>>Thank you Andrew. And again I actually asked him not to speak too much about the particulars about Japan because he was so eager to present. He had slides and he wanted to do like, "Hey, let's go evangelize Japan." And I said, "Because it's Sunday worship we have to kind of limit it to just your testimony." In the future when we have more time we want to give him an opportunity to share with us because there is a lot more that they desire to share if you ask him.

We're hoping and praying possibly in the future because they are going to continue their relationship out in Japan. And so they are going to, at least they are planning to go back there as often as they can to continue the work that they were part of. And so maybe in the future God would open the door that that may happen.

One of the things that I was kind of surprised about Japan, and again along with their testimony and other people that have shared with us about sharing the Gospel in Japan is the persecution that happens in Japan. You know you think about persecution, you think about the Middle East, or North Korea, or maybe even India.

But you know there is a saying in Japan like, "The nail that sticks out is the one that gets hammered." So, if you are different than the people around you, you kind of get persecuted. And the more stories I hear about Japanese Christians and how they get shunned from society, and even from parents, and brothers, and sisters.

And so it is a big, big decision for a Japanese person to come to Christ. And so again that was kind of an eye opener to me in seeing why it is so hard to share the Gospel with them. Because it is kind of like they have this national identity, it is kind of hard for them to break out of that individually.

But again I was very thankful for their testimony and for the work that they were doing. And again they are going to be gone for about seven months and then they'll be back. And they'll be back here permanently. But the things that they learned, again it is not just for them, but for all of us that we would have that kind of mindset.

We are missionaries. We are not certain people who said, "I'm going to go overseas," are the only missionaries. Every Christian who has been saved by the blood of Christ, wherever we are to live as missionaries. And so that's why I thought it would be encouraging to kind of hear their testimony.

This morning if you can turn your Bibles to Nehemiah chapter 1, 1-11. And as I mentioned last week I want to kind of give a push and a foundation for the need for prayer in our church for 2016. And I want to look at just this first portion of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter 1.

And I'm going to read through verse 11 and then we'll jump into the message this morning. "The word of Nehemiah, the son of Hakaliah, now it happened in the month of Chislev. In the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the capital, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah.

And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, 'The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire.' As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days.

And I continued fasting and praying before the God of Heaven. And I said, 'O Lord God of Heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments. Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayers of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel, your servants.

Confessing the sins of the people of Israel which we have sinned against you, even I and my Father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses saying, 'If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples.

But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of Heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen to make my name dwell there. They are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by your great power and by strong hand.

O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayers of the servants and to the prayers of your servants who delight to fear your name and give success to your servant today. And grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was cupbearer to the King." Let's pray.

Gracious and loving Father, we praise you and we thank you for your goodness. We pray to you and we worship you Lord God because you are truly worthy. We desire to confess our love to you in our singing, in our giving, and in your word that we may respond reasonably as people who have seen the light, who love Jesus, who love the Gospel, who love the calling.

We are eagerly waiting for his return. Help us Lord God that we would not live day to day purposelessly. Help us Lord to run this race to win. Desiring with all our heart Lord to hear, "Well done my good and faithful servant." We pray Father God that your word would go forth and will not return until it has accomplished its purpose.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You know I'm going to spend about a couple of weeks in this book in Nehemiah, just the first 11 verses because Nehemiah is really about revival. If you've ever heard a revival message, if you've ever heard, went to a revival or read a book on revival it's hard to neglect the book of Nehemiah because Nehemiah is a book about revival.

It's about how there was a need in Israel, Nehemiah sought out God and prayed and God answered. And as a result of that a big revival breaks out in the land, in Jerusalem as a result of it. Obviously we are not going to have time to go through all of it.

We've gone through this many years ago, but for this portion of it we are just going to be spending our time in the first chapter, verse 1-11. You know typically I'm not a pessimist person. If somebody told me that there is a 50/50 chance of something I usually think that I'm going to win.

You know what I mean if there is 50/50 I'm more of a positive outlook. And even if you lose it's not that big of a deal. But when it comes to the things of the Church and spiritual there are some things that there is a constant concern in my heart.

