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August 18, 2018

Reconciliation and Revival

by Dennis Rouse
Revival: awakening to GodActs 2:1-12 NLTOn the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together inone place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaringof a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settledon each of them. And
Sermon Notes

Revival: awakening to God
Acts 2:1-12 NLT
On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in
one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring
of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.
Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled
on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit
and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them
this ability. At that time there were devout Jews from every nation
living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came
running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being
spoken by the believers. They were completely amazed. “How can
this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, and yet
we hear them speaking in our own native languages! Here we are—
Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea,
Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia,
Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome
(both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all
hear these people speaking in our own languages about the
wonderful things God has done!” They stood there amazed and
perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other.
Acts 2:17-21 NLT
“‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see
visions, and your old men will dream dreams. In those days I will pour
out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike—and they
will prophesy. And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and
signs on the earth below—blood and fire and clouds of smoke. The
sun will become dark, and the moon will turn blood red before that
great and glorious day of the Lord arrives. But everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
Four-Fold Collapse:

  1. Forgot God
  2. Forgot God’s laws
  3. Made up new gods
  4. Made up new laws
    The Church has been divided by two primary things: religion and
    racism.
    Why Is Reconciliation So Important?

  1. It’s a priority of the Cross.
    Ephesians 2:14-18 NIV
    For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and
    has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting
    aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His
    purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two,
    thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God
    through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came
    and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those
    who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father
    by one Spirit.
  2. It’s a priority of the Commission.
    Acts 1:8 NKJ
    “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
    you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea
    and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
    Matthew 28:19 NKJ
    “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
    the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit …”
  3. It’s a priority of the Church.
  4. It’s a priority of Christ.
    John 17:20-23 NKJ
    “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in
    Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are
    in Me, and I in You; that they also may be in Us, that the world may
    believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have
    given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and
    You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world
    may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have
    loved Me.”
    3 Keys to Reconciliation and Revival:

  1. Prayer
    Ephesians 6:12 NCV
    Our fight is not against people on earth but against the rulers and
    authorities and the powers of this world’s darkness, against the
    spiritual powers of evil in the heavenly world.
    2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV
    “… if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves
    and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I
    will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their
    land.”
  2. Promote
    Ephesians 4:29-32 NCV
    When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people
    need—words that will help others become stronger. Then what you
    say will do good to those who listen to you. And do not make the Holy
    Spirit sad. The Spirit is God’s proof that you belong to him. God gave
    you the Spirit to show that God will make you free when the final day
    comes. Do not be bitter or angry or mad. Never shout angrily or say
    things to hurt others. Never do anything evil. Be kind and loving to
    each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ.
  3. Proactive
    “IF” by Rudyard Kipling:
    If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and
    blaming it on you, if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    but make allowance for their doubting too; if you can wait and not be
    tired by waiting, or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, or being hated,
    don’t give way to hating, and yet don’t look too good, nor talk too
    wise:
    If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; if you can
    think—and not make thoughts your aim; if you can meet with Triumph
    and Disaster and treat those two imposters just the same; if you can
    bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken twisted by knaves to make a trap
    for fools, or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, and stoop
    and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
    If you can make one heap of all your winnings and risk it on one turn
    of pitch-and-toss, and lose, and start again at your beginning and
    never breathe a word about your loss; if you can force your heart and
    nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone, and so
    hold on when there is nothing in you except the Will which says to
    them: ‘Hold on!’
    If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with Kings—
    nor lose the common touch, if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt
    you, if all men count with you, but none too much; if you can fill the
    unforgiving minute with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, YOURS
    IS THE EARTH AND EVERYTHING THAT’S IN IT, AND—WHICH IS
    MORE—YOU’LL BE A MAN, MY SON!
    Revelation 7:9-10 NCV
    After the vision of these things I looked, and there was a great
    number of people, so many that no one could count them. They were
    from every nation, tribe, people, and language of the earth. They
    were all standing before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing
    white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They were
    shouting in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on
    the throne, and to the Lamb.”
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