Real Revival Is Redemptive | Steve Trevino

2000 years ago, God split the heavens open and he stepped into our world. He put on human flesh and God became a man and he was beaten and he was bruised and he was battered and he was neglected and he was crucified. But on the third day, he resurrected. God rolled the tomb away and shouted a big amen that everything he said and everything he did was true. You know what that day was? You know what that day was? It was a Sunday. And because Jesus resurrected on a Sunday for 2000 years, believers and followers of Jesus have been gathering on the first day of the week for one reason. On every inhabited continent of the globe, every tribe, every nation, every tongue, people, nations have already gathered from back rooms to basements, to cathedrals, to underground churches, to Union Houston. Listen, if you're here this morning, you are a part of the greatest movement in the history of the world. So don't sleep on Sunday because Sunday is the best day because it's the day where the followers of Jesus gather for one reason, to declare that Jesus Christ is Lord. Can you say that with me? All together, one, two, three, Jesus Christ is Lord. Let's give him praise and glory. Thank you, God. Amen. Welcome. Praise the Lord. I'm Steve Trevino. I'm one of the overseers here at Union Houston Church. Born in Texas, raised in Houston, but the Lord sent my wife and I to San Francisco, California, where urban missionaries preaching the gospel and reaching folks in San Francisco and in the Bay Area.

But everywhere I go and every opportunity I get, I brag about you guys. I brag about you, Pastor Rod, Pastor Sarah, because what the Lord is building here through you is so phenomenal. It's so unique and it's so special and it's so needed. But I also want to say something to the many faithful members of Union, those of you that I have seen you and watched you grow over the years and you continue to be faithful. It's hard to be a pastor. Pastors need a lot of encouragement. And one of the best ways to encourage your pastors is to show up on Sunday. And you guys show up and you show up strong. And I want to commend you and I want to thank you. So thank you. Can we give a hand to all of the volunteers, everyone who serves, everyone who is a part of the team. Thank you. God bless you. I'm here today with my wife, Julie, of 31 years. And we're going to be grandparents, guys. And so I'm leaning in hard to the grandpa vibe, you know. I'm like falling asleep in public, you know. I'm walking into rooms going, what did I come in here for? I don't remember, you know. Going grocery shopping, you know, in my pajamas, all that. Pastor Rod's been coaching me up on it. So thank you. We're excited. New season. Let me pray for us. God, thank you for what you're doing on the earth. today thank you for allowing us to be a part of this Jesus we want to see revival in our hearts in our cities and our churches Lord let it begin here with

us in Jesus name Amen you know here at Union we're in a sermon series about revival but it's not just a sermon series we are in a season of revival and revival is not just the kind of thing that is built on hype it's not just manufactured moments you know there's a lot of people claiming revival these days my wife ran into a high school friend I hadn't seen each other in a while and her high school friend says hey what do you been up to and Julie says oh my husband and I we pastor a church you should come you should check it out and then Julie's friend said oh well my husband and I we run a bar you should come you should check it out and then she handed Julie a flyer and the flyer said honky-tonk revival everyone's promoting a revival these days even the bars are promoting revivals some of you looking at me like hey can I get that flyer I'm gonna go check that out listen what we're talking about in this series is different we're talking about the type of revival that only the Holy Spirit can produce the kind of revival that we see in Acts chapter 2 when the wind and the fire showed up and it turned the world upside down true revival you know true revival can take ordinary people and turn them into missionaries and martyrs when true revival shows up cultural Christians become cultural changers when true revival shows up passive bystanders become bold evangelists we're talking about real revival let me hit you with something that the Lord hit me with recently what would it look like if Jesus became the highest ambition of your life what would it look like if all other pursuits paled in comparison to your pursuit of Jesus that's what real revival produces you know we see a stadium filled with people and we go wow that's revival maybe it is maybe it isn't you know we hear about a prayer meeting going nonstop for a month and we go wow that's revival maybe it is maybe it isn't in fact I think when when we see something and we don't quite understand what's happening I would suggest that we would give pause and we would be cautious before we rush to judgment to categorize it this or that because the reality is we don't know but the Holy Spirit knows and I think sometimes if we rush to judgment to categorize a thing that sometimes that's

