Participants: Jay Rosario
Series Code: 11POFCM
Program Code: 11POFCM000012
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00:49 Hello friends and welcome once again
00:50 to 3ABN's Spring Camp Meeting 2011. 00:54 The blessings have been flowing from day to day. 00:57 The people of God are receiving strength from above. 01:00 And once again we'd like to thank you for tuning in. 01:03 For those of you who are too far away to join us 01:05 just take time right now to sit down and listen to 01:08 a powerful, Bible-centered message by Pastor Jay Rosario 01:12 who visits us from the Central California Conference. 01:16 This is part 2 in "Helping Your Church Experience Revival. " 01:19 Every one of us needs revival. Can you say Amen to that? 01:22 And you'll discover that revival cannot be sustained 01:25 without the Word and without the Holy Spirit. 01:28 But Pastor Jay Rosario will continue the trek 01:30 through the Word of God 01:31 putting the pieces together. Hoping that your desire 01:35 is to be revived by the presence and power of the Lord. 01:38 If you are within the southern Illinois area, 01:41 we'd like to invite you. We have today, tomorrow, 01:44 and we have a wonderful concert tonight... Friday evening. 01:47 The Pillars Project is going to be released... the second one 01:50 which is about Pillars hymns, and you don't want to miss that. 01:53 So come out to enjoy some wonderful, Christ-centered music 01:57 to the glory and honor of the Lord. 01:59 But right now we want to focus our minds and our hearts 02:01 on receiving what God has in store for us. 02:05 And I think it's fitting that the song that God has impressed 02:07 me to sing is one that really focuses on the 02:10 very strength and essence and foundation 02:12 of what revival is all about. 02:14 The title of that song is There Is A Savior. 02:30 There is 02:33 a Savior. 02:38 What joys expressed. 02:45 His eyes are mercy, 02:51 His word is rest. 02:57 For each 03:00 tomorrow... 03:05 for yesterday... 03:11 there is 03:14 a Savior 03:18 who lights our way. 03:27 Are there burdens in your heart? 03:31 Is your past a memory that binds you? 03:39 Is there a pain deep inside 03:43 that you've carried far too long? 03:52 Well, there's strength in your heart 03:58 with His good news. 04:04 There is a Savior 04:09 and He's forgiven you. 04:17 There is 04:20 a Savior. 04:24 What joys expressed. 04:31 His eyes are mercy, 04:37 His word brings rest. 04:44 For each 04:47 tomorrow... 04:51 for yesterday... 04:57 there is a Savior 05:04 who lights our way. 05:11 There is 05:14 a Savior. 05:18 What joys expressed. 05:24 In His eyes I've found mercy, 05:30 His word brought 05:34 rest. 05:37 For each 05:41 tomorrow... 05:45 for yesterday... 05:51 There is 05:54 a Savior 05:59 who lights our way. 06:06 There is a 06:09 Savior 06:14 who lights our 06:18 way. 06:42 There is a Savior! 06:44 Amen! Thank you, Pastor Lomacang. 06:46 Multi-talented. Amen? 06:48 Amen. He's a preacher and a singer. 06:51 The Bible says that we need to covet the earnest gifts, Amen? 06:55 Oh, it's a blessing to be here at 3ABN. 06:58 Umm, we've been learning quite a bit 07:00 and we have another exciting presentation. 07:03 Um, but before we do so as our custom is here 07:07 let us bow our heads for prayer 07:08 and invite the real presenter... the Spirit. 07:11 Father, we want to thank you because You are a Savior 07:14 and Your name says it all. 07:17 You save us from ourselves. 07:21 You save us from complications 07:24 and we need to be saved in this particular occasion as well. 07:28 Father, our many churches also need to be saved 07:31 from spiritual lethargy 07:34 and they need to be saved, Lord, from the formalities 07:37 and the deadness that they find themselves in. 07:40 And we ask that in this presentation You may help us 07:43 to be able to understand a little bit more 07:45 what we can do as lay people 07:47 to help our churches experience revival. 07:49 Is our prayer in Jesus' name, Amen. 07:53 Amen! Well, this is part two 07:55 of... continuation of our previous presentation 07:58 on helping churches experience revival. 08:00 And let's do a little review just to make sure that 08:02 we're all on the same page. 08:04 What is revival? We talked a little bit about this. 08:07 A renewal, right? It's coming back to life. 08:12 Coming back to life from the spiritual deadness. 08:15 And we said that many churches need to be revived 08:17 because at some point in history they were alive 08:20 but for whatever reason they died spiritually... 08:23 they need to be revived. And we also said that 08:25 some churches don't need revival... 08:27 they just need "vival" 08:29 because they've never been alive. Amen? 08:32 So revival implies that they need to have life once again. 08:36 Now, how do we find... how do we experience revival 08:40 according to Exodus... not Exodus... I got the letter 08:43 right, E... Ezekiel. 08:45 Ezekiel 37 and where else? 08:48 Luke 24. Somebody remembered that. 08:51 How does Ezekiel 37 explain to us how we get revival? 08:58 The Word... and what else? And the Spirit of God, right? 09:03 When you put these two things together 09:06 be very, very careful because a spiritual explosion 09:10 is what's going to follow. 09:12 So what we saw in Ezekiel chapter 37 is that there was 09:16 a valley of dry bones. 09:17 And the valley of dry bones represented who? 09:19 Israel. And the Israel in the Old Testament was who? 09:22 The church. So the church was found in a dead, dry 09:26 spiritual experience. 09:27 And the question was: "Can these bones live? " 09:31 And Ezekiel I would imagine scratched his head 09:35 in doubt and said: "Oh Lord, only You can answer that. " 09:39 And many of us, when we think of our own churches, 09:42 we say: "Can these bones live? " 09:45 There's good news. Those bones can live. Amen? 09:48 Amen. Don't give up on your churches 09:51 because even in your church revival can be a reality. 09:55 We also discovered in Luke chapter 24 09:57 that Jesus - finding 2 disciples on the road to Emaeus 10:02 that were disappointed... they were discouraged, 10:06 they were in need of revival - 10:07 and Jesus also brought to them the Word of God. 10:10 But not only did He bring the Word of God. 10:11 What else did He do? He went inside their home - 10:14 remember? - and He broke bread. 10:16 He spent time building personal relationships 10:20 with people who needed revival. 10:23 So we're learning a little bit more about what revival is 10:25 and how to... how to help somebody or a group of 10:28 individuals experience revival. 10:30 It's not just preaching to them. Amen? 10:33 It's spending time with them. 10:36 It's listening to them. 10:38 And that's exactly what Jesus did. 10:39 And we found out why it was that Israel in Ezekiel 37 10:44 and these two disciples on the road to Emaeus 10:47 experienced the spiritual deadness. 10:49 You guys remember? What was it that they lost? 10:51 They lost hope. In both cases they lost hope. 10:54 Hope in their role as a special people. 