SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Adam Case.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: As you're doing that, I want to let you know every every once in a while on Sunday mornings when we gather together, we do live art because we've got a a healthy art community.
SPEAKER_00: And so Keith Lowe is is drawing for us.
SPEAKER_00: He'll be he'll pop back up here uh and continue drawing.
SPEAKER_00: So when you get tired of listening to me, just watch Keith as as he as he draws.
SPEAKER_00: And at the end, I'll have him share a little bit about um what he has been drawing during our time of worship this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Well, there are times, years even when it seems like the Lord isn't doing anything.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe in our own personal lives or in the community that we're a part of, all around us, it feels like God's not doing anything.
SPEAKER_00: And then suddenly God moves.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes these suddenlies of God can last months or even years.
SPEAKER_00: And as a way of jumping into this, I want to show a video, a five-minute video uh done by Vineyard UK uh a number of years ago, just to remind us of some of these suddenlies of God throughout history.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go ahead and show it.
SPEAKER_04: There is a story in the Bible about Elijah that he believed for rain, though the sky was clear.
SPEAKER_04: He had his servant look again and again, seven times there was nothing to see, but Elijah prayed and trusted and prayed.
SPEAKER_04: Then the report came back.
SPEAKER_04: I see a cloud on the horizon, I see a cloud.
SPEAKER_04: Did you hear about the move of God in the Hebridean revival?
SPEAKER_04: Where two old women resolved to pray and the land was changed.
SPEAKER_04: The church was dying with nothing to celebrate, but God broke in and moved.
SPEAKER_04: People far from God flooded in, farms and looms were silenced as people suddenly and strangely considered God.
SPEAKER_04: For a long time the sky was blue, but then they saw a cloud.
SPEAKER_04: It's amazing to think about.
SPEAKER_04: It encourages our hearts, and that's all fine.
SPEAKER_04: But what about here?
SPEAKER_04: Could this be the time?
SPEAKER_04: Did you hear about the move of God in the Zeus's street?
SPEAKER_04: Where they preached about gifts of the Spirit, but they had no experience of them.
SPEAKER_04: Seeing nothing, they continued to believe and content, and then the Spirit moved, and the church shook under the power of God as tongues and healings broke out like a flood.
SPEAKER_04: The sky was blue, and then they saw it cleared.
SPEAKER_04: It's amazing to think about it and couragees our hearts, and that's all fine.
SPEAKER_04: But what about here?
SPEAKER_04: Could this be the time?
SPEAKER_04: Did you hear about the move of God and the Great Awakening?
SPEAKER_04: Where Jonathan Edwards preached the gospel to a dry entire church.
SPEAKER_04: Famously with the charisma and a volatile voice, he read from his dense theological choice.
SPEAKER_04: But the spirit just failed.
SPEAKER_04: People shook and cried out to God under the weight of his presence and the confection of sin.
SPEAKER_04: And it ripped through America as the church was changed.
SPEAKER_04: The sky was blue, and then they saw a cloud.
SPEAKER_04: It's amazing to think about.
SPEAKER_04: Encourages our hearts, and that's all fine.
SPEAKER_04: But what about here?
SPEAKER_04: Could this be the time?
SPEAKER_04: Did you hear about the English revival where Whitfield and Wesley traveled the land preaching the gospel in open air to crowds of 50,000 at a time?
SPEAKER_04: The spirit moved, people responded in their thousands, and the nation was literally changed.
SPEAKER_04: Did you hear about the move of God among the Jesus people?
SPEAKER_04: Where surfers and hippies met and responded to Jesus in their thousands?
SPEAKER_04: Did you hear about the move of God in Toronto, where people started shaking and falling over under the power of God?
SPEAKER_04: Where airports had to charter more flights to accommodate the people, and the fire just spread through the world.
SPEAKER_04: Did you hear about the move of God in the first century, where Peter preached in 3000 responses a day, where the church exploded under the worst persecution?
SPEAKER_04: Did you hear about the move of God in the Welsh revival?
