Personal Revival Joshua 24:3-15 2 Chronicles 7:14
Remember when you came to God and everything was wonderful, the grass was greener, the sky was bluer , your experience with Jesus was so powerful, you were innocent to all that religion have since corrupted.
Remember when you were found by Jesus and His Love was so impacting, when you became so grateful that someone loved you like no other,
Remember when you loved Him showing you truth, when you realized the dept of His mercy and height of His grace.
Remember when you would do and go anywhere for Him.
Remember when your everyday was consumed by your desire to know Him More.
Remember when you first came to the life changing understanding that Jesus suffered and died for me.
Remember the fire and passion to love Him back!
Joshua did! (Pray>read Joshua 24:3-15)
Today I want to talk about personal revival.
Personal revival
“Revival is the people of God living in the power of an ungrieved, unquenched Spirit.” - James A. Stewart
A renewed obedience to God.
To obey or not to obey that is the question!
This has been and is the crucial question for every human being.
God has given humankind the innate power of choice: the choice of obedience leads to God’s promised blessing of life; The choice of disobedience leads to curse, judgment, and death.
God’s clear instructions to the very first human beings in the garden of Eden was to refrain from eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:16). He expected their obedience. They disobeyed, thereby losing initial favor with God. From the very beginning the choice was set before us.
There are many great men and women of God that walked in obedience.
For example the obedience of Abraham
On two occasions, he demonstrated total submission to God’s will.
First, he obeyed God’s command to go to a new land (Gen 12).
Second, he obeyed God’s command to offer his son as a sacrifice
Moses was given the choice to lead God’s people out of bondage and into a deep dependence upon the Lord.
Moses was given the law so Israel had a tangible way of loving God back. Thorough obedience.
Leviticus 19:2: "Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy."
Deuteronomy 6:4-5: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."
This is a divine call, urging a total love for God that results in unhesitating obedience to his will.
Israel chose to disobey. Christians today choose to disobey. People tend to choose temporal self-gratification over obedience.
Jesus Christ himself chose to submit to the Will the His Father. To leave heaven and come to this earth to live, suffer and die to pay the debit occurred because of disobedience.
Today if we desire revival in our own spiritual walk with God we must choose this day to alien ourselves with a Holy God. To do so means following Him in obedience. (No compromise)
Joshua saw the disobedience of His people over the course of His life. And upon his death he charge the people to come back and make a choice one way or the other.
Choose this day whom you will serve. Joshua was out of time, his influence over the people was about to end. He was dieing. Because his Passion for the Lord and compassion for Israel, God used his last days to speak through him. To urge a tuning back to the Lord.
So how do we turn around a nation that is falling away?
How do we turn around people who has chosen disobedience?
In this political season we are in, people everywhere are saying and believing that change comes from government. That the wrongs can be made right by choosing the right person for the Job.
The Bible never commands us to change the people by the government or by policies, or by making new laws, We change this world by changing hearts, Hearts after Jesus. Jesus said “if you love me you will obey me”
So how do we do it? How do we fall back in love with Jesus?!
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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
1st we must humble ourselves. (submit)
Humble> not proud or haughty : not arrogant or assertive reflecting, expressing, or offered in a spirit of submission
DO WE "EAT HUMBLE PIE?" In the Middle Ages, eating humble pie was something people did literally. "Umbles pie" was a meal consisting of the stringy or fatty remains of an animal, usually a deer. People who ate it were poor and, thus, humble. By the 16th century, well-to-do people who had gotten too big for their britches were admonished to go out and eat umbles pie. Eventually, "umbles" was replaced by "humble." SOURCE: Jeff Strite, Church of Christ at Logansport, IN. Citation: Jeff Rovin. Why Do Cowboys Wear High Heels?
To humble ourselves is really to see our imperfections.
When looking at our imperfection we really see that we are not what we thought we were.
People over compensate and magnify their good which give us a spirit of pride.
Paul says, "You imitate Jesus’ humble attitude. The fact is, Jesus gave up His position in heaven in order to become just like us.
2nd we must pray seeking the face of God
If we don’t have the proper perspective on who we are, our prayers are not going to be effective in moving the hand of God.
ALWAYS PRAY AND DON’T GIVE UP
Jesus taught that we should “always pray and not give up” • Not because God is hard of hearing • Not because God needs to be pestered into answering our requests • Not because God doesn’t want to answer us NO… Jesus taught us always pray and not give up because, when we pray, our prayers carry weight. EVERY TIME you and I pray we unleash more and more power from the throne of God •
Eph 6:18 -
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
• Approach Him with humility.
• Approach Him with reverence.
• Approach Him with forgiveness.
1Pe 3:12 -
"FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER,
• Approach Him with sincerity.
• Approach Him with gratefulness.
1Pe 4:7 -
The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.
• Approach Him with dependency.
• Approach Him with an expectation.
Knowing God is Good
3rd We must Repent
Matthew 3-
1In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
"Contrary to popular thinking, repent does not mean to be sorry.The Greek word metanoeo means ’. . . to change one’s mind or purpose. In the New Testament it ’. . .indicates a complete change of attitude, spiritual and moral, towards God.
Our perspective towards God needs to be accurate. Some feel like God is this cosmic being just waiting to strike you down when you say or do the wrong thing. Or keeping score in heaven.
God is a loving, longsuffering, patient and forgiving. He desires for you to love Him and be set apart for Him.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
God desires for all people to come to repentance through the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
Sin hurts our relationship with God.
In the Garden of Eden the Bible speaks of Adam and Eve walking with God in the cool of the day. Once they sinned they were ashamed and hid from the Lord.
Once we understand the sacrifice that had been made and the debt that had been paid, we hide from Christ because we know we hurt him and grieved the Holy Spirit. But if we would just ask for forgiveness and repent He will grant it to us and help us to stop that sin.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
ENABLED TO REPENT “A Christian is not one who never goes wrong, but one who is enabled to repent and begin over again after each stumble—because of the inner working of Christ.” C.S. Lewis
Martin Luther "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ’repent,’ He willed that the entire life of a believer be one of repentance."
We should always press towards the mark by submitting, praying and repenting.
What is Revival?
1. Revival is not a week worth of meetings.
2. Revival is not started in one day.
3. Revival is not controlled by man.
4. Revival is a heart thing.
5. Revival is always brought on by REPENTANCE.
6. Revival will bring a renewed zeal to obey God
We need to pray Lord show us our sin, then repent!
Revival will take place but it starts with you!
