REVIVAL: THEN, NOW AND CONTINUOUSLY

The subject of revival is bandied about with many different opinions as to what it is and how it is initiated.  All will agree that it is a work of the Holy Spirit and that lives are drastically changed when an awakening takes place or when it "falls."  As I read the Scriptures, it can only be the filling of the Spirit (Eph. 5:18) when an individual or people have met the requirements which are prayer and repentance as a general rule.

In the major awakenings of the past, there have been major life transformations, sometimes on a very large scale.  Many times, there are records of prayer on the part of a few or many which seem to have precipitated the awakening.  Also, most of the revivals run their course and things tend to revert to the status quo.  Much study has been done as to why revival tarries; and once it has come, the article turns to why it is not maintained.

I would like to enter the fray here and pose a suggestion on both counts: preparing for revival and its maintenance once it has taken place.  It seems to me that most revivals are a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit with the participants not having the theological framework from which to evaluate His working and, thus, the maintenance of revival becomes a major concern.

Then, there are those who conjecture as to whether major revival will come again or whether we are in the 'last days' and can not expect the Holy Spirit so to move.  There are those who are waiting, if somewhat impatiently, and those who have all but given up on His repeating previous awakenings.  Many try to copy the events leading up to such awakenings in hope that history will repeat itself.

Frequently, we are admonished that prayer and repentance are keys to revival; and I agree that they are vital ingredients.  However, I believe that a major key has been omitted in past revivals which is also the prime reason that the revival did not continue.  While repenting of sin is always preached and should be, repentance of the reign of the flesh is not a general topic of preaching.  That being the case, a believer repents of what he has done but usually does not repent of what he is!

When true revival takes place, the Cross (being crucified, buried and risen with Christ) becomes a reality; but when revival is a sovereign act of the Holy Spirit, the participants are usually not aware of its involvement .  Therefore, when the revival begins to die down, they do not know that they can deny themselves and take up the Cross once again (Luke 9:23) and experience a continuation and/or spreading of the awakening.

Jessie Penn-Lewis, among others, saw this as the weakness of the Welsh revival at the turn of the 20th century and wrote at length about this missing ingredient.  At the turn of the 21st century, we are in greater need of the Spirit's moving than was the case a century ago.  The Church, as a whole, has imbibed more at the fount of  humanism than anyone cares to admit.  Since that is the case, there is little prayer and repentance and little faith that the Holy Spirit yet works in this way in the repetition of great awakenings of the past.

In 1967, God called me to such a ministry which was ministering revival or awakening on an individual basis. He has honored such ministry with transformed lives in  this country and around the world since that time.  However, since the Church at large has not recognized this kind of transformation as "revival," she has become enamored with the church growth movement and Christian psychology as substitutes for the working of the Holy Spirit.  Now, both of these have pretty much run their course; and I don't believe that the economic situation will  permit their being major players on the church scene. This leaves a vacuum that is waiting to be filled.

While we are praying and believing God for a major awakening, we can expect God to give individual revival on a regular basis (as we have seen Him do for the past 40 years in many languages and cultures).  Also, there is not the matter of waiting for the Spirit to come but to fulfill the conditions for personal revival which are radical surrender, repentance of sin, and taking up the Cross  (Rom. 6:6, Gal. 2:20, Lk 9:23,24). Personal prayer and that of the intercession others is an assumed prerequisite.  This is not engineering revival but taking God at His Word and believing Him to transform lives by renewing their minds which describes that which happened in the major awakenings of the past.  Since spiritual discipleship has been the missing dimension in most churches, we do not regularly see such transformation in their ministries.  However, we have witnessed His doing so consistently since His call to the ministry in 1967 and have no reason to believe he will not do so in local churches which will take the same approach.

Preaching on prayer and repentance is insufficient since the preaching of the Cross is mandatory as it is the "power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18).  We find that the preaching of the Cross from the pulpit is rare, and it is no coincidence that revival--individual or corporate--is just as rare.  When individual believer's lives are transformed, revival or renewal takes place; when they learn to share that with others in their sphere of influence, the revival spreads and can become corporate.

While it does not require a 'rocket scientist' to understand the basic requirements for revival, God did call me from the aerospace industry (now Lockheed Martin) to develop and implement an approach to personal revival where my family and I were dependent upon His faithfulness to routinely transform lives both for our eternal and temporal destiny.  From the beginning, it was a faith ministry that was dependent upon such transformations to convince the watching world that God, indeed, was the author and sustainer of  such a movement as was launched and is now known around the world.  This contrasts with the usual shrouding in mystery of the term, revival, as though God were capricious in sending or withholding revival, depending upon His whim rather than our fulfilling His requirements where He  is faithful to transform or revive such believers.

