We begin a new Lent sermon series called “The Hour Has Come.” The first message in the series is titled, “The Plan Of Deliverance” and in the passage from Luke 22:1-6, we’ll see how God is worthy of our trust. Not only is He the master planner, but He loved us so much that while we were sinners, He gave us His only Son Jesus Christ who died for us.

Spiritual compromise often happens not loudly or suddenly, but quietly and gradually. Almost imperceptibly.

If we’re honest, we’ve seen this in our lifetime. The culture around us has shifted dramatically, which include views on sexuality, money, identity, and truth.

The question is not just whether culture has changed, but rather we have changed with it.

This isn’t about nostalgia. It’s really about godliness. 

So a question for the church, In particular, is that after a season of renewal, how do we guard against quiet compromise? 

That’s exactly what Nehemiah 13 shows us. 

There’s a lot of churches in this world. But there’s a difference between churches that are dull in their light and churches that are bright and shining. It’s not their light but it’s the light of Christ inside that church.For Gospel City Church, God has placed us in this particular city to shine. He’s calling us to shine together. In a crooked and twisted world that is full of grumbling, complaining and arguing, we are called to be a witnessing community in the way that we love, forgive and serve one another, and stay united for the sake of the gospel.So what makes a church truly shine?

What does spiritual renewal look like when it settles into every day life?God’s blessing is something we’re commanded and empowered to live out.That’s what we see in Nehemiah 11 and 12. We see what renewal looks like when it becomes practical and visible in the life of God’s people.And what we discover is that God gives his renewed people a blessed life. Not an easy life but a life shaped by His Word and centred on His presence. We see that God’s people find a place to belong and a people to belong to, they joyfully worship God, and they are freed to give generously to others. And we can see the kind of life God is still calling His people to live today.

In 2026, make it your ambition to grow in obedience to Christ and his Word.

And if you're not in his Word, it's something we need to ask the Lord to work in our hearts to give us the motivation and strength to consistently study and meditate on his Word.

And we need to take seriously his commands, again praying to God to give us the strength to actually obey his commands in our lives.

As a church family, let's grow in our progressive sanctification this year. Let's grow in Christ likeness, and godliness, and holiness, completely relying on the Holy Spirit to do so, for the glory of God and to experience greater joy in our hearts.

In Nehemiah 10, this chapter records a covenant. Names written down and promises made.
Not to earn God’s favour and not to prove their worth, but in response to God’s grace. 

Nehemiah 10 also shows us what happens when God’s word goes from our ears to our hearts and finally into every day life.

In other words, this chapter teaches us that true spiritual renewal leads to transformed lives.

Think about the purpose of building up a church like GCC.

It’s not just to be a group of ppl doing activities together, although it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Rather, a church is for spiritual renewal. Not just to be together but to be a gospel community.

We are to not lose sight of the fact that God is leading and blessing us for spiritual renewal.

Similarly, In the second half of the Book of Nehemiah, we see the greater purpose for the Israelites in rebuilding the wall was for their spiritual renewal. 

One of the most important resolutions we should all have this year is to have a deep and vibrant prayer life.

Prayer is an essential means to developing a more intimate relationship with God, which is the most important thing in life.

So how is your prayer life? Is it deep and vibrant? Is it consistent and full of passion? 

Or is it inconsistent, dry, and lifeless?

What we’ll see in today’s passage is that prayer is not optional. It is absolutely crucial for our spiritual health.

For some of us, Christmas has been joyful and amazing. For others, it might have been heavy. Reminders of loss, strained relationships possibly, or simply exhaustion from trying to hold everything together.And for many of us, it’s probably both. But Christmas has passed and life has gone back to normal. So then what should be the impact of Christmas? Because if something really matters, it should make a big difference in our lives. But in life, that is often not how the most important things work.Some of the most powerful changes tends to begin quietly, and almost insignificant at first. That idea helps us understand something about Christmas. Because Christmas doesn’t begin with power or spectacle. It begins quietly, humbly, with a child laying in a manger, born to ordinary parents, and seen first by lowly shepherds.So if Christmas is truly from God, why does it begin so small? And if Christmas really matters, why does life look so ordinary afterwards? In the Gospel of Luke, we see the Christmas story ends by showing us what happens after the angels leave, after the proclamation fades, and after ordinary life resumes.

A lot of us feel like we need rest. But true rest for our soul only comes in the love of God and in the presence of his love. But for all of us today, we constantly turn away to worship false gods. We love, worship, trust, pursue, devote all of our energy and our emotions into anything other than God.For the final week of Advent this year, we turn to the book of Zephaniah. And at the end this short book, we see one of the most beautiful passages on God’s love in all of Scripture.