Revivals in the Bible and in History — Denny Kenaston

Hello, this is brother Denny. Welcome to charity ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

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These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. God bless you young people. How's your day? It thrills my soul to hear the testimonies.

So many of you young people. Seeking God. Dealing with issues in your lives. So soon in the week. It is a testimony of God's mysterious work among us. It is. I've been in through a lot of Bible schools.

I've never seen it this way like this. But know this of a surety. There were people fasting and praying for you long before you came Seeking God. That somehow he would come and shower his blessings upon you and change your lives.

Appreciated that song we were singing. I. It's not an easy thing for me to get up here and speak. I'm a bit insecure by nature and. The winds and the storms were blowing and you were singing that song and just like Jesus got up That day on that boat looked out at all those winds and those waves and said peace be still.

Just like that in the middle of that song that you were singing God just calm the storms inside of me. And I praise God for that. Who is sufficient for these things? Who is sufficient? Not me. Not me.

Oh Father in heaven we thank you God. Thank you for loving us Lord. Thank you for giving us the privilege to be here in this Bible school God. Thank you for saving my soul God. Oh, Lord. What a merciful father you've been to me God.

Oh Lord, we just come to you again in Jesus name looking to you looking away from ourselves and looking up into your face. Oh father. Hold this boy's hand Lord and help him and help these young people God.

Open their eyes father. Enflame them with a spiritual vision today in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. All right this afternoon. The title of the message today is revivals in the Bible and In history.

Revival, the Holiness and Glory of God

Revivals in the Bible and In history, we want to look at some accounts of revival today. Some of them are in the Bible and some of them are in the history of the New Testament Church. We thank God today that there were men and women Who felt impressed by God?

To keep records of the things the movings of God in their midst in days gone by. We have those records where we can go and read today and weep. I'm so grateful for the message last evening on the glory and the holiness of God.

It precludes my message today. Very well. It was interesting to me Yesterday as I was driving back and forth to the meetings. I Was listening to a sermon that I preached several years ago in Bible school called the holiness of God it was out of Ezekiel chapter 1 and Isaiah chapter 6 and revelation 4 or 5 there.

I don't remember which one it was, but I was listening to that sermon. Just to prepare my own heart for that which I wanted to say today and some of the things that I wanted to say today before we get into the history of Revivals, but I was so grateful that God led our brother David last evening to lay that thing out to us.

So clearly that we can see that we can get a clear vision of who God is. You see young people. These two subjects the holiness of God and the glory of God. These are the two greatest motivations for revival.

Many people will read accounts of revival and I think oh my isn't that amazing what God did. Let's pray for revival so God can do those things in our midst. Oh, that wouldn't that be nice and this would happen and that would happen.

But let me tell you something young people. It is not the people who pray for miracles who find revival. It's the people who are burdened about the holiness of God who are burdened about the glory of God.

It's when they are motivated that way and they begin to speak the face of God that God comes in revival. It's the people who are burdened that God's name is not being Represented right when they begin to pray with burdens like that with motivations like that God comes near.

Because God is jealous about his reputation. Even more so than we could be. So these two subjects the holiness of God and the glory of God, which was so beautifully given to us last evening. These are the motivations for revival.

These two words are intricately tied together. In fact, I'm not sure if you can pull them apart. As I meditated again up this morning I thought to myself, you know, the holiness of God is a description of God's Manifested character, but the glory of God is that manifested character?

Emanating forth out of his life. It's the glory of God. Shining out of him and the one and the other they cannot be separated. Because it is the holiness of God that produces the glory of God. Which causes men to fall flat on their face in the presence of God?

That's the way it is. You may wonder how those cherubims can keep saying the same words. Over and over again day after day. Month after month year after year, but if you wonder how they can do it. You have not begun at all to understand what the holiness of God is at all.

You see those are not words to those angels that were holy is the highest Word in the vocabulary of heaven that describes what God is like. There is no word which can better describe God than that the angels searched all the vocabulary of heaven and grabbed the word Holy and put it out there and they don't say it out of root or repetition.

They say it out of the overflow of their heart as they are in the very presence of this. Holy God. We learned about last night. So it's very natural for them To say those words over and over and over again as they are in fact.

So privileged to be in the very presence of the Living God. I will be sharing some amazing things here today. And you may be tempted to say let's pray for revival so we can get these things. No. You will never see revival in fact.

Sometimes I think God waits us out, you know. We get excited and we decide we're gonna seek God for revival. But we have all kinds of other motives going on down inside of us sometimes we don't even know the motivations of our own hearts and we begin to seek God and one month goes by and two months goes by and three months goes By and nothing happens and we just kind of give up and fall by the wayside.

But it's the ones who keep on persevering in persistent prayer. Seeking God for the right motives that all of a sudden God visits his people. So we want to watch our motivations. It's not about us young people.

It is about him and his holiness and his glory. When we begin to seek God for these motives God begins to work Mysteriously in the midst of his people. That's the way it was with Isaiah. You know if you've ever read Isaiah chapter 1 through 5 You will find out very quickly that Isaiah was burdened about God's name.

Isaiah was burdened about the condition of the children of Israel. Isaiah was burdened about all the the sin and rampant Degradation that was in the nation of Israel of his day. He was burdened about the right things in chapter 6.

He had a personal revival. He saw the Lord he saw that awesome throne and He was shattered. That's what the word undone means. Mine eyes have seen The king and I'm undone. I'm undone. I'm shattered then.

After he was shattered. He was cleansed and after he was cleansed. He was given a vision of a need. And after he was given a vision of a need he was commissioned to go. Young people it still works the same today.

It works the same. Isaiah was never the same after that. All through his writings when he referred to God he called him the Holy One 58 times in the book of Isaiah. He spoke of God and he put that adjective holy or holiness in front of his name.

You see he had seen God in a way that he had never seen him before and he couldn't speak his name. Anymore without putting that adjective in front of it the Holy One the Holy One young people. It is important to remember this pure motivation as we look at some of the history of God in the lives of his people you see it is his story, isn't it?

That's what Christian history is. It's his story. It is scriptural to do what we're doing today. God is very clearly and blessed reasons for commanding us to Go back and look at history and see what great things God did in days gone by.

This is scriptural and God delights in it because it is his story and he delights in his story being told over and over and over again in Psalm 44 in verse 1 David said these words we have heard with our ears.

Oh God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days in the times of old. I wonder how many times I prayed that verse back to God in my 25 years of ministry. Oh God I have heard with my ears.

I have read in the annals of history. What great things you did in days gone by and if you continue to follow your way down through that Psalm which we do not have time to do here today young people you will find out that in the midst of it.

That's that David began the psalm reminding God. Reminding his own heart of the beautiful things that God did in the past and he and in the middle of the psalm He began to ask God to do the same thing again.

That's the motivation for rehearsing the history of God among his people. Psalm 143 verse 5 and 6 says these words again David. At a time of discouragement, which is a good thing to do when you're a bit discouraged or you're in a hard place David said these words.

I remember the days of old. I Meditate on all thy works. I muse on the work of thy hands. And what does it cause him to do? I stretch forth my hands unto thee. My soul thirst us after thee as a thirsty land.

Records of the past of God. Work among his people make you stretch forth out your hands and cry unto God. You see the beautiful memory of the things which God has done. Begins to work in our hearts in such a way it begins to inflame us.

It helps us realize where we are really at you see if we young people if we are Sufficient if we think we've got it if we think everything's all right in my life. And I'm really going great and praise God and all that you you you won't move forward.

You won't move forward young people, but God has not changed. It's still the same. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are they which? Hunger and thirst after righteousness.

They are the ones that shall be filled. Satisfied filled full that's according to the Word of God so it's good for us to remember the days of old to pick up a book and look into the annals of history and Remember the days of old.

