INTRODUCTION... JOEL 2:17 says... “Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them. Wherefore should they say among the people, Where is your God?" LET'S PRAY!
I am reading a book about Leonard Ravenhill, a great outdoor Revivalist, and he tells a story of REVIVAL that came to the city of Leeds in England in the early 1900's. Now just what do I mean when I say REVIVAL...I am not talking about a planned event, a planned revival...but a Biblical Event.
REVIVAL in a Biblical sense is a tremendous infusion of the Holy Ghost into a body of people.
This REVIVAL in Leads came because there was this little man there, he was not seminary trained...had no bible degree...but boy, did he have a burning heart and a burning vision for an old time HOLY GHOST REVIVAL.
And through that VISION he labored and yet he had three breakdowns, not mental, but physical breakdowns because he fasted so much...and he had authority and that authority came from God by way of the Holy Ghost.
Paul says in EPHESIANS 6:19... "Pray for me, that utterance may be given me." A prayer we all need to pray!
In other words he means... “Let the Word be glorified and endued (endowed) with that mysterious thing that you can't define and no human can give. The thing that we call unction.”
Now what does unction mean...It is... “The act of anointing as part of a religious or healing ritual.”
And Paul's and this man from Leads authority was an anointing of God through the Holy Ghost...it was the baptism from God through the counsel, teachings, and spirit filled guidance of the Holy Ghost.
Now if money could buy that some of you would sell your house to get it, but you can't get it with money and you can't get it through an education at a university or seminary either.
It can only come through God's Holy Ghost...because it is only within the Sovereignty of the ALMIGHTY GOD.
We have to first sell out to God wholly and then let God through His Spirit possess us wholly...completely!!!
In the world today...we are trying to marry Christianity to all the wrong things...we are trying to marry it to prosperity...popularity...personalities...politics...and beloved...it ain't working 'cause it's broken!
And yet many ministers preach a PROSPERITY DOCTRINE today because it feeds our carnality.
They preach worship God, follow God…and prosperity will come your way…and maybe it will…maybe.
But we forget what Jesus said in MATTHEW 6:30... "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"
So hear me...working for God so wealth will find you is all wrong...let God choose what he wants for you.
Look, why don't these same Preachers who preach that PROSPERITY DOCTRINE go to poor and impoverished 3rd world countries and preach it where they need it?
You know why...because God may bless the righteous...but He don't make them wealthy.
That comes through hard work...good business practices...and many more things like that.
And there are a lot of Satan loving ...Satan worshiping people out there that are wealthy too.
Yet...I do know wealthy people and many of them are lovely, fine Christians and I believe God lets them have a ministry in supplying needs through their wealth...but that is not why they are wealthy.
When the Body of Christ is rich and prosperous...she very seldom...I want say never...but very seldom has Biblical REVIVAL...but she often does when she's poor...many times the Children of Israel found this out.
But this truth does exist beloved...PRAYER IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE POOR.
PSALMS 86:1 says... "Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy.”
And this does not always mean poor and needy financially although that does help to humble us.
Yet while it may mean financially...it definitely does mean spiritually poor. Why?
The self-satisfied don't need to pray...the self-sufficient don't want to...and the self-righteous cannot.
But the man who realizes... "I need something outside of anything that's human at all"... then that man is the one who wants to bathe his soul in prayer...and he just may be wealthiest person of all.
But today...the weakest meeting in almost any church without exception is the PRAYER MEETING.
And when we are not strong in prayer we are saying to God... "We can manage by ourselves...God."
But let us get caught up in a war or a depression or a famine or a drought and we pray and we pray...see, for many of us...we have a great "utility" God...bad times come and God gonna hear from us! AMEN!!!
Very often we say to young people... "Now look, you have to read your Bible and maintain your prayer life because you need to maintain your prayer life to maintain your Christian life." I SAY THAT IS ALL WRONG!!!
But this is right...you need to maintain your Christian life in order to pray...that is the only way!!!
And yet prayer individually is such a hard thing...how many of you pray daily? 5 min., 10 min., how much?
