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What is Revival?
1. Revival is not a week worth of meetings.
2. Revival is not started in one day.
3. Revival is not controlled by man.
4. Revival is a heart thing.
5. Revival is always brought on by REPENTANCE.
6. Revival is renewed zeal to obey God
WHO DO I SHOOT?
A new soldier was on sentry duty at the main gate. His orders were clear. No car was to enter unless it had a special sticker on the windshield. A big Army car came up with a general seated in the back. The sentry said, "Halt, who goes there?"
The chauffeur, a corporal, said, "General Wheeler."
"I'm sorry, I can't let you through. You've got to have a sticker on the windshield."
The general said, "Drive on!"
The sentry said, "Hold it! You really can't come through. I have orders to shoot if you try driving in without a sticker."
The general repeated, "I'm telling you, son, drive on!"
The sentry walked up to the rear window and said, "General, I'm new at this. Do I shoot you or the driver?"
Sometimes, the trick in times of war is knowing who to shoot. In the heat of battle, armies frequently experience casualties due to "friendly fire", and the church suffers in the same way. In our zeal to shoot someone, we set our crosshairs on one another.
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."
(Ephesians 6:10-12)
May you be strengthened today in the spiritual warfare that Satan is waging against you
Wade Hughes, Sr
Why do people wear masks?
Several years ago, I had a nightmare, it was terrible.
For many days my spirit was greatly troubled.
In a dream, I saw one of my most serious workers at
church dying a terrible death.
As my church worker was dying,
I saw a battle going against my member.
I was broken beyond belief, as I saw this dedicated
Christian worker die and the Devil was grabbing the
individual and taking the soul to hell.
The smell was terrible, I could smell the enemy and
hell. This was so real.
In the dream, I started screaming, this is a terrible
mistake.
No way enemy, you can’t have this worker!
I have counted on them to do many things to build
this church.
They have touched many people and led many to the
Lord.
I am a better pastor because of this individual, and
the church is a better church, after all the hours
and efforts this family has invested in the church.
The enemy was slowly dragging my church member toward
the lake of fire and great torment.
We could hear the horrible sounds coming out of hell.
The smell was so real and horrible, I shall never
forget.
I was thinking, maybe there was secret sin, and they
were playing Christian games.
This was not the problem. I tried to fight for my
dear friend and the enemy kept slowly pulling my
member towards hell.
The fight was very painful.
I said, this is a good person.
This family paid their tithes.
They were faithful to church.
I could count on them.
What is going on here?
Jesus help me? What is going on here?
With tears in His eyes, Jesus came to me,
and said, I have tried and I have tried to change the
events of this day.
I have personally sent messages through you to warn
this individual?
I have sent radio messages to expose the sin?
I have given the words to television preachers, and
they watched with zeal, but My words were unheeded.
This person has cassette tapes that has warned them,
but they have not heard the message I have spoken to
them.
This person has books on their shelf, they have read
the parts they like, but the message I warned them,
was unheeded.
As a matter of record, when they heard the message,
they said the message was for someone else.
They even said, amen, let it be, but they thought the
message was for the other party.
I again questioned, Why Jesus, what is the wrong?
I knew them! They are good people.
With tears running down Jesus’ face,
Jesus said, "This individual was very angry,
and full of wrath.
Bitterness was rampant daily, and unforgiveness had
helped to bring an early death.
The home was full of coldness and painful rejection.
This person had allowed a critical spirit to tear
down the confidence in everyone.
They refused to pray.
Their hurt and disappointments had become the driving
force in their heart.
The anger they carried had brought physical
affliction, yet this never got their attention to
correct.
The person had rejected forgiveness, and justified
because of unforgiveness.
I was absolutely broken, as I saw one of my best
friends escorted into hell.
I could do nothing to change the hard heart, the
hurt,
the bitterness, --- the bait had been accepted.
The trap had locked on the neck.
I understood blasphemy as never before.
By focusing on the bitterness and pain, the person
had shown contempt and the lack of reverence for God
or His people.
Jesus had warned, the anger was turning into wrath,
Bible teacher F.B. Meyer once had a firewood factory that employed prisoners.
