Revival a Choice — Merle Weaver

Transcript

That we pray. Yes lord have your way. We are just clay and you're everything. Father i pray you would mold us and make us to what you want us to be. That we would be fit instruments and best vessels for you.

That we might be worthy to contain this living water of life. And lord that you might choose us to pour it out to those around us. I pray this spot this morning. Father if you would come. I thank you that you are here.

Thank you for your presence. I thank you lord that you are everything and you're all we need. Father i pray this morning that you would just allow me to share what you put on my heart lord. And lord i pray you would make my tongue a vessel for your spirit an instrument of your power.

Lord and lord i pray that in all things you might have glory. We worship you. We praise you in jesus name. Then you may be seated. Greetings in jesus name. Good to see each one of you this morning. It's good to be here.

Just pray that this morning we can lift up the name of jesus desire. My heart is that this morning we could all draw closer to god. And he is close to us he is not far away if we want to draw close to him.

Seeking the Lord and Finding Him

For a text verse i would like to turn to act 17 verse 27 this morning. Act 17 27 that they should seek the lord if happily they might feel after him and find him though he be not far from every one of us.

One of the greatest passions or study subjects that i enjoy studying the most in my life is the subject of revival of god meeting with his people. And i would like to in our meditation and are looking at the scripture this morning just spend a little time thinking about revival.

Um a number of weeks ago brother emmanuel shared a message titled divine visitation. I really appreciated that message and by the grace of god i would like to just pick up a little bit on that subject some things that i've been meditating on since then and that god's been doing in my life.

I'd like to read the context there starting at verse 24 of act 17. God that made the world and all things therein seeing that he is lord of heaven and earth dwell not in temples made with hands. Neither is worship with men's hands as though he needed anything.

See give us seeing he give it to all life and breath and all things have made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and have determined the times before appointed in the bounds of their habitation that they should seek the lord if happily they might feel after him and find him though he be not far from every one of us.

For in him we live and move and have our being as certain. Also your own poets have said for we are also his offspring. Stop reading. There seems to me that as we study scripture here there is a clear thread that finds its way all the way through the scriptures.

It's a very simple concept that if we seek for god we will find him. If we seek after him we shall find him. I'd like to start back in deuteronomy 4 verse 29 and follow down through scripture a bit and look at this concept.

Deuteronomy 4 29 says. But if from thence thou shall seek the lord thy god thou shalt find him. If thou shall seek with all the heart and with all thy soul. Moving up to isaiah 57 15. For thus sayeth the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity whose name is holy i dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble heart to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Probably come back to that verse a little later on but i'd like to keep on going. Isaiah 64 verse 5 says. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness those that remember thee and thy ways.

Jeremiah 29 10 for thus saith the lord that after 70 years be accomplished and i'll be reading through verse 14 if you want to turn to jeremiah 29 after 70 years be accomplished at babylon i will visit you and perform my good towards you and causing you to return to this place.

But i know the thoughts that i think towards you says the lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you and expect them then so you call upon me you shall go and pray unto me and i will hearken unto you and you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all your heart and i will be found of you saith the lord.

And i will turn away your captivity and i will gather you from all the nations from all the places whether i've driven you saith the lord and i will bring you again into the place whence i've caused you to be carried away captive.

Turning to the new testament. John 6 verse 37 says. All that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me i would no wise cast out. And finally like to read james 4 verse 8 where it says.

Draw an eye to god and he will draw an eye to you. Like to also read a verse out of a psalm. I believe it's psalm 50. Just turn back there. Psalm 50 verse 3 says. Our god shall come and shall not keep silence.

A fire shall divide before him. It should be very tempestuous round about him this morning as we think about this concept that if we seek god we will find him. If we draw close to him he will draw close to us.

He's the same yesterday today and forever. I am the lord. I change not. There is no mystery to revival. I wonder how many of us as we hear from time to time discussions about revival have a mindset of a bit of a it's a bit of a mystery a bit of something we can't explain.

And it is true that there is a manifestation of the presence of god that we can't always explain. It is true that it is supernatural and all those things. But i would like to this morning say that it is very explainable about drawing close to god.

And this morning any people any group of people that will individually draw close to god will have revival. And i wonder if there's something else that we're looking for than that when we think about revival i know at times in the past myself i've looked at revivals and various outpourings of the spirit and various places on the face of this earth.

And it's been beautiful things. But always it's calm as people are drawn close to god as they've come to know him. And it is true that we cannot control the outpouring of the manifestation of god's spirit and all those things.

But we can make a difference today by how we relate to spirit in each of our hearts. And whether or not we will draw close to him because his promise is that to all those that seek will find him. He's not very far away.

In fact all those that have believed on the name of jesus and are born of his spirit he is within us. And we can have all that he has for us. But we must yield to him. We must put away the desire for this world the desire for popularity the desire for security.

Seeking God Above the World

Jesus said that those that seek will find. But he also said that you can't serve god and material things. You can't serve god in this present world. And this morning i just want to each of us look at our lives and examine and lay before god.

What is it that we are serving. Is there something that is giving us our identity. Is there something that's giving us our security something other than the kingdom of god and his righteousness that we're serving and seeking because on the authority of the word if we seek god and his righteousness first he will take care of us.

And on the authority of the word if we seek him we will find him. And so if we're not finding him a reality. And if we're not finding the overcoming life in our lives it's because we're not seeking with all our heart.

It's because there's some other love in our lives that has captured our attention that has captured our interest. And you know it would have been so easy when we got born again and filled with his spirit if if god instead of how he chose in the dispensation of the age of the church if he would have just raptured us out and that was it was all over or instantly gave every one of us a martyr's crown and we lost our head.

And in days gone by there was times like that when he's done that i guess but many times he hasn't chosen that today he's chosen a living sacrifice. And it's because he wants to see if a man will walk through this world.

And if he'll walk through all the glitter and the glamour and yes even legitimate things that breath their demands home on our lives. And if he'll keep his eye on eternity and if god will be as everything if he'll be obsessed with god he'll be enamored with god and it'll consume his being it'll be nothing else that he'll live for.

And i wonder this morning as you look at your life if that's your life is your life a life that's so obsessed with god and so consumed with god that there's nothing else that catches your attention. There's not everything else pales in comparison.

And yes you need to get up and in the morning like every one of the rest of us and you need to go to work or do whatever it is that god has called you to do but you do it all for his glory. And that's all you can think about is god and fellowshipping with him.

Is that where you're at this morning. And if not why not. What is it that's causing each one of us to hold back. Is there some area of our life that is causing us to hold back from giving god everything.

And you know it would be i believe so easy in some respects to be able it would be such a blessing to just sit down and study the word all day and be in prayer. And maybe there's days that it's good to do that.

And i'm all for that. But it's a whole different thing to take that same word and walk out into this world and not be contaminated by this world but hold the living pure water that he's put inside of us that others might get a drink everywhere we go.

And even if we don't speak a word they can see god enough because we can't manufacture that you can you. There's so many how to books there's so many uh five step ten step twenty step however many step programs and and you can try and make it happen.

But if god is not the consuming passion of our life it won't happen. You can never be an effective evangelist for the kingdom. Yes paul said um that there was those that preached the gospel of contention.

He was glad because the gospel was so powerful it would convert sinners anyhow. But you will never be an effective evangelist. Say that you're consumed with god and with the the passion of what he's done for you and his glory.

And that that's what you exist for. And this morning i would just like to present the question to our heart why do we exist. What is it that takes up our day. What is it that consumes us as we rise each morning as we go about our activity.

Is it raising a family for god. Is it going to work for god or is it god. That's the question. And i believe we should raise a family for god. And i believe we should go to work for god. And i do believe we should preach for god.

Or he should preach through us or however it is. But if it's not the person of god and the the beauty of jesus christ and the person of jesus christ and what he's done for us. And and that he wants he loves us with an undying love.

And he wants a personal relationship with us. If it's not that and you're doing it for god it's not enough. He wants a love relationship. And i remember back 10 years ago when i was a young man i was sitting under the sound of a preacher lifting up uh i believe was out of matthew 5 about blessed are those that hunger and thirst after god.

And he was lifting up being in love with christ. He was lifting up um communicating with christ and in our every day and just having a love relationship. And i i had believed i believe at that point in uh a saving faith in christ.

