Damon Thompson- Playing With Fire

And you interrupt the message, cuz you, I just, I just, I just don't like that. It's, uh, it's not a, it's not appropriate to me. Of course, if an emergency comes up, you can't, that can't be helped. But if, you know, you got to be out here by 9:15, 9, 9:20 and he may not be finished then, you just need to probably go to the back now. Um, and that's okay. You, we're not going to think, you know, you're, um, unspiritual. Okay? I just rather you'd slip back now, that way you can feel the freedom when you need to go. You just go now. If you're a student and you don't have responsibilities, you just need to stay till he's finished, or you probably won't go to heaven. Damon, come up here and do [Applause] something.

Well, while you're standing up, let's just lift our hands. Father, we thank you for setting a fire in our soul tonight. It's evident that you want more of us, and we want more of you. Let that create the perfect storm tonight. Perfect storm of an encounter like we've never had an encounter. Take possession of souls tonight. You are a consuming fire. You are a consuming fire. We expect you to be that in this place tonight. In Jesus name, everybody say yes. Yes. You can be seated. Go to Matthew 17. Let me talk, let me just talk to you a little bit about what I'm sensing tonight, and then I'm going to kind of use this text as a little bit of a backdrop for this thing concerning fire.

This is Gabe. When as the team begin to lead, this is, this just put some language to where I've been really for the last few weeks. And, uh, I, I began to serve the Lord 25 years ago this, this year. December will be 26 years ago. And in that journey, first of all, there's been an incredible amount of detours, speed bumps, failures. Can anybody testify to that? Just that. How many of you in here tonight are not CFNI students? Raise your hand. Wow. Stand up if you're not a CFNI student. Let me just see this numerically. That's awesome. Lot up in the top too. Incredible, incredible. Thank you for being here. Come on, students, make them welcome for being here. Aren't you glad they're here? Come on, aren't you glad they're here? We're going to, we're going to need a new building real, real, real, real fast.

And in that journey, there have been several seasons where it was evident to me that the Lord was trying to draw me away to do something in my heart. And some of those I've resisted, and some of those I've engaged in. And I'm engaging in one right now. And the song when they begin to sing tonight, "Set a fire down in my soul that I can't contain, that I can't control. I want more of you." And I begin to just pray, God, I'm tired of the politically correct fire. I'm tired of the socially acceptable fire. I'm tired of the American church fire. I'm tired of the Sunday morning, Wednesday night fire. God, I want a fire that can't be contained and a fire that can't be controlled. I want the consuming fire of God to come move me out of the apathy and the complacency and the normality that is always trying to draw me away from the real thing.

I sense today as I was coming onto the campus that as, as excited as I've been, as excited as I've been about, uh, Dutch and CC being here and the team being here and me being able to be involved in here and Pino and Jeremy and all of the different people God are bringing into this. As excited as I've been, I've dreamed entirely too small. And as I got on the campus today, all I can tell you is the prophetic side of me found another gear [Music] today. And I begin to wonder if everything God has been saving and holding and waiting to release in the nation is not going to begin to be released out of this place. And I begin to call upon God today to just expand all of the ideas I have in my heart about how incredible this could be. That this could be a place that not just on Tuesday nights and during the day for students, but several nights of the week, this could become a place where people came from all over the world to a major international hub like Dallas to experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

I began to pray and consider the early days of moves of God like Brownsville. I began to pray about the, the friendship that I have with Steve Hill today. I walked in, his two daughters were here and they gave me a Bible and he wrote me a note that's almost exactly what I'm talking about right now. That God was going to visit America again with a great revival. And then God was going to visit America with the greatest of awakenings. And I think we're in that moment right now, if we can pay attention to it. That maybe one of the reasons why God is so processing me and he's so processing you is because he's looking for some to pioneer this. Maybe why there's such an extraordinary pressure on you and I to go through the purging, to go through the fire, to see the dross removed. One of the reasons why God is separating wheat from chaff. One of the reasons why God is so desperately going after the leaven of the culture that has prospered in our hearts is because this is not just about us and our walk with God and our eventual entrance into heaven. Maybe this is about the nations of the world, world having a place where they know that they can come encounter the real living God.

