2 Chronicles 7 14, What Does It Mean？

The Spirit in the heart of that contrite one and he that's the high heaven where he lives and and he reigns but he also has a throne room that he said in you and we welcome him to take the throne and you know what happens when Jesus is given the throne he makes it so the atmosphere of that throne room begins to match the atmosphere in our throne room. So if you want to know what kind of attitudes to have in your heart then look at that throne room and let that come thou found of every blessing tune my heart to the throne room of God to the harps of heaven you know when you get a harp and you strum it and put it beside another harp those same notes will vibrate and that's the sense that this harps in heaven and you always say that really struck a chord in my heart oh you're pulling on the strings in my heart well you've got a ability from the Spirit of God to let him tune you to that throne room so that when they're singing their worship there your heart can get in harmony with God's throne room. Let's just pray and turn our hearts toward that throne room right now again Heavenly Father we thank you for the privilege of putting aside these moments here tonight and we know that every moment of time can have eternity pulsing through it when we say yes to you when we're in harmony with your throne room there's just a little tiny minute but eternity is in it Lord we want tonight to lay hold of that for which you've lay hold of us and so we humble ourselves we choose to be low before you we choose to have what we do not have naturally a fear of God a trembling at your word and so tonight lead us into all the truth by your spirit and convict us of your love convince us of your love and and that way that your love surrounded us and gave yourself for us to be free Jesus out of our sins so may we live in that holy presence of God made holy by the blood of the Lamb we thank you in advance for tonight do a deep work beyond our own mind and heart that we will thank you for all of eternity in Jesus name we pray this unfailing name of Jesus well there's a missionary in Belgian Congo named Helen Rosevere have you ever heard of her she's with the Lord now but I had the privilege of meeting her and before she went home but I want to read you an account that she wrote of the great move of God in the Belgian Congo in 1953 now it's a good thing your pastor has been telling you accounts of past revivals and it's interesting how it's not limited to any culture it's always the same but it's always different do you know what I'm saying how God moves in listen to this I'm going to read you this and just let you hear what happened in Africa it says in July of 1953 Helen writes we had the privilege of being part of an extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of church members in Ibambi and what was then called Belgian Congo with the tremendous growth in numbers of those who came to know and love Savior there was an urgent need for a parallel growth in the depth of those who were to lead and teach new converts she'd been a missionary there for a long time they'd seen a lot of people come to the Lord in salvation listen to what she says personal holiness through the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit became the one dominant message of all our conferences a special session was held for evangelists and leading Christians missionaries pleaded with them from burdened hearts urging them to bring out of their homes anything sinful or of a questionable nature and everything that was keeping them from putting Christ absolute preeminently in their lives and what was spoiling their testimony to his power and victory the response was astonishing from the beginning of the work of purging in the hearts of the evangelist it came to pass and an immediate change in their message and their teachings took place they began to stress the necessity of the work of the Spirit of God to make take place in the heart of every believer who had entered into Christ's work of justification the word began to cut the hearts of the healers and many faced the claim of the Holy Spirit but they were unwilling to count to really face the cost hundreds ceased to attend the meetings and began to openly backslide returning to the attractions of the world around them even a number of evangelists fell away the hearts of the missionaries and spiritual Africans felt crushed by this blow but from that very crushing came the wine of God's refreshing after much heart-searching a group of missionaries and a handful of spiritually minded church leaders accepted responsibility to plead with God for real revival at first they met for a night of prayer once each month but you see as the burden grew they added a monthly day of prayer conscious they were not even giving God everything they started to hold a day of prayer and fasting once each week still conscious of the urgent need of the church for cleansing and filling for someone put it power to walk with Jesus and white to bear a consistent testimony they began to meet a half an hour of prayer every lunch hour then every evening at the end of the day's work they set us out an hour for prayer and at that point to think that we've been privileged to live through these days of revival blessing one of the school leaders wrote it's beyond anything we had imagined I read some of those cards that I'm back talking to you now here I read some of those cards that you filled out about the days that were like heaven on earth for for many of you that were here several years ago listen to this what she writes it's the same thing but different we have longed and prayed and cried and agonized for revival and God has done the exceeding abundantly above we are only in its beginnings for judgment begins where God says it does at the house of God he's been setting his house in order purifying cleansing empowering by the blood of the spirit and now he will turn to the heathen and who can stand the day of his coming our people have had a revelation of the sinfulness of sin and the holiness of God and they know now not just in their heads but in their hearts that without holiness no man will see the Lord scores and scores have been absolutely broken before the cross and the Holy Ghost has dug deep and brought to light the filth and lies had been buried away for years there was no escape they had to call a spade a spade a big and so-called little sins had to be classified together in the light of the cross and in the Holy God everything looked vile bad habits bad thoughts criticisms against neighbors pride in every form and as the testimonies are given what joy and what peace what radiance what ecstasy the Holy Come Ghost comes and gave as he took possession now listen to this those of us who were there will never forget that day in July 1953 when the fire a revival fell at Ibomby Ibomby it was the time of the Friday evening fellowship meeting and Jack Shoals had just stood up to read the scriptures when somebody said they were conscious of the rushing noise of a approaching hurricane and Bible school students moved quickly around the hall taking down the shutters to avoid the danger of there being blown in on us glancing out into the dark night Helen writes I was aware that the palm trees stood erect silhouetted against this the moonlight sky and there was no sign of an approaching storm and no scuttling clouds and no trees bent to the ground by this this sound this wind force gale then a tremendous shock as some great force struck the hall and all of us were shaken there was a moment of intense silence and then some broke out in strong crying and others were thrown to the ground some trembled uncontrollably all were under the influence of a mighty unseen presence words fail to describe it but we knew something now of what it must have been like in that day in the book of Acts wrote Jack Shoals after afterwards seeking to explain how the Holy Spirit had come down in power the very building had been shaken as by a hurricane though the still silent palm trees etched against the clear moon sky prove the absence of any physical storm over