Jentezen Franklin - Turn Up The Fire - Part 2
1 Kings 18. «Then Elijah said to all the people, 'Come near to me.' So, all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the sons of Jacob, whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, 'Israel shall be your name.' Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord; he made a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. And he put the wood in order…»
Notice that, «He put wood in order and then he cut the bull in pieces, laid it on the wood, poured waterpots full of water on the burnt sacrifice on the wood. Then he said, 'Do it a second time.' And then, he said, 'Do it a third time, ' and they did it. And so, the water ran all over the altar and filled the trench. And then Elijah, at the time of the evening sacrifice, came near and said, 'Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel, and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word». Verse 38, «Then the fire of the Lord fell,» then the fire of the Lord fell, «And consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust».
Fire was proof that the sacrifice had been received. «And it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it,» when the fire fell, they didn’t just sit there and watch it, but, «They fell on their faces; and they said, 'The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God! '» Verse 41, «Then Elijah said to Ahab, 'Go up, and eat and drink; for there is the sound of an abundance of rain.'» I wanna preach to you for just a few moments about this fire, and I want God to speak to us all and rekindle and turn up that fire in our hearts and in this church. Elijah, after he built the altar, he began to pray. He didn’t pray a little prayer to check the prayer box, but he said, «I wanna pray until the fire falls».
Elijah prayed a persistent, fervent prayer. A seething prayer. A heartfelt, red hot prayer. James said, «It’s the fervent, effectual, passionate prayer of the righteous man or woman avails much». It’s not a little thing. But when you begin to press beyond and you hit that place where, «Oh, God is here,» and I can speak, and I feel something shifting. I feel the fire of God receiving the prayer. It’s an intensity. It’s time again for that fire to hit churches. And Lord, if it’s not this one on fire, why shouldn’t it be? I want this church to be on such fire.
Did you know they said fire can double every 30 seconds? That’s how quick it can spread, which explains why the world’s not being saved. Because if you’ll catch on fire, you’ll start converting your friends, you’ll start converting your family, you’ll start converting people all around you. We’ve lost our witness. We don’t think it’s important. «So, if they’re going to hell, that’s their problem. I guess they’ll come to Jesus when they get ready». No, somebody has to witness. Somebody has to be set, you have to be a soul set on fire. You have to have a new, fresh touch of fire, and then suddenly, you can double that in 30 seconds, and another one catches fire, and another one catches fire. And just like on The Day of Pentecost, 3,000 were saved off one spark.
You know, I believe the Pentecostals are the ones who need the fire more than anything. People used to come to our churches when my mother was, she’s sitting down here on the second row and… I can remember North Henderson Rocky Mount Churches that my dad pastored. We were on fire for God. I used to play the drums. I could tell when they, there was just something that would shift when the Holy Ghost showed up in fire. And oh, sister so and so down there might cut loose, and my mom back then, she had a hair do and I respect everybody’s hair and their standards and all that. And I don’t ever make fun of nobody. I believe people, that’s beautiful to me.
I love that. But mom used to stack her hair so… She had big curlers, that big. And they would curl 'em and it was like the Eiffel tower. It was three layers. Mom, you know I’m telling the truth. It was high and lifted up. But I can remember you usually hear a woman, I don’t know why. But a woman, and they would go, «Ohh». And that meant, «Incoming. Something’s about to happen».
And then, old brother Medcalf. There was a guy named brother Medcalf. He would get up and he’d start walking across the front, and he would start praising God like this, and about that time, my momma would start jerking her head and the Eiffel Tower would start coming unglued, and it would go… And it was beautiful. And the saints would get, my dad would start preaching, and it was beautiful. When the fire falls, you get a little out of control. You don’t care what people think. That’s what this city needs. That’s what this world needs. We cannot fix people with dead, dry religion. They need the fire of the Holy Ghost to get off drugs, to get their minds cleansed, and healed, and delivered. Their bodies healed. We need miracles, and it comes out of the fire. It comes out of the fire.
