The Glorious Fruit of Revival

When you see the glorious, lasting fruit of revival, it brings you hope as to what God could do again in our day. It's time for The Line of Fire with your host biblical scholar and cultural commentator Dr. Michael Brown. Your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Call 866-34-TRUTH to get on The Line of Fire.

And now, here's your host, Dr. Michael Brown. The first of the three R's of our ministry, the first of the three R's that we emphasize is revival, revival in the church and then gospel-based moral and cultural revolution and then redemption in Israel. We are engaged in all of these three R's day and night, but we also know that only through a revived church can there be a gospel-based moral and cultural revolution in society, a massive transformation, and only through a revived church will Israel be provoked to jealousy and salvation.

So they all go hand in hand, but the first R is the one that fuels the other R's. Michael Brown, welcome to The Line of Fire broadcast. If you have a revival-related testimony, if you were in the Brownsville revival or a related revival, so something from years back, not just last week necessarily, but something from years back, so you have a lasting testimony, give me a call. It could relate to you directly or someone that you know, but give me a call, 866-348-7884. That's 866-344-TRUTH. I want to encourage you today, I want to stir your hearts. I want to raise your faith and expectation. And I want to help prepare you for when God does move powerfully, because as I've said countless times, you can have controversy without revival, but you cannot have revival without controversy. Now, when I speak about revival, I'm not talking about just a special series of meetings. If you live in the southern part of the United States or parts of the Bible Belt, you're familiar with churches saying we're having revival next week, or we do revival every year. I'm not talking about a special series of meetings with a guest speaker and special music and so on.

You get there, you get all hyped up, excited, you go back to normal life. You know, I'm talking about a season of unusual divine visitation. I'm talking about something that you can mark, like the first and second great awakenings in America, or the prayer revival, 1857-58, or the Welsh revival, 1904-1995, or the Braille's revival, 1995-2000. You can say here's where it began, here's where it waned, here's where it ended, here's the fruit that remains.

That's what I'm talking about. Now, if you want to talk to me about any other subject, I may get to some calls a little later in the show. So if you've just got a general Bible question, or want to interact with me on a moral and cultural issue, or have a political bone to pick with me and want to talk with me, phone lines are open, 866-348-784.

But my first focus is on revival, okay. So the other day, I was on Facebook, and I saw that I was copied, or my name was mentioned in something. Of course, there are endless thousands of comments that were involved, but this is my personal page, and it was linked to a grad posting a video from the Braille's revival. We had songs of rejoicing, we had songs of awe and worship, we had songs of repentance. Sometimes people were on their faces repenting, getting right with God.

Sometimes we were on our faces just in awe, or standing with our eyes closed in awe. Sometimes we were jumping, shouting, celebrating, and all these expressions are found in the Word. People jumping, people dancing, people weeping, people raising hands, people clapping, people on their faces, all expressions that are found in the Bible. If you're a Bible Christian, you should be at home with these types of expressions when they are genuinely, not just emotion, but an emotional, wholehearted response to truth, to the presence of God.

So I want to take you into a service where we are singing Happy Song, and there are many students, some in the ministry school, some younger, that are involved, and they're there in the midst of this part of the youth choir that night. But this will just give you a picture, and remember that the reason for the heights of joy was because the repentance was deep, the conviction of sin was deep, the people getting right with God, sinners being saved. Jesus tells us in Luke 15, there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents. There's joy in the presence of God, the angels rejoice.

But what happens when thousands and thousands of sinners are repenting? So we're going to take you into some of the worship. I'm going to fade back out, come back in a little later. And then I want to tell you what happened on Facebook when I posted this. All right, let's go into the service.

Here we go. I could sing an ending song of how you saved my soul. I could dance a thousand miles because of your great love.

My heart is bursting, Lord, to tell of all you've done, of how you changed my life and what's really past. I could sing an ending song of how you saved my soul. I could dance a thousand miles because of your great love. I could sing an ending song of how you saved my soul. I could dance a thousand miles because of your great love. My heart is bursting, Lord, to tell of all you've done, of how you changed my life and what's really past.

I want to shout it out forever else I've said. All right, we're going to come back to how you just sit and rejoice all day. And the whole place, as you're listening on radio or on podcasts, the whole place jumping, dancing, celebrating a ton of young people in the house, even some of our team on their feet jumping, dancing next to me on the other side of the window here.

