Participants:
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000610A
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00:02 Breath of Life Ministries Presents:
00:05 Sermon #610 - Be Revived, Be Renewed, Be Restored. 00:10 (Breath of Life Theme Music) 00:21 Pastor Byrd: Psalm 85:6 and 7 says, “Wilt thou not revive us again: 00:30 that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, 00:36 O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.” So, in essence, 00:41 revive us, Lord, again. Then the renewal. Isaiah Chapter 40, 00:51 verse number 31, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall 00:59 renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings 01:04 as eagles; they shall run, and not be,” what, everybody? 01:10 Not be what, everybody? Aud:Tired. 01:13 PB: And they shall walk and they shall not what, everybody? 01:16 Aud:Faint. PB: Then the restoration. Joel 2: 25, 01:23 “And I will restore to you the years that the locust 01:29 hath taken, eaten, and the canker worm, and the caterpillar, 01:33 and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.” 01:41 Be revived, be renewed, be restored, and wrap it in Revelation. 01:50 A first message is be revived. Everybody say be revived. 01:55 Aud: Revived. PB: But I'm an old, I'm a young, I'm an old 02:01 man in a young body. All right. Old man in young body. 02:04 And I remember the days of revival. Years ago revival was 02:14 not in a church like this. Years ago revival, we didn't 02:19 have HD video walls like we do now. Some of us can go 02:25 back to revival. And we can go back to that old-fashioned 02:29 tent meeting. There was not concrete under the tent, 02:34 there was not grass under the tent, but somebody remembers 02:37 there was sawdust under the tent. Somebody remembers 02:44 we didn't have screens like this, but we went to Lowe's 02:48 or Home Depot and we bought some two-by-fours. Then we 02:54 went to Sears and bought some white sheets and we took 02:58 those white sheets and we took a heavy-duty stapler 03:02 and we stapled those sheets to those two-by-fours, 03:06 dug some holes in the ground, and we called that a screen. 03:09 Does anybody know what I'm talking about? We did not 03:12 have an old-day revival PowerPoint clicker like we 03:16 have today and my daddy used to run the tent meetings 03:18 and my brother and I, we would have to advance the slides. 03:22 Anybody remember that Carousel machine? And you had 03:26 to where, slide go from slide to slide. The young 03:29 people don't know anything about that. Back in those 03:32 days there was no air condition. I tell the people 03:35 who come to camp meetings in South Central, you all 03:37 don't know what real camp meeting is. Camp meeting 03:40 is victory league. Do I have a witness in this place? 03:43 Camp meeting is down in Southeast and in Hawthorne in 03:47 Florida where there are no, there were tents. Anybody 03:50 know what I'm talking about? And the bathrooms, 03:53 everybody, you had to rotate it. If you wanted 03:55 privacy you had to wake up early in the morning 03:57 to begin the day with, be able to get a shower. 04:00 Anybody know what I'm talking about in this place? 04:02 Back in those days we had the tents. My daddy 04:05 taught my brother and I. He said, listen, now, 04:07 you dig a trench around the tent. If the rain 04:10 begins to come down, you make sure the trench 04:12 has been dug, because the water has to go in 04:15 the tent so the water won't come in the, water 04:18 has to go out the tent, so the water doesn't 04:20 have to go in the tent. Anybody know what I'm 04:22 talking about? And then you had a charismatic, 04:24 sweaty faced, hoarse throated, foaming flecks 04:32 evangelist shouting, Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus. 04:39 Praise the Lord. I don't think anybody remembers 04:42 this one. We're going to twist that old devil's 04:45 tail tonight. Come on, say Amen. Give your heart 04:51 to the Lord and only asked after you are done, 04:54 let the ushers bring forth the offering buckets 04:57 at this time. That was revival. That's what I 05:01 grew up under. Revival comes, and back then, 05:04 anybody remember, revival wasn't two weeks. 05:06 Revival was six weeks back then. Sometimes 05:13 back in the islands, somebody knows it was 12 weeks. 05:15 Elder Cleveland and Elder Ward used to run 18-week meetings. 