# Sunday Setup – Nehemiah 6

Sermon transcript from Cross Church Surprise.
Series: Sunday Setup
Date: January 9, 2026
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/surprise/episodes/sunday-setup-nehemiah-6

## Summary

Are you facing opposition while pursuing your God-given goals? How do we stay focused and resilient when distractions arise? Join us as we explore Nehemiah 6 and discover how God empowers us to overcome challenges and accomplish His work. Let's dive in together!

## Transcript

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 [music] Hey, cross church. Welcome to 
 the Sunday setup. This is a time each 
 week that we gather digitally together 
 to prepare our hearts for the words that 
 God has for us in order to prepare our 
 hearts to dive into God's word and to 
 let it propel us this next week into how 
 he would live our lives. Today we are 
 looking at Nehemiah chapter 6 as we 
 continue on in our series. in in 
 Nehemiah chapter 6 as they're continuing 
 on in this building project with seeing 
 the end near um that they have been 
 working on throughout this story. We 
 pick up in verse one and we'll go just 
 in a little bit to the first couple 
 verses of chapter 7 as well. But it 
 reads like this. When Sandbalot, Tobaya, 
 Gisham, the Aram, and the rest of our 
 enemies heard that I had rebuilt the 
 wall and there was no gap left in it. 
 Though at the time I had not installed 
 the doors in the city gates, Sand Ballot 
 and Gisham sent me a [music] message. 
 Come, let's meet together in the village 
 of Ono of the Ono Valley. They were 
 planning to harm me. So I sent 
 messengers them saying, "I am doing 
 important work and cannot come down. Why 
 should the work seize while I leave it 
 and go down to you?" Four times they 
 sent me the same proposal. And I gave 
 them the same reply. Sand Ballot sent me 
 the same message a fifth time by his aid 
 who had an open letter in his hand. And 
 it was written, it is reported among the 
 nations and Gisham agrees that you and 
 the Jews plan to rebel. This is the 
 reason you are building the wall. 
 According to these reports, you are to 
 become their king and have even set up 
 the prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim on 
 your behalf. There is a king in Judah. 
 These rumors will be heard by the king. 
 So come, let's confer together. Then I 
 replied to him, there is nothing to 
 these rumors you [music] are spreading. 
 You are inventing them in your own mind. 
 For they will all they were all trying 
 to intimidate us saying they will drop 
 their hands from the work and it will 
 never be finished. But now my God 
 strengthen my hands. I went to the house 
 of Shemiah son of Delia son of Mahabel 
 who was restricted to his house. He said 
 let's meet at the house of God inside 
 the temple. Let's shut the temple doors 
 because they're coming to kill you. 
 They're coming to kill you tonight. But 
 I said should a man like me run away? 
 How can someone live like me, enter the 
 temple and live? I will not go. I 
 realized that God had not sent him 
 because of the prophecy he spoke against 
 me. Tobiiah and Sand Ballot had hired 
 him. He was hired so that I would be 
 intimidated so do as he suggested sin 
 and get a bad reputation in order that 
 they could discredit me. My God, 
 remember Tobi and Sandbell for what they 
 have done and also the prophetus Noadiah 
 and the other prophets who wanted to 
 intimidate me. Verse 15. The wall was 
 completed in 52 days. And on the 25th 
 day of the month of Alul. When all our 
 enemies heard this, all the surrounding 
 nations were intimidated, and they lost 
 their confidence. For they realized that 
 this task had been accomplished by our 
 God. During those days, the nobles of 
 Judah sent many letters to Tobias, and 
 Tobaya's letters came to them. For many 
 in Judah were bound by oath to him since 
 he was a son-in-law of Sheckchham, son 
 of Ara, and his son of Jehoan, and 
 married the daughter of Mashulam, son of 
 Baraki. These nobles kept mentioning 
 Tobaya's good deeds to me, and they 
 reported my words to him, and Tobaya 
 sent letters to intimidate me. 
 Chapter 7:1, 
 this part is so great because it ties 
 into this narrative in chapter 6. It 
 says, "When the walls had been rebuilt 
 and I had the doors installed, the 
 gatekeepers, singers, and Levites were 
 appointed. Then I put my brother Haniah 
 in charge of Jerusalem along with 
 Haniah, commander of the fortress, 
 because he was a faithful man who feared 
 God more than the most." I said to them, 
 "Do not open the gates of Jerusalem 
 until the sun is hot. And let the doors 
 be shut and securely fastened while the 
 guards are in duty. Station the citizens 
 of Jerusalem as guards, some at their 
 post and some at their home." And the 
 city was large and spacious, but there 
