Longing for Something Real

I remember when I got baptized — it was as a young person. I was out at the north side of town, got baptized in the river. And as I think about coming to Christ as a young person, there are multiple phases of what having a relationship with God looked like. And as a child, it was pretty simple. I knew that I had sin, and I knew that they told me that Jesus was the Savior, and I knew that I needed him. And that was it. It’s just simple. I have sin, and Jesus saves people from sin, and he died on the cross for me, and as a young person I put my faith in him. And when I became a young adult, I came to the realization that I actually need a whole lot more help than I realized. And God began to make me aware, in my own life, how I was actually in need of him in ways that I had no idea previously.

And there are things about having a relationship with God that are hard to understand. I would say there are aspects of having a relationship with God that are mysterious. And in different seasons of life, some of those mysteries become known as we walk with the Lord longer and longer. But still, even now, there are places about having a relationship with God that are mysterious. I think about in our Bible, in a place like Hebrews chapter 11, where it has like the hall of fame of people who know God, and I read about people like that and I wonder — am I ever going to have a real relationship with God like those people? I mean, there was a guy named Jacob. He actually wrestled with God. He had a lying problem. His name meant deceiver. God was like, “That’s not going to work anymore. We’re going to start calling you Israel.” He had a real relationship with God. He wrestled with God. Am I ever going to have a relationship with God that’s that real?

You know, I can look at these giants of the faith and I can compare them to myself, and sometimes I can go, “Wow, I think I’m pretty puny in my faith and following the Lord,” and I start comparing myself to them, and then you know what I do? I just get discouraged. You ever had an experience like that?

Here’s something I know. I know that we all came to church today because we’re longing for something real. We’re longing for some kind of real relationship with a real God. We don’t want anything that’s fake. Some people came into the room today and you are super pumped up and excited. You’re inspired to follow the Lord, and you’re ready to go on an adventure. Some people came into the room today and you’re kind of in cruise control. You’re on the highway of faith. You’re going 55 — not a lot of turns, not a lot of bumps. Some of you are here today and you don’t even want to be here. Someone made you come today. Someone made you feel guilty about coming today. They actually shamed you into coming to church. They dragged you here. I don’t even know where you’re at, but I know this: every one of us, we’re all longing for a real relationship with a real God. We want something real. I mean, what does that even look like? What does a real relationship with God look like? Something that’s genuine — not artificial intelligence. Something that’s genuine. Something that’s real. It’s legitimate. A real God, real us, a real relationship.

How can we not just read about these heroes of the faith that we come into contact with in our Bible, but that we would actually know God ourselves — have a real relationship? If you were even to define what it means to have a real relationship with God, how would you define it? What would “real” mean to you?

The Longest Prayer in the Bible

Well, the passage we’re going to look at today, in Nehemiah chapter 9, is the longest recorded prayer outside of the Psalms that’s in our Bible. It’s a picture of a group of people who get very real with God, and they cry out to him as they’re getting real with God. And what we have the opportunity together right now is we’re going to teach through this passage, this prayer, together in the worship gathering. And then tonight, we’re coming back together for an all-church prayer night, and we’re going to pray according to what this passage lays out. And I want to invite you to come back, that together as a church we might get real with God together tonight, right here, 6:30 p.m.

Now normally I would read the entire passage before I begin teaching it, but this passage is pretty long, and I didn’t want to break this passage into two weekends, because it’s a prayer. It’s a complete prayer. And so I’m going to read it and I’m going to explain as I go. But first we need to ask God to help us. So let’s pray. Lord God, what we really need is we need you. You are real, and we need you to be our reality, and we need you to help us get real with you. So Lord, we’re all at different places right now in trying to understand how to have a real relationship with God. But Lord, I pray that you would show up right now with the power of your Holy Spirit, and you’d speak directly to us through your word, that we might have a real encounter with a real God. And I pray this in Jesus’ name, and all God’s family said, “Amen.”

