Prepare the Way for Revival
(ISAIAH 57:14-21)
 
Pause & Reflect
 
14 And it shall be said,
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
    remove every obstruction from my people's way.”
15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up,
    who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
“I dwell in the high and holy place,
    and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,
to revive the spirit of the lowly,
    and to revive the heart of the contrite.

1. [v.14-15] *Biblical principle – HE BUILDS HIS WAY – removing every obstruction against His peace: Every obstruction must get out of the way when His high and holy place comes down to revive our low and contrite heart. As the nation was in turmoil with blind watchmen as leaders and rampant idol worshippers representing His covenant people, everything appeared hopeless. No word from God, His prophets nor even His disciplining judgment turned these stubborn hard-hearted people around to repentance. At this point, the LORD knew only He had the ability to bridge the widening gap between Him and His covenant people. By the prophetic voice of the last prophet – John the Baptist – the LORD Himself would build and prepare the way to remove every obstruction between Him and His people. As the God who is high and lifted up, inhabiting eternity, dwelling in the highest and holiest place, He would come down by sending His suffering servant and eternal Son Jesus Christ, to the lowliest of place, into the heart of the lowly.
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – What obstruction is still in the way of revival between you and the LORD? Are you building back what He is clearing out? God is building up, but are you tearing down?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – What does “revival” mean to you? Have you seen revival? If so, describe your experience – what it is and what happens when it comes.
   3. *FOCUS QUESTION #3 – God desires to have you as His own with an everlasting love. He will build the longest highway from His eternal habitation to the lowest of hearts on earth. How is revival about getting a glimpse of this eternal highway? When we do, are our hearts staying high in sinful pride or low in godly humility? How is revival about letting God draw near to you instead of your efforts to draw near to Him?

 
16 For I will not contend forever,
    nor will I always be angry;
for the spirit would grow faint before me,
    and the breath of life that I made.
17 Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry,
    I struck him; I hid my face and was angry,
    but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.
18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
    I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,
19     creating the fruit of the lips.
Peace, peace, to the far and to the near,” says the Lord,
    “and I will heal him.

1. [v.16-19] *Biblical principle – HE RESTORES HIS WAY – removing His anger to create His peace: Because His righteous anger was satisfied in the giving of His eternal Son, God no longer remains angry but available to create peace for those far and near. Rightly so, the nation was under God’s righteous anger. Steeped in their idolatry and iniquity that gained only their own unrighteousness, the LORD was angry. He disciplined them through exile. He hide His face from them for a moment. Yet still God knew they would not learn to fear Him, but rather go on backsliding in the way of their own heart. Out of His great love for us, God resolved in Himself to put an end to His anger. He knew that He could not contend with it forever. He knew that the only way was to resolve His anger in the sinless and eternal sacrifice of Himself, in the sending of His eternal Son our Lord Jesus Christ. By doing so, sinful humankind and sinless holy God would once again have peace by the shed blood of the cross (Colossians 1:19-20).
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – How is the LORD creating peace by removing anger? Or are we creating anger by removing His peace?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – Although the LORD has seen our sinful ways, why does He still choose to heal us from them (verse 18)? How can we see the sin in each other, but still choose to forgive, heal, and correct their ways?
   3. *FOCUS QUESTION #3 – God would have been righteous in His anger to destroy a way for us to approach Him. Yet, He chose to put away His anger through His eternal Son to restore a way for us to be with Him forever. Like the heavenly Father has done for you, what must you put away for restoration with God and with one another to happen?

