Why We Believe in a Nursery - Because We Believe in the Supremacy of the Word in Worship

That last song is a prayer, but very, very powerful. Lots of phrases to think on as we are singing that song, but one grabbed me, "Teach us full obedience." I don't know about you, but there have been times in my life when I have settled for partial obedience. Our Lord deserves and demands full obedience. It's very, very powerful. I appreciate that song. I think it's one that many of you do know. If you would take your Bible, turn back to Nehemiah chapter 8. We will be in all of those verses, verses 1 to 8. Now I said in our scripture reading that I have set aside today as Home Life Discipleship Sunday.

Yes, today is all about home life discipleship. So that means that this morning's message will be geared towards home life discipleship and we will have a service tonight and a message tonight that will be geared towards home life discipleship as well. Now most of you know that here at Grace Life we use a very helpful illustration that explains the structure and the function of our church. It's been a while since I passed out our Grace Life wheel. I have challenged you to keep a copy in your Bibles, to pray over. Maybe I need to pass out another copy tonight.

But you can see that at the very center of all that we do is the preaching and the teaching of God's Word. It's illustrated there in our Grace Life wheel. And notice something church, every time we meet for worship, Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, Wednesday nights, or in a special service like we're going to have tonight, everything is centered on the preaching of God's Word. It is top priority and then connected to and emanating from the preaching of God's Word we have three very important things that we do. And these activities are thoroughly biblical. You might look at a couple of these things and call them programs. That's okay.

It's all thoroughly biblical. In and through our partnership with Anchored in Truth we participate in personalized local church centered missions around the world. I'm thankful that a group was able to go to Canada to a sister church in the Anchored in Truth network and they were able to minister in and through Vacation Bible School there. I look forward to other opportunities. And Brother Keith and I have been talking about some opportunities for us all in the summer. As a matter of fact, we will have some Anchored in Truth missionaries come to see us in the end of February.

We also believe in every member of ministry in and through our small groups, which is the church organized into Bible study small groups to minister the Word, to meet individual needs, to equip the saints, to provide Christian fellowship and to help evangelize the lost. And we believe in and we practice home life discipleship. You may ask the question, pastor, what is home life discipleship? Well I'm glad you asked. As Bible Christians and members of Grace Life Church, we understand that we are to be the Christians God wants us to be in our homes and making disciples of Christ Jesus in our homes.

Home life discipleship is all about husbands and wives and fathers and mothers growing in their faith and their walk with the Lord. And on top of that, fathers and mothers evangelizing their children and bringing them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord. And as your pastor in an effort to help you in your home life discipleship, I want to teach and preach on the subject of why we believe in a nursery. Yeah, that's the title of the message, why we believe in a church nursery. Now I will go ahead and tell you two things before I continue. First of all, I'm playing a little trick on you in my message this morning.

I'll get to that. When I get there, some of you will start saying, "Ah, I see where you're going, pastor." But then second, we need this teaching. We need this message more than you know. But before we get into our verses, I want us to see the background of these events here. And this background is more relatable to us than maybe you know, but in the Hebrew Bible, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are one book. Whereas in our English Bibles, Ezra and Nehemiah are two books. But either way, they are meant to be taken together because they tell an important part of the history of Israel and the Jewish people.

Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of the return of the Jewish people from exile, following the Babylonian conquest of Israel and the Jewish people. But following the deportation and captivity of the Jews in the Babylon, and on top of that, the conquest of the Babylonians by Cyrus the Great and the Persians, the Jews were allowed to return to their land to rebuild their lives after 70 years of captivity. And I will give us a few key people and events that really briefly tell us this story. This is just zooming through the two books. In Ezra chapters 1 to 6, we see Zerubbabel return.

And these chapters and these events are all about rebuilding their temple that had been destroyed by the Babylonians. And Ezra chapters 7 to 10, we see Ezra's return about 60 years later. And these chapters and events are all about the establishment of the people and their Jewish community by and through the teaching of God's Word. And of course, they had the Torah, which would have been the first five books of the Bible. And we believe they also had some other writings. I will mention that in the message.