In 1666 in London, England, the bubonic plague had broken out, and it was killing tens of thousands of people. No cure, no hope, entire families being wiped out. Deadly. They could not figure out what was causing the disease, the plague. History records an old cow, they think, kicked over a lantern in the main barn of London. And when he did, it caught one straw, and every 30 seconds, another, another, another. And then, the bigger the pile got, the bigger the… and the flames begin to leap from neighborhood to neighborhood, from building to building, from house to house, till the whole city was enflamed in such a fervent, burning fire that not only did it burn everything down, but the fire began to leak down into the sewers and it caught rats on fire.
And one of them started it, or two or three, and they take off running, and the start spreading the fire in the sewers of London. And they’re burning the rats by the millions down in the sewer of London. The rats were carrying the fleas that would come up and bite the people and infuse them with the bubonic plague. And when the fire was done, there was no more plague. Down in the sewer of our soul, when the fire comes, it doesn’t just deal with things out here, but it goes down into the sewer of our soul where the rats and the awful filth is, and it begins to burn it up and clean up our lives.
Bible said in Malachi 3 that God would sit as a refiner’s fire and a fuller’s soap. Soap cleans up the outside, but fire cleans up the inside. You can walk down an aisle and get saved, and that’s beautiful, and that’s important. But when the fire that I’m preaching on comes, it goes deep, and it begins to go into the sewer of your soul. It begins to go into those areas where you’ve let the rats loose, and you’ve let the enemy loose. But God says, «Let my fire burn again in you». I remember when me and my brother, Richie, used to evangelize all over the nation. We were just two single preachers that was going out and preaching as a team. And we were young, and we were just young men just in our early 20s.
And so, we naturally drew a teenage audience. And we started something every time we would ask the pastor, «Is it alright if we call a prayer meeting in a Sunday school room»? And we just start in a little Sunday school room. And when we would go in, and sometimes those revivals would break loose for a week, for two weeks, for three weeks. Hundreds and hundreds of people would be saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, especially young people. They would come from all over. Their entire youth groups would come, spirit of God would fall in mighty and magnificent ways.
And one of the things Richie and I would do is we would go an hour early, and we would get in those Sunday school rooms. They were usually cement floors, and wood chairs, and it was down in a basement somewhere in a little country church. But we would get down on our knees and it would start out with me and Richie, and we would just be praying. We didn’t know how to pray except you just open your mouth and you start praying, and you tell God He’s great and if you don’t… And as I was getting this little message together, I thought about, where are the 14-year-olds? Where are the 15-year-olds? Where are the six, because that’s who started showing up. They would start showing up into that prayer room. They would come and it would start out, and the men had to be in one room, and the women had to be in the other.
That’s how we did it back then, and that’s a good way to do it, especially with teenagers. Put 'em over there, amen. And they put the boys in there, and me and Richie would start out, by that second or third week, it would be a roar of young people. It would be so crammed sometimes they would have to open two or three because the fire was spreading and it was 14-year-olds, and it was 15-year-olds, and it was 16 that would pray, that would get… Oh, they would agonize, they would cry. We’re too deep for that now, we’re too intelligent for that. We’re too non-emotional for that. We’re too great.
Never get too big for the fire. That fire is what got us where we are today. And it’s a whole lot easier to cool down a fanatic than heat up a corpse. If you want it, you have to build the altar. You have to put the sacrifice of praise on that altar. And I want that fire. I want that fire to hit another generation. I want that fire to burn so deep in this church that the sparks start spreading all over Atlanta, and all over the nation, all over the world.
Am I just a dreamer? Or do you believe that it’s God’s will for the fire to fall again? Who’s a candidate? Who needs to kill some rats in the sewer of your soul? Because if you let it, the fire will go out. Proverbs 26 said, «Put wood on the fire». Put wood on the fire. Where there is wood, no wood, the fire goes out. There you go. If you don’t have any fire, it’s 'cause you’re not putting wood on it. Prayer is wood. Praise is wood. Giving is wood. Loving God, witnessing is wood. Standing against temptation, that’s the wood on the fire.
