Prepare your heart for Sunday by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together.

You will find suggestions for thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and tangibly putting scripture to action in your personal life, and in our corporate body.

Carefully Think

• Review Nehemiah 1-7; read Nehemiah 8-13.
• Review your sermon notes from the past week or listen to the sermon posted online for review. God was reviving the nation of Israel from the devastating effects of its sinful rebellion against God. God was rebuilding through God-dependent prayer coupled with God-dependent efforts.
• Remember the opposition of Sanballat and Tobiah from chapters 1-7. How are they still going against God’s people? How are they dealt with?
• Starting in chapter 8 through chapter 10, we see Ezra and more importantly the Book of the Law as primary themes. What is the Book of the Law? What is Ezra’s involvement with the Book of the Law? Why is this important from what we know about him from the book of Ezra?
• What emphasis in the life of Israel is placed on the Book of the Law after the walls were rebuilt? List several examples of this.
• What is the response of the people from hearing the Book of the Law? List all the responses found in chapters 8-10.
• How integral is prayer and efforts in this time as well? Can prayer and effort be found in 11-13? What is happening in chapters 11-12? How does this reflect the response of the people earlier? What are they trying to do?
• Chapter 13 is the final display of the people in response to the law and their daily living. What is being uncovered? What reaction does Nehemiah have to this? What effort does he take to respond rightly to the Word of God?

Prayerfully Meditate

• How do our efforts to do the work God that he has set before us compare to that of the Israelites in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem? How does discouragement play into our efforts and prayer? What helped the Israelites complete the task at hand? Can those same things help us?
• Is the Word of God (including the OT in its entirety) causing us to mourn and weep over our sinful hearts and their actions; or to weep and mourn over the sins of our brothers and sisters in Christ in our local body? Is there a repentant heart that fights to drastically kill those sins reflecting the actions of Nehemiah?
• What emphasis do we place on hearing and understanding the Word of God? What means are primary for seeking to hear and understand the Word?

Intentionally Act

• Pray that the Lord would restore his people through prayer and teaching of the Word.
• Pray that we would rightly respond when we face opposition as we seek to do the Lord’s work.
• Pray that we would rightly respond when we are convicted of sin as seen by reading, hearing and understanding the entire counsel of God's Word (OT and NT) .
• Pray that the Lord would grant us understanding hearts and minds and that we would apply all that we learn through the preaching of his Word this coming Lord’s day.
• Pray that the Lord would use the preaching of his Word to restore his people.
• Review the songs and the lyrics below seeking to put in your hearts the truths found in the Scriptures that we might encourage and convict one another to live sanctified lives through the singing of God's Word, not only praising Him but also singing these truths to one another.
• Pray for those leading our corporate gathering this week and for the Holy Spirit’s work as the book of Nehemiah is further explained and applied: Dawson Bryant, music; Brandon Ferguson, Elders' prayer and Scripture reading; Bret Capranica, teaching.

Songs for Sunday

• Yours Is the Kingdom (Video)
• Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (Video)
• But God (Video)
• Your Words of Life (Video)
• Grace Alone (Video)

Lyrics

Lyrics Morning Gathering - July 3, 2016 by Summit Woods Baptist Church