8-9- 2025 What is Revival?
What is a
revival? What does it really mean?
Webster’s
defines “revive” as return to consciousness or life, become active or
flourishing again, reanimate, restore (from an unused state), to renew.
Of course,
revival is the state of being the condition of the aforementioned.
Note that in
the bible, the word “revival” is not used.
The Hebrew
used for “revive” is chayah (2421)
which is translated be alive, quicken, recover, or be whole and is used in both
present and past tense.
A single
Greek word is anazao (326) meaning
live again or revive and is used only twice in the New Testament, both used a
past tense situation. Once where sin is
revived (Rom. 7:9) and again
speaking of Jesus’ resurrection (Rom.
14:9).
Childhood revival in Baptist Church
As a young
child, I remember going to a church located about two blocks away. From the top of my street, one direction from
my house was two blocks to the main road between Washington DC and Annapolis,
Md. The other direction, two blocks
again, the road ‘Y’d’ and there sat the church, in a house. I think that it was a Lutheran church, I
don’t remember anything else about that church so I don’t think I went there
for long.
I do
remember the Southern Baptist Church which my neighbor across the street
attended. Their son was my age so we
went through school and Sunday School together.
In those days, Jr. High ran grades 7-9 and High School ran 10-12 and I
attended this church during those years.
After graduation, I attended that church sporadically until I met my
wife, about eight years later.
I remember
that the Baptist Church always had an evangelist come in, I think, late spring
or early summer. Now, most of these
evangelists were fresh out of bible school, practicing what they had learned in
their schooling, some, perhaps, strengthening their so they might pastor their
own church. Understand, not all
graduates became evangelists, but all were looking for a church to connect
with.
When my
“girl-friend” and I decided to marry, the Baptist Church I had attended had
recently brought in a new pastor who was till in his first year (I think). This is the man who performed our wedding
ceremony and we began attending there as she also had a Southern Baptist
background. Evangelists were still brought
in annually.
Back then,
the evangelist was supposed to give the church a “shot in the arm”, to revive
them, to bring a little life back into their being. As I remember, when an evangelist came, He
revved up everybody trying to ignite new ‘fire’ for Jesus. That was his job and it always seemed to work
– for a while. But after the evangelist
was gone, most people settled back into their ‘groove’, their ‘comfort
zone’. The pastor was always encouraging
us to abide in god’s love and to be friendly with our brothers and sisters and
visitors, but the Holy Ghost was not evident in our church. Yes, most folks did their best to live a
Godly life (as they saw it), most sang along with the songs from the hymnal. That was good yet the pastor had to encourage
the few ‘Amens’ which were heard during his sermon.
Over the
years, Father has taken me through some ‘main-stream’ churches as well as many ‘full-gospel’ and Pentecostal churches having
me take note of the flow of the service which varied greatly.
The bible
tells us that no one speaking in the Holy Ghost can call Jesus accursed nor can
anyone call Jesus Lord without the Holy Ghost.
In other words, we cannot confess Jesus as Savior unless the Holy Ghost
is in us (1 Corinth. 12:3). Paul also
tells us not to ‘quench the Spirit’ (1Thess. 5:19). Here, the Greek word for quench is abennumi (G4570) which means to quench,
put out or extinguish. In short, it’s
not just the simple fact that the Holy Ghost is in us, but we must make the
decision to allow God’s love ot operate through us as well.
When the
apostles and disciples were baptized with the Holy Ghost in the upper room,
what happened. What sounded like a rushing wind was heard,
what appeared to like flames of fire rested on (and in) each of the 120 who
were present and they were filled with the Holy Ghost. They began to speak with
other tongues. Tongues is the Greek word
glossa (G1100) which basically means
acquiring a language one did not learn naturally. They also spilled out into the streets and
the crowd observing them said they acted like ‘men on new wine (drunk). AND no matter what language men spoke, they all
understand what these Hebrew men were saying!
Peter reminded them that these 120 were fulfilling the prophecy of Joel
(Joel 2:228-29, Acts 2:`1-16,).
In Ezekiel
37:1- 14, Ezekiel speaks about the dry bones of Israel. Children who had become complacent in knowing
“The Law”, they had forgotten who God truly is.
Their ‘religion’ had become nothing more than dried out actions which
desperately need a ‘shot in the arm, kick in the butt or whatever. Father showed Ezekiel how to bring this pile
of dried bones back to life. A process,
yes, but even after these bodies were reformed, even though they stood up and
could communicate, they complained. Though
hey move around, they were no yet truly alive.
