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 cultural and 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 brings 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 entire communities 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 some twenty years ago that I was privileged to preach at the First Baptist Church in Oxford, Mississippi. The pastor at that time, Tom Atwood, had previously served in the ministry of evangelism for several years while living in Kentucky. 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 the above 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 and carnal condition."

"Sadly, I have to agree," replied Bro. Tom. Then bowing and shaking his head, he said, "And I don't know what to do."

It has amazed me over the years how many churches never utilize a revival campaign to ignite new passion and fire within the hearts of their people. And since the COVID year, churches that used to schedule such meetings have simply refused to do so. It has also amazed me how most churches refuse to invite those who have been called into the ministry of evangelism to exercise their spiritual gifts in those churches and communities. 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 giftedness concerning 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 church members are extremely busy people with very demanding schedules. I hate to admit it, but 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 the elimination of Sunday evening services has all but solidified itself as the norm in most churches today. After all, we reason, families rush about with school and sports activities while trying to maintain their dual income work obligations, keeping them stressed out and moving all over the place. Statistics say the one place that should be precious to a family, home, is more of a place to occasionally visit when totally exhausted! So, our caring and compassionate church leaders have decided to help these families out by asking less and less of their time, focus, and energy when it comes to experiencing the presence of God. Amen? Or, oh my?

I know that 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 and tragically 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