Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Unforced Influence- Minister Max Lucado
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: So glad you're here. Take a deep breath and welcome
- 0:09Speaker 1: the presence of the Lord into your heart, into your life.
- 0:13Speaker 1: All the great work he wants to do and longs
- 0:15Speaker 1: to do and the change he's ready to bring about.
- 0:19Speaker 1: A new you is being made. A new you is
- 0:22Speaker 1: being shaped. You're not the same person you used to be.
- 0:26Speaker 1: God is working within your heart, within your family, within
- 0:30Speaker 1: your work, creating a new future for you. Receive that today.
- 0:35Speaker 1: Receive that. That's the great promise of the Holy Spirit.
- 0:40Speaker 1: As we're looking at these beautiful pictures in the Bible
- 0:43Speaker 1: that help us understand the ministry and the majesty of
- 0:46Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. We see him coming like wind. We
- 0:50Speaker 1: see him coming like fire. We see him coming in
- 0:52Speaker 1: the form of anointing oil. But today we see him
- 0:56Speaker 1: in one of the most powerful pictures that one might imagine.
- 1:00Speaker 1: That when the Holy Spirit chose to described himself, he
- 1:04Speaker 1: described himself as a river of living water. In just
- 1:10Speaker 1: a few moments, we're going to be praying that that
- 1:13Speaker 1: river of living water would flow through and out of
- 1:16Speaker 1: each one of us. The word for this is revival. Revival.
- 1:23Speaker 1: And we're going to be asking the Lord to bring
- 1:25Speaker 1: revival to all of our hearts, bring revival to our church,
- 1:30Speaker 1: to bring revival to our city. to bring revival to
- 1:33Speaker 1: our nation and we're going to ask him to begin
- 1:36Speaker 1: right here with us we'll close this sermon with a
- 1:40Speaker 1: season of prayer and during that time of prayer you'll
- 1:44Speaker 1: be given a variety of ways in which you can
- 1:46Speaker 1: invite the lord to come and bring a special blessing
- 1:49Speaker 1: or guidance or strength into your life and he's got
- 1:53Speaker 1: something he wants to do with you and in you
- 1:55Speaker 1: and through you and maybe you came today just out
- 1:58Speaker 1: of obligation you didn't even want to be here well
- 2:00Speaker 1: too late god's got you now just kidding he only
- 2:04Speaker 1: goes where he's invited he only goes where he's invited
- 2:09Speaker 1: and so you can keep him at a distance you
- 2:11Speaker 1: can keep your heart hard but if you'd like to
- 2:14Speaker 1: have joy and power and promise and a great future
- 2:17Speaker 1: you begin softening your heart and welcoming the presence and
- 2:21Speaker 1: the power of the holy spirit heavenly father have mercy
- 2:24Speaker 1: upon us now as we open your word and and
- 2:27Speaker 1: please forgive our speaker his sins are many bless travis
- 2:31Speaker 1: and alicia As they lead us. And let your spirit
- 2:35Speaker 1: be strong in our presence. We pray this. And all
- 2:38Speaker 1: who agreed with the prayer said. Shadow has set upon
- 2:43Speaker 1: the American society. The Christian faith is in decline. Spiritual
- 2:49Speaker 1: indifference is everywhere. Acquisition of property. Increase of wealth. More pleasure.
- 2:56Speaker 1: People are obsessed with getting more. and less inclined to
- 3:02Speaker 1: know more about God. Addictions are up. Church attendance is down.
- 3:08Speaker 1: Even with population booming as much as 300% in some
- 3:13Speaker 1: areas over previous years, the largest denomination is reporting a
- 3:18Speaker 1: decline in membership. And on the rare occasion which issues
- 3:23Speaker 1: of spirituality are discussed, the gospel is under attack. The
- 3:27Speaker 1: authority of the Bible is being questioned. The doctrine of
- 3:31Speaker 1: salvation by grace through faith is being placed on the
- 3:38Speaker 1: altar of human advancement. Universalism is suddenly in vogue. Nobody's
- 3:45Speaker 1: a sinner. We don't need a savior. If there is
- 3:48Speaker 1: an eternity, everybody's going to be saved. There's no justice,
- 3:52Speaker 1: no judgment. That's prehistoric. That's archaic. That's barbaric. This is
- 4:00Speaker 1: all not good news. But this is not recent news.
- 4:07Speaker 1: It sounds like I'm describing modern day America, but I'm not.
