                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                    The Church Isn't Ready for Revival!

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By David Wilkerson
February 20, 1995
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          There are two kinds of churches in the world today.
          First, there is the dead, formal church, which has a
          form of godliness but no power. Its ministers are
          hirelings, most of whom are unconverted. God calls such
          shepherds "...twice dead..." (Jude 12). And He promises
          to pluck up such churches by the roots and burn them!

          I have preached in several of these lifeless mausoleums
          over the years. The pastors would invite me because
          they had read "The Cross and the Switchblade." Yet
          whenever I preached in such a church, and the Holy
          Spirit fell upon me, the pastor grew nervous, slumping
          in his seat. People would be weeping under Holy-Ghost
          conviction. But as soon as I gave an invitation, the
          pastor stepped in quickly and dismissed the meeting.

          Oh, how that bothered me! Those pastors dreaded the
          very thought of anyone having an emotional response to
          my preaching. All they wanted was to get the people up
          off their knees and out the door before the Holy Ghost
          could do something "out of control."

          We know God cannot bless such churches with revival,
          because He doesn't pour out His Spirit where He is not
          welcome. And the dead, formal church has rejected the
          Holy Ghost outright. It simply does not want to be
          raised from the dead.

          But there is another kind of church in the world today.
          And that is a holy, remnant church - a praying,
          God-fearing, uncompromising, righteous body of
          believers. It is comprised of people wholly given to
          Christ - people who pray, fast and seek the face of God
          regularly.

          My message is concerned primarily with this righteous,
          Holy-Ghost church. Why? It is the only church in a
          position to receive a great outpouring of the Holy
          Spirit! You see, God pours out His Spirit only on those
          who ask Him to come, and who prepare themselves to
          receive Him.

          Yet I do not believe the true church is ready for
          revival - for God's last, great, promised outpouring of
          His Spirit. You see, a church can be engrossed for
          months in prayer, fasting, weeping, supplications,
          begging and beseeching the Holy Ghost to fall - and yet
          still may not be ready for revival!

          (Let me explain the terms I'm using here: The word
          revival literally means "the resurrection of that which
          threatens to become a corpse." So, if you revive
          someone, it means he has already passed out. Yet I do
          not believe God's holy, remnant church has fainted. And
          when I use the word revival, I'm actually talking about
          an outpouring of God's Spirit.)

          It is necessary to search God's Word to find out how
          His people prepared themselves. You see, God has given
          us many biblical promises that are "on call" - that is,
          ready to be fulfilled. And I believe He is simply
          waiting on a people who will prepare themselves to lay
          hold of these promises.

          Of course, God is sovereign and can pour out His Spirit
          on anyone He chooses. There are reports of the Holy
          Ghost falling on various peoples around the world,
          bringing resurrection life to those who neither
          expected it nor were prepared for it. Yet God also
          gives us a biblical pattern that shows us His standard
          and way. And His way is this: He works through a
          prepared people! He digs up fallow ground before He
          sets things in divine order.

          I want to give you three reasons why I believe the
          church is not ready for revival. I pray that as we look
          at these, we will line up with God's Word in
          preparation to receive what He has promised:

                      -------------------------------

                      1. We Are Not Ready for Revival
                      If We Are Convinced This Society
                     Has Sinned Away Its Day Of Grace!

                      -------------------------------

          America has so grieved God - its intensity of sin is so
          horrible - that many are convinced there is no hope
          left!

          Indeed, in recent years I have been nearly convinced by
          America's terrible moral landslide that God has no
          option left but judgment. So I have preached His
          impending judgments intensely, especially over the past
          ten years. And I still believe that message with all my
          heart - and will continue preaching it with all
          authority!

          You see, God may wait patiently for repentance, sending
          many prophets to warn of judgment. But a day finally
          comes when He says, "Enough!" - and prayer is useless
          at that point. I call this "the dread release" - when
          God releases a society to destructive judgments. We see
          several examples of this in church history:

             * It happened to Noah's generation. God strove with
               wicked mankind for 120 years, with mercy, warnings
               and visible signs such as the ark. But finally He
               said, "No more!" - and He wiped out all of
               humanity, except for those who entered the ark.

             * It happened also to Lot's generation, in Sodom and
               Gomorrah. God counted the days of wickedness in
               that society so saturated with homosexuality, lust
               and violence. Finally He could endure no more and
               said, "Your cup of iniquity is full. Your sins
               have ascended to heaven!" - and He wiped out those
               cities and all the surrounding towns. They were
               given over to "the dread release"!

             * It happened as well in Jerusalem. Christ walked
               the streets of that city and wept, warning of the
               coming judgment. Seventy years later, God said,
               "That's enough!" - and Jerusalem fell, razed to
               the ground. Thousands were murdered in a horrible
               holocaust.

