Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
Revival is never meant to stop where it starts. The fire that falls in the closet is supposed to spread through the city.
The Holy Ghost who came on the hundred and twenty did not come so they could enjoy a religious feeling. He came so they would be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth. The pattern of Bible revival has always pushed outward. Pentecost reached three thousand souls in one day, which lead to you hearing the gospel!
Ephesus reached the whole region of Asia until “all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.”
Christ Is the Center and the Sender
Every story of revival spreading has the same Person at the middle of it. The Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the one we tell about, He is the one who sends us and He is the one who gives the power to go.
Matthew 28:18-20, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
All power belongs to Him and the going belongs to us. But He goes with us!
The Holy Ghost glorifies Christ. When he comes on us in power, he points us back to Christ and pushes us out to tell others about Christ. Soul winning is not a ministry option. It is the marching order of every Christian who has ever met the risen Saviour.
The Samaritan Woman Left Her Waterpot
We see this clear picture of one Christian setting off a revival in the woman Jesus met at the well in John 4. She came for water at noon, trying to avoid the other women. She left her sin in a heap at his feet, ran back to the very town she had been avoiding, and started telling everybody about him.
John 4:28-29, “The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
She had met the Christ and the water did not matter anymore. She did not have a degree, or a script, or a testimony cleaned up and polished.
She had Jesus. And she went straight to the men of the city and said, “Come, see a man.”
John 4:39 says many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, and verse 41 says many more believed when they heard him for themselves. One woman started a revival in a town that had been written off for centuries. She was the one who kicked it off, not the disciples. The woman with the broken life shared what happened to her when she met Jesus and many came to know Him.
The Maniac of Gadara Went Home to His Friends
The Maniac of Gadara had a legion of devils in him. He lived among the tombs and cut himself with stones. No man could bind him and he was the worst case in the country.
Jesus came across the lake in a storm just to reach him. The devils came out at Christ’s word and they pushed the pigs off the cliff. And the man who had been the terror of the region was found sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed, and in his right mind.
Mark 5:18-20, “And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.”
He wanted to follow Jesus. He owed his whole life to him. But Jesus said no and told him to go home to tell his friends. So he went out into the Decapolis, which was ten cities of the region, and started publishing what Jesus had done for him.
He did not have theology training. He had his testimony. And he told it from town to town.
Mark 7:31 says Jesus came back through the coasts of Decapolis later, and this time the multitudes came. Mark 7:37 says the people were beyond measure astonished. The same region that had begged Jesus to leave the first time was begging him to stay the second time. Why? Because one delivered man had been spreading the word for months. One man stirred a whole region of ten cities by telling what Jesus had done for him.
Pentecost and Ephesus
Pentecost started in an upper room with a hundred and twenty believers and ended that day with three thousand souls baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
In Ephesus the gospel started with twelve men who had never heard of the Holy Ghost. Paul preached and they believed. The fire spread for two years until everybody in Asia had heard of the Lord Jesus. They had no internet and no marketing budget. They had a few hundred Christians telling people about Christ wherever they went.
Acts 5:42, “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”
Paul described his own ministry the same way in Acts 20:20, that he taught “publickly, and from house to house.”
They were public and private. They went to the temples and to their houses. The early church preached Christ everywhere. The pattern of revival spreading is the pattern of ordinary Christians telling ordinary people about an extraordinary Saviour, with the Holy Ghost giving the power.
The Holy Ghost Gives the Power
We will not soul win in the flesh. We cannot. The fields are too hard and the workers are too tired and the enemy is too strong. We need the Holy Ghost.
Acts 4:31, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.”
The Samaritan woman, the Gadarene, and the hundred and twenty did not spread anything in their own strength. The power was always from God. The going was always from them.
Revival starts with one. The Samaritan woman was one. The Gadarene was one. Peter at Pentecost was one. Paul at Ephesus was one.
Every revival in the Bible spread because somebody decided they would be the one.
Be the one who prays when nobody else will. Be the one who fasts when the church is full. Be the one who opens the book and lets it change you. Be the one who breaks the idol when the family says it is fine. Be the one who counts the cost and pays it. Be the one who shows up to the gathering early and stays late. Be the one who deals with the buried sin under the tent. Be the one who walks across the room to talk to a lost man about Jesus.
You do not have to wait for the church to revive first. You do not have to wait for the pastor to call a special meeting. You do not have to wait for everyone else to get on board. You can be the one this week. This day and even this hour.
The whole pattern of revival comes down to that. One man met with God. Then one more. Then a people. Followed by a city. Then a region. Until the cry of Acts 17:6 was true again, that the men who turn the world upside down have come hither also.
