Chris Hodges - Lord Send Revival
Well, Happy New Year, everybody. So good to see you, it really is. What a powerful time of worship. Amen, everybody? Just sense the presence of God in this place, everybody? I do, I really do. And it's just so good to be here on this first Wednesday of the year with you all. I want you to know how much I love you, and you're my church family, you know, and just I love you with all my heart, and I'm grateful to God for you. I feel like I've got a word for you, tonight. Y'all ready to study the Bible? Yes or no? Yes?
Let me look into the camera and say hello to all the campuses. Pray for every single one of you every day, your leaders and everybody involved there, and I just want you to know how much I love you guys, as well. I know you had an amazing time of worship. And as powerful here at Grants Mill, I know it was everywhere. And I want you to get your heart ready for God to speak to you in a mighty way. Amen, everybody? Who loves Jesus in this place? Anybody, anybody? I'm just checking, all right. Put your hand on your heart. Would you do that?
So, Father, in the name of Jesus, as we open up the Word of God, we're asking you, Lord, to do something deep, deep in us. We don't want a superficial word, and we don't want just something that educates our minds, God. We want our lives changed. And so, Lord, we're making room in our hearts for the Word of God. We revere, obey, respect, love, honor your Word tonight, Lord. And God, we're asking that it have its full work in our lives, 30, 60, and 100-fold, and we promise, God, we're going to give you all the glory, in Jesus's mighty name. And everybody said a good...
Give him a praise offering one more time again, everybody. Can't praise him enough. That's awesome. All right, if you have your Bibles, I want you to get them out or get something to write with and on. And if you're new to first Wednesday, we've made some changes, obviously. Do y'all like the new time, everybody? Thanks, I think it's gonna work, all right? We've gotten some good response, especially from those who have small children, that this is better. But, of course, we know that narrows the times between work and getting here, and so all of the campuses are attempting to provide food. We have some restrictions at some of the portable locations, where they don't allow us to, but where we can, like here at Grants Mill and many of the locations there were food trucks.
And so we're trying to kind of fill that time for you. And so we're going to continue to grow it, and you can certainly give input to your campus team about ways that we can serve you better. One of our desires is also not just to kind of let you get home a little sooner, especially for the little ones, by 8 o'clock or so, but also and to feed you. But we literally love for there to be community, you know, and just hanging out, and just spending some time together, and be a church family. Amen, everybody? And I think it's important. We all think it's important, and our team, we spend a lot of time together toward the end of the year, several weeks planning, praying, preparing, and really asking, and we always ask ourselves, "What can we do differently or better"?
And this is one of the things that the team came up with. So, we are excited about these new adjustments. I won't even tell you some of the other things that I've been dreaming about this night, but I just, I think it's so important for you to make this a priority, because we're going to dive a little deeper into God's Word. It's going to be a little bit more verse by verse, biblical teaching, and we're going to put our best teachers in front of you, the ones who are not just preaching to you or, you know, just giving you some life type rules or whatever, like, you know, that are important to have, but we really want to teach you God's Word, want you to know God's Word. Can I hear a good amen, everybody? All right?
Hey, one more thing... or two more things, about. One is, of course, we have the fast coming up on Sunday, all right. And for a lot of people, Sunday will be the day that we tell them about it, because they weren't here, and so they'll actually start on Monday, but you're getting a head start. And I do want you to pray and think about what type of fasting you will do, and I'm going to ask all of you to do some type of fasting. And there's a lot of different ways, of course, to fast, and we put all that information on our website, and most of you have already been taught about prayer and fasting, but it's powerful. When you start the year, and you set aside, you know, something that means a lot to you, come on, food, everybody, right? And just set aside and just, and it's not about punishment or, you know, that kind of an attitude toward God.
God doesn't want you punished or miserable. But we want to set aside the things of the world so that we can hyper focus for 21 days on the things of God. And, of course, we'll be in prayer. Want all of you to come, if you can come. Join me. I'll be here every single day, here, and just leading, and just praying and seeking God with all of my heart. And so I just want to invite you to jump in to 21 days of prayer. I think that's going to be the most powerful one yet. And then last thing is, is January is kind of a month, once we get past Christmas and the New Year, it's a month where we kind of get ready for our next small group semester. And if you've been at the Highlands, you know this. The backbone of our church are groups.
