Sermon

Power of Confession Nehemiah 1 v6

Omega Church NZ

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  9. So I want to continue with the book of Nehemiah.

  10. I spoke on chapter one last week, but somehow in my spirit I

  11. felt that I have done justice for the prayer of Nehemiah, of

  12. the way he prayed. So I want to focus on just one

  13. part of that prayer. I think it's in verse 6, chapter

  14. one, verse 6, Let your ear be attend to you and your eyes open

  15. to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and

  16. night for your servants, the people of Israel.

  17. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and

  18. my Father's house have committed against you.

  19. Just want to focus on the word confess.

  20. When will you finish the chapter?

  21. I hope we will finish the chapter with that word.

  22. So the word confess is not totally new because the

  23. Christianity or the faith in Christ depends on the

  24. confession. It begins with the good

  25. confession that He is Lord, He is the Savior, and it all is all

  26. about repenting and confessing our sin.

  27. Everybody knows the word confess.

  28. But now, why do I want to take extra day spend on that word?

  29. Confess here? The news of breaking down of the

  30. walls and the gates sent him into a different kind of a

  31. reaction where he sat down, bought and bite and he wept and

  32. he fasted and prayed for days together.

  33. And then he made this prayer. And in the prayer he has

  34. reminded God about his covenant faithfulness and he reminded

  35. that he's great and awesome and, and, and then with he keeps

  36. covenant with those who love him and obey his commands.

  37. Now so many times we just walk into God's place and give him a

  38. list of things. You know, I am going to this

  39. business meeting. Can you please keep an eye on

  40. it? Or I am going to the hospital

  41. for seeing the doctor where you know, do something there.

  42. You know, just is there a way that you approach God?

  43. How do you approach God? There is a time when you pray a

  44. short prayer, which Nehemiah does in chapter 2.

  45. When he is the presence of the king, he sends a quick prayer.

  46. That is OK. When you are under pressure of

  47. time, you pray. A quick prayer is fine, but you

  48. can't do always the same kind of prayer in your life.

  49. You need to have a protocol. You need to acknowledge that He

  50. is awesome and great and powerful and sovereign, and you

  51. need to praise Him. You need to tell Him that you

  52. love Him. And what does it do?

  53. It prepares your heart to receive from Him what He wants

  54. to give you. Many of us are in a hurry when

  55. it comes to prayer. No, it doesn't work like that.

  56. When you come to God, you need to leave aside all things that

  57. are bothering you and focus on Him alone.

  58. You are worthy, you are awesome, you are great, You're sovereign,

  59. you're compassionate, you're merciful, you are just.

  60. You can go on and in AW. Tozer wrote a book called

  61. Knowledge of the Holy in that he says somebody has praised God of

  62. 1000 attributes and someone else praised the God of numberless

  63. attributes. You cannot exhaust God when you

  64. think about Him. So every Christian must be

  65. falling in love with God that you will be able to say

  66. something new about him because he has numberless attributes.

  67. You need to know him. You need to say something new.

  68. It is just a casual conversation we had in the family.

  69. And John raised some issue about some video he showed me and he

  70. says he talked about Jesus being given a name that's so high that

  71. every knee will buy every tongue confess.

  72. And he said that name is the name Yahweh.

  73. And he was trying to argue that Jesus is not the highest name.

  74. But before that, we had a prayer meeting on Friday night.

  75. In the prayer meeting, I was telling God, you have given the

  76. name Yahweh so that Israelites 1 nation can connect with you.

  77. But you're given the name Jesus to Yahweh and brought him in the

  78. flesh so that the whole world can connect with him.

  79. I didn't know when I was saying that to God that this video I'm

  80. going to see after an hour or so and I'm going to bring up the

  81. conversation. But did I say something new to

  82. God? I did in last 45 years.

  83. I never said that to him before. So what I am trying to say is

  84. you must be bubbling with worshipping him, connecting with

  85. him, knowing him that is. That is when we know that you

  86. are alive in Christ Jesus. Sign of life is you will love

  87. this Jesus, you will worship him.

