The video discussed the three priorities for revival. The first priority is to recognize that revival itself must be a priority and that there is no other hope. The second priority is to acknowledge the moral decay and societal issues that contribute to the need for revival, such as divorce, increasing taxes, pursuit of pleasure, and militarization. The third priority is to understand that the answer to these issues lies in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit through revival. The video emphasized the importance of being committed to the view that revival is the solution and that Christians must be willing to pay the price for it.

I want you to listen tonight, because I want to speak on the three priorities for revival. The three priorities for revival. And let God speak to your heart, and really do a deep work in our lives. Turn back to chapter 3. Now I'm going to try to go as quickly as I can, and this is going to be sort of a documentary kind of a message. It won't be a great biblical thesis, but I believe it'll be the burden that God wants us to hear. Now, I'm going to give this message, and when I get done with the message, we're going to take some minutes tonight and see the film, The Role of Prayer in Spiritual Awakening. Some of you have seen it. I have seen it probably 15 times. If you've seen it once or twice, you ain't seen it enough yet, right? Because every time you see it, there's more to see, and there's more, God lays that burden on your heart. And I believe God wants to do a marvelous thing in this community, and He's asked us whether we want to get in. Habakkuk chapter 3, a prayer of Habakkuk. Habakkuk chapter 3, verse 1, page 1088. Right? Somebody said, yeah, in my Bible. A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, upon Sigyonis. A prayer of the prophet. A prayer of the prophet. It's a good place to start. O Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid. Whatever God said to him shook him up, if I can say it in good 20th century language, right? Said, I've heard thy speech and I was afraid. The tragedy with many of us as Christians, we hear God's speech, but it doesn't shake us very much. Oh, we ought to be like the prophet. When God speaks, we shake a little bit and we're afraid. We want to know what he's saying. We want to make sure we pick up everything he's saying to us. O Lord, I have heard thy speech and I was afraid. And what did he do when he heard God speak and he was afraid? O Lord, he went back to praying. O Lord, he started praying. What did he pray for? Revive. Who? Get Ottawa stringed out, and now the liberal parties, they pick a new candidate, right? No. O Lord, revive who? Those Democrats down there trying to decide between Hart and Mondale in the United States. O Lord, revive who? Who? Oh, if we could get the crooked politicians straightened out in Kamloops, this place would be a good place to live in, right? And the underworld. O Lord, revive thy work. Whatever God said to him drove him to praying, shook him up, if I can say it like that, and drove him to praying, God, revive thy work. In the midst of the years, make known. In the midst of the years. I don't know quite the context of that, and I can't take the time to go into the depths of it, but here it is. Could it be to you and me in the midst of the years, God, how long we've been going? How many years we've been saved? How many years we've been here as an alliance church, or free Methodist church, evangelical free church? In the midst of these years. O God, will you revive thy work? In the midst of the years, make known. What does it make known? Make yourself known. That's the context. What does it mean? Come back to us, O God. Let us know you're here again. Come back to your people. The sense of God is the greatest need in the church today. Thank the Lord it's happening. Make yourself known in wrath. Remember mercy. Wonder the prophet, whatever God said, O God, you really should judge us. We deserve your wrath. But O God, is it not too late? God, is there still a chance? O God, in your wrath, will you still remember mercy? I wonder if North America ought to be crying that tonight. I wonder if the church of Jesus Christ ought to be crying that tonight. O God, in wrath, O you should destroy us. I don't know if Sodom and Gomorrah could have been any worse than what we are in North America tonight. But O God, in your wrath, will you still remember mercy? What a prayer. I'll tell you, there are a lot of voices that are being heard in our world today that ought to shake us as Christians. We ought to be afraid of the voices that I hear. I hear the voice of crime and the voice of violence and the voice of lawlessness. And this is a whole hour sermon itself. I'm giving it a few minutes if we take time. I don't need to. The newspapers do such a good job at it. There's the voice of immorality. There's the voice of AIDS, homosexuality, AIDS. There's the voice of anarchy, lawlessness. The voice of the unwed mothers and the voice of rape victims. The voice of blasphemy and swearing, even on the part of teenage girls. It used to be a few fellas who were the low class of the scum of the class would curse. And they'd do it in a back room or in a closet somewhere, in a hall somewhere, in a little nook somewhere. And there was only a few to even listen to them. And now it's the populous kids in school. And now the girls as well as the fellas. This cries, the voice of humanism that's being taught in our public schools, crying to us. There's a tracking title, Humanism's Mask Ripped Off. And oh, if we could see it for what it really is. It's a philosophy that's just permeating our public school systems. The voice of atheistic communism ought to shake us today. We ought to be afraid. And the drug traffic and alcoholism, you name it. The voice of a home life in America. It wasn't too long ago when one out of 40 marriages end in divorce. And tonight while you and I sit in this meeting, almost one out of two marriages are ending in divorce. The voice of the divorce rates, the divorce courts, the voice of blinding god of materialism. We're just living like materialism is everything. The voice of rock music and punk rock and the voice of the horoscope and the Ouija board and the practices and the voice of mysticism and the voice of oriental religions and spirit worship and Satan worship, the voice of the false cults. They're all around us. It ought to shake us. I have an article. You could see the headlines down there. The Daughter of Darkness Brings Pitch for Satan. And there's her picture. There's the picture. And she's the daughter of the headman of the Satanist movement in Canada. And this article, if you take time to read it, she's making her pitch for Satan. She was going to every major provincial university, the University of Manitoba in Saskatchewan, B.C., and having her lectures being given on each of your major campuses from east to west. And what acceptance. It ought to frighten us what's going on in our day. I have an article here that talks about a world congress on sorcery that would make your hair stand right up straight to think down in the Caribbean where they go for all around the world. Thousands get together with a congress on sorcery. God knows we're in deep water in this day. Then there's the voice of science. The voice of science ought to frighten us. You know, Dr. Harold Urey was a scientist Nobel Prize winner. And he made a statement like this. And it wasn't very long ago. He said, I am a frightened man. Scientist Nobel Prize winner. I am a frightened man. All the scientists I know are frightened men. It ought to frighten us, the scientists themselves. But then there's the voice of history itself ought to make us afraid. The voice of history. A man by the name of Reinke said, history convinces more people than philosophy. So we better listen to the voice of history. If some people won't listen to the voice of philosophy of God's truth. So let's listen to the voice of history. History. The voice of history says that there are four basic, five basic reasons why the early Roman Empire, written by the historian Gibbons, who put it into work, the rise and fall of the early Roman Empire, why the early Roman Empire is in dust and ashes. Gibbons says one rapid increase in divorce and undermining of sanctity of the home. Just see if we qualify. Number two, said the historian, not a Christian, not a preacher, the spiraling rise of taxes. Number three, the mounting craze for pleasure and the brutalization of sports. Number four, the building of gigantic armaments and the failure to realize while they're doing that, the failure to realize that the real enemy, the real enemy lay inside the gates of the empire in the moral decay of its people. The real enemy wasn't the communists on the outside. It was lying inside in the moral decay of its people. The real enemy was on the inside. And the fifth reason, the fading of faith, the fading of faith and the decadence of religion. Now notice he didn't say the destruction of religion. He said the decadence of religion, decay. Fading of faith in the cadence of religion into a mere form, just form, formalism, ritualism, leaving the people without a real guide in the pressures of life. Those are the five reasons why a historian, not even a preacher sat down and wrote in the great book, why the Roman empire came apart at the seams. 16 of the world's leading empires are in dust and ashes today. And they came apart because the historians say around the 200 year mark in the history of that nation, around the 200 year mark, that society had to make a decision whether it would follow one of two courses, either the course of sex exploitation or sex discipline. And how it decided generally around the 200 year mark of its history, whatever it decided, generally determined where it landed. The United States just crossed our, we crossed our 200 year birth age not too long ago. And I give you one or two guesses as to which course the United States has taken. And the first guess doesn't count. Arnold Toynbee said, the world's greatest civilizations have been destroyed, not by their enemies. They committed suicide, slowly and in the quiet and in the dark when no one seemed to be aware of it, they died from within. And he said, this is the condition that we're in even today. No nation, here's the voice of history, no nation has had the power of any kind of reform. You say, it's a hopeless situation. That's right, it is, it is, it is. It's hopeless. But the voice of history says, no nation has had any power of social reform, political reform, economic reform, any kind of reform you can think of, educational reform, to stop itself. When it has gone down the road of immorality and loose morals like North America, the point North America's reached today, history says no nation has had anything it could find within its empire to say, let's stop here, we've gone far enough, let's put the brakes on and stop. Dark, isn't it? Ken Campbell, Dr. Ken Campbell said, North America is now moving toward the spiritual dark continent status, which if the present trends continue, will be a reality by the year 2000 AD. What a tragedy. Charles G. Finney said, if Christians are made to feel that they have no hope, we need to be made to feel that. But in God, it's got to be the only hope. And if they have, that they have suffered sufficient feeling and they have suffered sufficient feeling left to care for the honor of God, they still have enough for the honor of God and for the salvation of the souls of the impenitent. He said, there then will certainly be a revival. The voice of history, Douglas MacArthur said, history fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening, Douglas MacArthur, a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse or progressive deterioration leading to the ultimate national disaster. Now that's history. Oh, men and women, any human society is free to choose. But where are we choosing? North America. By the time most young fellows are 18, more than half of all American adolescents and girls, by the time they're 18 years of age, they will have had sexual experiences already. That's the fact. Most take no precautions against venereal infection and count on antibiotics for a cure if they are unlucky. More than half, more than half by the time they're 18. That's the society in which we live today. A friend of mine who visited San Francisco years ago, a preacher friend, he went in 1979 and he said he went on a holiday with his wife and he said, we enjoyed our trip to San Francisco. I think it's one of the most unusual cities in the world. But he said, it hurt me to see how open and gross the sin has gotten on the street since I was there eight years ago. The youth involved in this slime is unbelievable, he wrote. He said, I hate to say it since the city is so beautiful as it is, but it is either one step away from Sodom or it is Sodom itself. National revival is desperately needed. What am I saying to you tonight? I'm just suggesting to you that if there are three priorities for revival, I start with point one. Revival itself has to be priority in your heart and in mine. And that's what God's calling the church. That's what God's calling this church to, not just the church of God right here tonight in the city of Kamloops. Is it priority? Do you know the voice of history says there's no hope, but the voice of history throws a rainbow over the dark pictures I've portrayed. The voice of history goes one step further and said, the only thing that has saved a nation that is far away from God as we are tonight in the United States and North America here, the only thing has been a spiritual awakening of religion. The historians, if the historians believe it, how come we as Christians don't make it priority? You know, they took a Gallup poll in 1978 in America and they asked the question, would you like to see a religious revival? And 80% of the Americans in a Gallup poll said they'd like to see a religious revival. Can you imagine it? The world outside would like to see a religious revival and we as the Christians have it in our hands to see it happen. Yet so unconcerned. It's not even a priority in our heart and the world outside says we'd like to see one. President Reagan said in 1982, perhaps as much as an economic recovery, Americans crave a spiritual revival in this land. The president, National Broadcasters Convention, Senator Conlon said there is no hope in our nation except a spiritual revival. Dr. Robert Cook said in 1971, now you just remember the date, 1971, he said I'm telling you something, I'll give America three years and if we don't have a genuine awakening amongst God's people, if we don't have some kind of miracle, some kind of holy excitement that becomes the norm amongst God's people, if we don't have that in three years in America, a wave of occultism will sweep across from both Europe and the Orient and you will see things that will break your heart. We're up against it already. This is 71 he was writing. We're up against it already. In a mile away, any 24 hours take your notebook and check the number of programs on radio and television that generally deal with the occult and ask yourself where they come from. Look in your yellow pages for listings of people or mediums and spiritualists and astrologists. Find for yourself that our country, which has turned its back as a nation on the Puritan Bible-oriented culture, which was our foundation and is now fast moving to trying to satisfy its God hunger with demonism. Unless people like you and me, said Dr. Robert Cook, manifest by the thousands and by the millions in our country the reality of God, of miracles, we are in for some dreadful days. And that was 1971. And what has happened since then? 1977, one out of five Americans believe in astrology. 