“I wonder if you have been praying for revival. Many are, and that’s good. But if we make revival sovereign and don’t share our faith with the lost, in effect this is what we are saying: “Lord, I know that you have commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. But we will stay here and pray. We know that you have chosen the ‘foolishness’ of preaching to save them that believe. But we will stay here and pray. And we know that the Bible asks us, ‘How will they hear without a preacher?’ But we will stay here and pray, because it sure is easier to talk to God about people than it is to talk to people about God.”
C.T. Studd said: “We Christians too often substitute prayer for playing the game. Prayer is good; but when used as a substitute for obedience, it is nothing but a blatant hypocrisy, a despicable Pharisaism…To your knees, man! And to your Bible! Decide at once! Don’t hedge! Time flies! Cease your insults to God. Quit consulting flesh and blood. Stop your lame, lying and cowardly excuses.”
A.W. Tozer hit the nail on the head: “Have you noticed how much praying for revival has been going on of late---and how little revival has resulted? I believe the problem is that we have been trying to substitute praying for obeying, and it simply will not work. To pray for revival while ignoring the plain precept laid down in Scripture is to waste a lot of words and get nothing for our trouble. Prayer will become effective when we stop using it as a substitute for obedience.”
God has given the Church the ability (under His hand) to govern the tides of revival. A.W. Pink writes, “It is true that [many] are praying for world-wide revival. But…it would be more timely, and more scriptural, for prayer to be made to the Lord of the Harvest that He would raise up and thrust forth laborers who would fearlessly and faithfully preach those truths which are calculated to bring about a revival.”
(p.4, "The Way of the Master," by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron)
Showing posts with label Revival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Revival. Show all posts
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Olympic City in Midst of Revival?
By George Thomas
CBN News
August 8, 2008
CBNNews.com - BEIJING - Seven days a week, the machines at the Nanjing Amity Printing Company churn out copies of what some claim is one of China's best-selling books - the Bible.
Forty-three million Bibles have been printed legally in Communist China since 1987. Once a banned book, today some 3 million copies are printed and distributed each year across the country.
And this year, Chinese Christian leaders are hoping to print a special edition of the Bible to make available to the hundreds of thousands of athletes and visitors expected to attend next year's Olympic Games.
Dr. Cao Shengjie of China Christian council oversees the printing of Bibles in China. He said, "And so for this very important occasion, we hope we can print a special edition, maybe the four Gospels in English and Chinese, bilingual."
Lui Bainian, a top leader of China's officially sanctioned Catholic organization, wants to take it a step further and place these Bibles in some of the major hotels in Beijing.
"I want our visitors to know that we have religious freedom here and this is a small step to meet their religious needs during the Olympic," Bainian said.
The Chinese capital has hundreds of hotels. One of the biggest in town, the Minzu hotel, is entertaining the idea of making the Bibles available to Olympic guests.
"We are doing our preparations and once we know where our guests are coming from, we will be ready to meet their spiritual needs," Minzu Hotel General Manager Chen Guoyao said.
The Beijing Olympic Committee is also getting religious. It plans to provide Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim services.
"I think the needs of various religious groups will be taken into consideration and as a matter of fact, for example, inside the Olympic Village, we are going to set up a religious service center," Sun Weide, deputy director of communications for the Beijing Olympic committee said.
Shengjie says it is important for people outside of China, especially Christians, to know the real situation of Christianity in China.
"I think the Olympics is a good opportunity because so many people will come from all over the world. And so they can come and see with their own eyes," he said.
And what they will see is a China that's experiencing unprecedented religious fervor. When athletes and visitors arrive in Beijing next year for the Olympic Games, they will find a city and a nation in the middle of what some are calling a spiritual awakening.
Despite the government's official doctrine of atheism, millions of Chinese are turning to religion.
And as Pat Robertson says, "It's not China our enemy, it's China our friend." Watch the video above for the complete report followed by Robertson's prayer for China.
"People now feel more freer, more open to express their religious convictions," said Tong Shijun, professor of philosophy at East China Normal University.
Tong Shijun teaches at a prominent university in Shanghai. He's just completed the first major survey on religious beliefs in China. And according to his findings, 31.4 percent of those surveyed said they were religious - putting the number of believers in China at about 300 million.
"The increase of the number and the increase of the percentage was quiet large," Shijun said. "Quite dramatic."
Christianity is also growing fast. Twelve percent, or 40 million people, described themselves in the poll as followers of Christianity, much higher than official figures given by the Chinese government.
What is fueling these conversions? Chinese experts say that a growing number of people are turning to religion to better cope with the country's rapid social and economic changes.
Molly Fung works in Beijing's financial district. She recently started going to church. She said she wanted God to give her strength to deal with the pressures of life.
"I think that when I am stronger, I can help others, my friends and my family and tell them how to deal with the pressures," she said.
He Hong is an economics student in Shanghai who recently spent an afternoon at a local Christian bookstore.
"Today in our country, more and more people, especially the young people have a yearning for spirituality" Hong, a Shanghai university student, explained. "So many of my friends feel empty in their hearts. We feel so much pressure to get a job, have a better education."
