Rockets Are Cool!
Rockets are cool! However, in order to launch something into space, something needs to happen—there is a CHEMICAL REACTION! Chemicals, called propellants, come together causing an EXPLOSION of power. This produces EXHAUST FLAMES, which push the rocket upward at high speeds, launching it toward the atmosphere until it releases the object it is carrying into space. SO COOL! If you have enough money, in a few years you can pay to ride a rocket!
In order for the rocket to take off, the right mix of chemicals must come together … causing an explosion of power. That is what happened when the church was born—there was a spiritual chemical reaction. This morning, I think it is appropriate to go back to the beginning, back to Acts 2, to examine the chemicals which caused the first reaction. What do we read in Acts 2?
On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit … (Acts 2:1-4a, NLT)
At Pentecost, the flame was lit, the mixture of Gospel and Spirit launched the rocket of revival that changed the world! But sometimes, the rocket encounters resistance. In fact, when a rocket is first launched, it needs a strong booster to get through the lower atmosphere where the air is thick. When it reaches the upper atmosphere, the air is thinner with less resistance. The same can be true with spiritual revival.
Sedentary Spiritual Lives
Worldly cultural messages cause resistance to revival. Let me ask: why are many captured by the world? We miss revival because we live sedentary spiritual lives. We stop moving, we stop growing, we stop having a passion for the Gospel. Many of us are moving. Others are satisfied sitting in the pew and going about our day. We hear God’s word but it does nothing to our heart. We become complacent Christians. And that is a dangerous place to be.
Let me offer an illustration. When I was younger, I would get excited to go to the gym. It was exciting to work your muscles, to train for the next game, to challenge yourself to max out the weights. As I’ve gotten older, the gym is less exciting. I realized, as I’ve gotten older, I don’t always want to go to the gym but I must go to the gym. Does anyone else feel me? Now, there are consequences for skipping the gym. My muscle tone, it starts to fade in about a week. Worse, if you are not strengthening your heart with exercise, it will become diseased, even if you do not realize it. Friends, it is the same thing spiritually. We cannot, as comfortable as it may be, we cannot live spiritually sedentary lives. We have to move!
We need a rocket launch of heart. We need a reshaping on our mind. Revival is a truth war of the heart. Satan does not want the rocket of revival to launch. If you are not a believer, he wants you BLIND. If you are a believer in Jesus, he wants you COMPLACENT. Don’t settle for that. Instead, ask this question: How do we ACTIVATE Revival?
Chemical One: Pursue Prayer
As the church is formed I want you to noticed how they are described in the next verse, very famous verse:
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles (Acts 2:42-43, ESV).
Wow. Among the first Christians, it says, there was devoted. That word, devoted, is a verb. It can mean, to “persevere devotedly.” IOW, nothing was going to stop these people from doing the following actions. What were they? They were taught by the apostles, the people who walked with Jesus. They had friendship—deep, intimate friendship. They ate meals together. Finally … they prayed. They prayed. They sought God. And what happened? “Awe came upon every soul.” In other words, they were blown away by what God did. When they sought the face of God … God showed up in a powerful way. The rocket ship of revival … took off!
But here is the thing about prayer: it is an assumed element of the Christians life. Many Christians know they should pray, but how many of us actively spend time in prayer? I have pastor friend I know—he gets up most mornings at 4am and prays for hours. Many of us cannot make it through five minutes. But if prayer is vital to our spiritual life, why does it not take up more time? When bad things happen, when suffering comes into our lives … why do so many people try to find a way to fix the problem rather than cry out, dependently to the only one who can help? For many Christians, our prayer life is an assumption … not a realized experience.
And this may be why so many of us fall under the spell of cultural messages. If I come back to the rocket illustration again—remember that there must be a chemical reaction to cause the explosion. Without that chemical explosion, there is no THRUST; the rocket would not take off. So, if the Christian simply says, “I know Jesus saved me—I prayed once when I was five, but I haven’t prayed much since.”—no wonder there is no explosion of growth in your life! To grow as a Christian, for the explosion to happen, you need two elements: (1) The Finished work of Christ on the Cross—know that Jesus died for you and receive him. (2) You need the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. But if you never talk with him, if you ignore him, if you don’t pray to him … you are missing a very important element. Without prayer, the rocket will go nowhere.
And a rocket that doesn’t take off is not very cool!
Chemical Two: Commit to Community
The biblical pattern we see for community is outlined in Acts 2:44-46:
And all who believed were together and had all things in common (Acts 2:44, ESV).
The word, “together,” is the Greek word koinonia. It is a word that describes the gathered community of believers with a strong emphasis on unity. They were UNIFIED! Think about a time when you were part of a group that felt unified. In modern times, this is not always our experience with the church. Sometimes division seeks to creep in. This is always the work of the enemy. He doesn’t just want the church blind and complacent … he wants us divided. When we are divided, the rocket of revival does not stand a chance!
What does it mean they had all things in common? Did they all like the same things or live in the same area? He explains in the next verse:
And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need (Acts 2:45, ESV).
