Parashat Noach 2024: Stewards of Revival

Haftarah: Is 66:1-24

In Isaiah 66:23 God states, “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.”

When God's people pray, revival begins to change our communities and the nation. Revival can happen anywhere, and God can intervene in any life. He calls those he wishes to save into our congregations, and we need to be ready to work in the harvest. If your congregation is revival-oriented, in any given service anything can happen, and anyone can walk through the back door. At first, some people may not seem like God will do great things with them. They may not look stable. They may smell bad. They may be drunk, high, spiritually afflicted, or possessed. Their language and behavior may be worldly, but God calls whosoever he will. Yeshua desires to make us fishers of men, but too many times we judge prematurely and try to decide what fish we are willing to accept, and what fish we will count out or throw away as unredeemable.

When I first responded to God, I was clueless. I was in a metaphysical religion. There was no hell, no heaven, no sin, and no savior. I did not believe there was a personal God, if one even existed, and the thought of having a conversation with that God was unthinkable. One night I picked my Great Grandmother up from church and brought her home. She was only 80 years old at the time. The next thing I knew I was walking back through the front doors of the church I just left. I had no clue how I got there. I remember being puzzled and did not know what to do.

God was dealing with me, but I was clueless that it was him. I sat on the back pew, and then the Spirit of God fell. I began to weep uncontrollably (something I never did) and did not even know why. An evangelist sat down beside me and asked what I needed from God. I responded that I felt like I was losing my mind. I did not know how to pray. I did not understand what was going on and could not even respond. I was absolutely lost in every sense. Then God did something amazing. Everything I needed at the moment suddenly came. I was crushed, then I felt strong. I felt lost, but for some reason, I felt that I was found. I felt confused but suddenly felt confident, alert, and in control. I knew that everything was going to be okay, but I still did not know why. I did have the idea that God did it, whoever that was. I wanted to find out more about Him, so I kept coming back.

I was not the clean harvest with polished fruit people were hoping to see. I did not understand the faith and stumbled over simple things. It took a year and a half of being mentored for me to get to that place of really understanding things and being able to grasp the Gospel. I prayed, read, and developed a walk with God, then God called me to the ministry. No one would have guessed that early on. I was just too undone. I would have been too far out for some congregations to deal with.

God is calling laborers into the harvest. Who is God calling you to reach? Who is God calling to your congregation? He is calling souls to respond to his voice. He calls the lost and sends them to congregations so that they can know and serve him. These precious souls are in the infancy of God's process and God commits them to us to care for. Like babies, they make mistakes and require a lot of attention, patience, and care. They may be homeless, a stressed-out single mom, a wayward prodigal, or an occultist. They may not have stability in any part of life, but God sent them to us to care for. We will see revival in our day, but it will be a dirty harvest, and we must be committed and equipped to work with those God sends to us. We don't control revival. God controls revival and he makes us stewards of his work. God calls everyone to come to his throne. It is our job to prepare them to meet the King.

My prayer is for God to make us into a spiritual hospital, a soul-saving station, and a place where disciples make disciples and congregations birth congregations.

Rav Calev

Apostolic Messianic International

Next Feasts:

Chanukah begins sundown at Dec 25th and ends at sundown Jan 2nd

Purim begins sundown at March 13th and ends at sundown March 14th.

Hebrew Words to Know:

Sacred Service- Avodat Hakodesh

Sense of Regret- Charatah

Sense of Shame- Halbanat panim (lit, whitening of the face)

Serenity- Menucha

Service of the Heart- Avodat Chalev