What does it mean to truly reflect on our past and acknowledge our sins? How can worship lead us to a deeper understanding of God’s faithfulness? Join us as we explore Nehemiah 9 and discover the transformative power of confession and gratitude. Let's dive in together!
Prayer Prompts
Use these prompts to guide your prayer time as we prepare our hearts for Sunday.
Lord, we come together in worship, acknowledging that You are the only God who can heal our brokenness and restore our hearts; may we always remember Your greatness and the unique power You hold in our lives.
As we reflect on our sins and their consequences, we confess that because of our sins, we often feel lost and anxious; yet we thank You, Lord, for Your forgiveness and the new life we have in Christ, empowering us to move forward in faith.
Hey, Cross Church family and welcome to
the Sunday setup. This our time each
week where Thursdays at 2 o'clock we
gather digitally together across our
platforms to really prepare our hearts
for this coming weekend as we dive into
a text that we are going to praise
through it that we're going to preach
through it. We're going to start praying
through it right now so we can practice
it next week. But we start here in
Nehemiah uh looking at chapter nine. And
in Nehemiah chapter 9, uh we're going to
be a big chapter and and we're not going
to read all of this on today's video and
we're going to break it up, but it's
important how this starts out in
Nehemiah continues on. And he says this,
Nehemiah chapter 9, starting in verse
one, it reads this way. On the 24th day
of this month, the Israelites assembled.
They were fasting, wearing sackcloth,
and had put dust on their heads. Those
of Israelite descent separated
themselves from all the foreigners, and
they stood and confessed their sins and
the iniquities of their ancestors. While
they stood in their places, they read
from the book of the law of the Lord
their God for a fourth of the day, and
spent another fourth the day in
confession, in worship of the Lord their
God. Jesua, Bonnie, Camdil, Shabban,
Bunai, Sherbabath, Bonnie, Chennai stood
on the raised platform built for the
Levites, and they cried out loudly to
the Lord their God. Then the Levites,
Jesua, Cadmile, Bonnie, Hashbath,
Sherba, Hodiah, Shabbaniah, and Pat
said, listen to this. Stand up. Blessed
be the Lord your God from everlasting to
everlasting. Blessed be your glorious
name and may be exalted above all
blessing in praise.
And then they're going into this time
and they say, "You, Lord, are the only
God." And then here's what's so cool
about this, and we're going to dive more
into this on Sunday, but they summarize
the Old Testament. They talk about the
creation. They talk about the Exodus.
They talk about the prosperous time of
the kings and going into the promised
land. They talk about the exile. They
talk about the prophets. And they
essentially summarize what has happened
in the Old Testament up to this point
and how even though they have failed,
that God has been faithful. And near the
end of this chapter, I want to pick back
up in verse 36. After they do this real
this summary of the Old Testament, it
then comes to the current time. And this
is the Levites teaching in verse 36.
Here we are today,
slaves in the land that you gave our
ancestors so that they could enjoy its
fruit and its goodness. Here we are
slaves in it. Its abundant harvest goes
to the kings you have set over us.
Because of our sins,
they rule over our bodies and our
livestock as they please, we are in
great distress.
You see, in Nehemiah's story, as it
continues and they get to chapter 9, as
the walls are built, as the people are
being built up, as they have read from
the book of the law and all of a sudden
they're responding to God's word, it
brings them to this self-reflection
where they need to address the sin in
their life. And as they start to address
the sin in their life, first it starts
with this feeling of worship and this
reverence for who God is. And we see in
verse 5 and six they say blessed be your
glorious name that you are God
everlasting that you Lord are the only
God.
And I want our first prayer prompt to be
this prompt of worship uh to our Lord.
And here's our first one is Lord you are
the only God who can blank.
You see we have a God who is the God of
all gods. We have the God who is greater
than everything. We have the God who is
the creator. We have the God who, as
this chapter lays out, does amazing
things that nothing, no one else,
nothing else in our universe can do. Is
that God, you are the only God who can
pray that prayer to our Lord.
We pray that you are the only God who
can save us. You are the only God who
can die for our sins. You are the only
God who can give us new life. You are
the only God who can heal, who can
restore, who can change the course of
our life.
God, we thank you that you are
different, that you are one of a kind,
that you are something greater than
anything else in our world. Lord, we
worship you, the only God.
But God, we don't just worship you, but
when we look at your holiness and see
how great you are, how set apart you
are, we're reminded of the things that
are holding us back as the things of our
own making. The sin that is in our
world, the sin that is not our fault
that just hurts us by being a product in
this broken world, but also the sin that
we are directly causing that's leading
to our downfall. in verse 37 as they're
reflecting on they're in a bad place in
so many ways that they've been in exile
that they're still slaves in this land
that they're not living according to the
purpose that God has for them. They
don't say it's because of these other
people it's because of our forefathers.
Instead they say it's because of our
sins.
And here I want us just to pray a prayer
of reflection but also asking and kind
of acknowledging God's forgiveness. It's
just this small one is Lord because of
my sins. I blank. Because of my sins,
God, I'm still afraid. Because of my
sins, I'm still anxious, God. Because of
my sins, I'm angry. Maybe at my
circumstances. Because of my sins, I
whatever that is. Maybe you're lost.
Maybe you're not where you want to be.
But thank you that you have forgiven me,
God. Because of my sins, I blank fill
that in. But thank you that you have
forgiven me. Pray those prayers to our
God.
God, because of our sin, Lord, we fall
out of your will at times, God. We get
off track. We get distracted. We get
comfortable. We get anxious. We get
depressed. We get angry. We get prideful
because of our sin. We see all the
consequences that are not as you desire.
But God, we thank you that your
forgiveness still covers that sin. That
you give us a greater path to run to.
That we don't have to be marked by our
own sin. We don't have to dwell on our
sin. We don't have to be stuck in the
past. But Lord, we can rejoice in the
new life that you have given us through
the salvation of your sacrifice because
of the salvation of Jesus Christ.
God, we we confess our sin. God, we
repent of it. But Lord, we look on to
the greater things you have for us. God,
thank you for this time as we just
prepare our hearts to just take in this
passage that is just filled with so
much. and and Lord, we just ask that you
prepare our hearts as we gather together
in worship on Sunday and as we go to
take your word out through the rest of
our week. God, we just lift all this up
in the saving name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Thank you guys for joining us today.
We'll see you this Sunday.
Hey,