True Revival, Acts 2:37-47

The passage in Acts chapter 2 describes the beginning of the first Christian church and serves as a guide for pursuing spiritual renewal. True revival is when God's people are enlivened by a special visitation of God, resulting in a deeper experience of the gospel and transformed lives. Revival is not something to be avoided or feared, it is not an event that we plan and produce, and it is not primarily about signs and wonders. Revival is marked by a devotion to biblical teaching, a devotion to the covenant community, a devotion to spirit-filled worship, and a devotion to bold prayer. The goal of revival is to bring us to a deeper awareness of our need for God and a thirst for Him.

Takeaways

• True revival is when God's people are enlivened by a special visitation of God, resulting in a deeper experience of the gospel and transformed lives.
• Revival is marked by a devotion to biblical teaching, a devotion to the covenant community, a devotion to spirit-filled worship, and a devotion to bold prayer.
• Revival is not something to be avoided or feared, it is not an event that we plan and produce, and it is not primarily about signs and wonders.
• The goal of revival is to bring us to a deeper awareness of our need for God and a thirst for Him.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Reading of Acts Chapter 2
01:31 Overview of the First Christian Church
03:29 Understanding Spiritual Renewal and Revival
04:30 What Revival is Not
11:06 Revival is not an Event
15:57 Revival is not primarily signs and wonders
19:14 The Essence of Revival: Deeper Experience of the Gospel
30:40 The Marks of True Revival
40:40 Devotion to Biblical Teaching, Covenant Community, Spirit-filled Worship, and Bold Prayer

Creators & Guests

Host

Aaron Shamp

Lead Pastor of Redeemer City Church

What is Redeemer City Church - Lafayette, LA?

Pastor Aaron Shamp preaches about the Gospel and facets of Christianity at Redeemer City Church. These podcasts are his sermons.

Aaron Shamp (00:00.249)
started that new series today in preparation for renew. So, if you have your Bible with you, you can open up to Acts chapter 2. We're going be in Acts chapter 2 this morning. I'm going to read verses 37 through 47. So, if you have your Bible with you, you can turn there to follow along with me. Otherwise, we'll have the words on the screens next to me, so you can follow there.

Aaron Shamp (00:39.673)
All right. So today we're in Acts chapter two and I'm going to start reading in verse 37.

Aaron Shamp (00:49.271)
When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what should we do? Peter replied, Repent and be baptized each of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promises for you and for your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.

With many other words, he testified and strongly urged them saying, be saved from this corrupt generation. So those who accepted his message were baptized. And that day, about 3 ,000 people were added to them. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe.

and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all as any had need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

So as I said, today kicks off a new series that we're doing on spiritual renewal, and we're looking at this passage here in Acts chapter 2, where it describes the first Christian church.

Aaron Shamp (02:34.137)
That's what we're reading about here is the beginning of the Christian church, in the very first Christian church that there was. After Jesus' ascension, he left his disciples with instructions. He told them to remain in Jerusalem and to pray until the Holy Spirit came down upon them. And that's what they did. They prayed for about a week. You know, can you imagine that? Sometimes it's difficult for me to pray for 10 minutes. But they stayed together and they prayed for a week, waiting for the Lord to send the Holy Spirit.

as he had promised. Whatever he did, he came down during a Jewish festival and this was called the Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit came down, the people who were in Jerusalem for the festival witnessed it and Peter preached a sermon to them to explain to them what's going on, what's happening here, what is this and why are you seeing this outpouring of God's Spirit?

And we read here in this passage the results of that, of the spirit being poured out and of Peter's preaching, which is that it says they were pierced to the heart after hearing the gospel and about 3 ,000 people were saved. And then at the very end of that passage, that little paragraph, we read about what did that first church look like. So in other words, what we're getting here is a picture of what a community of people looks like whenever the Lord brings renewal, whenever he brings

revival, where he brings new life. And so that's why we're looking at this passage as we go through this series for the next few weeks, looking at spiritual renewal. It is our guide in our text to know how we pursue it, what does it look like, what are the parameters of it, and so on.

Today what we're going to do before we get into any of the specifics of this passage is we're going to do kind of just a general overview or introduction to the topic today by looking at what is true revival? What is true revival?

