In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the need for spiritual awakening and recognizing who God is. He highlights the despair and despondency that many Christians feel when observing the state of the world. The speaker urges believers to become alarmed and wake up to the reality of the situation. Drawing inspiration from the story of Joshua, the speaker encourages seeking divine intervention and reminding oneself of God's power and past faithfulness. The sermon also touches on the decline in Bible reading and the alarming direction of the educational system. Overall, the speaker believes that despite the challenges, we are living in a time of great opportunity for God's work.

You know, I believe that we are living in one of the greatest times in the history of the world. I don't know if you believe that, but I believe the opportunities that present themselves to us are greater now than ever before at any time in the history of the world. You know, it's interesting that there are marvelous things happening around the world. I believe that you have a copy of this colored sheet that was passed out, and I just put down a few things. I do a long session on world awakening that I have, and this is just a wee little section of it. But it's interesting to note that, you know, we are living in a period of time now where there are more people alive now than have lived and died before now on earth. When Jesus gave the Great Commission and said, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, make disciples of all nations, you and I happen to be alive at this time where there are more people alive today that can be reached with the gospel than there have been since Adam and Eve until now. Most of the people that God has created are alive today, and the opportunities are tremendous, they're great. Most of the people for whom the Great Commission was given are living today. And it's interesting when you look back and when you study past revivals, how God has moved at various time intervals, and I believe that God will move again. And when we see what is happening around the world, God is doing marvelous things around the world. For some reason, it hasn't hit Canada, it hasn't hit North America, as of yet. You know, we have a dear friend, he's passed away now. Some of you know this man, you've known him in the past. A dear black brother by the name of Festo, Festo Kavengeri out of East Africa. He was one of the leading bishops in Uganda, and he was a man who was a number of years hunted down by Idi Amin, he escaped. But he passed away, I believe it was last May. And he said to us one day, he said, you know, we've been praying that we will see the day in Africa where thousands upon thousands of people will flock to the churches and be saved. And you know, just before he passed away, he said, you know, we have come to see the day where that is happening. Where God's Spirit is moving upon people and bringing them to the churches, and people being saved by the thousands. In fact, he said, there are so many people being saved, the church doesn't know how to handle them. There are not enough believers to disciple them. You know, I cut a clipping out of a paper just a few days ago. I brought it with me, and it comes from Kenya. And it goes like this. According to Southern Baptist Missionaries, revival is spreading through Mombesa, Kenya's second largest city. In the past two years, one church with no building, but an attendance of 2,000 to 3,000, has established 25 house churches, sent out 50 missionaries to other parts of the country. More than 10,000 new believers have been baptized in the past three years. Many of them Muslims, and more than 80 new churches have been established, just in that little community. It's amazing what God is doing. God is at work in the world today. And you know, unless we become vitally interested in what God is doing, we may not get in on the excitement. I want to get in on the excitement, don't you? You know, when I heard Pastor Sipley speak the other day, and he said, you know, he's 60. I didn't calculate his age, but he must be 60-some. And you know, he's getting up in age, and so is Brother Bill McLeod. And I hope they live to see the day when this happens. And you know, I'm almost 30 years younger than that, and I believe that I'll see it in my day. I trust, I hope that I will. But you know, it's interesting, God is at work. And we can anticipate with great enthusiasm that God will yet work in our country. You know, when we look at the past, we find that God has moved in precise ways. On the back of the sheet, you have just a little sample of what some of the national revivals that have taken place, the dates and so on. And when we look at the chart, I believe that we are in the midst of a world awakening. It just hasn't reached us yet. God is reaping in many, many countries of the world today, and where for the first time in the history of the New Testament Church, the new birth rate is exceeding the natural birth rate on a daily basis. And that's exciting. I wonder, do we believe that God can do it, and will he do it again in our country, in this land of ours? I believe that he can, and I anticipate that he will. You know, I was thinking of Jonah the other day. Jonah was asked by God to go to Nineveh and preach, and Jonah hesitated. And then finally when he did go, it tells us the entire city of Nineveh repented. From the youngest to the oldest, from the least unto the greatest, from those in the streets unto the king sitting on the throne. Now that's revival, isn't it? An entire city, I believe it was 120,000 people. God can do it again. You know, wouldn't you love to have the situation in your church where God's people would be so burdened down and so tied down with winning people to Christ and being at the church night and day and discipling people for the Lord? You know, I'd like to have that kind of a problem, wouldn't you? Amen. And I hope that that will come. I believe that ought to be the prayer of every Christian in this land, to seek God and to see him move people to himself. Now, we ask the question, what is it that you and I as individual people can do to prepare personally in anticipation of this kind of thing? I believe there are several things that we can do. Is it up to every individual Christian? Is there something we can all do, or is it up to some professionals? I believe we understand that it is the mandate of every born-again believer to anticipate and to seek God, that God will move in this land of ours and bring people to himself. I'd like for us to turn to the book of 2 Chronicles, chapter 20. 2 Chronicles, chapter 20. In this passage we see a man here by the name of Jehoshaphat who was severely threatened by two ungodly nations, by the Ammonites and the Moabites. And we see Jehoshaphat reacting to what he was facing, and we see in this man he made some moves and he made some choices that God honored and God wiped out the enemy in a dramatic way. In Jehoshaphat's case, he was looking for the power of God to come and rescue them from the overwhelming threat of these two nations. In our case today, we're looking to God for direction and for guidance and for divine intervention to rescue us from sin and degradation in this land of ours. And to our people, we'll once again turn to the living Christ and realize that he is the source of all life and fulfillment. And the principles that we see that Jehoshaphat exercised, I believe, are the same principles that we can exercise today in anticipation of a great awakening. And so I'd like to share several things with us this morning, and I trust they may be of help to us. There's some lessons I believe we can learn. What things we can do in anticipation of a spiritual awakening. Number one, I believe that number one on God's list and God's priority list is always God says to us, first of all, wake up and be cleansed. Wake up and be cleansed. That's always God's first priority for us. God never asks us to do anything other than that he first asks us that we be cleansed in the provision that he has made. The cleansing comes first. 2 Timothy 2.21 tells us, if any man cleanses himself from the latter, and he has just named some of the wicked things, he says, if any man will cleanse himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the master, and prepared to do any good work. God says if you want to anticipate spiritual awakening, step number one is be cleansed. Be cleansed in the precious blood of Christ. Be made holy. Psalm 24, the psalmist asked the question, he says, who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? And then he answers the question himself, and he says, he that hath clean hands and a pure heart. He's the one. John 9.31 says, we know that God hears not sinners, but he hears the man who does his will. Isaiah 59, he says, but your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins of it is faced from you so that he will not hear. Proverbs 28.9, he tells us that all our praying is not going to do any good until there is a cleansing within. All are anticipating a spiritual awakening. We cannot really anticipate a spiritual awakening until there is a cleansing within, and we can pray acceptably before God. If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, God says his prayers are detestable. Or the King James says his prayers are an abomination. You know that's strong language, isn't it? His prayers are an abomination. You know there is nothing, there is nothing in God's economy that can substitute for a cleansed life. God is asking for a cleansed life in anticipation of a spiritual awakening. You know the cleansing of the heart is always a prerequisite to see the power of God evidenced. The psalmist David, I believe, he had it straight. And in Psalm 51, when David cried out to God, and he said, Oh God, I've blown it. I've missed you. I've missed it. And he cried out to God for mercy. In verse 2 he says, Lord, wash me. And then in verse 7 he says, Lord, cleanse me. And in verse 10 he says, Lord, make a pure heart within me. And in verse 12 he says, Restore to me the joy of thy salvation. There's progression there. Lord, wash me. Cleanse me. Purify me. Restore to me the joy of salvation. And then he says, Then will sinners turn to thee. Then will sinners turn to thee. The cleansing is so important. You know in Isaiah chapter 30, Israel had a problem. And Israel was going to be invaded by Syria. And Israel was becoming very alarmed. And they knew they didn't have enough manpower to counteract the enemy. And so Israel went to Egypt and they said, Egypt, would you come and help us? We need help because we're being attacked by Syria. And then God stepped in and God said, Hold Israel. Your problem is not Syria. Your problem is your unclean hearts. That's your problem. You need cleansing. Your problem is your hearts. Oh how we need to get to see that in our day as God's people. God's number one priority for us is that we come for cleansing of the heart. You know I remember a dear brother telling us, the dear brother I was talking about before, he was telling us during Idi Amin's evil rule in Africa. He said, I was sitting at the breakfast table one day and I turned the news on and as I flicked on the radio, the first thing that came on was three names of three bishops, of three of his fellow bishops. And the announcement was made that at a certain time that morning there was going to be an execution at the execution square and three men were going to be shot to death. And he said, well I heard these names. They were my fellow brethren. He