Nehemiah chapter number 8. You know, just standing physically is not the same as having the right respect in your heart. But it's certainly a good way to exhibit that. And I pray that your spirit is right with the Lord this morning. Nehemiah chapter number 8. Now, we looked at Nehemiah chapter 6. We're going to touch on chapter 7 this morning. But we're going to focus most of our attention and time in chapter number 8. And we're going to just be looking at a number of different thoughts and principles that we find here. Nehemiah chapter number 8. And I'm going to have you, if you would, we're going to start in verse number 1. And we're going to read the entire chapter. I believe it's 18 verses. And I think it would be good to understand it in its entirety. Nehemiah chapter 8, verse number 1. And the Bible says, And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate. And they spake unto Ezra, the scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women and those that could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Matthiah, and Shema, and Ananiah, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Messiah on his right hand. I'm sorry, Messiah on his right hand. And on his left hand, Paddaiah, and Mishiel, and Machiah, and Hashum, and Hashbanana. I always get that one wrong. Hashbanana, and Zechariah, and Meshulam. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he is above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. And Jeshua, and Benai, and Sherabiah, and Jamin, and Aqab, and Shippithi, and Hodijah, and Messiah, and Talithah, Asariah, Josabath, Hanun, Peliah, and the Levites caused the people to understand the law. And the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Tershatha, and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people said unto all the people, this day is holy unto the Lord your God. Mourn not, nor weep, for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy unto our Lord. Neither be ye sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. Verse 11 So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy, neither be ye grieved. All the people went their way to eat and to drink and to send portions and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law. And they found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month. and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mountain, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of fig trees, to make booth, as it is written. So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booth, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim, And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths. For since the day of Jetua, the son of Nun, under that day, had not the children of Israel done so, and there was very great gladness." Now look at the last verse. Also, day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God, and they kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly according unto the manner. I ask that You would bless our time together now. Lord, we sang this song. To You be the glory. And Lord, that's my desire. That's my heart. Lord, I recognize I cannot do this in my own strength. I certainly can't try. But Lord, the results will not be as we desire. Father, because I cannot, as a man, convict a heart. I cannot change a life. I cannot do anything. It's entirely in Your hands. And so we pray. I pray, I beg You, Father, that You would meet with us this morning. That we would not just be here out of duty or a sense of obligation, but Father, we'd be here because we hunger and thirst for Your Word. We hunger and thirst to know You more and better and to be more like Your blessed Son, Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that even if we haven't spent that time in preparation, that even now You would settle our hearts and our minds that we would be attentive and open to the conviction and the leading and the exhortation that comes from Your Word through Your Holy Spirit. I pray You would guide my mouth and my mind. Lord, just strengthen me, Lord, as You know. And I pray that You would be honored and glorified by all that's said and done. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And you can be seated. We find an interesting story here in Nehemiah chapter 8. I'm not going to spend time as I have previously going through every chapter of Nehemiah. Suffice it to say that God laid upon Nehemiah's heart to do a great work for God. And the work that God called Nehemiah to do was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And so we find Nehemiah carrying out and performing God's will there in Jerusalem. Certainly, the man that God had chosen for such a time as this. Now we come to chapter number 7. And I just want to cover this just quickly, just in the sake of continuity. If you look in chapter number 7, you see the walls and the gates are finished in chapter 6. And it comes to pass that there's a number of people that come back to the city. Of course, Jerusalem having no walls, was not