We are going to be starting the book of Nehemiah today. It is a continuation of the book of Ezra and in fact in Jewish literature it is called Ezra 2 or they are put together in one book called Ezra. Let’s start with chapter 1 verse one: The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol, 2that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.
I take this to be that it had been 20 years since the king of Babylon had given the Jews permission to go back home. Nehemiah is still in Babylon and is a servant of the king, as we will read later he is a cup bearer. What we see here is that some people had come back to Babylon for a visit and Nehemiah asked them how things are going after twenty years.
Remember it took them 15 or so years to rebuild the temple. So this is going on around 5 years after the end of the book of Ezra. I bring out all of this because I want to remind you that advancing the kingdom of God TAKES TIME. These things were written for our example. If we miss the fact that building the kingdom takes time then we are going to be very disappointed in our life times. To add New Testament perspective on this if you remember the construction of the temple had been completed, that means that the body of Christ was up and functioning. The last thing that we read was that there had been a great rededication, a renewing of covenant oaths to the Lord.
And now five years later the visitors have this to say about the condition of the kingdom: The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire."
If you remember in our study of Ezra I said that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are an example of what Jesus told the disciples to do in Acts chapter 1: They were asking Jesus, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs (seasons or periods of time) which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
I want you to understand that you and I, the body of Christ are Israel. The kingdom is going to be restored to the bride of Christ. There is one people of God from every tribe, tongue and nation and it is named Israel – the people of God. Since Christ took the throne sitting at the right hand of the father with all authority power given to him; he has been advancing his kingdom – the kingdom of Israel. It is not for us to know the times or epochs. In Fact, Daniel chapter 2 uses similar language concerning God the Father: "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. 21"It is He who changes the times and the epochs (seasons or periods of time); He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding. 22"It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.
You see our job is not to worry about the times or the epochs: God has planned them from before the foundation of the world. The mess that this world is in at this time was planned by God before the world began. The condition of the world is not our concern- our concern should be walking on the path of life – being a witness to the goodness of God by walking faithfully in obedience to his law in the midst of a dark world.
We advance the kingdom by first bowing our knee to the king. When we submit ourselves to the king then our calling is to make disciples, to teach the people nearest us how to walk on the path of life. We can’t make anyone walk on it but we can show them the way. The law of God, the righteousness of God is the path of life. We are first to disciple our families teaching them the way that they should go so that when they are old they will not depart from it.
Now that is hard because for most of our lives we haven’t known the way we should go; that’s why advancing the kingdom is so slow. For over a hundred years in this country we have despised the law of God, we have rejected the path of life; and now we are reaping the consequences of that. The seeds that have been sown are starting to bear fruit. It’s not like we can just automatically switch the fruits that are growing. We have to weed the field, we have to plow the ground, we have to plant new seed and we have to do that with an eye on the 22nd century BECAUSE THAT’s HOW LONG IT TAKES SPIRITUAL SEEDS TO GROW IN A CULTURE.
I will be the first to admit that it is hard to remember that. I want things to move quickly, I want hope to be restored and it will be but not in my time frame. Our calling is for longer than our lifetime. You that find yourself closer to the end and think you have no purpose, that God is through using you, are wrong. If you look throughout scripture you will find that God often times waits until the end of a person’s life before he reveals the fullness of their calling. You’re purpose has never been to just work a job and make money, your calling is more than that. You need to be seeking God asking him to reveal his plan for you now. The kingdom of God needs you to help advance it.
You see the kingdom of God is not built with a big flash and bang. It is built slowly one stone upon another. Line by line precept by precept and maybe in your life time a couple rows blocks in the kingdom are built. Our calling is to make sure the blocks we lay are put into place solidly or else the next generation of kingdom builders is going to have to come in and rip out all that the generations before them have done poorly and rebuild. The kingdom grows slow and that is hard for us to understand in the fast food world that we live in. We’ve been taught all these fairy tales about how one person can come in and change the world overnight but that is nothing but a fantasy. Jesus didn’t change the entire world over night. He walked in righteousness for 33 years. His work was finished on the cross yes but at the same time it also only began with the resurrection. We have been working to advance his kingdom ever since. The best thing you can do to advance the kingdom of God is to walk on the path of life, especially in our day and age when the majority of people inside and outside the church don’t even believe that the law of God, the path of life is valid for them.
Back in Nehemiah they have been trying to advance the kingdom for twenty years. They have made some progress in their individual lives, the church is up and functioning, they have renewed their covenant with God but their community is still a mess. Their righteousness hasn’t made it out of their own lives yet. The city is falling apart. The culture is on its death bed. Much like it is here.
Verse four tells us Nehemiah’s reaction to hearing the news: When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 5I said, "I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and loving kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 6let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father's house have sinned. 7"We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. 8"Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; 9but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.' 10"They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. 11"O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man " Now I was the cupbearer to the king.
Nehemiah understands something that we tend to forget – when a people are in bondage, when a cultures begins to fall apart it is because the people of that culture have refused to keep covenant with God. He also understands, however, that if a people who are in the midst of devastation in their culture humble themselves before God then God promises to restore the kingdom to them. God hears the prayers of those who delight and revere not with their words but with their lives.
It is not often that I endorse or bring to your attention things that the Southern Baptist convention offers but one came to me awhile back that really stirred my heart and so I want to share it with you today. I share it because it fits in perfectly with what we have been studying and I believe it to be brought to our attention by the hand of God.
