November 1, 2009
Morning Worship
Text: Isaiah 64:1-7
Subject: God’s Power
Title: Putting God in the Mix
You know, I’m not extremely political. Not that I don’t have political convictions; I do. But I am not actively participating in politics. I consider myself to be a conservative and I vote conservatively and encourage others to do the same, but I’m not actively political. I know what our nation needs in order for it to regain its position of favor in the world – it needs a restored relationship with the King of Kings, but I’m not political.
On the other hand, there are many who are political; conservatives and liberals alike – who think they have the answer to all the worlds problems. They aren’t religious. Their answer is always that mankind will fix itself if given enough time. They have all the answers, but God isn’t in their equation. They have no timetable for fixing the world’s problems – they just know that somehow, someday they’ll get it right and all will be well. They are political and they are secular.
The difference between secularists and Christians is that we have a goal that includes a hope, a Savior and a promise. They have a goal too. Their goal is to attain a hope with no foundation, to find a savior with no authority, and to make promises that they can’t keep. That’s understandable to us. It’s what they do!
Christians without goals are a little like Alice in the fairy tale Alice in Wonderland. In a conversation between her and the Cheshire Cat, Alice asked, "Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the cat. "I don’t much care where," said Alice. "Then it doesn’t matter which way you go," said the cat.
That’s how the world thinks and that’s where the world is headed.
But today I want to look with you about what we can expect to happen when we look at all the problems of the world and then insert God into the mix. That is revival that is waiting to happen.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.
Read Isaiah 64:1-7
Lord, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
I. WHAT HAPPEN’S IN GOD’S PRESENCE 1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! 2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! Isaiah is opening the door for revival by crying out to God to split the heavens open and come down to be with His creation. 700 years later Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. 33 years later the Holy Spirit would be poured out. Sometime in the not to distant future Jesus will return on the clouds to gather the elect to Himself and then in another 7 years He returns to earth in dramatic fashion to claim His earthly kingdom. When He does things happen… that the mountains would tremble before you! Look at those three events in the light of other scripture. 1) The first coming of Christ – Matthew 27:51, At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. (The mountains trembled) 2) The work of the Holy Spirit, Acts 4:31, 31After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (The mountains trembled) 3) the judgment of God, Revelation 16:18-20, 18Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. 19The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. Isaiah longed for God to be in their midst so that in His presence all creation would recognize who He is. 2As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! What happens in God’s presence? 1) A fire is lit. God initiates action. The word translated “fire” means a literal or figurative fire. A physical or spiritual fire. In His presence the church should be set on fire for Him, the fire of revival. In God’s presence you will either be set on fire for Him or judged by Him. It is interesting to note that the word translated “twigs” is the Hebrew hamas. We know that in the world today “Hamas” is an Islamic terrorist group that operates under the disguise of a socio-political organization. I have no doubt that Hamas will be a twig that burns in God’s presence. 2) There is a reaction; God’s action will always cause a reaction. Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. It is true in the spiritual realm as well. In God’s presence His presence itself will cause something to happen. That is why we see that when He is moving by His Spirit in church people are stirred. They either respond to that stirring by obedience to what the Spirit is doing or, they resist what the Spirit is doing and their hearts are hardened. You can tell that some are quite miserable when the Holy Spirit takes over a service. 3) God is revealed … come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! We know that is what happens when God is present. That is why the world is being transformed by the gospel and at the same time rebellion is rising up because of the gospel. God has drawn a line in the sand and is saying the same thing that Joshua challenged Israel with in Joshua 24:15, But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Revival can only come in God’s presence.
II. WHAT HAPPENS IN GOD’S POWER 3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. Because we are called by God to be co-heirs with Christ we have been given authority. It is the same authority that God gave Adam – the authority to act in His behalf over His creation – to be God’s representative on the earth. God does “awesome things” still and He is doing them through the church. We have been studying on Wednesday nights about what happens when we pray. I’m not teaching that you need to pray – you already know that – but I want everyone to understand that something does happen when we pray. It all begins with our understanding that God has established us, through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus, as His legal representatives on earth. We are intercessors – go betweens - between the things of earth and God. Jesus talked about those trembling mountains in Mark 11:22-24, 22“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mountains don’t move because of us. They do move, however, because of His presence, His power, and His authority that we display on earth as God’s representatives. He has awesome things just waiting for the church to set in motion with a prayer of faith – not faith in our prayer, but faith in the One who promised. Verse 4 says, Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. Paul quoted that in 1 Corinthians 2:9, but adds to it with verse 10, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” — 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. Revival happens in the church with restoration of God’s power among believers. That power is being revealed by His Spirit to those who believe. When Jesus said signs and wonders would follow those who believe He meant this – not that they were an automatic to believers in Christ, but that they are promised to all believers who believe that God will confirm His word with signs and wonders. Revival can only come in God’s power and it comes to those who wait on Him.
