The Impact of Intersession

Well, thank you. Good to be with you again here

in Egham or Running Mead or Stains or whatever you

call this part of West London, and been delight delightful

to be in the presence of the Lord this morning.

I don't know who prayed about the songs this morning,

but I do know that it drew something from my

heart that is so in line with where I'm at

and where things are going. I believe at the moment

that there is a cry in the hearts of the

people of God for a significant, powerful invasion of Holy

Spirit life, that God will come in power and might.

I don't like the word revival, particularly because everybody has

their own death anission of what it might be. But

what I am believing for is an invasion of the

Holy Spirit in our day, in our land, in this nation.

And we are encouraged, and I have been encouraged by

all the reports started by the beginning of last year

by the Bible Society report of a silent revival. There's

that word, as they spoke about extraordinary happenings amongst young people,

particularly teenagers and particularly young men, which was kind of

a real surprise. And then we keep hearing about this

extraordinary interest in the Bible. Just last week I read

that the Bible Society have seen one hundred and thirty

four percent increase in the sale of Bibles in the

last few years. One hundred and thirty four That means

twice as many plus Bibles have been sold in the

last few years. That is a sign that people are

seeking God. There is a cry in the hearts of people.

This is not Christians. We all have a dozen Bibles

on well, some of us have a dozen Bibles on

our shelves, but we've all got one or two or three.

This is people who are seeking and there is an

openness to God. And I, for the last five years,

have come to an absolute collusion that the only hope

for our nation is a move of the Holy Spirit.

Nothing else will do. I know that last July there

were many people hoping that with a new government there

would come a sweeping change across the nation. Oh dear,

I did stand up then and speak, and I didn't

always get a good reception and say, listen, change of

government's not going to make the slightest difference. And whatever

your political persuasion, the truth is, it hasn't as it.

That's because our need is much deeper and greater than

a change of the politics. There is a deep seated

need for returning to God. It is our only hope.

That is my honest opinion and conclusion. But I'm not

without hope. I'm not going down the pan in a

depressed state. I do get angry. I shout the television screen,

particularly at the news, because of what I see and hear,

and you know my disappointment at the behavior of men,

particularly in leadership across the nations, which is just horrifying.

But you know that all it does is increase my

certainty that we desperately need a move of the Holy Spirit.

But then then I am encouraged as I turn to

the scriptures, because I'm told that in both the Old

and New Testaments, in Joel too and in Acts two,

that in the last days, God is going to pour

out his spirit upon all flesh. There is going to

be an out pouring of the Holy Spirit. There is

going to be an in gathering amongst all flesh. And

then we see on our television screens. I haven't got

to my message. By the way, this is all just

building up. Where's the clock? Yeah, So what time do

I have to finish. Yeah, okay, Yeah. Anyway I see

on our television screens is dreadful news from Iran and

all the distressing, terrible things that are happening to people

in Iran. And then I read of a move of

the Holy Spirit across Iran where thousands and thousands of

people are turning to Jesus. I read a report that

in the last few years, twenty five thousand mosques have

closed down in Iran because nobody's going to them, because

the people are disillusioned and disappointed. And there is a

move of the Holy Spirit. So our news is telling

us these dreadful things. But there is another newspaper being

written in Heaven of significant numbers of people turning to Jesus.

And it's happening in our country too, people turning to Jesus,

numbers of young people, particularly finding Jesus. Cook. You're twenty

one today. Wow, isn't that exciting? Yeah? I can remember

when I was twenty one. It was blow me. I'm

trying to work it out fifty six years ago. Yeah,

I'm seventy seven there. Yeah, And you are part of

a generation that is going to see an incredible move

of the Holy Spirit. And can I say to you

without putting you under any pressure, that God is raising

up men, young men and young women to be leaders

in this move of the Holy Spirit. And I see

the anointing of the Spirit upon you. I see the

desire in your heart to be used by God, and

I just want to say to you, be open, because

God has some things that He wants to do through you,

you that are beyond your wife. In fact, they're not

beyond your wildest dream because you carry stuff in you,

stuff that you hardly dare speak about, because you see

yourself in significant ministry situations and you think, oh, dear,

I can't talk about this. But God has put that

there and it's going to come to pass. And I

just sense that in the next couple of years you've

got some really important challenges decisions to make. You can

go for the ordinary husband to kids, nice house, good job,

plenty of money, and God will bless you and you

can live a good, godly life. But there's another road

for you that if you're willing to pay the price,

God will add all the rest of that stuff to you.

