Matt Hagee - We All Have Work To Do
Today we're gather in a place that's very familiar. This is our home. This is our sanctuary. This is where we belong. And while this is a familiar place, we're gathered in somewhat of a different, and strange, and unfamiliar way. We're accustomed to hugging one another, extending a hand to fellowship, and a greeting. Now we don't know if we sit six feet apart, do we wear the mask, not wear the mask. Some of your relatives are asking you if you've lost your mind by going to a place called church. However, even though the circumstances that we're meeting under are different than we've ever known before, our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His word is still powerful. His word is still alive. His word still endures to all generations. What he has done, he will do. And what he has said, he will perform. He said, "Wherever two or three of you are gathered, I will be there in your midst". He is in this place. He's filling up every empty seat. He's sitting on every empty row. He's in this sanctuary and he's wherever you happen to be watching today. He said, when we would gather, "Whatever we asked in his name, he would do it".
So whatever needs you have today, you've come to the right place at the right time to speak to the right person, who is sitting on the throne. And his name is the name that is above every name. It's at his name that mountains move. It's at his name that storms are calmed. It's at his name that we have victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. This is still his house. We are still his people. We are the redeemed of the Lord, who say so. So let it be said in this sanctuary today, "The Lord is my light. He is my salvation: of whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life: of whom shall I be afraid? If God is for us, who can be against us? His loving mercies have sustained us. His faithfulness is great. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be made glad in it"! Give the Lord a handclap of praise!
I had to say that, because I wanted you to remember you're in church. We didn't come to have service. Service is what you get at a drive-through window these days. We came for church. And I want you to leave here having gone to church. So now you can stand to your feet and open your Bibles, because that's what we do at church. And turn it to Nehemiah 2:18. Today we're going to begin a three-sermon series entitled "It's time to rebuild". When you read the New Testament in the Book of Acts, you discover that nobody is born at a time and a place without God deciding that they were intended to be at that time and in that place. Paul and Peter told the New Testament believers, "It is God who appoints the seasons and the boundaries of man".
So if you are here in the year 2020, and you think it's a mistake, you're wrong. In the Genesis of time, God saw a pandemic. And here's the good news: he picked you and put you in it. Why? Because he's got something to show you during this season. And he's going to use you to show others himself. It's not an accident that your business has suffered under this COVID-19 crisis. It's not an accident that your family has had to endure some strange things in the past few days. It's not something that caught God by surprise. He didn't flip the calendar from '19 to '20 and go, "Woe"!
When you read Ecclesiastes, it says that there's a time and there's a place for everything under the sun. And it says, "There's a time to tear down and then there is a time to build up". Let's read together Nehemiah 2:18. If you're there, say, amen. Nehemiah says, "And I told them of the hand of my God, which had been good to me. And also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. So they said", say that with me, "So they said, 'let us rise up and build'". Then they set their hands to do this good work.
Heavenly Father, let the Holy Spirit give us the understanding that if we set our hands to do good work, that you would honor that work: and that you would make it a memorial of your faithfulness in our lives. Let us hear your truth today, and let us apply it in every way that you intend: that when we leave this house, not only will we say we've been in your presence, but when we leave this house, we'll be filled with your purpose for our lives. In Jesus' name, we pray and ask. And all of God's children said, amen.
You may be seated. This first message in this series, "It's time to rebuild" is entitled "We all have work to do". As a matter of fact, you can look at somebody who's six feet away from you and say, "You've got work to do". Go ahead: interact. It's okay. You're made to talk to one another. I'm trying to break down the barriers of your separation. Some of you have probably been spending so much time around each other: you want them to go work somewhere else. But this first message is "We all have work to do," because when you open up the book of Nehemiah, and you recognize the project that he did in Jerusalem, you see each and every individual from the noble to the lowly, deciding that they were going to participate in rebuilding the City of Jerusalem. Likewise, if this nation is going to return to being one nation under God, then each and every one of us have work today. We cannot outsource it. We cannot call the government and say, "Hey, would you restore righteousness in our land"?
We cannot look to the pastors in our pulpits and ask them to be the gospel guns, who take care of the bad guys in town. What we've got to do, as individual believers in Jesus Christ, is decide right now that I have work to do, and you have work to do. We all have work to do. The first thing that Nehemiah did when he heard the report of the City of Jerusalem, how the walls were destroyed, how the gates had been burned with fire, the Bible says in Nehemiah 1:4: it says: "So when I heard this, I sat down and I wept, and I mourned for many days. I was fasting and I was praying before the God of heaven". When he heard the condition of his hometown where his father was born and raised and buried, where he played in the streets as a child, the place where his heart longed to be the most, the first thing that happened is his heart broke.
My question for each and every one of you is, "Does your heart break for the nation that we call home"? When you hear about the things that are happening in this country, what's your reaction? Does your heart break when you hear about millions of people, who are out of work? Does your heart break when you consider the 4,000 children that are killed in abortion clinics in the United States every day? Four thousand a day. Pandemic or no pandemic, day in and day out, it's genocide of a generation. In the last eight weeks, we've had to decide what's essential and what's non-essential. If you needed a root canal, it's too dangerous to go to the dentist. If you needed your knee fixed, it's too dangerous for the doctor to deal with your leg. But if you needed an abortion, you could get one. Does your heart break?
I personally want to take a moment and recognize the work of the attorney general of the state of Texas, Ken Paxton, who called abortion non-essential during this pandemic and saved thousands of lives. Does your heart break when you hear about high school girls having to go before a federal judge and sue to keep boys, who identify themselves as females, out of their sports? The judge's sharp answer, "Stop calling them boys". Does your heart break when you think of the fact that 70% of the children who grow up in this generation will live in a home without both of their parents, and 75% of the marriages will end in divorce? Does your heart break when you consider the condition of the church in the United States? We are what the Book of Revelation called a lukewarm church? We're not hot and we're not cold. We're debating the Word of God and we're accepting the attitude of the age. We're advocating for social justice and inclusion, and we're debating what the truth really is.
Oh, the church now accepts same-sex marriage. In order to do that, you have to reject Genesis 1:28, which says, "God created them male and female. He blessed them and said, 'be fruitful and multiply'". The church debates socialism. Maybe it's a good thing that we should become a socialist country. Do you know what socialism does? Socialism makes the government God. The government tells you what to do. The government tells you what you can have. The government tells you what you can say. The government tells you what you can wear. We've been trying it out for the past few weeks. And personally, I'm kind of fed up with it. If you accept socialism, then you have to reject Exodus 20:3, which says, "Thou shall have no other Gods before me". The church in America debates the Word of God, but we accept environmentalism. Let me give you the church's environmental status. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof". He will do with it what he wants to do with it, because it's his.
We are a generation described by Paul in Romans 1. It says, "Professing to be wise, we've become as fools. We changed the glory of an incorruptible God for an image of a corruptible man. We've worshiped four-footed animals and creeping things. We've exchanged the creature for the Creator". Do you weep when you think about what we were created to be and where we are? You see Nehemiah fell to his knees and he wept, not only because of the glory that Jerusalem used to possess, but the fact that he knew without walls and without gates, there would not be anything good for a generation to come. My heart breaks for this nation, because we have a responsibility to take care of what others have sacrificed so greatly to give us. And that sacrifice runs generations deep. Nehemiah wasn't there when David killed Goliath. But because of David's sacrifice, Nehemiah's life was blessed. And Nehemiah knew that if his blessings were going to be given to his children and his grandchildren, he had work to do.
When I consider my children, and their children, and their children after them, what I recognize about this nation is if it's going to be a land worth living in, we have work to do. Which is why it's time to rebuild. It's time to go to work. It's time to put our hand to the plow. This rebuilding is not going to be a political, economic, social rebuilding. This building is going to be a personal, spiritual revival in you, in me, and in this church. It is time to rebuild our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And begin that rebuilding process by admitting that we, like sheep, have gone astray.
We've turned each to our own way. It's time to rebuild our hunger for the Word of God, because the more we listen to the words of men, the more frustrated, hopeless, and confused we will become. But the more we listen to his word, "Thy word is truth," the more we listen to the good news and turn off the fake news, the more we will begin to believe that "If God be for me, who can be against me"? That God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and of sound mind. We'll believe what the Bible says: that "My God shall supply all of my needs according to his riches in glory". We'll believe what David wrote, that the Lord has never seen the righteous forsaken nor their seed begging bread. Child of God, if you're looking for hope, I hold it in my hands. Open it up and let it be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path!
