Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #258 - Streams on Dry Ground: Thirsting for a Fresh Move of God

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#258 - Streams on Dry Ground: Thirsting for a Fresh Move of God · The OneCry Podcast

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The revival spread to Regina, capital Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg, capital Manitoba, the interior
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of British Columbia, and went to Vancouver.
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Three thousand lay teams were deployed, countless churches were brought to life in this movement
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of revival.
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One author said about it, the revival has accomplished more than a million hours of
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pastoral counseling could have ever done.
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Reminds me of this guy named Bill Ellis says, he says the Holy Spirit can do more in five
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minutes than we can do in 50 years, amen.
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Welcome to the One Cry podcast, a nationwide call for spiritual awakening, the goal, accelerating
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the movement of God through sharing revival truth, stories, and reports.
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Well welcome to the One Cry podcast.
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I'm Bill Ellis, and I'm so glad you're joining us today.
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We're going to do something a little different because of the content of something that we
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heard recently, and so for the next few weeks we're going to bring you a series of messages.
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These messages, the church where I have pastored for years, and the Summit Church in Little
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Rock, Arkansas, recently held four, on four Wednesday nights, an awakened series.
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We had preceded that with a series on revival, and these four nights were just powerful nights
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of worship and praise, but with a message from four different men, and we felt like
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it was so good that we wanted to, instead of the just talking format, we wanted to bring
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you these messages.
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And we also believe there's something inherently powerful about a message that's preached in
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the moment, full of the Spirit, and with God's anointing on it that can't be duplicated any
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other way.
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So these are four messages, the next four weeks, that we pray will awaken your heart
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to Christ and prepare us for the spiritual awakening that we believe is occurring now
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around our nation.
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The first one of these is by Robbie Simons, and Robbie is the pastor of the Hope Bible
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Church in Oakville, Canada, Ontario, Canada, and Robbie is a great, great man of God, one
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of the leading churches, and one of the leading pastors in Canada, and is a dear friend of
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mine, and he's speaking here to us about our thirst, and are we hungry for more, really?
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Do we want God to shower us with His blessings of revival and awakening?
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And you're going to be really blessed, and I want to encourage you to listen all the
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way to the end of this message, because there's some great stories at the end of True Accounts
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of Revival that will thrill your heart.
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So I want you to listen, if you would, and join me in prayer, listening to Robbie Simons.
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How did I get here tonight?
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I met Bill Ellef at an AWAKEN conference in Hope Church in Las Vegas.
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We were both speaking there, and that's where I first met him, and that developed a relationship
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over several years now.
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Bill has been up to our church twice and spoke at different conferences.
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He is like a brother, but more, as many of you will know, like a father to me, and whenever
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I do get to spend time with him, man, he's dear, he is so dear.
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So this is how I got connected, again, to meet Pastor BJ now, and BJ reached out to
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me a couple months ago, and this opportunity, and just sensing the heart of where this church
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is at, and then knowing the series that you guys just started, Set Your Sales, right?
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Set Your Sales on Revival.
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I listened to the first message in this series, and I was like, no kidding, I was about five
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minutes in listening to your pastor talk about his heart for the Lord, for revival, for renewal,
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for prayer, for humility, for brokenness, and I just said to myself, we're going to
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get along just fine, all right?
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So instantly connected in that way.
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You need to know, like, you need to know, too, this is not normal.
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Like what y'all are, hear what I said there, okay, what you all are experiencing, we don't
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say a lot back home, okay, but I love it, I love it.
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So anyways, what this is, this is not normal.
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I travel just enough around North America to understand this is precious, this is precious.
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This is a Wednesday night, and this place is full, and you're here to seek the Lord.
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Thank you, God.
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Thank you, God.
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Jesus Christ is building his church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it,
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all right?
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And the last thing I want to say, too, the last thing I want to say, too, is that I am
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willing to guess you have never allowed a Canadian in your pulpit before, all right?
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And so thank you for entrusting that to me.
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I'm almost positive that's probably true, right?
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I'm almost positive that's true.
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And so you're taking a big rest tonight, so thank you for that as well.
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But I'm going to just, it's my turn to pray right now before we open up God's Word, okay?
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Let me just do that.
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Father, I love the idea, as a child cries out to his mom or dad or her mom or dad, when
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a child cries out in anguish, how quickly an earthly parent will rush to the aid, they
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will drop and run, they will run to the aid and care of a child.
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They will feel the urgency.
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Father, my appeal to you right now is how much more will our Father in heaven rush to
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the aid and help and love and care of his children who cry out to him?
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So Father, I know you are listening right now, and I know you love us.
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I know you love me.
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I know that you are so for us.
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And so Father, I pray to you now that I have not come from Canada today to go through motions,
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but here now to have your help and your strength and that you would speak to your children.
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We cry that we need your help.
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Different people in different situations here right now.
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But Father, as the Psalmist says, be not far from me.
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Make haste to help me.
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Be our help and our deliverer.
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We just saying, Jesus, we need you.
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You're the only one.
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It's so true.
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You're the only one.
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And so I ask right now that you will use this time, and I pray, Lord, that we are not seeking
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to manufacture a single thing, but we are seeking to ask, again, great things from our
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awesome God who can do all things.
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And so help us, speak to us, and even where you are right now, I just encourage you that
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you would say a simple prayer, that you would say, Holy Spirit, would you speak to me?
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Holy Spirit, just believing that he wants to meet you now and to speak to you directly.
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Holy Spirit, no matter what the day has brought, the week has brought, the year has brought,
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Holy Spirit, would you speak to me?
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And we pray this together in Jesus' name, amen.
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We're going to be in Isaiah 44 together this evening for a few minutes.
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If you have a Bible, you can turn to Isaiah chapter 44, and we'll get there in just a
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second.
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I love nature shows.
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I always have as a kid, even more so since I've been saved.
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I was saved at age 22.
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I love kind of like African savanna nature shows.
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I was watching one a little while ago, and it was one of these episodes in kind of northern,
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western parts of Africa where the land was so dry and arid, you know, where the famine
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type of circumstances, and the drought was on the land, and it was like dust.
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And then they showed this picture of what happened in this time of season where the
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rains came, but in this case, the rains didn't fall on where the dry, dusty land was.
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The rains actually poured down a hundred miles away on the mountains.
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And as the rains came down on these mountains, it took a long time to get there, but the
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rains eventually came down the water, pouring down these mountains and found its way, traveling
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a hundred miles again to this location, this dry, arid, dusty, thirsty land was there.
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And the waters came, and they reached the land.
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I just love this so much.
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I'm watching this, and as the water hits the land, everything the water touches comes to
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life.
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All of a sudden, it was dry and dead, and then it becomes filled with life and green,
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and it's incredible to see the transformation and the renewal that is there in front of
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us.
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In fact, the impact was so great that the greenery upon this part, again, the African
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continent was easily visible from space.
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I love that physically.
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I love that looking again at a nature show, but what a symbol and what an image that is.
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And the reason why I think I love it so much, really, at its base symbolic level, is because
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this is a picture of what God wants to do with his people and his church.
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God wants to pour water on thirsty land.
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These are the symbols of revival the Bible speaks of again and again and again, to those
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who are thirsty for him, to those who want to drink from the well of living water, for
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those who know that Jesus Christ alone will satisfy.
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He finds them, he meets them, and he pours his water again upon them.
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It's beautiful and awesome.
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God is looking again.
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He promises to pour water on land that thirsts for him.
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He promises, listen, to pour streams on dry ground.
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I love that.
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Whatever God touches, he brings life, vitality, strength, renewal, and yes, revival.
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So this passage here in Isaiah 44 has spoken to my heart, I pray will speak to your heart
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as well, and in these desperate times where I come, again, I can't speak of Arkansas first
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time here, but where I come from, these desperate times that we live in, we so much need the
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filling of the Lord for his water to reach our thirsty land.
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Can I get an amen?
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Amen.
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Isaiah 44 verse 1, take a look, take a look.
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But now hear, O Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen, thus says the Lord who
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made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you.
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Notice fear not, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, just another name for Jacob of Israel, whom
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I have chosen, for I will, I just, this is, this is good.
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For I will pour water on thirsty land, yes, Lord, and streams on the dry ground.
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I will pour my spirit upon your offspring and my blessing on your descendants.
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They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams, it's so beautiful.
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This one will say, I am the Lord's, another will call on the name of Jacob, and another
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will write on his hand, the Lord's, and name himself by the name of Israel.
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As we approach this text this evening, I am praying that we will be bold and we're
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going to frame again our time together in the promises that God is making for an expectation
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of awakening within us.
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So we're going to see a few promises from this text right here.
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Promise number one is this, from the Lord to me and you tonight, it's this number one.
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God says, I've got you.
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Promise number one, I've got you.
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Now I really liked that phrase, I've got you.
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When someone says, hey, I've got you, it's like meant to say, I'm here for you.
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I will protect you, I'm for you.
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It's a phrase that a friend will often say to a friend or a brother to a brother.
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I have four kids, two sons and two daughters.
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It's a phrase that a dad would say to a son or a daughter and his best ability of his
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power, hey, child, child, my son, I got you, I love that, son, I got you, I got you.
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It's a powerful statement.
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It's one thing for an earthly father to say that to an earthly son, but what if your father,
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what if your father happens to be the king of the universe?
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What happens if your father is the king of kings and Lord of lords?
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What happens if your father is the Lord of glory?
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The father is unstoppable.
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The father is the one who made the heavens and the earth.
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What happens if your father cannot be stopped on any level, that your father, again, is
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undefeated for all time.
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Your father is, again, the maker of the entire universe, the Lord, the Lord of all living
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things, the one who made you personally, and your father says to you today, child, I got
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you.
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Child, I got you.
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If you look at verse one again, this is what God is saying, but now, oh, hear, oh, Jacob,
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my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen, thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you
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from the womb and will help you, fear not, oh, Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have
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chosen.
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In essence, these initial verses here are speaking to supernatural assurance, the supernatural
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assurance of a father towards his children.
