Nehemiah: Broken Heart and Bold Prayers

you you you you you you you you you all time Oh Wow Oh Oh Oh ♪ Oh, with all my soul ♪ ♪ All that's in me comes home ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul, oh, bless the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, my soul, oh, bless the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, we give you praise, Lord, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ You bless the Lord, oh, my soul, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ And I will bless the Lord every, all time, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, remember what he's done ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, he's been so good to us ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, remember what he's done ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, he's been so good to us ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ There's a king and a kingdom full of grace and love ♪ ♪ Oh, it's here and it's now and it is to come ♪

♪ There's a name and his power has authority ♪ ♪ And the roar in his voice makes the darkness leave, yeah ♪ ♪ Singing holy, holy is our Lord Almighty ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the light of Judah ♪ ♪ Praise the Lamb that was slain ♪ ♪ Lift up a hallelujah to the ancient of days, our God ♪ ♪ He reigns, he reigns ever and forever ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the King of Heaven, yeah ♪ ♪ There's a tomb that is empty so the world can see ♪ ♪ How our Savior is crowned in victory, oh ♪ ♪ There's a place we're going where we'll grieve no more ♪ ♪ Join the saints and the angels, sing forevermore, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the light of Judah ♪ ♪ Praise the Lamb that was slain ♪ ♪ Lift up a hallelujah to the ancient of days, our God ♪ ♪ He reigns, he reigns ever and forever ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the King of Heaven, yeah, oh ♪ ♪ The King of Heaven, oh, praise to the King, yeah ♪ ♪ Singing holy, holy is our Lord, oh, praise the King of Heaven ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the Lord Almighty, sing it worthy, worthy ♪ ♪ Is our King of Glory, sing it holy, holy, yeah ♪ ♪ It's our Lord Almighty, yeah, sing it worthy, worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ Our Lord is the King of Glory, sing it holy, holy, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the light of Judah, praise the Lamb that was slain ♪ ♪ Lift up a hallelujah to the ancient of days, our God ♪ ♪ He reigns, he reigns ever and forever, oh, praise the King of Heaven ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the King of Heaven, oh, praise the Lord Almighty, sing it worthy, worthy, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the light of Judah, praise the Lamb that was slain ♪ ♪ Lift up a hallelujah to the ancient of days, our God ♪ ♪ He reigns, he reigns ever and forever, oh, praise the King of Heaven ♪

♪ Oh, praise the King of Heaven, oh, praise the King of Heaven, oh, praise the King of Heaven ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the King, the King of heaven, the King of heaven ♪ ♪ Hallelujah to the King, the King of heaven, the King of heaven ♪ All right, y'all sing this with me. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. 1, 2, 3, and go! Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. I walk by faith and not by sight. I'm pressing on. I'm running toward the prize. I will not fear what I can't see. No matter what may come, I'll still believe. Because I know, I know that you're with me. Oh! Time and time again, I've seen your faithfulness. God, you're good on all your promises. You raised me from the grave. You called me by my name. You set me free. And now I'm on my way to my best day. Whoa! My hope is built on nothing less than on your blood and in your righteousness. I have a purpose.

You've got a plan. You're always working. You're not finishing. And I know, I know that you're for me. Yes, I know! Time and time again, I've seen your faithfulness. God, you're good on all your promises. You raised me from the grave. You called me by my name. You set me free. And now I'm on my way to my best day. I know how good you are. I've seen what you can do to me. The waters part, the mountains move. I hear you call my name. So I'm on my way. I will not fear the fire. I'll walk right through the flame. You're here. You're by my side. I'm not afraid. I hear you call my name. And I'm on my way. Time and time again, I've seen your faithfulness. God, you're good on all your promises. You raised me from the grave. You called me by my name. You set me free. And now I'm on my way. Time and time again, I've seen your faithfulness.

God, you're good on all your promises. You raised me from the grave. You called me by my name. You set me free. And now I'm on my way to my best day. My best day. Give yourself, baby! Are you doing it for the funeral, too, then? What? Are you singing for the funeral? Nobody's asked me yet. I've never been to that before. I was just glad to wonder if there is a choir here. I don't know. Maybe it is. Time has said it. I mean, you've got it locked out. It's probably not. Well, good morning, Crossgate's family. The joy it is again to be in the house of the Lord. Maybe you just keep rushing in. Maybe you came from life group. We have the opportunity to lift high the King of Kings, to hear from his word, to meet in his presence. So just to get this out of the way on the front end, we had some technical issues this morning. That's why the screens are not on. So we're just going to kind of feed the lyrics to you as we sing this morning. But I encourage you, don't let anything, whether it's lack of slides or something going on in your life, don't let anything inhibit your praise to the King, to King Jesus this morning.

Don't hold anything back. He is worthy of all of our praise. Let's bow our hearts before the Lord just for a moment. Invite his presence in to move, to change lives, asking to glorify his name today as we worship him, ask that he would speak to your heart and to your mind. Lord, we thank you that you are here. We, your sons and your daughters, Lord, let us worship you in the way that you are deserving of, King Jesus. We ask in that name. Amen. Amen. Well, we started to learn this song last week. Oh, God, would you move? Let this be the cry of our hearts as we worship him today. Give me the words as we sing along. It starts with, we have heard of all the stories. We have heard of all the stories of how you healed the deaf and blind. How you healed the deaf and blind. You did miracles and wonders. You did miracles and wonders. Would you repeat them? Would you repeat them in our time? We thank you for your presence. Lord, we thank you for your presence. How you promised not to leave. How you promised not to leave. Come and clothe us, Lord. Come and clothe us with your power. Set the captives free. Come and set the captives free. Make this your prayer.

Hear your people cry out. Hear your people crying out. Holy Spirit, would you come? Let's sing that again. Thank you for your prayer this morning. Hear your people crying out. Holy Spirit, would you come? Oh, would you come? We still believe that you are moving. You're with us here today. And you are with us here today. Help us see what you're doing, Lord. Help us see what you are doing. Oh, we don't want to get in your way. So hear your people. Hear your people crying out. Holy Spirit, would you come? Oh, we need you, Lord. Hear your people crying out. Holy Spirit, would you come? Oh, would you come? All right, this next part says we've prayed our prayers. We've made our plans. But if you're not in it, we don't want it. Let this be our cry this morning as we sing. We've prayed our prayers. We've made our plans. But if you're not in it, we don't want it. Oh, God, would you move? Only you can be our Lord.

Holy Spirit, come and fill us. Oh, God, would you move? We've prayed our prayers. We've made our plans. But if you're not in it, we don't want it. Oh, God, would you move? Only you can heal our land. Holy Spirit, come and fill us. Oh, God, would you move? We've prayed our prayers. We've made our plans. But if you're not in it, we don't want it. We don't want it, oh God, would you move. Only you can heal our land. Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh God, would you move. Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh God, would you move. Oh, hear your people crying out. Holy Spirit would you come. Oh, hear your people crying out. Holy Spirit would you come. Come. We've made our prayers. We've made our plans. But if we don't want it, oh God, would you move. And only you can heal our land. Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh God, would you move. Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh God, would you move. Holy Spirit come and fill us, oh God, would you move. Oh. Amen.

Church family, how are we doing this morning? Man, fantastic. It is so good to be in the house of the Lord with you all, just worshiping as a faith family, our Savior and Lord. If you are a first-time guest with us today, we just want to extend a very special word of welcome to you. You're the most important person in this room. And if you have a moment at some point in the seat back in front of you, there is a Connect card that we would just ask for some basic information so we can find out potentially how we could serve you, especially if you're looking for a church home. But just want you to know if that is you and God is maybe directing you to find that church home, we have a place for you. And we would be honored to have you in the family of God right here. And for everybody else, a part of our faith family, visiting a few times on the backside of that Connect card is a spot to write a prayer request. And we are so grateful that, and we consider it a privilege that you would write those prayer requests and be transparent that we can gather together in here on Tuesday mornings and pray on this stage, pray throughout this building, pray through these chairs every week for you guys. And it's just an honor to be able to do that. So please write your prayers. And at the end of the service today, at every exit, there's someone from our guest services and hospitality team out there with a red bucket that you can just drop those in. And to our faith family, that's also a reminder and also a gesture of thanks for your Firstfruitsgiving.

There are so many things that we would not be able to do and advance without your Firstfruitsgiving. And there's just a measure of Firstfruitsgiving that keeps us on our missional edge. So thank you for that. Okay, just real quick, you didn't get to see it, didn't get to be a part of it this morning, but this morning it was a really cool moment to celebrate our upcoming first graders. Every year around this time, around promotion Sunday, we just consider it an honor to bring our new first graders in, give them a brand new Bible and just remind the church and remind the parents that godly wisdom starts right there. And it is our duty to raise them up. And I've been so encouraged this week, reading through 1 and 2 Timothy, how the older spiritual father, Paul, just continually speaks truth into the younger man, Timothy. And just seeing those first graders up here was just a reminder of that, that that is how the gospel goes. And that is how the normal Christian life is. So, hey, you missed it, but it was pretty awesome in the first service. But we couldn't do it again, you have to imagine, wrangling first graders the second time after donuts and muffins and probably candy,

not a good idea. But just this week, pray for them as their spiritual journey and their wisdom in the Lord begins. And so right now, I just wanna pray, set our hearts towards the Lord, and we're just gonna continue in worship. So Heavenly Father, Lord, this is your house. And man, what a great reminder for us that in your house, you can do what you want. And Lord, and I just pray that today would be a day that you move. Lord, I pray today that there is somebody in here that has no idea that you're about to change their life for all eternity. And so Lord, I pray as we press in to this worship, that Lord, it would just be a pleasing aroma to you. Lord, I pray that there is just people in here that as we jump into a brand new series of Nehemiah, as we look at what it means to be revival ready, that even now you're tilling the ground of the heart. And so Lord, we give you this time, and we pray that this time that we get to gather together on a Sunday, it would spur us on into our Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, knowing that we have a faith family here fighting the same fight that we all do every day. And so Lord, be the commander of heaven's armies for us. Be the one seated on the throne, hearing our cries and our praise for not only revival,

but your worship, because God, you are worthy. And it's in all these things I ask in your name, amen. All right. The verse says, from my waking breath, from my daily bread, I depend on you, Jesus. Let's sing this out this morning. For my waking breath, for my daily bread, oh, I depend on you, oh, I, for the sun to rise, for the sun to, for my sleep at night, for my sleep at, I depend, oh, I depend on you, oh, I, you're the way, the truth, and the life this morning. Come on. You're the way, the truth, and the life, the well, you're the well that never runs dry. I'm the branch, I'm the branch, and you are my vine. Draw me close, draw me close, and teach me to abide. Where the spirit leads, as I'm following, come on, let's make this our prayer this morning. Where the spirit leads, as I'm following, I depend on you, Jesus. Oh, I depend on you, oh, I depend on you,

