In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the story of Nehemiah in the Bible, specifically Nehemiah 4:12-18. The Jews living near Nehemiah warned him multiple times that their enemies would attack them. In response, Nehemiah strategically positioned his people with weapons to defend themselves. The preacher emphasizes that opposition to God's work is constant and deliberate, and that God does not overlook sin. He also highlights how God used Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, illustrating how God establishes his church to be victorious against the gates of hell.

Our theme this morning, The Sword and the Trowel. I shall begin reading with the twelfth verse, and conclude with the eighteenth verse, in order to give background for the text. Nehemiah 4, 12 to 18. And it came to pass that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, from all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you. Therefore said I in the lower places behind the wall and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, be not ye afraid of them. Remember the Lord which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. And it came to pass when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall, everyone unto his work. And it came to pass from that time forth that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, the bows, the abergines, and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They which builded on the wall, and they that bear burdens with those that laid it, everyone with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, everyone had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. Last week we saw that the work of securing witness for God, whether it be the walls of Jerusalem destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, or the walls of any church testimony or any Christian life eroded by the passing of time, always is hindered by rubbish. It is therefore important that we should recognize that rubbish, with all that we saw it to be, is not the only problem that is confronted by that heart or that company of people that would seek to have glory come to the Lord. There were enemies, those that were absolutely committed to the extinction of that which God sought from this little piece of real estate there east of the Mediterranean called Jerusalem. A little inconsequential insignificant city that had no great value in and of itself, but the fact that God loved it. And God purposed to have there something holy for himself, made out of nothing, but nevertheless made according to his plan and something because of what he had done to it. And so God, for strange reasons, loved this place called Jerusalem, the city of his dwelling, the place of his abiding, and he wanted to have a testimony there. He had, because of the sin of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, destroyed it through the one whom he called, my servant, Nebuchadnezzar, testifying that God is too holy to make peace with sin, even when that sin is associated with something extremely dear to himself. We have a tendency to protect ourselves, to protect our families, protect those that are related to us by blood, protect our church. We have a tendency to overlook sin, but God is too holy to overlook it. And when his beloved Jerusalem sinned, God sent his servant, a pagan idolater, to come and to make rubble out of the walls and to destroy the city until there wasn't stone left upon stone. But that didn't change his love. That didn't change his purpose. All it did was to postpone it, and he waited until he could get a people whose hearts were right toward him. Now he has somehow touched this man, Nehemiah, and he's come back to bring a testimony in the same place. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ has done with his church. He has said that his church should not be defeated, and he has sovereignly established the pattern. He didn't say that churches wouldn't, but he said that his church would be victor. The gates of hell should not prevail against it. A trip through the Middle East is most illuminating because it allows you, if you go as we did, down into the heart of Africa through Egypt, to discover that in the 7th, the 6th, the 7th, and the 8th centuries, Christianity had not only gone entirely along the northern part of Africa and the southern shore of the Mediterranean, but it had penetrated as far as 200 miles south of Khartoum, or roughly 1600 miles south of Alexandria, Egypt. Way down in the heart of Africa were churches. But Christianity lost its saving power. It became salt, and our Lord said that the salt losing its saving power is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under feet of men. Now, I say that for this reason. There is no amount of effort on the part of rebellious people to thwart the judgment of God. You will notice from the portion that I have read that Nehemiah instructed his servants, or those that served with him, to hold the spear in one hand and the trowel in the other. But Jeremiah had instructed his generation to throw down the spear that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed, and there wasn't a thing they could do about it. No amount of organization or effort or prayer of using a scriptural truth is going to prevail unless one is right with God, because it isn't the truth, it isn't the scripture, it isn't the principle, it's obedience and the blessing of God. And so we found that those churches that were all across North Africa, from Gibraltar to the Suez