Our Father, we are here in Thy presence
once again this morning to hear from God.
We want to open our hearts wide to
the inflow of grace.
We pray that Thou would speak to all
our hearts as we wait before Thee, and
we seek Thy face now in Jesus' name.
Amen.
I want to speak to you this morning
on the subject of the moment of revival.
In the 16th century, God brought about the
great European Reformation.
In the 17th century, there were continuing movements
here and there.
At Stuarton, south of Glasgow, at Shotts, 21st
of June, 1630, when John Livingston preached that
memorable sermon on Ezekiel 36, and so on.
And then in the 18th century, we had
the enormous spiritual upheaval in England under George
Whitefield and the Wesleys, the great 18th century.
And then in the 19th century, we had
the great American Revival, the 1858 Revival.
And it came across to Ulster, to up
here in the north, in Scotland, and all
over Britain.
Then in 1904 and 1905, we had the
Welsh Revival under Evan Roberts and R.B.
Jones and Seth Joshua and others.
And since then, the West has had very
little in the way of national revivals.
The 20th century has been very dry in
revival terms.
But God is moving, if not here, then
elsewhere.
He's moving in various parts of the world.
In fact, he's moving in the islands of
the sea up there, just near to New
Zealand at the moment.
So God is working in various places, and
we rejoice in that.
So whilst one place closes, the other places
open.
And sometimes, in some places, centuries of waiting
have given way to an explosion of new
life.
God has come sweeping in.
And when we behold the barrenness of our
own present day, surely there comes from our
hearts, Lord, please, please do it again.
Please do it again.
Make us conscious of the need.
Because sometimes we're not conscious of the need.
We just go about our business and continue
on without realizing that there's a vast dearth
of divine activity.
Sometimes God comes to a meeting.
Sometimes God comes to a convention.
I was in the Shioya revival in Japan,
giving the Bible readings in the mornings, and
near to Kobe.
And we were, I suppose it was Thursday
morning.
I think it was Thursday morning, and God
came to that convention.
I mean, there's a huge hall, a lot
of people.
And God came to that convention.
And I just handed it over to the
Japanese.
I was speaking by interpretation, of course.
And then he led the meeting from there
on.
And I suppose there were about a hundred
people came to the front and in the
aisles seeking the Lord.
And he prayed with them.
And he sent them back to take their
place so that we could sing the last
hymn and then close the meeting.
And as they moved back, a young pastor,
about halfway down the hall, gave a great
and bitter cry, a cry which rent the
atmosphere.
I mean, everybody looked around, shocked at this
shout, cry from this young man as he
knelt over.
And another pastor ran to him, but he
cried again.
And he cried the third time.
He was crying after God.
People had been seeking God, but here was
a man utterly given over to God.
And he cried out three loud cries after
God.
I tell you, people began to seek God
then.
That place was everywhere.
They were seeking God.
And I found myself off the platform down
here in the front.
And there, I suppose, about 20 or 30
pastors.
It was a big convention, pastors from all
over the place, ministers of the gospel.
There they stood around me.
And they began to pray.
I didn't understand a thing that they were
saying.
They began to pray.
And they prayed brokenly.
And they wept.
These men, I mean, unemotional Japanese.
The one man grabbed my arm here and
his head was on my elbow.
And my arm was being shaken like this
as he was sobbing.
We got down on our knees.
They just fell on their knees.
And they began to weep and pray.
And they prayed brokenly, the whole lot of
them.
And eventually, we rose and we examined the
carpet.
And then somebody began to pray again.
Down they went, weeping in the presence of
God.
You know, that doesn't happen every day, to
have ministers do a thing like that.
Here, these men humbled themselves in the presence
of God.
God coming to these people.
The moment when God comes.
As a matter of fact, we went from
there to another convention across the biggest suspension
bridge in the world onto another island, speaking
there by interpretation.
And I said, there's a revival in China.
And Hugh Brown from Ireland, who's been mightily
used in Japan at the moment, he said,
there's a revival in China, in Japanese.
There's a revival in Korea.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were to
be a revival in Japan?
Silence.
So I said again, wouldn't it be wonderful
if there were to be a revival in
Japan?
Silence.
So I said, it's the third time I
thought he hadn't heard.
Then there was silence again after the third
time.
And I looked around.
Here's Hugh standing, and the tears pouring down
his cheeks.
Couldn't speak.
Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful?
Wouldn't it be wonderful?
See, the moment.
That meeting, that meeting, it was broken up.
There were about 40 people seeking God.
The pastor got up, a very able man.
He was recently in Britain.
And he got up and he began to
handle a meeting.
And then he just looked to Hugh and
he said, Hugh, tell him to come and
take over.
I don't know what to do with this
meeting.
The presence of God.
The moment when God comes to a meeting.
Oh, that that might happen across the country.
That people would hear from heaven.
And open their hearts wide.
When last was a church service interrupted by
that kind of activity?
The moment when God comes.
It's time for thee, Lord, to work, for
the people have made void thy law.
It's time.
It's time for thee to work.
And so we have here the preparation for
revival.
Notice in this passage we have the moment
when God comes.
Solomon was dedicating the temple.
He prayed a long prayer.
Longest prayer recorded in the Bible.
Solomon was dedicating the temple.
And suddenly the fire fell.
Now when Solomon, we read in that seventh
verse, seventh chapter in the first verse, now
when Solomon had made an end of praying,
the fire came down from heaven and consumed
the burnt offering sacrifice.
When Solomon had made an end of praying.
Now that's the preparation for revival.
Prayer is essential.
I think of Richard Cross of Northern Ireland.
When he retired he began to form prayer
meetings for revival.
And he formed 100 prayer meetings in Northern
Ireland for revival.
Many today have died for the long wait.
And Richard Cross has gone to his reward.
But he was given an opportunity to speak
at the famous Bangor Worldwide Missionary Conference, the
annual convention held in the Hamilton Road Presbyterian
Church in Bangor.
So he was given 10 minutes.
And I mean, Richard Cross is a holy
man.
He was a man who knew how to
pray.
He was a man who had his sights
right.
His heart was right.
But he had no tact whatsoever.
He was sitting in the pulpit.
And they said, Richard Cross, you've got 10
minutes.
Tell us about the revival prayer meetings.
He walked to the rostrum.
He said, very gruff sort of man, all
those of you who are praying for revival,
stand up.
Perhaps you didn't hear me.
I said, all those of you who are
praying for revival, stand up.
Just two sisters at the back.
Sleep on.
Take your rest.
And Richard Cross sat down.
I mean...