(This sermon is part of a series preached in the first few months of arriving at the church, which had been without a "preacher" for 3 years.)
Laying the Foundation for Revival
Show the Blueprints and Plans of our church from years past—class rooms, family life center, new worship area, more space, more people
What happened to those plans? Remained rolled up in a container, all but forgotten
Growth didn’t happen. In fact, Instead of growth, fracture.
Painful memories. Lost Dreams. Broken Relationships
Enough to make your heart break.
Beginning to feel what Nehemiah must have felt
His people, once the proud people of God, home of King David, the great warrior, man after God’s own heart, accomplished musician—songs for the temple courts,
Home of King Solomon, wisest man around, known to kings and queens from Asia to Africa, Europe, builder of the grand temple, expander of the beauty of the “city of God” Jerusalem
Now where were they?
Carted off, slaves, servants to a foreign king, serving a kingdom not under God,
Their city, even after some recent attempts to revitalize and rebuild, still was made vulnerable by broken down walls, made a disgrace with once strong gates reduced to ashes.
How did this all happen?
Their “physical state” was a reflection of their spiritual state. Was a result of their spiritual state.
Nehemiah could have called it quits. But he didn’t.
Instead, he turned to the only One that he could. the only One that could make a difference. The only One through whom revival could come.
Read Nehemiah 1
It wasn’t just about rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem, although it certainly was that. It was also about reviving the hearts and minds of the people to love and obey God, about confessing their sins and returning to a relationship with their Lord.
In this prayer, Nehemiah lays himself, his people, and their need before the Lord, and comes away with the humility, power, and confidence to help rebuild the city he loves as well as rekindle the love of he and the people for their God.
Key Point: Nehemiah 1 Shows Us How We Can Lay a Foundation of Prayer So That Revival Will Come.
1. Revival Prayer Comes Through Those Who See the Need
Nehemiah was overcome by the need of his people—and he turned immediately to God
We really shouldn’t have to look far to see needs.
Ed just had to walk out in his backyard and step into some soggy ground to realize he needed to fix the leech field of his septic system
Then a few days later after one knowledgeable look, the doctor told Ed and Elaine that their daughter needed to be rushed to the hospital and treated for diabetes.
Ed has also shared many times that the life he was raised in and lived until recently showed him that not only did HE need the Lord, but as he might put it: “there’s some really messed up people out there.”
You really don’t have to look too far to see the need for the Lord’s healing touch:
• Successful business men that lead a horrible double life until exposed for what they are, as in the case of a well known anchor weather man in Miami (Bill Kamal)
• Internet sites filled with teens and young adults—normal looking on the outside (or not)—who are encouraging each other in bi-sexuality, suicide, anorexia, violent acts
• Homeless people that look for food in garbage cans as people stream in and out of a convenient store, buying what is “convenient” at convenient store prices (as happened in CIncy will transferring the children to Grandma and Poppa)
• People who are so absorbed in themselves or worrying about homeless people that they fail to reach out and buy a meal (that is ME sometimes!)
• Christians whose marriages are one argument, one internet site, one emotional affair, away from divorce
You can fill in your own blanks of the needs of the world and hurting Christians.
The Church actually the answer to ALL those needs—who is Jesus Christ
His Gospel message: “come to me all you weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest” is tailor made to address the needs of the burdened, the lost, or as one preacher put it “the shrimps, and wimps and those with limps.”—really the Gospel is for all people
Jim Cymbala (as described in Fresh Wind Fresh Fire) looked around a saw a small rag tag group of church goers surrounded by a city of muggers, transvestites, drug addicts and more, and realized he was in trouble. He was overcome by his own inadequacy to lead the church, as well as his lack of answers for the world.
In his desperation, he began to search for answers, yearning for the power that can only come from God. At the end of his rope, he felt the Lord impress on him, deep within his soul, that God’s power would be with them, if only he and the church learned to call on His name to supply their needs.
And so began a heart felt, focused, consistent commitment to prayer by he and his church. And they began to see God work powerfully in the lives of people swallowed up in sin and society, transvestites giving up walking the streets for ministry and marriage, gang bangers learning to be leaders for the Lord. And their church began to grow—toward maturity and in numbers.
