To read to you several different verses of scripture And then I'll give you the thought Lord's put on my heart this morning that I believe would be an Encouragement to us and where the Lord wants us to be at today first Kings chapter 18 verse number 20 if you're there, and you love Jesus Amen the Bible says so Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel and Elijah and came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him, Not a word. And then said Elijah unto the people, I even I only remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. And I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord. And the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, it is well spoken. Now you see what's happening in our Bible is there's literally a competition going on between Baal and Jehovah God. Verse number 26, and they took the bullet which was given them, and they dressed it and called on the name of Baal from morning, evening, to noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, neither any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made. And it came to pass at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is taking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awakened. And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their men with knives and with laces, till the blood gushed out upon them. Look with me, verse number 30. And Elijah said unto all the people, come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. Verse number 37 of that same exact chapter, the Bible says, hear me, O Lord, hear me. Elijah's praying now. that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and thou hast turned their heart back again. And 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 all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, he is the God. The Lord, he is the God. Elijah thought it was so important he said it twice. Somebody say amen. Verse number 41 said, and Elijah said unto Ahab, get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain. 45 said, and it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heaven was black with clouds and wind. and there was a great rain. I wanna preach on this thought this morning. Let it rain. Let it rain. How many of y'all know we need rain today at Gospel Light Baptist Church? Can we agree today that no matter what I preach, no matter what you sing, if the Holy Ghost don't show up, everything we do will all be in vain? And what our country needs, what our society needs, what our government needs is not a new president, it's not a new system, it's not a new Republican or Democrat, it's the Holy Ghost of God one more time sending real fire from heaven. Somebody say amen in this place. Father in Jesus' name, what a great joy it is to be here today. Thank you, God, for the power and the privilege that we have to stand behind this sacred desk. God, I do not take this lightly. God, I pray one more time you'd use me as your man. Anoint me this morning. God, fill me with the power of God. Touch me and I'll give you all the praise, all the honor, and all the glory for it is in Jesus' wonderful name that I pray and all of God's people said, amen. You may be seated. Thank you for standing. Look at the person beside you and say, let it rain. Come on, go ahead and tell your neighbor, say, let it rain. As we dive into the text and I begin to look at the topic of rain this morning, I find something very interesting about what we're speaking of is no matter who you are, and no matter where you're from, or no matter what type of tracks you grew up on, everyone all over the universe understands the value of rain. Rain is not something that I have to explain. Usually whenever I travel and preach and go into different churches or schools or wherever it is I have the privilege of preaching, usually I have to spend a few moments explaining the topic of whatever we're preaching because most of the time I'm aware that not everyone in the crowd that I am addressing understands what I would call Bible words, you know what I mean? Everybody doesn't know what it means to be born again. Everyone doesn't know what it means to be sanctified. Everyone doesn't know what it means to, all the big Bible words that we use all the time, and I'm fully aware that everyone in this room has no idea of all of those definitions. But there's one thing that's interesting to me, is when we're diving into the topic of rain, I find that no matter if you're from a rich neighborhood, if you live in the projects, a poor neighborhood, live in the middle of the country, everyone knows there is great value in rain. I remember when I was younger, I would be sitting on the, or playing out in the yard. My grandma would be sitting on the back porch, and it would never fail, there would not be a cloud in the sky. And my grandma, whenever I would be playing in the rack, all of a sudden, she'd start sniffing. I'd be, all of a sudden, I'd just hear her. And I'd be like, Grandma, what in the world's wrong with you? And she said, you smell that? And I say, I don't smell nothing. And she say, I smell rain. Anybody ever smell rain before? Come on, I got any old-timers in here? How many of y'all know that before the meteorologist ever was a thing, there was a grandma or grandpa sitting on the back porch that could tell us rain was coming? Y'all know what I'm talking about. Here's what I know. I know that most of the time, grandma was more accurate than most of the weathermen were. Somebody help the preacher preach. She start talking about the smell of rain. I thought, Grandma, there's not a cloud in the sky. What do you mean you smell rain coming? I began to read about this here in 2nd Kings, 1st Kings chapter 18, and my mind began to settle around the