Young America
What is Revival? Living as Christ's Ambassadors through Conscious Revival Choices
Could your spiritual journey use a fresh start? Prepare to transform your understanding of revival as we venture beyond the fleeting feelings and dive into the heart of true Christian rebirth. Our enlightening conversation takes us through the pivotal role of personal commitment in living a life that honors God. We confront the common misconceptions head-on, replacing them with the potent reality that revival is a conscientious choice—marked by a return to godliness, righteousness, and the authentic embodiment of being Christ's ambassadors on Earth.
During this episode, the indispensable power of scripture and prayer is brought to the forefront, offering guidance and wisdom for those eager to fortify their resolve against sin and align their desires with God's will. With insight from Psalm 119 and John R. Rice's "Prayer," we uncover the life-changing impact that a personal revival can have, not only on the individual but also on communities and nations. It's an invitation to join us on a path of transformation, sparked by a steadfast commitment to pursuing a deeper connection with God.
Could your spiritual journey use a fresh start? Prepare to transform your understanding of revival as we venture beyond the fleeting feelings and dive into the heart of true Christian rebirth. Our enlightening conversation takes us through the pivotal role of personal commitment in living a life that honors God. We confront the common misconceptions head-on, replacing them with the potent reality that revival is a conscientious choice—marked by a return to godliness, righteousness, and the authentic embodiment of being Christ's ambassadors on Earth.
During this episode, the indispensable power of scripture and prayer is brought to the forefront, offering guidance and wisdom for those eager to fortify their resolve against sin and align their desires with God's will. With insight from Psalm 119 and John R. Rice's "Prayer," we uncover the life-changing impact that a personal revival can have, not only on the individual but also on communities and nations. It's an invitation to join us on a path of transformation, sparked by a steadfast commitment to pursuing a deeper connection with God.
He's just waiting for you to do your end of the part so that he can fulfill his. He has to see some sort of effort that you're taking.
Speaker 2:And it's so odd to me to see Christians around me who complain about things, maybe, whether it's in church or in life, but they don't have the gumption to step up and do the work that needs to be done in order to fix whatever the situation is. Welcome back to Young America people. Today we're going to talk more about revival. You know, one reason, joe, that I was thinking about talking about this is because, like, we've been talking a lot about having revival and we need it and all this stuff, but then it was like well, we haven't really told people what it actually is. You know what I mean. Like what is what is revival actually? And is it that weird feeling you get, or is it like like what practically does it look?
Speaker 1:like. Well, if you, yeah, if you look at the word itself, revival it's a rebirth, a rebirth of, of godliness, a rebirth of righteousness, a rebirth of, you know, living right as a Christian. And you know we were going through this in class because I'm actually taking his shirt of revivals this semester, so I'm excited about that. But it's like a birth and then a backsliding and then a rebirth and there's something in between. But but basically, yeah, you get saved first and then you know, we backslide from the Lord and we do what our flesh wants and we piece our flesh and we, you know, appease ourselves essentially and then, when God gets hold of us again, we then have a rebirth. So that's what revival is.
Speaker 1:Revival is it's not a feeling. A lot of people will say it's a feeling, like these big charismatic churches or mega churches where we want to call them. They're, they're all based on a feeling. That's why they're called charismatic. Yeah, you know it's. It's this big emotional process and you know thing that you have to go through, and it's that's not what revival is. Revival is you get in a loan with God and getting your sins taken care of and you realizing that you have failed the Christian and you have failed God spiritually. He's your father and he is the one that had saved us, and we have failed him, and so it's recognizing that we have failed.
Speaker 1:And it's not some emotional feeling.
Speaker 1:Yes, it can be emotional, but it's not based on emotional feeling or based on any feeling, it's based on facts and based on what we read in the Bible and what God tells us. And actually I just the new show we've been doing, shadow man Social we just did a reel about. I just did a reel in ways today about James, chapter four, or James, yeah, james chapter, I think it was four, but anyway he was saying draw close to God and he will draw close to you. Basically, and it's it's that effort that we have to put in as Christians. It's not just this thing that will fall into our laps or will come to us in a vision. No, it's something you have to work at, it's something that you have to want as a Christian. It's, it's a decision. That's what it is. It's not just this hunky donkey feelings like, oh, I won't revive one now.