really all that inhabitable. I mean, there was no protection from enemies and from predators who would wish to cause the people harm. And so you see in verse number 4 of chapter 7, the Bible says, Now the city was large and great, but the people were few therein, and the houses were not built. So the temple has been completed. Ezra completed that a number of years before. Nehemiah has just, with the help of many of the men, houses, and families of Israel, have completed the walls and the gates thereof, but yet the city is still wasted. And so we find they're having people come in, and Nehemiah does a genealogy, and he begins to put the people in their places, give them an understanding of their heritage, where they came from, if you imagine with me, for 70 years. And even before that, they had strayed away from God. But for 70 years, they had spent in captivity. And certainly, they had gone away from what they had lived and known. And so, Nehemiah had a purpose in bringing them together, numbering them and causing there to be a genealogy. And then we see in the latter part of chapter number 7, giving, worship, The Bible says in verse number 66, the whole congregation together was 40 and 2,303 score. So there was about 42,000 plus people that was in the city of Jerusalem. And of course, we see that he numbers even the horses and the camels in verses 68 and 69. And then we see in verse number 70 through 73, really I think a good example for us as believers. You know, again, with giving we come to understand A proper understanding of finances and all that we own is that it's God's. God owns it. Every bit. And we should be sensitive to as God leads us to use that for His work. My friends, I'll just be real honest with you. I don't preach on giving a whole lot. But there's a grace in giving. I think that as Christians, if we're not careful, if we become stingy in our giving, whether it be to the work of God, whether it be to those less fortunate, we rob ourselves of a great blessing. Certainly, we do not exhibit or reflect the character of God. Was not God, and is that not one of His greatest characteristics? His willingness and desire to give. What an opportunity. Certainly, as the Bible says, God loveth the what? Cheerful giver. In this age, you say, well, Pastor, things are tough. Things are tight. And I understand that. And I don't know what's going to happen. It could very well be our Lord shall return shortly. But until that time and until that day, we just need to be sensitive to God's will in regards to our finances. These men, the Bible says in Psalm of the Chief of the Fathers, verse 70, gave unto the work. And then it begins to number what some of the men gave. Some of the men gave to the treasure of the work in verse number 71. And then there was giving, not just the chief men, the men who had the ability to give, but from the rest of the people there was giving. And I think what a blessing it is. This is a lesson that even as a young Christian, I had to learn really quick. And the Lord taught me. I thought, well, you know, I began to look at my money in an incorrect way. I began to look at it like it was mine. I was a freshman or sophomore in Bible college. And I'll tell you, the Lord had a way, and I won't get into it just for the sake of time. He had a way of showing me that it wasn't mine. It was as it says, I placed my money into bags that had holes in it. And it just... You ever felt like that? Sometimes it is that way. It may not be God's chastening, but sometimes it certainly can be. Well, we come to chapter number 8. We see a beautiful story. Beautiful and exciting in that we find, I believe, a picture of at least the vestiges and the beginnings of revival. We find the children of Israel had departed from God. That's why they were in Babylon. They had rejected God's law. They had turned their back on His precepts and principles. And God had said, alright, have it your way. Well, that's a scary place to be, isn't it? God says, have it your way. But we find God said that and God brought judgment through the Babylonians and through Nebuchadnezzar. And because of their disobedience, because of their refusal to obey God's Word, God judges them. But now we begin to see them coming back together. We begin to see just a small portion of the nation, and it would appear, really making themselves right with God under the leadership of this man Ezra and certainly Nehemiah. I want us to look, and we're going to look at verses 1-3 to start with. And what I want to talk about this morning is that I want us to look at how God's Spirit and the Word of God brings revival. What is to be revived but to be brought a life anew? to be made alive again, to have a life within a spiritual life sparked anew. I heard it described one time as a renewal of obedience towards God. Certainly, you could think of it as a strengthening or a renewal of faith towards God, because that indeed faith implies obedience. We come to verse 1 through verse 3. One of the reasons and one of the sparks for