November 25, 2007
Morning Worship
Text: Psalm 85:1-6
Subject: Revival
Title: Will You Not Revive Us Again?
When I get together with other Pentecostal pastors one of the favorite topics of discussion is “Revival”. I hear stories about revivals of the past. I hear the tales of what God has done before. I listen to them talk about what revival is supposed to look like. And as I listen I am taken to a place inside of me where I start to ask questions. You see, since I am relatively new to Pentecostal circles – especially compared to many of you – I have never experienced the revivals of the past like you have. Most of you can look to your personal past and tell me stories of how God moved in mighty power during this or that revival. You can tell me about what God did in a tent-meeting out on the lawn or how The Holy Spirit moved in an awesome way in the log sanctuary that used to sit here. As you hold those memories near to your heart you wait for God to return and do it all over again.
I don’t know what revival looks like. I don’t have any preconceived notion about what has to happen for true revival to take place. I’m not waiting for God to do again what He did 50 years ago.
One of my friends insists that true revival is a revival of repentance. That when revival comes people inside and outside the church will be brought to a place of repentance, sorrow and weeping.
Others think that revival must include emotional, soul stirring activities and the visible manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s power. The emphasis then becomes one of excitement and edification.
Others in the past have brought healing revivals.
We can look back throughout church history and see the revivals that began back in the 1700’s in England and in the US and see how God was moving by His Spirit to bring revival. We see during the Great Awakening how preachers like George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards were bringing revival through the Word. E.M. Bounds of Shelby County, MO. brought a prayer revival to this part of the country as he ministered before, during and after the Civil War. There was the great Pentecostal revival that began in Los Angeles in 1906 at a little missions church that was an old stable. The Holy Spirit began to move at Azusa Street and the church world has never been the same. There were the healing revivals of the 50’s and 60’s, the Charismatic movement of the 70’s and 80’s. Revivals in Pensacola, Toronto, Smithton, MO, and Seattle in the 90’s– everywhere God was doing something special.
And now God wants to bring full - blown revival to Palmyra. What is it going to look like? I don’t know but I do know this, that when it comes we will know that it is God and not us who is bringing it.
Psalm 85:1-6
1 You showed favor to your land, O LORD;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people
and covered all their sins.
Selah
3 You set aside all your wrath
and turned from your fierce anger.
4 Restore us again, O God our Savior,
and put away your displeasure toward us.
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger through all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you
I do want you to understand this – if revival is not Holy Ghost revival – then it’s not real revival.
1) THE REVIVAL OF GOD’S WORD IN YOUR LIFE. Turn over to Joshua 1:8. As Joshua prepared to take Israel into the Promised land God encouraged him by saying, 6“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” When revival comes God’s children won’t walk around saying, “well I think the Bible says this and that.” They will be saying, “Thus saith the Lord!” The Bible promises me salvation – I’m going to accept it. The Bible promises me healing – I’ll take that. The Bible gives me authority over the enemy- I’ll take it. The Word of God says that He will restore the wasted time of my past. “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten… the Bible says that I am supposed to have power through the baptism in the Holy Spirit – I want that. When revival comes you will begin to receive the promises, carry out the commandments, and rejoice in every utterance from the Word of God.
2) THE REVIVAL OF COMMITMENT TO GOD. Joshua 24;14-18, 14“Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! 15And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
16So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; 17for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. 18And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God.” When revival comes the children of God will be faithful to serve Him. They’ll be faithful to His house. They won’t want to stay home and sleep. They won’t want to sit at home and watch TV. They won’t be able to stay out of the God’s house. When revival comes the people of God will run into His house every time the doors are opened. Psalm 122:1, I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” When revival comes people will be coming to me and asking, “Pastor, can’t we have church every night? I just want to be in God’s house!” People will be committed to serving God in every possible way – through their time, their talents and their treasures. A Spirit of liberality will prevail among the people of God where they say, “I just can’t give enough. I want to give more.” People will ask, “is it OK if I give more than 10% to God?” People will ask, “where can the church use me in ministry?”
