When you read the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, you would think that the removal of the rubble

in Jerusalem would be something everyone would celebrate. Instead, as God's people rebuilt

Jerusalem's walls, they found themselves ridiculed. We'll find out why today on Truth for Life

and we'll learn from Nehemiah's response. Alistair Begg is teaching from Nehemiah chapters 3 and 4.

So what you have in chapter 3, if we could summarize it, is a classic illustration of the principle of interdependence.

Not living in independence, but living in interdependence, connected with one another, dependent upon one another.

Let me summarize it in these statements. Interdependence involves every individual taking responsibility for something.

Second, the interdependence means setting aside personal disagreements. And the third thing skating across the top

is that interdependence means keeping the overall purpose in view. Every one of these We Groups had an objective and that was to meet the next group.

Problem, if one We Group gets so focused in its little project that it forgets what it's actually endeavoring to do,

that it diminishes the totality of what's going on. The principle is obvious.

If I get so consumed with preaching the Bible that I lose sense of what my part is in the overarching purpose of parts I church,

I'm going to be a jolly nuisance. And if you get into some project in this church that consumes you the kind of I mean mind deal,

you can see beyond your deck and your orange juice, then loved ones check and see whether you haven't lost sight of the overarching purpose of the church.

The church ultimately does not exist to rearrange the furniture so that all who are inside it feel comfy.

It exists so that people who are outside of it may be brought inside of it.

The church exists not for itself and exists for other people who don't know Jesus. That's why we exist.

So you see when you get in your small group as yourself the question, am I in sync or am I building a deck?

We don't exist for ourselves. We don't exist to draw attention to ourselves. We don't exist to become notorious.

We don't exist to become well spoken of. If someone walked in here and asked the question, and what is Parkside Church doing?

There's only one legitimate answer. Namely, we are helping by the power of the Spirit to do the work of our head and Lord Jesus Christ who determined he would build the church.

That's what we're doing. And that's all we're doing. And that's the only thing we have a mandate to do.

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