Nehemiah 1:1-4 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,
2 That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.
4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
Nehemiah is a type of the Holy Spirit (His name means comforter) Nehemiah was grieved that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down, Nehemiah can also represent any believer who is in harmony with the will and purpose and desire of the Holy Spirit for the church.
The wall represents the standard, the power, the strength, the character, the integrity of the church.
A wall does two things
1. It keeps things safe inside
2. It keeps things out
1. It preserves, keeps safe, keeps the right things in
2. It protects, keeps the bad things out, the wrong things out
As Moses mother placed him into a little basket she daubbed it with slime and with pitch this was to keep Moses safe inside and keep the water out.
When God told Noah to build the ark the last thing Noah did when he finish building it was he pitched it within and without.
Number one to keep his family and himself and all the animals safe on the inside and to keep the water on the outside.
This was the last step before the boat, the ark was ready to ride out the flood.
But it was a most necessary step because it made the ark waterproof.
The higher the flood, the higher the ark went on top of the waters.
Nehemiah is no doubt a book about revival, about restoration, about bringing back the glory of God to the church.
It starts with an honest assessment of the brokenness and hopelessness and despair of a people who have lost faith.
They have accepted their condition as terminal.
In other words they had given up.
They had no hope, no expectation for change, they couldn't see past their present dilemma.
Somebody needs to hear this today: You've been looking at some situations that have been labeled terminal.
The devil says its terminal
The doctor says its terminal
The lawyer says its terminal
Your enemies are saying its terminal and even your friends are starting to agree.
You're looking at the broken down wall and it looks hopeless, beyond repair.
You can't see how God could ever put that marriage back together.
You can't see how God could ever heal of that disease.
You can't see how that ministry could ever be restored.
You can't see how you're going to get out of that debt.
You can't see how God is going to deliver that prodigal son or daughter.
There were some people in the Bible in the same situation they were in the wilderness dying of thirst,
The Prophet told them to dig ditches.
2 Kings 3:16-17 And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches.
17 For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts.
The Prophet told them: You won't see wind or rain yet that Valley will be filled with water.
When they woke up the next morning water came by the way of edom and the country was filled with water and every ditch was filled with water.
I know right now you can't see how God is going to do it and it looks terminal.
But I prophesy to you God is sending the water.
The water is coming.
The water may be to you healing for your body or deliverance for your prodigals or restoration for your marriage or a breakthrough in your finances.
It may be the end to a spiritual drought.
I don't know what it is for you but it's coming.
Healing power is on the way
Miracles are on the way; deliverance is on the way.
Nehemiah is coming
The Holy Ghost is coming with your answer
So don't accept the enemies report
Don't even accept the report of your own senses.
Believe Gods report and dig a ditch
Believe God's report and begin to praise him right now in the middle of your desert, in the middle of your fiery furnace, in the midst of your lions den, in the midst of your pain, in the face of that bad report, surrounded by broken pieces, surrounded by voices of hopelessness and despair.
Dig a ditch
Lift your voice and give God praise
Dig a ditch
Take out the word of God and begin to declare the promises of God over your life.
Nehemiah, the Holy Spirit comes with a message of revival
The first part of that message is this, “it's not over.”
It's not the end
It can be restored
It can be rebuilt
That's the word of the Lord to you as well:
“it's not over, it's not beyond repair, it's not hopeless, and it’s not useless.
Tobiah’s and Sanballat’s say it's a useless waste of time a fox will break it down
The devil would have us believe that it's impossible; he would have us to believe that we can never be healed, your marriage can never be restored, your prodigals will never come home.
The devil would have us to believe that this nation is doomed, that we are beyond help, that we have passed the point of no return.
He would have us believe that evil has triumphed’ that false religion and homosexuality and lust and perversion and idolatry have won.
The devil would have us to believe that it's useless; it's hopeless, that all our efforts are in vain.
He would have us to believe that are preaching is in vain, that the preaching of the Cross-and the blood of Jesus as the only remedy for sin and holiness and purity and truth and sanctification are all messages that are outdated and powerless now.
But the devil is a liar.
It's not hopeless and it’s not useless, and there is no expiration date on the blood of Jesus and the message of the cross.
The gospel is still the power of God to save all who believe.
The preaching of the cross is still as powerful as it ever was, and the power of the Holy Ghost still sanctifies and delivers and gives us power over sin.
God is still sending revival wherever the gospel is preached and believed and acted on.
Tobiah's and sanballat's are always going to object and resist the work of God.
But greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. 1jn 4:4
I want to encourage somebody today.
Your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Keep preaching the cross
Keep preaching the blood of Jesus
Keep preaching holiness
Keep preaching righteousness and sanctification
Keep rebuking sin
Keep casting out devils and healing the sick
Don't compromise
Lift the standard high and your work will be rewarded
The second part of Nehemiah’s message was this: It's going to take some work.
Yes we can have revival, we can have a mighty move of God,
Yes the wall can be rebuilt
But it's going to take some work on your part.
Revival is not a random act of grace that falls unsuspectingly on random people from time to time as the Lord sovereignly chooses.
Revival is the product, the fruit, the culmination of the cooperative effort of the Spirit of God and the people of God
Nehemiah,(the Holy Spirit) wants to revive the wall, Nehemiah works with God's people to accomplish this purpose
Revival is not an accident
Revival begins with the desire for change
Revival begins when we are able to see and admit what we have lost, and what's been broken down, and we choose to no longer accept it as normal.
Sin is not normal, homosexuality, broken homes, divorce, sickness, disease, idolatry, the occult, perversion, they're not normal it's not normal
Revival is God's people praying, fasting, sacrificing, laying aside fleshly carnal pursuits, repenting, turning from our wicked ways, crying out to God and God answering them.
We can have revival whenever and wherever we're willing to pay the price and do the work.
Revival does not begin with the world, we can't expect the world to get better until the church gets right with God.
Revival begins at the church,
It begins with every child of God rebuilding the wall in their own hearts, the wall of honesty and integrity truth and righteousness.
It begins at the altar of repentance, turning away from all that is worldly fleshly and sinful.
Listen to Sanballat and Tobiah as they tried to discourage the man of God and the work of God
The devil hates Revival:
Nehemiah 41:3
It came to pass that when Sanballat and Tobiah heard that we builded the wall, he was roth and took great indignation and mocked the Jews, they said even that which they build if a fox go up he shall break down their stone wall.
But here's the part I love: Their words were spoken in anger and hostility and they were was meant to ridicule and criticize and humiliate and demoralize, but to me it's probably the most awesome part of the whole story;
verse 2 Tobiahs says: what do these feeble Jews, will they fortify themselves, will they sacrifice, will they make an end in a day, and then he says will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned.
He is saying can they do anything with these old burnt stones piled up in the trash.
Really what he was saying is, you can't do anything with this trash
You can't build anything with these used burnt stones
Really what he was saying was, the stones are trash and they're not good for anything.
When I read that, something stirred inside of me because I could hear the devil talking.
Through his words, I could hear the devil's saying to so many people: you're no good, you've been burned, you're all messed up, you've been broken, you've been abused, you've been a drug addict, you've been a homosexual, you cheated on your wife, you failed the ministry, you're a nobody, you're rubbish, you're trash, you're good for nothing, nobody wants you.
But I can hear another voice speaking: the voice of Nehemiah the voice of the Holy Spirit saying: I want these old burnt stones.
I want those stones piled up in the trash over there, the ones everybody threw away
The rejected ones, the broken ones, the ones that didn't fit, the burned ones
The ones who carry the scars of their abuse
The ones with needle tracks up and down their bodies
The ones who have been rejected by religion, the outcasts of society, the leppers,
The Untouchables.
I'm going to do exactly what you said I couldn't do, I'm going to take these old burnt stones and I'm going to make a new wall with them.
How many are glad tonight that God uses burnt Stones?
1 Co 6:9-11 ΒΆ Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: (but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God).
Such were some of you: The truth is; most of us weren't top shelf of societies who's who's to tell the truth some of us were the bottom of the barrel.
How many remember the mess you were in when God found you and picked you up? Some of you were drunk, some of you were high on dope, some of you were unfaithful to your spouse, some of you were behind bars, some of you were liars, cheaters, theives, and fornicators.
I know most of you tonight you're looking good, smelling good, got some money in your pocket, most of you drove here in a decent car, your eating good.
But the truth is, you weren't always this pretty, you didn't always have it together,
The truth is some of us, some of you got some ugly stuff in your past and the truth is if God was looking for perfect people you wouldn't have made the cut, I wouldn't have made the cut.
If God was looking for nice prim and proper people who never did anything wrong you would have been eliminated.
And if God was only accepting good people who never broke the law never cheated, never lied, never stole, never abused their bodies, never been abused by somebody else, you and I would have been rejected.
such were some of you
such were some of us
But God, but God loved us, but God had mercy on us, but God forgave us, but God delivered us, cleansed us
God didn’t go down to perfect street to choose his material
He came down to the rubbish, the heaps, the trash piles of life and he picked up the broken and the bruised the wounded and the burned, the most used and abused.
And he said this is what I'll use to build my wall.
This is what I’ll use to build my church.
*I'll take these old burn stones and I'll build a new wall*
I don't care where you came from in this life or where you’ve been or what you’ve been through
2 Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new.
There's a spirit of revival in the land.
God is pouring out his spirit in unprecedented ways
There are signs and wonders and miracles being poured out today: But its not going to happen everywhere
There are going to be churches that are flooded with the glory of God
They’re going to be known as hot spots for revival’ the fire of God is going to fall in those places, miracles healing and deliverance will be common occurrences
But other churches are going to be dry, drought-stricken, barren places, no presence of God, no supernatural moves of God or visitations.
Why, what's the difference?
The answer is, the move of God is coming to where they have prepared for it.
It's coming to a people who have cleared the way for it
It’s coming to a people who are hungry for it
It’s coming to a people who are desperate for it.
It's coming to a people who are digging ditches
It’s coming to a people who are rebuilding the wall, lifting up the standard, renouncing sin, tearing down the idols, rebuilding the altar.
I know things look dark and bleak and gloomy around us, and I might sound like a crazy man, but I prophesy revival is coming.
The rain is coming, suddenly
It’s coming to those prepared places.
Suddenly it's coming to where the walls are being restored.
It's coming where people have been digging ditches crying out to God for revival.
It's coming to the dry places, the thirsty places, the wounded places, the broken places.
It's coming with healing, miracles, with signs and wonders, with deliverance and salvation.
Sick bodies are going to be healed
The bound and the oppressed are going to be set free
The drug addicts, the homosexuals, the prostitutes, the fornicators, the alcoholics,
They're going to be set free and set on fire.
Can we lift our hands and our voices right now and tell God we want revival?
Cry out to God for revival
Revival for your church, your family, your city, your schools.
Come on let's prepare the way for revival
Let's get all the junk out of our lives, let's quit limping back and forth.
Let’s consecrate our selves unto God
Lets build the altar and put the sacrifice on the altar and God will send the fire.
Let's build the wall and God will send revival.
