What Will It Take For Restoration and Revival?

Introduction: The Current State of Modern Christianity

Many people in this world need revival. But to say revival implies that one has had something that has died. Therefore, I reframed from saying “most people.” For, most people need not revival, but to first be made alive. So, then if it seems as though we have been praying to no avail, perhaps, it is time that we change our prayers. For God will never revive those who have never been alive, and He will never give life to those that have not asked for it as means of revival. Yet, we must ask believing. We must be serious and diligent in our request, as to request it with our words and our actions.

Today, I speak about revival, because I pray all of you have been made alive.

The current church is need of a major move of God for reasons that we have not quite seen in previous circumstances. Most are necessary as a result of great tragedy in the form of epidemics, wars, and financial depressions. However, the need for revival is uniquely different during these times.

In a recent conversation with a room full of businessmen and corporate executives, Lee Bushell, a local executive of a public relations company, remarked about the difficulties he and his company faced during the recent pandemic. He mentioned how normal conditions allow for one single event, such as financial crisis, health crisis, social crisis, and political crisis. However, his observation was that all of these things seemingly came at once, within a single year—making it the toughest year of his career.

Many in the Christian community may draw the same observation concerning the difficulties felt within the church; thus, raising a need for revival. However, my observation is a bit different. I do not conclude that revival is needed on these things alone, though, they may contribute to the need. Rather, I conclude that revival is needed because of the generational shift that is occuring during this present time. Revival will be necessary in the next years, because there remains a solution for the needs of an upcoming generation that cannot be met by any existing model.

The issue of which we are the recipients of is paralleled by our selected passage for today.

Further Reasons For the Need of Revival and Restoration

Another observation I have made concerning revival is that it’s history demonstrates its limited impact, though previous impact is far greater than more recent impact. I conclude that the impact is limited, because it only seems to strike the moral compass to an extent. Yes, it took the drunks out of the bars, the prostitutes off of the streets, and the profane out of the habit of swearing. Yet, there was, from none of these revivals, a revolutionary activity that would change a people for the better.

So then, revival brought fathers out of the bars, but not necessarily back into the homes. Women walked away from prostitution, but not to their children. Many spent not their money on alcohol, but on other things that brought no greater purpose to their spending.

Thus, revival and restoration is necessary in order to bring wholeness and completeness in all areas of life.

Children of Babylon (Jeremiah 29:4-7)

Jeremiah writes about the current circumstance of those Israelites who had been expelled from Jerusalem to a foreign land called Babylon.

Dictionary of Bible Themes (4215 Babylon)

In OT times, the commercial, religious and political capital of Babylonia, which was the dominant power in the Near East in the sixth century B.C. In the NT, “Babylon” signifies the world and its forces in opposition to God. It is often contrasted with “the new Jerusalem”, in which God will finally reign supreme.

The terrible thing about the relevance of Babylon to Israel’s story is the fact that Babylon is the enemy of Israel that God uses to chastise her. This was brutal and almost unbearable by those that were righteous and subject to the terror of a unrighteous empire while being instructed to live in unmatched righteousness. Yet, God promised Israel’s remnant a day of restoration and revival.

Perhaps, the saddest reality of this time in Babylon is the length of time they would spend in captivity. For, their captivity would not be short, but long enough for them to get comfortable in their exile.

Here’s where the parallel is recognizable. Israel was warned to make a strange land home. It is in this strange land, away from the home of God, that they were to build homes, have children, and work towards the good of the pagan empire rather than the place of God.

What happens when a generation gets so used to a place outside of the presence of God, that they have their children there and therefore, pass on this same trait of unwarranted presence from God?

Jeremiah 29:4–7 CSB

4 This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Find wives for yourselves, and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there; do not decrease. 7 Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive.”

We are in paralleled times as those who lived during Jeremiah’s time. We are developing a generation that has been birthed into a pagan culture without God and are comfortable about it. In fact, they love it!

Reaching Your Children In Babylon

Not enough thought has been given to the ways in which the children of Babylon are to be reached. Obviously, nothing came to mind for those prophets who faced the same challenges we are currently facing, as they too watched a generation collapse under the pressures of returning to a norm of living in God’s presence.

