Dr. Jeff Fugate: Let Him Be God

Amen it's a joy to be with you tonight I appreciate that group of young men - a group from Commonwealth Baptist College singing tonight and I'm sorry Lone Star Baptist I appreciate that god bless you men I enjoyed that I've enjoyed all of the service tonight and what a joy to be in the church that is alive I mean that is a wonderful spirit a preacher was visiting his absent T's and he said to a man he said you haven't been in church in three weeks he said yeah he said just been rain and then rain and then raining well he said now the preacher said it's always dry at the church he said yeah that's another reason I haven't been coming and but anyway he wasn't talking about this church for sure I'll tell you and a great spirit tonight good singing and I appreciate it so much I appreciate for the wells and what God is doing here and this good work I'm excited about it I love it and I'm glad and honored to be here I couldn't help but to think tonight and my mind went back is that the privilege to sit beside dr. Smith tonight my my dad used to take me to preaching conferences like this all over the country and my dad passed away at the age of 40 but when I was a boy my dad never took me to a high school sporting event a college sporting event or a professional sporting event of any kind never went to any ball game of any kind but he took me to hear preachers all over the country and as i sat there beside by the smith tonight and heard dr. Hamlin preach I thought boy this how I grew up and we went everywhere anywhere brother roll off a brother Hiles our brother Robertson a brother Malone those fellows were preaching while we we'd get in a van and we'd go and I enjoyed it and I it was very special tonight to sit there beside that brother Smith and to hear dr. Hamlin preach just like old times I'm glad old times they're still new times aren't and that's the same kind of preaching same kind of preaching and I appreciate that so much mighty good mighty good tonight first Kings chapter 18 it's a joy to see all of the preachers that are here all of the missionaries all of the evangelists and I'm glad some common folk are here as well tonight and yeah had that each of you here it's a joy to preach with the preachers that are preaching for the right young and I love him and have for many years and appreciate his work and faithfulness and testimony for the bus ministry in America I still love the bus me in the street nine hundred and some-odd mostly odd bus riders came yesterday and the miracle is not having nine hundred and some to come we got all nine hundred and never have many there were back to the same address where we picked them up that's that's that's a good day on the buses right there and but anyway first Kings chapter 18 if you'll stand with me tonight begin reading in verse number 21 the Bible says and Elisha came unto all the people and said how long halt ye between two opinions if the Lord be God follow him but if bale then follow him and the people answered him not a word then said Elisha unto the people I am even I only remain a prophet of the Lord but bells that prophets are 450 lent them therefore give us two bullocks and let them choose one bullet for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on wood and put no fire under and I will dress the other block and lay it on the wood and put no fire under and call you on the name of your gods and I will call on the name of the Lord and the God that answereth by fire let him be God and all the people answered and said it is well spoken Heavenly Father I pray Lord that you would please bless again as you have a already in the song and in the message at tonight Lord may we hunger to follow the pattern and that is set before us in the Word of God and may we be satisfied with the pattern the examples of the Word of God and I thank you that's what we saw and heard tonight and I ask you Lord that you would fill me with your spirit you said Lord if we being evil know how to give good gifts to our children how much more shall our heavenly Father give the Spirit to them that ask him and lord I hunger I thirst for your spirit tonight help me up I prayed to accomplish your will in Jesus name Amen you may be seated the story of our text is an exciting and a captivating story especially when you look at all of the details and the stories that precede that what happens here in first Kings at chapter 18 when you read the intensity of the prophets that prayed and nothing happened and then as you watch Elijah pray that 60-some word at prayer and the fire of heaven fall what an exciting and an intense story that it is Elijah of course is the Prophet the man of God in this day a hab and wicked King a wicked King and his wife a Jezebel the wicked daughter of the king of the sidonians her influence is only negative and anti God and she and her husband have it led the people of God the children of Israel away from worshipping God and to worshipping at bail God has of course because of their worship because of their sinful behavior is called for a period of time where there would be no rain imagine if you will three and a half years not a month not two not three but three years and a half that there's no rain that James talked about it when he said and there was no rain on the earth for the space of three years and six months as a result of the no