Dr. Jeff Fugate: Let the Fire Fall Again

thank you you be seated it's a joy to be here tonight I've been looking forward to coming to Baptist Leadership Conference and I know you've had an exciting week you've had some tremendous preaching already this week and some of my dear friends and dr. Smith and dr. Hamlin brother ray young and others and I'm so glad to just be able to be here and to be a part of this can you hear me all right all right good turn my monitor up just a little bit I don't hear well and that'll help me up here so I don't miss this sermon I don't want to miss it tonight and you may have heard me tell about the fellow in Kentucky that asked the preacher to pray for his hearing did you hear about that and he did and he asked him the next Sunday how's your hearing he said it's not till next Thursday keep praying about that if you will and but anyway my and I don't have that kind of a hearing problem but anyway thank you I appreciate that but I've been looking forward to coming and I appreciate the men that have already preached this week and the blessing they've been and I should appreciate for the whales and I thank the Lord for his friendship what a dear friend he is I just appreciate the fact that he's a fundamental preacher man and stands firm and has for all of these years I'm thankful for Parkside Baptist Church and thank you folks for giving and sacrificing and planning and working and now you're looking at me saying you better quit talking because I'm gonna fall asleep if you don't get the preaching and then so I appreciate all the work that you've done and prepare for the conference I'm thankful for the College Lone Star Baptist College and I'm for it I encourage I pray for it I pray for your college we need places that are training independent fundamental Baptist men to plant churches to do a work for God and so I'm thankful for all of that first Kings chapter 18 first Kings chapter 18 by the way I would encourage you to return to the conference that next year and I know there's a good number of folks that's watching this online and I would encourage you to come I would encourage you to bring your workers the sessions you know one of the difficult things if you you go to a conference you go home excited and then your folks didn't experience what you did if you brought eight or ten or twelve people to a conference like this everybody got on fire a dozen people could really light a fire in a church and a bus ministry and Sunday school and I would encourage you to bring folks brings bring workers with you next year first Kings chapter 18 I would invite you to stand for the reading of the Word of God if you're able to do so first Kings chapter 18 I want you to go to verse number 36 verse number 36 the Bible says and it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the Prophet came near and said O Lord God of Abraham Isaac and of Israel let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word hear me o Lord hear me that this people may know that thou art the Lord God and that thou has turned their heart back again then the fire the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench and when all the people saw it they fell on their faces and they said the Lord he is the God the Lord he is the God I want to preach tonight on this subject let the fire fall again Heavenly Father I pray that you'd bless in the preaching of your word Lord that many haven't been here throughout the week and they've heard preaching and been in many sessions and Lord our hearts and minds are filled and we're excited and anxious Lord to get back to the work that we have and we thank you for the encouragement the refreshment the instruction that is received at a conference like this and I pray Lord that you would use it and now Lord I pause to pray before I preach not because I'm required to do so I to pray not because it is a habit but I paused to pray because it Lord I need you I yield myself it to you the best window helm and I ask that Lord you would use me as an instrument in your hand Lord you said I'll pour water upon the dry grounds floods upon the dry grounds Lord you said I'll give my spirit Lord to him who is thirsty and lord I pray that you'd please bless again would you please fill me again with your spirit as I preach your word tonight in Jesus name I pray amen you may be seated we have before us a very familiar story it is one of drama intensity anticipation and a victory it is a story that stirs us to stand for truth to stand it for right for God and for good the simple story here is that the prophet Elijah has challenged 450 prophets of bail on Mount Carmel you know the story they both at lay a Bullock on the altar and both called for fire to consume at the sacrifice we find the prophets of bale they pray and nothing happens nothing ever has happened nothing ever ever will happen praying two rocks into imaginations and two trees and nothing ever will happen calling on the so-called God's because there's but one God and that's the Creator God and when Elijah began to pray he showed himself once again and the fire failed and consumed the sacrifice it burnt up the altar it licked up the water and the dust around the altar and the people cried the Lord he is the God now we know that story and we know it well I preached it many times you've heard it preached many times but there's some things I'd like to point out in this story tonight that I think could help