Sermon Text: Neh 9:1-3 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. 2 Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. NKJV
Intro: If I were to ask the ladies in our congregation today “how many have or use recipes I supposed all of the would raise their hand. A recipe is a guide, or a road map to the preparation of a great meal or desert. Today I want us to consider what it takes to spark the fires of revival in the heart of each of us. That spark could and will start the fires of revival that could spread across this land.
On 9-11 a group of terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. These actions intentions was to destroy the confidence of the people of the USA. But that attack had a reverse effect on our country. Those actions brought the people to the realization that united we stand and divided we fall. Our people rallied and joined hands in patriotic unity. At the very root of that patriotic unity was God. People join hearts and hands and turn to God for help.
Today it is time again to rally! Our nation is cracked and fragmented. Our political system is polluted and corrupt, our political leaders have only their own interest at heart. As a people we are at each other’s throat. Covid had been the catalyst that has driven a wedge into our society.
Our country is in a precarious position. We are at a crossroads in our country; we must make a choice: Revival or Ruin. Our Churches are in trouble. We see a lack of commitment among God’s people as never before! Our hearts are cold, and our vision is clouded! There is a spiritual battle going on for the heart and the soul of America. We see debate over same sex marriages, 46 million babies murdered since 1973 and pornography is a multi-million dollar a year business. This country is headed down the road the which leads to destruction. Only repentance on the part of God's people will move God's heart to bless America again! God's people must hear his voice and be the agency for God to effect change. Because the lost are oblivious to the seriousness of the situation our country finds itself in! (Selections from "STEPS TO REVIVAL", Author unknown)
2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
1st Return to the Word- Neh 9: 3 And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.
Turn to chapter 8 of Nehemiah and you find the people of Israel who have been called to assemble at the water gate. Ezra the priest has brought the Book of the Law not the Torah. The difference in the law and the Torah is that the Law traditionally contained 600+ laws, the Torah was the first five books of Moses. Today we have the entirety of the Word of God. Note the results of the reading of the Law. As the law was being read it moved the hearts of the people to repentance. The reading of God’s Word ignited the flames of repentance and revival in the hearts of God’s people. When we consider the text, it is important to note that it was not just the religions leader or men but all men, and women are assembled all who were able to understand. Nehemiah 9 tells us that those who were not Israelites (all foreigners) were excluded.
Neh 8:1-3 Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded Israel. 2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. 3 Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.
The Israelites separated themselves from those who were not of their people and began to confess their disobedience to God and His word. Today in America we seem to be blaming everyone else for the ills of our country. For God to heal our land and problems we face in this country His people must recognized that judgement must began with God’s people. We live in a time when instant gratification is the norm. We want what we want “now.” The people of Nehemiah had returned for the judgement of God and delayed the restoration of the Temple. As people of God we must get our house in order, putting God first must be the priority. 1 Peter 4:17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? NKJV
Word was read for a one-fourth of the day, and we also notice that they were not comfortably seated on the pew or padded chairs they were standing outside. The fires of passion began to be rekindled for the Word of God burned with in their hearts. In just a few weeks we will hosting a meeting which we choose t call Revival. But will it be a Revival or just a meeting of a few members of this congregation.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
John 17:17 “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
2 Timothy 3:16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
This is the Word of God! Hearing the Word should invoke a desire to get in right relationship with God. To create a clean heart that can be molded and reshaped into a useable vessel for God. Reading Nehemiah we can see what hearing God’s Law and responding to the Spirit of God as it moved through that assembly invoked a response of repentance. Verse 2 of Nehemiah 9 describes what happens when people hear the Word.
ILLUS: D.L. Moody, A Well-known Evangelist ...By Joseph Daniel
D.L. Moody, a well-known evangelist in the 1800’s, once said, “I prayed for faith and thought that someday it would come down and strike me like lightning.
But faith didn’t seem to come. One day I read in Romans that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” (Copied from Sermon Central)
2nd Repentance- Neh 9:1-2 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. 2 Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.
It is time for us to slow down and seek God. Isaiah saw his spiritual condition Isa 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. NKJV
The sight of seeing God of creation sitting on the throne moved Isaiah to see his and his people’s sinfulness. We too must put God back on the throne of our lives, that sight should move us to confession of our sinful lives. How easy is it to see the failures of others without recognizing our own sins and failures? The church has grown apathetic and lazy. The church no longer longs to hear the words of God and only seems to want the praise of the world.
