Come on, just give the Lord a hand clap. Lord, we just want to say thank you in the name of Jesus.
Praise God. So tonight, if you have your Bibles, go with me over to the book of Hebrews chapter 1.
Praise God. Thank you, brother. Appreciate that. You all okay tonight? Okay. So Hebrews chapter 1,
and let's just see where we end up with this tonight.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets.
So God at various times and various ways. Everyone say various ways. Okay. So guess what?
To this day, God speaks in multiple different ways. Is that right? So multiple different ways. Not
one way, you know, but multiple different ways. It goes on to say, hasn't these last days spoken to us
by who? His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, to whom He also made the worlds be in the
brightness of His glory, the expressed image of His person, upholding all things by the word of His
power. When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of God, on the
majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a
more excellent name than they. To which of the angels did He ever say, you are my Son? And today
I've begotten you. Again, I will be to Him a Father, and He'll be to me a Son. And He again
says the first, He brings the firstborn into the world. He says, let all the angels of God
worship Him. And of the angels, He says, who makes His angel spirits and His ministers what?
A flame of fire, right? And so this is what God spoke to me this week about what to share
tonight. So my wife and I were watching this program, and it was a program about
this serial arsonist. And this arsonist who would start fires, they were trying to figure out
in this documentary how to catch this guy. And the one guy said something, and my spirit man
jumped when he said it. He said, there's a story of the fire. Look at your neighbor and say,
there's a story of the fire. Okay. And when he said it, man, my spirit man just jumped. There's a story
of the fire. And I was thinking about that this week, as God just spoke that word to me,
and I knew that's what I was going to share tonight, that there's a story of the fire. Here
it says, He makes His ministers what? A flame of fire. Is that right? So there's a flame of
fire. All of us have a story of the fire. That's why I wanted you to give your testimony to somebody.
What was it? It was a story of the fire. Is that right? And so that the fire
begins to tell a story long afterwards. You know, many people don't know very much
church history. And as a result, they don't realize that there's a story to the fire.
There's a story to the fire right here in the state of Minnesota.
In 1898, 1898, first people were baptized in the Holy Spirit in Moorhead, Minnesota.
A lot of people don't know that. 33 people were baptized in the Holy Ghost.
They were all Norwegians and Swedes, so they couldn't speak English, but you know,
so they couldn't carry it on from there. But the fire began in Moorhead, Minnesota.
Is that awesome, huh? And so for over 12 months, they were getting people
saved and baptized in the Holy Ghost there in Moorhead, Minnesota.
And then there's a story of the fire as well. There was a man by the name of Charles Parham,
who was from Kansas. And in this man, he started a Bible school.
And we wrote a whole book about it called The Fire That Could Jump the Ocean.
And in that story about Charles Parham, he said, Lord, I want to do a Bible school,
but I want one subject, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's the only subject of the Bible school.
And he said, people are just going to begin to come from all over the country
to this Bible school. And sure enough, 44 people came from all over America and came there to
Little Topeka, Kansas. And so for six months, he would make them every day they had to pray for
the sick. There was a hospital right within walking distance. So every day they had to lay
hands on the sick to stir up the fire. Come on, right? So they had to stir up the fire by laying
on their hands with people. And for six months, all they did was study the subject of the
baptism of the Spirit. And they had to start in Matthew and go all the way through Revelation
and start all over again. That was the Bible school. So on December 31st of 1900, this man of God,
he went and he told the Bible school, listen, excuse me, it was right after Christmas. So it
was the 26th of December. And he said, I have to go on a journey, but I'll be right back in a matter
of a few days. And he said, don't stop studying and praying. And so at that time, he was making
them pray for four hours a day for the baptism of the Spirit. Come on, is that awesome? That's
hunger, amen? Come on, everyone say that's hunger, right? I mean, today, if you don't get it
in four seconds, they're done. You know what I mean? And so here they were four hours a day for,
you know, days. And so Charles Parham went and was returning back. And as he was coming back,
he went and unbeknownst to him, there was a lady in the Bible school, her name was Agnes Osman.
And Agnes Osman went and had been studying Acts 19 where it says, and they laid hands on him
and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and spoken tongues. So when Charles Parham came back on
the late hours of December 31st, it was late in the night, it was about 11 o'clock at night,
they were going to pray through the night into the new year of 1901 for the baptism of the Spirit.
And about midnight, she went and she said to Brother Parham, she said, lay hands on me
like they did in Acts 19, I'll be filled with the Holy Ghost. He goes, I don't even have it,
how can I give it to you? She goes, I don't know, but God will somehow honor it. You know, come on,
amen? It was a story of the fire. I said it was a story of the fire, right? And so he laid hands
on her that morning at about midnight, 12, 12, 30, laid hands on her, he never even spoken tongues.
Power of God hit her and she was baptized in the Holy Ghost and she spoke in tongues.
And she spoke in tongues and sang in tongues and wrote in tongues for three days. She wrote in tongues,
you can go right now on Google and see what she wrote in tongues for three days in perfect
Mandarin Chinese. And so, but what is that? It's a story of the fire. I could give you
story after story. Historically, I could tell you of the days of, you know, Charles Parham or
Charles Wesley or John Wesley or George Whitfield and all of these guys and how they would, you
know, cry out for the glory of God to begin to manifest and stuff. What was it? It was a story
of the fire. And I'll never forget, we were ministering in England in 2011. And while we're
ministering in England, we went and we ministered in this one particular city called Leeds. And
as we're ministering this city called Leeds, one of the guys that was driving us around,
he went and said, do you know that John Wesley had a revival right here in this building?
I said, no way. He goes, yeah, he did. He really did. And he said, here's the story. And he took me
over to the wall. We were in this restaurant and on the wall was a picture. And it was a picture of
Wesley. And Wesley went and was pointing to a woman who was, who had crawled up into the tree
because she wanted to see what was going on in this Holy Ghost meeting. Because people
were getting slain in the Spirit, the glory of God was moving and stuff. And when he pointed at her,
they said it looked like someone shot her with a gun and shot her right out of the tree.
She flew out of the tree and fell under the power and she was under the power for about
three hours. Come on, is that awesome, huh? Amen. So speaking of a story of the fire,
so the year before 2010, I had a dream one night. So one night I had a dream. I've
only had two of these kinds of dreams. These are very unique dreams. It's a strange sign in a wonder
dream. But I had this dream in 2010 and I had a dream. I was in England and I had a dream. I
went in uninvited into a hospital room and I laid hands on a woman that was dying and she
was in a coma. And in the dream, I put my hands like this on her stomach and I said,
come back. And when I did, she sat up out of the coma and she rose up healed and her son came in
and that's all I remember. I don't remember anything else. So I thought, wow, that was weird.
So I grabbed my prayer journal. I just wrote it down because we had never been to England.
12 months later to the day, we're in England. So we're ministering in different parts of England
and the pastor says, I have a friend who was the John Gotti of England.
Okay. He was the head of the England mob and he got radically saved. This guy. Okay.
And he got radically saved in prison and it's a crazy story. Jesus appeared to him and
he said his chains fell off him and he goes, Jesus, break me out of here.
He thought Jesus came to break him out of prison, right?
His crazy, crazy story. But anyways, Davey was his name. And so he said, he wants you to come
and preach for him. And I said, man, let's do it. I said, where is he? He said, well,
he's a little bit farther north right on the border of Scotland. So I go on the border of Scotland
and I just told Susie. I said, we just got to do it. We just got to be obedient. We got
to go. And so we go on up to this city and we start ministering and I had terrible jet lag.
So once the service was over, I just shot to the back and got to my book table
and I'm sitting there trying to let, you know, my marbles kind of, you know,
reset themselves because my brain was on, you know, Minnesota time.
And so as I'm sitting there at my seat, this older lady walks out and her son and she says,
hello. And I said, hi. And she said, do you remember us? I said, no. I said, we meet thousands of
people. How could I remember you? There's no way I could remember you. And so she said,
she says to her son, he doesn't remember us. And I'm like, lady, do you know how many people
I've seen just in this last 12 months? You know how many churches? We've been at over 50 churches
this year. And I said, have you come to our meetings in the USA? And she said, no. She said,
I was dying in a coma. And you walked into my ICU unit. And you put your hands on my belly like
this. And my son was standing there when you walked in. And she said, you said, come alive.
And I came out of my coma and I sat up and you preached the gospel. My son and I got saved.
Come on. Is that awesome? Amen. I mean, just tears are running down my face.
And I, now I'm sitting there thinking, this was a dream. I'm like, this was a dream. They're like,
no, it wasn't a dream. You came in. Come on. Is that awesome? What is it? It's a story of the
fire. I said, it's a story of the fire. Amen. And this is what the Lord was beginning to
minister to me about. Is that there's something about these stories that we have to tell them.
We have to tell them to the young people. We have to tell them to our children.
Because if we don't tell them, these stories are going to die with us. Come on, talk to me,
somebody. Amen. And one of the things I believe that the Lord wants to do in a revival in our
midst is that the Lord wants us to begin to respond again to the Spirit just like we did years ago.
Amen. Now, as most of you know my story, I didn't grow up in a great church like this. I grew up
Lutheran boy, Western Minnesota, and going to this high school and stuff. And God sent a man from
Fargo, North Dakota to come to my little town. And he got a whole bunch of kids saved.
And I ended up getting saved as a result of it. One of the kids led me to Christ. And so I knew
nothing. But I was responding to the fire. I was responding to the fire that night. I mean,
the night I got saved. No preacher told me to do this. The night I got saved. I went and I
ripped all the wicked pictures off my walls. I burned over $200 worth of albums back then.
I used to listen to KISS. You would never know that, all right? But Jesus, don't tell my son that,
all right? But anyway, so... But I took hundreds of dollars and I burned it. Nobody told me to
do that. Come on, what was it? The fire of God. The fire. The fire of God on the inside. It
was responding to the fire. Amen. And so I get saved as a young teenager. And I was
begging my parents to get baptized in the Holy Spirit. And we just didn't have good teaching. And so
we were told the Holy Spirit lived in Fargo. So that's where we had to go for the Holy Ghost.
Okay, so you've heard my crazy story on that. But we really thought that the only way you get
the Holy Ghost, you got to go to Fargo, you know? Whatever reason he likes Fargo. Okay,
he's a North Dakota guy or something. I don't know why. But that's what we thought, right?
And so I'll never forget that night in January of 1983. It still brings tears to my eyes.
Because sitting in that assembly of God church, we were... we couldn't find the church. We finally
found the church. And so we were in the last row. And I'll never forget that the pastor preached
this powerful message. I mean, I ran down to the front. I didn't know what I was doing. I
just ran down to the altar and just responding to the Lord. Amen. Me and all my friends
responding to the Lord. Then we responded to the Lord for the baptism of the Spirit afterwards. Come
on. Amen. And I remember when I was just in my early years of Christianity, going to that church,
and I just remember every single time the Spirit of God would deal with us, we would just respond.
Again and again. Did you ever know who Dave Duell was? Yeah, Dave Duell. He was a great
I've preached in Greeley, Colorado, right? And so he came to our church and I remember my friend
and I, we dove at the altar. You know, what were we doing? Responding to the fire. Responding
to the fire. Amen. And many times I think that we kind of get used to the fire, and we
kind of get used to the warmth of the fire, and we stop responding to the fire.
See how quiet it just got, right? And I think that, you know, as for me, I know for me that
I'm in church more than most people, okay? So last year we preached in over 200 services,
okay? 57 churches. And I have to constantly shake myself so that I don't get used to
the smell of the fire. Are you with me? And so that I begin to constantly respond to the fire. I
respond to the fire. I respond to the fire. Every time the Word of God is cracked open,
as soon as it's cracked open, I look at it like, I've never heard this before. What am I doing?
I'm keeping it fresh on the inside. Amen. I'm keeping it fresh on the inside. And what am
I doing? I'm responding to the fire. This is something I believe that we have to get back
in the church here in Minnesota. We have to get back to altar calls again. Come on church.
We got to get back to altar calls are normal in the church. Not just salvation calls. Yes,
salvation calls praise God. Most important, but I believe there's something about us
constantly having our heart tugged at to respond to the fire. Hallelujah. Amen.
I remember hearing Mack Hammond tell a story in a pastor's conference one time,
and he told us a story. He had an altar call for people to respond to the message of prosperity.
And I thought, that's the craziest thing I ever heard, you know? And I thought, no,
you know what he's doing? He's getting people to respond to every bit of God's Word.