- 4:11Speaker 1: It sounds like I'm referring to a survey from 2019,
- 4:17Speaker 1: but I'm not. I'm actually reaching back in history and
- 4:21Speaker 1: portraying the spiritual landscape of America as determined and described today.
- 4:28Speaker 1: in the final decade of the 18th century. Francis Asbury,
- 4:36Speaker 1: prominent Methodist bishop after whom the seminary was named, filed
- 4:41Speaker 1: this gloomy report in 1794. In the American frontier, about
- 4:48Speaker 1: one in a hundred people are interested in God. The
- 4:52Speaker 1: rest simply want good land. Andrew Fulton, a visiting Presbyterian
- 4:58Speaker 1: missionary from Scotland, reported, In all the newly formed towns
- 5:02Speaker 1: in the western colony, I find very few religious people.
- 5:08Speaker 1: The nation was suffering from a spiritual drought. But then
- 5:14Speaker 1: something wonderful happened. Rainfall of revival began to fall, and
- 5:22Speaker 1: it fell suddenly. In the slopes of Kentucky, Cane Ridge
- 5:31Speaker 1: Church was an unassuming congregation that sat in the hillsides
- 5:38Speaker 1: about 20 miles from Lexington. It's simple structure. It could
- 5:46Speaker 1: hold about 500 people. It's hard to imagine 500 people
- 5:51Speaker 1: squeezed in there, but they say it could. It was
- 5:55Speaker 1: pastored by Barton W. Stone. And Barton W. Stone was
- 6:01Speaker 1: one of a collection of leaders, spiritual leaders who were
- 6:05Speaker 1: praying for revival. And they began to gather as leaders
- 6:11Speaker 1: and then they began to gather their congregations for extended
- 6:16Speaker 1: times of prayer and communion and worship and preaching. In
- 6:29Speaker 1: the early part of the 1800s, the Cane Ridge Church
- 6:34Speaker 1: was designated as the host of one of these gatherings.
- 6:38Speaker 1: In anticipation of a larger crowd, they erected a tent
- 6:43Speaker 1: adjacent to their building. That tent would hold 500 people.
- 6:48Speaker 1: It soon became obvious that tent was too small. People
- 6:55Speaker 1: began to arrive. On August the 6th, 1801, I guess
- 7:01Speaker 1: from 1801, that's about as good as we can do
- 7:04Speaker 1: for a picture of a worship service. People began coming
- 7:09Speaker 1: from all parts of the country, arriving on foot, arriving
- 7:13Speaker 1: on horseback, arriving in wagons. Within three days, 20,000 people
- 7:19Speaker 1: had gathered. And what began in the Cane Ridge Church
- 7:29Speaker 1: continued for day after day after day of Christ-centered communion services,
- 7:38Speaker 1: of preaching, of praying, and of a wonderful falling of
- 7:45Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. There was a bit of chaos. People
- 7:51Speaker 1: were repenting. People were falling. Falling. People were crying out.
- 7:58Speaker 1: People were receiving. But it was a revival that began
- 8:04Speaker 1: in Cane Ridge, Kentucky. Historians have come to recognize what
- 8:10Speaker 1: began in Cane Ridge, Kentucky on August the 6th, 1801
- 8:15Speaker 1: as the beginning of what is called the Great Awakening
- 8:18Speaker 1: or the second Great Awakening in America. One historian says,
- 8:23Speaker 1: The Cane Ridge Communion quickly became one of the best
- 8:27Speaker 1: reported events in American history, arguably the most reported religious
- 8:31Speaker 1: gathering in all of American history. It ignited the explosion
- 8:36Speaker 1: of evangelical religion, which soon reached into nearly every corner
- 8:42Speaker 1: of American life. For decades, the prayer of camp meetings
- 8:45Speaker 1: and revivals across the land was, Lord, make it like
- 8:50Speaker 1: Cane Ridge. The second great awakening was manifested by a
- 8:58Speaker 1: boom in church attendance and societal reforms began. Numbered among
- 9:05Speaker 1: those two societal reforms were two of the most significant
- 9:09Speaker 1: in the history of America. The abolition of slavery and
- 9:13Speaker 1: the reformation and defense of women's rights. It began. Not
- 9:20Speaker 1: in Washington. It began. in revival. Do you ever aspire
- 9:28Speaker 1: for such a move in our time? Do you ever
- 9:31Speaker 1: aspire to see sleepy churches wake up? Do you ever
- 9:35Speaker 1: aspire to see revival born in our day and age? Boy,
- 9:39Speaker 1: I do too. Do we not live in a day
- 9:42Speaker 1: that is so shadowed by hatred, violence, and tension? Scapegoating
- 9:50Speaker 1: and finger-pointing It's gotten difficult to find an encouraging social indicator.
