Here in the Church of "Times Square" we have designated this year as one of prayer for revival. The "revival" does not conceptualize it as a great spiritual move where people come from afar to see something great. On the contrary, we are longing to have people prepared. Prepared in holiness to be an abode of the Lord's presence! We want a revival of the holy presence of the Lord, where things are as pleasing to God that he comes to meet every need. A place where His glory is revealed!
In the eighth chapter of Nehemiah are what I call "the five absolute evidence of revival. " Not be called revival or awakening unless each of the five evidence are present. Nehemiah is a book of revival. 42.360 is the story of Jews returning to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile, to holiness and true worship. The output of Babylon is a type of the output of the believers in dead churches, warm and worldly to go with a holy remnant to Zion, to return to the old paths and go forward with a people and shepherds to walk in truth .
This holy remnant rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and worked in unity to remove the garbage and filth that had been contaminated to Jerusalem. They rebuilt the crumbling walls and raised doors. That's what we're doing in the church "Times Square" by removing the accumulated trash, debris of false doctrine, materialism, sin and warmth in the pulpit and the pews. We are rebuilding the walls had collapsed. Hundreds of people of God have been looted and destroyed by satanic forces, homes and marriages have been working together to raise the walls and doors to keep out the enemy. God has gathered a remnant among all those who have escaped from Babylon and are ready to take the five major steps for the restoration and revival.
THE FIRST EVIDENCE OF REVIVAL is a fervent desire to fight AND OBEY THE WORD OF GOD.
"And all the people gathered as one man in the square in front of the water gate, and said unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.
And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women and all they could understand, the first day of the seventh month.
And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from early morning until noon, in the presence of men and women and all those who could understand, and the ears of all the people were attentive the book of the law. And the scribe
Ezra stood upon a pulpit of wood that had been done to it, and beside him stood Mattathias, Sema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah to his right hand and his left hand, Pedaiah, Misael, Malkijah Hashum, Hashbadana, Zachary and Mesulam.
opened And Ezra the book in the eyes of all people, he was above all the people, and when he opened it, all the people stood up "(Nehemiah 8:1-5).
The cry of their hearts was, "Bring us the true word of the Lord!" Ezra stood on a wooden pulpit and read the word of God for six hours while the crowd was attentive, learning that the cause of his suffering was his own stubbornness and rebellion. The surest evidence of a revival in a soul, a church or a city is a great hunger for the Word of God. Misguided Christians do not want that fun. Preachers do not preach much neglect the word of God, on the contrary, they give short little sermon. They do not preach the law, because it produces conviction and shaking the church! Makes conforming squirm!
Where the Holy Spirit is working, people in the pews are crying for the Word. I receive hundreds of letters from needy saints who cry: "We are hungry. We did not hear the true Word. Receive the dead letter without the unction, "Smoothing Soap!". Where God is at work there are Bibles everywhere. There is an expectation of preaching and teaching with a real reverence for the Word, the Word is loved and honored.
is very sad that in many charismatic churches preaching is rejected. They can not wait until you finish, continue to praise and worship. Everything is music, entertainment and special songs that you like them!
When the Holy Spirit is no more need of a star evangelist or a teacher at the center stage, but the word being hailed. The cry will be: "Lord, I want it everything good, the bad, the commandments, promises, the whole counsel of God. "
SECOND REVIVAL IS EVIDENCE OF REPENTANCE WITH A BROKEN HEART.
"Ezra blessed the Lord the great God. And all the people answered, Amen! Amen! Raising their hands and they bowed and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
The Levites Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Sebatai, Hodiah Maacías, Kelita, Azariah Jozabeth, Hanan and Pelaia, taught the people the law, and the people were in place.
they read in the book of the law of God distinctly and gave the sense, them to understand the reading.
And Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord our God, mourn not, nor weep for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law "(Nehemiah 8:6-9).
His first reaction to the word was with exaltation and joy, they cried: Amen! Amen! Raising his hands. David said: "Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord" (Ps. 134:2). But the word that immediately became prostrate. When the word of God leads us to bow this is true repentance. "They humiliated and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. " "... For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law." They trembled at the word of God, took it seriously and repented!
When a revival of the Holy Spirit comes, Christians do not hold grudges, do not murmur, slander or criticize. They are trying to straighten out the church or pastors. Do not sit idly like a sack of potatoes in front of the TV! No! They are prostrate before God, crying, because the word has impressed their hearts. They are not judging or watching others. They are being convicted by the Word, not to meet God's standards.
THE THIRD SIGNAL IS AN AMAZING REVIVAL SPIRIT OF JOY AND CELEBRATION.
"Then they said, Go, eat fat, and drink sweet wine and send portions to which nothing is prepared: for this day is holy to our Lord, do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
The Levites, then, were silenced all the people, saying: Be still, for the day is holy, and not sorrow.
And all the people went to eat and drink, to send portions, and great mirth, because they understood the words he had taught them "(Nehemiah 8:10-12). Wherever
love for the Word of God has been restored, and repentance has come and where there has been a conviction of sin, there will be a great wave of joy and celebration. But there is a kind of joy fake and false conclusion on the ground. Today is the celebration of self and of idolatry. The dance around the golden calf! We need much discernment to know the difference between the true joy of arrepentimineto and the false joy of the idolaters.
