In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of having a vision in life. He shares how his own life was out of control until he found focus and restraint through God's spirit. The speaker believes that the church of Jesus Christ has the potential to be more than what is currently accepted as Christianity in America. He calls for a revival and acknowledges that young people seem to have a strong desire to be part of what God is doing in the world.

Planned on with some things about the seasons of the spirit to recognize, discern them, and how the pioneer needs to do that. But I believe what we're going to look at is just basically the character of a pioneer of revival. The character of a pioneer of revival. That's the name of my message is the pioneers of revival. But I want to take the time to define some terms. There's a lot of confusion when you come to the whole subject of revival, what it actually means, what you're talking about, and what you're not talking about. It's one of those general terms in the church that means everything from an extended meeting at a particular local congregation to some kind of particular manifestation, depending on which camp you're involved in. And we want to make sure that we have a clear understanding of what we mean by the word revival. So we're not confused and we're not imposing upon what the details, the principles we're going to talk about any extra baggage that doesn't need to be there. You know what I'm saying? So let me just start with this. I believe if anyone's really recognizing what's going on in the church today and looking what's going on, there seems to be a renewed interest in the whole subject of spiritual renewal and revival, obviously recognizing the need to be revived in the church for our society, our nation to be changed, for the world to be changed. And also there seems to be running alongside, though in a whole different stream, kind of independent from this renewed interest in revival and awakening, an interest in missions. And I don't think it's any mistake. It's not just the flu. God is up to something. Though some of these key players in different camps have not, you know, they didn't converge to formulate this thing, administrate this thing. God is doing it by His Spirit. And depending upon our gifts and where our heart has to formulate this thing, administrate this thing, God is doing it by His Spirit. And depending upon our gifts and where our heart happens to be situated, we're hearing a different portion of what God is saying to the church today. And for some people, that makes it very easy for them to be able to hear about missions and God's renewed interest. Obviously, I mean, it's always been His interest, but getting a hold of His church to mobilize them to the ends of the earth as we approach the dawn of a new millennium. But God is doing some unique things in that church, bringing them to the place to reevaluate how we do church, how church is structured, that we need God's Spirit. Some of our traditions that we've weaned on, you know, will not do it. Secondhand religion won't get us through where we need to go. And so what I recognize is these two streams are converging. And they're converging primarily among a lot of people that seem to have a heart to hear about this the most are actually young people, college-age students, even high school students, young married couples. They're trying to find their place in the church. There seems to be a enthusiasm about what God's doing in the earth and wanting to participate in whatever that is, not to miss it. John kind of mentioned last night kind of a little alienation that, quote, the revival camp has had from the missions camp. You know, the missionary approach is the whole subject is everybody needs to go. We all need to be out there now because souls are dying and going to hell like that every second. OK, we have no time to work on this church thing. We need to get out in the field. OK, we already got the gospel. The revivalist camp, they approach this thing, go, what are you talking about? What kind of gospel are you going to share in the ends of the earth? You know, we've got a powerless gospel here. We can't even fix our problems here. And you're going to go try to fix the ends of the earth problem where they have real problems. Give me a break. You know, this is kind of the dichotomy, the difference where these two camps have traditionally kind of been opposed to one another. But God is changing that. What's happening among at least some folks in the missions camp is they're starting to recognize, I mean, you talk to mobilizers like John Zumwalt, he'll tell you there's a classic problem. He can't get he can get out there, he gets speaking opportunities. But because of the quality, the basic spiritual quality in most of our churches, he cannot get people to mobilize. My goodness, you can't get him off the lazy boy. How are you going to get him to the ends of the earth? You know what I'm saying? So you guys that are focusing more on missions mobilization, you get a real problem unless the quality of spiritual life does not rise a little bit. You know what I'm saying? But at the same time, the revival camp has need to recognize that we're not. What do we revive for? You know what I'm saying? What are we empowered for so we can shine our spiritual brownie badges and say, hey, look at me, you know, look what I can do. Wow. No, it's so that we can be empowered to go to the ends of the earth and finish what God's doing. You know, as hard as it's been to