Revive Us - Part 2
Revive Us as Our Shepherd
Psalm 23:1
The passion and vision God has given us as a local church for 2007 is "Revive Us" . . . revive us individually as believers, revive us collectively as a congregation, revive us specifically as a nation, indeed - revive us globally as a church. If you will take the Revive Us vision for this house and make it your heart cry for 2007 you will position yourself, in keeping with the anointing on this house, for an unusual and life transforming encounter with Almighty God and you will never be the same again. You will look back on 2007 as the year you encountered the power of God in a whole new way. If you miss this, you may miss one of the most profound experiences of God available to you in 2007. You may miss out on the personal, and possibly even the start of the corporate, revival that God has in store for you.
What is revival? Revival is nothing more and nothing less than an outpouring of the Person, the presence, the power, and the purposes of God on a people in such a way that their lives are supernaturally transformed with the result that they are made to be more like Christ and more given to the things that He is doing. One of the incredible things you will learn as you talk with people who have experienced revival is that they know God.
What is missing in many people’s lives, even in the church, is a true, a deep and a real knowledge of God. Hosea. 4:1 notes that one of the marks of spiritual darkness is that there is no knowledge of God.
Let me ask you a very important question. Do you want to know God intimately? Watch this - there is something precious here you don’t want to miss. In Hosea 6:6 we read, "I delight in . . . the knowledge of God rather than in burnt offerings."
Let me tell you about the word ‘delight’ (chaphets.) It literally means to experience such joy and pleasure in a thing that you are moved to bend down and give it your undivided attention. It is used of how a young man is completely preoccupied with, and predispose to, the young maiden of his dreams. Now come on church. Did you know that if you will choose to pursue the knowledge of God, if you will choose as a matter of principle and priority to know Him whom to know is life this year, God will so delight in you that He will be moved to bend down and give you His personal, His undivided and His loving attention?
Is it any wonder that Col. 1:10 tells us that one of the marks of maturity in the church is the knowledge of God?
You see my friend, in Scripture, the phrase "knowledge of God" from the Old Testament through the New Testament it is a powerful phrase bursting with meaning and pregnant with truth.
It speaks about a connection between God and His people that is unique - that is powerful and that is life transforming. It speaks of an incredible intimacy that is meant to be the normal expression of the Christian walk and that is designed to meet your needs, to manifest God’s power, to release on you an anointing and transform your life. And that, my friends, is what revival is.
Revival is about knowing Him whom to know is life.
According to Philippians one of the marks of knowing God is knowing the power of His resurrection in our lives. The other mark of knowing Him is the faithfulness and steadfastness in opposition and suffering - finding strength during temptation, finding His truth in a sea of relativity.
Friend, we must ask ourselves this morning a poignantly challenging question - do we really know Him?
Do we know this God who to know is life?
Do we know this God who to know is power?
Do we know this God who to know is revival?
You will notice in our 2007 theme banner "Revive Us 07" there are four names of God associated with this year. Now listen to this my friend - if you will make it your goal this year to press into these four names - to know God, to really know God as Shepherd, as Righteousness, as Provider and as Healer I want to tell you that 2007 will be a transformation year for you. It will take your walk to the next level. You will discover your level of confidence in God, your level of revelation from God and your manifestation of the power of God will go places you never thought possible.
Psalm 9:10 puts it this way: - "And those who know Your name will put their trust in You."
What I want to do over the next four weeks is take each of those names and hook you up with God in ways I believe many of you have never seen before.
I am preaching for personal knowledge of God!
I am preaching for personal life transformation!
I am preaching for personal revival!
Are you hungry? Are you ready? Are you willing?
Revive Us as Our Shepherd
Please open your Bibles to Psalm 23:1
Read - Pray.