- 10:01Speaker 1: Church attendance is down in America. The number of people
- 10:08Speaker 1: who self-identify as Christians of any stripe is down 12%
- 10:14Speaker 1: in the last decade. We lead the world in the
- 10:19Speaker 1: number or percentage of incarcerations. Our teenage pregnancy rate is
- 10:24Speaker 1: the highest among developed countries. Our belief in God is
- 10:30Speaker 1: down while our belief in ghosts is up. A friend
- 10:36Speaker 1: told me some time ago that she has decided not
- 10:38Speaker 1: to have children. She cannot bear the thought of the
- 10:42Speaker 1: world in which her child would be born. I can
- 10:48Speaker 1: understand her concern. Yet, we have hope. We have hope.
- 10:57Speaker 1: And we serve an almighty God who is not bridled
- 10:59Speaker 1: by societal restraints. It does not depend upon any policy
- 11:05Speaker 1: or politician. But at any choice in time, whenever his
- 11:09Speaker 1: sovereign will would dictate, he can release a rainfall of
- 11:12Speaker 1: revival down upon a country and change it from one
- 11:16Speaker 1: generation to to the next this is the promise of
- 11:22Speaker 1: jesus and this is the power of the holy spirit
- 11:28Speaker 1: this promise is found in john chapter 7 john chapter
- 11:32Speaker 1: 7 the fourth gospel seven chapters in verses 37 through
- 11:39Speaker 1: 39 on the last and most important day of the
- 11:42Speaker 1: feast i'll tell you what that feast is here in
- 11:44Speaker 1: just a moment Jesus stood up and said in a
- 11:47Speaker 1: loud voice, let anyone who is thirsty come to me
- 11:51Speaker 1: and drink. And if anyone believes in me, live rivers
- 11:55Speaker 1: of living water will flow out from that person's heart.
- 12:00Speaker 1: As the scripture says, Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit.
- 12:07Speaker 1: The spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had
- 12:10Speaker 1: not yet been raised to glory and but later those
- 12:14Speaker 1: who believed in Jesus would receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus
- 12:20Speaker 1: said these words on an October day in a crowded Jerusalem.
- 12:25Speaker 1: People from all over the then known world had come
- 12:28Speaker 1: together to celebrate the Feast of the Tabernacles, an annual
- 12:32Speaker 1: celebration that commemorated the water-giving, rock-hitting event In the story
- 12:39Speaker 1: of Moses. Moses struck the rock and the water came forth.
- 12:43Speaker 1: And people came every year to celebrate and commemorate that.
- 12:47Speaker 1: And they did so for a week. And every morning
- 12:51Speaker 1: of that week. The priest would fill a golden pitcher
- 12:56Speaker 1: with water. And carry it down a people lined path
- 13:00Speaker 1: to the temple. And there announced by trumpets. The priest
- 13:04Speaker 1: would encircle the altar with that libation song. of liquid
- 13:08Speaker 1: he would pour it out and then on the last
- 13:10Speaker 1: day the great day of the feast the priest would
- 13:14Speaker 1: give the altar seven loops kind of like jericho walking
- 13:19Speaker 1: around i'm just like joshua walked around jericho dousing it
- 13:23Speaker 1: with seven vessels of water and i can't help but
- 13:27Speaker 1: wonder if it wasn't at this very moment that that
- 13:30Speaker 1: rustic rabbi from the northlands of galilee commanded the people's
- 13:36Speaker 1: attention jesus stood up now rabbis didn't do that rabbis
- 13:41Speaker 1: would teach sitting down he stood up and he said
- 13:45Speaker 1: with what church he said in a loud voice if
- 13:51Speaker 1: anyone is thirsty can you not just imagine him yelling
- 13:57Speaker 1: to that large crowd multi-ethnic crowd people who have come
- 14:01Speaker 1: from all over the world if anyone is thirsty They're
- 14:07Speaker 1: at that very event that is celebrating the pouring out
- 14:10Speaker 1: of water. If anyone is thirsty, let them come to
- 14:13Speaker 1: me and drink. And then look at this invitation. If
- 14:18Speaker 1: anyone believes in me, what's going to happen? Rivers of
- 14:23Speaker 1: living water will flow from that person's heart. As the
- 14:29Speaker 1: scripture says, Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit. And
- 14:38Speaker 1: so Jesus stands up. So he commands attention. He speaks
- 14:43Speaker 1: loudly so that everyone will hear. And he issues this
- 14:47Speaker 1: great invitation. Unless we misunderstand it, John the gospel writer
- 14:54Speaker 1: does something very uncharacteristic of a gospel writer. He goes
- 14:59Speaker 1: from one who is reporting what happened to one who
- 15:02Speaker 1: is interpreting what was said. All of a sudden he
- 15:05Speaker 1: puts on a commentary hat. And look what he says.
