And yet Isaiah said that he would prolong his days, that after his sacrifice he would see the light of life. Isaiah described his sacrifice in troubling and sobering detail, but he also spoke of his resurrection!

So here I am on Easter Sunday morning, just waiting for the sun to rise and for the day to begin. I am ready for church, and am hungry for worship. I want to celebrate the empty tomb, the triumph of it all, the risen and victorious Christ… because somehow, one day,very soon, his resurrection will wrap itself around my own feeble life and transport me glorified into the presence of my Savior. “O Lord, I am humbled and amazed at your sacrifice. I long to experience your glory, and to share in your resurrection (Phil. 3). Let the Sun, O God, arise this morning with healing in his wings (Mal. 3).”

It all began with an exploding fulfillment of the promise that God made in the Old Testament, that he would pour out his Spirit on everyone in the last days, when the kingdom of God was about to reach it full realization. And that is what happened… the kingdom of God burst in on the unsuspecting Jerusalem. I know of no city in America where this is happening today. I know churches in revival, or that are being blessed or renewed. But I do not know of a single city or community that has been turned upside down by the power of God.

But pastor, you say, that’s not how God does things anymore. Really? Then what about the Welsh revival of 1904 with Evan Roberts? The ponies in the mines wouldn’t respond anymore to the miners because they were so used to being cursed at. In six months 150,000 had been saved. Pubs closed because they were empty, and former drunks were feeding and clothing their families and giving their money to the church. They paid their bills too! Smith Wigglesworth in the north of England received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1907 and boldly preached God’s word, though he was a very unlikely vessel for God to use. 14 were confirmed to have been raised from the dead! The Wesleyan revival is credited with averting a bloody revolution in England like France experienced. In America revivals have broken out because a few people committed themselves to prayer, only to result in 100′s and 1000′s coming to prayer and renewal. In 1906 a black preacher began preaching Pentecost and before it was all over the entire world was influenced and forever changed by the revival that exploded out of the former horse stable on Azusa Street!

What if God were looking for a place and people through whom he could bring an explosive and powerful Pentecostal revival to some city in America? Would we really deny him an available people? Are there 120 people who would step forward in Wilmington, North Carolina?

Sunday night was better still. The evening began with major sound system problems. It was as though we were doomed to just go through the motions! But without warning as we sang and as we prayed for one another at the altar, the Lord poured out his Spirit. With raised voices and deeply moved hearts, we prayed for, encouraged and prophesied over one another! There was a real sense of breakthrough and victory before we went home.

On the way to church Sunday morning, I was thinking about those whom God was especially blessing, whose lives to me seemed to be in revival. I counted 19 definite pockets of revival. But as we worshiped Sunday morning, my count increased to 24, and by Sunday night it was at 25, as I recognized those whom I have left off of my list. Almost 25% of our Sunday morning congregation is experiencing personal revival!

O the glory and beauty of the voices of the saints in worship. I am ready to be thrilled as I watch those passionate few, who will not be able to hide the glory of God in their hearts, their smiles, tears, laughter, raised hands! I want to teach and preach, to be lost under the anointing of the Spirit, see the light come on in someone’s eyes, see the conviction fall, meet someone at the altar. I want to feel the presence of God, yield to him. I want to hear his voice and be brought under his power to change me in some way. I am ready for an encounter with the Lord! It’s Saturday night!

If we think that personal spiritual growth is automatic as time passes, then we have fallen into the trap of the religious and pious. Religious people think it is enough to have an association with the church and even to have some kind of involvement, but as far as sacrificial investment is concerned, they have sidestepped a radical call of God to hardcore, lifetime devotion. It is hard to serve God, and it is especially hard to deepen one’s walk with Jesus Christ. The enemy resists and hinders us at every turn. He is literally seeking to steal, kill and destroy.

Ministry is the same way. To do the will of God in service and obedience requires the persistent effort of a sold-out and totally faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. The ramblers and wanderers in the church will never know the joy and satisfaction of sold-out devotion, and they tire easily of the efforts of the passionate in the church. It rocks their boats and shatters the peace of their quiet religious world. But Jesus said that the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, so effective and productive ministry has to be fought for inch by inch and yard by yard! It won’t come easily, but in the end it is worth the sacrifice, when God is well pleased with his servants and blesses their efforts with an anointing of power and success!

Paul the apostle said, “I have finished my course (run my race), I have fought the good fight” (2 Tim. 4:6-8). His metaphor was a serious, not a poetic one. Paul saw himself as a runner for the prize whose focus was narrowly, exclusively and obsessively toward the goal of his devotion to Christ (cf. Phil. 3:12-14). Every effort and energy was put into his fight to obey God and glorify his Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Paul was no wimp disciple. He was rugged fighter who fought for the kingdom and to express his devotion to God. He suffered hardships and difficulties all of his life and ministry, only to enter heaven at the sharp end of a Roman executioner’s sword (cf. 2 Cor. 6:3-10; 11:23-29).

If you are not prepared to fight for ministry and spiritual growth in the church, then please get out of the way of those who will. If you do not care to sell out your heart and soul in passion and devotion to God and his will, if you will not fight for ministry, then please don’t mock, hinder, grumble and gossip about or resist those who will. They are on the side of life, life lived to its fullest in Christ.

Anything worth having and doing for God will be opposed by the enemy. Jesus said the enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy, but that he had come to bring abundant and full life (John 10:10). If we are serious about mission and ministry in our church we cannot be discouraged by opposition and difficulty. Instead we must be prepared to fight for ministry, in order to obey and glorify God (cf. Eph. 6:1-18).

In church, it is the “Joseph’s” laboring under the shadow of the “Mary’s” that get the job done. Joseph saw that Mary got to Bethlehem and that Jesus was born in the City of David, just as the prophecy predicted. It was Joseph that provided a home and living for the family for two years in Bethlehem, before the Wise Men showed up. When it was time for them to flee, Joseph was the one that heard God’s warning, made the plans, packed up the family and made for Egypt. It was Joseph who heard from God to return and then that he needed to go on up to Nazareth. It was Joseph who raised Jesus and taught him a trade, and made sure he had an education.

Christmas is about unlikely people just like us being used by God, and having the opportunity and privilege of worshiping God in his house!

I am often asked if we celebrate Thanksgiving in England. My usual joking reply is, “Of course we do, we were thankful to get rid of you lot!” The truth is, no matter who you are and where you are from, we all have something to be thankful for, in every circumstance. No matter how tough the situation you are in, there is something that you should and could express gratitude for, if you will. That is especially true of Christians. There are countless blessings in our lives that have come from God, who delights to protect and provide for his children.

A lack of gratitude is not necessarily the result of tough circumstances, as much as it is a matter of choice. When I go into a grocery store and the clerk doesn’t even make eye contact, or speak to me before sticking his hand out for my money, it is because he has made no effort to be express gratitude for my patronage. If I go around like a bear with a sore head all the time, grumbling and complaining, it is a choice that I make. The most wonderful people I have ever met in my life are people whose lives seem impossibly difficult, but who are the most pleasant and enjoyable to be around. They have chosen to have a better attitude, and to be grateful to God in the middle of life’s challenges.

The absence of hardship doesn’t make or break you. It is how you deal with life that is the measure of the person you are. A grateful and thankful attitude is what separates the man and woman of character and of God from the rest of the people in our world.