 Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome. Baptism Sunday. Come on. We excited to see those? Go down the waters of baptism. I want to invite you to stand. My name is Pastor Caleb. I'm one of the worship pastors here. And I got good news this morning. That good news is God is for you. He is for you and He's not against you. We're not entering in His presence this morning trying to earn His favor. But we're receiving freely the favor that the Father has for us this morning. Let's go before Him and we're going to start just offering thanksgiving and praise. And let's not wait until we feel like we've come to the place where we're ready to offer thanksgiving. But we can come and enter in boldly to the throne of grace. Why? Because Jesus has made away His death, burial, and resurrection. Has removed the veil that covered our eyes and everything that could cause resistance has been done away with it. So we can enter boldly into His presence. If you're comfortable, I want to invite you to lift your hands. Let's receive this favor and delight this morning as we enter into worship and praise. Father, we thank you for your love, favor, and delight. We don't have to wait until the third song to earn your affection. But Lord, right now, even in our weak and broken state, we are the righteousness of God and Christ Jesus because of the blood of Jesus and the cross, burial, and the resurrection. So we receive that favor. We receive the smile of the Father. We receive the delight like what David said. We are your excellent ones in whom is all of your delight. So Lord, we just ask shame and fear but have no place that this morning we'd be able to offer thanksgiving and praise before you in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's worship this morning with boldness and confidence. Amen. We're gonna clap on the turnarounds. I'll show you where and how. No emotion, no circumstance, no shame, no guilt, broken in the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus is above guilt, heaviness. I just keep feeling that this morning that there's many people who walked in just with the feeling that God is disappointed for us human. Right now, He is breaking off. Shame, Father, is forked together. It's all precious and beautiful. This is all my need, your blood and nothing else. This is all my confidence. I plead your blood and nothing else. This is how I'm sanctified. I plead your blood. This is how I overcome. Let's all sing this out together and just plead the blood of Jesus over us right now. Jesus, we thank you today for your cross. Thank for your blood. Lord, we thank you that once and for all in one moment, God, you made it clear what you think about us. You made it clear that even while we were still sinners, even when we were far from you, you loved us so much that you came and you gave your life for us. So, Lord, we just receive your love today. We celebrate your love today and we respond and thank you. Can we just thank Him just one more time? Just say thank you, God. Thank you for your blood. Thank you for the cross. We respond to what you did. We respond to who you are this morning and we say we love you. We thank you. Jesus, thank you for your blood. In today's church, we're going to continue to celebrate the finished work of Jesus as we get to partake in baptisms today. So, if you guys can take a seat wherever you're at, we have the opportunity and the privilege to celebrate with these amazing, amazing individuals that are taking a step of faith today and making a public declaration that Jesus is their Lord and Savior. They're identifying with the finished work of the cross, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. So, let's celebrate with them today as they make this public profession of faith. Amen. I'm used to baptizing on that side so I'm hoping my right hand is strong enough for you, bro, and I'm just getting excited for you, honored to partner with you. Tell everybody in the church what your name is. Kevin. Kevin, I'm going to ask you, who's your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ. Kevin, by being baptized today, you're making a public declaration that it's your desire to live your life completely for Jesus. Yes. Kevin, by the faith you have in your heart, the confession you've made with your mouth, it's my honor to baptize you today in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Awesome. Can you share your name with us today? Maddie. Maddie. And is Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior? Yes. And today as you get baptized in front of your friends, your family, your church, are you making a statement that you're going to follow him for the rest of your life? Yes. Awesome. Awesome. Well, with the declaration of your mouth and the faith in your heart, I baptize you today in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Tell everyone what your name is. Martine. Martine, who is your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ. And by being baptized today, you're making a public declaration that it's your heart's desire to live your life completely for Jesus. Yes. And by the faith that you have in your heart, confession you've made with your mouth that baptize you today in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. All right, can you share your name with everybody today? Oh, I know. Awesome. How old are you? Eight. Eight years old. And do you love Jesus with all your heart? Yes. And do you want to follow him for the rest of your life? Yes. All right. Well, with the declaration of your mouth and the faith in your heart, I baptize you today in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Tell everyone what your name is. Terri. Terri, who's your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ. And by being baptized today, you're making a public declaration in front of the church that it's your heart's desire to live your life completely for Jesus. Yes. And by the faith that you have in your heart, the confession you've made with your mouth, it's my honor to baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Can you share your name with us today? Kira. Kira, and how old are you? Eleven. Eleven. Amazing. Amazing. And today, Kira, as you get baptized in front of the church, your friends and your family, are you saying that Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life? Yes. You're going to follow him to the best of your ability for the rest of your