Some of the greatest mistakes I've made in my personal journey is when I fail to ascertain that often times the reason God was putting pressure on me in a particular area had little to or nothing to do with me. Had everything to do with the assignment. If you feel like you're in this place tonight and the spotlight of heaven is on you everywhere you turn and you can't get away from your annoyance with your own sin and your own compromise and you can't get away from the idea that you're too undisciplined to give God what he really deserves and desires. Maybe that's a good thing. And maybe if we can see it right, the reason heaven won't leave us alone is because there's more in us. Let me say this prophetically tonight. Please hear this out of the heart. I'm giving you. Maybe the reason heaven won't leave us alone is because there's more in us. Is because we diminished the dream. We negotiated God's vision for our life somewhere. We let the enemy come in and whisper to us that we were just going to have to settle for normal.

And I believe God is beginning to visit us again with the idea that yes, the dead can be raised. And yes, the sick can be healed. And yes, not just this campus could burn with the flames of revival, but the secular campuses of America could burn with the flames of revival. That the international institutions of higher education could burn with the flames of awakening. Maybe we're modeling something here, Dutch. Maybe we're pioneering something here. Maybe the reason why God won't turn the heat off is because we're closer than we even know we are. Maybe the reasons demons are manifesting. Maybe the reason religion is crying out, "Stop it, stop it, stop it!" is because somewhere, even hell knows if we cross this next threshold, we're going to see something historic happen in our day. Are you ready for a history-making move of God?

I don't know if they felt like they were living in what they were living in in Acts. And I don't know if they, if they felt like they were living in what they were living in in the Awakenings. And I don't know how it feels to live in what we're living in right now. But I have a stirring in my soul tonight. And he's saying, "I want more of you." And I'm saying, "I want more of you." And he's saying, "I want more of you." And I'm saying, "I want more of you." And he's saying, "I want more of you." And I'm saying, "I want more of you." And he's saying, "I want more of you." Is anybody else finding themselves in that place right now? That maybe you're being surprised about why God even brought you here? Something stirring in you. I have to believe that these people that are from local churches represented all over this area, that probably go to church on Sunday, and some of them probably pastor churches on Sunday, that you probably got service tomorrow night, and you're in here tonight. There's something different about you. You've never really fit in. Maybe that's why God's building a place where people can come experience and encounter the fire and presence of God.

And I believe that the Holy Spirit has given me a word tonight to identify what may be our greatest adversary to getting to the thing that we really want. Go with me to Matthew 17. I guess I told you that already. Matthew 17 begins with the story of Jesus' transfiguration on the mount. But I want to jump down to verse 14. And, and I want to read about a young man who is healed by Jesus. Verse 14. Or maybe more accurately, is delivered by Jesus. Gabe mentioned tonight, freedom from addictions. When Dutch got up and prayed, he mentioned that the demonic harassment was going to end. So, so let's dive into this. Matthew 17:14 says, "And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to him, kneeling down to him, and saying, 'Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic.'" If you're reading from the King James, your Bible probably says lunatic. "And he suffers severely, for often he falls into the fire." Say, "fire." "And often into the water." Say, "water." Say, "fire." Say, "water." Say, "fire." Fire. Thank you. Good. See, y'all are good. "So I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him." Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? And how long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to me." And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the child was cured from that hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief. For I assuredly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. And nothing will be impossible for you." Famously, verse 21, "However, this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting."

So we find a multitude of people gathered around Jesus in the context of this story. And one man out of the multitude that's gathered around chooses to put himself in position to make a withdrawal on what is available. I believe this becomes a picture of the religious culture that people, our churches are full of people who are failing to make a withdrawal. You're in the ideal position to have an encounter. You're in the ideal position to birth a revolution. You're in an ideal position to be a part of something historic. But so many people choose to sit and watch. And this bystander mentality has invaded the culture of the church. Well, if God comes and shakes me and moves me and changes me, then I'll respond. But I'm not going to really be active. But you do not find anybody receiving anything significant from God that did not at some point inconvenience themselves by pursuit. There's a multitude of people here, and one man makes a withdrawal. There's a multitude of people following Jesus when a woman with an issue of blood comes and touches the hem of His garment. There's a multitude of people listening to Jesus teach in John 2 when four men carry a paralytic onto a roof and rip a hole into the roof to lower the man down. There's so many people pressing into Jesus that he gets on a boat to preach and pushes himself back from the bank to use the water as a natural barrier to keep the people at bay. People understood how to seize an opportunity. And we're living in a culture where you and I are taught, if God wants to do something in his sovereignty and in his providence, then he'll just do it. But he gives us a far greater life than the life lived in hope that God might intervene. He says, "If you draw nigh to me, I'll draw nigh to you." And he puts the ball of initiation over in the court of man. We wonder, did, did our salvation begin with us pursuing God, or God pursuing us? We would have had no idea how to pursue God had God not first pursued us. But it takes participation in the heart of man for us to reach the apex of that that we've been called to see in our day.

