This is Revival
Habakkuk 3:1-2
3/77

I. "Afraid" 3:2a
1. Why?
(1) He lived between the destruction of Israel 722 B.C. and Judah 587 B.C.
One had happened. The other he himself predicted 1:6-9
The destruction a judgment of God. Hab. 1:12 - When Isaiah asked, 10:5
2. Afraid also today. Of what?
Afraid of the judgments of God. Gal. 6:7
(1) War a judgment of God
Habakkuk spoke of 722-587 = 135 years
In my lifetime World War I, II, Korea, Vietnam
Nuclear stockpiling
World War I fought on the land
World War II fought on the seas (Pearl Harbor)
World War III fought in the air, skies
They plot our destruction. Whether we live or die in the imponderables
of God.
America cannot survive in drunkenness, debauchery, desecration
3. Things alarm me about America
1. The decay of our cities
Drug addiction
(2) Alcoholics (drunkenness)
This the end result
(a) New York City - bankrupt , first spiritually
"one vast bar" - TV panel - 250,000 alcoholics
One million family members destroyed by drug abuse
(b) Women increasingly
2. The terrible rise in crime - Works for the destruction of the cities
(3) Crime, violence, terrorism. Afraid to walk on the streets
The end result --Curve of criminal statistics rising alarmingly in America
Over one million boys, girls, early years, enter career of crime
TV
Taught they are animals; then act like it
Objections to reference books on creation
My book given - Did Man Just Happen?
3. The dissolution of the home
(4) Human misery works for the decline of the nation.
Every day courts open, more than 3,000 divorces - 6 % of world pop. -50% divorce
Edward Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" - 5 reasons
Our secular society without God -not all external- internal collapse
(a) Newspaper Guide - "What To Do On Sunday"
Lie in bed and read Sunday newspapers
Local bookstores and newsstands, flea markets, Trader's Village
Grayline Tours, Dallas Zoo, museums, golf courses, shooting range,
Motorcycle trails, model airplane flying, basketball recreation centers,
Walk thru DeGolyer Estate gardens, picnic in park, hiking, biking, jogging
"Oh yes, there's one other possibility: You can spend your Sunday mornings writing songs about what bummers Sunday mornings are. Some people have gotten rich doing it, we hear."
Never a mention of church!

The Response of the Prophet

II. Prayed for revival 3:1, 2b
1. Revival will save a nation - Judah, Hezekiah, Sennacherib
England, Wesley, French Revolution
2. Revival will save a city - Nineveh, Jonah
Antioch, John Chrysostom
3. Revival will save a church - (a) Liberals - "Criswell has set back the SBC 20 years."
" " " denomination
Wish I could have set it back 120 years - revival between Finney and Moody
50,000 souls a week
. . . . . . . . . . 220 years - the Great Awakening - Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards . . . . . . . . . . 2000 years - Holy Spirit - revival
4. Revival will save a life, a soul
I was saved in one
The spirit of care, prayer, intercession, witness, invitation
" " " commitment, reconsecration
(1) Praying for our own souls
Forgive me my barren, sterile unfruitful life.
I am not what I could be, ought to be, can be. Isa. 59:1
(2) Praying for the lost - by name
(3) Pray for the outpouring of the Spirit
(4) Rejoicing in the harvest
(a) The man to me, "I have said 'no' to God for the last time, I am coming." (b) I am resolved no longer to linger
Charmed by the world's delight.
Things that are nobler, things that are higher
These have allured my sight.

I have decided to follow Jesus
No turning back, no turning back.
Should no one join me, I still will follow
The world behind me, the cross before me
No turning back, no turning back.