OPINION:
Think back. Do you remember those first few days as a new believer? The excitement you felt? The indescribable joy? That strong sense of purpose and meaning in your life—and the burning desire you had to share it with others?
Do you still feel that passion you first had for the Lord?
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I remember a letter I received from a listener to our podcast, “A New Beginning.” See if you can relate with Adam’s story:
I was brought up in a non-religious family. The only time I ever went to church was when I spent the night at a friend’s house and I’d have to go with them the next morning. Until about six months ago, I really had no idea what Christianity really was. I got a job driving blueprints, and after a while, the radio got really old. I began to listen to talk shows and, eventually, your show. My life has been forever changed since then.
I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I can’t tell you the joy I have felt since then. My life has been changed forever in a matter of months! I’m reading the Bible every day, and my love for the Lord grows deeper every day…. I really don’t know the first thing about being a Christian. All I know is that Jesus is the most important thing to me right now. It’s like nothing else matters in my life. I want to spend every minute reading the Bible and praying. Is this normal for someone who just discovered Jesus?
I love Adam’s last question: “Is it normal for someone who just discovered Jesus?” Yes, Adam, it is—and it should be the norm for every believer. Tragically, however, many of us seem to have lost or misplaced that passion. We’re not making an impact on the morally bankrupt, spiritually destitute world around us. Instead, moral relativism and ungodly behavior seem to have found their way into our ranks as believers.
Can we return to that burning passion for God? Is it possible to really make a difference in a culture that seems to have dropped off a cliff? Consider the believers of the first-century church. On the day of Pentecost, there were only 120 believers gathered in the upper room when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Their world wasn’t too different from ours, and in some ways, it was much worse. They lived under the jurisdiction of the godless Roman Empire. Immorality was rampant. The religious establishment was corrupt. Idolatry, spiritism, and demon worship were widely practiced. Everywhere the first Christians went there were ridiculed, opposed, and even persecuted for their beliefs.
And yet within a period of 30 years, the original 120 and their converts came to be known as “these who have turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).
Despite the hostility and ridicule of the surrounding culture, those early believers turned their world upside down—or more correctly, right-side-up. They didn’t allow the secular environment to turn them upside down, squeeze them into its mold, or force them into hiding. They didn’t worry about being “canceled” by contemporary culture. They made an impact for Jesus Christ.
How did the early church do it? In short, they had an undying passion for God.
John the Baptist introduced the ministry of Jesus by saying, “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am…. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matthew 3:11).
Moments before the resurrected Savior ascended into the clouds, He instructed his disciples:
Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit…. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere…to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:4-8).
Ten days later the promised fire fell when the Holy Spirit filled those 120 believers at Pentecost. The book of Acts records what can happen when a group of people with a fiery passion for God are turned loose in a needy, cynical world.
How do we get this fire back into our lives and our churches so we can influence our world like those early believers did? The answer: We need to rekindle the passion of our first love of the Lord. And we need the Holy Spirit’s fire in our hearts so that our passion for God can blaze out through our lives and touch the world around us.
It’s far too easy for believers to look at the world’s problems and say, “Hey, I didn’t have anything to do with this. I didn’t vote for this. Unbelievers and their rejection of God’s standards are the source of all the immorality and ungodliness that is eating away at our society.” But isn’t it interesting that when God speaks of turning a nation around, He doesn’t direct His comments to unbelievers? His Word gives us a clear blueprint for the job. Here it is:
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).
The cure, according to the Lord Himself, is revival. And it’s not the world that needs reviving; the Church does. We’ve had a taste of that in recent days following the release of “The Jesus Revolution” film, and the unprecedented baptism of thousands at Pirate’s Cove, in Southern California.
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Unbelievers are dead in sin. They need to come to faith in Christ. We who are Christians are already alive in Christ, but sometimes we’re weak, anemic, lazy, asleep. We’re the ones in need of revival. When we are revived, God will use us to bring unbelievers to life in Christ. When the Church is turned right-side-up through revival, the world will be turned right-side-up.
Our responsibility is to attend to our walk with God, seeking daily to be what He has called us to be from the beginning. As we make obedience and faithfulness our focus, God promises to send healing both to our lives and our land.
As screwed up as our state, nation and world might seem right now, there’s no reason we can’t turn the world right-side-up as did those first-century Christians. Allow me to suggest three key principles that underlie everything.
First, you need to revive the passion in your own heart. I’m not talking about seeking some cataclysmic, mountaintop emotional experience. Emotions come and ago. I’m talking about returning to the basics of the dynamic Christian life as described in the book of Acts and the New Testament letters. You will only revive the burning power and passion of Christ in your life by opening yourself to the power of God’s Spirit, by anchoring your daily life in the disciplines of worship, Bible study, prayer and faithful service, and by welcoming God’s direction in the everyday routine of your life.
Second, you need to open your life to others so God’s love within you can touch their lives as well. This means following God’s guidelines for developing the oneness of biblical koinonia among the believers with whom you worship, study, pray, and work. Opening your life to others also means responding to God’s command to reach out and disciple those around you who don’t know Him.
Third, you must be prepared to maintain the passion in your life when problems threaten to dampen and discourage your commitment to Christ. Some degree of persecution is a reality in the life of passionate believers. Remember Paul’s words in Acts 14:22: “Through many hardships we must enter the kingdom of God.” Jesus Himself assured us “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows; but cheer up, for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
When we cling to our faith and our passion for God through all the disappointments and disillusionments life throws our way, people around can’t help but notice. That’s when the door opens to speak words of life and to a confused and mostly hopeless culture.
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Greg Laurie is an Evangelist and the Pastor of Harvest Church in Southern California and Hawaii. His movie, “Jesus Revolution” is streaming now and will be released on Netflix on July 31.
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