# Sunday Setup – Nehemiah 11 & 12

Sermon transcript from Cross Church Surprise.
Series: Sunday Setup
Date: February 12, 2026
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/surprise/episodes/sunday-setup-nehemiah-11-12

## Summary

What does it mean to have a willing heart in service to God? Are we ready to celebrate and dedicate our lives like the people of Jerusalem? Discover how gratitude and joy can transform our approach to serving others. Let's dive in together!

## Transcript

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 [music] Hey guys, what's up? Um, today 
 we are going to be talking about 
 Nehemiah 11 and chapter 12. Uh, super 
 excited about this passage. [music] 
 Uh we're going to be talking about 
 willing hearts. And I'm just going to 
 read to you a couple of the verses in 
 these two chapters. There's a lot to go 
 into uh a lot to talk about in these 
 chapters. Uh but we're going to read a 
 couple of these verses. Uh starting out 
 with uh chapter 11 1-4. Uh let's dive in 
 and let's start reading. [clears throat] 
 Now the leaders Now the leaders of the 
 people stayed in Jerusalem and the rest 
 of the people cast lots for one out of 
 10 to come and live in Jerusalem, the 
 holy city. While the other 9/10ens 
 remained in their towns, the people 
 blessed all the men who volunteered to 
 live in Jerusalem. These are the heads 
 of the providence who stayed in 
 Jerusalem. But in the villages of Judea, 
 each lived on his own property in their 
 towns, the Israelites, 
 priests, Levites, temple servants, and 
 descendants [music] of Solomon's 
 servants, while some of the descendants 
 of Judah and Benjamin settled [music] in 
 Jerusalem. 
 See, we right here we see um the willing 
 hearts of the people that [music] 
 God had already blessed. Um God put 
 these people in the position uh to lead 
 his holy city. And but what the cool 
 thing about this I just want to point 
 out is the posture of these people that 
 were just willing to go serve and they 
 were blessed by God. They were appointed 
 by God. And uh I just want to [music] 
 just kind of echo their heart. Um, every 
 time I think about uh how I serve and 
 where God has put me in a position 
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 um to lead students, to lead on soccer 
 and football fields, uh to lead in first 
 impressions, [music] 
 um I know it is given by God that I'm in 
 that position. And um I just love their 
 posture here. [music] I love that 
 they're willing even though God has 
 chosen them, they're still saying yes. 
 They're saying, "Yeah, God, I will go 
 and serve you. I'm willing to surrender 
 to you. I'm willing to put my trust that 
 you will provide and you will protect me 
 in this holy city. And that's what I 
 kind of want to do. I want to pray in 
 this first prompt right here. I want to 
 pray, hey Jesus, help us to have the 
 same posture as these people. Jesus, 
 help us to have a willing heart like 
 these people. Help us to be ready to go 
 surrender to him, to go trust in him, to 
 provide and protect us in all that we 
 do. Let's go ahead and pray those things 
 right now. 
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 >> And next we see is all the names um all 
 the names that were willing to live in 
 the city of Jerusalem. 
 And that's in verses 3- 24. I won't read 
 all the names there. Um I'm not even 
 going to read all the names that were 
 outside of Jerusalem as well. Um those 
 names are in 25-36. [music] 
 And then we see the priests and the 
 Levites um that [music] get called to 
 their positions. And that is in chapter 
 12 uh 1 through 
 uh 1- 26. Those are those priests and 
 Levites. And right here is where I want 
 to pick [music] up in 27. We talk about 
 the dedication of the wall. The 
 dedication, the wall [music] that 
 they've been building, the wall that 
 they have been striving to just have a 
 city. And this is where we pick up on 
 27. It says at the dedication of the 
 wall of Jerusalem and [music] brought 
 them to Jerusalem. Oh wait, I skipped 
 the whole line. At the dedication, 
 so [clears throat] we see the dedication 
 of the wall. And it says this [music] on 
 verse 27. At the dedication of the wall 
 of Jerusalem, they sent for the Levites 
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 wherever they lived and brought them to 
 Jerusalem 
 to celebrate the joyous dedication with 
 thanksgiving and singing accompanied by 
 symbols, harps, and layers. 
 [clears throat] 
 The singers gathered from the region 
 around Jerusalem. After [music] the 
 priests and Levites had purified 
 themselves, they purified the people, 
 the city gates, and the wall. 
 Guys, I think what I love right here is 
 I love this word joyous. Uh these people 
 were joyous to [music] go serve the 
 Lord. They were excited to go serve the 
 Lord. You see the excitement that they 
 have. They're bringing all their 
 instruments. They they are ready to 
 dedicate themselves to purify themselves 
 [music] 
 before God. They are ready to serve the 
 Lord. There is like an anxiousness with 
 this. And I think this teaches us 
 several uh things in this passage that 
 we just see of them dedicating this wall 
 and getting ready to dedicate [music] 
 this wall. But this is how we should 
 anticipate how we go and do God's work, 
 [music] how we go and serve the Lord, 
 how we go to church, um how we go and 
 serve our families, how we go and 
 [music] serve the people we work with, 
 how we go and just do anything in our 
 life. We should be joyous [music] and we 
 should be ready. We should be excited 
 about going to do these things. I think 
 it just challenges us to just refocus, 
 man. Hey, where am I not joyous? Where 
 am I not joyous to go serve [music] God? 
 and and how can I correct that? How can 
 I look like these people that are just 
 [music] excited to go celebrate what God 
 is doing in their city? How can we do 
 that in our homes? So, let's pray right 
 now just in that God, how how [music] 
 can I just be more joyous? How can it be 
 just more joyous to go serve you? 
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 Let's do that now. Let's pray. 
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 >> Finally they they get ready to um be 
 excited and they dedicate [music] this 
 wall. And after the dedication of the 
 wall and after this celebration they go 
 go through um it doesn't stop there. 
 [music] um they start supporting the 
 Levites and let's read from 44 until 
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 46 and it says this on the same on that 
 same day men were placed in charge of 
 the rooms that house the supplies 
 contributions [music] 
 first fruits and tents. The le 
 [clears throat] 
 the legally required portions for the 
 priests and the [music] Levites were 
 gathered from the village fields because 
 Judah was grateful for the priests and 
 Levites who were serving. They performed 
 the service of their [music] God 
 and the servant the service of 
 purification along [music] with the 
 singers and the gate and gatekeepers 
 as David and his son Solomon [music] had 
 prescribed. For long ago in the days of 
 David, there were heads 
 of the singers and songs of praise and 
 thanksgiving [music] 
 to God. The thing I just love here, I we 
 just see the gratitude that's 
 overflowing out of the people. These 
 people are just grateful for the 
 Levites. They're grateful [music] for 
 the people they put in charge to go run 
 the holy city. And we just see this is 
 what true citizens look like [music] in 
 God's kingdom that's just overflowing 
 with gratitude, overflowing towards 
 their God. That God, thank you for 
 remembering us. Thank you for 
 remembering all the things that we have 
 done, but you still have not forgotten 
 us. You have made us a priority still in 
 your life, in your mind, in our lives, 
 in our time. right here. I just love 
 this this part [music] where it says, 
 "For long ago, for long ago, God has 
 never forgotten any of us." And I just 
 every time I read this, I just think, 
 man, thank you, God. I'm grateful 
 [music] that you've never forgotten me. 
 You never forgot my wife. You have never 
 forgotten my kids. For long ago, you 
 made me a priority. You made you, you 
 guys watching today, [music] you were a 
 priority in God's thoughts and God's 
 mind. And um I just want to pray through 
 that and just be grateful just like 
 these people. I just want to pray pray 
 [music] a prayer of gratefulness that 
 man we have a such a gracious God. We 
 have a merciful God. We have a graceful 
 God. And um I just want to pray those 
 things and and however you feel ready to 
 pray and just [music] to express your 
 gratitude to your God and let's just do 
 that right now. Let's just pray and say 
 thank you God. Thank you for always 
 being gracious to me and I am grateful 
 for you. Let's pray. [music] 
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 >> Thanks guys for uh reading with us and 
 being a part of the Sunday setup. We'll 
 see you on Sunday. Peace. [music] 
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