The continuation of our usual practices of preaching on topics other than the Cross and then praying that God will send revival is but to subvert the biblical requirements for the filling of the Spirit and yet expect Him to honor prayer and repentance alone.  Though our prayer and repentance may be sincere, we have not taken our place at the Cross and lost our lives which is the basic requirement for discipleship/sanctification or revival.  If this were taught routinely, there would be revival taking place continually rather than the infrequent general revivals or awakenings which are more remedial in nature.

Of course, the preaching of the Cross presupposes that the pastor has experienced the Cross as a prerequisite; otherwise, such a message will have a 'hollow ring', and the Holy Spirit will not honor it.  Even if such a message were preached in the power of the Spirit, there would be the necessity of having personal workers who can minister to those who would respond to such a message.  For this to be the case, there must be the discipling and training of those who would be used of the Spirit in such ministry.  Again, this is not a major hurdle to be overcome since such training has been available for more than 35 years, with time-tested and proven materials and methods.

As the situation in our country becomes increasingly desperate, the Church must forsake approaches which are heavily flavored with self-strength in favor of those which God has regularly honored, even though it will be swimming against the stream.  We have to admit that what we are doing has not been blessed with individual or corporate revival and turn to an approach that is.

There is an abundance of books available from trusted authors whose lives and ministries have stood the test of time, such as:  Jessie Penn-Lewis, Andrew Murray, Watchman Nee, Ruth Paxson, F. B. Meyer, Roy Hession, Charles Trumbull, Reginald Wallis, Hannah Whitall Smith, and a host of others.  Some of these were involved in awakenings or were products of them.

We must forsake the idea that we can conduct ministry in a 'business as usual' fashion and add prayer and repentance and expect the Holy Spirit to send revival.  We have found over the last 4 decades that it is when believers deny themselves and take up the Cross that the Holy Spirit attends their prayer and repentance with revival.  It is the death/resurrection process that God attends with revival and nothing short of that.

It is leadership that must pave the way since they must go to the Cross ahead of their flock and lead the flock there after them.  In doing so, they will lose not only control of their lives but also of the congregation which can be a bit frightening!  When we take our hands off of our lives and ministries, the outcome can be radically different from anything we have ever envisioned; and the individual members will be empowered to utilize their spiritual gifts which will multiply the ministry.

Once the leaders have lost their lives and are allowing Christ to live, they are ready to begin discipling or mentoring their people, such that each becomes equipped for ministry as taught in Ephesians 4.  This means that the people will have to see such a difference in their leadership that they will want what the leaders have!  In many cases, the leaders will require discipling themselves in order to 'take up the cross.'  Afterward, they will be able to do the same for others within their ministries.

The above rationale is not something to be entered into lightly since it will involve restructuring of lives and ministries as never before envisioned.  But again, what we have been doing is not working and will work even less well as the economic constraints become more stringent.  Human need is likely to engulf the average church which will mean that the staff, which may be reduced, will be overburdened to the point that the whole body will have to be involved.  Churches which are servicing debt will find the burden particularly stressful.

An entirely different model of ministry must be developed which takes into consideration the discipling of all members and equipping them to be vitally involved in the ministry and outreach of the church.   Such a model will obviate the pastor's being the central focus of ministry and will allow for all members to be used of the Lord as the Holy Spirit directs and empowers (Eph. 4:11,12).

SAVED FROM SIN AND OURSELVES!

Having been born in Adam
Of his nature we partake;
When he sinned and died, (Rom. 5:12)
It did us sinners make.
With our spirits dead to God,
Affinity to Satan was our plight; (John 8:44)
He, and we, became flesh;
To God's family we had no right.

Since our spirits were dead,
We needed a spiritual birth;
We had to die out of Adam
To walk with God on the Earth.
When we were born into Christ, (Rom. 6:3)
We entered into eternal life, (Rom. 6:23)
Only to find another battle (Gal. 5:17)
Since the world with sin was rife.

Victory o'er sin, our birthright,
Is only to be found at the Cross;
Attempting to live in our own strength (Gal. 3:3)
Is bound to result in loss.
The day we are saved, we're crucified; (Gal. 2:20)
The old man is dead and gone. (Rom. 6:6)
But our enemy now is the flesh, (Gal. 5:17)
And victory seems to have flown!