And then in Nehemiah chapters 1 to 7 and chapters 9 to 13, we see that after Ezra, Nehemiah returned to rebuild the walls around the city of Jerusalem. And in those chapters, we see the great opposition that they faced in the Word. And we see Nehemiah's resolve to do the work God's way. That is key because he did that work God's way. So basically the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are about the Jews returning from 70 years of captivity to rebuild their lives as a people and as a nation. And in the middle of this physical activity, there was quite a lot of spiritual revival, quite a lot of spiritual restoration and spiritual rebuilding.

And we must understand that all of this returning, all of this rebuilding, all of this rebuilding, all of this revival and restoration came out of the promises of God, the purposes of God for His people, and the fact that they returned to the Word of God. Now look at some parallels here. The Jews had come out of Babylon which was actually coming out of the world. Babylon is a picture of the world just like Egypt is a picture of the world. For those of us who are born again Christians, we've come out of the world. God's called us out of the world. They came out of Babylon in the world as God's chosen people.

Well, we understand that as born again Christians, we are God's chosen people. They came out of captivity to be the assembled people of God, Israel. Of course we know we're not Israel, but we understand that we are the assembled people of God, both Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female. We are the assembled people of God. They came out of Babylon to accomplish God's purposes in the world in their day and their time. We know that the Israelites were supposed to be allied to the Gentiles. Well, we are called to assemble as God's people the church, to take the gospel into the world.

Now at this time I want us to go back to these verses and then I will explain what I will do in the message. Let's put our eyes back on these verses because we're going to cover quite a bit of ground this morning. "And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Watergate, and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could understand what they heard on the first day of the seventh month.

And he read from it facing the square before the Watergate from early morning until midday in the presence of the men and women and those who could understand. In the ears of all of the people were attentive to the book of the law." And verse 4, "And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose." Now, just like in our scripture reading, I don't want to try to pronounce these names because it really bothers me when we mispronounce Bible language. But what we see here is this. A whole host of Levites sitting to Ezra's left and sitting to Ezra's right. And we will see that they were assisting him in the work.

Verse 5, "And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people." Remember, he was on an elevated platform. And as he opened it, all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all of the people answered. They answered Ezra, "Amen, Amen," lifting up their hands. And they, that's the people, bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. And again, here's the list of the Levites. And what do we see? Continuing with verse 7, "They helped the people to understand the law while the people remained in their places.

They," that would have been in the Levites, "and Ezra read from the book from the law of God clearly, and they gave the sense so that the people understood the reading." Now in my message, I want to make two broad observations. First I want us to look into how the people gathered under the Word. And then second, I want us to look at how the people responded to the Word. And then third, the end of the message, I will make some application. I will explain how all of this relates to us in our day. So let's look at, number one, how the people gathered under the Word. Number one, how the people gathered under the Word.

Now there's quite a bit here. It would be easy for you to follow me. But first notice they gathered in one place. Right away we see that all of the people gathered in the square before the Watergate, and this is not an unusual thing. That is because large assemblies like this were held at the city gates. Judges 19-15 tells us of an account where they gathered at one of the gates. We see the same thing in 2 Chronicles 32-6. Of course those events were before the Babylonian captivity. And if you do some reading on your own, you will see that there is a debate about this gate, what this gate was, where this gate was located.

But actually that's not very important. The point here is simple. The people gathered in one place and a place that was big enough for all to gather. And this was a common practice for the Jewish people, to gather like this. Second they gathered under Ezra's leadership. Here we see that as the people gathered, two things happened. The people asked Ezra to bring out the book of the law of Moses. And from verse 1 on we see the obvious leadership of Ezra and the people submitting to and under Ezra's leadership. But a question, who was this man Ezra? Ezra was a priest and scribe, and this is the first time he is mentioned in the book of Nehemiah.