do, and that is to have a people from every tongue, tribe and nation. So we obviously these two camps have got to get together and God is doing that. Some are a little slower to recognize this than others. But I mean, even the conference that we're doing this weekend is a real effort on our part, at least me and John, that are just a really small and obscure representation of these two camps to work and to cooperate together. These two streams have to merge and they're two halves. You know, it's kind of like, you know, you got a coin unless it's got that that is what that imprint, the correct one on each side. You've got a counterfeit and it's not good as legal tender to purchase anything. We will not get the job done with a coin that is just imprinted on one side. You turn the thing over. Is this really the genuine article? Is this legal tender? Can I really buy something with this? Can I make something happen with this? It's got to have the two sides, the two streams, revival and missions. Okay, so that's a little intro there why we're doing some of this. But I want to let's talk a little bit about terms. What do we mean when we're talking about revival? For some people, this is real. Today, there's as many people afraid of revival as there are that are interested in revival. And part of this is, in my own opinion, it has to do with some misrepresentation. Revival threatens to reform. Revival threatens to change the church radically. And so people are, some people are a lot very suspicious. Let me just say that the revival that God wants to bring in the church today will not leave the church as it is in the same place. There is not one structure, traditional denominational or non-denominational structure on the spiritual map that can contain what God wants to do. Every one of them is going to have to be radically revamped. And you want to know something? That scares religious leaders to death. Some people, when they approach the revival, the subject revival, what they mean by revival is they want their present system empowered, supercharged. They want their church to be more popular and more people to attend what they're doing. In other words, leave the system alone, leave it intact, just make it more popular and generally well accepted. That is not revival. Revival always touches the structure and brings reformation. If it doesn't bring reformation to how we operate and doesn't restore true apostolic Christianity to some extent, it's not the genuine thing. Okay, now some people, when they're talking about revival, they're just talking, they're kind of making evangelism and revival synonymous. They're not the same thing. Awakening as a result of evangelism is what happens to the lost. Revival is what happens to the church. When we come to the subject revival, it's a church thing, okay? Because I mean, what does it mean to be revived? But something that's threatening to become a corpse suddenly has new life breathed in it. Well, you know what? The lost are already dead in their trespasses and sins. They can't be revived, they need to have new life for the first time. So the term revival doesn't really apply to them. They need to be awakened to their need for Jesus and to, you know, righteousness through faith in the cross. Amen? So when we're talking about revival, we're talking about a church thing. And we've been used so loosely the term revival that, you know, it's primarily in a lot of more traditional circles, it's defined as just an extended evangelistic crusade in a particular area. That's not revival, that's evangelism. That's good, but that's not what we're looking for. More evangelism out to the lost is not going to fix the problems in the church. And I'll tell you, you know, I have a, it's so easy for the church at present to be critical of what's going on, say, in our society. You know, we're talking about, we love to talk, don't we, about our political leaders. We love to talk about the sin and corruption in the world and the evil influences of the society at large. Let me just tell you something. Did you realize that for the first time that, you know, that abortion and premarital sex and the divorce rates, those statistics in the church are every bit as high as they are among the lost, among secular society today. How are we going to confront them about their stuff and lead them and invite them to saving faith in Christ? What do we have to give? You know what I'm saying? That's why it's very important when we're trying to be evangelists or missionaries or whatever the case is. What are you going to go tell them? An old, old story? You know, I mean, that's great. You're going to go to heaven one day. I love that part of the gospel, but you know what? That's not where people are living. Right now, the guy needs the power of the Holy Ghost to bring healing to his family, that when his wife is about to leave, that the children are involved in drug abuse and all kinds of immorality. You know, he can't handle his finances. He needs salvation today in his own home. And unless we are empowered, the church is empowered in a new way to offer real answers for where people are living and dying today, we don't have much to offer. Oh yeah, don't worry about that. I know your wife's about to leave you. Your kid's on crack and you just lost your job, but you'll go to heaven one day. You know what I'm saying? Because give me a break. I need salvation now, where I'm at right now. You see what I'm saying? And unless we're partakers as the church of Jesus Christ, of power, of the spirit