Gary Cox delivers a compelling message on the subject of revival, emphasizing its critical importance for both individuals and the church community. He outlines revival as not merely an event but as a vital process that requires humility, prayer, and a sincere seeking of God's presence. Through references to scripture, particularly from 2 Chronicles 7:14, he illustrates that revival begins with recognizing one’s identity as God's people and the need for repentance and transformation. Cox also highlights the historical context of revivals, sharing personal anecdotes that underscore the sacrifices made by those who earnestly sought spiritual renewal. Ultimately, the episode serves as a call to action for listeners to prepare their hearts for the profound changes that genuine revival can bring to their lives and churches. The sermon delivered by Brother Gary Cox centers on the theme of revival, which he eloquently defines as a divine reawakening that is essential for the church's vitality. He begins by reflecting on the biblical foundation of revival, citing 2 Chronicles 7:14 as a pivotal scripture that outlines the prerequisites for experiencing true revival—humility, prayer, and a sincere turning away from sin. Cox frames revival as spiritual CPR, necessary for reviving churches that may have lost their fervor and enthusiasm. Throughout his message, Cox draws on historical examples of brush arbor revivals, where communities would gather in makeshift structures, united by a common purpose: to seek God’s presence. He highlights the communal effort and sacrifices made by early believers, illustrating how their expectation and faith in God’s power led to profound transformations within their communities. This historical context serves as a backdrop for his challenge to contemporary congregations, urging them to rekindle that same spirit of expectation and commitment to prayer and worship. As the sermon progresses, Cox shifts to a more personal appeal, encouraging individuals to assess their own readiness for revival. He emphasizes that genuine revival involves a willingness to change, to step away from complacency, and to embrace a new way of living that seeks God’s will above all else. The message culminates with a heartfelt invitation for the congregation to engage in prayer, seeking God’s guidance and intervention in their lives and church community. Cox’s closing thoughts leave the audience with a profound understanding that revival is not merely an event to be scheduled but a transformative journey that begins in the hearts of those who earnestly seek God. This call to action resonates deeply, offering both hope and a pathway toward renewed spiritual vitality.

Takeaways:

• Gary Cox emphasizes that true revival begins with God’s people humbling themselves and seeking His face sincerely.
• Revival is portrayed as a necessary spiritual awakening, akin to providing CPR to a church community in need of renewal.
• The speaker reflects on historical revival practices, underscoring the sacrifices made by earlier generations to foster a spiritual environment.
• Cox highlights that revival is conditional; it requires genuine repentance and a turning away from wickedness to restore spiritual health.
• He draws parallels between personal transformation and church revival, suggesting that significant change is vital for true spiritual awakening.
• The need for revival is urgent, as indicated by the speaker's call for individuals to actively seek God for renewal in their lives and churches.

Just as soon as you feel comfortable doing that. I asked Brother Cox to speak tonight, you know, when he was over at Norris, and he taught on a different day, I think, than I did.

And so we pass each other a lot. And I've known him, he preached at our church there in Weatherford. But I've got to know him better in the last four months. And I do appreciate.

I think he acts younger than me anyway. But he's been around the block as many times as I have, and I like to hear men like that. I told him, I want you to just preach on revival.

I'm going to get your perspective of what revival is and what it's all about and what it should be. And so I'm looking forward to hearing from him. So open your Bible. Take your Bible and get ready to open it up.

Brother Cox, you come, and God bless you. And when he's through, we'll have an invitation. We'll have one final prayer time together for the revival.

Thank you, Brother. Appreciate that. I didn't realize that you called and texted and we got dressed the same, so we're kind of like twins almost. Yeah.

Before you get into your Bible, please, Second Chronicles chapter seven is where we're going to be. Second Chronicles, Chapter seven. I happen to remember something of a prayer request for Norma Schuller.

Many some of you may or may not know, she, anyway, got involved with some WASP yellow jackets, got stung 15 times all over her face and back and her arms. But she's doing better. But if you can imagine the stings and the swelling and all that goes on. So pray for her recovery.

If you would, please want to thank Brother Weatherby for the opportunity to preach here today. So thanks so kindly. You know, when we first started learning about Jesus at 12 years of age, we heard that he was busy about his father's business.

