Can You Wear the Mantle of Revival Leadership?

WE ARE talking about something we really know and we are witnessing to something we have actually observed." These words of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 11, Phillips,* should be the testimony of every Seventh-day Adventist worker serving in the most challenging hour of this world's history. As preachers we need to talk "about something we really know"— our messages must be pertinent to the times; they must also be relevant to our own personal Christian experience. As the youth of our generation would say, "Make it concrete, make it vivid, make it personal, make it now."

Someone inquired concerning the source of power in one well-known preacher's ministry. The reply contains more than a passing thought for you and for me as we ponder our own living and our own preaching: "He lives very near to the heart of God and the throne and he receives secret messages and brings them down to us." How sad so many of us are preaching flat, insipid, powerless messages because our faith is feeble, our hearts are cold, and we are talking about something we know very little about!

You and I speak of revival and reformation. We long for this experience. We say we do. But what are we doing personally in our own lives and ministry to bring about this Pentecostal experience in our community? If revival comes to our district or to our city there must be some revival living, some revival preaching, some revival leadership on our part. We must be "talking about something we really know and . . . witnessing to something we have actually observed."

Through the history of His people the Lord has singled out men upon whom He could lay the mantle of revival leadership. These men, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrought mightily in behalf of God's needy people. It is well for us frequently to refresh our thinking regarding what the Lord has done for others in the past.

"It is no secret what God can do;

What He's done for others

He will do for you!"

With these challenging words of the song writer ringing in our ears, let us turn our attention to men of God who talked about something they really knew and who witnessed to something they had actually observed.

Revivals Begin With One Person

Nine centuries before Christ, in the days of wicked Ahab and Jezebel, apostasy rested like a dark cloud upon Israel. In such an hour God used one man to bring spiritual refreshment to the northern kingdom. Elijah's "fearless ministry was destined to check the rapid spread of apostasy in Israel" (Prophets and Kings, p. 119). "With the slaying of the prophets of Baal, the way was opened for carrying forward a mighty spiritual reformation among the ten tribes of the northern kingdom."—Ibid., p. 155.

Elijah's "fearless ministry"—the witness of one lone preacher of righteousness— brought reformation among God's people. Fellow preacher in the Advent Movement, what kind of revival and reformation will your ministry, your preaching, bring among God's needy people today? Are you entertaining, newscasting, philosophizing, or preaching? Revival demands some fearless preaching backed by consistent godly living. A few Elijahs would accomplish a mighty work in Israel today! Honestly now, just what are you preaching these days? Are you talking about something you really know, or are you merely filling an appointment?

While Elijah was preaching in the northern kingdom, God was using another man in the south. Jehoshaphat was continuing the good work of his father, Asa, in Judah. He destroyed the centers of Baal worship and a great "revival was effected" (ibid., p. 191).

"The Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim; but sought to the Lord God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honour in abundance. And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord" (2 Chron. 17:3-6).

It is electrifying to read of the tremendous influence one dedicated leader had upon God's people and how that influence rallied old and young alike in the hour of crisis. "For years he had taught the people to trust in the One who in past ages had so often interposed to save His chosen ones from utter destruction; and now, when the kingdom was in peril, Jehosha phat did not stand alone; 'all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.' Verse 13. Unitedly they fasted and prayed."—Ibid., p. 200.

Are you preparing your people to stand with you in the crisis hour ahead? Casual, careless living, tame, lifeless sermons, will never rally God's people and prepare them for the time of trouble and a coming Saviour in the near, very near future. Actually now, how do you measure up? Is there an air of expectancy and urgency about your living and in your preaching that convinces those with whom you come in contact that you really mean what you are saying? What sort of revival and reformation will your living and your preaching inspire in your church?

Years ago the messenger of the Lord counseled us: "A reformation is needed among the people, but it should first begin its purifying work with the ministers."— Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 469.

When Hezekiah came to power he lost no time in launching the revival so much needed in his day. "They began on the first day of the first month to sanctify" (2 Chron. 29:17). "And they gathered their brethren, and sanctified themselves, and came, according to the commandment of the king, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord. And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron" (chap. 29:35, 16).

Apostasy had crept in. A work of revival needed to be done. Hezekiah lost no time in undertaking the needed reforms. He reorganized the religious services. He removed the high places. He destroyed the idols. He repaired and cleansed the Temple. He collected and published the proverbs of Solomon. Hezekiah was a dynamic, godly leader. He was one who inspired confidence on the part of God's people. The Word records: "The people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah" (chap. 32:8).

Hezekiah's example compelled the people to follow him and to trust God. In that hour of national and spiritual crisis the Lord blessed his efforts to bring about reform among the ranks of God's people. This revival saved Judah at that time from capture and the people from cruel death.

Are there some high places in your church that need removing? Are there idols in your congregation that need to be destroyed? Does your school temple or your church temple need cleansing? Just what kind of a program are you carrying in your conference, in your mission, in your church, in your institution? Someday, brethren, we are going to face these questions—not across the desk of our president, but before the judgment bar of God. Our living and our preaching today should give evidence of the fact that we fully understand this and that with God's help we do not intend to come short in that day of reckoning!

"When ministers realize the necessity of thorough reformation in themselves, when they feel that they must reach a higher standard, their influence upon the churches will be uplifting and refining."— Testimonies to Ministers, p. 145.

Can our people rest themselves on our words? Does our preaching inspire confidence in God, in His Word, and in the Spirit of Prophecy? Do our words build confidence in the Advent message, in the church, in the ministry, in one another? Perhaps we need more Hezekiah-slanted preachers in our midst today!

In any event, we need to begin "on the first day of the first month to sanctify." There must be no delay in our example of living and preaching that will inspire revival and reformation among God's people. God is counting on us, the church is counting on us to give the trumpet a certain sound—a sound sustained and supported by a godly life!

As I stepped upon the veranda of a fellow missionary's home I noted a small plaque on the wall. It read: "If you can't live it, don't preach it." This is good ad vice for all of us. If we can't live revival and reformation, we should not preach revival and reformation. If there is no urgency in our lives, how can TVC hope to kindle urgency in the lives of those who sit under our ministry? How can we preach repentance, the new birth, practical godliness, the sanctified life, when our own experience gives no evidence that we are talking about something we really know?

Paul questions every preacher: "Prepared as you are to instruct others, do you ever teach yourself anything? You preach against stealing, for example, but are you sure of your own honesty? You denounce the practice of adultery, but are you sure of your own purity? You loathe idolatry, but how honest are you toward the property of heathen temples? Everyone knows how proud you are of the Law, but that means a proportionate dishonor to God when men know that you break it!" (Rom. 2:21-23, Phillips). "What makes you think that you, who so readily judge the sins of others, can consider yourself beyond the judgment of God?" (chap. 2:3, Phillips).

This is worth thinking about, friend of mine. More important, it is something you and I need to be doing something about. Are we truly prepared to wear the mantle of revival leadership? Are we talking about something we really know? about some thing that has wrought a transformation in our own lives? May God grant that by His grace we may affirm that this is indeed true!