Lessons Learned From the Zulu Revival

The message this morning is Spirit-Filled Zulu Revival and Five Signs of Spiritual Renewal. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your Holy Son, Jesus.

We thank you so much for that great salvation. We thank you for that great, great future that we have as Christians. And yet, Father, even as we look into this world, we see that if we want to follow you, if we want to declare your word, there may be opposition.

Father, and you said in Matthew that we will be hated at one time point by the whole world. So, Father, we pray that you would come this morning, encourage us that you will empower us, that you're with us, that we're not orphans, that Jesus is in us, that the Holy Spirit is in us, and that you, Father, will come and be with us as we follow your commands. And we thank you for your great power, for your great glory, that you will enable us to deal with situations in life, and that you will be glorified, and that your Son, Jesus, will be uplifted and seen.

Thank you, Father. Please continue with us now, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and move our hearts, move our minds, and help us to do that which you have called us to do, which is to follow your cross and to take your cross upon us. And I thank you for this in Christ's name.

Amen. This morning we will hear a report on the Zulu revival that is currently happening in Southern Africa, and we will also briefly talk about five signs of spiritual renewal. A friend of mine, Greg Gordon, has traveled to South Africa and has confirmed the evidence of a wonderful move of God there.

Some of you may question, is it really true that God is still moving, that there are miracles in the world, because so many do not believe. But, beloved, it is true, and even today in China, there are 25,000 new believers every day. Every day there's a great revival all over China.

And we know that God is still able, that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I'd like to read from John chapter 14, verses 12 to 18. John chapter 14, verses 12 to 18.

And there it says, You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and to be with you forever.

The spirit of truth, the world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him. For he lives with you, and he will be in you. And then Jesus said, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.

And Jesus also has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we have the Holy Spirit. We have the Son of God.

And then in 2 Corinthians 6.16, the Father said, I'm going to dwell with you, I'm going to be with you. And so we have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with us to help us to go through this life. Now John the Baptist in Matthew 3.11 said, I baptize you with water for repentance.

But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sables are not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. And what? And fire.

Fire! Fire! Are we dead or alive or how are we managing? Is there fire in us? Is there anything happening in us that would help us to declare the glory of this Holy Son, Jesus? To declare this wonderful salvation God has given us? Let me share with you some parts of the revival among the Zulus. And it is part of a report from Inger J. Loughlin. He was talking about Pastor Errol Stegen.

Pastor Errol Stegen had been preaching among the Zulus of South Africa for six years. But he was ready to admit defeat. He wanted to go home.

The Zulus consider Christianity a white man's religion and a white man's God. They held on to their traditional ancestral worship. Outwardly they responded to the gospel.

Hundreds would come, but they would not live by it. They would accept Christ, but Stegen did not see the fruit of change in their lives. Do you say you believe and there is no change in your life? Stegen preached that this God could do anything.

But when he prayed for three weeks to set free a demon-possessed girl, she was not delivered. No longer believing everything he read in the Bible was true. For today he continued preaching, yet for another six years.

Stegen then said to a Zulu congregation of about 40 people. They were in a city called Mapumulu. He said to his congregation, I'm finished.

I'm finished. I can't go on like this. Out of desperation, the little group agreed to seek God.

In a converted cow shed, the little group met at 7 in the morning and 5 in the evening. They determined to read their Bibles, accepting things just as they're written in the Word of God. They didn't take away from the Word of God.

They would see God without justifying, defending, or excusing themselves to each other or to God. And Stegen said, the more we studied the Book of Acts, the more our hearts were broken. One day a young woman, a new convert, stood up to pray and she said, Oh Lord Jesus, we have heard what the early church was like.

Couldn't you come down and be in our midst as you came down 2,000 years ago? Couldn't our church be the same as the one in Jerusalem? The following week, God began to convict Pastor Stegen. He said he had a critical attitude. He had pride.

He had excuses. He had idols he had made in his own life. Deep repentance followed with tears.

Stegen told God, work as you like. As God began to clean up his life, at the same time, God was convicting the congregation of their sins. And they began to go to one another, asking for forgiveness.

In the meetings, gentle tears were shed. And progressed to a literal weeping out to God with one voice to come. Help us! Help us God! Help us! One day when they were gathered for prayer, they heard a sound like a great wind.

Stegen, it says, it was similar to pressurized air escaping from an air pump. And as if that wind were blowing right upon each one of us, the Spirit of God came and everybody was moved. Nobody needed to explain that God had come.

Look! Look! Look! God! God is in our midst! Something had broken up the heavenlies. And God had listened to those prayers. And he came down in a mighty, mighty move.

The immediate result was that people were streaming in for prayer. They were directed by the Spirit of God. The first person to come was a witch who had lived seven kilometers away.

And she was in charge of a training school for witches. Stegen says she asked for prayer so she wouldn't go to hell if she died that day. Five or six co-workers stood around and sang a hymn about Christ, defeating sin and death while the woman manifested demons in very bizarre ways.

Now, before I share this next part, I want you to remember, this is a down-to-earth pastor. He had not seen anything happening in his life. And after 12 years of ministry, he wanted to give up.

