Kingdom and National Revival
Let Us Arise and Build
Our theme for the month of October, as divinely inspired by the pastor of this great assembly, is “Kingdom and National Revival.”
And it is very, very apt. You know, of course, it is Holy Spirit-inspired, so it has got to be very apt for the times that we are in now.
I will divide my ministration into two sessions. Today’s topic is “Let Us Arise and Build.”
We read in Chronicles, after the dedication of Solomon’s temple, that the Lord appeared to Solomon in the vision of the night. Amongst everything that the Lord God told him, He said in 2 Chronicles 7:14:
“If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.”
So, the first thing that this suggests to me is that the issue of revival is contingent on the people of God.
It is only after the people of God have done their part—after they have done that which they are required to do: to humble themselves, turn from their wicked ways, and seek His face—that He begins to heal the land.
For example, Israel was in captivity for about 70 years, we are told. But we are also told in the book of Daniel, Daniel 9:2–3, that Daniel understood by the books the number of years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish 70 years in the desolation of Jerusalem.
Then what did Daniel do?
He set his face toward the Lord to make requests by prayer and supplication, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
Similarly, when Nehemiah heard about the desolation and the state of the survivors of the captivity in Jerusalem, Nehemiah 1:4 tells us that he sat down and wept. He mourned for many days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Now, after all of this happened, we are told in 2 Chronicles 36:22–23:
“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia.”
The Lord stirred up the heart of Cyrus.
Now, we are doing it the other way around in this country. We are praying, “O Lord God, give us righteous leaders.”
It doesn’t work like that.
This Cyrus wasn’t even of the stock of the Jews. He was a heathen king, so to say. But it was God who stirred up his heart and made a proclamation.
He said that all the kingdoms of the earth had been given to him by the Lord God of heaven, and that the Lord had commanded him to build Him a house in Jerusalem.
We later saw how it was from the king’s treasure that the work was funded. Ezra 6:4 says:
“Let all the expenses be paid from the king’s treasure.”
It did not just stop there. When you go to Ezra 7:17, it says that the king himself commanded provision to be made even for the sacrifices and offerings that they were to offer while they were building.
He said it must not fail on a daily basis.
I know where I’m going. I’m setting a foundation for something this morning.
But today, the reverse is the case. We see the church of God pursuing what ought to be pursuing us.
Did the Lord not say that it is He who will build His church?
I love Isaiah 2:2. It says:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.”
Brethren, this is revival.
That is what revival means.
I remember the revival of the 1970s in this country that brought the likes of the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa to prominence.
In case many of us don’t know, I’m sure we know there is one big cathedral in Abuja. It’s not that big cathedral. On the other side, there is the mosque.
Now, the country didn’t have any plan for that cathedral at all. But when this servant of God, Archbishop Idahosa, heard that money was voted from the coffers of the country to build a mosque, he got into his aircraft, went to Abuja, and demanded to see IBB, who was president then.
And he asked him, “How come you are doing this and you are not doing something for the church?”
Now, he wasn’t fighting any denominational agenda. No!
He felt that if money could be brought out from the coffers of the nation to build a mosque, why not something like that for the Christians?
That is revival.
He was not thinking about a personal agenda. He wasn’t thinking, “Oh, call it Church of God Mission.”
No!
Because the mountain of the Lord’s house must be exalted above all other mountains.
Brethren, while we are sitting there, I want us to just quickly pray a prayer for ourselves:
“Father, set my altar on fire again.”
Set my altar on fire again.
Is somebody praying that prayer?
Remember, He says, “I sought for a man.
He did not seek for a congregation. He sought for just one man—just one man who would stand in the gap.
Will you be that one man?
Can I be that one man?
Can you pray for yourself?
Because the church has gone so lukewarm. The church has forgotten its purpose. The church has forgotten the power that it carries.
Can you and I just be that one man?
Thank You, Father.
Revive us again, O Lord.
Revive us again, O Lord.
Revive us again, O Lord.
Let us burn for You again, O Lord.
Let us make our mark, O Lord God, in these end times.
Blessed be Your name, Lord God.
In Jesus’ name, we have prayed.
The Second Part
Very quickly, I want to go to the second part of my message this morning.
Any true and lasting revival must begin with you and me.
Unfortunately, there is so much happening in the church of God today that has made revival unsustainable.
I’m sure some of you must have heard about some of the recent things going on online—VeryDarkMan and some of the things he said against the man of God, Apostle Arome.
But I was listening to what somebody said. He wasn’t necessarily holding brief for VeryDarkMan, but he said something that got me thinking.
The fellow said, “We have so many churches in this country. So many.”
In fact, there are some buildings you go to where there are one, two, or three floors, and they are all churches—different churches.
But unfortunately, there is still so much iniquity and wickedness in this country.
So, that got me thinking, and I believe it should get every child of God thinking.
