[Music] [Applause] [Music] good morning church good morning church and those who are are online welcome to the house of the Lord this morning let us get prepared even as we come into His Sanctuary this morning Ro singing when you are prepared you may stand [Music] say heing [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] can I have the brothers to sing verse one [Music] sisters the high de [Music] this [Music] [Music] for but he the [Music] for [Music] [Music] why don't we stand people let's acknowledge his presence here [Music] me [Music] [Music] amen it's good to be in the house of the Lord and I want to just welcome and greet all of you here in the name of Jesus and for those that are joining us online we also welcome you you know even as we come this morning uh there's a lot of activities outside but let's not be distracted all right that as we come there's only one Focus there is only the audience of one and even as we come we want to offer our praise and worship in response to who he is not because we Must Praise Him or worship him but because of who he is come let's pray let's raise our hands even as we come this morning Hallelujah Lord we thank you for your word that reminds us because of the Lord's great love for us we are not consumed for your compassions never fail they are new every morning great is your faithfulness and even as we come we want to focus our eyes even upon you thank you Lord for your grace your compassion your mercy your goodness your loving kindness your steadfast love upon each of Our Lives thank you that you have held us even in the very Palms of your hands that as we come this morning we thank you indeed great is your faithfulness we come this morning Lord with a heart oh lord of responding in worship because you are worthy because you are great and good towards each of us and Lord we want to just pray that as we come to that we will offer our lives aresh not just through the fruit of our lips but our whole life as the Living Sacrifice holy and pleasing to you we want to offer ourselves to you we want to offer this service to you this morning be Enron in the Praises of your people be Enron in the lives of all of us and we want to just give thanks to you in Jesus name we pray amen why don't we greet one another if you see somebody new let's extend okay a greeting greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ it's good to be in the house of the Lord amen amen amen let's read this Psalms 24 together the Earth is the Lords and everything in it the world and all who live in it for he founded it on the Seas and established it on the waters who may Ascend to the mountain of the Lord who may stand in his holy place the one who has Clean Hands and a pure heart who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god they will receive blessing from the Lord and Vindication from God their savior such is the generation of those who seek him who seek your face God of Jacob lift up your heads you Gates be lifted up you ancient doors that the king of glory may come in who is this king of glory the lord strong and mighty the Lord Mighty in battle lift up your hates you Gates lift them up you ancient doors the king of Glory may come in who is he this king of glory the lord Almighty he is the king of glory amen amen Psalms 24 is a Psalm written by David and many Associated this with the returning of the Ark of Covenant into Jerusalem and in Samuel 2 David rejoiced voice and dance before the Lord with all his might so I invite you Church to come and release your worship this morning and to Worship the Lord who is Seated on high who is our one spectator this morning let us release this worship unto him amen ancient Gates there is singing at the ancient Gates there's a melody of ceaseless praise H to the sound is only growing [Music] stronger there's a trone beneath the name of names there is Seated on one who Reigns and his kingom now is here and getting closer so Praise Him life where there in glory here and now is just as Jesus is so worthy [Music] of there is singing at the ancient Gates there's a Mel of CE H to H the sound is only grer there's a trone beneath the name of things there is Seated on in one who Reigns and his kingom now is here and get closer so praise life where there in glory here and now he's just as holy Jesus is so worthy of it all he exists he exist in Everlasting light so on Heaven streets there is no night every is wi away know no sorrow worship him him in [Music] joyful sing your voice gives us no matter where or who who's around release your worship he exists in Everlasting Light so on Heaven's streets there is no night every sh is wi away know no sorrow come on Church worship him with joyful sound and sing until your voice gives up until your gives no matter where all who's around release your worship release your worship this morning [Applause] him glory and now he's just as holy Jesus is so worthy of it all bring your song he loves to bring give every PR of Jesus is so worthy of it all the one who was the the one who is the one who is to come the one who was the one who is the one who is to come the one who was the one who is the one who is to come the one the one who was the one who is the one who is to come so praise him like where glory and now he's just as holy Jesus is so worthy of it all bring your song he lovees to he bring in every rest of Jesus is so worthy of it all worship Him worship with joyful Sound sing until your voice gives up no matter where or who's around release your worship worship Him worship Him with joyful sound oh sing unto your voice giv up no matter where all who around release your worship so PR his life in glory and now he's just as holy Jesus is so worthy of it all your song to with in every bre of Jesus is so worthy of it all the who was the one who is the one who is to come the one who was the one who is the one who is to [Music] come the one who was the one who is the one who is to die the one who was the one who is the one who is to come life bre Glory here and now he's just as holy Jesus is so worthy of the Lord [Applause] bring your song he loves to he in every bre of Jesus so worthy of it in glory here and now he's just as holy Jesus he so worthy [Music] of bring s he loves toar [Applause] it Jesus is so worthy [Music] worthy you are worth King of Kings Lord of lords you are [Music] worthy worthy you are worthy king of Kings Lord of lords I worship you worthy you are worthy King of Kings Lord of lords you are [Applause] [Music] worthy Worthy you are worthy King of Kings Lord of lords I worship you holy You Are Holy King of Kings Lord of lords You Are Holy [Music] holy You Are Holy King of Kings Lord of lords I worship you holy You Are Holy King of Kings Lord of lords You Are Holy Holy You Are Holy King of Kings Lord of Lord I worship you worthy you are worthy King all things Lord of lords you are [Music] worthy worthy you are worthy King of Kings Lord of Ls I worship you King of Kings Lord of lords I worship you King of Kings Lord of lords I worship you I worship [Music] you I worship you [Music] church we take this time to just Worship the [Music] Lord in your own ways you may want to lift up your [Music] hands or you may put them down or even would like to kneel before the [Music] Lord just take this time of quietness to be in the presence of the [Music] Lord you may want to sing a new song to him or you may you want to pray with the person next to you as God release the word to you let's not be afraid of the silence let's just sit by his [Music] full and adore the King of Kings and the Lord of lords for he yearns for your worship this [Music] morning come as little children come and give him your worries come and give him your [Music] anxiety he's here this morning [Music] thank you Lord we praise you [Music] Lord for you are [Music] wor Hallelujah [Music] yes [Music] just soak in the presence of the Lord this morning church it may be a busy week for [Music] you running here