[Music]

The hope of Mars Hill since the beginning is that Seattle is a great city and what it needs is a great city within that city, a city that loves Jesus, a city that believes Scripture, a city that lives for the good of the whole city, not just its own self‑interest. And so Mars Hill started off as an experiment to see if we could build a city within the city that would love the city and seek the transformation of the city as the city meets Jesus.

[Music Ends]

Good evening, Mars Hill. Good to see both of you who can adjust a clock. At 9:00, there were three guys, and that was it. Smart guys, engineers. My name’s Mark, one of the pastors here at the church. If you’re new, we’re in the book of Nehemiah, so you can go to Nehemiah 3. That’s where we find ourselves today. We like to go right through books of the Bible. Today we’re gonna pull a page out of the Jerusalem phone book. It’s a list of 38 names. Very exciting, cutting‑edge. Mega churches across the country are hopping on this train of preaching genealogies. And next week, I’m gonna be preaching from a mattress tag, so you wanna come back for that, see if I can outdo myself.

So we’ll get right to work here and see what God would have for us in Nehemiah 3. Good to have you joining us tonight, and hopefully we can make this worth your while.

So, father, as always, we begin by thanking you for being a great God who has a heart of love for the world, for the nations, for cities like ours, for churches, and for individuals and their families and friendships with others. So, God, we ask that today you would reveal to us your plan for the city and the church and our lives and our families in such a way that we could participate with you in a way that would give us joy and meaningful service. For that to happen, we’re gonna open your word. We ask that your spirit would lead us, guide us, convict us, confront us, instruct us as he knows that we need, and we dedicate ourselves and our church and our city and labors to you in the name of Jesus, advertisement.

As we get into it, I’ll catch you up to speed on Nehemiah. The story is really about the rebuilding of a city and a church which is the city within that city. The city is Jerusalem. It’s laid in ruins for 141 years. It’s broken city. There’s a man named Nehemiah who’s working away from his hometown in a capital town called Susa. And God breaks his heart for this broken city and its broken church. He goes into three or four months of praying and planning, asking God to give him insight as to what he should do to make a difference. He then gets permission from the king, as well as resources from the king, so t the can relocate to the hometown of Jerusalem and work on the city and work on the church. And this week they actually begin their work. And what we’re gonna do is look at Chapter 3 of Nehemiah. And herein, you will see 38 names listed, as well as a number of other people that are named. You’re gonna see 42 different working teams, and they’re spread throughout seven different neighborhoods in the city.

When you hear the word “gate, those are different neighborhoods of the city. In our context, that would be like our campuses in West Seattle or Shoreline or Ballard, different parts of the city. And as we get into it, I’m sure some of you will undoubtedly ask, “Why in the world are we gonna go through Chapter 3?” A bunch of the commentaries on Nehemiah just skip it all together. They go from Chapter 2 to Chapter 4. Some of you may have felt this way reading your Bible. Get a chapter. There’s a long list of names here like – “I don’t know who ‘Abudahbudahbudah’ is. Next, I just sorta skip it, move on. I don’t really know this guy. I don’t really care. It looks like a list from the phone book two and a half thousand years ago. A bunch of people’s names I can’t even say, who cares?”

The reason we go through all Scripture is we believe as Scripture says that all Scripture is God breathed and it’s profitable, 2 Timothy 3:16 says. So if it’s important enough for God to put in the Bible, it’s important enough for us to read and learn from, and God wouldn’t waste our time. He only tells us what he has deemed to be important. So along that vein, I’m gonna read all of Chapter 3, 32 verses. I’m gonna read all of the names. I don’t know how to spell them, or pronounce them, I should say, so I read fast and confidently so that you won’t know the difference. I did go to public school, so I’m sure I will butcher some. Feel free not to e‑mail me. “That’s not how you say ‘Hezekiahmiah’.” It’s like, “Okay, I know, Mr. College Boy.”

Chapter 3. I’m just gonna go ahead and read all of it. It’ll take a few minutes, a few minutes of your life you could never get back. And so we’ll do that. You ready? Chapter 3, beginning in Verse 1.

“Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors; they consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel. And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built.

“The sons of Hassenaah built The Fish Gate; they laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired. And next to them Meshullam the son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel repaired. And next to them Zadok the son of Baana repaired. And next to them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles would not stoop to serve the Lord.” We’ll come back and take a look at that.

“Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah” – Mr. B – “repaired the Yeshanah; they laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And next to them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and Mizpah, the seat of the governor of the province Beyond the River. Next to them Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, repaired. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers” – that’s one of those guys that worked at Macy’s and always were trying to spritzer ya. All of a sudden, he’s doing a little contracting work on the side. Shocking. – “repaired; and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.

“Next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, ruled half the district of Jerusalem, repaired. Next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph repaired opposite his house; and next to him Hattush the son of Hashabneiah repaired. Malchijah the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens. Next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired, he and his daughters.” Apparently he had some subcontractor daughters who were good with construction.

“Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate; they rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars, repaired a thousand Cubits of the wall, as far as the Dung Gate.” They went all the way to the Dung Gate and said, “We’re done. Somebody else can take it from here. We don’t do Dung Gates.”

Verse 14, “Malchijah the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate; he rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And Shallum the son of Colhozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain; he rebuilt it and covered it and set its doors and bolts and bars; and he built the wall of the Pool of Shelah of the king’s garden, as far as that go down from The City of David.

“After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, repaired to a point opposite the Tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool, and as far as the house of the mighty men were halfway there.

“After him the Levites repaired: Rehum the son of Bani; next to him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, repaired for his district. After him their brothers repaired: Bavvai the son of Henadad, ruler of half the district of Keilah; next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the buttress. After him Baruch the son of Zabbai repaired another section from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. After him Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired another section from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib.

“After him the priests, the men of the surrounding area, repaired. After them Benjamin and Hasshub repaired opposite their house. After them Azariah the son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah repaired beside his own house. After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the butyric and to the corner. Palal the son of Uzai repaired opposite the butyric and the projecting from the upper house of the king at the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh and the temple servants living on Ophel repaired to a point opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower. After him the Tekoites repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel.

“Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each one opposite his own house. After them Zadok the son of Immer repaired opposite his own house. After him Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East, repaired. After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah repaired opposite his chamber. After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, opposite the Muster Gate, and to the upper chamber of the corner. And between the upper chamber of the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired.”

There you go. Chapter 3.

[Applause]

Everybody’s like, “He can read. That is awesome. He can read. That boy’s a reader right there.” That’s how low the expectations are for my performance on this chapter. Now the question is, how do I spin this out into a full sermon for thousands of people on the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the atoning sacrifice for sin? Some of you are like, “I wish I was a pastor.” Not today, you don’t.

Here’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna start by telling you that what this is, is a chapter from Nehemiah’s own journal. Again, he is a leader, commissioned of God to rebuild a city, and the church is the city within that city. And the first 7 chapters, as well as the 13th chapter of Nehemiah are sections from his private journal. The question is, why does Nehemiah have so many people listed in his journal? I’ll tell you why. As a leader, people who love God and serve, they’re wonderfully encouraging, and so he keeps them in his journal to pray for them, to pray for them. And I would encourage us all to have a journal of names of people that we are praying for. And I assure you of this, Nehemiah is praying for these people, and their work, their service, their projects, as they rebuild the city in the church.

And so it is very personal. And what I love about this is that God actually names the names of average regular people. And for you and, we read it and we’re like, “What a waste of time.” Some of you may think that. But for the people who were just normal folks, they showed up and worked hard and served God, and they made the Bible, which was probably cool. The Bible came out and they’re like, “Ha, ha, I’m in it. That’s cool right there.” In the Concordance, there I am ‘Hamanamanma,’ I’m there. I’m with the Hs. That’s incredible.”

And the cool thing of this is that we see that God takes note of our life. God takes note of our days and our service and our ministry, that God knows our name. God know what we’re doing. And there’s actually honor that comes from God for those who serve him faithfully. Furthermore, Nehemiah is one of the great books of the Bible on leadership principles. And most, if not all of you, are leaders. Some people follow you, look to you for counsel and advice. Some of you are parents. You lead families. Some of you are leaders in your area of work or ministry or in this church, whatever it might be. So what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna pull/extract from Chapter 3 some general themes of leadership that I see in Chapter 3.

The first thing is that depending up on the size of the project, that greatly determines, inextricably determines the size and the function of the organization that is built to tackle that project, alright? Here, had Nehemiah pulled into town and said, “I’m gonna rebuild a wall, and I’m gonna rebuild a church and rebuild a city,” he never would have accomplished that apart from accepting the size of the work that was before him. Alright?

You’re looking at a wall that’s 15 to 20 feet high, 3 to 4 feet wide, upwards of 2½ miles in circumference that has been broken for 141 years. Once it is rebuilt, then the gates must be rebuilt, which are doors that open up to invite people in. Once that was completed and they could ensure safety, then they would rebuild the houses and the businesses and the church, and then people would move in. Well to accomplish all of this, Nehemiah can’t just show up with a real strong back and a lot of determination.

He needs to accept the scope of work, and then he needs to architect an organizational plan that is commensurate with the task that God has set before him. And as far as organizational systems go, whether it’s a business or a not‑for‑profit or a church, the issue is you must know what game you’re playing and you must accept that that is the game you are, in fact, playing. Give you an example from the church side that also has general application to business principle, that being in a smaller organization, the leader functions really as a decathlete. They’re a generalist that does everything.

Early on in the days of Mars Hill, I would unlock the building, help set up the sound, set up the chairs, go to Kinko’s, photocopy the notes, greet everyone at the door, teach, answer questions, take prayer requests, clean up at the end, shake hands on the way out, help clean up the chairs, and then I would go home. And if you called, I would answer it ’cause the phone was at my house. By God’s grace, it’s not that way any more. But literally, I’d answer the phone at my house for the first three‑four years of the church. You’d call, it’s, “Hello. Mars Hill Church.” It’s just me. That’s all it was.

That’s what happens in a smaller organization. How many of you own your own small company. You work for a small business, and that’s how it is? You do a little bit of everything. Well what happens then is as an organization grows, it becomes more like a golf twosome or foursome. You gotta couple people working with you, working for ya, complexifies with lines of communication and management. But there’s a few people working there now, sharing the load.

Organization gets a little bigger. It functions like a basketball team. The leader’s still the point guard, sort of setting up all the plays and delegating to everyone on the team, but that leader is still sort of controlling the ball and the tempo and setting up the plays and running the organization until an organization gets much bigger, and then it operates more like a football team. Offense, defense, special teams, different teams, different coaches, different practices. They’re never all on the field at the same time. The guys on the team don’t even know each other. The kicker and the linebacker, they don’t even necessarily have much time together except for maybe on the bus.

This is what happens organizationally. As an organization grows, so does its complexity. One of the greatest differences between churches is in addition to theological conviction is size because size as much as any variable, helps affect how things are done. And so what that means is that in a church like Mars Hill, we need to accept the size of the mission God has laid before us to help service the city of Seattle and to build a church that is the city within that city. And to do that, we need to accept the fact we’re not decathletes. We’re not golfers. We’re not basketball players. We’re a football team is what we are. And lots of campuses, lots of departments, lots of leaders, lots of different meetings and teams and decisions, and it must be distributed throughout the whole.

And the grand illusion is that because I preach that somehow I’m connected to everything or I know what’s going on. I don’t. I don’t even know the code to get in to any of our buildings, so apart from them already being open, I can’t even come because it’s that complicated.

Second thing I see is that what Nehemiah did, however, is he spent his time constructing teams to work together. And these teams are given certain projects. You take this part of the wall, this gate, this part of the city, this neighborhood. You understand your role, and then team are built. Some of these teams are built on preexisting relationships, family, friendship, coworkers. Furthermore, these teams are unified. They have theological unity. They all love the same God. They have missiological unity. They all want to accomplish the same task. And they have relational unity. They know and love each other.

And these teams are built on that kind of unity. And let me say this about Mars Hill. The bigger an organization gets – and that includes our church – the more important it is that there be trust throughout the organization. You can’t manage everything. You can’t keep an eye on everyone. You can’t keep an eye on everything. There has to be trust. There has to be trust. And trust is gained slowly and it’s lost quickly.

