Last week we read the story of Peter preaching at the home of Cornelius and while he was speaking it says: Acts 10 44 While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on everyone who heard the word. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.

What struck me was the use of the word fell - the Holy Spirit fell on everyone who heard the word.

I think that’s important for a couple of reasons:

• It tells us that Holy Spirit initiates communication and reaction – they didn’t try to jump up and grab it as some sort of power or charm (you can’t do that), and they weren’t trying to wok up some sort of emotional frenzy – Peter was still droning on! You should probably start praying that Holy Spirit comes before I’m finished today!
• Fell: fall on, rush or press upon, come suddenly upon, to cut down. In other words, there was no disputing that Holy Spirit was present. They could physically feel the presence of the Spirit.

As I read this scripture my mind went to other places in the bible where the power of God fell:

1 Ch 21:26 He called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.

2 Ch 7:1When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. 3 When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshipped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, ‘He is good; his love endures for ever.’

These were also undeniable indisputable, irrefutable visible tangible manifestations of the power of God.

Then the one that really stands out was when Elijah squared off with Ahab and the false prophets of Baal upon Mt Carmel – 1 Kings 18:16-40

The false prophets and the true prophet the Man of God Elijah came to an agreement.

They would both build an altar and offer a sacrifice but put no fire under it, and they would call on their respective gods, and the God that answered by fire he would be recognized as the one true God.

The story goes that the false prophets built their altar and laid the sacrifice on the altar and called upon Baal from morning till noon with no answer.

Elijah began to mock them, then they became violent and went into a frenzy and began to jump on the altar and cut themselves with knives and lances until the blood gushed out upon them.

They continued from noon till the evening sacrifice

Then Elijah took over

He repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down, he put the wood in order and put the sacrifice on the wood then he had them pour 12 barrels of water on the sacrifice (then he prayed, a short prayer)

And the bible says: Then the fire of the Lord “fell” and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench.

And when the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they worshipped God.

The fact is: What happened upon that mountain was so powerful and so undeniable that it turned a nation back to God.

They experienced a visible tangible manifestation of the power of God.

They had a God Encounter

Then my mind goes to Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

The fire of God Fell on David’s altar and burnt offerings

The Fire of God fell on Solomon’s offering and sacrifices

Holy Ghost Fire of God fell on the offering on Mt Carmel

Holy Ghost Fire fell on the day of Pentecost

Holy Ghost Fire fell on the Gentiles in the home of Cornelius.

In every case old and New Testament: It was a visible tangible, undeniable manifestation of the Power of God.

What really concerns me today is: we are raising generations of Christians who have never had a God encounter.

They have never experienced a tangible undeniable manifestation of the power of God.

They know God in theory

They know God religiously

They know God mentally, intellectually

They know about God

But we have never had an Mt Carmel, Day of Pentecost, House of Cornelius Encounter with the Fire of God falling on us.

They have never had a burning bush experience

They have never experienced the power of the Holy Ghost seizing them and taking possession of them, 

They have never experienced the supernatural fire of God burning in their hands and their feet.

To so many people in churches all over Scotland today the fire of God is just a concept, it’s just an idea.

But I am here today to tell you; the fire of God is not just a concept or an idea or theory or philosophy to be studied.

It’s not the figment of an overactive imagination

It’s not just religious ramblings of the mentally unstable

The fire of God is the Mighty Holy Ghost, he is the third person of the Godhead, he is God and he is the might and the power of God.

He is:

The same fire that fell on Mt Carmel

The same fire that fell on the day of Pentecost

The same fire that fell in Cornelius House.

The Fire of God is real

The Fire of God is Tangible

The Fire of God is Alive

The Fire of God is Contagious

The Fire of God is the Power of God.

The Power of God is the only power that can heal (doctors can do a lot, but doctors can’t do what Holy Spirit does).

Doctors can administer radiation and chemo but even then the body suffers from their harmful side effects.

But the fire of God can burn cancer out of your body and never leave a trace, or a scar and no harmful side effects.

The fire of God can burn drugs out of your system and take the desire all at the same time

The fire of God can deliver from alcohol, pornography, lust and greed.

The fire of God will burn up jealousy, pride, criticism, bitterness, and unforgiveness.

The fire of God will heal your broken heart, it will restore joy and peace.

The fire of God will heal your marriage

The fire of God will heal your mind.

