In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the need for a revival and calls upon the congregation to take action. He urges them to let go of worldly possessions and activities that distract them from serving God wholeheartedly. The preacher uses the example of David's response to his sin to illustrate the importance of taking responsibility and seeking God's forgiveness. He encourages the listeners to examine their own lives and make necessary changes, believing that God will respond with a powerful outpouring of His Spirit. The sermon emphasizes the need for personal, family, and church revival, urging the congregation to cleanse their homes and remove anything that hinders their spiritual growth.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA, PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock, thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up thy strength and come and save us. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. I believe Brother David read that to us earlier this weekend. It seemed to fit the morning's meditations already. I greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that name which is above every name. Jesus, I greet you in His name this morning. I'm grateful to be here. I'm grateful for a weekend like this. You know, I was thinking about it earlier. I'm grateful to only have the responsibility to share one message so I can just sit under the Word of God and be washed and be convicted about my own needs. I'm grateful for that. Let's have a prayer and then we'll move on from here. Father, Lord, we have nowhere else to go but to Thee. You are the everlasting light. You are light. And You are our God and we thank You for that this morning. Lord, we come. We come needing. We come not knowing what to do. We come not knowing how to say what needs to be said. But we come, Lord, we come. Because we know where to come. You've taught us to come. We come looking away from ourselves. And we come looking unto Thee, O everlasting light. Have mercy upon us this morning, God. And grant us grace that we might be Your servant. A servant of the Word this morning. In Jesus Christ's name, Amen. There is, in the Word of God, an amazing phenomena that occurs several times in the biblical record. This phenomena has a great significance to us New Testament Christians. Each time it occurs, it occurs in a different setting. And I believe that also is very significant. Each time it brought God's people on their face before God. And if ever there was a day when God's people need to be on their face before God, it's this day that we live in. What is this phenomena that is in the Bible that occurs several times? It is when unkindled fire fell from God. Unkindled fire? Fire that no man kindled. Fire that didn't need a piece of wood to get it going. Fire that didn't need a spark that man would give it in order to get it going. But it was an unkindled fire that fell from God out of heaven. Picture what it must have been like. We can imagine. We can imagine. We could understand why each time it brought God's people on their faces. There lay a sacrifice. There stood an altar. Maybe it was made out of stone. Maybe it was just a stone. Or maybe it was a beautiful brazen altar, crafted by the greatest craftsmen in Israel, crafted by men who were filled with the Holy Ghost. But nevertheless, just an altar. A stone. A pile of stones. Or a brazen altar. But imagine what it was like in those days to be there, looking at an altar with a sacrifice on it, and all of a sudden to see fire appear and burn up the sacrifice that was on the altar. Yes, we can understand why God's people fell upon their faces in every one of these accounts. This physical phenomena has manifested itself in a spiritual way time after time throughout the annals of church history. Our brother Dean just gave us a very short account of one of those times when God's fire fell upon His people. And that's the title of my message this morning, When God's Fire Falls. Just like the settings were different and significant in Bible times, so also in church history the settings were different. The situations very diverse. But the same God, who is over all, worked in beautiful ways, in the midst of many varied circumstances, and fell upon His people with fire. Let's look at some of these accounts that are given in the Word of God and see what we can learn for our situation. Maybe it's time that the fire fall on you, on me, on us. Maybe it's time. The first one I'd like to look at is found in the book of Leviticus. If you want to turn there in chapter 9. The fire falls. When does the fire of God fall? It falls, first of all, in times of sanctification and cleansing. In times of sanctification and cleansing. We're looking in the book of Leviticus, but I want you to just take note of what is happening in Leviticus 1-9. These things kind of flow together, and they flow from these two verses in the book of Exodus, in chapter 40 and verses 34 and 35. The tabernacle of Moses is done. The people have built it according to that which Moses received in the Holy Mount. It is finished. The altar of incense is finished. The brazen altar is finished. The golden candlestick is finished. The Ark of the Covenant is finished and overlaid with gold. The cherubims are there. Everything is there. Everything is in its place. Everything has had oil poured upon it. And in verse 34 we read these words, Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Now the tabernacle is ready to function according to that which God has planned for it. But God is not ready yet. There must come a sanctification process that must take place upon Aaron the high priest and upon Aaron's sons the priests, and also upon the people of God. They are not ready to worship yet. O praise God! The glory of God has filled the tabernacle, but they are not ready to worship yet. There must be that sanctifying, there must be that cleansing process which would take place in order for God to be ready to work in the lives of His people the way that He wants to. And thus we have Leviticus chapter 1 through 9, and we are not going to read all the instructions that God gives to Moses to give to Aaron the priest and the priest his sons, and also to the people. But I want you to note that that's what's taking place in chapter 1 through 9. A sanctification, a cleansing process is taking place. God is unveiling to Moses and Aaron all the different sacrifices, the sin offering and the bird offering and the peace offerings and how