On the Death of Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter

Good morning. I appreciated the thoughts on the recent death of Steve Irwin (http://www.kairosjournal.org/Document.aspx?QuadrantID=4&CategoryID=11&TopicID=44&DocumentID=7627&L=1)

"The death of the conservationist Steve Irwin is widely reported in the world media.1 Irwin was a larger than life and controversial character who for many years championed the cause of crocodiles in Australia. Along with his wife Terri he founded “Australia Zoo” in Queensland,2 and such was their devotion to the cause of endangered species that they even went in search of crocodiles on their honeymoon.

One aspect of Irwin’s life stands out. He was unashamedly enthusiastic about the wonders of the natural world. Children adored him because he showed them what it might mean to love animals whether great or small. The sight of Irwin wrestling a mammoth crocodile or running in the desert to catch a scorpion was almost guaranteed to implant in children a playful delight in living beings. Tragically there is no indication that Irwin was a Christian, indeed, he and his wife welcomed their children into the world with Buddhist ceremonies. Yet his life is one long rebuke to Christians who take little delight in their Father’s world. If a man could love the creation this much and not know the Creator—how much more should those who love God take delight in the work of His hands?"

Footnotes :

1 Paul Tait, “Crocodile Hunter Killed by Stingray,” The Washington Times, September 5, 2006, http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060905-120419-8737r.htm (accessed September 5, 2006).

2 The Crocodile Hunter Website, www.crocodilehunter.com

What Causes Atheism?

Brennan Manning writes that Christians who do not walk the talk can is a primary reason why there are atheists among us...

"The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable" (Free at Last: The Movie)

Simply put, we are to live the life. Jesus made that clear in Matthew 5.16: In the same way, let you light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (ESV)

If Manning is correct in his assessment, then not only do we need to live as Jesus intended; but we also need to pray that we will shine the light of Jesus and that the Holy Spirit will transform hearts as we do shine. Does that make sense?

Have a great day

Bryan

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire

Jim Cymbala's book, "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" is a good reminder why we must continue to pray until revival comes. In the book, he wrote how persistent prayer brought back his daughter Chrissy from a wayward life. He writes:

"Through all this, (my wife) Carol and I learned as never before that persistent calling upon the Lord breaks through every stronghold of the devil, for nothing is impossible with God. For Christians in these troubled times, there is simply no other way" (p. 66).

There really is no other way for the Kingdom of God to advance around us unless we consistently cry out to the Lord.

Have a great day

Bryan

Revival Prayer Meetings

Good Morning. I grabbed the following from the www.bible.org website. History reminds us that if revival is going to come, then it will be proceeded by fervent and consistent prayer. Have a great day.

Iain Murray in Revival and Revivalism, p 79 quotes Jesse Lee, He described the year 1787:

"There was a remarkable revival of religion in the town of Petersburgh, and many of the inhabitants were savingly converted; and the Christians greatly revived. That town never witnessed before or since such wonderful displays of the presence and love of God in salvation of immortal souls. Prayer meetings were frequently held both in the town and in the country, and souls were frequently converted at those meetings, even when there was no preacher present; for the prayers and exhortations of the members were greatly owned of the Lord.

The most remarkable work of all was in Sussex and Brunswick circuits, where the meetings would frequently continue five or six hours together, and sometimes all night.

At one quarterly meeting held at Mabry's Chapel in Brunswick circuit, on the ;25th and 26th of July, the power of God was among the people in an extraordinary manner: some hundreds were awakened; and it was supposed that above one hundred souls were converted at that meeting, which continued for two days, i.e., on Thursday and Friday. Some thousands of people attended meeting at that place on that occasion.

The next quarterly meeting was held at Jones's Chapel, in Sussex county, on Saturday and Sunday, the 27th and 28th of July. This meeting was favored with more of the divine presence than any other that had been know before . . .

The great revival of religion in 1776, which spread extensively through the south part of Virginia, exceeded any thing of the kind that had ever been known before in that part of the country. But the revival this year far exceeded it.

It was thought that in the course of that summer there were so many as sixteen hundred souls converted in Sussex circuit; in Brunswick circuit about eighteen hundred; and in Amelia circuit about eight hundred. In these three circuits we had the greatest revival of religion; but in many other circuits there was a gracious work, and hundreds were brought to God in the course of that year.

