1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:22,480 Well, if you have your Bibles, we'll be in Nehemiah chapter 9. 2 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:26,240 For those of you all that have been here a while, you might notice that we've gone through 3 00:00:26,240 --> 00:00:30,640 Nehemiah a little differently than we have other books of the Bible. 4 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:36,720 What we're seeing through Nehemiah is we're kind of developing themes as opposed to going 5 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:38,160 line by line. 6 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:42,880 So there's really no skipping of things, although it might seem like we're skipping 7 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:49,840 things as much as there's just this development of the themes found in the book of Nehemiah. 8 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,640 And so we're going to continue with another theme this morning. 9 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:55,240 So let's look at our text this morning. 10 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:56,960 Kayla is going to come. 11 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:00,440 Sweet Kayla is going to come read our passage this morning. 12 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:06,680 She's going to read three verses out of Nehemiah chapter 9 beginning in verse 6. 13 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:10,120 I've never said this, but Kayla might be my favorite root. 14 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:11,120 Just saying that. 15 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:12,120 Just saying that. 16 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:13,640 All right, Kayla, it's all you. 17 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:20,120 If you'll stand as we honor the Lord's word together. 18 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:21,120 You are the Lord. 19 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:22,120 You alone. 20 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:23,120 You have made heaven. 21 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:28,120 You have made heaven with all their hosts, the earth and all that is on it, the season, 22 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:34,280 all that is in them, and you preserve all of them and the host of heaven worships you. 23 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:40,320 You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of her of the Caledians 24 00:01:40,320 --> 00:01:42,400 and gave him the name Abraham. 25 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:50,960 You found his heart faithful before you and made with him the covenant to give his offspring 26 00:01:50,960 --> 00:02:00,120 the land of Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amrite, the Perzite, the Jebusite, and the Gurgisite. 27 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:02,800 And you have kept your promise for you, our righteous. 28 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:03,800 Amen. 29 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:04,800 Let's pray. 30 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:05,800 Father, thank you for Kayla. 31 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:07,640 Thank you for our willingness to read your word. 32 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,680 And I pray, Father, that as we look at this text that we will see the theme that you are 33 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:12,680 good and faithful. 34 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:15,320 And I pray, Father, that you'll just speak to our hearts today. 35 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:16,640 We ask all these things in your name. 36 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:17,640 Amen. 37 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:19,480 Thank you, Kayla. 38 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:21,680 Kayla, real quick, out of the gate. 39 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:23,880 That's going to drive me crazy. 40 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:28,400 Real quick, out of the gate, what we saw, if we start looking at the themes that we've 41 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:33,360 seen so far through Nehemiah, what we've seen at the beginning was that Nehemiah was 42 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:40,560 moved with a deep empathy and compassion for his brothers and sisters, despite being far 43 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,360 removed from them. 44 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:52,960 He's 800 miles away in the palace of the king of Persia when he gets news that Jerusalem, 45 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:58,080 his city, lies in ruins and that the people there are without protection, they're without 46 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:01,240 provision and things are really dark there. 47 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:06,400 The Bible told us that his heart was wrecked for his people. 48 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:13,280 He began to pray and fast and plead with God on high to rescue people he did not know personally 49 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,600 whom he had no relationship with prior. 50 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:23,320 It wasn't like they went to college together and he had heard that some of his college 51 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,240 roommates or whatever had fallen on some hard times. 52 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:32,400 No, these were just people who were ethnically the same and believed in the same God. 53 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:38,200 We said that the people of God, you and I, as the church, are to be people who are marked 54 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:41,680 with deep empathy and compassion towards others. 55 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:46,440 First and foremost to the community of faith, the church, and then that should roll over 56 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:49,840 the walls into the world around us. 57 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:54,560 Where we mourn with those who mourn and we're able to rejoice with those who rejoice. 58 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:58,880 We are called to one another repeatedly. 59 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:02,160 We said the people of God are to be this way. 60 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:09,040 We will need the Holy Spirit of God to do the work of grace if you and I will ever be 61 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:11,740 what God is calling us to be. 62 00:04:11,740 --> 00:04:16,200 We are marked by empathy and compassion, but that's not the only thing we're marked by. 63 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:17,880 We're people of prayer. 64 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:24,680 Now when I say prayer, I mean we are people who have a relationship with God. 65 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:28,080 He's not just some ethereal idea. 66 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:31,720 It's not just like, oh, oh, oh, yeah, there's a God out there somewhere. 67 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:34,800 No, we have a relationship with God. 68 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:40,320 One of the things we watch Nehemiah do is he has two ways that he engages with God. 69 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:42,720 He has these set aside times, right? 