Revival and the Local Church — Michael L. Brown

Worship him and praise him and thank him. Jesus we bless you Lord. We love you Lord. Everyone just open your mouth open your heart begin to worship him. Holy God, we praise you living God. We magnify your name you alone are God.

You alone are God. There is none like you King of Kings and Lord of Lords our Savior our Redeemer. Mighty one worship him lift your voices to him. We love you, Jesus. We love you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Blessed be your name.

Merciful God. Compassionate God. Mighty one you rule in your reign. There is none like you. There is none like you. Oh Holy one righteous one. We adore you. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your mercy.

We thank you for your kindness. We thank you for your great Salvation while we were yet sinners. Oh God your son died for us. Bless you Lord. You've kept us you preserved us. You've ignited us once again Lord.

We love you. We praise you Father we asked you today that the eyes of our understanding would be open. Father we pray that your word would penetrate our hearts that the truth of your word would be revealed to us.

Oh Father remove roadblocks remove blind spots remove insensitivities. Remove fears. Deal with us directly and clearly gracious God. Help us Lord to fix our eyes on Jesus to run our race with perseverance.

Not to fall short or draw back in this wonderful hour in which we live. Speak to us and equip us God. Everyone just ask God to speak to you personally ask him to speak to you personally Jesus. Open our hearts and minds.

I pray God in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen, you can be seated. I want you to turn with me to Zechariah 10 1. So I've been praying the last few days the Lord's laid on my heart to talk to you about revival and Quote normal church life.

Revival and the Need for Normal Church Life

Why do we need revival? What happens to a church when revival comes? What happens if you have a season of revival and then that special season ends? What do you do? How do you live? I want to talk to you about that.

I want to encourage you and I want to be practical Zechariah 10 1 but I want to read you a prayer that Charles Spurgeon prayed many years ago. It has been taken up again on the lips of leaders, especially in England.

One of my friends prayed this prayer publicly several years ago just asking God to come and visit and You have to remember Spurgeon was a great Baptist preacher. He was no stranger to controversy. But he did not believe in services of everybody rolling down the aisles foaming at the mouth.

He was not in any sense of the word Pentecostal or charismatic and I don't mean that if you're Pentecostal or charismatic that your idea of a good service is people rolling down the aisles. And foaming at the mouth.

But I'm just trying to make a point when we read this prayer of Spurgeon. That this was a prayer that was prayed in Serious Baptist circles. This was not a prayer that was being prayed by somebody into the most extreme form of renewal meetings that you could ever imagine.

This was somebody who was saying God shake us up. I Also want to say that when God moves We ought to just let him be God and quit worrying about the implications of what he does. It's one thing for us to be foolish, it's one thing for us to draw attention to secondary things.

It's one thing for us to major on the minors. It's another thing to be ashamed of God being God and when you pray God come in power God meet us. God send revival. He may just take you at your word and You may want to use all the wisdom.

You know how to use and you may want to be as pastoral as you know how to be and you may want to be Sensitive to people as you can possibly be but when God sweeps down he may sweep down in ways beyond what you were expecting.

He may do more than you asked for and he will most certainly do things differently than you asked and Differently than you were expecting and he knows what he's doing again. There's a difference between us drawing attention to side issues.

Okay. For example, it's one thing for us to draw attention every service to someone having a particular Manifestation and to interview them for three years running. You know, do you still have that hopping manifestation?

Yes, I still do and you're gonna interview that person every service and now everyone that wants to hop come up here. We're gonna have a hopping service now. I've never heard of such a thing. I'm just trying to illustrate a point.

It's another thing if you call up a pastor who's been transformed and his church is on fire and they've had 300 conversions in the last two months and and God's shaking the community of 8 ,000 where they live and so on and you ask this pastor to come up and testify and the power of God hits him and he Goes flying three feet and laid out on the stage and lays there for four hours.

God chooses to do that. You can't just try and explain it away or apologize to the visitors. You have to let God be God friends. Now I'll explain more what I'm talking about. Some of you fully understand me already.

But I just say this before I read Spurgeon's prayer because Spurgeon Was not into the weird and the wild. But he wanted God and he knew that sometimes we have our little form and our little box and our little package.

