 Good morning and welcome to our second course on VC201 Christian History and Machines. So we were no study about the course notes that we would be using for these courses on revivals, visitations, and the notes I've got from APC Publication. I've also uploaded these notes on our Google Stream request. Each of you to please download and make use of these notes and for e-learning students we have uploaded this notes on the content request you to please download the same notes. Well, let's talk about last what is revival? What does revival mean to you? Well, Robert Goldsmith says the awakening or the quickening of God's people to the true nature of purpose is what revival means. And Charles Finney says the return of the church from a back flight is and the conversion of sinners and Richard Owen Robert says an extraordinary moment we've only spent producing extraordinary results. So each person according to their expression according to the experience what they have with Holy Spirit is what they reveal to them. So revival according to why it's what. So more revival means making alive again those of them alive but I've fallen into what is called a cold or a dead state and they are Christians and have a life but they need to be revived to bring them back to the first love and so what happens that revival people encounter God in a supernatural way in a very tangible way. So what happens during revival? Revival brings something that is dead back to life. So we see that so every visitation of God should become the habitation of God. Every visitation of God should become the habitation of God. So we need to seek God in our daily life more of God more of friend in our life. So when we seek God we see that God will enable himself will reveal himself to us. The more of God results in a magic of missions and fulfilling a great commission. So what happens there's a community, there's a church or there's a person when the experience in revival there's a leaders in the world. People carry the fire from one place to the other and you see the great commission so when we look at the church history we have this understanding that helps us correctly independent of present and prepare for future. So what we need to draw is be inspired, carry the insight, carry the lesson from our history, from the early church and see how we can apply just give me a minute, I'll just raise the headset for a clear voice. Thank you. Sorry. So I think now it's clear. So we read in James chapter seven James chapter five verse seven to eight we see that the latter rain falls just before the harvest. So it says therefore be patient brethren until the coming of the Lord. See how the former farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and the latter rain. You also be patient establish your heart for the coming of the Lord is at hand. So we see the context here. We see that the early rain where showers that usually comes during the season of October to during the month of October to November and it prepares the ground for the seed. The latter rain falls during the month of March to April which is actually necessary which helps the crops to be ripened before the harvest. So if we believe God is preparing for a mighty end time outpouring a great visitation or an end gathering of the harvest before it's written and we must get ourselves our congregations, our people ready for the latter rain of the Holy Spirit. So we need to come into His presence asking God fill me with your Holy Spirit. Lead me even as you prepare yourself to minister. Let this be your prayer Lord. I submit myself. I pray that you fill in me and you minister in and through me. I pray that you will prepare me for a greater revival. Let me be that vessel, a vessel that carries your presence, a vessel that helps to carry your revival, the passion. We need to be the carrier of His presence. So we trust that during this course we will see to it that we will grow in the passion of God. We will grow in the love of God. The fire of revival will ignite us. There would be a desire that will burn in and through us that we may be that person whom God can use to bring a revival in and through us to different city and nation. So we need to seek more of God. We need to allow God to work in and through us. We need to be the person who's available for God. We need to be just ready for Him. As God is seeking, who's available that I can use, just as like how Isaiah said, Here I am, Lord, use me. We need to be that person who can step out, who can step out and be that person, who can be the person who carries the God's presence, will be the person who will carry the fire of revival. Encounter God in a true way and be that person who can share the gospel to others. So there should be this earnest quest within us. So when we talk about praying or pursuing God or pressing on for the revival, we need to be prepared for that. We need to have, you know, we need to expand us and expand us, but it doesn't spend more time in the word, more time in praying, where we will have an encounter with God, where there'll be a visitation of God, where there'll be a more of God in and through us. Sometimes we need to question ourselves, are we in that place? So when we have a check, we know on certain areas that we need to work on and ask God to give us the grace that we will be there. So Duncan Campbell says, he was a man who was used by God in the revival in the Hebrides Island of Scotland in round 1949 to 1952. Well, he captured the sense of revival with these words, saying, revival is a community saturated with God. I repeat, revival is a community saturated with God. So what happens in revival? There's a pursuit, there's a passion, which is seeking for more of God. There's an earnest thirst. Lord, I need you more. The more we thirst, the more we have this passion within us, a quest within us, we see that God filling us with this power, God saturating us with the spirit, which will be an overflowing within us. Low angle says revival is God's arrival. Revival is God's arrival. So that's when I guess we can experience more of God. It will be more of God. The expression of God will become so tangible, just not to one person, but to the body of Christ. That's what we see the revival. Everyone are being filled with the presence of God. They're able to experience the tangible presence of God. You see the manifestation of the power of God where the sick has been healed, there's deliverance, there's conviction of sin in people. Why? Because