April 23, 2025 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Far too often we allow other things to push prayer aside,
but we don't allow prayer to push other things aside.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Doctor Tony Evans challenges us to prioritize prayer, especially in
times of need.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
If we want to.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Save and turn around our community, that's what we have
to do. Push something else aside and contact God.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. In a world
with communities facing devastation, injustice, and brokenness, believers ought to
lead with compassion as they take steps toward restoration. Today,
we're revisiting a powerful sermon series from doctor Evans that
(00:44):
delivers a timeless message when just as relevant today as
it was when first recorded in the Old Testament. Join
us as we listen in to discover how one man,
seeing a need, step forward to see God's help and
bringing restoration and renewal in the face of overwhelming challenges.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
The Book of Near Mayah is about a community gone bad.
It is about devastation. It is about all kinds of injustice.
It is about family disintegration. You find everything in here,
from robbery to bad interest rates to employment problems you
(01:23):
find in here. Male and female relationships you find in here.
All kinds of social and psychological trauma you find in here.
Worship you find in here. Every aspect of the human
dilemma is in this book we want to look at today.
In the first four verses, a dedicated person, a difficult problem,
(01:48):
and a determined prayer near Maya is going to accomplish
in the nation is real in fifty two days what
had not been accomplished in one hundred and forty one years.
You're gonna find out what that is in a moment.
But he's gonna accomplish in fifty two days what had
(02:10):
not been accomplished in one hundred and forty one years. Now,
why is it important for you to know that?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
You need to know that.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Because whenever you put God first, it don't take long. Now,
I don't know what you're trying to fix in your life.
I don't know what's broken down in your life. It
could be your personal life, your family life, your career life,
your community life.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
But I'm here to tell.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
You it doesn't take long when you're in God's will.
When you're out of God's will, you're spinning your wheels
fifty two days is all it took to fix one
hundred and forty one year problem. But first of all,
God had a dedicated man. Now, this book is as
(02:54):
much about a man as anything else. It is the
story of Nei Maiah.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Here you're going to find a man among men.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
And by the way, God's method is never first a program,
It's always the person. God says that his eyes run
to and fro the earth looking for somebody.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
He can use.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
If God has a problem, if I could use that terminology,
his problem is people.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
He just has a hard time coming up with folk
who are gonna do right.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
It's amazing how many people want to change systems. We
need to change the educational system, and we need to
change the political system, and we need to change the
economic system, and we need to change the criminal justice system.
But the only thing that makes those systems systems are people.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
So unless you fix people.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
You can't fix systems, because systems are devised.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
By people who run them.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
You know, since nineteen sixty five, one trillion dollars has
been spent by the federal government to revitalize the urban
communities of our country. One tree in dollars. Now you
can do a lot with one tree in dollars. That's
a bunch of money in multiple lifestyles. No matter how
lavish you you lived your life, you could never spend
the tree in dollars. And years later society is worse.
(04:23):
Often before the first dollar was spent. Why because the
money was given to people. And when you look at
the statistics, you'll find out that seventy percent of the
tree in dollars was spent to administer the other thirty percent.
So God's problem is always people. He's always looking for
(04:45):
a person. According to Jeremiah five to one Nezicuo twenty
two thirty, He's always looking for somebody he can use,
Nea Maya. You're going to find out that he was
a visionary person. He was a person with foresight, he
was a planning person, an organized person, a person of
faith and common sense, a personal compassion and integrity, a
(05:07):
person of impartiality and persistence. You're gonna find out that
this man had it all. You're gonna find out that
this is the kind of person you should want to
be like. Now, he lets us know that what he's
going to share with us happened in the month of
(05:28):
chislved That is the end of November and beginning of
December in our calendar.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
He lets us know where he was. He was in Susa,
the capital.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Now Susa was the winter playground of the kings of Persia.
That's where they went. In America, we go to Florida.
In Persia, you went to Susa. That was the place
where royalty hung out when it got cold. It was
a winter playground. Nee Mayah is there?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Now?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Why is Neemiah there? Will you find that? In the
last sentence of verse eleven, it says, now, I was
a cup bearer.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
To the king.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Now this is a little statement dropped in, but all
what power it has, I was a cup bearer to
the king. Because what you're gonna find in his verses
that God wants to use your career for his glory.
