Skip to content When Your Faith Feels Cold Aug 17 · 41 min ...more
When Your Faith Feels Cold
August 17, 2026 · 41 min
Over time, even the things we once treasured can start to feel common. Life gets busy, distractions pile up, and our passion for God can quietly drift. But spiritual dryness does not have to be the end of the story. Join Pastor Steve Robinson at Church of the King to learn how the Holy Spirit brings fresh life, renewed love, and lasting transformation.
Series Empowered August 17, 2026 · 41 min · Empowered
Over time, even the things we once treasured can start to feel common. Life gets busy, distractions pile up, and our passion for God can quietly drift. But spiritual dryness does not have to be the end of the story. Join Pastor Steve Robinson at Church of the King to learn how the Holy Spirit brings fresh life, renewed love, and lasting transformation. ...more Show the full description Show less Over time, even the things we once treasured can start to feel common. Life gets busy, distractions pile up, and our passion for God can quietly drift. But spiritual dryness does not have to be the end of the story. Join Pastor Steve Robinson at Church of the King to learn how the Holy Spirit brings fresh life, renewed love, and lasting transformation.
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In this video 0:00 Defining Revival and the New Car Analogy9:00 The Church at Ephesus: From Fire to Cold19:00 Biblical and Historical Revivals26:00 Three Steps to Personal Revival38:00 Prayer for Fresh Fire and Altar CallComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Defining Revival and the New Car Analogy 0:00 Today, I wanna talk to you on a topic I've never taught on before. I wanna talk to you about the holy spirit and revival. The holy spirit and revival. I have a definition0:13 of the word revival. Here's what revival is. This is my definition. I think if you read a lot of books on revival, you hear something fairly similar. Revival is a unique0:25 outpouring of God's spirit Individually and corporately. That's important. Both dimensions. Individually and corporately that leads to repentance,0:37 renewed love for God, restored spiritual passion, and lasting transformation. Let me read it 1 more time. Revival is a unique outpouring of God's spirit, individually and0:49 corporately, that leads to repentance, renewed love for God, restored spiritual passion, and lasting transformation. In other words,1:01 revival is what happens when the holy spirit awakens us. When the holy spirit watches, stirs us, where our hearts may have grown cold, where we may have grown dry in our1:13 walk with God, the holy spirit comes to light the fire again. It's kinda like a concept of having a brand new car. I don't know those of you maybe you've had a new car recently. I mean, right at 1st, man, I mean, you1:24 are you really take care of that car. Right? I mean, you go to a parking lot, you're in a shop and say, you don't even park it by anybody. I don't want anybody to open their door. Maybe they'll hit my car. I mean, we go
1:35 to great lengths to really take care of that car. For example, you don't let anybody eat in it. Right? You've got kids, no eating in it. Don't park by it. We wanna take care of this. But
1:47 you go about 4, 5, 6, 8 months, maybe a year. You just kinda you you grow in familiarity. It loses kinda that new fire, that new excitement and now you
1:59 park it anywhere. Now you've got fries under the seat. Come on. How many know what I'm talking about? A little coffee stain in the cup. Why? What you what you've done is what was new has now become
2:11 mundane. It's very similar to our walk with Jesus. There's a fresh fire, there's a fresh passion, there's a fresh excitement in our heart. But if we're not careful
2:23 as time goes on, we can lose that fire and passion. I wanna talk to you about this concept. Maybe you've heard it, maybe you're new in church and you've really never heard, but it's this concept
2:35 of revival. Something was alive, vive, but it's grown cold and it needs to be revived. Everybody say revived. What does it mean to be revived?
2:47 Fact is, is that all of us in our relationships, our marriages, our friendships, even our careers, but ultimately in our relationship with God, there can be a fire, there can be a passion and
2:59 excitement, but what happens is we become overly familiar. It's not conscious rebellion. We just get busy. We get distracted. We get a little bit, I don't know, we get distracted
3:11 in the things that matter most and we lose something. We lose that fire and that passion. Over time, what once felt exciting can become routine.
