C.A.C SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUAL FOR AUGUST 7 & 14, 2022 UNIT ONE, LESSON OTWO : TOPIC – WHY REVIVAL?

MEMORY SCRIPTURE

Restore us, O God; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved! (Psalms 80:3

The people had become lackadaisical about rebuilding the ruined Temple. They needed to be challenged towards rebuilding and renewal. Christians are becoming increasingly lukewarm, today. We need revival!

BRIEF COMMENT

Psalm 80 is a prayer that of restoration for Israel. In it, the Psalmist recognised God’s power to restore His people to Himself, having set them free in the time past from the captivity of the Egyptians (v. Since Israel, a vinegar brought out of Egypt, had enjoyed God’s saving grace in the time past, it could still be saved from enemies and adversities, now, through the graciousness and mercifulness of the Omnipotent Redeemer and Shepherd of Israel, hence, this prayer of restoration.

The very line which is the memory scripture is repeated thrice (lines 3, 7, 19), to emphasise the subject matter-restoration leading to salvation. This Psalmist believed in God’s power to bring restoration to the people, and depended on Him alone for Israel’s salvation. …Restore us, O God of hosts, he clamoured on the people’s behalf. He was not like other people who would jostle between alternatives; making God one of the options, so that if God is not able to bring solution, they would consult other alternatives–spirits, medium, idols, foreign nations, etc. Do you make God your only Option, or one of the alternatives?

Actually, the iniquities of these people made them to experience abandonment and sell off to the enemy. God allowed the enemies to deal with them because of their unfaithfulness, hence the need for revival which the Psalmist obviously had realised, God, in His mercy, would come and visit them, His face would shine on them, and they would be saved. To enjoy God’s salvation/deliverance, we must realised, our need for revival, and ask God to shine His face on us. May God restore and shine His face on our land, homes and churches, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

DEVOTIONAL BIBLE READINGS FOR WEEK ONE

Mon. 1: Revive Your Work, O LORD (Hab. 3:2a)

Tue. 2: Redemption Earnestly Desired (Psa. 74:1-2)

Wed. 3: Revelation: Lack It And Perish (Prov. 29:18)

Thur. 4: Repentance Is What God Demands (Acts. 2:38)

Thur. 5: Repent In The Dust and Ashes (Job 42:3-6)

Fri. 6: Remember Mercy In Wrath, Lord (Hab. 3:2b)

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS:

1. We need revival to be free from spiritual apathy, lack of fervour and lack of seriousness with God.

2. True revival is all we need; it will save us from Satan, sin and self, making us into what God wants us to be. Ultimately, it will take us away from this house of clay (earthen vessel), when the time comes, and settle us at home with God.

BACKGROUND SCRIPTURE: Habakkuk 3:2

AIM AND OBJECTIVES

AIM: To show reason why we must cry, clamour for, and call to God for revival that only He can bring.

OBJECTIVES: At the end of this two-week lesson, learners should be able to:

i. identify some signs of being Lukewarm;

ii. pinpoint some of the dangers of being lukewarm;

iii. show that God is the only true revivalist who helps people to see the need for revival; and

iv. show that God usually facilitates the anticipated revival, and show how He goes about it.

INTRODUCTION

TEXTUAL SOURCES: GENESIS 3:7-24; HAGGAI 1-2; 1 SAMUEL 4:1-22; 1 KINGS 19:1-4; REVELATION 3:15, 16

To God be the glory for how He has continued to lead His Church in the path of spiritual growth through the series of discipleship-oriented Sunday school teachings. In continuation of discussion on the theme, REVIVAL: REDISCOVERING THE PATH OF SPIRITUAL MATURITY, last week, we concluded the first lesson in the series, which is titled: WHAT DOES REVIVAL MEAN? We examined revival and evangelism. It was deduced that revival is an internal renewal, or re-awakening by the work of the Holy Spirit, while evangelism involves sending out those who have been renewed in heart.

That leads us to the second lesson in the series, titled: WHY REVIVAL? We shall be examining the reasons for revival. When God’s people are lukewarm, they need revival to make them fresh again, as in the case of the returnees from the Babylonian exile, who abandoned God’s work, the major assignment given to them, for their individual projects. God had to alert them before them could gear up to finish the long-abandoned project-the temple of God.

We shall consider some of the signs and dangers of being lukewarm. Also, we will examine how God usually facilitates revival, after He has opened our eyes to see the need for revival. We are revived individually and corporately, as the Holy Spirit assists us to discover the path of spiritual maturity, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

INTRODUCTION OF EACH DIVISION

This lesson is divided into two major divisions, I and II, and each is further divided into A and B, respectively.

DIVISION I– WHEN GOD’S PEOPLE ARE LUKEWARM:

This section, broken into two, A and B, shows the signs characteristic of the lukewarm people, and its looming dangers. The example put forward in this section shows God’s people delivered from the Babylonian exile, with the commission to rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem. Rather than giving the work the attention it needed, they all abandoned it after laying the foundation and focused on their own businesses, leaving God’s business unattended-a show of being lukewarm that is very dangerous to the spiritual, physical and economic life of the people. We also need revival, urgently.

DIVISION II—THEN, REVIVAL IS NEEDED:

When some of the aforementioned signs are obvious, it shows we need revival to avert the attendant dangers. Two strong points are discussed in this division: 1. GOD HELPS PEOPLE SEE THE NEED, and, 2. GOD FACILITATES THE NEEDED REVIVAL. The people were assisted by the LORD, through His prophet to realise their wrong deeds against God and His work. They were warned, …consider your ways, and assisted to take the necessary steps towards restoration by their godly an God-fearing leaders.

