Do It Again!

 "Jesus wept." John 11:35....."The world has lost the ability to blush over its sin. The church has lost the ability to weep over it." Leonard Ravenhill...."Only when we begin to understand the hideous nature of sin can we begin to understand the depths of His mercy." Chris Tiegreen

I saw a video yesterday that in equal parts inspired and convicted me. It told the story of a professor of religion in the 1940's who took his class on a tour of places with great religious significance. One of those places was the home of John Wesley, a great reformer, and one who was used of God to bring nation changing revival to England in the mid 1700's. As they toured his home they saw his kitchen where he took his meals, his study, where he wrote, prepared sermons, and sent correspondence. The last place they went to was his bedroom, where he slept.....and prayed. Beside his bed, on the carpet, were two deep imprints. These were left by his knees as he spent hours there in the early time before dawn, crying out for that move of the Spirit to come upon a lost nation and people. In response to his prayers and so many others with him, God did move. He sent an awakening that spread not only throughout England, but to the American colonies as well. It was of such power that it broke the lucrative slave trade that many in England were involved in. After viewing this room, the professor and his class left and boarded the bus that had brought them there. He commenced a head count to make sure all were on board, and they were, except one. The professor went back into the house and searched room by room, At last he came to the bedroom, and there, beside the bed, with his knees in the very prints of Wesley, was a young man crying out to God with tears, "Lord, do it again. Do it in me." That young man was Billy Graham. The testimony of his life is that God did indeed "do it again." Can it be the testimony of us as well?

I said that this inspired me as well as convicted me. It inspires because I know in my heart that God does respond to such heartcries for the lost nations and peoples of this world. It inspires because I have read of the results of the Great Awakening that swept the American colonies in the 18th century. It inspires because I know that just such an awakening can happen in our midst today, no matter how dark the night. But it convicts because I wonder if I have the prayer zeal of Wesley and Graham? It convicts because I wonder if, like them, I can shed tears of sorrow over a lost world, and more, my lost neighbor? It convicts because I wonder if I'm not more concerned that sin and darkness just not come near me than I am in the multitudes that are held in their captivity? It convicts because I suspect that my prayer life is a shallow imitation of men like Wesley and Graham. I also suspect that it is the same with you. Do we leave it that way?

There is no doubt that the world has been desensitized to sin. The church has as well. We seem to have made an uneasy agreement with it. We don't overly focus on it except in a general way. We like to emphasize the love of Jesus, but we don't see that we have made His love a human fleshly one and not its actual reality. Ravenhill said that if Jesus preached the same message that ministers preached today, He would never have been crucified. Chris Tiegreen says that we tend to take our sin casually, but that God most assuredly doesn't. When this is the case, who really weeps over sin? The harsh truth is that we end up seeing it as not that big a problem. Imagine that; that which nailed Christ to the cross being viewed in such a way. How have we come to this place?

Many speak of revival and awakenings. How desperately do we really desire them? Whose knee prints upon a floor, elbow prints upon an altar do we follow? Have we left such prints ourselves? We may long to see Him "do it again" in the world around us, in His church. Do we long for Him to do it in us? Come Lord Jesus!

Blessings,

Pastor O