The Day The Fire Fell

Unity is so important, folks. Unity in the body. Because the Holy Spirit is never divided.

Anytime there's division, it's often our own working and our own doing. And the title of the series has been Rend the Heavens Based on Isaiah 64. When it was actually a prayer, Isaiah prayed, he said, oh God, would You rend the heavens? Would You rip open the heavens? Come down.

It's that desire for more of God. And we've been talking about the principles of revival. Revival is when God brings spiritual resuscitation to a church.

A church that is dying or an individual that is dying. Have any of you been there? The fire's fading. The passion is also dwindling.

And we pray, God, would You come and rend the heavens? Come down and visit Your people again. Give us that passion and that desire. This evening, the title is, I'm just going to get right to the point, The Day the Fire Fell.

The Day the Fire Fell. What do I mean by that? Well, all of us should be seeking that moment where the fire of God comes upon us. In the Scripture, we've been talking about a lot, if you seek Me with all of your heart, you will find Me.

If you seek Me, there's a yearning, there's a desire for more of God. And I know some of you are new and maybe you haven't heard me talk about this before, but that word seek in the Hebrew actually is b'kosh. And it means I'm going to keep looking until I find it.

It's like if you've got a text right now that said your two-year-old was missing. What would you do? Would you wait until the service is over? That wasn't too convincing. No, you would find that child at any cost.

I'm no longer hungry. I don't have to use the restroom. Everything on my agenda has changed.

I'm no longer prioritizing certain things. Now my priority is the pursuit. I've got to find that child.

And that's basically what that word means. I've got to seek God with all of my heart, with all of my strength until I find Him. And God will answer.

And when He answers, it's incredible. So the topic tonight is seeking. It's a principle of revival.

How is seeking a principle of revival? Well, it keeps the fire lit or it lights it for the first time. Those seeking God, they keep that fire lit in their hearts. And there are defining moments that not only define us, but they refine us as well.

I don't know how many of you, it's hard with an audience this size and how many of you have been coming. Have you had that defining moment in your life where you can say, can you say like Isaiah, his word, or Jeremiah rather, his word is in my heart like a burning fire. Jesus said, I will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire, the fire of God, the anointing of God upon our lives.

It's we desperately need that fire. And Isaiah had one fire moment himself. It's when he saw the Lord high and lifted up.

Many of you know that verse, correct? It was in the year that King Uzziah died. I saw the Lord high and lifted up and His train of His robe just filled the entire temple. And I heard the angels crying, Holy, Holy, Holy is our God.

And the pillars actually shook. Can you imagine that worship was good? But I don't know. I don't know if it can compete with the angels saying, Holy, Holy, Holy is our God.

And every knee would bow to Jesus Christ. And so Isaiah got this glimpse of God and he said, woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

There was a defining moment. His eyes saw the King. Paul, when he was knocked off his beast, he saw Jesus.

He heard from Him. He was transformed. Jeremiah was called as a young child.

He said, I'm too young. God said, you're not too young. You will go to who I send you and who I have called you to.

You will root up and you will pull down. There was a defining moment. Moses had a defining moment when the bush was not consumed.

David had a defining moment. Hezekiah, the King had a defining moment. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, there's defining moments in their lives.

Remember when the disciples were walking on the road to Emmaus? What did they say? Did not our hearts burn within us? Where is that burning? The majority of the churches, they've lost that fire, they've lost that zeal. Or maybe they've never had it for the first time. But I'm very hopeful.

I'm one of those guys that upset a lot of people. Because I don't get too negative about California. I don't get too negative about where, look at what's going on.

But I'm hopeful because God revives often in the darkest moments. If you study revival history, 1700s in Wales and Scotland, New Hebrides revivals and first great awakenings, second great awakenings, they were dark moments. And then people shoot back, but haven't you read Revelation? Yeah, but I know the God who wrote Revelation.

And He tells us to never give up. He actually says, do business until I return. Begin to seek Me and pursue Me and My people will do great exploits.

