Broken Cisterns — Arnold Cook

I'm coming tonight from the perspective of a church leader. Concerned about this whole subject of revival from my perspective. My background is conversion in a dying church out in the country age 11 and from 11 to 20, I thought the Christian life consists of Trying to live the Christian life sinning.

Confessing trying harder and I was on the roller coaster for nine years. Until I was invited to go to a conference for a man by Bill Allen of Mansfield, Ohio spoke On some truths that I never heard before.

I Never knew the Holy Spirit existed in the church. I attended and that night I Gave myself fully over to the fully the filling of the Holy Spirit. That night. I made a shift in churches and And that night God moved me in his Providence into a church that was in the middle of a revived state.

And that church of no one sound has left upon me an indelible imprint that has lasted and served me well over the years because in that church I Sense the supernatural. I sensed it in their spontaneous evangelism.

It just finished a crusade for two weeks. It was extended another four weeks because people kept getting saved and today that church There are still those people those couples saved way back there in 1952.

God also impressed upon me the power of corporate prayer. That's where I learned to pray publicly. That's where I learned about the power of prayer in that revived church. It was also a place where I learned about Radical deeper life teaching.

I was in Bible college. My mother-in-law used to write letters to us saying what was happening in the special meetings in that church and God was working them right this way among leaders among elders and God was filling with his spirit If I may say it carefully.

Some were falling down. I believe on their faces, which is the way I prefer if I have any word in that whole matter. But anyhow, they were falling down and God was there and transforming lives in a miraculous way that left an indelible imprint upon me and Then that church was given to missions.

I Heard about when the first missionary there. And all of me that heard and listened to Oswald J. Smith that God used him to call me in the missions. That was a very rich inheritance Heritage which I Received from that church and one of my questions at my stage in life.

I keep asking myself is That's what I had received 40 some years ago. What will my generation pass on to your generation in terms of bequeathing to you? The evidence of the supernatural and that's a great burden of my heart.

Passing the Supernatural Faith to the Next Generation

How can we? Indeed pass on the supernatural. I was in Regina during the time of the Canadian revival 7172 and Sometime after that from at the same time I was on missionary tour and to be supposed to be in Saskatoon for missionary conference.

We've got the phone call from Walter Bolt saying the the missionary convention has been canceled. Of course in our denomination. It's a no-no. You don't cancel this year conventions, he said revival is broken out and my response was that's the one good reason for canceling revival.

And I became impacted by that Some three years later. We went to Lima Peru and saw God working in a marvelous way. I don't know what to call that thing in Lima when you call it revival awakening. But I never before seen two or three hundred people come to know Christ every month.

I Building with two baptismal tanks in the platform baptizing simultaneously every month. I've never seen that before. I had never seen such hunger for God's Word among the students. That experience has ruined me forever for teaching older Christians a hunger for God's Word and That was experience.

I'll never forget because that that moving of God Impacted not just the Christian community But also the secular community because they learned about these evangelicals who were honest people Not commonly found in some of those places at Lima Peru.

The airport of problems with their security system couldn't find honest people. So they just take out groups of Christians from these evangelical churches to the airport and buses to run the whole immigration operation there because they were honest.

That gets into the whole area of it and awakenings. I understand it impact society and That's a marvelous story. Remember water boat came down there one time. But 1974 I introduced them to these new Christians in my class at the Bible College night school.

And I was so excited to have this man who was involved in Saskatoon revival come down explains these students what revival was and Warner did a great job of doing it talked about what had happened to Saskatoon and these students just sat isn't well.

What else is new? They had never lost their first love yet. They didn't understand revival. It was a foreign term to them that reminded me of the whole matter of this matter of Revival being returning us to our first love now from where I sit.

Historical Drift and the Need for Revival

I See some things happening in churches that concern me. I see church conflicts up and preaching on revival down. I See conflict resolution seminars popular. I see corporate prayer dying. I See infatuation with the social sciences high.

I See the critical sciences theology being given benign neglect in many churches. Enthusiasm for spiritual renewal is high and strong but hunger for spiritual renewal tends to be weak. I see transfer of church growth common.

