What to Pray for in Revival

We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christ Church.

This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication,

redistribution, or any other use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christ Church.

Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at ChristChurchEastBay.org.

Good morning.

I'm Melissa Arsuniega, and I'm part of the North Berkeley Tuesday Night Community Group at the Wesolowskis.

Today's scripture reading is from the book of Exodus, chapter 33, verses 12 through 18, as printed in the liturgy.

Exodus 33:12–18

A reading from the book of Exodus.

Moses said to the Lord,

You have been telling me, lead these people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.

You have said, I know you by name, and you have found favor with me.

If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you.

Remember that this nation is your people.

The Lord replied, my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.

Then Moses said to him, if your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.

How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?

What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?

And the Lord said to Moses, I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you, and I know you by name.

Then Moses said, now show me your glory.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Lord the Lord stands forever.

This week at our wonderful Wednesday gathering, we had about 20 people here, and we were talking in our adult breakout time about prayer and praying together.

And I asked people to write down, you know, what's a question or a challenge that you have in your own prayers to God?

And it was striking to me that out of this group of 20 people, a bunch of people mentioned the very same thing.

And they said, do our prayers affect God?

Do our prayers do anything?

And this is so important, because this is a sermon series where we're inviting you and challenging you to think about this one word, revival.

And particularly to pray this one simple prayer, revive us.

But of course, why would we pray this prayer if we're not sure that our prayers affect God, if we're not sure that our prayers actually do anything?

So I want to begin by saying this morning that I believe God has given us the prayers of Scripture, the prayers of Abraham, Moses, and David,

the prayers of the prophets, the prayers of Jesus and the apostles, so that we might learn how to pray like them.

Because God wants to be affected by those prayers.

God wants to take those prayers up to himself and pour them back down upon the church and pour them back down upon the world to accomplish his purposes.

And I don't think God would have given us these visions of revival, these models of revival in the Bible and in church history,

unless he intended for us to be inspired by them and therefore to pray earnestly for them.

And some of you, if you're new today, you might think, gosh, revival, what's he talking about?

This focus seems a little bit strange.

But we've reached an age in which the vast majority of church members, at least in our part of the world,

have ceased to think in terms of revival at all.

Up until about 1860, it was just instinctive to think in terms of revival, especially in our Reformed tradition.

If you hit a period of spiritual drought, if things were not going so well in the church or in society,

what was the first thing that people thought?

They thought to themselves, should we not enter into a time of confession?

Should we not humble ourselves?

Should we not enter into a season of prayer for God to come and visit us again?

But in our modern time, you know, we see the church languishing,

and our first thought is we should form a committee.

You know, we should host a potluck.

We should play more games.

But our spiritual mothers and fathers were much wiser than us,

and they said, you know, why are things so bad?

Why is it that we are seeing plagues and violence and drought?

Why is there seemingly an increasing amount of spiritual confusion and moral decline

and social division and economic crises and cultural breakdown and communal disasters?

That's what they ask themselves.

Why is it so bad?

And why is the church not more alive to God and not more faithful to the gospel?

And they thought to themselves, you know, we must have offended God.

Like we collectively as a society, we must have offended God.

We must have grieved him in some way.

Perhaps we turned our backs on God, and so he's turned his back on us.

And they thought, well, what can we do about this?

And the church said, well, we, representing all the people around us,

we can get down on our knees and we can ask God, please come back.

Please, we're pleading with you.

We're arguing with you.

We're reasoning with you, God, to send your Holy Spirit and to send revival.

And that's what the church would do.

They would plead the promises of God.

They would agonize in prayer until God heard them, until God visited them with the Holy Spirit,

until God revived not only the church but the whole society around the church.

And this is the pattern that's repeated over and over again in the prophets of Moses and Samuel and Elijah,

and the kings like Asa and Jehoshaphat and Josiah and Hezekiah,

and Ezra and Nehemiah, if you just go read the Bible, you'll see this pattern repeated,

that God is affected by our prayers,

and that God has designed things in such a way that he would take our prayers

and he would use those to revive his people and therefore to revive the whole world.

