I just want to preach on a few things that's going to have to take place before we have revival. If you will, take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Nehemiah chapter number 1 this morning. I stayed up, be honest with you, I've said this for years, winos and preachers have the hardest time on Monday morning. They both wake up with a hangover, they just come from two different sources, but I'm glad this morning that the hangover that I've got has come from the Holy Ghost, and I am glad to be in the Lord's house this morning, glad that God's with us, but I stayed up late last night to pray, and I got up early this morning to pray, and I said, I surely would like to preach one of them really uplifting messages during this meeting. I surely would like to preach one of them swinging from the chandelier messages. And don't get me wrong, I love the shout. Why I love it, we can run the aisles and swing from the chandeliers and just have a great time. Lord, you still can do that this morning, don't get me wrong. But you know what I've noticed down through the years? That ain't always a sign of revival. As a matter of fact, I'll just share this while you find your places. Not long after I began to pastor down at Glenwood, we had a revival, had a great man of God come and preach that week. Man, our church, I seen people shout that I hadn't seen shout since I'd been there. Seen people run the aisle, seen people shedding tears and stuff, and I thought, oh boy, we've got revival this week. I thought, boy, God certainly changed some hearts and God's touched some hearts this week. Do you know what? We come back to church Sunday morning, and you know what? It was dry, it was dead earth, and 4 o'clock. I'm not saying that to be mean, I'm just telling you the truth. I'm just saying revival don't always come from the shout. And revival don't always come from the show. But brother, revival comes from the Spirit of God. But in Nehemiah chapter number 1, if you will stand for the reverence of the reading of God's Word. Or to God said the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hekeliah, and it came to pass in the month of Chishlu in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down, and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven, and said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him, and observe his commandments. Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night. For the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee, both I and my Father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandest thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. But if ye turn unto me, keep my commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of heaven, yet I will gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I had chosen to set my name there. Now these are thy servants and thy people whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attended to the prayer of thy servant and the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name. And prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's cupbearer. Father, I thank you this morning for the privilege and opportunity we have to be in your house. God, I'll be the first to admit I'm unworthy and inadequate to be here today, but God, I thank you for mercy and grace. Lord, I thank you for saving me. I thank you for giving me this privilege to preach to your people today. Father, I pray you'd take the Word of God and apply it to the hearts and the lives of each one that's come this way. And God, I pray, Lord, that this week that something might be said, something might be done in this place. God, that the Holy Ghost might show up and meet with hearts. God, that we might see true revival take place. God, we're not just wanting to see revival take place this week. We're not just wanting to see revival take place in this church. But God, we're wanting to see the fire of revival begin here and spread throughout the walls of this church and to the churches across our community, Lord, that we might see our county and that we might see our country revived and see it turned back to you. God, we know today that you're still able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we think or ask. God, we ask that souls might be saved. We ask that hearts might be touched. We ask that people might be drawn closer unto You. And Father, we'll praise You and we'll honor You for what You do. For it's in Jesus' name we do humbly pray. Amen. There are some things that are going to have to take place before we ever see revival. I want to say the first thing that stood out to me, the first thing that the Lord showed me, in verse number 2, the Bible said that Hanani, one of thy brethren, came, he and a certain men of Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. They said the remnant that are left to the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. I want to say this morning, if we're ever going to have revival, it's going to take some people realizing that there is a problem. Sometimes we preachers are dishonest about things. I'll just be honest