Revival Reality

Start off mentioning about Bold Venture and that if anyone is wanting to go, the sign up is at: www.boldventure.org . You will need to go to the upcoming events tab and then click on the July 12th (Keep the Bonds Strong) tab. From there, you can register by clicking, “Book Online”. There is also a info on the Hampton Inn in LeGrange, GA that they have a deal with for lodging, (if it still available).

Thank everyone for their prayers as we took time this past week, as a family, to spend the week together at the beach.

Menti

I have a couple of words that I want to start off sharing with you this morning and a little story behind each of them. These two words are directly related to each other and are in fact synonyms of one another. The two words are “tenacity” and “endurance”.

Both of these words are related to the main theme for today and the reason that I am using them and the little story that goes behind them, is because they both occurred this past week, which in turn made me think about the story that I am using from the Bible this morning and the main emphasis behind it.

The word “endurance” came to me this past week, as I began my little venture into the world of trading on the foreign exchange market, throughout the course of this past week, while on vacation.

Now let me clarify, when I say “trading” in the Forex, I mean like baby size trading, not big boy trading!

Share about the trades this past week, both in celebrating some profit and grieving in the BIG losses!

As I sat back Friday night and looked at these and talked with my brother in law about my mistakes, I really had to make the decision; am I willing to learn from this and move forward and go after what I really want to see happen, or do I call it quits and walk away discouraged and beaten?

The other word that I am mentioning this morning, “tenacity”, I gained an appreciation for, when we arrived home late Friday evening.

Share about the story of and show the picture of the garage door and the chipmunk and his tenacity to get to the bird seed. (Mention about the whole thing came to be from the bird feeder as a gift and what came about!)

Both of these words tie in with a theme that I have on my heart and that theme is the word, “REVIVAL”.

What do you think of when you hear the word, REVIVAL?

I have been in churches the majority of my life and I have went to many, “REVIVALS” throughout the years.

There have been and are so many “revivals” held in churches and places across this country, that many people (Christians included). don’t even give them a second thought.

People pass the sign on the tents or the building announcing a “REVIVAL” and they are like, “Oh, cool, a revival” and they drive on.

But what is a revival? I mean what do we really want when we hold these special services versus what so many times takes place?

Let’s start off with e basic definition for REVIVAL, shall we.

REVIVAL (as in the dictionary) - an improvement in the condition or strength of something; an instance of something becoming popular, active, or important again; an often highly emotional evangelistic meeting or series of meetings.

These are basic definitions and pretty much carry a basic understanding for this word.

Now, let’s look at the word from a more accurate Biblical view point.

REVIVAL - from the Hebrew word, “chayah” [khi-yah], which means, “to live”, “cause to live”, used of restoration to life. This word is used to mention rebuilding, restoration to well-being. This word and the Greek word like it, “anazao”, which means “to live again” carry a similar usage that gives us a pretty decent picture as to what REVIVAL really means.

REVIVAL is the soverign activity of God whereby He renews His people individually and corporately in vigour, affecting both sincerity of belief and quality of behaviour.

To REVIVE, is to literally make alive again, to restore to life; to give new strength!

And when you begin to look at various verses in the Bible that deal with this word, REVIVAL, you start to see some recurring characteristics that precede, or are connected with it. Listen to a few passages and see if you can pick out some of these characteristics.

,

2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT

Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.

,

,

Acts 2:38–47 NLT

Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!” Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Acts 2:38–47 NLT

Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!” Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

,

Isaiah 57:15 NLT

The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.

,

Ezekiel 11:20 NLT

so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God.

OK, so a few of the things that are attached to true REVIVAL are: repentance, humility and obedience.

When a person or person’s hearts are like the Psalmist, who said, “Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation”; when you see people’s hearts like this, you are beginning to see the characteristics of repentance, humility and obedience.

so your people can rejoice in you?

7 Show us your unfailing love, O LORD,

And then, you will most likely find the fertile ground for God sending His REVIVAL upon us and to us!

One of the great revivalists in the last two centuries, Charles Finney said this about REVIVAL, “Revival is a renewed conviction of sin and repentance, followed by an intense desire to live in obedience to God. It is giving up one's will to God in deep humility.”

and grant us your salvation.

Finney also said this on the issue of REVIVAL, “The fact is, Christians are more to blame for not being revived than sinners are for not being converted.:

Why would and how could Charles Finney say this? Simple, it is our responsibility and should be our greatest desire, as Christians, to seek the Lord and His Holy Spirit in our lives daily. This comes through intense prayer and feeding on His word and fasting and a life given to humility and sacrifice and obedience and quick to repent and turn from all sin!

