Vernon Maxted

The Restoration of the Church Vernon Maxted

The Church was in the purpose of God before the creation (Ephesians 1:4-6, 9-11). It was conceived with Christ, was in gestation in his life and ministry, and was born at Pentecost. Beginning with 120 ordinary men and women who had walked with Jesus and were ?lled with the Spirit, the Lord worked through them with such power that their numbers increased from thousands to multitudes. Driven by persecution, they exploded out of Jerusalem to win converts and establish churches throughout the vast Roman Empire. They began a stream of in?uence that elevated Western culture and changed the course of world history. Today, our multiplied thousands of churches in America, in almost every community, are generally in decline. We are winning only gleanings of the vast harvest about us and lack the power of God to save our nation from the increasing moral confusion and depravity that are leading us to the sure judgment of Holy God. We need a return to the power of Pentecost! Revival, in God's purpose, is much more than reformation or renewal. It is a restoration of a church or churches to God's design modeled at Pentecost. What that means and requires is the thesis of this book.