Hello and welcome to another broadcast. We're looking at Nehemiah and the prelude to the great revival that we find in that book. Have your Bible ready. Well, we're in Nehemiah chapter one. We're looking at the prelude to revival. In our last broadcast, we saw that Nehemiah was very concerned, concerned enough to pray. And when he was praying, he was repenting of his own sin. He wasn't just praying for a crowd to show up for a service. And then we left, he was into some action. He said, I'm the king's cupbearer. I'm going in there and see if he'll let me go back there and help those people back in Jerusalem. Back in 1904 was the last time we saw a revival in this world that had any real significance to it that affected the world. And it was in Wales. Wales is an interesting country. It's called the land of periodic revivals. Between 1762 and 1862, there was 15 noteworthy revivals in that country. But by the end of the 19th century, the churches were on the decline. Services were very poorly attended. All the denominations reported the same thing. The Presbyterian Church in that one year alone, in 1899, said they had lost 12,844 people from their churches. Well, there was a concern about that at that time, like Nehemiah had a concern here now, in what to do about it. There was worldliness in the pews, there was powerlessness in the pulpits. And so what the people did, was they turned to prayer, as did Nehemiah in this portion of Scripture. Now, the Bible says that these things are written for our admonition, and if we would be admonished by them, as they were in those days in Wales, then we're going to see God work like he worked then. Well, Wales, what was happening, in fact, around the world in 1899, we're just coming into a new century, the 1900s. And so people were concerned about doing something about the fact that we had, as I say, worldliness in the pew and powerlessness in the pulpits. What are you going to do? Well, they did the right thing. They turned to prayer in the year 1898 and 1899. In Moody Bible Institute, they were having all-night prayer meetings for revival. Moody was a man of prayer. In fact, he said prayer can do anything God can do, and that's for sure. One day he wrote a letter to R.A. Torrey, and he said this, I am beginning work in such and such a place and on such and such a day. I wish you would get the students together for a day of fasting and prayer. Well, Torrey said that Often we would gather together in the lecture room far into the night, sometimes till one, two, three, or four, even five o'clock in the morning, crying unto God, just because Mr. Moody urged us to wait upon God until we received his blessing. Torrey said, how many men and women I have known whose lives and characters have been transformed by those nights of prayer and have wrought mighty things in many lands because of those nights. of prayer? Prayer is the answer. Well, they were organizing prayer meetings by concerned Christians all around the world. In India, in Korea, in Melbourne, Australia, they were having home prayer meetings in groups that totaled 15,000 people at that time. It was reported that between 30,000 and 40,000 people around the world had promised to pray for a revival for a specific hour of the day. Well, according to James A. Stewart in his book on the invasion of Wales by the Spirit through Evan Roberts, he said, quote, as many as 40,000 desperate believers, unknown to each other in the majority of cases, in various parts of the land had been waiting on the Lord and were now about to see a greater demonstration of the mighty power of God. Well, that's what we need. You know, I've heard a lot of definitions about the subject of revival, I would like to see a demonstration of it. There was a man by the name of Dean David Howell of Wales, and he said this about that time. He said, Take notice, if it were known that this is my last message to my fellow countrymen before being summoned to judgment, the chief need of my country and my dear nation at present is a spiritual revival through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Well, He passed away only one month later, which was two years before his burden for revival became a reality. W.T. Stead, who was a reporter at that time, said, quote, who were banded together to pray for a worldwide revival. All this was general. It was preparing the way. A great longing for revival was abroad in the land. The churches were conscious that there was something in the air? Well, there was. Back in 1904 in Wales, there was a number of evangelists who were traveling the country at that time. One of them was a man by the name of Seth Joshua, and he was known for his straightforward preaching. There was another man, his name was Joseph Jenkins, and he was the pastor of a church at Newquay, which is in Cardenshire, and he was concerned about the spiritual condition of his young people. They were coming to the meetings all the time. They had their youth meetings. They were regularly in church, but it was kind of like a Christian social club to them. They weren't much concerned about the Holy Spirit. having control in their lives. Well, he got them together in February of 1904. There was about 60 young people there at the time, and he asked this question, what does Jesus Christ mean to you? Well, there's a silence there for quite a while, and finally one boy answered and said, Jesus Christ is the hope of the world. And Pastor Jenkins said, never mind the world. What does Jesus Christ mean to you? Well, two weeks prior to this, after one of the services which he had preached on a Sunday evening, there was a young lady who got under much conviction. She was 16 years old. Her name was Flory Evans. And she, after church, showed up at the pastor's house, and she said, I am living under the pressure of the world. I can't handle this anymore. I need to get this right with God." And so the pastor said, you need to do two things. Number one, you need to get saved. You need to