In this sermon, Brother Denny emphasizes the importance of revival in the church. He highlights three key characteristics of the early church that was built through revival. Firstly, the church was founded on a solid foundation, which is Jesus Christ. Secondly, the church had a clear purpose, which was to love God and love their neighbors. Lastly, the church was marked by evangelism, as they were empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses for Christ. Brother Denny encourages believers to seek revival in their own lives and in their churches, so that they can experience the same power and impact as the early church.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. O God, we do bless You, Father. In Jesus Christ's name we bless You, Holy Father. We thank You for Your loving kindness to us, God. We believe in Your goodness. You are a good Father to us and we are Your children. Lord, You said, If a father being evil knows how to give good gifts unto his children, how much more shall Your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask? O Father, we come asking in faith, believing here this afternoon. Give us Your Spirit, Lord. Fill us with Your Spirit, Lord. All of us, dear God. We don't want to live this Christian life by ourselves, God. We want to do it in a way that honors and glorifies You, Father. So fill us now with Your Spirit, the preacher and the hearers, and give us Your full will. Let Your kingdom come and Your will be done on earth even as it is in heaven, God. We pray in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. We're going to be in the book of Acts this afternoon, if you want to turn there. The title of the message this afternoon is, The Church That Revival Built. The Church That Revival Built. You know, we live in a day and an age and a land where they're using all kinds of methods to build church. And some of those methods are pretty sad. You know, they have proven to us that it's not hard to get a crowd. But the question is, is that the church that Jesus Christ built? Or is that a church that man has built? Is it the church that Jesus built? Or is it the church that entertainment built? Is it the church that Jesus built? Or is it the church that socials built? What kind of church is it? I mean, today, this day we live in, they go out into the community and find out what everybody likes. What kind of music they like. Whether they like sports. What kind of sports they like. Whether they like a gymnasium or not. They put all those things alongside of the church building and fill up the auditorium with people. But is that the church that Jesus built? I don't think so. The church that revival built is the church that Jesus built. Amen? We have been looking at a lot of history this week. And that is helpful. However, God has given us Holy Spirit breathed history that we dare not overlook as we are considering this subject of revival. Holy Spirit breathed history. Before we are in Acts, maybe we should just read a little bit over here in Matthew. Matthew chapter 16. Very famous verses, reading from verse 13. When Jesus came unto the coast of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some say thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. And He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And that is a good question for all of us to ask ourselves today. Whom say ye that I am? Beautiful question that He asked. And Simon Peter, answering, said those most powerful and most famous words. He said to the Lord Jesus, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Thou art the Christ. Thou art the Anointed One. Thou art the Blessed One. You are the One that was promised. You are the Messiah. You are the Christ. You are the Son of the living God. Wow, Peter! Flesh and blood hath not revealed that unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. And by the way, young people, if your heart can bear testimony today that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, I'm here to tell you that flesh and blood did not reveal that to you either. And what you have and the revelation of it that you have, that you hold within your being, is the most awesome thing that you could own. Be careful with what you possess. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And you know it. Wow! How good God is to you. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. And then He said these words, and they were prophetic words. And He said, And I say also unto thee, Thou art Peter, little rock. And upon this rock, big rock, I will build My church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. In this passage, Jesus is giving a prophetic utterance. He was a prophet, so it shouldn't surprise us that He speaks prophetically. And He is speaking prophetically here. No doubt about it. This word began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, through the book of Acts, and is still being fulfilled all over the world, wherever there are people who meet the conditions that Jesus gave in this text. It's quite a promise He made, isn't it? It has been an effectual promise for nearly 2,000 years, for anybody who is willing to prove it. Thou art Peter, little rock. And upon this rock, big rock, I will build My church. What was Jesus saying there? Jesus was saying, Peter, that revelation that just came out of your mouth is a big rock. And on that rock, and that revelation, and the truth of that revelation, and the reality of that revelation, I will build My church. I'm going to build a church, says Jesus. I'm going to build a church, oh, like