3:24 If we're not intentional, our faith can become stale. It can become somewhat mundane. It can become ritualistic. Every every year, when the very beginning
3:36 of the year, that's what we have a thing called prepare. What are we doing? We're setting our hearts aside. We're saying, oh God, come with your fire. Burn afresh in our hearts. By the way, we don't have to wait as a
3:47 church to 3 days once a year to experience a revived heart. That ought to be every morning when we press it. There are seasons, there's moments where we strategically plan as a church for times of prayer and
3:59 fasting, but I believe the Lord's will for our lives is we live passionate. And by the way, we learn principles in God's word, how we can lean in daily. Everybody say lean in. You know, last
4:11 week I talked about the church at Ephesus. It's a very fascinating study. The church at Ephesus was planted by Paul. He then left it into the care of his dear friends, Aquila and Priscilla and in a sense, they
4:23 kinda oversee they they oversaw and kinda shepherded that. And then he comes back, we've talked about this last week. In Ephesians chapter 19 verse 5 and 6, it says, after he planted the church, he comes
4:35 back on a missionary journey. Remember Paul did multiple missionary journeys. And the scripture says in Ephesians or Acts chapter 19, it says, on hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
4:47 He saw some of these Ephesian believers. They had been water baptized, they trusted Christ, but yet they lacked this power in their life. Paul comes back and he says to them, he says, have you received
4:59 the Holy Spirit since you believed? They said, we've not even heard of the holy spirit. Then Paul goes on explaining what this is. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the lord Jesus. And when
5:10 Paul placed his hands on them, the holy spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. So we looked at that scripture last week. Paul planted the church at Ephesus. He went away for a
5:22 while. He came back and found some disciples that were not walking in the power of the holy spirit. He instructed them or fully in the way of the lord. He laid hands on them. They were baptized and filled with the holy
5:32 spirit. Began Watch this. In a sense, that church was on fire. He then goes back, matter of fact, in Ephesians chapter 1 and he comments this in Ephesians chapter 1 talking
5:44 about the church at Ephesus. Here's what he says. For this reason, this is years after that acts 19 moment. For this reason, ever since I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of
5:56 God's people, I've not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. This was a church known for faith, known for love, known for power, and
6:08 known for impact. How many of y'all would say, the church of Ephesus had a good reputation? Come on. How many of y'all would say that I would? Planted by Paul, strengthened by Paul in Acts 19,
6:20 strengthened again as he wrote the book of or the letter to the church at Ephesus. Right? We call it the book of Ephesians. I mean, if we stop right there, we'd say, man, you know what? Model church,
6:33 influential church, powerful church. And the truth is it was. But the reality is life went on. They
6:45 got busy. They got distracted. They started raising children. They they were working all day and coming back and trying to get their kids to sports. I don't know if they had sports
6:57 back then, but they got busy. And the reality is, watch this, they lost their spiritual passion. Pastor Steve, the church at Ephesus coming. Come on. I mean I mean, they had the power of the Holy Spirit.
7:09 They had spiritual gifts. They moved and and and now you're telling me they lost their passion. It can happen to anybody. There's been times in my life where I've been on fire for God. I but
7:21 but you and and let me tell you something. It's a subtle shift. You don't realize it but there's a there's a there's a drift that happens. What what what what was once exciting can become kind of routine. What was 1 was
7:32 passionate, you kinda just take things for granted. And we do this not just in our earthly relationships, but in our relationship with God. The church at Ephesus had grown cold.
7:44 John the beloved was on the isle of Patmos and he was writing the book let's read now called the book of Revelation and he actually addresses it. I'm gonna do a series.
7:56 I've I've taught the book of Revelation several times. I'm gonna do a series on the 7 churches that he that John addresses in the book of Revelation upfront. The 1st 3 chapters, he addresses these 7
8:08 churches. 1 of the churches that he addresses, watch this, is the church at Ephesus. He John is on the Isle of Patmos. He's writing 40 years after this
8:20 moment where the church of Ephesus was on fire. 40 years after Paul had dealt with them and prayed for them to be filled with his spirit. 40 years after Paul writes this letter. 40 years, they had lost
8:32 something in their relationship with God. Revelation chapter 2 verse 4 and 5. Listen to these strong words. Same church, but they'd lost
8:43 their fire. Nevertheless, I have this against you that you've left your 1st love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the 1st works or
8:55 else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent. Folks, at the end of the day, what God is most concerned about is our hearts.