filled life, which Paul commanded us all to prescribe to, unless we are filled with God's spirit and influence and have a life that is empowered to live above the norm where society lives, what do we have to offer? See, this is why we need revival. We need more than just second hand religion. Well, somebody told me we don't need just somebody to parrot information. We need a revelation. I love 1 John 1. The apostles were the original witnesses, right? What did they share? They shared those things that they had seen with their own eyes, touched with their hands. They had experienced Christ. You know what? The original apostles, apart from their own personal testimony with the saving life of Christ, did not have a witness. They didn't go around, well, let me show you a neat scripture, okay? That was not the primary apostolic mode. They said, let me tell you what he's done in my life. You know what I'm saying? I'm not knocking the scriptures. They're inspired. They're divine. They're awesome. We cannot do with this. This is our only rule and guide for life. This is how we test all things. But I'm telling you what, you have got to have more than some academic information to quote from this book. You need an experience with Jesus Christ that has empowered you before you will have an effective witness. That's all. Think about it. That's all the apostles had. Think about Paul. Every time he got in front of the magistrate, what did he tell them? Well, let me show you this. King Agrippa, let's turn over here. That's not what he said. He started telling them about his experience on the Damascus road. He said, there is reality to this thing. I have met the son of God. You know what I'm saying? It's interesting, isn't it? Our personal testimony is very vital when it comes to us being an effective witness and mobilizing anybody to do anything, okay? I'm getting off on another trail here, but let's get back to our definition of revival. We need this revival basically reignites our experience. It restores the joy of our salvation. You know why a lot of people don't share their faith with Christ? Because it's something Jesus did so long ago. It's not pertinent. It's not today. If we're not experiencing Jesus Christ as a intimate person that is interacting with us and delivering us and helping us overcome the flesh on a day-to-day basis, we will not be excited and have joy in the spirit to share our testimony. You ever notice when God's really done something in your life, it's easy to tell other people, let me just tell you what he did this week. It's awesome. He answered this prayer that he has delivered me from this. I mean, that's how witnessing happens. Once we lose that edge, it's suddenly, well, I can tell you about back in 1981. You know what I'm saying? That's not too impressive, guys. We need to be plugged in now, day-to-day. Today is the day of salvation. That needs to be the reality of our life. Okay, revival is not just something to make our church work better. It's not an evangelistic crusade, and it's not just some spiritual feeling or manifestation. You know, some people suppose that revival is kind of a thing, an it. You know, you come in contact with it, you catch it, and it overpowers you and throws you on the floor. Not to say that when the spirit of God does move on you that that can't, he can't throw you on the floor. But what I'm saying is, it's not a thing. It's not an inanimate object. Revival is the manifestation of the presence of Jesus Christ. It's all about Jesus. And if you mess up on this definition, all your revival theology has a problem with it. Because this is why a couple things happen. This is why some people can be so critical of what God's doing in the church sometimes. Because they consider revival as an it. Something they can't hold and objectively, you know, examine, put down, take it or leave it. When you recognize that revival, God breaking out among his people, is a person, the person of Jesus, you got to walk with a little more fear of God than that. You're careful about that. At the same time, because you recognize that Jesus's revival is of the person of Christ, you're not flippant with him. You're not casual. You're not loose. You're not careless. You know what I'm saying? You honor his presence. But it's his manifest presence. What is it? Psalms 80, 85, 6. It says, Revive us, O Lord, again, that we may be able to rejoice in you. You know, Isaiah 64, O that you, 64, 1, O that you would come down and make the mountains melt and shake the earth. Let's look at that passage. I want you to show that, see, revival is the manifested presence of Christ. Now, we're not talking about the omnipresence of Christ. Christ is, you know, God is everywhere at all times, but not all men are aware of him, are they? I mean, God is everywhere we go. We cannot escape his presence. But out in society, the sinners, the lost, a lot of times are totally unconscious of that he's there. And we're not talking about, you know, some guys really have a problem with this. What do you mean? Oh, God, come down. He's right here inside me. By his spirit, he dwells inside me, in my heart. When we're talking about revival, we're not talking about the indwelling presence of Christ. We can be in a room like this, and every one of these born again people can have the presence of the indwelling Christ. But you know what? That doesn't mean that we're especially aware or conscious of that presence. We all know the difference when we're in a corporate meeting and we join in unity together to worship