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Wake Up, Wake Up! (Isaiah 51:9-16)
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Wake Up, Wake Up! (Isaiah 51:9-16)
Prepare the Way of the Lord! :: A study of Isaiah
Sunday Message recorded 21 March 2021
by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
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Transcript
Spring Break and Spiritual Refreshment
00:00:00
Speaker
Good morning. Good to see you this morning. I hope you enjoyed your spring break. If you had a break, some people keep working, you know, during spring break. But anyway, I hope if you did have one that the spring is in your step and you are ready to start a new week tomorrow.
00:00:18
Speaker
You know, I really believe that the refreshing that our hearts long for is found in the presence of the Lord. In Acts chapter four, it talks about how in His presence we can be refreshed. I hope that you're refreshed as we look into this book of Isaiah.
Introduction to Isaiah 51: Divine Themes
00:00:34
Speaker
I would like to invite you to turn to Isaiah chapter 51. We'll begin with verse nine of Isaiah 51, verse nine. But the Old Testament book of Isaiah
00:00:46
Speaker
is not a man-centered message. It contains a focus on God. As a matter of fact, chapters 1 through 39, these chapters exalt the greatness of God, reminds us that He's in charge, reminds us of His government. I don't know if you remember, but in Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 1,
00:01:08
Speaker
Isaiah the prophet had a vision, and he was being called. And that vision was a vision of a throne, reminding him that God sits upon the throne. So from verse chapter 1 through chapter 39, there are lots of sprinkled in passages of judgment and holiness, how we're accountable to a holy God.
God's Comfort and Redemption
00:01:30
Speaker
But then in chapter 40, where we started this series, all the way to the end of Isaiah chapter 66,
00:01:37
Speaker
These messages magnify the goodness of God, the goodness of God. Certainly we want to sing about His greatness, but we also want to sing about His goodness. This morning we sang about His amazing grace, His grace. That's why I can't wait until Easter Sunday morning when we get to Isaiah 53 and we look at the lamb.
Call to Spiritual Awakening
00:02:00
Speaker
And so now we've moved from a throne to a lamb
00:02:03
Speaker
That seems to be the focus of chapters 40 through chapter 66. These chapters emphasize God's comfort. Are you looking for comfort? Are you looking for redemption? I think many people are. It's offered to us through Christ. I think that our country desperately needs to hear the truths
00:02:25
Speaker
that are sounding forth from Isaiah. I think sometimes we fall asleep at the wheel in life, spiritually, I mean. And so we need to wake up. And that's what this message is on. How are you at waking up? I'm sure tomorrow morning, we need to wake up when it's Monday morning. And you've got to go back to school. You've got to go back to work. It's going to be hard. When I was a university student, now I don't have the trouble I used to have getting up.
00:02:52
Speaker
But when I was a university student, man, I'm telling you, I had to actually, my alarm clock wasn't enough. I put a shoebox over my alarm clock and I put a brick on top of the shoebox. So I had to go through all kinds of things just to turn that alarm clock off. And my roommate was certainly glad when I finally got it. But anyway, we need to wake up spiritually of what the Lord wants to say to us.
00:03:15
Speaker
You know, you'll notice if you look kind of glance through chapter 51, you'll see the Lord say three times, listen to me. Who are you listening to today? I think that Christians, disciples, believers need to listen to the Lord, to what he has to say. And Isaiah 51 calls us to that in verse one, in verse four, again in verse seven.
00:03:41
Speaker
Three times, God says, listen to me. I want you to listen for God's voice as we go through the message today.
Impact of Spiritual Awakenings
00:03:48
Speaker
But also three times, he says this, awake, awake. You know, if you look at where we're gonna begin in verse nine, he starts out awake, awake, awake. He says it a third time in verse nine, awake. He goes on and says it again in verse 17. If you look over in chapter 52 and verse one, he says it again, awake, awake.
