We desire a revival from God that is anything but Biblical. We want God to come on the church in power and do amazing things. We also want God to leave things the same and not change anything. There has never been a time in history when God moved in power among people and left things as He found them. We desire a false revival that stirs the heart, makes us feel good about ourselves and allows us to remain unchanged. What we desire is anything but genuine revival.
We fail to see revival in the church is that we are unwilling to forgive the offenses of others. The longer that you harbor a grudge against anyone for anything, the longer it takes the Holy Spirit to work in your heart. We fail to see revival because we falsely believe that we do not need to be revived and that our lives are fine the way that we are. The unwillingness to admit that we need revival always quenches the movement of the Holy Spirit.
We fail to see revival because we are unwilling to surrender our agenda for the church. We want to make the church in our image and not the image of Christ. We fail to see revival because we are unwilling to be changed. Why should God bring revival to people who do not want to experience His power and be made more like His Son? We fail to see revival because we are unwilling to let go of ¡§our church.¡¨ Revival tarries when the church feels that they are in charge of the church.
Until we are willing to give these things over to God, we shouldn’t waste our breath praying for revival or a movement of the Holy Spirit. Ask God to change your heart before you seek revival because often revival starts in the heart of the believer. Ask God to rekindle your passion for Him and His work within your own life. Ask God to do something new in you and your life. We need to stop asking God to do something new in the church until we are willing to do something new ourselves.
Revival requires a change in the deepest levels of the heart. Our problem is that we often resist the call of God to revival. The early church embraced the call of God and experienced the greatest period of revival in humanity history. It should not be surprising that the church was born out of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. What should surprise us is that more churches are not reborn out of outpourings of the Spirit.
Our church does not need more programs. Our church does not need more events. Our church does not need more ministries. Our church is in a desperate need for more of the outpouring of God’s Spirit. We need for God to come and change our hearts. We are in desperate need of what God alone is capable of doing.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8
I. When the Holy Spirit moves, God reveals His power
The promise of Jesus is that God will give the needed power to do His work. Jesus makes it clear that there is no way to accomplish the mission of God’s Kingdom without the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot do the work of God without God’s power in us.
The word power here implies living a dynamic life. The only way that our lives can move beyond the ordinary is to experience the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit filling our lives. Believers were never meant to live ordinary lives but sadly we settle for less than God’s desire for our lives. The way to live the kind of life that God intends is to allow the Holy Spirit to empower us for God’s service.
The purpose of God’s power is to give believers the strength to be witnesses of Christ’s kingdom. God gives His power to show His love and grace through our lives to those around us. The power allows the light of Christ to shine through our lives.
It is only when we experience the power of the Holy Spirit that we can begin to impact our world. Our impact starts in our community, we will lose the opportunity to reach the world.
II. When the Holy Spirit moves, lost people come to faith
Here is a list of times through Acts that large numbers of people come to faith
Acts 2: 3,000 converts at Pentecost
Acts 4: The church grows to at least 5,000
Acts 6: The church increases greatly and adds a large number of priests
Acts 8: Revival in Samaria
Acts 11: Revival in Antioch
Acts 13: Revival in Psidia Antioch
Acts 14: Revival in Derbe
Acts 16: Revival in Galatia
Acts 17: Thessalonica and Berea
Acts 18: Corinth
Acts 28: Rome
The work of the Holy Spirit leads to additional converts. There is no other explanation for the rapid expansion of the church except for the movement of the Holy Spirit. The early Church so radically depended on the Spirit that they could not fail. The problem with churches today is that we have become institutions instead of places of inspiration. Churches have become so programmed that there is no room for the Holy Spirit to move. Churches have lost the experience of being driven and powered by the Holy Spirit.
When churches fail to reach people, they fail to experience the movement of the Holy Spirit. Why should the Holy Spirit move in power on a church that does not have a heart for people? Why should the Spirit move where the church doesn’t expect it? The Holy Spirit moves where God’s people expect Him to. Churches fail to see the movement of the Spirit because they stop expecting God to do anything in the church. When you came to church today, what were you expecting?
III. When the Holy Spirit moves, believers are filled with His presence
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:1-4
Evidence
When the Holy Spirit invades the life of a believer, there is always evidence. There was physical evidence in the room with the sound of a rushing wind and visually they saw fire from heaven. These were evidences for that specific day, we do not see this happen anywhere else in the New Testament. The true evidence is the change of heart and how the disciples behave following the filling of the Holy Spirit. Those who were filled with fear when Jesus was crucified now stood before crowds of thousands to proclaim Jesus.
Enabling
Tongues: Notice that Luke records that the disciples were speaking in different tongues. Luke then records that the crowds heard the disciples speaking in their own language and dialect. There were over a dozen different languages represented within the crowd that day and God uses this gift to break down the communication barrier to connect people with the gospel.
Empowement
Luke states that flames of fire felon the disciples. It is vital to remember that whenever fire is involved with the presence of God, it symbolizes His power, His glory and His cleansing. The fire of God fell that day not only to give power but also to set the disciples free from anything that might have held them back. The power of the Holy Spirit sets us free from the pains and power of our past.
A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God Charles Finney
What needs to happen for us to see the Holy Spirit’s power move?
1. Conviction: belief that we need it
2. Confession: Confess before God any unconfessed sins
3. Commitment: recommit to following Christ
4. Consecrate: giving our all to the service of Christ
