All right, everybody. Welcome to Valley Creek. Come on, that was some great worship. I was this close to being like, let's pull it and keep going. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus, for being a part of a worshiping church that's passionate about the presence of God. What a gift. Like, you don't need it. Like, we could all just leave. We're good. I'll see you. See you next week. I love you. I mean, that's you come to meet with God, and He's here, and He's moving among us. And so welcome to Valley Creek. So glad you're here. Hey, if you've been here with us for a really long time, I just -- this week, as I've been reflecting and praying, I just wanted to say to you in particular, I'm just so grateful for you. I'm so grateful for your years of faithfulness and commitment. The Scriptures tell us those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish. And because you're deeply rooted and because you have been planted, not only are you flourishing, but our church is flourishing because you have chosen to stay faithful and committed for years. And if you're newer, I just want to tell you how excited we are to have you, that we see you, and we welcome you, and we want you. And we believe there is a hope and a future on the horizon for you. We are a people of God together, this movement of hope for the city and beyond.

And we've been in this season where we're having a conversation on fueling the fire. It's a really important season. I don't know how to cascade the gravity, the urgency, the unction I feel of where we are and what God is doing. But this like matters right now. And we're having a conversation on fueling the fire, a conversation, a dialogue. We're wrestling, we're reflecting, we're being provoked and having some things exposed in our lives on the fire of God. What is the fire of God, and what does it look like to fuel it, to tend it, to steward it? We are people who are hungry for his presence, his power, and his purity. The Scriptures tell us that God is a consuming fire. He is a contagious, uncontrollable, everlasting, eternal, radiant, vibrant, beautiful, glorious, powerful, authoritative fire. And He doesn't just burn up everything. No, He consumes only that which is offered to Him. And if I could give you a verse that maybe kind of changes what we've been talking about or gives you a different perspective, it's just simply this. “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Conversation on fueling the fire. Here's what Paul says, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you received.” I urge you to live like the fire of God has been lit in your soul. Because if you're a follower of Jesus, it has. Live a life worthy of your calling that you used to be dead, but now you're alive. You used to be lost, but now you're found. You used to be a sinner, but now you're the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You used to be ashy and sooty and dirty and flaky. Now you are a blazing fire of God. So, live like it. Awaken to the reality of what God has declared to be true over your life. Your life should look so radically different than it used to look like. And so radically different than everyone else around you. Why? Because you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. You are chosen, royal, holy. You belong to God. And you used to be dark, but now you're in fire. Your life should look so different because you used to be this pile of just sticks. And now you're being consumed by the fire of God. So, like, awaken to that. Live like that. Have an urgency for it. Catch the gravity and the sacredness that Jesus died so that the fire could move from the altar made by the hands of man to the altar of the human heart. That matters. We must be people who live with a radiant face, a burning heart, and a holy life in Jesus' name. Moses went up the mountain, and he met with God. And when he came down after being in the fire of God, his face radiated and glowed with the glory of God. The two disciples who were defeated and depressed walk with the resurrected Jesus on the road to Emmaus. And they say, “We're not our hearts burning within us as He talked with us on the road. And fire falls on sacrifice and burns up all the impurities, so we must be people who live a holy life.”

