WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.200 Turn with me in your Bibles to Nehemiah. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:16.640 Nehemiah chapter 1, which is page 370 in your pew Bibles. 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:24.260 This summer we are doing a series in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which are really two 00:00:24.260 --> 00:00:26.140 parts of one story. 00:00:26.140 --> 00:00:33.380 It seems likely that they were originally sort of one book with two parts, as they still 00:00:33.380 --> 00:00:35.700 are in the Hebrew Bible. 00:00:36.700 --> 00:00:41.179 They're separated because they focus respectively on Ezra and then on Nehemiah. 00:00:41.899 --> 00:00:48.179 Nehemiah is…a lot of the book of Nehemiah seems to be derived from his memoirs that 00:00:48.179 --> 00:00:54.240 were then recorded either by Nehemiah himself or by someone else who compiled them together. 00:00:54.240 --> 00:00:59.320 But let me begin by reading Nehemiah chapter 1. 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:03.700 I'm just going to read the first three verses to open us, but we'll be looking at the first 00:01:03.700 --> 00:01:05.540 two chapters this morning. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:10.079 So, Nehemiah chapter 1, beginning at verse 1. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:15.560 The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakaliah. 00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:22.600 Now, it happened in the month of Kislev in the 20th year, as I was in Susa, the citadel, 00:01:23.240 --> 00:01:27.320 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. 00:01:28.219 --> 00:01:34.359 And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:41.800 And they said to me, the remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in 00:01:41.799 --> 00:01:52.399 great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire. 00:01:53.319 --> 00:01:59.459 Let's pray together. Lord, as we look into Your Word this morning, we pray for Your Spirit to be 00:01:59.459 --> 00:02:08.079 among us. Fill me as I teach from Your Word. Fill us all with Your Spirit as we listen and take this 00:02:08.080 --> 00:02:13.280 to heart. We pray that You would equip us, that You would draw us near to You, that You would shape 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:17.620 us into the people You are calling us to be. In Jesus' name, amen. 00:02:18.980 --> 00:02:28.980 So, the book of Nehemiah begins with bad news. Bad news from Jerusalem, bad news from the exiles who 00:02:28.980 --> 00:02:36.380 had returned home to the province of Judah. Verse 3, the remnant is in great trouble and shame. 00:02:36.379 --> 00:02:43.939 The walls broken down, the gates are destroyed by fire. In other words, the people of God were a small, 00:02:44.219 --> 00:02:50.599 vulnerable minority. They were facing persistent troubles, and they had been repeatedly humiliated 00:02:50.599 --> 00:02:58.019 by their opponents. Now, in many times and places, that's what it feels like to be a Christian. 00:02:58.020 --> 00:03:07.320 In Gaza, a city of two million people, there's one Protestant church, a Gaza Baptist church. About 15 00:03:07.320 --> 00:03:13.180 years ago, one of the pastors of that church was assassinated. Another pastor later fled for his own 00:03:13.180 --> 00:03:20.560 family's safety. Today, the church has about 50 to 60 people on a good Sunday who face the same 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:26.360 struggles as everyone else in Gaza. War, unemployment, poverty, and powerlessness. 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:34.460 Or, in Central Asia, Christian pastors have been jailed simply for possessing Christian books that 00:03:34.460 --> 00:03:39.420 are not approved by the government, or for teaching any form of religion to children under 18. 00:03:40.180 --> 00:03:44.099 And many of those who aren't in jail feel tired, isolated, and intimidated. 00:03:44.099 --> 00:03:51.639 In China, many churches have transitioned to meeting in small groups on Sunday mornings rather than 00:03:51.639 --> 00:03:59.759 meeting together as congregations because of a recent series of threats and police raids in certain parts. 00:04:00.699 --> 00:04:04.620 Now, you might ask, how do we know about these faraway places? Well, as a church, we have several 00:04:04.620 --> 00:04:10.799 ministry partners throughout the world who we support financially and in prayer. And one of the blessings 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:15.820 of having these partnerships is that we hear about the state of the church throughout the world 00:04:15.820 --> 00:04:23.620 from people who are experiencing it firsthand. If you want to get these updates and you contact the 00:04:23.620 --> 00:04:29.439 office and ask to be added to the prayer list, you'll usually receive a prayer email most Tuesdays with 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:35.439 whatever our ministry partners have sent to us that we can be remembering before God in prayer. 00:04:36.819 --> 00:04:40.780 Now, hearing about the troubles that other Christians are experiencing in different parts of the 00:04:40.779 --> 00:04:45.479 world can be a good thing for many reasons. For one thing, it can help put our own troubles in 00:04:45.479 --> 00:04:52.559 perspective. Sometimes I think it can sort of jerk us out of our slide into self-pity and lame excuses. 00:04:54.179 --> 00:05:00.299 At the same time, though, being part of the Christian church here in New England can also feel like 00:05:00.299 --> 00:05:07.099 being part of something that is small, vulnerable, troubled, or even discredited. 00:05:07.100 --> 00:05:14.640 Now, the opposition here is not as explicitly hostile as in many other parts of the world, but still, 00:05:15.420 --> 00:05:20.000 there's plenty of church buildings in town that are empty or almost empty or in the process of being 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:24.879 converted to apartments, right? There's a church building four blocks north on State Street, there's 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:30.379 another one over in Worcester Square that used to be a church, they're now condos. If you walk across 00:05:30.379 --> 00:05:33.800 a college campus on a Sunday morning, it's about as quiet as it ever gets. 00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:42.720 And so, and many people see Christianity as a relic of a bygone era that is perhaps rightly going out 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:51.439 of fashion. Further, churches in New England, I have to say, are often troubled by conflicts. 