Duncan Campbell Man Of Revival: Preaching Institute

Well, hello friends. We are in our third in a series of five messages on revival, in particularly the man revival where we are both introducing and showcasing men whom God has used in former times in revival and spiritual awakening. And our focus today is one such man, the man Duncan Campbell, who was the human instrument of the Lewis revival in the Hebrides of Scotland from 1949 to 1952.

Duncan Campbell was the human instrument, and it was said at that revival that a God consciousness gripped the island. Well, I knew several co-laborers of Duncan Campbell, and I'll share with you a description of him, this man, Duncan Campbell. I asked a minister on the island of Stornoway to sum up Duncan Campbell to me in a few words that best described him.

And this is what he said. He said, Duncan Campbell was a ordinary man who had had an extraordinary experience of God. Oh, I love that.

Like Moses, he had an extraordinary experience, an extraordinary encounter with God. He was just an ordinary man who had an extraordinary experience. The good news is friends, God uses ordinary men.

That means God can use you. When Jesus was here in his earthly ministry, as he passed through towns and villages, those who encountered him experienced change. Well, before we begin our study today, friends, I'd like to give you some background on what became known as the Lewis revival.

It began when the older generation of the community saw the carelessness and godlessness in the lives of the young people on the island, particularly the teenagers. They preferred drink and the dance to Bible study in church. So the older people on the island began to seriously pray for this younger generation.

They had a soul burden for them that God would reach them. And it is here, friends, that I introduced to you the Smith sisters, for they demonstrate that every real move of grace in revival has a season of prayer bathed behind it. Well, let me read to you from a favorite book of mine on the Lewis revival entitled Channel of Blessing by Andrew Wolseley.

It's since out of print and my own copy was given to me by a co-worker of Duncan Campbell. Let me read you her inscription on the inside cover to me, to earnest with love and prayers. It was a great privilege to have worked with Reverend Duncan Campbell on Isle of Lewis, signed Hester Randall.

She's now in glory, friends, as most of the converts of that island are. Now, listen to me. Let me read from you this marvelous little book on the Lewis revival.

And this is about the praying Smith sisters. Here we go. Further along the coast in a small cottage by the roadside live two elderly women, Peggy and Christine Smith.

They were 84 and 82 years old. Peggy was blind and her sister almost bent double with arthritis, unable to attend public worship. Their humble cottage became a sanctuary where they met with God.

To them came the promise, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground, which they pleaded day and night in prayer. One night, Peggy had a revelation in a dream that revival was coming and the church of her father's would be crowded again with young people. She sent for the minister, the Reverend James Murray McKay, and told him what God had shown her, asking him to call his elders and deacons together for special times of waiting upon God.

I will pause here, friends, to say, so there was a people behind the revival, and that's often the case. On another part of the island were a group of deacons who'd been meeting for months in a barn to pray for revival. One evening in particular, one deacon was praying and reading from Psalm 24, who shall ascend the hill of the Lord, he who has clean hands and a pure heart.

And he paused and said, brethren, we've been meeting several months now, but we must ask this question to the psalmist of myself, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure? This is just mere humbug, if this is not the case. And this man's words brought a wave of conviction through the barn, and God came down and met them in prayer, sending one man into a trance. Well, there were several supernatural occurrences on the island during the revival, friends, worth noting.

One day, while many of the converts of the revival were gathered together praying in a house, which by the way, was a house made of solid stone. And while they prayed, the house shook. They each felt it and testified to it, including Duncan Campbell, who was in the house at the time.

It was like the record of the Acts of the Apostles in Acts 4.31. And when they prayed, the place was shaken, where they had assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And they spake the word of God with boldness. The revival can be verified by various eyewitness testimony of the converts from the island.

And there are several film documentaries which do this. One, which I recommend is Wind of the Spirit. Well, let's take a look.

Where is Duncan Campbell at this time? How is God preparing him since he would eventually become the main human instrument of the revival? Well, for the last 18 years, he'd been in a settled pastorate in the north, which was described as an uneventful ministry. Until one particular morning, he was upstairs in his study, preparing a message on the Holy Spirit for an upcoming minister's convention. When he heard downstairs a voice singing, it was his little daughter.