And so with that, I want to invite us to turn our attention to Moses and his great prayer for revival in Exodus chapter 33.

Exodus 33 · chapter mention

And this text today tells us,

ask God for more.

Ask God for more assurance, power, and holiness.

That's what Moses' prayer is about.

Ask God for more assurance, power, and holiness.

What does it mean to ask God for more assurance?

We've seen in these last few weeks that God withdrew his presence from the church of the Old Testament.

Israel, the people of God, they had this golden calf moment,

and God withdrew his presence, and in response to that, the people repented.

And Moses set up this tent of meeting, and he began to pray for God to have mercy on his people,

and this cloudy pillar of God's presence began to return to the church.

God was beginning to answer these prayers for revival, prayers that he would return,

prayers that he would not hold the sins of the church against her,

and that God would not withhold his favor and withhold his face from his people.

And I think Moses was extremely grateful to God for this.

And I think the people of Israel were extremely grateful to God for this.

They saw this cloudy pillar of God's presence come down upon the tent of meeting,

and we saw last week all the people began to worship.

And every person began to turn their own homes into a little tent of meeting

where they would pray and they would worship God.

And why were they worshiping?

Because God was returning.

Because God was listening to Moses and speaking to Moses.

And you would think that Moses would stop here,

and he would be content just to enjoy the answers to his prayers.

But you can see that Moses is not satisfied,

that Moses desires more,

and that he in fact goes back to the tent of meeting,

and he keeps on praying.

And he says,

Lord, what we have is not enough.

And that's the essence of revival.

The essence of revival is pleading for something more.

It's pleading for that which is additional,

and unusual,

and special,

and exceptional,

and extraordinary.

And this is not to say that we should be ungrateful to God

for all the things that he's given us.

We should thank God when we see the church knows who she believes,

and when the church is firm in the truth,

and experiencing God's blessings.

We should thank God when the church is conscious of his presence,

and full of the Holy Spirit,

and empowered for his work,

and seeing regular conversions.

We should hope for that,

and we should thank God for those things.

But that's not revival.

Revival.

That's just the regular,

usual,

normal,

ordinary state of the church.

But revival goes way beyond these things.

Revival is something startling,

something amazing,

something extraordinary.

And if I don't draw your attention to that,

you won't be concerned about it,

and you won't know that you need to pray for it.

You might think to yourself,

well,

things are going fine.

God is blessing us.

We should just keep on as we are.

Revival is not really necessary.

And Moses himself could have settled for that.

But we see here that he pleads for more.

And what did Moses pray for?

Well,

he prays for that same thing

that men and women always pray for

when they feel a burden for revival.

This characteristic prayer

that people who are praying for

and preparing for revival,

they pray this way.

And the first thing Moses prays for

is he asks for assurance.

He asks God for assurance.

And he says in verse 13,

if you are pleased with me,

teach me your ways

so I may know you

and continue to find favor with you.

Remember that this nation

is your people.

Now that sounds strange

because last week we saw

that Moses was spoken to by God

face to face

and person to person

like a friend.

So doesn't Moses already know God?

Doesn't he already have the favor of God?

And the reality is

that Moses wants to know God more.

He wants to experience

the favor of God more.

He's not content with mere knowledge

that God has accepted him

or that God cares for him.

He knows that.

He knows God's concern

and he knows God's kindness.

But what he wants

is a deeper

and a fuller knowledge of God.

He wants more personal

and direct experience

that God really loves him.

It's like a child.

A child might know

that you love them

but that child needs to hear from you.

You are my pride and joy.

I love you to the moon and back.

Right?

A child desperately needs to hear those words

and that's what Moses is praying for.

Lord, press your love so deep into my heart

that I'm confident of it,

that I'm assured of it.

And Moses is like a,

I imagine him like a little child

playing at the edge of the water on the beach

and he's praying,

Lord, I want to know

the mighty ocean depths

of your love for me.

