REAL REVIVAL… REAL CHANGE
Nehemiah Chapter 8
1 all the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel. 2 So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. 3 He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.
9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, "This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. 10 Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
13 On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra the scribe to give attention to the words of the Law.
18 Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly.
Chapter 9 - 1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads. 2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. 3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God.
And through Chapter 9 they go through a discourse of all God has done in their history and then in response to His word of law they have been reading… they cut covenant with God and in Chapter 10 they seal it with God… and list all the ways they will now comply with God’s word.
HERE IS THE CHALLENGE AND PROCESS OF REVIVAL IN THIS MOMENT OF NEHEMIAH… one that we will examine in a moment…
TWO MAIN QUESTIONS THAT TIE INTO THE POTENTIAL OF OUR FUTURE:
First question today:
WHAT IS REVIVAL? AND WHY DO WE NEED IT?
REAL REVIVAL
Comes from hearing God’s Word
and experiencing God’s presence
Leads to a Heart Change
Leads to Life Change
Leads to World Change
All for the Glory of God and growing His Kingdom
Revival is an encounter with the living God… As one pastor put it, revival is: “coming to life again. It’s when we go from indifference to making a difference. It’s when we move from being comfortably numb to being passionately committed. It’s when we move from an appetite for the world and self to an appetite for God.”
Real life…. Real Change – that is revival…
We need revival when....
o ... when we do not love God as we once did.
o … when earthly interests and occupations are more important to us than eternal ones.
o …when we would rather watch TV and read secular books and magazines than read the Bible.
o … when our Christianity is joyless and passionless.
o … when we know truth in our heads that we are not practicing in our lives.
o … when we make little effort to witness to the lost.
o …when we have time for sports, recreation, and entertainment, but not for Bible study or prayer.
o . . . when we do not tremble at the power of God.
On the other hand, the characteristics that take place when revival comes are…
... a deepened spiritual hunger
... intense fervent prayer that is enjoyable not dreadful
... repentance
... reckless abandonment and surrender to God
... a fresh fullness of the Holy Spirit
... spontaneous evangelism and soul winning
... restored relationships
... a spirit of thanksgiving and joy
... increased hunger for God’s Word
... a desire to put God/church before entertainment
There are no shortcuts to that process. If we want to experience revival, we have to go through the process. Today, we want everything fast; we want it quick; we want it easy; we want it overnight; we want it pain-free, and the best things just don’t come that way. WE HAVE TO BE ABLE TO WAIT UPON THE LORD.
If we’re going to seek the Lord, we’re going to have to seek Him with all our hearts, and it takes time—time to get our hearts prepared, time to hear what the Lord has to say, time to let Him reveal Himself to us through His Word, and then time to respond and let what He has revealed to us really take root in our hearts.
I Chronicles 22. So David said to Solomon, “Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God” (verse 19). Do it now. Don’t wait until you’re an old man. Now! Set your mind. Set your heart. Be determined about this. Be intentional about this. Be intense about this. Do it now, and set your heart and set your mind to seek the Lord your God.
Requires focus, attention, concentration, effort, intense desire, and priority. Whatever your season in life, it’s your number one priority. Be proactive. See the value/importance of it. Not a duty or drudgery. There is huge delight for those who seek the Lord with all their hearts. If we only knew, if we could have a glimpse, a glimmer of what it is that God has in store for us, what God intends for us, then we would seek the Lord with diligent intensity.
The joy of personal revival for in His presence is fullness of joy.
There’s not only delight involved in seeking the Lord, but there’s desperation involved in seeking Him. In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, we’re told about a time when the Moabites and the Ammonites came against Judah for battle.
Then verse three of chapter 20 tells us, “Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord.” He was desperate. He was afraid. He was terrified. There was nothing he could do to solve that situation. He was desperate.
Think of how the presence of God is missing from so many of our lives, from so many of our churches, and how oblivious we are to the fact that He’s been gone for a long time in terms of His manifest presence. Many of us haven’t even noticed it.
