February 15, 2024 / Pastor Lance Ralston Guest Blog

2.15.24

 

Hey, Calvary Fremont – (this is a guest blog by our friend Pastor Lance Ralston)

 

It was a time of declining faith. The United States and the nations of Europe, under the influence of skepticism and rationalism, publicly mocked the Church and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Universities were strongholds of atheism and expressed open contempt for God.

 

It was a time of declining morality. Alcoholism and the rot of addiction were everywhere. There was a plague of lawlessness when bank robberies occurred daily. Out-of-wedlock births and STDs skyrocketed. Public profanity was everywhere. Cheating was epidemic. Immorality was so bad Congress appointed a special commission to investigate what had happened and how to correct it. Justice could not be administered in some places because of rampant lawlessness.

 

It was a time of declining church attendance. Denominations were annually losing thousands of members. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court wrote to a Roman Catholic Bishop that the Church in the US was too far gone to ever recover. A famous Church historian summed it up by saying it looked as though Christianity was about to be ushered out of the affairs of man.

 

O, by the way, I’m describing conditions toward the end of the eighteenth century! 250 years ago, between the First and Second Great Awakenings, there was a steep and rapid decline of faith, morality, and church attendance. Many thought that the ignored and irrelevant Church was about to keel over and die. Yet quite the opposite reality was about to unfold – a mighty outpouring of God’s Spirit was about to come.

 

In 1784, the Church began to pray. Seven years later, a network of prayer covered Britain. In 1791, the first stirrings of revival began in the churches of Yorkshire. Mockers intending to interrupt the monthly prayer meetings went home converted. Long-time but unconverted church members admitted their need of Christ. The unchurched were baptized in large numbers. Well-known alcoholics and criminals were dramatically changed in a moment.

 

Revival filled the churches of Scotland, Wales, and Scandinavia. The USA and Canada heard about the prayer meetings in England and decided to do the same. Their prayers were desperate, sensing the urgency of the need. Momentum built until 1798 when the Second Great Awakening began in the US.

 

Churches in New England and on the Western frontier of Kentucky and Ohio were mightily visited by the Holy Spirit and a glorious revival broke forth. The Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists, Moravians, and others began to fill up with new Christians. The churches of the frontier were too small to hold the growing crowds, so people began assembling in large open-air campsites. 20,000 would gather for three to four days as one preacher after another gave messages. While many were ready to bury the Church, God had other plans.

 

The early years of the 21^st century look eerily similar to the later years of the 18^th century. Faith, morality, and church attendance are in steep decline. Many would seek to bury the Church of the early 21^st century – but God has other plans! It is so easy to despair as we read the death notices of the Church and hear the shovels scraping against the earth as they dig our grave. But the Church has traveled the Valley of the Shadow of Death before and we will fear no evil for our Shepherd is with us. His rod and His staff comfort us. His Spirit guides us. His Word informs us. Our God will revive us! Our God will visit His Church with His power and might and the name of Jesus will be glorified among the nations yet again!

 

I’ve seen You move, You move the mountains
And I believe I’ll see You do it again
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe I’ll see You do it again

 

Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim with Pastor Lance