Prayer & Revival: The Renewing of Our Faith

A New Beginning presents the timely book Jesus Revolution by Pastor Greg Laurie and shares how it's the perfect time for another move of God. The last great spiritual awakening in American history was known as the Jesus Movement or the Jesus Revolution. And so here's what we're saying, Lord, do it again. And I seek to find takeaway principles that we can apply in hopes that we can see another Jesus Revolution.

Yours for a gift of any amount at Harvest.org. Reading, writing and arithmetic, the three Rs as they're called. Pastor Greg Laurie shares three more Rs. The three Rs of revival are remember, repent and then repeat.

Listen to this, if you want to see a revival, then do revival-like things. Start your day reading the Word of God if you feel like it or not. Take more time to be with God's people in worship. Take more opportunities to pray.

Leave your comfort zone and share your faith. Ever been behind the wheel on a long road trip? The endless miles of highway can be fatiguing. We can actually feel sleepy at 65 miles an hour.

Sometimes we go through life at 65 miles an hour. But spiritually speaking, we've practically fallen asleep today on a new beginning. Pastor Greg Laurie points out how to wake ourselves up spiritually and how that will have an effect on our culture as well.

He's explaining the biblical prescription for a societal spiritual awakening. So we're talking about the Jesus Revolution. You know, it's interesting, in the days of the Jesus Movement, we didn't call it the Jesus Revolution.

It was Time magazine that came up with this idea. They called it a revolution. We didn't call it that. But in many ways it was a revolution. What is a revolution? Generally we think of upheaval, radical change, like the French Revolution.

But the word revolution also means turning around and returning to something. And I think that's really what we need in America. We need to turn back to God.

You know, I can't think of a time in our nation's history for the years I've been alive and maybe even before in studying history when America has been more divided than we are right now. And we love to point our fingers. You know, we point our fingers at Hollywood and all the junk they churn out.

And they do deserve some blame of course. We point our fingers at Washington D.C. But you know when a nation is breaking down God does not point His finger at the White House.

He points His finger at His house. At the church. Because revival, as we pointed out last time, is what the church needs to experience. A spiritual awakening is what America needs. A revival is what the church needs. And I quoted this verse last time. 2 Chronicles 7.14. It is really God's prescription for revival or restoration. And it applies to any person or any nation where 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, then I will forgive their sins and heal their land. So I want to talk about prayer and revival.

Because that is really what needs to happen. We need to start praying like we have never prayed before. Revival is getting back to the Christian life as it was meant to be lived. Revival is sort of like being in love for the first time or in the bloom of first love. In fact the Bible even compares our relationship with God to that of two newlyweds.

Or someone in the first love relationship. In fact in the book of Ephesians Jesus talks to the church there and says, you know, loose paraphrase, I know you guys are active. I know you are busy. You are doing a lot of great stuff. But here is my issue with you. You have left your first love. Now how many of you are in love with somebody right now? You are in love with somebody. Ok. Now how many of you are married? Ok. How many of you are in love with your spouse?

I better see the same amount of hands go up. How many of you are not married yet but you are in love with somebody? You are in love with somebody. It is ok. Ok. Are you with them? Are you with them here? Have you told them yet?

Do they know or is this the first time they are hearing it? You know when I was a kid in school I was always falling in love with girls that never knew I existed. You know I would have crushes on girls right. So maybe there is someone you think, oh I wonder if that is the right one for me. So you write their name and your name together you know. And you play around with their last name as your last name if you are a girl. And you know that is the kinds of things that people that are in love do.

And you have got the butterflies and the stomach and you are nervous and your mouth goes dry. And all those things that speak of a new love. And then you get married. Ok. And then things change. As I have said marriage is a three ring circus.

There is engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffering. No. That is a joke. But sometimes it is that way. But I bring this up as an illustration because this can be like our relationship with God. You know when you first come to Jesus you are all excited. You are all fired up. You want to go to every church service. You can't go to too many church services.

You can't wait to get up in the morning and hear what the Bible has to say to you. Prayer man. You just love to pray. You are always praying. In fact sometimes you pray too long which isn't the worst thing a person can do. Sharing your faith. That is just natural.

You are always initiating conversations about Jesus Christ. But the thing is as time passes we start taking these things for granted. And it is possible to sort of leave our first love.

You don't lose it but you can leave it. So speaking to people who have left their first love Jesus says, Remember from where you have fallen. Repent and do the first works quickly. So the three R's of getting right with God or we could say the three R's of revival are remember. So if there was a time in your life as a Christian when you had more fire for God. You had more passion for Jesus.

Remember it as a point of reference. Then repent. Literally repent. You know change your direction. That is what repent means. It means go in the opposite direction and then repeat.

Do the first works quickly. Listen to this. If you want to see a revival then do revival like things. So instead of overly mystifying it just get back and do those things you used to do. Don't wait for some emotion to overcome you. Just start your day reading the Word of God if you feel like it or not. Take more time to be with God's people in worship. Take more opportunities to pray. Leave your comfort zone and share your faith. You know it is interesting that one of the great awakenings that happened in America that I mentioned last time was what is called the prayer revival in New York City.

It started as a prayer meeting on Fulton Street in New York and it started very small. But then the stock market crashed and everyone basically was freaking out and calling on God. You know when things are going well.

When the economy is good. We might say, well we don't really need God all that much. Oh trust me. We need God. We need God badly.

But maybe we are just not willing to realize how desperate the situation really is. What is revival? Charles Finney who was a part of one of the great revivals said, quote, revival is nothing more or less than a new beginning of obedience to God. Billy Sunday a great evangelist talked about revival and he said this, they tell me a revival is only temporary. So is a bath. But it does you good.

You know so it is a good thing when it happens. So revival is not only returning to one's first love in Jesus but it is also waking up from sleep. Often in the Bible lethargy, laziness, and sleep is used as a picture of a person that is complacent in their relationship with God. In Romans 13, 11 it says it is more urgent right now. The day of the Lord is closer than it has ever been.

Time is running out so wake up because our salvation is so close. You know the funny thing about going to sleep is you don't always know that you are asleep. Others do because you are snoring right. But sometimes when my wife and I are dozing off she likes to watch, how do I put it delicately, boring things on TV. Which actually helps because I watch things that get me too stimulated. She will say, turn that off. And then she likes to watch a show called, I don't know if you have ever seen it, The Great British Bake Off. Have you ever seen that show? So it is like these two people. Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry.

Now they have another lady they do it with. And all these people compete from around England. And they are given a challenge to bake this or bake that.

And then he tests all the things after they bake them. And to me it is like so boring. And so I fall asleep and Kathy will say, are you sleeping? And I don't know why but I deny it. No I wasn't sleeping. Why do we deny it when we are sleeping? Someone calls us at three in the morning. Were you sleeping? No, no.

Yeah. And you just woke me up thank you very much. So that is how it can be sometimes spiritually.

You don't realize that you are spiritually asleep. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We hear from listeners all over the country and from countries all over the world. Thank you very much Pastor Greg for everything you do. Every Sunday I watch online Harvest at Home Service from Spain with my husband. Your sermons have been a blessing to us and we praise God in these difficult times. Even though we can't go to church in person we give all glory to God for His blessings. You can tune in to Pastor Greg's Harvest at Home Services as well at Harvest.org. And if you have a story to share with us call 1-866-871-1144.

That's a special number 1-866-871-1144. Well Pastor Greg is pointing out today how a spiritual awakening in the culture depends on revival in the church. We're learning the steps toward that goal today. Revival is getting back to the Christian faith that was lived out in the first century. You know it has been said that revival is when God gets so sick and tired of being misrepresented He shows up Himself.

I want to say that again. Revival is when God gets so sick and tired of being misrepresented He shows up Himself. And periodically we have to rescue Jesus from modern day Christianity. It gets all caught up in religious stuff and ritualistic stuff and all kinds of things that have nothing to do with Jesus. This is why we called it the Jesus movement and the Jesus revolution.

Everything. It is about Jesus. And when we are focused on Jesus everything seems to find its right place. So God wants to send a revival. One person wrote it down this way.

And I quote. If all the sleeping people will wake up. If all the lukewarm people will fire up. If all of the dishonest people will confess up. If all the disgruntled people will cheer up. If all the estranged people will make up. If all the gossipers will shut up. If all true soldiers will stand up. If the dry bones will shake up. If all the church people will pray up then we can have a revival. I like that. So here is point number one.

If you are taking notes. If you want to see a revival you need to confess your sin. Humble yourself and pray. You need to confess your sin. Humble yourself and pray. And in a moment we are going to look at a passage of Scripture where that happened.

Where God's people began to pray like never before. But before we do that let's pray. Lord teach us to pray. Your disciples said that to you one day.

And you gave them an answer. You gave them what we call the Lord's Prayer. Our Father who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.

On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our sin as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Lord we want to know how to pray more. Lord we want to pray more. But we don't pray as much as we ought to.

We will admit that. So give us a heart to pray. Teach us to pray.

We ask it in your name. Amen. Here is something to think about with sleep. You know when I get sleepy is when I over eat.

