Is Revival Something That Can Be Manufactured?

Is revival something that can be manufactured? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We'd love to hear from you. Here's our phone number.

It's 833-THE-CORE. 843-2673. We'll be taking your calls for the next 25 minutes or so, so jump on the phone right now. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. And of course, you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Brandon in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Brandon, thanks so much for joining us. What's your question for Adriel? Hey, Pastor Adriel. So I have another follow-up question about the baptism topic, whether or not someone needs to get re-baptized. So you've talked about Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses, but my parents' church won't re-baptize people who were baptized into the Roman Catholic Church. And I don't believe that those baptisms would be legitimate because Catholicism is not Christianity, so I would like to know your thoughts on that.

Yeah, Brandon, thank you for that question. And with regard to this one specifically, there are differences among Protestant churches. There are some Protestant churches would say, no, we believe that these individuals who are baptized in the Roman Catholic Church need to be truly baptized because we don't consider the Roman Catholic Church to be a true church, and so we reject Roman Catholic baptisms.

I don't hold to that view. In particular, I think, because we have, in terms at least of our doctrine of God, doctrine of the Holy Trinity, there's unity, I guess we could say, in that sense, or at least we're on the same page there. And so I think that's a really important distinction to make, whereas Unitarians or Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons reject the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. So when they say, we baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, they don't mean what the Bible says.

When Jesus instituted baptism in Matthew chapter 28, and he said, go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. If you're a Jehovah's Witness, you think that the Son is a created being, a creature. And so in those churches, quote, unquote, because they're not true churches, an individual is being baptized into the name of a creature.

There is no real understanding of who God is. Whereas we would say that traditions that maybe we differ with, and we would say have serious problems maybe with regard to soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, and yet still hold to a proper doctrine of God, a proper understanding of the Holy Trinity, those baptisms, insofar as they're administered in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit with the intent of being baptized, they're still legitimate because their legitimacy does not rest upon the perfection of the church, but the words of institution, the word of God, and a proper understanding of who God is. And so that's why there's been a distinction and some debate, as I said, among Protestants. Now, one thing that I'll add is there was a controversy, Brandon, in the church, which you might be familiar with, called the Donatist controversy, early on. And it had to do with the fact that there were Christians who had abandoned the faith. They were lapsed, if you will, under a time of persecution. They turned away from the Lord, denied the Lord, some of them even pastors. And so there was a big question about, well, those pastors who baptized people and then later turned out to be apostates, they denied the Lord. Were their baptisms legitimate? Did the people that were baptized by those pastors need to go and get re-baptized because this person walked away from the faith? And what the church said was, no, because the power of baptism, the efficacy of baptism, if you will, is dependent on God's word and spirit, not on the holiness of the minister or even the holiness of the church, if you will, but on God and his promises.

And so that's why we draw a distinction there. Thank you for listening and thanks for that question. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology. Maybe you have some doubts about the Christian faith.

Maybe you practice a different religion or you consider yourself to be an atheist or agnostic and you have some doubts. Hey, we're open to hearing from you as well. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to one of our listeners from Ireland. Hi Adriel, Bill, Michael here and I'm just really encouraged by the show and I listen to the podcast every day without fail. As I was just reading some of the scriptures today, specifically Ephesians 1-4, it came to me, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. So I suppose my question for you, Adriel, is although God has called us before the foundation of the world, why does the Lord wait so long for the elect to be called? I just think John, when he was born, the Holy Spirit was within him when he was born. So yeah, if you could explain that to me, it'd be great and I appreciate all your work that you do and continue to be faithful towards God. Thanks, guys.

Michael, well, thank you for reaching out to us all the way from Ireland and may the Lord bless you and all our listeners out there. What an interesting question. I mean, I don't think I've ever been asked this question before. We hear about God's electing purposes in Ephesians 1 that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world and there are instances of the Spirit of God being at work in individuals, even babies. You think of John the Baptist in the womb. But why does it take so many years at times for some people to come to faith chosen by the Lord? You know, they go through all this hardship in life, sin, rejecting God, and then they come to the Lord later on. Why does God tell you?

