The Holy Spirit in Revival: A Spiritual Awakening

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by some special friends of this ministry. Pastor Greg wanted to see a special word of thanks to the harvest partners who make this ministry possible next time your online check out Pastor Greg's personal blog@blog.greglaurie.com Pastor Greg Laurie pointed out when the culture seems to wash its way. Sometimes God brings a great spiritual awakening the late 60s. In the early 70s, America's seem to be a troubling but in the middle of the revolution in the middle of the sexual revolution God said Jesus revolution so it's good to look back, because our God would do it is not any all should come to repentance.

You can find the words second Peter chapter 3 and when a culture seems intent on its own destruction. Sometimes God's hand moves a miraculous way And before history of our country today on a new beginning. Pastor Greg Laurie says it can happen again, but we play a part in bringing glad your long lunches today take the little walk down memory lane and revisit the last great virtual awakening that happened in America called the Jesus movement, also called the Jesus revolution.

This revival this awakening impacted the church.

It impacted the nation and really it impacted the world so might say, why go back and look up something like that that was a long time ago.

Here's the answer.

The fame of revival spreads the flame of revival so it's good to look back and reflect and learn from it because our prayer today is that God would do it again that we would see another spiritual move in our land because of what our country desperately needs it back in the day. B wore their hair really long. I have long here I would shed any here right now. I miss air listen if you leave the ball God is even care about here there line they want here. Okay I'm speaking of the help of all bald men. It's about the day you know hippies as they were called, what would their hippies we got were hippies. Now today, we don't really have hippies we have hipsters, but that there were two teeny hippie of the hipster is a hipster will not admit there hipster you are. You have somebody insert the needle latte and some avocado way. So let's think a little bit. We have some young people appear in the states like about parallels between the 60s, you know, in the 60s. Noel a lot of young people were using drugs and this is before we knew as much about drugs is maybe we know today and how destructive they are. I would say today, most people use drugs to numb themselves. The disconnect to escape back in those days, many were using drugs.

I have to say, myself included, because we were searching and we were told all Medicaid take drugs that will expand your consciousness. You know that the mantra of the day was turn on to them in, drop out that many kids did to their own detriment, I might add, but you know you look at the culture today. You almost wonder if like it seems like people are looking for some kind of family some kind of community because so many come from broken families that are you an interesting thought about where people go to find that yet, so people I feel today are going to social media trying to find her self-worth and is trying to chase that those like that is trying to feel like there wanted like being a part of. Like back in the day there trying to find her self-worth and I think is what stock and other groups. I got just finally feel like they belong. Since the community and today because the social media and everything. It's really just causing I'm going to be separated and this being more on isolated more lonely than ever than actually going face-to-face and finding that community out in the world like where we should be like at church and septic yachts all in imitation of the church when you say Stephanie with some thoughts about that as well, reminding me of the Jesus movement, 10 men in our generation.

Now nothing is every generation is chasing something, to find their way in meeting it's important that the church be aware generations are coming when seeking a relationship with Jesus were so isolated in our generation. Knowing how do we connect with generation things are different now.

Very true. But like you said nothing to be one of the sun.

Things are different in another way things are the same. Here's the big paradigm shift that when I was a kid we were rebelling against the status quo and the status quo is largely conservative. It was like pro family Pro values TV shows like father knows best and leave it to beaver father was a good authority figure. Now we have Modern Family, a reinterpretation of the family right everything is different. So those young kids, many of them wanted academia wanted to media and in many ways, they set the cultural cues and now instead of it being a largely conservative worldview is largely very well on biblical worldview and so when you're a follower of Jesus Christ.

Your like the new rubble because you're not going with that good grain of society you're going counter culture counterculture now is biblical culture.