the manifestation of God is a presence of God. So we see that God has made himself available to us in the state of His Word. He has promised us that He will be with us, He will dwell among us, He will move among us people. So there is always more of God that we can experience in our day to day life the more we seek Him. There's more encountering newness in Him. That's why Moses was never satisfied with the encounters that he had with God. You always ask God, I need more of you. I need more of you. I think even we should come to that state of seeking God and asking God, I need more of you in my daily life, in my daily spiritual growth. I need more of you. Reveal yourself more in me. When we seek more of God, what happens? There's a change in our inner being. There's a change in our spirit person. We are no more like what we were before, but we are leading a life that is Christ likeness where we see the expression of God has become a norm within us. We try to lead our life that pleases God. That's how, that's what happens in revival. Our sin has been revived and He's been revived again within Him. You see the same urge in the psalmist, Psalm 856 says, will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you. That's a cry of the psalmist. Today, you and I can ask this to ourselves. Can we, do we have this kind of urge within us asking God, can you revive me again? Make it personal. Let's make it personal. God, can you revive me again? So that I may rejoice in you. So Psalms 85 must have been written after the Babylonian captivity when the Jews returned to Jerusalem from Babylon. So here we have a prayer. We see there's a cry for revival, a cry to see things back to normal in the way it should be. So revival simply means bringing back something to life, to breathe life into something or to bring it back to the original state where it had to be. That's what revival means. So we see during the early church in the, in the book of Acts, we see the seasons of revival. Acts three, verse 19, we see that repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. So what is this? So that the times, times it talks about the kairos moment, the kairos season, a time of refreshing. So once we repent, what happens? People are being convicted of they sin. There is a transformation within this forgiveness of sins. There's the transformation of heart is enabling them to forgive others. How there's a grace of God that comes upon them is enabling them to do that. So we are now positioned to receive into the season of newness, season of refreshing the presence of the Lord. We must understand that season usually starts and attends. So always remember that the revival starts and they would be an end. But we need to see how the season of revival can impact how the visitation of God can change people, change city, change the nation. So yes, in revival, we see that God visits these people in a very unusual manner above and beyond that we could normally experience. That's not the way. But in revival, it happens. People get attracted. People come to that place. Why? To experience the power of God. The presence of God attracts people and brings them to the conviction, to the knowledge of Christ. So in one Corinthians chapter five verse four, we read that in the name of a Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together along with my spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. We also do know that we can be very level of the power of the manifestation of God. So we need to know that the spirit of God dwells in us dwells in each believer when we accept Jesus as a Lord and savior. But the way the spirit of the Lord moves and works in and through us as a varying level, different level God manifest how depending on the relationship, depending on the fellowship that we have with Christ. So in a time of revival, there would be a great outpouring. There would be the manifestation power of God, which is so tangible among the people. So people will start experiencing a great power. So that's what we see in the book of Acts chapter four verse 33 that it says, the great power apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Great grace was upon them all. What happened here? And Acts 5 also gives us a glimpse of that great power. So what is a great power? What happened in that season? We saw the early church sudden burst the power of God where people encountered God. There was a season of revival where Peter's shadow brought healing and deliverance to people. The disciples with the carrier of the presence of God, they moved in the power of God. So when God moves, you see the manifestation, you see the manifestation of God's glory, you see there's healing, there's deliverance, there's convicting of sin, people receiving Jesus as the Lord and Saviour. People have been enabled to understand different languages. What happens? There's always a season of revival that can lift us to a new relic. So our journey with the Lord, our spiritual journey is where we can move from glory to glory, faith to faith and strength to strength in the Lord. So what happens in revival? There'll be a great outpouring. So what are the things that we can witness in a revival? The signs that we see that impacted the people in the revival. We have listed, if you will just call it out. There would be a great revelation of God, revelation of who God is. So people who were not able to understand, who were not able to understand the revelation of who God is, now being able to understand. Suddenly they have been filled with the awe and wonder of God's holiness, his love, his greatness, his power. It's very overwhelming for them. And suddenly they have been convicted of their sinfulness, of their weakness, confessing in them, coming from the word God, you're awesome, you're so beautiful. There's a sudden conviction, there's a sudden revelation into them. Second, we see the revelation of spiritual truth and realities. People are able to understand the truth, they're able to know the truth. When we read the word, that which we didn't understand before is now, we're able to understand the words are just jumping up and giving us the clarity in our senses. We're able to understand the mystery of God that was told for his children. Not everyone can read the scripture and understand. No, God reveals his mystery only to his children. And we see that God revealing that mystery to his children. The third thing that happens with the revival is there's an increased passion, favor, zeal