Setting the Scene: After Three Weeks of Revival

In Nehemiah 8:9 and 10 — we’ve been studying through the book of Nehemiah. What has happened already in the context of the history is Nehemiah came and rebuilt the wall in Jerusalem. But after the wall was rebuilt, then the people’s hearts needed to be rebuilt. And that’s what these sections of the chapters deal with. But these Jewish exiles have returned out of being slaves in Persia, and they’re now coming together. The word of God is being read. They’re hearing it clearly. They’re giving the sense of what it means, and they come to understand what God wants from them for their life, and they begin to obey. And as they begin to obey, they have multiple expressions of obedience to God. It leads to a revival that happens in this group of exiles that’s about three weeks long. And we read about that in the earlier chapters. Where we pick up the historical account is about after three weeks of revival. I mean, they just finished seven days of feasting and partying and rejoicing before the Lord. But now it’s like they come into contact with their reality that, yeah, we had three weeks of revival, but here we are again, and we’re realizing the mess we’re in — and they get real. They get real with God.

In verse one in Nehemiah chapter 9, it says this: “Now, on the 24th day of this month, the people of Israel were assembled with fasting, and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads.” On the first day of the month, it says they read the word out loud, and then that led to a number of actions of obedience — seven days of feasting. So after about three weeks, now they’re on the 24th day of the month, and they’re coming into contact with the reality of their situation, even though they’ve had this three-week revival. And it says they stop eating. During the feast, they were eating a lot — they all had plenty to eat — but they stopped eating. And the purpose that they stop eating is so that when they have hunger pain, it would remind them to pray.

It says they put on sackcloth. That’s not something that we even talk about in our culture today, but what sackcloth practically is, is something that you would put on that is grown from the ground — like think of a potato sack or one of those really big bags for coffee beans. That’s what they’re putting on as clothing, for the purpose that as it’s very uncomfortable, it would remind them to pray. It says they take earth and they put it on their heads. They’re recognizing, “We came from dust, and we’re nothing but dust in the hands of an almighty God, and we’re going to return to dust.” And they’re saying, “You know what? We’re dead without God.” And they do all of this to remind them to pray.

Hey man, congratulations on your baptism. Thank you. Yeah, it was awesome. Way to go. Very cool.

Verse two: “And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.” In the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, multiple times it says that they separated themselves from foreigners. What this is describing is how God had called the nation of Israel to be separate and set apart, but they didn’t obey. And so over and over, God calls them back into obedience. And as they come back into obedience, they have to separate themselves. And it’s like this: we as the Israelites, we as the Jewish people, we’ve got business we need to do with God, and it’s just between him and us. And so they separate themselves. They confess their sins. They confess the iniquities of their fathers. So they say, “We know that we have not done what God has wanted us to do. And you know what? We come from a long line of people who don’t do what God wants them to do.” That’s kind of our family history. And they confess that before the Lord.

And in verse three, “they stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day. For another quarter of it, they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God.” This is describing about a six-hour period of time. For three hours, they’re reading God’s law out loud. And then for three hours, they’re confessing their sins and worshiping God. “On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chanani. And they cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God.” So this group of Israelites now have this group of Levites that are providing leadership to them as they read, as they confess their sins, and it’s naming the group who’s leading. And what we’re going to read in this prayer — you could see it as the group of the Levites are praying, and it’s being recorded. But this returning group of exiles from being slaves in Persia, coming back into Jerusalem, they’re getting real with God. They are realizing how desperate they are and how much they need God.

And this is a picture of when the word of God comes to a group of people who have walked away from God — it brings revival, spiritual revival, where their souls got weak with God and God revives them to freshly walk in relationship with God. Now, similar but different — when someone doesn’t know God at all and the word of God comes to them, what the scriptures describe happens is that they become born again. They become born to new life. So if somebody doesn’t know God and the word of God comes to their life, they have the opportunity to be reborn. But if somebody does know God, they’ve walked away from God, and the word of God comes into their life, it revives them to a fresh new life, walking with the Lord.

Guest Video: Michael, Global Reach Partner in South Asia

Well, we’ve got an opportunity to hear from one of our global reach partners. This is Michael, who’s serving in Southeast Asia. Check out this video.

Hi there, Big Valley. My name is Michael. I represent your indigenous church planters and gospel workers who are working in South Asia to reach the unreached in their nation. This section of the book of Nehemiah has many parallels to what God is doing to reach the unreached. In the book of Nehemiah, when Ezra the priest reads from the book of the law, many of the Jewish hearers that day had never heard the word of God read before. For many, it was their very first time. In the nation you guys are working in, the unbelievers who are hearing the gospel for the very first time are also hearing the word of God read for the very first time. They’re hearing about Jesus and his love and his grace and his forgiveness for them. And the response is also the same as it was for the Jewish hearers that day. They’re radically transformed and never the same that day going forward.

