When I read Steven Fry's recent newsletter, I thought this was one of the clearest words I have heard concerning this summer's 7-7-07 Call Nashville and the need for a national level revival.
Steven and Nancy Fry are dear friends of Michal Ann and I as they reside in Brentwood, TN. Steve is the Senior Minister of The Gate and Director of Messenger Fellowship--an apostolic network of churches and leaders. He is an author of several books, an internationally recognized teacher, producer, and recording artist. I trust you will benefit from this wisdom-filled perspective.
Wasted on Jesus!
James W. Goll
Encounters Network
Email: info@encountersnetwork.com
THE CALL FOR A JOSIAH REVIVAL
by Steven Fry
The Call is coming to Nashville 07/07/07. Many of you, no doubt, are aware of the prayer mobilization initiated by Lou Engle that has galvanized hundreds of thousands over the past few years. But before I urge you to come and join the throng who will gather at Titan Stadium to pray for the nation, I want to frame one of the key issues facing the Church in America--and why we need to heed The Call.
Lasting Change or Passing Cloud?
For years, messages promising genuine revival have been sounded--a revival that cannot be explained in terms of man's talents, strategies, or administrative acumen--but can only be explained in terms of God's sovereign power. To that end, prayers have been lifted and great programs pursued. We have seen a measure of revival. And certainly there are hopeful signs that the clouds of a greater outpouring may be gathering on the horizon; one can hear the rumblings of awakening in the distance. Yet at times, it seems that it is a far distance.
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There is a story in the Old Testament that tells of one of the greatest revivals ever recorded--a revival that took place during the reign of a teenage king by the name of Josiah.
Josiah was eight years old when he took the throne. At sixteen, he began to earnestly seek the Lord. By age twenty, he launched a vigorous purge of idolatry in the land. His heart burned with passion for God, but the fires of that passion were further stoked by two prophets: Zephaniah, a veteran in prophetic ministry, and Jeremiah, a young voice barely twenty years of age himself. Zephaniah was first on the scene, and his message stirred Josiah. But it was Jeremiah's call to God's people to return to their bridal love for Him, which became the pivotal issue upon which Josiah's reformation turned.
Jeremiah, a celibate prophet, was given one of the most profound insights into the depth of intimacy God desires with His people. To a people flush with an awakened desire for righteousness, the word of the Lord came through Jeremiah with a call to go beyond the mere return to a form of godliness. This message, which is recorded in Jeremiah 2:1-3:5, goes right to the heart.
It was a message that uncovered something in the heart of the nation. They had lost the fire of their "first love" for God. They had not turned their backs on Him, they had just...drifted away. There are two sobering points about this message. First, this sermon was probably preached well after Josiah's reforms were launched. God's people were already turning back to Him. The land had been purged of idolatry, the laws of God fully embraced.
Almost
And that's where Jeremiah's message hits home. This message spoke to the key issue that was going to determine whether Josiah's revival was a "flash in the pan" or whether it would truly transform the nation! Whether it would lead to lasting change or evaporate like a passing cloud.
Second, this message came to a man who was to see full-scale judgment on
the people of God. Jeremiah would witness one of the greatest revivals ever recorded. Yet, he was also to endure the total destruction of Jerusalem.
We, too, are living under the shadow of judgment. Ours is a generation whose young are losing their sense of innocence before they even know they've got an innocence! Three-year-olds are robbed of their moral sensitivities by a thirty-second seduction scene in a TV ad aired during afternoon cartoons. When we jade the youngest, it's "Nineveh time." We are ripe for judgment. I suggest that when a nation allows the mind rape of children, a seismic shift occurs in the way God deals with that nation. Like Jeremiah, we may witness both the sizzle of a Josiah-like revival and the severity of God's "mercy."
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One would think that in light of Josiah's passion, God would have given the nation an encouraging prophetic word simply urging them to press on. But instead, Jeremiah receives a divine oracle castigating the nation for its whoring heart. Strong words, especially when seen against the backdrop of such an intense revival. It seems perplexing. It doesn't make sense. Why would God utter such scathing words when things seemed to be going so well? It would be like Billy Graham preaching on the theme "The Prostitution of the Church." Not the kind of message that wins many friends.
But that is essentially what happened with Jeremiah. Why? God saw deep into the hearts of the people. Though He loved them with an everlasting love, though He was indeed their Father, He saw that for all their zeal and passion there was--as we said earlier--something missing. That "something" was a heart that craved intimacy with Him above all else.
The Key to Lasting Revival: Restoring our Marriage with God
The overriding theme in Jeremiah's sermon is unfaithfulness. Again and again, he sketches the picture of marital infidelity to portray Israel's rebellion against God. I believe this model of revival--Jeremiah's sermon sounding a return to marital faithfulness to God, set against the backdrop of Josiah's reforms--is the most pertinent for the American Church. The reason? It accomplishes two things. First, it affirms the fact that the Spirit is at work in Christ's Church. Just as the Word says of Josiah, that no king had set his heart after God as he, so there are hundreds of thousands in America who are fasting and praying, vigilantly standing against satan's assaults.
Winds of renewal have been blowing, and some of the greatest throngs ever gathered have assembled to repent and seek God's face. Many pastors are laboring hard to ground God's people in His Word. Many spiritual leaders are preaching righteousness and mobilizing God's people to stand for His standards. These are days of a spiritual intensity rarely seen in our history. These are days...like those of Josiah. Yet for all his passion--and for all ours as well--God still thundered through Jeremiah, "My people have forsaken Me, the Spring of Living Waters" (Jeremiah 2:13).
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Which brings me to the second reason this model is appropriate for us: for all the advances being made, God is after something deeper. He was after it in Jeremiah's day, and He is after it in ours. A sense of reignited mission is not enough; moral outrage over wickedness is not enough; adherence to Biblical standards is not enough.
This young prophet jarred the nation's sensibilities by challenging it to examine its deepest affections. Did the people really love God? Was that reformation a sincere but shortsighted attempt at recovering their moral bearing? National restoration did not go far enough; moral reformation did not go far enough. Jeremiah comes and introduces this model for revival: the restoration of a broken marriage.
As a Church, our marriage to Christ is fraying at the edges. Perhaps this same theme is relevant for us: our marriage to the Lord needs to be restored. The key question for the Church in America is this: Is Christ truly our first love?
TheCall Nashville
This issue, I believe is one of the key reasons we are gathering 07/07/07 in Nashville. A holy convocation. A sacred assembly. A "Prayer Fest" centered in worship, repentance, intercession--and lifting up Jesus. This is a time to "gather as one," at what many consider the gateway for the American Church, the heart of the heart of the Bible Belt: Nashville. This gathering is not about Nashville alone; it is about the nation--and heeding The Call to do business with God on behalf of America. If you want more information on how you can be involved, go to www.thecall.com.
For the sake of The Call,
Steven Fry
Steven Fry Ministries
Brentwood, TN
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