and there taking care of the hous full meeting after meetings why don't we just come this morning he is here just soak into the presence of the Lord enjoy his Spirit come and be refreshed church thank you Father [Music] Lord thank you Lord Jesus thank you Father Lord you [Music] touch your people touch your children move Lord move in Holy Spirit [Music] move Holy Spirit Lo hover over this church hover over our lives thank you Come Holy Spirit come come for Jes oh we welcome you if more of you me less of me take everything yes all of you is all I need take [Music] everything if more of you means less of me take [Music] yes you so take surrender to the Lord take everything take our take our peain take him [Music] surrrender come our Liv come our come build all as you rebuild has we rebuil the gates thank you Lord [Music] Jesus you came to the wall you created Trea your crown for a cross you willing die your re alive pay the cross counting your status as nothing king of all kings came to serve washing my feet fathering Me With Your Love if more of you means less of me take yes all of you is all I need take everything you came to the world you created trading your crown for a cross you willingly di your rent life the count your status that's nothing the king of all kings came to serve washing my feet covering Me With Your Love More you be said be take everything yes all of you is all I need [Music] Take You are my life and my treasure one that I can live without here at your Fe my desires and dreams I lay [Music] [Applause] down here at your Fe my desires and dreams I if more of you me BL of me take yes all of you is all I need take care Oh Lord Change Me Like Only You Can here with my heart in your hands father I pray make thee Jus is like to know who you are showed us the way to your heart father I pray make you all like Jesus Oh Lord change me like only you can kill with my high in your hand father I pray may [Music] be [Music] Jesus TR to know who you are show us the way to your heart sister father I pray may be Jesus more my Jesus more my jus [Music] [Applause] [Music] more of you me less of me take everything yes all of you is all I need take more of you of me take every yes all of you is all I need take everything more of you is less of me take all of you is all I need take day Lord we thank you more of Jesus and less of us Christ increased in us that we shall decrease Christ will be made known that because the dying world needs to know you and Lord as we reach out to you we reach out to your heart when you increase in our life we will be able to know your heartbeat for the nation and when we decrease Christ increase Lord we know it's hard to say take everything but this morning we come in surrender with Open Hands unto you Lord as we come in surrender us we let go we let you take control we let you take over as we let go we come in Brokenness we come we just who we are we come just as children of [Music] God recognizing that our God whom we turn our eyes to is our strength our refuge our Emmanuel our Jehovah our Mighty God our Jehovah Shalom our Rafa our gyia our mighty one the alpha the Omega whom we can turn our eyes to that when we turn to you Lord you increase and we decrease and Lord as we pray for these people group we ask that you will give us a heart as we know your heart for the Sama Sama and the Thousand of peoples they are found in the Philippines but in over the times many of them have migrated to Boro to the eastern part of Malaysia and Indonesia majority of them of our cousin group interestingly the talu are one of the most dominant and the largest Muslim group in the southern of Philippines there's a minor minor very small major uh minority of Christian in both of them the tamas Sama group of the S Baja have scripture but the talu do not have scripture in their language let's just go to the prayer points and I ask that you just break into two and trees and pray there is only the Lord who can move the hearts it's only the Lord who can turn the hearts of the people back to him so pray that the holy spirit will open their hearts will reveal to them that their minds will be able to comprehend the things of the spiritual pray for opportunities of evangelism we are we have a mission partner who is working among these people group that they will be wise they will be both and also pray for strength continuously serving in the field sometimes can be tiring but ask God for renewal of strength renewal of joy to serve him in time when they surrender when they look to Jesus God will renew God will refresh let's just take these two minutes to pray as you PR the small [Music] groups you are a God who is who listens to the prayers of your people you are the Lord who knows those who need you and even for the summer a thousand people how would you turn your heart to you but you even have a heart that is able to comprehend and to receive the love Jesus you give to compreh the need of the spiritual that in simple understanding and knowing the truth of Jesus and experiencing the love of Jesus Oh Lord they will be liberated to know you and to respond to you and to recognize you as the Lord of your we pray that even the opportunity to share we pray for the many organization we for the even the small group of Believers that and they will be to stand for their faith they will be to share Jesus we to Jesus in your lives now it will continue to be the light of your son whever it will be Lord we pray that you just continue that even when the scripture is being translated to the to the different language the the that the translation will be so clear will be such Clarity and all the resources that is needed to translate the language will be provideing because we pray for strength for our our partners and people there Lord we ask that the joy of God will be upon your strength even in times of Trials times of challenges circumstances Lord they will not be F from caring continue to recognize their F in Jesus but know that they will continue to know that you are and strength every person have in trouble and in their Stillness Jesus in their Stillness they will be making you home in their knowing of you they will make you in in their knowing of you they will declare the of the every OPP Jesus let's just declare Lord we just want to thank you that you are the Lord who hears our prayer and even as you continue to move among the summer and the T people we know a Great Awakening is going to take place we know something good is going to happen we know that you the Lord will continue to equip all your workers there enable them refresh them restore them for the good works that is taking place so we thank you for in Jesus name amen amen please be seated a very good morning to all of you we now come to the time for our scripture reading we like to invite oen a who will be accompanied by his father to read the passage of scripture for us this morning let's give him some encouragement niima 2: 1 to 5 2 vers 17 to 18 and it came to pass in the mon of Nan in the 20th year of King arur zus when one was before him that I took the wine and gave it to the king now I had never been set in this presence before therefore the king said to me why is your face said since you are not sick this is [Music] nothing but sorrow of heart so I became dreadfully afraid and said to the king May the king King live forever why should my face not be setad when the city the place of my father's tombs lies waste and it get are burn with fire then the king said to me why do you request so I prayed to the god of Heaven and I said to the king if it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight I ask that you send me to Judah through the city of my father's tombs that I may rebuild it then I said to them you see the distress that we are in now Jus lies waste and its gates are burned with fire come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach and I told them to the hand of my God which had been good upon me and