Do we really see the need or are we numb?
If we see—revival prayer starts with us.
Charles Spurgeon: The best style of prayer is that which cannot be called anything else but a “cry.”
Are you ready for crying out to the Lord?
Cymbala concluded: “If the spirit of brokenness and calling on God ever slacks off at Brooklyn Tabernacle, we’ll know we’re in trouble—even if we have 10,000 in attendance.”
And I bet they are close to that.
Transition: While Revival Prayer starts with those who see the need, it is far from casual, off the cuff praying. Quite the contrary, we see in the Bible that:
2. Revival Prayer is Underscored With Fasting
God’s people have often come before Him with prayer and fasting when the need was great.
Nehemiah fasted during his mourning and pleading with the Lord, as we see in verse 4.
The city of Nineveh fasted during their time of repentance—and the Lord turned his anger away from them
Jesus fasted for 40 days before he set out to begin his 3 year ministry
The leaders of the church were fasting and praying in Acts 13 before the Spirit told them to set aside Saul and Barnabus for missionary work that would forever change the world
What is prayerful Fasting? Let me begin by saying what it is NOT:
• A weight loss method
• A way to manipulate the Lord, a favor done for him
• Not something to be admired as “super spiritual.”
Fasting does:
• Show where our desires are—with food and temporary comforts or with the Lord
• Appear to be a tool that teaches us that God is the real source of our peace and strength
• Done properly it weans us off the dependence on food and other pleasures that pale in comparison to the fulfillment that God gives.
As Dallas Willard observes: “In fasting, we learn how to suffer happily as we feast on God. [Fasters . . .] will have a constant sense of their resources in God (Spirit of the Disciplines, p. 167)”
Fasting is not easy.
You can start out by skipping a meal and using that time to pray, and work your way up to a day or several days, whatever you see fit.
But fasting is an assumed practice of Christians, and not one that probably taken advantage of very often.
But Revival Prayer, and the great need it addresses, IS underscored by fasting. And I encourage the whole church, starting with the leaders—including myself, to learn to fast, privately and as a group—as we call out to God to bring revival.
Transition: Whether done during fasting or beyond, on key feature of revival prayer is that it
3. Revival Prayer Exalts God
Even though his NEEDS are many, look how Nehemiah begins his prayer:
“O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God”
How often do our prayers sound like a shopping list of needs, wants, and complaints?
I wonder how much God enjoys when our prayers are marked with praise and adoration and thanksgiving.
I know how much I enjoy it. During our all church prayer times these last few weeks, I feel like I am basking in the glow of the radiance of God as my brothers and sisters lift up His name.
If I am feeling the least bit self centered, when our God is exalted, I am put in my place—and it feels good there, because I know all too well my limitations, and I am glad I can look to the One who is FAR GREATER than I, or any of us, will ever be.
Revival Prayer Exalts God, because it puts things in perspective: God is high and lifted up—
It’s like flying up in a plane and everything is so small. It’s not that our problems disappear, but we realize from God’s perspective, it is nothing he can’t handle.
I remember how honored and humbled I felt when I stood in the presence of Bob Dole, running for president, and shook his hand. To some he may have been a crusty old politician with a withered hand, but to me he was a larger than life figure who represented the solution to my nations needs. He lost.
Brothers and Sisters, God is FAR GREATER than Bob Dole, George Bush, Bill Clinton—and he NEVER loses.
Few prayers should ever pass our lips that fail to Exalt God’s great name for His glory and our edification.
Transition: Exalting God tells us how great he is, but Revival prayer also is about remembering God’s love.
4. Revival Prayer Remembers God’s Love
Where would we be without God’s love? All the exaltation of God would not comfort us, if we did not know the love of God, the love that He means for us’
v. 5 “who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands”
Our whole plea for revival is rooted in the fact that God loves his people.
The Old Testament covenant was based on God’s command that his people keep the law.
It was marked by
• Promise
• Sacrifice
• Forgiveness
Transition: If Revival couldn’t count on the love of God, there wouldn’t be much point in this next element:
5. Revival Prayer Confesses the Weight of Our Sins
The effect of our sins on us is like an atomic Bomb at ground zero. Left unchecked, unnoticed, unconfessed, they obliterate and destroy us.
