Draft transcript prepared from the recording and edited for readability. Audio proofreading is still pending; please refer to the recording for the spoken wording.
You're listening to Revival Messages from the 2026 Asbury Revival. Thank you. Man, what a treat. As Reverend Martin already said, my name is Brian Butcher and I'm an associate pastor down in Sugar Hill at Church on the Hill. I just want to say thanks. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to do this. This is a real treat for me. Hey, there we go. Now we're live. This is a real treat for me. Just with my own kind of background in the faith, getting to preach outdoors, having a revival, this sort of camp meeting feel is not an experience I have ever had until tonight.
So I'm honored. I'm really honored. Thank you. The history, the prayers, the significance of this place, what was catching me up on. And man, God has been moving and we're just going to pray in just a moment that God would continue to move in us tonight and to revive our hearts. So before we go forward, let's just go to the Lord in prayer one more time and ask the Holy Spirit to continue the work that He is doing among us. So Father, this morning, we give You thanks.
This time tonight, we surrender ourselves to You. And so Lord, You have been doing a work here. You have been stirring the hearts of Your people for years and years and years. Do it again, O God. Holy Spirit, Your voice is the most significant voice in this place. And so come and speak. Prepare our hearts and minds to hear what You have to say. We ask this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. There's a man who lived in England in the 1800s. His life is fascinating.
It goes by the name of George Mueller. Has anyone ever heard of George Mueller's life? I just come up. Yes, fantastic. I come across story after story of this man and I'm just blown away by the faith that he had. He grew up in what would probably best be described as a dysfunctional household. It was not a pretty childhood. And George Mueller had his own behaviors and habits that regularly contributed to that dysfunction. Until one day, George went to church and he heard a sermon and he had time in worship and he gave his life to God.
And from that point forward, everything for him changed. There was a command in the scriptures that George saw and he took seriously. And it was to care for the widow and the orphan. So what George spent his life from that point doing was being a pastor, but also starting up an orphanage. To care for children in need in the community and to teach them about Jesus and disciple them unto the Lord as he went. And so as George is doing this good work, he also developed this conviction.
He determined he was never going to solicit money for the orphanage. He was going to pray. He was going to trust God and watch him bless. He would pray. He would trust God and watch him bless. And God did. One orphanage grew into five. Now hundreds of kids getting to hear about Jesus and getting the care and love that they needed. And yet this conviction did not make life easy for five orphanages and those children. Never asking for money from anyone. This brought its challenges. Sometimes the bills would not get paid.
Sometimes there was no food to eat and George would go back to that old habit. Pray. Trust. Watch God bless. In fact, there was one morning Georgia gathered the children around the table for breakfast. The only problem was there was no food. Nothing for them to eat. And so he invited the children to pray, trust, and watch. And just as they were wrapping up their amens, in walks the town baker. Who felt that the Lord had laid upon his heart to donate bread to the children that day.
And just minutes after the fact, the milkman was pushing his cart around town out for his deliveries when the cart breaks down just outside of the orphanage. And rather than let the milk spoil, he brought it in and shared it with the children. And look at how God blessed. George understood something about prayer. When he prayed, God acted. And it wasn't just for provision for this ministry. It was also for the salvation of people in his life. In fact, from an early age, George prayed for five individuals in his life every single day.
In his journals, he writes, without exception. It doesn't matter if he was traveling. It doesn't matter if he had previous commitments. It doesn't matter what was happening. He never failed to pray for these five individuals that God would save their souls. And it took 18 months for the first one to give their life to Jesus Christ. And he kept on praying. He thanked God and just kept going day after day. Five more years go by. Five number two gives his life to Jesus Christ. And he thanked God for the two.
And he said, I pressed on and I prayed for three more. Six more years pass. And the third one gives his life to Jesus Christ. And he said, I'm still praying for the final two. They haven't given their life to Jesus. Interestingly, George never saw them give their lives to Jesus. He passed away. But some 50 plus years after he began praying for their lives, the final two did indeed give their lives to Jesus. I believe George lived his life from a sense of just that sense and principle of pray, trust, and watch God bless.
And I suspect that he understood something that I want to share with us tonight that came from the scriptures. It's something I'm still trying to internalize and believe in and trust the power and the beauty of. And it comes from James chapter 5. James writes, The prayer of a righteous person is both powerful and effective. The prayer of a righteous person is both powerful and effective. George lived a life of powerful, effective prayer because of a faithful God and a man who did not relent. And seeking his face and watching the goodness of God overflow in his life.