Imagine with me for a moment you have been out shopping at Sams, and your shopping cart is piled full to the very top. You wait in line at the cash register and when it is your turn the cashier scans your items one by one and at the end tells you the total cost. You hand her your debit card and she says to you not to worry. You say to her, "What do you mean?" She says, "There will be no charge to your account this morning." You say, "But I need this stuff in the shopping cart." She says, "Yes, I know." And then she points to a man standing a little way away and says to you, "You see that gentleman standing over there?" You look at him and he has a familiar smile on his face, and he gives you a gentle nod. She continues, "He says that whenever you come shopping here, no matter what it is you need, you will never have to pay for it again. He will cover the costs for the rest of your life. And not only that, but the same it true if you go shopping at Sears, or a Bi-Los, or at Office Depot. As a matter of fact, it does not matter what store or restaurant or gas station or business or personal transaction you engage in, whatever you need you will never have to pay for again in your life - the cost is covered." How many of you would like to meet this kind gentleman?
Now listen to me precious believer - when you get to know God as Shepherd, you get to know that gentleman. The key to having every single one your needs met, every single one of your enemies vanquished, every single purpose of God in your life fulfilled is to know God as Shepherd because when you can say, "The Lord is my Shepherd" you can say, "I shall not want." I shall not want for any thing. I shall not want anytime. I shall not want anyhow.
Do you ‘know’ the Lord who is your Shepherd?
The degree of your need is in direct converse proportion to the degree of your knowledge of the Lord as your Shepherd. When you know this God, you will have no need whatsoever. If you will choose to know this God, if you will choose to pursue Him intimately you will bring Him so much joy and pleasure that He will be moved to bend down and give you His undivided attention. When you pursue God, you discover that God pursues you. James puts it this way - draw near to me and I will draw near to you.
Do you know Him? I want to give you five marks of knowing God as Shepherd. They are, if you want, the Five Marks of a Good Sheep. Are you ready? Here comes the first one.
1. Love for Him
I have a question for you - do you love God? When directed at me, I am tempted to answer that question too quickly and too easily. Do you love God? Not in the same sentence with Ice-cream, Chocolate Sundaes, little puppies and ‘I love Lucy.’ Do you really love God or do you simply like the idea of loving God - there is a world of difference between the two?
Let me give you four biblical tests of your love: -
The Intensity Test - do we love all of God with all we are?
Deut. 6:5
To measure your love for God, measure your divided affections.
The Severance Test - do we still depend upon this world for approval or affection?
1 John 2:15
To measure your love for God, measure your love for the world.
The Obedience Test - do we obey in everything from our hearts?
John 14:15
To measure your love for God, measure your obedience to Him.
The Fellowship Test - do we sacrificially love all those God loves?
1 John 4:20
To measure your love for God, measure your love for others.
We all live our lives trying to please somebody or something. Whom are you trying to please? Who is your audience? Is your single life goal to please God? Do you live your life as an act of worship before an audience of one? Watch this - if the devil can get you to divide your affections, he can undermine everything about - he can change your identity.
When you know God as your Shepherd - you will have an overwhelming love for Him.
Here is the second Mark of a Good Sheep:-
2. Dependence on Him
When you know God as Shepherd - you do not simply need God, you are completely dependant upon Him. Every moment you are awake and every moment you are asleep - every breath you take - every move you make - you are dependant upon God.
Let me give you three words that express Dependence.
Gratitude - when I recognize that I am dependant upon I live my life with a consistent and a deep sense of gratitude for all I have - He is the Father of heavenly lights, says James (1:17) from Whom every good and perfect gift comes.
Humility - The fruit of pride is independence - the fruit of dependence is humility. You can afford to be cocky when you got it going on - when you are the boss - when you are all that - but when you recognize your dependence upon God in more than simply a superficial way, you will get a whole lot of humility in your head.
Faithfulness - when you recognize your dependence on God, you get faithful to God really quickly - and the greater your perception of dependence, the greater your pursuit of faithfulness.
You see my friend, if the devil can rob you of your dependence upon God he can steal the provision God has for you.