A Ministers I know said this... "I don't have any trouble expounding the Word of God but I've always found prayer so tough...I just find prayer the most difficult thing in the world to do." Any of you feel that way?
But read the Acts of the Apostles and all you read about is prayer, prayer, prayer...and then more prayer.
And beloved...when they prayed the place was shaken...it trembled...the Holy Ghost was in attendance. AMEN!
Now … if you want to read about the prayer life of Jesus you should read the GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE because in every instance he shows Jesus as a praying man.
But today we get up on Sunday morning and go to Sunday School...Church...But what do we do when we leave?
We immediately start thinking about lunch...eat out, take out, or go home and cook.
In church people constantly check the time...preacher's fault...message ain't good...but the worst one I ever heard was good if I had let God's Spirit in first! Because it was from God's Holy WORD. AMEN!
But today our people don't get off the porch of the church before they say... "Hey, do you think the Falcons will win today" or “Who is going to win the race today?” Man...we leave church behind quick don't we?
And that is nonsense...it is simply rubbish! We are not being inspired by ministers...well maybe...but in the ministers defense, some of us are ticket punched Christians … or so we think … and are now uninspirable.
See... we walk out of church just like nothing happened in there...because we went into church not ready.
We need to spend some hard time in prayer opening ourselves up to the Holy Ghost before we ever go to church...do any of you do that? That is how to get ready for church...on your knees praying.
And then we would be walking out in silence...stunned silence...scared that the Holy Ghost would point his finger at us and say... “He was talking to you!” More of us need to walk out that way today!
Yes...when was the last time you tiptoed out of church with a prayer on your lips...“conviction in your heart”?
BELOVED I STAND HERE TODAY TO TELL YOU...THE CHURCH HAS TO REDISCOVER 2 THINGS...FIRST WE MUST REDISCOVER THE MAJESTY AND THE HOLINESS OF OUR GOD ... AND SECOND THE SINFULNESS OF OUR SIN.
Believe me, those 2 things can only be found in convicted prayer with God and prayer is not the easiest thing in the world...NO...Prayer is the hardest thing in the world...Prayer is the most demanding thing in the world.
FIRST...WE HAVE TO GET BACK TO BEING IN THE HOLY GHOST AND THE HOLY GHOST ACTUALLY BEING IN US...
Hear me when I say that! We have got to first realize that praying is impossible if we are not first right with God?
PSALM 24:3 says... “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall ascend into His holy place? He that hath clean hands and pure heart...” And we do not have clean hands and certainly not clean hearts!
And we have got to start saying this more often...“Satan”...now I've heard people say this almost facetiously in some meetings... "Satan, get out of this place."
But what we have got to say and believe is this... “SATAN, I REBUKE YOU. GET OUT OF THIS TERRITORY! IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER...THE SON...THE HOLY GHOST. I PLEAD THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, BE GONE!"
Does that astound you? Does me but it is based on BIBLICAL TRUTH...
In that Revival in Leeds England I talked about earlier a young lad stood up to pray and said just that.
And just as though a switch was pulled in heaven God came on that meeting, and He came on a pub at the end of the road and people left it and He came on a dance hall at the end of the road and people left it...now that is real movement by the Holy Spirit.
Christians...we've got to get back to a Holy Ghost that we truly believe will work like that...GOT TO!
Listen to this...today we have to drag people to the altar yet there was never an altar call in the New Testament if you want to be REALLY scriptural...in all of Acts with all those conversions...no altar calls...no invitation.
Altar calls are an invention by religion for when the Holy Ghost doesn't deal with people. AMEN!!!
Beloved...this boy prayed, the Holy Ghost came...and that whole community vibrated with God and we can too if we just believe in the awesome POWER OF GOD'S HOLY GHOST!!! AMEN!!!
SECOND...MINISTERS HAVE GOT TO REALIZE THAT THEIR JOB IS TOO SET THE TABLE FIRST AND FOREMOST!
A minister is not supposed to be the janitor or running a business or finding out about the church's bank balance...they are not suppose to worry about all that junk.
