What is Revival?
Revive is said to return to life, become active, to restore from a depressed, inactive and unused state and renew in the mind or memory!
The Purpose of Revival
The purpose of a genuine revival is to cause us to believe that all of the promises of God are truly Yes and Amen IN Christ Jesus our LORD.
What is the purpose of Church?
Fulfilling the Great Commission is NOT the primary purpose of the Church. Of course all those with the heart of an Evangelist will disagree.
Where to from here?
Eph 4:13 [That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him. (Amplified)
How to Get Where We Should be Going
Pastors need realize that those diplomas on the wall from college and seminary are worth about as much as Paul said his early training was worth. Remember? He called it something like, no it was not something like, he did call it dung! If you are unfamiliar with the word it refers to what a cow leaves behind which is then used for fertilizer!
What is the Full Gospel?
The Gospel which is preached most commonly in North America is the Gospel of the forgiveness of sin by the shed Blood of our LORD Jesus Christ. Of course this is absolutely true and without this truth and benefit of the Gospel we would all be destined for hell despite how good ‘our’ deeds may have been. For indeed we ALL have sinned and fallen short of the righteousness of God.
However, where is the Gospel of healing? The Gospel of deliverance? The Gospel of the baptism of the Holy Spirit? The Gospel of the equipping of the saints with the gifts of the Holy Spirit?
What will it be? church or CHURCH?
church is basically what we have been doing for decades and centuries with the occasional change coming about as the result of a revival or awakening, or whatever other name you wish to give, when God actually shows up and touches our miserable souls.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
He is a most wonderful, misunderstood and little known Person upon whom the Church is totally dependant yet it seems blind to this simple fact.
How CHURCH is supposed to look.
This modern, theatre style of church we seem to so embrace is so far from what CHURCH is supposed to look like as to be unrecognizable. It is little wonder what is to be the Light in the darkness is barely acknowledged anymore by those who are lost in this present world.
Do we all participate in the properly functioning Body?
When we come together, rather than waiting to hear what God told Moses this week, perhaps, just maybe, the Holy Spirit would like all of us to assume our parts in the Body of the LORD Jesus Christ with each of us supplying what only we can supply. Perhaps then the Body will actually start to be built up into the Holy Temple of the Holy Spirit it is intended to.
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit His tools to build the Church.
It is my firm belief that the Holy Spirit would very much like to operate through every member of the Body in an assembly and elsewhere from time to time with each and every one of His gifts herein described for the express purpose of edifying the entire Body.
More on the Gifts of the Spirit And Offices within the Church
The gifts to be properly understood must be considered as to their purpose and function which of course is not always the same.
For example the ‘fivefold’ ministries function is to equip the saints. Period. The saints are the ones who actually ‘grow’ the Church, and the saints are all of us, regardless of what some will try and teach you.
We are Dependent Upon God Working Through EACH of us!
Our maturing will never come about if we rely on the wisdom of men and the traditions and doctrines we have adopted. After all, after nearly 2,000 years we still have not caught up to the first century Church!
Returning the Church to the Holy Spirit
Starting with every member of Church leadership and continuing throughout every member of a congregation we need to earnestly seek the Presence of the LORD if we are ever going to have CHURCH.
What we need to know about ourselves!
First, if we do not recognize the fact we are not anywhere near as mature as we would like to think we are, we are destined to continue in our infancy unable to partake of the meat of the Word.
What is the Gospel of the Kingdom? What are we preaching instead?
The best explanation I have heard for the word kingdom is that it is a place where the King exercises His Dominion. Are we interested in building the Kingdom of God or are we more interested in building another one of our own kingdoms complete with the latest McChurch?
Will We Ever Grow Up?
if we stay where we are we will all simply be another generation to die in the wilderness.
Do We Diligently Seek God or Just Pop-in every now and then?
If we ever are to go beyond the blessing which comes with revival to a state of maturity exceeding anything we have seen, then we need give the LORD Jesus His rightful place in our hearts, minds and lives!
From One Extreme to the Other
For example, consider the program you follow in your church whether it is Sunday morning or Wednesday night. We set aside a time during the week to do our ‘God Service’ and I guarantee you, that within fifteen minutes we know when we are going to DISMISS GOD and go home!
Are we Really Spirit FILLED because we pray in tongues?
Did you know that Jesus did not say, you shall speak in tongues after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you? He actually said you will receive POWER after the Holy Ghost comes upon you and that miraculous working power will be what you use to be His witness in the earth!
Does Unbelief Trump God Blessings?
However, I do feel that our lack of belief, of faith in the truth of what God has said greatly hinders what we are able to receive of Him.
Do We Actually OBEY the Word of God?
Do we actually detest sin or is there sin in our lives we have learned to tolerate all the while soothing our conscience with the knowledge that He is just and will forgive our sin? Are we making a mockery of the freedom of the Gospel with our acceptance of sin in our lives?
WE NEED TO QUIT EXCUSING OURSELVES!
Sin and Self with Satan’s help Will Halt
Further Advance Toward Maturity
What I think Happens When We are Born Again
When we receive the Gospel of Jesus and are born again by the Spirit and baptized into Christ, we are placed IN Christ by God Himself. This is not something which we can do ourselves it can only be accomplished by God.
Do We Want to Be Saved ?
If you are told that sin will lead to an eternity in hell, again you will likely get the ‘yes’ response. However, if you are told that you can enjoy the pleasures of sin without consequence, what answer do you think you might get?
DO WE WANT JESUS TO BE OUR LORD?
The word Lord means; The first definition is ‘he to whom a person belongs’ another definition is ‘the possessor and disposer of a thing’.
Revivals have come and revivals have gone, As much as the Welsh Revival is much talked about, I have also read that three years after the revival, things were pretty much back to normal. The miners once more were cussin’ and drinkin’ and carrying on.
Will this current revival have the same testimony in history or will we see it as an opportunity to really press in to the LORD, making Him LORD and begging Him to keep us ABIDING in Him, as there is NOTHING we can do of ourselves.
Or will we all buy our Lakeland Revival tee shirts and books and tapes, enjoy the Presence and Power of the LORD for a time, and then return to where we came from?
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