How many of you have ever read the word of God and the time that you were reading a particular time, it was just burning in your heart? Anybody have that happen? And then has anybody ever had a time when, you go through dry season and then, after a bit, it burns again? And that's that reviving in the heart. And sometimes in my prayer times, I always enjoy my prayer times, but there are other times I really enjoy my prayer times.

And so that's what she's singing about tonight. So that's what we need, reviving, rekindling the coal, the holy spirit blowing on it in our hearts and warming us up. And so that was a good good good ministry and song. Well, tonight, I take very seriously, the preaching of God's word. I take very, very seriously, I think, every sermon.

Somebody says, what's the most important sermon you've ever preached? And I say the one I preach right now, you know. Every sermon is life and death in it. And, so every sermon is important. So I say that to say I'm not laying aside the pulpit because I wanna try Drew out.

This is first year traveling or first time traveling with us. He'll be traveling with we'll do some things again, I'm sure. But he's an evangelist on his own. But the reason that he's preaching is something the holy spirit said Drew should preach Sunday night. And then I call up pastor and he said Drew should preach, he felt the same way.

And so we think the Lord has something for us and let's hear what God has. Drew is an evangelist in his own, in his own ministry, but he's here with us helping with music today and I think the Lord has him to be a challenge to us. Thank you for the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter number 57 in the word of God tonight. I just want to say what a privilege that it is to be able to open up the word of God.

Certainly not one I take lightly. And I'm thankful, thank you pastor for allowing me to preach this evening, what a blessing that that is. And I'm thankful that every time the word of God is open, it's an opportunity for us to be changed. And I hope that you come to God's word with that attitude. Not just, well, we got another one or well, let's see what the young guy has to say.

But the word of God is being open and God speak for thy servant heareth. And if we'll come to God's word every time it's open, whether it be in church, whether it be in our own personal devotions, I believe that God will speak and that He will change us. And as I shared with somebody earlier, that He'll change us as we look into the glass of His word from glory to glory. It will look less like us and will look more like Jesus Christ. And that ought to be the desire of each and every child of God.

Isaiah 57 is where we're at tonight. And I want us to just look at one verse. We'll read it here at the beginning and then we'll reference it throughout this evening. Isaiah 57 and verse number 15, if you found that. The Bible says this, for thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy.

I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Can we pause tonight? I'd to ask the Lord to help us before we begin, and then we'll look into the word this evening. Lord, what a privilege it is to be preaching your word once again, Lord. Nothing I'd rather be doing.

And I thank you for the privilege it is, to meet here in a free country and be able to meet without fear of molestation or fear of the meeting being broken up, Lord, and to be able to each and every one of us, many of us have five, ten, even more Bibles, Lord, that we can open this evening. What a privilege it is to have freedom. Lord, we thank you also for the freedom that is found only in Jesus Christ through his shed blood, Lord. We're thankful for freedom from sin tonight. God, as your word is opened, I don't have much to say, Lord, but you have something to say to your people tonight.

And so I'm asking that you get me out of the way. And that, Lord, you would speak to us in clarity, Lord, you would speak to us in power. And that, Lord, we would respond to you tonight and respond to whatever it is that you lay upon our hearts. We give you the praise and the glory now, Lord, asking for your supernatural touch and enabling this evening. In Jesus name I pray, amen and amen.

I am very privileged to be able to travel, and this is our fourth year full time on the road. I'm very privileged to be able to travel as an evangelist in the pursuit of seeing souls saved and in the pursuit of revival. And I'm thankful to be able to travel with my family and be able to, as you saw this morning, able to sing with them and serve the Lord with them. We try to get them involved in the ministry from a young age because you don't have to have three PhDs in order to serve God. All you got to have is the faith of a child and the willingness to say yes to him.

And so we try to get them involved all that we can. And the Lord has used my children to teach me a lot of things and teach me a lot of things about myself, teach me a lot of things about himself. And and he's my children in that way. And something that we've been running into here lately is is the fact that my children have an inherited, I believe, an inherited issue with listening and understanding what has been said to them, bringing to mind what it is that was said to them and then acting upon it. Those of you who have raised children, you could probably attest that you ran into some similar issues in your parenting as well.

I'll tell one of my children, hey, I want you to go and I want you to put your shoes away and I want you to get dressed for bed or whatever it might be. That's something that we'll probably do tonight. And it just seems like somehow, some way from the short distance, and it is a short distance, we live in an RV, the short distance from the time I told them in the kitchen, the five or 10 steps it takes them to get into their bedroom, all of those instructions have left their brain somehow. It's just it's magic how it happens. I'm not really quite sure what the phenomenon is.

