Built by Burden

Heat. Heat. Well, good morning, Cross Church Phoenix. How are you? Good. Good morning. I'm Pastor DJ. If I haven't met you yet, I see some new faces and then some old faces. Not that you're old, but you know what I mean. I'm just kidding. Uh, but I am Pastor DJ, the pastor here at Cross Church Phoenix. Um, I want to invite you to open your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah. We have been in 1 and 2 Corinthians um, pretty much all year and wrap that up last Sunday. And so, we are going to spend some time in the Old Testament. And as you saw, we got a new uh, bumper video as well. And every time we get a new bumper video, I got to find like the right time to walk up. So, it's always, you know, exciting for me. Um, but, uh, if you open your Bibles to Nehemiah, if you go like dead center, you'll probably land in the Psalms. And if you work your way back, so you'll see Job, the wonderful, exciting, very uplifting book of Job. Um, and then if you keep going back, you'll see Esther. And then if you keep on going back, you'll see Nehemiah. If you hit Ezra, you went too far. But Ezra and Nehemiah are buddies as well. We'll see that. Um, but uh, and if you don't have a Bible, there should be one in the seat back in front of you. Feel free to use that and make it your own Bible. You can have it. Uh, highlight it, mark it up, do whatever you want. Um, just bring it back next week, but make it your Bible. So, as I said, we were in the New Testament almost the entire year, and now we'll be in the Old. Just to kind of give you a general idea of what's happening the rest of the year, we will spend all of November in Nehemiah, covering the first four chapters, and then we will take a break for Christmas, do a Christmas series in the Gospels, and then be back in Nehemiah to finish it out in January. So you kind of have an idea of where we're going. This series is called Build X. And I've been asked what is the X? And I was like I I kind of struggled to understand it too. But basically it's this. I'm just kidding. Um it's a fancy way of saying you know fill in the blank. So, for example, as we go through this series, we will focus on different things like being built on prayer, for example, that's next week, or being um built with or in community, uh built despite opposition, which are all things that Nehemiah will experience, things like that. Many of you might know um may have heard of Nehemiah, maybe you haven't, uh but not many of us know. Often times we don't know the context of Nehemiah or even some of the major themes of the book. And it's very important that we do know the context and the themes uh because it will help us understand certain aspects of the book that you just wouldn't get if you didn't know the context. So we've gone back about 500 years from 1 and 2 Corinthians. If you remember, you know, we've been in those letters of Paul that were written in the first century church, um, 50s and 60s AD. Well, now we're going all the way back to about 445 BC. That's where we are. And there's some major major events that have happened before that that we really need to know. And I'm going to do my best to briefly describe um Israelite history to you. It's challenging. Um I'm been trying to find out how can I edit this down the most to summarize um like a thousand or so years in like 5 minutes. But um it's it's important we we know what's going on. So I'm not going to start at the be like in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Let's start there. Yeah. Well, that's true. Genesis 1:1. But if you go all the way to the end of Genesis, the people of Israel have landed in Egypt. They there's a famine and they end up having to go to Egypt because Joseph's there and God used Joseph in a mighty way. Um, but they that's the only place to get food. So, that's how they end up in Egypt in the first place. A famine drives them there. But during the Israelite time in Egypt, which is about 400 years, there was a Pharaoh who didn't know Joseph. Like, who's Joseph? I don't care. And enslaves the Israelites. So, they become slaves in Egypt for over 400 years until Moses enters the scene. Moses is born and he's raised in Egypt for 40 years. Then he gets into a little trouble. Again, I'm summarizing a lot here. and leaves to go into the um to be a shepherd for 40 years. And then God calls him back to lead his people out of Egypt, which is the Exodus. Okay? So the point, one of the points of that is not just for Moses to lead the people out, but there's a point. They're going somewhere. and the somewhere they're supposed to go is the promised land, the land of Canaan. However, they because of their disobedience, they end up wandering around the wilderness for 40 years. And this is important because during those wilderness wandering years where they're aimlessly wandering around the wilderness because God they they won't go they can't go into the promised land yet. God won't let them. But during that time, God