You say, «Well, nobody saw it». God saw it. When you stop cussing, that’s wood on the fire. When you stop acting like the world, that’s wood on the fire. When you start honoring your father and your mother, that’s wood on the fire. When you start coming to church when you feel like it or you don’t, that’s wood on the fire. I’m preaching good. Y’all want me to hurry up so you can get to the buffet. The only fire in most churches is in the church kitchen. We’re gon' get some in here, praise God. Yes, well that’s a good line. Hallelujah! Anybody want fire? Anybody in the younger generation want fire? I want a passion. I want a vision. I want a dream. I want a calling. I’m gon' live for God, I’m gon' live on fire. Not gon' be a lukewarm Christian. Not gon' be a lukewarm preacher.
Stand to your feet at every campus. Hallelujah. I want the fire to fall on everything that we’re doing. How many of you are a candidate and you would say, «I want the fire back»? Maybe you’re a burned over field, maybe you’re under the water from a flood. If you want the fire, get out of your seat and get down here as quick as you can get down here. We’re not in a hurry. I’m gon' let everybody leave in a minute that wants to leave. But if you feel a nudging, you feel a hunger, you feel a yearning.
If while I preach, something is stirred. The Bible said in 1 Timothy, «Stir up the fire. Stir it up. If you see the embers growing cold, barely blinking, stir it up. Stir it up». This is not an hour to be lukewarm. This is not an hour to be casual. This is not an hour to have a distant relationship with Jesus. This is an hour to be filled with the spirit. Don’t be drunk on wine where is excess, but be filled with the spirit. Speaking to yourselves in hymns and songs, in spiritual songs. Singing, making melody in your heart unto the Lord. You’re putting the sacrifice of praise on the altar.
Now, just lift up those hands all over this room. And if you want the fire to hit your house, and hit your family, and hit your marriage, and hit your children. Oh God, we cry out to you. Maybe the flood of the enemy has come like a storm. Listen, you have to go after God, you have to seek Him. You have to say, «Lord, I’m stirring up the fire. I’m stirring up the fire. I need it. I need it».
Now, just receive the fire. Begin to worship. Begin to praise Him. Begin to say, «Lord, let that fire get into the sewers of my soul. I want the fire on my mind purging my thought life. I want the fire on my lips so that what I say will be pleasing. The words of my mouth will be pleasing to you. Oh God, I want the fire in my heart, and my heart will burn for you. And my heart will burn for your gospel, that my heart will burn for your word». Come on, seek Him. Seek Him, build an altar. Get desperate for it.
The Bible said when the fire fell, all of Israel started shouting and bowing and worshiping. That’s what we’re doing. Begin to worship the Lord all over this place, in the balcony, at every campus. Just begin to forget about yourself, and throw up your hands, and put wood on the fire. Where there is no wood, the fire goes out. Clean out the fire box. The Holy Ghost comes on the wings of praise. Get in the wings.
Come on, young people. I see you. God sees you. Seek Him. I want you to pray for somebody. I want you to lay your hands on somebody around you. All over this building, I want you to let the sparks, if you feel the fire, just reach over and touch somebody gently. Let the sparks spread, let it double every 30 seconds. We need you, Lord.
I pray you say that in your home. Glory to God. Declare it over your home. Welcome the Holy One. The God that is a consuming fire. If you can’t take it anymore, He’ll carry you. If you can’t handle it anymore, the fire can handle it.
When that fire touches you and it begins to burn, it will burn away sin, it will burn away that coldness of your heart.
And Lord, I just pray today that you would touch people all over the world that are hearing me. And those that are in a cold place, a cold, dark valley, they need the fire to lead them, they need the fire to warm them, they need the fire because it’s essential to make it through the trials and the hard times of life. Lord, we just ask you today to send revival to America, to send revival to every church and every home. And Lord, I just pray for an unending fire of God in our hearts in Jesus' name, amen and amen.
And if you don’t know Him, you can know Him. And there’s a number on the screen, call that number, someone’s ready to pray with you today. You can visit our website, we have plenty of free resources to share with you in your brand-new walk with God.