Maybe it's just something, you know, that's unique with Hayes, but I think not. I think not. And by the time they get to their room, they've completely forgotten what they're supposed to be doing. And I'll come in there and they'll be reading a book with their shoes still on and their clothes unchanged. And I've come and I've started to ask questions because that's what Jesus did often to teach his disciples.

He would ask them questions. And so I'll ask my children questions like this. What is it that you're supposed to be doing right now? And it's funny to me, know, a little irritating perhaps, but funny to me to watch the wheels start turning. You can see it in their eyes.

Okay, Here I am enjoying my best life. No stress. No, no, no responsibilities. Life is good. Oh, hang on a second.

Daddy told me to take off my shoes and to get dressed. And it takes them a minute, but then when it dawns on them, they're able to act and they're able to do what they're supposed to do. And tonight I want to talk to you about this thing of revival. We talk about revival. We have meetings that we name revival meetings.

But what is this thing that we're aiming for? What is this thing that we're preaching towards? I certainly want to know because I've, in large part, dedicated my life to this thing of revival. What is it? And how do we get it?

And I want to ask this question, which I've titled the sermon. Why don't we have revival? Why don't we have revival? And I wanna go through four reasons tonight, maybe there are others, but four reasons that as I've looked through the word of God, and as I was doing some thinking and studying of my own, four reasons why I believe that we don't have revival. The first of those reasons is this.

I think that perhaps we don't have revival because we don't understand what revival is. Like my children, they they don't really know what they're supposed to be doing. It it has left their mind. The the brain has checked out for a moment, and they don't really understand. So it's how can I expect them to to obey when they don't even really remember what they're supposed to be doing?

And I think maybe sometimes the issue, the hold up, the reason why we don't see revival and the reason why we don't see God at work in our lives is because we don't know exactly what it is that we're striving for. We're firing blindly in the dark and saying, well, this is, yeah, revival meetings. We're going to go and we're going to get revived or we're going to have it. The thing. You know, the thing.

And we don't really know what it is we're talking about. We don't really understand what it is that God wants us to have and to experience. And I believe the devil has specifically tried to muddy the waters when it comes to evangelism. As you look throughout the word of God, as you look throughout history, as you look in your own life, you see that one of the devil's favorite tools in his toolbox is that of confusion. If he can get people confused, then he can control them and he can keep them from being all that God wants them to be.

We see it in society. The devil has tried to confuse what a family is. Have you seen this? Have you heard about this? What is a family?

It used to be not so long ago that people could tell you what a family was. This wasn't something that was up for debate. This is one wasn't something that we had to write a thesis on. It wasn't it wasn't complicated. It was one man and one woman and children if God would so bless them.

But now the waters are muddied, and we're not really quite sure. And people are saying, well, what is a family? I don't really know. He's tried to do this with the gospel. Oh, how he succeeded in many places and in many areas in doing this with the gospel.

The gospel is very clearly, as laid out for us in one Corinthians 15, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in payment for our sin. That is the gospel. It is the good news that Jesus saves. It is the good news that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But the devil has tried to muddy the waters and say, well, well, the gospel is you got to do this.

And in order to be saved, you got to be baptized and you got to be confirmed and you got to pray the rosary and you got to pray to Mecca and you got to crawl up this tower with broken shards of glass on the steps on your hands and knees. You got to do all these things in order to have salvation. When the Bible tells us very clearly that Jesus is the only way. He's turned it into the the social gospel. You know what I mean?

The gospel is just being good to one of your fellow man and feeding him and clothing him. I believe we ought to be about those kind of things. But that's not what the gospel is. And I believe he's done this very thing with revival as well. Well, we don't really know what that thing is.

I we hear we hear the word thrown out there. But what is this thing? A revival? So when you're trying to define something, you can look to a lot of different sources in order to get a definition. Unfortunately, my generation, it seems, Google's it or ask Siri or Alexa or fill in your your your AI into the blank right here.

And surprisingly, I just for fun, I just Googled revival. And surprisingly, Google had a pretty good definition, brother Mike. Listen to this right Revival, according to Google where where where'd it go? It's in here somewhere. Well, I don't see it.

I don't see it. Well, so much for what Google says. Okay? We're we're just gonna skip Google. Alright?

We're gonna skip Google because there are there are better sources for truth than simply looking on Google. Someone said, well, let's look to history and look to the the great revivals of yesteryear and the great moves and the great works of God in in years before and in years past. And listen, I'm all for studying the great moves of God. I'm all for looking at these great revivals and great things that God did. I think of the first and second great awakening and how God took our country when it was at a time where where people were turning away from God, a time where people didn't want anything to do with God and and really born out of prayer and out of prayer meetings.

