this morning the youth choir is going to come and sing and we're thankful for the work that they do on Sundays preparing and I'm glad to have them participate today. Father, lead me day by day, Ever in my loving way, When I'm lying to rest, When I'm tempted to do more, make His efforts bright and sure. And when all alone I stand, ♪ Help me with my mighty love ♪ ♪ When stars travel on the sea ♪ ♪ Help me to deliver thee ♪ ♪ Help me close the vaulted door ♪ ♪ Ever loves me so ♪ ♪ May I do the good I know ♪ ♪ Be my mother, child we know ♪ ♪ When I pass to home to thee ♪ ♪ Evermore I shall to thee be true ♪ Amen. All right, thank you. Young people, I appreciate your ministry and music this morning. All right, we'll dismiss the young, young people to go to class with Mrs. Schor. All right, six, five, four, three, two, and one. And the rest of us, please open up our Bibles again to Isaiah chapter 41 and verses 17 through 20. or if you have the Church Bible, again, it's page 761. 761 in the Church Bible. What you're going to hear this morning, if you've attended our church for a while, it's a message that you've heard before. As I was praying about what God would have me preach, I had time this week. It's actually one of the first weeks of the summer time that hasn't been extremely busy week and so I had plenty of time to study this past week and I was praying about what God would have me to preach and God brought me again across these verses in Isaiah 41 and I thought I thought about this message. It's a message that is very familiar to me. It's a message that God has challenged my heart with. I don't always remember things that I've preached on, but this text and the way it has revival truth in it has just stayed with me. And so anyway, I looked in my folder of my favorite sermons and it wasn't there. And I thought, oh, you know, I guess, you know, I don't have that. I don't have it on the computer that I currently have because I wrote it on a different computer. And so I didn't have access to that. And then I thought, well, it might be in a different folder. And I looked, and it was. And I picked it up. And just in looking at it and praying about it, I'm confident it's what God wants me to share this morning. And it would be my desire that God would use it, as we've already considered, to stir our hearts about revival. We need to see a spiritual awakening. The last spiritual awakening that took place in Scotland of any significance was in the 1950s on the Isle of Lewis. And it was a preacher that God used by the name of Duncan Campbell. And this message actually refers often to that story, and I'll share quite a bit about that story. It may be familiar to you, it may not be familiar to you. But before that, if you trace the spiritual history in Scotland, in the 1920s, there was a revival that took place. There's a book entitled The Forgotten Revival, and it took place as a preacher God raised up down in England was preaching, and the Scottish fishermen were impacted by it. As they followed the fish down along the coast, they were impacted by it. They got saved. They came back to Scotland, and as they came into Eyemouth Harbor, one of the ways that the people on the beach knew that something had happened as they came into that harbor, they were singing hymns. A great preacher, Jock Troop, that pastored, I think it's called, something like the Glasgow Tent Hall or something like that, He became a great preacher that God used, but he was a fisherman that got saved in that awakening back in the 1920s. Before that, in about the 1870s, somewhere in there, God brought D.L. Moody from the United States here with Iris Sankey. And D.L. Moody and his ministry was mightily used by God. A lot of ministries came out of that. A lot of Christian organizations, including the Faith Mission, were a part of that as Govan got saved through those meetings, or got impacted by those meetings, I can't remember which, over in Glasgow. And God put on his heart to send evangelists out to every community. And he called them pilgrims, and the faith mission was part of that. The revival that took place in the 1950s was part of that, because Duncan Campbell worked at the faith mission, was the president of the faith mission. And you can go like that through Scottish history and you can see seasons of spiritual awakening. 1840s, the free Church of Scotland came out of the Church of Scotland. You got guys like Robert Murray McShane and William Burns. William Burns was preaching at McShane's church in the early 1840s. and God sent revival in McShane's absence. And then William Burns was mightily used to the Lord in Scotland. He later then went to China and had a huge impact on Hudson Taylor, arguably one of the greatest missionaries ever, and what God did there. And so you can just step back in Scottish history and see awakening, awakening, awakening. But now since the 1950s, There has not been a significant spiritual awakening of any significance. You could argue, or not argue, but you could look at different things that have impacted the spiritual well-being of this nation. In the late 1800s, liberalism crept in to the schools in Scotland and started undermining the truth of the word of God and saying things like, the Bible is through men, and so it's not to be trusted. The miracles didn't really happen, or it's just figurative instead of literal, the Word of God. It undermined the authority of the Word of God. And the same thing was happening consecutively down in the Anglican Church down in England. I'm reading a biography right now about those days and the deadness that was creeping in in those days through liberalism. In the 1970s, I've read I'm trying to think of it. Edinburgh City Mission or something had an article that I read that spoke about in the 1970s, new age things came in, and spiritism. and how that has impacted, certainly we see in Edinburgh, paganism. As far as the spiritual battle in this nation, you look at this country and think, it's a little nation, but it has had a huge impact for God. It's also been a God-blessed nation that has invented many things that modern society benefits from, but it was a strongly Christian nation. But at the same time as you look at that, you see on the other side powerhouses For the enemy that have come from here, most notably that I'm aware of