April 6, 2025 • 50 mins
Join Pastor Kelly Kinder in The Passion Project for Revival at the Water Gate, where the aftermath of Jerusalem’s swiftly rebuilt walls sets the stage for a spiritual revolution. Nehemiah may have orchestrated the external restoration, but Kelly highlights how Ezra steps in to guide the internal renewal. At the heart of this story is a gathering at the Water Gate—a communal hunger for God’s Word that sparks a deep, lasting transformation.
Rather than being forced, men and women crowd together because they long to hear Scripture read aloud. For six straight hours, they listen, fully engaged. Kelly emphasizes that this remarkable focus underscores the people’s desperation for divine truth. By demanding, “Bring the Book,” they acknowledge the one source capable of healing their spiritual emptiness.
Ezra’s elevated wooden platform symbolizes the rightful place of God’s Word—lifted above all human opinion. As he opens the Scriptures, the people stand, then bow in reverent worship. Thirteen Levitical priests circulate, ensuring everyone grasps the meaning behind the text. Understanding triggers a tidal wave of tears, revealing both awareness of their distance from God and renewed hope in His mercy. Kelly points out that Scripture can mirror our brokenness and simultaneously move us toward joy, reminding us that true strength lies in “the joy of the Lord.”
Yet this revival doesn’t stall at emotional catharsis. The very next day, leaders return to study further, discovering a forgotten command about celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles. Their immediate obedience results in overwhelming joy, demonstrating that revival extends beyond initial conviction to ongoing action. Kelly stresses this crucial progression: from hearing and understanding the Word to letting it radically shape everyday life.
Throughout his message, Kelly draws parallels to our world today, where spiritual famine abounds but genuine hunger for God’s Word can still spark a profound awakening. Whether you’re yearning for personal renewal or longing to see transformation ripple through your community, the pattern remains the same: approach Scripture with reverence, humility, and an open heart, and then align your actions with its commands. As Kelly reminds us, it all starts with one simple step—“Bring the Book”—because revival finds its truest spark when the Bible moves from neglected text to guiding light in our lives.
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Episode Transcript
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Kelly Kinder (00:04):
You know I'm so excited about what God is doing,
and as we've been spending timein our prayer and fasting time,
I just expect God to do somewonderful things.
He already is.
As I'm listening to the rain onour roof, I'm reminded of what
Isaiah said.
He said as the rain comes downand waters the earth and I'm
(00:27):
kind of paraphrasing your soulis my word.
It provides bread to the eater,and those who sow will reap.
When we get things in rightalignment with what God calls us
to do, we'll reap a harvest forit.
So let that remind you that Godis wanting to do some great
(00:48):
things.
But you have to participate.
You have to cooperate with Him,and so we are continuing our
series today in Nehemiah.
It's been great, and I thinkthis is just such a remarkably
practical book and it fitsreally with so much of what's
going on around us in our timestoday.
It's really great.
And when I'm thinking about whatis going on all around us and
(01:10):
we're looking at all this stuff,this chaotic world we're living
in, it's not different, I think, for most generations.
Every generation longs to seeGod move and work and change our
hearts, to see it transformed,and so I think there's always
this deep desire and longing andI hope that that's in you today
(01:33):
, that you come looking to meetGod here and to see Him work in
extraordinary ways.
We're talking about renewal inthis series a little bit and
restoration and really aboutreviving our hearts.
Here's what Andrew Murray saysabout that.
He says a true revival meansnothing less than a revolution,
(01:55):
casting out the spirit ofworldliness and selfishness and
making God and his lovetriumphed in the heart and life.
And Charles Spurgeon, he saidwhat would this heart feel if I
could but believe that therewere some among you who would go
home and pray for a revival,men whose faith is large enough
(02:16):
and their love fiery enough tolead them from this moment to
exercise unceasing intercessions, that God would appear among us
and do wondrous things here, asin the times of former
generations.
And so you know, this issomething I think that every
generation, every person whocalls themselves a Christian and
(02:37):
as a follower of Christ, wantsto see God work and move.
So I want us to kind of go backand do a quick review, kind of
set the idea of where we've comein this book and I put a chart
up there just to kind of giveyou a perspective and just kind
of overview for this and let'skind of just see the big picture
(02:58):
here again.
So our journey through Nehemiahso far has set the stage for the
first stage of the work whichNehemiah has done and God
desires to do.
And what was it?
He rebuilt what?
The wall, the wall.
And now it's not about justrebuilding the wall.
The wall was rebuilt and it wasa miracle really in 52 days.
(03:20):
That's astounding and Tylertalked about that a little bit
bit how large the city was andhow much had to be done, and yet
they completed it in 52 days.
Now the work is about rebuildingand restoring and reforming, if
you will, the spiritual life ofthe nation, revival and, as we
(03:40):
come to chapter 8, nehemiah'sroles in fact have.
You can look at a few of thethings there that show about
what his role had been, fromgoing from cupbearer to the king
in Susa, to the rebuilder ofthe wall, the one that led that,
and then finally he is now atthis point of being governor
over the province and at thispoint the leadership, as it were
(04:04):
, changes.
It goes from him to Ezra thepriest.
But Nehemiah is still prettymuch involved.
He's still just he's there buthe's sort of taking a back seat.
Ezra is now leading thisspiritual movement that is
happening in the lives of God'speople and is hopeful that it
will move forward.
And, by the way, that's sort ofdirected and reflected in this
(04:27):
narrative.
It changes now from Nehemiah'sfirst person account this is his
kind of personal diary to likefrom I did this to they or they
did this a third person, and sowe know it's a transition.
We're now in the second half ofthe book and, as we said, you
(04:48):
really need to read these bookstogether.
Ezra and Nehemiah originallywere in the Hebrew Bible as one
single book and we talked aboutthat in the very first message.
Something else worth notingabout Ezra, this priest, is that
we find in this book, in hisown book by his name, ezra,
chapter 7, verse 10,.
It tells us that God's hand wason Ezra and there's a reason
(05:11):
for that.
It tells us right there in Ezra7.10,.
Ezra has set his heart to studythe law, the law of the Lord,
and to do it and to teach it,and to teach the statutes and
rules in Israel.
Here was a man who was a primoBible teacher and he had set his
heart and his passions to studythe word of God and to share it
(05:33):
with the people.
So here's a guy who has a skilland passion for the work and
his heart is really in it.
Let me give you some keyelements as we're looking at the
rest of this book just realquickly.
Chapter 8 through 10 shows arevival of the people through
the reading and study of theWord, a confession of sin, which
comes in our next chapter, andthen a renewal of the covenant
(05:56):
where lives are changed.
Chapter 11 and 12 through 26,the repopulation of Jerusalem,
the city of God, by the people.
26,.
The repopulation of Jerusalem,the city of God, by the people,
and then chapter 12, 27 through47 is this final rededication of
the walls and the city.
Chapter 13 is Nehemiah's finalwork and chapter 13 is really a
(06:18):
surprising turn of events and Iwon't give it away unless you
just read ahead, but stay tunedfor that.
It's quite surprising what theend of the book shows us, turn
of events and I won't give itaway unless you just read ahead,
but stay tuned for that.
It's quite surprising what theend of the book shows us.
So we begin the second part ofthe book today with this message
I'm calling Revival at theWatergate.
Revival at the Watergate and inlight of the scripture as we're
(06:40):
going to read today, would youall stand?
We don't do this very often,but we're going to see this
morning why we do this in facton occasion.
And let's read togetherNehemiah 7, beginning I'm just
going to begin in verse 73 andthe latter part, and we'll read
through chapter 8.
When the seventh month had come,the people of Israel were in
(07:00):
their towns and all the peoplegathered as one man into the
square before the water gate andthey told Ezra the scribe to
bring the book of the law ofMoses that the Lord had
commanded Israel.
So Ezra the priest brought thelaw before the assembly, both
men and women and all who couldunderstand what they heard, on
the first day of the seventhmonth.
(07:21):
And he read from it, facing thesquare before the water gate
from early morning until midday,in the presence of the seventh
month.
And he read from it facing thesquare before the water gate
from early morning until midday,in the presence of the men and
the women and those who couldunderstand.
And the ears of all the peoplewere attentive to the book of
the law, and Ezra the scribe,stood on a wooden platform that
they had made for the purposeand beside him, mattathiah Shema
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, ananiah Uriah that they hadmade for the purpose, and beside
him Mattathiah Shema, ananiahUriah, hilkiah, massiah, and on
his right hand, badiah, mishael,malchijah, hashum, hashbadana,
zechariah and Meshulam.
Okay, you got to clap for thatright.
No, I'm kidding.
On his left hand.
And Ezra opened the book in thesight of all the people, for he
(08:09):
was above all the people, and ashe opened it, all the people
stood and Ezra blessed the Lord,the great God, and all the
people answered Amen, amen.
Lifting up their hands.
And they bowed their heads andworshiped the Lord with their
faces to the ground.
Here we go again.
And they bowed their heads andworshiped the Lord with their
faces to the ground.
Here we go again.
And also, all the Levites helpedthe people to understand the
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law.
While the people remained intheir places, they read from the
book from the law of the peopleremained in their places, they
read from the book from the lawof God clearly and they gave the
sense so that the peopleunderstood the reading.
And Nehemiah, who was thegovernor, and Ezra, the priest
and scribe, and the Levites, whotaught the people said to all
the people this day is holy tothe Lord, your God, do not mourn
(09:02):
or weep.
For all the people wept as theyheard the words of the law.
Then he said to them Go yourway, eat the fat and drink sweet
wine and send portions toanyone who has nothing ready,
for this day is holy to our Lordand do not be grieved, for the
joy of the Lord is your strength.
