Spiritual Awakening

SPIRITUAL AWAKENING

E. C. McKenzie said, “A good sermon helps people to two ways: Some rise from it greatly strengthened; others wake from it greatly refreshed.”

 Ephesians 5:14* New King James:
 Therefore He says:
    t“Awake, you who sleep,
    Arise from the dead,
    And Christ will give you light.”

 Wake means to arouse from sleep, to cause to appear, bring before the public, to raise up, stir up, against one.

A. AWAKE, YOU WHO SLEEP
 "Awake you who sleep"
1.    The world is asleep Spiritually: They read books, watch TV, go to movies, but ignore the Bible because they are asleep.
2.    Christians can also fall asleep spiritually. There are spiritual seasons in wish we can become cold and loose the desire to pray, the desire to worship. We can loose our hunger and our thirst for the Word of God.
3.    Spiritual sleep is the equivalent to spiritual indifference. When a spiritual season touches our life we can become like frogs *(show movie about the frozen wood frog)

 
 One of the most amazing examples of freeze tolerance is the wood frog (Rana sylvatica). This common frog is found across Canada and all the way north to the tree line. Wood frogs winter on land, hiding under the leaf litter on the forest floor. By hibernating on land, the frogs can get active as soon as the snow melts and breed in the temporary ponds and ditches formed by meltwater. Their soft, water-permeable skin is no barrier to ice and so, whenever frost penetrates into their winter home, they freeze. Ice penetrates though all of the fluid compartments of the animal and within just a few hours a mass of ice fills the abdominal cavity encasing all the internal organs. Large flat ice crystals run between the layers of skin and muscle, and the eyes turn white because the lens freezes. Their blood stops flowing and as much as 65% of the frog's total body water is converted to ice. Breathing, heart beat, and muscle movements all stop and the frozen "frog-sicle" exists in a virtual state of suspended animation until it thaws.

Best of youtube Episode 85
http://www.bestofyoutube.com/story.php?title=5562084

 Wikipedia:
Hibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate. Hibernation conserves energy, especially during winter. Hibernation may last several days or weeks depending on species, ambient temperature, and time of year. The typical winter season for a hibernator is characterized by periods of hibernation interrupted by sporadic euthermic arousals wherein body temperature is restored to typical values. Hibernation allows animals to conserve energy during the winter when food is short. During hibernation, animals drastically lower their metabolism so as to tap energy reserves stored as body fat at a slower rate.

Illustration
Some people are asleep because they have never been awake. I am familiar with that state because I was once in it myself. I attended church, heard God’s Word preached, sang the great hymns, listened to others pray — but with no depth of comprehension. I was simply present where others worshiped. I was on the outside. I was not alive to spiritual things. Perhaps you derive some vague comfort from being with religious people and doing Christian things, but inside you understand very little of what is going on. The pity is, it is possible to pass from this life into eternity without recognizing your slumber until it is too late. It is possible to be damned even in the church.

B. SPIRITUAL HIBERNATION

1.    Many times our hearts are hardened with the ice of disappointment but the Lord wants to touch you today and and give you a new heart, a heart of flesh.

 Ezekiel 11:19
And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:

2.    Moses spent 40 years in the desert but as the Lord revealed him in a burning bush he came out of his spiritual hibernation. After Paul was saved he went through a “sleeper season” in Arabia.
3.    Disappointments, traumas and bad experiences can bring a season of winter into our lives and we must understand it knowing that the Lord will bring a new fire.


 Have you slipped into spiritual hibernation? Do you need a boost of caffeine for your soul? God wants to see you "wake up" to a life uncommon!

Similarly, we also experience that aspect of spiritual winter in our lives when there seems to be silence and inactivity.  It’s what I call “spiritual hibernation.”  There’s a sense of stagnancy, inactivity, fruitlessness, dryness, coldness, and even depletion and regression.  Despite all our fervent efforts to make things happen and progress, it’s an effort of utter futility.  Also, whatever spiritual gains we’ve made, it now appears as if it’s being all spent and depleted.  Now we’re at our low reserves with no break in sight.  We seem to be spiritual hibernating and things are being expended and depleted while we’re not seemingly replenishing and refueling enough to keep pace.  Have you ever felt this way in your walk with God?  Have you ever hit this wintry hibernation moment in your spiritual journey?

Ephesians 5:14* New King James
Therefore He says:
    t“Awake, you who sleep,
    Arise from the dead,
    And Christ will give you light.”

As the wood frog wakes up with the spring sun rays we need to be enlightened by the anointed Word of God in order to come back to life

C. "I WILL ARISE AND GO TO MY FATHER"

 The Prodigal Son said "I will Arise and go to my father"

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

1.    Notice first that the Light is a gift from Christ.
2.    Notice than the Light of Christ is called the light of Life, meaning if you receive Christ, you will have eternal life.
3.    You will understand where you are going, why you were born and how you should walk.

 2 Cor 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 2 Cor 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

The God of this world system is Satan, he blinds the minds of the lost so that they are: Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Tim 3:7

Only Christ can help you to understand Spiritual things. He may be speaking to you tonight. His is a still small voice, His knock at the door of your heart is gentle. If you believe, take the first step tonight. Salvation is a free gift of God but a gift has to be received, God loves you, He is pleading for you to come to Jesus, but you must accept His Offer.

Conclusion
1.    Is your heart cold for spiritual things?
2.    Where you hurt by something or someone and you are not able to feel God’s presence?
3.    Wake-up and receive God’s Holy Spirit, He will meltdown the ice in your heart!