In this sermon, the preacher talks about a man who lived a remarkable life despite not having any money or support. This man was able to subdue kingdoms and bring righteousness through his prayers. The preacher emphasizes the importance of prayer in the life of a believer, citing the example of this man who prayed consistently. The preacher also highlights the need for believers to have a passion and vision for God, even if it means facing opposition or imprisonment.

It's a story about a man who, as far as I know, never had any money, he never had any staff to lean on, he had opposition, and yet God summarizes the life of this amazing man again, the man that subdued kingdoms and brought righteousness, the man that strangled the economy of the nation and brought repentance, and his whole life is summed up in two words, he prayed. If you looked in James 5, which you won't do at the moment, but the second stanza or the second volume of his life is he prayed again. As I've said to you, I've never been impressed with preachers, neither myself nor any others, though you'll have a good preacher next Friday night, our son David's going to be here, so cheer up. Paul got home safely, thank you for praying for them, they had a good time, they got held up at customs, but then they got out all right. I've said this before, let me say it again, for my own sake if not yours, that prophets are God's emergency men for crisis hours. The prophets are antagonized by the sin of the nation, and not only antagonized by it, but they agonize because of it. They're out of step with their generation, they're the loneliest of lonely men. And to use an old statement by Dr. Bux Bayson, the great famous Jewish scholar in America who got converted, he says that the prophet is by the very nature of his calling a tragic figure, because he has a fierce loyalty to God and he has a burning heart of sorrow for a lost world in which he lives, and he's tug-of-war between the two of them. This man is an amazing man, Elijah. You don't need to know all this, but I'll tell you anyhow. Fifty-six years before this man came on the stage, the kingdom had been divided. But he comes into the hour of the most cruel of all the kings. There had been seven kings before Ahab, and the second king did more evil than the first, the third did more evil than the second, the fourth did more evil than the third, the fifth did more evil than the fourth. But finally Ahab comes and he did more iniquity, it says, more evil than all the kings that were ever before him. For a rundown of that, it says in the thirtieth verse, Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord. Above all that were before him it came to pass as if he had been a light thing from to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the sons of Neba, that he took to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, the king of the Zidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. So there is a list of his iniquity. Then he raised up an altar to Baal in the house of Baal which he had built in Samaria. Ahab made a grove and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings that were before him. There is a repetition for you. It is in this tragic situation when there is a growing apostasy and a declining spirituality that this man comes with a breath of heaven. We don't know anything about his pedigree. If I had been writing Hebrews 11 I would have left some of the characters out. I certainly wouldn't have put a harlot in there, but God did. I would have put Elijah in there, but God didn't. He is there by influence. Do you remember it says by faith these women saw their dead raised to life again. Who raised the dead to life? Who watched the woman? I mean the woman watched Elijah raise a little child. Remember she wasn't too convinced about him doing the miraculous. She didn't get convinced because the bowel of meal didn't run out. She didn't get convinced because the little pile of oil was running or whatever she had the oil in. But when he raised the dead she said I know by this thou art a man of God. To me that is the only proof the church is alive. I am told of a preacher in town said not long ago nobody is getting saved. I said to a lady in the church do you know why? Because nobody is preaching salvation. We are all preaching blessing. We are all preaching help. Somewhere we have got stuck. 95% of the preachers in America or England this Sunday will preach about a coming Christ, a prophetic Christ or a historic Christ. What about the Christ that is living at this moment? He is living to make intercession. He is open the windows of heaven for us. He has pulled down the strongholds of the devil and it is ours to enter in and we are impoverished. God pity us. We are not possessing our possessions. Do you think we are? We are nowhere near apostolic Christianity. We are paupers. And we are going to be embarrassed at the judgment seat unless there is a change. But there is going to be a change. There is going to be a drastic change before very long. Not in our standard of living merely which I am sure is coming. But I believe God is going to find that remnant and anoint them. You see this guy comes out of the blue. Pardon me, not this guy, this prophet. I am getting too Americanized. That is a dirty word, this guy. In Australia they say this bloke. If you go to college you say something else. But anyhow, the fact is that he comes from nowhere. We don't know anything about his pedigree. We don't know what line he comes from, but we do know. Where did he come from? Where did he come from? I will tell you where he came from. He came from God. The question is often asked, where is the Lord God of Elijah? That is not the question. The question is where are the Elijahs of God? This man as far as I know has no priestly right. I don't know whether anybody ever laid hands on him. He is a bit of a maverick like me. I like to think I am a maverick. Do you know why I like to be a maverick? Because I wouldn't like to be like most of the others anyhow. It is nice to be eccentric. Who wants to be normal? I don't in a stupid, wicked, wild, rotten world like this. I want to be abnormal. Do you pastor? You do. So there are two of us now around here. You are in for more trouble. Pastor Crumb, there you are. That is a nice name, isn't it? Crumb. He is a bit off the loaf, but anyhow. I know you have got somebody else pulling with me now. But the thing here is this. It is very, very simple to understand the secret of this man's power. I am going to skip over it very quickly. The 17th chapter we are in, remember. Let's go to verse 2. The word of the Lord came unto him. There it is. I am looking for the word of the Lord about a situation in Pylor. Once he gives me it, boy, I am going to town. I am just looking. I mean literally going to town. The word of the Lord. Somebody came today. A man phoned me today. I don't know, hundreds of them. He said, I understand, Mr. Rameel, that you like young men, young preachers come and stay at your house for two or three or more days. I said, forget it, forget it, forget it. I don't want you for two or three or four hours. Never mind three or four days. I am going to send them to Gridley's before long. They can put up with them. Three or four days? Good night. Some of them murder me in three or four minutes when they are there. They come in stale and half dead and think I am going to pronounce resurrection and life on them. No sirree, no thank you. But I said to one young man, listen, if you come and take my advice and everything goes well for about six months, you will say, oh, Brother Rameel, you have got me on the right track. Oh, I have been so blessed, so uplifted, so happy. Then suddenly hit a stone wall. You can't go to God and say, well, Lord, I took the word of Rameel, so you should have more sense. You can't depend on my word. If I give you my word, you can depend on that. There are two things missing from modern Christianity. One is honesty and the other is integrity. Is that right? Honesty, integrity are missing, God help us. Even amongst God people. If you give your word, keep it. I can't look at Bear Dale without remembering he was brought up as a Quaker, so was I. Now I try to make people Quake, but anyhow. You know what they did when they said they would, they kept it. If it cost them everything, they had. There used to be a time, a friend of mine in England, when we were trekking England, that's walking the length and breadth of