If you are going to be a TRUE BIBLICAL PREACHER you got 2 things to do according to ACTS 6:4... “...give yourself continually to prayer and the Word of God.” That's all you as a minister have to do and that is a big, big task.
So who is going to visit the sick? The deacons...other ministers or church members...or you can if you've taken care of the other 2 things first. Who is going to bury the dead? The deacons...the Scripture clearly says, "Let the dead bury the dead." - joke folks...minister you can do that too but you better be sure that the first 2 are well covered.
You see, preachers want the church to function their way...they think... "God bless our plans and what we do."
And they ask for and join meeting after meeting...when they need to be praying and preparing God's Word.
Now a minister that doesn't visit...that is unheard of.
But this is what all great ministers should have said about them when they retire or pass on..."You know what? I have gone to his church twenty five years and he has not been in my house five times. But I'll tell you what...he spread the table with the Word...minister, that is your Word inspired job...that is your calling.”
You are called to bring the FIRE of the Holy Ghost to your people if you are really a minister.
Why...you never have to advertise a fire. You don't have to advertise it in the news paper...NO...forget it.
You let the glory of the Lord fill the temple; people will come from hundreds of miles away. Because it's spiritual starvation everywhere.
I heard this story about a minister...he said my phone rings at times and I hear this... "I've been transferred to … . Do you know a church there that really is on fire for God? A church where they have all night prayer meetings?"
That speaks highly of this minister in regard to setting his table in his church.
How many churches have all night prayer meeting anymore? And yet...no church should function these days without a whole night of prayer once in a while.
But most churches are afraid...want social standing? They want numbers of people...people to just fill pews?
But this is the only way to get the HOLY GHOST FIRE? The Pentecost Church did it...yes it worked for them!
The greatest honor ever given any preacher in history was not given by men...it was given by demons when those demons said in ACTS 19:15... “And the evil spirit answered and said, 'Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?'”
How many preachers today is the “...who are ye” speaking to?
I'll say it again: brother, if you are not known in hell … you are not worth a hill of beans in the pulpit.
And that goes for elders, lay-ministers, deacons, Sunday school teachers; yes for all Christians.
THIRD...WE HAVE TO UNDERSTAND JUST HOW GOD LOOKS UPON OUR SINFULNESS...
We must realize we are not just fighting a local situation... we are not fighting drug addiction, we are not fighting massive pornography...child abuse...adultery...out of wedlock sex...immorality...and all those things.
Yes they are evil but that is not what we are fighting...no way...no how!!!
We are surrounded by an arrogant and militant paganism in our society and it is gaining strength.
If you told your grandfather forty years ago that 40,000 homosexuals would march down main street, he would have said... "Not in my America."
But you self-righteous ones...you who condemn the homosexual...yet you also covet and lust for the opposite sex...and you are just as guilty as they are!
Christians wake up...adultery...divorce...is a plague even in the church today...homosexuality or lust for the opposite sex...both guilty...God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah not for homosexuality but for rampant and blatant and open sexuality...the towns were simply rotten to the core and stank all the way to heaven.
We don't have decent morality in some churches, never mind spirituality.
We don't elect deacons because they are full of the faith and the Holy Ghost … we appoint them because they own two Texaco stations and a hot dog stand.
Another thing Jesus did, He prayed all night before He chose His disciples.
MATTHEW 4:1 tells us... “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness...”
2 things are contained in that verse...first He was led up of...yes the Holy Ghost...second he spent 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness and at the end He was tempted by Satan...that is the story we focus on.
But before that I promise you He prayed and He prayed...if we prayed all night before we chose deacons...half of them wouldn't get in...if we had to get the witness of the Holy Ghost about it most wouldn't get in.
Now I am not coming down on deacons...they are just the example...we do not pray enough and the Holy Ghost is not in us or for that fact in our churches today.
Beloved...we need a true Biblical...Holy Ghost inspired and lead Revival in our midst today.
And I can only stand here and tell you that there is only one book that has the formula for that...see...the formula for revival is in the Word of God or else there isn't one and that formula of revival is...