and from Egypt, clear into the heart of the Sudan, were destroyed. The Mohammedan hordes that came across destroyed the churches and killed the people. The only ones that survived in this holocaust were those that made some kind of settlement and adjustment with the invaders. The Coptic Church of Egypt has survived and is Christian today. And incidentally, Dr. Salama, who is with us frequently, has been part of that group and testifies, and I know from many others, that a real revival is going on in that branch of the Coptic Church in Egypt. And we're acquainted with the fact that Ethiopia also has part of that ancient church that survived the Holocaust of Islam that struck clear across North Africa. And may I say this without appearing to be too self-critical, I believe that Justice Nebuchadnezzar was God's servant to discipline Jerusalem for her sin, that Islam was God's servant to discipline Christianity for its powerlessness, its weakness, its impurity, and that there was no amount of use of truth, even the truth we're talking about today, that would have stood it. It required repentance, it required confession, it required obedience, it required turning to the Lord, and then no army can stand against the Lord. And so let's understand, then, that God is too holy to look upon sin, and no truth is ever to be thought of as that which is going to protect us from just judgment. There's only one way to deal with sin. That's to hate it, to forsake it, to confess it, to break with it, and all who participate in it. And unless we do that, we can expect that inevitably history will repeat itself as long as people think that they can somehow use the fact that they have the name of God as an excuse for continuing in that which God hates. It will not work. There was the history of the walls turned to rubble, through which Nehemiah plowed in the effort to get something that would be a testimony, for we've seen the walls as obedience, we've seen the walls as faith, we've seen the walls as the protection God provides those that walk after his counsel, we've seen the walls as being the security that he gives to those that walk in the light as he is in the light, we've seen them as the angel encamping about them that fear him, we've seen the walls as the witness that God wants from his church today. Now remember, that in addition to that rubble and rubbish and sin from which we came and which we brought with us when we came into the church, we saw last Lord's Day, there were those who hated the testimony of Jerusalem, whose names have been given. Now I will immediately move from that and say I consider that Sanbalat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian are types of that of which we read in Ephesians 6, we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, the rulers of darkness and wicked spirits and high places, that Sanbalat and Tobiah and these, this host of people, represent another alien government to Christ that was so, and I shall so treat all that we see by stating this to have you follow with me the more clearly. Now let's look for just a moment at what the scripture has to say concerning these who opposed the building of the wall. Remember their opposition wasn't sporadic, it was constant. Remember it wasn't just an impulse but it was a pre-set course that they were determined to follow. In the second chapter and the tenth verse we find the first reference. Nehemiah has come to the governors beyond the river, given them the king's letters. When Sanbalat the Horonite and Tobiah the slave, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. They didn't want Israel to prosper. They didn't want the walls built. They didn't want God's glory there. They had made adjustment. They had made conniving agreement and secured profit from Israel and Jerusalem in shambles. And they didn't want anyone to seek. What was that profit? Well, profit can be in many respects. Profit is something that one gains for himself. Many times it's money, but money has no value except in the things that it will buy or the position that it affords or the pleasure that it gives. Profit has to do with that which one gets that he thinks is going to benefit him. It can be from the standpoint of status. It can be from your position. It can be from the lust of the eye's things. It can be from the lust of the flesh experience. But whatever it was, Sanbalat and Tobiah and Geshem and the others with them were opposed to the walls being built because they'd lose something. They didn't want it to happen. They were satisfied with the status quo. Now I submit to you that this is exactly the attitude of Satan. He doesn't want revival. He doesn't want the church purified. He doesn't want the glory of God. He is absolutely pleased with the status quo, if that is anything less than God's will and way. He is totally opposed to everything that will make the people of God blessable. And so he has been subtle. He found in the first century that he couldn't destroy the church by persecution, that is, by causing some to die that others might fear. Now he's more successful, for instance, in North Korea. We are told that over 400,000 of the Swedish Christians that have walked on the face of the earth have been assassinated for no other crime than their love for Christ. Not during the last 12 years. He hasn't persecuted some to cause others to fear. He's exterminated. And by this means he has done really nothing more than to simply send home a whole crop of Christians that are prepared to be built into that invisible