Why not just zap them, you know, there in the womb and they're Christians and it's done with? Well, we don't fully understand the purposes of God, but one thing that I think I can say with clarity is that God is working even in those times where we think that he's not, where it seems as if he's absent. We know that in his providence, he's causing all things to work together. In some sense, I think one of the things that's highlighted there is God's long suffering, his patience, you know, that he puts up with us even though we continue to rebel against him. And then there comes a point where the light of the gospel breaks through and we see the truth of who Jesus is and what he's done for us. And we're reminded of the fact that God loves sinners and that despite the fact that we weren't honoring the Lord or walking with the Lord, he showed us his mercy. So I think that's one thing that God can teach us, but certainly there are probably hundreds of different things that the Lord is doing during that time in his providence.

And so we want to trust him. One story that I think beautifully illustrates this is the story of Joseph, thinking about the fact that God is working in our lives even in those times where it seems like he's absent, the dark seasons of life, if you will. Remember all the things that happened to Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers there in Potiphar's household, and we're told in Genesis chapter 39 verse 4, Joseph found favor in his sight, Potiphar's sight, and attended him and he made him overseer of his house.

And then what happens? Well, Potiphar's wife lies about him and he's cast into prison, but even there in prison, the Lord is with him. Verse 21 of Genesis 39, the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison, and the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison.

So he keeps getting these positions of oversight there in the prison in Potiphar's house. God is working to what end? Well, later, you remember when Joseph gets delivered and he rises to prominence and power in Egypt, what happens in Genesis chapter 41? He's told, verse 40, you shall be over my house and all my people shall order themselves as you command. One of the things when I was preaching through Genesis that just struck me so beautifully in this story is how God was preparing him along the way even through those dark seasons, those difficult times where he felt like God had abandoned him to be an overseer, if you will, over Egypt, through Potiphar's house, through the prison. And so I think that the Lord is working in our lives, throughout our lives.

I know that he is for his glory and our good, and so we trust him. Again, Michael, thank you for that question. May the Lord bless you.

Well said. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Hey, we've got some great Bible studies here at the Core, and we want to tell you about one of our newest ones today, which actually was written by Adriel. Yeah, it's a Bible study on the book of Philippians, Paul's letter to the Christians who were dwelling in Philippi. We get into some important doctrines in this book, like the doctrine of justification. We talk about what motivates the Christian life, why we should have joy as believers. And so we want to encourage you in these very important doctrines. We hope that if you're looking for a Bible study to do with some friends at church, or even just something that you're wanting to have a more guided study in your own personal devotions, that you would consider using this resource. Again, it's a 10-week study, and so you can go through it in a short amount of time, but we know that it'll also be really edifying to you.

So get ahold of this resource. We're giving it out for a donation of $20 or more, and appreciate all of your support. This is such an excellent Bible study. It really focuses on how to enjoy and rejoice in all the blessings we have in Christ, some essential truths that all of us need to have. So thanks, Adriel, for writing this. And if you'd like a copy of this, just go to corechristianity.com forward slash new study. That's corechristianity.com forward slash new study and look for the Philippians Bible study.

Well, let's go to Eric in Iowa Falls, Iowa. Eric, what's your question for Adriel? Hi, Pastor Adriel, I have a question, and that's in Proverbs 12, 14. Can you explain what both parts mean? Man is satisfied with good and the works of a man's hand come back to him. Can you explain the fruits of the mouth, what that is and how it comes back to him, the works of his hand?

Yeah, I'd be happy to. So we're thinking about the wisdom literature, Proverbs 12. Let me just read that verse for those who are not familiar with it. Verse 14, from the fruit of his mouth, a man is satisfied with good and the work of a man's hand comes back to him.

In the wisdom literature, in particular in the book of Proverbs, you have these general statements which are true. And in essence, I think here what wisdom is telling us is that you reap what you sow, both in what we speak and by what we do, the work that we do, if you will. Rotten speech, if you will, fruit, turns back upon us negatively. And I think we've seen this with the way in which we use our speech, brother, time and time again when we use our speech to tear down as opposed to build up. That has negative consequences, whereas when we use our speech in a way that is honoring to the Lord and edifying and builds up others, well, there are positive results, positive fruits that come from them.

