Welcome to Leading the Way Audio with Pastor and International Bible Teacher Dr. Michael Usa. Do you want a formula for renewal and growth in your life? Do you want the secret to a godly contentment and confidence and joy? Do you want to know God's plan for revival?
Here it is, for Nehemiah himself reveals to us the real keys to personal and corporate revival. Thank you for taking time to listen to Dr. Michael Youssef. on this episode of Leading the Way. A global evangelistic ministry using media to boldly share the gospel.
And up next, Keys to Revival from Doctor Youssef's life-changing series in the Pages of Nehemiah. Rebuilding our broken walls. And as you listen, keep in mind that Leading the Way is listener supported, meaning that doctor Youssef and his leadership team rely on your prayers and God's provision through the generosity of those blessed by Doctor Youssef and the Worldwide Ministry Impact. Visit ltw.org to learn about all of the ways to stand with him. Right now, though, listen along as he continues his life-changing series, Rebuilding Our Broken Walls.
Look with me, please, at Nehemiah 7 and 8. Four keys To personal corporate revivals. First, there was an assembling. of the body of the believers. Assembling together as one man.
Secondly, there is the affirming of the authority of the Word of God. And thirdly, there is the adoring of the God of grace. And fourthly, there is the abandoning of oneself to God. assembling together with the body of believers. Nehemiah 7 opens With the fact that after the logistics have been completed.
The people assembled as one man. At this point, Jerusalem was not really a city in the true sense of the word. After this point, It was just an enclosure. Jerusalem was just a walled fortress. You say, Michael, how do you know that?
Well, Because the houses and the shops and the other structures have not been built yet. They've been destroyed by the Babylonians 70 years early, but they have not been rebuilt yet. And that is why the rest of chapter 7 give you these names of the families. There were 50,000 of them. 50,000 people out of the hundreds of thousands of Jews were taken into Babylon and to exile.
Only 50,000 came back. Why? You see, the others compromised with Babylon. They loved the life in Babylon. They turned their backs on God and enjoyed Babylon.
God always uses the committed minority. God always uses the committed few. It doesn't have to be a huge, humongous number. God used 12 fishermen. Verse 1, chapter 8.
All the people assembled as one man before the gate, the water gate. Ezra the scribes opens the way to God. opens the book of God. Why was it necessary for the people to gather together as one man? Why?
Why couldn't they just stay home? And I know you've heard it and I've heard it. People say, you know, I can just worship God just as well while I'm fishing as I do in church. I can worship God on the golf course just as I can worship in church. Listen, I'm not going to dispute this because I believe you can worship God anywhere.
And one of my greatest times of praise and adoration and singing are in the worst traffic jams. Huh.
Well it's no use streaming and fretting. I might as well bless the Lord and sing my heart out. But worshiping God in private is not the same as worshiping Him with other believers. There is a certain blessing that God bestows. There's a certain presence of God.
There's a certain mystical and miraculous atmosphere that takes place when the body joins together and unites in faith with each other. Why do you think Jesus kept on saying, right now, when two of you agree, when two or three of you gather, when you're two or three, and two or three, why? There are things that God does during a time of corporate worship that we will never understand until we get to heaven. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25 warns us against the danger of neglecting the assembling together with the body of believers.
Now If you are a sensitive believer, as most of you are, And for whatever reason, you stay away from corporate worship. You know and I know what happens. When the heart begins to grow cold, not only toward God, but toward the people of God. You know what I'm talking about. I know it experientially.
But when you return to the heart of corporate worship, your heart feels like it's going to burst. Out of joy. Many years ago the devil tricked me. And I stayed away from the heart of worship. My life was joyless.
Bitterness gripped me. Anger dominated. And I felt like a thirsty man. in the middle of Sahara. But thank God, a loving sister.
who never gave up on me. And never cease to pray for me. Until one day I find my way back to the heart of fellowship. with believers. I come back to the heart of corporate worship again.
In that time it was joy unspeakable, unforgettable. Listen to me, beloved. God did not design us to be Lone Ranger Christians. He created us to be in community. He created us to be members of a body, active, involved.
He created us for one another.
So can we worship together and praise together and encourage one another? In fact, when we lift our voices to God, whether you can sing or not, it doesn't matter. When we start praying together, all of that comes as a symphony to the ears of God. King Solomon puts it this way, Ecclesiastes 4, 9 and 10. Two are better than one.
because they have a good return on their work. If one falls down, his friend will help him up. And the very reason why Nehemiah was toiling and sacrificing, why he left the luxury of the palace in Susa, why he gave up power and authority and all the goodies that these people were longing for in our world and our culture today, he gave it up and he sacrificed and came back to sweat and to toil. and get his hand roughed up. And callous.