So the Levites calmed all thepeople, saying be quiet, for
(09:26):
this day is holy, do not begrieved.
And all the people went theirway to eat and drink and to send
portions and to make greatrejoicing because they had
understood the words that weredeclared to them.
On the second day, the heads ofthe father's houses of all the
people, with the priests and theLevites, came together to Ezra
the scribe in order to study thepeople, with the priests and
the Levites, came together toEzra the scribe in order to
study the words of the law, andthey found it written in the law
(09:48):
that the Lord had commanded byMoses that the people of Israel
should dwell in booths ortabernacles during the feast of
the seventh month and theyshould go, should proclaim it
and publish it in all theirtowns and in Jerusalem.
Go out to the hills and bringbranches of olive, wild olive,
myrtle, palm and other leafytrees to make booths, as it is
(10:10):
written.
So the people went out andbrought them and made booths for
themselves, each on his ownroof and in their courts and in
the courts of the house of Godand in the square at the water
gate and in the square at thegate of Ephraim.
And all the assembly at thewater gate and in the square at
the gate of Ephraim and all theassembly of those who had
returned from the captivity madebooths and lived in the booths
(10:32):
For from the days of Yeshua, theson of Nun, to the day that the
people of Israel they had notdone so and there was very great
rejoicing and day by day, fromthe first day to the last day,
he read from the book of the lawof God.
They kept the feast seven daysand on the eighth day there was
a solemn assembly.
According to the rule, you canbe seated, so let's pray.
(10:58):
Father, we're thankful thatyour word gives us life and, as
we have said, it rains down onus and gives us ability for you
to take the seed that we sowthat, that it becomes, for you
and for us, eternal life.
Lord, we thank you for whatyou're going to do this morning.
We ask you, as we hold ourhearts in our hands, we ask you
(11:20):
to hold hold our hearts as well,and that they would catch on
fire for you, and we ask that inJesus' name, amen.
So I want to say that thestarting point, or the beginning
point for any true revival isthe Word of God.
Some of us may argue with thatand say no, no, it's prayer,
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it's prayer.
But I'm thinking of thebeginning point, the actual
beginning point, and thescripture says that all things
were created by God inColossians 1.
It says they were created byGod, things in heaven and in
earth, things visible andinvisible.
So you want to see God dosomething that we don't see.
(12:04):
I mean, it's sort of spiritual.
This is where we're reallyfocusing.
The Word does inform ourprayers, though, and this is
what I'm getting at.
Without the illumination thatcomes from the Word of God, our
prayers are sort of off kilter,and we don't really know
necessarily how to pray.
And so when we feast and feedupon God's Word, when we feast
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and feed upon God's Word, ourlives are transformed for his
glory.
So I want to give you this andthis is going through just
Nehemiah, chapter 8, for what Icall movements or steps that are
a catalyst for revival, and allfocused on the word.
And you know when I use thatword I use the word catalyst
(12:46):
intentionally and I looked upold Daniel Webster and he gives
us a couple of words meaningsfor the word catalyst.
If you were in your chemistryclass you know a catalyst was
something enabled a chemicalreaction to proceed at an
unusually faster rate, he says,under different conditions than
otherwise possible.
(13:06):
So think about that as thecatalyst is the Word of God, or
here's this one.
It's an agent, he says, thatprovokes or speeds significant
change or action, and this iswhat the Word does.
Certainly I don't think we'retrying to and I don't want you
to hear that what we're callingfor and what this is calling for
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is something that will sort offorce God's hand.
Revival is a sovereign work ofGod.
He chooses when this happens.
But we can get ourself in theflow and I picture this almost
like as God's doing what he'sdoing in the earth.
We get to choose whether wewill join him and so that flow
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is.
He's constantly, it's movingand we sometimes we can stand on
the banks and look at the, atthe movement of what God is
doing and just kind of say, wow,that's really cool, that's neat
.
Or we can jump in.
We can jump in.
Here's what God said Is not myword like a fire, declares the
(14:10):
Lord, and like a hammer thatbreaks the rock in pieces.
You think about that.
We read that too quicklysometimes.
The word is like a fire.
It consumes things, consumesthe things that don't need to be
there in our life.
It burns things up and it setsthings on fire to burn.
And then it's like a hammer andI think of that.
(14:32):
You know I use the hammer Ihave sometimes to crack nuts and
sometimes God needs to cracksome nuts in our lives and so
it's really he says itessentially is a powerful thing
in our lives.
I don't want us to see these.
Look at these.
The first thing to note and thefirst step to revival.
(14:52):
I think we see here in Nehemiah, the restoration of God's word
awakens us, it awakens our faith.
Look at chapter 7 again and itsays there, in chapter 7, verse
1, it says and all the peoplegathered as one man into the
square before the water gate andthey told Ezra the scribe to
bring the book, the book, theBible, and it says in verse 3 he
(15:17):
read from it.
And, facing the square beforethe water gate, from early
morning until midday, and theears of all the people, verse 3,
were attentive to the book ofthe law.
And so what we see here is aspiritual hunger for spiritual
realities which lead the peopleto ask Ezra to bring them this
book.
Bring the book and read it tous.
(15:39):
And the people of God realize,essentially, that they need to
be right with God.
Do you need to be right withGod this morning?
They need to be right with Godif they're going to ever prosper
as a nation, and the proof, Ithink, of their hunger is
obvious, isn't it?
It says and we see it in justhow willing they were to, I
(16:03):
guess, take the time to listento it Six straight hours.
Can you imagine that's amazing.
Six straight hours the Word ofGod is read aloud to these
people and I just think that'sastounding.
But they were willing to sitthere and listen because they
were hungry.
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In the past, god's prophets hadmoaned and lamented about the
fact that there wasn't thatgoing on in the people in that
day they had really poorlistening skills.
Here's what Hosea said, theprophet my people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge.
Do you think that's true?
Maybe today we look at thecondition of things around us
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and we look at the condition ofchurches in our group we call
Christians and you thinksomething's wrong.
People don't know.
And that's what he says mypeople are destroyed for lack of
knowledge.
But here in this patch is fornehemiah and these people.
This day is different.
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This day is different.
Verse three describes thepeople's attentive ears.
It could be translated, I think, more poetically like this and
the ears of all the people weretoward the book of the law.
And so what you're picturing isthey're so intent on getting
the law read to them, thescriptures read to them, that,
so they're sort of leaning inlike this.
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So you get this picture oftheir very close attention.
Their ears are opened and theyhave become active listeners.
See, there's a differencebetween being an active listener
and a passive listener.
Passive listener comes and saidoh, that was nice.
An active listener says tell memore, what does that mean?
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And so that for us today, Ithink many people Christian
people really fail to realizethe place and the importance of
the Bible in our daily lives.
We just really don't get it.
I think we're often spirituallyignorant because we don't know
what God's provision is for usand we live our lives wondering
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why don't I have this or why ismy life like that?
A man asked his friend do youknow the difference between
apathy and ignorance?
And the man thought for aminute and he said I don't know
and I don't care.
And we're often like that andI'm constantly amazed, as I
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listen to people talk and sharetheir life with me, at how we
try to handle problems anddifficulties and struggles in
life on our own and with our ownhuman wisdom.
You know, the Bible says thereis a difference between earthly
wisdom and heavenly wisdom.
The heavenly wisdom comes downfrom God and it changes us.
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Earthly wisdom, it says, isdemonic.
So the Bible gives us heavenlywisdom.
But the Bible also speaks thisheavenly wisdom in terms of
practical things, things likeour marriage, our family, our
finances, our friendships.
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It talks about wisdom forsingleness.
It talks about our purpose.
It talks about our identity.
It talks about things like fearand anxiety and anger and
unforgiveness, and sometimes wedeal with those things with
earthly wisdom.
We need heavenly wisdom,heavenly wisdom for those issues
.
The Bible, you see, wakes us upto reality.
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See, when you realize your lifeisn't working, when you realize
your life isn't working, thenyou're ready to hear God speak.
So the first catalyst to revivalthe restoration of God's word.
Restoration of God's word, putit back in place.
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And some of us need to pick upour Bible, pull them off the
shelf and begin to read themagain.
Some of us need to get involvedin the reading program that the
Bible is being offered herethrough the church and is shared
through the church, and aregular way to help you kind of
stay committed to reading theWord of God.
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Here's a second thing.
Second catalyst the elevationof God's Word corrects vision.
So we have the restoration andnow the elevation of God's Word
in verses four through six, andit gives us some further insight
, I think, into the morningscene where Ezra is really he's
reading the law and, as it wasdescribed kind of as a hole in
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verses 2 and 3, and now it says,before the people came together
, a high wooden platform,literally a tower of wood, has
been built for this specialoccasion.
And our text goes on to tell usin verses 5 and 6,.
And Ezra opened the book in thesight of all the people, for he
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was above all the people, andas he opened it, all the people
stood, just like we did today,and Ezra blessed the Lord, the
great God, and all the peopleanswered Amen, amen, lifting up
their hands, and they bowedtheir heads and worshiped the
Lord with their faces to theground.
You know, if you were to govisit some of the oldest
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churches in the world, maybesome of the churches in Europe,
you would find a few, some stillaround, with these very high
pulpits where there are stairs,where the person who is speaking
has to climb stairs to get intothe place to speak.
That point is well illustratedin a word from Alistair Begg.
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I think he does this so well.
It speaks to this issue.
He says this.
He says I have a vividrecollection as a small boy of
sitting in St George's TronChurch in Glasgow waiting for
the commencement of morningworship.
At about three minutes to 11,the Beatle the name for the
parish official would climb thepulpit stairs and place a large
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Bible on the lectern.
Would climb the pulpit stairsand place a large Bible on the
lectern, having opened it to theappropriate passage, he would
descend and the minister wouldin turn ascend the stairs and
sit in the cone-shaped pulpit.
The beta would complete hisresponsibilities by climbing the
stairs a second time to closethe pulpit door and leave the
pastor to his task.
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To close the pulpit door andleave the pastor to his task.
There was no doubt in my youngmind that each part of that
procedure was marked withsignificance.
There was clearly no reason forthe pastor to be in the pulpit
apart from the Bible upon whichhe looked down as he read.
I understood that, in contrastto his physical posture, the
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preacher was standing underscripture, not over it.
Similarly, we were listeningnot so much for his message but
for its message.
We were discovering, as JIPacker has suggested, that
preaching is letting texts talk,that preaching is letting texts
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talk.
Sadly, much of what now emanatesfrom pulpits would not be
recognized by many Christians ofpast generations as anywhere
close to the kind of expositorypreaching that is based on the
Bible, christ-focused andlife-changing, the kind of
preaching that is marked bydoctrinal clarity, a sense of
gravity and convincing argument.
We have instead become far toofamiliar with preaching that
(23:46):
pays scant attention to theBible is self-focused and
constantly and consequentlycapable of only the most
superficial impact upon thelives of listeners.
Worse.
Still, large sections of thechurch are oblivious to the fact
that they are beingadministered a placebo rather
(24:07):
than the medicine they need.
They are satisfied with thefeeling that it has done them
some good, a feeling thatdisguises the seriousness of the
situation.
In the absence of bread, thepopulation grows accustomed to
cake.
Pulpits are for preachers.
We build stages for performers.
(24:29):
Let that sink in.
Begg goes on and I want to kindof give you the rest of this.
This is a long reading section,but it's something we need to
hear.
He goes on to say some yearsago, and he gives a couple of
illustrations here worth sharing.
Some years ago I enjoyed theprivilege of speaking at a
convention in Hong Kong.
The meetings were held in anAnglican church that had a
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pulpit we did not use.
The organizers felt it would bebest if we were not six feet
above the congregation but onthe same level as the people, so
they provided a lectern to holdthe preacher's Bible.
As he spoke.
I was sharing the event with akindly older man who had never
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met before.
We both spoke each morning.
Some mornings I would preachfirst.
Sometimes he would.
Whenever he began a message,his first action was to pick up
the small lectern and move itoff to the side, where it would
neither impede his movement norcreate the impression that he
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was preaching to the people.
Instead, he said he wasdelivering a talk and he wanted
to be sure the listeners couldrelax and benefit from his
conversational style.
When it came time for me topreach, my first action was to
put the lectern back in itsplace, central to the occasion.
The congregation laughed asthis pattern repeated itself
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over and over over the course offive days.
I would use it, my colleaguewould remove it.
Before the week was out, twoincidents occurred that may or
may not have been related.
First, I explained to thecongregation that the reason I
replaced the lectern each timewas not simply so I might have a
place for my Bible, but becauseI did not want to forego the
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symbolism of having a centralpulpit with the word in its
deserved primary place.
After all, I observed if thepreacher were to fall down or
disappear, the congregationwould still be left with its
focus in the right place, namelythe scriptures.
I know that my preachingpartner did not take this as a
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personal rebuke, which is whatmade the second incident all the
more telling.
A day or two later, he confidedto me that he felt he had lost
any real sense of passion orpower in the delivery of his
messages.
It was very humbling for me asa young man to sit and listen to
as he poured out his heart andwith tears reflected upon his
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diminished zeal.
It is far too simplistic tosuggest that his removing the
podium each time he spoke was asymbol of faltering conviction
regarding the priority and powerof Scripture.
Yet I have a suspicion that itsremoval was more than simply a
matter of style or personalpreference.
(27:24):
The layout of many contemporarychurch buildings, including my
own at least, flirts with thedanger of creating the
impression that we have come tohear from man rather than meet
with God.
It is imperative that weacknowledge and remember, and
help each other acknowledge andremember, that we gather
together as a church not to beentertained, but to hear and
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heed the word of God.
So here in Nehemiah 8, the wordof God is given its proper
place.
And so what are they doing?
They're giving the word of Godits right place.
They see it as a divineauthority.
It's over their lives.
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So, by the way, this is whatPaul commended the Thessalonians
for, this Thessalonian church.
He says to them we thank Godconstantly for this that when
you received the Word of Godwhich you heard from us, you
accepted it, not as the Word ofmen but to you or just another
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talk.
It's a difference, there's adifference, and so the principle
here is this how highly we viewthe scriptures will really
determine how well you live yourlife.
How highly you view thescriptures will determine how
well you live your life, andit's always true.
So the first catalyst torevival, the restoration of
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God's word, then the elevationof God's word, then, thirdly,
here we see the explanation ofGod's Word which brings an
encounter.
This is so cool Verses 8,chapter 8, verse 7 through 12.
And so we see, as the scripturesare being read by Ezra here, in
verse 7 and 8, he sends out 13Levitical priests, and you can
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picture this All the people areout there in the square at the
water gate and they're probablysitting in circles that are
listening to him read.
And he sends out 13 Leviticalpriests and they are assigned to
all these groups, and thereason that they're there is to
instruct the people as theScripture is being read, and
their specific task is to whatVerse eight says, to make the
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word clear, that is, to make itdistinct.
So, as you sometimes imagine,when you hear people sometimes
communicate, you didn't catchsomething and you kind of wonder
I missed that?
What did they say?
This is what the scribes aredoing.
They're telling the people.
Okay, he said this andsomething else says in verse 8,.
(30:06):
Their task was also not only tomake it clear but to give the
sense, a word that means to giveinsight, to so explain it, tell
what it means.
We use the word interpret,interpret, and so the purpose
for them is also to kind ofexplain some things, and all the
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while, the word it probablydoesn't interrupt what Ezra's
doing.
He's still continuing to readthe word and maybe I don't know
maybe somebody in one of thosegroups kind of raises their hand
and the scribe goes over and hequickly says something that
will help them move along in thereading, to help them get it.
But the purpose, their overallpurpose, is to help them
(30:47):
understand, and that word isused three or four times in this
passage.
And so now notice what happensVerses 9 and 10.
As they begin to understand andthey begin to get it.
God begins to open their earsand everyone begins to
understand God's word.
And this is so significant.
(31:08):
Don't miss this.
This is an encounter.
This is an encounter.
The people, it says, begin toweep.
You say, why is that?
Why are they weeping?
And I think it's for tworeasons.
Number one they're starvingspiritually.
They just may not have known it, and it made me think of that.
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You remember, you see some ofthese videos where people are at
this in World War II, theAllied forces come in and they
discover that there are theseconcentration camps that the
Germans had put in place.
And the Allied forces, theAmericans, come in and they
discover these camps where thesepeople are behind the fences
and they've been starved todeath and their faces are
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emaciated, their eyes are sunkenback in their sockets, and they
come to these people andthey're starving and they're
starving.
And so now, in this sense, thispicture, and maybe in your mind
, this is what happens to uswhen we fail to feed on the Word
of God and we don't even knowit.
(32:13):
So that's one reason they'reweeping because they're getting
fed, even seeing those World WarII films, when they start
passing out food, tears begin toflow in those World War II
people who were behind thefences.
Number two I think anotherreason to weep is that their
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hearts are overwhelmed becausethey're actually understanding.
God is speaking to me.
Has God spoken to you in theScriptures?
There's nothing like it.
When God speaks, in some ways,what does God's Word do for us?
It encourages us, it instructsus, just like it did them.
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It convicts us and ultimately,that conviction ends up making
them sorrow over their sin.
And if we fail to be in theword, we don't even know our
condition before God.
And this is where they wereweeping, as God is speaking to
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them, things they need to know,and so, by this point, they're
just a mess.
This is what revival is, folksBrokenness, the realization that
God is doing something he's notdone before and you can't
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explain it.
This is the beginning ofrevival.
Verse 9, it says, in response toNehemiah, a few people, who was
the governor, and Ezra, thepriests and scribes, the Levites
who taught the people, said toall the people as a group this
day is holy to the Lord.
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Don't weep or mourn.
I mean there'll be time forrepentance and confession later,
but that day's not today.
This day is a holy day.
Why?
Simply this because God is withyou and he's for you, he's not
(34:28):
against you, and sometimes wekind of carry that with us.
This is the day of feasting andcelebration, and it's holy,
it's a day joy, and that's whyhe ends up this verse 10.
The reason not to weep isstated pretty clearly, for the
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joy of the Lord is your strength.
I brought two tools with metoday.
One is the word of God and theother is a scan tool that I use
to scan the codes on my car.
So a few years ago seems likeit's at least a year, year and a
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half maybe we bought a car andit's had trouble ever since.
It's a constant repair job.
So I use one of these to kindof figure out, as you do on your
car, you see that check enginelight.
You do on your car.
You see that check engine lightcome on in your car and if
you're a wise person you don'tlet that go.
You find out what it is andthis contraption.
(35:32):
Actually, you plug it in in thecar after you see the codes and
it tells you everything youcan't see with just that little
light on your dashboard.
Everything you can't see withjust that little light on your
dashboard.
And for my car it's got a bunchof them and I'm working through
them little by little.
And you know, I get one thingdone and I plug it in and
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there's something else.
And so this has been going on ayear and a half, you know, and
I'm thinking am I ever going toget to drive this car?
Went on a year and a half, youknow, and I'm thinking am I ever
going to get to drive this car?