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But these verses are spoken in contrast.
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If you look at the last verse of chapter 43 in Isaiah, notice this is not nearly the
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same.
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In verse 28 of chapter 43, he says, therefore, I will profane the princes of the sanctuary
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and deliver Jacob to utter destruction and Israel to reviling.
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So this is a very, very different tone here.
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What's happening here?
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God is saying this, for those who reject the Lord, for those who refuse his salvation,
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for those who are stuck in their stubborn pride, the promise here is that they will
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experience utter destruction because they have forsaken and rejected the one who gives
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life.
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But now we come to chapter 44 in the verses that we read, for those who love the Lord,
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for those who put their faith in the Lord, for those who live for the Lord and worship
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the Lord, they are the ones in our text that hear, they hear the voice of God and they
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hear the promises of God.
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These are the ones that know the life-changing love found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Listen to the intimacy of God towards his children in this passage.
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It's beautiful.
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It's striking.
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He says, Israel, whom I have chosen, I have chosen is in the perfect tense.
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The reason that's important is because in the Hebrew it's pointing to a completed action,
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which means this, when God says, and him I have chosen, that means no one and nothing
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will ever be able to loosen the embrace of God's arms around his children.
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And that's an encouraging thought for me right now.
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No matter what you're going through, no matter what happens in life, no matter what difficulty
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or trials or circumstances you have found yourself in, when you belong to the Lord,
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his arms are around you and nothing will ever be able to loosen the grip of love of God's
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arms around your heart, your soul, your life for all of eternity.
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And that's an encouraging thought.
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The New Testament affirms this, of course, in Romans chapter 8, nothing will ever be
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able to separate you from the love of God that, again, that is found in the Lord Jesus
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Christ.
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Not angels, not death, not life, nothing, nothing will ever be able to separate us from
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the love of God.
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And then the Lord says this, he says, I made you.
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See that in the text?
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I made you.
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I formed you from the womb.
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How awesome is that?
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Do you think God is invested in your well-being tonight?
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Do you think God cares about you?
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Do you think your father cares for you, his child?
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Think of this, right?
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I formed you in the womb.
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So every cell in your body he made, every heartbeat he's responsible for, every tear,
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he keeps in a bottle, the Bible tells us.
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But God's not done.
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He goes on and he says, he who formed you from the womb, ready, ready, what comes next?
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He will help you.
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This God will help you.
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In other words, he says to you tonight, child, I got you.
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Child, I got you.
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I think of Isaiah chapter 43 in the first verses where he says, he who created you,
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he who formed you, Israel, fear not, I have redeemed you.
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I have called you by name.
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You are mine, awesome.
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When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
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Through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm me.
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When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume
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you.
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How good and awesome is our God?
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He says to you tonight, you belong to Jesus Christ.
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He says, I got you.
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Anyone who gives their lives to the Lord by faith in the work of Jesus Christ on the
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cross, you become part of God's family.
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You will never, ever be cast out and never, ever forsaken.
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This is the promise of God.
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We know that life will bring waters and life will bring flame.
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But through all of this, there will be the Lord.
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There will be the Lord, never leaving us and never forsaking us.
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And how do we know this is true?
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How do we know the Lord will do this?
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Because he has done it again and again and again.
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I've served in our church for 22 years since we planted, 23 years since the Kirk been in
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ministry for 27 years or something like that now.
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And the one thing I've known about the Lord is that he has not promised me easy, but he
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has promised me himself.
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And if you get to know me personally and you understand the way that my walk with the Lord
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goes, that there are times where it is tough and I'm broken.
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I think as recently as this past Easter weekend, things I can't explain and can't get into
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it.
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I was just like, we had two Saturday night services and three Sunday morning services.
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And the two Saturday night services that we, again, put on were some of the hardest services
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in recent memory for me, for reasons I cannot explain.
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Like going home and literally in the place where you're just like, you're just like,
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I cannot do this anymore.
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Like I literally, I came home with my wife and just like, that was one of the like worst
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It's this Easter weekend and Pastor Robbie's coming home and he's distraught.
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I woke up in the morning at 2.30 and the enemy comes in in that moment and I didn't know
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what day it was.
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I didn't know what day it was.
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And then I come to, I realized what day it was.
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I have three more services to go and dread filled my heart.
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You're a pastor of a church.
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You're preaching on Easter weekend and dread fills your heart.
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That is very discouraging.
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The enemy is like this, just like this, pounding me again into oblivion.
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But what do I know to do?
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I'm faithful.
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And I say, I have no feelings right now.
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I'm going to show up.
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I'm just going to show up.
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I'm going to show up.
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Three more services.
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Oh God, what are you going to do?
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Stand up and faithful and you begin to preach again by faith at this point, not by sight
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at all.
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And we have three services that day and the first service and the second service and all
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I can say to you in my brokenness and my weakness and the opposition and the oppression and
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my absolute despair at times, the grace and presence of God, the last, the last service
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I'm preaching.
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Okay.
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I just was sensing God's help the whole time.
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It just breaks me so much because I know it has nothing to do with me.