It's not only time to rebuild our personal relationships, but it's time to rebuild our outward relationships. It's time to rebuild our families. It's time to let old offenses die and decide, as Joshua did, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord". It's time to rebuild our businesses. Often times, whenever our businesses are blessed, we feel like God is on our side. And then when our businesses are broke, we feel like God has turned against us. And certainly there's Bible verses that support the fact that when you're in God's will, you prosper. But sometimes in our arrogance and pride, we believe that we can do it on our own. Let me tell you something: there are no do-it-yourself projects in life.
Jesus said it very clearly, "Apart from me, you can do", what? "Nothing". Physically, financially, spiritually, emotionally, you cannot function without God. So if your business has suffered in the last eight weeks, this is a time to rebuild by making God your business partner, by putting him first, by keeping him in the proper position, and remembering that it is the Lord who gives you the power to get wealth: that every good and every perfect gift comes from the father above, in whom there is no shadow or turning. I assure you, businessman, when you put God first, his favor is upon you, and his goodness and mercy are following you. And all things are possible for you, because that's the kind of God that we serve.
It's not only time to rebuild our families and our homes, but it's time to rebuild our churches. It's time to become what the body of Christ is supposed to be. Paul said, "We are the pillar of truth, not a matter of question". We are the foundation upon which the walls and the structure of the culture are built. The Bible calls us "The church triumphant," which means that not only do we engage in conflict, but we are victorious in conflict. The commission of the church is to preach the word, not public opinion. The purpose of the church is to win the lost, not ignore those who are not saved. Our fight is the good fight of faith. We will stand in the day of evil, because if God is on our side, then no weapon formed against us shall prosper, and every foe shall be defeated. It is time to rebuild our lives. It is time to rebuild our homes. It is time to rebuild until Jesus Christ is on his throne. And of his kingdom, there shall be no end!
So as they say in all good things, "Nice speech: now what"? What you have to recognize is Nehemiah started in the right place. His heart broke. But when the weeping ends, the work begins. You can't just whine about it: you've got to work for it. And in this generation and in this culture, we've decided that if we complain about it enough, somebody else will fix it for us. But God has commissioned us just the same way he commissioned Nehemiah. You see Nehemiah was the king's cupbearer. And while that sounds like an honored position in our society, you have to understand the job he had in his day. He worked for king Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes was a cruel and blood-thirsty king. He killed, literally, tens of thousands of people without batting an eye. History records that whenever he was fighting the Greeks, he wanted a bridge built across the river. He gave the construction crew the time to build the bridge. When they failed to do it, he killed the entire crew, which was more than 40,000 men.
How many of you'd like to work for that guy? Xerxes needs a cupbearer, so he picks one of the slaves from Jerusalem. It just happens to be Nehemiah. And the thing that the cupbearer does is he drinks the wine before the king drinks the wine. Because if the king's wine is poisoned, guess who dies? Nehemiah. It's a pretty expendable position. There's no h.R. Department where Nehemiah can qualify for hazard pay. He has one job. Sip it and live or sip it and die. But if he dies, we'll get another cupbearer. So here, God listens to the prayer of a cupbearer, the low man on the totem pole, and he commissions him to rebuild the city where his son is going to sit on his throne. Just because you are not recognized by the men on earth doesn't mean that God doesn't see great potential in you.
Nehemiah was a cupbearer. He was not a commander of an army. Nehemiah was a cupbearer. He wasn't a general contractor with years of experience. Nehemiah was a cupbearer. He wasn't a diplomat and an ambassador from a kingdom. Nehemiah was not only a cupbearer, but Nehemiah was a child of the living God. And if you qualify as a child of the living God, then I assure you all things are possible for you. But nothing is possible unless you're willing to work. Nehemiah being a natural human being, he had an emotional response when he heard the condition of his city. He says in Nehemiah 1:4, "I sat and I wept for many days". And when he was done weeping, he did what every person who has an emotional response, needs to do: he turned to God. Emotions are natural. Don't think that there's anything spiritual about being stoic.
God made you an emotional creature. And whenever you're emotions come, the thing that you need to focus on is where do they make you go. Nehemiah heard disturbing news, and instead of going to the liquor store, he went to his knees. Instead of going on Facebook, he talked to God. Instead of standing out in the street and screaming and yelling about how unfairly he was treated, he talked to the God who could change everything in a moment. What do you do when your emotions get the best of you? Who do you take to? What do you turn to? Nehemiah fell on his knees and he prayed a prayer of repentance. He prayed personally. The tears that he cried were not because of the things that others had done. The tears that he cried were because he knew that he had offended God, and he needed to make things right.