So, Sundays are important, but that's not the backbone. That's the catalyst, that's the energy, that's the explosion. That's where everybody says, "Okay, I'm gonna do it". But small groups is where we work it out, where we have covering, where we have prayer, people praying for us every day, where we have, you know, people that are just watching over our lives, that if something did happen to you, I hope that doesn't happen, but if it did, you have this support group around you. And if you're trying to see your life change, you're only going to be successful as you are accountable to someone else to say, "Hey, look, I'm attempting to learn this, grow in this, stop doing this". It's your group where that happens.
And so I do want to invite, because normally our Wednesday night crowd at every location tend to be some of the more solid people, mature people of our church, because you prioritize church in this kind of a way. I do want to invite you, and I just want to personally ask you to consider leading a group this semester. And we have lots of curriculum. I have a curriculum based on all the books I've written. We even provide curriculum on every Sunday sermon. So, there's questions and discussion. And we would just love for you to really host a group or lead a group this 13-week semester that's coming up. And it has an end date, all right, and we think that's one of the... makes it easy, as well. And then you always have a co-leader, and you have a coach, and you have people praying for you, and people that you can call. So, like, we still try to support you in every way.
And I want you to hear this. If you've really wanted to grow, okay, if you want to grow, like, we're hoping it helps the group that you lead, but I promise you, it's probably going to help you better than anybody else; because when you've gotta vacuum that floor, come on, somebody, right? And put out them Doritos after the fast, and grow with people. It's a powerful time. It really is. And you'll just, you'll just really grow. So, I do want to personally invite you to jump into that. Turn your Bibles with me two places: Matthew 24, 2 Chronicles 15. If you have your Bibles with you, Matthew 24, and then go to 2 Chronicles 15. We're gonna look at those two places, primarily. I have a lot of other supporting verses with you. I do encourage you to bring a paper Bible. You don't have to, by the way. I don't have mine out here. Mine doesn't leave my house, to be honest with you. I just don't let, it's so precious to me, honestly. It never leaves my house. I don't travel with it or anything.
So, I have my iPad up here, but I encourage you to bring a paper Bible. I do want to encourage you to take some notes on your phone or on some paper, because I am gonna, I'm gonna work hard, prepare for you and give you some meat. All right, everybody? This is not milk. This is meat. All right, everybody? And we're gonna study God's Word. Let me set it up and tell you a little journey I've been on for the past almost, about 2 months now. And I'm trying not to really over-sensationalize this story. I don't want to be a drama person here, but I'm extremely concerned about America, and I'm extremely shocked by the changes that have happened in the last ten years. I'm sad. I'm just sad about the moral decay that's happening in our land right now, and I really, I just, I'm in... and honestly, even in the church. I mean, it's so hard at Highlands 'cause, you know, things work here, honestly.
Let me just say it plainly. Things work here, but they haven't worked like they used to. Even here, it's different. I'm just telling you it's different. We work harder to get people's attention than ever before. We're working harder to lead people into lives that we believe God desires for them. It's just, you don't see it, because so much happens here. I'm telling you, it's different, and it's not just because of COVID and what happened through those years. Even before that, just before that, there was beginning to be this decay, and I was seeing it, because I work with a lot of churches, and we serve about 17,000 churches we're resourcing and helping and trying to, you know, and it's just different. The pastors are different. They're just not in the best place ever. Churches are starting to teach some stuff that I'm concerned about.
Then you get all these studies, you know, that say about how, you know, there are less people that are Christian in America, and we are, honestly, we're one of 17 nations, there's roughly about 200 nations. There are 17 that are not growing right now, the kingdom of God is not growing. Some are in decline. Some are in stasis, but they're not growing. We're one of them. By the way, the gospel is growing in 187 nations around the world, faster than population. Give God praise for that. It's awesome. But then you just see things, I mean, it just grieves me. I mean, you turn on the TV, and you see them celebrating drag queens, and you see them, you know, they're fighting to get in libraries to read little kids stories. And then you've got this, you know, the whole trans movement, and everybody wants you to accept it. And I'm just grieved, y'all.