Your light is gonna shine even brighter in the darkness. And we are waiting on God, but could it be that God is waiting on us? In the story of the day the fire fell is incredible because it's also the day that Elisha called the people and he was on Mount Carmel and he said, how long will you waver between two opinions? Isn't that true today? We cannot serve both God and this world. How long will you waver between two opinions? If God is God, follow Him.

But the people answered Him not a word. And so today we could say, how long will you play church on Sunday? But walk away on Monday? How long will you pray for heaven, but live like hell? How long will you say that Jesus is your Savior, but deny Him as your Lord? And it's a very interesting story. I'm not gonna get into all the details.

But the day the fire fell for Elisha, Elisha backed up his words with action and he built an altar. And I love what he said. He said, let the real God answer by fire.

You've got all these fake gods, but let the real God answer by fire. And I still believe, although it doesn't happen like that today, the fire of God still comes and resides in the heart of a believer. Let that God answer by fire.

You wanna know God is true, say, give me that fire, Lord. Give me that anointing. I don't care what you call it, but do you have it? The old saints used to say, we're gonna hold on until we hear from God.

We're gonna travail all night in prayer until the anointing comes and the unction comes and we persevered in prayer and they sought God with all their hearts. And he answered. And the priest of Baal, they spent many hours calling on their gods to send fire down, but nothing happened.

And then Elisha took over and prepared the altar. And Elisha prayed to God to answer by fire and boy, did he ever. Then the fire of the Lord fell and it consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

They prepared the altar. Elisha did. And that's a good, I could take a rabbit trail for a while, but I won't.

You have to prepare your heart. There has to be a living sacrifice of here I am, Lord, send me. I'm laying my body on the altar, metaphorically speaking, because I want the fire of God.

And not only did the fire come down, it consumed everything. The entire altar, even the water. Elisha was so confident.

Don't you love that boldness? He just kept taking buckets of water, buckets of water, buckets of water to make it so clear that God set the fire. And when God's fire falls, everything is consumed. Everything is consumed.

Guys, you literally become a different person. And people call it the baptism of the Holy Spirit. People call it the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

People call it the unction of the Holy Spirit. But again, the question is, do you have it? Do you have that fire of the Spirit in your heart and in your life? He prepared the sacrifice. Romans 12, 1, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

Present your bodies as living sacrifice. And what else did Elisha do? He asked for the fire. Do you know how many people don't want to ask for the fire? They're a little, I don't want to get like Shane.

He's a little carried away. He's a little bold. He's a little loud.

I don't want to get like that. Well, you'll get like how God created you. The characteristics.

And you have to ask for that fire. Lord, I want all of you. I want all of you.

And this fire can symbolize consecration in our own lives. We prepare the sacrifice and God brings the fire of His presence. If you are sincere and genuinely seeking Him, He will answer.

And Elisha's faith fueled this fire. If we truly want to hear from God, we need to approach Him with the position of faith because without faith, it's impossible to please God. He truly rewards those who diligently seek Him.

What is diligent faith? It is an unwavering belief when we don't feel like it or see the results. It still holds. We sang a song in the prayer room earlier.

My anchor holds the veil or the veil, that old hymn. And what it is, the veil of the temple and I'm anchored to Christ. I'm anchored to Christ and I found this quote I wanted to read to you about this.

Waiting on the Lord is closing our mouth long enough for Him to open His. I might have to get a sign made for that one. Waiting on the Lord is closing our mouth long enough for Him to open His.

And when He does, His words may be few, but His breath is abundant. Listen guys, God often removes everything so He becomes your everything. That faith that perseveres, that diligent faith, unwavering faith, and I talked about this morning, if you were here, where Job said, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. And I can tell you, I've told you many times before, my story is when I finally surrendered everything and stopped fighting God. And that moment that the fire of the Holy Spirit came into my heart and the Word of God that was boring now comes alive.

And the worship that I used to mock and laugh at changed my heart, changed my life. And Elijah stepped out in faith. He heard the sound of the abundance of rain even when the skies were clear.

He heard that. He told the servant, go back, there's got to be a cloud coming. Go back, go back, go back.

That faith perseveres. He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Listen, when you seek God, let me tell you the truth up front.

