Well, hello. Here we are again with another broadcast. We're in Nehemiah chapter 2, verse number 12. Have your Bible ready if you can. Well, reading in chapter 2, verse number 12, Nehemiah said, I rose in the night, I and some few men with me, neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem, neither was there any beast with me save the beast that I rode upon. Well, we saw that they went out in the middle of the night, he and some few men with him, and they went out to survey the situation. Now, he said again in verse 13, I went out by night. As we said in our last broadcast, he was willing to lose some sleep and he had a few men who were willing to lose some sleep with him. They weren't going fishing and they weren't going camping. They were going out to survey the situation and see what needed to be done in the mess that they had around them. Not too many people are interested in that today. Well, he said, I went out by night, and the first thing that they did was they went to the gate of the valley. Now, the valley gate, as we'll see when we get into this section where we're repairing these 10 gates, the valley gate represents humility. And the Bible says, if my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked way. Then will I hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and heal the land." Revival begins with humility. Look at the prayer that Nehemiah was praying in the first chapter here. We see that revival always begins when my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves. Revival is not a bunch of people getting saved. You can't revive what hasn't been vibed in the first place. Revival is Christians getting right with God, and my, there's such a need for that today. So he went to, first of all, the Valley Gate. Then he went to the Dung Port, or the Dung Gate, which is the gate where they carried out the garbage. Now, we're not going to see revival if we're not willing to carry the garbage out of our lives. Well, it says they viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were burned or consumed with fire. Well, the third gate that they went to, it says in verse number 14, then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and we will see that the fountain gate represents the Holy Spirit. So we need to have humility, we need to get the garbage out, and then we need to let the Holy Spirit take absolute, complete control of everything. After he'd been to these three gates, we see here that he said in verse 15, then I went up in the night by the brook, viewed the wall and turned back and entered by the gate of the valley and so return now again he comes back to this valley gate because that's where it all begins if my people which are called by my name would humble themselves and pray and seek my face then and will I hear from heaven will forgive their sin and will heal their land well it says in verse 16 and the rulers knew not whether I went or what I did Neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. Now, verse 17, he looks at the men that were with him, and he says, then said I unto them, You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach than I told them of the hand of my God, which was good unto me, as the king's words that he had spoken on to me now here we have the the what we have to do is face the facts face the facts he says here this this verse usually gets misquoted gets quoted with a question mark on the end of it there is no question mark here it says then said i under them you see the distress that we are in he's not asking them if they see it he knows they see it you got to be pretty dumb not see these walls are all down and the gates are burned with fire And you've got to be pretty spiritually dumb today not to understand what a mess we are in. He said you see the distress that we are in. And so they needed to face the facts, but they also needed to face the future. And we read here, that they said, let us rise up and build, so they strengthened their hands for this good work. Yeah, Nehemiah can't do this by himself. He's going to spearhead it, but he can't do it by himself. They said, here are the people, the people are getting involved. They said, let us rise up and build, so they strengthened their hand for this good work. That's the word there. You notice that word, work, a lot of work to do. Well, it says again, the next verse, but when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian heard it, they laughed us to scorn and despised us and said, what is this thing you do? Will you rebel against the king? And so look at the attack they're getting here. First of all, the last time we read about Sanballat and Tobiah, there was just the two of them. Now the duet becomes a trio. They've picked up Geshem, And they're coming after them, and first thing they do is ridicule them and laugh at them. And then despised us, saying, what is this thing that you do? And then they came up with false accusations. You're rebelling against the king? No, they're not rebelling against the king. The king gave them total permission to come and do this. So we read that Nehemiah said, Then answer I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us, therefore we his servants will arise and build. But ye have no portion, nor rite, nor memorial in Jerusalem. Now, Nehemiah understood the God's principle of separation. You don't invite these fellas to come and work with you. They can have some kind of peaceful coexistence. Well, revival is work. We said that. And the word work is found 21 times in Nehemiah. And we're not suggesting that you can have a man-made, worked-up revival. But it says here in chapter 2 and verse 18, they strengthened their hands for this good work. In Nehemiah 4 and 6, it says, the people had a mind to work. The people. Now that phrase, the people, is in Nehemiah 37 times. The people had a mind to work. And then we read in chapter 6 and verse 16 when God was finishing this off, through