[0:00] All right, well, it is such an incredible, incredible blessing to be here with you guys today. I mean, this is absolutely surreal.
[0:12] I can't believe it has been 20 years, and it's just really wild. I see a lot of faces, too, that were part of that original, just that have been here throughout everything.
[0:28] And, like, you know, Shannon and Elijah, I appreciate you guys, and Jesse and Tracy and Tiff. And, I mean, there's a number of you guys that, you know, we wouldn't have even got off the ground had it not been for your ministry and just your love for the Lord.
[0:47] And so, super, super exciting. I mean, this is great. I literally haven't been back here to preach in over a decade, right? So, like, I have got a lot to make up for, okay, for this.
[1:00] So, let's get ready. I am, like, when I look back, I think the story of Youngstown Metro Church could have been a little bit different.
[1:13] When we originally, when I went to school in South Florida at Palm Beach Atlantic University, and when I got done with my undergrad, we were actually going to move back to Youngstown initially at that point, okay?
[1:25] Now, this was long before Metro. This was, I think, 2000. Yeah, it was, like, right at 2000. And God had, like, kind of, like, really begun to, like, I really wanted to do something with revival, okay?
[1:41] I wanted to see this area revived. Part of it was because of some of the things that had gone on when we were in high school. We saw God begin to move and do some really amazing things.
[1:52] And, like, and at that point, I had this conception of what revival looked like, okay? And so, it's kind of funny. It's funny when I look back on it now and I start, like, talking through it.
[2:03] Because I had actually drawn up this idea in 2000 of this, like, semi-truck that had, like, a giant tent packed in the back with all of the chairs, with all of the, like, music equipment.
[2:17] And we were just going to hit the road. And it was on. It was revival time, okay? Like, that's what I had in my head. So, we were about to move back.
[2:28] And we ended up stopping in North Carolina to visit my friend at seminary, okay? And let's just say this could have looked completely different if I didn't stop at seminary for four years and actually get trained, okay?
[2:42] Because at that point, I was coming back and I wanted to, we wanted to do just, like, you know, get in the semi, head out, and do revival. And, but here's the deal is that God still, there's always been this desire for seeing God's reviving work.
[2:59] It's just changed over the years to become biblical, okay? So, I want to give you a biblical vision for what revival actually looks like. One of the biggest misconceptions about revival is, like, when we start thinking about this, about revival, is that it's some kind of supernatural, ecstatic experience with big crowds, right?
[3:25] I mean, it's this experience that you're working up that's, you know, large crowds, sound, you know, sound, projection, all the stuff.
[3:35] You know, when we think about revival, we think of, like, Asbury revival. You remember when that happened and then all of a sudden people are like, Asbury revival's happening, we're getting in the car, you know?
[3:45] And they're, like, selfie, like, we're going to Asbury, it's revival time, peace, you know? And they want to get in under this, under this revival, like, feeling in this, in this area because it's, it's, it's sort of this, I'll just say, it's where I go to get under the Holy Spirit sprinkler for some kind of, like, outpouring of, like, revival juice, you know?
[4:09] Like, that's kind of, you know, you get there and it's, like, it's all about this outpouring. So, and it's something that you might catch if you're in the right place at the right time. That's why you have to go to these certain places.
[4:20] So, you know, there's this, you know, photo here and this is, like, what we kind of think of as, like, revival. These, like, giant stadiums with, like, ecstatic, just, like, you know, like, singing and exalting.
[4:36] But this is actually a Taylor Swift concert, okay? So, so if you, if you want large crowds and you want to get the feels, then just go see Taylor Swift, okay?
[4:48] That's not actually what revival is. And that's, that's kind of the, that's kind of the problem. And so society, we kind of get this, there's, like, you know, this Hillsong song that, you know, it says, peace like a river, it says, the title is Lord Send Revival.
[5:06] Peace like a river, wash over me, immerse me in your water deep as the sea, hide me in your love, your feeling, your healing embrace. Peace like a river, wash over me.
[5:17] And it's all about this sort of, like, you know, feeling that washes over you if you're in the right spot. And that's not what, that's not what revival is.
[5:29] There is a place for emotion, but it's kind of like a car. Your mind needs to be in the driver's seat. Emotion can be there, just needs to be in the passenger's seat with a seatbelt on, okay?