gives Moses the law. So he gives him the ten commandments at Mount Si, but also gives them over like 600 civil laws, ceremonial laws, all these things go down during that time. And then Moses dies and passes the leadership baton to Joshua. And Joshua basically is a war book. chronicles, wars, um battles, fights that they that they do, um and engage in to take over the land of Canaan, the promised land that God told them to do, uh to take over. And they get most of it. They actually don't take all of it. They disobey God. Um and they don't take the whole land, but they do take a good portion of it. And while they're living in the promised land, God says, "Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, obey me. do what I say and you'll be blessed. If you don't do what I say, you're going to be miserable. Well, they don't do what God says and they're miserable. Um, they're supposed to obey God's law, worship God, and do what he says. However, Israel ends up basically whining. Israel whines because they don't have an earthly king. They they have God as their king, but apparently God's not good enough for them. And they want an earthly king. So they look at the nations around them and say, "These guys all have earthly kings. We want one, too." And this is Samuel, the book of 1 Samuel, where God says, "They have rejected me as king, so we're going to put Saul in place." Maybe you've heard of a guy named Saul. Saul is basically a failure of a king. Okay, he's a failure and um he dies and God puts King David on the throne. You know, the popular King David, he was a man after God's own heart. Uh he sinned and had his issues. He wrote many psalms and then he died. But before he dies, he has a son named Solomon. and Solomon will reign in his place over the kingdom of Israel. Now, I know I'm summarizing a lot and giving you kind of a lot of information, but there's a reason why, because it all kind of ties together, okay? But under King Saul, uh, David, and Solomon, the kingdom of Israel is one, right? It's united. It's one kingdom of Israel. Well, when Solomon dies, there's all kinds of family drama. And basically the kingdoms split into two. So there's the 10 northern tribes and two southern tribes. Okay? The 10 northern tribes are often just simply referred to as Israel. The two southern tribes are made up of Judah and Benjamin, but they're just called Judah. So you have 10 northern tribes, Israel, two southern tribes Judah. Well, basically Israel has no good kings. It's just terrible king after terrible king. They do evil in the sight of the Lord over over. They never learn their lesson. They're just all terrible. So God uses the current world empire of in 7:22 BC called the Assyrian Empire as his judgment arm. And I say arm specifically like God brings judgment, but he uses people and nations sometimes as his judgment arm. So God says, "I'm going to use the Assyrians to bring judgment to my disobedient people." So Assyria comes and attacks the 10 northern tribes and wins and takes them all captive and they pretty much disappear. Not going to get into what it means for them to be a Samaritan. You can talk to me later about that, okay? But they're basically, you might have heard them referred to as the 10 lost tribes of Israel because they never return back to the land like Judah will. Um, but they're taken into Assyrian captivity is what it's called, and they just don't come back. So, that leaves the two southern tribes, Judah. And Judah has a few good kings. You would read about them in first, 2 Kings, and in Chronicles. They have a couple of decent kings, a lot of evil kings, and God eventually says that he's going to bring judgment to Judah. One of the reasons for God's judgment goes back to God's law that he gave Moses years before. One of the things that they were supposed to do was give the land rest every seventh year. So, they would have six years of working the land. Then God says, "I I will provide for you in the sixth year, more than enough for your seventh year. Trust me and give the land rest." Well, they didn't. They kept working. Kind of like how we, you know, work overtime for more money, more stuff. Not that overtime is bad, but if it's unnecessary is what I'm saying. Like we just we got to get more and more and more and more. So they say, you know, I know God, you told us to give the land rest in the seventh year and you'll provide for us, but we just need to get more, get more. So they work the land the seventh year. And every day of that year that they work the land is a direct act of disobedience to God. They're not trusting him. Taking matters into their own hands rather than trusting God to provide for them. They do this for 490 years. Meaning they violate 70 Sabbaths. Okay? 70 Sabbath years they have violated. And so God says, "I'm going to get my 70 years back. God will not be mocked and he will bring justice." He says, "I'm going to get my 70 years back and here's how I'm going to do it. I'm going