PREPARING FOR REVIVAL
(February 2006 - Sunday am at Bible Fellowship)
KEY TEXTS ON REVIVAL:
“Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?” (Psalm 85:6).
“O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!” (Habakkuk 3:2).
There are two kinds of revival in the Bible:
1. Personal: Where we cry out to God to revive us personally.
2. Corporate: A revival of the supernatural work of God in our midst today.
THE BIG IDEA: When God’s people are no longer experiencing the abundant life and joy of God, it’s time to prepare for revival. Revival is not just hundreds of thousands of people getting saved. To revive means to make alive again – God wants us to be a living and powerful church!
WHAT IS REVIVAL: Chayah: sustain life, be restored to life or health; to cause to grow; restore. Something that’s alive will be growing and bear fruit!
How do we know we need revival? When the people of God are easily offended; easily gossip; compromise with and justify sin; act and talk just like the world, put sports over God’s house…
ILLUSTRATE: We need the FIRE OF REVIVAL! Discuss Christmas time fire log on TV (you can buy on video, too!) It looks like fire, but it’s got no heat! We need the fire!
- Jim said in pre-service prayer today: “It’s cold in here!” We had to turn up the heat!
QUOTE: “The single greatest need in our land today is heaven-sent revival! Revival comes at the sovereign, gracious decision of God to send a fresh movement of His Spirit among his people… (but) Revival will not come unless it is desired. It is an invasion from heaven at the request of the saints on earth.” (Raymond Perkins, Sermon Central).
REVIVAL HISTORY: The Welsh Revival of 1904-5
- 1904 - 26 year old ‘youth intern’ Evan Roberts had prayed for revival for 11 years.
- felt God was going to pour out a mighty spirit of revival on Wales - prayed, Bend me, O Lord!
- pastor led him speak following a prayer meeting, only 17 stayed, mostly youth & young adults.
- all ended up at altar crying out to God until 2 am. That week, 60 people were saved,
- next 1 1/2 years = revival in Wales, 100,000 people saved.
- changed national culture - bars & liquor stores shut down; entire police force dismissed
- would pray from 1-5 am; prayer meetings were multiplied (2,000 in a meeting).
WHAT IS REVIVAL AND HOW DO WE PREPARE FOR IT?
OPENING TEXT:
“1 When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house. 3 When all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying: "For He is good, For His mercy endures forever." 4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. 5 King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God… 10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel. 11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house; and Solomon successfully accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord and in his own house. 12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 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.” (2 Chron. 7:1-14).
WHAT DOES REVIVAL LOOK LIKE?
Fire from Heaven, Glory of God, Sacrifice, Worship!
FOUR ROADBLOCKS HINDERING REVIVAL:
ROADBLOCK #1: PRIDE
ROADBLOCK #2: PRAYERLESSNESS
ROADBLOCK #3: SATISFACTION
ROADBLOCK #4: SIN
FOUR KEYS TO PREPARING FOR REVIVAL:
KEY #1: GET LOWER STILL
KEY #2: PRAY BIG PRAYERS
KEY #3: HUNGER AFTER GOD
KEY #4: KILL THE FROGS
1. KEY #1 TO PREPARE FOR REVIVAL IS: TO GET LOWER STILL:
“For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite (broken) ones.” (Is. 57:15).
John the Baptist said about Jesus: “I must decrease, and He must increase.”
HUMILITY: Means we acknowledge we need God. How many of us go through a whole day without calling on Him? We are too self-sufficient. We need to get lower still!
2. KEY #2 TO PREPARE FOR REVIVAL IS: TO PRAY BIG PRAYERS:
“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” (Mark 11:24).
“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13).
“Faith’s supreme longing is for the return of the glory that has departed from the sanctuary… If we today could rediscover the virtue in that Name, the victory in that Name, the violence in that Name, we could set this world alight for God.” (Leonard Ravenhill, Revival Praying).
I have one prayer I’m praying these days, “Lord, send revival!”
It’s time to pray big prayers! Ephesians 3:20 - God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above ALL we could ask or even imagine!
3. KEY #3 TO PREPARE FOR REVIVAL IS: TO HUNGER AFTER GOD:
“Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever… But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, That I may declare all Your works.” (Psalm 73:25-28).
We need to realize revival isn’t about a formula, it’s about falling in love with Jesus again!
“If we longed for God as a bride looks forward to the return of her husband, we would be a far greater force for God than we are now.” (AW Tozer).
Psalm 42:1-2 & Psalm 63:1-2
4. KEY #4 TO PREPARE FOR REVIVAL IS: TO KILL THE FROGS:
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7).
STORY: Of Moses & Pharaoh in Exodus 16 - a sermon I preached at youth last Wednesday night.
CLOSING STORY:
“1 After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We are going with you also." They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. 4 But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Then Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any food?" They answered Him, "No." 6 And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. 7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea.” (John 21:1-7).
CLOSING CHALLENGE:
It’s time to get lower still - to recognize we have no food
It’s time to hunger after God, and passionately plunge into the sea.
It’s time to pray big prayers - to begin to pray, “Lord, send revival!”
It’s time to kill the frogs - our compromise with sin & worldliness
