Revival? Lord Let it begin with me!
Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Refrain:
I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Civilla D. Martin (1866 - 1948) Penned the song, His Eye is on the Sparrow, this is how it came to be.
"Early in the spring of 1905, my husband and I were sojourning in Elmira, New York.
We contracted a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle true saints of God.
Mrs. Doolittle had been bed ridden for almost twenty years.
Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheel chair.
Despite their afflictions, they lived good Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them.
One day while we were visiting with the Doolittles, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it.
Mrs. Doolittles reply was simple: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
The beauty of this simple expression of bound less faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr. Martin and me.
The hymn His Eye Is on the Sparrow was the outcome of that experience."
So much joy, from two people who were bedridden and wheelchair bound,
if any one would have ever had the right to be discouraged, it would have been the Doolittles.
Yet their lives brought inspiration and comfort to all who knew them.
I think we have all seen people who have inspired us, that overcame great obstacles and have done amazing things.
It’s those times we realize how little we all do, with what we have and how much more, were all capable of.
Its a sad fact of life today, but there are a lot of discouraged people out there in this world.
But Im telling you today, if you know Jesus, the Son of the Living God, then you have a reason to sing!
And there is truly nothing, to be discouraged about in this life that we live, we are blessed!
Oh sure, things happen, problems come and go, there is nothing though in any of our lives that cant be overcome with the Lords help.
He is an overcoming, death defying, problem solving, grace giving, all forgiving, Amazing Good God!
As Christians, we of all people should be happy about our lot in life.
We should be ecstatic!, we have been forgiven of all sins, we have ever done or will do,
by the precious grace of Jesus, that God sent to us, oh so long ago.
It makes you wonder Why in the world, aren’t more people able to get their hands around this, Life giving, Life changing message, Jesus brought us?
A message, that was so important for God to get to us, that He was willing to give up His one and only Son, so we could have it!
And by doing so, His death on the cross, would forever pay the price for the forgiveness of sin,
Everything that we have, every benefit we enjoy, everything good that’s ever happened in our lives, we owe to the selfless act of Jesus.
We don’t fight for victory today, we fight from victory, Jesus has already been victorious for us, in every situation we will ever encounter.
His eye is on the sparrow was written in 1905, and not many of the wonderful so called necessities we enjoy today,
Like cars, laptops, planes, microwaves, electronic banking, fed ex and I could go on and on, could have even been imagined back then.
Yet we find, we still face many of the same things they encountered back then, discouragement, loneliness and fear.
Discouragement Defined; to make somebody less optimistic: to make somebody feel less motivated, confident, or optimistic.
Discouragement in the world today, is probably almost at an all time high.
So many out of work, so many have lost their homes, so many people numb from what the world and the accuser has done to them.
The answer to all the worlds problems, of course, seems obvious to me, how about you?
When we have problems with the things in our lives, the first thing we do, is to look the manufacturer to fix or correct the problems that we have, don’t we?
God is the maker of everything and everyone, He is the only one who can fix this messed up world in which we live,
one moment of his grace and favor, can turn any situation around!
God has made promise after promise to His Children and to all who will listen, and there is not one promise that He has not kept.
Jerm.29:11 NKJ
11. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
12. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
13. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
The answer is right there for the whole world to see, its always been there and always will be.
The answer is to start seeking God instead of ourselves,
You would think after what has happened in the last few years, that there would be lines,
Very Long lines at every church in America, every time the doors were open, But are there? No, there’s not.
You would think, that with the economy supposedly in the worst shape that its been in since the great depression,
That people would be flocking to God in droves, but their not,
the scary thing is, the world got into this mess without God and they still think they can get out of it without Him too.
It didn’t work for the children of Israel, when they were wondering around in the desert looking for the promised land for 40 yrs.
On a journey that could have been completed in 2 wks.
It didn’t work then, and it still doesn’t work today!!
Christians all over this land are saying, we need a revival, and their right, we do need a revival, we need to get back to God!
Thing is, they don’t want to get involved in it, until after its a full fledged movement.
You know, nothing draws a crowd, like a crowd draws a crowd.
What they don’t realize is that it starts with one person who is willing to give a three lettered word, called ALL!
All their soul, mind, body and spirit, every fiber of their being.
That’s how revival will get started,
TBS. in 2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJ
14. if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
The problem is, nobody wants to give their all, to see it happen.