Aaron Shamp (04:34.039)
Because I think that maybe some of us have never thought too deeply about that before. Maybe some of us have just heard different things throughout our life, maybe witnessed some things that people said were a revival or marks of a revival. But biblically speaking, and using this text as our guide, what does true revival look like? That's going to be what we do today. So we're going to start by talking about what revival is not.

We're gonna do some contrasting there to give us a clearer picture of what it is. So we're gonna begin by talking about what revival is not. Then we'll talk about what it is, and then finally what it will look like whenever it comes. So what's revival is not, what it is, and then what it will look like. So we're gonna begin with what it's not.

If we're going to pursue spiritual renewal, which is our goal for the next several weeks, for this fall, really, for our renewed night of worship and beyond, our goal is as a community of members who are already here, but also for new people that Christ will call to himself and bring in. Our goal is spiritual renewal. And so we start that today and we're doing that throughout the fall. If we are going to pursue that, we need to make sure that we are aimed at the right direction.

we're pointing in the right direction. We're aimed at the right target. Because if we have a bad target or the wrong direction, we're going to miss. And we're not going hit the real thing. So we've to make sure we're aiming at the real thing. What Jesus says and what the Bible shows us is true revival. So I want to eliminate three misunderstandings about revival. I think three common ones that many of us hear, you maybe not all, you don't hold all three of them, but maybe one or the other or so on.

Okay, so let's begin by these three misunderstandings. The first one is this. The first one is that revival is not something to be avoided. Revival is not something to be feared or avoided. Now, I say that because depending on your background, where you come from, the things you've experienced, witnessed in church, and particularly around the topic of revival, you may come from a background where revival talk got really, really wacky.

Aaron Shamp (06:48.49)
and displays of what people said were revival got really, really weird and wacky and kind of over the top and were not guided by scripture at all. And so that's given you, because of that history going up or what you've witnessed, people that you know even, family members or friends that have followed this, maybe some very weird and wacky displays of what people claim revival is, that's made you a little hesitant, a little hesitant and a little

guarded when it comes to the topic of revival because you start to say, hold on here. Are we about to start doing some snake handling and are you going to bring in a fog machine and are we going to put up a big tent in the parking lot and have some hellfire preaching? For some of you guys, know, like, Legan grew up at First Baptist, so he's probably not thinking of any of that. But someone like me, I grew up in a very different going

to do some very different denominations in churches where the talk of revival got pretty wacky. know, and so really me, not so much today, but years ago, I would have fallen into this first category where revival talk, spiritual renewal talk, I would immediately throw up some walls and some guards and hold on, what are you talking about? So that's why I want to start there. Revival is not something to be avoided. It's not something to be feared.

It is something that we should desire. Even if we are, some of us are somewhat uncomfortable with the subject because we imagine hollering preachers and people rolling down the aisles, we need to know that that is not our aim. Chaos is not revival, right? Whackiness and weirdness is not revival. If we are uncomfortable with the subject for the right reasons, because it's stretching us, well then that's good.

I think one of my goals is to make us all a little uncomfortable over the next few weeks as we push into this subject and we push into this series, our night of worship and so on. It's okay if we are a little uncomfortable because sometimes stepping outside of our comfort zone is where growth is, right? But we shouldn't be uncomfortable because we have a bad understanding of about...

Aaron Shamp (09:04.717)
what revival is. It's not about people rolling down aisles, handling snakes, speaking and gobbledygook and so on. Instead, what revival is, and a desire for revival, is the pursuit of the same things that we aim for now.

What do we desire now in our church, in our community? Well, we desire the gospel to be proclaimed. We desire deep fellowship. We desire spirit -filled worship. We desire bold and effective prayer. We desire to see life transformation happen among people, a life transformation that doesn't necessarily look like anything out of the ordinary, but rather that their life is filled with the fruit of the Spirit, right?

Those are all the things that we desire now. To long for revival means we continue to aim for all those things. We aim for them in a God -sized way. We aim to see all those same things displayed, the declaration of the gospel, worship, prayer, life transformation. But now what we desire to see is those aims become God -sized, become bigger, become something that we cannot accomplish on our own.

