Sunday Setup – Nehemiah 4

[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] Hey church family, what's up? Hey, happy Thanksgiving. Uh we are recording this uh early so you guys can uh spend time with your family, but this is the Sunday setup uh where we read through our passage that we're going to go over on Sunday and then we pray through that passage as well. So, we hope that you guys enjoy this. We hope you enjoy your time with your family. It's going to be a great time and uh yeah, let's just dive right in as we start the Sunday setup. So, here we go. We're going to be in Nehemiah 4 1-23. I'm super excited, super honored just to to read this passage with you guys and to go through this passage with you on Sunday. But as we go, here we go. Uh Nehemiah 4:1 and we start. When Sambalt heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became furious. He mocked the Jews before his colleagues and [music] the power and the p and the powerful men of Samaria and said, "What are these pathetic [music] Jews doing? Can they restore it by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they ever finish it? They can they bring these burnt stones back to life from the mounds of rubble?" Then Tobaya the Ammonite who was beside him said indeed even if a fox climbed up when they are building he would break down their stone wall. Listen our God for we are despised. Make their insults return on their on their own heads and let them be taken as plunder to the land of captivity. Do not cover their guilt or let the let their sin be erased from your sight because they have angered the builders. [music] So we rebuilt the wall [clears throat] until the entire wall was joined together up to half its height for the people had the will uh to keep working. When Sambalt, Tobaya, and and the Arabs, Ammonites and Ashelites heard that the rep the repair of the walls of Jerusalem was progressing and that the ga the gaps were being closed. They [music] became furious. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and throw it into confusion. So we prayed to our God and and stationed a guard because of them day and [music] night. In Judah it was said the strength of the laborer fails since there is so much rubble. We will never be able to rebuild the wall. And our enemy said they won't realize it until we until we're among them and can kill them and stop the work. When the Jews who lived nearby arrived, they said to us time and again where everywhere we turn, everywhere you turn, [music] they attack us. So I station people behind the lowest sections of the wall at the vulnerable areas. I station them by the families with their own swords, spears, [music] and bows. After I made an inspection, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, "Do not be afraid of them. Remember the great and awe inspiring Lord, and fight for your countrymen, your sons and daughters, your wives and homes." When our enemies heard that we knew their scheme and that God had frustrated it, [music] every one of us returned to his own work on the wall. From that day on, half of my men did the work while the other half had spears, shields, bows, [music] and ammer and armor. The officers supported all of the people of Judah who were rebuilding the wall. The laborers who carried the loads worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other. Each of the builders had his sword strapped around his waist while he was building. And the one who sounded the ram's horn was [music] beside him. When I said to the nobles, the officers, and the rest of the people, "The work is enormous [music] and spread out, and we are separated far from one another along the wall. Whenever you hear the sound of the ram's horn, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us. So we continue to work. So we continued to work while half of the men were holding spears from daybreak until [music] the stars came out. At that time I also said to the people, "Let everyone of his servants spend the night inside Jerusalem so that they can stand guard by night and work by day. And I, my brothers, my servants, and the men of the guard with me never took off our clothes. Each [music] carried his weapon even when washing." [panting] H guys, as our first prayer prompt, um I just want to highlight, man, how do we respond? We see Nehemiah when he's hearing all these these um um attacks against the Jewish people, when he hears all these attacks towards them, um he doesn't respond in his own anger. He responds with the Lord's anger. And and that's what I kind of want to pray through right now is this is um God Jesus um God Jesus, [music] how do we respond in um how do we respond in kindness? [music] How do we respond in God's justice? Uh how do we respond in his holiness? Um it was God's holiness that that Nehemiah leaned on of how he was going to respond to every objection, every oppression that was happening there. um how are we going to respond like Jesus? So let's take that time right now and say Jesus help us to respond in help us to respond in. Let's do that right now. [music] [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Um, as As we move into the second um prayer response, I I want to highlight um towards the end of this chapter, a little bit of what we're building up towards and what we're seeing from Nehemiah. Nehemiah was always ready. And I just love his attitude. I just love how he's always ready to do the Lord's work. How he's always ready to be a servant for [music] God. How he's always ready no matter what comes his way. He's always willing to suffer for Jesus and and just endure those things. do the things that that Jesus would ask him or that God would ask him to do. And uh guys, I just I want to pray about this, man. How how are we going to be ready? How are we going to be ready to do um things that are hard? We see at the end of this chapter, man, that man, they were dirty. They didn't take off their clothes. They carried their weapons in their wash areas. Sometimes following Jesus is not the most pleasant thing. And um I just want to pray through this. Man, we're going to face a lot of opposition in our life when we follow Jesus. It's not going to be the coolest thing all the time, but man, how can we be ready to suffer for Jesus? How can we be ready to do the things that are uncomfortable? How can we be ready to go endure for him and go suffer for him, go do his kingdom work? And that's the time I just want to spend right now, man. Lord Jesus, how can we be ready to blank? Jesus, how can we be ready to blank? Let's play pray through through that right now. Let's pray uh about that of just how we can get have a ready heart to go do hard things [music] for his kingdom. Let's pray right now. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Jesus, uh just help us to be ready for whatever you ask us go to go do um you ask us to do amazing things for your glory for for [music] your kingdom. And God, I just ask you to please bless us as a church. Put on our hearts to be ready to go do the things that you're going to ask us to go do. And sometimes it's not it's not going to be the most pleasant thing to do. It's not going to be the most comfortable thing to do, but it is going to be the most glorious thing we could ever do. And that is proclaiming your name, proclaiming your heavens, proclaiming your [music] gospel, proclaiming your son Jesus Christ that died on the cross for our sins so that we could have eternal life. And that he is alive today and he wants to be in the lives of many people. God, help us to be ready to go do hard things for you and just to [music] embrace whatever you call us to do. We love you, Lord, and we're just thankful for everything you do for us each and every day in Jesus' name. Amen. Guys, super excited to join you this Sunday. We hope to see you there. Have a great Thanksgiving and we'll see you on Sunday. Peace. [music] [music] >> [music] [music]