for the victory's still in front of me, come on. For the victory's still in front of me, oh, I depend on you, oh, I depend on you, you're the way, you're the way, the truth, and the life, you're the well that never runs dry. I'm the branch, I'm the branch, and you are my vine. So draw me close, draw me close, and teach me to abide. Be my strength, my stormy night, be my all, be my all, be my all, my treasure, I am yours, I am yours, forever you're mine. Draw me close and teach me to abide. When I pass through death, as I enter your rest, come on. When I pass through death, when I pass through death, as I enter your rest, I depend on you, Jesus, come on. Oh, I depend on you, oh, I depend on you, for eternal life to be raised with Christ, come on. For eternal life to be raised with Christ, I depend on you, I depend on you, I depend, I depend on you, Jesus. You're the way,

you're the way, the truth, and the life, you're the well, you're the well, that never runs dry. I'm the branch. I'm the bridge and you are the door. Draw me close and teach me to abide. Be my strength, my soul in the night. Be my hope, my treasure, my life. I am yours, forever you're mine. Draw me close and teach me to abide. Oh, teach me to abide. Draw me close and teach me to abide. Yes, let's praise him church. That's exactly who he is. The way, the truth, the life, the well that never runs dry. Everything that we need. And we have to totally depend on him. You may be like me. Sometimes my song is, I depend on me. I depend on me for all of those things to happen. But apart from him y'all, we can do nothing. That abiding is a necessity, a non-negotiable. And the altar is open. I want to read this scripture over us. A picture of heaven of what we will get to one day join, but we get a picture of over here on earth. This is from Revelation 4. It's a picture of the living creatures, the elders, the saints, the angels gathered around the throne and they never cease day and night saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne. And worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne saying, worthy are you our Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they exist and were created. So I want us as we go into this next song, if you want to bow your heart before the Lord, if you want to close your eyes just between you and the Lord, ask him, ask him, what is that Lord that I'm clinging to that I need to come and lay at your feet? I want to be totally surrendered, but I have something that I'm still holding on to. So Lord reveal that to me and then come and lay it at his feet, come and lay it at the altar and come and see him for who he is. His loving kindness, his unfailing love for you and worship him as we lay our crowns at his feet. Let's sing this together. Your loving kindness, your loving kindness has welcomed me. Though I'm unworthy, though I'm unworthy, majesty of majesty, wrath of lowly, wrath of lowly in royalty, I will lay my crowns down at your feet. You are holy, so holy and I will give my life as an offer. You are worthy, you are worthy, so worthy God. Here at your altar to seek your face. Here at your altar to seek your face. Broken and poured out. Broken and poured out without risk. In full abandon. In full abandon. Before my King. Before my King. Here I surrender to Jesus. Here I surrender. My everything. And I will lay my crowns down at your feet. You are holy, so holy and I will give my life as an offer. In my life as an offer Cause you are worthy God You are worthy, so worthy God Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne The whole earth is full of His glory Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne Rejoin with all of heaven in the air Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne Rejoin with all of heaven in the everlasting

Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne Rejoin with all of heaven in the everlasting Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb upon the throne Rejoin with all of heaven in the everlasting And I will lay my crowns now at Your feet You are holy, so holy And I will in my life as an offer You are worthy, so worthy And I will lay my crowns now at Your feet You are holy, so holy And I will in my life as an offer You are worthy, so worthy God Worthy is the Lamb Seated on the throne We crown You now with many crowns You reign victorious High and lifted up She's the Son of God The darling of heaven crucified Worthy is the Lamb He said, worthy is the Lamb Worthy is the Lamb Come on He said, worthy is the Lamb Just our voices Worthy is the Lamb Seated on the throne We crown You now with many crowns You reign victorious High and lifted up

She's the Son of God The darling of heaven crucified Praise Him now, worthy Come on Worthy is the Lamb is the Lamb. Hallelujah. Said, worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Hallelujah. Praise Him now. Praise Him. Worthy are you. Worthy are you. Will you rightly stop, recognize your presence, and say, Jesus, this is all for you. It's from you. I'm so glad that this has brought you pleasure. Let it rise, Lord. Let your praise arise from the heart of every person in this room. And now I would ask, Lord, would you come and teach us the ways of your kingdom in such a way that our lives might be restored, revived, families rebuilt, generations changed, like real stuff happened, Lord. Real stuff happened out of this room because of what you say to us today. So we worship you in spirit and in truth. We pray all these things in the matchless, all-powerful name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's give Him praise. Come on. I'll tell you what, the Lord's making that a regular thing, you 1030 service you. Come on. Come on. And there's reasons for that, by the way. I mean, there's reasons that the Lord is moving, and it's because He wants to, always wants to. But there's ways that, Lord willing, we're positioning ourselves for that. And so I just want to encourage you, don't miss this moment, this season, and what God's doing. It ain't about us at all, zero. It's all about Him. And He is deciding to do some special things in this season in our church family. So let's just lean into that and invite as many people as possible into that, into what He's saying, doing in our day. If you've got a Bible, Nehemiah, boy, if you've got one, it's going to help you because it ain't going to be on the screens, y'all. So this is a reminder to bring your copy of God's Word. Okay? So Nehemiah chapter one, if you don't know how to get there, Nehemiah, it's called the table of contents, baby. It's in the front of your Bible. If you will learn that page, it will help you find the page that you need to get to in God's Word. We're starting a journey through the book of Nehemiah this morning, and I'll say more to that in a moment. Hey, God is doing some things and we're trying to position ourselves for His presence in our life. Personally, one thing

