“Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest” Luke 10:2
As we have been discussing, at our little church we recently did that thing we call, “Revival.” We do it every year; one year when the Holy Spirit seized us mightily, we did it TWICE in on year! We usually do it for 5 nights, but that year we did it twice, we only had it 3 nights on the second go around. I guess the Spirit was on a sabbatical or something. I’m not being sarcastic; really I promise I am not!
Of course, I am. We have, historically, “had Revival.” Meaning we have met for 3-5 days, heard a guy preach and exhort, then gone back to doing what we do. To my knowledge, we have never had a revival, in the sense that long-term change was produced among us. That is sad but is simply the truth.
I think some would like to see a change; I think quite a few actually would like to see a renewed working of the Holy Spirit so that we would see real change in our assembly, our families and our communities. Our pastor certainly wants to see this, and a few of the more steadfast among the body is willing to jump in with him. So, he made a real commitment this year to do more than just “having Revival.” He laid some groundwork, along with the preacher who was to be our Revival Speaker, to help us prepare our hearts and minds for this in advance.
One of the first things had to do with me personally. The Pastor came to me about 3 weeks out and asked me to bring the message on Wednesday night two weeks out from Revival. Using the word he used was unusual. Normally, if he won’t be there, he says something like “give a devotional.” Oh, that’s the other thing; he was NOT going to be absent. He was going to be there just like normal on a Wednesday night. Then, he said something like this, “You can talk about whatever you want; Revival would be good, but whatever you want.” He said he would open things up as normal, then turn it over to me for what he termed “A Message from the Pews.”
This is a strange occurrence. The truth is, preachers, love to preach and rarely give up the chance to preach. Also, ours only has a fill in when he will be absent. Normally, one of our Deacons fills in that case. I finally got it in my head what was going on. I had been pestering him about Revival forever, and why we never seem to change afterward. I think he just got tired of me yacking at him and figured I could just tell everybody! I seriously think that, as he tires sometimes of saying the same things to the same crew with nothing changing that a different voice would maybe help.
So, we hatched a plan and waited. I had to let a couple of people in on it; my wife and a friend knew because I picked them to sing a special song for us(that was almost insanity for us on a Wednesday night, because we NEVER have special music on Wednesday night!) They sang the song, “My House is Full, But my Field is Empty,” which would later become part of the evening message. Also, normally on Wednesday, it’s jeans and boots for me. When I showed up in slacks and a collared shirt, some seemed to wonder what was up.
At any rate, everything went off fine and dandy. God’s like that isn’t He? Here are the points I covered for this message, and over the next few days, I will break them down a bit.
May 26, 2018 at 08:13
I feel since I have been born again I know that I hit “dry spells” once in a great while. When I am reminded by The Good Lord that I have had the privilege of being Born Again-just that thought that the Lord reminds me of lovingly REVIVES ME AND REFRESHES ME! As time goes on my dry spells are becoming less and definatly more shorter-ALL GLORY TO GOD!
Are you ready to preach full time 😀 GLORY TO GOD FOR LETTING YOU DO THIS!!!
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May 26, 2018 at 08:34
No…not me full time, Elizabeth. God has not called me to that. Just an as needed basis, I suppose. Which is cool by me. I love what you said about Him reviving and refreshing. Very nice and thanks
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May 26, 2018 at 08:42
I am sure GOD used you in the moment, Wally!!! Glad you had a chance to do that!
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May 26, 2018 at 09:21
We call our yearly event, “Freedom Crusade.”
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May 26, 2018 at 12:49
I like that. How does it usually go for ya’ll?
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May 26, 2018 at 21:49
It’s called Freedom Crusade because we hold it every year around 4th of July. It is an awesome time where people want to be in tune with the Holy Spirit. However, it is a lot like your church. After it is over, many people seem to go back to their old comfortable ways.
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May 27, 2018 at 05:15
Ah…sad isn’t it?
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May 26, 2018 at 09:45
Amen, Wally! I remember what a fellow preacher once said, “Let your complaint become your job description!”
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May 26, 2018 at 12:50
Smart preacher. Mine must have talked to that guy, as he has done that to me before. LOL
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May 26, 2018 at 14:45
don’t you hate it when we preachers act like real preachers! lol
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May 26, 2018 at 15:39
Well pastor Randy, to be serious for a moment. Mine will do that with me because he know I will respond and just do it. He can’t expect that from a lot of people, because most everybody want the preacher to solve everything for them. I am by nature a problem solver, so it doesnt hurt my feelings when he tells me if something seems needful to get busy.
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May 29, 2018 at 06:02
sounds like a great leader–empowering people to be the body of Christ!
