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DOWN
POUR:
God's best when you need
Him most
Summer 2007
(Click
here to view and download
series description)
The sermon series for
Summer 2007 is not a series
to entertain. Life is
too short to waste time
on anything that only
entertains. We are all
about life change. And
I'm ready for some, are
you? I have been interacting
with a series by Pastor
James MacDonald, and want
to share what I've been
learning. Are you ready
for a special summer journey?
I am. We need some rain!
What
kind of a sermon series
is this? Think
of your favorite kind
of recipe. Hmmm, if you
don’t cook much,
that’s OK. I don’t
either. To me, the best
recipe is one with the
fewest words possible.
Maybe a picture. I know
I don’t need all
the historical background
of the dish, just something
that gets me successfully
from kitchen to dining
room in the fewest possible
steps and in the shortest
time possible.
You are headed toward
an encounter with God
that will flood your soul
with joy in a way that
eclipses anything you
might have previously
called satisfaction. Sound
amazing? It really is.
This summer is about personal
revival.
Do not get the cart before
the horse. Don’t
attempt to be revived
if you have never been
vived in the first place.
Can you tell a story like
this?
There was a time in my
life when I was going
the wrong way, and the
Lord reached out and brought
me to the cross. By faith
I experienced the forgiveness
of sin that Jesus died
and rose again to provide.
At that time my eyes were
opened, my heart was gripped,
my life was captured by
the grace of God; and
I have never been the
same since.
That is the story of every
person who has been vived,
or given life in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says
that if any of us is “in
Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the
new has come.” Have
you found that new life
in Christ? Have you had
a conversion experience?
Have you been vived? Don’t
get the cart before the
horse. There is no point
in pursuing re-vival if
you have never been vived.
You can be vived here
in this moment as you
read, if you pray this
prayer to God from your
heart:
Lord,
I know that I am a sinner
and that on my own I am
not prepared to meet God.
I believe that Jesus died
to pay the penalty for
my sin. I believe that
He rose from the dead.
Right now in this moment
I turn from my sin and
I embrace Jesus Christ
by faith. Come into my
life and forgive my sins.
Change me. Make me the
man or woman You want
me to be. I give my life
to You today. I pray in
Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is by far the best
decision you have ever
made. Let someone at Peninsula
know about your decision
or write me an email at
pastorjim@peninsulacommunitychurch.com
to tell me about your
good news. You see, revival
is God, gladly at the
center of my life, experienced
and overjoyed.
What
do I mean by revival?
The Bible teaches clearly
and repeatedly that God
wants to revive our relationship
with Him. Revival is renewed
interest after a period
of indifference or decline.
He wants to wake us up,
to refresh our faith –
to fire us up again.
If you feel like your
faith is a bit off course,
you must know that the
first wrong turn in our
lives is always a move
away from God. If you
wake up one morning and
find yourself in a desert,
then you must trace your
steps back to where you
wandered away. You’ve
got to return to the Lord.
This kind of pain that
won’t go away is
rooted in a failure of
faith, and all pleasure
flows from unplugging
the fountain of joy that
is found only in God.
What
revival isn't.
Revival is not all of
the circus chicanery and
religious nonsense that
accompanies flesh-induced
spiritual fervor. It is
not long lines of anxious
sinners waiting for a
turn at the microphone
to reveal their most secret
sinful something.
Revival is not emotional
extravagance where people
are caught up in the moment
and fall down, act bizarrely,
unbiblically, and out
of control.
The Bible never invites
us to seek a revival,
ask God for a revival,
or pray that revival will
come. In fact, the Bible
doesn’t even use
the specific word revival,
though it frequently talks
about people being revived.
What
revival is. The
word revive is used many
times in Scripture. Here
are a few.
Psalm 119:107 says, “I
am exceedingly afflicted;
revive me . . . according
to Thy Word.” Revival
involves an increased
hunger for and delighting
in God’s Word after
a difficult season of
life.
Psalm 119:37 says, “Turn
away my eyes from looking
at vanity, and revive
me in Thy ways.”
Revival involves a disdain
for sin and renewed desire
for obedience to God.
Psalm 80:18 prompts us
to say, “Revive
us, and we will call upon
Thy name.” Revival
brings increased commitment
to and interest in personal
prayer.
Revival is getting back
on the path, getting the
goal in view again, and
pursuing with new passion
the One who can make our
life more than we ever
dreamed.
Revival is: God, gladly
at the center of my life,
experienced and enjoyed.
I see God working. He’s
working in my life, and
I’m loving it more
and more. That’s
revival.
Maybe you remember a time
when you were fired up
about the Lord, but somehow
you drifted away. Well,
you can have it back,
and God wants you to have
it back! God wants that
reviving for each one
of us, and there’s
no biblical reason to
doubt it.
The sermon series we launch
on June 24, will walk
us through a specific,
intentional plan to take
us to a better place with
God than we may have ever
been before. This is a
series about letting God
tune our heart strings
to the melody we were
made to play – a
dynamic, delightful, genuine
relationship with Him.
No matter where you are
or what you’ve done,
no matter what you feel
or think you need, the
clouds of heaven are now
bursting with the favor
and fullness God would
shower upon every place
within you that is parched
and dry. A deluge of dangerous
delight in the God who
made you is ready to rain
down upon you.