There's a fantastic little book called A God -Sized Vision by two guys named Colin Hanson and John Woodbridge. And it's several chapters and each one goes through a different story of a revival from Christian history. It's an awesome book. I highly recommend it. And in that book, they say this in their introduction. They say, few of us are tempted today to dream too big.

Rather, our vision shrinks to the size of our limited experience. In our disbelief, we can ask God for inspiration to believe. Then He may give us a vision of divine size.

Aaron Shamp (11:02.059)
Many of us become uncomfortable with the subject of revival because exactly like they described here, our expectations become defined by our limited experience. And so we expect God to only act in that limited experience. But what we need in the midst of that disbelief, because that is disbelief in our heart, we need God to break us out of that.

We need him to break us out of that and give us, as they say, a vision of how he can work, of how he can move, of how he can work through the preaching of the gospel, how he can work through spirit -filled worship, how he can bring about life transformation in a divine way, in a way that we cannot do on our own. So revival is not something to be avoided, okay? Secondly, revival is not an event that we plan and produce.

So, this might be talking to a different audience here, where some of you guys grew up where the concept of revival was an event. know, whenever I was hinting that we're going to have a special event coming up on September 28th, someone else that I'll rename names because they're not in here, someone else who grew up at First Baptist, Light Legan, said, are we having a revival?

Right, because in some traditions that is what a revival was. It was like a night of worship where maybe a special preacher would come in and you would put on that event. Maybe it was one night or a couple of nights and that is a revival. Okay, it was an event. It was something that you could plan that you could put on. Now, look, there's nothing wrong with special events. There's nothing wrong with having a special night of worship, with having guest preachers, with having an evangelistic push, right?

that's fine and great. We're doing that, okay? But that's not revival. Evangelistic events are wonderful. We ought to do them. Nights of worship are great. I want to do them more often, even after September 28th. But we need to understand that that's not what a revival is.

Aaron Shamp (13:10.414)
It's an event, it's not a revival. Let me describe it this way. A night of worship is something that we can do, but a revival is something that is done to us. Revival is something that can only be done by God. It is something that can only be brought by the Holy Spirit, effectuated by the Holy Spirit. We can pray for it.

We can anticipate it and expect it. We can put on nights of worship and prayer meetings that stoke our expectation, that draw us more more focused on asking God for that. But ultimately, it is only something that He can bring. Once again, an event is something that we can do, whether it's a night of worship, prayer meeting, or other evangelistic push. But revival is something that is done to us.

It is something that God brings, that the Holy Spirit brings. It is something beyond what we can do. If our definition of revival stays within the lid of what we can accomplish, it's not the right definition.

Only a true definition of revival is one that goes beyond the lid of what we can do on our own. Then we're talking about true revival, true renewal territory. A great spiritual writer, A .W. Tozer, explained it this way. He said, God is looking for those with whom he can do the impossible. What a pity that we plan only the things that we can do by ourselves.

Aaron Shamp (14:51.031)
What a pity it would be if our plans for renew, if our plans for our worship services this fall, our sermon series, our goals were only as big as the things that we could do on our own. What a pity that would be. Instead, what we ought to do is give our utmost and our best.

to our worship services, to renew, to our service projects, to our groups, all these things are coming up, but with an expectation that God will do more with them than what we can do on our own. We ought to join Paul in his prayer. If you remember, at the end of Ephesians chapter three.

At end of let me just go there real quickly. At the end of Ephesians chapter three, Paul prayed this kind of a prayer where he recognized that God can do more than what we can even expect or dream. In Ephesians 320, Paul said, now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think, he is able to do greater than what we ask for.

often than what we even dare to think or dream about. Paul says he can do more. According to the power that works in us, to him be the glory in the church and Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Paul says this at the end of praying for spiritual renewal in the church at Ephesus, but not according to what they can do, but according to the power working in them that is able to do beyond, like he says, all that we ask or even think.

Revival is not an event that we plan to produce. It is something that we seek God for that only he can bring.

Aaron Shamp (16:39.523)
Third, revival is not primarily signs and wonders.

