WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.759 This morning we looked at Nehemiah chapter 8, where we have the whole community interacting 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:15.660 with the Word of God. But here in this chapter, we find a very individual approach. We find 00:00:15.660 --> 00:00:22.960 Nehemiah as an individual, bringing to God the burden that was laid upon him. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:33.320 They might ask the question, first of all, who was Nehemiah? Well, Nehemiah was a Jew who was in exile 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:43.340 in Persia. The people had been taken, his people had been taken into exile some 70 years before 00:00:43.340 --> 00:00:51.579 by the Babylonians. But the Persians captured Babylon and the Persian Empire replaced the 00:00:51.579 --> 00:01:00.439 Babylonian Empire. So we find Nehemiah serving in what we might call the civil service of the Persian 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:07.560 Empire. He was a cupbearer of the king. Now we tend to think of a cupbearer simply as a wine waiter. 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:14.500 But in fact, as far as we can see from contemporary records, cupbearers were very important people 00:01:14.500 --> 00:01:22.920 in the courts of the ancient world at that time in the Middle East. In fact, in one of the apocryphal 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:30.180 books called Tobit, we read about one cupbearer who held a very high political position and might be the 00:01:30.180 --> 00:01:39.019 equivalent of the prime minister. So I think being the cupbearer of the king, he was responsible for 00:01:39.019 --> 00:01:46.239 security around the king. Literally, he was supposed to taste the wine that the king was given to drink. 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:54.219 But that would have simply been one or probably one of the many tasks that a cupbearer would have. 00:01:54.819 --> 00:02:06.719 He was a security agent of the king of Persia. And he was stationed in Susa, in one of the palaces 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:16.060 of the king. And he may well have been the only Jewish believer there. So if there weren't others, 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:24.139 there must have been very few of them. And he nevertheless maintained his faith and was able to 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:34.180 continue to faithfully serve his God. And so when his brother, a man called Hanani, came from Jerusalem, 00:02:34.180 --> 00:02:43.240 he was very anxious to know what had happened to those other exiles who had returned to Jerusalem. 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:50.340 When the Persians took over, they allowed the Jews who wished to return, to return to Jerusalem. 00:02:51.540 --> 00:03:02.000 And Hanani wanted to know exactly what had happened. And the report that he got from his brother 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:11.599 was very discouraging. He said that the gates were burnt, the walls were broken down, and the city was 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:20.379 in disarray. It was a very sad situation. A few years earlier, Ezra, who had gone there earlier, 00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:30.000 had rebuilt the temple, and he had sought to rebuild the walls. But the enemies of the Jewish people, 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:35.139 the enemies of Judah around there, complained and said that they were rebelling against the king. 00:03:35.879 --> 00:03:44.699 And so the emperor rescinded the permission that he had previously given to Ezra. And so the situation 00:03:44.699 --> 00:03:53.759 was a very sad situation. And what Hanani, how he describes the situation, he said, the people are in 00:03:53.759 --> 00:04:02.639 great trouble. And shame, or the word sometimes translated disgrace. It would appear that the 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:09.459 foreigners surrounding the state of Judah, in Samaria to the north, and Ammon to the east, 00:04:09.579 --> 00:04:16.199 and Ashdor to the west, must have been despising the citizens of Jerusalem and scoffing at Yahweh, 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:23.939 their God, who had returned them from exile some 80 years earlier, only to abandon them now. 00:04:24.939 --> 00:04:32.199 Now this came as a body blow to Nehemiah. He was shocked to the core. And how does he respond? 00:04:33.039 --> 00:04:40.899 When we read that in verse 4, that he responded through fasting, weeping, and above all, praying. 