that we do in that is we kick off our Wednesday nights after a little summer break. We have Wednesdays at CG. If you missed this last Wednesday, man, it was a powerful, powerful moment. Room was full, people seeking the Lord, heard some things that you'll hear echoes of today, but don't miss this next week. I have one of my dear friends, Hudson Smith, that is a pastor overseas. And that's about all I'll say about that. And it is a tremendous man of God. And Katie and I and the church we were at in Arkansas actually got to send him and his family to go and serve among the nations. And God's going to use him on Wednesday night to give us a sight line into parts of God's heart that we need. So whatever you got to do to get here Wednesday night, six o'clock, it will be worth it. I promise. Okay? Big time, big time, big time. Now as we start this, let me tell you a little bit about Nehemiah, the context of this. It's really Nehemiah's journal entry. What we get in this awesome book that we're going to walk through in the next weeks is Nehemiah sharing what God started in him and ways God's work in the rebuilding, renewal, real revival that led to awakening. In the book of Nehemiah, you see everything that you need personally, your family needs, we need in our cities, we need in our nation in a real revival. And so why the title of this series is Revival Ready is because if we will so cooperate with God in the same way that we see a people cooperate with God, we can see genuine renewal. We can see God bring things to life that have died. We can see things restored that are broken in a powerful way, but you got to lean into it. In context, so you'll understand the whole of Scripture, man, the metanarrative of God, is what we have in Nehemiah is, you have these several places in the Bible, Nehemiah, Ezra, you got moments where God calls men like Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple, Ezra to restore God's word to the people, Nehemiah to rebuild the wall, and it's this collision point where God is bringing things back to original intent, where God is restoring what he always desired.

You actually have the fulfillment of one of the most famous passages ever, Jeremiah 29. I know if you're a note taker, man, today's gonna be your day, get ready, because you ain't gonna see all the screens. Matter of fact, the little tap tag in front of you, if you take the front of your phone and put it on there, you get all my sermon notes, okay? But Jeremiah 29 11 is being fulfilled in the book of Nehemiah when it says, for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare, not for evil to give you a future and a hope that you see in the book of Nehemiah, God fulfilling, because in Jeremiah, remember bad day, Jeremiah shows up, tells Israel, guess what? You finally crossed the line too many times. You finally broken God's heart and broken God's law so many times that it's gonna cause for consequence. And in that moment, Jeremiah tells them, you got 70 years of captivity, 70 years of wandering on your own, 70 years of trying to find your way forward without the presence and the power and the governance of God. But yet he ends in chapter 29 with this promise, but a day's coming where your future and your hope will be restored. There's a day coming where God will make new what has been broken by you. And that's where we pick up in Nehemiah 1.

Are you ready? All right, three of you are. I'm gonna say it again. Are you ready? Here we go, Nehemiah. Verse, we're gonna get better at that, I promise, in Jesus' name. All right, the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakaliah. Now, it happened in the month of Chislev in the 12th year as I was in Susa, the citadel that Hananiah, say it fast, say it confident, okay? One of my brothers came with certain men from Judah and I asked them, listen now, I asked them, Nehemiah, I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile and concerning Jerusalem. So Nehemiah, some men come, he asked one specific man, and Nehemiah says, hey, I need to ask you something. It says concerning. Can you tell me what's happening with God's people? Can you tell me about that special place called Jerusalem? What started with concern would move way beyond that. I'm gonna let you in on a secret. God knows everything concerning all things. And something is happening in the heart of Nehemiah, look at me now, that's gonna change human history. That he starts to sense something in him that's gonna shape the way that he'll go to work the rest of his life. He gets a concern for a people and a place.

I'm gonna let you in on a secret. God is ultimately concerned with all people. God is concerned over places. And in this moment, Nehemiah is starting to get something he doesn't have naturally. He has his head down, Nehemiah's got a great gig, he's a cupbearer to the king, gonna hear more about that. He's got a great life, he's got great comfort, but the spirit of God is lifting the face of Nehemiah to a people and to a place. The spirit of God is lifting Nehemiah and God's about to deposit his heart into him. In this moment, it's starting with genuine concern and I would encourage you with this, would you be willing to ask God about the true condition of people and places? This morning, would you let God start something in you that would give you, listen to me, a true sense of what's happening in other people's life and other places? Anybody else ever come to realize that we are pretty self-consumed? Can I get a witness, right? That we think about ourself most of the time. That we think about our lives and God cares about your life, God cares about your family. Restoration is found within these passages even for families in this room. But let me tell you what God often does for us is that he gets our minds off of us.

