The man who lived directly across the street
had just done the unimaginable.
He had taken his newborn baby girl, held
her in one hand, went downtown, and when
he got downtown with his free hand, he
reached down and he took a little pile
of sticks and made them into a pile,
and then he took his little baby girl,
and before anybody knew what he was about
to do, he set her on top of
the little pile of sticks, reached inside of
his coat, pulled out a knife, thrust it
into the heart of that little girl, and
killed her.
And that was the man that lived directly
across the street.
The family that lived up the street, well,
nobody liked to go near their house.
As a matter of fact, when the kids
would be out playing, the kids would often
cross to the other side of the street
because they said there was just something eerie
and kind of spooky about that house, but
the adults that lived in the street, they
knew what was really going on.
They knew that the people that lived in
that house were involved in sorcery and divination
and witchcraft, and so it was no surprise
that the people that lived in that area
felt there was something that was just odd
about that particular house.
And all the good and godly people that
lived in the community, over the last little
while, they had just kind of suddenly disappeared.
But if you happened to go by the
police station late at night, you would hear
the screams of their torture coming up from
the basement of that police station, and so
all the good and godly people had just
kind of disappeared.
And there was no trouble getting the men
to go to the place of worship, because
everybody knew that the most sensuous and beautiful
women served at the place of worship as
the temple prostitutes.
So getting them to go to a place
of worship, that was no problem, getting the
guys to go there.
And as you walked around town, on almost
every street corner, you would see a little
statuette about this size by about this size
to Baal or Chemosh or Asheroth, and it
would be considered completely bad taste for you
not to have one of those little statuettes
in your house.
And so were the days of Elijah 3
,000 years ago.
The reigning monarch at this time is a
man named King Ahab.
The Bible describes King Ahab as a man
who did more evil than any king before
him, and he's married to a real winner.
He's married to a woman whose name, even
to this day, is synonymous with evil.
He's married to Jezebel.
Jezebel had been the daughter of the king
of Phoenicia, one of the Canadian countries.
Nobody knows for sure how it was that
she came from Phoenicia over to Israel.
Probably some type of a trade agreement or
something of that nature.
But why in the world would she wanna
leave the beautiful green harvest of Phoenicia and
come to this desert country called Israel?
Why would she want to do that?
And by gum, if she's gonna leave Phoenicia,
at least she's gonna bring with her the
God, quote, quote, that is responsible for the
harvest and the fertility and the abundance of
Phoenicia.
So when she comes from Phoenicia, she brings
with her this little statue about this size,
this size, and if you saw it, it's
in the shape of a bull, cow bull,
and standing on the back of the bull
is a figure that represents Baal.
But everybody knows this little statue, this is
not the real God Baal.
The real God Baal, by this point, everybody
knows, quote, quote, that the real God Baal
resides on Mount Carmel.
That's where Baal actually resides.
Well, by this point, Elijah's tremendously distressed because
fully, 93% of the population of Israel
at this point has long since abandoned the
worship of Jehovah God and are now fully
committed to Baal worship.
But Elijah's trying to live a God-pleasing
life.
And one day, he's surprised to discover that
God is actually speaking to him.
And he has this ability to hear the
voice of God and to hear it completely
accurate.
And he begins by hearing, God begins telling
him things about the future.
And I'm sure the first few times that
Baal, excuse me, that Elijah would speak, he
would say, well, I think God told me
that such and such is gonna happen next
week, and then it would happen exactly that
way.
And then he would hear the voice of
God again, and God would tell him something
else about the future, and it would come
to pass, and he would hear something else
about the future, and again, it would come
to pass.
And not only was he hearing things prophetically
that God was giving him, but God is
also working miraculously through him with healings and
signs and wonders going on in and through
this man's life.
Well, one day, God speaks to Elijah, and
he says, I want you to go and
I want you to confront King Ahab, and
I want you to tell him that Jehovah
God is not happy with the direction of
the nation.