05:18 Anybody know what I'm talking about? People, 05:21 I can't come out two weeks, it's too much. 05:23 You don't know what it was back in the day. 05:26 Revival. Comes from the Hebrew word “tekhiyah” 05:30 meaning to bring back to life, to restore to a 05:32 previous condition. So then, to be revived implies 05:36 that a revival has occurred before. And when I 05:41 think of revival in the Bible, my mind always 05:44 goes to Ezekiel 37, because Ezekiel sees a valley 05:48 full of dead, dry bones. Anybody know what I'm 05:50 talking about? When God showed Ezekiel a vision, 05:54 the valley of dry bones depicting the Israeli nation, 05:57 is Ezekiel thought that to speak of returning to 06:00 success to the nation of Israel was like talking 06:03 of restoration and vitality to dead, dry bones. 06:08 But I believe I've got a witness in this place, 06:10 that knows that the Spirit of God can breathe life 06:14 back into tired lives, and can revive, renew, 06:19 and restore that which was once alive and is 06:22 now dead. Ezekiel surveyed the site, he saw 06:26 the valley full of dead, dry bones, but Ezekiel 06:29 knew that if God wanted to, God can bring the 06:32 dead back to life. But it appeared that there 06:34 was no hint of hope, no suggestion of possibility, 06:37 no indication of probability, but somebody 06:40 knows God's, man's extremity is God's opportunity. 06:44 So God asks Ezekiel, Ezekiel, “Son of man, 06:49 can these bones live?” And now Ezekiel doesn't 06:56 answer God's question too quickly, because after all, 06:58 why would all-creating, all-knowing, all-sovereign, 07:02 immortal God ask Ezekiel, a mere mortal, 07:04 that kind of question when He knew the answer. 07:07 But let's take that question for a minute from 07:09 the sixth century B.C. and let's move it to our 07:11 present day, 21st century A.D. “Can these bones live?” 07:15 Because everyone at some time or another has 07:17 been in the valley of dry, dead bones. 07:19 For somebody it was a divorce. For somebody 07:23 else it was a loss of a child. For somebody 07:25 else it was learning you had cancer or some 07:27 other debilitating disease. For somebody else 07:30 it was the satanic stronghold of substance abuse, 07:33 or the ungodly soul-ties of a relationship that 07:36 you thought was a match made in heaven, 07:38 only to learn it was a nightmare on Elm Street. 07:41 Everybody has a valley. Everybody has a low point. 07:47 But can these bones live? Let's take this 07:51 question to now our personal, individualized, 07:54 from our individualized through the collective 07:56 light for the church, and look at the people 07:58 who sit up in church every week, and ask the 08:01 question, can these people that look alive, 08:04 but are no more than dead cadavers, can these 08:09 bones live? Can our churches that used to be 08:13 alive and well, packed and full, bastions 08:16 of energy, but now they're dying, decaying, 08:18 deteriorating, can these bones live? 08:21 Can our churches, who used to perform, 08:24 who are performing still, eight-track ministry 08:27 in a social media society? Can these bones live? 08:31 Can our churches know all the wonderful truths 08:35 about the life, liberty, and love of 08:36 Jesus Christ and all His life-changing miracles? 08:39 But can all these churches, who know all these things, 08:41 wake up and realize the times in which we live? 08:45 We've got imminent war with Syria, ISIS attacks, 08:49 misunderstandings with North Korea, gun control 08:51 out of control, increased allegations of sexual 08:55 assault by high-powered celebrities, and we've 08:58 got a president who says, make America great again, 09:01 who allegedly had a, an affair with a porn star, 09:05 and allegedly describes black countries in Africa 09:07 and the island of Haiti as “blank” nations. 09:10 He's trying to build a wall to keep people out. 09:13 I just want to know, can these bones live? 09:16 And the only answer that I can come up with is 09:19 the same answer that Ezekiel came up with. 09:22 O Lord God, only thou knowest. And God tells 09:30 Ezekiel, Ezekiel, if you want revival, 09:31 you got to prophesy. You got to preach 09:34 to these bones. And those dry bones, 09:35 hear the Word of the Lord. But I'm here 09:37 to tell you and I've told you before in 09:38 my church family, preaching is not easy. 09:41 I've been doing this almost 24 years now 09:44 and preaching is not easy. Every week you 09:46 gotta come up with something. Preaching day, 09:49 you're preaching every night. Preaching 09:51 is not easy. And it's hard enough to preach 09:54 to those that move, but to preach to that 09:57 which is dead and dry, it's an awful thing. 