Revival Among Us
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Revival Among Us Part 1: Stirring Up
Revival Among Us Part 1: Stirring Up
I thank my parents for raising me to know God. But I thank Adonai that my knowing God intimately and the resolved surrender of my life to Him is not dependent upon my parents. When I was laying there in that highway not knowing my life condition, I called on one name, Jesus. I had conversation with one person, my Lord. I could count on one thing in that moment, my eternal future. If that is not your case in living, then it will not be in death. A.W. Tozer said, “It is altogether doubtful any man can be saved who comes to Christ for His help with no intention to obey Him.”
We live in a vain time where everyone wants to be in on the latest app or to go viral. The entire culture strives for personal popularity and a need for social acknowledgment instead of Fatherly affirmation. And they will surrender whatever values need be to achieve acceptance. Even Christians are willing to throw away their identity in Christ for a social avatar or a virtual identity. This priority of importance is evident by the time we spend looking at a screen instead of our neighbor or into the eyes of the Father.
The dictionary definition of revival is an improvement in the condition or strength of something. An instance of something becoming popular, active or important again. By this definition, I would say that the Bride of Christ needs an improvement in her condition and a strengthening of her passion for the Groom. She needs to revere the Word of God again as her highest interest and make it once again alive, active, and of her highest priority.
I believe the church has been lulled into a spiritual romance novel with Jesus that is more fiction than faith.
In modern day Christianity we set revival dates as a mere event. Establishing revival as a set goal or initiative, is not a bad thing, any more than setting New Year’s resolutions. The problem is, like New Year’s resolutions, we fail to follow through on the commitment. We lose interest. We become complacent. We fall right back into our old ways where spiritual lethargy and depravity become the casual norm. Small doses of compromise slowly creep into our routines and priorities. And soon, we are once again on spiritual cruise control or spiritually dead. We sing songs to God but fail to encounter the God of which we sing about.
The word revival is the Hebrew word Chaya חָיָה meaning to recover and return to life; to restore to consciousness or awareness; or to restore to a previous condition of rejuvenation or renewed interest following spiritual neglect.
According to Charles Finney, man is naturally reluctant to obey God. Therefore, there are times when God sends His Spirit to provoke man to be excited about who God is and to return to His way of obedience. What was the last thing in your life that you got really excited about? Did it have to do with an object, an event, or a person? Odds are it had to do with something you desired! The Scripture says all of Heaven rejoices over a sinner coming to salvation. This is what gets God excited. When was the last time you were excited about Jesus? Was it the last prayer that answered? Or the last blessing you received? What will it take to once again excite you simply about who He is?
And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.
In this instance there is a set day established by the instruction of God to the Prophet and the Priest and the Law of God is imparted to the people of God with understanding, not just hearing with neglect. The Feast of Booths is kept and acts of covenant renewal were embraced. As a result, the people are made aware of their spiritual depravity but rejoice in their redemption.
Revival is when God’s people, through repentance, in unity, rejoice in who God is by returning to obedience to the Way of the Lord. Charles Spurgeon states, ”If we want revival, we must revive our reverence for the Word of God. A genuine revival without joy in the Lord is as impossible as spring without flowers, or dawn without light.”
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
The word used here for reviving is shwb שׁוּב meaning to turn back from unrighteousness and to return to righteousness.
My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!
The cry for life here is again the word chayah חָיָה meaning to have the soul lifted from deaths dust and restored to excited passion for the Word of God.
Psalm 85:6 (ESV)
Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?
There are other terms used in relation to the concept of revival throughout Scripture to include to “stir up”; “to awaken”; and “to be poured out”. To “Stir up” or the Hebrew ‘uwr means to awaken, to incite, to open one’s eyes. It is the root word of the meaning to be exposed or lay bare or to be made naked as Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. They were naked (arummim עֲרוּמִּים; dependent on God and in need of Him) and unashamed. God speaks of a stirring up among the people through the work of the Messiah in Zechariah 9:10-17.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior’s sword. Then the Lord will appear over them, and his arrow will go forth like lightning; the Lord God will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south. The Lord of hosts will protect them, and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones, and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine, and be full like a bowl, drenched like the corners of the altar. On that day the Lord their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.
And in Hebrews 10:16-25, the Apostle stirs their hearts with remembrance of the promises and purposes of God’s covenant with them.
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
When Moses lead Israel through the Red Sea and they were free from the enslavement of Egypt, the people rejoiced with singing and dancing. This was a day of revival. As they stood on the shores of the Red Sea, having watched the mighty hand of God deliver them, they began to sing the Shirat HaYam (Exodus 15), a song expressing their ecstatic gratitude and thanksgiving to God. And as Moses and his nation concluded their song, something inexplicable happened.
Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
How was it that these women had tambourines ready and dances prepared in the midst of a wilderness, fleeing their oppressors, and having walked through the sea? Because, long before they had left Egypt, their hearts were preparing for a revival! They had great expectation that in their generation the God of the Hebrews would deliver them.
As they fled Egypt in haste, their priority was not sustenance, memorabilia and worthless artifacts. It was how they were going to praise Adonai on the other side of deliverance.
“After hundreds of years in bitter exile—after witnessing acts of utter barbarism, after weeping rivers of tears for the babies torn from their arms, after seeing their children cemented alive into brick walls to fill missing quotas—what did these women prepare while still slaves in Egypt? What was on the minds of these women who had seen affliction beyond the human breaking point? What was on the hearts of these women who bore anguish too much to fathom? What did their worn, tired, tortured, and beaten bodies carry out of Egypt? Tambourines. Instruments with which to sing and praise their G‑d for the miracles they knew would come to be. Engulfed in misery, the women did not lose their vision. Mourning their murdered children with a feminine sensitivity keener than that of their male counterparts, the women found the strength to fortify themselves not to lose hope. Amidst their agony, the women prepared tambourines. They fanned the spark of yearning within their worn souls until it grew into an overpowering, inextinguishable flame of faith. As bitter as their lives became, their faith grew stronger” (Weisberg, Chana; Miriam:Tambourines of Rebellion; chabad.org).
They were lead by a woman, Miriam, whose name meant “bitter rebellion” against the enslavement of her people and their spiritual depravity.”
Revival Among Us Part 2: Awakened
Revival Among Us Part 2: Awakened
(Open with RightNow Media Video WakeUp 2:18)
While the rest of the world is in a humanistic coma of moral insanity, the church is in a church service slumber of self serving stimulation.
No where in Scripture does God ask for your moral opinion. Nor does God adjust His Law to fit your subjective interpretation of His absolute ethical standards. What you choose to believe about God and what He commands has no bearing on the absolute truth of who He is and the standards He has set. God will not conform to what you believe. Your beliefs must become subject to who He is. And He must be sovereign Lord of all of your life. Anything less and He is not your Lord at all. Most Christians spend more time trying to figure out how God can serve them than how they can serve God. Their focus is God fulfilling their hearts instead of them finding His.
Another term used for the concept of revival is to “awaken” or in the Hebrew יָעִיר ya’ir meaning “the one whom God stirs up”.
The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.
Are you awake Christian? Do you have a tongue taught by God or do you just parrot the cultural norms around you? Is your ear attuned to the call for repentance or are you listening to the voice of cultural confusion? The church need open it’s eyes and ears as one who is wide awake to the call of God. We need Christians who would rather die right than to live wrong. As Tozer stated, “It is either all of Christ or none of Christ! I believe we need to preach again a whole Christ to the world - a Christ who does not need our apologies; a Christ who will not be divided; a Christ who will either be Lord of all or will not be Lord at all!”
Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
We will always be divided by ideas of men but we will only be united by the Word of Christ alone. The Word of God stands alone. It does not need humanistic sociology or vain philosophy to interpret the commands of Adonai. And they are as relevant today and they were in the beginning and every point of history.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Let me show you an example of where one young man’s solidarity of who God was in his heart, even unto death, brought about revival to an entire nation that was backslidden and hidden from God. This young man spouted the Word of God to a godless culture before him and a spineless culture behind him, even though he stood alone.
Look with me in 1 Samuel 17:1-13:
Israel is facing the Philistines at a place called Ephes-dammim אֶ֥פֶס דַּמִּֽים׃ . The first part is from the word אֶפֶס ephes meaning to cease or put to an end. And the second part from the word דָּם dam meaning blood or in this context bloodshed. Why is this relevant? Because it was here God was going to bring this war to an end.
The Philistines send forth their champion who is Goliath of Gath. Basically, The word Goliath comes from the word גָּלָה galah meaning “Captive”. So, this guy doesn’t know it yet. But he is already beaten in God’s plan. It’s like Abby’s five pound Yorkie that barks like he is a 100 pound Pit Bull. (Show picture of Mo). To the God of Israel, this giants is a five pound Yorkie!
But this young man named David, the son of an Ephrathite (meaning fruitfulness) is about to change the entire culture around him.
Now there were three other sons from the house of Jesse there on the battlefield that day:
Eliab meaning God is Father
Abinadad meaning my Father is willing
Shammah meaning astonishment of my Father’s power
And all three of these were hiding in fear of this giant. You see, God can declare your identity and call you by the name of which He has destined you for His purposes. But if you let the giants talk you out of what God has declared you to be, then God will look for another until He finds one who will bear the fruit He desires in the place for which you were called.