My encouragement to us is this: God cares for us more than we realize, and he’s capable of more than we realize — not just in our lives, but in the lives of those around us. So let’s embrace him for all he is, and let’s encourage others that he’s there for them, no matter how far away they feel from God. Thank you guys so much for your partnership and prayer for reaching the unreached, and God bless you.

Absolutely. When God’s word comes into contact with people, it changes them. If they’re spiritually dead, it brings them reborn in Jesus Christ. If they’ve walked away from God, it revives them to freshly walk with the Lord again.

Four Perspectives on Getting Real with God

What we’re going to see here in this prayer from this group of Levites that’s leading this group of exiles from out of Persia — they’re back in Jerusalem in this revival — what we’re going to see is that they share perspective. Four perspectives on getting real with God through prayer. And as we walk through these four perspectives, consider how they might help you get real with God through prayer, that you might have a real relationship with a real God, as you observe how this group of people had a real relationship with a real God. And you might even be wondering, is that even possible? Can I actually have a relationship with a real God? Well, it was possible with this group. And it’s the same God, who is very real. Which means this group of people right here can also have an encounter with a real God.

1. Prayer Looks Up to God

In verse 5 it says, “Then the Levites — Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah — said, ‘Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. You are the Lord. You alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. And you preserve them all. And the host of heaven worships you.’”

So this group of Levites, they challenge the larger group of exiles who have experienced these three weeks of revival in God — and now they’re getting real with God — and they challenge them in this: Get up. Get up off your feet and bless the Lord. Tell God that he’s blessed, because you know who you’re talking to. You’re talking to the one who’s from everlasting to everlasting, which means he’s before creation and he’s going to continue throughout all of eternity. Stand up and bless his name. His name is above every other name. He’s to be exalted and praised. He’s the only one. You are the Lord. You alone. There isn’t another one. You made the heaven. You made the heavens of heavens — so not only the sky and the stars and the sun and the moon and the planets and the solar systems, but also the heavenly realm where God dwells. God, you made all of it. That’s who we’re talking to — with all the host, the stars, the planets, and the angelic beings, the earth and all that’s on it. God, that’s the God we’re talking to. The one who made this planet, the seas, and everything that’s in the seas, at the depths we’ve never even seen. We’re talking to that God who made it. And guess what? All of it is only in existence right now because he’s preserving it. You preserve all of it. And we’re talking to the God who — the host of heaven, all of those angelic beings — they’re worshiping him. That’s the God we’re talking to. And they say, “Stand up and bless that God, because you are the Lord. You alone.”

This returning group of exiles, they focus their attention. They direct their focus to you. You are the Lord. You alone. And they’re getting real with God by looking to him. And maybe you need to get real with God, and maybe this perspective would help you to look — you are the Lord. You alone.

Perspective number one is prayer looks up to God. And if you need to get real in your relationship with God, I would challenge you to take on this perspective — that prayer looks up to God and no one else. Let me just ask you some questions. When life gets real, where do you look? When life gets real, what is your go-to solution? When life gets real, what’s the source that you always go to to solve it? Have you ever said a sentence like this: “You know what I really need right now? I just need another…” What would be there? What is your go-to? What is your solution? Does your first response, your habit, your pattern, or your behavior — does it need to change? Well, perspective number one is prayer looks up to God. And I just want to challenge you, if you need to get real in your relationship with God, then take on this perspective. Prayer looks up to God.

Hey kids, good job. You guys are awesome. Way to go. Yeah. Yeah, you buddy — talking about you. By the way, your haircut looks good. Yeah, you look good today. Looks a little wet, but that’s all right. Yeah, love you guys. Proud of you. Pretty awesome. Good to see you guys get baptized. Very cool.

2. Prayer Looks Back to History

They continue in their prayer. And this part of the prayer, they’re going to go through a history regarding Israel. And so I would just challenge you right now — okay, I’m going to read and I’m going to explain as we go, but I would challenge you to lock in, because there’s something very powerful to realize as we look at the history of what they pray.

In verse 7 they say, “You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and you made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.” So this group of Levites, they’re leading the people to say, “Remember. Remember your history. Remember how this whole nation started with one person. God called one person out of a pagan environment and said, ‘I’m going to make you into a family. In fact, I’m going to make you into a huge family. It’s an enormous family. It’ll be called a nation, and you’re going to need a place to go. So I’m going to give you a land. I’m going to promise to give it to you.’” And they’re saying, “Remember how this whole historical account started? God started with one man and made us into a great nation.”

