In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of being vigilant and not allowing our hearts to be consumed by worldly distractions such as excessive eating, drinking, and the cares of this life. Jesus warns that the day of judgment will come unexpectedly, like a snare, and urges us to watch and pray always. The speaker shares his own experience of witnessing genuine revival where people were deeply moved and transformed by their encounter with God. He also highlights the need for personal reflection and surrender to God's will, rather than just seeking emotional experiences or intellectual discourse. The sermon references the story of Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration as an example of the seriousness of the subject being discussed.

Greetings to each one this morning in the name of the Lord Jesus. It's a pleasure to be here again this morning. Not sure if this is going to work. I was doing fine yesterday, got up this morning, still doing fine, and thought I'd be able to make this through to preach this morning, but when I got here and started visiting, I started losing my voice. So we're trying to doctor things up here a little bit, so that we can maybe at least try and function here. I had a blessed time this past week being sick. I got sick on Sunday night, about two o'clock in the morning, after the Coopers came by and inspired us with some singing. On Sunday evening, and went to bed, and sure enough, got awake at two o'clock in the morning, and thought, I guess now it's my turn. So I've been battling that all week, and fortunately didn't have what some people had with the upset stomachs and vomiting and so on. We are very grateful for that, but we did have our turn, and now my wife has it this morning, and had to stay home. But for me, it was a revival of sorts, and I always appreciate when you have lots of time, even though you get a bit bored sitting around the house, laying around the house, but the time to meditate and think and read and listen to messages was precious, and I am thankful even for sickness like this, especially when it's not that bad that you can't think anything about or meditate or read. Even though I had some trouble with watering eyes and couldn't read a lot, I had the blessed privilege to hear well, and so I used that instead. So, but my meditations this past week, first of all, I wanted to thank you so much for what we have already received, and welcome all the visitors that are here. It's such a blessing to see so many of you on the men's side that are here, and then we do welcome you here this morning. But I have been meditating on the subject of revival. Brother Nathan and I had a discussion a few weeks ago, just a short one, on the subject of revival, and it is a very interesting subject to me. I know that today I will probably only be able to give the introduction and a little bit more of some of my studies and where they have taken me, but I am very open in my heart this morning, and I would like to invite all of you, especially my dear brethren, to help us to meditate and consider our proper attitude concerning revival. What is revival? What type of revival are we talking about? What effect would it have upon us if we had the revival that we are thinking in our minds and hearts that we should have? I have a number of different things to present here this morning, just to open the subject up widely, and then in one of the next messages, I do not think we will get it done this morning, I would like for you to help me to make a list of some of the things that have hindered revival and are hindering revival today. I am a bit of a pessimist concerning revival. I see things in pretty bad shape, and as well as I understand prophecy, I do not expect a major revival at this time, although let me hasten on to say that I do expect one. As I study Revelation, and I will share more of that with you, but we do have in chapter 7, 144,000 out of the 12 tribes of Israel that will become believers, and I believe will be a great revival in Israel that will fulfill Romans chapter 11, when Israel will be grafted back in again into the olive tree, of which it was cut off because of unbelief, and the Gentile grafted in, but the Gentile time will be fulfilled and will be cut off, and Israel, the natural olive branch, will be grafted back in again, and so all Israel shall be saved. But the details of it is that many shall be purged out, more than half of them will die in their unbelief and atheism that they have today, which many people like to remind us of how atheistic they are, and I agree with that, but I do believe that God will plead with them and bring them through the fire and graft them back in again to the natural olive branch and become a saved people. We also have a huge number in the book of Revelation, chapter 11, that these are they which come out of great tribulation, and they are without number, so personally I believe, as I taught a few weeks ago in the tribulation period, a seven year, 70th week of Daniel, that there will be great tribulations, Matthew 24 says, and that in that time many, many people will come back to the Lord. It is a wonderful speculation and conversation piece for me to begin to think of who those people might be that will come to the Lord in that time. I don't think there's any way of knowing, and I don't like to speculate too far on it, but it's an interesting conversation, and as long as we understand each other when we think and talk about these things. Also, we have the evidence in Revelation that an angel will fly through the midst of heaven and preach the everlasting gospel. One of the most exciting things about this one is the fact that that angel will know all languages, as I would see it, or will speak it, the word of God, repentance, Christ crucified and risen again to the darkest heathen people in South America, in the jungles of the Amazon, in Africa, unreached people, and they will hear the word of the Lord, I