it, we had no money, we walked. His father was a captain of one of those great big four masters like you have seen coming into New York this last few weeks. And he said they'd take a bale of goods from England to China, they'd do a business transaction with a Chinaman, never sign the document, just shake hands, and on that handshake there brother, rested tens of thousands of dollars, and they'd load their ship up with cotton or whatever they got over there, and bring it back to England and take the money back the next time. Boy you can't do that now, they'd torpedo your boat before you get out of the harbor, or else they'd shoot you down somehow. But you see, God is a God of integrity, of holiness. He says deliberately in his word, he cannot lie. I wish some of his children would learn that, liars that they are. And Revelation says all liars, sanctified liars, Baptist liars, Methodist liars, go to hell. Charismatic students. All liars. God has seen this world polluted with sin, he's not going to let heaven be polluted. It doesn't say without ministry no man shall see the Lord. It doesn't say without miracles no man shall see the Lord. It doesn't say without money no man shall see the Lord. It doesn't say without baptism no man shall see the Lord. It doesn't say without gifts, it says without holiness, God's nature is holy. The old city I'm going to live in, you know, it says that Cain built a city, and Abraham looked for a city, but John saw the city. I'm better than that still, I'm going to the city. Are you coming? Oh, about three of you, OK. The rest of you go together please, that's all you can do. Verse 2 says, The word of the Lord came unto him saying, Get thee hence and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself. Chapter 18, verse 1 says, It came to pass after many days, the word of the Lord came, to say, Hide thyself, no, show thyself. It's wrong to show yourself when you should hide yourself. It's wrong to hide yourself when you should show yourself. Do you know what I found out of this, reading this today? There are lots of preachers wanting a vacation, they're trying to get a vacation and what they want is a cave. They don't need a vacation, they need a cave. Go hide thyself. Get away from everything, get away from everybody. The hardest thing, you know we can't be very nice can we? We can't even bear ourselves. You set yourself up for 24 hours, you get bored with yourself. Unless God's there, then it makes all the difference in the world. Go hide thyself. That's the best advice I can give you young preachers. Forget everything, get your Bible, get a copy of the journals, Christian and what is it? Incomplete Alma. Have you read it? You haven't read it. Have you got it? Well, you're a naughty boy. He's got it and he hasn't read it. I'm going to ask you that every week now. Get ready. Till you get under such conviction you can't sleep. You'll have to read it. That book will cost you $27.50. But if you want it, I can get it for $16 at the price store. So if you want it, tell me and put a down payment on it anyhow. No, I'll do it if you want it. Where does he go? He goes to a cave. He goes into that cave twice. He goes into a cave again in the, what chapter is it here? Let me look. You know, isn't it amazing? This fellow isn't a bit afraid of Ahab, but he's scared to death of Mrs. Ahab. Jezebel. Reminds me of some tourists in England. They got lost, dark at night, and the car lights shone on to a sign outside a tavern. It's, we have names on them, you know, like George III and this one said on George and the Dragon. And they knocked on the door at one o'clock. A big buxom woman came out. What do you want? We're lost. Oh yes, you tourists, you're a pest. What do you want? They want a certain town. Well, the boys do this literally in Ireland. They dig down the signpost and turn the signpost round. So these guys went up about five miles, these folk again, not guys, and the signpost had been turned round. They wandered round for three hours and came back to the, what is it now? Dragon. George and the Dragon. Knocked on the door. The big buxom woman had barked at them, stood there looking at them, and the tourist said, could we see George? Well, that's exactly the same thing here. There's nothing worse than a ferocious mad woman and she's mad. You see, what happened to this man? He tolerated what we can't tolerate. He couldn't tolerate what we can tolerate. There'd been a glowing continual declension, apostasy had come, false religion. They don't disturb it, that's God knows. I'll tell you what, it's encouraging if you're lonely, because this one man again, one man with God is a majority. I said at the 18th chapter again in verse 1, go hide thyself. You can tell this always, the message of a prophet is only embraced by the minority, and it's opposed with the majority, until some miracle comes that turns up people round. Let me look at verse 17 here. It came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, he said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? Isn't that great? Dear God, who troubles the nation today? Nobody I know of. Timmy Swigert's getting near to it, if he keeps growing he'll move it. I'd love to hear that fellow. I nearly said that guy again. I'd love to hear him. I don't like his theology altogether. Most of it I like, but I'll get to talk with him one day. Anyhow. I'd love to see him weeping, I'd love to see him angry, I'd love to see him blasting the Church of Rome. Boy, he stands up against principalities and powers, when in the world does he care? But you see, that's the job of the prophet. He's a voice crying in the wilderness. And Ahab is scared to death of this man of God. I've told you often, I hope somehow, somewhere, someday I'll be on the devil's list of most wanted men in America. The ten most wanted men in America. I'd rather be last on that list than the first on the list to go down at the Presidency or the Buckingham Palace. All those vanishing, silly, stupid ideas we have of status symbols. You know, a man full of the Holy Ghost doesn't need any status symbol. He's got it, he's full of the Holy Ghost. There's nothing higher than that, this side of eternity. You think God cares whether you drive a BMW or a skateboard? Of course he doesn't. If he did, I'd get a BMW. BMW, my wife's former name was Wilson. BMW means Blessed Martha Wilson. So we'll have to get one, then have an excuse for having it, you see. Isn't it nice when a man of God gives the orders to the king? Oh, I love this. It's glorious, it says now in verse 19. Wherefore send and gather me all Israel. Listen, here's the man of God telling the king what to do. Come on, get up, he says, and get out of your palace. Get all the people of Israel together. It's estimated there are about 2 million of them. And gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel. The prophets of Baal 400, and the prophets of the groves 400. 800 of them. Elijah said to the people, even I only remain a prophet of the Lord, but the prophets of Baal are 450 men. Down to verse 25, Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first, for ye are many, and call on the name of your gods. Put no fire under. And they took the bullock, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal. Now remember, the name of Baal means Lord, and he's Lord of the skies. Baal was the sun. They worshiped the sun. And so he's asking fire to come down from heaven. Well, you've a better chance than he has. You say that's your God, that ball of fire. Remember, this man is a man who loved this country so much that he starved it. You know, there'll be a sign of blessing as far as I'm concerned by the come. When people come to a prayer meeting and say, God, instead of saying give me liberty or give me death, give me revival or give me death, I can't live and watch America go to hell. Or watch my generation go to hell. God does not answer prayer. He answers desperate prayer. He answers prayer with blood on it. He answers prayer with passion in it. And this man is a man of like passions, even as we are. God pitches the trouble is we're not men of like passion as he was. He was like passions humanly. He had to eat, he had to sleep. And then he goes into a cave. Why did he say, well, Lord, it's not convenient. I mean, you know, I mean, I teach in Elijah's school of the prophets on Tuesdays. I speak on prophecy and Wednesdays on history and Thursday on eschatology. And this week they take my love offering. So I can't make