The church in Ephesus sounds pretty decent to me. They had been through some rough times but they had worked hard, stayed true to Jesus, dealt well with sin in their midst, and persevered despite the challenges. What a solid church. Good theology, committed, faithful, robust, stable. Like us, they were difficult to fault in any major way. There were no obvious “wicked ways” from which to turn. Yet Jesus is so unhappy with this church that he threatens to finish their work completely, to wipe them out. What? Their problem was that they did not love Jesus the way they did at first and it showed in their actions.

Seek God’s Face – Ps 24:1-10

The Bible says that David was both angry with and afraid of God, and he cried, “How can I ever bring the Ark of God to me?” (1 Chron. 13:12). So he left the Ark close by and returned to Jerusalem. Because of what happened, David was too afraid to bring the Ark into Jerusalem. He did not feel worthy or able to live close to God. God was too frightening, too dangerous, too holy. It was another three months before he was ready to try again. David did a lot of soul searching during this time and realised how he could seek God’s face and live close to a holy, all-powerful God.

We need to join Jesus in praying for unity. A divided church will never see revival. It cannot be a clear witness to the world. It cannot reflect the love and grace of the gospel. It cannot show the reality and beauty of Jesus. It will be stuck with its judgements and disagreements and arguments and splits. It will be clear evidence to the lost that the church is no different from the world. With Jesus, we need to pray and pray for unity among believers in preparation for revival. “May we be one.”

Harvest Worker – Matt 9:35-38

Jesus called on his disciples to pray for God to send out more harvest workers. The opportunities to serve and reap were great, but there were not enough workers to meet the need. This must be our prayer as well. It involves praying for more Christians to share their faith and serve their communities (both here and overseas). It also means praying for God to raise up more leaders who will be good shepherds pastoring and supporting their people well. As we prepare for revival and a great harvest, we need to ask God to increase the harvest workers. We just do not have enough to meet the need now.

Humble Submission – James 4: 4-10

When we read a challenge like this, we can justify and protect ourselves. We can conclude that we are better

Desperate for God – 2 Chronicles 7:11-16

As God’s people humble themselves, pray like crazy, desperately seek God, and desert their disobedience, God promises to see and hear and forgive and pour out his blessing. So that is the way we prepare for revival. Why didn’t Israel use this pathway to God’s blessing more frequently? Why did they suffer so much? Because they were not desperate enough. They thought they had other options. They believed that somehow they could solve their own problems. It is desperation that drives us to God.

Acts 2 : 42-47

We have to make another mind shift. The Christian lifestyle is not built on rules & regulations. It’s not about being busy. The Christian experience is about relationships. People are more important than programs, people are more important than rules. People are more important to God than any of these things. It is not only believing, it is also about belonging. A church is measured by the love within the family. If we wanted to check with Jesus that our lives pleased him, this is what He would say. Just love one another as I have loved you.

If we truly want to be God’s people and God’s church, we have to move away from what is often commonly accepted & popular to that which is really the way God intended it to be. Today we will try to come to terms with another shift in our thinking. For it is not so much being members of God’s church or members of His family, but it is being ministers. We worship God with our lives and as members of his family we minister to those around us.

Compassion is the key. If we are to break free of past traditions within the church and present Christ to people in a relevant way, it will depend entirely how we think of those that don’t have a relationship with God. Unless we care more for people than tradition, we’ll never support change. If Jesus looked out into a large crowd of people, he wouldn’t be thinking of why they don’t go to church or how he might teach them a lesson. No, Jesus in fact, would have a very heavy heart. Jesus would be greatly distressed by the lack of real purpose in many of those lives. Do we share His pain ?