I used this sermon the Sunday prior to the begining of revival services to be held at our church.
There are notes at the end about powerpoint and video clip.
**Are We Ready for Revival
2 Chronicles 7:14
In one week we will begin 4 days of revival services. In preparation we have been praying and asking God to make our hearts and lives like fertile soil ready for the planting of His special will into our lives.
I don’t know that there is anything out there that says every revival needs to be started out with this verse
(2 Chronicles 7:14) as a precursor, but it often happens that way.
If we want to experience revival in our life personally and in the life of the Lord’s church here at Mt. Pleasant then I do believe we are going to have to take hold of three important things which can be found in this verse.
We must recognize OUR IDENTIFICATION
We must act upon GOD’S INVITATION
Then we will be free to experience GOD’S ILLUMINATION into our lives.
Let us stand together as we read 2 Chronicles 7:14
The Word of the Lord says
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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
(2 Chr 7:14 NIV)
I. Identification
First …Let’s think together this morning about the important matter of IDENTIFICATION.
I have asked a few of our church members to help me out this morning.
Caleb and Kara, along with Emily have come this morning to assist me in a brief lesson on identification.
Borrow three peoples drivers license
Get a picture or picture ID of 3 individuals in the church
Ask the person to which each belongs to identify the person in the picture…
Obviously they are going to say that it is (Me, there name)
The amazing thing is that all three of these individuals understood their identity.
In short …they know who they are….They have a good strong hold on their identification.
Some of you are saying
“well big deal… that’s not rocket science that they can identify who they are”.
But the strange thing in all of this is that many of us recognize who we are as a person… but do we understand who we are in being one of God’s people.
It is a question of identification.
Do we identify ourselves, as we should… with God… as being His people.
Do we act in faith as we should… being God’s people?
Do we walk in good and right ways that God’s Word has shown us,… ways filled with integrity and honesty.
Do we take hold of the full blessings that come from being God’s people?
It is the matter of identification.
The verse here says “If MY people who are called by my name.”
God is not talking to every person on the earth in this verse .
God is not talking to just any person in this verse.
God is talking to HIS PEOPLE
He says “If my people”
I can’t think of anything I would rather be than one of God’s people.
Some might say
“Well what is so special about being one of God’s people?”
I can’t be righteous, unless I am one of God’s people.
No one can receive true righteousness unless God gives to them… His righteousness.
Romans chapter 3 says
All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Rom 3:12 NIV)
But you see when you are one of God’s people you can receive His goodness that you might live a life filled with doing good.
Not only does being one of God’s people allow me to receive His righteousness but
Only God can give true forgiveness of sin.
Mark Chapter 2 speaks of Jesus’ encounter with a paralytic man.
Jesus told the paralytic man
“Son your sins are forgiven”
When the teachers of the law heard it
MK 2 verse 8 says that they replied
"Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
They were right in saying only God alone can forgive sins but what they did not realize was that Jesus was God in human flesh.
I am glad for my identification as one of God’s people because it assures that
I can obtain God’s righteousness
That I can receive God’s forgiveness but in addition being one of God’s people assures me that there are wonderful blessings to be received from Him.
Jesus said in MT chapter 7 that if we as earthly fathers being sinful as humans …know how to give good things to our children … how much more (Jesus said) will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Mat 7:11 NIV)
It is the promise that those who are God’s people will find blessings from God our Father.
II. INVITATION
One of those great blessings is the invitation which God gives to us continually to COME to Him.
God is waiting to bring revival to the life of His people. He knows who they are…
but has God’s people forgotten who they are?
We see here in 2 Chronicles 7:14 not just our identification as God’s people but we see also our invitation to come to God in a special way.
God says - if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
This is the way in which God invites us… His people to come to Him.
God said if my people will humble themselves…
It is the invitation to come humbly to God –
Approach God with a humble heart.
Peter wrote to us in the New Testament and said
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."…
(1 Pet 5:5 NIV)
Even Jesus Himself gave the great lesson of humility when He just shortly before His death on the cross bent low and washed His disciples feet.
Does your life represent real humility toward God?
Do you have a humble spirit in your heart or a proud and haughty spirit?
God’s invitation to find revival in our lives is not only to approach him humbly but also to seek Him in prayer… to meet Him in prayer.
When we turn off all of the world around us for that time that is so needed and precious…
That time of seeking His face honestly and earnestly in prayer…
looking into the heart of God by seeking Him in prayer that your heart might be filled with His will.