And I want to raise up fighters here. I want to be a part, somehow, I want to partner with God to see something passion and awaken on the inside of the hearts and lives of every person in this room until you say, "You know what? Not having a historic move of God in my day is not okay with me. Abortion staying legal in my day is not okay with me. I want to see something turn, and I want it to turn on my watch." Come on, do you hear me tonight? If you get to go play with your little girlfriend and play with your little boyfriend and eat your little hamburgers and experience your little two years in college, are you going to be okay? That's not okay. Okay with me. It's not okay with me to think that you would waste the next two years of your life trying to see how many friends you could get, how much time you could spend on Facebook, and how much time you could spend on your iPhone, and how much time you could spend texting, and how much time you could spend downloading porn, and how much time you can spend wasting your life with a remote control in your hand. And here you are, living in a day where the prophetic word of the Lord is trumpeting out of the mouths of apostles and prophets saying, "God has put a bullseye on this institute and this city to see revival come to the nations." Don't sit back. Get [Applause] aggressive. From the days of John until now, the kingdom of God has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. Something's got to be stirring you. You got to quit being cute. Got to quit worrying about how spiky your hair is and how tight your blue jeans are, how cool your shirt looks. And you need to spend more time getting your heart ready before you come in here than you do getting your hair ready before you come in here. This is not a fashion show. This is not a popularity contest. This is the Great Awakening. And God saying, "Get in the game, man. I'm here to provoke you. I'm anointed by God to push your buttons because everybody else is going to leave you alone. Everybody else is going to say, 'You're fine, and you're good, and Jesus loves you, and you're going to heaven.'" I don't think the point of your existence on earth is to hope you end up in heaven. If, if the ultimate for you is you end up in heaven, the best thing that can happen to you is you die right now. I mean, some of you are living like it's a coin toss anyway, and you might or might not make it in. Well, when you're feeling real good one day, you just pray, "God, take me home." No, man, no. Not until nations of the earth experience what the earth has been groaning and travailing for, the manifestation of the true living sons of God rising up in the earth, saying, "We give up on compromise. We give up on apathy. We give up on complacency. We're not going to spend another day in bed, dry religious exercise. We want the fire of the Holy Ghost." Does anybody want the fire? Come on. I'm not convinced you really want the fire. Does anybody want the fire? Come on. Fire that affects your mom and your dad and your brothers and your sisters and your cities and your churches and the nation. Does anybody want fire? [Applause]