If you and I want to see a REVIVAL in this land and over this nation, such as has never happened before then we must begin moving in that direction by such means as I have just listed!

The great Apostle Paul said, “Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

The word “filled” in this passage means, “to pervade (with an influence)”, “to influence fully”, “possess fully”.

In other words, just like getting drunk on wine can bring you under its influence, Paul is saying so should we “daily” be under the control of and influence of Holy Spirit.

Just like in , where it says, “After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.”

In this passage, the word filled is a different Greek word, but still has the same understanding. This word means, “to be filled mentally “or “be under the full influence”.

In both cases, this is something that we MUST go after and yield to. Which is why Finney said that “Christians are more to blame for not being revived than sinners are for not being converted”; because we should know and be persistently seeking His power and influence in our lives!

In a nation such as we have today, where we are seeing something that has never happened before, that is, a constant badgering and degrading and outright attack on the president of this country, through the media and secular entertainment forces, we know that the agenda of the enemy and the plan of a globalist economy and government has been interrupted, because the president is not playing ball with all of them.

I made the statement right after the election of President Trump, that this election was going to buy as a little more time so that we could get busy in fulfilling our responsibilities as Jesus’ witnesses in this nation.

I do not adhere to any political party, nor do I ever speak on or teach on political based bias’. However, you would have to have your head in the sand to not noticed the daily assault on our president and coming from every side.

I am not saying that our President is right in everything he does, but then again, none of the others were either.

And yet, I never saw the unleashing of the media sources against them, like they are doing now on our president!

Just a couple of weeks ago, at the Tony awards, being televised on national television, actor Robert Deniro came onto the stage and instantly used the mother of all profanity words about our president, to which the audience began to applaud and some even gave him a standing ovation!

The Bible clearly tells us in ,

Romans 13:1–2 NLT

Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished.

And then in . Paul instructs us,

1 Timothy 2:1–2 NLT

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

My whole point in saying this in relation to the subject of REVIVAL, is that this land, this nation, is ripe for a great move of repentance and humility and Godly obedience, while there is time and this move must come from those who truly want to see it happen!

“So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.”

So, with that in mind, I wanted to shift over to a particular set of passages in the Bible and show you an account of where one man’s obedience to the Lord brought the nation of Israel to a time of REVIVAL in the land.

In doing so, I want to also point out a few main thoughts that tie in with these passages and of the subject of a REVIVAL movement from God.

Within the books of and , we find the story of one of the greatest kings within the Old Testament and most definitely one of the greatest of the southern kingdom of Judah, the great king Hezekiah.

Now in talking about Hezekiah and his role in turning a nation back to God, let me start off with telling you a little something about the background of Hezekiah. This is an important detail that needs to be mentioned to and understood by everyone who has a personal relationship with the Lord.

Do you remember a few weeks ago in a message that I gave, in speaking about our roles in evangelizing and discipling of others, I said that the “reasons” that many people give for not being able to do these things were really not “reasons”, but rather they were “excuses”, do you remember me saying that?

Well, one of the things that many people claims that hold them back from being able to serve in this capacity and do what God has called them to do, is their background. That is, the family they were brought up in, the life that they had to live and be exposed to as a child and the parents that raised them.

All of these things are factors that many people say hold them back from being the servants of God that they are supposed to be.

Well, let me share with you a little bit of background history on the king known as Hezekiah.

Hezekiah came from royalty, in that his father was also a king over Judah and his name was Ahaz.

Now before you start to say, “Being the son of a king does not even remotely come close to the life that I had to live”, listen to some details about the father of Hezekiah and the life that he was brought up as a child.

TALK ABOUT AHAZ AND THE EVIL THAT HE DID. (He closed the doors to the temple for the worship of Jehovah and turned the people to worshipping all of the gods that other nations were worshipping. He offered his own children as burnt sacrifices to other gods, probably the god Molech. He refused to trust in the one true God and turned to the help of pagan nations, Assyria, for protection from being attacked and in doing so, became indebted to them and even paid the Assyrian king bribery money, by taking the silver and gold from God’s temple and its treasury to give to the pagan king in return for help. Ahaz, was so enamored by the pagan worship of Assyria, that he sent back the details and dimensions of their altar to be replicated and then had it placed in the temple courtyard and the bronze altar of God removed and placed elsewhere. AHAZ was hard hearted towards the Lord and refused to trust in or worship Him. IN FACT, SO GREAT WERE THE DEEDS OF AHAZ THAT, UPON HIS DEATH, HE WASN’T EVEN GIVEN AN HONORABLY BURIAL WITH THE OTHER DECEASED KINGS OF JUDAH, BUT HE WAS BURIED SOMEWHERE ELSE!

