Pastors Conference 2006 Classic Sermon — E.A. Johnston

Well, we're going to go ahead and get started. Happy is the preacher that gets to follow Stephen Offord, because not only will Stephen Offord warm you up, he'll fire you up. So are you fired up tonight?

Well, you know, it's cold outside, but we have to be careful to maintain those embers on the altars of our heart, make sure that they burn, keep those burning. And this whole issue of revival, this whole business of revival, is a passion with me.

Revival Is Birthed and Sustained in Prayer

I've been studying it for several decades. I have gone into deep, deep study on it. I've had the privilege of talking with great men of revival, like Dr. Ted Randall, men like that. And I tell you, when I think revival, I think that it all comes down to this, it comes down to prayer.

All revival is birthed in prayer. It's not only birthed in prayer, it's bathed in prayer. Any great movement of God in history begins in prayer, begins—I was reading a story about the revival in Wales in 1904 about two little sisters, an 86-year-old blind woman and her 82-year-old crippled sister.

They were so infirmed they couldn't even go to church, but they were praying for revival. They're praying for revival. God will use anyone in revival as long as we're faithful in prayer. And prayer, in my opinion, is tied directly to—it's our walk with God.

Enoch and the Intimacy of Walking With God

When I think of walking with God, I think of Enoch, that godly antediluvian that the book of Genesis says in chapter 5, verse 22, and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years. And I thought about that.

Enoch begat Methuselah when he was age 65, so the first 65 years of his life he didn't walk with God. But somewhere there, God got a hold of Enoch, and for the next 300 years, Enoch walked with God. That's a long time to build and forge a relationship, isn't it?

Three hundred years. And we see that those three years shared such a close, intimate relationship with the Creator that my Bible also says that an Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

They were out walking one day, and that companionship was so sweet, and that time was so special, God just said, come along, Enoch, I don't want to break up this fellowship, let's just keep on going into eternity.

And that's what they did. Enoch lived like no other man, and Enoch died like no other man. He died. He was translated. When you live like that in the supernatural, your whole life takes on new dimensions.

And as I meditated on that text in Genesis and studied it, I saw some very important truths, several benefits to walking with God. First, it's easy. It's easy to walk with God. Walking in itself is easy.

Even a toddler can walk. Anyone can walk. A monkey can walk. It's easy. There's no great demand to walk with God. It requires no special gift, no special talent. And you know what? You don't have to be a scholar to walk with God.

You don't have to have letters after your name to walk with God. You don't have to be a Ph .D. to walk with God. You can be an ABC and walk with God. So you don't have to be a scholar. It's easy. He makes it easy to walk with him.

Also, luckily for me, to walk with God. Walking with God requires no athletic prowess. It's very easy to walk with God. Another benefit, you don't have to be a rich man to walk with God. In fact, all the money in the world won't get you a walk with God.

In fact, a Donald Trump can't buy a walk with God. Isn't that right? It's easy, but it's not accessible to every man. But it's easy. It doesn't cost any money to walk with God. Also, you don't have to be important to walk with God.

You don't have to be somebody famous. In fact, in history, it's usually the nobodies that walk with God. The nobodies that walk with him. It fits and it's easy. Another benefit of walking with God, it's enjoyable.

It's enjoyable. It's a supreme joy to walk with the creator of the universe. Sidlow Baxter used to say to his friend, H .D. McCarty in Arkansas, he said, Harvey, imagine every morning that the creator of the universe deigns to meet with little old Sidlow Baxter as I pray.

Walking with God is enjoyable. It's one of the most joyous things in our lives. And if you're like me, those walks with God can be some of the most joyful times of our lives. It reminds me of that hymn, In the Garden.

You know the one I'm referring to? And he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own. And what we share as we tarry there, none other I've ever known. It's enjoyable. There's no other joy like that.

Another benefit to walking with God, it's exciting. When you leave the natural and the ordinary and you start walking in the supernatural and the extraordinary, there's nothing like it. There's nothing like it.

It's exciting. The Christian life is an adventure. Isn't that right? There are few things more exciting on this earth than those mountaintop experiences that we have with him. Nobody can take that from us.

The devil can't take it from us. When we're on that mountaintop alone with the Lord, there is nothing like it. It's exciting. It's a thrill. It's gripping. Well, I've mentioned briefly to walking with God.