Now, signs and wonders are sometimes present in revival where miraculous, extraordinary gifts of the Spirit are poured out upon people. We see that in Acts chapter 2. One of the descriptions that come of the Christian church is that as the apostles were preaching and people were coming into the church, that the Lord was doing signs and wonders through the apostles. know, miraculous things, prophecies and healings and so

one. So that is present in Acts chapter two. When we read about different revivals in Christian history, we see that sometimes there is the presence of signs and wonders. The Lord can bring about those extraordinary manifestations of His Spirit's work. But

Revival is not primarily about seeking those signs of wonders because very often we see cases of revival coming to a church or a city where those kind of miraculous and extraordinary signs of wonders aren't present. Nevertheless, God is still moving. You see, primarily what we're looking for in a revival, in a spiritual renewal, is an extraordinary manifestation of the ordinary operations of the Spirit.

The ordinary operations of the Spirit are the kind of things that I talked about earlier, the things that we're always aiming for, that He would work through the preaching of the gospel, that He would move in worship, that He would bring about life transformation, that He would grow the fruit of the Spirit in us, that He would increase our service and our selflessness, right? All those ordinary things. Most often what we see in revival, if you read a book like that one I referenced earlier, you'll see this. Most often what we see is all those normal, all those

Aaron Shamp (18:34.812)
ordinary gifts of the Spirit are multiplied to an extraordinary level. This is what we most often see in revival more than the signs and wonders. Now, if the Lord intends to do signs and wonders to confirm His work or to act as a catalyst to His work for some people, then we accept it.

then we desire that he would do that. We desire that he would use any means necessary to accomplish revival and to accomplish renewal for us. And so, if he wants to bring prophecies and healing and miraculous moves through prayer, then Lord bring it. But don't let us think that those are necessary to confirm that he has moved in a revival. Okay? So three things that it's not. Revival is not something that we should avoid.

be afraid of. It is not an event that we put on. It is something that God does. And then lastly, it's not primarily about those extraordinary signs and wonders, but rather an extraordinary manifestation of the ordinary operations of the Spirit.

So since we've eliminated some of the things that revival is not, let's talk about what true revival is. What true revival is. True revival is when God's people are enlivened by a special visitation of God.

which results in a deeper experience of the gospel and transformed lives. A true revival is when God's people are enlivened, where we are brought to life, we are renewed by a special visitation of him. His presence becomes more real and aware than it was in ordinary times. And what this does is it results in a deeper experience of him. A deeper experience of his presence.

Aaron Shamp (20:32.747)
of his love, his grace, his holiness, a deeper experience of the gospel, where the gospel becomes so real and where lives are transformed in amazing ways. This is what a revival truly is, what a renewal truly is and what we desire. Let me flesh this out with a couple of points. So first, what a true revival is, it is when a community of people recognize their need

for renewal and thirst for God. It has to begin with a recognition in a community of people that they need God. If we do not recognize that need, and then that need pushes to prayer, push us to worship, push us to go before his throne and beseech his grace, if we do not recognize that need, then we will not receive revival.

we will not receive renewal. It has to begin with a community of people who see that. We thirst for God. To thirst for God means that we desire Him. We desire God.

We are no longer so caught up in all of the day -to -day needs that we have and the demands of our schedule, all those things, all of the other ordinary concerns of life are minimized as our recognition of how much we desire God grows. They don't necessarily go away. We continue to fulfill those obligations and meet our schedules, but they're not as big and overwhelming as they used to be because now, as we recognize how much we need

the Lord, those things seem to shrink in comparison. To thirst for God means that we desire Him. It means that we recognize that we need Him. When is the last time that you were so aware of your need for God that you could not go without Him?

Aaron Shamp (22:33.995)
It is so sad how often we, and I include myself in this, it is so sad how often we can start to live our lives happily without God because things are going well. Because our bank accounts are full and we're healthy, things in life are going smoothly, and what happens is often we start to coast.

We aren't as aware of our need for God and we start so happily living our lives functionally without Him. But then whenever times of need come in and we recognize that, then we become so much more aware. Just as we need water, we need the Lord. We thirst for Him. Some of you guys are coming in today and you're in a season where it's rough.

You're going through a storm, and so you came in aware. You came in aware. Maybe you didn't have a God -sized vision. I hope you do now. Maybe some of you guys are coming in and you've been coasting. Life has been going smoothly, things are good, and so you've been living functionally without that awareness of your need for the Lord.

