Merle Weaver shares a powerful testimony of God's work in the lives of believers, emphasizing the importance of prayer and faithfulness in the face of challenges. He recounts the story of Elijah and the promise of rain, drawing parallels to the revival efforts among the Amish community and the growing movement of believers committed to spreading the Gospel. Weaver encourages the congregation to remain steadfast in their calling, to pray for revival, and to actively participate in God's mission to reach the lost. He highlights the need for personal revival and collective action, urging everyone to be a light in the darkness and to feed God's sheep.

I had a few words I wanted to read just for a real short meditation before I share what I would like to share. And I'm asking, brothers and sisters, that you'd pray because there's so much that has been happening here, and I hardly know where to start, where to stop, and what to share, and what would be the most edifying to the body of Christ. But I'll trust Him, and I would ask that you would just lift me up in prayer, that the Lord would direct me to share just those words that He would want. I'm reading now from 1 Kings 18. And I believe this story is probably very familiar to all of you. But starting in verse 41, Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain. And Ahab went up to eat and drink, and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he bowed down on the earth and put his face between his knees. And he said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. Then he went up and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again, seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, Behold, there is a cloud as small as a man's hand rising out of the sea. And he said, Go up, say to Ahab, harness and go down, that the pour of rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heavens became black with clouds of wind, and there was a great pour of rain. And I'll stop reading there. You know, it hadn't rained for three, over three years. And it was very dry. This prophet, this man that knew and walked with God, told Ahab by faith and by the Spirit of God that there was a sound of abundance of rain. That was something that he heard in his spirit. And ultimately, he didn't see anything with his eyes to convince him of that, but he kept praying because he knew what God had said until he saw just the first sign, and then he knew it was coming that fast that they barely had time to prepare. And brothers and sisters, that is how it has been. Just last night, I was preaching and recounting to the gathering, the group gathered there, how back in 2004 and 2005, how the Lord, by the mouth of various independent prophets that didn't know each other, confirmed the words that he was going to bring revival to our people. And that revival for a purpose, revival to send labors out into the harvest, especially to the very hard, unreached areas of the 1040 window, places like Pakistan and Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE and North Africa. And for these past, oh, about, maybe I would say eight years, there has been labor and prayer, and there have been advances by inches, so to speak, and some very sweet times of revival, and yet not the great outpouring that we believed that we would yet see. Now I can say in this past year, things have really definitely picked up in them. I am going to trust the Lord tonight to talk about some of the things that have happened and what God has been doing, and the motive here is to encourage us to pray. And whatever mission field, whatever calling, whatever intercessor work that the Lord has called you to, to be faithful and to press through until, like we read in this passage, there was a great pour of rain. Father, now, before I share, I just pray I come before you in humbleness and dependence and Lord, I just ask that you would guide me. Lord, it would have been my heart to be able to listen a number of weeks first before I shared, and I thought I might have that opportunity, but now things have changed around and Lord, I sense that you want me to share and so I want to be faithful in weakness to share what you're doing. Thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, a while ago, here in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a number of small groups, a number of believers started meeting here and there, regular gatherings, Sunday mornings and prayer meetings and so forth, gathering under no name other than the name of Jesus Christ, not content to divide it into nomination or such things, but with one passion, to know Christ and Him exalted in our midst. A passion to obey Him, even unto death. And as these brothers have come together in these various places, God has seen to take a while to prove them, to try them, to sort them, to refine them. And in December of 2010, there was finally a breakthrough of four Amish couples from the Amish background that got baptized that night. And that night, as the water was several degrees above freezing, and as those dear couples went down into, in the dark in December, down into the water to seal their faith in Jesus, the Lord began to touch something off and since then there's been many baptisms of these dear saints have believed to follow the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 28, where He told us to go and make disciples and baptize and preach and make and teach them all things, whatever I've commanded you. And they have endeavored to follow this. And now since about November of this last year, the Lord has really begun plowing more deeply. The specific group of people that I