You see, we are the body of Christ and the bride of Christ. Two analogies that the Bible uses all the time to describe the people of God. We're the body of Christ and the bride of Christ. You are not the body of Christ, and I am not the body of Christ. We are the body of Christ. And you are not the bride of Christ, and I am not the bride of Christ. We are the bride of Christ, and we need to learn to live like it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. We're literally Jesus' body on this earth. And if we're His body, then we must have a radiant face, a burning heart, and a holy life. Because Jesus has a radiant face, a burning heart, and a holy life. So, when people come into this place, or they experience you somewhere out in the world, they must experience the radiant face of Jesus. They must see his pleasure, and his joy, and his hope, and his kindness, and his compassion, and his love. We must have a burning heart. Why? Because a burning heart pumps the warm blood of Jesus to every part of the body. What is the point of a heart? A heart pumps the warm blood of the body to the furthest parts of the body so that every part might have the forgiveness, the healing, the love, the life, the DNA, the restoration, and redemption of the blood of Jesus until we all become mature, attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ and a holy life. Jesus was set apart. He was different. He was other. So, we must be people who live out the beauty and the glory and the freedom of God to the world around us. If we're His body, then we must look like He looks. Radiant, burning, holy. And not only are you His body, together, we are also His bride. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory for the wedding of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. We don't talk about this a lot, but you realize the Bible starts in Genesis with a wedding, Adam and Eve, and it ends in Revelation with a wedding, Jesus and us. Jesus is the groom. His church is the bride. And we're going to be made one with Him. And I want you to see it says His bride has made herself ready. Listen to me. Jesus is not coming back for a bride that has a zombie face, a slow heart, and a worldly life. I have never met a man who wants to marry a woman who has a zombie face, a slow heart, and a worldly life. When a bride is getting ready for her wedding, she prepares herself. She purifies herself. She makes sure she's radiant and burning and holy. Are we preparing ourselves for the return of Jesus? Is the way you're living right now, the kind of bride that's worthy of Jesus coming back for? Or do you walk around with a zombie face, a slow heart, and a worldly life? Listen, I've never met a bride that before her wedding, is out there chasing other lovers or is distracted by other things or is rolling around in the mud. No, she has set herself apart. She is preparing and purifying herself for the dream in her heart. Jesus is coming back, but not for a zombie face, a slow heart, or a worldly life. And I get it, as we've been having this conversation. I've talked to some of you. Some of you have literally told me, says, fire thing. It's a lot of work. I don't know that I'm not so interested, but it ain't about you. What if the whole fire thing isn't about you deciding whether or not you want fire, but you being the kind of person that Jesus is returning for? What if it's not about whether or not you want fire, but Jesus is worthy and deserving of a radiant, burning, holy bride and a body that actually represents and reflects Him and who He is? So maybe we need to do this all just because He's worthy of it. Maybe it's got nothing to do with your feelings or your emotions or your busyness or what you want. Maybe it's just because He's Jesus and He's coming back. And He's coming back so soon that it's time to stop chasing other lovers. It's time to stop being distracted, and it's time to stop rolling around in the mud and be like radiant, burning, holy in Jesus’ name. That's who I want to be. And that's what Jesus is looking for. The eyes of the Lord are ranging throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. He's like, “I'm looking for a people who want to burn. Anybody want to burn? Because I'm looking for them. You want to burn? I'll set you ablaze. You want to burn? I'll set you ablaze. You hungry for me? I'll give you more of me.” That's -- he's looking for it. We must be those people. It can't be like 10 of us that are radiant and burning and holy. It's got to be like, we must be a church with a burning heart. We must be a church with a holy life. We must be a church with a radiant face. We must be a church that say, I want nothing more than Him. And even when I don't want Him, He's worthy of me. So, I will turn away from the things of this world to prepare and pursue and make ready the way of the Lord. Come on, come on. Jesus ain't coming back for your zombie stuff and your worldly stuff and your slow-of-heart stuff. Jesus, I have a zombie face, a slow heart, and a worldly life. Would you change it? Oh, that's all he's waiting for. He just found you now. Now he can come and strengthen you. Now he can come and set you ablaze. This is what we've been talking about. And man, Jesus’ name some way. Oh, I just, every day I'm just, I'm just, I just, I want to poke the fire, and I hope sparks jump out and burn you. And I hope you catch a wave of smoke that makes you back up. Because when you stoke a fire, that's what happens. But then, when you catch yourself, then you're like, but it's worth it, and it matters, and it's good. I don't even know what I'm saying anymore, but it's important. I'm so excited about the upcoming wedding. Me as well. I've been working on representing Jesus well. So, have I. Okay. Here's what we've been doing. Come on. You, you got to give Jesus more than that on that. That's all I'm saying. There's got to be a little bit more, a little bit more unction. I've never met a bride. That's like, yeah, I guess we're getting married. Hey, don't marry him. If that's how you do not. It is not going to go well. Do not. We will be counseling you in about six days. Do not here's that's, that's, that's a word for somebody that's got nothing to do with anything else. But if you ain't radiant, burning, and Holy for him, do not marry him. He ain't worth it. And if she ain't radiant and burning and Holy move on, bro, move on, bro. You ain't want to attach yourself to that anchor for the rest of your life. You're like, no, I won't just for, yeah, I know. That's the problem.

