Built on Prayer

[Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Well, good morning, Cross Church Phoenix. How are you? I'm still waking up probably. Uh uh good morning. I am Pastor DJ, the pastor here at Cross Church Phoenix. So, if I haven't met you before, come find me afterwards. I see familiar faces and some new faces. So, uh, please don't hesitate. Come find me after church. I'd love to chat with you. Um, so if you would now open your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 1 and we'll begin at verse 5. And if you don't have a Bible, we have Bibles in the seat back in front of you. Feel free to use that. Uh, and we will gladly replace it. Make it your Bible. that can be yours, your our gift to you. And for those of you joining online, welcome. And uh if you would turn in your Bibles to Nehemiah 15. Uh as you turn there, as you're making your way there, I wanted to share a quick story um just of what Cross Church is doing uh globally really and and and locally here in Arizona. Um we had our cross church SPS a couple weeks ago which is our big volunteer appreciation event. We announced um some really cool things happening in 2026. Um and it's going to require a picture and to bring Yeah, we can bring down the lights and uh show this picture. So if you look at the gentleman on the left carrying uh his ordination certificate that is Javi and his wife Tori and they are starting in 2026 uh I glacia de la Cruz the cross church espanol completely Spanish-sp speakaking church and they're going to meet on the lo at the location of El Mrage um and so he had been he's been trained up uh by the leadership there and across the board and uh there will be starting that E glacia de la Cruz in 2026. And then on the right here, if you look at this other gentleman carrying his ordination certificate, that's Lyall and Heather Harrenstein. And they are starting in 2026, Cross Church mayor. Anybody who knows where mayor is like not 9:00 knows where mayor is. 10:30 has no clue. No, I'm just kidding. Um, yeah. So, if you're on your way to like Prescat Valley, northern Arizona, as you go make your way towards Prescuit Valley, Prescuit area, uh, I believe that's on the 69, right? U, but it's along the way there. So, it's northern Arizona about an hour, hour and 15 minutesish, depending on how fast you drive um, uh, to to get up there. But, uh, they're going to be starting that in 2026. And we celebrate these things because this is what God ultimately is doing in and through Cross Church. And it is because of your generosity to the church that we can start uh new churches and new and just expand as we grow collectively across cross church. And I must confess to you that um Brian knows more about that than I do I have no idea what an RMD is. Um that was a newer slide that we started and I was like cuz we had other giving options. I was like what is that? I don't know if I want to admit that I don't know what that is but here I am telling you. Um but anyways, there are multiple ways to give and like I said, but this is what your giving goes to because it goes to expansion of Cross Church and the story behind uh Cross Church mayor is that um there it was first Southern Baptist mayor and the church essentially died um and contacted Cross Church and long story short um have deeded the land over to us and we're going to keep that gospel light on by providing pastor Lyall and his wife and sending a team there. So more to come in 26 of course um we'll you know give you more details as we know but I want to celebrate that story with you. So be praying for Glacia de la Cruz and be praying for cross church mayor as we uh move into 2026. Um so we celebrate what God is doing and I wanted to share that with you uh this morning. So, we can turn the lights back up uh so we can see our Bibles. And uh so hopefully you're at Nehemiah 1 uh beginning at verse 5. So, if you remember, we started a new series last week in Nehemiah called Build X. Uh so we started this as a second sermon but last week we saw how God burdened Nehemiah with the news that Jerusalem and its people are in great trouble and shame. The city is in shambles and it breaks Nehemiah's heart. You remember? So, I'm not going to provide the long historical version that I did last week, but if you're new to us and new to Nehemiah, basically, long story short is we are in postexilic um Israel. So basically they were taken captive by the Babylonians uh 100 or so years before Nehemiah and the Babylonians were conquered by the Meo Persian Empire. So Persia's in charge right now and God used King Cyrus of Persia to say we are going to free the Jewish exiles who we who Babylon took captive. They keep some, which Nehemiah's one, but they're sending Jewish uh men and women back to Israel waves at a time. The first wave, by the time we get to Nehemiah, has been there for about a hundred years. So, I don't want you to think that they just got back there a month ago. No, they've been there for about a hundred