October 19, 2025, Message by P. Kevin Clancey

Transcribed by Beluga AI.

All right, dear ones, we are going through revival in Isaiah. All right, we’re looking at Isaiah. The second half of Isaiah is God restoring Israel back to the Promised Land. They’re in Babylon, and now He’s giving them these precious promises.

He’s really giving them two precious promises in the second half of Isaiah. The first one is the one they were really looking forward to, but the second one was even better. The first promise is: you’ve been in exile, but I’m going to miraculously restore you.

And after 70 years, Cyrus, the king of Persia, gave a completely unexpected decree that they would be able to go back and rebuild the temple, and the rest of the Old Testament is about that. Ezra and Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the temple. We call it Second Temple, kind of Second Temple Judaism and kind of the re-establishment after the glory years with King David and Solomon and then the bad years with all the kings that followed after them.

And it was a hard time after that. They went through some tough times. You know, they had the—after the Babylonians, they had the Medes and the Persians, and then the Greeks, and then the Romans, and finally Jesus came.

But the second promise, and that’s the big one, was He promises—He begins to promise in Isaiah, the Messiah, the Anointed One. “I’m going to send an anointed one, and that anointed one is going to bring my kingdom.” And so when Jesus comes, Israel’s looking for the Anointed One, and they think He’s going to be a king like King David. He’s going to gather an army and kick the Romans out. And God, of course, has bigger plans than they had.

But as we read through Isaiah, one of the things that’s revealed is God’s heart. And God doesn’t change. His heart through the prophet Isaiah is the same as His heart today. And just as God wanted to restore Israel, I believe God, through Jesus Christ, has come to restore His kingdom. To restore His kingdom. We are going back to Eden, people. God is going to re-Eden earth. We’re going to get the new heavens and the new earth. The Bible begins in a garden, and it ends in a garden. All right? So I hope you like a garden. It’ll be nice.

We’re going to Eden. How’s that sound? It’ll be warm there, Marilyn. It’ll be warm. All right. It won’t be, yeah, it won’t be gray and cloudy and rainy, so you’ll be good.

So anyway, one of the ways He does this throughout history is something—it’s not a word that’s found in the Bible—but it’s something church historians talk about, and it’s called revival. And you know, relive, re-energize, bring life back.

We often think of revival as something that happens in the culture, but actually, that’s not true. Revival is something that happens amongst the people of God, and it happens to them in such a dramatic way, then they impact culture.

There are different kinds of revivals. There are smaller revivals, there are revivals just at local churches. There are generally localized awakenings or age—you know, the Jesus movement was kind of an age-related revival. You know, it really reached a whole generation of young people.

But there are some revivals that are so big—First and Second Great Awakening here in America. Certainly, the Protestant Reformation would, I think, be amongst that. And the revivals are so big they bring about—Protestant Reformation—they bring about a cultural reformation, they bring about a shift in the culture. It is what I’ve been praying for for 20 years or so, that there would be a revival.

And listen, you know, I pray for a revival in America. That doesn’t mean I don’t care about the rest of the world. I’m thrilled when I go to Africa and I see what’s happening there, and I’m thrilled when I go other places in the world, and you know, and I see God. But this is my home. And I think you’re supposed to pray for your home. I think there’s kind of concentric circles. I pray for other nations of the world as well. As I said last Friday night, we were at a little prayer meeting in the church in Bremerton. We were praying for missionaries that we knew who were in other nations. We’re praying, you know, and so it goes out from there.

But I pray for my home, and so I pray—there’s nothing wrong, you’re not some kind of wicked Christian nationalist—by the way, what kind of nationalist do you want to be? You know? I would like to see a more Christian society. I would like to see babies protected in the womb. I would like to see there be kindness and respect and more marriages staying together and less drug abuse and crime. Those are all kind of things we Christians are behind, you know? And so I don’t know, I think that would be a good way to go.

Now, I don’t believe, you know, we’re headed for a theocracy, but I’d just like to see more Jesus in the land. And so I think I’ve said this once or twice. I think it’s found in the Psalms. I’d like to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I’d like to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

And revival is one way that that happens.

And so we’re looking at Isaiah as He’s promising to restore Israel, but then applying it to our time on how God can, and I believe will—and I think actually we’re moving in it. We’re moving in it right now, and I just pray that it grows. I think we’re at an awakening kind of time. It’s not a full-fledged revival, but… Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. That’s what got me started. Oh, Aslan is on the move. Aslan is on the move. All right? He’s not tame, but he’s good.

So I’m going to read to you Isaiah 49:8, starting at verse 8, all the way through Isaiah 50:3. This is a long reading. And I know Americans with Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram and 500 million streaming channels on TV. It has violently and horrifically attacked our attention span. So this is just going to be a couple of minutes reading of Scripture, so hang with me. Hang with me.

