CULTIVATE REVIVAL
Ps. 85:1-7
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: ANIMAL HUMOR
1. What happens to a frog's car when it breaks down? It gets toad away.
2. Q: What did the lady duck say when he bought lipstick? A: "Put it on my bill."
3. Q: Can a kangaroo jump higher than the Empire State Building? A: Of course. The Empire State Building can't jump.
B. TEXT
1“You, Lord, showed favor to your land…2 You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. 3 You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger. 4 Restore us again, God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us. 6 Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? 7 Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation.” Ps. 85:1-4,6-7.
C. TITLE: “Cultivate Revival.”
I. DEFINITION OF REVIVAL
A. REVIVAL REFERS TO A:
1. STATE SIMILAR TO HIBERNATION…“spiritual reawakening from a state of dormancy or stagnation in the life of a believer.” When bears hibernate, their temperature can drop by ten degrees, their heart rate drops 75%, and they go without food for up to 100 days. Sounds like a lot of Christians, who don’t eat, get cold, and are barely alive!
2. FLOTATION “It encompasses the resurfacing of a love for God. Like you’re being held under water – in the wrong environment.
3. VISION “an appreciation of God's holiness, a convicting awareness of personal and corporate sin, a spirit of humility, and a desire for repentance and growth in righteousness. Revival invigorates and sometimes deepens a believer's faith, opening his or her eyes to the truth in a fresh, new way. It generally involves the connotation of a fresh start with a clean slate, marking a new beginning of a life lived in obedience to God.
4. PASSION “a new passion for His Word and His church. Revelation 2:4-5. Many times excitement about Christ grows cold, we lose the zeal that we had at first. Revival helps restore that first love and passion for Christ.
5. EMANCIPATION “Revival breaks the charm and power of the world which blinds the eyes of men, and generates both the will and power to live in the world but not of the world.
6. HOLY SPIRIT PROMPTING. It is initiated by a prompting of the Holy Spirit, creating an awareness of something missing or wrong in the believer's life. The Holy Spirit draws back the veil the world has cast over the truth, allowing the believers to fully see themselves in comparison to God's majesty and holiness.
B. ILLUSTRATION
1. A man once came to a Philosopher and said, “I want you to teach me knowledge.” The Philosopher said, “Very well, follow me.”
2. He went to the river and walked out chest deep. He grabbed the head of the new recruit and thrust it under the water for a time.
3. When the man came up spluttering, the Philosopher asked “What is it you want?” “I want knowledge,” the man said. The Philosopher again thrust the man’s head under the water and when he came up spluttering, the Philosopher asked “What is it you want?” “I want knowledge!”
4. He was put under a third time. The man swallowed a lot of water, and came fighting up to the surface gasping, “Give me AIR!”
5. The Philosopher replied, “When you want knowledge like you want air, you’ll find knowledge!”
6. I tell you, When you want God like you want air, you’ll find God. Hunger must be cultivated.
II. REASON WE MUST MAKE NEW EFFORTS:
Francis Bacon said, “Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they are not altered for the better designedly (on purpose).”
A. WE HAVE THE TENDENCY TO:
1. Take back our consecration to God;
2. Leave our 1st love to Christ;
3. Withdraw from a state of total surrender to God and come back under the control of a self-pleasing spirit;
4. Maintain the outward appearance of religion while backsliding in our heart-love for God.
B. WE LIVE BELOW OUR PROPER STATE
1. Many Christians live in a backslidden state of heart. Others live far below the level of Christian life they are capable of living.
2. Most Christians expect little, ask little, and thus receive little, and are content with little! “There’s nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos!”
3. “If a man hasn’t discovered something he can die for, his life won’t be fit to live!” Joe Namath said, “If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?” Come on! Step over the line! Get on God’s side! If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten!
