OPENING STORY: In 1904 a young ministerial student named Evan Roberts, began to feel that God was sending an urgent message that He was going to pour out a mighty spirit of revival on Wales, which is now a part of Great Britain. Roberts began attending various revival meetings and during one he was deeply moved by the Spirit. As he prayed at the altar he cried out to God, “Bend me o Lord!” This was a complete and total surrender of his will to God’s will.
Roberts soon returned to his home church to preach the message of revival but his pastor was reluctant to allow him to speak. In a compromise, the pastor announced that Roberts would be speaking following the regular prayer meeting and any who wished to stay were welcome. Only 17 people stayed to hear Evan speak and most of them were teenagers and young adults.
Evan Roberts spoke in that church for nearly two hours with a simple 4 point message that he was convinced could help God bring revival.
1. Confess all known sin to God
2. Deal with and get rid of any “doubtful” area of your life
3. Be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly
4. Confess Christ publicly
When Roberts was finished speaking all 17 young people were at the altar on their knees crying out to God. They prayed until 2am that night and it was the beginning of one of the greatest movements of God in all history. By the end of the week, over 60 people were won to Christ and over the course of the next 1½ years revival swept through the nation of Wales. Over 1,000,000 people were led to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
The revival was so great that the national culture changed dramatically.
• A rage of bankruptcies took place - All of the taverns and liquor stores went out of business
• Work at the coal mines was brought to a near standstill - The mules who pulled the wagons were so accustomed to hearing foul language from the workers that after the men were saved the mules no longer recognized their voices or commands
• The entire police force was dismissed for almost 18 months due to a complete lack of crime
• One of the few court cases that was actually brought before a judge was unusual. The defendant came into the court and admitted his guilt, the judge led the man to Christ and the jury closed the case by singing a hymn.
What would revival look in our Hometown?
What would change in our culture?
What would community and school look like?
How would true revival change our church?
This morning I want us to look at what revival really is.
First – what Revival is not.
Revival is not a set of church meetings.
The salvation of lost souls in a big meeting is not revival.
A lot of us grew up saying that our church is going to have a revival on such and such date. It is part of the year’s schedule, like VBS, or a retreat.
Some of you can remember when the church would have two week long meetings.
Often the first week was just for revival. The emphasis was to get the church back on fire for God and then the second week they would focus on evangelism.
But somehow we decided that going to church for two weeks was too much so we cut it down to one week and went straight to evangelism.
When that became too much, we just cut it down to two or three nights.
And when that didn’t bear any fruit we quit doing it at all.
But that is not revival. It’s a good thing to do, but it isn’t revival.
Revival is not a crusade either. It is part of what we ought to be doing as God’s people, but it is not a revival.
Revival is not even church growth. You see a church can be growing but not have revival because revival implies spiritual declension and lethargy
The very word Revival says that something is alive but is about to die. It is struggling with life and needs to be awakened.
Revelation 3:1
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write,
‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
If you’re not a Christian you don’t need revival, you need regeneration.
But if you are a Christian there is a good chance that during the course of your Christian life you’re going to need a few revivals.
Maybe when we look at lack of souls saved during revivals
Maybe it was because we were trying to do evangelism before we had revival.
When the book of Acts is read, the norm for the church should be revival then evangelism. Nowadays I think that at times God’s church is so subnormal that normal seems abnormal.
Sometimes we have become so accustomed to subnormal that if normal ever showed up it would seem abnormal to us.
As a result, I think that in a very real sense God’s church is like a sleeping giant.
And Satan’s motto is to let sleeping saints sleep.
Acts 1:8
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The problem in winning souls is we have powerless Christians
Revival is for the Believer…
but the salvation of the lost should be the result of revival, because only then will Christians become the powerful witnesses God desires for us to be!
2 Chronicles 7:14
if My people who are called by My name
We often forget that the work of revival always begins with God’s own people first, why?
God must first renew His people before the real work of winning the world can take place. The work of revival must begin with God’s own people but is never meant to end there. For revival to be lasting and to truly make an impact on the world, we must reach out.
You know what was said about the Wales Revival? The churches are full of people and the people are full of God.
2 Chronicles 7:14
will humble themselves,
One of the major reasons why churches in America never see a movement of God is because they don’t want it bad enough.
There is a personal price that has to be paid in finding revival. It is opening yourself to the leading of the Holy Spirit
and then obeying what the Spirit says.
One of the great personal revivals in the Old Testament was with a King named Manasseh.
There were few Kings more evil than Manasseh and God brought judgment upon him just as He promised.
The Babylonians came and literally put a hook in his nose and drug him to Babylon.
But look what happened to this man in 2 Chronicles 33.
