and turn in the word of God to 2 Chronicles. We're going to look at a very familiar passage of scripture in 2 Chronicles 7, verse number 14. In 2 Chronicles 7, 14, we have a very key text dealing with revival. And I have a book that I want to give to all of you. This was written by the evangelist that's coming. Why don't you guys come down to the front here. That was written by the evangelist that's coming to speak for our revival. I want everybody to get a copy of it. So everybody should get a copy. You might need an extra hand here. You can take the box. Just take the box with you if you need more. But this is a little book. The title of it here is 30 Days to Revival. We are right now about 27 days from our scheduled revival. So, I'm sorry, one month to revival, written by Pastor Ken Graham. Pastor Ken Graham's a pastor in Arkansas. He was very good friends with my father, but he pastored in My dad pastored in Pine Bluff. Ken Graham pastored, I believe, in Little Rock, Arkansas. So he knows my dad very well. But Evangelist Tim Green, if you read The Baptist Bread, the devotional, he is the author of most of those devotionals that come in The Baptist Bread. So if you're in the habit of adding that to your devotion time or reading The Baptist Bread, Tim Green is the author and has been for many, many years. So he wrote this little book. It's one month to revival. You'll see if you look in there, day one, day two, day three, day 15. Basically, it's a little short devotional, very short thought on revival. A verse, and just, I mean, you could read it very quickly. And we've got a month until, well, 27 days, if you count today, so you're gonna have to double up at the end or do it the first couple days, first couple nights of revival. But I wanna encourage you to take advantage of this book. Read this. and put some thought into it in preparation for revival. That's just a month away. Just thinking about revival as a church and a church family. If you're a parent, you could read this for your family devotions. Just each night, just read this quick little thing. It'd be easy. Talk about revival with your kids. What does it mean? And you'll learn more about it throughout the month. But just take some time in your private devotions to read that. And I want you to commit some time to personal preparation for revival. You understand revival doesn't happen just because we put it on a calendar. I mean, we're gonna hold some meetings, but if we're talking about real revival in the heart of God's people, it takes time, it takes preparation, it takes a work of God. And so I want you to look at our text. Does everybody have one of those? Now, the extras you can put on the Welcome Center out there. Anybody else that needs one can get one. We wanna make sure that everybody has one that you can go through this over the next month and prepare for revival. So the text we have, 2 Chronicles 7 verse number 14, most of you here could quote the verse. Why don't you read it together with me? If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Would you pray with me as we begin this message that I've simply titled Revival. Lord, we come to you this morning, a very common, a very known text. In the heart of some, maybe, oh, here we go again. Oh, here's something, certainly nothing new this morning, but God, I pray you take these principles and stir our hearts towards revival. Do something that only you can do, Lord, in the hearts of your people. You know where each and every individual is this morning and where their needs are. where their heartbreak is, where their strengths are, where their weaknesses are. And God, we pray that you would stir us towards revival, at least begin the work of revival in our hearts as we look towards the few days of meeting together and focusing our hearts and minds on this thought. We ask you to prepare us in Jesus' name, amen. Over the next month, I'm hoping that you'll take time to pray. I'm hoping you'll take time to read that one month to revival. I'm hoping that you'll be a part of the cottage prayer meetings that we'll have some time for you to gather with some brothers and sisters and commit your heart and mind to praying for revival. And then I'm hoping that you'll commit to come and be here each night of revival that I know that you will be blessed and your heart will be stirred if you'll come and be a part of this. It's just a month away or close to it. So this morning, first of all, I want you to see the intention of revival. The intention we have here, if my people, which are called by my name. Can I tell you that revival is intended for God's people? It is something that was God's plan and God's design. He understood that the hearts of men were gonna wax cold. that we're prone to wander and that we need revival. And so he's put there, if my people, it's God's people that need revived. You know, there's a lot of different things out there in promotional materials today. They have revival of people committing to take care of their body physically and committing to work out and and be healthy. There may be a revival or a resurgence of something like that, a mind to to work or Maybe there's currently right now, there's a revival or a resurgence of people going towards the trades, because for many years, everybody's been going towards tech, and there's a little bit of a