Go and confront him.
If you've got your Bibles, this is 1
Kings chapter 18 is where we are.
And so I'm sure, again, Elijah is tremendously
distressed.
He's got this like 100 kilometer trip, it's
about a 50 mile trip from the little
town of Tishbe where he lives, this little
pipsqueak out of the backwoods area to go
to the capital city of Samaria to confront
King Ahab.
How's he ever gonna get an audience with
the king?
But in obedience to what he feels that
God has told him to do, he goes
to Samaria, and somehow he makes this appointment
to be able to see the king.
And so there's the king, and there's the
queen, and there's the royal household, and there's
all the prophets of Asherah, and there's all
the prophets of Baal.
And into this palace room strides Elijah.
King Ahab, God is not happy with the
nation of Israel.
And to show that he is not happy
with the nation of Israel, for the next
three years, there'll be no rain anyplace in
Israel.
With that, then he boogies out of there
as fast as he can.
I suspect King Ahab goes, who is this
nutcase?
Who allowed this guy to even get into
my presence telling me that God is not
happy with the nation of Israel, saying it's
not gonna rain or something like that?
This is just craziness, forget him.
But an interesting thing happens.
For the rest of the week, there's no
rain anyplace in Israel.
It's not uncommon, it's a desert country.
Second week goes by, no rain anyplace in
Israel.
Not unusual.
Three weeks go by, four weeks go by,
not a drop of rain anyplace in the
nation of Israel.
Five, six weeks go by with no rain.
And suddenly people are beginning just to talk
a little bit.
When was the last time we had some
rain around here?
I don't know, it's been a while.
You know, things are looking a little dusty.
Yeah, a little dusty.
Seven, eight weeks go by as they're walking
through the neighborhood, as they cross the grass,
instead of the grass going whoosh, whoosh, whoosh
underneath their feet, they're saying crunch, crunch, crunch.
And the dust is coming up.
When was the last time it rained around
here?
Oh boy, it's gotta be like a couple
months or so.
Well, I remember back in 73, we had
a dry spell back then as well.
I'm sure it'll start to rain sometime.
Have you noticed the well?
Yeah, I noticed the well.
Boy, the water level's kinda getting down there
a little bit.
Yeah, it's starting to get down there.
Nine, 10 weeks, 13 weeks go by, not
a drop of rain any place in Israel.
They go and look in the well.
The water levels are getting dangerously, when was
the last time you saw the water that
low?
I don't know.
And the little streams are beginning to dry
up.
And after three months of no rain, the
harvest that should be, the corn that should
be up here someplace is way down here
and it's looking pretty bad.
Four months go by.
They go to do the harvest and instead
of getting something decent by way of all
their work in the fields, they get this
scrawny, scrawny little harvest.
And the little streams now are really drying
up and even the major rivers are beginning
to look pretty bad.
And so now with no harvest or very
little harvest, all of a sudden, how are
you gonna feed the population?
So the king opens up the storehouses and
says, well, we'll feed the population for a
while here.
And so they begin feeding the population using
the storehouses that they've got, but that doesn't
last for very long.
And now five months go by and you
look out in the fields and there's not
a blade of grass to be seen any
place out there.
And the goats and the lambs and the
cows are looking pretty sickly out there and
they're having to start bringing water to them
because the little streams are all drying up.
And the elderly people are getting sicker and
sicker and the little kids because there's not
enough water to kind of dampen their forehead
when they've got a fever going.
And this drought thing is getting very serious.
Six, seven, eight months go by, no rain
any place in Israel.
Those of you that are farmed, I come
from a bit of a farming background, you
look at the ground, I mean, it is
hard as iron.
And the farmer says, there's no sense even
trying to plant anything in this, it's not
gonna do anything.
And so they don't even bother planting that
next year because there's no sense.
10, 11, a whole year goes by, not
a drop of rain.