Following, Listening, and Obeying God

But I would be remiss if I failed to mention some conditions for walking with God. There are some conditions to walking with God. I'm assuming you already realize that you must be born again, right? Oh, he won't walk with an unbeliever.

You must be born again. The next condition to walking with God is this. To walk with God, you have to follow. Now, that's important. You can't lead the way and expect him to follow you. You can't move this way in your ministry without praying first and expect God to come alongside you and bless it.

How many times have I moved in my life that I said, Okay, God, I'm going in this direction. I want you to come alongside me. It was a disaster. I know that's never happened to any of you. So, to walk with God, we have to learn how to follow.

And I say the word learn, right? As disciples, we're learners. We have to learn how to follow. Jesus, in his earthly ministry, said to his disciples, He said, follow me, and I will make you fishers of what?

Of men. He didn't say, I'll follow you. He said, follow me. The next condition to walking with God is to listen. We have to be listeners when we walk with God. Have you ever had a friend that when you get together with them, talking, and the subject they love to talk about more than anything else is themselves?

Do you ever have a friend like that? I had lunch with a friend not too long ago, and for the whole hour, he talked about himself. He talked about himself, talked about his ministry. That's all he wanted to talk about.

That's kind of a one-sided friendship, isn't it? My wife has a friend who will say to her, how are you? And when she says, fine, the girl will say, well, enough talk about you. Let's talk about me. A lot of people like that.

It's one-sided. Well, I thought about this, and I had to apply this to my quiet time. And I had asked myself, is that a one-sided relationship where I'm doing all the talking? Or do I get in there and do I listen?

What's my quiet time all about? Am I going in there with my list of prayer requests? It's good to have a list, but is that all my quiet time is, where I'm doing all the talking? I'm complaining about this, and I'm griping about that, and I'm asking him to bless me on this.

Or am I listening? Be still and know that I am God. If you want to walk with the creator of the universe, you not only have to follow, you have to listen. Jesus said over and over again, he said, he who has ears to hear, let them what?

Let them hear. He didn't say, those that have mouths to talk, let them talk. He knew we were going to do that, right? We don't have any trouble talking, do we? But we do have trouble listening. In fact, my wife tells me I'm a very poor listener.

And I believe her. We have to work at being listeners. We have to work at listening to God. Speak to us. The next thing we have to do with God is we have to obey. Obedience. After we follow him, after we listen to him, we must obey what he tells us.

What good is the servant in the parable who buried his talent in the ground? He didn't obey his master. My Bible tells me that to obey is better than what? Sacrifice. Obedience. In the last letter that Evan Roberts wrote to a friend, Evan Roberts of the Wales Revival of 1904, the last letter he wrote at the end of his life, he put three words at the bottom of the page, and it was obedience, obedience, obedience.

That is what he learned. With his walk with God. If God reveals to us and we fail to obey, it's sin. We've missed the mark. So we have to hear what he says. There's another condition to walking with God, and if we fail here, we fail everywhere.

Holiness as a Condition of Walking With God

Stephen Olford, to me, typified this. That's the banner on the wall there in the middle. Be ye holy. If we're going to walk with God, we must be holy. My Bible tells me that unless two are agreed, they cannot walk together.

Is that not right? So if we want to walk with God, and God is holy, we have to pursue a life of holiness. Ephesians 1 -4 commands us to be holy and without blame before him in love. Holy is the inward man or inward standing.

The outward man, how we look before man and God. We're to be holy and blameless before him. Why? Because we love him. Because we love him. Because of what he did for us to save a wretch like me. What little can I do than to pursue a life of holiness to pay him back.

Holiness, if you want to walk with the creator of the universe, be holy. I've seen many a man, ministry, fall and crumble because he morally was impure. I've seen men in this city fall because of that.

I've seen men, personally, that I've known as friends, that I considered very strong Christians at one point. But they didn't pursue holiness and they fell. And Satan got a hold of them. And it ruined their reputation and they're worthless for God.

Holiness is a command. We must be obedient. So we must learn to follow God. We must learn to listen to God. We must learn to obey God when he speaks to us. Well, there's an additional benefit which he promises to all believers as we walk with him.

And that's our sanctification process. You know, it's kind of neat. The more we walk with him, the more we become like him. The more we walk with him, the more we become like him. That's that sanctification process.

Personal Revival and the Historical Pattern of Awakening

Well, that's the end of my little introduction on our lecture on revival tonight. We're going to spend a great deal of time on studying history, revival history, different aspects of revival. I believe that in America today, it's very similar to the times in the 18th century prior to the ministry of John Wesley and George Whitefield.