00:04:11
Speaker
And so definitely we hear the Lord calling us to awaken spiritually. You know, our nation has experienced spiritual awakenings. Have you ever read about those? The first great awakening was in 1734. It lasted until 1743.
00:04:31
Speaker
Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield, Wesley Brothers. Then it went to the Second Great Awakening from 1800 to maybe 1840, when you had Finney and different ones. There was a businessman's revival from 1857 to 1858.
Historical Revivals and Communal Prayer
00:04:49
Speaker
A businessman had it on his heart. He said, you know what? We need to pray, and we need to pray during our lunch hour so they would gather, and it's just masses gathered together. Dwight L. Moody was one of the instruments in what was called the urban revivals of 1875, 1885. I mean, just thousands, perhaps even millions came to know the Lord.
00:05:10
Speaker
during that time when Dwight L. Moody was preaching. And then Billy Sunday and the Welsh Revival spread over to Pennsylvania. So in 1904, 1905, just many people were born again. Lives were changed. After World War II, there was another awakening.
Overcoming Spiritual Blockages
00:05:28
Speaker
And that's when Bill Bright with Crewe, that's when Billy Graham, Wheaton College, different ministries that God raised up. It was incredible.
00:05:39
Speaker
The Jesus movement began in the late 60s, early 70s in Asbury College and different ones, but I think what I'm trying to say is God has moved here before. Like the song said earlier, he was faithful then, he'll be faithful now. But if he is faithful now, why don't we see him moving?
00:06:00
Speaker
Well, I believe it could go back to something's blocking God's power. And so that's what I want to talk about today. There was this man from the past named Vance Havner. He was a revivalist. Next Sunday, we'll have a revivalist here, Dr. Don Witt. But this revivalist Vance Havner grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina.
00:06:24
Speaker
He said that when he was a boy, his daddy would take him to see this old-fashioned meal. It was a water meal. My dad took us camping in the Smoky Mountains, and we actually saw that meal that's on that picture right there. But we would pitch our tent in a place called Pigeon Forge. That's where this old meal that was built in 1830 is located.
00:06:46
Speaker
But one of the things that I found amazing when I went inside, I can still remember this as a little kid, is that all that water turned these big 4,600 pound rocks upon each other. It's like it would drive those rocks to spin. And so it would grind cornmeal, it would grind grain into meal and all these different things in the soft flour. And they would make biscuits and pancakes and so forth.
00:07:15
Speaker
Well, Vance Havner said that during his day that that mill stopped and they couldn't figure out what it was and it was debris. It had blocked upstream. There was a block on the flow that should have driven all those
Isaiah 51:9-16 and Awakening
00:07:30
Speaker
things. Now, they could have said, you know what, we can overcome this as a community. Why don't we all get together and spin these big rocks?
00:07:37
Speaker
But all of that straining and all of that effort couldn't make up for that water that would just turn those big rocks upon one another. There was a log jam. There was debris in the way.
00:07:51
Speaker
I think if we're going to see the power of God move across this country once again, then we also need to remove the moral, the spiritual debris that's blocking the way. And I think that's what Isaiah was talking to his generation about.
00:08:08
Speaker
In Isaiah 51, we're going to focus on verse 9 down through verse 16. Would you stand with me in honor of God's word? Listen to God say, awake, and let's listen to what happens whenever people are experiencing spiritual awakening. And if it's not happening, then that's our call to seek Him for a spiritual awakening. He says in verse 9, awake, awake.
00:08:33
Speaker
put on strength, O arm of the Lord, awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea away for the redeemed to pass over?
00:09:00
Speaker
and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and
Prayer for Awakening
00:09:10
Speaker
joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. I, I am he who comforts you. Who are you?
00:09:20
Speaker
Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the Son of man who is made like grass and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor?
00:09:50
Speaker
He who is bowed down shall speedily be released. He shall not die and go down to the pit. Neither shall his bread be lacking. I am the Lord your God who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his name.
