Transcription
I will preach to us today on this subject. Why some Pentecostal churches do not want revival. Excuse me, but I've got to address this today. Why some Pentecostal churches do not want revival. Clap your hands and let God know you're not one of them. God bless you. You may be seated.
The challenge of the apostolic ministry is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comforted. That's the work of every preacher in every message. It is to bring to us a challenge and to set before us a high goal and to make us uncomfortable if necessary so that we can move on in that new dimension that God has for us. So I want to say right now that the greatest hindrance to revival in the North American church is not demons and devils. He has nothing to do with this church. Greater is he that is in us. He can't touch the blood. He can't overcome the word. Quit giving the devil the credit. Our greatest challenge is convenience, comfort, and complacency. The apostolic vision is being assaulted by the American dream. And we must attack the American dream. A twocar garage, a boat in the driveway, and a five bedroomedroom house, and a big bank account. That's the American dream. But God has wanted to transfer into the lives of our youth the apostolic vision. And that is silver and gold have I none. But such as I have give I unto thee a generation that would rather have God than gold. A generation that would rather have revival than the riches of this world. a generation that wants to fulfill the apostolic vision. So why do some Pentecostal churches not want revival? How could that ever be? Amen. Well, it costs more than some want to pay. And it takes longer than some want to stay.
I learned an incredible principle in life that is so simple and many of you may have learned it from good, godly parents, but it was a while before I understood it. I was an evangelist and I was preaching a revival for an old gentleman in Brian, Texas, whose name was Castellina, Virgil Castellina. One Sunday he said, "Would you like to go fishing tomorrow?" I said, "Sure, I'd enjoy that." He loved to fish. So, he took me out on a lake. We began to fish. And boy, he was a he was a a dedicated avid fisherman. I'd cast my reel out, pull the bait in, cast it out, pull it in. Well, I got a little tired. So, I just sitting there holding a pole talking to him and he said, "Are you going to fish or sit there? You are not going to catch a fish with your bait out of the water." Well, you could preach on that, too. So, we had this real expensive nice Ambassador Garcia rod and reel. I had my little famous Zebco 202, very cheapest child's rod and reel you could ever get. And so I said, "Boy, that's a nice rod and reel you have there." He said, "Yeah." He said, "Why don't" I said, "I I like that." I wasn't smoozing trying to get him to give me one. I was just bragging on his. He said, "Well, why don't you have one?" Here's the principle of life. I said, 'It's evident as an evangelist, I can't afford that.' He said, 'Oh, yeah, you can. Yeah, you can. He said, 'If you wanted one, you would get it just like I got this one. I said, what do you mean? He said, this week I put back $3 and next week $5. Next week, $10, $2, dollar and a half, $5, $20 until I had enough money to buy it. He said, the problem with you is you don't want it. That changed my life. I never again said, "I can't afford it." He taught me the problem is I want it, but I want it easily. I want it free. I want it conveniently. You want an apostolic ministry, you'll get it like the rest of us got it. You pray today. You fast today. You live for God today. You do it tomorrow. You do it next week. You do it three years. You do it five years. You do it 20 years until God honors you and gives you his power. But the essence is if we can't have it quick, if we can't have it convenient, if we can't have it comfortable, we don't want it. But the book still says, "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Not everybody's going to have revival. I know we say that, but it's not true. Not everybody is going to have revival, but those who do hunger and those who do thirst are going to be filled. As the heart panth after the waterbrooks, so pantth my soul after thee, oh God. You got to want revival on Sunday. You got to want it on Monday. You got to want it on Wednesday. You got to want it on Thursday. You got to want it on Saturday. And it's revival, revival, revival, revival, revival, revival, revival. As the deer panth revival, revival, revival. Clap your hands and tell God you want it.
[Applause] [Music] [Applause] When I reference the one word revival, bear with me. I am not speaking of just procuring a professional harvester for a protracted meeting. I'm not talking about a church spit nearby where they're able to gather disgruntles from the periphery of others churches or majoring on manipulating moveins to build the church. A guy teasingly said years ago, the best way to build a home missions church is to make sure there's a big one close by. Now, like my my grandson's grandpa would say, which is not me. He has another grandpa who's a great preacher. And right now he would say, "I know it's tight, but it's right." And I remember Brother Davis always saying, "Don't get quiet cuz I'm preaching good right here. I'm talking about a sovereign supernatural move of the Holy Ghost that is confirmed with radical conversions, miracles, signs, and wonders according to the book of Acts, which by the way is our pattern and manual for what revival actually is. If you can't find it in the book of Acts, don't call it apostolic revival.