nothing you've ever seen before. I'm going to build a church. I'm going to build a church. It's going to have a foundation underneath it like you've never seen before. I'm going to build a church. It's going to be a church that shakes the gates of hell. And they will not prevail against it. I wonder what those disciples, what for thoughts went through their mind as all of that came to them. Look up here now. Look up here. I wonder what thoughts went through their mind when all of that came to them. What is He saying? What does that mean? How is all this going to happen? But ah, praise God, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they found out exactly what He was talking about, what those words meant in clarity and full view. In Acts chapter 1 and verse 8, Jesus said these words to His disciples just before He ascended out of their sight and went back to glory, to be seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He said these words, But ye shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and under the uttermost parts of the earth. And then He left. Another prophetic promise. Another one. And He told them, I want you to tarry. Don't you go off and go try to do something now. I know you're excited. You've seen Me now. I've been raised from the dead. You've seen My hands. You've seen My feet. You've been with Me these forty days. But don't you go off all excited and start doing anything. You tarry in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. But why was that so important? Because Jesus knew that when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes upon their hearts and their lives in power and unction, then He, the Lord Jesus, through that Holy Spirit, can build His church. Oh, we could. We'd do well to heed that counsel ourselves, wouldn't we? Well, ten days later, the promise was fulfilled. Acts chapter two. God came and visited the disciples. There were a hundred and twenty present at the time in the upper room. And suddenly, and suddenly, there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. And it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire. And it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues or languages as the Spirit gave them utterance. Ye shall be endued with power from on high. The community came together to see what was happening. Peter took the open door and preached a powerful sermon to them. Acts chapter two, verse sixteen, is part of that sermon. The people were amazed. The people wondered what was going on. And Peter explained to them what was happening in Acts chapter two, verse sixteen. Let's read there. Peter said to them, This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. They shall speak forth the mind and will of God in the power of the Holy Ghost. That's what that little word prophesy means, young people. They shall speak forth the mind and will of God in the power of the Holy Ghost. They shall prophesy. It was beautiful what happened that day. It was, no doubt, it was, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, even as it is in heaven that day. No doubt about it. No doubt. Multitudes were gripped with conviction that day, and three thousand souls were saved. A little time later, five thousand souls were saved. You know, sometimes we, maybe you were a bit shocked by some of the accounts I gave you of thirty conversions on a Sunday morning. What would you do with three thousand of them on a Sunday morning? You say, well, that doesn't happen anymore. Well, beloved young people, this is the granddaddy of all historical counts of revival. And you have it in your Bible. You know, praise God for all your interest in how many went back and wanted to find out what book I was reading out of. Well, I'm just telling you what book I'm going to be reading out of today. Okay? You don't have to go back there and buy a book. It's right here. But you know, sometimes I don't think we take what is written in here as seriously as what we take written in a book back there. Or it may be that somebody theologized the whole thing away for us and it doesn't mean anything anymore. But this account in the book of Acts is the granddaddy of all historical accounts of a revival. And it is written for our learning, for our inspiration, and yea, even to challenge us. It is part of the all Scripture that is given by inspiration of God. And it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Why? That the man of God and the woman of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished under all good works. These chapters, this historical account is given to us by God, breathed out by God, by the Spirit of God for our learning. Do you believe that? I want to focus on some of the clear evidences of revival found in the early church as recorded in Acts. And then show that the same evidences were present in the accounts of true revival recorded in history. And there are more than we can cover in this short amount of time. But I want to encourage you, young people, after sitting through all of these sessions, when you get back home to your house, why don't you sit down with the book of Acts and just search your way through every chapter in the book of Acts, maybe with a red pen or a green pen in your hand, and mark every verse which is a manifestation or a clear definition of those things which you've been hearing all this week and see how many you find. My heart is reminded of the German missionaries who were missionaries to the Zulu people in South Africa. It was them who realized their powerlessness as they were there trying to win the Zulu