all the building the Spirit took control men and women were shaken by a force outside themselves a mighty force that they could not refuse or gain say some cried out for mercy some were physically thrown to the ground some appeared rigid gripped as in a vice some shuddered uncontrollably the very bench they sat on rocked by the force people were under deep conviction of sin crying out to God for mercy and forgiveness tears flowed sweat poured agonies were endured as strong men sought to resist and women sought to flee some fell to their knees confessing hidden sins with no one but God listening to them others were thrown down on the cement floor stretched out before God bringing to light the things buried in their hearts which they hoped they had never had to be reminded of events that had previously been considered as weaknesses such as bad temper grumbling irritability or complaining were seen as vile sin and the Holy Spirit shined into their hearts the pure light of God's holiness no corners were left untouched no black to be considered gray petty faults cheating an exam skipping washing duty going off duty ten minutes early before the bell rang became hideous in their sight and they were contrasted with God's standard of purity and she goes on and gives so many wonderful things she said that she said I was staggered shattered as I overheard this woman confessing to the Lord and pleading for forgiveness for willingness to go back to a traitor and confess things that were taken this went on for so long more than a month and then it writes down at the end of this article I'm going to skip a lot of this but it says during the days that followed much lost property was returned to its rightful owners tools materials books clothing food stuffs even live chickens a tailor brought a book of bought a bag of scraps materials that you taken from home from work as being too small to be of any use some man asked for time off work and they had to go 75 miles through the forest on foot to Wamba to return stolen goods to government workshops or to Greek traders the authorities were dumbfounded and they did not know how to react or what to do never before have we ever seen anything like this that's just one example I thought I would try to find one that John hadn't told you about he's told you about a lot of them but you see we don't hear about this in our lifetime hardly any living person in America has seen revival and living color these kind of things happened regularly throughout Europe and in India and Cassia Hills and in China and Korea and in the South Seas I've been privileged to see something like that myself in Fiji it's just amazing but you see we don't see it much here in our country but the I want to talk to you tonight about what we have to see happening from the churches taking responsibility in our nation to see what must happen before it's too late forever you see most people don't realize about America the real history of America is not just about the American Revolutions and wars and those type of things the history of America must be written as the history of revivals but you don't really hear about that you see it's more than revolution it's revival wonderful moves of God that have taken place even before the first Great Awakening there were amazing moves of God among the people that came initially here and they set up what they call plantations to serve the Living God I've seen the monuments plantations to the Lord Jesus down in Jamestown and other areas and up in Massachusetts they loved the Lord Jesus and so as time went on from the earliest days of settlement to 1776 when the nation kind of was born and became official the 1780s the Great Awakenings did more since then to forge the foundations on the fabric and the character of our nation than anything that we can fathom today it's not just about the Constitution it's what put the Constitution together from hearts that had experienced presence of God now there'll be a lot of people redacting history trying to deny that you should search yourself and you should let the Lord show you what we have left off and lost God pouring out his love and his word and in power and the impact of these great moves have has brought millions over these years into the kingdom of God and set our nation in the place of blessing repentance flowed not just at the beginning but all the way through these great moves each of these these moves of God was the result of people that knew God crying out to him and calling upon him to and kneeling before him in desperate prayer and and seeking him for the outpouring of his Holy Spirit like they knew of and had heard about before just like you just heard just now what would that be like in Rogersville what would that be like in Knoxville or Johnson City if the presence of God came in such power as he has come before and and why is he not in these four great awakenings of God that we've had in our country and there's been more movings of God but but you see God has called the nation again and again back to himself in each of these situations our nation was at the brink of being dissolved with the Revolution and then later French Indian War and all that and it's just so much World War one all these different times and but God brought us back from the brink of oblivion imagine God moving in cities and in towns and in the prairies and thousands of people flocking to gather to pray in the daytime when everybody can see them and know it but you see now in America we have come to a critical time we've had over a hundred and thirty years without any national repentance at all you see there was a time when there was a waves of revival that came on a periodic basis but we've had over a hundred and thirty years or right at that when there's been no real move of God because there's been no real repentance and since the early nineteen hundreds there were some things that happened in the early nineteen hundreds but not like we're talking about in this particular situation so it seems that the powers that be not just now but progressing to now they've chosen the way of rejecting the things of God and I'm not making political statements by this I'm just saying our works show this open hostility to God has become more ingrained in our society and is gaining momentum and a hostility that is purely from the enemy's side I could cite you many many disturbing statistics and new things that are even happening now I've got a lot of friends in Washington and things that are going on and God has been knocking on our door through increasing problems in the weather and you name it but he's been knocking by famine and by pestilence and the sword I will reason with you he says in several of the prophets in the Old Testament and we've had those things going on around us you see there's a crisis of growing darkness and there it's a since 1962 when we first outlawed the Ten Commandments and prayer in the schools there's been a descent that is faster than any nation in history on the way down it's incredible now you see the only nation on the earth where Christianity is in serious decline is America you look at these other countries that are in great need and there's a great moving coming down quietly within it but you see but there's an ominous sense of danger in our nation and we can try to fiddle around with our fiddles I'm not talking like Nero fiddled while Rome burned you know I'm just saying this we try like in Jeremiah's day it says there's a rumor from the Lord we we know that something is going on and it's big and we try to put it out of our mind we get tired of watching the news and the evils progress that it's making but the marks of divine displeasure saturate our nation on every side it's the fastest descent as I said of any nation blind descent into oblivion and it's taking place and the speed is getting bigger and bigger and there are many of us who are burdened and we're praying we're believing God for revival but the fact remains that in most of our society among the Millennials and the generation then the new generations and then people coming in there is what they call nunners they don't