What I brought you here for...: Nehemiah 9
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pray
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
Our feet have been standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem!
Jerusalem—built as a city
that is bound firmly together,
to which the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
There thrones for judgment were set,
the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
“May they be secure who love you!
Peace be within your walls
and security within your towers!”
For my brothers and companions’ sake
I will say, “Peace be within you!”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.
And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
Introduction
Introduction
Chronicles of Narnia
If you have your Bible, please go ahead and turn with me to Nehemiah 9.
today my goal is simple… to let this extraordinary and pretty long passage preach itself.
for me to do the best I can to get out of the way and let the word of god clearly and powerfully introduce you to God.
so Nehemiah 9.
I’ve always loved Chronicles of Narnia, specifically the following simple, yet exceedinly profound interchange in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
It’s between Susan, one of the main characters, and one of the first Narnian animals she encounters, Mr. Beaver.
Susan asks the Beaver family… “But Who is Aslan!?
“Aslan?” said Mr. Beaver, “Why, don’t you know? He’s the King. He’s the Lord of the whole wood, but not often here, you understand. Never in my time no never in my time. But the word has reached us that he has come back. He’ll put all to rights, as it says in an old rhyme in these parts:
Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death
And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.
You’ll understand when you see him.”
“But shall we see him?” asked Susan.
“Why, Daughter of Eve, that’s what I brought you here for.
I love that little exclamation of Mr. Beaver… Why, “That’s what I brought you here for.”
To Meet Him, to see Him, ultimately to Know Him.
Scriptures
Last week in NEH 8 Coleman discussed “Why we Gather” and he said we gather to sit under the Word of God.
But let me ask you another question… Why do we sit under the Word of God?”
People come to the Scriptures for a myriad of reasons.
To receive specific encouragement.
Maybe find some specific direction or wisdom for a pending decision.
Or learn what God expects of us, so that we may live accordingly.
But if these or any other reasons like these are the primary reasons you approach the Scriptures… you’re missing it.
You see, these are all secondary.
Primarily, we come to the Scriptures to Meet God, to See God, and to Know God.
As Mr. Beaver would say, “That’s what I brought you here for.”
Today as we look at Nehemiah 9 I believe this reason, adn this reason alone is why you’re here.
What we are going to see in our text is a thorough description of God, and I pray that from these inspired words you would meet him, maybe see some sides of Him you’ve never seen, and ultimately leave here knowing him better
Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God. On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
Context
Here from the outset of our text, we learn that after hundereds of years the people of God have finally heard and understood the Word of God.
Ezra had preached and expounded to the whole assembly in 8:3.
The following day heads of households were hungry for more and they heard the Word of God preached again. (8:13)
And then as they celebrated the Feast of Booths they read from the Word of God every day over that period of 7 days (8:18)
And after hearing and understanding the Word of God, they are shaken to the core!
Verse 37 says that the people of our text today are IN GREAT DISTRESS.
Other translations record intense affliction, tribulation, agony, or misery.
Church, they are miserable, and they demonstrate their distress with fasting, sackcloth, and dust on their heads.
So the Word of God has created in them a Deep seated Misery, because as we are about to see, the Word of God has facilitated for them a meeting with God.
And as they grow in their Knowledge of God, they subsequently grow in their knowledge of Self.
And that picture of self is so grim, and depressing that the people ARE IN GREAT DISTRESS.
Now next week we are going to discuss how they deal with their distress.
But today is all about their Knowledge of God.
That is what I’ve brought you here for.
So over the next 36 verses, I want you to pay attention to Who God is,
Because what follows is a prayer, the longest prayer in the entire Bible to be exact, and in this prayer the people of Israel are collectively addressing God.
And in Prayer they address him as “YOU”.
YOU is recorded in this prayer 57 times.
YOUR and YOURSELF is recorded an additional 26 times.
So what you’re going to see in this text is a thorough description and understanding of the Character of God, and as I highlight some of these characteristics, not 57, but some, and I wonder…
Do you know Him as who He says that He is?
YHWH
YHWH
Nehemiah 9:6 ““You are the Lord, you alone.
Now in your Bible is the “ord” of Lord capitalized or lowercase!?
It’s capitalized, and when it’s capitlalized what’s the Hebrew name being used there? — YHWH
When “ord” is lowercase its the Hebrew word Adonai, which means, “someone or something having power or authority.”
But here its YHWH, and YHWH comes from the Hebrew verb “To BE”
It is how God named himself in Exodus 3 when he tells Moses his name is “I AM WHO I AM.”
And in biblical Hebrew verb tenses aren’t present, so in naming Himself YHWH, God was saying, “I was God, I am God, and I will always and forever be God.”
Church, He is YHWH… and He Alone.
YHWH denotes his total uniqueness.
He is God, and there is none like Him. Who can you compare him too.
He is YHWH, He alone.
Church, God is YHWH, HE ALONE. Who can you compare him too?
HE IS YHWH.
Creator
Creator
And as YHWH, he is Creator
Nehemiah 9:6 ““You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.”
What the people of Israel began to realize as they sat underneathe the teaching of Genesis was God is the Creator
Everything else that is made was made.
He and He alone is the self-existing, and self-sustaining Creator of all life.
He was before the beginning, and in the beginning He created.
Church, this God created you. In His very own image, he created you.
He formed your inward parts, and knitted you together in your mother’s womb. You were fearfully and wonderfully made.
In the secrets of the womb you were intricately woven.
Long before you were born he saw your unformed substance and wrote every single one of your days in his book, when as yet there were none of them.
He is Creator
But He is also Preserver of Creation
The reason you don’t float off the face of the earth right now and beat Elon to Mars is not because of the Law of Gravity, but because of Divine Law in the instituation of the Law of Gravity.
The reason that an infant in utero is growing and developing is because of the Wisdom of the Creator and Preserver in providing a support systom composed of an additional organ called a Placenta that provides the proper hormones and nutrients for that baby that is fearfully and wonderfully made to grow!
Right now! The earth is spinning at approximately 1000 miles per hour, and the only reason you aren’t hurled into space is because HE is a Preserver!
Sovereign Electer
Sovereign Electer
He is also Sovereign Electer
Nehemiah 9:7 “You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.”
So their underneath the Word. They’ve successfully made it past Genesis 1 & 2, and they get to Genesis 12-17.
Where God sovereignly selects Abram!
Abram didn’t chose God. God chose Abram.
His Sovereign election had nothing to do with Abraham.
It wasn’t because he was the smartest , strongest, most righteous, or most in number.
His election was Sovereign.
Nehemiah 9:8 “You found his heart faithful before you,
All Abraham did was believe God, and his faith in the God he knew was counted unto him as righteouesness.
Covenant Maker
Covenant Maker
And in his Sovereign Election he shows us that he is a Covenant Maker
Nehemiah 9:8 “ and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite.
In Genesis 15 God promised Abram that his descendents would be more numerous as the stars in heaven.
And to confirm the covenant God gave Abram a sign.
God told Abram to bring forth some animals and cut them in half.
And they would each, God and Abraham, walk through the sacrifices in effect saying, “If I don’t hold up this promise then may I be torn apart just like these animals.”
And i’ll share more about this in a minute, but that covenant was never in question, because he isn’t just Covenant Maker, but he is Promise Keeper
Promise Keeper
Promise Keeper
Nehemiah 9:8 “And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.”
Abraham’s decendents did multiply through Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and all throughout their years in Egypt.
God kept his promise, because He is Righteous!
Alright… So in this prayer from Nehemiah 9 we are trying to answer “WHO IS GOD!?”
And so far, as the people read and heard and studied Genesis they see
He is YHWH, He Alone.
He is Creator and Preserver
He is Sovereign Electer
He is Covenant Maker
He is Promise Keeper.
But we’re just getting started.... let’s go on into the book of Exodus.
Nehemiah 9:9–11 ““And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day. And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters.”
He is Deliverer
He is Deliverer
His people. The people he created, preserved, soveriegnly selected, made convenant with, and kept promises too were in distress.
They were slaves in Egypt.
So God Delivered.
He performed incredible signs and wonders against Pharaoh.
These are known as the 10 Plagues.
And what is SOOO important to note is that each of these plauges directly confronted the false gods of the land of egypt.
For example, the Egyptians worshipped the Nile. They had a god of the Nile named Osiris, and in turning the Nile to Blood,
GOD WAS MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF, saying that He alone is YHWH, and he will share His glory with no other!
And in these plauges he delivered His people. Culminating of course in the PASSOVER.
On the night of their liberation God told them to take a spotless lamb, and put the blood of that lamb on their doorposts so that the angel of God’s wrath may passover them!
That was the last straw and Pharoh finally let the people go, but it wasn’t long that he began to pursue them, but God as deliverer tore that sea in 2 and DELIVERED HIS PEOPLE.
He is Deliverer.
But he didn’t just leave them in the wilderness alone, no… out in the wilderness he showed them more of who He is.
He is LEADER
He is LEADER
Nehemiah 9:12 “By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go.”
He is Teacher
He is Teacher
Nehemiah 9:13–14 “You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant.”
He taught them by giving them the law.