they are going to take place. And God is sanctifying Aaron and his sons and the people. This is the setting. The high priest is set apart in these first nine chapters. His personal sins must be dealt with. His personal consecration must be there. His personal anointing must be there. And it is. The sons of the high priest also, they must be sanctified. There must be a time of cleansing and sanctification in their lives. And also an anointing upon them before they are ready. And the sacrifices must be made that cleansing can take place. After this, then the people were next. And they also must be sanctified. They must be cleansed. Why? Because God is going to visit them. We break in here in Leviticus chapter 9, reading in verse 6, if we may. Times of sanctification and cleansing. And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commanded that ye should do, and the glory of the Lord shall appear unto you. And Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto the altar and offer thy sin offering and thy burnt offering, and make an atonement for thyself and for the people, and offer the offering of the people, and make an atonement for them as the Lord commanded. Now picture with me this morning the reverence and the carefulness of all of the people. God says to them through Moses, God is going to appear to you today. You're going to have a visitation from God. Now remember, these are the people who stood a long ways away from Mount Sinai when it was on smoke. These are the people who heard the voice of God, give the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20, and said to Moses, We don't want to hear that voice anymore. You go and talk to Him, find out what He said, and come back and give it to us, for we fear to hear His voice. And here God says to Moses, You tell the people that they are going to appear before Me, and I am going to appear to them. Now what do you think they did that morning? What kind of attitudes do you think were in their heart that morning? Do you think they got up with a careless attitude? Maybe you think it didn't matter to them, but I tell you, they washed themselves that morning. They made sure they put on proper clothes that morning. They made sure they put on clean clothes that morning. They made sure they took off all their earrings that morning. They made sure everything was right that morning, because they are going to appear, and God is going to appear to them. It's a time of sanctification and cleansing. This is the first recorded account when unkindled fire appears. However, I have many times contemplated if there wasn't another place, but it's not clear. But in my own meditations, I've often wondered if there wasn't an unkindled fire that day when Abel offered his sacrifice, and God gave blessing unto Abel's sacrifice, but not unto Cain's. But the Bible doesn't give us any clarity on that, so all I can say is I have speculated on that. But let's read from verse 20-24 and see what happened. Aaron and the priests are busy now with these sacrifices that Moses commanded them to make. And they put the fat upon the breasts, and he burnt the fat upon the altar. And the breasts and the right shoulder, Aaron waved for a wave offering before the Lord as Moses commanded. And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation and came out and blessed the people. And the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. And there came a fire out from before the Lord and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat, which when all the people saw, they shouted and fell on their faces. Now just be there for a moment. Go there. In your heart and in your mind, you go there and be there this morning. We can understand why they fell upon their faces. The fire of God fell upon that sacrifice, those sacrifices, a sin offering, a burnt offering, and a peace offering. And I can't get into all the details of what those mean, or I'll never get done. Brothers and sisters, there must needs be times of sanctification and cleansing in our own lives also. I agree with my brother Dean this morning. It is good for us to do this. It is good to set aside the time, which by the way means sanctify. It is good for us to sanctify a weekend like this and say we're not going to do anything else. We're not going to do our regular work. We're going to break our hearts before God. We're going to call a solemn assembly. We're going to open up our hearts and let God examine us that we might be sanctified. Times of personal examination, times of sanctification, times when we allow God to change us. Sometimes we just simply allow God to push the reset button in our life. Amen? Sometimes you need to do that. Push the reset button. Just sit back and take a good examination of our lives and say, wait a minute, what am I living for? What really matters? What's really going to count for eternity? It is good to do this. History is full of personal and corporate and even national cleansings and sanctifications where people got serious with God. They got serious about the things in their own lives. And I'm not just speaking here this morning about maybe the things that you shouldn't be doing that you are doing. But God wants to take us much further than that, brothers and sisters. There are not only sins of commission, but there are also sins of omission. And by the way, the sins of omission are just as great a sin as the sins of commission. Amen? And God wants to sanctify His people and all the beautiful records that we have written of those times when there were people who took serious the promises of God and got serious about their own hearts' needs and how God came and visited them and the fire fell. Turn with me to Judges chapter 6 where we have another account of the same. In Judges chapter 6, let me give you the setting. It's different now. When God's fire falls, God's fire falls sometimes at times of special callings. When God needs a vessel or some vessels to do a work in a day, in an hour of urgency, God's fire falls. In Judges chapter 6, we have the account of the story of Gideon. Here is the setting. The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. That's a sad phrase, but you'll find it many times in the book of Judges. This is one of those times. And God delivered them over to the Midianites and for seven years they were in bondage to the Midianites. The Midianites came down year by year and destroyed all their crops and took their crops away. The Midianites came down and chased them into the holes and the