Watchman Radio Hour

David Schult: Welcome to the Watchman Radio Hour. Coming to you from Portland, Oregon, here in the beautiful Northwest. This is David Schult, your announcer. The Watchman Radio Hour is a production of Watchman Radio Ministries International, an evangelistic ministry reaching out to the peoples of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now here is our speaker, Alex Dodson, to bring you this week's message from God's word.

Alex Dodson: For our scripture reading today, let us turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, and we begin reading in verse 1. Paul, Silas, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you. We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Brothers loved by God, we know that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the Bible that you've given to us. We thank you that it's your infallible word and that we can put our full confidence in everything that it says. And now, oh Father, as we come to study your word, we pray that you will send forth your Holy Spirit in great convicting power. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Is there a dearth of powerful preaching in the land today? It seems that we are in a great drought. The powerful preaching of the word of God once heard in our churches is lacking. There are some notable exceptions, but for the most part, the powerful preaching of the word of God once heard in this land is no longer. Instead, the powerful preaching of the word of God has been replaced with nice PowerPoint presentations in many evangelical churches.

Instead of the voice of the preacher thundering forth with powerful preaching, nice lectures and talks have taken its place. In times past, the congregation focused on the preacher and hung on his every word as they heard the word of God proclaimed. Now we look at the PowerPoint presentation on the screen. Instead of opening our Bibles, we sit there with our eyes glued to the screen to see what will come next. We no longer pay much attention to the preacher because we are too busy looking at the PowerPoint presentation.

Now, this may seem exaggerated, but in many churches today, this comes close to being the case. Strong congregational singing has been replaced by the performance of the worship team using state-of-the-art, expensive audio equipment that many times drowns out any congregational singing that might be there. Where is the powerful preaching of the word of God today? Where is the lively congregational singing of the past? I'm afraid these things are fading away and have been replaced with a poor substitute.

There is a dearth in the land, and it's getting worse by the day. Has God taken the powerful preaching of the word of God away from us for a purpose? Is he not bringing judgment upon us for our great sins? Will this drought ever end? Will the powerful preaching of the word of God one day return, and will congregations start singing again under the powerful influence of the Holy Spirit? What we need today in this land is a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will cover the nation and bring it to its knees.

When Paul preached, he saw the power of the Holy Spirit at work. His preaching came like dynamite, and people knew it and were changed forever. Our text today is 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verses 4 and 5, which I'll read again, where it says, "Brothers loved by God, we know that he has chosen you because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction."

Today, there is a need for the powerful preaching of the gospel. When Paul preached, people responded with great conviction. He knew the Lord was at work among them. He could see the results and he was assured of their election of God. Today, we need that deep conviction that came upon Paul's congregations as he preached. Today, we've gotten so caught up in our electronic gadgets that they have invaded the churches and replaced the powerful preaching of the word that once occurred in our churches.

George Whitefield preached to thousands of people without any electronic equipment, and thousands were moved and came in droves to Christ. Now, that's not to say there's not a place for electronic equipment, but today we have allowed our electronic gadgets to take the place of a power that was once among us, the powerful preaching of the word of God. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to sweep the land and bring us back to the God of our forefathers. The greatest need of our nation today is not a better economy, more electronic gadgets, or more fancy automobiles. The greatest need of our country today is a national spiritual revival.

There's a dearth of the word of God among us in the land, and that drought is growing worse and worse. We have so secularized the nation that we don't want the word of God to be heard. It seems God is judging us for it. The powerful voice of God needs to be heard in the public sector. When the nation sins, it needs to know about it. Pray that we will not silence the word of God in this land anymore than we already have and pray for revival.

Now, let us see in the first place that the gospel came in power. Verse 5 says, "Because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction." It came in the power of the Holy Spirit. It came like dynamite. That's the actual word here, the root word here for dynamite, dunamis. Power. It was the dunamis of God. John Calvin writes, "It was no bare preaching that had been brought to them, but preaching conjoined to the power of the Holy Spirit so that it might obtain full credit among them."

