Leonard Ravenhill- Biografia (Spanish Subtitles) — Leonard Ravenhill

I wrote this, only one life to assume be passed, only what's done for God will last, and when I am dying how glad I shall be if the lamp of my life has been burned out for thee. Only one life to assume be passed, only what's done for God will last.

Leonard Ravenhill’s Conversion and Early Spiritual Formation

To reflect on Leonard Ravenhill's life is simply a real inspiration. By any measurement, his was a remarkable life and a remarkable ministry. He was just a unique man that was used of God in the 20th century in a remarkable way.

He was converted when he was about 15. Just by seeing that his father had a spiritual reality that he himself didn't have, he came under conviction and he cried out to the Lord and was converted when he was 15.

From then on, he was engaged in evangelism, personal witness, serious prayer, serious prayer meetings. They were in holiness groups, they were kind of pre-Nazarene groups, but they weren't charismatic.

They didn't speak in tongues, they were just serious minded people who pursued the Lord and prayed perfectly. They were called the holiness trekkers and they actually full time walked the length and breadth of England.

The Holiness Trekkers and Itinerant Evangelism

They walked across England lengthwise and widthwise more than once, pushing a cart with a tent that they would erect and people would come in for preaching in the tent at night. And they carried a small backpack, each of them.

There would be 5 to 8 men on a team and they would go into a town, plan on staying 2 or 3 weeks, and sometimes it became 2 or 3 months because their preaching really had a high impact on the local areas all over the north of England and in Wales as well.

So, Leonard began to be a trekking evangelist from 1931 when he was 24 years old and he did that ministry throughout the 1930s into the 1940s. He was known as a powerful evangelist, fiery, passionate, courageous, fearless.

There's no concern, there has to come an awakening in the church to the peril. Those loved ones who are at the end of the table, they don't go to church. No, they're going to hell. Why don't you say it?

The Cost of Discipleship and the Necessity of Christ

The only time you can say Christ is all I need is when Christ is all you have.

Recovery, Perseverance, and Ministry in Ireland

He and his wife moved to Ireland. She was from Ireland. Martha was from Ireland. They moved there in the 1950s for Leonard to somewhat recover from a severe accident that he had when he had to jump out of a burning hotel.

And he had 7 major breaks in his body, his back and his feet and legs. It took 2 or 3 years to recover.

Then the doctor said, by another 11 years from now you'll be crippled and paralyzed. Your back's broken, your feet are broken, your legs are broken, you'll be useless. Well, I may be useless, but I'm still hanging on.

Revival, Conversion, and the Work of God

He saw local genuine revivals occur under their preaching in England and in Wales where scores of people came under conviction. And the meetings would extend sometimes 3 months. They would be in a town 3 months and they saw hundreds of true conversions.

And whole churches were birthed out of those movements. So there's some authentic work of God that happened.

The only thing that will tie me in victory continually through the blood of Christ is my personal devotion to Him, the Son of God. My adoration that I give Him my tribute every day. It's more than my service.

It's more than giving my money. That I love Him and I adore Him and I magnify Him. I take Him as it were by the feet. When I read Hebrews 11 I follow my phrase. Because not one person in Hebrews 11 ever had a Bible.

There's a verse there that staggers me and it says what? It says, they did by faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the vows of Zion. And then one verse says, not accepting deliverance.

What does it mean? I'd rather die than fail Christ.

Prayer as the Foundation of Ministry

Even from the early part of his Christian life he developed his prayer life. So he spent literally hours every day in private prayer, praying with other men. And it was just a phenomenal life that he lived.

I've said it many times, I say it again this morning, that no man is greater than his prayer life. A man's life, all his ministry, it showed. Do you see the difference between the wood and the hay and the stubble and the silver and the gold and the precious stones?

Wood, hay and stubble are above the ground, they catch the eye. Silver and gold and precious stones are below the ground, nobody sees them. There's a lot of public ministry in that day that's going to go down in ashes, my brother.

The Lord whom you seek, we're not seeking him. We're seeking revival, we're seeking healing, we're seeking miracles. It's not that we need. If we get God we get all that's needed. And revival is when God comes down.

Ravenhill’s Move to America

And finally in 1958 he had more open doors in America than he did in Britain. And he and Martha and the sons felt like God wanted them to move to America. So in the summer of 1958 they moved to Minneapolis.

Prophetic Preaching That Pierced the Conscience

The power of his preaching, the anointing of the Holy Spirit that rested upon him, it was piercing, it was gripping. As Tozer said, you couldn't be neutral toward Ravenhill, you either loved him or hated him.

Because his preaching was to the conscience and it stabbed you in the heart. And it called for a verdict. He was too hot to handle. And he wasn't just giving out information. It was prophetic, powerful preaching to the conscience.

Where the presence of God affected you when you heard him preach.

Obedience, Holiness, and Readiness for Christ’s Return

Because if there's anything about love, one thing about it, it's obedient. And if we get back to a people who are really baptized with obedience, submissive to the total will of God, not concerned about human opinion, not asking for more to spend prodigally on ourselves, but say, oh God I want this life of mine adjusting so when I stand in your awesome presence, as James says, we shall not be ashamed at his appearing.

