The God-centered church - An Overview of 1 Timothy

1 Timothy 3:14-15 "I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; 15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth."

1 Timothy 4:6 "In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a goodservant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following."

Introduction:

So many suggestions are made today as to how we ought to have church. Some suggest that the church ought to run like a business, with the pastor being like a CEO who has a head for business, implementing program strategies and casting a vision. Others picture the church being more like a team, where there is a coach and players. Still others suggest that the church is to be a place of entertainment where we do bigger events to draw people and keep them happy. Which is right? Is any of them right? Is there a little bit of truth to each one or is one more right than the others? 

Thankfully when it comes to figuring out how we ought to do church, there is a series of three Divinely Inspired Church manuals that tell us what do to and how to do it - what are commonly called the "Pastoral Epistles". The author of all three (1&2 Timothy and Titus) is the Apostle Paul. The recipients are young men who are pastoring their first churches and who need wise counsel. Though the letters themselves are 2,000 years old, the subjects they deal with are essentially no different than what is experienced in the 21st century church. Though we term them "Pastoral Epistles", their instruction and truth is just as much for the person in the pew as for the man behind the pulpit. 

A quick note about 1 Timothy

Today's post is specifically interested in looking at the first of these "Pastoral Epistles" - 1 Timothy. Timothy of course is the young pastor to whom the letter is written. Timothy's charge was to take the very strong Ephesian church and lead it. According to what we read in the background passages of Acts 19-20, the church at Ephesus was founded at the end of Paul's 2 1/2 year ministry in that city. Ephesus was the "crown jewel" of Asia Minor, and the church that would be planted would become the greatest church of the Apostolic age. 

Near the end of Paul's time in Ephesus a riot had broke out, and the aftermath required the establishment of strong spiritual leadership. In Acts 20 the Apostle Paul established Elders to provide the needed anchoring for the then fledgling congregation. By the time we come to Paul's letter of 1 Timothy, the church at Ephesus would had been a few years old. 

Timothy had been called by God to preach the Word and love the people. Many challenges would lie ahead: Timothy's timidity, increasing pressure from the pagan culture and competing heretical teachers operating within the church itself. 1 Timothy 3:14-4:6 operates as the heart of this first epistle to Timothy, with 1 Timothy 3:16 being the key verse. The theme of this letter is: "The God Centered Church". 

What does it take to be a God-centered Church

The value of the book of 1 Timothy in our New Testaments is that we learn what it takes to be a God-centered church. All ideas about how to do church and what it means to be the church must be measured against 1 Timothy and its two other companions (2 Timothy and Titus). As we briefly fly over the contents of 1 Timothy, I will submit to the reader the following four necessary ingredients for having a God centered church.

1. God-centered Pastors. 1 Timothy 1:1-14

In this opening section of 1 Timothy we find out that one cannot have a God-centered church without a God-centered leader. What does a God-centered Pastor do? According to 1 Timothy 1:1-7 the pastor needs to be a stable leader: doctrinally, morally, personally and spiritually. Then we discover in 1 Timothy 1:8-14 the God-centered Pastor is a man who preaches the Gospel faithfully. So a God-centered church needs a God-centered pastor, but notice secondly...

2. God-centered focus. 1 Timothy 1:15-17

Three times in 1 Timothy we find the Apostle Paul talking about "faithful sayings". In 1 Timothy 1:15 we comes across the first of these: "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all." What ensures the God-centered focus of a church? The Gospel. The Pastor and the flock of God is charged to preach and live out the Gospel that saves the sheep. Whenever we get our eyes off of the Great Commission and its companion the Great Commandment, we have gotten our eyes focused on the wrong thing. If we ever expect to be a God-centered Christian and church, we must have God-centered pastors and a God-centered focus on the Gospel. Now notice the third necessary ingredient for the God-centered church...

3. God-centered fellowship. 1 Timothy 1:18-3:16

As Paul develops further this major theme of "The God-centered church", he deals with a subject that many Christians think they know about but often don't - fellowship. What is fellowship? Is it just about "dinner-on-the-grounds"? Certainly coming together and enjoying one another with food is Biblical (Israel had feasts and the early church had its love feasts!). 