rocks and the caves where they went and ran for their lives. They were no longer able to live in their houses. This is the land of Canaan, brothers and sisters. The land that God gave to His people with houses that they didn't build and vineyards that they didn't plant and wells that they didn't dig. And now they're hiding in the rocks and the caves. Why? Because the people did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them over to bondage. But, in times like that, God goes looking for a man or men or women in times like that. It's time for some man of God to rise up and set things right. And that's where we find ourselves in the book of Judges and chapter 6, the story of Gideon. Now, Gideon was already burdened before this account was given. We're not going to read all the verses again for time, but before the account of Gideon, we see that God sent a prophet into the midst of the children of Israel and warned them and reminded them why they're in bondage and reminded them of the mighty power of God and the promises of God and how that they don't have to live this way. Amen. And that's what God calls ministers to do at times to remind the people of God that you don't have to live where you are. You don't have to live a substandard life. You don't have to live in bondage. But you can live in victory, because God is well-abled. And so, I imagine that Gideon was out there on one of the street corners in one of the villages, and this prophet came by and he heard these words and they were stirring inside of his heart. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto Gideon in the threshing floor and gave him a call and gave him a cause and gave him something to do. Amen? And that's the way it is today too, isn't it? Reading. We're going to read from verse 20. Again, for the sake of time. And the angel of God said unto him, unto Gideon, take the flesh and the unleavened cakes and lay them upon this rock. Gideon has made the angel of God a meal. And pour out the broth and he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes and there rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. And when Gideon perceived that it was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, alas, O Lord God, for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face, he was in despair because he had seen an angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee. Fear not. Thou shalt not die. Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom or Jehovah Peace in this place. Unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abbeysrites. And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath and cut down the grove that is by it and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock where the fire just came out. In the ordered place and take the second bullock and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. That's far enough to read. Now I want you to look at this situation because this would not be easy. You put yourself in Gideon's shoes, it would not be easy. He will go against family. He is risking his reputation with his father, with his family, and with all the people in that village where they lived. But at times of special callings when God is searching for a man or men who will stand up and put things right that are not right, the fire falls. The fire falls. He's already been burdened. He's already concerned. He's already heard what the prophet had to say. And his heart was already saying, is there not a cause? And brothers and sisters, this morning I would say the same thing. Is there not a cause for some men to rise up and set things right? Is there not a cause? God needs 100 men who will rise up and set things right in the church, in the youth, in your family, and yea, in your own life also. God confirmed His burden, His call with unkindled fire from God. This was more than just a physical sign, by the way. If you go a little bit further in the chapter, you will see in verse 34, but the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon and He blew a trumpet. And that's far enough for us to read. But this was more than just some physical thing that happened. When the fire fell, the fire fell on Gideon. And Gideon was enabled to do that which he could not do before. He was empowered by the Spirit of God. He was empowered by the grace of God to have the courage of God to do the will of God in His day, in His hour, and to stand up and set things right. Oh, how I love the account of what he did. I know it says that he was afraid and he did it at night and it probably would have been better if he would have done it in the daytime, but God bless him, at least he did it. Take your father's oxen and go and tear down the altar of Baal. Then, cut down the grove, use the wood from the grove, and build an altar right here on this rock and offer that oxen upon that altar. And God bless his father. I know he was a compromiser. He wouldn't have had an altar of Baal, but I just bless God, at least he was willing to come along when his boy was ahead of him. Everyone rose up the next morning and they were going to take care of Gideon and deal with him and all those things. And his father, he had such a good word, he said, nobody's going to deal with Gideon. Why are you pleading for Baal? If Baal is truly a god, then let him plead for himself and if he can't do anything, then let's be quiet. And everyone was quiet. But the fire falls at times, in times of urgency, when God is looking for a man who will rise up and set things right that are wrong. Turn with me to 1 Chronicles 21. There's another time in the Bible where the fire fell. The setting is very different here in 1 Chronicles 21. Sometimes the fire falls in times of deep mourning and repentance. Times of deep mourning and repentance. And this is one of those times, oh my, you don't have time to give all of the account, but if you would read the preceding chapter or two that leads up to chapter 21, you know, I wrote it in my Bible here, chapter 18, chapter 19, and chapter 20. I have it written in my Bible, victory, then victory again, and victory, and another victory, and another victory, and David is being used by God to put to flight the armies of the alien, and God is using him mightily, and they are having victory on every side, and then all of a sudden you find these sad words in chapter 20. Chapter 21, verse 1. And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel. Oh, watch out, David. Oh, thou man of God, watch out. Everything is going well for