He goes on to write, "When he says in power and in the Holy Ghost, he means, in my opinion, in the power of the Holy Ghost so that the latter term is added in explanation of the former. Assurance, which he puts third, was either in the object of their assurance or in the attitude of the Thessalonians. I am inclined to think that the meaning is rather that Paul's gospel had been confirmed by substantial proofs as if God had shown from heaven that he had ratified their calling. When, however, Paul brings forward the proofs by which he had been informed that the calling of the Thessalonians was holy of God, he takes occasion at the same time to commend his ministry so that they themselves might also recognize him and his colleagues as having been raised up by God."

William Hendrickson writes, "There was spiritual dynamite in the message, enough dynamite to demolish the idol gods." Leon Morris writes, "The power is associated with the Holy Spirit. There is no evil power deluding men with false promises. It's the Holy Spirit of God leading them into the salvation God has prepared for them." Matthew Henry writes, "That the gospel came to them also not in word only, but in power. They not only heard the sound of it, but submitted to the power of it. It did not merely tickle the ear and please the fancy, not merely fill their heads with notions and amuse their minds for a while, but it affected their hearts. A divine power went along with it for convincing their consciences and amending their lives."

He goes on to write, "It came in the Holy Ghost, that is, with the powerful energy of the divine spirit. Note, wherever the gospel comes in power, it is to be attributed to the operation of the Holy Ghost. And unless the Spirit of God accompany the word of God to render it effectual by his power, it will be to us but as a dead letter, and the letter killeth. It is the Spirit that giveth life." When the word of God comes in power, it is always accompanied by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit becomes the chariot by which the word of God rides into our hearts. When Paul preached, he preached with power. May that power come back to preaching today.

And then it produced deep conviction. When the people heard the word of God, they were struck down by it and deeply convicted in their hearts. Leon Morris writes, "Assurance is not some human device whereby men persuade themselves. Rather, it is the result of the activity of the Holy Spirit working within believers." In John 16:8, in talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus says, "When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment." The Lord sends forth the Holy Spirit with the word to produce conviction in our hearts.

Again, Matthew Henry writes, "The gospel came to them in much assurance. Thus did they entertain it by the power of the Holy Ghost. They were fully convinced of the truth of it so as not to be easily shaken in mind by objections and doubts. They were willing to leave all for Christ and venture their souls in everlasting condition upon the verity of the gospel revelation. The word was not to them like the sentiments of some philosophers about matters of opinion and doubtful speculation, but the object of their faith and assurance." One of the greatest deficiencies of our present time is the lack of conviction of sin.

When the Holy Spirit comes in power, he convicts people of sin. That's what happened in the great revivals of the past. We can know that we're not in a time of revival because there's very little conviction of sin. When revival does come, people will mourn over their sins because of the great conviction that the Holy Spirit will bring to their hearts.

Now, let us see in the second place the powerful preaching of the past. There have been great revivals in this nation in the past. We are living in a time of spiritual decline, but there have been great revivals in this nation in times past. There was the First Great Awakening that occurred in the middle 1700s. The First Great Awakening happened in America in the 1730s and '40s under the preaching of men like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.

The power of the Holy Spirit was very evident throughout the nation as people heard the powerful preaching of the word and came under deep conviction of sin. Halladay and Gregory, in their book on the Baptisms of Fire in the American Church, record the testimony of the revival in Philadelphia during the First Great Awakening. They write, "The effect produced in Philadelphia at this time by the preaching of Mr. Whitefield was truly astonishing. Numbers of almost all religious denominations and many who had no connection with any denominations were brought to inquire with the utmost earnestness what they should do to be saved."

"Such was the earnestness of the multitude to listen to spiritual instruction that there was public worship regularly twice a day for a year, and on the Lord's Day was celebrated generally three and frequently four times. An aged man deeply interested in the scenes which were then witnessed has informed the writer that the city, not then probably a third as large as it is now, contained 26 societies for social prayer and religious conferences, and probably there were others not known to him."