- 15:10Speaker 1: If anyone believes in me, rivers of living water will
- 15:13Speaker 1: flow out of that person's heart, as the scripture says.
- 15:16Speaker 1: Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit.
- 15:25Speaker 1: So how does one receive the Holy Spirit? Simple. One
- 15:28Speaker 1: drinks Jesus. It's that simple. And as we receive Jesus,
- 15:34Speaker 1: as we drink him, There is the promise that He,
- 15:38Speaker 1: in the form of the Holy Spirit, will flow out
- 15:40Speaker 1: of us in the attractive, beautiful, refreshing image of rivers,
- 15:47Speaker 1: not just a river, but rivers, a variety of rivers,
- 15:52Speaker 1: of living water. I believe that this, church, is Jesus'
- 15:58Speaker 1: promise of revival. It's a personal revival. It's a corporate revival.
- 16:06Speaker 1: It can even be a territorial or a regional or
- 16:08Speaker 1: a national revival. And that what happened in Cambridge or
- 16:12Speaker 1: what has happened in Wales or what has happened in
- 16:15Speaker 1: Korea can happen right here. Because we believe that anyone...
- 16:21Speaker 1: Do you see this promise? Let's unpack some of these phrases.
- 16:25Speaker 1: First he says, if anyone is thirsty, please raise your
- 16:28Speaker 1: hand if you're in anyone. Did any hand not go up?
- 16:33Speaker 1: If it didn't, wake them up. You're an anyone. I
- 16:38Speaker 1: don't care how old you are. I don't care about
- 16:42Speaker 1: your ethnic background. I don't care about your income. I
- 16:44Speaker 1: don't care about your gender. I don't care how many
- 16:48Speaker 1: followers you have on social media. I don't care about
- 16:52Speaker 1: the struggles in your life. I care about them. I do.
- 16:55Speaker 1: I didn't mean it like that. But that doesn't matter.
- 17:00Speaker 1: If anyone, if anyone is what? Thirsty. Thirsty.
- 17:07Speaker 2: Thirsty for friends. Thirsty for meaning. Thirsty for purpose. Thirsty
- 17:13Speaker 2: for answers. Thirsty for forgiveness. Thirsty for grace. Thirsty for direction.
- 17:19Speaker 2: Thirsty for bearings. Thirsty for hope. Thirsty for life after death.
- 17:26Speaker 2: If anyone is thirsty, let him come unto me. Let
- 17:34Speaker 2: him come to me.
- 17:36Speaker 1: Again, Jesus standing in the midst of what was one
- 17:39Speaker 1: of the three great religious gatherings each year in the
- 17:42Speaker 1: city of Jerusalem. It was a very religious place and
- 17:46Speaker 1: a very religious moment. And yet Jesus is not saying
- 17:50Speaker 1: go to a religion. He's saying, come to me. Come
- 17:56Speaker 1: to me. A person can go to a lot of
- 17:59Speaker 1: religions and visit a lot of church services and sadly
- 18:03Speaker 1: not find Christ. So Jesus says, oh, those can help you,
- 18:08Speaker 1: but don't count on them. You make sure you come
- 18:10Speaker 1: to me. Come to me. And when you come to me,
- 18:13Speaker 1: what do you do? Come to me and sip. You
- 18:20Speaker 1: weren't paying attention, were you? Come to me and taste.
- 18:25Speaker 1: Come to me and sample. No, come to me and
- 18:31Speaker 1: just like you might pick up one of those igloo
- 18:35Speaker 1: ice containers on a hot day and just lift it
- 18:39Speaker 1: up over your head and let every drop of Gatorade
- 18:43Speaker 1: fall out on top of you. Come to me and gulp.
