I recently had the chance to lead a discussion in a school I was once a student in.  First, that was a great honor, that I was able to teach future pastors!  Second, God showed me something really cool that I just have to share with you.

The class was to watch the movie Appalachian Dawn, and then discuss what steps they could do in order to bring revival to our area of Texas.  And God, being as good as he is, showed me something which was really interesting.  Oh and btw, if you have never seen the movie, I would strongly recommend buying the DVD and watching it.

As a former computer programmer, God speaks to me in ways which may not register with you, but to me it makes perfect sense.  This is what He drew out for me in my mind:

So lets break down each point in the flow chart above, discuss that point, and then we’ll look at how it all ties in together.

Angry at sin

In our daily walk, we see a lot of things happening which seem to be normal to our culture.  We see couples getting divorced, and it seems ok to the world.  The Bible says in Malachi 2:16 “”I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel”.  We see homosexual couples protesting for equal rights as a heterosexual couple, and the world says “ok”.  The Bible says in Leveticus 20:13, “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is an abomination, they shall surely die.”   We go to the store and witness a kid stealing a candy bar and turn our backs saying that it’s not our problem.  The Bible says in Exodus 20:15 “You shall not steal”.  We see things like this all around us, yet we do and FEEL nothing.  Yet the Word of God is real clear on what our stance should be.  Before anything else happens, we have to personalize sin, we have to allow it to get us angry.  I’m not saying that we are to start disliking the person sinning, no!  We should be praying for them and loving on them, because we know that they are sinning!  Walking away from their, and our own sins doesn’t allow the righteous anger to arise.  We must be engaged with them, to help them walk through their sin and lead them Jesus for healing.

Change of heart

Once we start becoming angry at sin, our love for the sinner will increase.  We will want to them to have the same relationship we do with Jesus.  Once we’re angry, we start to become activated, and in that place of activation we start to do the work that God has set before us!  We start our part in bringing the Kingdom of God down to earth.  God starts to peel our heart like an onion, taking off one hard layer after another, until our tender inner heart is revealed.  The true heart for people that God wants us all to have becomes alive!  I like to think of this as a personal revival, where we, as individuals, become ALIVE!  It is at this point, that we no longer wonder who we are or what we are supposed to be doing.  We now understand who we are in Christ, and God starts to uncover our eyes and show us our purpose.

Family

Have you ever noticed that when you come home from work in a bad mood, pretty soon the whole household is in a bad mood?  God gave us the ability to change our environment.  We have the power to change how a group of individuals thinks and feels.  Now imagine this, God pulls your heart of your chest, rips it open and dumps all of the negative junk out, and then fills it back with His love and gives it back to you.  You now have a new heart, a new attitude, and a new zest for life.  You come home now and your household becomes full of love, full of mercy and full of grace.  It becomes full of power, and not negativity!  The change of heart which you experienced becomes infectious!  Soon your own family starts to experience the same change of heart that you did.  Imagine what your house would be like, if everyone had the same heart for Jesus as you are now experiencing!

Church

Once that new fire of personal revival is set in your heart, you some how find yourself wanting to serve with your local church.  You will start coming into unity with other like minded people within your church, and start multiplying the results of your actions.  The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” And much like with your family, you will become infectious within your church and others will start to experience their own change of heart.  Before you know it, your entire church is fired up and looking to bring the Kingdom of God down to earth!  God starts to put a mission on your church, gives them a purpose and the desire to make a difference in your community.

Community Churches

This next phase is one where a lot of churches fail, coming to a place of unity.  We still seem to have a huge problem with the division in the church, which I won’t really go into here in this posting, but it’s something we need to get past.  Catholics need to help Baptists, who need to help Methodists, who needs to help the Protestants, who needs to help the Catholics.  We need to see past our walls, see past our own pride and do what God has instructed!  If we want to see the true power of God manifest itself in our community, we need to be in a place of unity.  Unity between churches is one of the keys to the power that God has given us!  The Bible says in John 17:11 “…Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.”

God Shows Up!

You know, sometimes I think that He simply can’t help Himself!  It’s almost like me when someone leaves a box of chocolates out on the kitchen counter.  I just can’t help myself, I have to have a piece of chocolate.  When God’s churches come together, under one banner, striving for the Kingdom, angry at the sin in their community, God simply cannot help Himself.  He shows up and shows off!  My Pastor has been preaching on Psalm 133, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.“  God wants to bless us, more than we can possibly imagine.  In addition, God hates sin!  When we come together and stand against sin God comes along side of us.  The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:9  “For we are co-workers in God’s service”.  Did you see that?  The “co”, it means: Together; joint; jointly; mutually.  Once we start working, and doing His will, God shows up to co-labor with us.  He does His part!

Justice Restored

Our God is a god of order, justice, and righteousness.  Whatever His hand has been on, shall be restored.  Our goal as Christians is to do our part in changing our culture and our communities.  When we work together with God this goal can be accomplished.  God’s promise in Genesis 12:1-3 still stands today, His blessings are still poured out on His people.  But He is a righteous God, and rewards those who follow His commands.  Anytime that God shows up to change something, it is changed to line up with His Word and His heart, and His justice is restored upon the land.

Thank you Father for this flowchart that you provided me, and thank you for the knowledge you have given me.  Father, I pray that those who read this stop walking in sin, and start to get angry at it instead.  We want to see your glory Father!  Come show us your glory!  In Jesus’ name, amen.