Recipe for Revival
Revive Our Hearys • Sermon • Submitted
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· 10 viewsThere are requirements for revival, revival comes only when God's people submit and follow the biblical requirements needed for Him to revive our hearts.
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We sometimes say that a person is not what he used to be; and, physiologically speaking, it is an accurate statement. Every minute, five million cells in the human body are destroyed and replaced. The physical miracle of renewal takes place without personal awareness. But spiritual renewal requires constant action and desire. “It is the Spirit that gives life” John 6:63
63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. 2 Then those of Israelite lineage separated themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. 3 And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for one-fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.
we have a hard time thinking of being in church for a couple hours on Sunday - here we see a 12 hour worship service - 6 they spent in repentance and confession and the other they were in the word and offered worship to the Lord. = 12 hour service.
I think we would all agree that we are in desperate need of revival in our day. If we could only discover the truths revealed in these verses and apply them to our lives, we would be well on our way to experiencing revival as well.
When we cook most of us reference a recipe and the recipe guides us so we know exactly what to do and how to get the best out of the ingredients we are using. (use bad recipe)
I want to consider the ingredients that are essential to a spiritual awakening as we think on: The Recipe for Revival. The first ingredient needed is:
Faithfulness
Faithfulness
1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads.
Now on the 24th day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them.
Here we discover an interesting detail regarding revival.
The month spoken of is the seventh month, Tishri. It is the same month alluded to in
2 So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month.
There we found on the first day of the month the people called for the reading of the law of God.
Now we discover that they are still seeking the Lord and spending time in His Word on the twenty-fourth day.
For twenty four consecutive days, the people worshipped the Lord and heard His Word.
Isn’t that amazing? That is genuine faithfulness!
■ Genuine revival will not come apart from faithfulness.
We cannot approach the Lord and our service to Him casually if we expect to experience revival.
It will require genuine commitment and faithfulness on our part.
Just a few short prayers or a few minutes a day in His Word and His presence are not sufficient.
We must get sincere and seek God faithfully if we are to have revival.
We will have to be willing to seek the Lord for as long as it takes, consistently to experience revival.
Fasting
Fasting
Nehemiah 9:1 (NKJV)
1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads.
We also find that they were assembled with fasting.
■ Fasting is something that most of us know nothing about and many would have to admit that they would be uncomfortable with. I can imagine the response I would get on Sunday morning if I revealed a desire for us to fast for a few days.
■ I don’t know how the majority feels, but there is a spiritual principle that we need to understand and apply to our lives.
Often we come to church expecting to receive just what we need from the Lord but we are unwilling to give anything in return.
We come expecting God to move in our midst and take care of all our problems, but there has been no preparation prior to the service.
How about a fast of time? How about sacrificing some of the time we waste on ourselves and give it into the Lord?
How about a fast for prayer? We need to get sincere and earnest when we pray.
Fasting doesn’t always have to be about going without food, but a willingness to sacrifice of ourselves in order to get in touch with God!
Repentance
Repentance
Nehemiah 9:1 (NKJV)
1 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads.
The attire of the people reveals an attitude of brokenness and sorrow over sin. They adorned themselves with sackcloth to show their sincerity in repentance.
■ Revival will never come without a genuine attitude of repentance.
I fear that repentance is becoming a thing of the past in the modern church.
We have become so accustomed to and complacent with sin that few ever sense the need for real repentance.
God will not fill a dirty vessel.
We need not expect His touch on our lives or services if we are living with unconfessed sin and dirty lives.
We need the attitude of Jerusalem and of Ezra. Consider
3 So when I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked out some of the hair of my head and beard, and sat down astonished. 4 Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled to me, because of the transgression of those who had been carried away captive, and I sat astonished until the evening sacrifice. 5 At the evening sacrifice I arose from my fasting; and having torn my garment and my robe, I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God. 6 And I said: “O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens. 7 Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been very guilty, and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to humiliation, as it is this day. 8 And now for a little while grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and give us a measure of revival in our bondage.
Repentance is an essential ingredient for revival.
(SALVATION PLEA)
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
This is the gospel - this is what you must believe to be saved.
if I ask: What is the gospel - your response should be:
Jesus died for my sins
was buried
rose again.
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Today is the day for you to accept Christ by simply believing that Jesus died for you sins, was buried, and rose again. He loved you that much and there is nothing that you could ever do or not do to change that.
It’s the recipe:
FAITHFULNESS - FASTING (SEEKING GOD INSTEAD RATHER THAN ANYTHING ELSE) REPENTANCE - Sorrow over SIN.
It’s time to call out to God - to expect renewal - to prepare for revival - and to be ready and willing to do whatever it takes :
no pride - no regret - no stiff necks or locked knees, no worry about what the people are saying - abandon all for the move of God.
When we get serious - God will move.
Look at this with me:
1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.’ ”
2 Then he turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying,
3 “Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 And it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
5 “Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.
He wept - He called out with all his heart - God moved.
God is still moving today - He still
The past few weeks:
Families hurting, Kids hurting, families depressed, kids depressed, people making openly bad choices - i’ve seen tears and listened to painful circumstances -
we do not need self help - or self love - or self anything - what we need is to surrender our self under the hand of God - we need revival .
call out to God and surrender our lives to Him and get on our faces before Him and allow Him to change our heart and change our lives.
We need to call on God to revive our hearts and move in our church, in our homes, and in our community.
I want to ask today that we continue today our time of prayer - will you make a bold move today - come surround this alter area with prayer, calling out to God