Sermon Illustrations

RADICAL REVIVAL

Dr. J. Edwin Orr states, "I am convinced that more work for God could be done in six months of revival than in sixty years of any other kind of effort." If we as a church begin doing the work we are appointed with a touch of the radical, we will see more done in six months of revival than in sixty years of any of our painstaking effort! We must ensure our methods are practical, and the most practical method is that of the Evangelist; God has always used evangelists, that is, men who are especially anointed and dedicated leaders in great revivals.

John R. Rice says, "God had an Elijah for Mount Carmel. He had a Jonah for Nineveh. The Lord Jesus Himself was the evangelist at Sychar in Samaria." Evangelists are not only called to give a gospel message to the unsaved, but, according to the Scripture they are "for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, in order to see the increase, and edification of the church" (Eph. 4:12-16).

Let’s get back to that method that has been time honored and tested, and see cities stirred once more with the message of the practicality and simplicity of the gospel. The message of the Evangelist should be a clear, relevant, and applicable message. True evangelistic preaching will always be targeted toward application, so the goal of evangelism is to transform people, not to merely inform them.

(From a sermon by Greg Hocking, "It’s radical methods tthat catch fish" 2/10/2009)

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