WEBVTT 00:04.807 --> 00:12.498 [SPEAKER_00]: For our final day of this week, we're going to ask God to awaken the hearts of our nation and our culture. 00:13.539 --> 00:23.593 [SPEAKER_00]: The need for a move of God has become more obvious than ever yet he often moves in response to the faithful prayers of his people. 00:24.475 --> 00:34.088 [SPEAKER_00]: Let us be those people today and ask for the great awakening our world so desperately needs. 00:57.895 --> 01:23.852 [SPEAKER_00]: Our Scripture for today is second Chronicles 7 verse 14, Scripture says, If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 01:26.735 --> 01:31.580 [SPEAKER_00]: I've often heard people pray for God to bring revival to our nation. 01:32.742 --> 01:36.086 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet rarely have I heard prayers for a great awakening. 01:37.347 --> 01:42.773 [SPEAKER_00]: But throughout its history, the Western world has actually seen four great awakenings. 01:43.934 --> 01:45.777 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, what's the difference you may ask? 01:46.998 --> 01:54.987 [SPEAKER_00]: Revivals change people and churches. 01:56.401 --> 02:08.097 [SPEAKER_00]: The first great awakening happened in 1734 under the teaching of pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards in the British Evangelist George Whitefield. 02:09.179 --> 02:16.308 [SPEAKER_00]: Before it began, only 5% of colonial Americans identified with a Christian church. 02:17.470 --> 02:22.577 [SPEAKER_00]: At its height, 80% were active followers of Jesus. 02:24.430 --> 02:34.765 [SPEAKER_00]: The next great awakening was in 1792 and was sparked by a prayer movement led by a Baptist pastor named Isaac Bakus. 02:36.027 --> 02:43.498 [SPEAKER_00]: This movement led to more than a thousand large gatherings called camp meetings held across the country. 02:44.480 --> 02:52.632 [SPEAKER_00]: Churches doubled in tripled in membership and William Carey began what we now consider 02:54.063 --> 03:03.534 [SPEAKER_00]: The third great awakening was in 1858, resulting from a businessman's prayer meeting movement that began the previous year in New York. 03:05.035 --> 03:12.664 [SPEAKER_00]: Out of a national population of 30 million people, more than a million came to Christ in a single year. 03:13.645 --> 03:19.632 [SPEAKER_00]: And at one point, 50,000 were turning to Jesus for salvation every week. 03:20.557 --> 03:28.664 [SPEAKER_00]: This revival even continued into the civil war when more than 100,000 soldiers came to Christ. 03:29.785 --> 03:33.969 [SPEAKER_00]: And the fourth great awakening began in Wales in 1904. 03:35.471 --> 03:40.375 [SPEAKER_00]: This awakening impacted every sphere of culture and industry. 03:41.496 --> 03:47.762 [SPEAKER_00]: Police formed barbershop quartets to sing in churches because there was no one to arrest. 03:48.080 --> 04:00.717 [SPEAKER_00]: Saloons went bankrupt, and this awakening spread to the US, for example, out of 50,000 residents in Atlantic City, New Jersey, only 50 were unconverted. 04:00.737 --> 04:07.406 [SPEAKER_00]: 200 stores in Portland, Oregon closed every day, so people could attend prayer meetings. 04:09.769 --> 04:16.838 [SPEAKER_00]: I share all of this because now, today, 04:18.033 --> 04:24.744 [SPEAKER_00]: More Muslims have come to Christ in the last 15 years than in the previous 15 centuries. 04:26.006 --> 04:29.511 [SPEAKER_00]: China's underground church is exploding in growth. 04:30.613 --> 04:36.081 [SPEAKER_00]: Churches are growing exponentially in Cuba in across Latin and South America. 04:37.383 --> 04:43.433 [SPEAKER_00]: And Sub-Saharan Africa is witnessing a remarkable advance of the gospel. 04:45.100 --> 04:52.732 [SPEAKER_00]: What we see this awakening happen in America is an awakening of this magnitude even possible today. 04:53.954 --> 05:02.368 [SPEAKER_00]: We believe it is, and we are praying that first 15 can be one such catalyst in the movement we so desperately need. 05:03.089 --> 05:06.334 [SPEAKER_00]: So today, would you join us in this prayer? 05:07.857 --> 05:11.783 [SPEAKER_00]: God's promise is clear in our scripture for today. 05:11.948 --> 05:18.235 [SPEAKER_00]: We must humble ourselves in meeting we need the transforming movement of God's Spirit. 05:19.256 --> 05:22.639 [SPEAKER_00]: Then we must pray passionately and collectively. 05:24.361 --> 05:32.530 [SPEAKER_00]: God says we must seek His face, which in Hebrew means to run hard after personal intimacy with the Lord. 05:33.971 --> 05:40.538 [SPEAKER_00]: And then when we do, we must turn from our wicked ways as His Spirit reveals them to us. 05:41.918 --> 05:49.802 [SPEAKER_00]: If we will, our Father promises to hear us forgive us and heal our land. 06:13.441 --> 06:19.872 [SPEAKER_00]: As we begin, meditate on God's gracious desire to heal our land. 06:21.354 --> 06:36.259 [SPEAKER_00]: Psalm 33, 12 says, 06:47.309 --> 07:12.996 [SPEAKER_00]: And next, pray for the Lord to bring the fifth great awakening to our land. 07:13.634 --> 07:18.526 [SPEAKER_00]: Ask that God would move powerfully in our nation and our world. 07:20.109 --> 07:24.720 [SPEAKER_00]: Matthew seven seven says, ask and it will be given to you. 07:25.702 --> 07:31.035 [SPEAKER_00]: Seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you. 07:42.220 --> 08:09.207 [SPEAKER_00]: The last. 08:09.558 --> 08:15.072 [SPEAKER_00]: Ask God to show you how you can participate in his plan for renewal. 08:16.335 --> 08:27.482 [SPEAKER_00]: First Peter 410 says, As each has received a gift, Use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. 08:39.798 --> 09:08.522 [SPEAKER_00]: James 4-8 promises, 09:08.705 --> 09:12.872 [SPEAKER_00]: drawn near to God, and he will draw near to you. 09:14.154 --> 09:19.383 [SPEAKER_00]: So let's close this week with a practical way to accept his invitation. 09:20.906 --> 09:25.493 [SPEAKER_00]: Rodney Smith was an evangelist in the U.S. and Great Britain for seven decades. 09:26.395 --> 09:30.021 [SPEAKER_00]: He was once asked how revival begins. 09:30.254 --> 09:41.025 [SPEAKER_00]: is answer, go home, lock yourself in your room, kneel down in the middle of the floor, and with the peace of chalk draw a circle around yourself. 09:42.127 --> 09:50.375 [SPEAKER_00]: There on your knees, pray perfectly and brokenly that God would start a revival within that chalk circle. 09:52.558 --> 09:56.582 [SPEAKER_00]: As we go today, let's draw that circle around our hearts. 10:12.273 --> 10:14.859 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for listening to today's podcast. 10:14.879 --> 10:16.342 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Josh with verse 15. 10:17.184 --> 10:22.977 [SPEAKER_00]: To be a part of a great awakening, we must first experience an awakening in our hearts. 10:23.819 --> 10:25.843 [SPEAKER_00]: May today be a step toward that. 10:26.906 --> 10:32.037 [SPEAKER_00]: Have a wonderful rest of your day today and may God bless you as you seek him.