Meyer would give them a job to do, good wages, a place to live, and, when possible, spiritual encouragement.
In exchange, he expected them to render good employment.
They didn’t, and he lost money.
Finally he fired them all and purchased a circular saw powered by a gas engine.
In one hour, it turned out more work than the combined efforts of all the men covered in the course of a whole day.
One day, Meyer had a little conversation with his saw.
“How can you turn out so much work?” he asked.
“Are you sharper than the saws my men were using? No? Is your blade shinier? No? What then? Better oil or lubrication against the wood?”
The saw’s answer, could it speak, would have been, “I think there is a stronger driving power behind me. Something is working through me with a new force. It is not I, it is the power behind.”
Meyer later observe...
“Of thirty Roman emperors, governors of provinces and others in high office, who distinguished themselves by their zeal and bitterness in persecuting the early Christians, one became speedily deranged after some atrocious cruelty, one was slain by his own son, one became blind, the eyes of one started out of his head, one was drowned, one was strangled, one died in a miserable captivity, one fell dead in a manner that will not bear recital, one died of so loathsome a disease that several of his physicians were put to death because they could not abide the stench that filled his room, two committed suicide, a third attempted it but had to call for help to finish the work, five were assassinated by their own people or servants, five others died the most miserable and excruciating deaths, several of them having an untold complication of diseases, and eight were killed in battles, or after being taken prisoners.
Among these was Julian the Apostate. In the days of his prosperity he is said to have pointed his dagger to heaven, defying the Son of God whom he commonly called the Galilean. But when he was wounded in battle, he saw that all was over with him, and he gathered up his clotted blood and threw it into the air, exclaiming, thou has conquered, O thou Galilean.” (Boise 25)
Richard Baxter, the Puritan preacher of the 17th century conveys the urgency, the zeal of Christian witness when he said, "I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men!"
When someone becomes really great at what they do, it almost always because they spent years dedicating themselves to it. Pete Rose didn’t just wake up one day as a great ball player, he dedicated his life to being a great ball player. Tori Murden didn’t just hop into a boat one day out of the blue and row across the ocean – it took her three tries before she made and countless hours of preparation and training.
Back in the late eighties Meryl Streep stared in a movie called Ironweed. She played a ragged derilect that died in a cheap motel room. For more than half an hour before the scene she hugged a bag of ice cubes in an agonizing attempt to discover what it was like to be a corpse. When the cameras came on she just laid there as Jack Nicholson cried and shook her limp body. The just laid there for take after take and in between take too. One of the crew members got scared and went the director and said, What’s going on? She’s not breathing!” When the director looked at her he saw no signs of life, but he let the camera keep rolling. After the scene was done and cameras were off she still didn’t move. It took ten minutes for her to come out of the state she had sunk herself into. The director was amazed and said, “Now that’s acting!! That is an actress!” She was willing to go the extra mile and do the unthinkable in order to be a great actress. I wish more Christians had that level of zeal when it comes to their walk with the Lord.
In Roman twelve Paul exhorts us to be living sacrifices to God – lay all that we are on the alter. The only problem with living sacrifices is that they keep crawling off the alter. We must stay on the alter, we must value Christ above all else if we are to continue to grow as Christians.
DILEMMA OF AMERICAN ATHEIST SOCIETY
For some reason, Christians feel intimidated by atheism. They assume that the atheist and the intellectual are on the same level. The assumption is groundless:
A recent article published by the American Atheist Society was written by a zealous but discouraged atheist (a graduate of the U. of Texas, and president of "American Atheists") who related 5 basic coronary problems plaguing contemporary atheists of the U.S..
1. The 1st dilemma he cites is a "lack of unity." He begins with a word on how unified Christians seem, in their stand against abortion and in the fact that they do not openly criticize one another. He says history has shown atheistic attitudes towards each other have been nothing but outride hostility... The atheists hate the agnostics, who hate the humanists, who cannot stand the rationalists, who keep their distance from the realists, who will not speak to the Unitarians, and on and on it goes - they cannot even agree on the simple concept that "there is no god."
