The Roar Of Revival
Fifth in the series: Revival – Reviving Me, Reviving the Church & Reviving Our Community
Perth Bible Church August 19, 2007 AM Rev. Todd G. Leupold
INTRO:
Show video: “Go Start A Fire”.
Whatever our choices in life, the reverberations they make will always and inevitably gather and build until they are ultimately and forcibly expelled as a great roar!
What kind of roar will it be? Will your roar destroy or will it provide? What will it sound like? What effect(s) will it produce? All of these results are shaped and determined by our individual and collective choices.
The only doubt, the only uncertainty, the only question before us – then – is what will we choose? What kind of a roar will our lives produce?
PRAYER
Recite 2 Chronicles 7:14 (and repeat)
We each have a choice as to how we will respond to the Lord’s call for and offer of revival in our lives.
Knowing our human tendency to over-complicate things, God has clearly presented us with just 2 simple choices. Both are ’roars.’ Both have powerful consequences. Both are ours to freely choose. But both are NOT equal!
What Will Your Choice Be?
I.) A ROAR OF REJECTION?
- Jesus called us all to be “salt” of the earth. That is, he is called us to add to life around us
and in way that is tasteful and that preserves purity and goodness.
- Sometimes, we may reject this call outright – reasoning that “it’s not our job,” or this
world/community doesn’t “deserve” to be seasoned, or because it’s too much ’work,’ or
because we simply don’t care.
- Other times we really mean to be “salt of the earth” but, despite what we consider our
meaningful efforts (going to church, praying, reading the Bible, giving financially), we fail. I
would suggest this morning that, while in a very different way, this too is a form of rejection!
We accept the principle of His call, but we refuse to actively live it out! When we do not,
not only are we really rejecting His call, but we are hypocrites as well.
- Confused? Consider: sometimes we can spend so much time and energy accumulating salt,
but we never serve as salt. In other words, if we’re not careful we can work so long and
hardy to be ’salty’ that our lives become useless – or, worse, toxic!
- Allow me to illustrate: The Dead Sea is so salty that it contains no fish or plant life. The high
salt content has killed the Sea’s life! How? Why? The problem is that the Dead Sea has no
outlets! Great quantities of water and salt pours into this area, but nothing flows out. It is a
law of nature that anytime something has many inlets but no outlets it will produce death.
- In the same way, this world is full of well-meaning, active, busy and even full Christians who
nevertheless exhibit a dead faith! As James, inspired by the HS, reminds us: “For just as the
body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).
- Friends, according to God’s Scripture, we are to be filled with godliness in order that we may
in turn overflow with godliness. Simply learning godliness, learning Scripture, going to
Church, attending Bible Conferences, listening to Christian radio, etc. is NOT being “the salt
of the earth.” To listen, learn, ’go through the motions,’ and ’talk the talk’ without actively
and noticeably living and applying those things to our everyday lives is exactly what Jesus
refers to as salt that has lost its taste. Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth. But if
the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled on by men.”
- Jesus is more simply summarizing the warning that the LORD had given to Solomon
after he finished building the temple. 1 Kings 9:1-9. A warning that it is still true for us
today!
Is This The Path You Will Choose . . .
OR,
Will You Choose . . .
II.) A ROAR OF REVIVAL?
IF, rather than reject His offer, we – who are called by His name – embrace and live it, then
we and those around us will experience a wonderful, healing, restorative and powerfully regenerating roar of revival! IF we humble ourselves, pray, seek the LORD’s face, and turn from our evil ways, THEN we are promised a glorious roar of revival – powerfully emitted from the gaping jaw of the Lion of Judah (Jesus Christ) Himself!
When we choose this path and do what is asked of us, we can know without a shadow of doubt that the Lord will respond in Three Amazing Ways: He Will . . .
1. “Hear”
Our prayers: our cries, pains, desires, questions, joys will be attentively heard with care and concern from our Heavenly Father! When we humbly pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways there is nothing that can come between us and Jesus!
1 John 3:21-22
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us we have confidence before God, and can receive whatever we ask from Him because we keep His commands and do what is pleasing in His sight
1 John 5:11-14
Now this is the confidence we have before Him: whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.
2. “Forgive”
A second blessing from God when we humble ourselves, pray, seek the LORD’s face, and turn from our evil ways is the invaluable gift of divine forgiveness!
Consider this modern-day fairy tale be Melea J. Brock (abbreviated from how it appeared in Discipleship Journal, Issue 89, pp. 31-33.)
“There once was a woman who lived in a faraway land. Well, actually, she lived right down the street.
She was a good woman, a nice woman, with a husband, two children, a dog, a cat, and a small . . . home. . .
There was no doubt about it. She was nice. A very nice woman. But there was a secret in her life. A secret guarded and hidden and important. Her secret was a sack. A large, filthy, tattered sack.