believe anything you can read about it in the secular press and you see but see you figure this even though all that good stuff is happening we see his name is being mocked his commandments are being scorned his promises are being rejected his character is being assailed his ways are being ridiculed and laughed at his word and prayer are now being forbidden and even confiscating Bibles in some of the young people's schools around the country his mercy is taken for granted that we're still here and his threatenings are being dismissed and ignored and it seems that truth as it says in the Scriptures has fallen in the streets and the one who leaves evil makes himself a bullseye and becomes one who's afraid of everything and there's no more home court advantage like when a team plays on their own home field there's an advantage in the sport but when you're out away game there's not that advantage well America has lost its home court advantage for the church and the church now is in a hostile territory we are headed into uncharted territory except for the fact that if you look back and you see the the ruins in the relics of all the great past societies and you look at the great historians who list the reasons that they disappeared and dissipated from all the way through from Toynbee to Johnson to all these world-famous historians you'll see that whether it was Rome or Babylon or Greece or France or Greece all the different Europe China wherever it is they all had the same common characteristics and we've got them blowing like trumpets on every side in our nation and the church here's the serious part the Church of the Lord Jesus seems helpless to address the situation but the truth is we are not helpless we are not helpless the real in a real sense the church will determine the future and our response to what you hear the Spirit of God saying to you in the chamber of your throne room down there learning to respond North America is the only country with in the last 50 years we spent more money and more time on evangelism and programs and mechanics we owe more money on the interest on our church buildings than we spend on missions in the entire year and we've got this momentum going down and we've we've we still though as a church have the hope of heaven-sent revival now I want to look at some scripture tonight and I want to look because God loves to give us pictures and warnings and examples in the scriptures to show us his ways so if you have your Bible I want to take you something that's very instructive because we have an answer tonight we're going to see what the answer is for how not only you can lay hold of as a church for Lord to pour times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord but also to be part of his answer for this hour rise up a church of rise up a man of God the church for you doth wait her strength on equal to her past to her to her task rise up and make her great and I would say not just rise up but fall down fall down before God you see from the book of Deuteronomy this is the book lest you think it's not appropriate for this hour it's the book that Jesus quoted from more than any other Deuteronomy that's where he quoted from and every king that came to reign in Israel had to write out longhand the whole book of Deuteronomy did you know that was the book they had to write it out and so it was quite important well in Deuteronomy chapter 6 you see something very important you see love is not mentioned by love per se as God loving people in all the first four books of the Torah but love is first mentioned in Deuteronomy as the Lord loves you you're his people and he says that you're to love him so in Deuteronomy chapter 6 you see what is called the Shema but it's verse 4 God is saying to them here they are on the edge of they're ready to go into the promised land a whole book of Deuteronomy takes place in about a month and God is speaking to them in Deuteronomy 4 beginning in verse 4 it's called a it means I am your life and it's the it's the Word of God to them he says hear this Oh Israel the Lord our God is one Lord and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and when Jesus quotes that he adds one more in it you know what it is with all your mind and these words which I command you this day shall be in your notebook no they shall be in your heart and you shall teach them not just teaching but diligently to your children and talk of them when you're sitting in the coffee shop or in the house I'm just adding that in and when you walk along the way and when you lie down and when you rise up and bind them for a sign upon your hand and put them between your eyes that's when they bind those things on your arms and your eyes your forehead to say this is the place the Word of God and the promise of God is to have write them upon the posts of your house and on your gates he's saying listen I want you to understand something you see the children of Israel were about to enter the promised land they were so aware that God had been with them delivering them blessing them calling them to believe him standing at a new beginning that's where you are standing at a place of new beginning a new generation facing major major change they none of them would know what's going to happen as it's going to happen in a new day they their whole generation would pass away and they're moving in and everything's about to change and so he speaks to them in love and reminds them get this of the necessity of a deepening complete continuing heart abandonment to him you see in the kingdom of God intimacy is everything intimacy it's everything around us teaches this Jesus says apart from me you can do nothing I mean you look at the plant world like the figure he uses of the vine the branches and unless the branch abides in the vine and is joined in intimacy there's no fruit right same thing in the animal world if you have two animals and you have a young little dog you love that loves to make noise I heard him the other night and but you see the day may come that dog may may have puppies and and you see so you get you'll never have puppies unless there's an intimate relationship in the animal kingdom and the same thing in the human world if I have two friends that are missionaries they're going to be missionaries and they're going to get married so they come we have the service and I pronounce them in and wife in the name of the Lord Jesus and they make their vows are they married yes but then immediately after the service bill goes to Africa and she goes to China and they don't see each other for years after all that time how many children do they have none because you see there's been no intimacy so if every side of everything says intimacy is the law of all fruit-bearing why do we think it'd be any different he's teaching us in the spiritual realm the law of all fruit-bearing for you and for me in the spiritual realm is an intimate deepening growing intimacy with the Lord Jesus and he does it all he's saying to his people I love you I long for you I want you to know that you're going into a wonderful land I have blessed you and I'm going to continue to bless you but I want you to remember that I'm the Lord your God who brought you with the blood of the Passover lamb you're in covenant with me but I want to warn you before you go into this new place what it says in verse 10 of chapter 6 it shall be when the Lord your God will have brought you into the land which he swore to your fathers Abraham and Isaac and to Jacob he'll give you this great and goodly cities get this which you didn't have to build so much of the stuff we have is just the result of yesterday's blessing and faithfulness of previous generation and I'll give you houses full of good things which you filled not wells dug which you didn't have to dig vineyards and olive trees which you didn't plant that when you have eaten and when you are full then beware lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage you shall fear the Lord your God you shall serve him and swear by his name don't go after the gods of the gods of the people around you for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you