10:58 Hope in the prophesies; hope in the message. 11:01 Hope... hope in their mission. 11:03 They lost hope in all of these things, 11:05 and that led then to spiritual deadness. 11:08 Ladies and gentlemen, if we lose hope 11:10 in the message of God, the only thing that will follow 11:15 is spiritual deadness. And I believe the reason why 11:17 there's so many churches that are spiritually dead 11:19 is because of that... because we have lost hope 11:21 in the three angels' messages. 11:23 We have lost hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ. 11:25 We have lost hope in that "good old news" 11:28 that Jesus is a friend of sinners. 11:31 There is hope for the hopeless. 11:34 We also discovered that revival 11:38 doesn't always begin large. 11:43 But revival - the majority of the times - 11:47 is initiated by something very, very small. 11:51 Yes? So when you talk about revival 11:56 we're not always referring to every individual 12:00 buying in to this experience. 12:03 What we're talking about is a group of individuals 12:05 who catch a vision and little by little 12:09 it becomes contagious. And they win one person after the other 12:15 one by one, one by one until 12:17 there's an exceeding great army as we saw in Ezekiel 37. 12:20 And that exceeding great army was ready for war. 12:24 Now revival is a blessing. Amen? 12:27 But we know that every blessing that God has 12:32 Satan has a counterfeit. 12:36 So although revival is a blessing and the Bible speaks 12:38 volume about revival, there's also this thing called 12:41 the false revival. 12:44 And the closer and closer we come to the end of time 12:47 we're going to see more manifestations of the 12:50 false revival. And if we're not aware 12:52 of what true revival is, ladies and gentlemen, 12:54 we are in danger of being swept away. 12:58 The greatest example of revival that we see in the 13:00 New Testament is none other than Pentecost. 13:04 When we think of Pentecost we usually think of several 13:06 things. What comes to our minds when we think of Pentecost? 13:11 Speaking in tongues. What else? 13:13 The Holy Spirit. 13:16 Fire, baptism... all these things, right? 13:19 How was it that Pentecost took place? 13:23 There was a spokesperson. Who was that spokesperson? 13:25 It was Peter. 13:27 What was it that Peter preached? 13:29 Because if that message created such a powerful aftermath 13:33 of 3,000 people getting baptized 13:35 then we'd better preach that message, Amen? 13:38 Amen! So what was that message? 13:39 Well really the bulk of that message was an Old Testament 13:44 prophecy found in the book of Joel. 13:47 If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to go to the 13:49 book of Joel. Joel is right after the book of Hosea. 13:53 There's Daniel, Hosea, Joel. 13:56 Joel chapter 2. 13:58 Joel chapter 2. This is kind of like the foundation, 14:01 this kind of was the nucleus of Peter's message 14:03 on the Day of Pentecost. 14:04 And really this is a prophecy of revival to a certain extent. 14:07 Joel chapter 2, and when you're there please say "Amen. " 14:10 Amen. Joel chapter 2 beginning in verse 28. 14:13 The Bible says: "And it shall come to pass" 14:16 When? 14:18 "afterward... " some time in the future 14:20 "that I will pour out" What? 14:23 "My Spirit on all flesh. 14:26 Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. 14:28 Your old men shall dream dreams. 14:30 Your young men shall see visions. 14:32 And also on My manservants and on My maidservants 14:36 I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 14:39 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: 14:42 blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 14:44 The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood 14:46 before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. 14:50 And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name 14:52 of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion 14:56 and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance. " Amen? Amen. 15:00 "As the Lord hath said among the remnant whom the Lord calls. " 15:04 So Joel chapter 2 - this portion of scripture - was 15:07 really what Peter was basing his Pentecost sermon on. 15:12 Now it's very interesting when you look carefully in 15:14 verse 28 because there's a promise there. 15:17 And the promise is that God is going to pour out 15:22 His Spirit. Is that what He says? 15:24 He says: "I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. " 15:30 By the way, "all flesh" is inclusive, yes? 15:33 That means that you can be a recipient 15:36 of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 15:38 So let's run to Acts chapter 2 to make sure that 15:40 we're really correct in our... in our case here that Peter's 15:46 sermon in Acts chapter 2 is really based on Joel. 15:49 We said that in Joel chapter 2 we saw clearly 15:53 that God says: "I will pour out My Spirit. " 15:57 Very clear. 15:58 But notice what Acts chapter 2... 16:00 Notice some of the details that we have. 16:02 You have Peter's sermon beginning in verse 14. 16:05 And the Bible says in verse 14: 16:07 "But Peter standing up with the eleven raised his voice 16:10 and said to them: 'Men of Judea 16:12 and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you 16:15 and heed my words. 16:16 For these are not drunk as you suppose 16:18 since it is only the third hour of the day. 16:20 But this is what was spoken by' Who? 16:22 'the prophet Joel. ' " 16:25 So far so good, yeah? 16:26 We just went to Joel; we just saw the prophecy. 16:28 Peter says: "Let me quote the prophet Joel. " 16:32 So far so good. But there's something interesting 16:35 that you find in his quotation 16:39 of the very verses that we just read. 16:41 "And it shall come to pass in the last days says God 16:44 I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. 16:47 Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. 16:49 Your young men shall see visions. 16:51 Your old men shall dream dreams. " 16:54 Does that sound familiar? 16:55 Yes! It's almost verbatim to Joel chapter 2. 16:59 But there is a minor detail 17:03 in Acts chapter 2 that Joel chapter 2 does not have. 17:07 It's almost unnoticeable if you read it very quickly. 17:12 Let's read verse 17 once again. 17:15 "And it shall come to pass in the last days says God 17:17 that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh. " 17:20 Is that what it says? 17:22 Well according to my translation - 17:24 I have the New King James - it actually says 17:26 "And it shall come to pass in the last days says God 17:29 that I will pour out... " 17:33 And then there's a really tiny word. It's almost 17:37 unnoticeable. It's apparently insignificant. 17:40 "I will pour out... " It doesn't say My Spirit 17:43 but rather it says what? 17:44 "of My Spirit on all flesh. " 17:49 Interesting. Why in the world does Peter say 17:53 "I will pour out of My Spirit" 17:56 when Joel said what? 17:58 "I will pour out My Spirit. " 18:00 Now is that a big difference? 18:02 "Of My Spirit" and "My Spirit? " 18:04 What's the difference? 