I see conversion church growth rather uncommon. That is from where I sit. The encouraging thing is I do hear the voices of some prophets. I hear Charles Colson crying out that although evangelicals are multiplying.

It's not impacting society. Crime is still going up. I hear a man like a David Wells writing books like God in the Wasteland no place for truth and Lamenting what's happened to the Word of God and whole matter of truth.

I Hear Josh McDowell lamenting what's happened to the morals of church young people and I hear about RFC scroll being uncomfortable with the term evangelical. It's been diluted looking for a better term.

Maybe historic evangelicals classic reformer, whatever some kind of a change and George Barna the evangelical research guru is telling us now the bad news that according to his stats Divorce is just as prevalent among evangelical Christians as it is in the world.

Friends we are in desperate need of God's visitation upon us. We all know about what's happening in terms of HIV AIDS that terrible plague at the end of the century, but there is another plague hitting the church, which is even worse than that.

It's what I call HD. HD is historical drift. That is attacking our churches. It's more dangerous than HIV because That only destroys the body this destroys the soul the spiritual life of Christians. What do I mean by that?

I mean this tendency of Organizations, including the church over time to begin strong with a vision down there about nine o 'clock. At eleven o 'clock of that curve. There's a movement healthy powerful.

About noon high noon. It begins to tail off. Give it a slippery slope of a 130 and if that's not curved and turned around reversed. We drift on down to the monument stage when God lifts his hand from movements and moves on with somebody else.

And he writes over top of those little stick a lot. The glory has departed. That is what is happening. And my conclusion that our whole process is number one is that it's inevitable. Number two, it can be curved by strong courageous godly leadership making tough decisions on that slippery slope and Thirdly, it can be reversed by God sent me revival and renewal and I believe over history there's much evidence of what happened when God moves in especially with awakenings and other that come to all kinds of new movements and God raised up his church and moves on.

And I believe that's very much what needs to happen in our day. Now I want to remind you from this passage in Jeremiah 2. If your Bible is Jeremiah 2 verse 9 to 13 Ron Owen has already served me well by Commenting on this said that powerful song.

But Here we have Jeremiah man whose ministry stretched over five reigns of five different Kings. I'm attracted to Jeremiah because of his struggle with his call as I have also struggled with my call to ministry.

You know, I don't have too much to offer but He also Encourages me over in chapter 12 where he argues with God about that old question Why do the wicked prosper why do the righteous suffer. And God comes back to him with the answer saying Jeremiah If you run with a footman in a tire, how you do in the horse race?

Let me land a piece where you dwell. You are you are in trouble and unhappy and uncomfortable what will you do in the swelling of the Jordan. And God had used that many times to keep me moving ahead and Trusting him with some of the areas I cannot fully understand.

Now in this passage here We remember that Jeremiah Also had served the time of Josiah. So Jeremiah had understood that had seen revival and renewal in his day. But again is a reminder that that revival us as well.

It was very important and very powerful. It only lasted until Josiah died and other kings followed him but Jeremiah here Brings it into sharp focus his concern for his people. Verse 11 has a nation changed its gods which were not gods.

But my people have changed their glory. For what does not profit be astonished no heavens at this and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate says the Lord for my people have committed two sins they have forsaken me that thought of living water and Hewn themselves cisterns.

Broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Cisterns as has been mentioned earlier Are actually necessary they are legitimate. There's a proper use of cisterns. But the problem is with cisterns that although they are proper and useful for saving and catching rainwater.

For times when there is no water the problem is they become a place of pollution stagnation and they ultimately leak and become cracked and therefore are useless. But these people obviously had gotten to the point where they had completely ignored their God.

Notice earlier there up in verse 5 they become adulterers and down in verse 7 they had made God's heritage an abomination. The priests were silent the rulers had transgressed and the prophets were prophesying my other gods.

This is indeed a dark hour in the time of history of our people of the people of Israel. Now I want to today just share with you in the next few minutes a few of the things that I see to be substitutes.

Technology as a Substitute for Supernatural Intervention

That evangelicals are using to get by. And obviously although we think we're getting by We are just doing the very thing that Paul tells us we ought not to do. We are comparing ourselves with ourselves and We have the wrong benchmarks for success.

