Acts 2:17-21, “17 'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy,your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. 18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Heroes of the Faith
God called His True Church to be a force in each and every generation and revival by the Holy Spirit is what He uses to bring to His Church back from sin and compromise to His original design. Jesus always intended His Bride to be pure, white, spotless, fully possessed with power and love, Revelation 3:4,16-18. God will not let the Church be changed by the world, but rather every time the world infiltrates His Church He will rise up a standard against it, defeat, cast it out, and send it back to the depths of hell from which it came.
Isaiah 59:19b, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.”
When the Roman Catholic Church tried to suppress the truth with their devilish doctrines the Holy Spirit raised up a new generation of radical disciples to bring the truth into the light. And as a result from the Great Reformation the Church has continued, is continuing, and will continue onwards in the power and glory of Christ her King!
And as you have learned in a previous chapter about the “life cycles” of spiritual zeal you will now see the torch of the anointing passed on through every death of one movement to the life and birth of the next. For as those in the trail of Great Reformation became stagnant, God rose up the Puritans, and as they became dry God sent a Great Awakening through Jonathon Edwards, and so forth.
Remember, it is not the will of God for His Church to change, nor for His methods to be modernized, or His doctrines to be made “less strict”, but it is the people who change and as a consequence when a church or movement becomes comfortable and doesn’t grow and stay on fire, God simply moves the flame of the Holy Spirit to another group of people who are hungry for the genuine classic move of God.
Therefore, the doctrines, method, and purpose of the True Church always remain the same in every generation. First, the doctrines do not change, meaning everything the first Church on the Day of Pentecost believed, the church in every age must believe and teach. Second, the methods do not change, God commands disciples to preach, pray, and live holy just like the early church did because as Jesus lived every Christian and true disciple must live. And lastly, the purpose of God doesn’t change for His Church, God must and will always have a Church that heals the sick, casts out devils, raises the dead, and changes the world, there are not two or three different kinds of churches, there is just one Church- the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ! All these things must and will remain in Christ’s Church and therefore the True Church continues to advance against the gates of hell crushing every obstacle it faces in every generation!
Please consider Jesus’ Words when reading the following timeline and historical accounts of the men He used to keep the flames of revival burning in every generation.
Matthew 16:18-19, “18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Timeline from 1500’s to the Present
1560-1700’s Puritans were reformers from England that broke away from the Church of England and started their own brand of Protestantism in America, they were also known as the Pilgrims
1730-1750’s Jonathan Edwards, the catalyst of the First Great Awakening, was an American missionary to the Native American who preached a message called, “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God” and sparked a revival that changed the church of his day.
1760-Present John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Movement, was a great preacher from England that came to preach and plant churches all across America, he was best known for his successful methods of evangelism and discipleship.
1906-Present William Seymour, the pioneer of the Pentecostal Movement, was an African American preacher that received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues and then was powerfully used to bring the power of God back to the church throughout the world.
The Puritans | 1560-1700’s
The Puritans were a group of English reformers that felt that the Church of England needed to be reformed just as the Roman Catholic Church did and those working to reform the church were not going fast enough and far enough in the change they desired. As a result men such as William Fulke, John Foxe (writer of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs), and William Perkins began to break away from the Church of England and develop their own sect that became known as the Puritans because they desired to be pure in their worship for God.
In 1620 many of these Puritans traveled to America and settled in the New England, Boston, and Massachusetts area. These settlers became known as Pilgrims because they traveled a long way on a spiritual journey to find spiritual rest. The desire of the Puritans was to establish both a church and governmental order that was derived directly from the Bible. The majority of the governing laws for their colonies came directly from the Old Testament, even the upholding of the death penalty for moral sins such as homosexuality and witchcraft.
The Massachusetts Body of Liberties made in 1641 Section 94. Capital Laws.
1. (Deut. 13. 6, 10. Deut. 17. 2, 6. Ex. 22.20) If any man after legall conviction shall have or worship any other god, but the lord god, he shall be put to death.