  88. You are something new to say week after week after week is

  89. like in a marriage relationship. Also 40 years you are married,

  90. 50 years you are married. You must have something to say

  91. sometimes about the partner spouse.

  92. Otherwise you know it is just dry marriage.

  93. I would say it. So let's make it interesting

  94. when it comes to prayer as well. Now he's talking about

  95. confession. He's saying I confess the sins

  96. we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have

  97. committed against you. Now why should we confess?

  98. When you confess the the the transformation begins there, the

  99. power of transfer is released. When you confess, walls are

  100. broken down, the gates are burned down and stones are all

  101. burnt out, and there is no hope of see.

  102. That is the the city has lost its protection, has lost its

  103. prestige, and you don't feel proud to be living in Jerusalem

  104. with the walls broken down and gets burned down.

  105. Look at our families. Are there problems in the

  106. family? There could be historical

  107. problems. Sometimes we must have said

  108. something, done something 20 years ago.

  109. We are still suffering because of what we did and what we said.

  110. The walls are broken down, the foundation stones are upturned.

  111. So things, there are always things.

  112. Look at our children's life, how they are in the Lord, how they

  113. are having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, how they are

  114. walking with God. Or look at many of these

  115. aspects. I tell you, family is the unit,

  116. foundational unit where we need to have the walls in its place

  117. and gates in its place rightly. And the next foundational unit

  118. is a church, the body of Christ. But the individual families are

  119. the stones that form the walls and gates of the church.

  120. We need to have this picture very clearly in our mind.

  121. We are not called to be alone. You are not a Christian on an

  122. island. No.

  123. Gods purpose is to raise a community of believers.

  124. That's why we gather here on a Sunday to worship him.

  125. And that is biblical and that is fundamental right of every

  126. Christian to worship God with other Saints.

  127. Sometimes you can go to a conference and not talk to

  128. anybody. It can be just like a smile and

  129. a shake hand. And then suddenly he says, oh,

  130. I'll come back to you. And he leaves you OK?

  131. You are coming here at a conference to relax, to connect

  132. with people and you just shake and say I'll come back to you.

  133. What are you in a hurry for? So sometimes you are there for

  134. 2-3 days and you don't connect. Why am I saying that Is we are

  135. going to the camp, OK, In the camp, let us build

  136. relationships. Let us get to know each other

  137. because that's a time you got no limitation on it.

  138. Afternoon you after lunch and you have a free time and the

  139. free time is the time to connect with people.

  140. Somebody may be very because of age and things that you may want

  141. to have a little rest. That's fine.

  142. But still my purpose, whatever the purpose of the camp, is to

  143. build the relationship to make the church more loving and

  144. strong. We need to have the foundation

  145. made right, and that comes through fellowship.

  146. So camps we need to have, we are having one in a year.

  147. We should have more than one in a year, basically.

  148. But let's see in the future how it goes.

  149. It will be building the church, building the families, building

  150. the community. Yeah.

  151. So confession is very, very important.

  152. So what does confession do #1 it is not a moral reset.

  153. Is not a moral reset. Oh, I've been living insane this

  154. and that. I confess it.

  155. I reset my life again, go with God again, again I fall by, fall

  156. down and sin again. I need to reset.

  157. That's not the point. There is not for moral reset.

  158. Of course it can do that. But that's not the sole purpose

  159. of confession. Is not for a moral reset, it is

  160. for knowing, encountering a holy God who expects, who has

  161. standards for you, who has expectations of how you live for

  162. Him. He has a purpose and a plan and

  163. confession is what is going to bring you into that place, to

  164. receive His plans and purposes planted into you, rewritten into

  165. you and reinforce into your life.

  166. That is what confession will do. Secondly, confession has

  167. transforming power. Everybody says transforming

  168. power. If you don't mean you don't

  169. confess, you don't repent. It should not be shallow.