Please, I want us to turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 3:9–15.
He says:
“For we are labourers together with God.”
That is you and me. Every one of us who is called by the name of God.
He says:
“Ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.”
Yes, the next verse.
“According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.”
Let every man, let every woman, let every child who is named by the name of the Lord be careful. Take heed how you build upon that foundation.
Next verse, please.
“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Let’s go to the next verse.
“Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble…”
Now, believe me, brethren, when I tell you this: every day, by the way you live your life as a Christian, you are displaying which of these substances you are building with.
Whether it is gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble.
Yes, the next verse.
“Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.”
Now, the high priest Joshua gives us a
true reflection of the kind of building that the church is erecting today.
In Zechariah chapter 3, from verse 1, it says:
“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest…”
Now, Joshua wasn’t just a priest; he was a high priest. So, in today’s world, he would not simply be a pastor like us. He would be an apostle, an archbishop, or someone in that category.
“And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord.”
He had that kind of access.
Unfortunately, there was Satan, the adversary, the accuser, standing at his right hand to resist him.
What gave Satan that kind of audacity?
Verse 3, please. Jump to verse 3.
“Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel.”
Unfortunately, that is the picture of God’s church today.
Now, I’m not talking about Sanctuary of Grace. I’m talking about the church globally, which is why Satan can stand, and which is why we have so many assemblies scattered everywhere, yet they are not making the impact in national revival that we are looking for.
What Are Filthy Garments?
There has never been a time like this when I see so much bitterness in God’s church. I see so much unforgiveness in God’s church. I see so much backbiting, slander, and so on in God’s church.
Now, I’m not even talking about the acts of corruption.
Recently, somebody called me who had experienced something outrageous. Her boss—a married man, a leader in church, a leader in a big Pentecostal church—called this lady and said he wasn’t going to promote her until she slept with him.
And she called me while I was away on a mission.
I’m like, “Are you for real?”
I said, “Who is this your boss?”
She said he even knows me.
I said, “He knows me?”
She said the fellow told her that he knows me.
I said, “Is he not a pastor?”
She told me what church he attends. She said that when she was trying to object, he told her, “You cannot be more qualified
than me.”
He even read his credentials to her—the position he occupies in church.
And then we expect revival.
We expect revival.
That’s a leader in the church.
Now, that is even one of the open things that we know about. But what about the sins of the heart?
What about unforgiveness?
Unforgiveness is a cancer in the body of Christ.
That unforgiveness. That bitterness. Arrogance. Offence over words.
And then we want national revival?
And then we wonder why we’ve been praying all these years and nothing is happening?
Because Satan is standing to resist.
Please, for those who are lawyers—any lawyer in the house? Let me just see your hands up.
Is it not in the law that we say, “He who comes to equity must come with clean hands”?
And then we wonder why we’re not seeing signs and wonders in our churches today.
How?
We went to do one sorting-out exercise sometime in July. My ears were full when I began to hear the kinds of things that were being pointed out against children of God, and they are in church, singing, raising holy hands.
Some of them are in the prayer department. Some of them are in the drama department. Some of them are in ushering.
These are workers in the church.
And we wonder why we’re not seeing revival?
It is so easy to quote:
“And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten…”
It’s so easy to quote all of that.
But it is contingent upon weeping between the porch and the altar.
It is contingent upon going back to the place of genuine repentance.
But I’m sorry if I am talking like this today. This is just how the Holy Spirit is leading me to speak, because God wants to do something with His church.
God wants to take His church to the level of dominion.
God wants to take His church to the rightful place where we will see Satan fall like lightning, where we will trample upon serpents, scorpions, and all the powers of the enemy.
And He says nothing shall by any means hurt us.
That is where God wants to take us.
He wants to take us to the place where we decree a thing and it is established.
Yes.
I have told us before how, in the realm of the Spirit, you are fire. You are a flame of fire.
But unfortunately, so many of God’s people are just smoking embers.
Signifying that, yes, this was once fire.
Brethren, it is time to cry to God for true revival.
True revival.
We need, first as individuals, our own revival.
Then, as a church. Only then can we experience national revival.
Can we quickly pray for ourselves again while we are sitting down?
“Oh Lord God, revive us from the spirit of slumber.
Revive us from the spirit of lukewarmness.”
Please, this is between you and God. If you know that you are carrying any weight, any burden, drop it at the Lord’s feet this morning.
Is there unforgiveness?
Is there somebody who has hurt you?
Deliberately forgive that person.
Deliberately make up your mind that you will not carry t
hat hurt.
Lay it at His feet.
Is somebody praying?
“Oh Lord God, revive us, oh Lord revive us”
Lord God, deliver us from the spirit of slumbering. Deliver us from every lukewarmness. Deliver us from every hypocrisy.