But he was and is a prominent figure in the book of Ezra that bears his name. And of course Ezra comes before Nehemiah in our copy of God's Word. But Ezra was a priest and a scribe who played a critical role in the religious, spiritual, and social restoration of the Jews when they returned home from Babylonian captivity. And he actually led the first group of Jews back to the land, and he was the one who initiated this great work of restoration. So he was a very hands-on guy in his ministry and in his work. But the point here is simple.

It is safe to say that Ezra was their top spiritual leader, and the people called on Ezra for his leadership, and they all gathered under his leadership. Then third they gathered under the law of Moses. We see that the people asked Ezra to bring out the book of the law of Moses. And there is some debate about what this was. Now we do not have time to get into all of the possibilities, but it is safe to assume that this would have been the Torah or the first five books of the Bible.

And scholars tell us that this also could have included other writings as well, like the Old Testament priestly codes and the laws that came out of the book of Deuteronomy. But the point here is simple. All of the people gathered under the Word of God, which was the Word of God that they had in their day. Of course we understand that we have a full canon of Scripture. And then fourth, Ezra read the Word of God to the people. Ezra read the Word of God to the people. Now we see this starting in verse 3 and really going on into verse 6, but I want us to look at verse 3 in the beginning of verse 4. Look back at your copy of God's Word.

And he, that's Ezra, read from it facing the square before the water gate from early morning until midday in the presence of the men and women and those who can understand in the ears of all of the people who were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for this purpose or this occasion. Here we have a lengthy passage that contains quite a lot. And really verses 3 to 6 do go along with verses 7 to 8. But what we see here is this. They actually built a wooden platform for this event. The English standard uses the word platform.

The legacy standard, the new American standard uses the word podium. The King James uses the word pulpit. But it is best to see this as a platform or what we would call in our day a stage. And that is because this platform or this stage was big enough to hold Ezra and 13 other men. And this platform was high enough for all of the people to see them and to hear them. So we see that a large wooden platform or stage was built for the purpose of platforming Ezra and these other 13 men who were there to honor Ezra, to support Ezra, and to help Ezra in the reading and the explanation of the word. So the point here is this.

Ezra read the word to the people from a large elevated platform. And did you notice this? In verse 3 he read the word of God before the people for about 6 hours. I thought about it like this. Acts 20 tells us that Paul preached until midnight. Nehemiah 8 tells us that Ezra read the Bible and preached for 6 hours. Something is wrong with me I guess. My wife would say don't go there. I will leave that for another day. But fifth Ezra and others explain the word of God to the people. I have already touched on this. We have just seen that a large wooden platform was built for this occasion.

And Ezra along with these other 13 men, they were there on that platform and these men were honoring Ezra and the reading of God's word before the people. But we see that more took place. Along with Ezra these men read from the law and they gave sense of God's word so that the people could understand God's word. And the point here is simple. Ezra and these other men read the word of God to the people. They explained the word of God to the people and they gave understanding of the word of God to the people.

William McDonald says, and I believe he's quoting someone else when he says this, Ezra and his helpers were the first in a long line of expository preachers. It's true. They were the first in a long line of expository preachers. So here in verses 1 to 8, notice what I have pointed out. We see how the people of God gathered under the word of God. In one place they all gathered under Ezra and the other spiritual leaders that God had given them and they gathered for a purpose. They put themselves under the word of God as it was read out loud to them, as it was taught to them and as it was explained to them all.

And no doubt Ezra and these men applied what they taught. They applied what they explained to them and to their personal lives and their circumstances. Now at this point we have to ask what this should mean for us in our day. It's God's people who have been called out of the world and into a saving relationship with Christ Jesus and into His church. We should be a people of purpose just like these Jews. You see that? They were a people of purpose. They purposely gathered under and together under the word of God to worship God according to the word of God. That was their purpose. And I have to ask, have we lost sight of our purpose?