push and a movement towards people getting back to working with their hands, and somebody's got to do that kind of work. And so there's a movement that way. But what we're talking about is a spiritual revival that was intended for God's people. And I want to encourage you this morning that we need revival. We have scheduled a week and we're asking that you would come and we're asking that you would commit to be here and not just be present, but be prepared in your heart and mind that God might stir you towards revival. To revive is literally to cause to live, to restore as if dead. Does your spiritual life need revived? Does it need restored? Does it need new life added to it? Some in this room this morning have told me in recent days how they have a renewed passion to know God and the power of His resurrection. How they've got a renewed desire and a fervency that they haven't had for years to know God and to be fed from His Word and to be stirred spiritually. That's the beginnings of revival. That's the movement of God in the hearts of men. It's not a natural thing to desire to be stirred spiritually. But God does it in our heart. It has begun in the heart of some. Has it begun in your heart? Have you been stirred and desirous of having an experience in revival personally? Revival is when an extraordinary work of God is done in the ordinary heart of men. It's not us, it's God. It's when God takes his finger and he points right down at me. He narrows it down and pointing right at me and I fully understand what it is He's trying to say and what it is He's trying to teach me. And yes, I said me. Revival begins when I see the need. when you see the need, not the person next to you, not the person behind you or somebody that's not here today. Revival begins with the individual. When we see where we're at and we see exactly God moving in our heart, the fact of the matter is, is I don't need you for me to experience revival. You don't need me for you to experience revival. What we need is God. God is the one that does the work and narrows down into our heart and points out exactly where we are and revives or stirs again those embers that were cold and dead. It doesn't take a lot of people for a church to experience revival. Just a few of God's people, if they get stirred, just a few of God's people, if they'll get thoroughly right with God, The work will spread. When a child of God experiences revival, life's priorities fall into place. Before, there was a lot of distraction. Before, there was a lot of wondering what you were gonna do, and what's important, and where should you dedicate your time, and should I do this, or should I be involved in that, or should I pursue this? There's a lot of distraction, there's a lot of wondering about what to do, but when your heart is revived, it's amazing how those life priorities come into order. They get settled by God, and we aren't wondering what's important anymore. Beloved, when revival stirs the heart of a believer, prayer becomes persistent. Preaching is powerful. And our relationships with others are restored. And I tell you, some of you need revival so your home can be restored to what it should be. You say, oh, oh, we've got to fix this problem, we've got to fix that problem, we've got to do all these, and you're looking at all, what you are looking is at the fruit. But if we want to change the fruit, we got to go back over here and get to the root of the problem. And the root of the problem is backslidden, cold-hearted, dead Christians that aren't on fire for God. You would renew your relationship with your mate. You would restore the relationship with your children. You would change your life if you got revived today. If God did that work in your heart. The sad thing, beloved, is many of us have a form of godliness, but we're denying the power thereof. You see, we need revival when the form of godliness is more important than godliness. When we feel like it's so important that we look the part, that we dress a certain way, that we carry our Bible, that we look spiritual, instead of really being spiritual, boy, we need revival. Revival is intended for God's people. Are you God's people this morning? Then can I tell you that revival is intended for us and we as a church, Hunt Valley Baptist Church, we need to experience revival. In our text here, there is given to us the ingredients for revival. I'll try not to be very long. We want to move through these. These ingredients are right there. They're given to us very plainly. The first ingredient for anyone to experience revival is humility. He says, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves. Shall humble themselves. Can I tell you that God is drawn to the humble? Isaiah 57, 15 says, for thus Can I tell you God wants to revive your heart? but it takes humility. It takes us being humble. That word there, contrite, means to be broken. It means to be crushed under a weight of sin, understanding who we are before an almighty God, before a thrice holy God. You know, Brother Greg's a painter, and he understands Probably better than anybody here, although I think it's something that everybody understands, that there are a lot of different colors of white. You know, it's like that's a white car, yeah, but what color is it? Yeah, there's this white and there's this white. And sometimes what