[5:40] That's kind of, that's kind of the way to think about it, right? So today the text is Mark chapter 12, verse 30. And I'm going to, I'm going to read the text and then I'm going to kind of make what my argument is going to be for today.
[5:54] Mark chapter 12, verse 30. It says this, it says, And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
[6:15] Notice all of those alls that are, that are appearing and he's connecting the alls to different things, okay? Now we're going to get back to this text, but I kind of want to show you like where the argumentation of where I'm going today and kind of how we're going to get there.
[6:30] So the argument here, I believe that in this verse we see the essence of revival. So the main argument is, is going to be what is revival? That's one.
[6:41] Two, what is man? Like so if we talk about revival, it's reviving somebody. Somebody, but when the somebody, like who are we as people so that we know what is supposed to happen as a person as revival happens.
[6:56] And then I'm going to show how both of these sort of collide in Mark chapter 12, verse 30. So that's going to be sort of the place of where we're going.
[7:10] Now revival is kind of like one of those words that are like the word Trinity, right? Like it's a word that describes sort of a concept, but like the one-to-one comparison is not really there in scripture.
[7:25] There's certain places where it talks about revive us, oh Lord, or like different places like that. But there's not like a one-to-one full comparison of where this word comes from.
[7:35] So the sort of the, if you break down where this word is, it's a Latin word, which there's two parts of it, re and vival.
[7:48] Okay, so re meaning again, and then vival, vitality. It's that life, it's strength, it's vigor. Okay, so it's relifing something.
[8:02] Literally, that's what it is. It's relifing, okay? So in order to kind of understand why relifing is important, we got to see like the story arc of scripture.
[8:16] Okay, so I've got a number of places that we're going to go here, scripture passages. On that first slide, there's actually a QR code on it. And we could go back there a couple of times throughout the thing.
[8:28] You can hit that, and you can actually just download all of the passages and all of the quotes that I'm going to use. So you don't have to necessarily turn to all of this, take notes, whatever.
[8:39] I've got them for you, and you can even get them afterwards. But we're going to kind of do a snapshot of sort of the biblical story, right?
[8:51] So go all the way back to page two. So in your Bibles, you're going to be around Genesis chapter 2. And I'm going to read this. This is Genesis 2, 7 through 9. It says this, Look at that word.
[9:26] The tree of life. Right?
[9:37] So he breathes into them the breath of life. And then he's got a tree called the tree of life that's in the middle of the garden. In the midst of the garden, he says, And of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
[9:50] Right? So there's these trees that are in there. And you see that God breathes life into people. Genesis chapter 2, verse 17. We're going to jump there. It says, But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it.
[10:08] For in the day you eat of it. Look what that says. You will surely, what? Die. Okay? Death is, so you've got these two things that are happening.
[10:20] You have God breathing life. And then he's warning about potential death that could come on the scene. Right? So, so here, Genesis 2, 17.
[10:31] Don't eat from it. You'll surely die. Genesis 3, 1 through 7 says this. Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made.
[10:42] And he said to the woman, Indeed, as God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden. And the woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat.
[10:52] But from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, you shall not eat from it. And you shall not touch it lest you, what? Die. You're going to die.
[11:03] And the serpent said to the woman, just like he always does, No, that's not going to happen. You will what? Surely you will not die.
[11:14] For God knows in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened. And you will be like God, knowing good from evil. And this should start cuing us into some parts of who we are as people.
[11:29] We're thinking beings. The knowledge was somehow a part of the component. And you also see desire for the tree is in the component. Okay? I'm just going to leave that there.
[11:40] We're going to come back to it. But it says, Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food.
[11:50] It was a delight to the eyes. And the tree was desirable for what? To make one wise. Right? So she took from its fruit and ate.
[12:01] And she gave to her husband with her. And he ate. And the eyes of both of them were opened. And they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together. And made themselves loin coverings.
[12:12] And right there is probably one of the saddest parts of human history ever. Which is, we saw, we listened to the voice of the enemy. Who was really out to see our death.
[12:23] God gave us this beautiful, good, eternal life. And we traded it for knowledge. For something we desired.