Okay. Here's, here's what we've been doing. We've been talking about these stories in Scripture that, that really show us God's heart for the fire of God. And it's all over Scripture. We just keep looking at these stories and, and that's part of the conversation that we're having. And, and, and the one I want to walk through today is 1 Kings Chapter 18. It's the story of Elijah calling down fire from heaven. It's a, it's a great story. See, the Israelites, the people of God, have turned their back on God. They have provoked God. They are doing evil in his eyes. They have turned their back on him. They really don't want anything to do with him. And they've chosen some other gods. They've chosen Baal and Asherah. These false foreign demonic gods. And they have given their lives over to worship him, to, to, to seek them, to, to pursue them. And they've let the fire of God go out at the temple. And they've actually built another temple for these foreign gods. And they are stoking foreign fire, strange fire, earthly fire, worldly fire, human fire. And because they've turned their back on God, God has then withdrawn. And when you turn your back on God, and you allow Him to pull away, you also lose His grace, His goodness, His blessing, His prosperity. So, it hasn't rained in years. There is an epic drought. The drought is so bad that people are fighting over a sip of water. It's so bad that they're going into the mountains to just try to find a little bit of grass to keep their animals alive. It's so bad that the prophets have to actually be fed by ravens from the sky because there is nothing in the land. And then one day God tells Elijah. He says, Elijah, it's time. I want you to go confront the king and the people.” And so, he goes down, and he gathers all the people together, and he says, “Let's do this. How about you get your 450 prophets of Baal and your 400 prophets of Asherah, and you build an altar and prepare a sacrifice, and I, one man, will prepare an altar and a sacrifice, and we'll both call on our gods, and whichever God brings fire from heaven, He is God.” They're like, “We're in, this sounds like a good deal.” So, 850 prophets get together, and they build an altar, and they create a sacrifice, and they start praying, and they start calling, and they start worshiping. Only nothing happens. And Elijah's sitting here the whole time, and he's looking at them, and he kind of chuckles, and he says, “Hey, maybe your God's on vacation. Maybe He's sleeping, and you need to shout louder. Maybe He can't hear you, or He's busy doing something else.” And so they go into overtime, double down. They're now cutting themselves with swords and spears to let their blood flow. They're doing everything they can in this frantic panic, trying to get fire to fall, but nothing happens. And so, Elijah says,” Okay, my turn.” He gets 12 stones, one to represent each of the 12 tribes of Israel, and he sets them up. Then he digs a big trench around those stones, and he takes the wood, and he arranges it. He takes a bull, he puts it on there for a sacrifice, and then he does the weirdest thing. He says, “Give four large jars of water. Pour it on the sacrifice.” He says, “Do it again.” They do it again. He says, “Do it one more time.” Twelve jars of water have now been poured on the sacrifice. Now, I'm not a fire expert, but if you're trying to get fire to start, you don't usually douse the things in water, fair? But we're in a drought. And so, what's the most important, sacred, significant thing? Water. So when he puts water on, it is the ultimate sacrifice to offer God. And look what happens. Elijah stepped forward and prayed, “O Lord God, let it be known today that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and have done all these things at Your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that You, O Lord, are God and that You are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell, burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the soil, and also licked up all the water in the trench. When the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God.” May that happen here. He prepared, and he prayed. The fire of God fell, broke everyone's heart open, turned them back to Him. They cried out, “The Lord, He is God. The Lord, He is God.”