Now, she didn’t always have this sack. But over time, she found she needed something. Something for an injustice or two she’d suffered. Something for the cross and thoughtless words tossed her way without thinking. Something for the lie she’d been told by a trusted friend. Something for the relationship that had soured years ago. For painful childhood memories, regrets, unforgivable mistakes, her own self-criticism of never measuring up. She needed something for all of that – a container, a sack.
Each night, long after her family had gone off to bed and the sounds of sleep were heard throughout the house – when all was quiet and still – the nice woman would creep down to the cellar of her home.
. . . Each night, in her cold, dark, musty sanctuary, she’d heave that heavy sack up onto a broken-down card table. Then, by the dim light of the cellar, the contents were revisited, almost like dear old friends. She’d pull each one out carefully, reliving the bitterness, the disappointment, the anger, and the hurt, until she began to whimper and cry in anguish over it all.
Suddenly, a rapping on the cellar door would interrupt her. She knew the knock. It was the King, the Great King. [He had heard her cries] And sometimes, when she heard that knock, she’d scramble upstairs back to bed. Sometimes she’d flick out the light, pretend she wasn’t there. Other times, she’d call out to Him, ’Door’s open. You can come in.’ He’d walk right into that place. He’d step over the rusty bikes and old toys, past the shelves of canned peaches and green beans. . .
He’d walk right over to the broken-down card table where she and the sack were. He’d put His
arms around her, draw her close, stroke her hair, wipe away all the tears, and ask for the sack. She’d nod a yes to Him. He’d sweep away all the bitterness, the disappointment, the anger, and the hurt off that table, into the sack, and shoulder it away with Him.
A feeling of lightness always followed the Great King’s leaving with the sack. It was wonderful! It lasted for days, weeks, sometimes months. No more stealing down to the cellar, no more crying, no more sack.
Then she’d remember. A small something would trigger a memory about the soured relationship, the painful childhood experience, a self-doubt. And the bitterness, disappointment, anger, and hurt would rush in on her. She’d need the sack. She’d want the sack. She’d go and get the sack back from the Great King.
Again, He would knock gently, come in, wipe away the tears, and take the sack. And again, she would go and get it back from Him.
This went on for many years, until one day, she stopped leaving the cellar door unlatched for the Great King. Leaves and debris piled up around the unused door. Eventually, she learned to close her ears to the gentle rapping that continued night after night after night.
And time went by. The nice woman grew old, tired, small, frail. Her husband died, leaving her well taken care of. Her two children had grown up, married, and moved away. . . And the sack? Oh, it was still a part of her life. Larger, filthier, more tattered and heavy – so very heavy for her.
One day . . . her daughter called to talk. The phone rang and rang and rang. Her daughter got worried, called her brother, and asked him to go check on their mother. He did. He looked everywhere. They never found the nice woman – just a big, old, filthy, tattered sack, propped up in an easy chair.
There once was a woman who lived in a far-away land. Well, actually, she lived right down the street.”
Do you know this woman? Someone like her? Perhaps . . . yourself?
Have you pushed upon the latches of pride, avoidance of God, and the temptations of evil that lock the door to your heart?
Jesus said (Revelation 3:20):
Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
3. “Heal”
Having heard our prayers and forgiven our sins, then the Lord will also “heal our land.” But what does this mean? What if I don’t have any land?
Contrary to some who get carried away with such proclamations, nowhere does the Lord our God promise material blessings! No, the world and even the devil can give those – though they rot and do not last. Rather, the Lord offers us something much better – something of eternal value that cannot be tarnished, lost or stolen: Spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus!!!
Throughout all of human history (including today), land has been used as a symbol for one’s health, prosperity and even virtue. Throughout the Old Testament, land is used as a sort of ’spiritual barometer.’ How the people treated, respected, and used the land that God had given them was a symbol of their respect for and loyalty to God. Similarly, we see throughout the OT that both the amount and ’health’ of the land given to God’s people was blessed or cursed in accordance with their spiritual lives and choices.
It is important, here, that we don’t lose sight of the fact that this promise is made upon the completion of the Temple built by Solomon. The Temple itself was commissioned and designed by God as a powerful and visual reminder of the tie between the people, the land (their source of sustenance and blessing), and the Presence of God. This ’tie’ was forged by the people’s continuous, sacrificial and obedient worship of the Lord God Almighty!
What does this have to do with us today? Only the symbols have changed, never the Truth! As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6:19
Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own
With the coming, sacrifice, and resurrection of Christ, it is now we ourselves who serve as God’s holy temples! Our health and our healing (especially emotionally and spiritually), therefore, is directly dependent on our having and maintaining a right and vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ!
FINAL ANALYSIS:
As R. G. Lee once said:
If all the sleeping folk will wake up,
If all the lukewarm folk will confess up,
If all the disgruntled folk will cheer up,
If all the depressed folk will cheer up,
If all the estranged folk will make up,
If all the gossipers will shut up,
If all true soldiers will stand up,
If all the dry bones will shake up,
If all the church members will pray up . . .
Then we can have a revival! (contributed by Dr. Rick Bartosik, sermoncentral.com)
2 Chronicles 7:14
Call To Choose This Day. . .