And that's what we're used to. I was talking to a professor at one particular school a fine Christian college seminary type environment and He said that he was watching he caught a service from Pensacola on on TV.

In fact, he was switching between a Basketball playoff game and the Pensacola. He said it was quite an experience. Of course, he probably didn't hear when Steve said don't change that channel. But he said what he realized and he understood from the meeting was that there was no pre-planned Structure every night.

Steve's gonna go for the lost every night one way or another before those people leave. They will have an opportunity to get right with God. But we come in here every single night and it's been like this a year since.

I've been here in two years since the revival Started going on two years now. That there's no agenda each night. If God just sweeps through in the worship and nobody can do anything for two hours. So be it if Steve feels to get up and bring the word immediately.

So be it if we call up all the young people, you know throughout the whole building for prayer. So be it. It's however, the Lord moves and this professor sat down with the other faculty and said to them.

These are fine Christian men, I know some of them well and they are fine Christian men. And he said to them had any of you ever been in a service, you know a night service. Where there was no Plan for the meeting and None of them it was so striking.

I mean God blessed their hearts, but none of them had ever been in a meeting like that. The funny thing is that a lot of us say our services are open to God to do whatever he wants. Somehow God has no creativity because for the last 20 years you could plan those things like clockwork.

You could say Oh God's free to move. He wants to move somehow he chooses to move the exact same way. Weekend week out month in month out and it may not be that God doesn't want to do more. It may be that we have gotten in a rut.

I'm not saying it has to be different every week and you come in one week and where's the pulpit this week. Oh, they put it up there. Oh praise the Lord. How come he started with the benediction and dismissed us first go because we're changing the order this week.

Boy how come we have the offering in the middle of his message that well because we have to change the order each time. How come the pastor one week looks like a vineyard pastor in shorts and a you know a Southern Cal shirt and the next week is coming in, you know, like a you know a Lutheran, you know pastor and he's got the collar and the next week he's coming in like your traditional Pentecostal pastor just in a suit and oh because we have we're open to however God wants to if I'm not talking about that I'm not talking about that talking about God visiting the church in power and.

Some of the people who have the hardest problem with this prayer are the ones who need to pray at the most. Listen to what he said God. Send us a season of glorious disorder. This will be out in a book of mine confronting the critics of revival actually let no one deceive you.

Confronting the critics of revival should be out early July. But let me just read it to you from here. God send us a season of glorious disorder. Oh for a sweep of the wind that will set the seas in motion and make our ironclad brethren.

Now lying so quietly at anchor to roll from stern to stern. Oh For the fire to fall again. Fire which shall affect the most solid. Oh that such fire might first sit upon the disciples and then fall on all around.

Oh God, thou art ready to work with us today. Even as thou didst then stay not we beseech thee but work at once. Break down every barrier that hinders the incoming of thy might. Give us now both hearts of flame and tongues of fire to preach thy reconciling word for Jesus sake.

Amen. And as John Wesley prayed he echoed the prayer of a Scottish believer. Lord if it pleased thee work the same work again without the blemishes. But if that may not be though it be with all the blemishes work the same work.

Zechariah 10 1 asked the Lord for rain in The springtime or in the time of the spring rains. Some translations say the latter rain. When you read latter rain, you immediately think of end time prophecy, but he was just talking about this period of spring rain.

Which was the latter rain in the season which would go basically from fall to spring. Asked the Lord for rain in the time of spring rain. It is the Lord who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men and plants of the field to everyone.

Notice here specifically that there is a time for rain just like there are set times in the natural Agricultural season. There's a time to sow there's a time to reap there's a time to plow. There's a time for rain and if the rain doesn't come you've got to pray for rain.

If as a people the Israelites were in sin and had to repent of their sin. Then they would say God were guilty. There's no rain open the heavens. They would repent and they would pray they would need the rain for the cycle of life.

Now someone living in biblical times or really through much of the world to this very day and through most of world history. People fully understood how much you needed to rain. People fully understood that without rain you die.

Now it's still true, but we're not so sensitive to it because we've got our stores filled with food and our Refrigerators filled with stocks of food and so on. We can just go to some fast-food place and I went out to eat with a faculty member last night.

