January 12, 2025 • 28 mins
Discover the powerful stories behind history's most transformative revivals! In this episode of Revival Radio TV, host Gene Bailey welcomes special guest Vep Ellis to explore how his grandfather answered the call which ignited spiritual movements that changed the course of history. Be inspired to embrace your role in this generation's revival. Take notes—you won't want to miss these life-changing insights!
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(00:02):
In everygeneration there have been revivals,
massive moves of the Spirit
that changed the course of history.
In every revival,there were believers like you
who chose to answer the call
to become the one in their generation.
Discover your call to be the one
(00:23):
in your generation.
Welcome to RevivalRadio TV, I'm Gene Bailey.
Listen, today is one of those.You need to sit down.
Whatever you're doing, sit down.
Get your notebook out because you're goingto want to hear these stories.
Because I've got a special guest.Vep Ellis.
Junior. Sir, thank you for being here.
On Revival Radio TV.
(00:45):
There is so much historywith you and your family
and what God's done through the years.
You are prime prime candidate for revival.
So we wanted to get this.
We've been working ongetting our schedules lined up
for years, actually, now,I believe to be able to get yours.
So thank you for coming.
Let's start back in the beginningwith the Pentecostal history
(01:07):
of your great grandfather.
Tell me that story.
Well, how did he get saved, anyway?
Well, this is quite a story.
In the twilight
of the 19th century, as the woundsof the Civil War slowly knitted themselves
into scars across the American landscape,a curious tale began to unfold.
(01:32):
It's a story that invites usto ponder the nature of faith, destiny,
and the invisible threadsthat weave through our lives.
Picture, if you will, a young boynamed James Benton Ellis,
born into the harsh realities of a postwarSouth.
By the tender age of ten,he had already weathered storms
(01:52):
that would break many an adult spirit,the loss of both parents
leaving him adrift in a worldthat seemed indifferent to his plight.
But was it truly indifference,
or was there perhaps an unseen hand
guiding his path?
One day
a wandering preacher arrivedat the Ellis homestead.
(02:16):
Now, one might dismiss thisas mere happenstance,
but let us consider for a momentwhat divine purpose
was at work to bring two souls togetherat precisely the right moment.
This preacher, weatheredby years of traversing dusty roads
and preaching to hardened hearts,carried with him a satchel of Bibles.
(02:38):
They weren't merely books, but vesselsof something far more profound.
James's father,a man hardened by life's trials,
rebuffed the preacher's offer of a Bible.
But why such vehemence?
What is it about faith that can provokesuch strong
reactions,even in those who claim to have none?
(03:02):
He didn't want the Bible
in the house, and he didn't wantthe preacher in the house.
And so he told him, you'll have to leave.
And so the preacher decided, well,I'll give you a family Bible.
That way it'll be good for your children.
And my great grandfather,Jack Ellis, got offended
that he would think that he couldn'tafford the Bible if he wanted it.
(03:24):
Oh, yeah.
So he said,you've got to leave and leave now.
And so that old Methodistpreacher took his Bibles in his satchel,
walked out of the house and read the book.
It says that his mother rebuked his dad
for being so rudeto that Methodist preacher.
But that elderly preacherwalked out to his buggy
(03:47):
and started to get into his buggy.
And my great grandfather, who was nineright, followed him out to the book
at to the buggy and said, sir,what kind of book is that?
That makes my daddy so mad. Wow.
He said he said, I looked down,he looked down at me.
But in the book he said, you know,
(04:08):
I looked up and said,I sure would like to have one of those
in the message.
Preacher said, son,
is he took a New Testamentout of his satchel.
He said, I'm coming backin this part of the woods.
In several weeks.
And if you have read this book,
(04:29):
when I come back through here,I will give it to you.
And he stuck it in my greatgrandfather's overall back pocket,
and he road it off.
Young James, watching from the shadows,
was drawn to this mysterious bookthat seemed to hold such power.
(04:49):
What compelled him to follow the preacher?
Was it simple, childish curiosity?
Or was he responding to a callthat resonated beyond
the realm of the physical?
Under the vast canopy of stars,James began
a nightly ritualof reading the New Testament by firelight.
One might ask,what drives a child to such dedication?
(05:12):
Is it possible that in those quietmoments, as the flickering flames
danced acrossthe pages, James was tapping into
something ancient and profound?
Was it that still small voice calling him?
When the preacher returned and foundthat James had not only read the book,
but internalized its message,he was astounded.
(05:35):
But should we be surprised?
Or should we insteadwonder at the capacity of the human spirit
to connect with ideas in the word of Godthat transcend our everyday existence?
The tale suggeststhat James's official moment
of finding faith came laterwithin the walls of a church.
But I invite you to consider,had the true transformation
(05:58):
not already occurred on that hillsideunder the silent watch of the stars?
What is it about solitude and naturethat can sometimes
allow us to hear that still small voice,moving us
to forge a connectionto the divine than any man made structure.
As wereflect on James Benton Ellis's story,
(06:19):
we're left with the revelationthat resonate through the ages.
What truly ignites the spark of faith?
Is it just words on a page? No.
It's the very words of our creatorthat resonate in our hearts,
given as a gift of lifefrom the kindness of a stranger
or something far more ineffable.
