Matthew 7:7-8 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. The "ask" has a meaning in Greek that is continuing to ask for what is required and to keep on asking. Ask refers to the gift that needs to be given and to keep on asking. "Seek" is a word that is to seek after God and keep on seeking. We are to seek to know the Father. "Knock" speaks of entrance into God's dwelling place - an opening the door of fellowship to the Father.

This is the process of prayer:

• Asking - To ask but not only ask but to keep doing so. "Ask whatever you will and it will be done." 
• Seeking - To seek the Giver, not just the gift.
• Knocking - To fellowship, communion, hang out, enjoy conversation, and sit in His presence. It's a great delight not just for us but for God as well.

Does God care when challenging things happen to us? What do we do when God doesn't answer our prayer? What hinders our prayer? Do we think we are the only ones that God doesn't hear or that we are suffering something others haven't? Sometimes, it seems that we are in a unique time of suffering and tend to think we are the only ones. But our problems are not new. James 4:1-2 says, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is the source not your pleasures that wage war in your body’s parts? You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. "

To be prophetic means to communicate with Heaven. The prophetic dimension is where we communicate with Heaven and Heaven communicates with us. We hear from God; God hears from us. If we have a prayer life, it is prophetic, two-way communication and relationship with Jesus. Being prophetic is connecting with Heaven. Be willing to change so you can hear from Heaven.

Too often we treat prayer as a means to maintain our Christian life without fully grasping what it is meant to be. We can miss the significance of prayer. Only when we give prayer its rightful place of the highest part of the work that has been entrusted to us that we will see that there is nothing so needed and so important as prayer. 

Whether times are good or bad, God wants us to be a people who pray.

Prayer is not a last resort or wishful thinking. It is an ongoing line of communication between us and our Father, God, with Whom all things are possible. It is a beautiful gift that we have through Jesus. Because of Christ's death and resurrection, we have access to the throne room of God. We can come to God, calling Him "Father," and tell Him our requests.

Israel recognized what was needed to rebuild Jerusalem, the temple, and worship. Nehemiah 10:29-39 Nehemiah is a pattern book and we can see ourselves in this. Nehemiah was a type of the Holy Spirit and encouraged the people to rebuild. The church today needs this same empowering of the Holy Spirit to rebuild and retool. Last week we covered 3 of the 6 commitments of the people. These covered the personal sins of the people that affected the corporate church:

• Have a lifestyle after God. Verse 29
• To protect their children and their heritage. Verse 30
• To keep and observe the Sabbath. Verse 31

Today, we can personally begin by confessing our sins, confess our not living for God, receive God's forgiveness, and commit to living according to God's Word and His ways. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he grows older he will not abandon it. The Sabbath is our declaration that God is our provision. When we give Him our time, energy, and finances, then He will do great things beyond what we can do. The church can thrive in persecution. The light will shine brightest in the darkness outside. 

The key scripture of all six covenants is Nehemiah 10:39 ... So we will not neglect the house of our God. Nehemiah is a builder's manual for restoration. As a community is restored, then it becomes a haven for the lost. Jerusalem was marked as a haven for anyone to find refuge. The church today is to be the same.

The next 3 commitments are corporate sins that affect individuals.

4. Corporate Responsibility. Nehemiah 10:32 We also imposed on ourselves the obligation to contribute yearly a third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God. These people poured part of what they had into and were responsible for the mission of keeping the worship going. 

5. Practical Service in the House of God. Nehemiah 10:34 Likewise we cast lots for the supply of wood among the priests, the Levites, and the people so that they could bring it to the house of our God, according to our fathers’ households, at set times annually, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law. The work of the Kingdom is simple... we take care of the lost, the stranger, the sick, the weak, the vulnerable, and when those are healed, they will do the same for others. We all have a part - every person stokes the flames of worship.

6. Commit to the tithe.  Jesus was not sent to change the heart of God towards rebellious man but Jesus was sent to change the heart of rebellious man toward the heart of a loving God. When we give to God and honor His Word, then it brings the blessings of God to the individual and the church. See ourselves committing to the principles of God and it will change us. 

In Nehemiah's day, the people gathered to hear, commit, and obey the plan that God had orchestrated. God has a plan today. Earthquakes, persecution, wars... lift up your head. It's getting close. Ask God to revive us again to lift up His name. 