He didn't see anything happening. But what happened here with this witch in their school? The first hundred demons left, which went shouting and screaming. Then the second hundred left, and then the third hundred.

Up to that moment, the face of the old Sanboma witch had retained a dark and horrifying expression. But the instant the evil spirits left her, the expression on her face changed abruptly. She looked like a saint who had been living in the presence of our Lord and Master for many years.

With the glory of heaven shining on her face, and in her eyes she cried, Oh, how marvelous! How marvelous Jesus has set me free! Jesus has broken these chains of hell! I don't want to walk in hell anymore. I don't want to have hell near me. A steady stream of people followed.

The witch doctors, then the possessed, then the sick, compelled by an overwhelming urge to come for prayer. They came without imitation, with a strong sense of their sinfulness. The workers would come out to the mission any time of the day, and they would find 100 to 200 people assembled, waiting for prayer.

Stagan said hardened sinners would be weeping like little children. When they asked what the matter was, they would reply, We are sinners. We are sinners.

We are weeping for our sins. Healings began to take place spontaneously, without people being prayed for, simply by being in the services. The demon-possessed girl who had before been prayed for without result, years earlier she came back and she was marvelously set free.

Whole areas were open for the gospel, as invitations would come from the person's village. That was in 1966, and it's continuing to this day. Thousands of people have streamed to South Africa.

They now have moved from Mampumulu in 1970 to a farm called Kwaziza Bantu, the place where people are helped. They have an auditorium now for 7,000 to 10,000 people, where thousands come to Christ, where the Word of God is taught. And Earl Stagan, the pastor who wanted to give up, and his co-workers are more than convinced that the God of the Bible is the same today as he was then.

And Earl Stagan, in his sermons, related about the Holy Spirit and fire, and in point one that he referred to Matthew chapter 3, verses 11 and 12. Matthew chapter 3, 11 and 12. And he said, John the Baptist said that he only baptized with water unto repentance, but one was coming after him, whose sandals he was not worthy to carry.

Please remember that Matthew 11 tells us that no one born of women was greater than John the Baptist. But John the Baptist said there was someone so great coming after him, he wasn't worth to even tie his shoelaces. Why is Jesus so much greater? Because he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

There's a great difference between water and fire. After a stone has been in water for 10,000 years, the inside is still bone dry. But put it into the fire, and after a short while, the fire has gone right through.

We need the baptism of fire so that every member of our body is touched from head to toe. Not that we say we are baptized, but our tongues are still untouched. And our tongues still speak evil.

Our tongues still relate our anger. Our tongues still gossip. Our tongues still speak things which we shouldn't.

Fire also does the following. All different types of wood together is in a fire. Then all the wood and everything in the fire becomes red.

One can't differentiate anymore between the fire in one piece of wood versus the fire in the next piece of wood. Even the rusted nails or the coals which are there, they turn glowing red and hot. Point number two.

The prerequisite for preaching was that the people, his disciples, would stay in Jerusalem until they were endued mightily with the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus didn't want his disciples to go on without that power. Nobody was to receive the baptism of fire and the Holy Spirit will ever say, what is it? Point number three.

When the Holy Spirit comes, there are many examples of how the Lord worked in 1966. When we were praying for revival and God started to touch people, unusual things happened. One person felt as if his eyes were burning because he had been looking at books and pictures which he shouldn't have.

Another's feet were burning because he had gone to places where he shouldn't have. And yet, another person's tongue was on fire because of gossip and speaking things which he shouldn't have. It reminds us of the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 6. When he saw God in his glory and holiness, he became aware of his unclean lips.

Another lady was jumping up and down where she was sitting on the cement floor. She was sitting there as if on a red hot plate. She was sweating and crying that she was burning.

She asked permission to leave. And when she left, she first went to her husband. She asked her husband for forgiveness.

Then she went to her children. And then she asked her children for forgiveness. And then she went to her neighbors and to her employer to put things right with them.

She had done wrong and she made it right. Many people want revival. Malachi 3, verses 1 to 3, it says there, You desire his coming, but who can endure the day of his coming? He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.

He will purify the Levites, removing all the dross, so that the gold will be absolutely pure. He is the Holy Spirit of God. He is a consuming fire, says the Bible.

If he is in you, he will burn. He will remind you of sin. He will remind you of returning to him.

If there are things which shouldn't be there, which should be removed, there's fire. Praise God. And then point number four.

God provides each one of us with gifts of the Holy Spirit. And Pastor Stagen said that for him personally, two gifts of the Holy Spirit were very important. Namely, wisdom and discernment.

Without wisdom, one will easily go off the track. And without discernment, one will mistake the devil's work for God's work. When the Holy Spirit comes, he convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

And any other movement, you have to question whether it is from him. Because he will convict of sin, of the righteousness of Jesus, and of judgment. The word says that we must discern all things, whether they are from God or not.

Test and prove all things. If we don't obey God's word, we will be misled. Woe to the person who calls something which is white and it's black.

Or someone who calls a black thing white. Let the Bible examine it. And pray that the Lord will remove everything from your life which isn't good.