One of the great organizational failures, particularly in churches, is trust is given quickly and lost slowly, meaning we trust you and you can mess it up for a really long time before we do anything about it. Trust must be gained slowly and then lost quickly. That means that you hire slowly and fire quickly. People who hire quickly and fire slowly, they create all kinds of trouble for the organization. What we see, however, at our church is that unity is so important, that as we go to different campuses – now we’re at three campuses, looking at four, as we move from seven services to 12 in the next year.

As other churches are planted, as we continue to spread throughout the region, as community groups are literally now an hour north, an hour south, and upwards of almost an hour east of where we are presently. And Mars Hill has expressions and extensions and gates that are open through people’s homes all throughout the region. The only thing that makes a church of our size run is trust, is trust, that there has to be trust. That means that trustworthy people are put in leadership positions after they’ve been tested and approved, and then they’re trusted to do their work.

Some of you have been in organizations where they don’t trust you, or you can’t trust them. So there’s an over‑managing of you and your progress and your systems. There’s control issues. There’s lack of trust. There must be trust. One of the things I get questions from people all the time is as we go to this multi‑campus model, what if somebody does something wrong, says something wrong? What if they get off mission, become divisive? Is say the only hope we’ve got is trust, that relationally, we have a friendship, that missiologically, were on the same mission, and that theologically, we worship the same God and we’re reading the same Bible.

And the good news is, to be honest with you, unity is a hallmark of this church. It has been for a really long time, and that unity is something that is incredibly important. Jesus prayed for it. You know if Jesus prays for it, it’s a big deal. He has unity among his team. And everyone is working on their project, trusting the other members of the team to be working on their aspect of the mission. A church like Mars Hill gets broken down into departments and campuses with teams working together that have to build trust, and together they need to focus on their mission and accomplish their objective, and then everyone else should be doing the same.

And what happens then, too, as we see here is as an organization and their mission grows that it transitions from a team of generalists, to a team of specialists. He has specialist focusing on gates. He has specialists focusing on wall construction. He will later have specialist who are involved theologically in the construction of the church and the city. He’s working with specialists.

Some people will argue that a church that is larger doesn’t take as good of care of the people as a small church. Not to be disrespectful, but I would wholeheartedly disagree. I’ve pastored this church from the size of a Mormon family to 6,000 people, okay? And I have seen what kind of care is afforded to people at varying sizes of our church, and I assure you of this, a team of specialists can provide far better care and opportunity than a generalist.

When I was the only pastor on staff, for example, if you called, I’d meet with you. But the problem is, there were certain things I just don’t have any real insight or helpful information on. Call me up and say, “I’m addicted to drugs/alcohol.” I mean I’ve never been drunk. I’ve never done drugs. I have never smoked a cigarette. If you’re an addict, I’m not a huge help. I’m not a – like if you have an unpleasant disposition, like I’m there for ya. I get that. But if you’re an addict, I’m probably not the best help.

When we started the church, I didn’t have any children yet. People would come and say to me, “I’m having a problem with my children.” I’m like, “I don’t have any. I can give you some biblical advice and counsel some general principles, but I don’t really know.” I have people come to me and they say, “Well, my teenage kid is here.” “Well, I can give you some principles, but I don’t have teenage kids yet. My oldest is nine.”

The point being that a large team of specialists is going to be more effective in caring for people than a small team of generalists. And, again, in a smaller church, the pastor is sort of jack-of-all-trades. He cuts the grass, photocopies the notes, preaches the sermon, does the counseling, officiates the wedding, does a little bit of everything. I’m not saying that’s bad. But I’m saying where we are at as a church to me is exciting because we could have far more specialization. We have people that are specialists in drug and alcohol recovery, sexual abuse recovery for those that have been victimized, premarital counseling, biblical counseling. We have specialists for those who are working in the area of finances.

Last thing you want me doing is balance the church checkbook. I’ll be doing prison ministry from the inside. I mean I just – I’m just not that guy, right? I mean I don’t even know – I mean, I don’t know. So we have a business department. We have an executive pastor, administrative pastor, full‑time bookkeeper, business manager, external CPA, a second full firm that does a full audit of our finances, policies, procedures, those who county money, distribute money. All of these kinds of things are what? Specialization. Specialization.

I talked to a pastor not too long ago, and he counts the money and takes it to the bank. And he left it in his trunk and it got stolen. Alright? That’s not good. That’s what he said. But the issue of specialization allows us to be way more professional, way more effective, way more efficient. So we have teams of specialist. And if you call or you need help, we could say, “You don’t necessarily need to meet with the guy who preaches. You may need to meet with somebody else who is far more adept at that.” You had a miscarriage. We have women who have been through that. You’ve had an abortion. We’ve got women who have been through that. Drug/alcohol addiction, you’ve been sexually abused. You want theological input. You need some encouragement or help or whatever it might be. There are people here who are specialists.

And the difference is between going to a family doctor who’s sort of a jack-of-all-trades, and a large hospital where there is specialization. Walk into your family doctor, you say, “ I got shot. I think I need surgery.” He says, “I don’t do surgery. I do basic general practice, but you’re gonna need a specialist for that.” And one of the most exciting things for me at Mars Hill is our ability to continue to grow in our areas of specialization. And this includes not only the service of people, but the utilization of their gifts. This is cool for me.

We have people that are musically skilled, technologically skilled, administratively skilled. They have lots of abilities that we can harness and put them together in working teams helping to build this church and build this city. And, again, I’ll be honest with you. When the church was small and I was working as a generalist, I was so unhappy. And I was actually pretty miserable in variously seasons ’cause I’m trying to figure out the budget and I’m trying to figure out the technology. The last thing you want is me doing technology. I don’t have any technological chops.

Every Monday, I get out my Etch A Sketch and I put my schedule together. And then if I bump it, my whole week’s destroyed. I’m just not that guy. I’m just not that guy. I have good plans and – I mean I still carry a notebook around and write in it. I’m a Neanderthal. I have a sloped forehead and a notebook. I mean that’s where I’m at writing things down with a pen. For those of you who are here and are under the age of 20, it’s an instrument about this long and it has liquid in it that goes on an old form of communication called paper. That’s how I operate. So I hand the guys pieces of paper and they put it into Excel spreadsheets and then e‑mail it, and then someone opens it for me and I get to read it. And it works really well.

