“all these now join their brothers the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord.”
~ Nehemiah 10:29
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you know what a revival is? Several churches where your grandmaa and grandpaa are now living – which is in Gainesville, Georgia, have a revival scheduled. These churches have chosen a specific day for their revival and the specific hour for when the revival is to begin. A revival may take on a different meaning for some guys and gals than it does for other guys and gals. A revival to some guys and gals may simply mean to them that their church has scheduled a church service that will focus on evangelism. A revival to other guys and gals is a distinct place where and when a steady stream of guys, gals and kids have been or are being divinely led by God – as God the Spirit, to make faith decisions to accept as absolute truth the redemptive work of what God – as God the Son, did on a cross where He was humanely hung on and cruelly nailed to to physically suffer excruciating pain, to shed His blood and to literally die for the inherited sins of the guys, gals and kids who God – as God the Father, had specially elected for Himself. A revival to these same guys and gals was or is an organic occurrence when guys, gals and kids have been led or are being led by God – as God the Spirit, to humbly and explicitly confess sins, remorsefully rebuild broken relationships and begin or renew their Christ-follower walk. Your grandpaa in 1972 experienced a personal revival. Because of some things that took place that could only have happened because God – as God the Father, divinely preprogrammed them to take place in the way that He seemingly randomly does what He does, your grandmaa and grandpaa began to attend the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Not long after your grandmaa and grandpaa began to regularly go to the Aberdeen Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, an invited deeper life speaker – Don McKaughn, arrived from where he lived in Texas to speak. When Don McKaughn during one of his messages from the Esther Book pointed directly at your grandpaa and said ‘if you say that you are a Christian, why aren’t you acting like one?’, your grandpaa knew that some things needed to be changed in his life.
When your grandpaa suddenly had to internalize – because God – as God the Spirit, was beating him over the head with life realities, that he needed to change some things in his life, your grandmaa and grandpaa began to go to the weekly Bible study that Kenroy and Marianne Janzen had in their house, your grandpaa was asked to teach the senior high Sunday School class, your grandmaa and grandpaa were asked to initiate a married couples club, your grandpaa was asked to be one of the church elders and your grandmaa and grandpaa were behind implementing a systematic door to door evangelistic outreach in Aberdeen. When your grandmaa and grandpaa began to attend the Aberdeen Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, the Sunday morning church attendance was at about 110 guys, gals and kids. When your grandmaa and grandpaa left the Aberdeen Christian and Missionary Alliance Church to go to Chicago – where your grandpaa had been accepted by Moody Bible Institute as a student, the Sunday morning attendance was at about 225. Delores Arbiter – who was the Aberdeen Christian and Missionary Alliance Church C.E. Director, had a vision to increase Sunday School attendance using a bus ministry. The Sunday morning average attendance at the Aberdeen Christian and Missionary Alliance Church increased because guys, gals and kids really wanted to be in this church service. The Aberdeen Christian and Missionary Alliance Church’s Wednesday night prayer meeting – which your grandpaa sometimes led, was a time when guys, gals and even kids looked forward to attending. Guys, gals and kids every Wednesday night would divide up in pairs – always trying to pray with a guy, gal or kid who he or she had not prayed with before, to pray on their knees specifically for the guys, gals and kids who would be sitting the coming Sunday on the bench where they were praying. Leon Jensen – who was the pastor of the Aberdeen Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, even asked your grandpaa to preach a couple of times. Your grandpaa went from not being involved in any way in a church to being totally immersed in a church’s weekly activities. Your grandpaa would not have changed that for anything. God changed your grandpaa’s life trajectory.
After the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem had been rebuilt, Ezra was asked to read the Mosaic Law out loud in a public place. When God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the city of Jerusalem heard the words of the Mosaic Law being read by Ezra, they knew that they had to change some things in their lives. Nehemiah had a revival on his hands. Nehemiah 10 is Nehemiah writing in his diary about this revival. Nehemiah recorded in his diary what is now verse 29, “all these now join their brothers the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord.” The priests, Levites, city leaders, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants and every other guy and gal who coveted among themselves to change some things in their lives vowed not to allow their daughters to marry a guy from a foreign people group, not to buy anything on a Sabbath, to give a third of a shekel each year for the service of the temple of God that was located in the city of Jerusalem, to bring wood at assigned times to the temple of God that was in the city of Jerusalem, to bring the first fruits and the firstborn of everything to the temple of God that was in the city of Jerusalem and to tithe whatever they produced. Do you know Who generates a revival? Because God is in total control of all things, only He can instigate a revival.
Nehemiah 10 (857)