Verse 9: “And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land. For you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself as it is to this day. And you divided the sea before them, so they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths as a stone into the mighty waters.”

So this is fast-forwarding in the nation of Israel’s history significantly — all the way from the patriarchs, to Joseph being second in command in the nation of Egypt, to the Israelites growing so much that Egypt decides to oppress them and make them slaves, to where God brings Moses onto the scene to be a leader and a rescuer, to come to Pharaoh and challenge him to let the people of Israel go. Pharaoh doesn’t do it. There are plagues. After the last plague, Pharaoh lets them go, and Moses takes the people out into the wilderness. Pharaoh decides to pursue them with the Egyptian army. They’re now faced with a Red Sea and an army behind them. And God divides the Red Sea and allows the people of Israel to walk through. And then the Egyptian army comes, and God closes the Red Sea — and God provides salvation through the Red Sea to take out the enemy, the army that pursued them. And he’s saying, remember that. Remember what God has done for this nation.

“By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire by night to light for them the way in which they should go. You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments. And you made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant.” He’s saying, don’t you remember that God showed up for us? God showed up to Moses on that mountain and gave him the law. God guided us through the wilderness — a pillar of cloud during the day, a pillar of fire by night. He made his presence known, physically known, so that we could follow him as we were in the wilderness.

“You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst. You told them to go in and possess the land that you had sworn to give them.” When they got thirsty — this big group of people in the wilderness — God provided water. When they got hungry, God provided food. And God was ready. God was ready to take them into the promised land. He promised to Abraham to make them into a big old family, a big old nation, and they were going to need a land, a promised land. And God was ready. God was ready to take this group of people into that land.

“But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you had performed among them. But they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way in which they should go.”

So he’s saying, don’t you remember how God was ready to give us the promised land, but our families wouldn’t do it? Our ancestors wouldn’t do it. We stiffened our neck. It’s describing an ox that won’t go in the direction of the master. Stiff-necked and stubborn. Nobody here can relate, right? He’s saying, that’s how we acted. Stiff-necked and stubborn, like a brute beast, unwilling to do what God wanted us to do. But he was ready. But you know what he did? He forgave us. He was patient with us. He loved us. He still led us.

In verse 20: “You gave your good spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out. Their feet did not swell.” Don’t you remember that God took care of us? Even when we disobeyed him and we refused to go into the promised land that he wanted to give us, God still took care of us. He still led us by his spirit. He still gave us water. He still gave us food for forty years. He took care of us in the wilderness. Our clothes, they lasted. Our shoes, they lasted. God didn’t turn his back on us. We had everything we needed.

Verse 22: “And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon, king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan. You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven. And you brought them into the land that you told their fathers to enter and possess. And you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand with their kings and the peoples of the land, so that they might do with them as they would. And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.”

A whole generation died in the wilderness for the nation of Israel. It was the next generation. It was the children whom the Lord then allowed to go into the promised land. And you know what they found when they went into the promised land? They found houses already built and the cupboards were stocked. They found vineyards and orchards that were ready for harvest — someone else had planted them. They found fields full of livestock that had already been raised, because God dispossessed the nations that were in the land. And he made way for the nation of Israel to come into the promised land, because God said he was going to give that land to them. He made a promise to Abraham: I’m going to make you into a big old family, a big old nation. You’re going to need a place to go. And God gave them an entire country that was turnkey. It was all ready to go.

Verse 26: “Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets who had warned them in order to turn them back to you. And they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you, and you heard from heaven according to your great mercies. And you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. But after they had rest, they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of your enemies, so that they had dominion over them. When they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commands, but sinned against your rules, which a person does them and shall live by them. And they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. Many years you bore with them and warned them by your spirit through your prophets, yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hands of the peoples of the lands.”

What this describes is what in our Bible would be the time of the judges — where a generation hears the word of the Lord, and that generation in Israel obeyed the Lord. But you know what they did? They forgot to teach their kids. And so the next generation comes up in Israel, and they don’t obey the Lord. So God punishes them and allows a neighboring nation to come in and oppress them. And then they cry out to God. God hears their cry, and he provides for them a judge, or a savior, to come and be their leader, to provide them leadership to go to war against these neighboring nations. And then that generation obeys the Lord, and God blesses them. But then they forget to teach their kids about the Lord, and the next generation comes up, and the cycle repeats — over and over and over. Over and over, God gave them opportunity to obey, and they turned away. They cried out to God, and God came and rescued them, and God gave them opportunity to obey.