The Church at Ephesus: From Fire to Cold
9:07 He loves when we do good works but kingdom works ought to be an overflow of a passion for Jesus. It ought to be out of an overflow out of our love for God. Matthew 22 37,
9:19 Jesus replied, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the greatest commandment. God wants us wants us to have a 1st love.
9:31 Everybody say 1st love. A 1st love passion for him. The reality is is that God is not interested in us simply going through programs,
9:43 simply going through the motions, But God is most interested in us having a living passionate relationship with Jesus Christ and yet we all drift. We can do the
9:55 right things outwardly and yet our hearts can grow cold inwardly. We can show up, we can serve, we can go through the motions and yet lose that burning sense, that fire, that
10:06 passion. Again, think of couples, they start dating. There's a fire, there's a passion. But if you don't keep tend to If you don't keep wood on that fire, guess what? It becomes familiar and you you become indifferent.
10:19 It's very similar to our relationship with God. You can go through the motions and lose that that fire and that passion. This is exactly what John was saying. We see this throughout the scripture.
10:31 Things Watch this. When somebody had a fire for God, their fire went cold and God revived them. Everybody say, revival. Pastor, what is revival? When something was vived, it
10:42 was alive but it died. It needs to be re what? Say it, vived. Revival is a a lighting the match again. It's a quickening of the heart. Again, it's fresh passion. We
10:54 see this throughout the scripture, old testament, new testament, and throughout church history. In Ezekiel 37, God shows the prophet a valley of dry bones representing the spiritual condition of his people. The bones
11:06 came together but they did not have the breath of God until God spoke to Ezekiel. 37 14, God says, I'll put my spirit in you and you'll live again. Guess what?
11:17 Bones without breath, guess what? It's dead religion. Programs and routines and rituals, which we do programs at Church of the King. We have routines at Church of the King, but we need the
11:29 breath of God in those. Same thing in your relationship with God. You need the breath of God. Everybody say breath of God. We need the breath of God. We need the holy spirit. That's the presence of God. It's the fire of
11:41 God. This is what the holy spirit does. It brings life where there's decay, passion where there's been apathy, renewal where there's been
11:52 spiritual drift. Realities in the new testament and the old testament, there are moments where people are revived. I wrote this down. When revival breaks
12:04 out, number 1, people are drawn back to God, hearts are awakened, sin is confronted through repentance and faith come alive again. It comes alive.
12:17 How How many I wanna see revival in our hearts and in our church? Come on. I wanna see it. There have been historical moments and movements throughout history. Again, old testament is
12:29 Ezekiel. We've talked about it. John's talking. This is the new test book of Revelation where people are on fire, they grow they grow cold, and they came back in love and on fire for Jesus, but also throughout church
12:40 history. There's a great book I wanna recommend. I don't recommend a lot of books, but if you're interested in reading more on revival, doctor Elmer Towns, wrote a book called the 10 greatest revival
12:52 ever. Doctor Elmer Towns and the 10 greatest revivals ever. And I've read a lot of books. I've been a student on revival. And let me just give you just guys just a just a a little bit I
13:04 wanna wet your appetite on these are some important revival moments and movements throughout history. Now our Cape Town congregations watching us and I'm gonna address 1 in South
13:16 Africa. A lot of these are particular to the United States, but revivals, guess what? How many know? They are no respecter to persons, geographies, or continents. So they're all over the globe, but I wanna speak
13:27 specifically about number 1, the 1st great awakening in the United States. The United States again was birthed, we know that in in the early 16 hundreds and there was a growth and and of course a lot of Puritans and and
