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  WHY IS GENUINE REVIVAL IMPORTANT FOR THE CHURCH IN OUR GENERATION？
  by Stephen Elliott
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the need for revival in the church,
pointing out the decline in church attendance and the lack of genuine
encounters with God as key reasons. The speaker highlights the
importance of reviving the church for the presence of God and the
transformation of people's lives, addressing the societal shift away
from Christianity and the urgent need to share the message of the
gospel.

Topics: "Revival in the Church", "Transformation through Encountering God"
Scripture References: 2 Chronicles 7:14, Psalm 85:6, Ezekiel 36:26, Acts 3:19

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the need for revival in the church, pointing out
the decline in church attendance and the lack of genuine encounters with
God as key reasons. The speaker highlights the importance of reviving
the church for the presence of God and the transformation of people's
lives, addressing the societal shift away from Christianity and the
urgent need to share the message of the gospel.

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CONTENT
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Why is revival needed for in the church these days? Well, the answer I
think is really clear. First of all, the church needs reviving. Anybody
that studies anything about the church growth patterns and health knows
that the church in Canada especially is in a free fall in attendance.

Most denominations are losing hundreds of thousands of people. When I
did my doctoral dissertation, we discovered that 8.7 million Canadians
are fewer are attending church these days than were 10 years ago. So
there's something about how the church is operating right now in Canada
that is not, the world is not finding it attractive.

We're not retaining people for Christ and so people are just not being
there. My contention is the number one reason why people go to church is
in the hopes of encountering God. And if they're not encountering God at
the church, if they're just going through the motions, singing the songs
and praying and things of that nature, but they're not having a genuine
encounter with God, at some point they'll grow disillusioned and
discouraged.

And I believe that's the number one reason why people stop going is
because they don't sense they're encountering God. And so the church
needs reviving because we need the presence of God in our midst. So not
only just for issues of attendance but also for the character of God's
people.

Lots of people have said this. George Barna, the researcher, has noted
this as well, that the average non-Christian sees no difference in the
lifestyle and attitudes between a Christian and a non-Christian, a
person who goes to church and a person who doesn't go to church. And so
something needs to happen that changes and transforms the hearts and
minds and lives of people and I believe it's an encounter with God.

So the first reason why the church needs reviving is the church needs
it. The second of all, society needs it. We are at least in a post-
Christian era, if not a pre-Christian era, with 88% of Canadians not
being in any church on any given Sunday, only about 12% of Canadians are
in any type of a place of worship on any given Sunday.

Society needs the message of the church. And so society needs what the
church has to offer, which is the message of the gospel. So that's why
the church needs reviving.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/ZciuOJaUmwY.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/stephen-elliott/why-is-genuine-revival-important-for-the-church-in-our-generation/
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