October 27, 2024 SERMON
by Pastor Terry Reamsnyder
Revival Means Change
Acts 11:1-30
We're continuing our series in the book of Acts, entitled "That Old-Time Religion," and today, we'll be looking at chapter 11.
First a recap of last week: I trust you all read chapter 10 as I got hung up on the Holy Spirit falling. But Acts 10 reveals the inclusive nature of God's kingdom, where all believers, regardless of their background are welcomed and equal.
The chapter underscores the transformative power of the Holy Spirit, breaking down longstanding barriers and opening new frontiers for the spread of the Gospel.
While Peter is still speaking, the Holy Spirit falls upon all who are listening, astonishing the Jewish believers. Peter then orders that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
We learn that Acts chapter 10 is a groundbreaking chapter that marks the expansion of the Gospel message beyond the Jewish community to the Gentiles. It begins with Cornelius, a Roman centurion, experiencing a divine vision. Subsequently, Apostle Peter also receives a vision that challenges the traditional Jewish dietary laws, signifying that the Gospel is for all, without any discrimination.
And as a result revival broke out as many were added to the Church daily.
So let’s talk about the need for personal revival…for real revival comes from responding to God’s word that leads to heart change, to life change, to world change…
Why must last week’s message and this week’s message be more than just another service? Could it be a milestone for us? A moment where we make a decision?
I trust some of you made a covenant with God last week, to allow The Holy Spirit to fall on you and be obedient to whatever He asks for the sake of reaching the lost for the Kingdom of God.
We are in the midst of a conversation on change… not to change surface appearances…
but to continue becoming who God has called us to be…
a deeper level…
a deeper search…
a deeper spiritual obligation.
From the conception of the church in the New Testament God demanded change for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And throughout the Bible we see what I would call a Theology of Change because Life is change.
The nature of redemption is change, without knowing God and making Him our lord and savior we are condemned to our sin taking us to hell.
When we reach out to Christ and ask Him to be Lord of our lives and accept Him as our savior the nature of our relationship with God changes; we are accepted into His kingdom. THE RELATIONSHIP CHANGES resulting in what we said about revival… heart change, life change, world change.
So too, we must change to encourage relationships with others that lead to their salvation.
Two main questions that tie into the potential of our future:
First question today: what is revival? and why do we need it?
Real revival comes from hearing God’s Word and experiencing God’s presence.
Which: Leads to a Heart Change, Leads to Life Change, Leads to World Change, All for the Glory of God and growing His Kingdom.
Revival is an encounter with the living God…
revival is: “coming to life again.
It’s when we go from indifference to making a difference. It’s when we move from being comfortably numb to being passionately committed.
It’s when we move from an appetite for the world and self to an appetite for God.”
Real life…. Real Change – that is revival.
Don’t you believe We need revival?
When we do not love God as we once did.
When earthly interests and occupations are more important to us than eternal ones.
When we would rather watch TV and read secular books and magazines than read the Bible.
When our Christianity is joyless and passionless.
When we know truth in our heads that we are not practicing in our lives.
When we make little effort to witness to the lost.
When we have time for sports, recreation, and entertainment, but not for Bible study or prayer.
When we do not tremble at the power of God.
On the other hand, the characteristics that take place when revival comes are…
A deepened spiritual hunger,
Intense fervent prayer that is enjoyable not dreadful,
Real repentance.
Reckless abandonment and surrender to God,
A fresh fullness, infilling, baptism of the Holy Spirit,
Spontaneous evangelism and soul winning,
Restored relationships,
A spirit of thanksgiving and joy,
Increased hunger for God’s Word, and
A desire to put God/church before entertainment.
There are no shortcuts to that process. If we want to experience revival, we have to go through the process.
Today, we want everything fast; we want it quick; we want it easy; we want it overnight; we want it pain-free, yet the best things just don’t come that way. WE HAVE TO BE ABLE TO WAIT UPON THE LORD.
If we’re going to seek the Lord, we’re going to hve to seek Him with all our hearts, and it takes time, time to get our hearts prepared,
time to hear what the Lord has to say,
time to let Him reveal Himself to us through His Word, and then
time to respond and let what He has revealed to us really take root in our hearts.
