Restore and Revive Us Again

The following is from a message that I gave on October 5th, the audio can be found here. 

Isaiah 64:1; That You would come down from heaven and dwell among us.

Have you ever wanted to see God?

• To meet with Him and know His thoughts?
• To talk with Him and ask Him about His ways?
• To gaze upon His face and see His beauty?
• To stand in His presence and feel His power?

Just as the prophet Isaiah wrote (700 BC), We beg and we plead; God come down from heaven and dwell among us.

And He did. God came down from His thrown in heaven. He spent 30 years living among us as a common man - born of a humble birth, living a humble, ordinary life. He then spent the final three years of His life teaching, mentoring, healing, training, and ministering to those who are desperate in need. 

But we were not satisfied. We wanted a King, not a servant. We asked God  to come down from heaven and do what He had done in the past – to stand against our enemies – to establish a Kingdom.

Our response was to hand Him over to the highest power we could find so that He could be nailed to a cross, suffocate, and die. 

And because He is God in the flesh, He does something amazing, something that we never expected God to do – He died.

He said that He was dying for us and for our sins. He said that He was dying so that all of humanity can be reconciled to Him. But He died!?

And maybe He did die for my sin. But a dead man can't save me, and a dead man can't save you! 

Three days later this dead man is not a dead man anymore - He is alive – and He is God. He has taken away the curse – the sin of mankind and He has proven that He has power over sin, over Satan, and over death. 

We beg and we plead; God come down from heaven and dwell among us.

He did for a while, but then He left. God ascended back to heaven with the promise of a future gift. 

Ten days later – with sound of a mighty wind and the appearance of tongues of flames – God came down from heaven in the form of His Holy Spirit. 

But this time He does not simply dwell among us – as we have begged Him to – Now He also dwells within us. 

God came down from heaven and gave us help, comfort, understanding, and power. 

But, again, we were not satisfied. We wanted a God that we could see – a God that we could understand, a God that we could control. 

Our response was fear. We began to shut down and close God's Spirit out. We continued to live our lives without this gift – who is God. We continued to live our lives without this help, this comfort, this power. We continued to live our lives without God!

We beg and we plead; God come down from heaven and dwell among us.  And sometimes we wonder why He hasn't.

• Where is God in our world?
• Where is God in our churches?
• Where is God in our lives?

We beg and we plead; God come down from heaven

One day God will come down from heaven and He will make all things right.

• On this day, every knee will bow before Jesus – our King
• On this day every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord
• On this day God will establish His Kingdom

Now is the time to make sure that we are right with God,

• That we have a right relationship with Jesus Christ
• That we have a right relationship with His Holy Spirit

Let me invite you to consider these questions:

·        Do you have a right relationship with Jesus Christ?

• Jesus wants to be more than your Savior - to save you from the penalty of sin.
• Jesus wants to be more than your source of eternal life. 
• Jesus wants to be your everything - and to provide you with everything.
• Do you have unconfessed sin in your life that you need to seek repentance for?
• God cannot be in the presence of sin
• God cannot bless you if you have sin in your life
• Have you dishonored God’s Holy Spirit?
• We cannot fully embrace God until we accept all of Him
• God has more in store for you and for your life.

Let us go beyond the plea of Isaiah 64. Let us make Psalm 85 our prayer:

• Now restore us again, O God of our salvation. Put aside your anger against us once more. Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation. (4, 6-7)