Revival, God Let It Start With Me. Acts 8:1-8
I love to look back at church history. I especially love reading about those Great Revivals, where entire cities were turned upside down in the Name of Jesus!
Some 200+ years ago a preacher named Charles Finney conducted Revivals in the North Eastern part of the US. These were large crusades during a time of revival in the US. On one occasion in Rochester, NY, over 100,000 came to Christ…the entire city was set on fire for God!
Then there was the great Welsh Revival at the turn of the 20th C. It all started in a small room where the teens were meeting in a small church. Spiritual fire fell on a youth meeting and historians say that it could only be compared to the day of Pentecost! The young people were weeping and crying out to God to make a difference in their lives so they could make a difference in the world. Their fire spread to the adults who carried it throughout their city, and eventually throughout the country of Wales…and the ripple effect was felt around the world!
The Bible records the revival that happened in the city of Nineveh.
At first Jonah was reluctant but eventually went and preached a message of judgment and the Bible says the entire city repented, beginning with the king right down to the least of the people!
We have a similar thing happening here in Acts chapter 8. The man, Philip, went to preach in the region of Samaria, and the entire city saw a great revival.
Now I don’t know about you but I believe this county needs that kind of revival.
We need a revival that will set all of Florence County on fire for God!
I’m not talking about one of these temporary, make-believe revivals where the only thing that gets touched are the sensations of a handful of emotion filled people.
I’m talking about a revival where Christians genuinely get right with God, where lost people get saved in great numbers, where marriages are restored, alcoholics and drug addicts are delivered, where rebellious teens are brought to their knees, where liars become truthful, thieves are made honest, prostitutes are made pure and adulterers are made faithful!
I’m talking about an old-fashioned, soul-saving, sin-erasing, devil-chasing revival! That’s what I want to see!
Would you like to see that in Florence? A revival where the liquor stores would have to close for lack of business. A revival that causes the night clubs and the drug dealers have to move elsewhere!
That kind of revival happened in the days of Billy Sunday as many were saved. Not all were saved, but all were affected!
Acts chapter 8 should make us hungry for revival in our own hometown!
Let me show you 3 things in these verses about this kind of revival:
1. The Man, One Man One Spark: Philip
If we look back to Chapter 6 we see that Philip is one of the original 7 deacons.
By the time we get to chapter 8 he’s an effective evangelist and just like Stephen, Philip is NOT an Apostle nor is he the pastor of any church!
Did you know that it only takes 1 person to start the revival fires burning!
If you are willing to pay the price and if you are hungry for God to do something awesome, God can bring revival to an entire city through you!
It only takes a single and tiny spark to start a roaring blaze!
In the 1800s Gypsy Smith, a great revivalist was asked how to have revival. He said, “Go home, lock yourself in your room, draw a circle around yourself with chalk, and ask God to start a great revival within that circle!
When God has answered your prayer the revival will be underway!”
According to historian Thomas Rayner, the Welsh Revival started with the testimony meeting in a youth group. We are told that one little girl who was so nervous she could barely speak, stood up and shared one sentence: “O, I do love Jesus” and that’s when it all started, God gripped hearts and the rest is history!
It was just a little spark, but that tiny Flame grew into a wildfire of revival!
Let me ask you something. Do you believe this kind of revival can happen today?
IF God is no respecter of persons and IF He’s the same yesterday, today, forever, and I for one believe that He is then I must believe that kind of revival can still happen today!
Another great revival started in England, but spread to Scotland and Ireland under D.L. Moody. Here’s how it started, according to Moody’s son, who wrote his biography:
While on vacation, Moody was preaching for a pastor named Lessey in London on a Sunday morning. He was to be there that night as well but the morning service was so cold, dry, and dead, and the people were so unresponsive, he dreaded going back that night!
But when he got there that night, the place was packed. There were more people in the evening service than the morning service and the spirit was electric. All those present were excited as Moody preached. When he had finished, he gave the invitation saying, “stand if you want to become a Christian,” and dozens stood!
He thought they might have misunderstood, asked them to sit back down…said, “If you’re really serious, then meet with me in the “inquiry room” after the service.” Literally dozens showed up and many lined up out in the hallway!
Moody said the power of God was so strong he stayed for 10 more days and over 400 people got saved in that period!
Now Moody knew that kind of revival only happens in response to prayer, so he did a little investigating and found out that behind the scenes, something had been going on. An elderly woman who had been there for the morning service went home to her invalid sister, and told her about Moody being there. Her eyes lit up! You see, she had been praying that God would send Moody to England. “Put lunch away.” She said to her sister “we’ll spend the rest of the afternoon in prayer and fasting.” And they did.
How did these revival fires start? 2 old ladies, 1 bed-ridden, said, we don’t need more organization or activities, we need the power of God to fall on this place…let’s put away lunch!...and they paid the price in prayer!
That’s what we need here at Elim Bible! Some have made the remark that it looks like we’re giving up. Is that true? Have you given up on EBC? Do you want to see revival come to this place and to our county? Then instead of looking for a reason to stay home…instead of looking for a reason to go somewhere else; draw that circle around yourself and PRAY for God to begin revival within that circle!
I don’t mean go home and have some quick family prayer. I can’t do it for Suzanne any more than she can do it for me. You can’t do it for your family. It will only happen when each of us seeks God on an individual basis!