or pray or something. And suddenly we're all aware simultaneously that God is there. See, he's manifesting himself. There's a difference between when he manifests himself and when he's just omnipresent or when he's dwelling inside our hearts. When God is manifested, you're conscious, you're aware, you're attentive of him, and you can't do the same things that you could do at other times. So we need God to manifest himself, to come back and visit his house, for us to be a habitation at corporately. When we're looking, when we're talking about revival primarily, you know, a lot of people experience personal revival. But what we're looking for that changes our society, that ushers in thousands of the lost and seasons of awakening, is we need God's manifest corporate presence. Okay? Let's get to the scripture finally I told you to look at. Isaiah 64, 1. Get over there. Oh, that you would rend the heaven. We're not talking about an it. We're not talking about a thing. We're not talking about a series of meetings. We're talking, when does the earth change? When do things really happen? When he comes down. Oh, that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might shake at your presence. Your presence. It's his recognized presence, that he is there. Okay? As the fire burns the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence. Guess what, folks? You guys that are really plugged in and excited about missions, the world isn't really going to be aware of God and the nations are not going to tremble. There's not going to be a radical shift in the whole, you know, way things are viewed until God comes down in a significant way. You cannot separate the true missionary expansion in a serious way from true revival. They go hand in hand. Revival empowers the church to even care enough to finish the task. Did you get that? Revival empowers the church even to care. What are we talking about when we're talking about the lost not being reached? We're talking about the church being loveless and not even given a rip, right? They don't even care. Also, they're consumed with themself. Something needs to awaken their conscience, so they'll care and love people, somebody outside their own circle. When God comes down, that's what happens. We get refreshed, renewed. Okay, so when we're talking about revival, we're talking about him. Revival is not a publicity project. It's not even a well-planned evangelistic crusade, nor is revival merely a means of emotional experience to be enjoyed. True revival is the manifest presence of the kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth. Revival in the last analysis is a visitation of Jesus in our midst. Therefore, we must remember that when speaking of revival, we are not referring to an inanimate event or force. We are speaking about him, his appearance, his presence, his workings, and his holy dealings in the lives of men. Folks, when we approach this whole subject of revival, we do not need to walk in the fear of the Lord. God does things that sometimes are outside our understanding throughout the history of revival, and we're not talking about an it. If we're not careful, we can find ourselves criticizing what Jesus is doing in somebody else's life. You're not just criticizing a thing, a manifestation or a meeting. Sometimes you can be guilty of criticizing the very person of Christ, what he's doing. I don't know about you, but I don't want to walk there. I want to be careful, because we're talking about Jesus. We're supposed to be his disciples, aren't we? Give you an example. The Welsh revival of 1904. One little boy was overheard talking to another one. He says, do you know what's happened at Rose? It's a city in Wales. No, except that Sunday comes every day now. This is something about people's understanding of revival. Oh, we have lots of meetings. No. Listen to how the little boy responded to him, to the other kid. No, why, Jesus has come to live in our town now. See, some people, revival is just having lots of church meetings. But people that really understand what God's doing, who have the inside track, they see, no, he's here. I think it was the dean from Asbury College in the revival that they had back in 71. He defined a revival as a whole community turning out to honor the manifest presence of Jesus Christ. Charles Finney talked about this. He'd come into areas where he would be evangelizing, would be sharing the gospel. Whole communities came just like enveloped with a blanket of God's presence. You could come into these areas and sense that God was there, and it wasn't confined to the church house or to some Bible college. It was in the general public everywhere, an awareness of God. Duncan Campbell from the Hebrides Revival of 1948 to 52 talks about the same thing. He'd be driving down the road, find some guy in the ditch, right there in the field on his knees, crying out to God. He's miles from a church. You see what I'm talking about? This has happened over and over again. We're talking about a whole community awakened to that God is there, and that he's accessible and available. Owen Murphy, talking about the Hebrides Revival, he quotes, defines the revival this way, when men in the streets, in the streets, not the church, when men in the streets are afraid to open their mouths and utter godless words, let the judgment of God fall. When sinners overawed by the presence of Jesus tremble in the streets and cry for mercy, when without special meetings and advertising the Holy Ghost sweeps across cities and towns and supernatural