00:10:10
Speaker
And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth and saying to Zion, you are my people." Let's go to the Father in prayer. Oh, Lord, stir us if we're sleeping
00:10:32
Speaker
Awaken us that we might see you and hear you. I pray that you would make this passage come alive. Lord, my heart was so excited this week as I looked forward to this day when I could tell your people what you were saying to me.
00:10:47
Speaker
And so help me just step out of the way and you just speak through your word today. It's living, it's active, it's sharper than any two-edged sword. You said it would not come back to you void. And so Lord, take your word, take it like a sword, take it like seed. Lord, pierce through the division of soul and spirit. Sow the word of God in our hearts that there'd be a harvest for you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Thank you, you may be seated.
00:11:18
Speaker
You know, I believe God's giving us five alarm clocks that will wake us up. Let's look first at verse nine. Look at verse nine with me, awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord, awake, as in the days of all the generations of long ago. Let's stop right there. Who's talking to who?
00:11:39
Speaker
I believe that it's the prophet, he's talking to God, he's praying to God and he's saying there's something we need in our day. You know what he was saying they needed? God's power, God's strength. And so that's what he's praying for. And why is he so desperate? Because he says we need the arm of the Lord. Do you feel that we need the arm of the Lord today?
00:12:06
Speaker
When does he want God to get up and move in power? He wants it during his day, doesn't he? Because he says these words, I want you to move as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Have you ever read in scripture something of how God moved in a community, a city, or even a nation, and you thought, oh, Lord, do it again?
00:12:29
Speaker
Let your power move in a fresh way again. You know, scripture and church history, they give testimony that this is what has to happen before God does move in power.
00:12:43
Speaker
prayer. We have to ask him, are you asking God for God to move in power and in strength? That's what it's a prayer. He says, awake, awake. Put on strength, the arm of the Lord, awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago.
00:13:02
Speaker
I long to see what God would do. I love it when I read in Hebrews 11 that, you know, God shut the mouths of lions and all this fire was quenched and kingdoms fell and all these different things. I love it. I mean, it charges me up, but it also charges me up when I say, God, please let that happen in our day. Let us see your glory. Let us see your goodness working today.
Salvation and Redemption in Isaiah
00:13:30
Speaker
You know, God's power, the outpouring of God's power follows the outpouring of prayer. If we neglect prayer, then God waits until we seek Him, because God doesn't want to give the credit to anyone else other than Him and His Son.
00:13:50
Speaker
Leonard Ravenhill says, the price for revival is ever the same, travail, travail. We must travail in prayer. We must take the time that's necessary to plead with God and to say, God, we have challenges that we cannot remove in the flesh. We've got to see you move in our day.
00:14:11
Speaker
Let's move to the second spiritual alarm clock. I believe the spiritual awakening is characterized by many coming home via salvation from the Lord. If you look from verse nine and go down through the following verses, you'll see the same kind of thing, awake, awake, put on your strength, though, arm of the Lord, awake, as in the days of all the generations of long ago. So what happens if he does move in power? This is what happens.
00:14:39
Speaker
Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea away for the redeemed to pass over and the ransomed of the Lord shall return?
00:14:56
Speaker
So God's opening a way for something to happen. What was He opening the way to happen? The people who were Jews, they were in bondage in Egypt. And so God opened up the Red Sea. God slew someone called Rahab. This was like a code word. Rahab was not the woman Rahab.
00:15:17
Speaker
Rahab was a code word for Egypt. If you want to write down a note, write down Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 7. Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 7, it clearly tells us Rahab was a figurative name that God gave Egypt. So whenever he says that he
00:15:37
Speaker
Cut in pieces, Rahab, he's not talking about a woman, so don't get all horrified about that. What he's saying is, he stopped, he stopped Egypt and allowed God's people to go free. And when it says, who pierced the dragon, if you look at Ezekiel chapter 29 and verse three, Ezekiel chapter 29 verse three, the Pharaoh there that he's talking, I mean, the dragon he's talking about is Pharaoh of Egypt.
