The Day Fire & Rain Fell (Video) — Shane Idleman

Lord, we pray that critical hearts would come to know you and soften up, in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Thank you so much, Brother Greg. Yeah, we would get off emails, and it's frustrating. We're not gonna talk for a few more months, because it's hard when you're not on the same page in regard to this.

Discerning Revival Without a Critical Spirit

But do you wanna know what has surprised me the most about this, not only this revival, it's happening, there's pockets happening throughout the United States. The most surprising thing is the negative Nellies and judgmental Jerrys.

I've never had to deal with more in my life in ministry, just because we post things about it. They say, well, can't you be critical? We should be cautious and discerning, but with the right heart. See, if you have a humble, broken heart, you're spirit-filled, you're full of the love of the Lord, you better be discerning and using wisdom, engaging what is true and what is not.

But if you have a critical heart, no, you shouldn't critique, because it's coming from a wrong heart. And so that's what we're seeing, and we don't know where this is gonna go. Is there bad mixed in with the good?

Of course. And somebody said, well, there's homosexuals there, maybe singing now, and then, okay, maybe they'll come to know the Lord? I mean, another video, you know, or they're singing that song too long.

Oh, really? So is the standard four minutes? Our songs are four minutes, and that's because we're bored to death in church. The title is The Day the Fire and Rain Fell. The Day Fire and Rain Fell. And I mean the good fire, for a believer.

Preparing the Heart for the Fire and Rain

A good fire consumes, it purifies. And what does rain do? It renews, it revives us. And we are in a very unique season. I want all of us, all of you listening, even maybe later, whether it's on the radio or wherever it's at, this is crucial.

I need you to understand something. God's really been putting this on my heart, and this is from a Jewish farmer, talking about even back in biblical days. When the rain has come, we must begin to plow.

We may have to plow in hell and in snow and in the storm and in the tempest, but plow we must, for if we do not plow, we will not reap. See, when it's raining, when God's blessing, that's the time to plow the soil of our hearts and get the heart ready for the downpour.

And there's a phrase that people use often, that God doesn't pass me by. What does that mean? Obviously God's everywhere, and as I've shared before, you know, we have electricity everywhere in this building, but go put your, go hold a knife and stick in an outlet.

You're gonna experience the electricity. It's everywhere, but until you experience it, oh, and the big criticism right now is, man, that's just emotionalism. Well, praise God for emotions. I'm not a robot on autopilot stuck in boring, dead, in a religious service.

We're in the church of the living God. There should be emotion that is grounded, of course, in truth, and this is happening all over the United States. Where it will go, I have no idea, but I know that we must plow the soil of our own heart.

There's an urgency building up inside of me. Everything else can wait. There's an urgency that we sense, but I wanna talk about this briefly. A spiritual downpour, a spiritual downpour is what we're asking, and they are conditional.

I think I've got some bullet points up there. They are, this is conditional. We forget that, that if you want the revival fire of God, you want the reign of God to just come in and replenish and renew, there are conditions that have to be met.

Humility, Brokenness, and the Conditions of Revival

God says, my name is holy. I dwell in a high and holy place with him who is broken and contrite. I will revive the heart of the humble. Break up your fallow ground. There's always, often when it comes to this indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, there's often a response by the person.

Present your bodies as living sacrifices. Holy, what is your acceptable sacrifice to God? And as you present the sacrifice, God brings the fire. So the problem isn't on God's end. The problem is often on our end.

Revival Is Spiritual Battle, Not Utopia

Also, it's a good reminder that this is no utopia, and a lot of people say, you know, Shane, look where America's going, man. We're going to hell in a handbasket. What, you're not, you really think you're gonna make a difference?

Revival doesn't bring utopia. Revival brings the spiritual armor of God into the midst of chaos and confusion. So we're not gonna have the America of 1950s, folks. We're not praying for utopia right now.