[Applause] Let me show you what revival was in the Bible. Acts 13:44. This is my dream. This is my passion. Acts 13 and44. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. Ladies and gentlemen, that's the revival I dream about. Ladies and gentlemen, that's my vision. That's my passion. That next Sunday morning at your church, the highway patrol is directing traffic. Traffic is backed up down the road and you can't get into the parking lot. That is a revival.
[Applause] I'm shocked that anyone would say, "Give us a little reviving, but leave us in our bondage. Give us a revival, but don't break our bondage. We want a revival, but just let it be a little revival. We need more than a little reviving. That leaves us in our bondage. We need enough revival not just to break yolks, but to destroy [Applause] yolks. The difference in a broken yoke and a destroyed yoke. A broken yoke can be repaired. A destroyed yoke is finished. We need a revival that will change our churches and they will never ever go back to what they were for ever changed. It appears there are some bondages we do not want broken. Some seem to indicate there are certain conveniences, convenient incarcerations we want left undisturbed. Some just seem to say, "Don't rock the boat."
I'll never forget as a young evangelist, I was preaching for my wife's former pastor, Brother Lonnie Marcus, who was a powerful man of God. And everywhere he went, he had revival or riot and sometimes both because he was 100%. And with him, you either 100% for him or you were against him. And so I went there to preach a revival as a young man. He had a left eye that kind of drooped. He's a big man. I see him very clearly. I was still in my 20s. We got ready to start that revival. He said, "Huntley," he stretched that big hand out. He said, "Huntley, don't stir up more devil than you can handle." I said, "Yes, sir. But I can't explain what happened one night during that revival. They needed revival. It was so hard. It was so tough. It was so strenuous. We couldn't get anything going on. So I told my wife one night, I said, "Get on that organ. We're going to have a victory march." We started a victory march, Bishop. And when they went around, 15 people went out the door and never came back. Rex Johnson had been there just before me and 30 walked out. Brother Marcus said with friends like you and Johnson, who needs enemies? Ladies and gentlemen, that's why some people don't want revival. They cuddle their devils. They comfort their devils. They play with their devils. They tease their devils. They let their devils control the church. They let their devils take over the church. That's why some people do not want revival.
[Applause] And of course, money walks out the building. I'd rather pastor a church filled with people on welfare and little old ladies that support the church than rich people trying to tell me what to preach and telling me what kind of church we should have and how we should have revival. Controlling our pastors.
[Applause] I want to say thy money perish with thee. You can't buy this ministry. You can't buy this revival. Somebody shout yes. You may be seated. We want to just keep going along to get along. Daring not to muddy the water, dancing, dodging, petting, and pampering instead of challenging the status quo. to us. Jesus walked into the synagogue and the Bible said a man cried out, "Let us alone." And Jesus said, "That is the unclean spirit of a devil." Anything that says to the pastor says to the Holy Ghost, "Let us alone is an unclean spirit of a [Applause] devil. If you want revival, you will stand to your feet and you will shout it." Preach it, preacher.
[Applause] I may not like it, but I need you to preach it. It may not be what I want to hear, but I need you to preach it. And let me say this, every man of God that gets in the pulpit and establishes standards and establishes biblical principles and establishes lifestyles is not a heretic, a dictator, or a cultist. He's a pastor that loves you.
[Applause] True apostolic revival is discerning. It's demanding. It's disrespectful. It's discerning in that it tries the spirits and the attitudes and motives of all. It's demanding in that its message is repent or perish. It's disrespectful in that heritage. Woo, this is strong here. heritage, position, or seniority has no considerations. I don't care if you've been in a church 50 years. You have no right to stop progress. You have no right to stop growth.
[Applause] You have no right to stop evangelism.
[Applause] So why does some Pentecostal churches not want revival? Because it creates an unbearable heat for hidden snakes. s that forces their exposure. Acts 28:1. And I had not noticed this verse until just recently. And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Malita. Continue. And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness. This is what I had not noticed. The barbarous people had built a fire. They kindled a fire and received us everyone because of the present rain and because of the cold. Everybody say, "Ain't that sweet? We got this little fire here. It's warm in here. It's snuggly in here. It's comfortable in here. Everybody feels good in here. Uh oh. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, there came out a viper that came out. There came a viper out of the heat fastened on his hand. The little fire they had was not enough to bother the snake.
[Applause] But when Paul put more wood on that fire and it started getting real hot, the snake starts squirming.
[Applause] We must not be satisfied with a revival that is room temperature. We have got to have a red hot apostolic burning revival that will force every snake out.
[Applause] And be advised, the snake's target is the man that's putting the fuel on the fire. That's why you got to support your pastor. The devil is after him. That's why you got to when he preaches his hardest message, that's when you need to line up and encourage him and say, "Thank you for that good word of [Applause] God." But I don't want to leave you right there. Remain standing just a moment. Now, let's sit down. The snake was exposed, but it was exterminated. by the excessive heat.