And, honestly, I mean, I'm just gonna say it like... can I say it like I'm feeling it right now, everybody? I mean, just, I mean, America's thirst for abortion, it drives, I mean, I just, I mean, what is the deal? What is going on here? And, man, just angry about it, fighting for the ability, just... I don't know, man. I just, it just, I've been grieved. And I'm not a... if you know me, I'm not, I don't feel like I'm called to be that guy that just yells at everybody and, you know, tells them they're gonna go to hell. Turn or burn. Get right or get left. I don't do all that, you know, just, that was funny. I was trying to find some comic relief. It's okay. You can laugh a little bit, everybody. And, man, murder? Murders like every day. Like, it's common.
You know, four college students got stabbed to death. What's the next news item? You know, it's just, and we've gotten used to it. And I mean, even myself... I don't know about you, but I don't feel safe sometimes on the streets and in places you go. And, you know, Tammy and I used to love to, you know, about every 2 or 3 years go up to New York City. We're not even thinking about it anymore. And it's not just that city. It's really, I don't know, I don't know. I just... and then my own journey here at Highlands the last year, I just, man, God's hand of blessing's on us in a great way. And my goodness, the college, we're doing things wrong, and God's blessing. God's blessing it. And we're not, but you know what I mean. It's like, it's just God is helping us. And we are not this good. You know what I'm saying? And so I feel God's presence. But I've asked God, I have asked God, "Are we doing something wrong? Is there something that needs to change"?
And I spent, once I got the "At the Movies" messages recorded, 'cause I do all that. You know, I'm preaching like the series we're in, but I'm also like recording and doing, so I'm like doubling up. It's a hard 3 or 4 weeks, but then I get a couple, 2 or 3 weeks off. I preached the first week of "At the Movies," and I took the next two weeks off, and Tammy and I just got away. And she'll tell you I spent, probably, 6, 7, 8 hours a day with the Lord. And I was just crying out to God. And I'm like, "Something's wrong". You know, something's wrong. And it's happening on my watch, honestly. And I was like, "Lord, what do I need to do? Do I need to repent? Do I need to change some things"? Like, what is happening here?
And again, I'm not trying to over-dramatize this. I'm just telling you my story. And so the Lord brought me to, like, a 3-day study of revival, and I started studying revival. I read and studied every revival from the Reformation to the Jesus Movement. I mean, I just was looking at the condition of the land, and what they had to do, and what they did do. And when did it change? And how did it change? And I've got this book that's already out. It came out on December 27th on prayer. And I think the timing of it was the Lord, honestly, and it's just everything I've learned about prayer over 40 years, I put it in a book, but it wasn't because I feel like I'm an author, or need to write, or sell books or anything. It's like I really wanted to stir up this prayer movement.
In fact, we had the Grow Conference this year. My last session was on starting a prayer revival in your churches. And I just think, I'm just trying. I'm just trying to do whatever it takes to see if, in our generation, we could see the will of God be done, you know? And so I've shared it with my lead team, and I've shared it with the elders, and I've shared it with the staff, and this is a message kind of still in progress, and I'm not even sure if this is what's going on. I'm just gonna tell you what I'm learning, okay? I'm not even saying, I'm not saying, man, we're close. Jesus is about to return. I don't know that. All I know is that things are different now. It's just different now, about people's view of marriage, and gender, and sexuality, and I mean it's just different. It's changed, and it's changing fast, fast, fast. Are y'all with me, everybody? Okay.
So, here's the deal. Jesus did say, and I'm not saying this is what's going on. I'm just gonna tell you what he said. He did say, "At that time", and that time is the end time, "many are going to turn away from the faith". So, that's gonna happen. So, we see this falling away, and people who once really loved God, don't anymore. Jesus said it would happen. "And they'll betray and hate each other". And then there's gonna be these false prophets telling people the wrong stuff, and that's happening. You've got pastors who have gone woke. You've got pastors who are deconstructing. I mean, it's sad. And they're gonna deceive a lot of people. And because of the increase of wickedness, and if it can get anymore wicked, I'd hate to see what it looks like. But because of it, the love of a lot of people, most, Jesus said, not some, a few. No, like, most of them, their love for God is gonna grow cold just because of the wickedness in the land, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. But at the same time, you say, "Well, how do I know these seven nations"? 'Cause Jesus said that too. And this gospel will be preached.
