Holy Spirit and Revival — Manley Beasley

I believe this particular message is supposed to go out to everyone. It's not a message that will give you any great new insights in relationship to the gospel and the eternal purpose, but I believe it's a message that will give you enough insights to inform you adequately, and then I believe it will stir your heart in relationship to this matter of revival.

I trust that in the coming month or months, I'll be able to share with you some experiences I have recently had with a brother by the name of Roy Heson. Brother Roy Heson authored Calvary Road, a man that God has mightily used through his book ministry, and that I have had some time with him in the last few weeks.

My heart has been blessed, and I've just had some real help in this matter of revival, and I trust I'll be able to share it with you at least next month, if not the next month, and so on. But I've been saying to you each month for the last couple of months that I had some exciting news to share with you, and this is the exciting news that I have to share with you.

And I want you to realize that I share this news with you, that I'm sharing with you something that is not complete. It's only in its conception stage, and that it must be watched over with prayer and deep consideration, lest the devil catch away the seed and destroy the work before it even gets started.

And so I am isolating by talking about this particular project to what I call a select group of people, and of course you are included in that select group of people. So you just pray with us now as I share with you about what I call the building, or the office building in specific.

A Cooperative Evangelistic Center for Worldwide Outreach

Back some months ago, Martha and I definitely felt that we were to move to Euless, Texas. And even before we bought a house, we looked for office space. And as we looked for this office space, we discovered that there was so little space around.

And in that search, the Lord spoke to my heart and said, I want you to build an office building. Well, of course, many times when the Lord calls upon us to do things, it's within the realm of possibility as far as the physical is concerned.

But this matter of building an office building was so impossible that immediately I just put it on the shift of faith and began to trust the Lord that he would bring this to pass. Well, to my amazement, the Lord was bringing this thing to pass.

The Lord has raised up a man to be an administrator, raised up a man to be the builder, he's raised up a man to be the provider of the finances, and as far as I can tell right now, the land is being bargained for, and there's going to be a purchase of land, and there's going to be a building that will house many, many, many evangelists.

And the process of this project will make it possible for an evangelist to have his work carried on and carried far, far about anywhere from a 30 to a 70 percent savings. And it's just going to be a super experience of putting a number of evangelists together to where we can have a great deal of our needs met by one another.

It's going to be a super experience. In fact, the possibility of this working into a complex where even James Robinson will have his headquarters and so on. And it's just going to be a super experience, I believe, and the reason it's going to be a super experience is because I believe God put it together.

As far as we know in the history of the world, there's never been anything like this. And I believe it's going to mean a concentration of men with a similar gift, but yet various gifts within the realm of evangelism, and there will be a concentrated effort on our parts too, on our hearts and so on in our lives to just bring all the material together to help one another and to help people across the world.

This will have a worldwide outreach. It will have a worldwide outreach. It's just unreal. It's incredible. It's just unbelievable to think. And just before I started cutting the introduction to this tape, the part that I'm dealing with right this moment, I talked with a brother that just confirmed once more the final stages of the complete conception of this whole thought, and we're in the process now of laying out the basic procedures that we're going to follow, and it's just super.

It's just unreal. And we're praising the Lord for it, and I thought that I needed to share this with you. I want to thank you for praying so much. You just cannot imagine when you pray what happens. A few weeks back in this particular office, we got a little behind on things, we thought, and so we wondered if we should say anything about it.

So we just began to trust the Lord, and the Lord began to work miraculously right here in this office. It's just unreal how the Lord worked here, and it's been such a blessing to see how the Lord has worked in my family.

I have never known a time in my life, or in Martha's life, that we've had a deeper desire to do the will of God. And I've never seen a time in our married life, which has been 25 years, that the Lord is working so beautifully in our lives.

Right in the middle of chaos, he's just bringing out such beautiful, glorious victories. And so I praise the Lord for that, and I thank you for praying for the ministry, and I thank you for praying for the minister and his family.

