Sunset Point Family Camp

July 1 PM - Tim Woodcock

Sunset Point Family Camp

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0:00 | 33:33
SPEAKER_00

Amen. Well, it's hard to believe. It's my last night. And I just want to say that it has been a privilege to be here over the course of this week and to be blessed by Alberta Beach Camp and to get to know many of you guys. This is an incredible place. And uh I don't know if you're aware of this, but you have something very special happening here. Like there was such a sweet presence of Jesus in this room. Like I really feel like, as I talked about last night, like there was a there was a connection to the throne room of heaven in this place. And there was just a joining with the angels and the elders in this place. And it was just special. I I could have sat in that for like the next 30 minutes because man, that was that was powerful. You have incredible leaders in this province. Incredible leaders, incredible pastors all across Edmonton, all across Calgary, all across this province. God is working, He is moving. And I just love the hearts of the leaders of this province. They're bold, they're courageous, but they're also humble. And they walk with a genuine spirit of humility that is very rare amongst so many leaders. This camp carries a spirit of excellence in all that you do. One of the things that stood out most to me uh over these last several days is the excellence of hospitality that you guys carry. And I believe that is one of God's greatest missional gifts for the body of Christ to really be counterculture to the world that we live in. And I want to encourage you to keep keep modeling that well. Keep walking in that radical hospitality and all that you do. And I believe that that has a way of bringing transformation to whole communities, whole cities. And uh we believe, we believe that God is up to something big in Canada. Like I don't know if you're aware of this, but his plans for Canada are greater than my plans. His plans for Canada are greater than your plans. God's plans for this nation are amazing. And the greatest days of the Church of Jesus Christ in Canada are not behind us, but they are today and they are yet ahead. Amen. They are yet ahead. And God has so many good things in store for us. Well, we've been on a journey this week looking at what does it mean to be the people of God. Remember from night one, I talked about being a people of resurrection hope. I talked about Sunday morning about the great invitation that Jesus extends to us as disciples and followers of Jesus. We talked about being a people of faith. I've heard testimonies from people that believe they experience healing miracles on Sunday night. Like, come on, somebody. That's incredible. God is still healing people's lives, and miracles are still happening. We talked about being the people of the kingdom come, and then we talked about last night being a people of the spirit. Tonight I want to talk about what does it mean to be a people of revival? What does it mean to be a church that is consumed by seeing revival come, not just to our churches, but to our cities and to our nation? And I want to talk about this because I know that right now the word revival is a bit of a buzzword. It's something that a lot of people are talking about. There's a lot of preconceived ideas about what makes revival revival. And if I can be honest, growing up in the circles that I grew up in, when I hear that word, sometimes it triggers some memories in my mind that aren't always so positive. And I have thoughts about revival and revival culture that sometimes there's great things to it, and then there's other things, and I'm like, ah, I don't, I don't know if I really, really like that word. And over the last several years, the Lord has been taking me on a journey of actually studying revival history and looking at many of the great awakenings that have happened throughout church history and and really looking at what are some key markers, what are some key identifiers that uh constitute something being a genuine revival, that this isn't just a word, that it's a buzzword or just rhetoric that we kind of throw around and use loosely. But when we look at church history, we see some consistent patterns of things that happen that really spoke to, yes, we are in days of revival. And revival is not just extended meetings. Revival is not just feel-good meetings, and I like extended meetings and I like feel-good meetings, but revival is when God sovereignly shows up and brings change and transformation to entire communities. In fact, I would say revival has far more to do with what happens outside the four walls of a church or a camp meeting in our cities than it has anything to do with what happens in these gatherings. And we love these gatherings. So I want to open up with this in Psalm 85. The psalmist said, Return to us, God of our salvation, and abandon your displeasure with us. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger for all generations? Will you not revive us again so that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your faithful love, Lord, and give us your salvation. I will listen to what God will say. Surely the Lord will declare peace to his people, his faithful ones, and not let them go back to foolish ways. His salvation is very near those who fear him, so that the glory may dwell in the land. Revival is connected to the glory of God dwelling in our land. I think it's strategic that I'm talking about revival here on Canada today in 2026 here in Alberta. Because every one of us, I believe in this place, we long for the glory of God to reign in our nation. Amen. Many years ago, I read this book by Mark Sayers. Next slide here, it's called The Reappearing Church. And he talks about in this book about the continuity of renewal, the continuity of revival as you see it throughout Old Testament history and New Testament church understanding, and then all throughout church history. And he says that you can usually track that renewal processes and revival kind of uh moments usually happen when there is a decline that is happening in society. When you look at Israel's history, there was a decline that was happening in them as a people, and there was a yearning that began to rise up in their heart, like we are falling away and things are getting bad, and we need God to show up on our behalf. He talks about how usually that decline it leads to this holy discontent amongst the people of God. This sense of there's gotta be more. Our religious programs and our religious gatherings and services and all the stuff that we do that in and of themselves aren't necessarily bad. Uh, they're not enough, though. And there must be more. There must be something else that God has for us. And often that leads to Christians preparing their heart and saying, God, we want to prepare ourselves to see you move in our day, in our generation again. And out of that, usually there enters a time where the people of God begin to contend and believe that God will show up and he will answer prayers and he will pour out his spirit in a spirit of revival. And then that leads to these holy patterns amongst the people of God, and then usually it's connected to a remnant. I truly believe this that when you study revival history, you see this over and over again. It's usually not the majority that are contending for things, but it usually is a group of people. It's prayer warriors or it's young people often that are saying, we're not content with the status quo. We want more of God's presence in our lives and in our generation. And out of that remnant, usually there is this response and this turning that leads to renewal in a day in a generation. Back in 2023, I was talking with some friends on a Sunday morning as pastors. We we text each other and we just try to encourage each other before we get up to preach. And uh different pastors all across our province, and we say things like, let's give the devil a good kick in the teeth today, and let's go for souls today, and let's see the kingdom come today. And at that time in 2023, it was February, and there was this uh outpouring that began to happen at Asbury University. Did anybody ever hear this? And so one of my friends, uh pastor in Waterloo, he said, Hey, who wants to go to Asbury? There's this 24-7 worship and prayer thing that is happening at Asbury with all these college students. And the second he said revival, it's kind of like, uh, I don't know. But then he said college students, and I'm like, okay, I think I want to see that. I think I want to experience that. But everyone else, we started making excuses for why we couldn't go. We're just too busy. We have so much going on. And so we went and we preached her multiple services. And after the services, the same guy he said, No, I'm serious. Who wants to pack up and go to Asbury and see what is happening down there? And so I said to my wife, I said, Hey, uh, Chris is texting me and he's asking if any of us pastors want to just do a random spontaneous road trip and drive down to Asbury University and see what God is up to. And my wife said, Why not? Go ahead and go and do that. And so that night we met in our church parking lot. There were three of us pastors, and we we drove late into the night. We got a hotel in Ohio. The next day we got up and we drove to Asbury University, and we got there about one o'clock in the afternoon. And we pulled onto the university campus, we began to walk through the campus, and you could just tell something was different. Have you ever been in those atmospheres where you just know something's up, something is happening here? Like I saw groups of students all over the campus, just pockets of students praying and just worshiping in spontaneous ways. And we walked into this auditorium in the pictures here called Hughes Auditorium. And at that time, there was about eight or nine hundred people packed into this 1500-seat auditorium. And I'm kind of a I'm kind of a spectator. I'm a people watcher. I like to watch people, and I really like to watch goofy people. My oldest daughter and I, we do this a lot. Like we'll go to the mall and we'll just sit in the mall and we'll be like, look at that person. Oh my goodness, what are they doing? Why are they wearing that? Why are they? Does anyone tell them that they look? And we get a little bit critical, and then usually in those critical moments, the Holy Spirit convicts me and deals with something in my heart. And so, unfortunately, this happens in church circles sometimes too. And so I go into Hughes Auditorium and I say, Let's go up to the balcony. And so we go up there, and I'm I'm just sitting on the right side of the balcony, right on the edge, we're just looking, and and there's these musicians on the stage, and they got this one of the little cajon things and an acoustic guitar and a piano that the sound