Listening to the Word plants the seeds of revival such as we are seeing in Kentucky. Concentration prompts submission to His purpose. Obedience results and ministry expands and bears fruit. (John 16:8; Ezra 10:1; Nehemiah 8:1-3)

Speaker(s): Thomas Schaller, Steve Andrulonis
Sermon 12461
11:00 AM on 2/19/2023

P. Steve Andrulonis –

Good morning. How are you? I’m here to talk about revival a little bit. Maybe you’ve seen it in the
news or social media or YouTube, something amazing is happening at a university in Kentucky
near Lexington, Asbury University.

And a group of Bible college students decently and in order after classes on Friday night, piled
into a van and went down to be a part of that. So, we are going to show those videos right now
from that, from a couple of our students that went down to be there. P. Mat Gehret, too went
with them. Let’s show those videos right now, those three videos.

So, I think it’s worthwhile for us to consider just what a revival is, and to be aware of some
pitfalls. Get the negative there first. We could be imitators and we could be limiters or what is it,
critical about something that happens like this. It’s very important for us to recognize a move of
God when it happens, and not to try to manufacture it or manipulate it in our own strength. I
showed – you can go on YouTube if it’s safe for you to go on YouTube. Some people I
understand YouTube is a rabbit hole for you. But you can go on there.

There is the chapel service that launched the revival. It’s a leader from Asbury University, and
it’s a regular chapel. They have them every week. Students are required to come to so many.
And so that morning, several hundred students, a few hundred students came and listened to
this man named Zach Meerkeebs. He did a Bible message. It’s like really interesting. A Bible
message. There wasn’t any hoopin and hollerin. Hooting and hollering and shouting and all that.
It was very unemotional. It was a very direct, Bible message about confession, and one of the
things he talked about was unforgiveness. Like if you have unforgiveness in your heart.
This is a man who had been abused by his father as a child and he offered himself to pray with
people who needed to be delivered from unforgiveness.

So, the first moment there was unforgiveness, confession. And then, he talked about, he did a whole message from Romans 12:9-21. Thirteen verses, thirty commandments on how the love, and he talked about the
various kinds of love.

It’s very interesting the way that this is. Now, when you go to 2 Chronicles 34 and you see a revival
that began during the days of Josiah. Who started that revival? It would be surprising to let you
know who started that revival. It’s the carpenters and the builders. They were given money to
repair and restore the house of God, vs. 10.
And it says in other parts of the Scripture that these carpenters and craftsman were so
honorable. They didn’t need an accountant or overseer to go and make sure that they were
doing the work and buying the right materials to fix the house of God. The house of God had
become a ruin.

And as the carpenters and craftsman began to clean out the house of God, wallah! There’s the
book of the Word there. And they brought it to the king. It’s like really kind of interesting. P.
Schaller, maybe he will do it this time as in the earlier service. He took us to Psalm 133. It’s
good for the brethren to dwell together in unity. Unity is like the anointing oil that flows down
Aaron, down the skirts of his garment, the edges of his garment. And like the dew on the mount.
It’s like really interesting.

How does anointing oil happen? Well, you know, there’s a man with a field and he plants the
olive seeds and the tree becomes the tree and then the tree produces fruit and someone has to
harvest the olives. Someone has to pit the olives. And then they have to crush the olives to
make the oil. How did they get to the unity and how does the anointing fall on the people of
God? This happens by these people.

This guy, this chapel leader in Kentucky, he showed up that morning. He had been doing a
series in Romans and the week before he said, I know. Last week I was the funny guy. You’re the funny guy. You’re all laughing and you’re thinking, Zach, why are you so serious today. And
he talked deeply about love. Deeply about love. A message that was pretty similar to P.
Schaller’s message last week about the kinds of love: PHILEO, STORGE, EROS, and AGAPE.
He like challenged the students to enter into love, even enemy love. Like, do you live in enemy
love? That’s like a big deal. Do you love your enemies?

