Revive Us Again: When God Breathes Life Into Dead Things

It's time for us to get in the word. If you brought your Bible, would you get it out right now? Hold it in the air like you care. Keep it up in the air. This book will change your life if you would take it seriously. Even if you didn't bring your Bible today, God has a word for you. Join with me. All of us out loud shout word on the count of three. Get ready. Shout word on three. 1 2 3. Word. We're getting into God's word so God's word will get into us. Kingdom come. It's a promise Jesus told us to pray. Kingdom come. Just think about how bold that prayer is. God's kingdom come in your life as it is in heaven. That which is wrong would be made right. Jesus didn't tell us that we ought to just get through life and try harder. Jesus didn't tell us that you ought to just live with the circumstances and situation you're in. Jesus loves you so

much he invites you to pray kingdom come that he would be the king of your life. That you do not have to live life on your own. Jesus promised that I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. In fact, he made such a bold promise as a king unlike any others. I'll be with you always to the end of the age. So, when you take Jesus at his word to pray, "Your kingdom come," you're saying, "I believe you can do more in my life. I believe you're not finished with me yet. I believe that you're the God that's able." You see, Jesus wants you to pray. He says, 'When you pray, you ought to pray like this. Our Father, aren't you glad we don't have a distant deity? Aren't you glad that you're not just praying to someone way out there

that's holding a record of all the wrongs you've done? We have an intimate God. He's your daddy. He's your father. He loves you so much. He's not like an earthly father. He's our heavenly father. And so we say, "Hallowed be your name. He is holy. He is perfect. He is completely and always eternally good. Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. And then Jesus says, you just pray like this. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. Not someday, not another day, not when I'm in heaven, but on earth as it is in heaven. Does anybody want a little heaven today? Little kingdom come today. a little bit of God doing what God can do, bringing dead things to life. God doesn't make

good people better. He doesn't make bad people better. He takes dead people and he makes them alive. The title of today's sermon is revive us again. Revive us again. Revive us again. Come on, say it with me. Revive us again. We need this. Have you ever walked into a place that was dead? Like at one point it was alive but is dead. You go into a restaurant and you think to yourself, "How is this place even still open?" You go into that bathroom and you think, "Did it always look like this? What does a kitchen look like? It's not just a restaurant. You ever been into a retail store and at one point it must have had life, but the the tiles are coming up out of it. Did

anybody go into big lots before it closed down?" I was like, it it was a big mess. I mean, I was just like, how in the world does this place even still open? It was completely dead. But it's not just restaurants. It's not just retail. It can happen in any of our lives. Your dreams can die and go dormant. Maybe it's for a business or maybe it's just for what God's going to do in your life. And and all of a sudden, that dream is just dead. It's like you're just paying the bills. You're just trying to get through life. This happens in marriages all the time. I never see someone enter into marriage with full life, committing these great vows, only to end up in a place where their marriage is dead. There's just no life. They're living together like roommates, just trying to survive, angry at the person that you said you were going to love till death

do his part. It's not just marriage. It happens with parents and kids. It's not just parents and kids. It can happen to the church. Jesus said to the church in Revelation 3:1, this is Jesus speaking to the church. Listen up. I know your works. Jesus said, "You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead." the church. You your doors are open. You're singing songs. There's preaching. It It looks like it's everything's okay. But Jesus says, "I know the truth. You're dead." Now, I did not come here to depress you today. I came here to preach the gospel.

And gospel means what? Good news. And I've got some good news. The Lord is not afraid of dead things. that if you would just be willing to give dead things to God, he will bring them back to life. So it is with a barren wilderness, it might look like a desert. So it is with a valley of dry bones. It might look like death. So it is with a stump where a tree has felled and it doesn't look like it can ever live again. So it is with a grave that's got a stone right in front of it. He is the God that rolls away the stone. He is a God that brings a seed out of the stump. He is a God that takes dry bones and brings them back to life. He is a God that takes the wilderness and he does what only he can do. He makes it a forest of fruit trees.

Wherever God releases his spirit, dead things come alive. This is revival. Revival is not just being louder. It's not being emotional. It's not a longer worship set. Revival is when God breathes life into something that has lost its life. And we need some revival. I believe that's exactly what God wants to do among us as we gather at church in the park in just a few weeks. Let me just ask you today. I want God to do something in us before he does something through us. We're not just asking for God to do something someday. We're asking God to do it today. The great danger of the church is to think that well, we're praying for something someday. We're praying for people to show up and for God to change them. We're not we're not praying for it ourselves.

