What Every Church Needs
Isaiah 64:1-8

A little boy went to church with his father one morning. That night before he went to bed he knelt down and said his prayers. He said, "God, we had a great time at church today. Wish you would have been there. All to often this is the case. We go to Church but the presence of God is not evident. We need revival. Isaiah chapter 64 is a plea from the great prophet for revival among the people of God. In this text we see three very key facts about revival. We see what revival is, what revival looks like, what we can do to hasten it.

I. A DEFINITION OF REVIVAL (V1)
1. Divine intervention

A. God’s people where in bondage (why? Turned from God to gods of this world)

B. God’s people where in exile (there home land had been taken away)

C. God’s house had been trodden under foot by the Babylonians

D. God’s people were “shallow,” listening to the false prophets. (America?)

E. In bondage, shallow, no sense of the presence of God. Sound familiar?

3. Divine presence
A. Now Isaiah didn’t have theological problems!

1. He knew that God is everywhere. He knew that God sat on the circle of

the universe, He knew that no temple could house God’s presence.

B. We need to experience the presence of God in our services again. (As before)

C. We need to be like Jacob and cry out," surely the Lord is in this place and

we knew it not." Remember Exd. 3:5 .All to often our services are dry and

ritualistic, there’s no presence, no life.
D. Revival is the presence of God among His people once again.

II. A DESCRIPTION OF REVIVAL (2-6)(experience the presence and power of God)
1. What happens when God does make His presence known?

A. A Shaking Up

1. When God shows up things are shaken up. (Acts 16:25-30)

B. A Moving Up

1. What are mountains?" A mountain is a large earthen fixture that

you and I can do nothing about. We have mountains in the church and in

Our lives. Have you ever heard the expression, "We’ve always done it this

way". Those mountains get shaken up when God visits the church in

revival. How about those mountains in your life?
B. A Firing Up (experiencing the power of God)

1. The Power Of God to empower (Mat. 3:11)

2. The Power Of God To Refine (Mal. 3:2-3)

3. The Power Of God To Bring Reverence (Lev. 26:1-4)(II Chr.7:14)

4. The Power Of God To Judge (II Cort. 5:10)

III. A DIRECTIVE FOR REVIVAL (7-8)
1. What can we do to hasten revival? Or can we? Isaiah explains in verses 1-6

why God’s people are in such a sorry condition. In this verse he outlines

three things we can do to hasten God’s presence among us.
A. Fervent prayer--He says, "No one calls on your name". This describes a

desperate plea to God for His presence and help.

1. We like Isaiah must begin to cry out to God for personal revival.

B. Wake ourselves up---the prophet says we must "stir ourselves, or wake

ourselves up". Many church members sit and wait for a preacher to stir them

up with a fiery sermon, or a wonderful testimony, or a moving song. God

says, quit waiting to be moved, and move yourself, wake yourselves up.

Wake up to the state of our sleepy Christianity, wake up to the lateness of

the hour.
C Lay Hold of God---How do we do this. Easy! Do what you know to do. Make a

bold move toward God. Discipline yourselves to pray and seek God even when

you don’t feel like it. Go to church, even when you don’t feel like, repent and

confess sin, even when you don’t feel like it. James says if you "draw near to

God, He will draw near to you."

CONCLUSION