Revival...biblical Style Series

REVIVAL … Many parts of this message comes from a sermon by Leonard Ravenhill.

INTRO...WHAT IS REVIVAL? My dictionary defines it as a restoration to life of consciousness, vigor, and strength.

And REVIVAL is our topic today...a BIBLICAL REVIVAL that recovers, repairs, and restores us Spiritually. PRAY!

The prophet Hosea tells us in HOSEA 10:12-14... "12 Sow to yourself in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord till He come and reign righteousness upon you. 13 Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. 14 Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled..." (KJB)

We in America are so sinful...we have plowed wickedness, we have reaped iniquity, we have eaten the fruit of lies...we have turned from God...we have trusted in our own path...in our own way.

Today I tell you we are entering the final battle...the end is upon us...unless we turn back to God's will, God's path, God's way...and break up our FALLOW GROUND...we will not be ready for what is to come.

God right now is calling all SAINTS to arm themselves with the FIRE and POWER of the HOLY GHOST!

So what does the Prophet Hosea mean when he speaks of... “FALLOW GROUND”?

All who have farmed understand the term fallow ground...it means ground that has been once fruitful but now has been plowed under...no seed has been sown in it...it is unproductive...so like us today.

But notice in HOSEA 10:12 there is a human emphasis...it says... “break up “YOUR” fallow ground”.

In other words...the prophet is directly speaking individually to us concerning our spirituality.

Now let's take another look at this fallow ground that Micah speaks to but this time through King David and the Psalms...PSALM 85:6 says... "Would Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee."

King David is asking God's help to break up his fallow ground...to revive it...revitalize it.

See...if our lives spiritually are like FALLOW GROUND...if we have become spiritually unproductive then we will experience an absence of joy, an absence of vitality, and absence of ecstasy.

It means we are walking our path alone...without the Holy Ghost guidance.

Yet the word "REVIVAL" assumes that a Spiritually fruitful life did once exist because you can only revive that which has already had vitality but has become sick and weak and apathetic.

But understand...many today do not think they are in that state...and yet they are.

God has laid a vision on my heart...Paul said "this one thing I do" and that was “to sell out to God's will”.

In our world today Islamic fanatics have done that to Allah...the war is on...and we as God's Saints need to sell out to GOD'S WILL right now or we will lose the battle...we need to revive our fallow ground.

I truly believe that the final battle is on...Satan's forces are mounting...and God's forces need to awaken!

In the ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 3:19 we read... "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of REFRESHING shall come from the presence of the Lord."

Whatever else we say about revival we have to recognize this...REVIVAL is an ACT OF MERCY from GOD.

And that Godly act of mercy is grounded in the SOVEREIGNTY OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD ALONE.

Yet there is a vast difference between revival and what we today call EVANGELISM.

We hear that word evangelism or evangelic tossed around a lot today.

And when we speak of a revival we most often think about church advertising for planned services... "Our revival will begin next Sunday at 11:00 am and it will end the next Sunday night at 6:00 pm."

Obviously this is something planned and purely mechanical, it is something which man has engineered.

FIRST...I THINK THAT ONE OF THE OFFENSES OF REVIVAL IS THAT IT CANNOT BE ORGANIZED.

As a learned theologian once said, "When revival comes it changes the moral climate of a community."

You can have revival that covers a church...You can have revival that covers a city...a state...You can have revival that covers a whole nation...and I am thinking in this context more than in the other contexts (though sometimes revival starts small and spreads from here to there...just like a fire spreads.)

And sometimes it may start through an organized event where the proper preparation has been made.

But revival cannot be organized...evangelistic meetings can be and often are organized...Revival cannot be subsidized...evangelism can and usually must be...Revival cannot be advertised...yet evangelism can.

Why doesn't revival need to be advertised? For this reason...FIRE is the most self advertising thing there is.