5 Things That Kill The Fire of God

I want to speak about five things that kill the fire of God. I know this is a revival night. Revival in the desert and I believe that the Lord wants to break the pattern of backsliding. The word that I received from the Lord, I've been carrying for about two weeks for this night and that is this, is that there are people in this room, who have lived a life of backsliding. You come to a conference. You get rededicated. You go back and then next conference, next revival service, next encounter and you literally go from a

conference to a conference and you feel guilty about that. But I believe something is going to happen tonight and I'm not just throwing these words out there. I strongly believe there is somebody in this room, God is going to break the pattern of backsliding. In Jeremiah it says that I will heal your backsliding. God is going to through repentance, through healing, through deliverance, heal that and usher you to live a life on fire for God. When we talk about fire as Christians, we know that fire is used for judgment. We know that fire is going

to be in the lake of fire but our God is a consuming fire. The scripture says, He is a refiner's fire. The Bible says that, His word is like fire shut up in my bones. The Bible says says that Jesus baptizes in the Holy Spirit and fire. Somebody say fire. Fire is very important because fire produces light. Fire is very important because fire produces heat and the Bible says as Christians we are the light of the world. The Bible says the world will know us by our love. Fire consumes everything that touches. Fire doesn't discriminate.

Fire doesn't ask you, what is your political position? Once it touches you, it consumes what it touches and that's exactly what happens when a Christian is on fire for God. Their life becomes consumed by God. It becomes obsessed by God. So many people talk about being possessed by the devil. When you're on fire, you're possessed by the Holy Ghost. Any on fire people we have in this auditorium tonight. Fire doesn't need a Facebook marketing group. Fire spreads automatically. Fire doesn't need a committee. Fire does not need a strategy. Fire just spreads automatically. See, remember when

you fell in love with Jesus and when you got saved, remember that first day of your salvation, you did not have a class on evangelism. You did not have a class on witnessing. You simply was on fire and everywhere you went, you told other people about Jesus. Your problem is you couldn't keep quiet. Why? Because fire spreads. If you haven't been evangelizing, if you haven't been talking about Jesus, it's not because you don't know how to evangelize, you lost your fire. If you have to be constantly pushed, encouraged to tell others about Jesus, you're probably

lost to fire. Fire when it's gone, it leaves ashes and many people, that's exactly what their life represents today. They do not have a flame. They simply have ashes. Ashes mean memories. I remember when I used to love God before. I remember when I used to pray. I remember when I was excited about God. I remember when I was like those fools and acted undignified when worship was happening. That means that you have ashes but God doesn't want you to be a minister with ashes, He wants you to be a minister of fire. He makes

His ministers as ministers of fire. Somebody say fire. But you know every fire produces smoke. Anytime you get on fire for God, you always attract controversy. When you get on fire for God, you attract persecution. You attract misunderstandings. You attract haters, mosquitoes, backbiters. Anytime you get on fire for God, you get somebody who misunderstands you, misjudges your motives and that is normal. People who say I don't want to be criticized. I don't want to be misunderstood. Well, lose your fire and you lose your critics. Lose your fire and you will lose your persecution but I'll

rather have critics because of fire than have no critics because I don't have fire. God wants to kindle your fire today. In the scriptures, Jesus said in the last days, He says this because of the abundance of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. I want you to notice this. There is a growth that happens with love, passion, zeal. You don't lose your fire. You grow cold meaning, it's a process and it's a progress. Nobody loses fire of God. They gradually grow cold. See you can grow hot and you can grow cold. Nobody falls

out of love with God. We simply grow cold. That means there is a process to losing that fire and it's called growing cold and today, I'm going to highlight very practical five of those steps. Now I understand some of you here today. You are not a backslider. You're a leader. Perhaps you're in a position of leadership in your church and so maybe mentally you're going to check out. You're like yeah this is for my neighbor who didn't come tonight but I'm hoping, they'll come tomorrow and Isaiah can spank some fire into them you know this

is from my husband. He didn't make you tonight but I'm hoping that tomorrow morning they come and apostle Pagani will break some curses off of them but the person I'm going to talk to you about today, cast out demons, healed the sick. He was called an apostle. He received a revelation about who Jesus was and called Him, Jesus the Messiah. He is the one that lost the fire and backslid and his name was Peter. So I want you to open your Bible with me. We're going to go into some Bible and I'm going to share

with you and we're going to pray. Matthew 26:33-34 Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” If you are taking notes, I want you to write this down. The first step to losing the fire of God is when you focus on your love for God instead of His love for you. I'm going to say that again. Where everything begins backsliding