We're not recognizing what God needs to do inside of us. So before we ask God to awaken our city, can we say, "God, awaken us." Before we ask God to set this region on fire, can we say, "God, set me on fire. If there's somewhere cold, I need you to come in and do what you do, God. If there's somewhere we're dead, I'm going to be so honest with you, God. I want you to make it alive today. I want you to pray a desperate prayer with me today. Our text comes from Psalm 85:E6. If you brought a Bible, I want you to turn to the 85th Psalm and the sixth verse. The book of Psalms is right in the middle of your Bible. Just turn right to the middle. These are songs and poems, a declaration of who God is and what he's able to do. We come to Psalm

85:6. This is our our text today. It's going to be our prayer today. This is going to be our reality. I'm believing this over your life today. Even if you're not quite sure what this looks like yet, I am believing this over you. Psalm 85:6. If you're able to, would you stand for the reading of God's word? Psalm 85:6. Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Would you please read that out loud with me? Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Lord, I pray today that this verse would become our reality. This would be our desperate prayer that we would not just hear this today, but we would put it into practice. So, I pray for an anointing on

our time right now. I pray that the words that come off of my lips would be pleasing to you. That the meditation of my heart would be pleasing to you. I'm praying for some of your holy fire today. That God, what you start would never be the same. That God, you would do it in every person here, not just some today, but for every person that decided to wake up and come to church today. God, would you honor their time and would you meet with them, encounter them? Would you mark them? Would you show them from the youngest to the oldest, it's never too late, and it's never too early with you, God. Revive us again. I ask in Jesus name. Amen. You can be seated. This is the word of the Lord. I wonder if this can be our cry today. Revive us again. Revive us again. That if you would be so honest with God, you would say, "If there's something dead in me, revive it, Lord.

Something doesn't need to be revived unless it's dead." For some here, you you look okay. You've got the likes on your social media. You've got the followers. It might look good on the outside, but God knows the truth. If you get so real with him and say, "God, I'm not doing good on the inside." Could could you bring to life that which seems dead? You might feel spiritually dry today, like a desert deep in your heart where your prayer life just doesn't seem to connect with God. The word of God doesn't come alive in your heart. Now, I want to tell you today, don't stop in the desert because Jesus said, "If you believe in him, out of your heart will flow rivers of living water." So, we say, "Revive us again, oh Lord.

Revive us again, Lord." Would you just say, "Revive us again, Lord. Revive us again, Lord." I want Psalm 85:6 to be our our mantra, our cry to recognize that we have a God of revival. The question is asked in in Psalm 85:6, "Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you?" The writer here proposes this question not because God might be able to or may be able to, but it's assumed here that God is able to. So, the question is asked, "Will you do what you're able to do, God? Will you have your way? What the church needs today is not another program. We

don't need a greater strategy from some conference or another book. We certainly don't need one more thing on our calendar. We don't need another meeting or committee. The church needs revival. The church of God needs to come back to the Lord, our God, who's able to revive. This is not hype. This is a living hope. This is not a bigger crowd. This is deeper hearts. And I believe today that God has a message for us. Revive us again, oh Lord. That we can't just simply say central Oregon shall be saved without believing how central Oregon will be saved. I want to give you three points about revival today. I want you to write them down. More than that, I want you to remember them. And I want us to believe God for revival in your heart and in your life.

C can you believe that God would do something in our generation that's never been done before? C can you actually believe that the God of history who has moved mightily through the ages in our day could do something greater than he's ever done before. I want you to write these things down today. Point number one is revival begins when we recognize what is dead. Revival begins when we recognize what is dead. Because how can you ask God to revive something if you've not even recognized it's dead? If you've not even recognized that your faith is dead. If you've not even recognized that in our region there are so many things that are dead in our schools, businesses, in your

finances, in your health, in your relationships. Revival begins when we recognize what has died. So many of us are looking for life in the wrong places. Notice here that the writer did not say, "Oh God, will you not entertain us again?" Which is what we've made church today. We've made church this place that you go, you get a coffee, you get the donuts, you sit down, you sing the songs, you hear some preaching, and then you criticize and say, "Oh, the the music was good today. The preaching was pretty good today." and we act as if it's entertainment. Church is not a spectator's sport. We're in this together.

