Welcome friends to the Line of Fire Broadcast.
Michael Brown, delighted to be with you, here to equip you, empower you, help you to engage on the front lines. We say it every day, but it's the truth. We are all in the line of fire, like it or not.
That is the reality. The spiritual warfare has intensified. The moral and cultural warfare around us has intensified. We are in the line of fire together, but not alone.
Not only are we standing side by side, but Jesus, our Lord, is leading the charge. This is not the time to retreat. This is not the time for cowardice.
This is not the time for excuses. This is the time for faith and to say, Lord, here we are. Send us.
Use us. I want to encourage you to sign up for our frontline newsletter. I was so excited last week to send out our very first edition of the frontline newsletter.
If you didn't get it, it's like, how did I miss that? Write to us, thelineoffire.org. We'll be sending these out once a month and then every week we'll be letting you know here are the latest articles. I normally write four or five articles a week on cutting edge, cultural, moral, spiritual, political issues, biblical issues, Israel issues.
This will keep you equipped. We'll let you know what latest videos we've put out and special resources available to serve you. We'll put you in our welcome tour where you learn more about my own testimony and story, the three R's of our ministry and how we can serve you and help infuse you with faith and truth and courage.
So go to thelineoffire.org, right on the homepage, sign up for our frontline newsletter. We've got a couple more shows where we talk about the subject of revival using my book, Revival or We Die, as a textbook and then of course the text of all texts, the scriptures. And I want to talk today about hindrances to revival.
Why is it we can pray for so long and not see a national awakening? And not see a powerful spiritual move in the churches that brings people from complacency to passion? That restores their first love? That gives them that burden for the lost again? That gives them that hunger for holiness? That gives them that overcoming faith?
Why is it we can pray sometimes for years and not see that change come? Even though it's a critical need, as the title of my book says, revival or we die. What are some of the hindrances? What are some of the things that hold us back?
Well, one is lack of vision and lack of knowledge. We know that sometimes God would say through the prophets to Israel, like in Hosea, my people perish for lack of knowledge. Or there's the well-known verse in Proverbs 29, 18, which I remember hearing is a fun raising verse as a new believer. In Hebrew, there's no vision that people perish.
And it was a matter of, you know, we need a vision for our building fund. But that's not what the verse is saying. What it really means is where there's no vision, where there's no prophetic revelation that people cast off restraint. And the fact is without knowledge, without understanding, without a prophetic now word from God, without God speaking to us through his word, often we lose sight of God's purpose. We lose sight of the goal.
We settle in to what we've been used to when we think that's all there is. And deep down, we know there's more. Deep down as we read the word, as we walk with God, we know there's more. And sometimes we can't put our finger out. We don't want to be critical.
We don't want to be fault-finding with our church or our pastor. But we know there's more. We know there must be more. And then knowledge comes alive. You begin to hear about past revivals. You begin to hear about past awakenings. You begin to hear about things God did and you thought, why not now? Why not once again? Why not in our lifetimes?
What you did before, do it again today. So sometimes there's just an ignorance of what God has done in history. There's a lack of awareness of the degree to which churches were transformed and believers were transformed and the lost were saved. You know, there's a story from the Welsh Revival where a man was going to a meeting. He heard God moving in a particular church and he wanted to go and God was moving all over Wales.
And different places and times and different people. He was going to a church where God was moving. And he gets on the train or a bus. He gets on and he asks some people, I don't know my way around the area.
I hear God's moving in a church here in Wales. I don't know my way around here. What stop do I get off of? They said, oh, you'll feel it. You'll feel it. And God knows, okay, this is where I get off. And then he says, gets off. I hear that God's moving somewhere in this region in a church here.
How do I find it? They said, oh, you'll feel it. And he just walks over and finds the place. So that sounds outlandish. Well, here's a story that we heard firsthand in the Brownsville Assembly of God during the Brownsville Revival in the mid to late 90s. With no thought of God in her mind whatsoever. And suddenly the Holy Spirit fell in her car and she became deeply conscious of her own sin. She began to weep in repentance in her car and cried out to Jesus to save her.