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The last service I'm preaching, a fifth, five of, you know, five, the last 15 minutes of
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that message.
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I'm so overwhelmed by the presence of God.
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I am so overcome by his presence.
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I just, I'm preaching.
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Tears are just streaming.
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I just think the vision was coming and saying, what's wrong with that guy?
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Right?
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I didn't even care.
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I didn't even care.
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I was so overwhelmed by God's presence and grace and so broken by his grace.
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I think God in that moment saying to me, you're in preaching.
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You know, Charles Spurgeon says every preacher has seven conversations in his head at any
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given time.
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All right.
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So you're preaching, preaching, preaching.
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And I'm sitting there and I felt the Lord saying to me, Robbie, Robbie, last night,
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so hard, but right now, right now I'm here.
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I got you broken, broken.
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That's what God does.
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Doesn't he?
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See, my story is your story.
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This is what happens.
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We, we serve the Lord.
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We are faithful to him.
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We, we seek to rely on him.
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Yes, we're broken.
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Yes, we get beat down.
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Yes, we get opposed.
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And yet, and yet the grace of God, he's nothing will ever separate us from the love of God.
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I have formed you.
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I will help you because I love you.
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The promise of God upon his people.
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This is something that I need to hear again often.
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Thank you father for your grace and goodness.
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Thank you for your kindness that you don't let us again.
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Life is tough.
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And then, and just, just at the moment we need it and meets us again and again and again,
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the first promise is laying the foundation for the second promise, which is this promise
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number two.
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I will pour out my blessing upon you.
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I will pour my blessing upon you.
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Look at, look at verse three.
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He says this for, I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground.
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I will pour my spirit upon your offspring and my blessing upon your descendants.
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These verses here, I would not rush through at all.
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Like I, like I encourage you not just tonight, but tomorrow and maybe this week to sit on
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verses three and four.
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We'll get to that in just a moment too.
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And just let meditate, meditate on them.
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I think what's happening here, especially in verse three and of course following two,
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I think God's handing us a check.
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And I think God has signed the check.
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And I think God wants us to know, do we take him seriously when God makes promises and
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gives them to us?
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If God hands you a check and signs it, I can guarantee you this, you can take that to the
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bank and it's going to be good.
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You're going to be able to cash that check.
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See it's so wonderful here and beautiful.
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God is making promises of revival right now within this text.
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He's promising to pour out his blessing.
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Notice the word poor occurs twice here.
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God is looking to drench some people.
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I find it, I can't speak for Arkansas.
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I can speak for Ontario.
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I can speak for Oakville where I come from.
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There's so many people in the church that are so easily satisfied with drops from a
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broken faucet from the Lord.
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When God's standing over here with a massive fire hose, just saying, tell me to turn it
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on.
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I'm so convinced.
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There's so many believers that are satisfied with drips when God's got the fire hose ready
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to turn on and just drench you into beautiful oblivion.
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We settle for so little.
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God's like, I have so much more.
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I have so much more.
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I will pour out water again on the thirsty lamb.
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This leads me to ask a couple of questions though.
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God's promising to pour water.
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My question is, next part of our outline, pour out to whom though?
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Who does God pour out his water on?
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The answer is the thirsty.
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Look at our text here.
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Look at verse three.
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I will pour water on the thirsty land.
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I think we need to unpack that a little bit.
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We need to acknowledge the thirsty here is so important.
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Jesus said this in the Sermon on the Mount.
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He says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be
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satisfied.
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Again, I can just speak where I come from.
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But how many churches and people who are passed over and they miss God's blessing?
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They miss God's blessing.
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Why?
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Because they're so full of worldliness and intoxicated with self-pleasure, they have
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no thirst for God.
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So many people in our day, they do not thirst for God because how can you thirst for God
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when you're completely saturated with the world?
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I say to our people back home all the time, if you're feeding on the things of the world,
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day in, day out, of course you have no appetite for the Lord because you're too bloated with
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things that quench the spirit of God.
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God promises to pour out his blessing on the thirsty.
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That's why I like Summit Church's chances right now.
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You're all here right now and you're exhibiting thirst.
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Not normal loved ones, not normal, awesome.
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The Lord takes notice.
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He's noticing the elders and pastors of this church leading you to this spot right now.
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He's looking for those who are thirsty and he promises to pour water again upon them.
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Do we have John chapter seven that we can put up there?
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John 7, 37.
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We have that verse right there.
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Jesus says, for all those who thirst, do we have that?
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Yes or no?
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Do we have it?
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Is it here?
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Oh, it is.
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Awesome.
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If anyone thirsts, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
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Notice, so awesome.
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And whoever believes in me, the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers
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of living water.
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What a promise that is.
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Notice the condition, whoever thirsts, whoever thirsts for Jesus Christ.
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And then the promise is out of his heart will flow rivers.
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Notice not a trickle, not a stream, rivers, rivers of living water.
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You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you love him, you seek him, you thirst for him.
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The promise is rivers will flow again.
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And this he said of the spirit, which is exactly what the verse says as well.
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The promise of Jesus Christ to pour out again upon the thirsty.
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These truths have essentially defined our ministry back home and why, why?