And since this is a conversation that we're having, I don't have points for you, but there are five things I want to draw your attention towards for you to keep having a conversation about because these are so important. And the first simply thing that I want to draw your attention to is this. There is no fire in the world. There is no fire in the world. No matter how hard they tried, they could not make fire fall. Why? Because there is no fire in the world. The world is called the kingdom of [darkness] darkness. It's dark because there's no fire. And Satan is the great deceiver, and he wants to deceive you into thinking that you can find fire in a place of darkness. This is why we constantly find ourselves again and again and again, going back to what Jesus would call the wide road, the broad gate that leads to destruction, because we're looking for fire. Only you'll never find it there. This is why it says, midday passed, they continued their frantic, I love that word, frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response. No one answered. No one paid attention. Why? Because there is no fire in the world. Think about this with me for a second. Sex. Think of our constant pursuit of sex, pornography, adultery, infidelity, constant, casual, just noncommittal sex. What are we looking for? Fire, energy, life, a spark, hope. You're looking for fire. Think of substance. Think of all the pills we take, all the drugs we're constantly on, all the alcohol we consume, the constant, I need a glass of wine every single night, kind, what are you looking for? You're looking for fire, for energy, for spark, for hope. Think of your constant pursuit of money and possessions, and all the things we acquire. What are you looking for? You're looking for fire, for energy, for a spark. Think of our love for pleasure and our constant pursuit of comfort and convenience. What are we looking for? We're looking for fire, but what you need to understand is there is no fire in the world. You can look everywhere you want for the rest of your life. You will not find a single spark in this world because it is the kingdom of darkness. Fire is found in one place and only in one place, in God, in Jesus, in His Spirit. That's the only place that there is fire. It will never fall. You will never find it. This is why Ecclesiastes says, “All a man's efforts are for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.” In other words, you can go try to get everything you want in this dark world. It will never bring fire in your soul. Can I ask you a question? Are you looking for fire in the world? Are you looking for fire in the world? Because there's only one place that it comes from, and his name is Jesus.

Second thing I want to draw your attention to is simply this: fire authenticates. Fire authenticates that which is real, that which is genuine, and that which is authentic. Look at the whole thing. You call on the name of the Lord, your God, and I will call on the name of my God. The God who answers by fire, He is God. Fire authenticates. Fire shows us what is real, what is genuine, what is authentic, and what is true. If you want to know if something is real and authentic, put fire to it. Put fire to it. Listen, we live in an age right now where everyone wants to talk about revival and awakening and a move of God. And just about everyone I ever meet anywhere wants to say that they're a Christian and they believe in God and they follow Him. Okay, how do we know which of that is real and true, and authentic? We ask the question whether or not there's fire. You can say you're a Christian, that you believe in God, that you know Him. You can say there's revival and awakening and move of God. You can say it till you're blue in the face. It doesn't mean it's real. What do we need to look for? We need to look for fire. Just because you go to church or go to a school with a Christian name in it or have grown up in Texas Republican country does not make you, What does? Fire. Fire. If He's a consuming fire and you claim to know Him, then there will be fire in your life. If a church claims that God is moving among them, then there will be fire among them. Fire authenticates what's genuine. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by? [Fire.] May be proved genuine. Fire proves whether or not your faith is genuine. So, do you smell like smoke? Are there sparks coming out of your life? Is there a coal base of any kind? Jesus says, “You deceive yourself.” You deceive yourself. A form of godliness but no power. You know what that means? Facade but no fire. Gas fireplace, but no flame. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. This is the great problem, and I struggle with this in the place that we live. This is -- for whatever it's worth, one of my least favorite things about where we live is that everybody's a Christian, but so few people have fire. We’re all -- every business is a Christian business. Every school is a Christian school. Every family is a Christian family. I'm looking for the fire that authenticates that. Because I see some nice language, and I see your bumper stickers, but you got a zombie face and a slow heart and a worldly life. You're like don't judge. I'm not judging. Jesus says, “Look for fruit.” He says, “Look for fire. Look for you'll know who belongs to Me by the fruit of their life, by the fire of their life, because I'm a consuming fire. If I'm there, you can't hide Me.” If God's in your life, He is unhideable. So, if I engage with you and can't find, if I'm like, no smoke, that should cut our heart and bring us to the end if no one around. Wait, fire authenticates. Fire authenticates. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. So much I want to say, but basically fire reveals what's real. One day, you will stand before the Lord, and He will put fire to your life, and things will be wood, hay, and stubble, and they will quickly burn up and be gone, or there will be gold and silver and precious stones. And here's the interesting part. If you live with fire on this earth, you don't have to be afraid of the fires of judgment in the life to come. Why? Because I'm not building a life on my flesh, by my flesh, for my flesh. Why? Because the Spirit burns that off. As fast as I put a piece of hay in there, poof, it's gone. What's then left? Gold and silver, and costly stones. So, is your faith genuine? Is your faith genuine? I don't care that you go to a Christian school. I don't care that you go to church. I don't care where you grew up. It doesn't matter. Is there fire in your life? Fire authenticates. That's the entire experience that they're having in this showdown. Only the God who can bring fire from heaven is real. Only the people with fire in their life have been raised to life. And if not, there's nothing wrong with you. Let us help you. Find the resurrection life in Jesus.