life? Yeah. Amen. Amen. Well, with the faith in your heart, the declaration of your mouth, I baptize you today in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Tell everyone what your name is. Andrew Grimes. Andrew, I've had the privilege of walking through some things with you and your wife, and we talked this week and you've baptized as a young person and really felt like the Lord was inviting you to, in light of some of the things you've walked through, take this next step of obedience, and I just want to confirm that. I want to say I'm proud of you. The Lord's proud of you, and this is a new beginning in your life, and it's sealing what God has already done. So, Andrew, I'm going to ask you, who's your Lord and Savior? Jesus Christ. And by being baptized, you're making a public declaration that it's your desire to live completely for Jesus. I am. And, Andrew, by the faith in your heart, confession of your mouth, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Can you all stand with me? We're going to go back and worship as we fixate on God and His kindness, who He is. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your salvation, grace, and mercy. This melody of freedom. How we've been saved and redeemed. Thank you for your cross, blood, and we receive the resurrection power that you are not dead, but you are alive and you are alive in us this morning in the name of Jesus. Amazing to worship with you all this morning. Amazing. It just never gets old seeing people go down and the transformation and you feel the power of God. Well, before we go on to any other part of the service, we're going to take a second and say hi to somebody who is worshiping around you. They're ready, set, go. Well, good morning, Radian. It's so great being with you all today. If it's your first time, we want to say welcome. We're so honored that you would come and worship Jesus with us this morning. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Pastor Zach. I'm the next generation pastor here at Radiant Church, and this is my first weekend back for a while. Many of you have been praying. Thank you, guys. So, so grateful. This for the prayers, the support of so many of you. For me and my wife, Ashley, we have been in an arbor and now more recently in Kalamazoo, our twins, twin girls, were diagnosed with TTSS. Our daughter Rhys passed away in June, but our daughter Celia is doing really well. And the Bronson Nicky is growing every day. And what I can tell you guys is this, is that we're living in the mystery. We're living in the tension, but we've never been more convinced of God's goodness and even going through some of the darkest moments of our lives and seeing that God is still with us has just done something in us. So, we're working it out and we're so grateful for all of you for standing with us to this time. We are honored to be a part of a church like Radiant. So, we love you guys a lot. But again, if you're to hear your first time, welcome. Everyone's like, what's going on? If it's your first time, but we're glad you're here with us. But we have lots of exciting things going on here at Radiant Church and I'm going to invite our ushers forward as we prepare to give our tithes and our offerings. Like I said, the next generation pastor here get to oversee kids through students here at our church and we are getting ready for our kids camp in a few short weeks. We are sending guys almost 300 between seven years old to seventh grade kids to a camp this August. It's going to be an incredible time every year. There are so many testimonies of the power of God breaking out salvation. Kids lives being changed forever in a moment. Physical healings, the Lord moving in powerful ways in this camp and so many other things like it are only possible because of the faithful giving that we receive week in and week out here at Radiant Church. I just want to thank you all for believing in your faith to the degree that you are investing in the next generation here at Radiant Church. So, as we give today, let's give in faith, let's give in worship and believe that God is going to take this seed and he's going to use it to build the church in the next generation. So, Lord, we love you today. We thank you. Holy Spirit, we ask God, as we worship you with our tithe and our offering today, God, as we worship you with the first fruits of our lives, we ask that you would take it and you would use it to build your kingdom. God, we don't want to just worship you in word but we want to worship you in sacrifice to worship you in a way that costs us. So, God, we give of ourselves financially sacrificially today believing that you will take it and you will build your kingdom in the next generation. We love you in Jesus' name, amen. One, welcome to Radiant. My name's Jackie and this is Radiant News. Our Be Radiant class is taking place next Sunday and if this is your first time here or you've been attending for a long time and you want to get involved and learn more about Radiant, we encourage you to sign up. Learn more and register today at Radiant.Church slash weekend. God desires that every home be an altar of worship and prayer. From August 22nd through 28th, we're consecrating ourselves and focusing on praying for families, establishing home altars and sending the next generation out and into a new school year as bold witnesses of Jesus. Whether you're a family with small children, a teenager, a college student, or a grandparent, you're invited to partner with what God is doing inside the Radiant family. Learn more about these special seven days at Radiant.Church slash weekend. Radiant Church, we are so excited to share that one of our global partners, Rick Renner, will be joining us on August 14th to speak at our weekend services. Rick and his wife, Denise, are dedicated to taking the gospel to the nations of the world that are formally dominated by the Soviet Union. Their ministry has a radio broadcast reaching thousands including many in countries that are close to the gospel and he has planted churches across the nation. It's going to be amazing so make sure you join us. You can find all this information and more at Radiant.Church slash weekend. That's it for us. Thanks for following along. Hey good morning Radiant Church. Good to be with you. My name is John. I'm the campus pastor here in Richland. I want to say hello to those online. If you're joining us, I feel like if you're joining us from Portage, I