Who's a cup bearer? The king during this time of
Persia was king a dessert seeds. He's mentioned in chapter
(06:42):
two by name King ar dessert seeds. During this time,
kings had cup bearers. These were the men who tasted
the king's wine and the king's food before the king
tasted it.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
So if somebody was going to die, was going to
be the cup bearer? The cup bearer was the one
to protect.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
The king from internal assassins, because poison was a major
way of getting to the king. It is estimated that
King ardisser Sees had some fifteen thousand servants.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
People who served him.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
King ardisser Sees was particularly squeamish because his father xert Sees,
had been assassinated by one of his servants. So you
can imagine all the pain and energy that went into
a desert Sees selecting his cup bearer. He wanted to
(07:48):
make sure that his cup bearer would be one who
would be of great reputation, who would be impeccable, who
would be trusted, And the cup bearer, more than just
tasting food, actually served as chief of staff. He made
sure that things that flowed into and float out of the.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
King were all appropriate.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
When the king went to take a nap, the cup
bearer stood at the door to guard him so that
he would not be assassinated in his sleep. When the
king was moving about, the cup bear would be with him. So,
now what does this tell us about Neirmyah? He was
well to do because all that belonged to the king
he had access to. So he's shall we say in
(08:32):
the upper class echelon of the Persian Empire, even though
he is a Jew.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Why because he is the cup bearer for the king.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
So whatever the king got to eat, he got to
eat it first. Whatever the king got to drink, he
got to drink it first. Wherever the king went, he
was there too. So he flew on the royal jets,
rode in the royal limousines, he walked with the royal entourage.
He was a known man because you couldn't get to
ar desserts unless she came through the cop bearer. So
(09:07):
we're not just talking about anybody. We're talking about a
significant individual here. So we have the quality person now
in order to set this in its historical continuum. He
is living at the same in the same spand as
Daniel Mishak, Shadrack of Bendigold, Mordecai Neester, all those people
(09:28):
are living in this same basic continuum. And so when
you juxtapose or juxtaposition this story along with all the
other stories, you really see all that's happening with Jewish
people or God's people living in a pagan society because
they're all in this Persian Empire. So now we've seen
(09:50):
or been introduced to this dedicated person. Let's now look
at the difficult problem Verses two and three. Hannah and
I one of my brothers appears to be his brother
in the flesh. And some men from Judah came, and
(10:10):
I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and
had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. And they said
to me, the remnant there in the province who survived
the captivity are in great distress and reproach. And the
wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates were
burned with fire. Now, when you read that, that may
(10:34):
not grab you, that may not emote you, that may
not say okay, well, so you had a few bricks burning.
Now there's a lot more to this than that.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
That may seem like a small detail, but there's much
more to uncover here. Doctor Evans will explain why this
is crucial when he continues in just a moment. First, though,
I want to let you know that today's message is
the first installment. Doctor Evans comprehensive fifteen lesson study on
the Book of Nehemiah. The story of Nehemiah isn't just
(11:07):
about rebuilding a city's walls, It's about restoring lives, strengthening faith,
and stepping boldly into God's calling. Through this series, you'll
discover practical insights on leadership, perseverance, and spiritual renewal, lessons
that apply to your personal walk with God, your family,
and even your community. We'd love to give you the
(11:29):
complete series on digital download and either CD or USB
stick as our gift when you make a donation to
the Ministry of the Alternative and as a special bonus,
will also include a copy of doctor Evans's powerful book,
One Nation Under God. If you're concerned about the direction
our country is headed, this book reveals what you can
(11:50):
do about it, not through politics, but through a kingdom
approach that aligns with God's principles. Doctor Evans lays out
practical strategies to make a lasting impact starting with you.
Just visit us today at Tonyevans dot org or call
us at one eight hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two,
(12:10):
make your contribution and let us send you the Neemiah
audio series along with Tony's book, One Nation Under God.