So the specialization I think is one of the things that happens in a larger mission and organization. We see that with Nehemiah. Another thing we see is that he connects his air war and his ground war. Let me explain this to you. Air war is where we communicate to the masses. That’s preaching, worship, the Web site, vodcast, podcast, MP3s, downloads, book writing. It’s information that goes out to the masses. One of the greatest mistakes errors, naivety that can come into a church like ours is that a guy like me thinks that because I preached about it, it’s all taken care of, which is not the case.

You need a ground war in addition to an air war. I can write a book. I can speak about it. But at the end of the day, unless we build a ground war, which is training classes, leadership development, community groups meeting in homes throughout the region so that people have relationships and are known and loved. Unless we run auxiliary things like biblical counseling – if we don’t build our ground war, you don’t really change the city.

In Chapter 2, Nehemiah got all the people together and he preached to ’em. And then he didn’t go home and say, “Well, I preached to ’em and told ’em, ‘Rebuild the wall.’ I’m sure that’s taken care of how.” He then had to build them into teams, deputize leaders, assign them to projects, give them specialization, accept the scope of work and organizational complexity that was before them, and then connect as ground war and as air war, putting people into relationships and working teams to accomplish specific tasks and projects.

One of the greatest errors that can happen in a church of our size is a guy like me thinks what he’s doing is the most important thing. I do believe that the teaching and preaching of the Bible is important, writing books and theological correction is very important. I certainly believe in that. I appreciate my part of the job. But the truth is, without a ground war, we really don’t see the transformation of a city, people’s lives, or the forward progress of our church because what we’ll have is a crowd and not a church. We’ll have a bunch of people who like the band and apparently appreciate being yelled at for an hour a week. But beyond that, I don’t think we see real life change.

I say that because some of you are here and you’re only part of our air war and you’re not part of our ground war. You come to church. You listen online. But you’re not yet plugged in. You’re not in a community group. You haven’t been through the gospel class. One of the ways we build unity is through the gospel class. We tell you what we believe. We answer your questions. You can get to know us. We can get to know you. And then we plug you in as an official member, let you serve and use your gifts in a meaningful way. I encourage you to do that.

We have training classes to help train you to be a better servant of God, or a better leader for God, whatever God would have appointed for you. Community groups, however, are really where it happens in this church, as well as grace and recovery groups, those being places where you get together with 10‑12‑15 people. You have an ongoing relationship. You get to know one another, speak into one another’s lives, know people, be known by them.

One thing we’re working on right now – I think we have a pretty good ground war, and I think we’re making great progress to improve it. This is where a lot of our energies are going presently. We’ve hired what we feel is about the best biblical counseling organization in the United States of America to come in and do specialized training for our people who are running our ground war, community group leaders, grace group leader, recovery group leaders, elders, deacons, their families.

This will be an expense of over $100,000.00. It’ll be a couple training modules, and the goal is to teach people who are, during the week, working in a regular job or sitting in a cubicle or whatever it is God would have them to do, staying at home raising kids, whatever it is, to teach them that when they open their home and have people over and they’re running and expression of Mars Hill Church in their home as a community group –

And we have I think right now over 140 of those scattered throughout the region, those kind of people, when someone says, “I’m struggling. I’m tempted, I’m depressed. I’m frustrated. I’m disappointed,” and someone knows how to open the Scriptures and say, “Let’s talk about the God of the Bible. Let’s talk about the person and work of Jesus. Let’s talk about what God would have to say to you through his word” – training our people to be biblical counselors, training our people to be biblical encouragers and biblical disciples of people, and so for us, the ground war is exceedingly important.

What I love about Nehemiah is he connects his air war, his sermon on Chapter 2, and his ground war in Chapter 3. Most churches are strong on one or the other. The church that’s really good on the ground war, everybody knows everybody, and everybody loves everybody, and everybody gets along great, and nobody new ever comes, because there’s no air war. No one knows the church is there. No one’s attracted to it. The Web site’s not up to date. The preaching, the worship is not drawing people in.

Others are really good at the war and really bad at the ground war. Masses come in ’cause they love the band and they get to hear the preaching of the Bible, but at the end of the day, there’s no Bible studies, groups, friendship, counseling. There’s no support system, the ground war to come along side and to help people. Both are very important. Both, I would say, are equally important.

I was talking to a guy who’s a good preacher in a big church, but he said something that was very frustrating. I said, “How’s are ground war, your community groups, your Bible studies, these kinda things?” He said, “We really don’t do a lotta that.” I said, “Why?” He said, “I preach to ’em and I feel like they get what they need.” I said, “No. What they need is relationship, friendship, accountability, all the love one another, encourage one another, forgive one another. All the “one anothers” of the New Testament. There’s a lot of those.”

Jesus didn’t just come to earth and yell at people. He also put them together in relationship. He did that with his disciples as a model for us to break things down into smaller groups and communities and relationships, very important. Our air war is good. Our ground war is good. We’re always praying for the ground war because the ground war takes a lot more dollars, time, resources, manpower. But the ground war is really the difference between someone having a changed life and someone just enjoying a large experience. Nehemiah got that, and I appreciate that about him.

What else can I tell ya? Nehemiah works on the organization, not just in it. At no point does Chapter 3 say, “And this is the section of the wall that Nehemiah built.” You’ll read through it, there’s another guy named Nehemiah. It’s not the same Nehemiah who’s mentioned. Nehemiah, the leader, doesn’t work on any aspect of the wall. He is working, instead, on the whole project. There’s a difference between working in an organization and working on an organization.

Working in an organization is answering e‑mail, fulfilling orders if it’s a business, answering the phone. Working on an organization is policies, procedures, leaders, leadership development, systems, bookkeeping, financial planning, real estate acquisition. That’s working on an organization.