This is a series about
revival – not in
the world, not in our
country, not in our church
or even in our families,
but in you. Personal,
radical, joyful, biblical
revival.
Promises
To Keep
(Click
here to view and download
"Promises To Keep")
If enjoying a happening
relationship with God
were easy, everyone would
have one. Fact is, most
people do not –
even those who are really
trying. I know that I
don’t always. But
by God’s grace,
He can teach us. Together.
More than anything I want
to share with you the
road.
Before we begin we need
to make some promises
– promises to ourselves
and to God. These promises
will keep us going when
the road to revival gets
rough or steep.
A
PROMISE ABOUT DISSATISFACTION
“This people honors
me with their lips, but
their heart is far from
me.” Matthew 15:8
I promise to be dissatisfied
with anything less than
a genuine personal experience
with God.
I want more of God in
my life. I want more heartfelt
worship and more measurable
progress in personal righteousness.
I don’t want to
just hear I’m in
God’s family; I
want to feel it! I want
true joy and peace that
penetrates the conceptual
and arrives unhindered
at the center of a genuine
personal experience I’m
tired of routine religion
that makes drudgery out
of what should be delight.
I know that if I keep
doing what I’ve
always done, I’m
going to keep getting
what I have always gotten
– and I’m
not satisfied with that
anymore. I want a real,
growing, dynamic relationship
with God, and I’m
finished settling for
less. I promise.
A
PROMISE ABOUT VERIFICATION
“They received the
word with great eagerness,
examining the Scriptures
daily, to see whether
these things were so.”
Acts 17:11
I promise to set God’s
Word high above human
teaching and to handle
it with the respect it
deserves.
My goal is not to learn
from any human author
or pastor or leader –
I want to learn from the
Lord. I will read the
Scripture in preparation
for each message. I will
not simply skim the biblical
content in search of stories
to move me but will carefully
read the passages used
each week in the sermons,
knowing that I am reading
the very words of God.
I will reflect upon the
truth I read, and whenever
possible mark it in my
own copy of God’s
Holy Word. I promise.
A
PROMISE ABOUT COMPARTMENTALIZATION
“The earth is the
Lord’s, and everything
in it.” 1 Corinthians
10:26
I promise to give God
access to every area of
my life.
I will strive not to compartmentalize
my faith – by separating
out what I can and can’t
trust God with; as in,
“I’ll trust
Him with my fears, but
I can’t trust Him
with my finances.”
I promise to make it my
unceasing goal to avoid
the duplicity of loving
God freely in some areas
while refusing Him access
to other compartments
of my life. I want nothing
to be off-limits to God.
He can have free access
to all that I am, everywhere
I go, all the time. By
God’s grace, no
compartments. I promise.
A
PROMISE ABOUT PERSONALIZATION
“First take the
log out of you own eye.”
Matthew 7:5
I promise to make this
sermon series about me
and God alone.
As I reflect on these
six messages, I will focus
exclusively on my own
relationship with God
and my need for personal
revival. I will not allow
my mind to drift to what
others need to learn.
Like the oxygen masks
on a plane, I will first
secure my own mask before
I try to be of assistance
to others. More than my
pastor or my friend or
a member of my own family,
I freely admit that I
need a fresh downpour
of revival in my life.
A total focus on my own
need for God, no one else
– just me. I promise.
A
PROMISE ABOUT APPLICATION
“We have all knowledge.
Knowledge puffs up.”
1 Corinthians 9:1
I promise to put into
practice what I am learning.
I understand that knowledge
for its own sake is not
enough. I will not stop
with merely a mental comprehension
of personal revival in
my relationship with God,
but will put into practice
the activities at the
end of each message. I
wont’ just listen
and agree on a cognitive
level, but I will work
at applying everything
I am learning on a daily
basis. I promise.
Let me boil all of this
down. Here’s what
you are saying, “I
want more of God (Promise
#1) based on what He’s
promised (Promise #2)
to be for me in every
area (Promise #3) of my
life (Promise #4), and
I will work at it with
my whole heart (Promise
#5). I promise.
Without these kinds of
commitments undergirding
you, you’ll just
be wasting your time going
through this series. You’ll
listen and go home to
a ball game or out to
a nice lunch. And then?
And then you will go through
another disappointing
season of mostly duty
and hardly any delight
in your walk with God.
The result would be a
further step into shallow,
perfunctory spirituality.
This information has to
get past your head and
into your heart or it
goes nowhere.
So like I asked, Are you
willing?
The time to pray. Will
you take a moment right
now to pray? Ready? Let’s
go together in prayer.
Father,
I invite You to do a new
work in my heart. I confess
that I have been satisfied
with less of You than
Your Son died to give
me. I have been lulled
by mediocrity and even
believed at times that
more of You was not possible.
I have believed the lie
that You were unable to
help me – but now
I believe differently.
Bring a revival to my
heart and quench this
thirst I have lived with
for so long. I hold Your
Word in my hands now with
expectation. Allow the
fresh water of Your Spirit
to pour over the dry places
in me. Thank You for Your
awesome invitation. I
begin by faith to move
toward You. Thank You
for the promise that if
I draw near to You, You
will draw near to me.
(Continue your prayer
with the following.)
Lord, help me to remember
that…
Teach me to trust You
when….
Forgive me for….
Lord, I remember when
our relationship was like….
I want that back again.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
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