Psalm 78 verse 4 listen to this one. This one is given to parents, but I'm just bringing the principle out here this afternoon. Psalm 78 verse 4. We will not hide them. That's the records of God's mighty works from the past.

We will not hide the records of God's mighty works in the past from their children. Showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wonderful Works that he hath done young people.

That's what I'm doing today. I'm fulfilling my responsibility to tell you the next generation Who's coming up in the Church of Jesus Christ getting your feet on the ground learning how to walk? Deciding which way you're going to go.

I'm here to remind you of a mighty God who worked in days gone by. That's my responsibility. It takes courage to do that by the way because many times we fall very short of older ones so it's Not real easy to tell you how wonderful God was back there when I realized my own anemic condition.

But nevertheless the principle in the Bible still stands. It is good for you to ponder the wonderful works of God among his people in days gone by. It is Contagious. It has a powerful effect upon those who hear Evan Roberts, which was one of the men who was used in revival in Wales in 1904.

Evan Roberts and the Welsh Revival

Listen to this record. When he was 13 years old He read accounts of revival of the past from there. He determined to pray for personal and corporate Revival. He prayed for 13 years. According to the records.

He never missed a prayer meeting in 13 years in the whole locality of where he lived. There were three or four churches within walking distance of his house that he felt were the right kind of churches.

He never missed a prayer meeting in 13 years. Some old preacher told him one time. Don't ever miss the prayer meeting. You may miss the meeting where God shows up and visits his people and Evan didn't want to miss that meeting.

Because he was burdened for revival for his church and for the community and so he prayed. He prayed from the age of 13 until the age of 26 when God broke in first of all upon his own life and humbled him and broke him and Bent him in such a way and anointed him in such a way that his heart was Flamed with the Spirit of the Living God and a burden for the souls of men in his country of Wales 13 years young people.

He grasped the burden of what God might do in his land and began to bring that thing up before the Lord. That's what history did for Evan Roberts in 1904. God came and visited Wales. The news of what God was doing in Wales spread to the Cassia Hills of India.

They heard all the way down in India the things that was happening in Wales. That was in 1904. They began to pray. See, that's what happens. Oh God did that there that God can do that here and they began to pray.

Revival came in 1905 in the hills Cassia Hills of India. The news of this visit a this visitation spread to China where Jonathan go forth was. Jonathan go forth began to pray and he began to Motivate the people to pray and they got burdened about revival.

Jonathan go forth at the same time read an account of of Charles Finney's Lectures on revival and he also read an account of Charles Finney's Autobiography, he wept his way through that book and said God if you did that then then you can do that now.

And I'm not gonna stop until you do and I'm not gonna stop until I'm clear and I'm not gonna stop until. That little cookie pan is completely clean and I can hold it up before you and it'll be clean. That was Jonathan go forth testimony prayer was made.

Revival came in 1906. One year later News of this beautiful moving of God in China spread to Korea. The people there were stirred with desire and they began to cry out to God and for one year They wept and cried and sought God for that kind of a visitation in their midst.

Where? Thousands of souls get converted. God visited Korea in 1907. The news of this story Made its way to Manchuria, which was another a different district in China and by the year of 1908. They were also experiencing a move of God's Spirit among them.

The point I'm making here young people is it just keeps on moving on people here and they say wait a minute. Why should they be having such a blessed visitation from God and we sit here the way we are.

With a soul here and a soul there and praise God for the soul here and the soul there. But Oh God, would you not save the multitudes of people that are around us? Turn with me to Psalm 48. We want to read a couple more verses there.

Just looking at this principle of looking at the history of God among his people in Psalm 48 verse 11 through 14. We find these words let Mount Zion rejoice. That's God's people by the way. Let the daughters of Judah be glad.

Because of thy judgments. The next verse says walk about Zion. Go round about her. Tell the towers thereof. Look at them. Study the towers of this place called Zion. Mark, ye well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces and what God is saying there in these verses is simply this study Zion.

