May 6, 2007
Morning Worship
Text: 2 Chronicles 7:14
Subject: What happens around the altar
Title: Revival – God’s Way
I like to start sermons of with a joke or a funny story. Not today! Today I want to share my heart with you. As I look back at the last 5½ years here I have to stop and ask myself a question. “Are we making an impact here?” Maybe you have asked yourself the same question. If I asked you, “How are you different now than you were before we came here?”, would your answer reflect a positive or negative change?
I’ve had a vision of revival in this church even before we came. I have a burden for revival. I expect revival. I want revival. I don’t have any preconceived notion of what revival will look like. The only revival I have ever experienced is the personal revival that takes place in my life from time to time. I believe that there are certain elements that will accompany real revival, but I know that revival her will be different than it was at Brownsville Assembly in Pensacola, than it is in Toronto, with the Toronto blessing, than it is a Tabernacle of Praise. I want revival in this church more than anything else. What is it going to take to get us there?
When we first came here there was a piece of furniture here at the front of church. It was an old wooden altar. It was here for a couple of years and I have to tell you, from my observation, it was seldom used. When we had an altar call no one went to the altar. They made their own altar at a pew or on the platform steps. At some point the Lord showed me that he was getting ready to do something significant in the church and many were being baptized in the Holy Spirit and slain in the Spirit. That old altar was taking up space in the front of church so I moved it out. It seemed as though it was just there because it had always been there. I didn’t see any lives being changed there.
Thinking about that made me wonder about whether we will see revival here? It also made me wonder about the altar. What is the purpose? What does the Bible say about altars?
The first mention of an altar goes back to Genesis 8. God brought Noah and his family through the flood and Noah built an altar and worshiped there. In Genesis 12, God called Abram out of a land of idolatry and to a promised land – a new place. Abram built an altar there and, “called on the name of the Lord.” Abraham was called to sacrifice his own son and he built an altar. (God was taking him to a new place of obedience.) Isaac built an altar. Jacob built and altar. Moses built altars. Joshua built altars. Every time there was an altar built God was preparing to take an individual, a family, or a nation to a place they had never been before – a deeper revelation of who God is and what He wanted to do for them.
That takes us up to where I want to be today. In 2 Chronicles 7 Solomon has just finished building the temple. 1When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. 3When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying,
“He is good;
his love endures forever.”
8So Solomon observed the festival at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him…9On the eighth day they held an assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days more.
The altar was the place of sacrifice. It was a place to connect with God. It is the place to find God’s will. It is a place of worship.
11When Solomon had finished the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the LORD and in his own palace, 12the LORD appeared to him at night and said:
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
13“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people… In other words, when it looks as though destruction has come and we’ll never see the good times again; when it appears as though the world has overcome the church instead of the other way around; when it seems as though revival will never come…
14if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Revival will begin at the altar.
I. THE ALTAR IS FOR GOD’S PEOPLE 14if my people, who are called by my name… That’s talking about you and me. Christians. The people who claim the name of Jesus Christ. We are God’s agents of change on earth. We are the ones whom God is counting on to change the culture. Instead it appears that the culture is having more influence on the church than the other way around. But we are a people of power – the power of the Holy Spirit that is at work in us. The power to overcome every trick of the enemy and to make a difference in a lost and dying world. We are the ones who are called by His name! Ephesians 1, 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace… we are His people!!!
II. THE ALTAR IS FOR PRAYER. …will humble themselves and pray and seek my face… I believe that most of you are praying people. For the most part we don’t put a great emphasis on corporate prayer.(that’s what we do on Friday morning) I don’t know how much or how long or how fervently or how seriously you pray. I don’t know what you pray for. We pray in the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray knowing that God hears and answers prayer. But I want you to look at what God says should happen before you pray. – Humble yourself! The Hebrew word translated as humble means to be brought low, to be in subjection to another- so when we humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face in essence what we are doing is praying God’s will and not our own desires. Romans 12:2, 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
III. THE ALTAR IS FOR REPENTANCE …and turn from their wicked ways… I wonder what secular society is doing to desensitize the need for repentance in the lives of Christians. My point is this, when we examine our lives do we do so in comparison with the lives of sinners or in comparison with Him who is perfect? If we compare ourselves to those in the world most times you will come out smelling like a rose. But, if you compare yourself with the perfect man you realize that your ways are wicked and there is the need for repentance. Allow me to share something with you. We normally think of sin concerning things we have done that we shouldn’t have. But so you need to repent for things you have not done, knowing that you should be doing them? Do you have your own agenda for the church and will stop at nothing until your agenda is met? I’m going to be honest with you now. As we take steps toward General Council affiliation are we doing so because we want to be a church according to God’s plan, or do we just want the deed to the property back? God has a plan for this church but if we are going to see revival we must go to the altar and repent and make sure it’s God’s plan we are following. Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD 9“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thought
IV. THE ALTAR IS FOR ASSURANCE … then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin… Psalm 86:7 7In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me. We’re almost there. Isn’t it comforting to know that when God forgives you, you are forgiven? If there is ever any doubt it is because you haven’t forgiven yourself yet. God hears your prayer, He sees a repentant heart. He forgives your sin.
V. THE ALTAR IS FOR HEALING … and will heal their land… How does God want to heal our land? First of all, we have to stop and think of how our land is sick. We’re sick spiritually. We are sick physically. We’re sick emotionally. But time at the altar can bring healing to every area of your life. Acts 15:16-18, 16“‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, 17 that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’ 18 that have been known for ages.
Do you want revival?
Revival came to north China in 1932 in answer to several years of prayer. At one point, Norwegian missionary Maria Monsen wondered what good her praying could do. She longed to see God’s river of life flood spiritually dry China. Then she realized that the mighty Yangtze River began when the tiny drops of rain came together in the top of the mountains. Maria sought a prayer partner who would join her in claiming the promise "that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven" (Mt. 18:19). When she finally found someone she exclaimed, "The awakening has begun! Two of us have agreed!" The rain drops of revival prayer were coming together.
In November of 1930 Maria announced, "A great revival is coming soon and it will begin in the North China Mission." She was convinced that the missionaries had fulfilled the conditions for revival found in 2 Chron 7:14. In 1932 about forty Christians were meeting in a town in North China for prayer four times a day beginning at 5:00 a.m. Believers were convicted of sin. Two men repented of hating each other. Love was strong and deep. Joy abounded. When revival came more people were born again than in any previous year in North China. One missionary estimated that 3,000 people came to Christ in his town. Pastors, missionaries, and Bible women experienced a deeper Christian life than they had ever known before.
A spirit of prayer was poured out on the church. People loved to pray. Many times prayer meetings lasted two or three hours. The prayers were short, fervent, and sometimes tearful. Children’s prayers led to the salvation of their parents and teachers.
Do you want revival? Come to the altar. Let the spirit of the living God fall upon you. Let Him minister the healing water to your repentant heart. Let Him give 20/20 vision to your spiritual eyes.
Humble your self.
Pray.
Seek His face
Turn from your wicked ways.
And God will hear from heaven and heal our land.