also the king's words that he had spoken to me so they said let us rise up and build then they set their hands to this good work good job good thank you very much oven we would like to at this time um pray and dismiss our children to their children church can I ask the children in our midst and also the ccls to stand up as we want to pray for God's blessing to be upon them even as they um learn the word of God for those of you who are near some of these children or ccls just stretch your hands and pray alongside uh with me Lord Jesus we thank you once again for the blessing of families the blessing of children in our midst we just continue to ask of you even as we are reminded that children are like arrows in the hands of a warrior we want to declare that truly they are people that you will continue to mightily build up for the kingdom of God so father even as they depart from here for their classes and lessons this morning be with them be with the ccls that give them the anointing of God and wisdom to be able to even Lord impart the truth and the love of God upon every single child for all this we pray in Jesus name amen thank you children this morning we would like to invite our sister suai to share with us the word of God in our continuing uh preaching series on the book of Nehemiah the title is come let us build oh you sorry good morning to those here as well as those online it's such a joy to see all of you worshiping here together this morning shall we pray before we look at the word of the Lord Lord a little closer Lord we thank you for your word and Lord this morning as we look into it we pray that God you will bring both Clarity and conviction to our hearts and wherever each of us are in our journey of faith today God I pray that you will help us to take one step further with you this day by the enabling of your spirit and your grace for we ask this in Jesus name amen the focus of the message that we are considering this morning is taken from portions of Nehemiah chapter 2 through to chapter 4 two Sundays ago Jory shared with us a message on Nehemiah chapter 1 and he askers these two questions what breaks your heart and what are you doing about it and I remember one of the things that he said in his sermon was this and I quote him the simple thing that we can learn from Nehemiah is that when God gives us a Divine burden when God gives us a heaviness in our heart there is a need for us to search within our soul Soul whether this is what the Lord is telling us to respond to and he said if God has truly stirred and burden us about something then the question is what are we doing about it and so this morning as we continue to obey the Lord's prompting and respond to the question what are we doing about what breaks our heart I just want to take us through three further question questions today that will hopefully help us grow in our response to God the first question is what is needed in the process and the work of rebuilding the second question what is the purpose of our personal rebuilding and the third question that we will look at is where can we rebuild so what is needed in the process and the work of rebuilding in the context of Nehemiah we know that he led in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem which was lying in Ruins that was the Divine burden and the god-given assignment which Nehemiah was convicted to act on and together with a group of people he completed the project in 52 days many things were needed in the process and in the actual work of rebuilding the walls for the purpose of today's message let's group them by the physical and the spiritual needs of the project so what are some of the physical needs definitely material was needed people were involved and what did the people do there was a lot of repair work as well as clearing of rubble and rubble and rubbish while the actual rebuilding work was being carried out at and eventually completed you know the word repair is mentioned 40 times in the new King James version of Nehemiah chapter 3 and the root word of that word repair means to make strong to make firm it wasn't about quick fixes the rebuilding was for the glory of God and the people were determined to do their best what about the spiritual attrib that we can learn from Nehemiah in order to prepare himself for the work and subsequently complete the project he prayed he fasted he repented he also prepared himself and waited on the Lord and the Lord's timing we also see that Nehemiah is one who knows who his God is just take a look at the press that you read in the book of Nehemiah The Firm understanding that um the F firm understanding of who God is was so crucial especially in the face of the opposition that came while the rebuilding work was happening I think we can also say that Nehemiah was a resilient leader he stood firm in his convictions in the midst of opposition threats discouragements ridicule doubts and all that happened when the if we may call them the Troublesome Trio the sanbalat tobas and gersam came to direct them his way there was also certainly a need to be faithful and to persevere in order to complete the rebuilding of the wall I may refer to some of these along the way as the sermon develops but suffice for us to know that these were some of the physical and spiritual needs in the process and the actual work of rebuilding the walls and I believe that this principles and attributes that we can learn from Nehemiah we can apply them to our own lives with regards to carrying out and completing any god-given assignment that we may be involved in so let's move on to chapter 2 in the book where we get to read about nehemiah's response when God provided him the opportunity to respond to the king to speak to the king in the passage that was read to us just now Nehemiah described the state of the city to the king to which the king replied what do you request and after saying a prayer to the god of Heaven this was nehemiah's response if it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in your sight I ask that you send me to Judah to the city of my father's tombs that I may rebuild it we know that the king consented to the request but what we want to examine a little closer today is nehemiah's request send me that I may rebuild Nehemiah could well have remained in chapter 1 verse4 when he heard the words and he wept he mourned for many days he fasted and he prayed but we all know that he did not remain in that posture as he prayed and fasted he waited until the opportune time came for him to act on his convictions and I see this process of identifying what breaks our heart and responding to the prompting to do something about it as really part of our growing in our discipleship journey of becoming more Christlike more like Jesus as we have just sung you know what a joy and privilege to surrender to the Sovereign one who holds all things together even as we sung more of you less of me take everything why do I say that we can draw discipleship lessons from this and for that let's look at the second question what is the purpose of our personal rebuilding I believe the Lord ministered and spoke to many hearts two Sundays ago when many of us responded to the call for personal rebuilding of Our Lives be it our own prayer life our word life family relationships or reclaiming our parental mandate as Jory was encouraging us to do the word was also shared that God wants to restore to some the years that the locusts have e God wants to restore God wants to rebuild and during the time of ministry our sisters Melissa tan and Lindy both came forward if you recall to share a word to us they shared an invitation from the Lord and to quote Melissa who said the invitation is to come to take a step of faith to come forward to allow the Lord to rebuild to restore and to fill us to the brim so that it overflows for the world to see his love and sister Lindy said we are his hands and his feet so come come so that he can touch us he can