us to refocus in a proper and right direction first of all I'd like to point out here that this is Israel these people are the people of God this is not the heathen this is not the other nations this is Israel the people of God now while they had a wicked King and a hab and his partner Jezebel these are the people of God this is Israel these are the people that God has delivered from Pharaoh in Egypt these are the people that have been set free from bondage and given the wonderful land of Canaan to live and dwell in these are the people of God in other words this is not a persuasion of the unconverted heathen of a land this is a revival of God's of people this would represent what you and I are tonight members of local New Testament Independent Baptist churches the people of God so often when we think of revival we say we need to see revival in this world the truth is specifically we need to see revival in the church that the world can't have revival because they're not yet converted and so we often hunger for the world to see something they would not understand and the Bible here in this story is talking about Israel God's at chosen the people may I say tonight my heart burns to see the Lord to work among his people that would cause another generation of young people another generation of God's people to cry the Lord he is God I'm not interested in seeing the fire fall to impress the world I'm hungry to see the fire fall in church that our hearts would be revived to do a work for God you see when we think of revival we are thinking too much of the world and I'll prove that here in a few minutes with illustrations but I want to say somebody has to have to has to have faith in God in our day somebody has to convince our children that the Lord is God someone has to convince another generation of men of God both young men and older that he is the Lord God of heaven somewhere a people must take a stand for right and against oftentimes the majority I say tonight that Christians the local church has halted between two opinions for way too long and we need to see again the fire of God in the fire of heaven to fall to convince another generation of God's people to do a work for God I fear that we in the church had begun to live to put pressure on the government to do their jobs and we've left off the work of the local church we've fallen into the same trap of blaming others for the problems around us when it is the church that has let down on the work of the Great Commission I wonder tonight what right the church has to correct a government that is not fulfilling its work and the church is not fulfilling its own work of the Great Commission if the church had the same expectation of itself to fulfill the Great Commission as we have an expectation for the government to do their job we can see a move of God again in America when you can get hundreds of pastors stirred about patriotism and stirred about pressuring government and you can't get a hundred of those pastors to go to a bus conference and you can't get a hundred of those pastors to go to a soul-winning conference your focus is in the wrong direction what right does the church have to tell the government what to do to criticize the President or Congress the governor or representative for not doing their job when that church has no soul winning program when that church has no bus ministry when Church has Christmas decorations in the baptistry rather than water when that church has had not a single soul down the aisle or baptismal water stirred in six months I say tonight if the church had been doing its job of fulfilling the Great Commission in the past 20 years rather than turning the church into an entertainment center or Worship Center perhaps our nation would be in a better situation I fear tonight we think that revival would come from the government may I say tonight God blesses not the remnant by the hole but erisa buddy he he blesses the hole according to the righteous remnant are you listening to me tonight I'm saying tonight we need to see the fire fall again in our churches now I believe government ought to do its work I believe they ought to do it right honestly and fairly and I'm going to stand up and speak up and be counted when it comes to good leaders in government many of them are my friends and I'm thankful for that but I don't expect them to do my work I don't expect them to do what the church is supposed to do the church is supposed to be the soul-winning station the church is supposed to be you see if we were taking the gospel and seeing families restored and the government only has you you understand our form of government is for immoral people and we cannot survive without a our form of government won't survive without a moral people may I say that's not up to the government that's up to you and to me that's up to us you and I need to be stirred about doing a work for God you see Elijah wasn't interested in seeing the fire fall for a hab he wanted the fire foot to fall for his own children for his own people let's look at some of the details of this revival on Mount Carmel the con test of course was between the profits of Bell and Elijah the prophet of God Elijah told a hab that it was his behavior and his influence of idolatry that had caused the trouble in Israel I don't miss that he said Ahab you're the one that's introduced idolatry to Israel you've caused a problem but I want you to know something you don't