Aaron Stanley | Revival

I've been thinking a lot about revival lately

and what that actually means in my life and what

that means in your life. How does that look for

us? We hear a lot about revival in society today.

I went down yesterday and I helped with the Sorghum

Parade and went down to the festival for a while

and helped with the Shriner's Booth, selling

some great Brunswick stew, by the way. But I

was talking to a good friend of mine who was

also there and he was talking about they had

revival at their church this past week. And I'm

not knocking that. Please don't think I am. Because

it's very important for us to have times of worship

that we come together in longer periods of time.

That's great, but what does revival actually

look like for me and for you? According to Webster's

Dictionary, revival, in part, is an act or instance

of reviving. The state of being revived, renewed

attention to or interest in something, restoration

of force, validity or effect. As it pertains

to a contract. So obviously revival means much

more than us getting together for a week of meetings

and coming together each night to worship. And

to study revival means more than that. But what

does it actually mean in our lives? What does

it look like for us? Most of you know my story.

Or many of you know my story. Some of you better

than others. For those of you who are here who

don't know my story, if we live simply by the

Ten Commandments, I've broken every one of those.

Some say, Aaron, have you killed somebody? Well,

the Bible says if you hate someone in your heart,

it's the same thing. So, yes, I've killed somebody

as well. I've been a heathen most of my life,

a lot of my life. I think about the times that

I've confessed my sin in my life, and I beg God

and ask God to give me the strength to be a new

kind of man, to be somebody different. And God

offers his strength. I'm weak, though. And the

next thing you know, I'm right back in the same

situation. I've tried to get out of over and

over and over again. Am I the only one that does

that? Am I the only one that struggles with the

same sins over and over and over again? Is that

just me? That's always led me back to one verse

in the Bible I don't particularly agree with.

Bear with me and listen to me. In 1 Timothy chapter

1 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

1, Paul is talking about Jesus and about the

forgiveness he offers and that he came to save

sinners. And Paul said, of who? I am the worst.

I disagree with that. I don't think it gets much

worse than me. I've been a heathen most of my

life. In 2 Chronicles 6, King Solomon is praying.

He's asking God to forgive the children of Israel.

He's asking him to direct them back where they

should go because, like we understand, the Israelites

also had been heathens most of their lives. They

had done a lot of stuff wrong. In chapter 7,

when you move on there, chapter 7 is based largely

around the dedication of King Solomon's temple.

And we see here that God answers the prayers

that Solomon has been praying. And we see that

he renews his covenant. He gives them again what

it takes to seek revival. He said, if my people

who are called by my name will humble themselves

and pray and seek my face and turn from their

wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and

I will forgive their sins and heal their land.

Let's say it in Chronicles chapter 7 and verse

14. So it turns out that first and foremost,

confession is a large part of revival. Confessing

our sins and confessing our lives to Christ and

to God is a large part of our revival. The same

God that created the earth, the same God that

forgave you of your sins, that offered you salvation,

is the same God who can heal your land in your

life today. He can heal the land in your personal

life. He can heal the land in your family. He

can heal the land in our community. He can heal

the land in our country. His power is limitless.

He can heal the land in whatever and whenever,

wherever the situation you might be in your life.

God has the power to heal that. But that healing

requires something of us. It requires us to do

something. The writer of Chronicles chapter 7,

some think Ezra wrote Chronicles. I don't know.

Some say he didn't. But the writer of Chronicles

7 first called out those who were called by his

name. We call ourselves Christians. I'm pretty

sure he's talking to us. The Israelites called

themselves the children of Israel. He was talking

to them, those who call themselves by my name.

Then he said, if my people who are called by

my name will humble themselves and pray and seek

my face. If you stop right there and look at

that, that means that we have to take ourselves

out of this equation. We have to lower ourselves

to the position that we actually belong in here.

FYI, we have no control over any of this. We

don't do this. We talk a lot about, or I've talked

a lot about, how I don't care to give all this

to God, but I've got this one thing here that's

mine. I'm going to hold on to that. I don't have

control of that. This all belongs to God. None

of this is ours. None of us control anything

that we are doing. We have to lower ourselves

to that position that we belong and realize what

God is. And talk to him about that and seek after

him to live up to that Christian, that name that

we follow after him, Christ -like. And then,

it says we have to turn from our wicked ways.

