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REVIVAL EVANGELISM |
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Understanding Revival After spending 6 weeks
on a ministry trip to Brazil in the year 2000, and another 12 weeks in
2001, visiting a total of 27 churches, I can say that I began to have an
understanding of some of the aspects of revival. What I witnessed and
experienced during those ministry trips, leads me to believe that Brazil
is on the verge of an extremely powerful revival. The powerful presence
of the Holy Spirit was experienced in most of the 27 churches visited,
regardless of the size, denomination, or location, and the strong presence
of God was there to touch people, regardless of age, race, sex or
religion. What makes the
presence of God so strong? What draws the presence of God so powerfully? I
think the answer to these questions is people. Yes, people draws the
presence of God, not programs, worship style, preaching or even
traditions. God wants to be in the midst of His people, regardless if they
have problems, conditions or circumstances in their lives. I believe that
God anoints all of those who are present to worship Him. The presence of God is
directly related to the level of anointing in the place (one pastor did
not want anybody to leave the service early, because he did not wanted any
disruption to the level of anointing that was present). Now the level of
anointing has little to do with the number of people present. I went to
small churches where the presence of God was much stronger than in some
other larger churches I also went. People don't start
revivals; only God can start and maintain revivals. God looks at the
hearts of people, and see if certain conditions are met, and respond
accordingly. He can start a revival with 3 people or 3000 (remember the
day of Pentecost, it started with 120). Revivals start with prayer, not
preaching. There are thousands of churches in Brazil fasting and praying
for a great revival. In Sao Paulo I had the opportunity to attend a
pastor's breakfast at the Bom Retiro Assemblies of God church. Over 1000
pastors were in attendance. They talked about revival and prayer. SPIRITUAL SEEKERS I would like to point
out that revival has a lot to do with the spiritual awareness of the
people. The higher the focus on material things, the less likely that
spiritual awareness will develop or grow. Spiritual awareness means that
people become more sensitive or aware of their spirituality. Spiritual
awareness may or may not cause spiritual hunger. I say this because not
all persons who are aware of their spirituality are seeking spiritual
truth. People who are seeking spiritual truth become spiritual seekers. When people are
spiritually hungry, they seek spiritual truth in many places, and for that
matter also in the wrong places. In Brazil, spiritual hunger is so high
that it becomes a gold mine for all types of religions and cults, both
native and from other countries. When flying from Houston to Sao Paulo, I
had the opportunity to engage in conversation with a young man seated next
to me. He said that he was a LDS (Mormon) missionary assigned to a 2-year
mission in Brazil. I asked where he was going to stay, and he stated he
was going to be housed and trained in a LDS village in Sao Paulo where
another 2000 LDS missionaries were staying. This shows how ready the
harvest in Brazil really is. I believe that
spiritual seekers become easy prey, because they are like fish ready to be
caught in a fisherman's net. The number of spiritual seekers in Brazil far
surpasses the number of spiritual seekers in the U.S. The main reason is
materialism, which is the biggest hindrance to spiritual awareness and the
generation of spiritual seekers. With so great a number of spiritual
seekers, revival has become a net. In the last 20 years, the evangelical
church in Brazil has benefited tremendously with the increased spiritual
awareness of the people, but to some extent so have other religions and
cults. REVIVAL OR JUDGMENT
Revival is God's
divine intervention in the affairs of "men". It can occur at any
time and place God chooses. God' actions is in direct response to our
cooperation with His will. We can respond to what God wants to do (His
Will), or we can refuse to cooperate and remain in our old ways. God wants
to save, heal and set people free. He wants to transform lives; that is
His will. So, why, don't we cooperate with God? I believe the reason is
because we are not consumed with God. To be consumed with God should be a
way of life and not a temporary thing. If we are not consumed with God,
makes it more difficult to cooperate with Him. If we cooperate with God He
sends Revival, if we don't cooperate, He sends judgment. In the Old Testament
the history of Israel is full of periods of revival and periods of
judgment. Even today God is giving the church a choice, Revival or
Judgment. If the church is not prepared to receive the visitation of the
Lord in revival, then there will be only one alterative, the Lord's visit
will be in judgment. In Hebrews 10:39 we read: "But we are not of
those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are
saved". (NIV) The apostle John,
believed to be the author of the book of Revelation, wrote a message from
the Lord to seven churches in Asia, The message contained seven letters.