Now, not only the little streams have dried
up, now the major streams have begun to
dry up.
And now they're starting to import water and
food from neighboring countries to try and feed
the population and people are getting sick and
all of a sudden the price is going
way up.
And these elderly people that used to be
able to just go down to the local
well and get their water from there, they
can't get the water anymore from there.
So they have to go further and further
afield and people are sick and the cattle
and sheep and goats are dying in the
fields and things are getting serious around here.
It's been a year with no rain in
Israel.
A year and a half goes by.
By this point, massive death all over the
place.
The cattle in the field have long since
been dying, there's just no water, there's nothing
green to feed them, there's nothing that they
can appeal to from the barns, they've brought
in all the barrels of water that they
could from further and further afield and now
the neighboring countries are saying, we can't send
you any more food, we can't send you
any more water.
This is serious.
A national catastrophe at this point.
And King Ahab says, wasn't there some guy
here like a year ago that said something
about a drug?
Who was that guy?
Oh yeah, his name was Elijah.
Secret police, you go find this guy, you
hunt all over the place.
He's the troubler of Israel, he's the one
that's causing all the problems around here.
And so the police go, looking for this
guy.
Can't find him.
Two years go by.
Now we've got death at an unbelievable scale.
I mean, children are dying, elderly are dying,
the cattle have long since died, even the
young healthy people.
You talk about two years with no rain
in the land, every well is now dried
up.
There's hardly any water, any place to be
found in Israel.
Three years go by, not a drop of
rain any place.
And God speaks to Elijah.
Go back and confront King Ahab.
Are you kidding me, God?
Everybody's looking for me.
If they find me, they're supposed to take
me to the king or put me to
death.
God says, go, tell him I'm about to
bring an end to the drought.
But before I do, he's to go to
Mount Carmel and assemble all the prophets of
Baal and Asheroth there.
And if he would do that, I will
bring an end to the drought.
So Elijah goes, stands on the side of
a hill, there's King Ahab.
King Ahab, is that you, you troubler of
Israel?
I'm not the troubler of Israel, you're the
troubler of Israel.
The Lord Jehovah says, he's gonna bring an
end to the drought.
But you're to assemble on Mount Carmel, the
epicenter of where Baal worship takes place.
You gather the prophets of Baal, you gather
the prophets of Asheroth there.
And if you will do that, God Jehovah
will bring an end to the drought.
And then Elijah booties off.
And on the appointed day, word goes out
like wildfire.
Did you hear, did you hear, did you
hear?
The drought is supposed to end, but there's
gonna be some big confrontation on Mount Carmel.
We better go see.
And so on the appointed day, there's hundreds,
thousands of people that gather on Mount Carmel.
I've been to this spot.
There's 450 prophets of Baal.
There's the royal household.
There's thousands of Jews that have gathered there.
Onto the scene strolls Elijah.
He looks first at King Ahab and the
royal household and all the prophets of Baal,
but instead he turns and he looks at
the people and he says, how long will
you halter between two opinions?
If Jehovah God is God, then worship him.
But if Baal is Baal, if it's God,
then worship him.
And do you know what the scripture says
the people did?
Scripture says the people were silent.
Elijah looks down in disgust.
There's the man that had taken his little
newborn baby girl and had offered her as
a human sacrifice trying to get it to
rain.
He looks over there.
There's a group of people that had just
come from the temple prostitutes trying to invoke
the gods to bring rain.
He looks over there.
There's the family that are involved in witchcraft
and sorcery trying to invoke somehow it to
rain.
He looks at disgust and the people are
standing in silence, the scripture says.
So Elijah ups the ante.
He says, how about this?
Would you serve the God that would answer
with fire?
And this time the people said, what you
said is good.
So now for the first time he turns
away from the Jewish people and he turns
back to the royal household and the 450
prophets of Baal.
He says, you guys, you go first.
Now scripture doesn't tell us how big of
an altar they built.