aroma of rain and what's happening here in this text and thinking about Grandma and how she used to smell rain before it ever was coming, and I thought in my heart, there's got to be something to this. So I did what every good Baptist person does when they don't know what to do, they Google it. Somebody say amen right there. And so I started googling the aroma of rain. What if I told you that the smell that you're smelling in the atmosphere before rain comes is actually not rain at all. As a matter of fact, the smell that is released into the atmosphere that goes into your nostrils is not rain. but whether it is a chemical that is released by plants into the air whenever the plants know that rain is on the way. Because here's what we know, that God orchestrated everything around us. How many of y'all believe God made everything that we see? And we find that God made these plants in such a way that whenever rain was fixing to come, those plants would begin to release the things in their system they no longer needed in order to prepare and make way for the fresh rain that was on the way. What if I told you that what you are smelling in the air before rain comes is not rain, but it is the preparation for something new and something fresh to come? Ladies and gentlemen, in my heart, when I begin to think about the aroma of rain, I begin to think about the presence of rain. I look at where we are as a nation of America today, and I don't know what happened, but just a few months ago, there was something that shifted in our atmosphere, something changed in our world today, where now we see gospel, the message of Jesus Christ is being reached all over the country. People are starting to come back to church. Young people are getting on fire for God. I, in my heart, just believe that revival is on the way. I believe God could do something real. I believe God could do something powerful. And what if just by chance it was God fixing a sin revival all the way to Virginia? Come on somebody, let's just agree what we need in our country is for the Holy Ghost of God to reign one more time on our churches today. Somebody say amen in this place. We need the rain. I start thinking about the aroma of rain. Here's what Elijah said. Elijah said, I don't smell it, but I hear it. And here's what he said. He said, I hear a sound of an abundance of rain. When it rains, everything that was dead comes to life. Everything that lost its color is recolored. When it rains, everything that lost its purpose is restored. And can I testify for a minute and tell you that no matter how long it took for something to die, it never takes it as long for it to grow back. Somebody say amen right there. Can we all agree, here's what we find, you know as well as I do, that it takes all winter long for your grass to die. But just one spring rain, all those weeds come sprouting back up in your yard. Somebody help the preacher preach right here. It never takes as long for something to grow as it did for it to die. Could we agree, all of you that are on Weight Watchers, come on, somebody help the preacher preach right here. You've been trying to lose your weight for six years and it takes one roll at Logan's to get it right back. Come on, help the preacher preach right here. It never takes us long, and here's what I find. I find many times people sit in our churches all over this country, and they think because it's been a long time since they felt the power of God. They think because it's been a long time since they've really smiled and enjoyed the goodness of God. They think because it's been a long time since they've shouted and worshipped. They think the devil has convinced them that because they've been battling with depression, or anxiety or fear or anger in their heart, they've really convinced themselves that because I've been this way for so long, there's no way I'll be able to have real life again. But what if I told you all it takes is one rain from the Holy Ghost, all it takes is one breath fresh wind from heaven, and God can turn it all around. The Bible says in the gospels that there was a lady with an issue of blood, and she had this issue for 12 long years, and all it took was Jesus' one touch, and he changed her entire life. We ought to go ahead and testify that what took the devil 12 years to tear down took God one moment to restore. I'm telling you, ladies and gentlemen, God could send rain from heaven and change our world. Somebody say amen. It took years for you to get that depressed. It took years for you to get that addicted. It took years for you to lose trust in your family. But I come to tell you that when the rain begins to fall, it will not take long as God for to restore it as it did for the devil to kill it. And I believe there's something special about the rain. I believe there's something powerful about rain. Here's what the Bible said. You said, Preacher, Elijah's talking about a sound of abundance of rain. If we're not careful, we'll get confused on what's happening. But can I say it like this? Elijah, before he ever saw rain, he heard rain. I wanna talk to you about this just for a moment because sometimes we'll get to a place where we think if we don't see it, then ain't nothing happening. Because you know as well as I do that we are people by nature. We learn and we react by what we see. And I believe the reason why some people have a hard time worshiping and some people have a hard time going to church, some people have a hard time trusting God is because they do not see it. But what if I told you the Bible is very clear that we walk by and not by. Come on, let's talk about this for a minute. We walk by and not by. I'm glad you know that verse because the Bible also says that faith cometh by. Hearing by