So, while all that's going on, people are falling away in deceit... look, there's gonna be like the whole world is gonna get a testimony of Jesus Christ, and then the end will come. So, that is happening. All right, so if it is happening now, if we are in that moment, and I'm not even saying we are, at the very least, I want to prepare you for when it happens. If we're in it now, then we need to do this now. And I'm not saying, I just, honestly, I don't know. All right? I don't know. I just know that this is not new. It's happened before, and there are patterns in the Bible and in history. I mean, when I studied those from the Reformation in the 1500s to the Jesus Movement in the 1970s, like, there was some patterns of evil and the patterns of how God moved, and I just want you to be aware of them. I've entitled this message, tonight, "Lord, Send Revival". Amen, everybody? You ready?
All right. So, now you're in 2 Chronicles 15. So, it did say, "In those days..." In those days, these horrible days, "it was not safe to travel..." So, I just kind of throwing that out there. They felt the same thing that a lot of us feel, "for all the inhabitants of the land were in great turmoil", watch this, "One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because..." And those of you who have your Bibles, you're reading ahead of me. Those of you that don't have a Bible, you don't know what's on the other side of it. You probably would say because the devil's really been bad that day, and the devil's just the devil, man, the devil. It's just the devil. But that's not what it says. I'm just warning you it's a shocking twist to the plot, that all this bad stuff and distress, and stuff's happening because God, God was troubling them.
That's an interesting phrase. I mean, if God is your problem, it doesn't matter who you elect. Come on, somebody, right? I mean, what if God, what if God's troubling them with every kind of distress? You say, "Well, PC, that's the Old Testament". You would be right. In the Old Testament, God judged and showed his wrath very actively, okay? And so, I mean, we read it yesterday in the One-Year Bible, if you're reading that, I mean, yesterday, he's just like, "Man, I'm sorry I made these people. Flood". I mean, it was over, you know. It was just over. "And I'm gonna start over, you know". And you have lots of stories like that. Of course, because of the cross of Jesus Christ, the wrath of God is fully satisfied, but God still chose his wrath and the judgment, not in an active way, but in a passive way, and I'll show it to you. Because if you go to the book of Romans, this is in the New Testament, the wrath of God is still being revealed, but it's different.
So, he doesn't bring floods, and he doesn't strike you and turn you into a pillar of salt, and he, you know, doesn't put leprosy all over your body. He doesn't do that, but the wrath of God is being revealed, and I want to show this to you, because you've gotta understand it. It's huge, "from heaven against all the godlessness", and that's certainly, in my opinion, what we have here, "and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness". And in verse 24, it tells him how he shows his wrath. Watch this. He gives them over. So, it's like, "If that's what you want, I'm gonna let you have it". Now, he didn't do it to them, and he doesn't actively punish, because the wrath of God's been satisfied by the cross, but he just says, "All right, help yourself then". He'll "give them over to the sinful desires of their hearts, to sexual impurity, the degrading of their bodies with one another".
And it says it again in verse 26. And "God gave them over to shameful lusts. And even the women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones". Verse 28, "Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, God gave them over". So, three times it tells us the wrath of God is revealed by he just saying, "Well then help yourself. If that's what you want, I'm gonna let you see what it's like". So, this is not floods and leprosy and salt pillars. This is what I call just divine abandonment. Help yourself then. And this is just not a place I'm willing to live. And it cannot... I will resign tomorrow if God abandon... I cannot lead this church with God saying... with just, with God abandoning us.
And I don't think he is, by the way. I'm not saying that he has. I just don't want this so bad, and I know he will do, he can give you over, where everything you're accomplishing, you're accomplishing on your own. Help yourself. With God, there's peace. Here's what you know when he's with you. There's peace, there's covering. You feel, like, it's raining outside, but you're under an umbrella. So, it's out there still. It's like, wow, my God. But you don't feel wet, and God gets involved. Now, we're sensing that in a lot of ways right now at our church, and in our college, and, you know, the things we set to, our hands to, are God's blessing. Without God, though, it's the opposite of that. There's chaos. You feel exposed. And God's not mad. He's just silent. And he'll do that. He'll just, "Help yourself".