But stop and think, this is 450 prophets
of Baal building a place of a sacrifice,
an altar, in front of the royal household,
in front of thousands of the Jewish people.
I'm thinking they built something like Tim the
Toolman.
I don't know, that's what comes to my
mind.
I'm thinking this great big monstrosity of this
altar.
And they take the wood and they find
some scrawny cow and they kill it and
they put it on top.
And now here in the epicenter of where
Baal is supposed to reside, they start pleading
with Baal.
Oh, Baal, Baal, Baal, we worship you, Baal.
Answer with fire, Baal.
Baal, come on, Baal, we believe in you.
Come on, Baal.
Please, answer with fire.
Come on, Baal.
Answer, please, right now.
Oh, Baal, Baal, Baal.
And do you know what happens?
Nothing happens.
And so now these guys start really ramping
it up.
I mean, these guys are now engaged.
And the Bible says they take out swords
and spears and they begin cutting themselves and
blood is flowing.
And they bring out whoever the Billy Graham
of Baal worship is and they bring out
the oldest scrolls and they begin, come on,
Baal, come on, Baal, Baal, Baal.
We believe, come on, Baal.
Answer, answer with fire.
Do you know what happens?
Nothing happens.
Do you know why nothing happens?
Because there is no God, Baal.
And this goes on for hours and hours.
And finally, Elijah goes, guys, give it a
rest.
We didn't say that, but it's something like
that.
Guys, okay, it's now my turn.
And this time the scripture does tell us
what Elijah did.
The Bible says he took 12 stones.
Now, I figure Elijah's a guy about my
size.
I don't know how big he is.
I figure he's about my size.
How big of a stone can I lift?
I figure I can lift a stone about
that big.
Would you give me that?
I can lift a stone about that big?
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
nine, 10, 11, 12, 12 stones.
The altar can't be any higher than that.
That's gotta be the max, how high?
It's only 12 stones.
He takes a group of sticks.
He puts it on top.
He finds some scrawny cow, kills it, lays
it on top.
Scripture says he digs a trench around the
perimeter of this altar.
Maybe with his heel.
I don't know what he dug.
What he dug is some type of a
trench.
Then he says to some guys, guys, there's
hardly any water in Israel, but there is
a stream there, and here's four pails, four
buckets.
Go get four pails of water and dump
it on top of this sacrifice.
So the four guys go and dutifully put
four pails of water on it.
He says, do it again.
Poosh, poosh, poosh, poosh.
He says, do it again.
12 buckets of water on top of this
sacrifice.
And then he steps back and he prays
this itty bitty tiny prayer.
And as he prays in front of the
thousands of people that are there, fire falls
from heaven.
Poosh, burns up the cow, burns up the
wood, melts the rock, evaporates the water.
And the people go, did you just see
what happened?
Did you just see what happened?
And Scripture says they fell on their face.
These thousands of people that are there fall
on their face and simultaneously say, the Lord,
he is God.
The Lord, he is God.
And revival comes to the nation just like
that.
And I go, wow, that is so amazing.
What a great idea Elijah had to have
a drought for three years and have this
big confrontation on Mount Carmel.
What a great idea that was.
No, it had nothing to do with Elijah.
As a matter of fact, all that was
happening in that moment is Elijah was doing
exactly what God had told him to do.
If you have your Bibles, notice what it
says, chapter 18, verse 34, 36.
At the time of the sacrifice, the prophet
Elijah stepped forward and prayed, oh Lord, God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be
known today that you are God in Israel
and I am your servant and have done
all of these things at your command.
Revival came to the nation of Israel as
Elijah heard the voice of God and did
what God said.
That's what brought revival.
The presence and power of God showed up
and that's what convinced people.
That's what broke the apathy.
That's what convinced people to say the Lord,
he is God and the rejection of Baal.
What a great idea that God had.
And all Elijah had to do was do
what God told him to do.
By the way, do you know why this
whole thing happened?
