Friday May 19, 2017

 

Have you ever felt the need for a revival? Have you ever felt as though your walk with God has grown stale? If Sunday is not your favorite day of the week then you probably need a revival. If when you sit through the praise and worship portion of the service and are not moved by the privilege of coming together to praise God, you probably need a revival. If giving to the Lord from the fruit of your labor isn’t something that you do with the greatest joy, you probably need a revival. If praying and reading your Bible are not your most sought after activities throughout the day, you probably need a revival.

 

Several years ago I received a phone call from the Evangelist Nicky Cruz. He said, “Bobby I have to preach at a church in the Caribbean, afterwards Gloria and I have some free time. We would love for you and Annie to join us for some time of rest and relaxation”. At the time of his call, as a church leader, I was going through some of the normal yet stressful byproducts of leading a church. Therefore, for Annie and I, this was nothing short of a blessing. I recall meeting Nicky at the Miami International Airport where we caught a flight to our destination.

 

As soon as we arrived, we were picked up and driven to the church where Nicky was scheduled to preach. The church building was a traditional structure situated on a busy corner. By the time we arrived at the church, the service had already begun. The church had windows on the left and right with wooden pews separated by a center aisle. All four of us were escorted to the last pew where we sat as the singers were leading the congregation in praise and worship. The congregants clapped, screamed, jumped, and danced with great joy as they spoke of a revival in their midst; there appeared to be an electrical current running through the congregation.

 

The praise and worship leader kept on speaking about a revival as the congregation continued in their euphoria. The more he talked about revival however, the more uncomfortable Nicky was becoming. Eventually the person who picked us up escorted Nicky to the altar where they sat him in a chair facing the audience; meanwhile the people were still celebrating their revival. By this time Nicky was visibly upset. Gloria, asked me to go up to the altar and calm Nicky down. I respectfully answered, there is no way I am going up there. Gloria insisted but it was already too late, one of the church leaders had just handed Nicky the microphone. The first words out of Nicky’s mouth were, who is the pastor of this church? The person who had introduced Nicky answered, He is not here today he is on vacation. Nicky went on to say, that is probably good because he is probably not going to like what I am about to say. Nicky went on to tell them: I have been sitting here for almost an hour listening to the leaders speak about revival. But, when I look out the window right on the corner there is a bar with people using drugs and prostitutes working he streets. If there were truly a revival in this place the bar would have been shut down by now and all of those people who have been ignored by this church would have surrendered their lives to Jesus.

 

Ezekiel 29:21 NLT

 

“And the day will come when I will cause the ancient glory of Israel to revive, and then, Ezekiel, your words will be respected. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

 

If you reside in the Miami area, or if you plan on visiting, I would like to invite you to come and hear Nicky speak live on Sunday May 21 at 9am or at 11:30am. This is a ticketed event but tickets are FREE of charge so bring a friend. To download your free ticket please visit: http://www.nickycruzmiami2017.com