believe, and have an opportunity to turn their heart to the Lord, and so I also believe that that will produce a great revival when that happens. But, and I will explain to you perhaps why I do not see it in our generation. Something is happening in this generation. I do not, like I say, I may seem a bit pessimistic, but something is happening in this generation that is so catastrophic concerning revival. This is my own, this is my own interpretation and understanding, and I believe the Bible clearly brings out that we are in a time, rather, of falling away. And you meet a lot of brethren, you meet a lot of preachers, you hear a lot of preachers say, well, if only we would just pray for revival. If we just gather together and pray for revival. They refer quickly to the Welsh Revival, or to the Great Awakening, and remind us of prayer meetings that took place, or a couple old ladies that prayed for months and years for revival, and finally there was a sweeping effect that broke out in the given area, like Wales and multitudes of people became sensitive to the Spirit of God and to their spiritual need, and began to hunger and thirst after God. However, I do have to say that one of the things that feed my skepticism in some of the revivals that are often spoke about, and even some that I have observed with my own eyes and ears, so to speak, is how quickly they are gone, how quickly they fade. Even Charles Finney, who had one of the worst experiences in that, I would say, in New York, confessed himself that he felt that there was something wrong, and it is often referred to as the Burned Over District, simply because there was such a sweeping revival, and in a matter of a couple years, you couldn't find any remnants of it in many of those towns where they had very earth-shaking revivals. And I know I'll be a bit scattered here, as I've had so many thoughts on this, but just bear with me. I'll try to pull them together as best I can. It's been interesting to me to observe the difference between even the revivals of the Methodist days, which I believe had a good degree of genuineness for its time, and even in the Brethren Church. Sister Ruth and Brother Dean, I think you could vouch for that. An altar call in those days in the Brethren Church often resulted, I believe, in people wrestling through with their sin and with their choices and decisions for God that lasted an hour, didn't they, Dean? Up front, at times. It didn't happen, maybe. But I remember some of those revivals, hearing of them, and in the Brethren in Christ circles as a young boy, you know, the altar was full and people plead and cried out with God. And they were still there, close to midnight, some of them, wrestling with the choice of the world. And I've seen some of those at Little Kutztown and Mount Olivet and different places, I think, in the past 30 years. And I compare that with what Brother Dean and I observed 30 years ago in the Baptist Church. He took me to Philadelphia one night in those early weeks that he was here, as he called Brother Howells. Jack Howells is in the area there. And we went to hear him preach and he joked all night. And Brother Danny was so appalled at it. But in the last end of that, he gave an invitation and the people flocked forward, prayed for 3 to 5 minutes, jumped up from their altar and ran back to their seats again. And I remember as we sat and talked about it, he said, it means nothing. For the most part, they are doing this all the time, he said, over and over and over again, and there's no change. And so I realized that even between the Methodists or the Brethren's altar call and what I began to see there in the Baptist Church and began to happen, I saw that there is no connection. Nobody is getting sensitive to their personal need for Christ in the depth of their soul. Nobody is engaging the will to change and be transformed completely, whatever God would want to do, in order to bring about revival, true revival. So we have in this nation especially, and I believe around the world, a superficial revival that means zero. Zero. And that's even where Christ is preached crucified. And sin is maybe at least alluded to. But do you realize that there are revivals going on all over the world, so-called? Even in China, I viewed a little clip of a revival in China that was just, is appalling. People just laying all over the floor, carrying on like a bunch of animals. And this thing has spread all over the world. In Africa, tens of thousands of people gather with these kind of men and go through the emotional whatever of this that seems to be far more demonic than it seems to be any truth in it whatsoever. And I believe it is demonic. I believe evil spirits are coming in in the name of revival, in the name of a Christian revival, and are captivating people emotionally. And there's no change. No revival. No new birth. No true confession of sin. No turning from sin. And therefore, it's zero. There's so much of that in our day that I find it getting extremely rare to have the right kind of a revival meeting where you can sit back again and see men and women prevail before God for their sin, over their sin, and over their unconverted condition, and over the way they're going, and the things they're doing. And here's some of my thoughts as I thought some of this through. We need a revival that brings again a sensitivity to the Spirit of God and the Word of God, and that will bring about a change of the will that men and women, boys and girls, are willing to do whatever it takes, and are willing to let go of whatever God puts His finger on. As I remember some of those altars in the Brethren Church, and I remember how God put His finger on frivolity, and fashion, and jewelry, and you know, those things. And I speak of that at different times, and I remember how people wrestled with worldly girlfriends, and carnal boyfriends, and gave them up after great travail, and had a revival, and started all over in a courtship later on with