And yet I don't think that James just pulled that out of the blue. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Of course, he was inspired by the Holy Spirit. But I think James understood the narrative and the story of the scripture patterns and repeated instances of God responding to the prayers of his people. And tonight I want to walk us through the patterns that I see of God responding to the prayer of a righteous person in a way that releases blessing upon their lives.
So I'm going to tell not just one story. I'm going to tell the whole story. Are you ready? You with me? I'll be as brief as I can. It's a long book, isn't it? Here's how the story begins. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God makes everything. He brings order in the chaos. And it's good. Oh man, it is good. And in this creation, he ends up making two people. Man and woman. Adam and Eve. And he blesses them. He walks in this unique relationship with him.
And now creation is very good. Man and God together in harmony. Everything is peace and paradise in God's good creation. And yet in this creation, in walks a character that seems to come out of the blue. He comes in the form of the snake. We later learn who he is. He's this man that goes by the name of Satan. He's an accuser, a deceiver, an adversary. He's rebelled against God. And he speaks to that man and that woman, Adam and Eve. And he gets them to doubt, to distrust.
He deceives. And they disobey God. And from that point forward, God and his good creation, the relationship's fractured. It's broken. And yet God's made a promise to restore what broke in the beginning. This is what we call in the church. This is what we call sin. And fundamentally, it is God's separation from his good creation. It's a condition that all of us are diagnosed with. We have sin in our hearts that we need someone to reunite us again with our creator and our savior. And so with all throughout scripture from that point forward, God is working to fix what sin broke in the very beginning.
And he hears the cries of his people. He responds by raising up a righteous servant. And then he releases mercy and blessing. This is the pattern all throughout scripture. He hears the cries of his people. He responds by raising up a servant. And then that person prays and it releases blessing and mercy upon people. Abraham. He's one of the early ones picked. Things have not been good in all the earth. The Tower of Babel has just happened. Evil is rampant all over the place. And yet God hears the cries of people experiencing injustice and evil in the world.
He calls this man Abram. Abraham is what he ends up being called. And he promises him, I'll give you so many children. There'll be a nation. A nation of people. And I'm going to bless this unique family in a way that the whole world will receive the blessing. And it will reunite what sin broke in the very beginning. And the Bible says that Abraham believed in God. And it was counted to him as righteousness. And so the time comes where God and Abraham, God's going to do something about the evil and the injustice in the world.
He points out some cities where evil has just run rampant. There's so much pain, suffering, and brokenness because of sin. And so God says, I'm going to bring my justice on two cities. Do you know the two? Sodom and Gomorrah. You know the story. And Abraham does something fascinating. God's righteous chosen servant says, well, God, what if there's 50 righteous people in the city? Will you still bring judgment even then? God says, if there's 50 righteous in the city, I won't do it. And then he walks them down.
What if there's 45? God says, if there's 45, I won't do it. How about 30? If there's 30, he gets all the way down to 10. And God says, if there are 10 righteous people in that city, I will withhold my judgment upon the city. Abraham is interceding, praying for the people that God would have mercy and blessing upon them. It turns out, unfortunately, there's not even 10 in the city. Evil has become so rampant and God can no longer tolerate his people hurting and harming and sin creeping into more and more parts of the world.
And yet, because of the prayers of a righteous servant, there are few that are spared. God's mercy and blessing is poured out on their lives. And the story continues. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Fast forward down to Moses. God hears the cries of people. The pattern starts repeating again. His people, the nation of people that came from Abraham, they're enslaved to Egypt. And they're crying out because of the pain, the injustice, the suffering they're experiencing. God hears their cries, raises up his servant Moses.
And Moses is the one who has this relationship with God. They free them out of slavery into Egypt. Parts of the Red Sea. God's people walk right through blessing. Again, poured out upon them because of the cries of his people. And while God and Moses are speaking up on Mount Sinai and he is telling him all about his character, his values, and the values of this new community of followers that he's trying to set up as a new nation again. And those same people who just walked free have started making something out of the gold that they had.