          God put this same message in the heart of Jeremiah. He
          sent the prophet to the gates of the temple with this
          solemn cry:

          "But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where
          I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it
          for the wickedness of my people Israel.... Therefore
          will I do unto this house, which is called by my name,
          wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to
          you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh....
          Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift
          up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession
          to me: for I will not hear thee" (Jeremiah 7:12-16).

          God told the righteous, "You can stop praying now! My
          patience is gone, and I have determined judgment. I'm
          going to take My Spirit from the east gate and lift it
          from My house completely. It's going to be just like
          Shiloh!"

          Shiloh stands as a testimony to all generations that
          judgment begins in God's house. God's people had become
          so backslidden and wicked that the Lord moved in with
          sudden and awesome judgments. Shiloh was where the
          Spirit of God departed, and "Ichabod" was written above
          the door. The Lord removed all His glory, shut the
          doors and departed - leaving it in ruin!

          The Word of the Lord also came to Ezekiel with the same
          kind of warning:

          "Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by
          trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine
          hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread
          thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off
          man and beast from it: Though these three men, Noah,
          Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but
          their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord
          God... they shall deliver neither son nor daughter;
          they shall but deliver their own souls by their
          righteousness" (Ezekiel 14:13-14, 20).

          God was saying, "Even these three men - Noah, Daniel
          and Job - couldn't pray down a revival. Even their
          righteous prayers couldn't buy more time. You see, I
          determine judgment - and all the praying people in the
          world can't change My mind!"

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                     When I See What God Did To Noah's
                     Generation, Sodom and Jerusalem, I
                     Can't Help But Deduct That America
                         Is Ripe for Destruction!

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          Think about it for a moment: None of those societies
          killed 25 million babies, as we have through abortion.
          Their inhabitants didn't commit random acts of murder
          in their streets in such aggregate numbers as we do
          today. And Sodom's entire population didn't equal the
          number of gays who march in one parade in New York
          City. Beloved, we are a million times worse than those
          generations - and God judged and destroyed them all!

          I often pray, "Oh, God - if You destroyed them, how can
          You spare us? Why have Your fierce judgments been held
          back from America?"

          Experts say the economy is booming in this year of
          1995. Our gross national product is increasing.
          Automobile factories are producing cars at a
          record-breaking pace. Inflation is holding steadily.
          Indeed, everything looks good ahead. Yet, why doesn't
          all this good news bring any sense of security to
          people? All across the country, people feel that
          something is hanging in the air, about to happen. Even
          the worst sinner doesn't feel secure. Why? It is
          because, deep down, this nation knows it deserves
          judgment! We all know we're living on borrowed time.

          How can we be ready for revival if we believe that all
          hope is gone - that we have sinned away our day of
          grace and there is nothing left but judgment? Beloved,
          we can't have faith for a revival until we're convinced
          God still wants to pour out His Spirit on us!

          Why hasn't America been judged? Why hasn't Jesus come
          yet? It is because there is still a great harvest
          ahead! And God is "...not willing that any should
          perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2
          Peter 3:9).

          We see this great mercy of the Lord in a passage in
          Isaiah. God instructed the prophet to tell Judah:

          "Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your
          mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of
          my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for
          your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your
          transgressions is your mother put away. Wherefore, when
          I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none
          to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot
          redeem? or have I no power to deliver?" (Isaiah
          50:1-2).

          God had already divorced Israel, giving them "...a bill
          of divorce..." (Jeremiah 3:8). But now His attention
          was on Judah, a people who had cheated on Him and
          walked away from Him. God still had a heart for Judah,
          and He came to them crying, "Where is the bill
          of...divorcement..." (Isaiah 50:1). He was saying,
          "Show Me your divorce papers! Prove to me I ever put
          you away. It was you who walked away from Me! I did
          nothing to grieve or hurt you. I loved you the whole
          time. I came to you and I called you!"

          Try to picture it: There was the Lord, going into the
          very dens of Judah's harlotry to look for her, calling,
          "I'm coming after you! You're telling everyone that
          there's no hope, that there can never again be a love
          between us. But I'm coming back for you!"

          Beloved, that is exactly what I see God doing with
          America right now. He is saying to us, "Show Me your
          divorce papers! Show Me I walked away from you! I have
          not yet removed My Holy Spirit. Rather, I am still at
          work all over this nation - still wooing, calling,
          coming to you!"

          The Lord is speaking this through Times Square Church
          and many other pulpits across this nation. And He is
          speaking it through godly men and women who spend
          precious time seeking Him. He is calling America back
          to repentance - back to His own heart! Yet, when He
          comes, He asks, "Where are those who will answer My
          call? Where are those who will return to Me?"