Third thing I want you to be aware of is simply this: fire falls on sacrifice. It falls on sacrifice. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces, laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood. Do it again, he said. Do it a third time, he ordered. Then, then and only then, the fire of the Lord fell. They are in a drought that's so bad that people are dying. And he takes four large jars and pours it on the thing. And he does it three times. Why? Because the water was the greatest sacrifice Elijah could think to offer the Lord. It was the thing that cost Him the most. It was the thing that when everyone else was watching it happen, thought he's lost his mind. But Elijah says, no, you've lost your mind that you think you would hold anything back from a good God. He is a consuming fire, is he not? And He will only consume that which we offer Him. He is not an indiscriminate fire sender. We don't have to like run around, try to, like, where, oh, here it is. I probably just messed up the camera guy. Sorry, guy. You know, like, you're like, hoo, you're trying to find, no. He will consume that which is offer. He leaves that which we withhold.

Okay, so you ready? I think there are four main things that God wants us to sacrifice to Him. Time, money, treasure, and heart. These are the four main things that we get to present to the Lord, a sacrifice for the fire to fall. And the first is time. Do you realize time is one of the greatest sacrifices you can give to the Lord? You say, why? Because time is the only resource of your life that you can't get more of, and you have no idea how much of it you have left. You can never get more time, and you have no idea how much more of it you have left. So, it's a sacrifice. It's an offering. It actually means something and costs you something, but we hoard our time. We love our time. We want to worship our own time. We want to control our own time. And so, in many ways, the same way that Israelite let the fire go out and built a fire to Baal and Asherah, if we're honest, we have kind of run God out of the temple, let His fire go out, and we've built an altar that we worship to the God of time. Time. And yet if you go to the 10 Commandments, right? The base foundation of how not only Christians should live, humanity is supposed to live. It says, remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work. You know what that means? That one-seventh of your life belongs to the Lord. This is not a suggestion. This is like in the same category as do not kill someone. This is not the high watermark. This is the least common denominator. This is the basic. God says one-seventh of your life belongs to Me. That day is a sacrifice. It's an offering. You present it to Me, I will burn it up, and I will make sure it and you are consumed with fire. For most of you, Sunday is supposed to be your Sabbath day. It's the day that you've presented your life to the Lord. You're not working. You're not busy. You're not scurrying. You're not stressed. You're not anxious. You're not running around. You have presented. You have -- you're like, Lord, I have nowhere else to be but You. This is your day. It belongs to You. So, I lay it on the altar, and I offer it to You. This is the least common denominator. So, have you given the Lord your Sabbath for Him to consume? And then as you start doing that, it goes up from there. Do you give the Lord your mornings and prepare the fire? Do you give the Lord time during the week to think about Him? Do you give the Lord secret place time? Do you give the Lord time to be in a circle or be on a serve team or do anything missional? Like, like it continues from there. I think we give God time, but we give it with conditions. God, I'm going to come to church, but I'm going to come late, and I'm going to leave early, and it better be relevant, practical, and funny. And if it's not, I'm not going to say anything, but subconsciously I won't come back now for six weeks. Okay, just understand a sacrifice has no conditions. It's offered, and whatever He wants to do with it, He gets to do with it. Where are you going? What are you doing? What are you so busy with? That's more important than the fire of God falling. You say I'm too busy and you need to rearrange your life. So, arrange and rearrange the sacrifice of your life so fire can fall. The Sabbath belongs to the Lord. It's the first sacrifice that we offer Him.

