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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

What Is Revival and Reformation

Dwayne Lemon

Our Greatest Need

Let me say good morning and happy Sabbath to everyone.

It's a privilege to be here with you all and I trust that God is going to again reveal his faithfulness to us as he helps us understand a little bit better this topic that we have called our greatest need.

We're going to be talking about revival and reformation.

We know that it was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that God made known to his servant, the prophet of these last days, for the remnant people, that a revival of true godliness is the greatest and most urgent of all of our needs.

We are told that to seek this should be our first work.

The truth of the matter is, is that While it is true that revival and reformation is the greatest and most urgent of all of our needs and to seek this should be our first work, while this is true, we must also understand that there is a need for a practical understanding of this term.

You know, we have a tendency to use a lot of terms and cliches in our movement, but many a times we have not given it due consideration.

How do I take this theoretical term and make it practical?

And so you'll find that many of us we are very high on theory, but we're very low on practicality.

What the world needs to see, what the city of Loma Linda needs to see, is they need to see Christians in their heart, and they need to see that beyond the Sabbath day, and they need to see that beyond religious services.

We must be the same person that we are on God's Sabbath day that we are when we are in a room by ourselves where no 1 is looking.

And this is the great frustration that heaven is having with God's people right now.

There are many of us who are giving a very high profession, but when we are by ourselves and when we are in the secret recesses of life, we find ourselves becoming completely different people.

And therefore, he recognizes that the way that this is to be done is there must be a revival and there must be a reformation.

And what we're gonna do is make it practical.

That is where I live, not specifically Atlanta, but nevertheless I am in that area and I am under what is known as the Georgia Cumberland Conference and you know 1 of our conference officials came to my church and they asked the question, you know, what do we need to see take place in our churches to make them better?

So as they were doing this meeting and having this meeting with us, I got to a point I raised my hand and I asked them, I said, listen, I said, do you believe that a revival and reformation is the greatest and most urgent of our needs right now?

I said, so you're in agreement with Inspiration, you're in agreement with the president of our conferences, Elder Ted Wilson.

I said, all right, here's my next question.

How do you take that term, revival and reformation, how do you take these words and how, what is your plan on educating the people in our various churches to know how to make that concept practical?

His answer was, we have not considered that.

And the reason I say this is because I'm amazed that we can say we believe in revival and reformation but we still have rock and roll churches.

I'm amazed that we can say that we believe in revival and reformation but we still have schools where there are apostates that are being paid by God's money and they are teaching the people evolution.

When individuals begin to say that they believe in revival and reformation, but we still have ministers who will go around and have the audacity to say that 1844 was some conjured up idea to spare us embarrassment to the Christian world.

When we begin to say things like that, when we still go around and we take our youth and we get them involved in all sorts of ridiculous events that God has made clear in his word are not designed to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord.

That tells me that we need to understand something more about this idea called revival and reformation.

And that's why by the grace of God we dare to touch on such a wide and broad topic in just a few sessions on a Sabbath day.

So I'm going to let you know right now, we're not going to be able to touch it all.

We're not going to, there's no way you could touch it all in just 1 meeting or 1 weekend.

This is something that must progress on and on and on until we finally get it.

But by the grace of God, brothers and sisters, I'm praying that if we could at least get some of these principles together in our hearts, The Lord can help us to enter into an experience that when Jesus comes we can be counted amongst those who are saved.

Brothers and sisters, I stand before you with no time to play games.

I must tell you the truth because Jesus promised that the truth is the only thing that makes people free.

And so today we're going to talk about revival made practical in this session.

In the afternoon we're going to talk about reformation.

Brothers and sisters, let me tell you something.

The afternoon at 4 o'clock we're going to come back and we're going to talk about reformation made practical.

And I'm going to show you some startling things about reformation.

And then our final session is what do we do from here?

And so as we prepare our hearts to hear the Lord speak to our hearts, I'm gonna invite as much of you as are able that you would please kneel with me as we go before God in prayer and prepare our hearts to hear what the Lord has to say to all of us.

Our Father in heaven, We thank you Lord for this, your holy Sabbath day of rest.

Father, we praise you and thank you that you love us enough to tell us the truth.

