RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

Revival and Evangelism: Awakening
I want to welcome you to our first study on Revival and Evangelism. God has placed a study in my heart because early in my ministry I experienced a great revival and in that revival we saw many people reached.
It was in Monroe, Louisiana where it started in a small church with just a handful of people. And we saw God move and work and it ended up – we saw literally thousands of people come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
So it’s been an exciting journey over the years as I’ve built an evangelistic outreach – reaching people for Christ. And God just put it on my heart to share with the Christian community how revival and evangelism relate to one another and what God does when our hearts are revived and how He works in and through us to reach others for Christ.
Now let me just say this to you first of all, as we get started, that revival is the work that God does in the heart of the Christian .. evangelism is the work that God does through the life of the Christian in reaching other people. So God wants to work in us so that He can work through us.
Now revival is very important because revival is a sense of God’s presence in our lives .. it’s when we’re getting to know Him .. really walking with Him and coming to know Him. As we get to know God, then we have on our hearts what’s on His heart. And one of the things that you’ll know when you get to know God as you grow in a knowledge of God ..you’re going to understand that He is love and that He loves people .. the very essence of His nature and His character is love. He loves people.
So, when you’re revived .. when you’re getting to know Him, when you’re growing in His grace and knowledge, then you’re going to love like He loves. You’re going to love people.
In my own life, I remember meeting a guy by the name of Leo Humphrey. And Leo was in the French Quarter of New Orleans – he was going to seminary there in New Orleans. And Leo just had a heart for people. And I would go down to Bourbon Street in the French Quarter and I would work with Leo and God just touched my heart so deeply because I saw Leo as a man who had a heart for God and a heart for people.
I remember we would go down and we would pray before we would go out on the streets. And Leo cared about people that no-body else cared about .. I mean, we’d go out on the streets and before we did we’d pray and God touched my heart because as Leo would weep – I mean tears would roll down his cheeks and drop on the ground. And as those tears would hit the ground God hit my heart and I saw a man who loved people.
And God began to revive my heart and give me a passion to reach people. The scripture is true – it’s never changed .. for God – so – loved – the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. And when you have the heart of God, you’re going to have a heart of love .. you’re going to love people.
Here I’ve been in ministry for forty-something years and I was at a meeting with some writers and in
that meeting we were going over things. These weren’t Christian writers and some of them were just so obnoxious .. They hated Christianity. Some of them .. and everything I stood for, they stood against. And I left and I told my wife – I said I’m not going back. She said “why not”. I said I just don’t like those people.
Now I want to tell you what, when I went to my quiet time, God jumped all over me. And He said, “Son – you may not like those people, but I love them. I love them so much that I gave my only Son.”
And you see, revival brings us to that place where we come back – to where we see people as He sees them. Not political enemies, not religious enemies, we see them as people that God loves.
And so revival brings us back to the place where we love people like God loves them. So I pray that you’ll let God stir your heart, today – to give you a fresh love for people.