However fellowship is far more than just about food. 1 Timothy 1:18-3:16 gives us a crystal clear picture about what constitutes God-centered fellowship. With God-centered pastors, focus and fellowship explained in the first three chapters of 1 Timothy, we can now focus on the final necessary ingredient for a God-centered church...

4. God-centered living. 1 Timothy 4:1-6:21

What is the purpose of God's people coming together? Why do we have houses of worship today? We come together in the walls so that we can be equipped to make Christ known outside the walls. As is the pattern of Paul's letters, the first half is devoted to right-doctrine and the second half is devoted to right living. You cannot live right unless you believe right. Likewise, one cannot prove they believe right unless they are living rightly. 

God-centered churches can only demonstrate they are such when they are living out what they believe. A God-centered church or Christian is one that not only has God at the center but also at the circumference of daily life. The subjects we see mentioned in 1 Timothy 4:1-6:21 include wise decision making, morality, health, handling of money, family, widowhood, compensation of the pastor, men's treatment of women, women's conduct before men, avoidance of gossip, one's testimony and other important issues. How many of those subjects do you find being experienced in the average church today? Answer: All of them! When we say we want to be God-centered, that not only includes the songs we sing and the sermons we preach but also the lives we live 24-7. 

Closing Thoughts:

Today was about doing a fly-over of 1 Timothy and understanding the main ingredients of a God-centered church:

1. God-centered pastors. 1 Tim 1:1-15

2. God-centered focus. 1 Tim 1:16-17

3. God-centered fellowship. 1 Tim 1:18-3:16

4. God-centered living.. 1 Tim 4:1-6:21

P2 - Do you trust God?

DO YOU TRUST GOD?

Psalm 139:1 "O Lord, You have searched me and known me."

Psalm 139:23-24 "O Lord, You have searched me and known me."

Review from yesterday:

The above opening verses for today's post serve to frame the contents of Psalm 139. David is indicating that in His relationship with God, God has thoroughly searched and known him (139:1) and that he is willing to surrender himself to further scrutiny by God (139:23-24). These verses together communicate the necessity to trust God. We saw yesterday the following main point of application: How much you trust God depends upon how well you know God and surrender to Him.  We looked at the first foundation for trusting God: namely knowing God. Today we consider the second foundation for trusting God: surrender to God.

The MRI machine as an illustration of trust
I can recall many years ago having a work injury. When I went to the hospital the company had me undergo a required MRI scan to see if I had a concussion. For anyone who has had to undergo such an ordeal, they are anything but comfortable. The machine I was required to enter was the full -length kind. My level of trust in the doctor was admittedly low. I had never met the man and I was instructed to place my trust in his hands. 

When he told me to get into that tube with only 1 inch of space around my body and to wear earplugs for the loud bursting and banging noise, I'll admit the temptation to run was pretty keen. Yet as the doctor talked to me and as I got to know him a little bit, being convinced of his knowledge and calmed by his bed-side manner, once I surrendered - my trust level took over. You may laugh - but I thought; "what have I to lose"?

When it comes to trusting God, we many times may know a lot about God, however unless the second foundation is in place - namely surrendering to God, trust will never be present. Notice what David writes in Psalm 139:23-24 "Search me, O God, and know my heart;Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way." 

Does it truly make you comfortable to know that God knows everything about you? Clearly David is comfortable. If anything, David is asking - no - begging God to examine him even more thoroughly. In trusting God, the believer desires nothing less than closeness with God, even if it means finding out further things about themselves they would rather not know. When we see the phrase "see if there be any hurtful way within me", such a statement is issuing from a surrendered heart trusting God. 

The same author, David, writes in Psalm 94:19 "When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,Your consolations delight my soul." David was in numerous situations where there was opportunity to be anxious and to trust God. He learned by being in God's spiritual MRI machine that it is best to surrender and know the great physician, rather than making a run for it. 

Closing thoughts:
So as we close out this short series, I ask you dear reader: Do you trust God? How much you know God from scriptures such as Psalm 139, and how much you choose to surrender and let Him have His way will determine how much you trust Him. 

P1 - Do You Trust God?

DO YOU TRUST GOD?

Psalm 139:1 "O Lord, You have searched me and known me."

Psalm 139:23-24 "O Lord, You have searched me and known me."