[Music] Thank God revival doesn't just expose snakes, it will exterminate [Applause] snakes. You may be seated. Now, I don't mean to be evil or harsh or mean, but let me make a point. I'm beginning to hear something in the apostolic church that bothers me. I know I'm dinosauric. I know I'm an old man. But I I'm still able to preach. I travel places, brother, and I hear people get up and say, "My Lord, there is so much energy in this room. There is so much energy in this room. This place is filled with energy. The apostolic church is not fueled by energy. It is fueled by [Applause] anointing. Energy will not break chains. Energy will not break yolks. Energy will not free us from our binding feeds. We don't need energy. We need anointing. And don't be deceived by going to YouTube, watching a lot of people jump and gyate on a platform and think that is anointing. That is energy. Anointing will change lives.
[Applause] Years ago, I was preaching in Bulmont, Texas. They grow a lot of rice around there. And I got this little simple illustration. Weeds and rice alike like water. Weeds like water. Rice likes water. The only demarcation and distinction is revealed in that rice is nourished underwater and weeds are drowned. So the difference in an apostolic church is not do we have water, it's how much do we have. It's not that we have anointing, it's how much do we have. It's not how much presence of God is uh the presence of God is there, but how much presence of we got to get more than enough to make us happy. We got to get something that will make us holy. Proverbs 14 and4 where no oxen are the crib is clean but much increase is by the strength of the ox. Might I paraphrase this and say, "Where there is no revival, the church is clean." But much increase is by the strength of revival. Why some people do not want revival is because they don't want their pretty church messed up. But if you have apostolic revival, you are going to have a mess.
[Applause] I want to encourage somebody here right now. If you've been wondering what's going on with all the chaos, confusion, craziness, welcome to [Applause] revival. Cuz apostolic revival creates confusion, [Applause] craziness, stupid stuff going on in the church. Church is over. Maybe you see it. Church is over. You find McDonald's rappers where they were eating French fries during church cuz they don't know how to act in church. Mamas come in, let their babies pour milk all over your new chairs, all over. Hey, do you want a clean church or do you want revival?
[Applause] I'll never forget. Everybody say, "Long time ago." Longgo, "Thank you, Jesus." Long time ago, I was preaching a youth rally above the state of North Carolina. And those kids were going crazy. They were running. They were shouting, they were rolling in the front in the floor. And while all of that was going on, there was a nice floor arrangement like this. And while they were shouting and dancing, a man from that church came. You can't make this up. He was standing there guarding his flowers. Guarding his flowers. Worried that somebody might knock them over. I am not for violence in church. I am not for purposeful destruction of property. But I gladly buy me another vase if one of our teenagers get drunk in the Holy Ghost and knock it over.
[Applause] Can I preach to you? There's a force in this world right now that's trying to take the fire out of Pentecost. Take the wind out of Pentecost. Tell you not to shout. Tell you not to dance. Tell you not to holy ro. I come against that in Jesus' name. We must do that to have revival. Don't let them talk you out of it. Don't let them settle you [Applause] down. Let me make this statement. We'll praise a little more. Preach a little more. I don't want my grandkids growing up. in a compromised church. I don't want them growing up in a worldly church. But I don't want them growing up in a dead church. I want them to know what holy rolling is. I want them to know what running the aisles is. I want them to know what dancing in the spirit is. I want them to know what drunken the Holy Ghost is. Lift your hands and shout, "I want revival.
[Applause] [Music] I'm scared of Sister Varnum. She told me to tell y'all to sit down. Do you think I'm going to stand against her? You may be seated. Just a few more minutes. Now, you're going to have to respond a little bit later on like you responded right then because we don't want this message to sh start at 11:30 sharp and end at 12:15 dull or whatever time it is. The thing that's hindered a lot of our churches is the fact they don't want it messy. They don't want it messed up. They want everybody to be cookie cutter Pentecostals. They want everybody in a white shirt and tie. They want everybody like look like Mr. Miss Pentecost. But the day your church looks like Mr. and Miss Pentecost, you are not having revival.
[Applause] [Music] [Applause] You may be seated. Jesus walked up where his disciples was, said, "Do you have any fish?" They said, "We fished all night. We've taken nothing. Cast your nets on the right side. Follow me closely." When Peter said, "Master, we've told all night we've taken nothing." But nevertheless, at thy word. Now, notice this. He said, "We will cast out a net." Jesus said, "Cast nets." Because Jesus knew how many fish were under that water. And one net would not hold the amount of fish. There would need to be [Applause] nets. In his omniscience, he knew how many fish were there. Peter said, "We fished all night. We've not taken anything." But yeah, just to make you happy. We'll cast out our net. You know what the problem was there? It's the problem we have today. Two things. Number one, you can't have revival if you're lazy. The reason they didn't want to put those nets in is because they had just washed them. And they were clean and he didn't want to dirty the nets. I'm getting ahead of myself here, but let me say go quickly move on. Jesus is not interested in sparkly crystal shiny nets. What he's interested in is fish. Fish. Fish. Quit shining your nets. Let's go fishing. Quit washing your nets. Let's go fishing. He's not coming back after beautiful buildings. He's not coming back after steeples. He's not coming back after padded pews. He's not coming back after carpet. He's coming back after souls.