[12:35] Right? And this is the story that just happens over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Throughout human history. And it happens in my life. And it happens in your life.
[12:46] Right? But the result of this, the consequence, you see, so Psalm chapter 14. And Paul quotes this Psalm in the New Testament.
[12:57] But listen to this verse. He says, Psalm 14. It says, The wicked fool says in his heart, there is no God. They act corruptly.
[13:08] They commit abominable deeds. There's no one who does good. Not even one. Yahweh looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there's anyone who has, look at it, insight.
[13:24] Knowledge. Right? Is the thing they thought they were going after and lost it. And anyone who seeks after God or desires God. So there's nobody who, like their knowledge, they don't want him.
[13:40] There's nobody that's going after him. And that presents the major problem of humanity. It says, they've all turned aside. Altogether, they have become worthless. There's no one who does good.
[13:53] Not even one. And that is the big problem that we have. Is that if you just stop there. If God does not do something about this predicament.
[14:05] What you have are a race of people who do not understand God and who continuously. You wonder sometimes. You watch the news.
[14:16] You wonder how people can be so stupid. Right? Like you think that. You're like, can you actually. Do you actually believe what you say? You're saying? Here's the thing. Is what we do is we invent ways of trying to get away from God.
[14:30] Like we invent like mindsets and thoughts and arguments in our head. Because we don't like the human race would be in a problem. We don't want him. Like we, our minds are darkened and we don't even want God.
[14:47] So when we even talk about like, we talk about like faith and like being saved. Listen, if this is not something that God initiates and that God does, we're in trouble.
[15:03] The human race is in trouble. Life is not coming back. Death will reign. And that's exactly the story of the Bible is that death is reigning even after, even with those who had not sinned according to Adam's transgression.
[15:21] Right? It's the sin that keeps going and death that keeps reigning. But the good news is that God does not let it keep going.
[15:34] Okay. Here's the, like this is like, this is the gospel. The gospel is that God makes a plan. God has a plan to be the reviver from the foundation of the world.
[15:47] God was the one who was, who has a plan for relifing the human race. Relifing somebody. I mean, this is, this is God's, this is God's work.
[15:59] It's his plan from the beginning. And this is where, you know, I'll say Jesus is the reviver. John chapter 10 verse 10. It says, the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.
[16:13] But I came that they might have life and life more abundantly. You see, the whole point of Jesus is, I mean, he's the great revivalist. He's the great relifer.
[16:26] And this is God's plan through Jesus. So, here's the thing. I'm going to go, I'm going to, I'm going to go, I'm going to use some big words. Just prepare.
[16:37] You know, some of you are like, love these words. Others, this might be the first time you're hearing them. But these are theological terms that sum up wide swaths of doctrine all throughout the Bible.
[16:48] So, we just almost did like a historical flyover. Now, I'm going to almost do a little bit of a theological flyover for what God's answer is and how we are relifed.
[16:59] Okay? And there's four terms. I'm going to throw them up here. Life was lost through sin. But the good news is that God revives through regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification.
[17:14] Okay? Those are some massive, massive theological juggernauts. Okay? Those terms right there are holding on to giant theological themes throughout the Bible.
[17:28] Okay? So, I'll just hit some of them. We'll just do a little sprinkling here. Listen, I can't, I can't, I only got so much time. If you want to, if you really want to get, if you want to get going on these, get yourself a systematic theology.
[17:43] Maybe Wayne Grudem, maybe Burkhoff. Talk to this guy right here. He'll get you, he'll get you set up with a good systematic. Okay? So, regeneration. And this is what I think is cool.
[17:55] Regeneration is life begins. So, you think about like, in a human being, what is, it's really conception. Life begins at conception. And it goes from nothing to like life.
[18:05] Right? And that's, that's the thing that happens. Regeneration. It's the regenerating work of the spirit. It's giving life to dead souls. And this is God's sovereign work.
[18:16] Remember, remember, Romans 8, 7 says, Because the mind is set on the flesh is hostile towards God. For it does not subject itself to the law of God, nor is it even able to do so.
[18:31] Listen, without God doing something in your life, before you even have faith as a causal thing, God has to do something because, as scripture says, that this is all you have before you're regenerated, before you actually have, the spirit does anything in you, the issue is all you have is the flesh.