body that he's building there that's going to come down from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. This is one thing that makes me feel that the coming of our Lord is near, that he is reaping so many that have loved him and trusted him and loved not their souls even unto death. But Satan is always opposed, totally and uncompromisingly opposed to the welfare of the people of God. When he found that he couldn't succeed by opposition and persecution, then he invaded. He drew in his philosophies as we saw last week. He drew in all of these heathen ideas. He brought them in, carefully smuggled them in, and they were built in as though they were part of our faith. And today, in most of Christian life, we can't tell the difference between what's biblical and what's heretical. It's just been made orthodox by the passing of the centuries. And we're so much more ready to submit to tradition than we are to the scripture. If we were to take ruthlessly as we perhaps ought to, and by God's grace may, before he returns the word of God and tests everything by the word of God, it's precious little we have that would survive. But it's been the subtle strategy of Satan to try to infiltrate and bring and carry and put in. And so he was utterly opposed. Now he hasn't changed at all. We still wrestle not with flesh and blood principalities and powers. And then in this 19th verse of the second chapter, we find another aspect of this opposition. But when Sanbalat the Horonite and Tobiah the slave, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian heard it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us. If I had the time, I could ask the university students that are here to come to the platform, and they would testify, I believe almost without exception, that somewhere in their university career, in their state schools, they have been laughed to scorn. That if they haven't been done outwardly, it's certainly been made abundantly clear by the insinuations of student and professor, that anyone that would believe in the faith once delivered to the saints and the simplicity of the gospel is intellectually so passe and behind the times that they're to be pitied rather than to be really fought. Laughed to scorn. And I would further suggest to you that when people start talking in sincerity about the great need of the church, they're laughed to scorn. I've been appalled as I've heard some of our own pastors and students, when they've read editorials of Dr. Tozer's in the Alliance Witness, whom I consider his eyes to the church and this hour of her blindness, have said, oh, well, that's just Dr. Tozer. I found in my own case, he's an old tradition and I'm a young tradition, and occasionally people will say, oh, you've just been with Reedhead too long, or that's just him. He's just a young tradition, he's an old tradition, but dear heart, I submit to you, I submit to you that it is still possible for the deepest work of the spirit of God to be killed by this subtle attempt. Nothing but a raised lip or a sneer or a smile. If all the good that was going to have been done by God for humanity through the church that has been killed by a sneer, by a scornful laugh, had been done, the world would have been blessed as we've never seen it. This is Satan's effort just to laugh. Tilted lip, pulled sneer, and it can grieve the spirit of God. He wasn't playing. Satan knew that people are sensitive and they don't like to be laughed at, and so this was one of the successful stratagems, and this is something that Satan has been using down across the centuries to stop the work of God. If you can just give it a name, know how easy it is to give things a name. Give it a name, or if you can just laugh at it, you can kill it. And Satan has seen this, and so here he laughed, he mocked. Then in the 20th verse of the second chapter, Then I answered them, and they said, will ye, excuse me, the latter part of the 19th verse, What is this thing that ye do? Will ye rebel against the king? Now they're lying. Now look what they've done. First their hearts are filled with antagonism. Then they laughed and despised, and now they've lied. They've built up a case out of lies. They haven't faced the truth, taken something and distorted it. Here they're saying, Nehemiah has come to build up this wall in order that Nehemiah can become the governor, in order that Nehemiah can declare war against the Persians and those that have prospered him, and that he can destroy us, that they're going to rebel against the king. Nehemiah had no thought of rebelling against the king. Nehemiah's only desire was that God should get glory by a rebuilt city, that his testimony should be there. They didn't want it, and so the weapon that they used was lies. This is what they did to the Lord Jesus, the same ones. You'll recall that when our Lord was there, the issue was this. He said that no one could go to heaven unless they'd had a miracle performed upon them by God, and they said it was enough to be doctrinally correct, to be baptized, to be in the synagogue, to tithe, to fast, to pray, that they didn't have to have a miracle. And our Lord said, No, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And this meant that what they had was a house of cards, that they were blind leaders of the blind, that everything they'd done was going to crumble when God's wind blew upon it. He said, We won't have this. They didn't come out and face the issue. You know what they did? Oh, they said he's a winebibber and a glutton. He said, He's a