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The development of the soul and spirit is essential for a full life.
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The development of the soul and spirit is essential for a full life.
No2 An Authentic Revival Nehemiah 8:10-18
A God Sent Revival
The impact of revival in history produced an impact on society in general. The revival in the 18th century it had a great affect on slavery and God used men such as Wesley, Wilberforce, etc. It had an impact on war and peace. God sends his light in dark times, in times of desperation. The impact of the revival saved Great Britain from the horrors of a French revolution. Wealth has always been affected by revival; people begin to give to the Lord, to the poor, to the needs of the missions. Revival brought a great interest in prayer regarding missions. Prayer is a common denominator in revival. All great true revivals are bathed in prayer. Earnest, passionate prayer is essential. The social impact changed men's ethic changed men’s concepts and thinking. Revival goes hand in hand with reformation. You can have reform without revival but not revival without reformation. Some revivals are spurious. There is a lot of singing, praise, prophecies, activity, manifestations but nothing really happens to change the church for good and affect society. True revival will cause repentance of sin, a turning back to Gods word, an ethical change, and a moral turn around, a change in society. Certain reformations take place in a person’s life. There is an eager anticipation for the return of Christ. There is a desire for real pray. Revival is a community saturated with God. Revival is God purifying his church. Could we not pray with passion and power and ask God to send the fire upon his people once again. That he would return our hearts back to him. That He would renew and restore our passion that Christ may be at the centre of our lives. God does not use programs or the latest trends to bring revival. It is a supernatural faith, it is a supernatural visitation of God, and it is a visitation from God on a person, a church or a community.
Psalm 85:5-6. Revival is the favour of God. A revival is a bringing back the people of God to the Word of god and to god himself. It is favour of God. It is the forgiveness of God. It is God dealing with our sins and covering them. It is Gods anger being put away from us. It is a return from folly. It is a return to rejoicing. It is God speaking and moving from the heavens. It is the glory coming back to us.
Isaiah 64. Isaiah cried out for revival. “O that thy wouldst rend the heavens and come down that the mountains my ay flow down at thy presence” (Isa 64.) The outcome of any revival is the glory, the worship and praise of Almighty God. All creation was created for this. Revival is like a breath of heaven, people don’t want to leave the presence of God. They are days of visitation. It’s as though God comes down to visit. When God comes down to visit a church or a community people flock to witness the great presence of God. They know God has come down in quickening power among his people. He comes to visit in an overwhelming way. People say “Surely the Lord was in this place”. People are in awe and even fall down in worship before him. They are absorbed with the glory of the Lamb, the Redeemer.
Neh. 8:8-10. Called to joy. This moment was to be a time of joy. It is a “feast day” (Feast of Trumpets), not a day of mourning (like the Day of Atonement). Although weeping and repentance is necessary and important, it is not the final message God has for us. We need to repent before we see the breath of God moving though us,
A day of Strength. Strength comes from joy in the Lord. It is not a sense of humour, or having happy people around you it is a joy that comes from trusting in the Lord. Ps. 28:7, Isa. 61:10. These people had lost hope. They were broken inside and felt defeated. These people had gone from discouragement, sorrow, and hopelessness to people bonded together with one united purpose. They had seen God do the impossible in supplying for the wall and building the wall. They went to the Scripture and got to know God. They longed for the sweetness of God's presence. If you and I are passionate for the presence of God in some powerful way, we will not go long without turning the Bible to find him.
The newspapers day after day report bad news. It is filled with stories of murder, rape, attacks on the elderly, the abuse of children. It is reports of parents beating or starving their children to death, robberies. Britain is out of control, law has lost its teeth, and the prisons are full. Drugs can be found any college, in any pub or dance hall. Abortion is killing thousands every year. Marriages are breaking up. Communities are living in fear. Pubs, clubs, sports arenas, theatres are full there is little interest in the place of worship. Society is sick it is broken down; it is not civilized any more. Things will get worse before they get better. Unless God comes down sinner will not tremble but if God manifest his power, and shows his hand mountains will flow, people will cry for mercy, people will know great forgiveness followed by great joy and happiness. You have not seen anything like it. When the winds of heaven flow these communities become God conscious. Drunkards get converted; prostitutes are glorious saved, sinners fall before a holy God. There is the cry of the penitent. An awesome fear comes into the community but after God has dealt with sin and forgiveness and sinners there is great joy. This is the only answer for the Christian church; this is the only answer for society.
When individuals, communities and even a nation turn their back on God's ways, His Word, his law, and wisdom, the glory is not present. We have messed up our lives and our world. There is no sense of sin and people do terrible things. They are desensitized to love and hurt one another. Instead of the soul being awakened the flesh is awakened. Sadly the people in the nation do not know where to turn, they sink into depression, and they become hardened to God and to other people also.
