Unlimiting Revival in 2022

Matthew 3:16 KJV 1900

And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

Do Not Hinder Revival 2022!

Into the 20thCentury, coal miners took caged canaries with them as they went beneath thousands of feet underneath the earth’s surface to mine for coal. The reason the canaries were present was not just for company or for their musical abilities, it was far more serious than that. Canaries were more sensitive to carbon monoxide and methane than the coal miners.

If a canary stopped singing and fell unconscious from its perch – the coal miners knew to take action. The rule was: Keep one eye on the task at hand; but also keep one eye on the canary.

I thought of this random historical fact this week in preparing for this time together. I believe we have a great task at hand – revival beckons us. But, there are enemies that can slip in – sightless, tasteless, and odorless to HINDER the work of God. While we spend most of our time with the TASK AT HAND; we should also keep an eye on the Canary.

The Holy Spirit is likened to a dove in Scripture – that can be resisted, grieved and quenched. We can go on about our business for sometime, never realizing that the Spirit has withdrawn. We should be sensitive to the Spirit – and sensitive to those things which grieve the Spirit.

Judges 16:20 NKJV

And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

1 Samuel 4:21 NKJV

Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband.

One Eye On The Canary:

The Hidden Hindrances to Revival

I. Introduction.

Do you remember the story of the search for Isaac’s bride? In Genesis 24, Abraham calls his trusted servant Eleazer. He dispatches Eleazer on a mission of great importance. He is to return to his homeland and find a bride for his son – Isaac.

When he finds the bride, he is to bring her to Isaac. Eleazer offers a “WHAT IF?” scenario. “What if she’s a reluctant bride. What if she’s unwilling to come here; should I take Isaac there?” Abraham said told him under no condition. The sole condition from Abraham’s perspective – was a willingness to move forward and not stay static.

Eleazer’s caravan happens upon the well at sunset. Rebekah steps forward and waters the camels – by this, answering Eleazer’s prayer. When the reason for his visit is revealed to Rebekah’s family, there was rejoicing…and then reluctance:

Then they arose in the morning, and he said, “Send me away to my master.”

Genesis 24:55-58

55 But her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days, at least ten; after that she may go.”

56 And he said to them, “Do not hinder me, since the LORD has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master.”

57 So they said, “We will call the young woman and ask her personally.”

58 Then they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” ¶ And she said, “I will go.”

They argued for DELAY – Eleazer called for IMMEDIACY. Eleazer said – Do not Hinder Me…..

You may think, “This is so sudden. Of course, one would understand slowing down – giving it some time. Give the girl a chance to wrap her mind and heart around this. Completely understandable…”

Until you realize that Eleazer was on a God-called mission. He was on divine assignment. He was choosing the woman who would be the bride of the miracle child, the promised heir – Isaac. He was choosing the woman who would bear Jacob – THE NATION OF ISRAEL.

There was no time to dawdle or delay. It was time to move forward….

He said DO NOT HINDER ME….Let me finish this work.

It seems to me that when the work of revival has come to us – hidden hindrances seep into a child of God’s life, to a family situation, a marriage, a segment of the church or the church itself. And the Spirit – so sensitive – begins to recede and wane.

Along the road to revival – we should keep an eye on the canary – be sensitive to the Spirit and guard against the hindrances that are coming against us.

There are obvious things that hinder revival. Solomon wrote the book on that in 2 Chronicles 7:14: If my people called by my name will humble themselves and pray…seek my face and turn from their wicked ways...

PRAYERLESSNESS & WORLDINESS are obvious threats to revival.

What about the silent and slow killer called PRIDE?

📷 How can you tell if you have a pride problem? Here are the evidences of pride in a life:

1. Pride refuses to listen, it always interrupts others.

2. Pride likes to talk about itself all the time.

3. Pride has an intense desire to be noticed.

4. Pride believes that it deserves everything it gets.

5. Pride is not thankful.

6. Pride cannot be corrected.

7. Pride does not like to follow instructions.

8. Pride exalts itself in the presence of others; it brags.

9. Pride criticizes and tries to makes itself look better by putting others down.

10. Pride thinks of its own needs first.

(Ill. Muhammad Ali furnishes a good example of pride at work. He was on an airplane once and he was standing up in the aisle, talking and laughing and entertaining the passengers. Finally, the stewardess came back to him and said, "Mr. Ali, you'll have to take a seat and fasten your seat belt because the plane is about to take off." Well, Mohammed Ali looked at her with a snarl, and said, "Honey, superman don't need no seat belt." She looked at him and said, "Yeah, and superman don't need no airplane either. Now sit down and buckle up.")