Father says that He’ll give us what was still lacking – His Spirit
(the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost comes
from God (John 14:26).
Many
churches send evangelists out into the world to ‘save’ souls. To receive Jesus into their hearts. All well and good, but how many of those
souls still have something lacking?
Though Philip’s preaching brought many souls into the kingdom of God,
Peter and John went to Samaria so these same folks might receive he Holy Ghosts
(Acts 8:1-17). Also, consider the twelve
men Paul encountered on the road to Ephesus, who had received John’s
baptism. “Have you received the Holy
Ghost since you believed?”, Paul asked. To paraphrase a bit, the response was
“Er, what’s a Holy Ghost?” (Acts 19:1-7).
Also consider Cornelius and those in his household (Acts 10:1-48). Here, the first 29 verses recount Cornelius’,
then Peter’s account of this story on how they came together, then vs 30-48
tells us what happened. We see
situations where people received Jesus and were baptized in the Holy Ghost then
they were baptized in water, Note that in either case, Jesus was received
first!
As I said in
the beginning, revival does just that, revives, renews or brings back to consciousness. Anything alive does not need reviving, only
something that has died or is close to dying.
Webster’s says that evangelism, basically, is bringing the good news of
Jesus Christ to those who don’t know Him.
Interesting that the bible only mentions the word ‘evangellist(s) three
times. The Greek word is euaggelistes (G2099) which means
evangelist or preacher of the gospel.
Here is another word to consider – ‘watchman’. Watchman is only used in the Old Testament. Three words are translated as ‘watchman’
- Natsar
H5341) which imeans to guard, observe or preserve, tsapah (H6822) which is to observe or behold and shamar (H8104) which is take heed, be
aware, observe, watch or the like. So,
the evangelist is intended to draw souls into the kingdom of God. Ezekiel tells us that the people need to set
a ‘watchman’ so that if an enemy approaches, the people can be warned so they
can take measures to protect themselves.
They are safe. But if the
watchman doesn’t do his job, the enemy can come and the people are harmed, the
watchman carries he blame. But when he watchman
does his job but the people don’t listen and the people are overrun, the people
are to blame But when the watchman
doesn’t do his job, the burden is on him for not warning the people (Ezek.
33:1-7). Looking at the two definitions,
we may draw the conclusion the though the evangelist brings souls into the
church while the watchman watches for problems outside the church – or maybe
inside as well.
Why did Paul
write the letters to the churches he established? He heard that they had fallen off track, they
were not following the original teaching Father had given them. As an example, Paul writes Timothy to tell the
people that they had gotten off ‘track’ and need to spiritually make things
right again (2 Tim. 2:14-21).
Jesus spent
three years sharing the New Covenant with the Jews on how He is fulfilling the
old covenant. Note, I said fulfill, not
replace. There is a difference. Father obligated Israel to ‘do’ the Law (10
Commandments) and in so doing, they would be expressing their love for Him
(Yaweh) and be saved. AS we read the Old
Testament, we see where many Israelites actually loved God from their heart and
not just in what they did (read Genesis through Malachi). Jesus encourages us to not be like the
hypocritical Jews who did things for show, but rather do it from our heart in
sincerity and honesty (Matt. 6:1-6).
Jesus was not introducing a ‘new foundation’ to the Jews but clarifying
the meaning of the old, that is renewing their understanding. But with the Gentiles, He was bringing new
words of life through which they could learn and grow. Jesus performed the duties of both a watchman
and an evangelist!
Confessing
Jesus as Savior and being baptized in water to wash away our sin is just the
first step we must take to enjoy eternal fellowship with the Father. And yes, Father will bless us as we abide in
His will (John 15:7) in this life.
And yes,
Jesus IS the Rock of our salvation, the foundation of our relationship with
Father through Jesus by the power of the Holy Ghost (Acts 1:8).
There are
two aspects of a covenant. One is the
one who offers it and then those who agree with it (confessing Jesus, Rom.
10:8-13). Once we have received Jesus
into our heart, now our journey truly begins.
That is, we become a ‘living’ sacrifice for, in and with Jesus. We renew our minds daily with His Word and
then doing it as a demonstration of our love for our Lord (Rom. 12:1-2). Our faith is demonstrated through our works
(James 15-20).