13:39 and they'd left Europe for religious freedom reasons and and there was a fire in their hearts. But deism, intellectualism, the enlightenment, it kinda swept into the colonies. And you know what? Some of that fire had
13:51 grown cold. And so there were some men that were crying out to God. There were folks that are crying out to God and we have what's called the 1st great awakening. I've got all these notes up there. What I'm doing is I'm
14:02 wetting your appetite to go back and learn more. That would be like from the 17 thirties, forties, and fifties. Usually, revivals when they hit communities and culture, they're 10, 20,
14:14 30, sometimes up to 40 years and then a declension begins. The 1st great awakening swept through Britain and the American colonies. Leaders such as Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield, John
14:26 Wesley, those are great figures in this time. At a time when many churches had grown spiritually stagnant, God used passionate preaching on salvation, repentance, and the new birth to awaken
14:37 thousands and renew his church. It was a revival. The 2nd great awakening from the late 17 hundreds to the early 18 hundreds. This is when God moved
14:49 powerfully across the American frontier through camp meetings. This is when the popular term of quote, revival meetings actually started around this time. Gospel preaching. 1 of the most well known parts,
15:01 or really 1 of the most well known revival kind of moments during this was the Cane Ridge revival in Kentucky. I don't know if anybody's ever heard of that before. Right at the turn of the century, 18
15:13 hundreds, 18 o 1, people came by the thousands, some traveling for days by wagon and horsebacking on foot to gather and pray. They had multiple There was thousands and thousands of people. The power of God
15:25 would come and hit that place. There would be not just 1, but multiple preachers all over the place preaching faith in Christ and repentance from sin and the presence of God. There was worship. The word of God was being
15:36 preached. People were giving testimony to what God was doing. It was amazing. And the frontier was shaking. The the movement, the the American colonies had stretched now out to the frontier. And here's the the same
15:48 thing happens. There's always a fire then there's a declension and then God then God revives people again. By the way, it's individual and it's collective. Churches can grow cold.
16:00 People can grow cold. Communities can grow cold and they need revival fire. I wanna say this respectfully to all of you, where are you in your relationship with God? Has your heart grown cold?
16:12 The 2nd great awakening was a sweeping movement of God's power. The next 1 is and again, I'm just I'm just doing a cursory overview. There's so many in between this. There's ones all over the world
16:24 and China, globally speaking, South America, all over the place, but I'm just touching some here. Here's another 1, the layman's prayer revival. This is a big 1 about 50 years later. This is the middle
16:36 of the 18 hundreds, 18 57 and 18 58. This is cool. There was a there was some businessmen. 1 main guy in New York City, Jeremiah Lampir, a businessman and a lay
16:48 missionary. And he got some friends together at lunchtime and said, you know what? We're gonna meet together, we're gonna study the word of God and we're gonna pray. By the way,
17:00 prayer always precedes an outpouring of power. Pastor, I just feel dry in my life. Start praying. Start crying out for more. Everybody say, more Lord. We learned about that last week.
17:11 More of God's spirit. More You're not getting resaved. You're getting refilled with more power. You're asking God, Lord, right light that fire in my heart. So he had 1 table of business guys that were This is amazing. He
17:23 had 1 table gathering and then another table gather another table gathering. Guess what? Within 2 years, the power of God fell on New York and all the way throughout upstate New York. And history
17:35 records that up to 2000000 people gave their hearts to Christ in New England, up throughout New England and in New York because of the power of God. But it started with a prayer meeting.
