Some people believe that the days of revival are over.

What we believe about spiritual awakenings should be rooted in what we believe about God.

He never changes and is always able.

Join Scott Pauling as we open God's Word

and find encouragement in Ezra.

Then, join us in praying for revival in our day.

Is revival possible in our day? Are we too far gone? Have we passed the season where we can

actually have a great awakening? I want to give you this week some encouragement from the book of

Ezra. The little historical book of Ezra is one of the greatest books in the whole Bible

on return and revival.

Now, originally, Ezra and Nehemiah were one book.

In fact, the old Jews referred to them as first and second Ezra.

And that's very significant because each of them comes at the return of Israel to the land

and the rebuilding process there from a different perspective.

For example, Ezra was the religious leader, while Nehemiah was more of the political leader.

Ezra dealt more with the internal work, while Nehemiah dealt with the external.

And I think there's a great divine order revealed in this, and that is that the external doesn't

matter until the internal has been taken care of. We might say it this way, the return spiritually

had to precede the rebuilding. Sure, Nehemi had to get back, yet the walls built. No city was safe

without them. But the reality is you can put up the facade. You can deal with all the

public things, but if the private things have not been cared for, then you can never have the

blessing of God. So I want to begin today right where Ezra began in Ezra chapter 1, verse number

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