We feel that we are very much alive because we're growing. But we Uncluttered scrutination. We are probably growing in ways are not very healthy so here are some of the substitutes now. Substitutes a pretty Pretty mild word a pretty innocuous word used you could use the word idols.

You could use the word over there in 2nd. Chronicles 14 7 714. Where it says wicked ways might be more correct but What are the substitutes that are replacing. The the real thing in Christian churches evangelical churches.

Let me start with Endless technology. I believe a technology has done a job on us in this particular generation. It is Richard Swenson his book margin which reminds us Better than any other author. I know he's documented the fact that this generation has seen expert exponential change more rapidly than any other generation previously living on the face of the earth and This rapid change in technology has done a job on Individuals but also on the church.

Someone has expressed it this way in terms of what is happening to our culture. This is the age of the half red page the quick hash in the mad dash. The bright night with the nerves tight. The planes hot with a brief stop the lamp tan in a brief span.

The big shot in a good spot and the brain Strain and the heart pain and the cat naps till the spring snaps and the fun's done. That's a little feel for the kind of life we live in this fast-paced society.

And one of the great substitutes in the church is endless technology. For the supernatural intervention of God as pastors. It seems we're never quite at the wall. There's always one more thing we can try one more program one more technology one more gimmick.

And we've become seminar junkies. Many times and we have failed to allow God to intervene with the supernatural a Second would be guiltless evangelism versus radical repentance. It seems that in our attempt to be user-friendly Seeker sensitive which has its place.

Guiltless Evangelism and Radical Repentance

Church growth movement got started in India by a Dharma gather when he tried to find what was what were the barriers? Stopping church growth in India in his own mission. That was very legitimate because you must remove those barriers and Unfortunately when he brought it to his thesis back to North America as North Americans.

We are always taking a good idea and pontificating into a heresy. And we've done that with church growth that we wore a couple of generations of or decades of pastors in the process. But I hate to think about missions today without the church growth movement as originally was founded by a dollar McGavin McGavin, but this whole matter of People being brought to know Christ.

Without really facing up to their guilt and their sin. I Believe the way we can know Christ Puts a imprint upon us how we will grow in Christ. And if you come by way of some of these modern technologies, it's going to be very hard.

To build a Christian life upon that kind of a beginning. Thirdly, there's Christian counseling. Replacing a second trip to the cross. I'm all for Christian counseling. Don't get me wrong. But unless Christian counseling directs people to the cross and to death to self and the fullness of the Spirit.

We are giving them an easy way around. Which will be a band-aid solution and they'll be back in your counseling room next week for more help for another crutch. There has to be. I've been involved with missions for many years and some of our missionary staff.

And I've been one of them so I'm not being hard on them, but they come home they have problems and We put a lot of money into Christian counseling and lately so in many cases. But I've often wondered if a good one return trip to the cross to see that Christ not only died for us, but we died with him and we are able to be delivered from Self and sin and live a Victorian life and sometimes Christian counseling doesn't quite get them back to the cross of course.

Manward Homilies Versus Godward Preaching

Substitute would be manward homilies versus God word preaching. Preaching down to man versus preaching up to God. John Piper describes it this way. He said these courses were singing despite all the controversy over courses.

He said despite all their deficiencies theologically at least most of them are God word praise. And he said after half hour there's Godward praise did what happens the preacher goes up. He knows he has that no background music to help him in sermon.

He's on his own and so he knows how people are wired and wired for self-needs. So he's a little bit of scripture a little bit of psychology. He zeroes in connects with their felt need and they go home with a band-aid solution for a half a week at least.

And he says what's happening in our churches Godward praise and then manward preaching. I'm afraid as we heard this afternoon. We're assuming that people in North America Canada and the u .s. That they understand who the true God is.

Even evangelicals don't know who the true God is and There's one of the great dangers of this substitute homilies for God word preaching introducing our people to God. Another subject would be professional mediation versus biblical reconciliation.