heal us and set us on fire so that we can go out there and make a difference in this broken world the lord continues to rebuild different areas of our lives and this is all part of our growth in our discipleship journey of following Jesus and Desiring to be more like him and as we continue to allow the Lord to work in us may we also open our hearts to allow him to work through us that we will like Nehemiah say send me that I may rebuild you see the Dynamics of our spiritual formation is never just an inward process our inward spiritual growth develops as we grow in our upward relationship with Christ as we respond to God's grace shaping us us into the likeness of Christ and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in Us in this Community of Faith together for the sake of the world can I say that again our inward spiritual growth develops as we grow in our upward relationship with Christ as we respond to God's grace shaping us into the likeness of Christ and allowing the holy Spirit to work in Us in this Community of Faith together for the sake of the world and this inward upward relationship with God as he continues to rebuild our lives must always direct us to look outward at the people around us be it within the family of God here in ssmc or Beyond this Faith Community only then my friends are we allowing the Holy Spirit to work both in us and through us the purpose of our Christian spirituality is intimacy with Christ but it is really not an end in itself it is a means to creating a kingdom people whom God can use to engage the world we are Sav by grace to do good works what God has first worked into our lives must be we work out in this world even as Ephesians chap 2:1 says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them I would like to share with us a brief analogy of why is it that as our Christian spirituality is formed and shaped into the likeness of Christ we ought to event actually move into Mission with Christ there is a simple analogy that I learned from a writing by a person named Robert Mal holand he was professor of the New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary and I want to use it this morning to illustrate this point to us and so if you would indulge me for a moment can I ask that we all close our eyes and just relax all right so let's all close our eyes don't be afraid to close your eyes let's just close our eyes and relax all right but just don't fall asleep on me okay all right we're going to do a little bit of exercise all eyes closed right okay so what we're going to do is I'm going to count to three and at the count of three I want all of you to breathe in just inhale and then you follow the sound of my voice right because all your eyes are closed you follow the sound of my voice and when I when I count slowly one 2 3 and so on then you exhale and you breathe out all the air that is in your lungs okay shall we try that all eyes close 1 2 3 breathe in inhale one two Breathe Out 3 4 good job we're going to do that again one 2 3 breathe in inhale one 2 Breathe Out 3 4 One More Time one two three breathe in inhale all right some of you are starting to look a bit funny please open your eyes and breathe out and exhale all the air that is in your lungs as you have kept them there that was the simple analogy we need to breathe in before we can breathe out growing in Christ is like breathing in can we hold our breath forever no we can't we need to breathe out eventually breathing out is Mission with Christ or if I may contextualize it to today's message it is rebuilding and partnering with Christ breathing in and breathing out goes hand in hand as someone put it this way there can be no healthy spiritual growth in Christ apart from Mission with Christ there can be no healthy spiritual growth in Christ apart from Mission with Christ however there can also be no transformative Mission with Christ apart from spiritual growth in Christ and what that means essentially is that all of us here you and I need to be breathing in regularly breathing in the word of God our private prayer life our fellowship with others and whatever other spiritual disciplines that can help us grow in Christ dric bonhof says this that our intimacy with Christ must be for the sake of others true Christian spirituality ought to be one that is self transforming God encountering and other embracing why because you and I we worship a god of intimacy and action true Christian spirituality is one that is self transforming God encountering and other embracing Nehemiah did not just weep mourn fast and pray he acted on his conviction he put hands and feet to his prayer but you may ask how does this apply to me today how does rebuilding a city wall relate to me and how does it even make sense for me and for that let's consider the third and the last question where can we rebuild if God were to ask us today what is your request just like how the king asked Nehemiah chapter 2:4 what word will you put in place of the word Judah and say send me dot dot dot that I may rebuild it all of us have our portions in the work of the Kingdom nehemiah's portion was the whole wall but not all of us are called to such macro and major portions but yet each of us have our own micro portion portions we need to know where and which portion God is calling us to every portion is important and each one is needed and if you remember my first question what is needed in the process and the work of rebuilding besides material what was there they were people in other words we need wall builders in the kingdom of God you and I are called to be wall Builders wall builders in the context of Nehemiah to rebuild to repair to make firm to strengthen to grow stronger Nehemiah did not rebuild the whole wall by himself he would not have been able to accomplish the task if he did not have all the people that we read about in chapter 3 38 individual workers were listed in chapter 3 and 42 different groups are my are identified there were also many other workers who were not named but the point is this each one was assigned a place and a task not all of us are called to be a Nehemiah but some of us could be that Goldsmith that perfumer who played their part in the section of that wall and so we join together as a community of living stones that are being built up into a spiritual house with Jesus Christ as our Chief Cornerstone you know the Apostle Paul compared the individual members of the church to the members of a human body in the book of First Corinthians chapter 12 each member is important and each has a function to perform author pastor and Bible teacher Warren wisby he wrote in a book that he uttered on Nehemiah that he recalled the relief that came to his own heart when he realized that God didn't expect him to do everything in the church rather God calls him to use the gifts that God gave him to the task that God assigned him to we are not called to do everything in the church but we are called to something because there is a portion for each of us and when each of us carries out our function and our portions then the whole body functions well and we accomplish more for the Lord together our human body can illustrate this quite easily about 4 months ago I had a problem with my left shoulder which eventually eventually affected my elbow and my wrist it got to the point where I was really struggling to use my left hand and although I'm a right-hander I didn't realize how much I actually do need and use my left hand because of the pain on the shoulder the body was subconsciously not using it as much and therefore the elbow was working harder it was compensating for the lack of function at the shoulder I could still function although there were some task that I really was not able to do because the pain was too unbearable and I also realized that I was slower in some things that I had to do for example because I could only carry things with my right hand I had to make more trips if I had to carry