. . . the work was not confined to meetings for preaching; at prayer meetings the work prospered and many souls were born again . . . It was common to hear of souls being brought to God while at work in their houses or in their fields. It was often the case that the people in their corn-fields, white people, or black, and sometimes both together, would begin to sing, and being affected would begin to pray, and others would join with them, and they would continue their cries till some of them would find peace to their souls."
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Praying Like Elijah!

James 5.17-18 points out that "Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again, he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."

The Old Testament prophet Elijah was just am ordinary person and yet when he prayed, there were divine results (i.e., raising up of the widow's dead son, the taking on of the false prophets of Baal). Elijah prayed that there would be no rain, and there was no rain. Then he prayed for rain, and there was rain.

The point is simple: as ordinary people, who are righteous (verse 16) in the eyes of God (because of our salvation in Jesus), we are given the right to have a powerful ministry of prayer.

Do you have examples of ordinary people who prayed and the results were clearly from heaven? Please share them with me. E-mail me at bryan@harveyoaksbaptist.org.

Have a good day and keep praying

Bryan

Do We Depend on the Holy Spirit?

Jim Cymbala, Pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle writes in his book, Fresh Power, that we depend more on our own devices and strength rather than the power of God...

“Too much of our religious life is made up of programs and human ideas, talents and strategies. While they have value, they pitifully fail to meet the need of the hour. What is messing today is something from heaven itself, something from God the Holy Spirit that fills and floods our lives”

Daily we can pray, "Come Holy Spirit Come!"
Bryan

Whatever Happened to Repentance

Good Morning. I thought this was a helpful article for Kairos Journal on the subject of repentance

(http://www.kairosjournal.org/Document.aspx QuadrantID=4&CategoryID=9&TopicID=40&DocumentID=5878&L=1)

I highlighted the last paragragh. Have a great day. Bryan

We’ve come to think our faith is about comfort. It’s not.

Forget what the Billboard charts say—to judge from church ads in the Yellow Pages, America’s favorite song is “I’m Mr. Lonely.” Churches are quick to spot that need and promise eagerly that they will be friendly, or be family, or just care. Apparently this is the Church’s principal product. When people need tires, they look up a tire store; when they start having those bad-sad-mad feelings, they shop for a church.

Here, for once, denominational and political divisions vanish. Churches across the spectrum compete to display their capacity for caring, though each has its own way of making the pitch. The Tabernacle, a “spirit-filled, multi-cultured church,” pleads, “Come let us love you,” while the Bible Way Temple is more formal, if not downright odd: “A church where no stranger need feel strangely.” (The only response that comes to mind is “Thank thee.”) One church sign in South Carolina announced, “Where Jesus is Lord and everybody is special,” which made it sound like second prize. And one Methodist congregation tries to get it all in: “A Christ-centered church where you can make new friends and form lasting relationships with people who care about you.”

But when Jesus preached, He did not spend a lot of time on “caring.” The first time we see Him, in the first Gospel, the first instruction He gives is “Repent” (Mark 1:15). From then on, it’s His most consistent message. Yes, He spoke words of comfort like “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden” (Matt. 11:28). But much more frequently He challenged His hearers, urging them to turn to God in humility and admit their sins. Even when told of a tragedy that caused many deaths, He repeated this difficult theme: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:1-5).

We love the caring sayings of Jesus. We repeat them often, paste them onto felt banners, and print them on refrigerator magnets. We mostly ignore those on repentance.

We live in a time when it’s hard to talk about Christian faith at all, much less awkward topics like repentance. (No era finds repentance easy, but many have found it easier to talk about.) Paradoxically, we live in a very easy time. We are the wealthiest, healthiest, most comfortable generation in history. With less to struggle for, we become increasingly oriented toward pleasure. This all-too-natural inclination is what most unites us. America is a place of wild diversity, but we all meet at the shopping mall.

We’re confirmed in this quest for comfort by a ceaseless stream of advertising messages. These tell us who we are: special, precious people with no faults, who deserve to feel better than we do. Ads tell us, “Your wife (boss, teenager, classmate) doesn’t understand you, but we do. Here, buy this, and you’ll feel better.” Advertising invites us to be big babies—an invitation that fallen human nature has always found hard to resist.

Try telling a person who’s been discipled by advertising that he’s a sinner. A hundred years ago, a preacher would have seen heads nod in recognition at that familiar concept. But today’s consumer is likely to be shocked and baffled. How could he be a sinner? All he knows is that he’s unhappy because he does not have his fair share of stuff, and he isn’t appreciated enough by those around him. Original sin? He will readily agree that everyone else keeps letting him down. That he’s estranged from the one, holy God and needs to be reconciled? He’s likely to respond, “So who’s this God who thinks He’s better than us?” Bring up Judgment Day, and you’ll get to see someone genuinely appalled; the very idea just sounds so “judgmental.”

In trying to reach this seeker, the Church has been given a severely reduced pack of options. Since people are aware only of seeking comfort, it looks like that’s what we have to headline in any message we send. Neither this need, nor our response, is untrue. A profound sense of unease and dislocation is indeed part of the human condition, because sin has estranged us from God. And the Church has the only authentic solution to this problem, because we bear the Good News of reconciliation through Jesus Christ.

The problem comes when we never get around to talking about the hard part of the Good News. The problem can even be that we start forgetting it ourselves, and start believing that consolation is the main reason Jesus came. But what’s wrong with us required much more than a hug; it required the Cross. It doesn’t seem this way; we too, have been catechized by the world and reflexively think of ourselves as needy, wronged children. We’d rather feel as if we’re victims of a cruel world than admit we are contributors to the world’s cruelty, lost sinners who perversely love our lostness, clinging to our treasured sins like a drowning man to an anvil.

How bizarre such language seems today. We look around our neighborhood and our congregation and everyone seems so “nice.” We know what really wicked people are like—we see them in the papers every day—and we’re not like that. God must find us, in comparison, quite endearing. And of course He knows the hurts we bear deep inside, and anyone who’s been hurt can’t be bad (I call this the “victims are sinless” fallacy). With these and a thousand other sweet murmurs, we shield ourselves from our real condition and remain Christian babies all our lives: pampered, ineffective, whiney, and numb.

Jesus didn’t come just to save us from the penalty for our sins; He came to save us from our sins—now, today, if we will only respond to the challenge and let Him. A nation of grownup Christians, courageous, confident, humble, and holy, would be more compelling than any smiley-face ad campaign. The Lord does not love us for our good parts and pass over the rest. He died for the bad parts and will not rest until they are put right. We must stop thinking of God as infinitely indulgent. We must begin to grapple with the scary and exhilarating truth that He is infinitely holy, and that He wants the same for us.
Footnotes :

1 This article was originally published as a Kairos Insight. It was written by Frederica Mathewes-Green. She is an author, columnist, and commentator, who serves on a range of advisory and editorial boards. She can also be heard on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.”

Stay Close to Jesus

P.T. Forsyth wrote: "Keep close to the New Testament Christ and then ask ask for anything you desire in that contact. Ask for everything you can ask in Christ's name, i.e., everything desirable by a man who is in Christ's kingdom of God, by a man who lives for it at heart, everything in tune with the purpose and work of the kingdom in Christ" (quoted in Ben Patterson, Deepening Your Conversation with God, pgs. 148-149).

Good advice!

Bryan

What is a Disciple?

Harvey Oaks Baptist Church is in the beginning stages of a new discipleship process. It will be based from CORE Discipleship Groups (www.coregroups.org). The training manual has an good definition of a Christian disciple...

"A disciple is a born-again believer who has decided that following Christ takes priority over everything else in life. Jesus didn't say being a disciple would be easy. He told his followers that they would have to deny themselves and take up their own crosses to follow him. He emphasized the fact that He would have to be first in their lives when he said, 'If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple' (Luke 14.26). Jesus is speaking to you and me. Being a disciple and making disciples is a direct command from our Lord Jesus and the responsibility of every born-again believer" (p. 8).

Our churches needs armies of disciples who are passionate for Jesus.

Let us keep praying for revival

Bryan

Why Pray?

Pastor Mark Dever, in his book, "The Deliberate Church" reminds us why fervent, earth-changing prayers are needed in the church...

"Praying shows our dependence on God. It honors him as the source of all blessing, and it reminds us that converting individuals and growing churches are His words, not ours (1 Corinthians 2.14-16; 3.6-7)" (p. 35).

Brothers and sisters, let wear out our knees in prayer!

Bryan

The Fulton Street Revival

Sometimes, we need to remind ourselves that prayer is a foundation for revival. Thus, it is good to throw a few logs into a prayer fire by looking to past examples. Below is from Glimpses bulletin (http://chi.gospelcom.net/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses/glmps168.shtml)

"Another kind of prayer meeting made a difference half a century later in New York City. It was not a good time for churches in downtown Manhattan, and the North Dutch Reformed Church on Fulton Street resorted to creative measures, hiring a businessman named Jeremiah Lanphier as a sort of outreach minister. He knocked on doors in the neighborhood and distributed pamphlets and Bibles, but response generally was dismal.

"One day as I was walking along the streets," Lanphier wrote in his journal, "the idea was suggested to my mind that an hour of prayer, from twelve to one o'clock, would be beneficial to businessmen." The idea blossomed: a weekly prayer time, open to anyone, bankers to broom-pushers. Come when you can, leave when you must. Handbills advertised the first meeting--at noon on September 23, 1857.

Lanphier waited for the first attenders. No one showed up for the first ten minutes, twenty, thirty. Then one man straggled in, then another. The hour ended with six men present, praying. The following week there were twenty, the next week forty. Soon a hundred. Some of them wanted to meet every day. Rooms were packed. The church had to ask another church to handle the overflow. When churches ran out of room, the prayer meetings moved to theaters. By March, 1858, the New York Times could report that Burton's Theater on Chambers Street was packed as famous preacher Henry Ward Beecher led a crowd of 3,000 in prayer. Some estimated that up to a million people became Christians in the 1857-58 revival.

What caused such immense interest in prayer? A stock market crash might have had something to do with it. Business leaders enslaved by money were suddenly seeking a more reliable master. When he started his humble prayer time, Jeremiah Lanphier had no way of knowing about the impending financial collapse. He just knew people needed to pray."

Let Us Keep on Praying

Imagine a church full of Christians devoted to prayer. No doubt, it is wishful thinking to believe that every follower of Jesus in the church would be a prayer warrior, but why not dream big for the kingdom. It also does not mean that the Wednesday night prayer time is packed (though that would be nice). But it does it mean that in every gathering there is time set apart for prayer. It also means that individual prayer would like breathing. Prayer would would be so natural that we do not even realize we are doing it.

Am I dreaming? Imagine the blessings God would lavish on the church!

I Am Back!

Wow, it has been a long time since I have contributed to my blog. I was basically out of town for a month. I was in St. Paul, MN (Annual Meeting of the Baptist General Conference), Sweden, Russia, Finland and Norway (vacation). I am still a little tired, and if I don't get on a plane anytime soon, that will be just fine!

Back to the subject of prayer and revival. Here is a pretty good quote on constant praying...

"He prays well who is so absorbed with God that he does not know he is praying." ... Francois de Sales (1567-1622)

Many of God's Blessing as we seek His face in prayer!

Bryan

Dee Duke

Today in the Bethel Theological Seminary chapel in St. Paul, MN I spent much of the day listening to Pastor Dee Duke (Dee is a man!). He is the pastor of Jefferson Baptist Church in Jefferson, Oregon. He stated that he was excited about the Oregon State Beavers who just won the College World Series in Omaha. I was fortunate to watch the team beat Georgia last week.

As stated in my blog yesterday, God's power and glory was manifested after Pastor Duke led Jefferson Baptist Church to become a house of prayer. The motto of the church: "Much prayer, much blessing; little prayer, little blessing; no prayer, no blessing" is a good reminder for all of us to pray much.

Have a good day

Bryan

Prayer Champions at BGC Annual Meeting at Bethel University on June 27

Below are the words of Dana Olson. His blog site is also devoted to the subject of prayer. It is www.prayerfirst.blogspot.com

On June 27th our Prayer First ministry is sponsoring a day for Prayer Champions. If you are currently trying to mobilize prayer in your church, or simply have a heart for prayer in your church, you are welcome to this event. You will receive a free copy of Dee Duke's book, Prayer Quest, and Dee will share his remarkable story and insights in two sessions. Please join us from 11:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Seminary Chapel of Bethel University. Cost for on-site registration is only $35, and that includes the free book! Here is an article I wrote briefly sharing Dee's story. It appeared this spring in the magazine, BGC World:

“What do you mean you’re leaving?”

By Dana Olson

When Dee Duke’s father took military retirement, he purchased a dairy farm in Washington. Dee’s high school graduation dream was to be the world’s greatest dairy farmer. Prior to settling down with his dad, he decided to enter Bible college.

There, the young Duke and his wife helped a pastor start a church in the small town of Jefferson, Ore. When he finished school, Duke, his wife and kids returned to the farm. It was his great love. He also became very active in his local church — so much so that the pastor wanted to make him his assistant. This sounded terrific to Duke, dairy farming and ministry together. But at the church business meeting the proposal was defeated.

Deeply disappointed, Duke poured himself into the farm. It seemed his future lay there. Then one day the telephone rang. It was Jefferson, Ore., calling. “We don’t know if you’ve heard, but things have not gone well here. The pastor left and we’re down to just a few people. We are planning to close the church, but we thought that before we did, we would call you. If you and your wife will come back to Jefferson, we’ll keep the church open and try to make a go of it.”
Whew. A tough decision. Duke loved that farm, and plans were in place for him to take it over. But there was a pull to use his ministry training. His father advised, “Perhaps if you don’t give this a try, you’ll always regret it.” So Duke and his family packed up and moved to Jefferson.

The ministry flourished. Jefferson Baptist Church grew to 50, then 75, 100 and more. The people responded, and God blessed the work.

Then there were setbacks. The church fell into a pattern of ups and downs, growing toward 200 attendees, then falling back to 100. The church remained viable, but the peaks and valleys were starting to take a toll. The breakthrough of that 200 barrier never seemed to come. Duke finally thought he had done all he could. He prepared a resignation letter.

Before he could submit it at the next board meeting, another letter arrived. It came from Joe Aldrich, then president of Multnomah School of the Bible, inviting Duke to join other pastors from the region at the first-ever “pastors prayer summit.”

No agenda, except four days of worship and prayer. No special speakers. No planning or strategy meetings. Just prayer. This seemed impossible to Duke. How could anyone pray for four days?

But the summit would be held at a camp on the gorgeous Oregon coast, and Duke thought how nice it would be to hike the coast before resigning. He would attend some of the prayer sessions and walk the coast when bored.

It never got boring. God touched that first summit with revival. Many pastors changed dramatically — Duke was one of them. He didn’t skip a session.

Before leaving the camp, he made a list of seven prayer goals for himself and his church:

Spend one uninterrupted hour per day praying by himself.
Spend one hour per day praying with at least one other person.
Pray for everyone in the church by name weekly.
Pray at least once per month with other pastors.
Preach on prayer for three months.
Plan four major church prayer events each year (always precede a major evangelistic thrust).
Identify their “farm” (20 miles in every direction from the church). Claim it and target prayer for it.

Duke returned to JBC and shared these seven items. The congregation began the journey to become a praying church. As they did, God confronted them about their lack of love. Known today as a praying church, they are also known as the loving church, because they have constantly searched for practical ways to show love to the community.

In a town of 2200 people, JBC has an attendance of well over 1000 people and has planted two daughter churches nearby, with a third starting in September. They have extensive missions work overseas. Many prayer ministries have developed, including targeted prayer teams, an official “church intercessors” group (commit to 100 hours of prayer for the year: 50 at home and 50 at church) and more than 40 prayer meetings per week.

Their motto: “Much prayer, much blessing; little prayer, little blessing; no prayer, no blessing.”

DANA OLSON IS DIRECTOR OF BGC PRAYER FIRST MINISTRIES

Are We Spiritually Bankrupt?

In the book, "The School of Charity" (1934), Evelyn Underhill made the observation that we are spiritually bankrupt when we do not love as we are called to love. "If we do not at least try to manifest something of Creative Charity in our dealings with life, whether by action, thought, or prayer, and do it at our own cost--if we roll up the talent of love in the nice white napkin of piety and put it safely out of the way, sorry that the world is so hungry and thirsty, so sick and so fettered, and leave it at that: then, even that little talent may be taken from us. We may discover at the crucial moment that we are spiritually bankrupt."

1904 Revival in Wales

Good Morning. Much has been written about the 1904 revival in Wales. Below is yet another reminder that in the same way that revival visited that country, America is in need of a fresh fire from heaven.

Revival in Wales, 1904

he second Sunday of February 1904, Florrie Evans rose to speak in a youth meeting at Tabernacle Calvinistic Methodist Church in New Quay, Wales: I am unable to say very much today but I love the Lord Jesus with all my heart he died for me.1 Her words were few, but they were quite enough to spark a nationwide revival, with 85,000 new professions of faith in Christ.

Distressed at the low spiritual state of churches in the area, her pastor, Joseph Jenkins, had scheduled meetings to address the problem. Florrie attended and became convicted of sin. When she sought Jenkins counsel, he asked if Jesus were Lord of her life. She delivered her answer at that February youth gathering, and the Word and Spirit spread from that place mightily.

The groundwork laid in previous centuries was considerable. Elizabeth I saw the Bible translated into Welsh in the 16th century.2 In the 17th century, Rees Pritchard put Puritan teaching to rhyme as a memory aid for laymen.3 In the early 18th century, Griffith Jones founded literacy schools, with the Welsh Bible as the text.4 Mid-century, the preaching of Hywel Harris and Daniel Rowland complemented the work of Wesley and Whitefield in England.5 Meanwhile, William Williams, the Welsh Charles Wesley, penned such hymns as Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah.6 With the 19th century came Non-Conformist chapels and preachers, including the Baptist Christmas Evans.7 In 1859, the New York Prayer Revival jumped the Atlantic, adding perhaps 100,000 souls to Welsh churches. But by 1900, liberalism and worldliness had sapped the strength of Welsh Christianity.8

The first Keswick-in-Wales Convention, held in the summer of 1903, stirred the hearts of many young ministers, causing them to yearn for more spiritual power. This was their prayer, and, in 1904, this was God's gift to them.9 The fire was lit in February, and the subsequent blessings were manifold and widespread. Here are some of the more noteworthy features of the revival:

1. The Prayer. Seth Joshua prayed, Bend us, Oh Lord,and that became the revival cry.10
2. The Preacher. At Seth Joshua's and the Holy Spirit's prompting, Evan Roberts prayed Bend me, Oh Lord, and God empowered him to be the revivals lead preacher.11
3. The Library. Besides the Bible, Evan Roberts credited three books with greatest impact on his ministry: Thomas Charles Christian Instructor: A Summary of Christian Teaching, The Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Hymnbook, and John Bunyan's The Pilgrims Progress.12
4. The Healing. When doctors told Roberts brother Dan that his eyesight was deteriorating, Evan said the Lord needed him, and his eyes would be healed. They were immediately.13
5. The Way. Roberts urged hearers to: (1) Confess sin to God as the Spirit reveals it; (2) Remove doubtful things from one's life; (3) Surrender to the Spirit totally; (4) Confess Christ publicly.14
6. The Revival Love Song.Annie Davies rendition of Here Is Love Vast as the Ocean.15
7. The Political Impact. Welsh MP and later British Prime Minister Lloyd George cancelled political meetings to avoid conflicts with the revival.16
8. The Social Impact. The crime rate dropped, old debts were repaid, ale houses stood empty, and work improved in the mines.17
9. The Unity. Denominational rivalry largely disappeared during the revival.18
10. The Attacks. No work of God would be complete without its detractors. Rev. Peter Price, a Congregational Minister in Dowlais, took to the newspapers to denounce Evan Roberts.19

The revival was a glorious time, but spiritual vitality is not inherited. Today, Wales languishes in spiritual disarray. But God has returned in power to that region repeatedly in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Now, in the 21st century, it is time once again for urgent utterance of the prayer, Bend us, Oh Lord. It appears that great things happen when the people thus petition God.

Footnotes :

1 Kevin Adams and Emyr Jones, A Pictorial History of Revival: The Outbreak of the 1904 Welsh Awakening (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2004), 40-43.
2 Ibid., 20.
3 Ibid., 22.
4 Ibid., 23.
5 Ibid., 24.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid., 25.
8 Ibid., 30-31.
9 Ibid., 36.
10 Ibid., 65.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid., 52.
13 Ibid., 75.

A.W. Tozer on the Church Impacting Society

In the book, "God Tells the Man Who Cares", A.W. Tozer wrote that the church will actually transform the surrounding community as she prays and seeks to be uncontaminated by the world...

