Last week’s sermon passage looked at one of the few revivals in the Bible; Nehemiah 8. We heard how God awakened in the people (i) a hunger FOR God’s word, (ii) a response TO God’s word (grieving, joy and conviction), and (iii) a delight IN God’s word. Yet Christians cannot achieve these things through hard work or determination. It requires a miracle of the Holy Spirit to awaken them in the hearts of humans.
As such, we were encouraged last week to start praying for revival; to start praying that God would awaken in our church (a) a hunger for God’s word, (b) a deep grief over our sin, and (c) a desire to follow God’s word. So whether you were here last week or not, I wish to ask again; will you commit to this? Will you commit to praying for revival in our church?
The closest thing Australia has ever seen to a revival was the 1959 Billy Grahame Crusade. At one event, over 130,000 people squeezed into the MCG; the biggest crowd recorded at that ground to this day. Yet as I was reminded during the week, Billy Grahame only agreed to his 4-month crusade in Australia if it was preceded by 12 months of prayer. The reason all of Australia was talking about religion for those 4 months, and the reason Australians gave their lives to Christ in unprecedented numbers at his meetings, was because of the prayers of the Australian saints.
Last week I asked everyone to put a calendar event in their phones, called ‘Pray for Revival’, for every Saturday night for a year. If you took the time to do that, did you pray last night? If you were away last Sunday, please take the time today. Put a reminder in your phone to pray for revival every Saturday night for 2020, and let’s see what God will do.
