In this video, the pastor shares the results of a revival that took place three years ago. He mentions that those who responded to the revival are not as troublesome as before and are quick to repent. He also highlights that they have a good understanding of spiritual principles and there is a balanced focus on evangelism in the church. Additionally, the pastor discusses the positive changes that have occurred in the worship patterns, increased awareness of the needs of other Christians, and greater expectancy for God to work. The pastor's wife also shares her personal transformation, experiencing contentment and the absence of bitterness and resentment.

Psalm 85, Psalm 85, verse 9, 13. Remember last night, and we are at one of these sessions, I quoted this verse, will thou not revive us again, thy people may rejoice in thee, and that was verse six of Psalm 85. The essence of revival, God's people rejoicing in God himself, the essence of revival. And then, having said that, I want you to take a look at the results, the results of that revival. The results, verses 9 to 13. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him, that glory may dwell in the land. There it is, glory, God's glory and salvation will be near. And then verse 10, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. So, and verse 11, truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. So those verses, mercy, truth, peace, and righteousness spring up and they all come together, result. And then verse 12, yea, the Lord shall give that which is good. Oh, God gives good things and the land, and our land shall yield or increase. Oh, that's good. And verse 13, righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps. So righteousness sets us in the steps of God. Look at that. As a result of what we prayed in verse six, Lord, revive us that we may rejoice. The direct results, God's glory, salvation near, mercy, truth, peace, righteousness spring up and come together. God gives good things. The land increases. Righteousness sets us in the steps of God. And then we related last night to Psalm 51. Remember we talked about the three truths that come into sharp focus of dealing with sins, agreeing with God about self being crucified, and accept the fresh and filling of the Holy Spirit, verses one to 12. Well, as you take a look at Psalm 51 and relate to that, watch the results. Watch the results that come when we meet God on God's terms. And so here it is, verses 13 to 19, Psalm 51, verses 13 to 19. And then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted to thee. So sinners are gonna be converted, okay? And then verses 14 and 15, look at this. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God. Thou God of my salvation, my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. Lord, thou open thou my lips, my mouth shall show forth thy praise. A life full of praise comes out of that. And then verse 16 and 17. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else I'd give it. Thou desirest not burnt offerings. The sacrifice of God, our broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou will not despise. So God breaks our hearts and it's acceptable to God. He will not despise it. And then verse 18, God's promise. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. God promises to rebuild his people. And then verse 19, look at this. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering. Then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar. In other words, our sacrifice and our worship is acceptable and accepted of God. It's all a result of God, of the psalmist David saying how he was honest in dealing with his sins and surrendered the rights of self and the fullness of the spirit. Now, the scripture has a lot to say about this. God is actually obsessed about blessing us. He is obsessed about blessing us. He is more obsessed about blessing us than we are to be blessed of him. We need to understand that. Proverbs 10.22, the blessing of the Lord makes rich and he adds no sorrow with it. I'm just gonna quote these verses as we go. And then there's Psalm 84.11. The Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from the one who walks uprightly. He's not gonna hold anything back when we walk uprightly. Psalm 16.11, in thy presence is fullness of joy at thy right hand. Our pleasures forevermore. First Peter 5.7, casting all your cares on him for he cares for you. Matthew 5.6, blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness. They shall be filled. What a blessing. He's anxious to fill us. Acts 3.19 and 26, and it begins to talk about that and times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord. And it says, turn everyone from his sins for times of refreshing. And God having sent his son, verse 26, into the world to bless us, having turned everyone from his sins. The truth is that God, the primary reason why God sent his son into the world was to bless us, to bless us, to bless us. God, first of all, it says, first of all, has sent his son into the world to bless us. He's obsessed about blessing us, obsessed about it. Well, look at Ezekiel 34. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing. I will cause the shower to come down in his season. There shall be showers of blessing. Don't you know that song? And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit. And the earth shall yield her increase. And they shall be safe in their land and shall know that I am the Lord when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them out of the hand of those that serve themselves of them. And then, of course, Psalm 1. Psalm 1, blessed, blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight, his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in that law, he meditates day and night. And look what's gonna happen when he's gonna be so blessed when he delights in the Lord. Look, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water bringeth forth fruit in season. His leaf also shall not wither. And I love this. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Nowhere to improve on God's plan. He's obsessed about blessing us and turning from our sins. Well, let me just share some results of revival. New initiatives. There are new initiatives that come from revival. I do have a problem with not having that material and maybe it is still. Hold on, hold on just a moment. Let me make sure, let me make sure. It certainly has got to be here. It certainly has got to be here in my folder. Yes, it is. And everybody said? Amen. Yes, look at that. That's one way to get an amen. Okay, okay. There we go. Okay. There are new initiatives. When I say that, God will give people all kinds of thoughts about new ministries. Not new programs primarily, but ministries. Creative initiatives. When God sets people free from their bondages, there's a whole, there's all new energy that God has to work through that has been all wrapped up in itself. New obediences. A whole new sense of obedience to God comes in us. New blessings. Oh, well, you say, well, God always blessed. No, no, but these now are blessings that are supernatural in nature. You know, God has supernaturally worked. New, a whole new sense of love. Love for God, love for each other, love for the church, love for the word of God, and so on. New encounters, oh, what? New encounters with Satan. Oh, I wish I didn't have to put that there, but I'd like the ushers now to do what they were trying to do earlier. Give everybody a copy of the sheet. And as they're doing that, I'll tell you what it is. A pastor in Saskatchewan wrote this out, and he put it in his local newspaper as an advertisement, in a local newspaper after the crusade. And he titled it, Satan Applies for Unemployment. And we're gonna read it, because it's intriguing. See, we all know the unemployment situation is bad. But it was a shock to hear recently that Satan has applied for unemployment insurance. The reason he gave for applying was unusual. He reported that his main work had been to counteract the efforts of Christians to win people to Christ. In recent years, he said, Christians have been doing less and less witnessing, and thus winning few converts. The result is, he doesn't have enough people to oppose to keep him busy. So I'm on the third paragraph. When asked to give more reasons for his lack of work, this was his report. He has convinced the lay people that since the clergy are paid, all the work should be left to them. Meanwhile, he convinced the clergy that the sheep have the lambs, not the shepherd. So all the outreach should be left to the lay people. He claimed great success in getting Christians to fuss with each other, and sometimes to run from church to church, instead of working together and building the kingdom where they are. The result is that few new people are attracted to Christ or his church. To the question as to whether he expected to return to his former employment, he answered, I hope not, things seem to be running quite well. But there is always the threat of, what? Revival. He complained that there are some slow learners who still think they should serve the Lord with all their heart and soul and mind and strength. These, along with some prayer warriors, who are willing to pray and then be used in the answers, could create more work for him. His interviewer's report stated that Mr. Satan seems to have worked his way out of a job, but perhaps is still needed on a part-time basis for the time being. And look at that last statement. Do something for unemployment. Help get Satan back to work, trying to put out the fires of revival that can start in who? You. A man wrote that, a pastor wrote that, and put it in his local newspaper. And you see, God is saying to us, let's do something to get Satan so mad because of what God's doing that he can't stand it. Let it start in each one of us. Well, that's my way of saying that any group of people that get serious about the subject of revival, you know that the devil does not like it. And he will do everything to destroy it. I can tell you the number of times where a pastor will call us three or four weeks before a ministry, before a crusade, and he'll say something like this, Ralph, he said, you have no idea what's happened here. I said, what's happened? Well, he puts it like this, it's as if all hell has broken loose in the church. So, well, what do you mean? Well, this happened, this happened, the things that never happened before have happened, and I said, well, I said, well, praise the Lord. The devil's last ditch stand. He's out to destroy what God wants to do. It's a sign he's getting mad. Now, I'm not suggesting we want things to happen like that, but that's the way it is. You cannot talk about revival without, it's not just a, everybody happy, say amen. Come on, a little bit louder. Everybody happy, say. Say. Oh, boy, you were singing so well tonight, I think we'll just reach over your shoulder and put your hand on your back shoulder and just pat yourself on the back for as well, as good as you're singing tonight. Isn't that, that's revival. No, no. It's spiritual warfare. Satan can't stand it. I believe that Satan hates a revival-oriented ministry even more so than an evangelistic crusade. As wonderful as that may be, when a few people get saved, you know why? Because he knows that if God revives the church at a deep level, that church will be filled with a bunch of evangelists who will do more to tear his kingdom apart than just some Christian, some new believers giving their hearts to the Lord. As wonderful as that is, I'm not belittling that. But he can't stand a church revival. Well, there's a new atmosphere that comes in the church. What kind of an atmosphere is it? Well, I'll tell you what, it's an atmosphere of openness. It's an atmosphere of fellowship, of true worship, and it's an atmosphere that is conducive to the growth of new believers. So they don't have to backslide to feel at home with the rest of the people in the church. A whole new atmosphere, and you can tell it, there's no question. There are new problems that come in revival. Yes, there are. Many of our churches have lived with what I call the problems of death, apathy, decay, like pulling teeth to get anybody to do anything. That's a tragedy. Through the weight of death, the stench of death is something. But when God goes to working, then there's a new set of problems. Do you know what kind? The problems of life, of energy, of motion and commotion. Some people may go a little bit out of bounds, say the right thing at the wrong time, or whatever, in the midst of their excitement. So now, one pastor wrote, he said, you know, after God worked in our church, he said, I had a hard time keeping the horses from jumping every fence post they could see. So much excitement. So there's a whole new set of problems. So the question is, which kind do you want? The problems of life or the problems of death? And that's very real. And during a revival-oriented crusade, when we come for longer periods of time, we discuss these things in the morning sessions on how we relate to things like that. And of course, there's new polarization. The polarization between the haves, and the, I'm going to quit talking because nobody's listening to me, they're watching that, usher. Usher. Thank you for serving. Okay. Aren't you glad he put the fans on for you? See, the new polarization. That's between the haves versus the have-nots versus the not-so-sures. Those who enter in, those who do not, their spiritual pride does not allow them to enter in, and those who are not even sure God's in town. Those right in the middle. So that's always there. And in a revival-oriented crusade, we relate to that. How we relate to each one of those groups. Here's a pastor who spells the word revival. He spells the word revival. This he wrote us after we were there. He said, rejoicing believers. Notice how he spells rejoicing. What's in the middle of that? Joy. Joy. He said, enlightening