Sermon - Revival

Scripture reading: Isaiah Chapter 61

The hardest thing for me to do is to decide what to tell you. There so much I could discuss. I want to talk about how our determined pursuit of worship will influence if we will see revival. How the way we honor people will foster revival. How the exercise of spiritual gifts will facilitate revival. How the fellowship of the brethren will spark revival. But I don’t have time to do all of this. So I’ve isolated 2 or 3 aspects of revival that I think are what Father wants me to share today.

Full disclosure: I believe the Bible teaches revival. I believe in revival. I believe Father wants a lot of people in heaven. His desire is that none would perish, and I’d like to do whatever I can to make sure that Father would get as much of His desire as possible.

When I think about revival the first thing I think about is praying for our church to know “on earth as it is in heaven.” To me, that means revival right here, in our church. That’s what I pray for, a Holy Spirit explosion on Jackrabbit lane.

Everything good that happens here is because of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Powerful worship? Holy Spirit. Anointed sermon? Holy Spirit. Great people? Holy Spirit. These good things of this church are not the result of a 5 year plan or someone sitting down and deciding that next Sunday we are going to have extended spontaneous worship and Holy Spirit will move. Doesn’t happen that way.

So we can’t dictate revival, but we can pray it in, and that’s why I pray. I know many in our church are dedicated to prayer. We can pray for the life giving, life changing ministry of the Holy Spirit. The reason I’m explaining this is because I want to fan into flame a burden to pray for revival so a great harvest would be brought in. Amen?

Say this with me: If it’s kingdom... if it’s Holy Spirit… I want it.

I want to approach revival more from a doctrinal perspective today. Not a dry intellectual pursuit, but more like I want to provide a biblical basis for revival which informs your understanding, builds your faith, and spurs you to action.

First let's define terms. I would use revival, renewal, awakening, restoration, and a "move of God" interchangeably. They do mean different things, but I’ll just use the word “revival” to describe any kind of Holy Spirit intervention into human affairs, where He transformatively moves on a scale larger than perhaps a few people. This might manifest as multiple salvations, healings, rededications, restored marriages, etc.; all these would be evidence of revival. Revival might overtake a church, a city, a region, or even an entire country (or more).

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Cessationism - Episode 17 - Could only apostles confer miraculous powers or gifts?

Our next Episode in the cessationism series.

Additional Episodes:

• Episode 1, the Perfect.
• Episode 2, the apostles.
• Episode 3, prophecy.
• Episode 4, the closed canon.
• Episode 5, extra biblical reasons.
• Episode 6, only the apostles had all truth.
• Episode 7, there were only limited periods of miracles.
• Episode 8, tongues.
• Episode 9, the work of the Holy Spirit.
• Episode 10, does God speak only through the Scriptures?
• Episode 11, what about impressions?
• Episode 12, what is discernment? 
• Episode 13, the sufficiency of Scripture.
• Episode 14, Was the purpose of miracles restricted to the authentication of the apostles?
• Episode 15, Is revival excluded because of apostasy?
• Episode 16, is prophecy subjective?
• Episode 17, Could only the apostles confer miraculous powers or gifts?
• Episode 18, are charismatics functional cessationists?

Our criteria for the cessationism debate is that the argument must

1. be from the Bible
2. not appeal to contemporary expressions of charismata
3. not appeal to silence
4. not appeal to events or practices of history

That is, any defense of cessationism must be Sola Scriptura.
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The Prosperous Lifestyle of America’s Anti-Prosperity Gospel Preacher - By Julie Roys

Found here. 
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It is sad indeed to learn of a pastor who has excessively profited from his ministry. It is sadder still when such a person has been very vocal regarding the failings of other pastors in this same thing. Dr. MacArthur recently said, "The Apostle Paul described false teachers as doing...when he’s writing to Timothy...is doing what they do for money. They make merchandise of you. That’s what false teachers do. They’ve always done it. They make merchandise out of you, they turn you into a commodity to make them rich. In the words of Peter, “Don’t ever minister for filthy lucre.” The irony, in this particular case, gives us no satisfaction.

Apparently Dr. MacArthur has done very well for himself, according to the below article. Having said that, we don't know Dr. MacArthur's heart. We don't know his motivations. We only can evaluate the evidence presented, and it seems clear that Dr. MacArthur is very well paid, indeed.

After the article the reader will find a rather weak defense of Dr. MacArthur. We will provide commentary on that.

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The Kingdom of God

We have been pursuing our Doctrinal Rethink for some time now. In the process of engaging it we have begun to question certain beliefs, church structures, and practices of the western church. Too often we have discovered unbiblical doctrines and activities. This causes us concern.

Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched? How did we arrive at our doctrines?

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Living proof you should follow Beth no Moore - by Michelle Lesley

Excerpted from here. Our comments in bold.

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We have no desire to defend Beth Moore; rather, it is our intent to examine the author's erroneous and sometimes foolish assertions.

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What Christians Should Know About the Enneagram - JOE CARTER

Found here. 

Ever since hearing of the enneagram we have wondered what it was. So we are happy to have found some information on it form the Christian perspective.

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46 and Done: Why Joe Biden Should Be Our Last President - by Alexis Grenell

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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The author is a socialist, which inevitably means she wants a governmental system that centralizes power in order for her preferred agenda to get installed. This is the obsession of leftists, that the American constitution is faulty, the people have too much power, America is evil, stupid, and/or racist; therefore, revolution is needed.

She pretends to want a parliamentary system, which is simply a convenient way to overthrow our wonderful system of constitutionally-limited government, but the pretense is just an excuse for socialism. 

The author has no room for those who embrace the framers, limited government, or citizen legislatures. 

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Cessationism - Episode 16 - Is prophecy subjective?

Our next Episode in the cessationism series.

Additional Episodes:

• Episode 1, the Perfect.
• Episode 2, the apostles.
• Episode 3, prophecy.
• Episode 4, the closed canon.
• Episode 5, extra biblical reasons.
• Episode 6, only the apostles had all truth.
• Episode 7, there were only limited periods of miracles.
• Episode 8, tongues.
• Episode 9, the work of the Holy Spirit.
• Episode 10, does God speak only through the Scriptures?
• Episode 11, what about impressions?
• Episode 12, what is discernment? 
• Episode 13, the sufficiency of Scripture.
• Episode 14, Was the purpose of miracles restricted to the authentication of the apostles?
• Episode 15, Is revival excluded because of apostasy?
• Episode 16, is prophecy subjective?
• Episode 17, Could only the apostles confer miraculous powers or gifts?
• Episode 18, are charismatics functional cessationists?

Our criteria for the cessationism debate is that the argument must

1. be from the Bible
2. not appeal to contemporary expressions of charismata
3. not appeal to silence
4. not appeal to events or practices of history

That is, any defense of cessationism must be Sola Scriptura.
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The Rapture will occur before the Tribulation - By Elizabeth Prata

 Found here. Our comments in bold. 

Ms. Prata and people like her are adamant that women should not teach men. It is becoming increasingly clear that she should not teach women either.

The author makes every attempt to fit the Scriptures into her doctrine. She makes several obvious mistakes.

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