May 1st - The Attributes of God

Prayer Requests

Summit Sanctification

Whoever’s Preaching

Marietta Square Preaching

Tornado Results, Esp. in White

Pollock Car Accident

Grant and Greyson Football Starting

Cassandra's Broken Arm

Text – Nehemiah 9

This morning we're going to look at an absolutely amazing chapter in the Bible. In chapter 9 of Nehemiah we're coming out of chapter 8. What major events have just taken place in chapter 8? What major project has just been completed? They completed the walls and set the doors. What has made the people more attentive to the law of God? The reading of the Law. Which book was this? Deuteronomy. What was the response to the reading of the Law? Mourning. They weren't supposed to mourn because this was during a festival, the Feast of Tabernacles, why weren't they supposed to mourn? Because this festival pointed towards their salvation; how does it point towards Jesus? Because he came as God in the flesh to dwell with and in us forever.

As we come into chapter 9, the feast of Tabernacles is over and the people are in full mourning over their sin. In this chapter they go over a general history of Israel, and we'll see that the character of God is beautifully displayed in this list. So let's get started. We're going to move pretty quickly through this, hopefully, so we won't stop to look at the minor details, because we want to see this chapter as a whole and not just a collection of verses.

Nehemiah 9:1-5 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God. On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; and they cried with a loud voice to the LORD their God. Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, "Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

We see a continued effort of repentance and knowing God's Law. Why is it so important to know the Bible? Because here-in God has revealed himself to us. There is a massive movement today with people saying that God is too mysterious for man to know, that our finite minds can never understand an infinite God, but that utterly misses the fact that he has chosen to reveal himself through a book which he has perfectly preserved for millennia. The first thing we see is that God is worthy to be praised, that is the hermeneutic of this passage, or the way in which they are reading the Bible. This makes the point that everything God does is right, that his plans and purposes are perfect. The second important point is the beginning of verse 6.

Nehemiah 9:6 You are the LORD, you alone.

This is an identification that God is One, he is God and there is no other. It is an affirmation of what is called the "Shema", which is found in Deuteronomy 6. We're not going to read many other verses today, but let's be sure to read that one.

Deuteronomy 6:4-6 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

Next we'll see that God is Creator and creative:

Nehemiah 9:6 You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

This is a reminder how powerful God is, that he created everything there is with the power of his Word. Not just that he created something massive, and the universe is bigger than we can even measure, but also that the minute details are incredible. The universe is intricately interesting from the biggest galaxy to the tiniest cell; and it may go much bigger and smaller than we can see. The level of diversity is also incredible, no two stars are exactly alike, no two people are exactly alike, and no two snowflakes are exactly alike. God shows both his power and creativity in creation. I really like that it mentions the "seas and all that is in them" because this has really blossomed for us in the past half century or so as we are able to record and see what is in the seas. Some of the creatures I've seen look made up, but are real, living, amazing creations of God. See the website, I've included a link: http://www.godofwondersvideo.org/chapter12.htm

We'll come back to this verse in a bit to support another point, but let's move to God's sovereignty over man in election:

Nehemiah 9:7-8 You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

God chose to take a man and his barren wife to make a people who would be in the spotlight of his grace for the next 1700 years, through whom the blessing of Christ would come to all people groups. God promised them the land of Israel, even when it was populated by many other wicked people, it seemed impossible, but because God is righteous, he kept his promise, and the people at this exact moment in Nehemiah 9 were living that promise fulfilled.

Here we see that God interacts with mankind, he is not a "deistic deity" which means he created the universe and then left it alone. This is seen prominently in verse 9, where God is involved and is a God of miracles:

Nehemiah 9:9-10 And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day.

Next we'll see that God is selective, and also able to avenge his people.

Nehemiah 9:11 And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters.

After the Israelites fled through the Red Sea, it opened up for God to do many other things. He led them:

Nehemiah 9:12 By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go.

God gave them light in the darkness, and led them where they should go. Besides a physical leading, God is able to communicate himself and his laws morally:

Nehemiah 9:13 You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments,

This law is not burdensome, it points to the coming Messiah, it shows us why God is God and we are not. It opens up the opportunity for God to be both our Creator and our Saviour. Most directly, it gives us a definitive moral law to discern right from wrong.