power and holds men in the grip of terrifying conviction, when every shop becomes a pulpit, every heart an altar, every home a sanctuary, and people walk softly before God, this is revival. See, we're talking about something different than what we're commonly aware of right now. God is trying to awaken the church to a need for this, but as of yet, we have not really seen it. We have not seen it. And you know what it is, my heart is that God would ruin you for revival, okay? I'll just share a little bit of my testimony. When I came to Jesus in 1981, God, it was a thing I was not looking for. He kind of overwhelmed me and started speaking to my heart, apart from, all I can accredit to is my mother's prayers, because no one was telling me about the gospel. I had probably enough gospel in me to save China twice, okay? But I mean, I'd been plenty churched, all right? But all of a sudden, I had overwhelmed me a sense of the eternity of God, the seriousness of knowing the Lord was dealing with my heart and telling me it was time to make some changes. I was given all kinds of drug abuse and immorality and just all kinds of wild stuff. And God started really getting my attention. And for about six weeks, he had me start counting the costs. And what I was dealing with was the issue of totally surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And then I finally got through that mental checklist of all my favorite sins and said, Lord, I surrender. I can't do this. He swept in and radically saved me and delivered me in a moment from all my addictions. I mean, night and day, I was a different guy. And everybody around me saw it. When I went to the church, I came to the church, God had already been doing His things to some things. You see, I got my commission and my calling to the ministry the same day I got saved. In fact, part of the way that God started appealing to my heart is saying, David, you have a purpose, a destiny. There is something in your life that needs to count and needs to matter. And all I'd been living for was the next party. The only reason why I went to work was to have enough money to buy my drugs for the next party. That was the only thing that remotely gave any kind of shape or form of discipline to my life. But I tell you what, He had already spoken to me some things that He was taught to do. He redefined by His Spirit what the church was and what it meant to be a Christian. And I went to the church and I was bitterly disillusioned. And when I started recognizing God saying, I want you to be in the ministry, I immediately identified with the pastor at that church. I said, God, I do not want to be that. I have no interest. That does not look appealing to me. There's nothing about that that looks like I want to be. I was totally disillusioned. I feel there's a lot of young people that are exactly the same place. They know it's right to follow Jesus. They felt Jesus pulling on their heart. And we've been, the church is so busy trying to entertain young people, make them feel comfortable so they'll stay around. We've forgotten to challenge them that there's something more that they want. They want something to bring purpose to their life. Not something just to live for and entertain, but something, you know, entertain them, but something to die for. I need a definition. The scripture says where there is no vision, the people throw off restraint. And see, my life was out of control. I had nothing to give me enough focus. So I, you know, brought restraint into my life by God's Spirit. So part of what we're doing this weekend is offer vision. And I'm telling you, there is more to the church of Jesus Christ than what is presently or commonly acknowledged as acceptable Christianity today in America. There's a whole lot more. And this is the generation that God wants to use the stir to lay hold of it and get ahold of it. We cannot be content with what the church is now. And you guys that have a heart for the world, that is God's heart, but it will not get done to the church becomes something more than what she is right now. I'm telling you what God's heart is broken for his house. You know, Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. When Jesus, he wept over Jerusalem, he weeps over his people. And you guys, if you'll dare to take the time to ask him, he will give you his heart for the church not to be. And I'll tell you what, when you start accepting these ideas, you start entertaining these ideas. There's also a threat. There's also a risk that you become bitter, independent, rebellious, critical. You know what I'm saying? We don't want that. That does nothing, but that's the enemy's way to derail your anointing and your gifting. We've got to keep our spirit sweet. And you want to know where we keep it sweet? By all of our concern being birthed out of love and brokenness. Amen. We want to feel what Jesus felt about the church and that is he was broken for. And I'll tell you what, Jesus is passionate about his bride. He longs for his bride to be in the right place. Just like John talked about yesterday, he wants her to do this thing with him. He's out to get every tongue, tribe and nation of the world to snatch him from the jaws of hell. And he isn't content to do it alone. He won't do it alone. He has no body except us. And the only hope there is for the church really to finish the task is for them to something new, a new dynamic, a new power, a new sense of revival to sweep in through the church for her to be purified and empowered in a new way. Amen. We can't