I’m thinking about us. I mean, do I love my congressman? I mean, does he vote the way that I
think he should vote? Do I love my congressman? Do I love my mayor? Do I love all nine
Supreme Court justices? Nine. There’s nine. Not just the six that I might agree with. Do I have
enemy love. He went through this. Will revival come if there is unforgiveness in my heart? Will revival come if
there is unforgiveness in my heart? You know, they were so surprised. They didn’t know it was
going to happen. The students in there said they couldn’t leave. The presence of God moved in
because a man took them to the Word of God. Exegeted the Word of God, line upon line. Told
them the truth about his own life. Confessed that took him a great deal of time to come to the
point where God released him from what he needed to be released from and then a revival
came. The anointing of God flowed down.

I’m just thinking like there is a historical frame of reference in our country about the anointing of
God in a place. We know the first Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards, and his preaching and
teaching from the Bible launched something that brought people together and they heard
thousands of messages in the colonial days. People heard thousands of messages and it
sparked a repentance movement and the revolution that constituted the United States of
America.

And then a couple decades later, a few decades later, America was in sin. Deep sin. Deep sin.
Slavery. Deep sin. And a Second Great Awakening happened and it launched revivals
throughout like P. Schaller’s home town, Rome, New York. All of that area. Charles Finney
revival. And it launched a movement to abolish a system of slavery that was plaguing our
nation.

It took great prayers. There were prayer services that happened in New York City during that
preparing people for the war to come. I don’t want to scare you. But that Second Great
Awakening was before 1861 and the war between the States. What is this revival preparing us
for? Well, that’s enough of that. We don’t want to think that way. But that Second Great
Awakening was so powerful and it carried the United States through that time of reckoning and
what was next.

We think of other revivals. Some are built on personalities. Evan Roberts and the Welsh Revival
in Wales. Coal miners. Tears streaming down their blackened faces as they worshipped the
Lord. Bars, taverns, clubs closed so they could go to worship the Lord and the power of the
Spirit.

Southern California, a warehouse became a church for all peoples. It’s the first time when there
was a multi-ethnic, multi-racial move of God. Every nation, tribe, and tongue out in southern
California. African Americans, Spanish Americans, all the people were speaking in different
languages as God gave the move and the Azuza Street Revival was born. Imitation and
criticism are the dangers of this. Appreciation is the right way for us to operate in this. We
appreciate what’s happening in Asbury, Kentucky.

Francis Asbury was based in Baltimore. The mother church of American Methodism is on
Howard Street. Lovely Lane Methodist Church. It’s where the Methodists established a
beachhead in the United States, and Francis Asbury traveled throughout. As the settlers moved
West, Francis Asbury would do revival meetings and everything. The secret to the revival is
what happens afterwards. The Word of God and the pastors and the people of the church that
minister.

This morning I had a moment of revival. It was a moment of kindness and gentleness. I pulled
up on the campus. I was thinking about all these thoughts. There’s a lot of things in my head.
People who know me, people who know me well know there’s all kinds of information inside my
head, related and not all related to the Ravens and the Bible, okay. A lot of different things going
on.

But someone pulled up next to me and he has the same kind of car as me, and he gets out and
hugs me. Just hug me. P. Steve, he just reached out. Everything’s fine. Just hug me. And I’m
like, wow! That’s amazing. That’s revival. That was like a moment of anointing. It’s like a
moment of dew that fell on me and I can do this.

Now, just to finish. I just want you to remember that this man who led this chapel, he guided
them through this. He said I want you to understand. Thirty commandments. Thirteen verses.
You’re off the hook. He said you can’t do it. He said I want these words to stick to you like an
itchy sweater. I want them to irritate you a little bit and get you moving on the way that you
should love people.

He said you can’t do it. Don’t try to do it. Let God love you. Remember the message of P.
Stevens? “Just Let God Love You.” Be loved by God. Be loved by God. We love because he
first loved us. Be loved by God and then love everyone else. Love everyone else. That’s the
answer and that’s what we are seeing.

So, those people there, I think tonight they are having one final blowout service and then they
are getting back to the business of teaching kids the Bible. The students the Bible. They’re
going to come back into their classes. The president said God has shown us that we are going
to have this and we’re going to go back to the run.