00:16:05
Speaker
And so God pierced the Pharaoh of Egypt. And so what we need to remember is God opened a way for people to be set free back then, and he's been doing it ever since. Do you know that a long time ago, back in the 1700s, there was a small community, maybe one third of the size of Columbus, okay? Northampton, Massachusetts.
00:16:33
Speaker
and in a six-month period of time in Northampton, Massachusetts with a population of 1,100.
00:16:40
Speaker
Over 300 people came to know Christ. Over 300. So let me ask you, if God could do it in a small community like that, could he do it in our community? What would happen in Columbus if suddenly the spirit of God moved in power and 300 people were born again? 300 people came to know Christ. Do you think it can happen?
00:17:04
Speaker
I do. I know it can happen because God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. You know, I'm thinking about also during the Second Great Awakening, that was during the First Great Awakening. During the Second Great Awakening, God moved in another small community in Southwest Vermont. Southwest Vermont, a place called Rupert, in November of 1803, 84 people trusted Christ.
00:17:32
Speaker
What would we do if 84 people needed to be baptized? Can you imagine the excitement? Can you imagine the glory that God would get? I think that's what we can pray about and say, God, we need spiritual awakening. We need you to move in ways that only you can do this.
Leading Others to Salvation
00:17:50
Speaker
And so that's why we need to say, Lord, would you save people who don't have a personal relationship with you?
00:17:56
Speaker
I don't know about you, but I'm really having the time of my life. I love Jesus, and I know he loves me. Every morning I wake up, there's joy. There's gladness in my heart. I have peace. I have love. I know my sins are forgiven, but you know what?
00:18:13
Speaker
There are people all around us who do not have that. And so what we need to be saying is, Lord, please help us get the gospel message to them. May we see people saved each and every week, every month. I believe it can happen, but it only happens
00:18:30
Speaker
After we pray, God gives his power, it only happens whenever people start coming home like that prodigal son saying, I need to go home to the Father. Let's move to a third alarm clock. Another indication of God's people, a community, a nation, a church, waking up spiritually as they start singing. They just start singing to the Lord.
00:18:56
Speaker
Isaiah describes the redeemed as returning with joy in their hearts and a song upon their lips. Listen to the way he describes it. And the ransom the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing.
00:19:11
Speaker
We've got something to sing about. They come with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sign shall flee away. Is there something stealing your joy? Nothing should steal our joy in the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:19:32
Speaker
You know, in the mid-18th century, great awakening, many churches became eager for songs that would breed the spirit of revival and express their newfound faith and their newfound fervor.
00:19:47
Speaker
You know, that's why, you know, I said, John Wesley, he had a brother named Charles Wesley. Charles Wesley was so inspired to start writing new songs. And so you know what he did? He wrote new songs, all right,
Music and Spiritual Revivals
00:20:00
Speaker
4,500 hymns, and we're still singing them today. They came out of revival. When God's people get revived, people start saying, I got a song. It's just kind of wanting to come out. And so they begin to want to sing and praise him.
00:20:18
Speaker
You know, when I think about why Moses sang, remember we were talking about how Moses was led by the Lord and delivered the people out of Egypt, how the Red Sea parted and so forth. You know, there's a song of Moses. Look at Exodus 15, verses 1 through 18. It's a long song. It's called the song of Moses. And once God delivered the people, they just wanted to praise him.
00:20:43
Speaker
Do you want to praise God? I think that singing is a natural response when God rescues you. Just like Zach Williams sings his rescue story, you have a rescue story. In order to make you want to sing like we were singing earlier, I think that singing is also a natural response to forgiveness.
00:21:04
Speaker
Sometime I encourage you to read through Psalm 51. Psalm 51 and verse 14, whenever David experienced forgiveness for his sin, David got off track. David got off track and began to disobey God. But when he came back in repentance, you know what the Lord restored to him? The joy of his salvation. And he was praying, God, help me sing again. Have you lost your song?