We're praying for engagement in spiritual battle. So in the midst of revival, there's also wickedness. And I told some people, and some pastors, I'm glad I'm not in Asbury. That would be a hard atmosphere if we were trying to steward that.

Can you imagine the type of demonic opposition? Can you imagine the type of, do we allow this, or don't, what should we do? I mean, just the onslaught, where God is moving, so is the enemy. And so it's not revival, it's not utopia, now everything's comfortable.

Actually, he convicts the comfortable. And there's a season of travail and fighting evil. It's a spiritual upheaval. Many people are confused, and I haven't, of course, it's just my opinion, but when Jesus said, the kingdom suffers violence, and the violent take it by force, there's a lot of commentary on that, but I believe it's a spiritual upheaval.

Jesus is here now. The demonic realm is no longer in charge. He cast out demons just with his word. And now the kingdom suffers violence, and if you could break down that scripture and things, but there was a spiritual upheaval that was happening, and it still continues today.

Pursuing God Through Discouragement and Unseen Results

Here's the wonderful thing, pursuing, pursuing what I'm talking about, pursuing revival prevents discouragement. You ever get discouraged? Pursue God. Pursue God. That will eliminate discouragement. But on the flip side, when you get discouraged, you don't want to pursue God.

I don't like how that works, but that's how it works. So as you're pursuing God and seeking God, it brings joy and hope. And as I said earlier, success is not comfort. Experiencing the downpour of God's, of rain or the fire of the spirit, it is not, it doesn't always equal success.

Have you ever noticed as you're pressing in, sometimes all hell breaks loose? Wait a minute, wait a minute, this isn't working, Lord. Well, I didn't say it was working yet. Faith is the evidence of things not yet seen, the substance of things hoped for.

And so if we can have the right understanding of what this is, I'm not talking about weirdness, I'm not talking about craziness, I'm talking about people in love with Jesus Christ. It changes the way you do everything.

Discouragement is cast away, joy comes in. And so where we find ourself is in the book of 1 Kings. The book of 1 Kings, King Ahab led Israel into idolatry. King Ahab, so leadership matters, folks. Leadership matters, pray for our leaders, because it matters.

Ahab, Idolatry, and the Wake-Up Call of Judgment

He led the nation of Israel into idolatry, so God sent Elisha, and he'll send his prophetic voices still today. He sent Elisha to tell Ahab that he would send a drought upon the land. The drought was a judgment of God.

When I bring pestilence, when I bring famine, when I bring drought, if my people humble themselves and seek my face, so instead of embracing God's wake-up call, Ahab continued to engage in idolatry. Isn't that funny?

Instead of a wake-up call, understanding, Lord, this is serious, and turning to him, sometimes we dig our feet in even more. In the same way, what's it going to take to wake us up? God often uses calamity to wake us up.

I did a quick search, and I think there's something like 40 mass shootings since I've been gone. Four people or more. Like, no, that can't be right, and when you know it, you see it, I mean, how, look at the Grammys.

Or don't, actually, but you can dress as Satan. It's a satanic worship service. A satanic worship service that millions of people, legislation where if I don't call a boy a boy, but a girl, because that's his preferred pronoun, I could go to jail.

Folks, what's it going to take to wake us up? If you just look at the news, that would, if you just look at the news, and look what's going on, and look at where our children are going to be exposed to, you would say, Pastor Shane, Pastor Abram, open the church every day.

There's a hunger, there's a desire for it. Is there a hunger, is there a desire for more of God? If you say, I don't have it, all you have to do is repent, and say, Lord, I need it, give me the fire of the Spirit.

I want that day that the fire and the rain fell to be today. After three years of devastating drought, Ahab blamed, who? Calling him, you troubler of Israel. And I'm often called, you troubler of America.

That loud guy better shut his mouth. You're causing all this problem. You're the church's, the problem. Get rid of the truth so we can enjoy our sin. And here's the key, those speaking the truth are often called troublemakers.

Speaking Truth With Humility and Love

Now, this is an important key, because modern day Pharisees will use this verse, say, yeah, see, I'm telling people off, I'm in their face. No, no, no. It has to come from a humble, gentle, broken spirit.

The angry prophet has to be just as loving, correct? And I will tell you, I've been transparent. That's the hardest balance I'm trying to find. Because I can tell people off really good, in case you haven't noticed.

But you have to be bold in this culture. But you also have to be broken and loving and accountable to people. It's not this renegade spirit of rebellion. David Wilkerson has an incredible clip, I believe it's called A Call to Anguish.

Probably at Sermon Index. A Call to Anguish. And see what happens, that anguish for our children, I just see, the Grammys, it just broke my heart that how can we lift up Satan but not God? And there's an anguish.

God, your word is being mocked. Your spokesmen are being ridiculed. There's a drought, there's a famine in the land. Oh God, would you revive your work? I'm just excited to see. How can people criticize thousands and thousands of young adults going and falling in love with Jesus?

I'm baffled. And I'm sure I've got comments on Instagram right now. But they're not preaching. Could God be preaching? Could God, and I'm just coming from a preacher. That's one, if one thing I could change, that would be it.

Let's add some sermons in there. But when the spirit of the living God takes over, the worship team needs to be silent. The pulpit needs to be silent. I will not exalt man, God says. No flesh will glory in my presence.

He must decrease so that I can get increased. Just get out of the way and let the spirit of the living God take over. I will draw them to the altar. I will convict the hard heart. I will restore, I will renew.

And again, I'm not putting down preaching. I love it, I wish there was a lot of it. But did you know you can begin to worship the word and have head knowledge instead of letting God do what he wants to do?

Elijah's Call to Choose Between God and Idolatry

And then the famous calling of Elisha that comes out. He called out and he said, how long will you waver? He called out to the people, how long will you waver? Does that call not go out today? Oh, if I could just get America's attention.

I've told you this before, we would raise $10 ,000. I'd pay Joel Stein to go on his platform and say, how long will you waver between two opinions, 10 million Americans? How long will you waver? If God be God, follow him.

You cannot serve both God and this world. How long will you falter between two gods, not the real living God and the false God of this world? You can't walk on both sides of the fence, folks. You cannot love two masters.

You love one and you'll reject the other. That call needs to go out. So the key, being solid and steadfast can open up heaven. Like Elisha, being solid and steadfast in these difficult times. Solid in the truth, solid in the word, steadfast, persevering, seeking, pursuing God like never before.

How long will you seek heaven on Sunday but live like hell on Monday? How long will you say that Jesus is your savior but deny him as your Lord? And that's what he meant by how long will you waver between two opinions?

The God Who Answers by Fire

The God who answers by fire. And what Elisha did is he backed up his words with action. That's what we need to do. So many people are posting things, right? Oh yeah, the refiner's fire, isn't this a wonderful verse?

Let me post it on Instagram. That's good, but we've gotta back up our faith with actions, our words with action. So here's what Elisha did. Let the real God show himself by answering by fire. So the scene is, he's addressing the children of God on Mount Carmel.

He said, you're following Bel, the priests of Bel, 400 and 450 of the other, and there's 850 false prophets and Elisha by himself. He said, hey, let's see the God, the real God. Well, that God will answer by fire.

And let me tell you, when God answers by fire, it's a consuming fire. It's an all-overwhelming fire that ignites your heart and you don't wanna go back to that dead, decaying religion you once had. And so the priests of Bel spent many hours calling on their false God to send fire.

They would cut themselves. And it really broke my heart because I wondered how many people in this world spend their whole lifetime following or trying to call on a false God that will never hear, the false God.

But nothing happened, of course. Nothing happened. They'd still be doing it today. And then it says something interesting. Elisha took over and prepared the altar. Elisha took over and prepared the altar.

Listen, at some point, we have to take over and say enough with wokeism, enough with liberalism, enough with passive leaders. We need the spirit of the living God. And I don't mean by force. This is how I do my battle on this altar.