Spirituality is at a low ebb. There's a moral downgrade in our society. There's conflicts in the pulpits. There's dead orthodoxy. And we need a great movement of the Spirit of God, not only on us personally, but corporately and nationally.

We're going to talk about that tonight. Revival. Revival is a passion with me, and revival can be a passion with you. It really is a passion. When God gets a hold of you in revival, it turns your life upside down.

Before I came to Stephen Offred, it was a back row bomb as a Christian. Okay? I was useless. From what I know now, my Christian walk as a Christian. And under his preaching, God got a hold of me, and I went into personal revival.

Personal revival. And my life hasn't been the same since. He turned me upside down. I mean, God got a hold of me. It was painful. He flipped me upside down, and I went into personal revival. And I've been pursuing him ever since.

I pursue him more and more every day. He's more lovely to me every day. Every day, he's more lovely. That walk with God. That walk with God. You know what I'm talking about. Revival. Maybe there's someone here tonight that needs a personal revival.

Well, how do you know? Do you have dry eyes when you pray? Have you become kind of a job? Is the passion gone? Have you left your first love? What's your courtship like with Jesus lately? Revival. We all need revival.

I need revival all the time. You want to stay in that white-hot oven with God. That white-hot oven. That walk with God of revival. And that's something you have to pursue. He's on the narrow road. When Jesus goes, he goes on the narrow way.

The wide way is the broad way. That's New York City, where all those godless plays are. It's called Broadway, right? The narrow way is his way. It's a pursuit. A pursuit of him. I'm going to read you some quotes of men of revival.

Revival Quotes, Spiritual Decline, and the Need for Repentance

Vance Abner. Vance Abner. Vance Abner used to say, you know, I can't mimic his voice, but he'd say, you know, everybody's holding revival. It's about time somebody let loose the one. Vance Abner had a way of really, you know, getting in there.

Vance Abner used to preach with Stephen Offord on the same platform. I have a tape at my house where Vance Abner says, I do believe that God's going to use Stephen Offord in a mighty sweeping revival.

He's a man of revival, and Stephen Offord was a man of revival. In fact, I read the biography of Vance Abner, and in that biography in North Carolina, when he and Stephen Offord were preaching for a week at a pastor's conference, God broke out in revival.

I asked Mrs. Offord about it. She said, oh, yes, I was there. She said, I was with him. I remember it well. Revival broke up. Preaching on revival one night, and this pastor went up to him after the message, and he said, Brother Abner, he said, you know what?

He said, that message you just preached, that really tore me up. He said, that really tore me up. And Vance Abner said, well, Brother, what do you think it did to me? You know, revival kind of gets a hold of you and turns you upside down.

You know, if it's hard on you, how do you think I feel? When I study revival, I study great men of revival, and when I look at Charles Finney to me, he's a great man of revival. Whether you agree with him theologically or his methodology, I don't care.

God still used him. God used him. God used Finney in a mighty way. Charles Finney said this about revival. He said, a revival of true Christianity presupposes a falling away. Falling away. Finney also defined revival in this way.

He said, revival is the renewal of the first love of Christians resulting in the awakening and conversion of sinners to God. A revival of true Christianity arouses, quickens, and reclaims the backslidden church and awakens all classes, ensuring attention to the claims of God.

Revival presupposes that the church is mired in a backslidden state. Thank you, Mr. Finney. That's true. That's a perfect example of the preconditions that exist before revival. If you study revival in history like I have, you will find this to be true.

I'm writing a definitive biography on George Washington. It's 600 pages on it. I've probably got another 600, 700 to go. And as I study the 18th century revival in New England, okay, where Jonathan Edwards preached in Northampton and in Boston and those areas, the religion was dead.

They called it a revival of religion because religion was dead. It was dead spiritually. In fact, many men that were preaching were unconverted. And Whitfield got on to them. He preached loud and clear against an unconverted ministry.

He said, how can you preach a Christ you know nothing about? That was the 18th century. Well, the conditions that exist before revival are all the same. There's a spiritual low ebb, a decline in the vitality of the church, and Christians are very worldly and careless.

Now, I'm going to mention again this book. Dr. Tim mentioned it. I mention it because I'm going to read some things out of here from it. This book I wrote on revival. I don't get a dime from it. All the proceeds go to missions.

