Participants: Jay Rosario
Series Code: 11POFCM
Program Code: 11POFCM000005
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00:48 Hello and welcome! We continue with Spring Camp Meeting 2011.
00:53 We have a wonderful audience here. 00:55 We have many from different parts of the United States. 00:58 Is anyone here from outside the United States? 01:01 Anybody? Yes! We have a couple here. 01:03 Another over there. Very good; praise the Lord! 01:05 How many are from southern Illinois? Raise your hand. 01:08 Oh, a few of you. 01:10 How many outside of southern Illinois? 01:13 The majority of you. Welcome every one of you. 01:15 We know that you'll be blessed because we've been praying 01:18 for God's blessing. And the speakers have been praying. 01:21 The singers have been preparing. 01:23 And we know that God has a blessing in store for us. 01:27 So we hope that you will prepare yourselves to be blessed. 01:32 During this program we are going to have a wonderful 01:37 message in song by Sr. Tammy Chance. 01:40 I will tell you about that in a moment, 01:41 but first let me tell you about our speaker for this hour. 01:44 It is Pastor Jay Rosario. 01:47 That's the way you say it in Spanish: Rosario. 01:49 In English it's Rosario. 01:51 But he is a pastor now in central California 01:56 and he will be bringing a message to us on revival. 01:59 Actually the title of his message is: 02:02 Helping Churches Experience Revival. 02:08 Helping Churches Experience Revival. 02:10 This is part one. 02:12 That means there's a... at least a part two. 02:16 Very good; you're well aware of what's going on. 02:19 So this is part one. We hope you will jot down some notes. 02:23 And also not only that it will be just notes 02:27 and something you say "Amen" to today 02:30 but that you will put into practice these principles 02:33 that you will hear so that there can be revival... 02:36 not only in the churches but for us as individuals. 02:39 Amen? The music you are about to hear 02:44 is by Sr. Tammy Chance who has a wonderful 02:48 sweet spirit about her and you will see that in the music. 02:52 Uh, she will be singing He Will Carry You. 02:56 Before she sings I would like to ask you to stand for prayer. 03:01 Stand for prayer and then after prayer Sr. Tammy Chance 03:05 will lead us in song. And the next voice you will hear 03:08 after this beautiful message in song will be the voice 03:12 of Pastor Jay Rosario. Let us pray together. 03:16 Our loving heavenly Father, 03:19 we come to You in Jesus' name 03:22 and we ask, Lord, for a blessing from heaven. 03:28 We pray, Lord, that as we hear this music 03:30 that it will elevate our hearts to Your throne of grace 03:36 and You will lead us, Lord, into holy communion with You. 03:40 And also, Lord, as we hear the message You have for us 03:43 through Your servant, Pastor Rosario, 03:46 we pray that Your Holy Spirit will be upon him. 03:48 Use him mightily, Lord, to speak to Your children. 03:52 We pray that Your children here will be blessed 03:55 and Your children wherever they are in the world. 03:59 We ask for these things in Jesus' holy and blessed name, 04:03 Amen. Thank you, you may be seated. 04:20 There is no problem too big 04:23 God cannot solve it. 04:29 There is no mountain too tall 04:33 He cannot move it. 04:39 And there is no storm too dark 04:43 God cannot calm it. 04:49 There is no sorrow too deep 04:53 He cannot soothe it. 04:58 If He carried the weight of the world 05:02 upon His shoulders, 05:09 I know my brother that He 05:12 will carry you. 05:17 If He carried the weight of the world 05:22 upon His shoulders, 05:28 I know my sister that He 05:32 will carry you. 05:37 He said: "Come to Me 05:43 all who are weary 05:49 and I will give 05:54 you rest. " 06:12 There is no problem too big 06:16 God cannot solve it. 06:23 There is no mountain too tall 06:27 He cannot move it. 06:33 And there is no storm too dark 06:37 God cannot calm it. 06:42 There is no sorrow too deep 06:47 He cannot soothe it. 06:52 If He carried the weight of the world 06:57 upon His shoulders, 07:03 I know my brother that He 07:07 will carry you. 07:13 If He carried the weight of the world 07:17 upon His shoulders, 07:24 I know my sister that He 07:28 will carry you. 07:34 I know my brother, I know my sister, 07:39 I know that He 07:43 will carry you through. 07:53 He will carry you. 08:04 Amen. 08:14 Hello everyone. Hello. 08:16 Thank you for that beautiful music. Wasn't that beautiful? 08:19 Amen. Have you been enjoying yourselves? 08:20 Amen. What an exciting time to spend together 08:25 with people from different parts of the country 08:28 and different parts of the world 08:30 to talk about the most important person in the world. 08:33 Amen? Amen. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. 08:35 It is a privilege to be with you all. 08:37 I bring you greetings from sunny and beautiful California. 08:40 It's good to be in the Midwest. 08:42 And I see that you have been somewhat generous 08:48 sharing a little bit of your weather challenges 08:51 even all the way to the West. 08:53 I just heard last week that we had a... there was a 08:56 tornado seen, an alert, in northern California. 08:59 Kind of a crazy world we are living in today, right? 09:03 We know that it's only going to get more extraordinary. 09:06 As long as we're on the same boat with Jesus 09:07 it's all good. Amen? Amen. 09:09 Well I'm excited to be here... I'm humbled 09:11 to be rubbing shoulders with such amazing presenters 09:14 and such an amazing audience. 09:16 We have an exciting presentation this morning 09:19 entitled Helping Churches Experience Revival. 09:23 I believe this is a relevant subject to all of us 09:26 and I think it kind of goes in harmony with the mission 09:30 of the world-wide Seventh-day Adventist Church. 09:33 We know that that's one of the initiatives 09:35 for the global church, and that is revival and reformation 09:39 here and now. So I'm really excited about the message 09:42 and I trust and pray it will be a blessing to you all. 09:45 Let's have prayer just to make sure that the right speaker 09:49 is here this morning. Amen? 09:50 Not Jay Rosario but the Holy Spirit. 09:52 Just bow your heads with me as we pray. 09:54 Father, we rejoice that You see beauty in us 09:59 when at times we don't and when others don't. 10:02 And we come before You right now humbled 10:06 and at the same time, Father, we're very excited 10:09 at the potential that You give to each and every one of us. 10:12 We want to pray in a special way 10:14 that You may hide me behind the cross. 10:17 We would see Jesus. 10:19 We do not want to hear the philosophies or the 10:23 perspectives of mortal man. 10:25 We want to hear from an infinite God. So please, Lord, 10:29 we ask that You make tabernacle with us in this moment 10:31 that we may abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 10:34 That we may feel You close and that we may be in close 10:39 proximity to Your kingdom. 