said, I got on the phone and I called Idi Amin and I said, What are these men being executed for? And he said, the reply was, Never mind why, if you want to see them, show up at the execution square. He said, I came to the execution square, the van rolled up, three men got out, chained to each other and he said, I went to the officials and I asked whether I could say one final word to these men and they gave me permission. And so he said, what do you say when you walk up to three men who are about to be shot? What's the last words you would say to these men? And he said, as I walked up from behind, I wasn't sure what I was going to say. And he said, I was almost up to them and the one man turned around and he faced me and he said he had a glowing smile on his face. And the man reached out his hand and he shook my hand and he said, Brother Festo, would you go back to my wife and family and would you tell them to keep on being cleansed in the blood and to keep on loving Jesus? The second man turned around and he shook his hand and he said, Brother Festo, would you go tell my wife to keep on being cleansed in the blood and to keep on loving Jesus? And the third man did exactly the same thing. And he said, I knew I had nothing that I needed to say to them. He said, I stepped back and a while later three shots rang out and it was all over. You know, the cleansing factor is one of the most important things I believe the church needs today. I believe there is so much that is swept under the rug. That's why the church is powerless and impotent today. And God wants to get at that and God wants to cleanse the hearts of His people. He wants us to come into the light with that which is not cleansed. You know, the power of God is linked with cleansing very, very definitely. The cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of God are inseparable. You know, you and I can have everything. You can have educational degrees. You can have gifts and you can have abilities. You can have personality. You can have money. You can have opportunities, all kinds of opportunities. You can have position in the church. You can have influence. You can have good character. And you can be respected and you can even have the message and you can be a devoted Christian. But if you're not cleansed, it'll all crumble. It won't amount to anything. It won't amount to anything. I think Brother Don Curran shared that yesterday morning. You know, if there's not a deep cleansing of the heart, it's not going to amount to a whole lot. That's God's number one for us, cleansing. As we serve Him, God says, Will you serve me with a clean heart? Isaiah says, To this man will the Lord look, to him who has a contrite and a broken spirit, a man who trembles at my word. That's what God wants. You know, I went to my study some time ago. I left home and I got to my study. And just before I left, I was backing out of the driveway and I was already turning onto the street and my wife came out and she was waving her arms and frantically and calling out to me. So I stopped and I backed up and I shut the engine. I rolled the window down. I couldn't hear her. I shut the engine off and she gave me a last message. And you know what really irked me? You know, why couldn't you do it before I left the house? This had happened about three times in a row now. And so I went to my office. I was going to study. And I pulled out my Bible and I read and I couldn't concentrate. I thought, well, I'll pray. I knelt down and I was going to pray. I couldn't concentrate. So I took another book and I was going to read and somehow it just all didn't work. And then it dawned on me why it didn't work. Because the irritation in my heart towards my wife needed dealing with. I got on the phone and I called her and I said, you know, honey, I'm sorry. Forgive me. And she forgave me. But you see, the cleansing is so vitally important. Oh, we need to realize that. The walls of Jericho fell. God had said nothing is to be taken out of the spoils. Achan took some of that and he hid it in his tent and he thought, I'll have something for a rainy day. And then the next day, 3,000 men fled as they tried to conquer the little town of Ai simply because of what Achan had done. And Joshua fell on his face and he said, Lord God, what's the problem? And God said, Joshua, it's not the time to pray. It's time to repent. And it tells us in chapter 7, verse 13 of Joshua, God said, neither will I be with you anymore until you remove the accursed thing. Cleansing. Has God changed his standards from the day of Joshua till now? Is God any less severe upon sin today than he was in that day? I believe we serve the same God. Our God changeth not. His holiness is just as holy now as it was in that day. And God said, unless you remove the accursed thing, neither will I be with you anymore. You'll go on in your own steam, but it won't accomplish a whole lot. Cleansing. Wake up and be cleansed, God says. Secondly, that was a testimony that Jehoshaphat had. It tells us in the previous chapter, in chapter 9, he says Jehoshaphat was a man who had set his heart on seeking God. He had set his heart on seeking God. He was a man who sought cleansing, sought to live a clean life before God. Secondly, we need to wake up and become alarmed. We need to wake up and become alarmed. It tells us here in verse 3, after Jehoshaphat realized that the Moabites and the Ammonites and with some of the Munites were going to make war on Jehoshaphat and his nation, in verse 3 it tells us Jehoshaphat was alarmed. He became alarmed. Alarmed. You know, I believe that as we anticipate spiritual awakening, we need to become alarmed as to what's happening in our land today. There's many things that we need to become alarmed about. Sit up and take notice what is happening around us. You