fool. He said he could take that temple down and build it in three days. You can't pay any attention to a man like that. Do you see? They lied. They crucified our Lord of our lives. This is always Satan's effort. Whenever Satan can do anything to hinder the building of the walls and the getting of a testimony, he's going to use scorn and deceit and despise, and then he's going to use lies. These are his instrumentalities, and he always does it through people. And then we come to the fourth chapter in the first verse that I did not read. It came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we'd built the wall, he was wroth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews and organized to destroy. If he couldn't destroy it, if he couldn't destroy it by scorn and he couldn't destroy it by causing the people to be despised and by lies, he was going to destroy it. And so he organized the people to come, and it was at this time that they became frightened of the rubbish because the people heard ten times, said Nehemiah, accusation was brought against Sanballat and Tobit. Ten times. He didn't wait. He didn't go on the first opportunity. He waited until ten times they'd come to him. He took great indignation. He mocked the Jews. He spoke before his brethren. He organized his armies and listened to it. What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they build this wall in one day so they can sacrifice the next? What are they going to do, try to make themselves a nation? But if you'll look at the seventh and the eighth verse of this fourth chapter, you'll discover the end of it all. And it came to pass that when Sanballat and Tobit and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, very wroth. Before they were wroth, now they were very wroth and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it. Now, what did Nehemiah do? Nevertheless, we made our prayer unto our God and set a watch against them day and night because of them. And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed. There's so much rubbish so that we're not able to build the wall. And our adversary said, They shall not know, neither see. We're going to sneak up through the rubbish till we come in the midst among them and slay them and cause the work to cease. There it is, opposition every step of the way. Every step of the way, the testimony is opposed, hated. Who's doing the hating? Is it people? Oh, yes. You can't forget that it's people. But it's people that the enemy uses. And so you've got to make your choice. If you fight with people, then you have tied the hands of God. For vengeance is mine. I will requite and visit and revenge, saith the Lord. So the moment that you fight with people, you've taken a sword in your hand, and there's no opposition. Now it's he that takes the sword shall perish with the sword. And this is where most of the work is done, person to person. Get rid of this person and everything will be all right. But you see, they failed to see Sanballat and Tobiah. It isn't the person. Get rid of the person in Sanballat and Tobiah will get someone else. Satan will get someone else. It isn't the person. That's what we're reading here in Ephesians 6. For we wrestle not against people, flesh and blood, but against principalities, Satan, against powers, the princes of darkness, the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Now it's people that Satan uses. Every time he would hinder anything, he uses people. There's no question about that. He himself is seldom seen, seldom comes. But he's able to find people that will, for some reason, do his bidding. Always, whenever he succeeds in leading anyone into sin, it's through the gait of the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life. Most of it is through the latter, the pride of life, through position. So opposition to all of God's work, all of God's work, through the centuries, has its origin in the prince of darkness in Satan himself. He is doing everything he can. You let a testimony be established, and there will be unquestionably, that if it's of the Lord, it will be fought. I'm interested in learning that the Catholic Church, when they would canonize someone, has what they call the devil's advocate. Some of you may have been aware of that. The purpose is to go and find out, as strong a case as possible, why someone that is to be canonized is not saintly enough to be listed among the roster of the saints. And one of the sure evidences that a person is not a saint is the fact that he never had any opposition. For anyone that had a heart set to please God has been opposed, has been hated, has been fought down to the ground. And if they find someone who otherwise would have passed for canonization, and the person has never been opposed, that person has no possibility of being canonized. Because anyone that would serve God will be fought. Now this was true. Our Lord Jesus said it of you. If you don't believe it, it's only because one thing. They that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Didn't say might, he said shall. Why? Because the prince of this world, the rulers of the darkness of this age, are utterly, totally, perpetually opposed to anything that has an eye singled to the glory of Christ and would be only for his praise. So it's to be understood. Dr. Simpson was fought every day of his life from the time he made that decision to leave the 12th, 13th Street Presbyterian Church. In fact, 30 years after he left, on the street, some of the men that were in the presbytery when he