don't know how good the cameras are but I just want to say I was involved in baptisms this morning at this service and maybe tan pants weren't my best idea. I think I'm dry now but just in case I just want you to be aware there's a holy reason that my attire, I also took a right hook from from Andrew but that's okay. You guys missed all that so anyway anyway it's awesome to have baptisms at both campuses and to see how God's moving and work. I want to highlight just a couple things besides that. Important things. First our Be Radiant class as you heard is next Sunday night and so again if you're new to Radiant or you're like, hey I've been coming I want to get plugged in I want to learn more about the church or how to be involved. I want to encourage you either talk to someone in the lobby at either location or go to the website because we'd love to have you. It's at evening we feed you dinner we have child care we have hopefully as many things to to make it as easy as possible for you to come we'd love and if you come to the class it doesn't mean you're a member you're not like committing to anything it's just an opportunity for you to learn more about the church. I also want to say that next week our fearless leader, Pastor Lee Cummings will be back in the pulpit so that's a good thing as well he's had some time off yeah in July I'll tell him that seven of you clapped I'm writing down names it's fine just kidding so anyway there's good things happening and you'll hear more about Seek and Send as well so if you brought your bibles I'm going to encourage you to turn to the book of Acts and we're not going to read quite yet but chapter 19 I'm just going to give a quick recap last week Pastor Tim gave an amazing message what what acts is showing us is how the apostle Paul and other members and leaders of the early church are going and communicating the gospel to both Jews Greeks and Gentiles of Jesus Christ and we're seeing the birth of the church we're seeing the kingdom of God activated and and so in all of these journeys and all of these destinations Paul has committed his life to the pouring out of everything he has for the gospel and so in Acts chapter 17 Pastor Tim last week did a great job talking about Paul in Athens and in let's say a a city of idolatry a city of philosophers and Paul begins to just speak truth to them but the beauty as a pastor Tim highlighted is he didn't come down like a hammer he didn't condemn them he listened he humbled himself he he chose to to try to understand instead of be understood and it paved a way for for him to communicate the gospel and the bible says some people were saved as always is the case though some people also mocked him and some people discredited him like even the apostle Paul did not have a hundred percent you know he didn't bat a thousand when he presented the gospel but he did it fearlessly and he did it in faith and people were impacted and in those people began to be discipled so that they could go to places and and communicate the love of Jesus so that happened in Acts chapter 17 then in Acts 18 which were skipping were introduced to Priscilla and Aquila which is an amazing couple they're they're pretty obscure in the new testament but they were powerfully used by God in the first century church they were a huge part of Paul's ministry we actually did a message a couple summers I think ago in our hero series about Priscilla and Aquila so I would encourage you to watch that maybe read about them but now we're in chapter 19 of Acts and Paul is is in Ephesus and Ephesus is a city that is very prominent it's a very cosmopolitan large city probably second in size and importance only to Rome at this time it's a trade city there's lots of affluence money and it is the center for the temple of a hunter goddess named Artemis well Artemis if you're Greek if you're Roman they were Michael Jackson fans and they called her dirty Diana but either way sorry someone asked me how many jokes that we're going to be and I just said bro you keep track of the funny ones and it will be low and then we'll connect afterwards anyway Diana is a goddess that was hugely a part of the culture both economically and religiously in the city of Ephesus they were big into sorcery big into magic and this wasn't just like a little teeny shack they made this was like one of the seven wonders of the world at the time this temple to Diana and it it basically impacted and touched every single part of the city so I just want to tell you that as we're reading into Acts chapter 19 and as we're reading into Paul's encounter there and I'm going to skip the first couple verses but let's just say Paul comes in hot uh to Ephesus he runs into some guys some people and he asks them hey have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit and they said I don't know didn't even know there was a Holy Spirit well where do you baptize it we're baptized by John the baptism and Paul's like okay come here praise for them to receive the Holy Spirit they're speaking in tongues and prophesying he takes them with them come on boys we're going downtown all right that's where we're going to pick up Acts 19 verse 8 and it says this and he Paul at this point went into the synagogue and he spoke boldly for three months reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God but when some were hardened and not believed but spoke evil the way before the multitude he departed from them and the drew the disciples reasoning daily in the school of tyrannous and this continued for two years so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus both Jews and Greeks verse 11 now God worked unusual miracles by the hand of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirit saying we exercise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches and then there were seven sons of Siva Jewish priests who did this also and the evil spirit said to them Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you then the man with whom the evil spirit was leaped on them overpowered them and prevailed against them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded just became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus and fear fell on them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified and many would believe came confessing and telling their deeds also many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the site of all and they counted up the value