(06:41):
In the end, perhaps the greatest mysteryis not what happened on that hillside,
but how God called this young manfor his purpose.
He would be instrumentalin spreading the spark of revival
that began in Azusa Streetand spread throughout the South
by this young man who found Godalone in the woods by firelight,
(07:02):
in the pages of a little wornNew Testament that would change the world.
He believed the book.
He believed what was in the New Testament,
but he didn't know much about faithor how to activate his faith.
And he sought to be safe.
You know, they used to tarry a lot. Yes,
he said, I went to church.
(07:23):
They were having a meeting.
I went, I went to the altar every night,and I'd grown in my own, and I would pray.
But he saidI couldn't pray through. Right.
But they didn't understand.
We're so blessed todayto have the understanding that we have
not that we understand everything,but we have so much more understanding
than they did.
(07:43):
But he knew it was for him,so he kept praying, and several nights
he would finallyhe said, when I prayed that last night,
he said,I felt like I was going into hell.
If he said, I felt we got a big, dark,deep, dark.
He's coming over me.
And all of a suddenI heard a voice says, you're saved.
Get up.
And he said, I stood up.
(08:03):
He said, where am I?
What have I been doing?
Yeah.
He said, I'm saved.
And he said, that was the beginning.
Wow. And he said,
those weeks that he spent
getting up at nightand reading the New Testament, he had
he had developed a plan of Biblereading and prayer
(08:25):
and singingthat he maintained all of his life.
So it all started with James Benton Ellis.
And I'm proud to say I have my middlename is Benton.
Yeah. That's great.
Well, I'm just I'm sitting herelistening to the story.
This is amazing.
You know, of course,now you think about a nine year old again,
breaking out of the houseand building the fire over the hill.
(08:48):
And that would be scary enough as it is.
But while the the commitment.
Do you know what his dad,you're your great great grandfather.
Well,how did he respond to him with his Bible?
Well, when he came home
after receiving his salvationand and getting the that confidence.
And then he was born again,he went home and told his dad,
(09:11):
and his dad just lookedand said, well, I hope you can live it.
He said, I,
I expected a better reactionthan I received, he said.
But my mother was very pleased.
He said it wasn't long after thatthat we started to go on to church.
Occasionally they would go into Methodistchurches, right?
(09:33):
That's where he was going.
In fact, when he was 13,he started teaching a boys class.
How about that?
And the class doubled
for friends coming from other churches
that he played, played withwould come to come to that boy's class.
And he taught the boysclass at the Methodist Church.
(09:54):
They werethat was in the area. That's amazing.
And when he was 17 or 18,
he was teaching a young man young man's
class.
I mean, because he is so saturated himself
with the Word of God, he can teach.
And he did receive a second blessing.
(10:16):
He understoodthere were some holiness people,
and he was nine when he was saved, rightwithin a year later, maybe.
I'm not sure what the sequence was.
Or two years later,he heard about the holiness group.
There were people preaching holiness,sanctification, a sacred, definite word.
And, he started seeking the blessing.
(10:37):
And he got that blessing as well.
And then it wasn't too long.
I heard about the Pentecostal blessing
he had been already.
He had already received his,
exhorting lessons, you might say.
And so he about,
(10:57):
I think if I remember the dates,it was after, it was after 1900.
It was between 1900 and 1910
that, Reverend Barclay
came through blunt County,and that area was preaching
on the Holy Spirit and Pentecost,
(11:19):
and he heard about it,
but he wasn't quite sure about it.
So he started kind of investigatingabout that, and he studied about it,
and he knew it was scriptural.
What a voice inside his head and said,
if you get involved with these people,your ministry is over.
You know, and so
(11:40):
and so he would seek the blessing
and the Holy Spirit,baptism of the Holy Spirit.
And yeah, it went to a few of the meetingshe was seeking, but he wouldn't receive.
And he had heard about Burkhalter coming.
And so he went to the church,
and he and his wifewalked into the church.
(12:02):
And it actually,I think, was a methodist church.
And, before his wife got to her seat,
she was baptized in the Holy Spirit.
And he said I was following her.
I was just quick to receive it.
But he said, when that was knelt,when I knelt at the altar,
I would seekit, seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
(12:23):
And then some time later,they had asked him.
He had pastored that church for a while.
As we as the days go byand the years go by.
And he wasit was about, and it was after 1910.
But he he would fill in for the pastor.
He did, you know, he wouldhe would pastor some and,
(12:44):
and he was out evangelizing.
That was his maincalling was evangelizing.
And he went to this meetingbecause he was invited.
But the invitation was,you need to come down here and straighten
these people out. Oh, really? Because
they're gibberish.
They're saying they're speaking. Oh, yeah.
(13:04):
You know, and he said, so he's here.
I went down thereand I sat right behind the preacher.
I was on the platformbecause I, I had pastored there some and,
and he had pastors that you need to speak,you need to say something to the people.
So he got up and he told me, said,now I'm not received the blessing,
but I will have to say it in scriptural.
(13:26):
And when the preacher finished preaching,he's up behind the pulpit.
Be in to seek it. I said, yeah.
And he said, I received the blessing,but not when that committed.
Struggling.
He sure the devil kept telling me,you receive this blessing.
You don't preach. No.
The message you never hadyour career in ministry is over.