through the word of God. This is what he saw happen to his people. Victory over the sinful nature. Inspiration to genuinely serve. Vibrant sharing of blessing and needs. A mighty sense of the presence of Almighty God. And love for the brethren and the lost. Look, it spells revival. That's one pastor. I've got several of them, different pastors, but I won't take time for all of them. But here's another one. Here's one. Restored spirit towards God. Evangelizing the lost. Victory over sins and strongholds. Involved in the needs of others. Vibrant through prayer and fasting. Ardent in love and the lordship of Christ in all of our decisions. That's another pastor responding to what happened. A Canadian pastor. The results of revival, he says, brings biblical principles for leaders into sharp focus and challenges the spiritual quality of their role. Gives new focus on church life and church structure. And it presents alternatives to outreach and evangelism ministries in the life of the church. Here's one a year and a half later. A year and a half later. What happened? He said our worship patterns changed drastically. Said there's a greater awareness of the needs of other Christians. New honesty in the church. Greater expectancy from the people for God to work. The people expect God to work. And laymen more actively involved in spiritual ministries, true people to people ministry. And I love this one. There's what the pastor's talking about. People are less aware of the clock. We know when the service starts, but we're never sure when it's going to end. Less aware of the clock. He said in summary, I'd have to say that since revival, there's been a marked change in everything from our music to our own personal relationships with Jesus Christ. Here's a pastor three years later. Three year report. He said I thought you'd be interested to know what's happened. He said about those who responded. Those who responded, they're not as much trouble as before. Oh, you mean they still are troublesome? But not nearly as much as before. That's good. And then he said they are quick to repent. And thirdly, he says they know the spiritual principles to live by. And fourthly, he says a wonderful balance of evangelism going on in the church. Three years later. You say how long will it last? I don't know. I might have had this up on Saturday night. I don't remember. But that Bible college student who came home. It was from Winnipeg. He was at Mennonite Bible College in Winnipeg. And he came home to Steinbeck, Manitoba where we were in one of the churches. And he came to me one of the weekends. And he said Ralph, I've got to confess to you. I really didn't want you here in our church. I said why? Well, he said I figured here we go, another program. Nothing ever works around here. And he said I came home on one weekend. I saw some people giving their testimonies of what had happened in their lives. And the next weekend I come home and I see what happened to my own parents and how God has transformed their lives and other people. And every weekend I come home and I see what God's doing here. He said I must ask you to forgive me. Here is studying for the ministry. And he makes this statement. Makes this statement. Why we need revival. Look at this. This has restored my faith in the power of God. I had almost become an agnostic about whether I would ever see the power of God operating again in the church. How do you like that? Fellow about to go out in the ministry, partial agnostic. Why? Because of a dead church. Never seeing God at work in the life of the church. By the way, I have had several people say these few days we've been together that this has been a time of refreshing to once again believe that God has not forgotten this church. That God is at work. And God has a unique place for this congregation. Well, let me just talk about how the results in church life. Well, finances. Finances. See, this is why I had to have this. I have a magazine here, and I almost thought I was without it. Oh, here, see? Baptist Herald. There it goes. Here, taking care of the Lord's money. Here it is, a Canadian magazine. Christian period. Here's a fellow who's being interviewed. He was a businessman in the church. Okay, here's what it says. Don, what significantly influenced your life in the area of your financial giving to the Lord? Here's his answer. I would pinpoint a period of personal renewal that came as an outflow of the Saskatoon Revival. Some people came to our church to share what God was doing. While I cannot remember their message, and it certainly was not on finances, God powerfully dealt with me in the area of His being Lord of my life and of my being ashamed of Him. Being a Christian for a number of years, I had shared my testimony with others, but there were times I did not share about how God was about, because I was ashamed to share with others on the outside. It depended on to whom I was speaking. God broke me at the altar that day, and I dealt with the issue. I realized God is the most wonderful person in the universe, and that He's done wonderful things for me. I needed to acknowledge Him as Lord of my life. Listen to what it says. That renewal, that renewal, the beginning of many things in my life, certainly was the start of looking at my financial blessings and my giving to the Lord. Is the church treasurer here tonight? He must love this article. Okay, so it goes on. I'm not gonna read it all. And everybody said, amen, okay. So, the period of renewal in your life through coming to meet Christ in a new way and understanding the Lordship of Christ really affected your commitment to stewardship of your finances? Here's his answer. Yes, it seemed that finances became a way that I could visibly demonstrate my commitment to God. Here was a material substance that I could measure, that I could see. I thought, if God is really God of my life, how can I demonstrate this? I realized that God really did not need my resources, but that I needed a way to demonstrate that He is my God. So, I put my money where my mouth was. That's just part of the article. Finance is affected as a result of revival. Port Rowan, Ontario. Let's see, here is a pastor of a small church. Listen to this. Here he writes us a letter. Ah, we felt, it has been our experience to have been involved with such a crusade. It has not been our experience with a crusade like this and all the years of ministry, almost 30 years. This was the Lord's doing, marvelous in our eyes. Now, here's a pastor with about 50 people in his church. As we entered the first meeting, our doubts were many. Our hopes, few. Our faith was governed by the so many past experiences we had been a part of. I know that at this point, we could not really say all that has taken place, but this we know. And then he starts telling what we know. The pastor and his wife are changed. New prayer life, new goals, new desire to minister, new excitement for the lost, new hunger for the truth of the word of