Revival or nothing?

Revival or nothing?

What I mean by revival is when God moves in sovereign power upon the masses to bring them to repentance and new birth (i.e. whole churches and communities changed in a measureable way).

So the question is – is it only this that is true evangelism and a work of God?

The reason for the question is due to my listening to a sermon recently on this site about what revival is and if we can have it now. The message is very good and challenging, but there was one point made that seemed to suggest that most evangelism today is ‘in the flesh’ and unless we are seeing revival of the type that Moody; Finney; Evan Roberts; etc saw then probably God is not in it and blessing it.
This caused me to consider and conclude that this is not correct. Taking the scriptures as our standard, I see that in the book of Acts there were obvious times of what we would term ‘revival’, when many thousands responded to the Gospel. However there were other times when just a small number or individuals in a given town or area responded positively to the Gospel preached by Paul, Peter or others. Were the Apostles out of the will of God when only a few responded? I think not.

Surely it is God’s will that we proclaim the Gospel in ‘all seasons’ and yes seek God for an outpouring of revival, but if we live in a country that is not experiencing this outpouring a present let us rejoice over the ‘one sinner who repents’. This is just as much a work of God and to be done ‘in the spirit’.

I understand and completely agree with your heart here Dave. I have thought of this same thing on numerous occasions.

I remember when God woke me out of my spiritual slumber, He showed me that I had possessed more faith in my own faith, than I had in Him directly because of a profession I had made in Christ.

Bear with me as I make a slight analogy...

Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones stated in his sermon series on revival that he thought apologetics, as we know it today, were the bane of the modern church. He went on to state that he thought even C.S. Lewis's philosophy and apologetics could be damaging. Even though he expressed a resentment toward apologetics that I personally happen to share, he admitted that the writings of Lewis could in fact lead people to Christ occasionally on an individual level.

Here was my quandary. I completely happen to agree with him, in that I do not think an intellectual conversion is a true one. People need to be "born again," not convinced. And I think that is an important distinction.

However, even though I agreed with Dr. MLJ, I was torn, for if it had not been for C.S. Lewis, I am not convinced that I would even be a Christian today. If it had not been for his writings, I probably would have decided to reject Christianity on an intellectual level. However, when I look back on it with years of being a believer behind me, I realize that Lewis kind of kept me tethered, and kept the soil of my soul and mind churned up. When Jesus finally delivered me from my doubts, it was entirely and utterly a collision between me and God alone. God offered me a choice, and I chose to believe in him.

Since I have developed a concern for revival, I have recently realized that there is a subtle tendency to think that God cannot work apart from large displays of his comfort and presence amidst large contingencies of the faith. I too have had to pray that God delivers me from the sin of unbelief. A great deal of Jesus earthly ministry was working in peoples lives one soul at a time. Certainly the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost gave the greatest traction to Jesus Gospel, yet our Lord did not let this knowledge of future blessing and outpouring prevent him from going about doing good, and completely obeying the call of His Father. He too was churning the soil...preparing the fields for the outpouring of the Spirit.

One of the things Jesus was most against, it seems to me, and what grieved him the most was the sin of unbelief. Just like I was convicted of having 'faith in my faith,' I too have recently been convicted of having my faith in "revival." For God to work.

So we each are accountable to God and to His irrevocable callings. I pray that we all who are concerned with Revival, do not fall into the sin of unbelief as we wait upon him.

Zechariah Chapter four came to mind while writing this. And though I confess a personal weakness on a strong knowledge of the book, I think it may have something to say pertaining to your concern brother.

God bless you

Your Brother in Christ.

I am sure there are way more than a thousand today who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

Thank you brother for your thoughts on this, it is an interesting angle I had not thought about.

By Zechariah 4, I guess you mean they key verse in that chapter which is 'not by might or by power, but by My Spirit says the LORD'.
I believe that is what the preacher I was listening to was essentially getting at, and I agree with that aspect. As I have thought about it more, I think it was not 'one to one' evangelism that he was questioning, but some of the evangelistic campaigns / crusades that do not produce much fruit. I suppose I would have to agree that many of these apear to be done the 'by might and power' of the flesh!

So should we not attempt to step out into the 'market place' to proclaim the Gospel until we know we have the annointing and calling to do so?
I have had many times when individual 'one to one' opportunities to witness have arisen and you just know it is of the Lord and it is easy proclaim the Gospel. However there have been times when I have gone out to do more 'organised' evangelism (be that on the street or door to door) and that often has seemed much harder and less fruitful.

I know there are diffferent opinions on this and some folk think we should just be obedient and 'go preach' despite the outward fruit and others think we should wait on God and not go in our own zeal. What do you think?