Well, it's not just so that they may have a beautiful wall. To look at. He did not do that because who was building an edifice. But so that God's people May worship God. Together.
in unity, in peace, and in joy. The first key to revival is what? Assembling together with the body of believers. The second key to revival is the affirming of the authority of the Word of God. Let me tell you something.
This is The battle of this generation. The authority of the Word of God. Every generation has its own battle. This is ours. And the reason we gather together Not just to have warm and fuzzy feelings, I have nothing against warm and fuzzies, I like them myself.
But feelings do not last for very long. But we gather together to experience the awe of God in response to our affirming of the word of God. Listen to me. This casual and nonchalant attitude toward worship and coming late and leaving early is an insult to God. And when the people of God gathered in the public square next to the water gate in Jerusalem.
They were awestruck. Look at verse 3, all the way down. He read it loud. From daybreak till noon. My soul and body.
I mean, people can watch a game for that long, but they will never listen to the word of God for seven hours. And here's really the clincher here. And all the people listened attentively to the book of the law. I promise you. There's not a single person who was yawning.
There's not a single person who was dozing off at the Word of God, while the Word of God was being read. As soon as they heard the word of God, And this is how I know they were not dozing off. He's listening to what it says, verse 6. Oh The people lifted their hands and responded, Amen, and amen and amen. Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
Beloved, we have lost Our awe of God. They were Struck. when the word of God was read on their faces. Listen to me. For a true revival to happen in your heart, for a true revival to happen in your home, for a true revival to happen in a church, for a true revival to happen in a nation, it has to begin with hunger and thirst for the word of God.
I know most Christians' homes are filled with Bibles and a variety of translations and then the shelves and the coffee tables and you got it everywhere, but statistic after statistic after statistic has confirmed that less than 20% of Christians read the Bible on a daily basis. No wonder the nation is in the situation it's in. We have Bibles on our laptops, we have Bibles on our iPhones, we have Bibles on iPads. I use them for texting and emailing, and it's just fine. I do that, do all of that.
Seldom do we click on the word to go. Here in Nehemiah 8. the people's hearts. or being prepared for a revival, how? By honoring and bowing and worshiping the God of the Bible.
They assembled to hear the word of God. They assembled to affirm the authority of the word of God. They were assembled to affirm the power of God that is in His Word. I think most of you know this is not going to come as news to you. I don't preach moralistic sermons.
I don't preach psychological sermons. I don't preach happiness and self-esteem. I don't preach humanistic sermons. I don't preach a social gospel. Why?
Because there is a world of difference between all of these things and the Word of God itself. See, the power is not in the preacher, the power is not in the preaching, the power is in the Word of God itself. And that's why I often tell you it is far more important. to be biblically correct and politically correct. When Ezra opened the book of God, People stood up.
He didn't ask them to stand up. They stood up. They couldn't sit still when they heard the word of God being preached. They rose. Out of reverence.
And today, people treat the Bible as a smorgasbord, a buffet. I like this, I don't like this, I like that part, I don't like that part. You know, the Bible said that sex is in monogamous heterosexual marriage for life. Oh, I don't like that, toss it out. The Bible said give and tithe.
Oh, I don't like that one. Take it out. Toss it out. We pick and choose. Instead of allowing the Word of God to sit in judgment over us, we sit in judgment over it.
Listen to what Psalm 138 verse 2 said. I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name and your word. We often say that a good man That his word is as good as his name. Or his name as good as his word. That is absolutely true of God.
And that is why God exalted His name and His word above all else. Beloved, let me tell you something. The Bible is perfect. It does not need editing, it does not need revising, it does not need rewriting, it does not need modification, it does not need apology, it does not need to be watered down and acceptable. It is pure without contradiction.
Now, listen to me. The church that succumbs to human reasoning, or human experience, or social or political fads, or a culture fashion, is a church that has begun to doubt the authority of the Word of God. If we truly want a revival, And listen, we can pray for a revival until we are blue in the face. But if we truly want the revivals A revival in our hearts, in our lives, in our homes, in our church. Then we need to begin by sitting under the Word of God.
Not over it. Assembling. Affirming. Adoring. The whole reason why God permitted Now back at Nasser And the Babylonian power.
To come in invade Jerusalem, his city, his own city. Take people captives into Babylon. Destroy the walls, burn the gates. The reason He allowed this. is because of their sin of disobedience.
He did not only ask them once, he asked them a hundred times. He did not only send one prophet, but many prophets. And finally, when he said, I've had enough, The Babylonians came. And took them captives.