It was real joy in the house. I hate emotionalism. I hate emotionalism because all it does is get you pumped up in the flesh, it gets your soul all pumped up, and then you're more disappointed afterwards. You're more deflated afterwards. I hate emotionalism, but I love the joy of the Lord. Psalm 16 says, in his presence, his fullness of joy, Nehemiah 8 says, the joy of the Lord is your strength.

And where there is deep repentance, there's great joy. You will see it over and over and over again. So I posted this video on Facebook. And we're going to go to the phones, 866-34-TRUTH. We're going to take your calls.

We're going to interact. I posted this on Facebook. There's a reason there was such great joy in the midst of the Browns for revival. The lost were being saved. Believers were being set free.

Bondages were being broken. Jesus was being exalted. When sin is being forgiven, there will always be holy joy in the house. I'm going to talk about how the supplies to America and the church today.

I want to be as practical as I can, inspirational, informational, and practical. All right, so we were seeing every night people being saved, lost sinners being saved. We were seeing every night backsliders coming back to God.

We were seeing every night believers returning to their first love, believers repenting of sin in their lives, believers getting set free. What happens to the lame man in Acts, the third chapter? Crippled his entire life. He is miraculously healed by Jesus. And he goes into the temple walking and leaping and praising God. Well, what do you expect?

He's been crippled this whole life. Well, it's the temple you should have. Well, you think God said, oh, no, he shouldn't be leaping in the temple. Or you think I was smiling at this man's joy. So I posted this, and people just started pouring in with their testimonies. One fellow named Jose said, what has all that circus accomplished? Asking for a friend. Now, I noticed he kept weighing in.

I don't know if he was actually asking for a friend. The fact that he sadly called it a circle, a circus, just displayed his level of spiritual ignorance here. But I decided to respond. And I said, circus, this was a holy visitation resulting in millions of lives eternally changed for the glory of God. People began to post their testimonies there.

I'm going to read some of them. But others, just the moment they saw the video, began to post. And remember, the revival waned in the year 2000, all right? So it's basically 1995 till 2000, okay? Basically five years of intensity, of outpouring of the Spirit, and it waned towards it. God moved powerfully a few years after that, but the revival as we knew it certainly waned by the end of 2000. So you're talking now, in some cases 27 years ago people were there, 25 years ago, 23 years ago, 22 years ago. And they're talking about changes in their lives that have remained until this moment. That's what happens in Revival Friends.

So look at some of these stories here. Oh, I spent four years in that revival. It was an amazing season. May the Lord move again like that across our land.

How about this? I attended the revival as a newly saved teenager. It was so fantastic. My favorite part was the focus on repentance. I went back to my Baptist church and sang, come running to the mercy seat for our congregation.

Here, someone posted this, thanks for posting this. I never intended to go to, quote, such a thing. And yet the Lord impressed upon my introverted heart that I should go. In order to get there, I would have to ride in a van full of people I barely knew in the middle of summer without AC.

We traveled from Richmond, Virginia to Pensacola. Never would I have gone if our Lord had continued to press me on the issue. But once I got there and the Lord got ahold of me, I was never the same. God's presence in the place was so tangible in the physical realm you could literally feel Him. I never fully understood what set free meant until after that first day. Oh, what a blessing that revival was. And I carried back the blessing and continue administering to others to this day. During the revival, I interacted with critics who said, oh, it's just emotionalism. Oh, you're just getting hyped up.

It's just your Pentecostal craziness. Well, more than two decades later, the fruit not only remains, the fruit continues to grow. Lives dramatically transformed. More than 300,000 different people documented, responded to the altar calls there.

And the fruit remains and grows to this day. What would happen if God poured out His Spirit like that today, across America? How many churches would welcome the presence of God with that intensity? How many pastors and leaders are ready for it? 866-346-Truth, we'll be right back.

Thanks, friends, for joining us today on The Line of Fire. Have you downloaded our app yet? I used it today. I wanted to access something to check on a recent broadcast and access the app and used it.

And it is really user-friendly. So glad to finally get it out on Apple. If you haven't downloaded it yet, download it. Ask Dr. Brown, ASK DR. Brown Ministries on Apple. Ask Dr. Brown Ministries on Android.