This might seem like a radical verse. However, there was a sense in the early church, if someone had a need, others sought to help. The church sought to meet the material needs of others. Now, it is worth stating that this verse is not teaching community ownership. Rather, it is indicating that the believers were selling their own goods, and then keeping the proceeds to help other when needs arose. Perhaps you have helped others in this way. As a church, we have a Care Leadership Team and Benevolence Team that seeks to meet these needs as a church. When you help someone in need, it lets them know you love them and it revives their soul. But there is more to this community …
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, (Acts 4:46, ESV)
This verse highlights three more ways community was built among the believers. First, they worshipped together. In order to usher in revival, the church must worship together. Corporate worship is important. It is great that you might sing songs in your car when you are driving to an appointment. But when the people of God come together and worship—that is something special.
And then … when we invite people into our homes it takes it to a new level. When revival happens second, hospitality abounds. In Acts, these people were eating together and building community and, I imagine, inviting non-believers to join them. In today’s world, hospitality is key element of revival.
And then, when you get to know people, you can be more GENEROUS with them. I love that last phrase—“glad and generous hearts.” I want to be part of a community, a church, where people have glad and generous hearts. Can we be that church?!
Chemical Three: Mission Minded
When these three chemicals combine … prayer, community and mission … the countdown to launch has just begun! Here is my big idea for today: Don’t just pray for revival … activate revival (x2). Let’s say that together. Prayer is the necessary foundation. Community grows as we pray for others. But revival is not just about prayer … God also calls us to active engagement with our world. Notice how the section finishes in v. 47:
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:46-47, ESV).
I want you to notice two phrases in that verse: (1) First, they had favor with all the people. This indicates that their influence was moving beyond their community to the wider world. (2) Second, as a result, the Lord added to their number … those who were being saved. Wow. Can you imagine?! Not those who were transferring churches … those who were coming to faith! Wow!
It begins with prayer … but moves to mission. That is the way in happened during the New York City Revival on 1857. The revival launch pad was the heart of a 48-year old businessman named, Jeremiah Lanphier. Through the faithful preaching of the Gospel, and a commitment to church community, Lanphier was moved by the Holy Spirit to reach New York City with the Gospel. So … he decided to do something:
“Mr. Lanphier invited one and all to meet at the North Dutch Reformed Church at noon on September 23, 1857 to join him in prayer, to implore God to convict sinners and bring repentance in the midst of the great city. By 12:30pm only one other person had showed up. After an hour, six men total poured their hearts out to God for mercy. Lanphier did not give up, however, and within a week he had sixteen; in three weeks, forty. They prayed for unsaved family members and friends. By October 18, there were consistently about one hundred people per day joining him to pray for God to bring revival.”[1]
Then something happened. There was an economic crash in late October of 1857 and 30,000 New Yorkers lost their jobs. There was a crisis—and crisis drives people to God. By November, the church was crowded every room was needed. Prayer meetings sprang up all over the city as hundreds of people confessed faith in Christ.
“[The editor] for the New York Tribune, sent a reporter with horse and buggy to ride from one prayer meeting to the next to see how many men were praying. In one hour he could only get to twelve meetings, but he counted more than 6,000 men . . . confessing their sins and praying for revival.”[2]
This revival spread to other cities like Cleveland, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Chicago. Thousands of businessmen started praying in each city. Even the New York Times, the New York Times!! Reported about this:
“The great waves of religious excitement which is now sweeping over this nation, is one of the most remarkable movements since the reformation [. . .] Churches are crowded . . . school-houses are turned into chapels, converts are numbered by the scores of thousands […] we have seen in a business-quarter of the City in the busiest hours, assemblies of merchants, clerks and working-men, to the number of 5,000 gathered day after day for a simple and solemn worship . . . It is most impressive to think that over this great land tens and fifties of thousands of men and women are putting themselves at this time in a simple and serious way the greatest question that can ever come before the human mind: ‘what shall we do to be saved from sin?’”[3]
(Pause) Some people at the time estimated that ONE MILLION people came to Jesus Christ. It began with the burden of one man. His heart … was the launch-pad.
What Is Your Launch Pad?
So let me ask: What is your Launchpad? (x2) Is there are another Jeremiah Lanphier, a strong businessman in the church today?? All of us have one. I’ve had many launch pads in my life. When I was in high school, it was relationships I made through sports and theatre—I got to share the Gospel. I held the secular jobs before I worked in the church. Now, it’s the people I see at the gym, it’s the relationships we make through our kids schools. What’s your launch pad?
All us have a sphere of influence that God has put us in. We have been called together as a community of believers here at MBC … but God wants revival to spread … to your work … to your school … to your moms group … to your friends … to your neighborhood … to your extended family. What is your Launchpad? I want you to pull out your journal (or a whiteboard, or a piece of paper, or the notes on you iPhone) and write down all the possible launch pads for revival in your life. I want you to pray over those launch pads. Pray that God would send revival in those areas. Because you never know … the rocket may take off when you least expect it … the Spirit might move in powerful ways this week.
But don’t just pray for revival … activate revival … partner with God! Let him use you! Speak! Revival might begin with you … when your heart is set on fire for the Gospel.
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[1] https://landmarkevents.org/new-york-city-revival-1857/
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