have the answer the people of God are the ones that made the decision to allow that idolatry in the country and it's the man of God that has the answer it's the Word of God that is the answer it's God's power that is the answer you see tonight God didn't call me to be a Fox News analyst and go to my pulpit on Sunday morning and Sunday evening and give a spiritual a world view of the events that's going on I'm bringing news from another country and the country I'm bringing news from God is still on the throne you see Pharaoh came and Farrell win but God still on the throne Nero came and Nero went but God is still on the throne and you name him they came and they're gone but my God is still on the throne it's not my job to increase your fear tonight you've watched enough Fox News to do that conservative talk in television is discouraging more Christians than anything I know tonight we spend more time watching Fox News than we do reading heavens news and we know more about the conservative mostly of them most of them are Catholic and conservative at best we know more about what they have to say and we have a political world view rather than a scriptural worldview and when we look at Goliath we're like David's brothers it can't be done but when you have a young man that shows up that's been spending time with God and he's seen how great God is as a choir sang that opener and he looked at Goliath he looked back at God the life wasn't very big compared to God and he was motivated not by fear he was motivated by faith now as I look at the story here's what I find first of all I find the preaching to the people in verses 21 and 22 I find the preaching to the people when the crowd was assembled on Mount Carmel Elijah preached to them it was a short and yet powerful message first of all we see an indictment we see what this preaching is Elijah describes the problem and in names the people he says how long halt ye between two opinions if the Lord be God follow him if they'll then follow him I want you to notice he did not address a hab and Hillary he didn't now we do as preachers because that stirs us up and it also shifts the blame if we can blame a hab for our problems he wasn't preaching to Ahab he's preaching to God's people you're the one that's holding between two opinions I haves not holding between two opinions he been serving Bell to Jezebel all his life I ain't talking to him I'm don't you folks at know better I'm talking to you folks sitting hope it was God that brought you out of out of Egypt it was God that brought you across the Red Sea it was God that cared for you across the wilderness it was God that brought you across the Jordan River it was God that gave you the land of Canaan it wasn't pail it wasn't the false gods hey why are you halting between two opinions and by what an indictment he gave them they responded with indecision those that had graduated from a Christian school just stared at him we worked we sacrificed some men went to jail for the right to have Christian education and where are they tonight where are they tonight but our preaching is against Ahab Ahab is not the fellow that Elijah is preaching to it's hey where are you kids that graduated from Christian school where are you kids that graduated from Bible College come on now that's who he's preaching to I mean he puts the pressure squarely on us and the response is indecision the people answered him not a word they didn't boo they didn't say Amen and just looked at him now some think this is an attitude of silence and that attitude of silence is Christian and promotes peace not so when the issue is between right and wrong God's people ought to speak up for that which is right he spoke of the individuality he said I'm the only one standing and there's 450 prophets of bail he was saying to them you ought to stand if you have to stand alone God give us some men of God who quit testing the waters of what others are doing and checking to see what others are doing and just get in this book and decide what God's called us to do we're gonna we're gonna do it come hell or high water and I'm not going to worry about what others may think or do I'm just gonna do a work for God I went to Lexington near 27 years ago they told me they said you can't build a church here the way you preach you can't preach against the horse racing here we race horses here you can't build a bus ministry here you try that they won't put enough money in the offering plate those kids won't to put a fuel in the buses friend if we can keep them from taking anything out of the offering plate we're doing good [Music] I'm not concerned about what the others are doing I'm concerned about what God called me to do may I say tonight I want to see the fire fall for my children I want to see the fire fall for those that are sitting in the pews I want them to come to church and say the presence of God is in this place there are things here going on that we can explain all we can say is God did it all we could say is after days or weeks or years of praying this is what God did I want my kids to see the fire fall a decision will be made as Elijah continues and so we see in verses 26 and 29 the false prophets take their turn that won't take a lot a lot of time here because they're not worthy of it but they called on the name of bel from morning even until noon they prayed a long time they leaped upon the altar added a little drama I imagine they put some