I'll repeat that contact information for you after part two
of today's lesson. Here's Tony once again.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
First of all, you need to understand a very fundamental
principle of every dispensation, whether you're in the Old Testament
or whether you're in the New Testament, and that is
the principle of representation. As your leader goes, so go
you potentially wherever you have a bad leader, the people
follow them are in trouble.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
That's true in the family.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
If the father and a husband is a bad leader,
well that's going to affect the wellbeing of the wife
and the children. In other words, there's a biblical principle,
and that is the principle of representation. That is, when
you're represented by somebody who goes back, unless you change representatives,
you're in trouble. Well, in order to put this in
its historical perspective, we got to go all the way back.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
You don't have to turn in now.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
But first King's chapter eleven, when the Bible says and
Solomon loved many women, and the scripture says in those
first thirteen verses that these women turned his heart from God,
and God judged him based on the prophecies of the
Old Testament, and the judgment was that because you have
(13:32):
loved many women, I will take your kingdom from you.
So the kingdom was split between the Northern Kingdom and
the Southern Kingdom.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
The Northern Kingdom was led by his son Jerebam.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
The Southern king was led by real Bomb and both kingdoms,
the Bible says, intermarried with foreign women because of the
sons of the father are visited among his sons. See
that's another principle of representation. If you go bad, your
jeans carry it. And so as a result of this,
(14:08):
the two kingdoms were judged as the one man was judged.
Neel Mayah when he sees his brother, asked his brother,
Hannah and eye, how are things going back home? He
was a man who remembered where he came from and
the people that he had left behind. Even though he
(14:28):
was as sending a ladder of success, he.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Wanted to know whether they were making progress.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity
Verse three, are in great distress and approach. The walls
of Jerusalem are broken down and its gates are burned
with fire. Whenever the Bible talks about the walls of
a city, it's talking about the breakdown of the security.
There was crime the law because the walls had broken down.
(14:58):
That was insecurity golaw, that was all kinds of degradation
to law. In other words, he was saying, when the
walls were broken down, that the people from the time
the Babylonians destroyed the city have made absolutely no progress.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
In fact, they're regressing.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
In spite of all the energy, in spite of all
the work, in spite of all the returns, they aren't
going anywhere. I would like to suggest to you today
that that phrase is an appropriate phrase for the world
in which we live.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
The walls are broken down.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Because you see, when the walls are broken down, you
have no.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Standard by which people live.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
People make up rules as they go along, and such
as it was in Israel, that these people living in
Israel have made absolutely no progress to reestablishing what God
had intended. Verse four, it says, now it came about
when I heard these words.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
I sat down.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
And wept and mourned for many days, and I was
fasting and praying before the God of Heaven. Now this
verse is heavy, and I haven't even getten into the
prayer yet. Let me tell you why. Is the first
of all, I couldn't get into the prayer because there
are ten sermons in this one prayer. In fact, everything
(16:31):
you need to know about fixing every area of your
life is in this prayer.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
When he heard about the situation among.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
His people, he backed away from the security of his
personal peace and affluence long enough to raise the issue,
what about everybody else? Some of us here today are
on our way to heaven, and we are satisfied. We
know we've been forgiven, we know we've been born again, we.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Know we're on our way to heaven. I got mine,
you get yours.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
What is the last time you've wept over relatives who
don't know Christs? What is the last time you've cried
over people who have rejected the gospel? Or have we
become so secure in our own spiritual standing that we're
too cute to remember others? But not only was it
(17:28):
a spiritual concern, it was a social and economic concern.
Because Neilmiah understood when people don't understand God, they also
don't understand culture. And when people are not right with God,
they cannot be right with their fellow men. He understood
(17:49):
that you can never fix society until you fix people.
And the people were broke. And I would like to
submit to you today that we live in a world
of broken people, and broken people can't fix broken walls.
But what's the main thing I want to close with
the day? Here's the main thing I want to close with.
(18:10):
Neel Mayah is a big shot, but he was not
too big to pray. In fact, before he comes up
with a great society program, before he comes up with
the Jerusalem New Deal, before he comes up with a
strategy to fix broken Jerusalem, it says he fasted and
(18:36):
prayed for many days.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
I'm talking about a busy man here. If you see.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Something in your life or in your world broken, is
prayer the first thing or the last thing that you do.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
If relating to God comes last, then so with a
solution to your problem.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
The Bible says of Jesus Christ, on the busiest day
of his life, he woke up earlier to pray. The
busier he was, the earlier he had to get up.