LESSON OUTLINE

I. WHEN GOD’S PEOPLE ARE LUKEWARM

A. SIGNS OF BEING LUKEWARM

B. DANGERS OF BEING LUKEWARM

II. THEN, REVIVAL IS NEEDED

A. GOD HELPS PEOPLE SEE THE NEED

B. GOD FACILITATES THE NEEDED REVIVAL

LESSON EXPOSITION

I. WHEN GOD’S PEOPLE ARE LUKEWARM (1 Kgs. 19:1-4; Hag. 1:1-11)

There can be a time when the fervent, ever-serious, and zealous people of God would be plunged into lukeward attitudes. The devotion, commitment and zest they once demonstrated towards God would have gone, and they would begin to show signs of being lukewarm, and backsliding. Many factors can be responsible for this kind of degeneration and spiritual laxity.

A. SIGNS OF BEING LUKEWARM (1 Kgs. 19:1-4; Hag. 1:2).

i. Hag. 1:1-4: He had restored His people to their land after the 70-year exile term in Babylon, with the expectation and command to rebuild the Jerusalem temple (2 Chr. 36:22; Ezr. 1:1-4.

ii. Now, many years had passed, and the temple was still uncompleted. In fact, the project was moribund. God’s project abandoned? This is one of the signs of sheer lukewarm attitude. They had developed cold feet as to the things of God (cf. Rev. 3:15).

iii. Hope you have not abandoned those things God expects from you—Bible study, prayer, evangelism, holiness, etc.—to keep relationships with Him (2 Cor. 13:5)?

iv. vv. 2-4: Everyone was busy with his own project while God’s project suffered. Are we better, today? Aren’t we in need of revival?

v. 1. Kgs. 19:1-4: Elijah, who had just summarily defeated Baalism in Israel, surprisingly ran away from mere Jezebel. The worst part is how he asked the LORD, Take my life, for I am no better than my father (v.4). Why? spiritual burn-out, a sign of being lukewarm, also evident in spiritual weakness, loss of courage and focus.

vi. When you notice some of the afore-discussed signs in your life and walk with God, and/or other related ones, don’t vacillate, quickly go to God for revitalization, reawakening and rejuvenation. Go for retreat!

B. DANGERS OF BEING LUKEWARM (Hag. 1:1-11)

“You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the LORD of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house” (v.9).

i. Weariness is very dangerous to spiritual progress and quenches the fire of the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19)

ii. God’s will for us is to be up and doing. He hates being unnecessarily docile, i.e. neither cold nor hot, because He is an active God, always working (Psa. 69:9; Jn. 2:17).

iii. It is clear from the way God addressed those Jews in Hag. 1:3ff that He was angry with their lackadaisical attitude to His work. God is not happy with lukewarm attitude to His things. No wonder He told the Laodiceans, I will vomit you out of my mouth (Rev. 3:16). May that not be our experience.

iv. Hag. 1:5-11: God has several others ways of dealing with lukewarm attitudes. In v. 6,He dealt with those things that were taking the people’s attention from concentrating on His project. Don’t wait for God to deal with those things occupying your time before changing.

v. vv. 7-9: The jealous God (Exo. 20:5) is overtly jealous about His ways, works, His people and their spiritual live when taken with non-chalance.

vi. vv. 10-11: See the kind of experience God subjected these non-performing people of His to, because they vacillated in doing God’s bidden. Lukewarmness is too dangerous!

vii. The disaster that visited the people, Eli and his terrible sons during Eli’s time (1 Sam. 4:1-22) quickly comes to mind here. No one can bear the consequences of being indifferent to God and His things.

viii.Great danger looms when God’s people are leisurely and unwilling to come out of their spiritual apathy. Watch out and free yourself from the evil of Lukewarmness. This you can do by crying to God, the true Revivalist.

LESSONS DERIVED

1. You don’t need to look too far before you discover the signs of being lukewarm in the life of the lukewarm Christian.

2. The problems some of us are facing today may be the result of Lukewarm attitudes to God and His things. Take note.

WORK TO DO

What are some of the signs that show we need revival today?

SUGGESTED ANSWER TO WORK TO DO:

Some of the signs that show we need revival:

* Revival talks about restoration of force, validity, or effect (as to a contract). It has to do with renewal, re-awakening, etc.

* We need revival when our passion is no longer strong for the things of God we were passionate about, initially. We need revival when our zeal for God is down, or at low ebb; when those sins we had once abhorred are becoming fascinating and dominating us, there is need for revival.

* When our interest is no longer strong for God’s things, revival is needed. When the devil is at work to make our love for God wane, we need revival. At a point, the people of God could no longer stand before their enemies; they were hiding in caves and holes (Jdg. 6:1ff). They needed revival!

* You need revival when you no longer enjoy intimacy and fellowship with God in Bible study, daily devotion, quiet time, corporate prayer and personal retreat (Gen. 3:4-10).

* Revival will mop up moral decadence, spiritual laxity and apathy. When you are experiencing burnout like Elijah (1 Kgs. 19:1-18), you need revival, not it is enough! Now, LORD take my life (v. 4).

* Revival will make us to be alive for God and active for His purpose, and eternal agenda, as we are triumphant over Satan, sin and self.