A Visitation from God

English

A visitation from God

Acts 2:14-41

Many of us have been sensing that there is a fresh movement of God among us here at LAC. So, this week I am going to focus on personal encounters with God that fall outside our normal experience with God as churchgoers. We witness several reports in the Book of Acts telling about times when God meets his people in a fresh way. What I mean is: It has never been church people's every-day experience that typhoon-like winds blow into a room followed by tongues of fire resting on people's heads -- resulting in those people speaking in languages they have never learned. But, Acts 2 reports that this truly happened.

I want to talk about these meetings with God both as a church and to us as individuals. On the individual plane, we sometimes talk about those times in which God seems more present and real than usual. When these special meetings with God happen in a church as a whole, we speak of revival. Today, I want to talk 1) mostly about revival and then 2) briefly about how you might meet God personally

First to the Church as a Whole: Revival
In Acts 2, Luke gives witness to the special in-breaking of God at a Pentecost festival. We will see another movement of God's Spirit in in Acts 4 and once again, described very briefly, in Acts 6. Those who are students of church history know that there have been times throughout the history of the church – often launched through the passionate faith of young people and students – that people have experienced special church wide movements of God that we call revival.

So, as I talk about revival today, I want you to know this: God is always ready to be known through faith in Jesus. God is always present and at work in this world. But, there are times in which God does a special work of renewal, restoration and revival in the lives of churches.

Also, hear this: Revival has always comes to those committed to the essentials of biblical faith. It hasn't come to groups like the Unitarians or Scientologists who deny the central truths of biblical faith. Still, having said that, God seems to spread his renewal around among his children. In Korea, revival started largely among Presbyterians. In Africa, mostly among Anglicans. In Latin and South America, among Pentecostals. Revival an act of God and God doesn't seem to have favorite denominations. He visits as he will. So, how might we discern whether God whether God is doing something special among us?

Views of Revival
Many of us at LAC are longing for/praying for God's Spirit to blow through us in a new way these days. But, I know I have to be very clear here. By "revival", churchgoers can think several different things:

#1: We Don't Need It – This has been the response I've gotten when I've talked about revival in very traditional – often older denominational – church settings. There are people who say there is no such thing as revival. They often say, "Revival? Who needs it? We're insulted that you even think we need it. We love our church as it is. We don't want any fanaticism around here."

#2: We can make it happen – This is the kind of church I grew up in back in WV. Twice a year we had "revival services." But, how could we decide to have something that only God can send? Still, over and over I heard went to church and heard, "We're going to have a revival. You need to bring all your friends and unsaved relatives. And, we need to promote it well. Of course, we need the right kind of music (a point that always caused some division). And, we need a preacher who can engage the people. Let's give prizes for those who bring the most people." It didn't seem very spiritual to me as a boy. And, now I see that, although some people came to faith in Jesus at these services (PTL!), true revival isn't something that we make happen. I think what we did was closer to an evangelistic service. Revival is God's work. In revival, God lets us know, "I am with you." We don't "make revival happen." God sends it.

#3: It's all about signs and wonders – There has been a strong tendency among some to think that the essence of revival is extraordinary miracles, healings, and signs. Many have said that if we see healings and experience words of knowledge then, ipso facto, it is a revival. When I was ministering in India years ago, I remember a pastor telling me about a Satanic cult in which there were ongoing healings (of sorts) and wonders. He was convinced that, although God does miracles and often does them in the midst of revival, that signs and wonders are not revivals in and of themselves. I'm sure he was right.

So, if I think each of those views can lead us astray in differing ways, then how might we know when God's Spirit is moving in an authentic way among us? As we read about the breakthroughs by God's Spirit in Acts and hear the testimonies of renewal movements throughout history, we can discern four recognizable marks of revival. They are the fingerprints characterizing these special times of God's presence:

The Usual Cycle of God's Restorative Acts

1. The Sense of Longing – Something's missing
Often, revival has emerged out of times of crisis – out of those times in which we sense that things seem out of whack and that we cannot make it on our own. This is true of us as individuals and true of churches. In those times, we can go one of two directions: 1) We can turn away from God in anger or frustration or 2) we can fall upon God in faith. When we become utterly dependent on God, we become open to God doing whatever he will in our lives. So, in Acts 4, it was after the first imprisonment of church leaders that the earth shook and God's Spirit moved among his people. In Acts 6 it was in the face of heavy persecution that a movement of God emerged. Later, in the greatest revival of my lifetime, the Korean revival emerged after decades of heavy persecution from surrounding nations. The same has often been the case with revivals.

