SEVEN DAYS TO REVIVAL
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. It happened at an Amazon Call center. The manager was walking down a line of cubicles listening as the phone staff fielded orders for products.
2. He stopped when he overheard one say to a customer, “No ma’am, we haven’t had any for weeks now, and it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting any soon.”
3. Alarmed, he rushed over, grabbed the headset and said to the customer, “That isn’t true, ma’am. Of course we’ll have it soon. Please call back in a few hours and I’m sure some will be available. Thank you!” And he hung up.
4. Then he started his lecture to the salesman; “Never, never tell a customer that we don’t have something. If we don’t have it, say we’ve already ordered it and that it’s being shipped!” He continued, “By the way, what was the lady asking about?” The clerk answered, “Rain.”
5. Lord, send us some spiritual rain! Amen?
B. SEVEN DAYS TO REVIVAL
1. Many believe that some things are “acts of God” – beyond our control; there’s nothing we can do to make them happen. Examples of this are earthquakes, rainstorms, tornadoes, etc.
2. Many people think Revival is the result of a sovereign move of God; it’s an act of God. But revivalists such as Charles Finney denied that.
3. He stated that God is ALWAYS READY to have revival. He stated that “when the CONDITIONS ARE RIGHT, revival can, and will happen.” And unlike the weather, he said that WE CONTROL THE CONDITIONS! 2 Chronicles 7:14
4. So, we CAN have revival if we want it! It’s as certain as a farmer planting a crop and expecting it to come up.
C. WE ARE AT A TURNING POINT TODAY
1. A “TURNING POINT” is a point at which a significant change occurs. It can be for bad or for good. It’s a choice WE make and it effects our lives and our destinies.
2. We’re going to look at 3 turning points in the Bible, their results, and see if we need to make a decision that will bring us to a point of revival.
3. HUMOR: We can all make Excuses why we’re not Revived
a. A fire occurred in a church. Fire trucks arrived with sirens wailing. Firemen started dousing the blaze.
b. The minister recognized one of the men, “Hello Jim! I haven’t seen you at church for a long time!”
c. Jim said, “Well, it’s been a long time since there’s been any kind of fire here at the church!”
4. THAT’S WHAT WE ALL NEED TO GET BACK: THE FIRE!
5. TO “REVIVE” means “to live again; to rise from the dead; an awakening of God’s people; a stirring of the Spirit of God.” Church, that’s what we need, but the question is, “Do we want it?”
6. The title of this message is “Seven Days To Revival.”
I. THREE TIMES GOD’S PEOPLE WERE AT A TURNING POINT
A. ISRAEL, PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
1. 19:16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 19 Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. 20:18 The people...said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Ex. 19:16-19; 20:18-19.
2. The people of Israel had a chance to develop a personal relationship with God, but they became afraid. I’m not saying there aren’t risks in getting close to the most powerful Being in the universe! There are! But the benefits far outweigh the risks. The blessing of the Lord is with them that fear Him! Instead, they opted to let Moses (the preacher) meet with God and tell them what God is saying.
3. This is so common that people don’t develop their own walk with God, but depend on someone else to be in touch with God – the pastor, grandma, their aunt, etc. WHAT WERE THE RESULTS OF THE ISRAELITES REJECTING A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD?
4. In Exodus 32:1 the Israelites ended up backsliding and going back to worship the idols of Egypt. Where there’s not a relationship, there’s no connection & it won’t last!
B. DANIEL’S DECISION TO PRAY
1. “2 At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. 3 I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over” Dan. 10:2-3. An angel was sent from God and said, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your
words were heard, and I have come in response to them” Dan. 10:12.
2. Daniel’s people were captives in a foreign land; Jerusalem lay in ruins; it’s Temple burned to the ground. Daniel decided to pray; he decided to seek the face of God about their situation and God heard his prayer and changed history!
C. THE PRODIGAL SON’S CHOICE: BETTER DIRECTION
1. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father....“ But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” Luke 15:17-20.
2. There came a turning point in the Prodigal’s life: he made a decision to return to his Father! He got tired of the pigpen, of sleeping with the hogs and eating their food. HAVE YOU GOTTEN TIRED OF YOUR SITUATION YET? COME TO YOUR SENSES YET? Have you made a decision to return to your Father?
II. OUR TURNING POINT: WE HAVE 2 CHOICES
A. WE CAN STAY AS WE ARE
1. Y’all are pretty good folks, but that doesn’t mean you couldn’t stand some improvement! Can you say ‘Amen?’
2. Francis Bacon said, “Things alter for the worse spontaneously if they are not altered for the better designedly (on purpose).”
3. We have the tendency to:
a. Take back our consecration to God;
b. Leave our ‘first love’ for Jesus -- the love and gratitude we felt for Jesus when we got saved.
c. We tend to withdraw from total surrender to God, and come under a self-pleasing spirit.
d. While doing these things we usually maintain an outward appearance of religion. THAT’S WHY...
4. MANY CHRISTIANS LIVE IN A BACKSLIDDEN STATE OF HEART; Others live far below the level of life they are capable of living.
