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!!! Arise And Build!
All Things Are Possible With God’s Help
!!! God’s Servant: A Person Of Prayer!
Nehemiah 1:1-11
/(Definitions taken from Old Testament Word Studies, William Wilson, unless stated otherwise.)/
*Prevailing Prayer*
William Carey was once reproached for spending so much time in prayer that he neglected his business.
He replied that supplication, thanksgiving, and intercession were much more important in his life than laying up treasures on earth.
“Prayer is my real business!” he said.
“Cobbling shoes is a sideline; it just helps me pay expenses.”
The Lord honored Carey’s vigorous faith, for he became a renowned missionary and was mightily used by God in India, Burma, and the East Indies.
Today, I want to talk about prayer in the life of a leader—and we are all leaders in one way or another.
We are either leaders with positions or leaders without positions.
Even housewives are domestic engineers who should be leading their children towards a dynamic and vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ.
If you want to know whether you are a leader or not, simply look behind you.
If you don’t see anyone following you, then you are not a leader and you are simply taking a walk.
But, I believe if you look hard enough, you will see someone following you.
In addition, we are equipping every believer for “The Day of the Saints,” which is the next major spiritual movement on God’s prophetic calendar.
In “The Day of the Saints” believers, not fivefold ministers, will be witnesses for Jesus Christ and transact Kingdom business with miracles, signs, and wonders.
Consequently, today, as a part of a new series of messages, we are going to look at the prayer life of an Israelite leader by the name of Nehemiah.
Besides the leading of the Lord, there are also other good reasons for preaching out of this book right now:
1.
It gives us an excellent theme upon which to base our building program;
2. It talks about the trials of trying to do something for the Lord;
3. It illustrates the devices of Satan;
4. It also illustrates how we, as Christians, should respond to the devices of Satan;
5. It provides some excellent examples of leadership and leadership principles;
6.
It deals with the importance of interpersonal relationships and integrity.
And,
7. It discusses the elements and process of revival.
Now, these sermons are going to be quite different than before, because, the last time I preached them, in a series, was in 1988.
We won’t be able to preach on all of these themes, because I am *not* going to preach the whole book of Nehemiah, but we are going to be here for the summer.
So, we should be able to cover enough for the Spirit to do what He wants to do.
/(All right, let’s see what we can learn about prayer from the life of Nehemiah.
Notice with me please Nehemiah 1:1-11.
In order to understand exactly what is going on in this story, let’s consider:)/
I.
The Plot (vv.
1-3).
/(In order to understand the plot or action of this story we must understand the background of the story, so let’s look at:)/
A.
The Circumstances (vv.
1-2).
The Nation of Israel had been taken into captivity by the Babylonian Empire.
God had warned Israel to turn from her sins or become slaves.
*/Unfortunately Israel refused to hear God’s warning./*
But, remember, God is bent on delivering and blessing His people.
So, He prophesied through the prophet Jeremiah that after 70 years of captivity, He would restore Israel to her land.
Consequently, the Persian Empire overthrew the Babylonian Empire and began to allow the subject people to return to their homelands.
*/As a result, Israel returned to her land under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Ezra, but the walls of the city remained in ruins./*
· The walls of the city were symbolic of and necessary to the peace, safety, security and pride of Jerusalem and the Israelites.
And,
· Government and business was carried on at a city’s gates, so the gates represent the security and stability of the city.
\\ /(We are now ready to pick up the story of Nehemiah.)/
We don’t get much background information on Nehemiah himself except that he is the son of Hacaliah.
But, we do get some insight concerning what was on Nehemiah’s mind.
Nehemiah had two concerns on his mind:
1.
The Jews.
I am using the term “Jews,” for alliteration.
The correct term for this period of time is the Israelites.
Be that as it may, Nehemiah was concerned about the condition of his countrymen who had survived the captivity and gone back to Jerusalem.
So, he inquired about their welfare from his brother and some visitors from Jerusalem.
*/We can see that Nehemiah’s first concern was for people./*
In the heart of every born again believer is a love and concern for the welfare of his~/her brothers and sisters in the Lord.
That concern may be effaced or masked by culture or issues, but it is still there, because of the impact of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
*/Relationships are everything, because believers are subjects of the Kingdom of God and that Kingdom is based upon relationships or kinships—Jesus being King and God being our heavenly Father./*
In a day of extreme concern over productivity and success, it is a breath of fresh air when I see someone concerned about what God is concerned about: relationships, fellowship, and love.
/(But, Nehemiah also had another concern:)/
2.
Jerusalem.
Nehemiah was also concerned about Jerusalem, the holy city, the ‘city of peace,’ the city of David.
*/Jerusalem was the capital of Israel and the site of the Temple, the previous dwelling place of God, on earth./*
We must first be concerned about those who are of the household of faith, but we must also be concerned about the present corporate dwelling place of God, the local body of body of called-out believers known as the church.
Paul wrote in
1 Corinthians 3:16 (NLT), “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?”
Not many are concerned about the local church, but as the church goes so goes Christianity.
The local church is central in the plan of God to evangelize the world.
The Church exists to facilitate and usher in the final manifestation of the Kingdom of God!!!
/(Keeping in mind the background of this story, the plot or action of the story surrounds a crisis.
Let’s examine:)/
B.
The Crisis (vs.
3).
· Sin had caused the fall of the nation of Israel.
· Sin had caused her captivity.
· Sin had left only a remnant of God’s people.
· Sin had left that remnant in great distress and reproach.
distress “to break, to break in pieces; to do ill, to afflict.”
reproach “to pluck or strip off; to disparage, to vilify (slander) a man’s character, reputation, honor, to reproach, to rail on, blaspheme.”
*/This once proud and mighty nation was now only broken in pieces, but was being slandered and railed on by the nations of the world./*
The wall was broken down and the gates had been consumed by fire.
This great city was destroyed.
*/The typology obviously has to do with the Church, and the visible Church, in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of perceptive believers, is almost destroyed./*
· We have lost our effectiveness.
· We have lost our zeal.
· We have very little influence.
Even though we are in the midst of a revival and time of refreshing, that comes from the presence of the Lord, what is true of the Church in general must be true, at least in part, to The House of the Lord.
\\ Jesus showed John this era in the Church’s history prophetically through his message to the Church at Laodicea.
Revelation 3:15-17 (NASB-U), “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.
[16] So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
[17] Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”
Nehemiah’s passion was for His people and their physical and spiritual welfare.
*/Our passion ought to be for our brothers and sisters and for the local church./*
What is your passion?
What a distress we are in!
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