the word of so here's what the Bible says we walk by and not by come on I ain't got nowhere to be the Panthers don't play till one o'clock somebody say amen y'all have the preacher preach we walk by and not by and faith cometh by and Hearing by the word of so what you're telling me is the Bible is very clear that we do not walk in this life by what we see but we ought to be walking by what we Come on, let's say it again. We walk by and not by and faith cometh by and hearing by the word of So the Bible is very plain because here's what I believe I believe the reason why a lot of people walk in such such depression and walk in such low places and walk in such doom and gloom of their life is because they spend their entire life reading Facebook and they spend their entire life watching the news and They spend their entire life watching what's going on and hearing all the negativity, what's going on. Can we be honest? Facebook is always full of negativity. The news is always talking about this bad happening and that bad happening. And here we find a bunch of God's people walk in and we walk around like God's lost the battle. We walk around like we don't know what's gonna happen. We walk around like our world's falling apart. Can I submit to you that God's people ought to be the happiest people in the whole wide world? because we have read the end of the book. We know how this thing's gonna turn out. I come to encourage and tell ya, it do good every once in a while. If you close your eye gate, open up your ear gate and say, God, I'm not worried about what I can see, but I need to hear from heaven. God, would you speak to me? Somebody say amen. Can we just say it like this, that you don't have to be a genius or rocket scientist or have a PhD in meteorology to know if it's raining or not. I don't know, I hardly don't know any of y'all, best I know it, I may have seen you three or four times in my life, but here, I believe we can all testify to this, that you are all smart enough to walk outside and tell me if rain is falling or not. Could we all agree to that? You don't need your iPhone to tell you, you don't need the weatherman to tell you, you can walk outside and tell me, because why? Because here's what we know, when rain falls, there's always evidence of rain. Can we agree to that? I need some amen from right here. When rain falls, there's no denying something is getting wet somewhere. When rain falls, there's always evidence. Can I say the same thing? When the Holy Ghost shows up, there's always evidence of it. When God moves through a place, there's always evidence of it. When God starts stirring, there's, I believe with every fiber of my being, that when God starts moving, and people start worshiping, and chains start falling, and God starts saving people, there is always evidence when the Holy Ghost rains down on people. And I travel every week of my life. I'm in a different church every week of my life, and here's what I find. I find that not everything that has a steeple has the Holy Ghost in it. I find that not everything that claims to be a preacher has the power of God on it. I hope you know this, gospelite, but not everything that has a church and has a choir and has musicians has the power of God resting in it. There are some churches that are just going through the motions. Dead, boring, dry, stale. So bad, so dead, so boring that I don't even wanna be there. Can I talk to y'all for a minute about this? I'm just telling you, here, why? Because I refuse to go to dead, boring, dry church. I refuse to do it. I have been where God has been too many times to accept that we have to regret and dread coming to church every week of our life. Come on, y'all help me preach the preacher right here. If you don't like loud and lively church, you better stay out of heaven because we just get warmed up. Somebody say amen right there. Here's what I find. I find that everywhere the Holy Ghost shows up, there's always evidence of it. I've been churches before that was just, I mean, it was terrible. That's the best way I can say it. It was dry, it was boring, and I'd be standing at the back door, and somebody would walk by me and shake my hand, and they'd say, boy, the Lord sure didn't meet with us today, didn't he? And I'd think, Lord, if he did, he missed my road. You know what I mean? Well, God sure didn't show up today, did he? Well, if he showed up, he didn't speak to me. Can we just be honest? Listen, I don't claim to know much, but I know when God's somewhere and when he ain't. Why? Why, because when the Holy Ghost shows up, there's always evidence of it somewhere. If you can leave church the same way you came, there's a real good chance God didn't rain on your road today. I tell people all the time, there ought to be evidence that we've been to church. There ought to be evidence that we've met with God. There ought to be evidence that we've been around the power of God. Let me say it like this. Maybe this will touch base with you. I find that there are three different types of people that go to church, and those same three types of people that go to church also go to swimming pools. Is there anybody in Virginia that likes to swim? Two of you? All right, good. Best treat, do y'all like to swim? Anybody up here like to swim? Yeah, okay, good. I'll talk to y'all, because apparently none of them like to swim. I guess that's why they live in the mountains and not the beach. Somebody say amen out there, all right? I was at the beach last week preaching down there, and everybody up there like to swim, so I don't know. Three different types of people. The first group that goes to the swimming pool is what I call the tanning group. I know I have some of those in here right now, I know. The tanning group. They