I get real tired. Think about Thanksgiving when we all commit the sin of gluttony nationally. Right. So we eat turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy and sweet potatoes. Maybe with melted marshmallows.

At least we do that. And then you have biscuits or cornbread or muffins or you know rolls or something like that. And of course pumpkin pie.

I think it is a law you have to have pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. But I don't know about you but I want to go into a coma afterwards. And then you wake up and what do you do?

You go have a turkey sandwich or something like that. But so here is the funny thing about sleep. You know it is not always just a bad thing.

It can happen when you have been fed really well. So you know you can come to church and be fed the Word of God and study the Word of God. And actually how shall I put it? I don't want to say overeat because I don't think you can over study the Bible.

But let me say it this way. You can study the Bible without any application in your life or putting it into action. See if you just eat and you don't exercise you are just going to become well spiritually obese. You will be a real holy roller. We will have to roll you out of the church right. And so I think there has to be a place for understanding we need to give out what God has given to us.

We are blessed to be a blessing. But there are things that can hinder our prayer life. The Bible says that if we have idols in our heart the Lord will not listen to us. So what is an idol?

Well you know an idol can be anything. It could be a guitar. It could be a car. It could be a house. It could be your body. It could be some device that you have. A phone or whatever else.

It could be a career. It could be so many things that you are more passionate about than God. So the idea of not having another God before him is make God number one in your life. The first commandment is put God first and have no other God before me.

And then he says don't make any graven images. So if we have an idol in our heart God won't hear us. Another thing that can hinder our prayer is unconfessed sin. You know because the Bible says that if we have iniquity in our hearts the Lord will not hear us. So I think it is really important for us to confess our sin.

In fact that kind of brings us to the text I want to look at. Nehemiah chapter 9. And this is the story of a massive prayer meeting that happened. And this prayer meeting took place after the people of Israel who had been held captive in Babylon for 70 years were free. And talk about idols. They were like an idol central.

They were idols everywhere. In fact the reason they ended up in Babylon is the Israelites kept taking God for granted and turning to these stupid false gods. So the Lord said, ok you guys want false gods and idols?

I will send you to a place where you have more than you can shake a stick at. After 70 years in Babylon they were allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. They were led by Nehemiah. So after the walls were rebuilt and everybody was back in the land a prophet priest named Ezra gave a powerful message. And after he was done speaking the people prayed. So Nehemiah 9 verses 1 to 4.

I am reading from the New Living Translation. On October 31 the people assembled again and this time they fasted and dressed in burlap and sprinkled dust on their heads. And those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners as they confessed their own sins and the sins of their ancestors. They remained standing in place for three hours while the book of the law of the Lord God was read aloud to them. And for three more hours they confessed their sins and worshiped the Lord. So don't talk to me about services going too long.

I mean check this out. For three hours they confessed their sins and worshiped the Lord. And for three hours they stood in place hearing the message.

So that sounds like revival to me. So what do they do? They prayed with passion and they confessed their sins. The Bible says that we will confess our sin.

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But the problem is people will say today well you know I don't really think that is a sin. My opinion is this isn't a sin and that is a sin. Well it is really not up to you or me to decide what a sin is.

We determine what sin is by what God says. And actually the word confess means to agree with God. And the way we know what God thinks about things is by reading the Bible. So they read the Word of God.

They heard the mind of God. Then they knew it is sins to confess. But I think sometimes we think of sins as just breaking a commandment. And sins are that.

When you step over a line or you do a thing that the Bible tells you you should not do. Like break one of the commandments. Some preacher recently said he doesn't think we need the Ten Commandments anymore.

I could not differ more from that. God gave us the very Ten Commandments. They are written by the finger of God.

Now He wants us to go beyond them. Because in the commandments Jesus pointed out in the Sermon on the Mind. You have heard that it has been said you shall not murder.

But I say to you if you are angry with your brother without a cause it is the same thing. Or you have heard of the law you shall not commit adultery. That is one of the commandments.

But I say to you if you look at a woman with lust in your heart you have committed adultery. So He wants us to go further than them. But He certainly doesn't want us to do away with them. But they help us know what right and wrong are. But then there are other kinds of sins. Not just sins of commission but sins of omission. The sin of omission is when you don't do what you should do. The sin of commission is when you do what you should not do. Again the sin of commission is when you do what you should not do. Break a commandment.

Cross a line. The sin of omission is when you don't do what you should do. Because the Bible says if we noted a good and we don't do it it is sin.

We don't think of sin that way. Well I didn't think lustfully today and I didn't cut anybody off from the freeway. And I didn't cuss once. And I didn't lie. And I didn't steal. So I guess I haven't sinned and the Lord led you. Why don't you go over there and share the gospel with that person right now. There is no way I am going to do that.