is Charles Darwin spent a year studying at Edinburgh University. Evolution has a lot of roots right here in this area. You could walk up Arthur's Seat and there's a monument to some geological piece of Arthur's Seat that's very significant to the theory of evolution. And so why? I don't know. But this country has had And this area in particular has had a huge impact for God and has been blessed of God. There's very few places where I could say what I've said here before probably, but that is that within just miles of this place, you've got names like John Knox, Thomas Chalmers, McShane, the Bonner brothers. You've got Mary Slessor spending some time here before she went to the Calabar. You've got David Livingston, not far away. Robert Moffett, born not far away. I mean, it's just household names of people that God has used in the past, but we look around at Scotland now, and it's disheartening, isn't it? I mean, it's discouraging to look at where this nation is. in his hard, hard unbelief. The guy I witnessed to last night, I spoke about him a bit this morning, he's an atheist, but his name is Mark, and another name he has is Dan. And I speak to atheists all the time, and I say, you know what, you probably know a lot of Davids, you know a lot of Pauls, you know a lot of Johns, you know, why? Because this nation in the past was a Christian nation, strongly so. and so sadly turned away from God. So what do we need? Well, what we need is what the Bible speaks about. We need the power of the Holy Spirit. And we need God to fill us, and we need God to use us, and we need God to supernaturally work in the hearts and minds of men. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. There is a, There's a great hindrance to man's ability to perceive truth without the enlightenment and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. We need the Spirit of God to awaken men's hearts. Jonathan Goforth, in his ministry in China, he was with the China Inland Mission, again started by Hudson Taylor. His wife wrote a biography about her husband entitled, By My Spirit. And it said, Jonathan Gopher looked at his life, looked at his ministry, thought, my ministry has been ineffective. I'm not seeing that much accomplished for God. At the same time, the Welsh revival was taking place. And as that took place in 1904 to 1906, Jonathan Gopher was impacted by that in Korea. That revival was a national revival. I'm going to be in Wales next month. Our family has a holiday. I hope to see some of the sites touched by the Welsh revival. But it was a remarkable spiritual awakening that was reported on throughout the world. And Jonathan Goforth was impacted by that, but specifically he was impacted by the verse, it says, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. Jonathan Goforth got burdened about that, seeking God's power, and God began to use Jonathan Goforth in a very significant and powerful way, and God did that to God's glory. James O'Fraser, also in China, ministering to the Lisu people, kind of a mountainous people that were very steeped in Satanism and ancestor worship, and very burdened to reach these people. He wrote back to people in the UK, I think England, saying, please pray with me about this. I need the power of God, I need the spirit of God to awaken these people's hearts, asking that God would give them I think 100 converts. God did so much more than that as God sent an awakening. But I just wonder in our hearts today if we're not just content a little bit just to go to church. And that's the way it is. Go to church, sit down, listen to the word of God, and get up, leave, come back, sit down, listen to the word of God, and there's not in our hearts anything that cries out and says, God, isn't there something more? Isn't there a greater blessing? The Holy Spirit was absolutely necessary to the ministry of the early church. As Jesus gave his disciples instruction for three years as he taught them, instructed them, He said to them as he departed, he said, tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. And we know the story, it's Pentecost and they're gathered there and the Holy Spirit comes in power and it was evident. They spoke in the tongues of people whose languages they did not know as they preached the power of God through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and thousands of people were converted. But those same men afterwards, as the persecution started, they were persecuted. They went back, reported the persecution that's taking place. Peter and John, as they're beaten by the Sanhedrin, they come back and they said, we need boldness. And they got on their knees and they sought God and said, God, we need boldness to stand up to this persecution. And as they prayed, the place was shaken. And again, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. That's what we need. I mean, we can't read that in, our Bible in the book of Acts and look at that and say, well, that was then, this is now. Understandably, that was the birth of the church, and yes, some signs and wonders have ceased, and yet, there ought to be in our hearts an understanding we need spiritual power. It has to be God. and for without him we're nothing. Psalm 63, King David, this Old Testament, but dealing with the same, similar reality of a desire for God's power. He said this, O God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. What's he saying? He's saying spiritually, I'm in a wilderness. He physically probably is as well, if this is the time where he's fleeing from King Saul, or he's fleeing from Absalom, a time in the wilderness wandering. And David would often look around and use things that he could see to express things spiritually. And he's saying, my soul is in a wilderness experience, and I am longing for you like longing for water. My soul thirsteth for thee. To what? Verse two. To see thy power and thy glory, so as I've seen thee in the sanctuary. David had seen the power of God. He'd seen the glory of God, and there was in his heart a thirst to say to God, God, do it again. It's revival. It's that quickening of the spirit of God that is needed. And David cried out for it, just like this picture of water describing this wilderness. And that is our text. this morning, the message this morning is spiritual refreshment for the thirsty soul. Is your soul thirsting for God? Say, are we just content with the status quo, you know, and this is okay, this is enough of God for me, or is there in our hearts today a desire for God and a great desire to see God work? Let's pray. And let's ask the Spirit of God to speak to our hearts this morning as we come to Isaiah chapter 41. Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit would give us wisdom, give us guidance this morning. Father, I pray that our ears would be attentive. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. I pray that we'd hear this morning. Father, I know I need revival. I pray, knowing we need revival, Lord, we need to be quickened by your spirit. Father, we've got the great privilege this week of having evangelistic meetings with evangelist John Van Gelderen. Father, we get the extra opportunity of seeking God. And Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit of God would bless these meetings. Father, I pray for our speaker. I pray, Lord, that you'd endue him with power from on high. Father, I pray that you'd anoint him with the Holy Ghost. Father, I pray that he'd speak as the oracles of God. I pray that our hearts would not miss the precious truth that's shared. I pray the Word of God would have free course. And Father, we pray that for today as well. I pray the Spirit of God would guide my lips, guide my mind. And guard me as I declare the truth of the Word of God, I pray, knowing, Father, I can't speak without His enablement, and, Father, desiring very much that You'd use Your Word today to stir us up for what You desire to do in the days ahead. And so, Lord, we commit this message to You, ask for Your full blessing. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. All right, Isaiah 41, 17 through 20. We'll start at the beginning with the conditions for this refreshment that God desires to give. The conditions. They have nothing with which to purchase spiritual water. Okay, it starts out this morning, when the poor and needy seek water and there is none and their tongue faileth for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. When the poor, the poor. It's like a beggar. You see these people that are sitting on the street. Some are fake. It's hard today to discern whether somebody has a legitimate need or not, unless you know something of their circumstances. I see the career beggars down in Edinburgh as I do my flyers. They're the same people, same spot every year. That is what they do. But anyway, somebody that is legitimately poor, They can't afford things that they really need. I mean, they can sit outside, and as this one man does, he's actually rich, I talked to him, and one morning he was really disappointed because in the last two hours he'd only made 20 pounds. But he's sitting outside the ball moral. You might look in that window and see that restaurant that they have there in the Balmoral down on Princess Street, and see all those fine foods and all those things. And if it's somebody that's really in need as they're sitting out there, they see something that they long for, they desire it greatly, but they have no resource to stick their hand in their pocket and to pay for it. Now some wealthy people could come in, they could pay for it, no problem. But they can't because they're poor. God says like that, there's a spiritual realization that we need to have when we come to God is that I don't have anything with which to purchase that which I need. When you got saved, you had to understand that it's not my goodness. I can't come to God and say, God, I wanna purchase my salvation because I've been so very good, and I've done so many good things, and I just know that you're gonna accept me, and so I'm gonna purchase my salvation. Somebody like that, it's like the Pharisee that cries out to God and says, God, I'm so thankful, I have no need of you because I'm fine by myself. But in reality, they're poor. In reality, they don't get the gift, they won't get the gift, they can't get the gift because the gift cannot be earned. There's nobody today that is going to stand before God and say to God, as God says to them, why should I let you into my heaven? To say to Him, well, I've been so very good, you must let me in. And so what? At some point in our lives, if we're saved today, we understood that we don't have anything with which to purchase salvation. that I couldn't put my hand in my pocket and say, well, God, I'm gonna buy my salvation with my goodness. I'm gonna buy my salvation with my heritage. I'm gonna buy my salvation with my religiousness, my church attendance, my baptism, my christening, my things. We had to understand I've got nothing with which to purchase salvation from God. That's how we got saved. When it comes to this truth about the Holy Spirit, we can't purchase it. The Bible tells about a man named Simon, Acts chapter eight, when the apostles came and the Spirit of God was given to those that got saved, through the laying on the apostles' hands, he said, let me give you money that I can purchase that gift as well. And the disciples said to him, thy money perish with thee, thy heart is not right to think that you can purchase the gift of God with money. Today, as we talk about what we need, listen, we need revival. But we gotta understand, even as we come into this week, that it's not, Can I say this? It's not even our prayer life. It's not our righteousness. It's not the fact that we've got an evangelist coming. It's not the fact that we have a really good schedule that we've kept in obedience to God and that we've accomplished a lot of things for God and so we can even say to God, God, we deserve this because God, look what we've done. There's nothing like that today. That we could stand before God and say, God, we deserve revival. All we can do is stand before God and say, God, we're so very poor. There's nothing that is in my hand today that I could lift up to you and say, God, well, we'll take revival. Listen, it's not there. We need to pray more. We need to be more righteous. We need to be more evangelistic. But in reality, as we come before God, even those things, we can't offer to God and say, God, there is any reason that we deserve it. Do we understand this morning our poverty? And really, what's that do for us? It gives us a great sense of dependence. so that we're crying