          This is what our recent weeks of prayer at Times Square
          Church have been about. It all has to do with His last
          call!

          Many who sit in our church are proof of the Lord's
          wooing. At one time He stirred their hearts and shook
          them out of apostasy and compromise. He called out, "I
          love you!" - and they responded. And now the same
          Spirit who roused them wants to gather in a whole
          multitude. Our part is to pray with faith that, as the
          Spirit woos backsliders, a multitude will answer and
          return.

          We have to be fully persuaded that there is still time
          (though short), still hope - and that while we are
          praying, the Spirit is at work in all levels of
          society, calling and wooing people to Himself!

                      -------------------------------

                    2. We Are Not Ready for Revival When
                     We Are Overwhelmed by the Darkness
                      That Has Settled Over the Nation
                       and by the Fury of the Enemy!

                      -------------------------------

          I see a fury and an intensity in sinners today as in no
          other generation. When I was a boy, the church referred
          to Africa as "the dark continent" because of its
          spiritual darkness. But today, a spiritual darkness is
          hovering over America that is almost tangible. America
          is now "the dark continent"!

          "For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and
          gross darkness the people..." (Isaiah 60:2).

          "Gross darkness" signifies a darkness you can feel. And
          the darkness over America right now is intense,
          widespread, thickening every moment.

          When you fly into New York, you're dazzled by all the
          city's bright lights. Yet, once you get off the plane,
          take a cab into Manhattan and get out at Broadway, you
          instantly feel the darkness. It's heavy, demonic,
          blinding people's hearts and minds - and it's getting
          worse!

          Yet, the Bible says God has a part in that darkness:

          "Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause
          darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark
          mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it
          into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness"
          (Jeremiah 13:16).

          God makes the gross darkness! When people are so set on
          their sin that they reject the Lord, they are driven to
          darkness. David said of the wicked, "Let their eyes be
          darkened, that they see not..." (Psalm 69:23). The
          Spirit of God allows a darkness to fall over their
          hearts and minds.

          "And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble
          and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be
          driven to darkness" (Isaiah 8:22).

          Sinners are actually driven to their dark acts. Satan
          has come down upon the earth with an army of demonic
          powers who are whipping godless people into a frenzy of
          evil!

          The fury and intensity of this present vileness is a
          thousand times darker than when I first came to New
          York a generation ago. Today I look at people's eyes as
          they're on their way to make a drug connection,
          stumbling out of a bar, running to and fro looking for
          pleasure - and there is no mistaking they are driven!

          When I first began this ministry some thirty-five years
          ago, I spoke in churches all over America, warning of
          the moral landslide to come. I told people in Iowa,
          Oklahoma and all the Southern states that drugs would
          strike even the smallest hamlet. Pushers would appear
          in schools and on playgrounds. I warned of blatant
          homosexuality, with nude parades taking place in our
          cities. And I prophesied that nudity and sexual acts
          would air on prime-time TV.

          Most of the people who heard me thought I'd come from
          Mars. Pastors berated me. And sincere Christians came
          to me afterward, saying, "No way! God will never let
          that happen to America." Today, some of those people
          who ridiculed me are grandparents. They sit before
          their TV watching the R-rated, perverted movies I
          prophesied about. And their children and grandchildren
          are addicted to drugs and alcohol. The darkness I
          warned about has now come into their very souls!

          Can you imagine how dark it's going to be ten years
          from now, should the Lord tarry?

          Yet, I ask you: As you see the darkness thickening and
          growing on all sides, do you believe it will exceed the
          light of the gospel? Are you afraid the darkness is
          going to squash it, quell it, snuff it out?

          No - never! God's people must never be intimidated by
          the darkness and fury of the enemy in these last days.
          It doesn't matter how dark the world becomes. The Bible
          says Jesus is going to rise and shine in the darkness!

             * "I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art
               thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that
               shall die, and of the son of man which shall be
               made as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy maker,
               that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid
               the foundations of the earth; and hast feared
               continually every day because of the fury of the
               oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and
               where is the fury of the oppressor?" (Isaiah
               51:12-13).

             * "Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the
               night shineth as the day: the darkness and the
               light are both alike to thee" (Psalm 139:12).

             * "...he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the
               light dwelleth with him" (Daniel 2:22).

             * "The people that walked in darkness have seen a
               great light: they that dwell in the land of the
               shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined"
               (Isaiah 9:2).

          We live in a time of widespread death and darkness. But
          God says that in such times He will shine His light the
          brightest:

          "And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew
          not; I will lead them in paths that they have not
          known: I will make darkness light before them, and
          crooked things straight. These things will I do unto
          them, and not forsake them" (Isaiah 42:16).