And one of the things that helps is if you read along with me. If you got your Bible, your physical Bible, which, by the way, I still recommend. I know they’re all on your phone, and I use digital Bibles. I use the one on my computer in my morning devotions, and I use my phone a lot. But actually, evidence has shown that you actually retain more still with that book.

So I recommend you bring your physical Bibles to church. If you want to read along with me word for word, just know that I read out of the Christian Standard Bible this year. I could switch it up next year, but you know, your translation, whatever it is, will be pretty close.

So Isaiah 49:8:

8 This is what the Lord says: I will answer you in a time of favor, and I will help you in the day of salvation. I will keep you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to make them possess the desolate inheritances, 9 saying to the prisoners, “Come out,” and to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.” They will feed along the pathways, and their pastures will be on all the barren heights. 10 They will not hunger or thirst, the scorching heat or sun will not strike them; for their compassionate one will guide them, and lead them to springs. 11 I will make all my mountains into a road, and my highways will be raised up. 12 See, these will come from far away, from the north and from the west, and from the land of Sinim. 13 Shout for joy, you heavens! Earth, rejoice! Mountains break into joyful shouts! For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. 14 Zion says, “The Lord has abandoned me; the Lord has forgotten me!” 15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you. 16 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. 17 Your builders hurry; those who destroy and devastate you will leave you. 18 Look up, and look around. They all gather together; they come to you. As I live”— this is the Lord ‘s declaration— “you will wear all your children as jewelry, and put them on as a bride does. 19 For your waste and desolate places and your land marked by ruins will now be indeed too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. 20 Yet as you listen, the children that you have been deprived of will say, ‘This place is too small for me; make room for me so that I may settle.’ 21 Then you will say within yourself, ‘Who fathered these for me? I was deprived of my children and unable to conceive, exiled and wandering— but who brought them up? See, I was left by myself— but these, where did they come from?'” 22 This is what the Lord God says: Look, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my banner to the peoples. They will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders. 23 Kings will be your guardians and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord ; those who put their hope in me will not be put to shame. 24 Can the prey be taken from a mighty man, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered? 25 For this is what the Lord says: “Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken, and the prey of a tyrant will be delivered; I will contend with the one who contends with you, and I will save your children. 26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they will be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. Then all humanity will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” (Isaiah 49:8-26, CSB)

1 This is what the Lord says: Where is your mother’s divorce certificate that I used to send her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was sent away because of your transgressions. 2 Why was no one there when I came? Why was there no one to answer when I called? Is my arm too weak to redeem? Or do I have no power to rescue? Look, I dry up the sea by my rebuke; I turn the rivers into a wilderness; their fish rot because of lack of water and die of thirst. 3 I dress the heavens in black and make sackcloth their covering. (Isaiah 50:1-3, CSB)

And God, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, our Strength, and our Redeemer. Amen.

14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14, CSB)

So in Isaiah 49:50-53, there are actually five analogies that show up in this passage. Five pictures of who God is. And these analogies, as they are true for Israel, you know, 600 years, nearly 600 years before Christ, they’re true for us. God is the same.

And so here are the five analogies. And the first one is, the Lord gives us a picture of Him as a shepherd. He talks about your pasture lands, and “I will comfort you and I will protect you.” And a lot of that first section that we read, a lot of it kind of resembles the 23rd Psalm. And the shepherd theme is deep, as you know, in the Bible. David was a shepherd. The shepherds showed up at Jesus’ birth. Jesus Himself calls Himself what? The Good Shepherd.

Now, how many of you are familiar with raising sheep? That’s just a-, well, we got some. We got some. All right, all right. We got some sheep. We got some shepherds here. Not often do you find shepherds in a local American church, but in the first century and before that, shepherds were very common in Israel.

And because they have such an esteemed place in the Bible, we tend to think that they’re an esteemed part of the culture. They weren’t. They were not considered the affluent, the best. One of the reasons is, you know what shepherds smell like? Sheep. You know what sheep smell like? Bad. Yeah, they smell bad. So, I mean, they’re all furry and cute… sheep. No, sheep. They’re stinky. They’re kind of mean. They can be kind of mean. And of all the, you know, herd animals, they’re not the smartest. Yeah.

I mean, here God makes us the crown of His creation. He creates us in His image and likeness. And yet, in our fallenness and rebellion, He says, “Man, you’re a bunch of sheep. I got to take care of you like sheep.”

But the Lord is your shepherd, and the shepherd is—certainly in first century and before—the shepherd’s job was to provide. I will lead you out to where? Green pastures. I guess sheep are too stupid to find green pastures on their own. It’s like, “No, you can’t eat there. You already ate that. It’s all in the ground. Come on, look over there.” It’s like, you know, dogs are smarter than sheep. But, you know, one of the silly things that we do is we point for dogs. Like, we throw some food and they’re not seeing it. We go, “There,” and what do they do? They sniff our finger. It’s like, what sheep? It’s over there. No, the shepherd has to lead them to green pastures.