a totally different boy, or a different girl. Well, on and on we could go about that. And I see this thing so far gone, personally. I see it so far gone in so many ways. For the most part, I just want to give you some of the church circles that I've been through and been in. I remember where, about 20 years ago, I think it was, where a revival was held in Ohio, and they had a burn barrel. And I often find that those are a little more genuine, because individuals actually put an object in there and get rid of it, and so there is some genuineness in it. But they told me that they had this revival, and the youth brought their rock music, and had a bonfire, and put it in the barrel. It was one of our churches, one or the other, what I would call a sister denomination, an Anabaptist type church. And within eight months later, they told me they all had them again. And I stopped and think about these things, and I say, this is not revival. This is not what we want. This is not what our churches need, not what this nation needs, not what this world needs. And that is not an isolated case. I think I heard once, even in a Bible school of our own, that we had that kind of an effect, an emotional high during that week, and boys and girls were persuaded to get rid of things, and stopped on the way home to buy some more. These things are serious to me this morning. When I say, or when people say, pray for revival, I am not against that, as I have read different writers likewise. But may I suggest that more than prayer is needed if we are going to see what we need to see. Now let me also hasten to say that two weeks ago, many of you know, I was in Indiana. And a new group of people there, coming out of darkness, incredible bondage and sin, some that I would not be able to tell you about publicly. And we had a baptism there for adults. And ten adults were baptized upon their confessional faith who never had a believer's baptism. And there are more there that should follow, and I expect will follow very shortly. And maybe even by today, I don't know. But that was a wonderful experience to me again. And it really reset things in my own heart of what I saw back in our early days also. That when people come out of darkness, and they come out of sin and corruption and bondage to that degree, revival tends to be much more genuine. But then you should hear their testimonies. And we had testimony meeting privately from about, oh, I'd say a quarter of three maybe, or no, it was before that, two, yeah, two o'clock until ten o'clock at night with just about a half hour break for supper. Although the last session was with a couple, and where the lady found freedom and salvation that had never yet found that before. And that was so refreshing to once again be involved in that genuineness coming out of sin and finally dealing with these things. And so Sunday morning, we just had a short devotion, about 20 minutes, 15-20 minutes. And then we expected this, we planned for it, we opened it up for testimony. And we went, we started at nine o'clock, and about twenty after nine, the testimony started. Well, we had some singing there, so it might have been nine-thirty. And we went until quarter after twelve, as they unloaded their, those ten people, unloaded their testimonies, their hearts of what God had done in their lives over the past years, and some of them just tonight before the one. And then we baptized them and stopped and had a fellowship meal, and then baptized them in the afternoon, all of them there. And it was so different, but as I viewed the difference, I recognized that it has to do with coming out of darkness, coming out of unbelief, coming out of traditional background where there was no light, where there was no knowledge that people were perishing because of lack of knowledge of the plan of salvation, and had no clue what it was. We had, I don't know how many testimonies we heard of that, that they did not know, even had no idea what salvation was about when they were baptized in the Old Lord Church years ago. So, that was a revival, an inspiration to me that I began to, I enjoyed it immensely and began to meditate upon as it relates to what we need in our own circles or in our own churches. And I fear, I fear for many because they have heard so much preaching and so much good meetings, and for some reason these things are taken for granted, and they are not held precious like they are when we were born again, coming out of darkness ourselves, and how we treasure them, which I have spoken of before. But, so it just, it takes that, it takes that cycle, if I could make it on the board, you know many times where it seems like as soon as the people have life, and they have vitality, and even though I know it's biblically and spiritually possible that that can be maintained, I know that's in the Word of God, there are so many who become complacent and lethargic, and they go down over the hill, and they lose it, and become kind of carefree and pleasure seeking, and just enjoying life, and I see that is the problem today. There is so much pleasure seeking, so much eating out, so much frivolous lifestyles, and money, and cars, and pleasure, and doing whatever we want, going wherever we want, and those kind of things that I do not expect a major revival unless that gets changed, unless that gets broken. I just, I fear, if God teaches me otherwise, and shows me otherwise, I'll accept it immediately. But there is so much of that in youth today, and I'm speaking of a broad section of youth, not just out there in the evangelical church, they also, I had a thought this, Brother James, that it would be so interesting, and I may join you when warmer weather comes myself to do some of this, I just wish you could go into a number of these youth, and just ask them questions, and in a very honest, and hope to get an honest answer, Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God? Do you believe that the Lord Jesus wants a life of holiness