Sometimes, Lord, truth hurts because our lives have been so comfortable in error.

It disrupts even our ideologies and our concepts of what constitutes life.

But we accept the words of Jesus that we shall know the truth and the truth will make us free.

Lord, there are many of us who are under a most gross deception.

But you said, whosoever committed sin is the slave of sin.

And Lord, we need freedom, not just freedom financially, not just freedom in all the various points of life, but we need freedom and victory over sin.

Father it's our desire today that as we behold your words of truth, that by beholding we would all become changed into that precious image of Jesus.

And Lord I believe with all of my heart You are convincing me more and more that if Christ is lifted up, all men will be drawn unto Him.

Take my feeble mind and my feeble words and my feeble body And please perform a miracle today that you will allow me to be a vessel that heaven can speak through.

And Lord, I praise you and thank you because though this may seem impossible with man, I'm grateful that all things are possible with God.

Speak to me and speak through me that you may touch and reach the hearts of thy people.

Is our prayer that we ask in Jesus' name, amen.

I want you to turn your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 3.

It is in Revelation the third chapter that as God speaks not only to the seventh church, but he's also speaking to the last church, that God brings across to yours and my mind a reality of the condition of his people.

The very people who were to make the world aware of the hour of judgment.

The very people who were to give the wonderful herald of the first, second, and third angels' message.

The very people who were supposed to finish the work are the very people that God found were in such a condition that God had to give them counsel.

It says in Revelation 3 and verse 14, we know these texts very well.

It says, and unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these things saith the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot.

I would thou were cold or hot, and so then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth." I never thought that God's people could get him to a point to make him want to vomit.

And that's a solemn thought to think that God would look upon those whom he died for, the ones that he loves with an everlasting love, but at the same time, as a result of something that took place, and I'm going to show you what that something is, as a result of something that took place, it got to a point that God's people, to a very large degree, brothers and sisters, yea, I would dare to say a majority, that those who profess to love him, God is now speaking to them and saying that what I'm seeing taking place in your hearts and in your lives is to the point that It actually makes me have a disruption in my belly to the point that I want to vomit Brothers and sisters there is no reason under the sun that God's children should have put them in a position to ever have this written under inspiration.

But it's a reason that we must investigate because I believe, as all medical missionaries understand, that When you treat any disease, when you treat any problem, you know Laodicea is a disease.

And this spiritual disease, I'm thankful that while God shows us it's a reality, He also makes it clear to yours and my mind that there is a remedy.

But brothers and sisters, in order to embrace that remedy, we must first ascertain the cause.

That's what medical missionaries are taught.

We first learned that in Proverbs 26 too.

It says, the curse causeless shall not come.

And therefore, Job 29, 16 tells us that the cause which I knew not, I searched it out.

What would put us in a place where God would actually look at his own people, the apple of his eye, and get to a point to say that their behavior makes me want to vomit?

It says in verse 17, because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

What Is Reformation? Part 1

Our Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you that we can come together and once again study to show ourselves approved unto God, that we can be workmen that need not be ashamed, for we have rightly divided your words of truth.

We ask for the divine presence of your Holy Spirit, that He may come and minister to our hearts and first convict us of sin and righteousness and judgment.

And we pray that you'll please forgive us of our sins and that you will cleanse us as a result of the blood of Jesus Christ being shed on our behalf.

Father, we ask that you'll give us another picture now as we seek to understand not just revival but also reformation.

We know there's much that heaven has to say of this topic, so we're asking that you'd give the wisdom and the grace to articulate it rightly.

Lord I pray that you'll take my life, that you'll let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

May you speak to my mind and my heart that I may speak to your people.

And I thank you, dear God, that you have heard this prayer, For we do ask it all in Jesus' name, amen.

I'd like for you to turn your Bibles to the book of John chapter 5.

And as you turn to John chapter 5, we're going to be looking at God's teachings as it relates to this idea of revival and reformation.

And you're going to see that it was Jesus that instituted the idea of revival and reformation, quite honestly.

You will see this laid out in the book of John, the fifth chapter, and then we're gonna look at John, the eighth chapter.

In John, the fifth chapter, let's notice what the Bible says as we begin at verse 1.