This boy had an issue in this story. I feel this tonight, man. This boy had an issue. My Bible says he was epileptic. Not true. Bad translation. King James Bible says he was lunatic. Bad translation. The literal word is moonstruck. And the word moonstruck could have been translated, "one whose distemper lies mostly in their mind." The boy did not have epilepsy. Everybody that has epilepsy would be demon-possessed then. And epilepsy is a medical condition that you can have. You can have it and be saved. You can have it and be Spirit-filled. Come on. That's good theology. It ain't good news, but it's good theology. This boy had a distemper in his mind that when he walked by water or fire, something in his mind told him to go get in it. We learn later on in the story that the boy didn't even need healing. He needed deliverance. For Jesus didn't pray for the boy to be healed. Jesus spoke to the demon that was harassing the boy and told it to stop. That, that, that this was the strategy of the enemy then, and this is the strategy of the enemy now: to force you through your mind into self-destructive behavior. Everything sensible about you says, "Don't touch the fire." We got on that at about 18 months at my house when my oldest son, at the time, grabbed Mommy's flat iron. And after we calmed Mom down, took her through the process of reliving, she wasn't the worst parent that ever lived. Best thing that happened to that is I let him roll off the bed one day. And so we were even. He's functional. Somehow, the child is functional. We don't know, except his mercies are new every morning. They endure forever. He grabs the flat iron, and we know hot, and he walks toward the fireplace. And we go, "Hot!" And we immediately teach him, "Don't tell, touch hot things yet." We have a boy that most scholars agree was between the ages of 12 and 16, that when he walked by a fire, something in his mind told him he should go get in that. When he walked by water, something told him he should go get in that. And Paul equates fire. I like, I like what Paul says. He says, "It's better to marry than it is to burn." So he equates fire to sexual immorality. So maybe we could say in this story, it's a real good symbolic picture of something in you telling you to go participate in something you know has the potential to destroy you, but you don't know how to say no to it because you know how to listen, listen to the whisper in your mind instead of the cry in your [Applause] belly. That there's always this wrestling match going on in you. That the fight of your life is being fought between your ears, as your mind is continually trying to tell you, "It's okay, and you're strong enough, and you have the ability to recover, and you can look at it on the computer. It's not like you're some kind of freak, and you hadn't done it in three months, so if you go back." Boy, you get quiet when I start talking about the best way for you to identify. I'm not talking about you. It's the Hallelujah and this Amen and this person in here. Whenever I start talking about talking about pornography, and I can see sweat manifest itself on the brows of 22-year-old men all over this room. It's okay. They do the same thing in the pastor's conferences. Did I say that out loud? Sometimes. See how I do? I fight it too. It comes in the mind, and I don't shut it down. Out it comes out the mouth. And I've been getting emails for months. Good thing I don't read them. You can look at it. You're not some kind of freak. It's just a natural thing. Yeah, it's just a natural desire. It's a natural craving. Paul called it a fire. Something in you tells you that you can touch it and you'll still be okay. Something tells you that you can fool around and you'll still be okay. Something tells you you can listen to it and you just like the beat. Don't be religious. Don't be holy. I can wear it. It doesn't matter. Don't be legalistic. That's our big thing. Like, like, like all of the preachers in America have now determined, we're going to make sure not legalistic. Like, was that our major problem when we assessed the state of the American church? Did we look and go, "Hmm, I think people are too legalistic"? Because that was not my prescription. That we need to come with an anti-legalization. It's just fire, and I'm big enough, and I'm strong enough, and it's just Delilah's lap. I can handle it. No. I said, "I got out of it last time." So I'm going to put my head over there again. And I told her a little bit of information. And now this time, I'll take it a little bit further. Does, does this sound familiar? I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't lose my power last time, so I can go back there again, and I'll still have my power. And I can go back there again, and I'll still have my power. And I can go a little bit further this time than I went last time. And Samson's issue was he thought he was entitled to have something that he could only have through real communion and real revelation. And he thought he just had it because he had it. But I'm telling you, I've seen what Kabad looks like. I've seen what it looks like for somebody to have the hand of God upon them. And it didn't matter if you have a five-octave range. If he takes his hand off, he takes his hand off. It doesn't matter how big your church is, how administrated your church is, and how beautiful your building is, and how many TV programs you're on. If God takes his hand off, God takes his hand off. And maybe God loves us too much to let us be comfortable playing with fire. And if you're playing with fire, you can get mad at me right now or say thank you. Because if you keep messing around, I'll be fine. But will you? And what about the millions of people that are waiting on you to rise up and give them the message of the gospel? And you won't ever have the necessary confidence or anointing because your mind told you, "You can handle it. You can handle it. It's normal. It's natural. It's not a big deal." It's fire. So the boy would fall into fire. And you're thinking, "Kid, why don't you just stop? Just stop it." Do you ever think this about, like, people who smoke? "Quit." But I don't smoke, so it's easy for me to say, "Quit." Like, like I had a friend, successful ministry, doing great things for God, lost everything he had by gambling. I said, "Stop." But I don't have a problem with gambling, so it's easy for me to look into somebody else's issue and say, "Why don't you just stop?" I was at a hospital visiting a friend recently, and I went by an old lady. And the old lady had an IV in her arm, and she's pushing an oxygen tank around. And they're wheeling her out on the porch so she can smoke a cigarette. You got oxygen on your nose. Is what happens to you when you don't resist, and you don't resist, and you don't resist, you finally get to the place where you said, "I've already lost it anyway, so I might as well just keep doing it." The boy keeps falling into fire. But the next, the next thing he falls into is even more challenging to understand because he falls into water. Obviously, don't fall into fire. But water is normal. Water is neutral. Water is ordinary. So, so maybe if you've conquered your heart to fall into things, you know, that have the power to burn you, the next thing you'll have to fight is that you don't get under normal. Because water is perfectly fine if you stay on top of it. Normal is perfectly fine as long as you stay on top of it. But I'm telling you, there's a down-dragging weight of religion that is trying to drag you under the surface of normal. And you'll live your life missing the mark. And that is the essence of sin. The essence of sin is not you fell into fire. The essence of sin is you didn't hit the target because you let yourself believe it was okay to just be normal.

