If you will, turn your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2. We stayed up kind of late last night, searching through old outlines and sermon notes, and about 1 o'clock it seemed that the Lord said, if you'll put all that aside and listen, I'll give you what you need. And so I just stacked them all to the side, and I trust that I was listening right last night. I do want to talk to you this morning for just a few minutes about some things to remember in the days of revival. There's some things that help us down the road, and we need to remember what they are. And I find them listed here in Ephesians chapter 2, beginning with verse 1. And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, where in times past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince and the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love for which he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved, through faith that not of yourself, it is the gift of God. Not of works least any man should boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus under good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. As I thought about this message for this hour and the emphasis being upon revival, it seemed that the Lord just kind of drew me back to this familiar passage and said there's some things that we need to remember. You know, memory's a good thing when it's used properly. Memory can be a bad thing if we let the devil, the flesh, or the world control it. But when God is helping us to remember some things, it can be a glorious and blessed thing. And here's four things I see in these verses that I believe if we will remember, it'll help us or aid us in the matter of revival. The first thing is found in verses 1 through 3, and that is we need to remember where God found us. We should never get away from who we were and what we were when God found us. And in verses 1 through 3, he talks about who we were. We were dead in trespasses and in sin. We were walking according to the course of this wall. We were under satanic and demonic spirits that were working in us, and we were living after the lust of the flesh. Now that pretty well describes who we were. It helps me to understand that part of my life a little better, to realize that it wasn't just me, but there were some powers that were working upon me and within me. And being in that awful state, in that awful condition, produced a behavior that I don't think should be magnified or glorified by repeating it or trying to portray it. I think we can all relate to who we were and to what we were before he came to us and before he saved us. And there's nothing about it good. There's nothing about it grand. There's nothing about it glorious. And so therefore, the understanding of it will aid us and help us to move forward and realize that, yes, that's the way it was. And I understand why it was that way. And then move from that into some more verses in this same passage. God was raised the son of a Baptist preacher. I was made to go to church from a little boy until my dad passed away. I live fairly convinced of one thing, and that was that if my dad couldn't preach the devil out of me, he was gonna beat the devil out of me. He was a real strict disciplinarian. He had three boys and one girl. And he had his hands busy with the boys. I believe in discipline. And I understand now that I'm a dad and I'm a grandpa, that discipline is not as much fun as I thought it was when my dad was working on me. And I understand that really discipline is a heart of love desirous to help others and train and bring others along. And I see that life, and I realize that God put my dad there to try to combat these powers that was working in my life at a very early age. not only by the preaching of the gospel, but by that disciplinary action that he took so often. And I remember those days, and before I was saved, I wondered why Dad had to be so hard on me. But when I got saved and began to look back at my life, and what I was, and who I was, and the powers that were working on me, I thank God that he was hard on me. The devil had many sights, and he had purposed and determined that, if possible, he would drag me down to the lake of fire and hell forever and ever. But God had some other things in mind. We'll talk about that in a moment. I didn't understand the power of this flesh. Brother, I thought I could control it, but I can't do it, not even now. But in those days it ran rampant out of control. No restraint on it. Got me in a lot of trouble, got me in some messes is what we call it. I was dead in trespasses and sin, therefore when I went to church and heard my dad preach, I didn't get anything other than maybe some intellectual truths from what he said. Because I was dead, spiritually. I was dead as far as any spiritual abilities to comprehend or grasp or lay hold of spiritual truth. Just couldn't do it. Remember when it didn't make sense to you? We preach to people and what we're preaching don't make sense to them. And more than that, we preach something to them they can't believe, that they must believe. And that makes us dependent upon God to quicken and to open understanding and to give light and to give life that sinners might comprehend the gospel and the truth that we preach. But I remember where God found me. I was a farm boy. We raised chickens. Now that's a pretty good combination if you're the son of a Baptist preacher. You got that, didn't you? For it wasn't any trouble to have fried chicken around where I grew up. And at the age of 16, my dad got sick. went to the Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, and in a matter of just a few days, they sent us word that if a miracle didn't take place, or the doctors were able to discover what was wrong with him, that he would be dead, for his body was in a dying mode. And I remember one day, while my dad was in the hospital, we had to keep up the work on the farm. And I remember one evening it was my turn or chore to go to the corn crib and get some corn and take it