[18:53] And the flesh profits nothing. And as Luther said, and that nothing is not a little something. Okay? This is not like something that we get to contribute here. This is God has to do something or we're dead and we don't want him and we're running away from him.
[19:08] I mean, this is, this is regeneration. Okay? So God's got to like do something so that we even want him. That's the, that's the bottom line.
[19:19] Right? So if we kind of look at this, I mean, John 3, he's talking to, Jesus is talking to Nicodemus. It's truly, truly, I say unto you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
[19:34] And the problem is that unregenerate people don't trust God or even want him. And that is, and that's a God thing that ends up resulting in faith. Like when God regenerates us, there's, there's like, then there's something in there that wants it.
[19:48] Right? So I'll, I'll just, a couple quick quotes. Louis Burkhoff, that, that, he talks about regeneration, that act of God, which is the principle of new life implanted in man.
[20:01] And the govern, in man, in the governing disposition of the soul is made holy. And then it's, it's like wanting to do something. Right? So, um, Anthony Hockama speaks about regeneration as being the work of God that immediately brings about the faith in us through which the full treasury of Christ's blessing come to us.
[20:24] Okay? Because this is something that happens in tandem with something we're calling faith. Okay? And here's what happens is this is causally first, and then we are justified by our faith.
[20:38] Okay? So the second word is justification. Um, this is where, by faith, God graciously pardons and accepts the sinner. So this is where, you know, um, this is where I, I put here, life is earned.
[20:52] Okay? Now that might kind of like throw you into like, like, wait a minute here. Hold up. Time out. Like salvation. Like it's a gift. It's not actually earned. Right? Au contraire, mon frere.
[21:03] Because here's the deal is it's actually earned by Jesus. Okay? So here's this. Jesus saves. Okay? A lot of times people are like, they're like, I'm saved by faith.
[21:15] No, no, no. You're saved by Jesus. See, you're saved by Jesus, by grace, through faith. And there's a big difference there. It's actually God who's doing the work.
[21:25] It's God who's doing the saving. And this is the means by which it happens. Right? So like justification is how I get how me as a sinner can be in the presence of a holy God without dying.
[21:40] Okay? It's how I can actually have the legal right to life. It's because I'm justified. It's because I'm holy. Not because of my work.
[21:52] But because of Christ's work. And when I place my faith in him, he justifies the wicked and the ungodly. And he gives us life. This is justification.
[22:03] Okay? I'll, there's, these terms, man. There's so, there's so much here in these terms. We could be here unpacking them for just days and days.
[22:14] Sanctification is the next one. And this one is one of my favorites. Because this is the one I live in all the time. Okay? Sanctification is the process by which that transformation that's begun and regeneration is continued in this life.
[22:33] This is how your life now starts getting filled with life. Through sanctification. Right? The word sanctify is to be holy. You're becoming more holy.
[22:46] You're becoming more like Christ. The sin that is the death is actually working out of yourself, your mortal body. And the life of Christ through his spirit is filling you through sanctification.
[23:02] This is the death. This is that process whereby you're, you're, you're, you're, you're being, you're being saved. You are saved. You are saved and you're being saved and you will be saved.
[23:15] It's, you know, he revived you. You're being revived and you will ultimately revive the last trump. Right?
[23:25] This is crazy. This is crazy. Okay. Okay. So, um, I'll just say one verse. It kind of hits this one. Um, you can see this. Uh, we'll say Ephesians chapter 4, 22.
[23:38] He says to lay aside in reference to your former conduct, the old man, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind and to put on the new man, which is in the likeness that God created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
[23:59] It's putting on that new man. Right? And then glorification, this is eternal life. This is when you, this is, this is when it's all over and you get to go be glorified.
[24:11] This is when your sanctification actually fully takes over and you're fully sanctified. And so you're regenerated, justified, sanctified, and now you are in the presence of the Lord and you are glorified.
[24:29] This is so good because this is the relifing process. It's the relifing process. Right? Okay. So, um, moving on, I, I, uh, want to get to this next question.
[24:42] What is man? Like what, who are we? Like, what is the relifing thing happen? Like, how does that actually, how does it hit you? How does it hit me? What are we as people?