of them and it totaled 50 thousand pieces of silver underlying verse 20 in your bible so the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed father we ask that in these next few moments you by the holy spirit would edify your word illuminate your word god bring the truth of your word into our hearts into our minds and into our lives we welcome right now the work of the holy spirit in Jesus name and everyone said amen okay so I just read a lot a lot is happening in chapter 19 that's a theme in the book of acts uh many things go on but like I said Paul comes in boom he's praying for people to receive the holy spirit then you have uh some pretty unusual miracles uh handkerchiefs and things that are healing sick people that's that's different then there's like a crazy demonic encounter with the sons of siva and then there's a friday night book burning party uh at at the end so all of this is happening in chapter 19 and and we're gonna unpack it in the few moments that we have to the best of my ability but verse 20 is where I want us to just focus for a moment as we start this message which I've entitled the true marks of revival the true marks of revival look at verse 20 so all of these things are happening and and they're even even by book of act standards they're pretty wild but verse 20 sums it all up like this is the result of what happened this is what took place the word of the lord grew mightily and prevailed that that sentence that verse that statement really encapsulates something that took place in the city of Ephesus that we would call revival like that's what happened so this idea of the word of god growing the the you know influence of Jesus being magnified a revival took place in the city of Ephesus and so instantly in Christian circles especially when you hear the word revival or when someone says revival everybody kind of has a different spectrum for what that means everybody has sort of maybe a different thought process or maybe some in here we've never even heard of it among you know Christian circles or maybe you're have heard awakenings or outpourings or revivals or something then and you just don't know what it means and then some people have maybe a negative even connotation of of what revival means so I want to hopefully shed some light first of all before we talk through what happened in Ephesus on what revival scripturally and biblically really is I'm going to give you a definition from Charles Finney who's a great revivalist from the second grade awakening he called it this an extraordinary move of the Holy Spirit producing extraordinary kingdom results like revival it includes some things almost universally the salvation of sinners people coming to the Lord the return of the church from backsliding is a sign of revival many times miracles taking place prayer and worship are staples of revivals but ultimately the fruit of it as verse 20 says is the word of the Lord growing mightily and prevailing like God's way God's word God's kingdom is overcoming darkness it's overcoming what's taking place in culture around you and people are encountering the love of God the power of God they're having their minds renewed to the truth of God true disciples are being made all of these are miracles are taking place all of these are byproducts of what happened in Acts chapter 19 and also what we would describe as revival that takes place in certain regions and in certain areas and throughout history and so again I don't have time to unpack and I'm probably not qualified every single revival that's taking place but but I'm just going to tell you it is incredible if you read the history of like the first great awakening with the John Wesley's and the George Whitfields the things that that took place Charles Finney later in the 18th century there was a revival and I and when I say that I mean like insane impact for the kingdom of God people coming to Jesus people repenting miracles taking place and then you have the Welsh revival that in Wales that may have been the most far-reaching revival that's ever taken place it traveled to other continents it some church historians believe what we see today in churches mega churches missions is a result of of what happened in Wales in the 19th century and so there's this crazy history involved I was reading one story which I thought was interesting and they said that coal production went down significantly during the Welsh revival and people cannot figure out like why would that happen you know people are coming to Lord what's what's that about well they discovered that these coal miners and no offense if you're a coal miner but they had a pretty rough you know kind of vernacular rough language that they use and so they would send in these like little ponies into the caves into the mines to bring out the coal and they would swear at them like that's all they would do is use profanity towards these little horses right and then they all got saved and so they stopped swearing and the horses literally didn't obey anything that they were saying like they didn't understand please and thank you they only understood like if you swore at them and the horse wrote well I'm not moving until you literally cuss at me and so like they had to retrain them and again I wasn't there I don't know if it's true but I thought it was amazing like that's the the level of impact that's that's happening and then I mean again you just step into these insane like the Moravian Prayer Movement in Germany a hundred years of consistent prayer every day prayer you've got you know Zuzestri with Amy Semple McPherson and William Seymour like these things really happened where God just used ordinary people and and and supernaturally moved you've got the the Jeremy Lanfeer in the Fulton Street prayer meeting a businessman who just shows up for prayer in New York City and they're like at late 1800s and only six people show up he's not discouraged hey we're gonna pray in six months 10,000 businessmen are praying for an hour from noon and then I shared on social media like it impacted a church in Kalamazoo with an incredible story of salvation and revival so and then more recently even you have the Brownsville revival you have the the Pensacola outpouring if Toronto you have these unique expressions of revival where God moves supernaturally and each one's a little different each one has a different emphasis but they're all centered around prayer worship confession