But there has to be an action that we take, an action plan to pray and fast and call down heaven. He even went a step further and he poured water around it and over it. Many times. Always count on Matthias to help me out there.

It's always good, it's always good, too. So here's the altar. It doesn't look like this. But the, I mean, to me, just, I mean, an altar, a sacrifice is ready, and fire coming down and consuming it, that'd be enough for me.

But they, well, yeah, maybe there was a trick involved or something, so he took sparklets-type bottles and just, what, drenched it, and then decided to do a trench around it. It was just a wet, messy, bloody sacrifice.

Can you imagine what the people were thinking? I even thought, what about the faith of Elisha? Let the God who answers by fire, let him be God? And that's what's happening today in our nation. Let the God who answers by fire, the Spirit's baptism of fire, let him be God.

All other gods have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Nothing is bringing a revival. The wokeness, the liberalism, the political correctness, the ungodly movements, all these things. A liberal, weak church is not doing anything.

Nothing is happening. Let the real God answer by fire, and he says, I will answer by fire. It'll be so clear, so unmistakable that you will know me, that it is me that we can't deny, but he is doing something in our nation today.

And you watch if you want. Go on Facebook or YouTube, watch the comments. You'll see the Naked of Knowledge and Judgement of Jerry's come out. Why, because of conviction. Two things happen when you're convicted.

You fall to your knees and repent, or you what? Stiff-necked people, stiff-necked, always resisting the Holy Spirit. All the water is poured over this. It's an incredible picture, and there's a wonderful key I've talked about many times.

We prepare the sacrifice, and God brings the fire. God brings his consuming presence to a place, to a group of people. And I don't know how exactly it works, I've read a lot about it, I've read biblical texts.

I know exactly what it is. I know God's everywhere, but sometimes, sometimes you'll visit a group of people, and his manifest presence, it's okay to say that, it's biblical, manifest, God reveals himself with his presence, biblical.

Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, and Experiencing God's Presence

Go ask the people in the upper room, the 120, how they felt when God visited them. Would you have felt comfortable in the upper room? Let's be honest, would you have felt comfortable in the upper room?

Because most would say, these are crazy charismatics, I'm out of here. That's not revival. That's not God. They're acting a little interesting. Tongues of fire. John the Baptist said, he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with fire.

See, all of this is thoroughly biblical. Now, it gets a little uncomfortable when you call out the lukewarm church, or the modern day Pharisee, they don't like that because now you're challenging their spirituality.

The lukewarm person doesn't like to be challenged because they want, leave me alone. Leave me alone in my sin. True story, I verified it. I was in Bishop. They said, Shane, you've got to pray for this guy.

He doesn't want to be here. He's trying to get out the back door. It's Saturday, he died on Wednesday. Overdose, gone, flatline. They brought him back. I'm praying. I look at him, you want to pray? He goes, I guess.

I felt the demonic opposition. I felt he just wanted to get out of there. I want to slap him and say, you just died four days ago, clown. Wake up. Can you say that from the pulpit? He said, okay. Larry, is that okay?

He goes, you just died four days ago. Hello, overdose. Fentanyl. Wake up. I don't want that. Oh, pride is deadly. Pride is damning. Pride prevents a mighty downpouring of God in your spirit. The only thing stopping you from receiving a lot of God's power and presence is a five-letter little word.

And you can almost picture the fire of God in a person doing this instead of this. And when I received that fire, I didn't become weird. I became bold for Jesus. Somebody I don't even want to talk about, really.

I mean, if you ask me, I'm Christian, I guess, whatever. Leave me alone. I've got an image to uphold. But when the fire comes, byproduct is boldness. And now, you might look a little weird on the altar.

You know, if you're at the altar for an hour, what in the world do you do up there? It's not what I do. It's what God does in my heart. You can watch a three-hour Super Bowl, but you can't worship for three hours?