And the main thing that was troubling us was at the dessert bar that the chocolate ice cream wasn't working. He had specifically gone there for that reason and it wasn't working. I mean, that's that's a difficult thing.

That was almost bearing a terrible cross last night for us Americans. I Mean that's that's almost the American mentality in point of fact. Without rain you die and there are times when the rain must come if it comes at the wrong time.

It's trouble. There are times when it must come for the sake of the harvest and you can read passages like Leviticus 11 or excuse me, Deuteronomy 11 and Leviticus 26. You can read passages like that that talk about God giving the rain in season as a promised blessing to Israel and We need to ask ourselves when we see a passage like Zechariah 10 it speaks naturally.

It also speaks spiritually. It was a word given to that generation, but it's part of the Word of God in an ongoing way for us. What time is it is it time for rain. Do we need rain. Is it right to pray for revival?

What should we be believing for what should we be expecting? Is it time for revival or is it time just for apostasy? Or should we just emphasize normal church life and not even think about revival? First let me tell you why it's so critically important that we Understand our need for revival and why revival is a New Testament concept.

Just because you don't find a specific word Revival in the Bible doesn't mean that the Bible doesn't talk about revival continually. Any more than just because you can't find the word Trinity in the Bible that you don't believe in the Trinity and for those of you who are Pentecostal or Baptist or Lutheran or whatever denomination do you throw that out?

Because that's not specifically written in the Bible. The question is do the things you believe line up with what the Word of God teaches? So the fact is the Bible itself has various prayers. God revive us.

Renew your work in the midst of our days. Psalm 86 and and Habakkuk 3 passages like that. Deal with the hope of revival or prayers for revival. We have different revival movements in the Old Testament where Hezekiah would bring Reformation to Judah and attempt to do it for Israel where Josiah would bring Reformation to Judah where the prophets kept calling the people back.

Turn back turn back. If you do I'll pour out blessing. If you do I'll restore. Those are all promises of revival. And When you get into the New Testament by the end of the first century when the book of Revelation is written.

You find five out of the seven churches in Asia Minor that Jesus addresses. Five out of seven are called to repent. Five out of seven are having serious problems. Repent or else. And. The one that is having the most serious problems of all is the Church of Laodicea.

Revival as Repentance and Spiritual Restoration

The church that thought it was rich and increased in goods and in need of nothing. But was actually naked and miserable and poor and blind and wretched and didn't know it. What does Jesus say to that church.

I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire. So you can really be rich. I counsel you to buy of me the eye salve so you can see white garments so you can be clean and that you can be clothed and Then he says I stand at the door and knock and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I'll come in to him and eat with him and he with me.

That's a promise of revival. You're miserable you're backslidden you're naked you're compromised you become worldly and you don't know it. Putting together what he says to the different churches. You've you've left your first love.

You have a reputation of being alive and yet you're dead. You're compromised in your doctrine. You're compromised in your moral standards. This is what he's saying to these different churches be at Ephesus or be at Sardis or be at Thyatira.

Be at Laodicea be at Pergamum. He's giving them words of rebuke, but for each one he's saying come back. That prophetic message turn back and I'll bless turn back. I'll restore turn back and I'll pour out my spirit upon you.

Turn back. I'll make you a whole. That's the promise of revival. Now bear in mind when something is fully alive and healthy and strong and vibrant. It doesn't need to be revived. You don't need to resuscitate something that's breathing and strong you don't need to revive something that is full of life.

But we see even in the New Testament Church That there were issues that were rising there was compromise coming up. There was doctrinal impurity. There were moral lapses and serious moral sin. There was the departing from the early zeal.

There was worldliness there was complacency there was pride and We see in the church in particular the Church of the West the church in Europe the church in North America. That's so much of what Jesus said to Sardis and Laodicea applies to us.

To Sardis he said you have a reputation for being alive and yet you're dead. We often think that we're doing wonderfully well here in America because we've got these huge churches. We've got Christian schools everywhere.

We've got Christian bookstores everywhere we've got Christian aerobics. One of my favorites Christian heavyweight boxers. We have all this in America. We have 24 hour a day Christian television. We have Christian radio you go to certain parts of the country and every station, you know.

Eight ten stations over the course of the airways Christian stations. No other nation in the world is anything like this. I've been to many nations and some of you been to other nations and Been around the world.

No other nation has what we have here and we can think hey, I'm doing all right. I Mean look at all the money that we're putting into our international television ministry and look at our all the money.

We're putting into our brand-new sanctuary to see 10 ,000 and look at our program to this and to this and to this and to this. Look at us and yet you look at America. We are the salt of the earth we are the light of the world.

Yes you look at America and you see the state of the nation as our churches have gotten bigger as our Gospel message has got on the airwaves on radio and television and so on as Christian bookstores and Christian schools and Christian this and that spirited up everywhere.

At the very same time that we were rising the nation was sinking all around us something there doesn't line up, right? Something's missing somewhere in fact, you'll see that a lot of our growth is through becoming like the world a lot of our growth is that the standards in the church have fallen and worldly people come in and feel at home in our midst because we're just like them and then when you dig a little deeper and You speak to maybe a thousand of the leading ministers in America.

You have an altar call for sexual impurity and sexual sin and two-thirds of them are up at the altar repenting. No, something's wrong. And when you go through what does someone watch in the course of the week your average congregant in America?

You just say do you spend more time watching television than praying and reading the word? Yes. Well, then you're out of the will of God you're in a backslidden condition it's impossible that you could be walking with God following his will and he would be leading you and directing you to spend more time watching trash or even Christian television than spending time with him and.

Then you start to look at the state of the young people in your average churches and you start to see you know, the illegitimate pregnancies. And you start to see the kids and rebellion against the parents and then you see the divorce rate within the church.

You said wait a second. Wait a second. Something's wrong. We got all the programs. We got all the techniques. We got all the seminars. We got this we got this we got this. Something's wrong when I wrote a book years ago called how saved are we it was addressed to believers.

Say look at your life. What does it really mean to follow Jesus? Maybe you are saved but how say. We see the need for Revival in the church. We read the New Testament. We read the book of Acts. We read the Gospels.

God didn't put those things there as a tease. God didn't put those things there just as history. This is what Jesus began to do and to teach. Now it continues on through his disciples and then acts 28.

It doesn't just end and thus ends the history of the early church in the fullness of the power of the Spirit and there everybody just kind of crawls along until Jesus come. That's just the end of that chapter.

Now. The thing goes on now it goes on now it goes on. You read the words and you got to say God. I Love you. I'm gonna serve you no matter what I'm gonna serve you if I end up serving you from a dungeon Infested with rats and that's my lot in this life for the faith.

But Lord, I'm reading your word and I know there's got to be more and by more I don't mean three new cars. You know by more I don't mean, you know four cruises every year by more. I mean God, where is your hand stretched out?

Where is the power of God? By more I mean with all of our buildings with all of our talk with all of our hype with all of our excitement with All of our special conferences. Where's the power impact in the community?

Why is it that the world is changing us instead of us changing the world? Why is it that our light is growing dimmer instead of our light shining brightly so that the world gets ignited? Something's wrong.

You look in your own personal life so many fight a losing battle to habitual sin. That's not what's written in Scripture. There can be tests and battles. But sin is not to be the habit of our lives. Holiness is to be the habit and sin is the exception to the rule.

And you look at your life and say something's wrong. It's petty junk these lusts this thought this greed this bitterness this anger this foul time. Years of the same junk. In fact ten years ago. I was in a better state than I am today.

Something's missing something's wrong. You say boy used to be that my heart burned for the loss. Used to be that I took every opportunity I had to reach people with the gospel. I didn't care what they said now six months go by.

Without me really pouring my heart out to a lost person a year goes by and I don't even shed any tears for my neighbors. You don't know Jesus. Something's wrong. You know, we lay our hands on the sick and they shake and fall but they're just as sick afterwards.

Say Lord, where's the power? It's got to be more. It's got to be more. Recently there was a major rally in Alabama. I don't know how many of you know about this, but I'll just give you the details. See our heart here in the revival our hunger our thirst is not just for individual lives to be impacted.

Although we know that's the key one individual at a time being impacted by God. But we want to see what happens when you get out of here. We want to see what happens across the nation. We want to see what happens in the nation.

