king and came to Jerusalem and learned about the evil that Eleshim had done for Tobiah by preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God. And it was very displeasing to me. And here's the verse that I read earlier or the portion of verse eight. So I threw all of Tobiah's household goods out of the room. Then I gave an order and they cleansed the rooms or purified them and they returned there, the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense. So you see what's taking place here. Nehemiah is back and he's back to a negative set of circumstances again.

So I call this message, Nehemiah's final reforms. And this is a part one. We'll hold on to that title through the rest of the chapter. So we see Nehemiah's final reforms. Like I said, we'll cover verses one through nine. You see how we'll divide them. Verses one through three. This is the exclusion of the foreigners. Then verses four through nine, Tobiah. He was expelled from the temple. It's very simple, very relevant, lots of application for us today, especially at the conclusion of the message. So let's look at our first major truth, the exclusion of the foreigners. Go back to the verses. On that day they read aloud from the book of Moses.

This would have been their portion of the Old Testament scriptures. And there they read that no Ammonite and no Moabite should ever be a part of the people of God. And it gives reasons why. And then we see verse three. So it came about that when they heard the law, the word, they excluded foreigners from the people. Here we find that the Jews ran a familiar set of circumstances. This is familiar to you if you have a good memory. They were in a set of familiar circumstances in two ways. They are reading the word of God and they are in sin. Now for you, for me, I don't know how you view it. I say this, wow, what a cycle.

It seems that they're on a roller coaster of up and down, right with God and in sin. The sad thing is they are repeating what they had done earlier. So you see how sad this is. They are reading the word and they have found out that they are in sin. Now I wanna break these verses down. I'm gonna make three observations here. First of all, notice they read from God's word. That's obvious there in verse one. Here we find they're reading the scriptures. Now most Bible scholars believe that this would have been part of a regular reading. Part of their everyday, their worship, their being faithful to worship.

Not necessarily a special worship service. And from what is said and dealt here, it seems that they are reading from Deuteronomy 23 verses three through six. They most definitely would have had a copy of Deuteronomy. So they're reading from the word. Second observation, they discovered their sin. They discovered their sin. What do we see? The word says that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be in their midst or in their assembly or a part of their people because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and with water and they hired Balaam against them to curse them. And then we see verse three.

So they saw what was in the law and they excluded the foreigner. So here we see that the word of God as they read it exposed their sin. What was their sin? That allowed pagan people, specifically Ammonites and Moabites, to settle among them. Now I want us to notice who, and in your note taking I would like you to write that word who and I want us to notice why, write that word down. We need to know who and why here. We need to see that these particular peoples were descendants of Lot. You remember Lot. Lot was Abraham's nephew, was he not? Abraham started on his journey of faith back in Genesis chapter 12 and Lot went with Abraham.

Now the scriptures tell us that Lot was a righteous man, but he had a problem with worldliness and he suffered dearly for his love for the world. Now it's sad if you study the entire life of Lot at the end of his life, he loses his life, he loses everything, and he is ultimately involved in incestuous relations with his daughters and the descendants of those incestuous relationships were the Ammonites and the Moabites. And the scriptures say that they were enemies of God. So that's the who. These people were descendants of Lot and they were enemies of God. But notice why, why they were prohibited here.

They did not help the Jews, the nation of Israel, when they were leaving Egyptian slavery and going into the Promised Land. They were an obstacle. And then they hired Balaam to curse them. Of course that curse never was a curse, it turned into a blessing. And so we see that the who, these were descendants of Lot and why? They were prohibited because they were enemies of God and they had resisted the people of God. And their pagan ways would have corrupted the people. Every single time the Jews would intermingle and intermarry with pagans, they were corrupted. Now the sad part is they had already done this before.

After Ezra returned to the land, the same sin was dealt with in Ezra chapter nine and 10. So this is that cycle, that roller coaster ride of disobeying God and being right with God after repentance. So they discovered their grievous sin. Then the third observation, they repented according to the word of God. Isn't that what verse three says? So it came about that when they heard the law, they excluded all foreigners from Israel. It appears that the people did repent of the sin and adjust their lives to the word of God. Verse three states that they put them away. Now they did not just say, I'm sorry.