it, Lord. It doesn't say that. He hears the voice of God and he goes. He never once counts the cost. And here he is, it's all the nation against him. It's every priestly system against him. Let's see here now. Verse 30, Elijah said unto all the people, come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. Do you know why many of us are failing in our walk with God? We won't go back to the altar that's broken down. We won't go back to the vow. You remember the vow you made in some meeting when the atmosphere was warm? I'd never get people to do that. You can get them to make any stupid confession or pledge when the temperature's up. I pledged to give so much of my money and we haven't done it. I pledged to give more of my time and we haven't done it. And so before you can build a new altar, you go back to the old altar. There are four new ministries going to start in this city of Tyre here. I went to one last week. It was a rehearsal for Undertakers. The deadest thing I've been in since I buried somebody. But I want to know where's that man's last altar? Why is he building a new altar here? What did he do at the last altar? Another man is starting another inn. Another man's going to start another one. There are four new ones starting in town. But where, why, why, why? Go rebuild the altar. Go repair your vow. Elijah, verse 31, took the 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 thy stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock. Now jump back a minute, will you? Back into Leviticus, chapter one. Leviticus, chapter one, and it says in verse, what, three, in his offering, if his offering be a burnt offering, a burnt sacrifice out of the herd, let him offer a nail without blemish, he shall offer his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation of the Lord. It's a nail without blemish, typical of Jesus Christ, the nail without blemish. There was no spot in him, there was no fault in him. And he offered himself voluntarily. He wasn't dragged to the cross. That snooty king says, watch your step. If you don't, I'll tell you what, I'll take your life. And he says, you can't take my life. No man, there's no man can take it, no devil can take it, no organization can take it, no priest cap can take it. Nobody takes my life. I will lay it down, and I will take it up again. No man in Hestia said that. Buddha didn't say it. Confucius didn't say it. Here is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before you get into the tabernacle, you need the cross. We sang that lovely hymn tonight, the old one. I love that hymn. I didn't meet George Bernard that wrote it, but his wife once played in some meetings for me, and she cried as we sang it one night. And I said to her, you were weeping so much last night when we sang the old rugged cross. She said, Mr. Ray, my husband wrote it. The only got for it, the manuscript, he got $75. And the money he sold it to, took the copyright of it, and he's been selling it to other people for as much as $700 to put it in a hymn book. I think that's what the scripture talks about, the iniquity of holy things. That's a paradox for you. The iniquity of holy things. It's right to pay tithes, it's wrong to corrupt them and use them to our own ends. For lavish living, luxury living, luxury travel, luxury hotels. Isn't it amazing this man should have said, but Lord, I can't go into a cave, it won't suit my health. And there's no shops around there. He puts him way up there, up by the stream, goes into a hole in the wall, and there he meets God in his glory, in his majesty. Let me go back here a moment. Let this be a man without blemish. He shall offer it as his own voluntary at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. There's a scripture, let me see if I can find it here. Go down the chapter here. We're talking about a burnt offering. This is the only offering, as far as I know, where not one single thing could remain in that offering. You must all be burned to ashes, everything of it. Look at the description here. Verse 8 says, The priests, Aaron's son, shall lay the parts, the head, the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire, which is upon the altar, and his inwards and his legs shall he wash with water. And the priest shall burn on the altar, shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering that is made by fire. It's repeated in verse 13, He shall wash the inward parts with water, and the priest shall bring it all, a burnt offering on the altar, and it is a burnt offering. The only thing that could be saved out of this sacrifice was the skin, and the skin was thrown away. The blood had to stay there and be sprinkled. If you go back to the time when they came out of Egypt, it says the same thing, except the blood was gathered and sprinkled over the lintel and over the doorpost. The blood, of course, symbolic of the life. But here you have a beast without blemish. You couldn't bring a lame beast, you couldn't bring a blind beast, you couldn't bring a sick beast. You had to take the most costly thing that you had. And it was a burnt offering unto the Lord. Let me go a bit further back here into Genesis. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Chapter 8, verse 19, verse 18. Noe went forth with his sons, his wife, his sons' wives with him. And every beast, every creeping thing, every fowl and whatsoever creepeth on the face of the earth, their kind went forth out of the ark. He went out of the ark. How long had he been in it? I leave you to work that out. Nobody offering a suggestion. I'm not going to do all your homework for you. You're lazy enough without me telling you everything. Begin and do some searching for yourself. It's not polite. He had a covering in the ark, and the ark was pitch with outside and inside. That ugly stuff that you, black stuff. Do you know why? The ark is a type of salvation. There's no beauty. If you looked at the ark, you wouldn't look a second time. It wasn't a wonderful construction of the archaeologists. And the scripture says when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. If Jesus walked around this earth with a transfigured body like he had on the mount of transfiguration, he would have run the earth, but he didn't do it. There's no beauty that we should desire him. And there was no beauty that we should desire the ark. But while he was in the ark, he had a covering. Verse 20. Noah built an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and every burnt off thing, and put them on the altar. And he was a sweet-smelling saviour unto the Lord. The Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake. What did he do? He took something out of the very limited stock that he had. He took one of every kind and offered it to the Lord. And a more true worship without sacrifice. He had covering when he was in the ark, but now he needs an altar. He wants communion. He wants to feel the quickening of God. And therefore he makes a sacrifice. As I say, he took of every clean beast, and every clean fowl, and built an offering unto the Lord. You see, we can't worship without sacrifice. We can preach without it. We can have a ministry without it. We can be missionaries without it. But we cannot be acceptable to God. What did we read there? We read that the Lord took every part of this beast, his inwards and his legs, everything. Paul says, you remember, in Romans 12, 1 and 2, present your body a living sacrifice. Your body, not your brain, not just your emotions, but your body, with the whole of your being, with your heart, your mind, your soul, your mind, your strength. Lay it on the altar. Be a living sacrifice unto God. There cannot be, you know what? Partial obedience is disobedience. Some want to follow the Lord so far, but not the whole way. Do you remember what King Saul said when, was it Samuel, went to him? And he said, well, what have you done? He said, I've done as the Lord said. I've taken the oxen, I've taken the calf, and I've sacrificed, but I've kept the best for the Lord. Isn't that nice? It reminds me of people who say, I want to tell you something. It's pretty scandalous, but I mean, you know, I just want you to pray for them. They're liars, they don't. They want to snitch. They want to poison you. When I come, I have to bring him all I have. Paul is the best example of his own brilliance and his own theology. He never preached anything he didn't live. And we shouldn't trade in terms as preachers God help us. We're not to trade in