What I'm suggesting is the mess we in we need
all the prayer we can get up front. And so
we see this determined prayer that this man is going
(19:21):
to lay out. He is going to lay out an
awesome prayer. And let me tell you what else he did.
He says he fasted.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Fast.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Thing in scripture is giving up a craving of the
body because of a need of the spirit. That is,
there something in your life going so deep, so heavy,
and you need God so bad that you give up
something for it. Now. I want to make a major
point about this, and that is this, far too often,
(19:52):
far too often, we allow other things to push prayer aside.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yes, but we don't allow prayer push other things aside.
Do you understand what me?
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Better? Look at all the things that push prayer aside.
My show coming on, so prayer may be pushed aside.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I got a long day.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
I need the extra time to sleep, So sleep pushes
prayer aside. I got this major deal, and so prags
pushed aside. Well, God's no dummy. He does not like
being pushed aside. You know what I like to challenge
you to do, to let prayer push something that's important
(20:35):
to you inside, to say, Lord, instead of eating this noon,
because of the need in my family to save my marriage,
I'm gonna spend these noons praying. In other words, I'm
gonna take the time that I would have spent eating,
and I'm gonna use that thirty minutes that I would
have spent satisfying for hunger that I now feel in
my stomach.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
I'm gonna push that aside, and I'm going to call
on you.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
If we want to save and turn around our community,
that's what we have to do. For If my people
who are called by my name shall humble themselves and
pray and turn from that wicked way, I won't heal
their land. When was the last time prayer pushed something aside?
Here's a man who understood if he was going to
save his people, he needed all the God he could get.
(21:26):
And because he understood that, he was not going to
let anything, including his position, his busyness, stop him. You
go to see through the book of Nehemiah a great man.
But we're gonna learn enough in this book to impact
the world in which we live as well.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Or it'll benefit you.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
It'll help you because you'll see a lot of spiritual
characteristics that you need. It'll help your family to rebuild
the walls of your home that may be crumbling down.
You know, it's amazing all the time and energy we
spend to get things fixed in our lives. A couple's
marriage gone bad, so they'll spend one thousand dollars to
go on a cruise to Natha. I guess they think
(22:10):
that there's marriage healing magic in the waters of the Caribbean.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
I'll tell you what you should do.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Give up your dinner meal for a week and spend
that thirty minutes praying.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Together as a couple. You don't have a job, and
it's a tidy economy. Okay, you got a real problem and.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
You got a desperate need will now, wouldn't it be
better to spend extra time in prayer, having God leeds
you to the right place, then leaving prayer to last,
and you're running all over the street every day looking
for a job and none of them turn it out
you have a desperate need the man faster than praying,
the walls were crumbling down.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
My question and closing today is what wall.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Is crumbling in your life? What thing is falling apart
in your life? What thing is collapsing in your life?
Is in your personal life?
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Life?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Is that your family life? Is it your children? Is
it your community? Whatever is falling in your life? Push
something else aside and contact.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
No Doctor Tony Evans with a simple yet powerful solution
to facing life's overwhelming challenges Now. Today's lesson is the
first in Tony's study from the Old Testament Book of Nehemiah.
As I mentioned earlier, all fifteen full length messages in
this sermon collection can be yours with our thanks. If
(23:33):
you'll make a donation to help us keep presenting these
life changing messages to a world in need of good news,
you'll receive the complete two volume series on digital download
as well as either CD or USB thumb drive, and
as a special bonus, you'll also receive Tony's thought provoking
practical guide One Nation under God. Take advantage of this
(23:55):
limited time offer by calling for details one eight hundred
eight hundred twenty two Resource team members are on hand
twenty four to seven to help you. That's one eight
hundred eight hundred three two two two, Or make the
arrangements and get your digital downloads right away at Tonyevans
dot org. Again, that's Tonyevans dot org. Harry Truman famously
(24:21):
displayed a sign on his desk that read the buck
stops here. Well next time, Doctor Evans challenges Christians to
adopt that same mindset when it comes to influencing our communities.
I hope you'll join us for this revealing look at
ways to bring light into our culture.