They repented from the sin and to the word of God, which meant they would have excluded the people. Now, what do we see here just in these three verses? The people of God had fallen back into sin. This sin had plagued them since Ezra's time. And this was a sin that God had judged them for originally. These are some of the very same things that caused them to be thrust into judgment in Babylon. So what a sad case. This roller coaster ride of sin and rebellion and repentance. You would have thought that they would have had victory there. But we see two things. We see two actions here. First, the word of God. Let me explain what I mean by that.

There is action from the word of God, because when they read the word of God, their sin was revealed. Anytime people read the word of God, it will expose them. And then the other action here is the mercy and the grace of God. God was merciful to this sinful people. God was merciful to them back in Ezra chapter nine and 10. So we see the word of God working in their life, and we see the grace and the mercy of God working in their life. Now, in application, I wanna start off with a question. And then I'll move from the question to some other statements of application. But let me make this statement.

It might seem out of place, but it needs to be mentioned. Was God being a racist? Now, He's excluding a different people. Ammonites and Moabites. Was God being a racist? Well, the answer is no. God was willing to receive any repentant non-Jew who would leave their pagan ways and follow the one true God. Go study the book of Ruth. What is the story of Ruth? The story of Ruth is a woman named Ruth who was a Moabite. Now, why was she excluded? She was included because of her repentance. She repented of her pagan ways. She left her foreign gods.

She identified with the people of God, but she identified with the one true God, and she was included into the people of God. What a wonderful story of grace and mercy. And she was of another race. So this is not God being racist. This is God excluding paganism. The Ammonites, the Moabites were enemies of God. They had set their countenance and their ways against God. They had determined to rebel against God, and they were being judged for that. So that needs to be answered because asking that question forces us to see how God dealt with the pagan peoples. Now, also an application. We must see the work of the Word of God. Isn't that amazing?

We see in verse one that they're under the Word of God. Now it doesn't matter if it was part of their regular worship or if it was a special event. What matters is that they were reading and understanding the Word of God, and the Word of God did a work in them. And that is true for us today. I cannot stress enough to you how important it is for you to be under the Word. You need to be under the Word in your own personal life. You need to discipline your time. Some of you like to get up early. Some of you are night owls and you stay up late. It doesn't matter if you study the Word like I do or like Brother Keith does.

What matters is if you set aside time to be under the Word of God, to sit under the Word, under the leadership of the Spirit, and to open up your mind and open up your heart. See if we're not careful, we can read it just to check it off on our list. We can read it where our mind is in a thousand different directions, but we need to be under the Word of God with an open mind and an open heart in our own personal life. Then also we need to be under the Word of God corporately. In our study of Nehemiah, we see that they came together corporately to be under the Word.

Some of the greatest spiritual revival among them came from being under the Word. They had men of God that proclaim and explain the Word of God. That's what we do. I'm so thankful that when I'm gone, Brother Keith can take the Word of God and explain the Word of God. And we need to be under the Word because it is the Word that works in us. It's the Word that exposes sin. It's the Word that encourages and teaches us. It's the Word that slowly forms you and grows you. I cannot describe all of the ways that the Word of God works in all of us, but He makes us more Christ-like and He forms us into the people that God wants us to be.

And let me tell you, you will suffer when you are out from under the teaching of the Word and out from under the study of the Word. But you know, there's another point of application here and it's one little word, it's grace. I'm so thankful for God's grace. The older I get, the more thankful I am for God's grace. I had a counseling session with someone here a while back, someone not in our church. And I was explaining to them and dealing with them on just a particular area of failure and growth. And they were struggling through that and praying through that, having victory in that.

And I looked at this young man in the face and I said, you know, it's all about grace. The older you get, the more you'll realize it's about grace. The only good thing that's in my life is because of God's grace. If I got what I deserved, I wouldn't be here in front of you, it's grace. Some of you who are a little older and you've been walking with God a while, you'll look back and you'll say the same thing, it's about grace. Don't we see God's grace? God could have judged them right here for this sin. He could have looked at them and said, I've already forgiven you once back with Ezra. There's so much application here.

