Revival Fires! (A Pre-Revival Message)

One of them complained, "I am hot, let's find a place to cool off." The other one said, "Yea, me too! Where do you want to go?" The grumbler said, "Well, the coldest place I know of is the church down the street, let's go there..."

Now, that has been told as a joke on many occasions, but all the humor is drained from it, because it is the truth in many cases.

Beloved, God never meant for His church to be a cold, dead, dried up place where Christians gather each week.

For example, during the days of Elijah, in our text, when the people of God were greatly outnumbered by the devil's people, God desired to manifest Himself as the Living God. He did this by answering by fire.

We live in such a time today, when the people of God are greatly outnumbered by the ungodly, and God wants, once again, to answer by fire, and prove to this lost and dying world that He is still the Living God. If there ever was a time when we needed the revival fires burning, it is now! Why? Because of what coldness in the church brings:

I. COLDNESS BRINGS MISERY

Everyone here has had times in their lives when they were cold. As you remember, those times brought misery to you.

One of the reasons that we hear about all the misery in the church today, is because in many churches today the spiritual temperature is below zero! On the other hand, you can go into some churches that are experiencing revival, and THEY ARE ON FIRE!

For example, look at Acts 2:1-13 where we see a church that is on fire for the Lord. We read, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.”

The early church did not have a ten million dollar building to worship in, but they had something that the church today does not have. THEY HAD THE FIRE OF THE LORD! This was a church that was on fire for the Lord. Never in the history of the church, have we seen things as they were in the early church.

THE BIBLE TELLS US HOW THIS REVIVAL GOT STARTED.

Look at verse 1, We read, “They were all with one accord in one place.”

Illus: A third of them were not at the beach or another third home watching television. The Bible makes it clear, “They were all with one accord in one place.”

Until a church reaches this “One accord in one place”, they will never experience the “Fire of God” in their midst.

Look at verses 2-7, the fire of God fell on that congregation, and the Bible says they were ALL FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT.

The Lord had already promised in Matthew 16, after Peter had proclaimed that Christ was the Son of God, that absolutely nothing would stop His church. Look at Matthew 16:18, we read, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

The first thing that the New Testament church faced, was a language problem. The Lord was true to His Word, nothing was going to stop His church.

In Acts 2, this church was on fire for God, and the Bible says God supernaturally caused them to speak in languages that the people who had gathered on the day of Pentecost could understand.