doesn't begin with the joint. Backsliding does not begin with losing your virginity. Backsliding starts very early before that. The roots of that is this when you begin to focus on your love for God more than His love for you, your fire starts to die. You and I are like a dirt ball like a moon. We have no fire in ourselves. The only light we project is the light we reflect. The only light we give is the light we receive. As pastor Brian mentioned we love Him because He loved us. We don't love God because we

are loving. We don't love God because we have an amazing personality trait called fire for God. We love God because we are aware of His passionate pursuit of us and as long as our eyes are on Him, our heart is burning for God. When you take your eyes off of Jesus and you fix your eyes on your prayer, on your fasting, on your church attendance, on your tithing record. When you fix your eyes on what you did and did not do, your love begins to decrease and it begins to die. Because you are not a

source of fire. You're just the torch that carries fire. You cannot produce that fire. You cannot manufacture that fire. Your fire is weak. His fire never burns out as long. As your eyes are on Him, your heart will kindle. When disciples were walking from Jerusalem and they walked close to Jesus, they were distraught, disappointed, discouraged, defeated, heartbroken and the Bible says as they walked close to the Lord, their heart caught fire. Remember this: If you are the source of your fire for God, you might as well label yourself as a backslider because you will backslide

or you will burn out and backslide but it will happen to you sooner or later. You're not the source. Compare Peter with John. Peter there stands before Jesus and says, Jesus I will never betray you. Jesus, I will die for you. Jesus, I am committed to you. Jesus, a lot of self-confidence, a lot of I love you Jesus, I'm going to die for you, Jesus and that's what many people think is the fire of God is yes Jesus, I will die for you Jesus, that's not fire. That's hype. Why? Because if it starts with you,

it will end with you. Compare it to John. The gospel of John has this phrase, a disciple Jesus loved. Now the weird part is John is writing about himself. What a like first of all, John why didn't you say a disciple that healed most sick people. A disciple that had a million subscribers. A disciple that was a New York best selling author. A disciple with a mega church. John finds pride in the fact Jesus loves me. Other people brag about dying for Jesus. John is bragging that Jesus is going to die for John. And I

want you to notice that John doesn't deny the Lord like Peter did. John stays with the Lord right up the cross. You see John has a revelation of Jesus. That's why we the book of Revelation. Be like John not like Peter. Don't live your life out of the I love the Lord, live your life of He loves me. I remember when I just started to get really really passionate about pursuing Jesus, waking up very early to pursue Him and though you don't have to wake up early to pursue Jesus but this was one of my

ways to pursuing the Lord and like every young believer especially who are fresh in the Lord, who's burning with fire and passion and excitement and hype and all of that sooner or later, you hit what we call the wilderness, where God is nowhere to be found and I know pastor Brian said God is not lost but you hit that point, you're like pastor Brian, you're wrong. He left me. He's not in my prayer room. He's not in my closet. He's not in my attic. He's not in my basement. He's not in my altar. He's nowhere

to be found. I read the Bible, I don't find Him. I play my favorite song, I don't find Him. God is nowhere to be found and I hit that. so I was like no problem, I'm a mature believer. I know how to walk by faith. Second day I walked by faith. Third day I walked by faith you know second week, I kept showing up to prayer, doing my things, speaking in tongues, reading the word, confessing that He's with me. My feelings don't matter and then it hit the third week and I was like okay my

feelings do matter. God what's up? Where are you? Why have you left me? Is there a hidden sin in my life? What kind of a demon is interfering Your presence and stealing you from me? And I got cranky you know when you don't pray and you're cranky, it's different when you pray and you're cranky. Now remember one time, I'm leaving prayer and I'm mad at God, myself. I come home and I'm cranky with my wife and so I decided it will be better if I get more sleep and not even pray. I'll skip on my

devotions. God gets a break. I get a break and maybe I'll feel better. So I show up next day and I have this proposal to God. This is exactly what I did at our morning prayer. I sat down and I said, God, just going to have a real conversation with that. This is not prayer. So please don't record it. We just need to talk. It's been 3 weeks. You're not showing up. I don't know what I did and if I did, you're not telling me what I did. I don't want to be coming here anymore.

I'm going to be sleeping from now on because your presence is not here. I'm not feeling anything. I'm just going to take a little break. So when I finished, I vented, I said all of the stuff I needed to say and I heard a still small voice of the Holy Spirit and He said, have you ever thought about the fact that when I invite you to prayer, I don't invite you so you experience My presence. I invite you so I can enjoy yours. He says, I died for you. I loved you so much that I

let My Son and I don't know what that means My Son. Now I know what My Son means. My beloved Son died on the cross for you. I loved you so much that I let My Son die for you. When I invite you to prayer, it's not for a religious duty or for you to discipline your prayer routine. I invite you because I love to be with you. I love and I enjoy your presence. Not in a selfish new age way but in a way that I find pleasure in you. You are My son. You

are My child. I loved you with everlasting love. It's not about you feeling Me. It's about Me loving you and river works just water works just when my eyes just broke loose. I start weeping because the sense that this is not about me feeling God's presence. This is about God loving me and inviting me because He enjoys my company as His creation, His redeemed son whom He loves. When I hold my baby son right now and h can't wash dishes. He can't help me with anything. The only thing that he does right now is he

poops, he cries and he steals my sleep. I look at him for the last four months, okay. He has brought sleeplessness into my life. It's cost me money. Every time I look at him, my heart swells with joy. His presence alone, just him gives me fulfillment and joy. He hasn't done anything. He hasn't earned anything. He doesn't even walk. He doesn't even... I'm still waiting for him to say papa. I'm training him, say papa before you say mama because this is important for me. Say, papa. He doesn't even say papa. When he's in my presence,

sometimes he falls asleep. I don't beat him and say, wake up. How dare you fall asleep in my presence? Why? Because he's my son. God loves you so much. Now don't get this the wrong way. He enjoys your presence and wanted you with Him so much He let Jesus die on a cross for you. You didn't die for the Lord. If you lose sight of His love for you, you will always do what Peter did. You will live out of a place of trying to earn God's love. You will live out of a place that

has passion but lacks compassion. You will live out of a place where you make promises, you'll always break them. You will live out of a place where there's a lot of emotion and very little devotion. You will live out of a place where you're constantly struggling. Why? Because you in yourself have no power to maintain your own resolutions. God loves you. He loves you because He is love not because you're lovable, not because you're loving, not because you're cute, not because you're worthy, not because you deserve it, not because you'll never mess up again. He

loves you because He chose to love you and when He invites you into His presence, it's because He wants to shower His love on you. I don't care what you've done. I don't care who you've done it with. I don't care where you've been. I don't care what people have told you. I don't care if your mama and daddy never wanted you. I don't care if somebody looked at you and said, you're an accident. You will never make it. I wish you'll die. There is a God who brought you into this world and He loves

you with everlasting love and He gave His Son for you and He today brought you into this auditorium to let you know with everlasting love, I have loved you. When you focus on your love for the Lord, your love for God will shrink. When you take your eyes off of yourself and focus your eyes on His love for you, your love will always grow. Can somebody say, Amen. I want you to notice the second thing. The scripture says in Matthew 26:40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What!

Could you not watch with Me one hour? Luke 22:31-32, And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” The second thing I want you to write down and that is this. How do we lose the fire of God? The first one: When we focus on our love for God more than His love for us. The second one is when our prayer life goes to sleep.

Write this down. When our prayer life goes to sleep. When Peter exemplified self-confidence when Jesus said, everyone will deny Me. When Peter focused on his love for Jesus more than Jesus's truth and Jesus's word, that was the first step. The second step is Jesus invites Peter to a prayer meeting and the Bible says, Peter becomes the first sleeping saint. Jesus tells Peter. Simon, Simon! Interesting. Simon is the name his mama gave him. His daddy gave him. When Jesus meets Simon, He says your name will be Peter. For three and a half years, Jesus calls him

Peter. Right here you see the Lord Jesus who changed him to a new name calls Peter twice by his old name. Why? Anytime you go into prayerlessness, you wake up your past life. Your past is dead. Prayerlessness is the power that raises the dead. Your past is gone. When you stay in prayerlessness, your old habits begin to get quickened and begin to wake up. Things you got delivered from, things you've testified to God and to the church and said, I've been set free from this. When you opt to a life of prayerlessness, when you're sleeping

instead of praying, something begins to happen. You begin to quicken the old you that you already have buried. You may say but Vlad, it's already been crucified with Christ. Yes but that prayerlessness, that pride which is what prayerlessness is, begins to resurrect our past. I want you to notice what Jesus said to Peter. He says, I prayed for you. Satan prayed for you. Unfortunately Peter didn't pray for Peter. Satan asked for you. I will intercede for you. Peter, if you don't pray, guess who's going to win? Satan is going to sift you. Satan is going

to distract you. I want to challenge you today that the greatest calling Jesus had right now has in heaven is intercession and prayer. Jesus is in heaven praying non-stop. When He was on this earth, He prayed during the baptism of John. He prayed in the wilderness. We know He prayed in the mountain. We know He prayed early in the morning. He spent all night in prayer. If there was one person who did need to pray, it was Jesus. If there was one person who was busy that couldn't pray, it was Jesus and He always prayed.

