"Dying At The Threshold of Revival"
Scripture:
Judges 19:22-27
Introduction:
Judges 19 is one of the most graphical books throughout bible history. It was a time when israel was at the lowest point in history. Judges 17 bares witness and tell us that there was no king in Israel.
When there is no king, there is not leadership. When there is no king there is no authority. When you have no leadership and you have no authority it leaves you without boundaries.
This is why the last verse of Judges says that everyman did what is right by their own eyes.
We have seen our nation drastically change because people are doing what is right in their own eyes. Homosexuality is now a figure of normality. Transgenderism is now considered heroic. Racism, Hatred, and a Cracker Barrel rebrand keeps our country separated.
Assassinations and mass shootings….
In the midst of all of this there is a problem with the church. Just because the world has gotten corrupt we have given up hope.
We have gotten used to people doing whatever is right in their own eyes that we have began to do the same.
We aren't a kingless church…
We aren’t a kingless church but we are a church that is standing at the threshold of the greatest revival this world has ever seen and the only thing separating us from it is the church itself.
1. An Abused Concubine and An Abused Church
The Levite and his Concubine who we do not know the name of were staying in a house in Gibea ( A place that was known for being similar to Sodam and Gamora) with an old man from the country of Ephraim.
It wasn't long after they were there that word had gotten out to the men of the town; they came to him and demanded that the man let them have the levite.
After pleading with the crowd he then gave them the concubine and the bible says that they raped her and abused her all night long.
When this concubine was being sexually abused, it was not an instance that happened just one time, but multiple men had their way with her throughout the night.
Not to be graphical but as soon as one finished another one would start and this happened until dawn of the next morning.
She had been robbed of any mental sanity and her strength had been depleted through everything that had taken place throughout the night.
Around dawn of the next morning, and they had finished with her, they took her and threw her into the street. She somehow found the strength to make her way back to the house that she had been taken from.
She desperately wanted to get back to the house because even though she had been a castaway, She knew that the house represented rest and renewal.
A church is a place for the rejected and abused. It is a place where their spirit can be renewed.
It is a place where their soul can be restored. There are people you come in contact with who are smiling and acting like they have it all together when really behind the smile is a brokenness unlike any other.
There are people who are searching for the door of hope only to find a church with a lack of power, love, and compassion.
There are people who are clawing at the door looking to receive deliverance because of the abuse they have withstood all night. Their mental sanity is gone, their strength is depleted, and there's no one to open the door.
There's people in this community that has been lied on, cheated on, and beat on.
There are people in this community who have been written off, deemed worthless, and left alone.
However, it is those people who are crying out with a voice of despair. It is those people who say:
"If I can find me a church who will love me."
"If i can find me a church who will teach me"
"If i can find me a church who will pray for me".
"If i can find me a church who will wrap their arms around me"
If they can get to that place they will find one who can heal, one who can deliver, one who can move them and fill them.
B. Now this women...the bible doesn't tell us her name. She was just a concubine.
BUT this woman who had been raped throughout the night and abused must have thought "if i can get back to that house i can find healing for my wounds.
Every step that she took had to be a challenge. until She looked up and found the house that she had been rejected from and she strained to see the shape of the door that she had been thrown out of.
With the last ounce of her strength she pulled herself up the stairs and reached for the door; Her hands shaking and her strength and energy gone, she reached for the door and scripture says she died with her hands on the threshold.
That tells me she was close to healing, she was close to restoration, she was close to deliverance, but not close enough.
She was close to strength, she was close to peace, she was close to gentleness but not close enough.
Behind the door was food or nourishment but she died at the door. Behind the door was a a bed to rest on, but she died at the door. The last thing she touched was the door of her revival.
We are so close to crossing the threshold. I was praying all week concerning this message and seeking God.
I felt that he had given me another word snd God instructed me last night to preach this today..
I see now why God has given me this message for the church today. We are close to healing, we are close to restoration, we are close to a turnaround, But not close enough.
Wait a minute preacher we fasted. Wait a minute preacher, we have great services.
Revival isn't a service but an act of being brought back to life.
God wants to do something special in this church and something that we have never seen before. But because we have been abused in our home life.
Because sickness has hit out household. Because we were growing tired in body. Because chairs were moved, we are complaining and getting upset.
I did not come today to tickle your ears but i came today to tell you the truth and what God has spoken into my spirit. God spoke this to me last night...he said “you found the place where my presence was. In my presence there is healing and restoration but you never got through the door, you only stood at the threshold.
You could smell the nourishment, You could see greater things, But you never crossed the threshold from the carnal to the supernatural.
Too many in the church world has experienced a spiritual death with their hands on the threshold. You are close to a move of God but you ain't close enough. What does the church have in common with this concubine...
IT IS POSSIBLE TO GET SO CLOSE TO REVIVAL, BUT NEVER EXPERIENCE IT.
I can want revival and pray for revival all day long, but if all you want to do is come on Sunday morning and put your hand on the threshold but never experience revival all you are going to have is a mediocre preacher but nothing is going to effect you.
I don’t know about you but I want to experience an end time shaking that will put the devil out of business and restore pentecost to the church as a whole.
A revival in which people are slain in the spirit, a revival in which all we can do is weep in the presence of God.
A revival that breaks the lukewarm state of the church and disables satan’s plans and his tactics. Where demons are casted out and strongholds are broken. I don't know about you but I refuse to die at the threshold of revival.
I'm not laying at the threshold and awaiting someone to find my remains but come hell or high water, if i have to crawl, I'm getting through the door of revival to a greater relationship and a greater anointing.
C. What churches are labeling and calling revival in this day and time is not a "real revival".
The modern church has labeled revival as a series of services and has forgotten about having an experience and dwelling in the presence of God.
I was an evangelist for 10 years before God opened the door for us to pastor here.
I've preached revivals and i've preached series of meetings. Revivals are when the church says enough is enough, I'm going to get my stuff. A series of meetings is when the church gathers until it gets tired and weary and they fail to cross the threshold.
I've preached in big churches, small churches, modern and old school....one thing that is common is someone standing up and saying "we need revival" when they don't even understand how to obtain it.
Heres what I have learned…
People don't want revival as much as they think they want revival.
People don't want to cross the threshold as much as they think they want to cross it. To have a real revival, you have to become discontent with where you are at.
You will have real revival when you grow discontent with complacency.
You will experience revival when you get out of your comfort zone. The church will experience revival when they get tired of being abused and rejected. When You get discontent, You will experience revival.
Look at your neighbor and tell them “I refuse to die at the threshold of revival.”
2. Verge of revival
I remember when i was younger i would hear my mom and dad and the rest of the elders say "I smell rain".
It took me a long time to distinguish the smell of rain. When it gets hot, when it gets dusty, and when it gets dry...it is easier to smell the rain. I knew what they meant at that moment.
Job 14:7-9 (7) there is hope for a tree if it is cut down it will sprout again, and it's new shoots will not fail. (8) It's roots may grow old in the ground and it's stump die in the soil, (9) yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.
Elijah Prophesied and said "I hear an abundance of rain". I don't know about you but I REFUSE TO DIE AT THE THRESHOLD OF REVIVAL!!
I don't know what you are going to do. Many are content, many are unmovable, many don't want a move of God they just want maintenance.
However, I refuse to get content. I refuse to be unmovable. I refuse to maintain.
I REFUSE TO DIE AT THE THRESHOLD OF REVIVAL.
There's too many Christians who satan has abused and raped their souls, their spirit, and their mind.
They have endured some things that just like the concubine has depleted their strength and they are dying with their hand on the threshold.
Look at your neighbor and tell them it's not time to die at the door of revival.
We are on the verge of revival. The word verge means "an extreme limit beyond which something specified will happen.”
When I look at the concubine woman. I see she was close but not close enough. When you talk about being on the verge of revival it is an extreme limit beyond which something specified will happen.
This is a place where many believers live their lives. They are on the verge of healing. On the verge of breakthrough. On the verge of victory. On the verge of deliverance.
In John 5 Jesus enountered a man who had been in the same place for 38 years.
2 things happened.
first, Jesus realized that he had been in that place for a long time.
secondly Jesus asked him if he wanted to be well.
The man responded Sir, i don't have anyone to help me into the pool when the water is stirred; but while I'm going down there someone else steps in front of me.
I admire the mans persistence to keep going and reaching for his miracle. However, was it his persistence or had he grown attached to the ritual and the routine.
If i had been that man, I wouldn't be complaining but i would be telling whomever was helping me to just get me close to the pool. I don't want in the back seat but I want by the pool.
I would have gotten to the side of the pool and laid myself down. At the slightest bit of wind, i would have rolled myself in the pool and did what it took to obtain my victory.
