REVIVAL BEGINS WITH ME

Good morning!

It is great to be with you this morning! We are truly honored to be here.

We have an exciting week of worship and teaching lined up for you this week.

Prayer

If you have your Bibles with you and I hope that you go. Open your Bible with me to the Old Testament book of Jonah, Jonah chapter 1, If you are unfamiliar to where Jonah is you can find it by locating the book of Matthew and working your way forward Jonah is the 8th book from the New Testament.

Jonah Chapter 1 is where we will be this morning.

I believe with all my heart that the time we are living in today is the most crucial time to be seeking God for revival for ourselves and the church because I believe that the time of the Lord is growing short.

The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”

When I read this it tells me that God wants us to seek after Him, to focus on Him with all of our hearts and that is what this revival is all about. If you truly seek it, you will receive it.

And here is the truth about revival, if you want to see transformation outside of these walls, then there has to be transformation inside these walls first. If you want to see a revival take place in your families and communities then a revival must take place right here first.

If we shake our heads and wonder why people are not coming to the Lord, we must first look at ourselves.

That is why our title today is: Revival Begins with me.

We all can pray for a revival for our cities and country all we want, but until we are revived individually and as a church, until the Christian community is revived, we won’t see it happening in our families and our communities. This is just the truth and it is my prayer today that we see this need through our time together this week.

Well if you are there in the book of Jonah, begin reading with me from Jonah 1: 1. This is the Word of God and It begins like this:

“Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. 4 But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.

5 Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.

6 So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

7 And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”

9 So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

10 Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. 11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.

12 And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”

13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they cried out to the LORD and said, “We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows.

17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

2 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish’s belly. 2 And he said: For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ 5 The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head.

6 I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God.7 “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. 8 “Those who regard worthless idols Forsake their own Mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.”

10 So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

3 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. 4 And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6 Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

10 Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”

You know I am fascinated by this story of Jonah, not because of the fish, but rather how Jonah as a prophet reacted to God’s command and how God teaches us that revival begins with us.

Jonah needed a spiritual revival so that Nineveh could be revived.

This bring us to our Take-home truth today:

THE TAKE HOME TRUTH IS:

TRUE REVIVAL COMES WHEN WE CHANGE YOUR FOCUS FROM US TO GOD

This is an important story about revival.

But before we get to what Jonah’s story teaches us I think its necessary to talk first about the misnomers of revival and what Biblical revival is.

Many people have asked me “Pastor when are going to have a revival?” Let me say this the word revival is what I call a “suggestive word” in the Christian community. It has its base definition, but most times people have their own interpretation of what a revival is, where the revival should be and what it should do. Many want to suggest their interpretation of a revival. So when asked that question, I in turn answer with a question; “what do you mean revival?” Then most people go into their suggestive definition of what they believe a revival is.

Let me say that revival is not a big white tent, special evangelist who come for a specific time and or a specific theme. It is not a time of supernatural healings and miracles. It doesn’t come only during the spring or the fall. Yet these are all things that we believe attribute to a revival. These are things that describe in our minds what a revival is all about. These are things that often planned for in a revival.

But, true revival is a Biblical truth which is given by God and is sought out by God’s people. For example:

Isaiah 57:15 “For the High and Exulted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy says this: I live in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the oppressed.”

The writer of Psalm 85:6-7 asked God: “Will you not revive us again so that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your faithful love, Lord and give us Your salvation”

So we find that revival is something that is given by God and sought out by His people.

Now, the word revival originates from the Hebrew language. It’s definition means to bring back to life, to restore to consciousness or to restore to a current condition.

When used in the Biblical context revival means restoration, rejuvenation, or renewal of interest after spiritual neglect. It comes as a restoration to the spiritual life of a person or group of people.

We see this through Jonah’s eyes, He was restored and in turn the people of Nineveh were restored as well.

Now to understand it more we must understand that to be revived, you must have had something to begin with.

Do you follow me?

For example if you die, they try to revive you back to the condition of life. It is important to know that those without Christ will not and cannot experience spiritual revival because they don’t have the life and the Light of Christ to begin with. So, let me caution you now; unless you have received life through faith in Christ Jesus, Revival wont come, Salvation can come, but in the biblical context revival comes to those who already know God.

Jonah was a prophet of God. God spoke directly to Jonah. Yet as we look into Jonah’s story we find that the prophet Jonah only cared about his own self, his own feelings, He only cared about the outcome that he wanted for the people of Nineveh. Doesn't that sound like our world today, it might even sound like some people in the church.