Okay, I'm going to state that right away. But this book on revival has some little passages in there that I'd like to share with us because of the quotes in here. And I'll just start with this. The apostle Paul, Luther, Wesley, Whitfield, Knox, Edwards, Finney, Spurgeon, Moody, each shared a common denominator, a fire in their belly.

They were each so eaten up with the gospel and thirsty for Christ and filled with the Holy Ghost they could not stand idly by while others perished. They saw nothing but eternity, worshipped a holy God, not for earth nor its gains, but living only for heaven and its rewards.

When they preached, they linked the devil with sin and the cross with salvation. They preached hell and its fire and Christ and him crucified. Not one of them feared king, queen, or pope, and not one of them sought the compliments of man.

God got a hold of those men, and they got a hold of God. Well, this next passage I want to read is a little quote, and then I'll go to a more lengthy one. This, I was talking about New England. In 1740, when God moved through New England, it was called the Great Awakening.

Revival has often been referred to as an awakening. At Gethsemane, Jesus of his earthly ministry and his disciples slept right through it. Today, the church is in a crisis point, and we are sleeping right through it.

I believe that with my whole heart. I have a little passage here, a chapter that I entitled, A Sleep and a Hailstorm, and I use the text from Jonah. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. Can there be a better comparison to today's ministers from this passage of God? Are we not asleep while the storm rages around us?

Have we not run from the direct commands of God, the commands to preach Christ and him crucified? Are we running from God ourselves like poor Jonah? Will God in his mercy have to cast us and our ministries into the waves to get our attention?

I pray not, but it may take this to awaken us. How can we lead others to Christ when we ourselves have no inkling of who we are in Christ? I dedicated this chapter to Leonard Ravenhill. I don't know if you ever read Ravenhill's book, Why Revival Tarries?

I highly recommend it if you haven't. But I dedicated this to him, and these are some quotes on revival that I wrote with him in mind. Instead of professionalism, what we need today is brokenness before him.

Instead of memorized prayers, heart cries. Instead of dry doctrine with no heart, wet eyes. Instead of pride backed by academic degrees, humility upon our knees. Instead of new buildings and more ball fields, street preaching on corners and mission fields.

Instead of easy believism during gospel invitations, we need repentance and consecration. Instead of living to please self and enjoy life, dying to self and living the crucified life. Instead of preaching with no power, incarnate preaching with Holy Spirit power.

Holy Spirit power. I'm going to read you some quotes by revival men. Men of revival like Duncan Campbell and Joseph Kemp. Let me share those with you. Joseph Kemp, if you're not familiar with him, he was the pastor of Charlotte Baptist Chapel in Edinburgh.

He was the predecessor to Dr. Graham Baxter. He also ended up at Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan, Dr. Stephen Alford's church. Joseph Kemp was used mightily in revival. And this is what he had to say about that.

He said, quite suddenly, upon one and another came an overwhelming sense of the reality and awfulness of his presence and of eternal things. Awfulness. Duncan Campbell said this. Duncan Campbell used mightily in revival.

He said, the awful presence of God brought a wave of conviction of sin that caused even mature Christians to feel their sinfulness. Bringing groans of distress and prayers of repentance from the unconverted.

Strong men were bowed under the weight of sin and cries for mercy were mangled with shouts of joy from others who had passed. Duncan Campbell. That's revival. That's revival. So when we look at revival, there's a common thread that runs through there.

It's an awful presence of God. Let me share with you a story. Last year, a local pastor called me up and he said, look, he said, I read your book on revival. And I'd like to get together and have lunch with you and talk to you about it.

It's kind of gotten hold of me. I want to talk about it. And I thought, well, it's a free lunch. So I went out. We had lunch. And he said, brother, he said, I've been a pastor for 50 years. Now, this is an old saying.

He said, I've been a pastor for 50 years and I long to have revival come to my church. I said, brother, that's great. That's great. I'm thrilled that you're saying that. He said, you know what? He said, I want you to help me to bring Henry Blackbee back to Memphis so we can have a revival.

Well, you know, brother, I love Henry Blackbee. I've studied Henry Blackbee for years. Henry Blackbee has given me wonderful advice that I've used in my own ministry from time to time. But I said, you know what, brother?

And I paused. And I looked him right in the eye across that plate. And I said, if you want revival to come to your church, you're going to have to get right with God and repent of your sins because revival has to start with you.