[24:53] Glad you asked. Man is a thinker and a desirer. And as a result, a doer. Okay? So the idea is we're thinkers, we're lovers, we're doers.
[25:08] That's the essence of humanity. That is an anthropological vision of like what people are. We're thinkers. There's a cognitive process.
[25:20] We, we're desirers. We have inclinations or affections. And then based on those, those, those, those ideas and based on those desires, then what happens?
[25:34] You do something. Okay? So, so like, listen, a hundred percent, you know, like we talk about like free will. Everybody's free to do exactly what they want to do.
[25:46] The problem is without God, you want to do all the wrong things. This is the great conundrum. This is why regeneration is awesome.
[25:58] This is why the whole process is like God thing. Right? But here's the deal. We're, we're like going back, going back to Genesis 3, 6. Remember this.
[26:09] When it says, then the woman saw that the tree was good for food. It was a delight. What is delight language? It's affection. Right?
[26:20] It's, it's heart. It's emotion. It's, it was delight to the eyes. And the tree was desirable. She wanted it. Why did she sin?
[26:30] Why did Adam sin? Because they thought they would gain knowledge and because they wanted it. And they wanted it more than God. And that's what happened. So they, then they, then what's it say?
[26:41] So she took. So she acted according to what she knew and what she wanted. That's people. This is us. This is us.
[26:52] Okay? So like, we think about it, like, we think about like, um, honey. Right? You know, like that, that, that beautiful nectar honey. Um, this delicious sweetness. Right?
[27:02] I could describe it. Now when you, you know, before you actually will eat honey in your head, you know that honey is a great food. Right? You know it as it's not poison.
[27:14] Right? If you knew that honey was poison, then that knowledge would probably short circuit your action. Right? Because there's something about like how like knowledge informs and knowledge pushes to action.
[27:27] But then there's a desire for honey. And sometimes you can even have a desire for it. But then when you taste it, you know, when you actually taste the honey, and then there's a different side of, of awareness.
[27:41] Right? Your knowledge takes on an experiential desire. My boy, uh, Jonathan Edwards talked about this a lot. Um, uh, Google that.
[27:51] I got Jonathan Edwards and honey. Um, so, uh, uh, but I'm going to keep going. I'm going to give a quote from Jonathan Edwards next because he, of all people, um, he, uh, he really had his finger on the pulse.
[28:04] And this is, uh, you know, 1740s, you know, right before the American, right before the revolution. This is, this is the guy that was involved in the first great awakening, one of the greatest revivals that ever hit the soil of America.
[28:18] And it had profound implications on even what happened during the founding. Okay. So, um, but I'm not going to, I'm not going to go there right now. I would love to.
[28:28] Um, but here's the deal. Jonathan Edwards, I'm going to read this quote. He says, God has endued the soul with two faculties. One that is which, which is capable of perception and speculation or which by it discerns and views and judges things, which is called understanding.
[28:45] The other faculty is that by which the soul does not merely perceive and view things, but is some way inclined with respect to, uh, respect to the things it views or considers.
[29:00] So like, it's not just that it sees it, but it wants it, right? There's like an inclination along with the knowledge. So, um, I'm going to, uh, for sake of time, I'm just going to, uh, I'm going to keep going here.
[29:12] We'll, uh, you can read the rest of that, uh, Edwards quote later. Um, you can read, uh, he wrote a whole book on it called Religious Affections, which is money. Okay. Uh, J money.
[29:22] That's what, uh, okay. Uh, here we go. Um, so in man, so let's, let's bring these two together in man. This means that his mind comes alive, his desires come alive, and his actions move toward life-giving ends.
[29:42] Okay. So I believe that Mark 1230 gives us a picture of a man fully alive. This is what Mark 1230 does for us.
[29:54] I'm going to read you this now in context of biblical history, you know, like the theological scope of God's redemptive plan. Um, and it's just Youngstown happens all the time.
[30:05] I became a pro at this. It's like, we would have, I mean, sirens go by all the time. It's like, you just pause, let it happen, go back in. Okay. So, uh, you shall love, listen to this verse, Mark 1230.
[30:18] You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all of your strength. See, in this context, um, these Pharisees came up to, uh, to Jesus and were like, what's the greatest commandment?