God swept across this nation and he swept across this land and scores, hundreds, thousands were saved and Christians were getting right with God left and right. You can look at some of those things and say, wow, it's amazing what God did. But it can be dangerous to simply get your definition based on history and based on what God did in the past, because God may not work exactly in the way that he did back then that he will now. And as as you look back into history, you all those things have been filtered through human penmen and passed down through human hands. And things can get twisted and things can get corrupted and agendas can come out.

And even in reading through history, can see, you know, if somebody tries to kind of take a move of God and and and kind of stuff it into their denominational, you know, framework, if you will. And they try to take the movement of God and they and they try to make it and, you know, tie a little bow on top and make it all look real nice and and agree with every every viewpoint that they have. And then you got some crazy things out here. They call themselves revivals and in my opinion, are anything but, you know, the so called laughing revival. You know, listen, I'm all for laughter.

Laughter does the hard good like medicine, but laughing is not revival. And so we can get we can get we can get into some into some sticky situations if we just try to take revival and look at it through the lens of history and define it. Some have taken revival and simply reduced it down to lots of people being saved. Lots of people are getting saved and brother, it's revival. And listen, I'm for lots of people being saved.

And I believe we ought to strive for it. And I believe we ought to take the gospel. And I believe that the great commission still applies to the church today. And I I believe that God is still in the soul saving business. But again, that's not necessarily what revival is.

And I believe that revival begets evangelism when God's people are getting right with him and when God's people are on fire for God, and I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit. But I believe that evangelism and people getting saved is a product of revival. Absolutely. But again, dangerous to to to try to reduce it to that and try to use our own human understanding to try to figure out exactly what this thing is. And so I've heard this, people have said this revival is like the carrot on the end of a stick.

It's there to keep us motivated. It's there to give us something to chase after. It's there to for for us to always be striving and never attaining. I don't know about you, but that's pretty discouraging and depressing to me. You mean God's got a carrot called revival out here on a stick?

Oh, almost got it. Oh, we got to be quicker than that. Come on. Come on, little Christian. Here we go.

I wholeheartedly reject that. And so in order for us to understand this thing, a revival, what I think we ought to do and really whenever we have a question, we ought to go to the place that has answers. And I got the answer book right here. Life is an open book test. This isn't the message tonight, but life is an open book test.

Why in the world would you go through the test with the book closed? It's gonna let that preach itself right there for a minute, but let's open the book and let's find out what the Bible has to say about this thing, revival. And so you start seeing this word revive if you look it up here in the word of God all the way back in the book of Genesis. In Genesis 45 verse 27, the Bible tells us that Jacob, his spirit revived within him when he heard that Joseph, his son was not dead, but was yet alive in Egypt. Okay.

This is interesting. His spirit revived. Okay. Judges 15 and verse 19, the Bible tells us that Samson, maybe you remember, many of you know the and remember the story of Samson. He's he's out here fighting battles for the Lord and and he's he's killing Philistines left and right and a great slaughter.

And after he gets done killing a thousand of them with the jawbone of a donkey. I mean, that'd be a cool thing to have on your resume right there. I'm just saying. He's feeling a little faint. He's feeling a little wiped out.

And so the Bible tells us that God made some some water to to come out of the bone there that that he was using. And I mean, it doesn't sound like the most sanitary thing to me. But the Bible says that Samson drank and he was revived. It gets even more intense, if you will, as you look down to first Kings seventeen twenty two. When the Bible tells us about, I won't tell you the whole story, but about a young child who who had died.

And the Bible says that when the prophet went in and did what he did, that the child revived, God raised him from the dead. Second Kings thirteen twenty one, a dead man, the Bible tells us they were throwing him in a pit wherein lay the bones of Elisha, the prophet. And so they throw this man in the pit and the man revives. He just gets up. So we're starting to get a picture here.

We're starting to get a picture just in these four verses, and we could continue on throughout the word of God. There's there's several other places that we can look into the New Testament as well, where the Bible tells us that Jesus revived and the Bible tells us that sin revived. Oh, sin can revive. Okay. So what is it that we're talking about here?

Really, as you just break down the word itself and as you hold it up against the word of God, revive has to do with what my wife's saying about tonight, to bring back to life again. To bring back to life again. Or maybe put this way to bring life back to one who once possessed it, but now does not. Life again. And so what does that mean for us as a child of God?