know, there's many things that I believe we're often not aware of that are really happening. How degrading and how sinful our nation has become. You know, I heard just the other day, I read an article that the Ontario Department of Education has now passed a law that it is absolutely illegal to sing O Canada in any of the schools anymore, simply because there's a little phrase in there which says, God keep our land. It is illegal to sing God save the Queen because of that first phrase, God save the Queen. Anything that has to do with God must be eliminated. I have a little clipping here which says, Recently the United Nations declared Canada to be a non-religious country since less than 30% of its population still attends church. In 1946, 2 in 3 Canadians could be found in church on a given Sunday. Holoscope readers easily outnumber Canada's Bible readers. According to a recent Canada-wide survey, 75% say they read their holoscopes at least occasionally compared with 45% who occasionally are Bible readers. Daily horoscope readers are 13% while just 4% read their Bibles daily. 1 in 2 Canadians never reads the Bible. You know, that's alarming, isn't it? We have come away from the principles upon which this land was founded and built on. We need to become alarmed. Joshua became alarmed when he learned what the situation really was. And in verse 3 it tells us, He resolved to inquire of the Lord. The situation was out of hand as far as he was concerned. I wonder, have we ever become so alarmed that we've gone to the Lord and said, Lord God, we need divine intervention. You know, it's interesting to read where our land is heading and especially in the educational process that is happening in our land today. If you want a good picture of what's happening, read the book called The Child Seducers by John Steinbecker. He explodes the whole thing as to what's happening and what the purpose and what the drive behind our educational system is. The purpose is to corrupt our young people. And the best way to do it is to put them through the educational process because that's the door through which everyone passes. And you know what's happening today. I wonder, does the coldness of Christianity in general, does it ever alarm us? Does the lukewarmness all around us, does it ever alarm us? Do we ever become alarmed when we see all the evil and the sin and degradation around us? Alarmed to the point where we call a fast and we say, we've got to stop everything and we've got to pray and seek God. That's what Jehoshaphat did. It says, alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. He said, people, it is time to pray. We're in trouble. We're in trouble. We're being invaded. You know, we're in trouble. We've been invaded as well. We've been invaded by a flood of sin and degradation. You know, in Revelations 2 and 3, God is speaking to the churches and God was lowering His plumb line of holiness in the midst of those seven churches and to everyone with the exception of one, He came and He said, now, I'm going to lower my plumb line and whatever I see that is not plumb in your, according to my holiness, I want you to repent of. And in every case, He came and He said, this is what I see and I want you to repent of that and I want you to return back to the Lord. But you know, it's interesting that these churches never saw what God was alarmed about. The church at Laodicea never saw that it was lukewarm. They were never alarmed about it. You know why? Because a person who is lukewarm is often the least alarmed about it because he is the least aware of it. He's been blinded to it. Does it ever alarm us? Does it ever cause us to think? Does it alarm us to think that God says, lukewarmness makes me sick? That's what God says. God says, lukewarmness makes me sick. You know, Israel, in all of their disobedience, they seldom ever became alarmed over their condition unless the pressure really got to them and God put the squeeze on them. Then they cried out. But you know, many times, they went on for years and years and they never got alarmed about it, about their condition. You know, it's interesting, in Deuteronomy 1, verse 2, Moses is rehearsing in the ears of Israel all that had happened. He's repeating to them all the laws and he's giving to them all over what happened over the past 40 years. And there's a little phrase in parentheses which says, it takes 11 days to go from Mount Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road. And he's reminding the Israelites, and he's saying, you know, if you had been obedient and if you had done what God wanted you to do, you could have made it from Mount Horeb to Kadesh Barnea in 11 days. But he said, you chose to do it in 40 days. What an incredible reminder. And you know, they weren't even alarmed about it. They hadn't even been alarmed about it. I wonder, do we become alarmed as what we see in our nation today? Does it ever strike us to where we stop and say, oh God, we are in trouble. We need to become alarmed. Thirdly, we need to wake up and realize who God is, who God is, and also who we are. Realize who God is and who we are. You know, when Jehoshaphat learned what was going to happen, his first response was he turned to God. And he says, oh Lord God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand and no one can withstand you. Oh God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham, your friend? He's reminding himself of who God is. He says, God, you did it in the past. Can you do it again? Then he reminded himself of who he was. And he says in verse 15, he says, in verse 12, oh God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do. We have no idea what to do. But our eyes are upon you. You know, we need to recognize in this day and age of ours, in anticipation of spiritual awakening, who