00:05:52.400 --> 00:05:57.240 I remember a conversation I had a few years ago with a few pastors who had been in New Haven for two or 00:05:57.240 --> 00:06:04.000 three decades, and they were remembering several attempts over the years at churches working 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:10.400 together or praying together or building pastoral friendships or doing ministry together that had 00:06:10.400 --> 00:06:14.960 begun with excitement and that had ended or petered out in frustration. 00:06:17.460 --> 00:06:22.199 In my experience, there are a significant number of Christians in New England, including some former 00:06:22.199 --> 00:06:29.159 church leaders who have simply given up going to church altogether, disillusioned by multiple bad 00:06:29.159 --> 00:06:36.219 experiences in dysfunctional churches. Other people visit occasionally but have no intention of 00:06:36.219 --> 00:06:44.899 committing and settling and joining. You see, sometimes a church in New England feels like a remnant 00:06:44.899 --> 00:06:54.899 of what it once was, a small minority in an increasingly secular society in great trouble and shame, 00:06:55.599 --> 00:07:05.659 just like the returned exiles in Jerusalem. Now, how do we respond when the church is in a bad condition, 00:07:05.660 --> 00:07:17.280 whether close by or far away? And this morning's passage shows us a way forward as we look at Nehemiah's 00:07:17.280 --> 00:07:24.379 response to the bad condition of Jerusalem. And we'll see that the way forward involves two things. 00:07:24.460 --> 00:07:32.260 It involves humble prayer and confident action. But before we dive in, I want to briefly introduce 00:07:32.259 --> 00:07:38.099 you to Nehemiah and put Nehemiah in his historical context. If you look in the bulletin, in the center 00:07:38.099 --> 00:07:43.939 page of the bulletin, I've included a timeline. It was in the bulletin a few weeks ago, but I've put it 00:07:43.939 --> 00:07:52.060 in there with a few additional notes relevant to Nehemiah. So, you can see the progression of events in 00:07:52.060 --> 00:07:56.480 Ezra and Nehemiah, which as we've said are two parts of the same story. Now, the book of Ezra 00:07:56.480 --> 00:08:04.280 began with the decree of King Cyrus in 538 B.C. that the people of Israel could return to the land, 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:09.960 return from their exile, and rebuild the temple. And that's the emphasis of the first six chapters 00:08:09.960 --> 00:08:18.020 of Ezra, restoring the worship of God and rebuilding the temple. The rest of the book of Ezra 00:08:18.020 --> 00:08:24.620 focused on rebuilding the community, in particular under the Word of God. Ezra was sent about 80 years 00:08:24.620 --> 00:08:31.579 after the first group of returned exiles. Ezra came to teach God's Word. And as they heard God's 00:08:31.579 --> 00:08:38.120 Word, the people realized some things need to change. Our lives need to be reshaped according 00:08:38.120 --> 00:08:44.519 to God's Word. And they began to order their lives differently. Now, Nehemiah continues the same story. 00:08:46.100 --> 00:08:53.899 Nehemiah picks up 13 years after the end of Ezra, 445 B.C. And Nehemiah will lead the people to carry 00:08:53.899 --> 00:09:02.399 out the work of God, namely rebuilding the city and its walls. So, worship, Word, and work. That's 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:07.959 the big picture of Ezra and Nehemiah that we're looking at this summer. We've seen the first two 00:09:07.959 --> 00:09:13.399 phases, and we're going into the third. But this is how God is rebuilding His people, reestablishing 00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:22.799 their worship, teaching them, and shaping them by His Word, and now calling them into the work that He has 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:34.199 for them. Now, who was Nehemiah, you might ask? Nehemiah was a Jew, descended of Jewish descent, 00:09:34.319 --> 00:09:39.759 but he was living in Persia, living in Susa, which was the capital of the Persian Empire, 00:09:40.599 --> 00:09:48.679 located in modern-day western Iran. Now, Susa was an impressive city. We have archaeological remnants 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:57.099 of the palace that King Darius built in Susa, and it was 350 feet long, 350 feet wide. It was square, 00:09:57.599 --> 00:10:06.019 and they had probably 70-foot-tall stone columns. That's taller than this building. It was a very 00:10:06.019 --> 00:10:13.979 impressive palace that was built in Susa. And Nehemiah was most likely born and raised there, 00:10:13.980 --> 00:10:21.159 and he had sort of risen in the ranks of the Persian king's court. Verse 11 of chapter 1 tells 00:10:21.159 --> 00:10:27.560 us he was one of the cupbearers to the king. Now, the official role of a cupbearer was to taste 00:10:27.560 --> 00:10:35.159 the king's food and drink in order to verify that it hadn't been poisoned. But more broadly, 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:42.600 cupbearers were chosen because they were seen as unquestionably loyal and trustworthy servants of the 00:10:42.600 --> 00:10:49.519 king. They were usually young men who had access to and often a little bit of influence with the king. 00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:57.600 So, that's the role that Nehemiah is in. But what we'll see here is that Nehemiah wasn't just concerned 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:04.340 about his own individual career advancement. He wasn't just concerned about maintaining a comfortable 00:11:04.340 --> 00:11:14.660 life in Persia. Nehemiah was concerned about the well-being of God's people. Hanani, who was either 00:11:14.660 --> 00:11:20.460 Nehemiah's biological brother or simply one of his relatives or kinsmen, Hanani shows up, and Nehemiah 00:11:20.460 --> 00:11:29.220 asks him, how's everyone doing back in Jerusalem? Tell me the news. Even though he was a thousand miles 00:11:29.220 --> 00:11:37.620 away, Nehemiah cared. Nehemiah cared about the well-being of God's people who were a long geographical 00:11:37.620 --> 00:11:45.060 distance away. And as we'll see, he was willing to move from the royal splendor of Susa to the ruined 00:11:45.060 --> 00:11:55.340 rubble of Jerusalem. Now, most likely, this bad news that Nehemiah heard wasn't just a rehashing of 00:11:55.340 --> 00:12:00.980 what Nebuchadnezzar had done. That would have been almost 150 years ago when he first carried off 00:12:00.980 --> 00:12:06.720 the people of Israel into exile. Most likely, it was bad news about a more recent setback. 00:12:07.920 --> 00:12:16.360 In Ezra chapter 4, Ezra chapter 4 includes one incident that sort of fast-forwards to the time 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:21.100 of King Artaxerxes and time of the book… sort of between… probably between the books of Ezra and 00:12:21.100 --> 00:12:26.940 Nehemiah. And it tells us that some Jews had begun rebuilding the city of Jerusalem 00:12:26.940 --> 00:12:34.040 in the days of Artaxerxes. But then some local Persian government officials fired off a complaint 00:12:34.040 --> 00:12:39.379 to the emperor. Perhaps they were concerned there had been some revolts in the Persian empire, 00:12:39.379 --> 00:12:43.560 and they thought, these people are rebuilding the city. This is not good. We're going to write a 00:12:43.560 --> 00:12:48.960 letter to the king and get them to stop. And guess what Artaxerxes does? He sends a stop-work 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:57.580 order until further notice. Ezra chapter 4 verse 23 says that the Persian provincial officials then 00:12:57.580 --> 00:13:03.300 went to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. They shut it down. 00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:11.920 That's probably the bad news that Nehemiah heard about here at the beginning of chapter 1. 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:20.839 The people are in great trouble and shame, and the city is the complete shambles. 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:27.399 So, Nehemiah hears this news, and he responds in two ways. And we're going to look at these two 00:13:27.399 --> 00:13:34.099 themes about how Nehemiah responds and how we can respond when the church is in a bad state. 00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:40.099 So, first, in the rest of chapter 1, we're going to see that Nehemiah responds with humble prayer, 00:13:40.100 --> 00:13:45.560 and then in chapter 2, we'll see he responds with confident action. So, let's go and read the rest 00:13:45.560 --> 00:13:54.420 of chapter 1, Nehemiah's first response. Starting at verse 4, as soon as I heard these words, I sat 00:13:54.420 --> 00:13:59.899 down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 00:14:01.139 --> 00:14:06.240 And I said, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:11.700 with those who love him and keep his commandments. Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:16.419 hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel, 00:14:16.539 --> 00:14:22.019 your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel which we have sinned against you. 00:14:23.299 --> 00:14:30.080 Even I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:35.700 the commandments, statutes, and rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word 00:14:35.700 --> 00:14:40.900 that you commanded your servant Moses saying, If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the 00:14:40.900 --> 00:14:45.840 peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:51.980 are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that 00:14:51.980 --> 00:14:57.259 I have chosen to make my name dwell there. They are your servants and your people whom you have 00:14:57.259 --> 00:15:03.779 redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the 00:15:03.779 --> 00:15:07.679 prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name and give 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:13.899 success to your servant today and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was cupbearer to the 00:15:13.899 --> 00:15:23.240 king. So, Nehemiah doesn't just stop and pray for a minute or two. He sits down and weeps for days, 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:29.759 and he fasts and prays for months. Chapter 1, verse 1 begins in the month of Kislev, that was December, 00:15:30.519 --> 00:15:35.700 and chapter 2, verse 1 begins in the month of Nisan, which is April. So, that means there's four months 00:15:35.700 --> 00:15:44.259 that Nehemiah is fasting and praying. It says continually. He was praying day and night. 00:15:44.259 --> 00:15:53.039 Now, that doesn't mean that he ate no food at all during the whole time. That's not quite humanly 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:58.259 possible, but perhaps he fasted like Daniel, refraining from wine and meat and delicacies. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:05.159 Regardless of the details, Nehemiah spent extended time seeking God in prayer while refraining in some 00:16:05.159 --> 00:16:12.340 form or other from some of the pleasures that he would normally enjoy. Now, why did Nehemiah do this? 00:16:12.340 --> 00:16:20.639 Why did he mourn and fast? Now, John Piper describes Christian fasting as a kind of hunger 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:28.060 or homesickness for God. He says half of Christian fasting is that our physical appetite is lost 00:16:28.060 --> 00:16:34.040 because our homesickness for God is so intense. In other words, we want God so much that earthly 00:16:34.040 --> 00:16:40.759 delights fade into the background. He says the other half is that our homesickness for God is threatened 00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:46.980 because our physical appetites are so intense. He says, so we resist the dominance of our physical 00:16:46.980 --> 00:16:52.840 appetites in order to cultivate our spiritual appetite for God. If you want to learn more about 00:16:52.840 --> 00:16:57.980 fasting, John Piper's book, A Hunger for God is a good place to start. It's on the bookstall downstairs. 00:16:59.860 --> 00:17:05.440 But Nehemiah wasn't just fasting for his own spiritual benefit or to draw closer to God personally. 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:10.360 He was fasting in solidarity with the troubled and despised people of God. 00:17:11.860 --> 00:17:17.500 Nehemiah realized that his brothers and sisters back in Jerusalem were suffering greatly. And so, 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:25.400 he didn't just carry on with his own life as usual. He mourned with them. He sought God earnestly on 00:17:25.400 --> 00:17:30.840 their behalf. And that's an appropriate response when brothers and sisters in Christ are broken down, 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:36.139 facing great trouble, or ensnared by sin that brings dishonor on the name of Christ. 