Revival Starts Here | Re-Tuning Your Life with God

Greg Laurie and Harvest Ministries recommend the bestselling book Cold Case Christianity from former detective J. Warner Wallace. That's a book we're offering this month to our listeners, Cold Case Christianity, written by detective J. Warner Wallace.

A homicide detective investigates the claims of the gospel, so get your own copy of Cold Case Christianity. It's our offer for this month for your gift of any size. Request yours for a limited time at Harvest.org. The three R's of personal revival are remember, repent, and repeat. Pastor Greg Laurie points out revival isn't a mystifying thing we hope will one day happen.

No, we can be proactive. If you want to see revival, do revival-like things. Do the things that you used to do.

Again, don't wait for some emotion to overtake you. Just start doing those practical things and you will in time see personal revival in your life. A musical instrument sounds beautiful when it's in tune, but over time the strings loosen and the notes go flat. But with a little attention and the right adjustments, it can be restored to the perfect pitch. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie shows us how the same is true in our spiritual lives. When we drift out of sync with God, we're not lost.

We just need to be retuned. We're in Nehemiah learning practical steps to bring our lives back into harmony with God's plan. This is the day, the day when life begins. And so it's a good book to look at because God has given us a template for revival that we often quote. And in 2 Chronicles 7, 14, which was given initially or originally to Israel, but in principle it applies to any nation, including ours, when God says, if My people, which are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, God promises them and will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.

So we want to see our land healed and God tells us what we need to do. So revival starts with us. That's why I'm calling this series From Rubble to Revival. Now we throw this word revival around a lot. I'm not sure if we even understand what it means. Let's just simplify it.

I think it's overly mystified at times. The word revival simply means to revive something or to restore it. It's to go back to original condition. So I used to have the coolest old car. It was a 1957 Bel Air convertible, tropical turquoise with a continental package.

That's that wheel cover on the back. And it had the gold package too. And this car had matching numbers. If you're into old cars, you know what that means.

It means everything was original. It wasn't a resto mod. It was the real deal and it ran like a top.

It ran perfectly and I got it for a killer deal. And I love to drive this thing. It was just this massive cruising machine. The problem is I couldn't get anyone to go in the car with me. My wife didn't want to drive around with me in it. I said, Kathy, let's get in the Bel Air and cruise. And she says, oh Greg, I don't want to. I said, why?

She says, I feel like we're in a parade or something. And then Jonathan would go surfing and I would pick him up in the Bel Air. And he'd say, Dad, could you not pick me up in that car?

I was like, really? The only living creature I could get to drive with me in the Bel Air was my dog. And I'm not even sure if he liked driving in it. But to me it was a thing of beauty to look at a car like that as though it just drove off a showroom floor cruising along. And that's what revival is. It's restoration.

Going back to original condition. So in our context when we talk about revival in the church or in our life, we're talking about restoration or waking up spiritually or getting back to living the Christian life as it was meant to be lived. And there's no question that our nation has revival in its roots and in its DNA. That's a very unique thing about the United States.

How we have this in our roots and in our origins. You could arguably make a case for the fact that there probably wouldn't be an America today if it wasn't for a spiritual awakening that preceded the Revolutionary War. And so we want to pray about seeing that happen again. You know the last great spiritual awakening in America was called the Jesus Movement or the Jesus Revolution. And a movie was made about it of course. This tells the story of the last great awakening. I was privileged to come to Christ right as it was really exploding. And I can tell you this. No one was ever late for church and no one left early.

And people showed up with their Bibles with a sense of expectancy. I think that we contribute to what a service becomes. We expect everyone here in the States to do all the heavy lifting. Do all the work. Lead us in worship. Preach us good sermons. You know motivate us. Ok. We have our job. But you have your job. Come with an open receptive heart. Right?

That's your job. In Acts 2 42 it says they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine. The breaking of bread and worship and gladness and singleness of heart. It meant that they came giving their attention with intention.

They came with a sense of expectancy. So you need to prepare your heart as you come to worship with God's people. And when our amazing worship team leads you in worship you should engage and join them. Not stand there you know looking at Instagram or looking around or whatever it is.

No. Engage. It's a time to worship. And then when we open the Word of God say, Lord speak to my heart right now. That's an indication that you are living in a state of revival.

And we can fall away from this. Jesus in Revelation chapter 2 spoke to the church of Ephesus. First he commends them for all the things that we are doing right. Loose paraphrase. He says hey you guys are discerning. You work hard. I commend you for all that. But I have something against you.

I have something against you Jesus says. You have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen and do the first works quickly. Or I will remove your candlestick from its place. So what does he say to this church? You have left your first love. He doesn't say you have lost your first love.

