When the Church Needs Revival — E.A. Johnston

The Church’s Dependence on the Supernatural

When the Church ceases to operate in the power of the supernatural with its reliance solely upon the Spirit of Almighty God, then the Church needs revival. When the Church operates as a lobotomized institution of apathy and passivity in regard to evangelism, then the Church needs revival.

Rejecting Complacency and Entertainment-Driven Ministry

When the Church is content to maintain the status quo, meaning business as usual, then the Church needs revival. When the Church operates on money and manpower instead of prayer and Holy Ghost power, then the Church needs revival.

When the natural, inexplainable, is preferred over the supernatural and unexplainable, then the Church needs revival. When society is spinning out of control into moral chaos, then the Church needs revival.

When congregations prefer teaching over preaching, then the Church needs revival. When entertainment and laughter is what moves a crowd rather than the power of God in a meeting, then the Church needs revival.

Pastoral Neglect and Youth Spiritual Crisis

When pastors spend their free time on sports and entertainment over Bible study and intercessory prayer, then the Church needs revival. When our teenagers are going to the devil through drugs, sex, and alcohol, then the Church needs revival.

When our young people today are predominantly atheist, then the Church needs revival. When there is no reality of God in the lives of Christians, then the Church needs revival. When the majority of Church members mistake Church membership for salvation, then the Church needs revival.

Diluted Gospel and the Loss of Biblical Salvation

When the Gospel is debased to make it more palatable to sinful man, then the Church needs revival. When the doctrines of repentance and regeneration are absent in our pulpits, then the Church needs revival.

When the danger of damnation and hell is no longer preached, then the Church needs revival. When God is viewed as a God who won't punish sin, then the Church needs revival. When salvation is taken out of the hands of God and placed it in the hands of men, then the Church needs revival.

Sin, Christ’s Lordship, and Moral Compromise

When the Church has shrunken God down to man size, then the Church needs revival. When sin is tolerated in the life of a Church, then that Church needs revival. When the doctrine of the Lordship of Christ is no longer tolerated, then the Church needs revival.

When fornication is no longer considered a sin between believers, then the Church needs revival. When homosexuality is accepted, legalized, and promoted in society, then the Church needs revival. When a godless society feels an icy blast from the institutional Church, then the Church needs revival.

When Christians can watch movies showing nudity and sex and feel no shame or conviction of sin, then the Church needs revival. When Christians can hold grudges and resentment toward one another, then the Church needs revival.

Evangelistic Apathy and the Authority of Scripture

When Christians are content to not personally share or spread the gospel with the lost, then the Church needs revival. When the Bible is no longer considered a book with any authority and you've got to recognize it, then that's when the Church needs revival.

Prayerless Churches and the Loss of Spiritual Unction

When there is an absence of unction in the pulpit, then the Church needs revival. When a Church is content to be a prayerless people, then the Church needs revival.