with you. A lot of you fellows are pastors in here today. How many times have you ever talked to a brother in Christ, a preacher, and said, how's things going down at your church? Them saying, it's terrible, things are awful. I don't think I've ever said that. And most of you never said that. But honest, to be honest, there have been times we've left that Sunday morning thinking, God, how am I going to go back? How am I going to go back Sunday night? How am I going to go back Wednesday night? We'll say things are doing well, things are alright, things are going good, when the fact of the matter is a lot of times there's more life in a funeral home than there are in our churches. I want to say if we're ever going to have revival, we're going to have to realize that there's a problem. I'll just be honest with you this morning. I'm a little bit embarrassed sometimes. I'm embarrassed that there's more excitement down at the football field. I'm embarrassed that there's more excitement over at the race car track than they are at the house of God a lot of times. Brother, sister, I don't know about you, but when I see that, I realize there's a problem in our churches this morning. As Nehemiah heard the news of those that escaped captivity, they didn't say, oh, they're doing fine. But he said, they're in great affliction. There's a problem with those that have escaped. There's several things going on that's wrong with those that have escaped. And they're in great affliction and they're in great reproach. I'll just be honest with you this morning. Most of our churches are going through times of affliction this morning. And we're going through times of reproach. I want to say this morning, before we can ever have revival, we're going to have to realize that there is a problem. Jesus said He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He said they that behold need not a physician. If we want the help of God this morning, if we want the Spirit of God to move and to lift us up and to touch us this morning, We've got to realize that we're standing in need this morning. We've got to get low. We've got to get down before God can bring us up this morning. But there was a people in great affliction, I want to tell you, this morning. I'm glad to be in the house of God and I'm glad to know that my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I'm glad to be saved this morning. I'm glad to be serving God this morning. But I want to tell you, my heart's a little heavy because everybody ain't in that shape this morning. No doubt, each one of us in here have got some family member or some close friend that's lost and undone without God this morning. I want to tell you we need to get serious with God about our problems this morning, church. We ought to get serious about calling upon the Lord to find help in our times of trouble. But he said that, I believe that as he looked out there, he realized that some didn't know how to get by back to where they needed to be, that is in great affliction and great reproach. I want to tell you this morning, just to be honest, there's probably as many people that at one time were church members that are out of the will of God as they are in the will of God this morning. serious problem that McDowell County is faced with this morning. And brother, sister, I don't know about you, but as I look at that backslid crowd and look at some of that lost crowd, they're in serious affliction. They've got serious problems going on this morning. But brother, sister, I want to tell you, today we've got some problems. Then as Nehemiah heard about what was going on down there, where the wall had been torn down, he said, we're in great affliction. The wall's been broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire. I tell you, as I began to look and began to see a picture in the wall of my mind in studying this, I saw a picture of the church in the day and hour that we're living. I know this ain't popular preaching, but I believe I'm telling you the truth this morning. We've allowed the devil to come in and break down the walls in our churches. We've allowed the devil to come in and tear down the gates in our churches. Most of our churches, a lot of our churches today have become a place of entertainment and a place of show instead of a place of worship and a place where the Spirit of God abides. I want to tell you something this morning. I appreciate what Brother Jeff said. I don't care how good you can sing or how loud you can shout or how high you can jump. If the Spirit of God ain't in it, it's a tinkling cymbal and a sounding brass. What we need is we need more of God and less of us in the day and hour that we're living. Under God we've replaced the movement of the Spirit of God. with fancy lights and fancy shows and everything is written down right to a T. I mean there are some places, there are some places right now, they've already got the outline for next Sunday of what's going to be preached. It's already written down. Every song that's going to be sung. And boy, it's going to be dismissed at 12 o'clock or somebody's going to be upset. The