Pastors Conference 2006 Classic Sermon

Well, we're going to go ahead and get started. Happy is the preacher that gets to follow Stephen Olford. Because not only will Stephen Olford warm you up, he'll fire you up.

So are you fired up tonight? Well, you know, it's cold outside, but we have to be careful to maintain those embers on the altars of our heart. Make sure that they burn. Keep those burning.

And this whole issue of revival, this whole business of revival, is a passion with me. I've been studying it for several decades. I have gone into deep, deep study on it.

I've had the privilege of talking with great men of revival like Dr. Ted Randall, men like that. And I'll tell you, when I think of revival, I think that it all comes down to this. It comes down to prayer.

All revival is birthed in prayer. It's not only birthed in prayer, it's bathed in prayer. Any great movement of God in history begins in prayer.

I was reading a story about the revival in Wales in 1904 about two little sisters, an 86-year-old blind woman and her 82-year-old crippled sister. They were so infirmed they couldn't even go to church, but they were praying for revival. They were praying for revival.

God will use anyone in revival as long as we're faithful in prayer. And prayer, in my opinion, is tied directly to... It's our walk with God. When I think of walking with God, I think of Enoch, that godly antediluvian that the book of Genesis says in chapter 5, verse 22, and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years.

Now, I thought about that. Enoch begat Methuselah when he was age 65, so the first 65 years of his life he didn't walk with God. But somewhere there, God got a hold of Enoch, and for the next 300 years, Enoch walked with God.

That's a long time to build and forge a relationship, isn't it? 300 years. And we see that those three... ...such a close, intimate relationship with the Creator, that my Bible also says that an Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him. They were out walking one day, and that companionship was so sweet, and that time was so special, God just said, Come along, Enoch, I don't want to break up this fellowship, let's just keep on going into eternity.

And that's what they did. Enoch lived like no other man, and Enoch died like no other man. He died, he was translated.

When you live like that in the supernatural, your whole life takes on new dimensions. And as I meditated on that text in Genesis and studied it, I saw some very important truths. Several benefits to walking with God.

First, it's easy. It's easy to walk with God. Walking in itself is easy.

Even a toddler can walk. Anyone can walk. A monkey can walk.

It's easy. There's no great demand to walk with God. It requires no special gift, no special talent.

And you know what? You don't have to be a scholar to walk with God. You don't have to have letters after your name to walk with God. You don't have to be a PhD to walk with God.

You can be an ABC and walk with God. So you don't have to be a scholar. It's easy.

He makes it easy to walk with him. Also, luckily for me, to walk with God. Walking with God requires no athletic prowess.

It's very easy to walk with God. Another benefit, you don't have to be a rich man to walk with God. In fact, all the money in the world won't get you to walk with God.

In fact, a Donald Trump can't buy a walk with God. Isn't that right? It's easy, but it's not accessible to every man. But it's easy.

It doesn't cost any money to walk with God. Also, you don't have to be important to walk with God. You don't have to be somebody famous.

In fact, in history, it's usually the nobodies that walk with God. The nobodies that walk with him. It fits, and it's easy.

Another benefit of walking with God, it's enjoyable. It's enjoyable. It's a supreme joy to walk with the creator of the universe.

Sid Lowe Baxter used to say to his friend H.D. McCarty in Arkansas, he said, Harvey, imagine every morning that the creator of the universe deigns to meet with little old Sid Lowe Baxter as I pray. Walking with God is enjoyable. It's one of the most joyous things in our lives.

And if you're like me, those walks with God can be some of the most joyful times of our lives. It reminds me of that hymn, In the Garden. You know the one I'm referring to? And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own.

And what's... ...that we share as we tarry there, none other I've ever known. It's enjoyable. There's no other joy like that.

Another benefit to walking with God, it's exciting. When you leave the natural and the ordinary, and you start walking in the supernatural and the extraordinary, there's nothing like it. There's nothing like it.

It's exciting. The Christian life is an adventure. Isn't that right? There are few things more exciting on this earth than those mountaintop experiences that we have with him.

Nobody can take that from us. The devil can't take it from us. When we're on that mountaintop, alone with the Lord, there is nothing like it.

It's exciting. It's a thrill. It's a gripping.

Well, I've mentioned briefly to walking with God, but I would be remiss if I failed to mention some conditions for walking with God. There are some conditions to walking with God. I'm assuming you already realize that you must be born again, right? Oh, he won't walk with an unbeliever.

You must be born again. The next condition to walking with God is this. To walk with God, you have to follow.

Now, that's important. You can't lead the way and expect him to follow you. You can't move this way in your ministry without praying first and expect God to come alongside you and bless it.

How many times have I moved in my life that way? I said, okay, God, I'm going in this direction. I want you to come alongside me. It was a disaster.

I know that's never happened to any of you. So to walk with God, we have to learn how to follow. And I say the word learn, right? As disciples, we're learners.

We have to learn how to follow. Jesus, in his earthly ministry, said to his disciples, he said, follow me, and I will make you fishers of what? Of men. He didn't say, I'll follow you.

He said, follow me. The next condition to walking with God is to listen. We have to be listeners when we walk with God.

