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Vision for the Unsaved World - Part 2
Leonard Ravenhill

Leonard Ravenhill (1907 - 1994). British-American evangelist, author, and revivalist born in Leeds, England. Converted at 14 in a Methodist revival, he trained at Cliff College, a Methodist Bible school, and was mentored by Samuel Chadwick. Ordained in the 1930s, he preached across England with the Faith Mission and held tent crusades, influenced by the Welsh Revival’s fervor. In 1950, he moved to the United States, later settling in Texas, where he ministered independently, focusing on prayer and repentance. Ravenhill authored books like Why Revival Tarries (1959) and Sodom Had No Bible, urging the church toward holiness. He spoke at major conferences, including with Youth for Christ, and mentored figures like David Wilkerson and Keith Green. Married to Martha Beaton in 1939, they had three sons, all in ministry. Known for his fiery sermons and late-night prayer meetings, he corresponded with A.W. Tozer and admired Charles Spurgeon. His writings and recordings, widely available online, emphasize spiritual awakening over institutional religion. Ravenhill’s call for revival continues to inspire evangelical movements globally.
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Sermon Summary
In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the critical state of the world and the urgency of reaching out to the lost. He highlights the lack of focus on winning souls in the New Testament and emphasizes the importance of character transformation through God's intervention. The preacher shares his personal struggle with the burden of a lost world and the limitations he faces in his ministry. He concludes by calling for a renewed vision and passion for God and a willingness to admit spiritual bankruptcy and seek God's presence.
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When Paul the Apostle met Jesus, he met him on the Damascus road, brighter than the noonday sun. Doesn't it say in the book of Revelation, there's no need of sun, he is the light? Doesn't it say if you're really born again and Christ indwells you, that you walk in the light and not walk in the darkness? I need a vision of God's holiness, a vision of his majesty. Again I see Dr. Chaucer lying on his belly as he said, I lay there three hours, four hours, five hours, six hours, without even saying a word of prayer? Without saying a word of praise? I just turn over in my mind those statements by F.W. Faber. Oh Jesus, Jesus, dearest Lord, forgive me if I say for very love thy sacred name a thousand times a day. Burn, burn within me, love of God. Human's ear will go out. Holy fire never goes out. Dear God, I remember when I trusted God to sanctify me as we said, and I was only a youth leader, and God did something in my life that sent me in the forest to pray. But listen, I'll tell you what, as God's my witness, I'll use a rough word here, I have a fire in my belly this morning that burns more fiercely than it did seventy years ago. The situation in the world is more critical. Hell is filling. There are five billion people in the world and more than four billion are lost. How can you sleep in your bed? I nearly said you stinking preachers. Have you lost sight of eternity? There's very little said in the New Testament about winning souls. It's all about character. And I need God to come and change my character. Okay, let me quickly try and wind this up. There's more lost people in the world at this moment than ever in history. And as I said to pastor coming down this morning, remember this, no man ever did God a favor. The biggest favor you can get is for God to call you from your profession as a doctor, or something else, and lay your life out for Christ somewhere where nobody will ever know. Never write your story. Wait until God publishes it in eternity. A fallen world like this says, Binny, a fallen world like this. Maybe I said this earlier this week, the biggest lie the devil's put over to our generation is that we left Jesus at the crossroads two thousand years behind, friendlies at the road waiting for everybody. Whether you go down the broad road that leads to destruction, or the narrow way to life eternal. And the word says, the Christian is a narrow way, and few there be that find it, and I add on to that, and few there are that want to find it. You've got a nice little house now, you don't drink, you don't smoke, you've got nice little people, you sit down and read a bit, so what? And you go to bed and hell lapses. Oh, my husband plays golf on Monday with other pastors, of course. You know, some of the things we do, we look so incongruous and ridiculous at the throne of God. We'll be so embarrassed, and there's no chance to come back. What darling, what is it? Tell me anything. Thank you. Yes, you're right. I never argue with my wife, particularly in church. She's a wonderful woman. I went to a place a while ago, and boy, they gave my wife the greatest eulogy, and she doesn't like that. Oh, boys, oh boys. She