And so yesterday I was tellingmy wife I said I think I fixed
it.
The light has gone off.
And she said well, I bet youthis will be a joy day for you.
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And I said until the checkengine light comes back on.
And so this is a little bit likeour life.
Our life is like the car, andsometimes our focus is on all
the things that are wrong withwhat's going on in our life.
We get so discouraged andfocused in on the problem and
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we've just got to fix it.
If we could just fix it, if wecould just resolve this issue,
then everything would make ushappy.
But this says somethingdifferent.
This talks about where we getour joy.
Because if I fix the car, therewill be something else.
That happens.
But same is true with our life.
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If your life is fixed, somethingelse comes up.
Doesn't it think about how joyis a tremendous source of
strength for us?
Think about it.
If a person is down, if you'rediscouraged and depressed, any
difficulty or problem is enoughto cause you to what?
(37:21):
Have a bad day and shut down,right.
I mean, it doesn't take muchsometimes and you see people
walk in and you go.
Something's wrong.
Maybe you saw some people likethat today.
That's why the Bible tells us ajoyful heart is good medicine.
But a crushed spirit dries upthe bones.
Isn't that true?
That could be true for anybody,but a person who's up, a person
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who's up, that's different.
They will accomplish far morethan the person who's down.
Joy provides strength.
A person who, for example,suffers from physical issues or
pain, guess what?
They're filled with joy andthey'll survive much better and
far longer than the person whois focused on the issue.
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It's just true.
Focused on the issue, it's justtrue.
Or if you think about that, youcan, even if you're in pain,
sometimes, if you're full of joy, you forget the pain.
You say, okay, that wentthrough the day and I didn't
even feel what I felt when I gotup this morning.
So there's a joy, there's astrength in our joy, but it's
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not an outward circumstances,and the reason that our joy is
sometimes up and down.
Up and down is because ourfocus is on the wrong joy.
This is the joy of the Lord andso for everyone who is in
Christ, the source of our joy,if we don't focus on getting it
from our outward circumstancesand we focus on the one who is
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full of joy, then we'll see this, because joy is the essence of
who God is.
He is a joyful God and when wetap into him through the Spirit
of God, then we can live aboveour circumstances.
It's his joy that he gives usthrough the Spirit of God.
It's it's his joy that he givesus through the spirit of god
(39:13):
and, and, if you will, joy givesus the ability to live above
our check engine lights.
I don't know what yours istoday, but so think about this
the word of god, just like thisis for my car, the word of God
is your scan tool for your life.
The difference here is this bookdoesn't bring you down, it
(39:38):
builds you up if you just get init.
Scripture says the Scriptures,acts 2, they're able to build
you up and give you aninheritance among those who are
sanctified.
And so these people in Nehemiah, as the word was explained to
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them, they were built up andthey it says in verse 12, all
the people went their way to dojust that to eat and drink and
to send portions and to makegreat rejoicing and notice the
reason, because underline thatbecause they had understood the
words that were declared to them.
(40:23):
And one of the things that suchan encounter with the word of
God brings is this deepening andintensifying of our affections
for God.
And sometimes we don't realizehow much they are affected by
what we find in Scripture, thiskind of encounter.
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Let me give you one moreexample of this, because I think
this is such the important partof this passage.
It's recalled in that story ofthe two disciples on the Emmaus
Road.
And if you remember those twodisciples, this is after the
resurrection and they're walkingalong the Emmaus Road after the
resurrection, from Jerusalem onthe way to Emmaus, and they
have a guy walking alongsidethem.
(41:07):
They don't recognize him, butthis is Jesus and they enter
into a conversation with Jesusand the disciples say we had
hoped that we were going to beable to put our confidence in
this Jesus and really see somethings happening.
And for them Jesus was anon-starter and they were
disappointed in Jesus.
They put all their hopes inJesus, jesus, they put all their
(41:35):
hopes in Jesus but, as theywould find this would be the
most significant encounter oftheir lives, and they're
prevented from recognizing Jesus.
And I looked this up thedistance from Jerusalem to
Emmaus is about seven miles andit would have taken, in their
conversation, about two to threehours, depending on how fast
you walked.
But he's listening to theircomplaints and saying I thought
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it was going to be this way, butit's not, and we're really
disappointed.
And then Jesus, he tells themessentially I'm going to
paraphrase this he essentiallytells them you really don't know
your Bible or believe it, doyou?
That's really what he says.
And then he says this it saysthe scripture says this and,
(42:20):
beginning with Moses and all theprophets, he interpreted same
word here to them in all thescriptures, the things
concerning himself.
All the scripture you read isabout Jesus.
And so it's late in the day whenthey get to Emmaus and they
(42:41):
invite this stranger who theydon't know, is Jesus to eat and
stay overnight with them, andthe gospel account in Luke tells
us this.
As they sat down to eat, hetook the bread and blessed it,
jesus.
Then Jesus broke it and gave itto them.
Suddenly, their eyes wereopened and they recognized him
(43:03):
and at that moment hedisappeared.
And they looked at each otherand they said didn't our hearts
burn within us as he talked withus on the road and explained
the scriptures to us?
That's an encounter and you canhave it and I can have it, and
(43:25):
everyone who desires to followChrist can have it, if we just
choose it.
See, there's a profoundemotional and spiritual impact
when we encounter the livingChrist through the Holy
Scriptures, and it's our choice.
So it's still the case.
Our hearts can be set on fireby the truth of God's Word, and
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I had a.
There's a picture I put up herefor you Augustine, who was one
of the early church fathers whohad been transformed by the word
of God.
He was so influential in thechurch, including our own, the
way we view theology andeverything, and he has this
person who painted his portraitlater on, philip de Champagne, a
(44:11):
few bit later, and it showsAugustine there, and in his
right hand is a quill.
He's wanting to write somethingand in his left hand his heart
is in his hand and out of theheart comes fire.
And I don't think you can seeit, but he's looking up to where
the spotted light is and itsays, there in the light,
veritas fire.
And I don't think you can seeit, but he's looking up to where
the spotted light is and itsays, there in the light,
(44:34):
veritas.
Veritas, which means truth.
His heart is set on fire by thetruth and he's expecting what
he is going to do is be able towrite based on what God has done
in his heart.
And God can do that for all ofus Everything we do, the things
(44:54):
we live for, the things, theplaces we work.
Our hearts can be set on firesimply because God has done a
work inside of us through hisword, the catalyst to revival
require number one, therestoration of God's Word, the
elevation of God's Word.
Number two, and then third, theexplanation of God's Word.
(45:16):
And then the fourth one, thecontinuation in God's Word which
transforms our behavior, and wesee it in chapter 8, verse 13,.
Back in Nehemiah it says on thesecond day here's the second day
, the heads of the fathershouses of all the people, with
the priests.
And the second day here's thesecond day the heads of the
fathers' houses of all thepeople, with the priests and the
Levites came together to Ezrathe scribe in order to study the
(45:37):
words of the law.
They moved from hearing it andgetting it explained to them,
and now they sit down and golet's get a little bit deeper,
let's dig deeper and see what itactually teaches and it says.
They found it written in thelaw that the Lord had commanded
by Moses that the people ofIsrael should dwell in booths
(45:58):
during the feast of the seventhmonth.
And we're going to focus on thefeast, but I think the point of
the feast and all this here ison the second day they began to
study the word and we can readthe Bible, but unless we get
into it for ourselves, if we'reall depending on what is getting
shared by listening to radio orpeople who teach the Bible
(46:20):
studies and we just sit there aslisteners, passive listeners,
we haven't gone far enough.
We need to get into the Biblefor ourselves, study it for
ourselves, and I believe thepoint of this text in this place
here is simply for us to seethat these people, who had begun
to move from hearing the Wordto actually studying it,
(46:40):
ultimately realize they hadfailed to actually apply the
Word.
They had failed to actually doit.
And we can go all our livesthinking, boy, I know a lot of
the Bible, but how much do weput into practice?
See, the Bible says don't lookat the mirror like you'd look at
(47:01):
yourself and turn away andforget what you look like.
Don't be just hearers of theword, actually be doers of it.
So the people here's theresponse and they said, okay, we
will.
So the people went out andbrought them, that is, the
sticks and bows, and they madebooths for themselves.
(47:23):
And then it says for from thedays of Joshua, the son of Nun,
to that day, the people ofIsrael had not done so.
They didn't either know thatthey needed to do this or they
just had chosen not to do whatGod's word had said.
But today they did.
Today they did and notice thelast thing there in verse 17,
and there was very greatrejoicing.
(47:44):
You see, what happens inrevival is there are people
who've discovered what God hascalled them to do through the
scriptures and they actuallyturn their lives around and they
make a change.
Next week we're going to talkabout chapter 9, a bit of that,
and how we turn our lives toalign it with the Word of God as
we've discovered it.
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And so they began to obey whatthey discovered and, living in
that perfect I would just callit the perfect will of God,
there was very great joy.
There always is joy when welive in God's will, and this is
the transformation of truerevival.
Notice the last verse and thisis sort of a summary verse and
(48:28):
day by day, from the first dayto the last, he, ezra, read from
the book of the law.
They kept the feast seven daysand on the eighth day there was
a solemn assembly according tothe rule.
We'll find out more a bit aboutthis as we go forth, but here's
the thing we want to see revival.
We have to live in the word ifwe want to be changed by the
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word.
You want your life to bedifferent.
You want your circumstances andissues to sort of change or
have a different perspective onthem.
You have to live in the word.
Jesus said it like this.
He said for those who are mytrue disciples, they will
continue in my word.
So you see, there's a kind of aprogression here.
