 Okay, that's good. Thank you Nina. Okay, so yesterday we looked at what we mean by a revival, what we mean by a visitation, what we mean by a move of God. So does anyone want to help us remember what we talked about? What do those three things mean? Anyone online you can take the mic and speak if you. So what do we mean by a revival? What do we mean by a visitation? Okay, a dead back to life. Okay, yes. So revival is bringing back something to life, that something that was dead, bringing it back to life. And then what do we mean by a visitation? Yeah, so where God meets us, where we are. So we understand the word visit, right? Someone comes to visit you. That's pretty much what a visitation is where God is coming, but he's coming in power. So it's more than the usual what we experience in services or our regular times of gathering and prayer. It's something where God comes in a much more powerful way. And then what we mean by a move of God. Online students y'all can also post in the chat if you would like. I have it open. So yeah, okay. So you want to say add anything else? Yeah. So a move of God is where he not only comes and we experience his presence, but then as we experience his presence, it impacts us so much that we then take it out into the community, into the society that we are in. And God moves through us impacting the lives of people around us and the regions around us. So yeah, those are the basic terms that we are looking at in this whole semester. And what are we pursuing in revival? What are we looking for when we pray for revival? What are we desiring really? Are we desiring to see like science miracles wonders? Is that what we are pursuing? What is it that we are going after when we pray for revival, when we are asking God for revival? Yeah. So what we are pursuing is God himself, right? It is when God comes that everything else is just an overflow of God's presence. So the our own lives being transformed, the science, the wonders, the miracles, the transformation in society is all just an overflow of God's presence. So and all of those things are amazing. But what we really want is God and who we really want is God. And so when we cry out for revival, we are hungering and thirsting for more of God. So with that small recap, we'll go into today's portion. So we look at today what happens when we experience revival. So we are basing all of this on stories from Acts, from the Book of Acts, right up to present day church history, where we've seen revivals, where we've seen God move in power, and what we've seen happen when God moves like that. These are just some general things that we can, general experiences that have happened so that when we are looking forward to revival, we know these are the things we can expect to happen. So the first thing is a great revelation of who God is. So it's being able to see God for who he is, seeing his power, seeing just how awesome he is. Now, although many of us may have been Christians for many years, we may have already experienced God in many wonderful ways. When this happens, when God comes in those situations, it's like a whole new revelation at a new realm of God's power, of God's glory. And simultaneously, when we see God's power and glory, we recognize our own sinfulness, our own weakness. And what a great contrast there is between God's holiness and our own sinfulness. So we see in Isaiah when he sees God in his temple, right? What is his response? Yeah, woe is me. So it's that you encounter the glory of God, and you recognize, like, what am I doing here? I have no business being in the presence of this holy God. And so that's what revival does. When you encounter God's glory, you also recognize your own sinfulness, your own unworthiness in that time. And then there is a greater revelation of spiritual truth. So a greater understanding of things we may have already known. We already may know about, say, God inviting us into the holy place, like we are welcome into God's presence. But understanding that in a much deeper way, because we've experienced it, and because God just opens our spiritualize in a new way. So the things we have known already will become much clearer. And then as we're reading God's word, there will be much more revelation in those times. There will be a greater desire to read God's word, a greater desire to know more of his truth. So that is another characteristic of revelation where people start to pursue a greater knowledge of God through his word. Then another one is an increased passion for spiritual things. So there's a increased desire to spend time in prayer, in worship, in fasting, in God's presence. If you look at many of these revivals, you'll just see that people stop, say for example, the most recent one was the Asbury University revival. So classes shut down because people wanted to be in God's presence. So in these times, there is that hunger and a greater desire for more of God, or more of the things of God. And so people start to make sacrifices to pray, to fast, to worship, to gather together as believers and spend time seeking God. And that often involves closing down of what we would normally be doing. So closing down of work, closing down of classes, whatever it involves. There's also an increase in the desire to go out and witness. So as we are experiencing God, there's also an increased desire to go out and share that with others. So there's more, more witnessing, more missions, more evangelism that happens as a result of that. And all of this happens without. So normally when we have events in church, what do we do? We send out a message to everyone on WhatsApp, multiple reminders, asking people to register. All of these things are like, we're really trying to get people to come. Obviously, we want people to come because we know it's going to be beneficial for them. But in these cases, you don't have to try. People will just come because they are drawn by the presence of God. They are drawn because they see that God