There’s a management guy named Peter Senge. He wrote a number of interesting books on the subject. But he uses as analogy that I think is really helpful, and it’s illustrative of what’s going here in Nehemiah. He said if you were to take people up to a large ship, let’s say one of the cruise ships docked downtown Seattle, and you were to ask them, “Okay. In regards to this ship, who is the most important person in regards to this ship?” who would you answer? How many of you would say the captain? Senge says the boat‑builder. I think that’s a good insight. The best captain in the world can’t pilot a ship that won’t float.

When look at an organization, we tend to say, “Well, the leader’s the one with the wheel in his hand up on the deck leading the charge.” No. Actually, that’s the person working in the organization, not on the organization. The most important person is the person working on the organization. You could have a great leader. If they have bad systems, bad facilities, bad systems, policies, procedures, structures, the wrong budget, it doesn’t matter how great of a leader they are. With those kind of resources, it’ll sink.

This, for me, is the most demanding part of my job is working on the organization, not just in it. As we go to multiple campus, I’m always looking for leaders, dollars, strategies, strategic connections. I’m looking for policies, procedures, legal liabilities. This is the world that I live in. And to be honest with you, I really like it. I work far better there than I do as a generalist. I work far better as a specialist working on an organization as opposed to in it.

Now some of you come from a smaller church. You’re not used to that. See, the pastor works in the church, not on it. We can or e‑mail or drop by anytime we want and he’s there, ’cause he’s always literally in it. An issue is – that’s important. But what’s really important is to also be working on it. And I would say for some you this is even a general principle that applies to your own life. You’re tired. You’re burned out. You’re frustrated. You’re broke. You’re not doing so well health‑wise.

So what you’re saying is, “I need to run faster, try harder, do more.” The issue may be, “No, you need to pull back. Stop working in your life, and work on it.” Can you change your place of employment, your diet, your exercise, your schedule, your budget? Do you need to acquire new resources? Do you need to drop outstanding obligations that you can no longer fulfill? Companies have to do this as well all the time. Individuals must do this, also.

One of the indicators that God gives us when we reach those places is pain, physical pain, financial pain, relational pain, emotional pain. It’s God’s way of saying, “It’s time to work on your life, not just in it.” The treadmill’s too fast. You’re not keeping up. It’s time to get off and re-look at everything. And what I love about Nehemiah, he doesn’t assign himself to a portion of the wall and get so focused on developing that portion of the wall that he’s unable to investigate the rest of what’s going on. He sees all that is happening. He inspects all the different neighborhoods, their various campuses that they’re trying to get open to serve their whole city.

He knows the different leaders. He’s in contact with them. He also knows who is serving and how fast the work is progressing. These are all wonderful principles of leadership. And the last thing I would give you is he looks for old stones. And I would tell you to look for old stones.

I’m gonna stretch this metaphor as far as I can, so bear with me. I mean I got a list a names. I mean I gotta work it, right? He uses old stones, meaning that the wall had existed, had been destroyed, that the stones that had previously constructed the wall are laying in ruin around the city covered over with moss and grass and dirt. Time has taken its toll over the course of 141 years. But rather than starting over, he reuses the old stones. This is a very interesting parallel with our situation in Seattle whereby, as I’ve told you, they’ve essentially zoned out large churches in Seattle.

The only exception is churches, religious places, that are preexisting are grandfathered in under old zoning requirements. That’s so we can use those old stones. So for us, we’re always looking for old stones, old buildings, old facilities, old pieces of land that were used by different churches and religious organizations. Because we can use those. We can plug them in technologically. We could turn them into campuses. And like these seven gates where the entry points and portals to their city, so those gates, those churches, those old stones become entry points into God’s kingdom, and into Mars Hill Church. You can pray for us. We’re always looking for older facilities to reinvigorate them with new dollars.

Right now we’re doing that in West Seattle. A project is nearing completion. There’s a Saturday coming up. Pastor Bubba would love to have you all come over and get your hands dirty and do some work and help him out as we’re going back there and we’re taking an old stone, a building that a part of it dates all the way back 80‑plus years ago. And we’re cleaning it up and we’re renovating it so that we can have a campus there to serve that part of the city. It can be a gate open to Mars Hills Church and Kingdom of God in West Seattle.

I’ve got a list of other buildings. Actually, it’s about 12 deep right now. I call it Facility Evangelism. I’m always looking for buildings for Jesus, and always looking at different opportunities where we could take those old stones, use those grandfathered in zoning restrictions, and use them for expressions of Mars Hill and campuses. Be in prayer for that. It’s a huge part of what we need to be about.

That being said, those are some the principles for leaders. Let me gather some principles for people. First thing I see in Chapter 3 as well is that God loves to work through people. I love the fact that God lists by name a bunch of regular people because he works through people. Now God could have rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem. He created the heavens and the earth, so a wall is not a big deal. Right? But what God chose to do is work through Nehemiah and other people.

Say, “Why would God do that? Is he using them?” No. Because he loves them. And God has great joy in giving us the wonderful opportunity to work with him, and he wants us to share in his joy.

I want you to get the picture that God is a father, and that when we labor with our dad, it’s a wonderful thing. We have a relationship with him. We capture something of his heart. We share in his joy.

I can still remember, I was a little boy. My dad, Joe, he was a construction worker, union drywaller, 20‑plus years till he broke his back. And he would wear steel‑toed work boots and jeans and a white T‑shirt and a hardhat and go to work with a lunchbox. Well, at three years of age, guess what I wanted? (Laughs) Steel‑toed work boots, jeans, white T‑shirt, lunch box, and a hard hat. ’Cause I wanted to go to work with my dad. And so a couple times, my dad actually took me to work with him and he’d give me scrap wood, nails, and hammer, and I’d sit there and pound stuff ’cause I wanted just to hang out with my dad. I wanted to see what my dad was doing, wanted to be with my dad, wanted to be like my dad, wanted to be doing whatever my dad was doing.

Likewise, God is a father. And God loves to work through people, not because he has to. He can do it without us. But he’s a father who loves to take his kids to work. Loves to let us see him at work. Loves to let us see what he’s doing. Wants us to share in his heart. Wants us to participate in his works so that, what? So that we can share in his joy.