Make sure you download that app on Android. Okay. I'm going to go to the phones shortly. But just some more of some of the testimonies that were posted in response to this joyful video. Maybe we'll take you back a little more rejoicing, and then I'll go to the phones. Let's see. Susan said, Absolutely the very best time of corporate intimacy with God I've ever experienced.

And I'm 62 years old. We stayed with friends who lived and worked there, and the anointing was so heavy. Linda Kulu, the young lady who sang Mercy Seed, Pastor Steve, his fireworks message on the 4th of July, which I remember, and so much more. I bought some videos, brought them back, and people I shared them with experienced that same anointing even hours after service in line of the restaurant. People still being touched and changed.

Lord, we need this focus on repentance to have a true revival. Isn't it amazing that person after person after person was there talks about the spirit of repentance and talks about being changed and encountering God. And the critics say, Well, what about the jumping? What about the falling? What about the dancing?

To this day. Oh, that's where people bark like dogs. No, not. Oh, that's where this happened.

No, not. That's where God came and visited a local church, and it spread from there around the world. People came from over 130 nations. The lost dramatically saved. Captives dramatically set free. Professing believers. I heard from pastors, committed pastors. They would come to the revival, bringing people with them from their church, thinking their church needed a fresh touch. And the first night of Steve Hill preach repentance, they were the first at the altar because God was convicting them of sin in their own lives.

Oh, yeah, that's what happens. That's why a lot of people don't like revival. Because it's too hot. Because the holiness of God is too deep. Because the repentance is too real. Because the people getting set free, it's too emotional.

They know only just like it the old way. What, where no one's getting radically born again? Where people are still walking in bondages? Where backsliders are not coming to God? There's always going to be some noise and a little mess in the maternity ward.

That's going to happen. But I much prefer that to the quiet of the cemetery when you're talking about new life. All right. Let's go over to Janet in Harrisburg, North Carolina.

Thanks for calling the line of fire. Janet, are you there? Hi, this is Janet. Hi, I'm here. All right. Nice to hear your voice.

Go ahead. I was saved at Brownsville in 1995, the second week after it broke out. And I was just a Methodist girl, very religious, confirmed, sprinkled as a baby, the whole nine yards. But revival actually came to our backyard there in Pensacola where I was raised. And it totally changed my life. And I was never the same. And, you know, that was 27 years ago. And now I'm in the ministry with my husband that I met at the Brownsville School of Ministry and we're in ministry together with evangelism and the worship leader at our church and blasting fruit.

You know, there's so many of us out there all over the world from this one little seaside town called Pensacola. And that's what I'm crying out for. I'm crying out for another sovereign move of God, that God will move again. It's such a cry because my children don't know what it's like. My children haven't experienced it yet. And I want that for my kids, what we experienced there. So Janet, you and your husband have raised your kids in the fear of the Lord and you've passed on to them what you know about the gospel and the standards you've lived by.

And I assume that they've been impacted by that. And the world will look at them as godly kids, but you're saying there's something more that God does in revival. So describe that something more, your kids are raised and you know, Janet when immediately hearing your voice, of course, no, you are in fact, I've shared this with Janet directly, but I'll share it with everybody. The very first night when I was at the revival, so this was some months into it when I was finally able to get down on Steve Hill's invitation there almost just part of the team, part of the leadership. So Steve was talking to me about what was going on and was just pointing people out and you were like right in the front. And he said, see that girl's just Methodist girl got radically saved. And I remember just you're jumping up and down and there you were a gymnast. Because I just remember you were just so overcome with the joy of the Lord. You put your hands over your face and I thought that I just saw something very real and genuine. So before that, did you think that you were a Christian?

Yes, I did. Because I went to church every Sunday and I was the acolyte at church and you know, did everything that a good Christian girl was supposed to do. But when I went to school, I was totally different. But I was just playing the part and I thought, you know, I was a Christian because my parents told us so.

Yeah, so how did God save you? What happened when you were in the services and you came under conviction? What did that look like in your life? It was just my heart beating out of my chest and to know that a God that's bigger than me is in charge and that he had a plan for my life and that there was purpose.

You know, I had just turned 16 and I was trying to figure out, you know, what my purpose was, what my identity was. And it was at that moment when I, you know, totally surrendered. It was about surrender. It was about repentance. It was about turning your life around, not just praying a prayer.

I had prayed a prayer all the time at church, but it was about a change in the heart and an encounter with the Holy Spirit. Yeah, and that describes it and that's why the joy was so profound because you were forgiven and free and the love of God was there. So you and your husband have raised your kids in godly ways and I'm sure many parents around America would wish they had kids that were godly, had hearts like your kids, and yet there's something you experienced in revival that they have not, that you want them to experience.

Why is that so important to you? There's just something about an encounter with the Holy Spirit when the word becomes alive with you, when you have a testimony of an encounter with God like that, that no school, no person, no classmate, no peer can ever take that from you. Like I had an encounter with God that day and I've learned through these 27 years that I can continue to have an encounter with the Lord like I did then, but it was at that moment that my life was so changed that, I mean, I tell people all the time, it only takes one encounter, like these people that are crying out for their kids to say, my kids love the Lord, my daughter's in college, I have a 17-year-old who's a senior and an 11-year-old, they love Jesus, but I can just tell that there's not that encounter with the Holy Spirit like I've had and that's what I'm crying out for. I'm crying out for a whole generation to have an encounter with the Lord like we had there. Yeah, Janet, thank you so much for calling in and sharing this. And when we talk about national revival, that's what we're talking about, that instead of just one or two or five or 10, having that type of deep radical encounter with the living God, which especially the younger generation, the lost don't even know about it, the Bible is negative to them and your Christians are full of hate and why go to church, that kind of thing, it's not like they're just raised in it and it's normal, so many have just left. But when this happens all over the country, when this happens to millions of young people and when the churches are ready now to disciple and nurture, it could literally shake a country, it can literally turn the direction of the country. Hey, Janet, may the Lord do it again. May we live to see something greater than we've ever seen. Thanks for calling in. Blessings to you and Chris.

You too. All right, eight, six, six, three, four, truth. How's that for lasting fruit? Saved early on in the revival. Twenty-seven years later, burning bright. And Janet and her husband, part of the leadership at my son-in-law's congregation in the area, so I know their story well. And remember, just seeing, I could see with my eyes how this young lady had been transformed. My very first service there, that was one of the things I saw, that to me was a token, this is the real deal.

This is the real deal. And boy, I'm just looking here at some of the testimonies. Sean, two friends, my brother and myself drove from central Ohio at the drop of a dime at the request of our youth pastor. Jobs, finances, new car provision came from the Lord to be set apart. Many are still serving God from this move today. Many, many preachers were raised up from this move of God's spirit, and on and on. I watched many of the meetings on TV, I guess on video. I was a mediocre Christian who was convicted by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Changed person ever since. Yes, I remember one, three times, waiting in line for hours, and my husband, my husband experienced being slain in the spirit. He had doubted it being real. Michael Brown walked up to him, put his hand on the stomach and said, fire, Lord, fire. Down he went. When he came out of it, he couldn't walk.

He had to crawl over to a chair. God showed him it was real. A few days later, he was watching a tape of the revival. He was baptized in the Holy Spirit. He is still serving the Lord Jesus today, stronger than ever. He is 80 years old and still serving strongly in men's ministry at our church, praise God from whom all blessings flow. That's what God does in revival, friends.

I'm an eyewitness. May he do it around the nation today and may his people embrace what he's doing. Back with your calls and more encouraging words. Stay right here.

It's a resistance. You can't resist us. This is how we rise up. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on The Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks for joining us, friends. If you don't get my email, sign up at AskDrBrown.org, A-S-K-D-R Brown.org. We've got a ton of informative stuff to send you in the days ahead. AskDrBrown.org. Sign up for our emails, 866-34-TRUTH to call in, especially with revival-related questions or testimonies.

I'm going to go back to the phones in a moment, but it's interesting. During the first Great Awakening, Charles Chauncey was a great critic of the Awakening. And I can't verify this, but I had read that at one point, his books sold more than Jonathan Edwards' books. The books attacking the revival sold better than Jonathan Edwards' books, defending what God was doing in revival. Of course, Chauncey ended up a heretic, and Edwards, one of the most respected names in the history of Christianity in America and revered worldwide.

So interesting how things play out. You don't remember the names of the 10 spies who said, we can't take the land. You remember the names of Joshua and Caleb. So I was reading a book by a historian, Conrad Cherry, and he said, whereas Edwards focused on the weak, the good fruit, what God was doing in large numbers in the Great Awakening, Chauncey focused on the chaff, the bad stuff, the extremes, you're always going to have that. Every big church, every big ministry, every big movement is going to have some chaff, it's going to have some bad stuff, it's going to have some extremes. And that's always going to happen. Jesus has 12 disciples, one of them is Judas, right? You know, Paul's letters to the early churches, God's working in their midst, but there's some junk to fix.

It's always going to be like that. The critics will say, that can't be God because of the negative extreme here or because of the error there, because of the person who falls away here. Recognizing what God's doing will rejoice at all the good fruit. So, someone posted this, Abraham, marched down the street in full drag and carrying a rainbow flag and they'll cheer you, but celebrate the glory of God and they'll mock you.

It's true, I mean, the world will celebrate one thing and mock God's people celebrating. Mike said, I know many people forever changed by that revival. It has lasting fruit. Another, Eddie changed my life. Oh, just on and on.

Vivian, yes, I had never seen people run to the altar as they did, that they ran to the altar repenting of their sin to get right with God. Sherry, wonderful, life changing. And on and on and on.

I mean, the stories of lives changed and this is now 22, 23, 25, 27 years later. Again, just one more glimpse and I'm going to the phones. Give you a feel of what that joy felt like because the repentance was so deep and I'm free. The guilt is gone. The fire of God purged me. I've turned from that sin. I'm free from that bondage.

These relationships are reconciled. I'm right with God. There's joy in the house. Back to Happy Song. I could dance a thousand miles because of your great love. I could sing unending songs of how you saved my soul. I could dance a thousand miles because of your great love. I could sing unending songs of how you saved my soul.

I could dance a thousand miles because of your great love. Everybody sing now. Because we're happy. Everybody's dancing now.

We're coming free. All of you can see your face. See your smile over us.

I'm seeding to celebrate. Come join us in this day. All right, yeah, there's going to be joy.

We're going to be happy because we're free because we are forgiven. Let's go over to Bill in Tennessee. Thanks for calling the line of fire. Hello, Dr. Brown. Hey. I'm sure you remember me.

All right, go ahead, Bill. Yes, I was there at the revival. I thought, I ushered it. I saw people repenting.

I saw them run to the... It did change my life. In fact, I have a piece of the original carpet of people that changed me and my wife, my son.

I remember that. So, Bill, how will you change? What was going on in your life before the revival, and then how did you get changed being in the revival? It changed me, first off, of just a plain walk with Jesus to a more wanting walk with Jesus, to a walk that, a fire that's in my heart that continually grow in it. And I saw that in myself.

I saw that in my wife and my son. And to this day, I still have that same fire. How did it affect your relationship to the Bible, to the Word of God?

What it did, it made me want to learn it more. And I'm able to express it more now because of the 27 years later, in a church that's now just learning about that, I can feel that fire growing inside me that they are still learning now. And, Bill, how old was your son during the revival?

Jeremy was 14, and he, all the way through his 18th birthday, we were there. So how did it affect him? It affected him that he grew, basically wanting more the Lord. He had people walk with the Lord. But it also allowed him to, when he was walking in trouble, as he's done in the recent years with his own walk with Jesus, he wanted to fall back on that and be able to come back to the Lord through those memories, through those times. So he got dramatically touched, and then this often happens in our lives.

You go through trouble, sometimes people stray. Sometimes the work of God was so profound in him, God used it to bring him back. That's something else that happens, especially to young people, touched in revival. And, you know, Bill, having a piece of the carpet, we understand there are no sacred things in this world, but there are a lot of tears shed on that carpet, weren't there? Oh, there were thousands and thousands and thousands of tears. I still relish the YouTube videos that we can see the people coming to that altar all the time. It just sparks that flame again.

You know, it's something that I am so proud and glad to have experienced and maybe be able to experience it again. Yeah. Last thing, Bill. So you were an usher there. You must have seen a lot of people come in, you know, stand online for hours. Maybe they didn't really want to be there.

A family member brought them. But you could tell by body language or by their outward appearance that they were not walking with the Lord. Did you see these people walk out of the building different?

Oh, 100% time. I've seen them just even just doubt walking in what was going to happen and go out there just earning for more of the Lord. I mean, it was just, I mean, just shaking in the Lord. Just that, the very presence of wanting to come back to them the next night and the next night because they didn't know, because they wanted more of the Lord.

They just kept on running to the Lord. Yeah, it's the real deal to be an eyewitness to it. What a privilege. Hey, Bill, blessings to you, your wife and son. Keep the fire burning, man. Thank you, Dr. Brown. We miss you. All right. Hopefully we'll connect again in Tennessee one of these days.

866-348-7884. We used to look out because we were sitting on the platform, the different leaders, and we'd often look out and you'd see somebody in there. I mean, the outward appearance was anything but Christian and the body language was telling you they didn't believe, but they were there.

They were there. And we kind of watched like, what is going to happen to them? What is God going to do in their lives? And then sometimes they'd be the first ones to the altar. And it's not always going to come with an outward emotional display, but so many times they'd be weeping in repentance at the altar. And by the end of the night, they were dramatically touched by God or filled with the Spirit. And maybe three weeks later, they're getting baptized and sharing their testimony. And then a year later, they're in the ministry school. And then maybe three years later, they're on the mission field. I mean, we saw it, friends. We saw it. We just had our 23rd annual missions conference at our home church.

All of that was birthed out of what God did in revival and people on the field all these years later. All right, eight, six, six, three, four, truth. Let's go to Joseph in Visalia, California. Thanks for holding. Welcome to the line of fire. Hello, Dr. Brown.

Hey. I haven't personally been in part of one of those revivals, but the Lord has definitely stirred my spirit to seek it and just be a part of it. And something I've noticed that you've touched on already was about these revivals being advanced. It's not an event, but it's a season. And something I've noticed is all these revivals now, it seems like they're just revival events. And they go to the next one, the next one. So when do you think we're going to see a season of revival, like of old, like the ones that you guys are talking about?

Yeah, I can't put a date on anything. I can only express my hope and desire and expectation. There are pockets where God is moving and things are happening. I mean, churches where people are really getting dramatically saved and it's been going on for months and months, or believers are getting transformed and it's been going on for several years. It's not on the level of Brownsville or some of the other places in the past.

I can just speak more of Brownsville because I was there, I served there for four years in the midst of it and have tracked many of the people now for well over 20 years. But there are places where things are happening. And my hope and expectation is that all over America, there are going to be thousands and thousands of places, churches, home groups, evangelistic outreaches, where God moves dramatically and the fire just keeps falling and it lasts for several years. The key thing is that we have to understand how to nurture it. We have to understand how to disciple the people that are coming to the Lord, how to keep the fire burning and not go to extremes of either quenching the spirit or embracing error. But I'll say this, Joseph, people might say, well, we have everything we need in Jesus.

Yes, we do, but we don't walk in the fullness of it, which is why Jesus tells five of the seven churches in Asia Minor, repent or else, repent or else, because something was missing in their midst. And if you're praying, your kids are away from God. And many in your church are just relationships falling apart, divorce breaking out left and right, people bound by porn.

You're saying, OK, something's missing. Well, just do more Bible study. Yeah, do the Bible study. But the Bible study will drive you to prayer to say, God, we need an outpouring.

God, we need a breakthrough. God, we need a spirit of repentance poured out. That's why revival comes at times of need and desperation.

That's why my book from last October is called Revival. What have we done? I'm going to address this more on the other side of the break, Joseph.

And then Benjamin in New York, you're next. Stay right here. This is how we rise up. It's our resistance.

You can't resist us. This is how we rise up. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on The Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks, friends, for joining us on The Line of Fire. In a future broadcast, I want to lay out a bunch of things that we will need to do as the church to see the full fruits of revival and outpouring. And Joseph, this is just the last thing I wanted to say about revival today. It is really important to steward what God does. Let's say, for example, you're a Christian businessman, right? And the Lord just brings to you some incredible prosperity. You know, you're praying, Lord, we want our business to grow and we want to glorify you and we want to be givers.

And let's say you brought in a million a year in your business, and then suddenly you're bringing in 10 million a year. Well, if you don't steward that well, if you end up just spending it unwisely, or if you end up spending it all on yourself, or if you don't increase your giving and meeting some of the goals you had, Kingdom Goals, that money is probably going to dry up, and you may end up losing your business. But if you show, hey, we used that well, we now expanded that business to new outlets, and now we increased our giving to the poor in our community, or one of our Kingdom Goals to support missionaries working in impoverished areas around the world, whatever it is, then God will pour in more. So when there's a great outpouring, as soon as God allowed me to be involved in the leadership there, my first burden from the Lord was, okay, this has to be stewarded. This has to be harvested so that as God's pouring in, we're sending out labors and we're touching the lost. And that was always Steve Hill's heart from day one. God saves you, now go and share your faith. It was John Kilpatrick's heart. Once you realize what God was doing, he's got to make sure the local church stays healthy.

What's the long-term fruit going to be? We were all burning with this. So that's the challenge, because revival by its nature can be very intense, and outpouring can be really overwhelming. If you've not read some of my revival-related books, Revival or We Die, or From Holy Laughter to Holy Fire, or Revival Answer Book, you're from them really helpful. They're all on our website, AskDrBrown.org. Or just go, get the app, Ask Dr. Brown Ministries, ASK Dear Brown Ministries. Just click on the R for revival. Look at the articles on that, videos on that, messages on that.

Just explore by theme, by topic. Let us be there to enrich you. Let us be there to strengthen you and inspire you, all right? Hey, Joseph, thank you for the call.

Let's go over to Benjamin in New York. Thank you also for holding. Welcome to The Line of Fire. Hey, Dr. Brown, thank you for having me, and peace and blessings to you. Thank you so much for your work. I'm a big fan of your work and your videos and everything you've done thus far. Thank you.

Very great work. Yes. So I just wanted to quickly just share a little bit about what happened to me recently. It was such a powerful, radical change. I wasn't a part of the revival back in the day, but I got saved in December of last year.

Wow. And I worked in the music industry for a long time, and I was in the rap music industry, and I was making music for rappers to rap over. So I was in the devil's den for a long time and surrounded by much evil. And I was living in New York City trying to make it in the industry, right? So I had a tough and hardened heart, trying not to show any fear or anything like that. So I had gotten very hearted.

And I was very ruthless in the business world trying to make it, you know? And so long story short, COVID hits. I had to move out of the city.

I move in with my grandmother to help her out, and I'm living with her. And all of a sudden, on December 18th of last year, everything that I went through in the city over the years of being in the industry came up. All the guilt, all the hurt that I've inflicted on so many with some words came up. And all the sadness and everything just hit me. So I fell to my knees, and I screamed out for God. I screamed out for Jesus to forgive everything that I've done to him, to, you know, to everyone who I hurt.

And the most powerful thing ever happened at that moment. I screamed out. I was crying.

I was truly heartbroken for what I've done in the past. And that night, I prayed, and I prayed to God, Jesus. I said, God, Jesus, I need to know if you're with me.

I need you to prove to me right now you're with me, because I'm at my withstand. And I was crying, blood curdling cried. And I was on my knees next to my bed, and my night table drawer was opened. And I tried, during the stint of crying, I tried to shut the drawer, and I couldn't shut the drawer. So I pulled the drawer out, and I feel in the tracks to see what was jamming in the drawer. And in this right track, there was a wooden cross that was jammed in this track so hard, this tiny little wooden piece of wood.

I ripped it out. It was so mind-blowing. I had it in my hand, and it said Jerusalem on it.

It was like a little wooden olive wood cross that said Jerusalem, that I've never seen before in my life, that no one in my family has ever seen before in their lives. And it was in that very moment that right after I prayed and screamed out for God, and Jesus proved to me that he was with me, that's when he proved to me. And it was so unbelievable. I was sitting there, and that night was the night I got born again. And I didn't even know what happened. I didn't even know, other than every piece of guilt and everything just got washed away from me. And the next day I woke up, and I had this urge to make amends with everyone who I've ever hurt.

I felt like a new person. I said, I'm not angry. I'm not upset. I have no road rage. I'm driving down the street.

People are cutting me off. And I just was in a better way, and I just didn't know what happened. So I'm like, I need to know what's going on. Sorry, I felt the urge to go to church, so I felt the urge to keep learning. And the Bible finally started to jump out at me. And long story short, I figured out that, wow, I think I was born again like that. But I didn't know at first what happened.

Amazing. And that part of the Bible where Paul said 11, I mean 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 7, 10. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation. And that's what happened to me that night. And it was so powerful just to not even know what happened, but just to have the new birth. And then from that moment on, so many things happened miracle-wise. My prayers were being answered in seconds. You know, one night I was moving into a new house that I had taken on.

There was way too much money for rent, but I didn't have anywhere else to go. So I took this on and I asked God, God, please let me know as I'm driving out of my grandmother's with all my stuff one night, 2.30 in the morning. I said, God, please let me know if I'm doing the right thing.

In Jesus' name, amen, because I was a little worried. And I pressed the on button on the radio and on comes Deuteronomy chapter 28 from the beginning. And it was all about blessings.

If you follow the command of the Lord, your God, we bless and this and that. And I was just so mind-blowing. I remember chills up and down my spine. I remember tears just coming out of my eyes like, you know, God's answering me. And a few days before that, I was in my new house and I said, God, how do I repent? I need to know how to repent word for word. I don't trust any other person.

I need you to tell me or teach me directly. And Jesus' name, amen. And I was pulling stuff into my new house and I turned the TV on that was already there that I never touched before yet. And I turned the TV on and there somebody teaching me how to repent word for word on TV. You know, Benjamin, I'm just jumping in because I want to ask you a couple of questions before we're done. But I mean, I am blessed beyond words to hear this. And especially in these early days, sometimes God just goes out of his way to say, I'm near. I'm near. I'm near.

I'm with you. And it was December 17th of 1971. So 50 years before you that the guilt disappeared from my life. And I found that surrender. So 50 years and one day, but we're very close sharing this spiritual transformation day.

Real quick. Wasn't your grandmother praying for you? People were praying for you for that conviction to come upon you? I don't know.

I didn't know anyone in my family at the time that were born again that were truly saved. Really? I'm not sure.

I'm not sure. It was truly just amazing. Just a huge experience that was just so incredible. And there's been I've been able to lay hands and see people healed over 50 times. People are just miraculous. Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus. I got the gift of tongues one night I was speaking. I was praying for the gift of tongues. So I wanted to share this with everyone else who's listening so that they can know that there is revival. But you don't need to go anywhere to get to get the Lord to have the Lord in your life.

You can literally do this at home. But I just wanted to say one night I was praying for the gift of tongues. I was super like I wanted it.

I wanted it. So I was praying a few nights in a row. And all of a sudden this night I began speaking a different language. And I was like, wow. And I was like, even a little bit skeptical. I said, God, am I really speaking a different language?

I remember I had tears and chills when I got the ability to. And then I said something in me said, let's download the Google Translator app and speak into this app to see what language I'm speaking. So I find out that I'm speaking in Arabic.

And I translated my tongue. And some of the prayers I'm reading now were God willing, God willing. Blessings of the network with God. Blessings of prayer on.

I'm going through the screen fast here. Another one. Peace be upon you. God willing.

A great network for me. And as I was praying over and over, I checked it days after like my tongues are able to beat. I figured it out.

Like it's just incredible. So the faith that was being built in me in the beginning was so massive because God was showing up because I was doing the will of the Father. I was doing his will.

I submitted myself and said, I'm going to do a 180 and completely do whatever you want me to do. Benjamin, that's what repentance. That's what repentance is.

And that's the way it has to be. We're going in the wrong direction and Jesus saves us and everything changes. And even if we thought we were going in the right direction with our own religious efforts, if we didn't know God, it starts with repentance. The turnaround. The about face.

The recognition. I was in sin, rebellion. I was away from God. And he's the only savior.

And he, Jesus died for me, not just to bless me so I can go to heaven, but from here on we belong to him and we now live to do the will of God and we're not our own. Hey, Benjamin, stay strong. Stay in the word. I'm sure you're hooked up with local believers, but stay strong.

I bet one day you're going to find that somebody was praying for you and help pray you into the kingdom. And hopefully in New York, one of these days I'll get to meet up with you again or for the first time, get to meet you face to face. Hey, thank you for calling Benjamin and sharing that. Just think of what happens when that's multiplied by hundreds of thousands of times around the country at the same time.

That's what we're talking about with revival. Hey, go to my website. Ask Dr. Brown dot org center for my emails. This way, if I'm preaching in your area, you'll know you'll get a notification. Ask Dr. Brown dot org.