Now Nineveh was known for its cruelty, they were enemies to Israel and Jonah didn’t like them very much.

But God gave His prophet a command, a job, a mission to do, but because of what Jonah felt for the people of Nineveh, he decided to do what he wanted. His focus wasn’t on God and the Kingdom but rather His focus was on himself.

And isn’t that what we do sometimes? We care more about what we want than what God wants. If I do this then I won’t be able to do that. If I give, then I cant pay my bills, If I go to church Sunday I cant watch the game, if I go to church on Wednesday night I wont be able to watch my favorite show.

If I asked you this question this morning what would you say; What is God is calling you to do?

Many people think that if I do what God wants me to do, then I won’t be able to have my life.

Just be aware that if you have professed Christ in your life, then its not your life, you belong to God.

That was me in a nut shell- I did not want to commit to Christ because I knew that God would want my life to change. And I liked being me. I know that’s where most of Christians are at. I did not want my life to change, no matter how bad it was. But listen, just like me, you won’t ever change your focus from you to God, Revival won’t come until the pain of change outweighs the pain you are in.

Jonah was locked away in fish prison, His pain of where he was outweighed his own personal agenda.

So the question we need to ask ourselves this morning is:

How can we unlock personal spiritual revival?

Well, God uses Jonah’s story teaches us a three-step process to unlock this revival not just in ourselves, but also the church:

Step one to spiritual revival is- YOU HAVE TO GET REAL WITH YOURSELF:

Can I address the elephant in the room? You know where you are spiritually.

You can try to pass it off as other things if you like, but you know whether or not if you are following God. You just have get real with yourself.

Chapter one is all about playing hide and seek- Jonah is running from God, trying to go somewhere where God wasn’t and hiding from Him while he was getting there.

Look back at verse 3 “But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”

The Storm arose and where was Jonah found? Verse 5 tell us “into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.”

Beloved let me tell you this: you cannot hide from God. God is omnipresent – meaning that God is present everywhere at the same time. You see, Jonah thought that he was slick, instead of doing what God told him he went the other way to get away from God.

Now notice with me that God spoke to Jonah in Joppa to go to Nineveh which was 550 miles away by land.

But Jonah caught the first thing going the other way. Tarshish was 2500 miles by sea in the complete other direction. When the storm came the captain found him and said get up and call out to your God. Meanwhile the sailors cast lot and it fell on Jonah.

Here is the thing, when you are not right spiritually with God, when you are running from God, you might think it is a secret, that you are the only one who knows it.

But you cannot hide from God and you cannot hide from other people. The truth is the people closest to you know that you are running. More people know it than you know.

And listen you are not only hurting yourself but you are hurting others around you as well. Those sailors were terrified for their lives, they threw the cargo off the ship, they thought they would die, they even tried to save Jonah by trying to row the ship to land unsuccessfully.

Jonah had to get real with himself- verse 12 He said “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will be calm for you, for I know that this great tempest is because of me.”

God used the storm in Jonah’s life to make him get real with himself.

What storm are you going through in your life? How is God trying to get your attention?

Listen to me you don’t have to get real with God, because God already knows that it’s real. You need to be real with yourself and to turn yourself around to Him? Your focus needs to change from you to Him.

There are people running from the presence of God, they are running from what God wants them to do, some are running a from the gift that God has given them. The good news is that Revival will come if you get real with yourself first.

The second step to spiritual revival:

Once you get real with yourself, step two is to GET RIGHT WITH GOD.

You have to get real with yourself, to know where you are so that you can get right with God.

At the end of chapter one Jonah is swallowed by God’s fish, the whole second chapter is about Jonah getting right with God.

Jonah finds himself in the belly of a fish and was there for considerable time, the Bible says that he was there three days and three nights. He had a lot of time to think. A lot to think about, like; what got him in the situation? Or maybe he was asking himself; how am I still alive?

Maybe he was walking back and forth kicking the skeletons of fish or whatever else the big fish had eaten. We don’t know, but one thing we do know and the thing that Jonah knew was that God made the storm because of his disobedience and that’s how he ended up where he was and the only thing that he could do was to cry out to God.

The Bible says in Psalm 34:6 “the poor man cried and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles”

Have you ever been put into a situation that the only thing you can do is to cry out to God? That’s a bad situation. You find yourself desperate. How desperate was Jonah? He was eaten by a fish waiting to be digested.