And what it comes to in the conclusion of this section, in verse 31, it just says, “Nevertheless, in your great mercies, you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious God. You are a merciful God.” In other words, God, you could have just destroyed them as a nation, but you didn’t, because you’re merciful and you’re gracious. This group of Levites is leading these returning exiles who are now back in Jerusalem, who’ve experienced this great revival. They’re saying, “Don’t forget what God has done in our nation. Don’t forget what God has done with the nation of Israel. You got to remember — he has been so merciful to us. He has been so gracious to us.”

Well, maybe you need to get real with God, just like this group of people is getting real. Maybe you need to remember what God has done for you. That would be perspective number two. Prayer looks back to history. Maybe, like this group of people, you need to look back to history, and you need to see that God has been gracious and God has been merciful. Consider for your own life: when life gets real, what history do you recall? When life gets real, what are the memories that replay in your mind? Does your version of history — do the memories that you have that are on repeat — do they need to change? Well, if you need to get real in your relationship with God, maybe you can learn from this group of people who have a perspective that prayer looks back to history. And as they look back to history, they find God is gracious and God is merciful.

3. Prayer Looks into Honesty

They continue on in verse 32. “Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, the prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day.”

So in this prayer, they are fast-forwarding. They’re jumping huge sections of time in the history of the nation of Israel, and they’re going all the way to the place of the time of the kings and the time of the divided kingdom, where ten northern tribes get conquered, then two southern tribes get conquered, and then the king of Assyria exiles them, and then the king of Persia, and they go to Babylon and Persia. And they’re saying, “You have been righteous, God, in all these ways. You have been righteous in all that’s come upon us, for you’ve dealt faithfully, and we have acted wickedly.” They’re saying, “God, we know that you’ve punished us, and we know that our punishment — we earned it. We deserved it, because we repeatedly did not obey you, God. But God, look at the suffering we’ve experienced as a nation and remember our suffering. It was right that you punished us. It was right that you disciplined us. You’ve been faithful, God, but simply, we have acted wickedly.”

Verse 34: “Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. Behold, we are slaves this day in the land that you gave to our fathers, to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts. Behold, we are slaves, and its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.”

So God, you made that promise to Abraham. You said you’re going to make him into a big old family. You’re going to make him into a nation, and he was going to need a land, and you were going to give that land. It was a promise that you made for a land. And God, you gave the promised land. And when we got into that promised land, it was ready to go — houses fully stocked, fields ready to harvest, fields full of livestock. But God, our nation didn’t honor you. And that led to repeated disobedience and consequence in the history of the nation of Israel — so much so that even though we had already been rescued from slavery in Egypt, we get exiled to Persia. And now, God, we’re back. There’s these Levites. They’re saying, “God, we’re now back in this land, but guess what? We’re in the promised land, but we don’t own it. We’re in the city of Jerusalem, but it doesn’t belong to us. We’re living in these houses, but they’re not ours. We’re working in the fields, but we don’t get the harvest. And we’re raising the animals, but they belong to the king of Persia. In fact, we’re in the promised land again, but we’re slaves. We’re slaves in the promised land.”

This returning group of exiles, they sum up their part very simply with these words: we have acted wickedly. We’ve acted wickedly.

Well, maybe you need to get real in your relationship with God. Maybe you can learn from this group of people who are getting real with God, and they’re just owning their stuff. And maybe you need to own your stuff. Maybe you need to get real in your relationship with God with this perspective. Perspective number three is prayer looks into honesty. Maybe you need to get honest with what’s happened in your life. When life gets real, what justification do you use? When life gets real, who do you blame? What blaming occurs? Maybe you need to have some personal inventory about your life. Maybe you need some accountability. Maybe that needs to change in your life.

And I want you to know — if you need help with prayer looking into honesty, we’ll help you. We’ll be glad to help you. In fact, I invite you to come back on Tuesday nights. We’ve got a great ministry. It’s called Celebrate Recovery. You will be warmly welcomed, and we’ll help you. We’ll help you get honest. We’ve got a great tool as a part of our Celebrate Recovery ministry series called a step study. We’ll walk you through that tool. We’ll help you get honest. You may need some accountability partners in your life. We’ll help you find some. We’ll help you look into honesty. And maybe you need to get real — you need to get real with God, and you need to start being honest.