And I've had many conversations with people before and sometimes I have to kind of catch myself because I have to tone it down a bit. But there is a constant concern. The concern is the spiritual state of, you know I'm not going to talk about the whole nation, I'm talking about our generation.

In particular this area. To be even more particular our Church. And to be more particular than that ourselves individually. What is going to prevent us from sliding down to become a country club? What is going to prevent us from doing that? Because I've seen greater churches than ours fall apart.

Churches that were admired from a distance, where a pastor is well known. And we think well that's a church, that's a really biblically sound, God loving, Gospel preaching church fall apart. What is going to prevent us from sliding down and become a country club? Just kind of like we are gathered together but true worship is not taking place.

We are more concerned about the friendships that are around us, about certain programs, the facilities, than we are about genuinely loving Christ and spreading that love. People's soul come into Christ. What will keep us from having a heart that is deceived? To live our lives just going through the motion.

And when the scripture warns about having a form of godliness and yet having no power. And the scripture says, "I'm not sharing the Gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation." Not just a security blanket, not just a doctrinal statement, but it is the power of God unto salvation.

And He said, "We are warned that at the end times that there is going to be a form of godliness and very little power, no reality. Just go to church." Kind of like sometimes we go to church out of superstition. That if you don't go to church God is not going to bless your family.

That maybe you guys are trying to have kids and maybe if I'm not faithful God is not going to bless me with a child. Or maybe you're trying to get into a certain school, or a certain job. And maybe because I didn't tithe, maybe because I wasn't serving the church.

And sometimes our worship is nothing more than superstition. Kind of like the reason why people worship Buddha or any other religion. What's going to prevent us from sliding into that and being ok with it? I mean in some sense you feel defeated. You know? After, in fact there was a period in my life where I was actually considering just walking away from ministry because I thought there's nothing I can do.

I mean I don't think anything I do is going to matter. All the time that I spend in you know studying the Word of God, discipleship, everything I do in the end, the end result almost seems like it just we keep slipping. But what is going to prevent us from slipping into that?

You know as our church grows it gets harder. People kind of get lost in the crowd. And of course friendship is important. Who's going to say friendship isn't important? But where friendship is more important than your love for Jesus, then we've slipped. Where we're more concerned about facility, about gatherings, about whatever it is that we get so caught up in.

And not be consumed with the thought of, "Am I meeting Christ?" The only answer that I have to any of that, the only answer that really is provided in Scripture is prayer. That we become desperate enough that we come before God and cling to Him. See, Nehemiah is faced with a serious problem.

You know he's living a pretty comfortable life. Nehemiah is a cup bearer. Now you have to understand a cup bearer, you know in our minds a cup bearer is a guy who drinks whatever he's going to drink and see if he dies. If he doesn't die the king gets to drink it.

So, it sounds like a lowly job, right? A cup bearer had to be the most trusted person in the kingdom. Because the king basically says, "Well he drank it, I trust him, so I trust that he's not going to kill me." So, imagine if you were a cup bearer at that time you were basically the most trusted person in that kingdom.

The Scripture says Nehemiah was a cup bearer for the biggest superpower nation of that time, the king of Persia. Now all of this, Nehemiah and this revival breaks out because he's asking a question about a land of his ancestors about 800 miles away from where he is. And he asks, "What's going on over there?" Because he's curious and the report comes back in verse 3, "They said to me, 'Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in general in great trouble and disgrace.

The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire.'" Now that was the report that he got. And as a result of that it says in verse 4, "When I heard these things I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned, and fasted, and prayed before the God of Heaven." Again I want you to understand the historical context of Nehemiah's crying out before God.

Nehemiah's needs are all met. As far as his family is concerned they are multi- millionaires. I mean this guy is a cup bearer. Not only him, his wife, his children, his grandchildren, great-grand children, and many generations to come he's going to have more than enough money to live peacefully.

And yet he hears about this land 800 miles away. It's probably about two generations removed already probably. And because he hears this terrible report, and I want you to understand what this report is. It didn't say that these people are getting slaughtered. It didn't say that there is infighting and all kinds of debauchery.

All they said was they are in trouble, their gates are broken, and they are burned down. And that led him to weep before God. In Nehemiah 1.6 it says, "Let your ear be attentive God, and your eyes open to hear the prayers your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel." Why did that report of a broken gate, and a wall that burned down, or the gate that burned down, why did that cause this kind of weeping before God?