Are we through? Is it time to call it quits? I’m drawing a circle around ME right now and asking God to start revival inside MY circle because I’m not ready to quit! Ladies and gentlemen if we don’t begin seeking God…at the rate we’re going we won’t see 2016, as a group. If it’s time for a new pastor then let God say so…!
Because the truth is that not only can revival START with just one, it can be held back by just 1 as well!
F.B. Meyer talks about an unsuccessful revival meeting that drug on night after night with no results. A Deacon came forward to say he knew why. It seems that he had a grudge against another deacon, and they hadn’t spoken in months. The very reason for the lack of revival was because there was bad blood in that place. Meyer got the 2 together and led them in burying the hatchet. They made it public and revival broke out right then and there!
Don’t be the 1 that keeps revival from showing up here just because you refuse to make something right. Don’t lock us down because you refuse to give up that bitterness, forgive as much as you’ve been forgiven. You may need to settle for less than “YOUR WAY”!
Don’t be the 1 weak link that keeps it from happening at EBC and in Florence because you refuse to repent of that immoral relationship, that bad habit, that petty sin!
Revival broke out in Samaria in Acts chapter 8 when one man, Philip, decided he wanted to be used by God.
2. The Message. Look at verse 5b.
That’s the kind of revival preaching we need…preach Christ!
Preaching social reform won’t bring revival…nor will a bunch of feel good sermons!
Educational sermons are nice and helpful but if the heart hasn’t been changed, it doesn’t matter what effect you’ve had on the mind! Educate a thief and all you end up with is a smarter thief…now instead of petty theft he knows how to embezzle from the company!
My prayer is that we at EBC remain committed to preaching Jesus Christ!
His virgin birth, His perfect life, His sacrificial death, His bodily resurrection…and all His teachings in-between.
Including all He had to say about sin, death, hell, judgment, as well as love, salvation, repentance and forgiveness!
May we always preach Jesus, and what He said to Satan in the hour of temptation in the wilderness, as well as what he said to the disciples arguing about who was the greatest!
May we preach Jesus without apology, including all He said about money, both that which we give and that which we keep! May we preach over and over again the most powerful sermon the universe has ever seen or heard! It was 6 hours long and preached from the top of a hill called Golgotha one Friday!
That’s the only kind of preaching that saves souls, changes lives and brings repentance! Revival isn’t brought because the Pastor is good looking or his jokes are funny! Boy I thank God that’s not what it’s about!
Pastor Shirley says that “Philip preached Christ, not the namby-pamby, wishy-washy, panty waste dribble that is so gently brush-stroked to itching ears so commonly this hour all across the city!
No wonder revival is nowhere in sight! Let’s covenant together to be that place that God uses to start the needed fire!”
Daniel Webster was a great politician, orator and scholar. When he lived in Washington D.C., he attended a small country church faithfully. One day his niece came to him and said, “Uncle Daniel, why do you go to that little church? There’s many large, fashionable churches in the city where you can hear a much better delivery!”
He replied, “Young lady, in the fancy churches, they preach to Daniel Webster the Statesman…but in my church, they preach to Daniel Webster the Sinner, and they tell me about Jesus!”
Thank God Webster knew the difference between oratory [eloquent speaking] and real preaching!
Let me read a discourse written by anonymous
Noah’s message from the steps going up to the Ark was not, "Something good is going to happen to you!"
Amos was not confronted by the high priest of Israel for proclaiming, "Confession is possession!"
Jeremiah was not put into the pit for preaching, "I’m O.K., you’re O.K.!"
Daniel was not put into the lion’s den for telling people, "Positive thinking will move mountains!"
John the Baptist was not forced to preach in the wilderness and eventually beheaded because he preached, "Smile, God loves you!"
The two prophets of the tribulation will not be killed for preaching, "God is in his
heaven and all is right with the world!"
Instead, what was the message of all these men of God?
A simple, one word message: "Repent!"
Here’s some quotes from some famous preachers who’ve actually seen city-wide revival:
W.A. Criswell, when asked what’s the secret to church growth and revival said: “preach the Word, brothers, and God will give the increase!”
Spurgeon once said “I have no other secret than this: I have preached the gospel…not about the gospel, but I have preached the gospel, the full, free, glorious gospel of the living Christ…preach Christ, brethren, always and everywhere, preach Christ!”
Verse 5 tells us that Philip is the man who preached and Christ was his message.
3. The Miracles: Look at verses 6-8.
The word “miracles” in v. 6 could be translated “signs.” God allowed Philip to work miracles as a sign, to confirm that what he was saying was true. They didn’t have the NT yet like we have, and God put His stamp of approval on Philip’s message thru these signs. God proved Himself thru signs and wonders.
Here’s the point: Some awesome things happened in those days when God moved with power. Some may ask, why doesn’t God still perform these awesome outward demonstrations? Because, those were minor compared to His greatest miracle.
We need to look further to the greatest miracle of chapter 8.
Verse 12 tells us that they believed-got saved! And they followed the Lord in baptism and beyond!
Thank God that He still chooses to heal and perform other miracles. But we need to realize that EVERY sick person Jesus ever healed, eventually died!
Physical healings are great and glorious, but they are TEMPORARY…the miracle of salvation: now that’s FOREVER!
Jesus said, one drink of living water and you’ll never thirst again.
We need to pray for revival at EBC, and that it would spread to our city and our world!
Where do we begin? Draw that circle around yourself and start praying for God to send revival to your circle.
I need to stop asking God to do something great in EBC and ask Him to start doing something great in me! Once He does then Begin asking for the great things in EBC.