He lives to make intercession for us. I want to challenge you today. If you give up your prayer life, if you give up your devotion life, if you give up your time with the word of God in prayer, even if it's 5 minutes, 15 minutes even if it's in front of your work, in your truck even if it's somewhere in the park, somewhere by the river or somewhere in the basement or in the attic, if you give that up, something begins to happen. Your past is beginning to catch up to you and something will begin

to happen. You will drift from God. Nobody drifts to God. That's why the Bible says, Draw near to God. All you have to do to leave the Lord is just do nothing and you will drift automatically from Him. Prayerlessness begin to kick in and some of you, you lose the battle with the blankets. The blankets in the morning become these heavy iron chains that hold you back but today the Lord is breaking the spirit of prayerlessness over our life in Jesus mighty name. As He's breaking the spirit of prayerlessness, He's breaking the backsliding in our

life in Jesus name, Amen. I want you to notice the third thing. So we see that Peter focuses on himself instead of the love of Jesus for him. Peter begins to sleep when Jesus says you should be praying and I want you to notice the third thing that begins to happen and that is this. In Matthew 26:58 But Peter followed Him at a distance to the high priest’s courtyard. The third thing is when you follow Jesus at a distance, avoiding any discomfort. I focused on my love for the Lord. I'm full of hype. I just

got radically saved at the camp. I got radically saved at the church altar. I have very casual perspective toward my devotional time and then begins to happen this is that Peter follows Jesus at a distance. Somebody say at a distance. At a distance means I'm going to follow Him as close as I can that I don't lose my life. Before this, Peter followed Jesus close because following Jesus meant likes, being loved, being famous. Following Jesus meant signs and wonders. Following Jesus meant the boat gets filled with fish. Following Jesus meant sitting at the right hand

of Jesus, the left hand of Jesus, being one of the 12 apostles. Following Jesus meant that your name is going to be right there in heaven. Following Jesus is great. Now following Jesus means there is a chance Peter, you might die. I want you to notice what prayerlessness does to you before you follow Jesus close and now between you and Jesus, you're not denying Him. You're not forsaking Him. You're not betraying Him. You're not backsliding. It's just between me and the Lord is a safe distance. I don't want to sacrifice. I don't want to give.

I don't want to crucify my flesh. I don't want to lay my sin on the altar. I don't want to stop sleeping with my girlfriend. I don't want to stop watching porn. I don't want to give up those cigarettes. I don't want to give up that bad relationship. Why? I'm going to believe in Jesus. I'm going to follow Jesus. I'm going to pray the prayer but I'm going to follow Jesus at a distance. At a distance. The distance between us and the Lord is our comfort. When you're not willing to lay your life on the

altar, I'm not talking about another area of your life but for some of us, it could be an area that some of you maybe came here today and you're struggling in that area and you're holding on to that area and you found scriptures to justify why you should be doing that because other Christians are doing it. You cannot be on fire for God if that fire cannot consume you. That fire cannot consume you if you and the Lord have a distance. What is that distance? It's your fear of sacrificing. Jesus is worthy of everything you're

afraid of losing. I remember one time I had a situation. We were going to Ukraine. Somebody stopped by in our house and gave us $200. It was this young lady. She came from our small group. She says, Pastor, I just want to bless you with $200 for your trip. I was overjoyed. I said, Thank you. Somebody else comes to our house next day and the Holy Spirit prompts me and He says, I want you to take this $200 and give it to them. This was quite a few years ago. $200 meant a lot of money

and that's when before Biden was the president. So inflation was a lot less. Gas prices were lower. Groceries were lower. So $200 meant a lot. Some of you are like $200 I couldn't even buy bread right now for that. So this person comes in, strong prompting from the Lord, give this envelope and I was like no, I'm not giving this envelope. They blessed me. That's for my trip and you know the Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He's not going to kick you. He's not going to abuse you and He just said it one more time

and I said no. I said no. That's my blessing. I'm not giving my blessing to somebody else. So in about 4 days, we're going to Ukraine for some trip. I had a rental property and for some reason, a demon gets into the sewer and the sewer gets clogged up. All the stuff in the basement and those of you who had duplexes like those in Richland where like the sewer stuff just begins to come in the basement. All the stuff is covered with water. So my rental calls me. He says, Hey you got to come in.

You got to fix this. So I go in there. I take the machine that cleans the pipes and I cannot clean the pipes. Something is just stuck in there. I'm waiting for my dad. I called the company. They came in. Nothing could happen. Finally I rented another machine and I'm literally in poop everywhere. Three days I spent in poop. This is the interesting part. I spent exactly $400 and after I was done, I went to prayer the next day and I said God, what was that? He said, next time I ask you to give something,

He said just do it. This is my personal. This does not mean it applies to every situation. The scripture says in that place, store your treasures in heaven, it says where the thief doesn't steal. I truly believe in my experience, when God puts a finger on something in my life for me to sacrifice to Him, if I don't do it, that area is open to a demonic attack. And I truly believe that in that instance, this relating specifically to me, I'm not saying this relates to every single area. In that area, I was under attack.

