“What A Little Revival Can Do”
Ezra 9:8, “And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.”
Man has been born with in the image of a big God and for some reason we have missed out on the power of small things. Just because of our God nature given to us in creation, we like to think that bigger is better! We look for a Red Sea experience not realizing that every little breath that we breathe is big deal. We like big houses, big cars, big trucks, big tractors, big yards, big grilles, big meals and big churches. We just like “big”, don’t know what we’re going to do with it, but we just like “big”. I’ve seen small people in big cars, small families in big houses, and small men with big women, and small women with big men, and small yards with big lawn tractors and small people with big plates. Don’t need “big’, but they just have to have “big” to show everybody that I’m “big” and I’ve got it! When I was young all I wanted was big, but now as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to realize that bigger doesn’t mean that it’s better. Some of the best things in the world come in little packages. Some of the most expensive things come in small packages. The size of something can’t define the value of it and what can be accomplished by using it.
So tonight for the sake of a subject I would like to use, “What A Little Revival Can Do!”
A few years ago a lady came in the store looking for some material and told me that they just came out of a 21-day revival and they were planning an 81-day revival. A 21-day revival is overwhelming for me to think about, but an 81-day revival is mind-boggling. I don’t have a problem with big conventions such as Mega-Fest, but what I’ve come to realize is that these big conventions don’t touch the average Joe. Everybody don’t and can’t afford to go to them. The other problem is whether you’re there or not, you’re just another space in the building. If this nation, this world is going to have a revival it will happen down at the local church level. You remember what Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” It doesn’t take a coliseum full of folks to have a revival. And it doesn’t take a long period of time to have a revival. In one day at Pentecost while the disciples were praying in that upper room and the Holy Spirit fell on the 120 and they started to preach in the languages of all that gathered, I believe the Bibles says, “And the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” Let’s not worry about numbers; God got the numbers in His hands. What we need to worry about is, is our heart ready? Have we confessed and repented of our sins? This same Ezra tells us in II Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Nowhere is mentioned about the size of the people, the length of the revival or the prominence of the preacher. Never heard of the preacher in my life! Not a big named preacher from the ‘A” list of preachers, but God uses small people to do big things! Big names may not reap you much at all! Revivals are much like gardens; it’s not about the size of the garden; it’s all about how much work and care you put into it. Did you spend time on your knees? Large gardens that are not taken care of may reap you a small harvest, but a small garden that is cared for can reap you a bountiful harvest. I’m amazed when I look at the commercials that you can now buy one tomato plant that hangs upside down that will reap you bushels of tomatoes off one plant. God is just like that, He has the ability to take a little revival and reap a great harvest if we put in the work. If you put the work in, you can’t imagine what a little revival can do!
As we come to our text today, we find Ezra giving a state of the church report. The affairs of the church were in a very good posture, we may well suppose, now that Ezra presided in them. On the outside, the government was kind to them. We hear no complaints of persecution and oppression; their enemies had either their hearts turned or at least their hands tied; their neighbors were civil, and we hear of no wars nor rumors of wars; there were none to make them afraid; all was as well as could be, considering that they were few, and poor, and subjects to a foreign prince. On the inside; we hear nothing of Baal, or Ashtaroth, nor Moloch, no images, nor groves, nor golden calves, not so much as high places; not only no idolatrous altars, but no separate ones, but the temple was duly respected and the temple service carefully kept up. Everything on the outside looked like church, yet all was not well within!
