Inviting you to turn in your Bible to the gospel of Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. We’re going to read the entire chapter this morning.

Correlate to one another. And correlate to one another. And initially, I’d thought about just looking at the 3rd parable, the prodigal son. But as I began to read through the entire chapter, I thought you can’t do that. At least I didn’t feel like I could this morning because there’s a whole broad context of what’s going on in chapter 15 that I want us to see.

I’m going to invite you to stand with me. And, it’s not a super, super long chapter. So I think we can stand. Luke chapter 15 beginning in verse 1. Ben drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured saying, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. Parable unto them saying, what man of you having a 100 sheep and if he lose one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it. When he had found it, he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he come at home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors and saying unto them, rejoice with me for I found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over 9 and 9 just persons, which need not repentance.

Candle and sweep the house and seek diligent, diligently to she find it. And when she had found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together saying, rejoice with to you. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God sinner that ripen off. And he said, a certain man had 2 sons. And the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods which falleth to me.

And he divided unto him or unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, he took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land and he began to be in 1. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man gave in to him.

And when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thine hired servants. And he arose and came to his father when he was yet a great way off. His father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and said unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy and I’m no more worthy servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be for this my son was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and has found. And they began to be married. Now, His elder son was in the field and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard in your and dancing and he called one of his servants and asked what these things And he said unto him, thy brother is come and thy father hath killed the fatted calf because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry and would not go in. Therefore, came his father out and then treated him.

And he answered and said to his father, lo these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment, and yet thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. Which has devoured thy living with Harcourts, thou has killed for him the and all that I have is it was me that we should make, marry, and be glad For this, thy brother was dead. And it’s alive. And it was a lot of And We have rejoiced in your presence so far as we sang songs of praise to you, our great salvia. We’ve rejoiced.

We’ve And the beauty of your word that is a light to us that we can walk in as the Heitz women’s say. Now, Lord, as we come to your word, we rejoice that you have revealed to us your these next few moments, I pray that you, through the power of your spirit, would take these words that Luke recorded for us under the inspiration of the spirit. Hearts? Gone away for a day to do a prayer and fasting retreat. Typically, we do that in November.

This year, we had to bump that back to December. So the first part of December, Ward and I, made a trip down to the potter’s place in central. And took a day just for prayer and fasting and spent some time talking about the church, things of that nature. I shared with the board, during that time something that has been a growing burden on my heart for us as a church. Us as a church.

I believe that we’re living in unprecedented days. And I look around at the events in the world that are as I look around at things that are taking place in the Middle East and events that are happening around the world, it seems like our world is shaking and right. I’ve mentioned this before, and I’ll tell you again on numerous occasions, no doubt, that I’m not a prophet, and I’m not the son of a prophet. But you don’t either. So it we’re on level ground, all right?

But you don’t either, so we’re on level ground, all right? I don’t know what the Lord is doing. I just know that God is sovereignly working in the world today for his glory. And our shaping up for the culmination of what he has told us in his There is coming a day that the Lord will Well, I don’t know. The timetable of the LAUREN: is what Jesus told us to look at and say, when you see these things, look up.

Your redemption draws nigh. Now, the reality is many of the events that 2 1000 years, we should have had our heads up looking for the redemption of humanity. Right? It heart towards the lost. Because as we see God’s heart towards the lost, and we seek to loss.

And I’m just going to tell you We’re going When we read this, this chapter, we’re going to be looking at a little bit of this as well tonight, but this morning I want to look at Luke chapter 15. When we read this, this chapter, we that Jhousals within the those parables have a similar and it’s a terrible of the that has 99 sheep that are in the pasture, but one is missing. And so Jesus says, what shepherd would not leave the 99? Go and find the one that is lost sheeps. And say, a dumb creature.

Get back to the rest of them. Takes that she puts him on his shoulders. And woman who has lost a coin would not take the and turn the house upside down until she’s found that one All 3 of those parables are familiar to us. And they message. But the reality is, is they are all told for a of chapter 15, Luke records for us what spurred Jesus to tell these 3 parables.