17:51 Prayer always precedes an outpouring of power. All the way back to the day of Pentecost, they were praying for 10 days and God heard their cry, God's power came. It's a
18:03 layman's prayer revival. It's incredible. The nation was shaken by this. For our South African congregation, which by the way, I wanna say to Rhino and Elzani how proud I am of you guys. The
18:15 grand opening of our new building in Cape Town, South Africa. Come on. Love you guys. So proud of you. I wanna do 1. I was actually there last year for our our our grand opening
18:27 of the church and, this is called the South African revival led by Andrew Murray in 18 60, around the same time as the layman's prayer revival. The South African revival is closely connected to the ministry of
18:39 Andrew Murray who was a young Dutch reformed pastor who initially did not fully understand everything God was doing. But as prayer meetings spread, as people began to experience deep conviction of sin, there's
18:50 always deep conviction of sin, repentance and a fresh hunger for God. Murray came to recognize this as a genuine move of God. The impact reached far beyond just 1 church service or
Biblical and Historical Revivals
19:02 town. Churches were strengthened, prayer meetings multiplied, a passion for missions began to grow. Andrew Murray went on to become 1 of the most influential leaders in South Africa, helping raise up workers, strengthen
19:14 missionary efforts. By the way, when I was I I have a picture if you can show that this is in front of a church. This is the the it's a the church that this whole kind of compound, his house, we've got to visit his
19:25 house, his library. I mean, it was holy. I walked into that place and then the church, but right behind that is a garden. Listen to this. There's like this beautiful garden and you walk around and
19:37 it wasn't just this is important what revival does because God wants to revive your heart, but there's impact of 1 person whose heart's revived. It wasn't just the church he was pastoring. You go in this prayer
19:49 garden and and you see all these these these little plaques of denominations that were actually started from that prayer meeting. From that prayer meeting, from that
20:00 church, from the fire of God in 1 man's heart that it spread. And this denomination in South Africa and spreading throughout Africa and this denomination and How many know God wants to light a fire in you? Revival
20:11 doesn't start there, it starts here. So excited about what God's doing in our Cape Town campus. We get to be a part of that.
20:24 Are y'all learning? Is this helping anybody? I'm gonna give 3 more and then I'm gonna get back to John. Alright. The book of Revelation. The Welsh revival 19 o 4 to 19 o 5. And again, there's so many revival movements
20:36 and outpourings, but I'm just I'm just wetting your appetite so you study more. I've been studying this for 30 years. The Welsh revival began among young people in Wales under the leadership of Evan Roberts. Wasn't
20:48 a dynamic preacher. Matter of fact, he prayed a prayer and here was his prayer. He prayed, bend me oh God. Bend me oh God. It's a consecration. Humbling himself. It was marked this Welsh revival was
21:00 marked by fervent prayer, deep conviction of sin. It's always similar characteristic, passionate worship, powerful testimonies. Over 100000 people came to faith in Christ at a short time. Communities
21:12 all over that area were transformed. Taverns were empty. Crime dropped. There was an overwhelming sense of God's presence and its influence spread throughout the world. Matter of fact, the Welsh revival
21:24 impacted in a very big way, which we'll talk about next is the Azusa street revival. But here's what's something funny. There were so many people of course, Wales, that's a very coal mining environment. There were so
21:36 many people that were trans formed by Christ. This is historically documented. In fact, it said that so many Welsh coal miners were converted and stopped using profanity that the horses and the
21:47 mules no longer understood their commands. Hey, Mel, your mouth needs to get saved too. Come on, yeah. And your mouth needs to get revived. Alright. Let me give you 2 more. The Azusa street revival, this is
21:59 something in the United States that actually impacted the globe 19 o 6 to 19 o 9. The Azusa street revival began in Los Angeles under the leadership of William J Seymour, an African American man.
22:12 Guess where he was born? Centerville, Louisiana. That's right outside of Franklin, not far from Houma, Louisiana. I mean, you know God's got his hand on Louisiana. Come on somebody, and Mississippi too.
22:23 And, but I just think this is so powerful. God used a man. God used a man and he was called matter of fact, there's I I've read so many books on him and I'm just gonna get to the point. He was called
22:36 to be a pastor in Los Angeles and it was a small prayer meeting on Bonnie Brae Street. It was really a church, but it was really a prayer meeting. That house is still there. And, and it be it began so
22:47 filled up with God's presence and more and more and more people began to pray and pray and more and more people actually, the house, the original structure kinda fell. They couldn't contain it. So then that prayer
22:58 meeting, the power of God was poured out, then it was moved to Azusa street. And that revival lasted for about 3 years. People from all over the world came to Los
23:09 Angeles. He was a 1 eyed think about this African American preacher from Centerville, Louisiana. And God used his life. And there were other leaders, but he was the principal leader in that. God used his life many many
23:21 many of the Pentecostal denominations today would go back to their birthing from the Azusa street revival. And 1 of the prayers they they they emphasize the gifts of the spirit, of course,
23:33 prayer, faith, repentance, turning from sin, turning towards God. There was such a power. People talked about when they would even get close to it, they'd feel the power in the presence of God.