(13:48):
But he said, I finally said,I heard a voice say it to me.
Behold, I have set before youan open door, and no man can shut it.
Yeah, and that's you receive his blessing.
So take us to the Church of God.
How did that had the connection there?
Well, it was sometime after thatthat, that church, you God
(14:08):
preacher came through thereand let me build it up to this.
He was pastoring that one church,and he came to pastor that church.
And when he did, the board met himand said, we hear that you have received.
That experience,
baptism of the Holy Spirit.
(14:30):
So the board not just said,you can't preach here this Sunday morning.
So he looked at him and said, well,
I tell you what,where is the line at this property?
Stop.
And the board says at the road,
he said he said, I looked across thereand he turned to the people.
(14:50):
He said it was the biggest crowdwe'd had ever had.
I guess the word had gotten out.
Yeah, I bet it had.
And he said, well, folks, I've been toldI can't preach in the building today.
So across the road over there,there's a stump
I'm going across there this morningto preach my morning message.
If you want to hear me, you follow meacross there and I will preach.
(15:14):
The whole congregationfollowed him across the road
to hear himpreach that Sunday morning message.
The deacons of the churchcame up to him and said, well,
we don'thave anybody left, so you might as well
come back over here and preach.
So you went back into the church andhe preached, and it was just a blessing.
(15:36):
But how he got into the Church of God,that same pastor guy
that he first hear, heard preachabout the Pentecostal experience
had invited some people from aroundin Tennessee, from the Church of God.
And he they invited himto join the Church of God.
And when he did, of course,he immediately began to preach.
(16:00):
And all over Alabamahe had 27 churches under him.
He was an overseer.
The assignment to be overseerover the Alabama Wright region.
Region. Yeah.
And he walked well,he said there were times I had to walk
27 miles on a Sunday to preachand to all the churches
that were under my he didn't have aany other way, as he was said.
(16:23):
I had no other way of conveyingconveyance.
Right.
He said, I walked, but,he eventually became a legend
and the Pentecostal and Church of God,and he was the third
president of what then was calledLee Bible College is now Lee University.
Right.
And, but he was served on the executivecommittee of the Supreme Council,
(16:47):
but he started churchesall over Alabama, and he was shot at
he was thrown in jail.
But he said,I never missed one of my assignments.
How about that?
One time he was put in jail
because they told him, you can't come hereand preach this message in this county.
(17:10):
He said, well,I've already got my tent up.
So they came and arrested him,put him in jail,
and somebody had called the governor,and the governor had called the
the sheriff and the mayor and said,you leave that man alone.
So they let him out of jail,
and he went back and preached the preach,the first message.
And that tent that they had set up for himto preach in.
(17:31):
And, at that same meeting there
in Alabama near Straight Creek,
there was a man that came, into the
into the tent on an afternoonriding a horse, and rode
the horse into the tent and shotthree shots toward him.
And he missed.
(17:53):
Wow. Andthen they had the meeting that night.
I bet youI bet they had a meeting that the help me.
He said. Oh,he said the crowds got bigger.
Better.
They got bigger every time.
And he said another timeat that same meeting went for weeks.
He said a man came in afterthe meeting was over.
He wanted to talk to the preacher.
He said, I had a singer with me.
(18:15):
So we were staying in the tent.
And so he said, this man came into
the into the tent,wanted to talk to the preacher,
and he said,I can see the man had either a dagger or
some large knife up his sleeve.
Right.
And he said, the spirit of the Lord,the voice of God said to me,
(18:39):
I ask him, what do you want?
And what did he said,I won't talk to you outside.
He said, what's the Lord said to me?
Follow him.
The do not be afraid.
If you show fear, he will kill you.
He said.
I walked behind that man outside the tent
and he said I was three feet behind him,
(19:00):
and he turned around and lunged at mefive times, and he said the knife stopped
within six inches of my chest,six inches five times.
The man had a wild look on your face.
He was shocked.
It was if some power stopped him. Well.
The man turned after five lunges and ran,jumped over the hedges and ran away,
(19:21):
he said.
The next night, a tall, lanky man
came into the service, said,he looks familiar to me.
But it was dark then that he cameand he said the man came to the altar.
After the message he said, I went down andknelt beside him, began to pray with him
and he was groaning and he was grievingand he was reaping weeping.
(19:45):
He finally said,I've got a confession to make.
I've got a confession to make.
The man finally
said, I came here to kill you yesterday.
And he said,I tried to kill you five times.
I lunged at you.
It was if someone had stopped my arm orI hit a wall every time I'd come at you.
And he said, I ran away.
But he said,I've never been a religious man.
(20:07):
I've never believed in a God.
He said I was paid to kill you. Wow.
And he said,but how would to receive salvation?
What? You're talking aboutthe man who got saved that night.
How about that powerful story?
It is a powerful. Another.
Another time. Well, who paid him?
Do you ever find out?
(20:27):
I didn't, I didn't find out,but think about it. Is.
And and there are many stories like thisin this book.
In fact,let me just throw this an aside here.
Back when Doctor Hagan started preachingat Sheridan End about the word of faith
and speaking of faith,and he was criticized a lot
(20:48):
and and the word of faith was criticizeda lot.
Oh, yeah.