Have you ever had a friend that when you get together with them, talking and the subject they love to talk about more than anything else is themselves? Do you ever have a friend like that? I had lunch with a friend not too long ago, and for the whole hour, he talked about himself. He talked about himself, talked about his ministry. That's all he wanted to talk about.

That's kind of a one-sided friendship, isn't it? My wife has a friend who will say to her, how are you? And when she says, fine, the girl will say, well, enough talk about you. Let's talk about me. A lot of people like that.

It's one-sided. Well, I thought about this, and I had to apply this to my quiet time. And I had asked myself, is that a one-sided relationship where I'm doing all the talking? Or do I get in there and do I listen? What's my quiet time all about? Am I going in there with my list of prayer requests? It's good to have a list, but is that all my quiet time is, where I'm doing all the talking? I'm complaining about this, and I'm griping about that, and I'm asking him to bless me on this.

Or am I listening? Be still and know that I am God. If you want to walk with the creator of the universe, you not only have to follow, you have to listen. Jesus said over and over again, he said, he who has ears to hear, let them what? Let them hear.

He didn't say, those that have mouths to talk, let them talk. He knew we were going to do that, right? We don't have any trouble talking, do we? But we do have trouble listening. In fact, my wife tells me I'm a very poor listener.

And I believe her. We have to work at being listeners. We have to work at listening to God.

Speak to us. The next thing we have to do with God is we have to obey. Obedience.

After we follow him, after we listen to him, we must obey what he tells us. What good is the servant in the parable who buried his talent in the ground? He didn't obey his master. My Bible tells me that to obey is better than what? Sacrifice.

Obedience. In the last letter that Evan Roberts wrote to a friend, Evan Roberts of the Wales Revival of 1904, the last letter he wrote at the end of his life, he put three words at the bottom of the page, and it was obedience, obedience, obedience. That is what he learned.

With his walk with God. If God reveals to us and we fail to obey, it's sin. We've missed the mark.

So we have to hear what he says. There's another condition to walking with God, and if we fail here, we fail everywhere. Stephen Olford, to me, typified this.

That's the banner on the wall there in the middle. Be ye holy. If we're going to walk with God, we must be holy.

My Bible tells me that unless two are agreed, they cannot walk together. Is that not right? So if we want to walk with God, and God is holy, we have to pursue a life of holiness. Ephesians 1-4 commands us to be holy and without blame before him in love.

Holy is the inward man or inward standing. The outward man, how we look before man and God. We're to be holy and blameless before him.

Why? Because we love him. Because we love him. Because of what he did for us to save a wretch like me.

What little can I do than to pursue a life of holiness to pay him back. Holiness, if you want to walk with the creator of the universe, be holy. I've seen many a man, ministry, fall and crumble because he morally was impure.

I've seen men in this city fall because of that. I've seen men, personally, that I've known as friends, that I considered very strong Christians at one point. But they didn't pursue holiness and they fell.

And Satan got a hold of them. And it ruined their reputation and they're worthless for God. Holiness is a command.

We must be obedient. So we must learn to follow God. We must learn to listen to God.

We must learn to obey God when he speaks to us. Well, there's an additional benefit which he promises to all believers as we walk with him. And that's our sanctification process.

You know, it's kind of neat. The more we walk with him, the more we become like him. The more we walk with him, the more we become like him.

That's that sanctification process. Well, that's the end of my little introduction on our lecture on revival tonight. We're going to spend a great deal of time on studying history, revival history, different aspects of revival.

I believe that in America today, it's very similar to the times in the 18th century prior to the ministry of John Wesley and George Whitefield. Spirituality is at a low ebb. There's a moral downgrade in our society.

There's conflicts in the pulpits. There's dead orthodoxy. And we need a great movement of the Spirit of God, not only on us personally, but corporately and nationally.

We're going to talk about that tonight. Revival. Revival is a passion with me.

And revival can be a passion with you. It really is a passion. When God gets a hold of you in revival, it turns your life upside down.

Before I came to a Stephen Offred interview, I was a back row bum as a Christian. Okay? I was useless from what I know now. My Christian walk as a Christian.

And under his preaching, God got a hold of me, and I went into personal revival. Personal revival. And my life hasn't been the same since.

He turned me upside down. I mean, God got a hold of me. It was painful.

He flipped me upside down, and I went into personal revival. And I've been pursuing him ever since. I pursue him more and more every day.

He's more lovely to me every day. Every day, he's more lovely. That walk with God.

That walk with God. You know what I'm talking about. Revival.

Maybe there's someone here tonight that needs a personal revival. Well, how do you know? Do you have dry eyes when you pray? Have you become kind of a job? Is the passion gone? Have you left your first love? What's your courtship like with Jesus lately? Revival. We all need revival.

I need revival all the time. You want to stay in that white-hot oven with God. That white-hot oven, that walk with God of revival.

And that's something you have to pursue. He's on the narrow road. When Jesus goes, he goes on the narrow way.

The wide way is the broad way. That's New York City, where all those godless plays are. It's called broad way.

Right? The narrow way is his way. It's a pursuit. A pursuit of him.

I'm going to read you some quotes of men of revival. Vance Abner. Vance Abner.