was everything rolled in one. Boy, I was thrilled. I was shaking to my toes, because you know, wherever there's a great woman, there's a great man behind her. But let me say this quickly. The greatest move of the Spirit right now, that I know of, is in South America. I thought I had a copy of something here. No, it's in here. Anyhow, there's a college up in the North, what do you call it now? Northwest of America called, what was it? Multnomah? Multnomah. And Dr. Aldrich, who is there, he's one of the professors there, and they're far, far removed from what we would call Pentecostalism. But he's been down to South America, and he says, What could we do here? You've got young men there who've never been to Bible school. They've been saved three or four years. They're pastoring churches of four, five, six, and seven thousand every week. You go to a meeting like this, you come every night till Friday night. Friday night with sometimes three or four thousand teenagers there. Friday night service, people go home if they want. The young people stay, they pray all through Friday night, all through Saturday, all through Saturday night into Sunday, and then the glory of the Lord fills the temple. Sure it does. Our kids are playing baseball, church as a program. Forget it. If you go to a church with a sports program, forget it. Shows the bankruptcy of preaching. I went to a church, there was nothing but prayer and supplication and intercession, and brother, I tell you, I was there every time. I prayed with some of the greatest men in the world. Nobody knew their names. I'm trying to write my autobiography. I'm going to put a section about these men. I used to pray between the two of them because they burned with holy fire. We came in from street meetings, starved to death. All we had was a cup of tea and a slice of bread for weeks and weeks and weeks. It was a period of despair financially in England. But we'd start praying at midnight, and we'd pray till two or three in the morning, and I'd see those guys with steam rising off them in a room that had no heat. One of them by the name of Harry Toft. His father was one of the greatest footballers, Welsh international footballer. I'll tell you how Harry got saved. Dear old Mr. Toft, when he got to, I think about 50, he developed a little red thing here like a grape. Then he had two, then he had three, then he had a bunch hanging from his mouth. And he went to great doctors, like I worked at the City Hospital. There was a doctor there called Dr. Maxwell Telling. So they got this famous international footballer to go see Maxwell Telling. And Maxwell Telling said, there's no hope for you. That's a bunch of cancers, and we don't know an answer. There isn't an answer for it. George Jeffries came to town. There was a healing line. And Mike, this is encouraging to me. This man went up in the healing line every night of the crusade, and nothing happened. People said, brother, don't do it. It's a mockery. A year after, when they'd established a church, and they had some spirit-filled deacons there, one of them one night said, you know, I've had dear brother Toft on my mind all day long. I think we should go pray for him tonight, anoint him with oil. This fellow said, listen, you're getting proud. You think anything's going to happen when we go? I mean, after all, George Jeffries prayed over him, nothing happened. So-and-so prayed. In fact, Wigglesworth was around, nothing happened. So these men went, and they took some oil, went upstairs, and they said, now, brother Harry, the Lord has quickened our brother here, and we've come with him, called for the elders of the church, we're going to anoint you with oil. So they anointed him with oil. They went downstairs. Harry Toft's wife came up, and she said, darling, look, here, here, drink your water and take your pill. He said, no. Why? Well, I've just been anointed. You've been anointed many times. Come on, you'll jump up on your bed at one o'clock in the morning, you'll be screaming, screaming, screaming, you're in pain, I'm in hell. Forget it, please take the pill. He didn't. He went to sleep. Harry Toft Jr. came home at night, his brothers in the house magnifying the Lord. What happened? Harry, I can't tell you what happened. Run up and see your daddy. He goes in daddy's, daddy's sitting in bed, smiling, no grapes hanging there. He said, I was just a self-righteous Baptist. I knelt at the side of the bed and said, Lord Jesus, you are alive. You've delivered my daddy from death, certain death. You've delivered him from pain. I've got a new daddy. And there he resolved to become a preacher. He never went to Bible school. He came home from the, what do you call it, the ironworks at night. And his mother said he'd get his Bible and the concordance, go upstairs at six o'clock and stay till midnight. And he did that for about four years. Never went to play games. Some nights wouldn't go to meetings. But I'm saying the glory of God came. And because of that, that young man became the intercessor. And I had the joy of spending hours and hours and hours with him. Okay. Recently a man came to my office. He brought a big fine guy with him. And I said, where are you from? He said Zimbabwe, in Africa. I said, oh, and I've worked in so-and-so. And I said, well, brother, I said, I'm saying this with sorrow. Christianity has never been able to pull down the stronghold of Mohammedanism. There's never been a revival in a Mohammedan country. What's the good of saying we had 3,000 people here and 3,000 a crusade? Billy Graham had 20,000. So what? Let the guys go where hell is loose. Let them go like this doctor said. When you went to South America and I saw young men casting out demons and pulling down strongholds, I said, can I go to a seminary in America where our young students can do this when they graduate? No. We're playing games. We're tossing little theological terms up. And the devil laughs at the whole thing. And I'm embarrassed to devil. I'm embarrassed to death at the power of the devil and the weakness of the church. There's still a thousand languages. There's more than a thousand languages. It doesn't have a verse of scripture. You've got people. I don't spend one day without going to Russia in my prayers, in my vision. I go around to those stinking cells. You see, if God is with you, does it matter where you are? Paul says there were saints in Caesar's household and that was next door to hell. One of the greatest secular prophets in the world today, I think, is Solzhenitsyn. How did he come to Christ? He was in a cell. There's urine running past him, stinking human corruption there. But across the cell, there's a man on a bit of a bench. And each night, he reaches into his rags and he uncurls some things wrapped up. And he reads them and smiles and lays back and puts them back again. And Solzhenitsyn watches this for a while and he says, hey, I say, what do you do that for? I notice when they give jobs, they give you the hardest job. You get beaten more, you get less food, you get more suffering than any of us put together. What have you got in your account? He said, these are little scriptures I wrote and I put in here before I came into prison. And Solzhenitsyn said, I didn't need a preacher. I didn't need a crucifix. I saw a man, God indwelling him and he's going through the lousiest rottenness. And he said, I was lying on a stinky bed of rotten straw when Jesus came to me through a man that was suffering. Oh, we must be dressed nice to preach. I'm glad these guys aren't in bondage, even the clothes around here. We've got our starch in the wrong place. We need some Puritan starch in our living. Okay, let me wind this up. Look, we've all, we've all slaves in America now than any period in history. We've slaves to lust. We've slaves to liquor. We've got this damnable thing called AIDS. Wilkerson himself referred to the moment, I was in Australia when it happened, when Mr., what was the president now, Nixon, pointed up. He says, America, we have landed a man on the moon. The eagle has landed. So what? Do you know that every nation that lived that had the eagle as its emblem perished? The Roman Empire had the eagle. The Russians had the eagle. When I was a boy, Germany had the eagle. We used to see newspaper, you'd see the Kaiser with a big golden eagle on the top of his hat. America's in jeopardy, not because she has an eagle, but because she refuses to walk in the light. Now the theologians are saying the Ten Commandments don't apply to us who are Christians. So soon you'll have a little brochure given you at the church. When you go in, the choir will sing, and you look at the bottom, and it says, on our coins, it says, in God we trust. In the church, in God we lust. If you say the Ten Commandments are today, why do you argue about the divorce rate and all the rotten stuff? That's why I say we need prophets. We need amazing men. I need a vision of a lost world. I told you, I'm a candidate for what Jeremiah had in his lamentations. Tear my liver, tear my heart, move my bowels. Do you think it worries me if people think I'm eccentric or an idiot? Do you think I'll be embarrassed at the judgment seat of Christ? You won't have been in heaven five minutes, but what you'll wish, I'd live more closely to God, I'd sacrifice more, I'd pray more, I'd preach more, I'd live like a model husband, a model child. I've got three wonderful genius sons. Partly because that little woman, when I was away, she'd read mystery stories to them every night. And teach them the things of God. Dear God, I crossed the Atlantic sixteen times in eight years, or more than that. I had to go home now and again, but I didn't get enough money to pay the fare across the Atlantic and back. I certainly didn't get rich. My little wife never said a word. Stayed with those three boys. Do you know, in all our years, we never had a babysitter in the house? Until I was in hospital, and Martha had to stay and help nurse me in hospital. Listen, those children of yours, take care of them. You know, when the kids misbehave, people don't complain about