Right? We have to respond to the fire. We have to respond to the story of the fire.
I mean, I think to myself, we were ministering not that far from here. I don't want to say the city
in case they're listening right now. But we were ministering in this one church, and man,
it was so dead. Jesus, if the paramedics came in to take out someone that died, they would
have taken out two rows of people. I'm telling you, I'm telling you, it was just that dead.
I mean, it was twice dead, plucked up by the roots, you know? And it was rough.
But God began to move in those meanings. It was the craziest thing. It was just like,
poof! One person got touched with the glory of God and started laughing in the Holy Ghost,
and the joy of the Lord hit that place. I mean, you looked at some of those faces that have not
laughed in probably 30 years. I mean, it looked like their faces would break if they laughed.
Do you know what I'm saying? I mean, they looked like they were, you know,
sucking on a lemon or something like that, you know what I mean? And it was just so serious,
so somber. Because what? Because they got used to being around the fire. They got used to it.
That's what happened to Judas. Judas got used to being around the fire. And it got to be
old hack to Judas. Is that right? Got to be so old to Judas, he was willing to sell out
Jesus for a bag of silver. Think about that. He was willing to sell out the master that he watched,
walk on water, multiply food twice, saw the man raise multiple people from the dead. Come on,
somebody. Amen. Cast the demons out of a naked man in gatherings, right? All of these
crazy things. And the Bible says if all the miracles of Jesus were written down,
the worlds couldn't contain the books. Is that right? And Judas saw it all. He saw all of it.
He even saw it by his own hands. He saw the food multiply by his own hands. Is that right?
But what happened? He got used to being around the fire. He got, it became old to him. Are
you with me? He became a connoisseur of the fire. Right? A smorgasbord of the fire.
Instead of saying, you know what? I've lost my fire and I got to get it back. And I don't
care what everybody in the church thinks. Come on, amen. I don't care what anybody in the church
thinks. I have to respond to the Lord. Is that right? And that's where I believe that we are
right now is God is looking for the church to start to respond again. Because listen,
if we don't train our kids by our example that we respond to the fire, then our kids are doomed.
Are you with me? Our grandkids and all of that stuff. And I want this next generation and the
other generations to come to say, I remember when people were hitting the altars. I remember
three o'clock in the afternoon on Sunday morning, people were laying in the floor weeping
their hearts out. Or the joy of the Lord hit the whole building and everybody's laughing,
drunk in the spirit. Come on, amen. Hallelujah. Is that right? Amen. Man, I sit and I read some of
those old books on Azusa Street. I read some of those old books on Azusa Street. Man, your heart,
you just fills your eyes with tears, right? And did you know that the fire department was
called 33 times in three years? 33 times. They thought smoke was coming out of the top of the church.
And the fire department would come 33 times. Can you believe that? 33 times, brother. And they
came to put out the fire and there was no fire there. And these firefighters that came would
all get saved every single time. Come on, hallelujah. Amen. What were they doing? They were responding
to the fire. Is that right? Hallelujah. Literally, they were responding to the fire. I never
thought of that, right? So look over in, I think it's second Timothy. Second Timothy. Y'all
know the gospel of Jesus Christ by the will of God. According to the promise of life, which is in
Christ Jesus. To Timothy, a beloved son, grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and Christ
Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience, right? A pure conscience. Now,
think about this for a second. The word conscience there, circle it in your Bible. The word
conscience is never mentioned in the first 39 books of the Bible. I'll say that again. The word
conscience is never mentioned one time in the Old Testament. Why? Because the old could not
penetrate the heart of stone, right? So it never changed until John chapter 8. Does the word
conscience ever come up? But I'll let you look that up another time, all right? So he says,
I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience. Everyone say pure conscience. He says, as my
forefathers did, without ceasing, I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to
see you being mindful of your tears that may be filled with joy. When I call to remembrance
the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois
and in your mother Eunice, I am also persuaded is in you also. Therefore, I remind you to stir up.
Come on, right? What? The gift of God. Is that right? Stir up the gift of God, right? Stir up.