The second is money. The second is money. If you didn't like that one, you're going to like this one even less. We love money. We worship money. We've let the fire of God go out, and we've set up a Baal or Asherah. Jesus calls it the spirit of Mammon, a demonic spirit with a different name, just like Baal and Asherah, that works through finances, and we hoard, and we gather, and we acquire, and we worship money. And we offer strange fire to make sure it burns. But look what God says. You are to bring everything I command you, your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord. Jesus says the tithe belongs to Him, and it is a sacrifice that He will consume with fire. The tithe literally means the first and best 10% portion of your income. He says the first and best 10% portion of your income is His for fire to fall on. Tithing doesn't make you generous; it makes you obedient. Tithing like Sabbath is not the high watermark; it's the least common denominator of actually being the people of God. He says the first 10% belongs to Him, and if we will offer it to Him, He will consume it with his fire, and yet we withhold it, and He says, “Will a man rob God yet you rob Me, but you ask how do we rob You?” In tithes and offerings. How is fire going to fall when I'm stealing the sacrifice from God? What are you buying? What are you saving for? What are you hoarding for that's so much more important to you than the fire of God? Just ask it like that. You're like, “Well, I.” I don’t, I’m, this is a conversation. What are you saving for? What are you wanting? What fear do you have that makes you hoard? What kind of pride do you have that makes you think your value comes from how much money you have, that is more important than the fire of God? Listen to me. The Sabbath and the tithe are God's built-in ways of helping us keep the fire burning. If every seven days I give Him the sacrifice of a Sabbath and the sacrifice of my tithe, time and money, the two things we worship the most, if every seven days I'm presenting those to the Lord, your fire will never go out. It’s God’s -- you're like, God doesn't need your time or your money. He's trying to help you burn.

And he knows that if you will give him your Sabbath and you will give him your tithe, your fire will never go out. Why? Because every seven days, you're putting a log on that fire and you're keeping your life surrendered to Him. I literally could stop right here and be like this. Don't be slow of heart right here.

Just what I'm saying, right? These last three minutes of talking, five minutes, don't be slow of heart right here. Don't have 19 reasons why you cannot, and rearrange your life because you want the fire of God. Don't say that's for somebody else. No, that's for me. This is not the high watermark. This is the basic.

Can't say you want the fire of God, but not Sabbath or tithe. That's all, I'm just trying to tell you. So go to Circle this week, go to your serve team, talk to your spouse on the way home, and wrestle that one out. Wrestle that one out. You say you want the fire of God, but we refuse to Sabbath, and we refuse to tithe. Have a conversation. That's all I'm trying to do. This whole thing, right? Conversation. Wrestle that one out in your own Soul. Come to your own conclusion that yes, I want the fire of God and I'm totally okay, not tithing and not Sabbathing, and I'm convinced that I am the one person out of all the billions that have been created to find an alternative way around those two to the fire of God. Then do it. And when you figure that out, come tell me, because I would be fascinated. It matters. It matters. But I'm a Christian. Is there fire?

When my kids go to a Christian school, is there fire? But I go to church sometimes. Is there fire? But we, but we, put a thing up, a value for our business, the Jesus thing. But is there fire? It's got to start there, because that's the basic. Then you can get to the actual offering. Remember, David, he wants to make an offering to the Lord. And his friend's like, “Here, take the bull, take the wood, take the land. You can have all of it.” And David's like, “Heck no, I ain’t want your junk.” He says, “I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” This is the treasure. We have things that we treasure, things that we value, things that we hold on to. And a true sacrifice is something that we treasure, that we offer to the Lord, and it costs us something. God is not interested in your leftovers, in your hand-me-downs, or in the shirt that has a hole and pit stains in it that you want to donate to Goodwill. If you don't want it, why do you think God would want it? Oh, I give God all this stuff. You're giving Him the stuff you'd put at the curb. You don't want it. Why do you think God wants it? Are you giving Him a sacrifice that costs you anything? God, I've given You this job. I've given you this business. I'm giving you this relationship that means everything to me, but You're telling me to let it go. I'm giving up my dream school, and I'm going to go to VC College and become someone, and this actually is costing me something. I'm going to give up my motive, my agenda, and my hobbies. I'm going to give up my sleep on Sunday mornings. Like, did it cost you anything?

And then the last thing is just heart. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I will bring it to you. You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise. What God wants is an honest, humble, authentic, non-duplicit heart. He wants you to take all the things out of the darkness, all the things that are secret, and He wants you to bring them out, and He wants you to present them to the fire. When we say take it out of the dark and bring it into the light, you know what we're saying? We're saying throw it in the fire. Oh, you got to bring this out of the darkness and into the light? It's not an LED light bulb, people. Take it out of the darkness, throw it into the fire. Let Him consume it. Whatever He gives you back is what you want. Whatever burns up is what you don't want. You want the fire of God in your life? Ready for this? Confess and repent publicly. I promise you, any person in this room, you're like, my fire's kind of, I don't know. Confess and repent publicly. Fire of God will fall on that sacrifice. Boom, just like that. You're like, go to your circle this week. Guys, I want to start by confessing and repenting. Go to your serve team. I'm going to confess and repent. Go to your godly relationships in this church. Remember those three to five meaningful people that we're telling you to build all the time? Confess and repent. You got nobody, come up after service. These people, they would love to have you do that with them and pray, confess, and repent. You're like, that would be embarrassing. That's the point. Because what's dying? Your pride. That's what you're sacrificing and throwing on the fire. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in the view of God's mercy, offer your bodies, and say it with me, living sacrifices. Why? Because that's where fire falls. It does not fall on that which is not offered. It does not fall on that which is offered to another god. You're like, why isn't there fire in my time? Because you're giving it to the wrong god. Why isn't there fire in my money? Because you're giving it to the wrong god. Living sacrifice, it costs me something. How much do you want the fire of God? Are you giving God anything that costs you anything? That would be a great conversation to have this week.

Fourth thing I want you to be aware of is that that fire is mission. It's not just about us. Elijah didn't need the fire. He had a great relationship with God. Then the fire of the Lord fell. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, the Lord, He is God, the Lord, He is God. When the fire fell, they were broken, cut to the heart, hit the ground, and they repented and turned back to God. Can I tell you, the world is not looking for church. The world is not looking for religion. The world is not looking for another message. The world is not looking for activities and events and polished goody-goody. No, the world is looking for fire, for the Supernatural, and for the Spirit of God. If we can cultivate the fire of God as a people of God, then guess what? We actually have something to offer the world. Why? Because when the fire burns in your life, guess who will fall prostrate and declare He is Lord? Your prodigal child – Your wayward spouse, that person that you love, your parent who is so hard-hearted, the young person in our church, the old person in our church, your neighbor, the city. That's who will fall prostrate. Why? Because they will see the fire in the midst of their darkness. They will feel the warmth in the midst of their cold. They will see the holiness in the midst of their dirtiness. Are you catching me? It's missional.

And the last thing I want you to see is simply this, is that fire creates an open heaven. It creates an open heaven. The fire falls, and it says, “Then the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, and a heavy rain came.” Years of drought that's so bad that we're literally dying and fighting over a sip of water. And Elijah offers 12 large jars of water, the greatest sacrifice anyone at that time could have ever even thought to offer. Fire falls, what immediately happens? Heaven's open, and a flood came. We are convinced that if we offer God anything of value, we go down in value. When we offer God something of value, He gives us back immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. Elijah taught the entire nation a lesson. Give God what you value, He will give you back immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine. Elijah gave 12, what are 12 water jars worth now? Nothing, nothing. Because now they're in a season of water abundance. So that water went from the most precious thing ever to the least valuable thing around them. Why? Because that's how much God gave them, because they were willing to give that which they deeply held onto in their heart. The fire will open the heavens above you. You know how a fire burns, and if, like, if you're a kid or just not, you didn't make a good choice, and you started a fire with a ceiling over it? The fire of God in your life, it literally, it's like it opens the heavens above you. And everywhere you go, the provision, the abundance, the blessing, the goodness of God falls in a heavy way. In a heavy way. Let me pull it all together with this. Elijah repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in ruins. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces, and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood. Did it three more -- two more times. Elijah stepped forward and prayed. “Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that You, O Lord, are God and that You are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell. Here's what I want you to understand. He prepared, and then he prayed. He arranged, and then he asked. He sacrificed, and then he sought. And then the fire fell. You must prepare and pray if you want the fire of God to fall. You must arrange and ask if you want the fire of God to fall. You must sacrifice and seek if you want the fire of God to fall. Here's our problem. A lot of us are preparers, arrangers, and seekers, or sacrificers, excuse me. And others of us are prayers, askers, and seekers. But you have to do both. You actually have to prepare the altar, prepare your life, arrange your life, offer a sacrifice that matters, and then you actually have to call and cry out and pray and ask God. What I'm trying to tell you is we can't do it without Him, and He won't do it without us. There is a physical and a spiritual component to the fire of God. The physical is I've arranged, I've prepared, I've rebuilt the altar, I've stacked the logs, I've put the sacrifice on there. But I can't make fire fall. Only He can. So, my job is to prepare and then pray. And He won't let the fire fall if I won't first do my part. And no matter how much I do my part, I can't make the fire fall. He won't do it without me, and I can't do it without Him. So, we must be people who both prepare and pray, arrange and ask. One man, one man, one man, brought fire down from heaven and turned an entire nation back to God. If you prepared and you prayed, and the fire of God fell on your life, whose heart might be turned back to the Lord? That prodigal child that you love more than anything else, that no matter what you -- it's like you feel like you're those guys, like no matter what you do, nothing, yeah, you know. That wayward spouse that you love so deeply, and their heart is so gone. I know. That parent, for so many students here, that parent who is actually an adversary in their spiritual life. I know. The next generation, who we feel like has turned away, the older generation who is numb and apathetic and hard-hearted, the people sitting next to you, the people in the city, the people you go to school with, the people, I know, turned a whole nation's heart back to God. What if you became someone who prepared and prayed in such a way that the fire of God fell on your life, that other people saw it and literally hit the ground, saying, “He is the Lord. He is the Lord.” There is no revival without fire. And there is no fire without prayer. And there's no prayer without preparation. And there's no preparation without a word from the Lord that sets you on the journey to go confront darkness and ask God to move. I believe this conversation is the word from the Lord to go on the journey like Elijah to confront darkness in your own life. To prepare and then to pray that the fire would fall and revival would be ignited in your family. Forget everybody else, just in your family. Because you have committed to become a person with a radiant face, a burning heart, and a holy life in Jesus' name. So, here's what I want you to do with me. Will you close your eyes?

Most times when we get to this point, I usually ask you a few questions and then pray for you. Here's what I wanted to do today is, I want to give you a minute to pray. Elijah prepared and prayed, called out. For the next minute or so, I just want to give you a moment, you pray. You call out, you cry out, you confess, you repent. What do you want to say to the -- what conversation do you need to have right now with God after what we just talked about? Take the next few moments, just talk to God.

He hears your voice. He knows the thoughts in your head and the wrestles in your heart. And He is so good and gracious and kind, and He actually cares what you have to say. In the New Testament, in the Book of James, it tells us that the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective, just like Elijah's. In Jesus, you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, which means your prayer has the same kind of power Elijah's did. So may you be a people, may we be a people that prepare with everything we've got and pray with everything we've got because we long for the consuming fire of God more than anything else.

Holy Spirit, as we go this week, would You help us have the right conversations with You, with ourselves, and with the people in our lives? I pray that today we would leave feeling a little provoked, a little convicted, a little challenged, but also inspired and hopeful, and grateful because Your grace supplies everything we need. So, may Your grace help us renew our minds. May Your grace help us to be quick to repent. May Your grace give us the strength we need to arrange and rearrange. May Your grace give us deep desire for the fire of God. And may we have a vision to be a person and a people with a radiant face, a burning heart, and a holy life. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.