Anchored in Faith: The Pursuit of Revival Through God's Word

Are you good?

Today, everybody good Excited to be in church.

Some of y'all had school for the first time this past week.

I hope it went well for you.

Some of you graduated and never have to go to school again.

Now you're in the school of life.

How about that?

How about that?

Well, hey, welcome to church.

We're really glad that you're here today.

If you haven't had a chance to meet, my name's James and I get the privilege of serving here as campus pastor, but it's your first time here.

We're really honored that you're here.

All we ask of you today is to take a moment and fill out one of our communication cards.

You can grab one in the lobby on your way out today and get a little small gift of our appreciation for you.

Well, thank you for being here, but our prayer is that you are encouraged and that you find a place that you can belong, that feels like home.

That's what we want this community to be, and we're honored that you are willing to take time out of your Sunday.

We don't take that lightly.

There's a lot of things you could be doing on a Sunday morning.

We're really grateful that you're here.

A couple of things as we get rolling.

Today One.

We made the move from the other side of campus to the gym three weeks ago.

Now.

It's our third Sunday in this space and it would be an understatement to say that it has not been without obstacles.

It has been with many obstacles that we made this move to this side of the gym, and so that has prompted this little portion of our time together.

I want to give a massive shout out, massive thank you to our load-in teams, our load-out teams.

They have worked tirelessly for the last three Sundays Our worship team, our tech guys to make this space happen for church.

So can we just give it up for them.

They have sorted through the logistics of moving things from that side of campus to this and then to figure out power and lighting and all that kind of stuff, and a new facility has proven a little more challenging than we imagined.

And on the Pinewood side of things, we got to say thank you here as well.

Janice Martin is our contact on the ground at Pinewood and she has been a phenomenal host, getting us keys that we needed, answering my text messages at 6.15 on a Sunday morning.

She's been incredible.

So massive thank you to Janice.

And then Mike Latham is one of the maintenance guys on staff here at Pinewood.

He was up here this morning at 6.50 to fix the AC in here so that we could have air conditioning in this room.

And we all say yes and amen to air conditioning.

We believe in Jesus and AC right, that's who we are here in Somerville in August.

So we're grateful for Mike.

He's been so good to us and so if you know Mike or Janice, just give them a massive thank you.

If you know anybody on staff at Pinewood, we want to express our gratitude to them as often as we can.

They've been incredible hosts to us.

So, with that said, one more little pitch from me.

If you're looking for a spot to serve you heard Jake talk about the importance of community, finding somewhere to plug in and belong.

We've always got places to plug in and serve Kids.

Men is always recruiting.

We've got tech needs, we've got guest service needs.

There's somewhere for you to serve.

If that's kind of the prick on your heart this morning, I think that might be me Find somebody in a green shirt and tell them today I'm ready to serve and we will get you plugged in.

Sound good, all right.

With that said, all of that said, we're going to be in Ezra, chapter 9.

Ezra 9 · chapter mention

We were in the book of Ezra last week in the Old Testament.

We're going to revisit our friend Ezra today.

One week was not enough with Ezra, so we're going to go back and talk to him a little bit more this morning.

A little bit of context Ezra was part of the second returning wave of exiles back to Jerusalem.

This is about 460 BC.

This is a time in Israel's history where they've undergone a lot of difficulty.

They've seen a lot, they've been through a lot.

They've been exiles in Babylon and then Persia came in and conquered them, and so this is now 458 BC.

Ezra's gone back to Jerusalem.

His job is to preach the word of God, teach the word of God in the house of God to the people of God.

Right, that's his calling, that's his mission.

We learned last week that in everything Ezra did, the good hand of Almighty God was on his life and he was blessed.

Today we're going to enlarge our scope a little bit and we're going to ask the question Okay, what does it look like then for God's blessing not just to be on an individual but on a people?

What does it look like when God collectively decides to bless a group of people in a specific time, at a specific place and bring what we would call today revival, and we're going to title this message this morning the Courage to Chase Revival.

Now that will make sense as we go.

Ezra, chapter nine, beginning in verse eight this is Ezra speaking to the people of God.

But now, for a brief moment, favor has been shown by the Lord, our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place.

That our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery, for we're slaves.

Yet our God has not forsaken us to slavery, in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia to grant us some reviving, to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.

Father, as we go to your word this morning, we pray that we would see Jesus high and lifted up.

And, father, we pray that, as we talk about the courage that it takes to chase the revival that's in front of us, father, may our hearts be encouraged.

We know that Jesus, one of his parting words to his disciples was take heart, I've overcome the world.

And, father, my prayer is that we would believe those words today, that we would know that our hearts can be encouraged because Jesus has, jesus is and Jesus will overcome.

So, father, we offer you this time and ask that you would speak in Jesus' name and everybody says Amen.

Anybody in here ever been to Australia?

You're like whoa Ezra to Australia.

We got one, we had two at the first, so we need to travel.

Apparently this is the non-traveling service.

I don't know.

We're just a non-traveling church.

I guess If we don't go to Australia it's a long flight.

I've never been.

I've seen some documentaries.

There are a lot of dangerous snakes there.

One of my son's favorite documentaries is Ten Deadliest Snakes in the World.

Nine of them live in Australia and they'll come in your house and so that to me is like that's a big, like X on the pros and cons chart of Australia.

I'm just saying but the pro of Australia would be the accent.

I love the accent.

I think in heaven everybody's going to speak with an Australian accent.

I don't know.

I don't know.

We'll find out one day when we get there.

Some of you are like I don't like Australian accents.

You'll love heaven.

I promise You'll love heaven.

You need Jesus and I need Jesus, and that's the point of all of this.

But Australia in Australia, they have a phrase, and the phrase is tall poppy syndrome.

You might know what tall poppy syndrome is in Australia.

Tall poppy syndrome means that when somebody achieves a certain level of success, they begin to rise higher in education or in business, or in their personal success level, or in athletic achievement.

They become the tall poppy, so to speak.

Right, they begin to stand out among their peers, they begin to be exceptional at what they do.

Tall poppy syndrome says, then, that it is human nature to find the tall poppy and cut them down.

They have a phrase in Australia called cutting down the tall poppy, and what they're saying is that when somebody rises above their status, it's the rest of our job to bring them back down to size.

Somebody gets you know.

We might say it like this if somebody gets too big for their britches, it's our job to remind them.

They put their pants on one leg at a time, just like we do, right?

That's the Americanized version of tall poppy syndrome.

It's this sense that, as humans, we look around and we see who's exceptional, and that's the person we take aim at, because sometimes, for some reason, we all have a tendency to make ourselves feel better by bringing other people down.

And I say all that to say we live in a world where it's so much easier to discourage than to encourage Tall poppy syndrome.

It actually finds its origin in ancient Greece and ancient Roman societies.

Like it's been around a long time, like think about ancient Rome for a minute.

Think Julius Caesar.

What happened when he rose to power and got too much power?

Tall poppy syndrome right.

They literally brought him back down to size, right, and then replaced him with somebody else.

Like that's what we do as humans we look around and we see things oftentimes in the worst possible light.

There's psychology behind this.

Our brains are seven times more likely to think a negative thought than they are a positive thought, and it takes seven times as many positive thoughts to counter one negative thought.

So, like for every one negative thought that goes through your head, it takes seven positive thoughts to get that negative thought out Right.

Like we're just wired, it seems, towards discouragement and towards cutting down the tall poppy.

And that brings me to this idea this morning If we are going to chase revival as the people of God, it's going to take courage.

It's a whole lot simpler and easier just to coast through life and ride below the radar, is it not?

But the second that you and I make the choice that God has created us for more, god is calling us to more.

We can no longer go below radar level.

We position ourselves in the crosshairs of the enemy in a spiritual battle that requires a spiritual strength and a spiritual courage to persevere and to endure.

And if we're going to see God do everything that God wants to do in our lives and through our lives, with our lives, it's going to take courage, especially in a world that has a tendency to cut down the tall poppy, which brings me to Joan of Arc.

I'm sure you saw that one coming 1412,.

Joan of Arc was born in France, a peasant girl, but she refused to be limited by her status in life and if you know Joan of Arc's story, she actually, by the time she died at 19, she was a heroine of French society.

She led the French army in the battle of Orleans and actually led them to a victory over English forces.

That really became a rallying cry for the French people in their pursuit of continued independence.

She became a hero, joan of Arc, a peasant girl who lost her life at 19 years of age.

She became a hero, and this is what Joan of Arc said Every man gives his life for what he believes.

Every woman gives her life for what she believes.

Sometimes people believe in little or nothing, and so they give their lives to little or nothing.

One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it.

But to sacrifice who you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than death.