18:06 My Spirit means what? 18:08 All. It means the totality of the Spirit. 18:10 "I will pour out My Spirit. " 18:12 But when I say: "I will pour out of... 18:16 My Spirit, " what does that mean? 18:19 It means that it's a portion but not all of it. 18:23 You guys follow? So in Acts chapter 2 18:26 what Peter is implying - at least, that's what the 18:28 evidence appears to teach us - is that what they were 18:32 experiencing in Acts chapter 2, the experience of Pentecost, 18:36 was only... was only... 18:41 was only... Amen? 18:44 a partial fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel chapter 2. 18:50 Why? Because in the not-so-distant future 18:54 Amen? Joel chapter 2 is going to be fulfilled 18:58 in all of its totality. Amen. And God is going to have 19:02 recipients of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 19:05 And I don't know about you but I would love to be 19:07 one of those recipients. Amen? Amen! 19:09 So Acts chapter 2 teaches us. And we look at Pentecost. 19:12 We're like: "Wow! That's so incredible! 19:14 How could it be? 3,000 people; one message. 19:17 Wow! " 19:19 Can you imagine? If this was only a portion of the 19:22 Holy Spirit, can you imagine what would happen 19:27 if the entirety of the Holy Spirit is poured out 19:29 into God's people in the last days? 19:32 Amen. There is going to be an outrageous revival 19:36 of primitive faith and godliness amongst God's people 19:38 and Pentecost will be repeated. But the difference 19:42 is that the second Pentecost is only going to be bigger 19:45 and way more powerful. Amen! And ladies and gentlemen, 19:48 when I look at Acts chapter 2 I get encouraged. 19:50 You know why? Because I see the recipients of 19:52 the Holy Spirit... and they're human beings. 19:56 Peter was a human being, was he not? 19:59 Peter was a human being that made mistakes. 20:03 Amen. Peter was a human being that slipped and fell at times. 20:07 When I look at Peter I resonate with Peter 20:09 because a lot of his flaws I can see in my own life. 20:13 And yet it is this man that has weakness and that has flaws 20:18 that was sanctified and that was used to be the main instrument 20:23 to communicate this powerful message 20:25 which led to the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 20:27 Amen. So if that was true with Peter... 20:29 in order words, if God can use Peter, ladies and gentlemen, 20:32 he can use any single one of us in this room. 20:35 Amen? Amen. 20:36 So don't let the devil get the best of you. 20:39 If you slipped and fell, look at the life of Peter 20:41 and follow his example... he went to Jesus. 20:43 In fact, we're told... you can study it carefully... 20:47 right after Peter denied Jesus three times 20:49 he was running through the woods. 20:51 He was in shame; he was in guilt. 20:54 And he had an experience that was so powerful 20:56 that the Peter of post-repentance 21:01 was way more powerful than the Peter before he denied Jesus. 21:05 So there's hope. And maybe you find yourself denying Jesus. 21:08 Ladies and gentlemen, we just have to come back to the Lord 21:12 and recognize that even in this broken body that we have 21:16 and sometimes our broken experience 21:18 God can still use us. 21:20 The Bible tells us that the end time will have a bigger 21:23 Pentecost. 21:25 There will be a bigger outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 21:27 However, every blessing that God has 21:30 Satan has a counterfeit. 21:33 And if we look in Revelation... Run with me to Revelation 21:35 chapter 13. In Revelation chapter 13 21:38 we have this amazing chapter that talks about 21:41 the specific details of end-time events 21:45 associated with the beast power and the mark of the beast power. 21:48 We don't have time to get into specifics, 21:50 but when you look carefully in Revelation chapter 13 21:53 you see clearly that one of the tools that the enemy is going to 21:57 use is false revival. When you look at Revelation chapter 13 22:03 and you look in verse 13 22:05 the Bible says he - the beast - performs what? 22:09 Great signs so that even he makes what? 22:14 fire come down from heaven on the earth 22:17 in the sight of men. Ladies and gentlemen, what 22:19 happened on the day of Pentecost? What came down? 22:21 Fire. There was fire. In Revelation chapter 13 22:24 we have Satan's Pentecost. 22:27 It's a false revival. 22:29 And the Bible tells us that it's going to come down on earth 22:32 in the sight of men 22:36 meaning that it's going to be visible. 22:39 Meaning that many will be led astray. 22:40 Verse 14: "He deceives those who dwell on the earth 22:45 by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight... 22:48 in the sight of the beast 22:50 telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image 22:52 to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. " 22:55 One of the things that Satan is going to use 22:57 in opposition towards God and His people 23:00 is he's going to use false signs, false wonders. 23:03 And he's going to create a false revival that's going to 23:06 sweep all over the place. 23:08 And many people are going to see this. 23:10 They're going to see all of these amazing things 23:12 and they're going to be led astray. 23:14 Ladies and gentlemen, we need to be very careful 23:17 that we are not swept to the false revival. 23:19 Now it's interesting because there's an Old Testament story 23:22 that talks about fire coming down. 23:24 Actually, there are many Old Testament stories. 23:26 But there's one in particular that comes to my mind 23:28 in the book of I Kings. When you look at I Kings 23:31 and we take a look at chapter 18 you find a showdown 23:35 between God's representative and Satan's representatives plural. 23:41 You find Elijah - who we don't have time to... to 23:45 develop this - but when you study the story of Elijah 23:48 from beginning to end it's literally a pattern 23:51 of God's people's experience in the end of time. 23:54 So what Elijah went through is what you and I will go through. 23:59 Especially... I really like the last part of the story of Elijah 24:01 when he gets translated. Amen? 24:02 Amen! That's the good part. 24:04 Then he lives "happily ever after. " Amen? 24:07 I Kings chapter 18 we have the showdown on Mt. Carmel. 24:10 We don't have time to get into all the details. 24:12 Some of you are familiar with the story. 24:14 There was... The issue on Mt. Carmel was what? 24:19 The issue was the issue of worship. 24:22 And you had two different approaches to worship. 24:27 At the end of the day there's only 2 kinds of worship, right? 24:30 There's true worship and there's false worship. 24:33 And when you look at the 400+ prophets of Baal 24:37 they had a very interesting way of calling on their God. 24:41 What were some of the things that they did? 24:47 To sum up... to take all of those those answers 24:50 and put them together, we could just say they were wild. 24:54 Right? It was almost abnormal. Like, what are they doing? 