Careful Rebuilders
I
Corinthians 3:10-11…..But let every man take
heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11For other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is Jesus Christ.
INTRO: Several years ago Coca Cola
changed it’s formula. It was an utter
failure to try and improve on the real
thing. Today people are trying to imitate
revival. Some try to drum it up. Revival
still comes the old fashioned way...
The church has tried to change the formula
for revival...if we get a better preacher…if
we get more people….if we get better
programs….if we get a bigger
building…..maybe a family recreational
ministerial outreach life
center/gymnasium….The formula for revival
hasn’t changed….
II Chron. 7:14 “if my people who are
called by my name will humble themselves and
pray and seek my face and turn from their
wicked ways , then will I hear from heaven
and forgive their sins and heal their
land….”
I. First thing needed…Revival of
consecration! (Sanctify – set apart to
serve…)
Remember what you were…..lost, hopeless…
We’ve forgotten our fallen condition…. Look
at who you are…..are you where you said you
would be?? -“Oh, God….I’ll go to Africa…Be
who God called you to be…..start over
today…..what’s done is done…let it go….”
Illus. At a meeting of the fellowship of
Christian athletes, Bobby Richardson, former
New York Yankee second baseman, offered a
prayer that is a classic in brevity and
poignancy: "Dear God, your will, nothing
more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen."
II. Secondly, Revival of Conscience!
The
ability to discern between right and
wrong…-it’s not your opinion that
matters…-it’s not your feelings that
matter…. -it’s not your traditions that
matter… it’s thus saith the Lord….
Our
conscience is our moral compass…-we really
know most of what is right and what is
wrong…the problem is, we are a rebellious
generation
When Sgt. Ray Baarz of the Midvale, Utah,
Police Department opened his wallet, he
noticed his driver's license had expired.
Embarrassed at having caught himself
red-handed, he had no alternative. He calmly
and deliberately pulled out his ticket book
and wrote himself a citation. Then Baarz
took the ticket to the city judge who fined
him five dollars. "How could I give a ticket
to anyone else for an expired license in the
future if I didn't cite myself?" Baarz
asked.
III. Third, Revival of Conviction!
The
firm belief of something… Action supporting
those beliefs…Not being tossed to and fro by
divers kinds of doctrines….
IV. Revival of Commitment!
We need to be committed first to Jesus and
that is enjoined with his purpose for you…
A
missionary society wrote to David
Livingstone and asked, "Have you found a
good road to where you are? If so, we want
to know how to send other men to join you."
Livingstone wrote back, "if you have men who
will come only if they know there is a good
road, I don't want them. I want men who will
come if there is no road at all."
