This sermon emphasizes the importance of obedience to God's commandments as a demonstration of love for Jesus. It delves into the significance of keeping God's word as a reflection of genuine love for Him, contrasting mere belief with true obedience. The message highlights the value of obedience over sacrifices and the need for a contrite and humble spirit to experience revival in one's faith.

The next word is from the letter Obedience, John 14, 15. If you love me, keep my commandments. Obey me. Just do what I say. John 14, 21 through 24 says this. He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him. Not Iscariot. Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If you love me, notice how Jesus uses the word if a lot. In the gospels that word if is in there over 190 times. If a man loves me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings. And the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. And notice how the whole phrase started in verse 23. If a man loves me, if a man loves me, he will keep my words. You love Jesus? Do you love Jesus? If you do, man, you're just keeping his word. Man, you're being a good Christian. You're being a good example. Man, you love God. And it shows. You don't have to tell anybody that you love Jesus. Man, they see it. Do you love Jesus? Because if you do, that means you're going to keep his word. So a lot of people say, I love Jesus. I've got people coming out of the clubs that say they love Jesus. And I can smell alcohol in their breath. Do you think that person really loves Jesus? I don't think so. But in his eyes, he prays, I love Jesus. I believe in Jesus. Well, man, the devil's believing in Jesus. The devil believes. As a matter of fact, the devil's more believer than most people in the church today. You know, there's an incident where Jesus tells the man that was possessed by all the demons. And they say, suffer us to go into the swine. And you know what Jesus said? Go. And you know what? Zoom. They go. But then Jesus tells the church, go. And we're like, oh, man, really? Are you serious, dude? You really want me to go? The demons went like that. Go? You want to go to the pigs? Yeah, go. And then, boom, they're in. And they're going home to the pigs. They drown. See the difference? Now, do we love him? Do we love him? In 1 Samuel 15, 22, a very popular scripture that says, Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hear than the bat of the ram's. Obedience is better. Always, always. So someone who wants to be hardcore for Christ, he's going to keep the Word. He's going to follow the Word. He's going to be all about the Word. And see, when you start looking at all these things, then it's real easy. It's really easy to see who's in and who's not. It's easy. You don't have to think, well, I think they're saved. Man, there's certain people I know, I don't have to think, man, I wonder if they're saved. Now, the next word is revival. People talk about revival all the time. In Isaiah 57, 15, it says, For thus saith the High and Lofty One, that Inhabitant of Eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with him also, that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Revival. See, God is going to revive those of a humble spirit. Those that are contrite. Those that just hate sin. Those are the ones that are getting revived. Those are the ones that are sparked up. Revive, it means to return to life, to be resurrected, to recover life, to recover new life or vigor, to be reanimated, to recover from a state of neglect, obscurity, or depression. To renew in the mind. To revive. And man, that's what I see happening in Christ. CJ is experiencing some of that right now. And I saw several people on Friday night that man, God, something, something happened. That's revival. You need that to be hardcore. Contrite. To break or to bruise or to wear down. To be bruised, to be brokenhearted for sin. Deeply affected with grief and sorrow for having offended God. That's contrite. We need that. Now, to be hardcore. You want to be hardcore for Christ? It starts off with a hunger for God, for the things of God. And be accountable to Him. And have a repentant heart. And man, get on some strict discipline. Man, I'm going to read my Bible, I'm going to pray, I'm going to go. You know what? If I was you guys, young people, I'd go to the prayer meetings. Oh, man. See, when I was 19 years old, I went to my first prayer meeting. I've been saved five days. That means six days ago, I was stoned out of my mind. Didn't know the Bible, didn't know any kind of the Christian lingo. And I'm at a prayer meeting. So I get there to the prayer meeting with three guys. Two in their 70s, one in his 50s, and I'm 19. So I'm hanging out with a bunch of old guys. And so when I got there, they were already drinking coffee, talking about certain things they were going to pray about. And they got done and talking. So let's go to the father prayer. One of them lays on the floor, the other is on his knees over here by the