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Oct 29, 2017

Recovering Revival

Recovering Revival

Passage: Psalms 85:1-13

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Psalms

It’s an all too prominent feature of Israel’s story that the nation’s trust in God grew cold, which led to the cultivation of ways that in time became impossible to escape. In those moments you hear some within Israel, including the psalmists, asking God to “revive” them. Revival is a word often associated with images of preachers in ill-fitting suits sweltering under hot tents and thundering before people in uncomfortable chairs. But what if being revived is something entirely different and moreover also deeply desirous? Like all the Psalms, this Psalm is written from a particular moment in Israel’s experience. But we’ll listen for the more universal dynamics that come with being revived to God’s presence and glory.

Order of Worship

Call To Worship: I Chronicles 16:28-31 ESV
Reading(s):  Old Testament: Psaml 40:1-3; New Testament: Ephesians 2:17-22
Corporate Confession of Sin: Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent, for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen (Book of Common Prayer)
Assurance of Pardon: Hosea 6:1-3
Central Text: Psalm 85 ESV
Sermon Title: Recovering Revival
Response: (John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer)
Benediction: Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV

10.29.17 Lyrics

10.29.17 Slides

Illustrations:

True Detective - Crazy Faith

Nicole Cliffe - Sunday Brunch

Babette's Feast - General's Toast

Readings:

Pre-Service Text: Psalm 85:6 ESV
6 Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?

Call To Worship: I Chronicles 16:28-31 ESV
LEADER: 28 Ascribe to the Lord, O clans of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
29 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him!
Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;

ALL: 31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”

Reading(s):

Old Testament: Psalm 40
Psa. 40:1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the LORD.

New Testament: Eph 2:17-22
And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Corporate Confession of Sin:
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent, for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen (Book of Common Prayer)

Assurance of Pardon: Hosea 6:1-3
Come, let us return to the Lord for He has torn that He may heal us
He has stricken and He will bind us up
After two days he will revive us; and on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;
His going forth is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth


Central Text: Psalm 85 ESV
Psa. 85:1 LORD, you were favorable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you covered all their sin. Selah
3 You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your hot anger.

Psa. 85:4 Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation toward us!
5 Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Show us your steadfast love, O LORD,
and grant us your salvation.

Psa. 85:8 Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.

Psa. 85:10 Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
and righteousness looks down from the sky.
12 Yes, the LORD will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
13 Righteousness will go before him
and make his footsteps a way.

Sermon Title: Recovering Revival

Response: (John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer)

ALL: I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you,

Praised for you or criticized for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service.
And now, O wonderful and holy God,
Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer,
you are mine, and I am yours. So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it also be made in heaven. Amen.

Benediction: Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV
LEADER: 20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

ALL: 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.

Post-Service Text: Psalm 85:10 ESV
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Related Scriptures:

Psalm 80:1-7
Hosea 4:1-3
Romans 3:21-26
Ephesians 3:20-21
Philippians 3:8-10

Discussion Questions & Applications:

  1. What do you first think of when you hear the word “revival”?
  2. How does this text inform, or correct, your sense of what is meant by revival?
  3. Why might sorrow for the way things are--within and without--be necessary for revival?
  4. How is the gospel the foundation of any revival?
  5. How can you see the context of community as essential to the marks of revival?
  6. What would any expression of revival look like in you, your family?
  7. What do you think revival would look like at Grace Mills River?

Quotes:

  • Look — everybody knows there’s something wrong with them. They just don’t know what it is. Everybody wants confession, everybody wants some cathartic narrative for it. The guilty especially. And everybody’s guilty. “ Rust Cohle” in television drama True Detective

  • So many are alive who don’t seem to care
    Casual, easy, they move in the world
    As though untouched

    But you take pleasure in faces
    Of those who know they thirst
    You cherish those
    Who grip you for survival
                Rainer Maria Rilke

 

  • Mercy is infinite.  “General Lorens Löwenhielm”,  in the film Babette’s Feast

 

  • As I rode out into the country for my health, in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view that for me was extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God, as Mediator between God and man, and his wonderful, great, full, pure and sweet grace and love, and meek and gentle condescension. This grace that appeared so calm and sweet, appeared also great above the heavens. The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thought and conception—which continued, as near as I can judge, about an hour; which kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears, and weeping aloud.  Jonathan Edwards

 

  • The very first step towards getting a real self is to forget about the self. It will come only if you're looking for something else. C.S. Lewis

Sermons/resources:

Media & Songs:

10.29.17 Album