  170. It is not a shallow experience. Oh, it is not like saying

  171. somebody you, you are walking in on the street and somebody you

  172. know, they are walking behind you and they without their

  173. intention, you know that their foot touches your foot and you

  174. know, you are startled. Who is kicking me from behind?

  175. And that man doesn't want to say sorry because you look back and

  176. say sorry. Does it happen?

  177. It happened to be New York on the on the bridge as somebody I

  178. feel somebody's foot and I look around that girl looks and says

  179. after 2 seconds he says sorry. OK, At least the confession when

  180. it comes to with God is not a shallow confession.

  181. I have to say it. I have to do it.

  182. No, it has to be coming from deep inside your spirit.

  183. It has to come from your soul and it must make you convict of

  184. your shortfalling. It should help you to see the

  185. holy God and X and his expectations for you and say I

  186. am sorry I fall short of your goal for my life, your

  187. expectation for my life. I am so sorry.

  188. And when it comes from the spirit, from inside your soul,

  189. then the transforming power begins.

  190. The transforming power begins. It is like the prodigal son who

  191. said my father has many servants and they have enough to eat and

  192. spare. Therefore, I will rise up and

  193. go. That is my next point.

  194. Confession stirs up your volitional part, the part in you

  195. that will move your will. It is just not emotional.

  196. It is not just not intellectual. That confession has to touch the

  197. depth of your spirit, that volitional part.

  198. Ultimately, what will make you change is that will must be

  199. moved and the confession does exactly that.

  200. It will change. It will push that will to do

  201. what you are not able to do otherwise what you've been not

  202. able to do for years. That is going to change when you

  203. confess. Are we together?

  204. One of the other things we we have understanding the time will

  205. change things. Can we say it together?

  206. Will time change things? It doesn't Time doesn't change

  207. anything when the when you look at the nation of Israel, you've

  208. got the 10 tribes in the north and the 2 tribes of roughly 2

  209. tribes in the S 1st Assyrians came and invaded and captured

  210. the people, took them away and deported them to different

  211. places. It is almost like a place like

  212. in the modern Iraq, the modern Iraq from Middle East.

  213. They were taken away, go up and up and up up to Iraq and they

  214. were settled there. After that all happened 150

  215. years of time. God gave to Southern Judah to

  216. repent and to keep faithful faithfulness to Him, but they

  217. did not learn any lesson. After 150 years, Nebuchadnezzar

  218. came, the Babylons came and attacked and they captured that

  219. was sorry, I got it. What was the year?

  220. Did I mention the year just now? OK, the the Babylonians came and

  221. they deported. First deportation happened in

  222. 597 BC and he put another guy there as a king or a governor.

  223. He was faithful to him for a while, 2-3 years, then stopped

  224. paying taxes. He comes again, invades him,

  225. captures the people, takes them away again in 586 BC and 582 BC,

  226. and by then the southern Kingdom has completely fallen three

  227. times. He came, captured the people,

  228. deported them, put them in different places.

  229. Now this time he took them to Iran, the modern day Iran.

  230. So Jewish people have got enmity with Iran now.

  231. But there that was a home for a while for 150 plus years and

  232. afterwards they were captured and deported and put there.

  233. After nearly 150 years comes the year 444 BC when Nehemiah is

  234. standing in the presence of the king asking for publisher to

  235. rebuild the walls. Has time healed?

  236. No, time is nothing, time is nothing until we repent, until

  237. we say I am sorry my Lord, we have messed up our life.

  238. Our families are disturbed today because we have made some

  239. mistakes in the past and then God releases His grace and

  240. favor. It is true about everybody,

  241. about its about my life. It's the same thing.

  242. It's not going to be different for anybody.

  243. I need to depend of my past. Are you crazy?

  244. On this Sunday morning? You're disturbing us all.

  245. That's not my idea here. That's not my idea here at all.

  246. I'm not wanting to put extra guilt or anything.

  247. That's not my point. There is power in confession

  248. because it's going to break the power of Satan.