I'm not content to stay here in the shallows.

Let me know beyond any doubt

how vast

and unmeasured

and boundless

is the ocean

of your deep, deep love for me.

And if even Moses had to pray that,

how much more do you and I

need to pray for this?

But Moses doesn't stop there.

He's like a daring child, right?

A daring child doesn't just ask for one thing.

They keep going

and he asks God for more

and he says in verse 13,

he says,

Lord, teach me your ways.

Now that's also strange

because Moses of all people,

does he not know the ways of God?

What does this mean?

He's saying,

Lord, show me your purposes

and your plans.

You've told us,

you've told Israel

that we can go forward

into the promised land

without you.

That we can go ahead

and have all the gifts

without the giver.

That we can go

and have this kingdom

without the king.

But Lord,

who can live with that?

You've got to come with us.

You've made promises to us.

You've sworn oath to us.

You've made a covenant

commitment to us.

So Moses is saying,

Lord, let me in.

Teach me your ways.

Show me your thoughts

and your mind.

I want to know

what your secret plans are for us.

Are you coming with us or not?

Is what he says.

And don't we need

this kind of assurance from God?

Don't we need this assurance

of his deep love for us?

I mean, we know that God

sent his son to die on the cross,

but doesn't that need

to be applied to me

so that I experience it

and so that I feel it

in my bones?

Don't we need this assurance

that God is going with us?

Yes, he's given his spirit

to the church,

but is he going to fill us?

Is he going to enable us

to move forward

into the future together

at Christ Church?

Yes, of course,

we all need this assurance.

It's one thing to know

about the love of God

and the presence of God,

but it's another thing

to know it,

to experience it,

to feel it,

to live in it.

Last night or this morning

as we were preparing ourselves

to come here

and meet with God,

did you offer any special prayer

that God might reveal

more of his love to us today?

That he might let us know

in some special way

that he's going to be here

with us?

Or did we just kind of show up

assuming that he'll do it

without asking for it?

You see, Moses teaches us

how to pray for revival.

He says,

Lord, on the basis of your favor,

on the basis of your mercy

and your grace,

and given everything

that you've done for us,

everything you've spoken to us,

I want to humbly ask

and yet boldly ask for more.

Will you please

build us up

in a new confidence

and a fresh certainty

and a blessed assurance

of your affections for us?

And won't you show us

how much we matter to you?

And won't you please

reveal to us

your intentions

and your specific purposes

for us,

your people?

Friends,

that type of praying

affects God.

That is the type of praying

that God wants to hear

and cause him to move

and pour himself out

and answer to our prayers,

and it's what he did

for Moses in verse 14.

It says,

the Lord replied,

my presence will go with you

and I will give you rest.

Friends,

are you feeling this desire

to be let into God's heart?

Are you wanting to know

whether or not

God is going to do

something great for us

here in the East Bay?

Are you wanting to know,

Lord,

are you going to revive us

or not?

Are you going to revive

your church

with a capital C

or not?

Are you going to revive

the city or not?

Teach me your ways.

Are you going with us

or not?

What's it going to be,

Lord?

That's the kind of praying

that we're meant to be doing

as a people.

So we should ask for more.

We should ask for more assurance

and we shouldn't stop there.

We should ask for more assurance

and we should ask for more power.

So verse 15,

Moses says to the Lord,

if your presence does not go with us,

then do not send us up from here.

And why does Moses say this?

Does he not hear God's answer

to his prayer in the previous verse?

See, he does hear it,

but the problem there in verse 14

is that God said,

my presence will go with you singular.

It doesn't say my presence

will go with y'all plural

or you's guys,

depending on where you're from.

And you see,

Moses doesn't just want to personally

be blessed as an individual.

Moses is praying for the church.

He's concerned to stress

the collective good of God's people.

He says in verse 13,

remember that this nation

is your people.

And do we pray in the plural like that?

Are we praying for me

or will you go with me

or will you go with us?

