Revival Starts Here | Pastor Adam Mesa

If you don't have a Bible, you can open up

to the U version Bible app or simply follow along

this weekend because we're actually gonna launch a new series

that's gonna lead us up to our Vision Sunday, which

is gonna happen the weekend before Thanksgiving, where we're gonna

share some exciting things that our church across all of

our campuses is gonna be doing. We'll also share some

updates about a campus that we've been waiting on to launch,

Corona as well. So a lot of exciting things that

if Patriots your home church, make sure you put it

in your calendar to come and hear about all the

things that God is doing in the life of our church.

We were actually gonna do a series starting in November,

but our leadership team has really felt in a direction

and our preaching team to say, hey, let's continue to

kind of see what God is doing in this season,

and so this series we kind of changed last minute

because we wanted to talk about something called the Seeds

of Revival. The Seeds of Revival, we're gonna have a

conversation over the next few weeks about what does it

look like to prepare your heart. For if you were

with us the past couple weeks and even before, God's

just been moving in very particular ways, whether it be

through Pastor John Bevie that was with us a couple

of weeks ago, across all of our locations. God moved

last week here in Rancho and for Pomona, Pastor Julian

was here and had some moments of a prophetic word.

But here's what we want to do as a church.

Not only do we want to create space for God

to move in Revival, but we want to make sure

that we're prepared that when it happens, we have the

maturity to recognize it. But also what do you do

with it. Let's just say God moves tomorrow in your life.

Let's say God moves tomorrow in your family. Let's say

the Lord moves in our church or in our region

or within our nation. How do we know it's something

that God's doing and how can we fan that flame?

And so we're going to be talking about that over

the next few weeks.

And here's simply what I want to do to define

what revival is. Because you may be new to church

and you're thinking to yourself, I don't know that church term.

You can put together what revival might mean. You're like, oh,

does it mean to revive something, to bring it back

to life? Well in some ways, but not really in

a biblical sense. In a spiritual sense, here's what revival means.

It's an act or instance of reviving the state of

being revived, such as a renewed attention or interest to something.

And so what basically in the church a revival is

not that God is doing something particularly new that he's

never done in the history of mankind.

It's what he's.

Doing in this moment, is he's putting a magnifying glass

in a moment, and he's saying, Hey, I'm having my

church pay attention to something that I've done before. I'm

having my people pay attention to something that I've done before,

whether it's been done in the Book of Acts, whether

it's been seen in the Book of Revelation, whether it's

been seen in the early Church or even in the

Old Testament. When you experience revival, it's God saying, Hey,

pay attention. I'm going to renew an interest into the

Spirit of God and into the Gospel of Jesus. That's

gonna call new people to me. And on top of that,

he may be calling new people to himself. But you

and I you may consider yourself a Christian, but you

find yourself God. You're like in a drought, you feel

yourself spiritually dry. What can happen is in a revival,

God can also create an awakening where it's almost like

you've been sleeping for a little bit and God says, hey,

wake up. Time to reprioritize some things, time to readdress

some things. And I believe that if we as a church,

specifically our church begin to focus on not just revival,

but the maturity of what revival does. Because I would

never want God to visit us for one weekend and

then we go Wow, remember that time in two thousand

and one on that one.

Friday where God visited us And what happened from there?

I don't know.

I don't think anyone even goes to church anymore that

was there on that day. No. I would expect that

if God would visit us, that, as the Bible would say,

that we would go from glory to glory to glory,

that we would grow in our relationship with God and

not just have a visitation from God, but invite others

to participate in what's happening, but also get to a

place where you and I begin to see victory and

overcome things, and your life becomes a living testimony of

the mercy and the goodness of God. That's what revival

can do, and that's what revival can bring. And so

we're gonna look at Colossians chapter one. So if you

have your Bible, I'm gonna read a few verses from

Colossians chapter one, specifically in verse fifteen. I encourage you,

if you like homework, just read all of Colossians one

this weekend if you'd like to, or this next week

on your own time. But I'm just gonna read a

few verses for us today as we reflect. And so

if you're ready, would you stand for the honor of

reading God's word wherever you're at, whatever campus you're at.

Here's what I want to do. I want us to

see this in Colossians chapter one, verse fifteen.

But before I do, for a moment, I'm gonna.

Ask all of you to maybe participate with me for

a moment, okay, And so wherever you're at in Alameda, here,

in Rancho, or in Pomona, I'm gonna ask us to

say this out loud together. We're gonna read this out

loud together. Okay, But here's what I want us to do.

When the apostle Paul wrote Colossians, specifically Colossians Chapter one,

fifteen and on, what the apostle Paul was doing was

he was creating what we would say is an introduction

to the king. So maybe you've seen it on movies before,

maybe you've seen it on TV, but have you ever seen,

like maybe the King of England and they come in

and they say, oh, the ruler of the ten kingdoms,

the blah blah blah, the blah blah blah, the duchess

of so and so, the dukes of so and.

So, the blah blah blah blah blah blah.

Back in the day, when emperors would walk in the room,

they would say, the emperor of over this nation and

that nation.

And there were these individuals.

Called heralds that they would call attention to the majesty

of the person that was about to enter the room.