blue and purple lights on them to make everybody think it was gonna be something spiritual or mystical or magical and drama didn't make up for a lack of power the old Bullock just laid there they're dancing and Elijah he makes fun of them the Bible said he mocked him maybe you can hear you cry a little louder he had those fellas so mad they was cutting themselves with stones they don't criticize Elijah for mocking them he's putting false religion in his proper place I'd rather listen to a dry monotone voice of a preacher with the power of God in his life and what some drama feel to act where no power was and no fire ever failed and so the false prophets they do their thing and then we see the preparation by the Prophet and verses 33 or 30 through 35 the actions of Elijah were a sharp contrast to the conduct of the prophets of bale I like what he says to the people of Israel in verse 30 and Elijah said unto all the people come near unto me I want you to come close I want you to fear I want you to fill the fire when it falls come over here get out and here close to the altar his head hey y'all come up here Elijah said come up here come up close he gave an invitation let's all let's all get close to the altar and then we see that he repaired the altar after an invitation to come close there was a restoration then it took 12 stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob that was the formation and then he covered it with 12 barrels of precious water that was a saturation and Elijah began to pray and when he prayed the fire of heaven fell now that fire was not to convince a hab it was not to convince Jezebel it was convinced the people of God I hunger in my soul tonight for my generation to see I know about the ones in church to see the fire of heaven fall again I'm glad as a boy my dad started Bible Baptist Church in Southeast Kentucky hazard Kentucky in July 1972 I watched as my dad worked as he prayed I don't know how many times I've gone to the church and looked in the auditorium and saw and heard him crying and praying and begging God for his power when not my dad preached he would preach you need to get borned again they may not have said it right but he got more people borned again than some fellows who know how to say it but don't ever have anybody saved i watched him put men's names on a prayer list and i mean they were on there until they got saved i mean sometimes it took three and five and seven and eight years he prayed for them and witnessed to them and worked to win them to Christ I'm glad as a boy I saw the fire fall our church was a simple Church and in fact I guess we were poor I didn't know it till later I thought everybody was like we were we didn't have a thermostat on the wall we didn't need one we didn't have a furnace or an air-conditioner what we had in air conditioner was on a stick it had the Good Shepherd on one side and angled funeral home on the other side and our heat was a coal stove that we built fires through the winter to warm the place up it was time for Sunday school to start everybody to be in the back of the auditorium standing around the coal stove I told Dad you ought to put this fire and that this coal stove on the platform you ought to put up there at the altar had keeping everybody up there instead of in the back I heard him pray through the night I watched him fast and pray I watched him work and I was convinced not of him but I was convinced when I saw the fire fall I saw that church go from 29 to 159 to 227 to 350 to 450 to 550 in in the mountains and I saw a time 80% of our church would come on buses Sunday School teachers would come on buses men would take buses home with them and that's where the bus stayed during the week and they drove it to church and picked up everybody around them we took a tent and set it up on every bus route and we had tent revivals on every bus round during the summertime and the bus would come on Sunday and would bring that bus full of people I watched that mountain covered with people I saw the fire of Heaven fall i hunger for my children to see it fall now I'm gonna tell you tonight three simple things that we must do to see the fire fall again I believe first of all we need to get back in the bus ministry now thank God for the number of folks that stood up here as bus workers and drivers and servants and those that work in the bus ministry but we have shifted our attention from fulfilling the Great Commission mission to trying to build a church by reaching people who have money there was a day we buy faith time for Bible College when you get to the place you know how to work a budget so much you don't need faith friend you're in trouble when you've attended enough classes that you can organize Sunday School to the place that you don't need faith in God hey you've learned too much about organization you gotta fall short and I want to tell you there is a mission field in every backyard in every town in every city and there are boys and girls and teenagers dying without Christ never one time hearing the gospel of Christ there was a time that you brought children to church and they knew about God but they're growing up in homes that are a theistic homes not my decision but by ignorance they've never heard of Adam and Eve they never heard the stories they know nothing of God in Kentucky today we're having four people a day died of drug overdose for a day in Kentucky for a day in our state of just four