And the law was never intended to MAKE THEM RIGHTEOUS.
Righteousness was never to be earned by adherance to the law.
Righteousness was to be expressed in the adherance to the law.
The Law shows the righteouesness of God. His character, His nature. His perfection.
In the giving of the law he is their Teacher.
But he was also their Provider
He is Provider
He is Provider
Nehemiah 9:15 “You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.”
In the wildnerss God provided everything they could ever need.
They were hungry, and He miracously gave them food to eat.
They were thirsty, and he powerfully provided water to drink.
He is Provider.
SHIFT #1
SHIFT #1
So for the first time in hundreds of years, the people of Israel have heard and studied the Word of God, and up to this point they’ve only made it through Genesis and Exodus and they can already begin to see that
He is YHWH, He Alone.
He is Creator and Preserver
He is Sovereign Electer
He is Covenant Maker & Promise Keeper
He is Deliverer, Teacher, Leader, and Provider.
But at this juncture in our text, a shift takes place.
So far, it’s been YOU, YOU, YOU, but look with me at verse 16.
Nehemiah 9:16–17 ““But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.
After reflecting on Genesis and Exodus and seeing God for who He is in Scripture, they begin to rightfully see themselves.
Socrates is famous for coining the phrase, “KNOW THYSELF.”
Or Aristotle, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.
Knowledge of Self is a pretty popular pursuit isn’t it.
It manifests itself everywhere. Rather it’s yoga, which is an attempt at self-awareness, or the myriad of life coaches lining the metaverse, or preachers peddling encouraging Ted Talks,....
There are personality and self assessments geared toward that end.
And counselors have 6 month waiting lists to help people figure it out.
But listen very carefully church…
Accurate self knowledge is directly correlated to accurate knowledge of God.
It is only when we come to Know God, that we begin to Know ourselves.
And as the People of our text begin to see, meet, and Know their God, they simultaneously begin to see, and meet, and know themselves .
And it ain’t pretty…
In spite of who God has shown himself to be, they respond by being
Presumptuous.
Stubborn.
Independent
And Ungrateful.
To the point where they preferred slavery over His presence and provision.
And so… the People reveal their true selves, so who does God show himself to be now!?
He is Forgiving
He is Forgiving
Nehemiah 9:17 “ But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.”
Oh church, do you see Your God!?
Even in the face of sin,
He is Gracious, Merciful, Slow to Anger, and Abounding in Steadfast Love.
UNWILLING to forsake them!
So often people think that the God depicted in the OT is a God of Wrath, while the God of the NT is one of love.
May that argument be dismissed once and for all today!
The entire story of Scripture is the same story, the story of His Undeserved Grace.
Nehemiah 9:18 “Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies,”
Even after God gave them a plain and clear name for himself to his people… they rejected him and took up gods of their own imaginations.
Nehemiah 9:19 “you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go.”
He is Merciful
He is Merciful
After that blatant rejection… he was still merciful and continued to lead them.
And provide for them.
Nehemiah 9:20 “You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst.”
He is Sustainer
He is Sustainer
Nehemiah 9:21 “Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.”
They appreciated nothing… Yet He made sure they lacked nothing.
He was their Sustainer.
Alright, at this juncture we’ve made it through Exodus… but what about Joshua?
Who does Scripture show God to be!?
He is Good
He is Good
Nehemiah 9:22–25 ““And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.”
Through the time of the conquest in the book of Joshua God showed them his abundant goodness.
He gave them kingdoms, and a land. Houses. Cisterns. Vineyards. Orchards. All in abundance.
They lacked nothing, because He is good!
But here we have another shift.
After they took advantage of His Goodness, they remained consistent in their rebellion.
Nehemiah 9:26–27 ““Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies.”
This is the story from the Judges all the way to the Exile.
It’s a never ending cycle.
God Delivers
People Rebel
God Disciplines
People Repent
God Delivers
But this cycle is on repeat.
Nehemiah 9:28–29 “But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey.”
Over and over and over agin.
The Great I AM, who WAS who He said he WAS, continually proved to BE WHO HE SAID HE”D BE.... and the people remain equally consistent.
THey rebel. Reject. And do evil.
But He remains merciful, and gracious, ready to forgive, and ultimately delivers.
And...
Nehemiah 9:30 “Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.”
But here we come to the exile.
For 70 years the people of Israel lived dispersed throughout the Kingdoms of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia.
Yet… GOD NEVER CHANGES.
Nehemiah 9:31 “Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.”
And this is the story of Ezra and Nehemiah.
The post-exilic age, that once again, God in His Mercy, being consistent with His Character, for the upteenth time shows WHO HE IS, and brings them back to the land of the convenant.