23:45 Let me give you the last 1 and then I'm gonna jump back to the book of Revelation, give you 3 things about how you personally can experience revival. Is what's called the Jesus movement revival. And some of you guys in
23:54 our campuses, you are alive of course during this time. People in their seventies today and eighties, they would have known about this. Even sixties, they would have heard and read about this. This was the late sixties,
24:05 early seventies, the Jesus movement 19 67 and 19 73. This was a powerful spiritual awakening among a generation of, young people. Time magazine had on the front cover about the
24:17 Jesus people. These people were searching for meaning during the counter cultural area era era. Many were pursuing fulfillment through drugs, rebellion, eastern religion and mysticism, and God just poured out
24:28 his spirit. Again, in California, that's kinda where it started. There's an outpouring of God's spirit. I've got 2 pictures that are important. 1 is at Pirate's Cove where there's a great baptism. Chuck Smith early
24:40 figure towards that, in that movement, the the founder of Calvary Chapel. And, 1 of the things he did is he just started allowing these young people to come into the church. I think I've got some pictures. That's Chuck
24:51 there at large baptism and that's Pirate's Cove. That actually is a place where my friend Mark Franci baptized America that we're part of. Mark Franci, who's a friend I preached there last year.
25:03 He he, they're actually they restart it. There's been many churches that have done it, but they did a major major baptism there, a couple years ago and kinda kicked off the baptized America. And,
25:15 I'm a tell you something. We're believing God for an outpouring of the spirit of again, that Jesus would shake America, that we'd have another Jesus movement. You ought to see the
25:27 movie I wanna encourage you to see the movie that Jesus, it's called the Jesus Revolution. Greg Laurie, great pastor in California. He's in he's not he's it's a figure about
25:39 him in there, a young guy in there and and, because he was very significant and Chuck Smith in the early foundations of Calvary Chapel. So pastor, what am I supposed to do? How do I see revival
25:51 in my heart, my life, my family? Let me give you 3 things. Revelation chapter 2 verse 4 and 5. Nevertheless, John said, I have this against you that you've left your 1st love. Everybody say 1st love. That's the point. We
Three Steps to Personal Revival
26:03 wanna get back to our 1st love. Remember therefore where you have fallen, repent and do the 1st works or else I'll come to you quickly. Remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent. 3 keys to revive heart and
26:14 then we finish up the series. We're gonna pray at the end. Number 1, remember. John said remember. The 1st step toward revived heart, a fresh passion for
26:26 Christ. Revelation 2 5, remember therefore from where you have fallen. In other words, look back and remember what your relationship with God was like.
26:39 The 1 of the reasons why I tell my testimony all the time, I tell you why, it's for people and it's for me. I remember what it was like. God, I remember what it was like to be enslaved in sin, to be
26:51 shackled by sin and guilt and shame and all that and whoop, being set free. John said, remember. Everybody say remember. Remember therefore from where you
27:03 have fallen. Remember that place of intimacy you once have with God. Remember the joy of your salvation, the power of Jesus, what Christ was doing in your heart. Sometimes what reanchors this relationship is remembering,
27:14 remembering, remembering, remember why even in a relationship with a spouse, 1 of the things I tell couples when they're not on the same page, I'm like, why did you guys get to why why did y'all get together to begin
27:24 with? Do you remember you loved 1 another? Remember that fire before life got complicated? Before you got busy? Before you had wounds? Before all this trauma and all this stuff kinda entered in there dry? Remember what
27:34 drew you guys together to begin with? Can I tell you something? The same thing in our relationship with God. Remember what it was like when you got saved? You remember why you got saved? You remember how you felt after
27:43 you got saved? Remember. Everybody say remember. John said, remember. Remember what it was like and then you'll see how far you've fallen away. You've lost your place of intimacy.
27:57 Remembering re anchors your relationship. Remember what it was like when we feel spiritually dry, distant, or distracted. We need to remember. Remember when we 1st met Jesus. The joy of our
28:09 salvation, the hunger for the word of God. You went to prayer meeting. You went to church. You couldn't wait for the doors of the church to open up, but then life got busy and complicated and your heart grew a little bit
28:21 cold. John said, everybody say it again, say it, remember. Number 2, the 2nd thing is in our key verse, John chapter 2 verse 5. I'm just teaching this 1 verse here.
28:33 He then says, Jesus said, these are the words of Jesus by the way. John is recording it. He's having a revelation in Christ. He's recording the words of Christ as he's hearing them and writing this down. Repent.
28:45 Everybody say repent. Repent to do the 1st works. Number 1 is remember the 2nd key word to a 2nd key thought to revive heart is repentance. When we remember when we
28:57 remember how far we have drifted, it opens the door for the Holy Spirit to convict us, not to condemn us, but to convict us, to draw us back to that place of intimacy with God. God begins to show us where we've taken
29:08 wrong turns, where we've allowed compromise into our hearts, where the world has started shaping our desires more than the presence of God. I heard the story about a young girl who actually, it's a true
29:20 story, wandered off into the freezing cold, later to be found by her parents lifeless. By God's grace and the help of doctors, she was revived as she was brought into the warmth of the
29:32 home and revived. She literally thought out. You can say it that way. Can I tell you something? That's a great picture of our relationship with God. There was a fire in our hearts. Many of us have wandered at times
29:44 into the coldness of life, into the coldness of culture, into the coldness of brokenness, and trauma, and pain, and sin. Guess what God wants to do? God wants us to return. Everybody
29:56 say return. That we return through repentance and be brought back into the warmth of God's presence in his house. Everybody say remember.
30:08 Everybody say repent. This is why Jesus says the word repent. These are the words of Jesus. Repent. John's recording them. What does it mean to repent? Turn back. Turn back to me. Biblical repentance
30:20 means a complete turnaround. It means turning from 1 one's own self centered way and returning to God's way. It's saying, Lord, I don't wanna keep doing things my own way, God. Lord, I wanna come back to you
30:32 and live my life according to your word, according to your plans. And by the way, 1 of the ways that we do that is confession of sin. As a Christian, yes, we positively confess the word of God. We speak the word, but we
30:44 also own the word confession is saying the same thing. Confessing the word is we're agreeing with with with the word of God of what God's word says, but we also agree with God that the thing in our life is sin it needs
30:55 to be turned away from. So confession of the word and confession of our sin, both are important. 1st John chapter 1 verse 9, if we confess our sins, he's writing the Christians here.
31:07 Yes. After you get saved, you do need to confess your sins when the holy spirit convicts us of our sins, not to hurt us but to heal us. If we confess our
31:19 sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and he cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Now think of it this way, it's kinda like spiritual breathing. We exhale what is impure
31:31 and we inhale what is pure. When I confess my sin, I exhale that negative sinful attitude, that compromise, that wrong desire. I exhale but
31:43 then I inhale the grace of God and the forgiveness and the presence of God. Everybody say, repentance. Some of you and I say this respectfully, but some of you
31:54 need to see the sin that so easily besets you and it's hurting you. God loves you. God wants to work with you against the thing that's actually hurting you. But
32:06 you gotta confess it, you gotta own it, and then you cry out for God's grace and then God gives you power over that thing that try to pull you into a dark deep place. Everybody say remember. Everybody say repent.
32:19 And everybody say return. The 3rd thing, I'm just teaching this 1 verse, John chapter 2 verse 5. Excuse me. The book of Revelation chapter 2 verse 5 written by the apostle John, heard from the words of Jesus.
32:32 Revelation 2 verse 5, c, the last part. Jesus says, do the 1st works. Do the 1st works. So I'm remembering, I'm repenting
32:44 and now I'm doing something. What are the 1st works? This 3rd key to revive hard is a return to a place of prayer. Prayer is the highest
32:56 work that we can do because it keeps our relationship with Jesus fresh. Remember what he said. You guys are doing great things for God. Good works.
33:10 Great ushers, great dream team, great givers. You're doing stuff, but there is a work that needs to be centered in all. Don't miss this point.