70 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:49,160 He has these set aside times where he says, I'm going to set aside this part of my day. 71 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,520 This time is just for me and the Lord. 72 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:57,440 Then on top of that throughout the day, he's interacting with God. 73 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:01,200 He sets aside time to go, okay, this is just me and God's time. 74 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:02,200 I'm going to pray. 75 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:04,560 I'm going to lay my heart out before him. 76 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:05,880 He already knows my heart. 77 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:07,240 He already knows my concerns. 78 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:09,320 He knows my questions, my doubts. 79 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,920 I'm going to lay it all down in this time I have with the Lord. 80 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:16,720 The things I would love to see the Lord do, the way I would love to see the Lord work, 81 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,120 I'm going to lay those things down. 82 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:25,960 Then throughout the day, he's actually like shotgun praying to God as circumstances and 83 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:27,800 situations come up. 84 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:28,800 Now hear me. 85 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:31,560 That's a relationship. 86 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:34,680 Where you have both of these components. 87 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:39,880 I think you have the ingredients for a really robust relationship where you just pick one 88 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:40,880 of those. 89 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:45,520 I think the level of intimacy and the depth of that relationship begins to wane. 90 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:50,760 What we see Nehemiah doing in his relationship and what we saw from the whole scriptures 91 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:57,560 council on our lives is we're not just people of empathy and compassion, but we're people 92 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:03,400 who have a relationship with God that is made visible in the way we approach God, namely 93 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:08,720 in set aside times as well as throughout our days as situations arise. 94 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:13,640 Then we also say we're not just people of prayer, but we're also people who act upon 95 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:15,560 our prayers. 96 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:16,840 Now hear me. 97 00:06:16,840 --> 00:06:22,640 You are not the solution to all of your prayers. 98 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:28,120 In fact, sometimes you are the anti solution to a lot of your prayers. 99 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:34,560 You trying to play the role of the Holy Spirit in someone else's life around you turns into 100 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,160 a bit of a nightmare, right? 101 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:43,200 But we are people who act upon our prayers as God lays that upon our hearts and as the 102 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:49,200 word of God lays it upon our hearts to encourage others around us, to act justly in the world 103 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:51,240 around us. 104 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:55,720 As we see areas that we are able to enter into. 105 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,440 So these things start putting themselves together. 106 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:05,280 And as we see there are those around us who are mourning, those who are in tough spots, 107 00:07:05,280 --> 00:07:09,880 those who are the least of these, then we enter in. 108 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:13,640 Then we don't just pray God would provide. 109 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:19,600 We don't just pray that God would encourage. 110 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:24,040 We don't just pray that God would take care where we are able. 111 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:26,320 We enter in. 112 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:30,880 So we're not just people with relationship with God that manifests itself in prayer, 113 00:07:30,880 --> 00:07:38,920 but we are people who act upon what God reveals to us out of the word of God and in our prayers, 114 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:41,080 where we are able. 115 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:48,880 Then we moved from the rebuilding, the rebuilding the broken world around us with empathy and 116 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:53,400 compassion, rebuilding the world around us through prayer, rebuilding the world around 117 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:57,320 us through action. 118 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:02,000 And really we started looking at the reality of the world we live in, namely that we as 119 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,440 believers can expect opposition. 120 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:08,480 As the people of God, you and I can expect opposition. 121 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:13,600 There are those around us in our lives day after day that don't see the world the way 122 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:14,600 we do. 123 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:17,600 They don't see that the world is broken at all. 124 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:24,880 And in a strange turn in the book of Nehemiah, we begin to see that injustice occurs not 125 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:30,400 just outside the walls of the church, but actually inside the walls also. 126 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:34,880 And so you begin to see injustice inside the household of faith, which means things are 127 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:37,880 not pretty in here all the time. 128 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:40,680 Things are not always going well here all the time. 129 00:08:40,680 --> 00:08:46,880 In our relationships, I'm going to tell you, I'm going to fail you. 130 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:48,640 You're going to fail me. 131 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:55,800 It becomes imperative that my hope is put in Jesus and not in your ability to nail whatever 132 00:08:55,800 --> 00:09:00,200 thing you think Christianity is. 133 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:05,880 So if you're coming to church and your expectation is that church people are living out what 134 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:11,720 they fully know to be true, then you have come into a church that is completely ignorant 135 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:14,040 of what the Bible teaches. 136 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:22,440 There isn't a man or woman or child in this room who doesn't wrestle with temptation. 137 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:27,880 In fact, I heard a very wise man say, the only ones not struggling with temptation are 138 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:32,160 those who have given themselves over to a completely. 