So, what do we do about all this? Like, how are we to respond, if that's what's happening? If God's troubling us, if God's our problem, well, let's go back to the text and find out why it happened and how we can get out. Because in 2 Chronicles 15, it tells us both. All right? So, let's deal with how they got there, where God now is troubling you, or abandoning you. And back in verse 3, it says, "For a long time Israel was," watch the three things, "without a true God, without a priest to teach, without the law". Three things. So, let's just break those down a little bit, if we're doing a Bible study tonight. I'm just gonna give you exegetical study here. This is actually how I study my Bible. I saw three "withouts" when I was reading my Bible, and I parked there for a while, because they all started with the same way.
So, I just like, what does that mean? What does it mean without a true God? And I'd say, so they had a god. It just wasn't the true God. And a god is not an idol, a statue, or a religion. A god is just something you love a lot. In fact, remember, it's God who said, "You shall have no other gods before me," almost as if to say, "I don't mind you having other gods". And he's not talking about religions or faiths. He's talking about just things you love. "Like, I don't mind you loving your golf, or your shopping, or your sports team, or your cars, or what... I just can't, I can't be number two". And he won't be number two, okay? So, God's replaced, and we see this. I think we're seeing this, honestly, right now. It's not the absence of God. It's just a bunch of fake gods out there that people are finding their pleasure in.
And by the way, I think, by the way, if you want to look for it in your own life, "Hey, do I have a god," it's what you... it's your pleasure categories. And God doesn't mind you having pleasures. He just won't let them be the main thing. So, I don't know that this is the case. I am not talking, trying to... I'm not picking on any group or anything, but I just know that serving God is not the priority it was when I started this church. I'm just telling you. I mean, people wake up now, "Honey, you want to go to church"? "I don't know. Let's watch it Tuesday night". Really? I mean, it's just like, "Nah, it's raining". Or, "Nah, it's sunshiny". You know what I'm saying? It's either way, it's like, "I don't know". And there's just not a lot of conviction. There are just things out there, I'm just submitting to you, that are in front of God in a lot of categories.
And I look at my own heart, as well. I just don't want to be this. And the second one, it says... remember it says without a priest to teach? Preachers were silent. And then the last thing I'm gonna do in this message is look into that camera and point to any other preacher. You follow God, sir, ma'am, however God shows you to do it. All I know is believe the Bible, teach the Bible. Believe the Bible, teach the Bible. Like, teach, give them the whole Bible, and that's... because there were plenty of priests. They just weren't talking about the Bible much or picking and choosing the stuff, because it's just not popular. And I know this probably will get me in trouble, man. I just know it probably will. But there's stuff in the book that society just says, "Nuh-uh," and God says, "Uh-huh". And we've gotta decide which side of the "huh" we gonna be on. Isn't that right, everybody? And just, I don't know. And so I'm not changing. I'm just saying we're gonna believe what God has to say about marriage, life, people, morality. We're just not gonna change.
And then you have this third phrase, "They were without the law". So, now absolute truth is abandoned. So, you have God's replaced, preachers silent, and then truth abandoned. And we're there. We're like, "Nah, man, I'm making up my own rules". The big phrase, especially among younger people, and it's true of every people, but it's my truth. This is my truth. No, there's not but one truth, everybody, and absolute truth cannot be kicked to the curb. If we do kick absolute truth to the curb, God is gonna mega-distress us, everybody. You're gonna feel it, and it's like dunking a basketball with a, like, with a rim that's just been lowered. And we can't lower the standard. So, you know, everybody's confused now about what a man is, what a woman is, who can have a baby. God's not confused, just God's not confused. And anyway, again, I'm not trying to get on anybody's case. I'm not trying to make this, "Oh, listen to me". I mean, I've got my own issues, honestly, and I need to, but I am submitting them fully to my God. That's all I can tell you, and that I'm wrong, and he's right, every time, all the time, and I'm just, that's all I'm saying.