1982, one third of the Americans believe in our incarnation. One out of every three Americans believe in incarnation. Reincarnation. Reincarnation, that's it. And 1972, an English parliamentarian said, one out of five in Great Britain is already in touch with a witch. One out of every five in Great Britain was in touch, not only believed in them, but was in touch with a witch. That was in 1972. I'm suggesting to you that revival is the only hope. And I'm happy to tell you that revival has been the answer in five straight centuries. Do you know, it was in the 16th century, it looked like Romanism with its dark clouds was about to wipe out the church, and God raised up a Martin Luther, and we had the great Lutheran Reformation to bring us to this hour. It was in the 17th century, when there was such a dark out in the history of mankind, God worked through men like Milton, Owen, Bunyan, and Baxter to save the day. And it was in the 18th century, God raised up men like John Wesley, and George Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards. And what did God use them to do? They saved Great Britain from the disaster of the French Revolution. You can read any history book you want on the French Revolution and England in that hour, and they'll give record of the fact that it was the spiritual awakening that saved Great Britain from the disaster of the French Revolution. Revival turned the tide. A professor in one of our countries said, could you ever imagine the American Revolution that did so much for American relation and national freedom, apart from the great awakening under Whitefield and John Edwards? The whole character of the nation was changed. Oswald Jason, in the 19th century, God raised up Hill, Beecher, Nettleton, Moody, Spurgeon, Finney, those were the men that quieted the voices of Voltaire, and Paine, and Rousseau, the atheists who said that within 50 years after we die, said Paine, that the name of Jesus Christ would be used only in cursing and slurring, and that the Bibles would be blotted out on the face of the earth. I thank God within 100 years after he died, he said within 100 years, it'd be blotted out. Within 50 years after he died, the very printing presses that printed his atheistic literature were used to become the French Bible Society to print the word of God. But this happened because of great revival. Spiritual awakenings saved us in those dark hours of history. Oswald Smith said there was never a darker day in England than the day when John Wesley carried out his work. But it was in that day that revival broke out. It was so in connection with the great Irish revival in 1859, and in Wales in 1904. Nothing but revival can solve the problems of the world today, Oswald J. Smith. It was so in the United States in the days of Charles G. Finney. Francis Schaeffer says, we now live in the post-Christian era which is under the judgment of God. We must speak as Prophet Jeremiah that we should weep lest there yet be a chance. So there yet is a chance that God can save us. Dr. Stephen Alford said, materialism, atheism, immorality, dishonesty, delinquency, dehumanization, insecurity. These are the situations we face today. I am committed to the view. Are you committed to the view? And this is what God wanted to say to you tonight, men and women. We've had two and a half weeks of meetings. We can call them revival meetings. We've had meetings. But oh, we need to be committed to the view. What is it? The view that the answer is God and that the answer is Jesus Christ and the answer is the coming of the Holy Spirit in revival. There is nothing that revival cannot solve in the world today if we as Christians are prepared to pay the price. Dr. Stephen Alford. Well, the history says no nation has been able to pull itself back but a voice of God in revival. Late President Eisenhower said, unless there's a moral, spiritual, awakening, regeneration, there's no hope for mankind. President Eisenhower, General Eisenhower, we may all disappear in the dust of an atomic explosion. The only hope for our great land is a spiritual awakening. My brothers and sisters, the only thing that can save a nation is God to come on the scene. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Would you believe that? I'm telling you that we need to believe with Dr. Kinlow and Asbury College. Give me one divine moment when God acts, and I say that moment is superior to all the human effort in history. One divine moment when God acts. Jonathan Edwards said, when the Holy Spirit did set in, as much was done in a few days as in ordinary times would take a few years. Revival, I'm asking, is it priority in your spirit? Is it priority? I'll tell you, you know how you know it's priority when you're ready to make sacrifices to see it happen. It's priority if it's priority then you'll be willing to make sacrifices to be part of it and to carry it on as God would breathe in revival. Finney said, sacrifice is essential. Awakenings come when Christians are found willing to make the necessary sacrifices to carry it on. He must be willing to tell God that God can use him as he will. He would be there at God's disposal anyway for the cause of revival. Louis Drummond said, we must face it. Sacrifices are great. It will cost you time. It will cost you energy. We cannot tell God what we will do and what we won't do if we want to see revival. If we hold back our time, our effort, our image, or anything, the Holy Spirit will be grieved and that will be the end of the awakening. There is a price to pay and God's people must pay the price if revival is to come. I'm asking you, do you believe what I'm telling you? You know Charles D. Finney, I've often said I wish I could have been alive in his day when he was preaching just to be in one of his congregations. But I'll tell you how he preached. If you think the twins are bad or anybody else, I'll tell you, you should have been with Charles D. Finney to preach. He told the men of New York City over a hundred years ago that great revival in New York City. He said, when are we going to have revival in New York City? He said, when you businessmen here that are sitting in this congregation facing me are willing, if necessary, if God calls upon you to do it, to take and put a padlock to your businesses, your business establishments, if it means six months at a time, if that's the price to pay, if you're willing to do it, then we'll have a revival. He wasn't saying that I have to do it. He was saying that I have to be willing to do it. I'll tell you when you're willing, then the revival