Ezek 1:1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the River Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. NKJV
Rev 4:2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. NKJV
We need to look up and see the God of all creation, that sight should move God’s people to realize and recognize our own short comings and failures and it should move us to a place of repentance from our sins.
ILLUS: Dr. Lee Roberson preach the gospel at Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. On the pulpit, just above where he placed his Bible and notes, there was a little plaque that said, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” He put it there to remind himself (and anyone else who might preach there) of the preacher’s sacred obligation to magnify Christ in all things.
There are hungry hearts everywhere. You never know when someone will show up looking for Jesus. Make sure you know how to help them find him. (SOURCE: www.keepbelieving.com)
ILLUS: First Step to Spiritual Revival ... By Terry Laughlin
The need for turning to God has never been more urgent than today. The latest fads of social Christianity and religious programs have been unable to deliver Americans from their economic concerns, fear of terrorist attacks and moral decline.
Many in America have become like the people of Jerusalem, of whom God had the prophet Nehemiah proclaim His judgement concerning their willful sinful behavior.
Neh 9:26 “Nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against You, Cast Your law behind their backs And killed Your prophets, who testified against them To turn them to Yourself; And they worked great provocations.
“Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush.” (vs. 12) Sadly, God was speaking judgment against not only the kings and the officials of Judah, but also against her religious leaders, her priests, and prophets. However, God had made Solomon a great promise. Whenever He judged a nation economically, physically and spiritually, He would forgive repentant sin and restore their land. “…if My people who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered…” (2 Chronicles 7: 14 - 15)
Men of God who have spent much time in prayer and study, have found that all true revivals, those that have had a real lasting effect on the country, began when men of God took off their rose-colored glasses and took an honest Biblical look at their own spiritual condition, their congregation’s Christian testimony before the public and their effectiveness in meeting the community’s social and economic needs.
Men such as Jeremiah Lamphere and the Rev. James McGreedy did just that. They wept before God in true concern for their own spiritual condition, that of God’s children and of their communities. They started prayer vigils that met daily or at least weekly. They fasted and challenged and encouraged Christians to endure in true prayer for over a year. They cried out like King David did, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalms 139: 23)
Studies of the great revivals of the early and late 1800’s, which came about because of these prayer meetings, proved them to have had an incredibly positive effect on this country and produced these characteristics in people who responded to God’s call to repentance and holiness: 1.) A hunger for the knowledge of God as revealed in His written Word; 2.) An intense conviction of sin, leading to repentance; 3.) Godly humility and brokenness; 4.) Deliberate acts of reconciliation and restitution; 5.) A growing interest and practice of personal and corporate prayer; 6.) A joy in worship that was untainted and pure. God was center stage, and the Lord Jesus Christ was the sole object of people’s adoration and worship; and 7.) Flourishing evangelism. People became active in reaching their families, friends, and co-workers for Christ.
The first step to a true spiritual revival, that will have a powerful effect on America, begins with searching our own hearts and then enduring in prayer until revival comes. (Copied from Sermon Central)
3rd Make Prayer a Priority 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
E.M Bounds said – “Four things let us ever keep in mind: God hears prayer, God heeds prayer, God answers prayer, and God delivers by prayer.”
“Prayer makes a godly man, and puts within him the mind of Christ, the mind of humility, of self-surrender, of service, of pity, and of prayer. If we really pray, we will become more like God, or else we will quit praying.”
Pray brings us in tune with God and His will. It is one of the ways to grow closer to the heart of God and know and understand His distaste for sin and His love and desire to have a personal relationship with His people.
1 Chronicles 16:11 Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face evermore!
It is prayer that touches the heart of God, and it is the way in which we can know God’s will and purpose for our lives individually and as a Church. When we pray, we see that our world view changes? It so dramatically changes that we focus on what is important (God) and the things of the world grow dim and pale. Mountains be little bumps in the road of life. We begin to see the world as God sees it and we see our individual lives the way God see us. When we read and meditate on 2 Chronicles 7:14 instead of only seeing the sin and failure of others we begin to see our own need. It is a humbling experience to get a glimpse our lives as God see them.
Drawing closer to God
1. Admit we can’t do it our own-John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing NKJV
2. Submit to God’s and His will-James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. NKJV
3. Live in the center of God’s love-1Jn 4:6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
4. Put God’s Word at the center of your prayer life-1Th 5:17-18 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
5. Don’t let worldly living skew your view of God-1 Peter 2:10-11 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, NKJV
6. Acknowledge God is in total control-Phil 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. NKJV