Far too often we allow other things to push prayer aside,
but we don't allow prayer to push other things aside.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Doctor Tony Evans challenges us to prioritize prayer, especially in
times of need.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
If we want to.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Save and turn around our community, that's what we have
to do. Push something else aside and contact God.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless Biblical teachings
from the archives of doctor Tony Evans. In a world
with communities facing devastation, injustice, and brokenness, believers ought to
lead with compassion as they take steps toward restoration. Today,
we're revisiting a powerful sermon series from doctor Evans that
(00:44):
delivers a timeless message when just as relevant today as
it was when first recorded in the Old Testament. Join
us as we listen in to discover how one man,
seeing a need, step forward to see God's help and
bringing restoration and renewal in the face of overwhelming challenges.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
The Book of Near Mayah is about a community gone bad.
It is about devastation. It is about all kinds of injustice.
It is about family disintegration. You find everything in here,
from robbery to bad interest rates to employment problems you
(01:23):
find in here. Male and female relationships you find in here.
All kinds of social and psychological trauma you find in here.
Worship you find in here. Every aspect of the human
dilemma is in this book we want to look at today.
In the first four verses, a dedicated person, a difficult problem,
(01:48):
and a determined prayer near Maya is going to accomplish
in the nation is real in fifty two days what
had not been accomplished in one hundred and forty one years.
You're gonna find out what that is in a moment.
But he's gonna accomplish in fifty two days what had
(02:10):
not been accomplished in one hundred and forty one years. Now,
why is it important for you to know that?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
You need to know that.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Because whenever you put God first, it don't take long. Now,
I don't know what you're trying to fix in your life.
I don't know what's broken down in your life. It
could be your personal life, your family life, your career life,
your community life.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
But I'm here to tell.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
You it doesn't take long when you're in God's will.
When you're out of God's will, you're spinning your wheels
fifty two days is all it took to fix one
hundred and forty one year problem. But first of all,
God had a dedicated man. Now, this book is as
(02:54):
much about a man as anything else. It is the
story of Nei Maiah.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Here you're going to find a man among men.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
And by the way, God's method is never first a program,
It's always the person. God says that his eyes run
to and fro the earth looking for somebody.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
He can use.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
If God has a problem, if I could use that terminology,
his problem is people.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
He just has a hard time coming up with folk
who are gonna do right.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
It's amazing how many people want to change systems. We
need to change the educational system, and we need to
change the political system, and we need to change the
economic system, and we need to change the criminal justice system.
But the only thing that makes those systems systems are people.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
So unless you fix people.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
You can't fix systems, because systems are devised.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
By people who run them.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
You know, since nineteen sixty five, one trillion dollars has
been spent by the federal government to revitalize the urban
communities of our country. One tree in dollars. Now you
can do a lot with one tree in dollars. That's
a bunch of money in multiple lifestyles. No matter how
lavish you you lived your life, you could never spend
the tree in dollars. And years later society is worse.
(04:23):
Often before the first dollar was spent. Why because the
money was given to people. And when you look at
the statistics, you'll find out that seventy percent of the
tree in dollars was spent to administer the other thirty percent.
So God's problem is always people. He's always looking for
(04:45):
a person. According to Jeremiah five to one Nezicuo twenty
two thirty, He's always looking for somebody he can use,
Nea Maya. You're going to find out that he was
a visionary person. He was a person with foresight, he
was a planning person, an organized person, a person of
faith and common sense, a personal compassion and integrity, a
(05:07):
person of impartiality and persistence. You're gonna find out that
this man had it all. You're gonna find out that
this is the kind of person you should want to
be like. Now, he lets us know that what he's
going to share with us happened in the month of
(05:28):
chislved That is the end of November and beginning of
December in our calendar.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
He lets us know where he was. He was in Susa,
the capital.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Now Susa was the winter playground of the kings of Persia.
That's where they went. In America, we go to Florida.
In Persia, you went to Susa. That was the place
where royalty hung out when it got cold. It was
a winter playground. Nee Mayah is there?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Now?
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Why is Neemiah there? Will you find that? In the
last sentence of verse eleven, it says, now, I was
a cup bearer.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
To the king.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Now this is a little statement dropped in, but all
what power it has, I was a cup bearer to
the king. Because what you're gonna find in his verses
that God wants to use your career for his glory.