Joan of Arc, who refused to limit her life based on what other people would say and were saying about her, she gave her life for a cause that she believed in.

I've actually got a painting of Joan of Arc I wanted to show you today.

This was painted in 1865 by a guy named John Everett Millay.

He was an Englishman, and this painting, to me, is really interesting.

If I'm thinking about a portrait of courage and passion and intensity and understanding of the cause that's ahead, I'm not sure this painting is the one that comes to mind.

Joan of Arc is on her knees and she's dressed for battle in a suit of armor.

She's holding a sword, but she's not in the position of a warrior here.

And if you see her face, her eyes, she's gazing upward, she's reflective.

You can see in her eyes, maybe, a hint of uncertainty about the future.

And what Millay's is communicating in this painting is that courage doesn't always look like we think courage looks.

Courage requires a strength that's greater than us.

Courage requires a cause that's bigger than us so that we can rise to our feet and step into the fray.

And my challenge right off the top for us today as a church is hey, we have a cause that's worth our lives.

We have a calling on our lives as followers of Jesus that is worth whatever it costs.

And so today, as we go to God's Word, what we're going to see is a picture of a people revived by the power of God, a portrait, if you will, of what it looks like for people to line their lives up with the heart of Almighty God and, as a people, to move and courage and faith into the future in a world full of discouragement and doubt.

I love Ezra 9, ezra's reminder to the Israelites gathered there that day.

But now, for a brief moment, favor has been shown by the Lord, our God.

Can you hear the urgency in his voice.

It's like hey, y'all, like now, we have a brief moment of favor.

God's opened a door.

This is like Pauline language in the New Testament God's opened a door for ministry and the door is open today, but it may not be open tomorrow.

There's a chance in front of us now that may not be in front of us in the future.

And can I just say to us gathered here this morning, this moment is the only moment that we are guaranteed.

There's nothing promised in the future when it comes to our life on this planet.

We don't know how it all is going to work out.

We know in eternity that either when Jesus comes back or we go to be with him, we know, then, like the end of the story.

But our lives in this moment, this time, this side of eternity, this moment, is the only moment we've been given.

We don't know how many days we have left on this planet.

We don't know what the future holds.

But now, for a brief moment, favor has been shown to us by the Lord, our God.

Y'all, we're a blessed people.

Are we not To live where we live, to be able to gather like we can gather, to be able to talk about our faith in public, to be able to tell other people about Jesus and invite them to know Jesus as well.

God has been gracious to us, and here's the thing about God's favor and God's graciousness to us we are responsible for how we use the blessing that God has bestowed on us, and so what that says to me is that, while this door of ministry is open to us in this day and time, we've got to do everything in our power to do everything that God has called us to do.

So we don't know what the future holds.

We don't know how long we've got on this planet.

We don't know what the future holds for our friends or our families or our co-workers, and so, in this moment when God is giving us his favor, let's take advantage of what's in front of us.

Asra says God's left us a remnant.

There are people who, in the middle of a lot of difficulty, are holding tight to the truth.

God's given us a secure hold within his holy place.

God is brightening our eyes, and God is reviving us, even in the midst of our slavery.

May the same be true for us.

I want to see God open people's eyes.

I want to see God revive our hearts.

Do you believe today that God can revive our hearts?

Do you believe today that God can open the blind eyes, that God can break through the people who right now are far from God and you're like?

I don't see any way possible they ever turn to faith in Jesus.

Do you believe God can do it?

Do you believe God can use you to be the carrier of the good news to someone who is far from God, to give us a little reviving?

I love that.

To give us a little reviving, for we are slaves and I would translate that into our day and time.

You know, we're not perfect people either.

We do things we shouldn't do.

We think things we shouldn't think.

We all struggle.

We've all got our different battles that we're walking through.

Yet our God is not forsaken us In our slavery, in our brokenness, but he has extended to us his steadfast love To grant us some reviving, to set up, to build the house of our God, to repair its ruins, to give us protection In Judea and Jerusalem.

What Ezra is saying to the people is that God is building a home.

God is building a place where people can come and encounter God, where people can be built up and sent forth.

God is building a home and Paul picks this up in the New Testament and he says hey, the temple of the Old Testament days, that was for that day and time, the temple of God Now is the people of God who are filled by the spirit of God and full of the power of God.

You are the temple of God in the earth.

God is building a home.

How's he doing it?

One person and another person, and another person and another person, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, coming together in the house of God to be built into the dwelling place of God in the earth.