Do you thirst for Him? And if you desire Him, you need Him, you thirst for Him, then you will seek Him. Just like Legan read in our call to worship in Psalm 42, one and two, the psalmist says, as a deer longs for flowing streams. So I long for you, God. I thirst for God, the living God. Does that sound like you this morning? Be honest with yourself.

Does that sound like you? Did you come in here this morning with a longing for God? Did you come in here this morning with your mouth dry, thirsty, needing Him as a deer seeks out the stream so you came in here seeking Him out? Or did you come in without that? Maybe just expecting to see friends and knock off another thing on your schedule for this week?

Aaron Shamp (24:48.983)
I'm not saying that any of us came in here with bad motivations, but sometimes we get so caught up, once again, in the mundane aspects of life, so often we begin to coast, that we kind of just coast into these spiritual disciplines and coast out of them without a thirst for God. Therefore, they become stale.

But do you come in longing for Him, longing for Him? My goal is that I would make you aware that the spirit would move to make you aware of your thirst for Him, that you need Him. I would be willing to bet that none of us came in here today with fully experiencing the great degree of God that we need. All of us in here have a thirst. The question is, are you aware of it?

Do you long for him? I want us to stoke that longing. We need to come to church today as we participate in worship through the word and as we respond in worship. We need to come in today with an expectation that this longing and thirst will be satisfied by him.

This is why he calls us to worship him. He calls us to hear his gospel because he will satisfy the thirst. The deer looks for the stream because there is a stream that will satisfy the deer's thirst. The Lord gives us the longing and the thirst because he will satisfy it. But did we come in with that expectation?

I know, so often we don't. We just get caught up in the routine. Will we start, will we cultivate a habit of expectation and anticipation that God will move, that he will meet us at church? Can we start to do that in the next several weeks?

Aaron Shamp (26:46.691)
Can we cultivate ourselves, step outside of our comfort zone to say that God can move in me, that God can move in my fellow church members and in the new people who come at Renew? We can expect it. If we don't thirst, we won't get it. A community of people recognizes their need for God, for renewal. Secondly, under what true revival is,

The Holy Spirit brings life through a special awareness of God's presence. This is the essence of what revival is. The essence is not that people start to live right. That's one of the fruits, but it's not the essence. It's not the root that gives life, right? The essence of revival.

is not even great music and loud congregational singing. The essence of revival is not even communities being served. The essence of revival is that God's people are extraordinarily aware of his presence with them, that they experience God's presence.

There's a place in the Old Testament in Exodus chapter three, whenever in response to the people's disobedience, God tells Moses, you guys keep going, I am not going with you. Because the Lord had been present with them throughout their wandering in the desert. But they disobeyed and he said, he said, y 'all go, I'm not going with you. But Moses stopped.

And he begged God, he prayed to God that they do not desire to make it to the promised land. They do not desire to make it to any home or nation without him. That they needed him to go with them more than anything else. Moses was aware of the need for God's presence in his people.

Aaron Shamp (28:52.405)
In revival, the Holy Spirit brings us life. He changes our lives so that we do act better, we obey God better, we do serve our communities better, we do sing louder and more passionately in worship. But at the essence of this all is an awareness of God.

in his presence with us, of his love, that is the life that brings about all that other fruit. Everything else is the results. That's the life, that's the root, the soil that gives the nutrients to bring those other things. When is the last time that God's love was so real to you that you felt it?

Aaron Shamp (29:43.193)
I don't think that we need to living by our feelings, living by our emotions. But on the other hand, if God's love is never real to us in a visceral felt way, it's not something that's truly captured our minds either. When was the last time that God's love

was so real to you that it brought you to tears because you were, as it says here in our passage, pricked to the heart in the awareness of your unworthiness, your sinfulness, your rebellion, your disobedience, and how he still loves you. How his

commitment to you, his covenant with you is unshaken by your disobedience and your unfaithfulness. How your rebellion, how your disobedience, how your idolatry, your adultery to him has not shaken his love for you, his love still pursues you. When was the last time that that incredible pursuing constant covenantal love of the Lord was real to you?

