The Root and Results of Revival
Almost all Christians recognized that revival encouraged spiritual life. However, have they understood that revival entailed more than one week of evening services and altar calls? The key to spiritual restoration involved identifying the ground roots of revival. The author of II Chronicles summarized the cause and effect of revival in the following promise: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” The key to revival comprised recognizing the spiritual needs, making restitutions, and receiving restoration through the Lord.
Spiritual awakening formed as people recognized their spiritual needs, humbled themselves before God, and sincerely prayed to become more like Jesus. Revival progresses only as people humble themselves and recognize their spiritual needs. For example, one of the first steps involved in many of the great revivals that took place in history involved just a few people realizing their spiritual condition and humbly turning to God for pardon and grace. II Chronicles also points out that prayer directly contributes to revival. David knew that communicating with God nourished
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In fact, He assured them that He rewarded those who followed His plan for revival. Because they humbly recognized their need in prayer and sought restitution through seeking God and repenting of their sins, God promised that he always heard their prayers. God never turned a deaf ear to their prayers, but listened tenderly to His children as they sought Him. In addition, He promised to forgive them of their sins as they repented. The last promise assured His beloved children that God would heal their land if they sought him fully. This recipe for revival led to a full spiritual restoration as people obeyed
While studying the Kingdom of God from the perspectives of Derek Morphew in Breakthrough and Charles H. Kraft in Christianity with Power, it has opened my mind up to completely new and interesting discoveries when considering the power that has already been given to God’s children while here on earth. It is utterly mind blowing realizing that many Christians, including myself, have not tapped into their full potential of unleashing the expectations of the risen Savior. Christians have come to believe that they are helpless and powerless against any of Satan’s attacks; however, that belief is not the reality that Christ intended when He laid down His life on the cross. When Jesus came to live on earth and walk among His people, He came not only with a goal to unleash His Kingdom, but He also came with the supernatural ability to unleash His Kingdom and thereby impressing upon His children the victorious ability to daily live in supernatural abundance. He came for so that those who believe in Him would be set free and no longer held bondage. Kraft stated in Christianity with Power, “But Jesus acted as if healings and other uses of spiritual power to overcome natural, human, or spiritual conditions ought to be the normal occurrences” (Kraft, 1989, p. 102). Derek Morphew stated it this way in Breakthrough, “the mysterious nature of the kingdom consists of the fact that it is always here, almost here, delayed and future” (Morphew, 1991, p. 66).
John 17 v9, Christ prays for his people, they are the ones he atones for. Justice has been done in that sense.
However, he was mostly considered an itinerant preacher, never staying in one play for too long. A problem that he faced was that there were not many travelling Baptist evangelists. Many of the examples that he had to go by were either Presbyterians or Congressionalist. The beginning of his ministry was hard for him. In his own words, “I looked upon the past eight years of my ministry [as a pastor] as comparatively wasted,” he later commented. “I felt that I had turned aside for ‘filthy lucre.’ What he lacked was inspiration. He lacked passion. However, he turned himself to God and found what he needed not only to be inspired, but to inspire other people. In the Awakening, the idea that people could do anything to promote a revival spread rapidly. This was directly against Knapp’s teachings and caused his sermons to amass much controversy. His message was that revival is something given by God to those who have earned it. Another controversial doctrine that Knapp preached was the idea that Christ can free his followers from sin. The popular contradictory belief at the time was that Christians must undergo a second “act of grace” to cleanse them of their sins later in life. However, Knapp would eventually become very popular, having campaigns that lasted for days and speeches that lasted for hours, with thousands gathering to hear them. He was one of the first men in America, at least in the Northeastern region, to completely devote his life to teaching. He found these days to be some of the best in his life. “These were golden days, sunny spots, heavenly seasons. The memory of them is precious,” described
This Revival occurred as an expression of social and theological discontent among the nation’s lower and middle-class groups. Advocates for holiness disapproved of the impiety in forefront denominations and were alienated by the growing wealth and grandiosity of their churches. With dissatisfaction in these principal churches, they formed new religious communities devoted to the theological doctrine of perfectionism. These previous Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists believed they were experiencing a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit which bore a resemblance to the early church experience as described in the book of Acts in the Bible. The Holiness Revival produced zeal for "Baptism of the Holy Spirit" (a heavenly enablement for believers) and for other gifts of the Holy Spirit such as healing and prophecy (Dieter, 1996). Holiness leaders such as John Alexander Dowie, Charles Cullis, and Albert B. Simpson set up healing missions across the U.S. They, like other holiness advocates, believed a new, miraculous era of the spirit was taking place which would end in the second coming of Christ (Dieter,
...nd gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” God wants to be reconciled with you, he wants to forgive you. He doesn’t want to go to war with you, even though he is just in doing so! “It has been said that the average person in the world today is without faith, without God and without hope. They are in a desperate search for the meaning and purpose of life. The sad commentary is that they are living on borrowed time, borrowed money and borrowed strength and they already know that in the end they will surely die.” (Declared Wars of God pg 34)
The Church as a whole debates many concepts that are in the Bible, in both theology and in practice. One of these debates surrounds the gifts that are spoken of in the Bible. In one corner are those who believe that charismatic gifts are alive and well in the church today. The Continuationist view believes that the gifts have continued on through Biblical times and are still relevant for today. In the other corner are those who believe that particular gifts have ceased to be used in the modern church and that they were only given for a particular reason in Biblical times. This view is called the Cessationist. Today each view, and other views in between, and the practice of the gifts in the current culture will be examined for truth, validity, and application by searching through each view and holding fast to the scripture as the final word of authority.
