The Greatest Need in our Land today is a Heaven-sent Revival! Not a Man-made, or a program-generated revival, but a Revival straight from the throne-room of God on High! Man can’t produce it. Never has there been a preacher who could preach it up. Never has there been a choir, or a quartet that could sing it up. If it is a real revival, it will be because sovereign God has intervened in people’s lives. Church services will take on a new face. It will not
be services as usual. It will not be as Dr. Vance Havner has said, “Start church at 10:00 sharp and end 12:00 dull.” A real revival is not built on emotions and sentimental thoughts of yesteryear. It is not eyes full of tears. That can be done by the flesh. It is not shouting. That can be done by the flesh, too. It is not large crowds. A circus can attract crowds. It is not folks getting saved. God graciously saves by grace, even when churches are not in a state of revival. The word “revival” literally means to “live again”. It is God’s people coming alive again to
their responsibilities toward God. It is returning to a life of obedience.
Let’s look at a Bible passage that is used often in reference to a spiritual
awakening. It has been called the recipe for revival. It is 2Chronicles 7:14. I want us to look at that verse, but also look at it in the context of the surrounding passages of which it is written. It is important to remember that Solomon had dedicated the new temple, Solomon’s temple. King Solomon gave a prayer of dedication in 2Chronicles 6:12-42. The prayer had nothing to do with the temple, as it had everything to do with the people of God who would come to pray and worship in the temple. Solomon knew that the God of Israel could not be contained within the confines of the temple. (See 6:18) Solomon also knew that God was interested in residing in the hearts of His people. (See 6:30, 31)
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. (ICor.6:9,20) “What? know ye not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your
body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
I. HOW WILL WE KNOW WHEN REVIVAL COMES TO A CHURCH?
1. You will see the FIRE FALL. (2Chronicles 7:1)
When Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven. The sacrifices were consumed. It is Holy fire. God’s Fire falling upon us. We are to present our bodies as living sacrifices,holy and acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service. (Romans 12:1) When God, through the Holy Spirit
descends upon us with an outpouring of God’s grace. On the day of Pentecost fire was seen not on animal sacrifices in the temple, but upon the believers.
(tongues of fire) It is something only God can do. Isn’t that what we need?
Aren’t we tired of dead religion? Dead praying? Dead preaching and dead teaching and dead singing? Aren’t we tired of trying to make an impression? Aren’t we tired of trying to be religious? Aren’t we tired of trying to be good Baptist folks? Aren’t we tired of cold church services? Where’s the Fire?
When you walk for miles in the snow and ice, and you come to the house, and all you have is a fictitious fireplace. There’s no fire. All you can see is an artist’s rendering of a fireplace. It’s not real. We need real Holy Ghost Fire! We can’t survive on cheap substitutes. When Revival comes there’s the Fire of God. It consumes the sacrifices and burnt offerings. We are the sacrifice. We are being consumed by God’s fire, God’s anointing. We are the light of the world pointing others to Jesus Christ. Jesus said we are to let our light shine. Without God’s fire we won’t do much shining for Jesus.
You will know that Revival has come to church when you see the Fire Fall,and...
2. You will witness the GLORY OF THE LORD. (2Chronicles 7:1,2)
“...and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priest could not enter into the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.”
God’s glory was so manifested that the priest could not do their priestly services in the temple. When revival truly breaks out, and God’s glory is manifested the focus will not be on men and women in the ministry. The center of attention will be Jesus. Eyes will not be on the preacher. Folks won’t be concerned about the color of your shirt, blouse, the color of your tie, or even the color of your skin. It is truly amazing to me how much attention we have on one another. A man last week came to the prison (where I work) he came with a black shoe and a brown
shoe. He got up and did not think about what he was doing, and came to work with shoes with different colors. He was the center of conversation by others.
He did have a good sense of humor about it. When the Glory of God invades a church house....no longer are folks concern about the trivia matters. I was
reading about the explosive growth of the churches in Cuba this week. The government is extremely hostile toward Christians, but God is moving among the
Christians and they are working together even among different denominations. Doctrine is important. Sound teaching is a must, but there are little matters that
we allow to separate and hinder God’s work. When the Glory of God is in the church house, there is freedom to worship. You can sing Southern Gospel and you can sing Contemporary Gospel. You can preach from KJV and NASB. You can wear a 3 piece suit, or you can where cowboy boots and ride a horse, or buggy to church if you like.
You will know that Revival has come to church when you see the Fire Fall, the glory of the Lord, and
3. You will see worship taking place. (2Chronicles 7:3,6)
It will not be a form to follow. Two songs, a few announcements, a prayer, a sermon,and then the benediction....Man-made structure will go out the window. We don’t read of Solomon having a structured program to follow, the worship was spontaneous. Solomon did not say, “let’s all bow down before the Lord..” It just happened. Solomon did not say, let’s pray now, let’s look up now, let’s sing now, let’s hear from so and so now, let’s get up now.....Certainly, there is nothing wrong with worship leaders......but when revival comes...you don’t need
motivation to get you in the mood for worship. You come ready to pray, ready to sing, ready to hear, ready to worship, ready to praise the Lord.
4. You will see giving picking up. 2Chronicles 7:4-5
One word that you see often in the remainder of the chapter is “offering”. King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen, and an 120,000 sheep. There was a spirit of giving. It is not pushed on people, it is done freely and in an act of worship.
5. You will see attendance picking up. (2Chronicles 7:8-9)
The bible says there was a “very great assembly, or congregation”. When the fire fell, and the glory of the Lord was in the temple, it attracted a huge crowd.
John 12:32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” This verse speaks of the Lord’s death on the cross. When God sends revival, the
Holy Spirit will convict the lost and point them to Jesus. Places where there is real revival, the church is growing. A large crowd does not necessarily mean there’s revival going on, but revival will lead to a growth in numbers. I don’t believe in getting a large crowd just for the sake of a large crowd, but I do believe we should lift up the name of Jesus, and seek God for revival in our church so that the hungry soul will find a place to come to experience God.
II. How will we experience a real revival? (2Chronicles 7:14)
1. Prayer v.1,14 “after the prayer, then came the fire”
Solomon finished his praying and then the fire of God fell upon the place. We can not escape the responsibility of prayer. The early church saw God move in miraculous ways after spending time in prayer. It is not a matter of if God will move in our day, it is a matter of if God’s people will humble themselves and pray. If we will pray, God will do what only He will do. God has promised to move in reponse to prayer, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jer.33:3) We are limited, but prayer taps
the unlimited power of almighty God!
Jack Taylor writes of the possibility of prayer.
“Limitation is written over all that man is doing and all that he has done. We are whales in machinery but minnows in morality. Man may seem better off but he is
not better! We have unlimited media of communication but seemingly nothing profitable to say. We are witnesses to the failure of success! It should be
remembered that God passed by the Roman machinery and the religious hierarchy of 2,000 years ago to bring about the simple happenings in a nameless stable in an unimportant town in the Middle East. All of this was perpetrated by a number of prayer meetings!” (Prayer: Life’s Limitless Reach, by Jack Taylor. p.16)
2. Prayer coupled with humility.
There was nothing magical about Solomon’s prayer. His faith was not in his prayer, but in God. As we pray we must come humbly expressing our dependence upon God. God gives grace unto the humble according to IPeter 5:5.
In James 4:6 it says God gives grace unto the humble. Again in James 4:10 “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he whall lift you up.” Americans
are known by foreigner so often as arrogant people. God’s people are guilty of spiritual pride, or denominational pride. We must pray with sincere humility.
3. Prayer coupled with seeking God’s face.
To seek God’s face means to abandon all self-seeking. We are not to pray with the intentions of getting God on our team. It is not for the purpose of getting God
to see our face, but that we may behold his face. We will not literally see the face of God this side of heaven, but we can experience his face just the same. Have you ever been in a crowd and you could see a very important person, maybe a celebrity in the crowd? The famous person had his back to you. Everything changed, however, when you met face to face. It is a different experience.
God’s face means He is looking upon you. He is seeing you. He is hearing you. He has your attention. To have God’s face I believe we are in the position to see God answer our prayers.
4. Prayer coupled with repentance.
Sin blocks our prayers. We must come with repentance. Turn from their wicked ways. It is not enough to admit you are doing wicked things. We must turn away
from that which is dishonoring to God. Some folks think we can have revival, without changing our behavior. Christians are going to have to stop their cussing. Christians are going to have to stop their gossipping, their complaining, and their love affair with worldly things. Many of us are as the Bible says, “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” 2Tim.3:4 We have folks who believe it doesn’t matter what kind of character you have. Before there is real revival, there will have to be some real repenting. There must be some garbage hauled off to the dump. God won’t bless dirty hearts.
III. What are the fruits of revival?
(2Chronicles 7:14)
1. God will hear us. “I will hear from heaven”
When the conditions are met, then God will hear from heaven. God has not lost his hearing. He still answers prayer. The problem is that we have not met the conditions. What a blessed thought of God hearing from heaven. There is a church that has received international attention because of its growth. It is a
church in Seoul, Korea. I believe it numbers about 700,000 in membership. How would you feel if God so moved in our church that we were literally known all
around the world? Better than that, how about if we had the attention of the throne-room of Heaven in the presence of holy God? Sure God knows all those
who are His. But God can be known in more intimate and powerful ways when we meet the conditions.
2. God will forgive us. When revival comes, we will be more sensitive to sin in our lives. We will also be more conscious of God’s forgiveness. We will see more folks come to Christ to experience the overflowing of God’s forgiveness. There will be an atmosphere of forgiveness, rather than condemning, and fault-finding. People will be forgiving toward one another. The power of forgiveness will just explode and saturate the whole church.
3. God will heal us. With the power of God’s forgiveness comes healing. God will heal our land. God will hear our broken homes. God will heal our
sin-infested communities. God will heal our churches. God will hear our marriages. God will heal the brokenhearted. God will heal the sin-sick soul by
saving them by His Amazing Grace. When Revival comes to a church it doesn’t stop there. It goes home with folks. It goes with them to the schools, and to the
factories, and to the offices and business. The greatest need in our Land is for a Heaven-sent Revival.
May God help us to earnestly pray, seeking God’s face for revival.
Pastor Chris Gowen angelsG@peoplepc.com
church website http://swancreek.faithsite.com