(49:13):
For these people that led torevival.
Same will be true for us.
They had a hunger for the word,so that caused them to realize
the mistakes of having ignoredthe scriptures or God's word.
They had a respect for the word.
They saw that the word had adivine authority over their life
.
They had a respect for the word.
They saw that the word had adivine authority over their life
.
They had an understanding ofthe word which brought a change
(49:37):
in their affections.
And then they decided well,we're going to obey the word.
They went back and they beganto correct all the things that
were not right with their lives.
And we will too when we getinto God's word.
You know, I just think, I don'tknow.
It seems like God wants to dosome things in us.
(50:00):
We see all around.
I hear people say I seestirrings of revival.
God's just sort of stirring thewaters, and I think he wants to
do that here too.
Let's not let him pass us by,and let's ask him to help us.
Let's pray, and we'll bedismissed.
(50:23):
Father, we're thankful for yourword today and I pray for
everyone here, including myself,lord, that we won't be merely
passive when it comes to yourword and think things are
interesting or entertaining, but, lord, that they will be
life-changing as we putourselves before your book, into
(50:45):
your book.
Lord, we ask you to do this inthe mighty name of Jesus.
Change our hearts, o God.
God, we pray in Jesus name,amen.
You know I'm so excited about what God is doing,
and as we've been spending timein our prayer and fasting time,
I just expect God to do somewonderful things.
He already is.
As I'm listening to the rain onour roof, I'm reminded of what
Isaiah said.
He said as the rain comes downand waters the earth and I'm
(00:27):
kind of paraphrasing your soulis my word.
It provides bread to the eater,and those who sow will reap.
When we get things in rightalignment with what God calls us
to do, we'll reap a harvest forit.
So let that remind you that Godis wanting to do some great
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things.
But you have to participate.
You have to cooperate with Him,and so we are continuing our
series today in Nehemiah.
It's been great, and I thinkthis is just such a remarkably
practical book and it fitsreally with so much of what's
going on around us in our timestoday.
It's really great.
And when I'm thinking about whatis going on all around us and
(01:10):
we're looking at all this stuff,this chaotic world we're living
in, it's not different, I think, for most generations.
Every generation longs to seeGod move and work and change our
hearts, to see it transformed,and so I think there's always
this deep desire and longing andI hope that that's in you today
(01:33):
, that you come looking to meetGod here and to see Him work in
extraordinary ways.
We're talking about renewal inthis series a little bit and
restoration and really aboutreviving our hearts.
Here's what Andrew Murray saysabout that.
He says a true revival meansnothing less than a revolution,
(01:55):
casting out the spirit ofworldliness and selfishness and
making God and his lovetriumphed in the heart and life.
And Charles Spurgeon, he saidwhat would this heart feel if I
could but believe that therewere some among you who would go
home and pray for a revival,men whose faith is large enough
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and their love fiery enough tolead them from this moment to
exercise unceasing intercessions, that God would appear among us
and do wondrous things here, asin the times of former
generations.
And so you know, this issomething I think that every
generation, every person whocalls themselves a Christian and
(02:37):
as a follower of Christ, wantsto see God work and move.
So I want us to kind of go backand do a quick review, kind of
set the idea of where we've comein this book and I put a chart
up there just to kind of giveyou a perspective and just kind
of overview for this and let'skind of just see the big picture
(02:58):
here again.
So our journey through Nehemiahso far has set the stage for the
first stage of the work whichNehemiah has done and God
desires to do.
And what was it?
He rebuilt what?
The wall, the wall.
And now it's not about justrebuilding the wall.
The wall was rebuilt and it wasa miracle really in 52 days.
(03:20):
That's astounding and Tylertalked about that a little bit
bit how large the city was andhow much had to be done, and yet
they completed it in 52 days.
Now the work is about rebuildingand restoring and reforming, if
you will, the spiritual life ofthe nation, revival and, as we
(03:40):
come to chapter 8, nehemiah'sroles in fact have.
You can look at a few of thethings there that show about
what his role had been, fromgoing from cupbearer to the king
in Susa, to the rebuilder ofthe wall, the one that led that,
and then finally he is now atthis point of being governor
over the province and at thispoint the leadership, as it were
(04:04):
, changes.
It goes from him to Ezra thepriest.
But Nehemiah is still prettymuch involved.
He's still just he's there buthe's sort of taking a back seat.
Ezra is now leading thisspiritual movement that is
happening in the lives of God'speople and is hopeful that it
will move forward.
And, by the way, that's sort ofdirected and reflected in this
(04:27):
narrative.
It changes now from Nehemiah'sfirst person account this is his
kind of personal diary to likefrom I did this to they or they
did this a third person, and sowe know it's a transition.
We're now in the second half ofthe book and, as we said, you
(04:48):
really need to read these bookstogether.
Ezra and Nehemiah originallywere in the Hebrew Bible as one
single book and we talked aboutthat in the very first message.
Something else worth notingabout Ezra, this priest, is that
we find in this book, in hisown book by his name, ezra,
chapter 7, verse 10,.
It tells us that God's hand wason Ezra and there's a reason
(05:11):
for that.
It tells us right there in Ezra7.10,.
Ezra has set his heart to studythe law, the law of the Lord,
and to do it and to teach it,and to teach the statutes and
rules in Israel.
Here was a man who was a primoBible teacher and he had set his
heart and his passions to studythe word of God and to share it
(05:33):
with the people.
So here's a guy who has a skilland passion for the work and
his heart is really in it.
Let me give you some keyelements as we're looking at the
rest of this book just realquickly.
Chapter 8 through 10 shows arevival of the people through
the reading and study of theWord, a confession of sin, which
comes in our next chapter, andthen a renewal of the covenant
(05:56):
where lives are changed.
Chapter 11 and 12 through 26,the repopulation of Jerusalem,
the city of God, by the people.
26,.
The repopulation of Jerusalem,the city of God, by the people,
and then chapter 12, 27 through47 is this final rededication of
the walls and the city.
Chapter 13 is Nehemiah's finalwork and chapter 13 is really a
(06:18):
surprising turn of events and Iwon't give it away unless you
just read ahead, but stay tunedfor that.
It's quite surprising what theend of the book shows us, turn
of events and I won't give itaway unless you just read ahead,
but stay tuned for that.
It's quite surprising what theend of the book shows us.
So we begin the second part ofthe book today with this message
I'm calling Revival at theWatergate.
Revival at the Watergate and inlight of the scripture as we're
(06:40):
going to read today, would youall stand?
We don't do this very often,but we're going to see this
morning why we do this in facton occasion.
And let's read togetherNehemiah 7, beginning I'm just
going to begin in verse 73 andthe latter part, and we'll read
through chapter 8.
When the seventh month had come,the people of Israel were in
(07:00):
their towns and all the peoplegathered as one man into the
square before the water gate andthey told Ezra the scribe to
bring the book of the law ofMoses that the Lord had
commanded Israel.
So Ezra the priest brought thelaw before the assembly, both
men and women and all who couldunderstand what they heard, on
the first day of the seventhmonth.
(07:21):
And he read from it, facing thesquare before the water gate
from early morning until midday,in the presence of the seventh
month.
And he read from it facing thesquare before the water gate
from early morning until midday,in the presence of the men and
the women and those who couldunderstand.
And the ears of all the peoplewere attentive to the book of
the law, and Ezra the scribe,stood on a wooden platform that
they had made for the purposeand beside him, mattathiah Shema
(07:46):
, ananiah Uriah that they hadmade for the purpose, and beside
him Mattathiah Shema, ananiahUriah, hilkiah, massiah, and on
his right hand, badiah, mishael,malchijah, hashum, hashbadana,
zechariah and Meshulam.
Okay, you got to clap for thatright.
No, I'm kidding.
On his left hand.
And Ezra opened the book in thesight of all the people, for he
(08:09):
was above all the people, and ashe opened it, all the people
stood and Ezra blessed the Lord,the great God, and all the
people answered Amen, amen.
Lifting up their hands.
And they bowed their heads andworshiped the Lord with their
faces to the ground.
Here we go again.
And they bowed their heads andworshiped the Lord with their
faces to the ground.
Here we go again.
And also, all the Levites helpedthe people to understand the
(08:40):
law.
While the people remained intheir places, they read from the
book from the law of the peopleremained in their places, they
read from the book from the lawof God clearly and they gave the
sense so that the peopleunderstood the reading.
And Nehemiah, who was thegovernor, and Ezra, the priest
and scribe, and the Levites, whotaught the people said to all
the people this day is holy tothe Lord, your God, do not mourn
(09:02):
or weep.
For all the people wept as theyheard the words of the law.
Then he said to them Go yourway, eat the fat and drink sweet
wine and send portions toanyone who has nothing ready,
for this day is holy to our Lordand do not be grieved, for the
joy of the Lord is your strength.
So the Levites calmed all thepeople, saying be quiet, for
(09:26):
this day is holy, do not begrieved.
And all the people went theirway to eat and drink and to send
portions and to make greatrejoicing because they had
understood the words that weredeclared to them.
On the second day, the heads ofthe father's houses of all the
people, with the priests and theLevites, came together to Ezra
the scribe in order to study thepeople, with the priests and
the Levites, came together toEzra the scribe in order to
study the words of the law, andthey found it written in the law
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that the Lord had commanded byMoses that the people of Israel
should dwell in booths ortabernacles during the feast of
the seventh month and theyshould go, should proclaim it
and publish it in all theirtowns and in Jerusalem.
Go out to the hills and bringbranches of olive, wild olive,
myrtle, palm and other leafytrees to make booths, as it is
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written.