Whitefield in Philadelphia preached frequently after night from the gallery of the courthouse in Market Street. So loud was his voice at that time that it was distinctly heard in the Jersey shore, and so distinct was his speech that every word said was understood on board of a shallop at Market Street wharf, a distance of upward of 400 feet from the courthouse. All the intermediate space was crowded with his hearers. This fact was communicated to the recorder of it by gentlemen lately deceased who was in the shallop.

He preached in this way all across the colonies to Savannah, which he reached by canoe from Charleston on January the 11th, 1740. In the early spring, he turned his face northward and entered upon what was perhaps the greatest of all his preaching tours in America. He visited Rhode Island and Massachusetts, preaching frequently to great audiences on Boston Common to 15,000, of which service he says, "Oh, how the word did run. It rejoiced me to see such numbers greatly affected so that some of them, I believe, could scarcely abstain from crying out that the place was none other than the house of God and the gate of heaven."

And when he went to his lodgings, many followed weeping exceedingly, crying out under the word like persons that were hungering and thirsting after righteousness. At Salem, he preached to some 7,000 where the Lord manifested his power and glory, and in every part of the throng persons might be seen in great concern. At Ipswich and Newbury were large congregations, and at the latter place especially, the Lord poured out the Spirit copiously. The house was very large and many ministers were present, and the people were deeply moved. And so it went all over the colonies which was then America. Nothing like this is happening today. That's why we can know that we're not in a time of revival, but a time of spiritual decline. And yet, God is able to visit us again with a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit and we pray that he will.

In the early part of the 19th century, there occurred in America what has come to be known as the Second Great Awakening. It was a national revival and lasted for up to 50 years. In commenting on the Second Great Awakening, Halladay and Gregory write, "The second era of revivals in this country dates from about 1797. Among the honored leaders in the earlier phase of the movement were Dr. Edward Dorr Griffin and President Dwight associated with such men as the elder Mills. In its later phase, in what may be called the supplement to the revival of 1797, the revivalist Nettleton and Finney were prominent."

"It has been said that the great saving truth that animated the revival movement in the middle of the 18th century was deliverance from sin and hell by faith in a sacrificed redeemer, and the great truth that animated the Second Great Awakening was the cordial recognition of God as a wise, holy, blessed, but absolute sovereign."

Halladay and Gregory also record what happened in Lee, Massachusetts, during the Second Great Awakening, which was an example of what was happening all over the country. In 1813, soon after a distressing and mortal sickness which swept off many of the inhabitants, God came to us in mercy again. We enjoyed another little harvest of souls, 22 persons were added to the church. The next seven years, the same weekly meetings were kept up, but nothing which could be called a revival occurred. Yet there were many isolated cases of conversion.

The Sabbath services were largely attended, and so were all the meetings through the week. During this period, 76 were received into the church, 52 from the world and 24 by letter. In the summer of 1821, there was an evident increase of solemnity in the church and congregation, and some were known to be anxious. This continued for several weeks under the ordinary means of grace. The church often assembled together for prayer. In the month of August, a day of fasting and prayer was observed. The meeting house was well filled, and the solemnity pervaded the congregation.

At this time, we began to hear from one and another in new language the sound of abundant rain. At this interesting crisis, the Reverend Asahel Nettleton spent a few days with us. He preached five sermons to overflowing assemblies, and his labors were remarkably blessed. The Spirit of God came down like a rushing mighty wind.

Iain Murray in his book on revival writes, "The decline of Christian influence before a revival has sometimes been exaggerated in order to emphasize the scale of the subsequent transformation. The Second Great Awakening in America requires no such distortion of history to justify its title. By an assessment, an extraordinary period of Christian history began around the beginning of the new century. Voltaire is said to have claimed that by the early 19th century, the Bible would have passed into the limbo of forgotten literature, but instead, by 1816, many Americans considered themselves to be living in the age of Bibles and missionaries."