10:02 And my travels have taken me to some dead, 10:05 dry places. I'm up there preaching my heart 10:09 out and folk just looking at me. Then I get 10:12 to the line and shake hands, oh, you really preach. 10:13 Why I couldn't tell. [Audience cheering and clapping] 10:19 It's tough to preach to Christians who are like 10:22 wheelbarrows, no good unless you push ‘em. 10:26 It's tough to preach to Christians who are 10:28 like kittens, only content when they're petted. 10:31 It's tough to preach to Christians who are like 10:34 footballs, you don't know which way they going 10:36 to bounce next. It's tough to preach to people 10:40 like balloons full of wind ready to blow up. 10:42 And then there are some like lights that keep 10:44 going on and off. It's tough, but that's what 10:49 God calls us to do. Preach the Word in season 10:53 and out of season. Sow beside still waters. 10:57 If this is your ministry, if this is your calling, 11:02 I call you to preach the Word even if they're dead, 11:05 even if they're dry, even if they're in the valley. 11:08 Because when you preach the Word, revival will 11:12 take place. Somebody knows what happens when revival 11:15 takes place. The preacher gets to preaching, 11:18 the choir gets to singing, the organist gets to playing, 11:22 the Holy Ghost gets to moving, saints get to shouting, 11:26 souls stop sinning, gossipers stop gossiping, 11:31 complainers stop complaining, pray warriors start praying. 11:35 When revival takes place it's like fire shot up 11:40 in the bones. Ezekiel claps his hands. Ezekiel 11:44 scuffs his feet. And God let Ezekiel see Him perform 11:49 orthopedic surgery that let the ankle bone be 11:53 connected to the leg bone, the leg bone connected 11:57 to the knee bone, the knee bone connected to the hip bone, 12:00 and the hip bone connected to the back bone, 12:02 and the back bone connected to the shoulder bone, 12:04 and the shoulder bone connected to the neck bone, 12:06 and the neck bone connected to the head bone, and O, 12:09 dry bones. Hear the word for the Lord. Praise God for revival. 12:16 The psalmist said it, Wilt thou now revive us again? 12:20 That thy people may rejoice in thee. 12:24 God says, yes, I can revive you, but you 12:27 got to want it. Because we're living in a 12:30 time where people don't want revival. People 12:34 don't want spiritual resurgence. They'd rather 12:37 stay in bed and watch Pastor Byrd online. Preach, 12:40 Pastor Byrd, I'm doing the best I can. [Clapping] 12:42 They don't want to share their faith. They don't 12:47 want to pass out tracts, that's old school. 12:50 You see what passing out tracts has done, 12:53 do I have a witness in this place? They don't 12:56 want innovation and creativity in church methodologies. 13:00 They don't want revival. But revival is needed 13:02 whenever the love of God's people has grown cold. 13:05 You see, Revelation speaks of seven churches 13:09 that cover the same periods of history that 13:13 the seven seals represent. I wish I had more 13:17 than two weeks, because I would have gone into 13:18 the seven seals and the fact that the events of 13:21 the seven, sixth seal, have already happened. 13:25 Are you hearing what I'm saying? There's only 13:27 one seal left and what happens in that seventh 13:30 and final seal? Jesus is soon to come. For us 13:36 today the most important of these churches is 13:39 to understand the seventh church, the final church, 13:41 Laodicea. Aud: Laodicea. 13:43 PB: That's what we're in right now. I thought 13:45 about, but Bruce, you would have gotten mad because 13:47 I had to keep with the theme, but I thought about 13:48 calling today's message, “Welcome to Laodicea.” 13:52 Laodicea was a prosperous, commercial center in 13:56 John's day, but Jesus described it as neither hot 13:58 nor cold. When you read Revelation, Chapter 3, 14:01 verses 15 through 17, Revelation, Chapter 3, 14:04 verses 15 through 17, the Bible tells us about Laodicea. 14:08 The Bible says in Revelation 13--3, 15 through 17, 14:12 “I know thy works,” Jesus speaking, “That thou art 14:15 neither cold nor” what? “Hot. I would thou were cold or hot. 14:19 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, 14:22 I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, 14:27 I am rich, increased with goods, have need of nothing.” 