Welcome, friends, to the Line of Fire broadcast. We have been praying for fresh fire in your own life as we are here, friends, five days a week to equip you, to empower you. We are in the battle.
We are all in the Line of Fire, like it or not. The good news is we have everything we need in Jesus. The good news is by the Spirit and the Word we can overcome. The good news is we don't just have to hold on and hope and hope that we can make it until Jesus comes. No, we can see the Kingdom of God advanced. We can see America shaking.
I truly believe that we are poised to see one of the greatest harvests, if not the greatest harvest of souls in American history. And I tell you firsthand, churches all over America are seeing God moving with hundreds, even thousands of people getting baptized. Something is up.
God is at work. So wherever you are, say, Lord, don't pass me by. How about here? How about where we live? How about our church? How about our family? How about me? All right, if you're not getting our Equipping Frontline newsletter, I want to encourage you to sign up now.
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It's absolutely free. And remember, we are listener-sponsored. So thank you for standing with us and helping us make a difference. Chapter 3 in my book, Revival or We Die. So our theme this month is revival, as we've been focusing on these seasons of unusual divine visitation. Chapter 3 in the book is about the rediscovery of the Book of the Law.
Now, let me explain what this is about and why it's relevant for us. I'm not talking about us going back to the Torah as being under the Sinai Covenant. I'm not saying the key to revival today is Gentile Christians observing the dietary laws or celebrating the Sabbath on the seventh day. If those are your own convictions, have those before the Lord.
That's fine. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the importance of getting back to the Word and how this is often something that takes place in seasons of revival. We get back to the Word of God.
There is an awakening of the Word in our own hearts and in our own lives. So I take you back to the story of King Josiah. We read about him in 2 Kings and in 2 Chronicles. He was one of the godliest kings in Judah's history and the last godly king before three of his sons and one grandson all served as kings after him. All fell short and the nation went into exile. And from then until now there has not been an earthly king over Israel from the line of David. Of course the prophecies of the son of David are fulfilled through Jesus the Messiah. But that exile, the destruction of the temple with implications for centuries, these were momentous days. But there was a window open where there was a possibility of change and it came through King Josiah. So he becomes king because his father is assassinated. His grandfather Manasseh, the most wicked king in Judah's history, he reigned for 55 years. But the scriptures say that he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood up to the bridles of horses. I mean it is a hyperbolic picture to show how much bloodshed was there but it is like rivers of blood up to the horse's bridles. Rivers of innocent blood shed in the city burning babies to false gods.
I mean just horrific sin, wickedness, idolatry. And then he repents and God spares his life but judgment still has to come because what he has done. His son Ammon is then assassinated so now his grandson Josiah becomes king at the age of eight.
Eight years old. So at the age of 16, after he is king for eight years, he begins seeking the Lord. And then it is over a period of time he begins to institute various acts of reformation in the country.
Now here is what is interesting. You would assume this whole time he has the Torah. You would assume this whole time he has the book of the law and he is familiar with it and he has counselors who are familiar with it and they are talking about it and because of that they are now going around purging the idolatry out of the country. Because they are doing it, they are cleansing the temple. Because in the temple in Jerusalem there were women weaving to the goddess Asherah. There were homosexual prostitutes in the temple in Jerusalem. There were idols to other gods, deities, false gods, Baal, etc.
Open worship and then throughout the nation and the high places where people go as if you get closer to God there. All kinds of idolatry. And the priests that were supposed to be the priests of Yahweh were serving as priests for all these other gods.
This is all over the nation. So Josiah begins to declare war on this and begins to have the temple cleansed because it is filthy and in disrepair not to mention filthy with sin and idolatry. So Josiah goes to purge the temple and begins to cleanse it, get rid of the idolatry, get rid of the idolatry through the land. And it is some years into this happening now that the high priest comes and says we found the book of the law. What do you mean we found the book of the law? What happened was that there may have been one copy, maybe there were other Torah scrolls, maybe there were many throughout the country, but they were gone.
They were either hidden or they were destroyed. But see that is what happens in times of backsliding. You backslide from the word.
You forget the word. And today in America it is this contradiction. We have more access to the Bible than any generation in history. In fact, previous generations could not imagine the access to the Bible that we have. If I grab my cell phone here, right here in my cell phone, I have every major modern English translation and key older translations. Just right here in my cell phone. It is just there available. And endless numbers of Hebrew and Greek texts that can be called up.
Just right on my cell phone. And of course, we have had it on our computers for years and years before that. And more translations than we have ever had. I mean it is an embarrassing riches that we have.
Embarrassing amount of riches that we have. And yet, I do not know if we have had a generation in American history more ignorant of the word. More superficial when it comes to the word. Less understanding of the Bible. I am not saying to condemn, especially younger people, you have been raised in a certain environment.