come far sooner than six months. It's a willingness. Do you know what Anderson, Indiana? You know what God did in Asbury Revival and then Saskatoon? Just about the same time, just before that, Anderson, Indiana, because of what God did in Asbury College. They heard about it in a little town called Anderson, Indiana. And some layman started to get the burden. Oh, God, oh, God, you must send revival. And five layman got together and they started to pray. Interceding 1972. They started to pray and pray and got together. And they got before God and asked God to purify their hearts. And then they said to God, Oh, Lord, we're ready and willing to make whatever sacrifice we must make, whatever cost, even if it means going down to the bank in town and remortgage our homes and put 25-year mortgages on our homes, if it takes that for the finances to run your work, to seek God for you to come on the scene and save us before it's too late. Oh, God, we are willing to do it. And they prayed. I want to tell you something. A spontaneous revival broke out with those five layman praying like that. And God started to move in that community. And it was such a thing that a revival broke out to where the mayor's office was open for noonday prayer meetings. The Chamber of Commerce was open for noonday prayer meetings. Businesses were closing and closing and opening for noonday prayer meetings. And many women, they started having evening meetings. There was no preacher. It was run by layman. I think Doug Oldham was one of the layman that God used in the direction of that movement. And they were holding meetings every night. And they were having in a town of 35,000 people. They're having 700 people a night. And all they're doing coming and singing. And they were praying and praising God and letting people get right with God. And God started to work. And in the first month, a thousand people were converted to Jesus Christ. And on Sunday afternoon, they had to get the civic auditorium that could see 3,500 people. And they packed it out. And in the first month, the second 2,000 people in a little town of 35,000 were converted to Jesus Christ. It wasn't a surprise to me six months later to pick up my newspaper in another city 150 miles away and read that Anderson, Indiana has just now voted that no pornography can be sold in the city. Oh, you say, I hear about it in history. I'm telling you in 1972. I'm suggesting to you, my brothers and sisters, Nick Willems said, you must arrange your schedule in life to have time for revival or don't expect one. You know, we want God sort of fit his plan into our schedule. No, we've got to turn around the other way. It's got to be obsession with us. It's got to be priority and obsession with us. And then when it becomes obsession, we're ready to pay any price that God gives us. And then I'll tell you the second priority is the spirit of prayer for revival must settle down on the congregation. Charles G. Finney said that is a spirit of prayer. The spirit of prayer is when we pray as if our hearts were set upon a revival. Sometimes Christians are not engaged in prayer are not engaged in prayer for revival. Not even when they go to prayer, even in their warmth when they're warm in their spirit as they pray, their minds are upon something else. They'll even pray for the salvation of the heathen and other prayer requests. But they're not praying for revival among themselves. He said, when a spirit of prayer for revival comes upon the church, that's the priority of revival. Now, what's the spirit of prayer for revival? It's a state of heart. It's not many words. It's not just the fact that we can pray words. It's a state of heart and a state of heart is something you can't get away with. A state of heart is something that doesn't leave you. It goes with you day and night. It's like a businessman who comes in in the evening and he has a business transaction on his mind and he goes to the supper table and his wife can even show him the new bill for the new hat, the bill for the new hat and he doesn't even notice it. And, you know, you talk to him and he's reading his newspaper. You talk to him and he's looking right at you and you ask him something he hasn't even heard you and you wonder where he is. He's physically there, but his mind's not there. Where is he? Some of you women smiling. You're used to that, right? And where is his mind? I'll tell you, it's still in the office. It's still that business transaction. He's wanting that thing to come out just right. He couldn't turn that off at five o'clock. There's no way he can. We're just not robots. We can't do it like that. And so it's weighing heavy on his mind. If it comes just right, there'll be much prosperity. And it stays with him day and night. It's a state of continual desire and continual anxiety of mind for this thing. My brothers and sisters, that's what the cost of revival is all about. It's not I'll just attend some meetings and not attend others. I'll just see if I can fit a few in. I'll just attend and see if I can enjoy and get in a little blessing. Oh, well, I don't need them or I do need them. If I need them, I'll go. If I don't, I don't. No, my brothers and sisters, it's wherever the call of God is going out to get in with people who have this kind of heart. I've got to be there and I'm going to be there and intercede. I must see revival and it's a burning desire of the heart I can't get away from. That's the spirit of prayer for revival. Oh, men and women, revival can be expected when the Christians have the spirit of prayer for revival. Phineas said today, it's easy to depend upon organization, depend on manpower, publicity and education for the growth of the church. And I think we've got to be so careful in this day, men and women, we even in our Christian educational institutions, we're talking so much about higher learning. We're talking about educational degrees. And I said one night, sometimes our pulpits are dying by degrees. Oh, men and women, we can have hearts and we can have heads so full of theology and hearts so empty. We need burning hearts in our day more than warm heads. Oh, let's get that. We need the head. We need to know what we believe. But brothers and sisters, if I had the choice between the two, give me the warm heart because you can always borrow brains, but you can't borrow the warm heart. We need a burning heart. We depend on all these for the growth. Organize and set it up. We should have these things. These are tracks that the power of God ought to be able to run on. All we depend on, we depend, that's the ultimate in our spirit. It is true that God can use many of these at Finney, but none of these in themselves will bring the revival we need so desperately. I challenge preachers and I go from place to place. I say, my preacher, brother, do you still believe that God can open the heavens and breathe out a community, not a nation in a divine moment? And some of them just slowly or maybe not even so sure, they shake their head, say yes. Somehow we've come and we've come to a mentality of unbelief that we don't even believe it can happen. And so we work and we're going toward programming and programming and programming and we think little by little, little by little, chip off here and chip off there. We're going to finally get the job done. No, my brothers and sisters, the world is increasing too fast and the unsaved are increasing too fast and the wickedness is increasing too fast. We need