more BS I finally reach out to the physiotherapist for treatment and as it recovers I'm now able to optimize the function of the shoulder and I'm able to accomplish more with both my hands functioning better together and so church it's similar when the whole body of Christ functions well we accomplish more for the Lord together so let's see where we can rebuild what are some possible portions of the wall that God is calling us to or is laying a Divine burden in our heart for us to act on it and say send me that I can partner with you God and with one another and for this I'm going to take us closer to home and share just four suggestions where we can partner with God and with each other and the first one that I suggest to you is what I call Generations being an intergenerational church is one of the core values of ssmc this important statement if you can read it on the screen it's found within our core values Generations need one another no comparison no competition no condemnation almost three years ago Shen preached a sermon entitled the bigger race and I'll be quoting from his sermon here and there but one powerful statement that he made was this and I read it to you gener ations need one another and we must come together in love and in unity being passionate of the same vision that God has given the church and working together to be part of God's bigger plan being intergenerational also means being inclusive of the multi-generations across the church in ssmc we are generally categorized into five main categories our children our youth young adults working adults and our seniors this is the current demographic profile of ssmc based on membership data June 2023 and in a way it's reassuring to see that we are quite balanced in our profile as I look at it we are oneir of each broad category 33% of our children Our Youth and our young adults our next gen age 35 and below a similar percentage of 34% are our working adults age 36 to 60 and the remaining 33% of us are our senior members age 60 and above I would say that there is hope and why do I say that when I look at this profile I am very glad to see that we have two groups of 33 34% walking alongside coexisting the next gen and the adults with the 33% seniors but the point is this we need to partner one another Generations need each other our children's church carries this vision building up the Next Generation and Psalm 127 verse 3-5 says behold children are a Heritage from the Lord the fruit of the womb is a reward like Arrow in the hand of a warrior so are the children of one's youth happy is the man who has his quiver full of them if I may be allowed to paraphrase like arrows in the hand of a warrior so are the children of one's youth happy is the church who has her quiver full of them amen our youth are called the Pierce 24 gen our Psalm 24 generation that seeks the face of of the Lord and want to ascend the hill of the Lord with Clean Hands and a pure heart to be a generation that knows his Iden its identity its Mission and its purpose Our Generations need to be built up lest we become a church that will not have old men and women do you follow my thoughts friends it will be a very sad thing if we are a church with no old men and women it means our next Generation does not stay friends let us strengthen trust mutual respect honor and submission between Generations divisions in Generations can cause a lot of Brokenness and hurts in the body and we know that the one who wins at the end is is Satan he comes to Steal Our Generations to kill all trust and to destroy all relationships between us could God be stirring your heart with a Divine burden towards rebuilding this portion of the wall in this spiritual House of ssmc few weeks ago pastor preached the sermon The Best Is Yet To Come and to what the conclusion of his sermon I caught these lines that he said and he said we need to prepare and look towards the future 5 years 10 years many of us will not be here but the church God's Church continues it's never about leaders and we must never built Ministries around personalities and leaders and Pastor went on to say it is about the collective com community of God's people indeed let's see our individual race as part of the bigger race the race is a relay and generations need to walk together with each generation building on the previous and every generation building up the next gen it requires team effort just like Nehemiah and his team everyone listening and moving together you know but it's not a bed of roses the rebuilding work can be potentially messy about 19 years ago when I felt led to respond to the call of God to move from my vocation in the marketplace to the church I went to seek the advice of an experienced leader who was able to walk alongside me and help me sense the movement of God in my life at that time and one of the first questions that this leader asked me was this question are you willing for your life to get messy back then gangho a lot younger and more Fearless I must have said yes today I understand that question so much better what was lived experience for that leader was only theory in my mind at that time now I'm not suggesting that we all need to move into full-time Ministry not at all I am a proponent and a belief that there is no dichotomy between the sacred and the secular we all have our portions what I'm saying is that when we choose to partner with God and each other in the rebuilding work for the cause of his kingdom it can be messy there may be times when you may feel there is too much as it were quote unquote rubbish like in Nehemiah 4:1 which reads that the strength of the laborers is failing there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall but let's learn to respond like Nehemiah did in verse 14 remember the Lord great and awesome and fight for your brethren your sons your daughters your wives and your houses remember the Lord and I believe the Lord will remember us even as we persevere and continue to see value in every generation to sew into it and to seek to strengthen the trust and the relationship between the generations within the local church itself we also have what is often referred to as body Life Ministries this can be in the area of being part of Ministries that seek to serve and to strengthen the body of Christ some examples are our welcome team they comprise our traffic wardens our greeters our asers our home and Hospital visitation team you can also be part of the moderators of our on our online streaming platforms not forgetting our Hospitality team who tires tirelessly and Faithfully provides us coffee and tea for us to continue building relationships in the foury year every week and then there is also our audio and visual crew prayer and worship Ministry we have talked about children's church and youth there's also our young adults and our F and also serving within our discipleship groups and we also have our language congregations there is much partnering with God that can be done in these areas as well perhaps God has been stirring your heart to a portion of this wall in one of these body Life Ministries where you can strengthen invest in and rebuild there is a list outside in our four you can take a look at it and reach out to the respective people if you feel led to some of us may be called to this third area we may be called to the section of rebuilding lives through holistic and integral Mission Part participating in both the proclamation and the demonstration of the Gospel there are so many ways to do this and we don't have to go very far to participate and partner with God in it very close to home we started a learning center for our community children this year and the more I think about this Learning Center the more I see it not just as a center for the children to learn but it is actually a center which God is using to help us learn to learn Le obedience to learn how to be more like Jesus to learn how to love like him how to feel his heart and how