10:40 Bless us, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen. 10:45 Revival. When you think of revival 10:47 what comes... what's the first kind of images that comes 10:50 to your mind... when you think of revival? 10:54 The Holy Spirit. OK, anything else? 10:56 Awake. Anything else? 11:00 Change. OK. 11:02 Anything else? Renewal. 11:05 OK. Jumping up and getting excited is what one of... 11:08 our singer says. And you're totally welcome to do this 11:11 if you feel the Spirit moving. 11:13 Just be mindful of those around you. 11:16 So... Walking in the light. 11:18 So when we think of revival there's so many different 11:20 pictures that come into our mind. 11:22 One of the pictures that I get into my mind is 11:23 somebody who is on their death bed 11:27 and who is at the brink of dying 11:31 and then... you know what this is, right?... 11:35 revival takes place. Yeah. 11:37 So the word revival communicates a back to life. 11:41 Yeah? In fact, the word re implies 11:44 that there's a repetition. 11:46 And vival is in Spanish vida. 11:50 Right? You have this word vida which basically 11:52 is associated with the word life. 11:56 So the word revival is really the coming back to life. 12:01 And some churches can use a little coming back to life, 12:05 Amen? 12:07 Actually, if I'm bold enough, 12:10 and I hope I don't get stoned, but some churches 12:13 really don't need revival... they just need vival! 12:17 Right? Because revival is that you've been alive; 12:20 you've died. Revival... you need to come back to life again. 12:23 But some churches have never been alive. 12:25 They just need to live. 12:28 So we're going to talk a little bit about revival. 12:30 We're going to talk a little bit about what is revival. 12:32 We're going to talk about why do we need revival. 12:35 And we're going to talk about what you can do 12:37 as a lay person in your church 12:39 to bring a little revival into your congregation. Amen? 12:42 Amen. And I hope you're encouraged. 12:44 I remember a story... a very interesting story. 12:47 I'm not sure if this is true or not. 12:48 I hope it's true because if it is it would be really good... 12:51 especially in this message. 12:52 Uh, the story is told about an atheist man. 12:57 I have a lot of good friends who are atheist and, uh, 12:59 this particular atheist man was approached by many, many people 13:04 in the... from the church down the street. 13:07 You have to understand this town - this community - was 13:10 very small and everybody knew that he was an atheist. 13:13 You know, the town has to be very small if everybody knows 13:15 that you're an atheist. 13:17 So everybody came... knocked on the door. 13:19 Everybody dropped off literature. 13:21 Everybody invited him to church. 13:23 Everybody invited him to concerts. 13:24 Everybody invited him to vegetarian cooking classes. 13:26 You name it... they've done it all, they're tried it all. 13:29 And everybody just pretty much had written him off 13:32 as somebody who's absolutely impossible. You need an army 13:35 to bring conversion to this individual. 13:38 And one particular situation took place that really 13:41 kind of invaded the headline news and all the journals 13:45 and the papers in this little town. 13:46 That particular church, composed by not so many people, 13:52 and though there was a lot of activity was really a church 13:55 that didn't have a whole lot of... didn't have 13:57 a welcoming presence into it. 14:00 Some of you may understand what I'm talking about. 14:02 It didn't have kind of this... this friendly aura 14:06 surrounding it. And although there were a few who were 14:08 actively involved in this, that, and the other, 14:10 the collective body of believers were kind of... 14:13 they were kind of gloomy when they would worship. 14:16 And that explains the difficulty in growth. 14:19 And what would happen is that many times people would invite 14:23 people to come to church and the few who attended 14:25 only came once. And that was pretty much the last time 14:28 they attended. 14:30 And this particular church... something happened that it... 14:32 it actually caught the flames. 14:33 Something happened that it started catching on fire. 14:37 And everybody in town, of course, it's a small town, 14:41 building catches on fire... 14:42 everybody's going to know about it. 14:44 So everybody rushed to see if there were any casualties, 14:48 to make sure that everybody was doing all right. 14:50 Of course, the members were the first ones there... 14:52 then the neighbors, then everybody else. 14:55 And lo and behold, who else do you think was running 14:58 toward the church? That atheist. 15:01 And everybody knew him, 15:03 even those who weren't church members. 15:05 And the atheist was sprinting to the church. 15:08 And I think he was one of the last ones to arrive. 15:10 And all the church members looked as the atheist was 15:13 approaching, and their jaws were on the floor. 15:16 Like... And he arrived at the scene. 15:19 Everybody was staring at him and he felt kind of uncomfortable. 15:21 He said well like: "What are you guys staring at me for? " 15:24 And he says... And they all said to him: "Well 15:26 this is amazing. This is the first time we've ever seen you 15:29 running to the church! This is exciting! " 15:34 And then the atheist kind of... catching his breath 15:37 because he'd been running... he says: "Well, 15:39 this is the first time I've ever seen the church on fire. " 15:47 Now there's... there's a lot of lessons we can learn 15:51 from this story. Amen? 15:52 So here you have an atheist. He's running 15:55 to the church because finally the church is on fire. 15:58 Right? In the literal sense. 16:00 Now don't get any ideas. Amen? 16:02 I'm not suggesting anything. 16:05 The point is that when the church is on fire 16:08 people are going to know. Amen. Amen? 16:10 When the church is on fire, everybody is going to know 16:14 that something is happening in that church. 16:16 They may not know exactly what's happening, 16:18 but they definitely will know that there is something worth 16:22 going to this church for. 16:25 The people here are having an amazing experience 16:28 that is attractive. Yeah? That it kind of woos people. 16:33 And ladies and gentlemen, if our churches were really on fire 16:37 people would be coming to us. 16:41 Now don't get me wrong. I've been heavily involved in 16:43 evangelism for several years 16:44 and I'm all about seeking the lost. 16:47 But there are several places in scripture where 16:50 it talks about the nations coming to us 16:53 and asking us: "Who is the God that you are serving? 16:56 We want in; we want in. " Ladies and gentlemen, 16:58 I believe that every single church and I would go as far 17:02 as to say that every church represented here this morning 17:04 has the potential of attracting every single individual 17:08 in the neighborhood. Amen? 17:09 And it's all about what is happening on the inside. 17:12 I've been involved, like I mentioned before, 17:14 in evangelistic meetings, etc. 17:16 And you know, we sent so many thousands of fliers to the 17:19 community. You guys know what I'm talking about? 