 
20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea;
    for it cannot be quiet,
    and its waters toss up mire and dirt.
21 There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

1. [v.20-21] *Biblical principle – THOSE WHO DO NOT FEAR GOD HAVE HE MAKES NO OTHER WAY – removing the wicked from His peace: There is no peace for the wicked, for they do not walk according to His ways. Since His peace is created only by His enabling grace through His eternal Son Jesus Christ, the wicked person who continues walking away from Christ cannot have it. The wicked live unanchored to Jesus, like the tossing sea. They trust in the waves that toss them around instead of the One who has power to silence the wind and the waves. Their waters toss up mire and dirt compared to the pure, cleansing and quenching living waters of Christ’s fountain where all can come to for drink and have life in His name. There is no other way to revive the dead person – spiritually and physically. Unless we turn to trust in His grace, we will all likewise suffer in this life and the eternal life to come without any anchor or any calm, for there is no peace without Jesus.
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – Are you searching for another way for revival? Are we seeking to be resuscitated temporarily instead of being revived eternally in His peace? Why is there no peace within us? Are we in the process of being removed or restored to walk according to the ways of His peace?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – The hallmark of a follower of Jesus is the shalom (wholeness of peace beyond understand in mind, body and soul) imparted by a thriving relationship with Him. Shalom is the wisdom from God that brings stability, steadfastness, and sovereign control from Him. Shalom is faith that dispels doubt, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:6-7). Like tossing sea waters that kick-up mire and dirt, there is no peace nor purity for the wicked. They do not ask God for it. How can you ask the LORD for His shalom to fall upon you? How can you close all other ways to attain it, except through Jesus?

 
The central truth of this word was –
God has already prepared the way for revival! We had no part in contributing to it. He built the highway to Himself! He removed every obstruction so that His heavenly presence could dwell with the lowly heart. He satisfied His own anger by the sacrifice of His own eternal Son. He gifted us with the power to walk according to His way with the peace that Christ Jesus purchased on our behalf. He warned us there is no other way to be at peace in a revived heart before Him. This must humble us, bring our spirit low to make our heart contrite. Let us come down from our high place of pride and restlessness to His repentance and peace! Be revived!

– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
 
Apply & Be Doers of the Word
 
(1) Let go of your obstruction. It’s in the way of His revival. We can’t experience revival when we’re holding to our obstruction while the vacuum of His peace sweeps our lives. Be humbled by how far God came to you from His eternal habitation. In Christ, you are revived, so release it! Fear Him over everything!  
 
(2) Let us stop guilt-tripping ourselves and others of their sins. In Jesus, the anger of God is removed! We fall under His mercy – not anger. Godly guilt leads to repentance. Sinful guilt leads to condemnation. Although we see the sin in each other, let us be moved to heal one another through forgiveness, correction, training through the Word of God with the empowering help of His Spirit.
 
(3) Do not play around with the path of the wicked. There is no peace there. Stay on His path to revival. Close all other doors, get off every other path, that you strive to attain shalom. It will always be lacking if you stay that course. It will be the ruin of you and others around you. Let’s not be tossed like sea waters, but let the One who can silence the winds and the waves and the seas draw us into Himself, into His ark, into His boat, where can breathe, be revived, and sail through this temporal life into His eternity.
 

Holy Spirit Moment & Group Prayer
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray for one another.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)
 
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. (GALATIANS 6:2-5)
 
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (HEBREWS 10:24-25)
 
For the body does not consist of one member but of many... The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 CORINTHIANS 12:14, 21-27)
 
 
- Park’s (JP, Maria – Julia, Ben, Abe)
- Park’s (Hanna, Jim-Bob – Samuel, Sophie)
- Huh’s (John, Angela – Athena, Eliana)
- Choe’s (Chong, Kate – Stella)
- Park’s (Ben, Hanna – Evelyn, Louie)
- Jeng’s (Jonathan, Nara – Emma)
- Yi’s (Jonathan, Christina – Samuel, James, Ethan)
- Gee’s (Waywah, Gloria – Emilee, Melanie)
- Kim’s (David, Josephine – Elliot, James)
- Lee’s (Andrew, Heather – Amanda [Jake], Kristen)
- Krief’s (Miki, Mr. Krief – Noa, Mya)
- Shin’s (Jay – Ethan, Ivy, Iris)
- Jun’s (Kevin, Sarah – Ellie, Ella)
- Chung’s (Chester, Ashley – Joy, Jonah)

His Watchmen are Blind
(ISAIAH 56:9-12)
 
Pause & Reflect
 
9 All you beasts of the field, come to devour--
    all you beasts in the forest.

 

