Now, when I first moved to Connecticut, I tried to fit in with the culture, and I would say, you all. But then I realized, that's not me, so I just started saying y'all. So here we are, and I'm glad to be here with y'all. And some of you were here last night, so you know what we're going to try to do today, but I'll tell the rest of you. We have one objective here today. This is a day of revival prayer. Here's the one objective. Now, I know there's some people from different churches, which is wonderful, I'm glad to see that. But the objective is this, that in your churches, by five o'clock this afternoon, we're stopping at five, is that right? Or is it 5.30, five? Okay, all right. By this afternoon at five o'clock in your churches, there'll be at least one group of five people praying one hour a week in revival prayer from here on out. Now, I know that we pray in our churches. And you might even have a weekly prayer meeting in your churches, which is good. But what I'm after is a revival prayer meeting. So we will be defining what we mean by revival prayer as we go on. And we'll illustrate it. So what I'm going to do is we're going to have a lecture now called The Intolerable Burden, and then we'll pray. And then about 1230, We'll stop for lunch. So I'm not sure when we'll pray, how long we'll pray, but at least be at least an hour, maybe an hour and a half or so. And the first time we pray, we'll probably pray all together. Although if we get a few more people, we may go ahead immediately and break it up. I don't know. Then after lunch, we'll have a second lecture, the 10 marks of the revival culture. all based on the Book of Acts. My view is that the Book of Acts is normative. What we see in Acts is what we ought to be having in our own churches. And I know people say, oh, what about tongues? Well, that's not even the issue. But I dismiss that. That's not the whole point. That's not the major point. Then we'll have a second time of prayer. And then thirdly, we'll have another lecture on making your church a house of prayer for the nations. And that's when we'll talk about how we can actually engage in revival prayer. So when we pray, the first time we pray, I'll lead us in prayer. And Jesus said, Luke says that Jesus, that Luke's recording all that Jesus began to do and teach. You notice the order, do and teach. It's not teach and do, it's do and teach. In other words, Jesus would do things They'd watch him, and then he'd teach them what he was doing. And so that's kind of what we're going to do. I'm going to lead us in revival prayer, and you'll see what that looks like, and then you'll have the opportunity to pray as well. Now, as we begin, I think that you would agree with me that we are in serious trouble in our nation. I don't have to go through all of the details. The details are myriad. But to me, one of the things that has struck me over the last few years is how quickly the homosexual transgender agenda has taken over this country. It's astonishing to me. I was with a good friend of mine about six months ago who's way up with Ernst & Young. and one of the top guys in the nation with Ernst and Young. He's a very devoted believer. And I said, how did this take over the boardroom? How did this? He said, yeah, he said, you know, 20 years ago, if you were a Christian, You know, way up in these companies, people kind of looked up to him. He's a Christian. They kind of respected that, you know. He's a man of integrity and so forth. But now, he says, they disdain it. They're suspect of you if you're that way. And he says, it's all about inclusion. Everybody's to be included. And it's like, it's just, it's mindless. We know that, but that's where we are. Have you ever thought about this? And I read this recently by a guy named Aaron Wren, R-E-N-N. He's got a blog called The Masculinist. I think he's more of an urban planner, but he's also a very strong believer. And he's got some very insightful things. He says, until about 2004, The church was viewed in a positive fashion in the United States. Now, that doesn't mean everybody was a Christian, but it was generally viewed in a positive way. Again, if you were a Christian in the business world prior to 2004, you know, being a Christian or having a Bible prominently displayed on your desk probably was good for business. You know, you remember a lot of times back then, people would go to church because they could make business contacts. That was a good thing. I'm not saying that's the right reason to go, but that's what they do. And back at that time, who were the major players back at that time? You had James Dobson, D. James Kennedy, Jerry Falwell. And these guys would speak the truth. They were bold. They were confrontive. I think your former pastor was that way from what I know. You know, just right out there with the gospel. Now people would reject it, but at the same time, people had a general respect because the church was viewed in a positive fashion. But Wren is saying about 2004, right in that area, things began to change, and people began to view the church in a rather neutral fashion. In other words, you know, being a Christian would not really help you a whole lot in your business career, but it wouldn't hurt you either. And you began to see this movement of city to city, and the guy's talking about Tim Keller's a classic example of it, that they could speak to the issues of the day in a general fashion But they would not speak to the real hot-button issues. They would speak about racism, human trafficking, and things like that. Of course, I mean, everybody should be opposed to those things. That's a no-brainer. But what they would not do would touch on abortion, for example. They wouldn't hit on that. And the whole idea is we kind of blend in with the culture. This is where a lot of the hipster type churches began to show up. And they're the Christian, you know, but as far as a strong message, they're not going to do that because they want to, they don't want to offend the culture. But he says, since 2014, that's changed. Now what we have is a negative view of the church. If you are a Christian today in the business world or in politics, you're a suspect because your views are contrary to the prevailing notion of the culture. And what's interesting is Aaron Wren points out that these people who have been in the hipster type of mode, they don't even know what's happening. And they're surprised when people are coming after them. You remember Keller was disinvited to speak at Princeton Seminary recently because he has a traditional view of marriage. They rejected him. They said, you can't speak here. And so that's where we are. So the question is, what do we do? Well, here's what I think we should do. I think we double down. We keep doing what we've been doing, more so than ever. But what we got to understand is this, that we're in big trouble, and I think we all agree. I mentioned last night that in the Fulton Street Revival and the 1859 Revival that followed, at least 10% of America became Christian. There was one million people in New York City at the time and at least 10% of New York City was converted. There was 35 million people, I believe that's right, in the United States at that time. So that was 3.5 million people were converted. We have 350 million people in the United States right now. If God did the same kind of revival today that he did back in 1859, that'd be 35 million people. soundly, truly converted. I believe that would make a drastic change in our nation. That's what's gotta happen. So we