over the hog pen. And we grew up rough. We had to kill our own hogs and cut our own country ham and all that stuff, rough. Fresh taters and taters, maters. Grew up rough on the farm. Corn on the cob, homemade biscuits. It's rough. But I remember that evening as I made the journey from the corn crib that was over near the barn over to the pig pen. And I was walking along, I was thinking about the fact that my daddy was gonna die if they didn't find a cure, if there wasn't a miracle performed. And I stopped, and I just kind of looked up into heaven, and I didn't know God, and I didn't understand God, but I said, God, if you let my daddy die, men, you're through forever. That's where I was. And then when my dad died, I set out to honor that commitment that I made. and be done with God forever. The only reason I went to church was to get a date, keep up the appearance. People thought a lot of my dad, people thought a lot of me. If they knew how I was living, what I was doing, they wouldn't think much of me for sure. And so I happened to be the president of the young people's science school class. and could get up and say words and call it prayer on Sunday morning before the young people's Sunday school class. I remember well this morning where God found me, wrapped up in religion, with an evil and a wicked heart, with a devil and a flesh in the world, controlling my life. So I understand what makes people act the way they act. It's because of the power that has laid hold of their lives. But I want you to notice something else here in verse 4. One of the biggest little words in the Bible. But God And I think if we're going to move in the direction of revival, we not only need to remember where we were and where God found us, but we need to remember what God has done for us. And here in these verses it says, but God who is rich in mercy, Why didn't God take me at my word when I looked up into heaven and said, God, if you let my daddy die, I'm in you through forever. Why didn't God stamp her down and say, okay, if that's the way you want it, that's the way you can have it. Why didn't God do it that way? Mercy. Mercy. I'm glad this morning that God doesn't give me what I deserve. He doesn't give me what I ask for sometimes. He just gives me mercy. And mercy is a reflection of the character of God. And He said it was rich mercy. And I think that word rich means to have an abundance of. And God has an abundance of mercy whereby He deals with His people. And I think it's helpful to us to remember what God has done for us and we start on the basis of mercy. It's not what I deserve, but it's God doing for me what I don't deserve. Brother Frank McGuire used to say, it's God holding on for me what I deserve. That's mercy. and that grace was God giving me what I don't deserve. And I remember well this morning what God has done for this poor country boy. He was merciful to him. I thank God for his mercy this morning. Without it, I'd be down in the flames of hell, in the regions of the dam, with walls forever, but God was merciful. I never did anything to earn the mercy of God. If I had, it wouldn't be mercy. But God was pleased. I don't know why he was, I just know that he was. Pleased to be merciful to me. And then this same verse, it not only talks about a God of rich mercy, but it talks about a God of great love. He was brought up in a family that didn't show or express love too easily. About the best we could do was do something for each other or buy a nice Christmas present for each other. And that was our way of trying to show or express love. But I'm glad that God shows and expresses love in Christ Jesus. God displayed His love. When I was lost, I didn't understand that. I didn't comprehend just any of it at all. But I want to tell you, when God quickened me and saved me, and I began to experience the love of God, I began to grasp just a little bit of it, what it was to be loved by God. And God, the Bible says, loved us, and therefore we love Him. The Bible teaches us in Romans 5-5 that God shed His love abroad in our hearts. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. I have an illustration that I love to use to illustrate that picture of the love of God being shed abroad in our hearts, and it's like pouring syrup over pancakes. Of course, you can tell I like pancakes, and I like the syrup. But you know, the longer I live, the more God just keeps pouring it on. Sometimes He pours on a little. Sometimes He pours on a lot. Sometimes He saturates it and soaks it in. I'm just glad for the way that God does it. Because He gives me what I need when I need it. And if I need a heavy dose, God pours it on. And if things are going wrong, God just wants to send a reminder, He pours a little on. But I'm glad God's a God of great love. How can we explain it? How can we ever try to, with these human lips and a human mind, tell the greatness of God's love? It's beyond our ability. But I'm glad this morning that God's not so much concerned about our ability to tell about it, as He is our relationship to Him to experience it. And I'm glad God wants me to experience His love. I think we ought to be reminded and we ought to remember some of the things that God has done for us. He chose us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world in chapter 1. Great mystery, but a great truth. A great God. And when I was that little barefooted boy running down there, running around down there at the hog pen, and saying, God, I don't want to have anything else to do with you. God was saying, you don't understand. You've been chosen before the foundation of the world. And a little bit further down the road, it all makes sense to you. And it was a good day when I found out that God had chose me. I went to a little country school, it was about 12 or 13 of us in my class, and there was an odd number of boys. Yeah, you heard that right, we were an odd bunch of little boys. No, but that was an odd man, you know, two, two, two, and one. And you're looking at him, And when it come time to choose up the