00:17:37.919 --> 00:17:45.179 Make their trouble and temptation your own by fasting and praying for them, by crying out to God 00:17:45.179 --> 00:17:49.619 with them, or even praying for them when they're not crying out to God themselves. 00:17:51.159 --> 00:17:56.379 Now, one mother fasted and prayed every Monday for eight years, crying out to God for her wayward son. 00:17:56.380 --> 00:18:03.640 Romans 12, 15 says, rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn. That's what Nehemiah did 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:10.000 here. And this wasn't just an expression, this wasn't primarily an expression of Nehemiah's personality. 00:18:10.660 --> 00:18:15.500 If Nehemiah took a personality test today, he would not have been labeled as a melancholy 00:18:15.500 --> 00:18:22.980 contemplative. We'll see throughout the book, he was not Eeyore. He was a man of action. He was the 00:18:22.980 --> 00:18:30.839 get things done guy. He was an able administrator. But for Nehemiah, prayer was not his last resort 00:18:30.839 --> 00:18:37.740 after all human attempts had failed. Prayer was his first resort before any human attempts were made. 00:18:39.259 --> 00:18:44.400 Now, maybe Nehemiah prayed because he wasn't initially sure what his plan of action should be. 00:18:45.559 --> 00:18:50.559 And perhaps his plan of action became gradually clearer over the course of these four months. 00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:56.319 Or maybe Nehemiah had a sense of what he needed to do from the start, but he realized how high the 00:18:56.319 --> 00:19:01.659 stakes were. And so, before jumping in action, he committed his plans to God in prayer. Either way, 00:19:01.980 --> 00:19:08.559 it's a good example whether we have a clear sense of what we need to do and simply need to ask for 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:13.259 God's help and empowerment and strengthening to do it, or whether we really don't know what to do 00:19:13.259 --> 00:19:19.359 and we need to ask for wisdom and guidance and clarity, we can turn to God in prayer. 00:19:20.839 --> 00:19:25.940 Now, let's look at the content of Nehemiah's prayer, which I think in many ways can be a model 00:19:25.940 --> 00:19:32.720 for our own prayers. There's sort of four parts to Nehemiah's prayer. In verse 5, he begins by 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:42.860 declaring God's greatness, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God. He begins with God's 00:19:42.860 --> 00:19:49.500 awe-inspiring sovereignty and greatness. And he continues with God's promise-keeping goodness, 00:19:50.059 --> 00:19:55.259 who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments. 00:19:55.259 --> 00:20:01.460 You know, when Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he taught us to begin in the same way, 00:20:01.700 --> 00:20:10.039 our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. To begin our prayer by looking at God and his character, 00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:16.480 by declaring his greatness and his goodness and loving kindness. That's the basis on which we can 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:22.700 approach God because of his character. But then Nehemiah continues, second part of his prayer in verses 00:20:22.700 --> 00:20:30.220 6 and 7, he confesses the people's unfaithfulness. He says, we, the people of Israel, have sinned against 00:20:30.220 --> 00:20:37.500 you. Even I and my Father's house have sinned. And, you know, both of those dimensions are important 00:20:37.500 --> 00:20:44.680 to acknowledge, the corporate and the individual. If we only talk about the sins of the church or the 00:20:44.680 --> 00:20:49.039 sins of the society that we live in, we can actually become rather self-righteous about ourselves. 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:56.559 That's a danger. At the same time, if we only ever confess our own individual sins and flaws 00:20:56.559 --> 00:21:02.879 that we have directly and intentionally committed, we can become blind to how ungodly patterns 00:21:02.879 --> 00:21:08.259 become embedded not only in individual hearts but also in human relationships and societies and 00:21:08.259 --> 00:21:14.240 institutions. So, Nehemiah recognizes here that God's people as a whole had become corrupted and 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:20.000 unfaithful and he acknowledged his own and his family's, his and his own family's participation 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:26.420 in that corruption and unfaithfulness. But then he doesn't stop there. He goes on in verses 8 to 10, 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:31.640 he leans on God's promise. He declares God's greatness, confesses the people's unfaithfulness, 00:21:31.779 --> 00:21:37.740 and then he leans on God's promise. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses. 00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:44.779 Nehemiah is referring back to Deuteronomy 30, where God had said, if you're unfaithful, 00:21:44.839 --> 00:21:51.059 I will scatter you, and that had happened in the exile. They had been scattered all over the place. 00:21:51.740 --> 00:21:56.839 But then God promised, even if you're at the ends of the earth, if you return to me, 00:21:57.220 --> 00:22:04.819 I'll bring you back home. Even at the end of Deuteronomy, God looked forward to that day and said, 00:22:04.819 --> 00:22:11.480 even if you mess it all up, I'm still going to make a way for you to come home and to repent. 00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:14.919 And Nehemiah holds on to that promise. 00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:25.839 He leans on the promise that God had made years or generations ago. And in a sense, he sort of 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:30.879 holds up that promise before God and says, God, you made this promise. 