The shepherd also protects them. And back in the day, this was a real deal because sheep are at that part of the food chain that wolves and lions and bears and coyotes… That’s good eating. Yeah, that’s right.

And David learns this as a shepherd. He learns to protect the flock. And so when he goes up against Goliath, he goes, “What’s this nine foot Philistine? I have knocked out lions, I have not. I have defeated bears. God has been with me when I’ve been out on the field all by myself protecting the sheep.”

And Jesus says, the good shepherd will do what? He will get in front of the danger, between the danger and the sheep, and is willing to lay down his life for the sheep. The hireling will say, “Sheep shmeep.” You know, “I’d rather the wolves get the sheep than get me.” But not the shepherd. The shepherd will protect even with his life, and the shepherd will comfort. The shepherd will lead and comfort. The sheep feel safe in the shepherd’s care.

And that’s what the 23rd Psalm, right? The Lord is my shepherd. He provides. I shall not want. He leads me beside still waters. He takes me to green pastures. He restores my soul. He protects us. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Again, He provides for us. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live. (Psalms 23:5-6, CSB)

This shepherd analogy is powerful. It’s even powerful to modern people. I think I told you the story about the atheistic—not atheistic—the Baptist lady who had left her faith, and she was dying, and her husband came to—remember that story? You want me to tell again? I’ll tell again.

This lady, she—something happened to her in church when she was a young woman. She was a devout Baptist. Something happened to her. She got mad at church and therefore got mad at God and stopped going to church. Years and years later, her second husband knows of her faith in the past, knows that she doesn’t, she’s not walking in it now, and she’s dying. And he comes to me and he says, “Please go see my wife, please go see my wife.” And I said, “Sure, I’ll go see your wife.”

And I went to see, and we had a nice little chat, you know, by her bedside. And then I said, “May I pray for you?” And she’s one of only two people in my whole ministry who has ever refused. She said, “No, I don’t want that.” I said, “Okay.” And I walked out the door, and I thought, “Gave it my best shot.” And the Holy Spirit, walking out the door, I’m about ready to go down the hall and like a dog—really, it was literally like a dog. I hear, “Stay, stay, stay.”

The nurses were coming in to take her to the bathroom and get her kind of cleaned up and ready for her nap or dinner or whatever. So I’m standing outside the room. The nurses come in, they get her up, take her to the bathroom, do their business. That took a long time. And I’m just standing in the hallway like a geek, you know, it’s like people are walking by and I’m just like, “God, come on. You didn’t really say—” “Stay.” “”But God—” “Stay.” Alright.

Finally, she gets back out and the Lord says, Go back in and pray with her.” She don’t want me to pray with her. And God is a sneaky God. He’s tricksy. Yeah, He gives me a trick. I walked back. She goes, “Oh, I thought you had left,” she goes. “You know, I was going to, but,” I said, “do you like poetry?” She goes, “I do like poetry.” I said, “I’d like to recite to you an old piece of Hebrew poetry.” And she said, “That would be nice.”

And I said, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures and he leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake.”

And by the time I got to this verse, this little Baptist lady from her childhood with tears in her eyes begins to say, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” Got to do King James. Got to do King James. I’m not a fan of the King James, but 23rd Psalm, you know, you got to go there.

“He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. He anoints my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. (Psalms 23:1-6, KJV)

Now the tears are running down her cheek as she finished that Psalm with me. I didn’t say a salvation prayer or nothing. I just knew. I just knew. God just took this, melted that hard heart with what? The picture of a shepherd.

He told her, “You haven’t talked to me for 30 years. Guess what? Here, at the hour of your death, I’m still here.” God is good. He is a shepherd, dear ones.

The second analogy is the Lord as a parent. As a parent, even if your mother forgets you, He will not forget you. Psalm 27 says the same thing. “Even if my mother and father forsake me, the Lord will not forsake me.”

The Lord is a good parent. He’s a good father, and in this Psalm, He’s a good mother. Oh, how can that be? Well, you know, it’s there, all right? So deal with it. All right, I’m not being a heretic. It’s in the Bible, so… But yeah, he’s a good, good Father.

Jesus talked to Him, talked about Him as Father. You know, if you’re all caught up in pronouns, I talk to God as I talk about God as Him. Just want to let you know, but He’s a parent. He has compassion on you, like every parent. Like a good mother has compassion on her children.

Oh, my goodness. I married a woman who is a wonderful mother. Jill Clancy is a terrific mom. I mean, I’m just… I’m so grateful that I married such a wonderful mother for my children. I had a call in my life to be a father, but I think the best thing a good father can do is marry a woman who’s going to be a good mother, you know, and she was a wonderful mother.

And I thought nothing could surpass that until she had grandchildren. I tell you what, if you were up in heaven, and I don’t believe in the pre-existence of souls, but if you were, but if heaven does have the pre-existence of souls, I know my seven grandchildren were up there beforehand and said, “No, we want to be her grandchild. We want to be her grandchild.”