repentance and pressing into this presence of God like all of them have these different so I say that to say first of all we should as Christians just be aware of some of the significant moves of God that have happened but also I know that like in the second grade awakening something called camp meetings started taking place where an evangelist would show up they'd say hey we're going to have revival tonight and people would show up and then they would worship pray someone would preach and then things would happen miracles would take place cities would be transformed and I'm not minimizing that I think the intentionality of what they did moved the heart of God and he met them where they were but what that kind of did is it carried over and now a lot of people and I won't have you raise your hand well maybe just portage I'm just going to have you raise your hand think that that's what revival is okay that it's just this tent and it's a meeting and someone shows up and then we just have a church service in fact I googled revival sometimes googled man I just seem like it's amazing I'm just going to share this with you how to have revival I think is what I googled and they literally this is what it said it gave you a list number one choose a date for the revival number two book a guest speaker for the revival three arrange a meeting place four promote the revival five write out the schedule of events for the revival so again that's not revival revival happens supernaturally and God is in control of it and God does what God wants to do but I will say what we see in acts and what we have seen in history is there are some components there are some atmospheres that revival thrives in and that are a catalyst for revival and that's what I want to share this morning is what are the true marks of revival and I'm not minimizing what God did in camp meetings and tent meetings I'm saying there is something from that and in that that is deeper and that is more connected to really what revival can and should look like today so that's what we're going to talk about and you may be here and be like I don't know man John I've heard stories about that and I think revivals are kind of weird people crying and weeping and maybe out of control and this is look here's what I'm gonna say I'm not advocating for weirdness at all but I'm gonna say when God shows up not everything is normal not everything is structured not everything goes exactly as planned and so sometimes as Americans we want this like neat clean church service or okay this is gonna happen no that's gonna happen and and then I you know I want to feel better about myself go home and watch the lions lose like that's my Sunday ritual and and I'm just gonna say and then you might need the the the Google list for for what you think revival is because at the end of the day you look in in in history and when God shows up anything can happen when God showed up on Mount Sinai and Exodus chapter 20 there were thunders and lightnings and clouds of smoke and there was just a a awe of the presence of God when Moses went up on the moon how do you know he came back down and his whole head glowed in the dark like you you don't know what's gonna happen when when when God shows up you have John in in Revelation chapter one he sees eyes like fire hair like wool he sees him who sits on the throne he falls over dead like a dead man and the angel has to be like okay get up bro you're gonna be all right and and so I just want to challenge us about hey let's believe God for something and let's have a heart that says God we want you to move in our day like you moved in the past God will you do it again and let's not get so comfortable in what we've kind of boxed in the potential for revival to be that we're not willing to really ask God in faith for something that may be that is supernatural it may not look exactly how we want it to look I'm just gonna say to you revival is not going to be clean revival is messy if we see revival in our city in Kalamazoo it is not going to be this neat clean like homeless people aren't gonna show up with a suit on ready to tithe and join a group like that's not how it's gonna happen there's gonna be a lot of discipling a lot of ministering a lot of call it messes that are gonna have to be cleaned up and that's happened throughout history and revival so I'm gonna give us four things that I believe are keys to seeing God move in revival and this is not an exhaustive list it's not like this is the only list it's not like I came up with the list I'm taking out of acts chapter 19 and and I believe it's gonna hopefully be helpful so first component for revival is this a person or people who recognize the need for revival who recognize and are willing to pray and press in and believe God for what God wants to do act 17 verse 16 we see Paul he's sitting in Athens and it says his spirit is like vexed he's provoked in his spirit why because all he sees is idolatry all he sees is idol worship and what does it do it creates in him a desire to preach the word a desire to intercede a desire not to just stand on a soapbox and say Athens you're going to hell in a handbag and this is your own fault no something awoke inside of him to pray and to press in and to believe God for what could happen and that is all throughout history look at David David shows up remember all of the Israel the army was quaking and shivering and scared of the Philistines and Goliath and David who knew God and it spent time with God what happened he showed up and he was like what's happening here what why is everyone who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God something rose up in David and said this isn't right this isn't good you have Esther who was married to the king and she was going to be fine she was Jewish but she was going to be fine but Mordecai had had gotten a law to be passed that all of the Jews were going to be killed and she could have been like look that's terrible but hey at least I'm going to be okay no she said no maybe it's for such a time as this that I've been raised up and she was willing to risk her life to go into the kings quarters and present what she knew could be a dramatic reversal for her people like that's what revival that's where it starts Nehemiah he hears reports that his city Jerusalem is in ruins and the people are in despair and he's thousands of miles away comfortable living as a cupbearer for the king but what happens