Are you ready for the third Mark of the Sheep?
3. Pursuit of Him
When you know the Good Shepherd - you follow after Him closely and passionately. You can tell the sheep who do not really know their shepherd - like Judas they follow from a distance. One of the marks of knowing God is a close pursuit of Him. Watch the folks who enter into the worship - they are pursuing God. Watch the folks who are here for the prayer meetings - they are pursuing God. Watch the folks who are involved in the ministry - they are pursuing God. Folks who are too busy to do these things have lost the edge of their pursuit of God.
My Bible tells me there was a blind beggar named Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46) - that he was sitting on the roadside out of Jericho when he heard the commotion of a crowd coming out of Jericho. After several tries he eventually got somebody to tell him what the ruction was about - Jesus the Nazarene was passing by. Bartimaeus had heard that Jesus could cure the blind, and he got himself up - and started towards Jesus - crying out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." My Bible tells me that they did in those days the same thing they do in these days - they told him he was not important enough, pretty enough, clever enough, rich enough, white enough, tall enough - he had not business trying to get out of the gutters. And they even became angry with him - but he cried out even louder, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." Listen to me precious believer - how many of you know that the devil didn’t want Bartimaeus to get his miracle? The say-so of the world will always express the purposes of satan. But blind Bartimaeus was on a mission - he knew that if he wanted what God has for him - he was going to have to stop listening to the crowd, stop looking for the help of man, and pursue God. "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." And Jesus stopped - and turned around - He broke through the conventions of the day, He ignored the wisdom of the crowd. Why? Because blind Bartimaeus was pursuing Him. Listen to me precious believer - if you want to get God attention - pursue Him - forget about the limitations of your circumstances, the wisdom of your worldly advisors, the well-intentioned counsel of your friends - and chase after God - pursue Him. If the devil can get you to stop pursuing God, he can rob you of your miracle.
Let me give you a fourth Mark of a Good Sheep.
4. Confidence in Him
When David ran at Goliath, his confidence was not in his might or in his weapons. His confidence was in God alone. That is why he ran to Goliath declaring the truth, declaring his faith, declaring God’s promise, declaring the outcome.
When Paul says that our confidence is in Christ (Phil. 8) here is what the word for confidence literally means - to express your conviction by declaring it in words. David, a shepherd boy who knew The Shepherd ran to the giant.
He may have been facing the giant but he was looking to his Shepherd.
He may have been speaking to the giant but he was calling n the Lord.
He may have sounded brave but his confidence was in God.
One of the marks of the sheep is that their confidence is in the Shepherd.
Some of you may have lost confidence in God because you lost confidence in your pastor, or in your father, or in your Sunday School teacher. If our confidence in God was dependant upon our confidence in any human person, we would be in a whole lot of trouble.
Precious believer - when you are confident in Him, there is nothing you cannot accomplish. Confidence is the fruit of faith, and faith is the key to unlocking the resources of heaven.
The fifth and last Mark of a Good Sheep.
5. Obedience to Him
Jesus says that if we love Him we will obey His commandments (John 14:15). Is obedience to God something you are known for? Obedience comes with a cross. Anytime you see obedience, look around and you will find an altar. As a matter of fact, I would suggest to you this morning - obedience always takes place on an altar.
So I must ask you this morning as we close - what is it that you are not putting on the altar of obedience? What is it that you are afraid to sacrifice, to lay down, to let go of?
The reason satan wants to keep you from obedience to your Good Shepherd is he knows that obedience is the place where you enjoy the protection of God, the provision from God, where you walk in the promises of God and enjoy the abiding presence of God.
The Five Marks of Good Sheep who know the Good Shepherd. If you want revival, if you want God to revive you as your Shepherd, there are five marks of a good sheep: -
Love for Him
Dependence on Him
Pursuit of Him
Confidence in Him
Obedience to Him
Do you know this Shepherd? Will you pray with me please?
* * * * *