But i knew that was not my life. And i can say that that time at that when i heard that message it convicted me and it changed my life. And i've never been the same. And and i don't want to be the same.

Surrender, Chastening, and the Cross

I don't ever want to go back to just living my life. And yet so much he's had to prune and and and he does every one of us to do his work because he loves us whom the lord loves he chastens and scourges every son um whom he receives.

We're not supposed to despise the chasing of the lord. Just recently i believe it was saturday or friday i was reading um i'd uh was working on a subject and i i was researching the statement that said in the last century more people have died for their faith in christ than in all the previous um 1900 years or so before.

And and it is true that's correct in the last century more people have died for christ. But as i was researching this i was researching this article on dying for christ. The the writer of the article said if we would talk to the persecuted church today those who are living sacrifices they wouldn't say a campaign for stopping the persecution.

They wouldn't say that. That's not what it's about. They want to be conformed into the image of christ. They want to have the fellowship of the sufferings. And i wonder today how many times when when thorns come into our life or maybe it's a brother or sister or or a customer or a vendor or whatever it is or a trying situation or and they come into our lives instead of saying thank you lord and seeing the face of a loving heavenly father that wants to better us and make us more important in the image of jesus christ.

Instead we turn around and we despise it and we don't see the loving heavenly father. And and we maybe sometimes even even bow down our head and accept the cross almost grudgingly almost grumblingly or maybe just not cheerfully.

But that's not enough. God doesn't want us when a baby wakes up in the middle of the night and it's yet again another time to suffer yet again another time to miss some sleep. He doesn't want us to get up and and do it without complaining.

He wants us to get up and do it rejoicingly because he has done all things for our good. And whatever it is. Maybe maybe it's a car accident but whatever it is in our life that brings trial that brings trauma.

He wants us to embrace it even just realizing that he allows these things because he loves us. And this morning my my burden in my heart is that we can see the love of god. We can see how incredibly he loves us so much he would send his only son jesus to die for us.

And yet we have such a great salvation. And how much it must pain his heart when we believed in come to saving faith. And yet we sit here and daughter and and um seesaw on the edge of total commitment when we don't pull out the stops and give everything that he's asking us to do.

And every one of us knows what our cross is. Everyone knows what he's asking of you what he what he's preparing for you uh you for or where he's sending you or where he's called you. And if you don't you need to know you need to seek him and say god.

Why am i here. What do you want me here for i'm and i only want to exist for your glory. And i wonder if i'm bringing you the glory you want me to in my life i just i'm just sharing out the overflow of my life.

Because as i look at my life and as i look at my walk i see so many areas where my life doesn't exist to as much glory to god as it could. I'm not letting letting him live his life through me like i ought.

And so if you listen in this morning is all you're hearing is the passion of a heart that wants to see god glorified and wants to give everything. And so many times you know we we sell out for so much less.

And and um just recently we were working through a situation and uh my wife and i and we had some funds and the lord had provided it was a blessing to to um to pay some bills that were due. And but you know we wanted to hold them back because we wanted to save them up for something else.

And and it's so easy for us to hold when god gives us something to say i want it for this purpose or that purpose instead of saying thank you lord. And and and just giving it to him giving our all. Maybe maybe it's maybe it's education.

Maybe it's our job whatever it is. And we have a certain vision of how it ought to look. And we're not willing to say lord whatever it's yours. And i just want to say that his promises to us if we seek him first if we give him our all if he is the consuming passion of our life he'll take care of us.

He'll bring us into a close relationship james 4 8 he will draw an eye to us and revival. It doesn't have to be a mystery it can be a living reality. But i'm saying if it's a mystery to you this morning it's a mystery to any one of us.

We need to we need to seek him. We need to draw close to him. We need to repent of anything he brings to us. And we need to walk humbly with our god. And and he will revive the heart of the lowly he said in um jeremiah i'm sorry isaiah 57 15 with us there's a high and lofty one that inhabits eternity whose name is holy.

I dwell in the high and holy place with him also. That is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. It's that simple. It's no complex math.

It's no special formula. It's just humbling ourselves. And i'm so grateful for what god has been doing in our lot in my life and our life as a congregation. And right along these lines in humbling us because i know his promise is that if we'll humble ourselves it would say we don't have it all together.