So that this will also happen in your life. And so, beloved, in the verses I read from John 14, 12. The first condition there, where Jesus said, He who believes in me, the works I will do, he will do also.

You say, who me? Poor little me. You don't know me. But Jesus promised it.

And you see the greatest stoppage is unbelief. You don't want to believe it, nothing will happen. You want to believe it? Wow.

Wow, wait on God and see what happens. You see, verse 12 of John 14. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes.

So let us believe in Jesus and his promises. And then in verse 14, he said, If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. But there is a condition, if you love me, keep my commandments.

And then in verse 16, he sent us the Holy Spirit. You say, well, I'm no good Christian. The Lord knows I try best.

I have no power in my life. It's okay. And that is a horrible, horrible, horrible lie.

It is a lie from Satan in your mind. It is pride. It is dependence on yourself.

It is not dependence on the power of God. You say, well, I can't even witness about my faith. I'm afraid.

I find all kinds of excuses. I have excuses. The world doesn't want me to do it.

I can't do it. And it's true. Part of this is true.

But you trust the Lord Jesus Christ with all of your heart. And you ask him for his Holy Spirit. He will do it through you.

And then you say to me, well, yes, I want to witness. But, you know, I can't say no to sin. I can't say no to sin.

It just comes over me. I have no power. Beloved, Scripture says that we walk in the spirit.

We shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. The power of God. Am I living without the power of God? Of course nothing is happening.

And so I must ask. I must repent. I must go back to him and I must say, Lord Jesus, I have neglected you and your Holy Spirit.

I have neglected your power in me. I'm trying to do everything on my own and I'm failing. And it's true, we will fail on our own.

And so what are these things that beset us? Number one, unbelief. Luke warned us. No more first love for Jesus.

No witness. Pride. Pride.

Jealousy. Resentment. Unforgiveness.

I write so much about this video that I showed you this morning. What kind of forgiveness is that? Does that come from human beings? No. No.

They have the power of the Holy Spirit to forgive. You want to see your son's throat cut and then three days later you forgive? You get bumped in church, somebody says something wrong and you're mad. You say, I won't go back to this church.

What's the matter with us? What has happened to us, beloved? Then there's a lack of humility. We've got to be right in what we say and if you disagree with me, I won't like you. We're holding brudges.

We gossip. Perhaps our eyes go to wrong things on the internet, on our cell phones. Perhaps our feet walk to places where the evil one dwells.

When God's Spirit is able to work in your and my life and my heart, it is the beginning of revival. Where do we go from there? Where do we start? With the five churches in the book of Revelation that were falling short of the glory of God, Jesus said the starting solution is repent. Come to me.

If you confess your sins, I'm faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. If there's sin in me, if I'm a dirty plate, if I'm a dirty dish, can the Holy Spirit come? Does anyone that I want to share the gospel with want to eat from a dirty dish? Where you invite people to your home and say I want you to come and have a meal with me and you set before each of them a dirty plate? And then you heap Christian food on top where they eat it? No, they can't. They can't.

So beloved, are we empowered by the Holy Spirit? We are born again of the Holy Spirit. He is in us. But there's also evidence in scripture that we run short of the Holy Spirit.

He does not dwell in us in fullness the way he ought to when we don't read our Bibles, when we don't pray, when we don't do the things that God has told us to do. So there were five signs. You know, we had the E100 lessons and there were five signs given in that word where T. Cuneho wrote and he said, What are the signs that follow believers? We get a new insight into God's word.

We get a keen understanding of God's plan. All of a sudden, we gain uncommon courage. All of a sudden, we receive power from on high.

And all of a sudden, there is supernatural effectiveness in your ministry. There's supernatural effectiveness in your testimony. You say, I'm a pretty good Christian.

But may I ask you, are there these evidences in your life? If I say I can't even witness, I'm so afraid of people. Every wind that blows brings me down. I can't even say no to sin.

Perhaps there are things that are true in you this morning. Perhaps there's some unbelief. Perhaps there's some lukewarmness.

Perhaps there's no more love for Jesus. Perhaps there's no witness and no fruit. Perhaps there's pride.

Perhaps there's jealousy. Perhaps there's resentment. Perhaps there's unforgiveness.

Perhaps there's lack of humility. Perhaps there's gossip. Perhaps my eyes wander to things they should not.

Perhaps our feet walk to places we should not. Perhaps we're all full of fear. Perhaps we fight in our families between husband and wife in front of the children.

Perhaps we're wearied. Perhaps we're downtrodden. But I want to tell you something this morning.

There is a future. There is a hope for you. There is a hope through the blessed Son of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He not only set us free from the penalty of sin on the cross, He also sets us free from the power of sin. He wants to endue us mightily with the power of His Holy Spirit. And so, beloved, at the end of the service, I want to pray.

But I've got to pray myself for myself, too. But I don't want to pray alone. Perhaps some of your hearts were touched.

Perhaps you want to pray to God. And I'm not going to pray for you. I'm going to pray with you because I also need to pray for myself.

But would you come just here to the front, and I'll come down here. And if you want to pray to the Lord about any of these things that God has moved in your heart, would you please come and stand with me, and then we'll pray together. Please come.

Please come.