million people that's probably a little more than half of what's in the Metroplex area of dallas-fort worth for a day dying of drug overdose why they're searching they're looking for something they don't know what they're looking for they're looking for something that will satisfy and somebody needs to understand that the call of its Christian and the call of the church is to take the gospel and go find those boys and girls and tell them that Jesus loves him and he died to save them in his hired job not just to sing about it but to do it I was preaching in a church and a young pastor was doing a good job he said to me brother Fugate how long should it be before I get in the bus ministry and I said pull over beside the road and he pulled his car over beside the road I said are you asking me how long it should be before those kids right over there playing in that Park get to hear the gospel of Christ is that what you're asking me he said I want to make sure I get the feet on the ground I said I didn't know the Great Commission had that requirement in it first of all get your feet on the ground then go tell everybody about Christ I thought I just supposed to feel the Great Commission I understand you say but what about the finances friend I'm gonna tell you something tonight we've got to get back to the place that our desire our dreams and our visions are beyond our finances to the place that we beg God and we watch God every week and every month how we praise Oh Lester all off but he lived buffets dear friend he lived buffet thand we've got to get back to that again wept understand that the bus ministry is a tool that can bring boys and girls by the scores and hundreds to hear about Christ for teenagers last year murdered in our town that were reached through the bus ministry I tell the story of a little girl by the name of Kelly Cox she died in a house fire a little nine-year-old girl I went to see her in the hospital the doctor said you can go in she won't know you there she's not going to live her body was filled with smoke she's not gonna live long I went back to the office I said to the secretary you have record of Kelly Cox being saved she went to the file she opened the files in a few minutes she came running in with a decision card over a hand here it is preacher here it is this was in February and she said November 24th Thanksgiving a service Kelly Cox got saved and baptized preacher ain't that good it's wonderful I saw the family at the hospital I said I didn't know who the family was didn't know who the parents were 20-some 30 some people in the in the waiting room I said I'm pastor if you get from clays Mill Road Baptist Church where Kelly came to church lady raised her hands she said I'm Kelly's mom I shook her hand I said sure I'm sorry ma'am I said to the man sitting beside her I said are you Kelly's father he didn't even look up he just shook his head no I heard somebody speak up around the room and I looked at him and said I'm her father I went over there another lady sitting beside him and they stood there and watch the building burn they didn't even know their daughter was in there you know the stories children left to themselves how sad it is I was away preaching the day of the funeral our bus director preached the funeral after the funeral service a lady said to our bus director I was Kelly's school teacher she said recently I had the children to take a piece of paper and number at one to a hundred and I told him to put down their favorite place to go favorite people favorite places to visit she said I just want you to know when Kelly turned her paper in number one she had written down my favorite place in all the world to go as to church her second favorite place to go was to church her third favorite place to go was to church 100 times 100 times the hand of that little nine year old girl said my favorite place to go church four little girls rode a bus they got out of their seat and they went down to the bus driver and so we've never been to church before what's church like always said you're gonna love it you gotta let ND and they were so excited they got the church they looked at and I said Wow I'll never forget it I didn't know this story at that time I preached from first Corinthians six where he said come out come out from among them and be as separate that's not the unclean thing and said I'll be a father to you I'll be a father to you not understand what that means because I had no doubt one of the greatest fathers anybody could ever have and no doubt one of the greatest mother and father's that any boy could ever want godly people I know what it was like to have dad to have the church van loaded up with fishing poles and coolers with bologna sandwiches and shoebox full of fried chicken to go fishing all night on a Friday night I know what it was like to load up and go to a conference to hear men of God preached and 11 of us stay in one room one motel room if you help pay you've got to sleep in the bed if you didn't you just got a place in the floor ah but I love being with dad I love the house I preached that morning and I'll be a father unto you I didn't know those little girls had never known the father had no idea who their father was they'd never had a father to tuck him in bed at night it never had a father they could lay down beside and snuggle up before time to go to sleep they'd never had a father to read the Bible to him or tell him a story they'd