14:36 And knowest not that thou art wretched, that you're miserable, 14:41 you're poor, you're blind, you're naked. Being lukewarm, 14:44 Jesus said, is worse than being hot or cold. Lukewarm 14:47 Christianity preserves enough of the form and just 14:50 enough of the content of the gospel. It's content 14:52 with things the way they are and proud of the little 14:54 progress it made, has made. You got a lot of motion 14:59 in the church, but we don't have enough movement. 15:01 It's almost impossible to convince Laodicea of its 15:05 greatest theme and of how far it is from the goal 15:08 of perfection. Our modern world with all of its modern 15:10 conveniences has made life easy for many of us. 15:13 It has lulled us into complacency, stagnation, inactivity. 15:18 And when the church has become complacent, 15:22 when the church is satisfied with the status quo, 15:26 when there's a lack of concern for the lost and 15:29 the suffering of the world, when we're hiding or 15:32 covering up our secret sins, when he have unforgiving 15:36 spirits, when we're filled with pride, when we have 15:39 animosity towards other Christians, or when we're in 15:43 a condition of spiritual standing where we are less 15:46 than where we were before, we need revival. 15:51 We need a revival that will rekindle old flames, 15:55 rekindle that first love when we first found Jesus. 15:59 We need to cry out to God like the psalmist said, 16:02 “Wilt thou revive us again?” We need personal revival. 16:07 That means individuals getting right with God. 16:10 We need home revival. That means families getting 16:13 back to the place they need to be. How many of us 16:17 still have family worship? How many of us still 16:21 have family worship to bring in the Sabbath? 16:24 We need church revival. That means doing the work 16:27 Jesus told us to do. We need revival, be revived. 16:32 But my second sermon, not only be revived, 16:35 we need to be renewed. Now, to renew means to 16:39 resume an activity after an interruption. So, 16:43 to renew means to get started again after you stopped, 16:47 to begin again after you've quit. You may have stopped 16:51 going to church. You may have stopped going to choir 16:54 rehearsal. You may have stopped in your service to 16:58 the church, stopped in personal Bible study, 17:01 stopped in your prayer life. But now that you've 17:04 been revived, your strength has now been renewed. 17:09 And so the prophet said, “But they that wait upon 17:12 the Lord, God shall renew their strength. 17:16 They shall mount on the wings of eagles, 17:17 they shall run and not be weary, walk and not faint.” 17:20 But then, the apostle Paul continues on this renew 17:23 thing in the New Testament in Romans 12:2 and he said, 17:25 “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed 17:30 by the renewing of your” what, everybody? 17:32 By the renewing of your what, everybody? Aud: Mind. 17:34 PB: All right. Let me be clear. Quickly. 17:36 The devil wants your mind. The devil is cunning. 17:39 The devil is clever. The devil is slick, sly, 17:41 subtle and the devil will get you caught up in 17:43 something and before you know it you can't figure 17:45 out how it happened. Do I have a witness in this place? 17:47 The devil knows the Bible better than you. The devil 17:50 can preach better than you. The devil can quote 17:53 scripture better than you. But you've got to tell 17:56 the devil, you can't have me. You got to tell the devil, 17:59 you can't have my marriage, you can't have my children, 18:02 you can't have my worship, you can't have my money, 18:06 and you can't have my mind. Can I testify one minute? 18:10 Some of you know and maybe some of you don't know, 18:12 but I'm coming up on May 11th. And May 11th is a very 18:17 trying time in my life. Because on May 11th, 18:20 Danielle and I, our firstborn daughter would have 18:24 been 19 years old on May 11th. Some of you didn't 18:28 know that, but my wife and I lost, 19 years ago, 18:33 our four-and-a-half month old baby girl in a terrible 18:37 car accident, which is a reminder that everybody 18:41 up in here, everybody listening to me has gone 18:43 through something. [Clapping] 18:47 PB: I wish I had time. Let me give you some good news. 18:49 The good news is you're going through. God never 18:52 intended for you to stay. Are you hearing what I'm saying? 