God. Three families turned around for God and testifying to victory and happiness in the Lord. Three or four other families have been impacted by the witness of our people. The attendance at church has greatly increased in the past month and the tithing, oh, here's the treasure again, I like this one. The tithing and offering is up about 50%. The people are entering into the worship time with a new sense of joy and happiness in the Lord. Testifying and coming to an altar of prayer are something usual now, but that which never happened before. I heard a Bible study on Tuesday evening that two or three people are talking about being baptized. It seems that about 75% of the people were in attendance at the crusade meetings. I could believe that this report is not much, seemingly by some standards, but to us, it's a large happening. The effects and results of such these days have brought into focus a new vision, both to the pastor and the people, that there is a place and a need for this church. It's right to say at this juncture that we believe that God can and will honor the prayers and work of his people as we seek his will and plan to impact this community. To move from a supply pastor on each Sunday and a one month shutdown in the summer with an average attendance of six people to a situation of God's blessing to allow a 500% increase plus a midweek Bible study and the heart of the people supporting a part-time pastor for now and finances in such an order that a full-time situation will soon be possible, it all makes one realize that God is alive and blessing those who would be blessed with his fullness. We are so pleased that the bitter feelings that for so long have been an active part of this entire area are gone and under the blood. For this, we praise his name. For the future, we know not, but this we are sure, that what God has started, he will continue to do, and we are enjoying his presence and fullness in all of our lives and in our endeavors to work in the joy of the Lord. That's a Baptist church. Can God revive Baptists? There it is. Tiny church. Matters not the size. We begin to come God's way. Prince George, B.C., well, I can tell you, there's a letter of a pastor, he said, I'm in a city where 16 years earlier, a revival was here. He said, I find people all over the city whose lives have been touched, he's telling you. But he said, now I'm in the city, there's a whole new generation of people that need to hear those same truths of seeing self and the spirit and walking therein. How does revival affect evangelism and missions? Well, does anybody know that name? What is that? Henry Blackaby, you ever heard that name? You ever heard of experiencing God? That course? Well, I can tell you that Henry Blackaby was a pastor of a small church in the city of Saskatoon when the revival broke out. That's where I met him. Right in his office. I can tell you that God worked so powerfully in his life and in his church that through that period of time, for 10 years later, they established a number of churches all over Saskatchewan, saw all kinds of university students converted in the process, and he started training young men for the ministry. On and on it goes. You'll be interested to know that all the years that Henry Blackaby pastored, he did not have one single divorce in any of his congregations. He said our churches were committed to those marriages as well as those couples committing themselves to each other. He said the only one that was a divorce was a couple that moved to Germany and the church did not have access to them. But I can tell you that three years ago when we were in the city of Saskatoon for our 35th anniversary of what happened up there, I can tell you that Henry was one of our speakers and one night he got finished speaking and I was leading the meetings and I said, Henry, see I've been with him several times in South Africa and other places in ministry together. And I knew what had happened to him. I said, Henry, would you just, let me just ask you a few questions. So I interviewed him for over a half hour. I said, tell these people what revival's done in your church. Tell these people what revival's done in your family. Talks about his children, how it's affected his children. Now he's written a book with every one of his children, co-authoring with him. And then he went on, talked about the ministry that God's given him. He said, and of course you realize that experiencing God was developed in 1998 and that's a direct result of revival. And went on and on and he said, now God's given me a ministry around the world to the United Nations, to President Bush, uses Henry Blackabee's Experiencing God Day by Day devotions. Henry, President Bush uses that for his devotionals. On and on it goes. But when he got finished, when we got finished, he made a statement I've never forgotten. He said, well, I guess I would have to say, are you ready for this? Revival changed my whole DNA for good. For life, Henry Blackabee, it changed my whole DNA for life. And God has given him a worldwide ministry and he points back to revival. Well, here's another name. You ever heard of Dr. Erwin Lutzer from Moody Church in Chicago? Well, I can tell you that he was a professor at Moody Bible Institute and he pastored a small church on north side of Chicago. He comes home, goes home to Canada, to his family in Regina, Saskatchewan, where they all live for the Christmas holidays. And he runs into all of his friends who were involved in the revival, who met God deeply, people he knew for years. And before he leaves to go back to Chicago, Erwin Lutzer is on his knees in the living room of some of his friends and they prayed over him and he met God deeply himself. He goes back to Chicago, he shares with the congregation, had about 130 people in the congregation at Edgewater Baptist Church at the time, and one third of the congregation meets God in one service at a deep level. And that was all a forerunner to God laying his hand on him and leading him to Moody Church in Chicago and all the rest of it. And now there's an author and a speaker around the world. In fact, we were honored when our daughter got married, he and his wife drove from Chicago to Ohio to be at our daughter's wedding. That's how close we are. Direct result of revival. When God worked on the Western, by the way, see how revival affects evangelism and mission. See, just look at those first two names. Just think how God has given them worldwide ministries. Bible college enrollments. In Western Canada, when this happened, the registrars were reporting a spreading of enrollment, an increase of enrollment of the Bible colleges. And you know what one registrar told me? It's interesting, when I look at the applications of students coming to Bible college, how many times it would say, I'm coming because of what happened to my parents in revival. It has changed our home. It has changed their marriage. And I want to study the word of God because of the impact it has made on our home. A registrar is telling me that. Bible college, without new programs, God doing that. Western Track Mission, the giving track organization, 300% increase in people giving for the printing of tracks. Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Bill McCloud was and one of the other pastors went when we were elsewhere, it is known that there are at least 30 people who are in full-time Christian service around the world from one crusade alone, one crusade alone. And there were four couples, met each other on a mission station in Africa. Well, four Canadian couples, not knowing each other, only to find that all four of them are a direct result of having met God in the Canadian revival. And there they are, Africa, on the mission field. Well, you see, here are some people. There are the Vissers, Cameroon in Africa, tremendous. There, Donald Jean Grand, his wife, was serving God in Quebec among the French people. Here's the McDonald's, home from Israel. And there's the Evans family still in Niger, Africa. And I could go on and on and on just till you see the faces of real people. These are people who sat right where you're sitting. And when they made a surrender their life to God, they said, God, all, I surrender all, not just half. And God said, I want to change your lifestyle. Transform, one's a farmer, another is a man who works for the Canadian government. And Donald Jean Grand, he was in the sports field. And I don't remember what the McDonald's were. Bill McCloud said, when you talk about evangelism, he said, before, I tried evangelistic efforts with two to three people showing up. I taught eight week courses on soul winning and witnessing and no change. But he said, after revival, 50 people would show up to go out on visitation. In the Alliance Churches in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, that district alone with 70 churches, the report was that it was the lowest increase in converts of any district of the whole denomination on North America. However, after revival, 119% increase in converts in that district alone, the highest of any district in North America. Evangelism, church life affected as a result. Full-time Christian service, teenager became a pastor, then a missionary pastor in Cairo, Egypt. And he said to me, he said, 70 to 75% of the young people in our youth group in 1971 in Regina, Saskatchewan during those days are now in full-time Christian service. 70 to 75%, the hand of God at work, full-time Christian. A 16 year old teenager in Pontiac, Michigan, now a pastor of Evangelical Free Church in Ohio. And he came to us one day, he said, Ralph, he said, that night revolutionized my life. The truths of Romans 6 and Galatians 2.20 about being crucified with Christ became a reality in me. I'll never forget that night. It transformed my life. By the way, you're familiar with the church in Brooklyn, New York, where David Wilkerson was a pastor? I think it's called the Metropolitan, what is it called? Times Square Tabernacle, okay. They've got 7,000 people there. 7,000, I believe around 7,000. I was speaking at a conference, a revival conference, and another man was a speaker, and I didn't recognize him. He spoke at night. The next morning I was walking through the hall, and this man comes up to me, and he said, Ralph, he said, you know, I'm so glad we're together here. I said, why? He said, I just had to thank you for something. I said, what? He said, you don't know this, but I was a teenager in Ottawa, Canada, at the Metropolitan Bible Church, and you and your brother came and had a three-week crusade there, and God touched my life, transformed my life, and that was the beginning of what's happened all through these years. Who is it? He is now the pastor of that 7,000-member church in New York City. He said, I just wanted to thank you. I had no idea. Why am I saying all this? Merely to say to you that the evidence is there. The evidence is there that when we quit playing religious games with divine truth and get serious, there are results. It will happen. It will affect the world. Toronto area pastor said recently we had two guest speakers, one in the morning, one in the evening. They never met in separate presentations. Both gave God glory that it was through the Ministry of Canadian Revival Fellowship that they became Christians and were now in Christian service. Both were converted from the Crusades in the early 70s. Another couple converted in the Kingston Crusade are now strong spiritual leaders in our church. So we had one speaker in the morning, one in the evening, they didn't know each other. Both couples, not the Lord. Restitution happens when God invades. Well, all kinds of things. Look at that, a reformed thief pays for a bike stolen three years earlier. See, and the other things I've already talked about on some of the other nights. But look at that one on the reformed thief. Well, what happened? Somebody came and brought us a copy of an article from a newspaper in Ontario. Reformed thief pays for a bike three years later. And here's the article. The fellow stole a bike, kept it for three years, and his conscience got the better of him, and he had to go make it right. A whole story of how it happened. And so, all at once, it got on the radio station. And it said, somebody talked about the man who stole the bike and returned it. And it said, as a result of that, there was another man who returned $1,300 to a parks department somewhere because of damage he did to the park 36 years earlier. He heard the story of the thief making it right. 36 years earlier, he had stolen, he had done damage, $1,300, and had to make it right. Interesting. So we were in the area, in the crusade, and people were talking about, isn't it interesting? A reformed thief, look at that. Newspaper writing the story of how it all happened. Little did we know, on the closing night, like a night like this, closing night, we said, all right, anybody want to give testimony what the Lord's done for you? And in the midst of people coming, a man walks up, he said, I just want you to know that I'm the reformed thief. And it's during these days, God broke my heart, and I had to make it right. Restitution happens when God invades in a truest sense of the word. Well, it affects the family. Yes, it does make a difference in the family, really does. One child wrote to another, you might lose sleep, but you'll be happy through the revival meetings. You want to see what that really looked like? That's a real picture there. But you want to see what it really looked like? Here's what it looked like. Look at this. Before and after. Look at this. A little child drawing to another. Look here, before. Look at all the hair, see this? Look at this here. You might lose some hair, but you'll be happy through the revival crusade. I'm not sure what to make of that. But it does. I can tell you how many times children have gone home and I say, Mommy, Daddy, please forgive me, please forgive me for the way I