to send the Babylonians to Judah. So Babylon, the kingdom of Babylon, overthrows Assyria and becomes the world empire shortly after um the 7th century. And so by 586, I believe, I have notes here, but I've kind of gone off of them. Um but they take they attack Babylon is God's judgment arm for Judah. And so he they come and destroy the place, destroy the temple that Solomon built and destroy the walls and the gates and just lay siege to Jerusalem and take a bunch of captives. Some of which are like Ezekiel and Daniel, guys that you've heard of. They're captives in Babylon and they're going to be for 70 years because God says, "You didn't give my land rest for 70 Sabbaths. I'll get my I'll give my land rest for 70 years." And he does that by taking his people captive to Babylon. And the land gets to rest. And so they are in Babylon, exiles, Jewish exiles in Babylon for 70 years. Well, long story short, the next world empire to conquer Babylon is the Meo Persian Empire. They become the world power at that time in the 4 or 500s BC. And God says, this is right about the end of um like in Daniel chapter 9 for example, but in others, um God says, "All right, the land has had rest. I'm going to send my people back and I'm going to use the king of Persia to do it. And Isaiah, he says, "Is not Cyrus my servant?" Right? King Cyrus and others. Um, so God uses kings and directs their paths and their hearts. And so God says, "I'm going to use the king of Persia to issue a decree to send the exiles back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the walls." and the gates and just rebuild the city. And so they go back in waves. So in 538 BC, the first round of exiles go back to Jerusalem and they're led by a man named Zerubbable. So if you're looking for the name for your next kid, Zerubbable is an option for you. Um about 80 years later in 458 BC, a second round of exiles go back to Jerusalem. They're led by Ezra. And I'm telling you all of this to say this that by the time we get to Nehemiah, Jewish people, the Israelites have been back in their land for about a hundred years. and they're supposed to be rebuilding everything. And Ezra is back trying to do his own reforms as well. And they and and the people still are disobedient and don't do what they're supposed to be doing. They're supposed to go back, rebuild the temple, live in security, have the city, have the walls, have the gates. And that brings us to Nehemiah chapter 1. So, I know that that's a lot to take in and we could talk more if you got questions. It's a long introduction, but a lot has happened building up to Nehemiah leading up to this that is very important to know because this is a big deal. The fact that the Jewish people are back in Jerusalem is a big deal. It we it feels distant for us and we're like, "Oh, yeah, that's cool." like hooray, good job for them. No, like this is huge for them because it's God fulfilling his promises. And I don't have time to go into all that, but basically it's good to know that God is following through on his promises for his people. And when people start going back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, it is God's promises coming to pass. And so this morning, we're only going to cover the first four verses. So, I have a long introduction, but four verses and we'll see how God burdens Nehemiah. And so, we're going to talk about that this morning, how God burdens us to build us. So, let's pray. Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for your word. And we um just come before you humbly, Lord, in your presence to uh help us, God. Help us understand what's going on. Help us to see how vital and impactful this book can be. And God, help us to be men and women of prayer. We'll see Nehemiah's prayer life is just astounding and powerful. And God, I pray that you would help us to see him as a model um in in our own life. And God, I pray that you would speak your words to your people this morning. Not mine uh my opinions or DJ's thoughts and opinions, but God, your word to your people. pray that you would use it to grow us. Help us Lord in not just knowledge but application as well in Jesus name. Amen. Well, let's read verses 1 and two to begin. So Nehemiah 1:1, the words of Nehemiah son of Hackaliah. During the month of Kisv in the 20th year when I was in the fortress city of Susa, Hannah, one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah and I questioned them about Jerusalem and the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile. So, we'll stop right. We're going to break this up in two parts. We'll do three and four in a little bit. the month of Kislev. We're basically a couple weeks away from the Jewish month of Kisv. Kisv is late November, early December time frame. And so it's basically winter time, so to speak. And it is the 20th year of the rain. Uh in the 20th year, he says, and you have to remember that the way that they would describe time frames, you like they wouldn't just say 2025, right? They say they refer to a king in the in the year that he was reigning. So the 20th year is the 20th year of the reign of King Ard Xerxes of Persia, which puts us at 445 BC cuz he started around 465. So when Nehemiah says in his 20th year, it's 445. So remember, the first group of Israelites have been there for about a hundred years. Ezra and his group have been there for about 13 years. Okay. And now Nehemiah also says he's in the fortress of Susa. Some will say some translations will say the palace um a citadel. This is the winter home of the king and it's 800 miles from Jerusalem. 