Y'all, that's a big deal, like.

I mean, think about that.

When we gather together, we're building the house of God in the earth.

How does God want to bless the world?

Through the gathering and the scattering, the gathering, the scattering, the gathering, the scattering of the people of God, as Paul would say, all built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, the cornerstone.

So I want to show you now a picture in the scriptures of revival what happens when the spirit of God moves and the people of God and their hearts begin to be revived.

So to do that, we're going to fast forward a little bit.

So, ezra, for the next decade and a half, decade and a half, preaches the word of God.

He's in the temple of God, in the city of God.

He's preaching, teaching the scriptures, the Old Testament, law and prophets, but the work's not done right.

If you know the story, we're going to fast forward to the book of Nehemiah.

About 14, 15 years later, nehemiah becomes burdened for a cause.

He sees a mission in front of him that he understands is bigger than himself.

And so Nehemiah goes to the king, artis Erkseys, and says hey, the people in Jerusalem, they're struggling.

Remember Ezra and those exiles that you let go back a decade and a half ago.

It's a tough day and time for them.

The temple's rebuilt, the words being preached, but the wall around the city is in ruins.

The walls, the wall has been torn down.

Their enemies at the threshold.

They can't.

They can't worship in freedom because they're afraid of what might happen in the future.

So Nehemiah says hey, can I take a group and go rebuild the wall?

And the hand of God's on Nehemiah.

Artis Erkseys says yes.

Nehemiah sets out, he travels to Jerusalem and work begins on the wall.

And everything goes according to plan.

Right, because when you do something for God, it always works out just like you have in mind.

You're laughing because you're like, no, it doesn't.

It gets harder, it's more difficult than when we're doing what we want.

You're absolutely right.

The second you make the choice to follow God, you put a target on your back and the enemy brings all his forces to oppose the work of God.

Where God's at work, the enemy's gonna be at work as well.

And so as Nehemiah and his team starts to rebuild the wall, guess what?

They're threats from other armies that are trying to take over Jerusalem.

Sam Bowden, tobiah and some other bad guys get together and try to take Nehemiah out.

There's an attempt on his life and then he's discouraged because the people can't get along either and they start like infighting amongst themselves and they're exploiting the poor and they're selling their own brothers and siblings into slavery.

Like it's a bad scene externally and internally.

And yet Nehemiah, what's he do?

He perseveres.

There's a cause in front, revivals on the horizon.

Nehemiah presses in with the courage of God and, and it's like in the way that the Scripture tells it, one day the wall's completed.

Not one day.

It takes them like a long time, but you know my point.

Like they look up one day and it's like wait a minute, we're done.

Have you ever done a project at your house?

And it was like you thought you'd never finish.

And all of a sudden it's like, oh, done, I don't have time to tell this story.

But Tara and I, on Friday, decided to.

I'm gonna tell the story anyway.

Right?

Tara and I decided to put some new tile in our bathroom and I was like, oh, I can do this in a day.

I could not do this in a day.

The box said no stress, no mess.

Let me tell you what.

There was a lot of mess and there was a whole lot more stress than that.

The box was lying, but it's done and Tara and I still love each other a lot, so it's been a good weekend.

But you know, that's the thing.

We always have this idea about how it's gonna go.

And then you know, it never seems to go that way.

And that's true when we're talking about doing what God's called us to do as well.

But one day, nehemiah and his people look around like, hey, the wall has been rebuilt.

So what do they do?

They finally like Ezra's back and he's teaching the word of God Zerubbiel, his group.

They went back first they rebuilt the temple of God, nehemiah and his group.

They got back.

The wall around the city of Jerusalem has been rebuilt Like.

These are the days right.

And so Nehemiah, chapter eight.

This is what happens.

All the people gathered as one man into the square before the Watergate.

They told Ezra same Ezra we talked about last week and earlier today the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel.

So Ezra, the priest, brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month.

And Ezra read from the law, facing the square before the Watergate, from early morning until midday.

Can I just say y'all thought I talked a long time at church.

He just read the book from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

And Ezra, the scribe, stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose, and beside him stood Matathiah, shema and Anaya, uriah, hilkiah and Messiah on his right hand and Padahya, mishael, malkijah, hashim, habash, hashbandana, zechariah and Mashulam on his left hand and Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people.

And as he opened it, all the people stood and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered Amen, amen, lifting up their hands.

And they bowed their heads and worship the Lord with their faces to the ground.