people to Jesus Christ. And the Zulu people is probably the fiercest warring tribe in all of Africa. And they are known for that. And the other tribes in Africa all know that the Zulu tribe is the fiercest tribe in Africa. And these German missionaries were there trying to win them to the Lord Jesus. It wasn't going so well. And instead of them saying, well, they're just gospel-hardened and they don't want to hear and they don't care and we're just going to go home and forget these guys. They're not open to what we have to say. They got on their knees instead and said, God, what is wrong with me? Good place to start when you're a failing missionary. Good place to start when you're a failing church. Good place to start when you're a failing young person. Lord, what is wrong with me? They started having prayer meetings and a little Bible study early in the morning and they wept their way through the book of Acts on their knees. As they read, they wept. As they read, they were convicted. As they read, they wept some more. And they cried and they repented. And God began to deal with them. And when God finished dealing with them, six months later, God broke in among those Zulu people and swept thousands and thousands of them into the kingdom. And by the way, young people, that wasn't 1870. That was 1970. And if you went to South Africa today, Brother Keith Daniel is from South Africa and so is Gerard de Toy and they will tell you there are literally tens of thousands of serious Zulu Christians. They have big conferences over there. And they tell me that they are more like us than the evangelical church in the United States. They have huge conferences with tens of thousands of them gathering for days of worshiping God and reading the Word. Aren't we glad those German missionaries were humble enough to take a good long look at their anemic Christianity? I'm sure the Zulu people are. The church that Revival built. Let's look at some of the evidences of revival in the church that Revival built. In the book of Acts, the first one, and it is the foremost one of all of them that we're going to talk about, and it is this. That church was founded upon a rock. Remember what Jesus said. Jesus said, upon this rock I will build my church. And what we find written in the book of Acts is a clear fulfillment of that prophecy that Jesus made. So surely we ought to be able to find the rock all over the pages of the book of Acts. And sure enough, we find Him there. Sixty-eight times in the book of Acts you find the name Jesus, or Jesus Christ, or the Lord Christ, or something referring to the rock. Sixty-eight times in the book of Acts. It is the gospel of Christ, dear young people. It is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I'm here to tell you this afternoon, it's not just the fact that they were using His name. You see, it's not just His name. It's Jesus. Personally, when Jesus said upon this rock, He wasn't saying, if you'll get your theology right, I'll build a church wherever you have the right theology. He was saying, you build your lives on Me. And I will build a church. That's a whole lot different than you better get your theology straight, although I believe in theology and we ought to have a right theology of Jesus Christ, but a right theology of Jesus Christ doesn't mean anything if we don't have the reality of Jesus Christ in our hearts and our life. And they had the reality. They were caught up with the Lord Jesus Christ. Everywhere they went, it was talking about the Lord Jesus. When they had prayer, they prayed in the name of the Holy Child Jesus. When they sang, they sang about Jesus. When they had fellowship, everybody was talking about Jesus. Even in the question and the answer periods, they were talking about Jesus. And if you don't think there was any question and answer periods, you're not thinking very deeply. Because there were thousands of people there in the city of Jerusalem, and when they found out that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, and believed on Him, they also found out these twelve apostles were with Him for three and a half years. Let's ask them everything we can. And they asked questions and the apostles answered. This is what the Lord Jesus said about this. This is what the Lord Jesus said about this. And it went on and on and on. Oh, it was days of heaven on earth, young people. Very interesting to me, as I study the history of the accounts of revival, that in every one of them, as soon as the Holy Ghost began to move among those people, Jesus came into the fore. Every time. And let me tell you why. Because Jesus said, when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He's going to talk about me, Jesus said. He's going to talk about me. He's going to focus your attention on me. He's going to teach you more about me. And so, in all the historical accounts of revival, it's always a revival of the Lord Jesus Christ. Personal relationship with Jesus Christ is right up there at the beginning, where it should be. The early church was founded upon a rock. Number two, young people, the early church, the church that revival built, had a purpose. They, oh you know, there's this little book out today, The Purpose Driven Church. You know, they were a purpose driven church. Do you know what their purpose was? One purpose. To love God with all their heart. And love their neighbor as their self. They had one purpose in their hearts and their lives, and that was, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, ye shall be my witnesses. In Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and