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The reason I chose Nehemiah is primarily because I've just finished going through the Book of Ezra with Blessed Old Baptist Church. And Nehemiah basically, it's a historical book, just like the Book of Ezra. Sometimes people think the Book of Ezra, the Book of Nehemiah are books of prophecy, books of the prophets. It's not, it's more of a history book and of course we still see what the Lord is speaking to the nation of Israel through these events. Now the big difference between the Book of Ezra and Nehemiah, well let me tell you what the similarities are first. The similarities for both these books, it's when the Jews are coming back out of captivity. You know, as you probably know, they were taken into captivity by Babylon. The southern kingdom of Judah was taken into captivity by Babylon. They were there for 70 years and then the Lord brought them back into the land. And so we have the books of Ezra and Nehemiah as they come back into the land of Judah and they begin rebuilding. In the Book of Ezra, the difference between the Book of Ezra and Nehemiah is that the Book of Ezra is about rebuilding the temple, rebuilding the house of God and the Book of Nehemiah is about rebuilding the city, rebuilding the walls of the city primarily. And so the Book of Nehemiah follows the events of the Book of Ezra. So as we study the Book of Nehemiah, there are going to be times that I reference back to the Book of Ezra. There might be other times that I reference the time that the people were taken into captivity. And the reason I wanted to go through this is because, you know, in some ways, you know, I'm coming back to New Life Baptist Church. You know, it's not 70 years as it is, as it was in the times of Judah, of Israel, of the Jews. But nevertheless, I am coming back and in my mind, at least, I'm kind of thinking, okay, we've got to rebuild. You know, we've got to continue doing the work. It's not that the work has not stopped. It's not that the work has, you know, continued. Praise God, the work has continued. But I want to be able to achieve more, you know, with the help of our Lord, with the strength of the Holy Spirit, with the power of the Lord, with the direction, the wisdom that God can give us. I want to do a greater work these next four years than we've done the previous four years at New Life Baptist Church. And so I think going to these stories of rebuilding, going to these stories of, you know, coming back with a zeal for God are going to help us at least put forward our best foot forward as we look at building, continue to build, not just New Life Baptist Church, but also our own spiritual lives. You know, you know, how well are we doing spiritually? Now, if you look at verse number three, then Nehemiah chapter one, verse number three, it says, And they said unto me, the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down. The title for the sermon tonight, brethren, is broken down. The walls of Jerusalem were broken down. And I'm not saying that New Life Baptist Church is broken down. Of course it's not. But maybe some of you tonight are feeling a little broken down. Maybe some of you are feeling a little discouraged, a little cast down. And I hope as we study through the book of Nehemiah, you can find that encouragement. You can start rebuilding your life, you know, rebuilding, maybe your back's a little, maybe you're not where you used to be spiritually. And I think this book will give us some great insights into rebuilding the walls, rebuilding the strength. Of course, the walls of Jerusalem wasn't just a barrier. We think of a fence, I suppose, a fence between our neighbors and yeah, that's great. It creates a boundary, creates a barrier, but the walls of Jerusalem were strength. It was a picture of strength. You know, it was a picture of the strength of that city. That if someone wanted to tear down the city, they'd have to break through those walls. And so those walls provided protection. And we need to rebuild those walls. If they're broken down in your life, we need to look at rebuilding those walls once again. Now let's start there in verse number one. It says, The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah, and it came to pass in the month of Chizulu in the 20th year, as I was in Shushan, the palace. Now let me just begin by that first thought there is, you know, in the 20th year. Your question might be in the 20th year of what? Well, if you can just quickly look at chapter number two, Nehemiah chapter number two, please, and verse number one, Nehemiah chapter two, verse number one, it says, And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the 20th year of Artaxerxes, the king. So we know when chapter one speaks about the 20th year, we're talking about the 20th year of the reign of King Artaxerxes, all right? Now, with this in mind, who is King Artaxerxes? Well, when the Jews were taken into captivity, when Jerusalem was burnt down and destroyed because of the disobedience, they were taken over by which empire? Does anyone know? I already mentioned them. The Babylonian empire, okay? And King Nebuchadnezzar was the king that basically took the power for themselves, right? The Babylonian empire was a great power in that time and age. But then what power took over the Babylonian empire? Persian, yeah. The Medo-Persian empire was the power that took over Babylon. And so when we think about King Artaxerxes here, he's not, I mean, he might be referred to as the king of Babylon. I believe in the Book of Ezra, he's referred to as the king of Babylon, but he's really the king of the new power of the Medo-Persian empire. And sometimes the Bible does reference him still as the king of Babylon simply because their power base is in the same area. It's the same geographic area. They've taken over the Babylonian empire. And so while the Jews were taken into captivity by the Babylonian empire, they've been released back into their land 70 years later by the Medo-Persian empire. And if you, in fact, actually, let's keep going there. Look at verse number two. In Nehemiah chapter one, verse number two, it says, that