only problem with that is where's the Spirit of God at now? I tell you, I like to see God show up and do some things out of the ordinary. A lot of times we've got it programmed and we've got it planned. I tell you, we're faced with a serious approach. We can't expect lost people to want to come in and get saved. When the ball team has got more enthusiasm than what God's people have got, we can't expect lost people to want what we got when we go out I go around with a frown on our face, always telling some kind of sad story. I'm telling you this morning, we've got a serious problem, church. We need the Spirit of God to show up. I've got something to shout about. I've got something to be excited about. I'm not headed for hell. I'm headed for heaven this morning. I've been washed in the blood this morning. I'm glad to tell you, I got something to get excited about. But most of the time we look at the church, we look like a defeated people this morning. But I want to tell you this, I'm glad there's still victory in Jesus. Oh, I'm telling you, we need to realize there's a problem, there's a wall that's broken down. A lot of folks may not like this, but I still believe in holding the standards of the Word of God. Some people don't even know which Bible is the right Bible now. Let me just help you right there. I still believe the King James Bible will stand the test of time. I don't want a watered down Word. I told my church a while back, we started kind of doubting a little bit, me and my wife, a couple of years ago. But Brother Jeff, and what's the one thing she did? She went and got us some of that 2% milk. Under God, that's watered down stuff. The other day, we stopped by the Dollar General, and they didn't have none of that blue milk. Praise God, we got some red milk, some pet red milk. Boy, I got me a drink of that, and I thought, man, I don't know what I've been missing. It's worth putting on a few pounds to get some whole milk every once in a while. But brother, sister, I tell the people who want to water the Word of God down, man wants to put his dirty hands on the Word of God and change it to fit everybody else's needs. But brother, sister, we need to get the wall back up. God called us to be a separate people. God called us to be a holy people. How in the world are we going to draw people to Jesus by giving them more of the world? We need to get back. to the old pies this morning, church. We need to get the standards back up. And I'll tell you this, we need to get the standards back up on who we put on our church memberships as well. We're giving people a false sense of security and telling them everything's all right. and making them feel comfortable on their way to hell this morning. I want to tell you to get back to the standards of the Word of God. That wall separated them Jews from the world. It separated them from the enemy. I want to tell you we need some separation in the day and hour that we live. The word Christian means to be Christlike, and we claim to be Christian, but I tell these a lot that's not Christlike in the day and hour that we live. We need some standards brought back in the house of God, in the people of God. We're to be a separated people, to be a holy people. I noticed this morning as we came in, we got them on our church too. The sister had to fix a security system, do the code before we come in this morning. We got them at our church too. I want to tell you something, I don't blame that all the way on the world this morning. I've heard stories of years ago when alcoholics or drunks or winos would walk up the road, they were so bothered by what went on at the church that they would cross the road and go down the other side. Well, preacher, they've got that myth and they've got that stuff now and you just can't tell what these people are going to do. I know that's true. But I want to tell you something. I tell you what's always kept the world, kept the wickedness out, was the power that was within. And brother, sister, I believe if we had the power of God in our churches, Like them old time Christians had, I believe we could still leave the doors open at the house of God. I'm telling you, it ain't that the world's got meaner, it's that the church has got watered down. They don't see no difference in the house of God and some of these other places anymore. We need some standards brought back. We need the wall to be stood back up this morning. But the gates were burned with fire. With that gate there was one way in. I'm here to tell you this morning, Brother Jeff mentioned it, it ain't about denomination this morning, whether you know it or not, I'm going to heaven with you this morning. There's one way. There's still just one way. It ain't by works. It ain't by what you put in the offering plate. It ain't by your good looks. It ain't by your talent. But it's still the blood of Jesus this morning. I want to tell you, there'll not be one person in heaven other than going through the blood of Jesus and trusting in the finished work of Calvary. I want to tell you this one, there's still just one way. gate. Every once in a while I'd