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Psalm 14
We invite you to worship with us on Sunday mornings at 9:30. Last week we learned revival is necessary, in part, because worship doesn’t fill our sanctuaries; and because we have lost the true excitement of worship. Today we want to consider three more reasons revival is necessary.
- WE HAVE LOST OUR PASSION FOR MISSIONS! This is so evident today as many churches are cutting their mission budgets or, in some cases, eliminating them altogether. When a church cuts their mission budget, they are cutting their jugular! Even in churches that give a significant part of their annual budget for missionary support, the passion for missions is gone. How? There is a vast difference between helping missionaries evangelize the lost and being missionaries ourselves. The Great Commission tells us (Christians) to go, not just send! Our passion must be to do the work of missions – telling the lost how to be saved – right next door. How many times in your life as a Christian have you been in a conversation with someone who is lost and you have felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit telling you to share the salvation message – and you balked! Have you ever considered how that makes your Heavenly Father feel? I believe we will find out someday just exactly how He feels! When Christians truly repent and turn to God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, God then puts a passion into our hearts that compels us to share the salvation message. Another reason for revival is
- WORLDLINESS, NOT WORSHIP RULES OUR HEARTS. Materialism, status, instant gratification, and a host of other worldly issues worm their way into our hearts and paralyze our spiritual growth. We would deny that, but truth betrays us. Many Christians’ fingers walk faster through the yellow pages, catalogues, or handle remotes better than they do Scripture. We know all our favorite channels or how to find what we want in a catalogue, but have no idea where Job, Nehemiah, Philemon, or Song of Songs is without going to the contents. The only way to conquer worldliness is to go back to the beginning where Jesus teaches us to “seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and His Law.”
- WE LIVE IN JUDGMENT RATHER THAN BLESSING! When all these reasons for revival infect Christian hearts they express themselves through living in judgment. How does that happen? We begin to compare ourselves with others and make assessments based on how we “stack up” compared to them. Wherever we think they might have more we find a way to criticize or condemn them because they have and we don’t! It works the other way when we think we have more or are better because we “know the Lord” and they don’t—poor things! In our fellowship hall there is a small banner that says “no matter how far down the wrong road you travel, you can always turn around and go the right way.” That sums it up with God’s attitude toward us. No matter where we are in our Christian life, He is there right now waiting to show you the blessing of spiritual revival in your heart. He is inviting you to turn around (repent) and allow Him to fill your life with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
If we can help you with any spiritual question, call us at (574) 643- 9419.