And you see,

the other problem in verse 14

is that the Lord said,

I will give you rest.

My presence will go with you

and I will give you rest.

And that word rest

got Moses praying for more

because that phrase,

I will give you rest,

can be translated as

I will lighten your burden.

And that's the phrase

continually found in the context

where God is bringing relief

to Israel

and giving her rest

from the burden of her enemies.

And this gets Moses thinking

about the great difficulties

that are facing the people of God.

It gets him thinking

about the great task

that lays before them

to go in and claim

the promised land,

the task to go

and set up the kingdom of God

in the midst of hostile territory.

And you see,

you got to remember

that this is a little ragtag group

of nomadic people.

They've been slaves for 400 years.

They've been wandering

without a home for 40 years.

They're about to cross

into enemy territory

completely weak

and vulnerable

and defenseless.

They're about to be attacked

by strong and armed

and fortified people

and this is overwhelming.

This is a terrifying reality

for Moses.

He's meditating

on the magnitude

and the immense problem

that confronts

the people of God,

the burden of her enemies.

And so he says,

Lord, do not send us

without your supernatural power,

without the power

of your presence

because we are going

to get crushed.

We're going to be destroyed.

We're going to be annihilated

without your strength

and without your might

and without your authority

going with us.

Now some of us today

might say,

well it's a good thing

that the church

today doesn't have

such big problems

and such scary enemies.

And if that's you,

I want to encourage you

to read the newspaper

and to read the New Testament

because we're told

that the church

has three great enemies.

The world,

the flesh,

and the devil.

Think for a moment

about our enemies,

the world,

and the flesh.

You're probably aware

of the stats

about church decline

in the western world

over the past 150 years.

You're probably aware

that church membership

in the United States

has gone down sharply

over the last two decades,

roughly the lifespan

of Christ's church.

I won't bore you

with all the data this morning.

You can read the polls.

You probably read

about the rise

of the nuns,

N-O-N-E-S,

people who no longer

have a religious identity

or a religious group affiliation.

You're probably aware

of this movement

in the Protestant world

of deconstruction

and deconversion.

And, you know,

those things didn't just happen

as a result

of the past few years.

The past few years

have not been

the cause of these things.

They've just revealed to us

the depths of the problem

of these things.

It showed us

how much power

the world is actually

exerting over the church.

It showed us

how the world

is conforming us

to its patterns

and squeezing us

into its mold.

It showed us

in a fresh way

how the world

is pulling us,

the church,

down into its secularity

and its functional atheism

and its godlessness.

Listen to these words

from the apostle

in his epistle

to the Romans,

Romans 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1.

He says,

For although they knew God,

they neither glorified him

as God

nor gave thanks to him,

but their thinking

became futile

and their foolish hearts

were darkened.

They exchanged the truth

about God for a lie

and worshipped and served

created things

rather than the creator.

And the result of all this

is that they become

filled with every kind

of wickedness,

evil, greed,

and depravity.

They are full of envy,

murder, strife,

deceit, and malice.

They are gossips,

slanderers,

God-haters,

insolent,

arrogant,

and boastful.

They invent ways

of doing evil.

They disobey their parents.

They have no understanding,

no fidelity,

no love,

no mercy.

Now that's meant

to be a description

of the world,

but does that not

more and more

apply to the church

of North America?

No love,

no mercy.

We're getting pulled down

by this great enemy

and can't you see

our need for God's

supernatural power

in the church?

Or what about

our other great enemy,

the devil?

Jesus taught us to pray,

deliver us from the evil one.

And his lead disciple,

Peter,

says this in his first epistle.

He says,

be alert and of sober mind.

Your enemy prowls around

like a roaring lion,

seeking those

whom he might devour.

The apostle Paul says

in Ephesians 6,

he says,

take your stand

against the devil

and his schemes.

For our struggle

is not against flesh

and blood,

but our struggle

is against rulers

and against authorities.

It's against dark powers.

It's against spiritual forces

of evil

in high places.

Christchurch,

what if we believe that?

Would we not tremble

like Moses?

Would we not pray

more like Moses?

Would we not see

our need for God

to come down

in his power

and to lighten

our burden

and give us rest

from our enemies?

We live in the most

unchurched region

of the United States

of America

and we've been given

the one task

of making disciples

of Jesus Christ

here in this place.

Do you think

that we can do that

in our own resources

and with our own power?

You see,

Moses humbles himself

and he realizes

his great weakness

and his inability

and he says to God,

who am I

to meet this situation?

Lord,

I'm not enough.

I'm not,

I'm totally inadequate.

And he says,

Lord,

I'm not going to take

another step

unless I know

that the power

of your presence

is going to go with us.

I'm not going to go on.

I'm not going to even

attempt to do

one more thing

without you.

He's pleading

for an unusual

manifestation

of God's

supernatural power.

And if we

as a church

in North America

are confident

in ourselves

and we're proud

of our abilities,

then number one,

we don't know

our enemies

and number two,

we don't know

ourselves.

and it's

unless we

become aware

of our impotence,

of our weakness,

of our desperate

dependence on God

and his power

to carry out

his mission,

then we simply

won't pray for it.

The Apostle Paul

writes this

in 1 Thessalonians 1.

He says,

our gospel

came to you

not simply

with words

but also

with power

and with the Holy Spirit

and with deep

conviction.

Now,

do you think

the Apostle Paul

just rolled up

into that

Greco-Roman

pagan city

of Thessalonica

and he

just kind of

didn't pray

for anything

and stuff

started to happen?

No,

I imagine

him agonizing

in prayer

beforehand

just like

Jesus

agonized

in prayer

before every

great act

of his ministry

and I imagine

Paul saying,

Lord,

bring your gospel

to this place

and to these people

with power

and with the Holy Spirit

and with deep

conviction.

The Apostle

also writes

in 1 Corinthians 2,

he says,

I came to you,

I came to Corinth

in weakness

and with great

fear

and trembling

and my message

and my preaching

were not with wise

and persuasive words

but with a demonstration

of the Spirit's power

so that your faith

might not rest

on human wisdom

but on God's power.

How in the world

did his message

of Christ crucified

penetrate

and transform

that pagan city,

that port city

of Corinth?

Don't we think

the Apostle

and some of his friends

were agonizing

in prayer

and saying,

Lord,

won't you please,

please,

please accompany

the message,

accompany the preaching

of your gospel

with a demonstration

of your Spirit's power.

And oh,

how the church

needs to relearn

how to pray

for power.

It's the reason

we're so weak

because we haven't

learned to pray

and need to pray

for power.

But I would suggest

you shouldn't stop there.

Ask God for more.

Ask Him for more assurance

and ask Him

for more power.

And the last thing

I want to say

is ask Him

for more holiness.

Revival's all about

asking God

for more holiness.

In our ordinary

conversations

at home

or at work

or at school,

we often express

our urgency

to get something

or to get something

done by setting up

reasons why

this other person

should do this thing

for us.

Right?

We might even

seek the advice

of other people

or plan beforehand

what we want to say

in our conversation.

And Moses is kind of

like that.

He's like a lawyer

who's gone to court

and he's building

this great case

before God,

the judge,

and he's teaching us

that we too

should pray like this.

How do we communicate

our petitions to God

with the kind of intensity

and the persuasive

urgency of Moses?

His first step

is he says,

God,

I want to draw

your attention

to our own needs

and desires.

Lord,

we want to know you more.

We want to experience

your favor

and your pleasure.

We want to be assured

that you are going

to go with us.

And the second case

that he makes,

the second step

in his argument

is that he says,

God,

I want to draw

your attention

to your people.

Lord,

remember that this nation

is your special people.

And send us,

Lord,

with your power

and the power

of your presence

because he knows

that the Israelites

are not just

an ordinary people,

that they're the apple

of God's eye.

They're dear

to his heart.