139 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:35,720 We are not people who are temptation free. 140 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:38,920 We are not people who are struggle free. 141 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:43,560 We still frequently skin up our knees and skin up our elbows. 142 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:50,000 And I've tried to repeatedly say that that should be an invitation for you to come in. 143 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:54,280 It shouldn't be used as a wall to keep you out. 144 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:59,600 Would you not feel safer around those who struggle? 145 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:02,160 So you know that there's somebody in the battle with you. 146 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:07,160 Would you not feel safer around those who are not perfect? 147 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:12,840 Or are you trying to say if everyone you knew who went to church was perfect, then you would 148 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:14,960 feel like you could believe in Jesus? 149 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:21,960 No, you wouldn't have anything to do with us if we thought we were perfect. 150 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:26,320 You would feel so unwelcomed in this place and not at home at all. 151 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:34,200 The very scent of this type of perfect people would wreak condemnation to you. 152 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:39,680 We're all banged up and goofy, which means that you should fit right in with us. 153 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:44,920 And there we moved on to the fact that we are people who are rebuilding with the truth. 154 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:50,680 We are people who have been given the very words of God in the forms of the Scriptures. 155 00:10:50,680 --> 00:10:53,600 And the Scriptures are going to teach us who God is. 156 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:57,760 Not who we think he is, but rather who God is. 157 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:00,440 It's going to teach us who we are. 158 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:04,800 Not who we think we are, but who we actually are. 159 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:06,960 The Bible is going to show us those things. 160 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:12,400 And then the Bible is going to show us how God designed the universe to work. 161 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:14,040 It becomes the blueprint. 162 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:19,480 It becomes the plans of how God is going to rebuild the brokenness around us. 163 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:21,200 That's what the Word of God is. 164 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:26,320 It is given to us as this perfect, inerrant Word of God. 165 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:27,680 And that is how we are to approach it. 166 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:30,200 It's not a suggestion. 167 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:34,800 And then finally, the last building block for us so far is that we respond to the truth 168 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:36,960 of God's Word. 169 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,120 We respond to the truth. 170 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:45,800 Once we understand who God is, once we understand what God has done for us, once we understand 171 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:52,400 of who we are, and he chooses us anyway, we don't take that lightly. 172 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:53,560 We respond. 173 00:11:53,560 --> 00:11:58,080 The people in Nehemiah, they fell on their face. 174 00:11:58,080 --> 00:11:59,680 They worshiped. 175 00:11:59,680 --> 00:12:04,760 They shouted, amen, because they experienced the truth in their lives. 176 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:06,160 They had been delivered. 177 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:12,800 They had been brought back into right relationship after their infidelity time and time again. 178 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:19,240 They don't just sit there unaffected when the Word of God is read aloud. 179 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:20,480 They respond. 180 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:26,720 So it's important that you hear me say that the things I'm talking about above are true 181 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:30,880 about the people of God, not necessarily about all people. 182 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:35,680 That takes us to where we will be this morning, and yet another component of how God uses 183 00:12:35,680 --> 00:12:42,080 the church, how God uses the people of God to be a rebuilding group of men and women 184 00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:43,600 in a broken and fallen world. 185 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:49,160 So Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 6, again, Kayla read it, says, you are the Lord, you alone. 186 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:54,120 You made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their hosts, the earth and all that is 187 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:59,880 on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve all of them and the host of heaven 188 00:12:59,880 --> 00:13:00,880 worships you. 189 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:03,520 Now I'm just going to stop right there so we can talk about this. 190 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:06,760 That is unbelievably significant. 191 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:13,040 That verse is unbelievably significant because that's one of the things that marks our identity 192 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:20,720 as God's people is that we believe in one God who is God of all. 193 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:23,480 This might not have read to you, but here's what he just said. 194 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:27,840 There's not a God of the sea. 195 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:29,400 There's not a God of the land. 196 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:34,600 There is one God and our God is God of all. 197 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:36,520 We're not polytheists. 198 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:39,840 There are not multiple ways to multiple gods. 199 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:45,240 There is one singular God on high and he rules and reigns over all. 200 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:51,360 There's nothing in this universe that he doesn't stand over and rightly deem his own. 201 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:55,760 Then verse 7, you are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of earth, the 202 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,480 Chaldeans, and gave him the name Abraham. 203 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:03,360 You found his heart faithful before you and made with him the covenant to give his offspring, 204 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:07,720 the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Parasite, the Jebusite, and the 205 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:08,720 Gurgashite. 206 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:11,800 You have kept your promise for you are righteous. 