The above opening verses for today's post serve to frame the contents of Psalm 139. David is indicating that in His relationship with God, God has thoroughly searched and known him (139:1) and that he is willing to surrender himself to further scrutiny by God (139:23-24). These verses together communicate the necessity to trust God.

Point of Application: 

The theme of "Trusting God" is huge throughout the scripture. Moses, the great statesman and prophet of the Old Testament, wrote in Psalm 90:1 of how God has been a refuge and help from ages past. The great king David, Israel's greatest king, says in Psalm 13:5 "But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation." The wisest man who ever lived and David's son, King Solomon, commands us to trust in the Lord and lean not unto our own understanding in Proverbs 3:5-6. Jesus, the Greatest of all, God in human flesh, is recorded saying in Hebrews 2:13a - And again, "I will put my trust in Him". Then one more, the mighty Apostle Paul, states in Philippians 3:10-11  "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." In thinking on verses like these, as well as what we will be seeing in Psalm 139, the main point of application today is this: How much you trust God depends upon how well you know God and surrender to Him.

With that main anchoring point in place, let us walk through Psalm 139 and see how much we can trust God. 

Knowing God as the first foundation for trusting God
In Psalm 139 we see just how much there is to know about God, and more so how well He knows His children. David says that God had searched and known Him in Psalm 139:1. As you go down through the Psalm, you see evidence of a close relationship between God and David. What is there to know about God, and how is knowing God the first foundation for trusting Him? In short order we see the following outline of Psalm 139:

1. God is all-knowing 139:1-6
2. God is everywhere present 139:7-12
3. God is all-powerful 139:13-16
4. God is all-good 139:17-22

This is essentially the kind of God that had been "searching and knowing David" in Psalm 139:1. Its as if David had been placed into a spiritual MRI machine with God as the the One doing the scanning. To know God is the most important thing in life, and to know that God knows me is the most amazing insight in life. However in the course of trusting God, we sometimes find ourselves questioning God. It is quite interesting how often our questioning of God is connected to His attributes as outlined here in Psalm 139. Notice the following questions, and how Psalm 139 answers them, providing a foundation for trusting God.

1. Does God know what I am going through? 
We can say with utmost certainty - yes He does! Psalm 139:1-3 reveals He knows our thoughts and Psalm 139:4-6 unveils His perfect knowledge of our future actions. Psalm 147:5 reminds us that the knowledge of God is without end and Hebrews 4:13 affirms that all things are open before His eyes. So yes, God knows! He is all knowing. You can trust God!

2. Is God really there? Am I all alone?
The Psalmist in 139:7 refers to the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity. Every Christian is given the Holy Spirit of God in regeneration as a Permanent Resident. (Romans 8:14-16; 1 Corinthians 2:10-13; 3:16) You as a Christian are never alone. God by the Person of the Spirit not only is in every Christian but pervades every square inch of creation. (Acts 17:27-28) The Person of the Son as God in human flesh holds all things together by the Word of His power. (Colossians 1:16-18) Indeed God is there for you! He is everywhere present! You can Trust God! How much you know God and surrender to Him determines you level of trust!

3. Is God strong enough to take care of my situation?
Psalm 139:13-16 answers this question. God is powerful enough to form you, give you life and write out the book of your life. As the Psalmists states: "How wonderful are your works (139:14)". Think about the works of God: creation, salvation, time, space and you. Whenever you and I find our trust for God being low, it is because we don't think He knows, is there and strong enough! When I was a small child, if I was playing outside and my dad happened to be working in the yard, I had no fears. Where I grew up was heavily wooded and sometimes I would hear the howl of a wild dog or hear a twig snap. Knowing that my dad was there with me - I had know fear. I trust my dad due to what I know about Him. Is it not much more with the Christian's Heavenly Father?

4. Is God really Good? 
I think out of all of God's characteristics (or attributes), God's goodness is perhaps the most doubted today. Do we truly believe God has the best of intentions for us? David writes in Psalm 139:17-18 that he cannot count all of the precious thoughts God has towards Him. Whenever he hears people speak ill of God or to question God's character, it causes indignation in the Psalmist. We may at first be offended at the language used by the Psalmist of "hatred" and "utmost hatred" for his enemies. However, why does it bother us? Perhaps because we do not think God is as Good as we claim. 