So, last thing I want to do is put myself on, "I have got it figured out, and I am the standard for all others now". Man, I don't want that, any bit of that, and you don't either. Can I get a better amen, everybody? All right. So, we have God troubling them for three reasons, but then it says in verse 4, and we're still in 2 Chronicles 15. "But in their distress," they did three more things. These are good things to do. "They turned to the LORD, they sought him, he was found". All right, so they turned, they sought, they found him. Okay, here we are on the first Wednesday night of the year, and this is the play your pastor is calling. All right? So, we're starting Sunday 21 days of prayer, and I have three things in my agenda: to turn, to seek, and to find, everybody. That's what I'm gonna do, all right?
I just... so let me teach these, and I'm gonna bring this message to a close. What is turning to the Lord? I think that's the word "repentance". When you turn, it means you're headed in a direction, and you just decide, no, we're going in a different direction. We're going to confess our sins. And I spoke about it. I snuck it into my Christmas message. Y'all should've seen the first draft of my Christmas message. Woo, it was way too much. All right, everybody? It was, 'cause I was going here. It was like, ah, we need to, like, Lord... and I tamed it down a little bit to bring some people into it, but I'm ready to release it all, the full version of the Christmas, all right? And because we've gotta get back to lordship. We've gotta get back to, "I'm submitting to your kingdom, your rule".
If you look at any revival, there's not a single one from the Reformation to the Jesus Movement that wasn't marked by massive repentance. I mean, it was Martin Luther in 15-something, when he decided to, like, "Nah, we're doing it all wrong," and he went, and he nailed his 95 reasons, theses, to the door of the church. Do you know what thesis number one is? I'm gonna read it to you. So he had 95 reasons why we are doing this wrong, and we'd better get our act together, and this is the first one of the 95. "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance". Like, this is what Christianity should look like is, we just, "Lord, we come and say we are so sorry. And, God, we just humble ourselves before you". And you need to know that if you do that, God's eyes go wow, and it just changes everything. All right?
And you're thinking, "Well, PC, that's like Old Testament". It's not Old Testament. Hebrews chapter 12 says, "See to it that you do not refuse the conviction of the Holy Spirit on the inside. Because if they did not escape, you're not escaping either". He's, like, his wrath has been satisfied, but he still has the same standards, everybody. And if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven, "And at that time the voice shook the earth, and his promise", this is New Testament, "Once more," he says, "I will pour out my Spirit. I'll let it go throughout the earth. And the words 'once more' indicate the removing of what can be shaken, that is, created things, so that what cannot be shaken may remain. And therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken..."
In other words, we're not gonna be loose Christians and loose sins, "And, oh, I can do this. It's okay for me". No, no, no, no, that's shaking stuff. That's stuff that you're adding into your life that never intended to be attached to the car, and it's rattling, and we need to get rid of it, everybody. And so let us be thankful, and worship, respect, revere God acceptably with reverence and awe, because I'm just here to tell you he's a consuming fire in the New Testament too. Okay, I'm just saying, I'm trying to train you now in the Christianity that gets God's attention. I'm not even asking for you to be perfect or get it right all the time, because you can't. But what I am asking you to do is not to accept it, and keep it, and let it just stay in your life, and just slide on into heaven. That is not what we're called to do.
And if my people, who are called by the names, will humble themselves, fast, I am gonna tell my body no for 21 days. No. Yes, I want it, and no you can't have it. And I'm gonna pray and seek his face and turn from your wicked ways. Do you have wicked ways? I'm gonna tell you, you do, okay? I'm not trying to be ugly. You do. So, we turn from them. When's the last time you repented of something? When's the last time you went to God and said, "Oh, I just messed up royally. And this is not even close to being right, and it has to get out of my life". He's not even expecting you to actually get it all together in that prayer. He just wants to hear those words out of your mouth. And if he does, we will hear from heaven. He'll forgive us our sins, and he will heal our land, and our land needs healing. Are y'all with me, everybody?
I thought, I'm gonna spend most of the time on this repentance one. I'll give you the next two, but this one, I think, is the one that's missing. I mean, David, when he committed adultery with Bathsheba, what's interesting about King David, you know what's interesting about him? Like, he did more than most. There were people who did a lot less that God just like, "I'm done with you". And David was a mess, and he was a man after God's own heart. You know, I mean, just what is up with that? I'm gonna tell you what's up with it. David wasn't better. He was just more repentant. I'm telling you. And so this is the prayer he prayed after he committed adultery and had her husband murdered. So, there you go, okay? He said, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions".
Do you know what a transgression is? When you transgress is when you go too far. Would you just ask the Holy Spirit, "Holy Spirit, have I gone too far with something? Am I watching something, drinking something, looking at something, thinking something, hating on somebody, attitude? I don't know. Is there a place where I've gone too far"? You just ask. He'll tell you. You don't need me to tell you. "Wash away my iniquity". Iniquity is different from transgression. Iniquity is the condition of your heart. It's when your heart gets nasty. That's what the word means, in a good Cajun pastor's vernacular. There they go, all right, "and cleanse me from my sin". Sin is when you miss the mark. You didn't go far enough. Too far, nasty heart, not far enough. They're all three there. "For I know my transgression and my sin is always before me".
That's the Bible study part, though, anyway. I just, the three, anyway, there you go, okay. "Against you, you only, have I sinned and have done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely..." Actually, I've been this way since I was born. See, even today, I'm a little bit bothered by... 'cause it's a balance, but it's not in the right spot that we're telling everybody how wonderful they are. "You're so loved by God, and you're blessed and highly favored and just the apple of his eye". And all of it's true, but it's not in balance. The truth is we all a bunch of sinners, have been that way since we went, "Wah". It's just the truth. And so David said, and I'm gonna tell you this is why he got the favor of God. "My sacrifices". So, my giving, my worship, what I give to you, "My sacrifice is a broken spirit; and a broken and contrite heart God never despises". That's Old Testament. Let's go to the New. "God opposes the proud, gives favor to the humble".
So don't let God humble you. "Humble yourself". You want some great advice? Don't let God humble you. By the way, he will. And for some of you, where he's just, he's like your dad. He's like, "Don't make me get up out of this chair". You remember your dad would say that? And I'm telling you, God's like... he'll humble you. The best thing to do is, "Humble yourselves under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time". So, that's repentance. And I'm just, the play I'm calling is for all of us just to be like repentant Christians, just like we're always repenting. I'm just, "God, I just need, I need mercy, I need your grace. I thank you for all your goodness to me, but God, I need your mercy and your grace too". Come on, say amen right there.
Here's the second one, and that's... he says they sought him. Well, that's prayer. You know that. And I'm gonna teach this. I'm gonna teach it some on Sunday, as we start our prayer series, but I'll just tell you there has never been a spiritual awakening in human history that did not begin without united prayer. Hasn't happened. And that's why I'm so excited to seek God with you over these next 21 days. We're gonna go to church for 22 straight days. Come on, everybody. All right? And we're gonna sow righteousness for ourselves. We're gonna break up the unplowed. That's the hard-hearted ground. For it is time to seek the Lord until he comes and showers on us again. I don't want no divine abandonment. I want divine showers of Almighty God. And this is the prayer I felt like the Lord wanted us to pray during the fast.
Lord, I have heard of your fame. I've heard about what you've done. I heard, yeah, I've heard about the Reformation. I've heard about the Jesus Movement. I heard about the great awakenings. There are about three of them across America. I heard about massive repentance, revivals taking place, and I stand in awe, because I know you can do it. And here's my prayer, God: repeat it. Repeat it in my day, in our time make them known and in wrath remember mercy.
Come on, who's ready to pray, everybody? I'm ready to pray, yeah. And I'm excited. I did write a new book. This is what it looks like. I'm very excited about it, because I put everything I knew about prayer, 40 years of prayer in this book. And you will not pay, if you've already bought it online, well then yes you will, but if you didn't, if you didn't get it, yet, you're getting those at cost. And if you don't have the cost, you can just take it. I'm personally providing these for our church. I don't charge my church family. So, if you want it, they'll be here, available for you this Sunday. But I put everything I know about prayer the best I could in a book. And we're gonna start some powerful prayer times together.