did, because they heard somebody give a testimony in the meeting. Yes, it does affect families. Here's, even Dennis the Menace made it to Canada. You see? And there's a picture of the cartoon. And basically, Dennis is all upset. He turns to his parents and says, how can you sit there and mush when we could be toasting marshmallows and roasting weenies? I really should paint that kind of red so you could see some fire there. And the person who sent us that wrote a caption on the top of it. You know what it's saying? Marriages restored. Marriages restored. Hmm. Yes? Marriages restored? Sure, North Dakota. Here you go. There's a husband and wife ready for the divorce. In fact, they were in the process of divorce. That's their son, daughter, daughter. And little did he know that she had already arranged with the church that on the Sunday morning, after the Sunday morning service, that we were going to have a wedding ceremony. And she had gone to the Salvation Army to get these outfits. And the son is the best man dressed up. She said to him, honey, you better dress up this morning because everybody's gonna be dressed up in church today because he was not used to dressing up with a shirt and tie like that. So he didn't know what was happening. So when the meeting got over, here's the loud speaker. Honey, this morning, we are going to be remarried. The first time we got married, we got married for the wrong reasons. But this time, we're going to be married in Christ. Restoration of the marriage, there it is. Jose Ileana Arvelo remarried January 8th, 1995, Grace Baptist Church, Grand Forks, North Dakota. They now are in Germany. Are they still living there? Absolutely. God at work. You remember that verse that I quoted? In the day of God's power, his people are willing. When the power of God functions, watch how there's a willingness to respond to God's truth and make things right. Absolutely. Well, it does. It affects the home, affects the family, affects marriages as well as churches. There's the couple that traveled with us for over 20 years. They're not able to be with us anymore. Dutch couple. Can God do anything for Dutch people? Any Dutch people here today? Yeah, see? Alan Audrey, van der Heide, van der Heide. Good Frisian name. First couple nights in the meetings in Ontario, he walked out. He said, we don't do this in our church. When Lou asked people to go to their knees and pray, we don't do this in our church. Well, you gotta be careful what you walk out on. They've ended up traveling with us for over 20 years. And the anointing of God on that couple, she's a little mighty might. Just before coming, I was talking to her on the phone. See, they pray for us all the time. They're not able to be with us because of health reasons now. But they've impacted thousands of people. Never had any formal training for ministry. But the anointing of God, meeting God in revival. Facelifting job. I cannot tell you how many people have gone to work and people say, whatever happened to you? Looks like you've had a facelifting job. What happened to you? What happened to you? The joy of the Lord beginning to spill out. Actually, some people have become beautiful in the process. All at once, the joy of the Lord transforming. You talk about witnessing? Just let the joy of the Lord get a hold of your heart and it begins to spill out. People say, what happened to you? You have the article in tonight's handout on this one. But it's interesting, the church was on a main highway. Church on a main highway, boom. And they put the outside in the bulletin board. Here's what they wrote. Here's what they wrote on the bulletin board. The first week, this was in the bulletin board. Revival forecast. Sun, shine, and rain. Ha ha. See, the son of God's gonna shine and he's gonna rain. See that? First week. Second week, they put revival recipe. Humble pie covered with grace. Ha ha. And the third week, they put on now happening. Grace, mercy, and hope. I didn't tell them to do it. That was the way in which they described it. And during that crusade, we saw something happen. We saw young fellas, young fellas, 13, 14, not only fellas but also girls, coming to the prayer meeting half hour before the evening service to pray. We had as many young people as we had adults in the pre-service prayer meeting. And a 14-year-old boy prayed one night, said, Lord, let this revival be the last nail into our flesh. That sounds familiar from last night. Start a chain reaction with our church to reach out to others. Save, and then he named somebody. Lord, you set him on my heart and I know he will be saved so he can start a chain reaction to reach out to others. Lord, thank you that we can become strong Christian leaders at any age. 14-year-old boy. Every night in that prayer meeting. Marvelous to see. Missionary's home on furlough meets the Lord. Well, I'll just keep moving past that. Well, here's a good definition of revival. It's when God gets so sick and tired of being misrepresented in the church that he decides to show up himself. Leonard Ravenhill, powerful indeed. Now we are to the serious time of the night where we just want to just zero in on what God really is trying to say to us personally. Revival dates, June 7 to 14. Are those the dates for revival? I say no. Do you want to know what the dates for revival are? Second Chronicles 7-14. If my people, called by my name, shall humble themselves, deal with their pride, and pray, deal with their prayerlessness, and seek my face, deal with their priorities, and turn from their wicked ways, deal with their purity, then I'll hear from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their lack. Revival. My people. Revival is not starting out in the world, it's in the church. It's my people. My people. Humility. That means giving up my rights to even be proven right. That's where it starts. And where does it begin? In my brother? Search my brother, O God, and know his thoughts. Try him. And I know, God, if you do, you'll find lots of wicked ways in him. I don't know. Search me. Try me. See if there will be in me any wicked ways. Revival begins in me. See, the power of one person, power of one person, is very real. Revival. Well, will you pay the price? The prophet Ezekiel said, I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it. He said, I was looking for a man. I was looking for one. Tragedy is I found none. Very personal. A man asked Evan Roberts, a few years after the Welsh revival, will God visit us with revival again? And he answered, who will pay the price? The price is that of purity, holiness, and prevailing prayer. That's the price. How many of you recognize that name, Dr. Sherwood Wirt? Do you recognize that name? The former editor of Decision Magazine, Billy Graham's magazine, for many years. Tell you what happened. When he heard what was happening in Western Canada, he got in touch with Leonard Ravenhill, who has written the books on revival. He said, Leonard, I heard a revival is broken out in