I get it all the time. I go preach in churches, and then somebody will send a letter, or somebody will stop me in the hall, and they'll say, "Well, brother, I know it's okay for you to pray all the time, and I know it's okay for you to really be into the things of God. But some of us just have to be normal and have a job. You preachers eat fried chicken and stay up till midnight and get to pray till noon the next day. Follow me around, fat boy. You couldn't keep up with me for a week. I work for a living." Let me tell you, Paul said, "Remain constantly in an attitude of prayer. Pray without ceasing unto God." And I have a hard time believing Paul wasn't busy since he was being shipwrecked, and since he was being stoned, and since he was been left for dead, and since he was spending the night in dungeons, and since he was writing letters from prison. And I'm going to make a tent over here next Thursday just for fun. I'm writing letters to churches. I'm rebuking people through letters. I'm encouraging people through letters. I'm receiving offerings and rebuking other people for not sending offerings and rebuking other people for not sending offerings. I'm giving the context for the theological institution that will become the dogmatic church. I am writing two-thirds of the New Testament. And I'm saying, "Remain constantly in an attitude of prayer." And your complacency, your academic responsibilities are not an excuse. Your social engagements are not an excuse. God is looking for people. God is looking for people that have a fire down in their soul that they can't contain and that they can't control. God wants to do something in you you couldn't turn off. God wants to do something in you you can't shut down when you lay down at night. God wants to do something in you that you can't turn off when you crank your car and go to the normal world. God's looking for something in you that is 10,000 times more significant than a Sunday morning church service. He's looking to become your obsession. He'll dominate you. He'll control you. He'll transform your passions. He'll take authority over everything about you and make you one undeniable burning man and woman. You'll put something in your eyes, then when you look at people, it shakes them to their core. He'll put something on you that when you get in the cab, the cab driver starts to cry and doesn't know why he's crying. He'll put something on you that the waitress, in the middle of writing down the order, will sit down at the booth and say, "Who are you?" I'm telling you, the game playing is not about you and what you feel like doing. The game playing is about us being positioned to see something that people have longed to see for a thousand years. Quit playing games. "I just want to be normal. I just want to be married one day, and I want to have children one day, and I want to have two and a half of them and a white picket fence and a yellow Labrador Retriever. And I want to retire at 63, or maybe 53 if I'm real successful. And I want to get a motor home, and I want to travel around, and I want to see all that there is to see." Because the culture is continually telling you, "Put just enough Jesus at the end of your life that you end up in heaven, but not so much Jesus on your life that you fall out of love with the earth." So I live in a culture where if I stand up for babies, I'm a freak. But if somebody sleeps in a tree to try to save an aisle, they're a hero. We're going to turn this thing around by the fire in our soul. Are you hearing me tonight?

He falls into the fire, and he falls into the water, because this is how your mind talks to you. Your mind doesn't say, "Go commit murder." Your mind says, "It's okay to just be normal." You know the problem with normal is it is the epitome of selfishness because it says, "I want to be happy, and I want to be comfortable, and to heck with you." And I don't care that there's a little four-year-old boy whose uncle puts cigarettes out on his forehead because I'm trying to retire. And I don't care that there's a little girl that is being molested sexually by her stepfather while we stand in our churches and look at our watches and wonder why we're not out. It's 11:45 already, and I'm hungry. That women are being sold into sexual slavery to satisfy the appetites that the church is not willing to confront in the hearts of our men. And we're wondering, "What kind of ministry can I get involved in that will allow me to play lots of golf? What kind of ministry can I get involved in that will afford me plenty of days off and afford me plenty of retirement and will afford me a great house and will afford me a great car?" And I'm looking and I'm going, "God, how we have been mused to sleep by the prince of this world." I hear him. I'm going to be honest. I'm going to be very frank with you. I hear Gabe up here leading worship. I'm laying, sitting in my chair, and his wife singing behind me, and I'm going, "God, what are they doing here? I could make some phone calls tonight and have them a job by in the morning that would at least triple their salary. At least, sir, triple their salary. Give them the ability to have all the off days they wanted. They wouldn't have to come in here day after day at 8:00 in the morning and try to get you excited about loving on Jesus." But maybe God, in his great foreknowledge and providence, didn't plant them here for where it is. He planted them here for where it's going. And I feel like we're on the brink of something historic. Dutch called me and asked me about this job. I said, "I'm going to apologize to you in advance, but I think you should take it." Because what I, as much as I love you, what I want to tell you to do is write a couple of books a year. Go build a cabin up in the mountains. Tell everybody to leave you the flip alone. Mind your own business. Go love on your wife. Enjoy your grandchildren. And here you are, stepping up to this assignment that could possibly turn something into the house of bread for the nations as it pertains to revival. And maybe they're not here because of where it is. Maybe they're here because of where it's going. Woo. It's water. It's just water. It's just water.