III. WHAT HAPPENS IN GOD’S PURPOSE God’s purpose in the world through a revived church can only occur when certain conditions are met. 5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them (His ways), you were angry. How then can we be saved? God’s purpose for the church is the same as it was for the nation of Israel – to bring the whole world to a saving knowledge of God through faith. Jesus explained that purpose in John 3, 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son… In Matthew 16 Jesus told His disciples that He was going to build a church that was so strong that the gates of Hell could not stand against it. That is a church that is on the offensive against the enemy instead of being on the defensive all the time. We should be taking the battle to him instead of waiting for it to come to us. But verses 6-7 talk about the type of church in Sardis that Jesus referred to in Revelation 3. 6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. 7 No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins. It’s a church that depends upon its own righteousness rather than the righteousness of God. Revelation 3:1-3, 1“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. For revival to come to the church according to God’s purpose we need to understand two simple things. 1) Who He is…8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We must understand that relationship. We are continuing the work that Jesus began while on earth. He is the head – we are His body. His work can only continue through the body. Jesus has already done everything that He is going to do to save, heal, bless, meet needs, deliver etc… Now it is up to the church to respond to that work in the authority that has been given us with the same understanding that Jesus had while He walked the earth. It was not His work that He was doing but the Father’s work. John 5:19, 19Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 2) Who you are in Him. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand… I love this one concept we talked about on Wednesday night – If you’re not here on Wednesday you are missing out on some good basic teaching on prayer. Romans 8:28, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. We have always been taught that this means if you are a Christian then all things will work out for good for you. But, the word “and” at the beginning of that verse connects it with the previous two verses. 26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. If we will pray in the Spirit, allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in our prayer and pray through us, then all things work together for good… It comes down to this; we are the clay and God is continually forming us into His image. We must allow ourselves to be changed, to be led by the Spirit, to have the mind of Christ, to wait upon the Lord, to pray for others, to minister to others, to share the gospel, to be Christ’s representatives on the earth, to trust God’s word, to expect miracles, to be changed into His image from glory to glory… Revival comes only when we are living according to God’s purpose.
God’s Presence, God’s Power, and God’s Purpose – the three things that will foster revival in the church today. We long for revival.
A U.S. Lutheran bishop tells of visiting a parish church in California and finding a stirring red and orange banner on the wall. "Come Holy Spirit. Hallelujah!" it declared in words printed under a picture of a fire burning. The bishop was also interested in the sign directly underneath the banner, which said: "Fire extinguisher." So much for that parish’s commitment to spiritual renewal.
One World, May, 1982.
In 1746, Jonathan Edwards published a book on "concerts of prayer" -- a term used in his day and repeated in subsequent prayer movements over the last 250 years. Well aware from biblical and historical accounts that united prayer was the only way to sustain the spiritual awakening that already had begun in the colonies, Edwards called for Christians on both sides of the Atlantic to pray for revival. The title of his book summarizes what is happening throughout the Body of Christ at this hour in the growth of the prayer movement: "An Humble Attempt to Promote explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God’s People in extraordinary Prayer, for the Revival of the Church and the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom on Earth." Edwards’ book, along with such classic texts as Andrew Murray’s "Key to the Missionary Problem" and Timothy Smith’s Revivalism and Social Reform," suggest there usually are five phases in every historic revival: (1) Intercession -- God’s people begin to unite in prayer for revival; (2) Revelation -- God answers prayer by pouring out a fresh new manifestation of the person of Christ; (3) Consecration -- as a result, God’s people consecrate themselves to Him, and each other, and to the work of Christ in the world; (4) Revitalization -- ministries are purified and rejuvenated and become more fruitful, both locally, nationally, and beyond; (5) Expansion -- out of revival the gospel is advanced further, the church makes a greater impact upon the surrounding culture, and a general spiritual awakening takes place on many levels.
National & International Religion Report Special Report, 1992, pp. 2-3.
Are you willing to seek God’s presence?
Will you operate in God’s power?
Can you live for His purpose?
If you want revival these things must happen.