lest the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and he will remove you from the face of the earth don't test the Lord your God and a little later down he says he brought us verse 23 out from there that he might bring us in God saved you from sin that he might bring you into the fullness of who he is so he's telling them in the next chapter chapter chapter a guard your heart you're in blood covenant with God stay in an intimate love relationship and you know what he's saying I want to warn you in advance get this of the peril of blessing I want to warn you in advance about prosperity it can lure you away it can divide your heart it can take your attention I'm going to do a new thing this is a vivid lesson for us especially the church in America right now so you see him reminding them of all these things and turn to Deuteronomy after he reminds them of chapter 11 after all of the things he's done for them he's reminding them what it was like where they were in Egypt and what it's going to be like to have blessing when they get into the Canaan land and so he says verse 10 he says listen the land in which you Deuteronomy 11 verse 10 the land in which you're going in to possess is not like the land of Egypt from where you came out of where you sowed your seed meaning your your seed for your farm your lands and you watered it with your foot like a garden of herbs so here's what if you would go to Egypt I saw this I saw them doing this they have a massive River the Nile River it's an earthly resource that's the biggest in all of Africa and there's plenty of water there so along the Nile you'll see these machines set up it's actually like a big bicycle with a it's a primitive looking thing but it's like you put a bike up on the bank up above it and they'll chain goes down and on that long chain that hooks at the bottom it are like these milk cartons and as you do your feet pumping your feet like this the milk carton goes down and goes under the Nile and it goes up up up up up and goes poosh so they're making a big circle and water is being drawn up from the Nile to the next level with the pumping of the feet that's what God is saying he's saying you brought this water up in the sweat of your face and in the toil of your flesh and that's how you did it that's where the land you came out of you watered it with your foot but in verse 11 God says but the land and where you're going to possess it's a land of hills and valleys and it drinks the water from the rain of heaven it's a land which the Lord your God cares for and the eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it from the beginning of the year to the end of the year you don't have a mighty Nile River in the land I'm taking you there's a little thing called the Jordan that you'll learn doesn't have sufficient water to irrigate the whole land it doesn't have it and so it's not like the land where you watered it with your own energies but it's a land that has as God says in the word appointed seasons for appointed rains and look what he says in verse 13 it will come to pass if you hearken diligently to my commands which I've told you this day to love the Lord your God and serve him with all of your heart and with all of your soul here's what I'll do I will give to you the rain of your land in his due season it's appointed times you can count on me and I'll pour it out the former rain and the latter rain the scriptures call it the former rain and the latter rain gushing powerful rains that water all the land so that you can gather your corn and your wine and your oil and I was in grass and your fields for your cattle you may eat and be full but take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived and you don't turn aside and begin to serve other gods and to worship them and the Lord's wrath is kindled against you and look at this he shuts up heaven that there be no rain and the land won't yield her fruit and you'll perish quickly off the good land which the Lord gives you therefore lay these words up and again he says teach and meditate and walk in all the Word of God so everything in the Mideast depends on life I mean on water everything depends on water for life Egypt has no rainfall at all and so when you're there in Egypt you have to pump up water by the foot you could say it's worked up and that's why they worship the Nile because everything depended on it and they thought they could worship the Nile and it would be great well but it's a clever man-made system to get blessings to your daily life in Egypt and it's well planned it's managed it's depending upon men man-made ditches you bring the water up to this level and then you put it up to the next level and by the time it reaches where it's going it's a very dirty supply because people bathe in that water as well and they dispose of things from their house in that water it's a water supply depending on man and it's worked up and it's depending on energy and sweat and what a dirty supply and how much effort it took to keep it up here's the lesson natural resources plus human energy equal a natural result and it flatters the flesh that you were able to do it or think you were Egypt is a picture of the way the world does things and it's futility it's watered by the foot and you see it's a picture of what it's like for the people of God trying to work things up when there's no heavenly blessing but what a contrast with Canaan when the people love the Lord and walk with him it's a heavenly supply sent at regular times from heaven and it's pure and it's fresh and it's effortless and it's heavenly in origin in the book of Acts it's called times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord this is that prophesied by the Prophet Joel this is the former rain that's what he called Pentecost it was the the pouring out of the Spirit of God you see but God himself said he would open the windows of heaven when they were in a right relationship with him so you you can count on me I will be your resource the church of the Lord Jesus will be blessed when you're walking with me I will pour out heaven's blessing and open heaven upon you what a contrast Egypt and Canaan you see God says cleave to intimacy and as they were faithful to this God said at appointed times I'll send the rain and the Holy Spirit's picture in that by God blessing right relationship and it always in the scripture rain will show heaven's blessings poured out so you see God designed it get this that his people and the church and always his people be dependent on heaven for the necessity of life that comes in the picture of water coming and they have no other alternative they don't have a Nile River God designed it this way and so apart from the Lord there is nothing you see and here's what we're getting at if the heavens were dry it's because God has shut them it's not just because it hadn't rained because God said I'll send the rain you can count on me when you're right with me it'll be like breathing it'll be there air to breathe it'll be I'll send but if it's dry it's you're to realize something something is wrong something is wrong it's like a built-in barometer when there's no heavenly outpouring when there's no rain it's what you read when it says I'll shut up heaven and there is no rain and so what they had to do when that was the case they had to get on their knees bend their knee to find the reason why because they've been overlooking it and so there was a spiritual reason God had said take heed beware consider hearken and they were to go to their knees bow the knee to discover it and only repentance could change the situation with the relationship of heaven to earth so this is the whole thrust of 2nd Chronicles 714 if I shut up heaven and there be no rain or if there's locusts to devour of this pestilence and he gives a list of things if I do this then if I shut up heaven there be no rain if I command locusts to devour the land if I send pestilence among my people he goes further and he says listen if my people my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face not just my hand what I'll do not just my blessing what I'll give not just the things that I can supply but if they will turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land it's an incredible thing but it goes on do you know what's in the next verse verse 15 now at this moment my eyes are looking I'm open and I'm my ears are attendant to the prayer that's made in this place and it goes further for now I've chosen and sanctified this house this house of prayer that my name may be there forever and my eyes get God says my eyes and my heart are there big word perpetually you see the contrast here between confidence one is the pumping of the feet pumping of the feet to make it happen more programs bigger budget better planning more people involved pump the feet pump the feet we got to get people to church and when we get them there we got to get them tantalized and we get them tantalized we got to keep them involved and tantalized more and it's it's such a dirty supply by the time it comes if it's just a man so when there's no heavenly refreshing God says the answer is not the pumping of the foot it's the bowing of the knee it's the bowing of the knee that's the confidence that he gives to his church you see in 2nd Chronicles chapter 6 that 2nd Chronicles 7 is after Solomon dedicates the temple but in 2nd Chronicles do you have that one brother chapter 6 verse 26 did you get that up there if not I'll just read it listen to this what it says God gives the reason specifically he says 2nd Chronicles 6 26 when heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against thee Lord if they pray toward this place and confess your name and turn from their sin when you have afflicted them then you'll hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel you've taught them the good things where you should where they should walk and then you'll send rain upon your land that you've given to your people for an inheritance let me tell you it's easy to sidestep this it's a lot easier to go to the pumping of the feet than it is to the bowing of the knee because he's saying here you got to get honest and Israel tried to sidestep this they tried to sidestep this they didn't want to bow the knee they didn't want to return to me Jeremiah has the word return which is shoob but it's kind of like shove it looks like and God gives him a shove return to me turn around return over and over he says but you have not hearkened to my voice and he had blessed him so much listen to Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 2 and 3 go now and cry in the ears go now and cry in the ears of Jerusalem saying thus says the Lord I remember you in the I said that covenant word I preached on Sunday morning in the kindness of your youth the love when we were first married when you sought after me in the wilderness the tabernacle you you sought my face and and in a land that was not even so Israel was holiness to the Lord and he gives a word to them saying what iniquity have your fathers down in verse 5 found in me that they should forsake me then you see in chapter 2 verse 11 he says has a nation changed their gods which aren't gods you don't see India changing from Hindu gods you don't see these other countries that have false gods changing but my people have changed the glory of God into that which will never profit and then he speaks a word to the heavens the heavens that are supposed to give the rain at the right time verse 12 be astonished Oh heavens at this be afraid be desolate saith the Lord because you see my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me I'm the fountainhead I'm the origin of rain the fountain of living waters and instead of looking to heaven they've cut them out cisterns on the earth to store up blessings and things that they're broken and they can't even do the job they can't hold it do you see this picture how God is being so vivid to them and saying listen and you see in verse 32 of that chapter that same one it says can a woman made forget her ornaments or a bride her attire but my people have forgotten me days without number days without number and then in chapter 3 verse 3 he says therefore the showers have been withheld from you and there's been no latter rain because you have the forehead of a prostitute and you refuse to be ashamed you won't listen to me with all the ways I've blessed you and all the things I've done what you should have learned by now you're not listening you're not hearkening you're not returning you're hardening your heart and therefore you'll have the fruit of your goings he says over in chapter 3 verse 13 you don't have this one down brother but only acknowledge your iniquity that you've transgressed against the Lord your God and you've scattered your favors to strangers under every green tree you haven't obeyed my voice return O backsliding children says the Lord for I am married to you we are the bride of Christ we are his people and he looks at things and in the churches look at the churches and he's grieved grieved only repentance this recorded truth of how revival came and what God did it's it's the bowing of the knee to get right with God you see the problem wasn't the Canaanites the problem was God's people the problem in America yes there's sin on every side and rampant hostility but that's not the real problem the problem is the church God says I want to care for it so I wonder tonight which way you want revival I am very very sure that the people in America want revival but the question is do we want it man's way I do want it God's way one is the pumping of the feet and depends on us and the other is the bowing of the knee and acting on that great promise that he said and gave to so many he gave brought later you see things are changing very rapidly in our world we've got to be honest about the dangers on every side I mean I've been talking to some of you that know about some of these things too and there's a deep concern you see the church in America is trying to run a heavenly institution in a worldly way in so many ways and the church in America is being blessed in some ways because of the momentum of yesterday's blessing and prayers despite all this money and all the effort and everything else we've begged and bribed and badgered people to get involved but and tell them to get busy and we can't really get them involved but once they come in we got to make sure they're blessed and pumped up stay involved so we tantalize and we we get them involved in the pumping get addictive because it's addictive pumping your feet is addictive you begin to think I'm doing something I'm I'm really responsible but you see momentum of yesterday's blessing and obedience can come through to the generations but there comes a time when God warns and he warns and he warns and we need to say we need the rain like in the time of judges in chapter 2 these deadly words it says and there rose up another generation who knew not God or yet any of his mighty works and you know what they did they moved into these seven cycles of sin and disobedience and chastening and and God had to teach them over and over again because you see in those days there was no king in Israel but every man did what was right not wrong but right in his own eyes well I just think this about the Bible you know I'm not much of a student but what I do know in Bible this is what I believe you need to read the Bible you need to believe what the Bible says and get over your own opinion let the Holy Ghost give you his opinion and show you what to really believe because your life's at stake your family's at stake you know I mean dad can affect the whole family man got to put on their big-boy pants these days so the responsibility falls on God's house not the White House you could put the Apostle Paul in the White House and it won't help what's wrong with the church I'm getting feisty I'm sorry revival is not just important it's imperative it's like breathing it's not just good it's essential and it's got to happen and a lot of people cry out about the evils in society and rightly so and but you see where are the people the preachers crying out about the pollution in the churches we'd rather clean up the world but cleaning up the