Michael L. Brown - Revival or We Die: A Great Awakening is Our Only Hope

Copyright 2021Michael L. Brown

All rights reserved. This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. This book may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or profit. The use of short quotations or occasional page copying for personal or group study is permitted and encouraged. Permission will be granted upon request. Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2015. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NET are taken from The NET Bible, New English Translation copyright 1996 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. NET Bible is a registered trademark. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked CSB are taken from the Christian Standard Bible. Copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible, and CSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked PNT are taken from The New Testament in Modern English, J. B. Phillips, trans., Copyright New York: The Macmillan Company, 1960. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked as NJPS are taken from the Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, Copyright 1985 by The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia. Used by Permission. All rights reserved. Please note that Destiny Images publishing style capitalizes certain pronouns in Scripture that refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and may differ from some publishers styles. Take note that the name satan and related names are not capitalized. We choose not to acknowledge him, even to the point of violating grammatical rules.

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C HAPTER O NE

T HERE I S M ORE !

The words are simple and the sentence is short. Just three words total, eleven letters in all. Thereismore. Thats it! And yet these three words articulate the cry of many a Christians heart. Deep down, we know there is more.

Its not because we are malcontents or grumblers, or because we can never be satisfied. Instead, as we walk with the Lord, as we encounter His Spirit, as we look at Jesus, as we meditate on Scripture, as we look at the needs of the world, a cry rises to heaven from the depths of our heart: Lord, there must be more!

Speaking personally, God has not appointed me to be the judge of His Church. He has not called me to be a holy policeman or an accuser of the brethren. My goal is to build up, not tear down, and I thank God for everything He is doing in every church in the country, be it a house church or a mega-church. But I cannot deny that something is missing. I cannot deny that there is more. Does your own heart affirm these words as well? Then this book is for you.

Simply stated, if the Bible is true (which it is) and if Jesus really rose from the dead and sent the Spirit (which He did), then there must be more. There has to be more. Every page of the New Testament shouts to us that there is more. Why not be honest and say it out loud: God, I know there must be more!

To say that something is missing is to glorify the Lord. To say that something is not lining up is to be honest before heaven. To say that what you read in the Word is different from what you experience in life is to honor the testimony of Jesus.

He shed His blood so we could be transformed. So we could overcome the enemy. So we could be His Spirit-filled ambassadors. So we could set the captives free and heal the wounded and dying. There is so much more He still wants to do through you and through me.

He longs to manifest His grace in us and through us. He longs to reveal Himself to us. He longs to pour out His Spirit in power. He is more ready to bless and fill and ignite and anoint than we are to receive.

But are we ready? Are we hungry? Are we desperate? Do our prayers bleed? Do we have room for more of Gods presence and power and purposein our hearts, in our homes, in our congregations?

Look carefully at the words of Jesus to the churches in Revelation.

To Sardis He said, I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead (Rev. 3:1). They looked good on the outside, but inwardly they were dead.

His words to Laodicea were even stronger: You say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked (Rev. 3:17). They were the happening church, the prosperous church, the successful churchat least, in their own eyesbut in reality they were pitiful, poor, and blind.

Theres a message here for us! When we are self-satisfied and proud, we will not be desperate for God. We will be filled with ourselves, with our programs and our meetings and our budgets and our activities and our self-congratulations. We have arrived! We have achieved our goals! Look at us!

There is no room for the Spirits moving in a place like that, no room for visitation, no room for revival. Like Laodicea, we boast of our wealth (be it spiritual or material); like Sardis, we think we are alive.

But God sees the condition of our souls, how we have exchanged the anointing for professionalism, how we have traded dependence on the Spirit for fleshly endeavors, how we have substituted a carnal business approach for our first love devotion. Now is the time to awaken!

What is the condition of your heart today? Are you hungry, thirsty, and desperate? If so, that is an excellent sign. Self-satisfaction is a spiritual curse. Be assured that there is more!

My Own Spiritual Journey

I got radically saved in 1971 as a heroin-shooting, LSD-using, 16-year-old, Jewish, hippie rock drummer. One year later, I was spending six or seven hours daily in prayer and the Word, including memorizing twenty verses a day, seven days a week. And how I loved to pray and worship and share my faith.

Eleven years later, while pursuing my Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, I had become theologically proud and spiritually dry. I was still a committed believer. My wife and I took in Vietnamese refugees and helped other people in need, right in our own home. I still loved to teach and preach. But without a doubt, I had left my first love, and I needed to be revived.