A statue to worship. A pretend God to give their allegiance to despite the one that's just saved them. And God's going, Moses, what is happening? I don't know if I can work with folks like that. Their hearts are hard. They're stubborn. You, you've got a heart that's after me. You know what I'm like. I can work with you. How about I bless you instead? And Moses takes the role of intercessory prayer. And he says, God, remember your promise to Abraham and Isaac and to Jacob to bless this family.
If you're going to punish someone, let it be me and not them. And God sees the humble sacrifice of his servant, the intercession and prayer of his servant. And he releases mercy and blessing upon the people of Israel. Yes, there's still consequences for their sin. But God promises his faithfulness and favor with them through the ups and downs, through their stubbornness and their hard heart. God does not relent. And yet the pattern continues. With another man in the Old Testament. And then this guy, this guy I love.
He is truly, truly unique. His name is Job. In Job chapter 1, Job is described as a man having complete integrity. Job is a man who fears God and stays away from evil. And God looks upon this man and he says, this Job, he is my servant. And Job's life is good. Job is wealthy. He's got a big, wonderful family. Job, even though he's not one of the people of Israel, he still acts like, almost like an Israelite priest. It says that he goes through sacrifices in worshiping God.
He blesses himself and his kids just in case they sin. And you know they did. But he offers sacrifice forgiveness for them and his family is blessed again and again. And here again, that same character, that same deceiver that was in the beginning, he shows up again with this guy Job. And God and Satan start talking and God says, have you heard about my servant Job? Oh, complete integrity. This is a man of God. He is my servant. You know what Satan says to him? Satan tells him, it's just because his life's so good.
It's because everything's been made easy for him. He's wealthy. His family's great. Of course he worships you. You take that away and he'll turn his back on you. God says, not a chance. The story plays out. Satan does the stuff that Satan often does. He steals, kills, and destroys. That's what he does. And so in Job's life, he goes through an immense amount of suffering. He loses his wealth, his family. Almost all of them die in a tragic accident. Job's life is destroyed in the way that he knew it previously.
And yet, it says at the end of chapter 1 in the book of Job, in all of this, Job did not blame God and did not sin. This righteous man of faith still hasn't been shaken even through his suffering. And then chapter 2, we replay the same scenario again. God says, guess what? You know Job now. Still a man of complete integrity. This suffering and testing did not shake him. Satan says, well, it's because he's still got his health. You take his health away, he'll turn his back on you.
You know what Satan does? Afflicts him with boils all over his body. He's miserable. So the man has lost his livelihood. He's lost his wealth. He's lost his family, his children. Things are awful. He is grieving and he is sick. He is going through the worst that sin has to offer through the brokenness of this world. Grief, illness, suffering. Death is around the corner and he's experiencing all the brokenness that comes from sin that Satan has brought in through his deception and the disobedience of human beings.
And so what happens is the people around Job, they begin to encourage him to do the wrong thing. His own wife says, Job, curse your God. This ain't working out. He has three friends that show up from three different countries across the area. And they come to him and at first they sit and they just mourn with him. But after time they talk to him and they say, Job, what'd you do, bud? How did you deserve all of this? Surely this is like the judgment of God upon your life.
And Job says, no, I'm a righteous man of faith. I have not sinned. This is not God's judgment. This has to be something else. And around and around Job and his friends go chapter after chapter in the book. Them insisting that he must have done something wrong and inventing new sins that he must have committed. And Job insisting on his innocence. An innocent servant of God experiencing suffering. Until Job has no more to say. At some point in the book he literally just stops talking. But the weight of the grief and the suffering at some point gets to him.
And the unknown why of all the struggle and the suffering. At some point Job turns to God and he wants an answer. What has happened? And his requests become large but they become real narrow. And by the end the thing that he requests and he cries out to God and he says, I just want to see you. I just want to be in your presence. He wants to hold court so he can declare his innocence that he believes he is. And that he could understand what God was doing.
And in this moment he begins to shift. His patience breaks. And he starts to attribute to God the pain and the suffering in his life. But God gives him what he asks for. The prayers of a righteous servant are answered. He sees God. He sits in his presence. God doesn't explain why. He doesn't go through all the details in the back story. But he assures Job of his power. He assures Job of his sovereignty over all creation. He reminds him that Job, I was there in the beginning.
