Revive Us Again- Part 2
Dave Andrews • Apr 06, 2021
Revival and Repentance
As we continue on in the month of April, and our Spring Friendraiser Month, we have already started talking about Revival, which is a part-and-parcel to our chosen theme this year “Revive Us Again: Overcome in ’21.” Previously we have covered “why” revival, but what does revival look like? It looks a whole like
repentance. God’s Word sheds light on this; and I can’t think of a better set of instructions on revival than
2 Chronicles 7:14.
We know what we want…we want His healing of our lives and land in our lifetime. One might presume that it starts with calling out the unsaved. But in this passage, at the very start, we find that revival starts with “my people”...that is God’s people. God’s people are called to go before the Throne in humble repentance…doing a 180 turn away from wickedness.
Revivalist Vance Havner said “We will do anything and everything else in our churches today but repent. Yet a fresh confrontation with God and an outpouring of His Spirit would dispel error and worldliness, meet social issues and produce real unity as no effort in the flesh could do.”
As I broach that subject of repentance, I want you to know I am trying to tread carefully. There are two extremes. One side says…I’m saved, I’ve been a Christian a long time…I’m in good shape. Repentance is easily dismissed. Then on the other hand, another may go too far calling fire and brimstone down on the lowly heathen, lacking mercy and humility, and acting ineffectively a whole like the Pharisees or worse. So as I ask every one of us to repentance, please know that I have more than my hands full with that myself.
As Christians, repentance started on our journey with Christ. However, in the church today, where great Biblical education has occurred, many of the problems we have with sin are found in secret or sins of omission, rather than public in your face types of sin. But even that is changing too. So I would love to ask you to ask the Lord (big step I know) to show you where you are falling short of His calling as a servant of the King.
As a lifelong resident and attendee of the church in the Western Slope, and as someone who hears and knows way more than I would like about churches and ministries locally-- I want to mention a few things to consider as possible topics for repentance.
Idolatry.
It has always been a problem for God’s people…since Moses led the Israelites out of the promised land. This sin of worshipping things which distract us from the true God seems removed from us in this day of “enlightened minds.” But just because we don’t give “worth-ship” to statues of gold and silver doesn’t mean we don’t worship gold and silver. Honestly, our biggest form of idolatry in this day and age comes in the form of plastic. Credit cards, cell phones, TVs, computers…stuff. We can’t get enough. We look to “stuff” and others for our fulfillment. It’s a distraction from the heart of God. Even the beautiful things He has blessed us with can play distractions from our King at times…our families, food, church functions, jobs, and more. But the story of the Rich Young Ruler rings true…we are to give God greatest priority, above everything.
“Lord, show me where I am distracted and help me to focus on you at all times.”
Conformity. We know that we are not to be confirmed to the pattern of this world, and rather “transformed.” Unfortunately, sometimes it’s the world that does the transforming. It can be really hard in our cancel culture. Nobody likes to be viewed as a relic of the past, a “hater,” or “Bible thumper,” or “fundie.” As a matter of fact it has always been a challenge for God’s people to not pick up the sins of the nations around them. Yet we have adopted the social gospel for the actual Gospel (as if the world needs a museum for our good deeds), the popular view vs God’s view (homosexuality, abortion, sexual immorality, evolution, the list goes on), and refuse to take a stand because we “don’t want to come off wrong” (yet the world will hate us either way). Many times, we have good intentions in setting ourselves apart, but because of apathy or business elsewhere, we fail in actual real practice of our faith.
“Lord help me to live as you have called me and to bear the strips you too bore.”
Dissention. I love to joke that my spiritual gift is dissention in the church. In reality, this is a serious problem and is no laughing matter. Scripturally, the Body of Christ is called to be unified. Yet we are not. It’s a problem from leadership down. We isolate ourselves from one another because we are not big enough to let the non-essentials slide. Instead of bickering, we opt for peace by surrounding ourselves with only those of like-mind, or those we just would rather be around, dividing our efforts and effectiveness for the Kingdom. Church leadership and ministry leaders become defensive and jealous of other churches and ministries. Churches become delusional that what we are doing is the only thing going on. It should rather be all about Christ, the head of the body. The body should not be severing limbs, but rather working closely in conjunction with one another. Wouldn’t it be great to see churches and ministries start praying for one another and selflessly and constantly working together simply for the benefit of one another…and all for the purpose of lifting up the Kingdom of God and Christ the head of the body?
“Forgive us Lord for fighting with our brothers and sisters.
Bring us together that you may be glorified for your sake alone.”
Self-centeredness.
We humans tend to think that we are the cause of the world’s problems and also the only solution. In a grander sense, yes, we caused sin to come into this world and continue to perpetuate the problem. But only Christ is the solution. He had to come because we are insufficient. He alone paid for our sins on a cross, he alone rose from the dead, and He alone is glorified above all in Heaven; the Kingdom of God is about Him. Sometimes we forget that this world is not our home, nor what we live for. We handed the reigns over to Him when we were saved. So we are to live not for ourselves, but for Him…and for the life to come in His Kingdom.
