There are three main themes to Ezra and Nehemiah- 1. repentance, I changed my mind, I changed my direction, I turn, I go back to the the path that has been traversed, 2. prayer, and 3. fasting. What we see is that the temple gets restored, the altar gets restored, worship gets restored, the word gets restored. There’s ownership for sin…
If I had to give this message a title, I would call it, “I’m A Survivor.” Say out loud, “I’m a Survivor!”
You can watch this full message right here–
I’m going to keep drilling these things but there’s a lot that I’m going to add on today. Ezra is the book of restoration, restoring the temple and restoring worship. And I feel like that’s happened here at City of Destiny in Apopka, FL. I feel like there’s been a restoration in this house. I feel like there’s been a restoration of worship. I just want to share from my heart- I feel there’s such an ease ministering for the first time for me in seven years, like there’s no restriction anymore.
This is important, because I believe you have been through some things and I feel like you are about to have an ease in something. Something that has shifted. God is the one that plants. He’s the one that plucks. He’s the one that puts down. He’s the one that removes. He’s the one that sets things in order, and when there’s an order, there’s an ease to things. I feel almost like we’ve gone through the book of Ezra, even naturally here. Like there’s a restoration of the temple literally, there’s a restoration of worship and restoration of the Word.
Then you get to Nehemiah, which is interesting because as we approach this, Nehemiah is a little bit more of a political figure because he works for the governor. He’s a cupbearer to the king actually. And but he is a covenant person, he is in covenant with God. So that tells us that God uses people in covenant outside of just temple service, that God wants to use you, whether it’s in the post office, in the education system, in media, God wants to use you at the hospital. God wants to use you in politics. God wants to use you in all different areas. Someone who will not compromise this Word, someone who will not bend or bow.
God places His people within secular systems, because God says, “it still takes My covenant people to restore the city. It takes My comment people to restore the nation.” So God always goes back to His people who are in covenant with Him.
Nehemiah is the book of reconstruction, restoring the people, restoring the city. That will happen in 52 days. I think that acceleration happens because the church got it right. So when the church gets it right, then all of a sudden, the city and the nation get it right!
Then in the book of Esther you see the preservation, and that is the rescuing of the nation. So God can easily remove someone and put an Esther in! Now remember Isaiah 61, “for then they will build rebuild the ancient ruins, they will erase the former devastation and they will repair the ruined city, the desolation of many generations.”
I believe that God is calling us to repair the ancient ruins.
That’s the truth of God’s Word that He’s calling us to restore the former devastations of the cities. We’re seeing it literally with our eyes I believe. We see right now: devastated communities, devastated cities, devastation in society, and God’s calling His people, the true Blood-bought Church to restore the cities and the desolation of generations. We will not lose these generations in Jesus’ name.
I declare we’re going to see another generation that will “take the Gospel around the world until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord has covered this earth,” Habakkuk 2:14, “as the waters cover the seas.” I want you to see as we get ready to repair the ruined cities and the desolated generations, that…
…You’re A Survivor.