It will say there's things that are missing that ought not be that way. But lord it's all we have. Is you. I know that he'll meet us there. His word says he will. And you know one of the ways that we can find ourself not being humbled and not being in a place that god can revive us is the place of not losing our identity.

Losing Our Identity to Bear Fruit

It can make us feel so vulnerable. Maybe maybe this is more for us men. I'm not sure. Um maybe it's for all of us equally. But jesus said in john 12 that the only way a corn of wheat would bear much fruit is if it would fall on the ground and die.

You have to be willing to lose who you are. You have to be willing to lose. You know a corn of wheat has life inside of it. It already does. But it needs to die for that life to bear much fruit to reproduce.

And this morning as we draw close to god he's going to touch the very fabric of our being who we think we are. And and he's going to ask us to surrender that maybe you say well i'm this or i'm that you know what it is.

And god's going to say will you give that to me too. Will you admit you're nothing in and of yourself without this treasure that i wish to put in you and that i wish to leave flow through you my holy spirit.

You're nothing. And even i remember the day i was on the way home from work and i was just pondering this concept and all of a sudden it hit me that you know one man's gift to another is no big deal to god.

It's between the greatness of god and one man's talent or gifting over another is it's almost nothing. It's it's so small. It's like you know if we could maybe use the illustration of of an act and one that's a little bigger has a little stronger leg compared to a giant.

We say well there's no difference it makes no difference. And that all of a sudden hit me and i realized the only thing that makes a man valuable to god the only way that he can get much glory from a life is not by its ability not by its skill not by even how well it can understand the scriptures and the intellect and being able to to to command words.

And and and you know just understand the scriptures. Well though i do believe we should understand the scriptures. Well it's not about how good of a mother we can be. It's not about those things. It's about letting it all go and existing totally for his glory.

And i'm here to say that if the reason you're existing is only to do things for god if the passion for your sisters is only to raise children for god or or whatever it is or to serve your husband those things are all good and right.

And they need to flow out of the life that's consecrated to god. But if that's all it is and it's not god himself a life that's totally filled out and surrendered it's not enough and it won't work. And i would just like to say this morning yes that if our lives are a life that's constantly up and down um and we just don't have this we read about this overcoming life in the scriptures yes and all in christ jesus we're more than conquerors.

And if that's where we're at may i suggest this morning it's because we haven't lost our identity. May i suggest this morning the many times the reason for um um nursing hearts in our life the reason for the way we struggle with so many things is because we haven't lost our identity yet.

There's still pride there. And and you know we can walk around with a stooped down head and all these things. And it could look so right. But if we haven't lost our identity and if all that we're living for anymore is god see when all that we're living for is god.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how people use us wrong. It doesn't matter about this guy in front of me that's just not going the speed limit i want to get there quickly. It doesn't matter about this brother that spoke an evil word about me.

It doesn't matter about anything you fill in the blank because we only exist for god. And the only thing we can think about the only same thought that we know to think is that it would be for his glory.

And god just use me. Just make me a living sacrifice. Just lord bring on the pain. That's all right. Just so you get glory. That's my only that's my only passion. Just so i can see some more people kneel and bow at the feet of jesus.

And that's all i want to exist for. And i would just like to challenge us this morning that we would look at our lives and say and you know every one of us we're all souls in process. God's all still showing us.

We don't all see ourselves as we ought yet. I know i don't and i think that's true of every one of us. But he wants to take that light and say what about that area. Are you still willing to surrender that one.

And what about that one. And whatever it is. And just lift up our walk in our life our thoughts lift it up before the lord this morning and say come lord would you examine me. Would you see if there's any wicked way in me.

Thank you that you have created in me a clean heart. But where is it that i'm still resisting your spirit. Where is it that i'm still not letting you be all you want to in me. Where i'm not being a vessel that you can use.

May god add his blessing to these words. Thank you brother merrill. Thank you for the reminder that it doesn't matter. I have been meditating quite a bit yesterday on god's sovereign work and the way he orders all of our lives.

And god has been challenging my own heart. You know it's one thing to recognize that god does everything and he orders everything in our lives. It's another totally different thing to embrace that sovereignty with a willing heart and a delight and say yes lord you are working these things in my life and i believe you are all wise god.