I hope you guys that are serving and giving and caring – and there are many – if I was to list everyone, we couldn’t have a list of 38. We’d have a list of 3,800. I hope you’re encouraged. And I know sometimes it’s full, and you come here and you say, “There’s not a seat for me, and I clean the place,” or, “I serve,” or, “I run a community group,” or – I hope you’re excited saying, “I work hard for the Lord ’cause I love the city. I love the church. And I love the Lord. And the place is full and people are getting saved and people are getting married. People are getting baptized. Babies are being born. Lives are getting changes. Campuses are getting extended. Churches are getting planted.” That’s great. You get to share in the joy of what God is doing. There’s nothing better than that.

Additionally, all work is holy if it’s done to the Lord. If you were to go see these people in the middle of their project, it would just look like people picking up rocks, hanging doors, alright, gates. You’d say, “What are they doing?” Ministry. “They’re not doing ministry. They’re doing a construction project.” Well, the truth is, anything we do as Christians is ministry if it’s done unto the Lord. That’s all, that all work is sacred. The big myth is that I’m in full‑time ministry and some of you aren’t. Anyone who knows God is in full‑time ministry. Paul says whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, sit in a cubicle, go to class, wipe your kids’ nose, do your dishes, cut your grass, change your oil, whatever it is, do it to the glory of God.

And as you do, if you do it unto the Lord, it’s ministry. We this as well from the Lord Jesus. Thirty‑three roughly years on earth. How many years were spent with him working a job in relative obscurity? Thirty years. What was he doing? Glorifying God, the Father, by swinging a hammer and going to work. What Jesus did for the first 30 years was no more or less holy than the ministry and miracles he did in the last three years. It’s all holy.

Some of you say, “I wish God would use me for ministry, but I’m a carpenter. I’m a plumber. I’m an electrician. I’m a stay‑at‑home mom.” Whatever you’re doing there’s need for that in the city, in the church, in the Kingdom of God, in the life of others, and it’s all sacred and we’re all in full‑time ministry. And if it’s done unto the Lord, it’s a holy and sacred and redeemed thing. And so that’s the great news of it.

Some of you say, “I wish God would use me.” He is. So be encouraged. These people, their name makes the Bible for picking up rocks. That’s all some of these people did. They picked up rocks. But they picked up rocks for God, so they get to be in the Bible ’cause it’s ministry and it’s important and it’s needed. It’s necessary. It’s vital, and so are you.

The other thing we see is that leaders must lead. Chapter 3, Verse 1. Who’s the first group that volunteers to build? The high priest? Right? The lead pastor. And with him, the other priests, the pastors. Pastors are ones who go first. Leaders are ones who go first. That’s the way it must work. There’s nothing worse than a lazy pastor, lazy pastors, who don’t do their job. Over in West Seattle as we’re doing all the construction there and trying to get it open, it’s interesting. They’re in the middle of a building project, so it’s particularly applicable season for them. But I was over there last week with a campus pastor. His name’s Bubba. Some of you guys probably know Pastor Bubba. That really is his name. He’s from Oklahoma. He has a big belt buckle that says, “Bubba.” His wife’s got a keychain that says, “Bubba’s wife,” and his little boy has a shirt that says, “Little Bubba.” That’s what his son’s T‑shirt says. It’s the coolest. You see ’em all together, it’s just a whole theme running through the family. They’re all Bubbaites.

Anyways, I was over there with Pastor Bubba this last week, and he said, “Yeah. We’re gonna paint the building next week, exterior painting.” I said, “Oh, who’s we?” He said, “Well, me and some of the other pastors and the deacons.” ’Cause he knows he’s got a work project coming up. He’s hoping for 300 people to come in labor for hours to get a bunch knocked out to get the building opinion, and we invite you to join ’em. And he said, “How in the world can I tell the people to come over and work hard if I’m not out there with a paintbrush in my hand setting an example?” That’s humility. That’s humility. I love that.

Because our Lord Jesus was a servant, right? Philippians 2. It’s all about the humility of Jesus. Our God came not to be served, but to serve, Scripture says. He emptied himself of all of his rights and took upon himself the form of a servant or slave. Jesus fed meals to people. Jesus got down on his hands and knees and washed the feet of his own disciples, including the betrayer, Judas Iscariot.

We live in a world where it is said if you want to get ahead, you need to have a lot of self‑esteem. The Bible says that’s pride. The Bible says that God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. So in the biblical economy, the key to being a good leader is a humility and the grace of God which raises you up. Not hubris, which raises you up so that God had to knock you down.

And these leaders in Chapter 3:1, they say, “We’ll take this part of the gate. Yeah, we’re full‑time ministry. But this is what we need to do. We need to go first” – Chapter 3, Verse 1 – “set an example for the other people willing to serve in that humility.”

I’ll tell you another story, too. Our campus pastor up at Shoreline, Pastor Steve, dear friend of mine. First time I met him was t Mars Hill Ballard after a service. This was a few years ago. He had a garbage bag. He was picking up trash with his son. I got to know ’em. Come to find, he had like 15 years in ministry experience as a senior pastor, 2 masters degrees in theology. He’s got a garbage bag in his hand picking up trash. You know what that is? Humility. Humility. God opposes the proud. He gives grace to the humble.

You’re gonna walk in and say, “I wanna be a campus pastor.” We’re gonna hand you a bag and you’re gonna put junk in it for a while. And if you’re willing to do that, then you probably are fit to serve and lead God’s people, because ministry is about service and humility and Christ likeness and being willing to do whatever needs to be done to get the job done. I love the fact that some of our guys – in fact, most of our elders started out literally picking up trash. About half of our elder board started out picking up trash. It’s like, do you love this church? Do you care? Are you humble? If Jesus was willing to do menial tasks, you’re willing to do menial tasks, or does leadership to you look like, “I’m in charge and I tell other people what to do”? That’s not a leader. That’s a bully. That’s bully.

A couple other things. Some people do more work. Well, some people refuse to do work. Chapter 3, Verse 5, it says, “And they refused to stoop.” They refused to demonstrate humility. They refused to be like the Lord Jesus. What group were they? The nobles. The nobles. They were, “We’re a very important family. We have a very big last name. We all went to private school. We wear suits. We can’t scrub toilets. This is a suit. You don’t scrub a toilet in a suit.” They were unwilling to stoop and to serve. “We’re too important for that.”

