Weekly Newsletter 02/23/2023

Rejoice always!

Some of you have perhaps been following the news and have heard about the so-called Asbury revival. I want to comment a little on this specific event and in general on such revivals. First, here is what happened. On February 8 in a Christian university that leans toward Westleyan Methodism, a typical chapel service was held for the students. After the service, a few students stayed for prayer when all of a sudden they began to confess their struggles and sins, which led to more prayers of repentance and a continuation of services over the next few days.

This is not the first such revival or renewal happening at this university. Such things have happened in 1905, 1908, 1921, 1950, 1958, 1970, 1992, and 2006.

The leaders of the college do admit that the hype around the revival is very influenced by social media. They do not want to call these meetings a revival, but rather a renewal and a strengthening of the worship of God. Even so, such news spreads quickly and this news has touched the hearts of many searching people. In our time of need, experience, worries, and feelings, such news blow up the Internet. People began to pour in not only from other states, but even from other countries. Everyone wants to experience something special.

I didn’t want to comment on this news until enough people had gone to check it out, not only those who wanted to experience something extraordinary, but especially those who are level-headed and can give their honest opinion on what has been happening there. Since we do not have the opportunity to visit the university ourselves, we will rely on the experience and observations of others, which inherently means that my opinion has its limitations.

First, there are a few good lessons and benefits that we can observe from this so-called revival.

Every one of us, from the depths of our hearts, surely wants a revival in our own church and in our own city, and when we hear such news elsewhere, we may not even notice how we might become slightly jealous. This “revival” has taught me a few good lessons, one of which is to check the motivation behind my prayers. Prayer for revival is a sincere desire for God to save and renew the reverence of believers in general, even if He decides to do it in a neighboring church. This should renew our prayer for the salvation of sinners and the revival of the Church in general, ours included!

There are benefits from the fact that even secular media has covered this story, which tells us that Christianity has not yet been completely forgotten. Truly, the US was built on biblical principles by people who feared God. Great revivals of the past markedly influenced the forming of the American conscience, and this “revival” also has its influence on society today.

Besides this, I find encouraging seeing the desire and ambition of many for revivals. This means many are praying for them. This means that many understand the grave situation of society and the weakness of the Church in these end times. This tells us that God will definitely answer such prayers for revival.

Alongside the pros I want to underline a few worries and talk about the danger of getting caught up in such phenomena.

Firstly, all who attended their service admit that most of the time is filled with singing, not with the preaching of the Gospel. At a minimum, this is alarming. Yes, there is a sermon and the reading of Scripture, but a real revival is always rooted in the Word of God and strong, clear preaching about Jesus Christ.

Secondly, I’m beginning to feel that those who are especially touched by this are talking about the work of the Holy Spirit as such that brings a person to behave and react in ways one normally never would.

In 1 Corinthians 12:3 we read the following, “Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus is accursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” From this we conclude that the work of the Holy Spirit will always focus a person on Jesus Christ. How does the Holy Spirit do this? Through Scripture. He takes the Word and opens a person’s eyes to see the beauty of Jesus Christ! In such a way He glorifies the Son of God (John 16:14).

Thirdly, if these peoples’ lives do not radically change, everything will have been just a superficial, emotional experience. Time is necessary to see the fruit of repentance. People are being invited to Asbury through social media, not the personal witness of the reborn students. This is really hard to trace through and only time will reveal the truth of this occurrence. True revivals of the past affected not only the church, but also the surrounding society. Entertainment establishments closed because of a lack of demand, crime went down, and regular church attendance and membership went up. For now, we don’t observe any such things. It is possible that everything will be remembered as a superficial experience, and the lives of people will not change. But we must be careful and not jump to conclusions, and also not become skeptics, but truly desire that this revival would lead to tangible changes in society.

In either case, we must pray for revival; for a revival where the Church will renew its love and commitment to the Savior, sinners will truly repent and commit their lives to the Lord, and the world around, which like never before needs a revival, would be transformed.

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Thursday (6:30 PM) – Children’s Bible School (open to all but required for parents), followed by Bible Study (Proverbs) for the whole church at 7:30 PM.
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