Jerry Watts (New Hope BC, Foxworth, MS) recently gave me an excellent book he and Kevin Hamm (FBC Gardendale) wrote, entitled The Repentance Road to Revival: The Ten Deadly Sins of the Church. We all long for revival. This book argues that the pastor and church need to look inwardly to see if deadly sins within the church are hindering us from experiencing revival. Here are some thoughts from their book on those ten deadly sins:
10. Weak Pulpits.
Leonard Ravenhill, an evangelist from years ago, stated, “Away with this powerless preaching which is unmoving because it was born in a tomb instead of a womb, and nourished in a fireless, prayerless soul.”
9. Tiny Faith.
Too often in the American church, if we cannot see it, touch it, prove it, or if the spreadsheet doesn’t add up, we don’t believe it. Let’s trust God for things so big that they’ll fail if he doesn’t show up!
8. Timid Prayers.
Where is the holy boldness in our prayers? Where are the churches who know how to get ahold of heaven? Where is the prayer and fasting in our churches? You don’t hear much about fasting in our churches nowadays. . . maybe that’s why we’re in such a mess.
7. Small Commitment.
Total commitment and sacrifice are missing in much of the evangelical church. Quoting the great football coach, Vince Lombardi, “Most people fail not because of lack of desire but because of lack of commitment.”
6. Silent Witness.
There is no such thing as a secret Christian. Either the Christian will destroy the secret, or the secret will destroy the Christian.
5. Lost Joy.
Of all the people in the world who should live with obvious joy, passionate joy, and be FULL of JOY, it should be us, God’s redeemed children.
4. Little Compassion.
If we, the church, were removed from the community, if we were gone … would we even be missed?
3. Dry Eyes.
If revival is to come, it will come on the repentance road, which is likely soaked in tears.
2. Shallow Worship.
How it must break the heart of God when His people … cannot find the passion to express their hearts and love to Him in the way they find to express themselves for their favorite music group, ball team, or said another way, their idol.
1. No Fear.
In this tenth sin, we discover the root cause of the other nine. Because there is no fear of God, these other nine deadly sins of the church begin to surface.
We need a revival among God’s people and an awakening among those without Christ. Let us repent of these deadly sins and pray that revival begins with us!
This article was written by state missionary Ken Allen.