To illustrate, what happens when we find out that a child has been hurt by an adult? Or what response do we give to injustice done by selfish men against their wives or issues such as racism? Injustice is despicable. Hateful. Culture cries for justice, because true injustice is inexcusable. Now take each of those examples and multiply them an infinite amount and you begin to see why the Psalmist says what he says. God is Peerless in character and All-Good. I'm afraid sometimes the greatest accusers of God's character are we ourselves. Trusting God entails knowing that He is always Good - no matter what nor however little we may understand.

Indeed God is Good! He is All-powerful, All-present and all-knowing! You can Trust God! How much you know God and surrender to Him determines you level of trust! Today we saw how knowing God is necessary for trusting Him. Tomorrow we will look at the second foundation for trusting God.

A suggested way of sharing Jesus with a Hindu

1 Corinthians 8:4-6 "Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him."

Introduction

Over the years I have had opportunities here and there to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with adherents of the Hindu religion. One time I had the opportunity to sit down with a man who is a devout Hindu. In all the conversations I have had over the years with people of non-Christian religions, none have been kinder than the beautiful Indian people who adhere to the Hindu religion. However, God's issue with all unbelievers is not their niceness, or lack thereof, but that they are not right with Him through Jesus Christ. 

Today I want to share a method of sharing the Gospel that God could use in the event you ever come in contact with any devotees of Eastern religion or any worldview for that matter. I used this method with the dear man above. To my knowledge, he has not yet responded to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit would lead him and other people in the Hindu world to a saving knowledge of the truth through faith and repentance in Jesus Christ. Christian apologist Dr. William Lane Craig's definition of evangelism is an excellent reminder of Who is the true evangelist in all our conversations: "Evangelism is where we communicate Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results up to God."

Laying out four words for sharing the Bible's Gospel message with Hindus

When my friend came to me and we sat down, the very first thing I did was to outline for him the entire Bible in four words. Now before I give you the four words, I must say that when dealing with Hindus or any other adherent of any non-Christian religion, it is more important for you to know the Gospel of Jesus Christ than it is to know details about the opposing religion. As valuable as apologetics (defending the faith against non-Christian belief systems) can be and as vital as it is to have a familiarity with the tenets of the opposing belief system, it must be remembered that the Holy Spirit's effective work through the Gospel will win the soul to Jesus. 

With that said, I will list out the four words that I used with my Hindu friend in summarizing the Bible, and then briefly break them down as I did to him:

1. Creation

2. Fall

3. Cross

4. 2nd Coming

Why emphasize creation, fall, cross and 2nd coming?

Why begin with these four fundamental truths? Simply because we Christians living in America are under the mistaken assumption that everyone knows what they are and mean. Lack of spiritual vitality in our churches ought to be evidence enough to show that not everyone is as familiar with the Gospel as claimed. Furthermore, my Hindu friend had never read a Bible, nor even knew what a Bible was. Understand that this young man is highly educated and successful business owner. We all need to be reminded of and re-exposed to the four truths above everyday. 

Breaking down the Bible's salvation message in four words to show Hindus the Savior Jesus Christ

1. Creation. 

I began with Genesis 1 and creation because in the Hindu religion, there are many gods, not one Supreme, All-Powerful Creator who alone is God. Hinduism as a belief system has several versions of how the world began and in many cases, their view of the universe is that it is an endless cycle of birth-rebirth. Knowing that my friend was not familiar with the Bible, I tried to keep Bible references to a minimum. The ones I used for this first point were:

a. Genesis 1:1 This is to assert that God is the Creator of all reality.

b. Genesis 1:26 This was to assert that the God of the Bible is the Creator of humanity as well as reality

c. 1 Corinthians 8:6 This passage reaffirms the Monotheism (belief in One God) of the Old Testament and the fact that Jesus the Son shares equally in that Divine nature and is God. 

Now why did I include Christ's Deity? Because in Hinduism, there is the belief that their many gods have the ability to appear in the forms of men and animals. Nothing is unique. However my aim in sharing this with my Hindu friend was to show that the God of the Bible is unique, and that Jesus Christ is the Unique revelation of God and thus the Creator. So point one of outlining the Bible with a Hindu is: Creation.

2. Fall. 

My next point with my Hindu friend dealt with the fall and rebellion of man in the Garden of Eden. Mind you that this intelligent man had never heard of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve nor the account of the Creation and Fall. 