At I told my dad, don't my brothers.
I said, you know what?
He's not doing any differentthan what my great grandfather did.
That's right.And they were having miracles
and the crowds were growing,but they had opposition.
There were a lot of opposition.
And this one meeting they had
(21:09):
the the physiciansand the county didn't want him there.
Most of them,when he'd go to a community or a town
to preach,he'd be met with leaders of the town.
And the sheriff sometimes said,you can't press that word here.
You can't preach it here.
And he he said, well, I'm going to.
Yeah, you know, but he had set up his tent
(21:32):
and, the
doctors in the community gathered upthe worst invalid in the county
and brought it to his meeting.
And he said when they brought herand they brought her in an armchair
and brought her right down the aisleand set her up at the altar.
(21:53):
And you can hear.
You can hear a pin drop, everybody.
What this is all about.
It was challenging.
We're going to see for you who you are.
If you say if you can do what you say,you can do is.
I walked down to the lady and I said,what can I do for you?
She said, I believe you can hear me.
Can you hear me?
He said, no, I can't hear you right.
(22:14):
But the God I serve can.
And then he said,
are you saved?
She said, I got religion 40 years ago
and said, well, are you still saved?
She says, it's none of your business.
Yeah.
He said, well, I can't do anything for you
(22:34):
until you change the spiritwith which you're in.
You get to change your spirit,change your attitude right?
But she and she challenged him.
He said, well,I have a proposition for you.
If I pray for you and God heals you,
will you confess?
Will you testify
(22:55):
that the Lord healed you?
Will you accept that proposition?
She said,
I guess
so. He prayed for her.
She got up out of the chair
and walked out, didn't say a word,just kept turning around looking at him.
(23:15):
He was still standing at the altar.
She walked for a walk out.
Walk out?
She went out to get in her buggyand to be and to go home.
Well, they had obvioushad a great meeting that day.
I'm sure they did.
The next nightI could have been Sunday morning.
I can't remember what it was.
He's in the pulpit
and she comes to the to the tentwhere they're having this service,
(23:40):
and she runs down the aisleand she says, I'm saved.
I'm saved, I'm healed.
He said, well, when did this happen?
She said, when I was in the corn fieldpraying this morning, the Lord saved me.
How about that?
And he said, I experiencedmy first example of the gift of healing
that hit operating through him,then through him, the night before,
(24:03):
because she was she really wasn'tmuch of a believer, right?
But he said, I experiencedand saw the gift of healings.
I made the miracle.
Working of God is real.
One more story about James BentonEllis, my great grandfather.
Okay. He was thrown in jail.
Really? In Jacksonville, Alabama.
(24:25):
And,
when he was in the jail,he he began to preach to the prisoners.
And almost all of them were saved.
And then and they and of course,
they let him out.
Interesting story, years laterhe was walking down the streets
of Birmingham, Alabama,and a man walks up to him and said,
(24:48):
Reverend Ellis,
you don't remember me,
but I've been preaching the gospelfor years.
And I was one of the prisonersthat got saved.
How about Jacksonville, Alabama?
Now, about about seven years ago,my brothers and I did a...we
had a homecoming and we and a sister Judy,
(25:09):
and we went to Jacksonville, Alabama.
My brother David went into the jails.
Is this the jailthat was here around 1930?
Something like that. And they said, yes,why do you ask?
This is where my great grandfather wasimprisoned here for preaching the gospel.
What's his name? That lady said,
(25:30):
James Benton Ellis.
She said, I've heard of him.
All those years later,all those years later, they still remember
the revivals of James Benton Ellisafter all these years.
And then. Amazing.
All right, so that's just the beginning.
That's the beginning of the story.
And the show's almost over.
(25:51):
James Benton I'm still stuck backin a nine year old boy getting a Bible.
I am too.
You know, I'm like, wow, what a greatwhat a great legacy your family has.
But listen, the thing you know,we always talk about here on Revival Radio
is that you can be the one.
And not to discount what you think,because you never know what God's doing.
(26:12):
Just like thatlittle boy who wanted a Bible.
And he got it, and he read it.
And look what God did in his life.It didn't.
It wasn't all roses all along the way.
No, but hehe came through the other side.
So I want to pray for you real quick.
Heavenly father,thank you for everyone watching.
Let us take today the beginningof the story of how we can be the one,
(26:34):
and to not despise small beginnings,but to realize who you've made us to be.
Or I thank you for these great saintsthat we talk about.
I thank you for James Bennett Ellisand what he's done.
And, father, I thank you
that as we go forward in our week,we'll remember this story
and how God reached outand touched a nine year old boy.
(26:56):
In Jesus name, Amen.
All right, listen,there's a phone number on the screen.
You can call if you need prayer.You want to.
Maybe you want to experience salvation
like that nine year old boyfigured out when he read that Bible.
Go call the numberand let people reach out to you.
We got some qualified ministersright there on the other end.
Until next time.
We're going to keep this story going.
(27:17):
It has just started.
You have no ideawhat we're about to get into. Thank you.
And we'll see you next week.
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(27:39):
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(28:01):
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Let's be the partners that we need to be.
And let's see God do something amazing.
In everygeneration there have been revivals,
massive moves of the Spirit
that changed the course of history.