So the people went out andbrought them and made booths for
themselves, each on his ownroof and in their courts and in
the courts of the house of Godand in the square at the water
gate and in the square at thegate of Ephraim.
And all the assembly at thewater gate and in the square at
the gate of Ephraim and all theassembly of those who had
returned from the captivity madebooths and lived in the booths
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For from the days of Yeshua, theson of Nun, to the day that the
people of Israel they had notdone so and there was very great
rejoicing and day by day, fromthe first day to the last day,
he read from the book of the lawof God.
They kept the feast seven daysand on the eighth day there was
a solemn assembly.
According to the rule, you canbe seated, so let's pray.
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Father, we're thankful thatyour word gives us life and, as
we have said, it rains down onus and gives us ability for you
to take the seed that we sowthat, that it becomes, for you
and for us, eternal life.
Lord, we thank you for whatyou're going to do this morning.
We ask you, as we hold ourhearts in our hands, we ask you
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to hold hold our hearts as well,and that they would catch on
fire for you, and we ask that inJesus' name, amen.
So I want to say that thestarting point, or the beginning
point for any true revival isthe Word of God.
Some of us may argue with thatand say no, no, it's prayer,
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it's prayer.
But I'm thinking of thebeginning point, the actual
beginning point, and thescripture says that all things
were created by God inColossians 1.
It says they were created byGod, things in heaven and in
earth, things visible andinvisible.
So you want to see God dosomething that we don't see.
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I mean, it's sort of spiritual.
This is where we're reallyfocusing.
The Word does inform ourprayers, though, and this is
what I'm getting at.
Without the illumination thatcomes from the Word of God, our
prayers are sort of off kilter,and we don't really know
necessarily how to pray.
And so when we feast and feedupon God's Word, when we feast
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and feed upon God's Word, ourlives are transformed for his
glory.
So I want to give you this andthis is going through just
Nehemiah, chapter 8, for what Icall movements or steps that are
a catalyst for revival, and allfocused on the word.
And you know when I use thatword I use the word catalyst
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intentionally and I looked upold Daniel Webster and he gives
us a couple of words meaningsfor the word catalyst.
If you were in your chemistryclass you know a catalyst was
something enabled a chemicalreaction to proceed at an
unusually faster rate, he says,under different conditions than
otherwise possible.
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So think about that as thecatalyst is the Word of God, or
here's this one.
It's an agent, he says, thatprovokes or speeds significant
change or action, and this iswhat the Word does.
Certainly I don't think we'retrying to and I don't want you
to hear that what we're callingfor and what this is calling for
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is something that will sort offorce God's hand.
Revival is a sovereign work ofGod.
He chooses when this happens.
But we can get ourself in theflow and I picture this almost
like as God's doing what he'sdoing in the earth.
We get to choose whether wewill join him and so that flow
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is.
He's constantly, it's movingand we sometimes we can stand on
the banks and look at the, atthe movement of what God is
doing and just kind of say, wow,that's really cool, that's neat
.
Or we can jump in.
We can jump in.
Here's what God said Is not myword like a fire, declares the
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Lord, and like a hammer thatbreaks the rock in pieces.
You think about that.
We read that too quicklysometimes.
The word is like a fire.
It consumes things, consumesthe things that don't need to be
there in our life.
It burns things up and it setsthings on fire to burn.
And then it's like a hammer andI think of that.
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You know I use the hammer Ihave sometimes to crack nuts and
sometimes God needs to cracksome nuts in our lives and so
it's really he says itessentially is a powerful thing
in our lives.
I don't want us to see these.
Look at these.
The first thing to note and thefirst step to revival.
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I think we see here in Nehemiah, the restoration of God's word
awakens us, it awakens our faith.
Look at chapter 7 again and itsays there, in chapter 7, verse
1, it says and all the peoplegathered as one man into the
square before the water gate andthey told Ezra the scribe to
bring the book, the book, theBible, and it says in verse 3 he
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read from it.
And, facing the square beforethe water gate, from early
morning until midday, and theears of all the people, verse 3,
were attentive to the book ofthe law.
And so what we see here is aspiritual hunger for spiritual
realities which lead the peopleto ask Ezra to bring them this
book.
Bring the book and read it tous.
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And the people of God realize,essentially, that they need to
be right with God.
Do you need to be right withGod this morning?
They need to be right with Godif they're going to ever prosper
as a nation, and the proof, Ithink, of their hunger is
obvious, isn't it?
It says and we see it in justhow willing they were to, I
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guess, take the time to listento it Six straight hours.
Can you imagine that's amazing.
Six straight hours the Word ofGod is read aloud to these
people and I just think that'sastounding.
But they were willing to sitthere and listen because they
were hungry.
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In the past, god's prophets hadmoaned and lamented about the
fact that there wasn't thatgoing on in the people in that
day they had really poorlistening skills.
Here's what Hosea said, theprophet my people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge.
Do you think that's true?
Maybe today we look at thecondition of things around us
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and we look at the condition ofchurches in our group we call
Christians and you thinksomething's wrong.
People don't know.
And that's what he says mypeople are destroyed for lack of
knowledge.
But here in this patch is fornehemiah and these people.
This day is different.
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This day is different.
Verse three describes thepeople's attentive ears.
It could be translated, I think, more poetically like this and
the ears of all the people weretoward the book of the law.
And so what you're picturing isthey're so intent on getting
the law read to them, thescriptures read to them, that,
so they're sort of leaning inlike this.
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So you get this picture oftheir very close attention.
Their ears are opened and theyhave become active listeners.
See, there's a differencebetween being an active listener
and a passive listener.
Passive listener comes and saidoh, that was nice.
An active listener says tell memore, what does that mean?
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And so that for us today, Ithink many people Christian
people really fail to realizethe place and the importance of
the Bible in our daily lives.
We just really don't get it.
I think we're often spirituallyignorant because we don't know
what God's provision is for usand we live our lives wondering
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why don't I have this or why ismy life like that?
A man asked his friend do youknow the difference between
apathy and ignorance?
And the man thought for aminute and he said I don't know
and I don't care.
And we're often like that andI'm constantly amazed, as I
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listen to people talk and sharetheir life with me, at how we
try to handle problems anddifficulties and struggles in
life on our own and with our ownhuman wisdom.
You know, the Bible says thereis a difference between earthly
wisdom and heavenly wisdom.
The heavenly wisdom comes downfrom God and it changes us.
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Earthly wisdom, it says, isdemonic.
So the Bible gives us heavenlywisdom.
But the Bible also speaks thisheavenly wisdom in terms of
practical things, things likeour marriage, our family, our
finances, our friendships.
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It talks about wisdom forsingleness.
It talks about our purpose.
It talks about our identity.
It talks about things like fearand anxiety and anger and
unforgiveness, and sometimes wedeal with those things with
earthly wisdom.
We need heavenly wisdom,heavenly wisdom for those issues
.
The Bible, you see, wakes us upto reality.
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See, when you realize your lifeisn't working, when you realize
your life isn't working, thenyou're ready to hear God speak.
So the first catalyst to revivalthe restoration of God's word.
Restoration of God's word, putit back in place.
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And some of us need to pick upour Bible, pull them off the
shelf and begin to read themagain.
Some of us need to get involvedin the reading program that the
Bible is being offered herethrough the church and is shared
through the church, and aregular way to help you kind of
stay committed to reading theWord of God.
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Here's a second thing.
Second catalyst the elevationof God's Word corrects vision.
So we have the restoration andnow the elevation of God's Word
in verses four through six, andit gives us some further insight
, I think, into the morningscene where Ezra is really he's
reading the law and, as it wasdescribed kind of as a hole in
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verses 2 and 3, and now it says,before the people came together
, a high wooden platform,literally a tower of wood, has
been built for this specialoccasion.
And our text goes on to tell usin verses 5 and 6,.
And Ezra opened the book in thesight of all the people, for he
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was above all the people, andas he opened it, all the people
stood, just like we did today,and Ezra blessed the Lord, the
great God, and all the peopleanswered Amen, amen, lifting up
their hands, and they bowedtheir heads and worshiped the
Lord with their faces to theground.
You know, if you were to govisit some of the oldest
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churches in the world, maybesome of the churches in Europe,
you would find a few, some stillaround, with these very high
pulpits where there are stairs,where the person who is speaking
has to climb stairs to get intothe place to speak.
That point is well illustratedin a word from Alistair Begg.
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I think he does this so well.
It speaks to this issue.
He says this.
He says I have a vividrecollection as a small boy of
sitting in St George's TronChurch in Glasgow waiting for
the commencement of morningworship.
At about three minutes to 11,the Beatle the name for the
parish official would climb thepulpit stairs and place a large
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Bible on the lectern.
Would climb the pulpit stairsand place a large Bible on the
lectern, having opened it to theappropriate passage, he would
descend and the minister wouldin turn ascend the stairs and
sit in the cone-shaped pulpit.
The beta would complete hisresponsibilities by climbing the
stairs a second time to closethe pulpit door and leave the
pastor to his task.
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To close the pulpit door andleave the pastor to his task.
There was no doubt in my youngmind that each part of that
procedure was marked withsignificance.
There was clearly no reason forthe pastor to be in the pulpit
apart from the Bible upon whichhe looked down as he read.
I understood that, in contrastto his physical posture, the
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preacher was standing underscripture, not over it.
Similarly, we were listeningnot so much for his message but
for its message.
We were discovering, as JIPacker has suggested, that
preaching is letting texts talk,that preaching is letting texts
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talk.
Sadly, much of what now emanatesfrom pulpits would not be
recognized by many Christians ofpast generations as anywhere
close to the kind of expositorypreaching that is based on the
Bible, christ-focused andlife-changing, the kind of
preaching that is marked bydoctrinal clarity, a sense of
gravity and convincing argument.