24:57 They started cutting themselves. Like, what are they doing? 24:59 Right? It was externally very flamboyant 25:04 for the lack of a better term. 25:06 But when you look at what happened after they did 25:09 all of these outrageous things 25:12 the Bible tells us that there was no answer. 25:17 It was all an emotional rush. 25:21 And then God's prophet approaches 25:26 and he says indirectly: "Let me show you how to worship God. " 25:32 And let's pick up the example in I Kings chapter 18 25:36 beginning in verse 36. 25:37 "And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the 25:40 evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said: 25:43 'Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel 25:45 let it be known this day that You are God 25:48 in Israel and I am Your servant and that I have done all these 25:51 at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me 25:53 that this people may know that you are the Lord God 25:56 and that You have turned their hearts back to You again. ' 25:58 Then the.. " what? "fire of the Lord fell 26:04 and consumed the burnt sacrifice 26:06 and the wood and the stones and the dust 26:08 and licked up the water that was in the trench. 26:10 Now when all the people saw it 26:12 they fell on their faces and they said: 'The Lord, 26:15 He is God. The Lord, He is God. ' " 26:19 Now how did Elijah approach the altar? 26:22 In a very prayerful, in a very humble 26:27 in a very reverent manner. And what was the... 26:30 what was the conclusion or the result of that? 26:35 There was fire that came down from heaven. 26:37 Remember we talked about fire in the past. 26:39 Remember we talked a little bit about the disciples on the 26:42 road to Emaeus? 26:44 What did they experience after spending time with Jesus? 26:46 There was fire. And by the way, 26:48 they were breaking bread with Jesus. 26:50 They were talking with Him; they were hanging out with Jesus 26:53 and then there was fire. 26:55 There was revival. 26:57 There was an explosion inside. 26:58 So when you look at I Kings chapter 18 27:01 we see that the devil is going to counterfeit this experience 27:05 on Mt. Carmel and he's going to deceive many people. 27:10 When you look at many of the things in today's world 27:13 that are labeled revival, ladies and gentlemen, they are 27:16 nothing more than an emotional exercise. 27:19 They're nothing more than just an empty, emotional rush. 27:22 I remember on one occasion I was working as a Bible worker 27:25 in northern California and a good friend of mine was 27:28 giving Bible studies to another young man. 27:31 And this young man was, you know, pretty on fire. 27:34 He was pretty excited about, you know, the things he was 27:36 learning. And this young man was a Christian. 27:39 And he invited my friend to go to their charismatic 27:44 youth revival. 27:47 So my friend got a little scared. 27:50 He didn't really know what to expect so he called me. 27:54 "Hey, Jay, how's it going? " I'm like: 27:56 "I'm doing good. What are you up to? " 27:58 So he tells me: "You know, I've just been invited to this 28:00 charismatic youth revival. " 28:02 I'm like: "All right, well have fun. 28:04 I hope you enjoy it. " He says: "No, no, no, no, no, no. 28:06 I don't want to go by myself. " 28:08 And I'm like: "But aren't you? Didn't somebody invite you? 28:12 Aren't you? " "Yeah, but can you come with me? " 28:14 And I'm like: "Why do you want me to come with you? " 28:17 He said: "I don't know... I don't know what to expect. 28:19 I'm kind of afraid. " I said: "Sure, I'll come with you. " 28:21 "All right. " So I hang up. 28:23 You know, five minutes later I started getting nervous. 28:27 I'm like: "Man. " So then I picked up the phone 28:31 and called my other friend. 28:32 "Hey, how's it going, man? How are you doing? " 28:34 "Um, oh nothing. " "Listen, what are you doing 28:37 tomorrow? " And eventually I invited... I told him the 28:40 whole story. He says: "Sure, I'll go. " 28:42 So here we were Sunday morning. We were invited to this 28:45 charismatic youth revival. 28:47 And we get into the park... The place is packed. 28:50 We barely found a parking spot. 28:51 We get out of the car. We carpooled there. 28:53 We were praying the whole way, of course. 28:55 All the way there. 28:56 We get out of the car and we're kind of taking baby steps 28:59 like this into... 'cause we don't really know what to 29:03 expect. We're like: "Oh, what are we going to say? 29:05 What are we going to do? " And I hope we weren't 29:09 holding hands. But I vaguely remember I was... 29:12 I vaguely remember I was very close... rather close 29:15 to each other as we opened the door. 29:18 It was kind of like the three Hebrews in Daniel: 29:20 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 29:22 We were going to enter into an unexpected situation. 29:26 So as soon as we opened the door... 29:28 no exaggeration... as soon as we opened the door 29:31 we were almost like kicked back. We were almost 29:34 pushed back by the sound of the heavy music. 29:38 I mean, I thought in California there's a lot of earthquakes. 29:40 And I thought when we walked inside: "Oh, we're in the middle 29:43 of an earthquake. " It wasn't. It was the vibration 29:45 of the music. And as we walked and as I looked 29:48 down in the altar there was a group of I don't know 60-70 29:53 young people and they were literally jumping up and down. 29:57 Jumping up and down. 30:00 Jumping up and down. 30:01 Not only were they just jumping up and down. 30:03 They were jumping up and down; they were yelling; 30:05 and they were screaming. And the guy on the piano was 30:07 getting down... he was doing his thing. 30:10 And I was like: "Man, look at this! 30:12 What's going on? " And we sat at the last - you know how it is 30:15 the last row. Like way in the back. 30:18 And I think we were still holding hands at this point. 30:21 And I said to myself: "Wow, this is so bizarre. 30:25 This is so interesting. " And everybody was 30:27 in this emotional rush and it went on for a very, very 30:30 long time. I thought: "Well OK, 20 minutes of this 30:32 and then they're going to get into the devotional. " 30:34 No. Twenty minutes, 30, 40, 1 hour. 30:38 It was just constant emotional rush. 30:42 Now don't get me wrong. I believe there was a lot of 30:44 beautiful people in that... in that youth revival. 30:47 Lot of sincere people. 30:49 This is not pointing fingers at nobody 30:51 or making fun of anybody. The point is that 30:54 if you were to speak to one of those young people 30:56 after that revival and ask them 31:00 "What did you learn? " 31:02 "What did you learn today in this revival? " 31:06 what would they tell you? 31:07 "Oh, I don't know. I just felt really cool... 31:11 felt really nice. " 31:12 Does that make sense? In other words, 31:14 revival in many cases today is not something that is 31:18 educational. It's not something that disciples. 31:21 It's not something that teaches. It's just an emotional energy. 31:24 Why? Because they know that young people love energy. 31:26 They love the flow of the emotions. So what do they do? 31:29 That's exactly what they give to them. 31:31 Does that make sense? So when I left that charismatic 31:34 youth revival I learned quite a bit in the sense 31:36 that I realized the difference between God's revival 31:40 and the difference between Lucifer's revival... 31:43 Satan's revival. God wants to not only 31:46 inspire our hearts, He also wants to educate the mind. 31:51 Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that we should 31:53 come to church and experience worship as robots 31:57 because I think we need to tap into the emotions. Amen? 32:00 I mean, if you read the Psalms there's a lot of emotion there. 32:02 Amen? "In the morning when my prayers rise up to Thee, 32:06 O Lord. " "As the deer panteth for... " 32:08 This is a lot of emotional communication to God 32:12 and I think we need to tap into that. 32:14 But I think the charismatic youth revival that I went to 32:18 was a little bit on the extreme if you would not say so. 32:21 So I think we need to have a balanced approach. 32:23 And I think that's what Elijah teaches us in I Kings. 32:27 We see that Elijah comes in a reverent manner 32:30 and maybe even in an emotional. He's approaching God 32:32 saying: "God of Abraham, God of Isaac and Israel. " 32:36 These are kind of... You can even hear in his words 32:39 that there was a lot of emotion overflowing in his heart. 32:41 Ladies and gentlemen, we live in an age that we are all about 32:46 the feelings. And many times if it feels good 32:49 but it goes contrary to the Word it's OK if it feels good. 32:54 At the end of time God is going to have a people 32:57 that are going to say "No! " to the false revival 33:01 and they're going to experience God the way that the disciples 33:03 did in the book of Acts. 33:05 When you look at Acts chapter 2 yes, you have 33:07 an emot... Yes, you feel the presence of God. 33:12 Your emotions are touched. 33:15 But not only are your emotions touched 33:17 the Bible says in Acts chapter 2 the Pharisees, their consciences 33:21 were touched. They were under conviction. 33:25 Why? Because there was a particular message 33:27 that went through the mind and finally gripped the heart. 33:30 And they said: "Men and brethren, what shall we do? " 33:32 "Repent and be baptized. " 33:35 There was education there. 33:36 So we need to be very careful when we talk about revival 33:39 because there's a lot of things that are called revival 33:41 that really are not revival. 33:43 Let's take a look at Acts chapter 2. 33:44 Talking about revival quite a bit. 33:45 We're just seeing a little bit of the other side of the coin. 33:50 And we're recognizing that in the last days 33:53 there's going to be another type of revival. 33:55 But we need to be very careful that we don't fall 33:57 into that kind of a revival. 33:58 Acts chapter 2: what does a church that is revived 34:01 look like? Amen? 34:03 Let's be practical. We're talking about revival. 34:05 We're talking about this, that, and the other. 34:06 But at the end of the day what does the church that has 34:09 just experienced revival look like? 34:12 Well, I think there is no better example than 34:15 the church of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. 34:19 What did the church look like immediately after the Spirit 34:22 of God was poured out? 34:23 Immediately after there were 3,000 people baptized? 34:26 What did it look like? Well, so glad you asked that question 34:28 because in Acts chapter 2 beginning in verse 40 34:31 it gives us the very specific detailed characteristics 34:34 of what that church looked like. 34:37 Let's take a look at Acts chapter 2 beginning in verse 40. 34:40 The Bible says: "And with many other words... " 34:42 I wish we had those many other words written 34:44 so we could read them. 34:45 "He testified and exhorted them saying: 34:47 'Be saved from this perverse generation. ' 34:51 Then those who gladly received the" what? 34:53 "the Word were baptized. " You see, this kind of revival 34:57 there was the communication of the Word. 35:00 "And that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. " 35:04 Now listen carefully to what verse 42 says: 35:06 "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine 35:10 and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. " 35:15 Did you see that? There's a key word there. 35:17 "They continued. " 35:20 A church that has just experienced revival 35:23 is not experiencing a fleeting emotional rush. 35:27 Why? Because you have the word continue there. 35:30 And when you have the word continue there 35:33 you have another word that also is implied there 35:36 and it's the word consistency. 35:38 Does that make sense? It's a day-by-day constant growing. 35:42 Constant taking of steps. 35:44 And if it was just an emotional rush 35:45 Acts chapter 2 on that particular day 35:48 it would have been a fleeting emotional rush 35:51 and it would have been back to square one 35:52 in Acts chapter 3. But we know that's not the case. 35:55 "They continued... " Verse 43: 35:57 "Then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs 36:01 were done through the apostles. " 36:03 44: "Now all who believed were together and had all things 36:07 in common. " We talked about unity. 36:09 "And they sold their possessions and goods 36:12 and divided them among all as anyone had need. " 36:16 If you were a member of this church, 36:17 all of your needs were met. 36:19 Spiritually... socially... even financially. 36:23 Amen? 36:25 "So continuing... " We have the word continuing again there. 36:28 "daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread 36:31 from house to house, they ate their food with gladness 36:34 and simplicity of heart, 36:36 praising God and having favor with all the people. 36:39 And the Lord added to the church daily 36:42 those who were being saved. " 36:44 I don't know about you, but when I see that church 36:46 I'm tempted to call the secretary of that church 36:49 and accept my membership. 36:52 Amen? Amen. That's an exciting church. 36:55 But the point is that your church can become this church. 36:59 Because it's the same Holy Spirit that came down 37:03 2,000 years ago that has promised to come down into your 37:06 congregation as well. Amen. 37:08 Now in verse... there's so much here. 37:10 There's so much characteristics here, but 37:12 verse 42. I'm going to talk a little about verse 42 37:14 because you have the concept of continuing. 37:17 You have the concept of follow-up. 37:20 Amen? Many times there are so many evangelistic campaigns 37:24 that are conducted and many times we tend to 37:27 want to pressure people in making decisions. 37:30 Yeah? And then they make the decision 37:33 and then we say: "Nice to meet you. Goodbye. " 37:35 And then a year later guess what? 37:38 Yeah, goodbye. They're not there. 37:40 They're gone. Why? 37:42 Because there wasn't follow-up. 37:45 When you realize that people... they had 3,000 people coming 37:48 into the faith. And when somebody is baptized 37:51 they're not graduating. Amen? 37:52 They're just being initiated to a certain extent. 