In every revival,there were believers like you
who chose to answer the call
to become the one in their generation.
Discover your call to be the one
(00:23):
in your generation.
Welcome to RevivalRadio TV, I'm Gene Bailey.
Listen, today is one of those.You need to sit down.
Whatever you're doing, sit down.
Get your notebook out because you're goingto want to hear these stories.
Because I've got a special guest.Vep Ellis.
Junior. Sir, thank you for being here.
On Revival Radio TV.
(00:45):
There is so much historywith you and your family
and what God's done through the years.
You are prime prime candidate for revival.
So we wanted to get this.
We've been working ongetting our schedules lined up
for years, actually, now,I believe to be able to get yours.
So thank you for coming.
Let's start back in the beginningwith the Pentecostal history
(01:07):
of your great grandfather.
Tell me that story.
Well, how did he get saved, anyway?
Well, this is quite a story.
In the twilight
of the 19th century, as the woundsof the Civil War slowly knitted themselves
into scars across the American landscape,a curious tale began to unfold.
(01:32):
It's a story that invites usto ponder the nature of faith, destiny,
and the invisible threadsthat weave through our lives.
Picture, if you will, a young boynamed James Benton Ellis,
born into the harsh realities of a postwarSouth.
By the tender age of ten,he had already weathered storms
(01:52):
that would break many an adult spirit,the loss of both parents
leaving him adrift in a worldthat seemed indifferent to his plight.
But was it truly indifference,
or was there perhaps an unseen hand
guiding his path?
One day
a wandering preacher arrivedat the Ellis homestead.
(02:16):
Now, one might dismiss thisas mere happenstance,
but let us consider for a momentwhat divine purpose
was at work to bring two souls togetherat precisely the right moment.
This preacher, weatheredby years of traversing dusty roads
and preaching to hardened hearts,carried with him a satchel of Bibles.
(02:38):
They weren't merely books, but vesselsof something far more profound.
James's father,a man hardened by life's trials,
rebuffed the preacher's offer of a Bible.
But why such vehemence?
What is it about faith that can provokesuch strong
reactions,even in those who claim to have none?
(03:02):
He didn't want the Bible
in the house, and he didn't wantthe preacher in the house.
And so he told him, you'll have to leave.
And so the preacher decided, well,I'll give you a family Bible.
That way it'll be good for your children.
And my great grandfather,Jack Ellis, got offended
that he would think that he couldn'tafford the Bible if he wanted it.
(03:24):
Oh, yeah.
So he said,you've got to leave and leave now.
And so that old Methodistpreacher took his Bibles in his satchel,
walked out of the house and read the book.
It says that his mother rebuked his dad
for being so rudeto that Methodist preacher.
But that elderly preacherwalked out to his buggy
(03:47):
and started to get into his buggy.
And my great grandfather, who was nineright, followed him out to the book
at to the buggy and said, sir,what kind of book is that?
That makes my daddy so mad. Wow.
He said he said, I looked down,he looked down at me.
But in the book he said, you know,
(04:08):
I looked up and said,I sure would like to have one of those
in the message.
Preacher said, son,
is he took a New Testamentout of his satchel.
He said, I'm coming backin this part of the woods.
In several weeks.
And if you have read this book,
(04:29):
when I come back through here,I will give it to you.
And he stuck it in my greatgrandfather's overall back pocket,
and he road it off.
Young James, watching from the shadows,
was drawn to this mysterious bookthat seemed to hold such power.
(04:49):
What compelled him to follow the preacher?
Was it simple, childish curiosity?
Or was he responding to a callthat resonated beyond
the realm of the physical?
Under the vast canopy of stars,James began
a nightly ritualof reading the New Testament by firelight.
One might ask,what drives a child to such dedication?
(05:12):
Is it possible that in those quietmoments, as the flickering flames
danced acrossthe pages, James was tapping into
something ancient and profound?
Was it that still small voice calling him?
When the preacher returned and foundthat James had not only read the book,
but internalized its message,he was astounded.
(05:35):
But should we be surprised?
Or should we insteadwonder at the capacity of the human spirit
to connect with ideas in the word of Godthat transcend our everyday existence?
The tale suggeststhat James's official moment
of finding faith came laterwithin the walls of a church.
But I invite you to consider,had the true transformation
(05:58):
not already occurred on that hillsideunder the silent watch of the stars?
What is it about solitude and naturethat can sometimes
allow us to hear that still small voice,moving us
to forge a connectionto the divine than any man made structure.
As wereflect on James Benton Ellis's story,
(06:19):
we're left with the revelationthat resonate through the ages.
What truly ignites the spark of faith?
Is it just words on a page? No.
It's the very words of our creatorthat resonate in our hearts,
given as a gift of lifefrom the kindness of a stranger
or something far more ineffable.
(06:41):
In the end, perhaps the greatest mysteryis not what happened on that hillside,
but how God called this young manfor his purpose.
He would be instrumentalin spreading the spark of revival
that began in Azusa Streetand spread throughout the South
by this young man who found Godalone in the woods by firelight,
(07:02):
in the pages of a little wornNew Testament that would change the world.
He believed the book.
He believed what was in the New Testament,
but he didn't know much about faithor how to activate his faith.
And he sought to be safe.
You know, they used to tarry a lot. Yes,
he said, I went to church.
