Revival

1. In the 1980’s a spirit of revival hit Australia, transforming the Christian landscape of Churches in Australia. Our Pastor and Church was experiencing an incredible movement of the Holy Spirit. I, as an 18-year-old experienced this and it became normal for me. I saw grown men and women under the power of the Holy Spirit, and young people weeping as they encountered the love of the Father. It was normal to hear about people coming to faith, experiencing physical healing, set free from addiction and demonic oppression. Being young and seeing all this happening, really got hold of my spirit.
2. Let’s go forward 20-30 years, I refuse to accept a new normal of only a trickle of salvation, or only a few signs and wonders and people are disengaged during worship. I cry out Habakkuk 3:2. In college I remember reading stories of revivals – the Welsh, the Wesleyan, the Azuza street revivals, the 1949-1953 Hebrides revival. I want to get caught up in these revivals and I want to experience it here in Glyfada this week.
3. I want to talk a little about the Hebrides revival which started with 2 ladies, Peggy and Christine Smith (One 82 years old, with arthritis and the other 84 years old and blind). They began to press into God. They couldn’t get to Church and so they prayed for the Holy Spirit to rain down. Soon some people joined them for their prayer meetings. The minister of the church there at Barvas was called Duncan Campbell, and he wrote some of the stories about that revival. One night, on their knees they were pleading a promise from Isaiah 64:1-3 and a deacon read Psalm 24:3-5 and he looked at the leadership of the church as if saying that they were hypocrites praying there, because we are not rightly related to God. Then he asked God ‘Are my hands clean and my heart pure?’ and fell to the ground under the power of God. They were all convicted that a revival must be related to holiness. So, the power of God swept through the Parish (Psalm 24: 7-8). The Lord opened up the gates of heaven and the stories that followed were mind blowing. One such story goes that the deacon was walking out the door with the rest of the people, when he stopped, looked towards heaven and cried ‘Lord, You can’t fail us!’ and he again fell to the ground under the power of God.
4. At 11 pm suddenly the doors opened and in came the blacksmith saying ‘Pastor. Something wonderful has happened. God has done what they had been praying for – that He would pour water on the dry ground.’ Outside the door were 600 people. God had swept through the place. Next door, there were 100 people having a great time dancing and having fun and suddenly the power of God fell upon them also. The music stopped and the hall became empty, running towards the church, hungry and thirsty for the Word of God. At 4 am they all walked out of the church. There were 300 people outside Peggy and Christine’s house.
5. In any revival there are some forerunners – movements of prayer and movements of holiness, like the deacon who asked of God for clean hands and a pure heart. This is called ‘Undivided devotion’. When we talk about Holiness, we talk about being set apart for the purpose of God, following the way of Jesus. This is the fruit of holiness, but what is the root of holiness. It is undivided devotion to Jesus. As Chuck Degroat says ‘…Through the lens of our utter oneness with God’.
6. If we ask the Jews about holiness, they would probably quote Deuteronomy 6:4-9 which is the Sh’ma which they pray every day. We need to have undivided devotion to God, which is why this prayer. This is the root of Holiness which leads to the fruit of Holiness and obedience to God’s commands. Notice the order here – wholehearted obedience follows wholehearted devotion. The Root links to the Fruit.
7. What does undivided devotion to Jesus look like? Honoring God with every part of our lives. We’ll focus on what happens when people gather together to collectively host His presence. There are churches that do this really well. Because this is when the Spirit moves. The Psalmist says that the Spirit inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). Then His Kingdom comes and signs and wonders begin to flow. If we want this, then how do we host the presence of God.
8. I like the book ‘The Five Languages of love’ (Gary Chapman). Maybe you’ve seen an older couple at a restaurant, there’s no spark between them. My wife could spot such couples and she would say ‘Peter may it never be us’. What if we embrace some of that in the Church. Like if our worship lacks intimacy. Our words are so important, since we are made in the likeness of God, who creates through speech, ‘Let there be Light and there was light’. When we speak Jesus’ Kingdom, His Kingdom begins to break in. 2 Chronicles 20:15,17 King Jehoshaphat gathers the people together to pray. They didn’t know what to do against the vast army against them, but he says ‘Our Eyes are on You’. Then the Lord says do not be afraid.
9. Ephesians 6, says you stand your ground, but it’s not passive standing, Satan wants to be worshipped, so, the most powerful weapon is worshipping God. When the devil tells me who I am, I tell him who God is. When in church we lift our hands up in worship it becomes a sacrifice of praise. When we give joyfully it becomes a sacrifice of praise. Worship is not only when the music starts. Worship is something that you are not what you do. If you’re in a hard place right now, lift your hands and declare how good God is. We need to be attentive to the words that are being sung, because that is what God is saying to the church at that time. If we remember the songs we sang before covid, we would see that God was telling us that a storm is coming, but that there is a way through that storm. My weapon is thanksgiving and this is how I fight my battles. When you are surrounded by the enemy, know that you are surrounded by the armies of heaven. Wherever you are at this time, praise your way out of it.
10. The message is that we should be like the deacon in the Hebrides Revival. Lord, I want You to open the gates of heaven. Give me clean hands and a pure heart. I want to be undivided in my devotion to Jesus. That’s when revival breaks out. I’d like to pray for you.