Vance Abner used to say, you know, I can't mimic his voice, but he'd say, you know, everybody's holding revival. It's about time somebody let loose the one. Vance Abner had a way of really, you know, getting in there.

Vance Abner used to preach with Stephen Oford on the same platform. I have a tape at my house where Vance Abner says, I do believe that God's going to use Stephen Oford in a mighty sweeping revival. He's a man of revival.

And Stephen Oford was a man of revival. In fact, I read the biography of Vance Abner, and in that biography in North Carolina, when he and Stephen Oford were preaching for a week at a pastor's conference, God broke out in revival. I asked Mrs. Oford about it.

She said, oh, yes, I was there. She said, I was with him. I remember it well.

Revival broke up. Preaching on revival one night, and this pastor went up to him after the message, and he said, Brother Abner, he said, you know what? He said, that message you just preached, that really tore me up. He said, that really tore me up.

And Vance Abner said, well, Brother, what do you think it did to me? Revival kind of gets a hold of you and turns you upside down. If it's hard on you, how do you think I feel? So when I study revival, I study great men of revival. And when I look at Charles Finney, to me, he's a great man of revival.

Whether you agree with him theologically or his methodology, I don't care. God still used him. God used him.

God used Finney in a mighty way. Charles Finney said this about revival. He said, a revival of true Christianity presupposes a falling away.

Falling away. Finney also defined revival in this way. He said, revival is the renewal of the first love of Christians resulting in the awakening and conversion of sinners to God.

A revival of true Christianity arouses, quickens, and reclaims the backslidden church and awakens all classes, ensuring attention to the claims of God. Revival presupposes that the church is mired in a backslidden state. Thank you, Mr. Finney.

That's true. That's a perfect example of the preconditions that exist before revival. If you study revival in history like I have, you will find this to be true.

I'm writing a definitive biography on George Washington. It's got up to 600 pages on it. I've probably got another 600, 700 to go.

As I study the 18th century revival in New England, where Jonathan Edwards preached in Northampton and in Boston and those areas, the religion was dead. They called it a revival of religion because religion was dead. It was dead spiritually.

In fact, many men that were preaching were unconverted. Whitfield got on to them. He preached loud and clear against an unconverted ministry.

He said, how can you preach a Christ you know nothing about? That was the 18th century. The conditions that exist before revival are all the same. There's a spiritual low ebb, a decline in the vitality of the church, and Christians are very worldly and careless.

Now, I'm going to mention again this book. Dr. Tim mentioned it. I mention it because I'm going to read some things out of here from it.

This book I wrote on revival. I don't get a dime from it. All the proceeds go to missions.

I'm going to state that right away. But this book on revival has some little passages in there that I'd like to share with us because of the quotes in here. I'll just start with this.

The apostle Paul, Luther, Wesley, Whitfield, Knox, Edwards, Finney, Spurgeon, Moody, each shared a common denominator, a fire in their belly. They were each so eaten up with the gospel and thirsty for Christ and filled with the Holy Ghost, they could not stand idly by while others perished. They saw nothing but eternity, worshipped the Holy God, not for earth nor its gains, but living only for heaven and its rewards.

When they preached, they linked the devil with sin and the cross with salvation. They preached hell and its fire and Christ and him crucified. Not one of them feared king, queen, or pope, and not one of them sought the compliments of man.

God got a hold of those men, and they got a hold of God. Well, this next passage I want to read is a little quote, and then I'll go to a more lengthy one. This, I was talking about New England.

In 1740, when God moved through New England, it was called the Great Awakening. Revival has often been referred to as an awakening. At Gethsemane, Jesus of his earthly ministry and his disciples slept right through it.

Today, the church is in a crisis point, and we are sleeping right through it. I believe that with my whole heart. I have a little passage here, a chapter that I entitled Asleep in a Hailstorm, and I used the text from Jonah.

But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay and was fast asleep. Can there be a better comparison to today's ministers from this passage of God? Are we not asleep while the storm rages around us? Have we not run from the direct commands of God, the commands to preach Christ and him crucified? Are we running from God ourselves like poor Jonah? Will God in his mercy have to cast us and our ministries into the waves to get our attention? I pray not.

But it may take this to awaken us. How can we lead others to Christ when we ourselves have no inkling of who we are in Christ? I dedicated this chapter to Leonard Ravenhill. I don't know if you ever read Ravenhill's book Why Revival Tarries.

I highly recommend it if you haven't. But I dedicated this to him, and these are some quotes on revival that I wrote with him in mind. Instead of professionalism, what we need today is brokenness before him.

Instead of memorized prayers, heart cries. Instead of dry doctrine with no heart, wet eyes. Instead of pride backed by academic degrees, humility upon our knees.

Instead of new buildings and more ball fields, street preaching on corners and mission fields. Instead of easy believism during gospel invitations, we need repentance and consecration. Instead of living to please self and enjoy life, dying to self and living the crucified life.

Instead of preaching with no power, incarnate preaching with Holy Spirit power. Holy Spirit power. I'm going to read you some quotes by revival men.

Men of revival like Duncan Campbell and Joseph Kemp. Let me share those with you. Joseph Kemp, if you're not familiar with him, he was the pastor of Charlotte Baptist Chapel in Edinburgh.