revival is the hearing and the preaching of God's Word. I'll tell you, my friends, I believe that's why we'll not see revival in our nation until some men of God, whether they be pastors or just some godly men, stand up and begin to preach the Word of God. God has promised to bless the preaching of His Word. I'll tell you, that's why I think our church probably won't be real popular with a lot of people. Because I'm not up here dialoguing with you. I'm up here proclaiming the Word of God. Certainly, we should do so in a correct fashion according to the Word. We should rightly divide the Word of Truth. But God blesses the preaching of His Word. What did Paul tell Timothy in his parting words? Preach the Word. Be instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering in what? Doctrine. I had a lady one time come to church when we were in Texas. And she stopped coming. We went up to her. I don't know if it was myself or a pastor. Time gets away from me. Well, one of us, we were talking to her, and I believe it was myself, and I asked her this question. I said, so where have you been? We've missed you. She says, well, every time I go to your church, there's just too much doctrine. God forbid. God help us. We need doctrine. Doctrine is simply the true teaching of God's Word. We see here, let's go to verse 1-3. Number 1, we see the people gather and ask Ezra to read the Word of God. Look at verse number one, the Bible says they gathered themselves together as one man to the street that was for the water gate and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel. My friends, the understanding that I have here is that the people recognized their need for the Word. They recognized their need to hear the Word spoken. They recognized their need to get back into the Word of God and to be obedient to it. And so they gathered. I love the phrase. They gathered themselves as what? One man. There was a unity in spirit. They said, listen, Ezra, Will you bring out the Law of Moses, the first five books of the Bible? And will you read those to us? Will you talk to us about what God has said so that we might obey Him? Well, we find in verse 2, we see Ezra doing that very thing. You know, it's interesting. We see the Spirit of God at work even before the hearing or the reading of God's Word. I'll tell you, if we're going to have unity within our church, it must be because we all are sensitive to the Holy Spirit. That we are all under His leading. That we have destroyed, that we have mortified the works of the flesh, and we have given ourselves wholly and entirely over to the leading of God's Spirit. You say, what does that mean? Well, the blessed truth, my friends, is that God has given to every believer Every believer today is indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God. He is the earnest of our inheritance. He is that by which we can count on Jesus is going to come back for us again someday. Now, as the Holy Spirit of God indwells you, His purpose is many, right? He teaches us suddenly. He gives us that spiritual understanding that we need as we read the Word of God. He guides us. according to the Word of God. Be very careful when you hear people saying they're being led by the Spirit of God, but their actions do not match up with the Word of God. That's dangerous. You'll find that in the charismatic churches in many cases. Oh, we're led by the Spirit of God. We do some street preaching. I've even found it with some of these street preachers. You know, some of their actions, they say, well, God led me to do this. Well, okay, then why doesn't what you're led to do line up with this? And then they like to carry out how Jonah did some crazy things and Isaiah did some crazy things. My friends, God has given us His Word and God's Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. Amen! I don't know what's going on there. I'm just teasing. I think a good fruit of someone who attends to the hearing of God's Word, sign of God working in your heart, of God's Spirit leading you. If you have no desire, taste, or hunger for God's Word, then something's wrong. Something's entirely wrong. We see they ask Ezra to bring and read the book of the law. We see also, it's interesting, the Bible speaks of Ezra in two manners. Look at verse number 1. It calls him a scribe. In verse 2, it calls him a priest. Well, I appreciate that. Ezra was the man responsible for having the temple rebuilt a number of years before the rebuilding of the wall and for returning God's people to worship. Ezra cared about God's Word. Why? He was a scribe. One of his duties was to copy the Bible by hand. We know that he's devoted to God Himself because the Bible describes him and says he is a priest. What a lesson for us today. Don't let anyone try to get you to demean or to detract from the Word of God. This has to be our final authority. I'm unashamedly able to say that you know what? This is God's Word. And what I preach to you is the very Words of God. This book doesn't just contain God's Word. It is