Psalm 85
This week we began a month of prayer.
Now some of you may wonder—why a month of prayer? Why spend extra effort praying for one month?
What do we hope to accomplish? Whenever prayer is suggested, there are always
some people who think of it as waste of time. They believe we should be doing
something more practical, like cleaning the church, knocking on doors, or
advertising. But there is nothing more practical than prayer. Nothing is more
essential to the growth and health of a church than a concerted effort in
prayer. Without revival, the church perishes. Without the Spirit, there is no
revival. Without prayer, and the right kind of prayer, the Spirit will not
come, and all our efforts to build the church ultimately come to nothing.
The Psalmist prays, “Will you not revive us again, that your people
may rejoice in you? This
implies three things to be true. (1) That at more
than one time in the past, God has revived His people. (2) That prayer for revival brings
revival. (3) That when revival comes,
the church will rejoice in God.
The Holy Spirit does not manifest Himself
in the church as a steady stream, but as a succession of waves, like breakers
on the seashore. Sometimes the Holy Spirit seems powerful and strong. Other times,
we can hardly feel Him.
The strong times are when revival comes among God’s people. The church flourishes. These are
times of great increase to the church, often accompanied by signs and wonders. But
these times do not last forever. At other times the Spirit seems to barely
move. These times are not outside of God’s plan, but are actually part of it. They
are times of resting and organizing. These times are hard and discouraging, but
they are as much of God’s plan as times of revival. But in time, when revival
comes again and the church goes forward. This is the way it is, and the way it has
always been.
There are seasons of the Spirit in
the Old Testament. He was active in the time of Abraham and the Patriarch, but
these days were followed by four hundred years of captivity. He was active in
the time of Moses and Joshua, but then came the period of the Judges, when the
Holy Spirit only showed sporadically. He was active in the days of King David
and Solomon, but after that fell into division and apostasy.
Jesus promised the Spirit would permanently
dwell with us, and so He does. He came at Pentecost, and the church was
literally on fire. Then persecution scattered it, and
division weakened it. Even so, the church grew, as the Holy Spirit continued to
bring awakenings and revivals in various places.
Throughout history, the power and presence
of the Spirit was more or less noticeable, depending upon the season. When the
Spirit was manifest, the church grew. When the Spirit dimmed, the church fell. The
Spirit ebbs and flows. There were great Spiritual revivals in the Fifth, Tenth,
Thirteenth, and Sixteenth Centuries. But there the growth Islam, the folly of
the Crusades and the inquisition, as well as wars between Christians quenched
the Spirit, and the Spirit’s presence dimmed for a time.
Officially, in America there were three
Great Awakenings that were mighty waves of the Spirit— one at the end of the 17th
Century, one at the end of the 18th Century, and one in the middle
of the 19th Century. Contrary to what some may think, America is not
nor ever will it be a Christian nation. But within this nation, the Holy Spirit
has moved mightily many times. This has given the American experience a
uniquely Christian perspective that until very recently was part of our
culture. That Christian influence is fading today, but another Great Awakening
could bring it back in almost an instant.
These waves of the Spirit have struck much
closer to home than we think. The ARP Church was built on revival. The
activities of the Puritans in England were also a revival of the Holy Spirit,
as were the preaching of the Erskines. That wave continued in America for many
years, and led our Spiritual ancestors to settle this area. In 1803, Revival
broke out at the Old Waxhaw Presbyterian church in Van Wyck.. More than two
thousand people traveled weekly from all over this area to attend a little
country church. This revival had a great effect, all denominations and people
worshipped together as one. But by 1806, the revival had cooled, and
factionalism prevailed. But our denomination was the product of a wave of the
Holy Spirit.
The last half of the Twentieth Century saw
several waves of the Holy Spirit in the 1950’s through the 1980’s. After World
War II, churches were planted in large numbers. One of them was Rogers
Memorial. By the 1960’s this wave of church planting had subsided, but a wave
of renewal began--the charismatic. This move was (and still is) controversial,
but there can be no doubt of its influence. In the 70’s and 80’s the Jesus
movement grew out of the charismatic movement and thousands of idealistic young
people found Christ and revolutionized the worship and music of the church.
More importantly, they brought revival to youth across the country. By the 1990’s that movement disappeared, but it
left behind the megachurch movement and contemporary Christian music. The
styles of worship we enjoy today are the direct result of those movements of
the Spirit, and many of our modern church leaders were saved during that time
of revival.
