“IT STARTS WITH PRAYER” Neh. 1:1-11
6/7/20 – FJCF
Jon Daniels
INTRO – I don’t think there’s any disagreement or doubt that America is in desperate need of a sweeping revival! Like the one that happened in 1857.
- Jeremiah Lanphier, young businessman in NYC, who believed in the power of prayer. The nation was divided by slavery. Drunkenness was rampant. People were filled w/ fear & anxiety. Lanphier asked God, “Lord, what would you have me to do?” God led him to start a prayer meeting at noon on Fulton Street in the financial district of Manhattan so other businessmen could come & pray. Out of a population of 1 million in NYC at that time, 6 people showed up the 1st week ½ hour late. Met again the next week – 14 showed up. Again the next week – 23. 40 the next week. Decided to meet every day. Within weeks, thousands of business leaders were meeting every day for prayer. God began moving powerfully throughout the nation as revival broke out & began to spread. Estimated that 1 million people were saved out of a national population of 35 million, including 10,000 conversions every week in NYC for a time.
- How many of you believe that we need another revival like that in our nation?
- How many of you believe that God could do that again?
- How many of you believe that God WANTS to do that again?
- How many of you are willing to do whatever God wants YOU to do to bring about that kind of revival in our nation again?
It is absolutely no coincidence that back in Feb., before I had even preached my first sermon as your new pastor, as I was on a prayer retreat to seek God’s direction for what HE would have me do as your Pastor, He laid it on my heart to preach a series of message out of the OT book of Nehemiah. And that name of that series would be “Rebuild – Restore – Revive.” (And Cindy’s SS lesson w/ the kids this AM was from Ezra – “The People Go Back”)
- He knew that a pandemic was coming.
- He knew that a time of massive national turmoil was coming
- He knew that today would be the first time that we would be back together in these buildings for corporate worship.
- And He knew that we would need to hear from Him about how HE would rebuild, restore, & revive His people IF we would hear from Him, obey Him, & adjust our lives to HIS plans as He leads us.
And it’s also no coincidence that just this past Saturday, I heard these words so clearly that I had to grab my phone & type them into my phone so I wouldn’t forget them: “THE REVIVAL STARTS HERE!”
- I believe God is about to do something powerful in our midst.
- I believe God is wanting to stir up His Church in these tumultuous days in which we are living.
- In fact, I believe that’s why He is allowing these things to happen right now.
o He’s showing us the depth of the depravity of sin – Question is: Will we confess & repent?
o He’s showing us our desperate need for Him – Question is: Will we cry out to Him in desperation?
o He’s showing us the direction that we need to go – Question is: Will we go w/ Him?
EXPLANATION – Open Bibles to Neh. 1:1-11
Nehemiah is one of the history books of the OT. It, along w/ the book of Ezra (Ez-Neh originally 1 book in the Jewish scriptures), give the account of the rebuilding of Solomon’s magnificent Temple in Jerusalem. It had been destroyed & burned down by King Nebuchadnezzar in about 586 BC (2 Kings 25). Tremendously traumatic & tragic time for God’s people.
In those days, cities were surrounded by great walls to protect them from enemy armies. If the walls were broken down, the city would be extremely vulnerable to being attacked & overrun by their enemies.
When Nehemiah heard that the walls around Jerusalem were down, he knew that something had to be done. He knew that there would be opposition. He knew that it would take a huge amount of hard work. But he also knew God, & that made all the difference!
And here’s one more thing for you to know: Nehemiah was a layperson. He wasn’t a priest, or a preacher, or a prophet. He was a layperson w/ a secular job – the cupbearer to the king.
So know this: When revival comes, it will come through YOU. It’s not just something that the pastors & preachers & evangelists come up with to try & manipulate the emotions of the people. Revival will come when the people in the pew as well as the person in the pulpit prepare themselves for it, put themselves in the position to receive it, & passionately pray for it.
APPLICATION – If we truly desire to see revival, we must commit to praying about it regularly, consistently, & fervently.
GET CLARITY – v. 1-3 – Why do we need to be praying? Why do we need to be crying out to God? That’s the question we need to ask. We need to get clarity on that question so that we can pray intelligently & specifically. We need to honestly & clearly see the condition of our hearts so we will understand the need to fervently pray.
Nehemiah realized that he needed to be praying b/c of the trouble that the people in Jerusalem were experiencing, & the fact that the walls around Jerusalem were broken down. This was a desperate situation for God’s people.
- Heb for “trouble” – misery, calamity, disaster
- Heb for “shame” – reviling, taunt, abuse
Bottom line: The people of God inside the city were in deep trouble, & were dangerously vulnerable to even more trouble due to the destruction of the city’s walls & gates.
You & I need to take a serious look at the condition of our hearts, our families, our communities, our churches, & our nation. We need to see that the walls are down! We must see how desperately we need the Lord, how desperately we need the revival that only He can bring. We won’t be able to respond in the right way until we see this clearly. Then, & only then, will we begin to respond to the Lord as we should.
GET BROKEN – v. 4 – Nehemiah’s response to the news of the broken-down walls was not one of anger, or retaliation, or hostility. He didn’t call his representative. He didn’t put together a group of vigilantes & go after the guys who did this. He didn’t call a press conference & make a speech about the walls. Look at what he did:
- He sat down
- He wept
- He mourned for days
- He fasted
- He prayed
All outward displays of a broken man. His response was one of brokenness.
GET SERIOUS – v. 5-7 – Nehemiah’s prayer to God wasn’t some flippant, nonchalant, half-hearted piece of a prayer. It was a serious prayer – a desperate cry – a deep beseeching – a “depth of his heart” appeal to God to move.
Look at this prayer. It gives us a great pattern for getting serious about praying for revival in our lives:
- Recognized who God was
- Remembered God’s promises
- Requested God’s response
- Revealed the heart of the problem
GET RIGHT – v. 9 – Nehemiah recalled how God had told Moses what was necessary for him to get right w/ the Lord. The necessary ingredient is REPENTANCE. There was no way that anything was going to happen until there was true repentance.
Revival will never come if we, God’s people, do not repent of our sins & wholeheartedly turn back to God.
- 2 Chron. 7:14
- Jer. 15:19 – “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me.”
- Acts 3:19 – “Repent then & turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
- James 4:8 – “Come close to God & He will come close to you. Realized that you have sinned & get your hands clean again. Realize that you have been disloyal & get your hearts made true once more.” (Phillips)
Young agnostic man saved. Saw these verses happen in his life:
- Ps. 32:1-5 (NLT) “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, & I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you & stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.”
GET BUSY – v. 11 – Get to work! Get busy rebuilding the walls! No more time to waste. If we’ve discovered anything since Mar 1, it’s that we MUST use the time we have RIGHT NOW to be doing God’s work.
- Opportunities abound, but opposition will increase
- Jesus is in heaven, but Jesus can rapture His people at any time
- People need the Lord, but people are turning away from the Lord in huge numbers
- The Church is God’s people in the world, but the Church needs revival
- The Gospel is still, & will always be the answer, but the Gospel is offensive to more & more people
CONCLUSION
Are YOU right w/ God?
Are YOU willing to pray & ask, "Lord, what do you want ME to do?"
