Revival Message
Good Morning
This week I’d like to explore a topic that we in the church talk about, pray about, hunger for. Something we want for ourselves, the church, our nation. It’s something we think we know about, but until I did this study I thought this was something that only happened after the the last book of the Bible was written.
This morning’s topic is Biblical Revival.
Webster defines revival as
Ø a period of renewed religious interest
Ø an often highly emotional evangelistic meeting or series of meetings
Is that how the world sees Revival? Just a season of religious interest? Or worse, a highly emotional series of meetings? God help us.
Thomas Nelson, the noted Christian publisher defines revival as
Ø Spiritual renewal [that’s a good thing]
Ø God’s quickening of his people caused by the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the gospel [isn’t that supposed to happen when you preach the gospel?]
Ø Which results in deeper religious experience, mass conversions, and a greater fervor for holy living and evangelism over a wide region [now that sounds like our understanding of what revival means!]
In church history Revivals are called Awakenings and
Ø refer to corporate rather than personal experiences like the Great Awakening in America 1740, the Great Welsh Revival of 1904–1905, and the Argentinean Revival of the 1980’s.
Ø They vary in length of duration.
Ø Some revivals some arise out of crusades or evangelistic campaigns.
The great theologian Jonathan Edwards described revivals as
cyclical works of God’s grace that recur periodically, like waves breaking on the shore.
Charles Finney said that revival follows times of corporate prayer and repentance.
During true revival or awakening, there will be not only a great reviving of Christians, but also a large impact on the problems of society.
Sadly, history also tell us when the time of renewal has passed, the Church usually enters a period of lethargy, possibly for many years.
2 weeks ago, my mother’s Roman Catholic Church held “mission’s week”. The guest speaker held the title of “redemptive priest”. When she described to me what took place, I told her that they had had a revival and asked what she thought.
She said
Ø it was wonderful.
Ø They had between 400-600 each night.
Ø The people were visibly moved.
Ø they had nights of reconciliation and rededication.
Ø She had never seen anything like it.
Ø In fact it was so wonderful, she thought it would be good to do it again in 4-6 years.
I was flabbergasted! Why wait so long? She said if they did it more often, people wouldn’t come out, they would think, “did that already, maybe in a couple years I’ll do it again.”
Now we may feel sorry for her church or even feel bad for God -- He shook the ground underneath them, revived their spirits, and that was just “nice”? Maybe in a couple years they can do it again?
How did Webster define it? “a season of renewed interest.” That was a short season.
Now before we criticize, let’s take that plank out of our own eyes. Scriptures show us that God’s people go through periods of spiritual renewal, and periods of spiritual decline.
Turn to Genesis 35:1-4
You know the story, Jacob had been sent to live with his mother’s brother because he had tricked his father into giving him his brother’s blessing. He was afraid his brother would kill him. While he was gone he married 2 wives, had 12 sons and was now returning to his homeland.
1Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes.
3 Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem.
Get rid of your false idols – sounds like a step towards revival.
1 Samuel 7:3-4
3 And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.
Get rid of your idols, commit to the Lord. Again sounds like a step towards revival.
1 Kings 15:11-14
11 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done. 12 He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his fathers had made. 13 He even deposed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive Asherah pole. Asa cut the pole down and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 14 Although he did not remove the high places, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.
Sound like someone whose life has been changed by revival. Not only had he committed his life to the Lord, but he acted on it. He changed the place where he worked and didn’t allow his family’s unrepentant attitudes prevent him from serving the Lord.
Now I know it says he didn’t remove all the high places or pagan shrines. Asa got rid of what he could, what he had authority over. He did destroy the pagan temples, but people are resourceful and some continued to meet in other places. Pastor is always reminding us that we cannot control other people’s choices. We can pray for them, we can share God’s love with them, but they are responsible for their own actions.
Now its not just those outside the church that need revival.
2 Chron 29: 3-7, 18-35
3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side 5 and said: “Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord, the God of your fathers. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary.