If you have your Bible still, the tax collectors, the stinnards were drawing, and as the sinners were drawing near and as a result of their coming to him, the Pharisees begin to murmur and grumble and complain, saying this man receives sinners. And he doesn’t just receive them, but he eats with them. He accepts them. These scribes and Pharisees, the ones who are so diligent in their orthodox positions, their ceremonial washings, their diligence of aiding the law, so that the law itself can surely be kept. They’ve put enough barriers around the original law.

We’ll make sure that people keep the law. These ones who They would never touch a. And yet, Jesus seems to throw away all of their concerns about ritual, purity, the wash, the care of lepers. He touches them, the one who goes and sits down with these sinners and eats with them. They begin to murmur and grumble and complain that this rabbi who throws away all of their traditions, accepts, in his presence, and he teaches them.

Them and help us understand God’s heart towards the loss. For a It begins to teach us the significance of loss, accepted them for who they were. Well accepted them for who they were. Well, the Pharisees wanted to hold them away. And Can I just say to us this morning one of the things that you and I must always Can I just say to us this morning, one of the things that you and I must always keep in mind is that we don’t compromise the word of God just to try to placate to a sin?

When the Bible calls it sin, it sin. And we have to be clear on that. Jesus didn’t compromise the true, but what he did is he welcomed them in, showed them love and care, while the Pharisees said, solid character. I want you to notice this morning some true.

I want you to notice this morning some true. I want you to notice this morning some truths about Jesus’s heart, loss. First thing that I want you to notice is the first parable of the sheep that is on lost people is because lost people or lost things are worth seeking. In particular, when we talk about sheep, we’re talking about an opportunity to foolishly wonder away.

In fact, Jesus oftentimes compares us to. And Isaiah tells us that we like sheep have all gone astray, Jesus shows that through the foolishness foolishly wandered away, the shepherd goes looking for the That’s the point that Jesus is trying to make. Every soul is worth seeking, even when they’ve made choices foolishly that have led them away. And wanderings away come searching for where you are. Isn’t it true that many times we look at people as almost expendable?

We look at people who’ve made foolish choices and say, well, they made their bed. They can lie in it. Made their bed. They can lie in it. Aren’t you glad that Jesus didn’t say that about you?

And I look at some of the things that I’m guilty of, things that I pray that some people will never ever find out about. Divinity. You know, what he’s worth seeking after. He may have been wandered away on foolish choices. But he’s worth seeking.

Your worst lost people are worth turning the house upside down just like the woman who lost the. Corpse. Things are lost because of people. You know, there are some people that are out there that are lost, choices based on responses to what others have done. They’re there because of choices that others have.

I know some people right now, grew up in the church, does terror. If you know a little bit about the history and the background behind, You would maybe understand this just a little bit better. A father would give his daughter 10 silver coins that she would wear on a chain that would be used as a garland on her in her that would identify her as a married woman. But that would identify her as a married woman. Maybe the closest thing that we could assimilate it to within our culture is it was like a wedding band.

A part of that is value to you, even more than just monetary value, but it’s of great significance. And so you turn the place upside down and to your scouring to And fact, lost things are so significant to God that he would actually send his son from heaven, the glories of heaven into the world. And all of the trappings of this prison, and all of the trappings of this prison, and all of the trappings of this prison. And so, Stauffer, the world, shining the light. Scour the world, shining the light, to find that which is lost.

Lost things are worth waiting for their return, just like the prodigal son. Lot of the division of the inheritance. Here’s a son arrogantly going to his father and saying, dad And not just any son, this is the youngest son. This is not the heir to the estate. This is the one who gets the seconds, if you will.

Goes to his father and says, dad, I want what’s mine. Give it to me. Embarrasses his father, shames his family, takes what he has, and leaves. In the cultural context, Jewish fathers would not be found running even to a child who had, divorce father was. And then, Jisus tells us the parable that here’s a father that seems to be waiting for this son who has wandered off.