years under the first wave that went back with Zerubbable. And then about 13 years prior to our text here in Nehemiah, a second wave of Israelites have already gone back to Jerusalem, about 13 years to go under Ezra. So Ezra and the boys are there. There's a whole bunch of Israelites there. And the point is they're supposed to be rebuilding the city. So when Babylon came, it was kind of a no mercy deal. Um, they destroyed the temple. They destroyed the walls and the gates. They destroyed everything. And so they're supposed to be going back and rebuilding. Rebuild the temple. Rebuild the gates, the walls, do all this. Be a city again, a respectable city. Right now, they're kind of the laughingstock of local nations. They have gates. When your gates and walls are destroyed and your worship is is not really happening of of your God, so to speak, you are the joke of the nations. And so Nehemiah has a desire to see them and God has told them to go back, rebuild the city. I use Cyrus to tell you to go do it. Go get the job done. And what we know is that they haven't been the work has started under Ezra, but they're experiencing some opposition and the job's not getting done after being there for about a hundred years. And so this burdens Nehemiah. So when he hears the news, his brother Hannah comes and tells him, "Uh, yeah, the city should be rebuilt and should be good to go. Um, it's not. It's a complete mess there." And this breaks his heart and he goes to the Lord in prayer. And so this week we left off at verse four last week where we heard that he is weeping, mourning for a number of days which we'll see will be four months of fasting and praying before the God of the heavens. And this week we will get insight into his prayer life and how that prepares him to be bold. So prayer shaped Nehemiah before he was sent and God will also use prayer to shape us right before he sends us out. So let's pray. Father, we thank you for this morning. We acknowledge that we come before the God of heaven. Lord, this is it's no small thing when we realize whose throne we're coming to. come before the God of the universe who is completely sovereign and in charge of everything. And God, I pray that you would speak your word to your people, God, that you would move me out of the way. And God, that you would give them ears to hear what your spirit has to say to the church at Cross Church Phoenix. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right. Well, let's read verses 5- 11 to finish chapter 1 out and we'll get into chapter 2. So Nehemiah says, I said, "Lord, the God of the heavens, the great and all inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands. Let your eyes be open and your ears be attentive to hear your servants prayer that I now pray to you day and night for your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins we have committed against you. Both I and my father's family have sinned. We have acted corruptly towards you and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and ordinances you gave your servant Moses. Please remember what you commanded your servant Moses. If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. But verse 9, if you return to me and carefully observe my commands, even though your exiles were banished to the furthest horizon, and some translations will say heavens or skies, um the furthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I chose to have my name dwell. They are your servants and your people. You redeem them by your great power and strong hand. Please, Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to that of your servants who delight to revere your name. Give your servant success today and grant him compassion in the presence of this man who would be the king. At the time, I was the king's cup bearer. So I want to start with him being the king's cup bearer before we get into his prayer. So as the cup bearer, Nehemiah was responsible, yes, for tasting the wine before the king uh had it to make sure it wasn't poisoned. That is part of his job. But I want us to understand that it is more than that. This is actually also on top of that a very trusted position. Nehemiah would have access to the king that not very many people would have. He's in the king's presence often. And some commentators to believe, and I'm inclined to agree, that there are times where he would actually serve as an advisor to the king because he would be in the know of what's going on in the kingdom. So, what I want you to know is Nehemiah is not just some test dummy for poison drinks and good for nothing else. though he does do that as part of it. He's in a position of both luxury and authority as well. And so here we get a glimpse into Nehemiah's prayer life. And as I was reading and studying this, I thought, you know what? I think this is a good howto guide. So I'm calling this Nehemiah's how-to guide for a strong prayer life. And the first thing we see is this. Pray with a proper understanding of God's character. A