Where's the Desire for Revival?

 

"So continuing DAILY with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread
from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity
of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord
added to the church DAILY those who were being saved."
Acts 2:46-47

I have been re-reading several classic books on the subject of revival over the summer, as well as some that have been recently published concerning this very important issue regarding the people of God.  Any committed and compassionate follower of Christ realizes that the current political climate, along with the hateful rhetoric of unbelievers toward anyone with a conservative viewpoint, is a sign of God's judgments being fulfilled. I believe that if we do not experience a Heaven-sent revival among the body of Christ, we are only beginning to see the tip of the iceberg of what awaits us in the days, months and years to come, as vile and vicious God-haters strengthen their grip on our nation. Church history, however, reveals that when God moves in mighty power among His people in revival, it culminates in an incredible awakening that ushers multitudes into His kingdom. The result is a dramatic change in the spiritual and moral condition of a people, and the intensifying judgment of God is postponed as multitudes begin to seek Him and His saving grace.

The Book of Acts is looked upon as the pinnacle of truth concerning the experience of revival and awakening in and through the body of Christ. No blood washed believer should be able to read this book without a tear in their eye, a longing in their heart, and a cry in their voice that says, "Do it again, Lord, do it again!" The breathtaking testimony of what God was doing begins to avalanche on the great Day of Pentecost. Thousands were brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and they quickly identified with His death, burial, and resurrection through their obedience of baptism. As God worked, the city of Jerusalem was shaken with His presence. These new believers had such an appetite for God's word and a longing for His presence, that the Bible says they gathered DAILY to worship and fellowship with one another. The testimony also reveals that as the body of Christ was filled with His Spirit, God was awakening and saving men and women on a DAILY basis. Wow! What an awesome revelation of God working in an incredible way! Praise His Name!

It was about twenty years ago that I was privileged to preach at a First Baptist Church in one our most notable towns in north Mississippi. The pastor had previously served in the ministry of evangelism for several years while living in another state. He and his wife were so gracious in their inviting Tammy to join me for this special Sunday evangelistic event. As they treated us to lunch, he shared a deep burden on his heart. "Charles," he said, "please give me your opinion on a matter. I have shared many testimonies of my experiences as an evangelist and have dropped occasional hints that we should set aside a special time to seek the Lord in an old-fashioned revival meeting. Whenever I approach this subject, however, many of my key leaders voice their opposition to such an idea. 'Bro. Tom,' they say, 'we love you, but please don't ask us to come to church several nights in a row. We are an extremely busy people, and we just don't have time today for those kinds of services that were so prominent just a few years ago.' What do you think, Bro. Charles?"

I immediately opened my Bible and read these verses from the Book of Acts. "Pastor, here's what I believe: The early church so longed to encounter the presence of God corporately, that they could not endure a twenty-four-hour period without assembling together. They desired to worship Christ and to share a witness of His love and grace with those who might join them in this special season of divine blessing. And their desire was to experience this TOGETHER!" I believe the key word is desire. This is something that they wanted to do; they were not forced to gather daily. i know that coming together every day to fulfill an obligation of attendance is not going to mature someone to become a super-saint. However, when church members display their desire to AVOID coming together on a DAILY basis, even if for a brief period of time, that shows a very real and deep problem of their own spiritually immature condition.

It has amazed me over the years how many churches never utilize those who have been called into the ministry of evangelism. Some choose to neglect this gift because of an unfortunate experience in the past with someone who was not a man after God's own heart. Others, however, simply do not consider using those with special gifts of revival and evangelism because they believe less is more. In other words, those events placed on the calendars of the past will not be considered today, because our folks are very busy people with very demanding schedules. I believe that we as church leaders have simply coddled to the demands of mostly carnal members. Not only do we not dare suggest some type of revival campaign, but now the trend is to eliminate Sunday evening services as well. After all, families today rush to and fro from school and work to fulfill important obligations all over the community, so let's help them out by asking less and less of their time, focus, and energy when it comes to the things of God. Amen? Or, oh my?

We cannot force the Spirit of God to work, and putting an event on the church calendar does not guarantee His presence and power. However, if the heart of our churches does not look something like the heart of the church revealed in the Book of Acts, longing to be together in order to experience Him, something is terribly wrong. And the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart.

"Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him;
And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."
Isaiah 55:6-7