Where Did the Preachers Go?

The Sword

1 Kings 19:1–10 ESV

1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” 5 And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” 8 And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. 9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

The sword represents truth and the word of God.

The sword that Elijah used even though it was physical it represented something spiritual which is truth.

He was on the run because he stood for truth.

Tell your dream about the sword.

True preachers are immersed in the word!

Tell the John G. Lake Bible story.

They are molded by it!

They’re in desperate need of the word!

Tell the brother Urshan story.

Tell them how you would sleep with your Bible.

The Welsh Revival

The Welsh Revivalist Evan Robert’s grew up with parents that had a strong influence in cultivating a love for the word of God.. His nature was one of excellence and sensitivity. The family was known for their love of God’s Word and hard work. Each family member, no matter how young, had his own well-worn Bible.

Evan had developed the family’s habit of memorizing Scripture. He was never seen without his Bible. It has been said that he would even hide his Bible in the clefts of the mine while he worked. One day, a huge fire burned through everything in its path—except young Evan’s Bible. Only the pages were scorched, so he continued to carry it every day and memorize Scriptures from it. Each morning, Evan stood at the opening of the mine to give a particular Scripture to each of the passing workers for their workday meditation. Then, when young Evan saw them in the evening, he would ask, “What truth did you find in that text?”

At that time, few people understood the power of prayer. Most attended church as a moral commitment instead of a spiritual one. But not Evan. Because of his unique desire for the Lord, Evan gave himself to fervent prayer and intercession, so much so that, by the time he was twenty years old, he was known by some as a “mystical lunatic.” Stories about him circulated widely. There were whispers about seeing him standing “trancelike” beside the road while uttering deep sighs as his lips moved without the sound of words. It was also said that he meditated in the Word so long that he often missed the evening meal. Sometimes he would stay up half the night discussing and praying with a friend about revival.

At that time, few people understood the power of prayer. Most attended church as a moral commitment instead of a spiritual one. But not Evan. Because of his unique desire for the Lord, Evan gave himself to fervent prayer and intercession, so much so that, by the time he was twenty years old, he was known by some as a “mystical lunatic.” Stories about him circulated widely.

A similar story happened to Jack Coe (explain).

One eyewitness of the Welsh revival said that what drew people to Evan “perhaps more than any other thing, was the unfeigned humility in all his actions.” His services were marked with laughing, crying, dancing, joy, and brokenness. Soon, the newspapers began covering them, and the revival became a national story.Political meetings were cancelled. Soccer matches had neither players on the field nor fans in the stands. Theatres closed down due to low attendance. Gambling and alcohol business lost their trade. And doctrinal barriers came tumbling down as Christians from all denominations worshipped together in the Spirit’s move.80 Some of the reporters themselves were converted at the meetings. As the revival spread with great fervor throughout Wales. Soon bars and movie houses closed. Former prostitutes started holding Bible studies. People began to pay their longstanding debts. And those who once selfishly wasted their money on alcohol suddenly became a great joy and support to their families.

Lovers of the Word!

Parham never regretted that he had to do so much studying on his own. It actually worked to his advantage. There were so few churches and preachers on the prairie, and with no one to teach him otherwise, Parham studied God’s Word and took it literally.

The Azusa Street Mission produced some wild stories. Time was of little concern to these Pentecostal pioneers, who would often pray all night for another’s deliverance. They believed the Word of God and waited for its manifestation.

Those powerful words ripped through his thoughts: “OPPRESSED OF THE DEVIL!” That meant that God wasn’t the author of Jennie’s sickness, or any sickness! And if Lake was a son of God through Jesus Christ, then God was with him, just as He had been with Jesus! Now Lake was convinced it was the devil who had caused Jennie’s illness. It was the devil who was stealing the mother of his children. It was the devil who was destroying his life!

As Smith’s hunger for the Word of God grew, he never allowed any publications in his home, secular or Christian, except the Bible. He felt that all he needed to know was in the Word of God. Smith said of his wife, “She saw how ignorant I was, and immediately began to teach me to read properly and write; unfortunately, she never succeeded in teaching me to spell.”212

Keep Your Fire Burning; Jesus is Coming!

The First Three Messages that I’ve Ever Preached were entitled.

Keep Your Fire Burning; Jesus is Coming.

Awake to Righteousness.

Baptized in Anguish!

Tell them about the dream of being chocked for telling the truth at age 15.

God save us from living in comfort while sinners are sinking into hell! - C.H. Spurgeon

Revelation 21:8 (ESV) - But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

John Knox prayed, “Give me Scotland or I die!”

George Whitefield prayed, “Give me souls, or take my soul!”

A.A. Allen would pray “Give Me Miracles, Lest I Die!”

Evan Roberts prayed, “Holy Spirit, Bend Me.”

Frank Bartleman quotes an eyewitness as saying, “Evan Roberts, in the intensity of his agony, would fall in the pulpit, while many in the crowd often fainted.”

In 1944, Rev. Peter Marshall declared, “Surely the time has come, because the hour is late, when we must decide. And the choice before us is plain—Yahweh or Baal. Christ or chaos. Conviction or compromise. Discipline or disintegration.”

Where did those type preachers go?

Anguish

This message was preached by David Wilkerson on September 15th, 2002.

Anguish - Deep pain, deep sorrow, and agony of God’s heart.

How often do we cry out with with sobering and tears when we pray

How often do our hearts burst with the pain of a dying world?

Whatever happened to brokenness?

Whatever happened to anguish?

Whatever happened to holy jealousy?

“The true man of God is heartsick, grieved at the worldliness of the Church, grieved at the blindness of the Church, grieved at the corruption in the Church, grieved at the toleration of sin in the Church, grieved at the prayerlessness in the Church. He is disturbed that the corporate prayer of the Church no longer pulls down the strongholds of the devil.” And he is grieved because we have misrepresented the Lord.” - Leonard Ravenhill

In his book, Revival or we die, Dr. Michael Brown said. “I had the privilege of praying with Leonard Raven-hill many times, and his prayers were on an entirely different level than anything I had ever heard or experienced. There was such depth and devotion and passion and precision. To pray with him was to go into the holiest place of all. But we not only prayed together when I would stay at his house for a few days each year (I did this for the last five years of his life). He also had set times each day when he would get alone, and so, in the afternoon, no matter what company he had at his house, he would excuse himself to meet with the Lord. It was an appointment he would not break. Virtually every time I stayed with him, the pattern would repeat itself. Brother Len would break away for his afternoon prayer time and then, an hour or two later, he would come out of his room completely undone. “Mike,” he would say to me, with tears in his eyes and anguish in his voice, “the Bride is naked and she doesn’t even know it. I’m so ashamed.” He was so in love with Jesus that it shattered him to think His Bride was in such poor condition, in particular in America. And this moved him to unceasing prayer for revival, because a revived Church would be a glorious Church, a beautiful Church, a Church worthy of her Savior, a Bride suitable for her Groom. A revived Church would bring honor, not reproach, to the name of her Lord.” - Dr. Michael Brown