We can know we have been crucified (Rom. 6:6)
But we must reckon it true; (Rom. 6:11)
Not to do so we forsake 'being'
With emphasis on what we must do!
'Doing' and 'not doing' are paramount
In much teaching we hear today;
Attempts to adhere to such
Will result in a world of dismay!



As we come to the end of ourselves
We may cry, "O wretched man"; (Rom. 7:24)
Having tried our best to please God,
We find that only Christ can!
As we take our place at the Cross
And exchange our 'doing' for 'being',
Not only do we have a new future,
But now a new past we are seeing!



As we die and are buried with Christ, (Rom. 6:4)
We are also in His resurrection; (Rom. 6:5)
Ascended and seated with Him, (Eph. 2:6)
The old life is beyond detection.
Since He is now our life (Col. 3:4)
We're to rest and abide where seated; (Heb. 4:10,11; Jn. 15:5)
Having taken our place in Him,
Our redemption has been completed! (1 Cor. 1:30)



- C. R. Solomon 1-3-09

AMERICA, THE UNGRATEFUL

"Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers...and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them and served them: therefore hath he brought all this

evil upon them." (2 Chronicles 7:22)

The God of our fathers
Led them to this land;
Forsaking creature comforts,
His wish was their command.
Their purpose was to worship God
In accordance with their choosing,
Throwing off the King's shackles
Meant many of their lives losing.

Freedom of worship their motive,
With no other gods before them,
The founding documents writ in blood
That we who follow avoid mayhem.
Two centuries have come and gone
With the god of materialism in place;
As we accede to its demands,
We do despite to the God of grace.

The god of situation ethics,
With everyone doing his own thing,
Maligns the God who made us,
His judgment on us to bring.
The evil which is upon us
Is a ploy of our own making--
The direct result of disobedience
And the God of our Fathers forsaking.

Modern generations pride themselves
On relegating God to mythology;
Assuming He lacks power to perform
They bow to the throne of psychology.
Materialism has proven its mettle,
Having fully run its course;
When the flesh can't be satiated,

There'll be ample cause for remorse.

Our country is in trouble
Because we've turned to other gods;
Our prayer will be heard
When we repent and turn to God.
We can say "There is no God"
And scripture calls us fools!
Or, we can bow the knee
To the God Who reigns and rules.

Judgment begins at the house of God
That it might lead the way;
The people called by His name
Must humble themselves and pray.
Denying ourselves and taking up the Cross,
We turn from sin to seek His face;
As he hears from Heaven and forgives our sin,
We learn the true meaning of grace.

  C. R.Solomon  12-29-08

THE CHURCH MOBILIZED FOR DISCIPLESHIP

THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST, ". . . for such a time as this" (Est. 4:14b)

Introduction

As the world economic situation continues to escalate, it behooves us to investigate its impact on the Church so that the Church impact on the world might be maximized. The modern trend of living beyond our means has been extrapolated from the individual to business and to the government. Businesses operating on a line of credit have become commonplace, and individuals have gone from mortgages on their homes to borrowing to purchase cars to becoming enslaved to credit card debt. Churches have not been immune to such practices with a great percentage of churches financing some part of their facilities.

The scriptural injunction to "Owe no man anything, but to love one another:" (Rom. 13:8a) seems to have become passé, with some churches carrying a heavy debt load in addition to extensive overhead. It has become common practice to create paid positions for ministry that were formerly the role of lay personnel. All of this can be justified in an expanding economy, but a contracting economy rapidly creates chaos such as we are experiencing to some degree presently.



Those churches with large overheads and major indebtedness are already beginning to feel the pinch. Not only will adjustments have to be made to deal with the economic aspects but also to minister effectively to those of the membership and community who are suffering adversity. It is a certainty that such ministry cannot be confined to paid staff, and the vast majority of churches have not trained their populations via discipleship to step into the breach. In fact, scriptural discipleship has been all but missing from the modern day church. Therefore, it must be instituted swiftly with little in the way of precedent on which to base such training. It will amount to a paradigm shift in ministry to meet the possibly overwhelming need. Though few churches have implemented such ministry, Grace Fellowship International has pioneered an approach to discipleship/counseling which would ideally be accomplished as a key ministry in all local churches. There is nothing to be developed or proven as all of this is history; the materials and methodology can be transferred directly to the Church where God intended for it to be. The rationale for doing so is the purpose of this article.