207 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:20,640 Now again, what you're seeing here in the identity of the people of God, in fact what 208 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:28,360 marked them was that there was one God singular and that one God was going to redeem and rescue 209 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:35,080 and rebuild all that went wrong in the fall, all that's broken in mankind, primarily through 210 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:38,000 his chosen people. 211 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:42,880 What marked Israel as the people is that there is one God. 212 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:44,000 He loves us. 213 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:47,520 He has chosen us. 214 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:52,720 And that through us, he will make known his righteousness and beauty to the world around 215 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:53,720 us. 216 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:57,280 He'll make known the path of life through his people. 217 00:14:57,280 --> 00:15:07,040 Now let's chat real quick because that sounds horrifically arrogant. 218 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:14,320 That sounds extremely narrow-minded, specifically for a people who are scattered all over the 219 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:16,440 ancient world in slavery. 220 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:25,080 This people who are promised this land and moved into this land had seen God do marvelous 221 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:28,600 and spectacular things. 222 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:32,960 And they'd seen all that explode as they were led off into exile. 223 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:39,520 That's why Nehemiah is in the place of the Persian king as a wine tester and not in the 224 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:41,520 city of God in Jerusalem. 225 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:44,840 Yet still their identity marks them. 226 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:47,640 They understand we are the people of God. 227 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:52,480 We are the people of God and through the people of God will reveal his wisdom to the world 228 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:54,360 around us. 229 00:15:54,360 --> 00:16:00,560 My question is, as I was reading this text, what can then ultimately bring this type of 230 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:02,360 confidence in this situation? 231 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:08,360 I mean they are a confident people who are currently living in exile all over the world 232 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:10,600 but still they're holding on to this. 233 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:13,000 Well, we'll keep reading. 234 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:19,480 What you're going to see here is we are also a people who hold steadfast to the promises 235 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:25,000 of God of his faithfulness regardless of circumstances. 236 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:30,200 And so we're going to break down verses 9 through 31 here in chapter 9. 237 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:36,000 What we see here in this extensive chunk of scripture is really four promises concerning 238 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:42,200 God's faithfulness that the people of God have historically remembered and grabbed a 239 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:47,800 hold of regardless of their situation, regardless of where they are in life. 240 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:50,000 They've meditated on these promises. 241 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:52,840 They worship God because of these promises. 242 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:54,280 And here's what the four are. 243 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:59,840 We see in verses 9 through 11, we see the first promise that God does not abandon his 244 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:05,640 people and that he is aware of their circumstances. 245 00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:07,320 That's promise number one that we see. 246 00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:13,480 What we heard repeatedly in this text is that God saw their affliction. 247 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:19,880 He heard their cries and you have multiple situations here over the history of God's 248 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:25,960 chosen people where God is aware of their circumstances and he did not abandon them in the midst 249 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:27,360 of their circumstances. 250 00:17:27,360 --> 00:17:33,000 What we pull from this now regardless of how you've come into this room and regardless 251 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:40,960 of where your life circumstances are right now, the hope we grab a hold of as the people 252 00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:46,640 of God is that he is not unaware of our situation. 253 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:50,200 He's not unaware of where we find ourselves today. 254 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:53,440 I say this every week because it's true. 255 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:57,680 I don't know how you've come in here. 256 00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:05,400 I know I'm not naive and I know that there's heartbreak all around us almost always. 257 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:14,280 I'm well aware of the tragedy and the hardship of life but in the end here I'm not naive. 258 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:18,640 I know we've come in here a bit banged up. 259 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:23,720 I know some of you are disappointed with how life has played out so far. 260 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:30,160 I know some of you are exhausted in the marriages that you are in. 261 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:35,000 I know some of you are desperately worried about the trajectory of your children. 262 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:41,520 Some of you are walking in a weight that is not yours to carry for some of the decisions 263 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:44,280 your children are making right now. 264 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:50,800 The promise that is given to us by God and what Nehemiah is drawing the attention of 265 00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:57,200 the people of God back, people of God back to is that God is not unaware. 266 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:00,400 There isn't a tear in this room. 267 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:06,200 There isn't an angst in this place that God does not rightfully go. 268 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:07,200 I know. 269 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:08,200 I know. 270 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:13,040 Then on top of that it says he is not abandoning us. 271 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:15,040 He's not abandoning us and we're not alone. 272 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:19,600 He's not asked us to walk through this thing alone. 273 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:21,880 It's why the Psalmist in Psalm 23 you know that one right? 274 00:19:21,880 --> 00:19:24,480 I said I'm going to read it at some of y'all's funerals. 