But it will come as you follow him, and God

will lead you into an extraordinary place of effectiveness and

fruitfulness for the Kingdom of God. The hand of God's

on you, the stamp of God's upon you, The approval

of God is upon you. Walk with him, listen to

his voice, make the right decisions when you're faced with

these challenges. And I just see you being used by

God to bring a generation of young people that are hurting, broken,

bruised back to Jesus. And you will be amazed at

what God will do through you and others like you

that He's raising up at this time, because the desperate

need of the hour is for people willing to pay

the price to see this move of the Spirit through you.

See my other concern and burden, And I think I

talked about this last time I was here, is that

I'm old enough to have been around to have seen

some moves of the Spirit. In the eighties, I was

part of a move of the Holy Spirit where our

church grew from thirty to three hundred in about two

and a half years. We saw God do extraordinary thing.

We saw We had one hundred young people in our

church at that time, and God was moving powerfully and significantly,

and across the nation there were new churches springing up.

God was doing stuff. We had fifty seven thousand Christians

out on the streets of London marching for Jesus, and

there was a real sense of life and vitality, and

we believed we were on the move. We were even

singing songs like you know, now's the time for us

to march upon the land and into our hands. He

will give the ground, we claim, and we're singing these

songs and going for it and believing it. And somehow

somewhere we lost our way and that move of the

spirit dissipated. In the nineties, there was another move of

the spirit that came out of Toronto, the Refreshing when

God came again, and boy didn't some of us have

encounters with God holy Spirit, touching us powerfully, many of

us spending hours, some of us laughing till we couldn't

hardly breathe, our sides ached as God came by his spirit.

And what did we do. We turned it into a

self indulgent seeking, a personal blessing. When the anointing of

God was upon us to take that joy out there

where people are in need, where people are struggling, and

we missed it. And I'm too old to miss this one.

And so there's a burden in my heart. And I

heard it in the songs this morning, a cry to God, God,

Oh God, come and meet us, and not just to cry,

but a longing to see God come and to move

by His spirit. And I've been in I've been in

a lot of prayer meetings this last month. I don't

know if you've been aware of the prayer movement across

the country, or whether you've been part of it particularly,

but there's been massive prayer going on in the church.

I've been in ministry since nineteen seventy that's forever, right,

and I've never seen or been part of such a concerted, intense, deliberate,

intentional prayer movement like I've experienced the last month, where

we're across the nation. People are crying out to God

for a turning to God. Steve Uppl put something about

turning back the battle, turning the battle around, and we

were gathered our churches up in northeast Essex, That's where

I've moved to. Now we're gathering together and hundreds of

people came together to cry to God that what's begun,

this silent revival, will not dissipate and disappear, but will

become a full blown move of the Holy Spirit, and

that we will be a part of it. And Nea

Maiah has grabbed our attention. I don't know what you

know about the book of Near Mayah or the man

near Mayah, but he was a remarkable hero in the

Old Testament. He was an ordinary bloke with a job.

He used to bring the wine to the king. He

was the king's cup bearer in Babylon, and he used

to bring wine to the king. So I think it

was a pretty good job. I think there was some

significance about it. So I think he was pretty well

paid and pretty comfortable in Babylon and doing well. And boy,

he was in the king's presence every day, and he

hears that the walls of Jerusalem are broken down. He

hears that Jerusalem is broken without walls. In those days,

the city was defenseless, helpless, hopeless, and the walls were

just rubble. They'd been broken down for so long, and

nobody was doing anything about it. And he was hearing

of the tragedy of what was happening in Jerusalem because

the walls were broken down. So what did he do?

He wrote a letter. No, he didn't write a letter.

He got a petition together. No, he didn't get a

petition together. What did he do? He got on his

face before God, and in near my One it says

he wept many days and fasted as he cried out

to God because of the state of Jerusalem, because the

walls were broken down, and our walls are broken down. Friends, Hey,

I mean it's every day on the news. The national

health is broken, the justice system is broken. There's no

hope for this, there's no hope for that. The police

are struggling to contain and maintain that. Everything is broken.