do not go to a pool to get wet. They didn't even bring a change of clothes. And the only reason they brought a towel was to put the towel on the chair so they don't get hot. They got their tanning lotion. They got their tanning oil. They got their towel. Before they came there, they fixed their makeup, fixed their hair. Y'all know I'm telling it right. Got on the chair. just to borrow the furniture of the pool, and to rent some free sun, and God forbid somebody's kid jump in the pool. Well, I'm talking to some of y'all right now, I know I am. How dare that spoiled brat six-year-old jump in while I'm, jump in that swimming pool while I'm trying to tan, and get me wet. Come on, somebody, yeah. They didn't come to get wet, they just came to get a temporary tan. That's it. That's the first group. Then there's a second group. The second group is what I call the water temperature checkers. They're gonna tan for a little while, and then when they get hot, they're gonna get in the pool. But they're not jumping in the pool. They're gonna walk in the pool very slowly. They're not gonna get in past their waist because God forbid their hair get wet. Y'all know what I'm telling you, right? They walk around just for a minute, find out the water is indeed cold, and then turn right back up, go sit back down. Come on, I'm talking to some of y'all right now. That's who y'all are. Y'all are water temperature checkers. I know some of y'all are. My wife's mother is a water temperature checker. And she, we have this little thing on July 4th at her house, and they got a little swim pool out back. I have a six-year-old, seven-year-old, how old is Cooper? Seven, okay. Y'all forgive me, every time I get it right, he changes date, it changes ages, I don't know how it works. I have a seven-year-old little boy that when he goes to the pool, he don't give a rip about nobody, what nobody's doing, nobody thinking, he's just getting in, jumping in all the way. And Grandma is the kind of person that she wants, she's got one of those floats, that gets just enough of her wet, but she ain't getting wet, you know what I'm talking about. She'll lay on this float and float around, and then she'll say this, y'all don't get me wet. I don't know how the earth works, but she said, and the moment my seven-year-old finds out that grandma don't want her hair to get wet, you can guarantee the mission of today is to get grandma's hair away. Come on, y'all, I'm telling the right. Cooper will feel like that if grandma's hair doesn't look like a shaggy doll before I'm done, I have failed at my mission. Cooper will literally swim from one side of the pool to the other side of the pool under the water, trying his best to get to where grandma is just to flip her float over. Come on, somebody say amen. That's what grandma does. And grandma's in there because she ain't in there to just get all the way wet. She just wants to test the water. She wants to just borrow the pool. She's just there to be all dignified and whatever, whatever. And then there's the third group that's like my son. And my son is the kind of person of the pool where he's so excited about getting in the pool, he forgot to bring a change of clothes. He's so excited about getting in the pool, he didn't even bring a towel. You know why? Because his thought and his mind, he ain't worried about getting out. All he's thinking about is getting in. He ain't worried about going home. All he's worried about is jumping in the water. And when Cooper shows up to the pool, he don't care what grandma's sitting beside the pool. He don't care who's floating. He don't care whose makeup is done. When Cooper jumps in, he's jumping in head first. It can be cold, it can be hot, he don't care. He just wants to be swimming around in the pool as wet as he can be, may I say. Those three kinds of people also come to church every single Sunday. That's the first group that walks in, and all they did was show up to borrow the furniture. You didn't come to get all the way in. You didn't come to enjoy the goodness of God. You come to nitpick and watch everything and see everything and God forbid somebody gets you wet. And then there's a second group that you'll shout when it's your kind of song. You'll shout when a preacher says something you like. But you ain't about to lose your dignity and get all of God. And then there's groups like myself. That little boy, when we walk in on Sunday morning, I don't care what nobody thinks. I don't care what nobody feels. I'm desperate. I need God. I need the Holy Ghost. I need to jump all the way in. I pray in God's name. He sends the rain today. I need some people in this house that'll be in the third group that'll say, if you don't want to get wet, don't sit on my row. If you don't plan on getting wet today, you better find somewhere else to sit. There's probably a group number one somewhere here anywhere. You can go sit with them if you want to. But as for me and my world, we're going after God today. It's been a long week. It's been a long month. It's been a long year. You don't know what my marriage has been through. You don't know what my family's been dealing with. You don't know how broken my home is. And I need more than an outline. I need more than a song. I need the Holy Ghost of God to send real rain from heaven Change my life! That's what we need. Somebody say amen. I start talking about the Holy Ghost, preaching about the Holy Ghost, there's always those kind of people that say, preacher, are you saying you need the Holy Ghost to go to church? I'm saying I need the Holy Ghost to go to Walmart. Come on, somebody. I have been to y'all's Walmart and I know that to be true. Somebody say amen. Yeah. I need the Holy Ghost to raise my babies. I need the Holy Ghost