THE CHURCH MOBILIZED FOR DISCIPLESHIP

With the way the country and the world are beginning to shape up from an economic standpoint, it is the part of wisdom that we calculate the corresponding impact on the Church and how it must comport itself to be able not only to minister in the world but to be able to have a positive impact on it. To bury our heads in the sand and wait until the effects are upon us, will be foolhardy to say the least and could bury us alive in the wake of its economic tidal wave. Though we cannot escape the impact, we can take some proactive measures to lessen it and to trust God for a strategy to minister effectively in an adverse set of circumstances with which we have not had to deal heretofore. I am afraid that the 'good life' has been an enemy of the spiritual life, with little in the way of sacrifice required; from this point on, there are likely to be sacrifices on the part of many who are lacking in that experience! Few who went through the Great Depression of the 1930's are alive to recount the deprivation which was rampant at that time.

As the recession begins to take its toll, the local church will be in the forefront due to its dependence upon contributions which is already beginning to be felt. In fact, a recent Barna poll said that the contribution shortage is already in the billions. Of course, those infrequent churches which are debt free will not be affected as drastically as those which have fallen prey to the pervasive trend of living beyond our means. Almost all churches which build or buy facilities think nothing of first seeking a loan with some taking advantage of all assets and giving patterns to enable them to secure a loan of sufficient size to build the size building that is desired, whether or not actually needed. In fact, it is the unusual church which pays as it goes in a building program. Again, in an expanding economy, this has been a way to utilize facilities while paying for them. A large plant, with some the size of a city block, requires a staff commensurate with the ample facilities. The creeping growth usually does not take into account the maximum use of unpaid staff but expands the overhead to take advantage of possible ministry outreaches, including family life facilities with various sports opportunities from walking to swimming to various athletic activities. While there is nothing wrong with any of these, continued expansion and diversification involves continually increasing overhead.

In such a scenario, it is necessary for the pastor to become a CEO or to hire an administrative pastor who fulfills such responsibilities which may tend to detract from the spiritual ministry for which the church was founded. With all of this expansion, the worship center is but a part of the mammoth plant rather than being part and parcel of the mission of the church. Formerly, the non-worship activities took place in homes or in community buildings; but the church facility has expanded to become all inclusive with some even adding restaurants and coffee shops. Coping with the economic situation taking place in our society is inescapable, and reducing the ministry of paid personnel is much more difficult than the happy prospect of adding them! Releasing beloved brethren, when jobs are hard to come by, can be heart-wrenching. Also, it may be that reduction in pay scales will make it impossible for them to maintain the same housing accommodations and standard of living in other ways.

Since many churches will have to reduce the ministry staff, there will have to be a corresponding increase in filling such voids by laity. Also, it will be necessary to rethink the approach to ministry, not only to take up the slack but also to render the ministry more effective and efficient while at the same time not sacrificing the spiritual content.


Concomitant with the decrease in paid staff will, in all likelihood, be a drastic increase in human need requiring ministry, both inside and outside the church. The major material needs created by unemployment and underemployment, along with possible scaling back of salary levels, combine to create massive needs on the part of many who have been able to handle their own families and even to help others.

The auto industry is presently planning on reducing salary scales to make Detroit competitive with imports, and this could signal such reductions as a ripple effect across the country. In some cases, parents will have to open their homes to married children with families which will involve increased stress on everyone. Interpersonal conflict due to several people being confined in close quarters will contribute toward the massive increase in counseling needs throughout the church at a time when most counseling is referred outside. Since family and church budgets will already be strained, it will be necessary to handle it in-house which will require a paradigm shift in the ministry of most churches.

While it is not insurmountable and the training may easily be done, there will have to be the commitment on the part of leadership to gear up for such an eventuality. Waiting until it is upon us is not wise, since those who will be trained to render such ministry must have time to learn and mature in order to discharge such responsibility. The training would be in the nature of discipleship or sanctification which has been all but missing in the ministry of the modern church, whether among staff or laity. Though long term discipleship will be required, most will require individual discipleship or counseling before being assimilated in a group for long term follow up. Individual or clinical discipleship would have the nature of leading a believer to understand the full impact of being crucified with Christ which is the beginning or entry into discipleship, according to Luke 14:27. Though some may live such a life, few have been trained to teach others to embark on such a spiritual journey. All believers are on a spiritual journey, and a few will be at a point of extreme need where understanding this aspect of the Cross will be not only desirable but absolutely necessary!

