Introduction
During the second session on this Saturday, October 18 at Momentum, Duncan (visiting from London) opens his Bible to Genesis 26 and asks the congregation a simple question: when you wait a long time for God to start moving in a city like Paris, what is the right response? His proposal: don't chase after "something new," but reopen the old wells that God has already dug. Isaac, surrounded by the Philistines and by thirst, redigs the wells of his father Abraham, and the Lord eventually tells him: "now the Lord has made room for us." Duncan draws four very concrete tasks from this for you and for the Church.
Message Outline
1. A dream, an earthquake, and a boat
- Duncan recounts a dream he had the night before: he is standing in a room at the top of a house, the floor is not level, an earthquake strikes, and the floor rocks like a boat.
- Three people from the congregation stand up to offer an interpretation in front of everyone: the boat that rocks but keeps moving forward, the violent wind of Acts 2 upon the apostles, the Holy Spirit shaking things to wake people up.
- A song is quoted in the middle of the interpretation: "If the sea rages, if the winds blow hard, if the boat is pulled along, do not fear death. He did not say you would sink, he did not say you would drown. He said: let's go to the other shore."
- The message: when God moves, it shakes things up, and the enemy tries to seize on the fear to pass himself off as the author of the movement.
2. Isaac redigs the old wells (Genesis 26)
- Isaac obeys the word of the Lord and stays in the land despite the famine. He sows in the land of Gerar and reaps a hundredfold that same year.
- He becomes so prosperous that the Philistines send him away and stop up all the wells dug by his father Abraham.
- Isaac moves into the valley of Gerar and does not try to innovate. He redigs Abraham's old wells and gives them the same names again.
- Three successive wells: Esek (dispute), Sitnah (opposition), then Rehoboth, "now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."
- Duncan's big lesson: almost every time God sends revival, the Church has returned to something old, the Reformation, the Huguenots, the eighteenth-century revivals with Wesley, often a doctrine or practice from the book of Acts that had been abandoned.
3. Four old wells to reopen to see God move
- Well 1 · Prayer. Everything starts with "God spoke to Isaac." We don't know how, but we ourselves have the gift of prayer. Duncan tells of the "Joel Prayer Gathering London" meetings in east London: three churches, 1,300 Gen Z young people in August, now having to hand out tickets to manage the queue. From 7:30pm to 10pm, they pray and worship in rotating shifts so the praise never stops. Another example: as a chaplain at Pentonville prison, he spends an hour and a half with a friend praying for four former inmates they had lost touch with. Fourteen hours later, two get back in contact. One explains that he was stabbed twice, "died twice" on the way, was brought back to life twice, and that he wants to leave the drug trade and return to the Church.
- Well 2 · Obedience. God tells Isaac he will fulfill his promises "because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my instructions" (Genesis 26:5). If God calls you to create art (Duncan mentions Marlène, the artist hosting him along with her husband Alan), to speak with a coworker, to start a study group at university (do it. Not alone: in agreement with leaders who love you. "If God speaks, you do it"), like the Nike slogan.
- Well 3 · A high view of God's sovereignty. Isaac is not a perfect man. The skipped verses (Genesis 26:6-11) tell how he passed off his wife Rebekah as his sister, exactly like his father did. He is a copycat, a flawed man, and yet God uses him. God often uses people we would have set aside. Duncan poses a question to the congregation: how do we react when God sends revival among Catholics, even as history still remembers persecuted Protestants? Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, love Jesus, and let him choose whom he wants to use.
- Well 4 · The fear of the Lord. In verse 24, God tells Isaac "do not be afraid," probably because Isaac had seen the glory, power, and majesty of his God. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 1:7). If we settle for saying only "God is for you" and nothing more, we diminish God. Duncan mentions a famous evangelist who died in prison after a moral fall, who confided to a visitor: "Jesus, I always loved him, but I forgot to fear the Lord." It is God's overflowing goodness (this love that goes all the way to come find us), that produces a healthy fear and brings us to our knees.
Key Takeaways
- When God begins to move in a city, it shakes things up: don't attribute this movement to the enemy. The boat will not sink.
- Revival almost never comes from "something new": it comes when we redig an old source we had let become clogged.
- Prayer, obedience, sovereignty, and the fear of God are the four wells Isaac shows you to reopen today.
- God uses people on the margins, imperfect like Isaac: his choice does not depend on your perfection, but your eyes must stay fixed on Jesus.
- A healthy fear of the Lord is not opposed to his love: it flows from it. It is because we have seen who he is that we fall to our knees.
Personal Application
- What "old well" (a practice, a discipline, a doctrine you had let go of), is the Lord asking you to redig this week?
- Who could you invite to pray for an hour and a half together this week, for specific people? Write down two or three names.
- Is there something God has clearly asked of you recently that you have not yet obeyed? What is holding you back, and who can you talk to about it so you don't do it alone?
- Is your view of God too small? Today, take ten minutes to reread Isaiah 6 or Revelation 4-5 and let his majesty reassert itself over your heart.
- When you see God blessing a Christian group you have disagreements or a painful history with, what is your spontaneous reaction, and what would you do if you "kept your eyes fixed on Jesus"?
Verses Cited
- Genesis 26:1-6 · The promise renewed to Isaac because of Abraham's obedience.
- Genesis 26:12-25 · Isaac reaps a hundredfold, redigs Abraham's wells, Esek, Sitnah, Rehoboth, the appearance at Beersheba.
- Acts 2 · The violent wind of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, mentioned in the interpretation of the dream.
- Proverbs 1:7 · "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
- Philippians 2:12 · "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling."
Further reading
Frequently Asked Questions
What do the names of the three wells Isaac dug in Genesis 26 mean?
Esek means "dispute", the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen over it. Sitnah means "opposition": a new well, a new quarrel. Rehoboth means "wide open space": this time no one quarrels with him, and Isaac acknowledges that "now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land." Three stages that well describe the path of a personal or collective revival: we move forward through dispute, then opposition, before God opens up a space.
Why does Duncan say that revival always comes from a return to "something old"?
Because Scripture and church history show it: Isaac does not dig elsewhere, he redigs the wells of his father Abraham. The Reformation, the Huguenots, the Wesleyan revivals of the eighteenth century all began with the rediscovery of doctrines or practices that were already found in the Acts of the Apostles and had become obsolete. Revival is almost never a novelty: it is a forgotten source being reopened.
What are the "Joel Prayer Gathering" meetings mentioned in the message?
These are prayer gatherings launched by three churches in east London. Duncan attended in August: 1,300 Gen Z young people lined up to pray from 7:30pm to 10pm. Attendance is such that organizers now hand out tickets (free of charge), to manage the queue. Worship teams rotate without interruption. To find more information, simply search "Joel Prayer Gathering London" on Google. Duncan offered the congregation: if anyone wants to go experience it for a night or two, the team will help arrange the trip.
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