00:21:31
Speaker
Singing is also a natural response to the mission. Do you remember in Acts 16 and verse 22, chapter 16 and verse 22,
Repentance and Spiritual Cleansing
00:21:40
Speaker
when they're sitting there in the Philippian jail, you got Paul and Silas, and were they just so disappointed and so discouraged because they were arrested for sharing their faith, for being involved in the mission of the Lord?
00:21:54
Speaker
No. You know what it says they were doing? Get this. They were singing. They were in there singing. And I couldn't believe it. No matter what's going on around us in our lives, there's no reason why we should stop singing and praising the Lord because our song doesn't come from external circumstances. Our song comes from what the Lord is doing on the inside of us.
00:22:18
Speaker
Well, let's go to a fourth clock, a spiritual alarm clock that I think can give us a wake up call.
00:22:25
Speaker
a fourth occurrence that always takes place in a spiritual awakening. I love to read different accounts, historical accounts of how God moves. But it's always there is this repentance, this cleansing. Whenever God's people say, God is moving in a fresh way, I am going to get my life right with him. And so the stirring causes them to seek cleansing.
00:22:51
Speaker
cleansed by a stirring from the Lord. Look with me at verse 12 and following, I am he who comforts you
00:23:01
Speaker
Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the Son of man who is made like grass and have forgotten the Lord your Maker who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor
00:23:24
Speaker
when he sets himself to destroy, and where is the wrath of the oppressor? He who is bowed down shall speedily be released. He shall not die and go down to the pit. Neither shall his bread be lacking." And then verse 15, I am the Lord your God who stirs up, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar. The Lord of hosts is his name.
00:23:50
Speaker
You know what I think God has done through history, through scripture? Whenever God's people get complacent, whenever we begin to get lazy spiritually, whenever we begin to put other things in front of God, you know what He does?
00:24:04
Speaker
He says, it's time for a stirring. And so he stirs up the waves and things begin to get so rocky and we began to say, oh God, what's going on? And then we look as we linger before God and God says, this is in your life. This is in your life. This is getting before me. Why are you putting up with this in your life? And so we began to ask him for cleansing. What was he addressing in their life, in their day?
00:24:32
Speaker
He was saying, you've got the fear of man in your heart. You're so afraid of what others would think. You're so afraid of what they will do. And that's exactly what he tells them. He said, who are you that you're afraid of a man who dies of the son of man who's made like grass? And they also, when they were afraid of man, it means they've forgotten someone else.
00:24:53
Speaker
They've forgotten God, Almighty God, their Maker, their Redeemer, their Creator. And so he's saying, you're so concerned about everybody else. What about me? You've forgotten about me. And that's why you're so afraid of them, because you're not looking at me. And so God says, it's time for the roaring. He says, I'll stir up the waves and the waves are going to roar.
00:25:19
Speaker
What is the roaring? You know, when I thought about the roaring, I thought about the conviction of sin. When the Holy Spirit says, you know, we kind of say, oh Lord, just leave me alone. Just let me work. Just let me go to school. Just let me, you know, have success in this sport. Just let my March Madness bracket be okay. You know, nobody says okay after this weekend, but just let me tell you something.
00:25:46
Speaker
God says, no, I will not let you alone because there's something blocking the power. Something is upstream and it's not allowing me to work in your life. And so God begins to convict us of sin like he did David. You know, in Psalm 32, listen to how that Psalm begins when he says, blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven.
00:26:12
Speaker
Whose sin is covered, blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and whose spirit there is no deceit. So it's a great thing, a sweet thing to be cleansed of the Lord. But what happens before the cleansing?