world is like scrubbing a mud floor with a wire brush the more you scrub the more dirt will come up it won't help you see the wicked will be turned to hell and every nation that forgets God have you ever considered that you're living in a nation under the judgment of God and I know there's mercy there's never been a nation that's deserved revival there's never been a church that's prayed enough to deserve real revival there's nothing we can do to deserve his mercies but when we see something we can respond in human total abandonment and sacrifice and say Lord Lord give us what you really have for us let me talk to you for a second about revival God's way versus revival man's way you see revival God's way comes through agonizing when we get in the presence of God revival man's way comes through organizing not agonizing we don't want to do that agonizing stuff and revival God's way comes through desperate prayer but man's way is through diligent planning careful careful and God's Word is God's way of revival man's ideas and the best scholars say is the world's way the best scholars say more people say this well what happened to the thus saith the Lord this is what's needed you see instead of trying to see Saints like the scriptures say in disciples we're just counting nickels and noses and statistics that's what we think means something but what does that really mean you see instead of confession of sin revival God's way we get counselors among men oh you blame somebody else instead of quality God's way we seek quantity we think bigger is better it just makes a bigger problem and and instead of a God consciousness God's way of revival the presence of God like you felt here we now and our churches look for seeker sensitive not God consciousness we want to be sensitive to people we don't want anybody be offended I'm not talking about you I'm talking about us all of us and instead of the fear of the Lord we have a fear of man we were talking today about why we're afraid to speak out for the Lord and I asked some guys I said what what's the fear of and the truth is it's a fear of man of being diminished in their eyes you see instead of the cross that's revival God's way we trade it for a cushion we we want to build a better cushion and instead of self renunciation and deny thyself that's revival God's way we have self-improvement and you've got to learn to accept yourself you see these things that are happening all around us and it's the absolute enemy of revival you see instead of fasting that's revival God's way we get together we have barbecues feasting and think that togetherness is fellowship that's not fellowship it's just togetherness instead of passion in men we start looking for dedication he's a very dedicated man he's dedicated to his church he's dedicated to his hobbies he's dedicated to this he's dedicated but where's his passion where was the last time you saw him get excited as he does it a football game about the things of God instead of God's way guidance from the Spirit of God it's over here on man's way guesswork try this and see if God blesses it instead of intercession and the men are getting together for intercession we get together for intramurals and we want it thinking that'll do something for the men togetherness and instead of the power of the Holy Spirit we look to human talent he's very good at this he'll be great at that you see instead of God choosing the least of the last Davids and others to do his work instead of putting on spiritual armor that it says in Ephesians 6 we want to wear camouflage and fit in no offense to people that wear camo here okay I'm not talking about that but I'm but I'm talking about you know don't be don't stand out don't stick out don't stand up because you'll be made a bullseye you see instead of being salt we try to be sugar and they look just alike and instead of being radical I want to be respectable I want them to respect the more they respect me maybe they'll come to church with me why don't you take the gospel to them instead of telling them come to church with me that that's legitimate to say come to church with me but take the gospel to them you're more likely to find a Christian in a bar than you are to find the lost men in church instead of Damascus Road where the power of God comes on the church we're over here trying Madison Avenue these are the best ways this is the way to for the church to succeed in the methodologies and we're looking to instead of being electric electrifying we're electric all right but it's all internet blogs and all these other things and we're dependent on somebody not flicking a switch to saying you're shut down instead of endowment God's way it's equipment we purchase from man instead of glory that God gives it only he can give we settle for glitter and shiny things and nice things instead of brokenness God's way we want brilliance that makes people say wow look at that the church is awesome we want to be thought well of instead of thought like they thought about Jesus where the world mocked him and rejected him we don't have to ask the world to mock us if we're really the Lord you see so instead of righteousness that's God's way we want morality but everybody does their own morality don't tell me what to do with my body it's my body who said it's your body you'll change your mind three seconds after you die and it'll be too late instead of seeking to draw the heart of God in our services we plan our services about what will draw men into church we ought to be more concerned about making our gathering beautiful and a joy to the Lord than those who might wander in I said who said that he said say that again we need to make our services planned around what brings pleasure and honor and glory to the Lord instead of planning our services about what bring pleasure to those who are there quit planning them around ourselves and plan them around him and seek to draw the heart of God instead of to tantalize the heart of men because when you first begin to see what the gospel really says it will fill you with several different things you'll either be afraid or you'll be you'll want to run perhaps and the light comes and man's want to run from it you see so instead of the bowing of the knee oh that's God's way we tend to do the pumping of the foot and instead of being God-centered we're man-centered and instead of walking by faith we want to say by it this just feels right to me I like the way the preacher wears his hair I like the kind of music they sing let me tell you something when revival falls you'll sing all kinds of music you go to India and they do this I can't stand it I mean I'm just being honest I don't prefer that but I see people worshiping God because that's what they love and it's right when revival comes it won't matter because you'll you'll just I remember walking in the back of a church in Cornwall England and we were late to get into the service because Bennett another service we went into the back and we were supposed to preach and down front was a little lady she had on she was very very small and very old and she had a purple velvet dress and one of those hairnets with the with over her forehead like this and a little hat and this was this is not too long ago I mean compared to and she had those hoes on that a woman today wouldn't even wear to be buried in it has the line down the back remember how they used to have and these shoes she was really old-fashioned looking and she's down on the front row in the very front and she's got her hands up she's going oh she's trying to sing and it's just terrible but she's just praising God and we're looking at her and I'm and I'm saying to my mind wow she really is attracting attention to herself and afterwards I went up and I met her I was went up front and she came I said hello young man how are you today and she was this most pleasant woman and I realized I had inadvertently judged this woman because she had on this twinkly look on her face and she had a big button right here that said keep me burning Lord and I said I'm such a fool Lord man judges by the outward appearance but God look on the heart instead of