PRIDE & PRAYERLESSNESS form the leaven that leavens the whole lump. We know these things and even with that knowledge, we sometimes fall prey to these.

II. Speaking Points.

A. Some Other Things That Subtly Hinder Revival.

How much more then can the subtle things that hinder revival? I came across a somewhat tongue-in-cheek article recently entitled the SEVEN LAST WORDS OF THE CHURCH, by James Emery White.

We’ve never done it that way before. Translation “Let’s keep doing it the way we’ve always done even if there’s a better way.

I Need To Be Fed. Let me translate this for you: I’m a spiritual infant and must be spoon-fed because I’m not mature enough to open the Bible and draw the nourishment I need. It’s okay to be spiritually immature when you first start out in this thing – but growth is expected.

I didn’t get anything out of it. Translation: The worship service is all about me. I am the object of worship. Forget that this is idolatry. I’m a consumer. And my needs drive me.

The music is too loud. Translation: I don’t like that style of music. Music we like is generally never too loud.

You talk about Money too much. Translation: I don’t give, don’t plan on giving, and don’t want to be challenged to give. My money is my god – and it’s not for God.

I don’t know everybody anymore. Translation: The church is growing and I don’t want it to grow. Growth isn’t exhilarating, it’s threatening. Growth only leads to me not getting my way and doing what I want to do when I want to do it.

Let’s just focus on who is here. Translation: The church is all about meeting the needs of the present ones, not reaching the absent ones – it is about entertainment, not evangelism.

Anytime these voices are being heard in a church – the canary has toppled. And spiritual hindrances have seeped into the church.

Let me identify FOUR SERIOUS hidden hindrances to revival:

1. PREOCCUPATION. Jesus described this One for us. The Levite and the Priest walked by the wounded man on the Jericho Road. They were probably just preoccupied – they didn’t see him.

I read a story recently of a couple who went to an OUTREACH seminar. They were challenged all day about the need to open our their minds and hearts to the needs of people around them. They filed out of the auditorium with hundreds of others who had heard the same lesson they had.

As they left the building they saw a man seated on the steps clutching an old, weathered bag. People were streaming by him not bothering to speak. But, they stopped to talk with him. He smiled – and said, “The Holy Spirit wants to bless you. Took their hands and prayed with them.” And then disappeared.

Angels unaware. People who God put into our lives – but we get so preoccupied that we can’t see them.

Prayerlessness may be the father of all sin – but Preoccupation is a hidden hindrance that kills the canary….it checks revival.

Do you know who is in your midst? Do you know the people around you? Have you reached out a hand to them….or are you preoccupied?

2. PROSPERITY.

Yes, we care about THINGS more than SOULS. This is a misplaced priority that can hinder Revival.

Gordon McDonald once told the story that in ancient times when the King of Siam had an enemy he wanted to torment and destroy, he would present his enemy with a unique gift – a white elephant, rare and considered sacred in that culture.

The recipient of that elephant had not choice but to spend much time and resources caring for the gift. In the process of caring for this dubious blessing, the king’s enemy would get so encumbered that he would end up losing his effectiveness.

What we call blessings are sometimes curses in disguise. For example, let’s say you were blessed with season tickets to your favorite team. But, there’s a lot of games. And soon you have to start making choices – games or ministry; ballgame or family; recreation or Bible studies…

What appeared to be a blessing ends up becoming a curse. Or, let’s say that you’ve prospered on your job but it requires so much of you that you’re unable to attend church regularly anymore. Your Bible reading has dwindled to nothing. Your prayer life has dissipated. We could say that God has blessed you – but I wonder sometimes if an overabundance of prosperity is a curse.

You get that vacation house – that get away cottage. And no longer do you have time to be involved as you once were…

Yes, sometimes prosperity is a hidden hindrance…and the Spirit that moves gently and kindly is driven away. White Elephants are being cared for – canaries are no longer important.