SPEAKER_04: Where Evan Roberts traveled through the Welsh valleys preaching the gospel when over a hundred thousand people came to faith, where pumps were emptied as people responded with glad hearts.
SPEAKER_04: But then someone saw a cloud.
SPEAKER_04: But what about here?
SPEAKER_04: Could this be the time?
SPEAKER_04: God, our hearts are hungry.
SPEAKER_04: Our need is great.
SPEAKER_04: We've gathered together to call on your name.
SPEAKER_04: We feel the poverty of our attempts to build.
SPEAKER_04: Nothing means anything unless it is filled with your presence, with your power.
SPEAKER_04: Oh God, let this be the hour.
SPEAKER_04: Because unless you build the house, we toil in vain.
SPEAKER_04: And so we cry out again and again, oh God, how we long for rain.
SPEAKER_04: We're desperate for you.
SPEAKER_04: And though the sky might be clear with no cloud in sight, we'll stand in hope as we watch the skies.
SPEAKER_04: We'll keep on looking again and again, keep on seeking, keep on praying, keep on listening for the sound for those words.
SPEAKER_04: I see a cloud.
SPEAKER_04: Come like a flood.
SPEAKER_04: Come like torrential rain from above.
SPEAKER_04: Come through the others with power to save torrentious changed.
SPEAKER_04: God, did you come into an urgent somebody about us from save?
SPEAKER_04: Did you hear about that?
SPEAKER_04: It's amazing to think about.
SPEAKER_04: It encourages our hearts, and that's all fine.
SPEAKER_04: But deep down this is our cry.
SPEAKER_04: Oh God, let this be the place.
SPEAKER_04: Let now be the time.
SPEAKER_00: But what about here?
SPEAKER_00: Could this be the time?
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear about the move of God in Indianapolis?
SPEAKER_00: Over the years, predating me, our church has received words about revival coming to this church.
SPEAKER_00: We recently got a word about a uh at least a month ago uh that there's a wind of revival.
SPEAKER_00: We must be prepared for what is to come.
SPEAKER_00: It can look like Abraham interceding for Lot before Sodom and Gomorrah intercession.
SPEAKER_00: It can look like John the Baptist who's evangelizing.
SPEAKER_00: Look to him for how he can use us for the revival that's imminent.
SPEAKER_00: So we've been seeing the Lord recently do mil more in our midst on Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: So what's happening?
SPEAKER_00: Is it the imminent wind of revival or is it something else?
SPEAKER_00: As we properly name something, that helps us to understand what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: Because there's times when God's spirit moves in unique ways, but it's not always revival.
SPEAKER_00: I've longed to be a part of a revival, and I become discouraged.
SPEAKER_00: It's more of a reflection of my weak spiritual endurance.
SPEAKER_00: It can be easy to think that when revival comes, it's all glory.
SPEAKER_00: It is glorious and it's challenging.
SPEAKER_00: As we look at the history of revivals, there's always plenty of detractors, and they often come from within the church.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to look any further than February 2023 in Asbury University, and what was happening, and the biggest critics were those who would call themselves Christians.
SPEAKER_00: The powerful work of God never, friends, leaves us neutral.
SPEAKER_00: It attracts us or it repels us.
SPEAKER_00: And it rarely comes as we expect it.
SPEAKER_00: Because during those times we also see increased attacks from the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: So do the scriptures give us any categories or frame of reference for a revival?
SPEAKER_00: If you have a Bible with you, turn to 2 Chronicles 7.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Bible and want to hold a physical one, we've got ones up front on the subwoofers.
SPEAKER_00: Um, the the verses will be on the screen in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: But as you are turning there, a reminder, we're in this series that we we're calling Paraclete.
SPEAKER_00: And we want to talk about who the Holy Spirit is, have a better understanding of who he is, because oftentimes he just feels really mysterious.
SPEAKER_00: We've looked at uh how the Holy Spirit is around us all the time.
SPEAKER_00: He sustains every living creature's life.
SPEAKER_00: And when we put our trust in Jesus, we have access to the Holy Spirit in a unique way.