Moses and Joshua came down from the mountain to the clamor of the people shouting: "There is strong voice yells, screams or weak voice, the voice I hear singing ..." (Ex. 32:18). They were shouting, singing and dancing, but Moses knew from the beginning it was all meat. He knew they were a rebellious and stiff-necked, full of lust, fornication, nudity and sensuality. Idolatry was the cry!
Can you see the difference? If there is no preaching of the law to convict of sin, if there are no tears or heads bowed to the ground, if there is no love for disapproving word of God, if there is no repentance, then, no spiritual cry, no song holy! Be very city! You can be caught by the song of idolatry.
Why had so great joy and festive spirit of joy in this revival as recounted in Nehemiah? They had great joy. "... Because they understood the words he had taught them" (Nehemiah 8:12). In other words, they discerned and taken seriously: they obeyed!
THE FOURTH IS AN EVIDENCE OF REVIVAL TABERNACLE ON THE ROOF!
"The next day he met the heads of the families of all the people, priests and Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, to understand the words of the law.
They found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses that the children of Israel dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month, and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities and Jerusalem, saying, Come out to the mountain, and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm trees and thick trees to make booths, as written.
So he went out, the people, and brought in and made themselves booths, each on its roof, in their courtyards, in the courtyards of the house of God, in the plaza of the water gate, and the square Gate of Ephraim.
And all the congregation who returned from the captivity made booths, and under the booths: for since the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day had not done so the children of Israel. And there was great joy "(Nehemiah 8:13-17).
The word of the Lord was restored, and repentance and obedience were genuine. The joy of the Lord was his strength back, but something was missing: The tabernacles! There can be no real and lasting revival, and a fullness of God, until we build a tabernacle! This is truly a message recently.
leaders, priests and the Levites were gathered to Ezra to search the scriptures and see what God wanted them. They found something that the Lord had sent years ago, a perpetual injunction that had been abandoned since the days of Joshua. He was in Leviticus 23:40-43: "And you will take the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, leafy trees and willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.
And ye shall feast unto the LORD seven days in the year will be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, in the seventh month you shall.
dwell in booths seven days, all natural of Israel dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I did dwell in booths for the children of Israel when out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. "
For seven days the people of God would build a temporary shelter (Hebrew "sukkah") with a roof made of several branches. They were commanded to live in shelters for seven days.
The newspaper "New York Times" had an entire section devoted to building a sukkah. In New York City these are built on tiny balconies, small courtyards and roof terraces at the end of September and during the first week of October. Of the six hundred thirteen commandments Jews this is still one of the most important. Orthodox Jews practice it rigorously. Living in the cabin still means today that "we're just going through this world, but spending the night, so we should not be concerned with pleasures and vanities. " The sukkah is so holy for Jews, it's a sin to take even a sliver of it for use as a stick! Just a bad smell contaminate it. It says: "If you can not save the Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles), can not save any of the six hundred thirteen commandments of the" Torah "(the law)!
leaders in Jerusalem at the time of Nehemiah made a proclamation: "We will return to celebrate the feast of Sukkot! go to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle and palm trees make her "sukkah" as written ". I enjoy must have filled the air, carrying children and families to build sukkahs branches! That picture should have been seen from the top: every flat roof in a small hut, in any vacant lot or on each square in the temple courtyard visitors camping. Even Ezra, Nehemiah and all the priests! For seven days no eating or sleeping at home, no one was sleeping at the inns. All these people lived in temporary huts!
These were not sad seven days of hard work, by contrast, there were seven days of jubilation and joy. "... And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days" (Lev. 23:40). "Seven days celebrate the Feast of the Lord thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because you shall bless the Lord thy God in all your produce, and all the work of your hands and you'll be truly happy" (Deut. 16:15). Today
preaches a lot about the Feast of Tabernacles, it is said that the Church is entering its harvest time, "a collection of corn and wine", a time of blessing and growth that we are in a time of great rejoicing and praise, a time of joy and glory in the Lord. What is missing in this message is the sukkah, the move to the cabin! All praise, worship, the joy and happiness should be under the tent, "the place that the Lord will choose."
What does all this mean for us today? What is about the sukkah with walking with Christ today?
the sukkah means that we are strangers here, CITIZENS OF ANOTHER CITY.
The last seven days on the roof, alluding to the seventy years of human life span. The sukkah was a reminder that his life was temporary. As the leaves are withered, they would see the deterioration of their lives, their health and strength. God wanted their hearts and minds were made in eternity. They should remember themselves and their children: "We're just camping here. We rejoice not only for passing all these blessings, but also our hope and joy are in town come down from heaven: Zion! ". In Nehemiah's day this was what God wanted them to understand: "They rebuilt the walls, gates set up, established homes and planted the gardens and vineyards. The Lord had been good but this is not a resting place. They seek a city whose builder and maker is God. "
David loved his city, Zion. He wrote great poems and songs about their beauty: "Beautiful, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion ... the city of the great King "(Ps. 48:2). David got rich and gave loads of gold and silver for the construction of the Temple. "Of the gold, silver, bronze and iron there has ..." (1 Chron. 22:16). However, David does this terrible statement: "... because I am a stranger to you, and a sojourner as all my fathers" (Ps. 39:12). This was said after Israel was established and flourished. "Upstart" means a resident alien, one that will only pass. The word "foreigner" in Hebrew comes from the root word meaning "retreat in fear, as a unknown location. " All our fathers in faith considered the world "a strange land." They were foreigners, citizens of another world.