I don’t believe it’s by accident that God put Philadelphia and Laodicea side-by-side in the list of the seven churches of Asia. One was a revival church; the other was materialistic. I would love to say there’s no choice between the two – but the Bible is clear that you must make a choice as to what’s most important.

It’s a scripture that bothers me, because it can’t be rationalized and reasoned away – we either love mammon or God. And the love of things, the craving for respectability and prestige can pull us away from the work at hand…Keep one eye on that canary

3. PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS. Prejudices, biases, locked-in paradigms and viewpoints, rigid opinions…these are actually the sin of limiting God.

BIAS in numbers. God saves by many or by few. He can just as easily save 1 as He can 1,000. But, we are the ones who limit God.

We are conditioned…to think certain things. To think that God can’t do certain things.

In his book Teaching the Elephant to Dance, James Belasco describes how trainers shackle young elephants with heavy chains to deeply embedded stakes. In that way the elephant learns to stay in its place. Older, more powerful elephants never try to leave—even though they have the strength to pull the stake and walk away. Their conditioning has limited their movements. With only a small metal bracelet around their foot attached to nothing, they stand in place. The stakes are actually gone!

Like powerful elephants, many churches, families and people are bound by earlier conditioned restraints. Yet, let the circus tent catch on fire - -and the elephant’s fear of fire will cause it to forget its old conditioning and it will run for its life.

Fire has a way of breaking through the barriers.

Desperation has a way of crashing these thoughts…if we get desperate enough, the preconceived notions fall away…

BIAS in socio/economic status. They’re not “our kind” of people. You know if we scratch back through the thin veneers of our family trees, we’re going to discover quickly in our roots people who we think don’t belong to us…

REDEMPTION AND LIFT PHENOMENON

BIAS in language, race, or culture. I was in a church growth conference a few years ago somewhere in the Midwest. One of the speakers pled passionately to reach into the fields that were ready for harvest – and he mentioned reaching cross-culturally, providing translation for services or even starting daughter works or services in other languages. At the close, he opened it for questions. A gentleman stood up and said, “I disagree with what you’re saying. This here is America. If they want what we got, they need to learn English.” And he sat down. I could tell by the heads that were nodding and the affirmations from the crowd – that they majority felt that way.

And the majority has a right to be wrong.

We are citizens of another country…we are citizens in Heaven. And we should never permit nationalities to separate us from the GLOBAL CHURCH in our midst. This Gospel is for WHOSOEVER WILL….and that means WHOSOEVER….

It should not be that Sunday is the most segregated day of the week. With people of “Their Kind” going to church with “their kind.” This does not reflect well on the Cross at all.

Revelation. 5:9-12

9 And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,

And to open its seals;

For You were slain,

And have redeemed us to God by Your blood

Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,

10 And have made us kings and priests to our God;

And we shall reign on the earth.”

11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,

12 saying with a loud voice:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain

To receive power and riches and wisdom,

And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”

Someday, we will worship God in Heaven Together. As in Heaven, so on Earth.

God has placed this church in an area where increasingly different languages are spoken, as witness in our recent grocery drive-thru. We can’t ignore this.

4. PROCRASTINATION.

This was what was argued to Eleazer, the servant of Abraham. Give us 10 days….

Just give it a rest, won’t you? There’s no hurry. We’ve got time.

MORE CONVENIENT SEASON….

Quote lyrics of song: Tomorrow….

Jesus said, "Here I stand

Won't you please take my hand?"

And you said, "I will tomorrow"

Jesus said, "I am he who supplies all your needs"

And you said, "I know, but tomorrow

Ooh, tomorrow, I'll give my life

Tomorrow, I thought about today

Ooh, but it's so much easier to say"

Tomorrow, who promised you tomorrow

Better choose the Lord today

For tomorrow very well might be too late

And who said tomorrow would ever come for you

Still you laugh and play and continue on to say, "Tomorrow"

Forget about tomorrow, won't you give your life today

Ooh, please don't just turn and walk away

Tomorrow, tomorrow is not promised

Don't let this moment slip away

Your tomorrow could very well begin today

Tomorrow may never come….

III. CLOSE.

I’m believing God that we will see 100 souls filled with the Spirit in the next few weeks – would you believe with me?

If so, they simply need to be here….

DO NOT HINDER ME….

Jesus, Get thee behind me Satan….