In I Chronicles 22:19 David said to Solomon, “Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God.” Do it now. Now! Set your mind. Set your heart.
Be determined about this. Be intentional about this. Be intense about this. Do it now, set your heart and set your mind to seek the Lord your God.
It requires focus, attention, concentration, effort, intense desire, and priority. Whatever your season in life, it needs to be your number one priority.
Be proactive. See the value/importance of it. Not a duty or drudgery. There is huge delight for those who seek the Lord with all their hearts.
If we only knew, if we could have a glimpse, a glimmer of what it is that God has in store for us, what God intends for us, then we would seek the Lord with diligent intensity.
The joy of personal revival; for in His presence is fullness of joy. There’s not only delight involved in seeking the Lord, but there’s desperation involved in seeking Him.
Think of how the presence of God is missing from so many of our lives, from so many of our churches, and how oblivious we are to the fact that He’s been gone for a long time in terms of His manifest presence. Many of us haven’t even noticed it.
But once you do notice it, and once you’ve tasted what it is to have the presence of God expressed in your life and among His people in an extraordinary way, you will never again be content without it.
There’s desperation. There’s a desperate need for the presence, the visitation of God to be restored and experienced among God’s people, in our churches, in our homes, and in our lives.
Are you desperate for that? When you’re desperate, you’ll start seeking, and you’ll keep seeking until you have found Him.
Be prepared to seek…. (count the cost; have your hearts ready)
Sunday morning is a reflection of our week with God.
Come Expecting with intensity.
Listen attentively to the Word of God.
Learn from God’s word, read from the Book of God, study to make it clear, asking the Holy Spirit for His help.
As you know God has been challenging my heart with several things we are called to accomplish as a church. Visions of who we are meant to be and how we must be about continually make disciples.
I am more concerned with the mission of God than the maintenance of tradition. God compels us to change for the sake of the Gospel.
I’m concerned with positioning ourselves to experience genuine revival that leads to heart change, life change, and changing our world. To see salvation of 100’s in this Copper Basin area…
So it’s not a question of if we will change, but how, and how fast.
The passage we began with today… shows a tremendous shift in thinking for the early church. Was the gospel of Jesus just for the Jewish heritage, or for the gentile as well?
From the conception of the church God demanded they change for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And throughout the Bible we see what I would call a Theology of Change…
1. God does change…
2. The church did change…
3. He calls us to change…
1. God does change… in relationship with us…
Romans 8: 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
God blesses all who call upon Him...that’s a daily calling on Him.
2. The church did change…
Acts 11: 1 The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him 3 and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."
Guarantee… these few were not the first or the last to “criticize” Peter, and also Paul about being with Gentiles…
Things like…
• God hasn’t done it that way before…
• As Jews we have not done it that way…
• As Jews for all of these 100’s of years God has looked to us… why would He change now…
God knew how difficult change can be when we get fixed on something. So He set up Peter very specifically…
• The Vision to Peter…the words of confirmation that men were coming... • The vision to Cornelious… to go get Peter…
• Peter going to his house… presenting the message of Jesus
• God confirms with His Holy Spirit – even with evidence of speaking in tongues to show His acceptance of the gentile…
• Then Peter shares with the whole group in Jerusalem… 17 So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?" 18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." They embrace the change…
3. He calls us to change…
1 Corinthians. 9:19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
What is he saying? I am willing to change whenever I must change for the sake of the Gospel. For the sake of reaching people…
God Changes in relationship with us…
The Church changed in relationship with each other…
God compels us to change for the sake of the Gospel…
Any church or individual that wants to make a difference in the world needs to be willing to be led by the Holy Spirit, He will change us.
Doing so may lead us to places we never dreamed of, and some of them may be scary. However, the will of God, nor the Spirit of God, will never call you where the grace of God cannot keep you.
The first step to being led by the Spirit is…Listening to the Spirit.
Another new thing that Luke introduces us to in this chapter is spiritual gifts. So far, the only spiritual gift talked about was tongues, and then in reference to evidence of Spirit baptism.
