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by Bob Fraley
Text: Matthew 21:6-11 
Sermon in a Sentence: The window of opportunity for national revival will not remain open indefinitely; consequently, we need to discover the urgency of “Hosanna” as the people were shouting when Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem. “Hosanna” means “To save us now!”
America is at a crossroads. We are either going to choose revival or judgment from the hands of a Holy God. I say choose revival! How about you?
I think everyone would agree that life can’t be lived in a constant state of urgency. In our world, many people live as though “it is absolutely imperative that something be done right now,” when the truth is, it probably won’t make much difference if they put it off until tomorrow—or even next week, for that matter.
I am not saying there can’t be some issues that do require prompt attention. I think if you heard the police loudspeaker saying to evacuate your house immediately because a wildfire was quickly approaching your neighborhood, you’d be wise to clear out as fast as you can. That would be a situation that calls for urgency.
My topic today fits somewhere in between these examples. It’s not something that has to be acted on the moment you leave church. Then again, neither is it a matter that should be neglected for very long. It does require attention, and it should be sooner rather than later.
We are nearing the end of our 50-Day Spiritual Adventure called The Remarkable Revelation, subtitled 50 Days to Prepare for What’s Ahead. This is Sunday 7 of 8. It’s also Day 43 of 50. So we have just one more week to go. We want to finish strong!
My subject today is national revival. Though individual believers need to experience personal revival  and know the presence of Jesus in a powerful new way, and individual churches need to experience revival, having an overwhelming sense of the presence of the Lord as was discussed in last week’s sermon, on occasion entire countries have been impacted by God manifesting Himself in a most remarkable fashion.
You get glimpses of this in the Old Testament with the nation Israel. Some of the Scripture passages assigned for you to read this week, as listed in your Adventure Journal, are about such times. Does everyone repent and turn back to the Lord? Of course not! But generally speaking, the Scriptures indicate a change in the direction of the country, because so many do get things straightened out with the Lord.
Believe it or not, in the past the same has been true of America. Later in my sermon this morning I will tell you about one such time. In his book Salt and Light, Bob Fraley also cites examples other than what I will share today of revival times in America.
A couple of minutes ago I referred briefly to a rapidly moving fire. If you were warned of one approaching your neighborhood, it would be urgent to react quickly. Many people mistakenly believe all wildfires can be controlled. Firefighting experts insist that this isn’t true. Some fires can’t be stopped until they burn themselves out. Others cannot be controlled at all.
For example, in 1967, the Tasmanian fires in Australia came on the heels of a considerable drought. More than 110 known fires were burning on the morning of February 7, consuming more than 650,000 acres in about five hours. American preachers in earlier generations knew more than we do about what a revival can do. But they still struggled to come up with a vivid picture that could adequately convey the phenomenal power of a revival. The image they turned to most often was a sweeping wildfire blown by the winds of the Spirit and burning everything in its path. As sparks of a wildfire from one area that’s ablaze are carried by the wind to ignite somewhere else, so it is with revival. The stories of what’s happening in a given church are told elsewhere, and the extensive spreading of a Spirit led revival grows.
End of Short Preview for Sermon #7 | 
