Changing Your Condition By Changing Your Position

Changing your condition by changing your position

7/29/01

Luke 19:1-10

Tonight I want to preach to you about how to experience revival. What is revival? Revival is a renewed conviction of sin followed by a great desire to obey God. Revival is needed when we haven’t let God into our lives where he wants to be. Revival is needed when someone has gotten mischievous on God.

There were 2 brothers, 8 and 10 years old, who were very mischievous. Whatever went wrong in the neighborhood, they had a hand in it. Their parents were at their wits end trying to control them. Hearing about a minister who worked with delinquent boys, the suggested to the father they ask the minister to talk with the boys. The father agreed.

The mother went to the minister and made her request. He agreed, but said he wanted to see the younger boy first. So the mother sent her youngest son to the minister. The minister sat the boy down across from him at a huge desk. For about 5 minutes they just stared at each other.

Finally, the minister pointed his finger right at the boy and asked, “Where is God?” The boy looked under the desk, in the corners of the room, all around, but said nothing. Again, louder the minister pointed at the boy and asked, “Where is God?” Again, the boy looked all around but said nothing.

A third time, in a louder, firmer voice, the minister leaned far across the desk and put his finger almost to the boys nose, and asked, “Where is God?” The boy panicked and ran all the way home.

He found his older brother, dragged him upstairs to their room and into the closet, where they usually plotted their mischief. He finally said, “We’re in BIG trouble.” His older brother said, “What do you mean BIG trouble?” Then his little brother said, “God is missing and they think we did it!”

Don’t be the reason God is missing from this church. When we get the mischief out of our lives we won’t have to worry about God being missing. We should be so full of God there is no room for anything else.

The Bible says in II Kings 22:8 that the book of the law was found (by Hilkiah the priest) in the house of the Lord. When we find the word of God and doing what it says again revival will come. When the king read the word of the book of the law in the ear of the people revival broke out.

I want to say, “I’ve found the book of the law and it says thou shalt have no other god’s before me (Ex 20:3).” It says, “Walk in the Spirit and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal 5:16).”

I’m talking about changing your condition by changing your position. Jesus said the Great Commandment was to “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind and with all thy strength (Matt 22:37).” When you love God with ALL you have there is no room for anything else.

When there is a lack of brotherly love and Christian confidence among believers there is a need for revival. Turn to your neighbor and say, “That’s us.” If you would be so bold you may even say, “That’s me.”

When there’s a dissension, jealousies, and evil rumors there is a need for revival. These show that Christians have strayed far away from where God is. When there is a worldly spirit where believers are conforming to worldly dress, attitudes, entertainment there is a need for revival.

When people come to church and they are looking more for jokes and entertainment than they are for the truth of God’s word, there is a need for revival.

When you go to the grocery store you can pick up an apple and tell that it’s an apple but sometimes you notice there are some rotten apples in the bunch. When what you notice most about the fruit of the Spirit in people’s lives is that it’s more rotten than ripe then there is a need for revival. Turn to your neighbor and say, “We’ve got that here.” If you believe anything else you are deceived.

When there is an immaturity among believers there is a need for revival. Turn to your neighbor and say, “We’ve got that too.” When Christians would rather grumble about the splinter in someone else’s eye than deal with the beam that is in their own eye, someone needs revival (Matt 7:3).

The writer of Hebrews said, “Let us consider one another to provoke love and good works (Heb 10:24).” Paul said to the Romans, “Let us not please ourselves but let every one of us please his neighbor for his good (Rom 15:1).” Romans 12:10 says, to “prefer one another.”