What a whirlwind these 25 years have been. Seems like yesterday I was walking into Grace with Penny and my two young kids. Barry was 8 and Lucy was 4…exactly 4. Today is her birthday!
So time has flown but in the past 2 years it has certainly picked up pace as we’ve furiously reacting to the direction of God with re:generate.
Then in the past 9 months the atmosphere at Grace started to change. Something new began to emerge.
· It started with baptism – almost 650 so far.
· We started to pray differently …prayer became a passion (2nd 40 prayer challenge) along with answers to those prayers…some quite spectacularly.
· I sensed a hunger for more from so many of you. More from God. More of God.
o think about it…is that not true? Though you haven’t put your finger on it isn’t that what you want?
o and isn’t that what our community needs?
· We pastors wondered …after all these years…could it be that God wants to bring us a revival? Spiritual awakening?
o So I began to do research on revivals…historically
o and I dove deeply into the story of the greatest revival in human history (book of Acts)
o and what I discovered thrilled me…and enticed me…and fed the hunger
· I realized we needed to get our theology of the holy spirit right – catalyst for revival
· I realized we need to do a deeper dive into prayer – the conduit of revival
· I realized we needed to know what revival looks like…so that’s where we will begin in Part 3 of our series Days of Wind and fire.
Today I want to tell you the story of when revival first broke out. You’ll find the story in your programs.
Background:
· this is the story of 120 ordinary people…people who had been following Jesus for 3 years
o Matthew, Mark, John, James, Peter Thomas, Andrew, Philip 4 different Marys, Johanna, Susanna, Martha, Nicodemus, Lazarus, Zaccheus,
o these were just ordinary people – fishermen, homemakers, farmers, businessmen, politicians
· all still reeling from Post Traumatic Stress I’m quite sure
o In the 50 days prior:
§ arrest, trial, torture, execution, and burial
§ and then euphoria of seeing him come back from the dead
o in the days following their post-death reunion he said: Stay in Jerusalem, you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses world wide.
o and before they could even ask for clarification…he disappeared.
· now what?
o they did what they were told…went to Jerusalem..huddled in a room, prayed and waited…
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Acts 2:1
· Pentecost – one of the big 3 Jewish festivals…Jerusalem was packed.
2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:2-4
· it was sensory overload
o roaring noise completely filled the house…and apparently was so loud that people outside heard it and came running.
o strangely what looked like fire distributed itself and looked like it was resting on each of them
o and they were filled…overcome with the power of the holy Spirit
…and the fun began…the supernatural started to become natural and normal…
· we’ll come back to this story in a moment I want to show you the single greatest evidence of revival. What is the most incredible sign of spiritual awakening.
but let me jump ahead in tell you some of the other signs of revival that happened in the days and months that followed:
· within minutes they experienced mass conversion
· everywhere people began to feel deep conviction of sin
· a wonderful new love and community exploded among them
· everywhere these folks walked healing happened
· …along with deliverance from dark spiritual forces.
· and overnight they became the most diverse communities in the world…all races, nations and ethnicities
…these are some of the evidences that God had unleashed a revival…and we will look at each of them over the next two months.
But let’s go back to the story and let me show you the greatest thing that happened that became God’s way of not only for revival but to change the entire world.
4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs--we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." Acts 2:4-13
So remember those ordinary folks worrying and praying in that room? Not anymore.
· they all suddenly became bilingual. Tongues = languages
o Martha – Berber
o Thomas – Arabic
o Mary Magdalene – Egyptian dialect
· people were going nuts
o what is this?
o these are Galileans – uncultured hicks
o man they are drunk!
What was this? This is the single greatest signs of revival:
Ordinary people filled with extraordinary power to change the world.
· as the story goes on from here you’ll see these ordinary people didn’t become sudden linguists
· they were given abilities to lead, teach, become trailblazers, heal, and on and on
· some became prophets and got the ability to discern things others coulnd’t
Ordinary People infected with extraordinary power to change the world.
· human capacities were no longer restricted
· to think and act beyond their normal capacities
that’s not all…let’s go on in the story
14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' Acts 2:14-21
Not only would these ordinary people be given extraordinary power but they would be given extraordinary dreams and visions.
· young and old, boys and girls, men and women
No one is quite sure what these dreams and visions were but I’d like to take a stab…I think they were dreams for their own lives.
· this is who you can become
· this is your calling
· this is your destiny
· The French have a phrase for it: raison-d’être
· your reason for being
You think you are just an ordinary person living an ordinary life – but let me show you that you are a masterpiece created to do incredible things which God has prepared for you to do!
Ordinary people filled with extraordinary power and compelling visions to change the world.
THIS is the single greatest evidence that spiritual awakening is happening.
1000s of us – ordinary folks – filled with power – and given incredible personal visions to change the world.
Fascinating thing happened as I was preparing for this. God gave me memory. Of something that happened early on in the history of Grace. I now think it was sign….of what was coming.
the CoMission:
· 1990-1992 Witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union and fall of the Iron Curtain
· The CoMission was formed to teach Christian gospel and ethics in public schools
· Jim Falk and I went to Phoenix and pledged 100 people (we became the 4th biggest sending orgnization
· we sent 100 people – ordinary people with an extraordinary vision
o engineer, tech guys, homemakers, tow truck driver, teacher, construction sales, students, kids
o Tim and Mary Byers, David Byers, Kevin Roth
Ordinary people filled with extraordinary power and compelling visions to change the world.
And then I remembered that all along God has been doing this – throughout our 25 years. This is actually one of the key differentiators of Grace church!
Ordinary people – extraordinary power – compelling visions – changing their world…
· Doug Gripp
· Pat and Maya Laurent
· Jerald Cosey
· Cathy Foley
· Marc Williams
· Chuck Gross
Ordinary people filled with extraordinary power and compelling visions to change the world.
The atmosphere is changing at Grace…God is doing it again…I would invite you to join us on the next 25 years…and I know this isn’t Acts 2 and this isn’t an upper room…but I want you to have the opportunity to be filled with the spirit of God…so that you can find your destiny filled with unbelievable power and change the world!