system isn't even working right on. And then they got these singers, and I have to be honest, I was really underimpressed. I'm sitting there going, what's so special about this? Why is everyone talking about this? Why is this blowing up all over social media? And so I sat there watching people and watching students just worshiping and praying, and once again, a little bit of that critical spirit starts rising up. Like I drove all the way here, Pastor Phil. And there's really nothing to this. Oh man, if they would just get a better sound system, if they would just get some singers that are in key, if they would just ask some more musicians, like the roof could probably come off this place. And I'm sitting there, and I just felt the Holy Spirit say to me, Tim, you're missing it. You're missing what I'm doing in a generation right now. And as I sat there, I began to hear worship erupt from the congregation. And it's like the voices would take over the entire auditorium. And it really had very little to do with what was happening on the stage, but the stage was just helping to facilitate how the spirit was moving amongst the people in the auditorium. And song after song would arise and it would crescendo with the voices to this high moment, and you would feel like the roof was going to blow off, and then it would just calm down and there'd be a spirit of peace, a generation riddled by anxiety and fear, experiencing supernatural peace all across the room. We went into that auditorium thinking we would be there for an hour and a half, and we would just see what was up, and then we were going to go get some Joella's chicken. Because if you're in the South, you gotta get you some Joella's chicken. It's powerful. You're welcome. And so after an hour and a half, we looked at each other and we're like, Wanna go? My bud's like, let's just stay another hour, let's just see what's happening. We ended up staying for eight hours in this auditorium, worship and prayer and confession of sin. And at one point, me and my buddies were just confessing sin one to another, not deep, dark, hidden sin. We don't wrestle with that stuff, but we're a pride and ego and different things, and we're weeping and we're crying, and then we're just sitting in this supernatural peace, and then the voices would arise again, and we were there for eight hours. Now, I said last night I'm fifth generation Pentecostal. I've been in some long meetings before. You know, those meetings where you're like the spirit left 30 minutes ago, and you're just trying to manufacture this and make it happen. I'm not into long meetings for the sake of having long meetings, but this was such a supernatural thing that was happening in the room, and it was happening in a non-charismatic and Pentecostal university. And this began to do something in me to say, Tim, you have your preconceived ideas about revival and awakening, but maybe you might want to do some study looking outside of your own movement. And so, real quickly, we're gonna look at here tonight four different revivals that I began to study. Number one, the Welsh Revival, 1904 to 1906, happened in Wales. Obviously, the Azusa Street revival that our movement as a Pentecostal people is connected to in 1906 and 1909. The Hebrides revival happened in 1949 to 1953, and then obviously the Asbury revival that happened in 2023. Now, here's the big idea I want you to remember here tonight. If you remember nothing else, remember this. I heard a preacher say this years ago. God comes where he's wanted. It's as simple as that. Like we sense his presence because this room is full of people that want his presence. Now, his presence is omnipresence, but he manifests, he makes it known in places where people say, We want you, we welcome you, we want to encounter your presence. G. Campbell Morgan said, This revival cannot be organized, but we can set our sails to catch the wind from heaven when God chooses to blow upon his people once again. And I would propose that in 2026, in the nation of Canada, the Spirit of God is blowing afresh again. And so we need to put up the sails of our heart to begin to catch what he is doing in this hour. And so, real quickly, what are some sales that we can set? When you study revival history, you will see these continual themes over and over again. Write this down, if you will. Number one, devoted prayer. You see, though it is true that revival is a sovereign act of God, it is also true that revival history is riddled with places that were birthed out of an intense commitment to prayer. In the Welsh Revival, the leader by the name of Evan Roberts, for 13 years, he was praying and believing that God would send revival. 