And that's the interesting thing know everything is sort of shifted since then. But then there are some things that haven't paid you know, back in those days there were icons musical icons like Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison of the doors and these are people that were looked up to, but they all join something called the 27 club and that's because they all died at the age of 27 all drug related sin fast forwarded generation you had Kurt Cobain from Nirvana, fast-forward some more years you have moved more recently, Amy Winehouse and the DJ of beachy electronic dance music and I didn't realize his popularity till I watched a documentary on on Netflix and it was so sad to see just a young guy and he's catapulted in the fame and people are chanting his name of each EVGA. These traveling the world and living the life that so many people want to live in any so miserable he starts drinking heavily in these damaging this body and ultimately he committed suicide and I got to see like you said Stephanie.

Nothing is new under the sun. It's the same old problems, and it's the same answer. That's why our nation that for this generation needs another Jesus revolution. Another spiritual awakening. I think this is some pray for boldly I don't think we need to be timid when we ask God to send an awakening. I don't think we pray along the lines of will go out of its your will live if you want to do it and maybe you don't want to do up a plea know God wants to do it. He wants to pour his spirit out again that even gives a prescription for revival if you will.

That second Chronicles 714 that was given contextually to the nation Israel, but I think principally applies to any nation when he says of my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then God says I'll hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land.

I don't know what America's been more fractured, more divided than it is right now and we need that to happen. So let me make a distinction between the word awakening over revival awakening is what a nation needs a revival is what the church needs so we need to pray that it will start with us and then it will spread to the rest of the culture so want to talk about that a little bit today turn to acts chapter 2 and the title of my messages Jesus revolution.

The Holy Spirit in revival.

You know the late 60s and the early 70s, America's seem to be unraveling. There was a very real threat of nuclear war in the mid-60s Nikita Khrushchev made some very serious threats against our nation, including placing nuclear missiles in Cuba and Pres. Kennedy faced off with him in what is called historically, the Cuban missile crisis, but for kids in school. I was one of those kids in school we thought we might all died tomorrow, so we had bomb drills in our classrooms.

We would get underneath our desks. In case there was a nuclear blast which you need look at back in retrospect you think been under a desk would've saved us from a nuclear blast.

I don't know so one year after the Cuban missile crisis are useful. Pres. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Meanwhile, this traumatize the nation.

By the way some of you were alive then will remember this very traumatizing event. All of America more. Meanwhile, the Vietnam War, which was never officially declared raged on with young men coming home in body bags and then the drug revolution is breaking out the same time, of thousands of kids are turning to drugs for some kind of self-realization some kind of answer.

Hopefully that just made things worse.

Add to the drug revolution the sexual revolution with the discovery of the birth control pill in the early 60s freelove rain then everybody just wanted to express themselves and pushed away those parameters on those barriers that existed for so long that all further culminated in the big music festival called Woodstock, which was billed as three days of peace and music, and Jimi Hendrix played the Star-Spangled Banner on his electric guitar.

Everything was really groovy, man. But then in 1968. All the psychedelic colors turned the black and white as reality began to kick in and we reap the consequences of all of these horrible decisions was in 1968 that civil rights leader Martin Luther King was assassinated and then on the heels of that shortly after, as a matter of fact, Robert F.

Kennedy, the brother of Pres. Kennedy was running for the presidency was also assassinated in Los Angeles right here in California and then all of these rock icons died in a relatively short period of time.

Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Jim Morrison of the doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, though this is the reality because things were so dark with riots in the streets and the vision.

Time magazine put out an ominous cover story black cover red letters reversed out is God dead that's all a lot of people felt that maybe God was dead. But God was not dead God was very much at work and we don't know exactly when it started or were the actual beginning of what was, but in the middle of the drug revolution in the middle of the sexual revolution God said that Jesus revolution so only a few years later time puts out this cover with Jesus, revolution on the cover. What a difference a few years make. What a difference a revival make so I have an issue of this and let me read to you something from that particular issue of Time magazine and imagine for a moment reading this and time magazine today.

Headline Jesus is alive and well. The article says, quote Jesus is alive and well and living on the radical spiritual fervor of a growing number of young Americans who proclaimed an extraordinary religious revolution in his name there message.