is doing something. And you don't have to do anything. So lots of these revivals happened before there was any kind of formal way to make announcements. There's no social media. There's no ways to interact with people from different cities. But people were coming in from all over the place. How was that happening? It was because of obviously the news was spreading through people as people were impacted. It was going out. But also it's just the presence of God that starts to draw people. People can see that there is something happening there and they want to go. They're drawn to that place. And so it's like, you don't have to do anything. You just continue to pursue God and everyone else will join you in that. So that's another characteristic of revival. Another one is an increase in the number of people being saved. So there will be a greater number of people coming to faith. Obviously, there is more evangelism happening. There's more people going out and sharing the gospel. But there's also a greater impact with that sharing. So we're going to today look at the book of Acts and how it started there. But we see there when Peter preached in that first day, 3000 people who added to the church. So that kind of response to the gospel where people immediately experience the Holy Spirit. They are convicted and they respond in faith. Another one is seeing more signs, wonders and miracles like we talked about. So that is a natural outflow of God's presence being there. So when God is present and his glory is present among us, then the natural outflow is that the things of God begin to happen. So we can we see healing, we see miracles, we see things that God wants to do or God wants to break or God wants to heal, God wants to restore, whatever he wants to do in that time starts to happen miraculously. We see a powerful transformation of society. So this is what we talked about, a move of God. So it doesn't only impact the people who are gathered there who are worshiping. It also impacts the larger society. I'll just read to you a small excerpt from the Welsh revival. And there are multiple stories like this from different revivals where bars were closed down, where pubs were closed down because people didn't want to go and drink anymore. And even in places where a lot of alcohol was consumed, those kinds of things would happen because there was a revival happening. So I'm just going to read a small excerpt from the Welsh revival. It says, all over the country, testimonies of hardened souls receiving salvation and lives being changed with the talk of the town. The impact of the Lord's hand was noticed evidently in the lives of people. Stories of profanity silenced, theaters deserted, courts abandoned due to a lack of crime, and bars shutting down were commonplace. Entertainment such as football matches simply could not compete with the presence of his glorious visitation. Sales of beer and alcohol declined steeply while pocket testaments were snapped up like hot cross buns as people hung up for the bread of life and through living waters. A story was told of how the horses in the mines were confused because once they were driven by men with use of obscenity and kicks, but now there weren't any. So you can see that this was something that was happening within the church, within the body of believers. It was definitely drawing people from outside, but it was impacting the way society was run as a whole. That people were changing the way they behaved, that people were pursuing God. So they were giving up alcohol, they were giving up all of that, and they were going after the Word of God. This is what we mean. Just as we are describing this, you can tell this is so different from what we experience in our everyday work with God. Even if we are seeing amazing things happening, God is doing amazing things in the present, in our services, in all of that. This is just so much greater. And then the last thing is that there is a lot more equipping of people for missions. So that becomes a big part of the revival, that people start being equipped and being sent out, and then they go out and they go out into mission fields and they go out sharing the gospel, spreading that revival that started there. And so this happens, it can happen within the same country, it can happen across nations, as people carry that fire, revival breaks out wherever they go. So all of those are what we can expect when we see revival. These are all of the things that we have seen in revivals that have happened in the past, and what we can look forward to if we are pursuing God for a revival. So the biggest thing in this is that it's much more than something that human effort can achieve. Like we can always organize a really good program, we can always like really seek God and do something amazing for him. But this is beyond what anything that we ourselves can accomplish. It has to be the Holy Spirit coming in power. So I'll just read a little excerpt from here. So it says, an evangelistic campaign or special meeting is not revival. We have, especially in the US, we don't do, it isn't done here as much, but they have crusades, they have revival meetings every year, camp meetings where people gather, and so all of these things are really good and really powerful and many people actually come to faith in these meetings. But in revival, the community itself becomes conscious of God. So it's not limited to the church, and it's not limited to that period of time when the meetings are happening. It's like a life, lives are transformed for the rest of their lives. Okay, that's what revival does. And yeah, people give up work and come after the presence of God, they recognize the power of God, they recognize that the spirit of God is moving and there is a fear of God that grips people in a new and powerful way. Okay, and I think the biggest thing is that the fruit of revival is something that remains. It's not something that ends when revival, when that season of revival ends, it's something that remains and hopefully impacts generations to come. Okay. Okay, so we'll just read this. If someone can read from page five, at the end of the page, Genesis 26, 18 to 23, 32, 33, so that whole passage, I can read that. And Isaac dug again the wills of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham, his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. He called them by the names by which his father had called them. Also Isaac servants dug in the valley and found the well of running water there. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen saying, the water is ours. So he called the name of the well, Ezek, because they quarreled with him. Then they dug another well and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sidna and he moved from there and dug another well and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name, we hope both, because he said, for now the Lord has made room for us and we shall be fruitful in the land that he went up from there to Beersheba. It came to pass the same day that Isaac's servants came and told him about the well which they had dug and said to him, we have found water. So he called it Sheba. Therefore, the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. Okay, so taking this passage, we are looking at why are we looking at the history of revivals. So seeing this example of Isaac going to dig up the wells that his father had already dug up. So when we are going to look at what are the revivals that have happened in the past, we want to look at what is that spiritual well that has been dug in the past that we can benefit from. Okay, so we want to look at what was experienced then that we can claim for ourselves now that we can pursue now. And then what are the new things that we can be seeking. So like Isaac went out and dug more wells. We say what are the new ways in which we can be experiencing God, new depths of the spirit that we can be reaching into and asking to come and fill us and satisfy us in new ways. And like there were enemies in this passage. There were people who had come and closed up the wells. There are things in the present day church that keep us from experiencing the things of the past, like what we've seen in the book of Acts and things that God has for us in the future. So there's a lot of misunderstanding in the church. There's a lot of division. There's a lot of things that have taken us away from the things of God. So for us to dig all of those things up to remove those things and allow us to be ready to receive when God wants to pour out into our lives, we should be ready to receive it. So a few things that are listed here are that are wrong ideas. There's incorrect teaching. There's worldliness. There's spiritual lethargy. So just like not desiring for more of God. We're just lazy. We're satisfied with whatever we have. So when all of that is in the church, then we are not creating space. We're not prepared for God to pour out, right into our lives. So there is nothing that would make God want to pour himself out if we ourselves don't desire it. So for us to come to a place of being ready, preparing our own hearts, preparing our churches, our congregations to receive from God. And then when we are ready, God will come, right? So that is our heart's desire. So in revival, there is a returning to what was obtained before. So like we see, Isaac was going to dig up what Abraham had already done. So that's the same thing. We want to go back to what God has already given to the church, what we see in acts, right? And as we return to that, we expect God to move in powerful ways like he did in the book of acts. There's a quote from Charles Finney here. It says, the antecedents, the accompaniments and the results of revivals are always substantially the same as in the case of Pentecost. So there are lots of complicated words just to say that whatever happens before, whatever happens during and whatever happens after revival usually is very, very similar to what happened in the Pentecost, in the time of Pentecost. So what we can see that happened in the time of Pentecost is what we can see in the revivals that have happened after. And we will look at what were some of those similarities, that aspect of praying and waiting on God, the aspect of seeing the Holy Spirit come and seeing things being released, right? Like tongues, prophecy, all of those things, the gifts of the spirit being released. And then what happens as a result of that? So people going out, people being saved, all of those things are a similar experience to what happened in the book of acts in the time of Pentecost. So when we are asking for revival, we're actually asking God, do what you did in the time of Pentecost. Do that again in our midst. Okay, so a great and urgent need. I like this last line. So I'm just going to read it. A great and urgent need of the church is of life, power, and of the work of the spirit itself, not of methods or improvements that we devise with our human energies. What we really need is revival. So with that, let's begin first with the book of acts where it all begins, right? Where the Pentecost happens. We look at the book of acts and we'll see what happened there and what was their experience. And then we'll start to look at revivals that have followed after that. So in the book of acts, we see approximately about 40 years of God moving powerfully. So this revival or this move of God lasted about 40 years. At least that's what's recorded in the book of acts. God continued to move after that. But in the book of acts is about a period of 40 years. And it's spread. So from Jerusalem, it happened in Jerusalem, the Pentecost happened in Jerusalem. And from that spreads to Asia Minor, to Europe, and then all the way to Rome, right? So it spreads across different nations. And much of what the ancient world included, that was a lot of where people lived. So it had spread to all of these different places. So how does, when does all of this start? So it starts with the ascension of Jesus. Once Jesus ascended, right? What did he tell his disciples when he was ascending? What's that? Until you receive the power. Yes. Will you also sing something? You know? Okay. So yeah, so he tells his disciples, wait in Jerusalem till you receive power. And before that, he's already told them that you will receive power to go out and to be witnesses for me. So Jesus, after his resurrection, spent about 40 days going and showing himself to various disciples revealing that he had risen from the dead. So there were about 500 witnesses to his resurrection in those 40 days. And then at the end of the 40 days is when he ascends. And he leaves these disciples to spend time in prayer. So there were about 120 disciples. And they were spending time in prayer. And it's about 10 days that they were in prayer in Jerusalem waiting for to receive whatever Jesus had said they would receive. So there were two things that we see in Acts 1 14, if someone can read Acts 1 14. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. Okay. So we see two aspects here. One is they continued in one accord. So there was unity. They were all of one heart and mind seeking God and waiting on God, not knowing exactly what was coming. But they went after whatever Jesus had said they were going to receive. They're just waiting and waiting in prayer. So unity and prayer, those are the two things that we see among these 120 disciples as they were waiting in Jerusalem. And so we see those as two key ingredients when we are waiting to receive the Holy Spirit, when we are crying out for revival. But there to be unity in what we are pursuing. We are pursuing God himself. So a oneness of heart and mind as we pursue God. And for that to be a lot of prayer, you'll see that throughout all of the stories of revival. Prayer was a major, major thing happening consistently over a long period of time before the revival happened. In here, we see 10 days of prayer, right? That's an amazing thing. So 10 days they spent and the Holy Spirit came. Now, there was a very specific purpose in that time that the Spirit came to empower them to be witnesses. And that's something that Jesus had told them would happen. Okay. And the timing of this was really like, you know that God is in it, like God had a beautiful plan in it, because it came right at the time there were visitors from all over, were in the city. So what a amazing way to take the gospel to nations, right? So they were normally in Jerusalem about 100,000 people. And at this time, because of all of the festivals, the feast that were happening, there were 500,000 people. So like five times the normal crowd, people from all over the surrounding nations, the Jews that weren't surrounding nations had all gathered for these feasts. And the three feasts were the feast of Passover, which is when Jesus was crucified. And then the feast of first fruits, which is the day that Jesus was raised from the dead. And then the feast of the Pentecost, that's when the Holy Spirit came. So this was a period of about 60 days, right from Jesus' death to the Pentecost was about 60 days. And within those 60 days is when all of these people from all over the nations would come and gather and they would spend those full 60 days there because of these feasts. And so God's, like God's plan is in it. While all of these people are here, I'm going to come and I'm going to reach people from all over the place, which normally would have been a lot harder. So while all of them are there, the Holy Spirit comes and to the upper room, right, while these disciples are gathered in the upper room, they encounter God and they begin to speak in tongues, they speak in other languages. And the people who are gathered there recognize that, oh, they're speaking in languages that we speak. So we see multiple reactions here from the people who heard them. Can you all recall what some of those reactions were when people heard them? Some people thought they were drunk, yeah. Some were amazes, yeah. Yeah, so there were some people who were happy to hear them speak in their own language and there was also some division, is it? Or yeah, okay, yeah. So that amazement was on one side some people who, yeah, one group of people who believed, one group of people who saw that God was doing something and another group of people who were mocking what was happening. So likewise in revival, you will see a lot of reactions to what God is doing because God doesn't move in ways that we fully understand. And sometimes it's, it is kind of weird like to see people say laughing or barking or like how do you explain that, especially for someone who is not at all aware of revivals, not at all aware of how the Holy Spirit, who the Holy Spirit is. And so we can expect that in revival that there will be multiple reactions from within the church and outside the church. There will be people who recognize that God is the one who is doing this and who are seeking after God. But there will be another group of people who even maybe religious people, maybe Christians, maybe believers who will say this is like this is blasphemous or this is completely not of God. And we've seen that even in the past in revivals, because their expectation of what God does, how God operates is limited to a certain box. And if it's outside that box, then it must not be God, right? So that is something to also be prepared for when we are seeking God, that not everyone is going to recognize that it is God and not everyone is going to appreciate that, okay, this is something that God is doing. And then we see Peter responds to them. And he explains to them that this is what God himself had promised and he goes back to Joel 2, right? So let's just open Joel 2, okay, so from verse 28 onward. So it says, And afterward I will pour out my spirit on all people, your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions, even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my