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  • "People cannot take preaching...People are dying through lack of knowledge." (ML-J)

    My posts/prayers this past week have focused on our attitude toward the Word of God as we've looked at Nehemiah 8:1-8:


    Nehemiah 8:1  And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. 2  So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3  And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law. 4  And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand, and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. 5  And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. 6  And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. 7  Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. 8  They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

    Too much of the Church has departed from the preaching of the Word of God. So many no longer have a hunger or thirst for the Word of God. We are so often attentive to any and all things but the Word of God.

    I would like to continue on in the same vein by presenting here the account of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' address at the jubilee meeting of the Scottish Evangelistic Council on May 9, 1980 in Glasgow (from Iain Murray's "David Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Volume Two: The Fight of Faith, 1938-1981," Banner of Truth: 1990, reprinted 2004, 733-734).

    According to his own words, ML-J was "not a well man" at the time: "My friend, Mr Murdoch persuaded me to come and I thank God He has given me the health and strength to be here." ML-J died the following March.

    Here's Murray's description of the events of that day:

        But they were not assembled, he [ML-J] went on, to talk about the past. The best way to celebrate a jubilee was to consider what the SEC was to do at the present time. The need of the hour, he believed, was for the prophetic note, to show what the Bible has to say to the present world situation. This brought him to his text, the twelve verses of Psalm 2, upon which he proceeded to preach for almost the whole of the following hour, beginning with the word, 'Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing . . .' .

        I cannot attempt to describe the sermon. The tape is available and should be heard by every reader of these pages. [Murray gives Ian M. Densham, 15 Ayr Terrace, St Ives, TR26 1ED, UK as the contact information to obtain this tape; I don't know if this is current or not. If you're interested, you may wish to contact the Banner of Truth Trust.] The frail, dying man was, in truth, am ambassador from heaven. Knowing the message he had to deliver, and the time he would need, I believe he tried to husband what strength he had but there was no holding back. The message took over the man and every last vestige of energy was poured out in both word and action. The divine wrath, of which the Psalm speaks, was to him a terrible, present reality and he asked the congregation:

    Do you still believe in the wrath of God? There are people in England – evangelicals – who think modern man needs entertainment. There is a mania for singing, for drama, for mime. 'People cannot take preaching.' it is said, "give them singing. Teach them how to dance . . . '. In the name of God I say that is to do violence to Scripture. The church is not here to entertain. It is here to call people to 'be wise', to be instructed', taught. People are dying through lack of knowledge. We are not here to be popular, but to tell the naked truth: 'Serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling . . .' (v. 11).

        The final verse of the Psalm was alive with light and power as he pleaded, with failing voice, 'Kiss the Son, lest he be angry . . . Blessed are all they that put their trust in him'.

    (end quote)

    Let us prayerfully consider what we are to do at the present time.
    Are we not to sound the prophetic note through the clear and uncompromising preaching of the Word of God?
    How we have too easily discarded the preaching of the Word of God for lesser things.
    How can anyone truly kiss the Son if they don't receive clear teaching about the Son?

    Hosea 4
    1  Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel,
    for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
    There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,
    and no knowledge of God in the land...

    6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
    because you have rejected knowledge,
    I reject you from being a priest to me.
    And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
    I also will forget your children.

    Hosea 5
    4  Their deeds do not permit them
    to return to their God.
    For the spirit of whoredom is within them,
    and they know not the LORD.


    As Dr. Lloyd-Jones said:

    People are dying through lack of knowledge. We are not here to be popular, but to tell the naked truth: 'Serve the Lord with fear, rejoice with trembling . . .' (v. 11).



    Romans 10:4  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

    5  For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6  But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7  or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8  But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9  because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11  For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13  For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

    14  But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”


    Please add your prayers as the Holy Spirit leads you.

  • one sign of revival: attentiveness to the Word of God (Whitefield's Journals)

    A couple days ago, when I began to write my post May we gather as one man to hear Your Word (Nehemiah 8), I was expecting to post on Nehemiah 8:1-8, but then decided to cut it off in the middle of verse 3 because the passage was so packed.

    The end of verse three really hit me then (and it still does), particularly the word attentive:

    And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

    I had planned to post on that last portion of verse 3 yesterday, but before I began to pray/write/prepare to post on that I had been paging through George Whitefield's Journals looking for something else, and, in the providence of God, I ended up stumbling across a wonderful account of Londoners being attentive to the Word of God in much the same way we read of in Nehemiah 8.