37:55 They're... they're spiritual infants that need attention. 37:58 They need love; they need compassion. 38:01 They're going to slip and fall, make mistakes. 38:02 Judging them is not going to help. Amen? 38:05 You need to take them in as your own family. 38:08 But you have these two characteristics in verse 42 38:13 that almost seem at opposite spectrums - 38:17 And they're not opposites. It's just that today's... 38:20 in the church life of today we see them as opposites. 38:23 They "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine 38:27 and fellowship in the breaking of bread 38:30 and in prayers. " Now let's talk a little bit about 38:33 our churches today. How about I get in trouble for this? 38:35 This is my last presentation so I think it's OK. 38:40 Today we have many different churches. And by the way, 38:42 this... I'm talking Christianity in general. 38:45 You have churches that are considered liberal 38:50 and then you have churches that are considered what? 38:52 Conservative. 38:54 OK. Now let's talk a little bit about liberal and conservative 39:00 Christian churches today. 39:01 Because generally speaking we categorize churches 39:04 in this manner because they have certain characteristics. 39:07 So question... let's talk about the liberals for a minute here. 39:10 When you go to a liberal church 39:13 what are certain things that you encounter? 39:15 What do you experience? 39:22 Friendly... Ah, somebody says friendliness here. 39:25 OK. So usually speaking, when you go into a liberal church 39:29 they're very friendly. OK, what else? 39:32 They're very happy; there's warm smiles. What else? 39:36 Very upbeat music, right? And that's an understatement. 39:40 Some liberal churches have serious music, right? 39:43 Kind of like what I mentioned with this revival experience 39:45 we had in northern California. 39:48 And even though... there's nothing wrong with being 39:49 friendly, right? There's nothing wrong with that. 39:51 There's nothing wrong with smiling. 39:53 There's nothing wrong with having firm handshakes. 39:55 But what are some of the problems that you have in 39:57 liberal churches? Somebody said "lack of reverence. " 40:04 OK. Lack of calling sin "sin". 40:09 So can we say lack of the Word? 40:12 Amen? So there's a lot of friendliness. 40:15 People are very welcoming. 40:17 A lot of compassion... accept you as you are. 40:20 The problem is that they leave you there, too. 40:23 Right? We're going to accept you as you are 40:25 and then we're going to leave you in that same condition. 40:27 And generally speaking, when you... when it comes time 40:30 for the public discourse, there's not a whole lot of 40:33 spiritual calories, yeah? 40:35 Tends to be a lot of just kind of jokes here and there 40:39 and there's no depth... spiritual depth. 40:41 Does that make sense? So that's... so as you can see 40:43 liberal churches have some good. 40:45 Can we say that? We see that there's friendliness. 40:48 They tend to be very aware of the needs in their community. 40:53 They tend to be very humanitarian... 40:55 community services. They tend to be a lot of... But they don't 40:58 when it comes to spiritual discipleship 41:01 they don't challenge people 41:03 because they tend to want to be everybody's best friend. 41:07 But in doing that they don't disciple people 41:10 or challenge them. Yeah? 41:12 I think that may be a fair analysis of liberal churches. 41:15 And, of course, we're generalizing 41:16 so it's not always in this case. 41:17 All right, conservative. We picked on the liberals. 41:19 Let's talk a little bit about the conservatives 41:21 or the ultra-conservatives, right? 41:22 When you go into an ultra- conservative church 41:24 what do you experience? 41:28 Formality. What else? Judgmental. 41:33 What else? 41:37 Boldness. Rules are more important than people. 41:42 OK, so mission minded. 41:45 So when you go into an ultra- conservative church 41:48 they tend to emphasize rules. 41:52 They tend to emphasize works. 41:55 They tend to emphasize theology. 41:58 Right? There's a lot of regulation. 42:02 There's a lot of policies. They tend to point the finger. 42:05 They tend to judge, right? 42:07 It's almost like a spiritual competition. 42:11 OK? Very unfriendly. 42:14 Very unkind at times. 42:16 You could kind of give the impression of coldness, yeah? 42:20 I'm talking about ultra- conservative. 42:22 But... so we're talking about all of that. 42:24 But what do you find in general ultra-conservative 42:28 churches that are maybe something good? 42:33 They stick to the Word! 42:35 OK. So when it comes time for the preaching of the Word 42:39 there's a lot of... there's a lot of meat. 42:41 OK. Right? There's a lot of spiritual depth there. 42:45 Granted it could be sometimes dry and very, you know, 42:49 not a whole lot of life in it, but there's a lot of 42:52 meat, there's a lot of bread, right? 42:54 There's a lot of emphasis to truth. 42:56 There's a lot of emphasis to standards. 42:58 There's a high calling; there's challenge. 43:00 Are you guys beginning to see the picture here? 43:02 So in other words, in conservative, ultra-conservative 43:05 bubbles you have some good. 43:08 You have norms; you have principles; 43:10 you have foundations. 43:11 But it tends to be very shallow as far as relationships. 43:16 Tends to be very cold. 43:18 Tends to be very formal 43:19 and it's like a spiritual competition, right? 43:23 Then you have the liberals. Those are the friendly... 43:25 friendly people, right? 43:26 A friend of mine said: "Liberals are the good guys 43:28 with bad ideas. " 43:30 Very friendly; very loving. Just beautiful personalities. 43:34 Very wooing. They're very... they're just very friendly 43:37 people, right? BUT... there's no challenge. 43:40 It becomes more of a social club 43:44 rather than a place that you go to find the Lord 43:46 and to learn about the mission of the church. 43:49 So the point is that liberals and the ultra-conservative camp 43:54 are both in unhealthy conditions. 43:59 Right? And the devil is as happy as he can be 44:03 as the church continues to attack the liberals... 44:07 conservatives attack the liberals 44:10 and the liberals attack the conservatives. You know why? 44:12 Because as long as you have these two bubbles 44:14 guess what? The church is not united. 44:16 Amen? And when you read the book of Acts 44:19 you don't have conservatives and liberals. Amen? 44:21 You have the church. And the interesting thing is 44:23 that you have two very prominent characteristics. 44:26 One which is probably the heaviest prominent 44:29 characteristic of the conservative circle 44:31 and you have a very prominent characteristic of a liberal. 44:35 Acts chapter 2 verse 42: "And they continued steadfastly 44:38 in the apostles' doctrine. " Amen. 44:41 Now we said that the apostles' doctrine you're probably not 44:43 going to find in a liberal church. Probably not. 44:46 You'll find the doctrine of, you know, the famous people 44:49 of the world. The celebrities, right? 