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:37.600 Make good on your word to return us and restore us. 00:22:40.540 --> 00:22:44.640 In fact, throughout this prayer, Nehemiah, whether intentionally or not, he echoes the words of 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:50.600 earlier biblical prayers. Like Ezra, the prayer we looked at last week, he laments the corruption 00:22:50.600 --> 00:22:57.400 of the people. Like Solomon, he prays that God's ear would be attentive and his eye open to the 00:22:57.400 --> 00:23:04.480 prayers of his people. Like Jeremiah, he prays that God would remember his covenant, remember his promise. 00:23:07.120 --> 00:23:11.620 So, declaring God's greatness, confessing unfaithfulness, leaning on God's promise, and finally, 00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:18.880 in verse 11, Nehemiah presents his need. Give success to your servant today and grant him mercy 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:25.500 in the sight of this man. Again, right? Jesus taught us to pray in the same way in the Lord's prayer, 00:23:25.600 --> 00:23:34.380 right? Give us this day our daily bread. Lord, give me what I need today. Give us as a people what we 00:23:34.380 --> 00:23:41.120 need today. Feed us, deliver us from evil. Lead us not into temptation. We're surrounded by dangers. 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:47.759 We need your protection. We need your provision. Nehemiah is very specific in his request. 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:56.419 His praying was not an excuse for doing nothing. Rather, his prayer in chapter 1 prepared him 00:23:56.419 --> 00:24:02.519 for the action steps we'll see him take in chapter 2. So, that's the pattern of Nehemiah's prayer, 00:24:02.619 --> 00:24:05.939 declaring God's greatness, confessing our unfaithfulness, leaning on God's promise, 00:24:05.940 --> 00:24:13.100 and presenting our needs. Now, do you realize that we just did those four things this morning 00:24:13.100 --> 00:24:18.100 in the first half of our worship service? Look at your bulletin for just a minute. 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:21.940 Take out your bulletin and turn to the order of service. 00:24:26.420 --> 00:24:34.160 We begin with adoration, declaring God's greatness. That's how we want to begin when we come together 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:40.560 to remember who God is, to turn our eyes off of ourselves and turn to the Lord and think of His 00:24:40.560 --> 00:24:46.880 greatness and His goodness. And then that leads us to confession, right? When we hear the Word of God, 00:24:46.980 --> 00:24:53.580 we realize that we have not lived up to it, and we acknowledge that. We want to be honest before God, 00:24:53.640 --> 00:25:00.019 and so our prayer of confession is an invitation for us to come and to confess our sins before God 00:25:00.019 --> 00:25:05.920 that we have committed in the last week. But then we go…we don't stay there. We don't wallow there. 00:25:06.099 --> 00:25:14.299 We go on. We lean on God's promise. That second set of songs always has promises of God in them. 00:25:15.819 --> 00:25:23.059 And the Word of Assurance is declaring the promise of God to all who look to Christ. 00:25:23.740 --> 00:25:26.200 And then we go on in the pastoral prayer, and we present our needs. 00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:33.700 You see, we didn't make…this isn't just an accident how our service is arranged. 00:25:34.340 --> 00:25:39.319 Now, we don't always repeat the same exact words, but there's a logic and a flow behind what we do 00:25:39.319 --> 00:25:46.279 when we come together. We didn't make it up. The prayers in the Bible are like well-traveled paths 00:25:46.279 --> 00:25:51.319 through the wilderness of this world toward our true home in the presence of God. 00:25:51.319 --> 00:25:56.960 And so we sort of take one of these paths and want to walk on it together. 00:25:58.220 --> 00:26:05.559 I like to go running, and when I go running, I often like to explore. I like to explore different 00:26:05.559 --> 00:26:10.899 neighborhoods, main streets, side streets, bike paths, hiking trails. But I also like to find a 00:26:10.899 --> 00:26:20.200 couple of familiar routes that I can always go back to that I know well. And the more I run those routes, 00:26:20.200 --> 00:26:27.700 the more things I notice along them. And in a similar way, when we pray as Christians to God, 00:26:27.740 --> 00:26:33.100 our Father in heaven, we can come before Him with freedom and boldness through our Savior, 00:26:33.220 --> 00:26:39.420 Jesus Christ. We can explore, you might say, right? We can pray sitting or standing or walking or kneeling 00:26:39.420 --> 00:26:45.299 or laying prostrate. We can read an ancient prayer or a biblical psalm or pray in our own words or even 00:26:45.299 --> 00:26:52.039 pray in tongues. We can pray silently or out loud. We can pray alone or in a group. J.C. Ryle wrote, 00:26:52.159 --> 00:26:57.019 just as the first sign of life in an infant when born into the world is the act of breathing, 00:26:57.399 --> 00:27:03.440 the first act of men and women when they are born again is praying. In other words, praying is what a 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:13.180 healthy Christian normally does, talking to God, right? Through Jesus Christ, we have a heavenly Father 00:27:13.180 --> 00:27:20.640 who is committed to looking after us, and He's given us His very own Holy Spirit to dwell within us 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:25.580 and to motivate us from the inside out. And so, we can cry out to God just like little children, 00:27:25.579 --> 00:27:32.399 Lord, help me. Lord, thank you. Lord, I'm sorry. Lord, I love you. Lord, I need you. 00:27:33.740 --> 00:27:37.240 But you know, God has also given us, we can pray in our own words freely, 00:27:39.019 --> 00:27:44.079 but God has also given us the prayers of the Bible to be like those well-traveled routes, 00:27:44.179 --> 00:27:50.720 those familiar routes that we can always go back to. And the more we travel them, the deeper we can go 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:59.440 in them. Adoration, confession, remembering God's promise, presenting our need. So, you can take a 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:05.100 prayer like Nehemiah's and in your own personal time with the Lord, and you can read it verbatim, 00:28:05.140 --> 00:28:11.339 or you can just sort of follow the pattern, run with it. Let it be a framework to bring your own 00:28:11.339 --> 00:28:19.059 needs and the needs of the church near and far before our Lord. So, that's Nehemiah's first response, 00:28:19.059 --> 00:28:26.619 and that can be our first response in the face of bad news, humble prayer. But then we see Nehemiah's 00:28:26.619 --> 00:28:33.159 second response in chapter 2, confident action. Let's read the first eight verses of chapter 2. 00:28:34.740 --> 00:28:38.859 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, 00:28:38.899 --> 00:28:43.299 I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now, that's his normal job as a cupbearer. 00:28:43.740 --> 00:28:47.679 Now, I had not been sad in his presence. And the king said to me, 00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:52.200 why is your face sad, seeing that you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart. 00:28:53.320 --> 00:28:58.720 Then I was very much afraid. I said to the king, let the king live forever. 00:28:59.960 --> 00:29:04.060 Why should not my face be sad when the city, the place of my father's graves, 00:29:04.180 --> 00:29:09.580 lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire? Then the king said to me, what are you 00:29:09.580 --> 00:29:14.759 requesting? So, I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, 00:29:14.759 --> 00:29:19.059 and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my 00:29:19.059 --> 00:29:24.160 father's graves, that I may rebuild it. And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, 00:29:24.259 --> 00:29:28.039 how long will you be gone, and when will you return? So, it pleased the king to send me when 00:29:28.039 --> 00:29:33.160 I had given him a time. And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters be given me to 00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:37.519 the governors of the province beyond the river, that they may let me pass through until I come to 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:42.559 Judah. And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams 00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:47.099 for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that 00:29:47.099 --> 00:29:52.500 I shall occupy. And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me. 00:29:55.879 --> 00:29:59.799 Chapter 2 really falls into two halves. Nehemiah's confident action before the king 00:29:59.799 --> 00:30:05.220 in the verses we just read, and then his confident action before the people in Jerusalem in the rest of 00:30:05.220 --> 00:30:10.019 the chapter, which we'll get to. So, in these first eight verses, Nehemiah approaches King 00:30:10.019 --> 00:30:14.819 Artaxerxes with a bold request. You know, think about what he's asking for. He's essentially 00:30:14.819 --> 00:30:20.400 asking the king to give him at least a year's leave from his job. Took four months to travel 00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:26.139 one way. So, to travel there, he has to save for at least a few months to make his trip any good, 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:30.960 and then travel back. So, he's asking for at least a year's leave from his job. Second, he's asking to 00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:36.319 be sent to Jerusalem in order to rebuild the city and effectively to serve as its governor. 00:30:36.319 --> 00:30:44.299 And then he's asking to fund the whole building enterprise with timber from the king's forest. 00:30:44.619 --> 00:30:49.779 Now, all of that in itself is a pretty bold request to bring to the king. But what's even 00:30:49.779 --> 00:30:58.599 more risky is Nehemiah's asking the king to reverse his previous policy, right? Remember in Ezra 4, 00:30:58.700 --> 00:31:03.019 right? People, you know, somebody starts working on something in Jerusalem, and the provincial 00:31:03.019 --> 00:31:07.900 government officials get all up in a tizzy about it, and they send a letter to King Artaxerxes, 00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:16.960 and they say, this city is a hotbed of sedition. Shut it down. And Artaxerxes says, yes, shut it down 00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:24.980 until further notice. There's a little loophole there until further notice. But still, right? Artaxerxes' 00:31:24.980 --> 00:31:29.860 policy was no rebuilding Jerusalem, and Nehemiah is effectively asking him to overturn it. 00:31:32.360 --> 00:31:40.460 This is a very bold request. But notice that Nehemiah comes with tact and thoughtfulness and 00:31:40.460 --> 00:31:48.460 planning and preparation. Let's look at how this conversation unfolds. As a cupbearer, he was not 00:31:48.460 --> 00:31:55.100 permitted to initiate a conversation with the king. The rule was, you don't speak unless you're spoken 00:31:55.100 --> 00:32:00.140 to. So, he couldn't just go to the king and present his request directly, and besides, that wouldn't 00:32:00.140 --> 00:32:07.819 have been… that probably wouldn't have achieved what he wanted. But what he does for the first time 00:32:07.819 --> 00:32:14.720 in his life is while serving wine to the king, he doesn't hide the burden of his heart. As we might 00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:23.019 say, he wore his grief on his face. And the king noticed, why is your face sad? This is nothing but… 00:32:23.019 --> 00:32:29.220 you're not sick. This is nothing but sadness of the heart. Everybody else who came before the Persian 00:32:29.220 --> 00:32:35.059 king wore a happy face. No one was expected to be sad in the presence of the Persian king. 00:32:35.059 --> 00:32:39.460 He might not react very well to that. 00:32:42.119 --> 00:32:48.099 And so, Nehemiah realizes when the king says, why are you sad? He realizes his time has come, 00:32:48.119 --> 00:32:53.599 and he says, I was very much afraid. More than most biblical writers, Nehemiah gives us these 00:32:53.599 --> 00:32:59.799 periodic glimpses into his inner emotions. And in some ways, that's why he can be such an attractive 00:32:59.799 --> 00:33:04.960 character, is because he sort of shows us what's going on on the inside a little bit. Right? He's, 00:33:06.099 --> 00:33:12.240 oh my, this is the moment. It's now or never. I better not mess it up. 00:33:14.119 --> 00:33:20.779 Now, Nehemiah doesn't start by saying, King Artaxerxes, I have come to you with a request that 00:33:20.779 --> 00:33:29.339 you pass a law to reverse your previous policy against Jerusalem. No. Again, he's tactful. He presents 00:33:29.339 --> 00:33:41.720 a personally deeply felt sorrow. The place of my father's graves lies in ruins. Now, the graves of 00:33:41.720 --> 00:33:49.619 Artaxerxes' ancestors were impressively preserved in the rock carved into the rock in Persia. 