Revival At Our Doorstep

Hook: (say this)

Since I could remember there has been a anticipation for revival across the world, a waiting of the outpouring of God. Since I’ve been alive I still have yet to see a world wide revival but I do feel and many others a move big move of God that is drawing closer and closer, and the asbury revival that just happened recently that saw 15,000 people show up each service was just the tip of the iceberg. Revival is a powerful move of God, a shift towards the king in the midst of worldly opposition, its the Lord saying here I am have you forgotten me. I have to admit though revival is often only classified as a presentation of God’s power that attracts the multitudes for example the Asbury Revival, the Azusa Street Revival, the First and Second Great Awakening, and so many more but I’d like to shine a light on something revival often must start with a personal revival. (say this slowly) Will you be willing to open the door and let it in.

(say this) Purpose: The purpose of this message is to bring truth to this statement, revival must start with you before true revival can be brought to the multitudes

Slide #1:

The definition of revival is to “live again” or “to return or to restore to consciousness or life” or even “the restoration of something to its true nature and purpose”

Slide #2:

Personal Revival:

“ Revival is when we have a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ resulting in a radical change in our commitment, character, and conduct” - Allen Parr

Slide #3:

Isaiah 57:15 NIV

For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Slide #4:

Psalm 119:25

I lie in the dust; revive me by your word

(Say this) : As we see in both scriptures there is call to personal revival the Lord saying he lives with the lowly and the contrite ( which is someone who feels remorse for their sins and is ready for repentance) in order that their heart and the spirit be revived. The psalmist crying out of desperation revive me by your word, the word being truth.

(Say this): I want you to not miss this to, personal revival and the Lord can not be two separate things. The Lord must be present in your life in order for personal revival to happen. Personal revival does not happen in your own hands, personal revival happens in the hands of the Lord.

(Say this) Let me give you an example of this. Before one of the most important revivals in history, the azusa street revival there was a man named Frank Bartleman you probably haven’t heard of him but he is probably one of my all time favorite historical church figures ever to learn from in this pursuit for personal revival.

Slide #5:

Frank Bartleman (Picture)

(Say this)

Frank Bartleman was a writer and a minister who had a sincere heart for the Lord and desired to see change come to the Church. He moved to Los Angeles on December 31 in 1904 in faith that there was revival coming, he had just 50 cents for his family and himself in his pocket. On January 7 1905 he would then lose one of his 4 daughters to which he responded, “ We must see things from the Heaven side. Earth’s sounds and spirits are so crude and cruel. Heaven is all love, and joy, and peace, and rest. Thank God! Sorrow and parting, there, will never more be known.”

(say this) Throughout this preaching I am going to give you several points as to how to draw closer to experiencing this personal revival for yourself.

Slide #6:

Point 1: See things from Heaven’s side

(say this) What this means is look past the things of the world and look to the big picture, heaven is at the end of our lives and the things that happen on this earth is temporary to the eternity that we will experience with the Lord in heaven, now is not the time to be so negative and to be passive, now is the time to be on mission for the Lord. Bartleman moved to LA with 50 cents, his daughter died, he saw things from heavens side and within a week he was back doing the Lord’s business preaching the gospel on the streets. Am I saying to push away your sorrow and frustrations and forget about them, no, but am saying to give it to the Lord that its not okay to live as though we have been disabled and are unable to do the work of God we have been called to due to the circumstances of living in a sinful world.

Seeing things from heaven’s side is having eternity in mind, this life on Earth is so temporary in comparison to the things the Lord has in store.

Slide #7: Develop a life of intersession

(say this) Bartleman was expectant of a revival to pour out in California before the Azusa Street Revival came and developed a life of intersession through prayer. I mean there are accounts of this man praying so hard for the move of God to come to Los Angeles that it was almost as though “ he cried out like a woman in birth pains.” Another account says that their was a moment in prayer when Bartleman felt the Holy Spirit in a moment and said this “ In fact my whole being seemed to flow down before Him, like wax before the fire.” We must in order to have a personal revival develop a life of intersession. Constantly be praying. Pray for your family, pray for change, pray for lost, pray for the brothers and sisters on the streets, pray for the Lord to be glorified, pray for the sick, pray for the poor, pray for the Lord to release revival within your heart so you can feel alive in Christ. I’m not talking about just coming to church on Sunday, I’m talking about living with and through Christ everyday. I’m not talking about just reading his word, Im talking about living his word. If time is a restraint for you to intercede then you have lost sight of the lives at stake that are at center of the king’s heart.

1 Timothy 2:1–6 NIV

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

(Say this) Why does intersession have to do with personal revival? Well intersession is the weapon the Lord has enabled so that you can actively, have a part in fighting against the enemy and bring life for those the enemy seems to have already won against. Being active is a part of being alive spiritually, it’s a big part in experiencing personal revival, the coming back to life in the Father, be active in your walk with Jesus not passive as though you were dead.

Slide #8: Be humble and repent

Say this: Frank Bartleman once said this “We must keep humble and little in our own eyes. Let us get built up by a sense of our own importance and we are gone. History repeats itself in this connection. God always sought a humble people. He can use no other…There is much need always of heart preparation, in humility and separation, before God can consistently come. The depth of any revival will be determined exactly by the spirit of repentance that obtains. In fact this is the key to every true revival born of God.”

2 Chronicles 7:14 (NIV)

if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn (or repent) from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Say this:

When we are humble before the Lord we are called to a greater need of faith that creates the groundwork for repentance and a pathway into personal revival . Repentance I would describe as a spiritual defibrillator. It’s the shock our spirit often needs to be revived and stay alive spiritually. (Act as though you are using a defibrillator on yourself) You have shame about something, repent, you have hatred towards someone repent, you have bitterness towards repent, you have unforgiveness towards someone and have allowed bitterness to form repent. Humbleness and repentance should not be burdens to you in your walk with the Lord it should be enablers, a shock of revival to your system for you to do a consistent good work for the kingdom.

Conclusion:

Out of the personal revival Frank Bartleman experienced in seeing things from heaven side, developing a life of intersession, and being humble and repenting he was able to his personal revival grow into a revival for the multitudes, the Azusa Street Revival. We must experience personal revival in the same way, revival must start with you, before true revival can be brought to the multitudes. Will you let the revival in that stands at your doorstep in front of the house you call your heart?