Who's a cup bearer? The king during this time of
Persia was king a dessert seeds. He's mentioned in chapter
(06:42):
two by name King ar dessert seeds. During this time,
kings had cup bearers. These were the men who tasted
the king's wine and the king's food before the king
tasted it.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
So if somebody was going to die, was going to
be the cup bearer? The cup bearer was the one
to protect.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
The king from internal assassins, because poison was a major
way of getting to the king. It is estimated that
King ardisser Sees had some fifteen thousand servants.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
People who served him.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
King ardisser Sees was particularly squeamish because his father xert Sees,
had been assassinated by one of his servants. So you
can imagine all the pain and energy that went into
a desert Sees selecting his cup bearer. He wanted to
(07:48):
make sure that his cup bearer would be one who
would be of great reputation, who would be impeccable, who
would be trusted, And the cup bearer, more than just
tasting food, actually served as chief of staff. He made
sure that things that flowed into and float out of the.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
King were all appropriate.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
When the king went to take a nap, the cup
bearer stood at the door to guard him so that
he would not be assassinated in his sleep. When the
king was moving about, the cup bear would be with him. So,
now what does this tell us about Neirmyah? He was
well to do because all that belonged to the king
he had access to. So he's shall we say in
(08:32):
the upper class echelon of the Persian Empire, even though
he is a Jew.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Why because he is the cup bearer for the king.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
So whatever the king got to eat, he got to
eat it first. Whatever the king got to drink, he
got to drink it first. Wherever the king went, he
was there too. So he flew on the royal jets,
rode in the royal limousines, he walked with the royal entourage.
He was a known man because you couldn't get to
ar desserts unless she came through the cop bearer. So
(09:07):
we're not just talking about anybody. We're talking about a
significant individual here. So we have the quality person now
in order to set this in its historical continuum. He
is living at the same in the same spand as
Daniel Mishak, Shadrack of Bendigold, Mordecai Neester, all those people
(09:28):
are living in this same basic continuum. And so when
you juxtapose or juxtaposition this story along with all the
other stories, you really see all that's happening with Jewish
people or God's people living in a pagan society because
they're all in this Persian Empire. So now we've seen
(09:50):
or been introduced to this dedicated person. Let's now look
at the difficult problem Verses two and three. Hannah and
I one of my brothers appears to be his brother
in the flesh. And some men from Judah came, and
(10:10):
I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and
had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. And they said
to me, the remnant there in the province who survived
the captivity are in great distress and reproach. And the
wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates were
burned with fire. Now, when you read that, that may
(10:34):
not grab you, that may not emote you, that may
not say okay, well, so you had a few bricks burning.
Now there's a lot more to this than that.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
That may seem like a small detail, but there's much
more to uncover here. Doctor Evans will explain why this
is crucial when he continues in just a moment. First, though,
I want to let you know that today's message is
the first installment. Doctor Evans comprehensive fifteen lesson study on
the Book of Nehemiah. The story of Nehemiah isn't just
(11:07):
about rebuilding a city's walls, It's about restoring lives, strengthening faith,
and stepping boldly into God's calling. Through this series, you'll
discover practical insights on leadership, perseverance, and spiritual renewal, lessons
that apply to your personal walk with God, your family,
and even your community. We'd love to give you the
(11:29):
complete series on digital download and either CD or USB
stick as our gift when you make a donation to
the Ministry of the Alternative and as a special bonus,
will also include a copy of doctor Evans's powerful book,
One Nation Under God. If you're concerned about the direction
our country is headed, this book reveals what you can
(11:50):
do about it, not through politics, but through a kingdom
approach that aligns with God's principles. Doctor Evans lays out
practical strategies to make a lasting impact starting with you.
Just visit us today at Tonyevans dot org or call
us at one eight hundred eight hundred thirty two twenty two,
(12:10):
make your contribution and let us send you the Neemiah
audio series along with Tony's book, One Nation Under God.