800 miles northeast basically. So this isn't like Nehemiah's in Phoenix and the Jewish people. Jerusalem's like in Flagstaff. No, this is like from Phoenix to Denver, Colorado approximately. That's how far away he is. And so his brother Hannah shows up and notice what it says. It says, "I questioned them." I like that. Nehemiah initiates asking about Jerusalem and his fellow Jewish people who've gone back. Remember Nehemiah knows my brothers and sisters are back in town. He's there. He works for a pag he's he basically works for the government. Nehemiah does. We're going to find out he's a cup bearer to the king. He's a government worker in a pagan place. But he is still concerned about what's going on with the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. So, he wants to know, "Hey, how's everything going? Give me an update. How's the rebuilding going? How's the walls and the gates? How's the temple? Is the temple up and rocking? How's it going over there?" And before we get to their response, I kind of want to draw out some application points. The first thing we see in Nehemiah is that he has a God-given concern that leads to inquiry. And inquiry is kind of an odd word for that, I know, but I couldn't find a better one. So it leads him to inquire, to ask. Nehemiah doesn't allow the distance to keep him from being concerned about his brothers and sisters. He's very interested in how things are going in Jerusalem, even though he's in Susa, 800 miles away, living in luxury. And so my first question for us is this. Are we truly concerned about the well-being of others? Because we especially living in America have a tendency to be self-centered and self-focused. And we generally, maybe not everyone, but we generally live comfortably. And sometimes our comfort can dis distance us from a genuine concern for the welfare and well-being of others. And I don't just mean like the poor and needy in our community, which we should be concerned about and find ways to help. But what about to really be in line with what Nehemiah's concerned about? How what about our concern for fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? Nehemiah is a Jewish man concerned about his brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. How are they doing? How about our concern as brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we concerned? Do we have a genuine like interest in how each other are doing spiritually or physically, emotionally? Are we invested in other people's lives? When was the last time you reached out to someone at church? Remember Nehemiah, I love I love how it says I questioned them. And the questioning term there is like I I interrogate. I was like, tell me about this. Tell me about this. Tell me about this. It wasn't just like like, hey, hey, how's it going um over there? Like, no, it's like I need to know what's going on there. When was the last time that you reached out to someone you initiated at church and just asked how are you? Tell me about your family, your life, what you're going through. Not just cuz the pastor told you to or DJ said. No, like because you're genuinely concerned for them. And so that leads us to our second question. Who has God burdened you with? And will you contact them? How can you reach out and say, "Can I how can I pray for you? How can I encourage you? How can I love on you?" Nehemiah has a real burden for his people, which we'll see in the next few verses. But I want to challenge every person listening to to this to reach out. Some people are listening online, like you, too. But how can you find ways to reach out and show care and concern for someone this week? Maybe someone you don't normally talk to. We have our little circle. Yes. And I get that people we're comfortable with, but he's 800 miles away, right? But how can you maybe reach out to someone new this week that you don't normally talk to and just say, "How can my love on you, pray for you, encourage you? How's your walk with God doing?" A lot of the stuff Nehemiah is concerned about, it will sound physical, walls, gates, temple, but it has it's also very spiritual because those things really speak of their spiritual health in the end. Who's God burdened you with? And maybe you're someone who does this already, and for that I'm grateful. But I think I think many of us might be just a little too busy to check in on each other, too