18:55 [Clapping and cheering] PB: For those of you who 18:58 thought we had three children, there were actually four. 19:03 Shortly after our firstborn daughter's death I 19:06 went through an incredible mental state in my mind. 19:09 You better understand, mental illness is real. And, 19:13 and we sometimes don't like to say it because 19:15 we're embarrassed, but depression is real. 19:19 PB: I went to a place in my mind that I 19:24 didn't understand. I went to a place that 19:26 I'd never had been before. Can I be vulnerable today? Can I? 19:30 PB: I, I know we have time, but can I be, 19:32 can I be real? I was mad at God. I went to a place 19:38 where I had never been before because some people 19:41 think and they look at me, oh, Breath of Life, 19:42 Oakwood Church, they think that just because I'm the pastor, 19:45 just because I lead the church, just because I'm 19:46 anointed and appointed by God, you don't think I 19:49 contemplate some stuff in my mind. But I went to a 19:55 place in my mind, 19 years ago, that scared me. 19:57 Because sometimes when you go to a place in your 19:59 mind where you begin to think for a moment these 20:03 little half-a-second moments. Anybody know what 20:05 I'm talking about? They can be profound. The good news is, 20:08 I've got too much Word in me to linger. Are you hearing 20:11 what I'm saying? So for me, it, it was never a full second, 20:15 it was a half-a-second. You're all not feeling what 20:18 I'm saying. But I had the moment. With some of you, 20:21 these moments stay a minute or two, some of you keep 20:24 them a day or hour. But half-a-second, that's all 20:28 I was going to give the devil. And God is working 20:31 on me now not to give him that. Are you hearing what I'm saying? 20:33 But I went through a place, to a place in my mind 20:37 where it appeared to be more easy to walk away, 20:40 to quit, to say, forget it. God is not real. I mean, 20:47 sure I've never drunk in my life. I've never smoked 20:50 in my life. I've never done drugs in my life. 20:53 I got married, then had children. I'm a good, 20:59 old Adventist Christian. You all don't hear what 21:01 I'm saying. It's about being real. I'm talking about 21:04 when you've got to cry and still preach. When you've 21:07 got a question mark, do I really believe this stuff 21:10 is real? That's why when I preach in revival and in 21:13 Revelation, you see the passion come out of me, 21:15 because I know this stuff is real, because I know 21:18 what Jesus has done for me. You don't know like 21:21 I know what He's done for me. [Clapping and cheering] 21:24 PB: So I say, God, why me? And you got to understand 21:30 what's going in my mind, because I was driving the car. 21:33 Why me? But the truth is, God came speaking back 21:39 to me because the Holy Ghost will start bringing 21:43 the Word back to your remembrance. Now I understand 21:46 why my Sabbath School teachers made us memorize those lessons. 21:49 See, back in the day, we had to memorize all 13 lessons 21:53 for the quarter and we had to stand in the front and 21:55 recite them. I'm thankful that happened for me, 21:57 because God started bringing all that stuff back to memory. 21:59 And God said, Carlton Byrd, don't you realize that a 22:03 lot of folk would have gone through what you would have, 22:04 what you've gone through and they would have lost their mind. 22:08 [Yell] PB: A lot of folk would have been popping Prozac 22:13 and they would have been in an institution somewhere. 22:16 But, Carlton Byrd, pick yourself up. I kept you preaching. 22:21 I kept you teaching. I kept you showing up. He said, 22:26 don't you realize, if I kept you back then, 22:29 I'll keep you right now. He's a keeper. 22:34 Yes, He is. God said, Byrd, you still alive. 22:41 You may not have what you want, but you've got 22:44 what you need. You just survived it. You didn't quit. 22:49 But the devil wants you to quit. The devil wants 22:54 you to give up. The devil wants you to throw in the towel. 22:58 He wants to attack your mind. Why? He is the father 23:01 of lies. Now, Jesus, on the other hand, wants to give 23:05 us truth because the truth, somebody knows, 23:07 will set you free. But the devil wants to come 23:10 in and attack us and one of the ways he attacks 23:13 is through our mind. Through our what, everybody? 