And it's just so blessed to see how the Lord is working in a number of other areas. For instance, the faith workbook number two is being prepared, and we're actually trusting the Lord that in a few weeks it will be to the printer, and we'll be able to see a great victory there.

And then I trust that you'll be receiving the newsletter soon, and I believe that the Lord is going to inform a lot of people through this newsletter of the need to pray for us, and I trust that you will pray about that.

Well, it's just been good to talk to you for a few minutes. The Lord is really blessing, and you can probably tell by the sound of my voice I'm a little tired, and I have a long two months ahead of me before I get any rest.

So if you've ever helped me up in prayer, please do that now, because I'm really run down. We've been through a lot of battles, and the victories are great and wonderful, but I do need a great deal of rest.

So I trust that you'll pray for me at this particular time. It's been a blessing to introduce this tape concerning the Holy Spirit and revival, and I trust that this tape will really meet the need of your life.

Thank you for praying. I will see you again next month. Back in 1948, I knelt at the front pew of the First Baptist Church in Fort Natchez, Texas, and I prayed the prayer that they just got through singing.

Hardship, Illness, and the Prayer of Surrender

I don't think I put it in words quite so beautiful, but I prayed, Lord, whatever it takes to make me what you want me to be, I want you to give it to me. You know, for about 20 years, it was all glory.

I pastored a church that ran over 400 in Sunday school when I was 22 years old. Man, I just had a lot of success stories. And then one day, what people call tragedy just hit. But it turned out to be probably one of the most significant periods in my life, when for an entire year I had to quit the ministry as such of traveling like this.

And most of the time stayed in the hospital bed. Out of a year and a half, I spent six months in a hospital bed. And when people get up and start singing that song, I really get serious about things. I tell you, that's something, isn't it?

Whatever it takes, Lord. But that's the kind of folk God uses. God means business, whether we do or not. And people that mean business with him, he'll meet with. Now, I want to talk to every person here tonight.

Biblical Revival as Renewal of the Saints

I'm going to deal with you in a sort of a different way, in the sense that the Lord wants to talk to a crowd that basically doesn't seem, it seems that they do not realize that God wants to talk to them.

When you mention the word revival in a Southern Baptist church, we've got the idea that we're talking about calling in a preacher and maybe a singer. Sometimes you may not even call in a preacher. Put a few announcements in the paper and over the radio and on television, and have a few cards made up, and maybe use a few gimmicks to get a few people to church.

And we're going to have a revival meeting where one or two will come down the aisle and rededicate their life, and maybe 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, it just depends, come down the aisle and make professions of faith.

And we call that revival. But no, in no sense of the way, our word in relationship to the Bible is that revival. The word revival, of course, is not too easily found in the Bible. But when we do find anything that relates to what we would normally think a revival is, we're talking about the saints of God being quickened, refreshed, renewed, brought back to the standard that God has planned for them.

And up till about 60 years ago, when you talked about having a meeting in Baptist churches, you talked about having meetings where the first part of the meeting dealt with the saints of God getting right with God.

And when the saints of God got right with God, then they would turn to the lost people and start preaching to the lost. I had an old, elderly pastor, well, I'll just go ahead this way, an elderly pastor come up to me, he honestly is about 90 really, and he said, preacher, he said, you kids ought to get back to preaching the way we used to.

And he said, you'd start having more lasting results. I was interested in that because only about 2 of all the evangelists I know converts last. That's pretty awful. That's awful, in fact. And I said, well, sir, what are you talking about?

He said, well, he said back when I was a young man, we had two-week meetings. And I wanted to say, well, the crowd today, the crowd today is just too busy to have two-week meetings. And I was assured of the fact that he would have come back and said, well, if they loved Jesus enough, they could still have them.

So I didn't know what to say. I didn't say anything. So I just, he said, we'd preach for two weeks. First week we'd preach to the saints. And when the saints got right with God, he said, then we'd start preaching to the lost and they'd get saved.

Well, you know, he defined something of the New Testament meaning of revival. I want to talk to you tonight about this matter of having a revival. I've been in meetings where I've never given an invitation for a week and have 200 people saved.

And friends, you didn't have to beg those kind of people to get baptized. That's right. I've been in some meetings where, in fact, the last time I was in Castle Hills Baptist Church in San Antonio, where Jack Taylor was pastor at that time, I preached for the first week and never gave an invitation.

Revival That Seeks God’s Rule Rather Than Mere Decisions

You know why? Because I had, there was a group of people in that church that wanted God to work to the degree that they were willing to say, preacher, you follow the Lord regardless of how opposite to what we think it might be.

And boy, they just made me free. And for one week I preached and never gave an invitation. And the first invitation was given, was on Sunday morning, and there was about 1 ,200 people there and there was 150 people saved.

You know, it's just unreal. And the next week we had another 200 saved, and the meeting extended into the third week in a Baptist church. And it wasn't, it just wasn't a normal Baptist church. Castle Hills was considered a pretty unusual church.

Really blessed. The reason I'm saying that is this. You know, if you just want to have a few decisions, you can have them. But if you want God to come in and take over, you have to decide on that's what you want.

And then you have to pay the price to have God to come in and take over. Now, I know theoretically God's here. Positionally, God is here. But I'm like, and you may be like, Brother Gideon. When the angel of the Lord came to Gideon, and that's one of the most humorous stories in the whole Bible, that angel of the Lord was sitting off over there under a tree watching Gideon work.

The Holy Spirit as the Author of Revival

And all at once, he called to Gideon, and I'll tell you, I can just see Gideon leaving the ground, Brother. He thought he was dead. He was really, if you're familiar with the story, Gideon thought he was out there behind the hill working, you know, and no one was watching him.

That angel of the Lord was sitting there watching him all the time. And the angel of the Lord told Gideon, said, listen, the Lord is with thee. And you know what Gideon said? Do you remember? He said, well, if he's with me, why isn't he doing something?

If he's with me, why has he allowed this to happen? That's exactly what he said. Amen? Now, I know positionally the Lord's here. But friends, if he's here, then why isn't he doing what he did at Pentecost?

If he's here, why isn't it like it was when the 5 ,000 got saved a few days later? Why is it that God's not working in power and glory, and we're seeing people saved by the thousands if he's here? Now, I know he's here positionally.

And I'd argue with you if you said he wasn't. But yet, on the other hand, my dear friends, the Lord wants to come in power and revive his saints. Now, you know that verse of Scripture that tells us, if my people which are called by my name, remember that verse?

If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves, you remember that verse? I want you to look at that verse. Who is that verse addressed to? If my people which are called by my name. Did you know there's a crowd in the church that's so much Christian that in the town where they live, people will say if there's a Christian in town, that man or that woman is the Christian?

And do you know that crowd is the same crowd that sits in the church and never thinks that they need to make a decision? And yet, this verse of Scripture said, if my people which are called by my name, in other words, that crowd who is so much like Jesus, everyone says they're like Jesus, if that crowd will get straight, he said, I'll do something.

Come on. Friends, we're sitting around here waiting for the backsliders to get straight when the Lord is addressing the crowd that is called by his name to get straight. Isn't it so that the man that has the most time in the presence of God should be the man who should govern what God is up to and what God's doing the most?

Amen? Now, it's that crowd that needs to get straight. The Bible tells us, not by might, not by power, but it's by my what? Spirit, saith the Lord. You know, the Holy Spirit is the author of revival. He's the author of revival.

He uses man, but he's the author of revival. And the Bible tells us that we have a responsibility to make way for the Holy Spirit. In Isaiah 40, we have a beautiful outline given to us in relationship to man's responsibility.