He just stared at me. He probably thought, who's this young whippersnapper? You know, where's he coming from? Well, the lunch ended. All right? And a few days later, I got another call from this man. He wanted me to have lunch with not only him again, but two of his pastor buddies.

So we got together again. It was another free lunch. I can't turn down a free lunch. And they sat at the table and they said, will you do us a favor on a weekly basis for revival? And I said, certainly I will.

And we had it over here at the institute. And for two months, we got together every week for an hour. And we prayed for revival. And you know what? I had the privilege, as we sat in a circle praying, of watching that old saint, that pastor, been a pastor 50 years, he threw himself down on the ground in the midst of us and cried out, God, forgive me for my dirty, rotten sins.

Send revival to my church and let it start with me. That's revival. That's personal revival. I'm looking for big things to happen to man's church because they've got a pastor who's on fire for revival.

Are you willing to pay the price? Are you willing to pay the cost for revival? There's a cost in prayer. There's a price to be paid. Let me make a statement. Revival is the manifest presence of God among his people.

We have to ask ourselves, what have we done to grieve God away from our congregations? What have we done to grieve him away from our congregations? Where is the manifest presence of God? Now, a friend of mine made this distinction with me.

There's a difference between the omnipresence of God and the manifest presence of God. The omnipresence of God is that verse in Scripture, wherever two or more are gathered, I'm with you, right? God's with us here tonight through the Holy Spirit.

But that's the omnipresence of God. If God showed up tonight with his manifest presence, this room would shake and quake and we'd all be on our faces. That's the difference between the omnipresence of God and, as a matter of fact, the day of Pentecost, it is said about that day that the room shook.

When the Israelites were standing at the foot of Mount Sinai and God showed up, the mountain smoked and it quaked and the people fell on their faces and they covered up their eyes. That's the manifest presence of God.

Now, let me make a statement. If you don't have the manifest presence of God in your prayer life, how are you going to have it in the pulpit? If you're not experiencing the manifest presence of God in your prayer life, how are you going to have it in the pulpit?

George Whitefield knew about that. George Whitefield would write time and time again in his journal that God was there when he preached and the people were melted down. Melted down. I'm going to read a quick story about Charles Finney and then I have an expository message on revival.

And it's supposed to be an expository message because that's what we do here is expository preaching. But this little message, story about Finney, I have to read it to you because it's critically important to our study of revival.

This is from Charles Finney's memoirs. I don't know if you've ever read that big volume that he wrote later in life. I'm going to read this verbatim, so please don't be dull at hearing now. As you walk with God, you have to listen.

Tune up your ears and listen to this because you're going to miss out if you miss this story on Finney. This is Finney talking. And Finney said, I had taken no thought with regard to a text upon which to preach, but waited to see the congregation, as I was in the habit of doing in those days.

As soon as I had done praying, I arose from my knees and said, Up, get ye out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city. I said I did not recollect where the text was, but I told them very nearly where they could find it, and then went on to explain it.

I said that there was such a man as Abraham, and also who he was, and that there was such a man as Lot, and also who he was, and how they were relations to each other. They were separating from each other on account of differences between their herdmen, and that Abraham took the hill country, and Lot settled in the vale of Sodom.

I then told them how exceedingly wicked Sodom became, and what abominable practices they fell into. I then told them how exceedingly wicked Sodom became, and what abominable practices they fell into. I then told them how exceedingly wicked Sodom became, and what abominable practices they fell into.

And God promised him that if he found ten righteous persons in the city, he would spare it. Abraham made no further request, and Jehovah left him. But it was found that there was but one righteous person there, and that was Lot, Abraham's nephew.

And the text in Genesis reads,. And the man said to Lot, Hast thou here any besides, son-in-law, and thy son-in-law? Whosoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place, for we will destroy this place.

Because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons-in-laws, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city.

But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-laws. While I was relating these facts, I observed the people looked as if they were angry. Many of the men were in their shirt sleeves, and they looked at each other and at me, as if they were ready to pitch into me, and chastise me for something on the spot.

I saw their strange and unaccountable looks, and could not understand what I was saying that had offended them. However, it seemed to me that their anger rose higher and higher as I continued the narrative.

As soon as I had finished the narrative, I turned upon them and said that I understood that they never had a religious meeting in that place before, and therefore I had a right to take it for granted, and was compelled to take it for granted that they were an ungodly people.

