Title: Experience the Revival / Matthew 28:16-20
Content Experience revival / Matthew 28:16-20 Lee Jin-woo
We are currently in the middle of the holiday season. Many people go on vacation to escape the heat. I also went back to my hometown for a while on vacation last week, and I could see people and cars filled with people wherever there was even a little bit of water. Yesterday I heard on the news that more than 300,000 cars had passed through Seoul.
Summer vacation literally means going to escape the heat, but this year, it seems that wherever you go, there are only hot places. But this place where we gather seems like a great place to get away. It is cool because it has air conditioning, and it is good to have members who want to be together, and it is even better to receive the rain of God's grace through worship...
We hope that the church can be your retreat.
I hope you can forget the heat for a while through today's worship service.
Let's get back to today's text.
Today's text is the book of Habakkuk. The book of Habakkuk is attached to the end of the Old Testament, and like all the minor prophets, it is not a very well-known Bible because the quantity is not so great. However, the book of Habakkuk is more familiar to us as it is quoted as lyrics of praise rather than the Bible itself. We are all too familiar with the hymn, “As the waters cover the sea.” The chorus of this hymn, “As the waters cover the sea, the whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord” is based on Hab 2:14.
And the hymn that begins, “The fig tree withers and produces no grapes, and the olive tree ceases to produce fruit, and there is no vegetation in the fields...” is based on Hab 3:17-19, the last part of the text we read today.
As such, the book of Habakkuk came to us familiarly with lyrics of praise. But other than that, the verses are not very familiar.
Habakkuk consists of three chapters, and today we read only the last part of the book of Habakkuk together. The entire book of Habakkuk is not very long, so I personally recommend that you read the entire book of Habakkuk. The structure of Habakkuk 1-2 is roughly as follows. Each chapter is a conversation between the prophet Habakkuk and God. When the prophet Habakkuk asks a question to God first, God answers that question. Chapters 1 and 2 consist of two questions and answers. And finally, the book of Habakkuk ends with the text we read today.
Today's text is a prayer of thanksgiving from the prophet Habakkuk. Prophet Habakkuk concludes the book of Habakkuk with a prayer of thanksgiving to God.
In verse 1 it is written, “The prayer of Habakkuk the prophet according to Sigionot.”
Habakkuk's prayer reveals exactly what he wanted to tell Israel and what he was hoping for. In a way, it can be said that it contains all the contents of Habakkuk 1-2.
The Prophet Habakkuk begins his prayer with this prayer: Let's look at verse 2.
O LORD, I was astonished to hear about you. May your work, O LORD, revive within these years. Show it within these years. Do not forget your mercy in your wrath.
The first thing the prophet Habakkuk prays for is 'revival'. I pray for the revival of the Lord's work. We pray that the history of revival will be revealed within a few years. This is the hope and concern of many prophets who were active in this time. Restoration of Israel, Revival of Israel These were the hopes, concerns, and prayer topics of many prophets at that time, including Prophet Habakkuk.
I pray that the young people of our Shepherd Church gathered here today will have this dream of revival with one heart.
There is probably no word used as often in the church as the word revival. In the church we hear and use the word revival frequently. And many churches and Christians are praying for revival and hoping for revival.
And the time we live in right now is the time to pray for God's true revival in this generation. We are living in a very confusing generation right now. Politics, economy, society and culture It is not easy to find anything we can trust in all people. The role that many churches have to play in this generation is to deliver the true hope of revival from God. For that, the church must first pray for that revival and enjoy true revival.
What is true revival? Is it just that the number of people attending the youth service is increasing? Of course, I hope that many young people will fill this space and furthermore, this space will become cramped so that the education center worship room below will be used for the youth service. But more important than this is the thoughts and feelings of the people who are together rather than the number of people who gather. True revival is not about increasing the number of people gathered, but about changing the lives of those gathered and experiencing revival in their lives. I hope that your daily life gathered here will be a life where you experience the work of God's revival.
The true revival of the community must be based on the revival of the individual. If you want the youth community to be revitalized, you must first experience God's revival in your own life. Do you want your community to be revived? And do you want this church to be revitalized? If so, first of all, please pray that you may experience revival in your day-to-day life and that each of you may first be spiritually renewed.
I hope that the work of revival that God gives will happen because of each of you in all the communities to which you belong. I hope that God's work of revival will take place in your homes, workplaces, and campuses. If that happens, the work of revival will happen automatically in our church. And the history of revival will take place in this society and the nation as well.
During my two-year campus ministry, I realized how much God loves the young people of this land. Yet our campus ministry is like heading to the bare ground. Nothing is equipped. However, God's heart for the one campus and God's work of revival to pour on the campus are hoped for, so we rise again while heading to the bare ground. There aren't many people. There were only about 10 people when we had to gather a lot. However, I had no choice but to thank God as I saw how each one of us was changing little by little as they experienced the work of revival. Of course, I can't do campus ministry directly right now, but I still have hope for campus revival as I meet seniors and juniors who are doing campus ministry. This won't change no matter where I go or what I do.
I hope that all the young people gathered here and our church will have the hope of revival. I pray that this church will be revived. And we pray that our youth department will be revitalized. I hope that the retreat you are preparing will be an opportunity to experience God's revival. I hope that we can experience the revival of the community God gives us by preparing together and sweating together.
Among the praises we know well, there is the praise of revival. The synopsis of the lyrics is as follows.
Behold the desolation of this land, God of heaven, merciful Lord.
Forgive us our sins, heal this land
now we are all one
When we rebuild the broken foundation on this earth
Holy Spirit to burn our idols.
As I think of the lyrics of this song, I pray that a historian of revival will arise in our lives. And we pray that the work of revival will take place in this land and in this country and in this nation. If the work of revival takes place in this land, this land can be renewed. This nation and this nation and all nations and nations can be renewed. The true history of revival is bound to accompany the repentance movement.
First of all, we want a genuine repentance movement to take place in each of us. And I pray that a repentance movement will arise in this church, in this society, in this country, and in all countries and nations.
Like the lyrics of praise, we must rebuild the broken foundation of this earth. To do this, we must first repent before God, hope for revival, and experience revival.
I hope that you will meet God anew in your daily life and live while looking forward to the work of revival that God pours into your life.
I hope that all the young people of the Shepherd Church gathered here will experience the work of God-given revival in their daily lives and become those who rebuild the broken foundations of this land.