Study what I have done in the midst of my people. Study it don't just read about it study it mark. Well what I've done. Look at it from this angle. Come back over here and look at it from this angle. Come over here and look at it from this angle.

Mark, well her bulwarks and her palaces. Why? The next verse that ye may tell it to the generation following Young people. That's what I'm doing today. I'm telling the next generation What a mighty God you have and I'm telling you he is Powerful that God we heard about last night when he is allowed to move out in Freedom because of the clarity of his people he does great and mighty things.

Mark, well her bulwarks. Consider her palaces that ye may tell it to the generation following why? For this God is our God. Forever and ever he will be our guide even under death. I believe what God is saying there to the children of Israel was this.

You tell the next generation the God who parted the Red Sea is our God. That's what he's telling them. You tell those that next generation. This God is the same God that we have. Let us trust him. Let us believe in him.

Let us expect things from this mighty God he has not changed as I said it takes courage and humility to do this because many times We are short of these accounts. Many of the books that you'll find in the back there.

They are there for this very reason. Read them and weep. That's what I do with them. Sometimes young people and older people also come to me and say brother Denny Could you give me some secrets how do you remain broken?

How do you get desperate you say God answers desperate prayers? How do you make yourself desperate? Well, here's one of the things that I do. I read the history of Zion and Then I go to prayer. That's a good way to go to prayer.

Because when you read the history of Zion Then you look around you and you see the way Zion is now. You read the history of Zion and you look at your own life and you see where your own life is. It gives you something to pray about amen.

Personal Revival Through Biographies and Biblical Examples

Biographies are accounts of individuals who lived in a state of revival. Do you believe that young people those? Multitudes of biographies that have been recorded. Those are not super special Spiritual people whom God Selected to be very special and lifted up into all of our minds and eyes and wrote them down in a book somewhere.

No way those are ordinary men and women just like you and I who were living in a state of Continuous revival and they were living in a state of the reality of a living God and God did beautiful things through them.

And it was recorded in history and now we read about it. And the same thing with the missionary books that are there so Let's walk about Zion a bit here this afternoon. David is an example of a man who experienced personal continuous revival.

Out in the wilderness under the stars. He met God repeatedly. I'm gonna believe that today. Let me see your hands. It's not hard to tell is it when you read in the Psalms that man was in touch with God.

He didn't have one meeting with God one day and then wrote Psalms out of that one meeting the rest of his life. He met with God continually. It was from one of these meetings with God that he slew Goliath.

Remember the account there he came from the sheepfold. He came from being with his father's sheep and his father called him and said take this cheese and and these Provisions and in ghosting how the war is doing and give these to your brethren and into the soldiers that are out there and David.

Like an obedient young man. He followed what his father said and left the sheep there and went to the what to the battlefront. And when he got to the battlefront, I mean he was probably thinking all the way there God you know the children of Israel the God of Israel and the children of Israel and the armies of the of the living God.

Oh boy, I can't wait to get there. See what's going on. And when he got there he saw the armies of Israel hiding and quaking and running back into the rocks and and this big this big giant of a man came out there named Goliath and and Growled at everybody and they ran and hid like scared rabbits.

Well, listen young people David wasn't standing there thinking Whoo? Here's an opportunity for me to get lots of attention. I think I'm gonna slay a giant today. No, he wasn't thinking that way. He was jealous of the glory of his God.

That was his motivation and he came from the presence of God. To stand there and look out over that army and to see that whole scene. And when he saw that he looked at it from Heaven's perspective and he didn't see a big giant out there.

He saw this little pipsqueak down there called Goliath and he said what is this? Uncircumcised Philistine. Defying the armies of the living God. For what can we do? What will be done to the man who takes care of that little guy out there and David stood before Goliath?

Why? Because he knew his God. That's why he stood before Goliath and he was not afraid because he knew his God. He was not afraid because he knew that God was standing next to him. And young people when God is standing next to you.

You have nothing to be afraid of. Nothing though 10 ,000 come against you. I. He led Israel to follow God. He brought the ark of God back to Jerusalem. He instituted worship in Israel and he had a very fruitful prophetic ministry.

He knew God intimately. He's an example of personal revival. God wants us to look at him and say what God did for that man. God can do for me. The way that man lived. God wants me to live. The God who was with David is also my God.

Josiah’s Revival and Practical Holiness

That's what God wants us to do with the testimony of David. Turn with me to second Kings of it and we'll look at Josiah's revival. That's one of my favorite texts in the Bible second Kings chapter 23 and we cannot by no means read the full account of Josiah but I would just like to remind you that Josiah was 26.

When all of this that we're going to be considering happen. He was 26 years old. You know the story Josiah the King ordered house cleaning in the house of God. Josiah ordered for the house of God to be repaired for the doors to be opened for worship to be Reinstituted again and in the midst of all the rubble as the priests were cleaning out all the rubble out of the house.

Imagine that that the temple would be in such a condition. But as they were going through all of the rubble they found the book of the law. It was almost like finding. You know the Dead Sea Scrolls, you know, we have found the book of the law.

Let's take it to the king and they took it to the king and said Oh King look what we found. Yeah, I've been good for all of us to pick up our Bible that way tomorrow morning, wouldn't it? Wow. Look what I've got in my hand.

And they read it to the king and the more the king listened the more he got stirred inside him and thought whoa. We have sinned against the Lord and judgment is upon us. And he humbled himself the Bible says He humbled himself.

He heard he rent his clothes. He wept before God. That's that was Josiah's response and he sent some of the men just one of the local godly women who was a prophetess. And this is the word that she sent back to him.

Because thine heart was tender and thou has humbled thyself before the Lord when thou heardest what I speak against this place and against the inhabitants thereof that they should become a Desolation and a curse and has rent thy clothes and wept before me.

I also have heard thee saith the Lord and God turned away his wrath for a time because Josiah Responded to that which he heard. Oh young people I just want to encourage you to respond to that which you hear this week.

You have the book in your hand. Those who stand up here are speaking the Word of God to you. These are not just words written down. These are not just some man's idea about how you may want to live or how you should live.

This is not words about some religion that we're trying to convince you to follow. No my young people. It's not that at all. These are the words of God. Josiah responded properly when he heard the words of God and said whoa, wait a minute.

We're going the wrong way. We've got to do something about this good response Josiah. Good response once he got that word from the Lord. He was filled with vision. Just imagine the vision that he had.

God is going to give us a little space of mercy. What are we going to do in the meantime? He gathered all the children of Israel together and had the priest read this book of the law to the children of Israel and Then the Bible says that he went over and stood by a pillar in the house of God stood over there in a certain place and Spoke out the words of the Covenant and he said I make a covenant before my God.

Today to follow this book with all of my heart and all of my mind and all of my strength. How many of you will do the same thing? The Bible says the people stood at the Covenant saying amen. We're with you.

Then his heart was really filled with a vision. From there. He rode like Jehu For days. Oh, the account is beautiful. I wish we could read it all first of all he went To the temple and got all the vessels of Baal and threw him out of the house of God.

From there. He grabbed all the false prophets that were hanging around in the front of the house of God and threw them all out of there. Then he got rid of the worship of the Zodiac. Then from there He cleansed the temple completely and told told the priest that they should cleanse themselves and he gathered up everything that was evil and every idol and every Everything that was used for that which was wrong and evil and he gathered it all together.

The Bible says he grounded or stamped it to powder. Oh. Those are beautiful words, aren't they? The account gives words like this breaking pieces cut down stamped to powder tore down. He ran through the land doing that.

He break down the house of the sodomites and got rid of the immorality in the land. He break down the high places and destroyed all idolatry in the land. He cleansed the land of all that which was evil.

