Realities of Revival

In the book of Joel in chapter 2 and verse 1 we read blow ye the Trumpet and Zion and sound an alarm in my holy Mountain, but let all the inhabitants of the land Tremble for the day the Lord cometh For it is nigh at hand This passage speaks of a call to awake When the soldiers in the camp sleep the enemy storms in and overtakes them The soldiers may sleep for several reasons They may be overconfident Because of their size and stature They may be drunk with the cloudiness of debauchery They may be tired from too much activity They may be tired from too little activity Regardless of the reason if the camp is not guarded with watchmen The enemy will come in with a flood of destruction today in America and England two nations once known for Upholding the banner of Christ the church sleeps It is a deep slumber much akin to a stupor the cries of the world are drowned out by the snoring church It has put itself to sleep with much activity activity done in the name of Christ But without the spirit of Christ as the church sleeps upon soft cushions enwrapped with silk sheeps and Uninterrupted slumber it is dead to the world in its lazy dreams of work accomplished and tasks completed Budgets met and goals achieved horizons broadened planning committees planning new members joining money counted new buildings built and testimonies of success With all of this activity never before has there been more cause for alarm than now the title of my message today friends is Realities of revival in the book of Joel in chapter 2 and verse 17 we read Let the priests the ministers of the Lord Weep between the porch and the altar and let them say Spare that people O Lord We're aware Are the church is gathering each night and solemn assemblies in this country with broken-hearted people Crying out to God for the sins of the land. Oh, we're doing is entertaining ourselves We just keep entertaining ourselves and entertaining ourselves. Oh, wow the world perishes But the realities of revival are undeniable Prayer is the first and foremost thing people begin to confess their personal sins a new reverence for God takes place in a dramatic fashion a sense of the Holy Spirit Pervades the atmosphere There is a brokenness among the people of God and much weeping and repentance Christians return to their first love of Christ The lost are swept in like an ocean wave True converts are numerous but most of all With the realities of revival comes the reality of God because there is an undescribable presence of God felt by all To see revival the people of God must become desperate for revival There must be a burden for the lost and a hunger for God.

There has to be a Dramatic change in our preaching where we go from preaching for acceptance of ourselves To preaching Christ and him crucified with no thought toward the opinion of man This attitude is demonstrated by Charles Finney who in 1824 was laboring in Evan Mills in New York when he wrote more or less Convictions occurred under every sermon I preached But still no general conviction appeared upon the public mind I was very much dissatisfied with this state of things and at one of my evening services After having preached there two or three Sabbaths and several evenings in the week I told the people at the close of my sermon that I had come there to secure the salvation of their souls That my preaching I knew was highly complimented by them but that after all I Did not come there to please them but to bring them to repentance That it mattered not to me How well they were pleased with my preaching if after all they rejected my master And that's where we need to be today friends the realities of revival boiled down to this when revival comes We will sense an awful salamity of Almighty God Who was a dread sovereign who has rights and claims and all followers of his? Let us get a burden to see revival in our day Let us go to our faces To pray for revival in our day our nations stand at the very brink of ruin and destruction Let us call out to God and ask him to send showers of its blessings Upon us once again Let us pray for revival in our day