October
2006
Revival Preparation - Seasons of Refreshing
Lamentation 3:21-26
Recently I had a dream. In this dream I found myself preaching on a sidewalk on the main street of a town here in the mountains. Rain fell hard on the street. It was dark and cloudy. A crowd had gathered around me, which I recognized as friends and church members. Across the street people continued to walk, carrying umbrellas, glancing over at me on occasion. Cars continued to pass by, splashing water from the puddles. Horns blew. Windshield wipers waved back and forth.
The church people were listening intently and sounding “Amens”. But the people across the street appeared to pay very little attention to what I had to say. Then I reached a point in my preaching where I suddenly captured the attention of everyone. They stopped – seemed to freeze where they stood – and listened. I said in my dream something like this. “It takes people to keep our cities thriving. There is power in the human mind, power that keeps our hearts beating continuously. But, there is something here today more powerful than people. The storm and the rain you see all around us have great power to bring destruction on us – but this is something more powerful than the storm. It takes a power to enable these automobiles to move back and forth on the street. Yet the power I’m talking about is far greater than our technology.”
After I had built up to the climax with these comparisons, I concluded my sermon. “The power I am talking about is the Grace of God.” As I stated those final words, the people across the street smiled, broke out in applause, and rejoiced.
I have thought a lot about that dream these past two weeks. It is a dream that has incubated in my heart for a long time – a dream to witness and experience a sweeping revival across the mountains of eastern Kentucky. Is it possible? Our speaker at the prayer summit last Tuesday, John Franklin, who has studied great revivals of the past, shared with us about the great revival of the 1740’s. He told us how this awakening swept across the nation as it was at that time – the Midwest, western Kentucky, Louisville and Lexington, all up and down the 13 colonies from New England to Florida. But one area the revival skipped over was the area in which we live today – Appalachia. He told us that there was no report of a breaking out of revival here among the mountain people. Why did it skip over our area?
Could it have been pride, self dependence, or a hardening of the hearts of the people then? Could it have been that God wanted to pour our revival, but the people were not in tune with him? They weren’t prepared? They weren’t seeking Him in their lives? I don’t know why.
But I do believe today that God wants to send seasons of refreshing to us. Do you know what refreshing means? Re means “again” – to be made fresh again.
1. New to one’s experience; not encountered before.
2. Novel; different
3. Recently made, produced, or harvested; not stale or spoiled:
4. Not preserved as by canning, smoking, or freezing:
5. Not saline or salty: fresh water.
6. Not yet used or soiled; clean: a fresh sheet of paper.
7. Free from impurity or pollution; pure: fresh air.
8. Additional; new: fresh evidence.
9. Bright and clear; not dull or faded: a fresh memory.
10. Having the glowing, unspoiled appearance of youth: a fresh complexion.
11. Revived or reinvigorated, stimulated
Imagine being tired, hot and sweaty, and dirty. You step into the shower and wash up, rinse off, and dry off. You feel like a new person. That’s why rain is such a good thing. It not only provides us with water, but it literally cleans the roads, the rivers, and so on.
The book of Lamentations is a small book. If you look at this book in your Bibles today, you will notice that it has four chapters. The first, second, and last chapters have 22 verses each. That’s because the writer started each verse with a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. There are 22 letter in the alphabet, one for each verse. But in chapter three he starts three verses in a row with each letter – thus 66 verses. Why does he do this? I don’t know. But I do know that the third chapter gives us the formula for spiritual refreshing. He begins by talking about God’s wrath against sin, then God’s love for sinners (our text). Verses 37-41 are a call to repentance followed by a prayer of repentance in 42-47. The last part of the chapter voices the expectation that God is going to send relief.
There are three main messages in this little book.
First, the national disasters we face are directly linked with our neglect of God and neglect of social justice.
Look at America today. Breakdown of the family (abuse, divorce, homosexual unions, etc…), hurricanes unlike any in our history, terrorism attacks, suicides, violent crime, devaluing of human life, materialsm, drug and alcohol abuse, record number of prisons and inmates, loss of respect for authority, love of entertainment… In this book, the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah are to be understood for what it was – the direct hand of God to punish his people for years of sin and disobedience- and to open their eyes
Secondly, our only response is a simple return to God and a trusting obedience to the Lord.
If things are bad today, they can only get worse. The write tells us here that the only reason it isn’t worse is that he has mercy. Or we would have been completely consumed. His steadfast love never ceases and His mercies never end. If we got what we deserve, we’d all be in Hell. But his mercies are new every day. A new start. A new opportunity. A refreshing time. But these times can come only if we return to Him and do what He says. We have to stop making excuses and blaming the government and society. II Chronicle 7:14 -22, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Thirdly, Our Future Hope For Blessings Lies Only In The Lord.
This book is filled with prayers – prayers that God will make a change – that He will reverse their fortunes and do good to them. This book still lacks the complete revelation through Jesus Christ. We know that if we come to Him, he will give us rest. The writer tells us here (verses 24-25) that we are to hope in Him, wait for Him, and seek him.
Unless we turn to Him and seek Him in our lives, our future here looks dim. Without Jesus Christ, we have no hope.
So what do I do? One of my favorite verses in the Bible makes it quite simple. Acts 3:19-20, “Repent therefore, and be converted (return), that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.”
Through genuine repentance, we can experience God’s power and times of refreshing.