So after sitting underneath the Word of God, they now fully see, meet, and know God.
They have seen
He is YHWH, He Alone.
He is Creator and Preserver
He is Sovereign Electer
He is Covenant Maker & Promise Keeper
He is Deliverer, Teacher, Leader, and Provider.
Always ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, abounding in steadfast love.
In a word… HE IS GOOD.
And now that they have seen God… at this juncture they begin to see themselves in the story.
Up til this point it has been the sins of their forefathers… now it changes.
SHIFT #3
SHIFT #3
Nehemiah 9:32–37 ““Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.”
So the people are in great distress, because for the first time they understand WHO GOD IS and subsequently WHO THEY ARE.
Now next week we will hone in on the who they are and how they respond to that realization, but let’s stay for a moment on the original question.
WHO IS GOD!?
They came to their knowledge of God from the Scriptures.
Just as Hebrews 1:1 “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,”
But for you and I today, “he has spoken to us by his Son.”
Church, you want to know God---> Look to JESUS
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
He is the image of the invisible God, Emmanual, God with Us.
He is the Word, the Word that was with God, the Word that is GOD.
In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
He is YHWH.
And as YHWH Jesus is CREATOR
All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
He is the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created in heaven adn on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers or authorities— all things were created through him and for him.
He is the heir of all things, and through whom the whole world was created!
Jesus is PRESERVER
He upholds the universe by the word of his power.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
He gives to all mankind, life and breathe and everything.
Jesus is the Sovereign Electer
As he said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”
You were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.
He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his purpose and grace, which he gave us in christ jesus before the ages began.
In Him you have obtained an inheritance, having been elected according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.
Jesus is the Covenant Maker & Promise Keeper
Not like the Old though.
You see when God made that covenant with Abraham he signfied it by cutting the animals in half and Abraham and God were both to walk thru it.
Saying, “If I don’t uphold this bargain, may I be cut in half.”
But Abram never walked through. God put him in a deep sleep.
And God WALKED THROUGH TWICE.
Signifying, “If I, God, break this promise may I be torn in to.”
& if you, Abraham, break this promise may I BE TORN in two.”
AND HE WAS.
We’ve seen it. The people constantly broke covenant, but God took the punishment upon himself in the death and sacrifice of Christ.
Hebrews 9:15 “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.”
Luke 22:19–20 “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
Jesus is the Deliverer
Just as the blood of the passover lamb delivered the People of Israel out of the slavery to Egypt,
Even more so did the blood of Jesus Christ, the Perfect Lamb of God deliver us out of the slavery of our sin!
Romans 6:17 “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have been SET FREE from sin. For the wages of your sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ.
He is the Deliverer
Shall I keep going!?
He is the Teacher that has come from God (John 3:2).
He is the Leader who leads as a good shepherd that knows his sheep and gives his life for his sheep.
He is the Provider.
More than the manna he is the bread of life.
More than the water from the rock, he is the fountain of living waters.
More than just clothes and shoes, He supplies all our needs in Christ Jesus.
He has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness.
And last but not least…
He is always, always ready to forgive.
As he was in the OT, so He is in the NEW.
He is the same yesterday, today and Forever, He never changes.
He is always, ready to forgive.
Abounding in Grace.
Rich in Mercy--- and great in love.
Ephesians 2:4–8 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”
Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
The people of our text sat Underneath the Word of God for the first time in hundreds of years
And the result… They have come to Know God.
Do you know this God?
I pray that you do, I pray that you have come to meet and see that He is good.
As we close this morning I want to remind you of our Night of Prayer and Worship this upcoming Wednesday evening.
I can’t think of a better way to come into that evening of personal and corporate communion with God than letting the truth of today’s text steep in your heart and mind.
My encouragement is to spend the next several days simply meditating on and chewing on the character of God.
Trying to proces how great His grace must be to yearn for relationship with us.
I also want to encourage you to Fast on Wednesday with me and several others.
You can Fast to express the distress of your sin.
Or more likely you can fast to simply express your hunger for God, which is more than food.
I believe that if we come Wed. night with a Hunger for God symbolized in fasting, it will be a great night of expectation.
If you’re new to fasting, my encouragement would be to skip lunch that afternoon.
If youre ready, join me in Fasting from food from sundown on Tuesday to 7:00pm on Wed, when we will breakfast together with communion.
I look forward to seeing you there.
So why don’t you stand with me as we sing “Thy Mercy, My God”
Father, “Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song. Without they sweet mercy I could not live here; sin would reduce me to utter despair; but through thy free goodness, my spirit revives, and he that first made me still keeps me alive!” pray.