People in the church today can't obtain victory or revival because they are too busy living on the verge of it.
In the midst of being on the verge there has to be some kind of pursuit.
3. Vicinity of Revival
The word vicinity means “near or about a place.”
Some people just want to know that revival is near.
They are never committed enough to make it their own. They just show up when they want to and it might be 2 months before you see them again, but when they do come they want to pray over everyone and give out a message in tongues and prophesy over multiple people but they can't commit themselves to the church and to revival.
It is good enough for them to know that it is in their vicinity in case they have an emergency.
In Acts 3 there was a lame man by a gate named beautiful. He was in the vicinity of the church but he wasn't in it. HE could hear the praying, he could hear the singing, he could hear the preaching. But he was not in the church.
You need to find out what is keeping you outside of the church.
You need to question why you are comfortable with revival being in the around you but not in your household or home.
You need to question why you can't seem to feel anything or get through when you do decide to go to be apart of the movement.
When Peter and John walked out of the gate and toward the lame man, the bible says that he looked to receive something. Peter said silver and gold have i none but such as i have give i you in the name of Jesus; rise up and walk.
When peter had lifted him up his body was restored and he went shouting and leaping and praise God.
He was no longer in the vicinity but he was right in the middle of revival.
Can I just be real today…
Im tired of preaching to people who are fine living on the verge and residing in the vicinity of revival.
I come this morning to tell you that it is time for you to get in the middle of it.
If you want revival and God to move through you, it isn't good enough coming when you feel like it or at your convenience.
It isn't good enough to sit at home and watch televangelist and pastors. If you want revival you have to get in the middle of it.
People will look for every excuse under the sun to stay out of the middle. It's hot. It's cold. He preaches hard, He doesn't preach hard enough. The music is too loud. It isn't my style.
You don't know what your style is or what kind of preaching you like because you are in the vicinity and not the middle.
4. Validity of revival
Validity is “the proof or the state of quality or being valid.”
Revival is not an accidental happening but it is sought after.
It becomes cherished. It becomes protected. It is a priceless treasure. The church needs revival to validate it's existence.
If you don't have a move of God then the church simply can not validate it's existence for being here.
We can't come here and go through fashions and rituals. You can't develop routines that doesn't leave room for a move of God.
When you do this, you are trading the tabernacle for a funeral home.
The church will not grow but will instead die slowly.
What validates our existence?
When you come to church hungry to see a move of God. Ready to life your hands and worship. It bothers me for people to act like Sunday just so happen to sneak up on them.
After todays service you should be praying and preparing for Wednesday. After Wednesday you need to be praying for Sunday and preparing your heart for it.
Oh no preacher thats your job as the pastor.
If your heart as a member isn't prepared, the seed will not be fertilized.
When you come in ready for a move of God and you have prepared for a move of God and God shows up and he shows out, then you validated your existence.
We aren't here to sit here and look clueless but we are here to give praise to the one true living God who holds us all in the palm of his hands.
I have seen church people fight over the dumbest things.
I’ve seen those who have fought over church hymnals and praise and worship. Whether to sing out of a book or put words on the screen.
It doesn't matter if it is out of a red back or on a screen to a praise and worship chorus. If you think you have to sing out of a red back church hymnal to validate your existence, you are wrong.
IF you think you have to sing a new style to keep up with new times, how wrong you are.
You are not coming here to be entertained but you are coming here for a fresh wind and a fresh fire. You are coming here for an experience with the Holy Ghost.
Lord I may not even have a job when i get through but I Refuse to die at the Threshold of Revival!!
I don't care what they are singing and i don't care who is singing it, I come to uplift and magnify the name of Jesus and I refuse to die at the threshold of revival!!
People on the outside think we are crazy for running, dancing, jumping, and speaking in unknown tongues; but you let sickness hit their house, let poverty hit their house...they will be calling on the tongue talking-charismatic people to pray for them.
That is what validates your existence!
When someone knows where to come to get a fresh anointing and have an encounter with the Holy Ghost!!
Conclusion:
I just wonder how many in this place today are tired of being on the verge of revival.
I wonder if there's anyone in this place today who are tired of being in the facility.
I wonder if there is anyone here who says i want to validate my existence and give him everything I've got!
If you'll give God everything you've got then he pour out everything he's got.
I just wonder how many says I want to experience more of what we experienced last week.
I REFUSE TO DIE AT THE DOOR OF REVIVAL!