need millions of conversions, not a few here and there. When we were in Connecticut, I began to realize, I knew this before I went, but Connecticut is 1% evangelical. That's like Japan. You know, 1%. And there's 3.5 million people in the state and there's only like 10,000 evangelical men in the whole state. It used to be, as this area here was too, a remarkable place of grace. I mean, God did great works in Connecticut and New Jersey and New York back in the 18th century and even beyond that. It was amazing. The history's full of amazing men and women of God. But Connecticut is so far gone. I remember thinking, you know, if we don't, we gotta see thousands of conversions in Connecticut. I mean, to affect any change at all. So that's the way it is here, and that's the way it is all over the country. We've got to have millions of conversions, but we will not have millions of conversions unless we have revival. Now what is revival? There's a lot of different ways to define it. I would say revival is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit coming down upon an individual, upon a family. upon a church, upon a neighborhood, upon a state, a city, a nation, whatever. That's revival. And when revival comes, God's people are filled up with the Spirit of God. And when they're filled up with the Spirit of God, they have a couple things going on in their lives. One is great joy. Great joy, inexpressible and full of glory. And they also have boldness. They don't care what people think. boldness. They have, as I'll explain this later, they have what James and John and the other apostles had in the book of Acts. They had the divine swagger. Not a fleshly swagger, but a divine, godly swagger. They just trusted God. They believed God. So we've got to have revival. We will not have revival unless we have power. Now, somehow, along the way, the Reformed and Presbyterian churches have lost our way. If you go back and you read our church history, you will find our history replete with revivals and replete with the idea of the Holy Spirit coming down on a pastor, a preacher, an evangelist, or a whole congregation. Many, many times that's happened throughout the history of the church. I told you of one last night with John Gerrido at the Mount Zion Presbyterian Church on Calhoun Street in Charleston, South Carolina in 1859. Amazing. We've got to have power. We've got our great theology, but we lack power. We're not going to have power unless we pray. Now, most people say, yeah, that's right, absolutely. But we got to go one step further. We're not going to pray the way we should until we gain an intolerable burden. Now, what is an intolerable burden? I'll define it, then I'll illustrate it. By the way, this is it. I've written a book called Revival Prayer, a Needed Paradigm Shift in today's church and in today's world. So you can get it on Amazon. It's like $10. And all that I'm saying now is in that book, all right? So Greg, I think, has got a copy of it. You read it, hadn't you? So say what? All right, okay. So the intolerable burden is this. It's an intense agony, grief, and alarm at the status quo. An intense agony, grief, and alarm at the status quo in our personal lives, in the church, and in the world. Now, when Daniel is a young man, we know that he's taken into exile by the Babylonians in Nebuchadnezzar, probably about 14 years old at the time. He's in exile for a long time. Then he's reading Jeremiah 29. We read about this in Daniel 9. And as he's reading Jeremiah, here's what Jeremiah says. In fact, why don't you turn, if you would, to Jeremiah 29. I think it's about verse 11. Jeremiah is writing there and he says, when the 70 years for Babylon are completed, then I will visit you. and I will fulfill my good word to you. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not calamity, to give you a future and a hope. You will call upon me and you will come to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all of your heart. I will take you from the nations and gather you from the places where I sent you, declares the Lord, and I'll bring you back from the place where I sent you into exile. And this is amazing because Judah was so hard-hearted, they turned away from God. And here you see God, very merciful, saying, I will listen to you. You will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart. So here's Daniel, you know, 70 years later, reading this and he now understands that what Jeremiah has been preaching about almost a hundred years beforehand is now taking place. Because you see, they've come back from the exile, or they're about to come back from the exile, and now the Babylonians have been driven out and the Medo-Persians are in power. So in Daniel 9, verse 1, he says, In the first year of Darius, son of Ahasuerus of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, read in the book the number of years revealed to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolation of Jerusalem, namely 70 years. So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek him by prayer and supplication of fastings and sackcloth and ashes. In other words, this is happening. This is like a lifeline to Daniel. What God has prophesied through Jeremiah is happening. So now what does he do? Does he sit back? He says, I began to seek the Lord. with prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. I began to seek the Lord. Then he says, O Lord, great and awesome God who keeps his covenant and loving kindness for those who love him and keep his commandments. We have sinned. We have committed iniquity. We have acted wickedly. We have not listened to the voice of your servant, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our princes, our kings, our fathers. and all the peoples of the land. Righteousness belongs to you, O Lord, but to us, open shame as it is this day." And he goes throughout Daniel chapter 9, speaking very graphically and vividly of their sin. Later on, he says, we have sinned, we have been wicked. We know he was a pretty righteous man, but he was including himself in all of that. And then he tells us in passing that he began to pray at the morning sacrifice until the evening sacrifice, 12 hours. Daniel had an intolerable burden. He could not stand the status quo. They'd been in exile for 70 years. Enough is enough. He had an intense agony, grief, and alarm at the status quo. Now God brings them back into the land. And then several years later, 30, 50 years or whatever, Israel, the nation of Judas, back in the land, they're living large. Everything's going well for them. Their families are there. They're rebuilding their homes. They're making money. Everything's good. There's one problem, however. They hadn't done anything about the temple that was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. I mean, they're living large, but they're neglecting the temple. God raises up Haggai the prophet. And Haggai begins to preach, and he says, you people are paddling your dens while the Lord's house remains desolate. God used Haggai to stir up the people for what he says in Ezra chapter 8 is a little revival. The little revival was coming back from the exile. So they rebuild the temple, they devote themselves, not to their money so much now, they devote themselves to rebuilding the temple, and so much money came in, the leaders had to say, okay, that's enough, that's enough, we don't need any more money. Wouldn't it be great to have a church like that? That's enough, we don't need any more. And here's the thing, after God had been gracious to them, and you know, you see this throughout the history of Israel, going all the way back to the book of Deuteronomy. You'll see them seeking the Lord, then they'll fall away, then God will bring things like in the book of Judges. He'll bring it back. You see this cycle over and over and over again. Same thing's happening now through the prophets. Now they're back in the land, God's blessed them, they've rebuilt the temple, and now Ezra can't believe it. People come to him and say, Ezra, our people are again giving their children to be married to pagans. That's like saying we're letting our children marry Muslims or Buddhists or secularists or atheists. Now when he hears it, he can't believe it. He begins to throw dust up in the air He tears his robe and he begins to pull the hair out of his head and beard. Ezra cannot stand the status quo. He had that intense agony, grief, and alarm. Now, you might remember that Nehemiah was a contemporary of Ezra. Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king in Medo-Persia. And he had a very important position, very prominent man, a trustworthy man, and very much concerned about his people back in Jerusalem. So people are coming and going all the time from the Medo-Persian capital of Jerusalem. And on at least one occasion, somebody came back and Nehemiah says, how are things going there? Well, you know, the walls are still broken down. Now, the walls, of course, around Jerusalem were their defense. A nation without walls at that time was defenseless. That's like saying, how is the United States Army? Well, it's been decimated. We don't have a Navy. We don't have an Air Force. We would be defenseless. And while other people seemingly were unconcerned about that, Nehemiah was deeply concerned. And when he found out that the walls were still broken down, and Nehemiah 1, it says that he began to weep and fast and pray for what? Not 12 hours for what? Days! He could not stand the status quo of the walls being broken down. And then he gained the favor of the king, you know the story, the king let him come back into the land, he surveyed the situation, he rebuilt the wall in 52 days, he goes back to meet Opersia, continues in his role as the cupbearer to the king for some period of time. And then about chapter eight of Nehemiah, we discover that he's now back in Jerusalem and he's the governor. Somehow or another, he's now the governor, he's running the show. And then in Nehemiah 13, he's reminiscing about his political career. He's an old man by that time, and he says, now, Lord, when I came here, nobody was tithing. Now they're tithing, so remember me for the good things that I've done. Lord, when I was here, nobody was honoring the Sabbath day. They're now honoring the Sabbath day. In fact, when somebody tries to come in and do business on the Sabbath day, I shut the gates. They're not coming in until the Sabbath day's over. So Lord, remember me for the good things that I've done. Then he says this, I found out, after all that God has done for us, that the people are still giving their children to be married to pagans. In fact, our children don't even know the language of the Hebrews. They're speaking the language of Ashdod, these false gods. And when he finds out they're doing that, he goes even further than Ezra. He says, when I found out they were doing that, I began to pronounce curses on them. I was contending with them. I was beating them. Now, those of you who are elders in the church, I'll bet there's some people at times you wish you could take out back and beat them up like Nehemiah did, right? I felt that way. Man, why not get a hold of that guy, what he did? So he says, I was beating them. I was contending with them. I was pronouncing curses on them. Then he says, and I began to pull the hair out of their heads. I got to tell you, that's an intense agony, grief, and alarm at the status quo. Now, my friends, until we gain that kind of intense agony, grief, and alarm at the status quo, we're not going to pray. Well, we'll pray, we'll go through the motion. We're really not desperate. If we don't pray with a sense of divine desperation, we're not gonna have the Holy Spirit. If we don't have the Holy Spirit, we're not gonna have power. If we don't have power, we're not gonna have conversions. If we don't have conversions, we're not gonna have revival. You remember the Sarah of Phoenician woman of Mark chapter seven? She's desperate. Her daughter is demon possessed. She no doubt has tried everything she possibly could to help her daughter. Jesus leaves his Galilean ministry. primarily to the Jews. He goes across into the Syrophoenician area. And while he's there, these are pagan people. Jesus very intentionally went into that area. And here's this pagan woman whose daughter's demon possessed. She finds out that Jesus is in the area. She's heard about what he can do. She runs up to him. She falls down before him. Jesus, son of David, have mercy. My daughter is cruelly demon-possessed. She is desperate. It looks kind of odd. She is obviously yelling because the disciples say, Jesus, send her away. She's screaming at us. Now those of you who are mamas, when your little child is sick, and you're like at the emergency room and you don't think your child's getting the care that he or she needs, I guarantee you mama's gonna be on those doctors, right? You care, you're gonna make sure that your baby's getting the care she needs. Well, that's what's happening with this woman. She can't stand the fact that her daughter's in this situation. She cannot stand the status quo and so she is crying out to Jesus. And his disciples say, send her away, she's screaming at us, she's making a scene. Remember what Jesus did? Nothing. He didn't say a word. Now that seems odd to us, but except if you'll remember, many times in the scriptures, God has us wait for things. How about Abraham? You're gonna be the father of many nations. You had to wait at least 10 years, right? God has us wait. Why? We don't always know, but it's in his providence he has us wait. He had this woman wait, but she kept going. It says that she kept imploring him, Jesus, have mercy. She kept at it. She persevered. She's zealous. She has faith. She's persistent. She's not giving up. And then Jesus says something else sort of odd. It's not good to give the children's food to the dogs. Now that sounds like an insult. But it's really not because the word dog there is not the type of dog that I see all the time in Africa and India, which are scavenger dogs. You don't see any pedigree dogs in Africa and India, okay? These are really mangy looking little things, you know? Skin and bones, yeah, they're not pretty dogs at all. But that's not what he's talking about there. What he's talking about there is Fido, you know, the family dog. You know, the nice, beautiful golden retriever, whatever it is you have. That's what he's talking about. It's not good to give the children's food to Fido. What's he mean by that? Well, you know you're gonna feed Fido. Fido's gonna get his food, but Fido's supposed to wait his turn. The children get their food first. The children in this story is Israel. Phido are the Gentiles. But then she says, yes, but even Phido needs to eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. And Jesus says, because of your great faith, go your way, your daughters will. Now that's another classic beautiful picture. the need for this sense of divine desperation. We got to have that. If we don't have that sense of divine desperation and intolerable burden, we're