"roadblocks To Revival."

SCRIPTIURAL REFERENCES

(2 Chronicles 7:14) "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 I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

(Psalm 85:6) “Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?”

(Isaiah 64:1-2) (1) "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence," (2) "As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!"

(Isaiah 44:3) "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:"

PROLOGUE

This message aims to share some truth and insight into the body of Christ concerning the lax condition found in some churches today. People want a religion they can control and rarely question what may be preached from their pulpits, but what can you expect from people who are always in a hurry to go nowhere?

Did you know some pastors have reported feeling tired from all the pressure they face in many churches today? It is not good when people have to be begged to attend church, not realizing that their spirits will weaken without the fellowship of other believers.

All one needs to do is show up early before a church meeting and observe the attitude of the people gathered for what is supposed to be worship. Beloved, some have turned prayer meetings into a chance to spread church gossip, and there is no regard for the lost souls looking for a reason to live.

Some churches today resemble social gatherings where people catch up on the latest trends. This is the breeding ground for the start of apostasy in the church today. Do you not recognize that scripture is being fulfilled right before our eyes? Do you not agree that we are living in the Laodicean church age, as spoken of in the third chapter of the Book of Revelation?

(Revelation 3:14-16) (14) "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;" (15) "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot." (16) "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."

"CHURCH SOULD BE MORE THAN AN OUTWARD SHOW."

We begin this message on the roadblocks to revival, thanking the Lord for reminding me in prayer just how vital and timely this message is today concerning some of the obstacles we encounter in what I call the "Christians Process to Greatness!"

Beloved, we need revival, God's proven method of awakening his church. Revival is not all about preaching or even reaching the lost; it is about reviving or resuscitating something that is dying. We need to return to our first love and remember what it was like when we first believed, awaken from our sleep, and come back to God and pray that he will visit us with his Holiness and power.

It is time to come out of our comfort zone and seek the Lord with all our hearts, asking God to send his cleansing fire to strip away the worked-up flesh that some call manifestations of the Spirit. We need to seek God for a spiritual house cleaning that will get rid of the unconfessed sin and ungodliness in Christian leaders.

God has a plan to rescue as many as possible from Satan's camp and gather them together unto Himself, a people that He would call His family. God foreknew who would choose His plan and knew that the majority would reject it and be lost forever. Accepting Jesus is the first step in His plan, which was predestined for us before the foundation of the world.

The enemy of our soul does not mind if we make a resolution to seek God or have special meetings to help our church experience the power of God because he knows that all he has to do is sow some confusion by causing things to happen among the members that will cause fear, thus hindering their sound judgment to keep coming to the meetings to seek God for their continued growth in their Christian Walk.

Through the pages of church history, we discover that God has allowed his Holy Spirit to empower and use men and women of God in mighty demonstrations of his power, causing medical science to take another look at the power of prayer. These powerful men and women of God allowed the Lord to use them to leave his signature through them to future generations, including us today.