Ready for Awakening
Acts 19:8-20
Revival is when a person, church or Christian institution is lacking spiritual vitality to the point of being spiritually dead or in the throes of spiritual death and God restores spiritual vitality.
A great awakening is a visitation of God on a city, county, region or country that affects the people spiritually causing them to turn to God which changes the societal values and social interaction.
1st Great Awakening: 1730 - 1740
2nd Great Awakening: 1810 - 1840
3rd Great Awakening: 1880 - 1910
4th Great Awakening: 1960 - 1980
1. Awakening and the Word of God
Acts 19:8, (NIV)
Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.
Acts 19:9, (NIV)
But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way.
Acts 19:9, (NIV)
But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
Acts 20:7
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.
2. Awakening and the Supernatural
Acts 19:10-11, (NIV)
This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul,
Acts 19:11, (ESV)
And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,
Acts 19:12, (NIV)
so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
"I sent an anointed handkerchief to my mother, Mrs. J.J. Mason, St Clair, TN. She fell off a porch 15 years ago and a washing machine fell on her, which caused her to be an invalid ever since, as her limbs withered away. As soon as the ‘kerchief’ touch her, she was immediately healed and is praising God for it all. This ‘kerchief’ was then sent to Mrs. P.C. Phillips in Chicago, who had been crippled with rheumatism. She also was instantly healed and is praising God, The days of miracles are certainly not over!
Signs & Wonders, Maria Woodworth-Etter, p.435
A woman came to me in the city of Liverpool an said, “My husband is a drunkard and every night comes into the home under the influence of alcohol. Won’t you join me in prayer for him?”
I asked the woman, “Do you have a handkerchief?” She took out a handkerchief, and I prayed for it and told her to lay it on the pillow of the drunken man.
The next morning the man got up and, going to the first saloon that he had to pass on his way to work, ordered some beer. He tasted it and said the bartender, “You put some poison in this beer.” He could not drink it and went to the next saloon and ordered some more beer. He tasted it and said, “You put some poison in this beer. I believe you folks have plotted to poison me.” He went to another saloon, and the same thing happened as in the two previous saloons. That evening he went to another saloon to get some beer, and again he thought the bartender was trying to poison him, he made such a disturbance that he was thrown out. He went to his home and told his wife what had happened to him.
His wife said, “Can’t you see the hand of the Lord in this, that He is making you dislike the stuff that has been your ruin?” This word brought conviction to the man’s heart, and he came to the meeting and got saved.
Greater Works: Experiencing God’s Power, Smith Wigglesworth
Acts 19:13, (NIV)
Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out."
Is it (casting demons) dangerous? Yes. Is it forbidden? No - but it definitely is not for the average Christian. It should be the domain of those invited by the Holy Spirit, who are living in holiness, and whose faith for the battle is supplied by the Holy Spirit.
The Biblical Guidebook to Deliverance, Dr. Randy Clark, p.249
Acts 19:14-16, (NIV)
Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. [One day] the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
Luke 11:24, (NIV)
"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.'
3. Awakening and Repentance
Acts 19:17, (NIV)
When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.
Displays of the power of God continued to increase until we closed the meetings which lasted about five weeks. The power of the Lord, like the wind, swept all over the city, up one street and down another, sweeping through the places of business, the workshops, saloons, and dives, arresting sinners of all classes. The Scriptures were fulfilled, “The wicked flee when no man purseth” (Prov. 28:1). The fear of God fell upon the city. The police said they never saw such a change, that they had nothing to do. They said they made no arrests and that the power of God seemed to preserve the city. A spirit of love rested all over the city. There was no fighting, swearing in the streets; the people moved softly, and there seemed to be a spirit of love and kindness among all classes, as if they felt they were in the presence of God.
~Signs & Wonders, Maria Woodworth-Etter, p.52
In 1739 arriv’d among us from England the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, who had made himself remarkable there as an itinerant Preacher. He was at first permitted to preach in some of our Churches; but the Clergy taking a Dislike to him, soon refus’d him their Pulpits and he was oblig’d to preach in the Fields. It was wonderful to see the Change soon made in the Manners [behavior] of our Inhabitants; from being thoughtless or indifferent about Religion, it seem’d as if all the World were growing Religious; so that one could not walk thro’ the Town in an Evening without Hearing Psalms sung in different Families of every Street.
Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography: An Authoritative Text, eds. J. A. Leo Lemay & P. M. Zall (W. W. Norton & Co., 1986)
Acts 19:18-19, (NIV)
Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas.
The scrolls that were burned may have contained the famous ‘Ephesian letters’ [fetishes], with their words of power for warding off demons, and ‘the sort of material preserved in the magical papyri such as incantations, hymns and prayers’
David G. Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 541
The phrase “Ephesian writings” was commonly used in antiquity for documents containing spells and formulae to be placed in small cylinders or lockets worn around the neck or elsewhere about the person.
Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free, F.F. Bruce p.229
Acts 19:20, (NIV)
In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