to embrace the attitude and the mind of Christ many years ago I observed this person who was very faithful and very persevering in the work amongst the vulnerable and the underserve community and one day I had opportunity to ask him why do you do what you do and this person answered me with just one word obedience and that caused me when I heard the answer it caused me to reflect on the question of whether my Orthodoxy is in line with my auto Praxis in other words is what I believe in my mind align with how I livt out my life you know it's never a linear line but it is a cyclical process when we learn to obey God and live in that space where our Theory and our practice intersects in the light of our faith the rebuilding of lives by being involved in integral Mission even amongst the diaspora Community that's at our doorstep is a work that calls for many of the attributes that we can learn from Maya resilience steadfast conviction especially when you plow and you plow and you don't seem to see the fruit or when you are faced with resistance when the sanbalat the tobas and the gersam comes to disturb you the work requires perseverance it requires teamwork prayer waiting on God to download strategic intervention plans for his ministry I'm sure there are many challenges and some would describe the rebuilding work in this area as a mango tree Ministry and not a papaya tree Ministry I have learned that a papaya tree can bear fruit in just 7 to 11 months but a mango tree takes on average five to six years to bear fruit what I'm trying to say is that rebuilding in the portion of the wall of transformational behavior and attitudinal change takes a very long time but do we give in and give up in the midst of challenges no we don't there is no shortcut and no quick fixes and sometimes starting a project is a lot easier than completing it it calls for the perseverance and faithfulness like we learned in nemiah and indeed it is as per the book by Eugene Peterson which both Pastor and Jory referred to in their sermons are we training ourselves and haing on a long obedience in the same direction there is no shortcut in our discipleship journey of growing to be more like Jesus and in a chapter in this book Peterson writes about how he had a special fondness for this word which he called an inal word which his mother used on him and the word is what he call stick to itness all right stick to e tness okay and he said that in this chapter he said he later learned that the church had a fancier word for it called perseverance so friends may we be steadfast may we be immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that our labor in the Lord is not in vain it is so encouraging to see the initiatives by our msf we have a food fair today and all proceeds will be directed to the El Shai Learning Center and earlier this year our msf also uhu made initiative to support the efforts of CTI Community transformation initiative which is a social Enterprise that seeks to empower the poor and the needy in the area of their livelihood their health and their education and I see all this as portions of the wall that we are assigned to learning to live out our renewed Humanity by making a difference in the lives of the vulnerable some of us have just attended the diaspora crosscultural awareness workshop last month and perhaps God has laid something on your heart and is stirring you towards a particular area or people group as a church we have given of our financial resources we have interceded for 195 Nations and through it all perhaps God is laying a burden in your heart and in my heart to be engaged in a certain portion this is not an exhaustive list but lastly for today where can we rebuild for those of us in the marketplace in tertiary education colleges universities in schools that is where God has sent you to shine for him for you the response is send me to invest and to build into the lives of my colleagues my classmates and those that I cross path with some of us are called to strengthen our Witnesses in the the marketplace so wherever our conviction and station of life this season let us ask God to help us to be instruments of the Kingdom bringing Kingdom values into all of life we may be a teacher a banker a homemaker serving the marginalized or strengthening portions of the wall within the body Life Ministries of the church and also across Generations may God help us to remember that we are called to be that through renewed Humanity wherever he seeks us to re wherever he sends us to rebuild and so as we recap we have looked at three questions what is needed in the process and the work of rebuilding what is the purpose of our personal rebuilding where can we rebuild and for that I suggested four areas in the area of our Generations our body Life Ministries holistic or integral Mission as some call it both here and Beyond and in the marketplace and in the schools and colleges that the Lord is sending us to Pastor has shared the vision and the road to 2028 with us and the shift that we need to take towards this road map Warren whisby writes just like mam meire no no one person could have accomplished the work of rebuilding of repairing the walls and restoring the gate it took leadership on nehemiah's part and cooperation of the people each one had a place to fill and a job to do so it is with the church today we must work together if we are to finish the work to the glory of God God wants his church to be strong to be healthy to be United the question is will we participate and join hands to set our hearts and our hands to the work for the glory of God I will bring my message to a close very shortly as I Was preparing for this I was was reminded of a word that I thought was released to ssmc at a church Family Camp a few years ago I could only remember a few key words from it and I was just prompted to look it up so I looked through my archives looked through my files and I found the document some of you may remember that Reverend Elisha satwinder was our church family camp speaker in the year 2016 towards the end of Cam he prayed for our pastors Pastor swimming and pastor cmy at that time and he also prayed for us as a church but before he prayed during his sharing he said the following to us as a church and I'm going to read to you portions of it God is not asking you to build a large building but a large people not a denomination but a great people not built great things but a great people who will demonstrate the kingdom of God and as Pastor Elisha moved on in prayer these were some of the words that he released firstly to our pastors and then to us as a church and I read it you are not not building a great building in that sense not a great church but great people not a great church but great people the whole impression I had was that God says I raise you up as a nemiah I raise you up as a Nehemiah I raise you to connect you to resources and that you know how to bring resources in I will give you a blueprint to build I will bring in families a blue blint to connect people to build their portion of the wall to build their portion of the wall and that the restoration will take place and he goes on to say wow Church it is time to build ssmc time to build time to build Church it is time to build the altar of your church it's time to say come kingdom of God we submit Our Lives to you come have your way invade us oh God it's time time to build great people it's time to build fantastic families for the lord it's time to build and he says in this season as you press in through all the different distractions and touch the Helm of His Garment believe God for your healing believe God for transformation believe God for restoration believe God for breakthroughs believe God for a new day believe God for the walls to be built believe God for the kingdom to come and and for his will to be done in jesus' name amen wow friends this was in 2016 and I believe that this word still applies to us as a church today and