And at the first glimpse of him, doesn’t wait for the son to come, doesn’t wait for the son to grovel at his feet begging for mercy, but runs to the sun and says, my son which was lost is found. My son who was dead is alive. Go and bring the robe. Go and get the signet ring. Put it on his finger.

He’s a part of the and truth is, and You and I all have made choices to reject the father’s grace, haven’t we? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The truth is, there’s not a person here this morning that not or at some point was not lost. We all were. This morning because somehow you had the ability to pop out of the and find your way back onto the chain of the woman’s headdress.

You’re not here this morning because somehow you were enough to weasel your way back into the family and say, hey, I’ve been wrong. And Jesus is talking to these Pharisees who look at sinners and say, oh, repulsive, repugnant, ah, repulsive, repugnant, lot of you hang out with some sinners and you will find that some of them are repulsive and repugnant people. But can I also tell you that the Lord looks at them and says, they’re worth they’re worth and they’re worth they’re worth COURT COURTNEY source of purpose for which Jesus came? The Pharisees couldn’t understand. And our stories If you’re here and you’re lost, there’s a God in heaven that’s got his eyes on you.

There’s a God in heaven that’s looking for you. There’s a God in heaven in his sovereign grace, is reaching down to played out. There’s a coin, but in the last one, we see that there’s a snorer who responds and drops. And so, is the working of God’s sovereign grace, hot on your trail, looking for you when you’re lost. But you have to respond to that There’s not a place that he won’t go to find you.

You. He’ll go with you into a whorehouse to find you. He’ll go with you inside of that addict’s house to find you where you are. But you have to respond to that. And so you have to respond to that.

And respond to that. And so I want you to see is the high premium parables, every one of these parables, when the sheep is found, soul. And when one is lost, and he finds, it’s let’s celebrate, let’s rejoice, let’s throw up. And again, it’d be the equivalent somebody who’s lost their wedding band or is lost, let’s celebrate Call everybody in. Look, the work can wait.

The work can wait. Get everybody. And it was the because there’s a group of Pharisees that’s sitting back and they’re saying. They’re the undesirables. They’re the addicts.

They’re the lustful. They’re the proud. They’re the self centered. They’re the scum. They’re the sinners.

And Jesus says, oh no, no, you don’t understand. Their heaven, rejoice, somehow, church. I wish somehow you and I could somehow peel sin, and be able to witness the scene around the throne of God when a sin, and it would transform the way that we see loss transform the way that we see lost. I think sometimes we have a 2 doll view of what happened.

And I think sometimes we have a 2 doll view of what happened. We have a 2 doll view of what heaven. When I read these passages of scripture, I can’t help but think in heaven, there is all sorts of praise and partying going on. You say, oh, past party and these parables is and we could somehow get a glimpse of, of sin is saved by the grace of God, it would do something in us to say, we got to find somebody who needs salvation. We gotta find somebody who’s lost, and we gotta bring them back into the All of these parables and tend to help these Pharisees understand God’s heart for the and it also reveals the heart of the Pharisees in the.

Jesus told these parables because the Pharisees questioned his relationship with the lost. In fact, he ends the third parable with the In fact, he ends the 3rd parable with the prodigal son. And he ends the parable of the prodigal son story does. You’d want them as your son. I’ll guarantee you would.

He stayed home. He didn’t demand his inheritance. He didn’t take his inheritance and go waste it. He worked in the field. He did what he was supposed to.

He kept his father’s You’d want that son as a son, wouldn’t you? Don’t lie you. Problem is, that son’s angry. Because while he did all of the right things, God showed special favor, it seems like, or the father shows special favor towards the one who is lost. George, can I remind us this morning that Jesus came for the sick, not the well, Amen?

The danger for us is that it can be easy for us to have this attitude in our hearts well, we are well. They are solid. They made the choice. And he doesn’t look at it that way. And he doesn’t want us to look at it that way.

In fact, I was challenged this week as I was working through this. What’s the attitude of our hearts towards lost people? What’s your attitude towards lost people? As I’ve pondered and meditated on these parables, I was struck by this thought. We?

We’d probably all rejoice. I would think we would. However, your true attitude for the lost is not revealed so much by how you respond when they come back home, but by what you do to help find them when they’re lost. Your true attitude towards lost people is revealed more by what you do to redeem the lost, than your celebration when they’re found. Challenge by that.

Do you see people’s lost sheep who need help getting back to the fold because it made foolish choices? Or do you see them as they deserve what they get for wandering off? Do you see people as lost coins who’ve been hurt somed, a circumstances in life that have left them on the dusty floor of life waiting to be picked up, Do you see people as the prodigal son who was duped into believing that there was more out there that was grander than what was at home. That was grander than what was it. Where do you see them as lost people?

You desperately need to find their way. And you desperately need to find their way.

And you need to find their way. And you need to find their way. And you need to find their way. And you need to find their way. And you need to find their way.

And desperately need to find their way home? George, I’m challenged by the fact that not a place that our savior would not go to find the loss, then there shouldn’t be a place that you and I are not willing to go. Willing to put ourselves in for the redemption of the loss. And so as such, are we willing to imitate put ourselves in for the redemption of the loss? And so as such, are we willing to imitate our father in heaven, who goes out there and helps them to find their way.

I’m challenging us this as we begin a new year, I’m challenging all around us. Are account. Some who have made foolish choices on their own, been hit with some hard knocks in life and people have wounded them, somebody helping them understand your value, your loved by your creator. There is healing for your life. Every day, there are people that will stand before a holy, and we’ll have to give an account for their life.

And so, And our father in heaven will have to say, depart from me. Never knew you. Never knew you. Never. And because he wasn’t the responsibility to lost people and lead them to the one who can save and prayer, brother, arms, I want this to be the prayer of our heart this year.

I want this to be the prayer of our heart this year. Laura, would you impress upon my heart as one of your It’s one of your to be looking for that which is lost and drawing them to the one who is their and draw them to. And can we pray this year, Lord, would you lay upon and have a part of reaching into their life and pointing them to the one who is their it’s and then you this morning. And then you draw all measures to redeem that which is lost. I thank you that you have a heart to search for lost people, because you found me.

Laura, I pray for those that are here this morning that maybe they know that they’re dead in their trespasses and sin. Uncompromising word, regular, just pins them against the wall and reminds them that they’re not walking in obedience to your They know that they’re lost. I pray, Father, that you would help them to see of God who goes to where they’re loves draws them to your loves them, draws them to your self. You helped them to respond to your grace. Church that you would help us to see that these words were spoken to the Pharisees to help them to see your true heart towards the lost.

That heart towards the lost. It revealed the Pharisees didn’t have a heart for the loss. And I would pray this morning that if your spirit is speaking to us and showing us that we’re so self centered and so self absorbed that we don’t have a heart for the centered and so self absorbed that we don’t have the same heart that you have for the Lord, help us. Give us a heart to Help us give us a heart to look for those around us that are lost and give us heart to reach out to lead them to the one who is their salvia. This year would be, by the power of your spirit in our lives.

This year, we would see those who are in our community that are lost, that they would come to. And so that’s why we would see those who are in our community that are lost, that they would come to. And so that they would come to the community that are lost, that they would come to. -They would come to – in your name.

Give us boldness. Give us be your witness as I pray in jesus, then amen. The Lord bless you. You were a to draw a and then the Lord bless you.

Would you bow your head with me this morning? Father, that’s my desire for my life and for us as a church, that our worship would be acceptable to you. And yet, father, I’m reminded throughout scripture that not all worship pleases you. When our heart is not right before you and we go through motions, but inside we’re empty and dead, and all of our worship is just motion, and revive us and refresh us so that our praise and our worship would stem from a heart that is full of delight and full of joy in you.

I pray in these next few moments as we consider your word that you would rekindle in us, hearts that are, fresh with passion for you, delighting in you, and enjoying to stir our hearts afresh and anew, I pray, in Jesus name. Want the Lord to be delighted with my praise, Don’t you? It only happens when our praise flows from hearts that are right with them. And may the Lord help us to have that kind of a heart. Old Scottish preacher George Morrison once made the observation.

He said, the victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings. Sure how I altogether feel about that. Almost sounds like there’s a lot of death and renew in a victorious Christian. But I think he touches on a point that is important. We’re in the winter season right now.

Right. And most of the trees are bare. Now, I kind of enjoy that because from my back deck, when the trees are void of their leaves, I actually have some nice views to the If you get in the right spot, you can see table And so there’s times that I kind of like that. No leaves. I thought maybe it’d be really nice if on some violent stormy night, the trees in my neighbor’s yard would mysteriously tumble over so that I would have better views to the mountains.

But I’ve never been able to justify how that could really happen. But you know, in just a couple of months, all of those trees And this period of time when everything is a little drab, there’s new buds that begin to form are going to start pushing through the ground again to new life. When I think about that, there’s an element of truth to that in the spiritual sense. Truth to that in the spiritual sense. Over and over in scripture, predominantly in the Old Testament, authors from the old testament that encourage the people of God to new beginning. What we talk about as revival. We’re at the end of a year that just began last week, right?

And if anybody feel like 2023 was just a I know that is because I’m getting It’s the older you get, the faster the years go. Thought that has just been pressed upon my heart to share for us. And I believe there’s an element of it for us personally on a personal level, but also corporate as a d and it’s expressed through us, and that’s the subject of revival or being revived. If you look at the body, the human body, when an element of the human body suffers, If you’ve ever had lower back pain, then you under stand just a little bit how lower back pain affects everything about your physical being. And what may have started as just a twinge in your lower back, all of a sudden, you begin to walk with a little bit of a limp.

And as you walk with a limp, then all of a sudden, your hip begins to hurt. And because you’re favoring one leg, then your knee starts to hurt. And then the muscles begin to You know what I’m talking about? And then the muscles begin to draw and about. You know, the same principle is true in the spiritual realm and in the church.

And each of us individually go through things that are challenges to us or painful to us, it impacts the entire body. What happens to 1 impacts all of us. I’ve been drawn to the book of Psalms again this morning for our scripture reading, particularly Psalm 85. I’ve wrestled with how to preach this particular whichever hermeneutics teacher you would follow, there are some that would say, you always preach the text from the beginning to the end in order. And then, you have some hermeneutics guys that would say, no.

You can go to the end and preach from the end of it backwards. That I want to just But I want to just tell you right up, the storm in some ways is in essence, it gives us the final goal, tells us how to get it tells us the means whereby that comes. And so I thought about starting at the end, the means whereby we get to what we need so that we can accomplish our final goal. But we’re going to work through it in its order. I’m going to invite you to stand with me as we read this psalm together.

So Gonna invite you to stand with me as we read this Somm to draw has been favorable unto the taken away all thy wrath. Thou hast stured thyself from the fierceness of thine. And cause thine anger toward us. It’s not be angry with us forever. Wilt thou draw out thine anger draw generations?

Wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice and show us thy mercy, oh Lord, and grant us thy fall. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear that glory may dwell in our land. Travesty. Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven. The Lord shall give that which is good and our land shall yield her increase.

Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps. You may be seated. This particular and it’s opening notes gives us a little understanding of its background. If you have a bible this morning that gives you, at the beginning of the Psalms, some information about those som, then you will know a little detail about the som, some of those details that you discover at the outset of the som, who is the of Psalm 85 are the sons of men who would have been and they’re writing this particular 2 som, and here are these group of worship leaders more than likely was theme of this particular som is revival or reviving. And he’s taken some time.

He’s reflected on some things. And then it calls for reviving, and then he asks the Lord to do something. Give us ears to hear a new and I come into this new year, As you and I come into this new year, this has been my heart’s cry for us as a church, for me personally, but also for us as a church. Lord, would you revive us a new will you refresh us a new our a among us. And the things that I discover every is the second law of thermodynamics.