There to busy, they don’t want to, they have other plans, they say there are others who are more qualified for the task.
The Bible tells us of an example of someone like that, someone who thought their agenda was more important than Gods.
Jonah 1:1-3 NKJ
1. Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.
3. But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
There are a lot of Jonahs in this world, each will give you a myriad of reasons, as to why they shouldn’t be the one to give there all for Jesus.
And just like Jonah, they’ve been slapped around plenty of times by circumstances and wrong decisions.
They fail to ever see what a difference, they could have made in countless numbers of lives, if they would have.
Oh, God will get someone else, who me? What could I possibly do?, Im just one person, I cant do everything you know.
If I did, I wouldn’t have time for you no who, ME!
There’s an old song that went like this,
It only takes a spark to get a fire going,
And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing;
That’s how it is with God’s Love,
Once you’ve experienced it,
Your spread the love to everyone
You want to pass it on
That’s the problem, you see, no one wants to pass it on anymore, its just not cool.
Ill tell you what’s not cool, someone going hell is not cool!
Countless numbers of people all across this nation will tell you what one spark will do,
The state of Arizona right now is experiencing the worst fires in their history, and it all started with a spark or small flame that got wind and took off.
Jonah, finally came to his senses, and what amazing results God was able to accomplish through him!
Jonah found out exactly, with God in the mix, what one person was capable of!
Jonah 3:1-5 NKJ
1. Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.
3. So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.
4. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first days walk. Then he cried out and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!
5. So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
What did the people do because of one persons faithfulness?, they believed,
What did they do?, they believed
Jonah gave his all, and the rest, the results, was up to God.
All of Nineveh experienced a great move of God!
Jonah 3:10 NKJ 10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
God did it then, and God is still willing to do it today.
TBS. if the name of Jesus, will be lifted up, He will draw all men unto Him.
Jesus already did the hardest part, He willingly laid down His life and conquered sin and death, once and for all!
All we have to do, is to lift up the name of Jesus, we have the easy part to do.
Its not like we have to run a marathon in one day, TBS. to run the race our whole entire lives
The results of one mans obedience, teamed up with God was amazing, can you imagine if we were all to get involved, what the results would be!
1 Corinthians 3:5-6 NKJ
5. Who then is Paul, and who is Apollo’s, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one?
6. I planted, Apollo’s watered, but God gave the increase.
We have been given the greatest opportunity in the history of the world,
Not only for those of us who know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, have we been set free from our sinful lives and promised Heaven and eternal life.
But we have the opportunity to tell others, to show our families, friends and loved ones,
To throw them the same life line, to offer them the same life changing experience!
We already have in our possession, the answer to the whole worlds dilemma,
Do you remember how you used to be in school, if you knew the answer to the teachers question,
You were like, raising you hand, wildly swinging it around, saying oh, oh, teacher over here, hurry call on me, I know the answer and you still do!
Its Jesus and a personal relationship with Him!
Somewhere along the line, you lost your excitement, but let me tell you,
Knowing God, Serving God and having a relationship with Him, through His Son Jesus, Is something to get excited about!!
That’s why in the song, His eye is on the sparrow, the best part, the most important part, is the singing part!
I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free!
Its one thing to know His eye is on the sparrow and everything is good with you and your relationship with Him.
But how could anyone that has that amazing knowledge, down deep in their heart,
Not want to share it with anyone and everyone at every opportunity they could!
No one wants to keep a good secret, everyone wants to be the first to tell, except when it comes to the gospel.
Its no wonder why the world doesn’t want what the church has to offer, as far as they know, they already have it.
There should be an excitement in the air when a Christian is around, a joy!
The old song says, I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, Where?
That’s exactly what the world is saying too!
The way we live and lead our lives is very important, its a very big part of our testimony
There should be something about us that should be inspiring, that says to a person,
I don’t know what it is about that them, but whatever it is, I want what they have.
And what we have to offer is Jesus!
TBS. the joy of the Lord is our strength, start to rely on Him and what He can do, instead of what you can do,
And I promise you, just like Jonah, you will be amazed at the results!
Time is so short, bible prophecy is happening every day, right in front of our eyes on the news.
The only thing that matters in this world, is what we do for Jesus,
Help start a revival in the land, that will heal a hurting nation and bring countless numbers of people to know the Lord,
And let it begin with you this morning, let it be your prayer,
Lord start a revival in this land, and let it begin with me.
Let’s pray