00:26:28
Speaker
Oh, that's easy. Look at verse 3 of Psalm 32. For when I kept silent, same problem was happening on Isaiah's day, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long for day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
00:26:52
Speaker
You see what God is saying? I'm not gonna take my hand off of you. I'm not gonna take my hand off of you. I'm gonna put my hand heavy on you. I remember when my dad put his hand heavy on me. Man, it got my attention. We need to say, God, I know it's because you love me that you won't allow me to just sort of go my own way. And so whenever the stirring comes and circumstances get completely out of control,
00:27:17
Speaker
Listen for the roaring, the roaring of the conviction. And what God is saying is, come to me. Come back to me. Come to me and ask for cleansing for putting other things in front of me. Well, let's go to the fifth and final alarm clock. If you'll look with me at verse 16, John N. Oswald says of this verse, the shift in address to the servant, which really is like another code name I was referring to earlier, it means Jesus.
00:27:47
Speaker
The shift is not difficult because throughout
Re-centering on the Gospel
00:27:50
Speaker
chapters 49 through 55, the servant, Jesus, stands in the background of every address of the Lord to the people. From this point on, I'm going to keep pointing out every time there's Jesus. There he is again. Isaiah was in the Old Testament long before Jesus came to this earth.
00:28:13
Speaker
But Isaiah kept pointing to him, pointing to him, pointing to Jesus over and over again. And so this final alarm clock is calling us to recenter our lives on the gospel, recenter our lives on the Word of God. He says clearly in verse 16, I put my words in your mouth. Many of you know the gospel.
00:28:34
Speaker
We know the gospel. Are we sharing the gospel? Are we living the gospel? Do we even spend time reading the word of God as we go through each day? I've put my words in your mouth. I've covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth and saying to Zion, you're my people. You're what God's saying. You belong to me. I love you. You're mine. And so we've got to center our lives around the scriptures of the Lord.
00:29:04
Speaker
You know, in 2 Chronicles 34, one of the greatest biblical revivals, awakenings took place in 2 Chronicles 34. It was during the time of a young king named Josiah. And something happened that caused that whole generation of people to turn a corner. You know what had happened?
00:29:24
Speaker
They discovered, they rediscovered the word of God. Can you imagine them going to the temple? Like year after year, month after month, week after week, and they did not have the word of God. But during King Josiah's time, the high priest says, what is this? And he comes to the king and he says, we found the scrolls. We found the word of God.
00:29:48
Speaker
And the king reads it, and he rips his robe, and he weeps before God. What is your response to God God says to you in the word? Do you just neglect it? Do you kind of go on? A return to the word of God rests at the heart of any revival. This is what makes awakenings last longer whenever we say, we will live by this word. We will share this word. We will think about this word.
00:30:18
Speaker
You see, God's word really helps us to focus on the centrality of God's plan. So that's the first thing when he said, I put it in your mouth. Have you ever noticed how God put our mouth right in the center of our face? What would happen if he'd have put it over their side if he'd be talking to people like this? But he put it right there in the middle because God wants to put his word right in the center of our lives and say, share that word with those around you, with your children, with your grandchildren.
00:30:46
Speaker
the security of God's word when he said, look, I've covered you in the shadow of my hand. The Bible will tell you how safe you are, how secure you are in Christ. But then he says, our identity, you know, the Lord will remind you that you are his whenever you get into the word of God and you read verses like verse 16, where he says, I'm going to say to Zion, you are my people. You're mine. You belong to me.
00:31:15
Speaker
I want to close by telling you one last account. Newing in northeast of Lexington, Kentucky, there's a small place called Cane Ridge. It's a Presbyterian church. I wish it had been Baptist, but it wasn't. It's Presbyterian. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm not like that. But anyway, they were promoting some meetings that they were about to have, like we're going to have. From next Sunday through the following Wednesday, we're going to be having some meetings. That's what they said. So they just started inviting people.
00:31:44
Speaker
You won't believe it. U.S. Army records substantiate that people started coming, like from Kentucky. They started coming from Ohio. They started coming from Tennessee. Lord knows we got heathens in Tennessee. Need to be saved. But anyway, brought all these people. You know how many people showed up?
00:32:05
Speaker
25,000 people. It's just a little hole-in-the-wall place, Kane Ridge, this place in Kentucky. And so 25,000 people, they came on foot, they came in wagons, they came on horseback, they brought their tents, and they set up their tents, and they stayed there for four days, just like our meeting four days.
00:32:25
Speaker
And I'm telling you, God moved and historian James Bowles, B-O-L-E-S, says he thinks he can show that that was the beginning of the Bible Belt.
00:32:38
Speaker
The number of Christians that's across the South, you know where it all started? It didn't start in a big city church. It didn't start in a big city anything. It started in the country, Cambridge, when the people said, let's just start inviting people to come and hear the word of God, to come and hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know that from 1800 to 1804, Baptists in Kentucky, now we get to the Baptist, Baptists in Kentucky grew threefold, Methodist fourfold. They're still ahead of us over there.
00:33:08
Speaker
What is going on? Methodist forefather, Presbyterians doubled. It's just exciting whenever that happens. So here's the thing. It all happens because of what happens at the Capitol, right? No, it doesn't happen because of what takes place in the Capitol. All you got to do is read Acts 12.
00:33:31
Speaker
They were really messed up in terms of their government that was over Israel. It's not what happens in the capital. It's what happens in the church. It's what happens to disciples, not politicians. What happens here in our lives and through our lives, it will last for eternity. What happens up
Invitation to Spiritual Awakening
00:33:50
Speaker
there is temporary. Listen, we have the edge if we will just simply say, God, please do it again.
00:33:59
Speaker
But you know Peter, he was imprisoned. James, they put him to death. He was martyred in Acts 12. And so there's Peter in jail. But you know what it says about that? So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. And so you know what has happened? Peter was asleep.
00:34:22
Speaker
He was sleeping. Maybe he was having great dreams about the forgiveness of his sins and how the Lord was so good to him. Suddenly, he's awakened. And he looks up, and there's a big angel standing beside him. And the big angel says, get up, speedily, quickly, get up, put on your coat. We're getting out of here. And when he stood up, the chains fell off.
00:34:47
Speaker
When he stood up, everybody else was asleep, and the door opens. He goes outside. The angel says, just follow me. He goes to the door of the city, and the door of the city, it says, opens up all by itself. Just read it, Acts 12. God can do amazing things, but you know where it starts?
00:35:08
Speaker
When Christians wake up, when we wake up to what God wants to do, and we say, Lord, I'm tired of sleeping. This is not a time, if I sleep at the wheel now, we may wreck this thing.
00:35:22
Speaker
Will we wake up? That's what this invitation is an opportunity to you to come to Christ. If you are sleeping spiritually, you don't know Christ yet, this is an opportunity for you to come to knowing. If you do knowing, and you're like Peter, you're just asleep, then the Lord is saying, this is not a time to doze off spiritually. You need to wake up. We could really see this thing go off the side of the road.
00:35:48
Speaker
Let's stand together and you respond the way God places it on your heart. When I ask our musicians to come, let us pray that God would really stir. Stir us. Stir us and let it begin here. Oh, Lord.
00:36:04
Speaker
I thank you so much for examples upon examples that have happened. Oh, Lord, sometimes we say, well, it'll be a larger church or it'll be a larger city. What if you wanted the things to start here? What if the fire started right here?
00:36:21
Speaker
What if the wind of your Holy Spirit moved in such a powerful way that they rode about it in Houston or Dallas or wherever? Oh, God, we don't want any glory. We don't want any fame. We don't want any recognition. We just want Jesus to be exalted. We just want people to come to know you. You've changed our lives. And so, God, I just don't want us to feel like it's helpless and hopeless.
00:36:46
Speaker
when we know the Son of God, the true and the living God. We know the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We know the one that said, nothing is too difficult for me. And so God, just light a fire in us, help us to wake up spiritually if we've been sleeping and to put nothing else in front of you. May we return to you this day in Jesus name. Amen.