To the Hindu, the whole point of their religion is to escape the endless cycle of Sanasara (some spell it "samsara") or Karma. In Hinduism, people are endlessly born, dying and being reborn as different life forms. Depending upon how morally one lives in this life and how much ritual one participates in will, in the Hindu mind, determine whether one has "good Karma" or "bad Karma". Karma is a Hindu word referring to "works or deeds" and is essentially a debt-based system of works salvation. Sansara is likened to a wheel of sorts, wherein a person keeps literally going around in circles. "Sansara" and its related concept "karma" portray a person trying to live good enough in this life to have a better spot in the next. The ultimate goal of Hinduism is to escape "Sansara" (which my friend readily affirmed in our conversation) and to achieve "Moksha" or union with the Universal Soul.

In Hinduism, the underlying principle is that you are never good enough, never will be good enough and thus you need to keep working harder and living better to escape that iron-clad law. The whole concept of "Karma" then is how Hinduism explains the evil in our world, even though in the final analysis the evil we see is not the true and ultimate reality, but what the Hindus call "maya" or illusion.

The Bible of course paints a different picture. There was a literal Adam and Eve and a serpent named Satan who came to tempt them. Passages such as Romans 5:12 summarize for us the events of the fall, namely that through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin came death upon us all. The point of bring up this detail was to show my Hindu friend that evil and sin are not illusory, but realities that intruded into the perfect creation made by God. At this point it is useful to bring out that this life is the only life you got, and that there is no "sansara" or endless wheel of Karma, birth, death and rebirth. Salvation is not escape from an endless cycle of nothingness but escape from wrath and reconciliation to the Creator. This leads naturally into the third main point of the Bible and sharing Jesus with a Hindu...

3. Cross

Why call this point "cross" rather than "salvation"? Hindus need to know that salvation is historical, personal and one-time achieved. The same God who created all things and Whose name and love was rejected by Adam and Eve in favor of a Tree is by nature obligate to show wrath but desires to show mercy. In tying together this point, I began with God's response to Adam and Eve, judgment, followed by mercy. Without going into too much detail, Genesis 3:15-21 demonstrates that Adam and Eve both looked to God in faith for their salvation. His killing of two innocent animals in their place and covering their nakedness and shame set the pattern for salvation: the shedding of innocent blood on behalf of grace led believing, repenting sinners. 

The slaying of innocents in the Garden of Eden would serve to point to the ultimate slaying of the innocent Son in His humanity. For my friend, Romans 5:8 served quite well for this point: "God demonstrated His own love for us in this that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." In Hinduism, the many deities they worship view human beings a pawns on the chessboard of fate, sources for their amusement. The many deities of Hinduism range from being impersonal forces to deities that are as subject to failure as we are. A major "honor/shame" theme runs through all the many varied forms of the Hindu religion. The Gospel is unique in that it is underscored by a "Grace/forgiveness" theme, meaning that God chooses to save whomever He wills based entirely upon His desire to love. God wants to save as many people as possible. Nothing we can do can earn His favor. Period.  

All who believe on Jesus do so because of grace, calling them and keeping them until they are in Heaven with Him. All who persist in unbelief and die and go to hell do so because of their own doing. 

The cross utterly smashes the Hindu system because it asserts that God who made everything became nothing so that we who are nothing could by grace through faith become more valuable than everything He made. So we have creation, fall and cross, but there is one more point in this suggested way of sharing the Gospel with a Hindu...

4. 2nd Coming. 

My Hindu friend at this point is listening very intently and as I am sharing with him I am praying the whole time. At points along the way when I did mention something about Hinduism, I would ask him if what I shared was correct. This is done for two reasons: to make sure he knows I am trying to get to know him and secondly, to make sure I am operating in the realm of truth rather than lies. 

One of the things we have repeated in this post is how much Hindus view reality and life as an endless cycle. 

It has been noted that when Jesus came to this world, he took mankind's cyclical view of life and stretched it out to be one line with a beginning, middle and end. The beginning is creation, of which Jesus is the very embodiment thereof. The middle is the cross, upon which He died and then conquered death in His resurrection. Why? Due to the fall that took place near the beginning and to be the redeemer of all men, especially those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:10). The end point is of course Jesus' second coming. Hinduism knows of no end to history or life. However Jesus' second coming underscores the fact that He who is the Author and Finisher of faith (Hebrews 12:1) is the Author and Finisher of everything. How you are related to Him (faith or unbelief) will tell you your destination. 