(07:23):
They were having a meeting.
I went, I went to the altar every night,and I'd grown in my own, and I would pray.
But he saidI couldn't pray through. Right.
But they didn't understand.
We're so blessed todayto have the understanding that we have
not that we understand everything,but we have so much more understanding
than they did.
(07:43):
But he knew it was for him,so he kept praying, and several nights
he would finallyhe said, when I prayed that last night,
he said,I felt like I was going into hell.
If he said, I felt we got a big, dark,deep, dark.
He's coming over me.
And all of a suddenI heard a voice says, you're saved.
Get up.
And he said, I stood up.
(08:03):
He said, where am I?
What have I been doing?
Yeah.
He said, I'm saved.
And he said, that was the beginning.
Wow. And he said,
those weeks that he spent
getting up at nightand reading the New Testament, he had
he had developed a plan of Biblereading and prayer
(08:25):
and singingthat he maintained all of his life.
So it all started with James Benton Ellis.
And I'm proud to say I have my middlename is Benton.
Yeah. That's great.
Well, I'm just I'm sitting herelistening to the story.
This is amazing.
You know, of course,now you think about a nine year old again,
breaking out of the houseand building the fire over the hill.
(08:48):
And that would be scary enough as it is.
But while the the commitment.
Do you know what his dad,you're your great great grandfather.
Well,how did he respond to him with his Bible?
Well, when he came home
after receiving his salvationand and getting the that confidence.
And then he was born again,he went home and told his dad,
(09:11):
and his dad just lookedand said, well, I hope you can live it.
He said, I,
I expected a better reactionthan I received, he said.
But my mother was very pleased.
He said it wasn't long after thatthat we started to go on to church.
Occasionally they would go into Methodistchurches, right?
(09:33):
That's where he was going.
In fact, when he was 13,he started teaching a boys class.
How about that?
And the class doubled
for friends coming from other churches
that he played, played withwould come to come to that boy's class.
And he taught the boysclass at the Methodist Church.
(09:54):
They werethat was in the area. That's amazing.
And when he was 17 or 18,
he was teaching a young man young man's
class.
I mean, because he is so saturated himself
with the Word of God, he can teach.
And he did receive a second blessing.
(10:16):
He understoodthere were some holiness people,
and he was nine when he was saved, rightwithin a year later, maybe.
I'm not sure what the sequence was.
Or two years later,he heard about the holiness group.
There were people preaching holiness,sanctification, a sacred, definite word.
And, he started seeking the blessing.
(10:37):
And he got that blessing as well.
And then it wasn't too long.
I heard about the Pentecostal blessing
he had been already.
He had already received his,
exhorting lessons, you might say.
And so he about,
(10:57):
I think if I remember the dates,it was after, it was after 1900.
It was between 1900 and 1910
that, Reverend Barclay
came through blunt County,and that area was preaching
on the Holy Spirit and Pentecost,
(11:19):
and he heard about it,
but he wasn't quite sure about it.
So he started kind of investigatingabout that, and he studied about it,
and he knew it was scriptural.
What a voice inside his head and said,
if you get involved with these people,your ministry is over.
You know, and so
(11:40):
and so he would seek the blessing
and the Holy Spirit,baptism of the Holy Spirit.
And yeah, it went to a few of the meetingshe was seeking, but he wouldn't receive.
And he had heard about Burkhalter coming.
And so he went to the church,
and he and his wifewalked into the church.
(12:02):
And it actually,I think, was a methodist church.
And, before his wife got to her seat,
she was baptized in the Holy Spirit.
And he said I was following her.
I was just quick to receive it.
But he said, when that was knelt,when I knelt at the altar,
I would seekit, seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
(12:23):
And then some time later,they had asked him.
He had pastored that church for a while.
As we as the days go byand the years go by.
And he wasit was about, and it was after 1910.
But he he would fill in for the pastor.
He did, you know, he wouldhe would pastor some and,
(12:44):
and he was out evangelizing.
That was his maincalling was evangelizing.
And he went to this meetingbecause he was invited.
But the invitation was,you need to come down here and straighten
these people out. Oh, really? Because
they're gibberish.
They're saying they're speaking. Oh, yeah.
(13:04):
You know, and he said, so he's here.
I went down thereand I sat right behind the preacher.
I was on the platformbecause I, I had pastored there some and,
and he had pastors that you need to speak,you need to say something to the people.
So he got up and he told me, said,now I'm not received the blessing,
but I will have to say it in scriptural.
(13:26):
And when the preacher finished preaching,he's up behind the pulpit.
Be in to seek it. I said, yeah.
And he said, I received the blessing,but not when that committed.
Struggling.
He sure the devil kept telling me,you receive this blessing.
You don't preach. No.
The message you never hadyour career in ministry is over.
(13:48):
But he said, I finally said,I heard a voice say it to me.
Behold, I have set before youan open door, and no man can shut it.
Yeah, and that's you receive his blessing.
So take us to the Church of God.
How did that had the connection there?
Well, it was sometime after thatthat, that church, you God
(14:08):
preacher came through thereand let me build it up to this.
He was pastoring that one church,and he came to pastor that church.
And when he did, the board met himand said, we hear that you have received.
That experience,
baptism of the Holy Spirit.