My prayer is: God do it again

Let the fire fall

That same fire that fell on the day of Pentecost and that same fire that fell on the Gentiles in Cornelius house

Do it again. You’ve done it in Scotland before in Cambuslang, Orkney, Keith, Blairgowrie, Edinburgh, Wick, Avoch, Cromarty, Dingwall, Kilsyth and Lewis.

1905 Charlotte Chapel, Edinburgh

The pastor, Joseph Kemp went to Wales and “brought back revival with him.” 
“I spent two weeks watching, experiencing, drinking in, having my own heart searched, comparing my methods with those of the Holy Ghost: and then I returned to my people in Edinburgh to tell what I had seen.”
They began nightly meetings with conversions at every meeting. They are described as meetings of “emotion and commotion”

“There was nothing humanly speaking to account for what happened. Quite suddenly, upon one and another came an overwhelming sense of the reality and awfulness of His presence and of eternal things. Life, death and eternity seemed laid bare. Prayer and weeping began and gained in intensity every moment. Each seemed to sing and to pray oblivious of one another. Then the prayer broke out again, waves and waves of prayer; and the midnight hour was reached. The hours passed like minutes. It is useless being a spectator looking on, or praying at it, in order to catch its spirit and breath. It is necessary to be in it, praying in it, part of it, caught by the same power, swept by the same wind.” 

These waves of revival were preceded by prayer. Passionately expressed desire for the salvation of men was the dominant feature.
There would often be simultaneous praying. The prayer meetings were as though “held by invisible hands” and were “usually of a tumultuous sort.” 

Let the fire fall

Let it fall on us

Come suddenly

Come forcibly

Come powerfully

Rush in on us

Seize us

Take possession of us

We’re not satisfied just to read about it and sing about it (we want to experience it for ourselves).

This power is not a theory or a concept: This power is the same power that caused the sun and moon to stand still, it’s the same power that divided the red sea, caused water to flow out of a rock like a river.

It’s the same power that made the three Hebrew children fireproof

That gave Daniels lions lockjaw

That shook Paul and Silas’s prison off its foundations

This is the same power that was upon Jesus life: That opened blind eyes, unstopped deaf ears, made the lame to walk and the dumb to talk.

This is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead

It is this same Fire this same Anointing, this same Power that God wants to send on our lives right now.

He fell on all those that heard the word

Father would you cause your Spirit to fall on every person that is hearing this word

The word made a way for the fire.

God wants to fall on your life with a tangible, undeniable, irrefutable, indisputable manifestation of the fire and power of the Holy Spirit.

Mt 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.

Mt 7:7 ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Jer 33:3 Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you do not know.

Hunger is a magnet 

Hunger will draw the anointing

Hunger will open the door for the manifestation of the Power of God

Am I talking to anybody who is hungry for the presence and the power of God?

Am I talking to anyone who wants the reality of the tangible manifestation of the anointing and the power of God?

Am I talking to anybody who is not satisfied with religion and tradition?

Not satisfied with concepts and theories and philosophies?

Am I talking to anyone who wants the power of Pentecost in your life?

My prayer is that there are some hungry and thirsty people listening to me right now, who refuse to be satisfied or pacified with anything less than a personal encounter with the true fire of God.

Just as the fire of God fell on Mt Carmel and consumed everything, the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dirt and the water in the trench, so also can the consuming fire of God fall on our lives, to help clear out the dross and make us fit for glory.

Wherever there is an altar

Wherever there is a sacrifice

Wherever there is prevailing prayer

Wherever there are hungry hearts

Wherever there is a desperation for him

The God who answers by fire is there.  God is here right now

He is here to save you

To heal you

To deliver you

To restore your marriage

To heal your broken heart

He is here to revive you

Resurrect you

Put his fire back in you

He is here to give you a fresh anointing

To set your heart and your life on fire

If that’s your desire hold out your hands to show God that you’re ready to receive whatever he has for you and ask him to come.

Holy Spirit of God: Fall on us tonight

Fall on our hearts, our lives, fall on our marriages, fall on our ministries, fall on our visions and dreams, fall on our attitudes, fall on our families, our finances, fall on our minds, fall on our bodies.

Fire of God fall on us.

Consume us: Burn up dead religion, burn up carnality, burn up dead traditions, burn up everything that is not of you and set us on fire.

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