not going to pray. Now listen, we can lose it. It's just like anything, you can have a zeal for God, you can be walking close with God, but you know the world starts working on us. Our flesh works on us. We get sidetracked. Happens to me all the time. So when that happens, what do you do? You repent. Alright God, Psalm 85, here I go again back to my folly. God forgive me. I repent. And you know, you push the reset button, you start over. It's an intense agony, grief, and alarm at the status quo in our personal lives. Now, what do I mean by that? You remember on Paul's third missionary journey, he goes to Ephesus, probably about 58 AD. And God did a remarkable work. Read about it in Acts chapter 19. I've often said if I had to choose one chapter of the Bible It's my favorite. I'd probably choose Acts 19 because of all that God's doing there. It's remarkable. So God establishes this church, the Apostle Paul in Ephesus. Then while Paul's in prison about 64, 62 to 64 AD in Rome, he writes back to the Ephesians and he's commending them as those who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love for all the saints. So this is a good, solid church. Now we come to Revelation chapter 2, which I believe the book of Revelation was written prior to 70 AD. Some say later, but there's a lot of reasons I believe it was written prior to 70 AD because it says in Revelation 1, I'm writing of these things which must shortly take place. But even if it's 20 years later, it's not that big of a deal. But if it was about 66 to 68 AD, then it's 10 years after the church is established, maybe four or five years after he's commending them as having faith in the Lord Jesus and love for all the saints. And now you come to Revelation chapter two, and Jesus is writing his seven letters to the churches of Asia Minor, Western Turkey, and he starts with the church at Ephesus and he says, He says that he's writing to those who have the seven spirits of God. How does it go? That's not right. That's a later one. Somebody start me off there. How does it start in Revelation chapter 2, verse 1? Jesus says to the church at Ephesus. OK, that's good, yeah. I know your deeds and toil and perseverance. You have a name that you are alive. That's not right either. I'm having trouble remembering how it goes. Hey, Tony. Good to see you, man. I know your work is a labor and a teaching, and it's not bearable to our people, and especially if it's a thing that I'm talking to and I'm not, and it's on the wire. Okay. Yeah, okay. I have this against you. These are people who are fervent, they're orthodox, they're committed to the truth. They can spot a heretic from a mile away. They are right down the line orthodox, just like we're orthodox. They believe the right things. But then he says this, but I have something against you. Even though he's commending them, I have something against you. Now, what does he have against them? He says, I have this against you that you've left your first love. Now, that begs the question, what does he mean by We're not told exactly, but when you go back through the Bible, through the Gospels, you'll find certain things that give you an idea. For example, in Mark chapter 1, Jesus heals the leper, and he says, now I want you to go to the priest in fulfillment of the law of Moses, and do not tell anyone about what's happened. Now that seems a little odd to us, but you have to understand timing is everything. And this is too early in Jesus's earthly ministry. Jesus is waiting for the right time. Throughout John's gospel, it says, my time, my hour has not yet come. My hour has not yet come. In John 17, the high priestly prayer, Just prior to Jesus going to the cross, he says, Father, my hour has come. Glorify thou me together with thyself in the glory which I had with thee before the foundation of the world. So he's saying here that you're not supposed to speak about me right now. But what does he do? Well, he can't help it. He starts telling everybody about Jesus. The same is true in John chapter four with the Samaritan woman. She had to tell everybody about Jesus. The same is true in Acts chapter 4 with Peter and John, who I mentioned earlier. They're going up to the temple to pray. Here's the lame man. And they say, we don't have any silver. Go what we have in the name of Jesus. Rise up and walk. They were telling people about Jesus. So the first love is when you are converted, you realize what God has done. He's taken you out of darkness. He's brought you into light. He's transferred you from the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of Christ. And you cannot help but tell people about Jesus. I'll bet that was your experience. It was so beautiful to you. It was so wonderful. There was such a stark contrast from what you were to what you are now. You couldn't help it. I remember I was converted while I was playing baseball at the University of Alabama many years ago. And I was foul-mouthed. I was doing drugs. I was drinking. I was arrogant. I mean, I was bad. And God saved me, and immediately I began to tell people about Jesus. We had a little baseball team reunion back in May. And one of the guys on the team saw me and said, hey, Al, how are you doing? I said, great, Mike. He said, what do you do now? I said, I'm a preacher. He goes, I figured that. He said, you try to get me saved all the time, and I'm Jewish. I said, well, you need Jesus just like anybody else does. And I found out, I didn't know this at the time, I found out many, many years later, that the players began to talk behind my back, do not get caught in the batting cage with Baker. He'll tell you about Jesus. Well, that's how it was. My wife got converted about two weeks before she went off to college. And she says, she touches the door of the church, she's walking out, she's in a small group Bible study with other high school girls. She's touching the doorknob of the church to go out, she says, I'm a different person. And she immediately began to tell people about Jesus. That's the first love. I have this against you that you've left your first love. You notice it doesn't say that you lost your first love. Lost, sometimes I lose my keys. You know, what happened to them? That's like an accident. When I leave my keys, I leave them on purpose. It's an intentional act. Jesus is saying, I have this against you. You've left your first love. First love is you're just so filled up with Jesus, you can't help but talk about him. Here's my question. Have you left your first love? Is Jesus the topic of your conversation? You can't help it, you get him into your conversation. Those of us here with grandchildren know exactly what I'm talking about. You can't go long without talking about your grandchildren, can you? Why? Because they're in your heart. Now, I'm an Alabama football fan. Now, back when I lived in Connecticut, the first several years, they were no good. I never talked about them. I was laying low. But now that they've won, what, four national championships in like eight years, you notice I'm getting them into my conversation. You know what I'm saying? And that's a trite example. But when you have Jesus, whatever's in your heart, that's what you're gonna talk about, right? Have you left your first love? Now, if you haven't, praise the Lord. But if you have, what should you do? Well, Jesus gives us the remedy. He gives us the remedy with seven verbs. I have this against you that you've left your first love. Remember. Remember from where you have fallen. From where you have fallen is an imperfect verb. And in