in God's people towards spiritual things. So there is an increased passion to pray, to read, to worship, spend time in the word. What happens when they do that? It leads to discipleship. It leads making them as a witness to the nation and to the nations. And here we see the missions have been birthed. People have been raised as leaders. People have been, I mean, they are able to get out of the comfort zone and go to what God wanted them to do. The fourth point, we see that an increasing and increased in gathering of the unseen. So those who do not know Jesus have been drawn into the kingdom like a magnet. So you see, even when we read the Gospels, we see wherever Jesus went, there was a huge crowd following Jesus. So we need to understand wherever the presence of God is, people get attracted just like the magnet. So when we in revival, people become the carrier of his presence. So when we pray, when we ask God, God revive me. He's also asked God, God fill me with more of your presence, that I may be carrier of your presence. So that you and dad can hear blessing to many. God will bring in people to you to minister to them where their lives can be changed, their lives can be impacted and where they can be a witness to the ends of the earth. Fifth point, we see there's an increase in supernatural manifestation, unusual, mighty wonders and miracles. So what happens? Unusual things happens naturally that which we don't expect, which we which cannot be explained. There's a supernatural manifestation of God in the presence of God. Anything can happen in the presence of God is there. It can be healing, miracles, deliverance, angelic visitation. We cannot put God in a box, but then things change. And then the sixth point is a powerful transformation of the society. So wherever the presence of God is, people have been transformed. Society has been transformed. Community has been transformed. There's no more robbery or there's no more evil things that was happening before. Everything has been uprooted from that city, from the nation, from that street. You see the righteousness of God, the truth of God prevail in that place. Last point, seventh, is an equipping and sending out of ministers and starting of the new ministries and mission, church planting and spreading of revival of fire happens. So in revival, you see the power of God, people cannot contain the power of God. It makes them to step out of the comfort zone, move out to where God is asking them to go and share the word, share that fire of revival. They will go to impact the world. That's how we have seen always. When there's a revival, we see people move out beyond their ability. That's what happened to the disciples. What happened? They were always so fearful. They gathered in the upper room and the sea got in the power of the Holy Spirit came upon them on the day of Pentecost. They could step out in boldness. They were fearful. They didn't have the courage to speak to anyone, but now they're speaking with boldness, with clarity, with a higher intellectual power. So how did all this happen? By the power of God, God manifests His power in and through the simple people. God can do that then. God can do it in and through us. And these disciples went out on great commission to different parts of the world. They were so fearless. They were so bold. They were so courage. They ministered the word of God, just not in theory or word, but then they ministered the word with a demonstration with the power of God been demonstrated in the ministry. So wherever they went, they birthed churches. We see how God, how one person, Apostle Paul, encountered Jesus on the way to Damascus. And this one person, with the revelation that he received from Christ, he wrote one third of the gospel and he impacted the world. He went on different missionary journeys. He planted many churches. He raised many leaders and impacted different people. And still, the New Testament that is written by him is impacting, bringing life to so many people, strengthening, raising leaders, ministering to each one. And it carries power. The word of God carries power to bring life to the dead. So we believers are been equipped and we need to ask God, God move and move in and through us that we can impact the world. Let this fire of revival be birthed in us so that we can be the carrier of this fire. We will be the carrier of the revival. So this time we take this time and ask God, God, let your presence become a habitation in us. We need more of you. Help us to be the dwelling place of your glory, of your presence. Let me press towards it. We see that God reveal himself in and through us. I feel this is the great need that we have to seek God and help us to step out in that moment where the spirit of the Lord can move in and through us. Change us. We can ask just like how the psalmist prayed in Psalm 75. Cry out, Lord, revive us. Revive me. Let's make it personal today. Lord, revive me even as I studied this course for next four months. Lord, let there be a revival in me so that I'm impacted. I'll be the carrier of your fire, carrier of your passion, carrier of your word, carrier of your presence. Let's take this time and pray and seek God. Father, we come in your presence in Jesus' name. I submit each of us in the class, Lord, into your hand. I pray that as each one look up to you, Lord, and cry out to you, saying that Lord, revive me. I pray that your Holy Spirit will become more real to them, Lord. Become more tangible to them, Father. Lord, I pray that as each student, each one of us, Lord, as we trust for more of you, we pray that you will reveal yourself to more of us. I pray that you will revive us, Lord. Revive us to be more like you. Revive us to do that extra mile so that we can work an extra mile more. To do as revives that we can come out of a comfort zone and do great and mighty things for your Father. Lord, we pray that, Lord, you will move in us. You will increase in us. You will strengthen us in our weakness. Lord, I pray that as each one search, search, I pray that they will find you in the place where they are of other. Let your presence become real. Let your presence become tangible. Let they experience the manifestation of God in their life of other so that they can increase in faith to faith. Strengths to strength and glory to glory. I ask this in the most precious name of Jesus, Amen. Thank you so much for joining in today's session. God bless. See you all in the next session. Thank you. God bless.