Serving wtih Perseverance

Amen. Amen. Well, you guys know what tonight is? Tonight is Tired Tuesday. Yep, I came up with it right over there on the front road. This is that time in revival services where you've been going from Sunday morning to Sunday night to Monday night and then you hit your wall on Tuesday night. It's like when we get to Wednesday will survive but Lord just get me through Tuesday night and I didn't even include those of you who have cooked and served and done meals and so hey I want you to know it's okay if you're tired tonight and I want you to know that I love you and I appreciate you for being here tonight.

Take your Bibles and turn with me to Nehemiah chapter 3 and as you're turning there I would like to give you the context of Nehemiah before we jump into the chapter. The introduction is going to be a little long tonight so just hang in here with me until we get to the main text. It's very important that you get the context and intro. The message of the book of Nehemiah is this. God is not being glorified as he ought to be and that should be a problem to God's people because that's why we live right? We were created for his glory to know him and to make him known and God is not being glorified in the book of Nehemiah as he ought.

You see Jerusalem was the place that God Almighty had said his name. Jerusalem is where the great I am said he would dwell among his people. This is where he would be worshipped. By the way it'd be the only place on earth where he would be worshipped and that his glory would go forth throughout all the earth. But because of the sin, rebellion, wickedness, and idolatry of his people God had judged his people. Jerusalem had been destroyed under the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar and the Israelites had been taken into Babylonian captivity where it had been decreed by God that they would stay there for 70 years.

Under the leadership of Ezra, the book that comes right before Nehemiah, some of the Jews had begun to return to Jerusalem and the temple had been rebuilt. But in Nehemiah chapter 1 verse 2, Nehemiah asked his brother Hanani and his brethren about the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity and concerning Jerusalem. And in verse 3 they answered, "The survivors who were left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down and its gates are burned with fire." This destroyed Nehemiah, the man of God when he heard this, because this was the city of his great God.

This is the place where his God should be glorified. This is the place where his God should be worshipped and made much of in the earth and yet God's people are in distress. The walls and gates lay in great ruin which means they are a reproach among the nations. That means that the pagan or the ungodly looked at the Israelites and therefore the God of Israel and laughed. Who are y'all and who is your God? You don't have walls to your city. Anyone could break in and take over your nation, your city, and your capital. And man that destroyed Nehemiah and as the story goes, Nehemiah sets his heart to fast and pray for Jerusalem.

Persevered in prayer and the Lord heard his prayer and Nehemiah goes, in the book of Nehemiah as the story of this, he rebuilds the walls and restores the worship of our great God and his glory. And by the way, you owe it to yourself to go read Nehemiah chapter 12 when the wall is rebuilt and they have a dedication service and they celebrate the glory of God. It is amazing. Just go and get filled and thrilled as you read Nehemiah chapter 12. Now the message that we just kind of encapsulated of the book of Nehemiah is this, rebuilding in the glory of God. It's what the whole book's about. Rebuilding in the glory of God.

You might say it this way, you ready? Reforming in the glory of God. Ritalization and the glory of God. Replanting and the glory of God. Now are you beginning to see where Grace Life Church Brookhaven might fit in to the book of Nehemiah? You see the application of the book of Nehemiah to us is this. It's that the church is the place where God Almighty has set his name, right? That's why we are so valiant for the church. That's why we love the church. That's why we give ourselves to the church. This is the only place on earth, his church, where he has set his name and his glory. He is to be worshipped and made known through his church, right?

And yet in a lot of places the church is a reproach. In a lot of places the church's walls are down and the gates are in shambles and God is not glorified as he ought. There are a lot of places where there are false professions rampant, bloated, unregenerate church memberships. That matters because the glory of God matters. There are false teachers everywhere. Just to be honest, turn on your TV.

There are false teachers, there are women preachers, there are homosexual preachers, there are homosexual members, there's religious country clubs, there's abuse of power, abuse of people, unbridled carnality, gossip, backbiting, fornication, divorce, adultery, and the like taking place in the church and nobody's doing anything. But may I interject, there are some doing something. There are some Nehemiahs in our day. You ready for this? There are some Chris Shepherds and some Keith Stomalls and some John O'Sims and some Jeff Nobles who were saying the glory of God in the local church matters more than anything on the earth.