These craftsman started their revival because they were doing their work like the ant in Prov. 6.
Like the ant. They just bringing the crumbs back to the colony. The colony was fed and
everybody was happy. It was a feast. So, this is a feast that’s happening. Let’s enjoy the feast
and as the students come back, let’s rejoice with them about what they experienced.
Let’s not be critical. Let’s not be manipulative trying to craft – we got a great week coming up. P.
Matti is coming in. We have a prayer week.

We’ll have a great thing next week about summer harvest. And really, let’s just believe God to be loved by him and love others. What could that do for the nation? What could that do for our city? What could that do for the world? We know we
have been very blessed to be part of a Word of God ministry that has been touched by the
Spirit, anointed of God and has moved people everywhere. We can’t forget that. We enjoy it. We
love it and we don’t want to miss it.

We just want to ask God by his Spirit to take us into the spirit of this. Not because we
manufactured it but because he moves. It’s like fresh oil. Oil running down the beard of Aaron all
the way down to the skirts of his garment. Amen? Amen. Alright.

P Schaller –

Thank you. Would you turn in your Bibles please to Ezra 10 and then we’ll go to
Nehemiah. Revival is our theme today as we witness on TV. Has anyone seen – maybe not on
TV but any videos from the revival in Kentucky? Have you been tracking it or following it? Or it’s
brand new? Raise your hand if it’s brand new to you? You don’t know anything about it? Okay.
What is actually happening in Kentucky and have a piece from a professor there who writes
about what happened. He teaches theology there as P. Steve said. “Ten o’clock in the morning,
students gather for a scheduled auditorium meeting in a chapel.” You saw the video of the
chapel and usually it’s a small number but the Spirit of God fell, moved there in such a way,
quietly with consciousness of God and then as this professor saw that the – he heard about it.

And when he arrived, “hundreds of students were singing quietly. They were praising and
praying earnestly for themselves, their neighbors, and our world, expressing repentance and
contrition for sin and interceding for healing, wholeness, peace, and justice. Some were reading
Scripture. Some were standing with arms raised. Several clustered in small groups. Some were
lying prostate. Some were talking. Their faces bright with joy. They were still worshipping in the
afternoon” and then he went back in the evening.

And then he arrived Thursday morning, and mid-morning “hundreds were filling the auditorium.
I’ve seen multitudes of students running towards the chapel each day. By Thursday evening,
students were coming from other universities: University of Kentucky, Cumberland, Perdue
University and so on. He has many listed here. “The worship continued on Friday and all
through the night. On Saturday morning, it was hard finding a seat. The building was packed.” I
saw a video yesterday with a line down the street and our people that went there Friday night,
they got there on Saturday. They had to wait an hour and a half to get into the chapel. They set
up a big screen out in the parking lot. You saw that on the video. So, there were, there looked
like there was a least a thousand people outside watching that.

This has happened at that university campus earlier, 1970. Hundreds of students at that time
came to Christ. “Many people say that in the chapel they hardly even realize how much time has
passed. It’s as if eternity and time meet together heaven and earth.” And he said, “I come from a
background as a theologian where I’ve seen many manufactured revivals. “Movements of the
Spirit” that were hollow but also harmful. I don’t want anything to do with that.

But this is no hype, no manipulation, no high pitched emotional fervor, but calm, serene, a mix of
hope and joy and peace is indescribably strong and almost palpable. A vivid and incredibly
powerful sense of Shalom, the ministry of the Holy Spirit is undeniably powerful but so gentle.”
Then he goes on and explains. “Anyone who has spent time in this auditorium over the past few
days can testify this promised Comforter is present and powerful. I cannot analyze or even
adequately describe all that is happening, but there is no doubt in my mind that God is present
and active. Several current students and recent alumni tell me that for several years they have
been praying together for a move of God and they are thrilled beyond words to see what is
happening.”