According to Shengjie, so many of them are turning up at church looking for answers.
"People can easily think that to have a better living and to earn more money is the goal of life but the church, we will tell people that the man does not live by bread alone, we need the Word of God," Shengjie said.
Buddhism, Taoism, and other religions are also experiencing growth. Shijun believes that the government is starting to recognize the role religion could play in society.
"In the last couple of decades the situation is that religious life is recognized to have a positive role in society, generally speaking, as long as these religious groups abide by the national and local laws," he said.
Strict limitations on religion remain, however. For example, China only recognizes government registered churches and considers unregistered house churches illegal.
Still Chinese Christian leaders hope next year's Olympic Games will be an opportunity to showcase China's diverse and growing religious tapestry.
"Our expectation is to have more friendship and fellowship," Shengjie said.
*Original broadcast August 18, 2007.
from: CBN News
Also see: China Publishing Bibles
CBN News
August 8, 2008
CBNNews.com - BEIJING - Seven days a week, the machines at the Nanjing Amity Printing Company churn out copies of what some claim is one of China's best-selling books - the Bible.
Forty-three million Bibles have been printed legally in Communist China since 1987. Once a banned book, today some 3 million copies are printed and distributed each year across the country.
And this year, Chinese Christian leaders are hoping to print a special edition of the Bible to make available to the hundreds of thousands of athletes and visitors expected to attend next year's Olympic Games.
Dr. Cao Shengjie of China Christian council oversees the printing of Bibles in China. He said, "And so for this very important occasion, we hope we can print a special edition, maybe the four Gospels in English and Chinese, bilingual."
Lui Bainian, a top leader of China's officially sanctioned Catholic organization, wants to take it a step further and place these Bibles in some of the major hotels in Beijing.
"I want our visitors to know that we have religious freedom here and this is a small step to meet their religious needs during the Olympic," Bainian said.
The Chinese capital has hundreds of hotels. One of the biggest in town, the Minzu hotel, is entertaining the idea of making the Bibles available to Olympic guests.
"We are doing our preparations and once we know where our guests are coming from, we will be ready to meet their spiritual needs," Minzu Hotel General Manager Chen Guoyao said.
The Beijing Olympic Committee is also getting religious. It plans to provide Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim services.
"I think the needs of various religious groups will be taken into consideration and as a matter of fact, for example, inside the Olympic Village, we are going to set up a religious service center," Sun Weide, deputy director of communications for the Beijing Olympic committee said.
Shengjie says it is important for people outside of China, especially Christians, to know the real situation of Christianity in China.
"I think the Olympics is a good opportunity because so many people will come from all over the world. And so they can come and see with their own eyes," he said.
And what they will see is a China that's experiencing unprecedented religious fervor. When athletes and visitors arrive in Beijing next year for the Olympic Games, they will find a city and a nation in the middle of what some are calling a spiritual awakening.
Despite the government's official doctrine of atheism, millions of Chinese are turning to religion.
And as Pat Robertson says, "It's not China our enemy, it's China our friend." Watch the video above for the complete report followed by Robertson's prayer for China.
"People now feel more freer, more open to express their religious convictions," said Tong Shijun, professor of philosophy at East China Normal University.
Tong Shijun teaches at a prominent university in Shanghai. He's just completed the first major survey on religious beliefs in China. And according to his findings, 31.4 percent of those surveyed said they were religious - putting the number of believers in China at about 300 million.
"The increase of the number and the increase of the percentage was quiet large," Shijun said. "Quite dramatic."
Christianity is also growing fast. Twelve percent, or 40 million people, described themselves in the poll as followers of Christianity, much higher than official figures given by the Chinese government.
What is fueling these conversions? Chinese experts say that a growing number of people are turning to religion to better cope with the country's rapid social and economic changes.
Molly Fung works in Beijing's financial district. She recently started going to church. She said she wanted God to give her strength to deal with the pressures of life.
"I think that when I am stronger, I can help others, my friends and my family and tell them how to deal with the pressures," she said.
He Hong is an economics student in Shanghai who recently spent an afternoon at a local Christian bookstore.
"Today in our country, more and more people, especially the young people have a yearning for spirituality" Hong, a Shanghai university student, explained. "So many of my friends feel empty in their hearts. We feel so much pressure to get a job, have a better education."
According to Shengjie, so many of them are turning up at church looking for answers.
"People can easily think that to have a better living and to earn more money is the goal of life but the church, we will tell people that the man does not live by bread alone, we need the Word of God," Shengjie said.
Buddhism, Taoism, and other religions are also experiencing growth. Shijun believes that the government is starting to recognize the role religion could play in society.
"In the last couple of decades the situation is that religious life is recognized to have a positive role in society, generally speaking, as long as these religious groups abide by the national and local laws," he said.
Strict limitations on religion remain, however. For example, China only recognizes government registered churches and considers unregistered house churches illegal.
Still Chinese Christian leaders hope next year's Olympic Games will be an opportunity to showcase China's diverse and growing religious tapestry.
"Our expectation is to have more friendship and fellowship," Shengjie said.
*Original broadcast August 18, 2007.
from: CBN News
Also see: China Publishing Bibles
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