out to God and saying, God, it's all you, it's all your mercy. Listen, if God does something supernatural this week, I hope in your heart you're just crying out to God and saying, God, do that this week. God, do something special this week. And I said earlier, don't miss that service where the Spirit of God does something remarkable that is supernatural, that is gonna be something that for years we're gonna look back at and say, remember that service when the Spirit of God so worked in the hearts of men? But to understand that for that to take place, it's gonna be the generosity and the mercy of a loving God, because we've got nothing to offer to him of any value. And so in our hearts, there ought to be that sense of, God, we're just coming in this week dependent upon you. Lord, it's not because of us what we desire to see you do. So they have nothing with which to purchase spiritual water. The lack of spiritual water is a problem. It says when the poor and needy. You ever notice that water's not a perk? It's not a, you know, a luxury? Water's essential. In California this past year, they had water rationing. They're talking about limiting the water that any household could use to 40 gallons per person, all right, or something like that. Cape Town, South Africa, they're talking about turning the taps off, right? Because they're in such a drought. We had here in England, northern England, the hosepipe ban. I don't know if that went into effect or not. We've gotten a lot of rain since then. But what is it? It's guarding this natural resource that is essential to life, but it's not a luxury. It's not a luxury. And so even as we look at The water that the Bible is speaking about, the water of the Holy Spirit, as we're speaking about it, it's not a luxury. We're not coming to God and saying, well, I mean, this would be really beneficial. This would be something extreme and something really nice. We're coming to God asking God for essentials. We're asking God for something that is absolutely necessary. In Dundee, there's a boat called the Discovery. And they've redone the waterfront area of Dundee. And I've not been there since a lot of the work's been done. But that waterfront museum that they have where the discovery is, it's a very nice museum. And we enjoyed, when Kirk and Kerry lived there, going and touring that. And before you get on the boat, You're walking through the museum, and it's lovely the way they've laid it out with ship stores and things like that. And you're walking through, and there's a list of things that they had for the journey, and we were surprised how much chocolate, you know, was on this list, and how many other things they had to take on this boat to go up into the Antarctic on this expedition. Ernest Shackleton was one of the famous explorers that was on this boat, and men like that. But anyway, As you read the list, another thing it said is they took so many stores of water. And they'd also take ice, and they'd chop ice and break ice, and they would melt that for water. And they had a way, even back then, of somehow taking the salt out of the water and getting drinking water. But if you were the ship's officer in charge of supplies, and I came to you, and I said, you know, what are you laying aside for the journey? And you're talking about everything, and you never mention water. And I bring it up, and I say, hey, how about some water? And you go, I don't think that's a big deal. If you're the ship's supply officer, then my hope is that you're, I'm gonna go to the captain, talk to the captain and say, ship's supply officer doesn't really think water's important. What do you think about that? And hopefully the captain's gonna agree with me and that ship's officer is gonna be done overseeing the provisions for the journey because water is essential to the life of every man on that vessel if they don't have it. Let me ask you this. If you're the only person in your church that is providing for the supplies for your church. How essential is water to you? How is, you know, I'm preaching this message this morning, and I think you'll see it as we go along, that the water is the Holy Spirit, it's a person of God. How essential is that to you? How necessary is that to you? Are you content with good doctrine? Are you content with good standards? Are you content with good music? Or do you look at it and say, you know what? What we really need, pastor, is the power of God. And to say to God, God, we are needy. It's not an extra. It's that we've got to have your power. When the poor and needy, then third, these people are actively seeking spiritual water. When the poor and needy seek water, they're seeking. They're not content to just sit by and go, oh, we don't have water. They're not content just to know about it and say, well, that is a problem. It's that they're actively seeking to do something about it, that they're seeking after that water. Prayer is gonna be a part of this. I'm gonna take prayer into a later truth that we look at. But you know, what would be a basic way for us to prepare for God to work? Wouldn't it be a good idea for us to examine ourselves? And before God, we read this morning, if you're here in the Sunday school hour, we read Psalm 15. Who shall dwell in thy holy place, in thy tabernacle? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Okay, it's actually, it's gonna come back into our text coming up actually right now in a different psalm, in Psalm 24. But we read a psalm like that. It's the idea of God, we desire to work, sanctify ourselves. Sanctify, set apart things that are questionable. Set aside things that hinder. Joshua's first orders to the children of Israel, as he got ready for his first day of ministry, is he's going to lead the children of Israel across the Jordan River. And as he became the leader of the children of Israel, in Joshua 3, verse 5, Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. See, if God was gonna come down, the Spirit of God is God, and God's gonna come down in power in our congregation, the Spirit of God's gonna be here. You know what, we oughta look at our lives and say, is there anything in my life that would grieve or quench the Spirit of God? By the way, the Bible speaks about, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. I've thought about this with regard to revival. We're asking God's spirit to come in power. Where do we know biblically that he comes from? According to the word of God, one way is out of the life of somebody that is a vessel that is purified, right? And so today, we can look at it and say, you know what, I really desire God to work. Listen. A basic way to prepare for that is to say, God, I'm just going to deal with sin in my life. I'm just going to make sure that my heart is right with you, that the words of my mouth, the meditations of my heart, God, are acceptable in thy sight. I mentioned the revival that took place on the Isle of Lewis and Duncan Campbell and the Bar and Prayer meeting, and I just referred to Psalm 15, but they referred to Psalm 24. They're praying in that barn. And one young night, a young deacon arose and began reading from Psalm 24. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord in righteousness, from the God of his salvation. Closing his Bible, he addressed the minister and other office bearers in words that sound crude in English, but not so crude in our Gaelic language. It seems to me so much humbug to be waiting as we are waiting to be praying as we are praying when we ourselves are not rightly related to God. Then he lifted his hands toward heaven and prayed, oh God, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure? Then he went to his knees and fell into a trance. Now don't ask me to explain the physical manifestations of this movement because I can't, but this I do know that something happened in the barn at that moment in that young deacon. There was a power loose that shook the heavens and awareness of God gripped those gathered together. And you read about that and say, well, I don't know about that. That sounds kind of mystical. But it's actually pretty remarkable because the history attests to what God did on that island. I asked the Lord, as we went to the Isle of Skye, I asked the Lord that I can meet somebody that was impacted by the revival that took place on the Isle of Lewis. Skye, of course, is right next to Harris and Lewis, the next isle closer to the mainland. And we went to a church, and the lady in front of me was an elderly lady, and as she turned around, I said we were staying in Oueg. And she said, I grew up in Uig. And I asked her what I was wanting to ask. I said, do you know anybody that was impacted by the awakening that took place on the Isle of Lewis? And she said, I was. She said, Revival actually came to Uig as well, and she got saved there. I mean, she was just sharing what God did. God did a remarkable thing. But this prayer meeting is key. And some of what we talk about today may be repeated this week. This is something with which Evangelist John Van Gelderen is very familiar, much more knowledgeable than I am as far as what God did. But something remarkable took place. Part of that was the searching of their hearts before God and saying, God, am I right with you? Again, we're poor, we can't afford it. but we can prepare for it and say, God, by your grace, I wanna be a vessel and an honor. Oh, Lord, make me what I need to be for you to work, all right? And so they're actively seeking water. That's seeking water. You know, God, I'm serious about this. I'm not letting known sin into my life. I'm not making allowance. I'm cutting off provision of the flesh. I'm setting things aside. I am showing in sincerity. It might be fasting and saying, God, I'm setting aside food. God, I'm setting aside time to seek you. be any of those things, but there has to be a seeking after water. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which does so easily beset us. And that would be preparatory for God to work. Fourth, the lack of spiritual water is a fact. It says when the poor and needy seek water. And what's the next four words? and there is none. See, it's not just like, say, somebody's being discontent and looking around and God's really doing an incredible work and they're ignorant of it. It's that they're spiritual people that long for God to work, they look around and they're going, God, the spiritual blessing is not here. Let me ask you, what is the evidence of no waters, physically? No life, right? That's pretty easy to see. If you walk down in a desert and there's no water, what do you observe? No light. You drive down to England, as we did, to fly out of Manchester, and our area was pretty dry. They were very dry. You got down there, it was just brown. What's the evidence of lack of water, lack of light? So as we look around today, and again, without being critical of what we could see and rejoicing in the grace of God, we can look around and say, you know what, there is a lack of light. Praise God, we've seen some saved. But when's the last time we saw an adult saved, baptized, and added to our church and going on for the Lord? And see, we could just say, well, that's the way it is. Well, why is it that way? Why are we content to, if there's something more that we could have of the power of the Spirit of God, and God working, why are we content to say, well, that's just the way it is? Listen, it's the way it is, but we need to observe it for what it is and say, we're lacking water. We're lacking spiritual vitality. Back when I mentioned that revival in the Isle of Lewis, there were two elderly women that God worked in their hearts about revival. And Duncan Campbell recounted about these women. He said, I'm ashamed to think of it, two sisters, 182 and 184, the latter blind. These two women developed a great heart concern for God to do something in the parish and gave themselves to waiting upon God in their little cottage. One night, God gave one of the sisters a vision. Now, we have to understand that in revival, remarkable things happen. It's supernatural. You're not moving on human levels, you're moving in divine places. In the vision, she saw the churches crowded with young people, and she told her sister, I believe revival's coming to the parish. At that time, there was not a single young person attending public worship, a fact which cannot be disputed. And again, you can argue and say, I don't believe in visions. I don't necessarily believe in visions either. I just believe that God really did something in the Isle of Lewis, and that these women testified to what God was gonna do before it took place, and they believed