Why Revival Is Not Coming (Broken In to Two Parts) [Part 1]
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Why is revival not coming? Why are the youth leaving the church?
We have revival service after revival service, we go to revival service after revival service. We pray constantly for revival to come. We have the youth outreach events. We have bus ministry. We give financially. So why are our churches dying?
Is revival not coming because of the numerous things going on in society?
None of those reasons have anything to do with why revival is not coming, rather they are things we look at to distract us from the true reason revival is not coming
The reason revival is not coming is sitting right here in the church pew and pews all around the nation
Revival will not come until we humble ourselves and listen to God
I'm starting with the man in the mirror (Who?)
I'm asking him to change his ways (Who?)
A
nd no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make that change
[Bridge]
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make the change
You gotta get it right while you got the time
'Cause when you close your heart (You can't)
Then you close your mind (Close your, your mind!)
I am here to have a very hard talk that is going to leave you offended, it is going to cut to the heart
before you go to making excuses or attacking me ask yourself why what was said hurts so bad. And if you don’t like what I got to say, and want to talk about it you better come armed with scripture
So tonight before really dive deep into some of the issues we face within the church I want to open with reading Matthew 7:1-6
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
We have to look at the planks in our eyes because until we remove the planks in our own eyes we will not be able to see clearly enough for us to walk in unity as a church and until we can walk in unity as a church we will not see God do great holy things in our churches, we will not be entrusted with more children of God to disciple
If we desire to walk with true godly vision, we must be able to see
See beyond our struggles
See beyond ourselves
See beyond the culture
We are to see beyond all this to see the Word of God and the plan God has
When we can’t see clearly we act like a bunch of wild dogs
Think about a wild dog
Jewish law tells us dogs are unclean (Leviticus 11:27)
Fight for dominance
fight to fulfill selfish desires
What they fight over the tear to pieces
So often though that is exactly how we behave in our churches:
We live with uncleaness in our lives
Ministry so often is not about the ministry but about getting what I want, what is convenient for me
Church becomes about meting my selfish wants
And as all this goes on we tear the church up
Why then if that is how we behave should we expect God to put his special anointing on the church
With blurred vision we act like a bunch of pigs
as we wallow (because we cannot truly see how filthy we are) in our uncleaness we trample (again a lack of vision) over whatever gets in our way rather clean or unclean
So why would God entrust us with more of his children if all we going to do is trample on them and push them even deeper into uncleaness than us
People of God it is time we start acting like the sheep following the Shepherd we were called to be and stop being the wild dogs and pigs of the devil
They are many ways we let things get in our ways of being holy, but tonight I am going to share a few ways God has convicted me on how the church is being hindered
Neglect of God’s Holiness
Neglect of God’s Holiness
And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
We have lost sight of it means for God to be Holy and that there is a call on our lives to be holy as He is (1 Peter 1:16) And in loosing sight of the holiness of God all other problems stem out of it
We have lost sight of the fear of God, we act as if God is no more than just our homeboy or coffee buddy
But this scene we just read of is not something you just casually stroll into
How do people in the Bible respond when they see an angel?
Are people in the Bible able to look directly at God
When is the last time you felt broken at church, during a quiet time?
how does encountering the holiness of God make you realize the shortcomings in your life?
When we truly realize the holiness of God:
Respect happens
brokenness happens
Boldness happens
Faith becomes evident everywhere
since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
What does it mean to be holy?
to be holy means to be set apart
and we are called to be so in all ways
We are not to be dictated by the ways of this world, but by the holiness of God
This means we are not alright with just sinning a little, the slightest of sins should break our hearts
It is constant evaluation on how we can line our life up more accurately with the word of God
As we understand the holiness of God we understand the lack of holiness in our lifes and the daily need of pursuit of God
We don’t just settle with getting by, we attack all planks in our life
Pride
Pride
He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
In neglecting the holiness of God we have started to clothe ourselves in a pseudo-holiness and act as the Pharisee did. Our attitude is “God I am thankful I am not like the homosexual, the abortionist, the drunk (or if we are being real honest its well I don’t drink as much as so and so), the homewrecker. I go to church twice a week and I give more tithe than most folks”
If there was a big alter call this morning, would you be up here broken getting right with God or would you be peaking to see who was up here, going yep I know what they do, I’m glad I aint talking to God about what they are
Our pseudo-holiness has nothing to do with scripture but more so to do with comparison and tradition
We fall pray to ritualistic living:
Caught in the ritual of going to church
We think attendance makes us a good person
Caught in the ritual of tithing
As a means of unlocking God’s blessing
Caught in the ritualistic of chanting Jesus name
We say it to invoke blessing in our life but then blaspheme his name in the way we live
Caught in the ritualistic prayer
We pray for God to meet needs while we try to do everything in our power
We start to see ourselves as good Christians by comparing ourselves to others
Pride also drives pseudo-holiness which drives division
Disunity drives people from the church
there is enough chaos outside these walls, people don’t need it here, and if it is here why would people want to come
Outroduction
Outroduction
As the pianist comes ask yourself:
Who is setting the vision in your life?
If it is not the Lord, you are hindering yourself and your church
How is holiness evident in your life?
Is this the only mark of it? If so you need to get saved and stop convincing yourself you are
How is your pride holding you back from surrendering?