I believe you love me with all of your heart. I believe you're overflowing your tender kindness to me. And i embrace this whatever it is that is now coming into my life. And i confess that i don't always do that.

I confess sometimes i grumble a while before i get to that place where i say okay yes lord you are ordering these things and i accept them from my heart. Amen. Something else that came to my mind is our brother was sharing a little bit i just reading a little bit in a just a recently republished little book about james stewart.

Examples of Zeal for God

I don't know if any of you remember james stewart but a little book i must tell. It's a story of a young man's life from age 14 to age 24. And this is for you young people just a little bit but he uh he went on to be a mighty evangelist.

God used him all over eastern europe just before world war ii. But he was converted at 14 years of age and he was converted out of a life of idolatry to sports. Soccer was his idol and he was converted at age 14 and he found the lord.

When he got born again he was transformed he forward and i thought about him brother moreau while you were sharing i thought about his his zeal for the lord his desire he he immediately began to be a witness for the lord.

At 14 years old he used to put these signs on you know hang these signs around his neck and go out in the streets of of uh edinburgh scotland and preach. They call him the boy preacher because of his zeal.

I mean he just let it go with all of his heart and he walked around at he would go out in the morning when all the workers were going to work because the streets were full of people and preach for about 45 minutes.

And then he would go back again in the evening when all the workers were getting out and again where these signs just walk up and down the streets passing out tracks and preaching the gospel. They call him the boy preacher.

It's quite a testimony of how god worked in that young man's life from 14 to 24. Oh may we seek that kind of a relationship with god. Amen. And then i also thought about charles finney. A um i don't know if you understand the theological history of charles finney.

Finney on Human Responsibility in Revival

But one of the reasons why god used charles finney to shake the eastern side of the united states back in the early 1800s was because he believed there's something that we can do to bring revival. And he believed that in a day when everyone was just sitting back in a calvinistic mindset saying it's just up to god it's just up to god.

Yeah we know everything's falling apart but it's just up to god. Yeah we know that's it's bad we know how it is but it's all up to god. And charles finney came on the scene and said draw nigh to god and he will draw nigh to you cleanse your hands ye sinners and purify your hearts ye double-minded humble yourselves in the sight of the lord and he shall lift you up.

And he began to emphasize not that there's no sovereignty on it yes god sovereignly rules over revival. But he began to emphasize that there are things that man should do. And in that calvinistic mindset it sparked in the hearts of people and they got serious with god and began to seek god with all their heart and revival broke out in his day.

So may we also receive these admonitions from our brother this morning this heart admonition to us this morning to seek god with all of our heart in the midst of our circumstances and the way that god is working in our lives.

And it's different for every one of us as we sit here this morning. But god is in it all and god is after us in it all and god wants us in it all and if we will let him he will have us all. Amen. Thank you brother merrill for those words.

This morning we are the tony's. We uh we came here for uh to receive some uh healing and some things uh with mail and barbie and uh and it's been a real blessing. We uh we had some victory over a spirit of fear and pray through some other matters.

So it's a real blessing. Last night we um just spent some time with the ashes uh singing my three oldest boys actually play instruments but uh we take those into the baptist churches um yeah as these coats we have on we wear them mostly in the baptist churches too.

But uh anyway uh uh we're just a normal family really uh you know trying to find our way and you know we uh we've made a lot of mistakes uh mom and dad had a lot of baggage from our past our hearts cry from the beginning was to raise the god we see but we had some things in our life even after all these years and uh we praise the lord for his his grace and his mercy.

He's been very good to us. You know it is interesting how we came here for healing and yet as we were here um we went down to a subway um to get a bite to eat um and the lady who owns the subway is an indian lady and right when we walked up she began to pour out her heart to us and uh right now at this time her husband is in the hospital.

He tried to kill himself and uh you know it's really a neat opportunity i left my credit card there which i never did i'm sure that was from the lord. And so then my wife went in the next day to get that and uh again she she immediately called somebody else up to be in the work the the the area and she just started sharing with lori again about the pain that is in her life.

And so we're going to go back to north carolina tomorrow but the subway that she owns is tanger outlet. I think it is so go eat a sub and uh and minister to this lady and uh she actually is a professional christian um so anyway but she needs a lot of ministry.