is heart breaks and he's just and he weeps and the king's like what's the matter with you and he has to tell him look my people so there's something that has to happen in the heart of people and in the heart of the church for revival to take place and I'm just going to say this and it came through when I was praying and it's pretty strong but I'm going to say it anyways the greatest enemy of revival it's not culture it's not politics not other religions it's not even the devil the greatest enemy of revival is apathy it's apathy it's it's when gods people are unconcerned and unengaged and what's happening around them and we just look at it and maybe we're vexed a little maybe we're upset maybe we hide our our head in the sand or maybe we stand and and say yeah it's their problem yeah they're dark we're light yeah they're never gonna get it right and and instead of God break my heart for what breaks yours God give me a heart God I want to see you move in my day like you've moved no I want to see salvation come to my city restoration come to my city young people joining their heart to yours like that's what it takes but we have but we're inundated with so many other things and we're distracted and we're like I don't know it seems impossible it's so hard listen a heart after what God wants and a heart for prayer to say God you've done it before do it again praying the scriptures prophesying to our city it's what we do 15 times a week at 210 farmers alley as we pray we worship and we speak truth over the church and over our city and we prophesy to it and that is the first ingredient that's needed in revival number two it's faithful preaching of God's word look what it says in verse eight and Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months so three months in Ephesus he's able to speak every day in the synagogue and this is like a world record for him usually he gets thrown out usually he gets thrown in jail usually he gets flogged way before that but it did happen so he was persuading he was reasoning and then some of them again hardened didn't want to believe spoke evil so he was like okay we're out and he found somebody else a teacher tyrantess which means tyrant how many of you had a third grade teacher that's name could have been tyrant okay yeah how did you sorry Mrs. Noel love you all right hey and he was like can I borrow your classroom and he began to teach there for two years he faithfully proclaimed the word of God and that is the key where God's word is preached two things always happen people respond in faith people respond with a heart that says I need that that's for me God's for me or people respond rejecting it and minimizing it but the word of God has to be preached it has to be proclaimed and when it is anything is possible listen what it says in verse 10 and this continued for two years all who dwelled in Asia ended up hearing the word of Lord Jesus both Jews and Greeks and listen this is where you guys come in because this wasn't just Paul Paul wasn't the only one who went out into Asia no he was already making disciples he was already pouring into other people and they went out into their workplace and their sphere of influence their schools and they began to speak the word of Jesus and soon all of Asia heard and that's why in Ephesians 4 Paul wrote the five-fold ministry that the teachers evangelists pastors prophets they're not just to do the work they're to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry and that's what Paul understood and that's what we need today like one person Pastor Lee no Billy Graham Reinhardt Bonke they've all done amazing things but it's not one person it's everybody recognizing the word of God is true I am an ambassador for Christ and everywhere I go I carry the glory of the Lord and people need to hear so the faithful preaching of the gospel is a component to revival the third thing that we see are miracles miracle signs and wonders I'm going to start by just saying God still does miracles God still supernaturally moves in situations every single time somebody says yes to Jesus and is transferred from darkness in the kingdom of light and is eternally secured in heaven instead of hell you better believe that is a miracle and it takes place all over the world praise God so let's not just see miracles as these insane my leg grew back although those things happen and there's signs and wonders are meant to solidify or accompany the word of God Jesus being faithfully preached and so what we see here is I love verse 11 Luke the author is like now God worked unusual miracles like I know there's some standard miracles to me it's like if it's a miracle isn't it supposed to be unusual but even Luke was saying no these were like off the deep end crazy even by book of acts standards and he says so handkerchiefs and aprons were being used to heal people and if you look into it a little deeper a handkerchief is really like a sweatband or like a sweat towel like maybe he's preaching and he throws it on the ground or maybe they broke into the locker room and stole his sweatbands I don't know but but they took these things apron would have been protecting him from you know as a tent maker as a worker you would wear just something to protect your clothes and they were taking these and they were using them to heal people and again remember we're in emphasis we're like magic and sorcery is a big deal it's very prominent and so I imagine if you ask Paul like hey Paul what do you think about your sweatbands being used to like heal people I think he would say hey as long as the glory is going to Jesus praise God as long as people know it's not this sweatband it's not me it's the power and glory of God on display then I'm all for it and so what I think we have to realize is yes we should believe for miracles I want to see more miracles I believe that as we enter into this age of doubt and of you know science and of everything can be reasoned I think miracles are going to be a massive part of evangelizing the world and the future but I also think as we often do in American circles we tend to take things and and try to monetize them try to make them like the standard so what you don't see again you see a woman with the issue of blood touching a garment being healed you see Peter's shadow like there's some instances of some things but what you don't see is Paul going okay here's what we're going to do we're going to set up a sweatshop