5. Most Christians Expect little, Ask little, Receive little, and are Content with little.
6. God doesn’t want us to be average or middle of the road;
“There’s nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos.”
7. You’ll never do anything significant with only ½ a heart and mind. Someone said,
“If we haven’t discovered something that we will die for, we’re not fit to live!” Joe Namath said, “If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?” (½ measures). If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right!
8. 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!
B. DECIDE: I WILL HAVE MORE OF GOD & GOD WILL HAVE MORE OF ME!
Daniel made that decision and altered history! The moment we definitely commit, God moves too! Things occur which never would otherwise. A stream of different events begins from the point of decision.
III. MAKE A DECISION TO DRAW NEAR TO GOD
A. IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER
1. PRAYER MOVES THE HAND THAT MOVES THE WORLD. Prayer changes things:
a. Overcomes all powers,
b. It couple’s Heaven’s resources with our needs,
c. Breaks the chains binding the prisoners,
d. Prayer is our mightiest weapon.
2. Yet Christians often act as if they don’t believe prayer changes things. Nothing is discussed more and practiced less than prayer!
B. THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF PRAYER
1. Guy King said, “No one is a firmer believer in the power of prayer than the devil.”
2. Samuel Chadwick said, “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!”
3. John Newton said, “Prayer is the greatest engine to overthrow and rout my spiritual enemies...”
C. THE POWER OF A TURNING POINT
1. It can alter your life for good or bad. We don’t want to be neutral. Dante said, “The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”
2. A TURNING POINT is a point at which significant change occurs. WE CAN CHOOSE TODAY:
a. To surrender a controlling HABIT to God;
b. To quit hanging around ungodly FRIENDS;
c. To make a fresh DEDICATION to the Lord;
3. Daniel chose for good – to draw near.
The Prodigal “ “ “ – to return to his Father
Will You?
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: How Powerful Prayer Can Be
1. Kaus* stood at the base of a mountain, looking up. God is good, he thought as he gazed over the mulberry trees that covered the slopes. Like many of the Miao people who live in Northern China, Kaus is a Christian. He lives in a small village surrounded by mountains.
2. Kaus and the other villagers make a simple living off the mulberry trees. But it’s not the trees or the fruit that they harvest. Instead, they harvest silk. Silkworms eat the leaves of the mulberry trees.
3. When the silkworms spin cocoons, the Miao people unwind the strands of the cocoons to make silk thread. It’s a simple living, but the people are happy and they trust God.
4. Kaus’s smile faded as he saw his friend Riam headed toward him. Riam carried a mulberry branch in his hands, and he had a worried look on his face. “What’s the matter, Riam?” Kaus asked.
5. Riam showed him the branch: it had caterpillars on it, but they weren’t silkworms, and they were busily munching on the green leaves. “Oh no!” Kaus said. “How bad is it?” “They’re everywhere,” Riam said. “They are covering all the trees. We must tell the village.”
6. Kaus and Riam ran to the village and gathered the people. Everyone ran out to the mountainside and began picking the caterpillars from the trees. The caterpillars were so many that the people couldn’t even put a dent in their numbers. So the people stopped and returned to the village.
7. “What will we do?” Kaus asked. “The caterpillars will destroy all the leaves. There won’t be anything left for the silkworms to eat.”
8. One villager said, “We can’t do anything, but God can. We must go to church and pray.” So all the villagers gathered in the chapel and called out to God for help. They didn’t return to their homes until late that night.
9. Early the next morning, Kaus got up and headed toward the chapel to pray some more. But on his way, he heard the Caw! Caw! of a crow. He saw a large flock of crows circling; they swept down on the mulberry trees and began feeding on the fat caterpillars.
10. Everyone watched as the crows feasted all day long. In the evening, the crows flew away and were never seen again. The villagers ran to the grove and searched but not one caterpillar could be found. The villagers knew that God had heard their prayers.
B. THE CALL
1. Ushers Pass out Commitment Sheets. [SEVEN DAYS TO REVIVAL
*I PLEDGE TO BE UP AT ____ A.M. AND PRAY ____ MINUTES FOR 7 DAYS
*I PLEDGE TO READ MY BIBLE FOR ____ MINUTES EACH DAY FOR 7 DAYS
*I PLEDGE TO ATTEMPT TO SPEAK TO ____ PEOPLE EACH DAY ABOUT JESUS CHRIST FOR 7 DAYS]
2. Idea: Revival is in our grasp if we make decisions that will promote revival.
3. I want you to make a HOLY PLEDGE TO GOD that you will pray, read your Bibles, and share Christ for the next 7 days.
4. I suggest 30 min. of Bible reading & 30 minutes of prayer for the HOUR THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE! Try it for one week! See if it makes a difference.
5. CALL: Are you tired of being in the middle of the road? Do you want to make this morning a “turning point” in your life?
6. Do you need to be saved from your sins? Do you want your FIRST LOVE for Jesus back?
7. COME TO FRONT. Song: “Burn for You.” PRAYER.