Some of you know that law, whether you realize it or not. Now, Brother Armstrong knows nothing of this because he doesn’t drink coffee. Bless us. He and keep it on that warmer if you have a bun warmer, if you have one of those little, insulated, coffee holders. What is it called?

A curve? Then it’ll keep it warm, but you pour that out into your cup. And it’s not long until now, I confess, I don’t like my coffee so hot that it burns your throat the whole way down. I don’t like that. I get my cup of coffee and I start drinking at about 20 to 30 minutes.

But the time that I get done with it, it’s usually it’s called the natural laws of thermo or second law of thermodynamics states that everything is in a state of I would suggest to us this morning that even within the natural laws of and the natural danger for our spiritual lives is that we grow, get caught up in the hustle and the bustle of life and we active about all of our daily activities. Are there are times in the spirit in our spiritual lives where we need a I believe that’s a part and I believe that’s a and Morison was talking about with the idea victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings There are times that we need the fresh outpouring of the spirit of God on our hearts to revive us and refresh. This morning, Psalm 85, maybe a little background would help us. Appear. This was written in the period of time after Israel has come back from their 70 years of captivity and seeing the mighty hand of the Lord who has raised up some men who have led Israel out of Babylon, back into like Nehemiah and if you study this period of Israel’s history, you, you destroy drifts back into a pattern of idor.

And there’s a cooling that has happened in is They’ve experienced some setbacks along the way walls. They need a fresh outpouring of the spirit of the fresh outpouring of the spirit of their spiritual lives have cooled off. It appears that this som, in a time when they’re experiencing some of what Ezekiel talked about. The reality of. Seeing the valley of dry something fresh.

They saw and provides for us some vital perspectives about our need and our approach. Being revived and refreshed in the order. But I think you’re going to notice that as we work through, the words that the psalmist began this som, it’s all about praise. Look at it. You showed favor to your and favor to the land of Israel.

He’s taken them out of their 70 years of captivity. He’s brought them back into their land. You restored the captivity of Jacob. They’re no longer under the bondage of the Babylonians, but they are back in their, and stolen away from them as being and you forgave the inequity of your In other words, you’ve forgiven us of our. All of our sins.

You’ve taken our sins and you’ve cast them as far as the east is from the west, never to be remembered against us again. The right for the sons of Korah as they’re writing this, they’re reflecting You showed us mercy. Praise is a choice to reflect on God’s past goodness and not to dwell on present circumstances. Amen? We get caught up in our present circumstances.

And when we get caught up in the present circumstances, all we can see is what’s right here. And there are moments that you and I need to step back and see the bigger picture of what God has done. And see the bigger picture of what God has done. Because whenever we step back to look at the goodness of God, present circumstances that were And so you and I need a fresh spirit of praise. Astrid, just stop to reflect back over your life and the goodness of God in your taken time just to pause and look over what God has done in your life.

Now, there’s a difference. Let me just, let me be and Right? That, longing to go back to the days that you used to Reflecting back is that time where you just step back and you begin to over the landscape of your life and see the goodness of and through the book of Exodus, one period of and was going through a particularly just dry season in Justice, chapter 8, Moses, encourages the people of Israel to and what he was doing in me. And what he was doing in And what he was doing that moment of just pausing to reflect back, refreshed my spirit for new refreshed my spirit for a to the Lord glory for what he was doing in my There are times that you and I need to pause and take a look at the goodness of God and what he has done in the past so that it can change our present circumstance.

Times. I just reflect over my life. I see the hand of the Lord in my life. I see the hand of the Lord in my life. Life.

And it’s a fresh reminder that he’s worthy of praise for all of the good things that tenor of the then a force for there’s this abrupt and you guys here would have an interesting classic corpse. And if you think you don’t, number of years ago when I was a teenager, there was a fellow that I was connected with his family. Body man, did a lot of body work. And they had purchased a 1968 Ford Mustang. As my memory serves me, and this fella and his dad took that car and they begin to work with that car.