So, has this ever happened in history? We have here in the book of Ezra, a piece. We know at
Pentecost in Acts 2 what happened. Ezra 10:1, sometimes when we think of weeping, we think
of our pain and our frustration, our discomfort. But actually, I think this weeping is a different
kind. It can only happen in John 16:8 when the Holy Spirit is in the world to convict us of our sin.
Could we put that verse up on the screen, John 16:8. this is speaking of the Comforter. The
Comforter.

This is a very important word, isn’t it? The Paraclete. Comforter. Or Advocate sometimes. It’s a
word of encouragement. The Encourager. Comforter. The Advocate. The One that you really
need in life. The one that will really tell us, show us reality. The Comforter. “When he comes, he
will reprove” – reprove is an important word. The world of something the world doesn’t really
know about. Has a very hard time admitting, realizing what it is before God. Sin.

In every revival, which is a work, a move of the Holy Spirit. I have here a lot of material on
different revivals in history. Dr. Orr is a historian and theologian that wrote a lot about the history
of revivals. And because some of us have lived abroad, we are first to study the countries
revivals. When did a revival happen in Hungary? The peasant revival. In Finland, in Norway, in
Sweden, revivals. Farmers preaching. People being affected. The Welsh Revival, 1905, 1904
that affected the whole world. The Spirit moving in a way. No human being can reproduce a
spiritual revival. It has to come from God. When it comes from God, it’s remarkable. Of course, it
is the only way it can happen.

I have here in America, we’ve had five major ones. Five great American revivals. P. Steve
mentioned the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, the Third Great Awakening, 1875 to 1885. The D. L. Moody and the Chicago fire. The turning to Christ. The
Azuza Street Revival, 1906, 1915. And then, in the 20th century, we have Billy Sunday and Billy
Graham. And there were amazing manifestations during this period when many people were –
just look up at the screen here – realized this is a very deep thing, very personal and very deep
that I am a sinner.

You can hear somebody tell that to you. You are a sinner. And that’s one thing. But when the
Comforter says to you, you are wrong. You are a sinner. You are in great trouble. You have
serious problems. You got to, you don’t even realize it. This is a good thing. This is a work of
grace.

This is why many of us believers who are believers, many of us believers are saying in our
hearts thank you, God, for sending a revival that will convict people of their sin. And as you saw
on the video, this is actually part of what is happening. People are saying I lived this way but I’m
turning to Christ. Christ is the answer. He is the only answer. I need Christ in my life.
This is a very important work of grace that we pray for. That it would happen. That it would
happen in the City of Baltimore. That it would happen wherever you go in life. That you be part
of that in your church life that we would have the Spirit of God do this work.

So, we have three things in this verse. We have reprove the world of sin. Then, the next one is
of righteousness. It’s another thing we are blind to left to ourselves. Righteousness. These are
like the opposite. Sin is unrighteous. Righteousness is God. God is righteous. Not relative
righteousness. Not situational righteousness. Not cultural righteousness or merely moral
righteousness but absolute righteousness. God is righteous.

Wow! How would I ever know that in my heart? How could I ever get ahold of that in my heart
and see it? It can happen. But when the Spirit teaches us, this is behind everything we learn
that I realize I’m understanding that this is reality. That God is righteous and I’m a sinner and I
need Christ.

The third thing is judgment. When the Holy Spirit comes in the presence of the Spirit, another
way of saying these three words is serious. Really serious. Like one day you will face God. It’s
serious. God is righteous. I am not. I need help. I need salvation. I realize it.

The blessing in Kentucky that we are watching this happen the great blessing is that people are
coming to Christ. People are being refreshed. People are understanding and they are hungry.
They are looking for it. They are in the presence of God like we are here this morning and
everytime we gather in his name, in the nature of Christ. Where two or three are gathered, there
am I. There are many manifestations of God. There are many ways that we see God and we
understand who God is and we are learning. And I want to share that with you today.