The writer here is talking about true revival.

He's talking about true confession. He's talking

about true repentance. You know how you can always

recognize true revival, don't you? True revival,

true confession, true repentance will always...

be recognized by a change in behavior. Always.

God knows our heart, but the outward evidence

of true revival is changed behavior. An alcoholic

who is still drinking is a practicing alcoholic.

An addict who is still using is a practicing

addict. A liar who is still lying is a practicing

liar. A murderer who is still killing is a practicing

murderer. Changed behavior, not drinking, not

using, not lying, not killing. Change behavior

is the outward sign of true revival in our lives.

Giving up our sin to God, giving up that life

that we hold on to, that one thing we keep in

our pocket, giving all that up, that is what

true revival looks like in our lives. And as

I read through this and through my notes and

thought about it, I thought, you know, I can

hear you saying, Aaron, that's so elementary.

And you're right, it is. That is so basic. The

newest of Christians understands this. That turning

away from our old life is what being a Christian

is all about. But if it's so simple, then why

do I find myself back in the same messes over

and over and over again? It sounds so simple,

but if it's that simple, why do I keep going

back to the same place, falling for the same

tricks, the same schemes that the devil throws

at me? We talked about this some time back about,

you know, the devil works a lot like fishing.

When you're there and you're trying to live for

Christ and you're trying to do the right thing,

he baits his hook and he might throw lust in

front of you. If that don't work, he changes

bait and he throws greed in front of you. If

that doesn't work, he takes it off and he throws

anything else he can throw in front of you. He

finds something that you stumble over. And trust

me, folks, there is something that we all stumble

over. There's something that we all struggle

with. And it's the same thing over and over.

Once the devil finds out what you struggle with,

the rest of your life, he ain't got to change

bait. He just keeps throwing the same thing.

Sometimes you don't fall for it. Sometimes we

take the strength that God gives us and we get

through that, but you know what? We're human,

and I'm weak, and God knew that. God knew that

so much that he sent his only son to earth to

die for my sins because he knew I couldn't get

it right. He knew that. We keep falling for the

same things over and over and over again. That

is why we have to live these words every single

day. We have to humble ourselves and pray. And

seek his face. And turn from sin every day. We

have to work in that. Then God will hear from

heaven. Then God will forgive us. Then he'll

heal our land. It's only after that. I love that

verse when you look at it and read through it.

It sounds so powerful. If my people who are called

by my name will humble themselves and pray and

seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.

Then I will hear from heaven. And I will forgive

their sin and heal their last. So it's so simple.

It sounds so good. And it is awesome. It's amazing.

But oftentimes we skip to that last part about

God healing. Why are you not healing me? Why

are you not doing what I'm asking you to do?

Because we ain't let go of the first part yet.

We find ourselves stuck back in the same place

over and over and over again. But when you truly

find revival, when we truly find that in our

lives, that's what revival really looks like.

When we can give it all up and let God have everything

and let it all go, that's when we find true revival.

My wife's laughing, so maybe she disagrees. I

don't know. I don't know what to do. I'm kidding.

Do you need revival? I need revival. All the

time in my life, every day, I need revival. I

need to remind myself every day to seek God's

face, to be more like Him, to be the man He called

me to be. And I'm not. I'm not always that man.

And I ask your forgiveness and your prayers for

that. But do you need revival? Maybe you've never

found revival. Maybe you've never experienced

revival out of the mess that you live in. And

you've never had your land healed, whatever that

land might be. Maybe you've had that revival

like I have, but you find yourself back in the

same mess over and over and over again. God can

change that too. Revival is not just a group

of meetings that we get together for for a week.

Revival is not just a one -time thing that we

come and do and He forgives for our sins. It's

all over with. Revival is a daily devotion to

God. Revival is a daily turning from the wicked

ways of the earth and seeking His faith, seeking

forgiveness. If you've never experienced revival

in your life, then I beg with you and I plead

with you not to put it off. You never know how

much longer, how much time we've got. We're not

promised tomorrow. We're not guaranteed another

day, another hour in this life. If you've never

had a revival in your life, you can do that right

now. Tim, while we stand.