She says she didn’t do this, but I think she did. I think I remember her doing this. I remember Theo one time, you know, my nine-year-old, he was younger then. He said, “Grandma, can I have an ice cream sandwich?” And she said, “Theo, dinner is 10 minutes away. So only one.” That’s Grandma.

And she just is. I mean, she was watching Narnia with them last night and reading to them, and, you know, now they’re 12 and 10, and they still want to come spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Mostly Grandma’s house.

Grandpa, you know, I roughhouse with them, and we talk sports together, and that’s all fun. But when it comes, you know, “You guys want to bake cookies?” Yes, we want to bake cookies. Yes, we want to sit down and eat popcorn and watch Narnia with you, Grandma. I mean, they just love it. All right?

Jill would not forget her children or her grandchildren. God will not forget you. He has more. He’s better. He’s better than her. And I gotta say, she’s pretty good. He’s better than her. All right?

Remember the song that was so popular? My brother-in-law, he hates, he says he hates repetitive songs, but he just loved “Good, Good Father.” That is one of the most repetitive songs. I mean, it just goes, “You’re perfect in all of your ways.” Eight times. “You’re a good, good Father. That’s who you are.” Who are you? “You’re a good, good Father.” Now what are you again? “You’re a good, good Father.”

I remember driving by a church when that song was really popular, and a little billboard outside said, “This Sunday there’s a good, good chance we’ll sing ‘Good, good Father.'”

When Jesus comes, when God comes to reveal Himself on earth, and Jesus reveals God three in one, what does He call the first person of the Trinity? All the names in the Old Testament, you know? El Shaddai, Yahweh, you know… all those names that God is called. Almighty one, Lord of hosts—all those names that are used for God. And one of the names that is rarely used for God, hardly at all in the Old Testament, Jesus brings forth as the primary address. And when He teaches us to pray, He says, “Talk to Him like this: Our Father.” Daddy. Daddy.

And so He is a good Father. He is compassionate. He will not forget you. He will encourage you. He will draw boundaries for you. He will instruct you in the way.

Fathers, good fathers, often are the imparters of wisdom. They’re the imparters of wisdom. Kids, typically, not exclusively, but as small children, they look to their mothers for nurture, for comfort. You get an owie, you go to mom. I love the fact—it’s not exclusive—I love the fact when my little 2-year-old granddaughter, Colette, we call her Letty. Okay, this is hilarious. She knows her name’s Colette, but everybody calls her Letty. So now she insists on being called Letty the Colette.

She’s Letty the Collette. So Letty got hurt at our house, and you know her mom and grandma are, “Letty, you want me to hold you?” And she looks at me, goes, “No. Kahuna.” That’s great. Come here, sweetie, I’ll hold you.

So grandpas can do it too. Dads can do it too.

But the kids tend to look to their mothers for nurture. Mother kind of—even if she works outside of the home, mom still kind of represents that domestic home life, that safe kind of cocoon of love and security.

Dad represents the world. And that’s why fathers, especially when their children start reaching adolescence, are so important. A lot of fathers have quit by then because men can be wimpy and quit, and some women can be overaggressive and chase them out of the role. “You’re not doing that right.” You know? It’s like, stop it. Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. If you got a dad who’s investing positively in your kids, let him do it.

Hey, some of the greatest memories of most kids’ lives start with these words, father to a child: “Hey, here’s what we’re going to do. Don’t tell your mother.” That’s a recipe for a great memory or a disaster. You know? Here’s what we’re going to do. Don’t tell your mother.

I don’t know if you know this, Jamie, but Stevin was talking about future grandchildren, and he was wondering about how, you know, your kids and you are going to feel when he throws them up on a horse. Don’t tell Grandma, but we’re going riding.

But you know, that’s who God is. He is both nurturing, comforting, and caring. But He is also the God of adventure. Right? Right?

Hey, we came back from Kentucky to Washington. What are we going to do now? You thought Kentucky was a ways away. How about the other side of the world? How about the other side of the world?

Hey, God, I’m pastoring a church in California. This is cool, man. We got 500-600 people. They like me, I like them. I got sermon series lined up. My kids are happy, my wife is happy. Life is going well. I just, I can’t get Washington off my mind. I’m going to send up one of these young boys we’re discipling. They’re going to plant a church up there. God, how do you like my plan? “I don’t like it.” You don’t like my plan? “Nah, too easy. You leave everything and go.” I don’t want to. Had all sorts of excuses. I don’t want to.

So He’s the God of adventure.

He’s good. You can rebel against Him like children often do against their parents, but it’s hard. Listen, I got news for you. It’s hard to follow Jesus. It’s hard to be a Christian disciple.

I was talking to a guy. He was messing up. He’d given his life to Christ not long ago. And then he, you know, he was going through a divorce. Very painful. A lot of people give their lives to Christ. He’s going through a painful divorce. You know, he’s worried about his kids and all that. So he just kind of turned and said, “I need help, man. My life’s a mess. I need help.” So he gave his life to Christ and started getting better.