That's what the Holy Spirit does in revival. He penetrates into our hearts to make that presence of God and the love of God real to us in a special way. Third, what true revival is, or renewal, spiritual renewal must happen alongside a recovery of the gospel. At its core,

Aaron Shamp (31:29.434)
Every time, the reason that we need renewal is because in some way we have forgotten the gospel. In some way the gospel has, in its power, has become less real to us. Our hearts, we might still fully know it in our minds, but in our hearts we have forsaken it to some degree.

And whenever we forget the gospel in our hearts, we are not clinging to the cross, then we start to lose the awareness of God's presence, a discernment for the work of the Spirit, and a special experience of God's love and holiness, His glory. All of these things are usually the result of us creeping away from the gospel.

And so it is through recovery of the gospel that brings spiritual renewal. Once again, in this passage, it says that they were pricked to the heart. They were convicted at what? In verse 37, it says, when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart. What was the this? They heard the gospel preached.

They heard the gospel preached on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit came down and Peter stood up and gave the first Christian sermon.

And he told them, in fact, the very people who a few weeks before had Jesus crucified, he told them the gospel of how Christ had risen from the grave to accomplish the forgiveness of sins, how they were guilty and they needed forgiveness because they had broken God's law, been unfaithful to him, and they had been the ones to crucify him, by the way, but that there was a path to salvation. Whenever they heard the gospel, they were pierced to the heart.

Aaron Shamp (33:17.753)
I do not want a manufactured revival. I do not want a manufactured spiritual renewal. Renew worship on September 28th, I do not want a manufactured event there. I want something that is organically produced by people who have been captured by the gospel of grace.

Because when the gospel is recovered in our hearts as we have drifted away from it or forgotten it, then it brings about this life. Whenever the gospel becomes real to us again, glorious again, good news to us again, whenever we hear it, then that is what pierces us to the heart. Anything else is false. An emotional worship experience without the gospel,

is emotionalism, right? Anything else that we can do without the gospel is drifting away. The gospel remains at the center, at the core. When was the last time that you were filled with awe by the gospel? The awareness of your debt, your sinfulness before the Lord, and how He freed you from that. And that...

Good news, as it described the church here, filled you with awe. That's the experiential attribute that Luke uses to describe that first church. Whenever the gospel comes in, whenever the spirit is present, what does it feel like? It says that they were filled with awe at the gospel and how real and alive the Holy Spirit was making it to them. When was the last time that you felt that way?

that you were filled with awe by the gospel. I try my absolute best every week at Redeemer to deliver the gospel, even if it's brief, to deliver the gospel. When was the last time that it filled you with awe? That it amazed you, that it softened your heart, that it pierced you.

Aaron Shamp (35:31.021)
We need spiritual renewal.

That's what it is. So what does it look like? Is it something that we can only know if you felt it? And if you feel something, then we assume, okay, well, then I guess that's renewal, that's revival. No. Spiritual renewal is not something that is purely subjective. Now, there absolutely is a subjective element because we are talking about experiences here. And so, if you...

If you think you have experienced revival without any subjective element, without any of that felt experience, well then you've missed something, right? But on the other hand, it's not purely subjective because there are evidences. There is a deep inner experience, but that deep inner experience will be evidenced by a transformed community. So we can, in a way, discern. We can look at an event and we can discern...

Was that renewal or not? Because the Bible gives us some markers. It tells us that there is evidence.

Specifically in Acts chapter two, it tells us that this transformed community that experiences revival will have four marks that we can see that evidence, that transformation, that inner experience. Four marks. The first one is this, that there will be a devotion to biblical teaching. It says in verse 42, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. They devoted themselves to that.

Aaron Shamp (37:10.253)
The apostles teaching biblical teaching, right? They devoted themselves to that teaching. So that's the first thing that we'll see. People will not become less concerned with what the Bible says. People will not become less concerned with good theology even.

Right? And say, you know, all that heady stuff isn't necessary, we just need pure experience now. No, whenever we truly experience God, then we become more devoted to truth. We become more devoted to good, right, biblical theology, the more that we will desire biblical teaching, not just motivational preaching with a Christian rapper. Right?