God's Word. Every Word. Every, every jot and tittle. You know, when you do it that way, it leaves you less room for wiggling, doesn't it? But when you begin to say, well, you know, God's Word, there are certain portions of it translated incorrectly, or this or that or the other thing, then you get yourself in trouble because then you make yourself the arbiter and the standard by which you get to obey. Well, I don't really lie. I don't agree with that. Doesn't matter whether you agree with it or not. Used to be an old bumper sticker. God said it. I believe it. That settles it. Anybody tell me what's wrong there? Which one of those phrases is incorrect? Or should I say, really doesn't matter? I believe it. It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. I mean, I could get on top of the building across the street where we have our office, and I could say, I believe I can fly. And I shall. Straight down. I can flap my arms like a bird. I can squawk, squawk, squawk, right? You kids like that, don't you? I can get some eggs in a nest and I can even put myself a bird suit on and look like a big bird or something. But does that change the fact that I cannot fly? Especially not. I've got about 70 pounds too much. Alright? You know, my brother Steve, he flew airplanes. Didn't you fly airplanes? What happens when you get a little too much food? You've got to spill it out. That's what I need to happen to me. No, I cannot fly. I can say I believe it. I can envision it. I can get this New Age principle. Man, if I could just see it, it will happen. No. The truth of the matter is, man unassisted cannot fly. Whether you believe God's Word or not does not change the fact that it's true. You can reject it. You can dismiss it. You can excuse it. But my friends, you need to have a love and a desire and a respect and you need to honor God's Word. This is His Word. The Bible says in 2 Timothy, go there with me. Chapter 3 and verse number 16. That's why you better spend some time. You say, well, Pastor, there's a lot of different versions out there. Which one is the Word of God? Well, I don't have time to get into that this morning. But I would encourage you, you say, well, what's wrong with this version of the Bible? You know, things that are different are not the same. Does that make sense? Right? Things are different, not the same. We cannot stand up. I'll tell you, God is not the author of confusion, my friends. We need to determine, you need to come to a conviction and say, and you say, well, what's the big deal? The big deal is Is that a very change in punctuation or plurality of a word can change the very meaning? Do you realize that none of the new versions have the word Calvary in them? I challenge you to look it up. I'm not going to get into it. I don't have time this morning. Look at verse 16. 2 Timothy 3. What does it say here? All what? Scripture is given by what? Inspiration of? Y'all there? Y'all with me? Alright, let's read it again. Why don't you read with me this morning? I know it's a little warm. I have to wake you up a little bit. I'm feeling a little tired myself. 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. What's it say? All Scripture is given by what? Inspiration of God. And is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Let's read verse 17. That the man of God may be what? Perfect. thoroughly furnished unto all good works." All Scripture is given by what? Inspiration of God. What is inspiration? It is literally God breathed. This is my Bible. This is God's Word. And we ought to, maybe not physically embrace it as I'm doing, but certainly embrace it in all areas of our life. Woe to us if we doubt it. we'll find ourselves on the short end of that stint. We see the people, Ezra, he was a scribe, he was a priest, a man devoted to God, a man in love with God's Word. It goes on, it says in verse number 2, it says, "...both of men and women and all that could hear with understanding upon the first day of the seventh month." All the people gathered together. Now, it doesn't say this specifically, but I think it implies that there were the children there. I'm going to be honest with you. I think it's good. You say, well, you know, the children are young. You know, the truth of the matter is, you'd be surprised how much your young'uns can learn in church. Teach them. You don't listen to me, daddies. Mamas, teach your babies, teach your young'uns at home God's Word. You notice we don't have Sunday school. Well, there's a purpose for that. It was because I was working so much I asked our folks, what would you rather have, quantity or quality? Alright, so we decided, you know what, we're not going to do Sunday school. It's not in the scripture. And so for right now, it's what we're doing. But you know what, I like that idea. You say, well, you're not a real Baptist then. You don't have Sunday school? You must not even be saved. You laugh. There are people like that. You know what? You know whose duty, whose job it is to teach the children? Your job. Your