come from, the church background, I prayed for for years. And at first it was just like we read tonight, just a little size of a man's hand, a cloud the size of a man's hand. And I met this one young brother who was seeking the Lord. And it took a year and a half until last December when he finally stepped forward and was buried with Christ in baptism. And since that, that has cost him his standing in the community as far as reputation because of his willingness to follow Jesus rather than just the form. But what has happened with that young brother, God put together a trip for him and he's actually I believe right now coming back from Wisconsin as we speak. But he went all the way across the United States out to the west coast and God connected him with young hearts that were seeking. And he just shared his testimony just as a young man, he's a young married man. And I just talked to him on Thursday night. And he was I believe maybe in Wyoming. It was just recently. And he said, part of my heart is still in New Mexico where I met with this group of brothers. And there was a young man came to him and said, I hear that you've been baptized and I've been feeling convicted to be baptized. And he said to me, Merle, I don't know, but I keep having this feeling that I'm going to go to New Mexico. I'm going to be there when he's baptized. And I believe that it's very possible. And this has been happening on every hand. And this last December, I'm sorry, November, there was a beginning to pull together among the brothers from the Amish background that had been gathering. And they said, we're now ready. We're going to start meeting on Sunday mornings in our homes from house to house. And they began doing that and pulling together. And out of that, God has built such a oneness, just like we read in John 17, willing to suffer for each other, willing to die for each other, willing to lay down their lives to reach the world. Men that are on fire for Jesus, men that are in love with Jesus. And then a number of things have happened. They meet the first Saturday of every month for prayer and fasting. They usually get it from 6 until 2 or 3, sharing and praying. And God has used that time to chart vision and direction. And then in February, we all went together to a prison crusade in South Carolina. And I got to, as a young man, I had set out on this journey. I'd read Mark 16. These signs shall follow them that believe. And I believed it. But as I looked around, I didn't see anybody that was walking in that reality. I didn't see anybody that was laying down for the sake of their recovery. And certainly, I held in my heart this belief that on one hand, the supernatural manifestation, the mighty power of God, and on the other hand, the power of God's evidence can transform lives, victory over sin, over the world, over fashion, victory over tempers, victory over many things. And I believed that it was God's will to raise up a bride without spot or wrinkle. And I set out as a young man to follow this vision that surely this must be somewhere. And then when I was 19, I met God in a powerful way. I got filled with His Holy Spirit and yet still searching for a group of brothers that would pull together that would be real. It wouldn't be about going through the motions or just forming some organization, but it would be like the scriptures say, a friend that sticks closer than a brother. And now in these days, I got to see it. And then we went down to South Carolina. And as we were together there in prayer and fasting and sharing, and we shared the same motel rooms, and we would get up early in the morning to pray, and God would give us a word as we went into the prisons what we were supposed to do. And I got to see people get saved. I got to see people get delivered from demons, healings happening, words of prophecy, people that were even violently opposing and standing withstanding us, watching the mighty power of God just come into their life and invade them. And as words of prophecy were uttered into them, their defenses crumpling. And I watched even one of them that was withstanding us get gloriously touched by Jesus and changed. And I thought to myself, this is what I set out looking for, a real group of brothers that function together and where the mighty power of God, where God's pleased to trust a group of brothers with his presence. And then since that, the gatherings have just been growing in size and anointing and now Lord willing, we're planning to have a commissioning and ordination of two of the brothers that have been with us for a number of years that are faithful men and are dating them as overseers of the flock. Not men that are being appointed to a certain building or to a certain denomination, but men that like Paul instructed Titus to go from city to city and ordain overseers in each city. And these men are to watch over the unfolding work of what God's doing here. And I don't know what all is going to happen, but I know what the Lord is telling us about this summer. And I believe not many days hence. Maybe this summer, maybe within the next year, we're going to see the gates just break wide open and hundreds and maybe thousands of people coming to Jesus. And what began first as a trickle is now a stream and will soon be a river. And I am not here to say anything about the human instrumentality because it's not about any of that. God does use different brothers here and there, but it's wonderful to see about the divine instrumentality, the blowing of God's Spirit upon a people group and upon a land, upon a specific geography. And what's even more interesting to me is He has been doing