Car and they begin to work with that car, 2 89 and murder, repaired all the rust areas, murder, all the rust areas, painted that thing, Hunter Green, put new leather interior in it. And we used to beg him. His name was Mugsy. And we used to beg him. His name was Mugsy.

Don’t know why his parents named him Mugsy, but they named him Mugsy. To us for a ride. Take us for a ride. Of something to be done about their current circumstances. Lord, you need to revive us.

We need to experience a fresh grace in our lives. We need to be brought into the body shop, and we need restoration. To pop the hood and do some work on the we need you to work on some the our spiritual lives and renew us. Us this morning that you won’t experience fresh grace until you acknowledge that your current graces staure. So often, revival is stifled because of 1 or 2.

Reviving in our spirit. And until we humble ourselves to say, Lord, we need fresh grace, We’re the second reason that Or the second reason that revival is stifled is because of our spiritual reflecting. We just want to go back to the old days. You know what I’m talking about? Let me just pause here for some of you that are little older than what I am.

Trying to do? Some of your older folks know what it you don’t like change. You know, like everything just to stay the same way it always is. I’m starting to get old enough where it’s like, you know, I just I’m okay with things just being the way they are. Do you know, the danger is for some of us to reflect back on the way things used to be, and say, boy, I wish it was like that.

Pray for the old days. Stands square where you are and make the present better than any past is based all of on your relationship to God and go forward and presently, you will find that what is emerging is infinitely better than the past ever was. You know, than the past ever was. You know, when I read that, I said, he’s exactly right. Want to get nostalgic and look back at the way things used to be.

And boy, if we could just go back to the good old days, and I just say there were no good old days. And I just say there were no good old days. And I just say there were no good old days. And I just say there were no good old can I just say there were no good old days? God has never been a god of the good old days.

God has always been about what he’s doing in the present and what he’s doing and is coming to hope. We recall what God has done in the and to live between memory and hope. We recall what God has done in the Again, the And the for us is that we not live in either one of those. And whenever we get a fresh spirit of praise remembering what God has done, it can transform what’s going on right here and right now. The other danger is, is that we just we’re always looking ahead.

Always. And then we hit 13. We’re like, oh, and then, oh, I can’t wait until I’m 18, and I can go to I can’t wait. And then we kind of stop. And Most of us are Most of us aren’t saying, I can’t wait until I die.

What will come, what will come, what will come. And we’re always we’re waiting for the vacation to come. We’re waiting break to come. We’re waiting for this. We’re waiting for the And we fail to realize that God wants to do something for us right now.

Things that he’s doing in the future and he’s preparing for in the future, but God wants to refresh us right. I’m intrigued by what the Psalmist says, revival will do. Look at it. If you have your bible still open, it says in verse 6 that your people may rejoice in you. What should revival do for us?

Hap, and we come to church, and we fill us. So what makes us regular attenders at Oh, I hope what revival does for us is it gives us a heart that rejoices And who drives In fact, if you go to verse 10, it says that the nation would bring glory to God. My prayer is, God, would you refresh us so that the joy of the Lord fills our hearts. Your spirit, it’s really easy to praise, isn’t it? When you’re rejoicing in something, it’s easy for praise to just flow.

And so the psalmist is praying, Lord, revive us. Revive us. This is a period of time in Israel’s history that many believe that they had began to slip back into some of the old patterns and some of the idles fact. The idols of this present world begin to bring us greater satisfaction. For us to look forward to that vacation rather than it is for us to look forward to the opportunity that we have to share the good news of Jesus Christ was so for us to get caught up in the projects that were working, and saying, how can I serve the Lord?

Then say, how can I serve the Lord? It’s easier for us to get caught up, and say, and how can I give so that the kingdom of things that we can do to fill up our time rather than saying, Lord, how can I use my time that you’ve given to me that’s really your time? How can I use it for your glory? Do you see what I’m saying this morning? There are times that you and I need to just pause and say, rais, so and so and survival comes, it banishes every idol and captures, cry striper, and I say, Lord, revive us.