as Pastor shared three weeks ago do we believe that the best is yet to come and that we worship a god of the so much more will we catch the vision and recognize that our individual race is part of the bigger race will we press in together and continue to put our hands to the plow and continue to partner with God and with one another for the cause of the Kingdom we can't but God can will we put our hands in his hands and with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit partner with him it is not about us doing if you think about it God is already at work in every sphere that we walk into his grace is already at work there it is just us partnering with what he is already doing God is with us just as Nehemiah said more than once in the book it was according to the hand of my God which had been good upon me Hallelujah may I have the worship team just come on stage and prepare to lead us and as the team comes up let me share with us what this Christian Author Christopher Wright says in his book the mission of God's people he says this it is not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world as that God has a church for his mission in the world mission was not made for the church the church was made for Mission God's Mission it is not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world as that God has a church for his mission in the world mission was not made for the church the church was made for Mission God's Mission NE chap 2 verse 17-18 reads then I say to them you see the distress that we are in how Jerusalem lies waste and its gates are burned with fire come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer be a reproach and as I and I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me so they said let us rise up and build then they set their hands to this good work so they said let us rise up and build then they set their hands to this good work Church come and let us build as we remember the hand of our God which had been good which has been good upon us his faithfulness his love his Mercy for 49 years and continuing on let us say we will rise up and build and we will set our hands to this good work amen you know we want to respond to God with a song but before that let me just pray and can I invite us to rise literally let us rise as we respond to God as rise to our feet and um we will respond with a song after a prayer hallelujah thank you Jesus thank you Jesus hallelujah thank you Lord thank you Jesus that we worship a god of the so much more we press in with praise and with faith this morning knowing that our Sovereign God Reigns and we ask oh Lord that you ignite the flame flame in our hearts God that we will not just burn a flickering flame but Lord we will have hearts that burn bright for you Jesus oh Father cause us to be partakers of your work for the upbuilding of your cause and the extending of your kingdom father of creation we call on you this morning and we ask oh Lord that you continue to unfold your Sovereign plan upon us as a church that you will raise up every generation AC Ross this room that you will release your anointing upon us as a church that the world will see the full release of your promise even as your church stands in unity and in Victory make us strong oh Lord in your might and in the power of your Holy Spirit overcome our weaknesses because we have so many overcome our Witnesses oh Lord that we can rise up and be strengthened and to today we want to set our hands to the work of your kingdom For Your Glory thank you Jesus we respond to the Lord with this song let the flame burn brighter let it be both your personal response as well as a corporate response whatever is in your heart just bring it to the Lord as we respond as a body of Christ this morning hallelujah thank you Jesus amen with hearts on fire and every step will be a friend hope is rising new day daing sound of singing the air 2,000 years and still the flame it's burning bright across the land hearts are waiting longing aing for awakening once again Brier in a Heart of Darkness turning night to Glorious Day let the song grow louder as the love grow stronger Let It Shine The Walk For Truth speak out for love in Jesus name we shall be strong to lift the Fallen to save the children to fild the nation with your s and by you know church can I just ask we just join hands acoss even as we sing verse four and side by side though many streams we will flow as one would you do that as a symbol of coming together as a church this morning four and side by side come let's just join our hands together many Street will flow as one to Christ compassion the nation all creation see him come let the FL but brighter in the Heart of Darkness turning up to Glorious Day let the song grow louder as our love grow stronger Let It [Music] Shine the king of kings and Lord of God Faithful true so let our answer Jesus [Applause] [Music] Master the king of kings and Lord of Lord faithful and true so let our answer we sound like th Jesus Master let the flame but brigher in the Heart of Darkness St night to glor let the song grow louder let the love grow stronger let it [Applause] [Music] sh in a Heart of Darkness turning to glor letou Stronger let it sh let it sh sh Hallelujah let's give the Lord and cl off praise huj hallelujah thank you Lord Jesus hallelujah hallelujah [Music] let's just remain in quietness I know this morning the message is very inspiring you know all of us like uh you know flaming stirring I think one of the things that we need to do in your own ways you respond to the Lord can I just say that you know maybe for some of us we feel that the time is over for us you know we are retired we are old can I just say that you still have a place in God's economy that there is still work to be done that God has still assigned a portion of the worldall that all of us needs to rebuild can we just in quietness go to the Lord people this morning God has spoken you respond to him ask him to give you that resilience that resolve in your heart hearing a message is easy to do it is a different thing allog together but we need to ask the Lord give us that resolve both to Will and to do according to his good purpose because of his that he is already at work in each one of us Lord we I want to just thank you this morning for speaking to us for inspiring us for challenging us for helping us to focus on what matters Lord you have reminded us that we are to be a to be a church a great church not about the building not about the programs but at the church as in the Ecclesia the call out people of God that we are to be a great people for you and we want to just bring all of us this morning even as you have spoken to each one of us in whatever station of Life wherever we are in our own Journey Lord for you it is good enough to begin with what we have and from where we are take us on this journey I pray Lord I ask for that resolve I ask for that commitment and I ask for that desire in each of our hearts to want to obey you and in so doing we also recognize that there will be challenges that there needs to be a change Lord a metanoia a change even in our thinking that will result in a change in our hearts and also a change in the very Direction and and focus of Our Lives towards you and we thank you Lord for your compassion and your grace towards us thank you that you are gentle you are gracious you are kind towards us and help us Lord to respond we want to just give thanks in Jesus name amen please be seated thank you Pastor thank you Su for the word this morning and just remind ourselves that when we talk about rebuilding it is a journey is a process and I think that as you have been reminded many times over the last few weeks take time for us to reflect take time for us to wait upon the Lord as to what areas in our life that God wants to be rebuilt once again good morning to all of you welcome to ssmc um we will like to now come to this point of our service whereby we want to honor