275 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:31,160 In Psalm 23 says he fears no evil as he walks through the valley of the shadow of death. 276 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:33,640 Why? 277 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:35,920 Because you're with me. 278 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:39,280 Because your rod and your staff they come for me. 279 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:44,720 In fact the great whisper of God is that he is always here. 280 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:47,440 God is not unaware of the circumstances of his people. 281 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:49,800 He is not abandon them. 282 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,320 Then we see the second promise in verses 12 through 14. 283 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:56,480 God guides and instructs his people. 284 00:19:56,480 --> 00:19:59,640 I mean that's great news. 285 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:02,960 Multiple times in my life I have not known what to do next. 286 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:05,320 Anyone else? 287 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:11,640 Multiple times I've just gone okay this way or this way. 288 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:16,120 Multiple times I've had opportunities and they were both really great opportunities 289 00:20:16,120 --> 00:20:20,000 but there's only one choice right? 290 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:25,160 I'm so glad that over and over and over again God has not abandoned me to what I think is 291 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:26,160 best. 292 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:32,720 What we see in this text is God engaging and leading and guiding and instructing his people 293 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:34,080 in multiple ways. 294 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:39,840 This text says that he has given them a good spirit. 295 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:45,720 The same good spirit he has sealed in you and me that have put our faith in Jesus Christ. 296 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:50,960 It says that he gave them the law at Mount Sinai. 297 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,120 The law is about this is what God has for you. 298 00:20:54,120 --> 00:20:55,440 This is the way to go. 299 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:59,360 For us the law sounds like I like the law. 300 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:01,560 Not fun right? 301 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:02,840 But we really like the law. 302 00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:04,080 We even like the law now. 303 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:07,600 You should like the laws in our country. 304 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:14,440 If you're not grateful for our laws you haven't lived anywhere else. 305 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:20,200 It's illegal for people to take your stuff. 306 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:25,040 You can just pick up the phone, you can dial 911 and someone will show up and handle that 307 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:27,240 for you. 308 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:32,480 If someone is trying to harm you there's laws that protect you from that. 309 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:34,240 See laws are good things. 310 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:40,160 The Old Testament writers would often talk about the law as honey, as things they meditated 311 00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:42,480 on, as something they were grateful for. 312 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:49,360 It's kind of this road to a life full of joy, not happiness, joy. 313 00:21:49,360 --> 00:21:51,640 God gave the law at Mount Sinai. 314 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:58,080 Then he also, and I get kind of jealous for this, but he also gave the people in the wilderness 315 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:03,320 a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night. 316 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,120 How awesome would that be? 317 00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:07,280 How awesome would that be? 318 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:09,840 You know that commercial from a few years ago? 319 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:14,560 I think it was Fidelity where you just kind of follow the green line. 320 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:19,080 You follow the green line and you follow that for years and then you retire with millions 321 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:20,080 of dollars. 322 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:22,440 You remember that commercial? 323 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:31,800 I would love if that line, a little Jesus line, if I could just kind of follow that 324 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:34,360 pillar which way to go? 325 00:22:34,360 --> 00:22:35,360 Which way do I go? 326 00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:39,200 I go that way because there goes the pillar, there goes the line. 327 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:40,200 There goes some fire. 328 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,400 I'll follow that, right? 329 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:45,120 How great would that be? 330 00:22:45,120 --> 00:22:52,120 The point and the promise Nehemiah is pointing us back to is that God guides his people. 331 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:53,280 He instructs them. 332 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:54,280 He guides them. 333 00:22:54,280 --> 00:22:56,240 Now, how does he do that? 334 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,960 Now we've talked about this many times. 335 00:22:59,960 --> 00:23:02,680 First and foremost, he does that through the Word of God. 336 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:07,720 He has given us the Word of God to guide us and instruct us. 337 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:09,160 But let's be real straight. 338 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:16,280 Sometimes we can know the Bible really, really, really well and still not know how God is 339 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:17,280 leading. 340 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,800 Can we agree on that? 341 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:22,280 Let's agree on that. 342 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,720 Sometimes we can know the Bible, Genesis to Revelation. 343 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:29,680 We can do Bible study after Bible study after Bible study and still not know, do I take 344 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:34,480 this job or do I take this job? 345 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:36,640 Do I go here or do I go here? 346 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:38,200 What does the Bible say? 347 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,960 So here's the other gift God has given to you. 348 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:42,920 And so few of you take advantage of it. 349 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:44,640 It hurts my heart. 350 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:49,840 The second thing God has given us is not only the Word of God that instructs and teaches 351 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,760 and guides, but he's also given us the church. 