Here's what he said in Nehemiah 1:6: he said, "Please Lord, let your ear be attentive and your eyes be open: that you may hear the prayer of your servant as I confess the sins of the children of Israel that we have committed against you". Who did Nehemiah say the sin was against? God. If this generation is going to get back on track, we're going to have to admit that we have sinned against God. We have not picked a political party. We have not chosen a right or a left. We have simply not followed the Word of God. Nehemiah said, "We've sinned against you because we did not keep your commandments. We've sinned against you because we did not keep your statutes. We've sinned against you because we did not keep the ordinances that you gave us through your servant Moses". What Nehemiah was doing was a very powerful thing. Why? Because here's what acts says about repentance: acts 3:19, it says, "Repent so that times of refreshing may come". Say that with me. "Repent so that times of refreshing may come".
How many of you in this room and those of you watching by television would admit that what we need is a time of refreshing? We need our businesses to be refreshed. We need our marriages to be refreshed. We need our spirits to be refreshed. We need our nation to be refreshed. We need our churches to be refreshed. We need our schools to be refreshed. Well here's one way to be refreshed by rivers flowing from heaven's throne. It's called repentance. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people, who are called by my name", that's us, church, "If they will humble themselves and pray, then i", God, "Will hear from heaven, and I will heal their land".
Father, in heaven, listen to our heart's cry today. Heal our nation. Heal our churches. Heal our homes. Heal our lives. Heal our economy, because we have turned from you. And it's time for us to turn back to God, turn back to the Bible, turn back to the cross, turn back to righteousness so that a refreshed revival can be poured out from sea to shining sea! In Jesus' name, do it again and do it here!
When the unexpected things of life happen, when you hear the worst news that you thought you'd ever hear, when your heart breaks, don't let emotion drive you from God: let emotion take you to him. Humble yourself and pray. The Bible says, "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you". "Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened". Confess and he'll forgive. Repent and he'll refresh. Nehemiah repented. And then Nehemiah asked in faith. Nehemiah's talking to the Lord. And here's what he says: he says, "Remember your word". How many of you know that you can remind God of his word? When you open up the pages of his book, you see his children constantly saying, "Lord remember," "Lord remember," "Lord remember your word". "Lord remember your promise". "Lord remember your covenant". Why? Not because God has forgotten, but because we need to be reminded.
We need to be reminded of what he has promised us. Because when we live from minute to minute and day to day, the circumstances change, and we lose sight of what he's put in our future. The Bible said of Abraham that he was a friend of God because he believed God, and he laid hold of the promise that God had for him. That literally means that Abraham could see it when there wasn't anything to see, because he never forgot what he heard God say. And here's what Nehemiah says. He says, "Lord, remember your word: that if we, your people, were disobedient, you would scatter us to the nations of the earth. But that if we returned to you, you would bring us from every nation to the land that you chose. Now remember your word: that though some of you are scattered to the farthest parts of the heavens, I will gather you from there and bring you to a place that I have chosen for a dwelling and for my name".
Nehemiah hears that the walls are torn down: that the gates are burned. And he's hearing from people, it's impossible for there to be any kind of restoration. It's impossible for the walls to every be as high as they used to be. It's impossible for the gates to ever be hung like they once were. It's impossible for the city to return to what it used to be. How many of you have heard about all of the impossibilities we're facing in this generation over the last few weeks? It's impossible for the economy to be restored. It's impossible for people to go back to what they used to know. Everybody get ready for your new normal, because your old life is an impossibility. Well let me give you God's perspective on impossible. He said, "All things are possible to those that believe". He said, "Call upon me, and I'll show you great and mighty things that you know not".
Others may say it's impossible for you to be restored. But restoration projects is what God has been in the business of from Genesis to revelation, and he's not going to give up on you, so don't you give up on him! Whatever you need today, God will make a way where there seems to be no way. All you have to do is remember his word and ask in faith. Nehemiah said, "Remember". You said if we disobeyed, you'd scatter us, but if we came back, you'd bring us home. God, I'm asking you to do what you said you'd do. That's what faith is, asking God in faith believing to do what he said he would do. And he finishes his prayer by saying, remember me, because tomorrow I'm turning in my two-week's notice with Artaxerxes. Now that's the Hagee translation, but that's what the end of chapter 1 says. It says, "O Lord, help me with this man: for I was the king's cupbearer".