acknowledge Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. And then you need to acknowledge Him as being the Lord of your life. You need to let him have control." And so she did, and she got saved. Well, it was only a couple of weeks later when they were in this meeting, and he asked that question, what does Jesus Christ mean to you? Well, as they said, the one boy said, well, he's the hope of the world. Nevermind the world, what does he mean to you? After a long moment of silence, Flory Evans stood up, and with a heartfelt reality, she said, I love Jesus Christ with all my heart," that's what she said. And the tone of her voice and what God did through that statement, it is said that this was actually the beginning of the great revival that we read about in 1904. Well, in September of 1904, Seth Joshua went to Newquay to visit Jenkins Church. And he found there the beginning of what was called the greatest revival that Wells has ever witnessed. In his diary on Sunday the 18th after the service, he wrote, I have never seen the power of the Holy Spirit so powerfully manifested among the people as at this place just now. It was easy to preach. Then on Monday night after the service, Monday the 19th of September, Seth Joshua wrote, Revival is breaking out here in greater power. Many souls are receiving full assurance of salvation. The spirit of prayer and of testimony is falling in a marvelous manner. The young people are receiving the greatest measure of blessing. They break into prayer. praise, testimony, and exhortation in a wonderful way. Then on Tuesday evening after the service he wrote, the revival goes on. I cannot leave the building until twelve and even one o'clock in the morning. I have closed the service several times and yet it would break out again quite beyond control of human power. On Friday the 23rd, he wrote, I am of the opinion that 40 conversions took place this week. It is as near as I can fix it. I also think that those seeking assurance may be fairly counted as converts, for they have never received Jesus as their personal Savior before. I thank God for this blessed time to my own soul. I am saturated. melted and made a soft and willing clay in the hands of the potter. What an amazing thing was happening here right after the testimony of a 16-year-old girl who said, I love Jesus Christ with all my heart. Well, Seth Joshua went to visit the college at Newcastle Elm. And it was a preparatory school there. And he spoke to the students for a week about the revival that had happened back there. Well, on Sunday, the 25th of September, he preached four times, and afterward he wrote, Nothing Has Moved Yet. Monday, on the 26th of September, he wrote, I find scarcely a soul here in the joy of assurance. It is a pitiful sight to me. When I tested the meeting, only a small handful among hundreds would stand up to confess present salvation. Well then on Tuesday the 28th, 15 of the young people from the church at Newquay came and they spoke to the students at Newcastle Elm. Seth Joshua later wrote this, "'I did not preach, but allowed them to speak, pray, sing, and exhort as the Holy Spirit led them. The fire burned all before us, souls were melted, and many cried out for salvation.'" Isn't that interesting? They weren't listening to the preacher, but they were listening to the testimony of some young people who God had got ahold of their hearts. Well, Joshua preached again, and this time Evan Roberts was present. Roberts was a 26-year-old young fellow, a former coal miner with no education hardly. He had to go to work in the mines when he was just 11 years old because his father had broken his leg and he needed to go there and work. He was born on July the 8th, 1878. He was in a very devout Christian family. His mother and father were very good, solid Christians, and he had a great revival passion. Even at the age of 13 years of age, he was just so concerned that there would be a revival in the land. He told one of his friends this. He said, for 10 or 11 years, I have prayed for a revival. I could sit up all night to read or talk about revival. It was the Spirit that moved me to think about revival. Well, when he was working in the mines one time, there was an explosion. And everywhere he went, as a young teenager, he took his Bible with him. And there was an explosion, and his Bible was torn apart in that explosion. And it had been opened at a page in 2 Chronicles where Solomon had prayed for revival. And so we see here that page was permanently scorched by this explosion. And when Roberts later became world-renowned during the revival, a picture of this Bible went around the world with that page that is scorched. Well, when Evan Roberts heard Seth Joshua speak about the revival going back in New Key, he believed that the time had come. On Thursday, September the 29th, 1904, Evan Roberts and 20 students from the school started out at 6 a.m. to get to the meeting that started at 7 a.m. under the direction of the evangelist Seth Johnson. When he concluded his message, he prayed this simple prayer, O Lord, bend us. The word bend in Welsh is much stronger than in the English. The word actually carries the sense of to bend or mold or to shape like a potter shapes the clay. Evan Roberts later testified this. He said, that is what you stand in need of, said the Spirit to me, and oh, I am going through the door, I prayed. O Lord, bend me." Heaven Roberts prayed. He knelt with his arms over the seat in front of him, bathed in perspiration as he agonized in prayer, the tears rolling down his cheeks. He said he regarded that encounter with the Spirit as crucial in launching him into his revival ministry, which was to begin shortly thereafter. And he prayed, O Lord, bend me. Oh, the evangelist had said, Oh Lord, bend us. Evan Roberts said, Oh Lord, bend me. Mold me and make me after thy will. That's the great need today for those of us who call ourselves Christians. Well, we're out of time again. Tune in tomorrow. We'll continue this story.