really a lack of fear of God in our hearts and so we need discernment and wisdom what is real revival what does it look like when it shows up it can look like many different things but we do know that when God shows up there are some very distinct characteristics there are ways to identify when the Lord is showing up and when the Lord is moving and and one of the main ones is this that revival is always redemptive revival will always be redemptive you know redemption is one of the most beautiful and powerful words that we have in our Christian theological lexicon redemption because redemption it describes what God does when something's been lost when something has been broken when something has been abused or when something has been ruined redemption describes what God does in those types of situations what a beautiful word when something is damaged redemption shows us that God does not discard something just because it's damaged but you know what redemption teaches us you know what the with a theological concept what we learn about the nature of God when we look at redemption in the Bible is we learn that God is willing to pay whatever the cost may be when something is lost when something is broken when something is destroyed when something is abused when something has been abandoned God is willing to pay whatever the cost may be to reclaim it to restore it and to give it a new future that is the God that we serve he is a God of redemption and so that's the nature of revival revival means to revive to bring back to life so Jesus tells this powerful story about revival and redemption in fact it's it's one of Jesus's most popular stories one of his his most famous parables and it's the story of a father and two sons and the younger son he's a little bit spoiled he's ungrateful he asks his father for his inheritance the father gives him his inheritance and he takes this lump sum and he goes to a faraway country and he parties like a rock star and he blows through all the inheritance and he's left broke homeless eating out of trash cans and then the Bible says he comes to his senses how many of you have ever been there he came to his senses and he decides to go back home this is a story of the prodigal son but it's really the story of the father's redemption it's really the story of the loving father and you know what's what's amazing about this story is Jesus tells this story because he wants people to see a side of God that they had never seen before in fact when Jesus told this story in the first century

it would have been wildly controversial because no first century Jewish father in his right mind honor shame culture would react the way that this father reacts and Jesus is presenting this idea that God is willing to do whatever he can to redeem the lost so when youth when You think of the prodigal son. When we read this, I want you to think about things that are broken in your life. I want you to think about things that are lost. I want you to think about things that have become damaged. Think about things that have corroded. Things that should be discarded. Let's look together at Luke chapter 15, starting in verse 17, we pick up the story. The son has just realized that he should go back home. Verse 17 says, but when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. So how do you know when it's real revival? So two points that I wanna share with you this morning, and the first one is this. Real revival is when sinners repent and return home. How do you know when it's real revival? Because sinners are repenting and returning home. Repentance. You know, repentance was a major theme in Jesus's teaching. When Jesus would preach, he would preach that the kingdom of heaven is near.

Jesus would show up into a town. He would show up into a village and he would go, the kingdom of heaven is near and the people will go, cool, what do we do? And Jesus would say, two things, repent and believe. That's the response. When God shows up, there's repentance and faith and that's what produces transformation. So repentance is a sign that Jesus is near. When people begin to repent, when people begin to come to their senses, it's a sign that Jesus is near. Repentance, metanoia is the Greek word and it simply means a changing of the mind. A changing of the mind. When was the last time you repented? Some of the husbands here go, my wife changes her mind all the time. She repented all the time. But when was the last time you had a thought and you thought this is the way it is and then you realized you were wrong and you changed your mind? That's what repentance is. Repentance is admitting I was wrong and then it's changing your direction and I don't know about you, but I find it easier to admit that I was wrong than it is to actually change my direction because I think sometimes what happens is we go,

all right, I was wrong, but then nothing changes, right? I could tell you a list of things that I know are wrong, but ain't nothing changed. Real repentance is when we admit that we're wrong, but then we change directions. You know, I had a man call me up once from church. He was one of the members of the church and he called me up. He said, pastor, I need to meet with you right away. Sounded urgent. So we met at a coffee shop and we're sitting at a table and he sits across from me and he says, thank you. for meeting with me he says this is urgent I got to tell you this right away I want you to hear it from me before you hear it in the news never a good thing to hear and he says to me this he says pastor I'm about to go kill a man and I thought he was joking but he said no I'm telling you so you hear it from me first I am about to go murder someone and he went on to tell me that his daughter had been dating a young man and he said that he didn't feel comfortable about this young man and he said he pulled him aside one day and he looked him in the eye and he said if you ever lay a finger if you ever hurt my daughter I will kill you he said last night the cops were called over there was a domestic violence situation and he abused my daughter and he's out on bail and I'm about to go to his house and kill him and I remember sitting across from this man and I remember asking the Holy Spirit what do I say to him in this moment and this is what the Holy Spirit gave me to tell him I looked at him and I said when you said to this young man and and part of the reason that he was so determined to kill him is he because he said I gave him my word I have to do this and so when he when he said that to me I said when you gave this man your word and you said to him and you looked him in the eyes and you said I'm gonna kill you I said you were wrong you shouldn't have said that so you're not