352 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:55,240 He has given us one another. 353 00:23:55,240 --> 00:24:02,360 The reason we want you to connect with smaller groups of people is it is really easy to get 354 00:24:02,360 --> 00:24:05,760 lost in a group of people this size. 355 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:11,080 What we want to do is connect you with people you will actually do life with who are serious 356 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:15,680 about growing in their knowledge of the Lord, who are serious about growing in depth in 357 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:21,200 their understanding of who God is and then doing life with people who are able to speak 358 00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:25,960 into our lives and people we welcome into speaking into our lives. 359 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:27,160 That's the Christian community. 360 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:29,920 That's what we're trying to push you into. 361 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:31,400 And here's what's so wrong with us. 362 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:33,720 Here's why we're so goofy. 363 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:40,040 What we want to do is take Christianity and separate it out from this idea of covenant 364 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:44,840 community and make it individual. 365 00:24:44,840 --> 00:24:49,080 That's not how Christianity has been created or how it flourishes. 366 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:55,680 My counsel to anyone who goes, what job should I take in this city or that city? 367 00:24:55,680 --> 00:25:01,480 My response will always be, I'm always going to ask what church they have found in that 368 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:04,440 city or that city that preaches the gospel. 369 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:09,600 What church have they found that takes seriously the things of God where they can immediately 370 00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:11,440 connect? 371 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:15,960 You send your high school senior to my office to talk about which school they should go 372 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:16,960 to. 373 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:21,440 My question is going to be, what church do you know there? 374 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:27,000 What covenant community of faith is there that's going to support you and encourage you and 375 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:33,040 walk with you because how this thing works is you and I are in relationship with one 376 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:39,160 another, hearing from one another and being instructed by the wisdom to one another. 377 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:44,480 It's also why I think it's a bad idea for groups to become homogenized. 378 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:47,680 You don't need to be in a group with just 20-somethings. 379 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:54,360 There's a lot of ignorance in that group. 380 00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:59,640 In the same way, you don't need to be in a group with only 50- and 60-year-olds, old 381 00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:00,640 glory days. 382 00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:05,600 I'm so glad we're not there anymore kind of group. 383 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:15,280 In reality, older men are commanded, not suggested, commanded to teach the younger men. 384 00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:21,560 The older women are commanded, not suggested to teach the younger women. 385 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:27,800 Human community flourishes when we become ferociously committed to one another. 386 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:32,560 It's not easy and it's not sexy and it's far more difficult than I'm making it sound up 387 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:39,720 here because people are, as we've already shared, prone to selfishness, prone to walking 388 00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:45,400 blind spots that they don't know are there because they're blind to those spots. 389 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:48,560 Now, I don't know about you. 390 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:51,360 I probably do, but I'm going to just base it off me. 391 00:26:51,360 --> 00:26:57,800 I've never enjoyed someone else telling me about where my blind spots are. 392 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:00,920 I don't think they're there. 393 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:06,360 In fact, I immediately become aware of your blind spots when you're telling me about 394 00:27:06,360 --> 00:27:07,640 mine. 395 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:09,960 It's a magical experience. 396 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:17,400 I mean, I will not see your blind spots at all until you begin to tell me about mine. 397 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:18,400 And mid-sentence. 398 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:19,400 Mid-sentence. 399 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:20,720 I'll go, you know what? 400 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:24,800 I see some inconsistency in your life, too. 401 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:28,480 Maybe you need to go fix that up because I think that's the lenses that you're looking 402 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:30,520 at my things through. 403 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,560 I mean, isn't that almost how all of us handle that? 404 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:37,920 We notice everybody else's faults and failures before we recognize our own. 405 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:42,320 This is the reason why there must be an invitation to speak into our lives. 406 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:50,160 I have literally said to our elderboard, to other people around me, any inconsistency in 407 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:54,200 my life whatsoever, no matter how small, no matter how big. 408 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:56,400 I want you to lay that before me. 409 00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:00,080 I want to be a man who's above reproach. 410 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:06,520 And when we do that, and when we accept that, the ammunition the enemy will use against 411 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:08,840 us is taken away. 412 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:10,760 God has given this to you. 413 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:13,400 This is what He's given to you. 414 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:17,600 And what you've done is you've just come to service. 415 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:20,280 Do you know how easy it is to hide in here? 416 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:25,340 Do you know how easy it is to come here week after week, say hi to a few people superficially 417 00:28:25,340 --> 00:28:28,280 and walk out the door and not one person know you? 418 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:31,180 You could do that for years. 419 00:28:31,180 --> 00:28:33,480 You could do that for years. 420 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:37,760 You can be completely unknown in this place for years. 