Wait. Could that be a sin? Could that be the sin of omission? If the Lord spoke to your heart and said put down the cell phone and pick up my word.

And you said no. Could it be a sin to not obey God again to him that knows to do good and does not do it? To him it is sin. So there are a lot of things that can qualify as sin. So I think we have to acknowledge that in our life. That is why in the Lord's Prayer, which is a template for all prayer, He shows us we should ask God to forgive us of our sin every day.

Go back to it again. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sin as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Just as surely as you need daily bread.

And that just means you need everything from God. Bread means food, clothing. It is funny back in the 60's we used to call money bread. We would say hey man you got any bread?

Ok so but that is really true. Bread just means everything. Everything you need in life you ask God for it. But then forgive us our sin. So just as surely as I need to ask God for His provision, I need to also ask God for His forgiveness. Good insight from Pastor Greg Laurie today on the importance of confessing our sins and how that sets the stage for humble effective prayer. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg is presenting a study called Prayer and Revival. It is part of his series Jesus Revolution. And if you missed any of today's message, you can hear what you missed by going online to harvest.org. Or order a permanent copy on CD by dialing 1-800-821-3300.

That is 1-800-821-3300. Pastor Greg many of us I think have been on sort of a news diet. Watching the news can just cause so much stress and disappointment. The world is a mess. It sure seems like God may be up to something.

You think? Yes I sure pray and hope so because I will tell you what our nation needs a healing. I cannot remember a time when we have been more divided. The only parallel would be late 60s with all the riots and racial division and issues of that time. I would say it's as bad today. I would say it's maybe even a little bit worse today. Because you know what Dave, back in the late 60s we didn't have social media. We didn't have Twitter.

We didn't have all these platforms where fuel could be thrown onto pre-existing flames. And I think everybody just needs to step back. And I'm talking now primarily to Christians. And we need to live and behave as followers of Jesus Christ.

Because really we should seek to be bridge builders not bridge burners. We need to be peacemakers not troublemakers. And I think we need to really pray that God would heal our land. Now I know I've quoted this verse many times.

But man it is so clear and really gives us the prescription for the healing of a nation. And it of course is 2 Chronicles 7 14 where the Lord says, If my people, notice he points his finger at his people. When a nation is in trouble God doesn't point his finger at the government. He points his finger at his people. He says, If my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and churn from their wicked ways. Then God promises I'll hear from heaven forgive their sin and heal their land. We need a healing.

And it's happened before and it can happen again. The last great spiritual awakening in American history was known as the Jesus movement or the Jesus revolution. Some historians believe not only was it the last great revival. Some even believe it was the greatest of all the revivals.

Here's what I do know. I came to Christ in 1970. I walked into the epicenter of the Jesus movement and I saw amazing things. And my life was impacted and a whole generation was impacted.

The nation was impacted. And I wrote a book about it and the title of that book is Jesus Revolution. And I might also add that I co-wrote it with a lady named Ellen Vaughn. Ellen Vaughn was also the co-author of my autobiography called Lost Boy. A very gifted writer in her own right. And she helped me put this book together.

She did extensive research so you can understand the backdrop of the Jesus revolution. And I think as you read this book you're going to say, wow, this reminds me of right now. And so here's what we're saying, Lord do it again. As scripture says, will you not revive us again that your people may praise you. So we need another spiritual awakening. I don't think we can organize it but I think we can agonize for it in prayer. And I don't think we can make it happen but I think we can prepare the ground for the work of the Spirit. And I think reading this book will inspire you because you know it's been said, the fame of revival spreads the flame of revival. So learn about the fame of revival. Learn about what God did in the last great spiritual awakening in America.

And let's pray that it'll happen again. I want to send you this book, Jesus Revolution, at no cost. All I ask of you is that you would send a gift to help us continue to preach the gospel and teach the Word of God. So for your gift of any size, I'll rush you a copy of my book, Jesus Revolution.

Yeah, that's right. It's an inspiring look at what happened during the 60s and 70s and how it can happen again. In fact, the subtitle of the book is How God Transformed an Unlikely Generation and How He Can Do It Again Today.

And along with the book, we'll even include the brand new study guide that helps you dive even deeper into the insights Pastor Greg presents. So to thank you for your generous donation right now, we hope you'll ask for Jesus Revolution. You can write us at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call us anytime 24 hours a day at 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org. Well, next time, more insight on the important role of prayer as we seek to bring revival to the church and to our individual lives. More from Pastor Greg's series, Jesus Revolution, next time on A New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.