"By consecration, detachment, obedience and unceasing prayer we must escape the clutches of the world. Pure Christianity, instead of being shaped by its environment, actually stands in sharp opposition to it, and where the power of God has been present over a sustained period the church has sometimes reversed the direction of things and exercised a purifying effect upon society" (p. 45).

Historically, revival begins with God's people in the church, and then it moves out into the community. Revival is not needed if the church is actually being the church that God intended. Holiness and "unceasing prayer" will get us closer to what the Lord desires.

For Jesus Alone!

Bryan

Prayer or Committees?

In the early 1900s, Samuel Chadwick said, "The church that multiplies committees and neglects prayer may be fussy, noisy, enterprising, but it labors in vain and spends its strength for naught. It is possible to excel in mechanics and fail in dynamics. There is an abundance of machinery; what is wanting is power" (quoted in Fresh Power by Jim Cymbala, p. 142).

It is not any different in the 21st century. A church that emphasis committees, programs, marketing, technology, meeting the budget or anything over fervent prayer will be wanting in power.

Rebuilding the Church Altar

Good morning. Vance Havner passed away 10 years ago, but his word to the church is still very much alive. This article is from Kairos Journal Weekly...

Spiritual Drought—Vance Havner (1901 – 1986)

Vance Havner grew up in the hills of North Carolina in the early twentieth century. Licensed to preach at the age of twelve and ordained at fifteen, this “backwoods” Baptist preacher spent his life calling people to true repentance. Boldly proclaiming the Word of God for seventy-three years, Havner came to be loved and known for his exacting style and ingenious wordplay. In the passage below, he draws pointed parallels between the people of God during Elijah’s times—the Mt. Carmel confrontation (1 Kings 18:30-39)—and the Church of his times. As Havner observes, fire from heaven falls on faithful prophets not on slick public-relations professionals.

The conditions today are just about much the same as they were in the times of Elijah. We’re living in a spiritual drought. There’s a famine of the hearing the Word of the Lord. Ahab and Jezebel sit in high places. Idolatry abounds. And yet God has His faithful remnant. We need an Elijah who can face Ahab and call convocation on Carmel, a confrontation with Baal, and a showdown with forces of evil.

We’re a little short on prophets. We need to rebuild the broken altar and put the sacrifice of a dedicated life thereupon. But before we can expect any fire from heaven, we must drench the altar. I’ve heard plenty of preaching about rebuilding the altar. I’ve heard sermons about presenting our body as living sacrifice. But the hardest lesson for anybody in Christian service to learn is that we cannot help God out in the slightest by warming up the altar in the energy of the flesh.

We try to start a fire of our own and think that’ll help out God’s fire. It won’t do it. We’re ashamed to be laughed at by the world. We don’t dare face the Midianites with Gideon’s band, so we mob-o-lize. We don’t mobilize, we mob-o-lize a multitude who know little and care less about spiritual warfare, who never have understood that the Bible is the Lord’s and the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We’re afraid to face old Goliath today with sling and stone. We want to wear the latest equipment, and Saul’s armory is working overtime. We must be up-to-date and borrow all the technique of the world to do the work of God. But you can’t organize revivals as you do secular things, as the world puts on its drives and campaigns.

You can’t run a church as you would a business corporation. You can’t work up mere human enthusiasm to put over the work of the Lord. We all give lip service, of course, to the Holy Spirit: “Not by might nor power, but by my Spirit” (Zech. 4:6). We sing, “Kindle a flame of sacred love in these cold hearts of ours” (Isaac Watts, “Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,” 1707). But actually we’re so wired up to our own devices that if the fire doesn’t fall from heaven, we can turn on a switch and produce some false fire of our own. And if there’s no sound of a mighty rushing wind, we’ve got the bellows all set to blow hot air instead.

But God answers by fire, not by feelings, not by fame, not by finances. You can blow up quite a blaze today on Carmel. We can do it, yes. But people are not crying out today, “The LORD, he is the God” (1 Kings 18:39).1


Footnotes :

1 Vance Hanver, When God Breaks Through: Sermons on Revival, edited and complied by Dennis J. Hester (Grand Rapids, MI; Kregel Publications, 2003), 54-55.