bound to that because you have a choice you have an option and your option is this you can repent you can repent because you were wrong and I remember watching this man bury his faith into his hands and he began to weep because he was being released from something that was satanic and that was demonic and that was evil over his life listen if you're carrying something that you can't seem to shake something that feels dark and something that feels evil and something that's weighing on you you're not bound to that you can repent and it begins with admitting that you were wrong you know that forgiveness is one of the greatest gifts you can give to someone else but you know it's even better it's one of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself because even though they hurt you and even though they betrayed you and even though it was wrong what they did to you you don't have to be bound to that sin of unforgiveness you can release them you can repent you can change your mind and change your direction and that's what we see this young man doing let's look at let's read verse 17 again he says but when he came to himself God help us come to ourselves God help us come to that realization that we need you in our lives he said how many of my father's hired servants have more bread more than enough bread but I perish without hunger I will arise and go to my father and I'll say to him I've sinned against you and against heaven I'm no longer worthy to be called your son now I want you to notice how the father responded in verse 20 and he arose and he came to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and felt compassion I remember Jesus is telling this story to show us a side of God that many people have not seen it says that the father saw him felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him and the son said to him father I've sinned against heaven and before you I'm no longer worthy to be called your son but the father said to his servants bring quickly the best robe and put it on him put a ring on his hand and shoes on his Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us eat and celebrate. For this, my son was dead and is alive.

He was lost and is found. And they began to celebrate. This is a picture of revival. Real revival. The second point is this, that real revival is when the saints, that's us, when the saints respond with redemptive hospitality. Sinners repent and come home, and the saints respond with redemptive hospitality. You know, I wanna share some amazing things that are happening that we're seeing in San Francisco and around the world. Some of you know, I've spent almost two decades working and doing ministry with the Underground Church in the Middle East, and we're seeing Christianity spread like wildfire. And these countries, these are places where it's illegal to be a Christian. Some places, it's punishable by death to be a follower of Jesus. One country in the Middle East, we're seeing the fastest-growing movement of Christianity in the world. Amen. And listen, they have no church buildings. They have no budgets. They have no website. They have no signage outside. They have no parking lots.

They have no coffee bars. They have no worship teams. They have no children's ministries. They have no youth ministries. And yet, their church is growing faster than any other church in the world. Why? One of the reasons is because church members in that part of the world take personal responsibility for fulfilling the Great Commission. In other words, they're not waiting on the professionals to do the job. Amen. They're not waiting on the new sermon series to come out. They're not waiting for the next podcast to drop. They don't have that luxury. There's nothing wrong with those things. We love those things. But they don't have the ability. So if their friends and their family are gonna hear about Jesus, it's because they're bringing the gospel to them. Amen. They're not leaving it to professional pastors. But they're seeking the lost. And they are willing to pay whatever the cost. They're reclaiming. They're restoring. They are creating literally a new future for their nation. And they're doing it

through practicing redemptive hospitality. You know what I mean by that? Here's what I mean. They're not preaching the gospel with a bullhorn on the street corner. They're opening up their homes. And they're opening up their lives to others. The principle is this. Don't share your faith with someone first. Share your life with them first. Amen. Because here's the thing. If you share your life with people, then you're gonna be able to share your faith with people. But if you share your faith first, you're gonna be repulsive instead of magnetic. And there's a lot of Christians that are repelling the lost instead of attracting. Jesus was magnetic. Yes. The people were attracted to Jesus. Jesus broke bread and he sat at tables with sinners. We don't have a program problem. We have a proximity problem. When sinners begin to repent and return home, we have an opportunity to open up our hearts and open up our lives to them. And that's one of the reasons why connect groups and connection points are so important on your spiritual journey of formation.

