Lesson Goal
I hope to encourage the preaching of real revival not just a special event, a church growth campaign or a counterfeit.
Lesson Intro
There are many events in recent church history that have been called a revival, but not all of them were genuine revivals. Some were an apostasy. Real revival is evidenced by changed lives, not electrifying preaching, manipulative crowd techniques or questionable manifestations. Real revival is a reformation, a renovation of people's individual lives. It is evidenced by dramatic social change in a community and remarkable personal transformation in an individual. It is the kind of change that only the Holy Spirit can produce.
Lesson Plan
We will take another look Acts 2, but this time as an example of a revival sermon, and a real revival.
Lesson Body
The IVP New Testament Commentary says that, "Pentecost has become a source of confusion, embarrassment or division for Christians, even as it has become a curiosity, if not an object of ridicule, for non-Christians..." There are marked differences between this early church meeting and any modern Christian meetings. There are some elements that are the same, but many that are completely unique.
Pentecost First Fruits (Acts 2:1-4)
Pentecost was also known anciently as one of the feasts of first fruits (Leviticus 23:10-17). Jesus' resurrection makes him the first fruits of those who have died (1 Corinthians 15:20). The redeemed are called the first fruits (Revelation 14:4). We also have the first fruits of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:23). This Pentecost was a real revival. Are some of these elements things that we might experience today?
Pentecost Phenomena (Acts 2:5-11)
That Pentecost included miracles of a wind, visible fire and known human languages. I don't know if anyone has experienced the wind and fire today, and the vocal event that people experience today is usually "unknown tongues." Does this mean that if we don't have these phenomena, we don't have revival? No. Revival has to do with changed lives, not the manifestations that may or may not occur.
Were they Drunk? (Acts 2:12-15)
Detractors accused them of being drunk. We don't know many more details than that. So what could people do that seems like they are drunk? Drunks often laugh, dance, stagger or speak incoherently. Does the appearance of being drunk signify a revival? No, that is incidental. A revival is a changed life. People laugh and dance, stagger or speak in languages for all kinds of reasons, some of them good and some of them not.
Peter Explains Joel's Prophecy (Acts 2:16-21)
In Old Testament times the Holy Spirit was poured out only occasionally on individuals (1 Samuel 16:13; Ezekiel 11:24; Genesis 41:38; Exodus 31:2-3) one at a time. Peter explains that the time has come for the Spirit to be poured out upon many people without regard to age, gender, social prominence and later on even ethnicity (Acts 2:39). The Holy Spirit is the catalyst for revival. It cannot occur without his help. We may schedule a revival meeting, we may pray for a real revival, but only the Holy Spirit can initiate a genuine revival.
Peter Explains Jesus (Acts 2:22-28)
What is the message of a good revival sermon all about? Peter explains that Jesus' resurrection is central. Did you think it was certain manifestations? The cause of revival is ultimately rooted in the resurrection of our Savior. Without a Savior, we have no hope of revival. Jesus had ascended to heaven and it was he who sent the Holy Spirit (John 15:26; 16:7).
Peter Explains that they Killed their Messiah (Acts 2:36)
As orthodox or mainstream Christianity has attested throughout time, Jesus was God or divinity in the flesh. The understanding that we too have killed our Messiah is the beginning of revival. So then a modern revival sermon must bring the people to the point that they realize that they, through their sins, have likewise killed their Messiah.
Remorseful Crowd told Repent, be Baptized (Acts 2:37-40)
How do you deal with the fact that you and your bad behavior are the cause of Jesus' death? This is an important subtopic in a revival sermon. The people are challenged to have a change of heart. The result was, as the NIV translates it, that they were "cut to the heart." They knew they were culpable. They were accomplices in the murder of their Messiah, their only hope of salvation. The Greek implies that "every single one" stands guilty before God as an individual and that is why we are baptized as individuals. This is the beginning of a revived life, hearts turning to God.
3,000 Baptized (Acts 2:41-45)
The Apostles were not interested in some of the controversies surrounding this chapter that trouble our churches today. They focused on the important issues of Christianity. Do we? So what is the teaching of the Apostles? How does it differ from many of the fads that masquerade as revival? With genuine revival lives are changed by the Holy Spirit.
A Committed Church (Acts 2:46-47)
A large church of over 3,000 people has a lot of activity going on. At least some of the people of God were involved in activities every day, probably after work. Hospitality and generosity were everywhere. Revival sometimes, but not always produces large numbers of people turning to God. Some regions of the world are stubborn and hard hearted. Others are more easily turned to God.
