Latest / DFC Podcast / Raising Leaders, Rebuilding Walls: Vision, Ownership & God’s Call

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Raising Leaders, Rebuilding Walls: Vision, Ownership & God’s Call · DFC Podcast

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Welcome to the Dorchester Family Church podcast, our vision to be
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a church known for our love. Our wholehearted love for God,
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our authentic love for each other, and our compassionate
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love for our community. Each week get fueled up to
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worship passionately, grow meaningfully together, and make
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an eternal impact on the lives around you.
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Lean in close as we explore this Sunday's practical Bible based
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message unpacking that transformative vision.
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Hi everyone, and it's great to be with you.
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As Ben said, Jenny and I are from the Community Church in
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Honiton. We have been there 11 years.
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Before that we were in Woking and in the church in Woking we
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had, I don't know, 4550 different nations and we would
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have a nation's day like this and sing lots of different
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songs. And it's great watching white
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people dance, isn't it? I, on behalf of we just
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apologise for our dancing. So, but it's, it's, it's just
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great to be here on such an exciting morning.
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And obviously as we appoint Fermi to eldership as well, as
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Ben said, I serve a number of churches, commissioned churches
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across southwest from from Dorchester, Weymouth, kind of
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Yeovil in the east right over to Biddeford and Bude.
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And so obviously a lovely big area and lots of churches.
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And it's great to be in partnership together to
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encourage churches and support leaders and hopefully advance
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the gospel. And we also want to do church
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planting and things like that together.
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And this morning, because we're thinking about eldership, I want
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to just take a look at Nehemiah in the Old Testament.
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If you have a Bible, if you want to turn to the book of Nehemiah.
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Nehemiah is a great example of godly leadership, although I
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want to apply it more widely because I think some of the
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things we see in him we can all of us kind of learn from.
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I have a bit of a cold, so that's why I'm using the
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handheld. Excuse me.
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So just to give Nehemiah a little bit of setting, the story
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of Nehemiah is set in about 450 BC.
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But about 600 BC, Israel was conquered by the Babylonians.
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Jerusalem, the city was destroyed.
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Many, many people were killed and those that weren't killed,
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many of them were taken into exile in Babylon.
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And then about 100 years later or so, the Persians kind of rose
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up and they became the superpower in the Middle East.
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And so now Nehemiah is under Persian rule in the city of
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Suza, which is one of the capitals of Persia.
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And God kind of prompts him to return to Jerusalem to rebuild
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the city, that this city of God would be rebuilt, that it would
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be a place of glory and joy, and that this city will be a light
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to the nations. And so we're going to read
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Nehemiah chapter 1 and just the first 11 verses.
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I'm using the NIV, by the way, the words of Nehemiah, son of
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Hakaliah. In the month of Kislev, in the
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20th year, while I was in the citadel of Sousa Hanani, one of
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my brothers came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned
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them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the Exile and
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also about Jerusalem. And they said to me, those who
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survived the exile and are back in the province are in great
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trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken
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down and its gates have been burned with fire.
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When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.
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For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God
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of heaven. And then I said, Lord, the God
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of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of
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love with those who love Him and keep His commandments.
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Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the
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prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for
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your servants, the people of Israel.
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I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and
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my father's family, have committed against you.
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We have acted very wickedly towards you.
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We have not obeyed the commands, decrees, and laws you gave your
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servant Moses. Remember the instruction you
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gave your servant Moses, saying If you are unfaithful, I will
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scatter you among the nations. But if you return to Me and obey
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My commands, then even if you're exiled people at the furthest
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horizon, I will gather them from there.
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I will bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for My
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name. They are Your servants and Your
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people, whom you redeemed by Your great strength in Your
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mighty hand. Let your ear be attentive to the
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prayer of this your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants
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who delight in revering Your name.
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Give Your servants success today by granting him favour.
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In the presence of this man, I was cupbearer to the king.
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And then in chapter 2 onwards, Nehemiah then gets favour from
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the king and he returns back to Jerusalem to rebuild.
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Let me just pray. Heavenly Father, we just thank
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you for your presence here. Now, by your Spirit, we thank
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you for your word. We thank you.
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You know all of us, our hopes and dreams, our struggles and
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challenges. You know us.