do it the way we've been doing. It's never going to get done. You know, it's funny. We start talking about this AD 2000 thing and beyond now, and they'll keep on saying beyond until they figure out they got to have revival coupled with the thing to get the job finished. You know, they refer to the last millennium when the student volunteer movement got kicked off. You know what I'm saying? And at that time and at the turn of the century, God, you know, just pushed out thousands upon thousands of young college students and young people into the ends of the earth to bring in such a harvest that it was unprecedented in the history of the church. But you know what the missiologists and the mobilizers forget to tell you? And we'll look at this next session. Is that that awesome harvest coincided and was preceded by one of the most awesome revivals that the world has ever seen? In fact, all those those foot soldiers that John was talking about last night that did that work, they were influenced by men that had directly been in those revivals. They were the product of it. And in fact, they wouldn't even care to do the job unless something new would have happened in the church. Do you see the connection, guys? We need to put down our prejudices. You know, I'll tell you what, I'll tell you a big prejudice we have when it comes to the subject of revival. Some of us, we need to turn that Christian television off. OK, some of you guys get really messed up with that. All right. I'll tell you. And you know, your heart start going bananas, you know, when you say, what are they doing? You know, and you can just turn that thing off. You can't handle it. All right. Your heart goes bad places when you watch that thing. All right. So just accept that. And granted, there's some stuff that is being called Christianity that is. It's embarrassing to Jesus. I'm just going to put it that way. And, you know, Lord, have mercy on what's going on in so many circles. We're a mess. We're a mess. You know, we're either part of the problem or part of the solution. And I'm afraid most of us to one extent or another are part of what's making the church a mess. Amen. So we have to revitalize to start here, don't we? Doesn't it? But what I'm saying is that, you know, you need to not let that jade what God wants to do. Now, that's not what God is saying. You know, some of many associate something we saw some bad representation of, quote, unquote, spirit filled Christianity. And so we're afraid of it. You know, that's one of the biggest schemes of the enemy. And if you're playing that game because you've seen some weird thing happen someplace that was associated with the term revival and you're running on or not miles away from the thing, that's exactly what Satan wants you to do. That's his scheme. That is his plot. One of the ways that the enemy keeps us out of large portions of truth of the word of God that we desperately need to finish the task is by actually tempting other portions of the body to be excessive or abusive or just flat out weird. OK, with with with what it means to be a Christian and another part of the body rebelled, you know, is repelled by that and doesn't want anything to do with that. I've done this many times, but I'll tell you, I'll give you the illustration that God uses me. A lot of you guys maybe heard me use this, but, you know, I was a carpenter for six, seven years. And I mean, that's what I used every day to build houses and do work on houses and stuff. OK, so now you tell me how much sense this would make. I'm you know, I coming out my house one day and there's some guy to greet me with a 16 ounce S wing claw hammer, OK, and beats me over the head with the real good drops me on the front porch. Oh, my goodness. Got a bunch of knots and I got to go to the hospital. You know, it's a bad deal. Let me beat me up with that claw hammer. But then I got to go to work after I get healed up. And sure enough, look what's sitting in my toolbox. Wow. What is that? You know, get that away from me. You know what I'm saying? That's the thing that hurt me the other day. No, that'd be ridiculous, wouldn't it? That's the tool of my trade. I got to pick that up because I got to build the house. Get the job done. And so what some of us logic that we're using is because somebody some folks in the church have misused legitimate tools of the spirit that they've misused them in bad, ugly ways. Some of us have become alienated away from legitimate tools in the church to build God's house. What are you going to do to me? Beat you up with a tire iron. What do you do next time you have a flat tire? I'm sorry, man. I'm out here. You're going to call the tow truck. I cannot get this vehicle home because I will not touch that thing. You know what I'm saying? That's our attitude in the church. Sometimes that thing hurt me. You know what I'm saying? I had a bad experience one time eating. Somebody brought me some food from a German restaurant for about, I'm not kidding you, for a year and a half. I, when I drove down that street, I would turn my head the other direction. I would not look at that restaurant because it brought back such bad memories. Okay. Well, this is how we're kind of designed. And the enemy knows this. He knows that if he can get us to associate a good thing, a God thing with a negative experience, we will withdraw from it. And the enemy has special delight and goes out of his way really hard to make us, keep us from the very things that we need the most. Okay. So all this in connection with the term