Remember the story of John the Baptist who came, was the forerunner of Jesus? John the Baptist came and prepared the way of the Lord? A beautiful illustration of the responsibility of a saint. And in Isaiah 40, we have this.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Now listen to this. Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.

Now you see, when man makes the way of the Lord, notice the next verse. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. When John the Baptist got the way prepared, the Lord Jesus came.

And he was the glory of the Lord. And we as God's children, if my people, which are called by my name, are to prepare the way of the Lord. And when the way is prepared, the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and people will see it.

Repentance as Preparation for God’s Glory

My dear friends, we in the Baptist church have got the philosophy that it's what we do for God that counts. You better the name when we heard of what you did for God. When we heard of what God did for you, we had no defense.

Our hearts melted within us, and we wanted to get in on what you did. One day, a lady came up to me in Longview, Texas, and said, Preacher, I know you're away from home a lot, and said, What about taking my telephone number, and calling your wife, and charging the call to my number?

Now, I want you to know, just the thoughtfulness really impressed me. It was just, you know, a sweet blessing. So, later in the day, that Saturday, I call my wife. And you know, you'd have to know my wife.

First of all, she's got an odd name. Her name is Martha, M-A-R-T-H-E. And most of the time when I mention her name, people feel sorry for me because they think that I don't know how to pronounce Martha.

And, or either I'm too country to know the difference. And, but my wife's mother was reading a French novel when she was born, and she liked that name, Martha. So she named her, Martha, Marte, or Mart, and, but we call her Martha.

And, so I call Martha. And you'd have to know her, because she is something else. And you would expect me to say that, I trust. But, she's a delightful person. We've been married 25 years, and she's the most delightful person I've ever met.

And, even after 25 years. And, so, it's just so blessed to see what's going to come up next with her, because she's always got something going. But, anyway, I call Martha, and I said, just told her about this lady, and I just wanted to talk a minute.

And, she said, listen, sir, I sure do thank you for that extra $40 you gave me this week. Because I have a secretary to give her a check every week. And, you might wonder why. Well, she can't handle money.

And, so, it's cheaper for me to hire a secretary to write her checks. And, so, she said, thank you for that extra $40. And, man, I just, I said, what do you mean extra $40? She said, well, your secretary gave me an extra $40 this week.

I just want to praise God for it. I want to thank you for it. And, you know what, friend? I got mad. She didn't know it. She did not know it, but I got mad. I just lost my temper right there on that phone.

And, I knew that I lost my temper. I knew the Holy Spirit had been grieved. I knew it had been quenched. I knew it was wrong. And, my dear friend, I knew that I had to get straight. But, some men came in the house, and I said goodbye, and I did not get straight.

I went to that church that night, and the glory of God was not in the church. I went home, fell on my face, and I said, now, Lord, what in the world's wrong? Why wasn't the glory of God in that church tonight?

Why aren't we seeing people get saved and saved people get right? Lord, why is it that the glory is not there? And, the Lord said, you sinned against me. And, you know, friends, I'll tell you, I did not realize that an expression of temper, a temper out of control, I did not realize would grieve and quench the Holy Spirit.

The glory couldn't work in the church, especially in one person. And, you know what I had to do? I had to go down and confess to the whole church the next morning. You say, why? Because I'd sinned against that church as well as God, by coming into that church knowing that I had sinned in my life.

I got it straight. And, by the way, before I got through confessing, 20 people got saved. They just came forward like that and started getting saved. Now, what I'm telling you tonight is simply this. We, as God's children, have the responsibility of preparing the way of the Lord so the glory of God will be revealed.

We have that responsibility. And, friends, as long as the glory of God is not revealed in the church, we need to keep making adjustment by repentance and faith in our life until the glory of God is here.

One of the things the devil has done in our hour is he has literally put us to sleep to be satisfied with what's happening. Something less than the glory of God. God, wake us up tonight. That's revival.