And in this moment, Nehemiah's face is lifting and he's looking toward a people and he's looking toward a place and he's asking, maybe today you'd be willing to ask, hey God, what's really going on out there? God, what's really going on in my neighborhood? God, what's really going on in the house right beside me? God, what's really going on in the school? God, what's really going on in our city? God, what's really going on in this state? God, what's really going on in the spiritual condition of our nation? God, would you let me know what you know? I'm gonna let you in on a secret. If you'll get to the place that you would hear the voice of God. you're gonna find out that people are hurting and places are broken. That people are hurting and places are broken. One of the privileges and one of the pains of what I get to do is I know that all too well. I promise you, listen to me, behind the doors, a lot of hurt. Inside the city limits, inside of Rankin County, inside of Jackson Metroplex, a lot of brokenness. Most of us are carrying on. A lot of brokenness even represented in this room. Would you be willing to ask God, what's the true condition? It goes on, their response to that question, and he said, and they said to me,

the remnant there in the province who has survived their exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire. Here's the bad report. Hey, Nehemiah, do you really wanna know? The people, they're in trouble. They're in shame. Listen to me, nothing is working for the people of God. Their relationship with God's broken. Their economic situation is broken. Their social standing is broken. Their societal implications, the way in which they're living. Listen to me, they're in great trouble and shame. The picture here is they're downtrodden, that they're hopeless, that they know no way forward. They know no way out. They can't even imagine a different outcome. The report to Nehemiah is, I mean, they are destroyed, they're devastated. Not only them as personally, but as a place, Jerusalem, the walls are broke down, Nehemiah. The gates are burned with fire. There's no protection around them as a people. The picture is pretty much despair. And can I give you a little context in light of where we're going in the whole book of Nehemiah? There's three things that no one wants to live without. And listen to me, and some of us in the room

are living without these things. There's three things that are happening in Jerusalem that are happening in the people of God's life. One, they're living without the wall. Do you know what the wall is to me? While it is a physical structure, before we get to laying bricks, and we're gonna lay some bricks in the next week, we're gonna see God restore physically. But hear me, it's a bigger spiritual principle for that. The wall represented the protection of God. They no longer had the protection of God. Listen to me, which means when the wall's down, anyone or anything gets in. Way too many families, even in this room, and it's for sure in this region, are living without no wall. And we're letting anyone or anything in and out of our life, and the enemy is plundering. The enemy is stealing from us. Look at me, we're not merely losing, we're getting literally these things stolen. Because the protective wall of God is down, not because of God, because we have rebelled. Because we've moved out from underneath that protective banner and covering. When the walls are down, listen to me, anything is possible in the life of anyone. Hear me now. And before we look too judgmentally on the life of another,

just know you're one bad season, one breach in the wall from the worst decisions of your life. One spot. Not only, listen to me, is the wall down, listen to me, the temple has been destroyed. You know what the temple, we're gonna get to that point. You know what the temple represented? It represented the presence of God. So they don't have the protection of God, now they're not experiencing the presence of God. And listen to me, there is no life without God's presence. Everything emanates from him and for him. He's the vine, we're the branches. And what they're experiencing in this moment is an absence of God's presence among God's people, meaning they carry his name, but they don't know his nearness. It's a bad day when you know the Lord and label only. Not in life. Not in the emanating power of God coming through you. And that's what they're experiencing in this moment. The wall's down, the temple, the place that represents the presence of God, and then last, you know what they've lost? Is the law, the word of God. So once you imagine, here's God's people called by God's name, and yet they don't have the protection of God, they are not experiencing the presence of God, and they no longer even know where the word of God is.

So no wonder they're in great trouble and shame. Hey, look at me. A lot of us in the room are living in that same kind of despair. It's easy to get there over time. If not for us personally, we live in a time and an era where it's easy to have those kind of realities. So what is his response to those things? Verse four, as soon as I heard these words, I sat down and I wept and I mourned for days. Nehemiah is an action-oriented dude. You're gonna see that in a minute. Nehemiah had a whole lot of get up and go in him. I love him the more I'm getting to know him as I'm reading his journal entry about this moment. He was a ready, go, set kind of guy. You didn't have to worry about him going to work or getting after it, but before Nehemiah did something, he took the time, hear me now, to feel something. He wept, he mourned. Non-negotiable in revival, you ready? Brokenness comes before building. Weeping comes before working. At some point, you gotta feel what God feels about it. To let God share, feel what God feels about our families, feel what God feels about our city, feel what God feels for brokenness and lostness, feel what God feels for his church, feel what God feels for our nation, feel what God feels.

To be willing to feel something before you do something. And I would ask in honesty this morning, any of us carry a burden and a brokenness for things that God's starting to share with you? Listen, if not yet, he wants to give it to you. Can I give you a bold prayer to pray even right now? Right now, I'm gonna say it to you, you can pray it. You ready? In your own heart. God, would you share your heart for people and for places with me? I'll give it to you again, you ready? Take it vertical. God, would you share your heart for people and places with me in Jesus' name? If you will listen to me pray that now and keep praying it, get ready. God is looking for hearts that he might share what he has in him for them. So he felt something before he did something, then he did something. Listen to what it goes on to say, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. So he wept, he mourned two responses, weeping, mourning, brokenness, and then he continued fasting and praying, meaning Nehemiah set aside a season to seek the Lord in light of a situation. He didn't merely not eat.