revival, you know, that for that draws off all kinds of image. Let's redefine it. That's what we're doing. Okay. Well, we haven't got very far yet. Um, well, let's talk about these two streams. Um, you know, what the Lord really wants us to do is he wants to raise up a generation that will be willing to go new places. I had an interesting experience about two months ago. I was, I'd been kind of working on this message. I'm also writing an article on the, on the subject for the newsletter. And, um, I was driving to town one day. I was taking Reno from my house to Midwest city. It's just Reno. It's just over half a block from my house. It's the most direct route to Midwest city. And I was driving down that road just fine. And all of a sudden I came to this intersection and they were repaving this road and they tore all the road up. And so, but the road was open. It was still the most direct path they were just working on. It wasn't a smooth road. It was an unpaved road. Well, when you came to that intersection, cars were going left, right, left, right. Nobody wanted to drive down that unpaved road. The concept of a pioneer is one who blazes a trail, who clears a new path. And I'll tell you, our natural tendency is not to drive down unpaved roads. What God started speaking to me by his spirit immediately was that's the church taking right, taking detours. They'd go 10 miles out of their way so they can drive down a well-paved highway. And you know what the next thing I heard from God's spirit right after that is that all the well-paved roads in the church today are going places that we have already been. Did you get that? All the well-paved roads in the church today are going places we have already been. Now, when I talk about blazing a new trail, I'm not talking about something extra biblical. I'm not talking about something that's not in the scriptures. What I'm talking about is there's some things in the scriptures, paths of legitimate paths of power and glory in God's presence that have been grown over because the church has become cold and indifferent. And those paths have to be recut. And the roads that we presently have in the church today are not getting the job done, okay? And if we want to go and go new places in the earth physically to see every tongue, tribe, and nation brought into Jesus Christ, we have to be willing to go new places spiritually. You know, to be a pioneer in the physical, you have to have a pioneer's heart. I was talking to one of the boot camp students at HDM last boot camp, and he's telling me, man, he wanted to go to the ends of the earth. He was very ambitious about a lot of stuff. I said, well, what about your heart? I see you want to crash through lots of boundaries in the physical, but what about in your heart? Are you willing to dare to believe God for new stuff and go new places here? Or do we have this thing so figured out? We got God and, you know, it's just just he's in a box. He's worked just the way it is, that this is okay, and I don't need any more. It's not the case. God wants us to go to new places. Let's talk about the heart and passion of a pioneer. Working on this message, I really did a lot of study on the Oregon Trail. You know, in 1840, all the migration of the pioneers from what was then was the western boundary, which was the Alleghenies that are there in Kentucky, and they moved westward to California, to Wyoming, especially California, and they considered that their manifest destiny. You know, it kind of is a little pale on the physical sense, but in the spirit, I like it, don't you? What is your manifest destiny in God? It's to be part of God's next harvest, to be a part of God's next move of the spirit. That appeals to my heart, okay? And I want to be like one of those pioneers to head out west. But most of the pioneers that moved west between 1760 and 1850 were willing to face countless dangers and extreme hardship because they were not content with what they had. Did you get that? Hey, you know what? There's a lot more potential in this book than we are presently experiencing. Who in this room would dare not to admit that? We are not getting in on all that's in this book, okay? I'm not talking about extra biblical. I'm talking about the Bible. I'm not talking about the Bible. I'm talking about the Bible. I'm not talking about the Bible. I'm talking about the Bible. I'm not talking about the Bible. I'm not talking about the Bible. I'm talking about the Bible. I'm not talking about the Bible. I'm not better than we did. That's the difference. There's a lot for us to discover here that we've never touched. Amen? So we need a pioneer spirit to get in on all that that's in that book. The knowledge that there was something better beyond the horizon stirred a longing in their hearts and minds for a chance to improve the quality of their lives. Don't you want to improve the quality of your spiritual life? They were driven by the promise of great forests, mighty rivers, rich soil, and seemingly unlimited expanses, expanses virtually untouched and just waiting to be taken. See the mountain men, the frontiersmen, they would come back to the people and they would tell them stories of beautiful mighty rushing rivers, trees that you couldn't see the tops of, open green expanses, beautiful countryside, just waiting there to be taken as much as you wanted. And that whetted their appetite for these people that were, you know, confined to little plots. You know what I'm saying? They had to eke out and scrape out a living for their family. That