Speaker 2:No, it's something that's not how it works, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, yeah, you have to search you out and you have to search God out himself.
Speaker 2:Mm, hmm.
Speaker 1:And when we do that as Christians, we then have revived it, because then God gets ahold of our hearts and he's kind of senseless Laughter. You're in the face and he's like, hey, you're not living like you're supposed to, you're not living like a Christian, and you know yeah, I said this before but Christ, christians, you take the word and it means Christ like. So Right, if we're not acting Christ like and if we're not living like Christ, then we're just a label.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:People of Christians need to wake up and Christians need to realize that we're not just a label.
Speaker 2:It's real life.
Speaker 1:And we're ambassadors of God to this earth. That's what we really are and that's what our purpose is is to come and tell people about Christ and point people to Christ.
Speaker 1:And you look at what John the Baptist did. He was here for one purpose. He was here to point people to Christ and thought that he was the Messiah and he's like no, I'm not, it, he's the one. And he's pointed people to Christ. And he pointed his disciples to Christ. And we realized that it's not about ourselves, it's not about the following we can get. You look at John Baptist. He had disciples and he said go follow him, he's the Messiah. Until the disciples, they went and followed him and they were John the.
Speaker 1:Baptist's disciples. But then he's like hey, go follow him, he's the actual Messiah, he's the real one. And so they went and followed him and he realized that it wasn't about him. It wasn't about how famous or how you know Awesome, you think you know. It's not about that. Yeah, yeah, and that's about what I realized yeah, so one way I was a choice. It's not a feeling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. One way I like to think of revival too is because we read a book back in First year when we were in school together, called back to normal, about revival, and that's probably one of my favorite ways to think about revival is. Revival is living the Christian life the way it's supposed to be lived and living the way a normal Christian, by God's standard, should live. It's not what you think or what everybody else thinks or what God thinks, you know and you know.
Speaker 2:Another verse I put it on here in the outline, is Talking about how we get it, but then it kind of defines revival to a second chronicle, 714, which says which if, if my people, what are called by my name, she'll humble themselves and pray and she'll seek my face in turn from their wicked ways, then I will heal their land and forgive, then I will forgive their sins and I will heal their land. And so, true revival, living the Christian life, is, is, is, let's see, if my people, which are called by my name, it's humbling yourself before the Lord and you've said this turning from their wicked ways, seeking the Lord's will and praying to him and asking for it and then living the Christian life the way it's supposed to be and that's, you know, important to understand, I Think just you also yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, you also look at that verse and yes, it is. It is written to Israel. But that doesn't mean we can't take it as Christians and as Americans. We can't take that and, you know, apply to ourselves. I understand that it was written to Israel, but the same principle applies. You have to, you know, submit ourselves to God and we have to realize that he's the one that we should be glorifying and he's the one that has the you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the ultimate say.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, anyways.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, and just looking at the outline here, because that way we follow it not that it really matters, I guess but Um, one of the first things we have on here is American need revival, and so I mean, we've been kind of talking about that a Little bit, not as much, I think our emphasis has been more on personal revival, but I think everyone can agree that America has problems. And then if you're Christian, you agree American need revival. And then the question would be after that then how do you get National revival? Well, the answer is you have to have personal revival first, because I mean going back to second Chronicles, like we were just talking about is if my people, which are called by my name In that case he's talking about Israel but you're a people, you individually are, you're a person and it's up to you to do that.
Speaker 2:It doesn't matter if everybody else doesn't, you have to do it. So that's kind of where we're going with this whole episode is is it's it's about you get national revival or revival in your family or your church by you having revival first, and we want to Explain what living the Christian life the right way is supposed to look like.
Speaker 1:But anyways, I don't know if you have something to say to that or if we should just keep going, but yeah, so yeah, with that I Mean I guess we're gonna talk about this through the whole episode or whatever, but I Revival starts with you and this is kind of what I started off with is we need to get along with God and we need to seek God out and we need to read His Word and we have to know what it says first of all.
Speaker 1:Right, if we can't have revival if we don't know what God says, and we don't know how to have revival if we don't know what God says. So first of all, my first practical solution would be to read your Bible on pray and seek God's face, and that would be the first step in having revival is, first of all, knowing that you have a problem and then seeking God's face out and just reading his Bible on praying and asking for wisdom and direction. And personal revival is asking for it, because you know asking he shall receive. God wants you to ask, god wants you to have a fellowship and a relationship with Him.
Speaker 1:He's just waiting for you to do your end of the part so that he can fulfill His. He has to see some sort of effort that you're taking and then he will give you that fellowship and then He'll give you that relationship that he longs to have with you.
Speaker 1:So, God is always there and he never leaves, he never changes, and I'm so grateful for that, because we as humans and we as people are so desperate and so wicked and so awful that we don't deserve a love in God, we don't deserve a merciful God that we have, and it's something that should shock us and that should wake us up. It's like, hey, god loves us and God died for us, and God has given us so much, and yet we treat him like garbage, you know.
Speaker 1:And it's how we, as Christians, are supposed to treat Him. We're supposed to serve Him, we're supposed to live for Him. That's why he created us. So, by fulfilling our own lust and doing what we want, that's not going to go to God at all and that's not what he put us here for. So, as Christians, need to realize that we have a problem with ourselves and it's not about serving ourselves. So, another rant, another tangent, but it's important because we're here for God and not for ourselves. So, revival starts with us.
Speaker 2:And so, along that note, then the question of the day obviously is how do we have personal revival and what does it look like to live the Christian life the way it's supposed to be lived? And so I would say there's not necessarily one thing over the other. I would say probably in this list that we have, but just the first thing I have on there that's obvious is reading your Bible and meditating on it. Because I mean, let's be honest here, how are you supposed to know what you're supposed to do to have revival if you're not reading God's Word? Because that's what I mean. That's like one of the most obvious you would think things would be.
Speaker 2:One of my favorite passages with this is Psalm 119. Let me go find it real quick, and verse nine through 12, I think it is, and says Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed there to according to thy word, with my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wonder from thy commandments, thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, o Lord. Teach me thy statutes. And in this passage we can see, I mean, this is David speaking, at least I believe it's David speaking about his love for God's Word, and wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? How do you clean your way? How do you serve the Lord? How do you get rid of the wicked ways? It's by taking heed of what God says in his Word. And how are you supposed to know what God says if you're not reading it? So that's step number one.
Speaker 2:And another thing with this too, it says in verse 11, thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. I know this is something that I personally have to work on too, and I think a lot of Christians, just in general, just thinking of other people, that I know it's like we don't memorize the scripture enough, we don't love it enough to want to dwell on it that much. I guess I don't know which is wicked, an awful but, and let's consider too I mean, we've talked a lot about Facing temptation and and that sort of thing on the podcast recently it's like how are you supposed to deal with the devil if you don't know what God's word says and you can't quote it back to him? Right, you know? I mean, that's what the Lord did and so right, I mean I would say that's probably the first step is Getting God's word and, like you said, you have to know what God's word says.
Speaker 2:That's living the Christian life the way it's supposed to be lived, and that's having revival and be going back to normal as a Christian Is knowing what God's word actually says so, with, with your prayerary, are your, with your Bible reading the next Obvious?
Speaker 1:I would think it's obvious. Anyways, the next thing would be prayer. You write, the next thing would be prayer and you know I Probably mentioned this a thousand times, read, but I, you know I preach message on prayer which I actually got from I think it's actually books called prayer by the riser John, our eyes, or one of the races.
Speaker 2:Oh, ask you, receiving it's John, our rice. I think, yeah, that's a good book. Yeah, yeah, wow. It's a very good book and that's a book you should pick up, people.
Speaker 1:I Got that sermon from that book so I can't take full credit. But you know there's minor tweaks and Changes that I made to it.
Speaker 2:But I did pull that so anyways, that whole book is.