He laid aside a meal so he could seek the Lord on behalf of something specific. He said, God, I'm gonna give you some days, I'm gonna give you some mornings, I'm gonna give you some moments that I might seek your face for a people and a place. Here's a secret, if you merely fast without praying, it's called starving. That's a word right there. And it's dumb. But if you, listen to me, tether fasting from and praying for, it's just jet fuel. If you tether it saying, God, I'm laying aside this meal, but I am seeking you for our children. God, I'm laying aside this meal, but I'm seeking you on behalf of this business, God, to flourish for your namesake. God, I'm setting aside this meal and I'm gonna seek your face on behalf of our city. God, I'm gonna set aside this meal and I'm gonna beg you for a revival and awakening in a generation. God, save the lost in this region. I'm setting aside a meal, God, and I'm asking for the movement and activity of God in the state of Mississippi, so marked and measurable that the whole world would take notice. I'm setting aside some stuff to ask you for this. I'm not merely not eating, I'm seeking.

I'm feasting on God. Begging, listen to me, desperation is spiritually expressed through prayer and fasting. Fasting helps you feel what we truly are facing. God, we're desperate for you. We need him more than we need our next meal. So yes, absolutely, there's some that it might be unhealthy for you to do that, totally understand. God wouldn't want you to do something that's unhealthy for you personally. Pray more. more time to him but the majority thereof we can set some meals aside to seek the face of Yahweh Elohim to get into the presence of God to the name of Jesus and say God please do this please move so once he got there and in that rock posture how did he pray verse 5 he said Oh Lord God of heaven this is really good praying okay learn from these prayers he's actually journaled it out Oh Lord God of heaven the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments the best prayers start with praise the best before he asked him for anything he I love this now he came into God's presence and say hey God newsflash the reason we're in this mess is not because of you because my God is awesome my God is steadfast in love here's me am I saying I wanted to just declare rightly in a line that you are steadfast in your covenant keeping that you're awesome in your power you're miraculous in your work that kind of prayer welcomes the presence and the attention of God man if we unleashed a couple thousand people out of this frame that even this afternoon you walked with God inside somewhere not outside because it's hot but you found you a prayer walk or a prayer place or you found you a closet and you came in and said God on behalf of our family we first stop and acknowledge you that you are almighty

that you are awesome covenant keeping steadfast in love that there's no situation that we are facing that is bigger than your capacity so I stop and praise you God I exalt you use the car I don't know how to do that learn how to do that learn how to let praise come out of your prayers there and let him know you know him and then he doesn't make me laugh this week because I have done this so many times in prayer Lord let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants you know what he said hey God really hope you're listening hey God are you watching let me tell you what Nehemiah is not confused about God's sovereign presence what Nehemiah is doing in this moment is reminding himself God hears God sees but what he's doing is connecting the dots hey God hear what I'm saying see what I'm seeing God do you hear what I'm saying about this next generation God do you see what I'm seeing God these walls are down right here we need them rebuilt right here God this person is lost and going to a Christless hell we need you to save him God can you see him I put your eyes on him God do you see this place do you see this people it's not pretty praying it's real praying God I'm asking you you hear me see that moving them then he says the prayer that I pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants you know the trouble they got in didn't happen overnight it happened over time secret next week sneak peek you're gonna see God start moving mildly on their behalf when he prays these first prayers this fall when the work starts at spring there's a whole lot of praying between here and there things are not broken in a minute listen to me and things listen to me God moves miraculously he saved somebody they go from dead in their trespasses of sin to alive and cross by the way 12 people did that last Sunday walked out of this room yeah walked out of this room 12 people walked out of this room both services went to the Next Step Center said I need a box sat down on a conversation and solidified their newfound faith in Jesus Christ right come on ain't nothing better than that we're about 50% excited about that as we should be but but you know what

miraculously from that moment they went dead to live right went from a foreigner far from God to the kingdom of God but here's the truth listen to me God's work he started in them is not done listen to me they are free from their sin now they need to be free from their self we need to help them walk with them right from that place but the truth is is they didn't get into bondage and captivity in a minute These things are not gonna be restored in just a second. You gotta keep praying, keep seeking, keep knocking, keep praying consistently for what is broken. Here's what I think God is doing in our day. He can't give all of us all of his heart because none of us have the capacity to hold it all. He wants to give each one of us a part of it. Isn't that awesome? Wants to give each one of us a part of it. Pray your part, see people that he sees. Then it gets real guttural. Confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you, even I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, the rules that you've commanded your servant Moses. You know what Nehemiah does that we can all learn from? He repents for sins that happened even before he was born. Meaning he came into the presence of God on behalf of things that happened 70 plus years ago that got them into this spiritual condition and he said, God, I'm owning my father's, my grandfather's. I'm gonna own my part in this brokenness.

I know I've sinned against you. I would have probably done the same thing they did then. But I'm coming and I'm confessing God that we rebel, God. I'm confessing, Lord, that we have this tendency to wander away. I'm confessing that our hearts grow cold, God. I'm confessing that we've left what you have founded, God, what you originally attended. I'm owning it. Not asking anybody else to own it, I'm gonna own it. Can you imagine what would happen if every follower of Christ that confesses they know Christ in the United States of America and bent their knee before God and said, God, forgive us for how we got here? Even if everyone wouldn't do it, what if everyone in this room would? To own our part in the brokenness, it's gotta start with somebody. Repentance has to start with somebody. Listen to me, I remember a moment, come on now. Born again, alive in Christ, my brothers, white hot for God, man, and we don't know anything about anything, but we love Jesus, right? And we're amazed that he would snatch us from the fire, from the flame, make us a part of his family, and I remember this. Me and him in a prayer time before God on our face saying, it's different in the Reno line from this day. And something broke.