Preachers need to hit the altars and WEEP...because the people seem to not have tears anymore...
They need to GROAN...because there is no moving of the Spirit of God anymore... and
They need to APOLOGIZE TO GOD...because we've kind of manipulated the supernatural.
Now, I am not just thinking of miracles of twisted limbs and other things here.
I think the greatest miracle that God can do is to take an unholy man out of an unholy world, and make that unholy man holy and put him back in an unholy world and ... PRAISE GOD...KEEP HIM HOLY. AMEN!!!
But we are more afraid of holiness today in the church than we are of sinfulness.
If an unclean man with an unclean spirit does unclean things…if a man that's vile does vile things because he has a vile spirit...then surely the man who has the Holy Spirit in him will live a holy life but in this world so very few do.
I don't ask people if they are saved anymore, forget it, everybody is "saved"...it doesn't mean a thing.
I don't ask a man if he is born again, I just look gently at him, it doesn't matter who he is, Baptist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Methodist or Mennonite and just say... "Brother, does Christ live in you?"
Well, isn't that the standard of the New Birth? Isn't that what Paul says in GALATION 2:20... “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
I hear an awful lot about gifts of the Spirit and that's all right but I hear less about THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.
And even less about having your fruit unto holiness and bringing forth fruit meet for repentance.
One day Napoleon ran his index finger round a great country he was talking to his generals about and said... "There lies a sleeping giant, LET IT SLEEP!" He was referring to China and we could still say that today, couldn't we?
But right now I can see the devil standing over there, he isn't running his finger round a map, he is running his finger round the church of Jesus Christ and he says... "There is the church of Jesus Christ asleep, LET IT CONTINUE TO SLEEP!! Because if it ever rediscovers the power of the Holy Ghost, if it ever rediscovers the resurrection power of Jesus, it will shake the world." WE'VE GOT TO WAKE UP CHRISTIANS!
We've got to wake up today...we are a sleeping giant and if we just wake up Satan will tremble!!!
But even worse...Jesus is coming and we ain't ready...no way...no how are we ready!!!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FOURTH...JUST HOW MUCH OF OUR LIVES ARE DOMINATED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT?
If we are to again get back into a right standing with God certain things need to happen in our churches.
We need to again begin to see priest and ministers weep between the altar and the door posts.
We need to start preaching Christ blood...preaching Holy Ghost FIRE...holy living...a church being something which God deposited in the world to show people how He can redeem us and get a BRIDE FOR CHRIST.
Yet when you say that so many would answer...old style religion... "That old man is senile."
You danged right it is because that is the only religion this HOLY BOOK talks about...it was right there at Pentecost and it is still right today...AMEN!!!
Well...let me tell you this...Paul was senile too I guess...he said “THIS ONE THING I DO” … ONLY GOD'S WILL!!!
A very learned man once said... "All earthly things will fade away, but prayer grasps eternity." AMEN!!!
And if we're going to see as God sees... then we must believe this... "If you claim to be filled with the Holy Spirit the things that grieve the Spirit MUST AND WILL GRIEVE US!!!" But do they?
But to those the Lord cast His burdens on … what does He say?
He doesn't say He will just roll them away into the oblivion...when you were saved He didn't take you straight to heaven? No, no, no. He says... "My yoke is easy, My burden is light."
CONCLUSION...I could go on but this message is about 1 thing...we need an earth shaking, hell-terrifying revival today!
And you can only get it one way...it only comes only through a brokeness...and through spiritual honesty.
But it does not come by us saying we have a form of godliness...it does not come as we say thank you God we are not filthy...we are not dirty...we are not drunkards...we don't all have mistresses...see … we are pretty good.
We can say most of those things but that is just like Israel was saying over and over in the Old Testament.
See...they got out of Egypt...got to Kadesh-barnea and instead of going to the promised land they got stuck.
Now Kadesh-barnea was supposed to be a gateway but it became their goal...it was supposed to be a thoroughfare and it became a terminal...it was supposed to be a stepping stone to something else, but it became a stumbling block and too many churches and Christians are right there at their Kadesh-barnea today.
