Revival

Scofield and other Bible students have called the sixth chapter of Isaiah, the prophet’s “transforming vision.” The account of his experience seeing God’s glory reminds us of Simon Peter’s transforming experience in Luke 5. When Peter realized Who Jesus really was, he could see how sinful he was, and said to the Lord, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” In response, the Lord said to him, “Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.”

Sermon outline: This is an abbreviated outline with the complete sermon downloadable at the bottom of the post. Acts 9 is a testimony of the miracle of salvation, the ministry of serving, and the manifestation of a sovereign God!

With the rise of interest in real, scriptural revival has come concern in some quarters that seeking and preaching revival might do us harm. Some voices express the fear that a revival emphasis will bring disappointment that will hurt faith.

Revival is more than simply having a special guest preacher and a few extra nights of meetings. True revival is a work of the Holy Spirit. That is why Habakkuk prayed, “…O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years…” (Habakkuk 3:2).

When God sends revival to a church, there is a natural interest in prolonging the good effects of what has happened. One of the most important factors in extending the blessings of the revival is for the church to adopt what could be called “a revival M.O.”

Many of us pray for revival. But what, specifically, do we mean by the phrase “pray for revival”?

In less than one year’s time, the Welsh Revival of 1904–1905 saw 100,000 people saved. This great moving of God’s Spirit came through the preaching of a twenty-six-year-old preacher named Evan Roberts, who had prayed for revival for eleven years. So many were converted and evidenced truly-changed lives in such a short time span that the nation of Wales even became known for a time as “The Land of Revival.”

In John chapter 15, Jesus reveals the abundant life (the real Christian life, which is His gift to us) by giving us the metaphor of the vine and the branches.

How many of us through the years have prayed, Psalm 85:6, “Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?”

The miraculous history of the United States of America is due in part to the sacred fire of the American pulpit. It has been the preachers who have unashamedly preached the whole counsel of God’s Word.

Over the past thirty years, there are many types of activities that have come and over time been discontinued on our annual church calendar. But our January Winter Revival is not one of them. In fact, this Sunday began our thirtieth consecutive year of these meetings. Each year, our guest speaker has been Dr. John Goetsch, and the Lord has used his preaching to convict, stir, and renew our hearts.

What can be done after a revival to maintain the sense of revival once we are back to our regular routine? If you sense that God did a work in your heart during revival, and you want to keep that place and not regress, here are some suggestions:

“Revive” is a term used in the Old Testament to describe the work of God by which He brings His people back to the place spiritually where He can bless them. The prayer, “Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?” (Psalm 85:6—note also Habakkuk 3:2), assumes that the people of God have gone away from Him through disobedience and that they must be brought back.

It is wonderful that Jesus Christ blessed those He saved with the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, Who has come to meet all of our needs and to work through us to meet the needs of the world! What an amazing truth! He is a well of living water that springs up to satisfy our inner thirst forever. Let us not lose our grip on this wonderful metaphor and the truth it pictures.

For the Bible-believing Christian, anything that could be called a true advancement will be in a direction leading to basic, New Testament Christianity. So in a sense, it will be going back.

If we can learn anything from the first-century churches of Asia Minor, it is the propensity of Christians and churches toward decline.

What Christians regard as the great Day of Pentecost happened fifty days after the resurrection of the Saviour, and brought events of significance which are recorded in the second chapter of the book of Acts. The two outstanding features of Pentecost for us are these:

The prophets of Israel were revivalists, men who called God’s people to repentance. Isaiah, of course, was one of these, and his appeal for revival is capsulized in chapter 40 of his book, and really in the first five verses.

The book of Second Peter was written as the final inspired statement of Simon Peter to Christians before his death. At the beginning of the letter, he says he is writing to remind us of important things so that we will remember them after he is gone. Many of the truths about real New Testament Christianity are easily and soon forgotten by Christians who once knew them, both by study and by experience.

The United States of America has historically been a nation of freedom in a world acquainted with dictatorial leaders, restricted liberties, and government control. As a bastion of independence, our country designed a structure of leadership that held to balanced powers, establishing a trio of institutional branches to check against one another.