Like why the building of this altar on
Mount Carmel?
Because historians tell us this is how Baal
worship was introduced into Israel.
That when Jezebel brought this little statuette of
Baal and she brought her prophets of Baal,
they had built an altar, hidden some people
inside of the altar and when they called
for fire, somebody inside the altar had set
it on fire and they thought, that's amazing,
Baal must be true.
But when you build the altar in front
of the people and they can see what
it is that you're doing, all of a
sudden the fraud is showing for what it
really is.
And with Elijah's little 12 stone altar, there's
no way you can hide somebody inside that.
Revival came because the presence and the power
of God showed up.
Revival came because there was a man who
heard the voice of God, did what God
told him to do and God responded mercifully
by showing up with power and presence.
And I went, wait a second.
I've seen this elsewhere in scripture.
In what other context have we seen people
come to faith in God?
People that, somebody heard the voice of God
and did what God said.
How about Jesus himself?
Does the scripture say about Jesus, he said,
I only say what the Father gives me
to say and I only do what the
Father tells me to do.
How about we look at something like Philip?
Philip heard the word of God.
God said to Philip, go south to the
road that leads to Gaza.
He heard what God said to do.
He did what God told him to do
and as a result the Ethiopian eunuch and
by extension the nation of Ethiopia came to
hear the gospel message.
How about Ananias?
Ananias heard the voice of God.
God said, go to the house of Judas
on Straight Street in Damascus.
He heard what God said to do.
He did what God said to do.
As a result, Saul is converted.
Peter heard the voice of God.
Go to Cornelius' house.
He did what God told him to do.
As a result, the entire family and community
is saved.
The apostles heard the voice of God.
Set apart for me Paul and Barnabas for
the work that I've called them.
They heard what God said to do.
They did what God told them to do.
As a result, the entire Mediterranean seacoast is
evangelized.
How about Paul?
Heard the voice of God.
Go to Macedonia.
Did what God told him to do.
As a result, Lydia and her family are
saved.
Paul heard the voice of God.
Go to Jerusalem.
As a result, kings and princes and Caesars
all hear the gospel message.
So I ask us this afternoon, who amongst
us doesn't want to see revival?
And under what circumstances does revival come?
Do we really think in the evangelical church
world that if we just have a better
PowerPoint presentation that somehow that's gonna result in
revival?
If we just build a nicer building, if
we do a better job at advertising, if
we have something done with excellence, do we
really think that this type of stuff is
gonna bring revival?
There are times where it takes the normal
expression of God's love and mercy is not
enough.
There are times it takes an extraordinary expression
of the love and mercy to break through
the apathy and indifference in a society.
It takes God showing up in power to
break through the apathy and indifference.
I'm not against nice slides and nice PowerPoints.
I teach evangelism, church growth and health, and
I teach all that kind of stuff at
the Bible College in Sussex.
I'm not against it.
It's just not enough.
In an age where we're living something similar
to what was going on in the days
of Elijah, at this point, 93% of
the population has turned its back on Jehovah
God.
In Canada, on any given Sunday, 88%
of the population is not in any type
of a place of worship, and I mean
the broadest definitions of places of worship that
you can think of.
What is really gonna turn our nation around?
You say, Steve, you seem like you're a
little worked up about this.
Take a chill pill.
I am worked up about this because I
wanna see Canada saved.
I'm really concerned about the province of New
Brunswick and the maritime provinces.
I'm really concerned of what's going on in
the general atmosphere of North America.
I've got unsaved family members.
What would bring people from a place of
indifference, or they're so bought into secularism and
materialism, what would cause them to turn their
back on that and say, the Lord, he
is God, the Lord, he is God, the
Lord, he is God?
And I'm at the point now where I'm
absolutely convinced if God does not show up
in power, we are not gonna see revival
in Canada.
When does God show up?
When his people hear his voice and do
what he tells them to do.
That's when God shows up in power.
