Rev. Steve Richardson opened the Church at War Conference at Trinity Bible Church delivering the first sermon on November 17, 2022. His sermon is titled “Seeking God Through Prayer.” Richardson is a Canadian pastor who was fined and threatened with imprisonment from the Canadian government and ultimately lost his church for refusing to limit worship gatherings to 10 people.
The rest of this article describes Richardson’s message, but reading this summary is like “looking through a glass dimly” compared to listening to the message firsthand:
Historical revivals. Richardson opens his message by describing historical revivals. Parishioners would sit outside in the pouring rain listening to the Word preached. Others continue in prayer and worship inside the church after the worship service and benediction, and still after a second benediction, until past midnight. Children as young as eight and teenagers are gathering to read the Bible and worship God.
Costs of revival. He also asks listeners how often they have prayed more than 30 minutes this week? While not prescriptive, it is a benchmark for comparing our prayer life. John MacArthur describes fervent and answered prayer as a mark of true faith.
Considering the fervent and faithful practice described both by Richardson and MacArthur, this sermon asks us, “Are we ready for revival?”
Need for revival. Many can see a need for political and societal revival in our nation when the government places more restrictions on worship than on aborting a child, when the state backs hospitals that surgically and permanently remove healthy body parts of children too young to drive, when the state backs public schools that teach gender dysphoria to impressionable children learning to tie their shoes, when public school teachers are required to be trained on Marxist ideologies of critical theory, or when the state forces healthy people to decide between losing their income or taking another shot that is unnecessary and proven to harm some who received it once.
However, Richardson challenges us to ask if we would be satisfied if God grants prayers for political and societal change as long as he does not give us Himself. Are we really seeking God? Or do we seek God to grant us favor and grant us our wishes? In Exodus 33:18, Moses asked to see God in His glory. Richardson diagnoses the disease in our generation of the church as laziness, as seen in the lukewarm church in Laodicea.
Traits of revival. Gospel revival has distinct traits which all come from the Word of God. While this list is not exhaustive, and I may have forgotten key elements, I think it provides a useful starting point to compare true gospel revival versus other spiritual experiences that claim to be revivals.
- People are convicted of their sins and fallen nature before a holy God.
- Conviction leads people to repentance, committing to turn from sinful ways.
- Believers have a hunger for the Word and truth. This can include reading, hearing, memorizing, and meditating on the Word, but should be sufficient to saturate the believer’s life to achieve the next trait:
- Believers have a conviction to remember and obey the Word such that their lives show a gospel transformation. (James 1:22)
- The prayer life of believers are revived with persistent prayer. (Luke 18:1)
- Prayers are seeking God’s will. (Matthew 6:33)
- Believers are using their gifts joyfully to serve God.
- Believers are glad to assemble with other believers to praise God. (Acts 2:46)
- Believers are evangelizing the lost, sharing the good news of the gospel. The Great Commission is being fulfilled (Matthew 28:18-20).
Are you ready for revival if God takes hold of your heart to change in these areas? Spending more time in prayer, alone and in fellowship? Stepping out of your comfort zone to evangelize strangers? Spending more time in the Word, not only reading it but memorizing and meditating on it? Spending more time listening to faithful preaching? Spending enough time with God to see Him convicting you in areas where sin remains and seeing His power to live a new life?
If we have no desire for drawing nearing to God, we should check whether our faith is real, as I John encourages its readers to affirm. In little time, I found one resource from John MacArthur describing elements of real faith.
Jesus called the churches in Revelation to be revived by turning to their first love and turning from their sinful practices. Given the state of our society, government, and churches, we need God’s grace and mercy to “rend the heavens” (Richardson quote) and bring revival to our own hearts and then to those around us.
A brief background on Richardson. Richardson is formerly a pastor in Tillsonburg, Ontario within the Canadian Associate Reformed Presbyterian (ARP) Church. He held strong conviction to conduct church with his members without limiting in-person attendance to 10 people per Canadian health guidelines. Pastors may base this conviction on Hebrews 10:25 which commands believes not to forsake assembling. He was fined and threatened with imprisonment by the Canadian government for violating the mandates, and his presbytery applied pressure on him to follow the government mandates. Through a series of events, Richardson left the ARP for Vanguard presbytery and lost his church. Richardson is currently working as a teacher at King Alfred Academy in Ontario.