======================================================================== VICTORIA 2010 by John McGregor ======================================================================== Summary: John McGregor shares insights on revival, emphasizing the importance of seeking God's face and understanding the reasons for God's silence, which can be related to personal and corporate revival. He explores instances of Jesus being silent in the face of various situations, highlighting the need for humility, sincerity, and examining our hearts. McGregor encourages a focus on God's glory, the impact of sin on God's silence, and the role of prayer in revival. Duration: 12:14 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ John McGregor shares insights on revival, emphasizing the importance of seeking God's face and understanding the reasons for God's silence, which can be related to personal and corporate revival. He explores instances of Jesus being silent in the face of various situations, highlighting the need for humility, sincerity, and examining our hearts. McGregor encourages a focus on God's glory, the impact of sin on God's silence, and the role of prayer in revival. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hello, my name is John McGregor. You might have seen my name on the advertising for the conference here in Victoria, and it's good to be able to join you through the means of technology. I recently moved from a position with Canadian Revival Fellowship into a pastoral role in Regina, Saskatchewan, and so I'm not physically able to be with you at this time, but certainly we are praying that the Lord indeed is visiting his people as you seek his face for revival. And it's a pleasure to join you in this way, and to bring you greetings, and as you continue just to search after God, I am also doing the same thing just where I am, that the Lord would pour out his Spirit upon this land in a mighty, heaven-sent, biblical revival. And as I chatted with Greg Gordon, the organizer of the conference, we had the opportunity to sit down and just think about some things that I might be able to say to you as you are joined there in heart as well as physically in the beautiful city of Victoria. And as you're looking for revival, I know that your heart is being stretched out towards the Lord. One of the questions that I think we need to ask is, as people are searching after God, what is it that holds up revival? Why do we not have it? There is a worldwide movement, indeed, which I've had the pleasure of being part of for several years, where numbers of people are just meeting the Lord in personal revival, but we are longing for that mighty corporate move where the Lord visits his Church in strength and in power once again. So as you are there in beautiful Victoria, I want to just cause you to think a little bit with me about revival. Many years ago I was taught as a student the basis of inductive Bible study, where we study the Scriptures on its own terms. And we do that by asking questions. And so as we think about revival, I want to just ask some questions and cause us to think a little bit about our God, because revival comes from the hand of a sovereign God. And there are certainly things that we can do that put us in the way of revival, but I believe there are times when the silence of God is also worthwhile for us to stop and just to think about and also to pray into. And if you look in Scripture at the silence of God, it's quite a subject really, and it certainly is related to revival, both personal and corporate, because there are times in Scripture when God is just silent and things continue as they were until he steps into the whole scene. And as you look in Scripture, and just quickly to mention a few thoughts in that area, when you look, for instance, at the life of Jesus, where was he silent? We find that he's silent before Caiaphas in Matthew 26 and 63. It says that Jesus held his peace, and he made no response to the high priest. And really there's a kind of heartless ecclesiastic approach as Caiaphas is questioning him and so on. So there's silence from the Lord there. And then he's silent before Herod in Luke 23, verse 9. It says that Jesus answered him nothing. Herod was a very curious man. He wanted, show me something, show me a sign. And you know, that speaks to the wrong kind of heart attitude in our searching. Why is God silent? And sometimes we want revival because of our circumstances or the need that we perceive in our nation and so on. But you know, revival comes for the glory. I would encourage you in your times here in Regina, just ask the Lord to display his glory. And then we find in John 19 and verse 9, Jesus is silent before Pilate. And here it says that Jesus gave him no answer. And he's faced with human criticism there, isn't he? Where Pilate is kind of saying, Are you the king of the Jews? And are you this? And don't you know that I have the power? And all of those things. And God has certainly taught me over the years, criticism is often not worth responding to. It's better to allow the Lord to respond to. So these are times when Jesus was silent. And as we seek after revival, perhaps we're in a time where there's silence. And as you think about what he is silent to, again, you see in the life of Jesus just some illustrations of this. He's silent to hypocrisy in John 8 and verse 6. There's this sense of they're trying to tempt him with this woman taken in adultery and so on. And he's silent to false accusations. Matthew 15, 2 through 5, when his disciples are accused of doing some things and the Lord does not respond. And he's silent to foregone conclusions. Again, thinking about his time before Pilate and Pilate's questioning him. But Jesus knew the conclusion. And then I think too about the things in Scripture that makes God. There's human contempt. See in Proverbs 1, 22 through 28, it talks about all the things that we do that are more tradition-bound and less in the Spirit of God. And human carelessness in Song of Solomon 5 and verse 6. And I know I'm going through these Scriptures very quickly, but so often we're careless. And a human selfishness in Amos chapter 8 and verses 4 through 12. There's a sense, just what we want. And the message of Canadian Revival Fellowship over its 40-year history has been a very simple and singular one. And it is that we must die to self in order to live in the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit, and to know the resurrected, victorious life of the Lord Jesus Christ. So as we think about these things that make the Lord silent, I do also want to mention that he is silent in the sense of when there is sin in hearts and in lives. We see this in Jeremiah 11, 14, and Isaiah 1, 15, and so on. And yet he is saying, come and let us reason together. Just a couple of verses later in Isaiah 1. Reason is part of coming to him and coming to him in the right way. And, you know, when is he silent? That's another good question. He's silent often in his love. And we see in Zephaniah 3, 17, that whole concept. He waits in his love and is silent in his love. I'm so grateful for that, friends, because there have been times when in arrogance and pride I have sought to push a hand, and yet God has been silent to me in his love, allowing me to grow and to come to him with the right desire. In Matthew 15, 23, it shows us he's silent in his wisdom. And in Revelation 8, in verse 1, it shows us he's silent in his power. It says there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Just a few verses later, there's the concept of the prayers of the saints raising up to God on his throne. And as you meet prayer, it's still the key to revival. One of my dear mentors, Bill McLeod, often says if great preaching could have brought revival, we would have been there so long ago. There are so many great sermons and so on aren't there. But, you know, I love to say there are no great preachers, only a great Savior. And as we come to that concept, so often our life and our service to Jesus becomes about what we are building and what we are doing. Again, I would just encourage you today, is this one of the reasons why the Lord is silent? We are taking the glory. We are looking for success and all of these things. But in his power, and why is it that he is silent? Just a few thoughts on that area and some scriptures along with them. He's silent to arise our conscience. Because when there is the silence of God, it causes me to say, Lord, what is there in my heart that is stopping this flow between you and me? Again, in John 8 and verses 6 through 8, where the woman is taken in adultery, you notice in the silence of Jesus in that moment, he just writes on the ground. And we know that that was so convicting because it says they were leaving from the oldest to the youngest and so on. So there is a sense in which when God is silent, we really need to examine our hearts before him. And I think of the revival in the Hebrides in 1948, where the young deacon is praying for a good while and then saying, I read Psalm 24. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? He that has clean hands and a pure heart. My hands are not clean and my heart, he said, is not pure. And you know what was happening is in the silence of God, God was dealing with him, bringing a consciousness of his own sin. And no matter who we are, we do not live perfectly. We need to just know that touch of God. And in his silence, it is to increase our sincerity sometimes. Matthew 15, 23, again, it's increasing desire in the things of God. It certainly educates our faith, and we see that in Job 23 and verse 8, where the silence of God is driving Job. And it is to teach humility, again, helps us just to draw near to God. So I want to just encourage you, if you think about the silence of God, these are issues that drive us in prayer before him. And may God bless you as you seek him in these days. God bless you. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/KNJl3mfW8AU.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/john-mcgregor/victoria-2010/ ========================================================================