I’ve got four points that I want to make just to comment on the ten greatest revivals ever. We got Pentecost in Acts 2. We have the Protestant Reformation. Calvin, Zwingli, Knox. Pre-
Reformation Revival. Lollards, Wycliffe, Huss, Savonarola. The Baby Boomer Revival. The Jesus People. The Prayer Revival. The Asbury Revival. World World II Revival. Billy Graham
and Duncan Campbell in New Zealand. The Layman’s Prayer Revival. Lampard, D. L. Moody.
Charles Finney, The Great Awakening. Hawaii, Jamaica. The Second Great Awakening, Cane
Ridge. Zinzendorf, Wesley, Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards. The First Great Awakening and then
the revival beginning in Wales. Edward Roberts. Korea, Manchurian Revival. Azuza Street
Revival in 1904.

Okay. So, I think we made that point. Turn with me to Nehemiah, please. Neh. 8. The people
have returned from Babylon. The Jewish people have returned and they are assembling, vs. 1. I
would like to jump in here for a minute and just say a couple things about when a revival
happens and people repent in their hearts, they come to Christ and they are born again.

The immediate work of the Spirit is to bring them to the consciousness of the Word. The Holy
Spirit wrote the Word and so now this is what we see here in Nehemiah. They gather together
as one man in the street and Ezra the scribe – what’s a scribe but a man of the Word. And they
take the law of Moses and they bring it out, vs. 2-3. From morning until mid day. Maybe it is six
in the morning. That’s when the sun is up until noon and they read the Word. And the people
understood.

I’d like to say a couple things about listening. When the Holy Spirit comes into your heart and
you start to listen and pay attention to what is said, you are hearing not only the voice of the
speaker but you are hearing a voice beyond that. What the Holy Spirit is saying to you in your
heart because you have a secret place in your heart. You have a place where only you live. This
is a good point. Proverbs 14:10, “the heart knows its own bitterness.”

We said this morning, we drew a picture of a man like this and put a heart inside him like this
and said that there’s some part here in the heart that only he knows. Only he knows. That’s
what Proverbs 14 says. The heart knows its own bitterness and also knows its own joy. When you
are born again, you have an inner life that only you know. That’s 1 Corinthians 2:10-11. It says, “no man
knows the spirit of a man but the Spirit of God.” Nobody knows the depth of a man or woman.
Not even your mother. Not your girlfriend. Not your best friend. Only God knows the depth of a
person.

So, when a revival happens, it touches the depth of the person. When revival happens, they
don’t forget it. I was born of God. Christ came into my heart and he gave me forgiveness. He
called me by name. I have the peace of God in my heart. This is four things we want to mention
here about the Spirit of God. The moving of the Spirit of God is not the moving of a movement of
men. It’s a work of God. It touches all levels of society.

Cause in society, we’re all about the outside. But when God moves he is about the inside. He’s
about where you live, what you listen to, how you hear, and when you are born of the Spirit, you
start to hear the Spirit. The Spirit says something to you from the Word of God. This is what
happened in this Nehemiah portion. They were listening in the morning and through to mid-day.
What were they listening to? What did they hear?

I’ll write down a few words here. #1. They were listeners and they were very attentive. They
could concentrate. They weren’t distracted. Have you ever been distracted. Have you ever been
distracted by your phone? By your activities? Have you ever sat down to read a book, got up to
go to the refrigerator, went back down back to the book and then you got up to look at
something else and then you sat down again and then you got up to look at where’s my phone
and then you sat down again? Have you ever lived like that? I have. And I still do.

But I want to bring your attention to something. When a revival happens from God, when the
Spirit of God moves in somebody’s life, they start to concentrate. They can actually listen. They
actually have a joy in being quiet. They actually have rest and peace in their heart.
And as they are listening – I’ll put here concentrating – they give it their heart. I’ll put here they
are submitted to what they hear. I’m not only hearing but I am willing. I am obedient. I am
available. I’m not only listening, but I am excited about it. Not only am I hearing, but I am hearing
God. I’m not only hearing God, but God and I are together. Not only God and I are together, but
we are on the same team doing the same thing. I’m excited about it in my heart. I’m believing
God. This is different from living in sin. Because sin destroys our capacity for God. Sin destroys
our lives ultimately. Sin tears us down. Sin depresses us. Sin frustrates us. Sin divides our
personality. Sin makes us a liar.