13 years. That's not the right picture. You can go back to the other slide, but anyways, 13 years praying and believing and contending, God send revival to Wales. Now sometimes I have problems praying 13-second prayers. Anybody else? 13-minute prayers, 13-hour prayer, 13 years praying and believing for God to pour out his spirit in revival. The Yazusa Street revival was started on Bonnie Bray Street, and it was essentially nightly prayer gatherings of people that would just show up in the early 1900s and say, We're going to pray and we're going to seek the face of God and we're going to contend and believe for revival to come. And the Hebrides revival, next slide here. Many think of the great Duncan Campbell, but it was actually two older women in their 80s that were so frail in their bodies they couldn't even make it down to the chapel. But get this, they were so disturbed by the fact there were no young people in their churches in the Hebrides. It was all older people. And these women in their 80s said, We're going to pray from 10 o'clock at night till 2:30 in the morning, three nights a week, and pray, God, send revival and bring young people into our churches again. In the Asbury Revival, there was a Malaysian scholar that was there on a five-year contract, and one night he had a vision that God was going to send revival to Asbury. And all the other professors thought he was nuts. He would walk the campus for five years praying and contending, saying, Lord, send your spirit at Asbury University. Let us experience a great revival. When you look at revival, it's always preceded by a people that are committed to prayer. One of my great spiritual fathers used to say, you know, in North American culture, we talk about prayer, we write about prayer, we teach about prayer, we have conferences about prayer, but we actually do very little prayer. And if we're going to see revival in this day, we have got to be a people that are committed to prayer. In our church, with what God has been doing, doubling in the last three years our attendance and record salvations and baptisms and all these incredible testimonies. Back in COVID, a group of a remnant of prayer warriors determined they were going to meet every single night over Zoom and pray and believe and contend for revival. I know I've talked to you, Pastor Phil, and you say with all that is happening there at Hope City, the engine that fuels it is prayer. This is what God does. He comes where he's wanted, and he comes and finds people that are devoted and committed to prayer. Secondly, we see this one of the great markers of revival is that of true humility. And this actually goes against so much of Western culture today. Influencer culture. If you're going to be famous, you got to get known. And if you're going to be in revival culture, you have to have a great online influence presence there. And you got to have people know your name. And yet when you study all the great revivals of times past, it was marked by the spirit of true humility. It said that Evan Roberts, he couldn't stand when reporters showed up to document what was happening there in Wales. He wanted to guard the purity of the revival. He didn't want anything to taint it. He didn't want any ego to go to his head. And I believe that God wants to do something special in Canada because I actually believe that in general, Canadians actually have a great spirit of humility. And we understand that it's not about us and it's not about our fame. If revival comes, it's all for the glory of the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. When you look at um uh Zeus Street, William Seymour, he he guarded the purities of the meetings with such a humility and courage. Even in a Pentecostal setting, he he was so humble in how he carried himself and he was so careful not to get in the way of what he felt like God was going to do. It's often said that in the Asbury revival and went on for days, and then they had to shut it down because 24,000 people showed up in a town of 6,000 people. It was ruining the septic systems, it was destroying the restaurants. They couldn't handle it. And they from the very beginning they said, God is kissing this place with his presence, but we're not going to extend this for meetings for the sake of meetings. When God is done, we will shut down and we will commission people to go out into the world on mission. It was said that often it looked like in those gatherings there was no leadership, but I was there for three days. There was all kinds of leadership, but they were so humble. They only came to the stage when they felt like they needed to give direction. And often they would give a simple piece of direction, and then they would say, Let's get back to glorifying Jesus because we want him to have all the glory in this place. A comment that was often made was we we've got to go lower so that Jesus might go higher. Humility is always a massive marker of every great move of God. And the the North American church needs a dose of humility today. Amen. We need a dose of true humility. Thirdly, you'll see that every great revival is marked by genuine repentance that leads to salvation, that leads to life transformation. You know, it said that in the Welsh Revival, crime decreased significantly, and even many saloons were shutting down because drunkenness dropped. That's a marker of revival. I was talking about the Welsh revival in my church several months ago, and I was talking about how many of the miners would come out of the mines, and when God was pouring out his spirit there in Wales, they would come out of the mines and they would be cursing and they would be slandering and all these things. And then when the revival broke out, they would come out of the mines, and many of them would feel so convicted of sin that they would actually repent of their cursing and their slander, and they would show up to the meetings and they would give their lives to Jesus. A guy walks down at the end of the service, he said, Pastor, I'm here because of the Welsh Revival. And then he's a little bit older, but I'm doing the math, and I'm like, This the math ain't mathing on this. Because you're probably in your 80s at best, but you're not that