But, there have also been times when revival has come when good things are be happening in our lives or in our churches – but still there is a longing for a deeper connection with God, a greater love for people, and a more substantial impact in the community and world. Often student movements have looked at the church and sensed that the church was growing complacent and operating in the same way as the world. When we focus more on the Harvard Business Review than the Bible to guide our planning, we may find a new generation longing for a fresh wind of the Spirit to move. Revival movements have always begun when God's people have a deep sense of longing for God to take over and make himself known.

2. The Time of Seeking – Active waiting
The movement of the Spirit in Acts 2 began after centuries of waiting. People like Simeon, reported in Luke 2, had remained righteous and devout as he waited for God with the Holy Spirit being "on him." Also in Luke 2, there was an 84-year-old woman named Anna who fasted day and night for years waiting for God. Even after the resurrection and ascension, the disciples had to wait in obedience and prayer for God to move.

The same thing is seen in every revival movement in history. The Moravian Community in 1727 commenced a round-the-clock "prayer watch" that continued nonstop for over a hundred years. At the beginning of 1727 the community of about three hundred people was wracked by dissension and bickering. Five months later, on May 12, the Spirit of God moved among them. Christians were aglow with new life and power, dissension vanished and unbelievers were converted. But, it was a hundred years later that this movement touched the life of people like John Wesley and led to the huge revivals called the Great Awakenings. The same can be said of almost every time of God's revival around the world. The longing I mentioned point #1 gave way to periods of God's people setting aside time to seek God together.

I believe that, if we indeed are experiencing a sense of longing for God to work in a new way among us here at LAC, we need to set aside time to seek him together. That's why we are setting aside time on Sunday evenings to gather to pray and worship God. But, as God leads, I urge you to spend more time in prayer in your classes and small groups. Pray more individually. Don't be impatient. Here in America, we love instant gratification. But, God honors faithfulness. Let's engage in a faithful time of seeking his face.

3. The Moment of Visitation – God makes his presence known
We read about this in Acts 2 as being a mighty wind blowing through the room and fire descending. In Acts 4, the entire building the believers were in began to shake. In Genesis 21, we read of a visitation of the Angel of the Lord to Abraham's family that resulted in the old woman named Sarah becoming pregnant. My point is that God makes himself known in many different ways when he visits. Still, in times of revival throughout history, God has chosen ways to himself known in unmistakably to those seeking him. The term that many Christians have used for this is "visitation". God visits his people.

I've experienced this a couple of times in my own life. One of those was not as dramatic as Acts 2 or Acts 4. But, several years ago, God sent us a revival at Trinity International University. There had been a mess in our athletic programs. On one weekend I had to dismiss 18 students for infractions as serious as anything you could find on any secular campus in the world. We felt called to seek God after this crisis. A group of seminary students began mentoring some of our football players and decided to take them to a spiritual retreat. While there, the Lord "visited" them. This resulted in humble confession of serious sin, and a deep repentance from that sin and a turning to God. These football players returned to campus with the fire of God in their hearts. They decided to invite other students to join them in a time of seeking God together. They called it the FAT movement, i.e., students committed to being Faithful, Available, and Teachable.

Students gathered every Thursday evening simply for worship and prayer. This resulted among that larger group in open and honest confession of sin and a turning to God. And, God "visited" our campus. There was a certainty that God was among us. These students turned the campus upside town as they shared openly about their new lives with God. After this time of visitation, football players who one day were being disciplined for serious infractions, on the next were confessing sins and giving praise for the grace of God. And, they went out and gave witness to the reality of God that led to high school students in the public schools coming to faith and joining the revival. Then, they went to a local secular college and experienced people coming to Jesus and joining the times of revival. And that brings me to the last point.

4. The Life of Transformation – Witness and Service
Every revival that has ever happened in history has led to people going out and witnessing to Jesus as the savior of the world. And, they also have shown the love of Christ to those they meet. Revivals in England led to people beginning schools for kids who had never before had the opportunity to learn to go to school. The great awakenings in our own country led to the founding of orphanages all through the east and south. When we truly meet God, we know this cannot be a private thing. We share our faith. We care about people. Social change happens. People who were viewed as outsiders are welcomed into the church and called brother and sister. (I'll say a word about this next week.) The poor come into the church and find a family. Hospitals have been started out of revival. Slavery has been opposed.