My friend of course was unfamiliar with Heaven and Hell, judgment and heaven. To ensure that such truths were not just abstract ideas, centering the end of the conversation on Christ's second coming enables the conversation to end where it really began: upon Jesus Christ.

Final thoughts:

I wish I could tell you that the Hindu man to which I had spoken readily responded to the Gospel. For five minutes he sat in stunned silence. I gently said to him: "I can tell you are thinking over what was said, what are your thoughts?" The man told me that for him, we are all the same. The only response I could give him was: "dear friend, your response and the look upon your face tells me you believe otherwise. We are indeed quite different". Politely he got up and shook my hand and I never saw him again. I would ask you to pray for that man and for the Hindu world of over 1 billion Hindus. Let me close with Isaiah 55:10-11 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

P2 - Four important revivals

Genesis 5:26  "To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord."

Introduction and Review

We began looking yesterday at four important revivals. We looked at Genesis 4:25-26 and concluded its importance due to it being the first in recorded history and scripture. We learned from it that God is the initator of revival. Then we considered the defining revival of 2 Chronicles 6-7 and learned some things about the prescription of revival. Today we wrap up our study to consider two other important revivals.

The greatest revival. Acts 2

If Genesis 4:25-26 is important due to it being the first revival and 2 Chronicles 6-7 is important to emulate because of it recording the defining revival of the Old Testament, then Acts 2 is vital because it is the greatest revival in recorded history. It was on that wondrous day of Pentecost in Acts 2 that the Spirit of God came not to merely be with His people nor to visit His people but to indwell His people. The church was born on the day of Pentecost. Scripture was fulfilled in ACts 2. On the day of Pentecost over one dozen people groups miraculously heard the Gospel in their own foreign language by people who had never heard them and people were saved, delivered and healed. 

The first revival in Genesis taught us that Revival requires the presence of God to initiate it. In 2 Chronicles 6-7 we learned that there is a Prescribed pattern from God for revival. In Acts 2, we are reminded of how much power God has in birthing forth things previously non-existent and fulfilling what He said He would do. We are reminded in Pentecost that Jesus' resurrection and ascension not only took place but worked. Jesus truly is seated at the right hand of God! 

We could go on but we must hasten to one more important revival before concluding today's post...

Your revival. 

Revival is not just some abstract concept that is written about and preached about. We must not ever treat revival as some kind of elusive dream that we chase all of our lives but never see manifest. Time and time again revival in the scriptures is made personal. Here's the point: Do you believe revival is for you? We so often approach revival and God's desire for it as a "them thing" or "our parents or grandparents thing". However, God's message in this brief study on four revivals is that do you believe, dear Christian, that revival is for you? Consider briefly excerpts from other great revival texts of scripture:

a. Psalm 138:8  "The Lord will accomplish what concerns me;Your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting;
Do not forsake the works of Your hands."

b. Psalm 85:4  "Restore us, O God of our salvation,And cause Your indignation toward us to cease."

c. Habakkuk 3:2 "Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear.O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy."

d. James 5:7-11 "Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. 8 You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near."

Notice the underlined personal pronouns in these verses: revival and God's promises of it is for you and me dear Christian. Unless we truly believe that, then we will either not see God's revival power or we will fail to recognize what He is doing. Revival begins with God's prescriptions and powerful visitation, followed by His people surrendering themselves and lives being changed. All these vital truths are what comprise the essence of revival. However, unless you and I grab hold of this final point from this final revival: that revival is for you and me, then we will only demonstrate our unbelief in the truths we found in the first three important revivals. 

P1 - Four Important Revivals

Genesis 4:25-26 "Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord."

Four revivals

Today's post is about relaying four important revivals. In our sketch of the four revivals, we will glean important truths that you and I can apply in our understanding of God's movement among His people.

1. The first revival. Genesis 4:45-46

This revival is significant because it is the first recorded move of God in the history of the world. In a recent sermon I heard on revival, the Evangelist pointed out how all revivals are couched in the context of man's rebellion. The back story behind this move of God in Genesis 4 is that as a result of Cain's murder of Abel, Adam and Eve conceived a son and named him "Seth". The name "Seth" in the Hebrew language speaks of "one appointed or designated in the place of another". Clearly Eve's remarks of Seth being God's ordained replacement for her deceased son Abel bears out the meaning of the text. 

