Revivie Us As Our Shepherd - Revive Us Part 2 Series

Revive Us - Part 2

Revive Us as Our Shepherd

Psalm 23:1

The passion and vision God has given us as a local church for 2007 is "Revive Us" . . . revive us individually as believers, revive us collectively as a congregation, revive us specifically as a nation, indeed - revive us globally as a church. If you will take the Revive Us vision for this house and make it your heart cry for 2007 you will position yourself, in keeping with the anointing on this house, for an unusual and life transforming encounter with Almighty God and you will never be the same again. You will look back on 2007 as the year you encountered the power of God in a whole new way. If you miss this, you may miss one of the most profound experiences of God available to you in 2007. You may miss out on the personal, and possibly even the start of the corporate, revival that God has in store for you.

What is revival? Revival is nothing more and nothing less than an outpouring of the Person, the presence, the power, and the purposes of God on a people in such a way that their lives are supernaturally transformed with the result that they are made to be more like Christ and more given to the things that He is doing. One of the incredible things you will learn as you talk with people who have experienced revival is that they know God.

What is missing in many people’s lives, even in the church, is a true, a deep and a real knowledge of God. Hosea. 4:1 notes that one of the marks of spiritual darkness is that there is no knowledge of God.

Let me ask you a very important question. Do you want to know God intimately? Watch this - there is something precious here you don’t want to miss. In Hosea 6:6 we read, "I delight in . . . the knowledge of God rather than in burnt offerings."

Let me tell you about the word ‘delight’ (chaphets.) It literally means to experience such joy and pleasure in a thing that you are moved to bend down and give it your undivided attention. It is used of how a young man is completely preoccupied with, and predispose to, the young maiden of his dreams. Now come on church. Did you know that if you will choose to pursue the knowledge of God, if you will choose as a matter of principle and priority to know Him whom to know is life this year, God will so delight in you that He will be moved to bend down and give you His personal, His undivided and His loving attention?

Is it any wonder that Col. 1:10 tells us that one of the marks of maturity in the church is the knowledge of God?

You see my friend, in Scripture, the phrase "knowledge of God" from the Old Testament through the New Testament it is a powerful phrase bursting with meaning and pregnant with truth.

It speaks about a connection between God and His people that is unique - that is powerful and that is life transforming. It speaks of an incredible intimacy that is meant to be the normal expression of the Christian walk and that is designed to meet your needs, to manifest God’s power, to release on you an anointing and transform your life. And that, my friends, is what revival is.

Revival is about knowing Him whom to know is life.

According to Philippians one of the marks of knowing God is knowing the power of His resurrection in our lives. The other mark of knowing Him is the faithfulness and steadfastness in opposition and suffering - finding strength during temptation, finding His truth in a sea of relativity.

Friend, we must ask ourselves this morning a poignantly challenging question - do we really know Him?

Do we know this God who to know is life?

Do we know this God who to know is power?

Do we know this God who to know is revival?

You will notice in our 2007 theme banner "Revive Us 07" there are four names of God associated with this year. Now listen to this my friend - if you will make it your goal this year to press into these four names - to know God, to really know God as Shepherd, as Righteousness, as Provider and as Healer I want to tell you that 2007 will be a transformation year for you. It will take your walk to the next level. You will discover your level of confidence in God, your level of revelation from God and your manifestation of the power of God will go places you never thought possible.