- 18:49Speaker 1: Let me go into the inner recesses of your being
- 18:54Speaker 1: and find the driest place. Isn't that what you do
- 18:59Speaker 1: when you drink? You trust the fluids To go into
- 19:03Speaker 1: the inner parts of your life. Your body. Parts that
- 19:07Speaker 1: you have never seen. And you trust that that water
- 19:11Speaker 1: is going to do. What only that water or that
- 19:13Speaker 1: fluid can do. It's going to quench you. Am I
- 19:17Speaker 1: talking to anyone who is dry? Has some dry places.
- 19:25Speaker 1: Jesus said well we can handle that. You come to me.
- 19:30Speaker 1: And we will. Take care of your dryness. And when
- 19:34Speaker 1: you do, the promise of revival becomes the power of revival.
- 19:40Speaker 1: You see, as you do this and I do this,
- 19:44Speaker 1: then rivers of living water will flow. Rivers. of living
- 19:51Speaker 1: water will flow from that person's heart. As the scripture says,
- 19:55Speaker 1: and again, to make sure we get it, Jesus says,
- 19:58Speaker 1: I'm sorry, John says, Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit.
- 20:04Speaker 1: So as we receive Jesus in, the Holy Spirit comes out.
- 20:09Speaker 1: As we receive Jesus in, the Holy Spirit flows out.
- 20:13Speaker 1: We receive His promises. We receive His teaching. We receive
- 20:17Speaker 1: His presence. We receive His sacrifice for us on the cross.
- 20:21Speaker 1: We receive His resurrection from the dead. We receive the gospel.
- 20:26Speaker 1: We make Him the authority in life. And as that happens,
- 20:29Speaker 1: we can be sure that something unforced, not faked, very
- 20:36Speaker 1: authentic will happen. That we will soften up and the
- 20:41Speaker 1: Holy Spirit will flow out of us like a fountain.
- 20:45Speaker 1: I was not raised on a ranch, but I was
- 20:48Speaker 1: raised in the land of ranches. And I came acquainted
- 20:52Speaker 1: with what I always thought as a youngster was a
- 20:54Speaker 1: very unusual phrase. And that is certain ranches have live water.
- 21:01Speaker 1: Live water. I thought that was a funny phrase. Is
- 21:05Speaker 1: there dead water? Live water? But if you want a
- 21:09Speaker 1: ranch that has value, then you look for a ranch
- 21:13Speaker 1: or you look for a stretch of property that has
- 21:16Speaker 1: live water. What does that mean? Simply means that there
- 21:19Speaker 1: is accessible water in that property. Maybe drillable. Maybe there's
- 21:25Speaker 1: a well, an active well. Maybe there's a river that
- 21:28Speaker 1: runs through it. But it really changes everything. Because there's
- 21:34Speaker 1: the potential for irrigation. There's water for the for the
- 21:38Speaker 1: cows and the livestock. Where there is live water, there
- 21:45Speaker 1: is valuable property. Can I tell you something? And that
- 21:49Speaker 1: is where there is a person receiving Christ, there is
- 21:54Speaker 1: living water. And when you walk into your work, when
- 21:58Speaker 1: you walk into your neighborhood, when you kiss your kids goodnight,
- 22:04Speaker 1: when you express kindness to people, you then become this
- 22:09Speaker 1: picture of living water. This is the picture that Christ
- 22:12Speaker 1: has for His church. This is how revival happens. That
- 22:16Speaker 1: we so imbibe, so consume, so swallow Christ that He
- 22:23Speaker 1: becomes such a part of us that we don't have
- 22:25Speaker 1: to force it. We don't have to fake it. But
- 22:28Speaker 1: just wherever we go, we leak. Or Christ leaks from
- 22:32Speaker 1: us in the form of a wonderful, refreshing, presence of
- 22:37Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit some time ago my wife Dean Lynn
- 22:44Speaker 1: came home from the grocery store and had the most
- 22:47Speaker 1: amazing story and she related how she saw a lady
- 22:53Speaker 1: in a wheelchair and this lady had an oxygen tube
- 22:57Speaker 1: under her nostrils and she looked frail and pale and
- 23:00Speaker 1: she was being pushed through the grocery store by whom
- 23:04Speaker 1: Dean Lynn assumed were either her children or grandchildren, a
- 23:08Speaker 1: couple of teenagers, and they were selecting groceries and picking
- 23:14Speaker 1: the groceries of the purchase, and Dinalyn felt prompted by
- 23:18Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit to help the lady, but she didn't
- 23:21Speaker 1: know how. She didn't know if she should. Then, as
- 23:26Speaker 1: she was standing in the checkout line, look who was
- 23:29Speaker 1: ahead of her but the lady in the wheelchair and
- 23:31Speaker 1: those teenagers. And so Dillon said, the Holy Spirit told
- 23:35Speaker 1: me exactly what to do. And she said, I leaned
- 23:38Speaker 1: over and I whispered in the lady's ear, do you
- 23:41Speaker 1: mind if I pay for your groceries? And the lady
- 23:45Speaker 1: smiled and a bit of moisture in her eyes as
- 23:48Speaker 1: she teared up. And she related that the lady in
- 23:53Speaker 1: the wheelchair told the teenagers and they smiled. And Dillon
- 23:57Speaker 1: did it. And Dillon came home and told me about it.