Let me read to you the letter that I received from Don Pierson the State Prayer coordinator: Solemn Assembly: Fewer and fewer believers seem to be familiar with the term and even less have ever participated in one of these most holy sacred times of consecration and renewal. There are no less than twelve in the Old Testament. They were more than a service, in fact none were less than a day in length and most were several days. The emphasis was not on the ceremony or the ritual but on repentance and consecration. The call for a Solemn Assembly was first and foremost a call from God to His people to return to Him. They focused more on the sins of the corporate body of Christ than on the individual believer. The call for Solemn Assembly carried with it a strong warning (Isaiah 1) about making a Solemn Assembly into a mere worship service or ritual that was void of true humility, repentance and consecration. A Solemn Assembly is a call from God to His people to return to Him. It is like the cry to the church of Ephesus in Revelation to “Remember – Repent – Repeat”. Because of its very nature it involves: A seeking of His face; A forsaking of sin; A humbling before the King of kings; A confession and a consecration; A renewal of covenants and commitments; A cry for help and a cry of hope; and it is a repentant heart that drives all those who participate. During the 2010 Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Baptists were challenged to call their churches to Solemn Assemblies starting in January 2011. The exact date is January 31, 2011; this day is to be set aside as a day of fasting, prayer, and repentance. The reasoning behind this call for Solemn Assembly – “We have forgotten our first love (Revelation 2:4) and need revival in SBC. There are many decisions being made that will affect our future; We need God’s direction.” The Tennessee Baptist Convention desires to assist our churches in answering this plea. We live in a time when true revival and awakening is desperately needed in our nation and among us as a people of the King of kings. We must return to Him with all of our hearts. We must ask for His searching of our hearts and we must respond to His Spirit with hearts of repentance. We must consecrate ourselves. Our Lord deserves nothing less from us and the lost world needs for us to be salt that has not lost its savor.
I find myself grateful that God is stirring up other’s hearts toward repentance and for taking the Old Testament seriously. I am laying the gauntlet before you all today. I am asking you to commit yourself to fasting and praying on January 30. I’m asking a big thing here. I am asking you to not eat from 6 pm on Saturday night until 6 pm on Sunday night. I’m asking for that because a biblical day begins in the evening. Now I can make up a list of excuses as long as anybody as to why I can’t do this. I understand that the Convention is calling for this on a Monday and if they are following this correctly they are asking people to stay home from work as well as fast and pray. I think that is certainly biblical I’m just not certain that people are at the right place yet to do that and so I am asking you to give up your Sunday to prayer and fasting. I am asking all of us to not eat, to pray and to focus on humbling ourselves before God. I’d bet money that as long as some of you have been in the church you have never been asked to do anything like this. I am asking you to get serious with God; serious enough to give up food and Sunday sports as a witness to your humbleness before God. Every time you feel a hunger pain or have a craving to reach for that tv remote be reminded of your sin and the sins of this land and ask for mercy. Ask God to humble his people and then hear their prayers. Pray for more mercy. Pray for God to actually do something in the lives of people who are desperate; to make himself known to us and to the lost in our families. It’s time to quit playing games.
This is a serious thing and so I wanted to bring it to you’re attention now so you can have three weeks to prepare your hearts. We will start fasting on Saturday night and a little over half way through we will meet here like we always do but there will be no donuts or sausage biscuits and instead of Sunday School we will have a time of prayer and testimonies in the sanctuary starting at 9: 30. Yes, our children should be a part of this also. Then we will have our regular worship service and afterwards go home. Then we will meet Sunday night at 5:45 for a short time of corporate prayer followed by communion to end our time of fasting. It seemed to me like this passage was a perfect instrument for introducing all of this to you.
What should you be praying for? Here’s a short list:
· Pray that our churches will unite their hearts and their cries in Solemn Assemblies in January.
· Pray that the Law of God will once again begin to rule believer’s hearts/
· Pray that our pastors will be lead to know how to lead our churches during these Solemn Assemblies.
· Pray that they will not be about "performance", "show", "vain and empty meetings" but that they will be characterized by true brokenness, humility, and desperateness before the throne of God.
· Pray that God will convict, cleanse, and renew His calling in our lives.
· Pray that a true spirit of repentance would permeate the meetings.
· Pray that we would humble ourselves, turn from our wicked ways, and pray like we have never done so before.
· Pray for true revival to come to us as a people as His holy presence finds humble and contrite hearts and spirits among us.
· Pray that we would be delivered from religiosity, tradition, apathy, and indifference.
· Pray that we will return to Him with all of our hearts.
· Pray that we will ask for Him to search our hearts and that we would respond to His Spirit with hearts of repentance.
· Pray that we will consecrate ourselves.
· Pray for a sense of urgency that would consume us and reach the lost and that equipping the saints would be done so by us with greater zeal.
· Pray that we would begin to recognize a live as if Jesus Christ is the Conquering King of kings and Lord of lords in the lives of His people and in the world. Pray that every stronghold would be destroyed in us and among us.
These things are just the tip of the iceberg of what we can and should be praying for. Ask God to lay on your heart the things that you need to be praying for. Ask him to begin to give you the prayers you should pray and write them down. I will be handing out a pamphlet as soon as I get them in the mail that will give you some aid in preparing your heart starting the week before the solemn assembly. And I will be working the topic into the sermons the next two weeks.
I know it has been a bit of a strange sermon this morning but let’s close with prayer. Father thank you for you word. Thank you for giving us ways that we can humble ourselves before you. I pray that you would give us strength and courage to walk this path. In Jesus name I ask these things, Amen.
From Isaiah chapter 1: 10Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah. 11"What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?" Says the LORD. "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. 12"When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? 13"Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies- I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. 14"I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. 15"So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen Your hands are covered with blood. 16"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight Cease to do evil, 17Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. 18"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD,"Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. 19"If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; 20"But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword " Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Go with humble hearts
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