And they are willing to give everything they've got, do whatever they have to do in order to reform, revitalize, replant the church so that God is worshiped in the world as he ought to be. Now that's what Nehemiah did. That's what your pastor is doing. Now here's where the message comes in. But Nehemiah did not do it alone. The church was a mess. God wasn't being glorified. He rebuilt, if you will, the kingdom of God, the walls, the gates, and restored worship for the glory of God. But he did not do it alone. And let me tell you something. Jason Johns isn't. John O'Sims isn't. Jeff Nobles isn't. Chris Shepherds isn't.

And all the brothers out there who have a passion and a conviction and are giving their lives for the reforming and rebuilding of the church of God for the glory of God, they're not doing it alone. And that's where you come in. Let me read this one verse to you. Nehemiah chapter 4 verse 6 says, "So we built the wall and the entire..." Who built the wall? I believe that's a plural pronoun there, right? "So we built the wall and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height for the people had a mind to work." Folks, the church can't be what the church ought to be for the glory of God if the people don't have a mind to work.

That's what it takes. You had to have a God called Nehemiah, which you do have, Grace Life Church, a Brookhaven, but you have to have people with a mind to work. And that's what I want to preach to you on tonight. You, the members of Grace Life Church and members to be. Can I say that? Not a prophet, just hopeful. And members to be. That you will have a mind for this work. That God might be glorified in his church as he ought to be. And that, you ready? And that you will serve with perseverance. Now, I told you the intro and the context would be pretty long. That's the heart of the message.

Now I'm going to do something very interesting tonight. I'm going to read a passage of Scripture that you, usually in your Bible reading plan, skip. Now I'm just going to tell you, alright, you just go ahead and be honest. When you get to chapters like this where there's all of these names that you can't pronounce, you just skip and go to the next chapter. Just be honest before the Lord you're in church tonight. You'll see why I say that when in just a moment I have to read those names. Now what I wish could happen was I wish I could bring my phone up here and put it up to the lapel and let the guy on my Bible app read.

That would be so nice right now. But I'm not going to do that. That would be terribly embarrassing. So I'll say this, if I look up while I'm reading trying to pronounce these names and find any of you laughing, I will on the moment, on the spot, call you up here to read the rest of the chapter, alright? When I preached this chapter in my church, I found out that in small groups later on Sunday they were making fun of me. They claimed that I said one person's name three different times in the same chapter and they're all under church discipline right now. So there's my preface statements. Before I read Nehemiah chapter 3 verses 1 through 32.

Lord have mercy on me. Then Elisha the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests and built the sheep gate. They consecrated and hung its doors. They built as far as the tower of the hundred and consecrated it. Then as far as the tower of Hananal. Next to Elisha the men of Jericho built and next to them Zachar the son of Imre built. Also the sons of Hasina built the fish gate. They laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars and next to them Merimoth the son of Eurya the son of Coz made repairs. Next to them Meshulim the son of Barakiah the son of Meshezebel made repairs. I'm gonna look up. Don't be laughing.

Next to them Zadok the son of Boana made repairs. Next to them the T'koites made repairs but their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord. Moreover Jehuidah the son of Pasea and Meshulim the son of Bessediah repaired the old gate. They laid its beams and hung its doors with its bolts and bars and next to them Melateiah the Gibeonite, Jaden the Merinathite, the men of Gibeon and Mispa repaired the residents of the governor of the region beyond the river. Next to him Uzziel the son of Hahiah one of the goldsmiths made repairs.

Also next to him Hananiah one of the perfumers made repairs and they fortified Jerusalem as far as the Broadwall. And next to them Raphiah the son of Herr, leader of half the district of Jerusalem made repairs. Next to them Jadiah the son of Harimath made repairs in front of his house and next to him Haddush the son of Hasheb Niah made repairs. Verse 11 Malchaijah the son of Harim and Hasheb the son of Pahath Moab repaired another section as well as the tower of the ovens. And next to him was Shalom the son of Halahesh leader of half the district of Jerusalem. He and his daughters made repairs.

Hanun and the inhabitants of Zenoa repaired the valley gate they built it hung its doors with its bolts and bars and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the refuse gate. Malchaijah the son of Rekab leader of the district of Beth Hasarim repaired the refuse gate he built it and hung its doors with its bolts and bars. Shalom the son of Kohazhosa leader of the district of Mispa repaired the fountain gate he built it covered it hung its doors with bolts and bars and repaired the wall of a pulah of Shailah by the king's garden as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David.

