Rebuilding a Broken World

Discovering the biblical principles of personal and church revival

Ezra 1 & 2

Sermon in a sentence (or two):God calls us and enables us to rebuild our lives from broken-world experiences. This is revival, to be reconciled with God and to be restored to a condition of hope and spiritual growth as His child.

Why Preach on the Principles of Restoration and Revival? Every Christian will need revival sometime in

his personal life Every church will need revival at some point

in their history Teaching the biblical principles of revival

creates a hunger among God’s people for revival

The world needs revival We need revival

The Broken World of Judah

Unparalleled redemption and blessings by God

Generations of idolatry and immorality Constant calls for repentance by prophets Observed the fall of Israel 722 B.C. Jerusalem fell 586 B.C. Temple destroyed. 537 B.C. Returnees come to rebuild the

temple

What is a Broken World?

Denial of temptation results in participation in ungodly activities

Walk, stand, sit, Psalm 1 Weaknesses become patterns of behavior Enslaved to sinful thoughts and habits Opportunities are lost, perhaps never to be

regained We may suffer because of someone else’s

sin – sin always has innocent victims Something significant is missing in our lives

When is a Broken World beyond hope? No one is beyond hope of reconciliation with

God. No one is beyond hope of restoration to a

condition of hope and spiritual growth, though some scars may remain.

Sometimes re-instatement to position is possible.

Sometimes re-instatement is not possible.

How can we rebuild a broken world?

We can respond when God calls We can help one another be restored to God We can take restoration seriously

1. We can respond when God calls

Restoration is God’s work and we are unable to do it without Him.

He stirs us on the outside through events in our lives and on the inside through the conviction of the Spirit to lead us back home to Him. Ezra 1:5

Isaiah 55:6-7: Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

2. We can help one another be restored

Galatians 6:1-2 “Restore” meant: to mend a fishing net, to

furnish a house or a ship, to restore to wholeness and usefulness

“Those who are spiritual” meant those who knew their own weaknesses and had learned to depend on God.

People were to be restored gently, compassionately

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

O to grace how great a debtorDaily I’m constrained to be!Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,Bind my wandering heart to Thee.Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,Prone to leave the God I love;Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,Seal it for Thy courts above.

Servant Song

"We are trav'lers on a journey,Fellow pilgrims on the road;We are here to help each otherWalk the mile and bear the load.I will hold the Christ-light for youIn the night-time of your fear;I will hold my hand out to you,Speak the peace you long to hear.

Servant Song, V 2

Sister, let me be your servant,Let me be as Christ to you;Pray that I may have the grace toLet you be my servant, too.Brother, let me be your servant,Let me be as Christ to you;Pray that I may have the grace to Let you be my servant, too.

Servant Song, v 3

I will weep when you are weeping,When you laugh, I'll laugh with you;I will share your joy and sorrow,Till we've seen this journey thro'.When we sing to God in heaven,We shall find such harmony,Born of all we've known togetherOf Christ's love and agony."

Richard Gillard & James H. Wood.

Special verses for restoration

Isaiah 6:5-7: "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

2 Timothy 2:20-21: In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

3. We can take restoration seriously

The returnees took their mission seriously. They traveled a long distance and gave of themselves and of their possessions. Ezra 2:64-70

Option #1: remain distanced from God Option #2: return half-heartedly with hidden, dirty

secrets Option #3: return humbly and completely Option #3 is the most costly … But it is the only reasonable option and results in

personal victory and growing joy