Especially since he was so well off. You have to understand that the nation of Israel was not an average nation. It was not one of many nations. It was the nation at this time. God chose His people. He made a covenant with them. Again we may ask the question, you know, Jacob and Esau.

They say Esau was actually evil because he gave up his birthright so that he could have a bowl of soup. I mean think about it if you were in that position, I mean you are starving to death. You went out hunting and your younger brother is conniving, "Give me your birthright." What is a birthright to me?

I'm about to starve. I can see myself saying that. I mean I'm hungry. But what was unique about that particular relationship, and that particular family was because God made a covenant with His forefathers that I'm going to bless you, and that you are going to be a blessing to many nations.

And that inheritance wasn't just about money and land. It's about the covenant that God made with His forefathers that God is going to bless them. And this is the line in which God is going to bless them. See, Nehemiah wasn't simply worried about a broken fence. He was worried about the spiritual condition that Israel was in.

I want to look at two things in Nehemiah's prayer this morning, and then we'll do the others next week. Two things that causes revival prayer. One, Nehemiah's prayer was stirred up because he recognized something was not right. Nehemiah's prayer stirred up because he recognized something was not right. You know I could sit here, or stand here this morning, like last week, and tell you why we need to pray.

And I can expose it, and I can tell you the need for it, and what the Scripture says. But until you recognize that something is wrong, it just becomes something you need to do to appease God. God died for us, so therefore we should be a man of prayer, so we should pray more because that's what good Christians do.

Right? We need to do that because that's what the Scripture says. But until I can convince you that there is something wrong, that there is a sense of urgency to come and plead before God, your prayers will be nothing more than a check off list, something that you need to do.

See, Nehemiah's prayer of revival was in response to what he saw. See those broken fences, the fire represented their spiritual condition before God. They forgot, and it represented that though God desired with all their heart to bless them, because of their neglect, because of their spiritual condition, they were in the condition that they were in.

Do we recognize where we are? Those of you who have been Christians for a while, 20 years, 30 years, maybe longer, I haven't met a single person that I've talked to who has been a Christian for more than 20, 30 years who says to me that the spiritual condition today is much better than it was when they were younger.

I've never met a single person. And I can probably say those of you who have been walking for 10 years that the condition that it is in now is better than even 10 years ago. I don't think I'm being pessimistic. I don't think I'm just being negative. I think that's the reality.

We have fallen and we are continuing to fall at a much faster pace than before. What is spiritually normal in our generation would have shocked people 30 years ago. 30 years ago certain things that Christians do, certain things that are being said even up in the pulpit would have been shocking to an average church 30 years ago.

We've become so accustomed to compromise and sin that it is no longer shocking to put it up on Facebook for everyone to see. And our greatest fear is not offending God. Our greatest fear is that we may be called a legalist, judgmental. We have become complacent. The fire for God is not the same.

So few people in our generation evangelize. Yes, we talk about missionaries. We talk about people who have gone overseas. And I know many of you while you were in college sacrificed and went overseas and went to different places and did difficult things. But that was many years ago. It might have been a year, two years, maybe more than a decade since the last time you deliberately tried to share the Gospel with somebody.

And yet every week we open up the Bible, we say that judgment is coming, that the Gospel is the only hope of mankind. It just becomes something that we say. It is a theology that we adhere to, but it is no longer the power that transforms us. The lack of concern for holiness in our lives.

We are concerned about getting the Gospel right. They are using the right terms, praying the right way, using the right words, right phrases, having the church organized in a certain way, and being relevant. Yet we see the decline of holiness in our generation and there is no sense of urgency.

God loves us. It is because He is gracious. It is because we could not, He did. And we have these general, broad, cliche things that we say to excuse sin. It is not a source of power to pursue righteousness, it is to excuse sin. Let's not get carried away.

Let's not be too harsh. Because Jesus loved us despite our sins. All of these things are true. But in our generation the brokenness over us. When was the last time you genuinely repented for sin? Genuinely repented. Not, "Oh, I shouldn't have done that. I felt so bad. I shouldn't do it next time." Like I'm not talking about just kind of a brushing off.