Good boundary markers are important and provide security and protection. They are the first step toward identity in a people and when deeply set and rooted will last a long time. In Nehemiah's day and in our day, living inside the boundaries of the Kingdom of God are essential. In our series "Out of Exile," Ezra and Nehemiah were called out by God to reestablish Jerusalem after 70 years of exile in Babylon. 

Two different men, motivated by the same God, were called to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. Ezra rebuilt the temple and worship. Nehemiah rebuilt the walls and the gates of the city. All of the people agreed on worship, agreed where the boundaries would be, but they had not yet agreed on how to live. Agreeing on how to live was and is a key to success in a community.

The people had rebuilt the walls, rehung the gates, and conquered enemies, but yet still needed to agree on how to live. The people all got together and took an oath and a curse to obey an agreement. The oath is the promise. The curse is the discipline applied when the promise is broken. Our Father will discipline us in order to love us well.  

These six covenants to live by were agreed upon by all of the people - a community commitment. This week we'll cover 3 of those. Freedom Fellowship is based on these same covenants as God led Pastor Dennis to restore this church.

1. They agreed to obey God. Nehemiah 10:29 to walk in God's law, to keep and observe all the commandments. Notice the words of three different actions... walk (the normal activities of life), keep (to protect and love), and observe (spend time to gain a deeper understanding of God's Word). The object was all of the laws (10 commandments and other 613) spoken through Moses. These were a big deal to the Jews. Jesus boiled it down to one law... John 13:34-35 I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another. Jesus is adding to God's laws which were not acceptable to the Jews. This was a new commandment of love. People today want to see that Christians are different. Walking in unity and love is noticeable. Love makes us different. This alone defines the fulfillment of the law. Jesus loves us and we need to love one another.

2. Protect our children. Nehemiah 10:30 and that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. We are to protect our children. It weakened the covenant of God when they intermarried and then worshipped other gods.

3. Observe the law of the Sabbath. Nehemiah 10:31 As for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Most think of Sabbath as doing nothing or as a time to do as we want. The Sabbath goes back to creation - God created rest. Sabbath is a long-term goal, subtle yet powerful beyond imagination. Yet, it is the most disobeyed of all.

July begins our Sabbath celebration at Freedom. It is not a time to do nothing but a time to emphasize doing things together and doing what God says, resting with God. The Sabbath was powerful because it was the time to supply needs. These people committed to being where God was. We need to get our families to church and serve together. Expect to be offended by people in the church. This is not about agreeing with others or being obligated. It is about coming together to see the blessings of God, to love the way Jesus loves so that real community takes place. It's our boundary marker. 

True revival is not some distant dream. We can experience it today, but there is often one thing hindering it: sin.

The Israelites were exiled because of their sin. As they began to return and rebuild, they came together to confront and confess their sin and commit to God's laws. While we may not be adhering to a long list of laws and traditions like they did, we can learn from their example. The old covenant is, after all, a shadow of what we have today through Jesus.

So what is standing in the way of you experiencing a revival in your life today? Don't be afraid of conviction or confession! It is one of the greatest gifts God has given us because restoration and revival are just on the other side!

What does it look like to come out of exile?

Nehemiah 9:1-3 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dirt upon them. The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and they stood and confessed their sins and the wrongdoings of their fathers. While they stood in their place, they read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth, they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.

The bigger purpose of studying Ezra and Nehemiah is for us to come out of an exile of the past few years, apart from fellowship and relationships. At the end of the 70 years of exile, some were released to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Others were born in exile and that is all that they knew. That applies to us today, either having a time of separation or withdrawal from a church community or those that have never been a part of a church community. What does it look like to come out of exile? The Israelites, re-established the place of worship - rebuilding the temple. Today as we see Jesus taking the sacrifice, we became the temple with the Holy Spirit dwelling in each of us. Revival. 

We must place unity above our preferences to see revival.

Revival begins with unity and a coming together. And all the people gathered as one person... They wanted to see a move of God. 

Five steps to revival:

1. Restore Unity

2. Revere God's Word

3. Apply Scripture

4. Confess and Repent

5. Live Obediently