under the uttermost parts of the earth. You see, they heard the last words of their precious Lord Jesus, when He said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Gone. Out of their sight. Talking about making an impression. They had a purpose. The purpose was the Great Commission. They had a purpose. It consumed them. It was all they wanted to do, was tell everybody else what Jesus had done for them, to spread the news that Jesus the Christ rose from the dead. My, that wasn't a very popular message, by the way, in Jerusalem in those days. If you remember what Peter said in his first sermon, scared, shaking, trembling Peter, who shook in his sandals, and a little maiden who pointed a finger at him, stood up after the day of Pentecost, and faced the whole crowd, and told them, you crucified Him, and whom you crucified, the Lord raised Him from the dead. Strong words. Well, someone very well said, when revival is the experience of the church, evangelism will be the expression of the church. And I've seen that to be so in my own life, and I've seen it in churches and lives of churches, and I would have to say again, young people, as I look at the testimonies of genuine revival, the ones that you look back on, every one that was genuine, the thing that marked it so clearly was this. Souls. Souls. We've got to get the message out. We've got to get the Word out. We've got to go after this one and that one. One of the accounts that I was reading, I would believe it was in Wales in 1904, there was one man in one of the communities, he was a big fellow, he was a real strong, burly fellow, and he was about 40 years old, and he was a fighter. And everybody was afraid of him. And he was a bully, and he scared everybody away from him, and he was strong, and I mean, if he picked a fight with somebody, he always won. Bless God, that community got on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ, and they went after him. They went after him. And you guess who was running then? He was running. He was afraid of them. If you see one of those little church people coming down the road, that big old burly man headed down the street the other direction. He was afraid of the people of God. He didn't want to get around them. He was afraid of what might happen to him. He even fled to the woods trying to get away from them, but you can't flee from the Holy Ghost. And they prayed for him anyway, and he got born again. And the whole community was on fire with joy when that big fellow got born again. Guess what? He never lifted up his fist again against anybody. The lion became a lamb. And praise the Lord. Evangelism, young people. This is a mark of true Christianity. It's a mark of true revival. And let me tell you something, if there is no evangelism, there's something dead hanging around. Number three, the church that revival built was clean. It was clean. In Acts 2, verse 37, we find these words, Now when they heard this, Peter's sermon, they were pricked in their hearts and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent! Good words, Peter. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promises unto you and unto your children, and all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. And guess what? Three thousand of them that day took Him on His word. And they became a clean church. Clean. Repentance from sin, young people. That's a mark of every true revival. You know, lots of times people read and hear stories and some of them say, Oh boy, we want God to do that. Let's pray that God will visit us. And I tell you, they don't even know what they're praying. Because they don't realize that if God would visit them like what they're reading about, every one of them would be smashed on their face, weeping over the needs in their life. Every one of them. But I don't think they realize that. But I'm here to tell you that when God visits His people like what we've been challenging about this week, He convicts them of their sin. And young people, it's not just sins of commission, but it's also sins of omission. Did you know there's some of those in the Bible too? Prayerlessness is a sin! No concern for lost souls is a sin! And when the Lord settles down upon His people, they begin to see the depths of the sins, the motives of their hearts. Many of the accounts that I read, I was awestruck at some of the testimonies. I mean, whole churches full of people just flat out on their faces, weeping. One man walked into his church after the Spirit of God had fell upon the people and he hadn't been there, so he just kind of walked into the middle of it and he thought, hey, there's something wrong here. This is wrong. And he tried to stop them. Hey, stop this stuff! Quiet down! You're making too much noise! And all that stuff. He couldn't touch it. He couldn't touch it. Why couldn't He quiet them down? They were gripped with conviction. You know, it's interesting to me as I study revival, you know that it's a bit of a theological debate back and forth, you know, what about confession of sin and open confession of sin, you know. You just need to confess your sins to God and don't worry about anything else, you know, and things like that. But it's very interesting to me in every account of revival that I ever looked at, when the Spirit of God settles down upon the people and they get a baptism of honesty, they want to stand to their feet and acknowledge their transgressions. No, they don't go to a priest and try to get him to absolve them. They just stand. They're more humble than that. They stand publicly and confess them to the whole crowd. Many, many occasions, a man or a woman would stand and give a half of a testimony, a half of a confession, you know, being ashamed to give the whole thing, only to come back to the meeting the next evening so miserably under conviction because he lied to the congregation and only told half the truth that he was on his feet again, confessing two sins instead of one. The church that Revival built was a clean church. It was a clean church because the blood of Jesus Christ availed. It was a clean church because they preached repentance. But, dear brothers and sisters, it was a clean church because the conviction of the Holy Ghost was upon them. When He shall come, He will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. And He did. And they couldn't bear it. It was powerful. Humility. Beautiful humility. Sometimes we read the account there of Ananias and Sapphira and we think, boy, we can hardly imagine that something like that would happen in a church. But it's because of our low idea of what the church is all about. But if you just picture somebody in the midst of an outpouring of God's Spirit, standing to their feet and coming to the front and putting only half the money on the altar and telling all the people that they gave all of it, then it doesn't surprise us at all that they were smoked dead right on the spot. Why? Because just like Peter said, you lied to the Holy Ghost who is all over this meeting. 1 John 1.7 If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. In the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son keeps on cleansing us from all sin. That's the church that revivaled. It was a powerful church. Oh, the gates of hell did not prevail against that church. It was a clean church. It couldn't prevail. Number four, they had the Holy Ghost. They had the Holy Ghost. Sixty-six times in the book of Acts you'll find the word Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, the Spirit. Sixty-six times in the book of Acts it's very clear, young people, that the Holy Ghost was an active member of the early church. He wasn't just a doctrine. He wasn't a presence. He wasn't a thing. He wasn't an it. He was the person of the Holy Ghost in the midst of the church, the early church. He was an active member of the church and He was present at all the meetings. And it's interesting to me as I study the history of revivals, that in every one of those solid revivals, the doctrine of being filled with, anointed with the Holy Ghost rose right up and became a clear teaching, believed and sought by all that were there. It seems that they could tell without a doubt that they can't make it unless they are filled with the Holy Ghost. And dear young people, you can't make it unless you are filled with the Holy Ghost. I'm out here to tell it to you. If you are not, you will go home and you will just fail. They had the Holy Ghost. And as I read the accounts of the history of revivals, that is a prominent one in every situation. Sometimes, because the church was willing to stay on their knees and pray, the Holy Ghost moved right outside the church building and out into the community. Wouldn't that be a blessing? Right out into the community. And you walk up to that guy out there in Ephrata, you know, downtown Ephrata. You walk up to him and speak a couple of words to him and he's seized with conviction. He starts to weep. That's the way it was in revival days. And by the way, that's the way it was in the book of Acts days. They were gripped with conviction. Number five, the church that revival built was filled with the Apostles' Doctrine. Acts chapter 2 says, they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' Doctrine. 242. What is the Apostles' Doctrine? Well, the Apostles' Doctrine is all the things that Jesus told the Apostles to teach everybody else. Remember what He said? All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. All authority is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, go ye therefore and make disciples in all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you. There's the Apostles doing just that. The Apostles' Doctrine. What are the Apostles' Doctrine? It's the straight and narrow way. It was a gospel of repentance. It was a gospel of total commitment. It was a gospel of sacrifice. That's the kind of gospel it was. That was the Apostles' Doctrine. Think about the words of Jesus. You can't be My disciple if you don't forsake all. You can't be My disciple if you love money. You can't be My disciple if you're not willing to forsake all. You can't be My disciple if you love your mom and dad more than you love Me. And on and on and on all those words go. This was the Apostles' Doctrine. And it's very interesting to me again as I study the accounts of revival, that in every one of them, it was clear commitments, young people. I mean, there was no such thing as easy believism. Nothing. Nothing of the sort. I mean, in the Hebrides revival, God skipped the soul winners. There wasn't any soul winner to go up and tell you, Okay, do you see that you're a sinner? Do you see this? Let's pray this prayer. God skipped the soul winners in the Hebrides revival and gripped the people with conviction. And they wailed before God and prevailed before God and sought God that He would have mercy upon them. And God didn't release them and give them peace until they committed their life to God. There wasn't any of this pray this little prayer and you've got your one-way ticket to heaven. There was none of that in the Hebrides revival that people were gripped with conviction and God didn't let them go until they let go of everything. That's the Apostles' Doctrine, young people. The things that Jesus taught them, they taught the people. And it hasn't changed. Oh, God would come in such a way, straighten all of our theology out. Amen. Number six, the church that revival built knew what fellowship was. Fellowship. They continued in the Apostles' Doctrine and fellowship. That word fellowship is koinonia. It's a word that speaks of a deep, intimate, close fellowship. As I study that word fellowship myself, I can hardly use the phrase anymore, two fellows in the same ship. You can't touch it with those words. That's not koinonia. That's just two fellows in the same ship. But that's not koinonia. They had fellowship, bearing one another's burdens, loving one another. They had beautiful fellowship. And if they fellowshiped, it seems day in and day out, and they were constantly together and over here and over at this person's house and breaking bread at Brother So-and-So's and having a prayer meeting over here. I mean, these people were fanatics. It didn't matter. They didn't care. Well, in revival days, it's the same way. I mean, I've read so many accounts of 18-hour church services that I couldn't give them all to you here today. Can you imagine a church service that starts at 9 o'clock in the morning and gets over at 3 o'clock the next morning? And nobody's looking at the clock saying, man, would you hurry up and get home and do something! Nobody was looking at the clock. And they didn't care. Why? God was there. And they were knit together. And they loved one another. And the Spirit of God was drawing their hearts together. And their hearts were being inflamed by the mutual fellowship one of another. I read an account of one meeting that lasted for six days. It never stopped for six days. People did leave and go for three hours and sleep and come back, and the meeting just kept on going. It lasted for six days. Non-stop. They had fellowship. It was koinonia. They shared everything with each other. They didn't have all this, this is mine and this is yours and don't touch mine and I won't touch yours. They didn't have any of that stuff. They just took care of each other. I mean, you imagine it. That church of 3,120 members, 3,000 of them were out-of-town visitors. They were out of all those nations. Or a lot of them were. They all heard them speaking in their own languages. And when they found out, hey, this is it. This is what we've been waiting for. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He rose from the dead. This is it. The Spirit has been poured out. I mean, none of them wanted to go back to their businesses, so they stayed in Jerusalem. No problem. We'll just sell our house and help support you while you're here. It was no big deal. Number seven. The church that Revival built had hot prayer meetings. You know what a hot prayer meeting is? I think you do by now, don't you? What do I mean by a hot prayer meeting? Is that a prayer meeting that makes a lot of noise? Not necessarily. Is that a prayer meeting where you sweat? You might. But what I mean by that is fervent. Fervent. If you ask the Romanians, and we have one with us here, if you ask the Romanians what the transliteration of the Romanian word for fervent is into English, it will tell you hot. Hot. Hot prayers. Fervent prayers. You see, they believe that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. I wonder if we believe that. Thirty-eight times in the book of Acts, prayer. Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. Prayer meetings flow out of Revival, young people. In the history of Revivals, prayer burst them, and prayer flows out of them. And prayer continues them. Why not? If God is answering prayers, I mean, why not get together every evening? If God is answering prayers, got any prayers you need answered? Any souls you'd like to see saved? God is answering prayers. Oh! He is! Yes! Spread the news! God is answering prayers! I'm going to the prayer meeting. If God is answering prayers, I'm going to the prayer meeting. And dear young people, that's the way it was. God was answering prayers, so they were praying. Why was God answering prayers? Did He sit in heaven and say, well, I guess it's time that I answer a few prayers? No. God's people got on praying ground, and immediately God started answering prayers. Effectual prayers. Hot prayers. Fervent prayers. Righteous prayers. Prayers that are prayed out of a righteous heart. A heart that's been made clean by the blood of Jesus. A heart that has an open heaven over it. Prayers like that were being prayed, and that's what built that church that made the gates of hell tremble. That kind of prayer. And again, as I study the history of revivals, you see it in every single one of them. Prayer. When will we ever learn? And I don't mean you. I mean we. And me. I thought about it this morning as I was working and pondering and meditating and this message, I thought about it this morning. You know, maybe we failed. Maybe we failed. Some years ago, God visited the fellowship here. Some years ago, and it wasn't like what we've been telling you young people about, but God visited us, and everybody that was there knew it. But you know what? We met for three weeks. Every night we met for three weeks. But, then, you know, we're very industrious people around here in Lancaster County. We've got lots to do. We've got our businesses. There's many other things to do. We just kind of, that was enough. Went back to our work, and it's okay to work. I'm not saying it's wrong to work, but somehow, that thing just kind of, you know, and we're not what we used to be. Maybe we failed our community. We only prayed for three weeks. And that doesn't mean that we don't pray. We pray. But I'm telling you, some of these accounts, when the Spirit of God moved into the church, and the church got in tune with what God was doing, the church started praying in mass. And they prayed for months. And all of a sudden, God broke loose in the community. That's what we want, isn't it? We all want to win our communities. Prayer. Prayer. Hot prayers. Fervent prayers. Desperate prayers. Number eight. The church that Revival built was unified. I mean, it was glued together. It was glued together. The Bible says they were all in one accord. It was glued together. They didn't sit down and say, okay, let's see. Now, let's all believe the same thing. Okay, we're going to be unified. No. Although there's wisdom in doing that, but that's not where they got their unity. They got their unity from the One who gives unity. The unity of the Spirit. The unity that the Spirit gives is what unified the church that Revival built. And in every situation, in every account that I read, I see it exactly the same. Never division. Only drawing together. And I understand there's lots of ecumenical things being said these days, and they're telling everybody to lay down all your doctrines and get together and all that. I'm not talking about that. That's just as bad as sitting down and deciding if we all decide on the same thing. I'm talking about a unity that is given by the Spirit of God, where the Spirit of God takes the people of God who have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, and their lives are committed to God, and He draws them together like glue, and they're stuck there. That's the unity we're talking about. And when Revival comes, it's there. It's there. And we need it. We need it. Number nine. And by the way, we could put ten more in here, but I'm out of time. Number nine. God was at work in miraculous ways in the church that Revival built. It was not a shocking surprise when God did some miraculous thing among them. We could turn to many places in the book of Acts to show you that, but I think you know that already. You've read the book of Acts. God worked in mighty ways, working miracles, some positive ones, some negative ones. But the point is, God was a miraculous God in those days. I mean, you think about it. Peter gets thrown in prison. An angel comes and gets him out at night. Hmm? Herod gets all puffed up and gives himself a speech, and everybody, you know, worships him for the words that he says, and he doesn't give the glory to God, and he's smoked just like that and eaten with worms. Whoa. Man. Ananias and Sapphira die in the church service for lying against the Holy Ghost. Well, in my study of revivals, when God is at work in the midst of His people, you also see the miraculous. It just comes right up there. There it is. Not that everything gets all set straight and everybody that's sick gets healed. No, I'm not talking about that. But, the miraculous is there. It's there. Why? Because God is there. How about that? Can I give you that simple theology? Because God is there. And He is a powerful God. And lastly, the church that Revival built was persecuted. It was persecuted. They got opposition. Threats were given to them. Warnings were given to them. Beatings were given to them. Imprisonment was given to them. Stonings came their way. All these things, the church that Revival built, faced. Would you ever notice the courage that they had? Though those warnings were given to them, though they saw, some of them saw Stephen being stoned, though those warnings were given, though those things were happening, nothing seemed to move them. Nothing. Persecution? Sure. Yeah. Why? The devil does not like Revival. And he will use anybody he can to do whatever he can to try to confuse the whole thing, try to stop it, try to defuse it. He'll do anything he can. Well, it's that way in the history of Revivals too. My, there's quite some testimonies of things that happened. I mean, one meeting that they had, it was an open air meeting, and they turned two or three wild bulls loose in a crowd of 5,000 people. Men sent into the meetings to scream and holler and disrupt the meetings and beat on drums and make noise and all of that stuff. Coming in there, gets seized with the conviction of the Holy Spirit and can't even pound on their drum. There's always opposition, young people. There's always going to be some opposition. That won't be every day, but you can count on it. You can count on it. The church that Revival built, Jesus said to Peter, after Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God, He said. And thou art Peter, little rock. And upon this rock, big rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Don't forget that, young people. God is still in the church building business today. All is not dark and gloomy. He is still in the church building business today. Let's bow for prayer. God our Father, send Revival, Lord. Thank You for this historical account that You've given to us in the Word of God. Lord, if nothing else, I pray that You will take this message, Lord, and use it in the hearts of these young people that they may find themselves combing the pages of the Book of Acts, reading and examining and weeping as they go. God, we just commit this time into Your hands and the hearts of these young people into Your care. Do what You will, Lord, with these words. In Jesus' name, Amen.