  249. When you confess, what happens? Power of Satan is broken.

  250. We are we are ministering deliverance to a person and I

  251. let that person in a kind of a confessional prayer, I am sorry

  252. I had done this, please forgive me, Wash me in your blood, Set

  253. me free from every spirit that comes from so and so.

  254. And it was going on and I said now let's do some more

  255. confession. Lord I am forgive me and wash

  256. me, cleanse me in your blood and set me free from every spirit

  257. that comes from my father. I told her to repeat she

  258. repeated it. Then I said Lord set me free

  259. from every spirit that's coming from my mother and she said Lord

  260. set me free from every spirit is coming from my Mama.

  261. It was just 15 minutes of Ma it the spirit does not allow her to

  262. say mother. Why the moment she says set me

  263. free from every spirit coming from my mother, that spirit has

  264. to go. She doesn't want to do it.

  265. And she was laughing in between. Why am I behaving like a child?

  266. Why am I not able to say it? And she comes back to normalcy

  267. and then she talks with us and then again, OK, let's continue.

  268. Every spirit coming from your father set me free.

  269. She says it no problem. Every spirit come from your

  270. mother set me free. Every spirit coming from it was

  271. going on, Ma. It took us a long time to make

  272. us say it and to set her free. Why am I giving this

  273. illustration? There is power in confession.

  274. When you confess it, the power of Satan is broken.

  275. Whatever it is, call a spade a spade before God.

  276. You don't say. You don't put some grass on it,

  277. some flowers on it, and say this is not spade, it is just a bunch

  278. of flowers. No, you don't do that.

  279. Call a spade a spade. Sin a sin and and repent and say

  280. I am really sorry. I am really sorry.

  281. And when that repentance happens, 100% repentance, that

  282. power of sin is broken. That demon that has kept taken

  283. captive of your life will be forced out because you have

  284. repented, because you have confessed this power in the

  285. confession, this power in the confession.

  286. SO4 Generations of people have come and gone, but the things

  287. have not changed in the capital of Susan.

  288. And Nehemiah is standing in the presence of the king, but he

  289. cannot ask him. He cannot even mention the name

  290. of Jerusalem, because if he mentions the name Jerusalem, if

  291. he mentions the name Judea, the king will may trigger his memory

  292. and say, Hey, I already told no, why are you asking again?

  293. So he says my parents, my forefathers sepulchre is in

  294. ruins. Isn't he bothered about the

  295. people who are dead and buried? That's not his point.

  296. His point is the city walls. But he says the city where my

  297. fathers have been buried is lying in ruins because he wanted

  298. to start up emotional part of the king.

  299. And he addresses that way and the king walks into the plot and

  300. is gives in to him and says how long will it take?

  301. That's in chapter 2. How long is it going to take?

  302. That means king has is positively wanting to grant his

  303. request. OK that will.

  304. I don't want to rush into the next weeks message but the point

  305. I'm trying to hear is he has spoken to the king in a way to

  306. camouflage the issue and because he if he mentions everything

  307. he's not going to get it. So he just camouflages issues

  308. and speaks to the king and gets his favor.

  309. But then 4 generations the time has not healed things.

  310. It needed a man who had to confess his sins, his family

  311. sins and his nation sins. And the revival comes the

  312. confession. There's power in confession is

  313. the same thing that Daniel did, is the same thing that Moses

  314. did. He confesses sins of Israelites.

  315. God said, hey, these people are rebellious and stiff naked.

  316. They are not going to change. I want to wipe out every one of

  317. them. I will raise you and make you a

  318. nation. And Moses said, God, remember

  319. that you are a compassionate God.

  320. You are a merciful God. Don't forget who you are.

  321. Don't forget who you are. If you do that, people are going

  322. to say that you are unable to bring your people into the

  323. promised land, so you kill them. When our heart is aligned with

  324. the heart of God, your interests will fade away.

  325. Only the interests of God will rule your heart and your mind.

  326. And there is power in confession.

  327. There's power in confession. So you have the story of Jonah.

  328. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, go to Nineveh.

