The Power of Revival: What It Means for You and the World

This is Revive All with Oasis City Church Columbus, featuring pastors Bill Themelaras and Adam Stewart

good morning Good morning So good to see you.

Look at your neighbor and say,"You look like a firework today." Or you smell like a firework My neighborhood last night, I was like,"What in the world?" I mean, my goodness.

But it was good.

Uh, God bless you.

So glad.

Happy America 250.

Uh, that's a pretty impressive thing for our nation to be 250 years old.

And, um, uh, but first before I say that, um, Pastor Lynn's preaching at North Spring today, so that's really good.

You'll see her after service.

She'll be in the lobby.

Uh, Pastors Adam and Tara are on vacation today, um, so you're stuck with me Now, and I'll be preaching here this week and next week, but just came off the heels of Presence Conference in Pittsburgh, which was just an amazing time, and we had so many, uh, now words, uh, for our ministry, so many now words for what God's doing in the body of Christ.

One of them, uh, was from a, a, a friend of mine, Bishop Téo Hayashi, who pastors a, a great movement, uh, out of São Paulo, Brazil.

They have several churches, but they also have almost 400 campus ministries worldwide all over, um, South America, Central America, but over in Europe, uh, the United States, and some in Asia.

And it's a movement that's hitting college campuses around the world, and, and it's, it's so great.

But one of the things that Téo said and reminded the church at the conference, um, he spoke on Friday and Sunday morning at Covenant, and he just reminded us of how important it is for the American Church to get it right because like it or not, the rest of the world looks to us, uh, as a model, looks to us about what God is doing, what he is saying in the earth.

And of course, there's been many amazing moves of God all across the world, um, but, but there's something particular, and he just said, a- and we've heard it before, you know, Papa Joe Ewan from Scotland will, will be here every year, and he'll often say, you know,"If America sneezes, Great Britain gets a cold." You know, a- a- and if you watch, um, the world watches Hollywood, the world watches what happens in New York City, the world watches, you know, what our fashion trends are, what our music trends are, and, and we need the Church of Jesus Christ to have revival so that even in our nation, so we can affect other nations of the earth.

I mean, that's just straight up.

So our, our...

the church needs to get it right.

And you know, celebrating, uh, this nation, you know, is, is important to recognize you're here for a reason.

Like it or not, you're here.

And you know, this nation has a rich history.

It, it has a difficult history as well.

I mean, it's filled, started with revolution, filled with faith, agony, bloodshed, greatness, sin, rebellion, moves of God, missionaries deployed from here all across the globe.

A lot has happened, uh, through the United States these last 250 years, and I wanna talk about some of that today and how we can pray for our nation.

But what we need is revival.

Say we need revival But we just don't need revival.

We need revival that leads to transformation.

We need revival that leads to transformation that then leads to reformation.

Say reformation.

Reformation.

That's where what happens within the church begins to transform us, transforms our cities, our neighborhoods, and actually brings reformation, godly reformation, to our cities, our states, our government, our federal government, the state government, the school system.

Uh, uh, that's what true reformation is, holy, just, honorable laws, uh, that, that bless citizens, that care for the poor and needy.

That's what the church has been doing all along, and I wanna talk to us about moves of God today so that we can be believing God for more.

Say more.

More.

Look with me to the prophet Habakkuk in chapter three, verses one and two This prayer was sung by the prophet Habakkuk.

He's a singing prophet.

You didn't know that.

You know, there are still singing prophets today, but, but there was one back then, Habakkuk.

He says,"I have heard all about you, Lord.

I am filled with awe by your amazing works.

In this time of our deep need, help us again, as you did in years gone by.

And in your anger, remember your mercy." Man, this is what America needs.

Lord, at this time in our deep need, at this time in our nation's deep need, help us again, as you've done in years gone by.

In the church of Jesus, in our deep need, our deep need for reformation, our deep need for, to, to extend your kingdom, Lord, help us again, as you have done in years gone by In this version it says this way, in the NIV it says,"A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet." Now, and you see this word, oshigiyonov.

That's, that's actually a musical term.

It either refers to the melody of how he was singing this or the musical instrumentation, but that's what it means.

But it says this:"Lord, I have heard of your fame.

I stand in awe of your deeds." Oh, isn't that great?

Some translations say,"I stand in the fear of your name," because we, th- that word awe is fear, having the fear of God.

And look what he says,"Repeat them in our day.

In our time make them known.

In wrath remember mercy." Let's pray.

Lord, this is our prayer.

Repeat them in our day.

In our time make them known.