rain there was drought as a result of the drought there is a famine as a result of the famine there is much death of people and animals they come to this place and God tells Elijah go show yourself to Ahab and so he did and a hab said that you're the one that's causing trouble in Israel and old Elijah looked at him and he said no King you're the one that's causing the trouble in Israel you're the one that made God mad and so he called for the 450 prophets of Bale to come to Mount Carmel and all of the people that gathered around I you know the story they put the sacrifice on the altar and they began to pray to their gods and they prayed and nothing happened and that we sort of like the spirit of Elijah and he said fellas he maybe can hear you he might be busy or he could be on a vacation and he made them so angry they were cutting themselves with knives and rocks and I mean they nearly lost their mind as he made fun of the ummah because their God didn't answer their God didn't answer never has answered never will answer because rocks can't hear and wood can't hear and that nothing happened and then the Bible said that Elijah he repaired at the altar and he placed the animal on the sacrifice and then he said I want four barrels of water precious water I don't know where they got poor barrels of water they may had to get it from King Ahab they poured that they poured they didn't drink it they poured it on the sacrifice on the altar and they poured the four barrels and Elijah said do that again pour more barrels of precious water they port he said do it again and that or to 12 barrels of water on the sacrifice and then that the Bible says that Elijah prayed when Elijah prayed the fire of heaven failed and of course the difference is he prayed to the God that's the creator of the universe he prayed to the God that's the sustainer of the universe he prayed to the Living God Jehovah God of heaven and God answered that prayer and fire came down and it consumed the sacrifice it burnt of the altar and it licked up all the water it heard of all the water in the trenches around and the people cried the Lord he is God but I want to go back to verse 24 and I want to show you something that Elijah said as he made the presentation of this confrontation that would take place on Mount Carmel in verse number 24 the Bible says he says called you on the name of your gods and I will call on the name of the Lord and notice this phrase and the God that answereth by fire let him be God let him be God I read that passage and that phrase and that word let arrested my attention let he only be God what does that word let me what do you mean let the God of heaven let the creator let the sustainer and let the one that inhabits all eternity who sits on the throne of heaven let allow him to be God what does that word let me well it means exactly what you would imagine it to mean it means to allow let means to give permission not to let means agree to let means that not to limit let means not to prevent Elijah's saying here whomever really is a God let's let him be God let's let him do what he wants to do now that intrigued me to hear that phrase what do you mean let him be God my mind went to the New Testament and if you will turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 13 this is recorded again in the book of Mark and I'm thinking of Elijah's phrase let him be God and I looked at Matthew chapter 13 and I found it down here in verse number 50 of 4 the Bible says this and when he was come into his own country he taught them in their synagogue in so much that they were astonished now noticed that when they heard him teach they were astonished now these were people who heard a teaching they heard the educated teachers of the day but when they heard Jesus teach they were astonished at his teaching and so it must be that he was a bow of average in his a teaching then notice what the Bible says whence hath this man this wisdom and then they said this and these mighty works notice what the Bible says now in verse 55 is not this the carpenter's son is not this he is not his mother called Mary and his brethren at James and Joseph and Simon and Judas noticed down in verse number 58 the Bible says and he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief now he wanted to do mighty works but they did not let him and they did not allow him they did not permit him they did not allow Jesus to do what he wanted to do why because of their unbelief does that mean that Jesus wanted to do more than he did but the thing that hindered them him was their own belief you mean if they would have believed him he would have done for them out what he did in the city of nain you mean if they would have believed him in his hometown he would have done for them up what he did in Bethsaida you mean if they would have believed him in his own country that he would have done for them of what he did in Capernaum you mean if they would have just believed in him and that he would have done for them of what he did in the Knesset I'm talking about when he went to nain and they were having a funeral position and the widow was weeping because her son had died Jesus put his hand on the bier he put his hand on the on the on the corpse and that old boy came to life I wonder what Jesus wanted to do in his hometown I know what he did in Capernaum i when the great crowds came to