The next day, chapter 2, Nehemiah walks into Artaxerxes throne room. Now whenever you're the cupbearer, the one thing you don't do is skip work. Because if you're not present, then the king thinks you're a part of the assassination attempt. And he's going to have you killed whenever he finds out what's in the wine. The other thing you don't do is you don't show up with a frown on your face. Because if the king thinks that you're sad, it's probably because you know that he's going to get killed: and therefore, he kills you first. So Nehemiah, being all out of sick leave and not having any opportunity to call in, he shows up to work. And he's got a frown on his face. And it says, "It came to pass that when I stood before the king, the king said to me, 'why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is just sorrow of heart". And Nehemiah said, "And I became dreadfully afraid". Why? Because according to the way that the kingdom works, all Artaxerxes had to do was say, "Take his head off," and Nehemiah was going to get more than a haircut.
But according to the kingdom that Nehemiah was a part of, not the man he was serving, but the God he was living for, he had something that Xerxes didn't have. You see Xerxes had power, but Nehemiah had favor. Xerxes had position, but Nehemiah knew the God who put Xerxes on the throne. Xerxes could do what he wanted, but all he could do is what God gave him permission to. Nehemiah could do the impossible because he served the God, who created the heavens and the earth. Nehemiah looks at king Xerxes, whenever Xerxes says, "Why are you sad"? And he says, "My city, my Jerusalem, where I grew up, the land of my father, the land of my grandfather, it's in ruins". And now listen to how good God is. In verse 4 of chapter 2, Nehemiah records, "Then the king said to me", say that with me, "Then the king said to me, 'what do you request'"?
Think about that. Xerxes, the most powerful man on the face of the earth, is now looking at his cupbearer, who yesterday, if he dropped dead, he wouldn't have cried a tear for. He looks at him and he says, "What do you request"? Your city's in ruin. What do you need to rebuild it? You don't have materials. How much can I give you from the timber in my kingdom? You don't have the supplies. I'll open up the storehouses and hand them to you. "What do you request"? Nehemiah couldn't believe his ears. Here a ruthless king was opening up the riches of the kingdom to restore the city of God for a cupbearer. Yesterday, it was impossible. Today, it was all things are possible. Why? Because faith opened the door and favor made a way where there seemed to be no way. You may be sitting here today, and you're believing it's impossible, because you've been listening to what all the experts say.
It's impossible because you've heard what the bank had to say. It's impossible because you've talked to all of your friends and gotten their opinions on it. But what I'm here to tell you today is let faith open the door and favor make a way where there seems to be no way, because God can and will not fail you! He promised he would restore you. He promised blessings you could not contain. He promised goodness in the land of the living. He promised that his goodness and his mercy, they would follow you all the days of your life. That means wherever you go, they go. That means whatever you need, they have. That means whenever you cannot, he can. He promised his favor upon you, upon your children, and your children's children! Do not think that what you're facing, God cannot solve! God has already seen your victory on the other side of this battle! Therefore, in faith, shout for joy because you are a triumphant child of the living God!
Do you want your family, do you want your life, do you want your business, do you want your church, do you want your nation to be rebuilt? In faith believing, start speaking those things that are not as though they were. Stop repeating the rhetoric you hear other talking heads say. If I have one more conversation where I get to hear, "I've heard they said," I don't know who's in the "They" tribe, but they need to go away. "They said this, and they said that, and they said this, and they said that, and they said it'll be back, and they said get ready for another round".
He said, "I'll make you the head and not the tail. I'll make you above only and not beneath". "I'll bless you in your going in and your coming out". "No weapon formed against you should prosper". "Thou a thousand may fall at your right side and ten thousand at your left, it will not come near you". He said, "I am for you, not against you". He said, "I'll make a way where there seems to be no way". He said, "You can walk through the waters and the waters will not drown you. You can walk through the fire and the fire will not burn you". He said you can speak to a mountain and it'll be cast into the midst of the sea. He said, "Call upon me". "What you bind on earth, I'll bind in heaven. What you loose on earth, I'll loose in heaven". Child of God, let the Word of God come alive in you and be a victorious champion for Christ!