I am just talking about reality. I remember writing in 1991 in my book, Whatever Happened to the Power of God, that the more we store the Bible on our hard drives, the less we will have it on our hearts. So I am glad we have it on our hard drives. I am glad we have it on our cell phones. I am glad we have it in all these different places.
I am glad it is ubiquitous in that sense. But we have really backslidden from the word in so many ways. So when ancient Israel, it was quite the opposite. In ancient Judah, they did not have it at all. Where if there were supposed to be copies of Torah scrolls and things, they were either gone, destroyed, in disrepair, or lost. Right?
Because when people backslide, who cares about any of that? Toss it away, you burn it, or you bury it, or you just let it disintegrate, and whatever. So now, now, they discover the book of the law. Now some scholars think it was just the book of Deuteronomy, their reasons for that.
Others say no, it was the whole of the Torah, the five books of Moses. The key thing is, they now rediscover the word of God. And as they do, they realize, oh my, things are much worse than we thought. So Josiah is leading this repentance movement based on what he knows more by tradition, what he has now heard about and been educated about by the high priest and by others. He has learned more about this stuff to recognize, okay, you know, we are supposed to worship one God only and the idols are bad and this is his temple here in Jerusalem. But he does not really get it all because he does not have the word. And then he gets the word and he goes to the prophet Huldah and says, what do we do? What do we do? And, you know, because they start reading all these things and the curses that are going to come for disobedience and think, that is what we have been doing. That is who we are.
Oh no. Friends, that is a picture of what happens in revival. That is a picture of the transformation that comes. It is as if the veil is lifted. It is as if you see what you had not seen before. In fact, there is a description that Charles Phinney gives when he describes the process of revival. I want to pull it up and read it for you. It is Phinney speaking about when revival comes and eyes begin to be opened and transformation begins to come, what it looks like. Let me read this.
He says it so well. A revival always includes conviction of sin on the part of the church. Baxleyan professors, meaning Baxleyan believers, professors of faith, cannot wake up and begin right away in the service of God without deep searchings of heart. The fountains of sin need to be broken up. In a true revival, Christians are always brought under such conviction. They see their sins in such a light that often they find it impossible to maintain a hope of their acceptance with God. It does not always go to that extent, but there are always, in a genuine revival, deep convictions of sin and often cases of abandoning all hope. They would just say, oh my God, we are guilty in God.
Oh, what did we do? You rediscover the word, but with that rediscovery of the word, you also rediscover the depth of God's love, the depth of God's grace, the depth of forgiveness, which is why conversions in revival and restoration and renewal in revival, why it is all so deep and why it is what we must have here in America. Then Finney says this, Baxleyan Christians will be brought to repentance. Revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God, just as in the case of a converted sinner.
The first step is a deep repentance, a breaking down of heart, a getting down into the dust before God with deep humility and a forsaking of sin. And he said Christians will have their faith renewed. While they are in a Baxleyan state, they are blind to the state of sinners. Their hearts as hard as marble. The truths of the Bible appear as a dream.
They admit it to be all true. Their conscience and their judgment assent to it, but their faith does not see it standing out in bold relief and all the burning realities of eternity. But when they enter into revival, they no longer see men as they no longer see men as trees walking, but they see things in that strong light which will renew the love of God in their hearts.
That is what happens. The Word comes alive and it brings with us this reality of God. And for many of us in our preaching, we say we are preaching the Word, but we start with the Scripture and just share our thoughts. We start with the Scripture and just tell stories. We start with the Scripture and give some inspirational account that will move everyone, but we are not preaching the Word.
And I can do that too. Sometimes as I have been preaching a message and quoting a lot of Scripture, I will say sarcastically as a joke, I apologize for quoting so much of the Bible while preaching the Word. Just to say that often we leave that out, or we have a message and we are looking for a text so that we can preach our message. In times of revival, the Word is preached, the Word comes forth, it thunders forth, and as a result it brings all kinds of reformation and change to the Church.
Just think of what could happen to the Church in America if we get back to the Word. All right, friends, we are listener-sponsored, but we get great help from our co-sponsor, TriVita. Are you tired of feeling run down, constantly battling colds, flu, and infections? TriVita's Elderberry with Zinc and Vitamin C is here to give your immune system the boost it needs. TriVita's Elderberry Zinc and Vitamin C supplement is a three-in-one capsule scientifically formulated to support your immune system naturally. Elderberries have been cherished for centuries for their wellness benefits, and now TriVita has harnessed the immune system supporting power in every bottle of TriVita's Elderberry enhanced with Zinc and Vitamin C to help you fight off colds, flu, and infections. Now is the time to boost your immune system and the immune systems of those you love with TriVita's three-in-one Elderberry Zinc and Vitamin C supplement today. To order Elderberry with Zinc and Vitamin C for yourself, order today and use promo code BROWN25 to receive 25% off your order. As a new customer, 100% of the proceeds from your first order will go to support the Line of Fire radio broadcast.