the Lord with our gifts and offering can I invite the ashers to come forward let us commit um what we're going to give to the Lord uh to Him Father we thank you once again for you are our God who blesses us with not only with spiritual things but also material things Lord we thank you for your generosity we thank you Lord for being our ABA father who always takes care of us Lord even as we come before you to offer back to you Lord in the form of uh gifts and offering in monetary form Lord continue to bless um the money that will be given so that Lord for the leaders that will use it truly with wisdom for the extension and also Lord expansion of your kingdom for all this we pray in Jesus most precious name amen if you notice there different forms are giv apart from cash you can either do online also through uh Evola TNG we want to also take this opportunity to welcome those who are new who are visitors to our church this morning um I believe we have some names can I when I mention him can you please stand up can I invite uh Wing soon and poing uh to stand up uh where are you welcome wingson and uh polling I know they're new here and we thank God that different ones have been able to connect them even I believe through football um Jin Dugo Renee okay hi Jan kumaka she's from the Philippines um reach out to her she came I believe with her daughter this morning um looking for a home Church to belong to are there any other visitors who have not uh written their names we welcome you as well to to stand um if there are none is okay if you are still new to church uh Define new yourself because if you're new you can have coffee the old also can have coffee um everyone can have coffee okay this our chew pie we have our weekly corporate prayer meetings uh the details are there the different uh aspects of Prayer of the church and just to inform you our next month's incense arise is on the 6th of July which is the first Saturday 7:30 to 9 uh details are before you as mentioned by sui I think um I need not elaborate further but don't rush there are plenty of um food to be sold uh we thank God for the msf for taking this initiative to actually bless um the work the people that needs to work and also the ministry of uh ELC like what was mentioned we all know that um El Shai Learning Center is an initiative of Education to the undocumented children and it's actually a very good opportunity for us to indeed bless people who don't have that opportunity so um all proceeds will be given uh to the ministry of Al Shai so do not uh feel free to buy what you can and try to finish up everything and in particular I'm reminded there's also a Pakistani family that have prepared Pakistan food for us I've asked the person what food it is I'm not sure what it is okay but this family has been part of us for a while already so also um encourage the family because for the uh food given by this uh provided for this by this Pakistani family the proceeds will go towards uh their own uh uh life as well which they need so uh later on not now uh go out there and buy your food before you leave for your lunch or you can skip lunch and have that food for your lunch um there is this trading Workshop that will be conducted over three consecutive Saturdays by Philip and sukim and titled culture and you it is held over three Saturday afternoons and the um is a training Workshop to encourage and teachers what we call what they call cultural intelligence how to be able to develop cultural intelligence to do uh to be a reach out to people who are cross culturally from us whether from a perspective of ethnicity religion nationality or even through language so I believe that it will be very helpful for those of you interested please sign up through this uh the details of the tiny URL uh put up in church uh website youth camps today is the final day for you to sign up uh it is called other IC question mark whether you have an identity in Christ to learn a bit more so we want to encourage uh those who still have not signed up um or those you know or friends or childrens or friends who want to sign up please do so ASAP by today I believe Pastor Ben rajendram from World Harvest Church uh Sunway is the speaker of uh this uh Youth Camp so details are up there for you to read up we also have the ssmc silent retreat um it's a retreat basically to encourage us to learn a bit more and cultivate the spiritual discipline of Silence the posture of being silent before the Lord again details are up there uh it's a 4 day three night uh Retreat if you need more details contact May her phone number and her details are up there as well being with Jesus volume three is already out um hard copies are available for sale those who did hard copies uh the cost uh per copy is 5 RG for those of you who would like to download your soft copy it's already available on our church website and I believe um in the coming week um some of you the leaders and also members will be sent the E copy as well so take time to read and continue to um use it also for those of you using it for your own personal uh reading material on a daily basis uh before doxology we want to pray for uh team that will be leaving for um a mission trip I believe next Friday and Saturday can I invite the team members led by singi they are going to be ministering uh we give them a bit more time because they have certain age they think a bit slower to walk forward we can come forward um this team is ministering to leaders of different Methodist churches uh or asle churches right and it is a inter Church effort um comprising of a few from ssmc from from DMC and CMC as well so we want to pray for them because an inter Church effort and they will go there to minister and train the leaders of different 10 churches can I invite uh shishu to pray and leaders to pray for them so this is the second I will say mission trip by this team to kampon clun um they are reaching out as what Jory has said to the leaders of the oran asle Church yeah and there will be many more to come and we just pray that when they come back they are able to motivate many more to follow them in the next coming trip yeah let us stretch our hand and pray for our brother and sisters Lord we Just Want to Thank You Lord truly is such a privilege that we able to participate in your mission and we'll be reminded again Lord this morning that to grow in Christ we need to grow in participating in the mission that you given to us so standing be in front of us Lord we just want to meet our brother and sisters we thank you Lord for their commitment we thank you Lord for their sacrifice we also thank you Lord that you are using them over the next weekend to reach out to our oras brother and sisters go with them oh Lord also teach them oh Lord to be humble teach them oh Lord to be obedient and they will lay down everything all the cares and the worries into your Mighty hand we also want to pray for the participants who will be coming may they come Lord to have a fresh Encounter With Jesus you know through the teachings through the sharings and through all the sessions that they're going to go through again we just want to thank you Lord for this opportunity bless us Lord bless this team and also bless the participants in Jesus mighty name we pray it amen thank you Shu shall We All Rise as we close with the doxology praise God from whom all blessings go praise him all [Music] prees Bel love [Music] in Heavenly Host praise Son and Holy [Music] [Music] Ghost Lord even as we your people have come this morning to be ministered and to bless you even through this time of worship may you Lord even send us to be that blessing to our homes to our families and even Lord to our Marketplace May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father And The Fellowship of the holy spirit with be with us all in Jesus name we pray amen amen God bless you see you next Sunday and uh continue to linger on to C the msf in the food fair [Music] [Applause] [Music]