I'm talking about grieving before God. Because He sent His only begotten Son to deliver us from an empty way of life. And He made us holy and says, "Now live up to that holiness. Be holy for your Heavenly Father is holy." When was the last time you were so convicted that you actually repented in tears?

See Nehemiah comes before God and he sees the spiritual condition of his people. His cupbearer, you know. Every need that he has is met. And yet he grieves before God. And he pleads and he weeps. And it is this prayer that God answers that leads to revival in the land.

You know in many countries there is a thing called the Samaritan, Good Samaritan Law. And the Good Samaritan Law basically is it's illegal to pass by someone who is in dire need and then just neglect them. It's actually a crime in certain parts of the United States that if somebody gets in an accident they are in dire need and you see that there is something you can do and you just keep going.

You know the scripture, the word that is translated in some cases for unbelief and disobedience is apotheos. What does that word sound like? English word apotheos. In your Bibles it is translated as unbelief or disobedience. Apotheos, the root word is pathos and the word pathos means to be persuaded.

So when you put an "ah" before it, it's a negation of persuasion. Meaning that you refuse to be persuaded. Not necessarily in your thoughts but your life. You can come to church all your life and have different thoughts circling around your head but your life is not persuaded. The way you spend your finances is not persuaded.

The way you, what you pursue, what makes you happy, what makes you sad, you are never persuaded. And we call again the scripture, the word for that is apotheos. I remember years ago there was a sister who was confessing her sins after being convicted over certain sins in her life.

And I thought it was one of the most honest confessions that I've heard. Her confession basically was, she said, "I am ignorant of the suffering of the world because I have chosen to be ignorant." And I thought that was really insightful because she didn't just own up and say, "You know what?

I didn't know." You know? She didn't say that. She said, "I didn't know because I chose not to know. I deliberately gave myself to things that I wouldn't be disturbed." So the reason why I was apathetic because I didn't give any time to look into that. When I heard of it, I said, "Oh, that's good." You know?

And that's where she left it because if you pursue it any further it's going to disturb your life. So, I remember her confessing, "I didn't know because I chose not to know." Amos chapter 6 verse 1 it says, "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion and to you who feel secure in Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nations to whom the people of Israel come." Verse 4, "You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on couches.

You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves." You know when I read this for the first time I was like, "Wow, this sounds exactly like today." You know? This happened thousands of years ago. And God was concerned about these things of the nation of Israel. This sounds like today.

"You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions. But you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore, you will be among the first to go into exile. Your fasting and lounging will end." What a cut to the heart to the nation of Israel.

You know they are going to temples making sacrifices and doing all these religious duties and God looks through all of that and said, "That has nothing to do with me." See revival broke out in Nehemiah's prayer because he recognized that something went wrong. So when we look at something and say, "Oh, of course, you know, where do you draw the line?" And as our brother Andrew shared with us we kind of compare.

And as long as we are not like them, as long as we are not as bad as them. I didn't get drunk last night like those people. I can recite the Gospel. I read the Bible a little bit. And so we are always comparing our righteousness with the people around us.

And as long as we are better than a few people that we know around us, we are ok. Nehemiah saw that something terribly went wrong. Spiritually the nation of Israel went complacent. The Temple of God was not what it ought to be. The gate that was supposed to protect His people and the Temple was neglected.

It wasn't because of the attack. It wasn't because they ran out of money. It was simply because of neglect. It just wasn't important. They were busy taking care of their own lives, paying their own bills. And they saw what was happening at the Temple and they were just neglect.

And so what Nehemiah comes before God is crying out before God was not deliverance from enemies. Was not more food because they didn't have enough food. It was a spiritual apathy of the nation of Israel. And that's what caused this man to weep. And that's what caused this man to cry out to God.

Some of you guys make fun of me every time I say my favorite musician is Keith Green. He no longer lives physically but he lives spiritually. And I've never bought a Christian tape ever in my life. Keith Green is the only one I've ever purchased. And because God used his lyrics and his music to really convict me and revive me when I was kind of going astray.

