Revival

What is real revival?

By: Jackson V. Plant

For years the church has been hungry, it has been burning for a revelation of the lost and the perishing trying to give the world and the church a vision of heaven, this is good, but what we really need is a vision of what hell is like.

Let me take you on a journey, to a place that is scarier than you can vision. A place that is dark as night, a land that is burning and you are separated from God. Imagine if you will the screams of the people that are trapped there, no way out, forever in torment, once you have a vision of this then how could a person ever not have the hunger for lost souls?

Now don’t get me wrong there are a lot of great on fire men and women of God in the pulpits today, these are the ones we need to emulate and to lift them up, because the bible says the workman is worthy his wage and we are to give double honor to the elders, but there are far to many of the other kind of preachers.

The church of today is trapped in a quagmire of intellectualism and pride that has to stop. Millions of people every day are going to hell and there are preachers out there that all they appear to care about is who’s name will go on top of the billing. Pastors who are more concerned with their title than humbling themselves to reach the lost. The bible tells us not to exalt ourselves, those that are first shall be last and vica versa. It has been my experience that I do not have to tell other ministers my call, God shows them.

There are people who are hungry and homeless and these leaders are picking out what color their Lexus or Bmw will be and are worried that their Armani suit color clashes with the carpet. How did we get this way? Yes I said we because we all are guilty of this to one extent or another and we are all in the same family. God showed me a vision of the church and how to fix it and I will share it with you now.

(Ezek 37:1 KJV) The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,

(Ezek 37:2 KJV) And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

(Ezek 37:3 KJV) And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.

(Ezek 37:4 KJV) Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

(Ezek 37:5 KJV) Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:

(Ezek 37:6 KJV) And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

(Ezek 37:7 KJV) So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

(Ezek 37:8 KJV) And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

(Ezek 37:9 KJV) Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

(Ezek 37:10 KJV) So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

(Ezek 37:11 KJV) Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.

(Ezek 37:12 KJV) Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.

(Ezek 37:13 KJV) And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,

This is the situation that the church finds itself in today. I have seen too many dead preachers preaching too many dead sermons for to many dead people. Jesus told Lazurus to come forth and that is what we need to do.

I have seen churches, all around the world where they are blessed abundantly beyond measure yet the alters are empty, and yet the ones where there is extreme hardships and persecutions they overflow. Why is this? Why are some so hungry for Christ they would risk it all and others can not be bothered with it?

In my spirit it really hurts to hear preachers or evangelists that make a sermon so extremely intellectual that you need a doctorate in Theology to understand it. I do not mean that there should not be good educated teaching, far from it! What I mean is, if you are a evangelist then you need to be that and not be a university professor to the lost. That is what a Pastor is for. A evangelist call is to plant and to sow so that the pastor may reap and cultivate the harvest. The gospel is very easy and straight forward to understand, Jesus died on a cross, raised from the dead for our sins and then went to be with the Father in Heaven and will return for us his spotless bride. It is that simple.

I see churches where the debate is whether or not the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit are for today, WHO CARES? How does it impact peoples salvation? I also see in other churches where the debate is if you can loose your salvation, again that is stupid. The word of the Lord is very clear!

(Lev 11:45 KJV) For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

Why take a chance? All we need to do is live like God says and there is no room for debate. If you are living holy then why would you want or need to worry about it. A Spanish explorer when he reached the new world wanted to make sure that his crew would finish the trip, so he waited till all the people were on shore then he burned the boats, this guaranteed that they would continue. That is what the debate is like, why would you want to go back especially when Jesus tells us not to go back. Think about it.

Oh that if that kind of fight was put to spreading the gospel to bring the lost to Christ, what a powerful time for Christ it would be.

I do not want to step on toes but I feel that God has a word to some here today, To those of you who enjoy rooting out the all the false, questionable and extra biblical doctrines and teachings in other peoples services realize this, the devil wants us to hunt the mice while the wolves are out devouring our flocks, lets quit majoring on the minors! Worry about the million of lost souls that die every day and does not know Christ.

The church today is the Ephesians church, but not the way you might think. We have lost our first love. We tolerate sin and do not speak against it. We are so concerned with the numbers on Sunday morning that we forget who the building is for in the first place, and how long will it be till God pulls our lamp stands from their places?

For the Pastor who feels that he or she is beaten and does not have what it takes, I tell you that this office is not for all, but yet that is what most want, and the one office and gift that is open to all, the most powerful of the gifts and without limit, the exusia power, the power of prayer and the power to proclaim the gospel, very few seem to want! That is what moves mountains and what God hears. Could it be that people want their name in lights for their glory, remember those who are first will be last, please look at your motives. Rev. Leonard Ravenhill once said that any preacher that does not pray for at least 2 hours a day is not worth his salt. That is a powerful and true statement. If you ever get the chance to go to Korea and attend a prayer service you will be put to shame, they pray for hours and hours in travail. We in the states can not for the most part pray for 30 minutes with out stopping. It is said that the reason South Korea is strong and protected from invasion is due to the prayers of the saints there, and I believe it. 30% of the population in S. Korea are Christian and not the lukewarm ones we have so many of but on fire ones that we should be like. Remember the old saying if you don’t use it you will lose it.

What we call revival is not always revival. It is mass evangelism and there is a difference. Revival comes when people sacrifice and pray and pray. What we get after the other services is a tingle not a new fire. Simply put revival is what happened earlier with the dry bones, God had the man of God prophesy life to them and they came to life, well that is what should happen in the Church. The man of God gives the word of life and the church should go out and make disciples. It should not be a valley of dead bones that a prophet needs to bring back to life.

Please look in your heart and see if you want a true revival where you will truly take the cross and die every day, or do you want to be in the valley of dry bones, wondering one day when you meet Christ what happened when there will be shame instead of hearing well done. The decision is the same, you are in the valley of decision and this is the day that the Lord says chose ye this day who you will serve. Lets pray the prayer of a great man of God, Lord give me revival or I die. God bless.