6 Our fathers were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the Lord’s dwelling place and turned their backs on him. 7 They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel.
In other words the church became a common place – a building and not the house of the Lord. I think we could speculate that it cost too much to keep the place clean and tidy. To keep the candlesticks polished and the wicks trimmed or the incense burning. Maybe they didn’t have time to vacuum the carpets, or wash the windows after all they had their own homes to take care of. Besides it’s just the church. Can you see how such thinking would lead to complacency? Would you want to invite someone to a place that wasn’t attractive or clean? And what kind of God do you serve that is pleased with sloppy seconds?
18 Then they went in to King Hezekiah and reported: “We have purified the entire temple of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table for setting out the consecrated bread, with all its articles.
19b They are now in front of the Lord’s altar.”
26 So the Levites stood ready with David’s instruments, and the priests with their trumpets. 27 Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. As the offering began, singing to the Lord began also, accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the singers sang and the trumpeters played.
29 When the offerings were finished, the king and everyone present with him knelt down and worshiped.
31 Then Hezekiah said, “You have now dedicated yourselves to the Lord. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the temple of the Lord.”
So the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all whose hearts were willing brought burnt offerings.
35 There were burnt offerings in abundance, together with the fat of the fellowship offerings and the drink offerings that accompanied the burnt offerings. So the service of the temple of the Lord was reestablished. 36 Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced at what God had brought about for his people, because it was done so quickly.
Revival starts in the church! God is saying to the church “get My house in order”. What does 2 Chronicles 7:14 say?
14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Who is God talking to? Us. When we get our act together, and do what we’re supposed to do, then God will heal our nation.
Turn to Jonah 3
We know the story well. Jonah finally preaches to the people and…
4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
7 he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.
9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” 10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
I want to say something about verse 9 before we go on.
9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
This verse says to me that Revival is not about the prophet. The prophet is just the vehicle God uses to get his message across. Jonah clearly did not give this evangelism crusade 100%. He didn’t want to be there. He didn’t like these people. In fact, he wanted God to blot them off the face of the earth. And God would have if someone hadn’t been praying for that city.
How can I say that? Because despite the half hearted appeal, the people were led to fast and pray, and then, when the king heard what his people were doing, he set forth a proclamation urging the rest of the city to comply.
Did the king know what he was doing? NO! he responded, “who know if this will work.”
The prophet never told him. The prophet never told the people what to do. All he said was that their days were numbered. Revival is not about the prophet.
That said, let’s look at a revival led by the greatest of all prophets
Luke 3:
2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Now we know he was a popular prophet because people traveled out to the dessert to see him.
15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
John didn’t talk about his ministry. He didn’t talk about the great things he accomplished. No, he preached the word and pointed people to Jesus.
Jesus also led a revival. In John we read where Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well. You know the story. Jesus asks the woman for a drink of water and she ends up challenging his religion. He responds to her questions in a way that changes her life.
John 4:28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
2 points I want to make here.
1. The fruit of revival is changed lives.
2. Because Jesus’ revival took place in Samaria, we need to remember that no one church or denomination holds the corner on revival. The truth is the whole body of Christ needs to be revived. Our pastor often reminds us that if we were perfect, we wouldn’t be here, we’d be raptured. Right?
Last one, turn to Acts 19:11
11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
Preach the word and signs & wonders will follow.
18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
Again, when the word is preached, the Kingdom of God is expanded and lives are transformed.
So what did we learn today?
1. Revivals are not church manufactured events – they are biblical!
2. They are awakenings of the Holy Spirit, calling God’s people to repentance and recommitment.
3. They are usually preceded by a time of spiritual depression, apathy and gross sin, both in the church & society.
4. An individual or small group of God’s people becomes conscious of their sins and backslidden condition, and begin to pray for God to move.
5. God will begin to speak to his prophets and pastors and bring about his people’s return to a holy and pure character.
6. The fruit of revival is changed lives.