So what the apostle Paul does is he says, you know.

What, forget the emperor, forget Caesar.

I'm gonna do my own version of haralding the King

of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

He says, I'm gonna have my own moment.

He calls it the pre eminence of Jesus, and he says,

I'm gonna have my own Harold, because there is no

other greater ruler on heaven on earth than King Jesus.

And he says, if we can lift up the name

of a celebrity or a ruler or a politician and

everyone can stand you attention, or everyone can stand there

and hear their brilliance or their magnificance, Paul says, I

can do that with Jesus, and so that's what he

does with this. Okay, So if you'd like to follow

along with me, you can, but you gotta say it

if you join me wherever you're at we campus, you

gotta say it as if a Harold would say it, Okay,

you can't like, you can't wish for this.

You got you gotta, you know, we would say on

the streets, right, say it.

With your chest. You gotta say it with your chest

if you say it, okay, Are you guys ready with me?

All right? One? One, two three. The son is the

image of the invisible God.

The firstborn over all creation.

For in him all things were created, things in heaven

and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers,

or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him,

And for him we're not done. He is before all things,

and in him all things are held together.

Come on, give God some praise today. Go ahead and

be seated.

He is the Sun, is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn of all creation. In him all things were created,

all things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, powers, rulers, authorities, all.

Things have been created through him, and what for him?

And then he says, he is before all things, and

in him all things are held together. That is a moment,

and the apostle Paul continues in versus that what he's

doing is he's saying, if you have ever met a

human or anyone that you felt was worthy of an introduction,

He said, I know someone that's better. And you see

what happens when you and I experience, first in our

own life, a revival of heart. What you and I

will do is we will recognize when Jesus visits us

and visits you, You and I will get to a

place where we will recognize not only who's in the room,

but who abides in your life.

And so that.

Means when you and I truly have a visitation from God,

we no longer go by being impressed by anything on

this earth. That you may enjoy things on this earth,

you may celebrate things on this earth. But the reason

why the apostle Paul calls this the pre eminence of Jesus,

because what pre eminence means is the final authority or

the greatest authority of that thing.

So he's saying, listen, Jesus is.

Superior above all things. Here's some things within our own

kind of world and within creation that are just pre eminent.

It's not pre.

Eminent above Jesus, but it would be perminent, pre eminent

within creation.

The first thing is this for us is the sun.

The sun is kind of in a lot of ways

of pre eminent authority, not above Jesus.

But I mean, you remove.

The sun today, what happens you and I we get

in frostbitten in less than one millisecond, says if you know,

sciences have said, if we if we just went just

a just a baby click further away from the sun,

we would freeze to death. Or if the sun just

went a little click closer to us, we would burn

to death.

I mean, that's that's that's pretty powerful.

That's kind of a big authority in your life. Another

thing is the ocean. The ocean seventy percent of Earth.

You've ever been on a ship before, on a cruise before,

and you just looked out into the abyss and you

thought yourself, I'm actually afraid now. I've never really been

scared of anything until I've looked at an ocean with

no land in sight, and I thought, Man, this thing's

pretty powerful, and I'm a blip on its radar. It's

a pretty big authority. Other things in our life. Mount

Everest the largest mountain on Earth. Many people they try

to summit, many people they don't live through it because

low oxygen, the amount of work that it takes. It's

the largest mountain on Earth.

It's it's kind of a big deal.

This one may throw you off that you may not know,

but the Amazon rainforest, the Amazon rainforest is responsible for

twenty percent of the Earth's oxygen. You got rid of

Amazon rainforest right now, immediately, twenty percent of our oxygen

would be removed throughout the earth, which means you just

climbing up, you get tired. From ten flights of stairs,

you remove twenty percent of the oxygen. One step on a

stair is gonna get you huffing and puffing. That means

these things are when you approach it, you're supposed to

approach it with care.

You're supposed to approach it.

With respect because you know that this man, this ocean,

this thing can take my life. This Mount Everest. Man,

if I try to, if I just try tomorrow, think

that I can summit Mount Everest, I don't. I'm not

doing its respect. If I thought to myself, Oh, I

created a rocket ship, I'm gonna try to fly to

the sun, I think I'll be okay. I'm not treating

it with its respect. But how many times do we

get a visitation of Jesus through the spirit of God,

and we don't treat him as the pre eminence of

all things. We don't treat him as the final authority.

We treat the word of God as an opinion for

our life. We treat the worship of God as an

accessory of our life, as an option. We look at

a time where we go to worship God as a well,

let me see what else I have going on, and

if I don't have enough things going on, then maybe

I'll go spend time with God. And so oftentimes we

don't put the value on Jeesz. Here's why I say that,

because if you and I want to first experience a

revival of our heart, first thing we got to understand

is Jesus is a big deal. What we read in

Colossians chapter one is He's not just a big deal.

He is the deal.

And the chief end of man is not to do

good works and good deeds and just feed society and

do things for society. The chief end of man for

you and what you and I were created for.

Kind.

And it's not a problem that we say that. But

oftentimes have you.

Ever thought to yourself, oh I was created to do this.