After him Nehemiah this is another Nehemiah the son of Asbuk leader of half the district of Bethzur made repairs as far as the place in front of the tombs of David to the man-made pool and as far as the house of the mighty. After him the Levites of the tombs of David to them I'm sorry after him the Levites under Rahim the son of Bani made repairs. Next to him Hasabiah leader of half the district of Kailah made repairs for his district. After him their brethren under Bava the son of Hennadad leader of the other half of the district of Kailah made repairs. Y'all still with me?

And next to him Ezra the son of Jeshua the leader of Mispa repaired another section in front of the ascent to the army of armory of the buttress. After him Baruch the son of Zabah carefully repaired the other section from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliasheb the high priest. After him Merimoth the son of Urijah the son of Kohz repaired another section from the door of the house of Eliasheb to the end of the house of Eliasheb. And after him the priests the men of the plain made repairs. After him Benjamin and Hasab made repairs opposite their house.

After them Azariah the son of Messiah the son of Ananiya made repairs by his house. After him Beniwah the son of Hennadad repaired another section from the house of Azariah to the buttress even as far as the corner. Palel the son of Uzzah made repairs opposite the buttress and on the tower which projects from the king's upper house that was by the court of the prison. After him Padiah the son of Parash made repairs. Moreover the Nethanim who dwelt in Ophiel made repairs as far as the place in front of the Watergate toward the east and on the projecting tower.

After them the T'koites repaired another section next to the great projecting tower and as far as the wall of Ophiel. Beyond the horse gate the priests made repairs each in front of his own house. After them Zadok the son of Emmer made repairs in front of his own house. After him Shemaiah the son of Shekiniah the keeper of the East gate made repairs. After him Hananiah the son of Shelomiah and Hanun the sixth son of Zalef repaired another section. After him M'Shulam the son of Barakiah made repairs in front of his dwelling.

After him Malchaijah one of the goldsmiths made repairs as far as the house of the Nethanim and of the merchants in front of the Mifkad gate and as far as the upper room at the corner and between the upper room at the corner as far as the sheep gate the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs. Hallelujah that's over. What's this? Isn't that amazing? It would be totally okay if right now you said I have no idea what you're talking about. I've literally was part of me wondering why that was in the Bible right? I have no idea what that's talking about and you just said isn't that amazing?

Yeah it is and here's why and this is why you don't skip passages of Scripture like this and why you preach expositionally. It is amazing that God Almighty kept a record of all the people who did something for his name and what they did. That's amazing. Nobody knows any of these people. We don't even know how to say their names but God knows every one of them by name and knows everything that they did and wrote it in his book. Whoa that's a good life. You get your name in the Bible you're doing something right most of the time. What we take from this is God is going to be glorified in Jerusalem.

God is going to get the glory that he deserves among the nations and it's possible because an unnamed army of servants that no one knows but God knows and that's what I'm calling, "Hey!" I do that to get your attention. I don't know if you know it's part of my preaching style and I'm calling you and asking you would you like to be a part of that army tonight? Amen goes right there. We're gonna try it again. Would you like to be a part of that army? Alright well then let's learn how to do it together. Let's be encouraged together to be that unnamed army that God knows and is keeping record of.

As we look at this text I want to pull out four or five quick things. Obviously we are not going to exposit this verse by verse right? Let's pull out some points here. Number one, I want you to notice in this army that there are all kinds of workers. All kinds of workers. Warren Wiersby and the reason I read the whole text is because I wanted you to feel it when I got to stuff like this. I wanted you to see how heavy it was in there. Warren Wiersby said there were 38 individual workers named in this chapter and 42 different groups. One would be the priest. He named the priest.

We saw that in chapter 3 verse 1, "Alliashib and the priest." That means that the first people mentioned are the leaders of the people of God and they are out front leading the work. You've got that. Then secondly you have this massive group. City officials, rulers of districts. Listen, those from trade guilds going from goldsmiths to perfumers. City guards, temple servants, men, women, fathers, sons, daughters, singles, all different types of people with all different types of skill sets all coming together for one purpose. And what is it? The glory of God that God would be known and worshiped in the world. And so you have that group.