You might not feel like it all the time. Anybody else agree? You might not feel like it. You have to pursue God.

And even if you're like me, you're prone to wander. Prone to wander. Lord, I feel it.

Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it from thy courts above.

Very interesting story. The man, Robert Robinson, who wrote that hymn was led to the Lord by George Whitefield in the 1700s. Some of the greatest hymns are written by those who lived it.

And he wandered. He was wandered far from God. He was on a trip somewhere to spend even more money and riotous living, they would call it back then, lasciviousness, all these words we don't use too much anymore.

And he was in a carriage, in a ride with this lady. And she began to sing this hymn. Prone to wander.

Lord, I feel it. And she said, don't you love? That's him. And he said, ma'am, I'm the miserable soul who wrote that hymn.

And she told him, sir, you can relight that fire again. There's always hope. There's always hope.

No matter how dark it gets and how in despair we get, you can relight that flame. And it begins with, again, what I talked about the night before, repentance. Repentance is a beautiful word.

I don't know why many churches don't want to use it. Maybe they're trying to build an audience, but not change a heart. Because we must preach repentance and return back to God.

America, you're slaughtering the innocent. You're calling women men and men women. Woe be to those who call evil good and good evil.

God says, repent and turn to Me again while there is still time. Look to Me and Me alone. There's a seeking, there's a yearning, there's a desire.

Listen, this is not fake hype. This is real hope. I think it's David McIntyre's book on prayer.

He said it's essential that we find a quiet place, a quiet hour, and a quiet heart. If you want to seek God, you need to follow that model. Find that quiet place, find that quiet heart.

Spend that time. Fathers, you seeking God will affect your children more than anything else. You parents seeking God, with all of your heart, with all of your strength, will affect your children more than anything else.

It's a good reminder that, as I said last week, they will stand before God alone someday. Can you imagine that? Little Madison is going to stand before God someday. Aubrey, Shane, Gracie, Kylie.

I won't be there. Folks, we've got to get our priorities back. And revival will renew those passions, reignite those things.

That's why the enemy wants to destroy your testimony and discourage you. Because when you're discouraged and you're not living for God, you pull everyone with you. It's so important.

Let discouragement drive you like a hammer to the nail. Let it drive you to the cross. And there's so many examples in the Bible.

They poured out their heart. It's okay, guys, to get emotional. God's given us emotions for a reason.

I poured out my heart. Hannah said, I poured out my heart. I need a child.

Rachel poured out her heart to God and said, give me a child lest I die. David said, oh God, create in me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit within me.

I need You. I've sinned. I pour out my heart to You.

You can go down the list. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. They called him the weeping prophet because he was pouring out his heart for the people.

And the important thing about revival also is it revives your prayer life. It revives your prayer life. And I believe in a God that still answers prayer.

I don't know about you. Your prayers will outlive you. God is still looking for intercessors in America.

I truly believe that. Listen, I can't prove it. I can't prove it, but I would, I don't bet either, I guess.

I can't say that. And Joe, I know you'll agree with this. It's praying spirit-filled Christians who have kept the judgment hand of God at bay in this nation.

We don't know what could break loose. We don't know. We're worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.

We have lost our mind. Yet there's a remnant church. There's a remnant church that says, Lord, we're gonna plead, we're gonna, like Nehemiah, why should I not be sad when the place of my father's tombs lies in waste? I'm gonna intercede.

I'm gonna get like Ezra and intercede on behalf of the people. And like God said to Ezekiel, I sought for that person who would build a wall and stand in the gap before me and the nation. But I found no one.

Oh, he's not saying that today. There's a lot of people contending for our nation, praying and fasting for our nation. They know our hope is not November 11th.

Our hope is in God alone. There is no plan B. There is no plan B. God must revive His church. There's no other plan.

Listen, we don't obey God and seek Him out of obligation. I don't know about you, but I do it out of desperation. The older I get, the more desperate I become.

Desperate. Desperate people do desperate things. Desperate people will have all night prayer meetings for 40 days.

Desperate people will come to church and have church for a week and a half. They'll pray, they'll fast. They're desperate.