    I had actually planned to include this account in my prayer yesterday, Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, but I got carried away with praying, so I would like for you to read it today (from p 88-89):

    ...for near three months successively, there was no end of the people flocking to hear the Word of God. The churchwardens and managers of charity schools, were continually applying to me to preach for the benefit of the children; and, as I was to embark shortly, they procured the liberty of the churches on weekdays,––a thing never known before. I sometimes had more than a dozen names of different churches, at which I had promised to preach, upon my slate-book at once; and, when I preached, constables were obliged to be placed at the door, to keep the people in order. The sight of the congregations was awful. One might, as it were, walk upon the people's heads; and thousands went away form the largest churches for want of room. They were all attention, and hear like people hearing for eternity.

    I now preached generally nine times a week. The early sacraments were exceeding awful. At Cripplegate, St. Ann's, and Forster Lane, how often have we seen Jesus Christ crucified, and evidently set before us! On Sunday mornings, long before day, you might see streets filled with people going to church, with their lanthorns in their hands, and hear them conversing about the things of God. Other Lecture Churches near at hand would be filled with person s who could not come where I was preaching; and those who did come, were so deeply affected, that they were like persons struck with pointed arrows, or mourning for a firstborn child...

    ...for near three months successively, there was no end of the people flocking to hear the Word of God.

    They were all attention, and hear like people hearing for eternity.

    On Sunday mornings, long before day, you might see streets filled with people going to church, with their lanthorns in their hands, and hear them conversing about the things of God.

    I've not seen people flocking to hear the Word of God in my city. Have you seen that in your city?
    I've not seen that type of attentiveness to the Word of God in my city. Have you seen that in your city?
    I've not seen the streets in my city filled with people going to Church conversing about the things of God? Have you seen that in your city?
    I've not seen that kind of hunger for the Word of God in my city. Have you seen that in your city?

    I think, no, I know it, a lot of people think those of us who are praying for revival are nuts.

    Honestly, how can you not pray for revival when you read these accounts?
    How can you not get down on your knees and beg and plead with God to revive us again?

    That is why I am praying for revival, and I hope this gives you one more reason to pray for revival.

    Martyn Lloyd-Jones spoke of the glorious possibilities God has for us as believers. This is one of those! People flocking to hear the Word of God and being attentive and hearing for eternity!

    Dare we imagine it? Yes, we must imagine it! We must never lose sight of these glorious possibilities! And then let us look to the God of glory who can impart that hunger for and attentiveness to His Word once again! He is the God who can do immeasurably above all we can ask or imagine!

    One sign of revivals is that there is an increasing desire to hear the Word of God preached rightly. We can see how wonderfully the Holy Spirit worked to make God's people attentive to His Word at the time of Whitefield. Whitefield wasn't preaching fluff. He wasn't catering to itching ears. He wasn't sugar-coating things. He was preaching Christ and Him crucified. He was preaching a Gospel of repentance and remission of sins by grace through faith in Christ. He preached of the need for souls to be born again and regenerated by the Spirit. I regret to say many people today do flock to churches, but those are churches where fluff and sugar-coated preaching is the rule. The apostle Paul's words to Timothy are evident: our churches are filled with people who no longer endure sound doctrine. They have heaped up teachers for themselves because they have itching ears. They have turned their ears away from the truth and turned to fables. Such preaching does nothing to impart life to dead souls or revive lukewarm or cold believers. I long and pray for the day when people would flock to hear the Word of God preached as it ought to be!

    I will say that for those of us who are praying for revival, one of the most encouraging things we can continue to do is to read the accounts of revivals and the stories of the men and women God used during those times. Go back! Please do that! You can find books at your library or do searches online or ask me. When we look back at the work God has done in the past, it gives us hope of what God might do once again. When I read of past revivals and then look at the state of the Church today and the state of my own soul, it makes me sick to my stomach and causes me to weep to see how far we are from the glory God has for us . .  yet at the same time it also spurs me onto prayer for it gives me a vision of what is truly possible through the power of God Almighty. Yes, it seems impossible! It seems so unlikely! Yet we have a God who does the impossible and does unlikely things! He can part the Red Sea! He can cause the waters to stand up in a heap! He can cause Jericho walls to fall down! That's what makes God God after all!