Contained in that Law is the Sabbath, which is directly concerned with mankind resting for the glory of God, especially now where we rest in Jesus Christ, and it shows that God is attentive to the welfare of his people.

Nehemiah 9:14 and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant.

Let's read another verse:

Mark 2:27-28 And he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."

Next we see that God is sustainer:

Nehemiah 9:15 You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

If you jump back to verse 6 you see that God is preserving all of his creation, in the New Testament it says Christ holds it together by the power of his Word. I wasn't going to, but we have to read that one!

Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

We pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," and God always does, he could easily cut this planet off from sustenance just by causing it to stop raining, or for the crops to stop growing, and the Bible promises before it is all over, a famine so great will strike the world that a loaf of bread will cost over a $100. But through history until now, God has been sustaining his people.

But his people were not grateful, yet God is patient.

Nehemiah 9:16-17 But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

We've got several other attributes in there, don't we, merciful, gracious, forgiving, and full of love. It was almost as though the Israelites in the Sinai desert were trying to prove that God is rich in mercy:

Nehemiah 9:18-19 Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,' and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go.

Here and in the next verse we see that God's grace is not contingent on men doing anything, in fact, if it was, then it wouldn't be grace. God continued to give them good things, even though they utterly rebelled. This went on for 40 years. Another attribute we'll see in this passage is that God also gave his Spirit to instruct.

Nehemiah 9:20-21 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

After these 40 years, God proved himself to be faithful to his promises by giving them the land he had promised. Not only did he give them the land and multiply them, but it was already prepared for them to move right in. God plans things in advance, he has foreknowledge and the power to make it happen. He sees the end and the beginning, and he is working all things for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

Nehemiah 9:22-25 And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

Right at the end of this passage we have another attribute of God, that he is good, which means perfect and complete, there is no darkness in him, he is the standard and highest measure of good. This is intensified by how mankind constantly reacts to him, even his own people. God does not abandon his people, but he also does not let them continue towards their destruction. Let's read another New Testament verse,

Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

God is a correcting God.

Nehemiah 9:26-27 Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer.

God's punishment is correctional not punitive towards his people. He is also saviour.

Nehemiah 9:27-31 And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.

At this point it gets a little tedious, God is good and his people rebel, over and over and over again. This is a great look at the fact that we cannot obey God on our own, but that we need an intercessor, we need someone to bear our sins for us, and someone to guide us. God has provided both for us in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit. The Old Covenant was good, but God was making a definitive statement that it was not perfect and that the New is so much better than the Old. We are thereby warned by God to not fall back from his Son, and we also see that God sends prophets who proclaim his message.

All of this points us at the fact that when sin increases, grace abounds all the more. Therefore the Apostle Paul asks, "Should we then sin all the more so that grace abounds further?" No, this leads back to our very first point, that God is worthy to be praised. His faithfulness leads us to something else, let's read Romans 2:4:

Romans 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

This is precisely where the Israelites in Nehemiah 9 go, let's read about their awesome repentance:

Nehemiah 9:32-38 Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress. "Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

We'll look at this covenant next week, but the main point is that the attributes of God led these people to strive for holiness, not to sin all the more so that God's patience and kindness and admonishing would be magnified. We long to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect, to be so perfectly sanctified that we neither want to sin, and do not sin. This is, of course, impossible apart from the perfect work of God in us which he has accomplished through his Son who is the embodiment of all of God's attributes, an instructor to the foolish, a light in the darkness, the only God, gracious, merciful, patient, and the Saviour of all who believe. We know that when he appears, we will be like him, for we have such a great and lasting promise of God's faithfulness. He has been faithful with others, we trust he will be faithful with us, he has been faithful in the past, so we can trust that he will be faithful forever. Let's close with Philippians 1:6.

