Revolutionary fires are sparked by revival.
This is really true in the early church.
We've looked at Josiah and we've looked at Nehemiah, Ezra, and now we're looking at the early church.
Really, the book of Acts is a revival revolution book.
If we were to say, what's our template, what's our standard for a move of God in the 21st century?
I would say go back to the Bible, man.
You're going to start there, look at some of these examples, and I'm only giving you three here,
but look at these examples in scripture and then look and compare what's happened in Christian history.
And I'm not going to go into all the different moves of God in those earlier episodes.
I do cover some of those different moves of God nationally in America, as well as the Hebrides.
I gave an example of the Hebrides with Duncan Campbell.
But in the book of Acts, imagine 120 people who get revived by God.
And the impact they had is really quite unprecedented in world history.
Never has there been such a small group of people that had such a huge impact.
I mean, we could argue today, and I know there's different ways to count how many Christians there are in the world,
but somewhere between two and three billion people call themselves Christians.
And that might even be too conservative.
I'm looking at it more for those that I think are probably true born again people.
Two to three billion people in the world today because of 120, 120 people who are frightened, they're scared, they're confused.
They have no idea about the future.
They definitely have no strategic plan for taking over the world.
They just want to stay in this upper room in Acts chapter one and not be harassed by the Romans and the Jews.
But then something happens in Acts chapter two, something unprecedented in world history, unprecedented in movements in history happens in Acts chapter two.
And the Holy Spirit comes down.
They've been in prayer for 10 days, and then the Holy Spirit meets them in a way they never, ever expected.
And so the Spirit of God comes down upon them.
Let me read this, this one part in Acts two, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing, mighty wind.
So that's also unprecedented, where it's like a wind blowing through and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Then they appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
So what happens is Spirit of God comes upon this 120, these 120 followers of Christ, and they start speaking in tongues, they're filled with the Spirit.
It's obvious actually from the rest of the verse where they actually give nations like Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, Rome, other Jews, Cretans and Arabs, that they understand the languages.
So at least partially, the languages being spoken are real languages, maybe not in all cases.
People get in big theological arguments over that, I'm not going to argue that, because I do believe that there's unknown tongues and there's known tongues, and I think both were happening here.
But because it's Pentecost, all these people from all over Asia Minor, all the way to Rome, who are Jews, have come to Jerusalem for this feast, the Feast of Pentecost.
And they hear these people speaking their language when they haven't learned it.
In other words, some Jewish people that we know are not from Parthenia and not from the Medes and not from Rome, because these are the followers of Jesus.
Because these were, you guys, these were like Galilean Jews and probably Judean Jews speaking Italian, speaking North African languages and stuff, and they're just blown away, because they say, we can hear them speaking.
praises to God and they're drawn to that.
So the Spirit of God moves,
they're drawn to this group that's speaking in tongues
and then Peter gets up, preaches the gospel
and 3,000 people get saved.
Now that's a pretty good revival right there.
So Spirit of God moves and it seems like they're genuinely
and sincerely touched by the Lord
in this mighty and powerful move of God
to such a degree that they start meeting together every day
because this is where we pick it up.
Verse 40, and with many other words,
he testified and exhorted them saying,
be saved from this perverse generation.
Then those who gladly received the word were baptized
and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them
and they continue steadfastly
in the apostles doctrine fellowship
in the breaking of bread and the prayer.
Fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs
were done through the apostles.
Now all who believed were together
and had all things in common.
They sold their possessions or goods
and divided them among all as anyone had need,
continuing daily with one accord in the temple
and breaking bread from house to house.
They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people
and the Lord added the church daily,
those who are being saved.
So that's what the result,
that's what the revival results in.
And this is remarkable.
I mean, this is definitely one of the great,
most remarkable episodes in history.
This is where Christianity began.
So they get saved, radically saved,
they actually start living together
or at least having community together every day
at the temple.
You know, when people start giving away their possessions,
there must be a revival.
Whoever does that, we're always hoarding what we have.
They're giving it away.
So this kingdom of God has come.
I like to call it the upside down kingdom.