We see the grace of God with his people. He's not excluding people because of race, he's excluding them because they're pagans. And we see the wonderful word of God. I can only imagine the great revival that could take place through many of the churches that are suffering. If they had a man of God that would teach the word of God and a people of God that would submit to that word of God. We should never move away from the word in our personal life and in our corporate life.

And I'm thankful that when some of you are out, you can go on the internet, you can listen to those messages, but there's no substitute for us being in the word personally and corporately. Let's look at our second major truth. It changes here starting in verse four. Notice, "Tibiah, he was expelled from the temple." Verse four, "Now prior to this, he was shipped the priest who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being related to Tibiah." He prepared a large room for him, where formally they had put grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils, and the tithes of grain, wine and oil prescribed for the Levites, the singers and the gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.

But during all this time, I was not in Jerusalem. For in the 32nd year of Arctic Circuses, King of Babylon, I had gone to the king. After some time, however, I asked Lee from the king, and I came to Jerusalem and I learned about all the evil that Elisheib had done for Tibiah by preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God. And it was very displeasing to me. So I threw all of Tibiah's household goods out of the room, then I gave the order, and they cleansed or purified the rooms, and I returned the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense. Here we see that things in the temple are not right.

Starting here with verse four, and going to verse 14, we see that there are many sinful things going on in the house of God. Now remember, God's presence literally resided in the temple. These sins involved many people, and they affected many people. We could say that the church house was in a mess, and because of this, worship was affected. And that happened then, and I'm sad to say, it does happen now, and we'll see that when we make application. Now three observations or three ways I wanna divide these verses. First, Elisha of the priest. He allowed a pagan to live in the temple.

Verse four, Elisha of the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of God, being related to Tibiah. And then we see that he allowed Tibiah to live there in the temple. It appears from the verses that Elisha of the priest had been put of charge of these storerooms in the temple. And then we see a terrible revelation. The priest, he was a relative of Tibiah, who was the Ammonite. Now we learn back in chapter four, verse three, who Tibiah was. As a matter of fact, he's mentioned multiple times. He was an enemy of God. Now he was an enemy of God in two ways. First by birth, he was an Ammonite. And then second by his actions.

Just like his forefathers had rebelled against the work of God and the people of God, he was doing the same thing. He was a great enemy of the people of God and the work of God all along. It appears that someone in Elisha's family had married someone in Tibiah's family. And this was a terrible, terrible sin. Now notice because of this spiritual sin, a great physical sin had been committed. Verse five says the rooms within the temple complex had been cleared out so this enemy of God could live in the house of God, the temple.

These rooms were used to store offerings for the Levites, but those things had been cleared out so a pagan could live in God's house. I ran across a quote, I'm not sure where it was, one of the commentators that I use. It's a good description. Let me read it, he says, and I quote, "Tibiah evidently had ability to influence, "coerce, pull strings, and manipulate "with the result that he gained quarters "in the temple complex." That's exactly what he did. He was connected to the high priest and he had serious influence, this Tibiah. So Elisha of the priest allowed this pagan to live in the house of God.

Second observation notice, Nehemiah's reaction to this sin. Now see that verse I read earlier sounds a little different after we've seen what's taken place. Starting in verse six, "But during this time "I was not in Jerusalem." He was back in Persia. But then he asked, we see, to return in verse eight, and it was very displeasing to me. What he discovered when he came back. So I threw all of Tibiah's goods out of the room. Verse nine, "Then he gave the order to have it cleansed, "to have it purified, and he restored those rooms "to their proper use." So here we see in verse six that all of this took place while Nehemiah was not there.

He was back in Babylon serving his king. He was fulfilling his word there in Persia. Now notice what Nehemiah did when he discovered this situation. First he was displeased. It's a very strong word in the original language. And second, he threw all of Tibiah's goods out. Now imagine what that looked like. He literally took all of the man's goods and threw them out. He did not call a committee meeting. He did not consult with an elership. He did not have a sit down with Tibiah or even other priests. He boldly cleansed the temple of this terrible, awful sin. And then third observation, Nehemiah purifies the temple.

