Results Of Revival

Opening illustration: Play PRAYER video.

Introduction: Often to make further decisions and the move forward, we tend to retrospect on the results of our past endeavors. For the things we do as a team to pursue the call of God, many a times we cannot weigh and determine the results the way the world accesses or regulates it. We should not forget that we are called to be God’s servants and instruments in His hands. We are called to sow the seed and water it, only God can give the produce and bring the harvest.

However, tonight so that the spark that God has ignited in our hearts doesn’t fade away, we will focus on the result that emerged with the outbreak of revival in Nineveh.

What are the results of revival?

1. Believe + Faith in God (v. 9)

Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The Ninevites believed and had faith in God when they heard the message form Jonah. Without that they were dead men walking. Today you see several them in our community. Who is going to reach out to them? Without us articulating the Word of the Lord, revival is not going to happen. The dead will not get life till they hear God’s Word and respond. Nineveh was destined to die and only God could save them. Jonah reluctantly breathed that life into them and they were revived. May be the next few years is all that we get to just do that for our people and our nation. Will you and I take up this challenge and just do it?

2. Earnest Prayer (vs. 5, 6-8)

The faith of the Ninevite king snowballed and his nation followed what their leadership exemplified. They went down on their knees in ashes, sackcloth, humbly praying and fasting before God so that He we relent from allowing destruction overtaking them. Today other leaders, our community and eastern Iowa is looking up to us to exemplify and lead the way. If you and I do not lead our people or mislead them in any way, much blood will be on our hands. Will you and I take up this challenge and just do it?

3. Repentance (v. 10)

The Ninevites turned from evil and God relented from disaster. A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God. Just as in the case of a converted sinner, the first step is a deep repentance, a breaking down of heart, a getting down into the dust before God, with deep humility, and a forsaking of sin. We have a loving and compassionate God. When He sees that we have genuinely repented, He relents from calamity and blesses us.

Application: Last night after our “Revive Me Iowa 2017” event a young boy came up to me and said that he possibly has HIV and must undergo some medical tests this week to determine whether it is true. He narrated how he must have acquired it. However, what disturbed me was that he had accepted Christ and been baptized the previous week and said that he wants prayer to be healed. He thought God was a genie is a bottle and that he loved the flesh and world so much that he wanted to return back as soon as he was healed from HIV. What do you do with such people? What will God do with such folks? I could only pray!