never had a daddy to take him to a store ever and buy him a single thing and that little girl the oldest for I said if you'll trust him you'll serve him you live a separated life he'll be a father to you she'd never had a father she stepped out of the seat and she stood in the aisle she looked back at her sister she said come on we need a father I didn't know what was going on those little girls they trusted Christ to save it that morning they went home on the bus the next Saturday the bus captain went to visit them and the windows were raised curtains were gone the house was empty the bus captain said to the neighbor what happened to these folks I don't know big truck came in Friday yesterday and they just they moved away I don't know where they went I have no idea where those girls are I have no idea but one of these days I'll get to see them again and they'll get to see and have a father for all eternity you see the bus ministry I think that's how the fire falls I think when we I think when we work and we pray and we see God bless you see when you have a part in leading folks to Christ when it's your converts that's getting baptized when it's your converts that's growing when it's your story that he was on the bus route now he drives the bus I [Music] think we've got to get back to planting churches again I think healthy things give birth I think want to think about pray about I had a desire I haven't I have a goal to plant 50 churches in my state we're halfway there now I've seen churches started everything from converted bar and dance hall to Wed one place it was a hardwood floor as a dance studio when I first walked up to the window it had sign on the door said to order your two to call but for 15 years now and that building doesn't look anything like it did then is the Greater Cumberland Baptist Church I don't have time to tell those stories but I want to tell you something dear friend when you see when you have on your prayer list we need a hundred chairs and we need fifty song books and we need offering place you got to take special offering just by offering plates those are expensive no wonder dad used Kentucky Fried Chicken buckets and we and and and we had plate and we had plenty of them when you keep praying for that when you got young men that call and say preacher we had 25 today did you hear me preacher we had 25 today glory to God let me tell you something don't ever apologize for pastoring a church no matter its size no matter its place no matter where it is if God's called you to preach they need a man of God just like any town in any city love those people and thank God that he's allowed you to preach the gospel and rhythm to Christ God give us young men that are graduate from Bible College that their vision is greater than their fear and they quit saying well I'm not ready I'm not ready I'm not ready well you ought to get a vision that says ready or not here I come I'm gonna go to a work for God in soul-winning we see the fire fall again who's on your prayer list tonight who have you been praying for six months to get saved or you do do you have the idea that if they don't get saved as soon as you speak to them you just forget them and go on you see there's no that there's no burden you fulfill an obligation when you witness to a man he says no hey you ought to be on him and in prayer and you ought to be asking holy spirit all listen to me you ought to be asking the Holy Spirit to bring conviction to the place that he comes to a conversion and faith in Christ God give us folks that are hungry to see soul saved again they'll get saved you get poor people saved and get rich people saved and getting mean people save you get good people they'll all get saved not everybody will trust Christ as Savior but I want to tell you something friend you'll be surprised how many will get saved if we'll work to win them and we'll pray for him last week I believe it was last week I preached my dad's last brother's funeral Uncle Ben I've been awakened in the night by crying and gone to hear what the crying was about and seen my grandmother on her knees at two o'clock in the morning praying for Ben to be saved I've stood there and watched her agonizing prayer I'm not talking about one time I'm talking about it seems that's a part of my memories of childhood and teenage years my dad worked to win his brother to Christ Ben never had the opportunity to seem saved but 12 years ago I had the privilege to go into a room where he was and say Ben you know you need to be saved granny prayed for you for so many years our families prayed for you don't you think it's time to trust Christ he said yes it is had the privilege of baptizing I just got to pick the fruit you see they had borne the tears and the burdens and the prayers of all those years and what a joy it was he attended church while his health allowed him to it was a joy to say Ben had a lot of friends there was a lot of things but the thing I can tell you most today that's most important he was a believer in Christ I don't want my children to have to read about what God used to do I wanted to see Wow look what God is doing God give us another generation that's hungry to see the fire fall again would you stand your feet tonight

Channel: Parkside Baptist Church

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

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Length: 41min 27sec (2487 seconds)

Published: Tue May 22 2018