We want to see a profound impact. Like you could look at the Welsh revival of 1904 and 1905 and see what it did to the crime rate. You could see for example how in certain districts as James Edwin or the great revival historian relates in certain areas.

The judges put on white gloves. They had no cases to try. Now this was not where there were three murders and two rapes taking place a day. It wasn't like the heart of New York City say but still these there was crime.

There were people that were sinning just the same breaking laws. Some places the judges wore white gloves because they didn't have cases coming to them some other places the police Would form gospel quartets and Trios and they would go from church to church.

They would you know would tell their you know, the Lead officers. This is where the crowds are. So we're going where the crowds are crowd control. They form gospel quartets. I Mean I could go on and on with with the impact revivals have had in American history.

How the taming of the Wild West? For example in in the turn of the 1800s taming of the Wild West was largely due to revival fires spreading in that part of the country. We don't just want to see churches grow.

But we believe if the churches are growing because people are being saved it's going to have an impact. We're not just looking for people to be saved. We're looking for God to come down and power and manifest the fact that he is God.

That he rules that he reigns that he's King. One man said many years ago that revival is not our church is being filled with people. But the people in our church is being filled with God. See when that happens there will be an impact on the community.

There will be lasting change. I'll get to this rally in Alabama in a moment. You may drive around here and you may notice boy. There's a bar over here. There's this topless place over here. There's a naval base here.

There's a ton of Navy people coming in and out and I believe that's behind some of the the the fleshly Junk that goes on in this area in Pensacola. The fact is there has been profound impact and the impact is growing.

One pastor about 15 minutes from here whose church has been mightily impacted through the revival. Has right now members of his church former prostitutes in the area former drug dealers in the area. The the the top DJ of the topless bars in the air actually nationally.

No, he's a member of his church now. In fact, this guy gave up a career making thousands every weekend. He and his wife come to the church and he drives a taxi and leads people to. Jesus just loves doing it.

This pastor sat down with two local bar owners a couple of months ago. And they said to him business at our bars has never been worse. And in fact half of our former clients are sitting in your church now on Sunday morning.

We can tell you about the impact on the school. Someone questioned me on it challenged me on an internet chat about it the other day. I've heard conflicting reports. No, it's a fact. It's absolute fact without any question.

We can give you every detail that you want to have. Before the revival and the 32 high schools and junior highs in this county. There were only three that had student-led Christian ministries. Our youth pastor Richard Crisco was in touch with the schools knows exactly what was happening.

Three student-led Christian ministries out of 32 schools. Once the revival broke and developed and these kids started getting saved and those that were saved got on fire. It got to the point where it is now.

Every single school 32 out of 32 have student-led Christian ministries on campus. Some of them are so large that they cannot meet in regular classrooms. They have to meet in band or orchestra or choir rooms or cafeterias.

One school can get more than 250 kids coming to a Christian meeting during the week. A vice-principal that school brings his kids out here on a fairly regular basis. So just make an announcement. They're gonna go to the Browns for revival.

They'll get buses. They'll bring 50 70 kids mainly unsaved kids. We've seen nights, you know with 55 kids coming here unsaved and 54 of them that night at the altar crying their eyes out. And we know we know the kids in the schools.

We know the vice-principal. The principals at a meeting last year Informally decided to take advantage of what God was doing in the revival. When when Richard Crisco took over here as youth pastor. He found that that most of these school leaders were not particularly interested in getting to know him and he realized that there had been some bad history with other youth pastors.

In the area that didn't always use the most wisdom etc. Or it didn't have a right approach and they were not particularly interested in dealing with him. And then last year he starts getting taken out for dinner or lunch.

Two three different times principles said hey you want to go out for lunch? Hey, you want to go out for lunch? Hey, you want to go out for lunch? By the third time one of them said I guess you're wondering what's going on here.

And he said yeah, they said well. We have decided to take advantage of what the revival is doing and what they have them scheduled to do. He's done it once each month through this through this year now.

Is that they will announce in the daytime in public schools. We're talking about public schools. They announced in the daytime. The Brownsville youth team will be here tonight on a Tuesday night. Everyone's invited open meeting in a public school.