It's broken down. The walls of society are broken down.

Family is broken down, it's broken down. It's broke. And

that's the urgency. I think that of the prayer that

we've been praying God, our nation is broken down. The

walls are broken down, and we cry out to you, God,

we call upon your name. And in spite of the

moves of the spirit that are occurring and the people

that are coming to Jesus, we have got to go

up again. We have got to we've got to gear up,

and we've got to we've got to get involved and

not just rejoice at good stories that are happening in

other places, but determine that the walls of Egham running

me Stains, whatever you call this area, are going to

be built up, and that God is going to take

hold of us his people, and that's why his favor

is upon us, and that's why He's going to work

for us, so that we can be a part of

the answer to the walls that are broken down. And

so there is this dual thing. There is God coming

because he hears the cry of broken people and stirring

up his church again. And then there is the cry

of the need that is touching our hearts. And we're

beginning to call upon the name of the Lord, just

as near Mayah did and he cried out, and it

says many days. And I've been in chapter two of Nehemiah.

I think I'm probably just not going to bother women notes,

but in fact, the screen keeps disappearing. I'll move away

from it so long, but I do want to talk

about the things that I see happened when they prayed,

And I've just written down some extraordinary things that happened

as the people cried out to God that God heard

the cry. Did you hear the cry? And the songs

we sung because it was there. I don't know if

that's why they were chosen, but I kept seeing it,

and there were a number of things that happened. God

responded to that kind of praying, and the first thing

that happened was extraordinary favor near Mayah goes into the

king's presence and he's miserable because of what he's heard

about Jerusalem. Now, Nea Maia's the guy who wrote the

joy of the Lord is your strength, so he believed

that as well. So I guess he was as miserable

as you can be with the joy of the Lord

in your heart. I don't know how that works exactly,

but he was heavy with the burden of what was

happening in Jerusalem, and the king sees it. Now, you've

got to remember, in those days, the king had absolute power.

It's like one of our national leaders, not our national leader,

but international leaders. He thinks he has absolute power and

he can say what he likes and do what he likes. Well,

they actually could in those days. And if the king

said off with your head, it was off with your head.

You remember the story of Esther. She said pray for me,

because I'm going to go before the king and ask

for his help. She was the queen, and if the

king had said clear off or off with her head,

that would have been it. So they prayed intensely for

three days, and when she went to the king, he

held out the scepter tour, which meant that he granted

her favor. But she could have actually been done away with.

And that's why when the king said to Nehemiah, why

you're so miserable? I guess if he had been living

today and he was a Spurs supporter, you could understand

that why he was miserable. But anyway, the king says,

why are you miserable? And this is what it says.

Nehemiah was terrified. He was terrified because the king had

absolute power to do whatever he wanted with Neemiah. And

if he wasn't happy that I was miserable, he could

have lost more than his job. He could have lost

his life. He's terrified. And then the king says, what's

going on then? And Nearmiyah shares the burden of his

heart and begins to speak about all the stuff that's

going on in Jerusalem and why it's made him sad,

and he says this in near Maiyah two verse eight,

he says, the gracious hand of the Lord was upon me,

the favor of God. See, he's prayed, he's spent time

seeking the face of God, calling upon God, and the

favor of God is upon him. And so he asks

for if he can be released to go and rebuild

the walls. And then the king says yeah, and like this,

and then it says and Nearmiah prayed. He didn't stop

praying because he'd done it, prayer and fasting. He understood

the ongoing nature and the importance of ongoing prayer. And

I guess he knew that Bible verse in for a penny,

in for a pound, and he thought, well, I might

as well go for it then, And so he says, well,

I'd like to go back, and I'd like the word,

and I'd like this, and if you grant me letters

and favor, and he says, and the gracious hand of

God was upon me. These are new days for us,

the church, friends, the authorities, the powers that be have

been against us and have suppressed us and put us

down and denied us favor. But God is coming again

with favor. Do you know what I read last week

in the local paper. I moved to North Essex and

there's a paper that includes Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. And

there was a report from a church, an evangelical church

in Derham in Norfolk, and they've put in plans to

replenish their building and do it up and make it

more accessible and things like that. And the counsel had

sent the plans back to them and not turn them down.