We now know that Father's business is the gospel business. And now on the verge of revival, it's also the church's business of revival.

It's not a business commodity to buy and sell and do profit, but it is in the process of providing a service, an emergency service, much like cpr, especially to revive people in the church when they get a faint heartbeat or an irregular heartbeat. And it is a revival's job to kind of jolt them or shock them back into a normal rhythm. And that's what revival can do for each and every church.

And because of that, we want to find out what spiritual CPR might be like. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for the opportunity to be in the Word tonight.

And I pray that you will hide me behind the cross, let people see Jesus and him alone. Direct my thinking, thoughts, ideas, and we pray, Father, you'll bless as we have revival coming.

Help our church, help our people, help us all to understand the need and the importance of this wonderful service and, and not to begrudge it because it'll take up some evenings, but to encourage it in our lives. And we thank you for that. In Jesus precious name we ask and pray. Amen.

The first verses that we've ever learned about revival have been found right here in second Chronicles chapter seven. So hopefully you have that before you and you are fully aware in 2nd Chronicles chapter 7. Looking at verse number 14, 2nd Chronicles chapter 7.

And I am on my way to turn there. Hold on. Second Chronicles chapter 7, verse number 14. We know these familiar words and we read this.

If my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then only then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and will heal their land. It's very clear, very plain, not really complicated at all what this verse says to all of us here today. Judy and I grew up in a small rural area.

Now if you're not familiar with a brush arbor revival meeting would be, it would be that the country folk would go out to a piece of property somewhere that was donated and allowed to be used and they would dig poles in the ground.

Then on top of the open air meeting, they would put leafy branches on top for the roof and it would be a temporary shelter outdoors for open air meetings. Some of those brush arbors had sawdust floors to them maybe to sit on. There would be split rail benches without a back killing.

If you're going to be in a revival for long and or maybe some old chairs, depends upon the timing of it all.

There would be lanterns, maybe torches, hopefully not too close to the thatched roof that they had over them, maybe campfires at night and they were open to the mercy of God, of the wind, the dust and the allergies that would Come along. But the main thing would be that the people there knew what they were there for. They knew they were there for revival.

So the music was extra loud and the people in the community surrounding it would hear it all the way in town. There would be people that would be drifting in, walking in and they would want to see and understand what's going on, what's taking place.

And they would come to that old fashioned revival once they get there. They would see the people vibrantly singing. They would see the circuit riding evangelist.

He had his white shirt up to rolled up to his elbows and tie loosened down and he was just preaching away with all of his heart. I mean there was sweat on his brow, he had the old red hanky and he would wipe it from time to time and bring in another point over and over again.

When that meeting was over, some churches had baptism at the nearby creek and then they would invite people all to join them for a plate of fried chicken, homemade bread and apple pie. Now that's what I call revival. God bless those old fashioned revivals. But I've often wondered why.

Well, having to describe it for you, one of the reasons was people put out themselves a lot just to see that revival would happen, just to see for the meeting to take place. They sacrificed greatly to get things set up.

And more than that, they believed by faith and knew and trusted that God was going to do a great thing for them. That's why they did what they did and worked hard as they did. God saw their efforts to sacrifice their faith and he blessed it all.

Back when Jeanne and I were younger and I remember in churches there were such a thing as two week revivals. Then we went down to 10 day revivals. Then we went down once again, one week revival.

And then because we have air conditioning and we have padded pews and because we some can't stand it, we go the four day revivals, right? Sunday through Wednesday, that's what we do. The Rinses and myself attended the church in Haven, Kansas and we started out with one week revival.

It got to be so good and people's lives were changed so greatly that the deacons asked all the churches to get the people to get together and we had a church vote. Let's extend God's blessings for another three days. We ended up having by church vote on purpose a 10 day revival. Who does that? Who does that?

Only people who saw God blessing them. Only people who put their trust and faith in what the Lord was going to be doing in their life.

In Halstead, Kansas a town that we pastored as well, 2,000 people. The evangelist had a six o' clock in the morning prayer meeting.

And every day of that revival, the farmers, the ranchers had to rearrange their feeding of their cattle or the milking of the cows. And somehow. And they came to Church at 6 o' clock in the morning.