However the subsequent birth of Seth's son Enosh leads to this curious remark in Genesis 4:26 "Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord". In the Hebrew text, the word translated "began" is from a verbal root referring to the men being "caused" or "influenced" to call upon the name of the Lord. In other words, there was a powerful influence that was exerted upon the men of Seth's day that resulted in their being a wide spread move of God. We know from the testimony of scripture that only the Holy Spirit's movement upon the hearts of men can result in their free and unhindered pursuit of Him. Thus we learn the first anchoring point of revival from this first major revival: God's Sovereignty. 

2. The defining revival - 2 Chronicles 7:1-14

Genesis 4:25-26 is an important revival worth learning from because it was the first. In that move of God we see that unless God initiates revival, no revival will occur. However there is one text in the Bible that is used more often than any other to define revival - 2 Chronicles 7:1-14. I f we include the prior chapter of 2 Chronicles 6:40-42, we can see the following template for revival:

a. Prayerful waiting on God. 6:40-42

King Solomon and the priests had positioned themselves in humble waiting on God. The focus came not be on themselves or even upon the temple they were dedicating, but upon Yahweh. 

b. Powerful visitation from God. 7:1-3

The fire fell and God visited His people. Unless we come to regard God as V.I.P in our hearts, lives and churches, He will not move powerfully in our midst.

c. Particular focus upon the blood. 7:4-7

The seeming excess of Solomon's sacrifices were thank offerings. The primacy of the blood in this text points to the blood of Jesus which would be the end all of end all sacrifices. Jesus' death and resurrection fulfilled all that the Old Testament sacrifices pointed. To not include the cross in our idea of revival disarms the power to crucify self, the enemy of all moves of God. 

d. Praise and worship. 7:8-10

Certainly the fruit of revival ought to be increased worship and praise. Worship is declaring war on the kingdom of darkness and asserting the reality of Jesus as King of Kings, Lord victorious! The Kingdom of Solomon was visualized most supremely here, being that it was only made possible by God's delegated Kingdom authority working through Solomon and Israel. Likewise God's Kingdom is glimpsed in the church through those extraordinary seasons of revival.

e. Persistent humility. 7:11-14

The thunder and lightening of revival is maintained most consistently through humility and child-like dependance upon God. We aim not in revival to merely see the hand of God, but the face of our Father. As we focus upon the Son and lean upon the Spirit Whom He sent in the Son's name, the uncreated life of God Himself will intersect the life of the church. Jesus as God in human flesh exhibited this Divine trait of humility through His human portrayal of it. (see Philippians 2:1-11) Only when we are humbled before God will He move and raise up His church in due time. (James 4:8; 1 Peter 5:6) 

This second important revival sets the template for what God wants when it comes for the proper conditions and atmosphere for Him to move extraordinarily in the lives of His people. A fine definition of revival I heard from a preacher goes something like this: "A revival is a Divine infusion of Divine life into the church through the inflowing, outflowing and overflowing of the Holy Ghost." 

More tomorrow.....

A surface level view of spiritual warfare

Acts 28:21-22 They said to him, “We have neither received letters from Judea concerning you, nor have any of the brethren come here and reported or spoken anything bad about you.22 But we desire to hear from you what your views are; for concerning this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere.”

Ephesians 6:11-12  "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Introduction:

In the two opening verses of today's post, the closing of the book of Acts views Paul's situation as it is in the visible, surface-level realm. Paul is under house arrest in Rome. Having appeared before Caesar, Paul would finish out his two-year period of time attached to a Roman soldier as he shared the Gospel to whomever would give him a hearing. The second passage from Ephesians 6 was written to the church at Ephesus during Paul's house arrest in Rome. Whereas Acts 28:21-31 gives the reader a look at spiritual warfare on the surface, Ephesians 6:11-20 takes the reader below the surface and reveals what all takes place in the spiritual realm. 