00:33:51.279 --> 00:33:58.779 So, Nehemiah perhaps thinks, maybe Artaxerxes can sympathize with my desire to honor my ancestors 00:33:58.779 --> 00:34:04.319 because, boy, he's put a lot of work into seeing that his ancestors' memories are honored. 00:34:07.180 --> 00:34:12.219 King goes on, what are you requesting? Do you notice throughout this whole conversation, 00:34:12.380 --> 00:34:19.340 Nehemiah is sort of polite and slightly verbose. And Artaxerxes is crisp and to the point. 00:34:20.139 --> 00:34:25.699 Artaxerxes is used to being in charge and being in power and making decisions. And Nehemiah is 00:34:25.699 --> 00:34:35.219 careful and respectful toward him. Then verse 4, another one of these glimpses into Nehemiah's inner 00:34:35.219 --> 00:34:43.699 life. So, I prayed to the God of heaven. Now, that prayer cannot have taken more than a second or two. 00:34:45.299 --> 00:34:49.939 Right? You know, the king doesn't… it's not like the king says, what are you requesting? And Nehemiah 00:34:49.940 --> 00:34:56.679 kneels down and prays for a minute. No. You don't… no. He's in the middle of a conversation and he 00:34:56.679 --> 00:35:01.920 shoots up a prayer. Sometimes this is called an arrow prayer. You shoot up a prayer to God when 00:35:01.920 --> 00:35:08.700 you're in the middle of a tense conversation, a difficult situation, and Nehemiah prays. 00:35:08.699 --> 00:35:17.619 In the time it takes him to take in a breath and prepare to speak, God give me wisdom. Help me. 00:35:19.759 --> 00:35:26.179 You know, God hears those prayers too. He doesn't just hear the really nice, 00:35:26.539 --> 00:35:31.599 well-rounded prayer of chapter 1. He hears the prayer when you're in the middle of it. 00:35:31.599 --> 00:35:39.599 When you're in the middle of a difficult conversation and you just say, God, help. I need you. 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:49.739 He goes on, verse 5, if it pleases the king, if your servant has found favor in your sight, 00:35:49.839 --> 00:35:57.880 send me to Judah that I may rebuild it. Well, the king wants the details. When are you going to leave? 00:35:57.880 --> 00:36:02.800 When are you going to return? He presents his timeline. Verse 7 and 8, he presents a clear 00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:09.000 and realistic and well-thought-through plan. This is not a dream, a vague dream that Nehemiah has. 00:36:09.500 --> 00:36:19.500 No. He has, in these four months of praying, he has clarified in his own mind a very detailed plan 00:36:19.500 --> 00:36:26.079 for how to proceed, including where the building materials would come from and what permissions he 00:36:26.079 --> 00:36:33.219 needs from whom. At the end, verse 8, the king granted me what I asked for. The good hand of my 00:36:33.219 --> 00:36:38.159 God was upon me. In other words, God listened to Nehemiah's prayer, and God also worked through 00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:44.739 Nehemiah's tact and thoughtfulness and planning and preparation in order to bring about a favorable 00:36:44.739 --> 00:36:53.739 outcome. You see, when the church of God is in a bad condition, or even when our own lives 00:36:53.739 --> 00:37:02.819 or families are in a bad condition, or when the church is small and vulnerable and troubled and 00:37:02.819 --> 00:37:08.959 humiliated, we should pray in humble dependence before the Lord, but we should also think. 00:37:10.419 --> 00:37:19.739 Use all the tact and thoughtfulness that God has given us to plan to address the problems and begin 00:37:19.739 --> 00:37:30.099 to make a difference, one step at a time. You know, many of you work in environments like Nehemiah did. 00:37:31.279 --> 00:37:36.899 Many of you work or study in environments where your bosses or teachers or professors do not share 00:37:36.899 --> 00:37:43.500 your Christian commitments. Nehemiah was not a religious professional. Ezra was a priest. Nehemiah was not. 00:37:44.099 --> 00:37:49.579 Right? Ezra was a scribe and a teacher of the law. That was his profession. Nehemiah was a government 00:37:49.579 --> 00:37:55.880 official. And he worked under people who did not share his faith commitments, and there were some 00:37:55.880 --> 00:38:02.639 in the Persian administration who were actually hostile toward his faith community. Not everyone, 00:38:03.259 --> 00:38:09.159 but some. There are two guys mentioned in verse 10. But Nehemiah didn't hide his loyalties. 00:38:10.460 --> 00:38:16.579 He advocated for the well-being of the suffering people of God. He saw that God had put him in his 00:38:16.579 --> 00:38:23.400 position for such a time as this, and he didn't just draw back and do nothing. So, let me challenge you. 00:38:25.159 --> 00:38:32.500 If you study or work in a secular environment or with people where your superiors do not share your 00:38:32.500 --> 00:38:40.099 faith commitments, have you considered why God has put you where you are? Why has God put you in your 00:38:40.099 --> 00:38:44.239 elementary school, your middle school, your high school, your summer program, your research lab, 00:38:44.239 --> 00:38:50.299 your office job, your position of authority within a secular organization? Sometimes just a small group 00:38:50.299 --> 00:38:57.339 of dedicated Christians can make a significant difference in the culture of a school or workplace. 00:38:59.319 --> 00:39:04.559 So, find some older Christians who work in your field, if you haven't already, and learn all that you 00:39:04.559 --> 00:39:11.159 can from them. Think and strategize with them. How do we make a difference for the glory of God 00:39:11.159 --> 00:39:17.500 and the good of our neighbors? Read a book like Every Good Endeavor or The Gospel at Work to help 00:39:17.500 --> 00:39:23.079 you think through how you can faithfully bear witness to Jesus in the place where He has put you 00:39:23.079 --> 00:39:32.679 on a day-to-day basis. So, we see Nehemiah's confident action before the king. And then the second 00:39:32.679 --> 00:39:37.440 half of chapter 2, we see Nehemiah's confident action before the people in Jerusalem. I won't read the 00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:43.320 entire section, but I'll summarize. Verse 11 to 16, or verse 9 to 10, he arrives in Jerusalem. 00:39:43.860 --> 00:39:53.780 Verse 11, he does some careful research. So, he doesn't come in with a bunch of hasty, 00:39:54.019 --> 00:40:01.300 half-baked ideas to the discouraged and defenseless and perhaps disillusioned inhabitants of the province 00:40:01.300 --> 00:40:06.300 of Judah. On the other hand, he doesn't waste any time either. He stays in Jerusalem for three days, 00:40:06.300 --> 00:40:12.580 perhaps gets a little rest after his long journey. And on the third night, he takes a nighttime 00:40:12.580 --> 00:40:21.740 scouting trip around the perimeter of the city. Verses 13 to 15 describe where he starts. He starts 00:40:21.740 --> 00:40:26.519 on the west side, goes down to the south side, over to the east side, and back to the west side. 00:40:26.720 --> 00:40:31.780 He checks everything out so that he's well acquainted with all the relevant details, and he does this 00:40:31.780 --> 00:40:40.720 before he presents anything to the leaders or the entire group of people. And then in verse 17, 00:40:40.820 --> 00:40:42.040 he comes to the people. He says, 00:40:42.120 --> 00:40:49.240 Then I said to them, You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. 00:40:49.420 --> 00:40:55.840 Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer suffer derision. 00:40:55.840 --> 00:41:03.059 Notice, Nehemiah doesn't talk down to the people. He doesn't come in and start ordering them around. 00:41:03.160 --> 00:41:09.260 He doesn't say, You bunch of lazy failures. This city is in shambles. You're a laughingstock. 00:41:09.620 --> 00:41:14.120 Here are all the things you need to start doing differently. I'm now your governor, by the way. 00:41:16.200 --> 00:41:23.760 No. Well, sometimes people who come in from the outside and see a mess are tempted to react that way. 00:41:23.760 --> 00:41:33.040 But that's not how Nehemiah leads the people. He says, This is our problem, and this is our project. 00:41:34.920 --> 00:41:46.100 He doesn't say, You guys do this. He says, Come, let us build, that we may no longer suffer derision and shame and embarrassment. 00:41:46.099 --> 00:41:53.639 And furthermore, in verse 18, he encourages them with the way that God has already provided. 00:41:53.779 --> 00:41:59.839 I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. 00:42:01.599 --> 00:42:06.759 So, Nehemiah says, Look, we've become a disgrace, but we are the people of God. 00:42:08.079 --> 00:42:10.360 Let's come together and do this. 00:42:10.360 --> 00:42:16.260 God is right here with us. He is at the center of this project. 00:42:16.519 --> 00:42:22.300 And so, the people willingly take ownership in verse 18, Let us rise up and build. 00:42:22.559 --> 00:42:25.140 So, they strengthen their hands for the good work. 00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:29.980 Now, verses 19 and 20 mention some opposition, but we'll deal with that in more depth in chapter 4, 00:42:30.039 --> 00:42:31.559 so I'm going to pass over that today. 00:42:32.820 --> 00:42:36.039 But what do we learn from this section? 00:42:36.039 --> 00:42:47.039 If we want to see the church of Jesus Christ thrive and flourish in places where it has previously been disorganized, 00:42:47.360 --> 00:42:51.800 dysfunctional, and discredited, we need leaders like Nehemiah. 00:42:53.079 --> 00:42:58.579 Leaders who will pray and do careful research and develop thoughtful plans 00:42:58.579 --> 00:43:03.019 and work alongside the remnant of God's people who are still there. 00:43:03.019 --> 00:43:09.219 You see, the pattern we see in these two chapters, the progression is not accidental. 00:43:09.440 --> 00:43:14.519 Humble prayer before the Lord produces confident action before the world. 00:43:16.519 --> 00:43:20.000 Brothers and sisters, God has put us right here in New England, 00:43:20.079 --> 00:43:22.860 the most unchurched region of the United States. 00:43:24.259 --> 00:43:28.480 In New Haven, alongside students and families and the poor and internationals, 00:43:28.480 --> 00:43:32.599 to spread the life-changing power of the gospel in New Haven and beyond. 00:43:32.599 --> 00:43:34.860 That's the mission that God has given us. 00:43:34.920 --> 00:43:41.839 And to do that alongside our brothers and sisters with other churches and other ministries in this area, 00:43:41.940 --> 00:43:47.239 and to come together and say, let us rise up and build the church of God. 00:43:48.460 --> 00:43:51.819 So, let's continue to humbly depend on our Lord in prayer, 00:43:52.860 --> 00:43:56.739 and to proceed with confident action for the glory of His name. 00:43:58.679 --> 00:43:59.360 Let's pray. 00:43:59.360 --> 00:43:59.380 Let's pray. 00:44:02.599 --> 00:44:12.179 Father, we thank You that when Your people face trouble and shame, 00:44:12.299 --> 00:44:14.199 we thank You that You provide all that we need. 00:44:15.059 --> 00:44:21.219 We thank You for providing and raising up Nehemiah in this season, 00:44:21.539 --> 00:44:26.799 the post-exilic period where they were rebuilding, needed to rebuild the city. 00:44:26.800 --> 00:44:32.780 Lord, would You continue to raise up people here, 00:44:32.960 --> 00:44:37.019 to within this church, within this city, within this region, 00:44:37.260 --> 00:44:40.200 to declare Your greatness, 00:44:42.200 --> 00:44:44.560 to depend on You in prayer, 00:44:44.800 --> 00:44:51.640 to lead Your people in building up the church for the glory of God. 00:44:51.639 --> 00:44:56.199 Father, help each of us, 00:44:57.000 --> 00:44:59.900 help each of us to depend on You humbly in prayer, 00:45:00.900 --> 00:45:05.259 and give us the confidence to act in the ways that You have set before us. 00:45:07.339 --> 00:45:09.239 Lord, for the good of our own lives, 00:45:09.920 --> 00:45:14.079 for the good of our families, our churches, 00:45:14.079 --> 00:45:16.900 our friendships, our communities. 00:45:21.079 --> 00:45:26.480 Lord, we praise You for Your faithfulness, 00:45:27.219 --> 00:45:28.880 and kindness and goodness to Your people. 00:45:29.059 --> 00:45:30.000 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:45:30.440 --> 00:45:30.699 Amen. 00:45:30.699 --> 00:45:30.819 Amen. 00:45:30.819 --> 00:45:30.860 Amen. 00:45:30.860 --> 00:45:30.880 Amen. 00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:30.900 Amen. 00:45:30.900 --> 00:45:30.920 Amen. 00:45:30.920 --> 00:45:30.940 Amen. 00:45:30.940 --> 00:45:30.980 Amen. 00:45:30.980 --> 00:45:31.480 Amen. 00:45:31.480 --> 00:45:32.980 Amen. 00:45:32.980 --> 00:45:33.019 Amen. 00:45:33.019 --> 00:45:33.039 Amen. 00:45:33.039 --> 00:45:33.139 Amen. 00:45:33.139 --> 00:45:33.179 Amen.