(14:30):
So the board not just said,you can't preach here this Sunday morning.
So he looked at him and said, well,
I tell you what,where is the line at this property?
Stop.
And the board says at the road,
he said he said, I looked across thereand he turned to the people.
(14:50):
He said it was the biggest crowdwe'd had ever had.
I guess the word had gotten out.
Yeah, I bet it had.
And he said, well, folks, I've been toldI can't preach in the building today.
So across the road over there,there's a stump
I'm going across there this morningto preach my morning message.
If you want to hear me, you follow meacross there and I will preach.
(15:14):
The whole congregationfollowed him across the road
to hear himpreach that Sunday morning message.
The deacons of the churchcame up to him and said, well,
we don'thave anybody left, so you might as well
come back over here and preach.
So you went back into the church andhe preached, and it was just a blessing.
(15:36):
But how he got into the Church of God,that same pastor guy
that he first hear, heard preachabout the Pentecostal experience
had invited some people from aroundin Tennessee, from the Church of God.
And he they invited himto join the Church of God.
And when he did, of course,he immediately began to preach.
(16:00):
And all over Alabamahe had 27 churches under him.
He was an overseer.
The assignment to be overseerover the Alabama Wright region.
Region. Yeah.
And he walked well,he said there were times I had to walk
27 miles on a Sunday to preachand to all the churches
that were under my he didn't have aany other way, as he was said.
(16:23):
I had no other way of conveyingconveyance.
Right.
He said, I walked, but,he eventually became a legend
and the Pentecostal and Church of God,and he was the third
president of what then was calledLee Bible College is now Lee University.
Right.
And, but he was served on the executivecommittee of the Supreme Council,
(16:47):
but he started churchesall over Alabama, and he was shot at
he was thrown in jail.
But he said,I never missed one of my assignments.
How about that?
One time he was put in jail
because they told him, you can't come hereand preach this message in this county.
(17:10):
He said, well,I've already got my tent up.
So they came and arrested him,put him in jail,
and somebody had called the governor,and the governor had called the
the sheriff and the mayor and said,you leave that man alone.
So they let him out of jail,
and he went back and preached the preach,the first message.
And that tent that they had set up for himto preach in.
(17:31):
And, at that same meeting there
in Alabama near Straight Creek,
there was a man that came, into the
into the tent on an afternoonriding a horse, and rode
the horse into the tent and shotthree shots toward him.
And he missed.
(17:53):
Wow. Andthen they had the meeting that night.
I bet youI bet they had a meeting that the help me.
He said. Oh,he said the crowds got bigger.
Better.
They got bigger every time.
And he said another timeat that same meeting went for weeks.
He said a man came in afterthe meeting was over.
He wanted to talk to the preacher.
He said, I had a singer with me.
(18:15):
So we were staying in the tent.
And so he said, this man came into
the into the tent,wanted to talk to the preacher,
and he said,I can see the man had either a dagger or
some large knife up his sleeve.
Right.
And he said, the spirit of the Lord,the voice of God said to me,
(18:39):
I ask him, what do you want?
And what did he said,I won't talk to you outside.
He said, what's the Lord said to me?
Follow him.
The do not be afraid.
If you show fear, he will kill you.
He said.
I walked behind that man outside the tent
and he said I was three feet behind him,
(19:00):
and he turned around and lunged at mefive times, and he said the knife stopped
within six inches of my chest,six inches five times.
The man had a wild look on your face.
He was shocked.
It was if some power stopped him. Well.
The man turned after five lunges and ran,jumped over the hedges and ran away,
(19:21):
he said.
The next night, a tall, lanky man
came into the service, said,he looks familiar to me.
But it was dark then that he cameand he said the man came to the altar.
After the message he said, I went down andknelt beside him, began to pray with him
and he was groaning and he was grievingand he was reaping weeping.
(19:45):
He finally said,I've got a confession to make.
I've got a confession to make.
The man finally
said, I came here to kill you yesterday.
And he said,I tried to kill you five times.
I lunged at you.
It was if someone had stopped my arm orI hit a wall every time I'd come at you.
And he said, I ran away.
But he said,I've never been a religious man.
(20:07):
I've never believed in a God.
He said I was paid to kill you. Wow.
And he said,but how would to receive salvation?
What? You're talking aboutthe man who got saved that night.
How about that powerful story?
It is a powerful. Another.
Another time. Well, who paid him?
Do you ever find out?
(20:27):
I didn't, I didn't find out,but think about it. Is.
And and there are many stories like thisin this book.
In fact,let me just throw this an aside here.
Back when Doctor Hagan started preachingat Sheridan End about the word of faith
and speaking of faith,and he was criticized a lot
(20:48):
and and the word of faith was criticizeda lot.
Oh, yeah.
At I told my dad, don't my brothers.
I said, you know what?
He's not doing any differentthan what my great grandfather did.
That's right.And they were having miracles
and the crowds were growing,but they had opposition.
There were a lot of opposition.
And this one meeting they had
(21:09):
the the physiciansand the county didn't want him there.
Most of them,when he'd go to a community or a town
to preach,he'd be met with leaders of the town.
And the sheriff sometimes said,you can't press that word here.
You can't preach it here.
And he he said, well, I'm going to.