17:20 And there's nothing wrong with that. 17:22 But I believe that the greatest fire 17:23 is the members that are coming out of that service - 17:26 Amen - glowing. Amen? - 17:29 with the glory of Jesus that is wooing others into His presence 17:34 and into the same experience. So you are the greatest flier. 17:37 You are the greatest advertisement for the church. 17:39 It should not be a handbill exclusively. 17:42 And maybe that's one of the reasons why the Lord 17:44 can't bring more people into our congregation. 17:46 And if you're here and if you're kind of a little bit 17:50 borderline about to throw in the towel in the case of your church 17:55 there's hope even for your church. Amen? 17:57 Don't give up for your church. 17:59 We're going to talk a little bit about how is it that God 18:03 can bring life, spiritual life, to spiritually-dead people. 18:08 Maybe you're kind of wondering to yourself: 18:10 "How in the world is God going to cause fire in my church? 18:15 I mean, that's going to be impossible! 18:17 I mean, have you heard my music? 18:19 Our church services before? 18:21 My goodness. " You kind of fill in the blanks. 18:23 We all represent different challenges in our local 18:26 congregations. But you may be to the point where you're like 18:29 "I... it's going to be... 18:31 something... It's going to have to require something very large 18:34 and very enormous in order for my church to get back on fire. " 18:38 But I don't believe so. Amen? 18:40 What we are going to discover is that revival 18:43 is not so much something corporate 18:45 as something individual. Amen? 18:48 Although it does manifest itself powerfully when 18:51 individual people who have experienced revival 18:54 are collectively together. 18:56 That's kind of the whole point of why we come together 18:58 as God's people. I want to invite you to open your Bibles 19:00 to the book of Ezekiel. 19:02 Ezekiel. And we're going to be using the Bible quite a bit. 19:06 Amen? So we're going to do a little finger exercise 19:09 this morning. So I want to encourage you to make sure 19:11 you have your pen handy and if you have a notepad 19:14 to write. We won't get through all the material but 19:17 we're going to be delving quite deeply into the Word. 19:20 Ezekiel chapter 37 I believe gives us a very symbolic 19:24 picture of revival. 19:27 Amen? Ezekiel chapter 37 19:29 and when you're there please say a hearty Amen. 19:31 Amen. Wow! That was a hearty Amen. 19:34 Hallelujah! 19:36 That was nice! Ezekiel chapter 37 19:39 and maybe some of you who are turning to Ezekiel 37 19:44 already know what Ezekiel 37 is a little bit about. 19:47 Amen. We have a sister who knows what it's about. 19:50 Tomorrow morning we're actually going to talk a little bit about 19:52 the last part of Ezekiel 37. 19:54 We're going to be talking about this morning a little bit about 19:57 the first portion of Ezekiel 37. 19:59 Ezekiel 37 talks about the dry bones. 20:04 Right? Let's pick up the story in verse 1. 20:08 Ezekiel 37 verse 1 the Bible says: 20:11 "The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me 20:14 out in the Spirit of the Lord 20:17 and set me down in the midst of the valley. 20:19 And it was full of... " what? 20:20 "bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around 20:24 and behold there were very many in the open valley 20:28 and indeed they were very... " what? "dry. " 20:31 So we know that they were bones and we know that they were dry. 20:34 Verse 3: "And He said to me: 20:35 "son of man, can these bones live? " 20:38 And that's a question that I ask you this morning. 20:40 Can the bones live? 20:44 Well let's find out if the bones can live. 20:45 Can the bones live was the question. 20:49 "So I answered: 'O Lord God, You know. " 20:52 And some of you are saying the same thing. 20:53 "Lord, You're the only One who can answer that question. " 20:56 Verse 4: "And again He said to me: prophesy" or proclaim 21:01 or preach "to these bones and say unto them: 21:04 "O dry bones... " hear the philosophies of man. 21:08 No! Oh, I'm sorry. 21:11 I guess I have a different translation. I'm sorry. 21:14 Let me try that again. 21:15 "O dry bones... " hear really funny jokes. 21:20 Wow, I guess... 21:22 What does it say? "O dry bones, hear... 21:24 the word of the Lord! 21:27 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: 'Surely 21:29 I will cause breath to enter into you 21:32 and you shall live. 21:35 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you. 21:38 Cover you with skin and put breath in you 21:41 and you shall live. 21:43 Then you shall know that I am the Lord. ' 21:45 So I prophesied" - I proclaimed, I preached - "as I was 21:49 commanded. And as I prophesied there was a noise, 21:53 and suddenly a rattling, and the bones came together 21:58 bone to bone. Indeed as I looked 22:01 the sinews and the flesh came upon them 22:03 and the skin covered them over but there was no breath in them. 22:07 Also He said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath; 22:10 prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath 22:12 'Thus says the Lord God, come from the four winds, 22:15 O breath, and breathe on these slain 22:17 that they may live. ' So I prophesied" 22:21 I preached, I proclaimed - "as He commanded me, 22:23 and breath came into them and they lived 22:27 and stood upon their feet - an exceedingly great army. 22:33 Then He said to me: 'Son of man, these bones 22:35 are the whole house of Israel. 22:39 They indeed say our bones are dry, our hope is lost 22:45 and we ourselves are cut off. ' " 22:47 We're going to read the rest of the story later on. 22:50 So here we have this vivid description 22:52 of Ezekiel 37 and it kind of looks like a sci-fi movie, 22:56 doesn't it? I mean wow! Here you have a valley of dry bones. 23:00 Picture yourself in the Grand Canyon. 23:02 Anybody been to the Grand Canyon before? 23:04 Picture yourself in the Grand Canyon 23:05 and picture that entire canyon full of dry bones. 23:11 Kind of an eerie atmosphere, no? 23:14 I remember I was in... in Lima, Peru, in South America 23:17 several years ago. And I had the privilege of going 23:20 to el Museo de la Inquisición: 23:24 the Museum of the Inquisition. 23:27 I'm glad it was only a museum. Amen? 23:29 And not an actual inquisition. 23:31 As we went through the museum they took us underneath 23:34 the ground. It was dark. 23:38 It smelled very bad 23:40 and it was scary. 23:42 And we approached one particular corner 23:44 of this long, very tight, pathway 23:48 and as we got to the corner, guess what I saw? 23:51 I saw the bones of many 23:56 of God's children who were unwilling 23:59 to sacrifice their conscience - 24:02 Amen? - for popularity or for position. 24:04 I saw the bones, many of which I don't know the names of, 24:10 of individuals that were willing to die 24:13 instead of go with the flow. 24:16 I saw bones. And as I looked at these bones 24:19 I realized... It gave me a little bit of a picture 24:22 of what Ezekiel experienced. 