Maybe first time you put a basketball in your hand

and you found out you were really good at you're like, oh,

I might have been created to do this. Or maybe

the first time, say you're a nurse, the first time

you helped someone that was in critical kid, is you

thought I was created to do this? Or maybe the

first time you had your children, whether you're a mother

or father. You thought to yourself, I was created to

do this, But that is not the final thing what

you were created for. That's a calling that God has

called you to, That's a gifting that God has given you.

But the final thing, we call it the chief in demand.

You remove all those things. You stop being a nurse tomorrow.

You're not a father tomorrow. You're not a mother tomorrow.

You're not an athlete tomorrow, you're not a therapist tomorrow.

What is your end? Your end is to worship God.

That's the chief into man. You can remove all things

from me, but you cannot remove the worship that I

can have with my creator. So therefore, the moment we

understand what we were really created for, we can.

Really start seeing God move in our life.

Because God did not create you for an expression of creation.

He created you and I that through in all things

and buy all things, we would give him worship. So therefore,

whatever your calling is, whatever your career is, whatever your

position is, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandfather, father, mother, that is

an expression of what God has called you to do,

to worship. You worship God through those things. But God

created us to worship Him, and He's created us to

pursue those things. I just want to share for moments today,

some ways that we can move towards revival to see

it because all we can do is ask God for it.

We can't fabricate it, we can't manufacture it, but we

can prepare our hearts for it that if God would

show up, we'd be ready. And I'm going to share

a few movements you and I can take that we

could leave here and say, Okay, if I want to

see God not only just do a revival in my life,

but maybe in our church, through our region, throughout the world,

here's some movements I can take.

And I'm gonna close with a couple of things.

That revival is not because it's easy to get caught

up with what it's not. And I'll share about a

few of those things. Here's the first movement you and

I can do. You and I can do this. Every

revival begins with the reintroduction of Jesus. If you study

revivals all throughout church history, the revivals begin with introducing,

reintroducing to a person, community, or people group who Jesus is.

It's what we just saw in Colossians one. It's this

introduction of who is Jesus. Not just who is Jesus

to you? Because you and I could answer, well, Jesus

to me, he's like my best friend. He's like the

person I can talk to.

When I'm alone, or he's the person that walks with me.

Whatever it is. Whatever you can say, oh, who Jesus

is to you? But what happens is is when we

can say who's Jesus. Oh, He's the image of the

invisible God. He's the firstborn of all creation. In him

and through him all things have been created, and nothing

is created apart from him, and you and I are

created to worship him. That's an introduction to who Jesus is.

Not just who Jesus is to you. Is say he

died on the cross for who for our sins he

rose three days later and complete victory and conquered death.

That's who Jesus is.

You see. There's been some revivals in history that the

world and a people group were introduced reintroduced to Jesus.

They maybe have heard of him, they maybe had once

known him, but then they get a reintroduction. In seventeen

thirty to seventeen forty is a pastor by the name

of Jonathan Edwards.

This is called the First Great Awakening.

And what Jonathan Edwards did is he preached a famous

sermon because what people were doing were taking advantage of

the grace of God. And so he preached a sermon

called Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God. And

what happens is in the middle of his sermon, people

were so convicted of their sin. They started running up

to Jonathan Edwards on the pulpit and they said, please,

mister Edwards, we get it, we get it. We're ready

to repent. We know who Jesus is, we know what

he's done. Please stop the sermon so that we can respond.

That's because he introduced Jesus to a people who had

heard of him, but they didn't encounter him. They knew

of him, they had a habit of attending church, but

they didn't know who Jesus really was. Why because he

was not pre eminent in their life. He wasn't the

final authority in their life. There was a revival called

the Welsh Revival in nineteen oh four. Evan Roberts prayed

simply this. He prayed this over and over and over.

He said, bend me, Lord said bend me Lord. That's

a way of saying, God, use me, use me, bend me,

make me feel uncomfortable. I'll do whatever you need me

to do. God. And what happens in the Welsh Lands

when he was preaching, what happens was pubs began to empty,

families were reconciled, crime rates dropped. People would walk into

town and start weeping without knowing why, because Jesus was

being revealed.

They would just imagine, just people drive into our cities.

Imagine people drive into Rancho, Pomona, Alami and they just

start weeping because of the presence of God, because God

inhabits a region. Just imagine someone walks into your home

and they just start being healed. God just starts delivering

because of the saturation of your home. Just imagine your workplace.

You've said it before, My workplace is going to hell. Man.

These people, they they they're wilding out.

They're doing this, they're doing that. Well, what would happen

if you and I, through the way that we represented

the character of Jesus Christ, began to infiltrate your workspace.

Two people walk into your office or your cubicle and

they're like, I don't know why but I just can

I talk to you offline? What would happen if you

and I would experience and see that for many of

us who have more charismatic Pentecostal roots. In nineteen there

was a pastor and a preacher, black man by the

name of William Seymour. He started learning about the Pentecostal

Revival from Acts chapter two in Houston, but because he

was black, churches didn't schools didn't allow him to sit,

and so he ended up coming over to Los Angeles

and he created a worship space.

And he was known as a humbled one eyed.