So, yeah, it's gonna be good, in Jesus's name. All right. Tyler, come on out and play, my brother. There he is. I knew he was in the corner just waiting on, waiting on the word. Okay. So, they turned. That's repentance. They sought. That's prayer. But the Word says he was found by them. Well, that's what we want. We don't want normal. I don't want another just year. And I mean, our year, come on, let's... they're a great year. Some people call it revival. Yeah, but I'm looking for something else, y'all. I'm looking for... let me tell you what I'm looking for. I'm looking for massive salvations. I'm looking for passion for the mission field again. I'm looking for, I'm just looking for, I'm looking for signs and wonders. I want to lay my hands on sick people, and they get well, in Jesus. Like, I want to, like, you know what I'm talking about?
I've gotta read my notes for some of this stuff, 'cause it's just so much. This is where I had fun studying revival, because historically, and I'm gonna close with this, but historically, this is all just to get you excited. Leighton, you're gonna love this. Mark, you're gonna love this. 'Cause historically, historically, revivals happen in young people. Like, there's almost not an occasion where it didn't happen, and even better yet in college students. So, I spent an entire day studying the college revivals of America. Did you know that long before America was a nation, in 1636, Harvard was founded, like, in 1636's university. And did you know that the first stated purpose of Harvard University was "To be plainly instructed and consider well that the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ"? That's just true.
So, Yale had Jonathan Edwards' grandson. So, Jonathan Edwards was the guy who preached, "Sinners in the Hand of An Angry God," and a great awakening happened in America. Well, his grandson, Timothy Dwight, became the eighth president of Yale, and Yale's first requirements for students was, "Seeing that God is the giver of all wisdom, every student, besides his private and secret prayer, will be present morning and evening for public prayer". There was revival that happened at Princeton, and they created a pledge, and this is The Princeton Pledge. "We hold ourselves willing and desirous to do the Lord's work wherever he may call us, even if it be in foreign lands".
And I just kept reading over and over. And I'm gonna just tell you, because I want you to join me in prayer, I'm asking God to light a fire-a, not a fire, a fire-a all up in our young people and our college students. Come on, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, come on, Auburn. Where you at? Let's go. Fire-a. And I come in agreement with Billy Graham that "if a group of students gave themselves totally to Christ and began living for Christ, no matter what the cost, you could change your generation". I say, come, Lord Jesus, let it happen, let it happen, let it happen. Stand up with me, everybody. We start prayer Sunday. Prayer service is on Monday. But how about we have a prayer meeting right here in this room? How about at every location we slip up those hands right now and just praise God, and worship God, and seek God.
And Father, right now, Lord, we're crying out. The whole team, join me onstage, the whole band, just come on out. We just seek your face right now, Lord God, and we're asking, Lord, as we turn from our wicked ways, and as we confess our sins before you, and as we lean in and seek your face, God, and just go after you with all of our heart, Lord Jesus, we're asking, Lord, you send revival. In Jesus's mighty name, Lord God, we worship you. Hallelujah, Lord Jesus. Hallelujah, Lord Jesus.
Join the hand of the person next to you. Pray for the person on your right, right now.
Father, we ask for revival. It has to begin in us first, Lord. And God we just speak life, healing, the fire of God burning inside of every heart right now. Now that person on your left. Lord, whatever they're going through, God, just whatever they face, whatever they're dealing with, Lord, we thank you, God, you're not abandoning us, Lord God. You're raining down on us. We're gonna be people who turn, seek, and find you, Lord God. And Lord, we repent of everything that has grieved you or quenched your spirit. Have your way in our lives, Lord Jesus. Lord, we dedicate 2023 to you, Lord God, and our families, our church, our lives. We completely surrender to your will and your way, God. We expect great things, in the mighty name of Jesus.
Come on now, give him all the glory and all the praise, everybody. Come on, give him all the glory and all the praise, everybody. Mighty God, woo. Come on, how about the best praise in the history of Church of the Highlands. We magnify you, Lord. Woo! Praise Lord. Amen. Open your hands before the Lord.
So, Father, I just pray, in the mighty name of Jesus, for every person under the sound of my voice, that you bless them, keep them, make your face shine upon them. Lift up your countenance upon them, give them your grace and your peace. I bless my family. I bless every marriage, every child, our jobs, our health to you right now, Lord God. Now may the power of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit be with you, I pray, in Jesus's mighty name. And everybody said a good amen.