[cheering] God designed and destined a people that would change the world. Notice that that the writer doesn't say, "Oh, God, will you make us smarter if I only knew more about the Bible? That that's how I know I would be good with God." But let me just tell you, it's not another Bible study that will bring you back to God. You can know the Bible from the beginning to the end and still miss God. And you should get into the word every single day. You should come to church every opportunity you can come to church. Be not mistaken. Those are good things. But let me tell you, something's even greater. That's God himself. That's a desperation that I want God more than anything. I want his presence more than anything. The question is, will you not revive us again?

Will you not revive us again? The question is implied that something is missing. And if we don't recognize what's missing, then we will never get to experience the revival that God is willing to give us. We have a core value here at Journey Church. We've had it since day one. It's pretty unique. You won't see this at a lot of churches. The core value is simply two words, relentlessly real. You see, we live in a a world where where we all fake it to make it. You show up to school or work or certainly on social media, you you look like you got it together. You get the right angle, you get the right filter, you you get the right time with the exception of Gen Z or alpha

that gets right up to their nose or their pores, you know. Come on, somebody. Y'all know what I'm talking about? Was that just my kids that did that? I love a generation that's willing to get real and say, "We don't have to look good all the time. I I might have flaws, but this is the real me." And if we're going to get relentlessly real with God, God can get real with us. But until you get real with God and you're actually giving him the areas of your life that you've never surrendered over before, you'll never experience the full revival that God wants to give you. It could be the hurt from your childhood. It could be the words of a coach or a teacher. It could be some lie that you believed long ago. But you've got to get real with God. If you don't get real with God, you won't invite God into those places that are dead.

And maybe you've ignored them for so long, or maybe you've numbed them, or maybe you've buried them so long, you you don't believe they can come alive. Isaiah had a hard job. Isaiah wrote the longest book we have in the Bible. He was a prophet and he would speak forth God's word. And he spoke forth God's word at at a time in history that was very difficult because the people of God had actually bought into lies where they started living like everyone else. Instead of living set apart and doing what God told them to do, they they took on idols and false gods thinking that they would be satisfied. And Isaiah as a prophet comes with the the trumpet sound of God's voice and he says, "Listen, if you don't turn to God, his wrath will be poured out on you." And there was a great opportunity to take God at his word to say, "He alone

is worthy to live for. He alone is the one true God. Everything else is false and is going to leave me dead." And the same opportunity in the days of Isaiah are our opportunities today. It was the message of Jesus when he stepped onto the scene. Repent. That word repent means turn to God. Leave your old ways. Leave your dead ways. Leave the ways of this world and go after God with everything. Isaiah would say in the 32nd chapter, Isaiah 32:14, he he describes what life is like apart from God. He says, "For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted." The writer here is painting a picture

that which should have life does not have life. It's empty. It's abandoned. He goes on to say, "The hill for the watchtower will become dens forever. a joy of wild donkey of pastures of flocks that which should be the place of safety and of security. It's going to be a place of animals. People are looking for hope in all the wrong places. Until it says verse 15, until somebody shout, until the spirit is poured upon us from on high and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. This is what God's able to do. That which looks like death, that which looks like desolation, that which is a desert

does not have to stay that way. Did you notice that word in verse 15? Until. Until. Until. I say that with your life. I say that over our city, our state, and even our nation. Until. Because the wilderness isn't going to fix the wilderness. We are living in an age where so many people put their hope in the government. It It's a broken system trying to fix broken people. It's as Jesus would say, the blind leading the blind. But our solution is is not in each other. Our solution is not in ourselves. Until the spirit is poured out.

Until the spirit is poured out, you don't even know what you were destined and designed to do. You're made by a maker who loves you, who has a purpose and a plan for you. And it's not for you to just figure out on your own, to try harder, to be better. No. Until the spirit is poured out, you're you're like a city that's just abandoned. You're like a watchtower without a watchman. We need the Holy Spirit. We have to recognize as a church our desperate need for the Holy Spirit. Because the danger of the church is you can do all of these things in this world and look like a church that's alive and miss out on the Holy Spirit.