Something shifted. We had to own something. Hey, listen, trajectory of this thing's been bad a long time, it stops now. Now, you gotta maintain it, you gotta watch over it, but it has to start with somebody somewhere at some point. Not mad at everybody else on it, on your behalf. Ms. Laura, you can go ahead and play. At this point, that doesn't mean I'm almost done. Just for clarity's sake, I just like the music. Remember your word that you commanded your servant, Moses? If we are, I love that the Lord gave us this. Hey, knowing the temperament of humanity, if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. But these words are to make you shout hallelujah. But if you return to me, here he is, here's God saying, but if you return to me, it's like God watching over every life, over every individual, every nation. He's going, just a little turn. Hey, but if you'll return to me, if you'll turn, I know your trajectory, you're in trouble, you're in shame, there's dysfunction, there's brokenness, you're moving that direction, but if you'll return. Here's God saying, if this is what repentance is, if you just turn. God says, I'll run after you. I'll come find you, I'll come clean you, I'll come rescue you, I'll come restore you,

I'll delight over you. But if you return to me, keep my commandments. I mean, you gotta mean it, do them. Though you're outcast from the uttermost parts of heaven, from there, I'll gather them, I'll bring them to the place that I've chosen to make my name dwell there. They are your servants, your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. Me too, I love that Nehemiah did. He said, hey, Lord, Here I come. I'm gonna take a promise back into your presence. You said that if we return you'll clean us up. You'll solidify our standing again. Lord, you'll strengthen our hands. You'll give us clarity and favor. God, you didn't say that once we finally got it perfect. You just said if we turn. You said you'll be God over a bunch of messy kids because you have masterful strength. So here we return, Lord. We're coming to you bringing a presence, bringing a promise back into his presence. The Lord gave me a statement. I think I'm gonna say maybe the rest of my life this week. I was actually on the phone with Jet talking about it. Prayer isn't passive participation. It's aggressive agreement. It's not, listen to me, it's not going, okay God, you said, maybe this helps, maybe it doesn't. No, no, no, no. Prayer's coming into the presence of God. That's what it is. It's saying, hey God, based off your character, your nature, your love, your commitment, your power, your faithfulness, your pursuit,

who you are, based off what you said, what you're doing, I am asking you now to move. Based off of you, I'm asking, based off, it's not the will of the Father that any would perish. I'm praying for this person. Based off, it's your heart and your desire for every family to flourish. I'm going to align. I know we got a responsibility, we got to turn, we got to trust, but I'm asking you for the restoration. I'm asking you for the renewal, and that my prayers play an active part in the activity of God. That's Nehemiah. Let me ask you a question, what if Nehemiah doesn't pray these prayers? We do, and I think God finds somebody else. But it mattered. The measure to what we saw happen mattered, how he cooperated with it. He goes on to say, and I'm finishing up, Oh Lord, let your ear be attended to the prayer of your servant, to the prayer of your servants, servants who delight to fear your name and give success to your servant today and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. I love Nehemiah. He's already praying with that God-given power. He's already praying with activity in mind. He's saying, God, I'm asking for some help. I'm asking for you to hear. But tell you what Nehemiah knows he's gonna do, he's gonna ask the king to let him go restore the wall, to be a part of seeing temples rebuilt, the Word of God re-established, and he's gonna ask the king to pay for it. Bold as a lion. So he says in light of that, hear me, help me. But I'll tell you, that's praying. God, hear me, help me. Hear me ask for you to restore my marriage, help me to be a husband. Hear me, Lord, to see a nation turn to you and help me in our part in Brandon, Mississippi. Hear me, help me, hear me, help me. I'm gonna tell you what, I think God goes, I love that kind of praying. Because that ain't passive, dude, that's aggressive. That's get-after-it kind of praying. Then it ends with one of my favorite passages in this chapter that I never would have thought. Now I was a cupbearer to the king.

You say, why is that your favorite? Because you know what it doesn't say? It doesn't say now I was a priest. Doesn't say I was a prophet. Doesn't say I was a preacher. But it basically says I was a guy who had a gig, and yet God picked me. Here's a principle of the kingdom. God loves using normal people in real revivals. Jeremiah Lamphere in New York, one of the greatest awakenings that ever came to our nation was when one dude got a passion for people praying at noon Noontime in New York City, it became called the Businessman's Prayer Revival. Started with six guys praying, then it was 60, then it was tens of thousands, then it was millions, and then, listen, in that era, like 20% of the United States in the years following came to saving faith in Jesus Christ. We know it as an awakening. Let me tell you what I think God picked. He picked a Nehemiah. He said, that dude'll do it. That guy will seep my face. That guy will get after it. That lady, she'll cry out. They'll serve. They'll participate. God, please hear us praying for the marriages of this house. God, please hear us praying for the schools. God, please hear us praying for Rankin County. God, please hear us praying for the state of Mississippi. God, please hear us praying for our church. God, please grant us mercy and favor, and God, now help us as we go to work. Help us as we move toward those things in faith. Hear us. Help us. Hear us. Help us. Non-negotiables for a real revival. Non-negotiables. Personal, people, community, nation, world. What's God saying to you this morning as we start a journey? Maybe you want to ask Him, Father Christ, Lord, just share your heart with me. I want it. I think I want it. I want to want it. I want to want your heart. I want to want what you want around these things. God, I'm believing for these things in my marriage. I'm believing. Help me. Help me. Help me in this. Would you get desperate before the Lord? That's for followers of Jesus Christ. Now listen, if you're here today, and like we had in last service, these things that you're learning in reviving of someone is only for those that have been made alive. If you're here today, and you don't know Christ, much like we started, you have no wall. You're not covered by the blood of Jesus yet, but you can be. But you can be. If you don't know