I like Josiah's revival Young people because it's very practical. You know, you don't just get on your knees and say Oh God, would you please come and bless us? We need your blessing. No. You come with a motivation that the holiness of God that God's holy name Would be represented rightly and that representation starts with me with me.

That's the way it was with Josiah. You go through run through your heart run through your house run through your life. Oh through it in every way and just gather the things up in your mind. This goes that goes out with this out with that.

Can you do that? You know, it's a little hard, you know, because you all come from who knows where here for Bible school. But you know if you all lived in one locality, you know. We'd put a big old barrel right here in the front and say this is Josiah Revival night you get all your music and you get all your garbage and you get all your Cassettes and you get all your filth and you get all those things that you're not supposed to have and you get all your Isles and throw them in the barrel.

That's Josiah's revival young people. Amen. And that's good preaching Josiah's revival it was practical. He looked around the land and said that defends God out with it. That's a friend's God. Stamp it out that defends God tear it down.

He was a fanatic. Listen what God says about him. Before you think he's too weird. Listen what God says about him and Like unto him was there no king before him that? Turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might.

According to all the law of Moses neither after him arose there any like him. What a testimony. Now I want you to notice that young people, you know, we all say oh, I love you Lord. I love you God. I love you.

I love you. Look what all the heart really meant. God was watching the way that man cleansed Israel and said now there's a man who loves me with all of his heart. Do you love Jesus with all of your heart?

Maybe there's some things that need to go in the burn barrel. Maybe there's some music that needs to be destroyed in Jesus name. Amen, I don't know. I don't know a lot of you. I don't know how you live.

But I'm telling you this God wants to do a work of revival in your heart and make you so that you will never be the same. Reminds me of Paul and those twelve disciples in the city of Ephesus, you know Paul and twelve men turned that city upside down.

They did What very few have ever done? They took their burn barrel and Set it right in the middle of downtown Ephesus and the barrel got so full it became a pile and the pile got so big big it became a mountain and They burned it all up.

Revival Spreading Through Young People

You imagine that. That's what they did in Ephesus in 1903 this is some of the trickle before the flood of 1904 which by the way, there usually is some trickling before the. Listen to this account young people four boys in a certain locality 18 years of age Started to meet secretly on a mountain for prayer.

Why? They were burdened about their lives and they were burdened about their church and they were burdened about their community. They decided. They probably read some history and they decided We're gonna go to that mountain every night and we're gonna seek God until God visits our community.

This went on for several months young people every night they were there. Nobody knew they were going. Nobody knew but God knew. One night they were discovered. Someone just happened by heard the noise came near saw these young men on their faces weeping before God and said I Won't in Hell on his face next to the four and then there was five.

New started trickling out and the people of God in the church were convicted. Oh our young people they're praying like this. Here we are just going on our own way and busy with this and that. We need to go join.

So then another one came and another one came. Soon there was a large crowd meeting on that mountain every night for prayer. Then all of a sudden the whole church got involved and they just continued to pray.

They all started to pray then the whole community was affected young people. The church met for prayer every night for six months. This is after these young men have prayed for six months. Now the church is involved.

They met for prayer at the church every night for six months many Sundays there were 30 conversions on a Sunday. They had to have six services on Sunday in order to handle the crowds of people with 30 Converts every Sunday.

Can you imagine how exciting it was to go to church on Sunday? 30 converts and one Sunday. All because four young men 18 years old got a hold of an account of some Historical records of what God did in days gone by and said if God did it then God can do it now.

Let's seek God dear young people God wants to use you to affect his kingdom. David was a youth. Daniel was a youth. Josiah was 25. Hezekiah's revival began when he was 25 years old. You do not have to wait for years to know God in a precious way.

Listen to these verses young people. Isaiah 44 verse 3 through 4 God says I will pour water upon him who is thirsty. And God's not talking about a drink of water in a glass young people when he says I'll pour water upon him who is thirsty.