I'm saying is you can look at a car and say, oh, that's white. And then another white car pulls up next to it and you realize, oh, no, that's actually more cream. I didn't realize that looked white when it was by itself, when there was nothing else to compare it to. That looked pretty good, but it really is not white. Can I tell you that we sometimes when we're just looking at ourselves, we say, boy, I'm doing pretty good. I'm all right. I mean, look at all the things I'm doing. Look at all the good I'm accomplishing. Look at these things. But when we get next to Jesus, then we get to see, as the prophet did, where he says, woe is me, for I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. We get next to him and what I'm saying is we've got to get next to him to see who we are, that we might be humble before him. We need this morning men and women, boys and girls who are of a contrite spirit that are humble before God. Psalms 34, 18 says, the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and save as such as be of a contrite spirit. As long as you stand in your pride and hold yourself up by your own bootstraps, as it were, and say, well, I'm doing all right. I'm good enough. I'm fine. You won't experience revival. Psalms 138, verse 6 says, though the Lord be high, yet he hath respect unto the lowly. But the proud he knoweth afar off. You see, God sees the proudness of our heart a long ways off. He knows how far we are from him. Are you willing to humble yourself and just be obedient to God, just do what God wants you to do? Has God instructed you and told you that you need to do this or take this step of obedience or you need to do that and you've said in your heart, well, I'm not ready to do that. or I don't wanna do that. You're not willing to humble yourself and just be obedient to God. If we're gonna see revival at Hunt Valley Baptist Church, we need God's people to humble themselves and just be obedient to God. just do what God wants. We've had the discipleship here mentioned several times and several this morning were presented their certificates. And this just this week, I've had conversations with several that are interested in doing it. Maybe in your heart, God said, you know what, you ought to do that. And you thought, you know, I know enough of the Bible. That's not for me. I don't think I'm gonna bother that. But the Holy Spirit's pricked your heart and said, you should do that. And you said, no, I'm not ready to do that. What I'm saying is we need to humble ourselves. What has God challenged you? What has God stirred your heart? Are you ready to be obedient to him? We need to be humble. We know that God giveth grace to the humble, but he resisteth the proud. Not only do we need humility, but we need prayer. He says, to humble yourselves and pray. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, prayer pulls the rope from below that rings the great bell up in heaven. Then he goes on, he says, some Christians scarcely ever stir the bell. Prayer is our opportunity to grab a hold of the rope and ring the bell in heaven. That's inside of God's hearing. That's getting a hold of God. And he says, scarcely some Christians ever ring the bell. He said, others give it an occasional pluck. But the one who wins with heaven is the man who grasps a hold of the rope boldly and pulls continuously with all of his might. Beloved, we don't need a revised program at Hunt Valley Baptist Church. We don't need a reworked schedule. We don't need more exciting music in the services. We don't need a new program that you can get excited about and be energized and say, oh, look at this new program. No, what we need is God to do a work in our hearts to stir us from the inside out. We need to be revived and that takes place through prayer, not programs. David Basham said, prayer is the backbone of revival instead of substituting ideas such as a religious film or social entertainment. Why not get back to the God-given method and seek him in prayer? Let's pray. We've been talking about prayer the last two weeks in my class. Did you guys start prayer this last week, till today? You started the prayer lesson? Right at the conclusion there, I'm gonna give it away, you guys that haven't got there yet. He gives a little example and he says there's three kinds of people that pray. What kind of a person are you? He says there's some people that only pray in emergencies. The only time we go to God is when the car's upside down, when the hospital is called, when there's an emergency and praise God that he is there and he hears us and he's an ever-present help in time of need. And some people, the only time they talk to God is when there's a storm. Is that the kind of prayer warrior you? And then he goes on and he says the second kind of prayer warrior is somebody that is a formalistic prayer person. Like they'll pray when it's time to open the service, let's pray, Lord, bless the service. Or they'll pray at their foods, times of formal prayer, Lord, bless this food to my body, we're gonna do whatever, you know, we're gonna pray, you know, just those formal times, that's when they come to God. But then there's the kind of person that has a real dependency on God and they pray for everything. That's what we need to be dependent, dependent on God. The Bible still says, ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. You