After
‘salvation’, we find that we still may ‘commit’ sin. So what’s going on here? AS Paul says we all have sinned (Rom. 3:23). Our old nature is still with us, but praise
the Lord, Jesus has overcome our old nature (Rom; 7:14-25). So I have to bring my body under subjection,
that is my control (1 Corinth. 9:27) by not repaying evil with evil but build a
joyful Spirit within me, pray continually, be thankful for what I do have,
allowing the Holy Spirit full operation in me and through me, receive prophecy
from those who follow God, treat all people as creations of God (‘saved’ or
not), etc. (1 Thess. 5:14-26). And
should we sin, acknowledge, confess, repent and renounce that sin (1 John 1:9,
Acts 3:19 & Prov. 28:13). Then put
the sin (as Father does) behind our back (Isa. 38:17 and cast them into the
depths of the sea (Micah 7:19), or as Father allows me to say “into the sea of
forgetfulness’. Then, let’s get back
into the ‘race’, on the right track. Confess
= homologeo (G3670) which to confess
or admit. Repent = metaneo (G3440) which is to change one’s mind about something. Renounce = azab (H5800) forsake or leave destitute. In other words, when Father forgives us our
sin, He totally forgets them, they are out of His mind. Should we do any less?
Once we’ve
fallen short of Father’s expectations (sinned), we’ve already mentioned the
first step we must take. There are other
things we must do so that we don’t fall into our enemies snares again. Three things pop out at us immediately (or at
least they should). 1. We have to read the
bible. The scriptures describes God’s
love for us as well as giving us a multitude of examples to help us understanding
and guidance so we can implement that love.
A biggie would be “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son so that none should perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16, 2 Peter
3:9). Even though someone else may share
with us, the scriptures confirm the truths of God. We also need to keep reading the scriptures
and the Holy Ghost will help us to get a deeper understanding of our
relationship with the Lord (Rom. 12:2, John 16:13)
2. Prayer time with our Lord. Taking the time to talk with Him and then listening to what he has to tell
us. The Holy Ghost will teach us to
recognize Father’s voice. Father reveals
things to us through the Holy Ghost (1 Tim. 2:10-13). Understanding scripture helps us to recognize
when it is the Holt Ghost speaking to
us. What we hear in our heart and what we read in the bible are in
agreement. The more contact we have with
our Lord in prayer, the more He is able to grow us (Rom. 2:12).
3 Reading the bible and praying with Father helps
us to grow in our relationship with Him.
Our Father indicates this when came to visit Adam and Eve in the garden
(Gen. 3:8). This example is given so
that we may conclude that this was a normal ‘thing’ for God to do – walk in the
garden and talk with Adam and Eve. Other
examples Father shares with us that He talked with His prophets, apostles and
disciples. God had a relationship with
them and now He desires one with us. Consider
that Jesus encountered Saul (Paul) on the rod to Damascus (Acts 9:1-7). As we open ourselves up to the Lord, He will
open Himself up to us. The Holy Ghost is
in us. Therefore we have the mind of
Jesus Christ and Father will reveal the depth of His love to us (1 Corinth.
2:11-16).
Paul tells
us to run the race as though we expect to win (1 Corinth. 9:24-25a). Don’t be fooled for many have already crossed
the finish line before us, but everyone who crosses that line is a
winner – through Jesus Christ, our Lord! It’s not just ‘that we cross the
finish line’ but ‘how’ we finish - in love and joy.
As we live
for, in and with Jesus, Father has placed a ‘calling’ upon each and every one
of us. Not everyone will become a great
preacher or a magnificent singer or even an awesome athlete. If so, where are the teachers, those who can
‘run’ a successful business, the librarians, clerks or maintenance staff. Take a look at the production of a musical
concert or a movie. There a lot of
people working together to make these things happen – writers, musicians, directors,
cameramen, stage crew, etc. All we have
to do is ask and Father will show us to that which He has called us . Then, we
allow Father to hone our skills so we can perform to the best of our ability to
please God. as we do our ‘jobs’, we find
favor with God, we will also find favor with man (Prov. 3:1-4).
Evangelism
is bringing life to those who have yet to enter into the kingdom of God. It can also help to revive a dying
church.
Like the
prodigal son, one must have had something to come back into it (Luke 15:11-24). The watchman sounds the alarm when danger
approaches, whether that danger is outside the church or comes from within.
Revival is
for the church when a church slides back into complacency from being too
‘comfortable’.
Revival is
pouring life back into a body (the church), no matter the level of the sign of
life.
Amen