Why? Because I said, Lord no, and that area becomes not protected. I gave a promise to God. I said Lord if you prompt me, whisper even wink at me, I will never hesitate if you keep me away from sewer problems. You keep me away from sewer demons and I will give whatever you want me to give. If you don't give it to God, if you don't lay it on the altar, Satan will take it. I want you to notice this about Peter. Peter is overconfident in his ability to love Jesus. Secondly, I want you to

notice Peter is sleeping when Jesus is saying, you should be praying. Thirdly, what it leads to is to a life that's casual, no longer sacrificial. A life that's no longer outside of his comfort. He is following Jesus at a distance but I want you to go to another step. Step four and this one is this. In step four, we see Peter Mark 14:54 it says But Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the servants and warmed himself at the fire. John 18:18 Now the servants

and officers who had made a fire of coals stood there, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them and warmed himself. Number four: We numb ourselves with world's fire. We focus on our love for God instead of His love for us. Our prayer life goes to sleep. We follow Him at a distance and following Jesus at a distance, what it does is this. It doesn't satisfy the ache for the supernatural. It doesn't satisfy the ache for a thrill. We all desire to live dangerous. We all desire to live radical. For

those of you who come in and you're like you know half in church, half not in church, you got just enough of Jesus that you're not going to hell and you have just enough of the world that you would enjoy Jesus. You're kind of like miserable because the world cannot have you. Jesus cannot have you. You cannot have you. You're kind of stuck. You're not doing really what you really want to do. You're scared of hell and you're scared of really following Jesus completely. The problem with that is there is a hunger. There is a

desire for something real and authentic and if you do not go 100% send into Jesus, you're going to have to drift into the world's fire and pretend to like it. Pretend to fit in. Pretend to be just like them and the Bible says, they looked at Peter and they say, you have an accent. You don't sound like us and Peter starts cursing and he starts swearing. He's trying to fit in but they know, you don't belong here. This is not your flame. This is not your place. Peter, this is not what where you belong. You

drifted so far. You are an apostle. You have a calling on your life. You have a praying grandma. We didn't have a praying grandma, that's why we're here. You have a praying spouse. You have a praying mom and dad. Peter, what are you doing here? But why are you here? Because when you live a life focused on yourself instead of Jesus. When live your life where there is prayerlessness instead of prayer. When you follow Jesus just so you don't have to lay anything on the altar. Never sacrifice anything. Never do anything that cost you anything.

You will have to warm yourself at the fire of the world. Movies, entertainment, ungodly friends, cursing. When you begin to warm yourself in the club and you're like, I'm not doing anything and drinking is not wrong. I'm not getting drunk but you're warming yourself at the fire of the world even the ungodly. No, you don't belong there. You belong in church. You belong at the altar. Even they know you shouldn't be here. Well, I'm just smoking pot. The Bible doesn't say not to smoke pot. The Bible says to have dominion over the earth and I

have dominion over the earth when I smoke pot. No, you're warming yourself at the wrong fire. You're numbing yourself at the wrong fire but I'm not watching hardcore porn. It's just kind of like only half naked. It's not like I'm hurting anybody. You are warming yourself at the wrong fire. The world's fire is addictive. He denied Jesus three times. When you put your hand in that fire, yes, it will warm you up but it will become a lure. It will become an addiction. You're like I will quit this but you can't quit. The world's fire

is annihilating because it broke his intimacy with God. Maybe you are here today and you are in that place where your hands, your feet, your eyes are in the world's fire. If somebody asked you, are you a Christian? Yes. You even have make America great again flag on your front yard. Donald Trump is your next president. You know the scripture. You know how to say, what to say but if we skin you open spiritually and we dissect you, we see that there has been a drifting that's been happening. It didn't start overnight. The way you

started on fire for God and the way you are today is that your hands are in a total different place and that's why your hands stay in the pocket during worship. Why? Because during the week, they're warming at the different fire. I don't want my hands to be warming this fire because they've been warmed at somebody else's flame. Lift up your hands you holy people. How can you lift them when they've not been holy? If these hands have not been holy, if they've been touching stuff they should have not been touching. If your eyes have

been looking at things that they should have not been looking but of course, when you're here warming at the wrong fire, you also have a doctrine called greasy grace. Anything goes. I can do whatever I want. Jesus forgives. He always loves me. God doesn't care about that stuff. I'm not into that judgmental self-righteous Pentecostal you know legalistic. I am a free bird. Any grace that doesn't teach you to deny ungodliness is greasy. Amen. But it doesn't end Peter with Peter there. I have one more thing to share. The Bible says after he warmed himself with

the wrong fire, he denied Jesus three times. Let's go to John 21:3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. Last thing. Number five. It's when you fully return to your old life and write this down and you find it empty. When I say you, I mean myself because Peter was an apostle. I use this what I'm sharing with you, I regularly examine my own life in light of Peter because