00:04:40.899 --> 00:04:49.779 He tells us that in verse 4, that he prayed for some days. And in fact, it was a much longer period 00:04:49.779 --> 00:04:56.859 than we might think of a phrase of some days, because if we compare the dates in verse 1 of 00:04:56.859 --> 00:05:04.359 chapter 1 and the date in verse 1 of chapter 2, we find that four months had elapsed. And so 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:12.120 here we find Nehemiah committing his people in Jerusalem to prayer for four long months. And during 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:19.319 that time, he is fasting, he is praying, and he is weeping as he brings the situation before the Lord. 00:05:19.420 --> 00:05:24.960 Not only is he doing it over four months, but he's doing it night and day. As it were, every spare 00:05:24.960 --> 00:05:32.740 moment that he had, he was bringing the need of his people before God in prayer. We know from the 00:05:32.740 --> 00:05:39.500 history of revivals in this country and in other countries that revival has always been preceded by 00:05:39.500 --> 00:05:49.600 intense prayer. And Nehemiah is an example of that. The work of Nehemiah, which combined with the work 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:56.060 of Ezra, did lead to a revival, as we saw this morning in chapter 8, where the people gathered around 00:05:56.060 --> 00:06:02.019 the Word of God, and where there was a renewal of the covenant, where the people recommitted themselves 00:06:02.019 --> 00:06:10.639 to serve the Lord. But behind that renewal was the prayer of Nehemiah. And not only the prayer of 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:16.819 Nehemiah, but it refers at the end of the chapter to others who were praying to the Lord for his people. 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:23.899 And so this is a reminder of the importance of prayer. If we want to see the church revived, 00:06:23.899 --> 00:06:32.219 if we want to see the country changed, then prayer is the key. Only God can change the situation. 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:41.899 And God invites us to become partners with him by calling upon him to intervene in his own way and to 00:06:41.899 --> 00:06:49.279 redeem the situation. And there are important lessons here because there are parallels between the 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:54.599 church in the Old Testament and the church in the New Testament. In fact, the word that is translated 00:06:54.599 --> 00:07:01.219 assembly later in the book of Nehemiah, when, for example, the people in chapter 8 gather together 00:07:01.219 --> 00:07:08.359 in assembly. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, that word is the word for church or 00:07:08.359 --> 00:07:16.500 ecclesia, from which you get the word ecclesiastic. And so there is this link between the church in the 00:07:16.500 --> 00:07:21.680 Old Testament and the church in the New. Of course, there were discontinuity, there were differences, 00:07:22.199 --> 00:07:28.939 but there is a link. God's purposes were flowing through the Old Testament church into the New 00:07:28.939 --> 00:07:38.139 Testament church and beyond. And so if we look at this situation in the light of where we are in 00:07:38.139 --> 00:07:45.180 Scotland and in the United Kingdom today, then I think we have to acknowledge that the church in our land 00:07:45.180 --> 00:07:52.699 is in great trouble and shame and disgraced. We live in an age in which the church is scoffed at in 00:07:52.699 --> 00:08:01.639 social media, is attacked by new atheists, is often sneered at in letters to the press from members of the 00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:08.340 humanist society. And as a result of this, many members of the church are losing heart and giving up. 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:14.960 And we find that membership of the church and attendance of the church is declining because it is no longer 00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:22.180 popular to attend church. Now the question I want to ask you as I ask myself tonight is whether 00:08:22.180 --> 00:08:29.259 this is a primary concern of ours or do we adopt a laissez-faire attitude and say, well, this is 00:08:29.259 --> 00:08:33.779 happening and there's nothing we can do about it. Well, if that is our attitude, it's certainly different 00:08:33.779 --> 00:08:40.500 from the attitude of Nehemiah. Nehemiah brought the situation that he heard about to God in prayer. 