2. (Ex. 22. 18. Lev. 20. 27. Dut. 18. 10.) If any man or woeman be a witch, (that is hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit,) They shall be put to death.
3. (Lev. 24. 15,16.) If any person shall Blaspheme the name of god, the father, Sonne or Holie Ghost, with direct, expresse, presumptuous or high handed blasphemie, or shall curse god in the like manner, he shall be put to death.
4. (Ex. 21. 12. Numb. 35. 13, 14, 30, 31.) If any person committ any wilfull murther, which is manslaughter, committed upon premeditated malice, hatred, or Crueltie, not in a mans necessarie and just defence, nor by meere casualtie against his will, he shall be put to death.
5. (Numb. 25, 20, 21. Lev. 24. 17) If any person slayeth an other suddaienly in his anger or Crueltie of passion, he shall be put to death.
6. (Ex. 21. 14.) If any person shall slay an other through guile, either by poysoning or other such divelish practice, he shall be put to death.
7. (Lev. 20. 15,16.) If any man or woeman shall lye with any beaste or bruite creature by Carnall Copulation, They shall surely be put to death. And the beast shall be slaine, and buried and not eaten.
8. (Lev. 20. 13.) If any man lyeth with mankinde as he lyeth with a woeman, both of them have committed abhomination, they both shall surely be put to death.
The Puritans great contributions to the Christian Church was their desire for purity, their strong preaching against sin, their belief in a experiential salvation, uncompromising nature towards corruption in the church and their strong desire for higher learning in Christianity- both Harvard and Yale were Puritan Universities. However, their major setbacks were that they were very strongly rooted in Calvinism, they did not get along well with those who disagreed with them both religiously and governmentally, and they lacked openness to the new things God was still doing in other reformation movements such as the Baptists.
Modern day churches that were heavily influenced by the Puritans include Presbyterian, Reformed, and Congregational churches. Today we can remember these great men and their revival for their heart for God and his truth.
Quotes From Famous Puritan Writers
"Sin in a wicked man is like poison in a serpent; it is in its natural place," Thomas Brooks.
"The Christian's life should put his minister's sermon in print," William Gurnall.
"He who prays as he ought will endeavour to live as he prays,” John Owen.
"A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more," John Owen.
"Faith, without trouble or fighting, is a suspicious faith; for true faith is a fighting, wrestling faith,” Ralph Erskine.
Resources on Puritanism
1. “Visible Saints: The History of A Puritan Idea,” by Edmund S. Morgan.
Jonathan Edwards and the First Great Awakening | 1730-1750’s
Jonathan Edwards was an American preacher and Biblical scholar that had gone to Yale in a time when the power of God was needed again in the Church. The Puritan churches of his day were becoming very cold and legalistic and some reformers in the States started to return to the Church of England, known as the Episcopal Church in America, out of compromise and vain ambition.
During this time Jonathon Edwards began to take a strong stance on the righteousness of God and just damnation of sinners. Edwards believed in a strong message empowered by the Holy Spirit to awaken the stone cold hearts of sinners. And like the Puritans before him Edwards was a traditional Calvinist that believed God decided in eternity past who would be saved and who would be damned. This type of doctrine mixed with boldness and passion led to some of the strongest messages against sin that America has ever seen.
One message entitled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” was such a strong message that in the hands of God it caused a revival in America and across Europe called, “The Great Awakening”. The Great Awakening first started in the churches Edwards would preach his “fire and brimstone” messages and then it began to spread to the other ministers and their congregations.
This move of the Holy Spirit was called an awakening because it awoke the church to the fact that unless sinners were born again they would suffer eternity in hell. Messages like these were very important to the transformation of America because countless people in Protestantism had become content just being a member in their church and believing in certain doctrines. This false hope of salvation, based on good works, was crushed and smashed into pieces when Edwards would preach his messages under the power and conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, many thousands of people were saved and many pastors were inspired by his example to start preaching the Gospel message of Jesus with boldness and authority. Many times in his meetings people would fall to their knees while he was still preaching and they would begin wailing and crying out to God for mercy. Often times people would faint or go into trance like states because they would be moved upon very powerfully by the Holy Spirit. Here are just a few quotes from his message “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,”
“All wicked men's pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell, while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from hell one moment. Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do. Every one lays out matters in his own mind how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself, and that his schemes will not fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell; but each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have done. He does not intend to come to that place of torment; he says within himself, that he intends to take effectual care, and to order matters so for himself as not to fail.”
