REVIVAL! BEFORE THE OUTREACH IS THE IN-REACH..AND SIN'S REMOVAL OF THE BREACH OF FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD! - PART 2
Now...Question? Do you know that there are RIGHT ROUTES toward revival and the STARTING ROUTE is getting ONTO the ROAD OF CONFESSION! There's NO EASY route to revival...UNLESS you're willing to PAY THE PRICE! AND..you'll have to WANT IT for no-one who is satisfied with their spiritual condition will SEEK a revived change in their condition! I'd like to take you back some years to Canada and revival fires that ignited in the 1980s! 2 men, the SUTERA TWINS were greatly used of God as tools for revival. Some concrete conclusions were derived from that revival that ought to be of great interest to us! RALPH SUTERA gave 5 DIRECTIONS of revival: UPWARD ONWARD SIDEWARD OUTWARD INWARD Those directions included the areas of: INTERCESSION STRENGTHENING FELLOW BELIEVERS FELLOWSHIP OUTREACH and CLEANSING Now for sure, ALL 5 are rightly needful, BUT, their order of importance and application MUST be present!
I quote Sutera "The average church is primarily interested in OUTREACH! When attempts to motivate people to outreach FAIL, then the prior points are backed-up to; as, Strengthening Believers, Intercession, Fellowship, and then Inward Cleansing! The last thing most Christians are willing to ADMIT, is that they and the church NEED..CLEANSING! Isn't it strange that we are UNWILLING to admit and will seek LAST, what God places FIRST!" Now I ASK...WHY would Christians place all of the OUTWARD ACTIVITIES 1ST...BEFORE taking care of the INWARD FIRST? Easy! TAKING CARE OF INWARD SIN is NOT desirable to the flesh and will COST something...getting RID of what should NOT BE PRESENT! SUTERA again, "I believe any group of believers CAN SEE a genuine moving of God in their midst, IF they are committed to following God's order by concentrating FIRST on the area of CLEANSING ..UNTIL IT HAPPENS!" A late good old-timer DR. LEHMAN STRAUSS said "The outworking of all of God's purposes for us is the RESULT of the Spirit's INWORKING" Thus the reason for this message TITLE: "Revival! Before the Outreach is the In-reach and Sin's Removal of the Breach of Fellowship with God" REVIVAL IS A REPENTANCE & RETURN TO 1ST THINGS 1ST!" To the Church at Ephesus in Revelation...DO the 1st works! Repent and return to ME, Jesus Christ as your 1ST LOVE! LOVE ME with all your being! We need a revival of TRUTH in the INWARD PARTS as revealed in God's Word! Revival BEGINS with an HONESTY inwardly and an absence of HYPOCRISY outwardly as one examines the religion of the Pharisees who only did OUTWARDLY to be seen of men and thus not rewarded by God! YES, revival must have an HONEST EVALUATION OF SIN AND SELF! EXAMINATIONS MUST BE PERFORMED! DAVID in PSALM 26:1,2 - "JUDGE ME..EXAMINE ME..PROVE AND TRY MY REINS AND MY HEART" PSALM 139:23-"SEARCH ME O God and KNOW my heart; TRY ME and KNOW my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way IN ME; and LEAD ME in the way everlasting" DAVID REQUESTED AN INWARD EXAMINATION...HOW ABOUT YOU..EVEN ME..US?