Right here, right now, through, through Oasis City Church, Lord, we're praying for, for this, this congregation, this organization.

Lord, we're praying for all the churches across America.

Lord, in this time repeat what you've done before in our day.

Make known your goodness, make known your righteousness, make known your justice.

And Lord, and even in wrath, Lord, remember mercy.

Let your mercy be swept across our land and across our churches.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, I hope you've had, uh, you know, a great weekend, family time.

Hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks.

Who has steaks?

Yeah, I'm a steak guy.

Like, I don't mess...

You know, we do the hot dogs and the hamburgers and all that, but it's like boneless ribeye, bone-in ribeye.

Fresh Thyme had a great sale.

It was nice.

Prime too, it was prime.

Not just choice, it was prime ribeye.

Anyway, start preaching.

I can have lunch later I wanna talk about some moves of God in our nation, and then how we can learn from that, and again, apply the true idea of revival that leads to transformation, that leads to reformation.

I'll do some of this quickly.

Uh, first of all, in the 1730s all the way through the'40s, there was something that you may have learned in history class.

It was called the First Great Awakening that began to take place in our nation.

It was the first major revival to sweep across the American colonies.

So we were just colonial times, and these are colonial times, and so it affect- affected that re- region.

Um, it was led by figures like Jonathan Edwards, there were others, but also an English evangement- evangelist, George Whitefield.

They preached at massive outdoor crowds up and down the colonies they would travel And, and this movement of God emphasized personal, uh, conversion, giving your life to Jesus, surrendering to Jesus, and it was a, it was the idea that you can have a direct relationship with the Lord, not just a, a religious ritual by coming to church services.

And so the First Great Awakening, about a little over 10 years of this move of God, of great preaching in, in the colonies.

But then, uh, shortly after that, uh, but it took about 50 years, we had r- um, in roughly the n- n- 19 or 1790s into the 1840s, we had the Second Great Awakening, and this became more broader, more geographically dispersed, uh, than the first wave.

And we started seeing camp meetings.

Uh, we, we had the Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky in 1801.

Thousands of people started gathering, and, and here, in the Second Great Awakening, we started seeing physical manifestations of people having experiences with God, experiences with the Holy Spirit.

There was shaking, and there was quaking, and there were these emotional expressions.

We had the great preacher Charles Finney, uh, a- and he, he had new measures, is what he called them, and they shaped modern revivalism.

And, and what Finney's preaching did was, was it wasn't just great preaching.

People learned so much from what he said that they...

Social reform began to happen.

They started saying,"Oh, man, we're learning from the Bible about what God cares about the poor and the needy." And so social reform began to take place in this Second Great Awakening.

We had the rise of the Methodist Church and John Wesley and the fire of God.

We had, we had a movement called the Circuit Riders.

These were men and women evangelists who would jump on horseback and ride from town to town, preaching the gospel and having meetings.

And Francis Asbury was one of the, the great, uh, Circuit Riders of the day, and learning from Wesley's move of the fire of the Holy Spirit.

And then we saw more reformation begin happening.

Suddenly, uh, uh, you know, um, uh, racism or slavery started looking, uh, uh, like, like the Church started taking a stand against it.

The abolition movement began to start from the Second Great Awakening.

The temperance movement began to start.

Women's rights began to be preached even though they weren't law yet.

There was something of reformation that took place from not just great preachers, but people hearing the word and saying,"It's not just enough for me to die and go to heaven." Then in the early 1850s all the way up to the 1900s, we had something called the Third Great Awakening.

The...

understand how they would, they would describe this, and this was the media describing these things.

The first great, the second great, now we have the third one.

You had D.L.

Moody.

Uh, we had urban revivalism that started taking place.

Now instead of just the countrysides and the cornfields, now we had cities being built in this land, and we needed, we realized that we needed ur- the urban, um, cities needed to have revival just as much as all the farmers did and, and all the, you know, the, the cornfield, uh, uh, circuit riding just blowing through the town.

Now these cities started developing.

We needed, um, strategic evangelistic strategies for the cities across the nation We saw the businessman's revival in 1857 and'58.

Finally, businessmen were saying,"You know what?

We're just not separated from the church.

We can be part of the church." And a great prayer movement swept across our nation where business, uh, people were saying,"We need the church to pray for us, and we wanna pray for the church, and we wanna pray for our businesses." We had the Holiness movement that be- began to start.

Sanctification is beginning to be preached.

There's paving the way for what we would call Pentecostalism.

We had the Social Gospel movement.

Um, and, and this is where...