job. Not the church's job. Your job. Your responsibility. The church can assist you in that. But it's your job. What an opportunity to teach our children. We have them coming together all they can understand. From morning. And he read, therein before the street that was before the water gate, from the morning until midday, before the men and the women and those that could understand, in the ears of all the people, We're attentive under the book of the law. The idea from the morning is from literally first light. So think about it. Sun rose at 6 a.m. They read from 6 to noon. Alright, I'm going to take a vote. I'm going to start church at 6 a.m. next Sunday. We'll be here until noon. I know some of you are looking at me like, uh-oh. I knew he'd go off the deep end one of these days. That's what these folks did. I think it just demonstrates their hunger for the Word of God. When you come to church, do you hunger for God's Word? You say, well, if you did a better job preaching it, I would do a better job listening. That's an excuse. Brother John and I were visiting the other day. I love this illustration. You go to a restaurant. You have a waiter, right? Randy, you have a waiter, right? I don't know about you. When I go to a restaurant, there's one thing that I really care about. The waiter could be ugly. The waiter could really not have that many manners. But really the one thing I'm concerned about is that waiter gets the food from where? The kitchen to my... yeah, so I can put it in my belly. Now, you say, well, that preacher, if he was a little more dynamic. If he was just a little different, oh, if he could just preach like Dr. So-and-so and Dr. So-and-so over here. Hey, my friends, if you're hungry for the Word of God, you'll get something. I'll tell you, there's been times I've been so convicted. I've had men, I've heard them preach and they'll stand up and literally in a monotone fashion. No inflection. No illustration. They'll simply read the Word of God and then just list out their points. And there's been times God has so convicted my heart. Why? Because it wasn't them. It was God's Word. It was said of Jonathan Edwards, the great preacher of our early history, as he preached, the stories are told, he preached his most famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Well, you don't hear that on Joel Osteen, do you? No. It's your best day today. No. So, he stood up there. You know how he preached? He preached in a monotone fashion. He literally read his sermon word for word. And people were so convicted and so overcome by God's Spirit and so troubled with the thought that they someday would face hell because they sinned against the Holy God and they're going to be judged by God someday. You know what? The history books record that they were clinging to the edge of their seat, crying, literally crying out, afraid that earth would open up and swallow them at that moment. Certainly it has to do with the preacher being filled with God's Spirit. But it also has to do with the mindset and the attitude of the hearer. These people came and said, we're hungry, Ezra. Will you teach us the Word? Will you just read it to us? And for six hours they stood, man to man and family to family, and they stood and they listened to the preaching and the reading of God's Word. God began to work revival. If we're going to have revival, it starts here. Isn't it amazing that one of the first things the devil will attack in your Christian walk is what? Your reading and your study of God's Word. Don't let it happen. I find it in myself. I'm a preacher. This is my job. This is my vocation. And how often do I find myself distracted, unable to really focus on what I'm reading? Why? Because that's Satan. He knows that we're going to have revival if we're going to come to a place of faith, a renewal of faith towards God. It begins in the Word of God, my friends. How's your Bible time? How's your spirit when you come to church? Is it, oh boy, I can't wait until the preacher's done? I understand, you know, maybe you're being tired. I'm a little tired myself this morning. But if you hunger for the Word of God, there's not going to be... I'll tell you, it's amazing. We'll go to this event and that event, and we have no problem staying awake, do we? We'll watch a two-hour movie on the boob tube and have no problem staying awake. We'll read some silly novel and have no problem focusing, will we? But when it comes to God's Word and the preaching of God's Word, I'll tell you, the problem is not God's Word, it is us. Let's look at number two. How is God's Word received? If God's Word is necessary and needed for revival, how is it received? Verses 4-6. I'm just going to quickly go through this. First of all, we see that Ezra stood upon a platform. I just want to point this out. There are certainly things that we can do to assist in the hearing of God's Word so that God's Word would have greater and the greatest effect. The first thing is that we need to be filled with God's Spirit. Beyond that, if a preacher's not filled with God's Spirit, if he's not begging God, I'll tell you, there's not a sermon time that goes by that I don't sit in my room or my office and I beg God, God, I cannot do this. I need Your help. When I pray those prayers before the message, I'm not just praying it because it has to be prayed. It needs to be prayed. I'm just a man. I put my preacher's one leg on at a time. No different than anyone else. I struggle with probably the many same things you struggle with. But I'm not up here preaching myself. I'm preaching the Word of God. And I need God's help and I need God's power to preach it, to teach it. You need God's help and God's power to receive it. Notice this. Not only was there some assistance. They put him on a pulpit of wood. But there were men on his right hand and on his left. I find it interesting these were men supporting Him in the teaching of the Word of God. You know, you want God's Word to have an effect in your home? Don't go home after lunch and have roast preachers. It's delicious sometimes with a side of beans and potatoes. You know what I mean, right? Your kids listen to you. Certainly, I'm just a man. I try to do my best. The Lord knows. To just teach you what God's Word says, not to interject what I think, my opinion. But if you can't be in a church where you can stand up and say, you know what, I'm behind our pastor as he preaches the Word of God, you need to find a church that you can be because your family needs that. They need to see the support of God's men, godly men, behind the preaching of God's Word, the reading of God's Word, The Spirit of God is at work. I think another evidence of this is something good is about to happen. Let's look at the third point here. I'm sorry, the third point is this. When he opened it, what happened? Verse 5, they stood up. We stand when we open our text in the mornings. I do that for a purpose because I think it's significant. I think it demonstrates and makes a statement, hopefully to the Lord, but certainly to ourselves, that what I'm doing is unlike anything else. We are reading God's Word. This is God's holy Word. There was respect and an honor for the Word of God. It's not the Word of man. It's God's Word. Let me give you this point. I want to focus on this. We're almost done. I appreciate your patience. The Bible says, then all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, verse 6, the great God, and all the people answered. Amen. Amen. With lifting up their hands, they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. We begin to see the vestiges of revival taking place. These were people that later on we would see that they hadn't celebrated this Feast of the Tabernacles since the days of Joshua. They had so been away from the Word of God. But there was a renewal. There was a reviving. And there was a response as God's Word was preached. God's Holy Spirit began to work in the hearts of those gathered there. Now, even in that time, God's Spirit did not indwell those men and women. He certainly could come upon them. He was among them. But unlike today where He indwells us, we are blessed in that regard, brothers and sisters. But as they began to hear the Word of God, they responded. First of all, we see them responding by thanking God. The word, Amen. Amen. responsive, in agreement, not with some man and his thoughts and his opinions, but with what God's Word says. There was a thankful spirit recognizing that what was being read to them was the very Word of God. Amen! Amen! How we need to have that spirit. We need to harmonize. Be in a thankful frame of mind. Number two, they prayed. The preaching of God's Word and the work of God's Spirit. What did they do? They began to thank God. They began to be in harmony and in agreement with what was being read. And then the Bible says they what? Verse 6, they lifted up their what? Hands. They began to pray to the God of Heaven. And we see, I believe, the results of their prayer. They began to weep because they realized how far away from God they had gotten. I believe they began to pray that prayer of repentance and contrition and confession, doing the best they can to make things right with God. Number three, then they began to worship. In verse number six, the Bible says they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their what? Faces to the ground. If we're going to experience revival, we've got to be in the book. We've got to hunger for it. We've got to honor it and respect it. We've got to say, God, work in my heart. We have to be attentive and responsive to the Holy Spirit of God. And as He begins to work on us, we have to pray. What was God's ingredients or recipe for revival? 