hear him so much that you couldn't get in the house to see Jesus and one man was brought that was sick at the palsy he wasn't able to walk he wasn't able to get there and so the friends started a bus ministry and they went over there and they picked him up on the bus and they brought him to Jesus and they couldn't get in on the inside and so they went up on top of the roof and they let the man down Hey the Bible says when Jesus saw their faith he said to the sick of the palsy son thy sins be forgiven thee is that what he wanted to do in his own town at you mean to tell me that when he went to MEF satyam and and there was a crowd around Jesus a great crowd around Jesus but there was a blind man and he heard distr I what's going on what's happening but Jesus is in town oh Jesus Jesus this is in town and it's not very long until Jesus finds his way into the blind man and he touches the blinded eyes and he makes him to see again you mean that's what he wanted to do in his town Elijah said to that crowd whoever answers before I let him be God I want to say to you tonight there's not anybody here and that would doubt that Jesus was a virgin born son of God and there's nobody here tonight that would doubt that Jesus lived a sinless life and there's nobody here tonight and that would doubt on the third and appointed Dame that first day of the week hood and Friday it was Sunday y'all figured that out didn't you somebody's doctor in there counting one ain't very good I mean I'm from the mountains but I can count three Friday to Sunday ain't three but anyway on the third and appointed day hey they came from everywhere to be in church with us on Easter Sunday week before last how'd anybody would doubt that he arose from the grave when I wonder something tonight I wonder how many Christians are letting him be God he wants to be more than the person you know that was born in Bethlehem he wants to be more than the person you know that lived a sinless life he wants to be more than the person you know that arose from the grave he wants to be God in your life what is it you need tonight what is it that you lack tonight that's in the will of God what is it tonight that you need desperately in your church what is it tonight I wonder what he wants to do in your city I wonder what he wants to do in your town I'll tell you one thing friend I want him when he comes to Lexington I wouldn't say God you you can come I want you to be God in Lexington I want you to come on you just do whatever you want to do if you want to save a bunch of people if you want to build a church hey if you want to see people saved I want him to be God let him be God let him be God that's what Elijah said that's what I said in height we need a revival of folks that would get out of their own way and yield to the will of God and get filled with the Holy Spirit of God and just let Jesus be God in their life what does he want to do for you what does he want to do with you what does he wanted to do through you we got too many folks that are interested in what they can do for God I'm not interested in what I can do for God but I'm interested in what God can do through me for I have seen I have seen a master musician take a cheap instrument and make good music because it was yielded to the musician I heard a story recently of a man a good number of years ago going to New York City and he was a world renowned violinist and the papers had written four weeks of the violin that this man would play it was one of the most expensive if not the most expensive violin in all of the world they wrote about it they wrote about that violin every day and it wasn't very long at all that all of the tickets were sold out I mean the place was packed they came to hear the violinist played the violin and that was worth a so very much and sought after by the violinist and the wealthy of the world he stepped in that night and the lights came on and as he put the bow to the violin and he began to play beautiful music all the people they just couldn't believe it they were overwhelmed by the sound of that violin all he played and when he did they cheered in their Lord and they called for an encore he played it again he went to another number and he played a song they just couldn't believe it they hadn't heard anything like that they've heard a lot they had heard a lot of music in New York City ha but never had they heard music like that from that expensive violin an hour and a half into the concert the man took that violin and he turned around he raised it over his head and smashed it over a chair the crowd gasp they could hardly breathe what is this manda and then he revealed to the crowd the violin that I just broke is one of the cheapest that you can buy in New York City he said the expensive violin that you came to here is in that case under that chair can I tell you something tonight they too many folks want to be an expensive violin what we need are some people that are just surrender to God and say I want you to be God in my life I just want you to be God I just want you to use me I just want you to use me use me any way you want to use me oh you believe the scripture you're amazed at the Bible you're amazed at the wisdom you're amazed at the truths when I began preaching 31 years ago I didn't know what I'd preach after the first six months I figured I'd preach it all I figured now I haven't even learned the categories of all the truth let alone the truth for the deeper I dig the more precious truths and wonderful a truths of the scripture that I find or dear friend it's not what I can do for God it's what God wants to do through me when I was a boy growing up in southeast Kentucky we lived in the mountains in the coal fields of Southeast Kentucky in and we didn't have very good water and our water supply was usually a hand-dug well and by the time I was a teenager there were drilled wells I don't know why but but in those drilled wells the water had what they called iron in it and it was red it smelled just like rotten eggs it's terrible you may know I'm talking about I meant just rotten it was terrible you couldn't drink it yet hold your nose to drink it was terrible but if you could find what we called a coal bank now coal bank is where up on the mountain they had hand dug the coal out and they would dig it out for years and they would put in Timbers to hold up the roof and sometimes it'd be thirty inches high and sometimes it'd be 48 inches high and when they would dig that coal out that the cold bank we called it would fill up with water and boy you talk about good water that's the best water you could get that cold bank they'd be up on those high seems called the five a seam in the mountains well we lived at the church we lived in the church upstairs in the church had a little apartment there when my dad had started the church their Bible Baptist Church in hazard and so we had a drilled well and it was terrible it was a rotten egg that water it was just terrible and you know about flavored water the Sonny's got strawberry and they've got raspberry we had rotten egg we had Dasani flavored water when I was a kid and you can probably give it away I'm bus kid on a bus promotion do pretty good advertised rotten egg water they'd come to the hundreds to get it if it's sour and tastes terrible and hot that's what they like my dad ran a a 3/4 inch black pipe from that coal bank down to our little apartment but we were we were I mean we were uptown we had good drinking water I mean wet good water we could wash clothes in it didn't have to use that iron out stuff my mom would have to put in and it was good though in trouble is when my dad put that three-quarter inch of lying in if you were taking a shower and yours also dumped this way it always did work you'd be all soaked up about time to rinse off and somebody turn the washing machine on and when they did there you understand you just see a dropper to come out like that hey turn off the wash machine that's what you'd say and I mean they there's no water pressure and so now the problem was not water in the cold bank it was full of water I mean you couldn't pump it all out the problem was that little lying and so my dad said I'll fix that he went bought a two-inch line he got that water flowing he blew every gasket on ever faucet and everything we had we had to put a regulator in there to keep the pressure back but we had plenty of water can I tell you something tonight there's a God in heaven he is not limited in his supply he is not limited in his power he is not limited in his wisdom he's not limited in his love he's not limited in his grace he's not limited in his forgiveness he's not limited in his abilities he's not limited in anything Isaiah said to whom it is the arm of the Lord revealed as I said who everyone that first hath come you the waters in pi he that hath no money I come you buy and eat Isaiah said behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save neither is ear heavy that it cannot hear the water is not but limited the limit is our desire of letting God be God that we go to college to be somebody we want to be important and what we need is a generation of Christians that will just say I want to let God be God that's what I want to do that remembers a 16 year old boy going to Pastor school and hearing about being filled with the Spirit of God I remember hearing the stories about being filled with the Spirit of God about being hungry for the power of God about being filled with the Word of God 16 year old boy I got me a Scofield Bible and I went home and I found me a place behind our house on the backside of the mountain that go there after school every day and I would sit down and I'd read a page in that Bible and after I read the page I would write the words pray for God's power and I would say God can I have that same power God can I have that same power I'd read another page and I'd write the prayer at the bottom pray for God's power God can I have that can I have that power that they talked about this week God can I have that I read another page I would stay for an hour or two that summer I read through my entire Scofield Bible and at the bottom of Hemery page I wrote the prayer pray for God's power I'd been a bus captain for a little while all of a sudden my bus route began to grow didn't seem that the work was any different but the route began to grow I started winning people to Christ I started having converse a saved and baptized I'm telling you I decided to get out of the way and just let God be God Elijah said he that answered the fire let him be God he rose from the grave he meets our needs to have today we don't doubt that let him be God I'm concerned tonight and I'll not deal with this much as he already dealt with the subject of preaching but I'm concerned about this matter of preaching we've become impressed with theatrics we become impressed with with with all of the staged behavior of Hollywood I don't I don't understand it I don't understand it you know what we need we need a bunch of preachers to get a hold of the power of God and get filled with the Word of God and take a truth and bring it to the pulpit and just let God be God in the pulpit I remember my daddy preaching and he would say you need to get burned again if you're not saved you'll go to a devil's hell you need to get burned again and even preach on getting burned again but I saw him get more people burned again than I did the educated crowd that was trying to impress somebody with what they knew rather than just getting up and let God be God I don't need somebody to act out Moses when I preach about Moses I don't need somebody to act out Joseph when I'm preaching on Joseph I'll let the Holy Spirit do that God could have done it any way he wanted to do it and he decided to do it through preaching the foolishness of preaching that's what we need well today we're going to show a video and I hope it'll stir your heart now let me say something plainly here I enjoy plays whatever you want to call them I'm taking my wife and I've watched the plays of Esther and Moses and Joseph I watched those and I liked them sometimes they make me laugh sometimes they make me cry I like them there's a vast difference and my emotions being moved by theatrics and my life being changed by the Word of God you want to have a play on Friday night have a play on Friday night but God needs somebody to come on Sunday morning and just let him be gone somebody needs to come back on Sunday night with the truth of God filled with the Spirit of God and just let him be God dog needs a bus captain that'll just let him be God doc needs a missionary who just let him be God I don't know what he wants to do he's already done more than I can imagine with an old country boy I had no idea what God would do I just said God fill me with your power God I want to show up for work every day and you big hot in my life we need some soul winners that'll just let him be God we need some singers that'll just let him be God hey I know what he did with the man for the man with leprosy I know what he did for the man with the withered hand I know what he did with a man that was possessed with the Legion of demons I know what he did with a woman that had the issue of blood I know what he did for Jarius daughter when he raised her from the dead I don't know what he did for the two blind men I know what he did for the man that couldn't speak I know what he did for the man that was born blind I know what he did for blind Bartimaeus I know what he did for the ten lepers and I know what you're saying you saying what my life said that they mainly pers those are lepers I said these lepers for Jesus got them but after Jesus got there them lepers became leapers Hey I know what he did for them I want to know what he wants to do on Sunday morning I want to know what he wants to do in Lexington Kentucky that's what I want to know I went to town in May of 1991 26 years ago two preachers came to see me they said you'll never build a church in this town the way you preach Messiah you'll never build a bus ministry here they said those kids won't put enough money in the offering plate to pay for the gas they don't know nothing about the bus ministry friend if you can keep them from taking any money out of the offering you're that much ahead I didn't go to town to build a church how in town let him be God not knocked on that first door and I was scared to death and they opened the door and I saw they had carpet on the floor I grew up in the mountains where we had linoleum and several layers of it hey we didn't live in no cheap place we had several layers I'll never forget that first Saturday that woman opened that door mrs. Jackson and I looked at her and I looked at that white carpet on the floor and I thought I wonder if I need to take my shoes off I wonder if I got holes in my socks man I just got the town from from Hazzard I just got there I was nervous I couldn't wait to get out of there I told her I was a new pastor in town or under the new pastor of the church and I knew that they had been to church not wanting to come back I was nervous but I went into the shadows of Rupp Arena I went behind that building that huge building some twenty-five twenty-six thousand people go to cheer on their basketball team but in the shadows of Rupp arenas the Rudy Street and I knocked on that store that little house it looked like a house from hazard it was just a shotgun house and I stepped up on the porch and I told them I'm the new pastor at clays Mill Road Baptist Church I just stepped out of the way and let God be God and as I presented the plan of salvation about their head and trusted Christ as Savior I went to the next door and the next and the next the next month I had dr. Joe Boyd to come he said in every morning we're gonna pray for four hours and I said all right whatever you want to do you know what to do we got there and he said you got your tracks in your pocket I said I do he said we'll pray while we win souls dr. Boyd six foot four jacket always buttoned tie always sticking up just a little bit like that shoulder squared he'd