Both passages taken together give the reader a full view of what all takes place in the Christian's engagement with the kingdom of darkness. Today's post will be looking at Acts 28:21-31 to better understand how we can discern whenever we are dealing with spiritual warfare on the surface of things. What characterizes spiritual warfare in the visible realm of everyday life, and what indicates we have reached a point of victory? To answer these questions, we will consider Acts 28:21-31 in short order:

1. Opposition.  Acts 28:21-22

Acts 28:22 states - "But we desire to hear from you what your views are; for concerning this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere.” It should not shock Christians to discover that the world is opposed to Jesus Christ and the scriptures. Whenever we get out of a civilian mentality of personal peace and affluency and into a soldier mode of fighting the good fight of faith, such realities are regarded as par for the course. The opponents of the Apostles and the early church referred to them as quite literally a "heresy". Furthermore, the phrase translated "spoken against everywhere" could just as easily be rendered "refused in all directions". Opposition that we see in the culture against the Bible and Jesus Christ ought to tell us that we are dealing with spiritual warfare. But notice a second surface level characteristic...

2. Unbelief. Acts 28:23-24

As the Gospel is faithfully proclaimed over time, a polarization develops among people who are listening. The Spirit of God will move upon the hearts of listeners to believe and be saved. For others who choose to persist in the opposition, they remain unpersuaded. The idea of the verb translated "would not believe" is a pretty good rendering by the NASB. Willful, ongoing refusal to heed the Gospel is the result of the efforts of Satan and his counter-kingdom in blinding the minds of unbelievers to the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:4-6) Whenever we see persistent unbelief, we must not quit proclaiming the Gospel nor praying. Our weaponry is not of the flesh nor of man but of God. (2 Corinthians 10:3-4) So we can say that on the surface, opposition and unbelief characterize the surface level spiritual warfare that we see in the culture. However there are two other traits that we find in the church-world...

3. Disharmony. Acts 28:25

Acts 28:25a reads - "And when they did not agree with one another, they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word....".  The underlined word translated "did not agree" is an interesting word in the original language that could literally be rendered "out of harmony". Certainly these folks in Acts 28 were Jews, however the phenomena of disharmony is recognizable and identified in the church as well. Have you ever been part of a church that is out of harmony? What is the cause of disharmony in the local church? First of all the fleshly, selfishness of believers who are carnally minded (1 Corinthians 3:1-3; James 4:1-4) and then Satan, the accuser of the brethren (Zechariah 3; Revelation 12:10). Whenever God is moving among the people of God, be ready for the kingdom of darkness to stir up an anti-revival. But notice another trait of surface-level spiritual warfare in addition to opposition, unbelief and disharmony....

4. Spiritual blindness. Acts 28:26-29

Sadly this trait is seen as much in churches than in the world. Whenever Paul quotes Isaiah 6:9-10 in Acts 28:26-28, he is quoting a passage that is an indictment against the people of God. Notice the characteristics of spiritual blindness: lack of discernment,perception (28:26); dullness, inability to hear the message, inability to take in God's word to the heart, ineffectiveness of application (28:27). If the church body has corporately grieved the Holy Spirit, that church begins to operate under a closed heaven. Unless the church repents and mends her ways, the kingdom of darkness will continue to retain success. All the preaching and singing in the world will be to those who are spiritually blind a waste of time. 

The mark of victory in spiritual warfare on the surface

So thus far we have considered the four traits of surface level warfare: opposition, unbelief, disharmony and spiritual blindness. But now what indicates we have began to gain a victory for God in a church or community. The closing verses of Acts 28:30-31 tells us: "And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, 31 preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered." Now notice what I did not say in this final point. I did not say that the warfare had ceased. If you read the parallel passage of Ephesians 6:11-120 you will find out that the warfare won't end until Jesus comes. Nor did I say that the enemy won't try another angle. 

Rather the tide of the battle changes as God's Word gets planted in the hearts and minds of God's people. When the Kingdom of God is manifested, the Word has no hindrance. I have been at places where this has happened. There is no need to beg people to come to church nor is there any need to beg people to go out and share the Gospel. The people are getting it and they're taking it and running it to where it needs to go. 

Our problem so often is that we quit before the battle changes course. For those Christians and churches who keep-on-keeping on, the victory side of spiritual warfare can at times verge on the miraculous. Still even then, the battle cry for the church on this side of eternity is to keep on fighting the good fight of faith.