But when revival happens, you don’t forget it. You go, wow! I am so free. I am excited in my
heart. I am happy. I am at peace. Jesus Christ is my life. It says in the Bible, “I am the way, the
truth, and the life.” It says in the Bible, “God requires truth in the inner man.” That’s that little part that I’m trying to make a point here. In the inner man, you have this. It doesn’t matter what the
world says. They don’t know what we are talking about. It doesn’t matter what another group of
people are saying. It doesn’t matter to you because you found it. You are moved by it. It’s alive.
You’re alive.

By the way, this has been happening in our ministry through many decades, and we call it a
Word of God revival. Let me write that down. I think I got another words there: #1. Listen, #2.
Concentrate, #3. Submit. And I’ll put here #4. Obey. Another point and maybe I can share
tonight.

There is a linkage between men of God later who previously were saved in a time where there
was a moving of God, a revival time or in a church that was on fire for God and had the very
same effect, and they went into the ministry and they had a powerful ministry. They are in
history. They are people like Harold Lindsell. There was a whole generation, the Billy Graham
generation. Men of God. The missionaries. The missionaries with the Mott movement, the
Student Volunteer Movement. Missionaries, 1875 through 1920, 1930, 1940. Thousands of
American missionaries, some huge number that went out on the mission field because of a
spiritual moving of God. Wow.

Well, we might say, well, I have a job. I got two jobs. I got two kids. Soon three. I have a broken
down car. Soon, I’ll have two broken down cars. I’m paying my bills. I’ve got a full life and I’m in
this church and I’m learning and I’m really just happy that I’m alive. I’m happy that I’m here.
We say to you, you can live in what we’re calling what we’ve learned through the decades, the
manifestation of the Spirit, the Word of God revival. Because if you read our New Testament, the
Apostle Paul he teaches us that we can live a victorious Christian life because this is his will for
us in whatever capacity we are in.

Whatever our job or our circumstances are and there are many different manifestations of God
in good times and bad times where we learn in times where we have the privilege of freedom
and operating like we do or a time of persecution and oppression. We are able to live because
the Holy Spirit – I’ll put here #1. Empowers us. The Holy Spirit is in the world to empower you.
Let’s go back here to Nehemiah 8:2-3. You know, if I had a big family or struggling family or struggling
to work, don’t exclude yourself from paying attention to what God has to say to you. Many years
ago I was a missionary in Hungary and I would come back and visit here and sit in the
congregation and listen to the Word. I remember I had one problem. I had a struggle with my
family and my personal life and I was active in the ministry but I needed a word from God. I sat
right over here and I prayed before I came to the meeting that Dr. Stevens who was my pastor
would say something for me. And it came. I heard. I go there it is. That’s it. That’s for me. Thank
you, Lord.

And I walk out. Nobody knows it. But I walk out and I got what I needed. I heard. I heard. And
this is how you have to live your life. You and I have to be listeners. This is a revival because in
Kentucky that manifestation of God is there, and I hope it stays forever. I hope it stays until
Jesus returns. I love it. I’m so happy about it. I’m so excited that people come to Christ and that
it gives us hope for our country. Lord, turn us. Turn us to you. We need you. You’ve saved us
from our sins. You’ve anointed us with your oil of the Holy Spirit and you open your book to us.
Now, let us hear it. Let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ and hear it.

And when we go out, we go back to our, we go to our lives but we also are people of faith and
we have this expectation that God will teach us how to forgive. Teach us how to pray. Teach us
how to love. How to believe. And for some, there might be something even bigger. Something
more. I don’t know if it could be bigger but something more specific. Maybe somebody is called
to give all their heart, all their life. They’re called to forsake all. They are called to apply
themselves. Be a hearer. Obey. They are called to really believe God for just whatever God
wants to do.

So, he empowers us. He empowered Mary when she had the baby Jesus. She was, Christ was
incarnated in her and that was by the power of God. It says that. It was the power of God at
Pentecost in Acts 2. We have the empowerment.