A and I swear, a and a worked our way backwards because the psalmist ends the catalyst to all of this. Look at verse 8. I will hear what God the Lord will say. Do you know how our hearts are revived anew and I need our ears to be tuned afresh and anew to hear the word of the Bible is always The beautiful things about the Bible tells us of itself that it is sharper than any two edged sword. And it is.

That means that this word is constantly speaking forth truth to us, always. Build up of earwax sometimes take a probe in there and they’ll clean out all of that build up of whacks that is hindering your and the Oh, Lord, I want to hear your word. My prayer for us is, is Lord give us to hear your. And in our world, we’re drowning out the And it’s easy for, for the hearing of the word of God to become news organization that did a chose, they set up cameras in the children’s rooms, and then they set off the fire alarms. No.

So they set up cameras and they set off the and they voided their responses. Not a single one of those children, tried of the you know what they did. They took the voice of the parents prerecorded, voice of their mother or their father saying and saying there’s a fire in the house. You need to get up and you need to leave. They discovered in that every single one of those children responded to the voice of their.

Every one of them that had ignored the sound of the fire. Danger, there’s a fire you need to get up, you need to respond, you need to get out of the house, you need to get out right now. Every one of those children responded. 1 of them responded within The Lord wants to call each one of us by name. The Lord wants to call each one of us by name.

He’s calling us to his word, to hear his voice, praise. Psalmist words and verse 10, loving, kindness, and truth have met together, righteous and traitors just stand on the portals of heaven and just blare this siren to us. No, what did he do? We just celebrated the hear my grace that is for you so that your heart can be filled with new brah burden this morning is that God would do something fresh and new for us to and for us collective, and for us, it’s easy sometimes for us to look around and say It doesn’t work like you used to work. And it’s true.

And to a pastor who was telling me about some things that God’s been doing in his church over the last couple of And how number of months ago, they had seen some new people come to the church and they got saved. And so they had a baptismal service. He said, no, we have a portable baptistry. And so we had set it up, baptized those that had recently been converted, took the Baptist Trai. The only way I can express it is that God sent a revival batched.

And he said, we batched. And all of a sudden, I realized there’s no point in taking the and the span of just a couple of It was somewhere over 40. And he said, we just took the baptistry down. Right? Right after I apt So he’s we’re going to put the back and before they left the service, they said, we want to be and close or anything, any changes of clothes or anything.

Just wanted to be and say, Lord, you’re still working in our world. Amen? It you’re still working in our world. It’s easy for us sometimes to look and say, yeah, God’s doing things in different parts of the world. And you go to different areas where you’re seeing the moving of God.

But I’m telling us, God is reviving us in America today. God doesn’t want us to live in the past and he doesn’t want us to just look to the future and he doesn’t want us to look to foreign countries. He wants us to say, Lord, do something new among us right here. Right? And that’s and Let’s stand together as we draw.

For us as a congregation, my prayer for my heart is, did you give us fresh ears to hear your word in my life so that you can help revive, for us as a church, that you would give us fresh ears to hear your word, saying, Lord, we need something fresh and anew in our Lord, may out of our hearts flow a fresh praise to you. Lord, you are worthy of glory and crescendo of praise that rises. We’re living in days where we need a fresh outpouring of your spirit loud and would be you are worthy of praise. You’re doing things in our world today, right here, right South Carolina and in easily Bible Methodist. I’m saying, Lord, we’re candidates for a fresh outpouring of your spirit.

My heart says, Lord, would you revive us? My heart says, Lord, would you revive us? Says, Lord, would you revive us? It says, Lord, would you give us fresh grace? I want to see the moving of your spirit among us.

Flaming passion for you, you would give to us new converts and, to us, people who are coming in and seeing the grace of God, a their hearts would be filled afresh and anew with your goodness and your grace and weird, and we would draw this morning to look unto you the author and the perfecter, us a fresh and anew, I pray, in jesus name. Amen. The Lord bless you. You were just And the Lord bless you.