you. The enemies are fleeing before you. Watch out, David. Watch out. Stay low, David. Stay on your face, David. Don't play games. Don't be presumptuous, David. Don't have your own good ideas, David. And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel after three blessed chapters of victory. And you know as well as I do, brothers and sisters, that when there is victory like that, Satan is pacing the floor trying to figure out how he can turn the tide. David has numbered the people who came into his heart to do that. His general tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't take any other answer. And so Joab went reluctantly and numbered the people. Now, if you know the Old Testament law, God gave a warning that if you ever number the people, you must give a ransom for every one of them. God seemed to know that it was a dangerous thing to number the people. God seemed to know that it wasn't good for the heart of man to number the people. And in this account here, David numbered the soldiers at 1.6 million soldiers. You say, wow, that's a lot of soldiers. Yeah, that's the problem. All of a sudden, you start counting on the soldiers instead of God behind the soldiers. No atonement was made for this numbering. And God sent a prophet to David to rebuke him and to give him his choice of what God would do to judge the people of Israel. Here's your choice, David. Three years of famine, or three months of loss in battle, fleeing before your enemies, or three days of pestilence, plague and sickness. Now, let's read the text here. We'll start reading in verse 14. In verse 14, David chose pestilence. And he was wise. He was right. He thought about that. And he thought, I'll cast myself on the mercy of God because I know that God is a God of mercy. Let God do with us what He wants. So, in verse 14, the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel. And there fell of Israel 70,000 men. Put yourself in David's shoes right now. 70,000 men. And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it. And as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and He repented him of the evil and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough. Stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Now picture that for a moment. God is like pulling back the veil between the physical and the spiritual, and David is seeing this angel. I don't know how big he is, but he must be big. And 70,000 people have already died. It's time for repentance. It's time for mourning. It's time to get serious with God, David. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered, even I that have sinned and done this evil deed? But as for these sheep, what have they done? Let Thine hand, I pray Thee, O Lord my God, be on me and on my father's house, but not on Thy people, that they should be plagued. Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord. And Ornan turned back and saw the angel. Now Ornan is also seeing it. And his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David and went out of the threshing floor and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshing floor that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord. Thou shalt grant it me for the full price that the plague may be stayed from the people. Now look what Ornan did. He just... I mean, here's one dedicated man and one loyal man to the king. Ornan said unto David, Take it to Thee and let my Lord the King do that which is good in His eyes. Lo, I give Thee the oxen also for a bird offering and the threshing instruments for wood and the wheat for the meat offering. I give it all. Glory! Good Ornan! God bless your hearts! But that wasn't good enough for David. And King David said unto Ornan, Nay, but I will verily buy it for Thee for the full price, for I will not take that which is Thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. Thank you, David. Thank you. This thing's got to cost me something. I'm not going to take an offering that you gave and give it to the Lord. It's going to cost me. And David gave Ornan for the place 600 shekels of gold by weight. By the way, that's a good bit of money. And David built there an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings and called upon the Lord. And He, the Lord, answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. And the Lord commanded the angel, and He put up His sword again into the sheath thereof. Glory! At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there for the tabernacle of the Lord which Moses made in the wilderness and the altar of the burnt offering were at that season in the high place of Gibeon. For David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord. And then look at verse 22 and verse 1, and then we'll make some applications. Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God. And this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel and he sent masons to hew rock stones to build the house of God. Here we have an awesome scene before us. Here we have a sobering scene before us. Here we have, oh how shall we say, the heart and the motives of a leader exposed before all. Yet David responds in brokenness and humility just like we heard that he responded on the Thursday evening when Brother David was speaking to us about brokenness. Here we see David again responding in a different way than Saul did. In openness and honestness he takes it upon himself. It's my fault. I'm the one who did it. He owns it. There are times in each one of our lives and times in the lives of a church when we need to come to grips with reality and say, Something is wrong. What have I done? What have we done? These are good and healthy words for us to say in our own hearts and they're good and healthy words for a church to say, my brothers and sisters. And I want you to know that it wasn't just David there. Remember, the elders were there with him in sackcloth. What have we done? There are times in each of our lives and in the life of our churches when we need to open our hearts to God's searching, revealing eye and let Him expose things just like we heard already. Shine a light upon our hearts, Lord. In times of brokenness and repentance like this, the fire falls. God answered David by fire. God answered David by fire. And throughout the annals of church history, whether it be the biography of an individual or whether it be the biography of a whole church or a movement, there are those times when God's people got honest with God. Times of mourning and repentance. They began to