We want to experience Your power of old. Is somebody praying? Is somebody praying?
Thank You, Father. Thank You, Father. Blessed be Your name, Lord God. In Jesus’ name, we have prayed.
There’s somebody at the sound of my voice. The Holy Spirit just told me now, you have lower back pain. Lower back pain. Lower back pain. Thank You, Holy Spirit. Receive your healing now, in the name of Jesus. Receive your healing now, in the name of Jesus.
So, true revival is when the living God becomes sovereignly involved in the affairs of men. It begins with His people coming under a deep conviction of sin and turning away from that sin in genuine repentance.
Apostle Paul begins to paint for us an accurate picture of what true repentance is. In 2 Corinthians 7:10–11, he says:
“For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
So, I am trusting God that the word you are hearing this morning will produce genuine repentance in our hearts.
The next verse says:
“For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things, you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”
That is big grammar.
Let me read it from the New King James Version. It says:
“For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things, you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”
In other words, when the Corinthian church heard the word of the Lord God, they said, “No, we cannot continue like this. We cannot continue like this.”
I was told once by some members of the Redeemed Church that Baba Adeboye, prior to the Holy Ghost Night, was going around praying as he would normally do on a Thursday night.
While he was going around praying, I beg your pardon, not preaching, he saw a few brethren, members of the prayer band, trying to cast out demons from one fellow.
And they were laboring. They were laboring. They were laboring.
Baba had gone around about two or three times. I think the third or fourth time, he felt sorry for those young men, so he went there.
All Baba said was, “Now I have come. Now I have come.”
And the devil respected himself, and they left.
But can I shock you? It is supposed to be the same anointing that he carries that you and I carry.
Because I have noted in my Bible, and I saw a junior Holy Spirit and a senior Holy Spirit. I don’t know. Is it like that in your own Bible?
It is the same anointing. And that’s what Reverend Joe tells us all the time: it is the same anointing.
But how do we allow this anointing to find expression in our lives? What are the things that are preventing this expression from finding manifestation?
Filthy garments. Filthy garments. Filthy garments.
Are you still here? Are you angry with me this morning?
So, revival happens when everyone does his or her part. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4:16, as I try to begin to round up, I see my time is almost done. It says:
“From Him, the whole body, jointly held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
So, true revival happens when everyone does his or her part.
Ligaments connect things together. They connect the joints.
This means that if we have ligaments in the church that are not functioning properly, the rest of the body cannot grow or build correctly. And that is the truth.
I haven’t suffered from whitlow before, but if you have suffered from whitlow before, can I see your hands up? Yes.
How interesting was it? It was painful. But that whitlow was only one small finger, yes or yes? Yet it literally paralyzed your whole body. Is that not so? That is what happens to the body when each little finger is not doing its work.
Please stay in the place of your calling.
I mean, you know, God doesn’t look down on any gift. No. He knows what He created it to be. He knows what He created you to become. That is why He gave you that gift. So don’t try to be like somebody else.
It was him, Daddy Adeboye, who told us the story about a woman who joined the church in her old age, in her 80s. She couldn’t do much. She would just come, clean the church, pray, clean the chairs, and so on and so forth.
She died and went to heaven. Then the pastor died too and went to heaven. He was angry when he saw the mansion that was reserved for this woman, because his own mansion wasn’t anything compared to hers.
And he was saying, “Jesus Christ, I was the one preaching. I would fast, I would do this and that.”
And Jesus Christ said, “Better hold your peace, because without that woman, you wouldn’t even be here. As the woman was cleaning the chairs, she was praying for the pastor: ‘Lord God, do not let my pastor backslide. Uphold him,’ and so on and so forth.”
Nobody recognized what she was doing, but God recognized it.
So stay in your lane. Stay in your lane.
It’s not about titles now, even for those of us who are ordained and everything. I mean, you are unique. God created you. God was deliberate about you.
Don’t try to be like another pastor. No. You can’t.
With every effort you make to be like somebody else, you just become a counterfeit. Be the original that God created you to be. You are important to God.
Tell yourself, “I am important to God.” Say it as if you mean it. Say it one more time.
When each ligament does what it should be doing, revival happens when souls get on fire. They don’t even have to be very many. There could be one or two.
Look at what Jesus Christ said concerning John the Baptist. This is in the book of John, chapter 5, verse 35. He says, “John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.”
Please, what kind of light are you giving? What kind of light are you shining?
Remember, He says, “Let men see your good works, that they may glorify your Father in heaven.” He didn’t say, “Let men hear about them.” Let them see it.
The first-century apostles were called Christians not because they announced themselves as Christians, but because people saw them and said, “These fellows behave like Christ.” And they nicknamed them Christians.
From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold on it.
Forceful men are those who really get on fire for God. Forceful men are those who are used as agents of revival in any capacity.
To watch the full sermon, click on the link below:
