Ps. 85:6, "Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?"
While evangelism is increasing, revival is decreasing. Revival and evangelism are not synonyms. They are two very different things.
- Evangelism is what happened to sinners.
- Revival is what happened to saints.
And what I'm seeing is a whole lot to sinners and not much to saints. I'm seeing sinners excited and saints bored. The message of the hour is we need revival. We don't need the church to be left alone. We need somebody to stir our saints... to challenge our saints... to get a hold of this church and shake every confessing
We're having much evangelism but we're not growing.
- Revival + evangelism + maturity = church growth. If you don't have all of them, you don't have church growth.
Evangelism is sinners coming to altart with tears streaming. Revival is a saint repenting and renewed in the Holy Ghost. I need my revival... I need to get my joy back... my prayer life back... my involvement back... my enthusiasm back.
- When we have full pews and empty prayer rooms, we need revival.
- When the majority are spectators and the minority are participators, we need revival.
- When our guests complement and our saints complain, we need revival (Acts 6:1). When there's growth, there's grumbling.
- When sinners are impressed and saints are depressed, we need revival. What we need is for every saint to get on fire in the Holy Ghost. Going to the church is not enough. Somebody needs to get involved with the Holy Ghost. We are more of shouting about and doing less.
- When our faith is low... when our vision is small... when our burden is light... and our passion is low, we need revival. It's an absence of the Holy Ghost that you question holiness.
- When there's cooling of conviction towards sin, we need revival.
- When we laugh at what we used to make us cry, we need revival.
The definition of true revival is God repairing and restoring the church, causing the church to recover.
Isa. 6:4, "And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke." When the posts or the pillars of the church, when they moved at the voice, the smoke filled the house. There's something to be said about when we can get the church trustees to dance... the board to dance... the leadership to re-spark... when we get the gray hair to move. There is no retirement in the Apostolic worship.
My challenge in the final moment of this meeting tonight is to make a plea to you seasoned saints. You are wonderful people. But your years of occupancy gives you no certification to just watch. And if the Holy Ghost could move you, I believe the Holy Ghost could fill this sanctuary.
The church needs revival when:
- The preacher preaches personal agenda rather than Jesus Christ.
- The elders of the church sacrifice the salvation of souls for their traditions, which they call ministerial ethics.
- The pastors become afraid for those that can kill the flesh than those that can kill the spirit.
- The leaders of the church fail to use the discerning of spirits, such that the accusation against an elder is justified by two or three false witnesses.
- The family members believe the pastor more than the spouse because of the former's authority in the church.
- The leaders of the church cannot be questioned on the integrity of their speech and the truthfulness of their words.
- The preachers cannot do what they preach.
- The only means of continuing the ministry is financial stability.
- The rule of thumb is based on financial stability, congregational security, and emotions.
- The power of teaching a bible study to members is based on how he yelled at them.
- The pulpit becomes a training ground for aspiring preachers, allowing a lot of mistakes to be delivered to the congregation.
- The church's help is only denominational, meaning, the church can help its members only.
- The pastor's decision is overshadowed by the decision of the board.
- The church leaders are selected because of their status in life or professional qualification rather than spiritual maturity.
- A church talks against another church.
- The pastors quarrel more than the children of the world.
- The wongdoings are not repented but justified as the will of God.
- The proclaiming the work of God is mistreated as judging people.
- The belivers become selective on the person who will declare the truth and on the denomination that should be followed and not based on word of God and the indwelling of the Spirit, such that they're dragged by people whom they select and whimmed by the denomination where they belong. Although one may declare the word of truth, their members would not believe unless the declaration comes from within their denomination.
- The believers treat the backsliders so harshly, giving them no way to come back.