Let me know if you're there by saying amen.

The Bible says in John chapter 5 starting at verse 1, After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having 5 porches.

And in these lay a great multitude of impotent folk of blind halt withered waiting for the move of the water.

For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water.

Whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

And a certain man was there which had an infirmity 30 and 8 years.

And when Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Will thou be made whole?

The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man.

When the water is troubled, put me into the pool.

But while I am coming, another step is down before me.

And Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

And verse 9 says, And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked.

We find a man who has been sick for 38 years.

He has obviously had a disease that no doctor could cure.

And here it is that in his helpless situation, he is always waiting to get into this pool because he believed that if he gets in there when it was troubled that supposedly a healing experience would take place.

Well now we find that Jesus meets him and he asks him a very simple question, do you want to get well?

It's almost a rhetorical question isn't it?

That's why he's always trying to get in the pool.

Well, here it is, Jesus now as he initiates the conversation, the man runs through all of his obstacles and Jesus speaks over his obstacles and says unto him, get up, take up your mat and walk.

He rolls up his mat, he's walking by the way, and Jesus runs back into him at another time, and I want you to notice what he says in verse 14.

The Bible says in verse 14, same chapter, afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole.

Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

The Bible shows that this man clearly was in his condition because of what?

And Jesus then tells him that not only was he going to quicken his life, you know, inside of his body was all things dead.

This brother has death running inside of his body.

And here it is that Jesus speaks life to him and he tells him to get up.

And as soon as he acted on the Word of God, all of a sudden life starts running through his nerves again.

Life starts to all of a sudden rekindle those cells and his white blood cells and his red blood cells and ligaments and tissues and organs, everything starts to come together.

But Jesus did not leave him with just a revived body.

Jesus also left him with a reformation instruction.

Jesus goes to him and he says, it is good that you're well, but go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.

It is in the mind of Jesus when he gives instruction that his goal, his objective is not just simply to revive but also to reform.

Notice what the Bible says in John 8 chapter.

John chapter 8, you know this story very well.

This is the story of that woman that was caught in adultery And you'll remember that as these men were trying to trap Jesus and of course incriminate him, it gets to the point that as Jesus now sees these people coming before him and they want to go ahead and trap him by the usage of this woman who was caught in the midst of sin, that the Bible says in John 8 and verse 7, look at what Jesus says, it says, so when they continued asking him he lifted up himself and said unto him, he that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her.

And of course he began to write on the ground, and you know the story.

These men became very convicted because Jesus was exposing their sins while they were trying to condemn a sinner.

And here it is that 1 by 1, they all leave, and it gets to the point that now Jesus and this woman are there together by themselves.

In verse 10, you'll notice what Jesus says to her.

It says, when Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers?

And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee.

Now, you got to understand what happened right there.

This woman is waiting under the authoritative Word of God to receive the condemnation that she deserved.

She was committing adultery, she was practicing sin, she was caught in her sin, the wages of sin is death, and the law stated that she needed to be stoned.

By right, that sister was supposed to die.

And here it is that she's waiting to feel the pressure of the rocks begin to fall on her, but instead of feeling the pressure of the rocks falling on her, she hears the sweet tone of the rock talk to her.

And when she hears the sweet tone of the rock talking to her, the rock says, has anybody condemned you?

Once he said, you are not condemned, She literally passed from spiritual death to spiritual life right there.

But you'll notice that Jesus didn't tell her to go home yet, did he?

Right after he introduces his revival statement and says, neither do I condemn thee, The next thing that he says is sin no more.

Jesus in his work is very consistent that He believes not just in revival, but he also believes in reformation.

So the concept and the idea of revival and reformation, though it is wonderfully and articulately and beautifully stated through God's servant, our prophet, brothers and sisters, I am letting you know that This idea came from the mind of Jesus.

Jesus is the 1 that is responsible for bringing about revival and reformation.

He is the 1 that put it even in Ellen White's mind to help us understand our great need.

And therefore, this morning we studied about revival and what really constitutes a true revival, and we looked at some very key points, but now we are going to look at what is reformation.

So I'm going to go back to this quote that we looked at earlier.