Even the wives got the children up and drug them there at six o' clock in the morning just to have a prayer meeting each and every day. They believed God. They believed that God was going to do something uniquely special. It wasn't the evangelist they were trusting in.

They were trusting in God. And in our small town of 2,000 people for that revival, 26 came to Jesus Christ as their personal savior. All because they believed God.

All because they took the time and the sacrifice to get up and come and pray and seek God's face. As we see right here. The people came and rededicated themselves.

Different Bibles, revivals do different things according to God's choosing and desire. What we need to understand is God wants us to have revival. Turn, if you would Please, to Psalm 85, the 85th Psalm, if you would please, Psalm 85.

And we see here that God wants revival for his people. And it's recorded here, Psalm 85. Looking at verse number one, Psalm 85, verse number one, we read these words.

Lord, thou has been favorable unto thy land, and thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, and thou hast covered all their sins. Selah, thou hast taken away all thy wrath.

Thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. After all of the goodness that God has done. Then the psalmist says, turn us, turn us, O God, of our salvation.

Cause thine anger toward thee, us to cease. In other words, give us revival. Turn us around. Turn us around. And wilt thou be angry with us forever? Wilt thou draw out thy anger to all generations?

Wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee? God wanted revival for his people. After all that God has done. Then they asking a question. Wilt thou not revive us again?

Wilt thou not revive us again and that we may rejoice in you once again? Do you know, for some people it's been a while since they've been able to rejoice in God in church. It's been quite a while and they need revival.

We all need that revival. We need to see what God is all about and rejoice in Him. And for all that he has done and how he has blessed us over and over again.

As we see in 2nd Chronicles, chapter 7, verse 14. Revival's conditional. If my people, if my people like those old time farmers, ask yourself, how much are we willing to do for revival?

How much are we willing to put up for revival? They were willing to sit on old benches that didn't give much, I guarantee you.

They were willing to be in a open air brush arbor where leaves would be coming down, maybe little spiders and bugs would come down. And yet they were singing away and preaching the word. And they were singing that God would do something great among them.

Now, here's how revival comes. According to some people, something may be like this. Hello, Brother McCracken.

Well, put it down on your calendar on August 2nd through the 5th and we'd love to have you. Oh, by the way, bring your revival case, if you would, please.

Make sure you pack the best revival you can and have it available because we really, really do need revival. Thank you. Looking forward to seeing you. That is not how revivals are scheduled, although we kind of think that way.

We know revivals are scheduled on purpose because of the busy schedule of our evangelist. However, whenever revival is, we need to be ready and prepared for it. In each and every way. Revival comes to those who desperately see a need.

If you would please turn with me to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah, chapter one. We know this is a favorite book of Brother Wetherby.

He had asked me to preach a missions conference at his church there in Weatherford on the book of Nehemiah. Here we are in Nehemiah, chapter one. Look at verse number two.

Then Hanani, one of my brethren came, and he and certain men of Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, the remnant that are left of the captivity. But there in the province are a great affliction and reproach.

The wall of Jerusalem also was broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

And it came to pass when I, Nehemiah, heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. You see, Nehemiah, a butler or cupbearer, saw a need. Nehemiah was no preacher. He's no evangelist. He was no prophet.

He was just an ordinary individual.

But when he heard the conditions of his hometown, Jerusalem, when he heard what was going on, when he saw the conditions of that holy city, he just had to do something. That's when revival is needed the most, when you know you have to do something. For months, they had not forgotten the holy place.

And we here at Heritage Baptist Church for months have not forgotten our church, our holy place. We see that the walls are broken down. The enemy has come in. We see that the gates.

The gates are burned so much to the point that people are afraid to come in. Something has got to be done. Like Nehemiah. We need revival. Same for Chloe. Turn, if you would please, to. First Corinthians, chapter one.

First Corinthians, chapter one, if you would, please. Paul wrote this book to a troubled church. And he was only made aware by a person by the name of Chloe. First Corinthians, chapter one.

Look at verse number 10.

Now, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak with the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

One of the reasons this book was written was because someone by the name of Chloe and her household made mention of it to the apostle Paul. She was concerned. She got bothered that her church that she knew is not the same church anymore. And she said, something's gotta be done.