What is this thing that we're aiming for to bring to life again? This seems interesting to me. Well, as I was looking through these different words for revive, you know, there are some some concepts in the Bible where the Bible very specifically and literally spell something out for us and gives us a definition in a verse, if you will. And you just just makes it very clear. And as far as I can tell, this verse right here is about as close as you get for the word revive to tell us exactly what is going on here.

Isaiah 57 in verse number 15. So what's going on in this verse? The Bible says there at the beginning for thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy. Isaiah paints for us a very, I mean, really awesome, an awesome picture of God Almighty. And emphasizes really in the first part of this verse, the distance, I believe, between us and him.

There's some distance, the high and lofty one. I mean, he's high. He's lifted up. He's exalted above all. The one that inhabiteth eternity.

That's hard to even wrap your head around because we're finite beings. We think of things in periods of time. We think we're bound by temporal bonds in this in this life and in this world. It's hard for us to even think about. A God who literally inhabits eternity all at the same time.

This is the one we're talking about, whose name is holy. He's perfect. He's unblemished. He's spotless. He's truly set apart.

His name is holy. And if that isn't enough, Isaiah goes on to say, here God speaking through Isaiah, I dwell in the high and holy place. He's a high and holy God, and he dwells in the high and holy place. What hope do any of us have to attaining unto one so high and lofty? What hope do any of us have of getting close to the one that inhabits eternity?

What hope do any of us have of approaching the one whose name is holy? But then Isaiah blows all of our minds when he says this, I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. As we think of this thing of revival, I want to remind you of a few things. Number one, sin brings death. Sin brings death.

Of course, we know this. Of course, we're familiar with this. And as brother Mike talked about this morning, the garden of Eden, where it all went wrong, where it all when God created it was good. And when man came along, it was very good, but it all quickly went wrong. And we saw there that what was perfect and holy and and and untarnished and unblemished.

Oh, it became terrible very quickly. And where there used to be no thorns and thistles and red ant bites and mosquito bites and all these different things that that we deal with. Now there is suffering and now there is hardship and now things die and and and sin. It was the root cause of this sin brings death. And if you know Christ, had to come to that place where you're understood.

Hey, sin brings death because of my sin, because I have sinned against a holy, this one that inhabits eternity. I'm gonna die. And the wonderful thing about Jesus, there's a lot of wonderful things about him, is that he died not for his own sin, but he died to take my place. You see, because of sin, something, someone had to die. And Jesus said, I'll do it.

I volunteer. Father put me to death. Isaiah tells us it pleased the Lord to bruise him. By his travail, he was satisfied. But sin brings death.

We understand this and for an unsaved man in order for him to have life, his sin has to be dealt with. So sin brings death, but not only that, God gives life. God gives life. When we came to that place where we realized that we were on our way to hell and deservedly so, and we came to that place that we realized, listen, I can't save myself, no amount of penance or good works or church attendance. I was out witnessing just a couple of months ago and came across a fella, knocked on his door.

He came out and I said, hey, I introduced myself, told him what church I was with that week. It's it's it's tough soul winning when you're in a different church each week because you got to, you know, all right. What's your look at the back of the track? Right? What church am I at this week?

This is the this is a track from last week, Pastor. I got to get some tracks from this week. And we were trying to figure it out. Oh, yeah. Here's who I am.

Here's where I'm from. And I asked him the question, hey, do you know for sure you're on your way to heaven? He said, yes, I do. I said, well, amen. That's wonderful.

That's great. How do you know that? He said, well, I've had perfect Sunday school attendance for the last nineteen years. That's impressive. I don't think I have perfect Sunday school attendance for the last nineteen years, you know, At least one or two times there I had the had the crud or something.

But that's what he had all his faith in, all his trust. Let me tell you, you can have a hundred years of perfect Sunday school attendance. It's not gonna do a thing for you at the judgment seat. But you came to that place where you realize, hey, I can't save myself. Only Jesus only Jesus gives life.

Only God can satisfy God. You put your faith and trust in him and in him alone for your salvation. And guess what? He gave unto you eternal life. We understand this.

But did you know the same is true after salvation? Sin still brings death. When we sin, I believe something in us dies. The New Testament describes it in several different ways. Paul described it as having a conscience seared with a hot iron.

Something in us dies. Hey, you know what I'm talking about tonight? When we when we we get away from the word and we maybe get away from church and we get away from doing what we're supposed to be doing, there's a there's that coldness that starts to settle in. Well, he once was alive and vibrant. What what once was a a walk with God that was full of life and full of vitality now becomes something that kind of kinda gets cold.

What once was a sweet intimacy and fellowship with God Almighty, now now it becomes something where we feel like there's a great gulf fixed. There's much distance between us and God. And I'm here to tell you tonight that God gives life. Sin brings death, yes, but God gives life. And so it's important for us to understand what this thing of revival is.

Revival simply, believe, is us having life again. It is us getting back in close and sweet fellowship with God, and his life being lived through us again, instead of our old dead flesh being in control. Some people have made it out to be something spooky and something mystical. Oh, you'll know it when you see it. Revival.

Oh. But I believe revival is simply getting back to a place of a vibrant life in Jesus Christ. It's as John says, it's abiding in him. As the songwriter said, it's nothing between my soul and the savior. It says, heard one preacher say, our spiritual senses reawakened.

Where when he speaks, can hear. And when he convicts, we can feel. And where he leads, we can see and we can follow. Perhaps we don't have revival because we don't understand what it is. But number two, perhaps we don't have revival because we don't believe that revival is possible.

I've run into some folks like this. Folks that say, well, I I just don't know. I just don't know about all this. I I just don't know. I was talking to a preacher just a couple weeks ago and we were just making some small talk talking about some different things.

And I just, you know, just sometimes I bring up some weird topics of conversation just for fun, to kind of see how people react. And I said, hey, hey pastor, tell me about some of the conspiracy theories that you believe in. Making conversation. He kind of looked at you, of scratched his head, looked at me and said, well, Drew, I just I don't know. I don't really believe in any of those.

And I said, sir, are are you are you telling me that you don't believe in any conspiracy theories? I mean, that's a pretty strong take right there. Are you telling me that you just believe the government's just telling us the truth all the time? That they're just batting a thousand and just being completely transparent with us? Tell them you believe everything that they telling you and he kind of laughed and made a joke out of it.

But this thing of this thing of belief, I I've run into some people that just seems like they don't believe that revival is possible. And Hebrews eleven six tells us, but without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Without faith, we cannot please God. Without faith, we're not going to have revival.

Turn with me if you would over to Psalms. Keep your hand here in in Isaiah. We're going to come back. But turn over to Psalm 78. Just a few books there to the left.

Psalm 78. The children of Israel struggled also with this thing of believing God and trusting God. And this is a this is a really a really great Psalm. It's a long Psalm, 72 verses. We're not gonna read all 72, but I wanna read just a few verses and bring out some things here to you from this Psalm.

Psalm 78. Let's begin in verse number 12 tonight. The Bible says, Marvelous things did he in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused them to pass through. He made the waters to stand up as an heap.

In the daytime also, he led them with a cloud and in the night with a light of fire. He claved the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as about the great depths. He brought streams also out of the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers. And they sinned yet more against Him by provoking the Most High in the wilderness. And they tempted God in their heart asking meat for their lust.

Yea, they spake against God. They said, can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smoked the rock that the waters gushed out, the streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Can he provide flesh for his people?

Therefore, the Lord heard this and was wrath. So a fire was kindled against Jacob and anger also came up against Israel. And church, I've only been on the road a few years, but I see more and more to be running into this, this spirit of unbelief. Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? After they just watched him bring water out of a rock, after they had just woken up that morning to their breakfast falling out of the sky, after they had just watched God split the Red Sea in half and they walked across on dry land.

And if that wasn't enough, watch the Lord bring those waves of water down on their enemies and destroy them all. Can God, they said. And if we're not careful, we can buy into this mindset and this this attitude of cynicism that seems to be pervading our world and unfortunately seeping into our churches. Can God? And listen, I understand the devil beats us up.

The world is diametrically opposed to everything we stand for. And if that wasn't bad enough, we still have this old wicked flesh given us fits. And sometimes we can get discouraged. I mean, my hands up. A lot of times we can get discouraged, especially when we're battling with something and we're fighting and it seems like it's two steps forward and then two steps back and it's Lord, I'm trying and Lord, how come I can't get how come I can't get victory and Lord, I don't know what's going on.

And if we're not careful, we can fall into this trap. Whether we would say it out loud or whether we would only say it in our hearts or whether we wouldn't even dare to dare to mention it, but it's still there in the back of our minds. We can allow the devil to put a question mark over the most high. Can God? Is he really able?

I was in Indiana at a preacher's meeting and I'm very careful to critique a man of God especially one that's been in the ministry longer than I've been alive brother Mike. I don't know why I said your name there but I'm very careful. Okay? Because I'm young, I'm 30 years old. There are men of God who have forgotten more than I know.