Professional Mediation Versus Biblical Reconciliation

It's not uncommon these days to be caught up in litigation to be named as a nomination in litigation and There's a massive ignoring of 1st Corinthians 6 at least on my side of the border in Canada and the whole cottage industry has formed around this matter of mediation and Churches are putting a lot of money into mediation dominations pouring money legal fees into mediation and Forgetting that we as Christians are the only people in the world who has the message that everybody in this world wants.

Regardless of who they are and whatever level they are the one message everybody wants is reconciliation and we have been given a ministry of reconciliation and we're bypassing it in our churches and going with professional mediation and bypassing what God has provided.

Corporate Prayer and the Mission of the Church

Another would be small group focus prayers versus corporate public intercession. Thank God for the meta Church program small groups. We think we have discovered something very unique small groups. It's about as old as the early churches and we're going back to small groups again where they started.

But anyhow, God must be laughing in heaven saying is dumb North Americans with these huge homes they've built and they're wrapping around there to three people and finally, they're starting to use these homes as extension of the church that makes good sense and Finally that's happening.

That's good. Well, that's what I find is I participate in small groups. If what I hear there in terms of prayer. Corporate prayer that's all that's happening in our churches in prayer. We are in tall weeds.

Because we've lost corporate prayer. We put everything to small groups push it off in small groups. It's gonna happen in small groups. What happens there is very much prayer for community concerns and family concerns and interpersonal concerns.

It's not the kind of prayer. It's going to carry us in missions or carry the church forward in this postmodern era. Another would be evangelical orthodoxy versus experiential Holy Spirit encounters. It's very easy to be evangelically Orthodox and Measure up to the the statement of faith of NAE or EFC in Canada.

Experiential Holy Spirit Encounters and Kingdom Giving

But it's something else to lead our people into an experience with the Holy Spirit the one who has been sent to Form Christ in us and to make us holy and godly people. That is his assignment. It seems to me.

We're not bringing much progress with that another would be What I would call kickback giving versus kingdom giving. Here's a very sensitive issue money we all rejoice as denominations and churches and enabling agencies with December giving.

Wonderful time when God's gonna come very generous. Of course, we have a little idea why they become generous in December. They have a little trade-off between the government and the church and the Christian organizations and all that but do we all take that and I certainly don't want to knock that because we survive and that seems up there and Throughout and survive and yes thrive but survive.

AB Simpson one time preached a sermon called seven kinds of giving and he can he condemned six of them as being self-centered. He said get into your past your salary. That's not giving. He's serving you and your family.

Giving to the church order that's not giving us serve you and he read down the line and Hit all the sacred cows in the process. But he said the only kind of giving which is real giving its heroic giving which is giving outside of yourself.

Beyond yourself where there's no possibility of kickback. And that kind of giving is kind of rare kind of where it happens with missions. Giving happens with the inner city and happen with evangelism and Add to that list of kickback giving.

One of the dark pages in recent history and evangelical church in Canada is that Recently a hundred churches were exposed as having received money from gaming funds casinos video slot machines, etc, etc.

And of those hundred there were a number of evangelical churches and the only church that gave back the money Returned the check was a Roman Catholic Church. Silence among evangelicals. Sad day sad day desperate needs.

The Old Cross Versus the Sanitized New Cross

One more here would be getting people to the new cross versus the old cross now. It was Tozer who? commented on the old and the new. He makes this comment the new cross Does not slay the sinner yet redirects them.

It gears it up into a cleaner and jollier way of living and Saves his self-respect to the self-asserted it says come and exert yourself in Christ. To the egotist it says come and do your boasting the Lord to the thrill seeker.

It says come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship. But the old cross is A symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt violent End of the human being. The man in Romans times who took up his cross and started down the road.

And already said goodbye to his friends. He was not coming back. He was not going to have his life redirected. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise. Modified nothing spared nothing.

It slew all the band Completely and for good. We are getting the people these days to another kind of a cross that's been sanitized and Polished is a cross which does not deal with self like the old rugged cross.

And we all know that this cross is the major stumbling point. It's hard to be user-friendly and have a religion with a cross in it but we're trying desperately to do that and quite unsuccessfully. And finally would say we are Worshipping worship instead of worshiping God.