421 00:28:37,760 --> 00:28:41,480 And some of you have been walking to that. 422 00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:47,080 Then in verses 15 through 16, we see the third promise that God provides for His people. 423 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:52,320 In this text, we see He provides for their physical needs. 424 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:54,880 He gives them manna to eat. 425 00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:56,800 He gives them water to drink. 426 00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:05,200 But I want us to talk about God's provision in a way that's more biblically faithful. 427 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,600 God does not give you what you want. 428 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:11,400 He gives you what you need. 429 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:17,440 And He does that not based on your perception, but His. 430 00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:24,560 Which means that some of you feel like you've been robbed by God because He did not give 431 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:28,240 you something He never promised to give you. 432 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:32,760 God doesn't owe you anything. 433 00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:35,560 Do you hear that? 434 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:39,040 You cannot put Him into your debt. 435 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:42,080 You cannot make God the slave. 436 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:47,600 Historically I've said He doesn't live in a lantern and you are most definitely not 437 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:48,960 Aladdin. 438 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:50,520 That's not how this thing works. 439 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:58,440 You being good and moral doesn't equate to God giving you anything you want and everything 440 00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:00,520 that you think you deserve. 441 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:01,520 Trust me on this. 442 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:05,400 You don't want what you deserve. 443 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:08,480 You want what you don't deserve here. 444 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:14,720 That means that there are times where hardship and difficulties must be rejoiced in because 445 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:17,520 they have come through the hands of God. 446 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:24,000 Now if we're thinking about this correctly, if we're thinking about these things eternally, 447 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:30,560 is not hardship the thing that gets us more of God? 448 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:32,880 More dependent upon God? 449 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:37,160 Less dependent on the transient trinkety junk in this world? 450 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:41,080 In the end isn't that a real gift from God? 451 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:48,880 If I have nothing but Him, is that not when I'm looking at 10,000 years from now a really 452 00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:50,920 beautiful gift? 453 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:52,600 It absolutely is. 454 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:53,720 It absolutely is. 455 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:56,560 God provides for His people. 456 00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:58,120 Then this is the one I want us to end on. 457 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:00,440 This is my favorite promise in this text. 458 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:06,760 Beginning in verse 17 we see that God is ready to forgive. 459 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:08,160 He's ready to forgive. 460 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:09,840 He is gracious. 461 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:11,440 He is merciful. 462 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:16,160 He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 463 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:21,920 This the text said repeatedly that the people of God, they grew presumptuous. 464 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:23,440 They grew stiff-necked. 465 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:24,840 They grew arrogant. 466 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:27,160 They grew blasphemous. 467 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:32,240 They trusted in other gods besides the God who has already rescued them. 468 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:37,520 The God who saved them multiple times where they tried to give credit to somebody else 469 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:39,360 for the things that God did. 470 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:46,080 What Nehemiah reminded the people of was crossing the Red Sea, getting to Mount Sinai, God giving 471 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:48,920 the law and the law being given to them. 472 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:49,920 You remember that? 473 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:54,920 As the law is being given to them, they made a golden calf and said, this is the God that 474 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:56,720 brought us out of Egypt. 475 00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:58,360 What was God's response? 476 00:31:58,360 --> 00:31:59,960 A couple of things. 477 00:31:59,960 --> 00:32:00,960 Remember? 478 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:02,040 The plinth knows he loves. 479 00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:04,360 That's what we find out in the book of Hebrews. 480 00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:07,600 And he scourges any he calls sons. 481 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:16,680 Yet God's response to stiff-necked, presumptuous, arrogant people who have a bit of rhythm of 482 00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:19,880 trusting him and then not trusting him. 483 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:22,680 And then trusting him and then not trusting him. 484 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:27,320 And then trusting him and then not trusting him. 485 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:29,640 His response is what to that? 486 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:31,160 Grace. 487 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:35,240 It's grace and mercy and abounding love. 488 00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:37,400 Isn't that good news for us? 489 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:39,840 It's good news for me. 490 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:43,760 Maybe you're further along than I am, but that's great news for me. 491 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:50,760 God's people throughout the Scriptures have had this way of really clinging to God, really 492 00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:54,040 holding on to God. 493 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:59,680 And then when things got good, when things are going well, he says there were olives 494 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:04,960 and vineyards and wine and they got fat and lazy. 495 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:09,400 All of a sudden, all of a sudden, they don't need God anymore. 