ball team, everybody chose everybody else. They said, ah, you can have Russell. We don't want him. He can't hit, he can't pitch, he can't throw, he can't catch, he can't play ball. We don't want him. There's a good day when I found out God wanted me. He chose me. On purpose? And in particular? And He said, nobody else may not want you, but I want you for my own. And I get to thinking about God choosing me and God ordering my life and my being and how that relates to His eternal purpose and His eternal plan. When I begin to remember those things, boy, I get to stir it down in my heart. I get kind of revived. God redeemed me, washed me in the blood of Calvary's flow. Done some things that probably if people knew about, they'd never forgive me, but I'm glad God forgives. I'm glad that When He adopted me into His family, He washed me in His blood, saved me by His grace, that He indwelled me by the person of the Spirit of God, and I'm glad I've got a comforter living and abiding within. I'm never alone. Ride down the road sometimes, and we've got some of these Christian stations, And I try to listen to them, and once in a while you'll find something that kind of helps you, but a lot of time I find stuff that depresses me and discourages me. And I just reach over and turn it off. I've got somebody better riding with me. This morning about one o'clock and two o'clock, there was somebody better. He was there. I'm saying we need to remember some of the things that God's done for us. And when I think of what God's done for me, I think of some of the things he's brought me through. Well, I've been through a lot. If you live to be 55 years old, you'll be brought through a lot. We go through it, especially as preachers. But I'm glad that it's that, that he's brought me through. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord's gonna deliver us out of them all. And God's brought me through some spiritual battles. I'm pastoring my fourth church. Two out of those four decided they didn't want me any longer as their pastor and their preacher. Those were hard days and sad days, but God had a purpose and a reason for that. But he's brought me through it. There was times the load got so heavy I thought they would literally crush me. I remember sitting on the side of the bed and wringing my hands and asking God, why? And God never did answer. He don't tell me everything he knows, he just tells me what I need to know. But I've been pastoring the church where I'm at for 18 years, and we had some battles there, but God brought us through. had spiritual battles, real devil to deal with. Flesh, if it's not my flesh, somebody else's flesh have to deal with. The world just keeps pushing and pushing and pulling and pulling and I see some of my young people now, the world is laying a hold and a luring and I see them being drawn and I try to preach and I try to warn them. Spiritual battles, physical battles. Physical battles. You're looking at a man that's had a nervous breakdown and a subarachnoid bleed in the brain. You say, Preacher, that's a miracle. I kind of feel that way too. What that subarachnoid bleed in the brain is is an explosion in the head. And I tell people, please don't blow your top. It's not worth it. I've been there and done that. 21 days in the hospital. About two months after that before I could get back to the pulpit. I want to tell you when you have major health problems, it makes you different. The world in which you live different. Other people around you are different and God is a different God to you. But God's brought me through. On a Saturday morning when I had the explosion that they had, I woke up and I was paralyzed from the waist down. Couldn't move my legs to get out of bed. They're working pretty good. God brought me through. I had a doctor come by the room one day, and you know how these doctors, they just shoot in there and shoot out. He said, how you doing? I said, well, Dr. Deaton, one of the other doctors said I was out of danger. He said, well, praise the Lord, and was gone. And I wanted to say, come back here, wait a minute. And I didn't get a chance to talk to that doctor until he was the one that discharged me from the hospital. And I said, look, you come by my room a few days ago and you said praise the Lord and shot out of here before I could talk to you. I said, most people don't praise him unless they know him. Do you know him? I don't know whether he knew I was a preacher or not. And he said, yes, I do. And he said, let me tell you something. He said, God's been good to you. He said, you don't have a hole in the back of your head. They had a drill standing by, and if my head started to swell, he's gonna take that drill and drill a hole back there, so relieve that pressure. He said, there's not a stitch in your skull. He said, you're going out of here a whole, complete person. He said, God's been good to you. I will say this morning that God brings us through. financial battles. I'll hasten on, but you've been there, I've been there. I was between churches and I'd had my girls in a Christian school and hadn't saved up a lot of money. And one day I was riding up the road in the truck and I was thinking about the finances when I was between churches and I said, God, I don't know what I'm gonna do. And God said, do you believe I can take care of you? He didn't say it to these ears here, but he said it to the ears down here. And right quick, sometimes I get in a hurry, I said, God, I believe you can do anything. And he said, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's not what I'm asking you. And he said it again, down in my soul. Son, do you really believe I can take care of you? I said, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. And after, Took the church where I'm pastoring now, I sat down one day, and I looked and every bill had been paid. And I had the same amount of money in my checking account as I had when I left the church before. I didn't like for anything. God can take care of your financial needs, folks. God's done