Have we lost sight of our purpose here? And is God using what we see here to call us back to being a people of purpose who purposely gather under the word of God as it is read and as it is taught to worship God according to what we see in the word, to what we hear in the word, to what God is saying to us from the word. Now right here is where I trust the Holy Spirit of God to apply this to you. If you have lost sight of your purpose and our purpose. So they gathered under the word. And then next, let's look at number two, how the people responded to the word. Number two, how the people responded to the word.

There's quite a bit here, but it'll be easy for you to see. First they were unified under the word. Now right away we see that all the people gathered as one man. And all of the translations I normally reference use that term as one man. Now this is simple. Although these were different people from different homes, some inside of the city walls and some outside of the city walls, as one commentator put it, they were driven by a common desire to hear the word of God declared before them. So the point right here is this, it's simple, but it's profound.

This great number of diverse people were greatly unified, so much so that they gathered as one man for one purpose. And then second, they were calling for the word of God. Now here we see that the people asked Ezra to bring to them the word of God. It was not that Ezra and any of these other 13 men told them that they needed the word of God, the people called for the word of God. As one commentator said it, they prayed for God's word as hungry people longed for food. So this is simple as well. They were hungry for God's word. They were the people of God, hungering for the word of God, so they asked Ezra for the word of God.

And then third, they were divided under the word. Now here we see what could be seen as a little bit of a contradiction. The people were greatly united as one. We've seen that, but they were divided. And as we will see, this division spoke to the greatness of their unity or the greatness of their oneness. Yes, this division spoke of their unity. Look back at verses two and three. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could understand what they read on the first day of the seventh month.

And he read from it facing the square before the water gate from early morning until midday and the presence of the men and women and those who could understand. Now there are two things we need to understand here. Women tell us that women did not ordinarily participate in meetings like this, but at certain times they were brought together with the children on such solemn occasions. We see this in Deuteronomy 31, 12, Joshua 8, 35, 2 Kings 23, 2, where both women and children were assembled in a solemn assembly like this. But here on this occasion, that was not the case.

The women were included in this great meeting, but the children who were not of the age and ability to understand the reading and the explanation of the word, they were excluded. As one writer explained it, all who could understand what they heard probably refers mainly to children who could follow what was being read as opposed to those too young to understand. So the point here is simple. They were divided in that all the people were not in attendance under the reading and the explanation of the word of God. Those who lacked the ability to understand and follow the reading and the teaching of the law, they were excluded from the meeting.

But they spoke of their great unity in that they were unified in the purpose that was before them. But then forth, they were attentive to the word. This is simple, when all the people were assembled and nothing was in place to be a distraction now, the people were attentive to the reading and the explanation of the word of God. As one writer describes these things, he says, Ezra and his colleagues, the Levites were his colleagues, were both visible and audible, and the eager listeners hung on every word. So this is simple. All the people were listening attentively to the read and explain word of God.

We could say they were also very attentive to the very men who were reading and explaining the word of God to them. But then fifth, they were submissive to the word. Now here we see the visible responses by the people to the read and the explain word of God. But look at how they responded. They stood up at the reading of the word, and this standing was an expression of submission and reverence for the word of God and the message of the word of God. And get this, scholars tell us that this became a standard practice among the Jews to stand at the reading of the Torah or the first five books of the Bible.

And this is a common practice even today among some churches and some Christians, that is to stand at the reading of the word of God. So the point here is this. When the people heard the word read and explained, they stood in submission to and in reverence for the word of God. But then sixth, they were worshipful under the word. Here we see that the people did not stop at standing in reverence submission to the word, but they continued. When Ezra prayed and blessed God, they responded by saying, "Amen, Amen." And this double Amen speaks of an intense feeling along with their affirmation.

Simply to say, "Amen" was and is an affirmation of Ezra's prayer here. But this double Amen represented an affirmation with great feeling and even great emotion. And they responded by lifting their hands. And this was a physical expression of prayer that is seen in other places in the Old Testament. As a matter of fact, we see this in the New Testament as well. One specific verse is 1 Timothy 2.8. And they also bow down and worship with their faces to the ground. And this is the ultimate sign of submission and worship to God. So the point here is very profound.