Preacher, and he kept saying, Jesus saves lives, Jesus sanctifies lives,

and Jesus baptize us with the Holy Spirit, and Jesus

please come again. He just kept repeating that he would

get to a place where it was nineteen oh six,

and so when he was ready to preach, he would

stand on a milk carton as like his pulpit. But

what would happen was it's not like modern buildings today

or anything like that, where there's back rooms where you

can pray and have your as a pastor, you can

have quiet time with God and prepare your heart. It

was just an open building. So before he would stand

on the milk carton to preach, he would put the

milk carton on his head so that he can have

private time with Jesus. And it was said that he

wouldn't take the milk carton off until he knew that

God was ready to speak to the people. And it

was through his obedience that as he would do that,

that God we begin to visit.

And it's really it's where we get Pentecostalism today.

It's where we get denominations like four Square and Assemblies

of God and all.

These millions upon millions of people.

It started in just a little church in Los Angeles

and a man who was maybe he was weird, but

you're weird. I'm weird. But it started with a few

people that were just saying, God, would you visit.

But more than that, it was a focus on Jesus.

It wasn't a focused on the Creator, It wasn't focused

on an idea of who God was. It was focused

on the image of the invisible God and his name

was Jesus. And this introduction brought people to salvation. Here's

the second movement that we see is we see that.

What happens is when Jesus is reintroduced. What happens repentance

prepares the room as Jesus visits. It's not separate from repentance.

You may be new to church, You're like, what's repentance?

It's turning the other direction from where you were headed.

It's whatever value we put on sin, It's whatever value

we put on creation. It's whatever value we put on

things that were contrary to the identity of God, contrary

to the character of God, and we repent of those things.

I just want you to do your own personal exercise,

either in this moment or maybe when you go home,

but really think to yourself, when was the last time

you repented and confessed of sin? When was the last

time When was the last time, either to someone else

you repented of sin or to God you repented of

sin that you said, God, I failed at this. God,

my anger got the best to beay me. God, my

sexuality got the best of me. God, God, my love

for money got the best of me. God, my love

of food got the best of me. God. You go

to a doctor's office and they say, hey, this is

too high because you're not eating healthy.

That's the time to repent to the Lord.

Say God, I'm taking advantage of your mercy that you've

placed on me. May think to yourself, no, I don't

like those things. Well, if you want a visitation of

the Lord, if you want a revival self. It's not

just identifying who Jesus is. It's letting his work on

the cross do something to you and I encounter us.

And if we say I don't like that, then you

can say that, but Jesus.

Makes it clear for the for those of us that

would say I don't like that, I will never repent

of things. Then Jesus will say, he says, then when

you see me in heaven, he'll say, I.

Never knew you, because if you don't.

Repent of anything, then you don't need the cross, because

the cross was for your sins.

And if we ever tell God, hey I.

Am sinful, and you say no, I'm a Lord. I

was birthed into perfection. I am perfect. Everyone else is wrong,

everyone else is crazy, everything that I do is fine.

Then what happens is then when you encounter Jesus is

not just about the sparkly things. It's recognizing what's the

cross for? What did he need to resurrect for And

what a lot of people have done that have tried

to remove the need for repentance of sin is they've

tried to say, say, oh, well, we didn't need the cross.

That was the Jewish people in the Romans put him

to death. Jesus could have accomplished everything he wanted to

accomplish without the cross and without resurrection.

To accomplish what to know God? It's not just to

know God, it's to worship God. How do I worship God?

It's through a.

Relationship with him. How do I get a relationship with him?

If I'm sinful and fallen, then I need to confess

that I have fallen short and receive repent and say God,

need you, Jesus, I receive you. That's what happens. We

will begin to see revival is when more of us

start confessing and repenting, when more of us are stop

trying to live in a falseness of perfection or a

falseness of what's on the outside. By saying I have

fallen short of the glory of God and I desperately

need a visitation of God. I desperately need the spirits

work in my life. Because I have sin. So many

people come to me and they're like, I want God

so desperately, But the moment I tell you what I've done,

you'll say that I can't have God. And I'm like,

there's nothing on the list, nothing on the list that

you could have said that you've done that if you're

willing to repent of it, that Jesus can't die for

you're telling me that when Jesus died on the cross,

he said, I'm going to be able to cover everyone's

sin except for that one guy Luke in twenty twenty

five that did that one thing. No, that's not what

he did. His sin, his blood covers all sin, and

his forgiveness is available for all all of us. It

is found in access through him. When we see revival,

when we recognize that access is only through Jesus. Just

a couple of days ago, I went to Pastor Aaron

at Erica's house and they were putting a new lock

on their door, and Pastor Aaron hadn't arrived back at

his house yet, and so Erica was putting the lock

on herself. And I got there and I said, hey,

let me do it, and so I installed it was

like one of those smart locks. And so I installed

the door and I came in the kitchen. I said, hey,

Erica is all ready to go. You just need to

type in the code and to reset it with your

own personal family code. And she says, well, can you

just do it for me? And I said, would you

want me to know the code? Cuz I'll roll up

on a Tuesday night. I just pulled the Doritos out,

watch some TV. You live closer to me than the church.