  329. I said no, no, no, I don't want those people to be saved.

  330. So he goes to Tarshish under a different direction.

  331. And of course you know the story how God ordered a whale or a

  332. fish or a dolphin or water large enough to swallow him alive and

  333. spit him out on the shores from where he could walk into

  334. Nineveh. And then when he preached the

  335. message he said 40 days, 40 days, the gods judgment is

  336. coming upon this nation only 40 days.

  337. And you he must have been half of his in three days of time.

  338. All the juices from the belly, belly of the fish must have

  339. eaten away his clothes and discolored and spelling fishy

  340. and things falling from his hair everywhere, all his body and his

  341. walking in the seats. 40 days you are going to be destroyed.

  342. 40 days you are going to be destroyed.

  343. That news went up to the king is a crazy man saying 40 days the

  344. Kingdom is going to be overthrown.

  345. And king says did he say that? I don't care if he's crazy man,

  346. but let's believe him. And he decreed that everybody

  347. will fast with sackcloth, even the animals, own animals.

  348. You have to put a sackcloth on animal, your horse, your

  349. Buffalo, your cow, your sheep, and the children, babies, they

  350. repented. And then what happened?

  351. God changed his mind to punish the nation.

  352. Is there anything that can change?

  353. God is a contract heart. We opened our worship this

  354. morning with what is the song we sang create in me a clean heart

  355. Ogar that's from Psalm 51, Create in me a clean heart every

  356. song today, you know, I said, oh, this is all my messages all

  357. going there in the every song was addressing it and that is

  358. the Holy Spirit. I, I didn't tell them what I'm

  359. going to preach and they didn't tell me what they are going to

  360. sing. But everything is falling in its

  361. place. And that is the work of the Holy

  362. Spirit. Praise God for it.

  363. Praise God for the worship team. So you've got a King David who

  364. has committed adultery and murder.

  365. You look into the book of Leviticus.

  366. The book of Leviticus talks about different kinds of

  367. sacrifices, offerings for sins committed unintentionally.

  368. You are not plan to do it, you do it.

  369. Then there is a sacrifice to forgive you and to cover your

  370. sin. No sacrifice for willful sin.

  371. No sacrifice for willful sin. And that is the reason why King

  372. David, even though he had committed adultery with

  373. Bathsheba, then God, her husband Oraya, to be killed in the

  374. battle, double sin. But this is willful sin.

  375. There's no remission, no covering, no sacrifice to cover

  376. his sin. He must be put to death.

  377. He must be cut off from the people of Israel.

  378. He must be punished. And he had this child growing in

  379. Bathsheba. And the child is born and the

  380. child died, but became sick and died.

  381. And he was fasting for seven days and everything is all over,

  382. and he thought nobody knows about it until the word of the

  383. Lord came to Nathan and he came and confronted King David.

  384. Until then, he did not realize that he has offended God more

  385. than one year. If it happened to David, King

  386. David, it happened to us. We may not be ready to repent,

  387. but I tell you, good things will happen.

  388. Refreshing times will come. Blessing will come when we

  389. repent. I know.

  390. What is the question in your mind?

  391. Are we not believers? Is not all our sin forgiven?

  392. Why are you talking to me today about confession?

  393. Again, I tell you this part of the confession thing.

  394. We will never come out until the Lord comes.

  395. It was Martin Luther who said there are two kinds of sins,

  396. sins of Commission and sense of omission.

  397. What is sense of Commission? What they should not do You do

  398. the sins of Commission. What is sense of omission?

  399. You don't do what you are supposed to do good things.

  400. I usually give an example like your, your, your, you bought

  401. your ticket, you put your money, has swiped your car and you are

  402. sitting in the bus and you are going and at one stop, one guy

  403. jumps into the bus, doesn't swipe the car, doesn't put the

  404. money and he comes and sits next to you.

  405. If you did not pay your fare, that sends a Commission.

  406. But you saw that that guy did not pay his fare, he didn't

  407. swipe his card. But are you telling the driver,

  408. hey, stop, this guy hasn't put the money, we don't do it.