their grandfather and grandmother. Take that child and love it. If you're pregnant, sing to the baby. If you get a baby, feed it. Bless you, poor little thing. It hardly comes in the world, and they stuff it with animal milk. No wonder they become little beasts. That's your fault. Did you say I have to stop now? I will in a few minutes. Yeah, a man I went to see, they asked me to go see this man in, what was his name, sweetie? Faith Holmes. Brother Andrews. Brother Andrews wants to see you. So I went upstairs. Here's a man sitting behind a table. He had a nice little white beard. He had cheeks any girl would envy. Rosy cheeks, deep blue eyes. And he said, Mr. Rayner, I'm very honored that you've come and seen me. I've read your books. I said, sir, the boot's on the other foot. So my mother always taught me, if ever you go into the presence of royalty, you never turn your back. So when I went out, I went backwards like this, you know. And I said, I'm so gratified to have seen you. It's a wonderful thing. Do you know that man living in America died a few years ago? A wonderful preacher. You can talk about brainards, and I enjoy that. As I told you, there's three new big volumes out on praying praise in Portland that are fabulous. But this man's my hero. Do you know, here in busy America, that man never went out of that bedroom in 30 years. He prayed alone every night from 10 o'clock until 5 in the morning. Miracles have happened in other countries. What happened? They delivered the baby. He conceived it. He knew God's mind. He prayed God's mind. He had God's energy, God's power, God's authority. When they carried him out in his little casket in a very little house, it was the first time he'd been out of the house in 12 years. He'd been once before for something, but apart from that, and I'm saying he was there for 30 years. He had a tremendous authority with God. What else was there to say, Martha? Huh? I said, what else did it say? She said, just finish. I tell you, between the Lord and Martha, I don't get much room. Let me try this one quick again. There are two things essential if you're going to be successful, not in the eyes of man, but God. Two things, vision and passion. This little semi-crippled woman lifted out of bed every day. Give me a love that leads the way, a faith which nothing can dismay, a hope, no disappointment, a passion that will burn like fire. Let me not sink to be a cloud. Make me thy fuel frame of God. It's one thing for me to see a holy God. It's another thing for me to see a lost world. So what happened? He sees the Lord high and lifted up. What did the cherubim do? They had six wings. What did they do with two of them? Just like when the sun is too bright, and I've got that terrible lamp there, you put your shades on and you look at the sun through the shade. They had no shade, so they filter the majesty of Jesus Christ through their wings. They can't look on him, and they cover themselves with their wings because they can't let him look on them. And when the light suddenly flashes and he sees his corruption, and remember, Isaiah is the man that wrote Isaiah 53, obviously. He saw the Lord high and lifted up, and he saw Jesus crucified. Then there's a people saying this one in 64th of Isaiah, it says, Oh, that thou would spread the heavens. I can't do it. Armies can't do it. Our country's in the best state it's ever been in. And now our leader has gone, Uzziah has gone. Oh, come. Is your church saying that? Is your denomination saying we need God? No, they say give us more money. What, to spread the weakness you've already spread? I want to go on more stations. He's said nothing for 25 years. Give him 25 million dollars. Will he be anointed because he got it? Will he be more passionate? Sure, I'd like somebody to give me half a million. I wouldn't spend a penny on myself. I would reprint lots of the old classics that can't be printed and give them free. I'd do that. Last year we gave away $2,000 of the books. I don't make big money. One man came to see me. He said, did you write Wari Badal Tarij? I said, I wonder you weren't shot. He said, but how do you live? I said, well, I have social security and everything. He said, listen, I've just struck two new wells in Louisiana. And they're gushers. Exxon is going to take them over. And he said, I was so moved reading Wari Badal Tarij. I called my lawyer this morning and said, give those two new wells to Leonard Rainier. He said, how do your sons live? I said, they live like me, whatever the Lord sends. He said, listen, neither you nor your sons will ever want the money. You'll have more than you can use. I said, well, that's wonderful. And he said, look for the papers. They'll be coming. The lawyer's working. Six months after, remember he called me. He promised me two wells. He called. He said, Mr. Rainier, I'm bankrupt. I said, well, well. Both my wells went down the drain. And the lady knows I like a good, strong, nice car. So she promised me, she's a multimillionaire. I'll buy you a brand new Rolls Royce for your 90th