The epicenter of this passage is rooted on the discovering of the power of the resurrection, in which will transform any person’s meaningless, defeated, powerless, joyless, hopeless, useless, and purposeless life into a meaningful, victorious, powerful, joy filled, hopeful, useful, purposeful, and a mission life. Outline Introduction – A. Crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Context – A. Historical-cultural account: author, date, provenance, destination, purpose. B. Literary context: Discovering the power of the resurrection from despair, loneliness, hopelessness, and purposeless life into a powerful, joyful, hopeful, purposeful, and mission life.
Resurrection can mean coming back to life after death or where someone makes a drastic change in their life. When someone takes something in their life and changes it drastically to where a life they once had is now changed, is called resurrection. It is like a renewal, someone is taking something old and worn out into a newer and more improved version. In A Tale of Two Cities, one of the big themes is resurrection. Resurrection was proven possible on many occasions throughout the story and without these characters wanting to resurrect the story would've been extremely different.
When Moses turns to God's promises, he is in essence saying, “God we are not worthy of your blessings, we are here because of you, and we depend on you.” God acted as a parent towards a child. He wanted the best for his children. He, out of love for his children, responded to them in different ways. At times he was tough, at other times gentle.
The history of Pentecostalism is widely disputed amongst historians; some believe that Pentecostalism began with Jesus’ disciple’s baptism in the Holy Spirit at the first Pentecost, while other historians argue that the religion itself dates as recent as the early ninety’s. In the historiographical essay, “Assessing the Roots of Pentecostalism,” Randall J. Stephens claims that the Pentecostal movement started in 1901 and the famous 1906 Los Angeles revival on Azusa Street helped the religion grow to currently contain approximately 420 million followers. The followers, being mostly lower and middle-class groups who were “multi-ethnic and often challenged racial norms” (Wilma Wells Davies 2), of the revival were unhappy...
During the Reign of Terror, which ran from 1793 to 1794, forty thousand Frenchmen were either executed or murdered. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is a literary masterpiece that shows the terror of the French Revolution in a dark and gruesome fashion. The story follows the lives of Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and his wife, Lucie Manette. When a past servant of Darnay is detained by the French revolutionaries, Charles travels to France. When he arrives in Paris, the french people imprison and sentence him to death.
In Charles Dicken’s Book, “A Tale of Two Cities” the theme of “burial and resurrection” is used. The theme is woven inside the story by certain events, from mental burial and mental resurrection, to literal burial and literal “resurrection.” The purpose behind this theme in the story is partially to help the reader more fully understand the magnitude of events, as certain things are more noticed when they are compared to a topic as incense as burial and resurrection. The other purpose behind using this theme is to help set the mood of the book. “A Tale of Two Cities” is part tragedy, part inspirational, and thus a serious tone would need to be set in order to tell the story. The very theme reflects
After the civil war, protestant churches began to ignore the significance of emotional expression in worship. According to historian Thomas Nicole, American churches transformed into ‘dignified, rational, middle class congregations’ which limited emotional expression. In contrast, various fringe groups fought the cold formalism that had developed in American Christianity as they believed that the power of the Holy Spirit would soon move in charismatic power as prophesied in Joel 2:28-32. By 1906, great anticipation had built up in such groups located in Los Angeles as Menzies explains that several congregations held prayer meetings which cried for ‘a Pentecost’ in Los Angeles’. It appears that ministers began to represent Los Angeles as the centre, out of which a charismatic outpouring would inevitably occur. Frank Bartleman for example reported that the people of Los Angeles would soon find themselves ‘in the throes of a mighty...
Jesus’ healing ministry constructed a profound theological statement to Israel, similar to his selection of the twelve apostles and his eating with sinners. God’s promise one day to establish his kingdom and renew his people visible and available in preview to any who witnessed his deeds of the teacher from Nazareth.
God did not leave us in doubt about His love for mankind when we read throughout the Old and New Testaments about His provision of a way back to Him, even though it was Man who rebelled against God and so deserves His wrath. Many times we see how God made covenants (agreements with a promise) with men of old such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, David, and countless numbers of prophets. Mostly the promises of God are that He is selecting a people for Himself, the children of Israel, and these special people are chosen to be a light to the rest of the world, witnessing God’s goodness and mercy to them. The aspects of God’s choosing and calling His people, and gathering them together as a community are preparatory for the ultimate purpose of God’s will – that all people on earth will worship God and receive salvation from Him.