I believe if there are two chief demons after your generation, it's sexual immorality and cultural normality. And the Catholic Church really hurt us here when they created a functional double standard called monasticism. In essence, what they did with the monastic lifestyle, or someone becoming a monk, is they said, "Yes, there's a person that has an extreme devotion to God, and those are called monks. And then there's the rest of us." And they can convince the world that there are certain people that are called to an extreme Christianity, and then there are other people that are called to normal Christianity. Certain people that are called to pray all the time, they go in the ministry. Certain people that are called to love the Bible, they're called preachers. Certain people that are called to live in holiness, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, bishops, elders, and deacons. And the rest of us get to just be normal. So we've got churches that are flooded with songs that are written by worship leaders that don't know the Bible, and they're spreading practical heresy. We got preachers standing in pulpits who don't know the Bible, and because of that, they're telling the whole world that the whole purpose in your existence is you get to walk around, ignore hurting people, and be happy. They've propagated a cheap grace. They've propagated a grace that is without cost and without price. And the whole time God is saying, "I've got something so much better for you than you get to live however you want and end up in heaven. I'm going to let you live according to my word and bring heaven to the earth." Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

If he's been pushing you, if he's been messing with you, if he's been provoking you, there ought to be a great Thanksgiving rise up in you and say, "Thank God he wouldn't let me be normal. Thank God when my salary got where I wanted it, it didn't satisfy me. Thank God when I got on enough TV channels, it didn't satisfy me. Thank God when I had the staff I really wanted back at the office, it didn't satisfy me. When people are sending money in, and opportunities are coming in, and things are going gangbusters, I thank God that I didn't lay my head on my pillow those nights and say, 'I made it.' I thank God for the uneasiness. That the only source of my satisfaction is I have determined the source of my dissatisfaction." Let me say that again. The only source of my satisfaction is I believe I have determined the source of my dissatisfaction. And it's a holy God saying, "Boy, the dream's bigger than that." That's where I am, Papa. It's where I am, man. He's saying, "The dream's bigger than that. Don't dream for enough. Don't dream for ordinary. Don't dream for normal. Don't dream to graduate and get a job and build a family and think you'll be satisfied. You're not going to be satisfied until you can say, 'We became the generation that said, the works that you did and greater works we have done because you went to the Father.' And we believe this stuff. These signs shall follow them that believe in my name: they shall trample on serpents and scorpions." That's you, man. Something in you, if you'll shut religion up, something in you deep in you is craving to be a part of a generation that becomes the next living epistle. You become Acts 2. You become the Finneys and the Wesleys and the Whitefields and the Edwards and the Spurgeons and the Moodys, who look at this world and boldly say, "You could never satisfy me. I have found the real, true, living God, and I will live as a man on fire. I'll live as a woman on fire. I'm going to go lock myself in that little room, and I'm going to walk that floor until they have to replace the carpet. When I graduate, I'm going to go lay in that room, and people are going to say, 'Why? Why is it discolored over here?' And you can say, 'That's tears and snot.' The people below you are going to have to complain because they hear a pounding on the floor at 3:00 in the morning because you didn't come here looking for a girlfriend. You came here believing for a revolution." Come on. I feel the fire of God calling us higher tonight.