proper understanding of God's character. Nehemiah recognizes that when he is praying, he is coming before the great and awe inspiring or awesome God of the heavens. This is not trivial. This is serious. He is coming before almighty God of heaven. Do you believe that when you pray? Do you believe that you are coming before the almighty God of the universe? You are coming before the all powerful, almighty, majestic, glorious, holy, holy, holy God of the universe. When you pray, do you believe that? Are you convinced of that? Does our prayer life, mine, reflect that? Because sometimes we come to God and say, you know, "Hey Lord, thanks for food, um, clothes, shelter. Um, can you give me this, this, and this? Hey Lord, I need you. Um, hey God, um, what's up? Um, could you do this for me? please take care of this problem. And there's nothing wrong, hear me right, there's nothing wrong with asking God for things. So don't hear me say that. But before Nehemiah even asks God to hear his prayer, he acknowledges who God is and whose throne he's coming to. This is no trivial thing. And I think a great way to start our own prayers is by acknowledging the attributes of God. His greatness, his power, his love, his grace, his holiness, his mercy, his righteousness, his justice. We could go on, right? You could focus to kind of get really practical. You could focus on one attribute of God a day. Sit down and write in a journal. Yes, men can journal, too, right? Yes, we can. Um, but you write down in a journal, right? Monday, Monday, I'm going to focus on God's holiness. And so, when I begin my prayer on Monday morning or afternoon or night, people work different jobs and have different schedules. Your prayer time could be at 5:00 a.m. or 5:00 p.m., right? But when you start your prayers, you acknowledge God's holiness and you dwell on the holiness of God for a couple minutes. And then on Tuesday, I'm going to focus on his grace. God is so gracious. And then on Wednesday, I'm going to focus on his love, just God's love for me. And on Thursday, I'm going to focus on the peace and comfort he gives me. And on Friday, I might focus on his justice. He is just. And maybe Saturday, I come to his righteousness. How just how righteous God is. You come back on Sunday and I don't know, just thank him for everything. I don't know what however whatever helps you to stay focused you could do that and then it's laid out for you Monday through Sunday one attribute a day you would have plenty to reflect on and so the next thing number two we see in Nehemiah's model of prayer is pray with a proper understanding now of your character right we understand God's character and then what about our own Nehemiah doesn't come before God in his own pride or with an ego. What do we see? God's great and awesome. He's not. He's sinful. So are we. But notice, so he goes on to confess his sin. But notice, not just his own sin, his family's sin, right? The my father's family. What's he talking about? those who have gone before him, who were disobedient in the first place, who got them into the situation to begin with. And he's saying, "I and my family have sinned, the sins of Israel." He shares responsibility with the sin of his people. He doesn't look at Israel and say, "Lord, help those sinners over there. They're terrible. I'm faithful, right? I I serve you really good, God, and you're you and me are, you know, like we're good. I'm good, but those guys over there are awful. No, he comes before God. And he says, "We've all sinned. We have acted corruptly." And remember, he's not even in Jerusalem. He is about 800 miles away from Jerusalem as an Israelite. And he's not even in Jerusalem. and he implicates himself in their sin. We're corrupt. We don't keep your commands, statutes, and ordinances. We break your law, God. We're not all that in a bag of chips. We're messed up. Do we come before the Lord this way in our own prayer life? Do we recognize and confess our own sin? But not just our own sin. Do we plead before the God for the sin of our nation, America? We've sinned greatly against God as America has. Do we come before God and or do we do we just point out others sins? It's easy to come before the Lord, start making requests, and tell God about everyone else's sins, and forget to confess your own. This is the pattern of the prayers of many godly people in scripture. For example, Daniel prays the same way in Daniel chapter 9. And his prayer is much longer than this, but I'm just going to give you Daniel 9:4-6. See if this sounds familiar to you. Daniel says, 'I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, 'Oh Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments. We have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. Sound familiar? Daniel's saying the same thing. He says verse 6 of Daniel 9, we have not listened to your servants, the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. What do we see in Daniel 9? We see him doing the same thing that Nehemiah