    We all know that God's Holy Spirit can come in the blink of an eye and rend the heavens and open a single heart or 3000 hearts to Him. The Spirit blows when and where He wills. Such a movement of the Holy Spirit is what I have been praying for, and I know many of you are also. Yes, this is impossible with any of us, but it is possible through Him.

    When we look at the state of the Church through our human eyes, we would so quickly give up. But when we look at the Church with the eyes of faith and the assurance that God loves the Church and will never leave her or forsake her, we cannot help but persevere in prayer...after all, Jesus Himself is persevering in prayer, is He not? Truly God is the God who can do miracles today, and some of the greatest miracles God can do are to bring dead sinners to life and to take cold or lukewarm believers and ignite the with passionate fire. Many people are seeking physical healing, but let us consider how much more wondrous and amazing are the supernatural spiritual healings God desires to work in souls, souls which are currently separated from Him by that great gulf fixed or those souls which once burned hot for Him but now have left their first Love. I know I have seen touches of that reviving work in my own life and in the lives of a few others, but I am not satisfied with that. I am praying God might do such work on a large scale as we have seen happen at various times throughout history, including the time of Whitefield and the brothers Wesley. That's what revival is. It's not a sideshow. It's not a feel good experience, it's not a health and wealth prosperity gospel, but it's the power of God coming to breathe life into dead souls, or to revive into all but dead believers for His glory.

    Revival is people convicted of their sin and cut to the heart, pleading "What must we do to be saved?"
    Revival is people seeing they are unclean and their righteousness is filthy rags.
    Revival is people weeping over their sin and seeking to be holy.
    Revival is people being transformed and set free from the power of sin.
    Revival is people zealous for the glory of God and the Gospel.
    Revival is people being shaken from their apathy about their own soul and the souls of others.
    Revival is people being given a heart to weep and plead for the souls of the lost.

    Again, none of us can make revival happen, but we can plead with the Lord that He might be gracious to us, and we can be faithful to remain in His Word and give out His Word without compromise. God is sovereign and He does all things in His time, always. But let us not give up meeting Him in prayer in the tent of meeting, and let us not give up encouraging one another to pray. Perhaps God's Spirit might be poured down on us from on high! We are poor and needy! May He have mercy on us, His Church, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

    Please add your prayers that God might revive us again, that we might be attentive to His Word once more.

  • Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone (Nehemiah 8:3)

    Yesterday I posted a prayer that we might gather together as one man to hear God's word based on Nehemiah 8:1-3. I'd like to continue on with that passage, and have us focus and reflect on the final portion of verse 3: And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

    Nehemiah 8:1  And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. 2  So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. 3  And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

    Proverbs 2:
    1  My son, if you receive my words
    and treasure up my commandments with you,
    2  making your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding;
    3  yes, if you call out for insight
    and raise your voice for understanding,
    4  if you seek it like silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasures,
    5  then you will understand the fear of the LORD
    and find the knowledge of God.

    Proverbs 4:
    20  My son, be attentive to my words;
    incline your ear to my sayings.
    21  Let them not escape from your sight;
    keep them within your heart.
    22  For they are life to those who find them,
    and healing to all their flesh.
    23  Keep your heart with all vigilance,
    for from it flow the springs of life.
    24  Put away from you crooked speech,
    and put devious talk far from you.
    25  Let your eyes look directly forward,
    and your gaze be straight before you.
    26  Ponder the path of your feet;
    then all your ways will be sure.
    27  Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
    turn your foot away from evil.

    Our Father,

    We know that apart from Your Spirit's working in our hearts, our human tendency is to be inattentive to Your words! Yet we are Your children, born of Your Spirit. It is Your desire that we be attentive to Your words and love Your words. Make our ears attentive to Your words! Give us a love for Your words! Give us a thirst for the living Water and a hunger for the true Bread from heaven!

    Forgive us, O Lord, for being attentive to the world's words and world's wisdom.
    Forgive us, O Lord, for not being attentive to Your words and Your wisdom.
    Sanctify us and our ears by Your truth – Your Word is truth – so our ears might not be itching ears.
    Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, O Lord.
    May we flee from the voices of strangers and flee to Your voice, Good Shepherd!
    The voices of strangers will only lead us to devastation and death.
    Incline our hearts to seek after You and seek to hear Your voice for Your words alone lead to holiness and life.

    We are barraged day in and day out with so many words: spoken, written and sung words. We confess that we are attentive to so many, many words day that are not edifying to our faith, including so many that serve to tear down and disrupt our faith and the dismantle the work You have been doing in our lives.

    Forgive us, O Lord, for being attentive to the world's words and world's wisdom.
    Forgive us, O Lord, for not being attentive to Your words and Your wisdom.
    Sanctify us and our ears by Your truth – Your Word is truth – so our ears might not be itching ears.
    Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, O Lord.
    May we flee from the voices of strangers and flee to Your voice, Good Shepherd!
    The voices of strangers will only lead us to devastation and death.
    Incline our hearts to seek after You and seek to hear Your voice for Your words alone lead to holiness and life.

    We confess that we are allured by the world's words. The devil disguises himself in the world's words as an angel of light. Give us discernment to know truth from error and life from death. Protect us from the evil one and his schemes. Help us to put on and to keep putting on Your whole armor so we might not be deceived. Help us to walk not like the world but to set our minds on things above and put off any and all words that are not building us up in our faith.

    Forgive us, O Lord, for being attentive to the world's words and world's wisdom.
    Forgive us, O Lord, for not being attentive to Your words and Your wisdom.
    Sanctify us and our ears by Your truth – Your Word is truth – so our ears might not be itching ears.
    Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, O Lord.
    May we flee from the voices of strangers and flee to Your voice, Good Shepherd!
    The voices of strangers will only lead us to devastation and death.
    Incline our hearts to seek after You and seek to hear Your voice for Your words alone lead to holiness and life.

    Send Your Spirit, O Lord, to strengthen us. We confess we have no power to keep ourselves or guard ourselves apart from Christ's resurrection power which dwells in us. Work in us so we might not turn to the left or to the right. Keep us from stumbling. Let us not give Satan a foothold in our lives by giving his words a hearing. May we continue to shore ourselves up by taking in Your word regularly, by being attentive to Your words and not his words.

    Forgive us, O Lord, for being attentive to the world's words and world's wisdom.
    Forgive us, O Lord, for not being attentive to Your words and Your wisdom.
    Sanctify us and our ears by Your truth – Your Word is truth – so our ears might not be itching ears.
    Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, O Lord.
    May we flee from the voices of strangers and flee to Your voice, Good Shepherd!
    The voices of strangers will only lead us to devastation and death.
    Incline our hearts to seek after You and seek to hear Your voice for Your words alone lead to holiness and life.

    Send Your Spirit, O Lord, so we might desire You and Your word more and more. Work in our hearts so we might be attentive to Your word. We know full well that Satan knows Your word is our lifeline, that is why he does all he can to keep us from Your word, or to keep us inattentive as we are hearing or reading Your Word. We confess we struggle with abiding in Your Word and letting Your Word abide in us. Strengthen us so we might be attentive to Your words and increasingly delight to hear and read them.

    Forgive us, O Lord, for being attentive to the world's words and world's wisdom.
    Forgive us, O Lord, for not being attentive to Your words and Your wisdom.
    Sanctify us and our ears by Your truth – Your Word is truth – so our ears might not be itching ears.
    Give us ears to be attentive to Your words alone, O Lord.
    May we flee from the voices of strangers and flee to Your voice, Good Shepherd!
    The voices of strangers will only lead us to devastation and death.
    Incline our hearts to seek after You and seek to hear Your voice for Your words alone lead to holiness and life.

    Please add your PRAYERS to be attentive to God's word alone as His Holy Spirit leads you.

tent_of_meeting

"he called it the tent of meeting..."

I am burdened to pray to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the reformation and reviving of Christ's church.

The phrase tent of meeting comes from Exodus 33:7: Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.

This site is devoted to God first and foremost. In all that is done here, my prayer is that God is glorified and His Name magnified and Christ and Him crucified is lifted up so He might be preeminent and God might receive all the praise, honor and glory due His Holy Name. All who have come to a saving knowledge of our Father by grace through faith in the all-sufficient sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ are welcome to enter this tent of meeting to seek the Lord.

This blog is a place for all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to come and seek God's face for revival. My intention is for this tent of meeting to be a holy place where we can enter into PRAYER together to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit leads you, please enter into prayer either here (think of "comments" as prayers) or on your own.

Habakkuk 3:2 O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

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