Ezra was caught in a place where everything on the outside of the church looked great, but when you looked on the inside; there were problems in the house. Let me bring this into the twenty-first century and down to Church Road anywhere in America. We have new building on every corner, got tall steeples on top of the church pointing to heaven, bright road signs along the road with their name on it, but we’ve got some problems in the building, many of our hearts are not right. The state of the church on the outside looks well, but the real church is about what it looks like on the inside. How do we treat each other? Do we respect the man of God? Are we obedient to the word of God? None of these things can be seen from the outside, but they are critical to the welfare of the church at large. Ezra saw the same things that we see as pastors today; things are not as well as they look. God had commanded the children of Israel not to pollute themselves with the ungodly nations that surrounded them. But our text says, “For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands.” Why is it that church folks like to mingle around in the wrong places with the wrong people all the time? Always mingling around where they don’t suppose to be! The prophet of God got so perturbed about the situation that the Bible says, “I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied.” Pastor Palmer, from the looks of our heads, we must have some of these folks up in our churches! Church folks will make you pull your hair out; that’s what happened to mine! Yours used to be black, but now gray from worry! Things got so tight that the real church folks got together to pray about the situation for a little revival meeting. Our text says, “Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God.” The problem with our nation today is that many of us think that we can have a political answer to the spiritual mess that we’re in. The problem that America is in goes deeper than party politics can solve. We that are of God need to tremble at His word and fall down on our face to call upon His name. The church is the answer to the problems that are plaguing America. The church got us into these problems and the church must get us out! We have failed America by being quiet when we should have been speaking up and speaking up when we should have been quiet! We have failed American and it will take a little revival to get us back to where we should be in Christ. When we get to where we should be in Christ, we will then see our nation begin to revive. Ezra fell on his knees and cried out unto the Lord, “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.” What amazes me pastor is that there is no more shame in what we do. What comes out of the pulpit in the twenty-first century church shames me! We are harking the gospel from the pulpit for $19.95 plus shipping and handling, pimping and pushing the gospel like drugs getting silly laden men and women hooked on a temporary fix that lasts only for a moment. Preachers should be ashamed of themselves for selling the gospel to the lowest bidder on E-bay. It’s gotten so big that it’s over our heads and reached all the way up into the heavens. Things are messed up! Things look bad!
Church, be not weary, because there is good news. There are a few of us that believe that there is hope if we have just a little revival. Nothing so big that it will make it in the news, just a little revival. Nothing so big that it will make it in the TBN, just a little revival. Nothing so big that it will make it in the Daystar, just a little revival. Our text says, “And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.” The good thing about our situation is that God knows all about it. The mess that we have gotten ourselves in is not out of the reach of God’s grace and mercy. What God desires for us to do is set a little time aside for His people to come together for a little revival. If just a few of us would come together we can change America. Churches are messed up because they have become our churches. It will take little churches like Silone and Mount Airy to set the record straight; this is not our church, this is God’s church! I believe the Bible says, “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.“ If we would have a little revival, get ourselves out of the way to allow the Holy Spirit to do its work our nation will turn away from its wicked ways. If we would just get out of the way and say, “Lord, it’s in your hands!” Give God a chance to work His work and we will begin to see our nation turn around. Stay rooted in His word and steadfast in your faith and unmovable; then you’ll see it slowly change. The text told us to be nailed in His holy place. We need to be right here where we are doing just what we are doing tonight for a change to come. Paul encourages us in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.“ What will change America must begin right here in little revivals like this. When we get nailed down to doing what God has commanded us to do, God will lighten our eyes and give us a little reviving to our situation. If you would do this, you will be amazed at what a little revival can do.
In closing, God is depending on little folks like you and I to get this thing done. Don’t look for this to happen with churches with one thousand to ten thousand members; it must start at the grass roots. God allows certain things to happen to see how the church responds. The question is how will you respond after tonight? Will you continue to watch as the world and the church drift farther and farther away from God or will you decide to let this revival begin in you? The solution to the problems in America begins right here! The answer to our problems will not come from politics, large mega-churches or big conventions; it will begin with a little revival in each one of us. A hymnist wrote:
“We won’t leave here like we came, in Jesus name.
Bound, oppressed, afflicted, sick or lame.
For the Spirit of the Lord is still the same.
We won’t leave here like we came, in Jesus name.”
If you came here tonight looking for little revival, you won’t leave here the way you came; you will be amazed what a little revival will do! If you came here tonight praying for little revival, you won’t leave here the way you came; you will be amazed what a little revival will do! If you came here tonight asking for little revival, you won’t leave here the way you came; you will be amazed what a little revival will do! If you came here tonight believing for little revival, you won’t leave here the way you came; you will be amazed what a little revival will do! If you came here tonight burdened down needing a little revival, you will be amazed what a little revival will do, in Jesus name! It didn’t take a multitude to change this world; it took only one dying on the cross. We too, if we would have a little revival, can ignite change throughout this whole community. Don’t question the power of one and the power of what a little revival can do!