- 24:01Speaker 1: And she said, that was the highlight of my day.
- 24:04Speaker 1: I thought waking up next to me would have been
- 24:06Speaker 1: the highlight of the day. It was a simple moment,
- 24:13Speaker 1: a simple event. In the big scheme of things, somewhat insignificant,
- 24:19Speaker 1: important to the lady. But I share that story to
- 24:24Speaker 1: ask you to do this. Take that moment and multiply
- 24:30Speaker 1: it by 2.18 billion. 2.18 billion. That's the number that
- 24:39Speaker 1: we are told of people on our planet who self-identify
- 24:45Speaker 1: as Christians. 2.18 billion. That's the number of people in
- 24:52Speaker 1: whom the Spirit of Christ potentially dwells. Now imagine if 2.18
- 25:00Speaker 1: billion today, people today, responded to the Holy Spirit as
- 25:07Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit prompted them. In acts of kindness, in
- 25:11Speaker 1: words of encouragement, in gestures of grace, would we not
- 25:18Speaker 1: begin to see the kindling of a revival? In schools,
- 25:25Speaker 1: in government, in businesses, in neighborhoods, would we not begin
- 25:30Speaker 1: to sense the flow the downfall of the Holy Spirit.
- 25:34Speaker 1: It happened in 1801. And what began in that prayer
- 25:40Speaker 1: service in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, caused church attendance to increase,
- 25:46Speaker 1: but more importantly, caused societal reforms to happen that resulted
- 25:51Speaker 1: in the defense of women's rights and yes, the abolition
- 25:54Speaker 1: of slavery. Because people were sensitive to the movement of
- 26:02Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit do you not long for something similar
- 26:07Speaker 1: to happen in our day is there anyone who's agreeing
- 26:11Speaker 1: with me Lord do it again can we not close
- 26:18Speaker 1: by discussing this the possibility of revival revival begins when
- 26:29Speaker 1: God's people say Do it again, Lord. I love the
- 26:34Speaker 1: story of that country preacher who's so hungry for revival,
- 26:37Speaker 1: so weary with the immorality of society that he went
- 26:42Speaker 1: outside and he drew a circle in the dirt, 10
- 26:44Speaker 1: feet in diameter, and he stood right in the middle
- 26:47Speaker 1: of it and he prayed, Lord, bring revival and begin
- 26:53Speaker 1: with everyone who is standing in this circle. Change begins
- 27:01Speaker 1: when change begins with me. Change begins when change begins
- 27:13Speaker 1: right here. Everybody in our nation is mad at someone else.
- 27:22Speaker 1: They're either mad at Nancy Pelosi or Donald Trump. We're
- 27:26Speaker 1: just all ticked off. Everybody's mad at somebody. And do
- 27:32Speaker 1: you not agree with me that a lot of finger
- 27:34Speaker 1: pointing is happening and a lot of blame passing is occurring?
- 27:39Speaker 1: Is it working? Are we a better people because of it?
- 27:45Speaker 1: We blame the younger generation. We blame the older generation.
- 27:49Speaker 1: We blame CNN. We blame Fox. Does it not get tiresome?