Hanani, one of my brethren, so a fellow Jew, came, he and certain men of Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity and concerning Jerusalem. And so Nehemiah asked the question, hey, you know, 20 years into the reign of this king, you know, Hanani comes from Judah. All right, he's been in Jerusalem. There's already been people that have gone, like I said, in the Book of Ezra, going to rebuild the temple, the house of God, that these people have come back. And Nehemiah is curious, hey, how's it going in Judah? How are the brethren going? How are the Jews going? How's the construction project going? And when it says there, which were left of the captivity. Okay, so what you need to remember at this point in time is that when the Jews were taken into captivity, they were taken into captivity by different waves. Two or three different waves, larger waves and then smaller waves, they were taken into the land of Babylon. But then when they came out of Babylon, they also returned back into the land in various waves. Now, I want to just go through the Book of Ezra just very quickly with you. Keep your finger there in Nehemiah and turn to Ezra chapter one, which is just the previous book, please. Ezra chapter one, so you don't have to go too far. It's just the previous book there. Ezra chapter one and verse number one. Now, when we think about the idea of escaping, we kind of think about maybe someone breaking out of jail. All right, he's gotten out of it. But really, when we talk about the Jews escaping, it's by permission of the kings of Persia. All right, so if you look at Ezra chapter one, verse one, it says now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing saying, thus say of Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven have given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he have charged me to build him and house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. So you see, Ezra is about building the house. That's the temple of God, the new temple in the land of Judah. Verse number three, who is there among you of all his people, his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem. And so the king asked, hey, who wants to go? Who wants to go and build this house of the Lord that God has put upon my heart? Now go to Ezra chapter two, verse number one, Ezra chapter two and verse number one. He reads, now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity of those which had been carried away whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried away into Babylon and came again unto Jerusalem in Judah, everyone unto his city. Look at verse number two, which came with Zerubbabel. All right, so Zerubbabel is basically the first leader who becomes the governor of Judah. He is part of that first wave of the Jews as they come out of Babylon or come out of Persia, if you will, into the land of Judah. Zerubbabel led the first wave. And you can see it's by permission of King Cyrus, all right? So when you think about the idea of escaping, it's not like they just ran away. They were actually given permission to go back to the land. In fact, not just permission, they were given the resources, the finances to go and rebuild the house of God. Now go to Ezra chapter seven. Ezra chapter seven, I just want to show you the second wave, the second wave of people that left Persia. It says in Ezra chapter seven and verse number one, Ezra chapter seven and verse number one, now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra the son of Sariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, now drop down to verse number six. This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. And the king granted him, so this is King Artaxerxes, granted him all his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and of the Levites, and of the singers, and the porters, and the nephronyms, unto Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, the king. All right, so that's the second wave. So the first wave was Zerubbel, plus many of the Jews returning back to the land. The second wave is Ezra, and when Ezra returns back, the house of God is already complete. Ezra's coming, and he's bringing more priests, he's bringing more people to serve in the house of God, and he's also a scribe, he's an expert in the law of Moses, so he's there to help instruct and guide these new people in the new land, or you know, well it is a new generation in the old land, if you will, in the ways of Moses, in the ways that God had commanded his people. All right, so as we look at the book of Ezra, we see the two waves as they leave Babylon, and come into Judah. When we get to the book of Nehemiah, now we're dealing with the third wave, the third wave, and the third wave comes with Nehemiah. That's why it's called Nehemiah, okay? The book of Nehemiah is Nehemiah speaking about himself, and his experiences as he prepares a great number of Jews to return back to the land, not for the house of God, because that's already completed and built, but to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. All right, hope that gives you a little bit of background as we continue through the book of Nehemiah. Please go back to Nehemiah now, chapter one, Nehemiah chapter one, verse number three, please. Go back to Nehemiah, chapter number one, and verse number three. And so both of these books are excellent books about building, excellent books about rebuilding, even excellent books that teach us about leadership, because each one of these waves, there was a leader in charge helping the people along to make their journey and to do the job they've been instructed to do when they got to the land of Judah. Let's keep going there, verse number three. And they said unto me, the remnants that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. And so even though the people have rebuilt the house of God, there are other people on the land. Of course, they were taken to captivity, right? 70 years. And during that time of 70 years, while the people were the Jews were not there, others came, right? There was a vacuum that was left in the area, other people came in, and these same people that were making a life there, yeah, they were causing affliction, they were rebuking the people of God, they were making fun of them. And then it keeps going, the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Now, of course, this happened back when they were taken into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar. King Nebuchadnezzar and his armies, they set the house of God, they set the entire city on fire and they destroyed the walls. And so the story is here that the feedback is, well, our city is still destroyed. You know, it's still burnt by fire. We still have rubble all over the place. It's still destroyed. And not only that, but we've become an affliction, so we're suffering affliction and we're of great reproach to the other people of the land. And so it's not the feedback that Nehemiah wanted to hear, right? I mean, I guess he was excited that these people are coming from Judah. He wanted to hear some great stories. Hey, what are some of the great work? What are some of the great efforts going ahead with the people of God there? And he hears this bad news. Well, you know what? We haven't really progressed. The city is still destroyed. We're still broken down. And as I said to you, we can, you know, obviously, I'm giving the context, historical context of this book, but as we go through this book, I want you to think about your own lives. I want you to think about your own situation. And you know, right now, my van's broken down. Maybe I can apply it to my van, my traveling, my transportation at this point in time. Maybe some of you are emotionally broken down. Maybe some of you are financially broken down. Maybe some of you have broken down relationships. Well, as I said to you, as we keep going through this, I hope you can take some lessons from this story about how do we rebuild? How can we make sure we put those walls back into place? You know, how do we, how do we get that encouragement? How do we get that zeal to do the work? Well, if I can get to, keep your finger there, please. And let's go to the book of Psalms. Let's go to Psalm 31, please. Go to Psalm 31 and verse number 11. Psalm 31 and verse number 11. Psalm 31 and verse number 11. I'll give you a moment to turn there. Psalm 31 and verse number 11. Now remember the people, the Jews were a reproach to the others in the land, and they had their walls broken down. And it says in Psalm 31 verse 11, I was a reproach among all mine enemies. And so the Psalmist says, look, my enemies, the people that hate me, they're casting me down. They're saying horrible things about me, right? They hate me. And you know, I don't know about you, brethren, but maybe you've had times where you've had people that, you know, you thought you could trust, maybe friends or even family. And they turn their backs against you for whatever reasons. You know, you might feel like yourself a reproach. You might feel that you're a rejection to others. It says here, but especially among my neighbors and a fear to my acquaintance that they did not see me without, sorry, that they did see me without, fled from me. Then you look at verse number 12. It says, I am forgotten as a dead man out of mine. I am like a broken vessel. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mine. I am like a broken vessel. You know, when we have our relationships, when our relationships break down, when we lose our friends, when we lose our family, you might feel like a broken vessel. You might feel lonely. You might feel like a recluse and nobody wants to do anything, have anything to do with you. You know, I don't know if that's your situation or you've had that situation in the past, or you may have that situation in the future. I just want to show you that we individually can suffer times when we feel broken. We feel like a broken vessels, broken down walls in Jerusalem. Let's go to another Psalm. Psalm 69, please. Psalm 69 and verse number 19. Psalm 69 and verse number 19, please. Psalm 69 and verse number 19. It reads, Thou has known my reproach and my shame and my dishonor. Mine adversaries are all before thee. Reproach have broken my heart and I am full of heaviness and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none. And for comforters, but I found none. Now these are very deep words, okay? Now obviously the Psalmist feels this way. As he's writing these words, as he's penning these words, he's feeling like he has a broken heart. He feels like he's been rejected. He feels like, oh, I'm going for comforters. I'm trying to find someone that will give me help and he finds nobody. These very deep words are actually words that were spoken by Jesus Christ. Because as you keep going, if you have your own time later, you can see that these are actually words of Jesus Christ when he was thirsty and they gave him vinegar to drink, for example. You'll see that in the following verses. So these are words. Jesus Christ had a broken heart when he was put there on that cross, when he was a reproach amongst people, when he was a shame and dishonor amongst those that looked upon him as he became cursed upon that tree. And so brethren, maybe you've suffered a broken heart. As I said, these things usually come with broken relationships, but you can apply this story to any area of your life that is broken. You know, maybe your marriage feels broken, right? Like I said, maybe your finances feel broken. Maybe your van is broken. Your vehicle's broken down, brother. Matt and I, we're going for that right now, right? There are different places in our life that are broken, but you know, something I've learned about life, this is how it is. Like, you know, when it just seems like everything's in control, when it seems like everything's just working out, you know, I'm always like, okay, what's going to fall apart? Like, there's always just always just one area of our life that is usually broken. And brethren, get used to it. And understand, many times it's just the hand of God. It's the hand of God to break you in certain areas so you can rely upon the Lord. Because I know when everything's working just fine, when I'm having the best days and I just seem like I'm just doing well and everything's together, those are the days that I tend to forget about my Lord. Those are the days that I tend to forget to pick up my Bible. Those are the days that I tend to forget to go to the Lord in prayer. You know, and when you have just too many good things going for you, then you start to get elevated with pride. You start to get lifted up. Hey, I'm doing so well. Look at me. But you know, and you forget, hey, you know, it's the hand of God's blessings. It's God who has blessed me. It's God that has made my way easy. And sometimes God will just prevent that pride from creeping in and just allow something to break down in our life so we can have our dependency upon Him. So we don't get lifted up with pride. Can you please go to Psalm 147? Psalm 147 verse number two. Psalm 147 verse number two. I like this Psalm because he kind of puts the story of Nehemiah and these other Psalms that we've looked together here. It says in Psalm 147, one four seven, verse number two. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem. Hey, that's what Nehemiah's goal is going to be as we keep going through this book. He wants to rebuild Jerusalem. He wants to rebuild the walls. It says the Lord doth build up Jerusalem. He gathered together the outcasts of Israel. Look at verse number three. He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds. Notice how it begins by building up Jerusalem. But yeah, I mean, that's great. You know, and I want to build up New Life Baptist Church, but also he healeth the broken in heart. You see, when we think about building a city, when you think about building a church, we can't forget the individuals. You see, individually, we also have broken lives. Individually, we have broken hearts and we don't want to lose sight as we do a great work for God. We don't want to lose sight of the individual. As we see in that Psalm, yes, the Lord wants Jerusalem rebuilt, but he also wants the hearts of the individuals to be healed. And of course, it's the Lord God that will bind up our wounds. It's the Lord God who will fix our broken hearts. Again, this is again another picture of Jesus Christ. He came and healed the broken hearted. Now let's go back to Nehemiah chapter one, verse number four. Nehemiah chapter one and verse number four. So when things don't go according to plan in life, when things start to break down and you start to become a little discouraged, right? I mean, how do you feel when something just doesn't go according to plan? You know, and you feel frustrated because it's just, it's not going your way. Something is broken. How do you feel? Well, verse number four is probably how you feel. And it came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. So notice that. Yes, it's bad news, but what does it cause Nehemiah to do? It causes him to just stop, fast and pray and go before the Lord. As I said to you, many times God just allows the brokenness in our lives so we can just run to the Lord and seek his face. And brethren, next Wednesday, next Wednesday, if you're able to make it to church, I want to make it a day of prayer and fasting. We've not had a day of prayer and fasting with this church for quite some time, I believe. You know, and I look at this story. You know, if you want to build new life at the church, we want to start this next stage with the pastor and his family here, then I think we need to go to the Lord and pray about it. We need to go to the Lord and we do pray about things on Wednesday, but a little more serious in our prayer and taking along some fasting as well, taking along some fasting, going before God and saying, God, there are areas that are broken. You know, there are areas not just necessarily in our church, but in our own personal lives that are broken. Lord, can you help us? Can you rebuild these walls in our lives? So brethren, next Wednesday, a day of prayer and fasting. Now what I want you to do is go back to Ezra, keep your finger there and go to Ezra chapter 8. Let's go to Ezra chapter 8. What is fasting? Fasting generally in the Bible is going without food or going without water and food, okay, for a period of time. The most common fast that we read about in the Bible is a day fast, okay? Now, you can fast many days. In fact, Nehemiah, it says that I mourn certain days and fasted. So Nehemiah is fasting for several days, but you know, what I'm asking this church, if you're able to, if you're in that position, please consider fasting all day Wednesday. And I know it gets really hard, but it has to be hard. Like if fasting was easy, we'll do it all the time. Fasting has to be challenging because look at Ezra chapter 8, verse number 21, Ezra chapter 8, verse number 21. So when Ezra got his second wave prepared to go back into Jerusalem, it says in verse number 21, then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava that we might look, afflict ourselves before our God to seek of him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance. Brethren, what is fasting? Fasting is afflicting ourselves before our God, okay? It's not taking out a whip and just whipping ourselves, right? It's not just punching ourselves, you know, causing physical harm. It's withholding food from this flesh. And when you withhold food from this flesh, it's affliction. It's hard. It's not meant to be easy. Say, pastor, I don't like to fast. It's hard. It's meant to be hard. It feels challenging. It's meant to be challenging. It's an affliction before the Lord. Say, Lord, we're willing to afflict ourselves, going without food, going with the most basic needs that our body wants every single day. You know, you wake up, your body wants breakfast. Or not so much me, I'm not really keen for breakfast. But he definitely wants lunch when I avoid the breakfast. He definitely wants dinner, all right? We're going to withhold that from ourselves. We're going to afflict ourselves. And Ezra said there, it says to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones. You know, our church has a lot of little ones. Our church has another generation coming through. We want to do the best we can for the new generation that's coming