Everyone say stir up the gift of God, right? So we have to stir it up. We have to stir up
the embers of that flame, right? We have to stir it up. Listen, I mean, I don't wake up and all of
a sudden, ooh, I just, you know, want to pray in the Holy Ghost for three hours. You know what I'm
saying? I mean, I don't wake up and I want to evangelize all of a sudden. Ooh, I just,
I want to evangelize so much. You know what? I have to stir it up. Is that right? You have
to stir it up. No one's going to do it for you. Is that right? So sometimes you just
got to grab yourself by your spiritual neck and say, now we're going to praise the Lord.
Come on, right? I mean, some people, the devil doesn't have to do much to keep them out of church.
Well, you know what? I heard it's going to rain. Oh, better not go. The Lord wants us to be safe.
Come on, somebody, right? Oh, I heard it's going to snow. You live in Minnesota, my Lord.
Come on, talk to me, somebody. I heard it could snow tomorrow. We were in a church. Oh, Jesus,
help me. I'm just going to say it. All right, we were in a church in Wisconsin, and the Spirit
of God was moving in this church so powerfully. People were being touched by the glory of God.
And as the people were, I better not share the whole of it, but as people were being touched
by the glory of God, the pastor got up 20 minutes into my sermon, pulled the microphone out and said,
well, I heard it's going to snow tonight. Let's all just go home. And his own child was there.
His own son was slain in the Spirit, weeping in the presence of the Lord. And everyone was like,
no, this is what we've been wanting. But this is what has been served up in the
dead church in America. It's not even a fire. There's not even a story of a fire. They're not
even a story of smoke. It's a story of wet wood. The first church of wet wood.
What are you, what part of, what denomination are you from? We're from the first wet wood church.
We got wet wood and our fathers had wet wood and our kids are going to have wet wood.
Some of you will get that joke on the way home, all right? But that's where I believe
that the Lord wants to awaken that thing on the inside of us. That's what happened in
this church, not that far from here. We ministered here a few years ago. And it all began
with this guy who had been in the military and he had jumped out of an airplane, a paratrooper,
and his parachute didn't completely open. So he broke about 40 some bones in his body.
Horrible pain. And just learned to live with pain and he came down to the front and I went
and laid hands on him and it looked like someone hit him with a ball bat. And they had no
catchers in the church. And I mean this guy just went flying on the floor and you heard his head
hit like a coconut right in the floor, right? And when he hit the ground he was drunk in the
spirit laughing uncontrollably. And everybody in the church started laughing in the spirit.
And no one knew what was funny. And the more they tried to stop it, the more they laughed.
Come on somebody, amen. What were they doing? Responding to the fire.
Responding to the fire. Responding to the story of the fire. The greatest revival in Minnesota
history is just upon us. I said the greatest revival. Amen. We may have some of the craziest
politicians in all of America. But guess what? So did the apostle Paul at that time.
Is that right? And it didn't stop revival sweeping through the entire Roman empire. Come on somebody.
Amen. Hallelujah. Everyone shout fire. Amen. It's a story of the fire. Amen. And many people,
they once were on fire and they think back, man, one time I used to, every time the church was open,
I was there, you know. I'll never forget. We were ministering in Florida and we went to go minister
we went to go minister in the Pensacola area and we had gone to the Pensacola revival.
And it was amazing and we had gone there before but we had also gone after it was over.
But I assumed they still had Friday night meetings at least. So I had a Friday night open so I told
my wife I said listen let's just go on that let's go a day early go to the Friday night
Pensacola revival. Oh man that sounds great. So we get there and all the doors are locked.