This was really cool because it began to address poverty and injustice in our land.

The church was standing a- up against poverty, creating systems, creating ways to, to minister to the poor, help them, um, you know, get them employed, help them be no longer poor.

How does social reform started taking place in our land?

Because of a move of God And something interesting took place right in the early 1900s, in 1904, because a revival broke out, not in America.

And God's been moving all across the land for thousands of years of human history.

But, but in Wales, something took place.

In this small little nation, part of the, the United Kingdom as we know it The Welsh Revival took place, and this young coal miner named Evan Roberts, who was born again and loved the church and loved preaching, and it's this great story.

And you can go, um, you can go research it on your own.

We've talked about it a lot.

Pastor Lynn has been, um, to Wales before and, and has been in the very church where the revival broke out and started.

Um, but intercessors were praying.

They needed a preacher.

These intercessors...

See, moves of God, all moves of God, if you study them throughout the earth, they all start with intercessors.

They don't start with great preachers.

The great preachers figure it out.

They're like,"Somebody been praying." And, and the intercessors are like,"We've been praying for you.

Now go preach.

Go do your job." And so Evan was one of those guys, young man, and the- God started moving in Wales.

He started moving, and it wasn't just about one church.

The churches were packed, and then he would just leave one church service, go across the street to the other church.

That church was packed.

He'd preach the same message.

Then he would go down, and the other church was packed.

There wasn't enough churches in, in Wales, and he would just travel around.

Happened for two years, and this revival started doing something because now we had what they, what the writers, the media called it emotional worship.

Now people started singing in the Spirit.

Hello, somebody.

Now people started playing music.

There were, there was musicianship that started in the church with this revival.

And, and there were public confessions of faith.

There, there...

People on the streets, men and women on the streets were confessing their sin to one another and getting saved.

It wasn't even about Evan anymore and his message.

There was dramatic life transformation.

Communities within the nation were said to be cha- changed.

You can read this.

It's been studied.

Reductions in crime and particularly in drunkenness, bars literally shutting down.

News of revival spread, spread so quickly, and here was the funny thing about this, th- there was family re- reformation and transformation in the Welsh Revival in Wales at that time in just a matter of a couple of years.

And what was happening was the dads who were miners and, and field workers who were getting drunk after work and spending their paycheck a- on the bars, and they, their houses were being foreclosed on, a- and their kids were impoverished, and there wasn't enough food.

What happened was they got saved, they got radically saved.

They gave up spending all their money at the bar.

Some of the bars are closing.

They started now spending money on their family.

Their children started eating better.

Their, their marriages were restored, and all of a sudden, families were completely transformed in a matter of a couple years And, and this, this revival would be the first that we would call, like, a media revival, where for the first time, at least we know in church history, this word got to America that this was taking place.

And it got all throughout Great Britain that there was a move of God and a preacher and, and, and all of these churches being filled.

And it was not even about a, what church you went to because the, the whole country is now being affected by this move of God.

And there was a man named Frank Bartleman in Los Angeles, and he was a preacher, but he found out about what was taking place in Wales, and he, he contacted Evan Roberts, and they're said to have multiple conversations and meetings where he was saying,"What if God would do what He's doing in Wales?

What if He would do it in Los Angeles?

What if He would do it in California?" Uh, he was so interested, um, in, in, in this movement, and one of the things about, um, uh, uh, Frank was that he, he was, he was interested in documenting what would take place.

And so there was now a connection with what was taking place in that year.

The very next year, we- something called the Azusa Street Revival takes place in Los Angeles from the Azusa Street Mission Now this revival started what we would known as modern-day Pentecostalism in our country.

But, but, but boy did the Azusa Street Revival not make any sense in the natural.

Because it started by a man named William Seymour.

A bla- and, and this is not your history lesson, but you have to, you have to grasp some of it, and I don't have time to talk about 12 years of his, his history.

But William Seymour was, was a Black man who was blind in one eye.

He actually got smallpox in Cincinnati, and he was blind in one eye and, and he was so hungry to learn about the Holy Spirit that he attended, uh, uh, uh, a Par- a man named Parham, his, his, uh, class on the Holy Spirit.

But see, this was in the early 1900s, and segregation was very strong, so William as the only Black man who couldn't be in the ch- the Bible class with all the white guys.

And so instead of being offended that he wasn't allowed to sit in the room and learn about the Holy Spirit, he chose to be unoffended, and he sat outside at his desk, sometimes with the door cracked open and sometimes with the window cracked open, learning about the Holy Spirit.