Upon the hearing of God's word and Ezra's prayer, all the people responded in this great affirmation. Amen, Amen. And they lifted their hands in prayer and then they fell on their faces before God in worship. And notice folks, they worship God, yes, but they worship God by and through the hearing of the word. You see that? They worship God by and through the hearing of the word. And then 7, the last detail here. They were teachable under the word. Here we see the spiritual leaders helping Ezra in the work and helping the people in this work. They explain the word of God, helping the people to understand the word of God.

They read the word of God and they explained the word of God. They were giving sense of the word of God to the people. As one writer said it, the Levites were the appointed interpreters of God's unique word. Their work may indicate either that they were linguistic translators or that they were biblical interpreters. It was probably all of the above and then some. So this is simple. As Ezra and the Levites read and explained the word of God to them, the people received their teaching in the explanation of the word. They were teachable. So here in verses 1-8, we also see how the people of God responded to the word of God.

They were one in their desire for the word and they were asking for the word, but they were divided in that all who were not of the age of understanding the word, they were excluded from this meeting. And they were attentive to the word, which led their great submission to God and the word, which led to their great worship of God from the word and simply they were receptive and teachable as the word of God was given and the word of God was explained. And I have to ask us right here, how do we respond to the word of God? How do we respond to the word of God? In our private reading and in our public worship services, how do we respond?

Is this convicting to you? Should this be convicting to us? Is the Spirit of God telling us that we have grown too casual, that we have grown cold, that we are treating God's word as something less than words from God? Again, I'm trusting the Spirit of God to take the word of God and the message of God to apply it to God's people you. And another thing to consider, do we worship God wrongly? These people worshiped according to what they heard from the Scripture. Did you see that? Do we worship God according to what we hear from God's word and what is explained to us from God's word?

Or do we try and worship God by some other means, and that's rampant today. Some of what is called worship today really isn't worship at all, it's manmade. As a matter of fact, if you turn over to Leviticus 10 and you look at what the sons of Aaron did, they presented strange fire, strange worship before God. You see they paid dearly for it. You look, church, look at what we do every single time we worship here. The reading, the preaching, and the teaching of God's word is at the center of our worship services. And I call you to respond to God according to what we learn from His word.

You see, we're not just responding to the word of God, we're responding to God in His word. You see? So they responded to the word. Now as I move away from examining these verses, honestly I'd like to go further here. Verses 9 to 12 are all about how they applied the word. But I want to point out the main point of these verses. Notice church, verses 1 to 8 are all about the supremacy of God's word and worship. Let me repeat that. Verses 1 to 8 are all about the supremacy of God's word and worship.

In the Bible speaks today, Commentario Nehemiah, the author's Raymond Brown, he says, and I'm quoting, "In this meeting," speaking of this meeting with Ezra, "in the people," he says, "the people made no distinction between the exposition of the Scriptures and the offering of worship. Permission and adoration belong together, each flowing naturally into the other." And what he is saying is this. Verses 1 to 8 are all about their worship of God from the Scriptures that they heard. Their worship flowed from and was connected to the Scriptures.

So their worship was all about the supremacy of the Scriptures and the supremacy of God found in the Scriptures. And for us here at Grace Life Church, our worship must flow from and stay connected to the truth proclaimed from God's word every time we meet together. And honestly, the title of this message should be the Supremacy of the Word and Worship. Now right here, if you've not been asleep, now you know where I've played a little trick on you. You may be asking, "Pastor Chris, how can you title this message while we believe in a nursery?" Honestly, church, I'm killing two birds with one shot.

See tomorrow is opening day of done season, so some of you folks are hoping you can kill one or two birds with one shot. Well I'm killing two birds with one shot. And here I want to explain that we believe in a nursery for two basic but very important reasons and this comes right out of this teaching from Nehemiah. First reason why we believe in a nursery. The supremacy of the taught word of God in worship dictates that we put out all unnecessary distractions. Let me repeat that. The first reason we believe in a nursery is this. The supremacy of the taught word of God in worship dictates that we put out all unnecessary distractions.