24:24 Now, being surrounded with bones 24:27 is kind of an extraordinary unusual experience. 24:33 But what was Ezekiel told to do to these bones? 24:38 To preach to the valley of bones. 24:40 Now if being in the presence of dead, dry bones 24:43 is unusual, preaching to a group 24:49 of dead dry bones would be even more unusual. 24:53 Yeah? I'm sure Ezekiel looked over both his shoulders 24:56 before he did this - Yes? - 24:57 to make sure that nobody was looking. 24:59 And on top of that, preaching to a group of dead, dry bones 25:05 who come alive is even more unusual. 25:09 Amen? Amen. 25:11 So here you have Ezekiel. And God told him: 25:13 "Ezekiel, I want you to share a devotional 25:15 to this valley of dry bones. " 25:17 And Ezekiel said: "Are You kidding me? " 25:19 But nonetheless, that's exactly what he does. 25:22 Notice the Bible does not say... 25:23 God did not tell Ezekiel to take out his musical instrument. 25:27 Amen? Now don't get me wrong. 25:30 If there's anybody in this room that loves music, 25:32 it's yours truly. However, 25:34 I believe when we approach the subject of revival 25:36 and we consider it not only in the Adventist 25:39 perspective, even in all of Christianity, 25:42 we immediately associate it to? Music exclusively. 25:47 Right? Music has definitely a place in worship. 25:50 And I love the hymns and I love all the beautiful 25:52 master hymn writers in the past: 25:54 the Wesleys and all the other ones. 25:57 But if you notice, Ezekiel takes 26:01 the valley dry bones and brings them back to the source. 26:05 Amen? To the energy and to the power. 26:09 I'm not saying that music doesn't have the capabilities 26:12 of doing this, but in this particular scenario 26:14 Ezekiel did not go the musical instrument route. 26:18 Amen? And many a time and in many a services 26:21 you have the music that overwhelms the service 26:24 and you have a 10-minute devotional. Amen? 26:27 And I really... but here we have kind of a good outline 26:30 of what we should do if we really want to bring revival 26:32 into our churches. 26:34 So here we have the valley of dry bones. 26:37 A question: according to this passage 26:40 whom do the valley of dry bones represent? 26:45 The house of Israel. 26:47 Now who was the house of Israel in the Old Testament? 26:49 Ah... it was the church. 26:52 So Ezekiel 37 is giving us a very graphic depiction 26:56 of the condition of the Old Testament church. 27:01 And that's a pretty graphic depiction, would you not say so? 27:04 And sadly, that depiction - that spiritual x-ray - 27:08 is very accurate... even today in some of our churches. 27:14 What is the point of Ezekiel 37? 27:16 Well there are several points. 27:17 One of those points is that the church has a problem. 27:19 Amen. The second point is that 27:22 don't fret... there's a solution to that problem. 27:27 And that's what I love about the Bible is that. 27:29 That's what I love about God is that He exposes 27:32 our shortcomings, He exposes our flaws... 27:36 but He provides a solution. 27:38 And that's what Ezekiel... 27:39 Ezekiel is not standing in the valley of dried bones 27:42 and he's pointing fingers at all the bones. 27:44 "You're in this situation because you did this. 27:47 You're in this situation because you did that. 27:48 And it's your fault; don't blame it on me. 27:50 I'm a prophet. I told you this; you didn't listen to me. " 27:52 Is that what Ezekiel did? 27:53 No ladies and gentlemen. He simply went 27:55 back to the fountain of truth. 27:59 He went back to the wells of salvation 28:01 and he brought a little bit of that to the valley of dry bones. 28:05 Now what happened when Ezekiel preached 28:09 the word to the valley of dry bones? 28:13 The Bible says that they came to life but they were missing 28:15 something. They were missing the breath. 28:19 Now what does the breath represent? 28:22 It rep... We have several occasions in scripture where... 28:25 Remember when Jesus breathed on His disciples 28:27 and He said: "Receive ye the Holy Spirit. " 28:29 Right? So breath is kind of this symbol of the Holy Spirit. 28:32 And it's also a symbol of inspiration. 28:36 In fact, if you read II Timothy 3:16 - 28:38 which is a common text we all know - 28:39 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God. " 28:42 Well if you read in some older translations it actually says 28:45 "All scripture is God breathed. " 28:49 Isn't that interesting? 28:51 So God kind of breathed into every page of scripture. 28:54 So that as you're reading in the morning 28:57 in your quiet time with Jesus you can take in a little bit 28:59 of that breath. Amen? 29:01 And by the way, that breath is sweet. Amen? 29:03 So very good. So in Ezekiel chapter 37 you have the breath 29:08 and you have the Word. And when you combine these two things, 29:12 ladies and gentlemen, be very careful 29:15 because an explosion will happen. Amen? 29:18 But this is a good explosion. 29:20 OK? This is not like the fire that we talked about 29:22 in our introductory story. 29:24 We need another kind of fire, right? 29:26 We need another kind of explosion... 29:27 a chain reaction will take place. 29:30 The Bible tells us that the bones began to develop tissue. 29:35 They began to develop a nervous system. 29:39 Uh, the organs started to develop. 29:41 Skin developed and covered the bones. 29:45 Eventually what was the final product 29:47 of this revival project or revival experience? 29:53 Israel was standing on their feet 29:57 and the Bible says "as an exceedingly great army. " 30:02 Question: When an army is standing exceed... 30:05 an exceeding army is standing on their feet 30:08 what does that communicate? What does that imply? 30:10 It doesn't imply at ease, right? 30:14 Attention. It implies that they are about to do something. 30:18 They are about to engage in warfare. 30:21 Ladies and gentlemen, that's what every single congregation 30:25 represented here should be doing. Amen? 30:27 Engaging in Christian warfare 30:31 under the banner - the blood-stained banner - 30:34 of Emmanuel. Even in the churches that we look and we say 30:38 "how in the world is this church going to come to life? " 30:41 ladies and gentlemen we see the divine prescription. 30:44 We see what the remedy is for spiritual deadness. 30:47 Maybe you're surrounded every single week 30:49 with a group of believers and you look around 30:52 and it feels like you're surrounded by a valley of 30:54 dead bones, there's good news this morning. 30:56 Don't give up. 30:58 Don't walk out of that church, Amen? 30:59 Don't give up because maybe just maybe you are that 31:02 conduit, you are that instrument that God is going to use 31:05 to create. You're going to be that Ezekiel, Amen? 31:09 God is looking for Ezekiels ladies and gentlemen. 31:11 Not Ezekiels that will point the finger and blame people. 31:14 No, but will just lead people back to the source of life, 31:16 the source of power, and the source of conviction. 