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And so our prayer is as we look at this story together, you
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would stir us and encourage us, build our faith, just renew our
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spirits. Lord, we pray that we would be
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even deeper in love with you, even more passionate about your
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Kingdom, determined to see you glorified in our towns and
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villages and in our nation and the nations of the world.
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So be with us this morning. I pray and help me to speak to
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Amen. So firstly, what's noticeable, I
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think in this passage is how how strongly Nehemiah reacts to the
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news of how badly things are going in Judea.
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Verse four, he hears the news. It says I sat down and I wept
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for some days. I mourned and fasted and I
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prayed. He he reacts very strongly to
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this news about how badly things have gone in back in Jerusalem,
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and that's because he knows that actually it shouldn't be this
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way. As you read through the book of
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Nehemiah, he is very clear about all these promises that God has
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given his people. God had said to Abraham, I'm
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going to be with you. I'm going to bless you.
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Anyone who opposes you, I will oppose.
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He says, I'm going to give you a land that's going to be a land
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of milk and honey. It's going to be a land of
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prosperity and success. Even when they were taken into
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slavery in Egypt, God rescued them and delivered them and
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brought them out of the slavery and into the promised land.
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And God said, I'm going to give you rest.
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I'm going to give you peace and then this city, I'm going to
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dwell among you and it's going to be a place of glory and
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wonder and my presence will be with you and the, the, all the
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nations will come gathering into the city.
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And so many promises that God had given the people of Israel.
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And these were the kind of promises that they would have
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had on their fridge magnets and screensavers.
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God has said these things to us and and Nehemiah knows all these
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things and yet the reality before Nehemiah is of a small
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remnant people in it says in trouble and disgrace and a city
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in pitiful ruin. And it seems in that moment that
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he hears the news about that, that this massive gap between
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this is what it should be. This is what God has said, and
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this is the reality before him. And in that moment, he, he, his
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leadership kind of kicks in to gear because leaders are those
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who have a vision for for how things should be and could be.
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Leaders aren't those who are simply organisers of meetings
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and leaders of committees and so on.
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But leaders are those who are determined to bring about change
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because they have a vision of this is what God has called us
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to be and this is where we are. And so they're determined to
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move things forward. In chapter 2 and verse 12, we
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read of what God had put in Nehemiah's heart to do for
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Jerusalem. Got to put something in his
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heart to do for Jerusalem. You see, some people in reality
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are not that bothered with how things are, whether that's in
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society, whether that's in the church.
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So many people are just like, yeah, that's just the way it is,
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isn't it? Really can't really change it
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And but actually some people are absolutely determined to change
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things. They are dissatisfied with the
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status quo, which is why I think it's very easy for leaders to
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become discouraged and disappointed because actually
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they have a hope of it could be so much more than this.
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Now obviously we want to be grateful for where we are, don't
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we? We want to be grateful for all
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that God is doing amongst us, but at the same time there is a
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healthy dissatisfaction that means we don't settle for for
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where we are. Thank God we want so much more
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than this. And that's that's people with
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vision are like that. They think it doesn't need to be
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like this. It can be different in in 1787,
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William Wilberforce wrote in his diary.
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He said, my great purpose in life is to get rid of the slave
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trade. That's a dream, isn't it?
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That's a vision. My great purpose in life is to
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get rid of the slave trade. And he, he, it took him 50
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years, but 100 or so years later, the Slavery Abolition Act
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was passed in in 1894. The Wright brothers said, we
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believe that someday people will fly through the sky.
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And obviously they weren't thinking of human cannonballs.
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They were thinking of obviously aeroplanes.
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And 10 years later, the Kitty Hawk took off from North
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Carolina, wasn't in a beach there.
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Alexander Bell, this is, this is vision.
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I foresee a day when there will be a telephone in every village.
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Isn't that amazing? But in his day, that was just
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like the thought of that. And now, you know, there's one
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in every pocket. But but these are people with
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vision. They're not saying, oh, well,
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things are fine as they are. They dream of something better.
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And Nehemiah is dreaming of something better.
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He knows God has given, given, God has given us promises of
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what this could be. God has given us promises for
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this great city. And, and it falls so far short
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of all that it can be. And so, so he mourns, he fasts,
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he prays, because thank God, it shouldn't really be this way.