ask themselves, what is wrong and what have I done? And God answered by fire. And what looked like one of the greatest tragedies turned into one of the sweetest blessings. Think about that young man we heard about in the opening here. What if he wouldn't have gotten honest there? What if he would have kept the light from shining in his own heart? What if he would have said, well, let the older ones be first? What if, what if, what if? But because he was willing to come in humility and brokenness and open up his heart and face the needs of his own life, the fire fell on the Hebrides. Talk about the greatest tragedy being turned into the greatest blessing. We have one right here in this account that is given. For it is in this account where it was revealed to David that this is the place where the temple of God should be built. He got that revelation there. This is the house of God. And I want you to notice, brothers and sisters, there's not one stone there yet. There's no foundation been laid. There's no walls put up there. There's none of that. But David was saying, this is the house of God. God answered by fire. Holy fire. Heavenly fire. All-consuming fire. God answered by fire. My brother, my sister, God will also answer by fire. When God's fire falls. I remember that beautiful account of Jonathan Goforth, who was a missionary in northern China. He had heard about revival in Wales. And he longed for it. At that time, someone gave him a copy of Charles Finney's autobiography. And he read in that autobiography the principles of revival. Breaking up your fallow ground. Dealing with your own personal needs. Are my hands clean and my heart pure? Said Jonathan Goforth before God. And for days he allowed the Spirit of God to search his heart. And when he was done, the fire fell. Not just on Jonathan Goforth, but in northern China. The fire fell. That was the place where they said, where the heathen said, we are going to church. The Christian's God has come. And we're going to church to see Him. That was the place. It was in Jonathan Goforth's day. But the fire falls at times of deep mourning and repentance. And maybe you find yourself in that place here this morning. Maybe that's what you need. A good, old-fashioned season of repentance. Turn to 2 Chronicles 6 now. As we make our way through the Bible. The fire falls at times of dedication. The setting is different here. There was no national tragedy. There was no calamity. There was peace and order in Israel for many years as we come on to this situation here, this setting. Seven years the temple was being built and everything was in its place. And it's time to dedicate the temple. To set it apart for that holy purpose. And that's what dedicate means. Dedicate means to set apart. You know, it was interesting to me as I was studying this word, because I thought now, what does dedicate mean? Is dedicate different than consecrate? You know, I heard Brother Keith say one time, what you dedicate, God will consecrate. So, that sent me on a little bit of a search. What does this word dedicate mean? And it means to set apart. This temple is for God's holy purposes from this day forward. But as I was searching out this word, and forgive me, but I can't quote the Hebrew word to you, but as I searched out this word dedicate in 2 Chronicles 6 and 7, I found it in another place also. In the Proverbs where it says, Train up a child in the way that he should go. And when he is old, he will not depart from it. That word train is the same Hebrew word as this word dedicate. And I thought, yes Lord, that's right. We don't dedicate our children one time, do we? But we dedicate them and dedicate them and dedicate them all the days of their life we dedicate them. And I believe that's why God used that word dedicate here. Because this is a temple that is going to be set apart for God's purposes for many, many, many years. Every day, every morning, all the day long, every evening for many, many years. And thus it was dedicated. God answered by fire at this dedication. We're going to read in chapter 6 and verse 40. We're reading at the end of Solomon's prayer because obviously it would take us a long time to go through all the prayer that this man prayed. But oh, what a beautiful prayer of dedication it was one that we should be able to put our hearts into and our hearts should be able to unite with the prayer that Solomon prayed for this temple as we dedicate whatever God is calling us to dedicate, be it our own lives, be it our children, be it our homes, be it our businesses or whatever it may be. We should be able to unite with the heart and the words of the prayer of King Solomon. But breaking in at the end of his prayer, we find these words in verse 40 and following. Now, my God, let I beseech Thee Thine eyes be opened and let Thine ears be attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place. Now therefore arise, O Lord God, into Thy resting place, Thou and the ark of Thy strength. Let Thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation and let Thy saints rejoice in goodness. Clothed with salvation? Remember what we were told the other evening? What salvation is? Let Thy priests be clothed with Yeshua and Thy saints rejoice in goodness, O Lord God. Turn not away the face of Thine anointed. Remember the mercies of David Thy servant. Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven. And consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worshipped and prayed the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy endures forever. Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord, and King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 20,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. They set it apart for God's special purpose. The fire of God falls sometimes at times of dedication. Your light doesn't need to be falling apart. It doesn't have to be a time of tragedy. It doesn't have to be a time of calamity. You can dedicate whatever you need to dedicate in the midst of the good, in the blessings of God. In fact, nothing honors God more than when we dedicate those things which need to be set apart for God in the good times. I'm sure God gets weary of foxhole conversions. Amen? I mean, when everything's going so bad and we don't know what else to do to call upon God, I think God gets weary of those. Dear children and young people that are in this room, God, don't you wait until your life falls apart and then dedicate it to God. You give it to God. Give it all to God. Lock, stock and barrel. Do it in your youth. Do it while you're pure. Do it while you're clean. Give your life to God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Times of dedication, the fire falls. Oh, the history books are full of men and churches and movements where the people of God in the sweet times, in the good times, they just sought God's face and dedicated their lives to Him because of who He is and because He is worthy. And the fire... I think of Evan Roberts this morning in the Welsh Revival. He wasn't a mess. He was a godly man. He had been burning for revival for years. And he found himself in that assembly that evening and heard that sermon that Seth Joshua preached and fell on his knees and said, Oh, God, I dedicate. And the fire fell! Oh, the fire fell! What do you need to dedicate this morning? What do you need to lay on the altar and spread your hands out before God, lay solemnly? Your life? Your future? Your wife? Your husband? How about your children? You know, we don't believe in baby dedications. We don't do that. You know, a couple of weeks ago, we had a baby naming over at Charity. Daryl and Rebecca's little girl was born. And in honor of the Dagumba tribe over in Africa, we had a baby naming ceremony. Asuna, they call it. And it's a cultural thing over there. It's not just Christians that do it. It's a cultural thing. But it's one of those things that the people of God looked at and said, you know, we can get some mileage out of this cultural thing. We don't have to get rid of this one. And they turned it into dedication of the children to God. Well, we don't do that, but we did it two weeks ago. And I had the blessed privilege of holding my sweet little granddaughter in my hands and holding her up before the Lord. Man, it was sweet. What do you need to dedicate? You know, last weekend I was up in Vermont and the Lord's building a little church up there. It's not easy to build a church in New England, by the way. It's been a long time coming. Lots of prayers. But we had a brother's meeting on Saturday evening and we covered lots of subjects and back and forth and questions and what should we do about this and that. And at the end of all of that discussion, Brother David Markwood, who is the elder there, he just opened it up and said, alright, I think we're just going to go around the circle here. And I want you all to share where you're at with relocation. You see, they live everywhere up there in New England. They come together in one place to worship on the Lord's Day. But they drive an hour, an hour and a half, two hours. I mean, they drive from all around to get to one place to fellowship. But they're committed to relocation. So Brother David said, I want everybody to share where you're at with relocation. And they went around the circle. And I sat there and I listened to these men and I heard them tell their stories. One man built his business for the last 20 years, built his clientele, and he's walking away from the whole thing and going to start all over in another place. 20 years. I said, well, why don't you sell your mailing list? You know, he said, I told God I wouldn't sell anything like that. So he's just going to walk away from the whole thing. He's dedicating. Another man had a big, large electric motor. Sales and repairs. Six employees. Sell the whole thing. Move to another area. Start all over again. And I went around the room and they just started sharing. And one by one by one, the stories were basically the same. These men in their hearts, they have one thing in their hearts. There will be a church in New England. They look at it like missionaries look at it. What do we need to dedicate? What is God calling upon us to dedicate? What are we holding back? Why are we holding back? The fire falls at times of dedication. Turn with me now to 1 Kings 18. Sometimes the fire falls at times of God's vindication. When God's name is at stake. When God's name must be cleared. When God's reputation has been brought down. Sometimes the fire falls when God needs to be vindicated. Here's the setting again. It's different. We're in Israel. It's in the days of Ahab and Jezebel. It's a dark time in Israel. There's idolatry everywhere. And fornication all over the country of Israel. There's only 7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal. By the way, that's not very many when you consider how many there were in Israel. It was a dark time. But in dark times, brothers and sisters, the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth. In dark times, By the way, that verse was given by a prophet to a king whose heart was not perfect, who was looking to the armies of Egypt to help him fight his battles. In those dark times, God's search is on. He searches for a man. In 1 Kings 18. And again, we can't read all these verses. Reading from verse 21. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, he's already gathered them together, 400 prophets of Baal, 450. Other false prophets and all the people. He's gathered them together. It's time to vindicate God's name. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered, not a word. They all knew. They all knew. Then said Elijah unto the people, I even I only remain a prophet of the Lord. But Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks and let them choose one bullock for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on wood and put no fire under it. And I will dress the other bullock and lay it on wood and put no fire under. And call ye on the name of your gods and I will call on the name of the Lord. And the God that answers by fire, let Him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken. Amen. You better say it is well spoken. You know your Bible. You know that God has answered by fire before. This isn't the first time God answered by fire in Israel. And the people said it is well spoken. And we know the story, how that the prophets of Baal, they were first and they cried and they sighed and they jumped and they danced and they cut themselves and they cried out more and nothing happened. No fire! Hallelujah! No fire! God wouldn't allow the devil to send any that time. And I like Elijah, you know. He doesn't play any games. He knows who is on his side. He has nothing to worry about. He read his Bible. He knows what God will do. Verse 30, And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. Come a little closer. Come watch the show. And all the people came near unto him and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. Amen, Elijah. And Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in the order and cut the bullock in pieces and laid him on the wood and then said, Fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar and he filled the trench also with water. This man knows who God is. He knows. He knows when the fire falls, what happens. And he doesn't have a worry. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel, let it be known this day that Thou art God in Israel and that I am Thy servant and that I have done all these things at Thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that Thou art the Lord God and that Thou has turned their heart back again. Look at the heart of this man. In dark times, God searches throughout the earth looking for a man who will vindicate His name. Look at this man's heart. He's not in this thing to get some big showing for himself. He is looking to vindicate God's holy name. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, The Lord, He is the God! The Lord, He is the God! Brothers and sisters, it's time again that the Lord's name would be vindicated. Is there not a cause? All the things that are being done today in the name of our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, how can it be? How can it be those things are being done in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Son of God? It's time that God's name would be vindicated by a holy people of God who are dedicated to God, who are willing to follow His Word, who are willing to walk in His ways all the days of their lives, not compromising in the midst of a compromising world, not compromising in the midst of a compromising church. It's time that God's people would stand up and vindicate God's name and do things God's way again. All the things that are being done in the name of Jesus today, you see these people running around with these little pins on them, you know, what would Jesus do? You know those four little letters? Oh, that sounds so nice. But the question is, what would Jesus do? They missed that. And the next question is, who is your Jesus? If you're going to run around wearing what would Jesus do on your lapel, let me ask you a question. Who is your Jesus? Because the Jesus today is very different than the Jesus of the Bible. I mean, Jesus today, Jesus can be a movie star today. What would Jesus do? Oh, Jesus would sing in the nightclub on Saturday night and sing gospel hymns on Sunday morning. That's what Jesus would do. That's what their Jesus would do. Amen, God forbid. He could be a movie star today and paint His face like a harlot. What would Jesus do? Oh, Jesus, He'd be a football star. He'd be a basketball star. He'd spend His whole life bouncing a ball around on the floor. That's what Jesus would do. Not my Jesus. But that's what Jesus would do today. Who's going to stand up and be counted? Who's going to vindicate God's holy name? Jesus would drive a Hummer, wouldn't He, boys? Today, He'd drive a Hummer. He'd live in a million dollar house. Jesus would be an all-consuming businessman today who lives and eats and drinks and breathes making money. That's what Jesus would do today. But that's not my Jesus that I look and see in the Bible. It's not Him. They've changed Him. They couldn't wear that pin on their lapel. If they were looking at the Jesus that I see in the Bible, they couldn't wear that pin on their lapel. What would Jesus do? You know, I paid my respects to the basketball stars and the football stars and the soccer stars and all those things last weekend and a young man came up to me afterwards and he said, Brother Denny, I appreciated that illustration you used. He said, But frankly, I could care less about a basketball. But he said, Brother, where I'm struggling is in my business. I just started a new business and my mind is on it all the time and I feel myself being tempted. You can make a lot of money. Go for it. You can do it. Go. He said, Could we also make the applications there? And I said, Yes, thank you, young man. Yes, we can. You know, brothers and sisters, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if a man can spend his whole life bouncing a ball around on a court and go to heaven when he dies. I don't know. My personal opinion, I think probably he can't. Do you hear me? My personal opinion is I don't believe he can. But I may be wrong. But if I'm wrong and he can go to heaven when he dies, just imagine what it will be like for that poor fellow as he looks back on his whole life and all he did is bounce a rubber ball around on the floor and throw it into a hoop. Oh, he got real good at it. I mean, he was good. He could put that ball in the hoop and he bounced that little rubber ball around and threw it in the hoop. When he stands before the all-seeing eye of God Almighty and all he had behind him is hours and days and months and years of bouncing a little rubber ball around on the floor and throwing it in the hoop, he will weep for his wasted life. He'll weep. What would Jesus do with his life if he walked upon this earth today? And we all know the answer that he wants to live his life, the life that he lived while he was on this earth. He wants to live it in us that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in my mortal flesh. Amen? 2 Corinthians 4. I don't think the life also of Jesus manifested in my mortal flesh could spend my whole life bouncing a ball around and throwing it in a hoop. Sorry. I don't think I could do it. I don't think Jesus would do that in me. But it happens all the time, doesn't it? Take your stand, brother, sister. God will answer by fire. Fire in your personal life. Fire in your family life. Fire in your church life. God will answer by fire. It's time for a Josiah revival, brothers and sisters. Go through the house and cleanse it. Dad, you do it. Go through the house and cleanse it. Get rid of the books. Burn them! The CDs, the tapes, the magazines, burn them! Mom, children, just get out of Dad's way. Please, just get out of his way. Go sell that car. Burn that baseball glove. Smash that computer with all of its games on it. Punch a hole in your volleyball. Burn your novels before the Lord. It's time to have a Josiah revival. Who will stand up and vindicate God's holy name? That's the question this morning. Let's go on. Acts chapter 2. When does the fire fall? The fire falls at times of seeking and waiting upon God. Seeking and waiting upon God. Here's the setting. Ten days. Acts chapter 2. It's ten days. Jesus ascended back to the Father ten days ago. Ten days they're sitting in the upper room. Ten days they're fellowshipping. Ten days they're praying. Ten days they're studying the Word of God and searching out the things of Jesus Christ and looking in the Old Testament to find the records that God gave of His Son there in the Old Testament. Ten days, 120 dedicated believers are waiting and seeking God. Why? Because of a promise. Because God is a covenant-keeping God. Because God promised them, if you will wait for the promise of the Father, the promise of the Father will come. Waiting for the endowment of power so they can go out and reach a world. They were overwhelmed. They smelled persecution coming. You can be sure that they smelled it. They knew. If they crucified our Lord, what will they do with us? 120 broken, yielded vessels waiting for the promise of the Father and the fire fell. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly, there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. And it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire. And it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Remember the words of John the Baptist. I baptize you with water, but there cometh one after me whose shoe latcheth I am not worthy to unloose. The same shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire. You know, I thought about it as we were singing a couple of songs this morning. I leaned over to my wife and I said, How can God be fire and water? One song said, Send a fire. And the other one said, Seek the stream. How can God be fire and water? I don't know. But He is. He is. 120 broken, yielded vessels waiting for the promise of the Father. Is there not a cause, brethren, this morning? Consider a few major points in all of these biblical accounts very quickly, but consider them. Number one, in every account there was a great felt need. In every account there was a great felt need. Do you have a need? Do you feel it? Is it deep? Does it affect you? Does it stir you? Does it move you? There was a great felt need in every one of these examples we've given. Number two, the fire fell on the sacrifice. It didn't fall on a stone. It didn't fall on the altar. It fell on the sacrifice. Don't forget that, brothers and sisters. The fire falls on the sacrifice. And guess what? We are the sacrifice. We are the sacrifice. But I want you to notice this while you consider that the fire falls on the sacrifice. Notice this also. The sacrifice was consumed. In every example. In every example the sacrifice was consumed. It was no more. Are you ready to be consumed? You say, brother, the book of Acts, they weren't consumed by the fire. Oh yes, they were. Did you read the rest of the chapters? They were consumed. In the New Testament way. Amen? We're in the New Testament. They were consumed by that fire. So, if you think about making a sacrifice, just remember that the sacrifice, the fire falls on the sacrifice, but the fire consumes the sacrifice. I want you to also notice that this brought more sacrifice. When God's fire is on the altar, thousands of sacrifices are made. You know, it's like God's people were there. And they were looking. They were watching. And then the fire fell. And it's like the people in their minds, they think, God's fire has fallen. Let us go and sacrifice on God's fire. That's the way it was. David offered many sacrifices after that sacrifice there at the threshing floor. Solomon and all the people offered thousands of sacrifices. Why? Because God's fire had fallen. And when God's fire has fallen, people sacrifice. That's just the way it is. Oh, it was that way in the Hebrides, wasn't it? It was that way. Once the fire fell, all the people came by the thousands. And what did they do? They sacrificed. They sacrificed. They stayed up late. They got up early. They sang till the wee hours of the morning. They walked for miles to witness to somebody. They sacrificed. Why? Because God's fire was on the altar. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, the Bible says. Number five, there was spontaneous reverential worship in every situation. Spontaneous. Reverential worship. And lastly, God's name was vindicated. And He was glorified in every situation. And I'm out of time, but there's one more time where the fire falls in the Bible. And that's in times of judgment. Remember Nadab and Abihu? It's interesting to me, it was the next verse. Leviticus 10.1 We read Leviticus 9. And I wrote it in my Bible. Holy fire, strange fire. It was the next verse. After God's fire burned up that sacrifice, that Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire on the altar of incense. And the fire of God killed them. The Bible says they died before the Lord. Another one of those places like brother Rick was sharing with us yesterday where you just... Whoa! It's good for our hearts to do that. Whoa! What is God doing? And you read the book of Revelation, you'll find out the fire falls in the book of Revelation. My encouragement to us this morning is this. You can let the fire fall on you now and it will consume you into the sweetest, most blessed life you will ever, ever know. Or you can keep your own selfish life for yourself and that fire will still fall and it will consume you and destroy you for all eternity. Same fire, just a different heart. In closing, we find these words in Hebrews chapter 12. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace or hold fast grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Why? For our God is a consuming fire. God is going to consume us either way. My encouragement to you is let Him consume you now and enter into the most blessed life you've ever known. That's my encouragement to you. We're going to give an invitation this morning. We're going to give an invitation. Sacrifice. Sacrifice. Brother Roy, where are you at? Do you have an invitation song? 512. We just want to give you an opportunity to make a sacrifice if you need to. We give that opportunity. That's right. Didn't need to wait till the singing. If you need to come, you come now. You come. While we sing, you come. Yes, Brother Roy. Nailed to the cross, Is thy heart right with God? Pay the price, God. Is thy heart right with God? Holy, humble and lowly, Right in the sight of God. Keep singing. What is it? A life? A business? A child? A reputation? Is thy heart right with God? Holy, humble and lowly, Right in the sight of God. Sing it out. Cleansed and made holy, Humble and lowly, Right in the sight of God. One last verse. Pray. Cry your heart out.