Conviction and Repentance: The Starter for Revival

But here's the thing, she had all these ideas about what the house is gonna smell like, what the product was gonna be, but there's one key to sourdough bread that you gotta nail, and that's the starter. It's such a simple thing, flour and water, and just make sure that you feed it. Even though it is a simple thing, you cannot skip that step. Otherwise, you will not smell sourdough in your house. You might drool over it, but you won't smell it. Friends, beloved, I submit to you this, that much like you need a good starter to get your sourdough bread going, much is the same way when it comes to revival. You can't skip the step of the starter. And here's our main idea for today, and it's simply this, that conviction and repentance are the starter for personal and corporate revival. [00:06:33] (53 seconds)  #StarterForRevival

Josiah didn't say, man, okay, I could see how my grandfather messed up there, how my father messed up there. No. He said, no. No. All of us have missed it. All of us. He tears his clothes. I'm not asking you when you read this and conviction hits for you to tear your clothes, but allow the Lord to tear your heart. In Joel chapter two, it says this. It says, tear your hearts and not your clothes. Embrace conviction wholeheartedly. [00:34:58] (31 seconds)  #EmbraceConviction

The great John Chrysostadom, Chrysostadom in Greek means golden tongue. He was a phenomenal preacher, said this, be ashamed when you sin, don't be ashamed when you repent. Sin is the wound. Repentance is the medicine. Sin is followed by shame. Repentance is followed by boldness. Satan has overturned this order and given boldness to sin and shame to repentance. [00:52:29] (26 seconds)  #RepentWithBoldness

A famous revivalist said this that revival is a two winged bird of both fire and formation. You can't have one without the I don't know the last time you saw a one winged bird flying around. You know why? Because they don't fly. In much the same way, revival won't fly unless we have the two winged bird going. You can't just have the fire. You need the formation of God working in you and through you. Because revival is not just for us to sing hallelujah in the church house. It is also for us to say your kingdom come, your will be done out in the street. [00:15:05] (35 seconds)  #TwoWingedRevival

And if you want to see conviction hit your life, turn off CNN, turn off Fox News, turn off Newsbad, turn all of them off and say, God, as I am opening up your word, speak to this heart. Please break my heart for what breaks yours because I promise you if you filter what you see on the news through the lens of this, that heart of yours will be shattered into a thousand pieces. But I know one who can fix it. [00:32:46] (35 seconds)  #HearGodNotHeadlines

Repentance is not a I'll get to it when I get to it. You need to be ruthless about your repentance. Hear a lot of talk about, you know, Christians, we gotta be stronger. You know one of the places where we need to be violent is when it comes to repentance. A place where we need to be violent. Listen. I am I am pretty much a pacifist. Unless we we're talking sports, then I get a little aggressive, but I'm pretty much a pacifist. Here's the thing. If there's anywhere where we need to be violent, it is when it comes to the kingdom of darkness. And especially when we notice that the kingdom of darkness has taken territory in our lives. [00:48:59] (38 seconds)  #RuthlessRepentance

I I need to be selfish for a minute and say, God, do it in me first. But here's the thing. If you're willing to ask that question and make that plea of God, be willing to embrace the answer that comes with it. Because if you say, do it in me, Lord, oh, he's gonna do something, and it's not gonna be comfortable. It's gonna expose some things. It's gonna cost you some things. But I can promise you it'll be worth it. I don't say it's gonna be worth it because I'm experiencing it. I said it'll be worth it in faith. [00:13:20] (37 seconds)  #DoItInMeLord

If you ever wanna see just a man on fire, read anything by Leonard Ravenhill. And he said this that that I think is a beautiful picture and convicting picture when you talk about repentance. He said, we surely need again to climb Calvary's Hill on our knees to survey the wondrous cross in an attitude of humiliation and adoration. The church must first repent. I'll say that again. The church must first repent, then the world will break. The church must first weep, then our altars will be filled with weeping penitence. [00:22:17] (33 seconds)  #ChurchMustRepentFirst