6.9.2016 Finney on HINDRANCES TO REVIVAL

SO I SENT MESSENGERS TO THEM, SAYING, 'I AM DOING A GREAT WORK, SO THAT I CANNOT COME DOWN, WHY SHOULD THE WORK CEASE WHILE I LEAVE IT AND GO DOWN TO YOU? Nehemiah 6.3

when christians become proud of their 'great revival', it will stop. i mean those christians who have been instrumental in promoting it. it is almost always the case with a revival, that a part of the church proves too proud or too worldly to take any part in the work. they are determined to stand aloof and wait and see what its outcome will be.
the pride of this part of the church cannot stop the revival, because the revival never depended on them. it began without them and it can go on without them. they may fold their arms and fo nothing but watch and find fault; yet the work will go on.

but when the part of the church that does the work begins to think what a great revival they have had, how they have labored and prayed, how bold and how zealous they have been and how much good they have done, the work is likely to decline.

243  also when christians begin to proselytize (def. person changed from one religious sect to another) , revival stops. perhaps a revival will go on for a time and all sectarian difficulties are forgotten until somebody circulates a book, privately, to gain new converts.

244  a revival is likely to stop when christians lose the spirit of brotherly lov. Jesus Christ will not continue with people in a revival any longer that they continue in the exercise of brotherly love. when christians are in the spirit of a revival, they feel this love. they you will hear them call each other 'brother' and 'sister' very affectionately.
but when they begin to get cold, they lose this affection for one another and them using 'brother' and 'sister' seems silly, so they stop using it. in some churches they never use these names, but where ther is revival, christians naturally use them.
christians of all denominations should forget their prejudice. vast multitudes of believers have indulged prejudice to such a degree as to be unwilling to read, hear, or come to a right understanding on the subject. christians cannot pray in this state of mind. i deny that anyone possesses the spirit of prayer while he is too prejudiced to examine this or any other question of duty.

245 ordinarily, a lengthy meeting should be conducted throughout be the same minister if possible. ..visiting ministers...did not come in a state of mind that was right for entering into this work and they did not know the state of the congregation's mind so as to know what to preach.

suppose a person who is sick would call a different physician every day. none of the physicians would know what the symptoms had been, what was the course of the disease or treatment, what remedies had been tried, or what the patient could bear. this method would certainly kill the patient.

it is evident we must have more arousing preaching to meet our needs today...
look at the early Methodists. many of their ministers were taken right from the shop or farm and yet they gathered congregations and won souls everywhere. wherever they went, their plain, pointed and simple, but warm and animated, mode of preaching always gathered congregations we must have powerful preaching!
246  even a preacher without an extensive education will draw a congregation around him because he has an earnest style and pours out fire on his hearers when he preaches.

other things may stop a revival. some people talk very foolishly on this subject, as if nothing could hinder a genuine revival. they say, 'if your revival is a work of God. it cannot be stopped. can any created being stop God? now i ask, is this common sense?
a revival is the work of God and so is a crop of wheat. God is as much dependent on the use of means in one case as the other. therefore, a revival is as liable to be injured as a wheat field. a revival will cease when christians become mechanical in their attempts to promote it.

247  when christian do not feel their dependence on the Spirit, whenever christian s believe they are strong in their own strength, God curses their blessings.   (malachi 2.2)

a revival will decline and cease unless christians are frequently revived. by this i mean that christians, in order to keep in the spirit of revival, need to be frequently convicted and humbled before God. the idea of a christian being revived is something that many do not understand. but the fact is that, in a revival, the christian's heart is liable to get crusted over and lose its exquisite desire for divine things. his anointing and prevalence in prayer abate and he must be renewed again.

it is impossible to keep a christian in such a holy state unless he passes through such a process every few days. i have never worked revivals with anyone who wanted to continue the work and be fit to manage a revival who did not pass through this process of repentance every two or three weeks.

248  if the church wishes to promote revival, it must sanctify the Sabbath. there is a great deal of Sabbath-breaking in the land. merchants break it, travelers break it and the government breaks it.

one thing is most certain: unless something is done quickly and effectively to promote the sanctification of the Sabbath by the church, it will not longer be a special day. and what cand the church do, what will this nation do, without any Sabbath?