Yeah, you know, but he had set up his tent
(21:32):
and, the
doctors in the community gathered upthe worst invalid in the county
and brought it to his meeting.
And he said when they brought herand they brought her in an armchair
and brought her right down the aisleand set her up at the altar.
(21:53):
And you can hear.
You can hear a pin drop, everybody.
What this is all about.
It was challenging.
We're going to see for you who you are.
If you say if you can do what you say,you can do is.
I walked down to the lady and I said,what can I do for you?
She said, I believe you can hear me.
Can you hear me?
He said, no, I can't hear you right.
(22:14):
But the God I serve can.
And then he said,
are you saved?
She said, I got religion 40 years ago
and said, well, are you still saved?
She says, it's none of your business.
Yeah.
He said, well, I can't do anything for you
(22:34):
until you change the spiritwith which you're in.
You get to change your spirit,change your attitude right?
But she and she challenged him.
He said, well,I have a proposition for you.
If I pray for you and God heals you,
will you confess?
Will you testify
(22:55):
that the Lord healed you?
Will you accept that proposition?
She said,
I guess
so. He prayed for her.
She got up out of the chair
and walked out, didn't say a word,just kept turning around looking at him.
(23:15):
He was still standing at the altar.
She walked for a walk out.
Walk out?
She went out to get in her buggyand to be and to go home.
Well, they had obvioushad a great meeting that day.
I'm sure they did.
The next nightI could have been Sunday morning.
I can't remember what it was.
He's in the pulpit
and she comes to the to the tentwhere they're having this service,
(23:40):
and she runs down the aisleand she says, I'm saved.
I'm saved, I'm healed.
He said, well, when did this happen?
She said, when I was in the corn fieldpraying this morning, the Lord saved me.
How about that?
And he said, I experiencedmy first example of the gift of healing
that hit operating through him,then through him, the night before,
(24:03):
because she was she really wasn'tmuch of a believer, right?
But he said, I experiencedand saw the gift of healings.
I made the miracle.
Working of God is real.
One more story about James BentonEllis, my great grandfather.
Okay. He was thrown in jail.
Really? In Jacksonville, Alabama.
(24:25):
And,
when he was in the jail,he he began to preach to the prisoners.
And almost all of them were saved.
And then and they and of course,
they let him out.
Interesting story, years laterhe was walking down the streets
of Birmingham, Alabama,and a man walks up to him and said,
(24:48):
Reverend Ellis,
you don't remember me,
but I've been preaching the gospelfor years.
And I was one of the prisonersthat got saved.
How about Jacksonville, Alabama?
Now, about about seven years ago,my brothers and I did a...we
had a homecoming and we and a sister Judy,
(25:09):
and we went to Jacksonville, Alabama.
My brother David went into the jails.
Is this the jailthat was here around 1930?
Something like that. And they said, yes,why do you ask?
This is where my great grandfather wasimprisoned here for preaching the gospel.
What's his name? That lady said,
(25:30):
James Benton Ellis.
She said, I've heard of him.
All those years later,all those years later, they still remember
the revivals of James Benton Ellisafter all these years.
And then. Amazing.
All right, so that's just the beginning.
That's the beginning of the story.
And the show's almost over.
(25:51):
James Benton I'm still stuck backin a nine year old boy getting a Bible.
I am too.
You know, I'm like, wow, what a greatwhat a great legacy your family has.
But listen, the thing you know,we always talk about here on Revival Radio
is that you can be the one.
And not to discount what you think,because you never know what God's doing.
(26:12):
Just like thatlittle boy who wanted a Bible.
And he got it, and he read it.
And look what God did in his life.It didn't.
It wasn't all roses all along the way.
No, but hehe came through the other side.
So I want to pray for you real quick.
Heavenly father,thank you for everyone watching.
Let us take today the beginningof the story of how we can be the one,
(26:34):
and to not despise small beginnings,but to realize who you've made us to be.
Or I thank you for these great saintsthat we talk about.
I thank you for James Bennett Ellisand what he's done.
And, father, I thank you
that as we go forward in our week,we'll remember this story
and how God reached outand touched a nine year old boy.
(26:56):
In Jesus name, Amen.
All right, listen,there's a phone number on the screen.
You can call if you need prayer.You want to.
Maybe you want to experience salvation
like that nine year old boyfigured out when he read that Bible.
Go call the numberand let people reach out to you.
We got some qualified ministersright there on the other end.
Until next time.
We're going to keep this story going.
(27:17):
It has just started.
You have no ideawhat we're about to get into. Thank you.
And we'll see you next week.
If you would
like to, to be a partand give your financial donation.
It's very simple.
If you want to mail a check, just simplymake it out to revival radio TV, Fort
Worth, Texas 76192.
(27:39):
That's all the address you need.
If you want to text your gift,just text it to 36609
with the code RRTV in the dollar amountand we'll get it.
And of courselike to pick up the phone and call
and give us a call (877) 281-6297
and tell them I want to make a donationto help Revival Radio TV, stay on air
(28:01):
and be a part, not just stay on the air,but you continue to expand.
You continue to seeGod do something in this world.
And of course, you can always go online,you to use the website,
go to govictory.com/RRTV.
It's right there on your screen.
Let's be the partners that we need to be.
And let's see God do something amazing.
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