23:15 Aud: Mind. PB: You don't realize it, 23:16 there's a constant battle for our minds. 23:19 I'm glad we've got prayer warriors in the church 23:21 praying right now for me, because right now 23:24 I'm trying to listen to the voice of God, 23:25 but the devil and his imps are all around me 23:29 trying to get. But God, in the name of Jesus, 23:31 is a fence all around about me. Every day the devil says, 23:35 if I can mess with your mind, then I can mess you 23:40 up on the truth. But the devil is a liar. God will 23:44 not be defeated. God is the winner. 23:47 The devil is a loser. God defeated Satan in heaven, 23:53 in the wilderness, at Calvary, at the Resurrection, 23:57 and He's going to defeat him again at the Second Coming. 24:00 Let me tell you all something. Satan is a created being. 24:06 Which means he can't have all power. He has limited power, 24:11 but not all power. He can only do what God permits him to do. 24:15 But not only is Satan a created being, Satan is a 24:19 corrupted being. He was corrupted, the Bible says in Ezekiel 28, 24:24 the iniquity was found in him. Revelation 12:7 says there was 24:28 war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon 24:33 and the angels, and God, Jesus, Michael beat the devil. Understand, 24:38 any time creation tries to war against the Creator, 24:41 you're asking for a loss because the Creator will 24:45 never lose to His creation. I wish I had a witness 24:48 in this place. Satan is a created being. Satan is a 24:52 corrupted being. And Satan is also a condemned being. 24:57 So you don't have to wait till the battle is over, 25:00 you can shout now. The fight is fixed. Jesus has 25:05 already won. Your salvation is already secure. 25:08 It's already done. Jesus is coming back. 25:12 I don't care how bad it gets, Jesus is coming. 25:16 I don't care how stressed out life is, Jesus is coming. 25:21 I don't care how many wars and rumors of wars we hear, 25:23 Jesus is coming. I know your bills are due and your 25:28 money is low, but Jesus is coming. Cancer is 25:31 destroying people, but Jesus is coming. 25:35 Children go to bed hungry every night, but Jesus 25:38 is coming. Students, I know your papers are due, 25:45 but Jesus is coming. I know your projects are due, 25:50 but Jesus is coming. I know your final exams are coming, 25:55 but Jesus is coming. I know you feel like giving up, 26:00 but Jesus is coming. Because the prophecy must come 26:04 to pass that a day is coming where every knee shall bow, 26:08 every tongue must confess that Jesus the Christ is Lord. 26:14 Christ returneth, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen. 26:19 But my third sermon, be restored. After you've 26:28 been revived, after you've been renewed, it's now 26:33 time to get restored. It's time to take everything 26:37 back that the devil took away. Your family, take it back. 26:42 Your marriage, take it back. Your children, take it back. 26:50 Your money, take it back. Your mind, take it back. 26:56 Your ministry, take it back. This is God's church 27:01 collectively worldwide and we've got to take it back. 27:05 Joel says, “And I will restore you to the years that 27:12 the locust have eaten, the canker worm, the caterpillar, 27:15 the palmerworm.” Somebody knows what this text is all about. 27:19 I'm almost done, because they haven't always been good. 27:22 You haven't always been on the right track. 27:26 But God is faithful even when you weren't faithful. 27:30 God loved you when you didn't love yourself. 27:34 Let me tell you something. One of the reasons 27:37 I love the dancers and I love listening to these 27:39 individuals tell their testimony. You ever want to 27:42 find somebody with a powerful testimony, 27:44 show me somebody that's been out in the world 27:46 and then God turned their life around. 27:48 That's somebody who's on fire for the Lord. 27:51 Somebody is over here that knows He can get 27:54 take crackheads and make them choir members. 27:57 He can take pimps and make them preachers. 28:00 He can take drug dealers 28:02 >: Thank you very much for tuning into 28:04 this week's Breath of Life broadcast. 28:06 We hope and pray that you've been blessed 28:08 by Dr. Byrd's inspirational message. 28:11 If you would like to hear this sermon in its entirety, 28:13 bless feel free to visit us at www.breathoflife.tv. 28:20 Or call us at 256-929-6460. 28:28 [END] |
Revised 2018-05-30