this so clearly locally and all across the land wherever these people groups are scattered and many other places too, not just the Amish and Mennonites, but that's of course the circles where I get to move the most and see the most where God's preparing the harvest. He's preparing the fields. He's preparing the ground. And to see what God's doing even down into Central America, and there's a family from here that is actually just getting ready to leave to go down through Central America and into South America to connect and minister to all these little pockets where God's raising up a bride. And it may be true that we live in the last times, and it may be true that the darkness is very great, but God will not leave Himself without a witness. And the challenge that I have for each of us tonight is that we would be faithful in the work that God has called us to. Just last night it was my privilege to preach in the gathering. The Lord led me to open up John 21 and to preach there where Peter had made some failures, Peter had made some mistakes, even denied Christ, and then he turned back to what he thought was safe and familiar. But Jesus had a challenge for Peter. He said, feed my sheep. And tonight, brothers and sisters, it is not right that we talk about how dark the land is, nor yet how apostate or lukewarm or cold the church is. Too much. We must instead ask God for a candle, and ask God for a light, and ask God for a sharp sword. And yes, it is right that we first have personal revival ourselves. That is the first qualification, the first need. But it is not enough to just have that. We must start there. We must have that. But then God has a desire that we would go and light fires. That where once there was one, now there is two. And where there is two, now four. Then six and eight and 20 and 100 and many beyond. And that is God's will for us. It is not God's will for us to pull back in a turtle shell. And there may be a time, for maybe three and a half years, when we need to go hide ourselves by Book of Cherub. And there may be a time when we need to just be with one little household where God has called us, or whatever the case may be. We need to hear His voice. He is the Lord of the harvest and what He is ordering for us. But there is a time when it is time to go up on Mount Caramel and to stand and face off the work of darkness, and to light up a fire, and to light a revival. And this is God's will, not just for a certain person with a preaching gift. This is God's will for every man, woman, and child that is His. That we would be faithful, that we would take Jesus' command, feed my land, feed my sheep. You know, that same Peter, not many days after that, had the privilege, anointed by the Holy Ghost, to preach the Word and watch thousands get converted. And God can do that again, but we must first say, yes, Lord, we must first demonstrate our love to Him, and our willingness and our openness. And then when He sees that we are willing and that we will obey, then He is willing to entrust us with His power. And when He does, would to God that we would do like Samson of old, and we would take them foxes and bind their tails together, and light them on fire and set them through the wheat fields. Oh, Lord, tonight, I don't know who is all hearing under the sound of my voice, but I know the message You placed on my heart, on our hearts, that we would be faithful in this day, that we would not misrepresent You, that we would not be judgmental or critical of others, even though the sin of this church is great, and Your judgment has even begun at the house of God. Yet still, Father, it is not enough to talk about the problem, but we must be the solution to the problem. My almighty God in heaven, would You help us tonight to be the solution to the problem. And Father, not just to pray for this church nor for this land, but to pray for us that we would have very sharp swords, and that we would be unified together, Father, and that we would be faithful where You have planted us and called us, that we would light up the darkness with Your wonderful light. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Almighty God, would You enable each one of us. Thank You for what You've been doing in this corner of the vineyard, Lord. Thank You for the little trickle that has become a stream, and how it is rising and beginning to go much further. And out of this, Lord, now there are young men signing up for missionary camps, ready to go to the ends of the earth, Father. But Lord, there is much yet a great need. And Father, whoever might be on this call tonight, Father, would You come to our hearts, and could we hear Your words again tonight, just like You told Peter many thousand years ago? Feed my sheep. Make a difference. Enable the body to be who it's supposed to be. Warn the sinner. Rebuke the wayward elder or pastor, if need be. But in any case, light a fire, a fire of love, a fire of fervency, a fire of making a difference. Help us tonight to be those who disciple believers, those who see them get baptized, Lord, those who plant churches. Oh, Father, it is not time for the religious specialist. Lord, that is the mark of Babylon. But it is the time for an army of men and women dedicated to our Lord Jesus who will go into all the earth and preach the gospel like those humble early fishermen did many years ago. Father, we are no less nor no greater, but what they have done, we can do. If only we will have the faith and walk with You, Lord. Help us tonight. Teach us to pray. Give us, Lord, that groaning that can't be honored. May Your Spirit make intercession for us. We ask in Jesus' name.