was very, you know, desirable to them. That was appealing to them. And I'll tell you what, when you make the trip from that physically to that reality spiritual, it's very appealing to us too, isn't it? There's a lot more resource here that's yet to be taken advantage of. And so the main key ingredient of a pioneer is that there's more to be had, there's more to be done than what we're presently experiencing, and we're not content to stay where we're at. We need to ask God for that. God, give me a holy discontentment for status quo Christianity, because it's not doing the job. People are going to hell and they, without ever hearing the name of Christ. God's name is being defamed. The church is mocked. That's not how God wants it. Truth has fallen in the streets, in the gutter. That is not the way the Lord wants it. He wants us to be the channel to bring him glory and to spread his reputation all over the earth. Amen? And we've got to get in on some new territory spiritually to do this. Okay, let's define pioneer. Now John last night talked about one of the root terms from where we get the pioneer from the French is the word foot soldier, which is awesome, isn't it? But the French also had another primary word where they got the word pioneer, and that was from the word pickaxe, pickaxe, and a tool to cut through hard stuff. Okay? And you know what? There's a lot of hard stuff out there in the church. It kind of reminds me about the passage where in the Old Testament where God says, this is not my word like a hammer that shatters, breaks the rock. See, that's the pioneering spirit is to go before and to clear the path, to heave up, to heave up, to clear the road that there might be a highway of holiness, a smooth road where those that are weak and lame can walk easily to the presence of Jesus. The pioneer doesn't look for the smooth path because he knows that unless he goes out in the power of the Holy Ghost and clears the path, others will not be able to come to Christ. You see what I'm saying? They went out beforehand. They were forerunners. That's what John the Baptist was. That prophet, you know what I mean? Unconventional, you know, turn things upside down. All Jerusalem and Judea went out to see him is what it says. That was revival, okay? We don't think about it or talk about it. It wasn't convenient. It wasn't at the nicest synagogue in town. It was out in the desert, okay? This guy's dressed in pretty unconventional clothing, you know, biting heads off locusts and preaching some pretty rough stuff, you know? Yeah, come back for tonight's sermon. Hypocrites and brood of vipers, you know, whatever. You know what I mean? This guy was laying into them by the spirit. And what was he doing? He was going after their heart, the sin, the stuff in the church as we know it then, or people of God, the religious system, to remove the obstacles, the rubble, so those who Christ came to die for could easily get to him. It was a preparatory work. Pioneer, derived from the French word pickaxe. The Germans use the term to convey the idea of pioneering. It literally means trench digger, okay? If you're looking for the smooth road, you know what I'm saying? I just like to stay on the highway, brother. I don't want to go down those back roads, you know? If that's your attitude, you won't be one that God can use to go prepare the way so others can come to Christ and God's glory can roll and cover the earth. Trench digger. You got to get your knees and hands dirty. Get down on your knees. Get your back bent a little bit. A pioneer in wartime was one of those ones whose business was to march before an army to prepare and repair the road or clear it of obstructions, to work at entrenchments or to set mines for destroying the works of the enemy. Don't you like that? So you had all this huge army, okay? But you had this little group of pioneers at different wartimes that their job was to go out and scout out the most direct path to that army's destination where they were wanting to overthrow and take control of. And so if there was any booby traps, they cleared them away. If anybody put rubble in the road to block, you know, the movement of the troops, they cleared that out. They cleared the path so the army could follow after behind. Do you see why we need pioneers? Don't we want the army of God to go from one end of the earth to the other? We need pioneers in the spirit that are willing to pull the, you know, rubble out of the way. It's not just talking about giving somebody a plane ticket and getting them about halfway around the world. That is not going to do the job, folks. Just living in another culture is not going to finish the task. We've got to have a spiritual dimension to ourself that cleans and purifies and brings life. Amen? A pioneer is one who goes before to remove obstructions or prepare the way for another, a pathfinder, a scout. A pioneer is one who is willing to go places that others have not been. Are you willing to do that? You know, one awesome thing about young people is they're just idealistic enough to dare to believe God for things that, you know, age is an awesome thing. Wisdom comes with age. Experience comes with age. But you know what also I've seen in the church that also comes with age? You know, have you ever noticed folks in the church, they either get sweeter or they get meaner, okay? Their countenance gets brighter or their lips hang down lower, you know what I'm saying? You've got to pick those things up so you don't step on them, you know what I'm saying? This is a...