“Lord, forgive us for selfishness. Help us to live and die unto you.”
Our list of sins are just as unique as we are. Whatever your sin is, and we all have at least one…let’s pray in humble repentance of sin today…for ourselves and on behalf of one another. Then we change and walk away from those. We are to live as true disciples. Keep it up, for we know Christ will present us to the Father one day…and we shall finally really be changed! But let’s start the process now. Let’s seek His face with faith-filled expectation that when we repent, He will truly and most certainly hear us and heal us.
-Dave Andrews
KJOL Station Manager
Our annual Spring FriendRaiser is underway for the month of April; and as a part of that, our theme this year is Share The Light. As you share the Gospel and the Light of Christ, KJOL has compiled 30 tips for every day of the month. Here they are:
During KJOL’s April “Friendraiser” month, we want to say THANK YOU to our faithful supporters. And THANK YOU to everyone who makes a first-time donation. And finally THANK YOU to God, the giver of all good gifts in our lives, starting with Jesus Christ! KJOL has a lot of new songs that say THANK YOU. I hope you enjoy them! That Thank You Song! Citizen Way Thank God Stars Go Dim Thank You Life.Church Worship I Thank God Housefires Thanks Giver Crowder Thanks and Praise Lucy Grimble and Vineyard Music A Thousand Thank Yous Sarah Kroger Thankful VERSES Thank You Jesus For The Blood Charity Gayle
In January, we told you about four new artists at the KJOL music blog . This month, we have four more new artists. Jordan Smith “This Is Jesus” Jordan Smith is a 30 year old Kentucky native who grew up singing in the church choir. In 2015, he won NBC’s The Voice. He sang “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” and "Mary Did You Know." Natalie Layne “Amen” Natalie Layne is a 24 year old Colorado Springs native, where she was a worship leader at New Life Church. She received a masters degree in piano from Belmont University in Nashville. In 2019, she won Belmont’s Christian Showcase. She continues to serve as a worship leader at her church in Nashville. Terrian “Big God” Terrian (Woods) is a singer/songwriter from Memphis. She is also a member of TobyMac's band Diverse City. And she serves on the staff of AngelStreet in Memphis, which mentors girls as part of an all girls choir. Seph Schleuter “Counting My Blessings” Seph Schlueter ( pronounced “seff shleeter”) spent 7 years as a missionary. In 2020 he formed the worship collective Damascus Worship, in conjunction with the organization “Damascus” which conducts two-year programs to develop leaders who will impact their generation for Christ with the aim of bringing revival to the Catholic Church.
He had noticed we had been off the air on 94.5 FM in Delta…and I related to him it was one of “those” weekends for our poor equipment. Not only did our AM 1400 Delta transmitter go down causing us to make a very expensive replacement only weeks before, but our FM transmitter in Delta went down at the same time as our Montrose 91.9FM transmitter, and only hours after our whole network went down across the Western Slope!
The other day a kindly woman knocked on my door asking for a donation to help build the local swimming pool. I came back with a glass of water. Doesn’t it feel great to give to a good cause??
The English version of the hymn “How Great Thou Art” turns 75 years old in 2024. To mark the anniversary, a new recording has been released, including a brand new verse by Matt Redman. First a little history… Swedish pastor Carl Boberg wrote the original lyrics in 1885. Boberg said that after a strong thunderstorm passed by, he opened his window and heard church bells ringing. He immediately was inspired to write his poem, set to the tune of a Swedish folk melody. It was translated into Russian, where English missionary Stuart Hine heard it while in Ukraine in 1931. He wrote two new verses (3 & 4) and translated it into English in 1949—which is the 75 th anniversary. British missionaries around the world soon began to spread the song. Eventually it reached Billy Graham and George Beverly Shea , who performed it during Graham’s 1957 New York Crusade. The audience liked it so much, they asked Shea to sing it over and over. Graham then used it every week on his Hour Of Decision radio program. Fifteen artists have now collaborated to record the 75th anniversary edition, called “How Great Thou Art (Until That Day)” . When you hear the song on KJOL, the first two voices are from Chris Tomlin and Hillary Scott . The remaining voices include: Kari Jobe and her husband, Cody Carnes Naomi Raine (Maverick City Music) Taya (formerly with Hillsong) Blessing Offor (from Nigeria) Matt Maher (who also plays piano) Matt Redman For the 75 th anniversary, the Stuart Hine Trust commissioned Matt Redman and Mitch Wong to write a new fifth verse: Until that day When heaven bids us welcome, And as we walk this broken warring world, Your kingdom come, Deliver us from evil, And we’ll proclaim our God how great You are! And we’ll proclaim, our God how great You are Redman said they wanted to tie the verse to Stuart Hine’s work in Ukraine, especially in light of the current conflict there. “I wanted the word ‘war’ in there,” said Redman . “It’s kind of a gritty word. But we have to sing about both the everyday and the eternal.” Time will tell if the fifth verse becomes a staple in hymnals. But few will argue that “How Great Thou Art” is one of America’s favorite hymns. And with this new rendition, hopefully it will continue to be loved by future generations.
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