You You can say you're spiritual. You can look like you're spiritual and you actually might need revival more than anyone else. There comes a moment where you get so desperate you say, "Holy Spirit, if you do not move, I'm dead. I'm dead without you." And as I shared just a moment ago, the gospel, the good news is death does not intimidate God. When Jesus shows up to the tomb of Lazarus, he had been dead for so long, everyone else would have counted him out but Jesus. It was Jesus that just simply had to say his name. Lazarus, come out. Lazarus, hearing the voice of Jesus, did not stay in the place of death. He decided to come out of the tomb.

You see, there's something about Jesus that he can do what no one else can do. He brings dead thing to life. That's who he is. For he is in his own words, the resurrection and the life. The scriptures describe for us one God in three persons. The father, the son, and the holy spirit. And believing in Jesus gives you a right relationship with the father. Because now you have the power in the person of the holy spirit. And the same spirit that rose Jesus from the grave after he died on the cross for every single one of your sins. He was buried in a tomb. But the bible declares on the third day he rose from the grave. And in Romans 8 11, we're told if the spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, God. If the spirit of him

who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, how do you get the Holy Spirit? You believe in Jesus. If that spirit is in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life. We serve a God that specializes in resurrection so that whatever is dead in your life, maybe it's your finances, you just heard testimony with Rooted, someone that takes their tithe seriously. You know what? You get to seriously see God show up and provide for you. But you won't see God provide for you if you don't admit your need that everything is actually God's. Some of you need a health miracle. Some of you need a relational miracle. So, so some of you just you've been depressed

for a long time and you're seeking a solution in all the wrong places. And that's because you're sincere. You know something's wrong. But the power that raised Jesus from the grave is the same power you can have. Your dead place is not out of reach for God. There's a great story in the book of Ezekiel where chapter 37 tells us the Holy Spirit took Ezekiel out to a valley of dry bones. It doesn't get any more dead than dry bones. It doesn't say it was a valley of sick people that need a doctor. It doesn't say it was a valley of weak people that need some strength. The Bible says in Ezekiel 37:1 that God brought the prophet to a valley of dry bones, death.

In verse three, the Lord said to Ezekiel, "Can these bones live?" Now, in the natural realm, we would all agree, no. Death is the end of the story. Death is the final say. Death is when the door is locked and no one's coming out again. But God asked the question to the prophet Ezekiel. And let me just teach you how to pray. Ezekiel says to the Lord, "Oh God, only you know this one." Because we know in the natural realm what we would say. But what do you say to an eternal God that can create anything out of nothing just simply by saying it? You ought to just say, "God, only you know." That could be the start of your prayer today. God, I know you have great plans for me, but only you know.

You remember in Jeremiah 29 when God is speaking to the people of Israel when they were in exile, they're in Babylon. They've just been taken from their home and God says, "Oh, I have a future and a hope for you to prosper you. It's prosperity." But God did not give them every detail of what it would look like. He just said, "You're going to live in that land for 70 years." Because if God had told them exactly what it would look like, they probably wouldn't believe that God's promise was true. But you can believe his promise. It's for a future and a hope is to prosper you today. You may not know what that looks like, but you can say, "God, you know, you know how my finances are going to get resurrected. You know how this relationship will get resurrect. You know how this dead faith can come alive.

This is the solution." God tells Ezekiel that he gets to be a part of what he's doing. How great is God that he invites us into the process. He said to me, Ezekiel said, "Prophesy over these bones and say to them, oh dry bones, hear the word of the Lord." Prophecy means to speak forth God's word. And God tells Ezekiel, "You don't need to come up with your own words. You don't need to come up with your own way. Just prophesy my word. You're going to call out things that are not as though they are because I'm God. And you're going to speak to these dry bones. Live. And as Ezekiel prophesied, we're told the bones began to come to life. Bone to bone, tendon onto the bone, muscle over

the tendons, skin over the muscle. And he sees in front of him what look like dry bones begin to come alive. But verse verse 8 of Ezekiel 37 tells us, "But there was a problem." Although it looked like they had come back to life. They were no longer dry bones, there was no breath in them. This is what sets humanity apart from every other living creature. When God made mankind, he breathed into them. Your spirit is a reflection of God, the Holy Spirit. God made you in his image and without surrendering to the Holy Spirit, you are living apart from God. There was no breath in them. And God didn't say, "Well, it is what it is now.