Paul, I want you to know. Be aware of it in chapter three. There's strife and division over baptism. Oh, I got baptized of Paul. No, no. I got baptized of Peter. Wait. I got.

I got baptized of Apollos. They argued among themselves among who they were baptized with. Chapter 5.

Immorality to the which the Bible teaches us was not even named among the Gentiles. Chapter six. Christians were suing each other. Chapter seven. They were taking marriage lightly. Marriage and re. Marriage and divorce and remarriage.

It was a. It was a mess. Chapter 11. The Lord's Supper was. Was being abused. Chapter 12 to 14. Spiritual gifts were being misused. It was a terrible church.

It was a church in need of revival. And Paul was written to by Chloe. Something has got to be done. Chloe saw the problems and she wanted her church back for God.

That was the reason for Paul's letter. Can't stand it anymore. For Chloe, she wrote, enough is enough. Something's got to be done.

And Paul wrote back to the church at Corinth telling what had to be done. Revival came with Moses, Mount Sinai. When he came down from the mountain, he heard the noise, the music.

He saw the golden calf being offered up and the people were dancing. He came and told them, revival, you've got to come back to the law of God. You've got to come back to what God has established for all of you.

Joshua, revival for him. Before his death. He told them in chapter 24, before I leave you, I want you to choose this day, right now, whom you're going to serve.

And Joshua gave them an ultimatum. If you're going to want God's blessings, you're going to have to come God's way. But as for me and my house, we will serve.

The Lord Jesus himself sought revival among the seven churches in the book of Revelation, chapter two and chapter three. Turn if you would, please. Revelation 2, chapter two. We're not going to go through all of them. That in itself is a sermon. But chapter two.

And note the church at Ephesus he uses as an example. Look at verse number two. I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience, and how thou cannot bear them which are evil.

And thou has tried them would say they are apostles and are not. And has found them liars. And has borne, and has patience for my name's sake, and has labored and has not fainted. Yes, I, I, I know what you've done.

I know your history. I know your past. I know how I've blessed you.

And I know the efforts that you made to make sure that you upheld the standards and the thinking and the teachings of the Word of God. I know that. And you found those false prophets apostles to be liars. Great. Thank you so much.

However, verse four, I have somewhat against thee because thou has left thy first love. Remember, therefore, there is a lot of remembrance in revival. Remember what used to be. Remember the past.

Remember when we all got started and preaching the Word and people started getting saved and people were added to the church and the buildings grew and grew and grew. Remember all of that. This is what revival is. It's going back in remembrance of the past, of God's blessings.

Going back in the past and seeing what God has done and how great God has been then. Well, if God was great to the church, then God can be great to the church today. Right now. That's revival. That is revival. Yes.

Like Chloe, revival is needed and wanted. When individual Christians have had enough and they see that nothing is happening. Nothing. And we need the Lord to fill our lives, our church.

Well, let's be honest and be honest with ourselves. We've all changed in the last few months. We all have no lie. And because of that, our church has changed.

And for revival, we know that we cannot go back to the way things used to be for our church. We cannot go back to the things the way it used to be. Everything has changed. Revival brings a difference. Revivals are supposed to change people.

Revival supposed to transform people and churches and make them totally different. And that's what revival is. We're not to be revived in the old ways. I mean, I don't want to go back and do the same things I used to do.

That's not revival. I want to go ahead. I want to move ahead. I want to see what God can do in my life.

I'm looking forward to God blessing my life once again and doing things bountifully that I have never experienced before. And we want that for our church that's never had it experienced before. That is revival. But question is, are we ready for real revival?

And could we ever handle it? If it came our way, would we be able to handle it? Real revivals are about change, transformation. But it does have a price tag. It does cost.

It will cost us and our church something to see God's blessings. I mean, real revival means that we. We won't be the same anymore. Real revival means our change, our church won't be the same anymore. It will change.

It will be different. We need to be prepared for this radical change, for the same old way of doing things. Not going to get it. The same way of living. Not going to get it.

We need to be prepared and ready for that radical change that comes from 2nd Chronicles, chapter 7, verse 14. It starts out with my people called by my name. It reminds us who we are. We're God's people, God's people. We're not some pastor's people.