00:08:40.500 --> 00:08:45.940 And the challenge that we face is to bring the situation confronting the church in Scotland 00:08:45.940 --> 00:08:53.639 today, to bring it to God in prayer and to do it persistently, to do it with great faith 00:08:53.639 --> 00:08:59.720 and to plead with God to intervene, to do it not only as individuals but to do it together 00:08:59.720 --> 00:09:10.440 as we meet for prayer. And so Nehemiah, I think, is asking us or challenging us to develop or to face 00:09:10.440 --> 00:09:18.960 the situation as a matter of urgency. He resolved to do what he could in his situation. First of all, 00:09:19.019 --> 00:09:25.480 to pray. That was his first response in chapter one. But then having prayed, he acted, he intervened, 00:09:25.480 --> 00:09:32.000 and he spoke to the king as we read in chapter two. And God, I believe, is calling us not only to pray, 00:09:32.519 --> 00:09:38.820 but he's calling us also to act. But tonight I want to focus on the response of prayer and how 00:09:38.820 --> 00:09:46.940 important that is and how Nehemiah helps us to understand what prayer is and why prayer is important 00:09:46.940 --> 00:09:53.900 and why prayer is powerful. I think there are four lessons that Nehemiah teaches us. First of all, 00:09:54.340 --> 00:10:03.040 he teaches us in verse five about the basis of prayer. If we look at his description of God in 00:10:03.040 --> 00:10:09.740 verse five, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of love with 00:10:09.740 --> 00:10:21.379 those who love him and obey his commands. He sees God as the great and awesome God. He sees God as all 00:10:21.379 --> 00:10:29.560 powerful. He sees God as the supreme being of the universe. But he also sees God as a God who keeps 00:10:29.560 --> 00:10:38.740 covenant, his covenant of love with his people. And that is the basis for prayer. First of all, 00:10:38.740 --> 00:10:45.919 God is powerful. Secondly, God is willing. And that is the basis for prayer. That's what makes prayer 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:53.460 possible. That's what makes prayer powerful. God is able to answer our prayer. And more than that, 00:10:53.759 --> 00:11:03.159 God is willing to answer our prayers. And so the basis of prayer is that God can and God will. 00:11:04.220 --> 00:11:08.680 And these two phrases, I believe, are important for us to remember as we come to 00:11:08.679 --> 00:11:17.239 God praying for our nation, to believe that God can intervene and that God will intervene on behalf 00:11:17.239 --> 00:11:26.759 of his people. He is the God who keeps his covenant of love with those who trust in him and who obey his 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:33.879 word. And so we need to ask ourselves constantly, do we believe that God is powerful and God is willing, 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:41.939 that God can and that God will, when we pray to God? What Nehemiah tells us is that God is indeed 00:11:41.939 --> 00:11:50.879 attentive and his eyes are open to hear the prayers of his servants. As Nehemiah presents them, God can 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:58.919 and God will. So these two aspects of God's character are fundamental to the functioning of prayer. 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:07.639 There you have it in just in one verse, the theology of prayer. God is all powerful and God is a God who 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:16.639 will keep his covenant with his people. And perhaps we need to ask God to give us a stronger persuasion 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:23.939 that he can and he will revive his church in Scotland today. And surely we need to communicate that to the 00:12:23.940 --> 00:12:31.640 church throughout this land. That God can and God will. That God can turn the situation around. 00:12:32.220 --> 00:12:38.820 That God can revive and reform his church. And that God is willing to do that because he's made a 00:12:38.820 --> 00:12:45.940 commitment in his covenant of love. Made a commitment to his church and to his people. So that's the first 00:12:45.940 --> 00:12:54.540 point I think that we learn from Nehemiah. The basis of prayer. Then we come to what we might call the ethos of 00:12:54.540 --> 00:13:06.160 prayer. Let me read from the end of verse 6. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's 00:13:06.160 --> 00:13:13.340 house, have committed against you. We've acted very wickedly towards you. We've not obeyed the commands, decrees, and 00:13:13.340 --> 00:13:20.399 laws you gave your servant Moses. Now notice what Nehemiah says. He doesn't say they. They have sinned 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:28.600 against you and acted very wickedly. He says we have done it. And so we find Nehemiah expressing a 00:13:28.600 --> 00:13:35.860 spiritual solidarity with the people for whom he is praying. He's really concerned for them. He sees 00:13:35.860 --> 00:13:48.320 himself among them. He identifies himself with them. And he prays for them. And pleads God, asks God to 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:57.639 forgive their sins. And so confessing solidarity with the people we pray for as sinners is surely 00:13:57.639 --> 00:14:02.860 one of the lessons that we can learn and a very important one as we look at this chapter. 00:14:02.860 --> 00:14:09.820 It is all too easy for us to adopt a holier than thou attitude to the people for whom we pray. 00:14:10.460 --> 00:14:18.879 And we pray for them. We don't pray for us. And Nehemiah is inviting us to identify ourselves with 00:14:18.879 --> 00:14:28.139 those for whom we pray and to sense their sense of need, to sense their danger, to sense their urgency. 00:14:28.139 --> 00:14:35.580 And so we're invited to adopt this culture of prayer, if you like, this character of prayer. 00:14:35.980 --> 00:14:41.879 Here Nehemiah teaches us how we are to pray. First of all, as we've seen, he teaches us the basis of 00:14:41.879 --> 00:14:47.259 prayer. But he also teaches us the ethos, the culture of prayer, the character of prayer. And when we come 00:14:47.259 --> 00:14:53.840 to God, we come into the presence of a holy God. And he calls us to confess our own sins and the sins of 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:58.720 those for whom we pray. And we do that together and we identify with those for whom we pray. 00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:09.040 But Nehemiah not only prayed, he fasted and he wept. He was burdened. He was heartbroken on behalf 00:15:09.040 --> 00:15:17.700 of his people. And we must ask ourselves, are we heartbroken tonight concerning the tragic state of the 00:15:17.700 --> 00:15:27.860 church in Scotland? Do we really feel it? Do we have this? Are we weeping for the cause of God in 00:15:27.860 --> 00:15:35.320 Scotland tonight? If Nehemiah was here, he would be weeping. And perhaps he needs to teach us to weep. 00:15:36.920 --> 00:15:41.660 That's the second lesson. The first is the basis of prayer. The second is the ethos of prayer. The third 00:15:41.659 --> 00:15:49.539 is the dynamic of prayer. Let's read verses 8 and 9. Remember the instruction you gave your servant 00:15:49.539 --> 00:15:56.059 Moses, says Nehemiah, saying, if you're unfaithful, I will scatter you among nations. But if you return 00:15:56.059 --> 00:16:03.659 to me and obey my commands, then even if your exile people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather 00:16:03.659 --> 00:16:11.620 them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my name. And so, 00:16:11.659 --> 00:16:17.939 what we see Nehemiah doing here is he's quoting, he's quoting the promises of God and pleading these 00:16:17.939 --> 00:16:25.259 promises before him. He's reminding God of what he has said previously in his word. And he's bringing 00:16:25.259 --> 00:16:36.259 these promises to God and asking us, asking him to fulfill these promises. And perhaps we need to be 00:16:36.259 --> 00:16:43.899 bolder in our prayers because the dynamic of prayer is pleading the promises of God. That's the way that 00:16:43.899 --> 00:16:50.919 prayer operates from our point of view. God has given us his promises and he invites us to plead them 00:16:50.919 --> 00:16:58.000 before him. Prayer is not the question of going to a cash machine and putting your card in, your number 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:04.960 in, and out comes the money. It's not something automatic. It's something spiritual. It's something 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:13.980 dynamic. And we are called upon to plead the promises of God and to ask him to fulfill his promises. 00:17:13.980 --> 00:17:21.079 And so, we're invited to pray with faith. The faith that God who has given us his promises will fulfill 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:28.720 them. That God not only can, but God will. And so, we're called upon to pray believingly. To pray with 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:36.420 faith. And to have a faith and a vision that of the difference of what God can make. Without faith, 00:17:36.420 --> 00:17:43.380 it is not only impossible to please God, it is also impossible to pray. And it's so easy for us simply to 00:17:43.380 --> 00:17:52.880 utter the words of prayer without believing, without calling upon God and casting ourselves upon his promises. 