for all Christians? You know, and just ask those kind of questions. Do you believe fornication is sin against God, and nobody living in it will get to heaven? You know, and begin to help people see how far that they have drifted away from biblical truth. So, that's a little where I'm going. Now, I just wanted to mention a few scriptures here at the beginning. In 2 Timothy 1.6, the Bible says, Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee, by the putting on of my hands. Now, I just wanted to mention this, that Paul wrote this to Timothy, knowing who he was, and he had put his hands on him, and he was absolutely sure of it, a born-again Christian, a preacher, a baptizer, and an elder in the church. But he asked to put him in remembrance, and that thou stir up the gift that is in thee. Very interesting that he didn't say, Timothy, I think you're slipping a little, I believe we better pray for revival. I don't want to be too hard on that thing that we hear over and over again, just to pray for revival. But he said, that thou stir up the gift that is in thee. He knew it was there, and Timothy knew it was there, and it's like us, even as myself, we know some of the things that God has given us. But there are times we run empty, it seems, and it's our own fault. And thou is pointed this way this morning too, that thou stir up the gift that is in thee. And I think every one of us as born-again Christians, it is imperative that we understand that there are things that need to happen in order to keep us more current in our fervency in the matter of spiritual things. Like I say, I'll probably, when I open this up in a few weeks or whenever, that there will probably be more ideas, or as many ideas as there are people, in some of the things that we could do. Although we can always say prayer and Bible reading and spending time in the things of God is of course very, very necessary and relevant. But I just wanted to see that here, Paul just simply tells Timothy, now I know it's in you, I know the faith was there from your grandmother and your mother, and it started in you at a young age, and I put my hands on you and ordained you, and I don't know if he baptized him too or whatever. But now he's simply saying that you need to stir that gift up. In view of frequent modern use of revive and revival, it is worthy to notice that it is to Timothy himself the exhortation is addressed. And we forget that it is for us to stir into flame the gift of the Spirit which we have already received of God. It is ours from Him, but we let it lie dormant as a slumbering ember merrily. At home we have a wood stove in the basement, and that is, I enjoy firing that, but it teaches me many lessons. You know, you put some wood on and you have a good fire going, but you don't feed that fire, and those things die down and die down, and if you don't do something at a given time, the fire goes out. And I remember William Booth, I preached the message many years ago on that subject. But there's a tendency for the fire to go out in your life, in my life. There's a tendency, sisters, for a fire to go out. And that's something we have to reckon with. Unless we know how to take a poker, open up the draft in the bottom, which is what I do, stir around in the ashes, put some fresh wood on, shut the door, and I have a downdrafter and I put that lever out and make an updraft, and in a matter of a half a minute, I have fire again if I have good red hot coals. But if I let it go too long, I put the wood on, I open the draft in the bottom, I put my lever to not have the downdraft, just have it straight out the chimney, to really draw up through there, and if it's too late, it won't come. And I have to get a fire starter and go back in there again and bring my flame to it and start it all over again to try to get it going. But so many times that doesn't happen in people's lives. When they go down over the hill on this matter and they become cold and indifferent and bitter or complacent or rich and love pleasures more than the lovers of God and all the different things that are warnings given us in the scripture, and the fire goes out. And many people, many, many people in our day have had that experience and there is no embers left to stir up into what was once there. Isaiah 43, 25 says, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance, the next verse says, verse 26, Let us plead together, declare thou that thou mayest be justified. Such a beautiful two verses there, that I am he that blotteth out transgressions for my own sake and won't remember your sins. I'm willing to do my part, he's saying, but he's saying put me in remembrance. Remember me. God is saying, let's plead together. I'll plead for you, you plead for me. We're going to get together on this thing again and the fire is going to burn once again. So, then in 2 Kings, I, well let me see, where do I want to go first here? Let me just say a little bit more about revival in the past here as we have known it. I got some of this off of Wikipedia just to say what are we talking about? And it says here that in the first great awakening in the American colonies, there was a wave of religious enthusiasm among Protestants that swept the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. That was before my ancestry even was here, it didn't come until the 60s. Leaving a permanent impact on American religion. It resulted, listen to this, from powerful preaching that deeply affected listeners, already church members, with a deep sense of personal guilt and salvation by Jesus Christ. Personal guilt for sin, a recognition of where we're at and the things we have allowed to exist in our lives. And a deep sense of that and of salvation by Jesus Christ. Pulling away from ritual and ceremony, the great awakening made religion intensely personal to the average person by creating a deep sense of spiritual guilt and redemption. Now that part of revival, you know, that is a wonderful thing. If we can allow