"The driving force of mission is certainly the Holy Spirit." Dennis Balcombe, the founder of Revival Chinese Ministries International, stressed this message in the closing ceremony of 2016 Chinese and Korean Revival Conference held on Jeju Island, Korea, on September 28.
He addressed a speech with the theme "Truth for Revival and the Driving Force of Mission in the 21st Century". The answer in the speech is the "Holy Spirit".
Filled with the Holy Spirit, revival, mission, the second coming of Jesus
Acts 3:19-21 "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you - even Jesus. Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets."
Citing these verses, he points out that we hope that Jesus will return but not immediately. "Jesus can be sent as long as people repent and churches revive."
Dennis continued to quote Acts 15:15-17, "The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: 'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name.' says the Lord, who does these things" He said that revival means that it is to restore David's fallen tent and its fruit is the mission...It doesn't mean superficially obeying the rites in the Old Testament; but, entering God's presence.
Mentioning Acts 13:1-5, he said, "The world mission began in the church at Antioch that was filled with the Holy Spirit rather than at a church at Jerusalem." The pastor witnessed that the church worldwide has experienced revivals in the past few decades and a large percentage of churches have been influenced by the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the Charismatic Movement. For example, many churches around the world worship through dances and clapping hands, having experienced wonders and miraculous signs, through which God blesses us and the Gentiles can seek the Lord. " They are for spreading the Gospel. Because the Gospel is spread out, Jesus will come again." He, who visited Henan in 1978, added that he saw a high revival in Henan 28 years ago and another in Wenzhou 24 years ago. Aside from that, he witnessed that revival is undergoing in China which is not limited to the house church. In the recent years, a lot of three-self churches have been filled with the Holy Spirit and experienced many miracles.
Meanwhile, Dennis shared the photos and videos showing the revival conferences held in Africa; including those from Mozambique, Ethiopia and India. In one of the conferences convened in India, three hundred thousand people spoke in tongues when the Holy Spirit came.
Dennis holds that it's still not enough when the churches in the world have experienced revivals of the Spirit as the fullness of the Spirit needs to be preached. "I, Dennis Balcombe, hope that everyone who believes in Jesus can be filled with the Holy Spirit...This is the era of the Spirit."
Then he declared that the noble calling Jesus' disciples should respond to lies in offering yourselves as living sacrifices and evangelism, quoting Romans 12:1 'Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.'. Recalling his life journey, he said that God told him to offer himself 57 years ago and he has been preaching the Gospel until now.
It's time for the harvest of souls.(John 4:35) Time is up! Your church should send missionaries filled with the Spirit everywhere.
The fullness of the Holy Spirit must be valued in becoming winning Christians
Mentioning mission and welcoming revival,the pastor puts forward a critical question -- " Jesus answered, 'Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again'" (John 3:5-7)
He continued to introduce the four steps toward becoming a winning Christian:
1. Repent and leave your sin -- start with confessing your sin
2. Believe in Jesus --let Jesus be the lord of your life
3. Receive baptism --"born of water"
4. Experience baptism in the Holy Spirit --"born of the Spirit"
What is revival? How to prepare for revival?
Then he talked about the promises regarding revivals in the Bible.
What is revival?
Joel 2:23 Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
Joel 2:25 "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten- the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm - my great army that I sent among you." The two verses show that revival contains repayment and recovery.
Next, how to prepare for revival?
Joel 2:12-13 "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
It tells that God will grant us blessings when we fast and pray. The revival history of the churches in the world reveals that fasting and prayer bring revival and thousands are saved when the Spirit works. He calls on the Chinese pastors and Christians who are present to declare that this is a time of the Holy Spirit and we will pray and ask the Lord to grant us showers of blessing and high revival. (Zechariah 10:1)
He hopes that the Chinese church can pray more, saying that prayer will absolutely produce a revival. There is a high revival in Shandong in Chinese church history: in 1922, missionaries and Christians decided to pray for revival every morning and evening. After a decade, the greatest revival in the history occurred in 1930 and there were thousands of conversions. For instance, many organizations including the Jesus Family were born.
Two revelations change the human history: justification by faith and a large revival
Christianity values mission and revelation. Dennis speaks that there are two revelations that changed the human history in the Bible. The first one refers to "justification by faith".(Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17) Martin Luther emphasized on this revelation during the Reformation: we are righteous by faith, not by deeds or religious rites; we are justified as long as we believe in Jesus.
Except this, there is a promise of a large revival in the last times in the Bible: Habakkuk 2:14 said 'For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.' The pastor shares that the Bible clearly prophesizes that there will be a universal pouring of the Holy Spirit and then, Christ will come.
Looking back to the past, he said that this kind of revival has happened before, like the Azusa Street Revival in 1905 and the Latter Rain Movement breaking out in Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1948. The latter's revival has still influenced many Christian ministries even today. He appeals for prayer for revival just like Habakkuk, the prophet who prayed for revival (Habakkuk 3:1-2).
He calls on everyone to imitate the poet in Psalm 80: "Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved!" (verse 3) He witnessed that God will revive us and share the renewed churches he saw in Africa. "The churches resemble that kind of church in Acts. There is no sleeping man. Everyone preaches the Gospel diligently and pray a lot every day. They knock on the door and evangelize from door to door on the streets, and enter into bars, as well as places that provide sex service and share the Gospel...I believe that China will also experience such a great revival and the glory of Jehovah will be revealed."