Now, the, the terrible part and the ironic part is, Parham, who's teaching, we later find out is a white supremacist.

Or at least leans that way, had some ties with the KKK.

You learn all, you don't learn about it then, but you learn.

So here's a man teaching on the Holy Spirit, not knowing that there's a Black man that, that he doesn't, won't allow in his class, that's about to be the catalyst for the greatest revival at that time in our nation And Bartleman, the writer, remember, who was trying to figure out the Welsh revival, Bartleman writes this statement that became headline news about the Azusa Street Revival.

Because now we've got, um, William Seymour pastoring a revival that's filled with white people and Black people and Asians.

'Cause there was a lot of Chinese and Japanese and, and, uh, Southeast Asians that lived in LA at that time, and they, and they were, you know, moving and, and doing all sorts of, you know, construction and labor and such.

So we had this Black man who's not even allowed to be in the room, who's pastoring not just the move of God, but a, a, a multiracial move of God.

And Bartleman wrote that at the Azusa Street Revival, that the color lines were washed away by the blood And so, so we see how God has swept across our nation in glorious fashion.

And, and you know, at, in Azusa Street, you started getting some music and some dancing and s- some, you know, some of the stuff that was happening in Wales.

Now we had spontaneous singing and praying in tongues and, and singing in tongues, and all of this is taking place, and now the world is starting to write about it.

They're starting to read about it.

And it wasn't just, uh, it wasn't just church periodicals talking about this, but Azusa was getting worldwide attention And then after that, we have the mid-20th century revivals.

We have Youth for Christ that started.

We have Billy Graham and his era that started, and crusades from the 1940s through the 2000s.

We had American evangelicalism being birthed.

We had revival and mass media, uh, trying to figure things out.

We had the Latter Rain movement, and I've studied this one a lot because, um, some of my, like, faith heroes are in there, and, uh, don't have time to talk all about it.

But, but in the'40s and'50s, we saw great healing, uh, healing evangelists that started operating their tent meetings around the United States, tens of thousands of people, churches being planted.

People like John G.

Lake, and Oral Roberts, and Aimee Semple McPherson, and A.

A.

Allen.

And then b- uh, going into Kath- leading into Kathryn Kuhlman's healing ministry, and T.

L.

Osborn.

Uh, you, you had this great move of God where men and women were leading, were leading churches and leading movements You had the faith movement, Dr.

Kenneth Hagin, and, and, and Copeland and such.

He, some of those guys are still around at this point.

But you had, now faith is being, uh, uh, faith is being infused, um, in not just just a grace message, and you see this taking place.

And now you see that, that faith is rising up, and you see more healings and such.

And then you move in the'60s and'70s, and you've got the Jesus people.

The Jesus movement.

How many of you were part of the Jesus movement?

Anybody got saved in the Jesus movement?

Yeah.

First service had more of those, by the way, but- North Spring is filled with them.

You know, no, I'm just, just kidding.

But, but lotta Jesus people getting saved in the'60s and'70s.

I was born in'75, so I didn't, you know, I got saved later in the, in the late'80s.

But, but you had this happening.

What's happening now?

Now you've got what is modern day, like now we call it contemporary Christian music, CCM, that whole thing, everything you listen to on the radio.

Now you've got music taking place.

Where is it coming from?

Well, you had all these hippies who believed in free love and, you know, all the music from the'60s.

And now there's a great move starting in California of people getting saved and baptized, and now they're like,"Well, we need to not have free sex anymore.

Now we need to love Jesus, we need to love people, and we need to be baptized.

And oh, we love music, so let's start singing songs for Jesus that we could all sing together." And now we sing so- even songs that we were singing earlier today are, are songs that have been birthed out of a style that said,"Let's get everybody to sing the song So you got this taking place.

Then you've got the charismatic renewal.

Of, a- a- and interesting enough, one of the, the m- starts of the charismatic renewal in the'80s, uh,'70s and'80s, was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on a Catholic college called Duquesne University.

Bishop Joseph Gralington, our bishop, he was one of the leaders and founders of that movement.

And now you have the Holy Spirit and charismata, who is, who is now not confined to just denominational lines.

Now the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, the fivefold ministry, is now functioning in Protestant churches and in Catholic churches and in Orthodox churches.

And so this charismatic m- movement that's tied to Pentecostalism, but now is saying,"Hey, we love the, the song and the dance and, and we love praise and worship," you know, those whole terms started to be used.

And now people are prophesying, and people are giving words of knowledge and words of wisdom, and that wasn't really happening before.