They are why we need revival in the first place.
Sin kills the livelihood and lives of God’s people
Remember how Achan—one man of unconfessed, secret sin—brought calamity on the entire people of Israel as they were starting their conquest on the promised land. There was “sin in the camp” and until it was rooted out and he and his family was killed, there was no victory
Or Ananias and Sapphira. Their unconfessed deceit against the church—even the Spirit of God—cause their sudden death
With God there is forgiveness, but unless sin is confessed, revival won’t come or will be hampered.
When sin is allowed to run unchecked we put ourselves in danger of having God’s hand against us personally and as a church:
and you don’t want God’s hand against you:
Balaam: curses turned into blessings. Anything we try will be frustrated and revival won’t come.
Look at Nehemiah’s confession in vv. 6 and 7
He confesses the sins of the nation as well as himself. No one is above sin, and all need to confess—I have accountability partners I meet with. Some people go before the whole congregation, some confess to their spouse or the people they sin against:
Confessing keeps sin from staying a secret and becoming a destructive monster,
And it paves the way for revival
Transition: Because sin besets us all, it should follow that:
6. Revival Prayer Shows No Favoritism
v.10 and v. 11
Nehemiah’s desire is for revival of all God’s people. All are in the same boat. He is no better
For us, let’s seek revival for all people, regardless of:
• Church name
• Race
• Language
• Odd habits
• Religion (Osama)
• People we have conflict with
We are all sinners (do we take it seriously? Karl Menniger—crime/state, sickness/psychologists, involuntary deviant behavior/society)
in need of God’s fresh wind, His Spirit, and when He comes the joy of salvation and unity overwhelms any petty divisions.
Transition: Because of our utter sinfulness and inability to overcome it ourselves
7. Revival Prayer Pleads For God’s Help
v. 6
v. 8/9
v. 11 ESPECIALLY
Cymbala (in Fresh Wind Fresh Fire) said “The Holy Spirit has a way of short-circuiting our problems.” We may not see the solution, but God’s Spirit does, and works to heal and fill like no other.
Cymbala further illustrated a time when prompted by the HS, he started praying fervently for a Christian man dying with AIDS. Through the power of the Spirit, he regained strength and was able to continue ministering among the hurting and neglected
A distraught man with a gun interrupted a prayer service at Cymbala’s church. Intent on hurting a man who had slept with his girl, he somehow stumbled into church on his way, and during the prayer was convicted of the utter hate and sin in his heart and felt impressed to give his gun up to the preacher
“you will seek me and find me if you seek me with all your heart.”
Revival prayer must seek the help of the Lord
As the hymn says:
“Oh what sin we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry everything to God in Prayer.”
8. Revival Prayer Doesn’t Give Up
Nehemiah “prayed for days”. We don’t know exactly how long, but it seems he prayed long enough until he had made connection with the Lord and he sensed God’s hand was at work with him
It is important we don’t give up. That we spend time with the Lord.
The Lord lauded Mary’s desire to spend time with him. Are we like Mary or are we too busy with life?
What if we spent the amount of time in prayer—in cultivating a relationship with God—get us very far if we spent that same amount of time on our spouse or friends? Do we give God as much time as we do our hobbies, our music, our TV, our events, our wasted time?
What if Markus Laegel and the people around him \had given up (p. 3 and 4, Red Moon Rising)
Conclusion
Call to Congregation:
I invite you lay a foundation for prayer
Hand out bricks to each person/family to have one. These bricks are to be placed in a prominent place at home, such as the kitchen table, to spur us on to consistent and specific prayer for our church. These are some key areas to focus on:
• that in all things we do, our motivation is love and honor for our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
• that God lead us to specific ministries that line up with what He wants for us to do given our make up (“church DNA”) and the needs of our context (town, and global influence)
• that a spirit of unity and commitment to reconciliation will flourish among us
• For our leaders to shepherd under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word
• Give us a vision for how God might use our 10.1 acres we have
• For all the little ones and families we are blessed with
Include your whole family in your prayer time for the church
Invitation Time (for commitment to the sermon, or for new believers)