through. And for all our substance, all the things that we own, all the things that we have. We need to go before God and fast and stop and pray and fast about these things. As I said, hey, one of the things I need to pray for is my van, okay? Hey, that's my substance, yeah? And some of you guys, maybe like I said, financial challenges or relationship challenges, areas of your life that are broken down. We need to go before God and say, God, this part is broken. Can you please help us? We're willing to afflict ourselves. We're willing to withhold the flesh. You know, the flesh is weak, but, sorry, how does it go again? The spirit is willing, but how does it go again? The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, all right? Yeah, the flesh is weak. We've got to weaken this flesh and be willing with this Holy Spirit to go before God and bring our requests, bring forward our broken situation before the Lord. So, brethren, please think about next week. Please try to not eat. Try to go without. You know, start your day in prayer and let's end the day in prayer when we come to church service if you're able to make it next Wednesday. And it says that, if you're still in Ezra, Ezra 8, look at verse number 23. It says, So we fasted and besought our God for this, and he was entreated of us. Notice that fasting works. When the Lord sees a group of people fasten together, you know, for the need to rebuild, you know, the Lord answers that. The Lord looks down. He's entreated by that. There's something spiritual about fasting. There's something spiritual about withholding this flesh from the most basic needs when God looks down and hears those prayers. I believe new life of the church has a great future. Has a great future, you know, but we need to entreat the Lord. We need to go to the Lord. Lord, help us. We can't do it without you. This is your church. This is, you know, the body of Christ. Lord, we want to see souls saved. Lord, we want to see the lives of Christians changed. Lord, we want the brokenness in our lives to be rebuilt. Lord, we want to depend ourselves upon you. You know, the Bible says, I won't get to turn there. Just read it to you. These are the words of Jesus in Matthew 6 16. Moreover, when ye fast. When ye fast. You see, Jesus was expecting that we would fast. This should be part of our Christian life from time to time. But it says, Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance. Oh, it's so hard to fast past together. Hey, come Wednesday. Oh, man, I've been suffering. Oh, no, that's what the hypocrites do. Let's not be that way. All right. Hey, when we come to church, if you're fasting, you better walk in like you had a big meal. I'm satisfied. I'm doing fine. And you're putting the best smile you can, right? We don't want to be like the hypocrites are. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. You see, brethren, fasting, you can have, you can have your choice of reward. You're, oh, man, well done. You fasted well, well done. I don't think you have your reward. You have the praise of men. But that's not what we want. We don't want that. We want the, we want the praise of God. We want the rewards from God. It says in verse 17, But thou, when thou fastest, anoints thine head and washed thy face, that thou may appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father, which is in secret, and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Brethren, I want the Lord God to reward New Life Baptist Church openly. I want the work of, the hand of God to be upon this church. And for people to turn around and say, well, man, the Lord's doing a work here on the Sunshine Coast. The Lord is doing a work here in Little Mountain at New Life Baptist Church. I want people to look at each one of our families, each one of our lives, so the Lord is doing a great work in this person's life. The Lord is rebuilding those broken walls that we have within us. Back to Nehemiah chapter one, verse number five. Nehemiah chapter one, verse number five. And said, so as Nehemiah is praying and fasting in verse number five, he says, And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God that keepeth covenants and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments. Something else we need to do, yes, fast, but we need to keep his commandments. We need to love him. If we want to see the mercy of God, and it says, for them that love him, love him and observe his commandments. That reminds me of that famous verse. Jesus Christ says, If you love me, keep my commandments. How much do you love the Lord? You got to keep his commandments. If you're not keeping his laws, if you're not walking in his ways, brethren, that shows me that you've got a lack of love for God. And I don't even, I don't always know. You don't always know. We all sin every day, brethren. We always mess up, don't we? We always fail. But, and Nehemiah knows he fails. As we keep looking in the book of Nehemiah, you're going to notice that Nehemiah starts confessing his sins. Okay, even though he says, Look, Lord, I love you. You know, my desire is to keep your commandments. At the same time, he realized I'm a sinner, though. I mess up every day, Nehemiah. You know, Nehemiah does sins just like any of us. You know, let's not lose sight of that when we read about stories of great men in the Bible. They're just like us. You know, they have this desire to love God and do the commandments. They've got the spirit there, you know, instructing them to guide them, but then they've got the flesh and they sin. As we keep going back there, look at verse number six. Let thine ear now be attentive. So we're saying, God, please attend to our prayers and thine eyes open. That's what we want to do when we fast. We want to flick ourselves. We want to show the Lord God how serious we are with these things that we want to bring before him. Let thine ear now be attentive and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servants, which I pray before thee, day and night. Look at this. For the children of Israel, thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel. Oh, Nehemiah, you're talking about the sins of the