KEYS TO EXPERIENCING REVIVAL
2CHRONICLES 29 & 30
Intro: Rabbit Resurrection
Sunday morning after church in Ramona
Brother /I were playing
Bushes thrashing/ got our attention
Dog Matt – Frantically shaking bushes
Matt didn’t care, but we knew that the rabbit belonged to Mrs. Clausen widow
We knew we didn’t have talent for fixing fences, screen doors, etc.
Told dad who never encountered a problem that he couldn’t handle
Everything is simple, don’t panic, don’t get excited. Take a second look at situations.
Don’t worry, Just hose the little fellow off real well so that he looks nice and clean, brush him down with this towel, and stick him back in his cage.
Mrs. Clausen is still in church. When she comes home, she will be upset, but just figure that he died a natural death.
We did exactly as we were told and hid in the bushes to get a good seat to see what happened.
Sure enough, she did just as dad had said. She came out of the back door and headed for the rabbit cages. All of a sudden, we heard the worst screaming you can imagine. Mrs. Clauasen went on hollering, shrieking, crying, yelling, and asking God all kind of questions.
Mom and dad finally went over to calm her and ask her to explain what had happened.
In between sniffs and sobs, she finally got it out, “I buried that rabbit three days ago…
RABBIT CAME BACK TO LIFE
THOUGHT: GOD WANTS HIS PEOPLE TO BE FULL OF LIFE.
FACT: THERE ARE KEYS IN 2 CHRON. 29 TO EXPERIENCING REVIVAL.
I. THE CHURCH MUST UNDERSTAND REVIVAL
A. REAL REVIVAL IS NOT MANIFESTATION FOCUSED
(IF IT WERE, I WOULD JUST TURN A SQUIRREL LOOSE IN THE BUILDING)
Acts 2:17-18
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
(KJV)
B. REAL REVIVAL IS FOCUSED UPON GOD’S RELATIONSHIP WITH PEOPLE.
1. In the Old Testament, The Bible skips over thousands of years including creation
in a couple of chapters. However, it spends numerous chapters focusing upon a man named Abraham and His relationship with His God.
2. It’s not a question of what God is doing around me, but what God is doing in me.
B. REVIVAL IS A TWO FOLD EVENT
1. RENEWAL
2. RESCUE (WINNING OF THE LOST/ LIFE PRESERVER)
II. THE CHURCH MUST UNDERSTAND THEIR NEED FOR REVIVAL VS. 6-7
2 Chr 29:6-7(KJV)
6 For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs.
7 Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel.
HEZEKIAH STATED THAT ISRAEL’S FORMER GENERATION OF
SPIRITUAL LEADERS DIDN’T UNDERSTAND THEIR NEED FOR REVIVAL. THEY HAD …
A. UNDERESTIMATED THE IMPORTANCE OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP
WITH THEIR GOD - “TURNED THEIR BACKS & SHUT THE DOOR”
B. THEY HAD NOT FOSTERED GOD’S PRESENCE - “DIDN’T KEEP THE
LAMPS BURNING”
SCOTTISH VILLAGE/ELECTRICITY BEING INTRODUCED/
C. THEY HAD NOT HONORED GOD - “NOT BURNED INCENSE”
D. FAILED TO CONFESS THEIR SINFULNESS - “FAILED TO OFFER
BURNT OFFERINGS”
III. THE CHURCH MUST PREPARE FOR REVIVAL VS. 1-5
2 Chr 29:1-5(KJV)
1 Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done.
3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.
4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street,
5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy
place.
A. HE REPAIRED THE HOUSE OF THE LORD VS. 3
2 Chr 29:3(KJV)
3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.
B. HE CLEANSED THE HOUSE AND THE LEADERSHIP VS. 5
2 Chr 29:4-5(KJV)
4 And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the east street,
5 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the
IV. THE CHURCH MUST BE DETERMINED TO EXPERIENCE REVIVAL
2 Chr 29:10(KJV)
10 Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us.
Phil 3:13
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
(KJV)
A. REVIVAL IS NOT UNORDINARY
B. FINNEY’S DEFINITION OF REVIVAL
Finney proposed that revival is not something that is peculiar or out of the ordinary with God. Rather, revival is something that is certain. Revival is certain because of the certainty of God. Just as God’s desire and power for the redemption and renewal of His people is not out of the ordinary, so the renewal of the church and the salvation of the sinner is not peculiar with God.
He goes on to say what is out of the ordinary is the church’s failure to expect the power of God to be resident in the midst of His people.
C. REVIVAL IS MAN RESPONDING TO GOD AND GOD HIMSELF RESPONDING TO MAN
1. We understand that God has already made Himself available to us.
Heb 10:19-22(KJV)
19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
2. God is present. However, we must respond to the God who has already taken the initiative to fellowship with us to further revival.
James 4:8-10(KJV)
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
3. Acts 2 they prayed until the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them.
V. THE CHURCH MUST REPENT TO EXPERIENCE REVIVAL
2 Chr 29:20-24(KJV)
20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD.
21 And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the LORD.
22 So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar.
23 And they brought forth the he goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them:
24 And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
A. WE MUST PLACE EVERY KNOW SIN UNDER THE BLOOD
(OLD SINS)
B. A REPENTANT CHURCH IS ONE THAT UNDERSTANDS THE ENORMITY OF THE WAGES OF SIN.
Rom 6:23(KJV)
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
1. Death Physically and Spiritually.
2. Jesus life.
VI. THE CHURCH MUST BECOME OBEDIENT
2 Chr 29:25-27(KJV)
25 And he set the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet: for so was the commandment of the LORD by his prophets.
26 And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
27 And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel.
A. ISRAEL DISOBEDIENCE WASN’T BECAUSE OF A LACK OF INFORMATION. THEY WERE NEGLECTING TO DO WHAT WAS RIGHT, BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T WANT TO. THIS BECAME SIN TO THEM.
James 4:17(KJV)
17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
1. Revival cannot happen in a church when there is spiritual neglect and disobedience
to God.
B. WE MUST HEED THE WORDS OF MARY IN REFERENCE TO JESUS.
John 2:5(KJV)
His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
CONCL: REVIVAL IS AVAILABLE TO US, BECAUSE GOD IS AVAILABLE TO US. WE MUST RESPOND TO GOD AND HE WILL SEND US REVIVAL.