divine moments and it's got to become our obsession. It's got to be priority in our hearts. Charles Finney said, evil may abound, but if God's people prevail in prayer, the Lord will raise up a standard. He'll do it. Where is that spirit of prayer for an awakening? Where are the agonizers for a visitation from God? That's the spirit that brings down heaven. When deep prayer concern grips hearts, there will surely be the blessing of revival. Samuel Chadwick said, if only the church of Christ could be impelled to pray, today's crisis would be met. If only the people of God could be baptized into a passion of prayer, spiritual life and power would quicken and multitudes would be added unto the Lord. Why do we not set ourselves to prayer, he says? The remedy is sure. The remedy is simple. The need is urgent. The need is acknowledged. Why is it we are so slow in getting to the work? When will the awakening come? Charles Finney says, when the wickedness of the wicked grieves and humbles and distresses Christians and we're so sick of it and we come to a place that we could even face hell and say, let the devil spew out as many devils as there are stones in the pavement. If it will drive us to our knees in prayer, let hell boil over and spew out that many. It will drive his people, God's people, us to our knees in prayer. It can never hinder revival. When wickedness prevails, one of two things happens to the church. Either the church grieves and begins to agonize before God or secondly, the church makes peace with the situation and grows increasingly corrupt and compromising, hence losing its testimony and power. We've heard some people say, oh, the longer we go, the more Christian the world is getting all the time. And some brother said, you're looking through the wrong eyeglasses. The longer we go, the more worldly the church is getting all the time. And that's why we look alike. The church never had more power with God and power in the world as the hours when it was so totally diametrically opposed to it. But you see, when we sort of make peace with this worldly society and settle in with it and steal some of its ways and bring it into our life, then we become compromisers and the world can't tell the difference. The greatest hope for the Church of Christ today is those who've caught a vision for prayer, earnest, passionate prayer. And this is why I'm preaching like this tonight, because God is moving in the Canadian Revival for us in a new way. This is our whole emphasis. We're believing it. And God is doing something in a few minutes. You'll get to it. You'll see what I'm really saying in this message. Oh, those who've caught a vision, earnest, passionate, important, importunate, clinging, believing prayer will be able to ignite the vision and burden for prayer in others. And we need to ignite that burden prayer in others. Today's church as a whole has caught a worldly vision. We are greatly organized into committees and associations, but there are few who really agonize in prayer. Prayer is a work and labor in the realm of spiritual warfare, with God's own word as our promises to all His promises to those who pray. Why is it that the privilege with such promise has been taken up by so few? The door to the throne of God is open to all who will choose to believe God's word. The very life of the church is being threatened today, not because of approaching communism, but because Christians are resorting to weapons of the world to fight spiritual battles. So many of God's people today are living lives that reflect an attitude which shows that they do not even believe a battle is going on. And the Lord saw and wondered, it says in Isaiah, that there was no intercessor. What tragic words indeed. Dear Christian friends that attract society, the power of accumulative praying, I'm suggesting this. What kind of praying do we need? Revival praying must be fervent praying. Glenda Ravenhill said, God just doesn't hear prayer. He hears desperate prayer. So it must be fervent. The word fervent is red hot heat. Praying. Revival praying. When Zion travails, she brings forth children. When she travails, we want children to be born in the world. When she travails, she brings forth children. Revival praying must be specific focus praying. Revival praying must be believing praying. And you know, every one of these is a whole night sermon, a whole week on every one of them. We could go one night on any one of these. Revival praying must be right motive praying. Why do I want a revival? Just so I'll have a nicer country to live in. So my children have a nice place to grow up in. So we won't have all this harm around us and all this violence around us. No, that's not it. If that's it, that's no motive. Because again, it's selfish. We're looking at our own skin. We're afraid we might get hurt and singed a little bit. No. Why do we want a revival? Because we want it for God to be glorified, his name to be glorified, and that the world should hear about Jesus Christ because of North America coming alive with the power of God. And we send the message out around the world that God should receive glory and call out a people for his name out of every kindred and tongue and tribe and people and nation. And because of the revived church, he has energy to minister to the world. That's why I want a revival. Right motive praying. Not that we look good. If God's name should be glorified, around the world. And then revival praying has to be united praying. And that's what thrills me about these young people did last night. Enter church, they signed up, they want to come and pray. Revival praying has to be united, accumulative praying. Dear Christian friend and attract society, will you join with us in intercessory prayer for heaven sent revival? We believe you and others in united prayer can bring about such a revival. For that is the way revival started. Let the accumulation of many bamboo rods raise a tremendous weight from the bottom of a river. Just so will the accumulated prayers of many believing Christians finally rend the heavens and bring down a great revival from heaven on our land. Will you enlist one or more friends to join with you at stated periods for believing prayer for Holy Ghost revival? How would we? How would you like the youth of our land to join in this mighty barrage of prayer for revival? We predict that our young people will have a major part in the great spiritual awakening now imminent. Help bring worldwide revival by getting this track in the hands of praying Christians everywhere. And there, as I thought, that the young people have even beat us as adults. Thousands of prayer groups. These are statements. I'm not even giving you the quotes as to where they're coming from. This is what I'm reading. God is laying this burden across the land. We can have such a revival today if all Christians will be united in prayer definitely for it. Leonard Ravenhill says, Beloved brethren, praying for a spiritual awakening is to be our very life. A life that is steeled in the crucible of the radical self-denial. We must hold out a continued and rigid resistance. We can only storm the citadels of Satan by prayer assault. Woe, woe, woe to the world if we Christians have not a speedy awakening and quickening to united prayer warfare. Prayer, fasting prayer is the power by which Satan and his evil hosts are conquered. The Herald of His Coming said, If Christians accept the challenge of intercession, a flame of revival can be kindled across America that will cause the whole land to be swept in a mighty, mighty revival. Tonight you're going to see as I finish in a few minutes, you're going to see the film on the role of prayer and spiritual awakenings. And maybe you've seen it before, but I want you to see it with a burdened heart tonight and ask God what part you'll play. And you'll hear some statements that will relate so definitely to what I'm saying, even right now. What's the third priority? Quickly on to the third and we'll be on to the film. And this, first of all, revival itself must be priority. Do you believe it? Do you believe there's no other hope? Don't look for any other hope. Number two, prayer for a revival. A spirit of prayer for revival has to become priority because man can't do it. It's beyond us. It has to come from God and we know that we get things through prayer. It has to be priority, not just a good thing, not just for a corporal's guard, but it has to be priority in the church of Jesus. And then number three, how can you pray unless holy living has to be priority before prayer for a revival will amount to anything? That's right. Phineas said be careful not to grieve the Spirit of God. Confess and forsake your sins. God will never lead you as one of His hidden ones and let you into His secrets unless you confess and forsake your sins. Make redress wherever you've committed injury. You cannot expect to get the spirit of prayer first and then repent. You must repent before you're going to get the spirit of prayer for revival. If you're in this meeting and say, Lou, I'd love to be involved. I see I have been so cold and indifferent. I've been on the outside of the mainstream of where God wants to go. Well, how do I get there? First, you get right with God yourself. Why? Because the Bible says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting holy hands. Oh, I wonder in the great Hebrides revival when they were praying night after night a group of men in the Hebrides and one man said, Brothers, it's just as much humbug for us to come here month by month and week by week and pray for revival unless we're willing to say, Lord, are my hands clean? Lord, is my heart pure? And they dealt with their sinfulness and God started the revival. Lift up holy hands. You know when they're holy, you're going to have two things. Without wrath. A lot of the wrath that's going on in the body of Christ will be out of the way. It's got to be settled. Holy hands without wrath. But there's something else without doubting. Ah, I'm wondering what is the relationship between our unbelieving prayer because of the wrath that's in our hands I wonder if there's doubting because there's unholiness in our hands and there's wrath in our spirits but when we deal with what's wrong in our life and that which separates the body of Christ then we'll pray in believing prayer. Believing prayer. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. If I know there's sin in my heart, don't pray. You're wasting your time. Maybe that's why some people don't attend the prayer meetings. They know it's useless because there's no reason to pray. Have you ever read the verse in the Bible where the psalmist said, Oh Lord, how long will thou be angry with against the prayers of our people? Have you ever thought of a verse like that? I'll tell you it's a startling one, isn't it? How, Lord, said the psalmist, how long will you be angry against? That sounds like a wall. Sounds like resistance. God, angry against the prayers of his people. Yeah, I've been telling you we need to pray and now God's angry with the prayers of his people. What's wrong? Unholy hands. And the Bible says, if I turn my ear from hearing the law of God, my prayer is an abomination. How can I pray? If I know there's evil in my life and I turn my ear from hearing God's law in some areas of my life, my prayer is an abomination. What language? Joshua. You remember when the children of Israel were being overrun in the problem of AI because of vacant sin? And what did Joshua do? He didn't know what was going on in the camp. And there was sin in the camp and he didn't know anything about it. So what did he do? He went to God and he started to pray. And what did God do? He said, Oh God, save us. We're in a mess. Oh God, what should I do? And God said, get up. Stop praying. Stop praying. There's sin in the camp. The Lord said, Joshua, get up. Wherefore liest thou on thy face? Israel has sinned. Get things straightened out. Israel has sinned. Israel has sinned. Now here's the verse that brings all of us together. Hosea 10, 12 and 13. Sow to yourselves unrighteousness. What's been happening these days? What are these days all about? What has God done in these days already? Here, sow to yourself unrighteousness. What's that? I'm sowing. I put seeds in unrighteousness. That means I'm ready to see the sinfulness and the wickedness of my life. And I want to sow unrighteousness. I'm willing to let God show me the unrighteousness of my life so I can sow unrighteousness. And then it says, reap in mercy. If you sow, you have to reap. So if you sow unrighteousness, you reap in mercy. Now what's mercy? Mercy is the mercy seed. Mercy is where the blood of Jesus Christ was shed, right? It's a picture of the Old Testament mercy seed. So if I'm going to reap in mercy, it means dealing with sin because that's where you get mercy because the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from sin. That's the context of mercy. I reap in mercy because I'm willing to admit my sin. And I reap in mercy. I experience the mercy of God in my life in a new and fresh way. And then it says, break up your fallow ground. Then it says, whatever God shows you about the hardness of your life, break it up. You see? Now God, oh God, I want to sow unrighteousness. I want you, God, to forgive me. And then God, show me the errors of my life that represent hard ground. And I break up the hard ground, the fallow ground. It's ground that used to be soft. It's ground that used to be plowed. It's ground that was used to the plow. Every spring, it was used to the plow coming through and cutting it up and turning it over and turning the worms up to the sun to get rid of all impurities and be able to put fertilizer into it that water could go into it because it is hard when it is fallow. It is hard, but it's loosened up. My brothers and sisters, it's allowing the plow to go in. And that's what's been happening in these days. Some of God's people these days have been allowing the plow to go in. What's this all about? So God can break me up so I can have this traumatic experience so I can go through these terrible days of seeing the sin of my heart and seeing my life and just, oh, see how terrible I really am. Is that all it's all about? No, my brothers and sisters, God is wanting to do something with you. This is not the end. The brothers have been telling you and they didn't even really know what I was going to speak on tonight. This is not the end, it's just the beginning. God wants you now to get busy doing something. He wants you to sow in righteousness and reap in mercy and break up the fallow ground. And these have been weeks where many have been doing that. And if you haven't, that's what you need to do now to get caught up with what God's saying to the Christians of Kamloops. Break up the fallow ground. Why? For, the word says, it means because it is time to seek the Lord. Oh, now we've got it. What is