busy to find ways to love and minister to others. But as we'll see next week, Nehemiah is the cup bearer to the king. Meaning, he's not just sitting around doing nothing, twiddling his thumbs in the palace. He's got things to do. He's a busy man, but he hasn't forgotten his brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. And my prayer is, may we have the same God-given concern for the welfare of others. Let's read verses 3 and four. So they said to me, verse three, the remnant in the province who survived the exile are in great trouble and disgrace. Jerusalem's wall has been broken down and its gates have been burned. So Nehemiah says, "When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days fasting and praying before the God of the heavens, which is one of Nehemiah's favorite terms for God. You'll see it throughout. The God of the heavens, the God of the heavens. He comes before the God of the heavens. And because Nehemiah cared enough to ask, he got a report. And it wasn't good. It wasn't the normal like, "Hey, how's everything going?" Like, "Good, you know, or fine, right? Everything's fine in Jerusalem. It's fine. Weather's nice." And it's actually the worst possible report he could get that they could bring. Sometimes I think just to kind of drive it home to us like I think there's a lot of brokenness in people's lives that they're enduring and living in but we don't know because we don't ask don't ask how people are doing. They put on we all do this so much so that his heart breaks for Jerusalem. And so he sits down he weeps and he mourns for days fasting and praying to the God of the heavens. What is this telling us? He feels their pain. He feels their pain. And this leads us to a a very practical question. Are we broken over the pain, suffering, over the sin, pain, and suffering of others? Because another issue is the Israelite sin, which we'll get into. But are we broken over these things for others? Romans 12:15 says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. If the report back to Nehemiah was the temple's rocking and rolling, the city gates are built, the walls are built, everything is just hopping in Jerusalem, God is being worship worshiped appropriately and rightly. Praise God. Nehemiah, I don't doubt, would rejoice. Yes. Yes. But he hears this and he weeps. It can be easy to be emotionally distant from people, to see suffering or hurting or even sin and not show any concern for it. One commentator I read said this, I'm quoting him. Quote, he says, "Many Christians today know about the pain of the world but live in a state of numbness." End quote. Many of us are living in a state of numbness to the pain and suffering and sin of the world around us. But it's pretty easy to see Nehemiah's heart here. If his fellow Jewish brothers and sisters are hurting 800 miles away, he's hurting, too. And it leads him to fasting and prayer, which leads me to ask another question. Who is God burdening you with? And will you pray for them? Who is God burdening you with? And will you pray for them? Notice how Nehemiah's first reaction is to pray. Not to strategize, not to scheme, not to start throwing plans together. Though we will see that he will put plans together and strategize. He's really good organizer. He's awesome. We will see that. But that's not his first reaction. His very first reaction is to go to God in prayer. It can be so easy for you and I to jump straight into action, right? I got to do this. I got to do that before we we've uttered one word in prayer. Have we sought God on that? I'm guilty. I got to do this. I got to do that, God. Okay, this um this this person's mad at me or doesn't like me, doesn't like what I said. I got to do this, I got to do that. And I just the Lord sometimes like DJ like have you just chilled for a sec, prayed and just spent some time with me? You know, but we can do that in any situation. We're facing a financial hardship or marital hardship, relationship difficulty, work things. I got to do that. I can fix all of this, God. in God conscious. Have you sought the Lord in prayer yet on that? Have you ever have I ever have we ever felt such a heavy burden for someone else that you intentionally and fervently prayed for them whether they're a Christian or not. Right? Have you ever felt the weight of what someone else is going through and chose to feel that with them? Because we it's easy to just be like, I'm going to not I don't want to get involved with that. But have you chosen to feel that with them and go to the Lord on behalf of them? Now, I'm not even going to ask when the last time any of us fasted was because it's been a while for me. Not enough. Some of us may have before. Some of us may never have. But when was the last time you fasted to seek the Lord for something specific? Because most likely for a lot of us, I'm not going to speak for everyone, but for many, it's probably been a while. Have you been broken for someone else so heavily that you're