  409. That is enough omission. Am I communicating?

  410. So he said at the end of the day, Martin Luther is lying down

  411. on the bed and he would say, Lord, forgive me my sins of

  412. Commission and sins of omission. Why all of us committed.

  413. So we need to, we need to confront ourselves every day and

  414. the end of the day, we have to confront ourselves and repent.

  415. Examine how things went. Examine somebody whose face

  416. changed when you said something to them.

  417. Recall, oh, I said it, it hurt them, but I didn't apologize.

  418. Make it good next day, but first with God first before you close

  419. your eyes and sleep. That is how you deal with sin.

  420. You don't let it go for the next day.

  421. You need to repent quickly. And I tell you this, this, this

  422. concept of confession, it goes on through the Bible.

  423. You will come up to 1 John where you say, where John writes, you

  424. know, he's faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse

  425. us from all unrighteousness when when we confess our sin. 1 John

  426. 19. And then you go into the Book of

  427. Revelation. In the Book of Revelation you

  428. see to the letter 7 letters are written to seven churches and to

  429. Ephesus. He says, Yet I hold this against

  430. you. You have forsaken the love you

  431. heard at first sight. At first consider how far you

  432. have fallen. Repent and do the things you did

  433. at first. If you do not repent, I will

  434. come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

  435. Judgment. Why do you have to go through

  436. judgment when there is a facility and available means of

  437. being forgiven? Confess, repent, confess,

  438. repent. You know without repentance,

  439. confession is incomplete. Confession is not only

  440. confession is you agree and say the same thing.

  441. If God says you are told a lie, when you confess you are say I

  442. told a lie. If God says you committed a

  443. murder, you say I committed murder.

  444. That's confession agreeing and saying the same thing that God

  445. is saying about you. But repentance is you go, you

  446. are going this way and when you repent, you make a 180° turn and

  447. go the other way. That's repentance.

  448. So you need to confess and repent together.

  449. It makes one complete act. I have talked to so many

  450. families, every family, one person is ready to say sorry.

  451. Another person is never ready to say sorry.

  452. It just happens. All the families have seen I

  453. already have come across not even one.

  454. I cannot say even one family where both are ready to say

  455. sorry and not come across one. That is just the nature, human

  456. nature. But the longer we hold back to

  457. say I'm sorry so long, you're depriving joy in the family, joy

  458. in the family stolen. They will come and picks up the

  459. joy and goes away, disappears until you say sorry.

  460. It is not going to be changed. It is not going to be changed.

  461. We should ask for grace to say sorry when it has to be said

  462. right time, quickly delaying is not going to help.

  463. We should ask God, Lord, give me grace to repent.

  464. Give me grace to say sorry. Give me grace to confess.

  465. This is very important. I am telling you, you can't

  466. learn about it. After 100 years of age, Now I am

  467. old. I can't do anything.

  468. I will learn to say sorry now. No, that's not the time it is.

  469. Now is the time we have to learn to say sorry and then revelation

  470. another church Pergamum, never that.

  471. I have a few things against you. There are some among you who

  472. hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the

  473. Israelites of sin so they ate food, sacrificed idols and

  474. committed sexual immorality. Likewise, you also have those

  475. who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

  476. Repent therefore. Otherwise I will soon come to

  477. you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

  478. Now that is a higher degree of God becoming your enemy and

  479. fighting against you because you are not willing to repent.

  480. As a church we must repent as well.

  481. Theatra he writes again to make it quick.

  482. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is

  483. unwilling. So there's going to be judgment.

  484. And then he talks to Sardis. I know your deeds.

  485. You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

  486. Wake up. Strengthen what remains and is

  487. about to die. For I have found your deeds

  488. unfinished in the sight of my God.

  489. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard.

  490. Hold it fast and repent. If you do not wake up, I will

  491. come like a thief. So what does the repentance do?

  492. What does confession do? It makes you awake.

  493. It keeps you alert to the plan of God, action of God, heart of

  494. God. And I have tell you, it makes

  495. you sensitive, it makes you responsible.