They sent the plans back to them and they said,

we hear that people are becoming Christians, particularly young people

are becoming Christians, and there's a new interest in the Bible.

Can we suggest that you send in bigger plans for

a bigger building to serve our community. That's the secular

Counsel of Derham. Haha. The gracious hand of God was

upon me. We're going to see the gracious hand of God.

You're going to see the gracious hand of God. You're

going to see the gracious hand of God. I've got

to take courage. We've got to get serious about this

stuff that doing a mission down. I come from Southampton.

I've been there. I was there for thirty years until

December and the Christian union, very good evangelical, strong Christian union.

We're doing a mission and they wanted to bring a

bus on and the student union refused, and you know,

the old whatever. So they prayed and they called on

God and they got serious about it and made representation

and the student union decision was reverse because there was

absolutely no reason for them to do that, and so

the favor of God came upon them and the mission

was held last week. It was very very successful. You

know about it, do you? Yeah? Right, yeah. So there's

a new day, and we can expect to see change,

and we mustn't be fearful. Do you know where they

say when the Iron curtain fell in nineteen ninety and

the countries that have been under communist oppression were released,

they didn't know what to do because they'd only known

how to operate under persecution and a lack of favor,

and they didn't know how to handle this wonderful freedom

that they had. We got to be careful that we

don't make our decisions based on the way that people

reacted to us five years or ten years ago. It's

a new day. There's an openness and an emptiness and

an awareness of the tremendous need of that we have

right across society, and they know that we have an answer.

We believe we have the answer. But these are days

of favor and we can expect the extraordinary hand of

God to be upon us. I could tell you stories

about that, but I haven't got time. The second thing

is because we've prayed, it doesn't mean we stopped praying.

The need for ongoing prayer. I love the way that

Nea Maiah, as he is in the presence of the King,

shoots up one of those prayers. So he says, with

a prayer to the God of Heaven, you know. So

the King says, what do you want then? So what

is the first thing you do? He doesn't list the

whole thing. He prays. He cries out to God. And

we're going to find ourselves in those situations and God's

going to come to us. But we need to understand

the importance of maintaining this stance of prayer. We need

to cry until God comes. I don't know if you

remember that an anagram or whatever of the word push

pray until something happens, keep praying. That's very biblical. That's

what Jesus said in Matthew seven seven and eight. He said, ask,

and that's in the present, continuous tense. And keep on asking,

seek and keep on seeking. I've done it the wrong

way around, haven't I Ask and keep on and you

will receive. Keep on seeking, you will find. Keep on

knocking and the door will be opened to you. Keep on,

don't give up. We've got to press through and keep

praying until God comes, until this silent revival, until this

new fresh interest in the things of God, until this

whole generation of young people is touched by the presence

and power of God. And then the third thing that

happens when you pray and when you get serious about

this is opposition. We're constantly in this, in this paradigm

of favor and opposition. As soon as the church gets

off its backside and gets active and and begins to

make an impact, the enemy comes. And so along come

these wonderfully named guys. I've forgotten their names. What what's

the names? You got it? There? They're up there? Where

are they? Oh? Yes, sad Baalat the Horrnite and Tobaia

the Ammonite. The enemies of the people of God rise up.

You will experience opposition don't don't put your head above

the parapet if you're a parapet if unless you're willing

to be shot, Because the enemy will come, there will

be pressures, there will be opposition. But when the favor

of God's upon you, the opposition fails. And in this case,

and later in the chapter and right through the book,

the enemy came and did his best to stop what

God wanted to do and what Gods had put in

the heart of Nehmiah. But nothing and no plan of

the enemy succeeded. We mustn't be ignorant of the devices

of the enemy. We mustn't be ignorant that he's going

to try and bring us down. He's going to try

and thwart us. He's going to discourage us from within

and with our Don't be one of those from within

who you do we can't do that. Who that will

never happen. Yeah, Oh, it's not like it used to be. Yeah, whatever, huh.

Don't be one who are what God is about to do.

Don't be one who is used by the enemy. God

wants to come and change us and do something dramatic

and powerful. I don't know if you know the story fully,

but the story ends in fifty two days. The walls

have been broken down for one hundred and forty years.

