What's the greatest need in the church today
as you would see it from what you've
observed and I'm sure if we digested some
of your books That we may have insight
into but what would you perceive brother Ravenhill
to be the greatest need in the church
in America?
Specifically today, I won't give you my opinion.
I'll give you a Bible opinion from Jeremiah
chapter 1 to Verse 13 my people have
committed two evils They've forsaken me the fountain
of living waters and hewn them out systems
broken systems that can hold no water It's
amazing to me when every pastor that comes.
Oh, I'm in a mega church, you know
We get 4,000 something I've got nothing
to do with your church Every church in
America nearly is filled Sunday morning.
How many people you have in your prayer
meeting?
The prayer meeting has almost died Not just
in Presbyterian churches, but in Pentecostal churches in
Baptist churches.
I have a prayer meeting Thursday morning for
For pastors about 20 come some Come 200
miles some come 300 miles round trip and
the last five or six weeks We've all
ended up on the floor in tears praying
for one thing revival.
Nobody's praying for his church I believe the
spiritual condition of America at this moment is
lower than it was in the revival of
the 1700s with Jonathan Edwards We forsaken God
particularly we forsaken the prayer meeting What would
happen if you had a choir like say
you have at First Baptist or somewhere I
first baptized in Dallas or Good brothers first
Baptist Church in Atlanta.
I stayed there a month once you without
200 people in the choir What if only
10% turned up for choir rehearsal on
Friday night?
Do you think you might get the resignation
of the choir master?
But supposing a guy with 26,000 members
had 10% come to the prayer meeting.
He'd die of shock you see We have
had people last just a year ago.
Now.
We finished our 500th prayer meeting every Friday
night and It was a prayer meeting in
most churches now the preacher preaches Sunday morning
Sunday night and Wednesday night forget it One
of the young pastor that comes to us
He got moved by the power of God.
He went to his church and said look
I'm gonna preach Sunday morning Sunday night, but
not Wednesday night.
We're gonna pray.
He's in a country church He went from
60 Wednesday night to six.
They don't want to pray We had a
prayer meeting where people drove four five and
six hours and there were people that came
and they belong to famous churches in California
and they came over and said look we
know why God's brought us in this area
We need to learn to pray.
We went to a very popular church It's
attended by dozens hundreds of film stars and
others, but there's no prayer life there But
you know what happened when they come three
or four times they quit Do you know
why?
Because we have men that used to mumble
in their prayers and it pleased God to
educate them in the spirit And I would
go on Wednesday night.
I go Friday night There was one in
a full-blooded American Indian.
He was dying in the gutter snow falling
on him He was a victim of drugs
and drink and God awakened him He got
wonderfully saved and he got an anointing in
prayer to hear that man pray for the
American Indians they're the most neglected people in
America today and And the Indians somehow don't
go after them.
You can't go on the reservations.
They kill you all they say listen You
stole our land.
You stole our oil.
You stole our mineral rights.
You stole our fishing rights get out of
here And I've told him stay with it
stay to your people with your people.
Don't let somebody else wear your crown you
see some of us we were walking around
eternity and God was going to put a
crown on my head and I didn't do
the job So he passes it to Dale.
He's gonna wear it for a billion years
every time I see him I thought that
should have been my crown, but that's my
fault.
It's not the devil's fault No, man, take
thy crown.
That's that's a warning against deacons, but anyhow
Don't let a man take your crown.
God has given you a job.
Do it.
Did you die?
That's what it takes brother Leonard.
What is the nature?
And the content and the direction of those
prayer meetings for the average lay person who
has not been able to attend Where do
you begin?
What do you pray for?
What do you target?
What happens in those prayer meetings that are
so unusual and what are the kinds of
prayer meetings that we need to start having
in our churches Well, we have different target.
I call it target praying for instance when
we pray for all the Husbands of the
wives or Fathers of the children who are
there whose daddies were not saved.
Maybe not even church Maybe we concentrate on
unsaved fathers unsaved husbands and at a time
we concentrate on teenagers You see there's something
about covenanting in prayer I Went to dr.
Toto's church.
Thank you, and I stayed there for two
weeks and I had the privilege of praying
with him.
It's a wonderful man he wasn't the greatest
preacher ever heard they had an intimacy with
God like nobody else and I Remember one
day.
He said Len don't let anybody Diminish your
appetite or zeal for prayer He said I'll
tell you what happened in World War one
the finest young men in our in our
church went to war they were drafted 30
of them and we covenanted with their parents
and wives We covenanted in prayer that not
one of those men would get killed or
seriously injured and every man came back The
only one that was lame was his own
son But he said if we can covenant
in prayer like that Why don't you count
your covenant in prayer in your churches?
Not one of our girls in our churches
is going to get pregnant not one of
our boys is going to go into drink
We're not just going to raise nice healthy
children.
We're going to do more than that We
want to produce spiritual offspring and the reason
those superstars that came to our prayer meetings
Didn't continue well, they had men that were
praying with anointing Again, they heard this fellow
crying with tears for the different tribes in
America It's astounding that a lot to an
accord to American Indians.
Where's David Brainerd today?
There isn't a brain of there.
How do we have how do we have
a right?
to pray for revival when in the 20th
century There are so many people who believe
Theologically that things are just going to get
worse and worse and worse And God certainly
is not going to send a revival.
So why are you wasting your time praying
that God will send one?
Well, you get a nucleus of people you
get together and talk with the deacons and
others But it says here they're forsaken me.
So what?
How many deacons come to prayer meetings one
night I was standing on the platform with
Charles Stanley there were maybe Over a thousand
people there.
I think he asked 50 deacons and I
said Charles, where do you 50 deacons tonight?
He said Ryan count 15.
I said well fire the rest What did
they do in the upper room when the
Holy Ghost came they games gave themselves continually
to fundraising did they?
What did they do?
Give ourselves continually to prayer.
I Like the figure I'm going to speak
maybe one day.
I think Hannah is the best type of
an intercessor I know that all the qualifications
she had grief.
She suffered she mocked and Yet year by
year.
It wasn't once they scorned her But when
she got pregnant she didn't care a hill
of beans about anybody Well, let me say
this too.
I think there's a danger of seeking revival
To justify my ministry to prove we're the
best people in town We mentioned it with
Paul this morning.
What does it say?
The Lord whom you seek we're not seeking
him we're seeking revival we're seeking healing we're
seeking miracles It's not that we need if
we get God who gets all that's needed
and revival is when God comes down Picked
up the book for me, please.
Here's a little book.
I hope you'll all get it's come down
Lord It's a good book.
Of course.
It's from England, but apart from that Get
a copy if you can it's published by
It's published by banner of truth, but I'm
out this page 23 Now this is revival.
I think revival is the most prostituted word
That we have in our vocabulary today either
revival or faith We don't know much about
either Revival stops the traffic as dear Tosia
used to say Leonard when revival comes It
it changes the moral climate of a community
Taverns closed down nightclubs closed down.
It's I mean, there's a war going on
now dear