it? God is just getting us ready to seek Him. Now we're ready to pray. Now we're on speaking terms with God. Now we can be the intercessors. God is saying, Hosea, the prophet is telling us, that's where God is trying to get His church. God is trying to get them to a place where they can seek the Lord. It's time to seek the Lord. This morning I spoke, for now it's high time to wake up out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Here's the time. It's time to seek the Lord. That's the cry. How long should we seek Him? Until. That means no stopping, no time limit, until it happens. Until He come. We need Him to come. Until He come and He rain righteousness upon you. Oh, see, you've already sowed in righteousness. You have taken the steps. You said, oh God, I'm going to deal with whatever you show me. And you've taken the steps of sowing in righteousness. And God says, I'm going to just rain righteousness on you. I just want to pour it on you. I want it just to flow all over the land. Come and rain righteousness upon you. Seek Him until it happens. And so what's happening these days? God has prepared us. God has been preparing some young people to sign a sheet of paper to say, I want to be involved in praying for revival. Now it's time to seek the Lord. No wonder we can announce prayer meeting for revival, prayer meeting for revival before Crusades. And we can have special meetings and we can hardly get a corporal's guard out to a prayer meeting for revival. But oh, now, now there ought to be the hunger, the desire to pray for God to meet us. In this desperate way. Unconfessed sin is more than a handicap to effective prayer. It's the dam that blocks the petitions to where they get nowhere and cannot get through. Reverend Cliff Dietrich said, uh, Layman said, I've had more answers to prayer in this one weekend than I've had in 35 years of my whole life, of my life as a Christian. More answers to prayer in one weekend. Oh, see, God set him free where God could pray. Don't waste your time begging God for revival, said a tract. And I said, well, I've got to read that. And I read it. It said, instead, spend your time crying, Lord, search me, oh God, and know me, and try me and know my heart and see if there'd be in wicked way. And created me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit in me and restore to me the joy of my salvation and uphold me with I free spirit. Start there and let God take that kind of prayer and see where God's going to take that. Then you can seek God for revival. Cliff Dietrich said, this is a very vital part of any moving of God. A few of God's people getting thoroughly right with God so that God can use them as channels in a prayer ministry to force Satan to let go so that people can respond to the call of God when he comes to them to open up and to be honest with God and make open confession of God. God is looking for a group of people, said Cliff Dietrich, the marvelous brother of an evangelical free preacher. He said, God's looking for that group who now can be intercessors to force Satan to let go when God comes and calls on the hearts of those that need to hear his call and respond. Do you believe we're in a battle with Satan? If you don't, Hollywood does. They make films about it. Every other one is about it. And we're in a struggle. Some Christians act like Satan's not even alive. It's a spiritual warfare. God would help us in these days. And Freda Haight is with us tonight. John Haight, back here. And she wrote us a letter when we were preaching. Excuse me, not Freda Haight. There's another one she wrote me. This is Bill Berg, an Alliance preacher. And he wrote, it seems to me, just want to know that we're praying for you every day in your crusade in Yorkton, asking God to visit his people in revival. I believe it is time for a fire to be rekindled. Here's an American preacher. It's time for a fire to be rekindled in Western Canada. And how our hearts cry out that the Pacific Northwest, that it slips down across the line to Seattle and Oregon, down Washington and Oregon, would be included in all of America. I believe we need to encourage people everywhere to pray to this end. It seems to me, he said, that like Israel, the crowning sin of the church is idolatry. Listen to this description. Idolatry is putting trust in or dividing one's affections with someone or something other than God himself. Is not worship at the altar of self-pleasing the epitome of idolatry? God's people are bowing at the shrines of earthly possessions, amusements, pleasures, sports, a clear indication of divided affections that have caused God to turn his face from us. How desperately, he said, we need to repent. How grieved the heart of God must be when he is not loved with all of our heart and with all of our soul and with all of our mind. God would show us. Revival, what will it mean? And I close with this poem. What will it mean, the coming of revival? The Spirit's quickening breath? It will mean conflict with the powers of evil, resistance unto death. It will mean this, the cross, henceforth, thy glory, though the world count it shame, the telling out to all the wondrous story of life in Jesus' name. It will mean tithes brought in and wrongs forgiven, every earth weight laid aside, get rid of some of the weights, and ditches made to catch the showers from heaven for which God's saints have cried. It will mean storm, the skies all black with thunder, the earth o'erswept by rain, God's judgments fall, while men stand still and wonder why God must work through pain. It may mean fire, self's idle priesthood slaying, God's draughts consuming flame. It may mean in the dust our treasures laying, our love, our joy, our fame. If it means this to thee, wilt thou, my brother, draw back and say him nay? Or wilt thou lose thy life to save another? Thy master's call obey, for with this meaning cometh God's unveiling of Christ himself. The goal, the spirits working, midst all foes assailing, God's likeness in the soul. It will mean dew on the parched lands distilling at morn and evening hour, and yielded hearts for God's will, ever willing in his great day of power. It will mean joy, light o'er the hilltops stealing, as shadows flee away, the glory of God's love to us revealing, the hope of coming day. And when Praying Hyde established the Panjub Prayer Fellowship Union of India, he asked four questions. He said, first, are you longing for an awakening? Second, do you earnestly believe that prayer is the only means of securing such awakening? Three, are you willing to spend one half hour per day in prayer for such awakening? Here's how he said to the Indians in those days. Fourth, will you pray until the awakening comes? Let's pray. Father God, thank you for these dear people of thine that thou hast brought in this church together tonight. Lord, you're speaking your message loudly and clearly. We just believe it in the day of such casualness and such indifference, in the day of such selfishness, in the day of such self-rights, in the day of pleasure madness, in the day of enjoying life, in the day of a retirement spirit. Oh my God, let us never have the spirit of retirement. Let it be the spirit of burning out for Jesus. For our time is short, the day is at hand, and the night is far spent, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Oh Father, let us get wrapped up with thee and thy eternal cause. Set thy church ablaze in this hour. My God, do that work. While thou art