spirit in those days. And so there is Joel is saying there will be a move the Holy Spirit, I will pour out my spirit and all of these things will happen, right? What are the things that are named there? What will happen when the spirit people will prophesy? Dreams, visions, yeah. So these are all the things he's naming here, but if you look at that story in Acts, none of that is happening, right? Nobody's seeing visions, nobody's prophesying in this story when in that Pentecost thing, all of that has not happened. All that happens is that they start to speak in tongues, they speak in different languages, right? So Peter is seeing something greater happening that this is the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, but the manifestation of it is not exactly what is described in Joel 2. Likewise, when we see revival happen, it will not always look the same. There will be an outpouring of the spirit, but it may not be the same things that have happened in other revivals or the same things that we have seen in the past, because God wants to do new things and God will do things in a certain way at a certain time based on what his purpose is and plans are, what the needs of that community is. And so when we are asking for revival, that is something to be prepared for. When we are asking, we are also asking God, do what you see as fit, okay? So you don't have to fit into our expectations, you don't have to do this, this and this. You do what you need to do at this time. We are just going to be open and ready to receive. So when we look at the book of Acts, there are 28 chapters and those 28 chapters are divided into different periods in the start of the church. So Acts 2-8 talks about the first eight years of when the church came to being. And those first eight years is mostly about how the community was impacted. The community of believers experienced the Holy Spirit and then what happened as a result of that. So how did they experience the Holy Spirit and how did they then take what they had experienced to impact the society around them. The next Acts 9-13 is the next 10 years and that 10 years is how the revival that impacted that one community then spreads to other communities. And then Acts 13-28 is the next 20 years. So we have the first part is eight years, 10 years and 20 years. So in those 20 years, it's mostly focusing on Paul. So how Paul himself as one individual who encountered God, how did he carry the revival to other people and to other places and how did that revival in his life impact other people. So the first eight years is how a community was impacted. The next 10 years is how that community impacts communities around them. And then the last 20 years, which is in the book of Acts, is about Paul's life. So how an individual who has experienced God will spark revival around him. So we'll begin with those first eight years, which is how a community encounters the Holy Spirit and what happens when a community encounters the Holy Spirit. Okay, so like we talked about, there were 120 believers and on that day the Holy Spirit was poured out on those 120 believers. And when Peter preaches to the people who gather as a result of that, we see in that one day, 3,000 believers being added to the church. And then after that, there are many more people who start to come as a result. So like 3,000 people come and then more and more people start to gather because they hear about what is happening. They see that, oh, something's happening. There's a large crowd here. Let's go. Let's go see what's going on. After that, there is a lame man who's healed and another 4,000 people get added to the church as a result of that healing. And from there on, more and more and more people start getting added on to the church. Now we see because in Jerusalem at that time, there were lots of people from outside who had come for the feast, but a lot of them actually go and move into Jerusalem and become part of the church at Jerusalem. So that means they've left wherever they were living. They leave their jobs, they leave their homes, all of those things to come and be part of what God is doing here in Jerusalem. And they become a part of the church in Jerusalem. So I think by the time that 8 years is over, it's estimated that the church had grown to about 20,000 people. So from what started as 120 believers became 20,000 in a period of 8 years. And those 7,000 people come right at that beginning from 120 to 7,000. And then it keeps growing and growing and growing. Now all of those 7,000 may not have stayed in Jerusalem at that time. So some of them stayed, some of them might have returned to wherever they had come from. And then the church continues to grow to about 20,000. What's estimated to be about 20,000 at the end of that 8 year period. And then after the 8 years is when persecution hits and people are scattered to other nations from there. So let's look at that story of, we look at those first 8 chapters in Acts and we'll see what all happened, what was the impact of the Holy Spirit coming and how did it impact Jerusalem and the neighboring regions. Again, let's look at Acts, we'll open Acts 2, can someone read verse 41 verse 47. Then those who gladly received this word were baptized and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from one house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who are being saved. Let's look at, so in Acts 2, the passage that Rain read, we see a few of these points that are mentioned here within that passage. We see many souls being saved, we see teaching, continuing prayer, continuing, we see a great fear of God. Okay, I think something's bothering my throat. Can you all just read these points that are mentioned here, the ones in the bullet points? You all can just read it. And some of them were covered in this passage that we did. Some of them are outside of it, but we can just read it and then I think we can close. We just have about four minutes, so we'll read and close.