if Peter backslid seeing Jesus walk on water, if Peter backslid seeing the little girl raised from the dead. If he did this, seeing Jesus drive out a demon of legion of demons out of a man. If this happened to a man who was with Jesus on the mount and he heard the voice of God saying, This is My beloved Son. No offense but you and I are not on that level. Yes, we have the Holy Spirit indwelling in us but we also have a flesh that seeks to gravitate us away from the Lord. If you

focus on your love for God more than His love for you. This is where everything begins. You start drifting. When your prayer life becomes optional, you start drifting further. Then you start following Jesus just enough. Pastor makes a call, we need to make a sacrifice and you make excuses. Why do you rationalize that? Because the distance between you and the Lord allows for a Christianity that makes no sacrifice. The distance between you and the Lord allows for a Christianity where there is no need to carry the cross and you don't even feel the conviction anymore

and then comes the pull into the warm things of this world because you're not hot on fire for Jesus. You need to stay on fire for something. So you put your hands in something else and after that, comes the last stage and this is the stage. Some call it deconstruction. Some call it drifting. Some call it backsliding, apostasy. It's where we go back to where we were and the Bible says, they caught nothing. Now I want to share something with you. What you remember about your past life, when you go back to it, it will

no longer have exactly same feelings and experiences. You will never enjoy sin after you've experienced God. You will never enjoy alcohol after you've tasted the Holy Spirit. You will never enjoy fornication after you've tasted purity and you will do more and more just so you can dumb down the voice of your conscience which will scream louder, louder and louder. Why? Because as a child of God, when you walk away from God, God will discipline you. Your friends will do exactly same thing that you doing and they will get away with it and have fun and

have a good time. You will do it and you'll have to drink yourself to sleep, to tone down your conscience because your conscience will never ever let you enjoy it. Why? Because God will discipline you. When we were in Ukraine I had a cousin. I still have him. He's my very close friend. Pastor Ilya. He's pastoring in Everett. His dad who's my pastor, pastor Vasiliy, he told us, both of us, we were about 9 or 10 years of age. He said, do not go across the street and do not wander off into the neighborhood because

the street was busy. I heard it, both of these ears. Now in my culture where I grew up in Ukraine, if you disobey your parents, there was no time out. We lived the Bible. Spare not the rod. That scripture was pretty much the only scripture that was used for parenting. So I knew, my uncle didn't have to tell us what's going to happen if we don't do what he told us to do. We knew what's going to happen. These little butt cheeks are going to get red. So of course, my cousin, always the leader of

mischief, said, we can get away with it. Nobody will see it. We're about 9-10 years of age. Not only we crossed the street, we went to a different house. We went to a different neighborhood. We got lost. Few hours later, found out there is a search party for us and now of course, coming back home, we come guilty. So we sneak into the house you know start washing dishes. Pretending like we were just here and his dad comes in like in a fury and anger says, where were you? And I know, that's it. We're in

trouble. There's no dishes are going to save us here. So his father finds the belt and I'm standing, I'm like the king Belshazzar. My knees are like... I know the wrath has come and my uncle you know he does what they needed to do to take the pants of my cousin down and goes wow wow wow wow and he was yelling and gnashing of teeth and crying and I'm standing and I'm holding on to my own behind and I was like oh God have mercy because I know I'm next. I did exactly the same thing

that he did and instead, my uncle looks at me and he says, get out. Thank you. Did you know why he didn't discipline me? I'm not his son. The only thing he told me is get out. Do you know why the world gets away with stuff because when they die, God will say, get out. I never knew you. You were never My children. So when you get saved and you decide to backslide. When you get saved and you let your flesh and your demons and your ex and your friends pull you back, God has a

belt. I am not talking about abuse. I am talking about love that will try to correct your stupidity, your sinful behavior to draw you back to God and God will not let you enjoy sin. He will not let you enjoy that immorality. He will not let you enjoy that addiction. Why? Because He's drawing you back. When the fathers discipline their children, it's not because they hate them, it's because they loved them. When God will discipline and that's exactly what happened to Peter. The Bible says, he caught nothing. Samson told Delilah, if you cut my hair

and you remove the anointing, remove the ministry, I will be like another man. I can get settled with you, Delilah. We can have children. We can have a retirement fund but Samson did not know if you cross the line, you are God's anointed, you will not be like another man, you will be blind. You will be bald and you will go in circles. Why? Because God will pull the belt and say listen son, I love you too much to lose you. You will not enjoy life like the world does because there is a God in

heaven who has put a mark on your life and there's probably, people praying for you and you will not enjoy the pleasures of sin you think you will. So don't do it and that's where Peter got. Over focused on himself led to prayerlessness. Followed Jesus at a distance. Warmed himself at the wrong fire and finally, I'm done with Jesus stuff. Let's go back to who we were before we were apostles. Let's go back to who we were before we healed the sick and tried to change the world. And they caught nothing. John 21:9 Then, as

soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire, and fish laid on it, and Jesus comes by with His fire and I love Jesus's sarcasm. Peter, Do you have any fish? It's like insulting him. He knows he caught nothing. How's the fishing going? How is that relationship going for you? How's your finances going? How's your dreams going? How's your mental health going? And I'm so glad Peter didn't read enough self-help books to throw some positivity junk at Jesus. He didn't say oh I'm working on it. No. He said, I have nothing and then

