January 10,2018

1. FIRSTSOUTHERNBAPTIST CHURCHof NORTHHOLLYWOOD (1-818-761-4800) NON-PROFIT
ORG.
“The First Family” (www.fsbcnh.org) U.S. POSTAGE PAID
10853 Victory Boulevard PERMIT #660
North Hollywood, CA 91606-3826 VAN NUYS, CA
Address Service Requested
THEBAPTISTVISITOR
Paul D. Whetstone (Interim Senior Pastor) JANUARY 10, 2018 Charles Cutney (Minister of
Encouragement)
We will be celebrating Easter
Sunday
on April 1 this year!
…that means we will
have
eleven weeks to
get ready for it…
…and guess what?—those eleven weeks can
be very exciting, very productive weeks in
the life of the First Family!
“Why?” you ask?
Because you might not realize it, but a lot of
folks all around us may already be starting
to think about Easter—what they’ll be
wearing or doing to celebrate this special
occasion! (NOTE: We like to call Easter
“ResurrectionSunday”—but please don’t
make a big deal of it!)
And because of this kind of “Easter
Thinking,” many of those folks will be more
ready to consider visiting our Church than
they otherwise would.
One thing you might want to do: Make a list
of all the “unchurched people” whom you
know—then pray for them every day,
and seek to find ways to encourage them
to visit your church with you
in the weeks ahead.
How does that sound to you?
3 Ways to Prepare friends for
Resurrection Sunday:
1. Set up the invite- Plant Seeds Early.
2.Prepare them-ask if they have questions or
concerns.
3.Follow up- Sit with them during service.
Afterwards let them know you appreciated them
coming out this Beautiful Glorious Resurrected
Sunday!
While we’re looking at exciting
events in the future, here are a
couple more of them that we can
look forward to:
On Sunday, May 13, 2018, we’ll have
“Women’s Sunday” (also called “Mother’s
Day”)—a day of celebrating God’s creation of
Womanhood!
On Sunday, June 17, 2018, we’ll
enjoy “Men’s Sunday” (also called “Father’s
Day”)—a day of celebrating God’s creation of
Manhood!
And on Sunday, August 12, we will
celebrate our Church Birthday—74 years of
existence as the First Southern Baptist
Church of North Hollywood!
Please Mark your Calendar!!

2. This is the day, this is the day.
That the Lord has made, that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice, we will rejoice,
And be glad in it, and be glad in it.
This is the day that the Lord has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the day, this is the day
That the Lord has made.
“Is ‘Revival’
the will of God?”
Article #15 of “What is ‘Revival,’
and how does it happen?”
(January 10, 2018)
Just a quick reminder as to where we’ve
come so far in our series on Revival. We are in the
process of discovering some of the implications of 2
Chronicles 7:14—namely, the portion of that classic
“Revival Prescription” where one of the basic
requirements that God has for His people—in addition to
the fact that (1) we are to be “called by His name,” and
(2) that we have taken steps to “humble ourselves”
(before God, and in our interactions with one another)—
we are,to state it very simply, to “PRAY.”
And now, because we always want to know
what Jesus thinks about these specific steps toward
Revival, we are looking at part of what we call “The
Lord’s Prayer.” Listen to His words from Matthew 6:9-
10 (NASB): “Pray, then, in this way: ‘OurFather who
art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.’ ”
As I studied for the message from which this
article is taken, I realized that the “Lord’s Prayer,”—far
from being just a weak,boring combination of words—
is actually one of the most radical prayersthat we can
ever utter.
“Why do you say that, Pastor Chuck? It seems
to be pretty innocent stuff to me!”
Just meditate on the phrase that we underlined
above: “Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”
When we add that request to the one just before it—
“Thy kingdom come”—every time we pray this prayer,
we are asking God to do something to sweep back the
evil in the world today, and to set up His kingdom right
here on earth.
“But I thought all that stuff was gonna take
place after the Second Coming—not right now!”
You’re right when you say that Jesus is going to
set up a Millennial Kingdom here on earth,and He’ll
rule for a thousand years. That’s the “ultimate kingdom.”
But, as we said last week,every born-again believer has
“dual citizenship”: we’re a citizen of this world, but
more importantly, we are also a citizen of the Kingdom
of God!
“So that’s why the title of this article is ‘Is
“Revival” the will of God?’—right?”
Exactly! You see,there are SOME things that
we are NOT SURE ABOUT—such as,whether it is His
will to heal a specific person, or give someone a sum of
money, etc. And that there are other things that we ARE
SURE ABOUT—such as the fact that He wants each of
His children to be (as I put it in a recent message),
“Saved, Sacrificed, Sanctified, Spirit-filled and
Scripture-saturated.” But…what about “Revival”?
One good answer would be to consider some
words from Psalm 67:1-4 (NASB): “God be gracious to
us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us —
Selah. 2 That Thy way may be known on the earth, Thy
salvation among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise
Thee, O God; Let all the peoples praise Thee. 4 Let the
nations be glad and sing for joy; ForThou wilt judge the
peoples with uprightness, And guide the nations on the
earth.” (That sure sounds like Revival to me!)
And then review once again the radical aspects
of the Lord’s Prayer that we just mentioned. Again, if
that isn’t Revival, I’ll eat my hat!
But we also must remember that, as we learn
from passages like 2 Chronicles 7:14, there are certain
conditions that must take place among God’s people
before Revival. Just listen to these humble-but-powerful
words from Psalm 85:4-6 (NASB): “Restore us, O God
of our salvation, And cause Thine indignation toward us
to cease. Wilt Thou be angry with usforever? Wilt Thou
prolong Thine angerto all generations? Wilt Thou not
Thyself revive us again,That Thy people may rejoice in
Thee?”
Another very serious consideration, and one that
we must always keep in mind, is the fact that—despite
what you might hear from certain preachers/teachers—
we cannot order God around! In other words, God has
His own timetable for specific events to happen—
including Revival! Notice the way He dealt with the
issue of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples.
He had told them, in Luke 24:49 (NASB): “...I am
sending forth the promise of My Fatherupon you; but
you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with
power fromon high.” In other words, “Wait!”
Later on the disciples were getting a bit antsy, so
they asked Jesus, “...is this the time when You will
reestablish the kingdomand restore it to Israel? He said
to them, It is not for you to become acquainted with and
know what time brings[the things and events of time and
their definite periods] or fixed years and seasons (their
critical niche in time), which the Fatherhasappointed
(fixed and reserved) by His own choice and authority
and personal power. But you shall receive power
(ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you...”—Acts1:6-8 (AMP) Again, “Wait!”
Finally, it happened: “...when the day of
Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a
violent, rushing wind, and it filled the whole house
where they were sitting.And there appeared to them
tongues asof fire distributing themselves, and they

3. rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with
the Holy Spirit and began to speak with othertongues,
as the Spirit was giving themutterance.”—Acts 2:1-4
(NASB) As Winston Churchill once said:
“Never, never, never give up!”
January 10, 2018