44:51 But you're not going to find the apostles' doctrine 44:52 generally speaking in a liberal church. 44:55 So that is a strong characteristic - 44:57 a good characteristic - 44:58 generally speaking in a conservative context. 45:01 But it doesn't just stop there. 45:03 Not only do they have the apostles' doctrine 45:05 they also have... fellowship. 45:08 What does fellowship imply? 45:10 Friendliness. There is a social connection. 45:13 There's breaking of bread. 45:15 And that's generally not found in conservative circles. 45:19 That's found where? In liberal circles. 45:22 You guys... are you guys beginning to see the picture? 45:23 I believe that when the Spirit of God is poured down 45:26 in the last day church, the walls of liberals and 45:29 conservatism is going to be completely destroyed. 45:32 Amen. Because both groups are somewhat unbalanced. 45:35 And when I read the Bible 45:37 I find Jesus, who's walking in the streets of Galilee. 45:40 And there's a conservative group of people called the Pharisees 45:43 and there's a liberal group of people called the Sadducees. 45:45 And then in the book of Acts guess what? 45:47 You have the outpouring of the Holy Spirit 45:49 and the church is composed of Christians who are balanced. 45:54 Amen? So I believe that a church that is revived 45:56 is not going to fall into this liberal/conservative 45:59 business because the devil loves us to spend time 46:02 talking and arguing and attacking each other. 46:04 Because as long as we're doing that, guess what? 46:06 The church will never be united. 46:08 When I read the book of Acts I find a church that is 46:11 a winsome church. It's a church that is attractive. 46:14 It's a church that is friendly 46:15 but it's a church that has foundations. 46:17 It's a church that has Pillars of our Faith. Amen? 46:20 It's a church that you can go to and find God. 46:23 It's a church that you can be challenged. 46:25 It's a church that is friendly, that meets your needs. 46:28 They're not interested in you as a number. Amen? 46:30 Amen. On a report that they send to the evangelism committee. No. 46:34 They're interested in you as a person because they know 46:36 that Jesus died for you as an individual 46:38 and they're interested in being your friend... 46:41 not only being a fellow church member. 46:44 They call you, they visit you, 46:46 they ask: "Do you have any prayers? 46:48 Is there any need that you have? " 46:49 And they listen carefully and they think when they go home 46:53 "How is that I, as a Christian, can be a blessing to my brother? 46:57 How can I as a Christian be a blessing to my sister? " 47:00 And it's a church that is constantly being united. 47:03 Why? Because everybody's trying to outgive everybody else. 47:05 It's not a competition. 47:07 It sounds like wishful thinking ladies and gentlemen 47:09 but it isn't. Because Acts chapter 2 47:12 is a record of events that took place on this planet 47:15 with the same type of people that are present here. 47:20 Christians that are walking in the light 47:23 who at times slip and fall but little by little are 47:26 constantly approaching closer and closer to the 47:28 kingdom of God. Amen. 47:29 Revival... When revival sweeps the church 47:33 the church is going to be the most attractive thing 47:36 in the neighborhood. Amen. Handbills are great to send out. 47:40 We're going to be doing an evangelistic meeting this fall 47:42 in my church. That's wonderful. We're going to send thousands. 47:44 But the greatest flyer for any church is you. 47:48 Amen. Your smile... because a flyer can't smile. 47:52 Right? A handbill can't say "Hello, what is your name? " 47:54 But you can. And God wants to use you as the greatest 47:58 advertising for the church and for the kingdom of God. 48:01 Problem is that many of our churches that don't have revival 48:07 we don't realize why that is. 48:10 We don't realize that all the issues in the church 48:13 are just symptoms. And many times we fight over the 48:17 symptoms in the church rather than the root of the issue. 48:20 Or we're going around in circles like this. 48:22 We spend years - 20, 30 years - battling over little issues 48:24 that are symptoms instead of trying to figure out: 48:27 "OK, what is the host of this problem? " 48:30 Right? And even in health 48:33 it's a lot easier to deal with the host issue rather than 48:36 just trying to deal with the symptoms of the issue. 48:39 But that's what we do in our local churches. 48:41 We need to remember that a church is more than just 48:45 a building. A church is a community of believers. 48:49 But that community of believers are made up of 48:53 these little things we call... well, some of them are not so 48:55 little... these things we call homes or houses. 48:59 So when you have a church that is congregated together 49:02 what really do you have? 49:03 A collection of different homes 49:05 that meet together on a weekly basis. 49:09 All the issues that are found in the home 49:13 are going to be transferred into the church. 49:16 And many... Many of us, we look at the youth in the church. 49:19 I look at my youth in the church sometimes. I have to be honest. 49:22 "Ah, right? Why? Can't you stay awake? 49:27 Just listen to the message. Stop texting each other 49:29 you know, during the message. You know, why? Ah... " 49:32 But we need... We need to have mercy on some of our 49:34 young people, First of all, we need to remember that revival 49:38 begins in the home. Revival begins at the family altar. 49:42 It begins in the living room. 49:45 And the Bible tells us that the father - Amen - 49:49 the father... careful study that you realize that the father 49:52 is the priest of the home. 49:56 Well why does the Bible call him a priest? 49:58 Where do priests usually hang out? 50:01 In the sanctuary. And the sanctuary are places 50:03 that are holy. Do you accept that? 50:06 So the husband, the father, is the priest of the home. 50:10 And if the priests hang out in places that are holy 50:13 and the husband hangs out at home, that means that 50:16 the home is a holy place. So guess what ladies and gentlemen? 50:21 We don't treat our home like a holy place. 50:23 Our homes... there's a lot of irreverence in the home. 50:26 There's a lot of unclean things that enter into our homes. 50:29 Amen? There's a lot of disrespect in our homes. 50:32 There's a lot of lack of love and lack of respect. 50:36 And by the way, family worship is becoming an extinct art. 50:41 How many families spend 10 minutes together in prayer 50:44 and in the reading of the Word? 50:46 Lord have mercy. 50:48 So for six days our young people in the home 50:52 do not spend time with each other as a family. 50:54 They do not spend time in prayer. 50:56 They don't read the Bible. 50:58 They're not trained how to be in the presence of holiness. 51:01 They're not trained how to read the Bible. 51:04 Then on the weekend we go to church, 51:07 we dress up as nice as we are, 51:09 and we bring our nice little smiles, right? 51:11 And then our young people are fidgeting; they can't sit still. 51:15 They're texting. Well, you know why? 51:17 Because they're not being trained in the home. 51:19 Amen. Any issue that you have in the home is going to 51:22 manifest itself in the church... 51:24 maybe even in the liturgy... maybe even in the board meeting. 51:27 The point is that when you have issues in the church 51:30 don't take it out on the church 51:31 because the church is not at fault. 51:34 Those are symptoms. You've gotta deal with the root issue 51:37 of the problem, ladies and gentlemen. 51:38 I don't know what issues you're going through at your church 51:40 but I can guarantee you that those issues 51:42 find their inception in the home. 51:45 So what do we need to do? 51:47 Well, we discovered already that revival is two things: 51:49 spiritual power and social power. 51:52 We saw that Jesus in Ezekiel brought the Word of God 51:55 but we also saw that Jesus went into the homes. 51:58 He listened; He broke bread. 51:59 We see in the book of Acts the church that was revived. 52:02 It wasn't just a church of a bunch of theology and doctrine. 52:04 It was a church of fellowship. 52:06 It was a church of meeting each other's needs. 52:09 So if this is the case and in order to bring revival 52:12 to the church we need to bring it to the home, 52:14 well, guess what? Very simple. We need to bring two things 52:17 into the home: spiritual power and social power. 52:21 And you as a lay person can be actively involved 52:25 in constructing evangelism in your church. 52:29 Know what you can do? Visit your fellow members. Amen? 52:32 Amen. And say: "Hi, I came to visit with you and just have 52:36 a prayer. " That simple. Go in there; have a prayer. 52:39 And you can say: "You know, I have a real burden 52:42 to see our church become what God wants it to become. 52:46 Why don't we pray for the rest of our church family? 52:49 Those that are struggling with marriages. 52:51 Those that are struggling with these issues. 52:52 Those that are struggling with that. " 52:53 Guarantee you... that person's going to be very, very moved 52:56 and very impressed because you're coming on a Tuesday 52:59 rather than on Sabbath when everybody looks good. 53:01 Right? Everybody's dressed... 53:03 but it becomes very shallow, becomes almost very plastic 53:07 and you can't really... 53:09 there is no appli... there is no practical application 53:13 to the spiritual remedy that we have. 53:15 And in closing, I want to take us to our last text, which is 53:18 found in the Old Testament book of Malachi. 53:21 Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament. 53:24 And there's a last... In fact, there's the last chapter 53:29 in the book of Malachi which is the last book in the 53:31 Old Testament towards the last few verses of the entire 53:34 Old Testament we have a powerful promise. 53:37 I believe it's a challenge but it's also a promise. 53:39 Malachi chapter 4. When you're there please say "Amen. " 53:41 Amen. The Bible says in Malachi chapter 4 53:44 beginning in verse 5... says: "Behold 53:46 I will send you Elijah the prophet... " 53:50 We just talked about Elijah, didn't we? 53:52 Mt. Carmel. There was revival, right? 53:54 This is talking about the Elijah experience. 53:56 The Elijah message. 53:58 In other words, I will send you the revival of Elijah. Amen? 54:02 "before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. " 54:04 Well what day is that? 54:06 It's the second coming of Christ. 54:08 Right before Jesus returns in the clouds 54:10 He's going to send us the revival of Elijah. OK? 54:13 How is that revival going to manifest itself 54:16 in our human experience? 54:18 Verse 6: "And he" - Elijah the prophet, the Elijah experience - 54:24 "will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children 54:29 and the hearts of the children to their fathers. " 54:33 Isn't that interesting? 54:35 It doesn't mention anything about the church. 54:37 But what does it talk about? 54:39 Talks about the family circle. 54:41 Talks about the family altar. 54:43 The Bible tells us that before Jesus returns in the clouds 54:45 of glory God is going to send the Elijah experience 54:49 to His people. And the way that it's going to fundamentally 54:52 manifest itself is not in the liturgy or the program 54:55 of the church. Amen? It's going to manifest itself 54:58 in the day-to-day experience in the home. 55:01 The hearts of the fathers are going to be turned 55:03 towards their children. You know what that means? 55:05 That means there's going to be social intimacy between 55:09 parent and child. 55:11 And ladies and gentlemen, when you have a home 55:13 where the father's hearts are turned to the children 55:15 and the children's hearts are turned to the father, 55:17 when you have unity, when you have love, 55:20 when you have acceptance, compassion, 55:22 when you have exhortation, encouragement 55:24 in one home and you multiply that by fifty 55:28 you have the church in the book of Acts. 55:30 Amen. I don't know how many homes are represented 55:33 in your church but I do know this: 55:35 that if the revival of Malachi chapter 4 55:37 sweeps five living rooms in your church 55:41 you're going to be able to tell the difference. 55:43 And revival is contagious, Amen? 55:45 Amen. It spreads. Starts small... but it spreads. 55:49 And it all begins in our homes. 55:54 So before we try to bring revival to somebody else's home 55:56 Amen? - let's evaluate our own hearts and ask God: 56:00 "God, how do I stand before You? 56:03 How are my family? How is my family doing? 56:06 How are my kids doing? How's my marriage? " Right? 56:09 Ask those questions and ask yourself 56:11 "If every other home in the church were like mine, 56:15 would we be in a favorable position 56:19 or an unfavorable position? " 56:22 Maybe God is calling you to begin a small group 56:25 in your home. Amen? 56:27 Maybe God is asking you to invite your fellow members 56:31 that are in a spiritually dead condition 56:34 God is calling you to invite those dead bones into your 56:37 home - Amen? - so that as you spend time reading the promises 56:40 of God and you have people around your living room 56:43 that are hopeless, their marriages are hopeless, 56:45 their children's spiritual condition is hopeless, 56:48 you think: "Is there any solution? " 56:50 As you spend time in fellowship 56:53 learning each other's favorite color - Amen? - 56:56 it becomes very shallow at times in the church... 56:58 we don't even know who we like as people... 57:00 you will realize that when you go to church the next Sabbath 57:03 oh, it is so much sweeter. 57:06 The singing is more rich. 57:08 The worship service is more intimate 57:11 and you experience the presence of God. Amen? 57:13 I don't know what your church is experiencing, 57:15 but if you forget everything that I said, remember this: 57:17 revival can sweep even your church. Amen! 57:21 Let's ask God to do this and begin in our lives. Amen? |
Revised 2014-12-17