Revival for Pastors — E.A. Johnston

Well, we're going to go ahead and get started. Happy is the preacher that gets to follow Stephen Olford, because not only will Stephen Olford 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 Bathed 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'll tell you, when I think of 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. 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.

The Joy and Excitement of Walking With God

It's benefits, 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. Sittler 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 Sittler 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 a gripping. Well, I've mentioned briefly to walking with God, but I would be remiss if I failed to mention some conditions for walking with God.

Being Born Again and Learning to Follow 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 for us and expect God to come along side 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 along side 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 talking and the subject they love to talk about more than anything else is themselves?

Listening for God's Voice

You ever had 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 to ask 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're 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 part is we have to obey, obedience. After we follow Him, after we listen to Him, we must obey what He tells us.

Obedience as a Condition of Walking With God

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 and Agreement With God

Stephen Ofer 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 was 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.

Sanctification Through Walking With God

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.

Revival in the Church and in the Nation

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.

Personal Revival and Returning to First Love

Before I came to Stephen Offred, I was a back row bum 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 broad way. 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 Through the Testimony of Vance Havner

Vance Haverner. Vance Haverner. Vance Haverner 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 Haverner had a way of really getting in there.

Vance Haverner used to preach with Stephen Offord on the same platform. I have a tape at my house where Vance Haverner 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 Haverner. 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 Haverner, 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 Haverner 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?