#2. Let’s see. I want to get it in order here. I have my paper. Purifies. The Spirit purifies, 1 Cor.
6:11. Let’s put that up on the screen just to get that correct, too. 1 Corinthians 6:10-11. vs. 9-10. I think
that’s happening in Kentucky just to use that to illustrate it. They are washed. They have faces
of openness and joy and peace in the secret part of your heart. When you go to bed at night, it’s
you. You and God. God is saying you are accepted. You are washed. You are clean. I am for
you. Beautiful.

#3. He reveals. I have a spot in my heart for Dr. Stevens because as he ministered to us
through the decades, there were moments or times, – hours or days or weeks or months – there
were periods when the revelation of Christ in his ministry was so evident. It was such a joy to
learn and be trained and disciple under him. There are times when you could say God is in the
room. There are times with our sisters or brothers in the parking lot or in a car or riding
somewhere on a mission or on a trip and the Spirit reveals words of wisdom. Out of your own
mouth comes wisdom. The Spirit reveals.

And then #4 and lastly, unifies. When there is a revival of the Spirit, there is unity not division.
But unity. Real unity. That’s why all the chatter in our social politics and all that talk about equity
and all of these words, it’s like so shallow to us. Cause when the Spirit of God is in us, we have
this unity not manufactured on moral grounds but revealed to us.

That’s why all the churches, there is a Spirit, the Holy Spirit in the church where in a way we are
blind to a lot of things. We don’t know each other after the flesh. We are not concentrating on
your weakness or mine. But it says love covers a multitude of sins. We are fifty United States.
Are we really united? Fifty United States? The answer is that we are politically united, but only
unity is really in God. It’s in God.

And it’s the Holy Spirit where in a couple weeks, we’ll be in Hungary with maybe 40 or 50
different countries represented in Greater Grace churches and we’ll come together. We’re
always amazed at the unity that we have because when we are in the Spirit of God, then we
have unity.

When we are in the Spirit of God, there are differences but the differences cannot usurp the
reality of God’s heart and mind. That we are sinners who have been redeemed. We have been
put in the book of life. God is our Father. Christ is our Savior. We are members of his body, flesh
and bones. We are knitted together. We have the same heart, same mind because we have the
same Holy Spirit.

Another thing about it, it reproduces itself. If you have this right here, these words, what
happens? What happens when we have this? Others come up. They grow up in it. They learn it
also. What do they do? They plant another church. What happens there? The Spirit moves. We
are concentrating. We are listening. We are humble. We are submitted. We are in fellowship.
We are worshipping God. We understand his nature and his character. We grow up in the faith.
We have joy and peace and we are motivated people. We have a lot of joy, a lot of peace. We
have a lot of it. I got to repeat that. We have a lot of peace. We have a lot of joy. We have a lot
of love in our hearts.

What happens? It reproduces itself. There’s another one. There’s another town. There’s another
group. There’s another Bible study. It’s the pizza shop in upstate, New York. Two brothers at a
pizza shop….had a group of people and no buildings so the pizza shop becomes a church. It’s
not the building. It’s the unity. It’s the love. It’s the hunger. So what happens is another one. And
another one.

So, in Greater Grace we have seen more than 750 churches and so on and these are great
numbers and they reflect only to the glory of God that if the Spirit is doing his work in our hearts,
if he is empowering us, purifying us, revealing to us, unifying us, then we have a revival that
doesn’t end. It’s not the – it’s just a different manifestation.

And then there is the revival when there is a special period of time. Let’s finish with that thought.
It happens for a time when the manifestation is this way. There’s a time. I want to enjoy that time
as much as possible. I feel we are in one of those times now in our church. I feel we are in a
time where we should make hay while the sun shines. We should share our faith while we can.
Our life is short. It’s a vapor. I will not be here forever. You will not be here forever.