And then when it's at night, it's you know, just on free time. Whoever comes comes they'll have kids from that school who've been saved get up and testify. The youth worship team will lead in worship then Richard will bring a message then they'll have an altar call.

You know, they've seen 70 kids running down the office and more sometimes climbing over bleachers to run down and get right with God. One high school coach came up to Richard a couple months ago after the Tuesday night rally.

He was stunned. He had a list his 10 worst kids in that school may have been 12, but we'll say 10 because I'm not exactly sure. Worst list of 10 in the school the most promiscuous girls the the most drug-addicted.

Boys the guys that were just hard jocks and proud he had his list of the 10 most notorious Sinners in the school not only did they all come to the rally. But he came up to Richard shocked with his list all 10 of them were responding on their knees crying their eyes out getting right.

With God, I mean God's moving and God's making an impact. People have challenged us and they've said well if there's real revival. It should have an impact on the crime rates and this this to me is funny because when you do come with Statistics people say well, there are many explanations that could be offered.

You know you say they say prove it. We say here's the proof they say well. What does that prove. But people challenged us on that and said well? Where's the impact on the crime rate? Well, we knew if there was any place you'd see it.

It would be among young people because of all the conversions these kids being turned around kids who were gang members. No longer gang members, and let me tell you some of these kids are so new so raw one kid came up here to repent at the altar and Someone apparently had cut him with a knife while he was witnessing and he got so mad.

He was gonna bring a gun back to school to kill the guy and he came to the altar to repent. I mean you're talking about brand new. That was his background and now he'd been changed and was telling someone about Jesus.

And now they you know they cut him with a knife. This was his story what he reported to one of our altar workers, and he was gonna bring a gun back and kill the guy. You know and he was repenting getting right with God.

I mean people who are raw that was the lifestyle that they lived before now. They're serving God now some of them are in our school of ministry, and I know him firsthand. I know their lives intimately.

But anyway People want to know where's the impact prove it well. Pensacola News Journal January 3rd came out with a story. Saying that the last five years there's been a crime rate increase in the area in state of Florida in general 96 the crime rate rose throughout the state of Florida juvenile crime rate rose by 1

Throughout the state of Florida, but in this county and by the way if you look at the stats for this county say 93 94 going Into 95 they were juvenile crime was skyrocketing skyrocketing. But it went up 1 across the state.

In 96 strangely enough in this county it dropped by 13 coincidentally and a Critic a critic challenged me through a friend. Where is the drop in crime? Where is a revival with a drop in crime? We said here it is.

They said yeah, but that could be attributed to many different factors. Before God, I'm telling you the truth just the way it happened. Now in the schools. Something happened where the superintendent of the schools, and he's wide open to the revival.

And he's encouraged other school superintendents just to be open and you have to understand what open means. It means that some of these kids who are on drugs one day. Sexually abused when there are kids full of guilt and anger suicidal now.

They've been turned around. They come into the meetings. They get saved radically they go back to their schools some of these kids are Shaking under the power of God in school their friends said what happened to you?

They said well, let me pray for you. They prayed for their friends. We've got laid out right in the hallways. We've gotten calls from principals. What do we do? What's going on? You see the principals will tell you how these kids that used to be cutting up and disruptive are now serious.

They'll tell you so many of them that used to be poor students are good students now. We got one kid coming into our school of ministry in the fall. He was kicked out of school last year. He was in complete rebellion his parents didn't know what to do with him.

He's on fire. He is serious with God. He goes out witnesses left, and I mean just transform. Submit it doing the right thing. But sometimes God's literally shaking some of these kids up. You say well, I don't know about that.

Well number one our churches weren't doing it for years and years and years. We weren't helping these kids. You know they were coming to our services and getting bored stiff. They were coming to our services and the word wasn't convicted.

They were coming to our services and still going out and sleeping around going to youth group raising their hands and praising one night going. Out getting drunk tonight next night if you're a minute youth minister.

You've seen it happen. So many parents and ministry cry their eyes out for their kids. Our older daughter will be 20 next month our younger daughter's 18 and a half. We know the battles that kids have gone through.

Now somebody gets a little upset because this kid who was on drugs for two years has now set free. They've been drinking for four years now set free. Have been smoking cigarettes for six years now set free.