And Job, I am still there now. And Job's response to just being in his presence is to say, God, I had only heard about you but now I see you. I'd only heard what you're like but now I know the reality. I recant what I've said. I knew not what I spoke of when I said those things. And he says, I repent. And I sit in dust and ashes as a sign of my repentance. And with Job, the pattern that plays out again and again, it's a little bit different.
Because the suffering, the cries that God responds to isn't just of some people out there. It's Job himself. It's the servant all along who's going through the suffering. And God shows up. And when God shows up, God releases mercy and blessing upon Job. He's immediately restored when he turns back to God. And what's even more fascinating is that God has a different response for his three friends. You know what God says to those three friends from the three different nations? He says, come here. I'm mad with y'all.
Y'all three didn't tell the truth about me. You need to go to Job and let Job pray for you. And Job, in the midst of his suffering and his struggle, prays and intercedes on behalf of his three friends. And mercy and blessing are poured out into their lives. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. When a servant of God hears the cries of God's people and God responds, that raises them up. And they pray on their behalf. God's response to the cries of his servant is to release mercy and blessing upon them.
But there's still a pattern that happens, whether it's Abraham or Moses or Job or any other character that you read about in Scripture. Every single one of them at some point or another falters, fails, sins, doesn't trust. Abraham, it's all over the place. More mistakes than successes, to be honest with you. Moses loses his temper towards the end of the story. Can't enter the promised land. Takes the role that God's meant to play. Doesn't obey and misses out on living as the righteous servant of God in his life.
Job, at the end, his anger and frustration get the best of him. His heart begins to shift until God brings mercy again. And so the story of all the Old Testament is begging the question, could there ever one day be a servant of God called by him that will look down the barrel of all the suffering and the sin and the destruction and the brokenness of this world and not falter, not be shaken, but hold fast to their character. Could there ever be someone like that, a righteous servant of God, that God would hear them and release blessing and mercy into the world?
And then in walks in the story, Jesus of Nazareth. And very early on in his life and in his ministry, God makes clear to everyone, this is his chosen servant. And as we know the story now, it's not just any human because the humans keep messing it up time and time again. It's God in the flesh. Jesus gets baptized and he said, this is my son. I love him. With him, I'm well pleased. And you know what Jesus does right after that. You know who he faces?
The same dude who showed up in the beginning and showed up again with Job. He goes face to face with Satan. And he's tempted in all the same ways. Except Jesus does not waver. Jesus' character does not break. He holds fast to his faithful father and walks in obedience out of that place. Now, the righteous servant of God, you know what he's doing? Everywhere he goes, he's releasing blessing and mercy upon people. He's forgiving them of their sins. And people are stunned because a human shouldn't have that authority.
But Jesus does as the son of God. He's healing those that were sick. He's giving sight to the blind. He's announcing a new kingdom is in order. There was a guy running this place. I went face to face with him. The king is returning and a new kingdom has come. And this man lives a life in ministry. And he goes to the people in life that have experienced all the worst of the effects of sin. Death, poverty, abuse, all the stuff, demonic possession. And he exerts God's rule and reign over all of it.
Blessing and mercy poured out in his life. He's finally the answer to the pattern that humans couldn't fix for themselves. And yet in the process, because he claims equality with God, people misunderstood who he was. They bring up false accusations against the man. He's unjustly arrested, accused. And religious leaders manipulate the Romans into crucifying him. And as he's going through his own death and his own suffering, the righteous servant of God cries out. And he prays a prayer of intercession. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing.
Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. And the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective. Because through his sacrifice and resurrection, blessing and mercy have been poured out for all. All nations can receive the mercy of Jesus Christ, the righteous servant of God that came. So that the cycle would be broken. So that we wouldn't keep on hoping that one day maybe someone will. We received it and he declared it. It is finished. This is the story that we tell. And it's the story that we live.
And tonight if you're here and this story is maybe one you've heard, but it's time to hear again, there'll be an opportunity for you to respond. You have a righteous intercessor who has prayed for your mercy. And when you respond like Job did, and you turn to God and say, Look, I repent. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know what I was talking about. I need you. God's response is not judgment upon your life, but love, mercy, and grace because of the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ, his son.
There is always hope for the sinner who repents because of the mercy of his servant who has lived and died for us. So my encouragement to you is to respond to the story. Pray. God will hear your cries. God sees your sufferings. God knows the depths of your heart and your soul. And he is broken by the things that have broken you. And yet he has paid the price so you could be forgiven and blessed now and for eternity. The gift's already been given. You just have to open up and receive it.
And church, we have a response too. I mean, I was in service, gosh, probably a couple months ago. And I was praying while we were worshiping. And I could just have this weight of the Holy Spirit upon me. And I had this thought after the service. What if the most important ministry I have for the church that I serve is not in my preaching, but in my intercessory prayers? What if God, because through Jesus Christ, he's declared me righteous. What if God has mercy and blessing that he wants to be poured out?
And he's just waiting for his people to cry out to him, for him to respond with his grace, his mercy, and his blessing in ways that will stir something up in God's people. You know how every revival in history has ever begun? It started out with the same basic ingredients. It's people praying on their knees for God, confessing their sin and turning to him in repentance. And when people begin with intercessory prayer for the lost and confession of their own sins, the Spirit of God moves in power and stirs something up.
What if that starts now? What if that's us? What if God has a movement and a heart for North Georgia, our churches and communities to reach out to the hurt and the suffering and the brokenness through our prayers and our presence, reliving the ministry of our Savior, the servant of God who's given himself for us? Y'all, when we repeat the same ministry of praying, responding, entering into the brokenness and the worst that sin has done and the havoc that's wreaked in this world, we don't shy from it as the church.
We go into it and we pray and we trust and we watch God bless. We become the modern day George Mullers. We become the people that find a calling on our heart to care for people that are experiencing the brokenness of sin. We serve them. We love them. We pray for them. And we watch God show up. I believe that God's stirring something in this place. There's a movement that's beginning in our part of the country. And I don't know exactly what it will look like one day.
What I do know is it will have prayer. It will have confession and repentance. And the Holy Spirit wants to move in power in us and through us. And so church, if you know Jesus, you know how you how to respond. Cry out to him. He sees you. He hears you. His mercy will be here for you here now and tonight. But if you already know Jesus, if you've already given him your allegiance and you've said yes to him, our job now is to go and pray the prayers, be the people, intercede and contend however long it takes to watch God's mercy and blessing pour out.
For George Muller, it was 18 months, five more years, six more years, and then over 50. But the prayer of a righteous person. It was powerful and it's effective. And if you've been made righteous through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, your prayers, I promise you, are more significant than you know because your God is more powerful and faithful than we dare imagine. And so let's begin tonight. Let's begin as a people that cry out to God, that ask him to move in power, that salvation would sweep North Georgia, would sweep Hall County and Gwinnett County and the surrounding areas, that we would begin to see a movement that's bigger than us.
We may not even be able to point to it starting with us, but boy, we can say we participated in it. And we'll give glory and honor and praise to our God as we go. And so I'm going to lead us in prayer. I know we're going to come back up and worship. If you need a place where you just need to respond, you can respond right where you are and that's fine. God will hear your prayers no matter where you go. If you need to come to the front and the altar, you can come and kneel and cry out to God.
I'd be happy and honored to pray for you if that's what you desire. But tonight is a night to respond, anticipate. We will pray. We will wait. And we will hold on to the hope of the blessing. So I invite you to bow your heads with me as we pray tonight. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks. Thank you, God, that you have sent your Son for us. Let us never grow tired of the story and telling the good news of Jesus Christ. Father, thank you that we are free from sin, death, and forever because of your Son, Jesus.
Thank you for your righteous intercession for us. Father, for those of us that are seeking your face tonight, maybe for the first time or the first time in a long time, would you stir up our hearts again that we would hear and receive your mercy and grace anew. Jesus, could we, like Job, see you, experience the reality of your presence with us and know that we indeed are forgiven and that it is finished. And Father, for those of us in the church that we've said yes, we experience your goodness and your grace time and time and again, Lord, would you create in us a holy burden to pray for your spirit to move in power in us and among us.
Would you show us the ways that you're calling us to enter into the brokenness of this world so that we can be your hands and your feet, so that we can pray for salvation of souls and see you do the work that only you can do, Jesus. Thank you, God, that we have the honor of being partners with you and your ongoing kingdom work. And so, Lord, direct us, guide us, sustain us by your spirit, and we will give you honor, glory, and praise in the process.
We will pray, we will trust, and we will watch you go and bless. We love you, Jesus. Amen.