children of Israel. What about yourself? And then it says this, which we, he says, have sinned against thee. Both I and my father's house have sinned. He goes, it's not just the children of Israel, Lord. It's me. It's my family. We've all sinned against you, Lord. You see, he's asking the Lord to be attentive to his prayer. And part of that process is he comes before God and confesses himself a sinner. Says, Lord, I've messed things up. I've done wrong too, Lord. My father's house, my own family, have sinned against you. It's not just the entire nation. We've done it as well. And actually, I do want you to turn to another passage. Keep your finger there and go to Psalm 66. Go to Psalm 66. Because if we are going to put the effort in next week to fast and pray, we want to make sure that the ears of the Lord are open. We want to make sure his eyes are open toward us. You know, we don't want to just be praying and for our prayers to hit the ceiling and come back down. We want them to be received by the Lord God. Notice how desperate Nehemiah was that God would hear his prayer. And brethren, our prayers can be hindered. Our prayers can be hindered. Look at Psalm 66, verse number 17. Psalm 66, verse number 17. It says, I cried unto him with my mouth and he was extolled with my tongue. The word extolled means he was praised. So he's praising the Lord. But look at verse number 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. So brethren, how can we cause our prayers to not be heard by God or even our praises? You know, before the service, we sang some hymns of praises to God. Did he hear your praise? Did he hear your worship? Maybe not. Hey, if iniquity, if you regard iniquity in your heart, the Lord doesn't hear it. You can withhold your prayers from reaching the ears of Jesus Christ. And brethren, I'm saying to you next week, time of prayer and fasting. You know what? Let's not regard iniquity in our hearts. Let's go before God like Nehemiah did and confess openly. God, we're sinners. God, we need you. I've sinned. My family has sinned. Right? The people on the Sunshine Coast have sinned. Australia has sinned. It's a wicked nation. You know? But we've sinned. Individually we have sinned. It keeps going there in the Psalm. Look at verse number 19. But verily, God have heard me. He have attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which have not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. So if we want God's mercy, if we want him to not turn away from our prayer, brethren, we can't regard iniquity in our heart. We can't hide iniquity in our heart. What does that mean? It means we have to confess our sins. Go before God. God, we're sinners. You know, I know I preach about this a lot. And you know, part of the reason I preach about this a lot is because I don't hear much preaching about it. Honestly, I don't know why that is. I just, I don't hear because, you know, sometimes people think, well, I'm saved. You know, all my sins have been paid for. And they have been. Of course they have. Even the sins you're going to commit tomorrow were already put on Jesus Christ 2000 years ago. Positionally before God, you have no sin. Positionally before God, in the new man, you are covered in the righteousness and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. You're washed. But then we have our walk. We have our walk and the flesh gets in the way. We have our walk of fellowship with God. And the flesh doesn't want to walk with God. Our flesh sins. Our flesh is disobedient. Our flesh is rebellious against God. And when that takes place in our fellowship, that's when our prayers can be hindered. Because sin, the flesh, worldliness, lust, that stuff that's in our heart, it's stopping that work of God. It's stopping our prayers from reaching. It's stopping our praise reaching the ears and the heart of God. And so please remember this. If you are going to put the effort into praying fast, and I strongly encourage you, please do it. We need it. We need a time to pray and fast. But if you're going to do it, make sure that you're not so full of pride, that you can go before God and say, God, I have sinned. God, I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. Please bring you back in your fellowship. Let me walk in your paths. And Lord, please be attentive to my prayers and the prayers of New Life Baptist Church next Wednesday night. You know, the Bible says in 1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That's not about salvation. Salvation isn't about confessing your sins. You know, to get saved, you don't have to go, alright, God, let me tell you all the list of sins that I've committed till this day. That's not how you get saved. Salvation is placing your faith on the finished work of Jesus Christ. But to maintain fellowship, to maintain a close walk, to ensure that God can hear your prayers, then we go and confess our daily sins. As we walk these paths, our feet get dirty. You know, we've got that parallel again of Jesus Christ washing His disciples' feet. And He says, look, you don't need to be cleansed from top to bottom. It's just your feet that need to be washed. Otherwise, you're all clean. That's what salvation is. You're clean, but your feet get dirty. Your feet get dirty. As we walk in our life, and we want to keep in fellowship with our Lord God, we must confess our sins. Back to Nehemiah chapter 1, verse number 7. Nehemiah chapter 1, verse number 7. He continues to pray. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandest thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, if we transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. And that's what they had recently experienced, being in captivity. Many of them are still in captivity. All right? And they've been spread amongst the nations. Why? Because they did not keep the commandments of God. They did not follow in the paths that Moses had taught this nation. So that's the curse for, under the old covenant, that was the curse for Israel. That if they were to turn against God, God would scatter them amongst the nations. Look at verse number 9. But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from hence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen, to set my name there. Now, this is important, because there are many churches, right? Many, even Baptists, when they look at the modern day nation of Israel, they say, well, God is bringing back his people. They're not his people, by the way. They're lost and they're dying and going to hell. Okay? They say, the Lord is doing a great work in reestablishing the modern state of Israel. He's bringing the Jews back into the land. But it's so contrary to scripture. It's contrary to the words of Moses. It's contrary to what Nehemiah knows. Nehemiah says, look, the Lord will gather us only when we turn to him and keep his commandments. Is that what the Jews are doing today? Are the Jews keeping the commandments of God today? Are they a righteous people? Do they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Of course not. In fact, they blaspheme Jesus Christ. You know, this modern day nation of Israel has nothing to do with, well, maybe there's an element of it, but it has nothing to do with God bringing them back into the land because they've kept the commandments of God. It's got nothing to do with it. All right? And so, but it's the land. God's given them land. It's not even about the land. When we read the Bible, what did it say there in verse number nine? And I will bring them onto the place that I've chosen to set my name there. Listen, the reason God will bring his people into that land is that the name of God we proclaimed. Is Jesus Christ being proclaimed in Israel today? Of course not. Of course not. You know, like I said, his name has been blasphemed in that nation. All right? So what we're reading about here has nothing to do with the modern day nation of Israel, but it does have to do with the people coming back out of Babylon after that 70 year captivity period, returning back to the land. Okay? Why? Because the land is so important. No, because God is going to set his name there. Okay? And one of the great things, if you can please now turn to the book of Jeremiah. Again, keep your finger there in Nehemiah, but go to Jeremiah. So you've got to go to the prophets now. Go to Nehemiah chapter 31, please. Nehemiah chapter 31. Nehemiah chapter 31. When you have time, I just encourage you just have a read of Nehemiah chapter 31. And I just think it's a really powerful chapter. And I'm just going to speed you through it. I'm just going to show you a few passages here. Jeremiah, of course, was a prophet before the Jews were taken into captivity by Babylon. And God had used Jeremiah to preach to the nation. And Jeremiah proclaimed that they would be taken over by the Babylonians. Okay? Jeremiah was not a popular preacher. He was hated because he was telling the Jews, Hey, God sent the Babylonians to capture us, to bring us into captivity. Look at verse number eight. Behold, I will bring them from the north country. The people from the north country, that's the Babylonians. And gather them from the coast of the earth. And with them, the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travaileth with child together, a great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping and with supplications will I lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble. For I am a father to Israel and Ephraim is my firstborn. So God is saying that the Jews, after the period of captivity, they will be brought back into the land. They will come out of that north country and they will be brought back. Okay? That's what Jeremiah chapter 31 is about. Now drop them to verse number 15. As you keep going through this, you get to verse number 15 and when you read the whole chapter, you'll understand what I'm talking about. But verse number 15 just seems to come out of nowhere. Like people are rejoicing. They're just coming back to the land. The excitement of being returned back from captivity is what leads up to verse number 15. And then we get to verse number 15 and all of a sudden, what? It says in verse number 15, Thus saith the Lord, a voice was heard in Rehmat, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rahal weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children because they were not. It says because they were not, it means because they were dead. Okay? They were dead. Now if you don't already know, who knows where that verse fits in with scripture? I'm sure many of you, you probably know. Okay? Well, it actually takes place, and in fact, I'll read to you now. All right? This is about Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, okay? And then you had the wise men, okay? You had the wise men come seeking Christ. They first went to Jerusalem. They thought, well, of course, if it's the king of the Jews, he's going to be born in Jerusalem, they thought. So they went to Jerusalem first, okay? And King Herod, who he is about, this king of the Jews, and as you know, King Herod wanted to kill baby Jesus, all right? And so the wise men, they fled, and Joseph was warned by an angel to escape into Egypt, and they did that, and as a result, Herod went and tried to kill Jesus by causing all the babies that were two years and under to be slaughtered, okay? In the land. You probably know that story, okay? And I'll quickly read to you in Matthew chapter 2 verse 16. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wrath, and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah, the prophet saying, in Ramah there was a voice heard, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted because they are not. So that comes straight out of Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 15. So when you're looking at Jeremiah 31, you're hearing this story about the Jews coming out of Babylon, coming back into the land, and then all of a sudden you're hit with this verse that we know was fulfilled at the time of Christ. So when we're reading Jeremiah 31, now it's telling us about the story of Christ, that he would be born, that the people would mourn at this event when King Herod would kill these children. Now one thing that I like about Jeremiah 31, because if we keep going there in verse number 16, look at verse 16. It actually gives a little bit more information, and in fact it proves that little children, when they pass away, they go into heaven. Little children that die, they go to heaven. Look at verse 16. Thus saith the Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping. Say, God, why are you telling us to refrain from weeping? A mother has lost her baby, a two-year-old, an under, an infant. God, why are you telling us to withhold from weeping? Let's keep going there. Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears. Look at this. For thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy, and there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border. You see, one day, those little children that were slaughtered by Herod, they're going to come back. They're going to get their new resurrected bodies. They're going to rule and reign with Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. And so we're seeing, again, prophetic events here of the resurrection. Yeah, these children were dead. They were not. But they're coming back. They're coming back to rule and reign with Christ in his millennium. Now, let's keep going. Let's go to Jeremiah 31, 31 now. Drop down to verse number 31. I just want to show you the context has changed from people coming out of captivity to the story of the birth of Christ and now look at verse number 31. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. The new covenant, new testament, okay? That's the time that we're living in today. Verse number 32. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. So it's not the old covenant. It's a new covenant. Verse number 33. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people. And we know that regardless of what background, regardless of what nationality, regardless of your ethnicity, if you've trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, God says about you that he is your God and you are his people. You are his children. Why am I saying all of that? Well, I'm just showing you, OK? The purpose of coming out of Babylon wasn't like this. This land is just this amazing thing and this land just belongs to the Jews. No matter what. No, there's an if. And the point of coming back into the land is that the name of God will be proclaimed, that God will be worshipped, that God will be honored. You see, the reason God allowed the Jews to come back into Judah was, as we saw there in Jeremiah 31, to bring forth the new covenants. With the birth of Jesus Christ. That Christ will bring in the New Testament. The new covenant came through his death. Not only did he have to be born in Judah, but he also had to die. Bring about that new covenant. And so coming back into the land, so many churches have this misunderstood. Oh, God just loves the Jews. God just promised them the land. The land belongs to them. The land doesn't belong to the Palestinians. No, but it's not even about that. It's about the name of God. It's about the new covenant. It's about Jesus Christ. That's why God allowed them to come back into the land. Please don't lose sight of that, because so many churches, they just missed it. They missed the whole point of coming back to the land. They missed the whole point of the Jews returning back. The point was they would open or create the situation for Jesus Christ to come and bring forth the new covenant. Back to Nehemiah chapter 1, please. Verse number 10. Nehemiah chapter 1, verse number 10. Nehemiah keeps praying, Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou has redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servants, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cupbearer. So we learn what Nehemiah's occupation was. He was the king's cupbearer. And when we think about a cupbearer, we want to think about a butler. Something that comes in. And yes, in chapter number 2, Nehemiah comes and brings the king a drink. But as we sort of start to notice about Nehemiah, he wasn't just the cupbearer. He actually had a high office at this point in time. He was, you know, someone, I guess, similar to a governor. But one of his roles was to be the cupbearer, the king's cupbearer. So he was close to the king. He would be in close proximity with the king. And he would use this relationship with the king to then bring about this next wave to come back into Jerusalem to rebuild those walls. Now there's one more verse that I want you to turn to before we end. Go to Psalm 51, please. Go to Psalm 51, verse number 17. Psalm 51 and verse number 17. The title for the sermon was broken down, broken down. And things do break, don't they? Things break. Walls break. Houses break. Finances break. Vehicles break. Relationships break. Health breaks. I mean, things break down, brethren. But listen, as we, you know, what I really wanted to bring forth in this passage was a need to go before God, you know, seeking for God to rebuild those broken parts of our life. But we need to come broken as well. As it said in Psalm 51, verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou will not despise. You know, when we come before God seeking his help, we need to come with a broken and contrite heart. You know, a heart that understands, you know, that has humility. We understand we're approaching a holy, sinless God. A God who has already shown us great mercy. And then notice, look at verse 18. Look how these things come together. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. So notice, I'm not, you know, I haven't got this long bow here. I'm not like, you know, just taking the walls of Jerusalem story and applying it to our broken lives. No, the Bible does it over and over again. When, you know, God, yes, God cares about the walls of Jerusalem. But this is to show an illustration, a parallel with the broken areas that we have in our lives. And brethren, if you need God to restore, you need to come before him broken, contrite, confessing your sins, restoring the fellowship. And like I said, next Wednesday is a great opportunity that we do this together collectively as a church to come before God, praying and fasting and coming with that broken heart. Okay, let's pray.