496 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:13,400 So God and his love gave them over to their enemies. 497 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:16,480 Then they cried out, and what did he do? 498 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:17,480 What did he do? 499 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:20,040 He didn't go, he didn't go, no, drink your wine, chubby. 500 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:23,320 Go kill the fat a calf now. 501 00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:24,320 Right? 502 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:25,320 That's not what he did. 503 00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:30,120 He said, oh, you had your choice and you keep abandoning me. 504 00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:33,040 He doesn't do that three times in just these verses. 505 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:41,600 Across a span of 100 years, he goes and he extended them mercy and he extended them grace 506 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:45,440 and he heard their cries. 507 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:56,760 Our God, our promise, the one who we're clinging to is a God of grace and mercy, a bounding 508 00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:02,000 in love, a bounding in steadfast love. 509 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:05,400 I think he's just trying to think of words. 510 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:10,480 As I was reading that, he's just trying to think of words to put before love. 511 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:16,280 And he's encouraging the people to cling to that promise. 512 00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:18,880 So again, I don't know how you walked in here. 513 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:20,240 I'll tell you my story. 514 00:34:20,240 --> 00:34:25,640 I grew up in church. 515 00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:30,040 Nine months before I was born, that's my story, right? 516 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:34,240 So I heard all the stories, I heard all the sermons, I knew all the songs, I participated 517 00:34:34,240 --> 00:34:37,200 in all the right things. 518 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:44,520 Church Sundays and Wednesdays and then any other time the door was open, I was there. 519 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:51,720 And I caught myself thinking, once I get my life together, then God's going to love me. 520 00:34:51,720 --> 00:34:56,040 Once I started acting right, then God's going to love me. 521 00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:02,920 And so I was constantly trying to figure out these ways that I could make him proud and 522 00:35:02,920 --> 00:35:08,400 do the right things and be a good kid, at least where people saw me, right? 523 00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:11,200 Like at least what was seen. 524 00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:17,040 And then you come across that passage where it says, but all your rags, all your offerings, 525 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:23,160 all your good deeds are but filthy rags before him. 526 00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,680 And I understood he was ready to forgive me now. 527 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:32,680 Not some future version of me, but who he made me to be now. 528 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,960 Now I think some of you need to hear that. 529 00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:42,920 The promise of God right now to you is he is ready to forgive. 530 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:44,920 He's ready to forgive. 531 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:50,600 And we need to be grateful for that. 532 00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:54,720 So again, however you came in here today, my prayer is that you will not walk out of here 533 00:35:54,720 --> 00:35:56,000 the same. 534 00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:00,600 You will not carry the same baggage you walked in here with home again. 535 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:03,800 And lay down. 536 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:06,320 He's not unaware of your circumstances. 537 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:08,120 He's not unaware of the pain. 538 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:12,040 He's not unaware of whatever is keeping you up at night. 539 00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:16,720 My challenge to you is to know that and trust him with it. 540 00:36:16,720 --> 00:36:20,840 And so I'm going to pray for us. 541 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:27,080 We'll sing one more song together and you can respond however you need to respond. 542 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:32,480 So what we understand through the book of Nehemiah is that one of the building blocks 543 00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:37,640 is we have the truth of God's word and is our responsibility to the world around us 544 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:40,560 that we respond to that truth. 545 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:42,000 We don't hold it in. 546 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:44,440 We respond to that truth. 547 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:47,040 And so let me pray for us. 548 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:52,720 Prepare your hearts for whatever the Lord is going to say to you this morning. 549 00:36:52,720 --> 00:36:53,960 And then we'll just hand it over to him. 550 00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:56,720 Father, right now I pray. 551 00:36:56,720 --> 00:37:07,400 I pray that there are people in this room that will hear that you are ready to forgive. 552 00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:09,880 I pray you speak to their heart. 553 00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:16,680 I pray, Father, that they will call upon your name. 554 00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:18,680 Because you are a God of mercy. 555 00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:20,080 You are a God of grace. 556 00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:26,920 You are a God of, that has stead, fast love for your people. 557 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:31,160 So Father, we focus on who you are and what you've done for us. 558 00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:37,560 I pray, Father, that as we end, that you'll just draw near. 559 00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:40,160 You'll draw near to those that are hurting. 560 00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:42,720 You'll draw near to those who feel like they have no hope. 561 00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:51,680 You'll draw near to those who just feel defeated. 562 00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:55,880 God, I pray that you'll minister to our hearts this morning. 563 00:37:55,880 --> 00:38:00,560 And as we respond, will you lead the charge? 564 00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:03,520 We're responding to you not because of anything that was done here today. 565 00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:09,800 We're responding to what you have said to our hearts this morning. 566 00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:10,960 So Father, we give you this time. 567 00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:12,960 What's your name? 568 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:41,960 Father.