Remember we were reading from Christian Service, page 42, and it said, Reformation signifies a what?

It's a reorganization, a change in ideas and theories, habits and practices.

Reformation will not bring forth the good fruit of righteousness unless it is connected with the revival of the spirit.

Revival and reformation are to do their appointed work, and in doing this work, they must blend.

And so you'll find that once an individual is revived, once an individual is quickened with spiritual life, the next step that God instructs is that they are to be reformed.

There must be a change in ideas, habits, practices, and the list goes on.

So therefore, this morning, when you accepted the call to come into a true, rich, genuine experience of revival, God says that's the start, not the finish.

The finish is that there must be a reformation.

Now, I am so thankful that I see so many husbands and wives.

I'm very thankful that I see families here, and I'm also thankful for the individuals, because all of us have homes.

And what's going to happen is when you go home, What you want to do is make it a priority to say, what is it that needs to be reorganized about my home life?

What Is Reformation? Part 2

We are now going to go through our final session here where we are going to study and to let God reveal into our hearts some things related to His Word, especially on this topic of eating and drinking to his glory, you'll find that this this is a very important thing to understand because we are trying to enter into the experience of reformation, but we want to do it in God's order.

So therefore, Reformation is not just something abstract that we just begin at any point that we want.

Reformation is something that God says there's an order to this experience.

All of what we do, remember we saw that revival and reformation comes through the ministration of the Holy Spirit, yes?

So therefore we cannot do anything by might or by power but only by God's Spirit.

We need His Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to give us power so that we may do anything God has called us to do.

There is no fruit or vegetable or grain or nut and certainly not any meat that you can eat that will make you holy.

Eve ate the healthiest fruit that has ever touched planet earth and that action brought sin into the world.

So There's no organic, there is no non-GMO item, I don't care what it is, there's no fruit, grain, nut, or vegetable that you and I can eat that can bring salvation.

All of these things that we are discussing, dress, diet, country living, whatever the topic may be.

All of this is simply an expression of the salvation we have already received.

In James 2 and verse 18, the Bible says, I will show you my faith by my works.

You never know an apple tree until you see apples grow off of it.

You never know a peach tree until you see peaches grow off of it.

And you never know God's trees of righteousness until you see right doing come out of the person's life.

So therefore we are not saying that there's any food items that individuals can eat or drink.

There's nothing that a person can do that makes them righteous, but our eating, drinking, and doing habits testifies to Christ our righteousness truly being within us.

All right, well then with that being said, let's have a word of prayer.

Our Father in heaven, we are thankful, Lord, for the opportunity to go through phase 2 of this study.

We pray that your blessings will be upon us at this time and that you will again open our eyes, that we may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

This is our prayer that we ask in Jesus' name, amen.

You will find that the Bible shows us, you'll remember that God told us something in 1 Corinthians 10, 31.

God said, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the what?

Now, how does a person eat to the glory of God?

The Bible clearly says whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

I mean, you know, really, how would you, especially, especially if you were to do it just from the Bible?

So somebody says, this is a simple glass of wine that I'm just going to go ahead and sip it and, you know, no problem.

You know, it's not extravagantly put together.

So in other words, I want you to give an answer, but I want you to make sure that your answer empowers the person to stay biblical.

So that way they don't go above or beneath what the scripture says.

Eat for strength and not for drunkenness.

The whole world will tell you that a little brandy can strengthen your body when you're going through sickness.

So, therefore, some people, and you know how it is, but some people tell you, you got to eat some fish.

So, therefore, there has to be something that breaks that line for us to help us clearly understand, all right, how do I practically eat and drink to the glory of God?

If you were sitting down, this is something that I presented at a Baptist church.

And you know I couldn't use the spirit of prophecy.

So, In other words, you have a tremendous work that God has set before you.

You got to help the seven-day Adventists come up to the light, but then you also have to help the non-Adventists come up to the light.

So you're going to find yourselves doing the work very similar to John the Baptist, where you're reaching those within and those without.

This cannot be done by might or by power, only by God's Spirit.

So therefore, we need tremendous wisdom to know, how do I take the instructions of God's Word and make it practical?

Series

What Is Revival and Reformation

What Is Reformation? Part 1

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

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