the people that their enemies perceived that this work was wrought of our God. Now, we will be looking at this revival that begins in chapter 8, and then we're going to come back here, and we've just had a bit of an introduction for the last few programs, but we're going to come back and consider the prelude to revival, which is seen here in chapter 1 through 7. We will consider why God did such a marvelous work that day for Nehemiah, And can we expect that kind of a revival today? We will examine the ten gates that they worked on, we'll look at the three basic things that God's people did during the prelude to the revival, and then we will look at how they dealt with the opposition. And by the way, the opposition not only came from without, but it came from within. So we'll start today, as time permits, and we'll go to Nehemiah chapter eight. We keep saying as we do these broadcasts, have your Bible ready if you can. Now, you can't have your Bible ready if you happen to be driving along in the car, but if you have your Bible ready, you get so much more out of this study. It says in chapter eight and verse number one, at this point now, the revival is underway, and we're gonna look at it. It says, and all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate. Now we'll see when we get to that era back there in the prelude to this revival, that the water gate represents the word of God. And they spake unto Ezra, the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses and the Lord, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. So they said, now all the people get that very important. they were at the Watergate, and the people said, bring the book. We want to get back into the book. 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. So all the men and the women and everybody who could hear with understanding were there. What did they do? Did they just have some kind of a promotion? No, it says, 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. They just read the Bible from early morning until midday, and that's what the people wanted. Let's get back to the book. Revival always begins with the people. We got some idea that revival begins in a pulpit. and revival begins with preachers? No, it doesn't. All we have to do is look into the Word of God. All we have to do is look into revivals that have come into this world. They always started with the people, not with the pastors. And pastors are people, too, by the way. I'm talking about the position here. It always started in the pew and never in the pulpit. It always started with prayer and never with preaching. Never. It always started when the people said, let's get into the book and let's pray. Well, Ezra the scribe, it says in verse four, stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose. And then it lists the names of 13 men who were with him. So we had 14 people up here and these men are saying, yeah, we're with Ezra here in this sermon that you're going to hear. And what did Ezra do? It says in verse number five, and Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and he opened it, and 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." Well, we read that they caused the people to understand, it says in verse number seven, to understand the law, and the people stood in their place, the people. So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. And then we read that Nehemiah and Ezra, the priests and the scribes, the Levites, that they taught the people and said unto all the people, this day is holy unto the Lord your God. Mourn not nor weep for the people wept when they heard the words of the law. The people wept when they heard the words of the law now he said in verse 10 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 sorry for the joy of the lord is your strength so the levite stilled all the people say hold your peace for the day is holy, neither be ye grieved." Well, it goes on to say, and all the people went their way. They went to eat and drink and send portions and to make great myrrh because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. Yeah, they understood the words. It says in verse 13, and on the second day, they were gathered together, the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests and the Levites, and Ezra the scribe. What are they doing there? To understand the words of the law. So they're getting back to the basics. Now, we'll see here as we get into this revival that the first thing they had, as we mentioned, was a request for the word. Nehemiah 8 and 1, it says they were before the water gate and they said to Ezra, bring the book. We've seen in Nehemiah 8 and 3, as we read therein before the street that was before the water gate, from the morning until midday, that the people were attentive unto the book. It says in Nehemiah 8 and 7, it caused the people to understand the law, and the people stood in their place. In 8 and 8 we read, so they read in the book in the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading. Now, we're not going to see the power of God, we're not going to see any kind of a revival until we're ready to get back to the Bible, get back to the book. So, first of all, They had a request for the Word. The second thing we see here is they had a respect for the leadership. It says in Nehemiah 8 and 4, And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, and we saw beside him that was thirteen men. And he opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above the people. And when he opened the book, the people stood up. Now, when it says he was above the people, it doesn't mean he was more important than they were. God is no respecter of persons, but he is very much a respecter of positions. And we'll have to pick it up here in our next broadcast, because once again, you hear that music in the background, you know we're out of time. Be sure and tune in for the next broadcast. We'll take it on from here.