does, confessing sin. Now, if you remember, Daniel's one of the captives in Babylon. He's a captive in a in in the Babylonian exile under pagan leadership and saying we the people of Israel have sinned and he includes himself in it. Once again whether it's Daniel or Nehemiah God's great and awesome we're not. So if we learn anything from our brothers Daniel, Nehemiah, and others, it would be that prayer begins with how great and awesome God is and how small and sinful we are. Acknowledging our own sin before the God of heaven. That's coming humbly before the throne of grace. We can't see prayer as like God's little shopping mall, right? Prayer is something so much more. And the last thing we see in Nehemiah's example is pray with a proper understanding then of God's promises. God's promises. If you notice, both Daniel and Nehemiah appeal to God's promises. Nehemiah's prayers are filled with the knowledge of God in scripture. You might not see it in the text, but Nehemiah is simply praying God's word. He's quoting Leviticus and Deuteronomy. That's all he's doing. Leviticus 26, I'm going to summarize a chapter in Leviticus for you. Um, it's much longer, but Leviticus 26 is God basically saying this. If you obey me, you'll be fine. If you disobey me, you won't be fine. There'll be consequences. That's Leviticus 26, right? But in verse 33, we get one of those consequences to disobedience, which would be being scattered. So Leviticus 23:26:33 says, God says, "And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unchath the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your city shall be a waste." So what I want you to know from that is that Nehemiah is literally living out the fulfillment of what God said would happen if Israel disobeyed him. That's the short of what I'm trying to say. He is a Jewish man living in Persian exile because of the disobedience of his brothers and sisters who went before him. And they didn't do what God said. And God said God did what he said he would do to disobedient Israel which is exile them. And Nehemiah is living that. Right? So Nehemiah's life and is an example of Leviticus 26 coming to pass. However, Nehemiah, he acknowledges that. But what does he go on to do? He goes on to continue praying God's promises in verse 9. And he quotes Deuteronomy 30. And that's a long text, but I just want to give you three verses. So Nehemiah Deuteronomy 30:es 1-3 says, "And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse God is speaking which I have set before you and you call them to mind among the nations where the Lord your God has driven you." What is God saying? You'll be scattered for disobedience. But if my people will remember, if they will, if they will bring these things to mind, my promises to them. Verse two, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice and all that I command you today with all your heart and with all your soul. Then the Lord your God will what? Restore your fortunes and have mercy on you. and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. All that's to say this, Nehemiah is counting, banking on the promises of God in scripture. God, we've disobeyed you and you did what you said you would do. Scattered us among the nations. I'm a living example. But God, if we return to you and do what you tell us to do, your promise also is you will gather us together again. So what is Nehemiah actually saying? God, you were faithful to scatter us. Our scattering is actually an example of you being faithful to your promise. So if you scattered us when we disobeyed you and we can we know that and can trust in that, what can we also do? We could trust that you would gather us if we do obey you. If God kept his promise in scattering, he'll keep his promise in reathering. And Nehemiah takes this to heart. He's I'm He says, I'm simply praying according to your word and your promises. Do the promises of God fill your prayer life? For example, Lord, I feel alone. I'm broken. I'm hurting. But you said in your word that what? You will never leave me nor forsake me. God, I know and am confident you haven't because you said you wouldn't. Or Lord, what I'm going through isn't good. I can't stand this. This is hard. But you promise, you said in your word that all things work together for good to those who love you according to your purposes. The Bible doesn't say all things are good. It says Romans 8:28, he will work all things good and bad together for good of good purpose to those who love God according to his purpose. Well, I love you, Lord. And this doesn't feel good right right now, but I know even if I don't feel it, I know and am confident that you will use it for good. Why? Because you said so in your word. That's why. This is confidence. And I could go on, but these are just a few promises in the New Testament that we can pray and hold on to. The question is, do we know them? Because a lot of times we're just ignorant of God's word and his promises. We just don't know what they are. and