Peter’s Three-Point Sermon
When Peter preached to the crowd at Solomon’s porch after the healing of the lame man, he challenged them with the following three things:
- Those things that God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out (Acts 3:18-19a).
- So that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19b).
- And that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began (Acts 3:20-21).
Peter was used to open the door for the Gospel to go to the Gentile world, and many have repented of their sins since then, so that multitudes have formed into communities of Christians across the world – the Christian Church. We wait for the return of Jesus the Messiah, which gets ever nearer.
Meanwhile, there is a contending for the faith, which strengthens some, wearies some and causes some to compromise. Who would have thought that Peter was pointing to 2,000 years of such an immense work of God, when he spoke to the crowd on that day? It is no wonder that individual Christians and the Christian Church in general needs times of refreshment from time to time.
Peter was sure that such times would come: we can have an ongoing expectation that in times of need that God will send forth his Spirit to refresh spiritually, just as showers of water can refresh physically.
Refreshment in Times of Need
Refreshment is needed when a person is rather dry and rather tired. It is also needed when a person is battle-weary and wounded. Refreshment can wash away uncleanness. It is the testimony of the ages that God has indeed brought such refreshment, also called revival, when his people are in need of waking up. When we are down, we can turn to God to lift us up, spiritually.
Peter’s message was to those who had already repented towards God and been born again into the Kingdom through the power of the Blood of Jesus. Revival is something that God sends to his Church. Experience shows that it is a sovereign act of God to lift and cleanse his people at a time of need.
Revivals in the UK
Revivals in the UK have been well-documented. When God pours out his Spirit it meets a need, and is preceded by a move of repentance and prevailing prayer.
The 1904 Revival in Wales was preceded by the following prayer out of recognition of need – Lord, bend us. When we get to the end of our apathy and pride God often chooses to step in and help us. The 1904 revival broke out when the Church Hall at Moriah Chapel, Loughor was cleared by the revivalist Evan Roberts of those who were lacking faith.
He was left with the young people and when one young girl prayed Jesus I love you, the Lord chose to begin pour out his Spirit and bring refreshment and change to multitudes in the entire nation. The Methodist Revival began with the Wesley brothers and George Whitfield, who had sought to live a holy life. This turned out to be a preparation for the outpouring that revived a decadent Church and overflowed to bring reform to the structure of the entire nation, which was as full of sin as the UK is today.
Localised revivals, including that in the Hebrides and among the fishermen of Lowestoft, have had their effect on more limited groups of Christians, but always with the immense power that follows the sovereign act of God in pouring out his Spirit.
Conditions Today
There can be little doubt that, as we move into the final stages of God’s Covenant purposes, the Church in the UK and in other countries has, in different communities, become tired, proud, confused, dry and compromised.
Just as Peter taught, we can look to the Lord God for help in this time of need. There is no spiritual switch that we can flick to ‘turn it on’, no formula we can apply to ‘get it going’. Indeed, until we are broken of ambition, in recognition of our need and at ‘the end of ourselves’, it will surely be that God’s time will not have fully come.
Yet, just as a tiny wave begins to move up a dry estuary, with the promise that soon the tide will be fully in to fill the estuary afresh with living water, so it is time to cry out for the first move of God’s Spirit on our needy Church, which, with God’s help, will overflow into the world around us – yet again.
First published by Issachar Ministries Trust, Office 5, Shannon Court, Sandy, Beds SG19 1AG