 were few people in it, and no houses had 
 been built yet. 
 Then my God put it into my mind. And 
 we're going to stop right there and 
 reflect on this passage that all of this 
 has been building. And we're only 
 halfway through the book of this huge 
 construction project, this huge vision 
 that is starting to come to reality of 
 these walls being built that had been 
 laid to waste for 150 years. And as he's 
 doing it, there's at this home stretch a 
 [music] as Nehemiah is starting to 
 finish this project, there is so much 
 opposition that comes. And as all this 
 opposition comes, Nehemiah [music] 
 stands firm. But you just see some of 
 the ways that he describes it and some 
 of the ways he constantly points to God. 
 And in verse 16, I just love this. This 
 is our first prayer prompt that will 
 guide this. It says, "This task had been 
 accomplished by God." I want to start us 
 off with just a word of praise as we 
 look forward to this week. Is God you 
 have accomplished blank. Just think of 
 some of the things God has accomplished 
 uh in creation, God has accomplished 
 throughout history, but God has also 
 accomplished in your personal life is 
 God, you have accomplished blank. Pray 
 those prayers [music] to our God. 
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 >> Heat. Heat. 
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 >> God, you have accomplished so much. So 
 much that we don't even realize. But you 
 tell us some of your accomplishments 
 through accomplishments through your 
 word. You built these walls. You 
 restored Israel in this time. God, you 
 would bring an ultimate restoration to 
 your people through your savior, through 
 yourself [music] in Jesus Christ. God, 
 you accomplished a defeating sin. God, 
 you accomplish uh one day completely 
 renewing all creation to what it was 
 originally intended to be. God, every 
 great thing that is accomplished in our 
 world is only accomplished through you 
 and because of you. And God, we 
 celebrate what you accomplish. But God, 
 we also realize how we are to be a part 
 of that and how we are to do your work 
 that is guided by you. In verse 9, 
 Nehemiah as he's continuing to push 
 forward despite the intimidations, 
 despite the opposition, despite people 
 constantly pushing back, he says this, 
 "But now my God, strengthen my hands." 
 God accomplishes the projects in our 
 life. God accomplishes the vision that 
 we cannot achieve on our own. But God 
 also uses us as vessels to help make 
 those a reality. And he does it through 
 ways like this. And sometimes we need to 
 pray to be that vessel. And we need to 
 pray for God to strengthen [music] us. 
 So in this second prayer prompt as we 
 think about and we worship God for the 
 ways that he has accomplished [music] 
 things. And the second one we ask of how 
 he can use us. And this prayer prompt is 
 simple. It's just God strengthen me too. 
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 God strengthen me to keep going and keep 
 pushing even though I'm tired. God 
 strengthen me to share my faith. God 
 strengthen me to love my neighbors. God 
 strengthen me to fight for my marriage. 
 God strengthen me to raise my kids. Pray 
 those prayers to our God. God strengthen 
 me too. [music] 
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 >> God, strengthen me to just trust your 
 plan, to be faithful in executing the 
 will that you have for my life, God, 
 just keep pushing through when when I'm 
 tired, God, when I'm anxious, when I'm 
 stressed, when I'm overwhelmed, God, 
 just strengthen my hands to keep moving 
 forward, um to keep living honorably, to 
 keep seeking you and and making sure my 
 character is strong in you rather than 
 is just dependent on my own ability. 
 God's strength in my hands to ultimately 
 make Jesus known to make you known in a 
 great way that I can't do on my own but 
 that you can do working through us. God 
 just as we look at cross church 
 strengthen us to be bold and as we 
 embark in the vision of this new year 
 that uh we not shy away. We not say 
 things are too much or too hard or too 
 big of a dream, but God, we just run 
 [music] towards the path that you have 
 laid before us. And God, we run towards 
 achieving the vision that you have shown 
 us of pushing back the darkness in our 
 world. God, strengthen us to make Jesus 
 known [music] in the communities around 
 us. God, we thank you for all that you 
 have accomplished. God, we thank you 
 that you use us and strengthen [music] 
 us to do your work. And we lift all this 
 up in Jesus holy name. Amen. Hey, thank 
 you for joining us today. We will see 
 you this Sunday as we dive in to 
 Nehemiah [music] 
 chapter 6. Have a good one. 
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 >> today.