2 Chronicles 33:12–13
Now when he was in affliction, he implored the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13 and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD was God.
You will find this over and over again in the Old Testament.
2 Chronicles 7:14
and pray and seek My face,
In 1904 those young people from Evan Roberts home church wanted to see revival so badly that they stayed at the church and prayed until 2am.
We struggle to gather a handful of people to pray for half an hour once a week on Wednesdays
The church today does not see God moving because we have stopped seeking.
God cannot be manipulated to send revival.
It cannot be orchestrated or produced by the flesh.
Revival is not the church deciding to do something.
It is God deciding to do something to his church.
Revival comes at the sovereign, gracious decision of God to send a fresh movement of His Spirit among his people.
Revival is a gracious move of the holy Spirit that brings renewal to the church. That is why I say revival can’t be bought.
You can’t package it, you can’t come up with a formula, you can’t buy it in a kit or the church would have already have it.
Revival can’t be bought, instead must be sought.
Also revival will not come unless it is desired.
It is an invasion from heaven at the request of the saints on earth.
2 Chronicles 7:14
and turn from their wicked ways,
We can pray and pray and pray for revival until we are blue in the face, but until we pray in holiness God will not respond.
How can we expect God to send revival, when we cherish sin in our hearts? The Psalmist says in Psalm 66:18
Psalm 66:18
If I regard iniquity in my heart,
The Lord will not hear.
God promises that he will hear when we humble ourselves and part of humbling yourself is when you get serious about addressing our need for holiness.
We need to feel a burden for our own lack of righteousness.
It is time for us to stop blaming Washington and blaming Hollywood, and start weeping for our own sins.
Why do we get upset when sinners sin? What do we expect them to do?
The problem is not that sinners sin.
The problem is that Christians can’t wait to spend 10 dollars at the movies or turn on their TVs to watch sinners sinning.
Joel 2:12–13
12 “Now, therefore,” says the LORD,
“Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
13 So rend your heart, and not your garments;
Return to the LORD your God,
For He is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm.
That’s what it means to humble ourselves, to feel that burden. But I wonder if we have become too proud to rend our hearts and weep and mourn?
I think many Christians would rather put up the stench of their un-confessed sins than come clean before God.
A lot of people are asking for revival because they think it would be fun. They have never been in a revival.
Long term a revival it is glorious, short term it is painful.
Because if there was a move of the Spirit in the church there would be a conviction of sin like we have never seen before. And Are we sure we want that?
Psalm 34:18
The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.
So the question is this, how can we know that we need revival? What are some signs that the fire is burning low?
Ask yourself if these apply to you.
* Prayer is no longer a vital part of your life. It’s just something you do occasionally.
* You have grown content with your Biblical understanding and you don’t hunger anymore. You have gotten all the knowledge of the Bible that you need.
* The gatherings of God’s people are not eagerly anticipated. You can hear the preacher talk about be here for Worship on Sunday Night and for Bible Class on Wed. night and you know in your heart that you have absolutely no intention of going. It is not even important to you to even THINK about going.
* Spiritual discussions embarrass you. It can be in your house, office, or even in the church foyer. Someone can talk too deep about Jesus and you just want to change the subject.
* Certain sins can be indulged in your life and it won’t bother your conscience. You can easily mouth songs and scriptures and nothing happens in your heart. You can hear God and his standards mocked with no indignation. You can listen to, read and watch morally degrading material in the name of entertainment.
* Divisions and quarrels in the fellowship don’t bother you.
It is more important to be on the winning side.
* Injustice and human misery almost never cross your mind.
Unless you are personally affected.
* The lostness of people without Christ never crosses your mind. You never stop and see all the people in the mall and freeway, the ballgame and think they don’t have Jesus.
* Never think about or sense God’s presence in your life.
What’s for dinner or what’s on TV tonight dominates your thoughts
* That strong desire just to praise the Lord almost never wells up in your heart. In fact your heart doesn’t leap for joy because there is not a song there.
You see revival is promised when we return to God.
2 Chronicles 7:14
then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Every revival in the Scripture contains an intense and intentional turning back to God. And God has said that if you will turn back to him he will light the fire again. He said in
Malachi 3:7
Return to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the LORD of hosts.
James 4:8–10
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
God wants revival more than you do.
Do we need revival?
(All Scripture references are from the NKJV)
Excerpts from www.sermoncentral.com
1. David DeWitt: Revival - Key to Survival
2. Pastor Rick Flowers: “God’s Requirements For Genuine Revival: Humility"
3. Raymond Perkins Revival: - Humble Ourselves
4. Raymond Perkins Revival: Revive Us Again
5. Raymond Perkins Revival - Pray and Seek His Face