And then he mentions you have these people from far and wide. People who weren't even in Jerusalem. Jericho, T'koa, Gibeon, Mispa. People living miles away from Jerusalem but coming to do this great work if I may make application in case you miss it. This is those of you who drive from Pike County, Lawrence County, Jefferson, Claiborne County. Did I say that right? 20 minutes, 25 minutes, 30 minutes, 35 minutes, 40 minutes, 45 minutes, miles away. People like Matt and Chelsea, Chris and Carissa, Teresa, Dylan and Kayla, Kyla and Shanna, Travis and Sarah, Anthony, Candy and possibly more. This is you.

People coming from afar to come here to work and to serve so that God would be glorified in this church as he ought. I want to applaud you, all of you. We've got the leaders, then we've got this whole section of people, men, women, boys, girls, ages, all kind of different skill sets. People coming from afar and we're building God's church for his glory. Hallelujah. The old 80/20 stat in churches. You guys ever heard that? Most of you have been a part of it, right? 20% of the people doing 80% of the work is unbiblical.

20% of the people carrying the workload of the church of Jesus Christ is unbiblical, unchristian, a reproach and most of all dishonors God. Listen to me. The church is declaring that God is the greatest being and reality of the universe and that through his son's perfect life, death and resurrection and the power of his spirit, your life has been changed and yet you won't serve him. He's not worthy of time and service. That's a reproach. That dishonors.

Now what we see here is this text teaches us no matter who you are, where you are in life, what your skill set is or how far you have to drive, you have a part to play in God being glorified in his church and I sure hope you're playing that part. I sure hope you're serving with perseverance. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 4, "There are diversities of gifts but the same spirit." Says there are diverse, there are differences of ministries but the same Lord and there are diversities of activities but it is the same God who works all in all.

So you might have someone who can teach and just out of that teaching it says, see there's a variety of ministries. What? One guy is a pastor-teacher, another guy, he never wants to stand behind this and teach anybody. Give him a small group, let him go. See he can teach too and then you got these folks, they don't want to deal with adults at all. Give me kids. I love teaching kids. Three different applications of ministry by the same spirit for the same purpose, the glory of God. God says he has given every member of his church a skill set and an ability to do what? Let's see what Paul says about that in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 16.

He says, "From whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each," underline that, "part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." What's this? When all 38 people are working in this chapter, when all 42 groups are working in this chapter, the wall is built for the glory of God. And what Paul is saying is when every joint in every part of the body is doing its part, it's not the wall physically that's being built, it's the church, it's the body of Christ that is built up for the glory of God. But what did Paul say?

That it took an unnamed army serving with perseverance for the glory of God. Man, I hope that's what you want to give your life to. So number one, we notice there are all kind of workers in this body. Number two, we noticed from this text that there were those who didn't work. Oh yeah, the author slipped that one in on us. I paused on it just in case you wouldn't, just so you wouldn't miss it. You remember back in chapter 3 verse 5, "Next to them the T'koites made repairs, but their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of the Lord." Oh yeah, right there in the middle of all of it.

Some of them just decided they were not going to do it. Two observations. Number one, it was recorded that they did not work. We got all excited a minute ago when he's recording every one of these names, these no-name people, who they were and what they did. But he also wrote down and noted who did nothing and who was not working. Brothers and sisters, we are all going to give an account of what we did in this life and in this world to God Almighty. He is keeping a book. Second Corinthians chapter number 5 verse 9, Paul speaks to this. He says, "Therefore we make it our aim whether present or absent from Christ to be well pleasing to him.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad or nothing." Paul said, "I live my life with this lens. I'm going to stand before him and the last thing that I want to happen is for me to have to say, 'I got busy. I'm sorry God. I didn't do your work. I didn't prioritize your glory.

I don't think anybody in here wants to meet the Lord and give that answer that that's what you did with your life.'" Paul said, "I make it my aim that whether I am absent from him here on earth or I'm standing before him I want to please him." I said that there were two things to observe. One was that he did note and record that they did not work and then secondly he mentioned specifically who they were. The nobles did not put their shoulder to the work. The implication is that they were too good, too important for that work and there are some people who will not humble themselves to the service of the Lord.