His wife was getting on with another guy, and so he’s like, “All right.” He’s kind of resigned. “All right, whatever, you know, here I am, Lord, I got this new life. I’m a single dad. What do I do?”

Then this cute gal came into his life, and guess what? Before you know it, she’s living with him. But here’s the deal. She’s crazy. You see, cute sometimes disguises crazy. And so now he’s living with crazy, and he’s complaining to me about it. And so I was very nurturing and caring and covering. I said, “Well, you were stupid, man.” I said, “You caved. You were following Jesus, and then you decided not to.” He goes, “I know, I know.” And I go, “Look, man, I understand. Girls are cute, you know, it’s hard not to fall for that. You know, she’s willing, she’s available. She’s flirty.” That’s how they get into your life, you know? They’re all warm and affectionate and cuddly and cute and flirty. It’s a trap. Just let me tell you. It’s a trap. Sometimes it’s a trap. And I told him, I said just what I told you. I said, “I know. I know, buddy. It’s hard to follow Jesus because it is, man. It’s hard to follow Jesus.”

And I said, “But you know what’s harder?” He goes, “What?” “Not following him.” He kind of like, “Yeah, you’re right. Because now I got to get rid of crazy.” You know, it would have been better not to start with crazy. He’s got to get rid of her now. I don’t know if he has yet.

Well, God is your parent. If you listen to Him, He’ll protect you from crazy. All right?

I tell young people all the time, “Let God pick your partner.” “I know what I want.” Let God pick your partner. He will do a better job than you. He will do a better job than you. All right?

And she won’t be perfect. And he won’t be perfect, but he’ll be the best one out there for you. She’ll be the best one out there for you. He’s a good parent.

The third. I love it. It’s right here in the back of the church. God engraves His name on the palm of your hand. Isn’t it nice for Empowered Church to put that up for my sermon? You are never forgotten. Your name, or God’s name, is engraved on the palm of your hand.

God is an engraver. What does that mean? He claims you as His own. He owns you. It’s like, it’s like… What do they call it? It’s like branding. You belong to my ranch. You belong to me. How do I know I belong to you? Oh, Jesus. Well, what? We have a mark on us.

It’s not a physical mark, you know, you don’t—it didn’t get tattooed on you. We don’t do tattoos when people come to faith in Christ, what do we do? We baptize them. That’s your mark. That’s your mark. You are marked as a Christian at your baptism. By the way, you go ahead and find for me in the New Testament where that’s an option. Go ahead, find it for me where God says, “You know, repent, believe, and, you know, if you get around to it in five or six years, you think it’s the right time and the weather’s good and the water’s warm… Well, why don’t you think about maybe getting baptized.” That’s not in the Bible. Everybody—the only exception, there’s one exception. Thief on the cross, unless Jesus spit on him. But other than that, repent, believe, be baptized. That’s kind of the formula.

Sometimes it’s only two of the three, but those three in the Book of Acts appear regularly. Baptism marks you. It engraves Jesus on you, it imprints him on your soul. You go under one person, you come up a new person. You go under with sin, you come up clean. You go under spiritless, you come up spirit full. You are refreshed, renewed, forgiven.

You know what the Bible says? Baptized for the forgiveness of sins. So if you haven’t been baptized, get baptized, all right? Just do it. It’s God’s mark on you. Don’t you want God engraved on you? Don’t you want to belong to the family of God? That is the initiation rite into the church.

Anybody can come in this building and hang out with us as long as they’re not disruptive. But you want to be a part of the family? This is what our family does, right? When you raised your kids, there are things—this is what our family does. We went to church on Sunday. That’s what our family does. Our kids had an option. They could choose not to go to church if they didn’t want to eat. Fair enough. If you don’t want to eat, you don’t have to go to church.

Luckily, fortunately—I don’t say luckily, I say because of God—our kids always wanted to go to church. They never knew any different. And church was fun. Church was a happy place. It wasn’t filled with a bunch of old fuddy duddies. All right?

If I ever turn into an old fuddy duddy pastor, just tell me, all right? I don’t want to be a fuddy. Am I fuddy duddy now? Did your kids have fun in church? All right. Good. Good. Yeah.

All right, so listen. You belong to God. You have family rules. You have, your family does certain things. And we have been engraved by God. We’ve been marked as His. We belong to Him.

He restores us, even to a greater glory. Listen, everything that God does in your life, He’s doing to bring you to another level of promotion. The hardships that you endure are preparing you, giving you the spiritual muscle to carry the next level of glory and fruitfulness.

And it may not look like it on the outside. God is not—listen, our perspective, God’s perspective. You’re not smarter than Him. You don’t know all the possibilities, all the possible answers. What you do know is when He says, “Jump,” your response is, “How high?” When He says, “Who will I send?” Like the prophet Isaiah, you say, “Me, me, me. Here I am. Send me. Send me.”

You’re marked. That means you belong to Jesus.

