Evidence of Revival: A Call to Return to God
Have you noticed all of the chatter about a potential revival taking place? Bible sales are suddenly spiking, mass baptisms are occurring on college campuses, Hollywood producers have even begun to encourage their writers to include narratives that assume a biblical framework - what is happening? Our congregation in particular has seen record attendance, giving, and baptisms in recent months.
This certainly could be the first fruits of a great move of God that is about to take place. Or it could be slick marketing. In times like these, we need to be more vigilant than ever to “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God”
Why? We don’t know if we will see a great revival before the Lord returns, but we do know - that many false prophets have gone out into the world, and that will only get worse.
NEVERTHELESS, the signs are promising that a fresh move of the Holy Spirit may be taking place.
In the 1730s, rumblings of revival were happening throughout the American Colonies, especially in the North East - led by men like Jonathan Edwards's grandfather Solomon Stoddard.
Those rumblings became full-blown movements with the arrival of men like Evangelist George Whitfield and John Wesley. Whitfield preached in Southern port cities like Savannah, Georgia - Wesley established a congregation in St. Simons, GA, about 50 airline miles from the campus of FBFirst.
Of Whitfield, it is said that He preached at least 18,000 times to an estimated 10 million people. That was in the horse and buggy days when New England itself had a population of around 250,000 people.
Simultaneously, Jonathon Edwards's passionate yet deeply academic preaching was seeing similar effects in North Hampton, MA. His sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” became one of the most significant pieces of literature in American History - it shaped the culture as we know it.
The fires of Revival that followed Whitfield combined with those of Jonathan Edwards to produce the most profound and lasting Gospel movements to occur in all of history.
Anytime God does a great work - Satan seeks to counterfeit, confuse, and derail. You can imagine the media coverage of the rumors; keep in mind this was at a time when news traveled very slowly.
It became necessary for Edwards to help people understand what exactly was a legitimate work of God versus a counterfeit. That is not to say that some of the competing movements were all satanic; some were simply works of the flesh and emotionalism - nevertheless, clarity was needed.
He produced a book called The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God. In the book he mentioned both Negative and Positive marks of Revival.
First, the Negative Marks (that is, those marks that are not necessarily marks of revival):
Positive Marks (those marks that indicate true revival):
