CGamer
Gnome Priest
Ready To Read
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Edward’s Chapel Baptist Church
So many times we hear about the church needs Revival. We need Revival in the land. There’s so much violence in the world, look at all the terrible things going on. We hear this all the time or we used to talk about Revival and seeing people saved all the time, but the church has gotten slack on the job more specifically we as individuals have gotten slack in our commitment and service to God. Today I’d like to spend a few moments talking with you on this subject, Revitalized In The Word.
II.Scripture
Nehemiah 8:3,6 says:
Neh 8:3 3And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.
Nehemiah 8:6 says:
Neh 8:6 6And 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.
III.Commitment To God’s Word
To be truly revitalized we as believer’s must be committed to God’s Word. You may be sitting there saying to yourself, “I love my Bible, I love going to church”, but it’s more then that. It’s having a real burning desire within your heart a real love for God, it begins when we get saved. I remember when I first got saved, I couldn’t get enough of it, I just wanted to read more and more of it. As time went by though that hunger for studying got a little less and a little less and before belong long I was skipping meals.
My hunger had been filled apparently, did I know all of God’s Word, most definitely not, but I wasn’t spending as much time in it as I once was. Let me ask you a question, don’t raise your hands but be truthful with yourself as you answer it. How many of you last week from Sunday to yesterday read your Bible everyday last week? How many read it 6 days, 5 days, 4 days, 3 days, 2 days, 1 day and I’m not talking about what your Pastor read in his message? Now answer me this question, How many meals did you skip last week? I can just about guarantee everyone of us ate when we got hungry last week and probably more then we should have.
Now what happened to our hunger for God’s Word how many times did we skip out on that meal plan or prayer or witnessing? Let’s read verse 3 again,
Neh 8:3 3And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.
It says from morning until NOON Ezra read from God’s Word, not 10 am till 12 but all morning long Ezra read and spoke from God’s Word. Now here’s the thing it says the people were Attentive. These people were listening not only listening but they were zoned in on what the Preacher was saying. They were excited about God’s Word.
Now days if the Preaching goes to 12:30 we’re ready to jump up and go. We’ll get to praying right hard there for a little bit, Oh God, just shut him up and let me get out the door Lord and I sure would appreciate it. Amen.
That’s kind of funny sounding but it is the truth. If God’s plan takes too much of our time we are ready to dump God and go it alone. Why because our commitment to God isn’t what it once was. We want to serve God when it’s convenient and I’m preaching to myself on this one. There are so many times I’ve had opportunities to serve God, by reading His Word or praying or doing something else for Him and I’ve chosen to do something else.
Turn with me to Exodus 20. Lets read a few verses there beginning in verse Exodus 20:1-4 says:
Ex 20:1 - 4 1And God spake all these words, saying, 2I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Anything and everything we put before our time with God has become god to us. Does that mean we should walk around all day with a Bible in our hand reading it? No, but what it does mean is that we are always ready to answer when He calls and being ready to Obey The Call To Worship…
IV.Obeying The Call
Verse 6 says…
Nehemiah 8:6 says:
Neh 8:6 6And 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.
It says and the people answered Amen, Amen, lifting their hands, bowing there heads and they worshipped the LORD.
Have you come to worship God today if you have raise your hand, stand up. Look back at verse 5 it says when Ezra opened the book the people stood up.
Why did they stand up? Because they respected and revered God’s Word because they came to worship Him. These people loved the Lord, they had a real desire to serve Him. That’s what God is still looking for today, people, Christians who are sold out 100% to Him and serving Him. Think what could be accomplished if we had one mind and one accord what God could accomplish if we’d just get our agenda out of the way and let God’s plan go through. Think about the situation our nation is in. The news media proclaims were in a recession, the economy. How many times have you prayed for our nation for our leaders in office. I know I haven’t nearly prayed enough…
Finally This morning…verse 9. If you closed your Bible open it back it up.
V.Our First Love
Nehemiah 8:9 says:
Neh 8:9 9And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.
When is the last time you wept because of God’s Word speaking to you? When have you rejoiced and I mean truly rejoiced over hearing God’s Word spoken or preached?
We should be glad and rejoice in the privilege of being able to sit in our homes in relative safety, picking up our Bibles and enjoying a few verses of God’s Word.
I think it’s like the song The Freeman’s sang when they came to Harris Creek last year about Going Back To Our First Love. We allow so much in our lives take over God’s place so rather then being first, God ends up second or third, but truthfully if God isn’t first in our lives He is dead last.
Over in the book of Revelation, John wrote to the church at Ephesus, the words of Jesus in Revelation 2:4-54Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.5Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Jesus said repent and return unto me because you’ve left your first love. We serve an awesome God who deserves our respect, our faithfulness, our worship and most importantly our love.
He has done more for us then we could ever repay, He gave is only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God gave us everything that we might be saved, isn’t it time we start giving more of ourselves to Him.
If we want to see Revival in our churches it first has to begin with each one of us in the revitalizing of our relationship with Him, our commitment to Him. Where do you stand today? Is God number 1, First place in your heart and life today? If not what better time and place then right here, right now to make sure of where you stand with Him.