the Greek New Testament, an imperfect verb means action that started long ago. but continues to the present. For example, my wife and I have been married for 42 years. It started back in August of 1975. It's continuing to today. See, I didn't use the aorist or past tense. I didn't say we married in 1975, because that could mean maybe something happened between them. We have been married for 42 years. Remember from where you have fallen. What does that mean then? From where you fall, if you just didn't wake up one day and decide to leave your first love, it's a series of compromises that we make day in and day out. Watching certain shows we should not watch, listening to music that we should not listen to, hanging out with people that are not good for us, compromising on our money, compromising in our work, whatever it is. It can be any number of things. It's a series of decisions we make every day that gradually bring us to the place where one of these days we wake up and say, you know, I don't have the zeal for Jesus left that I used to have. Remember from where you have fallen and repent. Now it's interesting that the word repent there is in the aorist tense. A-O-R-I-S-T. And the aorist tense is point action. And it seems odd that the apostle would use an aorist tense verb in that command. Until you realize that he does it also in Romans 13, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. Remember from where you have fallen and repent. So when he uses the Aorist tense, he's not saying, well, how about next week, would you repent? When it's convenient to you, would you consider repenting? How about next year, would you repent? No, repent now. Now. It's emphatic. Remember from where you have fallen and repent and here's another heiress do the deeds which you did at first What were you doing at first? When Christ saved you and really showed you the change in your life You could not help but speak of him Now, I know a guy named Jerry Leachman, who's from Birmingham. He played football for Bear Bryant many, many years ago, and he's a Christian, and he has a ministry to congressmen and TV-type people in Washington, D.C. I was with him about five years ago, and he told me a story. Do you remember when, I think it was Thanksgiving 2010, and the Tiger Woods debacle became known and Tiger's wife threw a seven-iron at him through the door of his car or whatever it was, remember that? And all that blew up. About three or four days later, I vividly remember this, I saw it, on Brit Hume was on his television show with Fox News and he said, he said, I have a word for Tiger Woods. Tiger, you should become a follower of Jesus. I remember saying that. And here's the background of that story. Years before, Brit Hume was a foul-mouthed, wicked man. He met Jerry Leesman, he got involved with a Bible study, and Brit Hume became a Christian. And one day he's at the Fox News in Washington, D.C., and a couple of people noticed that Juan Williams and Mort Kondracky and Bill Crystal and Charles Krauthammer and these guys said, notice that he's not dropping F-bombs anymore, that he's a pretty good guy. What happened? He's not harassing women, you know? And he said, well, I'm a follower of Jesus. What? You? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So they started having a Bible study. All those guys I just mentioned, I don't know if they're still me, but they were going to a Bible study every week, all those guys. As far as I know, Krauthammer's an atheist, but he was at the Bible study. And so Jerry Leakes was always saying, now, Britt, you guys got to get Jesus on the scoreboard in your conversation. You got to speak about Jesus. So Britt says, OK, that's what I'm going to do. So there's this opportunity. Tiger Woods, you need Jesus. Now, you might also remember or you could imagine There's all kind of pushback. Who does Brigham think he is, talking to Tiger Woods, whose mother is a Buddhist? Well, he needs to mind his own business. That's not going to make any difference. How holier than thou, Brigham, all that stuff. Well, Britt's getting all kind of pushback. So he calls Jerry on his cell phone. Jerry's out in Arizona playing golf with somebody. Jerry answers the phone. Britt says, Jerry, I'm in trouble. You told me to get Jesus on the scoreboard of the conversation, and I'm getting all kind of pushback. What should I do now? And Jerry's a funny guy. He says, Brit, I don't have time to talk to you now. You know, I'm playing God. Please tell me something. Tell me, you gotta help me out. No, no, no. And I think Jerry eventually told him something. Point is, we gotta get Jesus on the scoreboard. Remember from where you've fallen, and repent and do the deeds which you did at first. What were you doing at first? You were telling people about Jesus. And just as a sidelight here, some of you are saying, man, I don't know how to witness to people. Well, you know, we've got Mark Grasso back here and George Petrella, who are great trainers, and they can help you with that. But they're in Philadelphia. But beyond that, you can get Jesus conversation all day long going through the side door. What do I mean by that? You just start talking about Jesus to people. Just tell them what he's doing in your life. That's easy. You know what happened in your community, your neighborhood, you start telling somebody, Yeah, you know, Jesus helped me with this or I've been a Christian. You tell me your testimony, whatever. Maybe they don't have any religion at all, but you know what's going to happen sooner or later. Something, something's going to go south in their lives, right? They're going to have some kind of tragedy. And then they're going to remember, you know, that person next door to me is kind of a religious person. Maybe he could help me. Oh, I bet he's got a pastor. I bet maybe the pastor can help me. Then you've got an opportunity to minister the gospel. Well, that can happen all day long. That's what's happening, by the way, in Exodus 18, when Jethro's bringing Zipporah and the two sons back to Moses. There's obviously been a falling out here. And all the 10 plagues and the Egyptian army drowning in the sea, all that's happened now. Zipporah and the two boys are being reunited with Moses. Jethro, who's a Midian priest, who's a pagan, by the way, brings the wife and the sons back to Moses. And what does it say there? That Moses began to tell Jethro the mighty deeds of Yahweh. You can just see it. Hey, you should have seen these 10 plagues. You should have seen what happened to the Egyptians. And wow, when we walked through the waters, when I put the staff in the water and the waters parted, we all walked through, and then the waters passed back over on top of the Egyptian army, and these corpses are floating in the water and all this stuff. A recent note that's true, as you read in Exodus 15, he's going to the Song of Moses. He tells you all kind of detail. It says there that after Jethro heard this, he began to offer sacrifices to Yahweh. He got saved, as it were. So you just tell people the mighty deeds of God. Remember from where you have fallen, repent and do the deeds which you did at first. I am coming. Future indicative, I am coming. This is not a matter of subjectivity. This is not a matter of chance. Maybe it's gonna happen, maybe it's not. No, I am coming. And I will remove the lampstand out of its place. Unless, here's the seventh verb, you repent. Repent means change your mind. See where you're going, change your mind, and then change your actions. I will remove the lampstand out of its place. What's the lampstand? Revelation 1 tells us the lampstand is the church of Jesus. You see, Jesus is serious about the Great Commission. He says, going into all the nations, make disciples. Make disciples. That's the command. One command in the Great Commission, make disciples. And when the church does not do that, Jesus takes his ball home and he goes somewhere else. Now let me prove it to you. The first 700 years after Pentecost, The church was flourishing in the Middle East, what we call Palestine, Israel, Syria, those areas. What's the major religion now in the Middle East? Islam. The first 700 years after Pentecost, the church was flourishing in North Africa. One of our greatest theologians, Augustine, came from North Africa. What's the predominant religion today in North Africa? We just celebrated the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing those 95 theses on the castle church door in Wittenberg. I was there about a week before the 500th anniversary. I preached in the castle church there. We had an open air preaching time. We had a bunch of people walk around. We started preaching right there in the church. It was awesome. And that was a great movement of God. The Reformation, that was a revival. And I got to tell you, when I go to Europe now, it breaks my heart. The Muslim imams will tell you that within 30 to 40 years, and they're right, demographically, the Muslim religion will be the predominant religion in Europe. The reason for that is because Muslims have eight to 10 children generally, and the Europeans have two. It takes 2.5 children to maintain your culture. They're not maintaining their culture. I'm not saying, of course, that all Muslims are bad. They're not. Many of them are lovely people. But they're taking over. And it's because the church has failed to do what it's supposed to do. So why would that not happen here? It could happen here as well. See, Jesus, as I like to put it, plays hardball. Jesus says, Do what I called you to do. I called you to make disciples of all the nations, beginning right here in your backyard. Do it. If you don't do it, that's because you've left your first love. And if you've left your first love, then if you don't repent, I'm going to take it all away. Now, here's the great thing. While this is sad in Europe and America, God is doing a great work in other parts of the world. And the gates of hell will not stand against the church. Christ will prevail. Christ's church will prevail. The glory of the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. I go to India twice a year, 30,000 Hindus a day are becoming Christians. In two years, we've started 23 churches. And we have 47 more evangelistic preaching points going on. And these pastors make $150 a month. They're amazing, zealous. They're out there preaching, witnessing, street preaching, passing out gospel tracts hours every day. The same is going on in Africa. The same is going on in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world. And by the way, there's a great movement of God in West Africa and East Africa among the Muslims. Many are having visions of Jesus, and they ask, who is this Jesus? And they are given a Bible. They begin to read the Bible, and God begins to work in their lives. So God's doing a great work, but you know why it's not happening in the Western world? Because we're too sophisticated. You know, we don't think we really need Jesus. We have our money, we have our education, we have our technology, we don't really need anything else. That's where we are. So my question to you again is have you left your first love? And if you have, repent. So the intolerable burden, again, is an intense agony, grief, and alarm at the status quo, and are personalized but also in the church. I love the church, but the church in the Western world is woefully weak and impotent. There are some wonderful exceptions, of course, but the church is losing ground. The church is either unable or unwilling to be intentional about reaching the world. We are retreating, and there are very few evangelists, particularly in churches like ours, who are going out and evangelizing and witnessing. And I know Tony preaches on the street. George preaches on the street. Mark is a great evangelist, personal evangelist. Greg's doing that. I'm doing it. Tim's doing it. So we've got, there are some, but we need many, many more. I could go on and on about this, about the church, but I think you understand the church is weak and we, we, we've got to have a burden for the church of Jesus. It breaks my heart. to see pastors not willing to stand up and preach the hard truth. We also have to have this intense agony, grief, and alarm at the status quo in the world. Let me remind you, there are two types of people and there's two destinations. I don't care what your nationality is. Your ethnicity doesn't matter. Your money doesn't matter, your education doesn't matter, none of that matters. The Apostle Paul, who was clearly very enamored by all of those things at one point in time, says, I count all that but rubbish manure in order that I might gain Christ. He came to the point where he says, I don't know any man according to the flesh. 2 Corinthians 5, he said, now I used to know people according to the flesh. That used to mean something to me, but it doesn't mean anything at all now. He says, if anyone is in Christ, anyone is in Christ, doesn't matter your ethnicity, if anyone is in Christ, is a new creation, the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. The people I work with in India are the Dalits, D-A-L-I-T, Dalit. That's in Sanskrit, that means the broken ones. These are the outcasts of society. They're so far down the pecking order in the caste system, they're not even in the caste system. I can't, I don't know, they can look at you or they know by your name where you stand. All right. And they're never going to get out of it in that system. They're down on the, these are the ones that have the most menial jobs ever and they can never get out of it. And so when you come in, And we come in and we preach Jesus and we say that in Christ Jesus there's neither circumcised nor uncircumcised, nor barbarian, nor Scythian, nor slave, nor free, but we're all one in Christ Jesus. You talk about a liberating message. It's like I used to say to the people of our church in Connecticut, I said, now out in the world you might be a nobody. Or you might be a somebody. But when you come through the doors of the church, we're all equal, right? That's the beautiful message of the gospel. And so the world needs to understand that there's only two types of people. None of that matters. You're either a Christian or you're not. Now, we love all people, but you're either in Christ or you're not. Now, if you're in Christ, there's two destinations. If you're in Christ, When you die, you go to heaven. If you're not in Christ, you might be a good moral Presbyterian. I've often said hell's full of Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, Catholics, or whatever. If you're not in Christ, if you are a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, an unconverted Presbyterian, whatever the case might be, When you die, you're going to hell. That's what the scripture says. That's what Jesus said. Now, let me give you the positive. I have a friend that I led to the Lord years ago, and he's an elder at the Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, and he developed a brain tumor about two years ago. He was doing pretty well for a while, but then