Ultimately, the biblical narrative gives us the answer we all know is appropriate for any time. To be fair, it was not necessarily anything the prophets did wrong. Rather, it was a matter of God’s will to bring His Son, the Chief Revivalist, to return the children back to the fathers (Malachi 4:6, Luke 1:17).

The same solutions is needed today. We need Jesus. Yet, the solution is not as simple as to apply a sum to a math equation. For, many have concluded that they have served their generation with Jesus to no ultimate end. How must Jesus be served to the coming and upcoming generation? This is not a question of re-presentation. Rather, inquiry on what absolute way in which Christ is to be presented throughout all generations as to assure a concise and appropriate solution to all generations.

The Need For Lasting Revival

Kenneth Berding wrote a book describing the manners in which revival should be pursued in the modern era. He began by comparing two unique revivals that occured in Wales—1859 and 1904.

He recognized a drastic difference between these revivals that determined each one’s ability or inability to leave long-term impact. He writes,

Bible Revival: Recommitting Ourselves to One Book Preface

Collin Hansen and John Woodbridge compared the two awakenings and commented about Evan Roberts, the best-known preacher of the second: “Roberts, a gifted exhorter who led meetings filled with prayers, singing, and testimonies, did not prioritize Bible teaching. Compared to the 1859 revival, fewer Welsh preachers taught biblical doctrine. Instead, many new converts sought mystical experiences.”

The positive effects of the first revival both for the church and for society persisted for many years. The second revival, lacking an emphasis on the Bible, was “gone as quickly as it came.” Hansen and Woodbridge remarked about the second awakening: “After several years, Wales returned to its previous state of religious indifference.” The second revival was like a sparkler that spouted brilliant colors for a moment, sputtered, then grew suddenly dark.

The difference between the two revivals was the Bible.

One might already know where I am going with this, in regards to our own generation. It is obvious that I am a proponent of a Bible-based revival. Yet, this idea, as it has been commonly known, will not be enough to lead the sort of change that is needed for the upcoming times.

The previous revivals with a focus on the Bible did well to draw awareness to the Bible, which encouraged a sort of theological value. The same is needed today. However, we must not mistake the importance of leading a revival that takes us from theology to practice. That is, what we learn, we must practice.

The Strategy For Reaching A Generation

Present an authentic message about Jesus.

Change things up.

Encourage a deep seeking of God.

Fervent prayer

Present an authentic message about Jesus

This generation has heard a lot about Jesus. Yet, there has been very little authentic messages about Him. Therefore, there is either a nonbiblical view of Jesus or a view that only tells one aspect of the life and ministry of Jesus, which creates an unfair understanding of how He is to be followed today.

A historical understanding of Jesus is needed today. Yet, what we do with this understanding is equally important. We seek this historical understanding of Jesus, not to say what He was, but rather what He would be if He lived in the flesh. For, it is that Jesus that is both Lord and Savior. This eliminates any ability to theorize our idea of Jesus. We are faced to go to a historically reliable perspective that can govern our lives in a tangible way.

Change things up

We must not be afraid to change the approach and presentation. Some traditionalists will often prepare their chants of liberalism. However, I do not suggest a more innovative way of practice. Rather, I prefer a more traditional way than the traditionalist! I suggest a primitive way, which outdates any traditionalist’s view and practice.

What is needed is a return back to the primitive ideas and practices of the earliest disciples. Not only must we think like them, we must look like them and practice the things they did as a result of their conviction about Christ.

Encourage a deep seeking of God

Lastly, we need a generation that deeply wants God. There must be a generation whose souls are own fire for God—seeking a more pure, fresh, and authentic experience with God and each other. When this happens, our requests for revival become heard.

Fervent prayer

Every revival has begun and was sustained with prayer. One of the sure signs that the time is right for revival is that of sincere and unwavering prayer. Prayer is our recognition that revival cannot come without God’s permission and moving. When we pray, we are admitting that our programs, our ideas, or efforts are worthless in the production of revival. We are submitting to the fact that revival comes on God’s terms, not ours.

Prayer, then, becomes our yes to God. It is a sign of our surrender. Let us all be broken in fervent prayer.

Conclusion: Three Areas of Revival and Restoration (Jeremiah 29:14)

Economy

Relationships

Territory

If we are working and have not received any fruit, it is because God has left us. Our cry then becomes “Lord return to us!” (Psalm 85:4-7)