Remember the prodigal son didn't come home when he was hungry. He sat and ate with the pigs. But when he got desperate, he ran to the Father.

We need that desperation again. Desperation is a thermostat of the heart. God heard His people back then and He hears His people today when they are desperate rather than apathetic, when they are fervent rather than lukewarm, and when they are repentant rather than arrogant.

Did you know that God is no respecter of people? I'm not up on His top 10 list. We're all on that same plane of seeking God. But He's a respecter of principles.

And He hears the cries of His children. Is that a church crying out to me? Are those parents that are fasting and they're praying for their children and they understand that I'm their only hope? I hear that cry. A broken and contrite heart.

I will not turn away. Where's the cries of God's people? Where's the desperation? Where can we see the perverted transgender agenda going into our libraries and reading to six-year-olds? Where's the desperation for God to wake us up and to call good evil and evil good and to switch that back around and say, this is wrong. Lord, please help us.

We are desperate. We need to hear from You. Listen, guys, I don't mind preaching a passionate message, but if it doesn't get you to go back into your prayer closet, I have failed.

Oh, that was a good message, man. What's for dinner? Why are we here then? Many of your gun safes are full, but your prayer closets are empty. We're trusting in Remington, Smith & Wesson, and we forget about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

God help us. And I've always loved that. I didn't look up the reference, but in Revelation, when John begins to weep, John begins to weep, and he says, there's nobody worthy to open the scroll.

And I love the words that follow. Do not weep, for the lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. He has prevailed.

And that's why this seeking aspect is so important. The more I seek you, the more I find you, the more I find you, the more I love you. Many of you don't have a seeking problem, you have an appetite problem.

Because what you feed, you'll crave. You'll want more of. Amazon Prime, Netflix, sleep in, social media that I shouldn't be watching.

And if I begin to feed on those things, I'll want more of those things. And as a result, the appetite for the things of God diminishes, and we become stagnant and ineffective. Zephaniah 2, it says, is not to seek the Lord.

It's time to seek the Lord. He can still be found. Gather yourselves together.

Yes, gather together, oh undesirable nation. That sounds like us. Before the decree is issued, or before the day passes like chaff, before the Lord's fierce anger comes upon you.

In other words, if you read all of Zephaniah, it's an incredible book. He was one of the minor prophets. And this is very interesting.

The northern kingdom, remember, Israel was divided northern and southern kingdoms. The northern kingdom of Israel had already fallen to the Assyrians. And Judah, the southern kingdom said, uh-oh, they're coming after us next, so let's align with Assyria.

And as a result, the people followed their customs, they drifted from God, and God is getting ready to pronounce judgment on this wayward nation. Oh, you undesirable nation. I'm about ready to pass judgment.

My fierce anger is going to come upon you. But listen, there's always good news. Anytime God uses dramatic and drastic language, it's to wake you up, because again, a strong message requires a strong response.

When God says, my judgment hand is falling, you undeserved nation, my fierce anger is going to come upon you like a thief in the night, the dark clouds and judgment, it's to get you to respond. A wake-up call. That's what our nation needs.

It doesn't have a wake-up call. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Alarm, alarm, alarm, alarm.

All the false prophets saying, peace, peace. God says, there's no peace. I've not sent these prophets, yet they ran.

I've not spoken to them, yet they spoke. But had they truly stood in my counsel, they would have turned the entire nation back to me. It's not my word like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces.

It's not my word like a fire that burns. We need to wake our nation up. If you study any revival in church history, the majority of the time, of course, they started in a prayer meeting, but also the doctrine of repentance was preached with boldness and clarity and authority.

Not from some mean, arrogant, Bible-thumping, filled-with-hatred Pharisee, but those who Leonard Ravenhill said, you must weep before you whip. Those filled with compassion, that fire in their eyes. So God lays His judgment upon the nation.

But then He says, here's the hope. Seek the Lord. Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth.

Seek righteousness, seek humility, and it may be with you that you'll be hidden in the day of His judgment. There's always a cure. Seeking God is the highest priority in our lives.

It's the highest priority in our lives. You guys, I don't want to give an hour sermon because if we haven't fueled the pump, you know, primed the pump now, it's not going to happen. God, the worship, the Word of God comes alive.