Worshiping God Rather Than Worship

Have you been in those experiences? Going around and around and worship and Arguing over the worship wars and what kind of worship is what really makes sense and connects with us. One of my pastoral friends is over in Egypt at an international church.

He's up 35 denominations in his church, and he said planning a worship service is quite a challenge. And one of his lesser sanctified moments he prepared a sermon entitled Worship not for you. It's for God.

And he preached that one. Wasn't all that great but Worship is for God. It's not for us. It's for him. Well, I must finish here. How long? Will evangelical church in North America? Continue to get by With substitutes.

God's Judgment on Substitutes and the Cost to Future Generations

The truth of the matter is we're not getting by. We are paying a very high price for substitutes. And I believe that God spoke very clearly in the beginning about substitutes when he rejected Aaron or cables offering as being unacceptable and Received the offering of Abel.

He reinforced that and in the second commandment speaking about graven images and idols. He reminded Simon in the New Testament you can't buy the Holy Spirit. And in the book of Revelation at the end of the scriptures He reminds us of those churches That were trying to get by and sit on substitutes and five of them harassed after only 35 or 40 years to repent.

God Cannot be persuaded to allow us to get by with substitutes. When will we realize that? We'll realize that when we come to the point of understanding. In this process. We are robbing God of his glory.

The one who has said I am the Lord your God. I'm a jealous God. I will not give my glory to another and We are robbing his glory with our efforts for substitutes. We must realize That we are misleading our people With these substitutes.

We're giving the impression that all is well. All is not. Well, we're getting by and broken sisters and Thirdly, we will have to come to a point and realize that we are paying a very very high price for substitutes high price with our children.

In terms of losing them because they have never seen the supernatural in the parents by to their parents. And that will not carry Christianity into their generation. We're gonna lose it. Christianity is always just one small generation for extinction.

I Used to believe that Remember church died every denomination died. Another one was raised up by God another denomination raised up over here until I went to Turkey the great Bible and a New Testament and There's a place where it never came back.

Maybe five or six hundred Christians among 60 million people in Turkey the great Bible and the New Testament. Christianity can become extinct we must Not get by in substitutes. In my stage in life. I am parking myself a Passage over here in Psalm 71 with this I close.

Here's my prayer of this aging Psalmist here 71 verses 17 and 18. Oh God You have taught me from my youth and to this day. I declare your wondrous works. Now also when I have old and gray headed. And I am both of those my current plan is to die young as late in life as possible.

Transmitting the Faith Across Generations

But I am old and getting older. Oh God Do not forsake me. Until I declare your strength to this generation and your power to everyone who is to come. I Used to think that we were only responsible one generation one were in.

That's no longer what I believe. We're but we're responsible this generation and for the next one our children's generation because we must pass the faith unto them. And as I spend a lot of time that four-year-old grandson recently, I think I've added another generation the grandchildren.

Because God is a God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob he's a God who keeps his jet is his covenants to a thousand generations and His plan from the beginning has been to have one generation. That's on the next generation and on and on and we can't lose a single generation.

And what's the secret the secrets follow the words like wondrous works. Our and Mighty works. These are the phrases Which reflects the whole matter of the supernatural? Our children and our grandchildren must see the supernatural in our lives if they're going to embrace the faith in their generation.

It was Augustine who said some good things one thing good things. He said was That every generation must stand on the shoulders of the previous generation and reach higher and reach further. That's my prayer for you who are here tonight younger pastors.

A Vision for Revival, Godly Leadership, and Missions

When I came into this office six years ago, I Had as my vision. Number one to see revival in our Canadian churches number two to see God leaderships leadership. Especially local church level elders and thirdly refocus missions.

I Was assured I would have the support of my peers my age group for those three goals. I wasn't sure about the younger pastors. But over these five or six years the most encouraging Encouraged I've received on those two first points.

Revival and godliness has come to young pastors. Just starting in the late late 20s and that group in the 30s and some of the 40s. You're saying dr Cook this is right on don't back off is what we need.

I'm encouraged by that. Let's pray.