Parkland First Baptist Church
MAY 30, 2021

      • 1 Samuel 25–27ESV

      • Psalm 17ESV

      • Psalm 35ESV

      • Psalm 54ESV

      • Psalm 63ESV

      • 1 Samuel 28–31ESV

      • Psalm 18ESV

      • Psalm 121ESV

      • Psalm 123–125ESV

      • Psalm 128–130ESV

      • 2 Samuel 1–4ESV

  • Return To Me

    Last week in our Church History Class, we studied the Great Awakening that spread across Europe and the US in the 18 and 19th centuries.
    Times when the gospel of Christ was advanced in unprecedented ways
    Peoples lives were changed
    Church were started
    The culture was changed.
    In fact during one revival in the early 1900’s here’s what changed.
    Bars and taverns closed for lack of business.
    Police enforcement personnel faced a drop in work due to decreases in crime.
    Businesses received money and merchandise from thieves, employees, and shoplifters who are seeking to return stolen goods.
    Christians and churches begin serious efforts at helping the poor and needy in the community through orphanages, rescues missions, and other needs-based ministries.
    Laws change or are enacted to protect the oppressed and to uphold justice.
    Reconciliation takes place between races and ethnic groups.
    Foul language is replaced by civil and wholesome talk.
    Evil practices cease and often are outlawed.
    Private and public acts of immorality decrease dramatically.
    Marriages are restored and family life strengthened.
    Would you like to see that happen in our nation?
    I’m sure we all would.
    But to get there, we have to a revival that leads to a spiritual awakening.
    That can only start with us in the church
    We studied that the origin of the “Camp Meeting” was a gathering in Kentucky where several churches would gather for great preaching, fellowship and observing the Lord’s Supper.
    That meeting morphed into the camp meetings I’m familiar with where a speaker, an evangelist, would come to town, a big tent was erected, and people from all over the area came to hear the evangelist.
    Those types of meetings moved into the church and were simply called revivals.
    Many churches used this time to reach out the lost once or twice a year.
    What struck me was that in order to have a revival people need to be vived first.
    By that I mean people had to be alive, or saved, or a believer to be revived.
    Christians can easily fall away from God that in reality, they need to be renewed in the commitment to Christ or revived.
    Then they can go out and share the gospel with the lost.
    Today, I would like to continue in the series I’ve entitled “Return to Me’”
    I’m basing this series on Malachi 3:7, “Since the days of your ancestors, you have turned from my statutes; you have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Armies.”
    We will look at how a church can be revived that will lead to a spiritual awakening in our lives, our church, and our community.
    For things to change in our church, it must begin with each of us.
    Let me share with you God’s Pattern of Revival.

    God’s Pattern of Revival

    When God moves mightily, He does not expect His followers to sit still.
    God is not looking for more activity.
    He is looking for a greater quality of relationship.
    What is revival? It is a return to spiritual health after a period of spiritual decline into sin and broken fellowship with God.
    A Spiritual Awakening is when large numbers of people (or large percentage) experiencing new birth in a short period of time.
    Let’s Look at God’s pattern

    God is on Mission to Redeem the Lost

    God is on mission to redeem a lost world.
    He calls people into a love relationship with Him, and He accomplishes His work through them.
    God is constantly working to bring people around the world into a saving relationship with Himself.
    2 Corinthians tells us that “Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself,”
    As soon as we enter into a personal relationship with God, He will begin to involve us in His redemptive activity.
    Out of our walk with God, we have the desire and the empowering to serve God.
    John 20:21, “Jesus said to them again, As the Father has sent me, I also send you.”
    God allows to join Him.
    He is looking for a people through whom He can redeem a lost world.
    Chooses a People - Who were not a People as He did with the Israelites as He brought them out of Egypt.
    We are called to obey Him fully.
    God always calls for a corporate response.

    God’s People Depart

    God's people tend to depart from Him, turning to substitutes for His presence, His purposes, and His ways.
    The most destructive condition plaguing God's people is the chronic tendency to depart from God.
    Despite all the heavenly resources and blessings our Lord makes available to us, we inexplicably choose to wander from His watch care.
    We see this clearly in the Sin Cycle found in Judges
    We tend to forget what God has done for us, as in Judges 2:10, “After them another generation rose up who did not know the LORD or the works he had done for Israel.”
    We provoke God with our unfaithfulness, 2:11-12, “The Israelites did what was evil in the LORD’s sight. They worshiped the Baals and abandoned the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed other gods from the surrounding peoples and bowed down to them. They angered the LORD”
    God disciplines us when we forsake Him, 2:13-17 it says, “The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold them to the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies.”
    Why do we depart?
    Our hearts shift from God to us and our desires and wants
    Jeremiah 2:6 Neither did they say, 'Where is the LORD, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, Through a land of deserts and pits, Through a land of drought and the shadow of death, Through a land that no one crossed And where no one dwelt?'
    We are disobedient
    We are drawn away to idols

    God Disciplines His People

    God disciplines His people because of His love. John 3:16
    As His people invariably rebel against Him, God could remain serenely indifferent to the inevitable plight of His creatures.
    He could mock us at our frail attempts to live independent of Him, knowing the eternal consequences we face.
    But God in His infinite love cannot remain indifferent; His love compels Him to work actively in our lives to make the result of sin patently unappealing in order to lead us back to Himself.
    He doesn’t want to stay in that state of rebellion and live a less than ideal life.
    He loves us and begs us to come back and experience His power in our lives.
    He has work for us to do; therefore, He disciplines us and it will intensify as the longer we disobey and rebel against Him.
    Leading His people to cry out for relief

    God’s People Cry Out

    God's discipline becomes increasingly intense until His people cry out to Him.
    He is patient and long-suffering.
    Like the father of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), God waits eagerly for His children to return to Him.
    God will gently seek to restore His people, but if they will not respond, He will increase the intensity of His disciples until they can no longer ignore Him or what He is saying.
    When we recognize we have sinned, we need to confess it.
    “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” as it says in 1 John 1:9
    However, we often cry out when the discipline becomes too severe and painful and we need help.
    We need to examine our lives to see the sin in our lives.

    God Calls His People to Repent and Return to Him or Perish

    God has clearly identified the parameters and attitudes of repentance.
    He doesn't give options.
    Returning to Him is nonnegotiable.
    Partial or halfhearted repentance is a contradiction in terms and completely unacceptable.
    Refusing to repent invites dire consequences.
    He gives people a choice of life or death.
    When a church refuses to repent, it is no longer any use for the kingdom.
    God may remove the church from usefulness or existence like he warned the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:4-5, “But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”
    God’s desire is for His people to return to Him.
    That means a change in our mind to commit to be obedient.
    A change in our heart.
    A change in our will as we seek Him and to follow His commands
    A change in our actions as we are obedient.
    Godly repentance leads to forgiveness and restored life.

    God Revives and Restores

    God revives His repentant people by restoring them to a right relationship with Him.
    God stands ready to receive His people when they return.
    He cleanses and forgives.
    He gives them new hearts to serve Him and fullness of the Holy Spirit to empower them for His work.
    Repentance brings forgiveness, freedom, and purity.
    The ultimate result of repentance is renewed fellowship with God.
    Out of this revitalized relationship flows joy and abundant life as Psalm 51:12 says, “Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit.”

    Spiritual Awakening

    God exalts His Son Jesus among His people and draws unbelievers to saving faith in Him.
    When God's people are rightly related to Him, He displays His glory through their lives to a watching world.
    When people experience God's mighty power working through the church, others will notice and desire a similar experience themselves.
    Spiritual awakening becomes a natural by-product of a revived people.
    That which we long for in our day.

    Now What?

    Are you ready to revival or renewal for yourself and this church?
    Commit to praying for this revival/ renewal/revitalization of our lives and church.
    What do you think is the next step God wants you to take?
    Prayer, “Heavenly Father, Lord of Armies, we have gathered as Your people to seek you. We recognize our deep need to experience Your presence and power in fresh, new ways in our lives, families, church, community and nation. We hear Your plea to us with a wonderful promise. We know You are a promise-keeping God, and we see that You have given us a condition for us to fulfill in order that we may experience Your faithfulness in keeping Your promise. Over the coming weeks please reveal to us Your designs for the kind of people and church You desire for us to be. Show us what we must do to return to You. Then we ask you to enable us to return so thoroughly that You will receive great joy and glory when Your keep Your promise to us. We ask this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
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Parkland First Baptist Church
office@parklandfirst.com
253-531-0121
http://www.parklandfirst.com
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