We see that in verse five, "Then he gave the order "that they cleansed or purified the rooms, "and he returned the utensils, all of the offerings. "He put everything back in its place." So here we see that he cleansed the rooms. He restored them to their original purposes. The utensils were used in worship. The offerings were used to support the priests and Levites. So all of this had a very important purpose. So what do we see here in these verses? Nehemiah goes back to Jerusalem and he finds grievous, terrible sin. The supposed man of God, the priest of God, elisheel, had allowed a pagan thug to live in God's house.

Yes, that word thug fits. Go back and study Nehemiah. He was a thug all along. He exercised what one commentator said, righteous indignation by kicking out the pagan and restoring God's house to God's original intention. He set things straight. Now notice how he set them according to the word of God. Now an application, I wanna ask us a few questions. And I know this is a little negative, but it needs to be mentioned and it needs to be said. We'll get positive here at the end of the message. Here's the question. How many men who are just like Elisheeb are in charge of the church today? There's one word we could use to describe Elisheeb.

Compromise. He was a compromiser. He had one foot in the house of God and one foot in the world. He was friendly with men like Tobiah and yet he still tried to fulfill his role as a priest. And how many men today are just like Elisheeb and they're in charge of the church house today? How many men do just as Elisheeb did? How many men put ungodly, self-serving, robbing bullies in charge of the church today? How many men just like Elisheeb and Tobiah have control of the church and use the church for selfish purposes? They use the church for anything other than biblical purposes.

Now I wanna use some language here that some of you are familiar with. How many pulpit committees consist of people like Elisheeb and they look and hire and put in place people just like Tobiah? Now what was Tobiah? He was lost, he was pagan. Very carnal. I mean think about that. How many people, they're just like Elisheeb and they're on a pulpit committee and what they do is they go out and they find a man just like Tobiah. They run roughshod right over the church. It went on in Jesus' day and it goes on today. How many churches have what's called committee on committees? Are there carnal people?

There are Elisheeb's and they put people just like them in places. And they even people like Tobiah in places of leadership. Now I'm not necessarily against committees. I know that no matter what the organization is, if it's comprised of godly people, then they'll do godly things. What I'm trying to show you is there are people in the life of the church and they're Elisheeb's and they put Tobiah's in those places. And they use the church for their own means, for their own purposes, for selfishness. And they rob people and rob the church of their original intent.

And I'm thankful that God has led us to elder leadership in the life of the church. I do not mean to say that Brother Keith and I have everything together and we have all the answers. No, but we are God called men called to do the work and you support us and you believe in us and you affirm that in the way you relate to us. And I pray that when that day comes and we have other leaders, we plan to do it God's way and not compromise. See, Elisheeb put Tobiah there. Why? Because Tobiah is the kind of man that can get things done. But that's not God's way.

Now, I want us to move on to the conclusion of the message and I want to take what we've looked at and I want to make further application. Now, how does this exclusion of foreigners apply to us today? Just like in their day, pagans could not be a part of the assembly. What's taking place in our day is all kinds of pagans have been brought into the assembly through weak church membership. Now, we've been about reforming the church a long time. Brother Keith and I have moved slow in certain areas sometimes purposely, sometimes it's just pragmatics.

But we've been studying and learning just this week I was on the phone with some individual, some particular person that's working in the life of their church. We're studying how to implement biblical church membership to do it right because when the standard is lowered, you bring pagans in the fellowship. How many churches have all kinds of people who are not godly, who don't walk with God, they lead questionable lifestyles and they're patted on the back and proclaim to be members of the church. The policies and the procedures have to reflect the biblical standard.

And Brother Keith and I, we are not like illuship, we are not yoked up with questionable people and I'm thankful. We do not bring questionable people in the life of this church. And as we lead, we can't put Tobias in places in the church. So all of this fits. Now, I wanna move to the positive. I want us to see that we must have leaders who are like Nehemiah. Now remember Nehemiah's occupation. He was a layman. He was a cup bear to the king. He was not a priest like Ezra. But he was definitely called of God and he was a great leader for the Lord and we need elders who are like Nehemiah. Now let me show you what Nehemiah was.