We have instead become far toofamiliar with preaching that
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pays scant attention to theBible is self-focused and
constantly and consequentlycapable of only the most
superficial impact upon thelives of listeners.
Worse.
Still, large sections of thechurch are oblivious to the fact
that they are beingadministered a placebo rather
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than the medicine they need.
They are satisfied with thefeeling that it has done them
some good, a feeling thatdisguises the seriousness of the
situation.
In the absence of bread, thepopulation grows accustomed to
cake.
Pulpits are for preachers.
We build stages for performers.
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Let that sink in.
Begg goes on and I want to kindof give you the rest of this.
This is a long reading section,but it's something we need to
hear.
He goes on to say some yearsago, and he gives a couple of
illustrations here worth sharing.
Some years ago I enjoyed theprivilege of speaking at a
convention in Hong Kong.
The meetings were held in anAnglican church that had a
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pulpit we did not use.
The organizers felt it would bebest if we were not six feet
above the congregation but onthe same level as the people, so
they provided a lectern to holdthe preacher's Bible.
As he spoke.
I was sharing the event with akindly older man who had never
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met before.
We both spoke each morning.
Some mornings I would preachfirst.
Sometimes he would.
Whenever he began a message,his first action was to pick up
the small lectern and move itoff to the side, where it would
neither impede his movement norcreate the impression that he
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was preaching to the people.
Instead, he said he wasdelivering a talk and he wanted
to be sure the listeners couldrelax and benefit from his
conversational style.
When it came time for me topreach, my first action was to
put the lectern back in itsplace, central to the occasion.
The congregation laughed asthis pattern repeated itself
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over and over over the course offive days.
I would use it, my colleaguewould remove it.
Before the week was out, twoincidents occurred that may or
may not have been related.
First, I explained to thecongregation that the reason I
replaced the lectern each timewas not simply so I might have a
place for my Bible, but becauseI did not want to forego the
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symbolism of having a centralpulpit with the word in its
deserved primary place.
After all, I observed if thepreacher were to fall down or
disappear, the congregationwould still be left with its
focus in the right place, namelythe scriptures.
I know that my preachingpartner did not take this as a
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personal rebuke, which is whatmade the second incident all the
more telling.
A day or two later, he confidedto me that he felt he had lost
any real sense of passion orpower in the delivery of his
messages.
It was very humbling for me asa young man to sit and listen to
as he poured out his heart andwith tears reflected upon his
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diminished zeal.
It is far too simplistic tosuggest that his removing the
podium each time he spoke was asymbol of faltering conviction
regarding the priority and powerof Scripture.
Yet I have a suspicion that itsremoval was more than simply a
matter of style or personalpreference.
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The layout of many contemporarychurch buildings, including my
own at least, flirts with thedanger of creating the
impression that we have come tohear from man rather than meet
with God.
It is imperative that weacknowledge and remember, and
help each other acknowledge andremember, that we gather
together as a church not to beentertained, but to hear and
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heed the word of God.
So here in Nehemiah 8, the wordof God is given its proper
place.
And so what are they doing?
They're giving the word of Godits right place.
They see it as a divineauthority.
It's over their lives.
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So, by the way, this is whatPaul commended the Thessalonians
for, this Thessalonian church.
He says to them we thank Godconstantly for this that when
you received the Word of Godwhich you heard from us, you
accepted it, not as the Word ofmen but to you or just another
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talk.
It's a difference, there's adifference, and so the principle
here is this how highly we viewthe scriptures will really
determine how well you live yourlife.
How highly you view thescriptures will determine how
well you live your life, andit's always true.
So the first catalyst torevival, the restoration of
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God's word, then the elevationof God's word, then, thirdly,
here we see the explanation ofGod's Word which brings an
encounter.
This is so cool Verses 8,chapter 8, verse 7 through 12.
And so we see, as the scripturesare being read by Ezra here, in
verse 7 and 8, he sends out 13Levitical priests, and you can
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picture this All the people areout there in the square at the
water gate and they're probablysitting in circles that are
listening to him read.
And he sends out 13 Leviticalpriests and they are assigned to
all these groups, and thereason that they're there is to
instruct the people as theScripture is being read, and
their specific task is to whatVerse eight says, to make the
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word clear, that is, to make itdistinct.
So, as you sometimes imagine,when you hear people sometimes
communicate, you didn't catchsomething and you kind of wonder
I missed that?
What did they say?
This is what the scribes aredoing.
They're telling the people.
Okay, he said this andsomething else says in verse 8,.
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Their task was also not only tomake it clear but to give the
sense, a word that means to giveinsight, to so explain it, tell
what it means.
We use the word interpret,interpret, and so the purpose
for them is also to kind ofexplain some things, and all the
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while, the word it probablydoesn't interrupt what Ezra's
doing.
He's still continuing to readthe word and maybe I don't know
maybe somebody in one of thosegroups kind of raises their hand
and the scribe goes over and hequickly says something that
will help them move along in thereading, to help them get it.
But the purpose, their overallpurpose, is to help them
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understand, and that word isused three or four times in this
passage.
And so now notice what happensVerses 9 and 10.
As they begin to understand andthey begin to get it.
God begins to open their earsand everyone begins to
understand God's word.
And this is so significant.
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Don't miss this.
This is an encounter.
This is an encounter.
The people, it says, begin toweep.
You say, why is that?
Why are they weeping?
And I think it's for tworeasons.
Number one they're starvingspiritually.
They just may not have known it, and it made me think of that.
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You remember, you see some ofthese videos where people are at
this in World War II, theAllied forces come in and they
discover that there are theseconcentration camps that the
Germans had put in place.
And the Allied forces, theAmericans, come in and they
discover these camps where thesepeople are behind the fences
and they've been starved todeath and their faces are
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emaciated, their eyes are sunkenback in their sockets, and they
come to these people andthey're starving and they're
starving.
And so now, in this sense, thispicture, and maybe in your mind
, this is what happens to uswhen we fail to feed on the Word
of God and we don't even knowit.
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So that's one reason they'reweeping because they're getting
fed, even seeing those World WarII films, when they start
passing out food, tears begin toflow in those World War II
people who were behind thefences.
Number two I think anotherreason to weep is that their
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hearts are overwhelmed becausethey're actually understanding.
God is speaking to me.
Has God spoken to you in theScriptures?
There's nothing like it.
When God speaks, in some ways,what does God's Word do for us?
It encourages us, it instructsus, just like it did them.
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It convicts us and ultimately,that conviction ends up making
them sorrow over their sin.
And if we fail to be in theword, we don't even know our
condition before God.
And this is where they wereweeping, as God is speaking to
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them, things they need to know,and so, by this point, they're
just a mess.
This is what revival is, folksBrokenness, the realization that
God is doing something he's notdone before and you can't
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explain it.
This is the beginning ofrevival.
Verse 9, it says, in response toNehemiah, a few people, who was
the governor, and Ezra, thepriests and scribes, the Levites
who taught the people, said toall the people as a group this
day is holy to the Lord.
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Don't weep or mourn.
I mean there'll be time forrepentance and confession later,
but that day's not today.
This day is a holy day.
Why?
Simply this because God is withyou and he's for you, he's not
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against you, and sometimes wekind of carry that with us.
This is the day of feasting andcelebration, and it's holy,
it's a day joy, and that's whyhe ends up this verse 10.
The reason not to weep isstated pretty clearly, for the
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joy of the Lord is your strength.
I brought two tools with metoday.
One is the word of God and theother is a scan tool that I use
to scan the codes on my car.
So a few years ago seems likeit's at least a year, year and a
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half maybe we bought a car andit's had trouble ever since.
It's a constant repair job.
So I use one of these to kindof figure out, as you do on your
car, you see that check enginelight.
You do on your car.
You see that check engine lightcome on in your car and if
you're a wise person you don'tlet that go.
You find out what it is andthis contraption.
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Actually, you plug it in in thecar after you see the codes and
it tells you everything youcan't see with just that little
light on your dashboard.
Everything you can't see withjust that little light on your
dashboard.
And for my car it's got a bunchof them and I'm working through
them little by little.
And you know, I get one thingdone and I plug it in and
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there's something else.
And so this has been going on ayear and a half, you know, and
I'm thinking am I ever going toget to drive this car?
Went on a year and a half, youknow, and I'm thinking am I ever
going to get to drive this car?
And so yesterday I was tellingmy wife I said I think I fixed
it.
The light has gone off.
And she said well, I bet youthis will be a joy day for you.
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And I said until the checkengine light comes back on.
And so this is a little bit likeour life.
Our life is like the car, andsometimes our focus is on all
the things that are wrong withwhat's going on in our life.
We get so discouraged andfocused in on the problem and
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we've just got to fix it.
If we could just fix it, if wecould just resolve this issue,
then everything would make ushappy.
But this says somethingdifferent.
This talks about where we getour joy.
Because if I fix the car, therewill be something else.
That happens.
But same is true with our life.
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If your life is fixed, somethingelse comes up.
Doesn't it think about how joyis a tremendous source of
strength for us?
Think about it.
If a person is down, if you'rediscouraged and depressed, any
difficulty or problem is enoughto cause you to what?
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Have a bad day and shut down,right.
I mean, it doesn't take muchsometimes and you see people
walk in and you go.
Something's wrong.
Maybe you saw some people likethat today.
That's why the Bible tells us ajoyful heart is good medicine.
But a crushed spirit dries upthe bones.
Isn't that true?
That could be true for anybody,but a person who's up, a person
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who's up, that's different.