  496. It just makes life easy for you and for others.

  497. So when we confess what happens is here in to the Levodicia.

  498. This is a church that was neither neither warm or not not

  499. hot. Those whom I love a rebuke and

  500. discipline. So be earnest and repent.

  501. Here I am. I stand at the door and knock.

  502. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in

  503. and eat with that person and they're with me.

  504. Repentance restores fellowship with God.

  505. You want to enjoy fellowship with God.

  506. Look, examine what needs to be confessed.

  507. And then he says, I'm standing at the door and knocking.

  508. When you repent, say I'm sorry. I will come into your heart and

  509. I will eat with you, you with me.

  510. Intimacy with God is the ultimate goal, and repentance

  511. helps us achieve it. And Nehemiah understood it and

  512. began the right way, confessing the sins of the people, his

  513. family, nation, so that good times may come.

  514. And you know what is very interesting about Nehemiah?

  515. He is like many Christians, modern day Christians.

  516. He did not have a vision like Daniel had, like Joseph had

  517. dreams. Nothing, no dreams, no visions.

  518. Yet you have a man who is sold out to do the will of God and

  519. who stands by faith and wages the war by faith and goes and

  520. rebuilds the walls. In 52 days six of the gates have

  521. been set up, walls have been replaced, burnt stones removed

  522. and reinstated. In 52 days.

  523. You ask Nehemiah, when you go to heaven, did you have a dream

  524. that one day you are going to do this thing?

  525. No, no, no, I never had any dream.

  526. Ah, did you have? Thus says the Lord, I am

  527. appointing you a man to go and rebuild the walls.

  528. No, there is no revelation from God for Nehemiah.

  529. What made Nehemiah success is his heart aligned with the heart

  530. of God. When the things of God are not

  531. in the right place, your heart is grieved and God says that is

  532. my will to restore and he. You don't need another word to

  533. come, no revelation you need, you don't need a dream.

  534. You just stand up and do the will of God and God will go

  535. before you and fight for you and support you.

  536. Repentance is the key. Refreshing times will come.

  537. Walls will stand up, gates will be restored, honor will be

  538. restored. When we begin with repentance,

  539. sometimes the consequences are too far out that we may not be

  540. able to control them. Things that have happened 20-30

  541. years ago. But when we say, Lord, I'm

  542. sorry, I repent. God who is outside the timeline

  543. can put his hand on what happened 20 years ago, 30 years

  544. ago, and set right the consequences in the present time

  545. so that your future will be a blessing.

  546. That is our God. That is our God.

  547. Repentance softens the heart, makes it more playable like a

  548. play DoH in the hands of God. You become useful in the hands

  549. of God when you repent. Repentant does not go unnoticed.

  550. When a person is repenting, he is changing, His heart is

  551. changing, his mind is changing. Nobody can say he is the same

  552. guy. I have seen him for 20 years.

  553. No, the change will be visible to everybody.

  554. You cannot contain the flashing of the Thunder and the

  555. lightning, and you cannot hide A repented heart.

  556. You cannot. Everybody will know that you are

  557. a different person and they will gravitate to you.

  558. They will connect with you, they will relate with you, and it's

  559. going to be beautiful. Repentance is not a feeling,

  560. eating, feeding on the guilt. It's not feeling, eating,

  561. feeding on the guilt. It is like a rope someone who is

  562. drowning hangs on to. When somebody is drowning and

  563. you throw a rope and he clutches the rope.

  564. The moment he clutches the rope, death is cancelled.

  565. Life begins the same moment. The time you grasp that rope,

  566. the death is cancelled and the life begins to operate in your

  567. life. Hope begins to operate in your

  568. life. Light comes into situation where

  569. everything was dark before. Do you know what it is like to

  570. drown in the water? It will confuse your mind.

  571. You will be breathless, you will be forced to drink water and

  572. then when you are pulled out they are going to push on your

  573. belly and bring out the water again.