we're left with an empty prayer life because we just don't know God's word. Are we familiar enough with God's word that we know his promises? Nehemiah knew God's word so well that his brokenness over Jerusalem even though he's broken over Jerusalem, he could take hold of what God said. I know what God's word says. Leviticus 26 is why we're scattered. But Deuteronomy 30 is why I'm about to go do something about it, right? Nehemiah is simply saying, "We deserve this because we disobeyed you. Now, God, Lord, you've redeemed us. Please give me success as I prepare to do something about it." So, let's read verses 2 or I'm sorry, chapter 2 1-8. But if you want a strong prayer life, start praying like that. All right. Verse one. During the month of Nissan, not not your Nissan Ultima, um Nissan, in the 20th year of King Ard Xerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence. So the king said to me, "Why are you sad when you aren't sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart." I was overwhelmed with fear. And replied to the king, "May the king live forever. Why should I not be sad when the city where my ancestors are buried lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed by fire? Then the king asked me, "What is your request?" So I prayed to the God of the heavens and answered the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, send me to Judah and to the city where my ancestors are buried, so that I may rebuild it." The king with the queen seated beside him asked me, "How long will your journey take and when will you return?" So I gave him a definite time and it pleased the king to send me. I also said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let me have letters written to the governors of the region west of the Euphrates River, which would be on your way to Israel, so that they will grant me safe passage until I reach Judah." And verse 8, let me have a letter written to Asaf, keeper of the king's forest, so that he will give me timber to rebuild the gates of the temple's fortress, the city wall, and get this, the home where I will live. I like that. The king granted my request for the gracious hand of my God was on me. And we'll start with verse 9 next week. So, I thought, you know, we have a how-to guide on uh strong prayer. Why not a how-to guide for boldness? So, this is our next section, how-to guide for boldness. And the first thing we see that I want you to see is Nehemiah doesn't go to the king until he spent time with the King of Kings. So, the month of Nissan is late March, early April time frame. So, basically four months have passed. Nehemiah's been praying. I don't want you to think like, oh, this was one night he went home, prayed, fasted, and then show up to the king's door making demands uh or making requests um the next day. No, four months have passed. It's still the 20th year of Art of Xerxes, so it's the same year. And so, he's been praying, fasting, mourning, and weeping, coming before God, the King of Kings, for 4 months before he approached the king of Persia. Now, what you must know is that serving the king and being in his presence was a big deal. The king was to always have the best. For example, if you do remember the book of Daniel, there's just a lot of similarities right now, so I use Daniel, but if you remember the beginning of Daniel chapter 1, they only wanted the most handsome men to serve the king. So they take a bunch of Jewish uh people exile, but they say, "Hey, find the good-looking ones and make have them serve King Nebuchadnezzar, right?" So we know that Daniel was must have been a good-looking man. I wouldn't have been serving the king. Um but Daniel was and and his buddies as well. Um but what what is that? That tells us, right? The king, whether it was Babylonian or Persian, the king was to be shielded from what is lackluster, right? From what is sad or maybe deemed um ugly or not up to par. The king was supposed to only have the best, and that included servants. And so, one thing you wouldn't do in front of the king is be sad. Even if you're feeling sad, you put on a smile. You're expected to smile and serve the king with gladness. expected to be like, "My pleasure, Chick-fil-A, right? My pleasure. My pleasure." Uh, serve with a smile, right? Every time, no matter how your day is going, no frowning allowed. Which is why Nehemiah is overwhelmed with fear in verse two, right? He's like, "So now I'm really afraid because the king's addressing my sadness. He can't hide it anymore." But Nehemiah's ready. Why? because he spent four months before the King of Kings. God's been using the school of prayer to ready him and so he is going to boldly proclaim his concern. And I love verse four. It says, "So I prayed to the God of heavens and then I told the king." Right? This had to have been in my estimation a quick like two second prayer. Lord, here we go. Right? I prayed and I told him. Um and I love that. Right? Whether you pray for 4 months or 4 seconds, cultivating