They've rebuilt the House of the Lord fifty eight years before.

So they've got the church. But the church hadn't affected

the city. And we the church in the nation, have

hardly affected the city or the cities where God has

put us. But when people get stirred up, and when

God comes and the favor of God is come upon us,

then it doesn't matter what the opposition is. God will

work for us on our behalf. And in fifty two days,

after fifty eight years, the walls were built. And it's

an extraordinary, miraculous, unbelievable story, and God's going to do it.

But it comes out of a people of vision, a

people who are stirred up. In near Myah two to eleven,

there's this remarkable verses near Mayah goes back to Jerusalem

and he goes around the city on his donkey cult

whatever it was a mixture of halls and donkey, and

he says these words, I had not told anyone about

the plans God had put in my heart for Jerusalem.

God put in his heart plans. I want to tell you,

if you start seeking God. God will put plans in

your heart. You start getting serious about the walls that

are broken down, God will stir you up. Thirty years

ago in our church in Southampton, a lady got a

real burden about the abortion issue. And she came to

the leaders of the church and says, what are you

going to do about this issue of abortion? Because it's

wrong and God is not pleased and we need to

do something about it. And so they said, we'll go

away and pray and come back to us. Tell us

what God says to you. So she went away burdened

by these walls that were broken down, and began to

seek the face of God. And God put in her

heart a plan, a strategy. God puts something in her heart.

And she came back and she said, well, I don't

want to start a petition or try and change laws

in government, said, I believe we need to do something

at the grassroots. Is I believe we need to set

up a pregnancy crisis center. And so they set up

a pregnancy crisis center and the first week it was opened,

a woman who was expecting to have an abortion and

intending to have an abortion came in ha changed her mind.

And got saved and she's still in the church today.

I can take you to her. And over the years,

thousands of women have had their minds changed. And it's

not a prechat thing. It's a what it says, a

pregnancy crisis. You know, if you're pregnant, you don't know

what to do, come for counseling and they've got to

be open and honest and present the thing fairly. But

thousands of women have not had an abortion as a

result of that pregnancy crisis center. And as a result

of that one pregnancy crisis center, listen to this, sixty

three other pregnancy crisis centers have opened around the country

and they're under the care of Care UK Christian. They're

there because it got too big for a little group

of people down in Southampton. It's now under the Care

and internationally, I think there are fifteen nations where there

is pregnancy crisis centers. That came out of one woman

crying out to God because of an area where she

saw the walls were broken down. God putting into our hearts.

The walls of Egham are broken down. Family health education,

young people struggling with mental health, your neighbors, lonely. Loneliness

is absolutely it's an epidemic of loneliness right across the nation.

If you get serious about seeking the face of God,

like this, God will put into your heart. He's already

put something in your heart. Cool and maybe already of

you some of you say, know, I could never do that. Well,

that's how near Maya felt. That's why he was terrified.

Because the single he was a cup bearer. He didn't

know how to mix the men, let alone build a wall.

But God put it into his heart. And in the

most extraordinary, remarkable way, God raised him up, gave him

all that he needed. Ha And in fifty two days

he completed the task that God put into his heart.

What's God putting into your heart? You can't seriously seek

his face without him putting something into your heart. This

is the result of seeking the face of God. Who

you know? I sat with an old man. I mean

I'm old, but I mean there's still a lot of

people older than me. And this guy was well into

his eighties, and he'd been in the building trade all

his life, and he'd learned all the different trades, and

he'd been around although he had a particular trade he'd

learned how to do electric work and gas work, and

he'd learned everything you know. And I sat with him

in his late eighties, and he said to me, do

you know what I'd like to have done? He said,

I would like to have taken an old, broken down

house and restored it and repaired it. He said, I've

got all the skills and ability. He said, I'd love

to have done that, and then he said these words,

but it's too late now, It's too late now. I

spent some time with a guy called Miles Monroe a

few years ago, and he used to say, the richest

place in the in the world is the graveyard, because

it's full of unwritten books, paintings that we were never painted,

business ideas that died with the person who had the vision.