They will accomplish far morethan the person who's down.
Joy provides strength.
A person who, for example,suffers from physical issues or
pain, guess what?
They're filled with joy andthey'll survive much better and
far longer than the person whois focused on the issue.
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It's just true.
Focused on the issue, it's justtrue.
Or if you think about that, youcan, even if you're in pain,
sometimes, if you're full of joy, you forget the pain.
You say, okay, that wentthrough the day and I didn't
even feel what I felt when I gotup this morning.
So there's a joy, there's astrength in our joy, but it's
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not an outward circumstances,and the reason that our joy is
sometimes up and down.
Up and down is because ourfocus is on the wrong joy.
This is the joy of the Lord andso for everyone who is in
Christ, the source of our joy,if we don't focus on getting it
from our outward circumstancesand we focus on the one who is
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full of joy, then we'll see this, because joy is the essence of
who God is.
He is a joyful God and when wetap into him through the Spirit
of God, then we can live aboveour circumstances.
It's his joy that he gives usthrough the Spirit of God.
It's it's his joy that he givesus through the spirit of god
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and, and, if you will, joy givesus the ability to live above
our check engine lights.
I don't know what yours istoday, but so think about this
the word of god, just like thisis for my car, the word of God
is your scan tool for your life.
The difference here is this bookdoesn't bring you down, it
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builds you up if you just get init.
Scripture says the Scriptures,acts 2, they're able to build
you up and give you aninheritance among those who are
sanctified.
And so these people in Nehemiah, as the word was explained to
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them, they were built up andthey it says in verse 12, all
the people went their way to dojust that to eat and drink and
to send portions and to makegreat rejoicing and notice the
reason, because underline thatbecause they had understood the
words that were declared to them.
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And one of the things that suchan encounter with the word of
God brings is this deepening andintensifying of our affections
for God.
And sometimes we don't realizehow much they are affected by
what we find in Scripture, thiskind of encounter.
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Let me give you one moreexample of this, because I think
this is such the important partof this passage.
It's recalled in that story ofthe two disciples on the Emmaus
Road.
And if you remember those twodisciples, this is after the
resurrection and they're walkingalong the Emmaus Road after the
resurrection, from Jerusalem onthe way to Emmaus, and they
have a guy walking alongsidethem.
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They don't recognize him, butthis is Jesus and they enter
into a conversation with Jesusand the disciples say we had
hoped that we were going to beable to put our confidence in
this Jesus and really see somethings happening.
And for them Jesus was anon-starter and they were
disappointed in Jesus.
They put all their hopes inJesus, jesus, they put all their
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hopes in Jesus but, as theywould find this would be the
most significant encounter oftheir lives, and they're
prevented from recognizing Jesus.
And I looked this up thedistance from Jerusalem to
Emmaus is about seven miles andit would have taken, in their
conversation, about two to threehours, depending on how fast
you walked.
But he's listening to theircomplaints and saying I thought
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it was going to be this way, butit's not, and we're really
disappointed.
And then Jesus, he tells themessentially I'm going to
paraphrase this he essentiallytells them you really don't know
your Bible or believe it, doyou?
That's really what he says.
And then he says this it saysthe scripture says this and,
(42:20):
beginning with Moses and all theprophets, he interpreted same
word here to them in all thescriptures, the things
concerning himself.
All the scripture you read isabout Jesus.
And so it's late in the day whenthey get to Emmaus and they
(42:41):
invite this stranger who theydon't know, is Jesus to eat and
stay overnight with them, andthe gospel account in Luke tells
us this.
As they sat down to eat, hetook the bread and blessed it,
jesus.
Then Jesus broke it and gave itto them.
Suddenly, their eyes wereopened and they recognized him
(43:03):
and at that moment hedisappeared.
And they looked at each otherand they said didn't our hearts
burn within us as he talked withus on the road and explained
the scriptures to us?
That's an encounter and you canhave it and I can have it, and
(43:25):
everyone who desires to followChrist can have it, if we just
choose it.
See, there's a profoundemotional and spiritual impact
when we encounter the livingChrist through the Holy
Scriptures, and it's our choice.
So it's still the case.
Our hearts can be set on fireby the truth of God's Word, and
(43:49):
I had a.
There's a picture I put up herefor you Augustine, who was one
of the early church fathers whohad been transformed by the word
of God.
He was so influential in thechurch, including our own, the
way we view theology andeverything, and he has this
person who painted his portraitlater on, philip de Champagne, a
(44:11):
few bit later, and it showsAugustine there, and in his
right hand is a quill.
He's wanting to write somethingand in his left hand his heart
is in his hand and out of theheart comes fire.
And I don't think you can seeit, but he's looking up to where
the spotted light is and itsays, there in the light,
veritas fire.
And I don't think you can seeit, but he's looking up to where
the spotted light is and itsays, there in the light,
(44:34):
veritas.
Veritas, which means truth.
His heart is set on fire by thetruth and he's expecting what
he is going to do is be able towrite based on what God has done
in his heart.
And God can do that for all ofus Everything we do, the things
(44:54):
we live for, the things, theplaces we work.
Our hearts can be set on firesimply because God has done a
work inside of us through hisword, the catalyst to revival
require number one, therestoration of God's Word, the
elevation of God's Word.
Number two, and then third, theexplanation of God's Word.
(45:16):
And then the fourth one, thecontinuation in God's Word which
transforms our behavior, and wesee it in chapter 8, verse 13,.
Back in Nehemiah it says on thesecond day here's the second day
, the heads of the fathershouses of all the people, with
the priests.
And the second day here's thesecond day the heads of the
fathers' houses of all thepeople, with the priests and the
Levites came together to Ezrathe scribe in order to study the
(45:37):
words of the law.
They moved from hearing it andgetting it explained to them,
and now they sit down and golet's get a little bit deeper,
let's dig deeper and see what itactually teaches and it says.
They found it written in thelaw that the Lord had commanded
by Moses that the people ofIsrael should dwell in booths
(45:58):
during the feast of the seventhmonth.
And we're going to focus on thefeast, but I think the point of
the feast and all this here ison the second day they began to
study the word and we can readthe Bible, but unless we get
into it for ourselves, if we'reall depending on what is getting
shared by listening to radio orpeople who teach the Bible
(46:20):
studies and we just sit there aslisteners, passive listeners,
we haven't gone far enough.
We need to get into the Biblefor ourselves, study it for
ourselves, and I believe thepoint of this text in this place
here is simply for us to seethat these people, who had begun
to move from hearing the Wordto actually studying it,
(46:40):
ultimately realize they hadfailed to actually apply the
Word.
They had failed to actually doit.
And we can go all our livesthinking, boy, I know a lot of
the Bible, but how much do weput into practice?
See, the Bible says don't lookat the mirror like you'd look at
(47:01):
yourself and turn away andforget what you look like.
Don't be just hearers of theword, actually be doers of it.
So the people here's theresponse and they said, okay, we
will.
So the people went out andbrought them, that is, the
sticks and bows, and they madebooths for themselves.
(47:23):
And then it says for from thedays of Joshua, the son of Nun,
to that day, the people ofIsrael had not done so.
They didn't either know thatthey needed to do this or they
just had chosen not to do whatGod's word had said.
But today they did.
Today they did and notice thelast thing there in verse 17,
and there was very greatrejoicing.
(47:44):
You see, what happens inrevival is there are people
who've discovered what God hascalled them to do through the
scriptures and they actuallyturn their lives around and they
make a change.
Next week we're going to talkabout chapter 9, a bit of that,
and how we turn our lives toalign it with the Word of God as
we've discovered it.
(48:04):
And so they began to obey whatthey discovered and, living in
that perfect I would just callit the perfect will of God,
there was very great joy.
There always is joy when welive in God's will, and this is
the transformation of truerevival.
Notice the last verse and thisis sort of a summary verse and
(48:28):
day by day, from the first dayto the last, he, ezra, read from
the book of the law.
They kept the feast seven daysand on the eighth day there was
a solemn assembly according tothe rule.
We'll find out more a bit aboutthis as we go forth, but here's
the thing we want to see revival.
We have to live in the word ifwe want to be changed by the
(48:49):
word.
You want your life to bedifferent.
You want your circumstances andissues to sort of change or
have a different perspective onthem.
You have to live in the word.
Jesus said it like this.
He said for those who are mytrue disciples, they will
continue in my word.
So you see, there's a kind of aprogression here.
(49:13):
For these people that led torevival.
Same will be true for us.
They had a hunger for the word,so that caused them to realize
the mistakes of having ignoredthe scriptures or God's word.
They had a respect for the word.
They saw that the word had adivine authority over their life
.
They had a respect for the word.
They saw that the word had adivine authority over their life
.
They had an understanding ofthe word which brought a change
(49:37):
in their affections.
And then they decided well,we're going to obey the word.
They went back and they beganto correct all the things that
were not right with their lives.
And we will too when we getinto God's word.
You know, I just think, I don'tknow.
It seems like God wants to dosome things in us.
(50:00):
We see all around.
I hear people say I seestirrings of revival.
God's just sort of stirring thewaters, and I think he wants to
do that here too.
Let's not let him pass us by,and let's ask him to help us.
Let's pray, and we'll bedismissed.
(50:23):
Father, we're thankful for yourword today and I pray for
everyone here, including myself,lord, that we won't be merely
passive when it comes to yourword and think things are
interesting or entertaining, but, lord, that they will be
life-changing as we putourselves before your book, into
(50:45):
your book.
Lord, we ask you to do this inthe mighty name of Jesus.
Change our hearts, o God.
God, we pray in Jesus name,amen.
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