Now let me offer us a few lessons here. Our distractions in worship are distractions. Our distractions in worship are distractions. Now let me illustrate what I'm trying to teach you by telling you two stories. Years ago in the life of a church where I served, there was a particular man in the life of the church who really was serious about the taught word of God. He showed up with his notebook. He showed up with his Bible. He was very, very attentive. He took notes. He discussed the sermon. He took everything that was taught and he took it home into his life.

We had a little boy in the life of our church at that time who seemed to get up all the time, all the time. This man came to me a little perturbed but very humble. He said, "Pastor Chris, it really bothers me." He says, "Every single time you start preaching, every single time it gets serious, he gets up and their parents really don't seem to care." He said, "It really, really bothers me." He said, "It's a distraction to me." He said, "I'm not against the boy. I just want to be attentive to God's word." Well, you know what happened? The very next week, his daughter got up two times. He came up to me and he said, "I'm a hypocrite pastor.

I know it." He said, "But I've got to tell you, my daughter's been a little bit sick and I'm sorry she had to get up." There's a difference. You see, the little boy got up because his parents didn't teach him. The daughter got up because it was a necessary distraction. Now what am I trying to show you? Distractions in worship are distractions. Now let me show you how I'm not a hypocrite. I grew up as a little boy going to Justice Hike-Chinata Methodist Church in South Laurel, which is where we live. I had a mom and a dad, my dad's past, my mom's still alive.

Their philosophy about church was this, you don't make a noise, you don't get up, you don't move unless it's absolutely necessary. My dad would take me to the men's bathroom under the steps there and he would stand there and he would say, "Son, go to the bathroom because you're not getting up." Now if there was an emergency, I would get up, but oh, it was rare that I had an emergency. What am I trying to show you? Distractions in worship are distractions. There are necessary distractions, but we have to ask, are they necessary? Also, our babies and our little ones are not more important than the preaching of God's word.

Some moms and dads really think that way. They adore their babies, they adore their little ones so much that they believe they are more important than the taught word of God and they say that by their actions. Let me ask you a few questions here. Would we take a baby to a funeral? You'd say, "Pastor, that's really not where they need to be." Would we take a baby to dad's business trip? You might say, "No, that's not where my little boy needs to be." Would we take a baby to dad's training at work? Say, "No, my little girl doesn't need to be there." Now what I'm saying here is this.

By insisting that I bring in my unnecessary distraction into worship, I am saying that the cause of my distraction is more important than the word of God in worship. Let that sink in. Again now, there are necessary distractions and there are unnecessary distractions. But also, those of the age of understanding the red and taught word of God and especially adults, they take precedence.

This means that those who can understand and especially adults, they come first in worship services because they can hear the word of God, they can understand the taught word of God, they can accept the taught word of God and they can take that home into their families. So the supremacy of the word of God in worship dictates that we put out all unnecessary distractions, which means we have a nursery. Second reason we have a nursery, the great need for uninterrupted time of worship for fathers and mothers dictates that we put out all unnecessary distractions, especially our mothers now. Let me repeat this.

The second reason we have a nursery is the great need for uninterrupted time of worship for fathers and mothers, especially mothers, dictates that we put all unnecessary distractions away. Fathers and mothers, especially mothers, are with their babies and little ones 24/7. I'm telling you, mothers are with them 24 hours a day and then some. Because spiritually fathers and mothers need to be in worship so as to pray, so as to sing hymns, so as to sing spiritual songs, so as to hear the word of God read, so as to hear the word of God taught and not be interrupted.

How much healthier is a marriage from uninterrupted worship according to the word of God? You hear that? How much healthier is the marriage from uninterrupted worship according to and from the word of God? How much healthier is the home and the home life from uninterrupted worship from mom and dad? Will we be better parents, parenting our children in the home if we are able to sit in worship under the word of God uninterrupted? And look at this church, if mom and dad can experience uninterrupted time worshiping God, worshiping God from the taught word of God, that worshiping packs the entirety of the life and especially the home.