I tell you what, the example the Lord Jesus is, God is willing to stoop. God is wiling to get his hands dirty. God is willing to serve. And anyone who claims to be a Christian must follow in the footsteps and example of Jesus. And the nobles said, “No, not us. We’re very important.” What’s curious is once the city’s rebuilt, these are gonna be the same guys who are gonna run for office and wanna be the leaders of the city. Can you imagine that? “Well, now that you need leaders, we’d love to be the politicians who run this place.” It’s like, “No. You didn’t do jack. You didn’t serve. You waited for us to do all the work and you wanted us then to elect you so you could rule over us and lead us? You shoulda grabbed a hammer. That woulda been a good step.”

Some people do more work than others. It says that certain people finished a project and went to another part. Some people worked from home. It says, “So and so worked from his house.” Some of you are gonna work from home. You’re gonna do ministry from home.

Again, some of the ministry that happens in the church is ministry. But the ministry that happens in your home, is also ministry because your home is an extension of the church if you are a Christian and this is your church, meaning your house is a little gate into your neighborhood, and your campuses are big gates into various sections of the city. And so we love to spread this thing around. We love to get community groups – we call ’em Bible studies, prayer, accountability, relationships – all over the place. And you do it from home.

You may have a heart for your cul-de-sac, the end of your street, your dorm, your condominium project, your apartment complex, where you are. That may be really where your heart is. You say, “I don’t wanna drive into the building. I wanna open my house. I wanna have a community group here. I wanna love people here. I wanna see people get saved on my couch. I wanna get to know them, pray for them, invest in them, teach them Scriptures, walk with them.”

Some of you say, “That’s in my heart. But I feel a little intimidated.” We can train you. We do train you. We will train you to do that, to be a little P pastor with a little F flock in your little C church living room. And that’s one of the coolest things I think that we get to do. And you get to work from home that way.

Some of you, you have jobs. You have kids. You have lives that don’t allow you to be driving into the building five nights a week, and we wouldn’t encourage that anyways. So it’s about not just bringing people in to Mars Hill, but it’s training you here through classes and services and such to be missionaries back out to your community, open your home, and work from home.

A couple other things I see in here is that some people work as family units. How many times it’d say, “This guy and his son,” or, “This guy and his sons” – said on one occasions, “This guy and his daughters.” Let me say one of the coolest things you could do for your family is serve together in ministry as a family, as family. Mars Hill started as a Bible study in the rental house that Grace and I had early on in our marriage. And it was so cool to start the church seeing my wife pray for people, quote Scripture, serve them. We’re working together as a couple, opening our home, praying for people, serving people. It really builds the marriage, to be honest with you.

Then you have kids. You start to see your kids spiritual gifts emerge if you’re doing ministry as a family. Some of you are gonna serve together in various church programs. Some of your families are gonna be involved in technology or the arts, whatever it is. Some of your families are gonna open their home, do community groups, invite people in. And you’re gonna get to do ministry as a family. It’s a unifying, building, healthy experience. And you also will get to see the – if you’re a parent – the spiritual gifts of your children emerge.

I get to see this with my kids. My seven‑year‑old son, we have people over, he’s a theologian. He likes to sit down – he’s a real intense little kid, Zac, smart kid. And he’s doing first grade theological debate with like college guys and giving ’em a run for their money. It’s pretty sweet. And then Calvin, he’s five. He’s the pastor. He greets everybody, buck‑toothed, big smile, super nice, sweet kid, big brown eyes. And he just goes around. Everybody who’s in our house, he will personally greet them, look ’em in the eye, “How are you doing? You need a glass of water?” He’s just all about hospitality.

My daughter, Ashley, she is nine. She has the gift of administration. She will have a menu. She’ll have a schedule. She’ll meet everybody at the door, take their coat, give them a tour of the house, all the little kids – she and the other kids have set up in her playroom something they call the Caribbean Café. They have the Caribbean Café at my house. It’s little tables and chairs and theme music and a disco ball and place settings and various food and drink. And so when people come over and we’re entertaining, my daughter will take all the kids in there to the Caribbean Café. It’s hospitality. She’s a little Martha Stewart.

But that’s one of the cool things as a family you get to see different spiritual gifts. You’re all working together serving Jesus. You’re praying for people, seeing people become Christians or grow, fall in love, get married, right in your own living room. Sometimes it’s good to work from home. And it’s always good to work together as a family.

Last two things. One, some work is less desirable than others. What’s the least desirable work on Chapter 3? The Dung Gate. Any time they call it dung, they’re not even hiding it at that point. It’s like, how many of you were looking at monster.com for a job and you’re like, “What’s available under dung?” When you just say, “This is a dung job,” you’re just pretty much declaring nobody wants this job. The Dung Gate was the one where all the feces and the refuse and garbage and the trash was taken out to the dump. Who volunteered or who was assigned to do the Dung Gate, it says there was ruler, a guy who is important, significant. Probably had an MBA and was a smart guy who made a few bucks. He volunteered to do the Dung Gate because he understood something of humility that the nobles in Chapter 3, Verse 5 did not.

And in the end, you see all these people working together, which is the great kingdom picture of the church of Jesus Christ, serving the city and being the church the city within the city, demonstrating humility and love and service, working together in unified teams, redeemed families. You’ll see young and old. You’ll see full‑time vocational ministry, those that are working regular jobs. There are single men. I think it’s Chapter 3, Verse 12. There are daughters, sons, multi‑generational, and God uses all of them.

And some of you are here today, too, and you’re old stones. Welcome to Mars Hill. I don’t mean to offend you. But some of you are old stones. You have some wisdom, some experience. You may be here at Mars Hill saying, “Okay. I know there’s a big team and there’s probably a place for me, but I feel out of my element. I don’t have a tattoo. I don’t smoke. I don’t know how to ride a moped or scooter. I feel – I tucked my shirt in and I just feel totally like it’s not for me. I have a part in my hair. I feel like this is not my” – yes, it is a place for you. We’re looking for old stones. Alright. If God’s used you, God’s got a history and testimony in your life, he’s used you, you’ve seen him show up, you’ve seen him work for you, I tell you what, you have wisdom. You have experience. You have insight. You have a life that is kinda like an old stone and it needs to be part of the wall called Mars Hill Church. We need to make sure that your life and your experience and your wisdom is imparted and shared to others around you.