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It could be so much more than this.
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And as Christians, God has given us many, many promises about the
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church. Many, many promises that he will
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be present as we gather together, that he will display
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his, his glory and his power and his joy and his love.
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He will display these things to the world through the church and
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that the church will be a place where people from every
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background and every race can come together and find healing
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and reconciliation and we can find truth.
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And the Old Testament looks ahead to the church and says you
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are beautiful and yet terrible as an army with banners.
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You're beautiful. You're terrible as an army with
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banners in the Book of Revelation.
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John sees the church in Revelation 21, two, he says, I
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saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of
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heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for
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her husband. Jesus is committed to building a
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church that is magnificent and wonderful, that even the gates
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of death won't overcome it. And the danger is that we can
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all settle for coming along to a few meetings.
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I think, oh, that was all right. God has so much more for us as
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his people. And the call is not simply upon
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leaders. Actually, the call is upon all
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of us to build the church into something wonderful, to build a
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church that is full of life and joy.
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And, and it is, I mean, this church is a great church, but I
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would encourage you, don't settle for where you are.
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Don't settle for how far you have come because God has more
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for you than this. This is great.
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Don't take this for granted. This is fantastic.
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But God has more for you. And so it's so important that we
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think, God, what have you got for us?
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What are the promises in the Bible?
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What have you said over your church?
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And I would say lay hold of those things.
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Be a people of vision. Be a people of vision.
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So firstly, Nehemiah has vision for much more.
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The second thing is of course, Nehemiah then takes ownership.
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So he has vision for what the church can be or what the city
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of God can be, but he also takes ownership for fulfilling that
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vision. So he takes ownership for both
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the problem, for where they are and also for the solution.
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In verses 6 and seven, he prays this.
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I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and
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my father's family, have committed against you.
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We have acted very wickedly. Nehemiah knew that actually it
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was. It was Israel's fault that they
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were where they were. It was Israel's fault that they
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were in exile. As you said, God made promises
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to Israel of blessings, wonderful promises of blessings,
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but there were also warnings if they disobeyed Him.
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Verse 8 Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses
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saying, if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the
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nations. See the law of Moses contained
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promises of blessing, but it also contained warnings if they
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disobeyed him. And many people today make much
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of, of God's promises of, of land to the people of Israel.
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And they say, oh, that, you know, they still apply today.
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And they forget often that the promises that God made of land
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were conditional upon the people's obedience.
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Initially it looks like it's just God gives a promise.
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But when they get to the edge of the promised land, actually God
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says, no, you can't enter because you're, you're
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unfaithful. You're not trusting me.
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And even when they got into the land, God said you might get
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into the land, but if you don't obey me, the land will vomit you
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out again. It's my land and and they God
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said, no, you've got to trust me.
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You've got to honour me. Leviticus 26 verse 14.
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If you will not listen to me and obey my commands, then I will
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set my face against you so that you'll be defeated by your
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enemies. Those who hate you will rule
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over you. I will scatter you among the
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nations. And of course, as we can all do,
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we can focus on promises, God's blessings, and we can ignore
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warnings. And they became casual with God.
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And so their city lies in ruins. And the people who in exile, we
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are not under as Christians, we are not under the law of Moses.
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That's the old covenant. But nevertheless, the New
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Testament still teaches sowing and reaping, that you will reap
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what you sow and if you are casual with God, then there will
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be consequences. So Nehemiah says, I know it's
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our own fault that we are where we are, but notice what he does.
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He doesn't criticise earlier generations.
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Remember they went into exile 150 years before Nehemiah.
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So it'd be very easy for Nehemiah to point the finger at
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previous generations. But he doesn't do that.
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He includes himself in that. He takes responsibility and says
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I'm a part of this. So before I worked for the
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church, this is going back 30 odd years or so.
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I used to work in the city and one of the things our company
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used to do, the Internet was taking off and so on.
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And we would set up global data networks.
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And anyway, one of our team, one of our team, his nickname was it
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must be your end. Because whenever, whenever you
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try to sort out a problem with some systems and you did some
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tests and he always said it must be your end.