1. [v.9] *Biblical principle – BLIND WATCHMEN DEPART HIS FLOCK – who become open prey for the beasts: While God’s flock are devoured as the beast’s prey, are we walking away? Just as Jesus could not stand still and watch any longer while His Father’s house of prayer became a den of robbers, are we standing still or even walking away while God’s flock continually become open pray for the demonic beasts of the world? These beasts will not only devour God’s flock, but also their unfaithful watchmen who should have guarded them from the open field of danger. The beasts are invited to come devour, commissioned by the prophet Isaiah himself, especially these watchmen, as a sign of God’s unrelenting wrath against those who lead His sheep astray or fail to keep them to account. Instead of searching, rescuing, and protecting the sheep and His house, they have been idle and fed themselves.
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – In what ways are we departing God’s flock – with our presence, with the ministries God has entrusted and called us to do together, with prayerful concern for one another, with forgiveness given and received from each other, etc. – how are we walking away instead of walking into fellowship with Jesus, with His people and aligned to His mission? As a result, in what ways do we live like beasts of the field, devouring everyone in our way and everything in the world apart from the Lord?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – Define “beasts of the field… beasts in the forest” – the demonic influences of the world sourced in the head devil – Satan (the beast of REVELATION 21). What devouring and demonic influences lead us away from the LORD?
   3. *FOCUS QUESTION #3 – Have you experienced a time when someone who should have been responsible to watch over you failed to do so, even departing you? Have you experienced a time when you should have been responsible to watch over someone, but failed to do so, even departing them? How can Jesus – our faithful watchmen, our good shepherd – speak into both failures and heal us?
   4. *FOCUS QUESTION #4 – How can we stop devouring and start devoting? How can we stop devouring (one another and the world)? How can we start devoting ourselves to Jesus and to one another?

 
10 His watchmen are blind;
    they are all without knowledge;
they are all silent dogs;
    they cannot bark,
dreaming, lying down,
    loving to slumber.
11 The dogs have a mighty appetite;
    they never have enough.
But they are shepherds who have no understanding;
    they have all turned to their own way,
    each to his own gain, one and all.

 

1. [v.10-11] *Biblical principle – BLIND WATCHMEN NEGLECT HIS FLOCK – without proper warning: While warnings of danger need to be sounded to God’s flock, are we staying silent? When we live like beasts instead of God’s image-bearing humans, there is no sense of godly responsibility. We live with mighty appetites for our own gain, without any understanding or knowledge of our God-given responsibility and purpose to grow into faithful watchmen of His house (His church), that is His flock (His people), whom He purchased by the shed blood of His Son. Instead, we live in negligence of God’s purposes, like blind watchmen, like dogs who are silent and cannot bark when danger is at hand, loving to slumber. Also like dogs, our hunger is set on a mighty appetite of anything on the table (or under the table) of the world – what never satisfies but what we can never get enough of.
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – The apostle Peter warns us, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 PETER 5:8). How are we neglecting God’s warnings in His Word as false alarms? How would a lion, a serpent, or a beast (all representations of the devil in Scripture) in our midst seeking someone to devour, bite, and tear us apart change the way we live today?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – What warnings from God (ex. His coming judgment, His call to repentance, His call to forgiveness, His second coming) are we staying silent about and “loving to slumber” about?
   3. *FOCUS QUESTION #3 – Watchmen warned of approaching danger, signaled entrance into battle, and sounded victory with their hollowed ram’s horn called the shofar. Being called as a watchman required a sense of great responsibility and stewardship to sound the horn at the appropriate time out of a sacred trust from God to care for His people. In our families, God has entrusted us to be watchmen over our children at home. When is a time you sounded the horn (shofar) of alarm in times of danger and the sound of triumph in times of celebration? Are we doing the same for God’s flock in His house? Are we not as responsible for His house as we are for our own homes?
   4. *FOCUS QUESTION #4 – In the world, joy is found “each to his own gain.” Yet in Christ, it is found each to his own loss. Joy in Jesus is found in (J)esus first, (O)thers second, (Y)ourself last. How can we be watchmen who understand this kind of joy from Jesus today?