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May 26, 2018 at 10:21
Amen, Wally! So glad you got to do some preaching. We all have a ministry, we’re all preachers of a sort. We are the church, us Christians, where ever we go whatever we do. I like what you said about it’s time to “go.” Jesus tells everyone, from the man freed of demons to the women at the tomb, “now go and tell the others.” That’s the second message of the gospel, right after the good news, now go and tell the world.
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May 26, 2018 at 12:52
It was quite exhilarating, IB! Yes, yes, yes. We are all supposed to tell it. Not so much a fan of just letting one’s life try to tell it. I mean, that matters, but words help a lot!
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May 26, 2018 at 13:19
LOL! Who’s that guy who said, “always preach the gospel. Use words when necessary.” Love that! I’m all about the words too, so it’s always a good reminder for me. 🙂
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May 26, 2018 at 13:35
A much needed topic, Wally, for all of us. Looking forward to the posts.
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May 26, 2018 at 15:40
I hope it will be useful, Tom. I have so much to say about the 10 days we really went at it.
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May 27, 2018 at 02:38
Way to go Wally! 🙋🙏🏻
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May 27, 2018 at 05:16
Thanks, Lana
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May 27, 2018 at 11:56
Well, here I am with some more of my questions…!
I’m trying to think this through, and here are some of the questions that occur to me:
1. What is the *change* that you are expecting to see from a revival? And how will you know whether that has occured? What is your measure of success? I guess what I’m asking is, can you define what specific results a successful revival should produce?
2. Can you give me the scriptural basis for “having revival”? Because to be honest with you, I can’t think of any instances of revival where the people brought it about through their own efforts. In every single instance that I can think of, *it is the Lord who acts first*. I’m not really sure that revival is something we can manufacture. The Spirit works when and where He wills, entirely apart from man.
I don’t know, Wally. I’m still on the fence with this one. I still question a lot of the assumptions surrounding the concept of revival itself and the way it is “practised’ within the church.
But honestly, I lean towards it being a “tradition of man”. Which is kind of ironic when you think about it!
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May 27, 2018 at 12:28
Anita. Gospel preaching churches, in large part, are dead or dying. We need to wake up. I am not sure that the need for renewal is even a question.
1. What change? Church growth, souls saved, outreach to the community. Those are measurable.
2. Our efforts certainly don’t produce revival. The working of the Holy Spirit does. On the other hand, if we make no effort, God will certainly allow nothing to happen.
And call it what you want, but I would say there is more than enough scriptural basis for folks meeting together daily, praying, teaching and exhorting. No matter the name, or the intention….that’s a good thing.
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May 27, 2018 at 19:27
@anitvan
I think it is fairly clear that there is a scriptural basis for revival. I also think Wally is doing the right thing. Revivals are produced when the word of God is preached. When Jonah went to Nineveh, obeying God, God blessed Jonah’s preaching with a revival. What was funny about that is that Jonah did not want a revival. Jonah hated the Assyrians.
What is perhaps was the most striking instance of a revival? During the reign of King Josiah of Judah, Hilkiah the high priest discovered the Book of the Law in the temple. The Book of the Law had been lost in the temple.The reading of the the Book of the Law sparked a revival.
What is the problem with revivals? They are difficult to sustain. We loose enthusiasm for spreading God’s Word and sharing the glory of God and His Word in fellowship. It is too easy for us to forget to teach our children all we can about God’s Word.
Only God has a solution for our inability to maintain enthusiasm. Revival seems to be part of it. I suppose prayer is very important too. I suppose the fear of being judged helps too. We need to remember just how sinful we are, just how badly we need a Savior.
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May 28, 2018 at 02:08
Here is something Anita brought up that kind of speaks to the nature of the problem, “The Spirit works when and where He wills, entirely apart from man.” I think that’s a real stumbling block within many churches right now.
I lack the ability to explain it properly but the Spirit does not work “entirely apart from man.” The Spirit is within us, given to us, and we are not apart from God at all. Now of course God is all powerful, He could do whatever He wanted without our participation at all, but I think He really desires it. We tend to keep God at arms length, not really believing His Spirit is within us, or clinging to tradition, or whatever it is we do to quench Him, to prevent His presence in our lives. Then we wind up kind of lifeless, praying for revival.
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May 28, 2018 at 04:28
Well, I y am with you on this IB. We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit at salvation, and get all of Him. Yet we can still fail to be filled daily by Him. Hard to explain, right? Yet Scripture teaches clearly that we can both grieve and quench the Holy Spirit; when that happens, His work will not go full on. Even Jesus opted not to perform works among those who did not have faith. As I mentioned to Anita, if we sit around and do nothing, God will allow that nothing to happen.
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