I pressed that home upon them with more and more energy, with my heart full to bursting. I had not spoken to them in this strain of direct application, I should think, more than a quarter of an hour, when all at once an awful solemnity seemed to settle down upon them, and some kind of thing flashed over the congregation, a kind of shimmering, as if there was some agitation in the atmosphere itself.

The congregation began to fall from their seats, and they fell in every direction, and I had a sword in each hand, I could not have cut them off their seats as fast as they fell. Indeed, nearly the whole congregation were either on their knees or prostrate, I should think, in less than two minutes from the shock that fell upon them.

Everyone prayed for himself who was able to speak at all. I, of course, was obliged to stop preaching, for they no longer paid any attention. When I went down the second time, I got an explanation of the anger manifested by the congregation during the introduction of my first sermon there.

I learned that the place was called Sodom, but I knew it not, and that there was one pious man in the place, and they called him Lot, and this was the old man that had invited me there. The people supposed I had chosen my subject, and they were so wicked as to be called Sodom.

This was a striking coincidence, but as far as I was concerned, it was altogether accidental. I have not been in that place for many years. A few years since, I was laboring in Syracuse in the state of New York.

Two gentlemen called upon me one day, one quite an elderly man, another perhaps a man of 47 years of age. The younger man introduced the older man to me as Deacon White, an elder in his church, saying that he had called on me to give $100 to Oberlin College.

The older man, in his turn, introduced the younger, saying, This is my minister, the Reverend Mr. Cross. He was converted under your ministry. Whereupon, Brother Cross said to me, Do you remember preaching at such a time in Antwerp, in such a part of town, in a schoolhouse, in the afternoon, in such a scene, describing the...

I said, I remember it very well, and can never forget it. Well, I remember anything. Well, said he, I was then but a young man, but I was converted in that meeting, and for many years, that man was a successful minister.

That's revival. That's revival. That's when God breaks through in his manifest presence to where you can't even stay in your seat anymore, you're on the ground. You're on the ground. And God gets a hold of an unconverted man and turns him into a minister for him, just like he did with Saul.

That's revival. Well, we're going to press on to the passage that I've chosen tonight on revival. And I've chosen this passage very carefully. Stephen Offord said, Don't ever build a message around something you want to say.

I prayed about this very carefully, that if you want revival to come to your church, or if you want revival to come to your ministry, it has to start with you. Okay? And if it has to start with you, it has to start with prayer.

All right? No revival's going to happen without prayer. So that leads us to the chapter on prayer in the Gospel of John, chapter 15. It's a familiar passage, but we're going to look at some deep truth there tonight.

If you'll turn there, we are going to take a look at chapter 15. We're going to be in verses 1 through 8. I'm reminded of a story I heard about a hippie. Remember hippies? I think hippies are coming back, aren't they?

I keep seeing them more and more out on the street. But this hippie went into an employment agency and told the clerk there that he needed a job, or he would like to have a job. And the clerk said, Well, what's your work history been like?

And the hippie said, Well, up and down. The clerk wrote down up and down. He said, Well, tell me, where have you been working lately? And the hippie said, Oh, here and there. So he wrote down here and there.

He said, Well, tell me. He said, What kind of work do you do? He said, Oh, this and that. He said, Let's see now. Up and down. Here and there. This and that. I'll tell you what. Why don't you check back with us every now and then?

Is your prayer life like that hippie? Is it up and down? Here and there? Every now and then? Do you walk with God on a daily basis? Let me rephrase this. Can God say of you and that you're listening to him and not only listening to him, you're following him and obeying him?

Can he say that of you right now? This little passage about the true vine is a precursor to personal revival. I promise you that if God gets a hold of you in your prayer life, you'll have personal revival and your church will never be the same.

Never be the same because you'll bring your church, Lord willing, into that experience. This passage is a wonderful passage. I've broken it down this way. There's three things I want to draw out from the text tonight.

The first thing is the active care of the Father over the vineyard, the pruning process. The second thing, between Christ and the church, the praying process. And the third thing is the anointing work of the Holy Spirit in the believer, the power possessed.

I'll repeat that. The active care of the Father over the vineyard, the pruning process. The abiding union between Christ and the church, the praying process. And the anointing work of the Holy Spirit in the believer, the power possessed.

The True Vine and the Father’s Pruning Work

Well, as we study this passage, I'll go ahead and read it to us, but we have to make note of the last sentence in chapter 14 where Jesus says, Arise, let us go hence. Because that's critically important to the message that he tells them and the scene and situation in which he delivers these truths.