Revival in the Community

[0:00] All people that are not due to sin to sin.

[0:30] In the church, the gathering of God's people together in the world and in the community, we want to reach the world with the word.

[0:41] We want the word to go out to the world around us, to our community about us. And A.B. Simpson, an old time man of God said, The chief danger of the church today is that it is trying to get on the same side as the world.

[0:57] Instead of turning the world upside down, our master expects us to accomplish results even if they bring opposition and conflict.

[1:09] Anything is better than compromise, apathy and paralysis. God gives to us an intense cry for the old time power of the gospel and the Holy Ghost.

[1:20] Philly Sunday said, Revival does two things. First, it returns the church from her backsliding. And second, it causes the conversion of men and women.

[1:33] We've heard how we've forsaken. The Lord and the prophet cried out that God's people had forsaken the Lord, that well of living water and of the idolatry and so on.

[1:48] The church needs to restore, to regain, to refresh, to return to its first love. Matthew 4.4 it says, The Lord Jesus speaks, it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.

[2:09] Had lots of bread this weekend, haven't we? A lot of food. Hopefully some spiritual food, I'm sure. If we could digest it and chew over it, maybe hear it again through the DVD.

[2:22] Feed on the word. We must do that daily, mustn't we? Life comes from the word. Every man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.

[2:36] This is God's blueprint, His word for us. It's God's blueprint for revival. Life is in the word. Life is in the word. I've got a little joke, I say.

[2:49] Joyce Meyer's got that right. Life in the word. Life is in the word. It's right. That's true. You know, sometimes you get truth through all quarters. That's, you might find surprising.

[3:00] But life is in the word. That's true. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. Amos 5.4 says, For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, seeking me and ye shall live.

[3:16] Seeking me and ye shall live. It's in the word. It's in seeking him that we have life. And Christianity is life. Christianity is life. It's life eternal. It's life abundant.

[3:27] Life everlasting. Life with meaning, with purpose. Life forever with our Saviour. And this is truth on fire. His word is jam-packed with life and the message of life.

[3:40] Alive and powerful. Sharper than any two-edged sword. The word of God. It's living. It's vital Christianity that we have. And we can share our trust.

[3:52] The thought this evening is revival in the community. Now, there was a story told one day. There's a, you know, how in America they call them revival meetings, which is kind of an evangelistic crusade.

[4:08] Had these special revival meetings they called. And there's three pastors there that were talking after these meetings. And they're from different backgrounds. And the Methodist minister said, the revival worked really well for us.

[4:20] It was really great for us. We gained four new families out of the revival. The Baptist preacher said, we did better than that. We gained six new families. The Presbyterian pastor said, well, we did even better than that.

[4:34] We got rid of our ten biggest troublemakers. You know, sometimes in revivals it's just, or evangelism, it's just transfer growth, isn't it? Just people from other churches.

[4:45] And not really growth. Not really new souls won. We want to see life. We want to see souls won. We want to see new life. New souls won.

[4:55] Now, I was encouraged just last week. Someone rang me out of the blue. I thought it was a prank call. Now, for people who know us, we've had five years of harassing phone calls. We've got to filter our phone because of these harassing phone calls.

[5:09] Had to get a restraining order because of such hateful messages. And concerning messages. But I got an encouraging phone call for once. You know, someone actually phoned.

[5:20] I saw the message in the newspaper where we had a little mention of our church to encourage people to inquire. And someone rang out the blue. And she said, I'd like to know how to become a Christian.

[5:33] And I thought, wow, that is such a blessing. And God willing, she came to church this morning at our fellowship there in Elizabeth. And I trust that she's been encouraged.

[5:44] And I spoke to her over the phone. And what a joy it is to hear someone say, I want to know how do I get saved? How do I become a Christian? And I was able to share with her.

[5:54] It's a blessing to think that you and I can have a part in that. That we can see people won for Christ by His mercy and grace. Travel with me in contrast now to Ezekiel 37.

[6:09] Ezekiel 37. In contrast, travel with me to the valley of death. The valley of death. That could represent our communities where we live. The northern suburbs.

[6:20] The southern suburbs. The city. The country. Of our state. Of South Australia. The valley of death. Of course we know the vision spoken of here is really referring to the dead nation of Israel.

[6:33] I'm not meaning to take something out of its reference as such. But you could see how it could symbolise a revival of the lost and dead soul.

[6:44] Under the renewing power and reviving of the Holy Spirit. You could refer to it in that context as what I'll be taking it as. And Ezekiel 37 says, The hand of the Lord was upon me.

[6:58] Verse 1. And carried me out in the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley. Which was full of bones. And caused me to pass by them round about.

[7:09] And behold there were very many in the open valley. And lo! They were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.

[7:23] Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones and say unto them, O you dry bones, Hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold I will cause breath to enter into you, And you shall live.

[7:40] And I will lay sinews upon you, And will bring up flesh upon you, And cover you with skin, And put breath in you, And ye shall live, And ye shall know, That I am the Lord.

[7:54] So I prophesied as I was commanded, And as I prophesied, There was a noise, And behold, A shaking, And the bones came together, Bone upon bone, And when I beheld low, The sinews and the flesh Came up upon them, And the skin covered them, But there was no breath in them.

[8:15] Hence said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, Prophesy, Son of man, And say unto the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come upon the four winds, O breath, And breathe upon these slain, That they may live.

[8:30] So I prophesied as he commanded me, And the breath came into them, And they lived, And stood up, Upon their feet, An exceeding great army. An exceeding great army.

[8:47] Ezekiel was in this valley of death, Surrounded by the bleached bones of dead men. Very, very dry. Desperate, hopeless, Decaying, Desolation, Despair, Helpless, Hopeless, It was utterly hopeless, It goes on, There, To say, Our hope is lost, Verse 11, It was hopeless, Hope was lost, God asks, Ezekiel, Can, These, Bones, Live, Can, These bones live, Can, Can these bones come alive?

[9:33] Logically speaking, Of course not. Of course not. Dead bones cannot come back to life. But, Is, God, Able?

[9:44] Is he able? Is the Lord God, The creator of life, Able? Yes. Verse 4, Prophesy, Hear, The word, Of the Lord.

[9:57] It's the word that made the difference, It says, The word was delivered. God's word is powerful. The gospel, The power of God. Richard Wurmbrand is someone known, As a man who suffered for Christ, For whatever his, Particular, Label is, He was a man, He was counseled for his faith, He was in prison, For declaring, Standing for God's truth, The word of God, And physically suffering, Great punishment for it.

[10:34] He wrote this, God, Is the truth, The Bible, Is the truth, About the truth. The sermons, Are the truth, About the truth, About the truth.

[10:47] It's truth, Isn't it? Theology, If it is a fundamentalist one, Is the truth, About the truth, About the truth, About the truth.

[10:59] And because of so much scaffolding, Around the truth, With a capital T, Because of the multitude of words, The truth is drowned. I wish you to meet, God himself, In the year which stands before us.

[11:12] We need the truth. Hear ye, The word, Of the Lord. That is what we must hear, His word. And for you, For me, It's reading it, It's taking it, Personally, Not having to wait, To come and hear someone give it, As much as that, Is important too, But that we read it, Take it and read it, Personally, As God helps us to, At every chance you can.

[11:35] The prophet had, But to obey God, To speak it, To speak the word, To prophesy it, To deliver it. And verse 5, Then, As this army, As this, These bones, Had flesh and sinews, But were still, Dead bodies, Verse 5, He's told, Breathe, Speaking of the Spirit, Behold the Lord God, Behold, I will cause breath, To enter into you, And ye shall live, The breath, Same word as the Spirit, In Hebrew and Greek, Breath, Spirit, The Holy Spirit, The Spirit of God, You need the Spirit of God, The Word of God, The Spirit of God, Andrew Boner, Another, Respective man of God, Said this, Revivals begin, With God's own people, The Holy Spirit, Touches their hearts anew, And gives them new fervour, And compassion, And zeal,

[12:36] New life, And life, And when he has thus come to you, He next goes forth, To the valley, Of dry bones, Oh what responsibility, This lays on the church of God, If you grieve him away, From yourselves, Or hinder his visit, Then the poor perishing world, Suffers sorely, Our city, Our community, Our state, Is spiritually dry, It's dry bones, Very dry, Spiritually dead, There may have been times in the past, When it was not so, But we can see, The signs of life are scanned, In our nation, In our state, And we want to see, God willing, As we've been urged, This weekend, To have that, Desperation, To have that vision, To have that, Inspiration, To see, God move, In, The wonderful, Soul saving power, Of the Holy Spirit, And to see, Ideally, At the end of the day,

[13:37] Verse 10, An exceeding great army, A dynamic army, That the church of God, Should be, Onward Christian soldiers, Marching as to war, That we should be soldiers, In that army, Not just, Living, Alive, But, Soldiers too, The question, As we, Come to, Finish up the sessions, This weekend, Are you, Very dry, Are you, In a barren place, Spiritually dry, I know, I've been there, At times, I still am there, I know my dryness, I know my deadness, We need, To plead, With desperation, That God would visit us, That God would, Revive us, That God would revive his church, That God would revive, His work, In these last days, To restore us, To revive us, There's a spiritual famine, In the land, A famine, Because the word,

[14:38] Is not, Delivered, And yet, Just as this picture, Is for us, There's untapped potential, In that graveyard, There's an exceeding, Great army, As God's word, Is going out, As God's breath, Goes out, He brings life, Into our dryness, New life, To the lifeless, What had to happen, The prophet, Had to obey, God's messenger, God's people, Had to obey, To give the word, To trust the spirit, I prophesied, As I was commanded, God will bless, Your obedience, It's for every one of you, Every one of you, Living saints, Here today, It's not about, Printers, Or pastors, Or, Organisations, It's about, Every single, Man and woman, Of God, Every single saint, Of the living God, To realise, How God can use you, And let God use you, Do as he commands you to do,