doing it the world's way getting more of God we do it God's way giving all of me laying my life down instead of trying to improve my own situation well I want to just talk now as I finish about second Chronicles because he gives the criteria he says listen if my people you could say if the church at Rogersville will seek my face he says if it's not the mighty people it's not the theologians necessarily it's the people that are called by my name the people that identify with the Lord Jesus there is a responsibility of love there is a moral obligation to call upon the Lord and take him seriously on these matters if my people and the initiative lies with you and me so I wish you'd get your Bibles and turn to second Chronicles 714 for just a moment I've got to finish this the first thing it says that we're to do in the sight of God remembering that God doesn't send revival on a place he doesn't send revival on Rogersville you know who he sends it on a people it's a people that draw revival not a place so when you read but the revival in Wales it was on the people the church in Wales the people and our awakening that came and drew many people through an awake to a revived church to himself first thing it says we got to humble ourselves if my people will humble themselves now there's ten Hebrew words which mean like to humble but this one here means to bend meaning the knee if they will humble themselves and this is a turning from our pride we got a turn from our pride and the answer is not in a new national patriotism the answer and I'm not saying any statements by that except to say the answers not in a in a zealous patriotism the answers in a humility and brokenness before God turning from our pride remember what God did in Nineveh when they turned from their pride they were way past maybe where we are they were really bad but we're also you don't compare ourselves but we're not trying to make ourselves great but we're trying to seek to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord and come before him you see humbling yourself to bend is an act of will you don't wait till you feel like repenting the Holy Spirit says I'm calling you to bend your knees to bow your heart to come before and to be broken before me and to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he will exalt you in due time it's an act of will you see we got to take off our masks we got to get real with God face the real issues not ones that we tip God with he don't want 18 or 15 percent he wants a hundred percent he wants all of it you see and the question I say to myself do I want God enough to really be honest will I be honest with him will I this is the first great step you see and this this then this this first thing dealing with our pride turning from our pride is a fresh dealing with his cross that's what that is you come back to the cross you deal with your pride you humble yourselves and it as a church bow the knee an act of will and we we can do that together if we will if you choose it see choice is an amazing thing Mary has made the right choice and this will never be taken from her what's she doing she's bowing her knee at the feet of Jesus listening to him open his word humble ourselves that's the first thing but see they all flow together because the second things is and pray now there are 12 Hebrew words for prayer this one here means to judge one's self in the presence of God that means to look in the mirror of God's Word and you see who he is and you see who you are and you agree with God and this is turning from our prayerlessness that means you get in God's presence and you don't just ask him for things but you now you say you want to really hear from him search me Oh God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and you see I've been looking myself but I overlooked things but you see if there's anything unseemingly or unpleasant to you in me and show me says Job show me what I don't see and I'll do it no more I want to see this Lord I want to understand what you're saying and you begin to flee the doubtful that's what Job said Lord that which I see not teach thou me and if I've done iniquity I choose to do it no more you tell me what's right not me must every way of man is right in his own eyes but the Lord tests the spirits and if you want to know he'll tell you and if you don't want to know you know what he might not tell you he might let you go right on like Romans 1 you know how much porn is being read by men and churches and women you know that Achilles I would say Achilles but it's more of a heart wound that you're ruined for everything you can't do it your conscience condemns you day and night and you're sorry you're sorry but you see if you got to come and humble yourself and turn from your pride and bend your knee and bow your heart and as an act of will deal with your sin at the cross and pray you pray you come and you turn from prayerlessness and and realize the time has come that judgment begins at the house of God like Ellen Rosevere talked about among missionaries I talked to CL Culpepper who was in the great Shantung revival and he says revival came to us when a bunch of missionaries and us began to really pray together this brought in the Shantung China revival and one lady said she had to return money that she had taken from someone when she was in high school and she wrote a letter asking for forgiveness and sent it back and shortly after that was when God began to truly bless their prayer meeting and it was the opening up you may say it's small but it's not small if God says it to you it's big humble your honest heart before him and deal with his crown you see that's what praying is you're dealing you humble yourself you humble yourself you're dealing with your pride and dealing at the cross but when you pray you're turning from prayerlessness and you're dealing with his crown you are Lord and I have a contrite heart am I willing to do this would you rather feel right or be right weeping might endure for a night maybe longer but the end of it is a glorious thing I wish I had time to tell you examples of great men of God in churches like Tozer's Church in Canada I was preaching there I just tell you this and their associate pastor was one of the godliest man that I ever met and I was so blessed by him and as we were there I preached that night on forgiveness the necessity for a Christian to forgive and I noticed that halfway through my message he and I said God will not be able to use you like he wants to use you nor will you know him like you say you long to know him until you forgiven everyone everyone that the Lord brings to your heart and mind and made it right and halfway through the message I saw this wonderful man get up and walk out and you know how we think I said what did I say I must have said something wrong and he was offended and he left and he he didn't come back next night he came in at the end of the meeting he stood up and he says I had to leave them the meeting last night because halfway through the message the Lord convicted me of unforgiveness toward my own brother he's in town here in Toronto where we live but I haven't spoken to him in ten years because he offended me so greatly ten years ago and he said he wanted nothing to do with me and I took him serious and I haven't spoken to him in ten years last night I got up in the middle of the meeting I'd forgotten about it and I walked up to his front door and knocked on the front door and he opened the door and I got on my knees and I said brother can you ever forgive me oh and they got up and they wept together and they prayed together and that man came back a new man I can give you so many examples of powerful and he confessed it before the whole church you see there's no revival without this honesty afresh dealing with my pride coming before the cross and turning from my prayerlessness and bowing my knee in his presence and saying search me and show me these things but the third thing is seek my face and this then is a turn from passivity turn from pride turn from prayerlessness and turn from passivity seek his face that word seek is a very intense word