And all of a sudden, it, now it's happening in, on, on Cath- in Catholic churches, to the point where some, uh, the Catholic Church created a denomination called Charismatic Catholics.

And they're thriving.

They happen to be headquartered in Pittsburgh still to this day.

So this move of God, charismatic...

And then in the mid-'90s we have the Toronto Blessing, the Father's Blessing.

And, and that was a b- revival that I was particularly a part of and, um, it had my life changed through and so many impact in my life there.

And you had Brownsville taking place right around that time as well.

We've had these moves of God, and what we're saying is what the Prophet Habakkuk said,"Lord, we remember what you did before.

Do it again." Because the world is watching The world is watching, and we, and, and the nations of the earth need to receive what heaven is doing.

Because when God transforms people, he transforms cities.

Just a couple years ago was what we called the Asbury Revival on Asbury University in, in 2023, and this weeks-long outpouring of the Holy Spirit from students, not great preachers, not people with microphones.

From students on a college campus, singing songs with guitars and, and djembes and, and pianos, and just worshiping the Lord around the clock.

And people from all over the United States and other nations flew in just to sit in the room or just to be outside on the lawn.

God wants to do it again, Church, and I want Oasis City to be a part of it.

Yes.

Whatever he's doing in the earth because God loves the nations One of the, one of the, uh, famous lines that came out of the Welsh Revival in America, uh, especially through intercessors, uh, were four words: Lord, do it here And that was the prayer that ignited the move of God, um, in California.

Ignite, Lord, do it here.

Would you just say that?

Lord, do it here.

Say it one more time.

Lord, do it here.

Lord, do it here.

In my life, in my family, and in my church, and I wanna talk to us about the importance today, because 2 Chronicles 7, you know the passage, but it's so important in verse 14,"If my people," my people, not the world,"If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, turn from their wicked ways," It's an if then statement.

If they do this,"I will hear from heaven.

I will forgive their sins and I will restore their land." See, God is so much More deeply interested in other things besides your personal salvation Your personal salvation is not the end all.

I get saved, forgiven of my sins, I die, I go to heaven.

Yeah, that's awesome.

That's not the end, that's the beginning.

Because God says,"I'll forgive their sin, and I'll heal their land." God has always been interested in the land.

He told Joshua,"Moses is dead.

I need, the people need a new leader.

That's you.

I'm not asking if you want it." He says,"Now, go, and wherever your land- your feet touch, that land I give to you." God's always about the land.

So it's not enough for you, Oasis City, to get saved and go to heaven.

You need to extend the Kingdom of God in the land.

The land is where you live, the land is your business.

That's your field.

The Book of Deuteronomy talks about the Lord's blessing on your field.

That's your business.

If you're a businessperson, God wants your land, your business, to be fruitful, to be blessed, but to be an extension of his kingdom.

He wants to heal it God loves the land.

See, God loves nations Nations are his idea.

I could prove it to you over a dozen ways, even more than that in the scripture.

God created nations.

He creates boundaries.

He created multiple languages, allowed it to happen.

He, He Jesus is, the scripture says, Jesus is the desired of the nations, not the desired of just one people group.

Look around the room.

There are people that are different skin colors than you, different eyes, different shapes, different facial structures.

The nations are represented be- God loves the nations.

He just doesn't pick one over, uh, others.

Of course, He loves Israel, but then we're grafted in the vine, and the Gentiles got in on the party, praise the Lord.

That's why you're here right now But y- you know, and I'll probably get flack for this, but, like, God's not into, like, one world governments and one world currencies and all that stuff, and I'm not trying to get political.

I'm just telling you that, that there are nations that need to be saved.

That's what the scripture says.

You know, oh, Bill, you're online right now.

You guys are watching me.

But, like, borders are something God talks about.

He talks about walls, building walls, tearing walls down, t- languages.

You think I'm talking about immigration Some of you, some of you think I'm talking about a wall between us and Mexico.

I'm not talking about that.

But I'm not saying that God's never put a wall up between the nation.

He had Nehemiah build a wall for a long time, restore a wall that was torn down from the temple, and that regulated a lot.

He had Jericho's walls come down Even Jesus' day, Jerusalem had walls.

You had to go through the camel through the eye of a needle.

Why?

Because there was a gate that you had to strip the camel down and get under, get through, because there was protection that was needed to be there God loves nations.

He wants nations to be saved.

He wants to look and say,"That nation, that nation, this nation, this nation is filled with righteousness." You'll see why at the end.

Some of you aren't convinced But true revival begins in our heart, it restores our home, it transforms our community, and it impacts the nations Revival begins with personal transformation Revival begins with personal transformation.