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Because listen, listen.
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When you thirst for Jesus Christ, it essentially precedes all blessing.
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What do the thirsty do, right?
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What do those who are genuinely thirsty do?
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They seek to satisfy their thirst and nothing stops them.
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The thirsty will see rivers in the desert.
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The thirsty will see witness, they will witness streams on the dry ground.
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And this is why, listen, the thirsty church is the praying church.
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Because the thirsty church knows they need the Lord.
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So the thirsty church gathers for awakening Wednesdays.
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And the thirsty church seeks the Lord in the priority of prayer.
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And the thirsty church declares they need the Lord and they want him so much to fill
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their lives because again, they cannot live without him.
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But we all know this, listen.
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You can thirst for Christ or you can thirst for alcohol and there's going to be
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a massive difference in the outcome of that life.
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You can thirst for alcohol or you can thirst for Jesus Christ.
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The Lord promises tonight to pour out his spirit upon the thirsty.
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Leads us to the second part of that outline.
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So my second question I want to ask, pour out who?
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The answer is the Holy Spirit.
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Again, look at verse 3.
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I will pour out my spirit, he says, upon your offspring.
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That promise right there, I will pour out my spirit,
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that has its inaugural fulfillment at Pentecost.
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Pentecost, what an absolutely glorious event that was, right?
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This is the giving of the promised Holy Spirit,
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the Spirit of God dwelling in every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And if we get our theology in place when it comes to the Holy Spirit,
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we understand this, there's one baptism but many fillings.
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One baptism but many fillings.
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We understand the New Testament teaches when it comes to the baptizing
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of the Holy Spirit or the understanding of God's Spirit,
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we are dwelt by the Spirit, Romans 8.
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Baptized by the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12 at regeneration conversion.
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Sealed by the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1.
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That's truth for all those who are alive in Jesus Christ.
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And yet Ephesians 5.18, do not be drunk with wine,
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but be filled with the Spirit of God.
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And when you have encountered the presence of the Holy Spirit,
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nothing, nothing else will do.
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And so then the desires, we long to be drenched, not misted, not sprinkled.
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We want to be poured out on by the very presence of God.
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God hear us.
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God hear us.
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A.W. Tolzer, one of my favorite authors, he said,
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the world is perishing for a lack of knowledge of God.
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And the church is famishing, listen, for a want of his presence.
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The church is famishing for a want of his presence.
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So what happens, what happens?
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History records seasons of where the Lord sovereignly pours out his Spirit
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upon his people in these unique,
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and you've heard some of these from Pastor Vijay in the last, again,
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couple of weeks, some stories of revival, which bless my heart so much.
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One story I bet you haven't heard of revival is a revival that took place
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in the early 1970s in Canada, in specifically a town started
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called Saskatoon.
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Probably never heard of it.
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It's in the province of Saskatchewan.
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Maybe you haven't heard of that either.
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I'm not sure.
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It's part of the Canadian Prairie Provinces.
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It's kind of directly north of Arkansas.
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Just go straight up, and that's where you'll find yourself.
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Erwin Lutzer, the longtime pastor of Moody Church, he actually wrote a book.
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I think we have a picture of that on the screen.
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It's called Flames of Freedom, where he recounted the revival that hit
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in the early 70s in, again, in this area of Saskatoon and Saskatchewan.
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Now, I had heard about this in bits, but I picked up this book and I read it,
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and I was so, so blessed.
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This is just over 50 years ago in the land that I, again, live in.
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And to hear the stories and the accounts of God pouring out his spirit and bringing
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revival again upon the church, it just blessed my heart so much.
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Indeed, it is the fame of revival that spreads the flame of revival.
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So this revival began in Saskatoon, where meetings were scheduled
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to last a week.
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There were two brothers, the Satura twins, humble guys, not great preachers,
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men used of God.
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It ended up lasting seven weeks, but that was just the beginning.
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The revival spread to Regina, capital Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg,
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capital Manitoba, the interior of British Columbia, and went to Vancouver.
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3,000 lay teams were deployed.
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Countless churches were brought to life in this movement of revival.
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One author said about it, the revival has accomplished more than a million hours
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of pastoral counseling could have ever done.
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Reminds me of this guy named Bill Eliphses.
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He says, the Holy Spirit can do more in five minutes than we can do in 50 years.
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Amen.
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Western Canada was impacted, parts of Eastern Canada was impacted.
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The revival spread to Oregon, California, Illinois, and very much in Ohio
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and Michigan.
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Hundreds of lay teams spread around Canada and the U.S.
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and revival followed in their wake.
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The testimonies to read within this, like the detailed testimonies
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of life change were absolutely mind-blowing.
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And as much as anything that happened, listen, again, this is why,
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and you've been taught this in recent weeks right here, right here,
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by your pastor.
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It confirmed and so amazed.
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It wasn't the revival starting outside the church, it was revival starting
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in the church.
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It was 100%, that's what happened.
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The people of God were revived themselves.
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They were renewed and filled by God's Spirit.
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They repented of sin, the massive amounts of reconciliation,
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and then you could not stop the overflow from inside the church impacting
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outside the church.