  574. Its just traumatic. But if you grab the rope, all

  575. those things will be cancelled. You are going to begin to see

  576. light. Demand is not feeling, eating,

  577. feeding on guilt. It is just broken.

  578. It is just broken. I just want to share with you

  579. that rope is a lost mercy. That rope is a lost mercy.

  580. CS Lewis is a very great thinker and a writer and a philosopher

  581. and he has many things to say about repentance.

  582. In his book called Mere Christianity.

  583. He writes now repentance is no fun at all.

  584. Its not fun. What does he say?

  585. Its something much harder than merely eating humble pie.

  586. It means unlearning all the self conceit, self will.

  587. It means undergoing kind of death.

  588. You will be demolished and a new person comes out like a sphinx

  589. from the ash rising from the ashes.

  590. That's the power of confession. Repentance is not something God

  591. demands of you before He will take you back.

  592. It is simply a description of what going back is like.

  593. It doesn't make that a condition, but that's what it is

  594. all going to happen when you repent and turn to God.

  595. In other words, repentance isn't a toll we paid to earn.

  596. Gods love is the very path that leads us back into His arms.

  597. Repentance is very important. Repentance is not believing in

  598. self. But abandoning self is not going

  599. on saying hi Ramana, hi Ramana, no that Ramana has to die.

  600. When we repent, that comes an end of self will, self

  601. determination and it is like a rebellion.

  602. When a man is rebelling against a king, he has a sword in his

  603. hand, bow and arrow in his hand or rifle In the modern days

  604. AK47. But when you repent, you put

  605. your arms down and raise your hands up and surrender.

  606. That's the song you are singing today.

  607. I surrender it all. Confession is not about shame.

  608. Oh, to say sorry, you think, oh, I'll be so ashamed to say I'll

  609. be put down. No, it is not about shame.

  610. It is power. Power to restore relationship,

  611. power to restore future, power to change things.

  612. It's not to put you put shame at all, but forgiveness,

  613. reconciliation, restoration, joy and peace.

  614. Repentance opens the door for forgiveness. 1 down 19 brings

  615. healing and renewal. 2nd Chronicle 714 King Solomon when

  616. he built the temple, he said when people look at look towards

  617. this temple and pray, be attentive, listen, open your

  618. ears, hear their prayer and answer.

  619. That's repentance. It's not emotional,

  620. intellectual, but a volitional elements of repentance.

  621. I will rise and go. And you know, there is a song by

  622. Jonathan and Melissa Hessler Hilson they called ABBA.

  623. And that song, I listen to it every day before I begin to

  624. pray. The first song that plays is

  625. ABBA. And what you see here is that

  626. you see that father coming running after the prodigal son

  627. with a ring and a robe. Ring stands for authority, robe,

  628. forgiveness and righteousness. The Father is not ashamed of his

  629. son. He is not ashamed.

  630. He he is saying, the son is saying I am not worthy to be

  631. called your son. Make me a slave, make me a

  632. servant in your house. And father says, son, stop that.

  633. Here is the ring and here is the room.

  634. I tell you, every time you pray and you play the song, your

  635. prayer is going to change. I don't know how long it will

  636. hold on somebody's attention, but try it.

  637. ABBA. But Jonathan and Melissa Helser,

  638. I'm asking Joseph to sing it for us now.

  639. And as a song is playing, look with a intentionally look at

  640. your past life, all the past, and look at the things that you

  641. need to repent and say sorry to God.

  642. And you want this renovation to happen.

  643. You want a refreshing time to come.

  644. You want the new foundation to be laid.

  645. You want the vast to be built. You want the guest to be set up.

  646. You want that protection to come.

  647. You want the blessing to come. You wanted the joy and peace of

  648. God to come and change the life of your family, yourself, and

  649. the community and the church. Just do so you can come to the

  650. front and surrender yourself to Jesus.

  651. Surrender to him. Thanks for.

  652. Joining us at Omega. If you need prayer for healing

  653. or breakthrough, or simply to find out more, please head to

  654. our website or Facebook page in the links below.