Philippians 1:6 I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

April 3rd - Redeem the Time

Prayer Requests

Pastor Aaron preaching and resignation

Swift Cantrel witnessing

Students traveling for Spring Break

Easter Baptism Outreach (in the works)

Balfours camping

David - Job and School

Mason - Job

Gavin - Teaching

Jerusalem Project

Text – Nehemiah 6, Ephesians 5:15-16

This week I was going to step out of Nehemiah 6 briefly since many of our students are heading out of town for the week, but as I examined it, it seemed that our class would be intact, at least those who are following us through Nehemiah, so I decided to stay with Nehemiah, and the lesson I was going to teach is actually going to fit in pretty well.

So last week we saw some instructions for a perfect church. How should we treat our brothers and sisters within the church when they are in need? We should, out of our own abundance, fulfill their lack. Should we charge them exorbitant interest? No, we shouldn’t charge interest at all within the church. Nehemiah was a great example in this, but who is our greatest example? Jesus Christ.

Now we’re in chapter 6, here the wall is just about done, actually the wall portion is done, but all of the gates are not yet installed, and the enemies of Jerusalem are getting pretty desperate and sneaky to stop the completion. We’re going to see what they sought to do and how it relates to our life. So let’s go through it as a narrative:

Nehemiah 6:1-2 Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm.

The plain of Ono is about 25 miles away from Jerusalem, it would take at least a few days for Nehemiah to go and get back. Nehemiah clearly sees that they want him to go so far so they can murder or detain him in Samaria. There is nothing wrong with avoiding someone who intends to do you harm, nor is it wrong to stand against evil, the event and your conscience must drive your response. Let me give you an example from Acts where the response was fleeing.

Acts 14:5-7 When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, and there they continued to preach the gospel.

Alternately what was Esther's response in the face of danger for God's sake? (I think we're going to look at Esther next) If I perish, I perish.

But saving his own life was not Nehemiah’s reason for not going, for he trusted in God and would have no problem walking into danger, but what he was interested in was good stewardship of his time,

Nehemiah 6:3 And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”

Nehemiah knew that his example was driving the work of the wall, he was instrumental in the building of the wall. If he left, he had reason to believe the building effort would fall apart. It would be very easy for me to say to you that this applies to all leaders, but that would be wrong, else we would expect our church to fall apart today as Pastor Aaron leaves, or when I leave sometime next year, but that’s not the case. Any guesses as to why Nehemiah was instrumental in the building of the city of God and we aren’t? Nehemiah was a type for Christ, and Christ is absolutely instrumental in the building of his church; who is in charge of building the church?

Matthew 16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Considering Nehemiah to be a type for Christ, I need to follow a rabbit trail real quick so you see almost the exact thing happening, when Christ was doing a great work and scoffers opposed him:

Matthew 27:42 He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.

On the cross Christ was doing an infinitely better work than Nehemiah was doing in Jerusalem. Nehemiah was only saving men’s lives, Christ was saving men’s souls, he was doing a far greater work than Nehemiah, yet both their detractors wanted him to come down from the work they were doing.

As we near Easter, I don’t think we can emphasize enough that Christ was tempted more in his life than any of us have even been tempted, coming to unbelievable levels on the cross, where he had legions of angels at a moments notice to rescue him from death, taunting, beating, and reviling, as he absorbed the full cup of his Father’s wrath for our sake. Yet he pushed through and those who hope in him are saved. Let this next verse be our favorite in the Bible, our battle cry, knowing that Christ accomplished his work first, giving us an example to follow in our lives,

Psalm 69:6 Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
O Lord God of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel.

The call to Nehemiah was not a one-time taunt, but was repeatedly,

Nehemiah 6:4-5 And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand.

They are about to resort to blackmail, seeing that they cannot lure Nehemiah away. Let’s look at this letter:

Nehemiah 6:6-7 In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king. And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.”

The claim is once again to a higher authority, to tell King Artaxerxes that the Jews are about to rebel. These are serious claims if they were true, but they’re not. We see Jesus in this as well, that though the main reason they crucified him was because he claimed to be God, the Romans saw him as a rebel trying to be king over the world. Jesus answered,

John 18:36 “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

Once again we see that if we trust in God, then the truth is our best option, and Nehemiah knows that as he holds to the truth, God will bless their efforts.

Nehemiah 6:8-9 Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.” For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands.