Vs 10 "The joy of the LORD is your strength." When people understand the Word of God it brings joy, spiritual quickening. What a thrill to hear the grieving people to hear these words. They see and deal with the evil in their lives. They see the evil in the lives of those around them, and mourn over what it has produced! The word that brings joy is that of forgiveness. God can forgive! He does and he will restore. He brings comfort and joy. The joy of the LORD comes because God has found a solution to these problems of sin. He has a way to bring man back to his senses. It encourages us to see things form a heavenly perspective. The confusing vices of society, of the media, of religions, philosophies and false prophets no longer take precedence in our thinking. Jesus Christ takes the pre-eminent place. The true Jesus is preached.
Good Deeds. Nehemiah urges the people to send portions of food to those who had nothing prepared. They were eager to share Gods blessing with others. That is a result of God healing our souls and reviving us. We cannot keep it to ourselves. They start thinking of others and want to care for them and to share with them what they have.
Vs 11 Called to choose joy. It is a day to choose to be joyful. It is a day for mourning to turn to joy. (Prov 15:15). “All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.” It is a day to turn your eyes away from your troubles and turn them to the Lord. (Prov 17:22) A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Because the people were cut to the heart over the Word, they were comforted, they were blessed.
Ps. 30:5 “...Weeping may last
for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning.”
Nehemiah told them not to mourn or weep. This day was for rejoicing.
Eccl. 3:1, 4 “There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time
for every event under heaven ... A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time
to mourn, and a time to dance.”
Vs 12 A time of Celebration.
It was a time eat,
to feast, to laugh and dance, not to weep and mourn. It was a time to sing
and play instruments to praise God. You have Gods permission to do this if
you have repented you can be joyful and know the thrill of the spirit. It
was a holy day a day to stop mourning. A Day To Eat
The people were told to celebrate the day, the Feast of Trumpets, by
eating. When we are raptured, we will sit down at the table of Jesus, and we
will hear the true words of God saying, “Blessed are those who are invited
to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” The people celebrated because they
understood the Word. The worried look they had on their brow was now
replaced with a joyful countenance. No faces dipped in lemon juice here.
When we understand the Word and it affects us deeply and the Holy Spirit
comes in all His fullness there will be joy and laughter. We are Gods
chosen people not Gods frozen people. Jesus said, “Ask and ye shall
receive, that our joy may be full” (Jn. 16:24).
Leaders Need to Know the Word of God
vs. 13 The leaders gather for more study of God's Word. This is so necessary in our churches today to have leaders who understand and walk in God's Word. There is so much laziness, ignorance or disobedience by leaders in our churches. And it affects the people of God.
The people keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
Vs 14-17 The Feast of Tabernacles had not been done since the days of Joshua, so they turned back to Scripture. The Feast of Tabernacles was all about remembering how God and called his people out of Egypt. They left in a hurry at a word from God and did not even to sit down when they ate the Passover meal. They had to eat it standing, with their staffs in their hands, dressed in traveling clothes, ready to leave. In the desert, one day's journey out Moses had been told by God that they were to collect wood from the trees and build booths for shelter. Then God ordained that they were to do this once every year. Even after they had settled in homes they were to build these booths and live in them for seven days. This was to remind them that they were always pilgrims and strangers on the earth. This world was not their home. All the great blessings of life would not necessarily be found in this present time but were waiting for them in glory. They did not have to live under pressure if they did not have everything that those around them were trying to get in this life. It was a day of great gladness.
It reminded them how He had blessed and provided for Israel in the wilderness during the Exodus; they could see God's blessing and provision for them right then, and it made something old brand new to them
Because of their great obedience to God's Word, there was very great gladness. Gladness and freedom come only through obedience to God.
We are here on earth for a short season we must hold things lightly. Our treasures are in heaven. We must not think more of our houses or possessions than we do about God and heaven. We should not strive constantly for things and put ourselves and our families under pressure. We are here to serve God.
Read and understand the Word of God Daily
Vs 18 Every day they read the Scripture. This revival began by the Spirit of God working through the Word of God; that is how it continued as well! Every day they saw things from God s perspective. Every day they thought like God thinks. They saw humanity for what it is, they saw the world and where it was heading for. They saw heaven and the glory there. They saw the joy unspeakable. This affected their children, their home and nation. They stopped living under Satan’s illusionary world system. They did not go along with the delusions of a mistaken, confused world.
If god’s people saw the Bible in that light, and listened attentively and eagerly to what it was saying, and learned how to conduct their lives according to the wisdom of this Word, they would change, their churches would change, and society would change. We desperately need the wisdom of the Word to instruct us how to live.
When Angels announced the birth of Jesus - "Good tidings of great joy!" The first word Paul uses to describe the love which is the fruit of the Spirit - "JOY!" It is a joy knowing my sins are forgiven. My past guilt is blotted out. Jesus related it to abiding in Him, Fellowshipping with Him, Prayer through His name. Someday He is going to present me faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. The Lord is my source of joy. He gives joy unspeakable and full of glory. Paul sang in the prison cell. He wrote the letter of rejoicing from his prison cell.
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Robert Hunsdale (Pastor/Founder) |