SPEAKER_00: He does something within us.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit is the one who filled, empowered, and led Jesus during his earthly ministry.
SPEAKER_00: So we want to grow in awareness of who the Spirit is and how he works in us.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to read 2 Chronicles 7, verses 12 to 18, and then I'm going to pray for us.
SPEAKER_00: The chronicler writes, Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him, I've heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: So very briefly, this is uh Solomon has built the temple, and they've had a uh a time of celebrating and dedicating the temple to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And Solomon gives us a long prayer of dedication and asking the Lord to respond to the people.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord continues, When I shut up the heaven so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
SPEAKER_00: Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.
SPEAKER_00: For now I have chosen and consecrated this house, so that my name may be there forever.
SPEAKER_00: My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
SPEAKER_00: As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne, as I made a covenant with your father David, saying, You shall never lack a successor to rule over Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, you are the giver of life.
SPEAKER_00: You sustain all of us, and you give us a type of life that survives even when our physical bodies give out.
SPEAKER_00: Would you put within us a greater desire for the life that only you can give?
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: So the takeaway from this morning, the main takeaway is Yahweh gives us the characteristics of a revival.
SPEAKER_00: They're found in this passage that I read this morning.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna walk through who who is being addressed, what these characteristics of revival are, and then what happens as a result.
SPEAKER_00: As we do that, just uh to define revival, there's a couple of places that I want to look to.
SPEAKER_00: One is Psalm 86, 5.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 86.5.
SPEAKER_00: It says, Will you not revive us again so that your people may rejoice in you?
SPEAKER_00: That word for revive, it's about life.
SPEAKER_00: Would you give us life?
SPEAKER_00: We're asking for God's life, his spirit to impact our lives to a greater degree.
SPEAKER_00: This is something that can happen on a personal level or on a corporate level.
SPEAKER_00: Individually, we can be revived, and and and there's times when God does it in a whole group.
SPEAKER_00: When we talk about revivals, we mean something that's impacting a local congregation or area.
SPEAKER_00: Alexander Venter, who uh is a South African and uh has been connected to the vineyard very early on, wrote, has written uh a number of books kind of talking about how the vineyard does ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And in his book called Doing Church, Building from the Bottom Up, he talks about different moves of God.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna read this, it'll be on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: Renewals are kingdom breakthroughs within the church.
SPEAKER_00: They refresh, reform, and renew the church.
SPEAKER_00: Revivals are kingdom breakthroughs in and through the church into the world with multitudes coming to faith.
SPEAKER_00: Lastly, awakenings are kingdom breakthroughs that affect a whole nation in terms of its moral fiber and conscience, resulting in reform and the sociopolitical structures and generally a change in destiny.
SPEAKER_00: Each is a work of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: This is important.
SPEAKER_00: Different in time, degree, power, influence, and purpose.
SPEAKER_00: The outpouring of spiritual power with all the phenomena of the spirit is understanding as a manifest is understood as a manifestation of the kingdom's presence among us.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's a helpful way of differentiating different types of moves of God.
SPEAKER_00: We're focusing on revival this morning.
SPEAKER_00: The word revive is not in that 2 Chronicles passage that I read, but there are these characteristics of what happens when God sends a revival.
SPEAKER_00: I got this from a book called Revive Us Again by an Old Testament scholar named Walter Kaiser.
SPEAKER_00: First, really briefly, I want to look at who is Yahweh addressing.
SPEAKER_00: I want it on us to notice.
SPEAKER_00: It says that uh that night the Lord appeared to Solomon.
SPEAKER_00: This was not in a dream.
SPEAKER_00: It was at night, but Solomon had some sort of vision that he saw with his physical eyes.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord appeared to him.
SPEAKER_00: This was not symbolic.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord spelled it out clearly.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: He's so who he addresses as if my people who are called by my name.
SPEAKER_00: This is addressed to God's people.
SPEAKER_00: It's all those who have entered into a covenant relationship with the living God.
SPEAKER_00: It's you and I.
SPEAKER_00: It's all believers.
SPEAKER_00: That's the audience.