theology. We ought to have ourselves a consciousness we are a living sacrifice to be an example, not just by lip, but by life. And he presents every part of this. That's why I quoted that hymn tonight. I've been thinking of it. Well, I forget it. I think it was Mayer who wrote it. Fill every part of me with praise. Let my whole being speak of thee and of thy fullness, Lord, poor though I be and weak. Fill every part of me with praise. Every part of me. And he says, not for the lip of praise alone, nor in a praising heart, I ask, but for a life made up of praise in every part. Praise in the common things of life, its goings out and in. Praise in each duty and each deed, however small and mean. So shall no part of day or night from sacredness be free, but my whole life in every step be fellowship with thee. People still, many of them have a department. They want to be holy on Sundays and carmel on Mondays. But it's all or nothing. He gets all I have, all my heart, all my strength, all my mind, all my will, all my time. All the things I have to do to keep alive, keep the family going, pay my bill. But outside of that, it should be that just as the needle on the compass goes to the magnetic pole and it's released, it should be that something in me, immediately I can switch back. I switch back and think of him. Keep your mind stayed on him, he says. And if we keep our mind stayed on him, we'll be out of thousands of troubles that we get into. But you know, there's no success in a spiritual life without loneliness. You see, the answer to the prayer of this man is fire. Let me step back a minute, just without quoting the scriptures. Remind you of an incident where Moses, remember in Hebrews 11 it says Moses, he somehow, I don't know how he had it, Martha corrected me once on this and I'm grateful ever since. Somewhere in that filthy hole that was called Egypt, where they had worse nightclubs than we have, they had their harems, they had their licentiousness, they had their drunkenness, and yet it was there that this young fellow Moses was undefiled by what he saw, and it says there came a moment when he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches. You know, according to the 7th chapter of Acts of the Apostles, Moses was a super-intellectual. He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. They had everything that we have today in a more crude form and yet more brilliant. If you were to study the pyramid, don't get lost in pyramidology, it's a fascinating study. How did they know how to build it? Where to build it? Look where the basement runs through the world. It's a fascinating thing. And he's learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and the word of God says he was mighty in word. He wasn't an orator, he stammered. He said, Lord I can't go, I can't even speak. God says, oh, I'll get you out of that mess. Don't you make any excuses, God will find, he'll get you at the end anyhow. No man's ever beaten God. If you want to try, try it, you're a fool. Excuse me, you're a fool, yes, if you're a girl. He esteemed the reproach of Christ. Where in God's name did he see Christ? He said of Abraham, he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. That word got all of me today, recompense. Here's Moses, and he's coming out from Egypt. Do you think he changed his clothes and put his traveling shoes on? I think he ran away out of that castle, or that palace, with a royal robe on him. And every time he saw the thing, it reminded him of his grandeur. And God takes him to the back side of the desert. Moses has to go where? Where does he go to? He goes to Horeb. That's where this cave was, Elijah went into, into Horeb. So Moses has his Horeb. And Elijah has his what? Where did he go? To the brook of Keresh. Ezekiel went to Kibar, or Shebar if you like. John went to the Isle of Patmos. Jesus went to the wilderness. You know, we're all trying to get there with shortcuts. You'll never make it. Unless there's a place in your life of total, absolute surrender, if it means wrecking your marriage program, and not if you're married, don't make that a get-out. If you have to postpone a marriage, postpone a career, it's worth it. For the simple reason that once God gets hold of you in that situation, you'll never forget it. Here's Elijah in a stinking, rotten cave. Bad for his health, you might say. Nobody to talk to. He could go nuts. But it's rather amazing when I come to this. It says the prophets of Baal were there. He challenged them. Well, tell me this, where were all the priests? Were they still carrying on with building altars? They knew the Levitical priesthood. He knew that he couldn't have a burnt offering unless he did it God's way. It had to be done exactly as God said. The time to kill it, the way to dissect it, what he should burn, what he should throw away. What were the priests doing? Why is there only one man crying out? Well God help us, why don't we have a hundred Jimmy Swaggerts? Maybe the nation couldn't stand them. But I'd like to see them. I'd like to see them in every city. I'd be happy to clean his shoes. God's going to get men like that. Yes sirree, he's going to get them. And Elijah goes in that dark, dusty place for what, three and a half years? Bread and flesh in the morning, bread and flesh in the evening. That shows you should only eat twice a day anyhow. Then you wouldn't have to go on one of these stupid diets these ladies are on. I mean, people are always on. I have to say people, I get into trouble for hitting the ladies. Then we go to chapter, I don't know what this chapter is, 18 and verse 22. Or 21. Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long will ye hold between two opinions? The Lord be God, follow him, if they'll then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Boy they were dumbfounded. What? This man is going to stand up? Doesn't he realize that King has armies? Doesn't he realize the authority of the nation? Who is he to stand up against the hierarchy? Who is he to stand up against our way of life? Who is he to stand up against all these cults that we have around? You know we call them cults. It's a sweet little word isn't it? You know the Bible calls them doctrines of devils. They don't upset us anymore. Here this man has 800 priests lined up. What does he do? Does he tremble? No he doesn't. Before long he makes them to tremble. Again Paul goes down, he's going to Athens, the intellectual capital of the world. And he's going to meet the Stoics and prophets and philosophers there, and Epicureans, all the intellectuals. And what does he do? Does he pull his punches? No, he says, I want to tell you about a man called Jesus. And they said, Who? Jesus Christ. What about him? Born of the Virgin. He died, he rose again. And he says, Do you know what? The most important thing ahead of you is that God has appointed a day. Not only were they dumb, we're dumb. We don't live. How many of you have lived as though you're going to the judgment seat before long? We've lost sight of the judgment seat. If we really lived in the light of the judgment seat, it would alter our speaking, it would alter our living, it would alter our criticism, it would alter our fear of men. Boy I'm living every day now, every morning I say, Lord I want to live in the blazing light of the judgment. As I've told you, I want to walk out of this life without thirty seconds notice. God just cut me off, and I go into his presence, and I'm not an embarrassment to him, and I'm not embarrassed to be there. Because I'm living up to all the light God has given me. I'm walking in the light God has given me. If he gives me that, I'll walk in it. As far as I know, I'm living a hundred percent up for what God wants out of my life right now. If he wants more, hallelujah, he can have it. Verse twenty-seven, it says, Elijah mocked them and cried, said, cry aloud, for your God is either talking or pursuing, or he's on a journey, on a vacation, or maybe he's fast asleep. Wake him up. Somebody once said to Dr. Tozzi, you're sarcastic. He said, sure I am. Well there's no sarcasm in the Bible, he said, you never heard Elijah. He had made fun, he said, go on, your God's sleeping. Maybe he's gone to the bathroom, maybe he's shopping, or maybe he's sleeping. Maybe he took an overdose of Nital or something. And there he is. Wake him up. What does he care about it? One man with God in the majority. If there had been eight thousand prophets then, never mind eight hundred, he'd still