Because while the big church meeting here on Sunday mornings is vital to what we're doing, when we begin to gather with one another in each other's homes it's when real discipleship and real transformation can occur over the past 18 months I've been to Egypt four times I've been to Jordan three times trained over 400 pastors and leaders and we've started over 40 discipleship groups in North Africa and the Middle East and there's such a hunger I have some pictures that I wanted to show you today I don't know if you can see them yet on the screen this is can we see them yet oh let's see here we are yeah so this this this is Alexandria Egypt and every single one of these guys in this picture they're all they're all pastors and we were we were we were on this this campsite and they came out for four days this is another meeting this is actually in in Jordan this was another meeting these guys are all pastors and leaders you can go to the next one this these are some resources that we had produced in an Arabic this is a men's discipleship curriculum and there might be one more picture or we might be we might be at the end but yeah this is a group there and if you if you look real closely and you zoom in you'll see that I'm in I'm in there too I blend in with those guys whenever I go but so me and me and pastor Rod are gonna be traveling out next month we're gonna be going to Egypt God is opening up some amazing doors we're gonna go into Amman Jordan as well cultivating relationships real revival is when sinners are repenting and returning home and the church is opening up its doors and its heart and its life prepare the fatted calf bring the best robe bring the signet ring let's throw a party let's celebrate because my son who was lost has been found that's the heart of God something started to happen in San Francisco I started to share the story of the underground church churches begin to see and understand this need and so Julie and I we we wrote a course and we're training Christians how to reach the lost the redemptive hospitality and one of the executives of Google heard what we were doing and she runs all of these groups globally and one of the groups is Christian groups and there's about 10,000

Christian Googlers employees of Google and they're trying to figure out how to become missionaries to Google and when they heard what we did in the Middle East and when they heard the opposition they go that's exactly what we're experiencing here in Google except you know it's not secret police it's the HR department and so so they invited they asked me to come and I pitched to them and we are right now working on bringing this training to these 10,000 Christians who work for Google so they can learn to become missionaries within their workplace and then Amazon heard about it and we got a call and we went we sat with the same person same top same position but this time in Amazon but Amazon was like we want to start this thing now and they started going and talking about a global rollout and we go wait a second it's just me and Julie and one other person we're three people we can't train 10,000 people give us a minute let's form a team when we're ready we'll come back and so we've been working and we've been forming that team and now we've been praying with Google we've been we've been praying on the campus at Apple we've been praying with folks who work in Amazon and the Lord is getting ready to train and teach these folks how to seek and say Save the lost in some of the biggest tech companies in the world. Real revival. That's what the Lord is inviting us into. Stand with me today. God we thank you for what you are doing in our hearts. Lord I want to pray for someone in this room this morning that needs to repent. I sense the Lord saying that it's the kindness of God that leads you to repentance. So if you're feeling like God is tugging at your heart, there's something that you've been doing, maybe even thinking, and it's unhealthy. It's pulling you in the direction that God is not calling you. Maybe you even feel locked into a decision, but I just feel the Lord saying there's freedom. There is hope. People may have spoken some things and it feels definite, but it's not because God has

the final say. But if you will allow the kindness of God to lead you to repentance, it's by far the best option, because the alternative is that it's either the kindness of God that will lead us to repentance, or it's the severity of the consequences of sin that will lead us to repentance. And there's a window of grace. When Jesus showed up, he said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. So if you're here this morning, maybe there's something that you need to release. Maybe there's something that you need to confess. Maybe there's something that you need to let go. Maybe there's a new direction that God has for you today. I want to pray for you right now. If that's you, would you just take your hand, just place it over your heart. This is just for you and the Lord to see right now. God, we pray for those right now that are touching their chest, that are holding their hearts, God. Lord, we pray for the power of the Holy Spirit just to begin to fill them, Lord, the same way that you filled that room in Acts chapter 2. Lord, the same way that the fire and the wind came, Lord, and it violently shook. Lord, we pray in the name of Jesus that your Holy Spirit would begin to shake whatever circumstance, Lord, whatever thought, whatever behavior, whatever activity, God, that needs to be shaken. What needs to be restored? What needs to be redeemed? What needs to be rebuilt? Lord, we pray that you would do it right now. We receive it in the name of Jesus. Shout that out to the Lord right now. Say, I receive it in the name of Jesus. I receive it in the name of Jesus.

Thank you, God, in Jesus' name, amen. Come on, can we thank God for his message that has come to us this morning? The Lord brings redemption. Lord, we're going to have prayer partners up here this morning. If you feel like you want someone to pray with you, agree with you, to help you with whatever it is this morning, we're here for you. The members are going to be here, they just, they're ready to pray with you, whatever it is you need. You don't have to rush.