SPEAKER_00: Charles Finney wrote in his book, Revival of Religion.
SPEAKER_00: He says, the fact is Christians are more responsible for not being revived than sinners are for not being converted.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Finney put a lot of emphasis on human responsibility with regard to revivals.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he did.
SPEAKER_00: He traveled around the country praying and planning for revivals.
SPEAKER_00: As Christians, we often hold non-Christians more responsible for something that they don't know than we do for ourselves who do know.
SPEAKER_00: We get angry at people for living their lives apart from God because they live their lives apart from God.
SPEAKER_00: They're acting as what we do apart from God.
SPEAKER_00: If we want revival, it starts with us seeking the Lord to revive us.
SPEAKER_00: So what are these characteristics of a revival?
SPEAKER_00: First, God says, humble if my people are called by my name, humble themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Now that word, half the time it's used in the Old Testament, is actually used within a military context.
SPEAKER_00: So one nation realizes they've been defeated by another and they surrender.
SPEAKER_00: Every time, every single time this word is used, it's about recognizing a greater authority.
SPEAKER_00: When it's done willingly, that's a reflection of our heart.
SPEAKER_00: It's a willingness to allow the Lord to have say-so ever over every part of our lives that we don't say there's not a part that God doesn't have have say-so.
SPEAKER_00: That there's not a time in my day that the Lord can't interrupt and have me do something else.
SPEAKER_00: It's us learning to live a life of surrender.
SPEAKER_00: Is there anywhere that I still want to be the Lord of my life?
SPEAKER_00: Am I willing to say, Lord, what do you want me to do today?
SPEAKER_00: Am I willing to start each day, Lord, what do you want me to do today?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want me to take that meeting?
SPEAKER_00: Am I willing to let him interrupt my day?
SPEAKER_00: This idea of humility is a characteristic of God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said of himself, Mark 10, 45, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.
SPEAKER_00: The great ancient hymn of Philippians 2, the center of it, is about Jesus humbling himself to point the point of death, even death on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: In the video that we saw going through different revivals, I mean, and they mentioned Jonathan Edwards, who a lot of times is the first name associated with the Great Awakening that happened.
SPEAKER_00: And the time that this revival broke out, there was nothing special happening in that church.
SPEAKER_00: There was nothing particularly amazing about Edwards.
SPEAKER_00: As they said, he he re would just read his manuscripts and he had a monotone voice.
SPEAKER_00: He's arguably one of the greatest American thinkers of all time, and he wrote as if he's re uh his audience is other scholars.
SPEAKER_00: Fifteen years just fifteen years after that great awakening, he got fired from his church.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just get fired, he got super fired.
SPEAKER_00: He got voted out 230 to 23.
SPEAKER_00: So for every one person who wanted to keep Edwards as their pastor, 10 wanted him gone.
SPEAKER_00: So he's being used by God to have this amazing move, and yet he gets fired ten 15 years later.
SPEAKER_00: Here are the reasons why.
SPEAKER_00: Two things.
SPEAKER_00: He wanted a living wage.
SPEAKER_00: He and his wife had 11 kids.
SPEAKER_00: He was just like, Can I have enough money to support my family?
SPEAKER_00: So you're welcome that Carrie and I stopped after five.
SPEAKER_00: The other, the other is that people wanted him spending more time with them.
SPEAKER_00: He would rather study than spend time with people.
SPEAKER_00: Now, even though he got super fired, he stayed around until they found a replacement.
SPEAKER_00: He continued pastoring and preaching until the church found a replacement.
SPEAKER_00: That's humility.
SPEAKER_00: Then he was sent to the uh frontier and he ministered to the Mohican Native Americans until he was eventually elected president of a little college called Princeton.
SPEAKER_00: This is a good reminder that sometimes the effects of a revival can be short-lived.
SPEAKER_00: The second characteristic of revival is pray.
SPEAKER_00: This word, when it occurs, most often is about interceding on behalf of somebody else or a group of people, or it's to to petition God for our own needs.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever thought about like what is it about prayer?
SPEAKER_00: You ever think about that?