old. He said, I grew up in South Africa, and there was a minor in the Welsh Revival. That came out of the mines and felt so convicted by the spirit of repentance. He gave his life to Jesus. He left mining, went into full-time ministry, and years later he came to South Africa and hosted tent meetings. And someone invited my mom and I to come to that tent meeting as an eight-year-old boy. I gave my life to Jesus because of what God did with the miners. Every great revival is marked by this genuine repentance. It said that in Azusa Street, drunks and addicts would stumble into the gatherings, and out of pure conviction, they would get saved, they would get set free, and they would leave the meetings sobered. The Hebrides Islands, one night Duncan Campbell preached, and about a kilometer up the road on top of this hill, there was a dance hall full of young people dancing. And they came out of the dance hall, hundreds of them, and they heard this singing from one of the chapels in the Hebrides Revival, and they they kind of stumbled upon it. They walked down, and Campbell had finished preaching. He was outside, and someone came and grabbed him and said, Brother Campbell, you got to come back in and you got to preach the gospel again. He said, Nope, I've already preached tonight. He says, I know, but we've just had two plus hundred young people show up and they're here and they want to know about Jesus. And he preached the gospel that night, and many of them got saved, set free, delivered, and many of them were actually called into full-time missions from that one moment. I remember being in Asbury, and one of the moments the leaders came to the stage. They came up and they said, I just sense there's this spirit of confession and repentance that we need to enter into as a collective group. At the time, there's about 1,500 people in the auditorium. And he says, We're going to do an old Methodist practice. It's called popcorn confession. And I'm sitting up the balcony and I said, This is going to be a train wreck. And he says, as the Spirit convicts you one by one, we're going to ask that you simply stand up, don't preach a sermon, don't give a homily, just say, I confess, one or two words. And after that confession, the whole group is going to declare over you the blood of Jesus forgives you. And I'm sitting here going, This is going to be awful. There's about 1,500 people. Listen, for the next 20 minutes, one by one, college students will stand up to their feet. And what I love about this emerging generation is that they're the most authentic generation. They're not afraid to say, Here's my junk. And I want to be honest about it. They would stand to their feet and they would say, I confess things. And then a roar of 1,500 voices would declare over them, the blood of Jesus forgives you. And I would watch many of those college students literally collapse under the mercy that they were experiencing and receiving in that moment. Every great revival is marked by true repentance. Fourthly, you see this over and over again passionate worship. In fact, it said G. Campbell Morgan, he was a pastor of Westminster Chapel. He was a prince of preachers kind of person. He's like Pastor Phil, he's a prince of preachers, right? And everyone knew him for his preaching. He went to see what was happening, the Welsh revival. And when he got there, Evan Roberts was preaching. He's like, there's nothing special about this guy's preaching. What's so special about this? Then he heard them worship and he said, Oh my goodness, when the Welsh people worship, they sing at the top of their lungs. What I've loved this week, what I've loved more than anything else in these gatherings, is a worship team that understands how to lead in a way where they create space for the body of Christ to worship. When I hear the voices singing in unison in those moments, go now we're worshiping. I tell my team all the time back home, if the people aren't singing, we might not be worshiping. And therefore we have to sing songs that are familiar and are easy. We do new stuff as well, but I say don't do too much new stuff in one service because we have to have those spaces and those moments where we sing in a spirit of unity because there's something that happens when the people of God gather together and we sing in a spirit of unity. We heard it tonight. Did you catch it? When we were all just singing, we cry, holy, holy, holy, and the voices were crescendoing in this place. I believe the Spirit of God is moving in those moments. And you see that all throughout revival history. Even in our own movement, the Azusa Street. Everyone thinks Pentecostalism was just wacky and weird. William Seymour, he would lead the corporate settings with order. He would literally come and he walk through the crowd and he'd say, Okay, I preached, but now we're gonna worship. Who's got a song? Someone would stand up, they would lead a song, and then corporately they would sing together. Sometimes he would say, Hey, let's just pray for the next minute. As Pastor Phil just led in these moments, and other pastors, Pastor Ben, throughout this week, did some incredible things. Pastor Paul leading these moments. That was what was happening in Azusa Street. And he would say, Let's just pray right now. Let's pray in the spirit. In fact, if you study this, they even corrected excess. Did you know that? This actually happened at Azusa Street. There's actually documented one time a