III. HUNGER FOR GOD MUST BE CULTIVATED
A. QUOTES
1. A.W. Tozer wrote, "Revivals come only to those who want them badly enough. The problem is not to persuade God to fill us, but to want God sufficiently to permit him to do so. The average Christian is so cold and so contented with his wretched condition that there is no vacuum of desire into which the blessed Spirit can rush in satisfying fullness." from Born After Midnight.
2. PATRICK MORELEY, The Gospel of Only Addition
“The American gospel has evolved into a gospel of addition without subtraction. It is the belief that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior… A changed life is one that has added Christ and subtracted sin, that attracts a world weary of worn-out words. Obedience is the proof.”
3. LEONARD RAVENHILL
a. "The only reason we don't have revival is because we are willing to live without it!"
b. "The Church used to be a lifeboat rescuing the perishing. Now she is a cruise ship recruiting the promising."
B. DEHYDRATION
1. We all hunger and thirst, most of us have no problem eating, but the thirsting part for most people, leaves room for improvement, because if you ask anyone how much water they drink, hardly anyone ever drinks the right amount.
2. IMPORTANCE OF WATER TO OUR PHYSICAL BODIES
a. When our bodies fail to retain the right amount of water, dehydration sets in.
b. It is the water in our body that determines the vitality, strength, and energy associated with daily living.
*The human body is ⅔ water.
* The body absorbs cold water faster than hot water.
* By the time you are 70-years-old, you will have required 1½ million gallons of water.
*Studies show that increasing water consumption can
decrease fat deposits. Water is a natural appetite
suppressant.
*If you loose 2% of your body’s water supply, your
energy will decrease by 20%.
*A 10% decrease in water, you will be unable to walk, and a 20% decrease – you’re dead.
3. And what is true of the physical is also true of the spiritual. Because God has made you with a spirit, soul, and body that get thirsty, if you fail to satisfy that thirst, your spirit, soul, and body become dehydrated.
4. 7 SYMPTOMS OF DEHYDRATION: (lack of spiritual desire)
a. Dry, sticky mouth (say things you shouldn’t)
b. Sleepiness or tiredness (not alert to your bad condition)
c. Constipation (can’t get rid of waste, junk out of your life)
d. Few or no tears when crying (no passion left)
e. Dry skin (no anointing)
f. Headache (can’t think, spiritual indecision)
g. Dizziness or lightheadedness (likely to fall, barely conscious)]
5. And I got to thinking, what is our thirst level, when it comes to the things of God?
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. OUR CULTURE IS LIKE POISON GAS PITTS, INTO WHICH ANIMALS WANDER AND THEN ARE SUBMERGED IN THE GAS AND DIE.
2. Researchers investigating CO2 emissions from magma found concentrations as high as 95% near Mammoth Mountain.
3. CO2 is denser than air and may slowly accumulates. These elevated concentrations were measured in pits in the snow and soil.
4. Concentrations of 70% caused the death of a skier who fell into a “snow well.” Animals who ventured into pits with CO2 have been known to become lethargic, lie down, and die.
5. The animals become unaware of the danger and slowly sink into unconsciousness.
6. How like Christians in America who are exposed to high concentrations of this poisoned culture. Unless they retreat to higher ground and the purer air of heaven, they will sink down and die spiritually!
7. Prayer, the Word, praise, the Body of Christ, etc., are the fresh air we must get back into!
B. THE CALL
1. QUOTES ABOUT PRAYER:
a. “No one is a firmer believer in the power of prayer than the devil” Guy King.
b. “The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray!” Samuel Chadwick.
c. “Poverty–stricken as the church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of PRAYER. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few PRAYERS.” Leonard Ravenhill
2. 4 KEYS TO FREEDOM
a. CONFESS your sins to God – stubbornness, unbelief, pride, selfishness, envy, etc.
b. ASK JESUS/ HOLY SPIRIT TO COME IN AND TAKE OVER!
c. BELIEVE GOD FOR LIBERTY NOW.
d. BEGIN TO PRAISE HIM!!!!!!
3. Is God still in the business TO REVIVE US? Yes God wants to shake this church and our lives with His Holy Spirit.
