Revive Us Again - Winona 8-31-08 AM
“Revive Us Again” – FBC Winona 8/31/08 AM - Nehemiah 9:1-5, 32-37
Today talking about True Revival – Billy Graham – What does America need? Spiritual revival
· When we think of revival – we often think of revival meetings, evangelists, experiences
· True revival is not about the meeting, but about the heart
One morning in 1970 – Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky found True Revival
· On a Tuesday morning in 1970, Custer Reynolds, Asbury’s academic dean and a Methodist layman, was in charge of the chapel service. President Dennis Kinlaw was traveling. Reynolds did not preach. Instead, he briefly gave his testimony, then issued an invitation for students to talk about their own Christian experiences. One student responded to his offer. Then another. Then another. “Then they started pouring to the altar,” Reynolds said. “it just broke.”
· Dr. Kinlaw, the President, returned from his trip late that night and heard what was happening. It was after 2 a.m., but Kinlaw walked to Hughes Auditorium and sat on the back pew. He was approached by a student who asked for his counsel. Though no one knew it, she said quietly, she had been a habitual liar. She needed to make reparations to people on campus she had wronged.
· The revival continued for 185 hours, non-stop and continued intermittently for weeks
· By the summer of 1970, the revival had reached more than 130 other colleges, seminaries and Bible schools, and scores of churches, across America, and even to South America.
Passage – Nehemiah 9: 1-5, 32-37
1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads. 2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. 3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God. 4 Standing on the stairs were the Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani—who called with loud voices to the LORD their God. 5 And the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah—said: "Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting."
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32 "Now therefore, O our God, the great, mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes—the hardship that has come upon us, upon our kings and leaders, upon our priests and prophets, upon our fathers and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today. 33 In all that has happened to us, you have been just; you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong. 34 Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our fathers did not follow your law; they did not pay attention to your commands or the warnings you gave them. 35 Even while they were in their kingdom, enjoying your great goodness to them in the spacious and fertile land you gave them, they did not serve you or turn from their evil ways.
36 "But see, we are slaves today, slaves in the land you gave our forefathers so they could eat its fruit and the other good things it produces. 37 Because of our sins, its abundant harvest goes to the kings you have placed over us. They rule over our bodies and our cattle as they please. We are in great distress.
1) True Revival takes you down before it brings you up
· V1 – fasting, sackcloth, dust on their heads – symbols of grief or mourning for their sins
· Indicating that the things of God are more important than food or comfortable clothing
· V2 – stood and confessed their sins & those of their ancestors – unconfessed sin remains
· Revival embraces brokenness
· Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
· Beatitudes are examples, for example: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. . . 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
· In order to be at the place to experience God’s full presence and Spirit, we need to be stripped of all distractions and hindrances – Graham says “Spiritual Poverty”
· Our tendency is to want to go from where we are upward but most often we need to back up and get things right before we can really move forward – else we put good stuff on top of bad
· We need to be stripped to the foundation of our faith – the grace, blood and mercy – joy of our salvation
· Repentance - allows God to build on a clean and pure foundation
2) True Revival is like getting spiritual glasses
· True Revival begins with God’s Word – seeing the world through the filter of the Word
· After the reading of the Word, the Israelites mourned, wept, and bowed their faces to God
· Then they were told to celebrate their re-discovery of God’s truth
· However, as they continued to hear the Word of God, this time with a spiritual ear, they began to see themselves more as God would see them
· They read for 3 hours about the sins of their fathers and for 3 more hours confessed their own sin – similar evil deeds
· 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
· As they went deeper into God’s Word, it also brought forth more need for confession, which drew them closer to God
· Once they recalled the workings of God throughout the OT, they finally understood the reasons for the consequences they had experienced
· V32 – Begins period of confession; “Now therefore . . .” bring to present time
o The great, mighty and awesome God
o In all that has happened, you have been just;
o you have acted faithfully while we did wrong
o Our kings, our leaders, our priests and our fathers did not follow your law
o Because of our sin – we are slaves today
o We now yield the harvest to those that rule over us – they’ve taken over
· When we allow the Word of God to do its work in our lives, we begin to see things more as God sees them and embrace the things of God – the purity, holiness and righteousness
3) True Revival involves true praise
· Praise begins with the Word of God
· Broken and contrite hearts are perquisites for praise
· Because they had been given opportunities to be delivered and understood their failures in the sight of Holy God, they really understood what praise was about
· V6-V37 – Prayer of praise and confession of the Israelites – the prayer which initiated the 3 hours of confession and worship which led to a national promise of obedience to God in the future
· Began to recount all of the things that God had done for them:
· You alone are the Lord; You made the heavens; You give life to everything; You are the Lord God; You have kept your promise; You are righteous; You heard the cry of our forefathers at the Red Sea; You sent miraculous signs and wonders against Pharaoh; You divided the sea before them; You led them with a pillar of cloud; You spoke to them from heaven; You made known to them your holy Sabbath; You are a forgiving God (just a few)
· As they rediscovered God, the joy of praise was rediscovered as they gained knowledge of God through His Word and began to practice that teaching in their hearts
o True praise recognizes God’s sovereignty
o True praise recognizes God’s deliverance
o True praise recognizes God’s sustaining power
o True praise recognizes God’s longsuffering
o True praise recognizes Gods’ forgiveness
o True praise recognizes God’s discipline
o True praise ends with personal sanctification
4) True Revival results in commitment
38 "In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it."
Psalm 80:18
Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.
Psalm 85:6
Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?