00:17:54.779 --> 00:18:03.100 But the fourth and final lesson that we learn here is what we might call the premise of prayer. Now, the word 00:18:03.099 --> 00:18:12.059 premise is used to describe the basis of an argument, the basis of a case that a person is making. And 00:18:12.059 --> 00:18:18.079 sometimes in a legal situation, in a court, a lawyer will make a case and he'll have a premise. That 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:26.619 will be the basis of his case. Now, there's a sense in which God invites us to make a case when we pray to 00:18:26.619 --> 00:18:36.479 him. He invites us to plead. He invites us to intercede. And the basis of Nehemiah's argument was 00:18:36.479 --> 00:18:43.139 that God had redeemed his people. And what Nehemiah says to God, he said, these people who are in 00:18:43.139 --> 00:18:48.779 disgrace, who are being laughed and scoffed at, who are discouraged, are your people. You've redeemed 00:18:48.779 --> 00:18:55.240 them. You've brought them out of Egypt. And that disgrace that they are suffering reflects on you, 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:58.299 on your glory, and on your power. 00:19:03.740 --> 00:19:10.099 And so, he invites, he looks back to the, back to the Exodus, to the deliverance of the people of God 00:19:10.099 --> 00:19:18.379 from slavery in Egypt. In verse 10, he describes the weak and troubled community in Jerusalem. He says, 00:19:18.380 --> 00:19:24.540 they are your servants, your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong 00:19:24.540 --> 00:19:33.700 hand. And it's important for us to remember that, that the premise of prayer is that God has redeemed, 00:19:33.740 --> 00:19:40.140 God has a plan of redemption for his church, that God has not abandoned the plan of salvation. He's not 00:19:40.140 --> 00:19:46.560 abandoned the plan of redemption. And at the heart of that plan is the church. And although the church 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:53.559 may often may not be as it should be, at the core of the church are the people of God. The people 00:19:53.559 --> 00:20:01.599 have been redeemed. And these people, what Nehemiah says, that these people are in disgrace. And that 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:11.720 disgrace is bouncing back on your reputation. And so, he is bold in his prayers. He intercedes on behalf 00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:19.819 of his people. And so, what Nehemiah is reminding us is that God's redemptive purpose continues in spite 00:20:19.819 --> 00:20:25.000 of the trouble and disgrace that afflict his people, in spite of the problems that confront the church, 00:20:25.100 --> 00:20:32.420 in spite of the compromises that so often the church is making today. God's redemptive purpose 00:20:32.420 --> 00:20:38.839 continues. God still has a purpose. God is not abandoning his people. God has promised that he will 00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:45.059 never leave them and never forsake them. And this purpose of God, this redemptive purpose of God, 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:52.639 lies at the center of his purposes for the world. The Bible tells us that not everyone in the visible 00:20:52.639 --> 00:21:00.439 church will be saved, but those who are saved form the core of the church of God. And it's important 00:21:00.439 --> 00:21:08.359 for us to recognize that however much the church may have departed from God's Word, at its core are the 00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:15.979 people of God's people of God. There are people who serve him there. And we need to pray and ask God to 00:21:15.979 --> 00:21:23.959 honor his promise to redeem his people so that we may see the effects of God's redemptive plan 00:21:23.959 --> 00:21:28.119 working out in our society today. 00:21:28.119 --> 00:21:39.059 So, this prayer of Nehemiah tells us how we approach God individually. This morning we're thinking of 00:21:39.059 --> 00:21:46.639 approaching God communally as a congregation. And Nehemiah, or Ezra in chapter 8, has a great deal to 00:21:46.639 --> 00:21:56.099 teach us about that. But here we find Nehemiah praying alone, praying individually. And the lesson 00:21:56.099 --> 00:22:04.259 that we learn here is how to pray in what the King James Bible calls the secret place. How to pray when 00:22:04.259 --> 00:22:09.919 we're alone. How to pray when we close the door. How to pray when we're on our own interceding with God. 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:17.819 And Nehemiah gives us these lessons, these fundamental lessons of prayer. He speaks about the basis of prayer, 00:22:17.819 --> 00:22:23.519 the ethos of prayer, the dynamic of prayer, and the premise of prayer. 