a daily prayer life is so vital. And Nehemiah, it was vital for him. It should be for us. Nehemiah says a short prayer and makes his request. But his boldness comes from the fact that he's been in the presence of the God of heaven. He doesn't have to be afraid of the ruler of Persia who could kill him, right, for being for not liking him in his face. But when he's been, he doesn't have to fear the ruler of Persia when he's in line with the ruler of the universe. Right? But how often do we fear man over God? We fear what people think more than we fear what God thinks. And sometimes we live to please people over God. One of my favorite verses, favorite lines of Christ, especially when I was um at at the police department, but my favorite line is Matthew 10:28. And that says this, this is Jesus speaking. And he says, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Have you ever pondered just that verse? If not, I challenge you to. Have you ever just sat and thought, hus, don't you worry about people, even people who can kill you. Don't worry about them. It's fine. Even if you do die, don't worry about it because you're coming to heaven, right? But don't fear them. Rather, fear what? Him. Jesus is like, "Fear me. Fear God." Why? Because although man can take your physical life, no man can destroy your soul, only God can do that. It should reorient our thinking, right? Because although man can do these things to your physical body, they cannot destroy your soul. Read martyr stories. Fox's book of martyrs would be a good place to start. But boldness in a world becoming increasingly hostile to God, the Bible, and Christian values comes from being in the presence of Almighty God. Regardless of anyone's opinion of any human government, there is the King, the God of heaven, that we will all stand before and that we should all fear. spend time in the presence of the king of the universe and be bold in your walk with the Lord. So the second thing that I want us to see is this. Nehemiah balances his strategizing with the ultimate plan of God. Nehemiah shows us the perfect balance, right, of strategizing and then trusting God. Making plans doesn't mean you don't trust God, right? We got lots of plans across church. Starting two new churches, a Spanish-sp speakaking church, a glacia de la Cruz and cross church mayor. All kinds of plans. What what is most important? Those plans are submitted though to God. Right? Nehemiah's got all kinds of plans. He says, "I need a letter so the governors west of us don't bother me." Right? I uh need wood timber to wood and timber to rebuild the wall and and all this stuff. And oh, by the way, um, I need a house, bro. I love how he's like, "And I also need a place to live. Provide me my house. Hook me up with some supplies to build my house, king." That's boldness, right? The boldest statement in my opinion, I will say that. But the boldest statement Nehemiah makes is telling the king he's going to rebuild the gates and walls of people not named Persia. Because Persia is the current world power right now. And you wouldn't want as the world power, you wouldn't want other nations fortifying themselves, right? What if they rebel? What if they try to overthrow Persian rule? So, it's in Persia's favor that other nations are in shambles. But we know that God is working in his people. None of that mattered because God's plan is taking place and Nehemiah knew it. And so, the king granted his request. But look at you. You see Nehemiah is like, "Yeah, the king granted my request because of God." That's why God's gracious hand on Nehemiah. He attributes his success to God alone. Nehemiah's foundation for his life is built on prayer and his boldness and confidence in God grew because of it. And so our our closing thought and then I've got a few other thoughts for you. I know it's getting a little late, but our closing thought is this. Reflect on your own prayer life. Is prayer the foundation you build everything else on? Now I want to say this um because I love how in Nehemiah God's word f motivates and fills his action. A lot of times many Christians struggle to know like the will of God for their life, right? Like what's the will of God for me? And part of the problem is we treat knowing the will of God like it's this super mysterious puzzle that we have to put together, right? And we get so preoccupied with trying to find God's will that sometimes we don't do anything and we ignore the fact that God has already told us his will in scripture. How did Nehemiah figure out what he should do? It's pretty simple really actually. Um God kept his I know God's word. I've studied it. I know Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Um if God kept his word when we disobeyed, chances are he'll keep his word when we obey. God sent his people to rebuild the temple. That's what they're supposed to do. His gates and walls. And the people aren't doing it. I know what I should do. Go do that. That's what motivates him to go back and