So the great spiritual need for uninterrupted worship from the word of God for dads, for moms, for families, dictates that we put all unnecessary distractions away, which means we have a nursery. Now I want to transition into showing you my stance here, and this is the position of the elders too. First and foremost, there is no biblical command commanding us to have a nursery. Let me say that again.

First and foremost, there is no biblical command commanding us to have a nursery, and I'm not making Nehemiah 8, 1 to 8, out to be some kind of a biblical command to have a nursery, but on the other side, there is no biblical command against having a nursery either. And you have to add the scripture to come up with a direct biblical command against a church nursery. Also, we clearly see that age divisions and gender divisions are seen in the church. We see in Titus 2 the division between men and women, between older and younger, for the purpose of teaching the word accordingly, and for the purpose of ministry accordingly.

Let me give you an example. There are certain things I cannot teach to young women. I've said this jokingly before, I don't speak woman. I live with a bunch of women, even my dog is a woman, but I don't speak woman. And there are certain ministry needs in the lives of younger women that women need, and older women teach women. Older women minister to the younger women. So the point here is this, dividing by age and gender for the purpose of teaching the word and for the purpose of ministering to that particular age or gender certainly is biblical. And if it was good enough for Paul and Titus, then it's good enough for us.

But notice what we have here this morning. Having an organized church ministry is practical wisdom for spiritual purposes found in the scripture. You see? Having a nursery ministry is practical spiritual wisdom for a very important spiritual purpose and purposes in the life of the church. And look church, this isn't law. I'm not giving you law. Let me tell you what I'm giving you. Leadership. This is wise pastoral leadership. Wise elder leadership for the good of the home, for the good of the family. This is home life discipleship.

You can say, you can go home and say, you can say this at work to your family and friends, my pastor loves me so much, he believes in nursery ministry because he believes I am worth it for home life discipleship. Now as I close I want to make some comments. This really kind of our announcements. I'm very thankful for our ladies who serve over our nursery ministry. Sarah Crotwell and Megan Walters do a great job there and there's a lot of other ladies that help them. I'm very, very thankful for our ladies who serve in the nursery ministry. But look church, we need all of our Grace Life ladies to serve.

If you're a lady and a member of Grace Life church, I ask you to go volunteer. Now what do we do? What do you do in the nursery? You love on those little ones? You pray for those little ones? As a matter of fact, the toddler's class, they have a Bible lesson according to their age. It's all about loving on those babies. It's about taking care of those babies, praying over those babies, serving those children and those babies for home life discipleship. And get this church, we have policies and procedures. We have rules and guidelines that we follow no matter what.

These policies and guidelines are for the good of our little ones, for the good of our workers, and for the good of the church. And as a matter of fact, we've been working, reworking those policies and guidelines and they'll be available next week. So Nehemiah 8 versus 1 to 8 is all about why we believe in a nursery. It is because we believe in the supremacy of preaching the word in worship and it's all about home life discipleship. Now in closing, I want to tell you a little story that really just communicates my heart and my wife's heart.

Several years ago, one morning when my wife was in the nursery, a lot of folks lingered in the sanctuary like we will do today, talking, visiting, laughing, sharing life. But long after the worship service was over, I'll never forget my wife came through the door with a little girl handing her to mom. And my wife said when we got in a car, she said she never came to get her child. She never came to get her baby. And my wife in tears said she was in church hearing the word, getting body life, visiting with brothers, visiting with sisters.

And she said it was my joy and my privilege to stay in the nursery, to keep her little girl and to stay even longer than was necessary for her. Now church, listen, I'm not giving you law, I'm giving you leadership. The nursery is very important. My goal and my desire is that every little boy gets out of that car and runs into the church. Why? Because they cannot wait to get into the church and it starts in the nursery. So let's pray and we'll commit these things to the Spirit of God to apply these things to us according to our need.