00:22:25.319 --> 00:22:27.740 So, in verse 11, we have, as it were, 00:22:28.299 --> 00:22:31.480 Nehemiah summing up as a kind of conclusion 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:34.419 to this chapter. 00:22:35.259 --> 00:22:35.939 He says, 00:22:35.940 --> 00:22:55.360 And so, Nehemiah recognizes that he's not the only one who's praying. 00:22:56.080 --> 00:22:59.620 And although he was praying alone, and perhaps the only believer in Susa the palace, 00:23:00.580 --> 00:23:03.460 yet he recognizes that there are other people praying as well. 00:23:03.460 --> 00:23:05.779 And although he is praying as an individual, 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:10.140 he recognizes that he's one, a member of the family of God. 00:23:10.819 --> 00:23:13.420 And he invites the Lord not only to hear his prayer, 00:23:13.799 --> 00:23:15.519 but to hear the prayer of others 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:17.559 who revere the name 00:23:17.559 --> 00:23:19.180 of God, who honor 00:23:19.180 --> 00:23:20.519 God's name. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:23.640 And so, 00:23:23.720 --> 00:23:25.740 the basis of prayer is that God can 00:23:25.740 --> 00:23:27.480 and God will. 00:23:28.360 --> 00:23:29.539 The ethos of prayer is 00:23:29.539 --> 00:23:31.039 to express our solidarity 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:32.059 and our confession 00:23:32.059 --> 00:23:34.420 with the people for whom we pray 00:23:34.420 --> 00:23:36.059 as we confess their sins 00:23:36.059 --> 00:23:37.559 along with our own. 00:23:38.379 --> 00:23:39.500 The dynamic of prayer 00:23:39.500 --> 00:23:40.659 is to plead the promises 00:23:40.659 --> 00:23:42.539 that God has given us in his word. 00:23:43.619 --> 00:23:44.599 The premise of prayer 00:23:44.599 --> 00:23:47.000 is that God's redemptive purpose 00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:48.240 will be fulfilled, 00:23:48.879 --> 00:23:50.039 that God's purpose 00:23:50.039 --> 00:23:52.039 will not ultimately be frustrated, 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:53.740 and that God 00:23:53.740 --> 00:23:56.039 has not lost control 00:23:56.039 --> 00:23:57.579 of the situation. 00:23:58.279 --> 00:24:00.180 These four features of prayer 00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:01.720 encourage Nehemiah 00:24:01.720 --> 00:24:02.980 to pray for success 00:24:02.980 --> 00:24:05.000 and be willing to act, 00:24:05.799 --> 00:24:07.019 even if this involved 00:24:07.019 --> 00:24:08.559 taking a great risk. 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:10.159 And if we go on 00:24:10.159 --> 00:24:10.519 to look, 00:24:10.759 --> 00:24:11.940 to read in the next chapter, 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:12.899 and I hope you'll do that 00:24:12.899 --> 00:24:13.639 when you go home, 00:24:14.059 --> 00:24:15.039 you will see that 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:16.039 Nehemiah 00:24:16.039 --> 00:24:17.420 approaches the king 00:24:17.420 --> 00:24:18.500 with great fear 00:24:18.500 --> 00:24:19.559 and in one sense 00:24:19.559 --> 00:24:20.159 with trembling 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:22.620 because he did not know 00:24:22.620 --> 00:24:24.040 how the king would react. 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:27.180 And he not only prayed 00:24:27.180 --> 00:24:27.880 before he went, 00:24:27.960 --> 00:24:28.480 but he prayed 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:29.800 in the presence of the king. 00:24:30.860 --> 00:24:31.880 Persian emperors 00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:33.360 could be 00:24:33.360 --> 00:24:37.700 quite difficult to know 00:24:37.700 --> 00:24:38.920 how they were going to react. 00:24:40.060 --> 00:24:40.480 They could, 00:24:41.779 --> 00:24:42.800 and not only that, 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:43.380 but the same, 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:44.340 this very emperor 00:24:44.340 --> 00:24:46.300 had stopped 00:24:46.300 --> 00:24:47.540 the building of the walls 00:24:47.540 --> 00:24:48.840 under Ezra 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:50.419 just a few years before. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:53.379 And what Nehemiah 00:24:53.379 --> 00:24:54.939 was asking the king to do 00:24:54.939 --> 00:24:56.199 was to rescind 00:24:56.199 --> 00:24:58.159 one of his decrees. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:24:59.279 Now, 00:24:59.500 --> 00:25:00.659 in the culture 00:25:00.659 --> 00:25:02.480 of the Medes and Persians, 00:25:02.619 --> 00:25:03.439 that was not, 00:25:04.240 --> 00:25:05.740 that was a dangerous thing to do. 00:25:06.500 --> 00:25:07.240 But he was willing 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:08.240 to take the risk. 00:25:08.659 --> 00:25:09.119 He was willing 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:10.139 to put his own life 00:25:10.139 --> 00:25:11.240 on the line 00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:12.539 in order 00:25:12.539 --> 00:25:14.339 that the work of God 00:25:14.339 --> 00:25:16.519 might go forward. 00:25:17.659 --> 00:25:18.039 And so, 00:25:18.039 --> 00:25:18.619 we're called 00:25:18.619 --> 00:25:19.519 not only to pray, 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:20.059 but we're called 00:25:20.059 --> 00:25:20.920 to stand up 00:25:20.920 --> 00:25:21.639 and be counted. 00:25:22.579 --> 00:25:24.240 Just as Nehemiah did. 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:25.399 Nehemiah stood up 00:25:25.399 --> 00:25:26.019 before the king. 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:27.359 He didn't simply pray 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:28.480 in his own room. 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:29.879 He went into the presence 00:25:29.879 --> 00:25:30.500 of the king 00:25:30.500 --> 00:25:32.299 and at an appropriate moment, 00:25:32.980 --> 00:25:33.960 he asked the king 00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:35.220 to intervene. 00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:36.359 Even if that meant 00:25:36.359 --> 00:25:37.700 going back 00:25:37.700 --> 00:25:38.480 on one of his 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:39.460 previous decrees. 00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:42.740 That was a dangerous thing 00:25:42.740 --> 00:25:43.319 for him to do, 00:25:43.379 --> 00:25:44.000 but he did it. 00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:45.339 And so God, 00:25:45.420 --> 00:25:45.740 I believe, 00:25:45.740 --> 00:25:46.660 is inviting us 00:25:46.660 --> 00:25:47.839 to stand up 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:48.420 and be counted 00:25:48.420 --> 00:25:50.140 and to make our presence 00:25:50.140 --> 00:25:50.660 felt 00:25:50.660 --> 00:25:52.319 in order that we might 00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:52.839 promote 00:25:52.839 --> 00:25:53.839 not only in our, 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:55.120 promote the kingdom of God, 00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:56.480 not only in our prayers, 00:25:57.099 --> 00:25:57.480 but 00:25:57.480 --> 00:25:59.599 in our lives. 00:26:00.779 --> 00:26:01.339 And also, 00:26:01.480 --> 00:26:01.700 I think, 00:26:01.759 --> 00:26:03.039 Nehemiah is challenging us 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:03.660 to pray 00:26:03.660 --> 00:26:05.480 that God will give success 00:26:05.480 --> 00:26:06.599 to 00:26:06.599 --> 00:26:08.319 modern counterparts 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:09.039 of Nehemiah, 00:26:09.180 --> 00:26:09.480 people, 00:26:09.640 --> 00:26:09.980 Christians, 00:26:10.120 --> 00:26:10.720 who are high up 00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:11.259 in government, 00:26:11.460 --> 00:26:12.500 high up in positions 00:26:12.500 --> 00:26:13.660 in society. 00:26:14.579 --> 00:26:15.680 Do we pray for them? 00:26:16.599 --> 00:26:17.700 Just a few weeks ago, 00:26:17.819 --> 00:26:18.400 there was the 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:19.579 parliamentary prayer breakfast 00:26:19.579 --> 00:26:20.740 in the House of Commons 00:26:20.740 --> 00:26:23.019 and quite a number 00:26:23.019 --> 00:26:25.019 of the members 00:26:25.019 --> 00:26:25.539 of parliament 00:26:25.539 --> 00:26:26.480 attended there. 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:29.460 The prime minister 00:26:29.460 --> 00:26:29.980 was there. 00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:31.380 I wonder how often 00:26:31.380 --> 00:26:32.619 we pray for the prime minister. 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:33.500 Prime ministers 00:26:33.500 --> 00:26:34.359 mention television 00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:35.380 every day at the moment. 00:26:36.059 --> 00:26:36.980 Do we pray for her? 00:26:38.119 --> 00:26:38.799 It's not a question 00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:39.779 of whether we support 00:26:39.779 --> 00:26:40.660 her party. 