KINGDOM REVIVAL SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Part 1 – A Cry for Help

I presented a message on January 12, 2022, titled “Revival – A Call to Action,” at Corpus Christi Christian Fellowship, Corpus Christi, TX. I subsequently posted the video to my blog, “kingdomsurrender.com.” It is now time to transcribe that message into a written series. I will use the outline from that message but expand on it as I transform and write this into a blog series. This blog is Part 1 of that effort.

I’m confident that few would disagree that our nation, and our world is a mess. Pandemics, racial divisiveness, political discord, religious battles, gender issues are prevalent. There is violent disagreement everywhere. Things keep getting worse.  Maybe we need another Awakening or a Revival. But which one?

Let’s start with some definitions. An awakening is an act of waking from sleep or a moment of becoming suddenly aware of something. A Revival is an improvement in the condition or strength of something, an instance of something becoming popular, active or important again. The Hebrew word for revival is chayah, which means to bring back to life or restore to a previous condition.

Over the years, many have used awakening and revival interchangeably, but they are different. In the Kingdom realm, an Awakening applies to a nonbeliever who answers God’s call to salvation. A Revival applies to Believers who’ve strayed or turned away, but are revived, and return to their faith. The people of the Bible thumping fire and brimstone days of Revival tents used the words interchangeably. Realistically, those tent revivals were probably attended by both non-believers and believers alike. In other words, just as the Awakenings that swept over this country (4 or 5, depending on how you count them,) they may have started as awakenings to call nonbelievers to faith, but many were brought to the revivals by believers, or there were believers who came on their own, but got caught up in the excitement and became revived. Both benefited from those events.

We need a revival – AGAIN, just as in the days of the Old Testament, and every so often since then. The Sons of Korah are credited with writing 11 of the Psalms. The Sons of Korah are descendants of the surviving relatives of Korah, a leader of the rebellion against Moses and Aaron. You may remember the story of Korah, Dathan, Abiram and On in Chapter 16 of the Book of Numbers. They led a rebellion against the leadership of Moses and Aaron. As a result, most of their families were swallowed up by the earth and another 250 followers of the rebellion were consumed by fire. Personally, that would have been enough warning for me but the next morning the remaining people who sided with Korah continued to rebel.  God sent a plague among them. Before Aaron stepped in with incense and stopped the plague, another14,700 people had died. God resolved the issue by telling each of the tribes to bring a rod from their leader and place the 12 rods in the tabernacle. Whosever’s rod sprouted leaves the next morning would be the chosen leader. Aaron’s rod was the only one with leaves the next morning.

In Psalm 85, verses 4-7, the Sons of Korah cry out for restoration. They write:

             “Restore us, O God of our salvation, and cause Your anger toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy, Lord, and grant us Your salvation.”

We’ll pick up next time, as we begin to explore God’s response to the Sons of Korah.  Be Blessed!