He was the predecessor to Dr. Graham Baxter. He also ended up at Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan, Dr. Stephen Alford's church. Joseph Kemp was used mightily in revival.

And this is what he had to say about that. He said, quite suddenly, upon one and another came an overwhelming sense of the reality and awfulness of his presence and of eternal things. Awfulness.

Duncan Campbell said this. Duncan Campbell used mightily in revival. He said, the awful presence of God brought a wave of conviction of sin that caused even mature Christians to feel their sinfulness, bringing groans of distress and prayers of repentance from the unconverted.

Strong men were bowed under the weight of sin and cries for mercy were mangled with shouts of joy from others who had passed. Duncan Campbell. That's revival.

So when we look at revival, there's a common thread that runs through there. It's an awful presence of God. Let me share with you a story.

Last year, a local pastor called me up and he said, look, he said, I've read your book on revival and I'd like to get together and have lunch with you and talk to you about it. It's kind of gotten a hold of me. I want to talk about it.

And I thought, well, it's a free lunch. So I went out and we had lunch. And he said, brother, he said, I've been a pastor for 50 years.

Now, this is an old saying. He said, I've been a pastor for 50 years and I long to have revival come to my church. I said, brother, that's great.

That's great. I'm thrilled that you're saying that. He said, you know what? He said, I want you to help me to bring Henry Blackbee back to Memphis so we can have a revival.

I said, well, you know, brother, I love Henry Blackbee. I've studied Henry Blackbee for years. Henry Blackbee's given me wonderful advice that I've used in my own ministry from time to time.

But I said, you know what, brother? And I paused. And I looked him right in the eye across that plate. And I said, if you want revival to come to your church, you're going to have to get right with God and repent of your sins because revival has to start with you.

Now, he just stared at me. He probably thought, who's this young whippersnapper? You know, where's he coming from? Well, the lunch ended. All right? And a few days later, I got another call from this man.

He wanted me to have lunch with not only him again, but two of his pastor buddies. So we got together again. It was another free lunch.

I can't turn down a free lunch. And they sat at the table. And they said, will you do us a favor on a weekly basis for revival? And I said, certainly I will.

And we had it over here at the Institute. And for two months, we got together every week for an hour. And we prayed for revival.

And you know what? I had the privilege, as we sat in a circle, praying, of watching that old saint, that pastor, been a pastor 50 years. He threw himself down on the ground in the midst of us and cried out, God, forgive me for my dirty, rotten sins. Send revival to my church and let it start with me.

That's revival. That's personal revival. I'm looking for big things to happen in man's church because they've got a pastor who's on fire for revival.

Are you willing to pay the price? Are you willing to pay the cost for revival? There's a cost in prayer. There's a price to be paid. Let me make a statement.

Revival is the manifest presence of God among His people. We have to ask ourselves, what have we done to grieve God away from our congregations? What have we done to grieve Him away from our congregations? Where is the manifest presence of God? Now, a friend of mine made this distinction with me. There's a difference between the omnipresence of God and the manifest presence of God.

The omnipresence of God is that verse in Scripture wherever two or more are gathered, I'm with you, right? God's with us here tonight through the Holy Spirit. But that's the omnipresence of God. If God showed up tonight with His manifest presence, this room would shake and quake and we'd all be on our faces.

All right? That's the difference between the omnipresence of God and the manifest presence of God. As a matter of fact, the day of Pentecost, it is said about that day that the room shook. When the Israelites were standing at the foot of Mount Sinai and God showed up, the mountains smoked and it quaked and the people fell on their faces and they covered up their eyes.

That's the manifest presence of God. Now let me make a statement. If you don't have the manifest presence of God in your prayer life, how are you going to have it in the pulpit? If you're not experiencing the manifest presence of God in your prayer life, how are you going to have it in the pulpit? George Whitefield knew about that.

George Whitefield would write time and time again in his journal that God was there when he preached and the people were melted down. Melted down. I'm going to read a quick story about Charles Finney and then I have an expository message on revival.

It's supposed to be an expository message because that's what we do here is expository preaching. But this little message, story about Finney, I have to read it to you because it's critically important to our study of revival. This is from Charles Finney's memoirs.

I don't know if you've ever read that big volume that he wrote later in life. I'm going to read this verbatim. So please don't be dull at hearing now.

As you walk with God, you have to listen. Tune up your ears and listen to this because you're going to miss out if you miss this story on Finney. This is Finney talking.

And Finney said, I had taken no thought with regard to a text upon which to preach but waited to see the congregation as I was in the habit of doing in those days. As soon as I had done praying, I arose from my knees and said, Up, get ye out of this place for the Lord will destroy the city. I said I did not recollect where the text was, but I told them very nearly where they could find it and then went on to explain it.

I said that there was such a man as Abraham and also who he was and that there was such a man as Lot and also who he was and how they were relations to each other. They're separating from each other on account of differences between their herdmen and that Abraham took the hill country and Lot settled in the vale of Sodom. I then told them how exceedingly wicked Sodom became and what aboundable practices they fell into to destroy Sodom and visited Abraham and informed him what he was about to do.