4. Prayer Looks Ahead to Action

Well, the last verse we’re going to look at, verse 38, is this: “Because of all this, we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.” And next week, Lord willing, we’re going to talk about what they actually write in this covenant. But for here, it’s sufficient to say it wasn’t enough just to look back at history, and it wasn’t enough just to say, “We’ve acted wickedly.” They actually needed to do something about it. They needed to take action. And they’re getting real with God, and they’re getting ready to take action. And maybe you need to get real with God. They’re rededicating their lives to the Lord. Maybe you need to rededicate your life to the Lord. Maybe you need to take on this perspective. Perspective number four is prayer looks ahead to action.

I mean, just think about your own life for a minute. When life gets real, what do you avoid? When life gets real, what’s your favorite form of procrastination, so that you don’t have to take action on what you know you need to do? Well, they’re getting real. And maybe you need to get real. And in them getting real, their prayer looks ahead to action that they’re going to take. Does your commitment to live out what you believe need to change? Do you need to embrace this perspective of prayer? Because prayer looks ahead to action.

Revival Starts Here

I mean, to sum it up, I would just say this: get real. Just get real. Get real with God. And you can get real in your relationship with God through these four perspectives of prayer that we see this group of people getting real with God. They’re taking on these four perspectives of prayer, and they are getting very, very real with a very real God. Maybe you need to get real. Maybe you need to yell. Pastor Scott Stebert loves to yell. He loves to yell during baptisms. He actually loves to yell in all environments. Maybe you need to yell. Maybe you need to cry out with a loud voice, “Lord, you are our God.” Maybe you need to direct your focus — you are the Lord, you alone. Maybe you need to remember God’s merciful and God’s gracious. Maybe you need to confess — we have acted wickedly. Maybe you need to rededicate, and you need to make a firm covenant to come back to the Lord.

You know, we hear people say statements like, “You know what we really need? We need revival of the lost in our community.” Well, I want to maybe sharpen that statement a little bit, because what the Bible teaches is that we actually need revival in the church. That’s where we need revival — actually in the church. You know, when we get real in prayer, you know where revival is going to happen? It’s going to happen right here. This is going to be the start of where revival takes place. It’s going to be right here in the soul. And when we direct our focus to the Lord alone, revival will happen right here. When we remember God’s grace and mercy, revival will happen right here. When we confess our wickedness, revival will happen right here. When we rededicate our souls to God to live to him, revival will happen right here. Throughout all of history, revival happens in the church before there is a great spiritual awakening with the lost in the community. If you want to see the lost in our community come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then revival’s got to happen right here. And I want to say: let’s get real. Let’s get real with God.

Closing Invitation and Prayer

And church, I invite you back. I invite you back. Tonight we’re going to have an all-church prayer night. We’re going to spend a lot of time praying, practicing what we just were taught. Come back at 6:30 and let’s get real together, and let’s seek the Lord together in prayer.

If you’re here right now and you know that your soul needs revival right now, I want to pray for you. I’m going to pray for you right now. Just have you stand up wherever you are. I’ll pray for you if you’re here, and as we’ve looked at these passages — absolutely — as we’ve looked at these passages and you know God is stirring in you, and you know it’s time. It’s time for you to get real with God. Just have you stand up wherever you are. I’m going to pray for you right now.

Father God, Lord, thank you for those who are standing. A bunch of people are standing. Lord, you know exactly why they just stood up. You know exactly what’s on their heart and mind. And God, I pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would stir in these men and women powerfully. And God, you would revive them — that they would experience revival in their own heart, in their own soul. And God, that you would put fire in them. And Lord, you’d change their life. And whatever it is — maybe there’s a place of sin that they need to confess. God, I pray that you’d give them bravery and courage and boldness to confess that sin. Maybe there’s obedience that they have just been avoiding, and they just have not wanted to do it, and they’re procrastinating taking the step that they know they need to take. God, I pray that you’d give them the conviction to move, to move forward. But God, I pray that you would use these men and women who are standing. God, you’d use them to change the world, and that our community would be reached by every one of them who’s standing, because you are moving powerfully in them. And so God, we pray blessing over all of these men and women. And we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, and all God’s family said, “Amen.”

If you need further prayer, our team will be ready to pray with you right here in our prayer room. And if you’re new, we’d love to have you come to Discover BVG. Church family, we love you, and we’re going to see you again real soon. Hope to see you tonight at the prayer night.