But here he talks about a the gift of prophecy. In vv. 27-28 he says, “During this time some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.)”
I believe tongues to be an important gift, but it is one of many. Another important gift is the gift of prophecy. In fact, Paul thought of it as more important than tongues.
In 1 Corinthians 14:5 Paul says, “I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you could all prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened.”
Now, there are two different uses for the gift of prophecy.
The first, and more frequent, use of this gift is to encourage and strengthen the church. In this use the Holy Spirit gives a specific message to the church where they are strengthened in their faith and encouraged to stand strong in the faith.
However, there is a second, and less frequent, use of this gift which is to predict the future through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
That’s exactly what is happening here, a prophet named Agabus stands up and prophesies that there would be a great famine.
Luke then gives us another side note; this prophesy came true during the reign of the emperor Claudius.
So, this raises the question, does the Holy Spirit still speak through people today through the gift of prophecy? The answer to that question is yes, He most certainly does!
Nowhere in the New Testament does it say that the gifts of the Spirit will cease before the second coming of Jesus.
While there are some churches that teach that the gifts of the Spirit were only for the apostles and once the Bible was put into the form we know it today there is no more need for spiritual gifts; let me say again the New Testament does not teach that the gifts will cease before Jesus returns to for His church.
It seems obvious to me that we not only need the gifts and leading of the Holy Spirit in the church today, but the gifts of the Spirit are still necessary. We still need the Spirit to speak to us.
Jesus said it is better for us if He goes away because once He is gone the Parakletos will come. This Greek word is a legal term which means “advocate or counselor.”
Jesus also said, once the Spirit comes, He will lead us into all truth. He also says, we can trust what the Spirit tells us because He only speaks what He has heard from the Father.
Therefore, it is essential that the Church listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Now, understand that the Holy Spirit will never contradict what He has already said in Scripture. In other words, if what you think the Spirit is saying to you does not match up with Scripture then you are not hearing from the Holy Spirit, but rather another type of spirit.
That’s a problem within the Church today; too many of us are listening to the world, to society, and to what this celebrity or that celebrity is saying.
The reason that the Church is in turmoil is that we are paying more attention to what people are saying on Twitter or CNN than what the Bible says and what the Holy Spirit is speaking to us.
It’s time for the Church to shutout the voice of the world and start listening to the voice of the Spirit.
One of the signs we are listening to the Spirit is…Acting on the Spirit’s Words.
This gave this new church in Antioch a chance to exercise their faith and put into practice what they had learned from Saul and Barnabas.
In verses 29-30 it says, “So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could. 30 This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.”
Having been warned in a prophecy about the famine, these believers showed their faith. They decided to take up an offering for the believers in Judea.
But the issue here is not money, it’s obedience!
Through the prophet, the people knew there was going to be a great famine, and so, being led by the Spirit, they decided to do something about it!
The point is, if the Holy Spirit leads you to do something, do it with gusto!
“Keep on learning the Word, keep listening to the Holy Spirit who is in you…Just remember to stay small within your own eyes, and God will bless the world through you.”
If the Holy Spirit tells you to do something, do it!
It doesn’t matter what your family thinks. It doesn’t matter what your friends think. It only matters what God thinks.
There are two things we should do when the Holy Spirit speaks to us. Listen to his voice. Do what He says.
When the Holy Spirit tells you to do something, follow His leading. Remember, delayed obedience is disobedience.
Everyone must make a choice for PERSONAL REVIVAL… either be hungry and cut a covenant with God… get your assignment… and get on the field of play… we need workers with compassion running through their veins… for each other, for the lost… for our world…
God’s word… changing our hearts… changing our lives, changing our world… READY GO…
This is why our vision and values are so important… Maranatha – a place for real people, living real life, but experiencing real change that must involve personal revival.
We believe in devoted faith… with the center of our life on Jesus Christ and God’s holy word… anointed by the Holy Spirit to pursue God and see salvation for every generation…
Keep on your knees in prayer… watch your words… and pray for revival in your heart…
In Jesus’ Name, Amen!