And there's another list of people and what they do they, the Levites.

They help the people to understand the law.

While the people remained in their places, they read from the book, from the law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense or the meaning, so that the people understood the reading.

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra, the priest and the scribe, and the Levites, who taught the people, said to all the people this day is holy to the Lord, your God.

Don't mourn or weep, for all the people wept as they heard the words of the law.

Then he said to them go your way, eat the fat, drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

So the Levites calmed all the people, saying be quiet, for this day is holy, do not be grieved.

And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

I love this right, like as someone who 10 years ago felt God calling me into ministry and like that's like all I want to do for the rest of my life is raise my family and love my wife and serve the church.

Like these are the days that we pray for Right, when people respond to the word of God and are moved by the spirit of God and respond in worship to God and like live their lives in community.

Like this is revival, this is what we're praying for.

I love this.

This is beautiful.

So what do we see here?

That that happens, as, as this, people is revived by the power of God One, there's a hunger for the word of God.

There's a hunger for the word of God.

Ezra opens the scroll.

He reads literally for hours from the scripture and people are standing there lifting their hands, they're falling on their faces, they're worshiping God at the teaching, the preaching, the proclaiming of God's word.

How beautiful is that?

You know?

I know sometimes for us it's difficult to see how the scriptures connect with what's going on in our lives.

You ever felt that Maybe you're trying to follow a reading plan or you're trying to spend more time in the Word and, for whatever reason, you open the scriptures and it's like I'm trying to read, but it's just hard to understand.

It's hard to make sense of what's happening.

I've been there.

You're in Leviticus or something, or Revelation, or you're like in Ezekiel, and it's like there's a lot of signs and wonders and visions and I don't know what it all means, or what it all means for me, like, what do we do with all of this?

Can I just encourage you today Stay in the Word, because when you stay in the Word, the Word stays in you.

What God says about His Word is that it does not return void, but it accomplishes the purpose for which it was set forth in the earth.

Paul in Romans says that faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of Christ.

Paul in his letter to Timothy says there's power in the Word of God to divide soul and spirit, bone and marrow.

It's profitable for teaching, for correction, for reproof, for training and godliness, so that the people of God can be complete, equipped for every good work.

If you want to do what God's called you to do, stay in the Word of God.

There is no revival without a people committed to the Word of God.

If you go through the scriptures and you see moments where God has turned his people back to himself, it often happens through the teaching and the proclamation of the word of God.

Guys like Elijah John the Baptist, who are willing to stand up in the midst of a cultural moment where there's compromise and moral decay and there's ambiguity about right and wrong, there's this prophetic witness that says this is the truth, this is the guide, this is the way forward, this is the revelation of holy almighty God to broken, sinful people, so that we can be changed and transformed and follow God all the days of our lives.

We need people and churches and men and women and families who will build their lives on the word of God.

I'm reminded this morning.

There's a moment in Luke where, post resurrection, jesus appears to what Luke records as Cleopas and Cleopas' companion on the road to Emmaus.

We don't know if Cleopas' companion is his wife or a friend or we don't know, but Jesus shows up to the two travelers.

They're traveling seven miles or so from Jerusalem to Emmaus, and it's post resurrection of Jesus.

He shows up and he looks at him and he says hey, where are you going?

We're going to Emmaus, getting away from Jerusalem.

Jesus is like why, what happened in Jerusalem?

They're like haven't you heard?

Are you the only person in Jerusalem that doesn't know what happened over the last few days?

Jesus is like no, tell me more, I don't know.

They begin to explain to Jesus about the crucifixion of Jesus and the burial of Jesus.

I don't know if this is out, when or not, but I just imagine Jesus being like whoa, no way they did what to him.

No, can you just imagine.

And then, like in Cleopas, how does this guy not know?

And Jesus is like tell me more.

And then they get to where they're going, in Emmaus, and they're like Jesus.

They don't know his name is Jesus, but like hey, man, you want to come in and eat dinner with us?

And like let's keep this conversation going.

And Jesus is like yeah, sure, amazing.

And at dinner Jesus opens the scripture, which was the law and the prophets, the Old Testament, and he begins to show them in the Old Testament how all of the word points to Jesus.

And then they get to the point in dinner where they're like ready to break the bread and Jesus breaks the bread and he hands it to Cleopas and his companion and I think in that moment it's where they see the nail prints in Jesus's palms and the light bulbs go off and something happens in their heart and they're like, oh, my goodness, this is Jesus.