know, what if I told you this morning, behind one of these four doors up here, is $100,000. And all you have to do is find out which one. You can ask me whatever questions you want. You can come up and knock on the doors. You can seek. You can search. I guarantee every one of you would be trying to deduce which door we need to open, right? Okay, yeah, we'll continue the service later. Let's see if this settled, right? There's no money behind the doors. But what he's saying, God of heaven, the creator of the universe, who has in his means and ability a whole lot more than what we represent by $100,000, says, ask, seek, knock, and it shall be opened unto you. We can come to him. If you're under the age of 20 in here today, would you stand? You know what, young people? We need you praying for revival. You guys think, oh, we're just kids, we're just here, we're just hanging out. I got, one kid said, yeah, I had a drug problem, I got drugged to church every week. You're like, I got drugged to church. Maybe you're just, you know, kids, we need you praying. You can be seated. We won't keep going up, but you know what, Mom and Dad, we need you praying. Humble yourself and pray. and pray. Not only does it take prayer, but he says it takes desire. He says, seek my face. Desire. What do you desire today? What is it that's consuming your thoughts and minds? What are you thinking about? Are you thinking about that Mega Millions jackpot? Didn't somebody win that? Billion, right? Was it over a billion now? That's crazy. Yeah, we could build a church for that, amen? But you say, man, is that, I mean, what I'm saying is what is it that consumes your thoughts? What is it that you have a desire for? You know, some of you men, when you get an inkling for a new vehicle, you start shopping, you start looking, start seeing what's available. Start finding out all the details and the new features that are out, and it does this or does that. It just starts to be in your mind all the time. I'm sorry, ladies. I don't know what it is that you desire. Some of you ladies will have to tell us what it is that you search after. What is it that consumes your heart and mind? You say, conversation with a human. Amen. Oh, I wish he would talk to me. I don't know what it is, but what I'm saying is, you know, he says it takes desire, you have to seek after it. Marcus Aetonius said, the true worth of a man is measured by the object he pursues. The true worth of a man is measured by the object he pursues. I asked you this morning, are you pursuing Christ? Are you pursuing revival? Are you desirous to know Him and the power of His resurrection? Do you really want to know what life as a Christian fully dedicated and committed to God can be like? Or is it just a matter of, oh, it's something that's out there and I know there's some people that experience it, but it's not for me. Do you desire it today? We seek after what we want. The question is, is do we want Him? Not only does it take desire, but it takes repentance. He says, and turn from their wicked ways. Turn from their wicked ways. That's what repentance is. It literally is turning, turning away from those things that we know are not pleasing to the Father, that we know are sin. When was the last time you turned? When was the last time you repented of a sin? As a Pastor Caleb. We're dignified members of Hunt Valley Baptist Church. If ever there were spiritual people, they are in the auditorium today. Well, you know, the Bible says if a man says he has no sin, the Father is not in him. You know, we all have sinned. When was the last time we repented of that? When was the last time we returned to Him? Corrie Ten Boom said, an unrepentant sin is a continued sin, is a continued sin. You know what we like to do instead of repent? We like to do what Adam and Eve did. The woman that thou gavest me, the woman, the serpent, And the serpent turned around and there was nobody there, so. But we like to blame it on somebody else. It's somebody else's fault, somebody else's problem, this is not. Or maybe we like to do what Achen did. Remember Achen took his and hid it, buried it under the tent. Tried to pretend it wasn't there, but it was. We can't just hide it. He covered his sin, but you know the Bible says that he that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but whosoever confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. You know, kids, did you ever know that you did something wrong and you knew if dad and mom found out, you were probably gonna cease to exist? I mean, like you knew this was the end. And so in your mind, you thought, you know what I need to do? I need to go fess up. I know if dad finds out from somebody else, I'm done for. But if I confess, maybe he'll be like Jesus. Maybe he'll have some mercy on me. And so you come sheepishly, gingerly to dad and mom and kind of here is what happened, this is what I did and I just want you to know I'm super sorry and it'll never happen again. How many of you kids have ever done that? Yeah. Yeah. There's some adults raising their hand because we were there. We were kids once. We know those kids that didn't raise their hand is because they're lying. We all, self-preservation is a human instinct, and we want to preserve ourselves. Beloved, Jesus says here, whoso confesseth and forsaketh him