willing to do that to deny yourself? Right? That's what fasting is. To deny yourself of something for the purpose, right? It's not just just because it's purposeful so that you can seek God for something specific or intercede on someone's behalf for something specific. because Nehemiah was willing to do all this and he's 800 miles away. Part of Nehemiah's mourning and brokenness also comes from the fact that the people are not doing what they're supposed to be doing. They're supposed to be rebuilding the city and trusting God and they're not. In fact, a little insight into the book of Hagi. You're like, Hag who? Haggi. Some of the minor prophets that we've never read are so awesome. But uh Hagi, basically God uses the prophet Hagi to just confront the people because while they're not rebuilding the temple, guess what? They are building their homes. And God says, "Um, you guys are going to live in panled houses while my house lays in ruins. You're putting money into pockets that have holes." Haggy is awesome. I love Haggi. Read Hagi. It's two chapters. Short and sweet and to the point, but they're supposed to be doing things that they're not. Have you ever been burdened for someone as you watch them not do what God has called them to do? Maybe it's sin, right? Have you ever just been burdened by someone who's living in sin and ignoring God's word? ignoring what God says about this situation. Ignoring maybe it's ignoring God's call on their life. Are you burdened for that? Do you feel that? Do you encourage others in those things? Or perhaps also we might hear stories of the persecuted church around the world and it might kind of bother us a little bit, you know, but that's really it. Um we might acknowledge it, maybe offer a little prayer and then um get on with our life. But have you ever responded like this? Like Nehemiah at the report of others in distress? Maybe our brothers and sisters in Christ who are persecuted for their faith because it's not safe to be a Christian there. They can't do what we're doing, which is to meet in peace and proclaim Christ. I have not responded like Nehemiah, and it convicts me. Will we take the time and make the effort to intentionally fast or pray or both for the sake of someone God has burdened you with? Because you cannot lighten a load you're not willing to come under, right? Can you imagine that? You're carrying a 100 pound bag of concrete and someone says, "Hey, let me help you with that." and then stands there and you're like, "Yeah, that would be really nice. Thanks." And they're just like, "All right, yeah, let me help you with that." But they just stand there. They don't come under the load and help you carry it. What are they doing? Nothing. That's called lip service, right? God would call that lip service. You're not lightening the load by just saying you're going to help them carry it and not helping them carry it. You lighten the load by coming under it with them, right? We'll see next week that the number of days Nehemiah mourns and prays and fasts is going to be about four months. We struggle to pray for four minutes, right? Sometimes I include myself in these things. But as we study through this book, one of the major things themes we'll see is Nehemiah's prayer life. It is foundational for him and he's such a great model for us in how we should approach pretty much anything whether it's our own trials and tribulations or or those of others. Really is a great model for us and I'm excited for us to see um how God uses the book of Nehemiah in our lives as a church. Our closing thought is this. God will often use our burdens to challenge us to take action. And will we respond? Will we respond to that? And I'd like to echo because it's new. Um, one of the ways you can do that is to come to Mon Monday morning prayer. Um, that's not going to be something that DJ stands up here and leads and tells you what to do or what not to do. Um, it's literally going to be an open sanctuary. Jordan's going to have it open. We're going to have some light music on. None no one's going to be up here. In fact, we're going to I've been talking to Jordan. We're going to try to find like just a cross to put on the screen. Um, and you can just come and sit and pray. And you can come for 5 or 10 minutes before you got to head out to work. You can come for the whole hour and a half, but eventually Jordan's got things to do, too. And so, at 7:30, we close up shop, right? But you can come and just be in the presence of God and pray however you want, however long you want. But that's just one way that we can we can apply this to our lives is to just be intentional about our prayer life. And like Brian said, you could sit at home and pray. Just spend time with the Lord. But if you want to come in here, sometimes it helps people to just get out of the house and come into a place. Come Monday morning 6:00 to 7:30. Um before we close, we're going to enter into a time of communion. And we do this the first Sunday of