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In Austin, Macau, my faith just grew and grew and grew.
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People dealing with sin all over the place.
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I was so struck too within this Canadian revival, the amount of relational sin
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that God exposed in the church and people for the first time in their lives
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in many cases were broken enough to repent of their sin and listen,
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be reconciled with one another.
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So it was vertical reconciliation, yes, but where there's true vertical
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reconciliation, the power and impact of brothers and brothers and sisters
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reconciling to one another, which breaks so much of the enemy's strongholds.
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You had stories of brothers, like literal brothers, siblings in the same church,
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didn't talk to each other for 10 years.
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They couldn't stand each other, they're in the same church.
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And the Holy Spirit comes in and starts a wave of humility and brokenness
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and the revealing of sin.
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They get so humbled and broken, they meet and they embrace for the first time
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in a decade, weeping and loving each other as they should,
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and loving each other as they should as the Holy Spirit moves.
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And of course, when that happens, then all of a sudden other people go like,
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whoa, and they're looking, God uses that and then bam, and it starts.
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It's like this fire that spreads around as God is miraculously pouring water
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and thirsting at the same time, the fire of revival goes up from there.
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It's awesome.
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I have a mentor of mine says, Robbie, you need to read stories of revival
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all the time, all the time.
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It is so important for your soul and heart, Robbie.
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I think he's totally right.
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Got to keep doing that.
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That's why I need to listen to this series in this church
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for the next several weeks, I guess, which is awesome too.
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Awesome.
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Huge work of reverence and love for God.
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And this is what happened again in Canada just over 50 years ago.
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And my heart says it can happen again.
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It can happen again.
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Please, Lord.
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God promises to pour the Spirit.
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So again, listen, it's not if God has, he has.
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And it's not if he will, he will.
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It's where and who.
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It's who's next.
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Promise one, I've got you.
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Promise two, I will pour my blessing upon you.
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Main promise number three is this.
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I will keep saving loved ones among you.
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I will keep saving loved ones among you.
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Look at the second half of verse three here.
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I will pour out my Spirit upon your offspring
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and my blessing on your descendants.
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Awesome.
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That should be underlined in your Bible and highlighted.
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Verse four, they shall spring up among the grass
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like willows by flowing streams.
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This one will say, this is so beautiful.
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I am the Lord.
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See, offspring identifying that they belong to the Lord.
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Another will call on the name of Jacob.
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Another will write on his hand, the Lord's.
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Almost literally in some ways,
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we'll have a tattoo saying the Lord's.
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Proudly identifying unity by the Spirit in their lives
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and name himself by the name of Israel.
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Such a beautiful text.
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Look at this.
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When the Spirit of God is poured out, what happens?
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The indifferent are awakened.
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The lukewarm are revived.
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And those who were previously sitting on the fence
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are now lining up, the text tells us,
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they are lining up at another another
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to identify now with the Lord.
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And I want you to see the order here, the loved one side.
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This is so important.
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Notice first, the Lord pours out water on the thirsty.
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And then what?
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And then the Lord pours out his Spirit on their children.
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That's very important for me.
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And that should be very important for you too.
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The order here in our text,
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the thirsty receive the living water of Christ
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and then the promises,
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and now I will pour my Spirit upon the next generation.
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Now your children will be impacted as well.
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You know how often we want our children
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to be changed in the Lord?
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How often are your parents,
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my children, children, children, children,
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that we ourselves are living in apathy
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and lukewarm Christian living?
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Have you ever thought, have you ever thought
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that maybe the reason your children are not fully engaged
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and fired up for the Lord Jesus Christ
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because they have yet to see that in their own home?
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That's a question I have to ask myself.
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You know what really, really hit me
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with the stories of the Canadian Revival?
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The amount of children who came powerfully to Jesus Christ.
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I'm telling you, testimony after testimony,
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what they said was,
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the change in my parents was so undeniable.
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It was so real and so profound and so much brokenness
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and so much transformation and so much Christ in them.
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I had yet to see that in them
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and God used that to bring me to Christ.
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It was the authenticity of God's work in the parents,
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not just like, stop doing that.
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Go here, do that, I can do that, okay?
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But now it's like, no, no, no, your heart,
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your dad, dad, passion, passion for dads to be dads.
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We need men in our day,
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leading in brokenness and humility,
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leading families towards Christ by example,
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not telling me perfect dads, I'm not perfect,
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but to be real and broken and sincere
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and our kids see us following Christ
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and our kids see us repenting
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and our kids see us loving our wives
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as Christ of the church
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and their kids see us walking in humility.
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Our kids see us asking for forgiveness
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and our kids see us still falling and getting back up
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and getting back up, opening the word,
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praying, gathering for church.
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Our kids sees that my dad's not perfect,
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but he loves Jesus Christ, but he loves Jesus Christ.
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Could it be the blockage in our homes
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is because we as parents
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are passing the buck to someone else or something else.
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All of this is grace, obviously, right?
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Everything that happens, the Lord does his grace,
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but we read the promise of our God.
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He says, I will pour out my spirit upon your offspring
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and I will pour my blessing upon your descendants.
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Say, I read that, I believe it.
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Fulfilled at Pentecost, but again, I think,
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continue fulfillments here and now
37:54
that God is saying to us as well.
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Do we take the Lord at his word?
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Do we pray with boldness?
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Do we approach the throne of grace?
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Do we ask with tears?
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Because when the Holy Spirit moves,
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the text says they will spring up like willows
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by flowing streams.
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And I love this, they will say, I am the Lord's.
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And they call on his name.
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I love that.
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I am the Lord's and they call on his name.
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Just, I value being vulnerable.
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Four kids, two boys, two girls.
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Three of my kids have been baptized.
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I'm so, so thankful for that.
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My two daughters, my oldest daughter
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had a big change in grade eight.
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And based on verses we're saying right now,
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praying to the truth of the Lord,
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but this year has been a really tough year for her.
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Really tough year, grade 11, friends, school,
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pressure, and just the drift.
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I'll just leave it there.
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Just say, I would love your prayers for my children.
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Like, I believe this, loved ones.
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And I believe prayers tonight make a difference.
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I believe that.
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I believe God's moving.
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My youngest daughter, her name is Bliss,
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and her and I are really tight, man.
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I just love her to bits, obviously, you know?
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And we get along so well, and she's a good kid,
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but she doesn't know the Lord.
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We've talked 1,000 times in the gospel.
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She kind of believes it all here, hasn't gone here.
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I'm trusting God for the day
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where she will line up and say, I identify with the Lord.
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They're like, there's no more in between
39:29
sitting on the fence doing this.
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But the Holy Spirit moves in her heart,
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and all of a sudden, they're walking up,
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and they're like, I'm in, and let's get baptized.
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Like, Jesus Christ, I don't care what people think,
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I don't care, that's what, when God does it, he does it.
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I'm praying for that.
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What are you praying for?
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I wonder who's here tonight?
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Who's here tonight?
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I'm describing you.
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You're here right now for this reason right now,
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that it's been too many years of waffling,
39:52
sitting on the fence.
39:53
You've tried the world's way.
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It's broken.
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You've tried sin.
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It stinks.
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And now, and now, and now it's time
40:04
to let the Lord take full control
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and to see what his living water will do to your life
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and satisfy your soul.
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God promises to pour his spirit again upon offspring.
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I want to end with this.
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Duncan Campbell, who lived through revival in Wales
40:23
in early 1960s, unbelievable things were happening.
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This story I read based on Isaiah 44, verses three and four,
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blessed my heart so much when I read it.
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I just want to read this in detail
40:35
and end my time with you right now,
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because it just did so much good for my faith.
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Here's what Duncan Campbell wrote again
40:42
about this one situation.
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He said that he was being opposed
40:47
because he was essentially preaching the gospel
40:49
in this town.
40:50
He says, now I've reclaimed the truth and I was opposed
40:52
and the opposition was so successful
40:54
that only seven from this community came near the meetings.
40:57
They were holding revival meetings in the parish church.
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At the close of one meeting,
41:01
the session clerk of this particular congregation
41:04
at which I was ministering came and said to me,
41:05
Mr. Campbell, these go not out, but by prayer and fasting.
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So we are meeting tonight in the farmhouse.
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We're going to spend the night in prayer.
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He says, so we met.
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There were about 30 of us and prayer began.
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He confessed, I found it a very hard meeting.
41:20
I found myself battling getting nowhere as the hours passed.
41:24
About midnight, between 12 and one o'clock in the morning,
41:26
I turned to a young man in the meeting and said,
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I feel I've got to ask you to pray.
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And that dear man rose to his feet and prayed.
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And in his prayer, listen, he uttered words
41:36
such that I've never heard in prayer before.
41:38
He said this, quote, Lord, you made a promise.
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Are you going to fulfill it?
41:42
We believe that you are a covenant-keeping God.
41:45
This young, humble man is making this prayer.
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Will you be true to your covenant?
41:49
You have said, quoting now Isaiah 44,
41:52
that you would pour water on the thirsty
41:53
and floods on the dry ground.
41:55
He said this, I do not know how others stand
41:57
in your presence.
41:58
I do not know how the ministers stand,
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but if I know my own heart, I know where I stand.
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And I know that I am thirsty.
42:04
Oh, I am thirsty for a manifestation
42:06
of the man at the right hand.
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And then he said this, he said this,
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Lord, before I sit down, I want to tell you,
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your honor is at stake.
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Campbell writes this now.
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Have you ever prayed like that?
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Have you?
42:21
Here's a man praying the prayer of faith.
42:22
I love to believe that the angels and archangels
42:24
were looking over the battlements of glory
42:26
and saying to one another, this is a man who believes God.
42:30
There is a man who dares to stand solid
42:32
on the promise of God and take from the throne
42:34
what is promised.
42:35
And then Duncan Campbell says this,
42:37
he says, believe it or disbelieve it.
42:39
You can verify this if you like.
42:40
At that moment, the house shook like a leaf.
