You are listening to the Passion City Church, D.C. podcast.

To learn more about Passion City Church, including our gathering times in Atlanta and Washington,

D.C. visit us online at Passion city church.com.

Today's talk comes from pastor Ben Stewart.

Well, we've been in the series on the book of Nehemiah called Rise Up.

And a good question is, why are we doing this?

Well, if you remember the book of Nehemiah is about a group of people who've been

knocked down, discouraged, and dismayed.

And yet they were called forth to stand up and be a part of a great movement of God.

And as I think about this moment we're in as a culture,

I think for many of us, we feel knocked down.

We feel discouraged. we feel dismayed and yet I believe even in the midst of these difficult days

God is calling us to rise up and to take our place in the movement of what God is doing in history and in the world today.

And my prayer for us church just so you can know at the top is I want us to be

stronger coming out of these days than when we came in.

When we get to reunite together as a church face to face together.

I want us to come together and be stronger than we were the last time we met.

Stronger as a community knit together with greater bonds of love, but stronger individually.

Remember last week in Nehemiah, each individual had to make the decision,

I'll be a part of this movement of God, and yet collectively they did something great together and I want all of us to individually

say I want to be a part of what God's doing because then collectively we could see God do amazing things in our city and in the world through us.

And I gotta tell you, I believe many of you have been feeling this.

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