band sweatband shop oops sorry and I'm going to sign them I'm going to sign a few aprons and I'm going to give those out and we're going to we're going to really make this thing cool it's going to work like you don't see that but but oh man should I do that you watch some Christian television listen I'm not condemning all Christians but television but sometimes I'm just like this this is not the gospel if the apostle Paul showed up he'd be like what what is this this though that's the God no that's not the gospel because you got somebody on there saying and if you call now you're gonna get this prayer cloth dipped in the very Jordan River where Jesus was baptized and then you got some guy in the back with a rag and aquafina going okay we're gonna mail this thing out like like don't do that don't buy those this this piece of rock came from my backyard probably like for real so we can't get caught up in this oh man this is like God does things in certain areas and God moves in ways we don't expect but but let's not try to monopolize that and and you don't see that in scriptures what I'm trying to tell us so so again do I want to believe for miracles for sure do I want to see more do I want to have faith for healings and restorations and and all the things that we see in the book of acts absolutely but but there is context for it and and sometimes we we get out of wax so that's all I'm gonna say about that but then you move on and you have this insane encounter with a demonic man and this I want I don't know if it's a miracle but I'm going to say this it is the catalyst for what we see in the rest of this chapter and in the revival that happens in Ephesus so you've got Paul remember in Acts 16 there was that slave girl who was had the spirit of divinity and and she was following them around saying things and Paul was like in the name of Jesus come out of her and she was healed and you know guys who were trafficking her and making money off of her were upset about it so we we have context for Paul using the name of Jesus to exercise demons from people and so now the Jewish remember we're entrenched in sorcery and magic so they're even the Jewish people are picking up on this like we want to do exorcisms too so they have a a tenor Jewish exorcist I mean that's a crazy business card here I want to tell you about what I do and and they're doing it too right and then there's a Jewish leader whose name is Siva and he has sons and they're like you know what we're about to try our hand in this and everybody else is doing it so they go up to somebody and they say and the name of that Paul preaches come out and and the demon turns on him the guy and he says look I know Jesus and I know Paul who are you and they're like oh again in the name of Paul and and what happened they turns on him he's beaten they're stripped naked like they're overpowered and overwhelmed and the Bible says looking in verse 17 when that happened this became known to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus and fear fell on them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified here's what happened in a city that was dominated by Deanna and worship of idols it just became this phrase just became this oh in the name of oh in the name of Paul oh I'm gonna I'm gonna use this incantation or this chant you know something they were used to and what happened is the name of Jesus became the only name that's greater than the name of Deanna that's greater than the name of the idols we worship and suddenly we're not using the name of Jesus just flippantly anymore and we're not we're not using it without relationship because look what happens when you do but when someone like Paul or someone like Peter steps in and uses the name of Jesus there is power and there is freedom and there is breaking of bondages and people recognize that and fear the fear of the Lord not like I'm scared but like this reverence and awe for the name of Jesus for the power of Jesus took place and that was the catalyst for what took place next and so God magnified the name of Jesus above any other name above any other idol in that moment and it impacted the people and this is the fourth part of revival is you have genuine repentance it says the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified and look at verse 18 and many who had believed meaning they're Christians came confessing and telling their deeds also many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all and they counted up the value of them and it totaled 50,000 pieces of silver something miraculous happened as a result of the sons of Siva and what they attempted to do conviction fell on the church like wow this is this is serious what we're part of is is not a joke this is not just a a thing we're doing no there is power and and there is something supernatural like beyond what we're used to seeing that's happening here and out of that it says believers decided like they came to their own volition to say I need to confess some things I need to give Jesus my whole heart in fact again magic and sorcery was so common that even believers included it in their lives like a lot of Christians still had magic books and still had spells or still had crystals or still had whatever you know the the god of Deanna was worshiped with and they brought it all out and they said right now we are giving God all our heart all our soul all our mind all our strength and they began to burn the book so again we don't take this as you know what this Friday radiant church we're having a book burning party you know so you know you don't see that again and you don't see Paul going hey hey I know some of you are still doing that stuff get your books out here I got a lighter we're gonna it was the conviction of the Lord on the church where they said I want God to be everything I want this God to be a reality in my life and I don't want to have mixture of the things of culture mixture of the things of this mixture of the temple of Deanna I want Jesus to have my all and be my all and they out of their own volition out of their own heart began to repent and began to say God purify us God give us a united heart to fear your name God we don't want to be divided people we don't have one foot in the world and one foot in Christianity and something miraculous took place and it was demonstrated through genuine repentance of believers sometimes you read this like yeah all those those you know warlocks