31:22 So the Bible tells us in Ezekiel chapter 37 that 31:25 God is interested in bringing His church 31:29 from spiritual deadness to spiritual revival 31:32 so that they can be at their post of duty, ready 31:36 to march forward at the command of general Jesus. 31:41 But there's something very fascinating when you look 31:44 at verse 11. It comes as a little bit... 31:47 It gives us a hint as to how the church actually fell 31:50 into this condition, right? You ever wonder how in the world 31:53 did the church go from this booming, global, international 31:58 kingdom? You know, we think of the time of Solomon: 32:01 the golden age of Israel. How did it go from there 32:04 to spiritual deadness? Like what happened, right? 32:06 Well if you look at verse 11 it tells us. 32:11 "They indeed say... " - they being the house of Israel - 32:14 "our bones are dry. " Now what does that mean? 32:19 "Our hope is lost. " 32:24 "Our hope is lost. " 32:28 Israel lost the spiritual life 32:31 because they lost hope in their spiritual future. 32:35 And he says: "We ourselves are cut off. " 32:38 Ladies and gentlemen, listen to me very carefully: 32:39 when we lose hope in the message that God has given us 32:43 there's only one place that we are destined to go... 32:47 and that is a valley of dry bones. 32:49 When we lose hope in the children 32:54 that we have raised who for whatever reason 32:57 have been wayward and have fallen away, 33:00 when we lose hope that God is actually able 33:03 to reach them and bring them back, ladies and gentlemen 33:06 we are in danger of falling into a valley of dry bones. 33:10 When you lose hope in your marriage, 33:13 even in churches we have a situation where the marriage 33:18 could be bad, yeah? 33:20 The marriage needs a little revival. 33:22 If you lose hope in your marriage, 33:25 that hopelessness is going to bleed into your spiritual life 33:28 and you're going to become a valley of dry bones. 33:31 Hopelessness equals valley of dry bones. 33:35 Israel said: "We lost our hope. " 33:38 Kind of makes sense why the Word of God brings revival 33:41 because revival is full of... hope. Amen? 33:45 The Bible is full of hope. 33:47 When Ezekiel preached the Word I believe he was preaching 33:50 the promises of God. I believe that! 33:52 It doesn't tell us exactly what parts of scripture 33:54 he was preaching, but I believe he was reminding Israel 33:57 in their dead condition that God had a great plan for Israel. 34:00 God wanted them to become this beautiful group of people 34:05 that would be a contagious element so that they could 34:08 permeate the truths of God's Word 34:10 throughout all of civilization and antiquity. 34:13 That's what Ezekiel, I believe, was doing. 34:15 He was reminding them: "Your hope is lost. 34:17 Why is your hope lost? 34:18 Look at all of the wonderful promises that God has for us. " 34:22 And as we look in the past we say: "Wow, that makes 34:24 a lot of sense. " Ladies and gentlemen, 34:26 we've got to look at our own experience. Amen? 34:28 Have you lost hope in your spiritual life? 34:30 Have you lost hope in your morning devotions? 34:33 There's good news for you today. Amen? 34:37 God has wonderful thoughts towards you. 34:41 Even the things that nobody else knows in the church 34:44 about you, God knows them and He still loves you. 34:46 I haven't figured that one out yet. I'm working on that. 34:49 Ezekiel 37 is a message of hope 34:51 but it's also a message of self-assessment 34:54 and self-examination. And ladies and gentlemen, 34:56 we have to be honest with ourselves. 34:58 When we find ourselves in spiritual deadness 35:01 we must embrace this truth. 35:03 See what happens many times is... 35:05 You take a typical congregation and it's spiritually dead. 35:08 It's a valley of dry bones, right? 35:10 But then we wonder: what can we do to revive this 35:14 church. And we think, hmmm, the Bible... 35:17 you know, old story. 35:20 Let's take the young people for example. 35:22 I'm a young person, you know. What are we going to do 35:25 to get the young people on fire? 35:26 You ever wonder that? 35:28 Maybe in your church there's several young people there. 35:31 What are we going to do? You think the Bible? 35:32 They're going to be bored... No, they're going to be bored 35:34 to death. What do we need to do? 35:35 And you start getting what? Creative. 35:38 To our own detriment, right? 35:41 And we start to a certain extent creating 35:44 an atmosphere of the Holy Spirit that actually 35:46 ends an atmosphere of the Holy Spirit. 35:47 Amen? Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that 35:50 we can't be creative in the sense of OK, you know, 35:53 what are some ways that we could befriend the young people? 35:55 What are some ways that we could build relationships? 35:57 I'm not saying that. All I'm saying is that many 35:59 times if we're getting creative to the point where 36:02 we are excluding the Word of God which at the end of the day 36:04 is the remedy for our lack of revival, 36:07 we really need to check ourselves. Amen. 36:09 Because what we're doing is just simply putting makeup 36:12 on a valley of dry bones. 36:14 And at the end of the day guess what? They're still bones. 36:18 There is no life. 36:19 I have never seen skeletons with makeup on. Amen? 36:22 And I think many times in our approach, in our methodology 36:25 to revival and to church growth 36:27 we tend to want to beautify a bunch of people that are 36:29 skeletons. And that's not what God wants us to do. 36:32 God wants us to present truth. Amen. 36:34 There's a reason why Paul called it "the foolishness of 36:36 preaching. " Yeah? It's a spiritual dynamic... 36:39 it's a spiritual thing. And by the way, when you get a group 36:42 of young people together and there's a strong, wonderful 36:45 social dynamic there because you have to... 36:47 we have to embrace the reality that we have to have a tight 36:49 social dynamic there. 36:50 But when you have the Word of God in the middle of a group of 36:53 young people, watch out - Amen - 36:58 because something incredible is about to happen. 37:00 Amen? And by the way, look at our pioneers. 37:03 Yeah? Our pioneers were young teenagers. 37:05 What happened? They were surrounded with the 37:07 right other kind of young people. 37:09 You put the Word of God right in the middle 37:10 and there was an incredible revival that took place. 37:13 Amen. So let us never, never belittle the power 37:16 of the Word of God. Amen! 37:18 Remember how this world was created in the first place? 37:21 How did God create the world? 37:23 He said: "All right, guys, take out the hammers; 37:25 Take out the caterpillars. " Is that what He did? 37:27 What did He say? He said: "Let there be light. " 37:30 Boom! There was light. 37:32 All right, what else did He do? 37:34 He spoke everything into existence 37:37 except of course when He came to the creation of man. 37:39 He rolled up His sleeves. Amen? 37:40 He got His hands dirty. 37:43 But when you look at the... the majority of the creation 37:46 account God spoke words into... 37:50 He spoke something out of nothing. 