I know you tried." No. God told Ezekiel, "Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy to the breath." And suddenly, what looked like a graveyard of a bunch of bodies becomes an army. Ezekiel 37:10. So I prophesy as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. What does God do to dead things? Answer it. What does God do to dead things? But you've got to prophesy the word. Do you know how crazy I feel sometimes saying, "Central Oregon shall be saved?" Sometimes I feel crazy. Sometimes it

feels like it's a lost cause. Sometimes I wonder if it's actually possible to happen. But how's it going to happen if we don't prophesy it? We've got to recognize revival begins when we recognize what has died. There's a lot of death in our region. There's too many people depressed, too many people committing suicide, too many people who have numbed their lives on drugs, too many people who are addicted to alcohol, too many people who are pedophiles because they were molested as a child and they're simply rehearsing what was done to them. There are too many people in our region who are hopeless because they don't know a living God that rose from the grave, that died for their sins. There's a lot

of death in our region. Even the people in this room right now are more broken than you can imagine. And God did not send you here today so that you would stay the same. He brought you here to recognize what is dead and what he's able to do. Which brings us to point number two today. Revival comes when the spirit is poured out. Revival comes when the spirit is poured out. Notice it's not when the church tries harder, when we get louder. Revival comes when the spirit is poured out. Remember Isaiah 32, there was death, there was desolation, there was wilderness until verse 15 said, "Until the spirit, that is the spirit of the living God is poured out from on high." And until we recognize that it's the Holy Spirit that does the work, we're going to keep

coming back to our old ways. We're going to keep trying harder. And there's this pattern in scripture that when God does a mighty move, if you read through the Old Testament, it's when there's the anointing of the Holy Spirit on a person. You see it with kings, you see it with priests, you see it with prophets. When the Holy Spirit comes on someone there, there there's a move of God where you see that God is real because of that anointing. Now, because of Jesus, it's no longer just a few people throughout history. God has made a way for all of us to have the Holy Spirit. that if you just have one touch of the Holy Spirit, God now wants to use you like a prophet, priest, and a king. That's who we are. We're kings and priests in Jesus. Not because of you, but because the anointing that God has given you.

But we can't live like the world. If you go back to Israel, they were living just like everyone else. When the writer of Ephesians told the church that was in Ephesus, which was a lot like bendorggan, he told them, "You you can't live like everyone else. God has sealed you with this Holy Spirit. Now it's time to start living like it." He comes to this point in the letter where he writes to the Ephesians in chapter 5:1 18. He says, "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit." You see, the same problem in Ephesus 2,000 years ago is our problem. We're trying to be satisfied with something other than the Holy Spirit.

We're trying to numb our problems. We're trying to forget about our bad day. We're trying to have a good time. We're trying to do something apart from God. And it doesn't matter if it's wine or if it's craft beer or if it's cannabis. When you try to fulfill something in your life that only God can fulfill, it's debauchery. You're not helping your life. You're hurting your life. And if you'd be so willing to take God so seriously to say, "God, I repent of this today. I recognize that which is dead, but now I invite the Holy Spirit in." It's not enough just to confess your sins, to feel guilty of your sins, to say, "I've done bad things. I'm going to try to be a good Christian." I hear people say that all the time. and I promise you, you will not fulfill the

life that God's destined for you. He's not looking for people to try to be better Christians. He wants people filled with the Holy Spirit. That's a daily walking with the spirit, a daily dependence on the Holy Spirit. This is not a oneanddone. Well, I've received this at church today. He filled me with the Holy Spirit. No, you need to be filled on Monday and Tuesday, especially Wednesday. you better really go on Thursday and on Friday be filled on Friday because that's really when someone's going to invite you to go get that wine. I'll just tell you. And by the way, a glass of wine, a a good beer. I'm not saying those are bad. What I'm saying is it's bad when it becomes your god. And it doesn't even have to be alcohol. Go ahead and fill in the blank. It might be video games. It might be popping a pill. It might be gambling. It might be shopping. It might be wallowing in the pity of the sorrow of your depression.