I may just be in the pool. You know what,

you want to tell me the code? And she said,

come on, Adam your family. Of course you can know

the code to our house. And then she gave me

the number and then I went and I went and

said it. And so now because I'm in their family,

that's Erica's view your family, I have access to their

house and all of us built inside of us is

the desire to have access to God.

But what you have to do is you got to

say how do I join?

Is? What does it mean to join God's family? Because

not everybody has access. Everybody has the opportunity to have access, but.

Not everybody has access.

So you got to ask yourself, well, what's the code.

How do I get access to this, Well, it's only

through Jesus. And so the moment you and I are

willing to recognize I need forgiveness of my sins, God says,

here's the access code. Jesus died on the cross for

your sins, and he rose three days later. When you

and I can do that, not just individually but collectively,

I'm telling you you will experience a move of God

like you've never seen before.

It's not about walking in perfection.

It's about regularly confessing how we fall in short of

the glory of God. And then what you do is

you allow the goodness and mercy of God to cover

your life. But if you never say it, how can

you experience God's mercy?

How can you experience God's goodness? When my sons come

to me, I.

Need them to tell me where they did wrong so

that they can experience my mercy. Because if they don't

tell me where they did wrong, and either I just

keep blessing them knowing that they're doing wrong, well then

they'll just keep covering all the things they do wrong

and they'll just be expecting blessing. But also what happens

if they keep hiding and I keep knowing about it

and I don't talk to them about it. That's not

a loving father. But when I tell my sons, you

could come to me with anything that you fall in

short on and if you're asking, if you come to

me with honesty, Dad's gonna show you mercy, show you forgiveness.

But if you hide it, if it develops in your character,

if you take it out on someone else, well then

now we're hey, judgment, it is gonna come.

It's got to come. If I'm a good father, it's

got to come.

I can't see my son take a back to another

kid on the playground and be like, yeah, well I

didn't like the way that kid looked either. Son, you

want to get some ice cream? That reveals my character

and my son's character. But when I say son, absolutely not, Man,

give me that bat. You're going in a cave for

about two weeks and then we're gonna have some conversations.

But guess what, You're gonna come out of it, and

I'm gonna love you through it. So what happens is

there's discipline and mercy. God brings that into our life.

That's his love. But here's a third movement. That happens

is we see that Jesus is the center of all things.

So what happens is if we're introduced to who Jesus is,

either for a reintroduction a first time introduction, and then

what happens as God begins to manifest himself to you.

Then what happens is we begin to repent and we say, God,

we fall in short, we need you, please visit us.

I believe in you, Jesus. Then what will happen is

we will start to have to reprioritize some things. What

will happen is we we'll recognize that Jesus has a

greater authority in our life of anything. Jesus has a

greater authority of your spouse. Jesus has a greater authority

of your children. Jesus has a greater authority of your politics.

Jesus has a greater authority of your workplace. Jesus has

a greater authority over your friends. He has a greater authority.

Doesn't mean you can't have those things, no, but it

means that you first lived under submission of his authority.

It's first I check with the king on what.

Does he think? Before I make a move, and so

I put Jesus.

In his right place of my life, and I put

the authority. Here's the fourth thing I'll give you, and

then in a few moments we're gonna talk about what

here's some few things that it's not. The last thing

is is when we recognize that our priorities are shifted

where Jesus is above all things. The next thing is

this is you and I become the introduction of Jesus.

You and I become the herald.

And what we read it means that when we walk

into space, we are the introduction that when people encounter us,

they should say, hey, there's something different about you.

No, no, no, no, it's it's it's it's no, it's

it's not the cross around your neck.

Because if we don't understand how to meet Jesus, then

all we will do is make Jesus an accessory to

our life. And it's like taking a nice handbag and

putting a keychain cross on it and just saying.

Jesus is Jesus is an accessory.

I remember in the in the two thousands, there was

a great debate because everyone started getting these toys and

start getting these t shirts, and it would say, Jesus

is my homeboy. And then and then there was this

like movement that was like, wait, wait, don't just reduce

him to your homeboy. He's also your king, he's also

your authority. He's also your savior. He's just not the homie.

The homies you can disagree with, the homies, you can

quarrel with and not talk to for a year or

two or four. But your savior, he's so much more

than that. He's not an accessory on the handbag. He's

not just a necklace. He's not a tattoo you get

on your arm. He's not reduced to those things. He's

not something that you do just to receive a blessing.

I'm Christian? How am I a Christian? Well, look look

at the cross that I got tattooed, or look at

the T shirt that I'm wearing. That's what makes me

a Christian. No, No, what makes me a believer is

because when I walk into a room, I introduce everyone

to who my Savior is by the way that I walk,

by the way that I talk, by the things that

I don't participate in, by the things I don't engage in,

by the things I don't walk in. Immediately someone says, hey,

can I come tell you about this person? You say, hey,

not me. If you tell me, I'm gonna snitch on you.

I don't do gossip.

Hey can I tell you?

Hey? Have you seen how good this girl looked in

the office? No? No, the only person I see is

my wife. That's the only person I see. Are you

married too? Right? Okay? Just wanted to make sure people

will either stop coming to you really fast, but in time,

with your faith and as the spirit of God would

use you, people will go from a place where they're

staying away from you where they'll walk up to you

and say, hey, you got a couple of minutes. Because

you're the only person who's walked in God's integrity. You're

the only person that has allowed God to have a

revival of your heart. And what can happen is if

we walk in that you can revive a space, you

can revive a workplace, you can revive a home. Because

what we're doing is we're saying, hey, I'm being revived

by God because Jesus is my priority. Here's some things

with the last few moments that I have of what

revival is not though, And I'm gonna read them right

here for a second. I'll come up here on the

screen and the team. Here's what revival is not. Revival

is not a moment. It's a movement. Revival doesn't happen.

You don't just go to one service and walk away

and go, hey, we're in revival. No, you go in

revival through a consistency. And what is a consistency a

consistency of transformation. That's what it is. You don't judge

the moment, you judge the times after the moment. So

if we look at revival, is it's an introduction of Jesus,

It's repentance, it's putting Jesus as my number one. It's

walking into a place where I introduce Jesus when I

walk in a room. That's how you can begin to

judge is this a moment or is this a movement?

Because God can do something in a moment. He can

heal people, he can deliver people. But when something becomes

a movement.

All of your priorities shift.

Your whole heart shifts, your eyes shift, your ear shift

things that you used to listen to.

It becomes feels like nails on a chalkboard. Ways that

you used to talk.

There was a moment and I mentioned the Great Welsh Revival.

One of the things that was incredible that happened was

is most of the coal miners, they would cuss their

donkeys out, the donkeys that would carry all the call

out of the caves. Well, when they met Jesus Christ,

they had a conviction to no longer cuss. But what

happened was is none of the donkeys listened to him

anymore because they didn't know how to move without f

bombs in them.

And so what happens is through the movement.

They had to make a decision do we continue to

communicate with the donkeys we used to or do we

just got to sit through an uncomfortable phase where we

got to retrain these donkeys in our new language. And

a lot of times what will happen is is you

won't see the plain landing of your faith in people's

lives or in the prayers you're asking, and your mind

will start to say things just seemed easier the way

that you used to live. Things just used to come

faster in the way that you used to walk and talk.

And if you're not careful, what we will prove that

God's visitation was just a moment. If it doesn't become

a movement in our heart, if it doesn't progress, and

if it doesn't regularly convict this here's the second thing.

Revival is not about crowds. Did you see how who cares.

God can do things in a crowd, but also the

spirit of God and acts.

You fell in a room one hundred and twenty people

at the end.

Of the day.

That is not a lot of people.

Jesus used to preach to crowds of thousands, and when

he would walk away, only twelve would follow. So revival

is not just we don't measure it by did you

You'll hear it all the time. God's moving because sixty

thousand people went to worship, yees, sixty thousand Christians went

to worship. Let me know when sixty thousand strippers, prostitutes,

drug dealers.

All these Because that's what we'll be getting.

And I'm not devaluing what can happen at a worship moment,

what can happen, but what we'll find ourselves easily reducing

what we came together as a family reunion as a

moment of revival. We all got issues. We all can

always run to the altar and ask God. Half the time,

I don't know what I'm doing as a husband, so

I'll go to God and be like, God, help me.

But that doesn't mean I'm in revival.

That just means I'm just in active regular repentance and

need of my Savior. And so yeah, in crowds, God

can move, but it is not the of a movement,

and you will find yourself. What easily can happen is

you can go from a moment of a packed service

where God's moving and you'll go and you'll see your

your one spouse or your roommate or whatever, and you'll think, oh,

there goes the fun. No, you can still have the fun.

You can have the fun with one person, two people,

three people, four people. It's not predicated on a crowd.

It's predicated on your heart. What heart do you have

when you worship God? What encounter are you there to

glorify God? And so it's based off our conviction. That's

what happens and what will happen is God can create

a revival in a space when everybody is unified in conviction.

It's when we all come to a place where we're like, oh,

we really need the Lord, and then you will see

an atmosphere and a manifestation of God's presence.

But it's not just it's not saying, oh, that that.

Was the fruit of it. The fruit of it is

what you do when you leave. The fruit of it

is how you walk when you leave. Now, how it

felt in a moment, And here's the next thing, the

next couple of things, and team of pastor Julio, you

can start running some keys, so that'll make me feel

like I need to land the plane faster and I'll

sound more spiritual as well. Revival is not manufactured. It's manifested.

You can't manufacture revival. Keys is just setting an atmosphere

like I'm not. I'm not like, oh, let's play the keys,

because when that happens, people will start crying. That's manufactured.

Adding keys is just atmosphere of worship.

That's all that is. It's not trying to manufacture anything.

It's just preparing our hearts for something. But well, if

you're not cautious, what will happen is is you won't

chase the conviction of repentance in Jesus, of casting your

sin aside, trusting in your Savior. What will happen is

is if you ever experience a move of God in

your life, when you want it again, you will try

to manufacture the same environment of what happened that time.

And so I hear people all the time.

I went to this conference, and God moved because this

one guy stood on one leg and was standing on

and he was doing this, and he was twirling like this,

and this one person told the testimony.

And if we do that.