have won the battle. He says, I only am left, I am God. He has a communion with God. He established a line of prayer. You'd know, if you had an indication on your forehead, I might say, you're behind in your prayer life, you're behind in your prayer life. Your prayer life is normally between you and God, but prayer is our strength, prayer is our wisdom, prayer is our open access to the eternal throne of God and the eternal resources of God. And now churches don't pray, so we're on the edge of bankruptcy. I'm not interested in how many go to your church Sunday morning, forget it. How many go to the prayer meeting? That's the strength of it. If the Lord ever lets me have a fellowship, I'll blow that into as many's minds as I can. The strength I'll expect them, they can forsake Sunday morning if they like. We can have adoration and worship if we had more time, we'd have gone on tonight. There's such a spirit of worship and adoration. And we don't give God the adoration. Are you going to tell me that this man hasn't been in that cave there and praying and sweating and grieving, and saying, God, God, you don't manifest yourself anymore. We don't challenge you to divide the Red Sea. We don't dare to call fire down from heaven. We can sow and plow and do everything. We don't ask you to feed us with heavenly manna. Our people don't feed on God, they feed on meetings. They go from one seminar to another seminar. If there's a man up the road ten miles away and he's got a word of knowledge, we go up there. We go up there. He's got a word of knowledge. So what? If the man down the road has a word from God, we won't go hear him. We're fascinated with a man who does something that looks a bit spectacular. But God isn't jealous, God. He's going to drain us of all this. He's going to bring us men that you'd think when you hear them they'd been in heaven ten minutes before and just come down to earth. Dear God, we're so earthly minded. We're so religious. But we're not spiritual. We want to be good, we don't want to be holy. And God isn't looking for good people, he's looking for holy people. He's looking for people who fall in bankruptcy before him. Again, this man has no pedigree I know of. Can you imagine these eight hundred priests there all laughing and saying, you know what? It's going to take him a week to build an altar. We've got eight hundred of us can build altars. He's got to do it by himself. And that's the trouble if you get a prophetic message is you do it by yourself. You may call on one or two others that you know will hold your hands and support you because they're men of like passion, but you have to do it by yourself. God doesn't make denominations, he makes men. And men change history. Prayer doesn't change things. Prayer changes people and they change things. Who changed the history of the world? A demon possessed man by the name of Hither. Every part of his being was satanically operated. God is going to give us men as supernatural in the holy realm as Hitler was in the devilish realm, believe her. I believe he's preparing them now. I pray for them every day of my life and often through the night. They build their altars, he built his altar. They beat themselves, they tear their dress. He says call on your God. There you say God, he's the king of the heavens, he's the lord of the heavens, he's the lord of power. Well come on you get him to send fire, you get him to deliver you out of this. I've tied up heaven, you shut it. I've shut it up, you open it. You know a man in the hands of God is a fearful weapon. If he gets the mind of God he'll make all hell tremble. This man loved his nation so much he says Lord don't let there be rain, don't let there be any crops. Remember a woman later on she brought a baby to him and he prayed over the child. Now he asked her first give me, make me a cake. What did she say? No I can't, I have a handful of meal and a little drop of oil, I'll put them together make a cake for me and my son. We're going to eat it and what? Die like everybody else. If I could get my hands on Elijah I'd break his neck. The nation's bankrupt, our business has gone down. Here we are, we're on the verge of starvation. And then he doesn't whinge about it, he says this is God's money. Come on now, I've shut up the heavens, you turn them on. Come on we've legislated devilry, uncleanness, licensed prostitution almost, give backing to abortion. We've done every devilish thing. The nation's going down so fast it's very much like if you read slowly through that 17th chapter we've idolatry all over the nation. We've got cults, we've got Mormonism, we've got ritualism, we've got Mooneyism. We've got a hundred false cults around us and it doesn't disturb us. We just kind of say well this is the land of the free, you're free to do as you like. That's what murderers think, that's what rapists think. But boy we pull the stops on them, don't we? And I think God is more disgusted with his church. I'll say again, the church is not going to suffer for the sin of America. America is going to suffer for the sin of the church. We'll switch it one week to pray for the teenagers, another week to pray for lost people in foreign countries. It's time to get to business, there's not much time left. It's no good groaning when we get to concentration camps. Let's concentrate in prayer, we'll miss the concentration camps. And Elijah calls. Do you think they were startled? They'd been scoffing and laughing and then he'd go and say, look the poor old fool, he's been there, he's still building that altar, he's been at it for two weeks now. He'll never do it. He's got a hernia lifting those rocks. Look how he lifts them up. How does he lift them? I think there's some partial power of God is on him. I think he did more work than ten men because God was on him. The Lord was the strength of his life. The Lord was his shield. And he builds the altar. Then he cries with all these 800 mocking priests, 850. And he knows what Jezebel is saying. He knows what Ahab is doing. Stirring up wickedness and opposition. But what does he care? And he just cries, let it be known this day, let it be known this day, not tomorrow, this day, that thou art God in Israel and I am thy servant, 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, and hast turned their heart back again. And the fire of the Lord fell. And then next verse the people fell. You know what? I am going to suggest that when this man's in a cave by himself, and boy he's had a bad time, the devil's saying, do you know what they're doing up there at the college, Elisha? They're having a celebration. It's some performance they're having. They're remembering the day that Noah came out of the ark. They're remembering this. Do you think he had no times of temptation and loneliness? Don't you think it got stale being in there? No, it didn't. It was as black as hell may be in there. It was a place where the bats lived. He had no good bed to sleep on. He had no good food to eat. You know, a bit later, you know, he went and helped that woman. What did she do? She made a cake. And what did she do? She says, we'll make a cake and I'll eat it and Elijah you can have some. He hadn't had a decent piece of cake for years. When he got there out of trouble he got help and blessing for himself and that's how it comes. When we seek to be a blessing to others it bounces back on us. Elijah's there in the cave. One year, two years, three years, halfway through the others. And then God says, the God who said, hide yourself, says go. And he went. Do you think that when he was there in that cave he ever dreamed of what would happen in his life? Let me give you a little breather there. Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration. Who was with him? Elijah. Elijah was there. Who was the other one? Moses. They left everything. They say you can't out give God. That's a gimmick for getting more money out of your pocket. You can't out give God in blessing. Here's a man lost for three and a half years and Jesus is going to have one of his supernatural manifestations. Who does he find? He finds Elijah. I can imagine Elijah saying, Lord God this is a different world from being in a cave by myself for those years. But you see God trusted him with trial and he trusted him with triumph. He's with himself and now he's brought to the make of the universe. There is Jesus exalted in glory. I believe he was brighter than a noonday sun like he was on the Damascus road. I think he was brighter than a hundred suns. Why didn't all the people round about see him in Transfigured? Why don't people round about see him now? Because they can't see him in us. Why didn't they see him? Do you remember what the scripture says? There was darkness. Where? In Egypt. But there's light in the camp of the children of Israel. The people couldn't have seen Jesus Christ exalted and in that marvelous Transfiguration that he had. The scripture again says Moses. And let's go finish with Elijah if we can. Where does he turn up next time? Who are the two witnesses in Revelation? You don't know. And who else? Enoch. Right. Did he ever think when he was there in that misery as it was, and the devil tormenting him, the nation has gone to hell and you're sitting here doing nothing? Or somebody saying to the greatest man that lived after Jesus that he's in a prison cell for two or three years, writing up notes, and somebody says, why didn't you get out? You have a healing ministry. You raise the dead, you do the miracle. What are you doing here? It's doing God's will. And God's will may be nonsense to everybody else, but do it. Come hell or high water. The curse of our church today and our seminaries is we're cursed with mediocrity. We're afraid to step out of line. Moses there on the mount, he had already seen that, hadn't he? Moses left the treasures of Egypt. That doesn't mean all the things that they brought to Dallas last year. You remember they brought all the treasures from King Tut's tomb? Or his real name was Amenhotep. He was the brother that survived the great Pharaoh. And they found that Valley of the Kings loaded with slabs of gold. He isn't talking merely about those treasures. I figure that Moses could maybe speak a dozen languages. He could answer every philosophical question, every religious question, every question about creation, everything. He was a genius. It was all condensed in him. But listen, all the wisdom of the Egyptians, it says in the seventh of Acts that he had. But all the wisdom and languages of the Egyptians wouldn't have helped him when he came into the kingdom of God. It was useless. He had to get another language. He had to have another power. He had to have another authority. He might have finished up as Rameses III or something, but he resigned. He told, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the children of God, esteeming the reproach of Christ. Not the victory of Christ, not the throne of Christ, not the revelation of it, the reproach of Christ. One man can come and become the sin like that offering there we have, the sin offering, the burnt offering, and he became the burnt offering. I don't know how, don't ask me, nobody else does. Isn't it 2nd Corinthians, where it says that Jesus made sin for us. He was made sin. He became the embodiment of sin for us. He became the burnt offering of God. You can't go by the cross, the only way to get blessings is to the cross. You can't go beyond the cross without getting all that the cross is involved in, if you really mean business with God. It means death, it means resurrection, it means life, it means authority. I tell you what, I don't think Moses was sorry when he got on the mount. I say, I don't think he made an apology to the king. One of the amazing things is on the back side of the desert, I guess his royal robe is all ragged and torn, getting through the bushes. But what happened there? Well he went to Horeb. What happened in Horeb? Well he never dreamed of it. Do you ever think that when he was on the royal throne and they were going down main street and there was a parade and shouting and yelling, do you ever think he dreamed that he'd be there on the back side of the desert? Somewhere he had a vision that I believe incorporated all this stuff. He goes there, of all the places in the world, where you'd ever expect there's a bit of a scrubby tree and it blazed. I hadn't thought of this, I guess some of you smarter people have. Why wasn't the tree full of blossom and fragrance? Because the fragrance would have been limited, it would have blown away on the wind. Why wasn't the tree loaded with fruit? Boy that would give us a chance to say the spirit was there, the fruits of the spirit. It wasn't a fragrant tree, it wasn't a tree that was loaded with fruit. It was a common bush lit up with God. I don't know, maybe other shepherds could see, but they never went near. But Moses goes and he says, I'll see this strange sight. No it's not fragrant, it's not fruitful, it's flaming. And it was flaming this morning and it's flaming now. And I believe the next revival that God gives, the flame will go on till Jesus comes. It's not going to be an up and down, in and out experience. There's going to be a burning fire of heaven from God, that's going to come down against sin and all uncleanness. And we're going to glod in it like Moses did. Heath to Bethesda. And out of there, out of that place came the voice of God. First the vision of the fire, then the voice, the Christ in the fire. And there he is having just a marvellous revelation from God. A bit further up in the chapter as you read, a bit further on, he's caught up into the skies, onto a mountain. He has to climb up. Some people want an escalator to get up there. He says drag your weary body up. And he goes up and he's wrapped in a cloud. And God appeared to him as a blazing fire and left him speechless with his holiness. You know, I didn't believe he was going to have meetings like that. When God's glory will soon come down, we'll walk out as though we were dumb. We won't dare to speak. We'll feel there's a spell on us from eternity. We'll be so hushed and so subdued. When Elijah had this, fire came down on him. And then there's a great miracle. A bit further you read about him getting some food. And he goes in the strength of that food for 40 days. 40 is a period of testing always in the scripture. Jesus was 40 days in the wilderness. And 40 and 40 and 40 comes over again. And I believe God is going to get a people, the last people he pours his spirit out upon will become super saints. Not in their sight, but in the sight of God. I think God disgusted our mediocrity, our professional religion, our money raising stunts and all the junk we have. He's going to find a pure priest craft. You know, the priests in the Old Testament couldn't own any land. Lots of things they couldn't do. A Jew could not make profit out of another Jew. If he loaned him money it was without interest. I wish to God we'd lots of Christians like that helping other people out. But some of the Jews, some of the Christians are the biggest Jews on earth. They make every damn they can. But I want to encourage you, some of you, that maybe feel you're in a cave. Well the voice that told you to go in, excuse me, will tell you to come out. When he begins his unfolding, begins his revelation. Again Moses on that mountain top must have been so excited. He doesn't hear all the rumbling, grumbling that sounded like thunder every day. When they said why don't you take us back to Egypt. We want to have leeks and garlic. Well who wants garlic? They're crazy. And go back to Egypt. Who wants to go to Egypt? But you see they'd only seen that. And now they begin to feel it's not as easy as they thought. You know all we've done, we've kind of talked about being filled with the Spirit as I get filled with Spirit. And from here it's coasting all the way to eternity. It's the very opposite. When Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost what happened? He was immediately challenged by the devil. He immediately had 40 days and 40 nights alone. What happened with the children of God when they came out of the upper room? Next time you read they were in prison rejoicing that they just heard the prosperity message. It doesn't say that. It says they count, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for his namesake. Suffering. The scripture doesn't say if you suffer for him you'll be rewarded. It says if you suffer with him that means you have his agony. That means you have his concept of the lostness of people. That means that like Jesus you put no value on material things. Honor or dishonor don't make a hell of a difference to you. You're just living to glorify the Lamb and follow the Lamb with us wherever he go. God is always, always rewarding his people. We've got to get back something that we've lost. The 19th chapter says that this man was jealous for the Lord God of hosts. Not jealous of him. I've