By Evangelist John BJ Hall
There is a drought in our land today. There seems to be a spiritual vacuum sucking the life out of the church. Recent studies have shown that 2016 had the lowest baptisms since 1946; the lowest Church membership since 1990; and lowest worship attendance since 1996. For me, an evangelist, this is heartbreaking news!
How are we going to change this trend? How do we come out of these deficits? The answer is clear. We must enact Christ’s Program for the Church.
Revelation 2:5 (NASB77) 'Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place-- unless you repent.
A revival is the church remembering, the church repenting, the church repeating. The modern Church may be orthodox and busy but she is far from her first love. We have been so busy fighting over the style of worship, that we have forgotten what worship is. We have forgotten what repentance is. The Church must have her mind stirred up by way of remembrance.
The Church must discover how far she has slipped from her first estate. This is not easy and often is resented, for she may be very proud of her works and labor and patience and her hatred of the deeds of the Nicolaitans.
Many scholars believe that the Nicoaitans were those who compromised with the worldly system. They state that these were people who held that Christians were not bound by the moral law, and that sin was no sin for those who had faith. In many ways the modern Church has not hated the ways of the world, but instead has embraced them. If that is true then the call for revival is even more urgent.
But revival begins with remembering, and to "jog the memory" is not easy for a preacher in a church like Ephesus. It is important to note what my father used to say, “You can’t revive something that was never vived in the first place.” In other words if a person has never been made alive, then you cannot revive them.
- The church must repent as our Lord commanded five out of seven churches in Asia to do. The average church gets nowhere near a call to genuine repentance.
Solomon said in Proverbs 1:23 (AMP) If you will turn (repent) and give heed to my reproof, behold, I [Wisdom] will pour out my spirit upon you, I will make my words known to you.
- The church must repeat, do again the first works. To halt all the vast machinery today until we remember, repent, and repeat the first works would disrupt our program.
What did the church do when it was first founded? She received the power of the Holy Spirit to guide her? Didn’t she reach out to the lost folks around her and bring them to Christ?
The first thing I wanted to do after I was saved was to tell everybody I came across what had just happened in my life. We have to repeat the first works.
How long has it been since you shared your faith with someone, anyone? Well, that’s too long.
- So if we dispense with real revival and face the "or else" of removal; "I will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent" we will wither and die.
There is no hope for the church that ignores Christ’s Program for the Church. In the same way there is no hope for the individual who ignores Christ’s Plan of Salvation.
Ablaze, Yet Not Consumed
Ablaze, yet not consumed.
As the bush was ablaze,
As Moses was ablaze,
To set his people free.
Ablaze, yet not consumed.
Burning with the truth,
To light a million fires.
Fire to show that One Truth.
Ablaze, yet not consumed.
Ablaze for Jesus Christ.
Ablaze with His great power,
To set a lost world free.
Ablaze, yet not consumed.
Yes that’s what we must be,
Or they can’t see the fire,
That burns to set them free.
©Copyright 2001 by Passages Ministries. All rights reserved.
For permission to use this poem contact Passages Ministries