Look in verse 2 he says “I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction, And He answered me. “Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, And You heard my voice.”

Verse 4 “Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’”

Notice verse 7 “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple.

Then Verse 9 But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.”

Verse 10 “So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”

This is a story of revival. Think about this Jonah was as good as dead, God restored and revived him. Jonah acknowledged his wrong doing and disobedience and sought for forgiveness from God. God gave Jonah a second chance to make things right.

You know what I have come to know; we are all like Jonah.

You know something else? We have a God of second chances.

We find several times in Scripture the principle of the Lord coming to an individual a second time. Take the case of Abraham. God told him to leave his country and people and go to a land that He would show him. But on his way he stopped at Haran for a considerable time and might have stayed there if God hadn’t spoken to him a second time.

Or what about Peter? Peter had told Jesus that no matter what should happen, he would not desert the Him. Jesus told Peter that before morning he would deny Him three times, and that’s what Peter did. What should be done with Peter? Should he be disqualified from future service? Peter repented, He got right with Jesus and he was restored when Jesus came to him after the resurrection and said, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).

I LOVE THAT GOD IS A SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH CHANCE GOD!

I have needed those second, third and so on chances in a lot in situations, especially following God’s direction in our lives.

What about you?

Maybe you are here today thinking that God won’t give you another chance – or – maybe you are hoping for another chance. God is willing to give you a second chance right now today, he might be disciplining you in some way or nudging you like He did with Jonah. But if we are brought to a place of repentance God will give us a second - third etc.. chance.

He is willing to revive, to restore us. This is the greatness picture of unmerited grace that God gives us. Like Jonah we deserve nothing, but when get right with God, He restore us and gives us everything, even when we had ran from Him.

Psalm 77:1-2 says “I cried aloud to God, aloud to God and he will hear me”

God will hear you in your moans and cries, as you seek forgiveness, He is waiting to spiritually revive you.

FOR TRUE REVIVAL TO COME WE MUST CHANGE OUR FOCUS FROM US TO GOD.

Step one – GET REAL WITH YOURSELF!

Step two- GET RIGHT WITH GOD!

Finally Step three- GET UP AND GO!

When we get real with ourselves, get right with God then we must get up and go. In other words, get up shake the dust off and keep the mission moving.

At the end of chapter one Jonah is swallowed by the fish. The end of chapter 2 Jonah has now been thrown up by the fish.

Side note have you ever wondered what Jonah smelled like? Three days and nights in the fish then puked out? Maybe God has a point that if you run from Him you won’t come out smelling like roses!

Three times the words GET UP are used in these three chapters, the words GOT UP, has been used three times as well.

Jonah has been revived now and chapter three is all about the radical obedience of Jonah.

Notice chapter 3:1-2 “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”

Now notice what happens:

1. Jonah took the command seriously. He got up and went and proclaimed the message of God. In all fairness the message wasn’t that long in fact it was only 7 words long and only 5 words in the Hebrew “Yet 40 days Nineveh will be destroyed”

2. The people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest even to the least of them. When the word came to the king, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe, and covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. What did the people believe? Who did they believe? The Bible tells us that the people believed God. And when they turned from their sin and God answered.

That is what is needed today. For the Christian communities to experience revival and then to take the message to the world. God is a mission minded God who sends His people to do His work.

In the New Testament we find some interesting parallels with the words Get up and Go.

First we find that on several occasions when Jesus healed a person he often said Get up and go or get up and take your mat. We also find that of the last words that Jesus choose to speak to His disciples was to Go.

Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples”.

We need be a people who when we experience the unmerited grace of God, when we are healed of the sin, that we get up and go do the work of the Lord. This is twofold;

1. It means to go out and to tell others of the Gospel.

2. It also means to get up off your duff and be the person God is calling you to be, to use the gifts that the Holy Spirit has anointed you with for the betterment of the church and the Kingdom.

When revival comes we must get up and go.

The truth is beloved many before us has made revival into a production of worldly things. That it is an experience rather than the true work of God. However, true revival is a spiritual restoration so God’s people will go and do His work.

The church community must be a get up and go church.

Think about this: You know those lightening bugs? Well if God can make that little bugs butt light up, think about the amazing things He can do in you.

REMEMBER THAT TRUE REVIVAL COMES WHEN WE CHANGE OUR FOCUS FROM US TO GOD BY GETTING REAL, RIGHT, AND TO GET GOING.

Invitation.