The Holy Spirit and Revival

The Gospel for Life

Geoff Thomas: The Holy Spirit – Chapter 19: “The Holy Spirit and Revival”
Opening verses: Titus 3:5-6
PEOPLE OF HISTORIC REVIVAL
The history of the church was shaped by some great leaders and memorable spiritual breakthroughs, which, in turn, shaped the history of nations.
Think of Saint Patrick’s work in Ireland in the fifth century and Saint David’s labors in sixth-century Wales. Patrick broke the back of heathenism in Ireland, and David did the same in Wales. The greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit since the apostolic era was the Reformation in the sixteenth century.
In the seventeenth century, Puritans such as John Bunyan and John Owen preached and wrote extensively about the Scriptures, influencing many people for generations to come in Great Britain and North America.
EXAMPLES OF REVIVAL IN THE OT
Josiah’s discovery of the Book of the Law. When King Josiah was twenty-six years old, an ancient copy of God’s Word was found in the temple of Israel. For centuries, the Scriptures had gone missing, and no one, not even the priests, had seemed to notice. When the book of the law was rediscovered, it had a profound effect on the king, the priests, and all the people of Israel. We read in 2 Chronicles 34:14–21 Jonah’s mission to Ninevah. God directed Jonah to preach repentance to Israel’s arch-enemy, Ninevah. The prophet rebelled against that order by taking a ship in the opposite direction. But after nearly drowning, Jonah returned to the Lord and went to Ninevah, where he began to proclaim to the residents of that great city, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4).
The rebuilding of God’s temple. The people of God had been in exile in Babylon for seventy years. Now, through God’s miraculous intervention, specifically in the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, many of the exiles had returned to Israel. But it was hard for these exiles to live for the Lord and support themselves in a ruined
land that was surrounded by enemies who thwarted and sabotaged whatever they did. It took all their energy to look after themselves
REVIVAL IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
Peter’s sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2)
Philip goes to Samaria (Acts 8)
Paul’s mission efforts (Acts 13 - 28)
WHY REVIVAL IS SHUNNED
Revivals are poorly defined. The word revival is not found in the New Testament. Thus people use the word to describe any event that makes them feel blessed. The problem is that some people describe a meeting where they experienced the nearness of God as a revival, while others who went to the same meeting felt it was dull and uninspired. One man’s feast was plain soup to another.
Revivals are illusive. For a church member sitting in a pew, revivals never seem to be for the here and now. They appear to be events that happened a hundred years ago or that will occur sometime in the future. If they are occurring now, they are ten thousand miles away from where we live. So an ordinary Christian is restless
about sermons on revival, Many revivals are not revivals. Many people today claim to be experiencing revivals in places such as Toronto, Kansas City, or Pensacola, Florida.

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