You need to respond. If you have that on your heart, you need that fire back. How many of you have drifted from God? How many of you want that, but you don't know how to get it? It begins with a simple prayer.

Oh God, help me. Oh God, help me. I want that fire back.

I want Your Word to come alive. Remember, some of you might remember when the Word of God just came alive. You couldn't put it down and worship just sounded like you were hearing from heaven.

And you were just, that sweet time with the Lord. What happened? We drift. We drift.

That's why Jesus said return. Return to your first love. Return to your first love.

Even though I don't really want to repeat this, I think it's important because a lot of you weren't here when I spoke about the, I think it was the New Hebrides revival or possibly Duncan Campbell was 1950s, but 1904, there was something very interesting. Evan Roberts, Welsh revivals. It was just amazing things happened.

Church just continued. And they interviewed one of the men. He was old now.

Decades later, they interviewed him. And they were sitting down and I think it was in Europe somewhere. And the reporter, he had his pen and paper out.

And he said, why was it, it was so short, 1904, 1905. I think a lot of that spread into California, LA, Los Angeles. What happened? Because you think when the fire's there, you want to maintain that.

And there's a doctrine in the Old Testament that's very interesting that God actually, I don't know how many of you know this, God lit the fire on the altar, but the priest had to keep it burning. The priest had to keep the fuel on that fire to keep it burning. And that's what a wonderful parallel in our own hearts, in our own lives.

So this old man thought about it for a minute. And he looked up and the guy records it, his eyes were like fire, like he came alive. And he said, young man, young man, when you lay hold of God, never, never, never let go.

When you lay hold of God, when you feel that power of the Spirit and God has radically changed you, no matter what, don't let hold of that. Yes, you might be drifting and you might get hit with a left hook and a right hook by the enemy. You might fall and you might falter, but you get back up and you fight again.

The Christian is called to persevere and strengthen himself in the Lord. Though I fall, I will not, though I fall seven times, the Lord upholds me with his right hand. You fall seven times, but the key is to get back up eight and seek God with all of our heart, just like losing a child.

Think about that. Maybe, I don't know, this might not be proper doctrine, so I'll be careful, but act like you lost God. Lord, I've lost you, I've got to find you.

It's gonna mean readjusting my schedule, ending some relationships, ending some things in my life that are pulling me down. Whatever is stopping and quenching and grieving and putting out the fuel of that fire has to be removed. Often we pray, Lord, change me.

But did you know throughout Scripture, God often says, if you do this, I'll do this. Think about that verse. If you seek me, there's gonna be a little bit of work involved, a little bit of pursuit involved.

If you seek me, you will find me. What about the famous verse we all love, but it's hard to obey. If my people, if this, my people, we're so upset at Hollywood and Washington.

It doesn't say, God's Word doesn't say, if Hollywood, if Washington, if Sacramento humbles themself, the burden of responsibility is on our shoulders. Think about how powerful that is. The thing that moves the hand of God is prayer, and God has given it to the church, to His remnant church.

He says, if my people, if you humble yourself, and if you cry out to me, and you pray, and you seek me with all of your heart, with all of your strength, I will hear your prayers, and I will heal your land. And sometimes a negative Nellie or critical Kathy will come up and say, well, is there somebody Nellie or Kathy here? I don't know, I didn't mean to do that. There's a Kathy here, I know.

Let's change that. Judgmental Jerry. But Shane, that applied to the nation of Israel.

That scripture's not for us today. Well, contextually, yeah. Solomon prayed, and when the people of Israel drift, but the principle is alive and well.

The principle is, so you're telling me if the church humbles themselves and pray and seek God, and turns from their wicked way, that He won't hear? That's a very important principle, that God has given us to do battle in the spiritual realm. There's always people here who have never made that decision. They've been playing church.

Anybody play church? I did for a while. It's not very fulfilling, and God calls us to repent. To repent and believe in the gospel.

To repent of our sin. Because knowing about Jesus will not get you to heaven. Knowing about Him is head knowledge.

There has to be heart engagement.