So, 70 years later, as you've been following in this series of messages, they come back. Only fifty thousand of them. But they came back. The faithful minority came back. The remnant came back.
And that is why When they heard the word of God, They're convicted, they were convicted of their sin and the sins of their ancestors. And after they mourned over their sin, then they began to experience the joy of the Lord. He is saying, okay, enough weeping. God heard you.
Now revel and delight yourself in His grace and forgiveness. Once you have genuinely repented and turned, then revel in the grace of God. Rejoice in the grace of God. Let the joy of the Lord be your strength. And that's what they're saying to them here.
Look at verse 10. The joy of the Lord is your strength. After the word of God pierced their hearts with grief, the same word of God. Brought them into repentance. And that same word of God brought them into adoration.
of God's amazing grace. Sincere repentance from sin. Always, always followed by joy. Always. The one thing about the Word of God, it does a complete job.
like a good surgeon. It does a complete job. It cuts us up. It removes the cancerous cells, it sews us back up again, and then it heals us. The Word of God does it all.
Have you experienced the joy of the Lord? I'm talking about overflowing and overwhelming joy that makes you want to spend long hours. Revelling in his overwhelming grace. Please don't forget what I'm going to tell you about joy. Authentic joy does not come from outward experiences.
It really does not. Authentic joy. Does not come from winning the lottery or making this big bucks or winning this, succeeding at that. No, no, no. These things bring us momentary happiness and they go away as fast as they came in.
But authentic joy is a true contentment that can never be stolen or taken away from you. Nobody can take it away from you. Financial setbacks will not take it away from you. Betrayal of friends will never take it away from you. Troubling medical diagnosis will never take it away from you.
Why? Because authentic joy is God's gift to you. After repentance. And that gift no one can take away. Psalm 19, 8.
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commandments of the Lord are radiant. giving light. to the eyes. The first key to revival.
is consistent assembling. The second key to revival Is the affirmation of the authority of the Word of God. And the third key to a revival. Is the adoring? of the God of grace and Fourthly and finally.
The fourth key. is abandoning oneself to God. Look with me at verses 13. all the way to 18 of chapter 8, Nehemiah. See, when Ezra opened up the book of the law, The Book of God.
People discovered all of God's commands and requirements. They've been away from worship. They've been away from obedience. They've been away in the desert, and now they come back. The Feast of Tabernacle.
Or the feast to booth. And it's described in the book of Leviticus 23, 33. And it is celebrated on the fifth day of the month of Tishri. For our calendar, it's around September, October. And that feast lasted seven days.
And the reason it's called the Feast of Tabernacle or Booth or In Hebrew, if you have some Jewish friends, they always refer to it as a succut. There is a far deeper meaning to this. Listen carefully. In the New Testament, it has a far deeper meaning. Why is it called the tent to booth?
Because for seven days they are to abandon the comfort of their homes. They to abandon the comfort of their surroundings. They are to exchange them for this fragile temporary dwelling covered with Palm branches. Very flimsy indeed. What's the point here?
This is a mere outward symbol of a deeper conviction of abandoning oneself to God. It is trusting God completely. It's throwing yourself wholly in His hands. During that time when the people of Israel heard the Word of God, they affirmed the Word of God, they adored the grace of God, now they are putting the Word of God into action. This is the point here.
This is the mark of a true, an authentic revival. It's not just responding out of an emotional response, or, you know, you got cut in your heart about something, and you say, Oh, I'll respond. No, no, no, no. This was not a temporary effect. It was the people consecrating themselves to God for the rest of their lives.
It was the abandoning of oneself to God. It is the surrendering of ourselves to God. When you are Out of the will of God. When you are out of fellowship with God. You can put on Sunday clothes.
You can plaster Sunday smile. Mm-hmm. You can sing, or more like mumbling the songs. But to you still, Church is a drudgery. You came along because You had to.
Somebody brought you along. Oh, you came. Singing just as I am. And you go out just as you came. Being with other believers hold no joy to you.
Now I shared with you from my personal experience. Wearing a pious mask can Pretending be someone that you're not. I know, for me. although it was many years ago. I still remember it.
I still remember it. It was Heavy burden. It was burdensome. But when you come in repentance, seeking his forgiveness. filled with his grace and joy.
believing, affirming the authority of his word. It is empowering. It does the opposite. When you hear the word of God and obey it. The joy of the Lord will be your strength.
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The church today is being attacked and destroyed from within as dangerous false teachings have been welcomed and are now widely taught. What can you do, you ask?
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