Romans 12.

You know one of my favorite passages, I preach it all the time and quote it, but in this version it says,"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." Change the way you think, that's the root definition of the word repentance.

In order to repent, we change the way we think.

And God says,"Don't copy the world's custom, don't copy the world's culture, but let God transform you into something new." Say it's personal transformation See, God personally does this.

And so revival is not just about attending a powerful service.

Revival is about personal transformation.

It's gotta start somewhere.

In order for God to move through you, he has to first change you He doesn't send revival so we can feel something.

He sends revival so we can become something.

And trust me, I love the feelings.

I love the, the feeling when I pray for people, uh, and the fire of God is on them.

I love the feeling of when my hands feel like they have anointing oil on them already, and I didn't put it on.

You know, and it happens from time to time, and, and I, I love the feelings.

I love the stirring.

I love the running around.

I love the shouting.

I, I love all of that, but if we're not becoming something from that, then that's just an experience Because the first place of revival is not just the church altar.

It's your living room And it transforms you, and then we have to recognize that family transformation is needed.

Personal transformation must reach the family.

Say,"The family." The family.

In Joshua verse 24 says,"So fear the Lord and serve Him wholeheartedly.

Put away forever the idols of your ancestors.

They worship, they live beyond the Euphrates, the river in Egypt.

Serve the Lord alone." Say that.

"Serve the Lord alone.

But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today who you will serve.

Will you prefer gods of your ancestors served before the Euphrates?

Will you be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live?

But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord." See, personal transformation, it starts with you, but then it must go to your family.

And this is Joshua, and I love it.

He doesn't say, like,"Hey, think about this for a minute.

Email me back in a couple weeks after you've made your decision." He says,"Today.

Serve today those gods or the Lord.

If you choose those gods, choose it today.

Make your choice." He says this,"But as for me and my family, we're on the Lord's side." So your personal transformation, your born-again experience must reach your family.

Everybody's got a family.

You came from somebody.

You may not who- th- know who they are.

You may not like them And, and, and you have someone in your workplace or someone in your church or someone in, you know, around you, even if you're a single person, you're like,"Man, I don't got no siblings.

I don't know who my parents are." You've got, you've got people around you that need to be impacted by the transformation in your personal life because after all, we're all the family of God.

We're all brothers and sisters in Christ.

We're all adopted as sons and daughters.

You got family if you know Jesus Family transformation impacts the city So once it goes from you, then it goes to your family, now it goes to your neighbors.

It makes an impact on your community.

It makes an impact on the city that you live in.

Jesus spoke about it in Matthew chapter 5 in this famous passage.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

He says,"You are the light of the world, like a city." Like a what?

"You're a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

No one let, lights up a lamp and then puts it under a basket.

Instead, the lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house." Watch, the house.

"In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see so that everyone will praise your Heavenly Father." It's, it impacts a city.

He's talking not to individuals, He's talking to all of His followers, all of His disciples.

He's saying you, plural, this is second person plural, you are the light of the world.

The Church is the light of the world, a city on a hill.

And here's what I love, He says,"Let your good deeds shine." Now after all, you're light, you should shine.

Let your good deeds shine.

I'm glad He didn't just put a period there because that could lead to a lot of ego.

'Cause now I can compare your good deeds to my good deeds.

I do more good deeds.

You know, Jesus told it to shine, so everybody should see my good deeds, right?

Yeah, He says shine.

He doesn't say hide the good deeds.

But watch, why does He say shine?

So that praise can be given to our Heavenly Father.

So when somebody thanks you for your good deed, that's okay,'cause you're shining.

But now your response is,"Oh yes, I do that because of God." Give glory to God, because if it wasn't for God, these good deeds wouldn't be getting done And now your good deeds and my good deeds aren't in competition.

They're serving the same goal and the same purpose.

So whether you touch five people and you touch 25 people, it's all giving glory to God.

It's not about com- com- comparing one another anymore.

And this is what I loved about the Welsh revival.

The communities began to change, businesses changed, work ethics changed, public life changed.

It wasn't just about a church service anymore.

It was about a broken nation being healed.

And this shows that a city on a hill, the people of God, can truly impact an entire region Because city transformation can shift a nation City transformation can shift a nation Look at this passage in Proverbs 14.

"Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people." True See, this is why God loves the nations, and this is why he wants his people in every nation, because godliness makes a nation great.

It's godliness.

And sin is a disgrace to any nation.