I'll repeat that contact information for you after part two
of today's lesson. Here's Tony once again.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
First of all, you need to understand a very fundamental
principle of every dispensation, whether you're in the Old Testament
or whether you're in the New Testament, and that is
the principle of representation. As your leader goes, so go
you potentially wherever you have a bad leader, the people
follow them are in trouble.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
That's true in the family.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
If the father and a husband is a bad leader,
well that's going to affect the wellbeing of the wife
and the children. In other words, there's a biblical principle,
and that is the principle of representation. That is, when
you're represented by somebody who goes back, unless you change representatives,
you're in trouble. Well, in order to put this in
its historical perspective, we got to go all the way back.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
You don't have to turn in now.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
But first King's chapter eleven, when the Bible says and
Solomon loved many women, and the scripture says in those
first thirteen verses that these women turned his heart from God,
and God judged him based on the prophecies of the
Old Testament, and the judgment was that because you have
(13:32):
loved many women, I will take your kingdom from you.
So the kingdom was split between the Northern Kingdom and
the Southern Kingdom.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
The Northern Kingdom was led by his son Jerebam.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
The Southern king was led by real Bomb and both kingdoms,
the Bible says, intermarried with foreign women because of the
sons of the father are visited among his sons. See
that's another principle of representation. If you go bad, your
jeans carry it. And so as a result of this,
(14:08):
the two kingdoms were judged as the one man was judged.
Neel Mayah when he sees his brother, asked his brother,
Hannah and eye, how are things going back home? He
was a man who remembered where he came from and
the people that he had left behind. Even though he
(14:28):
was as sending a ladder of success, he.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Wanted to know whether they were making progress.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity
Verse three, are in great distress and approach. The walls
of Jerusalem are broken down and its gates are burned
with fire. Whenever the Bible talks about the walls of
a city, it's talking about the breakdown of the security.
There was crime the law because the walls had broken down.
(14:58):
That was insecurity golaw, that was all kinds of degradation
to law. In other words, he was saying, when the
walls were broken down, that the people from the time
the Babylonians destroyed the city have made absolutely no progress.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
In fact, they're regressing.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
In spite of all the energy, in spite of all
the work, in spite of all the returns, they aren't
going anywhere. I would like to suggest to you today
that that phrase is an appropriate phrase for the world
in which we live.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
The walls are broken down.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Because you see, when the walls are broken down, you
have no.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Standard by which people live.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
People make up rules as they go along, and such
as it was in Israel, that these people living in
Israel have made absolutely no progress to reestablishing what God
had intended. Verse four, it says, now it came about
when I heard these words.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
I sat down.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
And wept and mourned for many days, and I was
fasting and praying before the God of Heaven. Now this
verse is heavy, and I haven't even getten into the
prayer yet. Let me tell you why. Is the first
of all, I couldn't get into the prayer because there
are ten sermons in this one prayer. In fact, everything
(16:31):
you need to know about fixing every area of your
life is in this prayer.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
When he heard about the situation among.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
His people, he backed away from the security of his
personal peace and affluence long enough to raise the issue,
what about everybody else? Some of us here today are
on our way to heaven, and we are satisfied. We
know we've been forgiven, we know we've been born again, we.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Know we're on our way to heaven. I got mine,
you get yours.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
What is the last time you've wept over relatives who
don't know Christs? What is the last time you've cried
over people who have rejected the gospel? Or have we
become so secure in our own spiritual standing that we're
too cute to remember others? But not only was it
(17:28):
a spiritual concern, it was a social and economic concern.
Because Neilmiah understood when people don't understand God, they also
don't understand culture. And when people are not right with God,
they cannot be right with their fellow men. He understood
(17:49):
that you can never fix society until you fix people.
And the people were broke. And I would like to
submit to you today that we live in a world
of broken people, and broken people can't fix broken walls.
But what's the main thing I want to close with
the day? Here's the main thing I want to close with.
(18:10):
Neel Mayah is a big shot, but he was not
too big to pray. In fact, before he comes up
with a great society program, before he comes up with
the Jerusalem New Deal, before he comes up with a
strategy to fix broken Jerusalem, it says he fasted and
(18:36):
prayed for many days.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
I'm talking about a busy man here. If you see.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Something in your life or in your world broken, is
prayer the first thing or the last thing that you do.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
If relating to God comes last, then so with a
solution to your problem.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
The Bible says of Jesus Christ, on the busiest day
of his life, he woke up earlier to pray. The
busier he was, the earlier he had to get up.
What I'm suggesting is the mess we in we need
all the prayer we can get up front. And so
we see this determined prayer that this man is going
(19:21):
to lay out. He is going to lay out an
awesome prayer. And let me tell you what else he did.
He says he fasted.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Fast.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Thing in scripture is giving up a craving of the
body because of a need of the spirit. That is,
there something in your life going so deep, so heavy,
and you need God so bad that you give up
something for it. Now. I want to make a major
point about this, and that is this, far too often,
(19:52):
far too often, we allow other things to push prayer aside.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yes, but we don't allow prayer push other things aside.
Do you understand what me?
Speaker 1 (20:03):
Better? Look at all the things that push prayer aside.
My show coming on, so prayer may be pushed aside.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I got a long day.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
I need the extra time to sleep, So sleep pushes
prayer aside. I got this major deal, and so prags
pushed aside. Well, God's no dummy. He does not like
being pushed aside. You know what I like to challenge
you to do, to let prayer push something that's important
(20:35):
to you inside, to say, Lord, instead of eating this noon,
because of the need in my family to save my marriage,
I'm gonna spend these noons praying. In other words, I'm
gonna take the time that I would have spent eating,
and I'm gonna use that thirty minutes that I would
have spent satisfying for hunger that I now feel in
my stomach.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
I'm gonna push that aside, and I'm going to call
on you.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
If we want to save and turn around our community,
that's what we have to do. For If my people
who are called by my name shall humble themselves and
pray and turn from that wicked way, I won't heal
their land. When was the last time prayer pushed something aside?
Here's a man who understood if he was going to
save his people, he needed all the God he could get.
(21:26):
And because he understood that, he was not going to
let anything, including his position, his busyness, stop him. You
go to see through the book of Nehemiah a great man.
But we're gonna learn enough in this book to impact
the world in which we live as well.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Or it'll benefit you.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
It'll help you because you'll see a lot of spiritual
characteristics that you need. It'll help your family to rebuild
the walls of your home that may be crumbling down.
You know, it's amazing all the time and energy we
spend to get things fixed in our lives. A couple's
marriage gone bad, so they'll spend one thousand dollars to
go on a cruise to Natha. I guess they think
(22:10):
that there's marriage healing magic in the waters of the Caribbean.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
I'll tell you what you should do.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Give up your dinner meal for a week and spend
that thirty minutes praying.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Together as a couple. You don't have a job, and
it's a tidy economy. Okay, you got a real problem and.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
You got a desperate need will now, wouldn't it be
better to spend extra time in prayer, having God leeds
you to the right place, then leaving prayer to last,
and you're running all over the street every day looking
for a job and none of them turn it out
you have a desperate need the man faster than praying,
the walls were crumbling down.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
My question and closing today is what wall.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Is crumbling in your life? What thing is falling apart
in your life? What thing is collapsing in your life?
Is in your personal life?
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Life?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Is that your family life? Is it your children? Is
it your community? Whatever is falling in your life? Push
something else aside and contact.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
No Doctor Tony Evans with a simple yet powerful solution
to facing life's overwhelming challenges Now. Today's lesson is the
first in Tony's study from the Old Testament Book of Nehemiah.
As I mentioned earlier, all fifteen full length messages in
this sermon collection can be yours with our thanks. If
(23:33):
you'll make a donation to help us keep presenting these
life changing messages to a world in need of good news,
you'll receive the complete two volume series on digital download
as well as either CD or USB thumb drive, and
as a special bonus, you'll also receive Tony's thought provoking
practical guide One Nation under God. Take advantage of this
(23:55):
limited time offer by calling for details one eight hundred
eight hundred twenty two Resource team members are on hand
twenty four to seven to help you. That's one eight
hundred eight hundred three two two two, Or make the
arrangements and get your digital downloads right away at Tonyevans
dot org. Again, that's Tonyevans dot org. Harry Truman famously
(24:21):
displayed a sign on his desk that read the buck
stops here. Well next time, Doctor Evans challenges Christians to
adopt that same mindset when it comes to influencing our communities.
I hope you'll join us for this revealing look at
ways to bring light into our culture.
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