We're God's people. And because we are God's people, he has something special, unique. I mean, hey, I'm a child of God.

Being a child of God means I have a Heavenly Father, that's unique and special and has great things for me in my life. We need to understand that. Don't you realize that you're not your own? You're bought and paid for with a price. You don't belong to yourself.

I belong to my Heavenly Father. So I cannot expect revival to be the way it used to be. God, if you're willing to change it, change it.

I mean, after all, hasn't there already been a change? Yes. Secondly, we must humble ourselves. Humble ourselves. Need to get rid of that pride and that independent attitude of being right now. Buckle up.

Because humbleness also has a price tag.

If you're really the humble Christian that you think you are or that you really want to be, then real revival is humbling ourselves and going back to those people who quit and inviting them back to church. Isn't that revival? Yeah, that's revival prayer. After we humble ourselves, we pray. Prayer is always humbling. It takes.

Gets rid of ourselves and asks the Lord to step in. I can't do it, Lord. I can't do it. Please. You take over. You make this church the way you want it to be.

Not the way it used to be, but the way you want it to be. We have an opportunity. Get a chance. Got the opportunity to. To see God greatly working and blessing in our church. But it takes prayer.

Then we seek God's face to personally meet with him. Have you ever sat down to meet someone face to face? When Covid came teaching at Norris, we taught on Zoom. I hated that.

I mean, pick people on little TV screens. No, I enjoyed teaching and preaching to people face to face. I saw them right up front. God wants us to seek his face personally. Personally.

When you seek God's face, you seek his favor. You seek his grace, you seek his desire of his presence. And that's what you want.

If we wish to know God closely, you've got to get to him face to face. That's the only way to do it. Confess your sins. That's the hardest part. Confessing our sins, repenting of them.

Those secret sins, those secret, false sins. Nobody knows about that attitude, that bitterness. It's amazing how people don't have to say anything. They just express an attitude.

Oh, you can tell it. When our kids were growing up, yeah, they might comply with what we did and we. They might say and do what we wanted them to do.

But one daughter especially, she didn't like it. And so she would go, I'll do it, but I'm not happy about it. You can tell about the attitude, right?

It's amazing how people's attitude, they can smile, shake your hand, but, you know, there's an attitude there, an attitude problem. Confess your sins. The attitudes, the bitterness, the grudges, the resentments, it's all there. And then turn.

Turn from those wicked sins that we've confessed. Don't keep them. Don't hide them in any way. He's asking for repentant hearts. He's asking for a righteous remnant.

He's asking for people like Nehemiah and Chloe have a burdened heart. A burdened heart that you want to see things different and you want God's blessing upon this church. Because we're changed. The church has changed.

We need God's blessings. He will forgive our sins. He will hear from heaven. He will apply his son's blood. He will heal our land.

He says here, I will restore back what you've lost. I'll restore the name once again of Heritage Baptist Church into the community. I. I'll restore once again our witness into the community.

I'll restore once again our testimony into the community. And isn't that what we want for this church? God wants to provide us with revival, a new life. He wants to make things great for us in revival.

So this is what we have to look forward to. Good things, great things, wonderful things. A new beginning with God. A new beginning with his power and his spirit.

I leave you and I close with something I found in a song that gives lyrics that might make you think. It goes like this. My eyes are dry, My faith is old. My heart is hard and my prayer is cold.

Lord, I know how I ought to be alive unto you, but dead unto me. Are you like that? Every head bowed, every eye closed? We're looking at revival. It takes a cold, hard look at us for ourselves.

Before our church can experience revival, we've got to experience it ourselves. Heavenly Father, we know this is tough, this is difficult. It's not easy.

And Father, I pray that you'll make us ready and prepare us for the change, for the radical change that may come to our lives. We may have to stop certain things, quit doing certain things, quit looking at certain things, quit hearing certain things.

We just may have to see our life turned around. And if our life needs to be changed and turned around, our church needs to be changed and turned around.

Speak to us now through your spirit and this invitation. Help us, Lord, now to realize that I must die to self, but be alive unto you, for it's in Jesus name we ask and pray. Amen.

It's.