Ravenhill’s Fiery Sayings and Warnings About Eternity

He was famous for his single, stand-alone, barbed statements that were like fiery arrows. We live in a day of itching ears but I have no commission from God to scratch them. Or things like that. And so he wanted to hit people with the truth so as to shake them and arouse them and wake them.

And stir them. That if there are a million roads into hell, there's not one road out. That if they continually sing in heaven, worthy is the lamb, in hell, the only thing they sing is the harvest is past, the summer is ended and we're not saved.

Prayer, Holiness, and the Danger of Religious Busyness

He exemplified what a true prayer life was and he preached about the importance of it. And so I saw that and I took it to heart, I took it seriously.

That prayer is a secret, you know that. You make up your mind you're going to give time to a prayer, the devil will fight it more than anything else. Your phone will ring off the hook, visitors will come.

Somebody will say, come and preach at our church. Why do you go conduct a revival in somebody else's church when you know he's dead?

That's nonsense. I took to heart his seriousness about God and the kingdom of God and the gospel and about preaching. He set a standard for me that said, this is what a preacher, how a preacher ought to view things.

No foolishness, no carnal entertainment, no seeking a popularity, no trying to be entertaining.

In my mind, entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy. The more joy you have in the Lord, the less entertainment you need. When you can say, thou, O Christ, art all I want. But listen, be careful, he may strip you of everything else you have.

You may lose some of your best friends that think you're fanatical. They don't mind you being kind and good, but you become holy and zealous and immediately...

Scripture, Study, and the Overflow of Devotional Life

He had a carnivorous appetite for truth and for the best books, the best reading. They never replaced the Bible because he would read and meditate in many chapters of the English Bible just daily. And he devoured it, he meditated in it, he fed on it as a Christian.

Not just to get sermons, he wasn't about that. And so then he would preach with reality and the overflow of his life out of his own devotional life.

How can men sit and hear the word of the living God and not catch fire? Amen, that's right. Christianity has not been weighed in the balances and found one thing. It's been tried, found difficult and rejected.

The worst thing that ever happened to a preacher is he becomes civilized. It's worthless, worthless. One thing I noticed about Leonard Ravenhill, and I'd take a Leonard Ravenhill over 20 dead Calvinists.

One thing I noticed about Leonard Ravenhill, he was dangerous. He was dangerous.

Ravenhill’s Eternal Perspective and Spiritual Discipline

The church never had more equipment than she has now, she never had less power.

Nobody could preach like him, just like no one could preach like Spurgeon did or Martin Lloyd Jones. But there are things we ought to take from Ravenhill's life and seek to have them. His perspective about life, his eternal perspective.

His seriousness about God and about the Christian life. His personal discipline of how he lived his life daily. He didn't waste time. He probably prayed at least 6 hours a day. He was the only man I ever knew that probably prayed more than he studied every day.

And so he probably studied and prayed at least 12, 14 hours a day. Every day, except the Lord's day.

Knowing God Beyond Theology

You know the nitty-gritty of the whole thing is this, we don't know God. We don't know God. We know theology, we know about him. Why did Jesus come into the world? To save sinners, that's not what Jesus said.

What did Jesus say? I'm come that they may know Thee. Every man that comes in my office, and I get them worldwide, I don't know why, but they come. And I say, first tell me, do you know God? Well I have a degree, I didn't ask you about that, do you know God?

When was your last encounter with God? When were you last prostrate in his presence? When did you last sit spellbound at his majesty? You don't know God.

His devotional life, his discipline and commitment to be in the scriptures devotionally, his discipline in prayer and reading, are a great example that ought to be emulated and followed today.

Revival Cannot Be Scheduled

We prayed until, I don't know what, 2 or 3 in the morning, and somebody said, God came down that night. Well that's where revival is born. You can't schedule it? The stupid thing, we're going to start a revival next Sunday night and finish there.

Who gives all this to the Holy Ghost? Sensitivity to the Spirit of God isn't there.

Preserving Ravenhill’s Life for a Future Generation

You know the book went from 300 pages to 400 to 500 to 600 pages, and now basically as it went to press this month, 672 pages, including over 40 pages of pictures covering his whole life. And so it became very evident that God wanted a record of his life for a future generation, who maybe have heard him, all they know is this fiery guy named Ravenhill who preaches this way.

But the full record of his life can be a phenomenal impact on this generation.

Spiritual Warfare and Power in Gospel Preaching

One thing I covet, I want to be one of the ten most wanted men in hell. I want the demons to say, Jesus I know and Ravenhill I know. Jesus I know and Del I know. That's why the devil's opposed him. They tell me that out of Berkeley there, there's a guru who goes out on the lawn there.

Every lunch time and gathers 2 ,000 students around him. Come and sit around us for a year and listen. How is it men with unbelief and heresy can magnetize crowds, and we with the truth of the living God can't?

Paul says my preaching is not in word only, much about it, but in power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost.