Ground That Will Take and a Flame That Will Burn

Welcome

Text

Proverbs 30:15–16 NKJV

15 The leech has two daughters— Give and Give! There are three things that are never satisfied, Four never say, “Enough!”: 16 The grave, The barren womb, The earth that is not satisfied with water— And the fire never says, “Enough!”

Romans 12:1–2 NKJV

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Sunday I was endeavoring, with the help of God, to be encouraging and uplifting. It was time for it. Today, I’m going to be challenging.

I’m going to preach on “Ground that will Take and a Flame that will Burn”.

Turn to somebody and ask them, “Are you on fire?”

Responsibilities for Revival

Explanation of Text

There are some things that there are no end to.

Taxes

The mowing of grass

Hell (bottomless pit)

The Kingdom of God (of the increase of His government there shall be no end)

Proverbs 30:15–16 NKJV

15 The leech has two daughters— Give and Give! There are three things that are never satisfied, Four never say, “Enough!”: 16 The grave, The barren womb, The earth that is not satisfied with water— And the fire never says, “Enough!”

Essentially, this verse of scriptures is notifying us of four things that are insatiable, or unsatisfiable, or never getting enough.

The grave

The barren womb

The earth (water)

Fire (burning)

And, if you think of it, all of these things make sense.

Is there some connection or some common thing that these things have that this scripture is trying to throw at us? It doesn’t seem as though there is, other than that they are all unsatiable.

Is there some deeper, hidden meaning that is not being fully said in these scriptures? I’m not sure about that.

It’s just… here are some things that are unsatisfied.

A Dream

I’ve had a couple of dreams in my life that have been truly shaking for me.

One was when I was much younger. The Lord gave me a dream that I fully believe was an introduction to hell and its consequences. Shook me.

And if you believe in the latter rain, the end-time revival, then you must believe in visions and dreams.

But more recently, I had another that shook me yet again.

Some months ago, I dreamt that I was in our back yard, and I saw this star-like thing that appeared to be getting closer. I watched in the night as this thing became bigger and was lighting up our area. It was on fire. And I got into the car and drove to where it was coming down. It came down where we are all located right now. This vicinity.

And as it fell on this building, it went down to the ground around it. And when the fire fell to the ground, it was as if the ground just ate the fire up. It was gone, into the earth.

So I stand there, trying to understand what’s going on...

And suddenly, there was a burst of fire that shot forth and out from this location, and young men and women began rising up out of the earth, covered in flames as they walked out from here into the world. And from there, it became wildfire.

In wondering about this, I prayed. And I felt something in prayer, to which the Lord confirmed to me in prophecy: He said, the fire falling is my Spirit. The church received entirely and it was consumed. And then from there a great many were raised up to spread my revival further.

And I’m thinking, praise God!

But then, there was one more thing said which stirs me. And it was this: “This generation has some responsibilities for revival: ground that will take and a flame that will burn.”

Let me pause here a moment and reiterate that point… this generation has some responsibilities for revival!

Ground That Will Take

We need ground that will take.

Tobasco sauce story (Edmund McIlhenny)

Sometimes your ground is worked over and tired and out of whack - we still need to be able to receive what God has! We need to be thirsty and hungry!

Timothy, Elisha, David, Solomon, had that ground.

Receiving

Openness

Availability

Commitment - To God, the Church, prayer, study

Hunger

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst…

People who aren’t hungry end up picking.

They also end up eating junk or nothing at all. Malnourished.

The preacher should not always have to make an altar call. He will often, but response to God should come natural. IT’S HUNGER!

Saul didn’t have that ground.

A Flame That Will Burn

We need a flame that will burn.

The second act of God’s judgment is gonna be fire.

The Bible also says that the Holy Ghost is as a consuming fire.

I don’t say this casually, but let me put it this way: you can either burn now, or you can burn later…

I choose to let the Holy Ghost burn in me continually

I will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire.

When you look at fire, the fire of God does not just fall for some display. It falls on an altar. And on that altar there must be a sacrifice.

The only thing the fire seats is an altar.

I want to tell you that you can pray, but not have an altar. The altar is not about prayer. The altar is about death. It’s where something dies.

If you are praying, but you don’t have an altar, you are praying amiss. Praying with the altar is praying the will of God. It avails much.

Romans 12:1–2 NKJV

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

“present your bodies as a living sacrifice… reasonable service” Don’t let anybody tell you holiness is not reasonable.

True worship to God is when you are living the kind of life when you are a living sacrifice.

Over the past several years, I have amassed several people who, every time I see them, they ask me if I have a word for them. And what I’ve come to find out is that Apostolics can sometimes be spiritually lazy. You don’t want to pray. You want me to pray for you. You don’t want to go to the throne to find the will of God. You want me to go for you.

So often, I’ve said “NO.”

The best way to find the will of God is to do what Paul said… become a living sacrifice. You will never know what God’s will is until you keep an altar, because your will has got to die. What you want has got to die!

Jesus Christ died twice. Once on the cross, but before that, he first died in the Garden. “not my will - thine be done!

We know the mechanics of having church, but if there was ever a time for Apostolics to get down to an altar and die out to our plan for our lives and His church and let Him know we want it His way… it’s right now!

Revival and harvest is not going to come how you think it’s going to come. It’s going to be led by the Holy ghost. and those that will go to the altar, and be not conformed, and be mind-renewed. And the only way that can happen is if you can put your mind on the altar and say, “There it is, God. I’m asking you to consume it! And when it’s done being consumed, I’m asking that it be something different, and for me to know what is the will of God, that I can prove what is the will of God.

The Fire

Worship

Sacrifice

Service

Reach

Conclusion

Thirst and passion for God.