Jesus said this, Cast your net to the other side. He cast his net to the other side. He caught so much fish, jumps into the lake and comes to a place where Jesus has fire. At this fire, He says, do you love Me? Do you love Me? Do you love Me? Because this fire, he gets restored. The word God gave me tonight is this. Most of you know Jesus who saves but not Jesus who restores fallen Christians. Most of us know Jesus who forgives a prostitute but Jesus we serve restored a backslid apostle. Jesus we

serve restored a backsliding disciple and after this restoration, this Peter never backslid again. This Peter died for Jesus upside down, church history says. This Peter preached the gospel for the rest of his life. This Peter never had a relapse. He never had another episode. This Peter did not fall back again into that. I have a word for somebody in this room. God was to break the backsliding pattern in your life tonight. My God. Jeremiah says, I will heal their backsliding. I will heal their backsliding. Are you willing to admit that you caught nothing? Are you

willing to admit that you drifted? Because Jesus isn't standing to try to send you to the lake of fire. He says, I want to give you my Holy fire that will consume your compromise, consume your lethargic, complacent, lukewarm, carnal, casual Christianity, boring as hell Christianity, I want to consume that. I want to light you on fire Peter, that your mouth will burn. Your heart will burn. Your hands will go up. Your feet will dance. Your life will be lit on fire for God. If you find yourself in any of these stages that I mentioned or

maybe you find yourself where Peter was, where Peter ended, and today there's a conviction of the Holy Spirit on your heart, I want you get out of your seat, come right now, right here to the front. The Lord has a fire prepared to this altar. He about to restore you but it's going to happen through repentance. He is about to renew you but it's going to happen through repentance. I don't care how young you are. I don't care how old you are. I don't care what your wife is going to think of you. Right now,

it doesn't matter. Be like Peter. Jump and run to the front. Jump and say, Jesus, I need you. Jesus, you need to restore me. Jesus, I am tired of living without fire. I'm tired of warming myself at the world's flame. Jesus, I'm tired of being a sleeping tripping sleeping saint. Jesus, I'm tired of drifting toward my past. Jesus. I want to take a moment and pray right now before I close the service for healing. During worship, I saw an image of somebody has an injury that has to do with the tractor like I don't know

if you fell from a tractor, got hit by a tractor. No idea. The only thing I saw is a tractor and somebody had an injury that has to do with the tractor as well as there somebody who has a problem with their nerves. Something with the nerves. We're going to pray right now. Jesus knows your need. There was a young lady. She was no longer able to have a license drive. She had gramal seizures. For many years already she lived in Portland area. In a service like this, a prayer was offered and she had these

gramal seizures for a while already. She had a young family. The power of Jesus touched her. She felt like this light electricity going through her body. She felt that she received healing. A week or two weeks ago, I received a message from her and now it's been about 4 years, she hasn't had one seizure. She got her license back. She's completely restored. The doctor examined her and just completely set free. God we serve is yesterday today and forever the same. Maybe you came with a sickness and maybe a sickness you made peace with and God

bless you but Jesus Christ heals the sick. So we're going to agree right now for you with you. If you're battling for somebody. Maybe you have a cancer. Perhaps you have somebody right now in an emergency that you're believing for healing. If you have a sickness in your body, I'm going to ask you even if you are seated to place your hand where there is pain. Just place your hand there. If you have somebody right now who is in ER or is in a very critical condition, I want you to pull out your phone and

lift your phone up or maybe pull out their photo. We're just going to come in agreement. We're going to come in agreement. This is a place of faith. This is an arena but when believers came in, this became a place for miracles of God. This became a place for revival. Angels of God ascend and descend. They take prayers up and bring the healings down. Why not this could happen to you right now. Maybe you had an injury due to a workout or you had an injury in a motorcycle or a car accident right now maybe

you have asthma or you have some kind of a diabetes or tumor or you have gastritis or some deafness in your ear, ear infection. Whatever it is. Nothing is too hard for God. Your body is not for sickness. Your body is for service. Your body is not for sin. Your body is for service. Just keep your hand there, right there. Place your hand there, wherever there is pain. Let's pray together and if you have a wife or a husband that is sick, just place your hand with them. Let's agree together. You don't need to have