birthday. She's playing it safe. But the trouble is, she went bankrupt. So if you tell me this morning how much you're giving me, excuse me if I don't believe you. Okay. Honestly, it's a crushing, it's almost a terrible thing to have a vision of a lost world. To keep turning over in my mind that four billion people every day I live are perishing without God and without hope. And what the church has now never reached them. That's awesome. A vision of a holy God. He said two of the most awesome things I think that can be said. Here is this awesome man, a friend of Zachariah, a man who'd been in the holy presence of God and he'd said some of the most amazing human lips ever uttered. But then he cries before God when he sees the awesome holiness of God. He says, Royce me. He doesn't say I'm behind in my tithing. He doesn't say I'm behind in my reading. He doesn't say I'm behind in my praying. He says, Royce me. I'm undone. I'm unclean. You won't get anywhere until you admit that. Undone and unclean. It hits the bottom. But that's the language of revival. Let me wind this up. I suppose if I asked you personally one to one, do you think you're part of the bride? You'd say yes. In the war days in England when we were there I was there World War I, World War II too. But a young man had become friendly with a girl and he said, listen I won't be called of the one. I won't get drafted. I'm in a very special section and because of my work at the university I'm safe. If the war lasts another ten years it won't make any difference. And she got so very fond of this guy and they decided they would get married. So one night he came and he looked rather distressed and she said, what's wrong with you John? He said, today I got my papers my draft papers and I have only two days and I'm going and I don't know where. They put us on a boat the captain has sealed orders we land in another country I don't know how long I'll be away I don't know if I'll ever come back but he said, I'll tell you what I'd like he said, I think tomorrow, the one day we're at home I think I'd like to go and get all your bridal outfits for you. So that's what they did, they got all the stuff. He went away, she got a letter from a foreign country it wasn't marked with any stamp it had a government stamp and he said, well darling here we are everything's strange the atmosphere's strange, the economy's strange the lifestyle is strange, the food is strange everything is wrong as it can be but he said, I love you and for more than three years he kept writing letters, she kept taking them and you know, tie them up with a bit of ribbon, put them away he got odd letters but one thing he cherished he carried there in his breast pocket a picture of his girlfriend he'd take it night by night, look at it give it a kiss, put it back, go to sleep she had a great big picture of him about this size on the dressing table and he was standing up like this so she could see it all the time well anyhow, for three years there was no news of this fellow he was presumed dead one night she came home from work, extra tired said to her mother, I can't go to church tonight, it's Wednesday night, but I can't go I'll go up upstairs and rest, so she went upstairs she said, don't trouble me, don't let anybody else trouble me, she hadn't been gone up long before there was a knock at the door and the mother went and there was a soldier so she brought him in and he came in and he said, where's Peggy she isn't dead is she no, no she didn't get married did she, no oh no, she's a very honest lady boy, she talks about you every day she comes down here, reads your love letters she goes up there and cuddles your picture she's crazy about you well, where is she, she's upset but wait a minute, wait a minute, let me go upstairs so the mother went upstairs, in those old English houses you know, you have keyholes in the bedroom door look through them, you can almost walk through the things of that big so the mother couldn't hear anything, so she got down and looked through, as a mother would of course and boy, what she saw was astounding so she tiptoed downstairs, she says what was his name, I forgot his name John, John, go upstairs the door on the left at the top open it very quietly because it's an old door and it growls a bit but I want you to see her as she is so he went up and she'd had a terrible day and she had the love letter on her lap she had her arm round the picture and when he opened the door he looked and he saw her mirrored he looked through the mirror and the first thing he saw was her face and his at the side of it, through the mirror tears came down his face she looked round and saw him and she said, John it's you, how nice forget it she ran across the room, she was airborne she jumped up and put her arms round his neck love you, I love you, I love you she said, I've read your love letters every day you've been away I've looked at your picture and he said, darling, I've done the same your last letter I had you said in it, it doesn't matter how long it takes when you come