So when, when the Father's looking for nations, and he's looking for revival and great awakenings to sweep the land, and, and blessings and renewal and revival, he wants to look and say,"Look, there's godliness in that nation.

That nation is great in my kingdom.

Look, there's so much sin in that nation, it's a disgrace to anyone who lives there." But see, and that's the dichotomy between us, because America has so many great things, but it has sin as well in the land.

And, and according to Genesis, the land still cries out for innocent blood that's shed.

And so that's why the church has to stand in the gap.

That's why we pray.

That's why we ask forgiveness.

That's why we redeem the land, because God's,"I will heal their land.

I will restore their land." God wants to use you, Church, for part of his greater purpose of the nations I'm preaching louder than you're shouting He loves the nations Jesus is the desire to the nations.

God, you know what God did?

He posed a question.

He said,"Can a nation be saved in a day?" And he never answered'Cause I think he's waiting for his people to prove him right And theologians could look at the finished work of the cross and say,"Yes, a nation was saved in the day on what Jesus did." But guess what?

There are nations right now that aren't saved But a nation is saved in a day, not just from a sovereign move of God, because He didn't create robots.

He could have.

He created people who are in His image and His likeness, and when they become born again, they become new creation.

They're changed from the inside out, and now they are glory carriers.

They are carriers of the Kingdom of God.

And why do they carry the kingdom?

So that they can extend it and change a nation That's why the first thing Jesus said, His first sermon, and He said it again and again.

He showed up in a city and then made an announcement,"The Kingdom of God is at hand." That's His introductory sermon.

Tell them the Kingdom of God is here.

He, He never said the kingdom of salvation He never came saying Um, my only purpose here is to get you saved, because salvation is in the Kingdom of God.

That's why it's not the end, it's the beginning.

So when you receive the Kingdom, automatically you get born again, but then you get water baptized, and then you get spirit baptized,'cause there's two baptisms.

So you're water, you're baptized in water, and then you're baptized in the Holy Spirit, and you receive the Acts 2 Pentecost power, the dunamis power of the Holy Spirit, so that you can be a witness in the Earth, and you can, you can operate in the gifts of the Spirit, the gifts of Jesus to His church.

It's so much more than just being born again and die and go to heaven.

It's about changing a nation.

It's about changing your family.

It's about transforming your city.

It's about transforming your state.

It's about transforming the United States That's why I encourage people, like go on missions trips.

We're a mission-sending church.

We, we've got people in nations.

We've got...

Our interns right now are in, in Nashville.

They're heading to Nashville to do a thing.

So, so, you know, uh, I love those kinds of missions trips too.

We have missionaries that we support in Columbus.

We have missionaries that we support across the United States.

But you need to get your rear end somewhere that's different I'm from West Virginia, that's different.

I need to get my rear end out of West Virginia.

I'm just teasing.

But you do, you need to get somewhere.

You need to put your feet...

That's why, come to Jamaica with us, come to South Africa with us.

C- come.

You know, come and e- be a part of a team.

Meet people that speak other languages, from other nations.

Put your land on the ground so that the Lord can bless you and it.

Be a part of seeing nations transformed and saved, communities being turned around, governments being turned around for righteousness Don't just be a part of the revival service.

'Cause that's good.

Like I said, man, I, I love s- signs and wonders.

I love when God does stuff.

But, uh, you know what?

God does signs to make you wonder But the sign is not the end result.

The sign points you to who did it.

I mean, speaking of when I drive back to Pittsburgh, I, I follow, I get on 70, and there's a sign that says Wheeling.

That's where I'm from.

That's where I was born.

But let me tell you something, that sign is two hours from Wheeling,'cause the sign is not the destination.

It just tells me that I'm on the road that takes me there.

So when God does a sign in your life and you can't explain it, say,"You know what?

It just makes me wonder, but it still points me to Jesus.

It points me to the one who's doing the revival, who's doing the miracles, who's bringing healing and salvation and deliverance." My final point, revival carries kingdom responsibility.

We just came out of our Acts series, Divine Disruption, so I encourage you to be in that.

But, but there's, there's a portion of scripture and I...

For the sake of time I won't read the whole thing.

But in Acts chapter two, it starts off by saying,"All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, sharing meals, and to prayer." Man, the believers, the church were doing the, all the same thing.

They were listening to the apostles' teaching.

They were having, breaking bread together.

They were sharing meals.

They, they were, they were devoted to fellowship, and they were devoted to prayer.

Those are the four key elements to any church, let me tell you.

And it says, uh, you know,"A deep sense of awe came over all, and the apostles performed many miracles, signs, and wonders." That's the whole point there.