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And it's like it can't always be everyone else's.
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But some people are like that, aren't they?
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I used to play. I used to play in a band and I
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won't name him, but but one of the musicians had this knack of
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if we were someone was out of tune, he would look at the other
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musicians as if it's obviously not me.
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And sometimes we'd stop and we'd tune and like it's you.
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But but but he had this ability to kind of, it must be someone
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else and get everyone pointing the blame at others.
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Well, Nehemiah, Nehemiah doesn't do that.
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Nehemiah doesn't push the blame onto others.
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He shares in the responsibility. He's like we are the way we are
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because of what we have done. And as we look at our nation and
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as we look at the compromises in the church and the breakdowns of
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families and and moral decline and so on, we could point the
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finger at previous generations who let this slide.
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But Nehemiah doesn't do that. He includes himself and says I'm
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not any better. I've done things.
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I haven't done everything I could have done.
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He takes ownership, but he also takes ownership not just for the
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problem, he takes ownership also for the solution.
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Because actually in a way, having vision, you see, having
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vision is the easy part, isn't it?
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Being able to spot the gaps and the weaknesses, That's the easy
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part. There are there are plenty of
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people in churches who are willing to point out what the
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church should be doing, but there are far fewer who are
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prepared to be part of the solution because it's much
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easier to point out the gaps and the weaknesses and the faults.
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It's much harder. It's much more costly to be part
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of the solution. I wonder, are you willing to be
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to take ownership for this church moving forwards?
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Are you taking ownership for this church being all that it
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can be? A few years ago, a former church
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leader retired to our town and they start, he started him, his
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wife started coming to our church.
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Then about six months later, he said, can I come and see you?
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And I'm like, yeah, that's fine, come for lunch.
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So they came for lunch and he said, I've got a list, a list of
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10 things that are wrong with the church.
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I guess he thought he was going to bless me.
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And so he said, here's my list of things that that that the
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church isn't that good at or weaknesses in the church.
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And I said to him, look, I said my list is longer than your
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list. So I said I'm not stupid.
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I know what's wrong with the church, but I am working to be,
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to be a part of the solution. I said to him, are you willing
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to stick around and be part of the solution?
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Are you willing to take ownership and say, come on,
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let's do these things together? And in the end, sadly, well, not
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sadly, but in the end, they left.
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That's fine. You don't want freeloaders who
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just come along and point out your faults.
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We want people who are going to take ownership.
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This, this is my church. This is my home.
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And Nehemiah didn't just create a list of jobs for other people
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to do. He didn't say, I'll write this
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list. These are all the jobs that the
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people back in Jerusalem need to do and send send this letter
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back to. He didn't do that.
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He takes ownership for it. In fact, he goes to see the king
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in chapter 2, verse 5, and he asks the king.
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He says if it pleases the king. This is chapter 2 verse 5.
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If it pleases the king, send me back to the city where my
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ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.
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I mean, at that point he's like, it feels like I'm going to go
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and do this and if anyone wants to come with me.
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And obviously in the end they did, but he's like, if anyone
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wants to come with me, that's fine if anyone want, but I am
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going to do this. He's taking ownership for
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himself. It's a bit like Joshua many
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centuries before who said, As for me, I will serve the Lord
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whatever anyone else does, whatever your friends are doing,
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however your friends might be disconnected or what?
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But you think, no, I'm not going to be that that person.
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I'm going to take ownership for moving this church forward.
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I wonder is that you, are you taking ownership for this
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church, not just attending? I mean, it's great that you're
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attending, but but God will call you to more than just attending.
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God will call you to take ownership for this church.
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Young men and women, are you stepping up into leadership and
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taking on responsibility? Or you think, oh, well, what if
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something else comes along that I want to do?
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Or perhaps older folks, are we, are we being mothers and fathers
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to some of the younger people in the church?
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Are you bringing your gifts? Are you bringing your skills,
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your resources, your time, your money to help build a church
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here? And even further afield, I've
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often asked our church, and I think I've asked you guys too.
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But I wonder, where would this church be if everyone was like
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you? Where would this church be if
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everyone prayed like you? Where would this church be if
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everyone did as much evangelism as you?
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If everyone did as much inviting of their friends as you?