Western Canada. What should I do? And Ravenhill said to him, Woody, so he called him Sherwood, Woody, he called Woody, Woody, get on the next plane and get up there as quickly as you can. He said, by the time I was able to get there, the meetings had moved to the city of Winnipeg that I was talking to you about. Lou and I were never there. Two pastors were there. You know, in times of reviving and refreshing like that with the anointing of God, it didn't matter who was preaching. It's not in a man. It's people getting honest with God. Watching what happens. So, he said, when he got there, he found that there was a Mennonite brethren, man and his wife, who gave their testimony about how their marriage was saved. And they were having what they called afterglows, where after the meeting, they'd sit together in a circle, big circle, and had a chair in the middle, and anybody who wanted prayer, just go to the chair, kneel there, and we'll pray with you. That's what God seemed to use in those days. It was marvelous. And when he saw that in Winnipeg, he asked this couple to come to Minneapolis. Here he is working for Billy Graham in Minneapolis. You know where Minneapolis is, don't you? Sure, it's a suburb of International Falls. And he tells a story of what that was like. Now, I have the book that the Dr. Sherwood Wirt wrote. Got twisted on that one. Guess what the name of the book is? Afterglow. And underneath it, the excitement of being filled with the Spirit. Former editor of Decision Magazine. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the most unique accounts of what God can do in a person's life in revival. Transforming the life of the editor of Decision Magazine. Now, I brought the book because I want to read just a short portion of it. How God transformed this man's marriage. By the way, this book is out of print. And if you want my copy, $150. You may go on eBay and find a copy. You may pay $20 or $30 for it. But just listen, just listen. Difficult marriage. The editor of Decision Magazine. I just want to read just a little bit of it and set the stage for the last page of the book so you can see it. Here it goes. It says, I couldn't figure it out. There I was, sitting in the same easy chair, in the same room with the same wife, same job, and I was happy. I felt a silly grin cracking my face. A doggered tune danced through my head. We'll give the glory to Jesus. And by the way, that was our victory chorus in revival. Whenever there's a victory, we want God to get the glory. The television set was on, but it showed little to smile about. Minnesota's weather was south of zero. Does that sound familiar? Cambodia had been invaded. The stock market was slumping like a wet dandelion. And there I sat with a Cheshire green, not able to understand why. My wife lay on the Davenport reading the newspaper and munching pretzels. My medication requires salt, was her explanation. Ha ha, that's a good one. Honey, I said, struggling to express my mood. You're a fine woman, do you know that? She muttered something incomprehensible. I mean it, I said. Furthermore, I believe that you've treated me better than I've treated you. This is him talking. That's true, she said, turning to the next page of the newspaper. Would you like to play a game of Scrabble with me? No, thanks. I know what it is, I thought. I know what it is. He said he can't understand why he's acting like this. I know what it is, I thought. I've been filled with the spirit, that meeting on Sunday night. Anything I can do for you, dear? I went on, recklessly. You can carry down those three boxes to the basement that I asked you to carry 10 days ago. I got to my feet with the air of a man who has just decided to kick a bad habit. The fact was that nothing had taken a turn for the better. It was all muddling along as usual. What I had hoped for had failed to materialize. All the sources of irritation in my life were still there. His wife. I had not been to an emotional religious meeting, nor was I taking a trip. But I had a contentment that was not there yesterday. The bitter taste of life was gone. For years, I had cocked my ear to a little voice that whispered, if only, if only, if only, if only. Where was that voice? For years, I had plugged along, trying to serve the Lord and adjusting to disappointments. Now I was savoring the realization that there is no disappointment in Jesus. For years, I carried in my viscera a burning resentment towards certain people. It had disappeared. I came up from the basement, thinking about that loyal, faithful, devoted, and loving partner God had given me. As I passed the refrigerator, I asked, would you like some ice cream, dear? Winona rattled the papers, that won't get you out of the doghouse. Ice cream? I repeated, I guess so. She said, that's the way chapter one ends. You wanna read an interesting book? Hmm, listen to this. On that previous Sunday night, January, 1972, about 25 people from different churches gathered in the basement of the church in Minneapolis. They had just dismissed service upstairs. The speakers were two Canadians. Harry and Evelyn Thiessen. And they had told how God had caused them, after 20 years of an increasingly bleak marriage, to fall in love with each other all over again. It happened, they said, during the revival in Winnipeg a month earlier. But the revival wasn't a big outburst of excitement. Rather, it was a quiet working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of frustrated believers. Anyone can be revived, they insisted, if he will, listen to this, watch how they cut the message. If he will deal honestly with his problem, pray for the crucifixion of self, and then ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit. Fair enough. And besides, it was 8.30, time to go home. So most of the sensible people went home. And now here we were, the wedding day. The ones who were left, sitting in a circle, looking at each other. A chair was placed in the center, and Harry said, this is an afterglow. We're here to pray. If someone would like prayer, we'll pray with him. We can kneel here by this chair or go somewhere else. And no one stirred. I began to fidget. I was the one who, after listening to their testimony in Winnipeg, three and a half weeks earlier, had invited Harry and Evelyn to come across the border and talk about the revival. In fact, I paid their airfare from Manitoba. Earlier that evening, they told how afterglows had been in churches all over Western Canada with great results. So here we were in an afterglow. And it bombed. Now what? Looking around, I noticed that people were beginning to act embarrassed. Perhaps I could lift the tension by asking prayer for myself. Not that I needed it particularly, although one could always use some prayer. I began to speak. And to borrow a phrase of Augustine's, God cut the strings of my tongue. What was hidden in me spilled out. Bitterness, hurt, longing, the sense that life had ganged up on me, resentment toward others. Yes, I