There was, there was awe.

Some of the signs didn't make sense, but it all pointed people to Jesus, and that was the point of this whole thing.

God's doing all this, and in verse 47 it says,"All while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all people.

And each day" How many days?

"Each day, the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved." The signs, the wonders, all of that point to Him, and people coming into the kingdom, getting saved, and realizing this is just the beginning.

It's not the end.

It's just the beginning of a new life in Christ, a transformed life that's supposed to now transform my family, that's supposed to now transform my city, that somehow I get to be a part of a transforming of a nation if I'm willing to obey it I want you to stand.

I wanna pray for you Those of you watching online, I pray for you as well.

You can be a part of changing a nation.

You can be a part of an online community that, that desires to, to reach the nations, but also reach the cities.

Let us know where you're watching from, how we can pray for you, how we can pray for your city.

Um, no matter what part of our country you're in or what part of the, across the globe that you're in, let us know how we can pray for you.

We have people here right now that will pray for you, that will bless you,'cause we're believing for global outreach,'cause the church goes global.

The church goes global.

If anyone's here today and you don't know, you don't have the experience of the very first point that I said, where it starts with a transformed heart.

You've never had the Lord transform you.

You've never given your life to Jesus.

You've never surrendered to His plan for your life.

You've never had Him forgive you of your sins.

You've never had a born-again experience where all things become new.

If you're here today, or if you're watching online, and you wanna surrender to Jesus, I wanna pray for you right now.

Just raise your hand.

I wanna pray for you.

If that's you, you're here today, you wanna surrender to Jesus, you wanna start at the first point, I want to have a transformed heart.

I want a transformed life.

Thank you, Lord.

So if we're all saved, then we're all responsible to live out a transformed life.

So now I'm gonna pray for you, for you to have boldness, for you to have the power of the Holy Spirit, for you to walk with a witness, with a testimony that you will be impacting your family, and, and corporately, we will be a city on a hill shining brightly, doing good deeds, and all pointing back to the Father.

That's how we change central Ohio.

That's how we change the state of Ohio.

That's how we impact the nation Lord, I pray for the people of God right here, right now, in the sound of my voice And I speak the blessing of the Lord upon them, and declare over you that you are a witness, and you are on assignment to bring other people into the kingdom.

You are on assignment to share the gospel of salvation, the message of the good news of Jesus.

You are on assignment to heal the sick, to cleanse the lepers, to raise the dead God wants to use you mightily God wants to use your hands for signs and wonders He wants to use your voice to speak his word.

He wants to give you a gift, the operation of wisdom and understanding.

He wants to flow through you So I bless you with boldness.

I bless you with increase.

I bless you with the fire of heaven to carry revival.

More fire, Lord.

More fire.

More fire on your people, on your sons and daughters.

More fire Through Oasis City Church, more fire.

Through this ministry, more fire Whoo! Yes, Lord.

Yes, Lord.

More fire.

Lord, your kingdom come and your will be done Lord, you said that the, the Earth shakes at the sound of your voice and that the nations tremble before you.

Lord, I just pray that in the Spirit, as there's a shaking going on in the nations of the Earth, Lord, that the body of Christ would rise up and show that Jesus is the answer, that the billions of people on the planet that don't know you, Lord, would suddenly be coming into the kingdom.

Shake the nations, Lord.

Let godliness be the blessing of our nation.

Lord, turn the fate of America around so that we can be a beacon of hope, Lord, that we could be what your throne is held upon, which is righteousness, truth, justice Oh, come Holy Spirit.

Come and rest on us.

Come and fall on us.

Come and bring your fire to us Thank you, Lord In the name of Jesus, I bless you, speak to you today Thank you, Lord We hope you enjoyed today's message.

I wanna personally invite you to Oasis City Church in Westerville, Ohio.

We have two services on Sundays at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM.

You can find all of our information on our website, oasiscitychurch.com.

You can also watch our online services on YouTube.

You can listen to our weekly podcast as well.

Go check us out.

We'd love to see you.

If you'd like to find out more about the church that brought you this program, check out oasiscitychurch.com and look up our social media and live stream on YouTube.

Oasis City Columbus is a diverse church that celebrates all cultures and backgrounds, no matter where you've been, because that's the way the kingdom of heaven is.

We invite you to join us Sundays at our main campus in Westerville, right off I-270 on Eastwind Drive, and you can find all the details at the oasiscitychurch.com website.

Thanks for listening today.

Revive All is a presentation of Oasis City Church Columbus.