So I'm driving around driving around and here comes a custodian and I get out and I'm like
don't you guys still have Friday night church? And he said just like this he said we serve the
world for eight years now we're going to serve ourselves. And that night I had a dream
and so in the dream I mean I'm telling the web pastor mayor I just started weeping
and so that night I had a dream and so in the dream there was a I don't even know what
to call it but like an incinerator and there was a crane and this crane was grabbing
thoroughbred race horses and it would pick up this race horse this giant crane and the horse
would fight and it would throw it right in the fire. Then it would pick up another one
and then it would throw it in the fire and I was trying to stop it and the third one I
knew the crane was religion dead religion man-made religion and at the third time it picked up that
horse it picked the horse up and I looked and the horse turned into a pastor and it threw it
into the fire and the Spirit of God said is there no balm in Gilead? That's what the Lord was
saying. In other words is there no place that anybody can go where there's fire? Not where they
can go and get a good sermon at. Come on talk to me somebody right? Now where they can get three
points in a poem but is there somewhere that people can go and get freedom? Amen? Is there a
place that they can go or they can respond to the Spirit of God? I remember years ago we
ministered in Baton Rouge, not Baton Rouge, Boca Raton Florida and so this pastor had invited us
and he had a crazy story and he said listen we want you and Susie to come to our church but
we're not a normal church and I'm like oh cool well we're not normal ministers so it'll be
good match. And so I said so why do you say that? And he said well he said even my
salvation story is not normal. And I said oh what was your salvation story? And he said well he said
I was studying to go into politics and I was living with this girl now my wife but he said I
was living in sin with her, knew nothing of God, nothing of Jesus, nothing of the gospel.
And he said one night I had a dream and he said in this dream he said I'm in church
and the the pastor was given out communion and it but it was in one of those churches where they
put it in your mouth like a like an Anglican or something like that you know what I mean more
liturgical. And he said and when he put it in my mouth I knew I was changed and I woke up.
So he said I woke up my girlfriend and I said we're supposed to go to church. She goes
church. We're not church people. He goes I know this but there's a higher power that wants us to go.
He's not saying he doesn't know you know what I mean. And so she goes what church? He goes I
don't know that part. I don't know that part yet. So this back you know in in the late 90s when
they still had yellow pages. Young people don't even know what that is today. And he took
a yellow pages and he did one of these you know and like this right. Oh okay that's the church
we're gonna go to. And so so they they went and and literally just drove to this church knew nobody
nothing. And they sat during the service and and it came time for the for the communion.
And it was a much more you know serious liturgical type of church. And he said so I tell my
girlfriend hey this is just like the dream. So he said you just follow behind me and I'll just
do like the dream and then we'll just take this you know wine and this you know wafer. I don't
know what this is he said. But we're supposed to do this. And so he said so we get up there
and he said in the pastor puts the bread in my mouth and gives me to drink and when I
drank wham he goes I went into deliverance. And he goes and I'm shaking and demons are coming out of me
and they're like oh my god call 911 you know. They had never seen anybody respond to the fire.
Come on somebody. They were gonna call 911 on that. And he said the next thing I know my hands
go up and tears are running down my face and I'm speaking in tongues. Come on give the Lord a
hand clap amen. And so then he said so we want you to come to our church but our church isn't normal
either. And I said so what's your church like? And he said well he said well we don't sing
Hillsong and Bethel and all of that. And I'm like okay that's fine. And he said you
don't understand. We rap in tongues. I'm like what? He said you heard me. We rap in tongues.
That's what we do. I said wow that sounds awesome you know. And so Susie and I couldn't wait to go.
So he tells us a story. He said well there's kind of a story to it. He said after my
girlfriend and I got saved. We got married right away. And we started going to this church.
And he said I got trained for a Bible school. He said I went through their Bible school for one year.
And he said after one year he said we were living in this little apartment in a pretty rough part
of town in Gainesville Florida. And he said excuse me in that Boca Raton area. And he said
one night I woke up and a bunch of guys were outside my door drinking and you know passing
weed around and stuff. And he said I woke up it was like 2 2 30 in the morning. He's like
God don't you see this out here? Why don't you do something about it? And the Lord spoke to him
and said why do you think I put you there? And so he said I was he said I wasn't in the
spirit at all. I wasn't feeling the spirit. I was totally in the flesh okay. But he said I'm in my
boxer shorts. I walk out and there's five guys and they're all passing weed around and drinking
and stuff. And he said and they look up at me and he said I felt like Jonah. I just preached
the gospel and they all got saved. And he goes I was shocked. He goes now what do I do?
I don't know what to do now with them. Now they because he thought I was going to be like
Jonah and just you know repent you know God's going to kill you all or whatever.
And so anyway so he said they started coming to my house and doing a Bible study.
And he said I told him you guys need to get water baptized. And they said well
you're our disciple. So you baptize us. He said no no no you got to go to a church and do
it. That's the only way you can do it. And so that's what he told them right.
And they said no there's a pool out there. One of the kids said there's a pool right outside here.