Oh they wouldn't come right out and tell you that they're too good to serve Jesus. Their time is just more valuable than that. The things that they've got going on in life is more important than the things of the kingdom of God and I'm just going to have to take care of that. It's not going to fly at the judgment seat I'm just telling you. God's keeping a record. Number two was there were those who didn't work. Number three, there are those who started the work but didn't finish. In verse one, this is a little storyline worth tracking. In verse one, "Then Eliasheb the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests and built the sheep gate.

They consecrated and hung its doors." Good job, Eliasheb. Flip over to Nehemiah 13 verse 4 and you read this. "Now before this Eliasheb the priest having authority over the storerooms of the house of our God was allied with Tobiah. And he had prepared..." Yeah you guys know the story. "...and he had prepared for him a large room where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, the ties of grain, the new wine and oil which were commanded to be given to the Levites and singers and gatekeepers and the offerings for the priests." Chapter 1 verse 1, "Eliasheb and the priests are working." In chapter 13, he's put Tobiah up in the temple.

You should be thinking, "I have no idea who'd sit Tobiah." Listen, Sandballot, in chapter 4, Sandballot and Tobiah were the chief opposition of rebuilding the wall and therefore the glory of God, Tobiah. And now Eliasheb is housing him in the room reserved for the provisions for the priests. You also owe it to yourselves to read Nehemiah 13 and watch my man Nehemiah when he comes... Nehemiah had to leave for a while. That's how this kind of stuff went on. Nehemiah gets back and Nehemiah kicks Tobiah out of that room and he orders the priest to clean that room up and he does what Eliasheb should have done for the glory of God to start with.

Why do you think Eliasheb did that? I mean, this guy started well. Chapter 1, he's on track. Chapter 13, he's off the rails. He's brought the very enemy of God into the temple. There's an answer in Nehemiah 13 verse 28. Here we go. Eliasheb's grandson. Whoo! Them family members can get you in trouble! Eliasheb's grandson was married to Sandballot's daughter and Sandballot and Tobiah were tight. So he didn't want any, any problems with the family. Let me tell you a little bit kind of what that would look like. All right, so Eliasheb has a grandson. He's married to Sandballot's daughter.

Sandballot and Tobiah are tight and they're asking, "Hey, Eliasheb, man, things have been off with us ever since that guy Nehemiah got here. And man, we should be able to get along, you know? Like, we should do ministry together." And that grandson's asking Eliasheb. And Eliasheb knows better. But he don't want to cause any family problems. Family reunion will be really uncomfortable if I tell my grandson no right now. If I stand my ground and I don't compromise and I do what's right to glorify God, I'm gonna get in trouble. Christmas is gonna be really uncomfortable. Sunday lunch is gonna be very awkward if I do what's right.

I'm gonna tell my grandson no and then his wife is gonna get put out with me. Then she's gonna tell grandson that I can't see the great-grands anymore because I won't let Tobiah in the temple. And now Miss Eliasheb steps in because she was out of it until grandson's wife said no more see the great-grands. And now Miss Eliasheb is putting pressure on Eliasheb and said, "You're gonna put Tobiah in that room or we can be very happy because everybody knows if mom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." Y'all see what's going on here? Sometimes the greatest temptation to compromise is how faithful serving and faithful living will affect a family member.

Y'all want me to say it one more time? Sometimes the greatest temptation to compromise, that means you started and you stopped, is because of how faithful serving and faithful living will affect a family member. They disciplined my grandchild. I can't go to church there. I just can't. I can't get over that. I cannot spend too much time there. But let me just say if they disciplined your grandchild biblically according to what Jesus said to you, your rebellion is not against them. Your rebellion is against him. They wouldn't let my husband join because they said he wouldn't write out his conversion testimony. Amen.

Oh yeah, I remember that one happening. We had a couple go through and he was riding on her skirt tail or shirt tail. What would you call that? That was a joke. Not a very good one, but we get to the end and he just won't write a testimony. And we said you can't join the church. And they left and then we heard how bad and terrible and awful we were and how we treated them. They said something about the Mormons and now my grandma's upset because she's a Mormon and we're just gonna go somewhere else. It's just people who start the work and then because it might upset a family member, they go by the wayside and they don't finish.