every month. So, if you haven't already grabbed a communion pack from the back, they're right in the back tables um in the round tins. Um you can grab one now. And uh as always, uh with communion um the scriptures command believers, um Christians to do this, but it also comes with some admonitions, some instructions. Um communion, the Lord's supper, Lord's table is for Christians. It is for believers. Uh we are warned in scripture. It's very clear to that if you do this in an unworthy manner, um you bring judgment on yourself. That's not DJ's words. That's God's. Um but this is for believers. If you're here this morning and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, you don't know him as your personal Lord and Savior, the first thing I want to say is you can this morning the Bible says today is the day of salvation. You can come to Christ and turn your life over to him right now. You can come find me after service over over in the back. Um, but I would ask if you don't know Christ to abstain. And you can watch and observe, see how we do it. But, um, to abstain. What the Bible teaches about this is that we do this in remembrance of Jesus Christ, what he did on the cross. So, looking back. And the Bible also says that this is a proclamation of his death until he comes. Looking forward. But then the scriptures remind us to examine yourself. Examine yourself. So, look back to Christ. look forward to Christ. Look in to yourself. And so I want to give a give a minute or two um for us to do that um before um I read the scriptures, but just take a minute and just reflect. Is there any sins? Is there anything that you need to just turn over to the Lord? Um you can take a a minute, however long you need, just you and God, and do that now. Well, and then I will um pray and lead us. Never want to interrupt anyone's time with the Lord, but I'm going to read what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:23. And you can continue to pray and do what you need to do between you and the Lord. The Paul says, "For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you." On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread. And when he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." So if you'll peel back that layer that has the bread and take the bread into your hands. I'm going to pray. Father, we thank you for your body which is broken for us. As we see in Nehemiah, we just get a small glimpse of Nehemiah's um love for his people, for his fellow brothers and sisters. That's just a glimpse, a little peak into how you feel about your people. God, your body was broken for us, for sinners, for people that don't deserve it, and yet you graciously did it. God, we thank you for going to the cross and saving us from sin. We do this in remembrance of you in Jesus name. Amen. Let's partake. If you'll peel back that second layer for the juice. Paul continues to write 1 Corinthians 11:25. In the same way, he Jesus took the cup after supper and said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. This is a proclamation that Jesus Christ who died and rose again is coming. You kind of have to be alive to be coming somewhere. And that's what this is, a proclamation that Jesus is alive and he will return. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. And you died for us. Not when we were your friends, not when we were on your side. You died for us when we were your enemies. You reconciled us to yourself and made us your children. Made us friends of God by what you've done. Not by what we've done, but what you've done. The finished work on the cross. We sing it. It is done. It is finished. There's no more debt that I owe. No more debt that we owe. It's paid in full. All sufficient merit that is not our own. It is merit that is Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord. And we do this proclaiming your death until you come in Jesus name. Amen. Let's partake. I want to invite the worship team back up and close us in a another word of prayer. Father, we thank you for your word in starting a new book, especially an Old Testament book that's uh has so much going on in Nehemiah. Lord, I pray that you would help us in our understanding. Uh Lord, in our orientation on what's going on in the scriptures at this time in history and also biblically. But God, beyond all of that, Lord, we can learn those things and figure them out as we go. I pray that you would grow us in not just knowledge but application of your word. Help us to be men and women who are burdened for each other and the lost in our community. God, help us to fervently pray. May we be men and women a church of prayer that prioritizes time with you to love and cherish others around us. We are told love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all our strength. And then the second commandment is like it. Love our neighbor as oursel. Help us to be burdened for our neighbors, God, in Jesus name. Amen. Let's stand as we sing our last song.