[30:37] Like, what's, what's the greatest of them? And they had this thing where, uh, they, there was, they, they had calculated 613 commandments, one for every letter of the 10 commandments. So there were 613 letters and they divided these into like weightier matters and lighter matters.
[30:53] You know, what's heavy, what's the heavy stuff? What's the light stuff? Jesus, tell us. Cause it was like a hotly debated thing back in the day, you know? Um, you know, it's like people were like tweeting about it and like, you know, oh my goodness, 614, you know?
[31:09] Like, I mean, it's just like, sorry, I'm getting into old Metro mode here. I need to write it back. Okay. So, uh, they were divided into 613 commandments and they're, you know, they're basically like, Jesus, what's the most important thing?
[31:24] And he drives to the two verses that ultimately sum up the whole Decalogue. One was the first half of the Decalogue that, that, that was like, uh, the, the commandments of how we are to operate with God.
[31:39] And the second table or the second half was how we live toward man. So he says, love the Lord, your God with all of your, all of your, all of you. Okay.
[31:50] And love your neighbor as yourself. Now this first part here, this is what a fully alive man looks like. So look at this. Love the Lord, your God with all your mind.
[32:04] Love the Lord, your God. And I kind of re, I re, I re, uh, reorganize these. Love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your desires, with all your affections. Love the God, love, love God with all of your strength.
[32:19] What do you do with strength? You, you act with all of your strength, everything that you have, like all of your actions. So all of your mind, all of your heart and everything that you do.
[32:32] And then he just kind of puts this, uh, uh, you know, he, like here in the, in the Texas is all your soul. The Greek word psuche, which means soul, life, or self.
[32:43] So basically what he's saying is like, this is the, this is the summary of it. Like your whole self, all of yourself is what this looks like.
[32:53] So like, you know, when I look at like, uh, the definition of revival, um, uh, Timothy Dwight, uh, gave this, uh, gave this definition of revival.
[33:12] As he said, massive spiritual enlivening. And this is just so crazy because like, what does it look like? It's coming alive with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your strength.
[33:26] And here's what I just want you to see is that revival does not produce a new type of Christian. It produces a deeper type of Christian.
[33:36] Okay. So it's not just like juice that you got to get under at the right spot with all of this emotion. It's actually just normal things going all the way into them, going all the way deeper into your knowledge of God, into your love of God, into your actions that are, are commensurate with that.
[33:58] It's all of you. Like that's what revival looks like. That's what it looks like in a person. Uh, you know, I've got a couple of quotes here and these are, these are some heroes of mine.
[34:09] Uh, starting off here with, uh, Mr. Joel Beeky up to the plate. Listen to this quote. I think it's really good. Uh, authentic revivals don't produce a different kind of Christianity.
[34:20] They breathe new life into true Christianity. They're not totally different from the regular experience of church. It's just a matter of degree. Like this isn't a new thing.
[34:31] It's just going deeper. Right? So that's like, I mean, you think about it like Paul does this at the end of Ephesians. So if you're, if you're a wife, right? And you're called to submit to your husband and to respect his leadership, then guess what revival looks like?
[34:47] Full on respect and going deeper into that role, right? If you are a husband or a father and you are called to love your wife, what does revival look like?
[35:00] Really loving your wife. Okay? Then he goes on to children. Children. I'll tell you what revival looks like in young people. Really obeying your parents and your authorities.
[35:13] Like, ta-da, revival. But no one thinks that. They think Taylor Swift concert. You know, like, guys, like this is what revival is.
[35:23] It's the real normal stuff and going deep in it. Ah, man. So, listen to this. Thomas Peck in 1850s. I love this quote.
[35:34] He says, Religious excitements, which exist only in social and public meetings, private and closet duties being neglected are to be suspected.
[35:46] You know, like, anybody can get up and feel something. How do you father? How do you mother? How do you, how do you live normal life?
[35:59] Are you getting into God's word? Are you diving deep? Are you sharing Christ with the lost? That's what it is. Are you, are you, are you working to be a great member of your church?
[36:14] That's revival. One more, one more. Okay. I'll go with, I'll go with Beaky again. It says this, says, Spiritual influence becomes more widespread.