Three gospel writers tell the story of this particular young man being delivered. And although chronological order is something that's real challenging in biblical scholarship, all three gospel writers put this story right after the Mount of Transfiguration. Every one of them puts a story right behind the Mount of Transfiguration. Who was at the Mount of Transfiguration? Come on, you Bible scholars. Jesus. Good. Moses. Elijah. Peter, James, and John. I knew Stockdale would have the answer down here. That boy was given the Bible before he was given a bottle at his house. I know his people. Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James, and John. I like to call this the, the privilege of the three, the supremacy of the one, and the witness of the two, Moses and Elijah. And immediately after Jesus is transfigured, do you know who he goes and finds? He goes and finds a generation falling into water and fire. I don't think it's an accident that the next miracle Jesus does after he comes into this transfigured state is to go find a generation that's falling in the water and falling into the fire. To pay attention to the cry of that boy's father. I also don't think it's an accident that he was there with Moses and Elijah because if I had a water problem, I would call Moses, who knew how to stick a rod out over a sea, water rise up three stories high like a mountain, and an entire army be drowned because the Red Sea collapsed on them. This is a fascinating story. The Israelites, in essence, are being used for bait. They got about three million people walking, no soldiers, no chariots. They're walking. It takes me an extra 30 minutes if I take my two kids with me on a trip to walk through the airport. And there's four of us, and two of them. No, I'll whip them right now in front of God and everybody, and we still hurry, hurry, hurry. You got three million people. And then the Bible goes on to say that Pharaoh gets his best chariots, his choice chariots, his men of war, and he's chasing. Have you ever felt like you're walking and your enemy's riding? I'm just moving, and he's gaining ground. Lord, can you hear him? You know, God, have you gone deaf for a moment? Are you over there helping somebody somewhere else? God, oh God, oh God, they're getting closer. God doesn't seem to be doing a thing because he's using you as bait. Come on, suck them on in. Get a little bit closer. Get closer. You get to me, the closer you are to destruction. So keep talking about me, keep lying about me, keep making accusations against me. Blessed are ye when men revile you and persecute you and speak all manner of evil against you falsely for my name's sake. Because just when the devil thinks he's got you nailed, he is really setting up himself for his own demise. Israel sucked him in, and the water closed up on the Israelites. And Miriam got her tambourine out on the other side and said, "The horse and the rider has been thrown into the sea." Some of you feel like you're just being harassed trying to do right. I'm trying to pray. I'm going to chapel. I respond to every altar call. I respond to some altar calls didn't have nothing to do with me. I walk around continually in a state of repentance. I repent, repent, repent, repent, repent. If you took "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have, and I never will again" out of my prayer life, I would have nothing to pray. And the enemy looks like he's getting closer, and you feel like you're being defeated, and you feel like you're gaining no ground. Looks like this thing's going nowhere, and you don't understand. The whole time God has a strategy, and the strategy is, if you won't stop, and if you won't turn around, and if you won't go back to bondage, he's about to drown some things that are chasing you. And I prophesy to you tonight, if you won't turn back, if you won't get frustrated, and if you won't quit, God can drown some things that have been chasing you.

If I had a water problem, I would want to get Moses on the scene. The next problem the little boy had was a fire problem. And if I had a fire problem, I'd get Elijah. So you got a boy falling into the water, and you got a boy falling into the fire. And Jesus said, "I'm going to go have a meeting with two of my experts in this particular area." And he goes and has a water meeting with Moses. And he goes and has a fire meeting with Elijah. If, if, if, if, if you're falling into fire, what do you do? Roll. Stop. Drop. And roll. That was good, but not it. That's good. You paid attention. You stop. Look. Listen. If you come to a railroad track, too, while I got you here, just FYI, OMG, LOL. Got you right now. So listen, listen. How when you are dealing with temptation, you can scream at it, you can rebuke it, you can get an accountability partner to rebuke it with you, you can read a book on how to rebuke it written by somebody who probably failed to rebuke it on a TV program where I know they didn't rebuke it. Or you can just build a better fire. One of the most fascinating things to me is I have two brothers that were involved in forestry. One of the most fascinating things to me is whenever they had a fire issue, one of the first things they do is start setting fire. If I, if something's on fire, I wouldn't go start more fire, but they do. They go ahead of the fire and they make sure when that fire gets there, it has no fuel. See, the best way for you to keep from burning out of control with desire is for when that fire shows up, it has nothing left to burn because you've already surrendered your substance to a greater fire. Come on. "I baptized you with water, but there is one coming after me who is mightier than I, who will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." I spent so much of my life in religion hating the fire, and finally came to the realization that the only way I'll ever defeat it is to build a better fire. It's to build a hotter fire. It's to surrender to a more significant flame. That's why when they begin to sing this tonight, "Set a fire down in my soul that I can't contain, I can't control. I want more of you." I think what God wants to do in this place tonight, I don't even, I don't want to hype this up. I don't want to work this up. I don't want to preach this up. I think God wants to come blow on some coals tonight. You feel defeated. You feel like a failure. You feel like a freak because you fall into the same patterns over and over and over again. What do I do? What do I do? And you don't want to fake it, and you don't want to be phony, and you don't want to just lift your hands because everybody else lifts their hands. But something in you desperately wants to be free. Something in you wants to be able to say no to normal. Something in you wants to dream God-sized dreams. Something in you wants to believe for the impossible. Something in you wants to see yourself standing in stadiums proclaiming the prophetic word of the Lord. Something in you wants to believe that fire could hit a city like Dallas. Something in you wants to believe that people that are addicted to drugs could walk by this property tonight and something get a hold of their hearts. There's enough injustice going on within a square mile of this place to scare most of us if we know about it. And I don't think it's an accident that we're here. I think we, we can turn this atmosphere if we could quit playing games and dabbling with the fire and falling into the normal. I believe we could shake the atmosphere. I believe demons could say, "All of the sudden, I can't stand it over there anymore. I used to love that neighborhood, and now I can't stand it over there anymore." Come on. Come on. What if that little abused boy could sleep in peace tonight because when that father tried to raise that hand to him, an angelic force showed up and said, "This is now my territory"? Come on. Instead of the prostitute turning a trick in the corner, what if the heavenly Father showed up to her with love, said, "I can hold you in a way that you'll never be held"? What if we turned this thing? What if you didn't just go to two years of school? What if you didn't just live for normal? What if you dreamed impossible, ridiculous, kingdom dreams? Man, when I came onto the campus today, it was different than any time I've ever been here. Starting to feel like home over there. My little room. I bring my Spurs and a rope and a roping dummy over there. I feel like I'm right at home. Time my horse up down by the pool, I'll be so, I'll be fine. It felt different today. Dutch, I walked on it, and God said, "Son, can you see it? Will you dare to look again? Will you dare to look beyond the opposition? Will you dare to look beyond the religion? Will you dare to look beyond the resistance? Will you dare to look beyond hard-hearted, callous, religious people? And would you dare to look into the eyes of a generation that when they really burn with the flame of revival, they believe God for anything?" Come on. Are you hearing this tonight? How many of you are tired of falling into the fire and you're tired of falling into the water? God, we say no to normal, and we say yes to extraordinary. In Jesus name.

"Set a fire down in my soul." I don't even want you to wait for them to get up there on the music, man. If this has been you tonight, and you're ready to admit it, I want you to get down here as quick as you can. And I want you to get down here and not play games. I want you to get down here and begin to ask God to deliver you from the lie of normal religion. To deliver you from the fire of a lesser passion. Stirring us tonight. Come on. That's a sound God wants to hear. That seat back slapping on that chair as you get out of your seat and cross a line and say, "Normal is no good for me." Yes, sir. Come on. I know there's no music playing. You can do it. You can do it. You can press into God without somebody playing for you. Come on. Come on. Come on. They're coming from all over. You got time to come from the balcony. I see just dozens of people looking for the aisle way in the balcony. Come on down. Come on down. I know the aisles are full. Just kneel down wherever you are right there. That may be as close as you get. Don't stay in your seat and say, "I'm going to deal with it on my own." Start a fire. God, let this be the night that changes things. God, let this be the night that opens doors that no man can close. Let this be the night that revival gets established in a city. Let this be the night revival gets established in a people. Jesus. Come on. If you're still coming, press in. Find [Music] room. Down in my soul, I control. I want more of you. Come on. He's fanning the flame. He's fanning the flame. Fire down my soul. I can't. I can't control. Come on. This is going to go deep tonight. Make it the cry of your heart. Don't just sing along with a song. Make it the cry of your heart. [Music] Tonight, God, I'm tired of just enough to get by. Oh, oh. [Music] [Applause] Yeah. Build an altar. If you're watching at home right now on the internet, build an altar right there in your hotel room. Build an altar right there in your house. Build an altar in your living room, your bedroom, in your hospital room. Build an altar right now. Set a fire in my soul. Un. We've been feeling you draw us, God. We've been feeling you draw us. We're tired of resisting the [Music] pull. We're coming close. We're fighting through the rubble. We're fighting through the distraction. God, we want more. Set a fire down in my soul that I can't. This is what we were born for. I want more of you. Give us a revolution, God. Give us a [Music] revolution. Come on. Pour your heart out. Pour your heart out. Don't worry about what it looks like. Pour your heart [Music] out. More of fire down in my soul. I want more. [Music] Refuse. Come on. Don't make it a song. Make it a prayer. Make it a prayer. Set a fire, God. Set a fire, God. Set a fire, God. Down in my soul. I want more of you. Come on. Lift your voice. Lift your voice. Cry out. God, we're tired of normal. God, we're sick of sin cycles. Send the flame, God. Send the flame, God. Woo. Let it burn, Lord. Let it [Music] burn. Come on. We're not done dreaming. We've only just begun. We're not done dreaming. Oh, I want more of you. [Music] You. Fire down in my soul that I can't contain, that I can't control. I want more.