The Church God Sees: A Church Rooted in the Word

Nehemiah 8:1–8, 9–10

In 1904, the nation of Wales was dry. Not dry from weather but dry in spirit. The working class was exhausted. The coal mines were dangerous. Families struggled under pressure. The culture was marked by drunkenness, gambling, and sin. And when the people needed the Church to rise up, the churches had lost their fire. Sermons were intellectual but lifeless. Denominations were divided. Religion continued outwardly, but the power of God was nowhere to be found.

For thirty years the nation lived in a spiritual drought. Then God looked down and raised up a twenty six year old coal miner named Evan Roberts. He was not trained. He was not respected by church leaders. Many called him unstable. Many mocked him. Many tried to silence him. But God had set something on fire in this young man that no critic could extinguish.

His prayer was simple. Lord bend me. Lord break me. Lord bring me into submission. Lord humble me. Lord shape me. Lord this life is not my own. It is Yours.

He gathered seventeen young people in a small chapel. They opened the Word. They confessed their sins. They prayed through the night. From that room a national revival exploded. Within six months more than one hundred thousand souls were saved.

Newspapers reported it. Bars shut down because no one was drinking. Crime plummeted and courthouses closed. Police officers formed choirs because they had nothing to do. This is what happens when the Church stops offering TED Talks and begins trembling at the Word of God.

This passage in Nehemiah reminds us why the Word is always the starting point of real revival.

Nehemiah chapter eight takes place four hundred forty five years before Christ. Jerusalem had once been a great city but the people stopped listening to the Word of God. God sent prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah but the nation hardened its heart. Eventually Babylon invaded. The walls were torn down. The temple burned. The people taken into captivity. Only the weak and helpless were left behind.

For seventy years Jerusalem lay in ruins. The city was silent. No songs in Zion. No fire in the temple. No presence of God. When a new temple was finally rebuilt it was smaller. It lacked the Ark of the Covenant. It lacked the fire from heaven. It lacked the glory that once filled Solomon’s temple. Another seventy years passed and still the walls were broken. Enemies raided the city constantly. Families lived in shame and fear.

Then God raised up an unexpected man named Nehemiah. He was not a prophet. He was not a priest. He was not a preacher. He was a cupbearer in the Persian palace. He had comfort. He had status. He had security. But when he heard about the ruins of Jerusalem the Bible says he sat down and wept, mourning for days and crying out to the God of heaven. He did not blame others. He did not shift responsibility. He simply said, Lord let it begin with me.

His burden became a prayer. His prayer became faith. And against every obstacle the walls were rebuilt in fifty two days.

Revival begins when people tremble at the Word again.

Isaiah said that God looks to the one who is humble and trembles at His Word. Revival does not begin with music or marketing. Revival does not begin with a perfect sermon. Revival begins when people treat the Word of God with awe again. When Scripture confronts sin and we bow. When truth corrects us and we listen. When the voice of God becomes more important than the opinions of the culture.

The Church can fill a building and still be empty of power if it does not honor the Word. But the moment a church bends beneath Scripture, the moment it stops arguing with truth and starts obeying it, the Spirit of God moves again.

Understanding the Word transforms everything.

Romans says that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. The Word does not simply inform. It reshapes. It realigns. It renews. The enemy is not afraid of a believer who reads devotionals or Christian books. He is afraid of the believer who truly understands the Word of God. That is why he fights Bible study. That is why he distracts. That is why he confuses. Because once the Word is understood it changes who you are.

That is what happened in Nehemiah eight. Ezra did not just read the Word. He explained it. He helped common people understand what God was saying. And when the people finally understood the Scripture they wept. They repented. They rejoiced. The Word broke them and then healed them.

A hungry church becomes a burning church.

Jeremiah once said that the Word was like fire shut up in his bones and that he could not keep silent. That is what hunger does. When the people of God open the Word with passion the fire returns. When repentance becomes normal again joy follows. Revival always begins with brokenness and ends with celebration.

We do not have the luxury in twenty twenty five to be casual with Scripture. Our children are under attack. Truth is under attack. Families are under attack. This is our moment to rise. This is our hour to burn. A starving world does not need a sleepy Church. It needs a Church rooted in the Word of God and filled with the fire of the Spirit.

May Mountain Valley Chapel be that Church. A Church that trembles again. A Church that understands again. A Church that hungers again. A Church that burns again.

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