"But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked person from among you." 1Corinthians 5:11-13 (NIV)
God wants his church to be holy and pure. He expects our obedience in this matter. It gives God a bad name when His people knowingly live in sin. Paul also tells the Corinthians that a little yeast will leaven the whole batch of dough--in other words, sin in the church only grows. See what Francis Chan has to say in this brief video:
http://youtu.be/L6IX3opKF4A
"I said, 'Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.'"
"But you have cultivated wickedness and harvested a thriving crop of sins. You have eaten the fruit of lies—trusting in your military might, believing that great armies could make your nation safe." Hosea 10:12-13 (NLT)
God is speaking through the prophet Hosea to Israel--it could very easily be America. What kind of seeds are we sowing? Greed, immorality, hatred, violence, abortion--just to name a few. Our nation has believed the lie that we don't need God. We can take care of ourselves. How is that working for us?
"Now is the time to seek the LORD". We break up the hard ground of our hearts by letting God examine us, and by confessing our sin. Sin in the church is the major obstacle to revival. We can't expect anything from God until we've dealt with it!
"Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you, I will make known to you my teachings. But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
"Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD. Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm." Proverbs 1:23-33 (NIV)
"Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him." Daniel 9:13-14 (NIV)
What is America's response to disaster? Relentlessly pursue and bring to justice the guilty party (this, of course, does not work in the case of natural disasters!) and vow to rebuild whatever has been torn down. No one suggests that God's judgement might be the cause and that repentance would be the proper response. More and more Christians are thinking it's true--that God's judgement has fallen on America, but very few will come right out and say it. What are we afraid of? That people who are already hostile to God won't like Him if we say that He is not only a God of love, but also a God of judgement? That those same people will think we are radical lunatics to preach such nonsense in this "enlightened" age of reason?
God has called us to be His witnesses. If the ship is sinking, shouldn't someone sound the alarm? How will people know the proper response if they don't understand what's happening?
"Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you...' "
Zechariah 1:3 (NIV)
After the latest act of terror in Boston, officials of the government keep talking about when things will "return to normal". One of the suspects is dead, the other in custody. We can all go back to life as usual, right?
The answer to that question is "no". We cannot go back--to go back would be burying our heads in the sand, pretending as if this tragedy never happened. There are lessons to be learned, not the least of which is our need for God. America has abandoned God, so God has taken His hands off America. We no longer have the benefit of His wisdom, His guidance, His hand of protection. Does that mean that God wants nothing more to do with America? No--He is always calling people to repentance--but that involves swallowing our pride and admitting that we have done wrong.
Our country is obsessed with materialism--our possessions are just a diversion that keep us from focusing on what really matters. Things never satisfy the deepest longing of our heart. That is why we frantically keep acquiring more--trying to fill an empty space that only God can fill.
Adding new security cameras, hundreds more police officers, or detailed background checks will not make us safe. There is a sickness in our country that only God can heal. His law was given for our good. Without God, our country is morally bankrupt--do whatever seems right in your own eyes. That is exactly what these terrorists are doing.
Go back to business as usual? That will not be possible for those who have been personally affected by this tragedy--those who have lost limbs, or those who have lost loved ones. It should not be possible for the rest of us. If we don't learn something from this crisis, if we are not personally changed, then the enemy has won.
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20 (NIV)
This is the key to the Spirit-filled life--crucifying the flesh so that the life of Christ can live in me. Not many want to do this because it means giving up control--it means surrender. In My Utmost for His Highest (updated edition), Oswald Chambers describes it this way:
"After the decision to be identified with Jesus in His death has been made, the resurrection life of Jesus penetrates every bit of my human nature. It takes the omnipotence of God--His complete and effective divinity--to live the life of the Son of God in human flesh. The Holy Spirit cannot be accepted as a guest in merely one room of the house--He invades all of it. And once I decide that my 'old man' (that is, my heredity of sin) should be identified with the death of Jesus, the Holy Spirit invades me. He takes charge of everything. My part is to walk in the light and to obey all that He reveals to me."
"On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit...But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:4,5,8 (NIV)
What is it that enables us to labor in prayer with a broken heart for God's Church? For our Nation? What brings about powerful conversions when men of God speak? It doesn't come naturally, but supernaturally. In revival accounts, authors continually refer to the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the missing ingredient today. How can we expect God to pour out his blessings on our fleshly efforts?
In the verses above, Jesus commanded his disciples not to do anything until they had received the promised Holy Spirit. If it was that important to Jesus, shouldn't we think twice before doing anything for Him in our own strength?