He says,

Lord,

I want you to focus

on the special character

of your people.

Do not let us face

our powerful enemies

without your superior power.

But then Moses

takes his urgent prayer

one step forward.

Actually,

two steps forward.

We'll see the next step

next week.

But he takes it

one step forward

and this third step,

he draws his attention

to God's glory

among the nations.

And he says this

in verse 16.

He says,

How will anyone know

that you are pleased

with me

and with your people

unless you go with us?

What else

will distinguish me

and your people

from all the other people

on the face of the earth?

Who is anyone?

It's all the peoples,

all the nations

of the earth.

And Moses said,

How are they going

to know

that we are

the people

of your pleasure,

that we are the people

of your favor

and your grace?

The way they're going

to come to know that

is because you,

Lord,

distinguish us.

You make us

a different people

and a distinct people.

They'll know it,

Lord,

when they see

that you separated us,

you set us apart,

you made us holy.

They'll come to know you

when they see

that we've come

to share

in the honor

and the glory

of your holiness.

And that's what

revival's all about.

Lord,

if you allow

your people

to be diminished

by the nations

or to be assimilated

into the nations,

that is going to bring

about an unacceptable result

for your reputation.

But,

the nations of the earth

will come to know you

and they'll come

to know your glory

when they see

your holiness

reflected in the distinct

and distinguished holiness

of your people.

When they come

to experience

our holy lives

individually

and our holy character

collectively.

And this is a prayer

that the church

should be

as she's

meant to be.

Lord,

make your church

distinguished.

Make your church

set apart.

Make your church

unique.

Robert Murray McShane

is a great

Scottish pastor

and preacher

and he prayed

this prayer.

He said,

Lord,

make me as holy

as a pardoned sinner

can be made.

And that's become

my prayer for me

and for my family.

It's become my prayer

for our church.

Lord,

make us as holy

as pardoned sinners

can be made.

Lord,

make it clear

that we are not just

one among

many peoples

and many nations

in the world,

but make it clear

that we are the people

who are blessed

by your pleasure

and your favor

and your grace.

Lord,

make it clear

that we belong

to a holy

and distinguished

God.

And make us

so different,

so distinct,

so distinguished

that it will arrest

the attention

of the rest of the world

and they will come

to see the glory

of your holiness

expressed in us.

Christ Church,

how different are we

than other agencies

other bodies,

other institutions?

Is it clear

to them that,

to other people

that we're more

than just nice people

or respectable people

or likable people,

but that we're

holy people?

Is it clear

that we're more

than just a social club

or a community organization

or a political

affinity group?

Do people

look at us

and say,

we don't really know

what's going on

over there,

but we know

that what's going on

is not of human beings,

it's of God.

In Acts chapter 4,

Acts 4 · chapter mention

shortly after Pentecost,

this little church

is facing

great difficulty

and they're experiencing

incredible resistance

to the gospel.

People are being

thrown in jail

and threatened

with execution

for preaching

the gospel.

And so what does

the church do?

the church gets together

and has a prayer meeting

and they say,

Lord,

do something special.

Do something extraordinary.

Distinguish us

and glorify yourself

among the nations

through us.

And what happens?

The Holy Spirit

came down.

The Holy Spirit

was poured out.

And that whole place,

it says,

was shaken.

And all the people there,

they were shaken

by the presence

of the Holy Spirit

in their midst.

Is that how we're praying?

Lord,

distinguish us

by your Holy Spirit.

Lord,

distinguish us

by your Spirit

of holiness

in us.

Because that's the prayer

we know God likes

to answer.

We know that's the prayer

God likes to have

affect him

and likes to use

to affect the world

because we're told

in verse 17,

the Lord said to Moses,

I will do this very thing

you've asked

because I am pleased

with you

and I know you

by name.

Christ Church,

may we ask

for more assurance,

more power,

and more holiness.

And may we ask

with confidence

knowing that God

wants to give us

this very thing

because he's pleased

with us

and he knows us

by name.

In the name of the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.