So the upside, I mean,
they're doing all the things opposite of the world.
So now go to chapter three, four, five, six in Acts,
the apostles take off.
I mean, they just start preaching the gospel
wherever they are, persecution follows.
And then really the whole book of Acts after that
is the revolutionary fires of the revival
that was started at Pentecost.
Everywhere they go, Peter, Philip, James, John,
the whole apostolic group began to preach the gospel.
And then later Paul gets saved.
And so Paul's doing this.
They're preaching the gospel first in the synagogues
all over Asia minor.
And then as the ministry continues to flourish,
God raises up a man named Paul and Paul goes to the Gentiles.
So then the Gentiles are being impacted.
That's a revolution, men and women.
I mean, that's a genuine real revolution happening
to the point, and I love this verse in Acts 17, six,
where the gospel has now gone into Thessalonica.
So it's up past Antioch
on the Northern part of the Mediterranean
up there at Antioch, let me read this.
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia,
they came to Thessalonica
where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
Then Paul, as was his custom, went to them
and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them
from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating
that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead
and saying, this Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.
And some of them were persuaded
and a great multitude of the devout Greeks
and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas.
But the Jews who were not persuaded becoming envious
took some of the evil men from the marketplace
and gathering a mob set all the city in an uproar
and attacked the house of Jason
and sought to bring them out to the people.
But when they did not find them,
they dragged Jason and some brethren
to the rulers of the city crying,
those who have turned the world upside down
have come here too.
I mean, that's one of the.
great verses of the New Testament. Those who have upset the world have come here also.
That's a, guys, that's a kingdom of God revolution. That is, that is something that
the authorities in Thessalonica of all places, that's the way they describe this motley
crew that is preaching the gospel under Paul. Well, history tells us that the gospel went
past Thessalonica all through Galatia, moved into Rome, from Rome began to touch the outskirts
of Italy, then it moved into Spain. It appears historically that Paul might have preached
the gospel in Spain. Then all of Europe was impacted after that. Paul is beheaded. John
is the last of the apostles. He was never martyred. The only one of the original Lambs
12 that was not martyred. But the gospel is not limited by these 12 apostles because it
moves into Europe. We have the stories of Boniface. We have the stories of so many of
these early leaders. And then it also, by the way, moves into North Africa. So it goes
south from Israel and moves across Egypt and into the northern parts of northern Africa
and just explodes across North Africa at that time. It's also exploding across Europe. And
then it jumps over into Great Britain and the British Isles are impacted. It's from
the British Isles that we have our pilgrims and Puritans that came to America and explodes
across America. That's a kingdom of God revolution. That's a mighty move of God. But again, the
pattern is clear. Revival fires spark revolutions that impact nations for transformation. And so
if there's one thing I hope you're grasping from our time is a couple things that I haven't
necessarily mentioned, but I just want to sum it all up this way. God can use anyone. Let me just
start there. God can use anyone, any educational background, any age. He used Josiah who's eight
years old to spark a revival. He's using 120 people right here for revival. Back when we
looked at Nehemiah, he's just a cupbearer of the king. Not, I mean, it's a strategic position for
sure, but it's not one that required education or anything like that. I don't know if he was
educated or uneducated. We don't know. Ezra was probably educated for sure, but this 120 and then
these 12 in the book of Acts are just regular men and women that are mightily used by God.
We also notice that it's always started with the reading or the preaching of the word of God,
and that always sparks a revival. It's always a work of God that brings repentance to the people.
It's always a work of God that leads to a fear of God. The fear of God comes, and then revolution
explodes out from there. And so revolutions are sparked by revival. So I hope this has been helpful
to you. I love this stuff because I believe that God wants to bring another great awakening to
America. I believe God wants to do a great revival in America. I believe he wants to bring a kingdom
of God revolution to America, and I'm going to do that subject in the days ahead
about revolution and what a kingdom of God revolution is. So be looking out for that.
So God bless you. I hope this has been helpful to you. Subscribe. Tell your friends. God bless.
Be fired up for Jesus.