One of the songs that even to this day I listen to, I get convicted, it's almost like reading Scripture. Keith Green has a song called, "A Sleep in the Light." And let me read you his lyrics. It says, "Do you see, do you see all the people sinking down?

Don't you care, don't you care? Are you going to let them drown? How can you be so numb not to care if they come? You close your eyes and pretend the job is done. Bless me Lord, bless me Lord. You know it's all I ever hear. No one aches, no one hurts, no one even sheds one tear.

But he cries, he weeps, he bleeds and he cares for your needs. And you just lay back and keep soaking it in. Oh, can't you see it's such sin? Because he brings people to your door and you turn them away as you smile and say, "God bless you, be at peace." And all Heaven just weeps because Jesus came to your door and you've left him out on the street.

Open up, open up, give yourself away. You see the need, you hear the cries. So, how can you delay? God's calling and you're the one. But like Jonah you run. He's told you to speak but you keep holding it in. Can't you see it's such sin? The world is sleeping in the dark that the church just can't fight because it's asleep in the light.

How can you be so dead when you've been so well fed? Jesus rose from the grave and you, you can't even get out of bed. Jesus rose from the dead, come on, get out of your bed. You know I feel like if somebody wrote that today, it's like, "He's a legalist." I think they would just write him off as a legalist.

You know, it's about grace. It's about love. Of course it's about grace. Of course it's about His mercy. Of course it's about the Gospel. But it's about the Gospel that changes us. It's about the Gospel that renews us, empowers us to desire more than ever to want righteousness in life.

The Gospel opens our eyes to see the lost where we just saw them as people in the past, but now we see them who are lost and in dire need of a Savior. See we are not like the world. Winning the lottery is not enough. If you are a child of God, your bills being paid is not enough.

Your child being healthy is not enough. Being able to purchase a nice home is not enough. Having a nice church and a bunch of friends to share your life with is not enough. See in this world, if you are a child of this world, all of that, all of that should be enough for you to be able to wake up and say, "Thank you." See, but if you are a child of God, you could have all of that.

And to be away from the center of who He is and feel absolutely bankrupt. Because we are. You can have all the money in the world and all the safety and all the health and all the friends in the world, and you don't have a personal relationship with God, then we are bankrupt.

See until we recognize, until I can convince you that something has gone wrong, we won't pray. Because prayer is just a discipline. If prayer is just something that you need to do, it seems like a waste of time because you read the Scripture, you learn something. You come to fellowship, you build friendship, you give money, we can use that to do all these things.

But prayer, unless there is a need that we are desperate to bring to God, we will never see the need to pray. See, Nehemiah's prayer in his revival always breaks out because you see the spiritual condition and we bring this to God. Are you convinced? When you look at the spiritual condition of where we are, does that concern you that if we've slipped this far in such a short period of time, what the spiritual condition will look like when your children are your age?

That scares me. If in the last 20 years, 30 years, if we've slipped this far, what will it look like when my children are in their 40's? Would we be able to go back, go I guess to the future, 30 years from now and recognize the church that may be?

Just hoping, hoping that it won't be like this sliding won't keep going. If it continues to go the way it goes, I'm just again, just using logical deduction, we're going to be exactly where Europe is in their faith in the United States. That's exactly where it is. Some of you guys, I'm not going to go into too much detail, you guys know what it's like.

Anybody who has visited Europe you know exactly what it's like. It's almost impossible to find a church that believes in the Gospel. There are churches everywhere, ancient churches everywhere. It's almost impossible to go and sit in a church that preaches the Gospel over there. Do we see the need?

When does this start? We're just hoping and throwing it down next generation, hoping that revival will come in that generation. Or do we see the need today? Do we see the slipping today? Do we see our hearts hardened today? Do we see the lost today? And does that cause us to come before God and weep as Nehemiah wept to pray for revival?

See Nehemiah if he only saw the need, he would have wept and that would have been it, despair. You know sometimes we get caught up pointing out what the problem is and then that's where it ends. We have issues and we see problems with pastors and churches and gatherings and say, "Ah, what's wrong with them?

What's wrong with them?" If that's where we stop all we do is to further the problem. See, but that's not for Nehemiah. Nehemiah came and the second thing about his prayer is he goes right in and he recognizes there is a solution. And that solution is recognizing the God that he worships in Nehemiah 1, 5-6, "O Lord God of Heaven, the great and awesome God, and keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commands.

Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayers of your servant. And I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel, your servants." See it could have easily just led to despair. It's like, "Yeah, that's just the way it is." And we become expert of critiquing what's gone wrong.

But Nehemiah comes before God and he prays, "O Lord." The answer is in Him. He calls Him by His proper name Yahweh, even though it is not written in your Bible. The word Lord in Hebrew is Yahweh. If you guys remember the word Yahweh, the name Yahweh is the formal name that God gives to Moses as He drew near to His people.

"Tell them, if they ask me who sent me, tell them Yahweh has sent you." Exodus 3:14, "The God of Moses, I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the nation of Israel, 'I am has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The Lord Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob has sent me to you.

This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. I am who I am." You know that name, the name that He introduced Himself as I am. You know the first few years as a Christian I never understood I am. It's like Bob, John, you know like there's a title, I am.

Like who are you? I am. Right, and you are. That's a strange conversation, right? I never understood that. What does that mean I am? The more I meditate, the more I wrestle with who He is in my life, I can't think of a better name than I am. Because I am basically means everything originates from Him.

Everything starts with Him. Your life starts with Him. Your joy starts with Him. Your hope is in Him. Everything is I am. It's not I will be. It's not I was. It's I am. And that's exactly what it means in Deuteronomy 6:4 He says, "Tell this, repeat this, and tell this to generations to come." The great Shema, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." He's not saying quantitatively like there's all these but out of them there's only one God.

That's true. But along with that when He says the Lord is one He's saying there is no one like Him. There is no other. Just like when we talk about holiness there's an aspect of holiness where we say He is perfect morally. But the word holy basically means to be set apart.

He's unique. There's nothing and no one like Him. So when Nehemiah is grieved over the spiritual condition of Israel he immediately turns to the I am. Yahweh. Because you're the answer. Not more people, not more funding, not more organization, not more effort. You. If we recognize the problem in our generation and even in our life, the first and foremost, before we turn to a counselor, before we turn to friends, do we turn to the great I am?

You know as a pastor I can't tell you like you know preaching is easier. Because I'm dissecting the Word and I'm just telling you. It's just one way. I don't have to answer your questions. I just tell you. And then when I'm done I just walk off. Counseling is hard.

Some people are better than others because counseling they're coming asking questions and they're looking for answers. Sometimes it's very easy. Just knock it off. And that's the question. It's very easy to answer sometimes. And then sometimes they come, you know you guys come and you have these heartbreaking things and I want to give you the answer but I don't have the answer.

And I say, "Oh man, where's the Bible? I've got to go get counseling and do all this stuff." And I realize I don't have the answer. And it took years of frustration until I realized God didn't give me the answer. I don't have to have the answer. My job is to tell you to go to the one who does have the answer.

Right? He's the answer. And isn't that all the I am statements in the book of John? I am the bread of life. I am the vine. I am the light. I am the good shepherd. I am the door. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.

All the I am statements is to get as disciples and everybody to recognize it is not the temple. It is not more of this. It is not the nation of Israel becoming a superpower. He said, "I am." He was trying to get people to come to me and recognize Him as the answer.

Not the counselors, not the organization, not the money, not our circumstance, but Him. So when Nehemiah faced trouble he didn't just fall into despair. He came before God pleading with the great I am. Hebrews 11, 6 it says, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him for he who comes to God must believe that He is." I am.

That He is and He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. He's the rewarder, not me. Not your counselor, not your wife, not your husband. Maybe some of your frustration at home is because you're looking for answers in your husband and your wife. Maybe the frustration sometimes may be at church and you put your hope in the wrong place.

He is. He is God who keeps the covenant and steadfast love. The reason why we are not consumed in Lamentations 3, 22 it says, "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed for His compassion never fails." If Bill Gates came to you and said, "You know what I've cleared my schedule.

I've heard of your name. I heard your need. I hear you're in great trouble. I cleared my schedule for a month and I want you to give some good thought about what I can do for you." Knowing who he is, you know, either the richest man on earth or the second richest man on earth, right?

And he comes and says, "Ask." Right? "But I want you to ask." I think we are going to take some time to think about that. We are going to say, "I'm hungry." This is Bill Gates. You can ask that of anybody. You can ask that of your friends, your parents.

I mean you can ask that. You can think, considering what he has. And I think what I would be thinking was, "A million? Is that too much?" It's not too much to him, but it's too much for me. So, maybe, you know, I don't want to look greedy. Two million?

You know, how far? How far can I stretch this without him being shocked? If I say a million, he's like, "That's it?" I don't want that either. So, you're going to get through it. Like, "Well, what can I get away with? How much?" Because you know what he's worth.

And he said he's willing to do whatever. Right? If you consider the content of our prayer, how much of it is frivolous? Because we don't recognize who we're praying to. Right? If you're about in me, my word's about in you, ask whatever you wish. It shall be done for you.

Right? The God who sent his only begotten son died for us. He who did not spare his own son, how will he not, along with him, freely give us all things? So, ask of me. And I will give you nations that maybe sometimes our faith is weak and futile because we don't recognize who it is that we are praying to.

That it is not because our prayers are too difficult. That it may be because our prayers are too trivial, considering who he is. Our God could change the direction of history. And we know that Scripture says that our God is a God of covenant. And what he promised was, "I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." Do we recognize who it is that we're praying to?

So, I'm going to just wrap it up here for today. We want 2016, again for years to come, to address the issue that I think is at the crux of our issue. Is before we think about anything else, to establish his presence in our lives, in our marriages, with our children, with our church, with our gatherings.

That everything that we do, whether it's missions, whether it's Bible study, whether it's family ministry, singles ministry, college ministry, that we would saturate it first and foremost by humbling ourselves before the throne of God saying, "Lord help us." If you turn your Bibles with me to Psalm 136. Psalm 136 and I want you guys, we want to have a responsive reading.

We never do this at church but I want to do this with you this morning. In Psalm 136 basically the whole chapter goes, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever." And so it's kind of a refrain going back and forth, back and forth.

So, what I want to wrap up this morning doing is I'm going to read the first line, "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever." Basically it's a reminder to the nation of Israel and to us that all is in Him. To come to Him, to praise Him, to worship Him, to plead with Him because His steadfast love endures forever.

So, as we go through that, there are 26 verses and I want to go through that again as a reminder that that would be embedded in your mind and head. And that statement, that doxology would go with us as we go to our homes and whatever it is that we are doing that because His steadfast love endures forever that we would pursue Him with all our might.

So, I will read one, you read the second, we'll go back and forth. "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>Ok, I think it takes about three verses before you get it, right? "Give thanks to the God of Gods." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"Give thanks to the Lord of Lords." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"To Him who alone does great wonders." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"To Him who by understanding made the heavens." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"To Him who spread out the earth above the waters." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"To Him who made the great lights." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"The sun to rule over the day." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"The moon and stars to rule over the night." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"To Him who struck down the first point of Egypt." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"And brought Israel out from among them." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"With a strong hand and an outstretched arm." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"To Him who divided the Red Sea into two." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"And made Israel pass through the midst of it." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"To Him who led His people through the wilderness." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"To Him who struck down the great kings." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"And killed mighty kings." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"Sihon, king of Amorites." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"And Ah, king of Bashan." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"And gave their land as a heritage." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"A heritage to Israel, His servant." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"It is He who remembered us in our lowest state." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"And rescued us from our foes." >>"For His steadfast love endures forever." >>"He who gives food to all flesh." >>"His steadfast love endures forever." >>"Gives thanks to the God of Heaven." >>"His steadfast love endures forever." >>Would you take a minute to pray with me as I invite the praise team to come up.

Take some time to consider where we are spiritually, individually, as a church, and as a generation. And to come before the Lord that there is nothing more pressing in our life than to get right with God. To ask for revival in our hearts, revival in our church, revival in our generation.

Above food, above health, above safety, above work, even above our families. That we would recognize that we are desperate without Him. Let's take some time to come before the Lord in urgent prayer that this urgency would not simply be something that we hear about in the church, but be convinced that God is calling us to prayer, that we are in dire need of revival.

So, let's take