Jesus Christ yet, listen to me, you have no presence. You don't have His presence in your life, but you can. The moment you put faith in Him, you can. You can be made alive on the inside, a part of His forever family. If you're here, though, and you don't know Jesus, you don't have that law hidden in your heart yet. You don't have that inner guiding of God, the Holy Spirit, that's gonna lead you to the truth, but you can. So for a lot of us, we need to be revived, believe for revival, and some of us need to be made alive. What's God saying to you this morning? Just bow your head for a moment. Prayer leaders are coming. Man, if you got anything that you need to be prayed for today, why would you leave without us praying with you? If you want to come, just get on your face before the Lord. There's something about, it's right, it's in the Bible, about laying hold of the horns of the altar. It's what you see often in the Old Testament. They just come and say, God, I'm laying hold of you. I need you to work and move. Maybe you got pain or struggle or you need a breakthrough, would you let us pray for you this morning? Or if you're here right now and you say, Kyle, never had that moment where Jesus made me a part of his family, where I was made alive on the inside, but I want to. When nobody else looking around, I'm not gonna embarrass you, but I am gonna ask you to be bold. If you need Jesus to save you today, right now, would you just look at me and raise your hand? Say, Kyle, that's me. Kyle, I need that. I need Jesus to save me. It's real simple. Just look at me, raise your hand. I just want to talk to you for a second. The beauty of our room is I can see you. I got you, bro. Hey, I got you. I'll leave. Anybody else? Worth it. Worth it. All right, you can put your hands down. Now, if that was you, looked at me, raised your hand or not, I want you to look at me right now. Here's the simplicity of the gospel. It's turning. It's trusting. Do you mean it? He does. I can help you talk to him about it. For those that looked, I want you to say something like this, Lord, here I am. I'm turning from my sin. and putting trust in your work on my behalf. Save me, Jesus. I wanna follow you.

Now, if that was you, nobody else looking, I want you to look back at me. This is simple, but you gotta take it. You gotta take this step. When you walk out of this room, next step center right here, some people are standing there, there's some white boxes right there. We wanna help you solidify what God is doing in you. The enemy's gonna try to rob you of that. Don't let him. In the authority of Jesus, don't let him. You walk out of this room and just walk up to them and say, hey, I need a box. We'll take it from there. Now, I'm gonna pray for us. We're gonna stand. We're almost done. It's not time to leave unless you got to serve somebody. It's time to respond. We'll respond in worship. If you'll allow us to, we'd love to pray with you about anything, or you can come and pray. So Lord, here we are. Thank you for today. Thank you for the start of this journey. I pray it changes all of us, and even now it changes somebody. I pray it in Jesus' name, amen.

Let's stand together. If you'll allow us to, we would love to pray with you about anything. Let's worship Him together. We wait for You, Lord. Yes, we wait for You. For Your justice and mercy. For Your justice and mercy. Revival in our city. We wait for You, Lord. O Christ our King. Be enthroned, be lifted high. O Christ our King. Be forever glorified. We wait for You, Lord. We wait for You, Lord. Your healing was broken. Repealed in the ruins. We wait for You, Lord. O Christ our King. Be enthroned, be lifted high. O Christ our King. Be forever glorified. All the hopeless come to Jesus. Let the dead come back to life. Can you hear your people singing, Hallelujah. All the hopeless come to Jesus. Let the dead come back to life. Can you hear your people singing,

Hallelujah. Let Your glory fill the city. Every nation, tribe, and tongue. Can you hear your people singing, Hallelujah. Let Your glory fill our city. Every nation, tribe, and tongue. Can you hear your people singing, Hallelujah. O Christ our King. Be enthroned, be lifted high. O Christ our King. Be forever glorified. O Christ our King. Be enthroned, be lifted high. O Christ our King. Be forever glorified. Church, please extend your hands to receive this blessing. may we be broken and grieve for the things that grieve the Father. May we be deeply moved by the needs of our church, our community, our state, our nation, and our world. May we acknowledge the greatness and awesomeness of our Lord who has mercy on us, and may we show compassion and support to those around us. May we pray fervently and with conviction for others. May we pray big prayers and believe for big things. May we pray and believe that prayer changes things. May we confess our sins of neglect and passiveness and ask for forgiveness from the Father. May we be united in purpose, seeking to glorify the Father in our actions and relationships. May our hearts be open to one another, building a spirit of unity and love that mirrors the heart of Nehemiah. And let us be the church that prays, acts, and loves deeply. May God bless you. You're dismissed. I'll leave.

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