to help me preach. I can't do this by myself. I can't stand up here on my own. I can't raise my three almost four babies in this broken world by myself. I need God. The same God of my grandma. And the same God of my grandpa. What God did back then. God can do it today. What these babies need. What these young people need. We don't need just a week and a rise to fire us up. And then go right back the way it was before. We need something real. Something substantial. Something that will sustain us. We need rain from heaven. Somebody say amen this place. Elijah said, I hear a sound of an abundance of rain. I don't need some of it. How many of y'all know that what your grandbabies need is for God to reign in this place? All of y'all over this room probably have broken families. Maybe you have prodigal children, prodigal grandchildren. I don't know what your story is. I don't know what your life is like. I don't know what you just left when you came to church this morning. But I do know that three points in a poem ain't gonna change squat. I do know that a good choir song ain't gonna be what we need. I need somebody to get hooked so close to God and get so full of God that when the drug dealer walks in the back door, he feels the Holy Ghost. When your grandchild who's been drinking all night long walks in the back door, he don't feel judged, he don't feel condemned, but he feels the power of God that is drawing him. Somebody! We need the rain in this house today. We need the rain All of a sudden Here's what's happening. If you know your Bible, you know, then it's been we've been living in a drought for a long time in this text matter of fact what's interesting to me is it hasn't rained in years and The God of Baal is what they describe as the rain God. I And so it hasn't rained in years, and they're still so stuck on their fake God that can't even give them rain, they're asking to give them fire. And all of this begins to transpire because their minds are confused on what's happening. Elijah, here's what Elijah said in our text. Elijah said, come near unto me. And then he asked an important question I must ask you today. He said, how long halt ye between two opinions? You know what that tells me? That tells me that some days, these men were on Jehovah God's side. And other days, these men were on Baal's side. And they were trying to ride the fence that if it made sense, they'd serve God. And if it didn't make sense, they'd serve Baal. I thought, my God, are we not living in that generation today? Where people live one way at church and another way at school. People live one way at church and another way on the job site. People live one way at church and another way out. I'm not here to bash you or to preach at you or to make you feel bad for anything that you do. I am here to tell you this, though, that if we're ever going to experience real rain from heaven, we have to make up our mind which side of the tracks we're going to be on. You cannot have both. You cannot serve both sides. You cannot go one way on Sunday and another way on Monday. You cannot serve God if it feels good and turn your back on him when it feels bad. You cannot serve God when he pays your bills. But if your bills become overdue, you turn and walk away. You have to make up your mind. God's been too good to me. God has saved me. God has brought me this far. I ain't turning back. I ain't walking away. I wanna be all the way on God's side. Somebody say amen. He said, how long halt you between two opinions? You gotta choose one or the other. I come to encourage you and tell you this, there's a generation that's dying and going to hell because people are trying to straddle the fence, living one way for God and another way for Baal. I'm telling you, it is a damning thing happening in our generation today where people say it all the time, I refuse to go to church with hypocrites. You know what makes me so upset about that is most of the time, they're right. And I'm telling you, somewhere along the way, somebody in Virginia has got to say, I can't choose both sides. I can't have it my way one day and another way on another day. I've got to make up my mind. Listen to me, I'm not here to preach on holiness, but I will tell you that somewhere along the way, God's people have to choose to be different. We have to choose to stand up. We have to choose to draw the line in the sand and say, I have decided to follow Jesus tonight. And here they are. Elijah said, how long are you between two opinions? Do what you want to do. You know the story. I'm going through this really quickly. You know the story. There's a call to choose. But number two, there's also a counterfeit that can't deliver. Because the Bible said that Elijah challenges them to build an altar, put fire on the altar, build a trench around it. And then the Bible says that Elijah challenges them to call on their God. and they call on God all day long, and God doesn't, or their bell god doesn't answer. Elijah started making fun of him. He said, maybe he's asleep. Maybe he's on a trip. All this begins to happen, they get mad, but here's what we find out. We find out that you can call on the fake gods all you want, but he ain't never gonna do for you like my God can do for you. I'll just say it like this. I don't know what you're expecting to save your family, but Belle will never be able to do it. I don't know what you're expecting to fix your marriage, but Belle will never be able to do it. It's got to be God's way. And so Elijah, I see a call to choose, I see a counterfeit that can't deliver, but I want you to watch this. The Bible says at the end of this text that Elijah begins to pray a 63 word At the end of his 63-word prayer, the Bible says, fire falls from heaven. And all of a