So call now 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584, or online at t-r-i-v-i-t-a, trivita.com. Welcome back friends to the Line of Fire. Michael Brown delighted to be with you because we're here really from the heart. It's our goal, it's our burden to see you healthy, to see you thriving. I've heard that burning in my heart for the Lord get my church healthy, so whatever my role is to do that, to help stir you, to help spark you, to help awaken you, to help ignite you, to help renew that passion, that faith, that hope, to infuse you with faith and truth and courage, that's why we're here.
And I believe friends, as you've been listening to these broadcasts, something's happening. You're feeling the strength come, you're feeling life come, you're feeling hope arise. Go with it and let that drive you to your knees to get alone with God and let it drive you go back to the Word, back to the Word, back to the Word.
Here's a little test, here's a little test for you. When you have time, you're not distracted, take out Psalm 119, the longest Psalm in the Bible, the longest chapter in the Bible. So it's the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, each one with eight verses.
So each of eight verses starts with the same letter, first with oth, then beit, gimel, dalet, hevav, et cetera, all the way down to tet, so to tav. So when you read it, if you're able, get on your knees, if you're able, and read it out loud to God, read it out loud to God and ask yourself as you read it, do I feel this way? Do I actually believe this? As you're saying the words about how much you love the Word and how the words of God's mouth are more precious to you than thousands of pieces of silver and gold and on and on and on and on and on, do I really believe this?
I've done it and said, Lord, I'm a hypocrite. I'm saying the words, but I don't really believe it. Hey, let me share another testimony with you, straight from the Brownsville Revival. This is a young woman married now with kids, kids getting to be older kids, still burning bright, all right, still burning bright before the Lord.
No, actually, actually tell you what, I'm going to share, yeah, here it is. Elisa, I want you to hear her testimony because in revival, the Word of God will be preached and as the Word of God is preached, church people hear the Word and their lives have changed. Elisa wrote this, I was 18 and asked to be a chaperone on a youth trip to a revival and was told we would go to the beach too. All my 18 year old ears heard was free beach trip, so I agreed. To my dismay, the first day they woke us up super early to get in line outside a church building. The sun wasn't even out yet and there were people in line already waiting for the evening service. We sat out there in the hot Florida sun for 12 hours before we were allowed inside. I wasn't the happiest but I knew whatever was happening had to be good. In other words, why are people going to get online, standing online outside a building in hot Florida sun for 12 hours? Getting through church service?
Something's got to be going on. Worship was powerful, she says, and the message Steve Hale preached was intensely convicting. I ran up to every single altar call that week.
Now remember, she's in youth ministry, right, and she's getting convicted. By the end of the week, I was getting baptized and declaring that I would never go back to my old ways. Up to that point, I had been saved about a year but still struggled to not be drawn to the world in my old ways. I got saved because I didn't want to go to hell. But I was constantly giving into temptation, lots of shame and guilt as well as fear that I wouldn't make the long haul as a believer. After that week, I was set on fire and hungered and thirsted for nothing but him.
The long drive home, I wept, cleansing tears the entire 12 hours. I couldn't even go inside the Cracker Barrel for the lunch break because I was in the back of the van being touched by his spirit weeping. Friends, this is what happens in times of revival. That's why I'm saying it's revival or we die. That's why I'm saying this is what America needs. This is what the church of America needs.
This is what the young generation needs. She continues, I didn't know my body could produce that many tears. Some of the kids brought me Kleenex boxes and I used every single tissue before I got back home. Afterwards, there was a marked difference in me. Holiness, living, was a byproduct but overall I was a woman unchained and liberated, no longer bound by my flesh and desire, completely set on fire for him.
You know what happened? The word of God came in the power of the Spirit. It's not either or. Are you Charismatics? You're just into the Spirit. Are you Baptists?
You're just into the Word. How about the Word and the Spirit together? How about everything God has? Rather than dividing in groups and camps, how about we say, Lord, we're your children. Part your Spirit on us. Renew our hunger for the Word. Renew our love for Jesus.
We're amazed with the results here. Another testimony. This is Tom W. and Aletha, I know to this day, she's burning for the Lord. Tom W., another man, serious about God all these decades later, 25 years later. He says, before I knew them, my would-be youth pastor, his brother, a worship leader, and his father, who got saved at the 1970 Asbury Revival, were all involved with a Methodist church in Tulsa.