And I want to be humble. But I was in this preacher's meeting and a man got up and and he'd been a pastor for many years and had had some real struggles. His wife's health was really struggling and just just had a lot of discouragement, a lot of things going on in his life. But he got up and he starts preaching and he he out of the same book of Isaiah and he makes the statement. We are no longer in the harvesting age of the church.

We're now just in the gleaning time. And pastor, it hit me a little, you know, that didn't did something done sound right about that. We say, well, we're in the late to see in church age. This is though they were in the end times. Jesus is coming back.

He just doesn't quite work like he used to. And people just aren't getting saved like they used to. And churches just aren't filling up like they used to. And it was all this down and discourage and can God. And we're just I mean, it was the most depressing message I've ever sat through.

And again, I'm very careful. I don't I don't want to talk bad about another man of God. But after he was done preaching, I said in my heart, no. No. No.

According to my Bible in Ephesians three verse twenty and twenty one, the Bible says now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think To him be the glory. That that's my God. I don't know about yours, but that's my God. My my God, according to Hebrews 13 verse eight, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He has not lost his power one iota.

He has not gotten to the end of his rope and said, oh, I just said, what do we do now? I used up all my power in the nineteen hundreds. I like to say that, especially when I'm preaching to young people, just blow their I was born in the late nineteen hundreds. But he hasn't lost his power. He is still able.

I think maybe we don't have revival because we don't believe in it. We don't think it's possible. We've bought into this discouragement. We're looking not at the savior who is able, but we're looking at ourselves and saying, I can't. And guess what?

You're right. That's the whole point. You can't. But he can. He can.

Maybe we don't have revival because we don't understand it. Maybe we don't have revival because we don't believe in it. As we're going back to Isaiah 57, maybe we don't have revival because we don't meet the prerequisites. We don't meet the prerequisites for revival. Isaiah in this this verse gives us two ingredients, two characteristics of the one that God will revive.

Interesting. If you turn back there, look at those two ingredients with me if you would. Isaiah fifty seven fifteen. We'll read the whole thing because it's just so good. Let's read it again.

For thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in a high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit. To revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the hearts of the contrite ones. According to Isaiah, there are two ingredients. If we want to see God move, if we want to have revival, if we want God to bring that life, that abundant life to us again, we see that first ingredient, that word contrite, contrition. Say, what does that word mean, brother Drew?

That word means to crush. Literally to crush like a powder. But figuratively here, it has the idea of brokenness. Brokenness. Now, maybe you've heard the heard the the riddle before.

What has to be broken before it can be used? Let's just have a little audience participation tonight. It's Sunday night. You know, I think, Pastor, let me get away with it. Who has an idea?

What is something that has to be broken before it can be used? Oh, I heard something from back here. An egg. An egg. Yes.

In order to get to that delicious goodness and turn it into an omelet or whatever, whatever breakfast is kind of my specialty. Want you all to know. Before you can turn those eggs into some good, they have to be broken. Absolutely. That's a good one.

Anybody else got one? A coconut. Oh, there you go. There you go. Before you can get in get that coconut water and that the white stuff, the coconut flesh.

Sounds weird to say, you know, be eating some coconut flesh. But anyway, I think that's what they call it. All right. You got to break it. You got to get it's got to be broken in order to get in.

Anybody else? Anybody else got something? There's a lot there's lot of answers. It's not a very good riddle because there's like a ton of answers to it. Nuts.

Yeah. Any kind of any kind of food where the where the good stuff is on the inside has to be broken before you can get to it. How about this one? A horse. Before it can be useful, it's got to be broken.

You try to get on a horse that's not broken and you're going to have a bad time. All right. It's just it's not going to be fun for anybody involved. Maybe for the horse. I don't know.

But she's not going to have a good time. And I thought of this, you know, I have kids. But in order for a glow stick to work, it's got to be broken. But when it's broken, guess what? It shines bright.

I thought that was a good illustration right there. Hallelujah. And that's what God wants to do to us. A. W.

Tozer said it this way. This is a little this is a little difficult to to to say amen to, but he said this, it is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply. And maybe we're not seeing revival because we haven't gotten to a place of a contrite heart, of a true brokenness. The Psalmist said it this way in Psalm thirty eight eighteen, for I will declare mine iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin.

As he, I believe, gazed upon a holy God and looked upon himself, he said, there's some wickedness. There's some sin. And I ask you, when's the last time God broke your heart over your coldness? When's the last time God broke your heart over your fruitlessness? When's the last time that God broke your heart over your sin and over your iniquity?

In my opinion, the difference between King Saul and King David was this very thing. The reason Saul lost the kingdom is when he was was faced with his sin, he made excuse after excuse. And he said, I forced myself. The people, they did it. We were the same.