Or people that are in their 20s that have known Jesus for about a half hour now and they still have a few things to learn. They’ve never seen a person walk with God for a long period of time. They’ve never seen a Christian marriage. They’ve never seen Christian parents. And some of you are old stones and we’d love to plug you into this new wall we’re building called Mars Hill Church. Very important to have you.

I’ll close with this. That’s about all I can do with the list of names. That’s all I got. I’m out at the end of my tether. (Laughs) But what I will say is this, that I am deeply grateful as a pastor that the number of people we have is not 38, but 3,800 who serve and give and pray and care. And for those of you who are here, let me make it very clear. What I’m not trying to do is guilt you into serving God; not at all. We’re not a church that’s built on guilt.

Some of you are here and you’re not a Christian. Here’s what I’m not saying. Work, try hard, give money, make an effort. Not saying that at all. I’ll take you to Ephesians 2:8, 9, and 10, which I think Nehemiah is in large part illustrative of the truths that are found in that text of Scripture. He says this, “For by grace you’ve been saved through faith.” Here’s the problem. You and I, we’re all made by God to service him, to obey him, to do his work on the earth. We’ve all sinned, disobeyed, done what God told us not to do, not done what God has told us to do. Sin has separated us from God, and wage for sin/result of sin is death.

So what happens is, the Lord Jesus, God himself stoops. He humbles himself and becomes a man. He comes into human history. He lives the life we could never live, the life without sin. He dies the death we should have died, the death for sin. On the cross, he said it is what? Finished. He did all the work of salvation. All the work of salvation is done by Jesus. This is what is inextricably different between Christianity and every world religion.

Some people say, “All religions are basically the same.” In no way are they the same. Christianity is about what Jesus does for you. Religion is about what you do for yourself. Religion is about what you do to work hard to please got, give money, try hard, show up early, stay late, die, reincarnate to pay off your car McDebt. You must work for your salvation in every religious system except for Christianity, because Christianity teaches grace. It is by grace you have been saved. Jesus did all the work, and by grace, he saves you. It’s a gift.

You received this he is saying by personal faith, trusting in the finished work of Jesus. That’s it. That’s it. He goes onto then say, “And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of the God, not a result of works that no one may boast.” The problem is when we think that we save ourselves or we’re doing any work of our own accord apart from God’s grace, we’re filled with hubris and pride, and we boast as opposed to boasting in the Lord, his salvation‑enabling grace.

God doesn’t work for us through the Lord Jesus Christ. He takes away sin and reconciles us to God. That’s the first work. Before you sign up to service, before you write a check today, before you do anything, let me ask you this question. Have you by faith trusted in the finished work of Jesus? Before you go to do all your work, first thing, have trusted in Jesus’ work for you?

The second thing, after Jesus – we receive the work that Jesus has done for us, Jesus does a work on us. That’s what he says, for we are his workmanship. Jesus did a work for us, and now Jesus does a work on us. Jesus is alive in Heaven today. He’s not dead, and he’s not ceased with his work. I don’t know about you. I’m a lotta work for him. He’s working on me. He’s working on you. He’s working on us. He’s working on Mars Hill, other churches. He’s working on the city of Seattle, other cities. He’s working on the United States of America, other nations. Jesus has a lot of work going on, and he’s working on us as his people convicting of us sin, showing us our gifts, plugging us in, getting us related to other people and giving us information, instruction, correction as we need so that we can do what?

He’s done work for us. He does work on us. And then ultimately, he will do work through us. That’s what he says. “We were created in Christ Jesus for good works which he prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” This is how big God is. God knew that Seattle would be one of the least church cities in America. He knew he was gonna raise up Mars Hill Church. He knew that he would have you born at a certain time and brought here at this period of history, first, so he could do a work for you and save you through Jesus if you trust in him, to do work on you, to connect you brothers and sisters, air war and ground war, all connected to Scripture so that Jesus would make you more like him and continue to transform you.

And then Jesus will do a work through you, where he has given you skills, talents, abilities, experiences, passions, and opportunities to be part of the building of this city, to be part of the building of this church. And you get to share in his joys. You participate in what he is doing through giving and serving and praying and caring and helping humbly, not in a way of humorous. And so we invite you tonight to the person of Jesus. Maybe you have not yet received the work he’s done for you. Confess your sins. Ask him to be your God, and he will transform your life. He could do that in your seat.

Some of you are already Christians and you need to thank God and acknowledge the ways in which he is working on you. And then for those of you who have been serving God faithfully, I want you to see that the names of regular people make it into the Bible. The reason we don’t skip this chapter is because they are to serve as examples and encouragements to us all, that God can does do good works through us. Our life is not in vain. Our labor is not in vain. Our service is not in vain. We don’t participate in the work of God because we have to, but because we get to, because the Lord Jesus has done a work for us, that the Lord Jesus is doing a work on is. And by his same grace, he gives us the joy of seeing him do a work through us, and we invite you to that.

When you’re ready, you can give your tithes and offerings, participate in communication, which is to remember the work of Jesus for us, his death, the sacrifice of his body and blood. And then when you’re ready, we’re gonna sing and were gonna celebrate the Lord Jesus. We’re gonna thank him for the work he’s gone for use. And we’re gonna thank him for the work he’s doing on us. We’re gonna thank him for the work he’s appointed for us. I’ll pray.

Lord, God, I thank you for Scripture. I thank you that all Scripture is God‑breathed and profitable. I thank you, Lord God, that sometimes those sections of Scripture that we read most quickly are filled with little nuggets of wisdom that if we take the time, we can glean some good insight. God, I thank you for my friends who are here. I pray that all would receive by faith the gift of salvation, that the Lord Jesus gives to them, the work he has done for them.

God, I thank you that you don’t give up or grow weary in doing good, that you continue to do a good work on us. And, God, I thank you that in addition to that, we have the great privilege of going to work with our dad, doing ministry, all times and places, doing things under your glory so that you might do good works through us, things that you’ve prepared for us to do, vital tasks and projects that maybe simply look as menial as picking up rocks, but in the end, it’s for the transformation of the city. May we –