What happens is that we simply do the things we know a Christian should do – like witnessing and loving people – but we do them with a passion and fearlessness we've never thought possible. When we meet God, we know what once seemed impossible is not impossible. Obstacles that seemed insurmountable are not insurmountable. Eternal things become more important and temporary things are seen to be temporary.
Tim Keller puts it this way: "Revival is the work of God in which the church is both beautified and empowered because the normal operations of the Holy Spirit – the conviction of sin, enjoyment of grace, access to the presence of God (Waybright add: empowerment for witness, growing desire for justice, deeper love for people) – are intensified." Tim Keller (mostly)

Let me boil this down: What happens when we have this longing for God that leads to a time of patient seeking God and a visitation from God?
1. God is more real to us than ever
2. Others in the world begin to notice a difference in our lives
3. People come to faith in Jesus through our witness
4. Christians have a noticeable impact upon their neighborhood and world

Don't you long for these things to happen? If so, let me take my last moments to speak about what Acts 2 says about you having a personal encounter with God.

Now to You Personally

The movement of God in Acts 2:1-13 led to the first Christian sermon, a powerful sermon preached by a fisherman named Peter. At the end, this man who had just been touched by revival called people to meet God too – and 3,000 did! What did he say?

Point 1: God is – he is at work in this world—and he is ready to meet you (2:16-21)
The people who were listening to Peter's sermon believed in God but did not know him personally. (Are you like that?) The question everyone was asking after seeing people filled with God's Spirit was this: "What does this mean?" To that question, Peter took them back to the old prophecies contained in Scripture. Specifically he took them to Joel 2. Read what he says in vv. 16-21 and you'll see he declares that God exists and has always been working out a beautiful plan in this world – in spite of all the evil and injustice that is here. In God's plan, evil will not go unabated and unpunished. No, God is in charge working out a plan in which ultimately all will be made new. God has promised (v. 21) that a day has come when everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And those who will experience God will be "sons and daughters, young and old..." Peter says, "All people will be able to experience the Spirit of God."

God exists! God is involved in this world. God is working out a plan in this world in keeping with his prophecies. And, he's ready to give his Spirit to you!" That's what Peter says. Do you believe it? Hebrews 11 puts it this way: "Anyone who comes to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Do you believe that?

Point 2: You will meet God personally only through faith in Jesus (2:22-36)
I believe we can sense on our own that God exists. We can even have some experience of God's reality on our own. Have you ever had that? But, Peter insists (and so do I) that you cannot have a personal relationship with God without Jesus. In his sermon, Peter says again and again, "Jesus of Nazareth was the man accredited by God... (2:22)" Peter goes on: "This Jesus" (a phrase he uses several times) – "this Jesus" did what God alone can do. He alone lived the life human beings were made to live but none of us has. He alone was able and willing to die in our place. And Jesus did it – he died on the cross. But the grave could not hold him. That's what Peter preached. The truth of Jesus he is has been made known because Jesus rose from the grave. Peter told them – "You know this. We are all witnesses to this." (See v. 32.) The point: To begin to know God personally, you must turn in faith to Jesus. That's where it starts.

Point 3: You need to admit your sin and repent of it.
In v. 23, Peter preached, "Wicked men put him to death by nailing him to a cross." You might think, "Whew. That's not me!" But look again. In v. 36, Peter declared, "God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah."

He told all of the people gathered that day, "You crucified him!" But, technically, most of them were not there when Jesus was arrested, condemned and crucified. Most of them had traveled from far away to come to this festival. What could Peter have meant by this? And, those gathered there accepted his verdict! In v. 37, they were cut to the heart and asked, "What shall we do?"

On one side, I think they understood something much more clearly than most of us do. They knew they were very much a part of a world and a society in which they too embraced the sinful and selfish ways that led to Jesus' crucifixion. We're so individualistic that we almost always think, "I didn't do it so I'm OK." But they knew that what was in the hearts of those who cried, "Crucify him. Crucify Jesus!" was also in their hearts. They accepted that. Now, you may not accept that but you may be able to see that you too have sins in your mind, in your attitude and in your actions that keep you from God. You too have sinned. You too need forgiveness. And the only way to get that is to have someone die in your place and to defeat both sin and death as Jesus did. As Peter proclaimed in v. 40, you need to be save from this corrupt generation.

To meet God, this is what you must do: Repent of your sins. Tell God you need to be made right with him. Place your faith in Jesus. Ask him to come in and take over your life. (This is what we declare when we are baptized.) And you too will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

What happened to three thousand people after Peter's sermon can happen to you. Your past can be washed clean. You can meet God – today.

Salvation is found in no one else (other than Jesus), for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we may be saved... (Acts 4:12) Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Acts 16:31).

 

To His glory,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor