Revival Conference 2007 - Part 3 — Denny Kenaston

It's like we have songs that we sing that are a prayer, that we find the very burden of our heart in the words of the song. Here, Israel had an opportunity to find the burden of their heart in the songs that they sang.

The Beautiful Memory of Revival

This revival song. Breaking the song down into eight different sections, first of all, we want to consider the beautiful memory of revival. We see it in verse 1, and we also see it in verse 8 through 11.

Israel is looking back. Israel is remembering the way it used to be. And brothers and sisters, if we have no beautiful memory of revival, there's probably a good chance that we'll never see another one.

The beautiful memory of revival is a catalyst in the hearts of God's people, which works like salt to salt their appetites and give them a hunger and a thirst for something that they do not have anymore.

It's the beautiful memory of revival. And for Israel, it was the memory of the beautiful way in which God was with them. How he led Joseph like a shepherd, like a flock through the wilderness and into the land of Canaan.

How he was there guiding them and with them. A pillar of cloud by night and a pillar of fire by day. Oh, those were sweet memories for the children of Israel. Also, as Israel begins to put their memory on the beautiful things that God has done for them in the past, they also have to remember how that God led them out through that wilderness and into the land of Canaan and drove out the heathen that were there and planted them like a vineyard there in the land of Canaan and caused that vine to prosper and caused that vine to grow and its boughs spread out in all of the area and all the way to the Mediterranean Sea and all the way over to the river Euphrates.

That's the beautiful memory of revival. The glorious memory of God leading them through the wilderness and planting them in a beautiful land. Well, brothers and sisters, for us, well, you can start on your own personal side right there.

Remembering Conversion and First Love

What about the beautiful memory of that day when you first met the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you remember what it was like? Do you remember how your heart was overflowing? Do you remember how you couldn't keep yourself quiet?

Do you remember how you just kept opening your mouth and telling others about it? Do you remember how sweet the Bible was? Do you remember how sweet it was when you prayed? It's the beautiful memory of revival, brothers and sisters.

Praise God for the beautiful memories. Amen. Those beautiful memories are like a catalyst in our heart which will not let us settle down very long. If we lose our way and the fire of God doesn't burn in our heart anymore, we begin to remember, don't we?

Revival in the Book of Acts

We begin to remember. That's God's plan for each one of our hearts. For the church, we look to the historical memory of the book of Acts. If you want to have a beautiful memory of what revival was all about in the book of Acts, there you can go and look and see the beautiful things which God did.

How that Christ was in the midst of His church. How that Christ was building His church. How that the Spirit of God was upon the early church. Therein souls were being saved on every side. And glorious fellowship was happening from house to house and everywhere.

That's the beautiful memory of revival. Psalm chapter 44 verse 1 says these words, We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work Thou didst in their days in the times of old. And I believe, brothers and sisters, that it's the will of God.

Revival Records Stir Hunger and Faith

And I thank God for every man and woman who wrote down the records of revival in the past. Because we can read them. And when you read them and you realize, I'm so far away from this account that I'm reading in this book right here.

There must be something wrong with me. And there is! It's the beautiful memory of revival. There is something stimulating about the accounts of revival that sparks a desire in the heart. Amen? It just does that.

That's why we're here this weekend. We're here this weekend because of the beautiful memories of the revivals of the past. And when we saw that little name revival. Come seek God for revival. Because we have a memory of what revival is all about, we came here to this meeting.

Hallelujah. There's something stimulating about the accounts of revival. It creates hunger within our hearts. It builds faith for today. And it encourages us on to believing prayer that we can believe God for a revival in this our day.

Personal and Corporate Revival Today

Maybe it's in our own personal life. You know, I can't stand up here this evening and promise you, a nationwide revival will come out of these three days that we're spending together. I can't promise you that.

But there's one thing that I can promise you. I can promise you a personal revival. I can promise you a life-changing three days here, based on the promises of the Word of God. God will meet your needs.

And I can also promise us a corporate revival. If you get this many people together with a serious heart to seek the face of God, God will meet with us. It's because of the beautiful memory of revival that I can tell you those things.

I've seen it happen before. And here they were. They're supposed to sing this memory as a song over and over again, with a refrain that echoes a cry from their heart. Do it again, Lord. Do it again. Amen?

The South African Revival and Missionary Humility

I mean, that's right where we are. It's the beautiful memory of revival. I think of that account of revival there that happened in, I believe it was in 1970 there, down in South Africa, where Brother Keith is from.

And he can attest to this, you know, the revival among the Zulu people, and how those German missionaries were there, and they were doing their missionary work, and things weren't going very well, and there wasn't very many converts.

And the converts that did come fell back and went back into the world. And they decided instead of just saying the people are hard and don't want to listen, maybe there's something wrong with us. Oh, good question.

Maybe there's something wrong with us. You know, I thought about it as we were singing those beautiful songs about the Lord Jesus Christ. I thought, Lord, how is it that we have lost our way so far from all the beautiful things that you died and shed your blood for?

How is it, Lord, that we have lost our way? How is it? There are those German missionaries, and they had enough humility about them to say, you know, maybe something's wrong with me. And they opened up the book of Acts and started having Bible studies on their knees early in the morning, and they'd read a chapter in the book of Acts and study it, and then fall on their knees and weep and say, God, that's not my life.

Confession, Brokenness, and Spiritual Awakening

This went on for months. Then suddenly, God came. God came. And everything changed. Everything changed. And I just read the account here the other day of the senior missionary there, Errol Stegen, I believe that's how you say his name.

And he gives his testimony about the fact that there were some things in his own heart and life, and God was pressing him, withering him, amen? God was withering him, and he was resisting, and he was not wanting to bring it out, and not wanting to get public about the things that God was pressing on his heart.

But finally he got through to God, and he opened those things up, and he broke his heart, and he confessed his need. And then a couple of days later, God came. Oh, think about it, brothers and sisters.

What if he hadn't? The blues would not have been converted. What if he hadn't? But he did. It's the beautiful memory of revival. These things, these stories stir my soul. I've been reading revival history.

My, how long? Ever since I met Lou and Ralph Sutera. That's 1974. They stir our heart, don't they? You know, God...