Sunday Setup – Nehemiah 1:1-4

[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] Hey, Grass Church [music] family and welcome to the Sunday setup. This is our weekly time where we gather together digitally Thursdays at 2:00 where we get to pray through the piece of scripture that we'll be studying this Sunday and prepare our hearts for what God is doing. We want to pray through this piece of scripture so that this Sunday we can continue in prayer [music] and that preparation. We can praise through it. We can preach it and go out and practice it. But we're excited because this Sunday uh we are starting a brand new series and we're going to be going through the book of Nehemiah. And in the book of Nehemiah, as we start this new series, it's uh we're going to see all these themes about vision and building and God working through his people to do great and amazing things. We're starting in Nehemiah chapter [music] 1, and there will be weeks where there's a lot of passage here and and some of it that gets very much into the weeds and the narrative of the story. But as we start it this week, we're just going to read five verses or four verses as we start into this and see just that sets the stage for really Nehemiah's heart and how God starts to move. And in Nehemiah chapter 1, starting in verse one, it says this, "The words of Nehemiah, son of Hakali, during the month of Chisv, in the 20th year, when I was in the fortress city of Souza, Henai, one of the brothers, one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah, [music] and I questioned them about Jerusalem and the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile. They said to me, "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." And listen in verse four to Nehemiah's response. He says, "When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourn for a number of days fasting and praying before the God of the heavens. Today, as we prepare our hearts for Sunday, I want us to do two quick prompts that are going to just focus us on on how great our God is and how in need of him we are to move forward in our world. But in verse four, uh, when Nehemiah refers to God, he says he is praying and fasting before the God of the heavens. And as we start this time where we just see the superiority, the magnificent of our God is I want us to pray this is you are the God of heaven. The heavens because you are the God of heavens because maybe it's because he is holy. Because he is creator. Because he is eternal. Why do we serve the God of heavens? Not the God of the earth. Not the God of that's here today and God tomorrow. Not the God of ourself. But you are the God of the heavens. Because pray those prayers to our God. [music] [music] Heat. [music] [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> You are the God of the heavens because you are sovereign. Cuz you always have been and you always will. Because you are the creator of the entire universe. You are the God of the heavens cuz you are perfectly holy. You are the God of the heavens because you are all [music] magnificent. Because you are sovereign. Because you, Lord, are above all things. That nothing would exist without you. That God, we do not serve a God who is temporary, [music] who is here today, who is gone tomorrow. We do not serve a God who we cannot depend on all the time. You are the God of the heavens, bigger than everything else we know in our world. and we pray to you because you are worthy and because you are big enough to handle it, but we not only see how worthy our God is, but in verse four, after Nehemiah receives this news, it says he sat down and wept when he heard that his people who had gone home, his extended family and his people of God, his fellow brothers and sisters and following the God of the Old Testament of following Yahweh is when he heard that their walls were broken down, that their world was in shambles, it caused his heart to break. And when we look at our world today, there should be things that cause us to weep, that cause our hearts to break. And here a as we think about our families, as we think about our culture, as we think about those who are far from God, as we think about fellow brothers and sisters who are going through hard times, who are facing brokenness in their world, is we pray to God, God, let me weep for in this prayer, we're praying for burden. We're praying for God is to show us where things are not as he wills and let us weep over it. God, let us weep for pray those prayers to [music] our God. [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> God, we live in a broken world and always will on this side of heaven. But Lord, our heart should break and weep for those that those things that are not of your design. God, let us weep for the broken marriages [music] that uh impact us, that impact our community and the people around us. Lord, let us weep [music] for the sicknesses that run rampant through people's bodies that we don't understand, that seem [music] so unfair, yet they are still there. God, let us weep for um family dynamics and and parents and kids that things [music] are just not as they should be. God, let us weep for um God, our culture that continues to run away from you, that continues to practice [music] detestable things that Lord, sometimes we are tempted to fall into as well. God, let our hearts break that there are so many in our community, so many in our workplaces, so many in our neighborhoods, so many in our schools, so many in our circles of influence that do not know you, that do not have a relationship with you. and Lord that right now [music] are far from you and would die and be in a hell apart from you if they don't turn [music] to you with the truth of the gospel. God, let our hearts weep for the things that are not as you would have designed. And God, let it spur in us a burden and action for what you would have us do next. God, we thank you that you are the God of the heavens. Lord, we thank you that you burden our hearts to weep for the things that are not to your plan. And God, we ask that you be with us and you guide us as we go down the path to restore things to see how you make things greater. And Lord, we just lift all this up and you're powerful and you're restoring in the amazing name of Jesus Christ. [music] Amen. Hey, thank you guys for joining us today. We'll see you Sunday as we kick off the series through Nehemiah. See you. [music] [music] [music] [music] >> [music]