Counterfeits
Can we have miracles and wonders without revival? There are false saviors and false prophets who perform real signs and wonders (Matthew 24:24) and phony miracles (Ephesians 4:14). That should not deceive Christians, but it does. If lives are NOT being changed for the good, we do NOT have a genuine revival.
How then can we tell a genuine preacher and a genuine revival from a counterfeit? Deuteronomy 13 describes how to identify false prophets and false wonders. Notice that these prophecies and wonders actually occur. However, they are still a fraud. Why? The teaching of the individual performing the miracle or telling the prophecy is a counterfeit. When lives are changed or converted to doctrines that are wacky and heretical fakes, that is not real revival. Genuine revival changes people's hearts towards Jesus Christ and the doctrines that he taught, not some bogus off-the-wall novel ideas that completely contradict everything that Christianity has stood for for the past 2,000 years.
How can we discern what is right teaching from heresy? Several principles will help us in general:
Whatever blatantly contradicts the Bible is heresy.
Whatever is contrary to the Gospel is heresy.
Whatever contradicts the Creeds is heresy.
Whatever contradicts what the Church has historically regarded as essential teachings about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, angels, mankind, sin, the Bible, salvation, the church or prophecy is heresy.
A genuine revival that comes from and is empowered by God leads people down the path of truth. When the Holy Spirit revives people, he changes lives and gives them power to spread the most important message on earth: the significance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Key Revival Points
Analyzing Acts 2 just for the key revival points, we notice several ideas that relate specifically to Peter's sermon as a revival sermon.
Intro: The introduction was a scriptural explanation of things that the Holy Spirit was doing.
Body: The body of the message focused on Jesus, the resurrection, and our individual culpability in sin.
Outro: The application and conclusion focused on an individual response of repentance and baptism.
Example Sermon
Title: "Confession & Revival"
Goal
To encourage people that revival includes confessing our sins.
Intro
Someone once talked about seeing a piece of graffiti with the words, "God is dead, Nietzsche." Underneath it was scrawled, "Nietzsche is dead, God." Christians do believe that God is alive, but sometimes we act as if he is dead, because we do wrong things as if he is not looking.
Plan
Let's discuss the topic of confession of our sins as a part of Israel's revival under Ezra and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 9). Let's look at certain revival ingredients like Bible reading, fasting, praise and confession.
Body
1. Bible Reading & Fasting (verses 1-3)
The Israelites had returned to the land after a national exile in Babylon and had just completed a high-priority military defense project rebuilding the walls of their capital city, Jerusalem. They then turned their focus to reading the Scriptures and fasting. The Bible is powerful. It cuts both ways, like a double-edged sword. When we read the Scriptures, it pricks our conscience. It prepares us for personal revival.
Notice something that we could not stand today. They read the Scriptures out aloud for about three hours. Now if a modern preacher did that, he wouldn't last long. It would be a good thing to do, but modern audiences are not culturally attuned to tolerate any such thing. One thing is certain, we cannot claim superiority over these ancient peoples merely because we have the Holy Spirit living in us. In many ways we are weaker. They were zealous and had a kind of stamina that we sometimes lack today.
2. Praise (verses 5-31)
The Israelites praised God for all the good things he has done. They praised his name, his creation, providence, faithfulness, mercy, laws.
3. Confession (verses 2-3, 16-37)
Then also focused on public confession of their sins. Leaders took turns confessed their individual sins and they confessed their national disobedience, forgetfulness, blasphemies, rebellion, murdering the prophets, pride, obstinacy and wickedness. Many churches today include a generalized public confession of sins in their liturgy. This is a good thing.
Outro
Revival includes publicly confessing our sins. That does not include private details that everyone does not need to know, but in general, we are all guilty of disobedience, forgetfulness, blasphemies, rebellion, murdering the prophets, pride, obstinacy and wickedness. Let's be open about our faults and confess and be conquerors of sin.
Suggested Assignment
Prepare a sermon on the need for repentance. This will be a tough assignment if you are doing it in a church setting, because people who are not receptive will get angry. This will test your tact and diplomacy. It will test your willingness to preach what God wants you to preach no matter whether or not you are persecuted for it, even by fellow Christians.
Lesson Outro
We have taken another look Acts 2, but this time as an example of a revival sermon, and looked at some concepts surrounding what constitutes a real revival. There have been large and small revivals throughout Christian history, but the need for reformation in individual lives will be an incessant responsibility of preachers everywhere until Christ returns.
Let's preach and pray for revival in our churches, genuine revival that is evidenced by changed lives. Let's pray for reformation in our own and other people's individual lives. Let's preach and pray for dramatic social change in our communities and remarkable personal transformation in our congregations. Let's pray for the kind of change that only the Holy Spirit can produce.