37:53 Yeah? And when He speaks things happen. 37:56 When you look at your church you think to yourself: 37:58 "Oh my goodness, there is no talent here. " 38:00 Right? "There is nothing here. " 38:02 When you preach the Word of God to a group of "nothing" 38:06 something is going to come out of it. 38:09 Because I read in Genesis chapter 1 38:11 that the world was "without form and void 38:14 and darkness covered the face of the deep. " 38:16 So if you go to church on Sabbath and you are in a 38:19 place that is dark and void and empty and it's a mess, 38:22 well then guess what? The Spirit of God 38:25 can take that ugly place and turn it into a beautiful place. 38:28 Amen. But what is the secret? 38:29 The secret is how God created the world in the first place. 38:32 He spoke it into existence. 38:34 So when you preach - when you present the Word of God - 38:37 into places where it's destitute of life, 38:41 I haven't figured it out but something happens. 38:44 So don't ever underestimate the power of the Word, 38:47 ladies and gentlemen. 38:49 When you look in Luke chapter 24... run with me 38:52 to Luke chapter 24. 38:54 This is the Old Testament account and I believe we have 38:56 a parallel New Testament account of Ezekiel 37. 38:59 Not exactly but I think, spiritually speaking, we can 39:02 see some parallels. 39:04 Luke chapter 24, of course, speaks of what? 39:07 It's the last chapter of the gospel of Luke. 39:10 It's the famous story of the road to Emmaus. 39:14 Luke chapter 24. When you're there, please say "Amen. " 39:16 Amen. Beginning in verse 13. 39:19 The Bible says in Luke 24 beginning in verse 13: 39:22 "Now behold, two of them... " Two of the disciples. 39:25 "were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus 39:28 which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 39:31 And they talked together of all these things 39:33 which had happened. " Now what just had happened? 39:36 Jesus was assassinated, right? 39:38 "So it was while they conversed and reasoned 39:41 that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 39:43 But their eyes were restrained so that they could not know Him. 39:46 And He said to them: 'What kind of conversation is it that you 39:49 have with one another as you walk and are sad? ' 39:52 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said 39:55 to Him: 'Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem 39:58 and have not known the things which have happened 40:01 during these days? ' And He said to them: 40:03 'What things? ' So they said to Him: 40:05 'The things concerning Jesus' the - I add that the in there 40:08 by the way - 'Jesus' - the - 'of Nazareth who was a prophet 40:12 mighty in deed and word before God and all the people 40:15 and how the chief priest and our rulers delivered Him 40:17 to be condemned to death and crucified. 40:20 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem 40:23 Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day 40:27 since these things happened. ' " 40:30 So here you have Jesus who is kind of masquerading Himself, 40:33 yeah? And He kind of enters into the conversation 40:35 as if He doesn't know what's going on. 40:37 And they're explaining to Him what just had happened. 40:40 Jesus was crucified. He was assassinated. 40:43 They're talking about all of the headlines, right? 40:46 And if you notice carefully, what was their reaction 40:50 to the headlines about Jesus of Nazareth, 40:53 the promised Messiah, who was just crucified? 40:58 I heard it over here somewhere. 41:00 Ah, we have a theologian in the front row. 41:02 Right there in verse 21 41:07 we are told - and I have the New King James - 41:09 depending on the translation that you have the words are 41:11 a little different. But it says: "But we were 41:13 hoping that it was He" - Jesus - 41:16 "who was going to redeem Israel. " 41:18 So if they were hoping that Jesus was going to redeem Israel 41:22 Jesus was just crucified 41:24 what are the implications? 41:26 They're hopeless. 41:30 They had hope at one point, 41:32 but because of the tragedy that had just taken place 41:35 they lost it. 41:37 Where did we read that? Oh... 41:40 Ezekiel 37. 41:42 Ezekiel 37 told us that the Israelites 41:46 when they lost hope eventually they began 41:48 the downward path into becoming a valley of dry bones. 41:52 They lost hope. 41:55 Luke 24... this is the disciples... they lost hope. 41:58 Ladies and gentlemen, when we lose hope in the message, 42:00 when we lose hope that Jesus is coming again, 42:04 we are destined to the valley of dry bones. Amen. 42:07 And when you look at Luke chapter 24 42:10 we are told that this group of people lacked hope. 42:14 And because they lacked hope they also lacked? 42:17 Spiritual life. So that means they were in need of? 42:20 Revival. The R word, yeah? 42:23 Revival. So here you have Dr. Jesus, Amen? 42:26 He was a spiritual doctor, 42:28 and He's looking and He's listening to the symptoms. 42:31 Amen? He's listening to the spiritual symptoms 42:34 of these two patients. 42:36 And He's thinking: "Hmmm, what medication 42:41 shall I use to bring revival to these precious 42:45 patients that I have that have lost their hope 42:49 in Me and in the Word and in their salvation? 42:52 Where shall I go? Hmmm. " Beginning in verse 27: 42:55 He goes to His cabinet, yes? 42:58 He opens His cabinet and He looks at all of the 43:01 spiritual remedies. And what does He do? 43:04 Verse 27... He pulls out the philosophy of men, no? 43:10 What does it say? 43:11 Ah, there it is. Verse 27: "And beginning" where? 43:15 "at Moses... " What does that mean? 43:17 First five books of the Bible: the Pentateuch. 43:19 "and all the prophets He expounded to them 43:22 in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself. " 43:26 Question: what pill did Jesus - Dr. Jesus - 43:31 prescribe to these two patients that were ill 43:35 spiritually that were in need of revival because they lost hope? 43:39 The Word. He went to the Word of God, ladies and gentlemen. 43:43 Amen. Jesus in Luke chapter 24 is a figure of Ezekiel. Yes? 43:48 Ezekiel was in chapter 37 of Ezekiel 43:51 and he was issuing what? The Word of God. 43:53 That's what He was giving to a group of people that were dead. 43:55 Jesus in Luke chapter 24 is doing the very same thing 43:59 to these two disciples and He's taking them back 44:02 to the Word of God and to the scriptures. 44:04 And telling them that all of these things really are 44:07 talking about Me. Amen? 44:10 Even the Chronicles talk about Jesus. Amen? 44:13 Don't be fooled. Some of us grow weary 44:16 reading name after name after name after name. 44:18 If you look carefully, you will find the face of Jesus 44:21 in those passages. So here you have Jesus. 44:23 He's talking to them, yeah? 44:24 In verse 21 they were hoping that Jesus would redeem them. 44:27 In verse 27 He says "Well this is the solution: 44:30 you guys obviously have a problem. " 44:32 Well look down in verse 28. 