Sermon by Olivier Kango — JEC Retreat, April 2–7, 2018
INTRODUCTION
We are in the United States, under its 26th president, Theodore Osvelte.
The world had just entered the 20th century, and Los Angeles was about to experience something it had never imagined.
Hello,
My name is Olivier Kango, and I have been given the honor and privilege of bringing the Word by the committee, by the committee, whom I greet in passing.
In April 1906, when a group of African-American Christians gathered to pray and wait for the Spirit of God in a simple house, a teaching pastor named William Semour was with them.
On April 6, the humble pastor proposed a ten-day fast to the group.
On the night of the 9th, he preached on Acts 2:4: “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” And a man was baptized with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues. Shortly afterward, a woman was also seized by the Spirit… And that was the beginning of a revival.
By the end of April, the group had grown so quickly that it had to move its meetings to a new location: on Asuza Street. And within a year, it numbered 1,300 people.
Downstairs, the walls of the building were full of crutches and walking sticks left behind by those who had been healed.
Three times a day, seven days a week, and for three years, services followed one another, led by the Holy Spirit and not by the will of men.
When someone did something of their own accord, Brother Semour would approach and gently tap them on the shoulder, saying: “Brother, that is the flesh.”
Sometimes someone or a teacher would stand up in the congregation to preach or give a long testimony, and Brother Seymour would find the courage to go and tell them: “Beloved, these meetings are different from anything you have experienced before. These are meetings of the Holy Spirit, and no flesh can glory in the presence of the Holy Spirit.”
Worship went on almost continuously, and the place was almost never closed and almost never empty.
The meetings did not depend on a human leader, and the presence of God became more and more wonderful.
In that old building, with its bare floors, the Lord broke strong women and men and brought them together for His glory. Pride, self-regard, personal importance, and self-esteem did not survive long in that place.
No offerings were taken.
No posters were made to advertise the meetings. Those who were in touch with God realized as soon as they entered that it was the Holy Spirit who was leading everything.
No sermon was announced in advance; there were no special speakers. Everything was spontaneous, ordered by the Holy Spirit. One could hear from God through anyone He might choose to use to speak.
Heavenly Choir
The crowd seemed to have lost the ability to sing in their own language, which was English. But supernaturally, on every occasion, new languages came from certain mouths in a heavenly harmony that no human being could interpret.
No musical instruments were used. No choir. But groups of angels were heard by someone in the spirit, and when 20 people joined in singing with those heavenly choirs, it was the most ravishing supernatural music that ears had ever heard.
It sent shivers through people, and they wept. And it was one of the most indisputable proofs of the presence of God's power.
The Quietness of Little Children
In most churches, children move around too much in their seats or run here and there through the aisles, cry, and make a lot of noise, but not at Asuza Street.
Everyone was quiet, and even babies in their mothers' arms were kept quiet in the presence of God.
Under the movement of divine power, when everyone stood up and raised their hands toward heaven, even the babies' hands could be seen rising toward the heavens.
Wave After Wave
Strong men wept aloud, and the women followed.
Someone described how it felt as though ocean waves moved from one end of the congregation to the other. Wave after wave, the Spirit rippled through the room.
And tongues of fire suddenly appeared above the heads of some people. And a man whose face was shining began speaking in tongues, and as he spoke, a blind woman in the congregation regained her sight.
Asuza Street, the Birth of Pentecostalism
Many lives were changed at Asuza, and from there many experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
This movement spread, and today about 600 million people throughout the world trace their spiritual roots to that wooden-floored room on Asuza Street. We are a Pentecostal church. And much of the Pentecostal and charismatic movement goes back there.
History refers to what happened in that white building at 312 Asuza Street as the Asuza Street Revival.
That is why we are going to talk about a theme entitled:
THE REVIVAL WE NEED
And I believe this story is enough to help us understand what is meant by authentic spiritual revival. We need it today more than ever, more than anything else.
Main Scripture
Isaiah 52:1
“Awake! Awake! Put on your beautiful garments, O Zion! Put on your festive clothes, Jerusalem, holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer enter you.”
Wake up! Wake up.
Come out of your spiritual sleep.
Come out of this bland, lukewarm Christian life, without flavor or passion.
I. Do You Believe We Need Revival?
1. More Persecution
Well, listen to me!
How many of those who call themselves “Christian” really live the life of Christ? Oh! How weary we are of our lives being so much like the world's!
That is precisely why we do not encounter opposition from people! Because we live like them. There is no difference. Trousers that are too tight. We also keep up with the times, with fashion. Versace—
Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:12: “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
If you become a true Christian, some people will no longer understand you, will mock you, will hate you, will persecute you.
Remember this: Apostolic power will bring apostolic persecution.
Where, then, are those cruel persecutions endured by the Church in the first centuries? Today, it has become so easy to be a Christian!
2. Cold Ministry
And what about ministry? Are our preachers the kind whose message grips sinners' hearts, driving them to repentance and saving them from perdition?
How many souls are saved through our sermons? Oh! My friends.
Is the fault with the people to whom we preach? No, my brothers!
God has given His divine Word its full value, and He describes it as a “fire,” a “hammer,” and finally a “sword.”
Now fire burns everything that comes near it, a hammer blow is painful, and a sword wound causes acute suffering.
When the Word is proclaimed in the power of the anointing, it produces exactly the same effects: it burns like fire, strikes like a hammer, pierces like a double-edged sword, and the mental and spiritual pains it produces are as intense and as real as bodily pain. If nothing of the kind happens, there is a defect in the messenger or in his message.
The fault lies with US, the servants of God (I have become a servant. God must confirm His Word.
We are often too busy with activities in the church: the choir, preaching, while the sole reason for the Church's existence—the evangelization of the world, the salvation of souls—is pushed into the background of our concerns.
Someone said: “God has given me such a revelation of the infinite value of souls that I cannot go on living if souls are not brought to salvation.”
John Smith says: “Oh Lord, give me souls, or else death for me!”
When reading the “Twelve Rules” of the early Methodist Church, one is struck by the fact that these people considered the salvation of souls the supreme purpose of their lives and ministry. Here is an excerpt:
“You have nothing else to do but win souls to Christ. Spend yourselves, therefore, without reserve on this one task. Your business is not to preach a certain number of sermons, but to save as many souls as you can, to bring as many sinners as possible to repentance, and then to concentrate all your efforts on strengthening them in the life of holiness without which they will not see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14)
3. Sin in the Church
4. Where Are the Miracles Jesus Promised to Every Believer?
Matthew 10:8: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons…”
II. REMEDY TO BRING ABOUT REVIVAL
1. Forsaking Sin
I know of no other remedy than a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit to deal with such a situation in the church. A revival of this kind has transformed hundreds of communities in different places, and it can do the same among us.
But then, how can we obtain such an outpouring of the Spirit? Through prayer. In Scripture, the notion of “revival” is linked to prayer. There is no revival without prayer. When the Bible says: Wake up! Wake up! It means: “Pray! Pray!”
Prayer is a commandment of the Lord, Matthew 26:41; it is an order: we must pray.
But one thing must come before this prayer for revival. We must confront the grave question of SIN head-on, for unless our own lives are right with God, unless every known sin is confessed and resolutely abandoned, we may well pray until judgment day without any revival ever breaking out in our churches! “Your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).
There is only one obstacle that can block the channels and stifle the power of God: SIN. Sin is the supreme barrier, capable of hindering the work of the Spirit and stopping the progress of Revival.
And in Isaiah 59:1–2, we have this solemn declaration again: “No, the LORD's hand is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. But it is YOUR CRIMES that separate you from your God; it is YOUR SINS that hide His face from you and prevent Him from hearing you.”
EVERY SIN MUST BE CONFESSED AND ABANDONED WITHOUT RESERVATION.
2. The Anointing Through Prayer
Apart from that, the anointing, or the clothing with the power of the Holy Spirit, is the result of the Holy Spirit coming upon a believer to equip that person for service.
Such anointings are received only after deep travail in prayer.
The anointing is necessary to transmit the presence of God to others. But there is only one way: prayer.
This means war—total war. Above all, it is a war against your self, which is the worst enemy.
If you cannot lose sight of your self, you will not know the presence of God.
The flesh dies in prayer. And you will have to fight a battle to reach that point.
Thus, when we long for God, we set ourselves to prayer; it is there that God begins to deal with the problem of the flesh and to crucify it.
It is a place of struggle: when we kneel each day, at first we can think of nothing but our guilt, our failures, and our great needs. We keep repeating ourselves again and again, and God seems to be millions of miles away. We wonder whether we are achieving the slightest result. We feel like falling asleep, taking a break—in short, doing anything that could get us out of this painful situation.
Most of you will find, as I found myself, that in the early days, when one begins to pray in earnest, one is obsessed with one's sins and personal needs. All one is able to say is “forgive me, have mercy on me, help me, guide me,” and so on. Everything revolves around me, me, and me again.
That said, let there be no misunderstanding. It is necessary to confess one's sins, to ask for and receive forgiveness, and to seek guidance, but one must nevertheless move beyond this stage and commune with the Lord, listen to what is on His heart, and talk with Him about it.
We must love Him, thank Him, and worship Him. That is the fruit of His presence. The rest will come in His time, not yours.
Five minutes spent in the presence of God, in communion with Him, are worth a year spent in me-me-me mode.