something to come along, and there's numerous ways. I believe here it came about, according to this report, by powerful preaching. And then the deeply affected listeners, but that's where you and I must enter into that if anything is ever going to happen. We can sit, and I see a lot of people doing it, in some of the most powerful preaching, that wonderful preaching that we didn't know anything of in our childhood. Never heard it, practically. And it goes in one ear and out the other and has no effect on people's lives. It doesn't bring a deep sense of personal guilt anymore. Because they are numb and dull and wax cold, I would say, and aren't listening to it in that way. And then, of course, it created pietism in Germany, Methodism in England, and brought Christianity to the slaves. It was an apocalyptic event in New England that challenged established authority. It incited rancor and division between the old traditionalists who insisted on ritual and doctrine, and the new revivalists. It was a major impact in reshaping. And so what we experienced here in southern Indiana in the last years, even though that varies, some of them were born again from their youth, but others were not, by a long ways not. And to see that now it brought a division between the old traditional ways and the new revival, that was a reality, and that deep sense of personal interest in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and a confession of sin, and now being baptized upon that confession, and wanting to walk in the holiness of life is bringing about major changes in their lives. People became passionately and emotionally involved in their religion, rather than passively listening to intellectual discourse in a detached manner. Oh, I just, you know, this whole thing of, here we sit, here we stand, and we have this extreme emotionalism going on on the one side, you know, that is a counterfeit. It is, I'm convinced of the devil. I'm convinced it's of the devil. And yet, when true revival comes, it does affect the emotions. Men do cry over their sins and over their need. Men do wrestle with God until they are willing to give it up, and give it up, and surrender, and yield to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, I just like that word passionately and emotionally involved in their religion, rather than passively listening to intellectual discourse in a detached manner. The new style of preaching were called new lights, where the old were called old lights. People began to study the Bible at home. Listen to that. Listen to that. I have to say that for some of these Amish families. People began to study the Bible at home. That German Bible that they didn't understand got put away, and they got an English one, which was forbidden in some of those circles. And they opened it up, and began to study and read the Bible at home. And it brought light into their soul. And it brought a recognition of their lost condition. And in that condition, they began to cry out to God, and go to a gospel meeting, perhaps somewhere, and hear the word of God. And some of you young men sitting here can probably well identify with it in your own lives. In your experience here in Wisconsin. Charles Finney said this in 1792 to 1875 was his lifespan in the revival movement in America there. He said, for him a revival was not a miracle, but a change of mindset that was ultimately a matter of an individual's free will. I really appreciated that. You know, instead of this thing of just expecting that somehow, and I'm really concerned about this, I hear a lot of people just wishing that there would be something real, church house shaking, fall down on the people, and just sweep all the sin and the corruption and the worldliness out of the church. I don't think it's going to happen in that way. They have this idealistic way, and I'm satisfied with whatever way God would bring it, if it would have that lasting result. But we are not interested in just somehow whooping up an emotionalism that brings a lot of people to the altar. I have been very concerned. I remember one time here at a leadership seminar, probably about eight years ago or so, we had a speaker here on a Wednesday night. I believe it was, who got up here and spoke. He was a common brother from Michigan. And he got up and spoke that night, and he had a very good message. And I was kind of in and out of here in the hallways dealing with various things as I normally am in big meetings like that, or was, especially in those days. And I think about 15 people responded. The next night, we had a man that was well-known and a considered trained revivalist, maybe, or educated revivalist. And he gave an invitation after his message. And I remember the altar didn't hold the men. They were lining up down the aisleways. And men came to me and said to me that time, Brother Mose, what is wrong? What's going on here? That message last night was just as good and maybe even better as far as the real roots of men's issues or problems. But tonight, what is this? And I have to say that that is one of my concerns. I'm not interested in filling altars for an emotional ten minutes. But where it has, where the will, as Finney says, a matter of an individual's free will, and he considers his life, and he considers his pleasures, and he considers his lack of yielding himself in areas of his life to God, and the call of God, the word of God, the holiness requirement in the Scripture, and all of those things. And so, there's many things like that. But I just want to turn to one Scripture. And just beginning to open up the seriousness of this subject is in Mark chapter 9. Let's turn to Mark chapter 9. I just want to go through this here yet, and kind of as we finish our introduction to the burden of my heart here. Now, this is when Peter, James, and John were on the Mount of Transfiguration with the Lord Jesus, and Moses and Elijah appeared. And we know the story there. I'm not going to read all that. But when Jesus came down from the Mount there with the three, then the other disciples were gathered in a big circle, a big crowd had gathered. And Jesus sidled up to that crowd to see, it appears, they probably knew already, to see what was going on. And in verse 14, chapter 9, verse 14 of the book of Mark, And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them. And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him. And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them? He figured there's some kind of a doubt all going on there, it seemed like, and he acted innocent about it. And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit, and wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth, and gnashes with his teeth, and pineth away. And I speak to thy disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not. He answered him and said, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him to me. And they brought him unto him, and when he saw him straightway, the spirit tear him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed foaming. And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. And oft times it hath cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him. But if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. I want you to carefully notice the next verses. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believe it. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and he said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Notice the desperation. Notice that from a baby this child had epileptic fits it appears, and it seemed like when he got close to a fire or close to a river or even a pool or whatever, this would come upon him and try to have him have a spell that would end up into the water or into the fire and totally destroy the child. This man was desperate and even was fearful that he didn't believe enough and asked that God would help his unbelief. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried and wrenched him sore, and came out of him, and he was as one dead, insomuch that many said, He is dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting. And that was the end of the conversation. They departed. This kind cannot come out but by prayer and fasting. It seems like that if Jesus would have ignored the crowd there, this would have been a helpless situation. It at least doesn't appear like anyone was around that could have helped this poor boy. And when he says this kind goes not out but by prayer and fasting, we can of course immediately think, Oh, maybe the disciples would have had to do is enter into prayer and fasting, and then come back and try again in a matter of a few days. Maybe it would have worked, and that's a possibility. But what he's trying to tell them is that there are different levels of intensity of evil, worldliness, and wickedness in this world. You know, he spoke about spiritual wickedness in high places. He spoke about principalities and powers. And we knew that he confronted various demons, and there's a difference. It's very evident. And he's not saying he didn't rebuke them, and saying you were wrong in chasing out lesser devils, and that you shouldn't have done it, and that you should just forget the whole matter because you couldn't do this one. But he's simply saying we have a kind here that is different than all the other kinds that you've encountered. Now, you know the disciples, the 70, were sent out, and they were empowered to cast out demons, and they did that. And when they came back, they made the mistake of rejoicing that the demons were subject unto them. And Jesus told them, don't rejoice that the demons are subject unto you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven. In other words, don't rejoice in the effect that you personally can have in the kingdom work, but rather rejoice that you're also a sinner that's been saved by grace, and that you've received mercy from God, or however we want to word that. But he does say that there is a kind that is of a different level, that there is a kind that we face that is not average. And brethren, I believe that's what we're facing in our time. I just cannot see it any other way. And like I say, I'm very open to that. But I would say we have this kind. This kind is not the ordinary kind. What has happened, and you will perhaps not be able to understand until I be able to finish my message in another one, but there is so much that has happened to Christendom in the undermining of things that we would have to say that this is a different kind. That's what convinces me of it. Can you just share with me, as I was listening to numerous messages this week, this became very, very dominant in my mind. What are four verses, four words, very, very, very foundational in the book of Genesis? You want to guess what they are? In the book of Genesis, what are they? In the beginning, God. In the beginning, God. I find out there's so much gap theory out there, and that people do not believe that, let's see, I have to read the scripture over in Exodus chapter 20, verse 11. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Now what's happening is, you know, just in a given situation, we have Genesis 1, we have in the beginning, God. And then we have that explain what that means here in Exodus, and even though if it's believed in childlike faith, then we simply see that He began to create, He created the morning and the evening, and it's very evident that it was a 24-hour day. Because He worked for six days, and then the seventh, He hallowed it and sanctified it and made it the Sabbath day. And yet people want to put billions or millions of years in between the days. And they have come together and put Christianity and evolution in a package. Such type, those are the kind of things that I'm talking about. In our generation, the book scribes, the writers, the theologians of the seminaries, and all these prominent people have flooded the earth with a concept that there is a blend between evolution and creation. That instead of in the beginning God, and as it says here, and in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sun, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. It has to be a 24-hour day because we know that the seventh day was a 24-hour day of Sabbath that was hallowed. Well, now that has become a major controversy, and I thank God for those who fundamentally keep that and believe that and teach the six-day creation. And I thank God there's a goodly number out there that still believe this. But the millions of evangelical Christians that have believed in the gap theory and put millions of years in there, and therefore when the evolutionists do their teaching and try to show all these things and how old they are, they believe it. They don't think God created the earth in six days and rested the seventh day like it says. Those kind of details are undermined in almost every area of theology and doctrine and truth. And that just gives you an illustration of what I'm trying to talk about, and there are many others that I'd like to list that I'd like for you to help me in a week or two or a couple weeks, and we'll just simply make a list of some of the things that have happened in the last 40 years that have brought this about. Incidentally, I forgot to mention, well, I won't bother writing it down, I'll just tell you. This is considered the postmodern age. We're looking at what is considered postmodern man today. And it is in this postmodern, now we had the modern age up, I think, whether they figured to the Second World War or somewhere in the 50s maybe, they called that the modern age. And now from that until today, they call it the postmodern age. And so we have what is known as this postmodern man today, and it's often referred to in the books and so on. But that's what I'm talking about. Some of the foundation principles of where people in simplicity just believe the Word of God and believe the words of Jesus are so mixed up and diluted and watered down by other methods of interpretation and understanding, where it's so hard for people to understand and believe the absolute written Word of God in its simple form, as many say, as a 10-year-old would understand it. And that has brought a difficulty into our age, because we are so flooded and so bombarded with these other concepts and other ideas of what the Bible means. Just look what has happened with translations. If you go out into the evangelical world and ask them for the right translation, I don't know what you'd come up with. Well, I like this one, I like this one, I've tried this one, I kind of like that, you know, it makes things a little plainer and this and that. But it has undermined the foundation of truth in the minds and hearts of countless millions that there is not an absoluteness of truth because of it, just on the issue of translations. And we have it, like I say, in many, many, many other areas. So it's of my opinion that we can see revival in small areas like we see in Indiana or we have seen in the last 50 years in numerous other ethnic groups and missions where God did a move among the small in a smaller way. But to see a great awakening, to see a nationwide, I don't believe it's going to happen. I think men have sold out their soul to so many lies that they cannot pull enough of truth together to allow it to penetrate their heart. That's how I see what's happening. This kind is a different kind. This kind is not going to God. It used to be some of these writers I was reading some on Martin Lloyd-Jones who was a, I think he died in 1981, and he was a very conservative man in England. And he said it used to be that all you would have to do is begin to, like it says here, powerful preaching of the Word of God. And people would say, yeah, yeah, that's right. The Bible's a good old book. I ought to listen to it. I know it's true. I know it's right. People would respond more in that way. But you get men to respond like that to the good old book today on the streets of America? They mock. They laugh to scorn. And so we have such a post-modern man, if you call it that, as so pushed away the living Word of God, pushed away the truth, pushed away absolutes. You can't convince him of a hell. You can't even convince him of a heaven. You can't convince him of a devil hardly. You can't, and for sure not, can you convince him that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. And when you have this kind, it's very different than an Amish group that had always believed that the Bible was the Word of God. Even though they were living in sin, they believed. And I noticed that difference. Where you have a people, and I experienced it in Bolivia, and we're experiencing it in Canada and other places, where a people believe that God's Word is God's Word. Even though they're living in debauchery, there's hope for revival. But when all that is eroded and undermined and swept away by modernism, by lies of Satan, and all this begins to erode and fade away, and there's no hope. If we do not believe, you know, that's why I say these four words in Genesis, In the beginning God, He that cometh to God must watch. Believe that He is, and watch. It is the reward of them that diligently seek Him. That's the only way to begin. It seems like you can't even establish the fact of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ until you go back to Genesis 1 and say, I believe that in the beginning God. Some of the creationists who go around lecturing, they say a lot about that. And of course have decided that that is their calling to try to prove to people that God made us, and God made the world. And I actually appreciate their work very much, even though they're not planning churches, and they're not having revival meetings and leading people to Christ. But they're laying a foundation for people to believe that there's a God in heaven who made everything that is made. And this would be a good