44:34 "Then they drew near to the village where they were going 44:36 and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 44:39 But they constrained Him saying: 'abide with us. ' " 44:41 Please stay. It's almost nighttime. 44:43 " 'It's toward evening and the day is far spent. ' 44:46 And He went in to stay with them. 44:48 Now it came to pass as He sat at the table with them 44:51 that He took bread, blessed and broke it 44:54 and gave it to them. 44:55 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him 44:58 and He... " what? "vanished out of their sight. " 45:02 Verse 32 is critical. 45:06 If you believe in underlining, 45:07 please, this is the text to underline. 45:10 "And they said to one another: 45:12 'did not our hearts burn within us? ' " 45:17 And in order to burn, what must you have? 45:20 You've got to have fire, yeah? 45:22 But where was it burning? Where was it firing? 45:25 It was burning in their hearts. 45:27 Amen? It was burning within them. 45:30 How? What was it that caused the burning? 45:33 What was it that caused the fire? 45:35 It says: "While He talked with us on the road. " 45:39 Ladies and gentlemen, if you want your heart to fire 45:42 and burn with revival, you know what you need to do? 45:44 Take a little walk with Jesus - Amen! - 45:47 and hear His voice... because that's exactly what 45:49 these disciples experienced: He talked with us on the road. 45:53 Take a walk down the road with Jesus. 45:56 "And while He opened the scriptures to us. " 46:00 There was fire in the hearts of these disciples. 46:03 And notice, they didn't just sit on that fire 46:06 and go "like wow... this is so nice! 46:07 We have fire burning inside of us so let's jus... 46:10 Yeah, let's just continue sitting and hanging out. 46:13 You know, we're having a great time. 46:14 Jesus just came by. 46:16 We realize that there is a lot of hope for Israel 46:18 so we're just going to hang out for the rest of the day. 46:20 In fact we're just going to stay here for the rest of the week 46:22 and we're not really going to do much 46:23 because we're having such an amazing time in here 46:25 that we're just going to hog this fire for ourselves. " 46:29 Is that what it says? No! 46:30 No ladies and gentlemen. In verse 33: "They rose up" 46:33 when? "that very hour 46:37 and returned to Jerusalem. " 46:40 Now remember, how far was Emmaus from Jerusalem? 46:42 Seven miles from Jerusalem. 46:44 They had... They didn't have, you know, busses or, 46:46 you know, Toyota Camrys back then, yeah? 46:48 So they had to walk. I'm sure they were running and leaping. 46:51 Amen? They were running and leaping back to Jerusalem 46:55 why? What were they looking for? 46:57 They were looking for the rest of the crew. 47:00 They were looking for the rest of the team. 47:02 They were looking for the rest of the brothers and sisters 47:06 in church. "The eleven and those that were with Him 47:10 gathered saying: 'The Lord is risen indeed 47:12 and has appeared unto Simon. ' 47:14 "Told of all the things that had happened... " Verse 35: 47:16 "on the road and how He was known to them in the breaking 47:19 of bread. " So here we have the divine remedy 47:24 for revival. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus 47:28 were walking. They were kind of dragging their feet, 47:30 talking about all the gloomy, gloomy stuff that had just 47:33 taken place. Jesus interrupts that gloomy gloominess. 47:36 He brings some sunshine; He brings the Word of God. 47:39 Not only does He bring the Word of God, but what else 47:41 does He do? He didn't just preach to them. 47:45 What else did He do? 47:49 He went inside their home. 47:51 Amen! 47:53 Amen? Did He not do that? 47:55 Why did He go inside their home? 47:57 Well, because they invited Him. Yes. 48:00 But what were they doing inside their home? 48:02 They were... they were eating. 48:05 Eating is a wonderful thing, Amen? 48:06 Especially when you have some good food! 48:09 And I'm blessed in my church because potlucks? 48:11 Oh Lord, have mercy. It's beautiful in there. 48:14 So Jesus went inside the home and He was sharing a meal. 48:17 Now of course in the Hebrew culture and many other cultures: 48:20 the Hispanic culture, the Filipino culture, 48:21 many many other cultures, 48:23 it's common when you share a meal it's kind of a sign of 48:26 a connection, a friendship, a bond, yeah? 48:28 So what Jesus was doing here 48:31 is He was sharing a meal with them. 48:33 He went into their home; He spent time with them. 48:37 He was developing and building relationships. 48:41 And after that took place, after He prayed, 48:44 after He blessed the food, why He disappeared 48:46 you know that's a... a good theological question 48:48 that we don't have time to unpack. 48:50 But while He prayed and while He spent time 48:53 then is when the fire was built. 48:57 Ladies and gentlemen, if we want revival to take our churches 49:02 it must begin in the home. Amen. Amen? 49:06 Although, yes, we do need the Word of God 49:08 and we do need to proclaim it and we do need to share it. 49:10 True, but we need to remember two things... 49:12 and we're going to develop this in part 2 of our presentation. 49:16 That revival is spiritual power, point number 1. 49:20 How do we know it's spiritual power? 49:21 Well because we saw it in Ezekiel chapter 37, 49:23 We see here in Luke chapter 24, 49:25 that both Ezekiel and Jesus are coming with the Word of God 49:29 to bring spiritual life... spiritual power. 49:32 But it's also not only spiritual power but it's 49:35 also social power. 49:39 And we're going to go through the book of Acts eventually 49:42 in part 2 and we're going to see how... 49:45 What does a church that is revived look like? 49:48 You want to see a perfect church? Yes. 49:51 Well then you have to stay tuned for part 2. 49:53 OK? That's the commercial for part 2. 49:55 We're going to take a look. 49:56 What does a perfect church look like? Right? 49:59 What does the ideal church that is revived actually look like? 50:02 And the book of Acts gives us that picture. 50:05 We have... Notice, we didn't have to go to a local 50:08 book store to pick up some guy's new idea. 50:11 It's in the book of Acts. 50:12 It's been written there for thousands of years. 50:14 Now I'm not saying that we can't, you know, 50:16 think a little bit more creative and look at other 50:20 different things and approaches 50:21 how we can perfect our approaches. But 50:24 at the end of the day the Word of God is our manual. 50:26 So we must go with the Word of God and actually do what it says 50:29 and the book of Acts gives us this beautiful picture. 50:31 And I have to warn you, when we get into part 2 50:35 of this presentation and we show you a picture of Acts chapter 2, 50:39 you may be tempted to change your membership 50:41 into that church. Amen? 50:43 Praise God! 50:45 But you can't do that because that church is not around. 50:47 Amen? But the idea is so that that church... that model 50:52 of that church can be duplicated in all of our churches. 50:54 Amen? Revival is possible. 