 
12 “Come,” they say, “let me get wine;
    let us fill ourselves with strong drink;
and tomorrow will be like this day,
    great beyond measure.”

 

1. [v.12] *Biblical principle – BLIND WATCHMEN STARVE HIS FLOCK – by filling themselves: While we fill ourselves with all kinds of influences to satisfy our appetites, is not God’s flock starving? Why are God’s watchmen acting like they are blind, not sounding the alarm as they should – the alarm that the flood of His judgment against all ungodliness is coming, so build the ark as Noah did, get on that ark of Jesus, be rescued by Jesus? It was because they were dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber, and had a mighty appetite to fill themselves with their own gain. Whether it be intoxicating drinks or the hope of an endless tomorrow, the “relax, eat, drink, be merry” (LUKE 12:19) lifestyle of ignorance to the glory of God or the body of Christ’s flock was of no real concern. By filling themselves, they starved His sheep. By filling themselves, they became ignorant of their responsibility before God and His people.
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – How are you feeding yourself while starving His sheep? How can we starve our flesh to feed His flock?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – How can we not live like “tomorrow will be like this day” but rather like tomorrow will be our last day? If tomorrow were our last day, how would we spend it in the way Jesus desires us to?
   3. *FOCUS QUESTION #3 – As the good shepherd that searches for His one lost sheep until He finds it, how is Jesus like a watchman for us (LUKE 15:1-7)? As the father who waits and watches from afar for his prodigal son to return home, how is our heavenly Father like a watchman for us (LUKE 15:11-32)?   
   4. *PRAY THESE SCRIPTURES:
      1. Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. (EZEKIEL 3:17)
      2. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (REVELATION 1:7-8)
      3. Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (1 PETER 5:7-10)
      4. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. (PSALM 121:4-7)

 
The central truth of this word was –
We are not the blind leading the blind! Jesus has opened the blinded eyes, deaf ears, mute mouth of His flock. He has called us to the post of His watchmen to sound the alarm of His Word – both to warn His people of danger approaching and to bless His people of victory already-achieved in Christ Jesus’ finished work of the cross and through the resurrection. Take this responsibility seriously! Do not forsake His flock, neglect His flock, nor starve His flock! Instead, grow in covenant with His flock. Nourish them, and as Jesus instructed, “Feed my sheep” (JOHN 21:15-17).

– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
 
Apply & Be Doers of the Word
 
(1) The JOY that only Jesus can bring: (J)esus first. (O)thers second. (Y)ourself last. Take this joy seriously. Take this responsibility as watchmen over His flock seriously. Live with His joy.
 
(2) Sound the alarm! Do not stay silent about what Scripture warns against. The most loving thing we can do is to keep warning one another – not as enemies but as comrades in Christ – of His commands with all gentleness, compassion, and conviction.
 
(3) Feed His sheep! By feeding them, Jesus is feeding you.
 
 

Holy Spirit Moment & Group Prayer
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray for one another.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)
 
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. (GALATIANS 6:2-5)
 
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (HEBREWS 10:24-25)
 
For the body does not consist of one member but of many... The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (1 CORINTHIANS 12:14, 21-27)
 
- Park’s (JP, Maria – Julia, Ben, Abe)
- Park’s (Hanna, Jim-Bob – Samuel, Sophie)
- Huh’s (John, Angela – Athena, Eliana)
- Choe’s (Chong, Kate – Stella)
- Park’s (Ben, Hanna – Evelyn, Louie)
- Jeng’s (Jonathan, Nara – Emma)
- Yi’s (Jonathan, Christina – Samuel, James, Ethan)
- Gee’s (Waywah, Gloria – Emilee, Melanie)
- Kim’s (David, Josephine – Elliot, James)
- Lee’s (Andrew, Heather – Amanda [Jake], Kristen)
- Krief’s (Miki, Mr. Krief – Noa, Mya)
- Shin’s (Jay – Ethan, Ivy, Iris)
- Jun’s (Kevin, Sarah – Ellie, Ella)
- Chung’s (Chester, Ashley – Joy, Jonah)