He walked downstairs to find his 16 year old daughter happily singing a hymn about Jesus. He said to her, Lassie, why are you singing at 6 a.m. in the morning? She replied, Oh, Daddy, I just spent an hour with Jesus and I can't help singing to him. Oh, Daddy, isn't Jesus wonderful? Well, Duncan Campbell sighed and slowly walked back up the stairs, thinking to himself, Jesus isn't wonderful to me.

Here he was getting ready to address convention of ministers on the Holy Spirit, and Jesus wasn't even wonderful to him. Well, it was as if a sword pierced his heart. He locked himself in his study, and for the next several hours, he wrestled with God in brokenness and desperation.

He was in there so long with loud signs and great groans. His family feared he'd lost his mind and went mad and wanted to call the doctor. Finally, he met his God and determined to leave the pastorate to be a missionary with the faith mission and to trust God to take care of the financial needs of his family.

And it was this decision that eventually landed him on Lewis in the midst of revival. And he would stay there laboring with God for the next four years in powerful moods of grace, which here is a vivid description of it, friends, again from the book Channel of Revival. And that night, he preached from Matthew 25 on the wise virgins challenging the Christians in their responsibility toward those who were asleep in sin.

There's fire here, mused an elder who felt so convicted that instead of going home, he walked across the moor to kneel by a peat bank and pray that God would meet him afresh. The following night, Duncan turned this time to the foolish virgins. The service closed in a tense silence and the building emptied.

As he came down from the pulpit, a young deacon raised his hand and moving it in a circle above his head, whispered, Mr. Campbell, God is hovering over. He's going to break through. I can hear already the rumbling of heaven's chariot wheels.

Just then the door opened and an elder beckoned, come and see what is happening. Well, the entire congregation was lingering outside, reluctant to disperse. Others had joined them, drawn from their homes by a irresistible power they'd not experienced before.

There were looks of deep distress on many faces. The awful presence of God brought a wave of conviction of sin that caused even mature Christians to feel their sinfulness, bringing grounds of distress and prayers of repentance from the unconverted. Strong men were bowed under the way to sin and cries for mercy were mangled with shouts of joy from others who had passed into life.

The following night, buses arrived from various parts of the island filled with men and women anxious to see and hear the wonderful work of God. Within a matter of days, the whole neighborhood was powerfully awakened to eternal realities. Work was eagerly set aside as people became concerned about their own salvation or the salvation of friends and neighbors in homes, barns and loom sheds by the roadside or peak stack.

Men could be found calling upon God and soon the fire spread to other villages as invitations came to visit churches throughout the island. The island had become saturated with a God consciousness by the way friends. Many of those once careless teenagers were converted in that revival and entered the ministry on the island and there are several aspects to the Hebrides revival that need to be noted.

Well, let's sum these up. Number one, it was a community saturated with prayer before the revival commenced. The older generation praying for the younger generation in concern for their souls.

Number two, there was a heightened level of intercessory prayer for the revival between the Smith sisters and the deacons in the barn and others who had a burden for revival. Number three, there was a surrendered human instrument to lead the revival and his name was Duncan Campbell. Number four, the messages preached during the revival were searching sermons to break up false foundations to awaken the lost hence the wise and foolish virgins.

Number five, there were supernatural occurrences during the revival. The house shook while they prayed and people were drawn to church by an unseen force. And lastly, there were genuine conversions that lasted and bore fruit.

Several of the teenagers like I said became converted and became ministers on the island and they give testimony as old men in a video documentary filmed in 2003, which I recommend to you now friend called Wind of the Spirit. It can be watched online in which the converts of the revival are interviewed as old people giving their testimony. And this was done before these sweet individuals died and went to glory.

Each one is interviewed. Well, friends, that's what God can do in revival. But we must not forget before God could use Duncan Campbell in the revival, he had to get serious with God and be surrendered to him, yielded to him and available to him.

And do you know what friend? God is waiting on you to get serious with him and to be completely mastered by him and to be made willing to be utterly available for him to use for his glory. Well, how badly do you want to be used to God, friend? Are you willing to count the cost? Are you willing to pay the price of sacrifice? Are you willing to be used by God, even if you don't get any credit or recognition for it? How about you, friend? Can you honestly say that right now Jesus is wonderful to me? Can you say that in any sincerity of heart? Or have you lost your sweetheart love for Jesus? Have you lost your concern for the lost and perishing? When was the last time you handed out a gospel track or said a word for Jesus? Are you ready for a fresh encounter with him? Well, let's take some time now to get along with God in prayer in a fresh seeking of him. Let us pray.