Because … for so many of us just being saved has become our stopping point...our goal...we are stuck on saved.
I was reading that amazing chapter we call the Faith Chapter in HEBREWS 11...in it faith is mentioned 24 times.
I believe the key is not just the word faith, I believe the key is the 6TH VERSE that says... "He that cometh to God must believe that HE IS..." But what is it that HE IS...?
He is everything that He says HE IS in this Holy Word...and HEBREWS 11:33 says... "They subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, women received their dead come to life again." And then God said to me...it just popped in my head..."Say that again."
So I said... "Lord, these people far off there, they subdued whole kingdoms, they wrought righteousness, they obtained promises, they stopped the mouths of lions, women received their dead come to life."
And then I thought this... "Not one of them had a Bible" AMEN! “Did you ever consider that?”
That was back in a time when God's chosen people wondered around in sheepskins and goatskins!
Now today we are God's chosen people and we are living in a land flowing with milk and honey...and we have churches flowing with mink and money.
But God does not look at us on the outside...He looks on the inside...and those people mentioned in the Faith Chapter never had these 66 Books.
And I'm standing here right now saying...God doesn't have anything to add to this Book...nothing more!
So what are we waiting for...our marching orders are right here...AMEN...and the Holy Ghost is READY!!!
Let me give you the other side and I'll quit.
We are the most broken nation that we've ever been in history...more broken homes...more broken hearts over those broken homes...more broken kids because of those broken homes...more minds broken by drugs and alcohol.
We've more bodies broken...over 2 million unmarried girls last year got pregnant under 17 years old.
Do you think God Almighty is going to wink at our sins much longer? I don't.
And the legislators can't help us...they are ungodly and broken, and the banks can't help us...they are corrupt and so greedy, and the government can't help us...they are morally bankrupt!
Money can't help us...it only continues to perpetuate our doom! You cannot buy Salvation!
Our help must come from HIM...and the only way for the Lord to help us is in submission and brokeness.
I am convinced the key is in the ministry and through ministers, preachers, lay ministers, and Spirit filled people today.
Maybe the way to start revival is for me to just say... "Look, I've had no passion for the lost. I shed no tears for lost mankind. I've so many other things I am interested in." But from this day forward I am going to be like Paul when he said... "This - one - thing - I - do." He lived God … He thought God … He prayed God. That's all he did.
They lashed him, but could not whip God out of him. He floated on a piece of wood in the Mediterranean a night and a day...thirty six hours...and that could not wash God out of him.
They tried to starve him, but they could not starve God out of him.
WHY? He had a GOD GIVEN VISION of the cross, he had a VISION OF THE RESURRECTION POWER.
He realized the greatest thing this side of eternity is to be a God filled man.
That is why he could say... “TO LIVE IS CHRIST, AND TO DIE IS MY GAIN.”
And he went out and proclaimed that message, whether it was to Jews, to barbarians, to Greeks, to intellectuals, or to the Roman soldiers he was chained to and he did it with no fear...because he had THE GHOST WITH HIM!!!
And praise God...Satan cursed his name in hell...does Satan curse your name...my name for that fact in hell today?
God never intended His church to backslide...never intended His church to function with less than Apostolic Faith.
And it's time to call the church to prayer...I believe if we were as spiritual as we think we are we would be in church today in sackcloth with a handful of ashes to put on our heads and mourning that the Glory has departed. AMEN!!!
But God has called us...all HIS SAINTS...to stand in the gap...to be the repairers of the breach.
When Jesus was here He cleaned the temple and I feel it needs cleaning again from worldliness and materialism.
We cannot BUY A REVIVAL...ONLY A BROKEN HEART CAN BRING A SPIRITUAL...HOLY GHOST INSPIRED REVIVING!
May the Lord help us to search our hearts as well the Scriptures today...may He help us to be honest and admit that we've failed and then seek that place of prayer...that place of cleansing...that place of anointing.
Let's find our God and let his glory shine forth through us...come Holy Ghost...come upon us again!!!
