Sermon Tone Analysis

Revival Preparation

It dawned on me when I was preparing for today that the past several weeks that there was this theme of repentance and revival flowing through each of the messages.

I have stated repeatedly that I need a revival in my own life and that we need a revival in the Church.

Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah have all shown the love of God for His people.

That love has included a call for repentance.

Today we come of Jeremiah, the 4th of the prophets from the Old Testament that we will touch on this summer.

I looked back at some of the great revivals that have occurred over the past three or four hundred years, and there seems to have been some preparation before it happened.

Asbury University is a United Methodist affiliated university in Wilmore Kentucky.

It’s history is known for mighty outpourings of the Holy Spirit.

In February of 1970 there was an awesome outpouring of the Holy Spirit that began a period of revival around the world.

Before that began, there was a time of preparation that goes back about 65 years.

From the website of the University I gleaned the following information:

In February 1905, during a blizzard, a prayer meeting in the men’s dormitory spilled out to the rest of campus and the town of Wilmore.

In February 1908, revival broke out while someone prayed in chapel; the revival lasted two weeks and was signified by prevailing prayer and intercession.

In February 1921 the last service of a planned revival lasted until 6 a.m., and services were extended for three days.

In February 1950 a student testimony led to confessions, victories, and more testimonies.

This went on uninterrupted for 118 hours and became the second leading news story nationwide; it is estimated that 50,000 people found a new experience in Christ as a result of this revival and witness teams that went out from it.

In March 1958 revival began in a student fasting prayer meeting that spilled over into chapel and lasted for 63 hours.

On February 3, 1970 Dean Custer B. Reynolds, scheduled to speak in chapel, felt led to invite persons to give personal testimony instead.

Many on campus had been praying for spiritual renewal and were now in an expectant mood.

Soon there was a large group waiting in line to speak.

A spirit of powerful revival came upon the congregation.

The chapel was filled with rejoicing people.

Classes were cancelled for a week during the 144 hours of unbroken revival, but even after classes resumed on February 10, Hughes Auditorium was left open for prayer and testimony.

These sessions were presided over by Reynolds, Clarence Hunter and other faculty.

Some 2,000 witness teams went out from Wilmore to churches and at least 130 college campuses around the nation.

What was the preparation that was happening before hand?

1905 - prayer meeting

1908 - prayer

1950 - confessions, testimonies

1958 - fasting and prayer

1970 - prayer

This church and the former Jerome church began with prayer.

In Jerome there was a bedridden lady who began praying for a holiness church to be established there.

God answered and provided for that new congregation.

Prayer began for a church in Boswell and soon a tent was set up and there was a spirit of revival.

All of the great and small revivals began when someone or a group began praying.

It began with a hungering for God.

Our scripture text opens with the call of Jeremiah to be a prophet of God.

He was called during an interesting time in the life of Judah.

Verse 2 of out text tells us

Ok, so I’m a bit of a nerd and I like to know why.

It is important to ask why when reading God’s word.

There are a lot of questions to ask yourself when reading the Bible.

We don’t read the Bible like we would read a regular book.

This is God’s word, it is His story.

We read it so that we can hear from God.

I learned as a teenager to ask questions when I’m reading the Bible.

Those questions were:

1.

Is There a Command to Obey?

2. Is There an Example to Follow?

3. Is There a Promise to Claim?

4. Is There a Sin to Avoid?

5. Is There a Principle to Follow?

I would add to that list, why.

Why is it happening?

I would encourage you to put those questions into use when you are reading the Bible.

Don’t become legalistic in their use.

Spend time just listening for God to speak through the words you are reading.

Let’s apply the why to these verses.

As I read there in verse 2

Why is that important to know?

Josiah was the last good king of Judah.

Israel had already been conquered by Assyria.

There had been a line of bad or evil kings over Judah.

The people were doing whatever they wanted.

They were living in disobedience to God.

God’s word comes to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign as king of Judah.

It is important to know why.

Josiah’s father was King Amon, he lasted a little over 1 year before he was assassinated by his own people.

Josiah his son was eight when he became king.

God called Jeremiah in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign as king.

Josiah would have been 21 at this point.

Josiah launches a project to repair the Temple in Jerusalem.

The people had been worshipping idols and the Temple had been neglected.

Picture this, the king and the high priest call for a Temple work day.

They are in the process of cleaning out the Temple.

There are workmen there doing repairs.

The High Priest is sorting through the stuff in the junk room because every church or temple has a junk room.

Sadly, the junk room was the Holy of Holies.

While the high priest is going through the junk room he finds a scroll in a box of junk hidden behind some other things.

He unrolls it to see what it is and is stunned by what he finds.

He rolls the scroll back up and takes it to the King’s secretary and gives it to him.

The secretary reads the scroll and realizes he needs to take it to the king.

Notice that the high priest didn’t read it all, but the secretary did.

The secretary goes to King Josiah and gives the king an update on the work at the Temple.

He then tells Josiah that the High Priest had given him a book and then he starts to read it.

He must have read through the entire scroll.

This would have been the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament.

Josiah was convicted by what he heard from the Law of God.

Josiah sends the men that were closest to him on an urgent mission.

Jeremiah has already been on the scene for 4 years prophesying against Judah.

His is a message of Judgement.

If you go on and read the rest of that chapter from 2 Kings 22 you learn that her message is essentially the same as that of Jeremiah.

God’s judgement is coming.

Before all this happened with Josiah God called someone to bring the message of impending judgement.

Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet.

That begs for any answer to why.

He was called the weeping prophet because he wept over the sin of Judah.

He wept over the fact that the people had left God and where living in disobedience to God.