that the church was gonna be packed out with young people, and it was common knowledge that no young people were there. What is that? Lack of water. By the way, let me say this. The West Coast, though, turning from God, and young people today growing up away from God, is still one of the strongest evangelical areas of Scotland. So the blessing of that still continues, even to this day, not to the extent of anything that happened, but, I mean, it's still there. Listen to this, okay? Yesterday, and pray for this guy, his name's Louis. and his daughter that's not his daughter because they're not married and because he's not her father. But this man whose person in that house has come to our church, and actually his kids have come to our church as well. His name is Louis because he had godly grandparents that feared God and wanted the kids to have Bible-associated names. His name is Louis because of the awakening that took place on the Isle of Louis. He's over here. Why? Because something significant happened over there. That's incredible to think about. I mean, there's still an impact from these that got burdened, but they looked around and said, it's not happening. Listen, should we be content and just say, well, it's just the way it is? Listen, James O. Fraser wasn't, and Jonathan Goforth wasn't, and by the grace of God, this pastor does not wanna be content and say, well, that's just all we can expect today. is to have, and again, I'm thankful for you, I'm glad you're here, I'm thankful for what we've seen God do in our church, but we ought to look at it and say, you know what, God is greater, God can do greater, we are lacking water, we need the power of God. And so, their tongue, there is none, and I think we need to be honest today and say, you know what, are we living in revival? And the answer is no. Now again, praise God, God's working, we've seen God do some great things this summer. But when it comes to the idea of what we're talking about, there has to be an acknowledgment on the heart of the person seeking water from God, as God, I don't have water, I need water. And then the spiritual drought is dangerous to spiritual health. It says, and their tongue faileth for thirst. So it's not, again, it's not an extra, it's an essential, and the water's not there, and what's happening? Death. Their tongue is failing for thirst. It's not a small need. The danger of fainting is great. All right, where's the church gonna be 20 years from now without revival? See, there has to be a generation that gets on their face before God and say, God, it's not okay. Other generations have not. I will say this, I've seen in the church, the church in the United States generationally seems to be about a generation behind Britain in its departure. I wanna challenge the churches there to come over and observe good evangelical churches in the UK and see where the church is at. so that they don't abandon Sunday night, so that they don't abandon the word of God, so that they don't abandon things that have been abandoned here to the point of spiritual deadness. We gotta take stock and say, you know what? Without revival, what's the hope? I don't know about you, but, and I'll do what God's called me to do as long as God wants me to do it until God changes my direction, but God, I believe God has a plan. I believe God wants to do something. And that we can participate in that. And say, God, help me to understand, it's a great need. Their tongue is failing for thirst. Then they're praying for spiritual water. And I could have brought this out into the other point, but I wanted to save it for here since the Bible speaks about it directly. He says, I, the Lord, will hear them. Why is God gonna hear them? Because they're crying out to God and saying, God, we don't have water. We're poor. We're needy. We're seeking water. There is none. God, we need water. When's the last time you got in your face before God and say, God, we've got to have it? And see, that's what this message is about. The message is about this. If we're just content with the status quo and just continuing on, is there really any burden in our heart to cry out to God and say, God, we desire to see a greater work that we believe the Spirit of God is able to do in our community. And we're asking you, God, pour out of your Spirit upon us, upon this community, that we could have the vital water that we need. Are we praying? Again, these women and these men prayed. These women, when they got burdened about what they thought God was going to do in their community, they sent for the minister. And the sister told him her story. And he took her message as a word from God to his heart. Turning to her, he said, what do you think we should do? What? She said. Give yourself to prayer. Give yourself to waiting upon God. Get your elders and deacons together and spend at least two nights a week waiting upon God in prayer. If you'll do that at your end of the parish, my sister and I will do it at our end of the parish from 10 o'clock at night until two or three o'clock in the morning. How old? 82, 83. Alec? You got some years left, all right? 82, 83, they get on their knees, listen, from 10 o'clock at night until two or three o'clock in the morning. We'll do that at our end. And she says to the pastor, listen, man, she's throwing down the gauntlet before the man of God, saying we're gonna pray for five hours, four to five hours a night, two nights a week. You guys do the same on your end. And so the minister called his leaders together for several months. They waited upon God in a barn among the straw. During this time they pled one promise. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon dry ground. I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring. Does that sound familiar? It ought to because it's so very similar to our text because it's the context. We're in Isaiah 41. What I just quoted is Isaiah 44. What they claimed, my point is this, what they claimed is exactly what we're talking about. They claim the fact that God would pour out spiritual blessing, that song that we've sung, mercy drops round us or falling, but for the what? Showers I plead. Showers of blessing. Showers of blessing we need. The song we've also sung this morning, Are You Praying for Revival? We'll sing it at the conclusion. Are you praying for God's power? Are you praying for his spirit to control your life this hour? See? Are we praying? Are we asking God, God, pour out of your spirit upon us? You know, I think it could rightly be said about us in this area, likely, James 4.2, ye have not because ye ask not. How many in our churches today are really crying out to God, saying, God, we need revival. We need a spiritual awakening. We need you to pour out of your spirit that liquid presence of God from heaven, that glorious reality of the nearness of God. God, we need it. Next point, they have a right to the spiritual water. They have a right to it. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. Listen, it's written to Israel. Isaiah is written to Israel. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. They come to me asking me about that, saying, we're poor, we're needy, we're seeking water. I need water. They've got a right to ask because God is what? Their God. Listen. We've got a right to ask God today because that God of the Old Testament Israel is the God of the modern day church. He is our God. He's our Father. John 1.12, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Listen, young people, do you think I have a right to go to God as my Father and say, God, I've got a need and I'd like you to meet it? God's going to meet my needs because He's my Father, isn't He? He cares about that. He's concerned about that. That verse I just shared, Isaiah 44, listen again to what it says, and you tell me what water is. Did you hear it? See, we've been speaking about it in the message, But the water that Isaiah is speaking about is very clearly not physical water, it is spiritual water, and specifically it is God pouring out of his spirit. That's what God desires to do. It's what Jesus prayed about when he prayed, God, I wanna manifest myself to them that are in obedience to me. The whole John 15 through John 17, I won't be surprised if we spend some time there this week as Evangelist John Van Gelderen comes because it's so much of the emphasis of that passage is the fact that we need the spirit of God's power to do what God has called us to do. And the word of God describes the spirit of God as water. Jesus did as well, John 7, 38. He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, but this spake he of the spirit. We do this in our hymn saying this idea of water in the spirit. Jesus, fill now with thy spirit, heart set, full surrender, know that the streams of living water from our inner man may flow. See, they go to God and God says, I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. They're gonna ask for this. Guess what? They're gonna get it because God is their God. Listen, he's our father, and he has told us in Luke chapter 11, if a son asks bread, are you gonna give him a stone? If he asks a fish, is the father gonna give him a serpent? If he asks an egg, is he gonna give him a scorpion? Then he says, if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? Yes, it applies to salvation, but listen, it applies to what we needed, the person in power, the Holy Spirit. Did you just go to God and say, God, I don't know what that verse means, but Paul commands me to be filled with the Spirit. I confess to you, God, I don't have what I need. God, pour out of your Spirit. And so, are you asking for water? You've got every right to go to your Father and say, God, I've got a need. Fill me with your spirit. Well, listen, we're studying Romans in Sunday school. One of the great blessings that we're gonna have in Romans is it's gonna teach us to not live after the flesh, but live after the spirit. A lot of this truth about spiritual living is found in that book as well. Listen, do you know your need and your right to ask God, God, meet my need? Secondly, the convincement. Those were the conditions. Secondly, the convincement. God will meet their need, okay? These points are gonna go quick, these last two points. God will meet their need on these conditions. He says, I, the Lord, will what? Hear them. All right, when I pray, it's a great thing, when I go to prayer, it's a great thing to pray in a way that I know God hears, because the Bible says in 1 John 5.15, if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, We know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. See, when I go to God and I get on my knees and I begin to pray and I say, oh God, pour out of your spirit, we need revival, we need a spiritual awakening. God, it's not a luxury, it's a need. God, the church is dying without it. We need the presence of God. God says, I, the Lord, will hear them. Listen, God listens actively. If we know that he hear us, we know we've got our petitions answered. We ought to be in faith on our knees before God and say, God, I need what the pastor's talking about this morning. I need a spiritual awakening. God, we need revival. God will not put them off receiving. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. He has put them in a tough place of understanding they're poor, needy, seeking water. And you might think, well, God forsook them. No, God never forsook them. God just put them in a place where they would cry out to God and God would meet them again. Listen, it's not a bad thing for us this morning to look around and say, you know, that's where we're at. We need the power of God. And God say, look, I'm not going to turn my back on you. Do you believe this morning the power of God to bring revival? I like what Paul said when God emphasized something to him that was going to take place on the ship and the shipwreck. God was gonna spare their lives. He said, wherefore it serves, be of good cheer, for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. Do you believe God for revival? Do you believe that the spirit of God is able to dynamically change Free Baptist Church and the individuals within Free Baptist Church to the point where they have a great impact within the extra community that God's put us in? Habakkuk 2.3, for the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie, though it tarry, wait for it, because it shall surely come, it will not tarry. I'll say this, our church has prayed for revival for years. Should I step back and say, well, it's never come, I guess it's not coming, or should I wait for it? See, part of faith is, I mean, Abraham, we're studying that in