First of all, he was a God called man, called to the work. He was called of God. He didn't appoint himself. He didn't go on a good hunch. He didn't go because there was a need. He didn't go 'cause his grandmother thought he needed to be into the ministry. No, he had a genuine call of God. I'll never forget talking to a man and he described it wonderfully. He said, "I don't have an internal call to be an elder "nor an external call." It's perfect. He had an internal call and an external call. Even the king of Persia saw that he was a called man of God. Where are the men who are called of God?

And let me tell you, you cannot substitute a genuine call of God. Second, I want us to see about Nehemiah. He was a man of hard work. I mean, that man worked hard. He rolled up his sleeves and he worked hard. We must have elders who will work hard at this thing called the church. It's hard work and it's not like work that you're used to. It's not nine to five. If it's done right, it can engross your entire life. It's a different kind of work. And Nehemiah was a hardworking man and God called elders work hard. Also, I want you to see that Nehemiah, he made the necessary sacrifices for the work. What do we see?

He even funded some of the work out of his own pocket. Now, what's the point there? He made sacrifices for the work. God called elders will make sacrifices where they're needed, not necessarily monetary sacrifices, but they make sacrifices for the work and they don't toot their own horn. They don't brag. As a matter of fact, they don't let their right hand know what their left hand does, but they make sacrifices for the work. Then also with Nehemiah, he was totally dedicated to the word of God. Every decision that he made was based on the word of God. We must have elders who were committed to doing this thing called the church God's way.

Study the word, do it according to the word. If it's not done according to the word, do like Nehemiah, clean it out and pitch it. Then Nehemiah, he was willing to continue to rebuild the people and rebuild the temple and to continue in revival and reform. Let me show you what I mean. He didn't just come and bring about revival and reform and rebuilding and renewal and leave. He was about continuing in that work. You know, he could have come the second time and just threw his hands in the air and says, I've had it and gone back. He persevered in the work. You know, as you continue in ministry longer, you begin to see things.

Lately what I have seen that's been disturbing for me, I've seen more and more ministers after being in the ministry and serving for an extended period of time getting out. I see more and more ministers leaving the pastorate and leaving serving the local church to go do other types of parachurch ministries. And you know what I hear them say? They just got sick of the junk. That's really wrong in my ear lately. I'm really so glad Paul didn't get sick of the junk. I mean, think about this. Think about the ministry had in Corinth. I mean, he had done so much for those people.

What Paul could have done is he could have thrown his hands up and said, I'm sick of your junk and I'm not writing you another letter. No, he didn't get sick of it. He persevered in the work. And that's what Nehemiah did. He continued to rebuild the people. He continued to work in Jerusalem. He continued the work of reform and repentance and revival. He continued, even if he had to go back a second time because he did not quit. We need elders like that today. We need men in the ministry who will not quit. It's one thing to be disqualified. It's one thing to be knocked out of the ministry because of a bad choice.

It's one thing to be out of the ministry because of your health, but it's another thing when you just say, I got tired of the junk. I'm glad Jesus didn't do that with the 12 churches or the seven churches in Revelation. Now here's where I wanna continue. We're fixing to close. This is positive, but I beg you to pray for Keith and I. Pray for us that we will be elders like Nehemiah. Pray for this work. Pray for this church. Pray for this new year. Pray for our future leaders. We're gonna have to have leaders in the future. We're not against deacons. We just don't need them right now. We're not against other elders. We just don't need them now.

But one day we'll need those men. We'll need other leaders. We have leaders in our church. I'm thankful that God is raising up men in lay leadership and women to serve and teach. But here's what I'm saying to you. Please pray for me. Pray for Keith. Pray for this work. Pray for this year. Pray for the work that God wants to do here. And pray for our future leaders by faith that we will have Nehemiahs, not Elohishebs. You know the thing about Elohishebs is that they're more acceptable at first. They don't look like Ammonites or Moabites. They have the priestly garments. They know the priestly language. But they're compromises.

And see when you accept the Elohishebs, then you're one step away from the Tobias. See how this is relevant for us? So what do we have in the message? Nehemiah's final reforms and just those verses are loaded with the work of God in that day and application to where we are today and tomorrow. Let's pray. We'll have a couple of announcements and then we'll dismiss.