sudden, it consumes the wood and the fire and the water that they dumped on the wood, the altar. And then the Bible said, after the fire came down, it consumed all of it. Then he said, I hear a sound of an abundance of rain. You know, that tells us this morning I'm done. That tells us this, that before the rain falls, fire has to clean things up. Before the rain ever came, fire had to first fall and consume everything that was happening in that place before God could send real rain. I started thinking about real church. I have been in enough services where the Holy Ghost was present I've been in those services before where people started testifying, bragging on Jesus, and the preacher didn't even get to preach, because the big preacher showed up. You ever heard something like that? I've been in those services before where somebody was singing, and all of a sudden, before you know it, God just started moving in the crowd. People started getting help. People started getting changed, and people were weeping and crying, coming to the altar. I've been in those services before where grandma would grab her hanky and start waving. Anybody ever seen a grandma wave her hanky? How many of y'all know that if grandma's waving her hanky, you better buckle up. We about to go to church. I've been in services before where men would jump up and take off running laps around church. Anybody ever seen a man run in church? I mean, all y'all old timers in here probably have, there's a younger generation that has no idea what I'm talking about, right? I've seen all this, I've seen drunkards walk in the back door as drunk as you can imagine, and the Holy Ghost get ahold of their lives somewhere in the service, God save them, and then walk out as sober as I am sitting here today. I'm telling you, I have seen God do that with my own eyes. I've seen God take broken marriages where divorce was what was coming tomorrow, and God take that divorce papers, rip it up. God restore that marriage. I've seen God do that. I've seen God take a young person who had needle marks up and down their arms, thinking about taking their own life. Their life was broken. Their life was ruined. I've seen God restore that. I've seen God fix that. And here I stand as a 29-year-old man and services like I'm talking about right now are few and far between. And I got three babies. I have four in a few months. And my heart is broken over the fact that my babies are gonna be brought up in a godless society, in a godless generation. And I come to charge somebody and tell somebody, I need two or three people that'll make up their mind. I refuse to raise my babies in a godless society. I refuse to raise my babies in a dead religion. I need somebody that'll go get God. And say God rain on me God rain on me. Can I tell you gospel like what we need more than anything is We need some people that'll be so saturated with God That it begins to rain on other people around you Can I ask you a question? When was the last time rain was so heavy in your life that somebody else got wet because of it. I Can I ask you a question? When was the last time you were so close to God that someone else caught the benefits of it? Not because of what they'd done, but just because of what you were doing. He said, Preacher, that's not biblical. All sure it is. Paul and Silas was in jail, and the only reason the jailer's family and his entire family got saved is all because somebody was so full of Jesus. What are you saying, Preacher? I'm telling you this. There's probably people all over this room that's got kids right now that if Jesus comes in this moment, they're probably not going to heaven. There's probably people all over this room right now that's got grandkids that if Jesus comes in this moment, probably not going to heaven. And you're waiting on something magical to happen for them to just get it. But what if I told you that it could be the Holy Ghost was waiting on you to say, God, God, rain on me in such a way. You know, it'd be wonderful if this church was so full of God that when people are riding up and down the road, that didn't even want what we got felt something drawing them. It'd be wonderful if some of you that got family that refused to go in church were just riding down the road and the Holy Ghost was so strong in here that it snatched and got in their car whenever they were going. You say God can't do that. I've seen God do it too many times not to believe that. I believe God can do it. Here's what I'm saying. I'm saying three points of the poem ain't gonna cut it, y'all. Good singing ain't gonna cut it, y'all. Somebody's gotta get serious about God. I need two or three teenagers, two or three young people to get serious about God and say, my walk with God, if it's only good enough for me on Sunday, and I ain't gonna be good enough, I need a husband, and I'll grab their wife by the hand and say, my God, that decoration on our wall, that's for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord. It's more than a decoration, it's a declaration in my heart. heart. We will serve god. I will walk with god. My god, would you send the rain in this house? And I'll say this and I'll take my seat. My sister, wherever you are, if you want to come, play that whoever wants to play the piano. I don't care if somebody can play the piano very softly. I'll take my seat. I look around this room and I see people in here that are over the ages of, I would say, 50, 60 years old. Right now, I'm preaching to three different generations. I'm preaching to people who are 50, 60, 70 years old in this house that are shouting with me. I watched this young lady right here, when I talk about hankies, she grabbed her hankies, she was waving it back at me with me. I see them shouting, I