home, I'll be ready he said, I didn't think you'd be so ready she was rigged out in all her I was going to say uniform, bridal outfit white array, white shoes everything, with her arm round the picture of the one she loved Jesus didn't take that much notice of you saying, my dears, I love thee not if you're not keeping his commandments he said, if you love me, you keep my commandments you'll put out your love the last single thing David kept emphasising this week the church in the scripture, it's always likened to a woman, let's say here's a woman she says, I'm the most beautiful woman in the world so she sits down and starts painting I used to do some painting you sit between mirrors, get a reflection you paint what you see, so she paints a picture of a woman with gorgeous wavy hair the bluest eyes you ever saw like the scripture says as blue as the pools of Heshbon her teeth look like sheep that have come up from the washing like a pillar of marble I know I'm not describing any of you ladies, but anyhow it's the most gorgeous picture of a woman you could ever imagine and she goes away and then she goes back and she takes a pen and she writes underneath what she put underneath I am rich and increased in goods, I have need of nothing and she goes out and says, hey just a minute just before you go, I want to show you another picture I don't care what you think about me neither do I but as you were painting that picture of yourself and you put underneath, I'm rich, increased in goods I have need of nothing look, here's a picture, now steady yourself that picture you have gorgeous wavy hair here your head is bald there your eyes are blue as pools there your eyes are bloodshot there your teeth are faultless, here your teeth are rotten there your cheeks are round and rosy here your cheeks are shrunken and you put underneath, I have need of nothing and God says of you thou art naked, wretched, blind and poor and miserable and you don't even know it think it for a second supposing she sits there and I have a camera and I take a picture of her in a gorgeous what do you call it now, brussels lace and all the gorgeous things that brides wear and people say, this is the most gorgeous picture but wait a minute, there's somebody here called God and he has a picture and his penetration goes right through your the clothing you're wearing to your heart and he sees in the corner of your heart a cancer called pride he sees another pocket in you called envy he sees another point in you called laziness there's another little cell there called selfishness and instead of being the nice preacher and deacon you are you're a disgrace and a disaster to God what did you leave us there no look, there's an altar there instead of a flat top it has bars of iron there's a beast on there, it's bloody and blood is dropping from the beast onto the live coal underneath and an angel comes, a seraphim comes with a pair of tongs and he lifts the live coal from off the altar what does this man say? woe is me, I'm undone, a man of unclean lips some of you guys have unclean eyes you watch that much lousy stuff on TV unclean lips you gossip and criticize you've been afraid to preach the truth because of what people do dear God help us he takes the live coal and touches his lips I'm undone, I'm unclean and immediately touched to me says this thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin not governed purged does the Bible say without miracles no man shall see the Lord or without tongues or without ministry no, without holiness turn the word around, without purity if you're not pure in heart you may show off in church you've got bitterness against something you can't be a Christian and have bitterness you can be a backslider and have bitterness you can't be a Christian and have a grudge you can be a backslider and have a grudge and what God is looking for right now is a pure vessel, he's looking for pure people get rid of your pride get rid of your self esteem get rid of your qualities and ability as a preacher say God I'm undone my church is undone my prayer meeting's undone oh that God would come and invade somebody's life this morning what's a defiling thing in your life pride? laziness? what is it? you know what it is anger? jealousy? you know what it is I'm not going to sing I could get you to move you emotionally, I wouldn't do that I'm going to do what I've done before challenge you right down to your toes after all there's going to be no shutting your eyes when you walk to the judgment seat you're not going to be a big shot you're not going to be a man with money, a man with fame you'll be stark naked can you imagine going to the judgment can I give you a second again look Jesus is coming, ok he's coming for what? a what? a bride the princes in England don't want to get married in Westminster Abbey so here there are 3,000 of the greatest people in the world going to the wedding of a prince the fellow in the choir says when do I know when to start playing here comes the bride well there are 6 soldiers at the door and there's