That Abraham prayed to the Lord to spare Sodom if he found so many righteous there and the Lord promised to do so for their sakes. That then Abraham besought him to save it for certain less number and the Lord said he would spare it for their sakes. That he kept on reducing the number until he reduced the number of righteous persons to ten and God promised him that if he found ten righteous persons in the city, he would spare it.

Abraham made no further request and Jehovah left him. But it was found that there was but one righteous person there and that was Lot, Abraham's nephew. And the text in Genesis reads and the man said to Lot Hast thou here any besides son-in-law and thy son-in-law whatsoever thou hast in the city? Bring them out of this place for we will destroy this place because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.

And Lot went out and spake unto his sons-in-laws which married his daughters and said up get you out of this place for the Lord will destroy the city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-laws. While I was relating these facts I observed the people looked as if they were angry.

Many of the men were in their shirt sleeves and they looked at each other and at me as if they were ready to pitch into me and chastise me for something on the spot. I saw their strange and unaccountable looks and could not understand what I was saying that had offended them. However it seemed to rose higher and higher as I continued the narrative.

As soon as I had finished the narrative I turned upon them and said that I understood that they never had a religious meeting in that place before. And therefore I had a right to take it for granted and was compelled to take it for granted that they were an ungodly people. I pressed that home upon them with more and more energy with my heart full to bursting.

I had not spoken to them in this strain of direct application I should think more than a quarter of an hour when all at once an awful solemnity seemed to settle down upon them and some kind of thing flashed over the congregation a kind of shimmering as if there was some agitation in the atmosphere itself. The congregation began to fall from their seats and they fell in every direction I had a sword in each hand I could not have cut them off their seats as fast as they fell. Indeed nearly the whole congregation were either on their knees or prostrate.

I should think in less than two minutes from the shock that fell upon them everyone prayed for himself who was able to speak at all. I of course was obliged to stop preaching for they no longer paid any attention. When I went down the second time I got an explanation of the anger manifested by the congregation during the introduction of my first sermon there.

I learned that the place was called Sodom but I knew it not and that there was one pious man in the place and they called him Lot and this was the old man that had invited me there. The people supposed I had chosen my subject and preaching they were so wicked as to be called Sodom. This was a striking coincidence but as far as I was concerned it was altogether accidental.

I have not been in that place for many years. A few years since I was laboring in Syracuse in the state of New York. Two gentlemen called upon me one day.

One quite an elderly man another perhaps a man of 47 years of age. The younger man introduced the older man to me as Deacon White an elder in his church saying that he had called on me to give a hundred dollars to Oberlin College. The older man in his turn introduced the younger saying this is my minister the Reverend Mr. Cross.

He was converted under your ministry. Whereupon Brother Cross said to me do you remember preaching at such a time in Antwerp and such a part of town and a schoolhouse in the afternoon and such a scene describing the very... I said I remember it very well and can never forget it. Well I remember anything.

Well said he I was then but a young man but I was converted in that meeting and for many years that man was a successful minister. That's revival. That's revival.

That's when God breaks through in his manifest presence to where you can't even stay in your seat anymore you're on the ground. You're on the ground. And God gets a hold of an unconverted man and turns him into a minister for him.

Just like he did with Saul. That's revival. Well we're going to press on to the passage that I've chosen tonight on revival.

And I've chosen this passage very carefully. Stephen Alford said don't ever build a message around something you want to say. I prayed about this very carefully that if you want revival to come to your church or if you want revival to come to your ministry it has to start with you.

Okay? And if it has to start with you it has to start with prayer. Alright? No revival is going to happen without prayer. So that leads us to the chapter on prayer in the Gospel of John chapter 15.

It's a familiar passage but we're going to look at some deep truth there tonight. If you'll turn there we're going to take a look at chapter 15. We're going to be in verses 1 through 8. I'm reminded of a story I heard about a hippie.

Remember hippies? I think hippies are coming back aren't they? I keep seeing them more and more out on the street. But this hippie went into an employment agency and told the clerk there that he needed a job or he would like to have a job. And the clerk said well what's your work history been like? And the hippie said well up and down.

The clerk wrote down up and down. He said well tell me where have you been working lately? And the hippie said oh here and there. So he wrote down here and there.

He said well tell me. He said what kind of work do you do? He said oh this and that. He said let's see now up and down here and there this and that I'll tell you what why don't you check back with us every now and then.

Is your prayer life like that hippie? Is it up and down here and there every now and then? Do you walk with God on a daily basis? Let me rephrase this. Can God say of you and that you're listening to him and not only listening to him you're following him and obeying him. Can he say that of you right now? This little passage about the true vine is a precursor to personal revival.

I promise you that if God gets a hold of you in your prayer life you'll have personal revival and your church will never be the same. Never be the same. Because you'll bring your church Lord willing into that experience.

This passage is a wonderful passage I've broken it down this way. There's three things I want to draw out from the text tonight. The first thing is the active care of the Father over the vineyard.

The pruning process. The second thing between Christ and the church. The praying process.

And the third thing is the anointing work of the Holy Spirit in the believer the power possessed. I'll repeat that. The active care of the Father over the vineyard.

The pruning process. The abiding union between Christ and the church. The praying process.

And the anointing work of the Holy Spirit in the believer the power possessed. Well as we study this passage I'll go ahead and read it to us but we have to make note of the last sentence in chapter 14 where Jesus says arise let us go hence. Because that's critically important to the message that he tells them and the scene and situation in which he delivers these truths.

He says I am the true vine and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. If you are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you abide in me and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit for without me you can do what? Nothing.

If anyone does not abide in me he is withered and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit so you will be my disciples.

That little word be is a mistranslation that you really read so you will become my disciples. Becoming a disciple is an ongoing process an ongoing walk with God. This passage in John this message that he had this discourse by Jesus where he had it is a matter of conjecture.

Some suppose that after the words arise let us go hence that the disciples still lingered at the table in the upper room for it was at this mealtime hour that Jesus had begun to prepare his disciples for his departure. John is the narrator of the story. It was he who laid his head on his master's bosom.

So he was very close to Jesus as he recorded this in his mind and on his heart and the Holy Spirit brought it back to him as he wrote this out for generations to come. So that is very possible as they reclined at the table that's where the discourse took place. Now some scholars believe that the discourse was spoken on the way to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane.

Master illustrator he would take an everyday object and use it and bring that point home wouldn't he? Stephen Ofert had that gift. He would use that gift a lot. Well Jesus would use everyday objects to illustrate his message.

In this case a vine. He used a vine. The symbol for Israel was the vine.

And these commentators who believe the discourse was given on the way have one opinion but there's still some commentators that think well they lingered in the room this could have taken place there because the vine is suggested by an external object like maybe the cup of wine that they were drinking. Alright? Or perhaps a vine whose tendrils had come in through the window crept in through the window crawling up a trellis. Maybe Jesus.

Or perhaps as they lingered in that upper room there was a view of the vineyards below in the light of the moon. Those Bible scholars who believe that the discourse took place on the way to the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane visualized the walk down to the Kidron in the evening. We read this in chapter 18 verse 1 it says when Jesus had spoken these words he went forth with his disciples over the brook Kidron where was a garden into which he entered and his disciples.

So looking at that verse some scholars suppose that on the way to the brook Kidron along the way of that valley they passed through some vineyards and there were fires in the vineyards burning burning up the chaff the worth illustration and the analogy as they were passing through there. That's forceful imagery isn't it? Forceful. Well that could possibly be the case as those vine cuttings were being consumed by the fire because of their worthlessness.

Whatever the circumstances or surroundings we see a vivid picture of the vine and the branches. Let's break this text down as we look at the active care of the father over the vineyard. We see in verse 1 it says I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser.

Well in the Greek the words state this they state I in contradistinction to anyone else am the genuine vine and my father is the tiller of the soil. There's no one like Jesus. Into a walk with him I find out how utterly different he is than me.

He's so different from the way I think from the way I've been trained to think from the way I perceive things his utter difference when Mary, his mother came to him at the wedding at Cana and said we've got a wine problem here a wine shortage and he looked at her and he said dear woman what have I to do with thee? He was telling her his ways were not her ways anymore. His earthly ministry was beginning. He's utterly different.

I in contradistinction to anyone else am the genuine vine and my father is the tiller of the soil. You want revival to happen to you? Well God's got to break up that fallow ground in your heart. Right? He's got to go deep and get all the chaff out there.

You've got to ask the Holy Spirit to burn up all the junk all the refuse that's in there. The father's active care over the vineyard. We see every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away.

And every branch that bears fruit he what? He prunes that it may what? Bear more fruit. This whole pruning process you know I kind of call this 15th chapter revival of John here not only the prayer chapter but the pruning chapter. The pruning chapter personal revival begins when this takes place.

Look at a bunch of grapes. You have a bunch of grapes and they're good for nothing until a knife comes by and prunes that branch so they can grow some more. Right? You eat those grapes you need to prune that branch.

That pruning is painful. We're not willing to surrender ourselves to the knife. It's painful.

You say Lord I want revival you better watch out what you're praying for. You're getting ready for a whole load of pain. You know what I'm talking about? The pruning process he takes that pruning knife and look at this it's the branch that bears the fruit that gets the knife.

The branch that bears the fruit is the one that gets the knife. If you want a fruitful ministry then you better submit to the knife. It's a harvest time when God the tiller of the soil comes in with the pruning process.

Look at verse 7. Verse 7 says If you abide in me and my words abide in you you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. Who's he talking about? The one that's been pruned. The one that's been pruned gets the desire of his heart.

Gets the answer to his prayer. For a branch to grow upwards you have to grow roots downward hence the abiding. This little word abide in the Greek many of you know it's the word meno and it means to continue to dwell in a certain place to endure to remain to stand to tarry.

When we grasp the significance of that abiding it's that listening to God it's that lingering in his presence as the tiller of the soil takes that pruning knife to us to the branch and transforms us so we can do what? Bear more fruit. Bear more fruit. This whole pruning process let me tell you there's a whole study on this this self-emptying process Stephen Oldford knew all about the crucified life when I think about the self-emptying process I look at the Moses the statesman Moses the prince of Egypt Moses who flees from Pharaoh and becomes a sheep herder in the back desert of Midian.

The text in Exodus states now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law the priest of Midian and he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb the mountain of God. So we see Moses Moses spent 40 years in the desert tending smelly dumb sheep walking behind them until his very clothes smelled like them. This was a man who was a statesman this is a man who was a prince in Egypt he's now a smelly shepherder behind some smelly dumb sheep there's nothing more stupid than a sheep.

One wanders away goes in the ditch there'll be two more go right after him. Are we not the same way? Well God used those 40 years to empty Moses I hope he doesn't have to take 40 years to empty me. It took 40 years to empty Moses now Moses was a special man Moses had risen to special prominence in Egypt and it took 40 years for him to get that way it took 40 years to get him out that way get that out of him.

And listen to what F.J. Hugel said about Moses he said for 40 years on the lonely slopes of Midian the fiery Moses is schooled there were graves if I may so speak scattered all over the mountain side where hope after hope was buried until at last self went down an utter annihilation. God pruned Moses God pruned him he self be pruned and to be self-empty that's the whole message right there are we at the point in our ministry in our walk with God we're willing to experience that self-emptying to take our pride to take our gold to take our ambitions to take what our peers think about us to take take our our whole view of ministry and be pruned so we can have fruit in his eyes. Donald Gray Barnhouse made this statement he said the man who is to thunder in the court of Pharaoh with an imperious thus saith the Lord must first stand barefooted before the burning bush.

That's true isn't it? Moses was so stripped of self that when God asked him to go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of bondage this is how Moses answers God he says who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? He's completely self-emptied. J. Siddle Baxter I wrote the authorized biography of J. Siddle Baxter the British preacher who wrote Explore the Book the famous Bible commentary this is what J. Siddle Baxter had to say about this J. Siddle Baxter used to say how can a man full of himself preach to Christ who emptied himself? So we have the active care of the Father over the vineyard let me tell you something you want revival? Then you're going to have to die die die You want fruit? It's the pruning knife. You want more fruit? It's more pruning knife.

It's that constant self-emptying process the pruning process Moses had a crisis it's a crisis in our life when we have that encounter with God he turns us upside down Moses had that encounter at the burning and it changed him forever Jacob when he wrestled with God at Jabbok it transformed him and changed him forever he walked with a limp from then on but it also changed his name it changed his name from supplanter to prince with God there was a cost every time he leaned on that staff the rest of his life he remembered about wrestling with God every time he winced in pain with that hip out of joint he remembered that wrestling and it brought that humility aspect back to Jacob so he could be a prince with God and have that power it's that encounter that we look for well the next point I want to focus on is the abiding union between Christ and the church that's the praying process the praying process is the process that leads to the quiet time is the most important time of the day I want to read a little story about praying Payson of Portland you ever hear about praying Payson of Portland? praying Payson of Portland was a pastor of a little church but he was a man of prayer and when he died they went into his bedroom and they found near his bed on the wooden floor two grooves made into the wooden floor where he would kneel and he would rock back and forth and wrestle with God in prayer until his knees wore grooves into that wooden floor praying Payson that's why it was called praying Payson what's your bedroom floor look like? he made grooves with his knees there's an oil painting that hangs in a Spanish gallery it's a portrait of a farmer and the farmer has just taken off his straw hat he's laid down his farm implements and he's in the position of prayer and as you look at this painting you see in the distance a village and a bell tower and it's apparent that the bell tower has just rung calling the town to a time of afternoon prayer and he's there kneeling in his field well if you look a little closer at that oil portrait you see in the very back corner the visage of an angel and that angel has picked up the plow and that team of mule and it's as if that angel is making a fresh furrow in the ground while he's praying there's three words in Spanish at the bottom of that oil portrait and in English they read no time lost do you get it? when we pray it's as if heaven's resources are just unveiled upon us we're not wasting time when we pray no time lost J. Sidlow Baxter knew the power of prayer when I would go visit his home in Santa Barbara California and sit with his 96 year old widow Iza she would tell me about she'd hear Sid in his study half the day crying out loud to God in his 90's crying out to God when he was 95 and 94 and 93 and 92 Sidlow Baxter used to get up at 5 o'clock every morning until he turned 90 to pray when he turned 90 he got up at 6 now that's Sidlow Baxter that's how you get and explore the book that's how you get a ministry like that there's a cost there's a price Stephen Oldford used to tell me he says what counts costs and what cost counts there's a cost and it's prayer as this plays out in the chapter on prayer here we see this as it plays out in our own lives and let me say this as we abide with Christ He transforms us He transforms us isn't that true isn't that true do you ever have those epiphany times when you're alone with God and it's just like wave upon wave and it's just you just can't even talk you're just in His presence that holy presence of abiding that's the abiding that's you're not doing anything but worshiping Him A.W. tells you to lay on his floor for four hours he wouldn't say a word he'd just worship he'd just worship so that's that aspect of that well we're a little getting close but I want to wind down to my next point which is the anointing work and I wanted to take a couple quotes here and read them to you because it's apropos to what we're talking about this evening about the Holy Spirit and prayer the power of Pentecost and this whole aspect of the anointing Samuel Chaddock the great Methodist minister said this he said no man has a right to speak for God who has no personal first hand knowledge of Him he certainly will not speak with power Charles Finney said I am afraid I must say to the great majority of the ministers even of the present day I think that their practical views of preaching the gospel whatever their theological views may be are very defective indeed and that their want of unction and of the power of the Holy Ghost is a radical defect when I think of this anointing you get it from the lingering you get it from the pruning you get it from the filling J. Sidlo Baxter used to say what I give to Him He takes what He takes He cleanses what He cleanses He fills and what He fills He uses now that's good isn't it and that's true that's true power in the pulpit when I look at Stephen Holford even on video I see that unction that unction that he preached with authority he preached with power he was a little short guy but when he got in the pulpit he looked like Goliath right I mean he preached with power I would be in a study with him and we'd be talking and he'd say brother give me a few moments I need a and brother I have to wait a few moments because as I preach virtue left me virtue left me I've got to regain myself because virtue left me that brought to mind Jesus passing through the crowd and the woman with the issue of blood touches the hem of his garment and he turns around and he says who touched me and his numbskull disciples say what do you mean who touched you the people are pressing against you and hustling and bustling what are you talking about they touched you he said no I know someone has touched me because why virtue has left me virtue has left me when you preach does virtue leave you preaching should be transforming preaching should be experiential right it's a life transforming thing so when I look at I see that power I see that presence in the pulpit I've got a friend who's writing a little article about what he views pastors to be now and he's called it pygmies in the pulpit pygmies in the pulpit he's going to write it I said man you're going to catch a lot of flack from that one but that's the way he feels preachers are today he said we're pygmies compared to men like Stephen Offord and Sid Lowe Baxter and others and we really are why why are we striving for that life of holiness are we grabbing hold of God's robe and hanging on to him in that quiet time and lingering in prayer until we're anointed with that shekinah glory falling all over us so we can go out and preach with power and transform lives forever our ministries could be that way Jesus wants our ministries to be that way in fact why our ministries aren't that way we're the extension of his earthly ministry he still has his earthly ministry we're the ones doing it we're the arms we're the legs we're the mouth we're the anointing when Jesus passed through a village people's lives were changed he didn't pass through a village when somebody's life wasn't transformed when Jesus came in contact with you your life was changed Adrian Rogers used to say we need God called men who will take the book of God and preach the son of God with the anointing of the spirit of God Adrian knew about that anointing he knew about it he'd weep over it when he'd talk about it he'd weep that God assisted him so much even recollecting on that F.B. Meyer said this that saint of a man, F.B. Meyer said if Christ waited to be anointed before he went out to preach no one can be anointed by the if Christ went out to preach and waited to be anointed then no man has the right to go out and preach until he too is anointed that's what F.B. Meyer said if Christ had to wait on it don't we? Stephen Offord used to say anoint me with your spirit, Lord for this strategic hour that I may preach your holy word with consecrated power George Whitefield used to cry oh, prayer, prayer it brings God and man together it brings man up to God and it brings man brings God down to man prayer, that union let's draw the net on this little passage of prayer this little passage of personal revival and I'll say this revival begins with prayer revival is birthed in prayer prayer brings forth personal revival personal revival leads to corporate revival or church revival you can't have your church go through revival until you're revived I was in a church that was going through revival and I got hold of the pastor in the middle of the night the service just went he sat down he couldn't preach anymore God was all over the church the people were weeping they were broken I was weeping the guy I brought with me was weeping God had broken out in this church and I grabbed this guy at around 10.30 at night in the parking lot as he was going to his 6 I said what's going on down here? he said well I had a message to preach but God showed up and I just sat down I said well tell me about it what's going on? he said the only thing I can say is that we're dead I said what do you mean you're dead? he said the only way I can explain it to you is we're dead people we're dead people they had gotten to the point in their ministry where he was willing to be so dead to his ministry so dead to the world so dead to his reputation that it didn't make any difference anymore he wanted God to show up and God honored that and God showed up in a church revival now when you see that you don't want to live in the natural anymore you don't want to live in the natural anymore when you walk on the water you don't want to get back in the boat you know what I'm talking about? praying for a mighty movement of God to come not only to your churches but to this city we live in a wicked city this city is as wicked as New Orleans alright? it's getting more wicked every day we've got churches on every corner in this city and it's getting worse and worse and worse why? because we are not making a difference you can pray for revival carelessly you can pray for it casually or you can pray for it passionately and fervently you want your ministry to take on a new life then you go to God tonight when you get home and you get on your face and you say get out the pruning knife on me I want to be so emptied of me and so filled of you that when I move people's lives are changed forever well let me close us in prayer oh Lord God we've looked at some precious truths in your holy word your precious spirit has touched us Lord God and shown us deeper truths that maybe we haven't seen before in a passage that we're very familiar with Lord God I pray that you seal those truths to our hearts Lord God I pray that there's someone here tonight that's in need of a personal revival that you will have an encounter with that return to me and I will return to you I stand on that promise Lord that if I return to you you will return to me you'll invigorate me with a new life in my ministry you'll give me an anointing that I've never had before maybe I had and I'm like Samson I left the tent with a haircut and I didn't realize the spirit wasn't on me anymore Lord God help us to have that anointed ministry that transforms lives for eternity Jesus I pray these things in Jesus Christ's name Amen