Don't understand. But when David was faced with his sin, which objectively, at least in my opinion, if you look at it, David's sin was worse than Saul's. But when David was faced with his sin, we get some of the most beautiful Psalms of brokenness and repentance. Psalm 32, Psalm 51 and others. May God give us grieved hearts over the wickedness that we tolerate.

But not only contrition, see that second word there, contrite and humble spirit, humility, to make low, to a base. I believe this, the moment we start believing that we are somebody, we automatically forfeit our access to revival. Because somebody doesn't need God. You know who needs God? Nobody.

Did you catch me there? Nobody. Nobody's. How about that? I saw a video the other day of a preacher who was getting after somebody for sleeping in church.

And listen, I the Lord allowed me to to work in ministry, but he also allowed me to work a job for a while. And I remember some Wednesday nights after having worked. I was a painter. And when, you know, some of you are not even in even real work. But hey, I was a painter.

Okay. It was hard work painting all day up and up and down ladders and, you know, sore tired. I'm driving. I remember one time I had drive like forty five minutes to and from the job. And I get there in the morning, work all day.

I come back to have just enough time to stuff something in my face, throw on a clean shirt and head to Wednesday night prayer meeting. There are a few times I said, man, you know, I think I might want to just stay home tonight. But I believe through that, God gave me a tenderness to to to to people. I know sometimes preachers can be hard on folks. And I want you to know this week, we want you to come.

Even if you have to come a few minutes late, you come. Come in your work clothes. It's all right. You know, we got plenty of room. You can kind of find a little corner where you're you're the the aroma that is pouring off.

You won't offend anybody too much, but come on and get under the word of God this week. But I was watching this video and this preacher's up there and he said, Hey, hey, hey, hey, right there. Hey, hey, no, no. Don't be laying your head down. Don't be sleeping.

And you couldn't see the person. You could just see the video was just on the preacher. And I don't know what the person did that kind of set him up. But he said, hey, listen, you're not going to fall asleep while I'm preaching. I'm somebody.

Woah. Woah. And the tirade didn't get any work. It didn't get any better after that. You know what that is right there?

Wickedness. Stinking pride. That's what that is right there. And you're not gonna find God anywhere near that. We're not gonna experience God's reviving touch on our life until we're willing to get low and to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.

He'll lift you up. You don't have to worry about lifting yourself up. He'll lift you up if you'll humble yourself. Oh my, so many things we could point to here. I'll just read a few verses of some humble men throughout the word of God.

Matthew three eleven, John the Baptist says, I indeed baptize you with water under repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and as we learned this morning, with fire. Matthew eight and verse eight, The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only and my servant will be healed. Oh, we need a, if I could use this terminology, we need a revival of I am not worthy. I'm not worthy.

Oh, I'm nothing, I'm nobody. But God, I want you. That's the kind of prayer that God will never, never ignore. Our final reason, I'm just going to touch this one quick and we'll be done. Maybe we don't have revival because we don't understand it.

Maybe we don't have revival because we don't believe in it. Maybe we don't have revival because we don't meet the prerequisites, but maybe we don't have revival because we don't want it. We don't want it. We're comfortable. I believe one of the biggest enemies of revival pastor is comfort.

And listen, not against comfort. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord for his blessings and for his goodness. But may we not get so comfortable that we forget that we need him. May we not get so comfortable and so used to resting in the status quo that we stop seeking God.

And folks, to be honest with you, there is no changing the future without disturbing the present. Oh, there would be some people in this place who would say, you know what? I'm not I'm not satisfied with lukewarm Christianity. I'm not content to just sit here on my laurels till Jesus comes back. I want to know him.

I want his life to flow through me. You see, that's the difference between the abundant Christian life and the fake Christian life. The fake Christian life says, man, I got to make it look like I'm doing good. I got to make it look like I'm producing results. And I got to dress the right way and look the right way and talk the right way and act the right way.

It's all got to be just right. But the abundant Christian life says, I just want Jesus. I want to be filled with him and I want his life to pour into me. And let me tell you, it's like that little cup that's getting poured into by my little three year old. All right?

She just she got a heavy hand. Okay. She pours and pours and it's getting close to the top. I'm like, baby, you better slow down. Baby, you better stop pouring.

But she's still pouring and pouring. Before you know it, it's overflowing all over the table and it's overflowing all over the trailer floor and trailers and water are just not a good combination. Oh, but let me tell you, you ever been around a Christian that's overflowing with Jesus? Man, that's a blessing. You can try to fake it until you make it.

But why? When the high and holy one wants to be your best friend and wants to live the Christian life through you. I ask Missouri Avenue Baptist Church, won't you pray with me like the Psalmist did in Psalm 85 verse six, will thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee. You can have revival. Not five years from now, I'm talking about tonight, right now.

It's not some mystical state that that only the most elite of Christians ever attain. No. It's simply God's children forsaking their broken cisterns, as Jeremiah says, and returning to the fountain of living water. Would you pray with me tonight? Lord, we thank you so much for your word.

We thank you that it's profitable. God, you're you're so good to us. And Lord, if we could just get a hold of all that you offer us, if we just could get a glimpse of all the blessings and all the the the the benefits to simply walking in humble, contrite obedience to the Lord, Lord, we could just get a hold of that tonight, I believe it would change the way that we live. I pray tonight, Lord, for a child of God who maybe the spark has gone out. Maybe the fire is burning real low.

I pray that tonight, Lord, that you would revive them. Bring them back to life again. In Jesus' name, with your heads bowed and eyes closed tonight, I just wanna ask a few questions by way of invitation. Thank you so much for your good attention to the word of God tonight, for staying with me. My first question is this, I believe it's important for us to to to realize that, hey, we can't have life again until we have life.

And I wonder tonight if you say, brother Drew, I'm not perfect by any means, but the one thing I know for sure is I know where I'm going when I die. Been a time where I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ and him alone for my salvation. And I could give you a Bible reason. I could tell you about the time when I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ. If you can say that tonight with 100% certainty, hope so, not wish so, but you know so.

Would you raise your hand and raise it up high? Brother Drew, I know for sure I'm on my way to heaven because Jesus is my savior. Amen for this. You may put your hands down. I wonder tonight, that seemed like just about all the hands, but I wonder if there may be one, maybe more who would say, Brother Drew, I got some doubts about that.

I'm not really a 100% sure, but I sure want whatever it is you're talking about. I want forgiveness of sins. I want that abundant life in Jesus. Would you pray for me tonight? I have some questions about my soul.

I sure would love to. I won't point you out in any way, but just like I did here just a moment ago, I ask you to raise your hand, slip it up just as long as I can see it and then slip it right back down. Anybody like that? I see one hand. Amen.

Anybody else tonight? Brother Drew, I got some questions about my soul. I'm just not I'm not sure. Pray for me tonight. Include me in the prayer.

Anybody else? Amen. Child of God, you're here tonight and perhaps perhaps your need is you say, well, my my faith's been a little shaky lately. I've been I've been discouraged. I've I've allowed the the defeats of life to pile up on me and think, well, does God cannot can God even revive somebody like me?

Can God even get me back to where I need to be? Are these things I'm struggling with? Are they even are they even able to be beaten? But tonight, brother Drew, with the Lord's help, I want to get back on the ground of faith. Say, God, I'm believing you for revival.

I'm believing you to bring life into my life. I'm believing you to live the Christian life through me. You see, my faith was struggling tonight, Brother Drew, but with God's help, I want to get back on the ground of faith. If that's you tonight, would you slip up your hand? Pray for me, Brother Drew.

Amen. Amen. A hand going up. Praise God for this. Maybe you're here tonight and you say, well, brother Drew, to be honest with you, and sometimes it's hard to be honest, that's the only way we're gonna get help.

To be honest with you, brother Drew, I haven't been meeting the prerequisites. I've seen a lack of brokenness in my life, perhaps a lack of humility. I've been I've been trying to do this thing on my own and do it in my own strength. Brother Drew, I haven't been broken over my sin. Perhaps tonight you say, haven't been beaten the prerequisites for revival tonight, brother Drew.

Would you pray for me that God would break my heart? I sure will. Anybody like that tonight with an upraised hand? Pray for me, Drew. I haven't been meeting the prerequisites of revival.

Amen. Would you stand with me tonight with your heads bowed and your eyes closed? Lord, you've seen the hands tonight, you know our hearts. Lord, I pray that you'd bring us back to the ground of faith. Lord, I pray that you would break us, Lord.

Give us a true brokenness over our sin and over our apathy. God, pray I sure have found myself there at a couple times in my life, but I pray, Lord, if there's one maybe that finds himself at a place where they don't even want revival, I pray that you would help them see the emptiness, the emptiness of a life lived apart from you. I pray for this one, Lord, and maybe if there's another, pray for the ones that maybe have some questions about their eternal destination, Lord, about their soul. I pray they would be able to find help tonight in Jesus' name. The piano is playing at this time.