50:56 You may be attending a church that is absolutely dead 50:58 and you're wondering to yourself "how in the world can I... " 51:01 Uh, there's hope! Amen. 51:04 Don't give up. Do not walk out on that church 51:06 because you may be that Ezekiel. 51:08 And what you need to do is bring some sunshine 51:10 into that church. Don't point your finger. 51:12 Don't be negative. There's already enough 51:14 negativity in the church, Amen? 51:16 Go in there with some sunshine. 51:18 Show... If you have it all figured out, show them how 51:20 it's done. Amen? 51:21 Take the love of Jesus in there. 51:23 Take the Word of God. Show them how being connected to the 51:26 Word of God is so much more powerful and so much more 51:28 awesome. Amen? 51:30 And then you will have a bunch of people that will 51:32 experience what the disciples - 51:33 those two disciples on the road to Emmaus - 51:35 experienced. They're going to be like "Man, we feel this burning 51:37 inside of us. We feel this... this fire. " 51:42 Let's take a look at that fire. Jeremiah. This is my 51:44 last text for this presentation. 51:46 Jeremiah chapter 20. Jeremiah chapter 20. 51:49 That fire; that fire. Jeremiah chapter 20. 51:52 What is that fire? 51:54 What does it look like? 51:55 Jeremiah chapter 20... we're going to take a look at the... 51:58 the second half of that text. 52:00 When you're there please say Amen. Jeremiah chapter 20. 52:02 Amen. In verse 9 it says: 52:05 "But His word was in my heart like... 52:10 a burning fire. " And when you have burning fire 52:13 who knows what happens? "It was shut up in my bones. " 52:16 Now wait a second. We said that Ezekiel 37 was a valley 52:19 of dry? bones. Now all these bones are on fire. 52:24 That's revival. "I was weary of holding it back. " 52:28 There was so much fire I got tired of restraining myself. 52:31 Talking about Jesus. Amen? 52:34 "And I could not. " When you have a group of believers 52:38 that are together and they have the fire of the love of Jesus, 52:41 the fire of the Word of God, 52:42 they cannot help but share Jesus. Amen? 52:45 I want to close with sharing an article with you 52:47 that I saw that I thought was very, very interesting. 52:50 In the New York Times about a forest fire that took place. 52:55 A forest fire that burnt 800 acres. 52:58 A fire that forced the evacuation of 2,000 people. 53:02 A fire that damaged 56 homes 53:04 and caused about $84,000 in damage. 53:09 Does anybody want to take a guess how that fire started? 53:14 A careless flick of a cigarette. 53:17 Something so apparently insignificant. 53:20 Something so apparently small 53:23 created this great, vast fire. 53:27 Now ladies and gentlemen, we need a different kind of fire 53:31 but with that magnitude - that same magnitude - 53:33 in our churches. 53:34 And maybe you're wondering: "Well what can I do for Jesus? " 53:37 Well remember, it was a tiny 53:39 apparently insignificant cigarette that did that. 53:41 It was a tiny spark that created this kind of revolution, 53:45 this chain reaction of flames and fire and burning. 53:48 And maybe, just maybe, you are that match 53:51 that God needs in order for that church to catch on fire. 53:55 Don't underestimate the potential that you have. 53:58 Don't underestimate what God can do with you and through you. 54:03 Don't let your failures and your humanity get in the way 54:06 of what God can do for you. Amen? 54:08 We all have challenges; we all have our issues. 54:11 But maybe... Ask the Lord: "Lord, what can I do 54:13 for my local congregation? " 54:15 Because many a time we find ourselves going to church 54:17 trying to receive revival and it not being found there. 54:22 And maybe God is asking us: "Well, wait a second. 54:24 Maybe we need to bring a little bit of the revival 54:26 in our experience. " 54:28 Inside the congregation permeate the atmosphere 54:30 with that attractive, beautiful portrait of Jesus 54:33 and maybe then - and ONLY then - 54:36 will others catch on that vision and will others recognize 54:42 that they have been missing out on this awesome experience. 54:45 And then and only then will not only your church be on fire - 54:49 Amen? - but your whole community will be on fire. 54:52 And like the atheist who started running towards the church 54:56 because finally he saw something exciting going on in the church, 54:59 said: "Wow, the church is on fire. This is the first time 55:01 I've ever seen it on fire, " 55:03 maybe you'll find a lot of people running to your church. 55:07 Maybe you'll find a lot of old, former members that have 55:11 left. And the Lord is going to shock you. 55:15 "Wow, what are you doing here? " 55:18 "How long has it been? " Yeah? 55:21 Maybe... maybe your children. 55:24 I know there's a lot of parents here. 55:26 I know there's a lot of grand- parents here that have been 55:28 praying for their... for their children 55:29 and their grandchildren. And by the way, I'm a product 55:31 of a grandmother's prayer by the way. 55:33 Amen. If my grandmother didn't pray for me, 55:36 somebody else would be speaking to you this morning. 55:37 So don't lose hope in what God can do for you. 55:42 Don't lose hope in those around who have maybe slipped 55:46 and feel because of the circumstances and situations 55:51 in life. And recognize that even your church - 55:54 your little church if it's little - 55:55 something great can come out of that. 55:58 Now don't expect everybody to catch the vision overnight. 56:01 Amen? Some of these things take time. 56:04 Not only does it take time 56:06 but sometimes you have to do it one on one. 56:08 Don't expect to preach a sermon and then everybody's on fire. 56:12 Doesn't always happen like that. Amen? 56:14 Jesus went into the home. 56:17 He spoke; He smiled. 56:20 He shook hands; He encouraged. 56:24 He gave hope; He loved. 56:27 He shared; He shared more. 56:30 He explained and then there was fire that took place 56:34 in the hearts of those people. 56:35 You know what you can do for your church? 56:37 Very simple. You can pray for the leadership of that church. 56:40 Amen? Amen. You can pray for the elders of that church. 56:43 You can pray for the pastor of that church. 56:45 Let's not be negative towards the authority or the leadership 56:47 of the church. Amen? 56:49 Let's respect it; let's pray for them. 56:50 And another thing you can do as a lay person 56:53 is you can join the elders in visiting some of the sheep. 56:56 Amen? Because when you visit some of the members 56:59 you will realize "Wow, even in our own ranks 57:02 there are people like those two disciples on the road 57:05 to Emmaus. 57:06 There are people in the same condition that are down and out, 57:09 that are hopeless, and they come and they congregate 57:12 every Sabbath morning at our church. " 57:13 And we think everybody's fine 57:15 because unfortunately we have a very shallow and superficial 57:17 experience with one another. 57:19 But Jesus wants to create a revival and revolution 57:21 of love and of mercy. Amen? |
Revised 2014-12-17