As always we have both difficulties outside, and difficulties inside. There have never been a lack of false prophets in the church, one of the major ones to watch out for today is Rob Bell, who is everything but a Christian, but whom is exceptionally popular with young people today. Nehemiah goes to talk to a prophet/priest who for some reason, perhaps out of fear or appearance of fear, is hiding in his house. Here is what happened,

Nehemiah 6:10 Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.”

This prophet tells Nehemiah to go hide in the temple, clearly the last place anyone would look for Nehemiah, because it was illegal for him to enter the temple.

Numbers 18:7 And you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and that is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

So we see that we have a false prophet in the midst of the people, he’s just tried to kill Nehemiah. Let’s see how Nehemiah reacts,

Nehemiah 6:11-12 But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.” And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me.

You must constantly be on the lookout for these false prophets, and they are more rampant today than ever before. Jesus tells us how to look for them,

Matthew 7:15-16 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

A few things we see, they look like Christians, but they don’t act or believe like Christians. I find that they are often consumed with money, gifts, strange doctrines, or sexual deviancy, though these are not the only signs. Shemaiah here obviously cared more for money than God.

Remember that every time you speak for God, you make yourself a prophet, so make sure you are speaking from his Word and with reverence towards Christ, seeking to please him rather than people or yourself. It doesn’t tell us what Nehemiah did to Shemaiah, but it does tell us that he prayed to God against them, another imprecatory prayer,

Nehemiah 6:14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.

Apparently Nehemiah knew of some other prophets and prophetesses operating against him, and asked God to do violence to them. Remember from Romans 12 that we leave all vengeance up to God. In all of this, Nehemiah did not cease to oversee the building of the wall.

Nehemiah 6:15-16 So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.

This was record time; it shows what good leadership and the help of God can do. We know that it was record time because the people around Jerusalem saw it and knew that it was accomplished by supernatural means.

We can see the supernatural work in the building of the church when we have people from every nation and tongue come together in perfect harmony, something that can’t and won’t happen under any other world-view, because they don’t have God on their side. The devil can counterfeit a lot of amazing signs and wonders, but he cannot produce a true peace like the gospel of peace and Prince of Peace do. In the final days the Antichrist will produce a worldwide peace, but it will be short-lived, less than four years.

In the last three verses we see a new little conspiracy forming in Jerusalem, something that we’ll talk about a lot more in chapter 13, but check out how sinners are intertwined with some of the people in Jerusalem,

Nehemiah 6:17-19 Moreover, in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them. For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah: and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as his wife. Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.

All of this says that Tobiah is intermarried into the Jewish people, though he himself is not a Jew. This gives him political prowess and shows that the people of Jerusalem are not willing to divorce from the world. This is a bad thing, because it points to a sinful state, moreso spiritual than physical. I feel I would do you a disservice if I didn’t point out that the Bible is certainly not against interracial marriages, for the main reason that there is only one race, the human race. But the Bible is totally against interspiritual marriages, for what fellowship does light have with darkness?

James 4:4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Ok, so some application now. Nehemiah did some amazing things in a very small amount of time. Before that the walls of Jerusalem had been in ruins for 141 years, 90 of those years with people dwelling in it, and they had no interest to rebuild the city. But Nehemiah, in just a few weeks was able to do amazing things.

Ephesians 5:15-16 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

There are a lot of ways you can waste your time. In the United States we have a pandemic of “busyness”, where people run full speed all the time, never stopping to think, and accomplish nothing. Beloved, be testing where you spend your time, make sure it is edifying to yourself and the church, when you feel like you’re really busy, look at what you’re busy doing.

I think one of the reasons that we make so much effort to stay busy is so we don’t have to stop and think we’re not really accomplishing anything. It is good to step back every once in a while and determine whether what you’re doing is worthwhile. Nehemiah very easily could have headed off to the meeting at Ono and said, “I have to do this and it will take a week,” but he saw that his time was best spent somewhere else.

So beloved, be redeeming your time, the days are evil, now that the work for the church of Christ is infinitely more valuable than work for things that will not last. However, in everything you do, know that you are a representative of the Living God, and so live with this in mind. Let's close with,

Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.