shall have mercy. Listen, God the Father wants to have mercy on us. Oh, he is ever present and full of mercy. We can come to him. But listen, if you're just trying to cover that sin, you're not gonna prosper. We've gotta confess it. and forsake it. You know the old song, take time to be holy? It takes time to be holy. You can't hurry holiness. I know we wish we could. Wish we could somehow just microwave it up and have it. But it takes time. That's what I'm asking you to do over the next month is take some time. Spend some time in prayer and look at the scriptures. Lastly, this morning, I wanna give you the impact of revival. The impact of revival. Then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. The impact of revival is seen in so many different ways. I could never expound upon them all this morning, but I wanna give you a couple. First of all, God's people, when they're revived, they are united in prayer. In the middle of the 19th century, The country had, by and large, forgot God. Because of the prosperity of the nation, men forgot who it was that got them there. Jeremiah Lampure began a small prayer meeting in Manhattan, just him and a couple of other people. But the following week, as God began to stir the hearts of men, there were 14 people present. Then, the following week, there was 23 people present. By February of 1858, every church and every public building in the city was occupied at noontime with prayer meetings. One reporter said he could only reach 12 meetings, and in those 12 meetings he counted 6,100 men on their knees at noon praying. God's people are united in prayer when revival comes. God's people are united in reaching the lost when revival comes. By the turn of the century, the country was once again in need of revival. This time, the prayers were felt and experienced worldwide. In Chicago, in Melbourne, in India, in Korea. But souls began to be saved in Wales. Over 100,000 were converted to Jesus Christ. The first year of the revival, there was no cases for the judges to try. The police found themselves out of work, taverns were closed up, illegitimacy dropped by 44%. The production in the mines slowed to a halt because the mules could no longer understand the cleaned up language of the miners. That revival of 1904 spread from England to Norway to Sweden to Denmark to Germany to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and the United States. When it reached the shores of America, pastors in Atlantic City said that of a population of 50,000, only 50 remained unconverted. In Portland, Oregon, 240 department stores close their doors every day from 11 to 2 to pray for the souls of men. That's what happens when revival sweeps the nation. God's people are united in prayer. God's people are united in reaching the lost. There's something that happens individually though as well. The Bible tells us in Psalms 85 verse six, wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee. Beloved, when revival comes, joy is restored to the heart of the believer. The joy of the Lord, I'm telling you about joy that comes not from a new toy, Joy that comes not from a change in our circumstances or an adjustment in our situation. It's joy that comes from within, a joy that's in our heart, that's present regardless of the circumstances. Real joy that comes from a heart that is forgiven by God and knows the love of God and love for others. Beloved, only God can do that. And He wants to do it in your heart. this month. Charles Finney said revival is really nothing more or less than a new obedience to God. Can I ask you, will you for the next month, as somebody that comes and attends Hunt Valley Baptist Church, will you commit, don't raise your hand yet, don't be so quick to raise your hand, I'm asking, will you commit to pray every day for the next 27 days that God would send revival to your heart and to Hunt Valley Baptist Church? If you've thought about it and you said that, I'll do that. Would you show me right up there and say, I'm gonna pray for that. I'm gonna pray that God will send revival. Thank you, you can put your hands down. We have a promise from God in this text. If we'll fulfill and meet these ingredients, God will send revival. God wants to do something in our midst that's beyond even our comprehension. We would stand back in awe if we would really meet these requirements. It's not gonna happen because we put it on the calendar, but it'll happen if we commit ourselves to it. If we fulfill these requirements, would you stand with me with your heads bowed and your eyes closed? As we said, beloved, we need to be praying more. We need to be praying. You've committed to pray for the next 30 days for revival. But it starts with us. It starts here today. If you're here and you don't know the Lord Jesus as your Lord and Savior, that's where it begins for you. Revival is to the believer, to the child of God, as we said as we began, it's if my people. begins by knowing Jesus as your Lord and Savior. If you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I pray you would come and we can let us take a Bible and show you how you can be forgiven of your sin and know that you are a child of God. And if you know you're a child of God, I want to ask you to commit to pray and seek for a revival. As the pianist plays, you do what God wants you to do. There's this one.