It's the same with what we do with our hands. You remember what Paul told the church in Galatia, in Galatians chapter 6, a really important verse, I think, verses 6 through 9. Let the one who has taught the Word share all good things with the one who teaches, he says. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up hope. And so this is this general principle that we see in the wisdom literature, but also throughout the Bible as we note it there in Galatians chapter 6. You reap what you sow, both with the words that you speak and the things that you do with your hands. And so this is something, a principle that I think we should all be aware of and guided by in our lives, and we're encouraged through it to use our speech in a manner that is honoring to the Lord and to use our hands in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord, serving each other in the body of Christ. Thank you, Eric, for your question. This is CORE Christianity.

Thank you so much for joining us. If you have a question for Adriel about the Bible or the Christian life, here's the phone number to call. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. We do receive voicemails here at the CORE, and you can call us 24 hours a day and leave your voicemail with any question you might have.

Here's a voicemail that came in earlier from one of our listeners named Mike. My question is, when our church is praying for a revival, is there a physical part that one takes up or is responsible for in regards to that happening, or is that solely upon God to perform or to deliver? I have this thing that I've had over the past year about where we would be at this stage and what would be having to be done, and they are scripturally related, especially the one on the go out to the highways and byways. But I don't know if I should address this with our pastoral staff, and I want to help with this, and I'm going to push it along faster. Thanks very much.

I enjoy your show. Thank you for that question. I think that revival, genuine revival of religion, people coming into an understanding of what the Gospel is, is important. It's something that we ought to pray for as believers. We should pray for that for ourselves first and foremost, that the Lord would renew us day by day by His grace and fill us with His Holy Spirit so that we would walk in a manner pleasing to Him, but also for our church and for our communities, that the Spirit of God would come and draw us all closer to Christ. I've seen examples of churches saying we're going to have a revival on this date, a big tent revival, that kind of a thing, but the reality is we can't force the Holy Spirit to do anything. We don't get to determine by our own, we're crafting together this special revival service that's going to bring about this powerful change.

No, we're dependent upon the Lord and His Spirit. Here's what I think that we can do, and it's imperative for all of us to do in all of our churches at all times, and that's to be focused on the pure teaching of God's Word, because true revivals of religion only come through faithful Bible teaching. It's not something you just get a bunch of people together and you have this wild experience of revival that's disconnected from or separated from the preaching of the Word of God. No, true spiritual life, when the dry bones, if you will, are animated, brought back to life, it's through the prophesying, the preaching of God's Word. This is why Paul, in Romans 10, verse 17, could say that faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ. I think you can say, look, let's pray for revival and let's gather together and seek the face of the Lord, but the primary component that needs to be there is the pure preaching of the Gospel, the faithful teaching of God's Word. If you don't have that, people might have emotional experiences and so on and so forth, but it's not genuine revival, because genuine revival comes when the Word of God is proclaimed and when the Spirit of God works together with the Word to renew our hearts and our minds and bring us closer together as the body of Christ, but closer to Christ.

That has to be the focus in all that we do and in all that your church does is they think about praying for revival. Thank you. Good counsel. Thanks and thanks, Mike, for your voicemail. You can leave us a voicemail if you have a question for Adriel.

Call us anytime at 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to Candace, who is in Pear Ridge, Arkansas. Candace, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Pastor Adriel, I have a 19-year-old son who has grown up in church and he has recently declared that he is agnostic, leaning towards atheists. While he's free to have these opinions, he is in a household full of other children and he is openly telling them that the only reason that they believe there's a God is because that's all they've been introduced to. So my question for you is how would we approach this as parents because he still is living under our roof and the Bible does tell us that's for me in my house, we will serve the Lord.

And then how do we approach that topic with our younger children? Well, Candace, the first thing I want to do is pray for you and pray for your son and invite all those who are listening to pray for Candace's son who is just in need of the grace of God and to come back ultimately to the truth of scripture. Father, we lift Candace's son up to you right now. Lord, I don't know what the influences are in his life, the things that he feels like he's learned that have now brought him away from believing in the Christian faith towards agnosticism, but I ask, dear God, that through this process of questioning that actually his faith in you and in your son would be strengthened. Lord, that as he thinks about these things, Lord, that he would see how bankrupt the philosophies and religions of the world are, how they don't provide for us what you provide for us in the gospel.

And they're not rooted in the reality of what you've done, what you've accomplished in history. Would you be at work in this young man and for the other children there in the home, Lord? I pray that somehow through these circumstances, everyone's faith would be strengthened and that they would be drawn closer to you and that you would give Candace wisdom, Lord, and the right words to speak to her son. I ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. I do think, Candace, you have to ask yourself the question, who is influencing who? So that if he is very abrasive, if it seems like he's trying to, in one sense, poison the well and lead your other children away from Jesus, I think that you can say, look, we love you, we're giving you a place to live right now, but this is not okay. It doesn't mean we can't have conversations about this. We want to encourage those conversations, and it's okay to have questions, but we will not permit, I will not permit you to teach things to your siblings that are drawing them away from Jesus because that's not okay. That's not what we're teaching them.

And so insofar as you're in this home and you're living here, we don't want that and we're not going to allow that, and I think that that's okay to say. I think that that's something that you should say. Now, again, it's not that you want to crush the conversation because I think oftentimes, you know, people have real questions and they're looking for good answers to those questions, and so I would say, you know, compiling those questions, what is it, Candace, that your son, that he thinks he's come to learn that has led him away from the faith?

And maybe you know, so can I follow up with you here? Has he expressed to you what specifically it is that's brought him into this agnosticism? He has not.

He just says that it can't be proved, that God can't be proved. Things happen randomly. Yeah. Well, and again, that's where I think that we should dig, where you can dig and maybe ask some questions, some of the resources, and I hope you'll stay on the line because we'd love to get you some resources that maybe you could say, hey, would you be willing to read through this with me? And this could be a conversation for us. There are some wonderful books on miracles.

I mean, C.F. Lewis' book, Miracles, his book, Mere Christianity. There are other really great apologetics books that sort of unpack the evidences for the Christian faith, for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, other books that are going to focus on the different presuppositions that we all have when we come to the table. But when it comes to at least the Christian faith, I would say, no, there are a lot of things that we can look to and say, yeah, this is more than just a fairy tale, something that we've embraced because it makes us feel good about ourselves. In fact, for the early apostles and followers of Jesus, the gospel wasn't something that made them feel good about themselves. Most of them were put to death for the claim that Jesus rose from the dead. I mean, these are the people that said we saw him with our own eyes. So maybe a question you could ask your 19-year-old, your son is, look, why would these people who preached the gospel, who turned the world upside down in the first century and claimed to see Jesus, right, why would they be willing to lose everything, family, friends, finances, homes, even their own lives if they knew it was a lie, if they knew they were just making it up, hopefully to gain power? No, at some point they would have said, hey, by the way, look, we were just joking, you know, that kind of thing.

No, no. And so there's so many things that we can point to. At the end of the day, though, Candace, it truly is a work of the Holy Spirit. And so I would say continue to pray for him and encourage him. And I think if you do need to take a stand and say, look, this is not okay, we're not going to permit this, fine. And pray that even through that, the Lord would soften his heart because you don't want the negative influence if he's not willing to respect you while he's in the house. You don't want that to continue.

And you don't have to put up with that. And so, but please do stay on the line and we'll send you some resources that we think are helpful. And I just pray that the Lord blesses you and guides you in this decision and softens your son's heart as well.

You know, Adriel, I was thinking about it. I'm sure that Candace is not alone. I'm guessing there are a lot of parents with teenage kids right now who are going through something very similar. Part of the issue is that our culture and oftentimes the public schools are really challenging kids in a way that they cannot respond to, that maybe they don't really know what they believe or why they believe it. And that just it really behooves us as moms and dads and certainly as church leaders to prepare our young people for that philosophical assault that they're going to experience throughout their life.

Yeah. I mean, that's one of the reasons why we do the things that we do, Bill, on this broadcast is because we want to help equip people to answer the questions that they get and that they have about the Christian faith. And it just shows how close to home it really is. And so keep Candace in your prayers, keep her family in your prayers, and may the Lord work there bringing the light of the gospel through. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together. Thank you.