speaking, let us not say nay. Let us say yay, oh God, that if thou shouldst tarry, generation after generation should rise up and call us blessed, not for our namesake, but oh, that they could know the glory of God because we passed on to them the experience, the privilege, the thrill to see and be in and feel the breath of a heaven-sent revival that nothing in this world can. Thank you, Lord. Let it become the obsession of the soul of the church of Jesus Christ in the city of Kamloops in a new and fresh way, and we'll praise thee for it. How many men and women would say to me tonight, God has spoken to me, Lou, I want to go on record that I want the priorities of revival to become my priorities, the priorities of revival to become mine, that revival itself would become my obsession, that prayer for revival, I would believe it's the only way revival can come, and I'll act upon what I believe. And thirdly, I will deal with whatever sin is in my life, and I'll not stand in the way, I'll not be part of the problem, I'll be part of the solution. Oh, I'm ready and willing to deal honestly before God lest I hinder one man, one individual could hinder a church, could hinder a family, could hinder even a community. It was that way in Aachen. He had so many of the Israelites who were killed, and the Israelites had to stand still for so long because of one man's sin. You say, I want to give myself, oh God, lay on my heart the priority of revival. And new and afresh, that Lord, I'll seek Your face until. Thank You, Lord, show, let me sow in righteousness, let me reap in mercy, let me go back to the cross for cleansing, let me be willing to break up the fallow ground, that which has been stale and hard and crusted for so long. I want to be willing to do it, oh God, because it's time to seek the Lord. I want to be part, I'll burn out and give myself to the great cause of God. How many tonight want to say, God has spoken to my heart about my commitment that needs to be made, a commitment to be made for the cause of revival. Let me see your hands all over the congregation. Would you hold them up to God? Wonderful. God bless you, dear ones. Wonderful. All over this congregation, whatever it means, you're telling God whatever sins in your life, you're willing to deal with it, and you have to be willing to follow through on it. Dear Lord, I thank You for these many hands that have been raised. Thank You for what Thou art doing right now. Bless us, oh God, with such a determination, oh God, show us how we major in the minors, and tonight You're trying to get us tuned into Your major. Let us say yes to Thee and Thy major tonight. Now speak to us in these minutes. Take the message of this film and just impress it upon us. And then Lord, as the film comes to an end, give us tonight the ability to make tangible commitment to this great cause. In Your name we pray. Amen. The role of prayer and spiritual awakening, let it bless your heart, and then we'll have just a few words with you, and the meeting will be dismissed. Items of groups that God has laid the burden of United Prayer Fellowship for Revival for North America on their hearts. And it's just interesting to collect them. God is setting His people to praying. And it's moving across this land. And like I say, we know already of seven cities where we have both youth prayer fellowships and adult inter-church prayer fellowships praying for revival. And we believe it's just the beginning. And God is doing it. If God is setting you to praying, God has laid that burden on your heart tonight in these days. You know, if you're reviving, listen, if you're reviving, it's just for you to enjoy for yourself, to get a few things straightened out in your life. It won't last long. Mark it down. If it stays in that selfish vein, it won't last long. God is doing it for a purpose. What's the next step? He is calling us unto the next step. And step by step, He will lead His people out. And I believe great things can happen. Now, I just wonder, do you have a room for adults tomorrow night? You see, the first Monday night of every month, and tomorrow night has to be Monday night. What a tremendous thing to start right off. Monday night, tomorrow night. And I'd like to send sheets of paper. I want to do this. I'd like to send sheets of paper from that row all the way down. And if you'd like, now listen, get it before you let the papers go. Understand one. It doesn't mean you're coming or committing yourself to anything. You'd like to be aware of anything that's developed in the context of a prayer fellowship, a Kamloops Interchurch Revival Prayer Fellowship, we could call it, something like that. And you'd like to know about it. And you'd like to be up on it. Put your name and if you want, put your phone number, maybe your church on it, because sometimes it's easy to, whatever committee would be organized to pull it together, put your name and your phone number and the church that you go to on that sheet of paper. Doesn't mean you're committing yourself to it. Tomorrow night, let's have a prayer meeting here tomorrow night. I know we're springing on you quickly and maybe some of you have plans that you just cannot change and you cannot come. But that's why especially we want you to sign that. Because if tomorrow night, everybody comes tomorrow night, we can have sheets and make sure everybody is there tomorrow night, his name on that list. And we can help organize this. Visible union, explicit agreement. Do you see that? Visible union, that it's seen. You know what we're doing in some of the cities? We're contacting the business establishments in town. We're contacting the hospitals in town, the mayors in town, the civic officials, and we're telling them that we are praying for them on a certain Monday night every month and asking them to communicate anything they would like us to pray for. What do you think your administrators of a community and your civic leaders, how will they act if they know that on the first Monday night of the month, that God's got them into some hot water? Right? Praise the Lord. Why not? All of these civic servants praying for them and getting in contact with the MLAs and the PLAs or the MPs or whoever you want. And then go into your provincial. We have all of this in a packet that we're putting together that we leave behind in your community to help you make this really viable and vital and let it be known that there's a group praying and you'll join with other groups across the nation. And that's what this is all about. So tomorrow night here in this church at 7.30. Young people in one place and adults in others. Now you youth leaders and you folks, many young people are not here tonight. Many left before we even, we didn't even announce it. We just asked them. I guess I was so shocked I forgot that Monday's the first Monday night of the month right now. But it would be wonderful. Get that word out and let's begin. Let's begin. Doesn't have to be big, but let's be determined. Make commitment to God and say, I want to be part of this. You say, I don't know how to pray. Well, that's it. Oh, what a place to learn. We'll feed information, your pastors and the leaders will have information. Let's learn together because this has to be priority. We learn other things that we can't do in life. We know we need to learn. We go at it and learn. But if there's only one thing we need to learn about is how to pray because there's too much depends upon it if we don't.