I knew that title would get your attention so before
you read me the riot act, let us go over some historical facts. The Azusa
Street Revival was mainly about seeking the manifestation of tongues through
the baptism of the Spirit. As a result of fasting and praying, William Seymour received this gift along with other manifestations of God's Spirit. I started to think about
what happened in that upper room the first time the disciples received the
Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all
with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound
from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where
they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as
of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the
Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)
As you can see this wondrous gift came from heaven. I
thought about the curious misunderstanding many of us have about the baptism of
the Spirit. Many believe that if you don't speak in
tongues you are not "spirit filled." How can this be? If Jesus lives
in us doesn't that mean we are "Spirit filled." For those who consider ourselves "Spirit filled" Let me ask you something... does the Holy Spirit come from above or from within? Remember that we are on the other side of the prophecy by Joel, "‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh."
(Acts 2:17)
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured out from above on all flesh. As believers He comes from within. The Holy Spirit
baptism is only granting the Holy Spirit permission for manifestation. He already
lives in us. When I got baptized in the Spirit for the first time, it
bubbled up from my belly and came flowing out my mouth like a river.
He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)
My point is this...we are already
Pentecostal! Some of us not only speak in tongues but prophesy and heal the
sick. We have what they received on Azusa Street already. What we need is the Welsh
Revival. I'm not trying to sound partial here but the Welsh Revival caused
national change. The bars no longer had drunks, the policeman had nothing to do
and workers stopped their swearing. Here are four keys that caused the Welsh Revival success!
1. Confess all known sin
2. Deal with and get rid of anything ‘doubtful’ in your
life
3. Be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly
4. Confess Christ publicly
The first key and most highly contested of all...is the
message of repentance! My friends there is a great push right now to do away
with the message of repentance but without it men cannot enter a relationship
with God. You can say the sinner's prayer but without repentance it is not a
true conversion. Jesus never asked people to pray the sinners prayer but He did
ask people to repent, deny themselves and follow Him.
Secondly, another message that is also being contested, is dealing with sin in the life of believers. Compromise runs rampant
in the church while some deny the existence of sin! The bible says that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8
The third key is being obedient to the Holy Spirit. Doesn't
seem life changing but if a Christian just prayed and obeyed what the Holy Spirit told them they would be doing the "greater works!" Someone being led of the Holy Spirit would be executing the commissioning of Mark 16:15-18. We forget the Holy Spirit came so that we would become witnesses!
I was
talking to fellow friend and revivalist Chad Taylor this week when I shared
this observation. If 120 people turned the world upside down when they left the
upper room why can't a stadium full of Christians change America? I have seen thousands upon thousands of Christians in those mega churches on TV, yet
things remain unchanged. Why?
I am going to tell you why. We have not left the upper room! We still have not executed key number four...the public confession of Christ. I will even go further by
saying that it is the lack of the powerful demonstration of genuine love, and a holy lifestyle that people aren't convicted to live for God. Honestly, if your lifestyle does not convict anyone
than you have not followed through with keys number two and three. People fail to see that the largest reason for the
success of the Welsh Revival was key number four! They had massive conversions
because they went all over Wales bringing the genuine message of repentance.
They saw thousands come to Christ. This is what caused national change!
My friends, if we are going to see America return to God we need to stop chasing after
manifestations, signs and wonders. We need to be more concerned with the character
of Christ being formed in us. There are way too many messages that focus on self. As I spent
reading 1 Corinthians 13; I realized that we can claim to have a revival but it
still may not hold any weight. Why? Because outside of the motivation of love
all we have is the people in Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me,
‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My
Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done
many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I
never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
God is not impressed with all
the supposed sacrifice, manifestations, tongues, prophecy, martyrdom,
knowledge, degrees, and good deeds we may claim we do. Outside of the
motivation of love which compels us to obey Him, our works are nothing short of
annoying and unprofitable. If we are going to truly bring change in the short time we have here on earth we must make it our goal to actively have a public confession of Christ that represents who He really is. Jesus was a love revolutionary! Let's become one too!