some great things for us. I think in the days of revival, our focus needs to be on God and who He is and what He's done. And revival will be on the way possibly. Let me just hasten and say not only has He brought us through some things and we're to glorify Him for what He's done, but I kind of like what He's doing in the here and now. I don't have a lot of complaints this morning. I mean, there's some things that takes me by surprise, and God does some things differently sometimes than I think he ought to do them. But once God kind of teaches me and gets me adjusted and helps me to understand, I don't complain too much about the way God does things. I kind of like the way God does it. I mean, in the here and now. Just to think that I stand here this morning, a sinner saved by grace for the purpose of glorifying God, that's the purpose of my life and your life as a child of God, is to glorify him. I stand here not only to glorify God but to magnify the Lord Jesus and who he is and what he's done. I stand here as an instrument of God to try to edify the saints and build them up. That's big business. I like that. I stand here as an instrument of God to be used of God in the reaching of the lost. And don't tell me that's not big business. God has a plan. God has a way of doing things and God included me in on the plan and included me in on the way. And I like it. I like it. And it helps me just every once in a while to say, God, I don't understand and I don't see, but thank you for what you're doing in my life right now. You say, well, Preacher, if you knew what God's doing in my life right now, you might not be able to say that. I've been there. I'm one of the biggest whiners you've ever seen. But I mean, even in the here and now, God works it out. God knows how. I must trust him. I must rely upon him. And when I do, oh, it gets grand and glorious. I was reading or listening, you know, we're bookworms and tapeworms now. And I think I might have been listening. No, this was in a book. And the man was writing about the battle that we have in our thinking, and why sometimes it takes the wrong turn and heads down the wrong road. And he said, if we understand that that is sin and deal with it as a sin issue, we'll get some help. But he said, most of the time our mind takes that turn and our thinking takes that turn when our mind is not fixed and focused on God. And I said, well, I've always believed that, but that's what I needed to hear somebody else say to help me. And boy, sometimes my mind, don't y'all look at me so strange, but in my mind I have battles. I think sometimes the devil just comes and attacks the mind. And there's such a battle that rages. But you don't like God. He just kind of moves on the scene. He says, now relax. Just kind of hold on here. Don't get too excited. God gives peace, comfort. I mean, I like what God does now. I've got no complaints with God. You know, I'm grateful unto God that he does not show us ahead of time what we're headed for. All you and I have is right now. Because that Saturday morning when it blew, it blew that quick. And every doctor that talked to me said that most of the time when that happens, people die immediately. And I know better than to assume on God that I'm gonna have him tomorrow or next week. All I've got is here now. And so why not enjoy him now? Why not please him now? Why not obey him now? You see, and then the last thing, we ought to remember what God's gonna do in the future. I'm glad God's got some future plans for me. You say, Preacher, what are they? I have no idea. I got a little bit of an idea. But God's got some future plans, or he would have took me out of here 10 years ago. I mean, come close. And if God had been through with me, he would have took me out. But he left me here. And I say, God, you left me here for a reason. You left me here for a purpose. Now help me to zero in on it and get at it. You see? And you're here for a purpose. You're here for a reason. And ask God to show you as much of it as you need to know. And zoom all in on it and get at it. Get at it. God's got some good things, blessed things, glorious things planned for us in our future. And I'm not just talking about that, yonder, when we get to glory and when we get to heaven. There's some things down here in the here and now that God has planned. What if I live in that world sometime? Out of this meeting God poured out his mighty spirit and revival began to feed back out yonder in the church. You say, Preacher, you believe that can happen? Sure I believe that can happen. That's my hope. That's my desire. That somewhere across all land God, pour out His Spirit upon a small group of people like this and send them out shunned and let it spread and call our nation back to God and the church of the Lord Jesus experience a Godship, Holy Ghost revival. That's my hope. That's what I'm living for. That's the reason I face another day and a new day. I believe God is able to do it. And it helps me to remember that God's got some great things planned for me in the future. You say, how do you know that? Because when that little lost country boy was running around down there in the pig pen in his bare feet, God had some good things planned and fixed up for me, and I don't think they're over yet. I'm talking about remembering some things that'll help us in the area of revival. I thank God that he bears witness to what he gives you. And I want to close by thanking this young lady for obeying God in the testimony this morning. Because out of what she said, she was remembering some things. She was focused on God and what he was doing for her. And she was just kind of glancing at you and what God could do and would do and is doing. for and it got so full. Folks, that's where we need to get. We need to get to remembering where we were and what God's done for us and what God's got in store for us until we get so full we can't contain it any longer and we have to bear witness of it and testimony of it to the world around about us. Remember, remember, God bless you.