I would love to stand in front of
you and tell you I hear the voice
of God all the time.
That would just be a patent lie.
But there is something within me that longs
to hear the voice of God more and
more.
I pastored in Ottawa for 22 years.
The Lord was very gracious to us.
We started with two people.
We ended up with about 1,400 people
at the church.
God was very gracious to us.
One day I'm sitting in my pastor's office
and I'm having my morning devotions just like
I had every morning when I came into
the church office.
Came in, first thing I do, don't turn
on the computer, don't do anything, open up
my Bible, have my morning devotions.
I'm sitting there having my morning devotions just
like every other day, and just like that,
bang, God speaks to me.
Thursday, one o'clock, go to this location,
this person will be there, and give them
this message.
It was so clear, I wrote it down.
Thursday, one o'clock, this person, this location,
give them this message.
That was Tuesday morning.
Thursday at 12.30, I got in my
car and started to drive.
And I went to the place where God
told me to go, and when I got
there, I saw the person's car there.
Now I'm really nervous.
I walk into where God had told me
to go, the person saw me and said,
Steve, what are you doing here?
And I said, God sent me with a
message for you.
And his exact response back to me was,
yeah, right.
And I pulled up my day timer and
I turned it towards him.
Thursday, one o'clock, this location, you would
be here, here's what God wants me to
tell you.
Here's what you would not know if I
didn't tell you.
That guy should not have been at that
location Thursday at one o'clock.
He actually worked on the far side of
Ottawa, a regular nine to five job.
He should have been at work Thursday at
one o'clock.
But he wasn't.
He was exactly where I went to at
one o'clock on Thursday.
How could I possibly have known that?
Quinky dink?
No, God still speaks today.
I'm not gonna tell you where this happened
because of the nature of the story, but
you'll understand as I tell you this story
why I'm not telling you where it happened.
But it happened here in the Maritimes, actually
not too long ago.
I was at a church.
I was sitting right down over here in
the church.
I was there at invitation from the church.
And during the worship time, God spoke to
me and said, I've got a message for
the people.
I leaned over to the pastor.
I'd never been in this community, never been
there ever in my life.
I knew the pastor a little bit and
I knew one other person a little bit.
I had no clue of this congregation whatsoever.
I leaned over to the pastor and I
said, I think God just gave me a
word for your congregation.
I said, is it okay if I share
it?
He said, I guess so.
So they finished the worship time.
The pastor came up front.
He says, Dr. Elliott's here.
He believes God just told him something to
share with our congregation.
So Dr. Elliott, come up and share what
you said.
I went and stood before this congregation.
And I said, God just told me there's
somebody here.
You're either here or you know somebody that
this is true of.
And you're thinking of taking the life of
a baby.
And God wants you to know he wants
that baby to live.
And there was a little bit more to
it.
And then I went and sat down.
And my bum no sooner touched the edge
of that seat than on the opposite side
of the auditorium, a lady that I have
no knowledge of who this lady is.
I don't even know who she is to
this day.
The moment I sat down, she stood up.
And she said, nobody knows this.
But we found out that our teenage daughter,
who's not married, is pregnant.
And we've been wondering what our options are
about this pregnancy.
She said, I think this message is for
me and my family.
How could I possibly know that?
I have no way of knowing that.
I've never even been to this community before,
let alone know that family or what's going
on in their lives.
God still speaks today.
I don't think there's anybody in this room
that even knows Helen and I, my wife
and I.
We've been married for almost 40 some odd
years now.
We were almost 15 years not being able
to have kids.
And so we went the adoption route.
And we adopted our first child.
We'd gone through the infertility clinics.
We'd taken medicine.
We'd had exploratory surgery.
We tried everything.
We'd been prayed over.
We'd been anointed with oil.
We did everything we possibly could do to
get pregnant.
We couldn't get pregnant, so we adopted our
first child.
That was such a positive experience.
We put our name right back in with
the adoption agency and said, we want to
adopt another child.
Shortly after we put our name in with
the adoption agency up in Toronto, the phone
rang.
The adoption agency lady says, we've got another
child and the biological mom wants you to
be the parents for this child.
So we left Ottawa.
We drove to Toronto.
We got the child.
We came back.
I mean, we're just, we're happy as a
clam.
I mean, at this point, we've been married
for like 15 years, maybe 18 years, and
we'll be able to have children.
So we're thrilled.
We had little Kristen.
That was the name that we gave to
her.
We had Kristen for about 14 or 15
days, and the phone rang.
It was the adoption agency in Toronto telling
us that the 16-year-old girl had
changed her mind and wanted the baby back.
The adoption laws in Ontario are that if
the biological mom changes her mind in the
first 21 days, you cannot contest it.
You must give the baby back.
So we sobbed all the way from Ottawa
to Toronto to take little Kristen back to
the adoption agency to go back to her
16-year-old mom.
And we sobbed all the way back to
Ottawa.
And as we were driving back to Ottawa,
I said to Helen, I said, honey, please
don't go.
We've done everything.
I mean, the infertility clinics, we've taken medications,
we've had surgeries, we've done everything.
I said, the only thing we've never done
about our infertility is we've never fasted about
it.
Why don't we go on a nine-month
fast from television and ask God if he'd
be gracious and allow us to have a
child?
So Helen and I decided that's what we
would do.
And just so you know that it's a
real fast, it was during hockey season.
And we had a number of the Ottawa
Senators that came to our church.
I mean, this was a real fast.
When I got married, I was playing six
games of hockey a week.
So when I'm saying a fast from television,
I mean, this was a real fast.
For nine months, we didn't watch any television.
That ended in June.
In July, the first week of July, I'm
in my pastor's office.
Again, just having my devotions.
Nothing unusual, just sitting there, reading my Bible,
praying, doing my morning devotions.
And just like that, God spoke to me.
And he said, expect a child.
It's a boy.
His name's gonna be Jedediah.
Bible verse for his life and an insight
into what he's gonna be like.
It was so clear.
Again, I wrote it down.
Expect a child, it's a boy, Jedediah, Bible
verse, insight into his life.
That was Tuesday morning.
I went home at lunchtime and I said
to Helen, I said, guess what?
She said, what?
I said, God spoke to me today.
What?
What'd he say?
Expect a child, it's a boy, Jedediah, Bible
verse, insight into his life.
And Helen said back to me, she said,
is it gonna be by adoption or is
it gonna be biologically?
And I went, I don't know.
God didn't say.
He said, expect a child.
That was Tuesday.
I'm looking real fast here.
Okay, we got some children, so work with
me here, adults.
That was Tuesday at lunchtime.
Friday, what happens with a lady on a
monthly basis did not happen.
Immediately, we said, she's pregnant, it's a boy,
we're gonna call him Jedediah.
People said, Jed what?
Jedediah, where'd you get a name like that?
Doesn't matter, that's what we're gonna call him.
That was in July.
Right off the bat, we said she was
pregnant, we're gonna call him Jedediah.
In December, the ultrasound showed that it's a
boy.
He was born in April, and he's now
a pastor in Nova Scotia.
Quinky dink?
I don't think so.
God still speaks today.
I don't hear from God.
I'm not trying to come across super spiritual.
I don't hear nearly as much from God
as I want to.
But that's the context in which God receives
glory and honor.
That's the context in which God loves to
work.
That's when God shows up with power.
When people hear his voice.
We don't need more praying, hang on.
We don't need more praying.
We need more hearing from God.
And aligning our lives with what he says.
The person that I respect the most about
hearing from God is a pastor friend of
mine in Arnprior, Ontario, his name's Ian.
I've never met somebody that hears from God
more accurately than he does.
He and I were speaking at a family
camp in Michigan last year.
We're walking towards the tabernacle, and he says
to me as we're walking towards the tabernacle,
he says, God just told me something.
I said, what did he tell you?
He said, there's gonna be a lady in
the service, her name is Sue, she knows
somebody named Joe, and God's called her to
be a world changer.
That evening after I finished preaching, Ian came
up to the front, and he says, I
think God gave me a word of knowledge.
I believe God said, there's somebody here, your
name is Sue, you know somebody named Joe,
and God's called you to be a world
changer, who are you?
And it was crickets.
I mean, nobody moved.
And Ian said, well, sometimes I miss hear
from God, but I'm pretty sure God said
that.
Nothing.
The service ended.
He and I are standing down front right
up about here at the end of the
service.
And people are going out at this particular
point, and this lady comes up, and I'm
standing right there.
So this is not secondhand, I'm there.
I mean, I hear what happens.
She said to Ian, she says, you know
what you said tonight?
Ian says, yeah.
She says, I need to tell you something.
My name is Sue, my grandfather's name is
Joe, and yesterday my grandfather told me God
has called me to be a world changer.
God still speaks today.
If there's gonna be revival in Canada, it's
gonna be because God shows up.
And God shows up when his people hear
from him and do what he has to
say.
I'm gonna come down to the keyboard here.
There was a song that I heard a
while ago, quite a while ago now, and
this song just so gripped me.
It just encapsulates what I've been sensing God
is wanting to do these days.
And so if you would allow me, I'm
gonna go to the keyboard.
I'm just gonna play and sing this song.
And if you want to, you can close
your eyes.
If you sense something within you that says,
yes, God, what Steve is saying in that
song or what that song is saying, that
resonates with my heart.
I'd better take my glasses so I can
actually see what I'm looking at.
We need wisdom.
We need power and truth.
We need love and grace.
Bring your people to a state of kingdom
life.
Restore your church again.
Touch your people once again.
With your precious holy hand, let your kingdom
shine upon this earth.
Restore authority.
Rushing wind, touch your people once
again.
Lord, you see your tired servants and the
broken wounded soldiers.
Oh, how much we need you.
We need your precious healing hand.
We need the power of the cross as
the only source for us.
As we stand up facing final battle cry,
restore your church again.
Touch your people once again.
With your precious holy hand, let your kingdom
shine upon this earth.
Restore authority.
Rushing wind, touch your people once
again.
We know that we live in a day
and age that really resembles a lot of
what Elijah was experiencing when so many people
had turned their backs on you.
Somehow he knew it wouldn't just be by
fancier programs or better advertising or not even
better preaching.
The only thing that would bring revival is
if you showed up and he heard your
voice and it was scary, but he did
what you asked him to do and then
you showed up.
And when the people saw the evidence of
your presence and your power, in mass they
fell down and said, the Lord, he is
God.
The Lord, he is God.
What would it take for the people of
Fredericton to fall on their face and say
the Lord, he is God?
Nothing short of you showing up in power
and presence.
And so, Father, forgive us for the many
times that we've tried to manufacture revival, those
times that we think that something in our
arrogance that we can do it.
We humbly confess to you, Lord, we cannot.
We need you.
Whatever stops us from hearing you, we pray,
Father, would you get that out of the
way.
We humble ourselves before you.
We confess our sin.
We ask for mercy.
We ask God that you would touch our
land and do something amazing, that you would
draw people to yourself.
We think of the great revivals that have
taken place that came up the east coast
of the states.
We think of the revivals that took place
out west in Canada, the revivals that took
place in the 1800s in Ontario.
We see, Father, what took place in the
Welsh revivals.
We know, Father, that hundreds of thousands of
people came to faith in Christ, and we
long to see that happen again in our
day.
So we're asking, Father, give us ears to
hear.
Give us faith to obey what you tell
us to do.
And we ask, Father, that you would move
in our midst again, and we'll be grateful
for all that you do.
In Jesus' precious name.