Dave,

Revival or nothing is an erroneous notion. The ordinary workings of the Church have carried her foward for many years. And when I say, ordinary I mean the God-ordained methods such as preaching and evangelism, etc.

Revival is an extraordinary work of God as seen in the book of Acts and other occasions in the OT. It is a time when God draws near to His people; when God is God in and amongst the Church.

We are to be fruitful in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2) so take the Gospel to the market place. You are an ambassador for Christ and God makes his appeal through you (2 Corinthians 5:20) so follow the Spirit's lead and share His truth with the lost and dying.

I would urge you not to be overly concerned with outward fruit. Consider the number of people who followed Jesus for healing and miraculous food compared to the number of people who were there at the foot of the cross or in the Upper Room. Yet from those faithful few Chritianity has spanned the globe.

Also, fruit takes time to grow and mature so the immediate response you get may be quite different in a year or more (for good or bad). We just bought some chickens and they will lay eggs in a few more weeks. In contrast, we also planted some apple trees but they will not bear fruit for another few years.

Some plant, some water but God causes the increase. (1 Corinthians 3:6)

Yours in Him,
Matthew

Matthew and Appolus,
Thanks for your replies. They are two different aspects of this and I appreciate both. I think it is not either / or, but both perspectives we need to take on board.

Matthew, thanks for reminding me of some sound biblical principles, which encourages me to continue in proclaiming the gospel where ever possible and leave the results up to God.

Appolus, I agree we need to share out of an overflow and what we all need is to full to overflowing - I'm not always, I admit.

I have to agree with Bro. Frank. There is a need to walk everyday obedient to what He tells us to do, and there is also a hunger being birthed in the hearts of many to seek God for a pentecost that turns the world up-side-down once again. The church is full of the world. We have no desire to get off our remote controls and cellphones long enough to seek His face. We laugh at their foul humor and watch fornication and adultry as entertainment. We ignore the man fallen by the side of the road and spend huge amounts of God's money on our every whim.

I don't believe that those who go about doing what they can to save the lost are the issue. It is the apostasy of the church at large that is. We are way too comfortable in this present world. We like it. How is that? We are not of this world. This is what the prayer is about. This is what revival is about, returning to our first love, or coming to it in the first place. This is the reason we don't impact the world, we are too much a part of it to impact it.

Duncan Campbell, Evan Roberts and others simply saw that the church needed to see their own hearts and be grieved at what the saw, so they interceded until God filled the very atmosphere, and entire towns were flattened to the ground in repentance, then rose up with that fire shut up in their bones to witness everywhere. The Holy Spirit powerfully accomplished in His people vastly more than they ever accomplished in their own power.

I believe this was intitiated by God, it was a season. But I also believe we are about to enter and even greater season. God is moving hearts once again to intercede for eternity to enter the hearts of His people. Hallelujah....

This is not to say that we shouldn't do the works as we press into this place. We need to pull the many, or the few, out of the fire. If God places a person, one on one, in our path we need to be obedient and reap the harvest. But we need to press into all that He has for us to reap the total end time harvest. We will be more effective when it isn't us, but Him in us that accomplishes this work. We need to pray that the word, the Living Word, will take total possession of our lives. That we will hold nothing back and yield all our lives and possessions to the one they belong to, then we will be effective.

I have thought about this a lot. How can we invite the homeless and needy into our homes when we have to protect our precious stuff? If our stuff wasn't so important to us we would sell it and use it to win the lost. We aren't there yet, but we will be. All this "stuff" is about to burn. All that matters is who we will take with us to populate heaven. Where are our priorities? This is what the crying out to God is about. We are a mixture. God is calling us to step out of mixture into His pure light.

Let's do it. Amen? Will we pay the price to really accomplished the end time mandate? or is the price too high for us? We will choose one way or the other.

Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

I am totally convinced that God is calling us back to the sermon on the mount. It is for today. If you can get William Barclay's book on the Matthew or the one on the Sermon on the Mount. It is so important. Also Deitrich Bonhoeffer's book, The Cost of Discipleship. This kind of living is what turns the world up-side-down.

We are called to the cross, but many are skirting it. Poured out lives are what the early believers lived. Why aren't we? Intercession will be the difference in turning this around. How bad do we want it?

Jhn 8:23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

Jhn 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

1Cr 7:31 And they that use this world, as not abusing [it]: for the fashion of this world passeth away.

Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

2Cr 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you,

Hbr 11:13 ¶ These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of [them], and embraced [them], and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that [country] from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
16 But now they desire a better [country], that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

If we stop living like this world was our home the lost would see that we have something better waiting for us. Why should they want what we have when we love this present world so much? They already have what we have it that is all we have. We need eternity stamped on hearts and the One who has called us to it as the joy of our lives. They will then see there is something way more than this world has to offer. Look up church....