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If everyone served like you or gave like you, where would this
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church be? Because there's got to be some
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reality to our commitment to church, hasn't that?
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And it's so easy to to leave things to other people.
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We can all do it, but God calls us all now come on, take
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ownership. Take ownership for where this
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church is going. Nehemiah had this vision of
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this. This what I see is so far short
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of what it could be. It could be something
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magnificent and glorious and it isn't.
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And so he says I'm going to be a part of changing that.
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And I think God would stir you. Come and take ownership for
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moving this church forward and play your part, be a part of
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fulfilling the vision. And I would say it's the same
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for Commission as as well. Commission isn't this
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organization out there somewhere.
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Actually Commission is is your church and it's our church in
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Honiton and it's Beacon church in Bridport and it's the family
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church in Weymouth. It's us together.
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And so we want to take ownership for these things.
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Where are we going together and what we do together.
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So Nehemiah first season, amount of vision.
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Secondly, he's a man who takes ownership, ownership for the
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problems where they are and ownership for moving it all
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forwards. And thirdly, of course, Nehemiah
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is a man of faith. So although he is determined to
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play his part, he's absolutely determined.
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I am going to rebuild this city. Actually, he is confident that
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God will go with him and that God will bless him.
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Now, of course, if you look at the evidence all around
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Nehemiah, you would say that the gods of the Persians are the
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powerful ones. You see, the Persians are ruling
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large parts of the Middle East. They're dominant, they're
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powerful, they are successful. And then you look at Israel, a
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small minority living in exile, the city in ruins.
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You think surely that raises questions about who's the real
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God here, who's really in control here, Who's really the
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powerful 1 here. And I guess we, we might ask
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people might ask the same questions today, of course, of
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our nation. You think that, you know, with
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the seems rise of Islam and atheism still quite popular and
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the church is pretty shambolic in many places.
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And you could look at it and think really God, God's your God
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is the ruler of all the earth. Your God is in control.
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But actually, despite all the evidence to the contrary,
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Nehemiah is absolutely convinced about who God is and what he's
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like. Verse 5.
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Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his
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covenant of love with those who love him.
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Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear our
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prayers. And later he says he's about,
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He's speaking about the servants, the people you
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redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.
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Let your ear be attentive to prayers.
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See, he's not. He doesn't think God is some
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small kind of parochial God, a regional God kind of fighting
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for survival. Now he's the he's the great and
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awesome God, the the Lord of heaven who keeps his covenant of
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love. He scatters his people.
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He will gather his people. He's the one who hears the
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prayers of his people. He's the one who answers the
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prayers of his people. He's the one who turns the heart
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of the Pagan king to give Nehemiah favour.
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And so faith is believing who God is and what he says, however
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unlikely things might appear. And as I say, we look at our
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nation, there are some signs that things are changing and
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that's fantastic. But but our nation is so far
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from God and we can think, oh God, what can you do?
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No, he's the awesome God of heaven.
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He keeps his covenant of love. He's got great strength and a
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mighty hand. So Nehemiah goes back to the
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city full of faith. Faith is, we read in Hebrews 11.
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Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about
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what we do not see. The essence of faith is trusting
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God despite the evidence pointing to the contrary.
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And the Bible, of course, it's full of people who trusted God
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when the evidence seemed to point against them.
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And so Nehemiah is full of faith.
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And then he goes speaking faith wherever he goes.
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God is with us. God will bless us, God will make
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this work. God will help us.
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God will defeat our enemies again and again.
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He's speaking faith. He's speaking faith to himself,
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I think, and he's speaking faith to others.
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And I would encourage you, speak faith to one another, encourage
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one another. Now God is with us.
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God will bless us. God will provide for us.
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Some people, they're, they're some Christians.
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Their prayers are just like, they're proper miserable, aren't
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they? They just like really.
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That's so we IA long time ago. This is a long, long time ago.
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We were in a church and there was one guy in the church who
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prayed, He prayed quite long prayers and miserable prayers
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and they would go on and on. The world's so bad and
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everything's so awful. And it's like really just.
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Anyway, we had a visiting preacher.
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And visiting preacher, he was, he was Welsh.
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He was very bold and much more bold than I would dare be.
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And anyway, this guy started one of his long, laborious prayers.
