WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.080
So I want to talk about six characteristics of a revival and one of the passages that

2
00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:12.700
I love in speaking of revival is Isaiah 64, 1-3 let me read that Oh that you would rend

3
00:00:12.700 --> 00:00:17.760
the heavens oh Lord and that you would come down that the mountains might shake at your

4
00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:25.920
presence as fire burns brushwood as fire causes water to boil to make your name known to your

5
00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:32.080
adversaries that the nations may tremble at your presence when you did awesome things

6
00:00:32.080 --> 00:00:37.440
for which we did not look you came down the mountains shook at your presence I think that's

7
00:00:37.440 --> 00:00:49.880
a beautiful passage about what revival does it just shakes the church

8
00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:54.120
and it shakes the community in an area and I talked about that in my first episode about

9
00:00:54.120 --> 00:01:00.380
what is revival but here are six characteristics that I think print not I mean not always perfectly

10
00:01:00.380 --> 00:01:09.600
because how can you even define something as unique as a special outpouring of the spirit

11
00:01:09.600 --> 00:01:16.080
or surprising work of God as Jonathan Edwards said but I'm I'm I'm looking at church history

12
00:01:16.080 --> 00:01:22.440
and different authors and I would say there's six characteristics these I feel kind of have

13
00:01:22.440 --> 00:01:28.560
to be there they're always there but I mean heck there's probably 20 things I could say

14
00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:33.600
but I'm narrowing it down to the irreducible minimum of six so here's the first one the

15
00:01:33.600 --> 00:01:40.520
first is that a revival in my thinking is saved people people who already know the Lord

16
00:01:40.520 --> 00:01:46.720
coming alive in the spirit like someone who's fainted so when I think of someone who's fainted

17
00:01:46.720 --> 00:01:53.040
they're alive but they're disoriented and they're they're not conscious they're they're

18
00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:58.240
unconscious and you're coming in and you are waking them up I think that's what the spirit

19
00:01:58.240 --> 00:02:06.200
does a great example I think in scripture would be Ezekiel 37 with the dry bones so

20
00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:13.920
Ezekiel is told by the word of the Lord to prophesy to the nation of Israel dry bones

21
00:02:13.920 --> 00:02:21.840
live dry bones breathe and he calls forth and these dry bones in that valley start coming

22
00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:26.760
together into a great army is what it says that's a beautiful picture of revival the

23
00:02:26.760 --> 00:02:34.160
spirit of God being released over dry bones or dry people or a dry church and interesting

24
00:02:34.160 --> 00:02:39.760
when you follow Psalm 37 it eventually comes to the point where it says he's speaking about

25
00:02:39.760 --> 00:02:44.640
Israel and he's speaking of the Holy Spirit so it's the Holy Spirit upon Israel in that

26
00:02:44.640 --> 00:02:52.760
passage but it's a beautiful type of revival to the to the church like we have throughout

27
00:02:52.760 --> 00:02:57.120
history quite frankly and we're going to look at that and in some of the episodes I want

28
00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:04.320
to look at several key passages in the Bible of revival so as someone who's kind of fainted

29
00:03:04.320 --> 00:03:10.200
there revived but then it's not just that it then spreads out because it's also interesting

30
00:03:10.200 --> 00:03:18.440
in Ezekiel 37 that the reason that God speaks to the dry bones of Israel is so that they

31
00:03:18.440 --> 00:03:23.280
will now take the land that they'll go into the land that the land will be theirs so there's

32
00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:29.640
this there's these repercussions in the community and that's going to be a part in my next message

33
00:03:29.640 --> 00:03:33.480
where I talk about revolution because I'm going to give it a slightly different name

34
00:03:33.600 --> 00:03:39.200
because revival is the beginning it's the embryonic stages actually of a revolution

35
00:03:39.200 --> 00:03:48.160
so revival in my mind as a characteristic first is God moving on the church and then

36
00:03:48.160 --> 00:03:54.920
the movement of God on the church results in evangelistic fervor that moves across a

37
00:03:54.920 --> 00:04:03.960
district or a county or a city or an area number two characteristic is I don't know

38
00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:10.840
of any examples where a true revival was not birthed in fervent prayer so there's a there

39
00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:17.560
is a fervent bold prayer by a group of believers that are not going to give up I mean they

40
00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:24.600
are going to keep asking and seeking and knocking for God to move in revival power

41
00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:29.940
you don't have revivals just show up out of nowhere this is there's always a group of

42
00:04:29.940 --> 00:04:33.080
believers they don't even have to be very many the example I'm going to give is just

43
00:04:33.080 --> 00:04:40.600
two little old ladies but a group of people that are hungry for God hungry for the kingdom

44
00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:50.280
of God hungry for the presence of God they're they're the type of intercessors that look

45
00:04:50.280 --> 00:04:58.920
at the community and they see the negative they see the backslidden state and it burdens

46
00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:00.040
their heart to pray.

47
00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:05.760
pray for the Holy Spirit to come in power and so they begin to pray that way and then

48
00:05:05.760 --> 00:05:11.340
what happens is they start to gather others who also have that same burden.

49
00:05:11.340 --> 00:05:17.220
Every revival, every revival has these intercessors that are bold like that.

50
00:05:17.220 --> 00:05:23.240
So this writing that I'm going to read comes from again Duncan Campbell, I mentioned him

51
00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:30.280
last time about the revival in the Hebrides islands of Lewis and Harris and here's what

52
00:05:30.280 --> 00:05:35.900
he says, One night God gave one of the sisters a vision.

53
00:05:35.900 --> 00:05:41.320
Now we have got to understand that in revival remarkable things happen.

54
00:05:41.320 --> 00:05:43.140
It is supernatural.

55
00:05:43.140 --> 00:05:46.480
You're not moving on the human levels.

56
00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:49.800
You're moving in divine places.

57
00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:56.240
In the vision she saw the churches crowded with young people and she told her sister,

58
00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:00.000
I believe revival is coming to the parish.

59
00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:05.140
At that time there was not a single young person attending public worship, a fact which

60
00:06:05.140 --> 00:06:07.920
cannot be disputed.

61
00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:13.240
Sending for the minister, she told him her story and he took her message as a word from

62
00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:16.840
God to his heart.

63
00:06:16.840 --> 00:06:21.160
Turning to her, he said, what do you think we should do?

64
00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:27.000
What she said, give yourself to prayer, give yourself to waiting upon God, get your elders

65
00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:34.260
and deacons together and spend at least two nights a week waiting upon God in prayer.

66
00:06:34.260 --> 00:06:39.040
If you will do that at your end of the parish, my sister and I will do it at our end of the

67
00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:45.120
parish from 10 o'clock at night until two or three o'clock in the morning.

68
00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:49.520
So the minister called his leadership together and for several months they waited upon God

69
00:06:49.520 --> 00:06:52.760
in a barn among the straw.

70
00:06:52.760 --> 00:07:01.400
During this time they pled one promise, quote, for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty

71
00:07:01.400 --> 00:07:04.080
and floods upon the dry ground.

72
00:07:04.080 --> 00:07:11.000
I will pour my spirit upon my seed and my blessing upon thine offering, Isaiah 44 3.

73
00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:13.600
This went on for at least three months.

74
00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:14.760
Nothing happened.

75
00:07:14.760 --> 00:07:21.600
But one night a young deacon rose and began reading from Psalm 24, who shall ascend unto

76
00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:23.000
the hill of the Lord?

77
00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:25.680
Who shall stand in his holy place?

78
00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:31.360
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity

79
00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:37.520
nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from

80
00:07:37.520 --> 00:07:41.960
the God of his salvation, Psalm 24 3-5.

81
00:07:41.960 --> 00:07:46.840
Closing the Bible, he addressed the minister and other office bearers in words that sound

82
00:07:46.840 --> 00:07:51.280
crude in English, but not so crude in our Gaelic language.

83
00:07:51.280 --> 00:07:58.640
He said, It seems to me so much humbug to be waiting as we're waiting, to be praying

84
00:07:58.640 --> 00:08:04.240
as we're praying, when we ourselves are not rightly related to God.

85
00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:09.400
Then he lifted his hands toward heaven and he prayed, O God, are my hands clean?

86
00:08:09.400 --> 00:08:11.800
Is my heart pure?

87
00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:15.440
Then he went to his knees and fell into a trance.

88
00:08:15.440 --> 00:08:20.340
Don't ask me to explain the physical manifestations of this movement because I can't.

89
00:08:20.340 --> 00:08:27.280
But this I do know, that something happened in the barn at that moment in that young deacon.

90
00:08:27.280 --> 00:08:33.840
There was a power loosed that shook the heavens, and an awareness of God gripped these gathered

91
00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:35.080
together.

92
00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:39.679
And then Duncan Campbell goes into what started to happen after that, where the Spirit of

93
00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:45.400
God came and all these people started getting saved, left and right, and it went on for

94
00:08:45.400 --> 00:08:46.400
four years.

95
00:08:46.400 --> 00:08:49.040
It was an amazing outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

96
00:08:49.040 --> 00:08:56.120
So first, a revival in my thinking is God moving upon a church and it spreads out from

97
00:08:56.120 --> 00:08:57.120
there.

98
00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:00.960
Second, it's birth from zealous, passionate, bold prayer.

99
00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:07.560
Third, a revival is often led by a key leader, usually someone who has a passion for God's

100
00:09:07.560 --> 00:09:10.680
word and a deep zeal for the presence of God.

101
00:09:10.680 --> 00:09:16.600
So there's always a preacher, there's always a pastor, there's always a leader that is

102
00:09:16.600 --> 00:09:19.400
on the forefront of a move of God.

103
00:09:19.400 --> 00:09:26.620
It was an African American preacher named William Seymour at Azusa Street in 1906.

104
00:09:26.620 --> 00:09:32.840
It was Duncan Campbell in the Hebrides Revival, 1949 to 1953.

105
00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:38.920
It was Lonnie Frisbee who was a key preacher in the Jesus People movement or revival in

106
00:09:38.920 --> 00:09:41.400
the early 1970s.

107
00:09:41.400 --> 00:09:45.440
Stephen Hill was the evangelist used by God in Brownsville in the 1990s.

108
00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:51.560
It's pretty interesting that if you look at the First Great Awakening, at the beginning

109
00:09:51.560 --> 00:09:58.120
the embryonic revival was in Northampton, Massachusetts, but the guy that really was

110
00:09:58.120 --> 00:09:59.880
used to spread.

111
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:07.000
The movement, which I'm going to call a revolution, later was George Whitefield along the eastern

112
00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:09.040
seaboard of the United States.

113
00:10:09.040 --> 00:10:14.920
So thirdly, a revival is often led by a passionate, zealous leader.

114
00:10:14.920 --> 00:10:23.560
Number four, a revival is when the supernatural power and presence of God comes down.

115
00:10:23.560 --> 00:10:27.440
Often follow with signs and wonders that are unexplainable.

116
00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:31.600
People getting saved, healed, and delivered in remarkable ways.

117
00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:37.260
You may have seen the movie Jesus Revolution, and you see a little bit of that in that movie

118
00:10:37.260 --> 00:10:46.960
which takes place 1970-71 with Lonnie Frisbee preaching where you see him healing some people.

119
00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:50.480
Healings are always a part of revivals.

120
00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:55.560
All of those different situations that I gave earlier from my own personal experience has

121
00:10:55.760 --> 00:10:59.200
some kind of healing element.

122
00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:00.200
There's always healing.

123
00:11:00.200 --> 00:11:04.960
There's always demonic encounters, too, that occur.

124
00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:10.320
Some people wouldn't call it, oh, that was a deliverance from the demonic, because different

125
00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:12.440
groups have different terms.

126
00:11:12.440 --> 00:11:16.680
But it's basically saying the same thing, that there was a stronghold in that person's

127
00:11:16.680 --> 00:11:20.560
life, and bam, it's suddenly gone just really quickly.

128
00:11:20.560 --> 00:11:23.800
Instead of it taking a long time, it happens fast.

129
00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:29.000
The presence of God is just being felt in the worship, in the prayers, and in the preaching

130
00:11:29.000 --> 00:11:30.320
of the word.

131
00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:35.960
You see all kinds of what the Bible would call signs and wonders happening.

132
00:11:35.960 --> 00:11:38.080
That would be the fourth characteristic.

133
00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:46.480
The fifth characteristic is a revival begins in one location, and sometimes, but not all

134
00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:48.320
the time, spreads out to other areas.

135
00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:51.280
There's always one locale.

136
00:11:51.280 --> 00:11:53.880
Most of the time, revivals don't happen all over the place.

137
00:11:53.880 --> 00:11:59.880
It happens in one particular place, and then it spreads out to other places.

138
00:11:59.880 --> 00:12:06.760
I think of Azusa Street in Los Angeles in 1906 with William Seymour preaching.

139
00:12:06.760 --> 00:12:11.280
Down there in L.A., you could still visit this area of Azusa Street.

140
00:12:11.280 --> 00:12:17.800
The spirit moved in a mighty way there, and then that became a full-fledged movement that

141
00:12:17.800 --> 00:12:21.200
went out to the whole earth.

142
00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:28.440
Every Pentecostal denomination would trace its roots back to Azusa Street.

143
00:12:28.440 --> 00:12:32.440
And then lastly, sixthly, revivals eventually cease.

144
00:12:32.440 --> 00:12:36.720
They're strong, they're vital for a while, and then they gradually fade out.

145
00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:44.000
I think the longest revival that I've heard of is around five or six years, and there

146
00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:50.920
have been several like that even in the 19th, 20th, and 21st century that lasted a few years,

147
00:12:50.920 --> 00:12:54.040
but eventually they die out.

148
00:12:54.040 --> 00:12:57.360
So revivals come and revivals go.

149
00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:01.760
The Hebrides Revival went from 1949 to 1953.

150
00:13:01.760 --> 00:13:08.320
The Jesus Movement lasted from 1969 to 1972.

151
00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:12.320
Most recently, we've heard about the Asbury Revival.

152
00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:15.680
Some people have called it that.

153
00:13:15.680 --> 00:13:22.440
It seems to have touched Lee College and Baylor, Texas A&M, and other places.

154
00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:27.160
Now whether that's a true revival, I'm not sure.

155
00:13:27.160 --> 00:13:28.600
But those have been very short.

156
00:13:28.600 --> 00:13:32.960
They've been like three weeks, four weeks, six weeks, like that.

157
00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:37.960
So revivals come and they go, and it's really in God's hands.

158
00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:42.160
I mean, we can quench the spirit and stop a revival.

159
00:13:42.160 --> 00:13:44.240
There's no doubt about that.

160
00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:51.440
God always allows us as humans to either receive it or reject it.

161
00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:55.160
But those are six characteristics that I see in revival, and in the next episode, I want

162
00:13:55.160 --> 00:13:56.160
to talk about revolution.

163
00:13:56.160 --> 00:14:05.600
I want to talk about how I think revivals actually are used by God to spark a revolution,

164
00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:13.360
a revolution that affects the entire culture and begins to pervade throughout different

165
00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:15.600
arenas within society.