00:26:40.660 --> 00:26:41.779 It's not a question 00:26:41.779 --> 00:26:43.040 of whether we agree 00:26:43.040 --> 00:26:44.019 with our policy 00:26:44.019 --> 00:26:44.460 in Brexit. 00:26:44.580 --> 00:26:45.080 It's a question 00:26:45.080 --> 00:26:46.200 that she 00:26:46.200 --> 00:26:47.700 is the person 00:26:47.700 --> 00:26:48.900 who has authority 00:26:48.900 --> 00:26:49.500 to govern 00:26:49.500 --> 00:26:50.820 in our nation. 00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:52.320 And we are commanded 00:26:52.320 --> 00:26:52.920 to honour 00:26:52.920 --> 00:26:54.340 those who have 00:26:54.340 --> 00:26:55.500 authority over us 00:26:55.500 --> 00:26:57.080 by praying for them. 00:26:58.180 --> 00:26:58.900 And it's so important 00:26:58.900 --> 00:26:59.580 to recognise 00:26:59.580 --> 00:27:00.840 the importance of prayer. 00:27:02.380 --> 00:27:03.460 There is a parliamentary 00:27:03.460 --> 00:27:04.100 prayer breakfast 00:27:04.100 --> 00:27:04.820 here in Scotland 00:27:04.820 --> 00:27:06.040 that very few 00:27:06.040 --> 00:27:07.480 members of MSPs 00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:07.960 attend. 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:09.580 Very, very few. 00:27:10.660 --> 00:27:12.060 And that's something 00:27:12.060 --> 00:27:12.700 that really should 00:27:12.700 --> 00:27:13.519 concern us. 00:27:14.519 --> 00:27:15.140 Something that should 00:27:15.140 --> 00:27:15.960 challenge us 00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:16.920 to pray 00:27:16.920 --> 00:27:19.680 for our nation. 00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:23.060 So God is, I believe, 00:27:23.140 --> 00:27:24.540 asking us to give success 00:27:24.540 --> 00:27:25.840 to those 00:27:25.840 --> 00:27:27.820 disciples of Jesus, 00:27:27.940 --> 00:27:28.759 followers of Jesus 00:27:28.759 --> 00:27:29.920 who find themselves 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:31.720 in influential positions 00:27:31.720 --> 00:27:32.880 in society 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:33.779 today. 00:27:33.779 --> 00:27:36.319 God is inviting us 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:37.579 as those who delight 00:27:37.579 --> 00:27:38.579 to reveal his name 00:27:38.579 --> 00:27:39.879 to plead 00:27:39.879 --> 00:27:41.440 with him 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:42.480 on behalf 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:44.559 of our nation. 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:46.440 But as we plead 00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:47.759 we need to be, 00:27:47.859 --> 00:27:48.539 and as we pray, 00:27:48.660 --> 00:27:49.319 we need to be willing 00:27:49.319 --> 00:27:50.180 to become part 00:27:50.180 --> 00:27:50.839 of the answer 00:27:50.839 --> 00:27:51.819 to our prayers. 00:27:52.660 --> 00:27:53.740 Now Nehemiah prayed 00:27:53.740 --> 00:27:55.160 and recognising 00:27:55.160 --> 00:27:55.799 that he 00:27:55.799 --> 00:27:56.680 would be part, 00:27:56.759 --> 00:27:57.799 probably would be part 00:27:57.799 --> 00:27:58.440 of the answer 00:27:58.440 --> 00:27:59.399 to his prayer. 00:27:59.400 --> 00:28:01.620 And so he was 00:28:01.620 --> 00:28:02.120 committed, 00:28:02.700 --> 00:28:03.480 committed to the 00:28:03.480 --> 00:28:04.180 cause for which 00:28:04.180 --> 00:28:05.300 he prayed. 00:28:06.200 --> 00:28:07.080 And God is calling 00:28:07.080 --> 00:28:08.040 us to be committed 00:28:08.040 --> 00:28:09.380 to the renewal, 00:28:09.560 --> 00:28:10.160 the revival 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:11.160 of his church 00:28:11.160 --> 00:28:12.860 and of his glory 00:28:12.860 --> 00:28:13.620 here 00:28:13.620 --> 00:28:15.480 in this country. 00:28:16.180 --> 00:28:16.800 May God grant 00:28:16.800 --> 00:28:17.220 that 00:28:17.220 --> 00:28:18.660 we may hear 00:28:18.660 --> 00:28:19.220 the lesson 00:28:19.220 --> 00:28:20.040 that Nehemiah 00:28:20.040 --> 00:28:21.100 is teaching us. 00:28:21.900 --> 00:28:22.340 Nehemiah is 00:28:22.340 --> 00:28:23.120 encouraging us 00:28:23.120 --> 00:28:23.620 to pray 00:28:23.620 --> 00:28:24.800 and to be willing 00:28:24.800 --> 00:28:25.380 to act 00:28:25.380 --> 00:28:26.560 on behalf 00:28:26.560 --> 00:28:27.200 of our nation 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:28.160 and for the glory 00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:28.740 of God 00:28:28.740 --> 00:28:30.620 in our generation. 00:28:31.140 --> 00:28:31.799 May all of us 00:28:31.799 --> 00:28:32.900 be willing to respond 00:28:32.900 --> 00:28:35.360 to his example. 00:28:35.360 --> 00:28:35.539 Amen. 00:28:35.539 --> 00:28:35.860 Amen.