said to you before there's two kinds of anger. There's a natural anger that has bitterness in it. There's a spiritual anger that has sorrow in it. There's a jealousy which covets something. But there's a jealousy not of God but for God. Look at all these people. Look at the time they invest. Look at the the other morning last week those crazy English people. It showed them on the tv in the morning news. It showed a woman rolled up a very nice looking one. She's rolled up in an old blanket on the sidewalk. She'd been there all night. The man said have you been here all night? Yes the night before. I'll be here four more nights. Why? I want to get a ticket for the front seats to watch the tennis match. Do you know any Christians that stay four nights dear God? You see these prophets you go to the 20th chapter of Isaiah and read about him where God says he's a kind of a man of birth and he has to walk around the nation with a loincloth on and with bare feet for three years going to Ezekiel. And what does he say to Ezekiel? He says you lie on your side. This nation has sinned 390 years. You lie on your side 390 days. One day for every. Lay on your left side. You can't turn over. Some of you on your Gutierrez mattress. You're not there five minutes. Oh it isn't comfortable. And you say darling I'm going to turn over. He says okay. Isn't it lovely? Painful to have a Gutierrez mattress or one of these other stylish things that they have. And here's a man lying on the concrete and God says you can't turn over on your right side even. This nation has suffered. Come on do you want to be a man of sorrows? Don't tell me you want to be like Jesus if you don't want a broken heart. If you don't want to be a man of sorrows. If you don't want to be misunderstood or rejected. That's all he got. That's all I expect. Come on. Why in God's name do you expect better treatment from this world than he got? Are you holier than he is? I love a part of a hymn that says it is the way the master went. Should not the servant tread it still. Toil on and in thy toil rejoice. For toil comes rest. For exile home. Soon shall thou hear the bridegroom's voice. Within thy cry behold I come. Go labour on it is not for naught. Thy earthly loss is heavenly gain. Name he thee, love thee, praise thee not. The master praises. What a man. Why in God's name do you want compliments? It shouldn't matter to us if they curse us or kick us or kiss us or what they do. If you're in the will of God that's the most gorgeous place this side of eternity. Whether in a hell hole. Whether in a prison here for three and a half years. Seeing nothing. Hearing nothing. Just looking to the sky. Watching birds go past. And yet he knows he's there in the will of God. And God's making him. And God said but one day I'm going to have a review. I'm going to take you on the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses on one side and you on the other. And then finally before the book finishes you're going to be one of the two witnesses. Or Moses. Lord says well it's all right. You've forsaken a royal. You've forsaken royalty. You're going to see me celebrating a preview of eternity. And you're going to dwell with me forever and ever. Why in the world do we get discouraged? Come on John tell me why. Why do we get discouraged? Boy I'm going to a feast before. Oh I see Prince Charles is getting. Is it Charles? No. No he got married. He's got his troubles already. Who's the other one? Andrew. Prince Andrew. Each day the mail comes in I'm looking for my invitation to Buckingham Palace. Not on your life. I'm going to a wedding soon that will make the royal wedding look like the dishes in the kitchen sink. I'm going to be in his holy presence forever and ever. I'm going to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and all the sons of all the ages. Listen God wants something out of you. If he's going to invest something you've got to invest your life. I just thought of this and I'm winding up with this. They said the most eligible gentleman in England in the 1890s was a man by the name of Henry Martin. He broke about every record for scholarship. He was senior wrangler in the University of Oxford before he was 20 years of age. He carried off the Smith Prize that nobody had carried off unless you were 24 or 25. He was 20. He fell in love with a girl called Lydia and then he fell in love with Jesus. Jesus said I want you in India. And he said Satan was raping one in one ear India. Jesus Lydia. Satan Lydia. Jesus India. And he said I had a tug of war and then I surveyed the wonders cross. And he did what we sang about. I lay in dust life's glory dead. Oh they predict for me I might become the prime minister of England. But he says it means nothing to me. Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches and all the fabulous treasures in Egypt. And that meant severing connection. He was 40 years of age. He may have had a girlfriend I don't know. I'm sure he mixed up with society. He counted it all but dross. Paul says I count every esteeming thing that you crave for but bang that I may win Christ. So what does this blessed man do? He goes to India. Oh you shouldn't go. I mean look at all the scholarships. Look at the investment of your parents in you. What will people say? Do you think Elijah ever considered what the people would say? Do you think Moses cared? What will they say when they hear in the royal court all the servants say have you heard the news Moses is missing? They're searching for him. And he's fled out to loneliness and semi-starvation and stinking sheep. An Egyptian is an abomination in the eyes of Israel. A shepherd rather is an abomination in the sight of his of Egypt. They scorned him as the lowest and he's a shepherd a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. This young man again then he goes to India. He's counted the cost. He says well darling I'm sorry but the Lord has come in between us. Oh someone's coming well who is she? No it's not a she it's the Lord. They're always talking about the Lord. What did he tell me? Well he told me last night to postpone any wedding plans any thoughts put them all on one side and I have to go to India. He took that stupid uh what would I say there give me the right word I say glittering intellect that he had. You know what he did? He took a Greek New Testament and he translated from the Greek into a more difficult language the whole of the New Testament. He translated into Arabic. When he done that he translated from the Greek into the Hindustani language. And it is all in seven years. How he did it only God knows. I don't know because he translated some other portions too. He could have died a multimillionaire. He could have died one of the leading scientists. But you see what you put in you get out. He says Lord I don't care a thing about men. I don't care about success. I don't care about luster. I don't care about esteem. Tell me the prime minister in 1895 in England you count. Nobody cares. Nobody bothers. But this man is going to shine. You see we're not all going to be the same in heaven. Does he make it clear in one Corinthians 15 one star different from another star in glory. Do you think I expect to shine with brilliance like John Wesley. Forget it. You think the dying thief who was with paradise in paradise. Do you think he's going to be listed there with men like say Savonarola. Lonely men like Savonarola. With no backing he upset the whole of Florence. It was the most corrupt society that I've ever seen in that rotten country of Italy. The papacy was corrupt. The priests were corrupt. They patronized bottles. They were drunk. They were immoral. He didn't care. He says God has told me to preach Christ. And he went out and preached Christ. He had no backing. He had opposition and Savonarola changed the whole of that city. People didn't then call him and clap. He went to his courtroom in tears time after time with brokenness until God broke through. What do you think the priest did when they heard about a man by the name of Martin Luther. One man up against the papacy with vast wealth. The wealthiest system in the world today is the Roman Catholic Church. She's vastly richer than all the Protestant churches put together. And she has more ambassadors to the world. And yet Martin Luther comes from a dreary cell. And when he's warned not to go. Don't go there. You must not go. He said I'll go if there are as many demons and devils in the time as there are tiles on the roof. And he went. What happened? He shook the papacy. And then he shook the world. One man. I'm not saying God will do that for you. But I'll tell you what. First of all it'll shake you up. It'll destroy some of your idols that you don't think are idols. It'll take some of those treasures. The hardest. I'm discovering this in talking with young men this week. They're willing to give up worldly ways. They're not willing to give up worldly companionships. Listen it may cost you your dearest friend to follow the Lamb with us forever. He's a jealous one. He doesn't just want you as a friend. He wants you as a lover. He wants you to adorn him in eternity. He wants to share with you eternity now on earth. We've got to see people living the heavenly life in flesh and blood before ever we get there. The kingdom of... Jehovah's Witness came to our door the other week. And he started talking. I said listen you're too late with your wheelbarrow. What do you mean? I said you're talking about the kingdom. Yes the kingdom. I say you're too late. But I've got the kingdom of God within me. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness joy peace in the holy. I said I'm living in heaven before I get there. I have fellowship with Jesus. I see his risen splendor. I worship him. I adore him. You know if we got such a revolutionary view of Jesus we could live with half the preaching. And if we got half the preaching we'd get twice as much praying. And it's going to take that. Now I tell you I'm encouraged. You may not be. I'm encouraged reading this seeing the reward of these men who for years were thought nobodies and foolish. Elijah shut up and then his amount of transfiguration. Then he comes in at the end of the chapter. And one day I'm going to see him with Abraham and Isaac and all the saints there. Won't that be great? It's a shame here in America the only folk that sing when the saints go marching in are drunken people in Bourbon Street. And those Indians dancing with those bazookas they play and all the rest of it. When the saints go marching in. I was in a conference in Ireland. The wholeness conference. At the end of the day a fellow gets up and says I want you all to sing after me. When the saints come marching. Everybody knows what? Is he up his rocker? Well who's it for? Are the tavern keepers going? Coors. Are Coors going? The Baptists aren't they Mrs. Coors? No it's not Baptists going marching in. It's the saints. It's the redeemed. It's the sanctified. It's those who have sold everything out as far as they know. And say every beat of my heart is yours. Every passion of my being is yours. I've no material ambitions. I've no longings except to see these thrones of idolatry pulled down. Oh the hellishness of Romanism. Mormonism makes three million dollars a day in their various industries. A billion a year. Roman Catholics won't let people go to other countries until they have two years. And it's the same with the Mormons. They must study the language if they're going to Japan. They must study Japanese for two years before they go. We sent people there to start learning their ABCs when they got there. And they have to drain the coffers of the church. The Mormons don't do that. Their families pay for them. The other people, when they go, the Catholics, the Catholic church pays for them. But as soon as they get to another country they get the nuns and the priests teaching English in schools. They get them the payroll of the country they go to and so they have no expenses from this end. And we let folks stammer and say, oh I feel I should go to India. They may as well get on a banana boat. First of all you need vision. You need passion. The Lord isn't just looking for your lousy sins. He wants your intellect. He wants your will. He wants your emotions. He wants you to set course for eternity come hell or high water. It may mean prison in a cell. So what do you care? Every day I pray for fellows like myself my age who've been locked up in Russia for 10 or 20 years. Their skin is as white as parchment nearly because they've had no daylight. And they're holding on. They can't break them. They've taken their children. They've taken their Bibles. They've taken their churches and they're still as strong as whenever they went in. In fact they're stronger because they've touched powers that we don't know a thing about. We need to get fire from heaven. I wish we could sing it. We can't. William Booth's song, I'm through with two things. When William Booth got that fire down from heaven, people came from America across the Atlantic. It took about two months to get over. But some of the best people like Colonel Brangle, the greatest auditor in America, went to polish shoes for students for William Booth. And he sent them marching to Zion singing, Thou Christ of burning cleansing flames, send the fire. Thy blood-bought gift today we claim, not tomorrow, today we claim, send the fire. Look down and see this waiting host, give us the promised Holy Ghost. We want another Pentecost, and don't really want it, we need it. Then he says, to make our weak hearts strong and brave, send the fire. To live a dying world to save, send the fire. To burn up every trace of sin, to bring the light and glory, and the revolution now begins, send the fire. Another hymn says, O that it now from heaven might fall, and all my sin consume. Charles Wesley says, refining fire, go through my heart, illuminate my soul, scatter thy life through every part. Purge every part of my will, every part of my conscience, every part of my desires. Lord burn it up. The burnt offering, everything has to be burned. The inner part particularly. Every part has to be consumed. Otherwise it's not a perfect offering, it's not acceptable. And some of us want to give God a little bit of our time, a little bit of this. He wants all, every, fill every part of me with praise. God's going to do some wonderful things. But you know what? We, like my dear brother Farrar here, and Dale, we guys with white hair, remember that's a, I'm not meant to have grey hair, it says in the Bible. We missed the turn in the road, I think, brother Farrar, I don't know what you think. So we've had days of blessing. I've seen some revivals, marvellous revivals. But you know, God's going to do something super. We're going to have a revival, again my slick phrase, we're going to have a Pentecost, but without Pentecost, Pentecost. And it'll come when once you say, O see us on thine altar lay our lives our all this very day, to crown the offering now we pray, send the fire. To make our weak hearts strong and brave, send the fire. To live a dying world to save, send the fire. To burn up every trace of sin, to bring the light and glory in. The revolution now begins. We need a spiritual revolution. We need to get in communication with God the Father. Our God is a consuming fire. You never see that on the back of a car, you say God is not. But our God is a consuming fire. And he makes his ministers a flame of fire. I believe every person in the land should be burning today with Holy Ghost hatred for sin, with Holy Ghost compassion for broken people, with Holy Ghost compassion that Jesus is being dishonored, even in his own church. There's scripture that says he was wounded in the house of his friends. I believe almost, not all, but almost every person in the land is an insult to the Lord Jesus today. There's no holy power, there's no holy vision. We don't go out broken over a broken nation. In God's name what do we have to do? Our homes are broken with divorce, our minds are broken with drugs, our bodies are broken with disease. Everything's broken, but the church isn't broken hearted about it. And before the fire comes there's going to have to be a brokenness. I want you to pray on it. Don't pray tonight because you want to. Pray because you have to. Pray because something inside of you is welling up and you say I've got to cry to God. I can't call on Radnil, I can't call on a group. I want to call on the Living God, he's the same God. He hasn't given up on our generation. He's still going to knock this world that's so sick and drugged and damned and lost. He's still going to invade it, but he's not going to do it with angels, he's going to do it with men. He looks for men to stand in the gap and women as well. We're going to go to prayer. If you have to go you can leave and if you want to stay we're going to pray for a while anyhow, maybe an hour. So let's go to prayer now, can we do that?