But once you do notice it, and once you’ve tasted what it is to have the presence of God expressed in your life and among His people in an extraordinary way, you will never again be content without it.
There’s a desperation. There’s a desperate need for the presence, the visitation of God to be restored and experienced among God’s people, in our churches, in our homes, and in our lives.
Are you desperate for that? When you’re desperate, then you will start seeking, and you’ll keep seeking until you have found Him.
How must we seek after revival?
1. Be prepared to seek…. (count the cost; have your hearts ready)
a. 1 all the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel.
b. Sunday morning is a reflection of our week with God.
2. Come Expecting with intensity
a. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
3. Learn from God’s word
a. 8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.
4. Increase your joy, excitement, and energy
a. 10 Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
5. Be diligent
a. 13 On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra the scribe to give attention to the words of the Law.
b. 18 Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day, in accordance with the regulation, there was an assembly.
6. Cut Covenant – make a decision
a. 1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads. 2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. 3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God.
REAL CHANGE::::::::::::::::
Second Question today:
Why must we change? Why do I talk about change so much? Why is it in our vision statement? If God doesn’t change why should we?
Life is change… and from a biblical perspective on change – which really is another message… but God does change… not in character or essence but in relationship with us…
The nature of redemption is change… without knowing God and making Him our lord and savior we are condemned to our sin taking us to hell… when we reach out to Christ and ask Him to be Lord of our lives and accept Him as our savior and Lord the nature of our relationship with God changes… and we are accepted into His kingdom… THE RELATIONSHIP CHANGES resulting in what we discussed about revival… heart change, life change, world change…
So to must we change to encourage relationships with others that lead to their salvation.
For some time now God has been challenging my heart and life with several things we are called to accomplish as a church. Visions of who we are meant to be and where we must continue to Go.
A statement I tell our staff and board often is that the question is not if we will change but the pace at which we will change.
The bottom line – I am more concerned with the mission of God than the maintenance of tradition…
I am more concerned with positioning ourselves to experience genuine revival that leads to heart change, life change, and changing our world. To see salvation of 100’s in this city…
To make sure our church is ready for its future and the vision God has for us… to make sure our church is poised to reach our children, and our grandchildren. That’s the question I need you to ask, do you want me to make you happy or make the changes I know we must make for the future of our church?
So it’s not a question of if we will change, but how, and how fast…
I want to share a story of change with you that will parallel our own discussions. For the issue of change in our church is one that I weap over…
Let me ask this… how many of you have a digital camera?
1. who was responsible for inventing the digital camera?
a. Most famous company with photography – Kodak
b. Released in 1991 – 13000$’s
2. first year the point and shoot camera with a preview screen and compact flash –
a. 1995
3. First Digital SLR camera released – professional with exchangeable lenses…
a. NIKON – 1999 – cost 4000
4. 2003 Cannon releases the digital rebel – and an important shift…
a. First SLR camera released for under $1000
5. what year do you think that digital cameras outsold film cameras?
a. 2005
This caused a huge shift in the industry and major companies struggled with this change.
1. Kodak made a primary error – they missed it by about 6 years.
a. They thought the transition to fully digital would take 8 years, it took 2… and in the last 6 years have laid off 100,000 employees.
2. Nikon had a different problem… they lead the industry with professional photographers in 2000.
a. And they made a decision to not change the ring size as a way of keeping their loyal fan base.
b. But to do this they had to use a smaller chip and slightly less technology… and assumed the Proff. Photographers would stay with them to not lose their equipment.
3. Cannon – used brand new ring sizes, brand new technology…
a. And in a matter of a few years cannon took the lead in the digital market…
All of these changes occurred for this reason…
Kodak – went to slow in making the change
Nikon – went part way in making the change
- They made a decision about their customer base. Not wanting to make their customer base angry, and didn’t make the choice of kind of changes that resulted in them sacrificing what they needed too… and the very customers they didn’t want to make angry got angry because they didn’t make the changes that needed to be made.