The word of God is simply saying exchange that by being filled with the Holy Spirit. And the the very next chapter says when you're filled with the Holy Spirit, your prayer life changes. Now Ephesians 6:18 says praying at how often? All times. How come the Bible always tells us to pray without ceasing? Praying all the times because you need the Holy Spirit at all times. And you ought to pray in the spirit. When you pray in the spirit, it changes everything. There's times Romans 8 says you don't even know what to pray, but God's still with you. He's going to groan for you. He's going to give you words that you don't even have yourself. You go read 1 Corinthians 12:13 and 14. All of a sudden, you realize that God is God. And all of a sudden, you're talking to God in in a language you don't even know how to how to say or to interpret.

But this is between you and God because God knows what you're going through. So, you are praying in the spirit at all times. And you know what happens when you pray in the spirit? You go from going to God like Santa Claus. God, I need this. God, I need this and God, I want this and God, I need this. And now all of a sudden, you start praying for other people. Now all of a sudden, you invite God into the desperate, dark places you never invited him into before because he's so great. He's a God of grace. He's going to love you. He's not going to shame you. He's not going to condemn you for what you did yesterday or last week. But God wants to get in there and replace it and give you a future and a hope, not to look back because you can't look back and look forward at the same time. You need the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember we talked about this last week. Jesus last words before he ascended into heaven. This is the promise of Jesus. He says, "But you will receive power when

the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You will receive power." That word power we learned last week is dunamis. It means the ability, the strength. That means with the Holy Spirit, you will have the ability to do things you can't do without the Holy Spirit. You will receive a power, the ability, the strength to do things you you and by the way, you don't even need to start worrying about what that is. Like, oh no, Lord, will you make me go to Africa? Will you make me uh sing songs on the stage? Will you make me do these? No. If he hasn't called you to Africa, it won't be Africa. If you have a bad voice, it's probably not singing on the stage. He made you so uniquely that what he put inside of you by the power of the Holy Spirit, he'll bring out of you.

But you got to recognize what's dead and invite the Holy Spirit to come upon your life. Psalm 85:6, "Will you not revive us again?" Revival has a sound. It's a desperate prayer. It's inviting God into every area of your life. I want to just look back to last week. We talked about Peter and John who were arrested. They were intimidated and they were threatened to never speak about Jesus again. And their prayer was not for an easier life. It wasn't for protection. They prayed this. And now, Lord, look upon their threats. Grant to your servants to continue to speak with your word with all boldness. While you, God, this is now what you're going to do. While you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. This is what it looks like to pray in the spirit. God, give me boldness.

And when I have the boldness, God, would you show up because you're the God that shows up. You're the God that heals. You're the God that still does miracles. You're the God that does signs. He never said he'll stop it. You just got to pray in the spirit. And when they prayed for boldness, it says in verse 31, "When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken." And they were all, somebody shout all, all filled with the Holy Spirit. And they continued to speak the word of God with what? Boldness. They prayed for boldness and they got boldness and they got even more the Holy Spirit. Because how are you going to be bold? God's not saying, "I need you to try harder. I need you to be stronger." No.

God wants you to have the Holy Spirit. I believe today God can still shake the church. God can still fill us with a boldness that doesn't come from mustering up the ability to do so. But we've got to be a people that prays. And come back to Psalm 85:6. Would you read it out loud with me? Psalm 85:6. Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Notice the result. It's not, "Oh man, this is going to be so hard to give God everything." You're giving God your sin so that you get the joy of salvation. We start rejoicing. We know there's revival when the people have joy. We know there's revival when we sing because we actually believe what we're singing. The marking of revival is rejoicing.

There will be joy. God's going to turn some sorrow into gladness because revival is not ultimately about revival. is all about Jesus. He wants you to experience more of him because he said that in him comes the fullness of joy. We don't need to manifest this joy. We don't need to work harder for this joy. It's going to happen naturally when there's revival. So, our prayer must come back to the right place. Revive us again. I'm desperate for the Holy Spirit. Jesus becomes my obsession. I'm gonna surrender my all to him, no matter what that looks like. Number one, today we said revival begins when we recognize what has died. Number two, we've said revival comes when the spirit is poured out. And I'm already over time, but I still have a third point I want to give to you today. So, if you just go with me

