Sunday Setup – Nehemiah 9

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,