And then y'all, jesus disappears.

It's like they realize it's Jesus and then he's gone.

Don't tell me Jesus doesn't have a sense of humor.

It's like this is funny.

And then the next statement from Cleopas.

I love this.

He says did not our hearts burn within us when he opened to us the word of God?

It's the same thing that's happening in Nehemiah chapter eight.

The word of God is read and proclaimed and people's hearts are coming to life.

If you want your heart to come to life in God, anchor your life in the word of God and ask God to show himself to you as you read the word, and I believe with all my heart that God will meet you in the pages of his word.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing from the word of Christ.

Second thing we see in Nehemiah chapter eight is there's this hunger for worship, there's a hunger for the word.

There's a hunger for worship.

The people's response just to the reading of God's word is to stand to lift their hands, to bow before God on their faces, to rejoice greatly together.

There's a sense of joy and worship, and I love what the Levites and the priests and Nehemiah say.

They say this day is holy to the Lord, your God, and I love that because, as far as we know, this day was just a day until the word was preached, until the people began to worship and the principle there.

It's the same thing that happens when Moses appears before the burning bush in Exodus.

God says to Moses Moses, take off your feet, your shoes, you're standing on holy ground.

Take off your shoes, you're standing on holy ground.

This day is holy.

What makes this day holy?

It's the presence of God and the worship of God's people.

God shows up and the people are like we're in awe, we're amazed.

Your word is true, you are good, we're going to worship you and y'all.

We can carry that same spirit with us every single day of our lives.

God, I know you're in my Tuesday.

God, I know you're at work in my workplace.

God, I know you're at work in my family.

So, even when I don't feel it, I'm going to praise you, even when I don't see it.

I'm going to thank you, even when I don't necessarily even want to.

I'm going to say that you're good and that you're worthy, and, even when I don't understand, I'm going to confess that you are God and I am not, and I'm going to trust you on a Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday is holy.

And tomorrow, as you live your life responsive to the word of God, in worship of the one true God, tomorrow can be a day marked by God, as well you like, but, james, you don't know my circumstances.

You don't know what's going on in my life.

I find it interesting that, at the time when the teaching of God's word is happening and people are responding in worship, there's also weeping and grieving.

Did you see that People are falling on their face, lifting their hands?

They're crying out to God, and there's also there's weeping, there's grieving, there's mourning, and I think that's such a beautiful picture of what it looks like to really be human.

I think there's a sense in which, as we encounter the goodness and the grace of God, we understand even more how broken our world is.

We understand even more how broken we are, we understand even more how dark things are apart from God.

And so our heart breaks at our own sinfulness.

Our heart breaks at our own moments of disobedience and stubbornness.

But our heart also breaks for those who are far from God, who have not yet had the moment where their eyes have been open and they've received the grace of God for themselves, where their lives have been illuminated by the light of God's word.

Our heart breaks, and so we live in this strange tension of worship and pain, of faith and doubt, of rejoicing and mourning.

And that's what it means to be human.

Is it not To choose to trust the goodness of God even when the circumstances don't look good?

To choose to worship God when all of our life is shouting that we shouldn't?

And we see this in this portrait of revival in Nehemiah, chapter 8.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

A couple more really quickly.

One we see a hunger for community.

So there's a hunger for the word, a hunger for worship.

There's a hunger for community.

You want to see revival?

Come, let's gather around the table with other believers.

I love what Jake shared earlier about our need to be connected to one another, and even more so, hebrew says, as the days become darker and darker and darker.

We need each other.

If you're in a life group, you know what that means, right.

You know what it's like to be prayed for and encouraged.

You know what it's like to have somebody checking in on you, seeing how your week's going, saying, hey, what can I pray for you about?

How can I walk with you through this season?

We need each other, and in Nehemiah, chapter 8, they're encouraged Gather around the table together, share with those in need, bring them into the fold.

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

Let's be in community together.

But then there's one more element that I don't want us to miss this morning, and it happens in Nehemiah, chapter 9.

Nehemiah 9 · chapter mention

The subtitle of that chapter in my Bible is the People of Israel Confess their Sin.

We just collectively acknowledge together today that we do not like to confess our sin.

Even as we're asking God to move, even as we're asking God to work, even as we're confronted through the pages of Scripture and the power of the Spirit within us, we do not like to humble ourselves and confess that we don't have it all figured out.

