Preparations For Revival Series

Speaker: Rev. Shine Thomas

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INTRODUCTION:

God called us out of darkness into his divine light and made us his sons and daughters. Are we serious of what God has done in our life? Are you fulfilling God’s call? Are you serious in obeying God, being led by the Spirit, and reaching the lost with the gospel? Do we have the desire to reach our city for Christ? Is there a burning passion within us to see our church on fire for Jesus Christ?

My purpose in preaching this message is: Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”. When we can together as a church seek the Kingdom and righteousness of God, I am sure a revival will breakout and that is going to be a solution for all our needs. So you want a breakthrough, keep the Kingdom in mind, keep revival in mind.

Let’s see what are the requirements for a revival as a church.

In Acts 1 Luke talks about the resurrected Jesus taken into the clouds after giving the disciples 2 significant promises.Acts 1:8-11 “8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Before his ascension, Jesus gave the disciples 2 promises:

a. The promise of the Holy Spirit which will enable them to be witnesses in the world.

b. The promise that Jesus is coming back again to receive his church.

The first promise was fulfilled in the very next chapter. Acts 2:1-4 “1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them”.

In Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the people with power and they started speaking in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. One of the signs of revival is a Spirit-filled church where people worship the Lord in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit takes control of the services. But the sad part is that many churches just concentrate on the Holy Sprit and speaking in tongues, but they do not realize why the Holy Spirit is given to them. We are given the Holy Spirit so that we can be witnesses of the Lord. In the NT church when the Holy Spirit came souls were added to the church. Right in Chapter 2 of Acts, Peter started preaching in the Spirit and souls were saved.

Acts 2:41 “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3000 were added to their number that day”.

Acts 2:47b “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved”.

The real purpose of the Holy Spirit is to empower the church for the salvation of the lost. Therefore, if there is a true Pentecostal movement, souls will be added everyday to the church. Why is that we pray, preach, and sing but cannot see the kingdom advance so rapidly as in the first century?

How can we have the true Pentecostal experience? One thing that we must understand is that the Pentecostal experience will not happen unless people are willing to pay the price. A soul-winning church doesn’t just happen; there is a price for Pentecost!

The steps for revival are laid out for us in chapter 1 of Acts. Any church that makes the decision to become a spirit-filled, soul-saving church can if they just decide to follow what the disciples did in Acts 1. I would say great churches are made up of great families and individuals. At City Harvest we have wonderful people, you are awesome people but if we can have the traits of the 1st century church we can be a church that is seeing the lost in Bangalore City. Let’s see what they did for the revival.