So we will be devoted to biblical teaching the more that we experience renewal. The second thing that this passage tells us is that there will be a devotion to the covenant community. It's a beautiful description. You see, in this passage, we have verse 42 that acts sort of as a summary. Verse 42 says, no, here's what happened.

And then in 43 through 47, breaks down, Luke is breaking down in more detail what exactly those things looked like. So they were devoted to the fellowship, he says. And then we get to see a description of what the fellowship looked like. It was filled with awe. They were filled with awe. They were all together. They held things in common. They helped one another whenever people in their community had need. They shared food together.

They broke bread in one another's houses. They had joyful and sincere hearts. They praised God together. They were committed to that covenantal community. And so we will be devoted to biblical teaching and we will be devoted to the covenant community. Those are the first two marks. Third, there will be a devotion to spirit -filled worship. Luke says they were devoted to the teaching, to the fellowship.

Aaron Shamp (39:14.733)
Then says, the breaking of bread. Now, what was he talking about there? Is he saying that they were literally like more devoted to eating now? No. Look, here in Acadiana, everybody said, amen. All right, spiritual renewal comes, we start to break more bread together, right? Now, that doesn't sound bad, but here's what he was talking about, where he said that they were devoted to the breaking of bread together. He's talking about something very specific. Where else?

Especially imagine you're reading it through the New Testament and you get to Acts there where else very specifically was there a an episode where the breaking of bread was central that was in the Lord in the Last Supper and the Last Supper the Passover meal whenever Jesus and his disciples gathered together it says that Jesus took the bread in the cup he says he it says that he broke the bread and he reminded them of

what that bread meant and told them that they were to continue doing that. And so these Christians, as they were starting to come together and to worship together, at the center of their worship services was the Lord's Supper, was the breaking of bread and the taking of a cup together to remind themselves of what Jesus had done for them. Once again, whenever we see Luke draw this out.

a little bit more, he says that they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple and broke bread from house to house. Meeting in the temple, that's where they went for worship and for prayer. Breaking bread together and house to house, put those two together. He's talking about worship, spirit filled worship. So the four marks, there'll be a devotion to biblical teaching.

There will be a devotion to the covenant community. There will be a devotion to spirit -filled worship. And then the lastly, there will be a devotion to bold prayer. In verse 42, he finishes with saying that they were devoted to prayer. He says again later in the passage that they were devoted to prayer, to praising God, that they did this with joyful and sincere hearts. These are the four marks.

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the four evidences that we can see that confirm that spiritual renewal has been brought to a community and that community has been transformed by the gospel, by the spirit coming in. And so as we pursue spiritual renewal and we pray for it, we desire it, these are the things that we ought to be looking for and the things that we ought to be committing ourselves to even now as we desire that the Lord would come and work among us.

I want to finish with this quote from Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards was one of the great Puritan preachers and theologians, and he was one of the leaders of the first great awakening in the colonies. And he described what that revival looked like in their church and in their city.

in the first great awakening, he wrote this, he said, our public assemblies, he's talking about church services, our public assemblies were then beautiful. The congregation was alive in God's service. Everyone earnestly intent on the public worship. Every hearer eager to drink in the words of the minister as they came from his mouth.

The assembly in general were from time to time in tears while the word was preached, some weeping with sorrow and distress, others with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls of their neighbors. that God would make our services beautiful. Beautiful in his spirit bringing life.

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that we will be intent in worship in the word that God would move in the same way among us. So Lord, we come to you and we ask that you would move, that you would meet us here Lord and that you would.

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through the work of your gospel, with Christ at the center, with your work at the center, and not by anything that we can do, that you would bring about renewal. Lord, we recognize that we need spiritual renewal.

as individuals and as a church, we recognize our need for you. Lord, increase that awareness of how much we need you so that we might go before you. We might seek you out as that deer longs for flowing streams, knowing that you have satisfaction for the thirst of our souls. Lord, let all the other concerns in life, all of the other stresses, our schedules, our responsibilities,

the burdens that we carry, let them all be minimized as our need for you magnifies. Knowing that whenever our need for you turns into being satisfied by you, then our souls will be comforted, our longing will be met, and you will bring about transformation.

So Lord we pray all these things in the name of your son, Jesus, amen. So let us stand together.