Desperation

Introduction:

We began looking at revival and seeing that we need to come to God with a repentant heart.

We need to confess our sins to Him, turn the other direction, and change the way we think.

We also looked at the fact that we need to have a revival in our own personal devotional life with the Lord.

We need to choose every day whom we will serve.

We need to die daily and die well.

This week I want to look at one final thing that I believe will drive us to the point where we will all say individually , “Revival or bust.”

I believe that there is one main thing that will get us to the point where we can say that we have no plan “B”.

Without a move of God we are in trouble.

I had breakfast with a younger man this week who was in his early 20’s.

We began to talk about his generation and what they are looking for.

Do you know what he said to me?

He said, “My generation is looking for the real thing. They want to see what the Bible says should be happening.”

I believe that younger people choose to walk away from the Church when they are old enough because they hear about God doing all these great things in the Bible but never see them happen now.

We need to see a change in this.

We need the generations that went before us to begin to become desperate for a move of God and for Him to show His power.

Enough is enough church.

We need to stop playing church and going through the motions.

We need to become desperate.

This one thing that I believe will get us to this point is “Desperation”.

It is easy for many of us to admit that we believe there is no hope for our current situation other than a mighty move of God, but we need to begin to pray and go after the Lord with desperation in our hearts.

We need to have the attitude that unless we see revival we are doomed.

How many of you in here can say that we do not want our children or grandchildren growing up in this world we live in today?

How many of you can say that you are afraid of what this world will look like in 10, 20, or 30 years from now and that it really scares you to think about the things that our children will have to deal with?

I want to tell you that God can change that and we have a responsibility in this.

If you believe that the world is falling apart then do something about it.

Don’t just sit back and allow the enemy to have his way because he is the reason for all the confusion.

Your enemy is not the Democrats or Joe Biden.

Its Satan.

We need to go after God with desperation in our hearts if we truly want to see a change and to see a move of God.

When I say a move of God or revival I’m not talking about a few hour church service on back to back nights where some people are touched by God, go out in the spirit, and have some goose bumps.

What I’m talking about is God stepping down out of Heaven and His glory falling to the point that people everywhere, of all races, nationalities, and sexes, to experience the power and glory of God where they all have a “line in the sand decision”—choose God or the world.

I’m talking about an outpouring that completely changes our entire region.

This might sound a bit crazy to us, but God has done it in the past and I believe He is going to do it again soon.

Our 21 days of prayer and fasting ended yesterday.

God has done some great things during those 21 days and we also had some great, powerful prayer meetings during those 21 days.

We saturated the church and your families with prayer of all sorts.

We had nights where we cried out to God for revival for our region, our church, and entire families and households.

Friday night at our worship night God began to answer our prayers.

Something really shifted Friday night and I believe that its just the beginning of what God is going to do.

I encourage you to be here at church when you can.

You do not want to miss this.

We need to have desperation.

Open your Bibles with me to Matthew 15:21-28

Matthew 15:21–28 NIV

21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” 23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” 25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. 26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” 27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” 28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

Point 1: The Canaanite woman in our passage was in complete desperation.

Jesus leaves the western side of the sea of Galilee where He disputed with the Pharisees about clean an unclean things to head northwest towards the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Jesus has a Canaanite woman come to Him crying out, “Lord, son of David, have mercy on me.”

This story occurs before the Church expanded to the Gentiles in the book of Acts, so this woman was not a Jew and considered to be an outsider to the Jewish people and even unclean.

This was also the area that the wicked Jezebel was from.

It is interesting that Jesus just taught on clean and unclean and then goes to an area where there were people that they looked at as unclean.

Jesus knew who He was and the power and authority that He carried, so leprosy was not a worry to him.

A lady from another town and people group was not a threat to him either.

He was God in the flesh, so I’m sure that He knew this woman was going to approach Him.

He taught His disciples that He was about to go to Jerusalem and eventually be arrested and crucified, so He knew what was going to happen when He entered this region.

I love reading stories about Jesus being moved by compassion so He healed certain people.

I bet that Jesus knew this lady was up there and needed a miracle so He went that direction.

I’m here today to tell you that Jesus will go out of the way for that one.

It doesn’t matter what they look like, the social status they have, or if they have a contagious disease.

He will go out of His way for you, me, our friends or family, or other people because He is a God of compassion that has a love for His people.

We too should be driven by compassion for other people not worrying about the what the world worries about.

Break our hearts Lord for what breaks yours.

This lady was desperate for her daughter to be delivered from the demonic oppression that had hold of her.

By her addressing Jesus as Lord and son of David proves that she knew Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah.

She must have heard of the stories of this man named Jesus who was proclaiming to be God and then proving it by the signs, wonders, and miracles that He performed.

She realizes that this Jesus was now in her area.

How many of you ever felt like you were in desperation mode for something?

I can tell you that if one of our kids were terminally ill to the point where science or medicine could not do anymore and I got word that Jesus was nearby I would not really care about the consequences.

My main concern would be that my child receives healing.

I can remember years ago losing Asher at the beach when he was young.

My family spread apart going in different direction up and down the beach.

We all really felt in desperation when we all came back together a few minutes later and no one had him.

I remember at that time I was completely oblivious to anything around me.

I ran up the beach a few hundred yards and then went up on the road.

I ran down the road and was about to chase down a police car when someone from my family called and said they found Asher about a half mile down the beach.

I will never forget that moment.

This lady was desperate.

The disciples wanted to send this lady away and even Jesus responds that He was sent to the Jewish people at that time, but she was so desperate that she was not going to take no for an answer.

This reminds me of the woman with the issue of blood.

She wasn’t going to take no for an answer because she was desperate.

How about the guy who had his friends tear a hole in the roof to get him to Jesus.

They were so desperate and knew that jesus was the only answer.

A crowd was not going to stop them.

When Jesus makes the statement, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs,” it would have meant something different to the lady and to Matthew’s Jewish audience.

The woman would have most likely viewed dogs as we would in America as pets.

The Jewish people viewed dogs as dirty animals that were unclean because they were often seen roaming the streets, feeding on garbage and even digging up dead bodies.

I think this is amazing because the Jews heard this remark from Jesus that would have labeled her as dirty, but Jesus still had compassion on her because of her faith.

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 11:21 “21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.”

The Jewish people viewed them as lowly and unclean, but Jesus is saying that they are desperate to have those miracles happen to them.

Church, we need to become desperate for the Lord.

In this lady’s desperation she was in such need that she was even okay with having what was leftover because she still knew that was enough to heal her daughter.

Jesus is the answer to every problem that we have in our lives and the problems in the world around us.

He is the only answer.

How desperate are you?

Point 2: We need to go after God with complete desperation.

Many of us in here would agree that the only hope for our country and world is an outpouring of the manifest glory and power of God.

Revival is our only answer.

Just like this woman in our passage, King Jehoshaphat, Elijah, and so many others in the Bible who knew that desperate times called for desperate measures, they went after God.

I believe that we all need to become desperate for God if we believe that He is the only answer.

Conclusion: