Revival might come.

We all know that it should come, but there is a lot that must come together if we hope to have a foundation strong enough to sustain it.

If we understand that revival isn’t defined by a powerful church service, or by life getting suddenly better, but rather that it’s a calibration—judgment—as God brings order to chaos.

This calibration to biblical normalcy will give a massive opportunity for offense and complaining to erupt as God, in love, begins to touch what’s sacred to us but a hindrance to him.

The church is God’s governmental structure to initiate, facilitate and give structure to the wild fire that revival will bring.

Simply, we must be together, connected to apostolic leadership, deeply organized and ready to advance. The church must be on the same page, must be ready to deal with the people that are going to be flooding to the altars, and simply must be unoffendable, teachable and full of the Holy Spirit.

This teaching addresses all of these issues. You can listen by going to www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/teaching.

Here’s the notes so you can follow along:

Order in the Church- Preparation for Revival

I. Order and government is critical

a. 1 Corinthians 14:12 (ESV) ¹² So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

b. Titus 1:5 (ESV) ⁵ This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—

i. People who handle the spiritual duties of the church

ii. 1 Tim 4:14 “Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you”

iii. 2 Timothy 1:6-7 (ESV) ⁶ For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, ⁷ for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

iv. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ must not settle for anything short of godly leadership. Where can we find such people? Jesus said: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest" (Matt 9:37-38).

II. Demands of revival

a. In the midst of revival we will have every opportunity to succumb to the pressure.

i. To understand this, we must have a clear picture of what revival is.

ii. It’s not simply an outpouring, but rather it’s a recalibration.

1. The challenge, the pressure, the rebukes, the refining will be constant.

iii. Those who are mostly looking for the refreshing (99% of the people) will very possibly find themselves bruised, discouraged and disenchanted.

1. Wow, revival can actually bring people to a worse place!

b. Moses went through this.

i. He was the deliverer, the OT savior of the Hebrews.

ii. He laid down his life, he risked everything to liberate people, to bring revival.

iii. But, there wasn’t the order necessary to handle it.

iv. In fact, Moses, the heroic leader, got so depressed that he wanted to die.

III. Numbers 11

a. Moses engaged in communication with God such as no man had ever before experienced.

i. He talked with God face to face.

ii. All 27 chapters of Leviticus and the first 9 chapters of Numbers record God’s words to Israel through Moses while the people were encamped at Sinai.

iii. The statement, “The Lord said to Moses” (or similar) appears nearly 60 times in these chapters.

iv. The day then came for Israel to move on, to leave Sinai and travel on towards the Promised Land.

v. The cloud that hovered over the Tabernacle suddenly began to move, and Moses and all Israel knew it was time to break camp and follow the Lord.

vi. Moses was optimistic when they broke camp and was highly motivated after his personal communication with God over the past 12 months.

vii. Numbers 10:35 says, “Rise up, O LORD!  May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.”

viii. Moses was pumped!

b. But, it lasted all but three days.

i. The complaining began.

ii. Even though they were better off now then they were when they left Egypt, they complained.

iii. Numbers 11:1 (ESV) ¹ And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.

1. In the OT and the NT when there is a move of God, there are also casualties among those who respond wrongly.

2. Acts 5:4-6 (ESV) …Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” ⁵ When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. ⁶ The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

3. Take note, if we are crying out for the fire of God, we must understand just what we are asking for.

a. It’s both a refining fire and a consuming fire.

4. Numbers 11:2-3 (ESV) ² Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. ³ So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them.

a. People died, yet the complaining continued.

5. Numbers 11:4-6 (ESV) ⁴ Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! ⁵ We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. ⁶ But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

6. Numbers 11:10 (ESV) ¹⁰ Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased.

a. Weeping and despair when life isn’t going as planned is not the right response.

b. Later in this story we see that God gave them what they wanted—more meat than they could eat, and a plague landed on them as they ate.

c. Numbers 11:33-34 (ESV) ³³ While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck down the people with a very great plague. ³⁴ Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving.

d. They buried the people who had the craving!

c. The pressure of the people got to Moses.

i. He actually asked God to kill him.

ii. The revival was in process, the miracles were happening literally every day.

iii. But, the immaturity of the people resulted in a negative response to God’s move.

iv. These negative responses, the complaining will result in many people being impacted negatively right in the midst of revival if we don’t prepare for it.

v. These responses will land right in the lap of the leaders of revival.

vi. God has a plan to deal with this issue.

d. Numbers 11:16-17 (ESV) ¹⁶ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. ¹⁷ And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.

i. He will take some of the Spirit on Moses and put it on them.

ii. They shall bear the burden of the people.

iii. Mike Bickle- “I don’t do anything!”

iv. This is both an OT and a NT plan of action.

v. Acts 6:1-4 (ESV) ¹ Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. ² And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. ³ Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. ⁴ But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

IV. Conclusion

a. So, we are in the gathering phase at Revival Church.

i. Many must be in position and ready to handle the needs of the people.

ii. My primary role is to hear from God, apostolically advance and raise up leaders… to pray and be in the Word.

iii. The rest will be handled by those who respond to the call.

iv. Most megachurch leaders don’t know what the day-to-day operations look like in any of the church’s ministries. He delegates authority.

v. This is where we are at now.