"It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a den of robbers." Matthew 21:13 (NIV)
There was a time when churches met weekly for prayer. During the great revivals, people cried out to God until the wee hours of the morning, without concern for comfort or loss of sleep. What has happened? Today, it's hard to find a church that still holds a weekly prayer meeting. Yet the times are desperate. If ever our country and the church needed prayer it's now. Earthquakes, famines, floods, natural disasters of every kind are more and more frequent. Nations war against each other and the threat of nuclear war grows. Christians are persecuted, thrown into prison and even murdered--wickedness abounds. Our children are killing each other on campuses across America and there is no public place that can be considered safe. All the things described as being evidence of the end times are here--NOW--and the birth pains are growing stronger by the minute. Why are the pastors not sounding the alarm? Why are they not calling their people to prayer? The silence in the church is deafening.
He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor..." Isaiah 59:16 (NKJV)
"Almost every night there has been a shaking among the people; and I have seen nearly 20 set at liberty. I believe I should have seen many more, but I cannot yet find one pleading man. There are many good people; but I have found no wrestlers with God."
William Bramwell, Revivalist
"The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." James 5:16 (NIV)
Charles Finney told the story of a town that had not seen revival in many years--the church was nearly dead. A blacksmith in that town was at work when he felt a great burden to pray for the church. He closed his business and spent the entire afternoon in prayer. He then went to the pastor and asked him to call a church meeting, to which the pastor reluctantly agreed. That evening, the house where the meeting was to take place was overflowing with people. No one spoke at first. Then one man cried out for someone to please pray for him. That cry was followed by another, and then another, until it was discovered that people were under conviction from every part of town. All those who came under conviction stated that it began at the very time that the blacksmith had been praying.
"Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD." Joel 1:13-14 (NIV)
How many of us can say that we weep and cry out to God for the souls of the lost, for the condition of our country? Not me, I am ashamed to say. Oswald J. Smith says that revival praying--prayer that moves the heart of God--is like giving birth: it doesn't happen without hard labor. As I read the accounts of great revival preachers, that is the one thing they all had in common. They labored long and hard in prayer, with powerful results. I want to pray like that. If the condition of our world breaks God's heart, shouldn't it break our hearts too? Can we really expect God to be moved by our brief and shallow petitions?
"For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." 1Corinthians 2:2 (NIV)
"Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah." Acts 5:42 (NIV)
What was the overwhelming message of these revival preachers who were used so mightily by God? It was the message of Paul and Peter, the message of the early church--repentance and salvation through Jesus Christ. Their passion was to reach the lost and to bring about repentance, and they never failed to see results. Not only did they see results, but peoples' lives were forever changed and they became devoted to God. How different things are today. It seems to me that we don't hear that message much anymore--as if it's too much to expect people to respond to it. And those who do respond, quickly learn that God is just one more thing they have to fit into their busy schedule. Why is this? I think there is something missing in most of today's preaching--it's the Holy Spirit's power and anointing. When He is in control, the pastor doesn't have to convince people to become Christians, or to make Jesus the Lord of their lives. Instead they ask, as the man in Acts did, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
"And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (NIV)
Paul stated it perfectly--It's really not about fancy speech or persuasive words. As you can see from the account of the Welsh Revival, and the story of Charles Finney, sometimes the crys of the people were so loud that the preacher couldn't even preach. This experience was repeated over and over again in various places where revival had broken out. When revival comes, it will be because the power of the Holy Spirit has come down, not because the pastor had a great sermon. The most eloquent words will fall flat if the Holy Spirit is not behind them.
"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power..." 1 Corinthians 2:4 (NIV)
"The Spirit of God came on them in mighty, convicting power, and a Revival started. It then spread to the surrounding country until finally nearly the whole of the Eastern States was held in the grip of a Mighty Awakening. Whenever Mr. Finney preached the Spirit was poured out. Frequently God went before him so that when he arrived at the place he found the people already crying out for mercy. Sometimes the conviction of sin was so great and caused such fearful wails of anguish that he had to stop preaching until it subsided."
From The Revival We Need by Oswald J. Smith
"Because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction."
1 Thessalonians 1:5 (NIV)
"It was 1904. All Wales was aflame. The nation had drifted far from God. The spiritual conditions were low indeed. Church attendance was poor. And sin abounded on every side.
Suddenly, like an unexpected tornado, the Spirit of God swept over the land. The churches were crowded so that multitudes were unable to get in. Meetings lasted from ten in the morning until twelve at night. Three definite services were held each day. Evan Roberts was the human instrument, but there was very little preaching. Singing, testimony, and prayer, were the chief features. There were no hymn books; they had learnt the hymns in childhood. No choir, for everybody sang. No collection; and no advertising.
Nothing had ever come over Wales with such far-reaching results. Infidels were converted, drunkards, thieves, and gamblers saved; and thousands reclaimed to respectability. Confessions of awful sins were heard on every side. Old debts were paid. The theatre had to leave for want of patronage. Mules in the coal mines refused to work, being unused to kindness. In five weeks 20,000 joined the churches."
From The Revival We Need by Oswald J. Smith