in the original language you seek his face are you lukewarm listen the people in Revelation who he loved in the Laodicean Church they were room temperature that's what the word lukewarm means room temperature you fit in this group and you fit in this group and you're not hot like God says I want you to be one of the other because then you'll know where you really are I'm almost through hang in there without faith it is impossible to please God whoever comes to him must believe that he is he is what he is always says he is and he is a rewarder of those who casually inquire after him those who diligently seek him so seeking his face is a fresh dealing not with his not only with his cross not only with his crown but now with his calling I seek his face I'm hungry for intimacy and it's time to seek the Lord what really motivates me what makes me laugh what makes me cry what makes me happy what makes me sad that what is important and if you seek his face that what will be changed you'll begin to agree in heart and share in your DNA that you've been given and as our scripture was quoted tonight by our dear sister Emily as she read such were you you walked in this society and you you you were like a horse with the thing in his nose being led around in the course of this world by the God of this world but God who's rich in mercy set you free and puts you on a high path and the world looks at you and says what what get radical when his light comes I begin to see the seriousness but he in the light of his face and that leads us to the last one turn from their wicked ways what he these were church people my people called by my name we wouldn't say this is wicked you know we say we have some mistakes in the church and some things going on but most of us would never call our ways wicked but see God says the great practical step is turn from our pollutions we turn from pride we turn from our prayerlessness we turn from our passivity and seek his face deal with his deal with his glorious person and who he is and then turn from our pollution deal with his character what's he like if Jesus Christ moved into my house tomorrow would it change the way my ham my family works if he was there physically it really shouldn't change it that much if I really have a relationship with him and walk with him so most of us wouldn't call our ways wicked but as we begin to humble and pray seek his face he shows up things and you may say weakness but they're to him they're not pride anger unbelief greed sin pornography hidden things that you have and you like they dealt with at Ibombi and when they dealt with that protracted Lee and consistently and with seriousness God came and he may come suddenly he may come gradually he's a God of variety he's a God of power he's a God who runs his show his own way but you may say but but but is there a but that's keeping you from revival in this church is there a person here who's secretly gossiping is there a person here who's singing in the choir or something who's got something wrong going on and you're holding back so much of other people's blessing you see you you may be an intelligent religious rebel deal with his character if my people will remember my eyes are open and my ears are listening and my heart is always perpetually toward this kind of return return to me and I will hear from heaven I'll open the heavens and like in the book of Acts pour out upon them a blessing they can't even contain if my people I'll pour out riches from on high and blessing I don't mean physical riches I mean tangible outpouring he opened their eyes he opened their ears he opened the scriptures I will hear from heaven I will forgive their sins I'll forgive their moral sins I'll forgive their marital sins I'll forgive their mental sins I'll forgive their material sins and I will heal their land all these things God is knocking that knocking in Revelation is on the church's door not the lost man's heart that's knocking at a church that's gotten out of fellowship and he's saying I'm at the door and the doorknobs on the inside you open the door and I'll come in and I'll sup with you and we'll have real fellowship together can you imagine today in America an outpouring of God on our nation that would literally transform so much of the churches as a nation that the churches would become again pleasing is it too late well we don't deserve it I always had a bumper sticker made God bless America and please hurry or if you still can I change my license plate where it says in God we trust in Georgia I cut it open and I put trust in God you know and you can see they see that the news can you imagine the stories of the newspapers and in these regular weird publications where they see ten thousands of believers making restitution like in a Bambi and thousands being converted to Christ and shops closing and they can't figure out why when the heavens are dry we've got to ask why we've got to settle it you see we can't expect the blessing of revival in Rogersville and this whole area without taking the burden for revival this is our responsibility thy people will be willing in the day of thy power I've got to read these last couple statements I've got here we've got to realize the lack of revival is not due to any reluctance on God's part it's our part if the heavens are dry we got to get on our knees together and find out the reason and Christians are more to be blamed for no revival than lost people are to be blamed for being in the bars true revival won't come just by making people aware of their need for it like tonight or even a strong desire for it it won't come just because we scare the dickens out of people with all the bad things that are happening and show out our grievous errors and we have it won't come just if we have wonderful music and goosebumps the size of a grape because we love this music this way it'll come only by God's sovereign grace when the people of God recover a revelation of who he is and what God through his word wants from us and we inherent in this revelation will be a call to come only to him bow the knee bow the knee so as I said earlier imagine what the church would be like here if Jesus had his way do I want this do you really want revival do you I mean you all have done wonderful things in God's hand has been upon you thirty days is a long time to meet how about for the rest of your life I don't mean every night in church but I mean God pouring his blessing out upon the church well let's pray together father in Jesus name would you issue a call tonight from your throne about revival to our hearts oh would you not as it says in Psalm 85 revive us again that your people might rejoice in you and when you turn the captivity of your people something holding us that shouldn't be holding us back when you turn that we are like those people that are in Wonderland dreaming praising God and the nation's look at us and they say God's done great things for them you have done great things do more Lord turn us turn us and we shall be utterly and totally saved so I pray for every person in this room I don't even know what to ask you for them as we're here together at the end of this service this is the tonight's in but may there be tonight as we go home even in our home a time on our face search me O God and may we turn from our pride at your cross may we turn from our prayerlessness by bending our knee and humbling ourselves before you and may we seek your face and just quit asking you for just things and to do stuff may we seek your fellowship your face your your countenance and when we see you may the dead leaves of our own thinking be shown and may they be blown away may we turn turn from our wicked ways that you've put up with as we've misrepresented you to those around us may we not be afraid of taking sin seriously and the blame honestly because there's such mercy with you you're a covenant-keeping God and you just want us to be honest and confess our sins if we confess you were faithful and just in being that way to forgive us our sins and to clean us from the very things we confess so Lord I believe you have something for us bring it forth in Jesus name