take a step not take to brother Fugate we'll pray as we win them to Jesus and we began to win souls to Christ on Monday and by the time the next Sunday night had rolled around we had baptized 63 converts all we did was let God be God and that's what indeed hey college student he doesn't need somebody with a degree he needs somebody that's trained and prepared and hungry for him and just looking for a town to let him be God that's all he wants go to the mission field and let it be God go to your town and let it be God go soul-winning and let it be God that's all it wants to do they didn't be gone my two brothers they're state policemen they think they're NASCAR drivers sponsored by the Kentucky State Police is what they think [Laughter] my middle brother had about a year to go before it was time to retire and God was working in his heart he said Bob I don't know what to do I don't know what God wants me to do I said just surrender he said what - I said nothing and everything just just surrender he said what what - I said nothing just just tell him I surrender I'll do whatever you want me to do just tell me you ain't surrendered anyway until you've surrendered before you know what it is you don't surrender to what he wants you to do you surrender to him he and two or three other state troopers began to pray the old man wall came up I drove up to where they were one morning what do you fellas doing here we're paying we're praying for the piece of property or building we want to do something for God this building of this property ain't for sale y'all go on down the road those people are Christians down there go down there and talk to them they they might sell you a piece of property a few days later he called my brother he someone talked to you he came met with my brother he said what do you fellas prayin he sounded on a church-going feller he said been in church three times in my life he's I can't sleep at night I keep waking up in the night he said I have the craziest thoughts and this is how he said it big man upstairs keeps waking me up and telling me to help you fellas start a church he that's crazy thinking [Laughter] he said to my brother he said do you know where the hillbilly palace bar and dance hall is my brother said all the state troopers know where the hillbilly palace bar and dance hall is he said I own that he said if I just give that to you could just start a church there my brother said we'll go see it he called me he said Jeff you got to come down here and I went down there we walked in I've never been in the bar before I never had I never been a bar before walls were black ceiling was black floors were black you know I'm talking about her he was the only one not in his head and licking his lips anyway I don't know if he knew I'm talking about or not I'm telling you the truth an old black cat came walking across that black floor I said if that cat your days is numbered you better find you another building they went in and cleaned it out it sent me a picture of denne denne he's in a wheelchair my brother picks him up for church he goes he carries him puts him in the truck puts his wheelchair and back to the truck he called my brother he said I helped he sent me a picture Dan Denny head old garbage and pipes and he was holding on that wheelchair and willing himself throwing that garbage in the dumpster they cleaned it up and they painted the walls white they put lights in the ceiling with a white ceiling like this I never in the in my life will figure out why in the world you want to take a church and make it look like a barroom [Applause] [Music] where do you get that idea anyway unless you've been where you know who has been and I don't know if you have or not he started winning people to Christ they started the lighthouse Baptist Church gospel I'm sorry gospel like Baptist Church first woman he baptized Vera Deaton Vera Wooten Vera Luton baptized her letter to Christ NPR radio came and said they interviewed her they said to her where did you first meet pastor Fugate talking about my brothers she said when he arrested me reporter said what do you mean when he arrested you why she said he's a cop said he used to be a cop said no he's a cop right now he's a state trooper of course I told him no wonder you have so many converts you got a 16-11 in one hand and a 357 down there I thought about trying that get me a 357 by 1611 as five years ago last Sunday and my brother he's well trained as a police officer he did go to Bible College and I'm not being negative or critical about Bible College we grew up in church we didn't know anything but church I've watched him fall in love with those people you know what he did he just let God be God I know what you did in Capernaum what would you do in hazard I know what you did it janessa it what would you do in hazard god I know what you did for the blinded eyes what would you do in hazard last week 532 people showed up for church he baptized 500 converts so far you say Wow watch the secret Drano secret is letting God be gone or Heavenly Father I pray tonight

Channel: Parkside Baptist Church

Views: 5,602

Rating: 4.7701149 out of 5

Keywords: pbc, parksidebaptist, church, parkside, baptist, mesquite, texas, mike, wells, tx, pastor, preacher, preaching, sermon

Id: 5_glHLhh3W0

Length: 40min 37sec (2437 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 25 2017