In those letters, the Lord severely admonished five of the seven churches
saying that if they did not repent of their transgressions and live in
revival, He was going to visit them in judgment. The churches of today
are in the same predicament as the five churches of Revelation,
(Unfortunately I don't have the space here to go into the details of this
comparisons). For those interested read my essay on "Revival or
Judgment", posted in the web site. Many churches have abandoned the
teachings of the Bible; have lost their first love, who is the Lord Jesus;
tolerate sexual immorality; are spiritually dead; are not hot, nor cold,
they are warm, and allow in their midst social norms and conduct that is
from the world. We have to start preaching more on how to cooperate with
God and on how to prepare our hearts through repentance, forgiveness,
increasing faith , revival praying, and the continuous renewal of our
minds. We have to continually pray until the
Lord respond with revival, until the Spirit of God is poured out in revival that will touch not only
believers, but also unbelievers. The obedience of a few may pave the way
for REASONS FOR REVIVAL
In my opinion there
are seven reasons, why the church in Brazil is ripe for a major revival. 1.
Consumed with God
Romans
1:17; "For in the gospel
a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith
from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live
by faith." (NIV) 2.
Worship People
in Brazil come ready to praise God. Their mind, spirit and body are
engaged and tuned. There is a festive atmosphere in the place, along with
deep sincerity, praising God, delighted and consumed with His presence. I
noticed that many factors could account for a good or a poor worship
service. Audience participation is a must, otherwise worship becomes a
performance by the musicians. Most churches in Brazil have 45 minutes to
1-hour worship services, followed by 20 or 30 minutes of preaching, then a
one, two, three or four hours of ministry time, depending on the day of
the week, and size of the church. John
4:24; "God is spirit,
and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (NIV) 3.
Child-like attitude Brazilians
seemed to have a child-like attitude in worship, in asking, in receiving,
and in faith. But when ministered to, they presented very adult problems.
People did not seem too analytical, logical or deep in their thinking
(with a few exceptions of course). We have developed an adult-like
attitude towards all things concerning God, that we forgot how to be
child-like. 4.
Humble To
humble oneself is to admit that God has the right of way. God gives grace
to the humble. Humbleness comes with child-like attitude. Many in Brazil
live a simple life. We have a tendency to make our lives so complex, that
we leave no room to become humble. 5.
Hunger Brazilians
seemed hungry for God, hungry for things of God. Many churches were packed
with people to an overflowing, a strong indication of spiritual hunger in
the land. Many people travel long distances and wait in long lines to get
in the churches, so they could be fed. We have a tendency to feed
ourselves with mundane things, leaving little room for spiritual hunger to
take hold. The complexities of life, that we developed individually and as
a society, only contribute to our lack of spiritual hunger. 6.
Brotherly Love Brazilians
seemed to demonstrate a brotherly love, and affection towards one another.
When a person is open to receive God's love, God fills that person so much
that they have to give away to others. Freely received freely given (Matt.
10:8). When you are full of God's love, this brotherly love and human
affection becomes a natural thing in your life. Rom
12:10; " Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one
another above yourselves". (NIV) 7.
Expectation Brazilians
for the most part are very attentive to what God is doing or is going to
do. God draws their attention. There is this atmosphere of anticipation,
of expectation as to what is going to happen tonight! They come expecting
a healing, a miracle, a life changing opportunity, and a sign from God.
Most of these people receive what they were expecting. Many of us
attend church or home fellowships for the "business as usual"
with very low expectation, and end up receiving very little or not enough,
just according to our expectations. Matt
7:7-8; "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives;
he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened".
(NIV) CONCLUSION I firmly believe that
God is able to draw the attention of the people here in the U.S. the same
way He is drawing the attention of the people in Brazil. But there is a
price to be paid, because what comes natural to some people may require
sacrifice and discipline for others. The first step is to hear what the
Spirit of God is saying to the churches, and the second step is to become
consumed with God. I can safely say that many people in Brazil are
consumed with God not only because of their strong faith, but because they
do hear what the Spirit of God is saying. I believe that Brazil
has awakened from a long spiritual slumber, and is positioning itself for
an unprecedented revival that will shake the religious foundations from
the world over. God may be using Brazil as the launching pad for a global
revival. Like brother Dave Stewart said: "I believe that Brazil right
now may be God's object lesson to the rest of the world about
revival". I pray that you open your heart and mind to receive from God a strong desire for revival. I pray that, the Holy Spirit put prayer words in your mouth for a major revival in the US. Also that your faith will become so strong that you will be consumed with God in your life. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen Prof.
Mauro Pinheiro, holds a Master degree in Theology from Fuller Theological
Seminary, and is President of "In the Name of Jesus
Ministries", www.inthenameofjesus.org Source: www.inthenameofjesus.org
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