Why don't you baptize us tomorrow. And so the the guy said now he's a pastor but he said then he
goes that's a pretty good idea actually. He said all right I'll baptize you if on one condition
if you bring all your unsafe friends tomorrow. They said done. So he said so I thought there
is going to be five ten guys out there kids out there right. I get out there there's 115 people
around that swimming pool. I mean he said they're all half high and drunk and you know carrying on
and stuff but they're there you know what I mean. And so he said I get the first kid and I
baptize them and he comes out of the water speaking in tongues and all of them start weeping
and they all got saved. Come on give the Lord a hand amen. True story. True story.
Why do I tell you that? They just responded. They responded to the story of the fire amen.
That's why I believe that the Lord has us all here tonight is that we have to learn to be
quick to respond to the fire. In 1904 there was a group of 13 teenagers that went and that
was their earmark of their entire ministry was to respond quick response obedience to the spirit.
That was their whole their whole focus called the Welsh revival. And in 13 months the whole
country was saved. Every single policeman was laid off. Every single judge was laid off. There
was no crime and all the bars shut down. Come on somebody. Why was that? You know
why it was? It was because the church responded to the fire amen. They responded to the anointing.
They responded. You know I'll tell you I can't tell you how many times that people that God brings
people into church and the spirit of the Lord starts speaking. The moment they start the first
song. He had no idea what I was preaching on tonight. What was the first song you sang tonight
about? Would your fire come down? Is that right? Wasn't that the first song he sang?
So guess what? God was speaking to you. You thought maybe I'm just reading the words off.
You had no idea Almighty God was speaking from the first note. From the first note
God was talking to us. Oh come on amen. All the way through the second song, the third song,
the fourth song. Every single moment of tonight the spirit of the Lord was speaking. What was he
talking about? The fire, the fire, the fire, the fire, the fire. Amen. That's why I'm telling you.
I believe that God is wanting us to be quick to respond. Quick and obedient to respond. Amen.
Some of the greatest meetings I've ever been in is when somebody responded. I could tell you
responded to the anointing. And the whole place just went into a crazy uproar of the Holy Spirit.
I could tell you of in Mankato, Minnesota, I had a revival there for four months. I was in Mankato,
North Mankato for four months. And the glory of God hit that church like an atomic bomb.
And people were weeping and laughing in the presence of God for hours. And we just kept
going for four and a half hours. All through 2000, the year 2000. And I could tell you in those
meetings there was one meeting that changed everything. A guy went and the spirit of the Lord
started ministering to him and he ran down to the altar during the offering.
And during the offering the spirit of the Lord was speaking to him. And the Lord said go home
and get your 40 foot ladder. I think I shared this here before, but I'll share it again. And he said,
Lord, what am I going to do with a 40 foot ladder? The Lord said go get your 40 foot ladder and
sew it in the altar, sew it in the offering. And he painted houses for a living. That's what he
did. And he's like, why? You know, and the Lord just said, do it and do it now.
And so he lived just literally across the street. So he ran out, grabbed his 40 foot ladder and
came in. Unbeknownst to him there was a boy in the church that was the most rebellious kid in the
church. And every single Sunday he would leave service to go outside and skateboard, literally
in defiance of his mother in rebellion. And so when that man walked down the center aisle of
that church, and he laid that 40 foot ladder on the altar, the power of conviction, hit that boy.
And that boy walked out of that church and grabbed his skateboard and laid it in the altar that
night. He is now a missionary to Mexico. Come on, somebody. Come on, hallelujah. How did it
happen? One person responded. I said, one person responded. I said, one person responded. See,
sometimes the devil says, well, you know, you can do this at home. What will people think? Well,
most people don't think anyway. There's nothing to worry about. The lights are on and nobody's
home, okay? So there's nothing to worry about. You understand? It's just like, you know,
just like that comedian said, you know, he goes, I know all you women are wondering,
what is your husband thinking? He goes, I'm going to tell you nothing.
He's thinking nothing. Absolutely nothing's going on up here. Right? Anyways, but
but we have no idea to when we respond to the fire, when we respond to the Lord. We have no
idea we could either be blessing someone else or not blessing somebody else. Are you with me?