The Bible is true miracles happen. God really did so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

What is this time magazine Bibles about whether the cherished first covered King James version or scruffy back pocket paperbacks. There are invariably well-funded often memorize. There's an uncommon morning freshness to this movement a buoyant atmosphere of hope and love along with the usual rebel zeal, but their love seems more sincere than a slogan deeper than the fast fading sentiment of the flower children. What startles the outsider is the extraordinary sense of joy at the rebel to communicate." Can you imagine again that be the time magazine today and that's exactly what was your great glory will have the second half of message in just a moment we send these daily studies out via radio satellite and over the Internet. We don't always know how these messages are touching lives when we hear the stories of her listeners. It really is encouraging to us. Hi Pastor Greg share the same birthday as my dad, thank you for the online videos of your sermons. I was a particle child. I stumbled across your videos and decided to recommit my life to the Lord. I've never felt better. You brought me back in my face.

Now I want to live right and serve the Lord. What are your videos about prayer helped me learn how to pray. I hope one day when this pandemic is over that I can visit your church in person. Thank you.

Do you have a story to tell of how Pastor Greg's teaching is impacted you. If so, why not email him angry@harvest.org again, that's great harvest.org will were revisiting the era of the Jesus movement today.

Pastor Greg is pointing out how we need another great move of God's spirit must continue the little history lesson because it's important for us to know what God is done in the past so we can pray for what he wants to do in the future. America has had for great spiritual awakening. The first awakening was in the 1700s, led by such men as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield. This is actually before we were officially a nation a George Whitfield and evangelists from England came over and preached to so many people living in the colonies. Thousands were coming to Christ in a revival broke out so you can make a very good case for the fact that America was born in a time of spiritual awakening was that fertile soil of revival that produced the parameters that we could safely have this great experiment in of liberty and freedom in the belief in God as our founding fathers had that was the first great awakening. The second great awakening the 1790s to 1840 was led by many, including Charles Finney. This was in the days of the wild West law was disregarded. Sexual sin was rampant, but people would gather from what they called Meetings often on the middle of the forest they would build little structures are put up tents and put the sawdust on the floor and people would walk forward to accept Christ than that for the phrase the sawdust trail came from. That was a great revival the third grade awakening in America was from around 1857 to 1859, led by a young man in New York named Jeremiah Lanphear and it started as a prayer meeting Jeremiah left ear felt it would be a good idea for New Yorkers to start praying. So he called a prayer meeting at lunchtime and needless to say very few people showed up.

Then the stock market crash that a lot of people showed up because people were alarm the concern within a relatively short period of time. Thousands of New Yorkers were coming to Christ.

There were 10,000 additions to church membership every week during this revival in one year alone, 50,000 people came to Christ and when it was all said and done 1 million came to the Lord in this brief. That brings us to the fourth of the last great spiritual awakening the Jesus movement. I had the privilege of being there at a front row seat. I didn't know it was a revival I didn't know I walked into the middle of a spiritual awakening, and there was a man that opened his heart and opened his church to it named Chuck Smith and decides all the young kids are getting saved, and they want to go to church. A lot of churches took one look at him and said you're not coming there looking like that but for the churches and open their doors to the Jesus people as they were called of the Jesus freaks as they were also called those churches experienced revival for the churches and get their doors shut to these folks. They did not experience revival.

Here are some things that kind of stand out to me about that time. Number one, there was a sense of expectancy in the services. So when you came to church. It came with a sense that God is going to do something you know we talk a lot about the need for anointed preaching, but I think there's also a need for anointed listening that we come at the right attitude to church. We come with an open heart with an open Bible, the notebook listen same Lord speak to me today. No one was ever late for church. Back in those days. By the way, because if you were, you wouldn't get a seat so that sense of expectancy number two, the word of God was pretty much taught in every service you know Pastor Chuck Smith taught us to love the Bible we would go through books of the Bible in our lives were changed by the Bible. We were a bunch of young kids that knew nothing.

We were ignorant of all things biblical, but we developed at that time, a biblical worldview and then also there was worship.