Until we find ourselves coming to God in real prayer His will for our lives and His direction for His church will be undiscovered.
We cannot find what is in the heart of God …until we spend time uniting our heart with His heart….
Prayer is getting heart to heart with Jesus.
God says come to me with a spirit of repentance,,,
He says
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn..turn…turn… from their wicked ways,
The greatest problem with repentance is not the problem of knowing what to repent from…but rather it is the problem of moving immediately and obediently… RIGHT NOW to the point of turning from that area of sin in our lives.
The problem is not discovering
“what do I need to repent from”…
If you are a child of God the Lord makes it evident to you in your life through the conviction the Holy Spirit, what you need to repent from… but it is the matter of “WHEN.”
God is wondering WHEN…When will be turn from our wicked ways. Our wicked ways create a wedge in our relationship with God.
God is waiting to bring revival but He is wondering when we will repent.
When is the best time for God’s people to repent?….To turn from their wicked ways???
The answer is simple…NOW!….and yet so many wait and put it off.
Someone has wisely said
“If we put off repentance another day, we have a day more to repent of, and a day less to repent in. “
Why do we wait?
The story is told of a man who lived in a small town. The man was unsaved but accepted an invitation by the pastor of a church to attend services.
One Sunday evening the pastor preached on the urgent need to repent. The man accepted Christ and began to feel a tremendous weight lifted from his life.
The very next morning bright and early the new Christian arrived at the pastors door.
The man showed the pastor a gold pocket watch and .
said to him,
"Do you recognize this old watch?"
"Why, yes," answered the pastor
"Those are my initials;… that is my watch.
I misplaced it over a year ago
How did you get it, and how long have you had it?"
"I stole it," was the man’s reply.
"What made you bring it back now?"
The pastor asked?
"I gave my heart to Jesus last night and am repenting of all my sins," and I came by last night but all your lights were already off so I have brought it back first thing this morning. If you had been up, I would have returned it last night."
If we want God to bring real revival into our lives and we want it now then it means that we must respond now…
With humility before God
With Prayer seeking the face of God.
With true repentance turning from our empty ways to the fullness of God.
You see this is what we must do to accept God’s invitation… for God to bring real revival into our lives.
God has INVITED us to do this…in order that … we might again experience the fullness of His goodness and multiplied blessings.-but will we…?
Will we… humble ourselves?
and pray ?
and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways?
If we will …then we will find after our identification with Him
and having accepted the invitation to seek Him
then we will find the Illumination of God’s power into our lives
III. ILLUMINATION
God’s response when we respond to His invitation is this - then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
God is light and His power and majesty are often made manifest by light as spoken of in the scripture. Jesus said
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12 NIV)
David said of God.
The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear?… (Psa 27:1 NIV)
We need revival because often our lives have become darkened from our having walked away from God and His light ..
His goodness..
His righteousness…His power is not having its full effect upon our lives.
The good thing about it is that even if we have walked away from the Light of the world who is Jesus Christ …He is still there. He is waiting for us to walk back into His open outstretched arms.
He waits to shine His glory, and presence and power back into our lives.
I believe that revival is about God’s people who are children of light walking more closely to Him…in order that we might again shine with joy and hope and gladness for Him and for His Kingdom.
Paul said in Eph 5:8
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light
He further gives to us instruction as is written in
1 Thes 5:5
5 You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.
Dear friends in Christ as we prepare our hearts and lives for revival let us remember that we are not children of darkness but of light.
We are God’s children and we have no cause, excuse or reason to walk in the darkness.
God waits to again bring His great magnificent glory into our lives.
To send reviving for our hearts, our lives and His church.
Are you ready for revival.
It is the matter of Identification – Are you one of God’s people if not come and place your full trust in God today by trusting in what Jesus did for you on the cross to free you from your sins.
It is the matter of Invitation – Will you come to God humbly and prayerfully and ready to turn from vain and empty things in your life.
If your answer this morning to Identification and Invitation is Yes …then you will experience the Illumination of God in your life.
The beacon of blessing and the ray of rejoicing…
God will bring the revival you seek if you are ready and willing. The obvious question is "Are You Ready For Revival in your life?"
**
I used a video clip from www.sermonspice.com to ready the attention of the people and lead their mind into the 7:14 passage. The clip is named "Calling Out to You." Free Powerpoint slides for this sermon are available at www.mtpbc.com click on pastors corner.
The powerpoint clips are mine and not copyrighted but the video clip must be legally purchased.