This is the life that Hezekiah was raised to know: pagan worship at every level and all of the debauchery that goers with it. The temple that was built for and set aside for worshipping Yahweh, was permanently closed for worship and instead, the induction of pagan worship was substituted for it!

When you wake up to the cries of your own siblings being burned alive as worship to these other gods, it can kind of mess with the psyche of a child’s mind, if you know what I mean?

So, Hezekiah did not come from a respectable home environment and loving and nurturing father who brought him up in the ways of the Lord. He had every “reason”, as we call them, to come out pagan and not serving the one true God, as was expected by the Lord!

Now, that being said, listen to what the Bible tells us about Hezekiah in the opening part of , ,

2 Kings 18:3 NLT

He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done.

2 Kings 18:5–7 NLT

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. He remained faithful to the Lord in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the Lord had given Moses. So the Lord was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did. He revolted against the king of Assyria and refused to pay him tribute.

2 Kings 18:3 NLT

He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done.

2 Kings 18:5–7 NLT

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. He remained faithful to the Lord in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the Lord had given Moses. So the Lord was with him, and Hezekiah was successful in everything he did. He revolted against the king of Assyria and refused to pay him tribute.

“Hezekiah did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight” and “He remained faithful to the Lord in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the Lord”!

Hezekiah had, by our standards, every justifiable right and reason to come out as pagan and wrathful as the environment that he was brought up in, BUT he, like his predecessor King David before him, he had a heart to serve and follow the Lord God in all that he did.

It was a choice that Hezekiah made for his life and the direction for his life. He didn’t cling to, “well this is all that I have ever known and it’s the way that my father raised me and I just can’t help it!”

Does everyone get my point here. In talking about REVIVAL this morning and getting to that next level of worship and intimacy with our Lord and Savior, Jesus and our great and mighty God, Jehovah, we must make the decision to press in and set aside every detail of this life that we say is holding us back.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the Bible tells us in ,

2 Peter 1:3 NLT

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

The only thing that is holding the church back from pressing in and seeking God and His Holy Spirit to refill and awaken the church in America in revival power, is our lack of passion to do so!

LIST THINGS ABOUT HEZEKIAH THAT HE DID TO REINSTATE WORSHIP TO GOD. (Reinstating the priests and the Levites and purging and cleansing the temple from all pagan worship and even destroyed the bronze serpent of Moses called Nehushtan, because the people were worshipping it! He opened and repaired the doors to the temple for worship to begin to God!)

Listen to what Hezekiah said to the people in , “He said to them, “Listen to me, you Levites! Purify yourselves, and purify the Temple of the LORD, the God of your ancestors. Remove all the defiled things from the sanctuary. Our ancestors were unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD our God. They abandoned the LORD and his dwelling place; they turned their backs on him. They also shut the doors to the Temple’s entry room, and they snuffed out the lamps. They stopped burning incense and presenting burnt offerings at the sanctuary of the God of Israel. “That is why the LORD’s anger has fallen upon Judah and Jerusalem. He has made them an object of dread, horror, and ridicule, as you can see with your own eyes. Because of this, our fathers have been killed in battle, and our sons and daughters and wives have been captured. But now I will make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us. My sons, do not neglect your duties any longer!”

Did you catch that, Hezekiah didn’t make excuses and gripe and belly ache about what had happened before with their forefathers, but he took responsibility and manned up and said, “But now I will make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us.”

8 “That is why the LORD’s anger has fallen upon Judah and Jerusalem. He has made them an object of dread, horror, and ridicule, as you can see with your own eyes. 9 Because of this, our fathers have been killed in battle, and our sons and daughters and wives have been captured. 10 But now I will make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger will turn away from us. 11 My sons, do not neglect your duties any longer!

If we are to move to a time of great power and be revived by God and His Holy Spirit, then it is going to take men and women who will say the same thing. “I WANT TO SEE GOD MOVE THROUGH ME IN POWER AND AUTHORITY AND SHAKE THE VERY FOUNDATIONS OF THIS NATION AND BRING REPENTANCE AND SALVATION TO THIS LAND!”

And look at the closing statement of the passage we just read and what Hezekiah said to the priests and the Levites, “My sons, do not neglect your duties any longer!”

Church, listen to me, the Bible says this of true Christians, “And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are his holy priests.”

We are now of the royal priesthood and thus the same statement applies to you and I that Hezekiah gave to the priests then, “Do not neglect your duties any longer!”

Hezekiah cleaned out the all forms of pagan worship in the land and purified the temple and instituted true WORSHIP to God again! TRUE REPENTANCE for their sin and the applying of shed blood to cover the sins was made!!!