It was a whole new kind of worship that was born before our very eyes.

We would give invitations and pretty much every service and I think what happens is when nonbelievers come to a church that's alive, a church that's experiencing revival. They want to know God, so we brought friends and people would accept the Lord. Here's another big earmark of that time we believed in the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

We believe that Christ could come in our lifetime. So somebody was able was that 45 years ago that your timing was a little off Greg yeah will you know what I don't regret living in belief that Christ could come back and you know what were 45 years, closer to his return that we were there. I still believe it. I believe Jesus could come in my lifetime. We got up to meet the Lord in the air and I to gets a very important thing. You also might ask why didn't he come back then. Well, a lot of us were praying Jesus would come and catches up to heaven in 1970, but let me take a quick bowl.

How many of you have come to believe in Jesus since 1970. Raise your hand up, aren't you glad God didn't answer our prayer.

Figures of the Bible says God is not late is amend Job lateness. He's long-suffering toward us and not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. God is waiting for that last person the belief. Can you imagine if there was one person, the Lord is waiting for it and you knew it was would you be tempted to pressure them dude we get saved. What is wrong with you but the Lord knows who that person is and will happen in his timing. Of course, but we need to pray that God will do this again, some 85 six says will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you. The prophet Habakkuk understood this when he prayed this prayer in Habakkuk 3 to 5 her all about you Lord that I'm filled with awe by the amazing things you've done in this time of deep need revive your work as you did in years gone by.

Show us the power to save us. And so it's similar to how you might feel now some of you might be thinking about the must've been so great back then. I wish I could've been around then God wants to do it again because Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever. So it starts with the Greg Laurie fascinating insights on the Jesus movement and how we play a part in inviting another great move of God's hand on our culture today and before this addition of a new beginning. Concludes Pastor Greg returns to lead us in order prayer shall stay with us now. The title of today's message is the Holy Spirit in revival. It's part of the series we launched today, Jesus, revolution, and if you missed any part of today study you can hear the whole thing again by going to harvest.org you can stream the message while you're online or downloaded MP3 for later, or request the CD by calling 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24 seven phone number 1-800-821-3300 and by the way Pastor Greg goes into much more detail about the Jesus movement in his book Jesus revolution. It's a great read and Pastor Greg talks about what we can do to help usher in the next spiritual awakening site and I was thinking about all the people who have stationary bikes in their home. Yes, why, why have the no one uses and you buy it you use it for the first week, then you hang stuff on it afterwards because they're usually on the garage at my right accept that out right but theoretically you know they they can use those things in pedal for our and I go anywhere know you myself. I'd rather pedal a short time ago a lot of places yes that's just me out when it comes to trying to usher in revival.

How can we make sure that we are not peddling for years and not getting anywhere what you know in the in the high-tech versions of these that you can get little screens attached to them and you can have scenery you look at that's been prefilled out. Are you have a coach on their telling you write harder and all that but still you're sitting on a bike and going nowhere. I think it's much better to go somewhere. So instead of spinning our wheels are living in the world of theory about some practical steps I think there are practical things that we can do to bring about a personal revival.

As an example in the book of Revelation we have the church of Ephesus passionate fiery church. They had great discernment they were being used by God, but something was drifting in Jesus identified yet. He said you know, I know the things that you do. I know that you have discernment, but I here's my issue with you. You've left your first love. And then he says, remember from where you have fallen repent and do the first works quickly, so it's like the 3Rs of personal revival. Remember, repent, and repeat. First, you remember, here's a question to ask yourself, what is there a time in my life as a follower of Christ where I was more passionate about Jesus was there a time when I had a greater hunger for the word of God was there a time when I was sharing the gospel with people more so.

Remember, it's a point of reference, sort of like you know was there a time when I weighed less when I get on the scale and I weigh more. Yes. Okay. So remember it. It's a point of reference key know repent several going back to the died analogy stop eating pizza morning. You know, noon and night and sitting the La-Z-Boy go back and do the things used to do remember, repent, repeat. Okay, go back to the diet repeat go back and exercise more, eat less fattening foods.

