This week I've been inspired by an address at the prayer meeting at Hope Reformed Baptist Church by Pastor Tom Foord, who is in Queensland, Australia. This talk by Tom looks at the life of William G. Taylor, who had revivals in Australia from 1871.
From the 11-minute mark in the link below, you can hear about the strict requirements for being a member of the Methodist church at the time (this section only goes for a few minutes).
To be a member you have to go to every single Sunday gathering; you have to go to every single Sunday class; you have to be at every midweek prayer meeting, because, are you a member of this body seeking the favour of Christ on this land or not? And to become a member you had to be able to point to the moment that you were converted, and you needed to be able to show that you were evangelising and bringing other people into the faith; if you failed to meet at one of those gatherings, and it was found you were not in hospital or attending to somebody in an emergency, you would have your name announced on Sunday of those who are away as a formal rebuke in the presence of God. Now to us that sounds like a cult; to them that was
simply the power of the ordinary obligations. You are a Christian; you signed up to this. What are you doing? Are you in this battle or not?
Today, the Methodist church is now the Uniting church, which is very woke.
Here's another quote from the talk:
Leonard Ravenhill used to say of God, "Of course God doesn't give you souls to be won! You don't deserve it; you'll bring them into your church and disciple them into
lukewarmness and Christ hating"
Taylor's description of the revival in Toowoomba:
1. It was spontaneous in its outbreak.
2. It was natural though rapid in its development, and
3. Its results were abiding
Tom said you cannot expect revival in the sense that you cannot know it is coming until it has come; the expectancy is that God can, God likely will, we're going to believe and prepare ourselves for it, but as it comes, even for William G Taylor who always believed, it was always spontaneous, because you can't do it. God does its outbreak.
youtube.com/watch?v=UDWI_ww5W80
From the 11-minute mark in the link below, you can hear about the strict requirements for being a member of the Methodist church at the time (this section only goes for a few minutes).
To be a member you have to go to every single Sunday gathering; you have to go to every single Sunday class; you have to be at every midweek prayer meeting, because, are you a member of this body seeking the favour of Christ on this land or not? And to become a member you had to be able to point to the moment that you were converted, and you needed to be able to show that you were evangelising and bringing other people into the faith; if you failed to meet at one of those gatherings, and it was found you were not in hospital or attending to somebody in an emergency, you would have your name announced on Sunday of those who are away as a formal rebuke in the presence of God. Now to us that sounds like a cult; to them that was
simply the power of the ordinary obligations. You are a Christian; you signed up to this. What are you doing? Are you in this battle or not?
Today, the Methodist church is now the Uniting church, which is very woke.
Here's another quote from the talk:
Leonard Ravenhill used to say of God, "Of course God doesn't give you souls to be won! You don't deserve it; you'll bring them into your church and disciple them into
lukewarmness and Christ hating"
Taylor's description of the revival in Toowoomba:
1. It was spontaneous in its outbreak.
2. It was natural though rapid in its development, and
3. Its results were abiding
Tom said you cannot expect revival in the sense that you cannot know it is coming until it has come; the expectancy is that God can, God likely will, we're going to believe and prepare ourselves for it, but as it comes, even for William G Taylor who always believed, it was always spontaneous, because you can't do it. God does its outbreak.
youtube.com/watch?v=UDWI_ww5W80