We don't like to admit that we're broken, that we're flawed, that our motives are not always pure, that our thoughts are not always right, that sometimes we say things we shouldn't say and we don't like to confess our sin.

But the truth, as revealed in the pages of God's Word, is that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

The wages of our sin we have earned because of our sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

We don't have to be afraid to confess what Jesus is willing to forgive.

So can I just say to us today if we want to see God move in our lives, we've got to love God and desire God more than we love our sin, and we've got to love God more than we love putting on appearances for other people in our lives.

We've got to be willing to be open and honest about where we are, knowing that in Christ there is no condemnation, that in Jesus there is forgiveness.

In Jesus there is freedom.

We are no longer slaves to our sin.

I love what Nehemiah tells us or what Ezra says in Ezra, chapter nine.

We are slaves, yet our God is not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love.

Can I just say today if you're struggling this morning, could God really forgive me, could God really love me.

Could he really use me to be part of this movement after everything I've done?

God is righteous and his love is steadfast.

He loves you.

He will forgive you.

He's got a hope and a future and a purpose for you, and it starts with the blood of Jesus shed for your sin.

His grace is sufficient to forgive any sin in your life.

There is nothing that you have done that could separate you from the love of God in Jesus Christ.

Turn to Christ, be forgiven, be revived, be placed in a family called the church, the people of God, and allow God to build your life on the foundation of Jesus through the truth of his Word.

Y'all.

Let's just see what God could do.

In 1979, the Iranian Revolution took place and political control of the nation of Iran went from a group that allowed a little bit of freedom to Christianity to an extremist Muslim group that really restricted Christianity in the nation of Iran.

Christians were persecuted, pastors were killed, bibles were banned, churches were closed, missionaries were kicked out of the country and the very minimal freedom that Christianity enjoyed in that nation looked like it had been extinguished.

Now Ezra talked about a brief moment of God's favor.

It seemed like the window of ministry in Iran was closed in 1979.

At that time, there were between five and ten thousand Christians in that nation.

In the last 30 years, in the nation of Iran, the church has grown to 800,000 to a million believers.

For some reason, what looked like the end from a human perspective was only the beginning of a move of God that only God could do.

And today the fastest growing segment of Christianity in the world is happening in Iran, in a country where it's illegal to be a Christian, where Bibles are not allowed, where you can be killed for publicly declaring your faith in Jesus.

The church there is growing faster than anywhere else in the world.

In fact, the second fastest growing church in the world is in Afghanistan, where Christians from Iran are traveling illegally to share their faith in Jesus, the one who has changed their life, forgiven their sin, set them free and given them a future.

See, here's the thing.

Revival didn't start in Nehemiah, chapter eight, when Ezra stood up and preached the word.

Revival began when Zerubbabel traveled back to Jerusalem and began to rebuild the temple.

The seeds of revival were being sown.

And as Nehemiah traveled and rebuilt the wall, in the face of opposition and discouragement and hardship and difficulty, the seeds of revival were being sown.

As the people floundered internally and wondered if their lives were being used by God, the seeds of revival were being sown.

And Iran, in 1979, when the enemy tried to close the door on the spread of the gospel, the seeds of revival were being sown.

Can I say to us today I don't know what you see in your life, but I believe with all my heart that, as you are faithful to God, the seeds of revival are being sown.

As you live with courage and boldness in the name of Jesus, you are sowing the seeds of revival.

Maybe it's our grandchildren or our great grandchildren who will see the fruit of what God is doing in our lives.

I don't know what the future holds, but I know what God is calling us to to be a people who love His word, who live lives of worship, who build community around the name of Jesus, who are honest about their sin and then who say to the world there is a place in the family of God for you.

May we have the courage to chase revival as long as God gives us opportunity.

Father, we love you.

We thank you.

God, we've seen you work all throughout history and time and space in extraordinary ways you use ordinary people to do extraordinary things by the power of your spirit.

And, father, we are asking that you would revive our hearts again, that by the power of your spirit, we would see people transform lives, change families, restore marriages, reconciled futures, shifted salvation, calm.

Father, we want to see revival in our world and, father, we're asking this morning that you would begin that in our hearts, that you would begin that in us.

Help us to love your word, to live with worship, to be intentional about community, to be honest about our sin and, father, to extend the hand of grace and fellowship to those who right now, have no idea that there's a God in heaven who knows their name.

So, god, we give you this moment as we respond in Jesus' name.

Amen.