Hezekiah brought unity back to the people, as he invited all of Israel (norther and southern kingdoms) to partake in the passover celebration! REVIVAL BRINGS UNITY TO THE BODY OF CHRIST!

Do you remember the passage from we read earlier, “After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness”?

Well, after Holy Spirit falls upon the people in a fresh anointing (revives their hearts and souls), then listen to the very next passage and what it says, “All the believers were united in heart and mind.”

Who was united in heart and mind? How many of them were united in heart and mind?

THAT’S WHAT REVIVAL DOES TO ALL WHO ARE REVIVED!

Hezekiah refused to pay tribute money to the king of Assyria as his father had done which brought swift action from King Sennacherib of Assyria, as he attacked Judah and captured everything except Jerusalem, itself!

Hezekiah, in a moment of weakness, did the exact same things that his father did and took gold and silver from the temple and even the gold off of the doors and offered it as a payment to keep the Assyrian king from conquering them! (Take your eye and trust off of God for a minute in fear of the enemy and that is what happens; YOU WILL COMPROMISE and compromising with the devil destroys true revival!)

TALK ABOUT THE ASSYRIAN LEADERS WHO CAME TO JERUSALEM AND THE MESSAGE THEY BROUGHT AND HOW THIS IS THE SAME THING THAT THE DEVIL DOES WITH US!

The devil will question you and make you feel weak and incompetent (physically/mentally) first, just like Sennacherib did with Israel’s trust in Egypt and Judah’s inadequate physical army.

We must remember that our war is not physical/carnal but spiritual and that our weapons for warring are mighty and have divine power for destroying enemy strongholds!

Then the devil begins to attack your thoughts of faith and belief in God, as the Assyrian leaders did. ( and II Kings 19:10-13)

Then the enemy begins to dismantle unity within the body by offering things that sound good and make the people begin to question if they are doing the right thing by trusting God. , “Don’t listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me—open the gates and come out. Then each of you can continue eating from your own grapevine and fig tree and drinking from your own well. Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one—a land of grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olive groves and honey. Choose life instead of death!”

Sounds like the same thing that Moses said to Israel before they went into the promised land with Joshua.

Look at Hezekiah’s response to the threats of the enemy. He took their threats and their letters of intimidation into the temple and spread them out before the Lord and began to PRAY and seek God!

Hezekiah, even before he had an answer from God, had said this to his people, “Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria or his mighty army, for there is a power far greater on our side! He may have a great army, but they are merely men. We have the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles for us!”

Now listen to what God said to the King of Assyria, “The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and laughs at you. The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head in derision as you flee. Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you look with such haughty eyes? It was the Holy One of Israel! And this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: His armies will not enter Jerusalem. They will not even shoot an arrow at it. They will not march outside its gates with their shields nor build banks of earth against its walls. The king will return to his own country by the same road on which he came. He will not enter this city, says the LORD. For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David, I will defend this city and protect it.”

32 “And this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria:

“The virgin daughter of Zion

“The virgin daughter of Zion

“The virgin daughter of Zion

despises you and laughs at you.

despises you and laughs at you.

despises you and laughs at you.

“His armies will not enter Jerusalem.

They will not even shoot an arrow at it.

The daughter of Jerusalem

The daughter of Jerusalem

The daughter of Jerusalem

They will not march outside its gates with their shields

shakes her head in derision as you flee.

shakes her head in derision as you flee.

shakes her head in derision as you flee.

nor build banks of earth against its walls.

The very night that God said these words, listen to what the Bible records happening, “That night the angel of the LORD went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. Then King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land. He went home to his capital of Nineveh and stayed there.”

33 The king will return to his own country

by the same road on which he came.

22 “Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?

22 “Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?

22 “Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?

He will not enter this city,

Against whom did you raise your voice?

Against whom did you raise your voice?

Against whom did you raise your voice?

Look, here’s the deal. When you start seeking God and a mighty move of His hand (a.k.a. REVIVAL), you are going to draw the attack of the enemy! And the enemy is going to come in and do a lot of talking and trying to deceive you and turn you away from God. However, remember this about the devil and his lies and talk, “For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.”

says the LORD.

34 For my own honor and for the sake of my servant David,

At whom did you look with such haughty eyes?

At whom did you look with such haughty eyes?

At whom did you look with such haughty eyes?

History records in Assyrian writings, (Sennacherib’s Prism) of what Sennacherib had to say about the whole Judah and Hezekiah attack. (READ from book)

I will defend this city and protect it.”

The devil will always lie and try to claim victory over the work of God and tell us that we are going to be defeated, but just remember what the word says of previous battles.

It was the Holy One of Israel!

It was the Holy One of Israel!

READ verses on the battle being God’s!

It was the Holy One of Israel!