a fanfare of trumpets and when you hear the trumpets start playing here comes the bride so the guy up there hears the trumpet he starts piping here comes the bride and that multi-million dollar organ and as he does that a woman comes through the door stark naked, stinking, she hasn't been bathed she's impure and blind and she crashes into a pew and she becomes bloody and she comes screaming down the aisle the soldiers get all of her, what are you doing here she says I'm the bride, I'm the bride you idiot you stinking woman get out of here are you going to tell me that Jesus Christ who went through the hell of Gethsemane and down into the depths and ascended into the right hand of the Father is coming back for a bride like we have in our churches today forget it could you at this moment say Lord I don't care if you come in 5 minutes, as far as I know my heart is pure, I've no bitterness I've no enmity, I'm tight up with God in my prayer life, I'm sacrificial I love to glorify the Lord He's not going to give you a day's notice either you're part of the bride or you're not, when you go home I won't do it, I won't attempt to do it read Isaiah, he has at least 20 woes, woe unto you that sit up late, that's you TV folks woe unto you that go from house to house that's the folk that gossip, but then he turns his eyes that have been turned upward, turned outward he turns them inward, it's not my brother nor my sister, it's me or God it's not your pastor that has no passion you have no passion, it's not your deacons have no vision, you have no vision if you get vision and passion you'd be afraid to come to the prayer meetings that be so alive with God and tears and brokenness, sure I'm not going to try and move you emotionally make up your mind, I can't live like this anymore, I've been secretly hiding uncleanness, God wipe it out, kill the thing touch me with the Holy Ghost and with fire, fire burns fire destroys, fire purifies I'm not asking you to come and kneel at the front for a minute, I'm going to ask you to stay here till the Spirit bears witness that you've been honest before Him and He's cleaned you up and cleaned you out and anointed you with the Spirit you're ready to go out to a lost world He's not asking you to live for Him, He's asking you to die for Him, die to your plans, die to your skills die to your desires well well you've heard a crazy Englishman I'm saying right now, I'm not going to sing you say Mr. Radner the fire has gone out, the anointing has gone, it has to come back I can't hang on to my diploma I can't hang on to my degrees I can't go on to my anointing what do you call it preachers get you can't do it there's a perishing world out there it could be transformed transformed if we meet God today I believe history has been made this week I believe history could be made this morning so I say, I'm going to ask the men first I'm not going to sing, you say Brother Radner I'm just on the edge of spiritual bankruptcy, on the edge of spiritual blindness I don't care who sees me I must meet God well get up and come and walk here, I'm not going to sing I'm not going to beg either come on you men anybody knows you're bankrupt come and admit it before God well call on him if you want to shout, it's ok and if you don't, just say Lord give me some groanings about this I need a broken heart, I need a broken will, I need to get right into the very center of God's will Mike Father we ask you God by your spirit to release what our hearts are crying out for God, which is a cleansing and a purging that Isaiah experienced, God that when we say Lord here I am send me, we could mean it we could have a full heart in saying it God we wouldn't have a bunch of baggage to carry with us to go God we ask you to visit us God by your spirit God release that which our hearts cry out for today God
Vision for the Unsaved World - Part 2
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Leonard Ravenhill (1907 - 1994). British-American evangelist, author, and revivalist born in Leeds, England. Converted at 14 in a Methodist revival, he trained at Cliff College, a Methodist Bible school, and was mentored by Samuel Chadwick. Ordained in the 1930s, he preached across England with the Faith Mission and held tent crusades, influenced by the Welsh Revival’s fervor. In 1950, he moved to the United States, later settling in Texas, where he ministered independently, focusing on prayer and repentance. Ravenhill authored books like Why Revival Tarries (1959) and Sodom Had No Bible, urging the church toward holiness. He spoke at major conferences, including with Youth for Christ, and mentored figures like David Wilkerson and Keith Green. Married to Martha Beaton in 1939, they had three sons, all in ministry. Known for his fiery sermons and late-night prayer meetings, he corresponded with A.W. Tozer and admired Charles Spurgeon. His writings and recordings, widely available online, emphasize spiritual awakening over institutional religion. Ravenhill’s call for revival continues to inspire evangelical movements globally.