How To Keep the Fires of Revival Burning
Matt. 22:34-40
Did you ever hear the story of a man his son and their donkey? As the story goes the man would ride the donkey to town and the boy would walk along beside. The people said “Look at that man riding the donkey and making that poor boy walk.” So the man let the boy ride the donkey and he walked. Then they said, “Look at that young strong boy riding the donkey and making his old father walk.” So they both got on the donkey and rode. Then they said, “that is animal cruelty both of them riding the donkey.” So they both got off the donkey and picked him up and carried him. Then they said, “That is stupid the donkey should walk.” So they put the donkey down and all three walked. Then they said, “that is dumb to own a donkey and not ride him.” The moral of the story is that you cannot please all of the people all of the time and you will drive yourself crazy trying to do so. So it is with preaching. Some people like one type of preaching some like another.
We have had a good revival we had a lot of visitors to the church, we had 7 people saved and we had some hearts revived to want to serve God more with renewed spirit of dedication. This morning we want to talk about what it will take to keep the fires of revival burning.
Lady asked Billy Sunday:
"Why do you keep having revivals when it doesn’t last?"
He asked her, "Why do you keep taking baths?"
I don’t know how you feel about the revival, you may feel a renewed dedication, you may feel like you have lost something from coming to this revival, or somewhere in between.
Revival is not a feeling; revival is an action.
Revival is not brought by a preacher; revival is what happens between you and God.
Revival is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.
Revival is not singing and preaching; revival is the renewing of your spirit.
Revival is not having a series of meetings; revival is asking God to restore the joy of our salvation.
Revival is not the building up of excitement and returning to complacency; revival is getting excited about God’s love and retaining a lasting passion for God.
Revival is remembering the first and greatest commandment and keeping it first on our priority list.
What is that first and greatest commandment? I am glad you asked. It is found in Matt. 22:34 – 40.
Mat 22:37 Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Mat 22:37 Jesus said, "’Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’
Mat 22:38 This is the most important, the first on any list.
Mat 22:39 But there is a second to set alongside it: ’Love others as well as you love yourself.’
Prayer
If we are to keep the fires of revival burning we must do four things we must do:
I. Love the Lord with all of your heart or passion
A. If I am to love God with all my passion, what is passion?
1. Passion is neutral it can be good or bad
2. Man is so made that whenever anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish
An example of passion is Bro Bob preaching. God calls his men to preach the gospel but he does not call all of them to preach the same way. He uses our personality in preaching. Bro. Bob happens to be more outgoing than Larry or me.
3. Biblical examples of passion
a. Negative: Samson & David it led them to lust and immorality. Balaam: he had a passion for money. Pharisees – passion for religion, Peter – passion for vengeance when he cut off the servant’s ear when they arrested Jesus.
b. Positive: Moses – passion for the people of Israel, Nehemiah – passion to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, Paul – passion to – plant new churches.
4. True passion is Christian passion: being centered in and driven by Christ in such a way that we are moved to action.
5. We must have passion. A Christian without passion is like a river without water.
6. Passion energizes the Christian life.
7 The only way to keep the fires of revival burning is to have a passion for God.
8. Without the passion of God in our lives we will lead a dull and draining existence.
9. Passion starts with God’s love for us and moves on with our love for Him.
B. The results of passion.
A. True passion leads us to heaven
1. True passion is being centered in and driven by Christ in such a way that we are moved to action
2. True passion leads us in our walk with Jesus
3. True passion drives us to keep our focus in life
B. True passion leads others to heaven
1. Our passion for God has direct implications on others
a.) Our love for God must be our #1 priority in life
b.) Our love for God should spill over into our love for others
2. Our passion for others drives us to share the gospel
a.) Passion gives us a boldness and a courage every day in life
b.) Passion writes the good news of Jesus on our hearts and in our minds
II. To keep revival fires burning we must love God with all our soul
A. The Message paraphrase says to love Him with all your prayer.
1. Our souls are bound to God by prayer.
2. We have had a lot of prayer leading up to and during the revival. Now we must continue just as fervently as we did before revival.
.3. I challenge you to pray for someone you know who is lost. Keep praying. Lift that person to God every day.
B. The bible says If My people who are called by my name will humble themselves and PRAY.
1. We cannot expect God to shower revival upon us if we do not ask Him.
2. We must pray with all of our soul and with all of our passion
III. To keep the fires of revival burning we must love God with all of our minds.
A. Love Him with all of our intellect.
1. Set your mind on Him.
2. In your mind pursue Him with all your passion.
B. You cannot make decisions without using your mind.
1. You cannot think and reason with your heart
2. When people talk about believing with your heart they are saying allow your emotions to be involved in your decisions
3. I must tell you that your emotions can be deceiving.
4. There are times when you are emotionally down and you may feel far from God.
5. Do you think that God saves and keeps you according to your emotions?
6. Sometimes you may not feel saved. Did God say, If you believe in Jesus and feel good He will save you.
7. Did He say: For God so loved the world that He gave … That who so ever believes in him and feels good shall be saved?
C. The fires of revival will keep burning if we love God with all of our mental capacity.
IV. To keep the revival fires burning we must love others and well as ourselves.
A. I love those who love me.
B. I even love those who like me
C. But I have a lot of trouble with those I don’t like.
1. God commands us to love all others.
2. You mean those who have done me wrong?
3. You mean those who are above or beneath me on the social ladder?
4. You mean those who talk funny and darker skin than mine?
5. God says love them all warts and all.
Con. Do you really, really, really, want revival to last? Do you want to see the church grow as revival continues week after week?
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please, not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don’t want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
Bro. Bob did not bring revival neither did he leave a revival.
Revival is what happens inside our hearts when we love God with all of our passion, soul, and mind.
If you do not know Christ as your savior there is nothing in you to revive. You must receive Jesus as savior then and only then will you come to love God with all of your passion.
Over 100 years ago, a group of pastors assembled to choose an evangelist for a city-wide campaign. Almost all of the pastors agreed D.L. Moody should be the evangelist. One pastor objected. He said, “You men make it sound like Mr. Moody has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit.” After a moment, one of the other pastors spoke up, “Mr. Moody doesn’t have a monopoly on the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly on him.” Does the Holy Spirit have a monopoly on you? That is the meaning of being filled with the Spirit.