announced his resignation passed him on the street and refused to speak because they held him in such high contempt for having left their fellowship. Fought to the very ground all through the years of his ministry. There'd be any one thing that would prove to my heart that he was a man of God, it was the fact that he was fought within the society and within the church and outside and everywhere he went. The man was fought because he had an eye singled to the glory of God and the only thought he had was to praise him and to serve him. Now, I am convinced, dear heart, that when you go to live wholly for Christ in your home, in your church, in your business, in school, that you needn't be surprised when the enemy begins to tilt his lip and scorn, begins to despise you and begins to lie about you and to organize, and the nearer you come to being useful to God, the more intense is going to be the opposition. And when a church comes to the place where God is beginning to get something for itself, be sure of this, the enemy is going to find Sambalets and Tobias and Geshems and the Ammonites and all the rest, and they're going to do everything they possibly can to stop it. See, it hasn't changed. What happened here is just a pattern, a picture of what's gone on across the centuries and will go on, if the book of Revelation is God's word, and I believe it is, until the day he says it's enough and it's over. It's not going to change, not going to get any better. We're not looking for a utopia. To the contrary, the plagues became more intense, the persecution became more intense, and actually, studying carefully the book of Revelation, you will discover that the end came when there was hardly anyone left. That's why the Lord Jesus said, will there be faith on the earth? Well, there will be a lot of faith in heaven because the faithful will have endured unto death and have been put into that body, but there won't be much on earth. Satan's going to find them and do everything he can to slaughter them. It's not a very bright picture we paint. If you want to get someone that's going to have everything getting better, you don't want to come around here because if I understand the word of God, it says it's going to get worse. And the nearer you get to Jesus Christ and the closer you come to being useful to him, the more intense is going to be the opposition. There's no question about it. Obviously, if they had wanted, you see, if they had really wanted, if they were sincere, all they would have needed to have done would have been to have come to Nehemiah and presented their problems, things could have been worked out. The fact is that they gave evidence of their insincerity by their utter refusal to ever come to Nehemiah and face the issue. They were seeking, they were grieved because an effort was being made to bring blessing back to Jerusalem. Now, what are you going to do? He said, take your sword in one hand, your trowel in the other. What is the spiritual application of this? Take the sword of your indignation and your wrath and go out and push everyone through that you meet? No, of course not, because the moment that you do that, that you're in the same place. The moment you see, my friend, the moment that you defend yourself, you've used up everything worthwhile in the defense, and so if you succeed, you fail. Because if you are what you thought you were, and that means worthy of being defended, then you didn't need to defend yourself because the Lord was quite capable of doing it. And the fact that you do defend yourself is the proof that you aren't sure that you are what you are trying to purport yourself to be. So when you come to the place that you are actually at rest in the Lord and are completely prepared to allow your case to rest in his hands, there's no need. So it wasn't that. That wasn't it at all. I don't believe that's what we learned from Nehemiah. Spear people through and defend yourself. For Nehemiah wasn't trying to defend his reputation. The only thing Nehemiah wanted was the walls to be built. Do you see? That's all he was interested in. He wasn't interested in vindicating himself or proving to the people that the calumnies that Sanbalat raised against him weren't true. He didn't care about that. The only thing he wanted was the walls to go up for God to get a testimony. And so he said, you take the sword in the right hand and the trowel in the left and you will build and you fight. What is this? Well, here it is. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand. Having done all to stand. What does that word stand mean? Just sort of wait? Oh no, oh no. That isn't what it means. The word is antihistamine. Have you ever heard it? Oh yes you have. It means to come against something that's moving toward you to cause it to stop. And that's what the word. Put on the whole armor of God so that you can antihistamine. Come against so as to cause to stop. What does it mean? This is what it means. You put on the helmet of salvation. The breastplate of righteousness. Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The shield of faith. Your loins gird about with truth. The sword of the spirit. Whereby you'll be able to quench all of the fire and the shield of faith. Whereby you'll be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And then to stand. What does he say? That your preparation for warfare is an understanding of your relationship with Christ. You see, it's like this. He was crucified for you, but he was also crucified as you. That means that there were two people on the cross, Christ and you. He died for you, but he died as you. You were crucified with him. You were buried with him. You were quickened with him. You were raised with him. You were seated with him in the heavenlies. You seated with him. What does this mean? His victory is your victory. He led captivity captive. And you were there when he did. So what does it mean to take the sword? It doesn't mean to take the sword of acrimony and self-defense. That isn't what it means. It means to prepare yourself to stand. How do you do that? The helmet of salvation, the blood of Christ covering your mind. Breastplate of righteousness, total obedience to the known will of God. Loins girt about with truth, completely equipped by understanding of his word. Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Repentance toward God. Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The shield of faith. The sword of the spirit. Your relationship with Christ prepares you. And when you understand that, then you realize that it's not only to witness. It's not only to teach. It's not only to work. But it's also to be panoplied with the whole armor of God. And to realize that there is our opposing forces, the princes of darkness, the powers of hell. And that when God can get a church of people that understand that it's in the little book by J.A. MacMillan, the authority of the believer, and who love God with all their hearts and are filled with the fullness of God. When he can do that, I say to you, God can in any century get the testimony he's been waiting for. But the walls aren't going to be built until he has a people that have understood that their opposition, the enmity and the pressure isn't from people, but it's from principalities and powers. That's why for five years I've been pressing this little book on you. Because until we understand that, we do not know what it is. We can work with the trowel night and day. But until we work with the sword and the trowel, our efforts will come to naught. And so here, it wasn't just rubbish, personal attitudes, sin that had to be dealt with. But it was an understanding of our responsibility as laborers together with God. If he is to get the glory, that is his due. And so today, as we're in the middle of the 20th century, as we're facing the last days of time, when we have the cloud of opposition falling, hanging over our head and the sword of judgment by the horsehair of God's lessening patience, I plead with you to join me in recognizing that our enemy is the ancient enemy of Jesus Christ, Satan and the hosts of darkness, who finds people. But let's press our battle not against people, but against the source of the power of opposition and see a testimony established because we've had some who've come to understand the use of the sword and the trowel. The trowel speaks of building. The trowel speaks of witnessing. The trowel speaks of service. But the sword speaks of our understanding the whole armor of God and the authority of the body of Christ. And we'll never see a testimony that God wants until sword and trowel are wielded together. Shall we bow our hearts in prayer? Our father, we thank thee that at thy right hand this morning is the risen, glorified son. We thank thee that he led captivity captive and he gave gifts unto men. Thou hast exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. We join John, who saw him in the midst of the candlesticks, saw his head white as wool, white as snow, saw his eyes as a flame of fire, saw his face shining as the sun for brightness, saw the glory thou hast given him, whom thou hast exalted, and he fell at his feet as dead. Oh, father, we will not be under the circumstances when we serve a risen Lord. We absolutely refuse to be intimidated by the fact that our day and generation is content to make peace. We believe that here on this corner thou hast through the decades past long to get a witness and a testimony that would be to the praise of the glory of thy grace. We know this is Pergamos. We know this is where Satan's seat is, but we know that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. And so, father, we come as a people together to kneel at the nail-pierced feet of the exalted son and with the Apostle Thomas to cry out, my Lord and my God, and to admit our helplessness and impotence and weakness, and declare again that the things we count gain to us we count loss to Christ, but throw ourselves upon thee and say, oh God, fight for us. Do thou bring again, Lord, victory. Grant that the Lord Jesus shall receive the glory and the honor of the praise that is his due. And so, father, we see that behind all is this one that has been ever the ancient adversary and constant foe. For we are told by thee we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this age. Oh, we plead the precious blood of Christ over us. We plead, our father, that those that have heard this morning shall not be as those who've seen their face in a mirror and straightway forget what they've seen, but come to thee in brokenness, ask thee to save us from all the rubbish that clings and stains, and then to teach us how to stand in the gap and fill up the hedge using both the sword and the trowel. To that end, Lord, bless our time. Prepare us now as we come to the table. Oh, what a sensitive moment when we come to the table of the Lord. Make it a precious time. And somehow may he be able to appear now in the midst of the candlestick because hearts have bowed low before him. In his name and for his sake we ask it. Amen.