Genesis: The Road To Revival

October 2006

SWORD N SPIRIT

www.swordnspirit.com

THE ROAD TO REVIVAL

STATING THE SCRIPTURES (Genesis 35:1-15)

Then God said to Jacob, "Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau."

So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone." So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem. Then they set out, and the terror of God fell upon the towns all around them so that no one pursued them.

Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz (that is, Bethel) in the land of Canaan. There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.

Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried under the oak below Bethel. So it was named Allon Bacuth.

After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel. " So he named him Israel. And God said to him, "I am God Almighty ; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you." Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.

Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it. Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel.

SETTING THE STAGE

William Hinson, Sr. retired pastor of First United Methodist Church in Houston, the largest church in American Methodism, tells the story about a time when he was going to Columbia, South Carolina to preach in a revival. He had not slept well the night before and had gotten up that morning and preached in two Sunday morning services. He went immediately to the airport to leave for Columbia. He had looked forward to sleeping on the plane but it just so happened that the person next to was a talker and so much for sleep. His plane arrived late so he was immediately picked up by a church member and whisked off to the church. He arrived at the church just a couple of minutes before the service was to begin and did not have the opportunity to freshen up at all. He felt yucky. As he preached he could feel his body swaying from fatigue. When the service was over he was lead to the fellowship hall were a receiving line was set up to greet the visiting preacher. The line seemed to extend forever. Near the end of the line, a large man stepped aside and suddenly he saw his youngest daughter.

His daughter was attending school in Augusta, Georgia and when she heard her dad was going to be in Columbia had borrowed her boyfriends noisy car and had driven for hours just to be with her dad and to talk with him about some things.

They left the church and went and got some coffee and pie and then went to the hotel and talked for several hours. When she finally left he said he realized the most unusual thing. He was no longer tired. He had spent time with someone very special to him and found himself renewed. That’s what our Upper Room is all about. It is time we can spend with Jesus and find renewal. We may enter the Room feeling beaten up and discouraged but we can come away revived.

INTRODUCTION

The church needs revival. The hearts of believers all over the world are cold and complacent and in many cases unconcerned and indifferent. Few are living godly lives; most are living carnal and fleshly lives. Believers have been caught up in the worldly environment and technology of society, seeking the bright lights and pleasures and comforts of the world. Few believers have a testimony for the Lord any longer; there is no obvious difference between a professing Christian and an unbeliever. People can see little if any difference in the lives of professing believers. Believers go to the same places unbelievers go, whether good or bad, moral or immoral. Believers too often use the same off-colored language and tell the same off-colored jokes as unbelievers. Believers talk about the same subjects as unbelievers, seldom discussing Jesus Christ and His gospel. Believers read the same magazines and books as unbelievers, whether moral or immoral, and believers look at the same television programs or movies as unbelievers, whether moral or immoral, whether clean or foul-mouthed.