be flipping through them TV channels and I ain't seen a television evangelist in a pretty good while that I'd listen to for over just a few seconds. I'm just being honest. They try to open up other doors. But brother, sister, there's only one way. There's only one way, and it's by the cross. It's by going through the blood of Jesus, by believing in Him. But I've got to hurry. I'll be here all day today. But we've got to realize that there's a problem. The gate was burnt with fire. Then in verse number 4, we see the seriousness of the problem. He said, It came to pass when I heard these words that I sat down and wept. Now listen, Nehemiah realized there was a problem. The shouting and the rejoicing comes later on. But before he could shout, before he could rejoice, before he could find victory, you know what he had to do? He had to sit down and he had to weep and he had to call upon the Lord. Some people say, well, the church has lost a lot of its shout. I believe that. Well, the church has lost a lot of its power. I believe that. But before that happened, the church lost its tears. We got complacent and we got comfortable. It don't bother us that our loved ones are dying and going to hell. into hell anymore. It don't bother us. The things that's going on in this nation. I'm telling you, I believe before we can ever get revival, there's going to have to be some people that fall on their face before God and get serious. I'm 38 years old. I can remember, Brother Jeff, our altars are different now than what they used to be. I can remember when almost every service, there'd be a mama, there'd be a daddy, there'd be a grandma, there'd be a grandpa, That'd be a weeping and a crying and a wailing for that grandson or for that granddaughter or for that son or that daughter. I mean, that'd be a cry now to God on their behalf. How long has it been since we've seen that happen? Our carpet stays in pretty good shape now. It stays pretty dry now because we don't tear the altars up like we did many years ago. And we wonder, why don't we see souls being saved every week? Somebody's going to have to realize there's a problem. Somebody's going to have to get serious about this thing. Well, we hope the preacher prays for them. We hope the preacher goes and sees them this week. It ain't just the preacher's job. It's your job just as much as it is his job to go and tell people about the Lord. But we got to realize there's a problem. Secondly, if we're going to ever have revival, we want to get rid of some sin. You know one thing I've noticed about people, and I believe all Baptists are this way, we like to classify sin, don't we? You know the one common thing I've noticed about the way people classify sin, somebody else's sin is always worse than their sin. I mean my sin's not as bad as yours, my sin's just a little sin, and your sin's, can you believe old so-and-so did that? Am I not telling the truth this morning? But you know what? A lot of times we'll overlook our sin and we'll look at somebody else's sin, cover it up, try to cover it up, keep it hidden, justify it, whatever you want to call it. But brother, sister, I want to tell you this, we're ever going to have revival, we're going to have to get rid of some sin. You have the blessings of God and the blessings of the world at the same time. Your cup can only be full of one thing. If you want your cup to be filled with the things of God, you are going to have to get rid of the world. You are going to have to get rid of the wickedness. You are going to have to get the sin out of it if you want it to be filled with the things of God. He said that when he heard these words, he sat down and wept. Listen, just this past week we saw a young man. I went to school with him. Philip Michael Stroop. I went to school with him. And he's in jail right now accused for the murder of that Mr. Bryson. I want to tell you what that does. That brings tears to me. That breaks my heart this morning. That fellow was, that boy was brought up in the same school that I was. And I don't, I mean I don't know what else went on. I'm not trying to sound judgmental. But I tell you this, he needs God this morning. And it bothers me this point when I look out over MacDowell. You pick up the MacDowell News. You turn on the television. Every day somebody is breaking into something. Somebody is ODing. Just yesterday between church services, just yesterday right over less than a mile away right here, there was some young woman hanging from the bridge, threatening to jump off of that bridge and kill herself yesterday. What's going on preacher? We need Jesus. We need a moving. of God. I want to tell you this morning, we've given up on the dope heads. Well, that mess is so powerful stuff, and they can't get off of it. I'm reminded of a man named Legion. Brother, he had a serious problem. He had run around in the tombs and cut himself. That chained him up. He had done been incarcerated. It didn't do no good. But you know what did him some good? When Jesus got off that boat, I tell you this morning, church, we need to get back to remembering the power of God. God can