This article is based on my notes from a recent talk that I gave at the first Glorious & Free event held in Kelowna, BC on November 15th, 2025.
Today we are talking about Revival. The word is a simple word – it means to be made alive again. We use it in Christian circles to talk about those moments in history when God re-invigorates and re-news and re-forms His church, and society as a whole. Honestly, that sounds like something we could certainly use around here!
One thing we need to say right at the outset is that revival is the work of God. It's a miracle. Like salvation itself – it is not from us – it is the gift of God – not of works – so that no one may boast. We can't stir up revival on our own steam. But praise the Lord – history is full of examples of real revival. A once Christian people grow cold, turn away from God, and all hope is lost – and then God does what only God can do. He breathes life into these dry bones. He turns our hearts back to Him. He has done this before. And He can do it again.
That seems so impossible right now doesn't it? And yet – that's the thing – revival and redemption itself always seem impossible. That's because with man it is impossible. Remember what Jesus said to the disciples when they couldn't cast out a certain demon. Jesus said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20)
We hear this language again and again from the Lord: "All things are possible for one who believes" Mark 9:23. Jesus says, it's harder for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich guy to get saved and yet: "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26). Indeed, "nothing will be impossible with God" (Luke 1:37).
I begin with this because that is where we are right now. We are in the world of the impossible. We look around at our country, our city, and all of the problems and it looks to us to be impossible to fix. We consider how far we've fallen from Christ, how much evil and depravity we have tolerated in our land, how much we deserve the just judgement of God, and again any kind of revival seems out of reach – it seems impossible.
Well, again that's because with man it is impossible. But with God all things are possible. Nothing will be impossible with God. God does His best work with impossible situations. There is a glory of the impossible. Where we stop depending on ourselves, we stop leaning on what we can do – and we look to God for what only He can do.
We are in that kind of situation right now here in Canada. But this isn't the first time the gospel looked to be on the ropes. This isn't the first time that the kingdom of God looked to be on the retreat and soon to be dealt defeat. As one writer put it: "Christendom has had a series of revolutions and in each one of them Christianity has died. Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave." (G.K. Chesterton)
I want to share with you one historical example of the glory of the impossible. And that is the Evangelical Revival of the 18th Century in Britain, and on this side of the pond, what came to be called "The Great Awakening".
Beginning in England we had a society with Christian bones, a Christian foundation, but they had en masse gone astray. The upper classes sometimes went to church, but for so many of them it was hollow religion. Lip-service. Nominalism. They were practically or actually Deists. They believed in a God who made all things but like a clockmaker who winds the watch and then leaves it, he's now out of the picture. Their religion was empty and bare religious formalism.
They kept up appearances, but the life and zeal of their Christianity was utterly lacking. For many in the church at the time – nothing was dreaded more than enthusiasm. The idea of passionate worship, zealous evangelism, powerful preaching – that was the last thing they wanted. The unwritten rule in the churches and high society of England at the time was – "don't rock the boat – don't be Christian too hard."
That was the rich, but what about the poor and working class? Sadly, they didn't fare much better. Church attendance was very low. Many of them just eked out their meagre existence and turned to gin and debauchery for some semblance of satisfaction in life. In early 18th Century London every sixth house was a Gin house (a bar). Henry Fielding a London magistrate of the time said, "Should the drinking of this poison be continued at its present height during the next twenty years, there will, by that time, be very few of the common people left to drink it". We could say the same about Marijuana and other drugs today in our land. Our country is going to pot! Increasing punishments for crimes, more hangings, more articles written, none of this stopped England's slide into debauchery.
It was impossible for man. But remember all things are possible with God. Onto the scene God sent a preacher – George Whitefield. A 22 year old Oxford graduate with humble beginnings. Now this story is not only about one man – there were many in Wales and the Colonies and other places that were used by God at this same time – Howell Harris, Jonathan Edwards, the Wesley's – not to mention the unnamed faithful saints who were praying for revival – God knows their names.
But in God's providence George Whitefield was the catalyst for the English Revival and the Great Awakening. First God grabbed hold of his heart while he was at Oxford. He joined a group of other religiously devout students at the invitation of Charles Wesley. This "Holy Club," as they were mockingly called by others, disciplined themselves towards holiness, believing that these good works would place them on the path to heaven. But after more study, Whitefield discovered that salvation was a gift from God that could never be earned through his self-effort. Here is what he said about that time: "God showed me that I must be born again, or be damned! I learned that a man may go to church, say prayers, receive the sacrament, and yet not be a Christian". And so, Whitefield turned away from his own efforts and self-trust and put his faith in the mercy of God through Jesus Christ. He was 21 when this great change happened in him. What came next, however, was truly remarkable.
He began preaching in the Church of England as a minister. But soon the crowds were too big to fill the churches. He also had the desire to go to Georgia as a missionary – and eventually he did go – taking 13 trips across the Atlantic in his lifetime. But his early preaching around England was breaking through to many and spreading the gospel like wildfire.
He did something that was almost unheard of at the time. He began open air preaching. In England at the time, the poor and working-class people had virtually no church, no gospel, and we're biblically illiterate. Whitefield felt compassion on them. They were like sheep without a shepherd. And so he broke the ice on a cold February day to a group of two hundred coal miners in South Wales. As he preached, the miners were so affected by the gospel that streams of tears left white troughs on their coal-blackened faces. Hundreds of them were brought under deep conviction and were thoroughly converted.
After this, Whitefield never stopped open air preaching for the rest of his life both in England and in America. After preaching to the coal miners, he began holding some thirty open air meetings a week, preaching multiple times a day. Sometimes the crowds reached 20 or 30 thousand people. Benjamin Franklin, a personal acquaintance of Whitefield's, one time took the pains to measure out one of his Philadelphia crowds. He measured that Whitefield's voice could be heard by 30,000 persons, that is, about three acres packed. One biographer said, these congregations "before the electrical amplification of sound, were undoubtedly the largest ever reached by a human voice in all history." (Dallimore)
Whitefield would proclaim the gospel tirelessly for over three decades. Whitefield's bold preaching woke up multitudes of people on both sides of the Atlantic. In England, there was an entirely revived spiritual climate. His open air preaching came to the masses like rain to thirsty ground. As he preached many people – from the very poor to the elite – were deeply changed.
On the other side of the Atlantic, God used Whitefield in America to bring about one of the largest scale revivals that the world has ever seen, The Great Awakening. Tens of thousands were saved, hundreds of new churches were planted, and Christian ministries began. One person at the time said it seemed as if "all the world were growing religious", you could scarcely walk down the street without hearing hymns being sung out of living room windows. George Whitefield was truly a remarkable man that the Lord used to change the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ, but again it's not about the man. He was the instrument God used – but it was God's power.
With man revival is impossible – but nothing is impossible with God. Is it possible for God to revive the church in Canada again? Is it possible for God to shine the light of Christ across our land brighter than we've ever seen it? It is. He is able. He has done this sort of thing before – even when it seemed so impossible back then. And He can use little people like us to do it. It's His power, it's His grace, and it's all for His glory. Let us pray in faith. Believing that God can and will turn us back to Him.
Lord, we ask for revival. Repair the ruins, O Lord. Restore our nation. Turn our hearts back to you – that we would see the name of Jesus lifted high over Canada from sea to sea. Have mercy on us O Lord. Amen.