quickly, this is going to be the weirdest one, but I'll explain why it's so weird. Number three is revival reminds us to never count out the stump. Never count out the stump. Each week we gather as a staff here at Journey Church on Tuesdays and we pray and study and discuss the scripture that will be preached that Sunday. Every Tuesday we gather as a staff and we say here's what's going to be preached. And this week we came together as a staff and we studied Psalm 85:6 and the discussions were awesome and people are sharing scripture. And then our kids pastor Jesse, she stood up and said, "This reminds me of what I read this morning in Isaiah chapter 6 verse 13." Well, she didn't sound just like that, but she did stand up and she said something like that. And then we all read Isaiah 6:13, which says, "Like a terabenth or an oak," meaning like a

great big tree whose stump remains when it is felled. It's been cut down. All you see is a stump. The holy seed is its stump. Today, we are reminded that Jesus is that holy seed. that at a time in history that looked like a stump, when the Roman Empire was ruling the world, when the religious leaders made it about rules instead of a relationship with God, the Holy Seed stepped into the human story. And said, "It might look like it's over. It might look like it's dead, but I'm just getting started." When Jesus died on the cross for every single one of your sins and he was buried, it looked like it was over until the third day when he rose from the grave. You see, this is a reminder. You might see death.

You might see ashes, but God sees something new. Isaiah would later say in chapter 11 verse one, "There shall come forth a chute from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit." I don't know what stump you came in with today. It might be the stump of your marriage that looks dead. It might be the stump of your own relationship with God. It might be the stump of your finances. It might be the stump of your health. But I'm here to say that with God, the best is still yet to come. You've got to pray the prayer. Revive us again, oh Lord. Remember who Jesus is. You're not praying to a dead God. I have been crucified with Christ.

You declare that every day. I can't do this on my own. It's no longer I who lives, but it's Christ who lives in me. That's the spirit of God himself. And the life I now live in the flesh. It's by faith. It's by faith. The spirit of living God at work within you changes everything. If I could just finish Isaiah 32 that we looked at earlier. until the spirit is poured upon us from on high. The wilderness, it becomes a fruitful field. And it's not just a fruitful field, it's deemed a forest. So that which looked dead is now a forest alive with fruit. Wilderness to a fruitful field. Wilderness to a fruitful field. It's like going from the high desert to to orange groves.

People say, "You're crazy. How can you go from juniper trees to orange trees? You can't until the Holy Spirit has poured out on you. If you keep reading what happens in the following verses 16 and 17, then justice because of the Holy Spirit, then justice will dwell in the wilderness. Not because the government legislated it. There's a greater legislator and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace. and the result of righteousness, quietness, and trust forever. Look at this. Is the fruit that the world needs today. Justice, righteousness, peace. Instead of chaos, what does God give you? Quiet.

That's what you get when the Holy Spirit fills you up. See, revival doesn't mean that we just muster this up. I I pray that Sunday, September 6, marks us. I pray that it's a move of God that begins an even greater new awakening in our generation. But I will tell you this, revival happens when business people bring Jesus into their business. That they're unashamed. Like Paul in Romans chapter 1, I don't care how the world's living. I've got the good news of Jesus. And if he could save me, I'm bringing him into my business. It's when students take Jesus [music] to their school. When everyone says you're absolutely stupid or try to shut you up or like Peter and John say, "You can't talk about Jesus at this school." You say, "I cannot not talk about Jesus."

So even if I'm persecuted, it doesn't matter where I go, the Holy Spirit of God goes with me. He fills me up. So the kingdom comes where I go, [music] the King Jesus goes with me. So where does revival start? It starts in me. I have to be so desperate. It starts in me. I can't just pray for other people. I got to say, God, what you do in me, I want you to do in other people. And I'm here to testify that he's not done. Oh, there's so much more. So, I'm asking you, Church in the Park is just two weeks away. And I'm just saying, can we please unite in prayer for more? I'm asking you to take Fridays to fast and pray. Fast and pray. Fast and pray. Here's why I'm asking you to fast. When you give up something for God, it's like he blesses that. You realize how hungry

you are and how weak you are, but how strong God is. And so, I'm [music] just asking you for the next two Fridays, can you just fast from breakfast and lunch? And when you ordinarily would eat, pray. And today, if you don't know what else to pray, I'm going to tell you, you say, "Lord, revive us again. Revive us again." And you just pray that prayer over and over. And you say, "Start with me, God. Today I I feel weak. I feel dead. Revive me today, Lord." And you know what will happen is you'll start praying in the spirit for other people. People will come to your mind. You'll start praying for me. And while you're praying for me, I'll be praying for you. Fast and pray each Friday leading up to Church in the Park. Then the Thursday before Church in the Park, we're going to do prayer in the park. Now, I'll warn you in advance. We don't have permits.