SPEAKER_00: What is it about prayer that's evidence of a revival?
SPEAKER_00: I've been thinking about this for a while now.
SPEAKER_00: Like, why does God care so much about prayer?
SPEAKER_00: I don't fully know, but here's some thoughts that I have.
SPEAKER_00: Part of prayer is desiring more of God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: We want more of the world running the way that God desires and intended it to than it actually does.
SPEAKER_00: That's part of what we want when we pray, God, your kingdom come.
SPEAKER_00: The times that this word is used, it implies a submission and desire to honor and obey the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is reflecting uh this desire to honor God, to obey Him, to submit our lives to Him.
SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting is as we read through the scriptures, prayer to the Lord is never criticized.
SPEAKER_00: There are times the the pride.
SPEAKER_00: Prophets, they criticize people fasting.
SPEAKER_00: Like you're you're fasting, you're not fasting to me.
SPEAKER_00: You're fasting for yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: There are times the prophets criticize tithing and giving alms and celebrating festivals.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord never criticizes prayer unless it's praying to another God.
SPEAKER_00: He seems to not care if we pray to him.
SPEAKER_00: What he desires is that we seek him out.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was a man of prayer and invites us to a life of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: There's something about it because anyone and everyone can do it.
SPEAKER_00: You ever notice prayer is not a spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_00: It's not once you reach a certain level of maturity, then you get to pray.
SPEAKER_00: It's for anyone and everyone, wherever and whenever we are.
SPEAKER_00: I think this might have just been something that was um in a journal or some reflection, but in a time when he was was growing and the the Lord was drawing more of uh his heart, uh he was working in in Barcelona, and he wrote, it's a it's much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as Bonhoeffer writes that, he's not saying, hey, if you murder or engage in prostitution, but you pray, that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: No, he's saying that there's something about it that as bad as those things are, they're not as at odds with prayer as being prideful or vain.
SPEAKER_00: What hits home for me is is to think about gosh, how much does my prayerlessness or reluctance at times to pray reflect vanity?
SPEAKER_00: Reflect my own pride and vanity.
SPEAKER_00: That's scary.
SPEAKER_00: Because pride and vanity are addressed a lot in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: In uh 1722, there was a group of persecuted believers called Moravians, and they moved uh onto the land of a guy named Count Zinzendorf in uh present-day Germany, and he gave them refuge there.
SPEAKER_00: Uh they they were able to have peace and establish uh lives on his land, and after five years, 1727, a renewal broke out among these this group of people, the Moravians, and it led to them having missionaries go around the world.
SPEAKER_00: Some even sold themselves into slavery because they wanted to be able to go to people groups around the world and reach them with the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And they knew that as they did that, they'd never see their families again.
SPEAKER_00: But their desire was for the Lamb of God to receive the inheritance due his name.
SPEAKER_00: Five years after that, in 1732, a 100-year, 24-7 continuous prayer meeting started on this land of Count Zinzendorf.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine how many generations of people were born and died during this time.
SPEAKER_00: Like their whole lives, all they knew was this continuous prayer meeting.
SPEAKER_00: So two characteristics, humble themselves and pray.
SPEAKER_00: Then it leads us to uh the third characteristic from here is seek my face.
SPEAKER_00: Seek is not just looking around for something, like where did I put my keys or my phone, but it's pursuing something with the intent of I've got to find it.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's used of people hunting or pursuing another person.
SPEAKER_00: This is very purposeful seeking, looking for something.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the Lord's saying, seek my face like that.
SPEAKER_00: Persistent with a definitive purpose or goal.
SPEAKER_00: Faith, for some reason, our English Bibles is often translated present.
SPEAKER_00: So when you read and you see presence, it actually probably is face.
SPEAKER_00: So this is about gaining an audience or interacting with a person.
SPEAKER_00: Seeking God's face is gaining an audience with him, interacting with him.
SPEAKER_00: It's in it's intimate because we're always in God's presence, but we're not always seeking to interact with him.
SPEAKER_00: As we humble ourselves and pray, it's for the purpose of actually interacting with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: There's something about the times of revival that we desire and are aware of God's face, that we want to interact with him even more.
SPEAKER_00: This morning I woke up with a song in my mind.
SPEAKER_00: Now, it's not a song I've heard I'm very familiar with it, but I haven't listened to it in a while.
SPEAKER_00: It's not even one of my favorite artists, but it was just in my head.
SPEAKER_00: And the song is Keith Keith Green's, Oh Lord, you're beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: And I think this captures this idea of seeking God's face so beautifully.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna read two verses.
SPEAKER_00: Now I just so happened I stumbled upon a live recording of this, and he tells a story in the middle of the night.
SPEAKER_00: This is uh Keith's heart cry to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Because he's he's like, I'm Lord, I'm I'm I'm callous.
SPEAKER_00: Would you make my heart tender to you?
SPEAKER_00: So in the middle of the night, he writes this song, just two verses I'm gonna read to you.
SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord, you're beautiful, your face is all I seek.
SPEAKER_00: For when your eyes are on this child, your grace abounds to me.
SPEAKER_00: I want to take your word and shine it all around.
SPEAKER_00: But first, help me just to live it, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And when I'm doing well, help me to never seek a crown.
SPEAKER_00: This I think just so captures seeking his face from a place of humility.
SPEAKER_00: Such wisdom to recognize, like, hey, I'm not doing great right now, but eventually I will be.
SPEAKER_00: And so protect me in those times.
SPEAKER_00: Let it not be about the honor that I will get in the future.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in Asbury, as I mentioned before, what was interesting is that it was a period marked by continual prayer and worship, which is the proper response to when we're aware of God's presence, to continue praying, asking Him for more, worshiping and desiring more and more and more.
SPEAKER_00: The people were confessing their sins.
SPEAKER_00: That's what happens when we get close to God's holiness, when we have a greater awareness of God's holiness as our own sinfulness and what we need to repent of.
SPEAKER_00: And that there was the reconciling of relationships.
SPEAKER_00: People who are restrained in their relationship sought one another out and they wanted to be reconciled.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted to be to put that down.
SPEAKER_00: That requires humility.
SPEAKER_00: So we've seen the characteristics of revival are humbling ourselves, praying, seeking God's face, and then the fourth is to turn from our wicked ways.
SPEAKER_00: Now, repentance is not beating ourselves up for being horrible people.
SPEAKER_00: It's just a time to back that thing up and to do what honors the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So often we focus on surface sins or fruit sins and not what's beneath that.
SPEAKER_00: So we we often repent of looking at something that we shouldn't have.
SPEAKER_00: We repent of our sexual sins, of consuming too much alcohol, of spending too much time on social media, of talking about things or people in ways that we shouldn't, of not loving our neighbors, which again, our neighbors, any and everyone that we come into close contact with.
SPEAKER_00: For not loving our neighbors or specific individuals or specific groups of people the way that we should be, the way that reflects Jesus and his love.
SPEAKER_00: For anger, that surface-level anger, or we repent of lying, or telling a half-truth, and there's probably other things I've not mentioned.
SPEAKER_00: Repentance is taking time to learn what's beneath that.
SPEAKER_00: What's beneath that surface or that fruit sin?
SPEAKER_00: What's the root?
SPEAKER_00: Jay Stringer, who's a uh a therapist, he wrote a book called Unwanted, How Sexual Brokenness Reveals Our Way to Healing.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's obviously focusing on one specific thing, but I think he taps into something that is applies to any sin struggle that we might have.
SPEAKER_00: His um and so it's to take time to really reflect on what was an event or maybe a series of events that led to us struggling with a particular sin.
SPEAKER_00: Often we think about just fleeing from right unrighteousness, like I don't want to have anything to do with that, rather than taking time and asking the Lord, Lord, what's beneath this?
SPEAKER_00: That's a part of repentance.
SPEAKER_00: Tim Keller loved when he would talk about we don't just repent of the bad things, but we need to repent of the good things we do for the wrong reason.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus called the religious leaders to repentance, not for living double lives, though I'm sure some did, but because their hearts were far from God.