Speaker 1:It's very, very good and I definitely encourage you guys to read it. I've read it twice already, once on my own and then once it was required to read for school. So but anyways, it's, it's a very good book and it just talks about prayer and how God wants you to pray and God expects you to pray, and that's how we get things from God is fight, and that's what prayer is, though it's asking things of God and God. God demands us to pray. Actually, he wants us to pray, and that's how we fellowship with our father. You know we can. Our earthly father, you know, we just go up to him and talk to him or we call him on the phone or whatever. But our heavenly father, we talk, we can talk to him any time of the day, any time at night. You don't have to wait for him to get off for it. You don't have to wait for him to, you know, get done with whatever he's doing. He's always available.
Speaker 1:You can always pray to our heavenly father, and that's something that's that's awesome. You know, our God isn't.
Speaker 2:You sleep in, yeah right, so we can.
Speaker 1:We can go to him anytime we need anything and he wants us to right says pray or Thank you. I like it. It says a asking he shall receive.
Speaker 1:Yeah and you know, with that it comes when you, when you're in the will of God, you will then pray for the things that please God and the things that God would want you to have. So he also says pray. You have not, because you ask things at a miss, and he asked and received that, because he asked a miss, that you may consume it upon your loss. So you're asking God for all these things, like a million dollars or like this nice fancy car, this Ridiculously huge house that you don't need. So you're asking for these things and God's obviously not gonna answer that because you're Consuming. You're gonna consume them upon your own lust. And that's important part is it's not about us.
Speaker 1:It's not about our lust. It's not about what we can have as Christians. It's about what we can do for God, what God can give us to serve him. You look at the prayer that Jesus prayed in Gethsemane.
Speaker 1:It wasn't about what he wanted to do, because he didn't want to go to the church, what he wanted to do because he didn't want to go to the cross, that you didn't want to go through all that pain and suffering. But he said it's not my will, it's your will, right, jesus, the Son of God, realized that, that it wasn't about himself and he was technically God. He is God, but yet he realized that his father's will was more important than his own. And you know, if, if Jesus recognized that, then how much more do we as Christians need to recognize that? You know, yeah, jesus Christ is the ultimate example, and so we should follow him. Obviously, but you know, it's just some examples that we, as Christians can look to. It's like it's not about ourselves.
Speaker 1:It's not about what we can consume upon our lust, and that's where the mentality is for Christians. It's all about what we can do and what we want and what I can get recognized for. And the sooner we reckon we realize that it's not about ourselves, sooner we can get our Our focus right and our focus back on God where it belongs.
Speaker 1:It's not about us and I know I keep saying that, but it's so true and people to realize and wake up. It's not about us and so, yeah, prayer. God wants us to pray. God Wants us to ask for things that will glorify him. Things that will be used to glorify him right and not for things that will glorify us. No, that's not. That's not. We're here for.
Speaker 2:So We've talked about Bible reading, we talked about prayer. I think probably the last main area when thinking about revival and living the Christian life is service and how you're serving, and it's so odd to me to see Christians around me who complain about things, maybe, whether it's in church or in life, but they don't have the gumption to to step up and do the work that needs to be done in order to fix whatever the situation is. And God I was talking about this in another Bible study the other day, in Galatians 2, verse 7 but contrary rise when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was Undepeated. I mean, there's some context here too. But basically he's saying there in the whole passage in this particular section is talking about like it became. I evident to me, paul, and evident to those with Peter, that they were given a specific job to do and I was given a specific job to Do. God has created each one of us with a specific job to do, and so if you're not doing something, you need to go find what it is and then ask the Lord, the God, oh, man, I Think you and I we were all talking about that today in our Bible study. We were talking about.
Speaker 2:Each one of us is given a gift by God to be used over in 1st Timothy, chapter 4. And Look, if you're gonna live the Christian life the way it's supposed to be lived, then you must serve God. That's your duty, that's your job. And if you don't know where to start, number one, ask your pastor. Number two you have the great commission. So that's an obvious one. You know what I mean. Go you there for and teach all nations, be a witness. That's your job, that's your service. If there's something that needs done in your church, look around, look around. If there's, if there's things that need started, that you know, go do it. That's why we started this, because it needed done. So, whatever the thing is that needs to be done, go start it, go do it yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's how you have revival yeah, but I my personal devotion.
Speaker 1:I've been reading Philippians and I actually just got them in Philippians but, and in chapter 1 and verse 12, paul was talking to the church of Philippi and it says but I would, you should understand, brother, and that the things which happen under me have fallen out rather into the further into the gospel. So he's basically talking about all the things that's happened to them. He's been checked right, he's been beaten, he's been in prison, all these things that's happened to him. And you know he, he has those things happen to him for the further into the gospel.
Speaker 1:You look at the whole chapter and it talks about the further into the gospel and Post all that you, you know he saw that All these things that he was going through was for a purpose and that Purpose to get the gospel to the people that were in the palace kings, queens, you know, whoever was in the palace. That was his responsibility, that he took upon himself. You know he could have taken the circumstances and he's like, oh man, why did? Why does God have me here? Why does God, you know, do this and do that and come bitter, and? But rather he took the circumstances and he used them to his benefit. See, not every Christian had that opportunity to preach the kings and preach the princes right and Paul did.
Speaker 1:Paul had that opportunity and he took it and he realized that it was an opportunity. It wasn't just something that happened because of bad luck. No, god Purposely put him there that spot for a purpose. And when we, as Christians, realize that God has allowed things to happen to us, it's for a purpose. It's not just because God hates us and not just because the devil's trying to tempt us. It's because there is a purpose that God wants us to fill in. Living in the, in the exact moment that we are in, god has a purpose for us.
Speaker 1:And you wake up as Christians and realize that God has a purpose and that purpose is to glorify God.
Speaker 1:And whether that's hanging out track, whether that's speaking to someone about heaven, whether that's seeing souls say, whatever it is, we have to realize that God has us there for a specific purpose, right and if we're not living right and if we're not praying and reading our Bibles, we're not gonna know what that purpose is and we're gonna pass that opportunity up, and every past and every opportunity that comes, we're gonna pass it up, fast up, fast it up. Because we're not living right and we don't have revival and we're not living the Christian life because it's not real to us. And that's what revival is about. It's serving God, and Every opportunity that you have is giving it point to God and Showing people that God is real and that God exists and that God loves you and that, yeah, wants to save you from your sin, and he can't any will if you allow him to, and so, whether you're a Christian or not, god can be your savior. We were reading that as well this morning.
Speaker 1:Yeah but God is your savior and came to your savior. You just have to let him get out of the way, give yourself up to God and Just put your faith and trust in him. Yeah, depend on him whether that's sick as well right, whether that's, you know, becoming a Christian or being so. God has called us to live the Christian life, and so we're here and we're trying to encourage you guys as Christians, and we're trying to get you guys and Half of these things I'm preaching to myself as well you know, right, yeah not just you guys, it's.
Speaker 1:It's all of us work in this together.
Speaker 2:And that's another thing.
Speaker 1:I've been talking about, or reading, and put in this unity in the church you can be as believers, but we'll talk about that another time. Yeah, but anyways. But let us encourage you guys because, yeah, we need revival and it's your personal before it can spread or it Effect other people's lives. Yeah so that's what I have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Ultimately I mean just to sum everything up you know, revival Is leaving the Christian life. Confessing your sin and then leaving the Christian life the way it's supposed to be lived reading your Bible, praying, seeking God's will and serving him the way he's supposed to be served. And I mean, doesn't get more straightforward than that? I don't think so.
Speaker 1:Obviously, it sounds a lot easier than it actually is. Oh, yeah, for real with the help of God and with grace and mercy, we can leave the Christian right. Yeah, all the people that they've Christian I'd like to call me all the bosses Christians today. They can be done. It's just it's gonna take some effort on your part. Mm-hmm, definitely a lot of grace we got. Yeah, pray about it.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, but yeah, that's what we got. Thank you guys. Yeah, go check out the shadow band show, shadow band social, and we'll talk to you next time. Thank you for listening to young America. If you enjoyed the show, please consider sharing it with a friend, and if you want to see more content from us, please check the links in the description below and consider supporting the show. God bless America.