Maybe one day the very people that would be upset with me and the staff for making certain changes… will be the same people who will be upset at me in a few years… for losing their grandchildren and children because we didn’t change.
As a church we are at a defining moment at a crossroad of change. Not just us, but everywhere…
In the past five years what has been happening in denominations across the board in the USA.
1. Presberterians – 3.7% loss in 2007 – highest loss in one year in their entire history 216 years
2. Episcopaleans – 115,000 in the last 3 years
3. Methodists – 50,000 people a year and are at the lowest attendance in reported history
4. One denominational leader recently said – they are actually crossing the line and the median average age of attender was over 60 years in age. And if trends continue half of their population will be gone in the next 5 year.
5. 1995 Baptist – 10% considered themselves – 2006 only 3%
6. Disciple of christ - 11% lost
7. Lutherans lost – 4% lost
8. Reformed lost – 6% lost
9. Church of Christ lost 9% lost
10. In the Assemblies In the last 5 years we had a slight growth (2%) and planted… 534 churches – but closed 500.
11. 7 in 10 protestants age 18-30 both evangelical and mainline said they quit attending church by age 23.
If we keep doing business as usual we will die!
Because the Gospel I read compels us to become a slave to all to reach the next generations… Nikon and Kodak and Cannon all knew they needed to change, but one did it too slow, one only went half way… and lost the market…
We must make a shift to continue the pace of change and pick up that pace… for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus… to reach our kids and grandkids…
What are some of the things God is putting in my heart… some of the vision we must carry out.
1. we must continue to bridge the gap of the generations…
2. we must bridge the gap with multiple ethnic groups in our city…
3. we must get to the place where we can begin planting churches in the surrounding areas…
4. we must get everyone to be a part of the process of discipleship – we cannot simply sit and listen and do nothing with it…
o we must reach people, see them saved, and disciples
5. We must enlarge the scope of compassionate ministries…
It’s like a football team staying in the huddle the whole game and doing nothing with the strategy…
I played center in high school – and my job was to get the huddle together… HUDDLE UP… HUDDLE… HUDDLE…
Here was also my job… READY BREAK…
(Team gets in positions…)
So what does God’s vision mean we must do…
1. continue to push the boundaries of our worship expression and continue to hand the future to our next generations…
2. make intentional effort to reach other ethnic groups in our city… eventually in God’s timing hire an ethnic person to be a pastoral staff member… and also continue to change our music to encompass the different groups…
3. everyone must make a choice for PERSONAL REVIVAL… either be hungry and cut covenant with God… get in the huddle, get your assignment… and get on the field of play… we need workers with compassion running through their veins… for each other, for the lost… for our world…
God’s word… changing our hearts… changing our lives, changing our world… READY BREAK…
This is why our vision and values are so important… why they are on our banners for you to see every week…
DFA – a place for real people, living real life, but we are experieincing real change that must be personal revival…
We believe in honest transparency – real relationships that …
We believe in being boldly generous – you cannot out give God.
We believe in Relevant Service- there’s always room at the table
We believe in devoted faith… with the center of our life on Jesus Christ and God’s holy word… anointed by the Holy Spirit to pursue God and see salvation for every generation…
We are called by God… to live these values out…
Called…
1. we must continue to bridge the gap of the generations…
2. we must bridge the gap with multiple ethnic groups in our city…
3. we must get to the place where we can begin planting churches in the surrounding areas…
4. we must get everyone to be a part of the process of discipleship – we cannot simply sit and listen and do nothing with it…
- we must reach people, see them saved, and disciples
5. We must enlarge the scope of compassionate ministries…
BY…
1. continue to push the boundaries of our worship expression and continue to hand the future to our next generations…
2. make intentional effort to reach other ethnic groups in our city… and also continue to change our music to encompass the different groups…
3. Make a choice for PERSONAL REVIVAL… either be hungry and cut covenant with God… get in the huddle, get your assignment… and get on the field of play…