had things going for me, but they weren't going anywhere. In personal satisfaction, the equation wasn't working out. I was helping Billy Graham, but no one was helping me. Something was lacking, something in me, no doubt. But a piece was missing, and it seemed to be the most important piece. Keep listening. And I hadn't the muggiest idea as to what it was or what to do about it. Soon, hands were being laid on my shoulders, my head. People were kneeling alongside me and praying for me. Then it was my turn to pray. And I did so fervently, eloquently, I thought. Adequately, after all, he's written several books. I asked God to help me be this and help me do that and help me be this. I finished and tried to get up. But hands held me down. Then I heard Harry's voice. Ask God to crucify you. Crucify me? I wasn't even sure the idea was theologically sound. To do what, I stammered? Nail you to the cross, was his reply. Well, he had me, this bearded civil engineer from Manitoba. What could I do? I did as directed. Now ask God to fill you with his spirit and thank him for it. I swallowed and obeyed. Someone started a course and they let me go. I went back to my seat, considerably subdued, feeling awkward and foolish. Evelyn, this is Harry's wife, smiled in my direction. You probably don't have much of a sensation of blessing now, she said. Don't worry. The feeling will come later. And how? She was right. It came and it has never left. That's the end of chapter two. And that's all I'm gonna read. Aren't you glad? What a classic. Right where the rubber meets the road. How God spared his marriage, saved his marriage and his whole ministry. Why have I read that? Because I want to show you some of the last statements of the book. I'm gonna show you. And just before I do that, the last statement of the book that I don't have, it's a beautiful thing to learn that the Holy Spirit is love. As Barb Eggle, a young Mennonite girl said during an afterglow in an Illinois country church, it's like having an exciting new person in your life. Last statement of the book. But let me read to you, let me show you part of the last page. Testimony of Sherwood Ward. Let's get the message. Here it is. Revival met my need and forced me to reorder my priorities. It was exasperating to spend many years trying to change other people and then discover that God wanted to change me. The impact I had hoped to leave on my world was nothing to the impact the Holy Spirit made on me. He sent me back to square one. Hmm, look at me, my, me, me, I. My need. Ordered, reordered my priorities. Hmm. He goes on to say, instead of talking and writing about the cross, I was nailed to it. Instead of taking up the problems of humanity and trying to unravel them, I faced up to my own. Instead of urging others to be unselfish, I was emptied of self. And instead of going through life spiritually dehydrated, I fell into a vat full of love. Amen. There it is. There it is. Former editor of Decision Magazine. I don't know how you can improve any words than that. Instead of talking about the cross, I was nailed to it. Crucifying self at the cross. Talking about everybody else's problem, I faced up to my own. Urging others to be unselfish, I was emptied of self. Instead of going through life wishing there were more, dehydrated spiritually, I fell into a vat full of love. I don't know how you feel about it all, but I just really believe that God has brought us together for these divine moments. What's going on here these days is not casual. There is enough power in this room tonight that if it would be yielded to God in total surrender to the Lordship of Christ, it would be able to spark a genuine spiritual revival that could take place all through this area, that this community will know that God is alive once again. But as long as we live in our self-centered and in our smug complacency, it'll never happen. I just really believe that God would be pleased for us to do something that we have not done during these nights together. I believe God would be pleased for us to turn this whole sanctuary into a prayer room. We're not there, but all up here. And we're all going to come and stand around, all up on the platform, all around, move the microphones, everything out of the way, and we're going to just call on God. To create within us a hunger for a genuine moving of the Spirit of God, collectively as a body of believers. And we want to deal with everything that we know is not right. And we want to pray with each other just here, standing together all around here, and see what God will say to us tonight, what he wants to do. Could be a turning point in your life, in your home, your family, your church, to affect this community. You see, once we get so tired of the nonsense, like that man said, Albert Einstein, if we could just get back to what Jesus Christ taught, the simplicity of what he taught, and get rid of all the extras and the nonsense, we have the message that's able to transform all the social ills of mankind. That's why the devil fights the church, and that's why the devil fights anybody interested in revival. When God's people are set free from their bondages. And we can come together here, and right here, you can meet God right where you're standing here in prayer. And make it a sacred place, a hallowed moment. Where you'll be honest with God about your sin, and surrender the rights of self. Ask God to bring you to that place of peace and the crucifixion of self at the cross. Agreeing with God about that death union. And ask God to fill you with his spirit. And then ask God to create within us such a tremendous hunger for revival. That's what God's after tonight. I really believe that. So why don't we do that? Lord, I pray that a spirit of prayer will continue to grow in this place. We're just not interested in words, we're interested in a spirit of prayer. It gets a hold of our hearts, it brings us to the end of ourselves, and brings us to the foot of the cross, and keeps us living there. Lord, I'm just going to trust you. The one who has begun the good work, he's the one who's going to perform it, not us. And by faith, we claim that. We claim that for every family that's represented here, we claim it for this church, and the other churches represented here, and we claim it for this community, and we claim it for the glory of God. And we're going to trust you. We're going to believe that these are just beginning days for what you long to do to bring honor to your name. Lord, I pray that that life of Christ will flow through us in such a way that all will see who you really are. We trust you. Now, Lord, if anything has been said, or prayed for self or vainglory, may it go totally unheeded. But may those things that are closest to your heart be those things that we take with us tonight, and begin to enlarge what you've begun in every one of our lives. And we're going to give you the praise and the glory for it. You're worthy of it. In Christ's name we ask it. Amen. Amen.