hear them shouting, and I know that that generation has seen God move before. That generation has seen the Billy Graham era where God moved in a special, supernatural way. That generation has seen God take broken lives and restore and put it all back together again. That generation's seen it. And that's why they're shouting the way I shout. And there's others in here that are middle-aged, my age and a little higher than my age, that you're at least in here enough to nod your head with me, because you ain't seen it, but you heard about it. My generation, My generation, my generation heard about God moving. I didn't see it. I ain't quite old enough to see it, but I sure heard about it. And I look around this room, there's some in this room that's of the younger generation, and they don't even know what the moving of God is. You know what breaks my heart? It breaks my heart that the moving of God has almost died in that generation. And now, now it's more popular and more cool to be on suicide watch. Now it's more proper and more cool to walk around with scars up and down our arms because we're thinking about taking our own life and trying to cut ourselves to release the pain. Now we walk in church playing games with God, think we can just walk in, do our little duty and leave and everything will be okay. Meanwhile, I got young boys and young girls that are taking their own life every single week. Meanwhile, we got marriages that are falling apart by the day. Divorce rates through the roof. People playing games with God, thinking we can just go through the motions and it'd be okay. I'm telling you, people are going to hell while we play games with God. And I refuse to accept that the God of their generation is dead. I refuse to accept that the Holy Ghost of their generation is dead. And I've made up my mind, if I gotta do it all by myself, I'll stand in the camp, and I'll stand here and say, God, if I gotta do it all by myself, if I'm the only one that came to church today, if I'm the only one that says, God, you rained on me, y'all better get out the way, y'all better say some words if you want to, I didn't bring a towel, I didn't bring a change of clothes, I ain't worried about what time it is, I need all the God I could possibly get today. Because my babies need it. I got a seven-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl, a two-year-old girl, and went on the way. And here's what I know. There'll be moments very soon where my little boy will be sitting in church and the Holy Ghost will deal with his heart, say, Cooper, you lost, you need to be saved. And it scares me to death to think that I've done something in my life where Cooper would look at the Holy Ghost and say, if that's the God of my daddy, I don't want you. Can I tell you what my heart's desire is? My heart's desire is to be so close to Jesus that Cooper and Ella, Kate, Madeline will say, if you're the same God my mama prays about, if you're the same God my daddy preaches about, if you're the same God my mama worships about, that's the God I want in my life, too. We need the rain. And so here's my call to you. Here's my altar call this morning. I'm going to get out of the way. I'm done. I don't know how y'all usually do things here, but I believe it'd be in order to look around this room and know As people are wiping tears and worshiping and shaking their head, listen to me. You know I'm telling you this right. There's something inside of you that knows there's more to what we have. It absolutely fires me up to be in the presence of the Holy Ghost, where God starts moving. I dream and long for those moments. And so here's my call to you. I'm looking for some men that'll grab their wife by the hand, find a place around this altar, and say, I don't know if it'll rain anywhere else, but it's gonna rain on our house. I don't know if it's gonna rain anywhere else, but it's gonna rain on our pew. I need some of y'all to sit, some of y'all sit in the same spot every single Sunday, I know you do. I was here three or four years ago, and you're still sitting in the exact same spot, and I'm glad, I thank God for that. I'm glad you do. But you ought to go ahead and declare it and make up your mind that that pew that you sit on every time you're in church, that pew is gonna get rained on every time I'm here. I can't speak for the rest of y'all, but we gonna get rained where I'm at. I need some young people, some mamas and some daddies to find a place around this altar and say, Send the rain. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed, right before I pray, right before you come. I do have to ask you a question. Just me and Jesus are looking in this room. I feel the Holy Ghost. Some of you are getting spoke to right now. But in the stillness of this moment, with every head bowed, every eye closed, please be respectful enough to bow your head. As I look around this room, there are some of you in this house that don't have a clue what I'm preaching about. You ain't never felt God. You're really not even sure what it means to be in the presence of God. And while I was preaching, there was someone that spoke to you. They said, you need what that preacher's telling you about. Can I just be honest with you, sir? Ma'am, can I be honest with you? You and I both know that if you died right there where you're sitting, you'd go to hell. You're not sure you're saved. You're not sure you ever trusted Jesus. What you say you have ain't real and you know it. I don't want to embarrass you. I won't come to you. I won't call you out. But if you're here today in the stillness of this moment with every head bowed and every eye closed, nobody's looking. I'm going to count to three. If there's one man, if there's one woman in this room who says, Preacher, if I'm honest, if I died today, I don't know where I'd go. Would you please pray for me, preacher? I'm gonna count to three. If that's you, just go look at me when I get to three. You're not gonna raise your hand. You're gonna lift your head up and look me right in my eyes. By looking at me, you're not signing up for nothing. You're just simply saying, preacher, pray for me. I don't know where I'd go if I died. Are you ready? I'm counting to three. If that's you, you go look at me. You ready? One, two, three. three right now. I want to see your eyes. Preacher, if I die today, I'm not 100% sure I'd go to heaven. Please pray for me. I'm looking for you. I'm looking for you. Thank you. I see you. Thank you. Is there another? Thank you, ma'am. God bless you. Is there another? Right before I pray, say, Preacher, if I'm honest, I'm not 100% sure I'm going to heaven. If I die, please pray for me. Is there one more right before I pray? I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking. I'm looking. Here's what I want to do. I'm fixing to pray. The majority of all of you just said, you know you're saved. Young lady in the back, you know who you are. Say, preacher, I'm not sure I'm saved. I'll be standing right here. If you'll come, if you'll come, I'd love to take a Bible and show you how you can be saved. For the rest of you, if I'm honest, there ought not be a single person left sitting in a seat. All of us, in just a moment as I begin to pray, ought to find a place around this altar And say, God, for my family's sake, for my generation's sake, for my grandkids' sake, Lord, rain on me. Rain on me. While I pray, you're coming, young lady, to be saved. You come as well. I pray with you, Father, in Jesus' name. I've done what you told me to do tonight, this morning. We need some people that are taking it serious. We need some people that will respond. Holy Ghost, would we get closer to You? Holy Ghost, would we respond to You, to Your voice? Oh God, Father in Jesus' name, Father in Jesus' name, Father, in Jesus' name, God, you do all you can do. Father, in Jesus' name, all over this house, people have responded to you. Oh, God, I pray that you'd hear their prayer. Pray on church, somebody go get God now. Somebody go get God, this is serious. Generations are counting on us. Generations are relying on us. Your kids are relying on you. Your grandkids are counting on you. The future of this church, it's on your shoulders. God, we need the rain. Oh God. We need the rain. Holy Ghost, you hear our heart. God, you see our cry. God, may He respond to you. God, rain. I pray gospel light. God, would flood from the rain that you send from heaven. Oh, God, may this be a place, a supernatural place, a beacon of light. I pray for these young people, God, they'd be serious. Use them, God. Take them and use them. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ so so Every broken weary soul Find your rest and be made whole Stripes of blood that stands firm Shed to wash away our shame From the scars pure love released Salvation by the mercy tree In the sky between two things of the blameless Prince of Peace bruised, battered, scarred, and scorned sacred head pierced by her thorns it is finished was his cry The perfect Lamb was crucified, His sacrifice our victory, Our Savior chose the mercy tree. Hope went dark that violent day The whole earthquake that love's display Three days silent in the ground This body born for heaven's ground On that bright and glorious day When heaven opened up the grave He's alive and risen indeed Oh, praise Him for the mercy tree Death has died, love has won Hallelujah, Hallelujah Jesus Christ has overcome He has risen from the dead One day soon we'll see His face And every tear He'll wipe away No more pain or suffering We'll praise Him for the mercy tree Death has died, love has won Alleluia, Alleluia Jesus Christ has overcome He has risen from the dead Death has died, love has won Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus Christ has overcome. He has risen from the dead. Keep singing brother, I don't want to stop. On a hill called Calvary, stands an endless mercy tree. Every broken weary soul, find your rest and be made whole. Stripes of blood that stain its frame Shed to wash away our shame From the scars pure love released Salvation by the mercy tree In the sky between two thieves hung the blameless prince of peace bruised, battered, scarred and scorned sacred head pierced by our thorns it is finished was his crown The perfect Lamb was crucified His sacrifice our victory Our Savior chose the mercy tree Hope went dark that violent day The whole earthquake that love's display ♪ Three days silent in the ground ♪ ♪ This body born for heaven's crown ♪ Amen, amen, praise the Lord. The Lord is so faithful. And I'm thankful that God showed up today. And I'm thankful that hearts were obedient to the voice of God this morning. That when the Holy Spirit of God came and knocked on the door of hearts, that people responded to the voice of God. And they responded to the voice of God as the word was preached and knocked on their heart. And people made a decision today to do something about where they were at and what was going on in their life. Came up front and do something about their family, came up front and do something about their service, their own personal lives, their sin, whatever it could be, their church, whatever it is. And you made a decision this morning that can forever change your life, your church, your family, your spouse, your kids, whatever it was that you prayed about. Just thank you for being obedient to God today. Amen. Praise the Lord. You may be seated here for a moment. What we're going to do is, if I could, get Brother Tyler Blue and his wife,