God is and what God has done in the past, He can always do again. You know, many a Christian despairs today when we see what's happening around the world, as we heard this morning. You know, often times we sink into the slew of despondency and despair thinking that, well, this is the way the church was meant to go. No, I believe it was never meant to go this way. I believe God meant for the church to be a stalwart giant, marching and stalking through the land and gobbling up territory of the enemy all the way. You know, we need to wake up and realize who God is. God is still the same God who did it for Israel. And Jehoshaphat reminded himself of that and said, oh God, you did it in the past. And Lord, if we're going to be rescued from this, it's going to have to be you again, because we have no strength to do it. You know, the early church, when they were threatened, Peter and John were called in before the Sanhedrin, and they were to give an account for what had taken place. They'd healed the man, and the man was jumping up and down and leaping and praising God, and the Sanhedrin didn't like what had happened. The leaders were threatened by it. And so they came before the Sanhedrin, and the Sanhedrin had the power and the authority to do with them what they wanted to do. And Peter and John knew that, and they told them, don't you ever speak in the name of Jesus anymore. And they threatened them, and then they let them go. And Peter and John made their way out to the rest of the church, and when they got to the church, they told the church what had happened, and they said, fellows, let's pray. Let's pray. We have some problems, but let's pray. And then they started. In Acts chapter 4, verse 24, it says, they said, Oh, sovereign Lord. Sovereign Lord. In other words, Lord, You know all the threats. You've heard them all, and You're much more aware of what's happening than we are. But we're Your servants, and we believe that You are sovereign, and that You will overrule, and You will work it all out. And they said, Oh, Lord, give grace that Your servants will speak forth with boldness and with power. And it tells us the place was shaken. You know, we need to realize who God is. Who God is. You know, it's nothing for God to bring spiritual awakening to this land. God can speak the word, and it'll happen. But God wants us to cooperate with Him in working toward that end. We need to realize who God is and who we are. Number four, we need to wake up and pray. We need to wake up and pray. James 5.13 says, Is any man in trouble? Let him pray. Let him pray. 2 Chronicles 7.14 says, My people which are called by My name shall humble themselves and seek My face and turn from their sin. Then He says, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal from heaven, and I will heal their land. Very common verse. But you know, every individual can pray, and God expects that you and I will pray toward that end. Pray and say, Lord God, send us another awakening. Do it again, Lord. You've done it in the past. You know, we hear much about prayer. We read much about prayer. But you know, that's not enough. We have so many books on prayer, but that's not enough. You know, the best way to pray, to learn to pray, is to pray and to get down to do it. And Jehoshaphat said, Lord, we will stand in Your presence before the temple that bears Your name, and we will cry out to You in our distress, and You will hear us and save us. That was his response. He said, Lord, You've done it in the past, and You can do it again. And Lord, we're going to stand in the temple, and we're going to pray, and we're going to seek Your face, and we're not going to give up until You answer and save us. You know, that ought to be the response of the church today. Before God, that we will pray. Pray. E. M. Bowen said, From the day of Pentecost, there has been not one great spiritual awakening in any land which has not begun in a union of prayer, though only among two or three, no such upward movement has continued after such prayer meetings declined. It has always begun by prayer, and it continues by prayer. Number five, in all of this, Jehoshaphat, I believe he had a tendency of losing courage, and then someone came along and said, Jehoshaphat, don't. Don't dare be discouraged. Don't you dare. Don't you dare be pessimistic. This is not the time to be pessimistic. This is the time to put your optimism in and your trust in God and keep your chins up. Number five, wake up and be optimistic. Wake up and be optimistic. Verse 14 tells us here, this is what the Lord says to you. Listen, verse 15, he says, Listen, King Jehoshaphat, and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem, this is what the Lord says to you. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, for the battle is not yours, but God's. The battle is God's. He's going to take care of it. You know, we need to realize that in the face of what we're facing today, you know, God is able, and God will if we will meet the conditions, and we need to be optimistic, and we need to say, Yes, I believe there is something coming that is going to wake up the church, and where God will move again in this land like he has never moved before. You know, there's a lot of pessimistic people around. There's a lot of pessimistic Christians around who say, I don't believe it. I have never seen it yet, and I doubt if it will ever happen again. But you know, I believe it's going to happen. We need to wake up and be optimistic. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 says, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Let's not trust in what we have seen so far in the past in this land. We need to trust in the Lord that God can do it and God will do it. Lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will bring it to pass. You know, God can do it and God will do it in his own time. It's his church. It's his people. And so Jehoshaphat was encouraged to be optimistic. Number six, wake up and worship. And worship. It tells us in verse 18, Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and they fell down in worship. They worshipped God. They worshipped God. Verse 19, Then some of the Levites from the Kohathites and Korathites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. Early in the morning they left for the desert of Koah. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Listen to me Judah and people of Israel, Jerusalem. Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld. Have faith in his prophets and you will be successful. After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness. As they went out, the head of the army saying, Give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever. And it tells, As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab. And God did it. You know, I like that. We need to wake up and worship. Worship. You know, it's one of the things that I believe is sadly, sadly lacking today. Much of what we have in our worship services is not worship. It is not worship. It's a poor substitute for worship. God desires the worship of his people and we need to worship him. Worship is the highest service we can render to our God. That's what God wants first of all. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might and strength. Worship him. Express his worthiness to him. You know how to read Revelation chapter 5? I see there, you know, how heaven worships God. God is seated in the throne. And John has a picture there that there's a seal that needs to be broken. And they're looking all over heaven and all under heaven and in the earth and under the earth. And the word comes back, we can't find anyone that can break the seal. And then the line of the tribe of Judah steps forward and he takes that book and he breaks the seal. And all heaven bursts forth and prays. And they fall down at his feet and they worship him. That's what Jehoshaphat and his people did. They worshiped God. And you know, God took care of the enemy. You know, I believe as we will worship God, and you know there's many things that enter in, you know, I've just shared a few things that we can do in personal preparation and in anticipation for spiritual awakening. There are many, many other things we can do. We need to worship God. We need to witness to those around us. We need to have a song in our heart to share wherever we go with people and show to people that we believe that God will move. There are many things we can do. You know, I have passed out more books in the last year and talk about revival and renewal than I ever have before. And you know, many of those things we can do to just do everything we can to help people prepare in anticipation of spiritual awakening. And I'm hoping it'll come in not too long a time. We need to worship. And as we will worship God and express to Him all that He wants to hear and what He needs to hear from the lips of His creation, of His redeemed church, God will, in return, move in His own time as we will worship Him and as we will adore Him for who He really is. I close with this. There's a picture hanging in Kebel College in Oxford, England. It's that famous and familiar painting of Holman Hunt entitled The Light of the World. You've seen it. We're all acquainted with it. It's Jesus standing at the door. In His left hand, He's holding a lantern. In His right hand, with His right hand, He's knocking at the door. He's leaning up over against the door seeking to hear if He can hear someone respond on the inside. The story is told of a person who was standing there viewing this painting and she overheard a father and his little boy talking as they were looking at this painting. And she heard the little boy say, Daddy, why don't they let him in? And before the father could answer the little boy, he answered his own question. He said, I suppose it's because they live in the basement and they can't hear Him. You know, I wonder, are you living in a basement spiritually? God is knocking. God is saying, Hey, would you become one who will be vitally involved? Would you be one who would become vitally interested in anticipating spiritual renewal, spiritual awakening? And He's knocking and saying, Hey, would you first of all be cleansed totally? Would you be willing to lay it all down? He's knocking. Are we hearing? Are you living in a basement spiritually? You're not really hearing clearly? May I challenge you this morning? Why don't you move on to the main floor this morning? Move on. Move out of the basement to where you can hear the knocking. Answer the door. Answer the door. And let Him just move into every room where He wants to move and bring a deep cleansing. And then let's become involved in whatever way we can. In personal preparation for spiritual awakening. Let's pray. Our Father, I pray that You would help us, that our hearts would be in tune to You, and that we would allow Your Holy Spirit to minister to us very deeply so that we might become those who would be anticipating what You want to do in this land of ours. We realize, Lord, You have done it in the past, and we know that You can do it again. We pray that You would give us the faith to believe that You are Almighty God on the throne in heaven. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. The following message was given at the Canadian Revival Fellowship Conference held at the Bayview Glen Church in Thornhill, Ontario, February 1989. For additional copies of this message, or for other messages available, please contact the Canadian Revival Fellowship, Box 584, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4P 3A3.