Sunday afternoon conversation. And I'll just give you that as a challenge, and I won't tell you my thoughts on it. Where did angels come from? When were they created? When was Satan created? When did he fall from heaven? You know, those are things. If everything that was made in heaven and on earth in six days, think it through. Alright, well thank you so much for listening again. Like I say, I do not want to be a pessimist or overly negative on revival. I do believe that it is very necessary for us and even good for us to consider what is revival. What kind of revival are we looking for? And should be looking for and praying for and doing whatever else that we can do to bring about in our day. What can we expect? And I know heaven only knows that. But it's good for us, I believe, as a church to meditate upon these things and then put aside the group revival and then look at personal revival. How can we reach that and maintain that? And stir up the fire. And stir up those coals. And put on the draft and get the fire burning in our own hearts. Lest we grow cold, dull, lethargic, and the fire goes out. God help us. Thank you. In Luke 21, verse 34, Jesus said these words. He said, Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, that has to do with eating, and drunkenness, that has to do with drinking, and cares of this life, and so that they come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. That is the parting admonition of the Lord Jesus. To take heed to ourselves. Good words from the one who knows what it takes to stand before the Son of Man someday. And he knows what will hinder us too. Some of those things he lists there. We have a few minutes here. Is there anyone that would have something they want to share? A testimony? Something to add to the message? Or a response? Raise your hand and we'll get a microphone to you. Anyone? Ken? If there's someone else, go ahead and put your hand up and we'll get a microphone to you. Thank the Lord for giving our brother's voice so that he could speak to us this morning. You know, I was thinking towards the end there that Brother Moe's was a good example of someone that was striving to do what God told, wants him to do. You know, some people, or our tendency maybe is to look for some electric joke or electric, you know, some electrifying thing that all of a sudden our troubles disappear and our, you know, I think you know what I'm talking about. Yes. But Jesus said strive. And Brother Moe's did what he could. I want to thank the Lord for giving him his voice. Yeah, didn't have to talk too much. Who else has something to share? Kent? Yes, having just recently had a birthday, I found myself reflecting on what happened this past year that I'm glad about. What is it that maybe I'd like to work on going forward in realms of both physical life and spiritual. And so then I think about both what Brother Victor brought to us and what Brother Moe's did. They're both making us ask those questions on what are we contributing. Are we salt that is preserving or are we salt that needs to be thrown out? That's a question. With Brother Moe's I kind of liked the thought about stoking the fire as it were. And I recall that we see in the book of Daniel when they decided that those three men needed to go into the fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar was so mad. He said, make that fire seven times hotter. And I'm trying to think, could I discern between what six times hotter and seven times hotter? Or do you just know that you're not as hot as you need to be? Those become questions to ourselves. And again, that begs the question, are we needing reviving? Are we needing to be stoked? Are we not as hot as we should be? Are we not the salt that we should be? So I appreciate today it just kind of has added to the thoughts that I've been reflecting upon for my own life. And I think that all of us need to be thinking about this. Reed? I really appreciate what Moe's was saying about revival. And I've studied ancient Christians a lot and early Anabaptists quite a bit. And the one thing they had in common, I think, compared to what most Christians focus on in terms of revival, is they went beyond the vagueness of the standard revivalism. They included the details of the teaching of Jesus. Real revival is not just something that your heart is torn open and you make a vague decision to follow Jesus. But like Jesus himself flooded us with details in the Sermon on the Mount, the ancient Christians, when a soldier presented himself for baptism, it wasn't enough just to say, I've decided to follow Jesus. They said, have you decided to follow Jesus enough to lay down your sword? It's those details that grab us not just in some kind of emotional turmoil and a vague decision, but are you going to open your pocketbook enough so that there's no poor in our midst? Are you going to turn the other cheek even if it costs you your life? You're going to love your enemies, meaning I can't love you and cut your head off. It's the details that Jesus really focused on in addition to the attitudes, but it's the details that determine whether this attitude is really of God. And is it going to bear long lasting fruit in my mind? And I think the Anabaptists alone at the time of the Reformation saw through the vagueness of most of the reformers preaching faith in Jesus. But is it faith in Jesus enough so that you lay down the swords, even though the Turks were at the door? Thank you, Reed. I think some of those practical things is what Moses was talking about at the altar where people, where God spoke specifically to an area of your life and those people wrestled whether they were willing to say, I give it up, whatever it be. Others? Okay, well, thank you. Thank you for listening to this message. We trust that it has been a blessing to you. If you would like additional sermons or a catalog, please visit our website at www.effortofministries.org. 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