And he said, the richest place in the world is

the graveyard. Don't die without seeing that vision fulfilled. It

might be for business. It might be that God wants

to put you in the in the place where you

connect with people that we never even see. Huh. It

might be that God wants it be prime minister. How

about that. I'll be all right, wasn't it. I wouldn't

mind that, Yeah, what's God put in your heart as

you cry out to God because you see the broken walls,

God puts into your heart a vision, a dream of

what he wants to do. And then, of course there's

this massive challenge of faith, you know, this massive challenge

to see this thing happen. Near Maya comes back from

his trip around the walls in chapter two, and he

hadn't told the officials and the people about what he

was doing. And so he comes back and he calls

the people together and he begins to share with them

the vision that he's got, and he shares with them

the favor of God that's upon him. And he challenged

which is the people? And they respond in the most

incredible way as they hear of the hand of God

upon near Mayah. They respond to the challenge and they say, yes,

we will do it, Yes, we will rise to the challenge. Look, yes, there,

he says. You know, I told them about how the

gracious hand of God have been on me, about my

conversation with the king. They replied at once, I love that. Yes,

let's rebuild the wall. So they began the good work,

you know. And then finally, because time has gone near

Mayah says, I replied, the God of Heaven will help

us succeed. I love that he doesn't say we can

do it, he says the God because he knows he

can't do it. He's not builder, but his faith and

his confidence are in this God who's put this vision

into his heart. Because he knows, in his own strength

and by all his own efforts, with all the skills

and abilities he possesses, he can't do this, says God

will help us to succeed. Faith in God causes him

to rise to the challenge. And we can't do it, guys,

we really can't do it. But God is calling us.

God is speaking to us. God is putting things in

our hearts. Ah. And as we respond to him, and

as we receive the vision that he wants to give

us individually and corporately, as God speaks through the leadership

of running me Christian Fellowship and inspires you with a vision,

is all these flags of the nations around the walls

just caught my eye. They've been there the whole meeting.

But it's just like God's just said, Hey, what about

people from all of those nations represented here as part

of this church. This area is representative of that the

nations have come here and God to raise up a

phenomenal testimony of the answer to racism in the church,

where where the walls of petition are broken down, where

we overcome all the cultural stuff that messes up our relationships,

and together we stand and worship people from every tongue, tribe,

and nation together declaring the glory of God. Hey, is

that in your heart? Dave ha the flags had, Yes,

it is. Oh, there's a load at the back as well.

Goodness me look at that Denmark and or India yes, oh,

why not? And there's South Africa here yeah. Oh, God

adding to us and us being an earthly representation of

a worshiping people that fill heaven. Yeah. God, come to

this people. Come to this people as they seek your face,

as individuals, get serious about your purpose for them, as

we become aware of the encouraging signs of what you're doing.

Holy Spirit, Will you come, Holy Spirit, Will you move,

Holy Spirit, Will you work? Will you put into our

hearts visions and dreams. Will you give us the courage

to take them on? Will you move by your spirit

in this place in an extraordinary way. We call upon

your name right now Holy Spirit, Come, Holy Spirit Come.

Can the worship team come and play one of those

songs that we sang today that express this cry to

God for him to come, for his presence and his

power to come. And you know, let's just open our

hearts to God. And maybe where you are you need

to say to God, God, God, I just want to

be part of this. I don't want to miss what

you're doing. I don't want to miss what you're saying. Lord.

I don't want to I don't want to get to

the end of my life and say it's too late. Lord.

This is the day of opportunity. This is the day

when you're working. This is the day when you're moving, Lord,

and just offer ourselves. Listen. I'm seventy seven and I'm

believing God that He's got something new and fresh from

my wife and I we pray and every day You've

moved us up to this place in Essex, Lord, we

know we're here for purpose, for a reason. Where do

we plug in? What do we plug into? And it's

already beginning to happen because we want to be a

part of a move of the spirit in our day.

We want God to come and touch our nation yeah, yeah, hey,

And if you feel you need prayer, if God's put

something in your heart and you're terrified, that's all right,

so we all we can do some praying. I'm sure

there's people who come and join me to pray. Yeah.

If you're just open to God and say I just

want God to show me and whatever, we can pray

for you. And maybe God will give us a prophetic word.

But just have a few minutes and then whenever Rob

feels it's time to pull the thing in, we will.

But let's stand and sing. And if this has touched

your heart this morning, then you come and respond. You