Addendum 1: Revivals in the Acts of the Apostles

So just what was the attitude of the apostles towards revival? I doubt if you ever thought of this because you may think that the book of Acts was one big constant revival. Actually, I doubt if they had much of any kind of attitude towards revival! Why would I say this? Easy! Revival just did not have much of anything to do with the first century reality! THEY NEVER EVEN MENTIONED THE WORD REVIVAL!!! (boy.. those guys were in outer space, huh!)maybe they didn't even think like we do BECAUSE THEIR SURROUNDINGS AND CIRCUMSTANCES WERE DIFFERENT.

Here we have to face the New Testament and admit the fact: the word revival is not even mentioned the whole New Testament! Not even once! How strange! Or should we take special note of it? The truth is the first century Christians did not NEED revival because they were so alive!!! They turned the world upside down! Revival is for those who are dying on the vine and they know it and are humble enough and realistic enough to admit it!

Now let's get one thing straight before I go on with this seemingly nonsensical, ethereal, daydreaming and unrealistic talk: I am in no sense of the word against revivals. We need them desperately today! In fact God put me in a corner for about 2 years of my life and taught me the principles of revival and how to bring them into existence. There is a science to it. They ARE real and not so mysterious as you think! And its only halfway up to the sovereign arrangements of God -- the other half is up to you and me!

So why would the New Testament omit the word revival from its pages? Didn't God know we would need it desperately in this age and knowing this give us principles towards its realization? OK, I guess you forgot what the New Testament is about. It is a covenant between God and man with many bequests and bequests are things already given to us which used to be promises but are now ours for the taking due to the blood of Christ! Half the time we don't know what we have or how to partake of it so we live in spiritual poverty! Part of these bequests of the reality of Christ's unsearchable riches that are ours is the history of the results and consequences of the acts of the sent ones who had a proper understanding and standing in those realities because of their personal walk and knowledge of Jesus HAVING BEEN WITH JESUS PERSONALLY! The results: A PEOPLE THAT NEEDED NOT SUCH A THING AS REVIVAL BECAUSE REVIVAL MEANS TO RAISE UP SOMETHING DEAD AND THEY WERE NOT DEAD! They were not only living but they were thriving in the abundant life! Now there was such a thing mentioned by Peter as an outpouring of the Spirit but you don't have to be dead to receive this! It's even better if you're alive! It is true that these "times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord" as Peter called it in Acts 2 is a very special time that is and can be brought about only by the sovereign arrangement of God, but there IS something YOU can do to make yourself more receptive and advantaged by such an outpouring if and when you are there for such an event.

A certain brother from a traditional Pentecostal church told me once: "brother! You should come to our revival! This evangelist is working all kind of miracles and the power of God is moving, people are getting saved and lives being changed." Well ... at least he said that in so many words. One brother even told me the visiting missionary had raised the dead! This is my reply: " OK, thank God for everything the Holy Spirit does in the midst of His people. But hear my supposition: let's say for example my daughter gets sick so I get more and more heart sick over her and finally call you brothers over to pray for her. But you get to my house too late! She already died while you were on your way over, so I'm just sitting in my living room a crying broken mess when you arrive but you say "have faith in God brother. Lets pray for her any how. So we pray and the Lord really shakes our hearts and faith comes alive and God resurrects her from the dead!!!

Next thing that happens after that is you see me running around the block at least three times shouting at the top of my lungs "HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!! THE LORD GOD OF HOSTS JUST RAISED MY LITTLE GIRL FROM THE DEAD!!! HALLELUJAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and boy do I get the neighborhood stirred up! Praise the Lord! Next thing you know there is an evangelistic outpouring of the Spirit in my neighborhood because the Lord sees an opportunity to work there and people are getting saved and rededicated to God right and left! Praise the Lord! This is all just fantastic!

OK ... three weeks passed by and my daughter gets sick again. This time death comes so swift I really get desperate before God and wonder how this can happen. So I call you brothers again and you come over again and we pray again and she gets resurrected from the dead again and Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! BUT ... its not as good as the first time! And it leaves a question in my mind as to what is really going on here.

Another two months pass ... my daughter dies again! So I call you brothers over again and you pray again and ... HELLO!!!!! THIS is beginning to get old! I'm tired of having to go through seeing my daughter die over and over again!!! Hey!!! GUESS WHAT BROTHER!! I DON'T EVEN WANT TO SEE HER DIE THE FIRST TIME!!! I want her to sit at my table in good health and eat my food and grow every day and be happy and normal and grow up to be all God has for her to be!!!!!!! AND THAT'S WHAT GOD WANTS FOR US!!!!!

Good night, I'm hitting on our REAL problem and you probably don't even notice what I'm doing! We don't think like the first century Christians thought and that's what this appendix and the next appendix is about. Revival is a wonderful thing but if people knew what real Ecclesia community life in the bosom of our Father was all about and learned what it means to eat a little bit of Christ (or a lot) each day they would grow and not be so impressed by the great fantastical sensationalism that today's poor poor low empty useless (what other terms can I use - it seems endless! Oh yeah, an old leaking wineskin)

So what's my point? Point is that there are many traditions and practices of today's formal, stainless steel, unchanging, inflexible and ritualistic practices that make for even the slightest leaks in the container or temple which Paul said we are and even if there is a small leak the wine is going to run out.

To close this article I have chosen to refer you to another brothers article concerning quite some enlightening information on the spiritual state of Wales today particularly in the area where most people agree the greatest revival of the whole 20th century took place. What's left? I do not know the exact particulars that the writer thought was the demise of the revival and the leaking of the wineskin but I believe the old traditional wineskin had something to do with it. Of course /I still do believe that when God starts cleanup He starts at the heart. He starts within. you'll find the excerpt on "Lessons From The Welsh Revival For Today" at http://www.robibrad.demon.co.uk/Revival.htm/ or please click on the link below: