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Awakening.
As the video said at the end, “Lord, awaken Your People with Your Power.”
What does this mean?
And why choose this topic for the first message preached by this pastor this year?
Awakening was the theme for the AG week of prayer this last week… and I feel it to be very timely and inspired of the Lord.
Before the theme was announced and before this New Year rolled in, I felt in my Spirit the God is getting ready to do something incredible.
I have been announcing this for over a year… a feeling that we are on the threshold of an outpouring of God’s power like we have never seen before.
But before we get there, we have some spiritual work to get done… some exercises of faith we must walk through.
This year will be one like no other and I believe… God is asking us to move in faith like we have never done before.
And it starts… with an awakening.
Awakening defined is simple.
Awakening is an act of waking from sleep.
It is moving from a place of slumber to a place of activity.
We awake from our sleep and rise from our beds as we take on the tasks each new day.
Whether it be your alarm clock or the 7:00 whistle that wakes you up, there is a sound… something that disturbs you… something that calls you out of your sleep.
Maybe… your routine has been so consistent that you no longer have to have an alarm… your mind has been conditioned to wake up at a certain point in the morning.
No matter the method, we are called from our sleep and brought back to awareness of the day.
This morning… this season… this year… I feel an urgent call from our Heavenly Father… I hear His voice and feel His Spirit urging His church… to wake up.
I feel the Spirit of God compelling the people of God to awaken from their sleep.
We have a major problem in America right now… a problem that is not beyond fixing… but is beyond anything we can do on our own.
The Church in America… is in decline.
The body of Christ is decreasing, not increasing, and I worry that it is because we have fallen asleep.
Let me be clear today: The power of the gospel message of Jesus Christ has not changed.
The presence and power of God has not changed.
The move and the leading of the Spirit of God has not changed.
God remains the same yesterday, today and forever!
So if we know that God has not changed… what is it that has caused a decline in the Church in America?
We could begin to rattle off excuses like the aftermath of a pandemic and the impact of social issues… but I believe it goes deeper than that.
The Church… has fallen asleep.
And I believe there are several reasons for that.
It is true that we are facing radical shifts in our culture today.
We are facing challenges we have never faced before.
We are a society of conveniences.
Our comfort drives us more than we are willing to admit.
We are a nation of consumers.
We like to get and receive rather than give sacrificially.
We have allowed cultural trends… to creep into the body of Christ.
Now my intent this morning is NOT to beat us up or to start this year off on a hard note… my intent is to echo to you what God has been speaking to my heart about our church.
We have seen God do incredible things at HWC!
That goes without saying!
God has so much more in store for us.
I truly believe the best days are yet to come!
But those days will not come UNLESS we are willing to take our faith to the next level.
God wants to awaken within us a new level of faith and a new level of dependency on Him! God… wants to reawaken us to HIS power and HIS authority.
I’ve said this before and I believe it now more than ever… this is NOT a day of retreat for God’s Church… it is a day of advancement!
It is high time His people move from a defensive strategy of maintaining and appeasing and get back to boldly declaring that Jesus saves!
Our main verse today comes from Acts 4:31.
And I take us there this morning because of what was taking place at this point in biblical history.
This verse is a conclusion to a remarkable series of events taking place with the people of the early church.
In the previous chapter, Peter and John see a beggar healed in the name of Jesus.
This guy was well known and had been lame from birth.
Peter are John tell the crowd what happened and it lands them in heart water with the powers that be.
Remember, the religious authorities had gone to great lengths to shut down Jesus’ influence in the city.
They could not deny the miracle that had taken place, but according to Acts 4:17, they did not want the name of Jesus spoken to anyone anymore.
So… we see this exchange take place in Acts 4:18-23
Look at what is taking place here… God was on the move… and those who rejected Jesus were coming against His move.
They did so with threats and warnings.
They tried to shut down the testimony given by Peter and John.
The enemy… tried to put the influence of the early church… to sleep.
Satan tried to put a stop to the boldness that had been displayed by Peter and John.
And it is at this point that the people have a choice… will they be silenced?
Will they be put to bed? Would they succumb to the pressure the enemy was placing on them through the religious authorities?
Or… would they continue to teach the name that is above all names?
Which Awakening would take hold?
Would Peter and John and the people be awakened to the threats coming against them and back down?
Would Peter and John and the people be awakened to the power of God that prevails over any threat?
And this is the wake up call I believe God is shouting out to His church.
Yes, we have become more aware of the challenges that face us as a church.
Yes, we have become more aware of the trends, the immorality, the evil and wickedness that is moving throughout the land.
Yes, we have become more aware of the spiritual decline in our society and secular boldness that has come with it.
And I fear that in this awareness, the enemy has been slowly… but effectively… putting God’s church to sleep.
The church sleeps in indifference, in passivity and in worry.
The church sleeps in a lack of boldness, love, giving, and faith.
The church sleeps under the threat of persecution, being cancelled, or being rejected.
The enemy has a loud bark and he knows exactly what buttons to push in order to make the church feel uncomfortable.
But today… is NOT a day to become fixated on the voice of the enemy.
Today is a day of being awakened by the power of our God!
This morning I want us to see two quick things that took place in Scripture that led to the awakening we see in Acts 4:31 - an awakening so powerful that the Word says the room was shaken!
Acts 4:24 tells us what the people did
The people prayed.
They went right to God.
And the two points I want us to see take place within the context of their prayer.
They Turned to His WORD.
I can’t imagine how the people felt as Peter and John laid out what they Sanhedrin had expressed to them.
They had been told to stop spreading the name of Jesus.
These guys were serious.
These guys were no joke.
The threat was very real.
But instead of taking these words to heart, the people of God did something else.
They took God’s word to heart.
Reading on in Acts 4 you find the people quoting Scripture within their prayer - Specifically Psalms 2:1-2
The early church knew of the challenges they faced.
They knew the severity of the threats spoken by the Sanhedrin.
But instead of standing on those words, they stood upon God’s Word.
You see, the church will fall asleep if we lose sight of the Word of God.
Whose word are we taking to heart?
Whose word are we standing on.
The word of our culture is God is not needed.
The word on the street is the Bible is out of date, no longer relevant to our way of life.
His ways and His truth no longer have the impact they once had in our nation.
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