"By faith Abraham, when called, obeyed to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance and left without knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose architect and builder is God "(Heb. 11:8 -10).
"died in faith, all these without hager received the promises, but having seen them afar, seen them and embraced them, and confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say, clearly suggest that parental looking for if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came, they certainly had time to return. They desire a better, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, because He has prepared a city "(Heb. 11:13-16). They wanted "a better city, that is, a heavenly ...." There is a better city than the U.S. or whatever your native land. Is the new Jerusalem, heaven with Christ.
GOD KNOWS THAT EASILY we are blinded with their blessings.
Why would God to the whole nation in small huts for seven days? Because He knows the terrible danger that your children are when they are blessed. He knows it can easily turn away and forget about him, becoming blind because of the ease and so comfortable. He knows how willing we are to indulge and be seduced by worldly things.
The Song of Moses was a prophecy predicting the expected apostasy of God's people, once they had succeeded. "But Jeshurun \u200b\u200b(the people of God) got fat, and kicked (became unmanageable). Fattening (I covered with grease), then he forsook God who made it, and lightly esteemed the Rock of their salvation " (Deut. 32:15). This is a message not only for the rich, but for us all. The more we are blessed, the more we tend to want to dig into this world, to build, buy and spend more. Everything we buy is like another rope that binds us to this world! The Lord wants our hearts are "in the cabin" in the sukkah. Every day, often every day, He wants us to remember the following: "I'm an alien! I'm just going to pass! I have no roots here! I'm a better city! Thank you Lord for all your blessings, but I rejoice because I am a citizen of Zion. " NADA
WE BELONG HERE ON EARTH!
All that God has given us is given! We are only custodians. Much has been written about the promised land. God promises to give Israel the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, but God never gave them the scriptures, He just took them. "The land shall not be sold permanently, because it is mine, because you you are strangers and sojourners with me" (Lev. 25:23). They could only sell the rights to harvest, and even the poorest were returned their land in the jubilee year.
To God belongs all that we have. We keep saying: "Lord, I return this." But we've never really owned anything. "For mine is every beast of the forest, and thousands of animals in the hills ... and everything that moves in the field are mine ... the world is mine and the fullness thereof" (Psalm 50:10-12). The Lord is saying, "Go to the tent on the roof, examine your heart!" Are you a faithful steward of the Lord's property? In the light of eternity, in the light of the fragility of life, how much you spend on yourself, compared to how much for your work?
The major result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the delivery of everything on the altar of God, while we take our Eye of the things we possess. At Pentecost, said, "and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul: neither said any of their possessed nothing, but they had all things common" (Acts 4:32).
THE TABERNACLE IS A REMINDER FOR ALL ABSTAIN carnal desires.
"Beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul" (1 Pet. 2:11). It is almost impossible for anyone under age 50 think eternal values, because they assume they still have plenty of time ahead. When you get to the 60's or 70's nature teaches you how short life is! It is much easier to think of being a foreigner here! But God wants us all to dwell in the fullness of life, we rejoice and then we pay attention and ask ourselves: are worth our youth and carnal desires in the light of eternity?
Moses chose "to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin" (Heb. 11:25). Thus the Lord has taught us to go to the tabernacle, consider how short life is, suffer for a moment, and suffer for the joy set before us (see Heb. 12:2). "... For what is your life? A mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes "(James 4:14). Try telling that to the young people!
The tabernacle is a symbol of what the world away from us. Go there! Destroy the ambition! Mata pride! All targets have been set wrong by ambition are open to lust and sin of all kinds. People say, "What's the point?, I'll never make." Therefore, sin! You are listening to lying spirits. Recognize these voices for what they are: demonic.
FINAL EVIDENCE OF A REVIVAL IS THE ABSOLUTE SEPARATION OF THE WORLD. Without
life of repentance and separation from the world can not be a true revival. "And had departed the offspring of Israel from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins and the sins of their fathers" (Nehemiah 9:2). Wherever restoration is biblical, there is an increased awareness of the Lord's call to separate ourselves from all that is worldly and sensual.
I have observed over the years that separate Christians, consumed by Christ, and live in holiness is the most affected by the secular world. Pagans expect Christians to be separate and clean. They expect to be wholly "other" than themselves. In New York streets, crime infested with evil spirits everywhere, just a pure Christian, paragraph, full of Christ, can put the enemy to run. The lukewarm are scared and their own sins condemn them.
God is raising up a remnant of believers who want a revival, but only one in accordance with the believers in the image of Jesus Christ. And when he comes in all its fullness, most Christians do not recognize it, or if they do, they will reject. The remaining section will hear the sound of the trumpet and knows what God is saying.
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