And we subsequently heard her story when she became a member of the church. You begin to hear things like that and think, well, why can't it happen here? Why can't it happen in our church?
Why can't it happen again today? You know, there were stories in the 1857, 1858 prayer revival that started in New York City and swept across America that ships, as they were coming into port in New York City, suddenly came into this divine presence. They didn't know what was happening. And suddenly the spirit that had been moving in the city met them in the ships. And as they were coming in, they would send word, we need a chaplain. People are crying out to get right with God. You begin to hear these things and you think, I don't want to just read about stories.
I don't want to just know about the past. Why not here today? Aren't the needs even more urgent today? Isn't the crisis even greater in America today?
Isn't the apostasy in the American church even more profound today? Don't we need revival and awakening more than ever? So sometimes one of the hindrances is as simple as lack of knowledge.
Another hindrance is hopelessness and discouragement. We've been praying like this for five years. We started early morning prayer.
We were sure that was going to do it. We've been fasting one day a week before me, before I was the pastor. Twenty years we heard about revival and we'd have prayer and it's never going to come. Proverbs 13, 12 says hope deferred makes the heart sick, but the desire when it comes is a tree of life. Sometimes we're just heart sick because we just have lost hope and it happens.
It's understandable. We're human beings and we're not made of steel and that's why you have parables like in Luke 18 where Jesus teaches a parable to tell his disciples to pray always and not faint because it's really easy to give up hope. It's really easy to quit. It's really easy to throw in the towel.
It's really easy to think it's just not going to happen. We've prayed, we've fasted, we've cried out, we've done everything we know how to do and we're hitting a wall. It's not even like you're praying for the salvation of a lost loved one. You're praying for them to be saved, you're asking God to work in their heart, but they still have to surrender to the Lord.
In other words, their will is involved. So you're praying, we know God's will to save and God's will to bless, but now this person has to repent. We can't force someone to repent. We can pray for the Holy Spirit to put pressure on them, but he will not violate their will and make them do something. Sometimes we pray for other people for years and years and years and the reason we're praying so long is because their will is involved. But praying for revival, isn't that God's will? Isn't that simply a matter of his will? Isn't it up to him to send the Spirit? And isn't it as simple as God answering? You know, it's like there's a famine, there's a drought. So we're praying, oh God, send the rain, oh God, send the rain, oh God, it's up to him. This is the same thing, asking God to send the rain of his Spirit.
So sometimes it's discouragement. It's like the disciples on the road to Emmaus. And in Luke 24, they thought Jesus was the one, they thought he was the one who was going to redeem Israel, but now he's dead.
Here's reports like these fantastical reports that he's risen from the dead, some women came back and it's like, how could it be? He's already risen, he's actually with them, but they're still discouraged. Sometimes discouragement, hopelessness, it is a big hindrance to revival. And I'm going to deal with these hindrances and obstacles and talk about how we can overcome them. There are a few more. Sometimes we just are unwilling to really let God take over.
Sometimes it's our fear of controversy and wanting to be accepted. But when you realize it's a matter of revival or we die, you understand we're going to have to press in to cry and cry out and say, God, we won't let you go until you bless us because we have no other alternative. All right, we're going to dig into some more of the hindrances, talk about how we overcome these. The last broadcast in the series tomorrow, we'll talk about revival and you. Revival in your own personal life. Right now, quick word from our co-sponsor Triveda.
We'll be right back. Are you tired of feeling rundown, constantly battling colds, flu and infections? Triveda's elderberry with zinc and vitamin C is here to give your immune system the boost it needs. Triveda'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 Triveda has harnessed the immune system supporting power in every bottle of Triveda'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 Triveda'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 broadcasts, 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.
Triveda dot com. Welcome back, friends, to the Line of Fire. Really, we are here to help infuse you with faith and truth and courage because we know it's intense on the front lines where we all live, so let us be a blessing to you.