I had a friend in high school, and he got a bumper sticker. He thought he was being super cool. It said, “God is my co-pilot.” And the minute I saw that—I was a very new Christian—but the minute I saw that, I thought, “No, that’s off. That’s off. God’s the pilot. You’re the passenger.” You’re the passenger. God’s pilot. He doesn’t just help you every now and then when you need Him.

You know, many of us, we ask Jesus into our life because we got a problem, like my friend going through divorce, struggling. “Jesus, come help.” And He helped. Jesus came and helped. He gave him endurance. He gave him wisdom. He gave him patience with his wife. He gave him the ability to forgive his ex-wife. He gave him wisdom with his children. He gave him a new job. He helped him.

And then he goes off and, “Okay, great, thanks for that, God. Now I’m going to just go do this.” Gets himself in a mess again. It’s like, no, just listen. Let Him come into the house to fix the plumbing. But when He’s done with the plumbing, if He wants to start knocking out walls, let Him. Let Him.

You’re engraved.

All right, then. The Lord is as a conqueror. The Lord as a conqueror. He is the Mighty One. I love that He is the Mighty One. There’s nobody bigger. How do we know that? Easter. Easter is the defining moment in the history of this planet. And it’s the defining moment in the history of the spiritual war in the cosmos. It is the battle that declares the outcome of the war that had already been decided before the foundations of the world. But it is the battle. All of hell—and the Bible even says, it says of the Pharisees, but it’s also true of the demons of hell. They said if they would have known, they would not have crucified the king of glory.

Psalm 22: The bulls of Bashan surround me. There were no bulls there. Yeah, there were. The snarling beasts. Jesus is seeing spiritually, all the demons of hell, gleefully—

Narnia, last night, you know, all the wicked queen’s creatures are all cheering when Aslan is being killed. They’re all snarling, “Yeah, we did it.” All the demons of hell are surrounding that cross, and they’re snarling and they’re gloating. And the gloating and the arrogance that comes out of the Pharisees and some of the visitors is simply a manifestation of what’s happening in the heavenlies.

And they’re all going, “Ah, we got Him. We got Him. We got Him.” And they kill Him. And He goes down. He walks up to Satan, He takes the keys of death and Hades, and He rises from the grave. And all of hell that was snarling just a couple days ago, now they’re going, “Yikes. Our biggest weapon. Our biggest weapon, death. And He bounced up from it like it’s nothing.”

Why? You can’t keep the Author of life in the grave. Life rose from the grave. Sin has been defeated. Enemy number one. Why? On the cross He took the consequences of our sin. And in His resurrection He came to new life, and that new life now sets us free from the bondage of sin. You may still sin; I still sin. But you know what? When we sin, we’re not a slave to it anymore. We’re just living off of old tapes and moments of weakness. Our flesh is just reacting the way it’s reacted out of habit for years to come, and the Holy Spirit, through discipleship, is teaching us new habits. But it no longer has a hold on you. You’re free of the consequences of sin. You’re free of the power of sin.

Second enemy, Satan and his demons. Their lives are now powerless. Why? You have a name, Jesus, and a truth, His Word, that defeats every lie. That defeats every lie.

It’s amazing when people are traumatized as young children how the devil instantly moves in and speaks lies into their lives. Almost every child of a divorce. The devil is not creative, he’s just persistent. Almost every child of a divorce believes in their heart that it was their fault. That’s a lie. Doesn’t mean they weren’t little stinkers. They were, but it wasn’t their fault their parents got divorced.

And the devil speaks that to people, and people live out of that brokenness. It’s amazing. I’ve seen this happen, praying with people when you simply—you don’t—one thing we’re always tempted to do is to tell them the truth. Just tell them the truth. “No, no, no. God says you’re this. God says…” And that’s, that’s good, that’s good to do. But one of the things is sometimes you just let God tell them the truth. You just invite the Holy Spirit into that space, and you have them, you direct them to renounce that lie.

Just say this, you know, “In the name of the Lord Jesus, I renounce and reject the lie that I’ve been living with.” And then, “Holy Spirit, come and replace that lie with truth.” And the Bible will speak to them. God will speak to them. Either a thought will come to their head that’s scriptural, or a picture will come to mind, and that lie will be replaced by a life-giving truth. Because God is the conqueror.

The Name of Jesus, it’s not magic. The sons of Sceva found that out in the book of Acts. It’s not magic. But when it’s tied to the relationship with Jesus, there’s no more powerful name. Nothing makes hell tremble like a Christian who speaks the blood of the risen Savior, Jesus, over their circumstances. He has no answer for that. No answer for that.

Satan has been defeated, and finally death has been defeated. I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will never die. And then Jesus acknowledges physical death. He says, though they die, yet will they live. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?

Listen, death’s an enemy. You know, some Christians, we treat death like, “Oh, you know, they died, they went to a better place.” It’s all true. But God’s answer to death isn’t to celebrate death. God’s answer to death is resurrection, because death could not hold Jesus in the grave, so when you have a hold of Jesus, it can’t hold you. Your spirit will rise, I believe—some people believe in soul sleep; I don’t—your spirit will rise immediately. To depart from the body is to be like Christ. But guess what?

Just as Jesus experienced a physical resurrection, you get a physical resurrection, too. Our bodies will be resurrected, and they will be flawless and perfect, and they will never get sick again. They won’t hurt again. And you will have a resurrection, resurrected, glorious body. You’ll be recognizable for who you are. You know, I don’t know if you can pick your age, but, you know, you might look the age in heaven to the people who loved you, like when they loved you.

You might look like grandpa to your grandchildren and look like your high school buddy to your high school buddy. I don’t know how it’s going to work, but I know you get a new resurrected body. And this old tent, which wears out, all right? Anybody’s tent, you feel like it’s wearing out sometimes? You know, I remember, and this was years and years ago. I remember the first time I hurt myself sleeping. What’s that about? Sleeping? You know, used to sleep and feel better. You reach a point where you sleep and it’s like, “Oh, my gosh, I pulled the muscle sleeping. How did I do that?” That old tent. God heals that tent. He touches that tent. He restores that tent. He saves that tent.

Often He demonstrates He’s the resurrection of the life by bringing somebody back from the brink of cancer. But whether He does or doesn’t, you are raised, you are healed. He has defeated death. You don’t have to fear it. You don’t have to fear it.

So He’s mighty God, He’s conqueror.

Finally, the Lord as a husband. The final analogy is the Lord is a husband. He said, “Where’s your mother’s certificate of divorce? I didn’t divorce your mother. She left me. It was her transgression. You think my arm’s too short to restore this relationship? You think my arm’s too… I will save you. I will restore you.”

One of the most precious pictures in the Bible. One of the most—God is always giving prophets. He’s telling prophets to do weird things to illustrate a point. Ezekiel has to lay on his side and eat food cooked over dung for a year. Jeremiah has to wear weird costumes. Isaiah has to preach naked. He’s, you know, He’s always giving, like, these instructions to these, you know, make your point visually, be an enacted parable.

But I think that the most amazing one is not out of the major prophets, but out of the minor prophets when God says to Hosea, go marry a prostitute. Go marry a woman that you know is going to be unfaithful. Every man’s dream on his wedding day. “Honey, I know you’re going to cheat, but here we are. I love you.”

And the minute you’re married and you love her and she goes out and starts cheating with other men, and instead of casting her aside, God tells Hosea, “Bring her back. Heal her wounds and love her again.” And God’s telling Hosea, “That’s me.” God will restore. God will bring His bride back.

The best thing about social media is all the arguments I’ve won on social media. No, that’s not… all the arguments I should have won, yes. But all the arguments I’ve actually won where people have actually changed their mind? Man, people are stubborn when they meet brilliant reasoning. I don’t get it.

So, no, the best thing about social media are the memes. They just are. They’re funny. They’re just funny. You know, and one of them is, you know, if Jesus or Paul was in America right now, church would be getting a letter. The church should be getting a letter. It’s like, all right, because God restores.

And so I believe revival is here actually, and it’s going to grow and it’s coming. And I believe it for three reasons. One, God is willing to restore His people and send revival.

You know, when people get healed by Jesus, they always have one of two questions. And this is the rarer of the questions. Mostly, you know, Jesus tries to increase their faith that “I’m able to do this,” but not with one man. The leper, in the beginning of the Gospels, Mark, he comes to Jesus and he doesn’t say, “Can you heal me?” He says, “If you’re willing.”

You see, he doesn’t know if God is good or not. He knows God is powerful. He knows Jesus is powerful, but he doesn’t know if his leprosy is some kind of punishment; if he deserves it; if, you know, Jesus is just going to say, “Get away from me, you filthy dog.” He’s just not sure about that.

And I love the answer to that. I love what the Bible says. It says, “Jesus, filled with compassion…” Well, who is Jesus representing? The Father. Jesus, filled with the compassion, says, “I am willing.” It says He reached out and touched the leper. We forget. He touched the leper, the unclean, untouchable.

I take it a bit further. I can believe this. It’s not in the Bible. You don’t have to hold it as a creed. I think He put His hand on the worst sore, the oozy, gross part, and said, “I am willing. Be clean.”

Is God willing to restore His church and send revival upon this land? I believe He is. Is God able? That’s the second question. Can God do it? I mean, God, we’re filled with so much sin. We’re filled with so much rebellion. We’re filled with so much materialism. And we could be like Israel, God’s wife in Isaiah. It’s your sin. If we don’t seek Him, then yes, I don’t believe He will send revival if we don’t seek Him. He won’t just do it automatically. But does He have the power to do it? If we would but repent.