We will experience what they experienced. You tell me you're

trying to manufacture a move of God. You want to manu.

Just imagine the pentecost The Pentecostal movement started in nineteen

oh six. I told you before William Seymour used to

wear the milk carton on his head in order before

he went out to preach. And just imagine. One day

I just said, well, that's what we're missing on Sundays.

We're not wearing milk cartons on our head because Pentecosts happened.

The Pentecostal movement in nineteen oh six, Signs and wonders

of the Spirit of God happened because William Seymour put

a milk carton on his head. No, William Seymour in

his heart said, God visit us. God visit us. Jesus saves,

Jesus delivers, Jesus heals. It was in his conviction. And

we don't need to look at the milk box as

why God moved. It's was what was the heart of

the person. Where was I that day three years ago

when God moved? I need that heart again, God, revive it.

Revive my hate of my own sin, revive my disconnect,

revive my God.

That's what I need.

I don't need to go to the same church I

visited when that happened, the same room that it visited,

the same space that now you can go there and

have memories and thank God and appreciate the Lord for

what he did. But you don't have to go and

manufacture a space. What you can do is reflect where

was I? Where was my heart? I need that again.

Here's the fourth thing. Revival is not about a personality.

It's about a presence. Oh I need to go hear

that person, or I need to go do this thing,

or I need to hear that or there's this thing.

It's it's a personality. God. God can use anyone anything.

God can use you. You can go home and you

don't have to have a YouTube of a preacher. You

just go and you say, God, I confess my sin, Jesus,

I need you. You are above all things. I need

to reprioritize you in my life. And guess what, you

don't need some type of fancy evangelist, prophet, healer, preacher.

You don't need that. Do God use those individuals absolutely.

But to think, oh man, I can't do it until

I get that one person to pray for me. I

hear it all the time. People even come up to me.

It's like pastor out them. I know that if you pray,

it'll happen. I'm like, my prayers ain't that fancy? You

probably pray for red than I pray. It's not the personality.

But I'll tell you this, I do hunger for God,

so maybe God would do something. Not because of my personality.

It's because I hunger for God to visit. I hunger

for the Lord to move in your life, and so

I saturate my life. I saturate my life with the

Word of God, with the prayer. But you can have that.

It's not personality, that's not like a deal. God only

gives to certain spiritual people. It's like we all have

access to those things. Here's the last couple of as

week close. Fifth one is this revival is not entertainment.

It's not entertainment. It's not walking away from them. Oh

you be Oh my goodness. Can you believe this? Can

you believe that? Can you believe this? And I'm not

correlating entertainment to just some lights or some music or whatever.

I'm just talking about the desire to feel like we

need to be entertained. And even times in the sermon

we feel like that because we'll walk away and we'll

say I just wasn't entertained in that sermon. Well, this

sermon was not meant to entertain you. That sermon was

just I just didn't like why because we learned some things,

so you know you need that sometimes. Imagine a doctor

going to going to his school to learn medicine and

he's just like, today wasn't fun.

Yeah, surgery's not fun, dude, You're gonna have to do

some work.

And so in our own spiritual life, seeing revival is

not based on how how much fun I had in

the moment or how much it inspired me. It's did

it prepare my heart?

Did men?

Am I convicted? Because that's what I need to be.

I need to be convicted in the house of God.

I need to be stretched in the house of God.

Not entertaining. Now, can we have fun in church life, Absolutely,

but that's not what we pursue. That's not how we

measure a move of God. And then the last two

is this as we begin, as we close. Revival is

not comfortable. It's costly. You're not gonna experience a revival

in your heart, in your family, in our church and

our community, or in our nation and it be comfortable.

You're gonna have to change some things. You're gonna have

to realter some things. You're gonna have to have some

conversations with people. You're gonna have to say I'm sorry.

You're gonna have to forgive some people. You're gonna have

to love some people you never thought you'd love. You're

gonna have to cut some things off you never thought

you'd had to cut. You're gonna have to abstain from

some things you never thought you'd have to abstain from.

It's not comfortable, it's costly, But the cost of what

you're doing to pursue the holiness of God does not

compare to the price that Jesus paid, and so and

so Jesus paid the ultimate price. It does not compare

to that price.

And here's the last one.

Is this. We're in a place and we're gonna pray

and close. Revival is not the end, it's the beginning.

Finally we got there. We got revival. Oh, man, pick up.

Your breeches, because if God gives it to you, it's

grind time.

You're not done yet.

If God would give you revival in your home or

in your life, it's like now, hey, now the work starts,

because now your eyes are open. It's like when Jesus

healed the man that was lame, and he said, hey,

do you want to be healed?

Because what happened was is if Jesus healed.

Him, his occupation of being an impoverished ill man was

gonna he was actually gonna have to go get a job.

Now he could no longer receive donations just for being ill,

so now he'd have to like go apply somewhere or

go work for someone. And Jesus is like, you want

to be healed, because if I heal you, there's a price.

You can't. You can't fake these broken legs no more.

Now when people see you walking, they're gonna be like, oh,

he can get a job. Are you ready to go

do that? And the man said, yes, I'm ready. He

was ready to pay the cost of what would mean

to be healed. And there are times God will heal you,

and we have to be able to ask ourselves next.