do it because God's word says that this should happen and it's not happening. I'm going to go do something about it. Go do what God said to do. So, what if I told you real quick that I know God's will for your life? Be like, "What? I'm not talking about some secret will, but I know God's will for your life. I know that God has already told you his will for you. For example, 1 Peter 2:15 says, "For this is the will of God, that by doing good, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people." So, the will of God is for us to do good things. And the byproduct of that is silencing ignorant and foolish people. There you go. That's one. That's one way you can live out God's will for your life. God's will is also this. Number two, 1 Thessalonians 4:3. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. So what is Paul saying there? God's will is that you be sanctified more and more like Jesus Christ every day and abstain from sexual immorality. That's God's will, right? Grow in your relationship with God and stay away from sexual immorality. So I want you to understand this. As you're growing in your relationship with Jesus Christ, it gets deeper and grows. That's God's will. When you say no to sexual immorality, you're doing God's will. Does that make sense? I hope it does. That you're literally doing it. It's not rocket science, right? God says it. This is the will of God for you, for the church. I have a third one, a third will of God for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and 18 says, "Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. So we can also say God's will for all of us is that you pray and thank him all the time. It's God's will. So we could sum it up this way. God's will is for us to do good, reject sin, and pray with thanksgiving all the time. Whether or not you should take that job or marry that person or start this new project are all things to seek God over. Yes, I'm not detracting from that. We seek the Lord for specific directions in our life. But how often do we forget that God's word already told us his will in other areas of our life. Nehemiah is not sitting around like, "Oh Lord, what should I do? Tell me. Tell me what to do." Um, I don't know, but I mean, stinks to be them, but I wish I could do something about it. No, no, no, no. He's like, wait a minute, wait a minute. This says this and this says this. If you read the rest of Daniel's um, what prompts Daniel's prayer that's just like Nehemiah's is the fact that he was reading Jeremiah and was like, it's supposed to, our exile in Babylon is supposed to be 70 years. It's become 70 years. I'm going to go to the Lord and pray for our return. It was informed by scripture. And so, what I'm trying to say is this. The will of God for our lives is clear. Nehemiah knew God's word and acted accordingly. May we do the same. If we're going to do bold things for the kingdom of God, expand, make Jesus known in our community, promote and serve and support Eglesia de la Cruz and cross church mayor. and following Nehemiah's example will be why. So, I want to invite the worship team up and uh I'll close us in a word of prayer, but I want to challenge us to inform and fill our prayers with scripture. Um, and I forgot to mention that at 9:00 a.m. service, but we've started uh one way that you can do this is by coming tomorrow morning, Monday mornings, every Monday morning uh from 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 if you're available. Yes, it's early morning prayer, but we have that offered here um in right here in the sanctuary. It's come and go as you please. There'll be light music playing in the background and you can just spend time with the Lord. You can come for the whole hour and a half. You can come for five minutes and leave to go to work. Um, that's just one opportunity. We make this available for you to come pray and be in the presence of God. And like I said, hey, tomorrow's Monday. What attribute of God will you dwell on for a couple minutes? And what sins can you confess to him? And what promises can you lay hold of because you're going what? Because of whatever you're going through in your life right now. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this morning. And we acknowledge that we come before the God of heaven. speaks of your sovereignty and your control, God. We come before the almighty God of the universe. And I confess that we've sinned, God. We've acted corruptly. We don't keep your word perfectly. But then we look to the one who did, Jesus Christ, our personal Lord and Savior. We sang it. Christ be magnified in us. God, help us to become more and more like you. That's your will. Your will is that we would be conformed to your image, to your likeness, God, that we would just simply be transformed by the renewing of our mind every day to be more and more like Christ. That's God's will. Help us, Lord, to be men and women of prayer and boldness in Jesus name. Amen. Let's uh stand as we sing our last song.