Happens all the time. Number four, there are those who should have started but finished well. I like that one. I'm glad we get a little bit of encouragement here. We'd gone downhill there for a little while. There are those who should have started but finished well. I don't know if you noticed it or not, but as we were reading through there, there were all of these references to the people who built on the front of their house. They started on their house. They built their house and I'm wondering like, how are y'all living there? And the first thing that you didn't do was put up and repair the wall of your house. And it says it over and over.

Common sense would have told you to do that. So the scripture doesn't say, so let's just take a couple of educated guesses here. Maybe they didn't have the money. When they moved back and they moved into their house and their wall wasn't up, maybe they didn't have the money or resources to do it. Maybe they didn't have the motivation to do it. Maybe they were just comfortable, man, we're back. I mean, you know, it's not the biggest deal in the world. Maybe it's because they were too busy doing other things and didn't take care of the main thing. But here's the big deal.

When Nehemiah came and called the people to work, they responded and they jumped in, watch this, and started doing what they should have already been doing. So maybe they lacked motivation. Maybe they just got comfortable. Maybe. What was the other one that I said? I don't expect you guys, oh, maybe they got busy doing other things. And I'm just thinking, some of you in here, you didn't start in the church the way you could have, the way you should have. Maybe you came in the church and it was just normal to just be comfortable. Status quo. Maybe you got busy doing other things.

But Nehemiah has come with his few good men and they said it's time to get busy about building the church of the living God for his glory among the nations. And you may not have started well, but I hope you write down in your about, what's the date? 28th March 28th March 28th, 2023. I didn't start well, but by the grace of God I'm gonna finish well and jump in this work. That's good news for you. This is your turning point tonight. Just like these guys. And lastly, there were those who worked harder than others.

Nehemiah chapter 3 verse 11 says that Malchaijah, the son of Haerem and Hasheb, the son of Paith Moab, repaired another section as well as the tower of the ovens. Nehemiah chapter 3 verse 20. God gives these details, not me. Next to him Baruch, son of Zebai, zealously repaired another section from the angle to the entrance of the house of Elijah the priest. Meaning he did what he had to and he got another one as well. Nehemiah chapter 3 verse 25 says, "Palaah the son of Uzzah made repairs opposite the buttress and on the tower," uh-oh, I gotta slow down.

"He made repairs opposite the buttress and on the tower which projects from the king's upper house." It was by the court of the prison. "Moreover the nethanim who dwelt in Ophiel made repairs as far as the place in front of the Watergate toward the east and on the projecting tower." There were people who were doing extra and guess what? It got recorded. God sees who's not working, God who sees who's faithfully working, God sees who started and stopped, God sees those who weren't and started and God sees those who are knocking it out of the park. He catches that this one is zealous, he catches that this one is doing more over and beyond.

Nehemiah, I'm sorry, Paul captures this in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 57, "Hear me and hear me well." He says, "Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable." You could put serving with perseverance in there. "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord." Why? "Knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." He saw everything they were doing and Paul is saying, "You are not going to do anything that God doesn't catch and that God doesn't reward you for, so be the high score. Be the MVP. Yeah. I've got a question for you in conclusion.

All lastly and in conclusions means we're gonna say that two or three more times, all right? Not really this time. I want to ask you a question. Don't answer out loud, please. Who's the greatest Christian at grace like Brookhaven? Don't want you to answer out loud. You can write it down in your notes. You can think about it. Who's the greatest Christian at Brookhaven? I actually think that question came up one time between Jesus and his disciples. Yeah, that was a trick question all the way. Who's the greatest among you? What was Jesus answer? The greatest among you is the servant of all.

You'll be the greatest Christian, and I'm not talking about in a carnal way. I'm talking about a zeal for the glory of God. You want to be the greatest Christian, greatest that you can be for the glory of God. And what Jesus said, try to be the greatest servant here. The greatest of all is a servant of all. Don't be a noble who doesn't put himself to the work, that won't put his shoulders to the work. Don't be the noble in this story. Don't be the one who started like Eliasia, but then compromises and stands in opposition to the work of God. This is my favorite part of the sermon.

If God were to write a book about Grace Life Church, like he did in the EMI chapter 3, and he's writing name after name, would your name come up in there? Here it comes down. You know what's so doggone exciting? A bunch of you could have said yes. You probably don't feel worthy to say yes, but a bunch of you, if he were saying the record of Grace Life Church Brookhaven, your name and your name and your name and your name is in there. God's got it all recorded. That's what I want you living for. Let's pray.