Am I willing to pay the cost? Am I willing

to stick into the marriage? Am I willing to reach

out to a person that I don't feel comfortable reaching

out to? I'm willing to love the person I love,

and I'm willing to cut a relationship off that I

know I need to get because if God would heal me,

there's gonna be next steps. Or if God would bring

revival in our region, there's gonna be some next steps.

If God does something in your life, he's going to

be like, hey, tell someone.

It's like, oh, I don't know that I want to

do that. We have to be willing and.

Over the next few weeks we're gonna continue to pursue

what God does.

Can we pray tonight as we encounter God, we thank you.

So much for this word today Father God, I pray

that tonight would somewhat feel like what I say is

eating your vegetables. You know, It's like as we always

want the hip hit Poorrah, these are moments that we say, no,

I need to cause deep reflection in my own So

I pray across all of our campuses. Lord, may we

reflect upon your goodness and mercy, but really reflect Are

we hungry? Are we hungry for you? Lord? Are our

thoughts towards you? God? Your thoughts are towards us? Are

our thoughts towards you? Are our priorities towards you? Is

our heart towards you? Because your heart is towards us.

We thank you for this time tonight in Jesus' name.

Amen and amen, Hey, As we begin to leave here

together right now in just a few moments, I want

to make an invitation if you've never met Jesus Christ,

as your Lord and savior, I shared the gospel of

Bunch tonight is that God desires a relationship with you

and I. And you and I we have an opportunity

that we have access to Jesus Christ. We have access

to the Father, and one day we will stand before

God and we will be held according to all of

our deeds, all of our decisions, and all our shortcomings.

But the beautiful things for those that were washed by

the forgiveness and the blood of Jesus is that you

will see yourself as the book of Revelations. You will

be as white as snow, not because of anything you've done,

but because of the work of Jesus Christ. And so

if you're here today and you say you know what,

I'm ready to make Jesus my priority.

I'm ready to call him my lord and savior.

I'm ready to repent to my sins, and I'm ready

to confess him as my lord, and I'm ready to

move forward. Doesn't mean you're going to live a perfect life,

but it means now that you live a life in

pursuit of God. And what happens is when we all

can get to a place where we say I've fallen short,

that's where the mercy of God can step in. If

you continue to think that you are strong enough that

you can figure this out, that you can do this,

then guess what. You will always be on your own,

and you will be accountable on your own when you

stand before God. But the moment we recognize and say, Lord,

save me. I am weak and I need your savior.

And I recognize that you died on the cross for me,

and you rose for me. He rose for us. You

and I all have the availability to make that confession today.

So would you bow your head and close your eyes today,

If you're here today and you're ready to take that

step of faith. The spirit of God is speaking to

you right now. There is nothing I could have manifested

to you other than present Jesus Christ as your Lord

and savior. It's up to you to respond to that

and say yes or no. You either say yes, Jesus,

you are.

My Lord and Savior, or you say no, you are.

It's one or the other. And there's gonna be those

some in those individuals right here today that are ready

to say you know what, I've never said yes, But

today is the day that I'm gonna say yes. If

that's you here today, would you say this prayer out

loud with me? Would you say, Dear Lord Jesus, in

this moment, I confess you as my Lord and my savior.

I believe in my heart that you died on the

cross and you rose from the grave for my sins

and today I repent to those and I fully trust

in you in Jesus Mighty name, Amen and amen. Hey,

on the count of three, I'm just gonna ask that

if you said that prayer for the first time or

last time, would you raise your hand up in the

air so that we can celebrate and welcome you into

the family. We're not to do anything other than just

welcome you into the family. So if that was you,

would you raise your hand one two, one, two three,

raise your hand up behind the air. If that was

you here today, pray Scott, Hey, I see some hands.

Welcome to the family. We're so excited for you joining

the family of God today. What an incredible decision. Up

on the screen is some next steps if you'd like

to know what's next here at Patria, we want to

make sure that you don't do life alone. So if

you go to our website ww dot Grow dot Faith,

we would come love to come and walk alongside of you.

Additionally, if anyone needs.

Prayer here today, our elders, deacons and prayer team will

be up here at the front of the altar. Also

over by our sound booth. I'll be over there if

you'd like to say hello. I'd love to meet you.

I'd love to say hello as well, but I'll pray

first one more time and we'll leave. Lord. We thank

you for today, Father, God, God, I pray that as

today we would talk about the seeds of revival. I

just ask Lord, in the uncoming weeks, as we create

some space to ask you to visit us. Lord, I

just pray that you would visit us, not just for

a moment, but for a lifetime. God, there are moments

where you will visit us in a second, but the

transformation in.

Our heart will last our lifetime.

Lord. We ask for that to happen. Lord, And may

we not be afraid to share with someone outside of

the four walls of Church how much they need a

relationship with God. Lord. This world is hurting, this world

is broken, and have called you, have called us to

be your messengers, your herald. So everywhere that we go,

may we introduce Jesus Christ to someone new as much

as we can in Jesus' name. Amen and Amen, God

bless you family. We'll see either on Wednesday or next week.