guy was getting out of control and drawing attention to himself, and Brother Seymour walked over to him, and I'm just going to pick on you because you're probably not that type of guy. He said, Brother, you're in the flesh. Calm down. And then he said, Let's get our eyes back on Jesus. Let's get focused on Jesus right now in this place. And let's begin to worship in a collective, unified voice. Because this is always a key marker of revival. Of these four revivals, you will see the impact that they made on their communities and their generation. It's believed that in the Welsh Revival, over a hundred thousand salvations happened in the Welsh Revival. A hundred thousand. Pastor Kevin, could you imagine a hundred thousand people getting saved at your church over a three-year period? Like, how amazing would that be? It's believed that during the Hebrides revival, 75% of the Hebrides became Christian. Three-quarters of the Hebrides became Christian. Like, what would it look like to have three-quarters of Edmonton saved for Jesus Christ? That's revival, by the way. It's believed there was a newfound desire for holiness as we talked about. The many people repenting of sin, giving up addiction. There was a unity. When you study the Azusa Street revival, black, white, Hispanic, male, female, 1906 gathering around altars, laying hands on one another and praying for each other. Revival breaks down racial barriers, socioeconomic barriers, gender barriers. This is what happens in revival. There's a restoration of broken relationships. You see over and over again a mending of relationships where marriages are restored and prodigal sons and daughters are coming home and families are united once again. You see over and over again that there's this increased level of a new generation of leaders being called into ministry. I was in some meetings a couple years ago in concern about the direction of so much of our institutions and raising up the next generation of pastors and leaders in Canada. And there was a lot of us in this meeting and we're talking about what's the solution. We recognize there's a problem, but what's the solution? And everyone's talking about different ideas and strategy and different ways to implement things. And I love strategy. I love to implement things that are new and creative and challenging at times. But I just felt the Spirit say on my heart, uh, put on my heart to say, actually, I think what we need more than anything is revival to come to Canada. And the guy he shut me down. He said, No, we don't need revival. I said, No, study it. I think we do. Because every great revival has seen an increase of the next generation of leaders sent into full-time ministry. One of my favorite verses, something that I've been praying and contending now for many years, since 2023, is Sebak chapter 3, verse 2. Lord, I have heard the report about you. Lord, I stand in all of your deeds. Revive your work in these years, make it known in these years. In your wrath, remember mercy. And so I study history because I not because I want to repeat history, but I study history so that I might be ignited in faith to believe that our God can do exceedingly greater things than he's already done. And so I love hearing testimonies how God has moved in the past. But listen, I'm a father of three young daughters. I don't want their faith to be based on how God moved in my life or their grandparents' life or their great-grandparents' lives. As Pastor Travis talked about this morning, uh, every generation needs an encounter. I want my daughters to experience revival in their generation. Lord, we've heard of your deeds. We've heard the stories of how you moved in this camp in the past. But here we are in 2026, and we're saying, Do it again, Lord. Do it again in this place, do it again in this tabernacle, do it again in the churches of Alberta. Do it again in our nation. We need revival to happen in Canada. We need a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in these days. We can't live off of yesterday's manna. We need something new today and tomorrow and the next day so that our sons and our daughters and our grandkids would experience the manifest presence of Jesus that transforms them for all of eternity. We don't just want good meetings, we want a genuine spirit of revival poured out that sees a whole generation transformed. And so I believe that out of this gathering here tonight, that many of you are gonna have a stirring in your heart to say, you know what? We need to see it happen. So I'm going to commit myself to prayer. Sure, you might not be preaching like you once were or leading Bible studies the way you once were, but you know what you can do? You can pray. What if the spirit of intercessory prayer came over uh the older generation in our churches, like those two women in the Hebrides that said, I can't even get to church, but I can pray in my living room. From 10 till 2:30, I'll contend and believe that God will show up and fill our churches with young people again. How many people want to see that happen? Come on, we all want to see that happen, amen. I want my girls to have this as a part of their testimony. So a lot of that are simple response is do it again, Lord. But also do it afresh, Lord. We don't want to try to recreate anything that's happened. We want to say, Lord, you're the same yesterday, today, and forever. So in our day, do it afresh. Do it again. Pour out your spirit in this place.