a big faith if you have big God. Just release the faith you have. That's enough. Faith of a master seed can move mountains. Your faith is bigger than that. Just release that faith right now. Raise your expectation that nothing is impossible to God. If you're watching us on live stream, this can happen to you as well. Keep your hand there. Say this with me. Say, my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Say, I rebuke every spirit of infirmity. Say, I rebuke every generational curse of chronic sickness and disease right now, I command you,

leave my body in Jesus name. Say, O Holy Spirit, touch me. Heal me by the stripes of Jesus. Now take next 30 seconds and just pray for that area, just specifically pray for that area, just come on, just speak God's word. Say, Lord I ask you for your healing. Come on. Father in the name of Jesus, we come in agreement right now for healing of asthma. We come in agreement right now for healing of every breathing problem in the name of Jesus. I come in agreement right now for healing of every skin disease or every

skin infection, every eczema in the name of Jesus Christ. I come in agreement right now for healing of every problem with blood in the name of Jesus. Leukemia go. Blood cancer go right now in the name of Jesus. I come in agreement right now for healing, for every person that is here that has a digestive problems, be healed in the name of Jesus Christ. Every food allergy that maybe you had, Lord, we send your word and your word heals right now. Let fire come in the name of Jesus. I speak your healing to the joints.

Arthritis, go right now in the name of Jesus. I speak your healing to the lower back, to the upper back, I speak your healing right now to the upper shoulders in the name of Jesus. Where there is lack of mobility, where there is an accident that happened that rendered that person immobile in those parts of their body, be healed in Jesus mighty name. I rebuke that blindness. I rebuke that deafness in the name of Jesus. I speak God's word right now into that pain, into that situation, be healed in Jesus name. Those tense things in

your body relax right now in the name of Jesus. Fire of God, the heat of God, the Holy fire of God come right now in the name of Jesus. Be healed in Jesus' name. Come on, lift those hands and just give that pain to the Lord. Come on, give that to the Lord. He bore it on the cross. He bore our griefs and carried our infirmities. He carried our transgressions. He carried our sin and sickness. Just say Lord, I give it to you. You're my Healer. You're my Redeemer. Give Him that headache. Give Him that

mental health issue. Give Him that lower back pain. Give Him that pain in your tooth. He bore it for you. Just close your eyes, whatever you came with right now, just give that to the Lord. Some of you may be came with just depression, anxiety, discouragement. Some of that is demonic. Some of that is just you picked up through the hardships of life. Just give that to the Lord right now. The Bible says, And the peace of God that passes understanding will guard your hearts and minds. Just pass that on to the Lord right now.

Cast your cares upon God. That sickness, that pain, give that to Him right now. Thank you Jesus. We give that to you. You're my Healer. You're my Provider. You're my Husband. You love my children more than I do. If some of you came with an addiction and you have something in your possession, that's like drugs or cigarettes or vaping and today, you're saying, today is my night of freedom. I've repented of that. If you have those things in your possession, just come and just drop it at the altar. That's going to be your final final

deliverance of saying, that stuff, I'm free from that. I'm leaving tonight different. I'm leaving tonight different. I'm going to leave tonight no longer warming myself at the fire of this world. I'm going to leave tonight warming myself with the fire of the Holy Spirit. I'm going to lay that at the altar. I'm going to lay that at the altar because the fire of God is my portion. Thank you Lord. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Lord. We thank you Holy Spirit. We thank you Jesus for your grace and for your mercy. Thank you Lord. If you

can turn on the house lights, those of you who were receiving prayer, come on. Let's give the Lord a clap offering. Clap your hands all you people. Shout unto God with the voice of triumph. Make a joyful noise to the Lord. He heals the brokenhearted. He restores the brokenhearted. Come on. Amen. The Bible says, go ahead and those of you who still are bringing stuff, you come and lay it at the altar right there because tonight is your night. Tonight is your night. You're no longer going back, you're going forward. Amen. You're no longer going

back, you're going forward. Amen. You're no longer going back, you're going forward. If we can bring the house lights up, you're no longer going back, you're going forward. Amen. Amen. For those of you who are praying for healing, I want you to right now test your body. The Bible says Jesus told a man with the withered hand, stretch your hand and right there when he stretched his hand, his hand was made whole. Just right there if you had a back pain, just bend. You couldn't bend without pain. Maybe just try to do that. Thank you

for turning on the lights. If you had maybe some kind of a cyst or a lump, just look for that right now. Okay. Now whoa, whoa, that's way too much light. No, this is good. I like it. A lot of light. I'm going to go blind. If you notice that the pain that you had is gone, wave both of your hands at me. If you notice that after prayer, the pain is gone. Okay, okay.