Let’s skip ahead a bit.
Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not but a word?”
David’s heart is misunderstood. When God has stirred your spirit to call a nation back to the righteousness of God, do you really expect that they are going to rightly judge your motives? The very claim that you would declare the Law of God and be called judgmental is in itself a judgmental statement of contradiction. It is itself a fallacy of contention.
So, then David is called before the big man, King Saul himself, in verse 33. And Saul tries to dissuade him and demean him because of his youth. Aren't you glade that the measure of God is different than the measure of man? But look at David’s response:
But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”
WOW! Can you visualize this? He starred down a lion and a bear. (I like to play tug of war with our puppies. And when they growl I look them in the eye and growl deeper. They look at me strange, let go, and back off. That’s what David did to a lion and a bear.) Then David grabbed hold of them and struck them dead. And through it all, he had snatched the lamb from their mouth and the lamb lived! Often, we put the focus on David, the lion or the bear. But folks, the lamb is you and I! The enemy is like a roaring lion seeking to devour. David here is a foreshadow of Jesus Christ the Messiah who has snatched you from this world of darkness and tries it’s best everyday to devour you and your children. And here we are today church; maybe someone here today, your children, your neighbors, people all around are in the mouths of the devourer. While you profess to have in you the same Spirit that was in David. What are you going to do about it? Why are you so intimidated by this culture? Why are you silent or hiding behind a social media page. You are not going to change the world with memes and posting Scriptures. You have to get out there and go face-to-face with the ideological giants of the land.
At work I get tons of telemarketing calls on my government phone. This week I got one who asked how old I was and if I had burial insurance. So, I asked him how old he was and he said 26. I asked if he had burial insurance. He said yes. I said, “So, you have your death all planned out, paid for, and covered with insurance?” Again, he said yes. So I asked him, even though you are 26 do you have any assurance or guarantee that you will awaken tomorrow? He said, no. So, I said, “Would you not agree with me that it is ironic that we try to insure our death but cannot ensure our living?” There was silence. So, I asked again and he agreed. Then I said, “Would you be interested if I told you how you could ensure your life and not just your death?” He said, yes. And I said, “Jesus the Christ”, He alone is eternal life insurance. And click, he hung up the phone. But not without me planting the seed of the name of Jesus Christ and the consideration of his eternality.
In the following verses (read 41-49), young David confronts the Philistine giant. In verses 50-51 David stands on top of the giant, cuts off his head, and lifts it on a pole. As a result of David’s tenacious faith in who His God was, look what happens in verse 52.
And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.
When David confronted Goliath and that giant hit the ground, the armies of Israel came out of their hiding places and chased down the enemies of God. That was a day of revival!
But it didn’t end there. In 2 Samuel 21 we see David again fighting giants. But this time he is old. But he has raised an army of giant killers. And we see, once again, revival among another generation:
After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants. And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down. These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
You see, giant killing, defending the way of the Lord, was a family thing! It was passed on to another generation. It is not enough church, to kill one giant, we must take on them all. And we are not going to do it with presidential terms and social media. It will take generations of giant killers. Those who can take the Word and Spirit of God and stand toe-to-toe with the cultural, ideological, God hating giants in the land!
Now is not the time to morn for the nation that once was or grieve for our children’s future. Now is the time to get your spiritual sling shot ready! Fill your spiritual bag with chosen stones! Sharpen your spiritual sword and get in the fight! Instead of running from everything, run for something - city planning commission seat, school board member, constable, judge, justice of the peace, mayor, something! Start a Christian School, Day Care, business or something! Help with a Feeding program, Bible College, organize a Community Outreach, Crime watch, something! Write a Christian blog, start an Apologetic YouTube Channel, something! Spend time teaching your children and grandchildren the Word of God, teach them to pray and seek the face of God, take some Bible College courses yourself, just do something beside trying to figure out your next Facebook post and hoping someone else would make a difference. Be God’s catalyst for revival!
Who here has given up? Who wants to just continue to complain about it? Who is content with just letting things get worse and the enemy continue to steal, kill and destroy? Who wants to be like David’s brothers and who wants God to make you a David? Who wants to be a GIANT KILLER! Who is ready to take back what the enemy has stolen!
Revival Among Us Part 3: Poured Out
Revival Among Us Part 3: Poured Out
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
“True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the One who cannot lie. It is enough that God has said it.” A.W. Tozer
And finally church, God does not stir us and awaken us for us to be gratified and satisfied. No, there is this definition of revival that means to be “poured out”or “made empty”.
Isaiah 53:12 (ESV)
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Would you be poured out for Christ? Would you lay your life down and take up your cross? Would He be more than your Savior but will He be Lord of all?