So, we're not going to use sound systems. We're just going to simply show up and do what God's given us the right to do. Talk to him. And we're going to invite [music] his presence in that park before we even show up there on Sundays. We're going to pray together for one hour, 6:30 to 7:30 at the amphitheater at Drake Park on Thursday, September 3rd. Please, you're welcome to show up. What a great chance to meet someone new and say hi and then just pray over the park on Thursday, September 3rd. We're going to pray, but we're not just going to pray. We're going to be bold and invite people. We're going to say, "We love our city so much." We're going to invite them to be a part of what God's doing. Before we get to church in the park, I don't know where you are in your own journey of faith, but if you came here today uncertain of your salvation,

uncertain if you would die today, you'd spend forever with God. I want to give you that opportunity right now. And the reason I want to give you that opportunity right now is the Bible doesn't say go get your life right before you follow Jesus. The Bible says, "Today is the day of salvation." So, in this this moment, I want to give you that invitation right now to believe in Jesus, to be sealed with the Holy Spirit, and be confident that you are forgiven of your sins from this day forward. All you've got to do is believe in your heart that Jesus did die for your sins. And if you're willing to confess it out loud, the Bible says you're saved. And you're not [music] just saved, now you're a child of God. And you're not just a child of God. You're given a great inheritance that every promise of God's is yours now because of Jesus.

You can be anointed with the Holy Spirit. You may not get it all figured out the first day, but from this day forward, you're going to keep growing in your faith. So, where you are, would you just close your eyes? I want to know today who wants to make that bold, best decision you could ever make. Say, I want to surrender my life to Jesus. I want to be forgiven. I want to be saved. If that's you, would you just throw your hand in the air? Just keep it up nice and high. I want to see who's making that decision. Praise God. Praise God. All over. Just keep them up. We've got a booklet that shares about this best decision. You're not alone. Just keep your hand high. Just Yes. That's you. Praise God. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. See, for every hand raised right now, the Bible says there is so much joy in heaven.

God loves you so much. He's been waiting for you to say yes. Now you need to fight the lies when you leave here that God doesn't love you because he does. He can never love you more than he does. Because God is love. Keep coming back to this God. He's going to shape you. He's going to change you. Is there anyone else that did not raise their hand that you don't want to miss this? You want to say yes. I believe too. See, I've seen a lot of young people here today, and I I want to just declare over every person under the age of 20 right now that if you would be on fire for God, the world will never be the same. The devil wants to silence you to think that somehow you've got to be older. You've got to know enough. But I just I need you to know this. God God made you. He loves you. And he's ready and willing to do great things through you. That's not to neglect any person

that's over 20 because if you would just burn on fire, the world would get to see what God's able to do. He brings dead to life. I want just ask you uh right where you are if you would uh just stand to your feet. I want us to pray together. I want to pray two prayers. First, I want to pray for the person that just believed [music] today. And if that's you and you raised your hand, you need to say this out loud and you need to believe it in your heart that what you're praying is real. It's not a prayer that saves you. It's not a preacher that saves you. It's Jesus. So all of those who have believed in Jesus, let's join with them. I'll just make it real short and simple. Lord Jesus, I believe in you. I repent today. I am forgiven.

I am filled with the spirit filled with the spirit. Bring all dead things to life. in Jesus name. in Jesus name. Now I want to pray over you church. Lord I thank you for every person that's here today. I pray today that there would be a move, a marking in your church. And I know it's not unique to journey right now. We are alive for such a time as this. So may we be unashamedly bold to go to your throne and ask for time and help. Grace from you, the God that gives help in a time of need. Thank you, Jesus, for making a way where there was no way. Thank you for being our living hope. And we pray that what you heal and our hearts would only multiply in our region. We pray Central Oregon shall be saved. We say, Lord, will you not revive us again that we will rejoice in you?

So whether you change our economy on Third Street, plant more churches, call call more people to be pastors and missionaries and evangelists and prophets and apostles. God, would you equip us to do the work of your ministry all for your glory? I pray in Jesus name. Amen. And amen.