One of the common misconceptions that we hear from many preachers today is that America needs revival. AMERICA'S CHURCHES NEED REVIVAL! THOSE THAT ARE SAVED NEED REVIVAL! Those that have been imparted life from above need revival. AMERICA NEEDS AN AWAKENING! Psalms 85:6 says, "Wilt thou not revive us again; that thy people may rejoice in thee?" Revival is for God's people. You can't revive something that has never had life. The world has never been given life. They are in darkness. A person has to be regenerated and have grown cold in their love toward God to need a revival. Those that have never experienced the grace of God in salvation need an awakening. They need to be awakened to the fact that they're lost and dead in sins and trespasses.
A church can have revival in it and as a result God can move and awaken the surrounding community. That's happened before. When we read about some of the famous revivals America had in its early days, we read about an America that was awakened to the condition it was in. We've had such awakenings as the Great Awakenings in the eighteenth century, the Cane Ridge Revival in the early nineteenth century, and the revival in Logan County, Kentucky in the late eighteenth century. As a result, many people were converted and their lives were changed. It affected the social strata of America. Gambling went out of business. Some of the saloons shut their doors as a result. That was due to an awakening. I remember hearing about Nashville, Tennessee having an awakening in the 19th century. Sam Jones, the Methodist preacher preached a revival and a businessmen named Tom Ryman got saved. His life was changed and the social structure of Nashville was changed. Ryman Auditorium bears his name. It was once a church until it became the Grand Ole Opry. However, a local church can have a revival and all the members of that church be on fire for God but the community surrounding it may not experience an awakening. A church can have revival in a dark world and that world may not be awakened. We must be cautious in our terminology. It's our churches and it's members that need revival. However, our country needs to be re-awakened once again.
What does America need to be awakened to? America needs to be awakened to the fact that there's a God in Heaven that's real and he will one day judge this world. America needs to recognize that unless she repents and gets saved, then her people will die and spend a Christless eternity in the Lake of fire. America needs to be awakened to the fact that she has sinned before God and the ways of the world lead to death. America needs to be awakened to the fact that her homes are falling apart and that it's ignoring God's word when it comes to the family structure. God's plan for the family is one husband and one wife being married for a lifetime and as a result children are born from that union. God doesn't condone homosexuality. God doesn't condone adultery, fornication, and co-habitation. America's re-definition of the family unit is destroying this country.
America needs to be awakened to the fact that God must have his rightful place in this country. America was built on Judeo-Christian values and it's those values that have helped this nation stand strong time and time again. America can't reject God and stand as a nation. The U.S. Supreme Court has prohibited the right of voluntary prayer and Bible reading like it once had prior to the early 60's. America has become a secular nation. However, this nation wasn't built on secular humanism. Our country will be judged if we continue down the path of humanism. America's foundation was built by our Puritan and Pilgrim forefathers. They feared God and respected the laws of God. America needs to be reminded that America was once a Christian nation.
America needs to be reminded that abortion is murder and that God hates it. A baby is not a blob of tissue which can be discarded at somone's convenience. God views life as sacred. America needs to awaken to the fact that we are to love our fellow neighbor and we're not to kill them at an old age because they're considered no longer useful to society. America has substituted "convenience" for life. Life is sacred and precious in God's eyes both young and old. America also needs to be awakened to the fact that this world's system is at enmity with God. God hates sin and wickedness. America needs to recognize how much God hates sin and turn from her wickedness.
America also needs to be awakened to the fact that those nations that forget God will be turned into hell. If we live our lives that God doesn't exist, then America will be judged for that. There used to be a time when church services were taking place the community wouldn't schedule any events to take place while church was in service. Today everything takes place even when our churches are having service. The House of God has become an afterthought in many peoples' minds.
America needs to be awakened to the fact that there are some real Christians in this world. There are many that wear the label "Christian" but aren't Christ's. However, there are still some real Christians that love God and honor Him. The world needs to see us living for Jesus. We Christians need to lead exemplary lives before the world. We're the only Bible that some people read. If we desire for America to know that God is real, we must be real. The world must see that we love God and that serving Him isn't a chess game. It's serious business.
Lastly, America needs to see God move in a very special way in our country. We need for God to manifest his presence. God's people need the power of God in their lives to show the world that God is great. We need a stirring of God in our country. Isaiah 64:1-2 says, "Oh that thou wouldest rend the Heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence. As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!" This is what America needs to see. America needs once again another GREAT AWAKENING!
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