save them out of that dope. God can save them out of alcohol. God can save them out of the sin of this world. But brother and sister, if we want that kind of power, we're going to have to get the sin out of our life. We can't come in dirty. We can't come in on Sunday. I mean, we come in whistling and just looking for God to show up, and we ain't prayed all week, ain't read our Bible all week. We want to see somebody come get saved. We ain't even invited nobody to come. Ain't even told nobody about Jesus. I'm telling you, we need to get some sin out of our... The Bible said, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. I'm telling you, we need to get back to doing some things for God this morning. I told our church the other day, it's a shame. Some Christian's been saved for 30 years, never read their Bible all the way through. They know every episode of MASH and Andy Griffith and Gunsmoke. They can tell you how to start lining up for their favorite football team, their favorite baseball team, their favorite basketball team, but they can't tell you who the 12 disciples were. That's where we're at. We want to see revival, we want to get some sin out of our lives. And then I want to say this. Y'all alright? Some of y'all are looking kind of rough. We can't go to Wendy's on Saturday night and cuss them out for getting our order wrong and then come into the house of God on Sunday morning and expect the Holy Ghost to show up and expect the Holy Ghost to flood our souls and give us something that we can run the aisles about. Listen, we can't be crooked in our business dealings. all week long and then come into the house of God and expect God to show up. We can't watch a bunch of hell on the television all week long and then come in on Sunday morning and expect God to show up and expect God to bless. I'm telling you this morning, to repent of our sins, if we want revival, if we want God to show up, if we want the Holy Ghost to move in our churches, if we want the Holy Ghost to move in our hearts, we've got to get some sin out of our lives. God's only going to use a clean vessel this morning. It takes repentance of sin. Repentance will bring three things right quick. First of all, or four things, repentance will bring the presence of God. You start getting right with God, I promise you, God will start making His self known to you. I'm glad God is everywhere. He's everywhere. You can't get away from God. But why I like it when He makes His presence known, don't you? And brother, sister, when you repent of your sin, God will start making His presence known. You start getting right with Him, I promise you, He'll start showing up for you. If you repent of your sin, you'll see the presence of God. If we start repenting of our sin, we'll get some of our power back. We'll get some power back. Just a while back, as the storm come through, it knocked my power off. Boy, it was miserable there for a couple of hours. Back in the summertime, as the storm come through, and it was hot and didn't know what we was going to do. But boy, it wasn't just a little while, they got the power back on. There's a line that had broken down. They repaired that line. When they repaired that line, we got our power back on. We had to have church a couple of weeks ago without no power. Storm come through and knocked the power out. But brother and sister, I want to tell you what's sad. A lot of times, if the lights was off in here this morning, if the air conditioning was off this morning, we'd notice that the power was out. But I'll tell you what's so sad about God's people. A lot of times they'll meet week after week, service after service, and God ain't been showing up, God ain't been making Hisself known, and a lot of people don't even miss it. I mean, they're so worried about where they're going to eat when they get out of church, they're so worried about what else is going on, they don't even miss the power of God. But you're looking at one this morning, That misses it. I'd love to see our altars stained with saints' tears once again. I'd love to see each and every service center come in and get an altar and get born again. I'd love to see God's people come in with a smile on their face. I'd love to see them come in with joy in their hearts. I'd love to see things like they used to be. I'd like to see God's people get their power back. But then, I'm gonna have to hurry, I'll be here all day long. But then, not only did they get their power back, but God provided for them. God provided for Nehemiah. God provided and gave him everything he needed to get the job done. Nehemiah went in chapter number 2 and verse number 1, Nehemiah went with a request to the king. You want your power back? You want to see going home Free Will Baptist Church on fire for God? You want to see these other churches represented here on fire for God? You want me to tell you what it will take? It'll take a request to the King. But I'm glad I'm not going to Artaxerxes this morning. I'm glad my request, I'm glad my petition is going to the King of kings and Lord of lords. I'm reminded of Isaiah. Isaiah, when he saw the Lord high and lifted up, he said, I'm a man of unclean lips. But after God touched him, after God moved upon him, after he'd seen the Lord high and lifted up. You know what Isaiah did? He had a change of attitude. Here am I, Lord. Send me. You want to power back in the house of God? You want to see your lost loved ones say, we need some people that'll be ready to serve this morning. I'm telling you, we need some people that'll do something for God. It'll bring the presence of God. It'll bring the provision of God. God give him what he needed. It'll give the protection of God. That wall represented. the protection of God. That wall kept the enemy out. That wall kept the enemy from getting in there. You know what we need around our churches this morning? We need a wall of prayer. I've never seen, just to be honest, I've never seen a day like the day and hour that we're living. I've talked to a lot of older pastors. We have to deal with situations of people trying to drag stuff in the church that 20 years ago would have never even been thought of. Twenty years ago, nobody would try to get you to marry a man and a man or a woman and a woman. Twenty years ago, you wouldn't have to be faced with some of that foolishness that's going on today. But brother and sister, I want to tell you, it's happening. You know why? The wall's been torn down. No more separation, no more standards with the people of God. Let me just go ahead and say this. I'm not marrying a man in a man. I'm not marrying a woman at whatever the cost might be. If they put me in jail, I hope some of you will come get me out. Or at least come visit me anyway. But I refuse, I refuse to compromise on what God called an abomination. Somebody said you get in trouble saying that. There's a lot of people, there's a lot of men and women I won't marry, just to be honest with you this morning. There's a lot more that I don't marry than I do marry when they call and ask me. You say, well, preacher, where do you come off of that? Well, listen, if they don't got nothing to do with the church, if they don't got nothing to do with God's people, they don't got nothing to do with God's house any other time, why in the world do they think that God's gonna bless their marriage if they come into the house of God? I tell people all the time, where do you go to church at, when they ask me? Well, you know, we've been meaning to get back in there. Well, if you don't go to church, you need to go see the justice of the peace. You don't need a preacher to do your wedding. And I have some tell me, well, preacher, I'd like for you to marry me, because my pastor, he just won't marry me. If your pastor won't marry you, why should I marry you? He knows you better than I do. We need to get back to having some standards, church. We need to get back to raising the wall up. Nehemiah said, that wall's been torn down. And brother, if them people's going to get back where they need to be, we've got to build the wall back. We're going to have to repent of some sin. But Nehemiah said, I'll go do it. He said, I'll be ready. I'm ready to serve. I'm asking God to serve. In chapter number 2, he makes that request to the king. How long has it been? Oh, we come to the altar. We say, oh God, I've got a daughter, I've got a granddaughter that's lost. Please send brother Jeff. Please send a deacon. Please send some preacher. Please send somebody to them. that they might get saved? When's the last time have you said, God, send me! God, open the door for me! God, let me carry the gospel to some lost sinner! God, let me help out in the work that you'd have me to do! How long has it been? If we're going to have revival, if we're going to have true Holy Ghost revival, if we're going to have community changing revival, church changing revival, soul changing revival, somebody's got to get ready to serve. Well, we would have revival, but half the time the church is too busy to show up for revival. Well, I know it's revival week, but you know, we've been wanting to have a vacation for quite some time. Sorry, preacher, I can't be there this week. We pray all year. We say we pray all year. We want revival. We want to see things happen. We don't want to see it bad enough to show up. Then if we do show up, we don't want to do nothing when we get there. I hope so-and-so sings that song that gets everybody stirred up this morning. I hope the preacher gets everybody stirred up this morning. What's wrong with every once in a while you getting stirred up? Raising your hand toward heaven. Saying thank you Lord for saving an old sinner like me. Thank you Lord for pulling me out of the mess that I was in. Thank you Lord for taking care of me along the way. What's wrong with you church? What's wrong with me? Why can't we serve? Why can't we do something for God? I'm no Billy Sunday. And I'm no great preacher, I'll be the first to admit it, but it don't take a great preacher. All it takes is somebody to let God do something with me. You don't have to be called a priest for God to do a work in your life. You don't have to be a deacon for God to do a work in your life. All you gotta do is make yourself available to God. We need some that'll make a request to serve. Who's willing to serve? I wonder this morning. Brother Jeff, if we was gonna build a wall out there, and I called on my church and you called on, I wonder how many of them show up. Well, it's rainy out there, preacher. Yeah, so what? We can find every kind of excuse and every kind of reason not to do what we can for God. But I want to tell you one reason. You won't take nothing else I say away today. I hope you take this. There's one reason to serve because the God I serve is worthy. When I come get in this pulpit, I'm not here to try to impress man. I'm here to try to please my Savior, my Lord and my Savior. He's worthy. If nobody else, if nobody likes it, He's still worthy. If everybody likes it, He's still worthy. God's good and He's worthy of our serving this morning. But not only did find some that was willing to serve. But in Nehemiah chapter 6, verse 15 and 16, the Bible said, So the wall was finished, and the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, and in fifty and two days. And it came to pass that when all our enemies heard thereof, And all the heathen that were about us saw these things. They were much cast down in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. Fifty-two days that wall was rebuilt. An incredible feat, especially considering the time and the day that they were in. But you know what? We preachers are bad when a job gets done. Wouldn't I do a good job? Didn't our church do a good job? I mean, what happened there? You know what they said? They said there in verse 16, at the last part, this work was wrought of our God. It wasn't me that done it, but it's God that done it. And you know what? The enemy saw that wall, and the enemy saw that land restored, and the enemy saw that land revived. And it said there, when the enemies heard of, and all the heathen, they saw these things, they were much cast down. I've just often wondered in my mind, why have all these atheists come out of the closet in the last few years? Why are the Muslims so comfortable attacking the Christians in a day and hour that we live? I believe it's high time, church, that we build the wall back. I believe it's high time that we get back on fire for God again. I believe it's high time that we get back to being about the Father's business this morning. We've allowed the devil to ride roughshod over us about long enough. Well, preacher, the devil's just been on my back and the devil's been in our church. I know he won't sit in there, but guess what? Greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. If we'll resist him, he'll flee from us. You know why the devil gives us such a fit? Because we come to, here I am devil, I'm just weak and I'm just poor little old me and I can't do nothing. And we just allow the devil to put a saddle on us and ride us. I tell you what, it's time we get back in this altar. It's time we get to bucking a little bit. It's time we get to kicking back a little bit. and get the devil off our back this morning. I'm telling you, when the devil looks, and that wicked crowd looks, and them atheists look, and them Muslims look, and they see something going on at the house of God, and they see the power of God moving in God's people again, it'll cast them down. I said many years ago, the homosexuals come out of the closet, and it seems like a lot of the Christians jumped in. We're like ostriches with our heads stuck in the sand a lot of times, but I want to say this. I believe it's high time that we do something to bring forth revival. If there's ever been a time, if there's ever been a day that we need revival, it's in this generation. I've got a son with me today, 16 years old. As I look back, I can remember when I was a young man, I can see what a change was from the time I was his age till now. Unto God, if we don't have revival, what are they... He answered his call to preach a couple of years ago. What's he going to be faced with if we don't get revival? If the Lord don't come back, what's our children going to be faced with? I want to tell you this morning, church, we need revival. We need revival. There's a problem. There's a problem in our world today. Our nation's turned its back on God. The Bible said the nation that forgets God will be turned into hell. Our nation has turned its back on God. It's time. It's time. It's time that we experience revival. I've read of the great awakening. A revival that swept through this land. Thousands of souls were saved. I've read of the day of Pentecost. 3,000 saved in one day. God's the same. God's the same. Who's changed? The picture of the world's bad. The world's wicked. The world's always been wicked. What about Sodom and Gomorrah? There's wicked. What about today of Noah's day? There's wicked. The problem's not with the world. We expect the world to get right so the church will get right. That's out of order. If the world ever gets right, we'll have to get right in the church. We need revival. Brother Jeff, you come. Thank you, my brother. I appreciate it. Amen. Thank you very much.