Tozer states, “Salvation apart from obedience is unknown in the sacred Scriptures. Apart from obedience there can be no salvation, for salvation without obedience is a self-contradictory impossibility.” A.W. Tozer
In being a true follower of the Christ, you can’t just push a button for room service. There is not an app for spiritual maturity in Christ. For the man or woman in a hurry, God’s time will not be enough for them. Instead, that man or woman’s interest will move on to the next emotional and self-serving interest. (Tozer)
The Follower of the Christ, the Servant of the Most High, who understand the Father’s heart and desires his own heart to be awakened to the will and way of the Father, would wait upon the Lord. And in His waiting be poured out.
One reason we do not see revival, a time where God’s stirs, awakens and imparts into us is because we are so full of everything else except Him. We are like a bunch of Christian Hoarders, we have heard so many sermons and prophecies, listened to so much Christian music, and had so much Christian activity but never have been poured out and emptied for those who are lost.
Again, Tozer says, “If I see aright, the cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the bosom of self-assured and carnal Christianity. The old cross slew men, the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it.”
Jesus said, we are to be the salt of the earth. Salt preserves and enhances. If we are the salt, then why is the nation in such a ruin?
Examples of revival:
In Exodus 32-36 the people of God fell into idolatry while Moses was on Mount Sinai. But Moses poured himself out to God on behalf of the people. And following their repentance God gave to them the Tabernacle, a dwelling place of His presence among them daily. This was a day of revival.
When Israel was in great spiritual depravity in 1 Samuel 4-6, the Ark of the Covenant was taken captive for seven months. But David pleaded for the Lord to return His favor. What followed was their awakening when the Ark was returned by God’s grace. This was a day of revival.
In 1 Kings 16-18 the people of God had been lead into spiritual depravity by Arab and Jezebel. But revival came when the Prophet Elijah poured himself out to God. Then God exposed and humiliated the false gods and their priests. This was a day of revival.
We see God bring revival through others such as Hezekiah, Josiah and Gideon.
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations (5068 How to Start a Revival)
Gypsy Smith was once asked how to start a revival. He answered: “Go home, lock yourself in your room, kneel down in the middle of your floor. Draw a chalk mark all around yourself and ask God to start the revival inside that chalk mark. When He has answered your prayer, the revival will be on.”—Missionary Worker
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations (5069 Torrey’s Prescription for Revival)
“I can give a prescription that will bring a revival to any church or community or any city on earth.“First, let a few Christians (they need not be many) get thoroughly right with God themselves. This is the prime essential. If this is not done, the rest that I am to say will come to nothing.“Second, let them bind themselves together in a prayer group to pray for a revival until God opens the heavens and comes down.“Third, let them put themselves at the disposal of God for Him to use as He sees fit in winning others to Christ. That is all!“This is sure to bring a revival to any church or community. I have given this prescription around the world. It has been taken by many churches and many communities, and in no instance has it ever failed; and it cannot fail!”
Francis Schaeffer said, “We have forgotten our heritage. A lot of the evangelical complex like to talk about the old revivals and they tell us we ought to have another revival. We need another revival -- you and I need revival. We need another revival in our hearts. But they have forgotten something. Most of the Christians have forgotten and most of the pastors have forgotten something. That is the factor that every single revival that has ever been a real revival, whether it was the great awakening before the American Revolution; whether it was the great revivals of Scandinavia; whether it was Wesley and Whitefield; wherever you have found a great revival, it's always had three parts. First, it has called for the individual to accept Christ as Savior, and thankfully, in all of these that I have named, thousands have been saved. Then, it has called upon the Christians to bow their hearts to God and really let the Holy Spirit have His place in fullness in their life. But there has always been, in every revival, a third element. It has always brought SOCIAL CHANGE!”
If God completely removed His Holy Spirit from the church today, the largest portion of our church activity would continue never knowing the difference. But if this were the case for the Early Church of the New testament, they would recognize the difference, stop their activities and pour themselves out fervently seeking the face of Almighty God. (Tozer)
What is loyalty to Christ worth to you? How much do you believe this is true? Why are you a Christian? Are you a Christian for some lesser reason, or are you a Christian because you know that this is the truth of reality? And then, how much do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? How much are you willing to pay the price for loyalty to the Lord Jesus? Are you willing to be poured that God might revive us? Are you willing to be poured out as Moses, Joshua, Daniel, Jeremiah, Elijah, David, Christ, Peter, James or John?
If we want to know revival, we must be willing to pay the price of being poured out. Quit asking “Fill me up Lord” if you are unwilling to say “Her e I am Lord, let my life be a pour offering for Your glory.”