SPEAKER_00: They did the right thing, but for the wrong reason.
SPEAKER_00: That's often, I think, what we need to do as followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Why am I doing what I'm doing?
SPEAKER_00: Why am I serving?
SPEAKER_00: Why am I involved in somebody's life?
SPEAKER_00: Are my motives pure?
SPEAKER_00: Another one of the revivals that was mentioned in that video was the Welsh Revival.
SPEAKER_00: So it took place 1904, 1905.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and it actually happened just before Azusa Street, and some would say that that actually contributed to what happened in Azusa Street because some people who were uh dramatically impacted in Wales went to California.
SPEAKER_00: And what was interesting, they they mentioned it in the in the video, but pubs shut down during that time.
SPEAKER_00: Again, it's not to because they thought alcohol was bad, but I think it was because the things that it led to.
SPEAKER_00: The professional soccer matches stopped in the midst of that time.
SPEAKER_00: And not because there's anything wrong with soccer, because it's the best sport, but but because the the matches were often on Sundays, and they saw Sunday as a day of worship, so they weren't gonna go watch a match.
SPEAKER_00: And and you had a number of players become dramatically converted and not want to play.
SPEAKER_00: Over a hundred thousand people became believers in that time.
SPEAKER_00: Another interesting thing during this revival, as a reflection of some of turning from their wicked ways, is the donkeys even stopped working in the mines.
SPEAKER_00: The reason the donkeys stopped working is not because they got converted, but because the mouths of the men got converted and they didn't understand the commands without the swear words, a part of it.
SPEAKER_00: That's real.
SPEAKER_00: When the Lord gets a hold of us in every part of our life, we're willing to change whatever isn't honoring to us or to him.
SPEAKER_00: The good news of God's kingdom is that at any time we get to turn from our way, our own way, it leads to death.
SPEAKER_00: And we get to turn to his way, the way of life.
SPEAKER_00: It's such a gift that we get to acknowledge before God where we've gone astray and receive his life in that part of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: So we looked at it's God's people, God's people anytime, anywhere, is who this is for.
SPEAKER_00: The characteristics of humbling ourselves, of praying, of seeking God's face, of turning from our wicked ways.
SPEAKER_00: And what does he promise to do?
SPEAKER_00: He says, I'll hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin and heal their land.
SPEAKER_00: Forgiveness of sin and healing of the land looks like people coming to know the Lord for the first time.
SPEAKER_00: That's a part of healing of the land.
SPEAKER_00: It's experiencing the peace of his forgiveness, it's receiving inner healing from past sins, whether things that we've done or were done to us.
SPEAKER_00: There's even physical healing from sickness or deliverance from oppression.
SPEAKER_00: This healing of the land looks like people thriving.
SPEAKER_00: These times, these great awakenings and revivals impact the land around them.
SPEAKER_00: So it looks like people thriving, which means poverty, food, insecurity, and discrimination that are not a part of God's kingdom starts to lessen and go away.
SPEAKER_00: When revival comes, these things go.
SPEAKER_00: So as we conclude looking at uh the characteristics that Yahweh gives for a revival, the big question is who does it?
SPEAKER_00: Is it God or is it us?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: With so many things.
SPEAKER_00: If you're wondering, the answer is yes.
SPEAKER_00: So often we get bogged down in life and become indifferent or complacent.
SPEAKER_00: And I think this morning is an invitation to say, Lord, revive us.
SPEAKER_00: Revive us again.
SPEAKER_00: So why don't we stand, uh Heather and Amy, if you can come come forward.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a couple of things I want us to really seriously consider as we go away.
SPEAKER_00: Go our separate ways this morning, go back into the life that God has for us, into our neighborhoods, into our jobs, into our families and friendships.
SPEAKER_00: And to really consider how the Lord might be inviting us to pray, Lord, would you revive us again?
SPEAKER_00: There was a man named Rodney Smith.
SPEAKER_00: His nickname was Gypsy.