In the sight of men, Nehemiah was a cupbearer. On his knees before God, he could rebuild a city. God is not looking for the qualified. God is looking for the faithful. If you are faithful to keep his commandments, all of these blessings will come upon you. You say, "Oh, there's just so many barriers to the blessings". There were barriers to Nehemiah's building project. And in one sentence, the king said, "What do you request"? You see when you have God's favor, unexplainable things happen. When you have God's favor, you sit at a dinner in the White House and you have a conversation with the president, who moves an embassy. Oh, it's not supposed to happen. We're getting ready to celebrate a two-year anniversary of the embassy in Jerusalem. That's favor.
When you have God's favor, what others only dream about, becomes your reality. But here's the thing about favor: just because you're favored doesn't mean you get out of jail free. Nehemiah was favored. But Nehemiah still had to be faithful. You know what he had to do? Work! So you got the building materials. So you got the supplies. So you got permission. Guess what? You've got to go cut down some trees. One of the things that we love to do in this generation is we want to outsource the hard stuff. And our God is a supernatural God. He's the super: we're the natural. He will pour out his supernatural power on everything that you put your hand to. But if you don't put your hand to it, he can't bless it. Nehemiah was favored, but Nehemiah still had to do the work. He didn't say, "Oh, the king has given me all of these wonderful blessings, now I'm just going to retire at the ripe old age of 35".
We have work to do. And it cannot be given to another. We have work to do in our own hearts and in our own homes. We have work to do in our own lives. We have work to do in our relationships with others. We have work to do! And I believe, if we put our hands to doing good work, God will bless it. But I believe if we don't start, then we're going to forfeit the future of our nation and the nation that our children and our grandchildren will inherit. Because like Nehemiah's generation, it's time to rebuild. Nehemiah got permission from Artaxerxes. He got the timber. He got the tools. And he knew that in order for it to succeed, he would have to recruit the men. So he travels to the City of Jerusalem. And he walks inside the walls. And he walks around and sees from every angle, all of the destruction and devastation that had been caused. And once he knew what he should do, he gathered the men of the city.
And in Nehemiah 2:18, our verse for this morning, he said, "I told them of the hand of God, which had been good to me, and also of the king that had spoken to me". He said, here is my faith and here is my favor. "And then they said", who said it? They said it. He didn't tell them to say it. They heard it and then they said it. They said, "Let us rise up and build". Yesterday, they believed it was impossible for one stone to be put back in place. Today, because of a man's faith and because of God's favor, they said, "Let us rise up and build". And then the Bible says, "They set their hands to good work". My prayer in this sermon series is that each and every message, you'll hear the Holy Spirit reminding you that all things are possible. And rather than have a pastor tell you, you would say, "Let us rise up and build. Let us rise up and build our families. Let us rise up and build our church. Let us rise up and build this nation," because we all have work to do. Every one of us, no matter your generation, no matter your age, no matter your stage, we have work to do.
And so I'm asking you today, as brothers and sisters in Christ, would you put your hands to doing good work, not just a half-hearted try, but truly something excellent? Put your hands to the good work of opening up the Word of God and reading it every day. Put your hands to the good work of not just reading it but doing it. Jesus said, "Blessed is he who hears and does these sayings of mine". If we hear it, we have to do it. Put your hand to the good work of humbling yourself in a time of prayer, and asking God, through repentance, to send a refreshing, not just to this nation, but to your heart, to your home, to this church. Put yourself to the good work of teaching your children and your children's children how to follow God and walk in his truth, how to live by faith. It's not going to be easy, because this world is filled with distractions. At times, it's not going to be fun. But I assure you of this: if we're faithful, God will honor us, his word will come alive in us, and he will not fail us. And our latter days will be greater than anything we've ever known before. Would you stand in the presence of the Lord?
Heavenly Father, today we've come into your presence in your house, and your throne room has been seated here amongst us. Lord, I'm asking today, in Jesus' name, that every heart and every life that has heard this word both in this sanctuary and joining us over television, that you would help us to feel the calling and commission of the Holy Spirit to rebuild our lives on a righteous foundation of your truth, to rebuild our homes on the principles of your word, to rebuild our churches by being the light of the world that you have called us to be: that we might see a refreshing come to this nation: that we might see a revival and the winning of the lost: that we might see, Heavenly Father, your hand move in such a mighty way that even the wicked would have to confess there is a God who sits on the throne, and he rules in truth and justice. Now Lord, as we've heard this word, let us leave this place fit to do the work. And let it be good work that's pleasing in your sight. In your precious and mighty name, we pray and ask. And all of God's children said, praise the Lord.