He says you have left it. And then he says remember from where you have fallen and do the first works quickly. So the three R's according to Jesus of getting right with God. The three R's of personal revival are remember, repent, and repeat. First you remember. Look at your life. Ask yourself the question was there a time in my life where I was more passionate about my relationship with God.

Was there a time in my life when I was stronger spiritually than I am right now. So remember it. Now repent. Change your direction and repeat. Go back Jesus says and do the first works quickly. If you want to see revival do revival like things. Do the things that you used to do again. Don't wait for some emotion to overtake you.

Just start doing those practical things and you will in time see personal revival in your life. Did you used to talk to people about Jesus more than you do now? Oh yeah. You know the best evangelists are brand new Christians. God bless them. They're so full of zeal. Bringing people to church every week.

I've got to bring more people. That's great but then time passes. You can't remember the last time you brought someone to church.

That first love passion. Oh man I can't wait to open up the Bible and maybe you don't do that anymore. Or you don't pray about things anymore. You just stress about them and worry about them instead. Now get back and do those things again and the emotions of revival will come into your life as well.

Remember from where you have fallen. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hey everybody I want to encourage you to join us for something we call Harvest at Home. It happens every Sunday at Harvest.org and on our brand new app. Harvest Plus which is available on your mobile TV devices. Download it now and you can watch Harvest at Home with Christians from around the world as we worship together and study God's Word.

So again join us for Harvest at Home at Harvest.org or on Harvest Plus. Glad you're along today for Pastor Greg's study in Nehemiah called Revival Starts Here. Nehemiah chapter 1. I'm going to read verses 1 to 3 as we sort of set the stage and I'm reading from the New Living Translation. In late autumn in the month of Kisley.

That's around November or December. In the 20th year of King Artaxerxes reign I was at the fortress of Susa. Hannah and I and one of my brothers came to visit me with some other men who had arrived from Judah. I asked them about how the Jews were doing who had returned there from captivity and how things were going in Jerusalem. So we talked about the first wave of the Jews returning under Zerubbabel then under Ezra. How are they doing now?

How are things going? They said to me things are not going well. For those who return to the province of Judah they're in great trouble and disgrace the wall of Jerusalem.

That's been torn down and the gates have been destroyed by fire. So here's Nehemiah living in the lap of luxury in his super cushy job working for the king. And he hears this really bad news. How does he react?

Well he's deeply moved and he realizes God put me here for a reason. I can make a difference because I have the ear of the king and I'm going to use this opportunity. Now who does Daniel remind you of? Esther. Remember her? She won a beauty contest. Ended up as the queen of the kingdom of Persia. And there was a plot hatched by a wicked man named Haman to eradicate the Jewish people. And Esther was a Jew. And she decided to go to the king and put it all on the line and use her influence and try to save her people. And of course she was successful in that because God put her where she was for a reason. And as Mordecai her cousin said to her who knows that God has not placed you where you are for such a time as this.

I think Nehemiah discovered the same thing. And that's what has happened to you as well. You are where you are because God put you there. Sometimes you say why am I here? Why am I in this neighborhood? Why am I in this job? Why am I in this place? Why?

It doesn't make sense. I'm going to change my circumstances. Ok maybe you can make a case for doing that.

But did it ever occur to you that you are where God wants you to be for such a time as this? Leverage your relationships. Use your influence. You see Esther did her part at an earlier time in the history of her nation. And now Nehemiah is going to do something as well. But before he does anything he prays. Go back to Nehemiah 1. Look at verse 4. When I heard this Nehemiah says I sat down and I wept for four days. I mourned and I fasted and I prayed to the God of heaven. I said oh Lord God of heaven the great and awesome God who keeps this covenant of unfailing love and those who love him and obey his commands.

Listen to my prayer. Look down and see me praying day and night for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes even my own family and I have sinned.

We have sinned terribly and not obeying your commands. Wow what a prayer that is. There is a lot we can learn about prayer from that prayer. You want your prayers answered?

Well this prayer was answered. So what did he do? Let's see what we can learn together. First he wept. First he cared.

Have you ever wept over the broken walls in your own life or in your family or over people you loved or others who have turned their back on God? So you start there. But here are some principles from his prayer that we can apply in our prayer.

And if you are taking notes here is point number one. He acknowledged the greatness of God. He acknowledged the greatness of God.

Verse five. Oh Lord God of heaven the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfeeling love to those who love him and obey his commands. Oh great and awesome God. When you pray remember who you are talking to. You are talking to the creator of the universe. The almighty God.

And his riches are unsearchable and his power is unlimited. And he is literally listening to your prayer right now. So get that in mind because sometimes we come to God with big problems. But we need to realize we come to God who is bigger than our problems.

Right? So Jesus taught us to pray. In this manner therefore pray. And then he went on to give what we call the Lord's Prayer. But it is not just a great prayer to pray though it is that. But it is a template for all prayer.

What does he say? After this manner pray. Or here is a template for prayer. Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And then he goes on to the petitions that follow. But it starts with an acknowledgement of the awesomeness and the power of God our Father who art in heaven. And that is exactly how Nehemiah begins his prayer acknowledging the greatness and power and sovereignty of God.

Number two. Nehemiah reminded God of his promises. He reminds God of the promises that he made. Was that to jog God's memory?

Of course not. God doesn't need any help with his memory. But it is to remind himself of what God said. I don't have to do this in prayer.

I love to remind God of his promises and remind myself as well. A someone comes and says will you pray for me I am sick. Okay let's pray. Father we come to you now in the name of Jesus and you have promised if there is any sick among you we should call for the elders of the church that should pray for these people and anoint them with oil. And then you promise that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man will accomplish much. Well Lord we are righteous men and women here not because of what we have done but because of what you have done. And now standing on your promise in scripture we pray for this person.

So what did I just do? I reminded myself of what the Bible says. So when I start to worry Lord you promised me in your word that I should not worry about anything but I should pray about everything. And the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. So immediately before I have even given the prayer I am reminding myself of the promise of God. And that immediately brings calm to my heart. Do you know what I am talking about?

Have you done this? And you realize oh wow you know the Lord is so powerful and he is going to help me through this. And there are so many promises like that found in the pages of scripture. God promises he will get you through whatever you are facing. God promises he will provide your needs. Philippians 4 19. My God shall supply all of your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.

Lord I have a financial need right now. And you promised you will provide all of my needs according to your riches and glory. So therefore I pray he has promised to forgive us of our sins. Lord you promised me in scripture. In verse John 1 9 if I will confess my sin you are faithful and just to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. So Lord I receive your forgiveness because of the blood of Jesus that was shed for me on the cross of Calvary. And I am going to walk in that forgiveness now. That is taking hold of our promise of God. Because here is the devil trying to beat you up and kick you and fill you with guilt. You failed.

Yeah I did fail. But God has promised to forgive me and I am going to accept that forgiveness and walk in that forgiveness right now. That is what we need to do. Great encouragement from Pastor Greg Laurie today here on A New Beginning. From his message called Revival Starts Here. And he is not finished with his presentation.

There is more to come. But Pastor Greg talked about forgiveness. Have you ever said yes to God's offer of forgiveness?

The Bible points out we are all sinners. We all need forgiveness. Pastor Greg what would you say to someone who wants to accept God's forgiveness right now? What I would say is he is only a prayer way.

Which means if you will call upon the name of the Lord right now through prayer he will hear your prayer and answer your prayer. Listen if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life. If you want him to forgive you of your sin. If you want to know that you will go to heaven when you die just pray this prayer right now after me. Just pray Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner.

But I know that you are the savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my savior and Lord as my God and my friend. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Amen. And listen if you have just prayed that prayer along with Pastor Greg and meant those words sincerely. We want to welcome you into God's family. And we want to help you get started in your new faith. Pastor Greg wants to send you his New Believers Bible free of charge along with some other helpful resources. Just let us know you prayed with Pastor Greg and that you want the New Believers Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime at 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click the words Know God. You know Pastor Greg we hear from people all the time who tell us how these daily studies have impacted their lives. So many have found the Lord and been encouraged through this teaching. That's right. And we hope our listeners might pray about making an investment so these studies can continue.

Yeah it's really true Dave. You know and even a little bit helps. You know people need to hear the gospel so badly. They need to hear the teaching of the word of God. It changes everything because it changes us. And I'm so passionate about it and I'm called to do it and I'm thankful for it.

But I can't do it alone. So I'm going to ask folks that are listening if you think more people need to hear the gospel. If you believe more people need to hear the teaching of the word of God then perfectly consider investing in Harvest Ministries and maybe even become a Harvest partner.

Which means you're someone who stands with us every month in your faithful giving and that opens up a lot of new opportunities for us. So thanks for that. Yeah that's right and we really are thankful for your partnership. You can reach us anytime day or night at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org. And while you're online with us why not begin receiving Pastor Greg's daily devotions via email every day. They're free of charge. We'll send them to the email address you provide for us. And when they arrive you can read them or with one click listen to the audio version. Sign up today free of charge at harvest.org. Well next time more insights from the opening message in Pastor Greg's series Rubble to Revival. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Lord.