What does that, Chronicles say? If you repent and seek my face, if you turn. That’s what repentance is. Repentance is God’s back there, and I’m doing this. Yeah, God, I got this covered. I can live my life my own way. I can do church my own way. By the way, I just read on this new church growth magazine all the best demographics on how to get more people to come to church. And how many parking spots I need. And, you know, and do I really need skinny jeans and new tennis shoes? Yeah, all that. And my hair’s got to be this way and all that.

And I’m not picking on that. Yeah, I am. I am, actually. And, you know, and it’s like, and God says, “Well, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I didn’t call you to be slick.” And we do this: “What?” Repent.

You know, all we have to be is a teenage boy. All we have to be is a teenage boy. Because here’s a teenage boy. They’re playing their video games, and you talk to them, and first they don’t even hear you. And finally you get their attention, and here’s what they say: “Wait, what?” That’s right. “Wait, what?”

I mean, I had, I have a nephew. And I mean, that is the first words out of his mouth every time. He’s just absorbed in something. “Hey, Bradley. Hey, Bradley. Bradley.” “Wait, what?” I tell you, that boy at his wedding… “Will you take Susan to be your lawful—” “Wait. What? Is that why I’m here? Huh?”

“God, I got this covered.” “Kevin.” “What? I got this covered.” “Kevin.” “I got this covered. Wait, what?” “Thank you.” Repent. God can do anything with a person in His hands. He prophesied through a donkey. He prophesied through a donkey. Wait, what? Yeah, you, too. You can do it, you know. God can do it. He is able.

God will do it. Not because we deserve it. Repentance doesn’t earn anything. Right? Your kids, right? Christmas. We all, you know, teach them, “Oh, Santa’s watching. You better be good. You don’t want to get on the naughty list.” They’re naughty. They’re naughty all the way up to Christmas. You still give them the gifts. Not because they deserve them. Your kids never earned a gift from you. You gave it because it was a gift.

But here’s what they did do. They sought it. They sought it. And if you’re a good dad, you delighted in that.

Jill’s dad was a wonderful grandfather. That’s where she got it. By this time of year, earlier, by September, he would have a piece of yellow legal paper, folded up, you know, before cell phones, folded up in his pocket. The kids would go over to his house, and he’d pull out this folded piece of paper. He’d say, “I’m making the list. I’m making the list.” And he’d, “Ask, ask me what you want. Making the list.” He did it out of pure joy and love.

God will give us revival, not because we deserve it, but because we need it and we ask for it.

If my people who are called by my name will simply humble themselves. Hey, we’re not smart enough. We can’t manipulate this into happening. We’re not clever enough. We haven’t, you know, we don’t have enough strategy books. You know, sometimes I think of the third. If Psalm 3, 5, and 6 were written for today, it would be: trust in your plans with all your heart and lean heavily on the latest demographic studies. In all your ways, acknowledge the experts, and then you will be successful in your path will be straight, and you’ll get to be one of the experts and write a book.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And do what? Lean not on your own understanding, just in all your ways turn to Him and acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; (Proverbs 3:5, CSB)

Holy Spirit, in the name of the Lord Jesus, this little group of people, Poulsbo, Washington… we’re not smart enough, we’re not clever enough, we’re not slick enough. We simply ask in the powerful Name of Jesus, the resurrected Savior, who died for our sins and rose from the grave, who sent His spirit to fill the earth and bring the glory of the Lord as far as the east is from the west. The prophet Habakkuk said, “As the waters cover the sea, so my glory will cover the earth.”

And Lord, we pray that in our lifetime, in our country, in our state, in our county, in the church that we attend, oh, your glory would fall. We humbly ask in the name of the Lord Jesus, send a revival so deep, so rich, that we’ll never be the same. And so deep and so rich that it will impact culture for generations to come, if you tarry. We pray it in Jesus’ Name. He is willing and able. Amen. Amen.

On the night that He was betrayed, He took bread and He broke it. He gave it to his disciples and said, this is my body, which is given for you.

And in the same way, after supper, He took the cup, poured it out, gave thanks to His Father in heaven. And listen to this: This is my blood. Wow. My blood is going to be poured out. And in that blood, I’m establishing a New Covenant with the human race where their sins are forgiven.

And I’m going to fill them with my Spirit and re-Eden the planet through ordinary people like Peter and James and John. Knucklehead fishermen.

And He can do it through knucklehead us. Isn’t that good to know?

Another meme I like is when God called you, He already factored in your stupidity. Isn’t that great? God’s not up there going, “Man, I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have given him that assignment.” No, He knew. He knew who you were.

You know what else he knew that you don’t know? You might be keenly aware of your stupidity, but you know what else He knows that you don’t know? The riches of the glory that dwell in you. How high, how long, how deep, how wide, how broad is His love for you. And the power, the incomparable power that raised Jesus from the dead—it’s in your belly. It’s in your heart. It’s in you.

So come and once again renew that covenant and say “Thank you for forgiving my sins and thank you for filling me with your Spirit, and Jesus, I’ve been branded by you in baptism and now I’m nourished by you at your table. And I will pour out my life for you in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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