- 27:58Speaker 1: Might might there be a possibility that our good and
- 28:07Speaker 1: gracious God who has weathered tens of thousands of governments,
- 28:14Speaker 1: who has never belittled or impressed with those who place
- 28:18Speaker 1: themselves in positions of authority, is he not perhaps just
- 28:23Speaker 1: looking for a pocket of people who will quit looking
- 28:26Speaker 1: to society to solve problems and begin looking for the
- 28:31Speaker 1: Holy Spirit to do. What if another Cain Ridge broke out?
- 28:38Speaker 1: What if some decades from now, some historian looked back
- 28:41Speaker 1: and said, you know, something happened in San Antonio, Texas.
- 28:48Speaker 1: And it began because those people just sought the Lord.
- 28:52Speaker 1: And they began to pray. Would anyone like to say amen?
- 29:02Speaker 1: What if that happened with our teenagers? What if that
- 29:06Speaker 1: happened with our young people? What if that happened in
- 29:10Speaker 1: our businesses? But most of all, what if that happened
- 29:13Speaker 1: right here in our church? Another great revival. I love
- 29:19Speaker 1: reading about revivals. Another great revival occurred in the early
- 29:23Speaker 1: 1900s in that little pocket of the United Kingdom called Wales.
- 29:31Speaker 1: And it was so astounding that over five months, 100,000 people,
- 29:36Speaker 1: which was a significant portion of the population of the country, 100,000
- 29:41Speaker 1: people became Christians in five months. So many people gave
- 29:44Speaker 1: their lives to Christ that some bars had to close
- 29:48Speaker 1: down for lack of business. Prisons were having to lay
- 29:54Speaker 1: off prison wardens because so few people were being incarcerated.
- 30:02Speaker 1: And this is really funny. But the mules in the
- 30:06Speaker 1: coal mines had to be retrained because so many of
- 30:10Speaker 1: the coal miners were giving their mules directions with words
- 30:15Speaker 1: of vulgarity. And when the coal miners' lives cleaned up,
- 30:19Speaker 1: so did their language. They had to retrain the mules. Oh, Lord,
- 30:25Speaker 1: retrain a few donkeys today. Would you join with me
- 30:40Speaker 1: in this prayer? That God would do again what He
- 30:44Speaker 1: has done before. It is a dark day in which
- 30:48Speaker 1: we live. But were it not for the promise of
- 30:51Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit, we would despair. Because of the promise
- 30:55Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit, we can have hope. But that
- 30:59Speaker 1: hope begins as we draw that circle around ourselves.
- 31:11Speaker 3: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
- 31:18Speaker 3: somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
- 31:24Speaker 4: I don't need to hold you near me.
- 31:31Speaker 5: Don't need promises to keep. Just the thought that you
- 31:36Speaker 5: are breathing somewhere in this world I see. Even if
- 31:42Speaker 5: I'm not beside you Even if you never know There's
- 31:48Speaker 5: a quiet kind of comfort Just in knowing you still glow.
- 31:56Speaker 3: I don't need forever.
- 32:02Speaker 6: I just need you to exist.
- 32:06Speaker 4: You don't have to stay with me.
- 32:10Speaker 7: You don't have to feel the same. Just as long
- 32:14Speaker 7: as you're still out there.
- 32:17Speaker 6: Calling softly through my days.
- 32:20Speaker 4: You don't have to look my way.
- 32:23Speaker 5: You don't have to be my home. It's enough to
- 32:28Speaker 5: know you're living in a world I'm not alone.
- 32:37Speaker 6: I won't chase you through the distance.
- 32:40Speaker 5: Won't disturb your chosen life.
- 32:43Speaker 6: I'll just keep you in my silence.
- 32:46Speaker 5: Like a star that shines at night.
- 32:50Speaker 6: Through the dark and through the blue.
- 32:58Speaker 7: I still think of you. You don't have to be
- 33:07Speaker 7: my home It's enough to know you're living In a
- 33:10Speaker 7: world I'm not.
- 33:12Speaker 6: Alone I don't need to be your light I don't
- 33:48Speaker 6: need to cross.
- 33:48Speaker 5: Your mind All I need is just the truth That
- 33:53Speaker 5: you're somewhere.
- 33:56Speaker 6: Still alive.
- 33:59Speaker 4: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
- 34:03Speaker 4: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
- 34:09Speaker 4: out there Calling softly through my days You don't have
- 34:14Speaker 4: to look my way You don't have to be my
- 34:18Speaker 4: home It's enough to know you're living
- 34:26Speaker 6: In a world I'm not alone.