So sometimes you have absolutely no idea. I'll tell you one last story and we'll close.
So we were, we were living in Florida. This is in 2004 or 2003, excuse me, 2003 we lived in
Florida. And I'll just be very transparent. I got very discouraged in ministry. I know
none of you holy people have ever been discouraged. So, but I just got very, very, it was like,
it was demonic. And I just got so discouraged. And so my wife is like, you got to go somewhere,
you got to go, the Lord's got to touch you. You know, and so I literally got on a plane for
Canada and I went to these revival meetings. And I sat there in defiance and in rebellion,
just wanting to be depressed and feel sorry for myself. Now again, you've never been there,
so praise the Lord. But I sat there in defiance and I was like, I was just discouraged, you know.
And I was so discouraged. It was like I was in such a whole of discouragement, I couldn't get out.
And I'm sitting there and it's hard to describe, but there was probably 2500 people in
this building. And it's hard to describe, but the, not the balcony, but what do you call that that goes
up to the balcony? The, yeah, like a stairway or whatever you call those stairs that go up to
a balcony. Yeah, like a ramp, but it's, there was no room in the building for all the people.
And this is before Jesus' culture and all of that. And Brian and Jen Johnson are doing
the worship. It was just out of this world. And I'm sitting there trying to be depressed.
And Brian and Jen Johnson are doing the worship, right? And she's jumping and spinning and praising
the Lord. But there was this large group of Japanese people that were a part of this group
that had come for these meetings. And so they were from the floor all the way up to the top.
There was probably, I don't want to exaggerate, probably over a hundred of them. And so they all
had the, you know, the headset on so that they could get the translation. And there was a woman
there. I'm forever indebted to her. And she is leaning over the edge and she starts waving
her arm like a windmill, like this. And I look up and I'm like, oh God, now it's, now it's
going to get weird. I hate weird so bad. You just have to know me. I just hate weird. I'm
like, God, why is this got to get weird now? You know, but I went from discouraged to now I'm irritated.
And I went from that deep discouraged depression and now I'm irritated and aggravated with this
woman up here. And she looks like she's ready, brother, she looks like she's going to throw
us off ball. You know what I'm saying? And she's winding up, right? And every time,
Pastor Verne, I would look up at her, she would be winding it faster. I'm like, what the heck is this
woman doing? I was like, is nobody seeing this and everybody's praising the Lord. And I'm like,
so irritated with this one woman. And Jim, I'm looking up there and I'm just wanting to say,
somebody stop this crazy woman here, please, because I'm trying to be discouraged here in
peace, you know. And I'm trying to be depressed and I can't do that with her doing that up there,
okay? And now she's just going wilder and wilder and sweat is running down her face. This is not
one minute. We're not talking, no, no, no, not two minutes. This went on for 15 minutes,
nonstop. And I'm like, I'm not going to look. I will not look. Oh my God, she's still doing
it. And it was like, every time I looked at her, I got more irritated and the joy of the Lord hit me.
And I began to respond to the presence of God. And it went from hilarious joy and I was just
struck with the joy of the Lord in the midst of worship. Nobody laid hands on me and I fell
out under the power there all by myself and God was healing me. Come on, amen. Come on. Thank you,
Jesus. So you put that music on for me tonight. Father, we thank you tonight for the fire of God.
Lord, there's a story to the fire. There's a story to the fire that we must respond to that
fire. And Lord, tonight we ask right now over every single person that's listening to the sound
of my voice. Lord, I pray if there's people that are discouraged tonight, if there are people that
are depressed tonight, if there are people that are in bondage or whatever it might be tonight.
Lord, I ask in Jesus' name, I ask, Lord, that they would respond to the very presence of the
Lord, that they would respond to the anointing. They would respond to that fire, that they
would embrace that fire. And Lord, I ask right now in the name of Jesus, that every single person
would be stirred up on the inside of them to get back to answering the altar calls just like
they used to years ago. Lord, to get back to that all over again in the name of Jesus. God,
we give you thanks in the name of Jesus. We thank you, Lord, right now tonight for the joy of
the Lord to touch every hungry heart. Touch every hungry heart. Just fill the house, brother.
Lord, tonight I pray right now your presence would touch people tonight. Spirit of God, touch
people tonight in the name of Jesus.