So now let's apply that's virtually first. I remember there was a time I was more passionate about my relationship with God. Now, I repent. I turn from that and I repeat, he says do the first works quickly. I think we overly mystifying revival and we don't understand that there's simple steps we can take to make a better I've told the story before but some of our listeners may not of heard it about a lady that wanted to divorce her husband in the worst way. So she went to a divorce lawyer and she said I want to divorce my husband but I don't want to just divorce him.

I want him to suffer. I want him to feel pain.

So what should I do this. This attorney was a crafty when he says I'll tell you what, for the next six months. Smother your husband with affection affirm him tell them how much you love him and appreciate him and then at the end of six months will drop the bomb and several more divorce papers. He says I'll do it. So for the next six months.

She told her husband how much she loved him how much he loved being with him how much he cared about him how much she admired him and the attorney called six months later it says all right let's draw those papers up. Let's get the divorce going. She said the board see you getting were going in our second honeymoon. Here's my point. What did she do she did something she didn't necessarily want to do. But as she did it. Let's just say her emotions caught up with. She did what was right. She did what you probably should've been doing in the beginning. So in the same way with revival were waiting for some emotional experience. O Lord said to revival well how but if you just start doing revival like things and then all those things will sort of synchronized together so I talk about that and a lot more in my book Jesus revolution. It's my story of how I saw first, and I had a front row seat to the last great spiritual awakening in the United States of America and some historians say it was the greatest of all the revivals but I'll tell you this much. It was the greatest revival I saw.

It is the only revival I've seen and I pray all see another before I go to heaven when that be great when any great if we started seeing thousands of people come to Christ in our nation when it be fantastic if we could see people of different races coming together when it be amazing if we could see marriage is healed. Wouldn't even be more amazing if we could see people in different sides of the political aisle set their differences aside and work together. God can work in our nation got consent to spiritual awakening. We need to pray for, and we need to prepare for, but maybe we just need to start taking some practical steps get a copy of this book Jesus revolution find it with those practical steps are and I'll send it to you for your gift of any size. So whatever you said. I'll send you and return a copy of Jesus revolution.

Some of you can give more some not as much.

But whatever you said. Be assured it will be used. To get the gospel to people and teach them the word of God.

So thanks in advance what you can do.

Get your own copy of Jesus revolution. Yet we have it here waiting for you. The subtitle is how God transformed an unlikely generation, and how he can do it again today and will drop it in the mail to thank you for your investment so that these teachings can continue each day and so we can keep reaching out and changing lives you know more than 150,000 people made decisions for Christ through Pastor Greg's teaching last year and that was in spite of all the covert restrictions. It's such a good investment and eternal investment.

So thank you for your donation today and will send you Jesus revolution and by the way, as a bonus will include a copy of a brand-new study guide that goes with it. It'll help drive the point home and you can study this with your family or a small group fellowship to write us today at a new beginning.

Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514 or call us at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org when next time or from Pastor Greg's message the Holy Spirit in revival exploring what we can learn from the Jesus movement. But before we go. Pastor Greg comes back to close today study time American Legion awakening of the church needs revival so I thought we would prefer that together. Let's pray that God revives the church.

Let's pray that God will send a spiritual awakening.

And let's pray that it starts with us. Father, you know better than any of us how badly our nation needs you and Lord were asking for you to move powerfully by your Holy Spirit and send a spiritual awakening to America. We pray Lord that thousands and thousands of people will come to Christ. As we've heard about in these last four great awakenings Lord were praying for 1/5 grade awakening in the name of Jesus Christ I worry will get out for a 61 in the seventh one Lord move powerfully move mightily and let this revival now start in us. Let this revival started me in each of us individually. We need to be living in that close in submit first love relationship with Jesus Christ. So let it start in our own heart. We ask it in Jesus name and possible by harvest partners, helping people everywhere know God sign up for pastor great free daily email devotions and harvest.org