and wizards and they're finally being brought to justice no this is people who believed in God and as I was praying this week I just felt like the Lord wants to do a work in us as a church a refining in us as believers because it's easy it's easy to get the world and what it stands for mixed in to our Christianity and into our walk with Jesus and it looks different ways for different people but it's easy sometimes you know what I'm not that bad sure I got some issues but at least I'm not as bad as those people or I'm not as bad as that group and we justify some of our behavior we justify some of our habits oh it's just you know it's just pornography it's not like I'm I'm really cheating or it's just my taxes like the government doesn't really need my money or it's just you know this this thing or that thing and we begin as as even Christians to just allow it creeps in and I don't want this to become a oh I'm so guilty I'm so bro I'm so no God is faithful and just 1 John 1 9 to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness but revival begins in the house of God revival begins in the house of prayer there is no revival that takes place without prayer there is no revival that takes place without worship without God being magnified but it's in that moment it's it's the overflow of the heart of God and love of God that leads us to a place where we say God I don't want these things in my life Psalm 16 11 says in your presence there is fullness of joy and at your right hand our pleasures forever more the pleasures of this world the pleasures of sin they're fleeting they don't satisfy they're not a river we can drink from without being thirsty again instead I want the fountain of life to be my only source that's what happened in Ephesus and people came forward and there was genuine repentance there was a move of God that took place and verse 20 is the result the word of the Lord grew mightily and it prevailed revival is not some abstract thing that God did 200 years ago it's not something that's confined to the bible times I believe and I this is not hyperbole or pastor talk right now we're on the cusp of the greatest revival the world has ever seen I believe that because it's already happening it's happening in the underground church in China it's happening in Iran it's happening in Latin American countries already we're seeing incredible testimonies of God moving of God's power of the church coming together in unity and repentance and I believe God is crying out who will stand in the gap in the church of America who will pray who will believe me for revival who will say God your ways are higher your ways are greater who will press into the place of prayer and say God you've done it before will you do it will you do it again that's what I believe God is asking us this morning I'm asking if you would stand and if you'd not just want to pray with us just for a moment I don't want anyone to leave if you don't have to because I want this to be a tender moment between you and the Lord and I know we're in church and maybe what can happen at home can't happen here but I believe there is an environment for the purifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives just as believers no condemnation no guilt, no shame, no hanging our heads I'm terrible but a recognition of that Matthew 22 mandate what's the greatest commandment Jesus said love the Lord your God well how do I do that with all your heart with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength I just want to ask us what are some things that the Holy Spirit is highlighting that have mixed their way stumbling block for what God wants to do it's not always sin it's not always you know we think drugs and alcohol it's not always that it could be a relationship it could be a person you need to forgive it could be a lie that someone told over you but I just want you to ask right now just ask the Holy Spirit who is that what does that look like what are you asking me to do Titus 211 says he appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and saying no to worldly loss we are to live soberly and righteously and holy in this present age that's the call of a Christian it's just some things we say no to we say yes to Jesus it's his strength not ours but just right now ask the Holy Spirit eyes closed Father we commit all that we are to you God we are dark but you say we're lovely we are broken but you are the potter you put us back together you're not asking for perfection you're asking for humble and contrite hearts and say God I want all of me to be all of yours and I just pray that right now as a church we would surrender we would break apathy complacency in our lives in our families that you would come even now like a rushing wind you would come even now with your grace your spirit your heart for us we are your people the sheep of your pastor you are the shepherd God lead us and guide us and God what we've seen in years past those are not just historical events those are not just things that we somehow think back on with fond memories no they are signposts and they are markers for what you want to do in the United States of America and I declare right now that the spirit of God would sweep across our nation like waters cover the sea that the glory of the Lord the greater one who lives in us than he was in the world would be magnified and would be exalted and that the word of the Lord would grow mightily and prevail in the United States of America in North America in the nations of the world God you are the only one worthy and so God with our lives we surrender with our hearts we say use us God how can we partner with you in seeing your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven we thank you in Jesus name amen amen I'm ask our prayer team if they would to come forward and here's how I want to just dismiss if you need ministry prayer if the Holy Spirit's highlighting some things in your heart in your life we want an opportunity to pray with you and this is what we do at radiant church is we believe God moves when we pray and so everyone's going to be going that way and just want to say maybe wait a few moments come forward let us believe God with you for he wants to do in your life and in your family and remember when you leave here you're not leaving the church you're leaving us the church sons and daughters living God go be salt and light to the world around you God bless you you're dismissed