We have a period of time. How many years? Five, three, ten. Who knows? It’s limited. It’s
limited. This is only for time. It’s only for a time. So, when I find it, I find the pearl of great price. I
find the valuable thing. It’s not taken away from me. The devil would like to steal it. He’d like to
isolate you from the work of grace. He wants to isolate you from learning your Bible. He wants
to isolate you from loving the brethren. He wants to isolate you from your usefulness and
opportunities of grace to be used by God. He wants to isolate you so that you are somewhere in
some place in life, held up in some small cubicle with yourself and your own ideas and your own
understanding.

And of course, you can do that. That’s your call. But, no. You are worthy of something more
honorable. You are a listener. You are a listener. And the Spirit is saying this. Listen.
Concentrate on me. Seek me. You will find me. Submit yourself to me. Obey me. Enjoy me.
Walk with me. I will help you.

You say, how do I get rid of drugs? Follow Christ. You’ll get rid of them. How do I get rid of
jealousy and hatred? Follow Christ. It will fall away from you. How do I get over my bitterness in
my heart? Follow Christ and he will replace it with his love and his joy and his peace.
Concentrate on him. Seek him. You will find him. Knock. It will be opened. Ask and it will be
given to you. This is a Word of God revival.

You know, in the book of Acts you see the moving of the Spirit in such an amazing way, but then
you see also in the book of Acts the church planting. You see in the book of Acts the
persecution. You see the struggle. You see a shipwreck. You know, I want to add one last thing.
This is so good. Listen. I realized it the other day. I want to share it with you.

Acts 27, Paul is on a ship as a prisoner. He says something. They don’t listen to him. Here’s the
Christian. He says something. Nobody is listening. He’s a prisoner. He’s a nobody. Paul, who
are you? He’s a Jew who’s a nobody. He’s in trouble. I listen to the centurion. I listen to the
owner of the ship.
Who are you? You’re a nothing. You’re a nobody. That’s like Christians in this world. That’s
amazing.

The ship is in trouble like this in the storm. Then Paul speaks. Guess who listens? Everybody.
Everybody listens to him. Even the owner of the ship, the centurion. Everybody is listening to
him. Everybody. Everybody is listening to him. I feel like our country, covid, this transgender
stuff, LGBTQ+, minus, square root of, that whole thing. All that stuff, it’s just a distraction. It’s just
a distraction. It doesn’t mean anything. None of that is real, not in my heart. I don’t have
anything in my heart. I don’t have homophobia. I don’t have any of that stuff.

It’s all just chatter. It’s talk. It’s a distraction. It’s the swiggly line in the middle. It’s just the stuff
that happens. And when God comes in Kentucky, when God comes in your heart, when God
comes in the church in Greater Grace, when God is here, now maybe somebody will be
listening to us. Maybe now after you’ve been through the craziness and you pay no attention to
those people with the Bible. Pay no attention to those people that go to church. Pay no attention
to those people that talk about God. It’s like okay. Fine. That’s okay. We enjoy what we have.

Watch. I enjoy it here when nobody is listening because I know what it is. And they don’t have to
listen to me. But there will be a day maybe when everybody will listen to you. It might be a day
when at work, it might be a time on the street, it might be a time in our history when people say
– those kids in Kentucky are saying it. I tried this. I did this. I did this. I have come to Jesus
Christ. I have found Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit is all over them saying you have found
Jesus Christ.

Now, just enjoy it. Walk in it. You’ll never forget it. It will never leave you. It is for you. And now
become a listener. Concentrate on it. Submit yourself to it. Obey it and honor it and it will carry
you all through your life and you will meet him one day. Yeah. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. I
am so happy that this is happening in Kentucky. I’m so happy about it. And here and in many
places in the world we pray. It’s a very real thing, isn’t it? Would you pray with me.

Please enjoy these sermon notes from the messages preached at Greater Grace Church in Baltimore. These notes are provided to aid in your study and understanding of the Word. Note that these notes do not represent complete, word-for-word transcriptions. Also, they may contain omissions as well as some errors in spelling and structure, etc., as we attempt to provide them as soon as possible. Our hope is that these notes serve as a way to help you search and connect with messages on related subjects and passages. Thank you for your interest in the ministry of Greater Grace.