sofa, and the other one by the recliner. And I'm like, I don't know how to do a prayer meeting. So I'm like, okay, well, I just squat down right here, and I just squat down right there. And in about two minutes, I had already prayed for the whole world. I'm done. So then I'm looking at my watch, and I'm looking at these guys. It's been 15 minutes now. So I'm thinking at 15 minutes, I'm thinking, you know what? It's okay, guys. It's time to just shut it down. I mean, 15 minutes, come on. But they're still talking. I could hear them all praying. Well, then at 45 minutes, 40, 45 minutes, I'm looking at my watch, and I'm thinking, man, you guys need to shut up. I mean, enough, man. 45 minutes? Are you serious? About two hours, two and a half hours later, they're done. And, man, I'm thinking, dude, where are we now? So they go back to the table, discuss some other things, drink a cup of coffee. I said, well, let's go back to the party. And I'm thinking, really? Seriously? Man, I'm fixing to lose my salvation here. They prayed for three more hours. But you know what? By the end of that time, man, I was like, man. God is doing some things in me. So I started thinking about where I was. And I'm thinking about my prison time coming up. And I'm like, oh, man, I need to pray. So I would highly recommend it. Go to a prayer meeting. Get on your face before God, man. Suck some carpet. Amen. I mean, get down. Just talk to God. You know why? Because when you talk to somebody a lot, that's how you get to know them. See, you're not going to know somebody if you just hang out with them for two minutes. What can you say about a person over two minutes? See, when I was going out with Amy, man, I would be on the phone with Amy until my ear hurt. And then you would move the phone to the other ear until that ear starts hurting. And you're talking about the old-fashioned phone. Yeah, the heavy one. They did it. I see you're laughing because they did it too. It's expensive. He has hundreds and hundreds of phones. So then you would move the phone to the other ear, and now this ear is hurting. And sweaty. You can't even touch it because it hurts so bad because the phone's been stuck to your ear for a few hours. But guess what? I'm getting to know Amy. Amen. Why? Because we're talking. We're in communication. But see, some people, they want to be in communication with God, and they get up in the morning, or you're doing one of those really lukewarm prayers where you just stay in bed, and you fall asleep and doze off, and you start dreaming about something, and then you wake up, and Jesus, yeah, I don't know where I was at, but you're so out of it. And then you start thinking about what you're going to wear for the day. And that's how your prayer is, all sloppy. You're not even focused. And then you get up, and you're like, you have certain prayer requests that you made, but you notice that they're not being answered. And you're wanting some answers, and you're starting to get confused, and you've got all these things going on. And really what's happened is that you are in a relationship where only you talk. Now, are you guys at a date? Now, what if you call each other, and you get on the phone, hello, and then your girlfriend or boyfriend is telling you all these things, and you don't answer? Are you there? Skylar. Skylar. And he's not answering. Well, what's going to happen? Well, man, hey, find it. That's what would happen. But see, when we talk to God, we expect God to answer our prayer. That's the way we are. It's like, God, you know my needs, and this is my list. And then you just walk away. Just tell me what I need to do. And God's like, well, go to my Word. Go to my Word. See, if you're not in the Word, you're not in communication with God. You're not. See, because you're talking to Him, but you're not letting Him talk to you. That's right. And that's a fact. So you're blabbering all these things to God, all your prayer requests, but you don't let Him talk to you. And that's most important. Because, see, if you listen to God, He's going to give you some instruction. He already knows what you need, what you want. He already knows, but He's trying to tell you, well, hey, do this. And see how this prophet did? And see how I told this servant? And He's using all these examples to show us. But if we don't read the Word, well, we're still over here freaking out, because, man, we haven't had an answer. And you're all confused, because you don't know what to do. And this whole time, you've got everything you need right here in the Word, and you don't even pick it up. You expect it just to happen. You know, like a little genie, you know, you're just rubbing over here. Okay, God. And you walk away expecting, well, man, nothing's happened yet. Very, very key. Now, when you do all these things, you have hunger, accountability, repentance, discipline, godly character, obedience. What happens when you obey? Revival. Amen. Revival starts. And you know what happens when revival comes? Amen.