“The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all you that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God.
However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction. However unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it. Those that are gone from being in the like circumstances with you, see that it was so with them; for destruction came suddenly upon most of them; when they expected nothing of it, and while they were saying, Peace and safety: now they see, that those things on which they depended for peace and safety, were nothing but thin air and empty shadows.”
One can easily see from the excerpts from Edwards preaching that sinners had “no where to run and no where to hide.” His preaching was like that of John the Baptist who called men everywhere to repent. And not only to repent with remorse, but also to repent and bring forth good fruits that are the evidence of a soul’s true transformation in Christ. Edwards was a great scholar and anointed preacher that used both the academics of the Word of God and the prompting of the Holy Spirit to bring a Great Revival and a Great Awakening to his generation.
Some of the negative consequences of this movement were that some preachers trying to imitate Edward’s fierce hatred towards sin began to preach messages that came from the wrath of men and not the compassion of God and as a result the move of the Spirit was grieved and the revival began to loose its momentum. Also, because Edwards believed that God arbitrarily chose who would be saved and who would be damned, many people began to bring reproach against God say that if God already knows who He is going to save and those He is going to damn forever, than everyone can do as they please and if they are chosen to be saved, than they will be saved no matter what they do and if they are predestined to be damned, than no matter what they do they will be damned forever.
Today Edward’s influence can be seen in numerous Reformed churches that carry on the Calvinist tradition. Also, many contemporary preachers such as John MacArthur, James White, and John Piper follow his example of preaching God’s call to mankind to find greatness in God’s glory through Jesus Christ. And surprisingly because of his great love for the lost and spiritual manifestations in the his meetings multitudes of modern day Pentecostals look to him as an example of great man of God who neither compromised or complicated the Gospel of Jesus Christ but rather preached it with compassion and great concern for lost sinners sentenced to hell for eternity.
Powerful Quotes from Jonathan Edwards
“Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.”
“The way to Heaven is ascending; we must be content to travel uphill, though it be hard and tiresome, and contrary to the natural bias of our flesh.”
"Can the believing husband in Heaven be happy with his unbelieving wife in Hell? Can the believing father in Heaven be happy with his unbelieving children in Hell? Can the loving wife in Heaven be happy with her unbelieving husband in Hell? I tell you, yea! Such will be their sense of justice that it will increase rather than diminish their bliss."
“The happiness of the creature consists in rejoicing in God, by which also God is magnified and exalted.”
Resources for Jonathan Edwards
1. Online sermons and books by Edwards, here.
2. Video reenactment of the famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God," here.
John Wesley and the Methodist | 1760’s-Present
John Wesley was a powerful evangelist and great disciple maker from England. Though he did not preach much in the US his disciples and revival movement known as “Methodism” had a tremendous impact on the church in America. John Wesley while a student at Oxford, along with his brother Charles Wesley and close friend George Whitefield, started a small Bible study called the “holy club.”
To join the “holy club” one had to agree to all the requirements such as praying and fasting regularly, rigorous Bible study, personal holiness, and group accountability. What started as a small discipleship group soon turned into a world wide revival. The major turning point in the Methodist didn't happen until they started having outdoor meetings. George Whitefield convinced John Welsey to preach outdoors because the strict form of religion in their day was not penetrating the hearts of the people. Thus, Whitefield and John Wesley started taking their message out in the fields, town squares, in front of the coal mines, and wherever else they could find people to listen to them.
Wesley, unlike Whitefield, was deeply committed to the discipleship of those who got saved in their meetings and thus developed detailed “methods” to keep track of them to grow the churches that began to develop. By the end of Wesley’s life he had traveled over 250,000 miles on horse back, preached over 40,000 sermons, made over 135,000 disciples, and ordained 541 itinerant preachers.