What's the difference? Oh, I came here to step on toes. We need to step on toes. Remember what I often say. When you step on toes, you move your foot. When you pray to God to answer by fire. I'd have loved to have been there.

When God's Fire Falls, Everything Is Consumed

Can you imagine? I mean, the Bible doesn't record exactly, but Elijah just, God, answer by fire. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

See, here's the thing. When God's fire falls, everything is consumed. Everything is consumed. When God's fire falls, it is evident, evident. When God's fire falls, it challenges, it changes, it transforms.

And so that was my encouragement this morning. The fire of God's presence can become a reality in your life. Think about what I just said. The fire of his presence. And fire, of course, not literal. It's a metaphorical word that God uses.

Like, you know, the psalmist would say that tears, fountains of water would come out of my eyes or they would use strong language. And so the fire of God, it's an all-consuming fire and it become a reality in your life.

So now you're, that's what they say. Have you heard the phrase, I'm on fire for God? I wanna go home tonight. I wanna watch something that's edifying. I wanna put on worship music. I wanna read a good book.

I wanna get, now I get up in the morning, I look at the clock and I'm ready to get up. I wanna start pursuing God because I'm on fire for God. I wanna get into his word. I wanna pray. I wanna, worship sounds great and I'm on fire for God.

Everything's going great and then the kids get up. Last night was tough. My three-year-old at three in the morning, dad, mom, I'm hungry. I said, I'm not feeding you, I'll open the door but I'm not feeding you.

And four o 'clock, same thing and I don't know what happened, I left, I came here. But there are things trying to extinguish that fire. You've got the fire. Oh, that would be a whole new sermon, things that extinguish the fire.

Pride, Division, and Sin That Extinguish Revival

Pride and of course belittling and disunity and besetting sin, gossip, complaining, critical heart. God will not revive a divided church. If there's a lot of division going on and backstabbing and name calling and gossiping, I pray he does but often he doesn't because the spirit of unity ushers in a mighty move of God's spirit.

So the fire of his presence can become a reality in your life. You might say, how? I just said it earlier, when Paul said, I beseech you. That word there is beg. Can you imagine the apostle Paul begging?

I beg you, I beg you church, present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy unto God. What is your reasonable service? And be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

All of that goes together. I wanna tell you a quick story. Many of you have heard me tell it many years ago. This is from Oswald Chambers. Do all of you know who that is? Have you ever read a devotional called My Utmost for His Highest?

Did you know he was a solid Christian and very dead inside? He said, before I received a mighty downpour of God's fire, God used me during those years but I had no real communion with him. The Bible was dull except for studying, of course.

I was uninterested in the book itself and I believe he was teaching at a seminary if that doesn't alarm you a little bit. But a few years later he wrote this. If the four previous years had been hell on earth, these five years have truly been heaven on earth.

Glory be to God, the last aching abyss of the human heart is filled to overflowing with the love of God. The fire of God came down and ignited his heart. And so here's the key in John 7. In John 7 we get an incredible glimpse, incredible glimpse into the solution to our problems and the cure for our chaos.

Thirsting for Christ and Receiving Living Water

And you've heard me talk about this many times so it's no secret here. When Jesus cried out, if anyone, what? Thirst, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Isn't that interesting? If anyone thirsts, well physically we know when we're thirsty and when we're not. But spiritually it isn't necessarily, you know man I'm really thirsty, I need some water. It's realizing that you don't have the water you need.

Lord I'm thirsty for that. I don't have it but I need it, would you help me get it? Lord I'm thirsty and as a deer pants for the brook, oh my soul pants for thee. I can't wait to preach on that in Psalms.

As a deer it's looking, if I don't find that water brook I'm not gonna make it. And the deer is looking, he gets to that water brook, everything, nothing else matters. A water brook is a nice little stream out here.

And he just, that cold fresh water, oh as a deer does that, Lord would you let my soul long after you? I don't feel it right now. I'm dead, I'm barren, but God I don't wanna leave here until I lay hold of God.

And when you lay hold of God folks, never, never let go. If anyone thirsts, he's really asking if you have a desire and you're spiritually dead, let him come to me Jesus said and drink, he who believes in me as the scripture has said.

You gotta have the right God, the only God. You can't just believe in, well I think God's everywhere and I'm gonna embrace this new age movement and God is love and, oh you won't experience, you might have a feeling, but you won't experience the rivers of living water.

This living water that comes in and gushes into your heart, into your soul, it changes everything. Everything is changed. Can you imagine dead to the things of God, now alive to the things of God? Can you imagine how that would change things?

Removing the Dam Through Hunger and Thirst for God

Do you know just 15 minutes from here there was something called the St. Francis Dam? We might have a picture of it. I don't know if I sent it to them in time. St. Francis Dam. There's a road named after the area.

San Fransquito, one of the worst accidents in American history, 100 years ago that dam broke. That water made it to Ventura. 450 to 600 people, a lot of immigrants weren't recorded. That water consumed and took out everything in its path.

10 ton boulders, everything was devoured when that dam broke. What a picture. Those who hunger and thirst for God to break the dam in their own heart. God break that dam and let the water flow into my heart, the water of the Holy Spirit.

And I don't wanna get too off on this because I wanna be gentle. It's hard sometimes because you just wanna say what you wanna say, right? But as I get older, I've noticed the more you're in the Word, the older you are, you're not as open to revival.

Why is it hitting a college of 21 year olds or 22 year olds? Don't know anything better but then to worship. But then a lot of, sometimes the older crowd, they've got Bible knowledge, but their heart's not aflame.

If they're not careful, they'll put out the flame in the younger generation. And we see that often. Richard Andrew, who will be here Wednesday. I would encourage everyone to be here Wednesday no matter what is on your schedule.

Rearrange it, be here Wednesday at six. He wrote some songs recently based on sermons he's heard here. He said, there is a kingdom coming down. There is a remnant that won't bow down. They wait for revival to come.

We will linger, we will wait, we will soar on wings like eagles. We will renew our strength. To those who hunger and all who thirst, you will be filled if you seek His kingdom first. There is a seeking, there is a pursuing.

The day the fire fell, it can fall in your own life as well. If we truly want to hear from God, though, we need to approach this topic from a position of faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please God.

Faith in God's Promise During the Drought

He truly rewards those who diligently pursue Him. Something I was gonna share at a later date, but it kind of popped into my heart now, is one thing while I was off that God really, I mean, I hope it's Him, right?

Sometimes you don't know if it's me or yourself or just a good idea but not a God idea. Let me tell you about all my good ideas that were not God ideas, okay? So I've learned not to trust Shane Eidelman.

But without, you know, God, the Spirit of God, of course. But just realizing, because I think many of us, this being a truth church, we love the truth, we preach the truth, a seeking church, a fasting church.

At some point, God says, okay, the soil's ready, now just have faith. And I was convicted a little bit of, okay, Shane, you settle down, you've done enough. We've heard, I've seen your six fastest fasts.

We've seen how you pursue, now have faith. Because I did forget about that. I mean, of course, we know about faith, but I forgot how important faith is, even in regard to revival. Because then it's like, I'm doing all this, I'm doing all this, but see, then that's not right because it's a sovereign act of God.

You plow the soil, but then you have faith that God's gonna deliver. Because then I'm trusting in my work, I did this, come on, instead of having faith that God will honor his word. And God knows exactly what we need.

I mean, I watch, I'm like, 24 hours a day, I would lose my mind. We had church for two weeks straight every night. I don't know if you remember that, but we had laundry piled up, dirty dishes, I was like, whoa, this is a lot.

We gotta get, man, Lord. And so I can see, but God knows exactly, give us a measure of revival in our bondage. But I realized, without faith, it's impossible to please God. Diligent faith means unwavering belief, even when we don't feel like it or see the results.

But did you know there is an immediate result with faith? You can, there's an internal witness. As soon as I exercise faith, I'm built up spiritually. So although I might not see it, although I might not hear it, although it might look like all hell is breaking loose, correct?

Doesn't it? You say, Lord, we're in California, in Los Angeles County, where in the world are you? The Grammys was one hour away. I don't want any of that dust flying this way. Lord, look what's going on.

It looks like we're not gaining, we're losing. Where are the churches? Where's the voices crying out? And I heard God basically say the same thing as Elijah. I've got 7 ,000 who have not bowed their knee to Baal or kissed his image.

Don't give up. I don't need a majority, I just need a minority. I just need a remnant on their face before me. I just need a remnant calling out to God. Oh, I have 7 ,000 who have not bowed their knee to Baal.

I will raise up who I will raise up. I might even use the most unlikely person or the most unlikely location so that no flesh will glory in his presence. Faith, faith, faith, faith, faith. Do not let what you see make you forget what God said.

Anybody need to hear that for their kids today? Do not let what you see make you forget what God said. Then Elijah said to Ahab, Elijah, after the, I mean, this one took a while to go verse by verse, but bottom line, the fire fell.

Obviously, the true God spoke, and the prophets of Baal, it was not a good ending for them. They were executed. It's interesting, Elijah prepared the sacrifice, the fire fell, he called the people to no longer waver between two opinions, and then he told Ahab, go up and eat and drink, for there is a sound of an abundance of rain.

Wait, it hasn't rained for, what, three and a half years? By the way, what is a sound of a, what are you talking about? A cloud. There's a sound of an abundance of rain. Was that faith? There's not a cloud in the sky.

He prepared the sacrifice, the fire came, now I'm exercising faith. Now it's time for the rain. Now my faith is engaged. And so Elisha went up to the top of Mount Carmel, then he bowed down to the ground, he put his face between his knees, and he said to his servant, okay, go look now, go look towards the sea, and tell me all the clouds that are coming in.

Nothing. So he went and he looked and he said, there is nothing, nothing. Wait a minute. I told the king it's gonna rain, I have faith it's gonna rain, go, what do you mean there's nothing? You ever hear that?

Persevering Until the Cloud Appears

Does the devil ever taunt you or just me? See it was pointless, it was fruitless, it will come to nothing, there's nothing happening right now, but I see it, I hear the abundance of rain, I hear the prodigal son's coming home, I see the marriages being restored, I see revival hitting our landscape, I see revival changing Sacramento and Washington, you can call me a holy roller, you can call me extreme, but just don't call me lukewarm and someone who doesn't passionately pursue Christ.

There is nothing, there is nothing. Some of you, you know what? Some of you are Eeyores. I even wrote it down at four this morning and look, Google, the spell checked it. I'm looking over this and I don't know why Eeyore, you know who he is?

Oh, Winnie the Pooh, ah. Man, is that not true? Gloomy, depressed, well, I mean nothing. No, he was there to mock Winnie the Pooh. I don't know how this turned into my sermon. I've never put Winnie the Pooh in my sermon.

But think about it, that's what's happening. Oh, I don't know, I don't know if that's God. We're going to hell in a handbasket. Haven't you read Revelation? Everything, look what Biden's doing. Look at the gas prices, look at Eeyore.

I wanna give you a guess, a real physical, if I had enough time, I would've ordered like 400 of those and passed them out today. Because folks, that's what's happening. Gloomy, pessimistic, guess what, it happens to me too.

It happens to me. So he went up and he looked, he said, there's nothing. And seven times he said, go again, go again, go again, go again, seven times. There's something about seven. It's a number of completions, it's a number of perfection.

Go around the city, Joshua, seven times. And he said, wait a minute, on the seven, wait a minute, there's a cloud about that big. And you know what, I thought, that's all I need. That's all I need, God, I don't need to see the abundance.

I just need to see that hand, because I can hear the sound of revival. I hear the chains falling. I see the demonic opposition being broken. I hear marriages being restored and prodigal sons coming home.