The annual report for 1816 of the Fairfield County Bible Society in Connecticut went on to say, "The atheism of Voltaire and his associates has gone down almost with their dust to the ground. The blasphemies of Paine are remembered only to be abhorred." Murray goes on to write, "The speed and extent with which Christian churches were revitalized and multiplied at the beginning of the 19th century constitutes the era before us as the most important in the whole period under consideration in these pages. More than that, the Second Great Awakening has to be one of the most significant turning points in church history."

"One of the most remarkable and extensive revivals ever known has passed over this people," Reed and Matheson wrote in 1835. Similarly, the Biblical Repository and Theological Review, a journal not known for exaggeration, believed that it had pleased God to make America the theater of the most glorious revivals that the world has ever witnessed.

Can such revivals happen in America again? The answer is yes. We believe that God is able to send revivals to America again and we pray that he will. Now, let us see in the third place the great need for powerful preaching today. There's a dearth in the land. Today there's a drought in America, a severe drought, and it's the drought of the powerful preaching of the word of God. Such preaching that took place in the times of the First and Second Great Awakenings in America is unknown today. Instead, we have neat PowerPoint presentations and nice lectures in our churches, but where is the voice of God?

John Calvin writes, "Some take the word 'power' to mean miracles. I extend the word to apply to the spiritual power of doctrine or teaching. As in the first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul contrast it with speech. It is the living voice of God inseparable from its effect as compared with the empty and lifeless eloquence of men." Today, we need the power of God to come back to preaching. We need men anointed by the Spirit of God bringing messages to us direct from the throne, messages of power to wake us up from our sleep and bring us to deep conviction. Where is the powerful preaching of the word today? Let us pray for the return of the voice of God to America in the powerful preaching of his servants.

There's a great need for revival today. We need a great spiritual revival to cover the land. We need a return of the powerful preaching of the word of God. Nice lectures and PowerPoint presentations aren't enough. We need great preaching to return to our pulpits. God used the powerful preaching of men like George Whitefield and Asahel Nettleton in times past to bring his message to America. May he raise up men of our day who will preach the word of God with power and boldness and much conviction. When revival comes, so will blessing return to the nation. Now we live in a time of great fear, but when revival comes, so will peace come to us once again.

In Isaiah 32, in verse 13, it says, "Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers. Yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city. The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted, citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high and the desert becomes a fertile field and the fertile field seems like a forest. Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile land. The fruit of righteousness will be peace, the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. Though hail flattens the forest and the city is leveled completely, how blessed you will be sowing your seed by every stream and letting your oxen and donkeys range free."

Let us not rest till the Spirit is poured forth upon us from on high and the Lord sends a great revival to this nation. Let us not cease to pray till we see people mourning over their sins all over the country and people on their knees before God. Let us not rest till we see righteousness fall down from heaven upon us and men, women, and young people everywhere in the nation turning to the Lord in great droves. Let us not rest to ask God to send a great revival to this nation.

Our Father in heaven, we come before you today confessing our great sins. We have sinned against you as a nation and our sins are piled up to heaven. We know that even now you are sending your judgments against us, but we pray, oh Lord, in the midst of your wrath that you'd have mercy and that you would send another great awakening like you did in times past. We pray that you would pour out your Spirit on this land of drought. We pray that you would pour out your Spirit in a mighty way. We pray that you would send back the powerful preaching of the word of God. And we ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.

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David Schult: We hope this week's broadcast has been a blessing to you. If you have any questions about Mr. Dodson's message, please write us. You may email us at info@watchmanradio.org. Our mailing address is Watchman Radio Ministries International, Post Office Box 13251, Portland, Oregon 97213. That's Watchman Radio Ministries International, Post Office Box 13251, Portland, Oregon 97213.

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