SPEAKER_00: Gypsy Smith.
SPEAKER_00: And um he had this circle prayer that he would do.
SPEAKER_00: It says it was reported that when Gypsy Smith came into a new town to preach the gospel, he sometimes stopped on the outskirts and drew a circle in the dirt.
SPEAKER_00: Then he would step inside the circle and ask the Lord to begin a revival in that town, beginning with the man in the circle.
SPEAKER_00: I've read that when anyone asked someone how to be used by God, Gypsy Smith replied, Find a piece of chalk and find an empty room.
SPEAKER_00: Go into the room and shut the door.
SPEAKER_00: Draw a circle on the floor with the chalk, kneel down in the circle and ask God to start revival right there.
SPEAKER_00: So, friends, what would it look like?
SPEAKER_00: What would it look like if we committed to just saying, God, would you revive us?
SPEAKER_00: Revive me.
SPEAKER_00: Start, would you would you send a revival?
SPEAKER_00: And would you start with me?
SPEAKER_00: Start with my heart.
SPEAKER_00: 21 days, friends, 21 days.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 86, 5.
SPEAKER_00: Will you not revive us again so that your people may rejoice in you?
SPEAKER_00: Just feel our hearts strange, just start strangely getting worn, is Wesley's phrase.
SPEAKER_00: I think the Lord would honor that desire.
SPEAKER_00: So, ministry team, if you come forward, um Keith, are you ready to share with us about your heart?
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so much of um when Adam shared his notes, uh, renewal, revival, and so much of uh of our experience is narrative, and so Elijah's prayer is because it starts dry, and then that's when the shift happens.
SPEAKER_03: It has to start from a place of dry, so that there's the shift.
SPEAKER_03: So the the tree is dead, but it's revived.
SPEAKER_03: There's no rain, but then it comes.
SPEAKER_03: And when you uh in the scripture, Jesus humbles himself, he's in that circle, and he humbles himself to the Father, even to death.
SPEAKER_03: So those are the the narrative flow through that.
SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Keith.
SPEAKER_00: So if there's anything within you that resonates with that, come forward.
SPEAKER_00: If you're feeling dry, come receive the refreshing of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: It's a great time for the rain to come, to be open to receiving that.
SPEAKER_00: Um I asked Heather uh to sing for us Keith Green's song, Oh Lord, you're beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: So I just uh want you all to appreciate Heather and Amy.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, literally, as they came in, I asked them to do it.
SPEAKER_00: That's how much heads up I gave them.
SPEAKER_00: Eight o'clock this morning.
SPEAKER_00: So, super thankful their flexibility and ability to play.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but just listen to these songs, they'll they'll be on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: Make it your prayer.
SPEAKER_00: If you're desiring a personal revival or revival for the area, just come forward and and sort of draw a circle and say start here.
SPEAKER_00: Or start revival, start with the person in this circle.
SPEAKER_02: Also, your beauty, your grace for your own that wanna take your work yesterday, help me first chance to save it.
SPEAKER_02: And when I'm doing well, help me.
SPEAKER_02: And shiny first help me just to live and when I help me to see the cry for my reward.
SPEAKER_02: It's giving one up.
SPEAKER_02: But first help me try to live alone and when I'm doing well.
SPEAKER_02: Help me to first seek for my reasons, it's giving love, Jesus for my reason, it's giving love, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So if there's anything you would like for our ministry teams to pray for, please um come forward.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe things are going great, and you just you just want to say more, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Or you want to see if the Lord has anything to just to say to you and and want for these teams just to listen on your behalf and to share what they get.
SPEAKER_00: Um reminder, come back out at four o'clock this afternoon for the first miracle science wonders video.
SPEAKER_00: We also are gonna gather and pray for Mike and Judy Kramer.
SPEAKER_00: Um they've been dear friends uh with us for a few years, and the Lord's given them another kingdom assignment.
SPEAKER_00: So we just want to bless them in this next stage.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have known the Kramers, um invite you to uh pray for them, they'll they'll be up front.
SPEAKER_00: So teams are available, Amy will continue playing.