          It doesn't matter how wild it gets in the streets, or
          how many homosexuals curse Christ in gay parades. We
          are not to be overwhelmed by any darkness! When gross
          darkness covers the earth, we must expect the Lord to
          shine in all His glory and to deliver multitudes:

          "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of
          the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness
          shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people:
          but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall
          be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy
          light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising"
          (Isaiah 60:1-3).

          No darkness will ever stop God's light! So get your
          eyes off the darkness, off the sin, off the fury of
          violent people. And believe the Lord for the bursting
          forth of His shining, effusing light!

                      -------------------------------

                   3. The Church Is Not Ready for Revival
                     Because of Its Weak Faith In God's
                   Willingness and Power to Save Wicked,
                             Hardened Sinners!

                      -------------------------------

          God put His finger on Judah's problem: They doubted His
          willingness and power to redeem a people entrenched in
          apostasy and idolatry.

          "And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk
          after our own devices, and we will every one do the
          imagination of his evil heart" (Jeremiah 18:12).

          Judah had given up hope, thinking, "We've gone too far
          - and now there's no going back. We have left the Lord,
          mocked Him, abused Him, cast Him aside. We are so deep
          into our sins, it's hopeless. Not even God can bring us
          back!"

          Beloved, after all my years in ministry, I still have
          to fight this kind of thinking. You may feel the same
          way. Your husband may be an atheist, mean and godless.
          And you have convinced yourself, "All around me, people
          are getting saved. But my husband is different. He's so
          hard!"

          The Lord said to Judah,

          "...Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot
          redeem?..." (Isaiah 50:2).

          To shorten means to "chop off." God was saying, "Tell
          me - has the enemy chopped off My mighty arm? Have I
          lost My power to save? No! My mighty arm dried up the
          Red Sea. It clothed the heavens with blackness. It
          opened blind eyes. You have seen that I save to the
          uttermost. Why do you think I have lost My power to
          redeem you?"

          Dear saint, when did God lose His power to save the
          vilest sinner on earth? When did He lose His
          willingness to deliver drug addicts, drunkards and
          prostitutes, when nobody was praying for them?

          Would God then somehow decide not to save your family
          members, for whom you have fasted and prayed
          faithfully? Absolutely not! We must cry out to Him in
          faith, "Oh Lord, You can save Wall Street. You can
          deliver the worst homosexual in New York. You can
          redeem any Muslim in any foreign land. And you can save
          any member of my family. Your arm is not too short. You
          can save anybody!"

          We will never be ready for revival until we stop
          limiting God. Don't believe His hand has been chopped
          off; instead, believe Him for the impossible! Get a
          vision of His mercy and love - of His mighty,
          outstretched arm, all-powerful to save!

          If Jesus prophesied a great harvest, then we are going
          to witness supernatural outpourings of God's Spirit on
          vast multitudes. When the Spirit was poured out the
          first time in Jerusalem, thousands were saved at once.
          And, likewise today, we ought to pray with faith for
          the Spirit to fall on entire nations - even those with
          incredible strongholds.

          In recent years, the Holy Spirit has moved in China,
          and great multitudes there have been saved. Isaiah
          prophesies of many people being gathered in from Sinim,
          which represents China:

          "Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from
          the north and from the west; and these from the land of
          Sinim" (Isaiah 49:12).

          That same Holy-Ghost fire is also falling in Russia and
          in parts of India. God's Spirit is moving, wooing,
          calling people all over the world!

          Yet God is asking His remnant church to begin with our
          own families, one person at a time:

          "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am
          married unto you: and I will take you one of a city,
          and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion"
          (Jeremiah 3:14).

          We are to pray and be patient - and He will gather in
          our loved ones, one at a time!

          Here at Times Square Church, we are praying that God
          will sweep many into His kingdom through outpourings of
          His Spirit. But the Lord also wants us to focus on our
          families. We must have an urgency in us to pray, "Lord,
          send conviction on my family! Save my son, my daughter,
          my wife..."

          Several years ago there was a popular song, "Raindrops
          Keep Fallin' on My Head." I believe that song tells us
          the way we ought to pray - for God to literally rain
          down His Holy Spirit! Scripture promises that in the
          last days, the Holy Ghost will fall as rain. And you
          can pray Holy-Ghost raindrops down upon the heads of
          your loved ones:

          "Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter
          rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give
          them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field"
          (Zechariah 10:1).

          God is waiting and anxious to pour out His Holy Ghost.
          Are you ready to pray down His rain? We are to pray not
          for the fire of judgment, but for rain!

          Yes, God's judgment is coming; it is at the door even
          now. But while we still have time, we are to believe
          God to pour out His Spirit. So lay hold of His divine,
          "on call" promises - and you will see a Holy-Ghost
          revival poured out all around you.

          Hallelujah!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

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