42:44
The dishes rattled on the sideboard
42:46
and an elder standing beside me said,
42:47
Mr. Campbell, an earthquake.
42:49
And I said, yes.
42:50
And I pronounced the benediction
42:51
and immediately walked out to find the community alive
42:54
with an awareness of God, praise the Lord.
42:57
Men and women were carrying stools and chairs
42:59
and asking, is there room for us in the church?
43:01
The revival did not break out
43:02
because Duncan Campbell was their hero.
43:04
No, no, a thousand times, no.
43:06
But because God found a man whom he could trust,
43:09
a man who dared to believe the promise of God.
43:14
And that is awesome.
43:16
Amen.
43:17
That is awesome.
43:18
So what do we do now?
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Are there some here who dare to believe
43:28
in the promise of God?
43:31
God has been teaching me now over a couple of years.
43:35
Covenant-based prayers.
43:36
God, you said, therefore you must.
43:37
I say it humbly.
43:38
I say it reverently.
43:40
I believe God is inviting us to do this.
43:42
I believe God is...
43:43
I believe God, when people hold God to his word,
43:46
I think God's like, yes, more, more, more, more.
43:47
I think we're too timid.
43:48
I think we lack boldness.
43:49
I think we lack faith.
43:51
He's making promises.
43:52
I'll pour my spirit.
43:53
I'll pour my blessing upon your descendants.
43:54
Do you believe him or not?
43:55
Do you believe him or not?
43:56
Lord, I believe.
43:57
Help my unbelief.
43:58
Lord, I believe.
43:59
Help my unbelief.
44:01
God is a covenant.
44:02
Covenant, making God a God of promises.
44:06
And he's promising us tonight.
44:08
And like this young man who just that incredible statement,
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Lord, you said, therefore, you must.
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And your honor is at stake.
44:15
Wow, wow, wow.
44:16
So are we allowed to say that?
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I believe we are.
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And I believe God invites us to do that right now.
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So maybe we quiet our hearts even now, won't we?
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Why don't we bow our heads, right?
44:30
Father, I just pray you lead us right now.
44:31
I just confess, Lord, I just want you to lead
44:36
and you to show us where you want us to go.
44:39
We're not in a rush.
44:40
We wait on you.
44:42
We rely on you.
44:44
I pray that you would speak.
44:45
We love you so much.
44:48
We love you so much.
44:51
What do you need to say to the Lord right now, I wonder?
44:56
How do you want to respond to the Lord right now?
45:00
To believe in his promises, to take God at his word?
45:10
Again, we're not in a rush.
45:12
Maybe there's a song that we need to sing right now.
45:18
Maybe there's a posture that you want to assume for the Lord.
45:23
Again, I just, it's so important to not rush.
45:31
This could be a moment of change
45:34
and eternal impact for you personally,
45:37
for your closest relationships, for your family.
45:41
So Father, would you lead us?
45:44
Would you lead us?
45:46
Maybe just on behalf of others,
45:48
I'll just say this for me, Lord.
45:50
I pray in Jesus' name, Lord,
45:51
that you would cause all my children,
45:54
and especially right now, Sadie and Bliss,
45:58
that, Lord, they would just identify so passionately
46:00
and so strongly that they are the Lords.
46:03
I pray you will pour out your spirit upon my offspring
46:07
and your blessing upon my descendants.
46:09
And I know there are so many others
46:11
who join me in that prayer.
46:12
Father, I believe.
46:14
Father, I believe.
46:19
Well, that was a wonderful word from Robbie.
46:22
And I know you're incredibly blessed by that.
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And, you know, Robbie said,
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quoted Duncan Campbell of saying,
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the community came alive with the glory of God.
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God found a man that he could trust,
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a man who dared to believe the promises of God.
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Can I ask you something before we pray together?
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Are you that kind of man or woman?
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Are you someone who's praying big prayers
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and taking God at his word,
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praying those covenant prayers that Robbie talked about,
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and believing him for revival and awakening in your area?
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I pray that you are.
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And I pray that today stirred you up
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a little more about that.
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And I want you to join me in praying right now
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that God would do that in you and through you.
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Let's pray.
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So, Father, we thank you.
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We praise you for what you've done in the past,
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all through the Old Testament and New Testament days,
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all through church history,
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through the great revivals of the past, Lord.
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Over and over again, you have manifested yourself,
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but you use people, Lord,
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and you use people who will believe you,
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who will trust you,
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and who will cry out for a fresh work of your spirit,
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a fresh outpouring of the glory of God.
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I pray that for all of those who are listening.
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I pray that for them personally.
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And, Father, I pray that for their families,
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their churches, their cities, and our nation.
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And really, we pray for a great worldwide awakening
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that would cover the world like the waters cover the sea.
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And, Lord, that we would give you praise
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because you have done this,
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and only you could have done it.
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So we give ourselves to you,
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and we pray that you would help us believe you for more
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in the days ahead.
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In Jesus' precious name we pray, amen.
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Well, thanks for joining us.
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And if this was a blessing to you,
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pass it on to somebody else, send them the link,
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and join us next week,
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where we're gonna hear another really thrilling word from God.