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And so this visiting preacher stepped forward and he said,
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while our brother finishes his boring prayer, why don't the
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rest of us stand up and sing a song?
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OK, I, I don't think I'd have the guts to do that.
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But, but actually he was like, he didn't need challenging.
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I wouldn't have challenged him publicly and I'd have said
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something privately. But, but Even so, it's like we
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want to be those who speak faith to one another.
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God is with his people and God wants to do good to his people.
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And God wants to bless you and he wants to bless me and he
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wants to bless our nation and he wants to bless our churches.
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He is a good faithful God. He wants to provide for us.
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He loves it when we step out in faith, even if not everything
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works out, but he loves that and God wants to bless us.
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He is with us in again in chapter 2, Nehemiah praised this
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in front of the people. He says God give us success as
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we start rebuilding. We're going to start rebuilding.
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But God, we're confident you will give us success as we step
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out in faith. I wonder what is God calling you
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to step out in faith in perhaps as an individual, perhaps as a
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couple. What what step of faith is God
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calling you to? Because so easy for us all like
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me, Jenny too, we we, it's so easy for us to settle, isn't it?
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For just be comfortable and bit secure.
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And God says I'm calling you to step out in more faith in some
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area of life, maybe as a church. What is God calling you to step
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out in faith in is a church Maybe maybe who's he calling you
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to give away? Maybe there's a church plant he
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wants you to to start thinking about.
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Maybe it's connection with another nation.
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But I would encourage you be people of faith.
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So firstly then Nehemiah is a man of vision.
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Let me encourage you, don't settle for how things are, even
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if things are great. And as I say, this church seems
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great, but don't settle for how it is.
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God wants to do so much more. There are so many lost people in
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this town. Don't settle for a few hundred.
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Few 100's great, but there are thousands without Christ.
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Don't settle for how things are. Don't settle for how you
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probably see some healings. That's great, but don't settle
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for how much you see. Don't settle for your dancing.
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Settle for more joy, more laughter in worship.
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Say God, give us more. Don't be the people of who
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settle, but give us vision. And then I would say take
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ownership. Take ownership for moving
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forward. Play your part in the life of
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this church. Play your part in serving, in
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giving. Be at the prayer meeting, be on
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the front foot in worship. Invite your friends to events.
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Take ownership for this church and be people of faith that God
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is with you and he wants to bless you.
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Shall we stand? Let's stand and we're going to
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I'm just going to pray. So I'm going to pray and then I
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think we're going to have a song.
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Let's just pray, shall we? Father, we, we thank you that we
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are as your people. We are people with promises
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you've given us promises that you're going to bless us, that
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you're going to do good to us, You're going to provide for us,
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that you're going to gather people in, you're going to save,
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you're going to heal, you're going to transform lives.
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We thank you. We have many, many promises,
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promises that you are with us by your spirit when we gather
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together. And so, Lord, I pray, I pray for
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these folks that Lord, we would have a fresh vision for the
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church, a fresh vision for what you want your people to be.
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And we pray also that you would give us ownership for it, that
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we wouldn't leave it to others, but we would each be pressing
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forward. God, what have you got for me?
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How do you want to use me? How can I play my part more?
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How can I step out into a fresh adventure?
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Lord, we pray renew our faith that we would trust you that we
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wouldn't settle back into living comfortable, secure lives, but
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we would press into Lord this adventure of faith, trusting you
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that you will look after us, meet our needs, protect us,
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protect the reputation of the church and the future of the
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church. So, Father, my prayer is build
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your church here in Dorchester. Thank you for all that you are
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doing. We long for more and more for
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your glory. Lord, we ask this, and we ask
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this also for the sake of the lost.
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Lord, do more in this place, we pray.
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Thank you for listening to the Dorchester Family Church
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Podcast. We pray that God's Word ignited
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a flame in you today to burn brighter for Him.
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But the journey doesn't stop here.
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Stay motivated by visiting dfc.org.uk to get plugged into
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community, join a small group, find serving opportunities, and
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take your next steps in joyfully living out your faith every day.
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Please join us next week as we continue being equipped to
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wholeheartedly worship, intentionally grow, and boldly
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go make disciples. Grace and peace until next time.