he got real bad. And in August, he was dying. I went to see him. And he's sort of in a coma, you know, trying to look. His eyes are closed. He's got his head tilted. His hands are down by his side. And we know the last thing to go is a hearing, right? So I looked at him and said, Ronnie, I said, you're about to go meet Jesus. I said, now here's what's going to happen to you. Your soul, the moment you die, your soul's going to be with Jesus. You will know where you are. You'll be very conscious. You'll see all the great saints of all the ages there. But your most important, you're going to be looking at Jesus. You're going to be looking at Jesus. And then I said, Ronnie, I know you know all this, but I just want to remind you, as wonderful as that is, that's not the end. It's going to get even better than that. Because Jesus is coming back one day. When he comes back, you're going to get a glorified body. And I said, now, Ronnie, behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment. In the twinkling of a night, the last trumpet, the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised imperishable, and ye shall be changed. For the perishable will put on the imperishable. And the mortal will put on immortality. And when the perishable will put on the imperishable, and mortal will put on immortality, then will come about this thing that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O grave, where is thy sting? The sting of death is sin. The power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, Ronnie, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor in the Lord is never in vain. In other words, what I said, I was speaking to him, O death, where is thy victory? O grave, where is thy sting? You know what Paul's doing there? Paul's trash-talking death. That's what he's doing. I'm quoting this passage from 1 Corinthians 15. There's Ronnie in his comatose state. He opens his eyes, his hands come up off the bed. Now, he was a Presbyterian elder, so his hands did not go over his head. But they did come up off the bed, all right? the next day he was with Jesus. You know, and I preached my uncle's funeral on Tuesday, you know, and he's a strong believer. I mean, it's just amazing stuff, right? It's glorious. This is the truth. But we need to remember, those people without Christ are on the road to destruction. It's a horrible thing to consider. It's real. Hell is real. The moment they die, their souls immediately go to hell. And as bad as that is, it gets worse than that. Those people in hell would give anything to remain in hell for another million years. As horrible as it is, They would love to stay in hell for a million years. Why do I say that? Because they dread that day. And what is that day? That day is the great white throne judgment. And I saw a great white throne, and him who sat upon it, from whose presence heaven and earth fled away. And I saw the dead, the small and the great, standing before the throne. And books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And each one was judged according to his deeds, according to the things that were written in the book. The sea gave up the dead which were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them. And each one was judged according to his deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. which burns with the brimstone. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Those in hell fear that day. That day is the second death. What's going to happen? When Christ comes back again, those who are His, who are in heaven, they'll receive those glorified bodies I was talking about in 1 Corinthians 15. And then each and every unbeliever will stand before the tribunal of Jesus. And he will judge them according to their thoughts. According to Romans chapter two, every careless thought will be judged according to my standard, Paul says, in Christ Jesus. So Jesus will say, okay, let's check individually, let's check out your thought line. Every thought you've ever had. People don't know what your thoughts are. Every thought you've ever had compared to the perfect standard of God's holy law. And then after Jesus judges their thoughts, then according to Matthew chapter 12, He will judge every careless word that comes out of their mouths. Everything they've said their entire life will be judged by the perfect law of God. Then after that, according to 2 Corinthians 5 and Revelation chapter 19, their deeds will be judged. Those things that they did which were contrary to God's law, and furthermore, those things they should have done that they did not do. Oh, they'll say, oh, I should have helped that poor person over there, and I did not do it. I should have given some money for that, and I did not do it. And then after all of that's taken place, according to Romans chapter 3, they will not be able to make an excuse. They cannot even open their mouths to defend themselves. They'll be speechless because they know they're guilty. Step back to the Christian for just a second. We're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and we're going to give an account of our deeds in the flesh, whether good or bad. And I got to tell you, that's a little daunting for me. How about you? I'm not where I need to be. So there's going to be some kind of judgment. That's not a judgment of hell. That's not even satisfied. Jesus took our death on the cross. Amen? But there's going to be some period of sadness or something. There's going to be some awareness that we didn't do all that we should have done, and then We're going to hear these amazing words. We're going to say, yeah, I spoke some things I shouldn't have said. Yeah, even as believers. And I thought some thoughts I shouldn't have thought. And there's things I did I shouldn't have done, things I should have done I did not do. As believers now, when we're unconverted in that state, they're all been forgiven. But there's things we've done. And after all of that, and we know we're not all that we ought to be, then he's going to say this. You ready for this? This is amazing. Then he's going to say, well done. good and faithful servant. Enter into your reward. At that moment, you will know without any doubt at all that your eternal salvation is completely the work of God. Amen. It's just amazing. And those People that have been in hell for a million years and would long to stay there for a million years, they will hear the words after they're judged that they knew were coming and they've dreaded them. They're the most horrific things of all. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, into the everlasting fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. And they will be cast into the lake of fire. And at that moment, they will know They're getting exactly what they deserve. Because you see in Romans 2, Paul says, Do you not know the kindness of God is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you were storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds. In other words, I always use Tom Brady as an example. Here's this good-looking NFL quarterback married to this model, won all these Super Bowls, millions and millions of dollars, flies around in his own private jet. I mean, this guy's got it going, right, from a human perspective. And I don't know anything about his life. I've never heard any indication that he's a Christian. Maybe he is, I've never heard that. But here's what ought to be happening. As he looks at his life, and he looks at all that he has, the kindness of God is meant to lead him to repentance. What he should do is he should say, wait a second. I've got this, I'm famous, I've got money, I've got a beautiful wife, I've got it all going. There must be a God out there, and because there's this God, I should bow down and I owe my allegiance to this God. That's what should happen, but Paul says, no, but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you're storing up for yourself wrath. The longer Tom Brady lives without Jesus Christ, When God has bestowed blessing after blessing after blessing on him, the longer he lives, the more God's wrath is being stored up. It's being stored up. It's like a big rain barrel in the rainy season in Africa that's dry, and then the water comes, the rains come, the water bucket begins to fill up, and eventually it just pours out. That's the picture here. He's storing up for himself wrath. If he does not repent, and because he has so much, his judgment will be terrible. Back in 1735, when Jonathan Edwards was preaching in Northampton, there was a teenage girl who was killed in an accident, maybe 13 or 14 years old. And at the funeral of this young girl, he was preaching to the teenagers. A lot of y'all are young people here. And he said, now, This death ought to cause you to think about your own condition. And you must repent. And if you're unwilling to repent, my prayer to God for you is that you would die at a young age. Why? Because the longer you live without Christ, the more your sins are mounting up against you, and the greater your judgment will be. So come to Christ, repent. And that's true of every one of us. And I would say that's true of all the young people or anybody here. Doesn't matter what your age is. But I bring this to our attention because this is true. Let me say one more thing about the glory of Christ. I want to encourage you with this. Those of us here who are true followers of Jesus, we've been justified by faith. We've been declared not guilty. It's all the grace of God, right? He looks at us and He sees us as righteous in Jesus. He's taken away the guilt and condemnation of our sin. He's given us His righteousness. We're clothed in that righteousness. We know that we're going to heaven when we die, not because of anything we've done, but because of His sheer mercy and grace. Amen. That's what He's done. Now having said that, we still battle sin. I bet you find yourself every Sunday in confession of sin, confessing the same old stuff time after time. I know I do. So what's going to happen to the justified believer, the person who's really in Christ, but who battles the sin? How about Romans chapter 7? Paul says, the very thing I want to do, I do not do, but I do the very evil I do not want. What I'm doing, what I do not want to do, it's not me doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find that the principle that evil is working in me, the one who wants to do good. I joyfully concur with the law of the inner man, but I see a different law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, making me a prisoner of the law of sin. Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And then right after that, you know, there were no chapter or verse divisions back then, right? Right after that, this is amazing to me, right after that, talking about him battling sin. By the way, my understanding of that is he's not talking about the unbeliever. He's not talking about the so-called carnal Christian. He's being realistic. I mean, this is where we are every day. After saying all that, then he says, there's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It's amazing, right? This gospel is glorious. But we battle sin every day. So watch this. When you die, here's what's going to happen, Christian. When you die, your body will be separated from your soul. Your soul will obediently be in the presence of Jesus. And according to Hebrews chapter 12, you'll see the general assembly, the church of the firstborn who enrolled in heaven, and God who judges all, and watch this, the spirits of righteous men made perfect. You're righteous in Jesus. You didn't get it on your own. He gave it to you. But you still have indwelling sin. The moment you close your eyes in death, you will be made perfect. No more sin. No more battling the flesh. No more battling the devil. None of that. It's all over. That's what the Christian has. But contrast that with those around us in this neighborhood, in your family and your friends who are not yet in Christ, my dear friends. The condemnation of God's hanging over them like the sword of Damocles. The only thing keeping them out of hell is the mere good pleasure of God. They could be swept away in a moment. That's the truth. I know you know that because you go to a Bible-preaching church. But I'm convinced many of us, practically speaking, really don't believe it. Somehow or another, we become universalists at the time somebody dies. Well, you know, I actually heard somebody say recently, well, you know, Hugh Hefner, you know, somebody, I think somebody said there was a Bible on his bedside table. No indication that he was a Christian, far from it. All that he did, his judgment must be severe. What I want you to see, we've got to have that intolerable burden. And without it, we will not pray. And without prayer, we will not have power. Without power, we'll not have the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, we'll not have conversion. Without conversion, we're not going to see revival. Without revival, What we're going to do is we're going to continue to go down, down, down, like Europe, like the Roman Empire, like all the empires before them. And one of these days, there will be hardly any semblance of Christianity at all, unless we repent. And listen, God can do a great work in this nation again. And as I said last night, he loves to use nobodies from nowhere. We qualify, right? Well, let's let's pray and then we'll take a break. All right. Lord, work in my life and the lives of each one here. Father, that we would that we would very clearly see and ask the question, have I left my first love? And Lord, if we have, the beautiful thing is if we surrender, if we admit it, if we repent, you will forgive. So Lord, renew us and strengthen us. And Lord, it's possible that somebody here today is not yet a Christian. Lord, show them just the beauty of Jesus. What a Savior. He took our death and his body on the cross that we might be reconciled to you, Father. It's amazing. He took hell for us. Nobody has to go to hell, nobody at all, if we'll repent and believe the gospel. Now, there's no other way. It's only Jesus. Only Jesus. He made that clear. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. No other way. It's Jesus. Jesus alone. Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Lord, hear our prayer. Do your work in each of us, Lord, whatever that is. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, amen. Let's take about a 15 minute break, and we're gonna get back together. And I think we have such a large group, I'm gonna split up into two groups. And Mark, I want you to take one group, okay, and lead in revival prayer, maybe you and Greg, because y'all have done this before. And so from right here over, all of y'all are gonna go, where should they go? It's another one. All right. At 1130, so from this part over, y'all go in that other room, and then when we come back the second time we pray, we'll switch groups, all right? You'll be in my group and so forth. The rest of us will stay in here and pray, okay? So take a break, and we'll be back at 1130.