After Wesley died in 1791 the Methodist leaders he appointed in the US began to grow and exploded all across the newly formed states. The Methodist preachers were known to be young and filled with great passion. Because they traveled everywhere to preach they were called, “circuit preachers,” who like their founder, would ride their horses all over the US to preach in outdoor camp meetings and establish new churches with strong methods of discipleship.
As a result, the Methodist movement was a key revival used by God for over one hundred years in both the First and Second Great Awakenings in the US from 1740-1840. These great awakenings brought hundreds of thousands of new believers to the Lord and also help develop what is now known today as the “Bible Belt.” In turn, many modern evangelical groups, especially the Pentecostals and Charismatics, find their roots in early Methodism.
Much has been written and preserved concerning the hymns, sermons, books, and theology of John Wesley and the Methodists; however, I would like to emphasis their work in making disciples by sharing their basic organizational structure. By these structures and the Spirit-led wisdom of John Wesley they were able to keep every disciple accountable and growing in their faith- thus growing and building the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Methodist Discipleship and Church Structure
Methodist Conference | The whole of Methodism in its entirety, including all countries and their “Connexions.”
Connexion | The whole of Methodism within a country under the authority of the Conference.
District | In Britain for example, typically from one to 3 counties in extent, grouping together from 10 to 50 Circuits. As at 2008, there are 32 Districts in Great Britain, with about 630 Circuits, averaging about 20 Circuits in each.
Circuit | A grouping of 2 or more Societies, under a Superintendent Minister and with other Ministers according to the number of members. Circuits are usually named after town or village of the society that is the "Head of Circuit," or after the general area, for example a river valley. As at 2008, there are about 5,900 individual Churches, averaging just over 9 per Circuit.
Society | The local Church in modern Methodism, originally the group of people who met for Methodist fellowship.
Class | A group of Methodists, normally about 12, under a Class Leader.
Member of Society | The individual Christian who joined a Methodist society.
Quotes
“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”
“I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn.”
“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.”
Resources for John Wesley and the Methodist Movement
1. John Wesley's sermons online, here.
2. "Recapturing the Wesley's Vision," by Paul Wesley Chilcote.
2. "Recapturing the Wesley's Vision," by Paul Wesley Chilcote.
William Seymour and the Pentecostal Movement | 1906-Present
William Seymour was a very humble and godly African American man that God used to bring forth the greatest revival since the day of Pentecost. William was a young pastor who lived in Houston when he first heard about the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues from a traveling evangelist named Charles Parham. He soon went to study further under Charles Parham, who had just opened up a Bible college in the area, with the emphasis on spiritual gifts. However, due to racism he was not given the same rights as the other students and eventually stop attending.
Not long afterward he went to Los Angeles to pastor a small Holiness church meeting in a house on Bonnie Brae Street. It was there that he and the small numbers of believers with him were baptized in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Once they were filled with the Holy Ghost, signs and wonders began to follow in the services. Soon the house wasn't big enough for all the people wanting to come and receive the fresh outpouring.
He then rented an old horse stable on Azusa Street and began having prayer meetings/services everyday. The services didn't have a service order, a choir, or even a set speaker. Brother Seymour most of time could be seen with his head buried in an old shoebox waiting on the Lord in prayer because he always believed the Holy Spirit's order was to be sought after and followed. Spontaneous singing in the Spirit was common, healing miracles happened all the time, and people were sent out as they were on the day of Pentecost to be soul winners all over the world after they received the same filling of the Spirit.
Also, because Willaim Seymour was a kind and loving African American man filled with the compassion of Jesus, God used him to tear down the racial barriers that were prevalent in the church at the time, as well as in the culture. White, Black, Latino, Italian, Irish, Swedish believers- and from all the nations of the world could be seen worshipping together in the Spirit. Many people in the same time period, both religious and non-religious, could not believe all the unity among the races and sexes that was present- it was nothing short of a miracle.
Also, because Willaim Seymour was a kind and loving African American man filled with the compassion of Jesus, God used him to tear down the racial barriers that were prevalent in the church at the time, as well as in the culture. White, Black, Latino, Italian, Irish, Swedish believers- and from all the nations of the world could be seen worshipping together in the Spirit. Many people in the same time period, both religious and non-religious, could not believe all the unity among the races and sexes that was present- it was nothing short of a miracle.
From that little horse stable on Azusa Street dozens of new denominations started- all with one thing in common- to be filled with the same Holy Ghost and fire as the first disciples were. Such groups as the Assembly of God, Church of God, and the Church of God in Christ all had their start by what God did in theirs lives under the leadership of Seymour.
Now today, the “Spirit-filled Movement,” has over 500 million members world wide. It is the fastest growing major religion in the world and grows 8x faster than the rate of birth. Today, such countries as China, Brazil, India, and South Korea have the largest numbers of Spirit-filled believers, some with churches numbering over 500,000 members!
Stories From the Azusa Street Revival
"No instruments of music are used. None are needed. No choir- the angels have been heard by some in the spirit. No collections are taken. No bills have been posted to advertise the meetings. No church organization is back of it. All who are in touch with God realize as soon as they enter the meetings that the Holy Ghost is the leader."
"Meetings are held in a tumble-down shack on Azusa Street, and the devotees of the weird doctrine practice the most fanatical rites, preach the wildest theories and work themselves into a state of mad excitement in their peculiar zeal. Colored people and a sprinkling of whites compose the congregation, and night is made hideous in the neighborhood by the howlings of the worshippers, who spend hours swaying forth and back in a nerve racking attitude of prayer and supplication. They claim to have the "gift of tongues" and be able to understand the babel."
"There was no organized choir. Oh, but when the people started to sing it was like we were singing with angels.”
"Then the presence of God would waft into the room and when the presence of God hit -- It was not man orchestrated. All throughout the room different people were touched in different ways -- but all at the same time.”
"There were times that the fire department came out- because outside observers reported flames on the roof! 'There was not a fire!' It was just God’s glory on the building!"
"I could feel the power going through me like electric needles. The Spirit taught me that I must not resist the power but give way and become limp as a piece of cloth. When I did this, I fell under the power, and God began to mold me and teach me what it meant to be really surrendered to Him. I was laid out under the power five times before Pentecost really came. Each time I would come out from under the power, I would feel so sweet and clean, as though I had been run through a washing machine. . . . My arms began to tremble, and soon I was shaken violently by a great power, and it seemed as though a large pipe was fitted over my neck, my head apparently being off. . . . About thirty hours afterwards, while sitting in the meeting on Azusa Street, I felt my throat and tongue begin to move, without any effort on my part. Soon I began to stutter and then out came a distinct language which I could hardly restrain. I talked and laughed with joy far into the night."
Quotes from William Seymour
"There are many wells today, but they are dry. There are many hungry souls today that are empty. But let us come to Jesus and take Him at His Word and we will find wells of salvation, and be able to draw waters out of the well of salvation, for Jesus is that well."
"The Pentecostal power, when you sum it all up, is just more of God's love. If it does not bring more love, it is simply a counterfeit."
"I can say, through the power of the Spirit, that wherever God can get a people that will come together in one accord and one mind in the Word of God, the baptism of the Holy Ghost will fall upon them, like as at Cornelius' house."
"So many today are worshiping in the mountains, big churches, stone and frame buildings. But Jesus teaches that salvation is not in these stone structures--not in the mountains--not in the hills, but in God."
Resources For William Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival
1. Online video of the Azusa Street Revival, here.
2. "The Century of the Holy Spirit," by Vinson Synan.
Reflection
1. What leader and time period do you get the most inspired by? Why?
2. Describe the "pro's and con's" of the Puritans concerning their view of "religion and politics."
3. Do you think most pastors today would preach a sermon like "Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God?" Explain your answer.
4. What can you learn from the Methodist movement in regards to discipleship?
5. Do you believe what William Seymour and the other Pentecostals taught in regards to the "baptism of the Holy Spirit?"