After it is revealed reality by the Holy Spirit, it will be necessary to learn to walk in such truth before being effective in sharing it with others. Then, there will be a period of time of personal sharing or ministry before being able to train others to do the same. Although it is not a complicated process, it is contrary to most church practice today, which makes it sound like a foreign concept. It is tried and proven over 4 decades, but the Church has not been forced to embrace such ministry because of needs which cannot be outsourced.

Once the need cannot be denied, and the human need must be squarely faced with no referrals as an alternative, it will be necessary to 'hunker down' and prepare for the long haul. A conference on the material content and a workshop on the basic methodology can be done in as little as ten (10) days, once the church is firmly committed to a thorough discipling of its congregation. Believers with less than a high school education have been trained, so formal education in counseling, education, psychology or theology is not a requirement. It is spiritual ministry which has been neglected for most of the last century and will require some crash training to fill the void and to give discipleship or sanctification an equal footing with justification. However, even in the matter of justification, its inculcation in evangelism has largely become a spectator sport with professionals being emplaced rather than major equipping of the saints. While evangelism, or soul winning, is taught in many evangelical churches, it is safe to say that the majority of Christians have never led anyone to Christ.



Then, those who are most proficient in evangelism have led few, if any, believers to the Cross for sanctification or discipleship. In fact, it is not accorded a place in the curriculum of most seminaries or Bible schools. This means that the whole Christian community is lacking in this vital aspect of ministry which, in all likelihood, will become front and center as the most needed emphasis in the Christian Church. It is a very simple approach to implement and can be done speedily with all necessary materials, methods, and message readily available. The only lack at this point is the distribution system for the materials/media which have been proven in a number of languages and cultures over the past 4 decades with approximately a dozen books published to support such study/training. It is a simple matter of publicity, logistics, and finance that are required to implement the approach widely and witness the Holy Spirit's transforming lives to the glory of God. Each life so transformed experiences revival or renewal which can easily spread from church to church as the message of the Cross is clearly taught from the pulpit and translated into the pew by means of one on one discipleship.

Summary



The discipleship herein described and commended has been the major need of the Church in recent decades, but there has not been the 'open nerve' to necessitate its inception. As a result, those needing a deeper walk with the Lord to resolve inner and interpersonal difficulties have been unhesitatingly outsourced to world system developments in psychology, with much of this being taught in our seminaries. That being the case, pastors have largely bought into the notion that counseling is a specialty which requires advanced education, so neither they nor their staff usually minister to such living needs, most of which should be the domain of clinical discipleship [Christ-centered counseling].

This mindset must be reversed so that the average church member will be equipped to live and share the Cross in a meaningful way and see the lives of other believers transformed. Those who have matured in their walk, where the experienced Cross is reality, will find that learning to share it with others in the Spirit is a simple matter. Hurting believers, as well as unbelievers, could then turn to the Church and get an answer rather than a referral! Though such ministry is presently not even on the horizon, much less in the comfort zone of the average church, the basic training could be done in as little as ten (10) days if pastor and people had a mind to do so. Such a church could have a whole new lease on ministry with a vision for the Holy Spirit to be regularly transforming lives and releasing such believers for ministry according to their spiritual gifting.

While there are a number of exceptional churches which are implementing the above to one degree or another, Dr. Phil Jones at First Baptist of Powell, TN has done the most thorough integration into the ministry of the church. In doing so, he has developed TELL (Teaching Exchanged Life Living) material for use in the local church; all who desire to unite with the church participate in such teaching. This was the project for his doctorate at Southern Seminary in Louisville KY. www.FBCPowell.com

SUFFERING IN PERSPECTIVE

Suffering is God's crucible, (1 Pet. 1:7)
Our value to refine;
Since God is our example (1 Pet. 2:20,21)
It is His grand design.
Not only to believe on Him (Phil. 1;29,30)
But to suffer for His sake;
It is by taking up the Cross (Lk. 14:27)
That He does disciples make. (1 Pet. 5:10)

The godly shall suffer persecution- (2 Tim. 3:12)
A source of great pain;
But we have His promise:
"If we suffer, we will also reign". (2 Tim. 2:12)
Jesus learned obedience by suffering (Heb. 5:8)
Which took place without the gate; (Heb. 13:12)
Being partakers of His sufferings (1 Pet. 4:12,13)
Allows us His passion to relate.

Though no ne enjoys suffering
It perfects our walk in Him (1 Pet. 5:10)-
Establishing, strengthening, settling,
So our vision will not dim.
When suffering has had its way
And the way of the Cross we've trod,
We can comfort them in any trouble (2 Cor. 1:3,4)
As we ourselves are comforted of God.


C. R. Solomon, Korea 11-25-08