Genesis, Abraham was promised by God something that did not come for years, but he waited in faith. And listen, it would be good for us to grab hold of this promise in faith and say, God, we haven't seen revival, we haven't experienced revival, but I see it in the Word of God. And God, I believe you. And so I'm just gonna wait on you. Are you convinced of it? Because when it comes, there's consequences. That's the last point. The consequence, is a superabundance of spiritual water from unusual places. A superabundance of spiritual water from unusual places. Verse 18 says, I'll open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and dry land springs of water. That's not natural. See, that's not normal. You don't expect, walking through a desert, all of a sudden, whoa, you know, rivers, and all of a sudden, the desert blooms. But it does happen. There are monsoons that take place. In Arizona, I did my internship in Tucson, Arizona. Every year, there's monsoons. And when the monsoon rains come, it's amazing. It's like the deadness that's there from the lack of water, when the water comes, the whole desert just goes, bloom. It's incredible. because the water came. That's what God's saying. We might go, again, we're in this spiritual deadness, and men's heart are hard, and they're against God. It's what we've been studying in Romans chapter one. They hate God. They put God away, and we think it's impossible. I'll never see him get saved. But when revival comes, life comes. And so we ought not look around at the wilderness and say, well, God could never do it here. We ought to look and say, this is where it's talking about. It is a desert, it is a dry land, and that spiritual awakening came. God brought it. Second, the consequence is also an established evidence of the blessings of water. There's an established evidence. Verse 19 says, So, it was desert, it was wilderness. What is it now, when God brings revival? It's a forest. It's alive. I mean, everybody come along and say, there used to be a desert here. What's going on? I mean, it used to be a desert. Now it's alive. What is it? There's an established evidence of the fact that God brought water. That's what we need. What this community needs is to see that God has done something. I'm burning about that. You know, we've got people coming in and out today, people coming in and out. I want them at some point to look in there and go, Mike, do you realize what God has done? You know, and to understand something has happened. They stayed, you know, eight years, and the church stayed with it and stuck by it. Now look, and someday, by God's grace, a building, an established foundation, and an established congregation, Why? Because God answered. And that's what God does when God answered. I've already mentioned there's evidences in our land of past revivals. I could show you in Lonehead three buildings that were evangelical churches. One of them was the East Church, which I believe was a free church of Scotland, which would have been gospel preaching, which would be the gymnasium. The Reformed Church at the top of the hill, it's flats now, but that would be another building where the gospel was preached. And beyond that, up around the bend, there's another church building. It's made into four flats. It's kind of squarish. That was also an evangelical church. as I understand it, a gospel-preaching Pentecostal church that was here as well. But see, what remains? Buildings. But what do those buildings testify to? That God worked here in the past. Go to Wales. There's buildings. They're trees. They're the shells that dead forests now. But it remains as a testimony. So people look at it and say, man, God worked here in the past. It's there. And God will do it again. And so lastly, this morning, the conclusion. Those who see it will stop and think that they may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this and the Holy One of Israel hath created it. Why do we need a spiritual awakening? We need a spiritual awakening so that all these atheists and all these unbelievers, all these people that are against God, stop, look, and listen at the church of the living God and say, there must be something about this. because there is no way that could be done. See, are you ready for it? I mean, I read the history books, and like Gideon, we look at it and we say, if God be for us, where be the many mighty miracles? which our fathers told us of saying, did not the Lord bring us out of Egypt and do all these great things? And Gideon grew up hearing the stories and yet he looked around and he goes, but I've never seen God work in that way. And you might say today, but I've never seen God work in that way. Listen, that's the way it is until God works. And then even unbelievers look at it and say, God has done something. We ought to pray to God this week. God stir our hearts, God do that. Or is it just another week? Or is it just another service? Or is it just the way it is? I mean, we're just expecting to be spiritually apathetic, to be carnal, to be cold, to be callous, to be un-evangelistic, to not be seeing souls saved, not being seeing souls baptized, and that's just the way it is. May the Spirit of God stir our hearts to trust God to do great things. When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will pour water. upon him that is thirsty. It floods upon the dry ground. God is able. May we trust God for it. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit of God would stir us up. Father, there is many reasons why you shouldn't even bother. But I pray, Lord, that you'd work in our hearts this morning, that we desire you, that we'd say with David, my soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Father, we need revival. We need an awakening. God, it's vain. It's vain. It's pointless for us to be doctrinally correct, practically correct, and to be powerless because we're not spiritually filled. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would fill us. I pray the Spirit of God would anoint us. I pray, Lord, that we'd know his presence in these meetings, that we'd walk with our shoes off on holy ground, understanding that there's a holy God and that we're in his presence this week. Oh, Father, would you bless your word to our hearts today? It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.