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14, If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves in what? Pray! He said, I know all these things. Why don't we do them? And worship. When was the last time you were in such humility of spirit before God? In such awe of His presence and who He is? Humbled by your own failures and delighted by His own holiness that you found yourself on your face before God? And God, I'm so wicked. Yet, I'm thankful for all that You've done. The truth of the matter is most of us don't even recognize we need revival. We're so fooled up with Hollywood and this world's entertainment. We spend all of our time pursuing and consuming ourselves with things really of no heavenly consequence. God's Word and the reading of God's Word and the worship of God's people and the coming together of the assembly of His church is of really no consequence or importance to most folks. And that may be some of us in here. That daily Bible time, that time of prayer throughout the day is disregarded. The thought of God and our consideration of Him is just an afterthought during our day. And we wonder why We wonder why our homes are a wreck and a ruin. Come on now, listen to me, Michael. We wonder why, daddies, our wives don't respect us. Our children don't honor us. We wonder why the world is not transformed because of the power of Jesus Christ and His Gospel. Because we have no revival. We're so filled up with worldly things. It's not popular preaching. The Bible commands us to come out from among them and be separate. But too often times, we find ourselves hand in hand with those we ought not be with. Come on. We've been lied to and we've lied to ourselves. We find more pleasure in the things that we enjoy doing rather than in God. We need a reviving that comes from above. Here this week I've heard of a couple of men, pastors, who found themselves in great, terrible sin. How'd that happen? There wasn't a daily seeking after God. There wasn't a daily seeking after revival. They were lifted up with pride. You know, my prayer has been all week. Lord, keep me humble. Isn't it silly how proud we can get about some of the most stupid things? You know what my prayer has also been? Lord, I need revival. My home needs it. Our church needs it. Come on! I don't have time this morning, but we can go and we can look at the results of revival. What happens when people get revived and they really begin to renew their faith and their obedience towards God, and they begin to seek Him and follow Him with all their heart? You know what happens? Great and mighty things! He said, Pastor, our nation is too far gone. We are in the age we live in. It can never happen. Oh, that's a lie! Satan would like to keep you in that mindset. Why? Because then you know what? You really won't seek after revival as you are. Thanksgiving, prayer, and worship. are all good measures of how God's Spirit and His Word are working in our hearts. We've been talking about worship on Sunday nights and how that really worship comes down to this very basic fact. Are we obsessed and consumed with God? Or is it just a take-it-or-leave-it proposition? Where are you at? Can you honestly say that I'm experiencing revival, Pastor? My home has experienced revival. I'm seeing God do unexplainable things in my family. I'm seeing Him work in the hearts of my children, in the hearts of my wife, in my heart. greater hunger and desire for the salvation of souls. I love souls more than I've ever loved them before." That's another aspect of revival. Because our character begins to match up with His. What was one of His characteristics? He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repent. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." If you cannot honestly say, just let the rubber meet the road, ready? And I'm just going to be honest. I feel like here lately, even myself, I've been away from this. I cannot say, and you may say, well, you're just a wicked, horrible person. I cannot say that this last week that I've had a greater desire for souls than I've ever had. And God has just broken me over that. Can you? Can you say that your Bible reading and your prayer and your walk with God has been far superior than anything you've ever experienced before this week? If not, we need revival. I need revival. You say, well, I don't think pastors are supposed to talk bad about themselves. Hey, I'm just a man. And I do by God's grace. I try to do my best. But I'll tell you, brothers and sisters, this is what changes lives, not me. I'm not up here preaching me. I don't care about me. I'm a nobody and a nothing. I need to point you to Jesus Christ. Can you honestly say that this last week, that even yesterday, that your walk was more like Him than it was the day before? Or have you been complacent? Come on, let's just be honest. Isn't that where we're at? Maybe not in every case. Maybe there is somebody here. And I praise the Lord. If you're here, God's put a fire in your heart. Man, let's pray for us. But for the rest of us where we've grown lazy and complacent and really have a careless attitude about God and His Word, God, help us! Humble us! Revive us! We need it. I need it. And if you don't think you need it, You're a fool. Revivalists. God's Word, the Spirit of God. How do you respond to it? Let's bow our heads and close our eyes if you would.