33:23 Works in the kingdom needs to be ultimately supported by the work of connecting daily with Jesus in prayer. Because works, Christian work should be an overflow of
33:35 our intimacy with God, which we cultivate daily through prayer. That's the work. It's not leading a bible study 1st, it's talking to Jesus 1st. It's not
33:47 giving to the poor 1st, we ought to do all that. It's talking to Christ 1st. Because when we lose this work, all these become dead works. And that's what John was after, that's what Jesus is
33:59 after. Do the 1st works, return to the place of prayer. By the way, book of book of Acts. Acts chapter 2, they're praying for 10 days. Acts chapter 4, they're praying.
34:11 Prayer always precedes a release of God's power individually and corporately. It's all throughout the bible. Revive. Everybody say revive. Psalm 68 6
34:22 or Psalms 85 6. Will you not revive us again? Your people may that your people may rejoice in you. That's a prayer for revival. God, do it again. Everybody say, God, do it again. Here's another verse.
34:34 I love what Habakkuk prayed over Israel. Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 2. Lord, I have heard of your fame. I stand in all of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time. Make them known in wrath.
34:46 Remember mercy. Many revival movements have taken hold of that verse. God, what you've done before, do it again. I don't wanna just read about Azusa Street or the Welsh revival or the 1st Lord, do
34:58 it again in us. Lord, do it again in us. I've been hearing about the Jesus revival. I love the Jesus movement in the late sixties and seventies. I'm living for a present day Jesus
35:10 movement. But guess what? It didn't start out there. It starts right here. Revival begins in our hearts, folks. That's where it begins. Everybody say prayer precedes power.
35:22 Prayer Come on. Say it again. Prayer precedes passion. Acts chapter 4 verse 31. After they pray. Pastor, I wanna return
35:35 to my 1st love. I want my spiritual passion renewed after you pray. Prayer is the work. Prayer is the 1st work. Remember,
35:47 repent, turn from that sin. All revivals have a turning away from sin as characteristic. All of them. And then remember, connect with God through prayer. Here it is, after they prayed. Everyone say, after
35:59 they prayed. Say it out loud. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the holy spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. So there's a there's a work for us and the
36:10 work for us is connecting with God. It's waking up in the morning. And some of us want God to do something in our lives, but are we willing to do what God tells us to do to see that? Let me tell you something. God will
36:21 light the fire, but we gotta position the fireplace. That was good preaching. I just made it up, but it really does make sense. You you gotta position your fireplace. Are you with me? You you you gotta I mean, you
36:33 gotta you gotta open up the latch, You gotta put the logs there. God's the 1 that ignites us, but we gotta position ourselves. After they prayed, God poured out his power. After they prayed, the Holy Spirit came. After
36:43 they prayed, after they prayed, Jeremiah Lampier in New York, God's power. After they prayed, the power of God in the 1st great awakening, the 2nd great the Welsh revival, after everybody say after they prayed. The Azusa
36:55 Street revival that, William Seymour, they were praying and God's power came. I want God to do it in my life afresh. By the way, there's a great book, Fresh Wind Fresh
37:06 Fire. It's a book by the story of, Brooklyn Tabernacle in down in Brooklyn, New York. Jim Cymbala, the great pastor there, that church is a praying church. They're downtown they're downtown New York. I
37:18 mean, my god, Brooklyn, New York. And they've been praying they've been praying for 50 years. 60 years. 50 I think 55 years. Late 60, the church start. And there's a furnace of prayer there. Same thing in Times Square
37:30 church. David Wilkerson's pastor now by my friend, Tim Delina. They got a Tuesday night prayer meeting. That means as we open up the the the church in New Orleans, guess what? We need to have a prayer furnace there,
37:40 guys. Are you with me? Every 1 of our locations, there's gotta be continual prayer. People have gotta be praying. That's for the church. Now us personally, we need to be praying, but guess what? We also corporately need
37:50 to have a prayer furnace going. We've gotta we've gotta open the latch. We gotta put the logs on. God lights the fire. Y'all with me? How many I wanna see God do something new in your life? I wanna see a fresh fire.Show more
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