3) THE REVIVAL OF REPENTANCE In Acts chapter 2 after Peter stood in Jerusalem and preached his first gospel message the response of the crowd was this, 36“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins… Holy Ghost revival will bring believers and unbelievers alike to the recognition of sin in their lives and then repentance. 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. Church, that’s revival. When revival comes people will flood the altars to turn to God for salvation. When revival comes the people of God will turn from their worldly ways and want nothing less than all that God has for them. When revival comes people will hunger for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. … you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” I want you to notice something. When these 3000 in Jerusalem came to Christ on that day it wasn’t because peter was a dynamic preacher. It wasn’t because he had some special technique for getting people to come to the altar. It was the power of the Holy Spirit working in him and the convicting power of the Spirit working in unbelievers drawing them to repentance. 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. That was the beginning of revival in the New Testament church.
4) THE REVIVAL OF MIRACLES Look at Acts 2:42-43, 42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. This was all the result of the anointing of the Holy Spirit that was upon Peter as he preached on that day. Well now Pastor, right there it says that signs and wonders were done by the apostles. Right there tells us that those things are not for today – that God’s people can’t expect those things now. That’s what it says isn’t it? Now turn over to chapter 8. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.4Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. 6When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. 8So there was great joy in that city. People can try all they want to explain away signs and wonders, miracles, healings, and exorcisms, but right here it tells us that they are as much for today as for the early church. Philip was not an apostle yet he preached the word and worked miracles and a great revival broke out in Samaria. You know that was the Holy Spirit because the Samaritans were enemies of the Jews. Why would they listen to what Philip had to say unless the anointing of the Holy Spirit was upon him to bring revival? When revival comes there will be a resurgence of healing and deliverance and the miraculous. Why? Because I said so? NO, because that’s the way the Spirit of God works. When Holy Ghost revival comes people will be brought to a point of maturity in their faith that we will just expect signs and wonders. When revival comes demons will be cast out. When revivals you will lay hands on the sick and say, “in the name of Jesus be healed”. When revival comes you will move mountains. When revival comes you will have the faith to pull down strongholds. You will move in the supernatural through the gifts of the Spirit like never before. When revival comes people outside the church will see that God is in this house and is still alive and working among His people and will come to see the power on display.
Will you let me make a controversial statement? There are churches across all of Palmyra and Marion county and Hannibal and Quincy that are hungry for revival and are expecting revival to break out. They are willing to do anything for revival. I should say almost anything, because the one thing that they aren’t willing to do is to allow the Holy Spirit to bring that revival. I’m talking about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. You see without the Baptism in the Holy Spirit in the church revival is stymied because the only revival that will ever impact your life and your church and your world is Holy Ghost revival. Other churches may hold revival meetings and see people get saved and stir up their emotions and say, “boy, that was great!” But without Holy Ghost power in their revival everything will go right back to where it’s always been. It is the Holy Spirit that gives you power. It is the Holy Spirit that will prolong revival. It is the Holy Spirit that will take you to maturity so that you are willing to preach the gospel under all sorts of persecution. It is the Holy Spirit who will use you to work signs and wonders in the church today so that people can see the power of God at work and be drawn to the church to hear the gospel. It is the Spirit of the Living God that will open your eyes to the sin in your life and draw you to an altar of repentance so that you can get right before God and walk in power. It is the Holy Spirit that will convict the world of sin to the point where people will be asking you, “What must I do to be saved?” it is Holy Ghost revival that will lead you to be more committed. It’s the Holy Ghost who will tell you to give more, work more, teach more, pray more, study more, love more… it is that baptism in the Holy Spirit that will bring the Holy Ghost revival in your personal life that will cause the word of God to come alive to you and jump off the pages as you read it and give you the faith to trust God for all His promises. Glory to God!
So what is revival going to look like? All of the above!
I long to see the power of God at work in His people. I long to see people baptized in power in the Holy Spirit. I long to see the time where the power of God is so evident in your life that you walk into your work place and people begin to weep because the Holy Spirit’s conviction is bringing them to repentance and they ask you, “what must I do?” I long to see the time when our children and youth become filled to overflowing with the Holy Ghost and they walk down the hallways in their schools and other kids fall under the power of the Holy Spirit simply because they brushed up against them. I long to see the time when the Holy Spirit sets people free from their past to receive what He has for them now. I long to see revival when people are giving so much in the offering that we have to ask them to slow down because we can’t find enough places of ministry to give the money away to. I long to here someone come up to me and say, “I feel like I am supposed to be involved in youth ministry, in missions work, in Sunday school, in full time ministry. Can you help me get there?”
What will revival look like?
You’ll know it when you see it. Just look for the Holy Spirit.