Hold your hands up, strength and encourage you. Be sure you're getting our frontline newsletter. If you're not right now, sign up. We sent out our first one last week, and I am so thrilled with it, so be sure to go to the line of fire dot org and sign up to get this free new resource.
It is right there on the home page. So, revival, it's something that God sends, God moves, it's historic, it can be history-making, it can be nation-changing, but when we've prayed for years, maybe for our local church, and we don't see it happen or for our community or our city or our nation, it's easy for discouragement to set in, for skepticism, cynicism to set in. I don't really believe in this stuff. I read the stories from the past, but I don't think it's real. Hey, I've lived in it. It's real. I've lived in it to the point that it's overwhelming to think of all the stories and all the impact and all the lives changed and the sovereign way that God moved.
Just stunning, overwhelming, and fruit that lasts for years and years, can last for decades, it can last for generations. So these things are real, and it's in keeping with the character of God and the promises of God and the nature of God. Some, to be candid, don't really want to go to that place of deeper surrender. They know if God really moves, it's going to mean that they're going to have to come clean about this porn habit. Are they going to have to come clean about this adulterous affair? Are they going to have to come clean about stealing money from the church? Are they going to have to come clean about stealing money from the job? Are they going to have to come clean about other things because God's going to move and there's going to be deep repentance?
I was talking to a colleague recently, 56 years old, and was part of the team there in Brownsville during the revival in 95 to 2000. And he said that, never forget, one man comes up to him, pastor weeping, weeping, weeping at the end of the service, weeping, weeping. He said, I've been committing adultery for years, pastoring a church, the success of all this. I've been committing adultery with a woman for years, weeping. I'm going to have to go home and confess all this. Whatever happens, happens. Another time, another man weeping, weeping, a pastor says, I've been stealing money from the church for years. I've stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars. I'm going to have to go back weeping.
I'm going to have to go back and make this right. Obviously, he said, I could go to jail. But see, when God really comes in revival, repentance comes and not everybody wants that. Think of the scene, best known in Mark 5, but in the Synoptic Gospels in Matthew and Luke as well, of the gathering demoniac and this man who was so demonized, a legion of demons, thousands of demons inside of him. They bind them with chains. He'd break the chains. He'd live among the tombs.
He'd cut himself and roar and scream and live naked. And now, Jesus sets him free, drives the demons out of him, and then drives the demons into these pigs. These are obviously gentile pig herders and the pigs go running down into a lake and drown. So it's complete upheaval in the community. And the people come out and they hear what happened with the pigs and they see the man clothed in his right mind and they beg Jesus to leave. They said they did what?
They begged Jesus to leave. And my take is twofold. One is just too much disruption. This is too much.
We don't want this too much. The other thing was, as long as that guy is out there, he's really bad. He's really evil. The bad things in my life, they're really not that bad. They're not that evil. They're not that sinful. See, I can make excuses.
Things in my life are not as bad as that guy's life and what he does and how he lives. But now that he's clothed in his right mind, that challenges me a little bit. You know, one way that many parents got saved during the Brownsville Revival is they saw their kids get transformed. And when the kids got transformed, it rocked their world. They were church-going people, but they weren't really walking with the Lord. They weren't really serious about God. They were nominal Christians. And some of you are in those environments, you have family members that are like that.
And then the kids got saved, the kids started praying for the parents, and the parents saw the change in the kids, and the parents got right with God. Many times, I was just, hey, that's too much. I kind of like my life where it is. And then others just, I don't want controversy. Revival always brings controversy, and I don't want controversy. I got a nice church, I got a nice life.
I don't want controversy. Many years ago, I wrote a sarcastic poem called Prayer for a Nice Revival. You know, it had stanzas like this. Oh, Lord, oh, Lord, please, please come and fill this longing of our soul. But please, oh, Lord, leave us in control. Oh, Lord, send your glory, send your power. But please, oh, Lord, keep it to an hour.
Yeah. Those are the kind of prayers that you pray when you really don't want God to move, and what you have to do. And this is where I want to help. This is where I want to talk about how we overcome these hindrances, the hindrances of discouragement and hopelessness, or skepticism, or not really wanting all that God has for our lives, or just not wanting God to take control because we like our nice little service and our nice little church and our nice little routine.
I mean, after all, we go to this church because we get in and out quick and the service is an hour and nine minutes precisely, and we get on with our day and we do our religious duty and go home and last thing we want is God to come home with us. Let me tell you how we overcome these obstacles, these hindrances. You get to the point where you realize you have no choice. You get to the point where you realize we have to have a move of God or things are going to sink.
That's how many people get saved, isn't it? Their marriage is on the rocks. They're about to go bankrupt.
They're about to go to jail. They're suicidal. Everything has fallen apart. They've lost all hope. And they realize, either God saves me, either God helps me, either God has mercy on me, or it's all over. It's all over.
And there is no hope. You get to that point like Jacob in Genesis 32 where he says to the angel of the Lord, I believe the Son of God himself, I won't let you go until you bless me. And he wouldn't let go because he couldn't let go. To let go would be to die. To let go, in his mind, would be his children are going to die. His wives are going to die. Everything he has is going to be taken by Esau, who's out to kill him.
That's what he's thinking. And if God doesn't help, if God doesn't intervene, it's all over. You get to the point where you care more about the glory of God than you care about your own reputation. You get to the point where you would rather have God fill your life, even if it means confession, even if it means humbling. For me, a big thing, when God really brought me to repentance in 1982 for leaving my first love and becoming intellectually and theologically proud, for me, the big thing was pride. To say I've been wrong, to say that, yeah, God did call me to scholarship, but it became an idol instead of a tool. To say that instead of growing in maturity, I had grown in maturity some, I've basically become lukewarm. I've lost my intimacy with God. I may be committed in many ways, but I've lost my intimacy with God. Did a whole show about first love in my book, Revival or We Die. There's a whole chapter on first love being restored.
I mentioned when I taught about that, that that chapter more than any in the book has had people writing to me saying, Dr. Brown, that spoke to me. That's my life. Thank you for being so candid. But the fact is, we get to that point where we say, I don't care what people think. I don't care about my reputation. I don't care because I have to have more of God. And in that process of repenting and seeking Him, you begin to experience renewal already.
You begin to change. Praying for revival can change you. And as you go through the word, you realize we could never have God really move without some level of controversy. Jesus was surrounded by controversy from His birth, from before His birth, but from His birth outwardly in this world, surrounded by controversy. Why? Because He's a sign spoken against.
Luke chapter 2, verses 34 and 35, Simeon prophesies over Him as a baby, that He will be in Israel a sign spoken against, a sign appointed for the falling and rising of many in Israel. As Arthur Wallace wrote in his book, In the Day of Thy Power, and as Duncan Campbell seconded, that if something claims to be a revival that's not spoken against, it's not really a revival. And as I've said for years, you can't have controversy without revival, but you can't have revival without controversy. You get to that point where you say, I just have to have God. I can't live without a breakthrough.
As a pastor, as a member of a church, as an individual, as a father, as a mother, as a son, as a daughter. I can't live without a breakthrough. I must see a breakthrough while I have breath.
And that drives you to that point where all the other obstacles get out of the way. Even if you're discouraged, what else are you going to do? Well, I really do want to encourage you. And this book, Revival or We Die, will be a shot of holy adrenaline into your spiritual veins to encourage you to build your faith, to extend your vision, to show you what revival really looks like and feels like to the point you say, I must see it. I can't leave this world without seeing what revival would look like in my life, in my family, in my church, in my community, in my nation.
This is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the word and prayer and your own walk with God through this broadcast, then stand with us so that we can reach many, many more and bless many, many more. Together, friends, we're making a difference. So go to TheLineOfFire.org, TheLineOfFire.org and click donate.