Now, let’s look at this church. Rogers
Memorial was the center of a move of the Holy Spirit in the period of 2001-2005,
when the Pointe ministry was going strong. This church was instrumental in
bringing hundreds of decisions for Christ. The size of the church more than
doubled in that time. This was not the result of good planning, talented
leadership or bold planning, but was a true move of the Spirit. The success of
the Pointe and the power of the Pointe was not in how it was organized or the
talent of the people involved. It was in the power of the Spirit, and how God
used them.
But like all movements of the Spirit, it
was a wave, not a tide. Now in 2016, three quarters of those involved have left
the church and gone elsewhere. Half left before 2009, and another half of those
left before I began preaching here in 2012. Once it seemed that everything here
was growing, now for four years we have struggled to survive.
It is human, I suppose, to seek to
understand what may have happened from a human perspective. Certainly there is enough blame to go around
for everyone, just as there is credit to be given out for our successes. But when
we do either, we miss the overall pattern, and we frankly offend God. God is in
charge. He is the bringer of revival. The waves of the Spirit not a work of the
flesh, but part of God’s appointed time.
The revival you once experienced did not happen
because of your efforts. It was a wave of the Spirit, and it crested and fell,
like all waves. When a wave comes, we should enjoy it, but we should also not
fool ourselves into thinking that we can hold the wave forever. When it comes,
our sand castles crumble, and we must start again.
Is there any way of predicting when a wave
of revival will come? Predicting revival
is like predicting earthquakes. We cannot know for sure, but we can observe the
conditions that bring it. Revival comes when we are desperate for it. He
doesn’t send revival when we are happy and content, or when everything is going
our way. God sends revival when we are burned out, fed up, and tired.
I have read that when a tsunami is coming,
the first thing anyone on the shore notices is that the water begins to recede
from the shore. The beach is exposed for hundreds of feet. People can sometimes
be fooled by this into walking out father on the exposed shore line. Then when
the giant wave appears, it drowns them. So it is with revival. Before revival
comes dissatisfaction. People wonder—where did the Spirit go? Often, they start
to blame each other. Little divisions get big as the Spirit seems to recede. The
Devil seems to have a field day, planting doubt and discouragement in our
hearts. Things seem to be falling apart.
This time of dissatisfaction is followed
by a season of prayer, repentance, and confession, as people humble themselves
before God. All our plans for self-revival have failed. The programs that once
sustained us seems to have fallen apart. It’s time to quit trying to fix
ourselves and to recognize we need God in our lives. 2 Chronicles 7: 14 says, “If my people who are called by My name will
humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear
from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.” There is no
revival without sincere, honest repentance and humbling.
The voice of pride says, “I know how to
fix this!” The voice of humility says, “God, You have to fix this!” As long as
we cling to the lie that we know what is best, the Spirit will not come. Only
when we humble ourselves before God will He make things right. The leaders of
the church must begin this by setting an example.
That’s where we are today. We have been in
a desert place for a long, long time. But there is a whiff in the air of water.
It may be that another revival is coming. All my life I have prayed to be there
when a great wave of the Spirit comes. We can do nothing to straighten out the
church, but this one thing we can do--we can humble ourselves and pray.
There are those who argue again that we
should be giving ourselves to advertising or programs, that we should be trying
to adjust this or that, to clean up the church and rebuild old programs, and so
we should. But that’s just building barrels to catch the rainwater when the
floods come. We don’t need more barrels, we need rain. We don’t need the
superficial work of people, but the mighty work of the Spirit.
This church has been blessed by revival in
the past, and we need it again. But it doesn’t come from better music or bigger
programs. It must be revived by the power of the Spirit.
I ask you to join me this month in the one
activity that can prepare the way for the coming of the Holy Spirit, joining
together in prayer. Prayer works when it is from the heart and full of
passion. Prayer can bring revival.
In the church where I was ordained, there
was an old farmer named John Creel. There was drought that lasted for several
months. The church held a special prayer meeting for rain. John came, and
brought his umbrella. When they left that prayer meeting, it was raining. Only
John was prepared.
Let us prepare for
revival today, by humbling ourselves and seeking the power of the Spirit. We
need to pray for revival in our church and in our country. Not only do we need to pray but we also
should bring our umbrellas. Only by the grace of God can we receive. 
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