God puts the solitary in families. Learn about the many benefits of belonging to a local congregation. Included in this is message are testimonies from congregation members who have come to see the value of making a commitment to being assembled together with the Body of Christ.
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We are entering our 24th week as of this Sunday, Sept. 5. We have seen several hundred people (my estimate) walk the aisle to receive Jesus or rededicate their lives to Him. These have been great days. I don’t think we have seen all the purposes of God revealed for these meetings. I do know that they have been important days. God has been working on our hearts. People have been changed. Marriages have been restored.
Because people have preconceived ideas of what revival is and how God should do it this time, we have to deal with expectations. What we expect God to do and what He does are not necessarily the same thing. When we insist on Him doing what we want rather than what He wills we develop a condition known as “leaness of soul.”
Psalms 106:14-15 KJV But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. (15) And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.
The people tired of the manna and “lusted a lust” for meat (not God’s plan). It is no small issue when His provision is not seen as sufficient. The people had also forgotten the deliverance God gave them from Egypt. Note the poetic terseness in the verses that precede these verses:
Psalms 106:11-13a NASB The waters covered their adversaries; Not one of them was left. (12) Then they believed His words; They sang His praise. (13) They quickly forgot His works;
We need to let God be God and allow Him to determine the scope of His work. Our job is not to analyze but to appreciate and enjoy what He does. We need to accept the move of God at face value realizing that not everyone receives in the same way. The supernatural is not alway spectacular. Let’s not be like those who sing His praises one minute and forget what He has done the next. Keep your heart open and we will all receive what God has for us. And, we will see a lot of others blessed in the process.
The power of belonging is unity. The Holy Spirit operates in the atmosphere of unity. Unity is a supernatural thing. We are not all just unified because we are in the same room together or just because we belong to the same church. Unity is the product of the Spirit of God.
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Acts 2:1 NASB When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
We are not all just unified because we are in the same room together or just because we belong to the same church. Unity is the product of the Spirit of God. The power of belonging is unity. This is more than passive acceptance of leadership or other members of the church. We are together in one accord only when we each fully understand and back the mission of the church with active participation. If the vision of your church is really in your heart then you do something about it. This kind of unity requires action! It is not just the stuff of heart and mind, but of sweat and labor.
Something supernatural happens when even two or three of us gather together. There is a multiplication of power that is present. You can do things in a community through the power of agreement that you as an individual cannot accomplish.
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Church membership does not equate salvation. However, there are benefits connected to being part of a body. We need to be a part of something that is bigger than ourselves so that we can grow into the person that God wants us to be. Listen to this message and learn about the benefits of being vitally connected to a church body.
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This is a video from the 1995 Brownsville Revival. Alison Ward was 19 years old at the time and was powerfully touched in the revival meetings.
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I’ll be honest, I don’t always enjoy coming to church. There are times when staying at home or doing something else sounds appealing. There have been a few times in the past decades that I have been in a service that was dragging on and on thinking, “Get me outta’ here!” The vast majority of time this is not the case. I have found it to be of great value to have a regular pattern of church attendance. I need the teaching of the Word and the fellowship of other believers. Then there are those services that make a life changing impact. You are thankful that you were there and not someplace else. Pastor had words that were “just for you.”
Young preachers, in particular, should take a good look at what F. B. Meyer said about preaching. Make it a point to preach the Word and do it with simplicity. Like someone told me, “It is better to drive one point home than to leave three on base.”
F. B. Meyer on Preaching with Simplicity
He is a successful preacher who manages to present one great conception before his people each time he addresses them, so that, as they break from the spell of his influence, they may be possessed by one thought, inspired by one motive, and compelled toward one act.
Form your message around one thought and let it burn itself into the heart and mind of your hearer.
In the first one or two paragraphs state the truth you have discovered in the text. Illustrate and enforce it by references to the world which men know so well.
Cut out everything that detracts from the main point. Cut out every piece of needless rhetoric.
If we will do this, we can deliver the truth and keep people coming back for more!
Luke 6:22-23 NASB “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. (23) “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.
What a different outlook heaven has on things. We are not to judge after the outward appearance of things, but we are so prone to do so. We are supposed to look at the things that cannot be seen. When you are tempted to complain maybe you better stop and determine if you are looking at the wrong thing. Where you look and what you expect to find will always determine your attitude. You choose your attitude. Choose wisely!
Revival is a Divine attack on society. – Ron McIntosh
My fear is not that our great movement, known as the Methodists, will eventually cease to exist or one day die from the earth. My fear is that our people will become content to live without the fire, the power, the excitement, the supernatural element that makes us great. – John Wesley
A genuine revival without joy in the Lord is as impossible as spring without flowers, or day-dawn without light. – Charles Haddon Spurgeon
I do not preach any new truth. I do not have any new doctrine. . . . We must have a revival that will mean purity of heart as a normal standard for everybody. We must be clean people, and not only clean outside. – A.W. Tozer