[36:29] Conviction of sin goes deeper. And love for God and others increases. Revival heightens all these marks of Christianity. This is normal Christianity just getting blown up.
[36:40] So, here's, you know, in closing, this is my argument. My main argument is that God wants all your mind, all of it, all of it.
[36:53] And all is not a little something, right? All. He wants all your heart and he wants all your actions.
[37:07] It's called lordship. It's called Jesus being the Lord of your life. It's not called just believing in God. It's not just thinking like, oh, I believe there's a God. I'm kind of a Christian. No, no, no, no. That's actually not Christianity.
[37:18] This is Christianity. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your, everything. Everything. Anything less will leave you declining, deteriorating, degenerating, weakening, fading, degrading, and diminished.
[37:36] These are all the words that I could come up with. This is the opposite of revival. And see, you know, revival is really just normal Christianity, but it looks crazy because so few people are actually doing it.
[37:50] That's the thing. It looks wild because so few people are doing it. So, my main question in closing is this. And this one, in one sense, is a little bit of a trick question.
[38:03] I'll just prep you for it at the beginning. Do you love God with all your mind, all your soul, all your actions, and all your strength? Think about it.
[38:13] Do you love God with all? And I would venture to say that everybody should probably answer no to that.
[38:26] Okay, so, like, that's the reality. Because we're still on this side of eternity. So, what do we do? What do we do with that? Well, what is God's plan?
[38:38] Because there's some of you that need to be regenerated. The answer is no, because you're dead. And dead people don't need to do better things or try, like, you need to come to life.
[38:50] Some of you might need, you know, regenerated and justified. We're putting those two together, right? Because they happen. So, you need to trust Christ today. You need to believe in him.
[39:02] He needs to be the Lord of your life. The Bible uses the language of repent. Repent. And believe. Make Jesus your Lord, right?
[39:17] We don't get all of this stuff perfect, but guess what? That's the aim here. All, all, all, all, all. Some of you need regenerated and justified.
[39:29] Some of you, and I say me as well, some of you need sanctified. You need greater levels of sanctification in your life. You need more filled with the Spirit and less filled with social media or whatever, you know?
[39:46] I just pick on that, you know, it's like very easy to like blow hours watching movies and scrolling endlessly and so little filling your life with the actual words of Christ.
[40:01] Guess what? That has an effect. It has a downstream effect on the life in your soul. It does. I mean, there's, there's, that's a whole nother thing.
[40:12] But some of you might need sanctified. And I'm just going to stop there because if I say some of you need glorified, just think about it.
[40:26] The only way to get glorified is to die, okay? So, so listen, but I'm just saying, I'm just saying if you really want to go there, like that's what you need. You need glorified.
[40:36] I can't wait. Like, you know, listen, if you want to, there's an Edward sermon called, you know, talks about heaven. Heaven is a place of love. And like, I mean, you start getting a vision for what heaven looks like and that'll start changing how you live your life currently.
[40:51] I mean, it's amazing. Like the thought, like I, you know, it's like we don't have to fear death anymore. We don't because that's actually the beautiful part where all the life, all the life comes to fruition.
[41:02] You're fully sanctified at that point. You're fully regenerated. Like revival has happened. So that is, that's what revival is.
[41:13] It's very normal, but it's not normal at the same time. And it's all of you for all of Christ. And, and I, I will, I will end with one quote.
[41:23] This is very last quote from none other than Charles Spurgeon, because this, you know, you got to have a Spurgeon quote in here.
[41:34] Because, right? You know, so, listen to this. This is so good. He just, he just sums this up really well. Everything that is done is done with such spirit.
[41:46] It's like the crashing thunder. If they pray, it is like the swift, sharp dash of lightning, lighting up the darkness of the cold hearted and making them for a moment feel that there's something in prayer.
[42:03] When the minister preaches, he preaches like a son of thunder. And when the church is gathered together, it is with a hearty goodwill.
[42:13] When they give, they give with enlarged liberality. When they visit the sick, they do it with gentleness, meekness, and love.
[42:24] Everything is done with a single eye to God's glory. Not of men, but by the power of God.
[42:36] Oh, that we might see such a revival as this. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray. Let's pray.
[42:46] Let's pray. Let's pray.