When men and women realize that God means what he says, brethren, go out to believe it and refuse to accept anything less than the glory of God in the church. I want you to know they'll see it. That's right.

See, there's also another thing. The child of God has the responsibility of making the path right, the road right, that the glory of God may come. But this is also true. Lost people, people that are not saved, that do not know Jesus, have the responsibility of responding to the Lord according to the light that's given to them.

General Revelation and the Call to Faith

You say, what do you mean? In Romans, the first chapter, God says there is enough light in the creation of God that if a person gets honest, God will lead them to the truth. Two years ago in Chateau de Switzerland, there was two atheists that would come to the meeting.

They were what I call intelligent atheists. You say, what's that? An intelligent atheist is a man that doesn't have a closed mind. An ignorant atheist is a man that has closed all doors. These two young men.

One of these men was an executive in the Rothschild structure. You know, you're aware of them. One of the richest families in the world. And man, I mean, these fellows. One was from Brazil and the other one was from Switzerland.

And they were atheists. I shared with them this thought. That even though they did not believe that there is a God. And that God was not, there was no God at all. But there was enough of revelation out there in the world.

To hold a person entirely responsible for their life. And that when people in the Bible could see God all around them. But they did not glorify him. They were not thankful to him. Therefore they became vain in their imagination.

And they served the creature more than the creator. And God gave them up. And they could not get saved after God gave them up. And I said, if you do not even believe there is a God. But if you've got a heart that's honest.

That you will say, if there is a God. I want that God to reveal himself to me. Within two days both of those atheists were saved. I mean both of them were saved. Because they prayed they were willing to do that.

I could see them back there. And I knew they felt like they were being very stupid. To pray to someone they did not believe in. But they simply said, if there is a God. And he is real. I want him to reveal himself to me.

And the next day on the ski slopes. I want you to know God got with one of them. And I want you to know before he got to the bottom he was saved. Now I don't mean God scared the devil out of him. I don't know exactly how it happened.

But God met with that man. But it's a beautiful experience. And we stay in constant correspondence with these people. So I know that it's a beautiful experience. Now what I'm saying to you is this. Are you willing to be honest?

Now if you're not honest. You refuse to let the Spirit of God show you the handiwork of God. I want you to know. Serving your creature more than the creator. Not being thankful. You can push away the Holy Spirit of God.

That's dealing with you and saying come. And there come a time you can't even get saved. I'm talking to people that are not saved. Now tonight. As a child of God. Are you willing to say Lord. Show me everything in my life that's not right.

Are you? I haven't named anything. Well I did name a couple of things. But I haven't listed a bunch of sins. I could have. But I believe the Holy Spirit can show you. What could be in your heart that's not pleasing to him tonight.

The Church’s Repentance and the Invitation to Christ

Are you willing? And dear lost friend tonight. If you're here and you need Jesus Christ. We're praying that the Lord Jesus will give you the grace. To come to him. And let someone show you how Jesus loves you.

And died in your place. Would you stand with me please. Until the church is moved. Friends we can never expect. The lost world to be moved. Now I know lost people get saved. Here and there. Friends it's when the church gets straight.

With the Lord and each other. Whole towns are saved. Nations are shaken. Revival comes. Would you let Jesus have his way in your heart tonight. As a child of God. And I'm not talking about rededicating your life.

I'm talking about coming down here and getting on your knees. And asking God to forgive you the sin that's grievous to the Holy Spirit. That's quenching the Holy Spirit. Father in Jesus name. This is your service.

I cannot make you do anything. And I cannot make people do anything. And I wouldn't want to do that anyway. Now Lord. You know where our hearts are tonight. And would you handle this service. Friend would you come.

Lord would you come. Oh dear Lord would you come in power. Lord I've seen you come. In power. Would you come. And Lord I couldn't blame you if you did not come. When we as your saints are not willing to obey you.

But Lord when we get willing. When we obey you. Then Lord I know you'll come. Lord come Lord Jesus. In power here tonight.