[Applause] On the day of Pentecost, remain stand. I'll quickly move to conclusion. On the day of Pentecost, nature's two strongest forces were wed. Wind and fire. And if you know anything about wind and if you know anything about fire, they create a mess. Wind just creates an upheaval. Fire leaves all kind of charred looks. The situation is many want revival as long as they can control it. When my nephew was a teenager at school, he walked through a plate glass window and he cut himself up in a variety of ways. And he said the doctor was sewing this up, sewing that up, and he had a cut on his shoulder. And the doctor was getting ready to sew that up. And Dwayne looked over him and said, "That doesn't need stitches." He said, "The doctor dropped his glasses down his nose and said, "What school did you get your metal degree from? Where did you get your doctoral degree at? Don't tell me what needs to be sewed up and what don't need to be sewed up. I'm the doctor." Well, when Jesus gets to sewing, he going to sew up some stuff you think don't need to be sewed up. He's going to deal with some stuff you'd rather he leave alone. And I don't care if it is your Mr. Deep Pockets. We got to be willing to let Mr. Deep Pockets go if he thinks he's going to control these preachers. Somebody shout yes. I conclude with this. The miracle of the multiplication of the fishes and the loaves involved one, two, three, four, five M's. Five M's. You might say M&M's. There was a mountain. There was a multitude. There was a master. There was a miracle. And this is the one we don't like. There was a mess. Because there were fragments everywhere. There were crumbs everywhere. There was broken pieces all over the place. Not everything initially made it into the body. Can you understand that? Not all the miracle was consumed easily and comfortably. Some of it fell on the ground. It was broken. I might You might say it like this. It was crummy. There is a crummy side to revival. Not everybody immediately gets in the body. Some of them are broken. They're fragments. They're scattered. They're splattered. They're shattered. But Jesus said, "We're not going down off this mountain until you gather up all these scraps." You may not like the scraps, but I like the scraps. You may not like the broken fragments, but I like the broken fragments. Not everybody's going to look like Pentecostals. Not everybody's going to immediately dress like Pentecostals. Not everybody's going to immediately talk like Pentecostals. But somebody's got to gather them up.
[Applause] Revival is just flat nasty, difficult, and inconvenient. A friend of mine told me about a lady that was giving birth to a baby. Musicians, you can come. I'm ready to stop right here. Music, they as they come, let me finish this last point. A lady was giving birth to a baby and she had been having some medicinal assistance to ease the pain, but the doctor really wanted her to feel the pain so she could be a part of the labor delivery so she could join in the pushing and the activity. And all of a sudden, she started screaming in the labor of of birth and she thought, "What's going on here? Why am I Doc? Come on, do something for me." The doc looked at her and he said, "Ma'am, you've got one of two choices right here, right now. You can be comfortable or you can have a baby. You can be comfortable or you can have a baby. I want to say to this young generation of apostolics, you can be comfortable or you or you can have revival.
[Applause] Lift your hands and shout, "I want revival. I want revival. I want revival. I want revival. Lay your hands on somebody. Pray for them. God, deliver us from convenience. God, deliver us from comfort. God, help us to bear the discomfort of revival, to endure the mess so we can preach the message. You can't have both. You can't have both. You can be comfortable or you can have revival.
[Applause] [Music] Let the Lord know there's a generation of apostolic that's willing to give up their comfort to have revival. We want revival. I want revival.
[Music] [Music] Keep on praying. I wish there would be some pastors that will begin to walk through here and lay hands on some of these young men and young ladies. Ministers, you've been in the church for a while. You've been in ministry for a while. You dealt with some messes. God, put something inside this next generation. Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. Whatever it [Music] takes. That's it. That's it. Come on. And you're going to have to get your hands dirty. You're going to have to get in the mud to pull someone out. You're going to have to get in the fire to pull them out of the fire. Come on, Cade. Let the Holy Ghost get a hold of you. You're called to work for God.
[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] That's it. All the way in the back. It's time to make up in your mind. I want [Music] revival. I want to be teaching Bible studies when someone's smoking across the table. I want to teach a Bible study with needles in the other room. I want revival.
[Applause] I want people in our church that don't know when to say amen. I want people in the church that don't know when to dance and shout. I want revival.
[Music] [Music]