2. The second symptom is one of "lack of zeal." He says "atheists will simply not get involved with the promotion of their chosen life-style. I cannot think of a group harder to motivate... atheists seem to feel that their position with regard to religion is a deeply personal thing that does not need to be shared with others."
I suppose it is hard to be enthusiastic about the nonexistence of God, when the word "enthusiasm" actually comes from the 2 Greek words "en" and "theos," meaning "in God." If I denied the existence of the sun, I would find it rather difficult to be zealous in my convictions in the light of its brilliance.
3. The 3rd dilemma is "a lack of faith." The writer admits, "I have met many atheists who cannot surpass the ’what if I am wrong?’ stage." The cause of their problem is obviously a lack of unbelief.
4. The 4th ailment is one of "lack of boldness." The president of the society remarks about an incident where a newspaper reporter wanted to do an article on the subject of atheistic life-styles; and how he found nothing but the "fear of man" in tho...
"I think I was in my pre-teen years, when someone whose name I did not hear at the time said this half in jest, but it made its point with me when I heard it and has stayed with me all these years. . He was British, and talking to an American pastor when he said, “The problem with you American ministers, is that you have an ‘office’ instead of a ‘study’. I’m sure there are plenty of British ministers who have the same misled mindset, but as I said, he made his point.
We have our big oak desks and book-lined walls and degrees to impress, and comfortable chairs for someone to sit in while being counseled; what this Brit was implying that too many of us look at it as a sort of throne room for the pastor, more than a closet in which to humble ourselves before God, and seek inspiration and revelation from God’s Word.
The clergy as a whole in this nation has no right to decry the misconceptions the general populace has of the church, or the dearth of dedication and zeal that marked previous generations in the church, until they go back to their books and their bibles and learn so that they are able to teach, and fortify their message and their daily pastoral duties with prayer, prayer, prayer!" - c.e.t.
“The show went on; many had been slain (in the Roman Colosseum), and the people, madly excited by the desperate bravery of those who continued to fight, shouted their applause. But suddenly there was an interruption. A rudely clad, robed figure appeared for a moment among the audience, and then boldly leaped down into the arena. He was seen to be a man of rough but imposing presence, bareheaded and with sun-browned face. Without hesitating an instant he advanced upon two gladiators engaged in a life-and-death struggle, and laying his hand upon one of them sternly reproved him for shedding innocent blood, and then, turning toward the thousands of angry faces ranged around him, called upon them in a solemn, deep-toned voice which resounded through the deep enclosure. These were his words; ‘Do not requite God’s mercy in turning away the swords of your enemies by murdering each other!’ Angry shouts and cries at once drowned his voice; ‘This is no place for preaching! - the old customs of Rome must be observed!- On gladiators!’ Thrusting aside the stranger, the gladiators would have again attacked each other, but the man stood between, holding them apart, and trying in vain to be heard. ‘Sedition! Sedition! Down with him!’ was then the cry; and the gladiators, enraged at the interference of an outsider with their chosen vocation, at once stabbed him to death. Stones, or whatever missiles came to hand, also rained down upon him from the furious people, and thus he perished, in the midst of the arena.
His dress showed him to be one of the hermits who vowed themselves to a holy life of prayer and self-denial, and who were reverenced by even the thoughtless and combat-loving Romans. The few who knew him told how he had come from the wilds of Asia on a pilgrimage, to visit the churches and keep his Christmas at Rome; they knew he was a holy man, and that his name was Telemachus - no more. His spirit had been stirred by the sight of thousands flocking to see men slaughter one another, and in his simple-hearted zeal he had tried to convince them of the cruelty and wickedness of their conduct. He had died, but not in vain. His work was accomplished at the moment he was struck down, for the shock of such a death before their eyes turned the hearts of the people; they saw the hideous aspects of the favorite vice to which they had blindly surrendered themselves; and from the day Telemachus fell dead in the Colosseum, no other fight of gladiators was ever held there.” (parenthesis mine)
- FOX’S BOOK OF MARTYRS - ‘The Last Roman ‘Triumph’.’ 1970 printing, Zondervan pg 37,38
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