[15:39] God will bless your obedience, To him, And it's simple, It's simple, The message, Is simple, The old Moody said, Repentance, Is a change of mind, A new mind, About God, That's, That's, One of the fundamental messages, Is to preach repentance, And he goes on, Conversion, Is a change of life, A new life for God, So get that, Repentance, A change of mind, A new mind about God, Conversion, A change of life, A new life for God, We want to see life, Brought into souls, We want to see the message declared, As we are ambassadors for Christ, We can be like Jonah, Just to, Consider for a moment, Jonah, He was told what to do, And he disobeyed, He went the opposite direction, Then he got a second chance, As the fish,

[16:40] Unleashed him back onto the beach, God told him again, Verse 2 of Jonah 3, Arise, Go unto Nineveh, That great city, And preach unto it, The preaching that I bid thee, And then he went out, He went into the city, A day's journey, He cried, Yet forty days, And Nineveh shall be overthrown, And verse 5, So the people of Nineveh, Believed God, And proclaimed a fast, And put on sackcloth, From the greatest of them, Even unto the least of them, For word came unto the king of Nineveh, And he arose from his throne, And he laid his robe from him, And covered him with sackcloth, And sat in ashes, Can you imagine that happening, In Australia, Can you imagine, For the word came, Unto the prime minister, Of Australia, And he arose,

[17:41] From his throne, And he laid his robe, From him, And covered him, With sackcloth, And sat in ashes, And you believe it, And the whole community, Repented, Verse 10, And God saw their works, That they turned, From the evil way, And God repented of the evil, That he had said, He would do unto them, And he did it not, Our nation, Faces severe judgment, Australia, Australia, Is on the brink, Of destruction, And in the book of Jonah, We see, That God can send revival, In the most difficult places, Nineveh was hostile, To the, Kingdom of God, Was hostile, To Yahweh, To the God of the Bible, It worshipped a fish God, These were hardened pagans, Now some people say,

[18:42] Oh, Elizabeth is a hard mission field, Some people say, Certain countries, Or nations, Or people, We're all just as rotten, And as sinful, As one another, Doesn't matter whether, You're in Burnside, Or in, Smithfield Plains, You're still, As godless, And as christless, As the next man, Without his saving grace, And there's no more difficult place, Than another, God can move, In Davron Park, And Elizabeth, Just as easily, As he can, In any other place, And, It's when we get serious, About the message, Revival is the saints of God, Agonising, On behalf, Of lost souls going to hell, So said James Stewart, When Jonah realised, Salvation is of the Lord, In Jonah 2 verse 9, When he came to his senses, In the fish's belly, When he realised that, Salvation is of the Lord, He obeyed,

[19:46] He went, He preached, He wasn't really believing himself, As we know, He was disappointed, When they repented, He wanted to see God, Vindicate, And wipe them out, And nearly 600,000 people, Were converted, In that astonishing, Move of God, That is revival, It's the terror of the Lord, It's when they, When the dignitary, Of the nation, Realises his state, Of judgment, Of danger, And friends, The church of God, You have the message, You have the spirit, You have, God's transforming grace, To impart, As this messenger of it, And we as the church, We need to be revived, To be revived, To achieve that mission, To be, A living church, Alive, To go into that valley of death,

[20:47] And take the life-saving gospel, While we still can, Revival, Is something, Is something, Is something, Is something, Is something, Only God can do, But we, Must obey God, We must be like, Ezekiel, And, Maybe God's got to do it, Get our attention, Like with Jonah, To make us obey, But what we must do, Is obey, Just to close this, Poem, By Oswald Smith, Evangelise, Give us a watchword, For this hour, A thrilling word, A word of power, A battle cry, A flaming breath, That calls to conquest, Or to death, A word to rouse, The church, From rest, To heed, The master's, Strong request, The call is given, Ye hosts, Arise, Our watchword, Is, Evangelise, The glad evangel, Now proclaim,

[21:48] Through all the earth, In Jesus name, This word, Is ringing, Through the skies, Evangelise, Evangelise, To dying men, A fallen race, Make known, The gift, Of gospel grace, The world that now, In darkness lies, Evangelise, Evangelise, Prophesy, To these, Very dry bones, Breath, Come breathe, And bring life, Let us stand, Shall we, As we close, These meetings, We've been stirred, Challenged, By many, A speaker, And the fellowship, Of the saints, Heavenly Father, We thank you, For the time, We've had, As a fellowship, Of your people, And as we go, Our respective ways, After the formalities, Later, Lord, We ask that you, Would grant us, Safe travel, And mercy,

[22:49] Lord, For each, Home, We pray, That you would, Stir us to, Take to heart, These truths, That we've heard, And make them live, We pray, Lord, Take us, Into that very dry valley, And help us to, Impart that message of life, To be your ambassadors, To be reconciling, To bring that, Message of reconciliation, Of God and man, That we might see, Souls one, Give us that desperation, To cry out, Lord, That longing, That yearning, To be, One with you, With your spirit, That your word, Would not, Be limited, But that it would have, Free course, And be glorified, And that the community, Would come to know, The living Christ, The life, Eternal, The life, Of Christ in us, The hope of glory, We pray, Lord, Bless your word,

[23:49] Bless each soul, In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. God bless you. Thank you.